Do you remember the first day we met? It was… It was the first day of kindergarten. I knew nobody. I had no friends and I just felt so alone and so scared, but I saw you on the swings and you were alone, too. You were just swinging by yourself. And I just walked up to you and I asked. I asked if you wanted to be my friend. And you said yes. You said yes. It was the best thing I’ve ever done.
Day 5, Dec 17: Stuck together and needing to stay warm after a legendary blizzard 🪵🔥
So they’re in Mike’s room (I have no idea how his room looks like) and there are drawings on the wall made be Will (not actually stick figures, l’m just lazy). There is snow on the window from the blizzard and Byler are cuddling in the bed, Henclair are reading comic books together and Elmax are reading magazines.
here’s my byler autumn event one shot i kinda hate it
Drunk on Halloween
inspired by the song “drunk on halloween” by wallows
⚠️TW: drinking/alcohol consumption⚠️
Michael Wheeler was being dragged to a high school party that one of Lucas’s basketball teammates were throwing. It was a halloween party and the rest of the party had begged Mike to dress up as the Mystery Gang with them but he refused. Ever since Will had moved away 3, now almost 4 years ago, it was hard to spend Halloween together, especially because of the distance but they did, every year. Except for this one apparently. And Mike didn’t like celebrating without him, so for the first time ever, he didn’t dress up this year.
This year El had come into town to celebrate Halloween with them. Will had come to, but he wasn’t at the party. He didn’t know where he was and even if he did, Will probably wouldn’t want to see him, not since last Halloween.
“Mike!” Max called to him from the back door, “We’re gonna go out back and play a quick game of basketball, wanna come?”
He just shook his head, resulting in Max rolling her eyes and heading out the back door. Mike stayed in the corner, leaning against the wall, drinking his can of coke. He didn’t like parties. He didn’t like being around all these people, yelling, dancing, just so many people. He couldn’t just go dance and drink without thinking about if people were watching him and if they were, what they were thinking. So he stayed in the corner. Away from everything.
Usually he and Will would be in the corner together. Laughing and talking about people’s costumes and dance moves. Drinking soda because neither liked the feeling of alcohol, and waiting until their friends would say it’s time to go. Usually they’d be together, this time was different.
Well only for about 10 minutes when Will bumped into him in the corner.
“Sorry I hope you don’t mind I’m here with you, it’s just loud and I can’t find my sister, she said we’d only have to be here- Mike?”
“Will. Hey” Mike said awkwardly, tugging at his hair a little “I thought you weren’t coming to the party”
“Yeah well El made me, my mom too. Said it was important to come, see my friends again, you know the same stuff. But I was tired and didn’t want to go, so El promised only for an hour, I don’t know where she is though” He shrugged
“Yeah totally” But Mike knew he didn’t want to come because he didn’t want to see him. “You didn’t come with us though?”
“Robin dropped me off”
“Oh” Even though the party was loud as all hell, the silence between him and Will killed him. “Are you drinking?” He asked, pointing to the cup in Wills hand
“Ha no, you know I don’t like alcohol, it’s just sprite.” He smiled for the first time he’d seen him that night.
And Mike smiled back. And it stayed like that for a little, both smiling with each other in the corner, like old times. And Mike took a risk. He got the confidence to bring it up. He finally got it in that moment.
“Will about that night, last Halloween,” And he fucked it up. Because the smile immediately disappeared from Wills face and his eyes became wide with panic, as he looked around the room for some kind of escape.
“Will I, I’m sorry okay-“
“No Mike, just forget it okay? I want to forget it, we’re fine”
“Will I know we aren’t, I just want to talk about it. Please”
“You had all year to talk about it. I wanted to talk about it, but you chose to forget it, and now i want to too.”
Mike opened his mouth, searching for some kind of response, any reply to make it better, but he couldn’t think, he couldn’t find one.
“I should go Mike.” He sighed “Tell El I went home. We’re staying at Dustins, make sure she gets home safe.”
“Okay” And he got that same feeling he got when he watched Will bike away that summer of ‘85. The guilt, heartbreak, anger at himself all coming back. And then the music felt louder than normal. It hurt his head and he just wanted to leave. And as babyish as it sounded, he wanted to be in his moms arms.
He threw his coke away and went to the front, and took a seat on the porch steps. Putting his head in his hands, trying to block out the sounds, the loud music that gave
him a headache. He just wanted to talk to Will, to be with him, talk to him, make things right. He wanted to try it, he didn’t want to be scared. He knew what he wanted and wanted to go through with it.
“Mike?” Dustin and Max were in front of him now, “Are you okay? What happened?”
———————————————————————
“Are you drunk?” Mike laughed as Will slumped his head on his shoulder. They were sitting on the bathroom floor. Will said it was too loud for him and Mike took him to the bathroom. He had a red solo cup full of something. He didn’t know what, but Wills breath smelled a little like alcohol.
“I’m not drunk! You know I only drink soda” Will said smiling up at Mike
“I think you mistook some alcohol for soda William” He teased, brushing some of Wills hair out of his face. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired”
“Do you want to go home?”
“No I like being here with you. Do you like being here with me?” He asked, eyes closed now
“Of course I do. I’ve missed you a lot Will, I’m really glad you came home for Halloween”
“I’ve missed you too. My friends don’t like Halloween” He pouted a little
“They sound crazy”
“No were crazy remember?”
“Ha yeah we are. Are you feeling a little crazy Will?” He asked looking down at Will who was playing with Mikes jacket zipper
“Yes”
“How come?”
“I like someone”
“Really? I never thought this day would come” Mike chuckled “Who?”
And to Mikes surprise, Will sat up, looked him in the eyes, and placed a soft quick kiss on his lips. And for a couple seconds, Mike kissed back and then he felt a snap of reality and pulled away.
“Will..”
“Mike” He smiled
“You’re drunk, you don’t mean that.”
And his smile fell
“Yes I do, I like you Mike.”
“Will cmon this” he motioned between them “It wouldn’t work”
“You kissed back, don’t you want it to?”
“I- I don’t know. I mean the kiss was nice, but it wouldn’t work. It couldn’t. We’re both boys Will, what would my family think? Our friends?”
“They might not care, our friends love us, and your mom and nancy cares about you so much.”
“That’s a big might Will. And I cant trust my family. Nancy maybe but my mom? My dad, holly even.” He started tugging at the back of his hair. He really needed to stop doing that.
“But Mike-“
“I don’t want to talk about this Will!” Mike softened his voice “I just, I don’t want to talk about this, please” He put a hand on Wills shoulder, but Will pulled away.
“Fine Mike. But maybe you should try facing your feelings, instead of running away from them all the time.”
————————————————————
“Can you take me to see Will, Dustin?”
“Sure”
The car ride was quiet as everyone kept giving side eyes to Mike. They didn’t know what was wrong, but knew if it was about Will, it was important.
Dustin dropped Mike off at his house, saying the rest of them were gonna go get some dinner and bring some back.
“Will?” Mike said knocking on the guest room door, “I’m gonna come in okay?”
“Okay” he called from the other side of the door
“Can I sit?” Mike asked, pointing to the second twin bed, next to Wills.
“Sure”
Mike took a breath of relief, “Okay, I want to talk about last halloween. And before you say anything I know I made the choice to not talk about it. And that’s my fault. But I’m sorry. I really am. I was just scared of what people would think of me. I said stupid shit and I should’ve been worried about you. You were brave and took an insane risk, and if I’m being honest. I loved that kiss. I think about it a lot, well all the time. And that night. I would’ve done that night completely differently if I could. And I’m just really sorry Will.”
And Will laughed. A laugh of relief and Mike laughed with him.
“Thanks Mike, and I’m sorry too. I was kind of a jerk. I know facing your feelings is really hard. Shit it took me like 2 years, and I just put so much pressure on you. And that was super unfair.”
“Yeah we were both kind of stupid that night huh?”
“I guess we do make each other crazy”
“Yeah we do.” Mike smiled at him
“So you loved that kiss?” Will teased, “Want to do it again?”
“I- I uh yes” Mike laughed awkwardly as he moved over to sit next to Will, “Is this okay?” He asked, placing a hand on Wills cheek
“Yes” Will smiled brightly as he put a hand on Mikes waist and leaned in a little
“Are you sure about this Mike? I want to make sure you’re okay with this”
“More than okay” He smiled and closed the gap between them.
“Happy Halloween Mike” Will whispered as he put his forehead against Mikes
“Wow both our ‘first’ kisses with each other on Halloween”
“Yeah, I guess it’s kinda our holiday hm” Will laughed
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Every autumn the Byers-Wheeler`s had a family tradition of cleaning up their garden of all the fallen leaves together and today was no different. Life with your soulmate is nothing but good.
My submission to the Autumn event, looking forward to seeing what everyone else produces :-)