California Dreamin’ (Will Byers x Male!Reader) (2024)

Summary: (Requested) March 22nd is Will’s birthday. Also the date of Mike’s arrival in California.

or

Mike finds out about you, Will’s boyfriend.

Words: 2.5K (it got out of hand.)

A/N: @nolynyuki0 as requested, but I also made it way more dramatic bc that’s who I am as a person.

Also fun fact in case you guys didn’t know, even the shows writers forgot Will’s birthday. Don’t worry baby, I remember :(

CW: Panic attacks, homophobia in the 80s, Mike is homophobic but he’s learning.

It’s not that Will expected anyone to make a big deal of his birthday. Usually, he even asked for the contrary. He didn’t care much for big parties or expensive gifs, mostly because he felt awful when he couldn’t repay that kindness when all his life his mom barely made enough money to keep them fed for the month. In his eyes, a “happy birthday” and an awful home-baked cake would be more than enough. However, his friends back in Hawkins always made a huge deal of it. They’d throw him a party (dnd and pizza in mikes basement, the best kind of party) and give him gifts (not so expensive that he could refuse, mostly homemade stuff or new dnd dice or a star wars figurine they all pitched in for). Maybe, that’s what got his excitement so high this year.

It was his first birthday away from his hometown, from his friends. He was feeling quite bummed out about the whole thing. Of course, he had you now, a wonderful boyfriend who cared about him. When you saw how down he was feeling, you buried him in fun ideas for his day, offering to do everything and anything with him. You planned to go to the movies, and get some pizza, go to an arcade and all the fun stuff you could imagine he wanted to do. That of course topped by a great gift he didn’t yet know about.

When he got the news that his best friend, Mike, was coming to California on his birthday— he was delighted. The fact that mike was coming was a huge gift in itself but he knew that mike would not stop at that, his friend was always extra about birthdays. His excitement shone brightly on his face, almost as if he was glowing.

That was until mike stepped through the gate. He kissed el and gave her flowers, and when Will approached, ready to hug his friend, he simply extended his hand for a handshake. Ouch. He felt his heart ache at that but tried to shake it off. He waited for a second, staring at Mike, waiting for him to wish him a happy one but…

“What are you looking at?” mike asked frowning at him, his hand around el’s shoulder. Will’s face dropped but he tried not to show it. Convincing himself he didn’t care about his birthday that much anyway, it was childish.

“Oh- uh, nothing.” and he followed the happy couple outside. How he wished you were here now.

After a less than successful outing, being the third wheel, watching El get humiliated and a fight with mike, they finally returned home, and the situation was tense. What he didn’t expect (which seemed very insignificant compared to all of today’s events) was that his mother forgot his birthday too. That shouldn’t be too weird considering the even weirder surprise visit from Murray. Jonathan was stoned as hell, so no wonder he forgot too. Still, it stung just a little bit more every second he thought about it. During the dinner, and way after when he was cooped up in his room not hanging out with his best friend, he was just thinking about spending time with you. How much differently this day would have gone if he just ditched everyone and hung out with you as you both planned. He really wished he didn’t cancel and tell you his friend was coming and that you couldn’t hang out the time he was here. He wanted you to meet mike so bad but he was so afraid he’d slip up and call you his boyfriend and do something too couple-y and ruin everything. He was thinking of coming out to mike when he was here, but that obviously could not happen anymore. Before he knew it, he found it difficult to breathe. His head was filled with all the worst-case scenarios (“Will, you’re disgusting why would I wanna be friends with you knowing you’re a f-.”) they circled in his head like a storm and he knew the only thing that could calm him right now was hearing your voice.

“Hello?” your voice perked up on the other line after just two rings, and Will was so grateful it wasn’t any of your family members, he didn’t trust his voice to speak to any of them right now.

“Y/N, h-hey…” Will spoke up, voice shaky and hating himself for it.

“Will? What’s wrong? You sound off.” you questioned, and he admired how you always knew there was something wrong with him.

“it’s nothing, I just… missed you,” he whispered the last part into the receiver, in case anyone was listening in. Something he’s done way more than he’d like. He heard you chuckle on the other end, which calmed his mind almost instantly.

“I missed you too, Will. And happy birthday!” of course you wouldn’t forget, Will almost teared up at that. “I wanted to call and say it earlier but I didn’t wanna disturb you and your friend. How was your day together, by the way?”

“Well, it didn’t exactly go as planned…” he goes on to explain what happened and how he felt, and how no one even remembered his birthday. Getting everything off his chest.

“…So, you’re cooped up in your room alone on your birthday with everyone ignoring you?”

“Pretty much.”

“Not for much longer pretty boy, I’m coming over.”

“Y/N, you don’t have to, you probably have something better to do-“

“Hey, my boyfriend remains priority number one. And besides, I missed you like hell. I’ll be over in 10.”

-

“Y/N, you really didn’t have to…” said Will sitting in front of you on the bed, just a moment after you sneaked through his window (first floor, not an easy task. Thank god you didn’t skip p.e.). The, somewhat badly wrapped, the present was sitting on his lap, and he couldn’t deny how he wanted to open it.

“Yeah, I did. Now come on, open it!” Will shoots you a smile and rips off the ribbon and tears through the wrapping paper. When he finally opens the box he’s greeted by a set of (quite expensive) set of paint brushes.

“Oh my god!” he looks at them with his mouth slightly agape, and then goes in to hug you, “how did you know I was saving for those for months?”

“Are you accusing me of not knowing you through and through?” you asked laughing, giving him a tight squeeze before letting him go, “there’s something else in there!” Wills excitedly digs his hand into the box, pulling out a smaller box. When he opens it, he finds more than a dozen pictures of you too from various dates or just you two hanging out. He flips through them, pausing on one of you and kissing his cheek. He was very clearly not expecting it, evident by his dumbfounded expression. He ran his finger over the picture smiling fondly.

“Jonathan helped me develop those.” you started speaking when he didn’t, “don’t worry though there’s nothing too crazy in there, so it should be fine-“ when he still didn’t speak up you got a little nervous, “do you like them?”

“I- of course, I do. I love them. Thank you.” he finally looked up at you and smiled, and he looked so gorgeous you could help but lean in to kiss him. Will’s hands found their way to your face as he deepened the kiss. What started as a sweet innocent kiss soon turned into a make-out session, not that you were complaining. His hands now tangled in your hair as he was pulling you closer and-

“Hey Will- dude! What the hell?” mikes sudden voice was like getting a glass of ice water poured on you to wake you up.

“Mike! I uh- this is not- I’m not-“ Will jumped up from his seat, standing there like a deer caught in headlights. If he thought he was panicking before, he didn’t know what to call this. He wanted to throw up.

“Not what? Swapping spit with some,” mike paused and looked for a word, settling on probably the least offensive one going through his head. “guy?! While we’re supposed to be hanging out?!” “mike-“ Will tried to speak up, explain himself, this wasn’t how he wanted to come out. This wasn’t how he wanted his closest friend to meet his boyfriend.

“Ugh gross.” and as mike landed the final verbal punch, he left the room, leaving Will feeling worse than he ever has. Sure, mike did say some insensitive stuff to him before (“it’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” those words still rang through his head every now and then,) but he never expected Mike to actually react this badly. This was bad, this was awful. He couldn’t hear anything, his vision was blurred. He felt his breath quicken, still not daring to move a muscle. Will found himself wishing that his mom and hopper never found him when he went missing all those years ago, then he wouldn’t have to deal with this.
“Will, hey, Will! Look at me, please.” your voice started becoming louder, he finally could make out the words you were saying. He blinked a few times, only now realising the tears were what was blurring his vision, and look up at your face. You had a frown on your face, the worry in your eyes made his lip quiver. “baby, come here…” you said, barely above a whisper, opening your arms, into which Will fell into instantly. Gripping your shirt and sobbing into your chest. You held him like this for a while, rubbing his back.

“It wasn’t… it wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he said after he calmed down a bit.

“I know, I know.”

“I’m so sorry, y/n…” he whispered, pulling away to look at you.

“what are you apologising for? You’ve got nothing to be sorry about, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now, I’ll go grab you some water, yeah? I’ll be right back.” You sat him down on the bed and flashed him your most comforting smile, which he returned half-heartedly, and then laid down on the bed, curling in on himself.

You sigh and drag your hands over your face once you’re out the door. That was rough, you think to yourself, chastising yourself for coming here today, knowing he wasn’t ready to come out yet. Once you make it downstairs, you notice mike sitting on the couch. You know you shouldn’t talk to him right now, you’ll probably only make the situation worse. However, you can’t seem to walk past him without saying anything. Resisting the urge to slap yourself, you shake your head and approach mike.

“Uh, hey man. We didn’t have a… proper introduction. I’m
Y/N, Will’s uh-“ you stopped yourself thinking maybe you shouldn’t tell mike who you are to Will, but then again that boat already sailed when we saw you secretly making out, “Will’s boyfriend.” mike didn’t say anything, except shooting you a somewhat dirty look. No wonder Will waited so long to come out to him, you thought.

“So, I know this probably came as quite a shock to you. I understand how you feel, it can be very overwhelming to find out something like that- especially this suddenly-“

“Look, no disrespect man, but I have bigger things to worry about right now over Will-“ Mike finally spoke up, though his tone was dismissive you couldn’t help but take that as a good sign.

“I know it’s a lot, but you’ve hurt him quite a lot-“

“I’ve got enough to deal with okay, el-“

“I’m just asking you to consider how you’ve treated Will-“ despite your best wishes you started raising your voice, the annoyance in your tone rearing its head.

“How did I treat Will?!” he retaliated by raising his voice, looking at you in disbelief.

“Do you want a list?” you asked sarcastically, the frown on your face deepening at his ignorance, “First of all, you’re supposed to be his best friend and I can count on my one hand how many times you’ve spoken to him the last few months, Will’s been trying to tell you about me since we first started dating but you always shut him down, and then today he had to spend the whole day third wheeling you and el, watching you do all the things we can’t do in public, all on his birthday too-“

“Wait, uh,” mike cut you off as his brows furrowed, his anger seemed to simmer down at his new revelation, “it’s Will’s birthday?”

“Yeah, thanks for remembering,” you said bitterly, then your expression softened seeing the guilty look on his face.

“Look, Will told me a lot of great things about you. I know you’d never want to hurt him intentionally but… He is very hurt now.” mike put his head in his hands. After a moment he ruffled his hair and raised it, carrying a rather sombre expression on his face.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I should maybe apologise.” he said, though it came out more like a question with how unsure his tone was.

“I think that’s a good idea.” you encouraged, giving him a little smile. Mike then stood up and headed upstairs, you were planning to leave but decided against it, just in case the apology didn’t go well and Will needed you around for a little more (plus, you were feeling quite nosy today). So a couple minutes later you went upstairs, standing outside Will’s room you strained your ears to listen in on the conversation but wouldn’t make out much with their hushed tones. Suddenly the door opened and Will was dragging you inside. Once you were sitting on Will’s desk chair, and the two of them on the bed in front of you, you felt like a kid whose parents were about to tell them about the divorce.

“So, uh, man listen.” Mike started, “I’m sorry for the… everything. I was annoyed at something else and I took it out on you guys, I shouldn’t have done that.” the sincerity in his tone caught you off guard, but in a good way.

“Don’t sweat it, it’s cool now. So… you guys worked everything out?”

“Yeah, we did.” Will smiled, looking between you and mike.
“so y/n, you seem cool and if you and Will wanted maybe next time we go out we could do like… a double date?” you looked at Will who was looking at you with the happiest look you’ve seen on him in a while, the strongest contrast from how he was like less than an hour ago. You felt some relief finally flood into your body. Maybe everything would be okay.

California Dreamin’ (Will Byers x Male!Reader) (2024)
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