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After climbing on the tower’s ladder for a few minutes, tiredness takes over Will’s body and he decides to stop for rest on the platform he later realised Mike was standing on with a thermos in his hand.
His breath was cut short by the thought of having to face him, especially since they haven’t talked since Will admitted something he was holding in for so long now.
He was dreading the awkward talk ahead of him but it was better to get it all over with now, before they start their fight with an international monster.
‘You want some?’ Mike reaches to hand Will the thermos containing what he assumes is tea or water before he could even say an out-of-breath ‘Yeah.’
He takes a sip from the bottle, warm liquid melting in his mouth and trailing down to his stomach then hands it back over to Mike without even looking at him but still subtly making sure that their fingers don’t touch.
From the corner of his eye, Will saw him steal a glance at him then sheepishly lower his head, pretending to be laser focused on the ground beneath them that was out of sight due to the height of the tower.
‘Hey, um…’ Mike mustered up as he turned his body to Will.
‘Oh no, here it fucking comes.’ he though to himself, it was probably going to be some bullshit speech but Will couldn’t find it in him to care anymore.
‘What you said earlier, at the Squawk…’ he pauses, out of breath, as if he hasn’t been sitting on his ass on this platform for the past five minutes ‘I’m sorry.’
Thoughts were crossing Will’s mind at the speed of light, something that probably doesn’t happen in Michael’s head.
‘I mean, not sorry about what you said. That came out wrong.’ he sure didn’t have a way with his words.
‘Or not came out wrong. Jesus Christ,’ like it was Jesus’ fault Mike was a fucking moron.
Will forced a laugh and smile out of himself with all the strength he had. ‘It’s okay.’ he pretended to find Mike talking like an idiot funny when it really wasn’t.
‘No, it’s…it’s not. I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. And I guess I was just so self-absorbed that I couldn’t see it. I just… I feel like an idiot, and I…I’m sorry.’ he made so many pauses Will wanted to throw himself off this shit.
Well, good thing they were on a radio tower because this needed to be broadcasted everywhere “breaking news: local teenage boy discovers he was a self-absorbed dick to his best friend for years”
‘You don’t have to be sorry. And you’re not an idiot. You’re not.’ trying to make a lie so big sound natural was harder for Will than surviving in the Upside Down as a kid by constantly running away from deadly monsters.
‘It’s just…’ he made a short pause that for most would seem to be with the purpose of gathering the right words ‘I didn’t even understand it myself for the longest time. I just…I think it needed to happen the way it happened. I needed to find my own way. But what matters is that you’re still here’ unfortunately ‘and you think we can still be friends.’
‘Friends? No, thanks,’ was Mike finally admitting his feelings for him? Was this really happening?
The long pause was heavy in the air between them as his lips finally moved to form the next words he was going to say.
‘Best friends.’
In a split second, Will’s hands move towards Mike’s back and with all the strength he had in him, pushes him from the tower.
Like the pussy he is, Mike was screaming all the way down to the ground, only giving Will some peace and quiet to think when his screeching stopped at the same time a loud thud echoed through the air.
Will breathed it all in and finally felt that sentiment of fulfillment.