All My Love

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at

http://archiveofourown.org/works/49181842.

Rating:
Not Rated

Archive Warning:
Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings
Apply

Category:
M/M

Fandom:
Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Relationship:
Will Byers/Mike Wheeler

Character:
Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, Karen
Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper, Joyce Byers

Additional Tags:
Coming Out, Mike Wheeler is Bad at Feelings, Mike Wheeler is a Mess,
Artist Will Byers, Artist Will supremacy, Mikes binder with Wills
drawings, loosely based on that one Tumblr post iykyk, kind of?
Flckergate, but the apocalypse is happening so, Will Byers Loves Mike
Wheeler, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, First Kiss, Boys In Love,
Boys Kissing, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Oblivious
Mike Wheeler, Kissing in the Rain

Language:
English

Series:
 Part 7 of Everywhere, Everything

Stats:
Published: 2023-08-07 Words: 3,851 Chapters: 1/1
 All My Love
by philosophically_incorrect

Summary

After the Byers move back to Hawkins, they need a place to stay. Mrs.
Wheeler is only too happy to offer. Mike scrambles to explain away
six months of pining, and fails spectacularly.

Notes

title from All My Love by Noah Kahan <3 describes this fic perfectly
tbh
See the end of the work for more notes
Mike blinked, the things his mom were saying not fully computing in his
head.

"Is that okay, Michael?"

Mike shook his head, trying to clear it. "I...wait, so where will they be
staying?"

Nancy rolled her eyes as his mom sighed. "Here, Mike. In our house. I don't
want them sleeping in the basement, so you will stay in there with Jonathan
and Nancy - no funny business, you two - Will can have your room, Mike,
and El will take Nancy's. Is that okay?"

Mike stared at his mom, willing those words not to be true. Not that he
would mind living with Will. As a matter of fact, he would love it. They
had been apart for too long, and Mike missed him, even though they had
been together in California, but that was less "Hey I missed you how's life?"
and more running around trying to prevent each other from dying. And it
was mostly Mike's fault, but still. He missed him.

But Will? In Mike's room, in Mike's bed? Maybe that had been a subject of
Mike's dreams and the occasional fantasy he allowed himself when he
wasn't busy hiding from the apocalypse, but in reality, he was fucked.

"When - When are they getting here?" Mike asked.

Karen glanced at her watch. "Oh, probably...ten minutes or so?"

"Ten minutes?"

Karen frowned. "Yes, I-"

But Mike had already turned on his heel and was sprinting towards his
stairs, taking them two at a time. He threw his door open and stopped,
staring at his walls.

He was so fucked if Will saw this.

Drawings, years worth, taped and pinned to Mike's wall. All with Will's
name scrawled in the corner. Pictures of Mike with various members of the
Party, a few with the four boys all together, but most of them just him and
Will. Mike hates having his picture taken, but in every picture with Will, he
had a smile that he almost didn't recognize anymore lighting up his eyes.

Ticket stubs from movies he went to with Will. The few letters Will had
written him from California, laying open on his desk, while the ones from
El lay crumpled on the floor, some even in the bottom of his trash can.

And, the most damning piece of evidence, the painting Will had given him
in the back of the pizza van hanging proudly over his desk.

Fuck.

Mike was overwhelmed. This all needed to come down. Now. But he didn't
know where to start.

The drawings, probably.

Mike began pulling them off the wall, carefully so he didn't rip them but
rushing himself. He gently laid them in the binder dedicated to Will. That
would have to go away, too.

He set the letters on top of the drawings, then laid the binder on his bed and
continued putting the drawings away.

A knock on his front door caused Mike to panic. He slammed the binder
shut and turned to put it on his desk.

Voices in the hallway.

Footsteps on the stairs.

A small knock on his open door. "Mike?"

Mike spun around, tripped over a pair of Converse laying on his floor, and
grabbed his desk chair for balance, dropping the binder.
It exploded, years of artwork all bearing Will's name covering his already
dirty floor.

Mike fell to his knees and began gathering the papers. "Shit. Sorry, Will.
No, you don't have to -"

Will had dropped his bag and kneeled to help Mike. "It's fine, seriously.
You're so clumsy, you know that?"

Mike let out a borderline hysterical laugh. "Yep, you know me!"

Will looked a little concerned, before glancing down at the papers in his
hand. He raised an eyebrow. "I drew these."

Mike nodded and closed the binder, thankful that the letters had stayed
concealed. "Yeah. You made them for my birthday in -"

Will smiled. "Fifth grade. Yeah, I remember. Why do you still have this?"

Mike shrugged. "I would never throw away anything you made, Will.
Obviously," he said, gesturing at the binder and the papers in Will's hand.
Will chuckled. "Well, I'm...flattered, I guess. That someone cares that much
about my art."

Mike stood and set the binder on his desk, Will laying the papers on top.
"Of course, I care. You're my best friend."

Will's smile dropped a little. "Yeah. Best friends."

He looked around Mike's room, pausing when he noticed the painting above
the desk. "Wow. You, um, hung that up?"

Mike swallows nervously. "Yeah. You made it."

But did you mean what you said?

He cleared his throat. "Um, anyway, you can just put your stuff wherever.
I'm sorry about the mess, I didn't know you guys were staying here until,
like, ten minutes ago, so...sorry."
Will shrugged. "It's fine. You know I don't care."

He looked back at the painting. "El must still mean a lot to you for you to
hang that up like that."

Mike shook his head. Not now. Please, not now. "I just told you it's because
you made it. Your art is...it's amazing, Will."

Will frowned. "So you don't care about El?"

Mike shook his head. "I do! Of course, I do, I mean, it's just that you
painted it, so it's special to me!"

Mike felt himself blush a little. Shit. He hadn't meant to say that. But he was
in deep now, so he might as well double down. He took a deep breath. "We
broke up three days ago, which I know you know because you're, like,
siblings now, which is cool, but I, um, I asked her about the painting and
she had no idea what I was talking about."

The hurt he had felt three days ago when El had innocently asked, "What is
a commission?" came rushing back as he met Will's guilty eyes. "Why
would you lie about that? I wouldn't have cared if it was from her or not,
but lying about how she felt was...it hurts, Will, because I really needed to
hear that, you know? And if you didn't mean those words, you shouldn't
have said them."

Will crossed his arms. "Like you're so innocent, Mike? I would have killed
for a letter, a call, anything. You hurt me, too. I promise not to join another
Party, and the second school starts you run off and join a stupid club?
Without telling me? And in the few letters you did send, they were all about
El. You didn't even ask how I was doing! Not once!"

Mike opened his mouth to dispute this, then realized he couldn't, because
Will didn't know about the drawer full of letters addressed to him inches
away from Mike.

Will continued. "And you hurt El, too. I know she's fine now and she's okay
with the breakup, but seriously, Mike, you couldn't even write it? She was
supposed to be your girlfriend. She told me how you signed all of your
letters."

Mike felt frozen. So Will knew. Will knew everything, and now he was
going to call him out, and he was so fucked.

But Will didn't say anything else, and Mike would have felt relieved if not
for the look Will was giving him.

"Will, I'm...I'm sorry, okay? But you don't understand."

Will uncrossed his arms and let out a single, incredulous laugh. "No, Mike!
I don't! Because you treated me and El like shit when you first got to
California, then you tell me you feel like you lost me and we're best friends,
but you wouldn't have lost me if you had reached out!"

Mike felt anger boiling in the pit of his stomach. "I did reach out, Will!
Okay, yeah, I didn't write you very much, but I called!"

"Yeah, like twice -"

Mike shook his head. "No, Will. I called you every day. Every day, twice a
day, for three months, I would sit and listen to the dial tone and hope that
today would be the day I get to hear your voice, but you stopped picking up,
so I stopped calling."

He understood what Nancy meant now by "word vomit" when she referred
to Robin. Now that he was talking, he didn't know if he could stop.

"And you know what? Ive been...I've been miserable, Will! I've been angry
and depressed and I know why, but if I told you you would hate me. And
I've been lonely. Not just because you moved, but because Lucas and Max
and Dustin all went their separate ways, and if you were here it wouldn't
have happened because you're what holds us all together. It hurt."

Thunder rattled Mike's bedroom, but he kept going.

"And then I got to California, and you looked so different, and I'm an idiot,
okay? I'm sorry for treating you like shit because I did and - and that's not
okay. You don't deserve that. But it...scared me, I guess. You had changed
so much and we hadn't been talking and I felt like you didn't need me
anymore, which is why when you gave me the painting and said all those
things it really meant something to me, so finding out you just came up with
that in that moment fucking hurt."

Something flickered across Will's face, but before Mike could pinpoint it
Will was shaking his head. "You're wrong, Mike. I didn't just...pull those
words out of thin air. I really meant them. I meant everything I said."

Mike's head was spinning, and pounding almost as hard as the rain was
against his house. "But...If those were your words, then why did you
encourage me to tell El that I..."

He trailed off, not able to finish his sentence. Will looked away. "Because I
thought it would be easier than it was."

"Easier? What would be easier?"

Will looked up at him, and Mike saw the tears in his eyes. "Easier to let you
go," Will muttered. "Because if you were happy, then I would know I did
the right thing."

"I don't..." understand, he was going to say. But then the pieces began
falling into place. Something clicked.

If Will meant what he said in the van, and if the words were his own, not
El's, and if he was letting him go, then that all meant...

Mike's room was spinning. "Did you really think I would be happier
without you?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know, Mike. Didn't your life start the day I went missing?"

"My life started the day I found you in the woods."

God, Mike had fucked up.

Will pushed past him and left the room. Mike heard Will's feet on the stairs,
then there was silence except for the thunder and rain.

Mike sat down on his bed, thoughts racing.

What Will had said in the van were his words. The painting was for him,
and so were the words, and the conviction with which Will had said them.
The painting was hanging above his desk, but it was the words that Mike
loved to think of, replaying them in his head, tossing them around and
picking them apart, wishing that they were Will's, but they were, and now
Mike knew that, but he wasn't sure what to do with this new knowledge. If
Will meant what he said, then did that mean that he felt the same way about
Mike that Mike felt for Will? Or was Mike's wishful thinking getting in the
way of logic?

Will didn't know he had called twice a day for three months. He knew that
much by the confusion on his face when he told him that. But he also didn't
know about the stack of letters, addressed to Will Byers in Lenora, signed
by Mike.

The letters.

Mike jumped up and rushed over to his desk, yanking open the bottom
drawer filled to the brim with To Will Byers, Lenora, California, in Mike's
messy scrawl. He thumbed through them, stopping when he got to the only
one without an envelope.

He pulled it out and ran out of his room, stopping at the bottom of the stairs,
staring at Jonathan, Nancy, El, Joyce, and his mom all sitting in the living
room.

"Do you guys know where Will went?"

Everyone looked up at him. El frowned. "I thought he was with you?"

Mike shook his head. "He came down a few minutes ago - You didn't see
him?"
Everyone shook their heads. Joyce stood, looking worried. "Is everything
alright?"

Mike opened his mouth, then closed it again. "I - uh. Yes? Yeah, he's okay,
he just wanted some...fresh air. I forgot. I should go after him."

Joyce frowned. "It's pouring rain out there. And neither of you should be
out there alone, considering the, er, circumstances."

She glanced at Karen.

Jonathan stood. "I'll drive you, Mike. Do you know where he would be?"

Nancy followed suit. "I'll come with you. Mom, you and Ms. Byers can stay
here. We'll be okay."

Mike ran to put his shoes on and open the door but was intercepted by El.

"He cares a lot for you, Mike. It will all be okay."

Mike hugged her. "Thank you, El."

The three left the Wheeler house, cutting Joyce's arguments off as they
piled into Jonathan's car.

Mike squinted out the window. The sun was setting, so it was dark. Couple
that with the pouring rain and, well.

"So, Mike, exactly what is going on? I don't want to find my brother getting
eaten by a demodog, and I don't want any of us to be either.

Mike sighed. "We got into an argument, and he confessed some things to
me, then ran off. I didn't know he was going to leave the house, or I swear I
would have stopped him."

Jonathan's eyes met Mikes's in the mirror, and Mike saw understanding
flash across his face. "Got it. Well, Mike, your bike was gone, which means
Will took it somewhere."
Nancy turned to look at him. "Any idea where he would be?"

Mike started to shake his head, then stopped.

"Easier to let you go," Will had said.

"The elementary school," Mike gasped. "That's where he is."

Nancy frowned. "Mike, why would he be at the elementary school?"

"Because as far as he knows, Castle Byers isn't standing anymore."

Jonathan sighed. "Mike-"

Mike shook his head. "I know it sounds crazy. Just - trust me, okay?"

Their eyes met again.

Jonathan nodded. "Alright. Let's go."

Mike returned to staring out the window, praying he wouldn't see his bike
laying in a ditch, its rider long gone.

Jonathan pulled into the parking lot, and Mike immediately jumped out of
the car and ran towards the back of the school.

"Mike, where are you going?" Nancy yelled after him.

"Just stay in the car, okay? I'll be back in a minute!"

Mike knew this was where he would find Will. After all, it was the same
place he had found him ten years ago when he made the best decision of his
life, the day his life started.

He was soaked when he rounded the back of the building and almost
tripped over his bike laying on the ground, but it was the lone figure just a
few feet away that made his heart start pounding.

"Can I sit here?"

Will glanced up at him. "What are you doing here? It's raining."

Mike sat on the swing next to him. "Looking for you. Duh. I wasn't gonna
let you get eaten by a demodog without me."

Will smiled. "Appreciate it."

They sat in silence for a minute as the rain let up slightly. Will swung
lightly while Mike's old Converse drew circles in the mud.

Finally, Mike looked up. "I was wrong."

Will shook his head. "It's fine, Mike. I was out of line. I shouldn't have -"

"No, Will. I was in the wrong there. The truth is, the day you went missing,
the day we found El? That was the second worst day of my life. Ask Lucas
or Dustin, they can tell you. I was scared shitless for you, because I didn't
know where you were and if you were okay and I wasn't there to help you if
you were."

Will frowned. "Second worst day?"

Mike looked down. "After we got you back, I made Lucas and Dustin swear
up and down that they wouldn't tell you."

"You don't have to, Mike."

Mike shook his head. "No. It's fine. It was just...they planted a body. A fake
one. They pulled it out of the quarry. I was there, and we all thought it was
you, and that was proof that you were gone. For good. I had lost you. I had
failed to protect you. I biked home crying so hard I couldn't even see."

Will put his hand on Mike's forearm. "I'm so sorry, Mike. I didn't know.
That's awful."

Mike shrugged. "It's okay. Besides the nightmares. But what's not okay is
how I've treated you. The truth is, Will,"

Mike took a deep breath. Now or never Wheeler. Don't choke.

"Look. I'm not making excuses for how I treated you or El. That was shitty
of me. But the truth is, I've just felt so lost here without you. And for six
months, I've been trying to be as normal as possible, but I can't, Will.
Because you're my normal. I'm not me without you."

The rain had mostly ebbed. It was still coming down, but not early as
vicious as it had been just thirty minutes ago.

"My point is, my life didn't start the day you went missing. In a way, it felt
like it ended. Because you mean everything to me, Will. Everything."

He didn't dare look at Will, afraid of the judgment he might see on his face,
but then Will spoke.

"Do you...do you mean that?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah. Of course I do. I could never...I wouldn't lie to you,
Will. Especially about this."

There was silence, and Mike could hear thunder far off in the distance.

Will hesitantly moved his hand off Mike's arm. Mike felt a jolt of sadness,
but he understood Will reacting this way.

But then Will wrapped his pinky finger around Mike's as the rain continued
to fall, and Mike looked up and met his eyes.

"I'm sorry I lied about the painting. I was scared that if you knew how I felt,
you would freak out, so I used El as a cover, which was stupid and I'm
sorry."

"It's okay."

They listened to the thunder for another moment, pinkies still interlocked.
"I wrote you. A lot. I have...I brought one for you to read. If you want."

Will nodded. "As long as it doesn't get wet. I would love to."
Mike nodded and pulled the slightly crumpled note out of his pocket and
passed it to Will, who hunched over it so the rain wouldn't ruin it.

Mike's hands shook as he watched Will read the letter.

Mike had written this particular letter one night when he couldn't sleep. It
was unorganized and sloppy, the letters slanted, his sentences far too
personal but made for someone else at the same time.

"You signed this -"

Mike coughed. "Yeah. I, um, could never bring myself to do it with El, but
it always felt natural with you, so. Yeah."

Will's eyes combed over the last two words at the bottom of the page.

Love, Mike

Will carefully folded up the letter and placed it in his inside jacket pocket so
it wouldn't get wet. "Natural?"

"Yeah. Normal."

Will threaded the rest of their fingers together, and Mike was sure Will
could see his heart rate spike.

"Will?"

"Shut up for a second."

Mike felt his face burn underneath Will's careful gaze. Finally, he smiled.
"Do you remember the day we met? It was right here, and you came up to
me and asked -"

"I asked if you would be my friend."

"And what did I say?"

Mike smiled uncertainly, not sure where Will was going with this. "You said
yes."

Will stood, pulling Mike with him, turning so they were face-to-face, still
holding hands. "I said yes."

"Will, what point are you trying to prove here?"

Will took a deep breath. "I'm trying to say that I'm about to do something
really stupid, and I need you to remember we're friends, okay?"

"Will, I'm confu-"

Mike was cut off when Will leaned forward and carefully pressed his lips
against Mike's own.

Mike's shocked instinct was to jump backward, instantly regretting it when

he saw Will's face.

"I'm sorry, Mike, I -"

It was Will's turn to have an unfinished sentence. Mike surged forward and
kissed Will, one hand on his lower back, pulling him close, and the other on
the nape of his neck, fingers brushing his hair.

Will's gasp was cut off by Mike covering his mouth with his own. Will's
hands moved to his face, then became tangled in his wet hair. As the kiss
deepened, Mike's hands fell to Will's waist, holding him as close as he
could get him, and Will kept one hand on his face and the other on his neck,
pulling him down, down, down.

Will pulled away, panting. Mike shook his head, feeling dizzy and like he
had just taken several hits of Argyle's weed. "Holy shit," he muttered,
before Will pulled him back and Mike wrapped his arm around him,
hungry, desperate, wanting.

The rain continued to fall as they kissed like it was the end of the world,
which it was, and they were the only two people left.
At least they were until they heard someone calling Will's name.

The two instantly broke apart. "Shit. I forgot about Nancy and Jonathan,"
Mike said.

They saw a flashlight, and seconds later the two appeared out of the
darkness. "Are you guys okay? What happened?" Nancy asked, running
forward and grabbing Mike's shoulders. Jonathan, no stranger to the just-
been-kissed-by-a-Wheeler look, raised his eyebrows at Will's red lips. "We
need to go. The sun already set, and it's too dangerous to be out here like
this after dark."

They nodded, following Nancy and Jonathan back to the car.

They held hands in the backseat on the way back, Mike ignoring Jonathan
glancing up at them every ten seconds, raising an eyebrow every time he
caught the two grinning shyly at each other.

But he didn't say anything, and after they returned and Will told his mom he
just needed some air, and that he was okay and everything was fine, and
after El winked at Mike when she caught him staring at Will and he turned
bright red, and after everyone in the house turned in for the night, Mike
snuck out of the basement and into his room and crawled into bed with
Will, where they whispered and giggled and kissed for hours, and he fell
asleep and woke up holding his hand, he smiled and finally allowed himself
to feel normal again.
End Notes

me when i combine parts of Flickergate and the swingset where they

first met but also make a subtle nod to Mike rebuilding Castle Byers
because I couldn't make up my mind about them kissing on the swings
or in the rebuilt Castle Byers that Mike fixed up because he was
depressed and missed Will: inteelgint

also. if u guys want. i could maybe release Mike's letter in a separate

work. only if u want tho.

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