Chapter Text
***
• will pov •
will can hear himself pant, he’s been walking around for a while now, in the hopes of finding someone- its a habit ever since military started clouding.
will can be seen to be wearing Jonathan’s clothes, a simple white undershirt thays worn and torn at the hem, and a raggy brown jacket, also torn and too big for his malnourished complexion, along with flared jeans- covered in grime, probably whatever was preserved in the upside down, his hair is longer- more shabby but shaping his face and ruffled, theres a mass of hair purposely covering most of his left eye, he carries a rifle with him, slung over his shoulder- sprawled over his back.
the more he wonders down, he sees soneone, he stills as he comes down closer he watches.. and watches.. then the person starts talking, that’s when he immediately recognises who this is, mikes voice is definitely unique, hard to miss and definitely hasn’t changed much over the years.
‘mike’, is the only thing running through his head, he can’t move a muscle at all, he doesn’t believe mike is real, why now, why- he’s cut off fron his train of thought because as soon as he focusses his eye , mike’s already spotted him.
he watched as mike drops the walkie and mutter his name, will’s carefully observing him, obviously he wouldn’t look the same in the span of 4-5 years, but is it really Mike?
he doesn’t waste a second, its almost habit- will reaches for his rifle, seamlessly dragging it from his back into his arms, still not believing it’s actually mike. Mikes the only person will remembers fully, anyone else is only a vague memory, a memory from an outsider all faceless and meaningless, but he couldn’t ever forget mike, that’s why this- this can’t be real, it nust be henry messing with him to trip him up.
“will? will its me.. c-can you put the gun down?”, as mike’s saying this, will watches as mike slowly steps towards as if he’s approaching a wild animal, the closer Mike gets, the more he can see mike isn’t distorted or acting strange, it’s actually mike.
will practically drops the rifle, if it wasn’t still latched on his shoulder it would’ve been on the ground, mikes standing right infront of him, mike, the same mike he has been yearning- dreaming to see for years.
after a long stare, he’s being hugged by mike who’s sobbibg into his shoulder, will melts instantly, a few strangled sobs can be heard from mike, will rests a hand in mike’s hair, a few of his own tears fall.
he wants to say anything, ask him how and why he’s here, but all he could let our was a soft, raspy “mike” coming out more cut off since he hasn’t been able to speak for a long time, but speaking’s always come easier around mike.
hes still wrapped in mikes arms for a while now, he hears mike start to ramble.
“i knew you were still alive, everyone believed you were dead, i mean not Joyce but everyone else had no hope,” he rambles still evidently sobbing.
“Joyce?, who’s Joyce?,”
***
• mike pov •
“what..,” he hears himself whisper.
“you don’t remember her?” he says this whole pulling will away to hold his shoulders, to see his face, he meets wills eyes and he looks genuinely confused.
will stutters over a few words before shaking his head.
mike tells himself to snap out of it before nodding,
“hey will, that’s okay, you remember me, thats whats important,”
will nods with a sad look in his eyes, that’s when mike notices that somethings up with his eye.
its almost like theres pressure building behind it, he doesn’t ask or push will about it, hes just grateful to see will again.
***
after some walking, mike realises he knows exactly where he is, not just near hops cabin, but he’s standing in-front of it,
“oh, you’ve been up at hopper’s cabin all these years?, must be why we couldn’t find you,” he says with a shaky voice, trying so hard to stay grounded, ignoring the fact his best friend has been alive, in a different dimension all alone for years.
mike hears a mutter- like he’s trying to convince himself to speak, will then turns to mike with that same weird look from 10 minutes ago, they quit your mischievous actions this insant in front of the door to the cabin, avoiding the vibe snaking around the door.
“ho-hopper?,” will stutters, clearly not used to talking still,
‘right, memory is not strong,’ mike thinks to himself,
“hopper, he’s the old chief, he’s dating your mom- Joyce,” mike briefly explains, leaving will staring at him with furrowed eyebrows, eyes squinting staring at him, lips still parted.
“okay, okay, how about we get settled, and i can explain to you- catch you up on everything.. how does that sound?,”
will nods, it’s a light nod since he’s still on edge and confused.
mike sees will reach for the door handle, a light tug and the door creaks open,
the cabin is lathered in thick vines, mike takes a look around- making sure to avoid stepping on the vines, he sees a desk covered in several papers that look withered, not shocking due to the climate and atmosphere they’ve sat in, he flicks throigh the papers.. several drawings ranging from things he’s seen in the upside down, to faces, the more he looks the more it ranges from things like demogorgans, bats, vines, but also faces, military grunts, and the more he flicks through, he sees a drawing of himself, he smiles at it but snaps himself out of whatever he was thinking,
“hey,” will says his voice sounds more stable, he signals for mike to sit beside him on the sofa.
he sits down, looking at will instantly, really looking at him, he has a scar all the way down his left eye almost like he was scratching constantly, like prolonged scratching as if there was something scraping the inside of his skull.
he’s caught of guard when will says;
“Joyce..?”
mikes used to will speaking like this, when he first met will, he spoke in single words- that’s when he started speaking at-least, mike always understood wills facial expressions, ever since that day on the swings, by the time he started speaking single words, mike didn’t even notice until Joyce came to him thanking him for making her boy feel safe enough to speak, with clear tear streaks that were dried, mike didn’t get what she meant at the time- but looking back now, he really gets it.
“right, okay so Joyce, Joyce, is your mother,” mike rambles- he explains memories, after each memory he makes sure will isn’t confused, he feels comforted when it seems like will is piecing things together.
mikes still rambling about the party, he had to explain who max was, but when el was mentioned, and will looked at him confused, mike was stumped since he was trying to avoid that one since it would be a bit confusing to explain.
“right El, El is short for Eleven, you know less dehumanising than a lab code-,” mikes cut off when he sees a look on will hes never seen.
will eyes- well the eye he can see at-least are squinted but still wide, his eyebrows closely knit, he tilts his head nefore he says,
“i know…” he mutters, barely audible untik he repeats himself, “i know Eleven.”
it comes out harsh like his throat wasn’t prepared for any noise to exit.
“you.. know El? how?” mike lets out in one breath, startled.
will shuffles on the sofa, bringing his knees to his face,
“henry, spoke of her,” will loosely says, but more strangled when he mentions ‘henry’, almost like saying henry’s name causes physical pain.
mike stares at him, utterly shocked, his throat feels dry, his hands are clammy- covered in a new layer of sweat, even though it’s dead cold.
he gulps, “h-how do you know ve-henry?,” mike chokes out, stuttering.
he watches as will seems to be finding the words he knows he can’t say, he waits for his response for a good minute,
“henry, works with the shadow, he’s the one who took me here,” will explains, theres clear discomfort masked across his face, mike can see this, he hates seeing will like this.
mikes blood runs cold, he suspected it was henry, but really, it could’ve been a situation with barb, no, will came- supposedly came face to face with henry all those years ago.
will continues, “the shadow, and henry, they are what caused my eye-”
he lifts his hair so his eye is more clear, it’s much worse than what mike could see before, it’s more than just scratching at his eye, and some pressure, the blood vessels in his eye are very damaged meaning the pressure is still there, his pupil has lost majority of its colour
he starts speaking again, “i was used as a vessel, a way for henry to spread the upside down, i’m still unsure of what i built,” he looks terrified saying this, like the memories are looping in his head, over and over, all again and again.
mike was floored, but he tells himself he doesn’t have the time to piece will’s trauma right now, his biggest concern, is how will is feeling- making sure he’s okay is his only option.
he carefully moves closer to will looping his arm around wills shoulder, “hey, how about you get some rest?, does that sound good?,”
will nods, no words, just a simple nod before he grabs mikes wrist and leads him to a room in the cabin, which is El’s room, mike found that ironic knowing they’re technically siblings.
will pulls out a trashy mattress, it was probably already in hop’s cabin to begin with, mike looks around while wills setting a sleeping spot up, mikes still holding onto the strap of his bag, basically dragging it, while he looks around- he spots a table, with a few more drawings, along with firearms, bullets and pocket knives, not too many, but enough to keep himself safe, taking another glance, theres not too much, the bed, the frame is a creaky metal paired with moulded wood, with a mattress on top.
after will motions mike to sit down, he thanks him, and almost immediately after he sits down, mikes out cold.
***
• will pov •
will laughs to himself, not audible but more of a scoff, like he could sense mike was tired, hes still trying to wrap his mind around the fact mike is here, here with him and not in his dreams, he ignores any thoughts coming into his head, thoughts that this is an elaborate joke, a nightmare if you will.
he sits near mike, the mattress is leant against the wall, will’s sitting by the edge close to mikes head, mike is sprawled onto his stomach, drooling.
will reaches out to mikes bag, he unzips it and spots the walkie mike dropped before, he must’ve picked it up.
he fiddles with it, basically messing with the dials until he notices the signal scope is damaged, so he moves it around a-bit, he spots some gauze and some tape on his desk he reaches out for it and sits back down to wrap the receiver to stabilise it, after it looks somewhat straight- he plays around with the dial again, flicking channel to channel, he goes back a few channels until he hears a static, not the kinda static when a signal isnt recieved, the kind of purposeful static, when someone’s connecting to the same channel,
he presses down on the button on the side of the walkie and releases it to make sure its actually a person and he’s not going insane, when there was nothing, he went to put it down, before he was stopped in his tracks by a voice,
“mike?, mike was that you?,”
will almost drops the walkie, but he keeps it in his hand while the voice is still speaking, startled- he comes up with the most logical idea for the situation-
will turns around to mike, and starts to shake him, not too hard, honestly nicely light.
“mike, mike?” will whisper yells, he lets out a scoff, sucks that mike’s a heavy sleeper, heavy with a capital H.
“mike, Mike, seriously,” will is still shaking mike, he starts to wake up a little bit,
“whaaaat..” mike slurs out, will just looks at him, disbelieving- very unimpressed,
“i fixed the walkie,” he pauses, “someone’s speaking- saying your name.” he watches as mike immediately sits up, but softens when he reaches first the walkie, grabbing it lightly.
“hello?, anyone there?” mike says into the walkie, they sit waiting for a response.
“mike?, where are you, you didn’t meet back up to the meet point it’s been two hours!,” yelling was heard as a response, too fast and loud to cut off or speak over.
“nancy..” mike whispers to will, will just turns his head, furrowing his browns but leaning in.
mike starts to speak into the walkie again,
“yeah, nance, i’m sorry about that, i uh.. got into a little something,” he slips out but before he let go, he added; “i found someone, where should we meet up- if you’re still down here,”
theres a stretch of static, followed by rustling, then Nancy can be heard sighing.
“Michael, i swear to whatever god is out there, if you end up wasting our time..” she put a heavy emphasis of ‘whatever’ proving she annoyed, mike recognised the tone even before she finished. theres a pause before she speaks again, “we can meet you where you got off the van, if thats good for you?” Nancy finishes her sentence,
“yeah, we will be there in an hour or less,” mike cuts the signal off, before anyone could try respond.
will stared at him, a bit bewildered,
“we?..”
mike looks confused, “yeah?, i’m not leaving you here any longer will.”
will smiles at him