Chapter Text
Will kicks the snow off his shoes before he enters his house, a giant blue slushy in his hand. Much to his surprise, Jonathan is sitting on the couch, seemingly waiting for him with a steaming cradled in his hands.
"Where the hell have you been bug?" Jonathan asks, skeptical.
"I drove to St. Cloud to show Henry and Rachel the ultrasound. And I wound up staying for a couple of hours." Will explains, shrugging off his coat.
Jonathan furrows his brows "A couple of hours? Why are you going up there in the first place?"
Will sits down next to his brother and takes a sip of his slushy "Well, I wanted to show them the ultrasound, They said they wanted to know about this stuff. They said to keep them updated, so I did!"
his brother sighs, "You could have sent it to them. Why would you drive an hour out to East Jesus, Nowhere?"
Will shrugs, feeling a bit weird.
"I don’t know, I just did. And while we were waiting for Rachel, Henry and I watched The Wizard of Gore and he burned me some CDs of some music. He’s kind of cool." Will says sheepishly
A beat passes as Jonathan absorbs this. When he comes to a conclusion, he shakes his head.
"That was a mistake, Will. Henry is a married stranger. You overstepped a boundary."
Will groans, throwing his head back "Listen, Jona-thannnn, I think you’re the one overstepping boundaries. You’re acting like you’re the one who has to go through this and get huge and push a baby out for someone else. Besides, who cares if he’s married? I can have friends who are married."
Jonathan sighs
"It doesn’t work that way, bud. You don’t know squat about the dynamics of marriage."
Will scoffs "And you do?"
"I know enough."
Jonathan rises to leave but Will stops him,
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Will whispers
"I know bud." Jonathan hugs him.
⭑
Will parks the previa on the street. He makes his way slowly up to the house and rings the doorbell, shivering slightly in the cold.
Karen answers, visibly annoyed. Her eyes drift down to Will's middle and Will sees her hold back a sneer.
Mikes mom is pretty, her face is a bit horse-ish though, she reminds me of those porcelain horse statues you always see on the shopping channel.
"Hi Will. What can I do for you?" She asks, trying to be nice. She's known Will since he and Mike were in kinder, since Will was Willow. She didn't particularly like Mike hanging around him but with the divorce already being hard on the kids she considered it too cruel to seperate the two.
"I um, borrowed Mike’s physics notes in school today. I’m pretty sure he needs them back," Will smiles sheepishly.
The blonde woman opens the door for him, "Come in." She says as she steals another glance at Will’s belly.
She escorts Will into the house; Will thanks her and he makes his way to Mike's bedroom. Will knocks on the door, the door has a cheesy drawing Will gave him as decoration, it's a sign replicating castle Byers except the names replaced as "Mikes hobbit hole."
When there's no answer, Will opens the door wordlessly. Mike's on his bed surrounded by old quizzes, studying like the tortured brainiac he is, a bronski beats song playing softly. Will appears in his view and the boy jumps, startled.
"Hey, don’t concentrate so hard, man. I think I smell hair burning." Will jokes and Mike smiles faintly.
Will turns and pulls the door shut entirely.
"What’s up?" Mike asks, visibly excited but also a little sheepish that Wills here.
Will smiles and Mike returns it immediately "I just wanted to come over. You know, say hi. I miss hanging out with you on school nights."
"I miss you too." He replies with zero hesitation.
He nervously cracks open a container of orange tic taco and pours them into his hand.
Orange Tic-Tacs are Mike's one and only vice. When we made out, the day I got pregnant, his mouth tasted really tangy and delicious.
The dark haired boy glances at Will's midsection, slightly embarrassed.
"So, it looks like you’re getting pregnant-er these days." He chuckles
Will scratches the back of his neck, they haven't had a conversation this awkward in like two years.
"Yeah. Um, I hooked up a whole private adoption thing. These married people in Saint Cloud are going to be the parents."
Relief washes over Mikes face as he nods in acknowledgment.
"Really? What are they like?" He asks, obviously a little excited.
Will gets giddy at the chance to talk about them, Henry specifically "The guy is super cool! His name is Henry and he’s into old horror movies and he plays guitar. I actually hung out with him today."
Mike looks skeptical "Is that normal?"
Will ignores the question, shoving his hands in his coat pockets.
"Mum and Hop aren't gonna narc us out to your folks by the way, so we should be safe."
Mike nods, face a little less panicked now.
"That’s a relief."
Will walks over to the bed and sits down next to him, "I’m going to really start looking like a dork soon. Will you still think I’m cute if I’m huge?" He jokes, shoving Mikes side playfully.
"I always think you’re cute. I think you’re beautiful." Wills caught off guard by the sincerity in Mikes voice.
Will glances at his lips for a moment before catching himself "Jesus, Mike."
Mike smiles softly "Well, I do."
Smalltown boy ends, and the next song begins. It’s “the song,” the track that they both recognize from the infamous night in the basem*nt. 'Apart' by The Cure.
"Hey Will, when all this is over," he pauses and the brunette listens intently "we should get the band back together again."
Will nods excitedly "Yeah. Sure. Once Lucas gets a new drumhead we should be good to go."
There's a pause
"We could get back together too." Mike blurts out and Will's face flushes a deep red.
"Were we together?" He asks sheepishly and Mike picks at the comforter, face a little dejected.
Mike shrugs, not meeting Wills gaze "Well, we were once. You know, that time."
"What about EL? You could go out with El again." Will offers
"I don’t like El like that." Mike says, voice a little wobbly
Will rolls his eyes playfully "I totally heard you did."
Mike seems visibly annoyed at this "I don’t. El smells like soup. She's my best friend."
