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Will reached the platform Mike stood on. God, his arms hurt. Mike stuck out the jug he had just been drinking out of in offering, “You want some?”
“Yes, please.”
A silence fell over them
“Uh, so… back at the Squawk… the things you said,” Mike obviously didn’t know how to breach this topic. Will couldn’t blame him, honestly. It had been a lot. He sucked in a breath and continued, “Look, man, I'm sorry.” Immediately after he said that, he backtracked, stammering out, “Shit, I-I mean, not like, ‘I’m sorry you don’t like girls,’ way but a, ‘sorry I’ve been an absolute dick!’ kinda way.”
“You haven’t been a dick, Mike.”
“Yes, I have! I haven’t been there for you; hell, I couldn’t even tell you were struggling with this! And that fight we had over the summer a few years ago, fuck, that’ll haunt me forever!” Mike buried his head in his hands and groaned at the thought of the memory.
Will let out a soft chuckle, “So, you saying you’re ‘a dick’, because you couldn’t tell that I like boys?”
A smile flitted on his face, “No, Will, I didn’t know something was going on with you. If Vecna used it against you, then it had to have been weighing on you–and I had no clue anything was even wrong! I should’ve known–or helped–somehow…” Mike trailed off, looking at the scene around them.
“Hey,” Mike’s attention snapped to him, “don’t beat yourself up over this. I tried my best to hide it or ignore it until, like, a day or two ago. There was no way you could have known.”
“But you always tell me these things! Or you used to, I guess. I just feel like, I don’t know, I should’ve been able to tell…”
“So, does this mean we’re still friends?” a sheepish smile dawning in his face.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Mike says like its the most obvious thing in the world.
“I don’t know, it doesn’t– weird you out, me being attracted to other guys?”
“No, not at all.”
“Even if the guy was you?” Will's heart sank as he asked it. He had to check, but it didn’t mean his thoughts didn’t slip into, this is it, this is the moment I lose my best friend.
“No.” Will spun to look at him, shock drawn on his face.
“Will, you’re, like,–the most important person to me. I don’t think you could lose me, even if you wanted to,” Mike smiled at him, and waited a beat before asking, “Best friends?”
"Always," Will nodded, giggling as tears welled up in his eyes. Mike crossed the space between them and pulled him into a hug.
They stood there for a moment, just the two of them, before–somewhere above them–Nancy yelled, “Hurry up you two!”
They pull apart, laughing.
“Well, after you,” he completes the statement with a smirk and half-bow pointing to the ladder. Will just shakes his head, grabbing on to the ladder.
“You’re ridiculous.”