Chapter Text
Mike Wheeler was not a rational person. He had not considered himself a rational person for several years. Taking in a random girl off the street and hiding her in his basement for a few weeks was honestly one of his less insane decisions. The more insane decisions leant towards his proclamation of "Friends? No thanks. Best friends!" to Will, which he still felt the urge to climb back up that tower and throw himself off it about.
Will, on the other hand, sweet, dear lovely Will, had never made a bad decision in his life. (Mike might have been a little biased in saying that, but so what? He'd always been biased when it came to Will.)
This was the first bad decision Will had ever made.
'This', more specifically, being Carlton. Stupid, perfect, handsome Carlton who Will met at some bar and had wormed his way into board game night and movie nights and every damn thing. He seemed to be allergic to leaving Will's side, something that made Mike clench his teeth until they almost cracked.
Speaking of Carlton, Mike was currently trying to calm himself down before Will and his parasite arrived for one of the aforementioned game nights by dealing money very aggresively while Max stared at him evily, her glare promising vicious defeat.
The doorbell rang, Lucas springing up to get it and opening it to Will, Jane, Dustin and Carlton.
"Hey, man!" Lucas' voice carried, followed by the familiar sound of Will's laugh as Lucas wrapped him in a tight hug.
"What, don't I get a hug?" Dustin asked, offended.
"I saw you, like, two days ago." Lucas' response came.
Dustin scoffed. "Just say you don't love me."
Jane giggled, worming her way through the four men to hug Max, her girlfriend, and wave at Mike. They'd had a good conversation after Jane nearly sacrificed herself, being saved by Will pulling her from the portal with her powers, that had resulted in her and Mike (finally) breaking up and Mike was quite certain their relationship had never been better. Jane was now dating Max, who was also dating Lucas. Mike wasn't too sure about the arrangement, but the three of them were happy as he'd ever seen them, so who was he to judge?
"Who's ready to get their ass kicked at Monopoly?" Carlton asked to cheers from the other, nicer, less-insane-about-Will-Byers inhabitants of the Wheeler basement.
Of course, everyone else loved Carlton. Why wouldn't they? He made Will happy and there was no obvious problem with him except that he wasn't Mike. So naturally, everyone welcomed Carlton with open arms, and Mike had to sit there and pretend like he wasn't plotting twenty different ways to murder him and hide the body at any given time the man was in his sight and in his house and sitting next to his Will-
Lucas kicked Mike's knee, distracting him from his murderous thoughts. "Ow! What the hell, dude?"
Lucas gestured condescendingly at the table. "Are we to play Monopoly, Michael, or are you going to stare at the carpet for the rest of the night?"
Mike scowled at him before picking up the die, barely ducking a piece of popcorn Max threw at him.
"It's a very nice carpet," the angel that went by Will said from his place under Carlton's leather jacket clad arm.
"Thank you," Mike muttered softly, because this was what his life had come to.
"Right. Prepare to die, Wheeler," Max said, rubbing her hands together like an evil fly, because of course Max would invent a way to kill Mike even in Monopoly.
Mike scoffed, feeling the familiar competitive fire rise in him at her challenge. "You wish, Mayfield."
The immensely competitive game of Monopoly almost distracted Mike from the parasite that was Carlton. Almost.
Every time Will leaned forwards to roll, Carlton leaned with him, making sure his arm never left Will's shoulder. The two sat together, giggling when Max landed in jail and let out enough swear words to make both Jane and Lucas surprised, discussing whether or not to put houses on their properties, like they fucking lived together and were fucking, like, married or something-
"Stop bending the cards, Mike!" Dustin complained, throwing some sort of candy at him that flew past him and conveniently into Jane's mouth with a sly grin from the girl.
"I'm not bending the cards," Mike said, like the lying liar he was.
"He's just mad I'm beating him," Max said, which normally would be true, but right now Mike was so damn distracted by Carlton's stupid aftershave and the stubble on his chin and the way he was just in Will's space like he belonged there-
"You're just mad I'm cooler than you," Mike said pathetically.
Max raised her eyebrows. "Whatever, Wheeler. I'm dating your ex-girlfriend."
Jane grinned, letting Max pull her into a kiss.
"It's my turn," Will interrupted, taking the dice from Dustin. "If you two can stop bickering for once in your life."
Carlton laughed and Mike wanted to kill him. Wanted to rip his eyeballs out of his head so he could never look at Will again.
But he was not going to do that. He was not insane. And he was not a murderer of anything other than a bunch of evil ass demogorgons that kind of deserved it anyway.
The night continued with Mike sort of managing to pull himself together and focus on the game long enough to stop fantasising about increasingly graphic ways to murder Will's dear boyfriend.
"Alright, I think we're gonna head out," Lucas said after he, Max and Jane all went bankrupt.
(Dustin was an excellent Monopoly player. Will jokingly called him a capitalist pig.)
Jane nodded, picking up her handmade bag with yellow and purple flowers stitched in it. "I'm tired. Will you be okay without us?"
She directed that last bit to Mike, whom she seemed to know was out of it, even if she wasn't sure why.
"Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine," Mike said, waving her off. "Dustin can't be king forever."
"Excuse you, I am not a king," Dustin said offendedly. "I am simply a corrupt leader."
"So you admit it," Will said dramatically, pointing at him. "You are corrupt!"
Dustin just shrugged. "I'm also rich. What are you gonna do about it?"
Will scowled. "If I had my powers, there'd be nothing left of you but ashes and that stupid hat."
Dustin gasped. "Carlton! Control your boyfriend! He's threatening me!"
Carlton raised his hands in mock innocence. "Hey, he's just overthrowing a corrupt leader. I see no issues here."
"Thank you babe," Will said, punctuating the sentence with a kiss on Carlton's cheek.
Mike stood up suddenly. "I'll walk you guys out."
Not waiting for an answer, he strode towards the front door, the slightly confused trio of Lucas, Max and Jane in tow.
When Lucas and Max were in the car, Jane stopped and turned to Mike.
"Listen," she began. "I won't pretend to know how you feel. I think we both know that was never either of our strong suits."
Mike let out a small laugh and Jane smiled.
"But you seem… unhappy. Is it because of Will's boyfriend?"
Mike's smile dropped instantly.
Jane watched him knowingly. "It's okay if it is."
"It's not," Mike said unconvincingly.
"You and Will have always been," Jane paused, searching for the words. "Different. I did not notice it before, but… you are like me and Max. Before we started dating."
Her observation slammed into Mike like a tidal wave.
"We- I- Will and I- we're not-"
Jane put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm not saying you are. I'm just saying to think about it. Okay?"
Mike nodded shakily.
"Thanks for the game." Jane climbed into the car, cutting off an argument between Lucas and Max about what to listen to on the way home (Max wanted Queen, Lucas wanted ABBA).
Mike watched their car pull out, frozen to the spot like a deer in headlights.
Was he… in love with Will?