the in between days, m. wheeler
synopsis: In the months following Hawkins splitting in two, Mike and Y/n confide in each other for an unusual sense of normalcy. Secretly, the two best friends begin to explore intimacy, while trying not to cross the boundaries of their friendship.
content: mike wheeler x fem!reader, set between s4 and s5, (possible spoilers!) somewhat-canon, best friends with benefits (to lovers?), no strings attached trope, lots of fluff and making out, secrecy, dry humping??, eventual smut! several parts to follow!
Neither one of them are sure how they got here.
Crammed in the small utility closet in the basement of The Squawk, messily making out like their lives depended on it. They are working with borrowed time just to get their hands on one another, mouths exploring each other feverishly.
Mike has Y/n pressed against the wooded door, his hands resting at her hips, his lips working from right behind her ear and down her neck. Y/n has her arms thrown over his shoulders, her fingers laced in his hair. She's on her tippy-toes, melting into his touch.
"Mike." She breaths out, just above a whisper and just almost a plea.
He doesn't move from where he is; his face buried in her neck, surely leaving marks along her skin. "Mmh-?' He hums, pressing his fingers a little more into her hipbones.
Y/n can't help the gasp that escapes her lips when Mike mindlessly rolled his hips against hers. She feels him. Now, they are completely flush against one another, pelvis to pelvis. A friction neither one of them have felt before. She hears Mike groan lowly before moving his lips even lower, nearing her expoed collarbone. Oh, Y/n thinks. She’s never heard this noise from Mike before.
Y/n feels Mike getting hard against her, without thinking twice, Y/n rocks against him haphazardly, testing the waters. The feeling this brings her sends a chill down her spine.
Mike returns this movement back, rocking his hips into hers again. She can feel his dick rubbing against her, something she’s never felt before.
Y/n moves her left leg out a bit, allowing Mike to get even closer to her. With every move they make, a rhythm forms, following the friction between their hips, chasing the pleasure it brings with one another.
Suddenly, Mike grabs her leg by her thigh and hold it up at their waists. With this, Y/n can feel the way his hard dick pulses in his jeans, the way it feels against her aching pussy.
Y/n moans out quietly, nervously. Once again, testing the waters of something completely new.
Mike holds an award-worthy amount of composure when he hears that sweet sound. A small sound escapes his lips too.
They are impossibly close now. Mike’s other hand moves up her body, one snaking around to her back. His mouth is still working at her collarbone, littering the skin with wet, messy kisses. He pulls away and looks at the girl; head thrown back, resting against the door.
At the sudden loss of his warm lips against skin, Y/n’s eyes flutter open, she’s met with Mike’s eyes gazing into hers.
Mike thinks for a moment. He’s in a trace-like state, overwhelmed by the beauty before him, and the pleasure quickly taking over him. “You look so beautiful.” He mumbles.
Y/n’s eyes widen a bit, stunned at his words.
This isn’t what they agreed upon. No compliments. Rule number three in their ‘agreement.’
Y/n smiles up at Mike, his eyes tracing up and down her body. More so, to remember this moment. To capture it in his mind. This is real, Y/n, his best friend of years, is really folding at his touch, and looking heavenly while she does so.
Y/n presses her lips against his quick. “Seriously, Mike —” She starts, and he’s just as quick to kiss her back, passionately.
This is the closest they've been. Sure, they've made out a couple times, but this — is different. It's been several minutes now, in this dusty closet, bodies so close that they are practically melting into one another.
Y/n pulls back an inch, “We should go back," she sighs. "Everyone is probably wondering we are." She practically struggles to get those few words out, as her stomach flutters with nervousness and pleasure all at once.
It's a new feeling. All of this. Something neither teenager had ever remotely experienced till one another.
Mike moved his head back just enough so their eyes meet. He presses his forehead to hers, "Just one more min—"
Y/n cuts him off. "Mike."
He groans in pain, as if separating from Y/n now might actually kill him. "Fine," He huffs out (though, it’s more of a whine), taking a step back, still resting his hands on her hips.
Mike looks nothing short of a wreck. His hair is a bit messy from Y/n running her fingers through it, tugging on it ever so slightly — the brown curls sticking up in different directions. His lips are pink and wet, and there's a small smidge of lipstick on his cheek.
He looks almost devilish. And oddly, Y/n can't help but stare at him just a little too long. Admiring him.
"What?' Mike chuckles, noticing the daze Y/n was in.
She snaps out of her thoughts, "Wh — oh. Nothing." She stammers, "You have a little —” Y/n motions to Mike's cheek.
His brows furrow. "Let me get it." Y/n says, swiping her thumb against his cheek. He looks down at her, and at this angle he notices how long her eyelashes are. He can even see every little freckle on her face. For a moment — just a moment, he forgets that she is his best friend. For a moment he looks at her with affection, admiration.
"Just a little lipstick." Y/n says giddily, stepping back from Mike.
Mike shakes his head as if he is waking himself up from a trance "Oh." He laughs.
This is where the awkwardness usually starts to roll back in. After messy kisses and exchanged glances, they are back to being friends again, nothing more.
"I guess we should get back upstairs."
"Yeah."
Upstairs, the two rejoin the group again in the recording room.
Steve and Robin are lounging in their chairs as a record spins, live on air. "We uh- couldn't seem to find that red switch you were talking about." Mike says awkwardly, Y/n stands beside him, rocking back and forth of her feet.
"Henderson found it, on the panel out back." Steve says, pointing to the door where the rest of their friends presumably are.
"Oh, great." Y/n says, trying to play it cool, even though her stomach is still fluttering.
The record ends and Robin is quick to turn the microphone back on, talking to all of Hawkins. Everyone goes silent. Steve spins on his chair to face Mike and Y/n, he glances at them quick, but his eyes linger a little too long on the reddish-purple marks that begin to form on Y/n’s neck.
Given Robin was on air and no one could speak, Steve’s brows raise and he begins to smirk knowingly. The two teenagers quickly notice this and awkwardly side-eye one another. Y/n tries to, naturally, cover her neck with her hand. Steve looks between the two and just shakes his head with a smile before Mike and Y/n scurry off to find their friends.
Sure, Mike and Y/n were best friends. They have been since kindergarten. And, sure, maybe some people thought they were oddly close. But no one would believe they would ever be making out in secret, right?
One month prior, September 1987.
"You don't think it's lame?" Mike asks quietly.
The two are sitting side by side on the couch in the Wheelers basement. The rest of their friends had already left for the night, just leaving Y/n and Mike. Nothing about this was unusal, given the two friends would hang out alone from time to time.
However, the conversation the two were having was definitely not their usual.
Y/n shakes her head. "No, not at all." She says reassuringly.
Mike scoffs, "Come on, Y/n. I'm a sixteen year old boy and I've never kissed a girl. It's pitiful."
Y/n can't help but laugh at how bothersome this is for Mike. "It is not pitiful." Y/n mocks his choice of words. "Besides, if it makes you feel any better, I was only kissed once."
Mike's eyes widen a bit, shocked. "You're lying."
"Is that so hard to believe?"
"A little, yeah." Mike shrugs.
This earns Mike a playful shove to his side from Y/n. "Hey-!" She protests, Mike throws his hands up in defense. "I just mean, like, I'm surprised that —" Mike searches for the right words, but they don't come.
"Surprised that what?"
Mike stammers, scratching the back of huis neck awkwardly. "That more boys don't want to," He pauses, looking into Y/n's eyes. "kiss you."
The moment those words leave his mouth, Y/n practically feels the hair leave her lungs. The two go quiet. The air goes thick. The words linger heavy. Mike swallows hard like he just said the completely wrong words. His mind is racing. He's about to speak when —
"Mike, do you want to kiss me?"
Y/n can't even believe what she just said, neither can Mike. Their eyes lock. It feels as if they are moving closer — which is, because they are, mindlessly. For a moment, Mike thought she was joking, but when so much as a playful smile didn't follow Y/n's question, he knew she was serious.
Mike’s cheeks are flushed a deep shade of pink. He nods. Y/n tilts her head slightly, challenging him. "Then kiss me, Wheeler." she whispers.
"I- I don't know how." Mike stammers, searching her eyes for an answer.
Y/n snorts out a laugh, making Mike turn even more red with embarrassment. Y/n reaches out for Mike's hand, grabbing it and placing it on her waist. She shuffles to turn to face him more, and he does the same.
To be fair, Y/n isn't an expert at this at all. But Mike seems to have gone completely immobile with embarrassment and pure shock, so she decides to take the lead.
Mike's hand trembles against Y/n's waist. He watches as his best friend slowly drags his hand lower. Holding her hand above his on her hip now. His eyes follow every little move she makes, memorizing this moment, and his lips part with the sheer bliss.
Mike finds it harder and harder to breathe as Y/n moves in closer to him, inching towards his face. Mirroring her, he does the same slowly.
"This won't change anything, right?" Y/n asks quietly, just as their lips are about to meet.
My god, what are they doing?
Mike looks from her pretty, glossy pink lips, to her eyes. "Of course not." He says, "You're just—" Mike inches a little closer now, their noses brushing. "doing me a favor, right?"
Sure, they should probably be thinking about this much more rationally. But, in this moment, none of that seems to matter. Neither one of them think about what the consequences of this might be, or if it could potentially even ruin their friendship. Instead, the electricity that forms between them becomes so dizzying that all rationality is completely off the table.
"Mm-hm." Y/n nods. And with that, the gap between them is closed and their lips meet.
At first, Mike is a bit.. stiff. He's not sure what he's doing, or if he's doing it right, at that. But when Y/n parts her lips a little more, he seems to ease into it more. So much so, that he gathers the confidence to place his other hand on Y/n's back, pulling her closer a little more. Y/n tilts her head a bit and drags a hand up Mike's clothed chest, she stills her hand there before grabbing his shirt and gently pulling him even closer.
This takes Mike by surprise, but he nearly melts into Y/n's touch nonetheless. Feeling brave, Mike presses his tongue slightly to Y/n's lips, to which Y/n accepts contently, parting her lips a bit more signaling for Mike to push his tongue into her mouth.
What Mike doesn't expect is the small whine that comes from Y/n. Any nervousness either teenager had has totally fizzled out.
It's turned into pleasure.
The kiss picks up pace, the two kissing messily, quite literally having each others tongues in their mouths. This was all new. Completely uncharted territory.
All of a sudden, a yell echoes through the basement, coming from the top of the stairs.
"Mike!" Mike's younger sister, Holly, yelled down the stairs.
As if they were in a completely different realm entirely, the two snap back to reality and pull apart like a force field just came between them. The two practically flew apart.
"Y-Yeah?" Mike yells, his voice faltering a bit with nervousness.
"It's nine o'clock!' Holly reminds him loudly, then slams the basement door shut again.
Right. It's nine o'clock on a school night.
Silence falls between Mike and Y/n. "Uh—" Mike breaths out, pressing his lips together awkwardly.
Y/n can't help but giggle at how impossibly red in the face Mike has gotten. "How was that for a first kiss?" She asks wittily.
Mike grins. His classic, totally shit-eating grin. "It was alright."
Here they are. Back to their normal, usual banter, as if they weren’t just all over each other. But this is how it should be, right? Normal.
"Oh, please." Y/n scoffs as she gets up from the couch and grabs her book-bag from the floor.
Mike laughs, "I'm kidding. It was — really," he searches for the right words again. "Really good."
He's standing up now too. Y/n throws her bag over her shoulder and looks at him with a smile. "Just doing you a favor, right?"
Right, just a favor, Mike reminds himself. He nods, "Yeah."
And with that — "Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow." Y/n says, shuffling towards the basement stairs.
Just as she reaches the stairs and grabs the railing, she stops, turning around. Mike is still standing at the couch. "What if," She starts cautiously, Mike looking at her, brows raised. "What if we do each other more favors in the future?"
The words cut through the air like a really sharp knife. A sword.
"Like, we do that again?" Mike asks, trying not to sound too excited.
"Yeah. If you want."
Mike walks towards Y/n at the stairs, almost careful to not get too close as if they are magnets. "I want to." Mike blurts out without question.
Y/n nods, processing this. "And we can totally stay us, right? Just a couple friends who like to — kiss."
Mike nods too. "Exactly.” He exclaims, shrugging.
Once again, all rationalliity is off the table completely.
Because if they were being rational, if they were being the smart teenagers they truly were, they would have thought about this more. Rationality and just a little thought to their frivolous, immature actions, could have saved them from the pain that is — friends with benefits.
