Chapter Text
Mike blinks.
He blinks once, twice, thrice. But it doesn’t change what he sees.
Will is standing in the doorframe, looking so utterly beautiful that Mike can’t seem to close his mouth.
It is a Friday afternoon when Will apparently decides to show up at the music store Mike works in – and just like that, he throws Mike’s brain into total chaos. It’s been a year. A whole year. Since both of them moved away, they haven’t really talked. And Mike has been missing it. A lot. He has been thinking about Will all the damn time, but he just couldn’t reach out to him. What would he say? Would he make it weird? The last thing Mike wants is to make Will uncomfortable or to fuck everything up. He would rather have no contact with Will at all than make him feel bad or distressed because of the fact that Mike is in love with him. And he has been in love with him for quite some time. Mike always thought that feeling would go away if only he gave it enough time, but seeing Will now, standing in front of him after not having seen him for a whole year, his heart is still beating out of his chest and he realizes that there is nothing in this world that could possibly change his feelings for his best friend. Because that’s all Will is to him and will always be: His best friend. Or at least, that’s how it’s always been – right now, Mike isn’t sure if they even are friends anymore, and that thought hurts him more than anything else could. Especially since it’s his fault that it is the way it is between them. If only Mike reached out…
“Hey Mike,” Will says, and Mike realizes he’s been staring at him for a minute with his eyes and mouth open without saying anything.
“Uhm- Hey,” Mike stammers, and he hates the fact that Will only had to say
“W- What are you doing here?” Mike blurts out, because he does wanna know, but it came out in a tone that sounded like I don’t want you here, which is not at all what Mike meant to say. “I mean- It’s great to see you- I just- I didn’t know you were visiting.”
Will cracks a smile, but it looks a bit insecure. “Yeah, well uhm… I was visiting Jonathan so I thought I’d step by- Lucas told me you work here.”
Mike nods. Of course, he was visiting Jonathan, that makes sense. But he didn’t know Lucas was still close to Will – and they talked about Mike?
“Do you uhm, wanna come in? I can show you around,” Mike suggests, because what else is he supposed to do while the love of his life is standing in front of him with no previous warning?
“Yeah sure,” Will takes a few steps away from the doorframe and into the store until he stops in front of a tray that’s filled with vinyls. Mike walks up to him and stops at the opposite side of the tray, watching Will as he lets his fingers glide over the vinyls, occasionally pulling one out to look at it and then putting it back.
“Do you still listen to The Clash?” Mike asks eventually, scanning Will’s face as he looks up, a surprised expression on his face.
“Yeah, I do,” he answers, and for a second, Mike thinks he sees a slight pink flush on Will’s face – but he probably hallucinated that.
Mike pulls out a vinyl and hands it to Will. “Have you listened to this album yet? The band is formed by the guitarist of The Clash, so maybe you’d like it?”
Will stares at the vinyl, then he looks up at Mike, his eyes wide. “No, I haven’t,” he says, with a surprised undertone. “I didn’t even know… Since when do you know more about The Clash than me?” A crooked smile appears on his face.
“I’ve been keeping up with them lately,” Mike declares, quite proudly. “It was your favourite band after all,” he adds and only after the words are out does he realise what he just said, suddenly feeling the need to punch himself in the face. What kind of reasoning is that? Well, it’s the truth, he has been keeping up with the band members of The Clash because of Will. Because it was one part of Will that Mike could still cling to, keep close to him without making Will uncomfortable. But why, for God’s sake, would he say that to Will?
Will’s eyes grow even wider as they stare at Mike, in, what Mike supposes, disbelief.
“So, uhm, you should definitely check it out,” Mike adds quickly before a long awkward silence can occur. Will looks at the vinyl once more before pressing it against his chest and looking back up at Mike.
“I will,” he says, with such a warm smile that Mike feels like he will burn up right here on the spot. “Thank you, Mike,” Will adds and Mike has to control himself to not stare at him like a creep. And even though he tries his best to not let it happen, he still feels heat creeping up into his face. He quickly clears his throat, pushes his glasses up with his pinkie and runs a hand through his hair. As if that would make it better. Could Will just stop calling him by his goddamn name already?
And as if Will read his thoughts, he says “Mike?”, to which Mike almost flinches before answering with “Yeah?”
Will’s gaze flickers from Mike’s eyes to the floor and back to Mike before he finally says “I missed you.”
Mike feels like the floor has opened up and he fell right through it. He feels like his stomach has turned upside down and like his heart has stopped beating right in this moment.
Will missed him.
Those are words Mike didn’t even dare to dream about, not even when he was lying in bed awake at midnight, letting his thoughts wander. And now Will is standing right there in front of him, so close that Mike would only have to reach out his hand to touch him, and he tells him that he missed him.
When Mike doesn’t answer right away, Will gets visibly embarrassed, and even though Mike wants to let him know that he missed him too, he has to admit that Will looks quite cute like this. A light pink and a little smile on his face, his gaze darting around everywhere but Mike’s eyes, shifting his weight from one leg to the other and back. But of course, Mike puts Will out of his misery. “I missed you too, Will,” he says with a smile, and when he finally says Will’s name, he feels just how right it sounds. And how right it feels to say it. It almost feels like this name belongs to Mike, and for one moment Mike wished that he was the only one who was allowed to call Will by his name.
Will’s smile grows a bit bigger, the pink colour still staying on his face. Mike probably doesn’t look any different, he thinks to himself.
“So, uhm,” Mike clears his throat. “I will be off here in 30 minutes, so if you want to, we could grab a drink together after?”
And at that, Will beams. He nods, almost eagerly, as if he’s been waiting for Mike to suggest this. “Yeah, sure!”
“Cool!” Mike answers.
“Cool.” Will smiles.
And for a moment, it felt like they were 15 again.