sick - byler - word count - 1946 - also read on ao3
Will was walking through the hospital wing with his Coke in hand, looking to get back to the room. He wanted to take a break from the constant noise of the depressing hospital machines, and the even more depressing sight of Max in a never-ending coma.
As he passed by a room with the door slightly ajar, he heard two voices giggling. He pressed his palm onto the door and peered into the room. His eyes went wide. All he saw was Robin and Vickie, arms all over each other, bumping noses.
This isn't fair.
Their lips met, and they embraced one another in a deep kiss.
When is it going to be my turn?
He gasped and lost grip of his soda. It crashed to the floor, almost exploding as the liquid tried to force its way out of a tiny crack made in the can.
He ran.
It was all that he knew.
He ran and ran, out of the hospital, 'til he felt sick to his stomach.
They had been planning to all go back to the radio station together to meet up with the others. Including…him. But he needed to go now. He needed to see him.
He was done waiting, waiting all his life for something – no, someone – that he'd just been letting go. He was done letting go of things. He was going to have him. All to himself. He was sick of sharing. He had been there first. Sure, he was being entitled, but he'd given everything to him, and what had he gotten in return? How many years had it been since he first realized how in love he was with him? And over those years, ever since he met El, he had changed. At first it went unnoticed but as those long years passed, it only became more and more apparent. Was he really in love with him? After all this time, still?
Will pedaled faster than he thought he ever could. He had to get there now. Before El saw him and captivated his heart, and took away Will's chance. Will had been losing to her, every time she was faster and more skilled at grabbing his attention, so that he completely forgot about Will.
It's not like she was doing it on purpose – he was just more attracted to her. But deep in his heart, he knew that at one point he had captured his attention, and he could tell that he was falling for Will and still had a soft spot in his heart for him to this day.
But he needed to focus on getting there first in order to reclaim his treasure, so to speak.
~ ~ ~
Will burst into the radio station. He flung the door open, leaving his bike leaning against the wall outside. Steve was the only one there, leaning against the counter and lazily cleaning a vinyl. He seemed not to have much concern for the crawl, at least before everyone else showed up.
Steve glanced up at him.
He felt sick.
"What's up, Will, you’re here early. Is everything alri-”
"Where is he?” He said, cutting Steve off, panting.
Steve stared at him blankly.
"Who?”
"Sorry,” he gasped, still out of breath. "Mike, I mean. Why isn't Mike here yet?”
Normally he wasn't so bold, but his hasty biking sent endorphins coursing through his veins. He knew what he wanted, and he was there to get it. He didn't have time to care about what Steve thought.
“Oh, uhhh…” He checked his wristwatch. “He should be getting here any time now.”
“Okay, fuck, fuck, fuck…” He mumbled, paced back and forth. He didn’t want him to show up with El, or around the same time as her. But there was nothing to do but wait. He couldn’t do anything.
Steve tried to say something to him, but he just ignored him and walked out. He really didn’t need Steve’s words right now. They always seemed to fall flat on him. Steve just didn’t get what it was like – he was always the popular one, the rich one, with all of the girls that he wanted. But Will didn’t even want girls, or any of that stuff. He just needed to see his face and maybe he would feel better.
He was pacing back and forth outside the radio station, a chilly breeze on his face.
He heard the squeal of bike brakes and whipped his head around, looking up at the sound. His heart jumped.
It was Lucas.
He looked back down at the ground, going back to pacing.
“What the hell is wrong?” said Lucas, leaving his bike on its kickstand. “You just left us at the hospital? We were supposed to be visiting Max!”
“I just can’t deal with this right now,” he yelled back. “Everything’s messed up anyways. Mike is gone, probably away with El, Max is in a coma, everything’s fucked up!”
He fell against the brick wall of the station, putting his head between his knees. He didn’t want Lucas to see him cry.
“Woah, woah, woah, what is it?” Lucas said, his voice softer now. He sat against the wall next to Will, an arm on his shoulder.
“Nothing,” he said through choked sobs, looking up at Lucas. He knew that his face was probably red and full of tears, but he didn’t care. He knew that Lucas cared about him.
“Look around us,” he said, letting the tears stream down his face. “We’re locked in Hawkins and nothing has gotten better since I was taken away. In fact, things have just gotten worse. I hate it here. I hate everything about this.”
At that, Lucas got up, squatting in front of him.
“We’ve been constantly working at it. Things aren’t good right now, but they’ll get better. El’s been getting better and Hopper might finally let her go to the Upside Down. They’re after her because of how strong she is. What do you think we’re doing all of this for? It’s going to pay off, I promise.”
Will sniffled, nodding his head. He had stopped crying, but he knew he still looked a mess.
Lucas stood up, holding out a hand.
“Thank you, Lucas,” he said, grabbing his hand to get up. “Could I just have another minute out here, to catch my breath? It actually feels really nice right now.” He was half-laughing, half-crying as he said that.
“No worries. I’m always here for you, man.” He firmly patted Will’s shoulder, turning and walking into the station. He shrunk back against the wall again, catching his breath and wiping his eyes. He didn’t want it to look as if he had been crying.
Lying his head on his knees, he sat there in silence, his mind racing at what he was going to say. It didn’t matter. He just needed to calm down and everything would be okay. As Lucas had said.
Sooner than expected, he watched as Mike approached on his bike, his hair flowing through the wind. He always looked so effortlessly pretty. It was to the point that it annoyed Will – he had never had that prettiness all to himself. It was always someone else’s.
Finally, that someone would be him.
Will abruptly got up and approached Mike before he could even set his bike down. He blocked Mike, not wanting him to escape. His breath was heavy, and the wind blew colder.
Mike just blinked at him in surprise. “Will? Are you okay? You look-”
“We need to talk,” Will said, trying to keep his hands from shaking. “Now. Please. Just, not here. I want us to be alone.”
Mike nodded skeptically as Will led him around the building, where the wind couldn’t be felt as much.
“What happened? Is it Max? Or El? Or-”
Will grabbed his wrist – gently, instinctively. He felt like he was going to fall apart, and holding onto Mike was the one thing keeping him together.
“Will, you’re freaking me out,” Mike said gently, a soft look in his eyes. Will loved that look, but he couldn’t bear it right now. With a sharp breath, he locked onto Mike’s eyes. “Good, because I’ve been freaking out for years,” his breathing picked up, and he felt dizzy. “I can’t do this anymore, I just can’t.”
Almost subconsciously, his hand made its way down from Mike’s wrist to his slender fingers. He interlaced his fingers with Mike’s. Mike didn’t do anything to stop him. He was standing completely still, waiting for Will’s voice.
“What is it, Will?” Mike whispered. Both his voice and face were tender. They were closer than before, Will leaning against the wall and Mike standing over him.
“I can’t keep pretending. I can’t keep pretending that everything’s fine, every time I watch you run to El, every time I watch you run away from me. I can’t keep pretending I don’t care. I can’t keep pretending I’m not–”
He broke off, his chest heaving. He stared at his shoes, not wanting to face Mike’s gaze.
Mike came even closer. “Not…what?”
Will met his eyes. And it hurt. God, it hurt.
“In love with you,” he said. “Still. After everything. After all this time. I’m still in love with you.”
Mike froze, his breath catching.
“And I’m tired of losing,” Will said, tears welling in his eyes. “I’m tired of losing, of being second, of waiting. Of waiting for something that feels like it used to be mine.”
Mike’s lips parted as if he wanted to speak, but no words came out.
“You used to look at me as if I meant something,” he said softly. “And I can’t keep going without knowing if any of that was real. If it’s still real.”
Will was suddenly aware of his grip on Mike’s hand and tried to let go. Mike caught Will’s fingers between his own, stopping them from slipping out.
They both froze, together in time and space.
“Will…” Mike whispered, his voice cracking. He brought himself closer to Will and lowered his voice even more. “God, I didn’t know you were…I didn’t know you felt this way for so long.”
Will smiled crazily. Not out of happiness, but out of restlessness. “Of course I’ve always felt this way!” he yelled at Mike, falling against the wall, sliding down slowly. Mike didn’t let him break away from the grip of their fingers. Mike knelt, putting his hand back onto Will’s jaw. He caressed it softly, and Will felt his breaths calm down.
“How haven’t you seen it?” Will said, struggling to form words. “I’ve always, always been there for you. How come you never appreciated it?” He was crying now, again.
“Because I was too scared to,” Mike said. “I was too scared to face you and…and to face myself.”
He brought his mouth to Will’s ear. “Because I love you, too,” he whispered, moving his mouth to Will’s. His heart leaped and the soft embrace of Mike, at the way his nose was filled with the sweet scent of him. He was completely enamored by Mike, more so than he had ever dreamt of over the past few years. His lips were so soft, and he seemed to know exactly how to take care of Will.
There they sat, kissing each other on that cool autumn evening.
The leaves rustled in the wind. The door to the radio station opened and closed, and they could hear Lucas calling out for them. But none of it mattered, because they were both there, alone, and they had each other.
If James worked in a grocery store, every single time he got off work he would get a bouquet of flowers and bring them to Regulus. They would have multiple vases around the house to hold all of the flowers because of how relentless James would be with it, and James would go around smelling them on his days off.
Remus catches Regulus and James hooking up BUT he promises to keep it a secret, as long as Regulus keeps smuggling him rare literature from his family collection
Anytime Regulus leaves James’ room to go to class, James doesn’t let him leave until he gets a kiss from Regulus.
One time Regulus left without giving him a kiss and it caused James to be sour for the rest of the day until he saw Regulus again in the evening. But when he did see Regulus, he got so excited that he immediately forgot about it.
On the day that James and Regulus got married, their wedding ceremony took two hours because Regulus refuses to say something that anyone else wants him to say. So the second the priest said “repeat after me,” he immediately fell silent.
James didn’t care because it meant that he got to stand up there and hold Regulus’ hands for two hours straight.
