“So,” Will said, gingerly sitting down next to Mike on the sofa. The Byers’ old sofa, brought from Hawkins when they moved six months ago. A bit ratty, but full of memories. Some too dark to think about - his mom’s Christmas lights seemed so far away now and he hoped to keep it that way - but good ones, too. Plenty of moments with his mom and Jonathan, or with the Party, sitting on this couch back in Hawkins. Or with Mike. Just like right now. But different. Different because California. And, well. For a lot of reasons.
After an awkward pause while he tried to think of something to say, he cleared his throat and tried again. Mike was only half looking at him. They were sitting 2 feet apart, finally in the same state after half a year, and somehow Mike had never felt further away. “So, uh. How’s. How’s Hawkins been?”
Mike looked away as Will finished his sentence and tried to make eye contact. Shrugged one shoulder, looked halfway ready to roll his eyes. Like a teacher had asked him why his homework was late. Why? Will didn’t understand. It hurt, the feeling of distance.
Maybe he was a bit of a masochist. Or maybe he was getting tired of Mike being… just… weird. Ever since he got here an hour or so ago. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was quickly becoming incredibly annoying. Not like he’d been waiting to see his best friend for what felt like a lifetime, or anything.
So he pushed a button he half-hoped would start a fight. Or, more accurately, maybe finish one. “I guess it must feel pretty lonely there without El, huh?”
Mike inhaled sharply, pausing looking around the room to freeze - and then his demeanor changed. He breathed out a big sigh, and his body seemed to sink a tiny bit deeper into the couch. Like he had released some tension he had been holding for a long time.
“…Yeah. Yeah, it is lonely.”
Taken back a little by the shift, Will said the next thought that came to mind truthfully, forgetting he was trying to push Mike’s buttons: “She misses you too, you know.”
Mike pressed the palm of both hands into his eyes and scrubbed them down his face. “I know she does. She writes me letters.”
Will smiled a little at that, sadly. “I know. I’ve seen her writing.”
Mike was silent for a moment, hands at his neck propping up his chin, body still turned slightly away, still not looking at Will. “How come…” he paused, seemed to think better of it. “Never mind.”
Will glanced at Mike, then across the living room to where Mike’s bags had been unceremoniously dumped in the corner when they got home from the airport. El was at school. Will’s grades were good and he could afford to take the afternoon off to help his mom collect Mike from the airport. El’s grades were… not.
Looking a little more closely at Mike’s largest bag, he thought he saw the red edge of a DND set peeking out a partly open zipper.
Spirits buoyed by the thought, he glanced back at Mike. “Never mind what? What were you gonna say?”
Mike’s hands had moved to his pants leg, where there was a loose thread. He was worrying it. “Um, it’s, like. I dunno dude. It’s nothing.”
Will rolled his eyes. “Well, dude. I know it’s been a while, but you can still talk to me. How come what?”
Mike blew a sigh out his nose. “How come… you never wrote?” He pulled harder on the loose string. “If you knew El was.”
Will watched Mike pull the string, feeling his heart start to thump a tiny bit louder than it had been a moment before. Oh. “Oh. Um. Well, we talk on the phone. Don’t we?”
“Course,” Mike mumbled. “Sometimes.” The string snapped. “…Just, you know. I definitely know that… like, I know that El misses me. For sure.”
Will’s thudding heart suddenly sank into his stomach. “…Ohh. I see. I’m pretty sure she still thinks you’re dating, Mike. I don’t think you have to worry about that.” His words came out about a tenth as bitter as he felt.
Mike’s eyebrows knitted together sharply, and he temporarily abandoned the hole in the knee of his jeans that he was now picking at. He glanced up at Will, making eye contact for the first time since the airport, Will guessed. “What? No.” He looked away again. “I mean yeah. I mean, I just don’t know if… I don’t know if you…”
Will kept looking at him, one eyebrow quirked up. “If I what?”
True to form, Mike, seeming to know he was caught, threw both arms up in exasperation and awkwardness. “If you, like, miss me at all!” Will’s heart flew back up into his mouth. “I feel like I’m going fucking crazy over there, my girlfriend’s gone,” Will’s heart sank again, “my best friend’s gone,” and rose again - this was getting nauseating, “and I just… it sucks! It fucking sucks. And I don’t even know if, like.” His wildly gesticulating arms came to rest, finally. “If I’m all alone in feeling that. Since you’re all, like. In sunny California and everything. And El sounds so happy. And you… y’know. You don’t write, so I don’t know.” He rubbed one hand down his forehead and eyes again, muttering almost to himself. “Feel like I’m going fucking crazy over there.”
They sat in silence for a second. Mike kept rubbing his hand on his cheek and eyes.
Will’s turn to heave a sigh. This was exhausting. “Mike, are you asking if I’ve missed you? I think that’s a pretty obvious yes.”
Mike stopped rubbing his face. He glanced in Will’s direction. “…Oh.”
Will smiled. “Yeah. I mean, I help El, you know. With school. It’s a lot. So I’m pretty busy with that, and I’m tired a lot of the time. But whenever I’m not distracted by that stuff, I miss you really badly. To be honest, I try to distract myself with helping El so that I don’t miss you as bad. And the Party,” he added as an afterthought. It was hard to tell where the line was with sharing feelings with Mike, these days. Best to give them both an out in case they needed one.
“Oh.” Mike said again. He looked tired, like this conversation was exhausting him, and also like he didn’t know what to say next. Will was exhausted too - not being able to just be himself with Mike was more tiring than he could put into words.
A moment several years ago when he had been able to be himself in front of Mike - and only Mike - with no filter flashed into his mind. This memory was worn a bit thin, like a tape cassette from repeat plays. He smiled, remembering.
“…I feel a bit crazy, sometimes, too, to be honest. Missing you, I mean. Missing you all. So, at least you’re not alone. I’m over here in California, going crazy too.” He made sure to rephrase it. To reframe for modern times. He kept his voice nonchalant - no need for Mike to know how much this memory meant to him, if he didn’t immediately get the reference. (Which he was braced for.)
A beat. Mike was quiet. Will’s heart started to shrivel up like a leaf in winter, despite the sun pouring through the windows.
Then.
One side of Mike’s mouth turned up into a smile. His whole face softened. Finally, he turned his body, shifted a little bit towards Will. Almost shyly, he lifted his eyes up and met Will’s.
“…I guess we’re both going a bit crazy, huh?”
Will couldn’t breathe right. His heart was an entire tree trying to burst into spring bloom out his chest. Mike remembered. He remembered. “…Yeah. Both of us.” He affirmed, feeling a little bit dizzy.
Mike finally smiled with his whole mouth, eyes moving back and forth between Will’s. In a voice so soft Will wondered if he was dreaming this moment for the hundredth time, Mike murmured, “…crazy together.”
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so I still heavily regard crate culture and it’s over use of crates with disgust but I can’t deny crates aren’t handy in a multi dog home when one of ur dogs is incredibly sick.
However crates of the right size for medium-sized dogs that meet my acceptable parameters are both ugly as sin and take up a lot of space.
I’ve been seeing crate furniture drift past my fyps sometimes and NGL I like the look of them.
Look at all that bench space!
But I’m also judgemental of them because they all tend to be much to small for something I would confine the boys in.
And those that would be big enough for the boys, I cannot fathom how I would transport them let alone get them inside my house. They are all solid one piece sets
Plus I don’t want to spend the amount of money ($1.5k!!!) being asked when I already have some perfectly functional crates that are just ugly as sin and useless as anything but crating.
Then in my browsing I saw someone put a crate frame up for sale. And in this sale post they linked to where they got it.
And I discovered that crate frames are a thing. And you can buy the frame separately to put over existing crates.
And even better, it comes in a flat pack that you can build yourself.
I still hardly use crates but….
Check out my new grooming station
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