Chapter Text
May 19th, 1994 - 2:58 AM - WSQK Station
Will’s heart raced as he watched Mike step out of the car. Had it really been him at Ginger’s Bar that night? He would’ve seen him with Jamie… then left.
“Hey,” Mike said, slowly closing the car door and putting his hands in his pockets.
“Hey,” Will repeated, unable to move.
“You guys having a party without me?” Mike asked.
“What?”
“The cars,” Mike said, nodding his head towards the back of the building. “I could see them down the street.”
“Oh,” Will forced himself to snap out of it. He felt uneasy knowing Mike had seen him that night. Seen him with someone else. “Right, yeah, I told Dustin that wouldn’t work.”
“So, what are you guys doing here?” Will had a hard time getting a read on Mike’s expression.
He had lied to so many people in the last few days. Jamie, Dustin, Jonathan, even his mother when he called her. It had always been significantly harder for him to lie to Mike, especially while in the middle of a panic attack. Hiding the truth was one thing, but now Mike was standing in front of him asking, and he had not expected to see him tonight.
“Want to go to the roof?” Mike asked after a long pause, eyes darting behind Will into the building. He knew Mike had caught on to his brain malfunction and was trying to give him an opportunity to speak without interruption. He nodded and followed Mike to the back of the building.
When they reached the bottom of the ladder, Will looked over at the cars, then at the road. Sure enough, yes, the cars were fully visible from the end of the street.
He watched Mike climb and followed close behind. He badly wanted to talk to Mike alone, but had no idea where he would start when he got there. As he climbed the ladder and reached the top, he racked his brain for any believable excuse as to why they would all meet up here without him.
Mike crossed to the opposite side of the roof and leaned up against the ledge, eyes fixed on the tree line, so Will did the same. He tried not to stand too close, but couldn’t help slowly closing the gap as they stayed silent. Was he crazy, or was Mike also moving closer?
“When did Nancy get here?” Mike asked, having seen her car parked with the others.
“This afternoon,” Will said without elaborating.
“Hm,” Mike nodded. There was a long pause before he said anything else. “You gonna fill me in, or…”
“We thought you were sleeping,” shitty lie. “We were gonna call you in the morning to hang out.” Another shitty lie.
“Right,” Mike said, studying his face. Will would be an idiot to think Mike believed him, but they stood in silence for another long while. “Look, I know our friendship isn’t what it used to be,” Mike continued. Will felt his cheeks get warm as he listened. “Most of that is probably my fault, but, if something’s going on, I’d like to think that you would tell me.”
The guilt hit him harder and faster than ever before. There were many reasons why he couldn’t tell Mike the truth, but the incredible desire to tell him everything that had been consuming his thoughts made it impossible to think.
“What makes you think anything’s going on?” Will asked, staring down at his feet.
“Aside from the fact that you’re all hanging out at our old base camp without me?” Mike teased, helping Will find a small smile before he got serious again. “I mean… I saw you at the movie theatre.” Will finally looked up to meet his gaze. “I know you felt something… and I should’ve talked to you earlier, but I wasn’t sure if you’d even want to talk to me.”
“I always want to talk to you, Mike,” he let slip without thinking, immediately holding his breath.
“Yeah, well… sometimes it’s hard to tell,” said Mike, causing a jolt of electricity through Will’s chest. As if he couldn’t feel worse than he already did. “So, is he back?”
“I, um-” Will racked his brain, grasping at straws for anything believable, “I don’t know.”
“But you did feel him?” Mike asked, not realizing the feeling had gotten ten times stronger since he’d gotten there.
“Sort of… it could’ve been anything, really,” Will said, avoiding Mike's gaze which was desperately trying to meet his. “I mean, it was cold.”
“You really expect me to believe that?” Mike was leaning over the railing now, craning his neck to catch Will’s eye and when he did, Will knew he wouldn’t be able to convince him of anything but the truth.
“I can’t tell you…” he whispered. He watched Mike’s face, every feature contorting in an effort to convey too many emotions at once. Will saw betrayal and felt his stomach sink further into the ground.
“But you can tell everyone else?” Mike whispered back, defeated.
“It’s more complicated than that, Mike,” Will added. He took a step back, turning to walk back to the ladder.
“How?” he only felt the tight grip of Mike’s hand around his wrist for a moment before they were both thrown backwards off their feet.
‘Do you remember the day we met?’
‘Do you wanna be friends?’
‘The Demogorgon, it got me.’
‘We have to do something! Will could be in danger!’
‘Sometimes, I think it’s just scary to open up like that.’
‘We’re friends! We’re friends.’
‘I’m the only one that cares about Will!’
‘When you’re different, sometimes you feel like a mistake.’
‘You made me think Will was okay, that he was still out there, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t!’
‘Well, we used to be best friends!’
‘What if you wanna join another party?’
‘Even El, especially El.’
‘Not possible.’
‘You said Will was alive!’
‘Because, what if they don’t like the truth?’
‘It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!’
‘It’s not Will. It can’t be.’
The memories were overlapping faster than Will could keep up with. Flashes of moments between them over the years, some he thought about a lot, others he’d never seen, most he was surprised Mike even remembered.
He was on his back, twenty feet away from where he was just standing with Mike, who was now panting against the railing after presumably being thrown against it. When their eyes met, Mike was blinking fast and held a hand up to his heart. It was clear he had just experienced the same thing Will did and for a long while, they just stared at each other.
His body was on fire. His fingers were tingling and he felt like he’d just been struck by a car.
All that, just from Mike grabbing his wrist?
Will let his head fall back on the floor and closed his eyes, he was winded and needed a moment to breathe before he could run away. He could hear Mike talking to himself, mostly profanities, before he felt him get closer.
He only opened his eyes when he felt Mike looming over him, then closed his eyes again when he saw his outstretched hand.
“Don’t touch me,” Will said, still breathless. “It’ll happen again.”
Mike stayed quiet, but didn’t step away. “Did… did you see that too?” Will nodded.
“Will?” They both jumped at the loud voice coming from below them. Max’s voice. “Will!”
“I’m here!” he shouted, finally opening his eyes and moving to get up.
“On the roof?” Max shouted back. Before he could answer, Mike stepped directly in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.
“Will, I need you to tell me what’s happening,” he whispered desperately. His eyes were pleading and Will’s heart ached. His head was still swimming after being sling shotted through years of Mike’s memories, how could he even begin to explain? Much less, come up with another lie.
“Will?” Max sounded closer that time.
Will carefully stepped around Mike, making sure not to touch him.
**
May 19th - 3:17 AM - WSQK Station
Mike sat uneasy in the middle of the room. Everyone was watching him except Will, who had gone to the washroom. He wanted nothing more than to pound on the door and beg Will to come back out.
No one had so much as begun to explain anything. When he came down the stairs, he watched as they all scrambled to hide papers and white boards and binders. They clearly had been doing research and deliberately leaving him out. Mike had a feeling something like this was happening, but he wanted to talk to Will.
He was prepared to get angry, until he realized this could have something to do with El. Maybe she really was alive, maybe they’d found her.
‘No, El’s dead. Nothing will bring her back, no matter how much I need her.’
He couldn’t think of any possible reason for what happened on the roof. What even was that? Will had seen something too, and had flown back with almost more force than Mike had.
‘He saw my memories. He knows how I feel about him and he hates it. He must be furious.’
Mike’s leg bounced as he glanced over at the washroom again. Did Will use his powers on him on purpose? Did he still have powers? It must’ve been an accident.
‘He tried to throw you off the roof.’
Mike shook his head, trying hard to push the thought away. Maybe Will did hate him that much. Whatever was happening, he knew more than Mike did and refused to tell him. He’d never refused to talk to Mike before. He had always been the first person Will would go to, but this time, he didn’t want him around.
‘He wants you gone.’
Unsure of what the meaning of any of this was, Mike sat quietly on the couch and looked up at his sister, waiting for any explanation. It didn’t come quick, she paced around for a long time before even looking him in the eye, everyone sat waiting on her too.
“Dustin?” Nancy turned to Dustin for help.
“I really- I mean, I just don’t know what you want me to do here,” Dustin said slowly, shaking his head and spacing out.
Oh.
‘It’s not just Will. None of them want you here.’
Mike squinted at a sudden sharp pain in his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He got headaches like this a lot when he was writing, straining his eyes. “I don’t understand,” he said, looking back up as the pain subsided. “I can go if you guys don’t want me here but if Henry’s back, I should know.” And there was the headache again.
“It’s not that we don’t want you here, Mike,” said Nancy, rubbing her temple with the palm of her hand. Mike squeezed his eyes shut, willing the pain to go away, then reopened them.
“It’s not even that he’s back,” Lucas added. “We’re just…”
“Covering our bases,” Max offered.
“Covering our bases!” Lucas agreed.
“We watched him die,” Mike argued. He had more to add to this statement, but suddenly the lights felt entirely too bright and were making it hard to focus.
Robin started to spew more bullshit to him but he couldn’t hear over the ringing in his ears anymore.
‘Get out of here.’
Mike stood up so fast he almost passed out. Everyone took a step towards him in an effort to catch him before he caught himself on the coffee table. He stumbled towards the stairs, ignoring everyone with only one thing on his mind. He needed to leave.
Then he heard the door open.
“Is everything okay?” Will asked. Everyone had stopped and was watching Mike, but Mike’s eyes were only on Will.
Will had always been good at making him feel better, but the pain had vanished almost instantly at the sound of his voice. The lightheadedness was gone, though he was still a bit dizzy, suddenly he could hear again.
“Mike, are you okay?” Nancy had her hand on his shoulder.
“I’m fine,” he mumbled. He slowly walked back to the couch, partially embarrassed at the overreaction, but mostly wondering where the sudden agony and anxiety came from.
Nancy sat on the table directly in front of him and studied him for a moment. Mike glanced over at Will a few times, wishing he would stop looking away when their eyes met.
“Mike, I need you to trust me, okay?” she said carefully. He thought for a moment, then nodded without arguing. “Nothing is going on here. We’re worried about you and we wanted to see you tomorrow to ask how you’re doing.”
“I’m fine,” he repeated firmly. The look this prompted from Nancy was not what he expected. Disbelief is what he expected, but she widened her eyes at him, giving the same expression he’d seen a million times at the dinner table when his teasing went a bit too far for their mom’s ears. As if to say ‘stop talking’ when he called out her bullshit.
Were they being listened to? Was the place bugged?
“Okay, if you say you’re fine, I believe you,” she said calmly. The immediate dismissal of her claim that she was worried about him made it clear to Mike that they were, in fact, being listened to. Whatever was going on, she couldn’t talk about it, not here. “Robin and I will stay for a little bit, you guys should all go home.”
He looked at Will again, who looked at the floor immediately. Without question, the others all started picking their things up and heading to the door, but Mike waited. He stayed where he was, watching Will.
They were clearly trying to tell him something, but why wouldn’t they have told him before? Why would Nancy and Robin stay if the place was compromised?
On the roof, Will had said he couldn’t tell him. Was the roof bugged too? They were out in the open, if the military was watching them again, wasn’t he worried they would be seen? Mike felt he had missed something, one piece of information that would make it all make sense.
Even what happened on the roof, when he tried to touch Will. He needed to talk to him but he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. It hadn’t looked like Will did that on purpose, but Mike knew it could only mean that Henry was back somehow. Though he had millions more questions, that was what he needed to focus on.
Will crossed the room and hurried to the stairs, staying within inches of Dustin. They hadn’t told the group what happened when they were alone, and Mike didn’t want to, he just wanted to talk to Will.
Mike followed, not too close behind, but once they’d gotten outside Will was practically running back to Dustin’s car.
“Will!” he shouted in front of everyone, knowing he wouldn’t dismiss him in front of the others. “Can I talk to you for a sec?” he asked when their eyes met. Will exchanged a look with Dustin, then nodded.
They walked off together, just out of earshot. Mike felt a trembling in his chest, like the one that wouldn’t leave him alone on the roof. Nerves and anxiety mixed with anticipation and warmth. Despite everything, he appreciated the distraction from his negative thoughts that came with Will’s presence.
“What was that?” he asked. “On the roof?”
“I don’t know,” Will responded, staring at the ground.
“Yes, you do,” Mike insisted. “What, do you think the trees are bugged too?” He gestured to the tree line a few feet from them. Will followed the gesture with his eyes and stared out at the trees for a moment longer before finally looking into Mike’s eyes.
“Do you trust me, Mike?” he asked. His tone was genuine, like he’d forgotten the obvious answer.
“Of course, I do,” he whispered, looking for any hint of the truth in Will’s eyes. He wanted to demand an explanation, but the fear sneaking its way onto Will’s face made his stomach churn. Anyone else might miss it, but Mike didn’t.
“Then, please,” Will pleaded, “just drop it for now, okay? I promise I’ll explain, just not now.”
Mike blinked as Will walked away from him, stepped into the car and drove off with Dustin. Max and Lucas followed suit, and Steve was about to get in his car when he stopped to watch Mike.
He felt the eyes on him but didn’t make a move for his own car. He took a deep breath and watched the road, the two cars disappearing into the night. If only he had powers, he could make Dustin's car turn around and drive Will back to him.
‘GO! GO HOME!’
He jumped at the sudden urgency from the voice inside his head. The headache came back full force out of nowhere. His forehead felt like it was splitting open. He winced and groaned, bringing the palms of his hands to his eyes fast. He rubbed them deep until the sharp pain started to surrender, replacing it with an aching soreness in the back of his eye sockets.
He stood there alone, taking a few deep breaths, before opening eyes. He blinked rapidly, allowing his eyes to readjust after the abuse they just went through, and waited for his vision to process anything other than static.
“Hey,” Steve shouted, as Mike started to see colors again. He squinted over at Steve, who was leaning against his car with the door open, maybe twenty feet away. He couldn’t quite see the expression on his face, but Mike didn’t care. “I know it’s late, but… do you want to grab a drink or something?”
Now he could see the expression… sympathy.
‘Pity, not sympathy.’
“No thanks,” Mike said, starting towards his car. “I’m good.” He didn’t mean for it to come out bitchy, but it did.
“Come on, man,” Steve pleaded. “Let me take you out for one drink, I’ll pay. You look like you could use an excuse to forget.” Mike stopped in his tracks. He stared off in space for a moment, then lifted his gaze to meet Steve’s. “Whatever you want, dude,” Steve chuckled. “I’ll even drive you.”
Mike took a hesitant step away from his car, then surrendered and followed Steve into the passenger seat of his car.
“Aren’t Will and Dustin staying with you?” he suddenly remembered as the car started. Admittedly, he did not want either of them joining in on this side quest.
“Yeah, Dustin knows where I keep the spare key,” Steve reassured him, somehow understanding from Mike’s tone that he didn’t want his friends to come. “They’ll let themselves in.”