"We should go on a road trip." Mike broke the comfortable silence that he and Will were sharing. Will hummed a little and looked up from his drawing. "Don't you think that'd be fun?" Mike set aside the comic book and rolled over on his stomach to look at his best friend. Will spun around in his desk chair, twirling a colored pencil in his hands.

"Who? The whole party, or…?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Just us!" Mike sat up quickly, throwing the comic book on the floor. "I got that pretty Thunderbird, you know? We can just drive out east; go see to the beach, like we've always talked about! We can go to the big city and explore. It'll be nice for us to get out of Hawkins for the summer. We can pretend to be different people." he took a deep breath and he looked so fucking hopeful, with his eyes lit up and that smile on his face. And, well, Will Byers had never been one to say no to Mike Wheeler before, so why should he start now?

"Sounds like fun." He put down his colored pencil down and wheeled forward towards the bed. Mike's face was shining with excitement.

"You can draw and we can take so many pictures—you can fluff up your portfolio for all those fancy art schools you're applying to."

"I've already sent more than half of the applications in, Mikey." Will rolled his eyes and Mike's face fell just a little. "But I would love new material to draw." He smiled and Mike's smile reappeared. "And we just got that Polaroid that we could mess around with..." but he still pretended to think about it. Mike was so much fun to mess with.

"Wiiiiiiiiillllllll!" Mike whined.

"Mike, have I ever been able to tell you no before?" Will raised an eyebrow. "Why would I start now? A road trip sounds fucking amazing."

Mike almost fell off the (too small) bed in excitement. He quickly caught himself and flashed Will the brightest smile he'd ever seen. Will could feel his cheeks burning and his heart racing. He'd always been a sucker for Mike's smiles, but this was the brightest he'd ever seen. It took his breath away and Will wasn't about to ask for it back.

"Will?" Mike asked. He was back on the bed, lying on his stomach with his chin propped up on his hands, staring up expectantly at Will. He hummed his response, propping his feet up on the bed and leaning back in his chair. "Leave by the end of the week?"

"Mikey, it's Wednesday." Will pointed out, looking at his best friend. Mike nodded. "That gives us three days to prepare for the whole summer."

"We can do it." Mike smiled, rolling his head back to look at him. "We've done crazier things."

"Well, I mean, yeah, but still. We have to see everyone else, too, don't we?"

"We will." He raised an eyebrow. "And if you were worrying about it, I've already talked to Joyce. Just to be sure." This was why Will loved Mike so goddamn much. He didn't even think about his mom before agreeing to going off with Mike all summer long. Not that it surprised him that she agreed to it; it was Mike, after all.

"Oh." He grinned and pushed the hair out of Mike's face. "Thank you." he said softly. "We can leave by the end of the week. Want to make a list of what we need so we don't forget anything?"

"Only because you like making lists." Mike teased.

Will rolled his eyes. "You'll be thanking me later, Wheeler, when you're scrambling at the last minute trying to cram things into your car."

Will turned around in his chair to get a spare notebook and a pen. He covered the drawing of Mike he had been working on earlier before turning back around and saw Mike on his back again. His head was hanging off the bed, hands resting on his stomach. Will laughed at the sight. "What do we need?"

"We need to make more mixtapes."

"We already have a lot, Mikey."

"We need more." Mike said, lifting his head up to look directly at him. "Annnddd, maps."

Mike was leaning against the hood of his car, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Will paused on his way to the car, almost dropping the box of tapes and maps he was holding. The wind was lightly blowing through his hair, his curls sticking to the back of his neck in the late afternoon heat. His recently gained tan had caused his freckles to stand out even more than usual and they were everywhere. He just had to stop, to admire his beauty. He was starting to worry, now, just a little, because being stuck in a car with just Mike for company was a little daunting and as much as he loved the idea—he was still a little scared because he was still in love with his best friend and there was no way he felt the same way. He shook his head to clear it and kept walking, watching Mike exhale a cloud of smoke. Will set the box of tapes behind the driver's side and safely tucked the maps in the glovebox.

"This was your idea, you know." he teased, adjusting the contents of the glovebox so the maps would fit properly.

"Okay, but I tried to help." Mike protested, turning around. Will had emptied everything out onto the seat—three pairs of sunglasses, lighters, packs of cigarettes and gum, spare hair ties—probably from El and Max—and a mixtape that Will had made him when they were thirteen. "But you kicked me out, saying that I was making things worse."

"Have you seen your room?" Will tried to keep his tone playful as he turned the tape over his hands. He had no idea he'd kept it all this time. He noticed that the tape deck was empty, so he put the mixtape in before carefully putting everything else in the glovebox with the maps on top. He got out of the car and leaned over the open door. Mike flashed him a smile, his cigarette resting between his lips and Will had never been more jealous of a cigarette. "I had to clean your car before we could pack."

"Again! I tried help, but you wouldn't let me." Mike spoke around the cigarette.

"Two bags of trash, Michael! Two bags!"

Mike rolled his eyes. "We practically share this car, Will." He said, through a cloud of smoke. "If anything, one of those bags was yours."

"I throw my shit away!" Will protested, closing the car door and leaning against it. Mike shook his head and took a final drag off of his cigarette before dropping it to the ground. He looked up at Will through a few stray locks of hair and Will forgot how to breathe.

"They were small bags, Byers." He smirked, shaking the hair out of his eyes. "Stop being dramatic." He turned around and started walking toward the house. "Come help me set up for movie night!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Movie night turned into a sleepover, like always. ("Mike, we have to leave early!" "We have all summer, we'll be okay.") Dustin and El were getting snacks—which meant Dustin was busying himself around the kitchen getting the perfect snacks, while El made way too many eggos. Max had found a boombox collecting dust in the corner of the basement earlier so she was searching the house for tapes to play and Lucas had decided to raid the Wheeler's liquor cabinet. Mike and Will were finishing the final touches on the giant fort they had decided to build in the basement for them to not-sleep in.

"No, Mikey, you're tangling the lights!" Will giggled. Mike sighed and handed him the messy string of lights with a smile.

"I don't know why you always have me do this. I always tangle them." He muttered, watching Will carefully untangle the mess he had made.

"Because I make the pillows the fluffiest." Will said without looking up. "You can also make them look pretty on the rare occasion that you don't tangle them." He teased, glancing up. He was surprised to see Mike's cheeks tinged a lovely shade of pink. It was his favorite color and he knew exactly how to mix that color with his paints. Will smiled softly back. "Okay, all done." He carefully handed Mike one end of the string of lights.

"Magic fingers!" Mike teased and Will felt his cheeks burn. He turned away, busying himself with making sure that the lights wouldn't tangle again.

"Plug that in, and I'll make them look pretty." He said, starting to drape them around the fort. The lights lit up.

"You make everything look pretty." Mike said gently. Will was happy that he wasn't facing him because he was sure his face was as red as Mike's car, but he felt Mike's eyes burning into his back. He was saved from answering though, because Dustin chose that moment to come downstairs.

"Alright, guys." He was saying. "I think I have all the bases covered. Pretzels and chips, if you're craving something salty. Lots of candy, because obviously. I found gummies because I know Max loves her fucking gummies. I cut up some apples and I found a thing of caramel in the fridge… and I made some pb&j sandwiches! Strawberry and grape." He finished, pushing the blanket back with his feet and setting the tray piled high with food in the middle of the fort. El followed behind.

"I made two boxes of eggos. And ran out to get whipped cream." She added proudly, setting down an overflowing plate of waffles along with four cans of whipped cream.

"For both the eggos and the inevitable whipped cream fight that'll break out later." Dustin smirked, plopping down on a pillow and munching on a sandwich.

"You have no tapes in this house, Wheeler." Max yelled, running down the stairs. She had a handful of tapes in her hands as she entered the blanket fort. "I found a few in your room, but I feel like it's shit that Will left there…The Cure, The Clash, R.E.M., a couple of Bowie tapes…" she raised an eyebrow at them. Will blushed and Max flipped through her limited selection before landing on The Cure and putting it in the boombox.

"Yeah, well, they're all in my car. We already packed for tomorrow."

"Yeah, don't even get me started on that." She laughed and threw herself onto a pillow next to El and took the eggo out of her hands. She took a bite, kissed her cheek, and placed it back in her hands before staring very pointedly at Will. He looked away.

"Your dad has really bad taste in scotch, Mike." Lucas said as he came down the stairs slowly, balancing bottles in his arms.

"We figured that out years ago, buddy." Mike laughed, pulling aside the blanket for Lucas to enter.

"Yeah, well, I had hope for him to change."

"That makes one of us."

"But your mom drinks a lot of wine." He said, setting down a couple bottles in front of the small coffee table. "So, that's what we're drinking." He pulled a bottle out of his back pocket. "But I did find a bottle of vodka that's been there forever and I figured we could use that for a game or something, so…" he set the bottle next to the cans of whipped cream.

El clapped her hands and leaned forward to grab a bottle. "I love getting wine drunk!" she stared at the bottle for a second and the cork popped out.

"Looks like we found our bottle opener." Max laughed, taking a drink from the bottle after El did. Mike grabbed a bottle for him and Will and Dustin and Lucas shared a bottle. El opened their bottles, drinking as she did so. She pushed Max down in front of her.

"Sit." She said. "I want to braid your hair." And she began to run her hands through Max's long, thick hair.

"Hey, Will, has Mike ever let you braid his hair?" Max asked. Her eyes were closed, but he could tell from the smile on her face that she knew what she was doing. He glanced over at Mike. He was drinking.

"No, but—" Was it Will's hopeful imagination or was Mike suddenly sitting closer to him? His side hadn't been pressed into his just a second ago, had it?

"I taught you how to braid." El raised an eyebrow at him, a knowing smile on her face. Will turned to Mike.

"Please, Mikey?" he grinned. Mike rolled his eyes and took another drink of wine.

"You don't play fair, you know that?" he said quietly, moving to sit in front of Will. Max caught his eye and grinned as he started to comb through his curls with his fingers.

"You know, you could ask Mike to do jump off of a fucking cliff—not that you would—and he would do it in a heartbeat." Dustin said, reaching for an apple.

Will didn't hear Mike's response; he was too distracted by the fact that he was allowed play with his hair. And it was wild tonight. Curls sticking out all over the place—it was beautiful. He almost didn't want to restrict to them to a braid. And, fuck, it was soft. Tangled from being in the wind earlier, but so soft. Every once in a while, he would hit a tangle and Mike would squeak as Will tugged on his hair. It was driving him crazy.

"I wonder what happen if we straightened your hair…" Will muttered, running his hands through Mike's hair again. Mike leaned his head back to look at him and frowned.

"I thought you liked my curls."

"No, no, I love them." Will could feel his cheeks burning. "I'm just curious."

Mike bit his lip, searching for his face for a minute. "If you really want to, you can." He said quietly and Will smiled before gently pushing his head back up. Max threw a pillow at them.

"You have all fucking summer to flirt with each other. It's time to play with us!"

Mike and Will blushed the same deep shade of red. Will's fingers tightened a little in Mike's hair and he squeezed again. He tried to unsuccessfully cover it with a cough. El caught Will's eye and raised an eyebrow. Will did not like that look. "Truth or dare, Will?" she asked coyly. Mike groaned.

"Truth."

"Oh, you're no fun, Byers." Max teased. Will rolled his eyes.

"What's the question, Hopper?" he raised an eyebrow at El and she answered with a smirk. She bit her lip for few minutes in thought, her eyes flickering between Mike and Will. He felt Mike tense a little.

"Okay." She took a sip of her wine. "Who do you like?" she asked and let her head fall to Max's shoulder. Mike threw his head back to look at him. His cheeks were stained pink again, but Will avoided his eyes.

"That is so middle school!" He said loudly, gently pushing Mike's head back up and beginning to braid. "You're better than that, Ellie." He glared at her. El shrugged and laughed.

"Answer the question." She said serenely.

Will focused on Mike's hair for a few minutes. "No. I'm using my pass on this."

"You only get one. And it's so easy." Dustin said, waving a twizzler at him.

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked with raised eyebrows. Will nodded without looking up. The rest of the party shared A Look before Will sighed heavily.

"Okay, Ellie, truth or dare?" he asked, starting a new braid in Mike's hair.

"Dare." She said firmly. Max clapped her hands and Will rolled his eyes. Mike leaned his head back again and beckoned for Will to listen.

"We have that vodka—"

"No working in teams!" Lucas protested. Mike groaned and sat up straight again. But the wheels were already turning in Will's head while the party argued around him. El wasn't the most coordinated person...

"Take three shots of vodka and do a cartwheel."

She narrowed her eyes at him before giggling and grabbing the bottle.

"She's going to break something." Dustin snorted. They watched El take three drinks of vodka before nearly breaking the D&D table in the attempt of completing her dare. She stomped back into the fort with her arms crossed and a small smile on her face before sitting down next to Max. Max took her hand before looking over at Dustin.

"Truth or dare, Dusty?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

He groaned. "I hate when you call me that." But he was smiling. "Dare."

Max clapped her hands excitedly. "Are you finished with your wine?" she asked. Lucas took one more drink before holding it out in front of him upside down. "Okay," she reached out and grabbed the bottle and put it in the middle of the circle.

"We're playing truth or dare, not spin the bottle, Max!" Will protested.

"Calm down, no one's going to be kissing your boyfriend." She shot back.

"He's not—"

"He's not—"

"Okay, Dustin, spin this and whoever it lands on—you have to give a lap dance." She winked at him. Dustin burst out laughing and reached over to spin it. They watched it as is slowed to land on—Mike. Will froze and dropped his hands from his hair. Mike leaned his head back to look at Will with wide eyes. Dustin cheered and jumped over the table to get to Mike. Will backed away a little.

"Ready for the experience of your lifetime?" Dustin asked, an impossibly wide smile on his face. Mike rolled his eyes and blindly reached for Will's hand. It was just out of reach. Then Dustin threw his shirt off and started dancing. More specifically, grinding. When he was done, he planted a kiss on Mike's cheek and sauntered back to his seat. Mike jumped up.

"I need a cigarette." He said quickly.

"Damn right you do." Dustin smirked.

"Come with me?" Mike asked Will as he was leaving the fort. He nodded mutely and ran to keep up with him as he all but ran out of the basement. The game continued on without them.

"I never knew Dustin could dance like that." Will said awkwardly as Mike lit his cigarette. He shook his head with wide eyes.

"At least he wasn't dancing on you." Mike said through a cloud of smoke. "I wonder where he learned that. There has to be something he's not telling us." He leaned against the house. Will lit a cigarette of his own after a minute. Mike was staring at him and it was making him a little uneasy. "Are you done braiding my hair?" he asked quietly.

"I can be, if you want me to be." Will said, reaching forward and brushing a stray curl away from Mike's eyes. "Or I can keep going. It's too short to really braid. So I've been braiding little braids."

"Keep going." He smiled. His freckled cheeks were turning that lovely shade of pink again. "It feels nice." He blew out a stream of smoke before raising an eyebrow. "Do you really want to straighten my hair?"

It was Will's turn to change color. "I'm just curious!"

"I have pictures." Mike said, pushing himself off of the house.

"You have pictures?"

"Nancy used to practice everything on me. Hair, makeup, nails, shit like that." He sighed. "Still does, sometimes. Probably why I—" he shook his head. "Anyway, um, she took pictures. There's at least two or three photo albums full. I'll show you and you can decide if you still want to straighten my hair."

"I'll probably still want to straighten your hair."

Mike sighed. "I know." but he was smiling. He put his cigarette out in the overflowing ashtray. "Ready to go in?"

Will put his cigarette out and ran his hands through his hair. "I hope there's no more lap dances." He followed Mike through the door and heard their friends laughing under the blankets.

"Ah! There are our boys!" Max yelled as Mike pushed back the blanket to the entrance.

"Did my lap dance—"

"Shut up, Dustin, we are never talking about that again." Mike said, sitting back in his spot. "Did you keep playing, or…?" Will followed close behind and took his place behind him, starting to play with Mike's hair again.

"We were waiting for you!" Dustin exclaimed before turning to Max. "Oh, my dear Maxxie, truth or dare?"

"Dare." She smirked, glancing at El.

"Ooohhh, she's a brave one, isn't she?" Dustin teased. Will couldn't help but agree; Max was the only one who would only take dares from Dustin. He looked around and Will noticed his eyes land on the cans of whipped cream in the middle of the fort. Will dropped his head to Mike's shoulder. "Okay," Dustin grabbed a can and tossed to Max. "Let's spin the bottle to see who you have to eat it off of." He smirked.

"Okay!" She reached over to spin it and they watched with bated breath as it slowed and landed on—El. "Oohh, Ellie, baby, come here." Max teased, shaking the can. Mike pulled Will down to his ear.

"When—when did that happen?" he asked quietly. "Elle Belle tells me everything. She would've told me that." He paused. "Right?"

"I haven't heard anything from Max or Ellie." Will whispered back. Mike hummed in response and Will rested his chin on his shoulder, lightly scratching the back of Mike's head. Max sat up finally, wiping her mouth before pulling El up with her.

"Lucas!" she giggled. "Truth or dare?"

Lucas stared at her with wide eyes for a second before answering. "Er, dare!"

Max grinned and tapped her finger on her chin. Her eyes lit up when they landed on the bottle of vodka. "Okay, lovey," she said, jumping up and grabbing the bottle. "your dare is to do a couple of body shots off of Dustin." She kissed his cheek as she poured his first shot. Lucas groaned.

"Max!"

"Ah, it's not so bad. Dustin's kinda hot now." She winked, ruffling Dustin's hair before he threw his shirt off again and fell back against the pillows.

"You haven't gone yet." Will whispered in Mike's ear. He nodded.

"I know." he tilted his head to look at him. "There's no way in hell I'm going to let Max ask." He frowned. "Maybe you should."

"You know they wouldn't let me."

"Wheeler!" Lucas threw a pillow at them and they jumped apart. Will moved to sit in his previous spot behind Mike and started braiding again and Mike stared at Lucas with narrowed eyes. Lucas started laughing. "You two were off in your own world again." He shrugged. "Truth or dare, asshole?"

Dares with Lucas could be tricky, but truths with him could be even worse. Mike threw his head back and looked at Will, chewing on his lip. Will shrugged and pushed his head back up. "Um, truth?"

"Why just you and Will?" Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow. Mike's cheeks turned Will's favorite shade of pink again.

"Erm, it's something we've talked about for a while. Going to the beach, exploring the city… pretend to be different people for a little while—just get out of Hawkins, for a while, you know? Will's going to draw to fluff up his portfolio for all those art schools he's applying to."

There was That Look again. "Will you guys call us?"

"Every night!" Will promised, starting a new braid.

Will had always loved the way Mike looked when he was tired. Sleepy Mike was fucking adorable. His hair was messier than usual, he ran into things, conversations were mumbled, half closed eyes, and he just couldn't stop yawning. It was Will's favorite thing about the morning. Mike was also very lovey when he was sleepy.

"Will?" Mike called through a yawn. Will took the toast from the toaster and added it to a plate.

"Kitchen, Mikey!"

"Coming." He yelled back lazily. Will hummed in response before pouring two cups of coffee. He heard a loud thump and turned around to see Mike stumbling back a few steps from the entrance to the kitchen. He started laughing.

"Did you run into the wall?" he asked, pouring creamer into Mike's cup. Mike yawned again and nodded.

"You made breakfast?" He said sleepily, barely suppressing a yawn. "How long have you been up? I didn't notice you get—" he yawned again and let his head fall to the table. Will set a cup of coffee in front of him.

"For a little over an hour." He smiled before grabbing their plates of eggs and bacon. "Sit up, Mikey, you need to eat. We have to leave soon."

"You made coffee, too? Oh, you make the best coffee." Mike smiled, slowly wrapping his hands around his cup. Will leaned against the counter and looked at him for a few minutes. He looked so sleepy and lost, it was fucking adorable and it made Will's heart hurt. He reached over and ran his ran his hands through Mike's messy, half braided hair. He gave Will a crooked smile that took his breath away before taking a sip of coffee and looked at his plate before looking up at his best friend. "You put syrup on my eggs. You're amazing." He grinned before picking up his fork and taking a bite. Will sat down next to him and laughed.

"It's so gross." he rolled his eyes, piling his eggs on toast.

"You sound like Nancy." Mike mumbled through a mouthful of food. "It's better than drowning them in ketchup like Dustin." He yawned again, showing Will his half chewed food. He wrinkled his nose.

"Ew, close your mouth, Wheeler." He said. Mike smirked and shoveled a fork full of food in his mouth, chewed a few times and opened his mouth. Will tore of a piece of toast and threw it at him.

"Oh, you love me, Byers." Mike laughed. Will felt his cheeks burning and he looked down Mike's big hands wrapped around his half finished cup of coffee. He smiled to himself and moved the eggs around on his plate before picking up a bite.

"I do." He said before putting the fork in his mouth. Mike chuckled lightly and took a drink of a coffee before yawning. Will laughed. "You're still half asleep."

"I'm getting there!" Mike laughed, popping a piece of bacon in his mouth and chasing it with coffee.