December 15, 1984

The Hawkins middle school gym filled with the songs playing in the background, the twinkling lights hung on the ceiling shone above everyone dancing on the dance floor, and the entire place was decorated with blue and silver strings along with the big sparkling sign reading 'snow ball.'

It was beautiful, even if mike usual didn't surround himself in an environment like this, it wasn't too bad of a place. He pictured it worse, but it was okay.

He didn't really like the fact that he was sitting alone in a table though, watching everyone slow dance to the song Time after time, since even his friends had someone to slow dance with. Lucas had found the guts to ask Max (A girl that recently joined their party) to dance, Dustin was dancing with Nancy since he got rejected by a girl, and jane was dancing with a boy that kindly offered her to dance.

Mike was happy for his friends, but deep down he wished that he could share this moment with a certain someone too.

After will's disappearance, mike radioed him for 353 days. Not a sound of will's voice ever came from the other line, but mike never lost hope. He believed that will wasn't dead and that he was still out there, even if his friends believed that he wasn't.

And mike was right, he was still alive. From the moment will stepped into the byers household, mike couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was really him, the boy mike waited to see for so long.

Of course, everyone was surprised to see will, not only because they all thought he was dead, but also because he looked a lot different.

As usual, he had a bloody nose from the demo-dogs he had killed when he was outside. His hair was longer from the last time everyone saw him, though it was slicked back and reached nape of his neck. It looked as if he had black eyeshadow under his eyes, and he wore a black coat with a white shirt underneath, denim jeans that were cuffed at the end and worn out white converse.

Mike's heart skipped a beat when he saw will, and will was just as happy to see him too.

'Will..'

'Mike..'

They embraced themselves in each others arms, holding on to each other tightly as they could from how much they missed each other. Will sobbed as his chin rested on mikes shoulder, with small tears streaming down his face. Mike held the boy close, cherishing the moment they were currently sharing.

He pulled away from the hug first, smiling at will with his teary eyes.

'I never gave up on you, I called you every night. Every night for-'

'353 days,'

Mike's smile dropped a bit, as he was surprised and slightly confused.

'I heard.' will softly added, noticing the sudden drop of mike's smile.

'Why didn't you tell me that you were there? that you were okay?'

'Cause I wouldn't let him.' Hoppers voice piped in, causing the two boys to turns their heads toward him.

Mike remembers being angry at hopper after that, yelling at him and questioning as to why he was keeping will away from him all this time. He worried about will for the longest time, of course he was going to be angry to find that will was hiding in hoppers cabin all along.

Somewhat after mike's anger died down, they all had come up with a plan to stop the world from being endangered, which was to force the mind flayer, that was currently in her body, out of jane, and to close the gate.

Mike, once again, had been worried for will. He didn't like that fact that there was a possibility that he could lose will again, because he just got him back, he just got the boy he liked back. And even after will assured him that he would be back, deep down mike still feared for the boy's life. The last time will did something like this was when he killed the Demogorgon, and that lead to his disappearance.

Everyone said there goodbyes as they were off to finish their plan, and mike watched will walk away with an urge to not want to let him go.

But as will promised, nothing bad thankfully ever happened to him.

He was exhausted from the amount of power he used to close the gate, and the amount of screaming he did in order to try his best to not give up and to not let the world down.

Streams of blood ran down his nose, and his eyes turned bloodshot red while the veins in his face grew visible to see the more paler he turned. He finally closed the gate, While Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy were finally able to burn the mind flayer out of jane.

When it was all over, it was decided that will still stayed low after that, even after they had changed his name to William Hopper and he officially became hopper's son, he still had to lay low for his own safety. Mike didn't complain, as long as he still got to see will daily, he didn't mind at all.

Fast forward to today, mike sat alone as he watched everyone slow dance, because he couldn't share this moment with the person he wanted to most.

But in the corner of his eye, he saw the gym doors open, and there stepped in a boy.

His chestnut brown hair was pushed back, with a small strand of hair that hung loose on his forehead. His rosy cheeks and nose stood out as his big green eyes wondered around the gym, looking for a specific someone. He wore a baby blue collar shirt with short sleeves, and they were rolled up to his shoulders.

The shirt was tucked loosely into his pair of light khaki pants, they were cuffed at the ends as he still wore his dirty white converse.

Hopper didn't plan on letting will go to the Snowball, so he couldn't go last minute to go buy something for will to wear once he decided he'd let him go. He tried his best to dress the boy as nice as possible, will didn't mind how he looked, in fact he liked it. He just hoped that mike liked how he looked, even if his outfit wasn't the neatest in the room.

But the moment mike stood up from his seat to make eye contact with will, his heart fluttered.

He thought will looked amazing, with 'Every breath you take.' playing in the background and the lights of the gym hitting his frame perfectly, it may have sounded cheesy, but mike thought he'd faint right then in there.

They both stared at each other from across the gym for a few seconds once they locked eyes, they hadn't seen each other since will closed the gate, and mike wasn't expecting will to be at the snowball at all. But mike didn't question his presence, as he was too excited to see him.

A small smile grew on will's face when he saw mike, and as he started to walk towards him, mike did too.

"You look beautiful." mike complemented, receiving a blushing smile from will in response.

Most would say that a boy should be called 'handsome', but mike didn't see it that way. When he looked at will, he thought pretty or beautiful. Maybe with others, mike would call them something else, but with will, it was different.

He glanced at the dance floor, then back at will nervously.

"Do you wanna dance?"

The smaller boy paused, looking back at the dance floor as well.

"I.. don't know how."

Mike shrugged, lightly smiling. "I don't either, do you wanna figure it out?"

will smiled at him, and nodded his head.

They gently held onto each other's hands, walking to the dance floor.

"Okay, like this.."

Mike placed wills hands on his shoulders, while mike placed his own on will's waist, and they soon started slowly swaying to the music. Both staring into each others eyes lovingly, softly smiling at each other as if they were the only people on the dance floor.

They figured it out, and even if a few people gave them questioning or even disgusted looks, they didn't care. For the first time in a long time, they were happy. Both spent so long waiting to see each other again, and in the end it was worth it, because they were able to meet again.

That night, they shared their second kiss.

Not a lot of people saw, so the last thing they had to worry about was what people thought. It was during their dance, and mike just leaned in and went for it. It was a small and sweet kiss, like the first, and it left them both smiling and staring at each other.

Will leaned his forehead on mikes, the two continuing to dance until the snowball was over.

They were just happy to be with each other again.

__________________

omg these are so ugly and cringy but aNyWaYS-