@partyforgot // closed starter !
with preparation for any large scale event, seemingly always comes a moment of uneasy downtime before the action finally begins. it’s in these moments that will finds himself most anxious, the eerie quiet before the storm giving his brain far too much time to overthink and worry, time seeming to stretch on FOREVER as the await those next, often terrifying steps. el’s plan remains in motion as the pizza freezer is prepared for their makeshift sensory deprivation tank, yet understandably so, she first requires some alone time to mentally ready herself for the battle to come.
jonathan and argyle busy themselves in conversation (and knowing them, will thinks with a hint of annoyance, smoke their troubles away) in the kitchen as el leaves towards a separate, quiet place in which she needs. that left mike, whom will finds sitting alone in one of the booths of the restaurant. he looks on edge - they all are, of course - and in that moment, will simply can’t stand to be apart from him. it’s a reflexive, powerful NEED to be close to him in a way he’s always felt since that day in kindergarten on the swing set, mike having provided him with a certain sense of comfort that nobody else ever can. he’s missed that terribly since their move to california, but now that mike is here, it’s like a gravitational pull that continuously tugs will closer to him.
he approaches the other slowly, recognizing the deep, lost in thought expression upon his best friend’s face and not wanting to spook him as a result. carefully sliding himself into the seat opposite of mike, he’s suddenly unable to bring himself to look directly at him, those ever-persistent butterflies swarming his stomach as his heart races over nothing in particular. “hey…” he starts quietly, absentmindedly tracing a finger along the red and yellow checkered pattern adorning the tabletop. “how’re you, uh- holding up…?”
