Chapter Text
HAWKINS, INDIANA
NOVEMBER 8th
1983
The Wheeler residence
basement
Will had always been the best artist. Mike had always kept the drawings Will gave him. Every single one. They were kept in the binder he was looking in right now while sitting on the couch. He grabs a drawing, looking at it and smiles. He can hear the static of the radio El was playing with in the background that makes him grateful to know after he’s had been an asshole to her she still tried to help him
“Can you please stop that?” he can hear himself ask her. He hears the radio turn off then turn back on. It was just static for now “Are you deaf?” What was wrong with him like- He noticed how nice he was to her when he thought she was helping Will then the moment he thought she wasn't…he’s rude “I thought we were friends, you know? But friends tell each other the truth. And they definitely don’t lie to each other.” he turns his head looking at her
“You made me think Will was okay, that he was still out there, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t! Maybe you thought you were helping, but you weren’t. You hurt me. Do you understand?” He gets it though. When he saw the dead body he felt heartbroken and just- empty. He felt as if he was missing himself, so he was hurt. Really bad he just- shouldn’t have taken it out on El “What you did sucks. Lucas was right about you. All along” There’s static crackling on the radio then:
“So come on and let me know” He could hear Will’s voice, he rushes over to El “Should I stay or should I go?” He was trying to calm himself by singing his favorite song. Where is he? He has to go to him. “Should I stay or should I go now?” How long has he been singing this? “Should I stay or should I go now?” Probably a while “If I go there will be trouble” Where is he? There’s only two places he can think about, the Byers house or Castle Byers. Three if you count his house “If I stay it will be double”
He snatches the supercomm from El “Will, is that you? It’s Mike! Do you copy? Over” he says into the radio, but all he gets back is static “Will, are you there?” Static again “Will!” he gets nothing but interference on the radio, “Was that…Was it…Will.” he slowly looks at El
HAWKINS, INDIANA
NOVEMBER 8th
1983
The Wheeler residence
Mike’s room
Mike wakes up with a startled gasp. He can’t breathe. It was another nightmare. And it was worse than the others. He hugs himself feeling his wrist for his watch, when he can’t feel it he starts to freak out more. How could he lose it? Will had given it to him and- his eyes widened. His watch was still on El. That calmed him down a little bit. He looks at the clock, 2:30 it’s too late to go down there. He inhales, holds it then exhales
Doing what Will taught him so he would be able to calm down– Mike wakes up with a startled gasp, this was the sixth time this week, he looks at the clock 2:30. Around the same time as always, he sighs, grabs his pillow and blanket then slides out of bed.
When he walks down the stairs he sees Will looking at him again, this time the lamp was on meaning he had been awake for a while “Hey…”he awkwardly waves “another one? This is the sixth one this week” Will sighs out. Mike shifts his feet around “Yea…I just- I can go…if-” He says suddenly getting insecure of his decision, he doesn’t want to bother Will. Will looks at him and pats the space next to him on the couch “I told you this five times… It’s okay Mike. You’re never a bother nor burden to me” He gives him a sweet smile and god does Mike love it. It makes him smile back
He moves over to the couch and sits down next to Will, he starts fidgeting with his shirt “Are you okay? Can you breathe alright?” Will asks him. Now that he thinks about it his chest is a little tight Will must’ve noticed his breathing, his face flushes at the thought, no it’s fine Will’s just looking out for him “Uhm- yea I can- can breathe o-okay” he gives Will a tender smile “Mike… I can practically hear the panic in your thoughts.” Will says with a hesitant smile
There’s a beat of silence only the sound of their breathing “Can I…teach you something?” Will turns toward him “Of course” He softly says “Okay so, we’re going to put our hand on our hearts” Wills puts his hand on his heart, Mike follows after, “Okay? Now what?” He asks “Now we inhale” Will inhales then brings his other hand up, counting to three. Then slowly exhales. He looks at him
“Do it with me, in” they both take a breath in “Hold” they hold it in for three seconds “And out” they release the breath. Will smiles at him “One more time okay?” they do this until Mike can breathe normally, “Jonathan taught me that, to help to calm me down when I started panicking” He tells him
“That’s cool, Jonathan’s always been cool” Will snorts “I wanted to teach you, just in case you ever needed to calm yourself down” he softly tells Mike “What, you trying to get rid of me Byers?” he teases “I don’t know Wheeler, am I?” Will jokes back “I would hope not. I quite like your company Byers” he leans closer to Will, their elbows touching “Awh man…Wheeler that sucks for you doesn’t it” Will leans closer as well, Mike’s smile falters for a bit as he realizes how close they are. He gazes down at Wills lips for a slight second then pouts
“But- that’s so mean…” He whines and flops his body over Will making them fall backwards on the couch so now he’s laying on top of Will, he can feel Will chest rumble as he laughs “is it now? You’re the one who started it” he looks down at Mike and Mike looks up, his chin now on Will’s chest. Pouting at him then pushing his face back on his chest. He remembers when they used to do this when they were kids
“You’re right I did start it” He says into Will’s shirt so it’s a bit muffled “So I can start this as well” He sits up and Will looks at him realization dawning on his face “Mike. No” Will holds his hand up “Mike. Yes” he smirks, then his hands dive for his ribs, Will shrieks “Mike!” he yells out while laughing “Mike! Stop!” he tries to push Mike fingers away “Say you won’t kick me out” he stops abruptly and Will looks up at him with a sly grin “I will kick you out-” Mike smirks
“Wrong answer” then his fingers are back on his ribs again finding every sensitive nerve. Will bursts out laughing “Okay!...okay” Will says, Mike stops looking down at him waiting “I won’t kick you out” Will relents and Mike grins “good” he sits back letting Will get up “I can’t believe you” he playfully glares at Mike. And Mike gives him a cheeky smile “Jerk. Using my only weakness against me” Will says
“Well, I wouldn’t be able to use it if I didn’t know about it” he gives Will a coy look, but when Will doesn’t respond back it falters “Hey…you okay?” he softly asks Will
“Huh? Oh- yea I just” Will starts to fidget with his hands “I just- missed this…us” he hesitantly tells him “Oh…well I- missed us too. So-” he puts his legs on top of Will’s and lays back “In a not sick and twisted way, I actually feel grateful for my nightmares because, for some reason it gave me enough courage to come down here” he calmly says “The concept of you not having enough courage” Will jokes “ha-ha, very funny” he gives Will a bored expression, Will moves his hand over his mouth, stifling his laughter
“I’m serious though, when I'm around you it’s as if my courage never even existed” Will’s eyes widen at his words and his face goes…red? “Oh my god, Will are you okay!?” He sits up in a panic and puts the back of his hand to Will’s forehead, “You’re a little warm…are you coming down with something?” Will just stares at him in shock “Crap, I should’ve noticed. Let me go get you some water okay?” He quickly gets off the couch and dashes upstairs to the kitchen.
That memory makes him laugh. And he’s glad Will taught him that trick. But now that he thinks about it, why did Will get sick after he said that? Maybe he should just get some sleep so he can think about it later.
HAWKINS, INDIANA
NOVEMBER 9th
1983
The Wheeler residence
Mike’s room
There’s a knock on his door when he wakes up “Michael?” his mom walks into his room, “Hi honey. How are you feeling?” she asks and he squints at her. Why is it so bright? And time is it? “I, uh…I don’t think I can go to school today” he hears himself say “Oh, that’s fine, sweetie. I need to drop off Nance, then I’m gonna check on Barb’s parents. Why don’t you grab a book or something and come with me? We can stop by the video store on the way back, pick out whatever you want. Even R-rated.” That is tempting to be honest. You don’t get to watch a lot movies when your busy saving the world
But first and foremost he has to find Will “I think I just want to stay home today. I mean if that’s okay?” His mom looks hesitant “Well, are you sure you’re gonna be all right here by yourself?” she asks “I think so” he gives her a shy smile, she sighs “Okay. But if you need anything, call Dad at work.” she firmly tells him “Okay” he softly says back “Okay” She says then leans down to kiss his forehead
“Bye” he says sadness dripping off his voice “Bye, sweetie” he waits until she’s out of the room before grabbing his supercomm and turning it on “Lucas, do you copy?” he waits…no response he tries again “Lucas, come on, I know you’re there!” he waits again but no response…again “This is urgent. I’m serious. I’m not gonna stop until you answer. Lucas” Lucas can be such a stubborn prick sometimes, he literally said it’s important “Lucas!” he tries again, Mike sighs he needs him to answer
“Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas…Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas…” he knows if he annoys Lucas enough he’ll answer “Go away, Mike. I’m not in the mood, all right? Over and out” he gets the response he needed. Even if it’s an irritated one, it’s a start and it’s understandable why he’s irritated. He should’ve just answered when Mike first spoke to him “No, not ‘out’” he says back
“I’m not messing around, okay?” Lucas tells him
“This is about Will. Over” of course he’s not messing around this is serious
“What about Will? You mean about his funeral? Over” Lucas asks
“No, not his funeral. Screw his funeral” He exclaims, he doesn’t want to hear anything about that
“What!?” Lucas asks taken aback
“Just get over here stat. And bring Dustin. Over and out” he turns off the radio
~
Silence. Only the sound of radio frequencies could be heard in the Wheeler’s basement. The four of them were sitting in a circle on the floor around his supercomm while El was trying to contact Will “We keep losing the signal, but you heard it, right?” He asks looking up at Lucas and Dustin “Yeah, I heard a baby” Lucas tells him
“What? That obviously was Will” He shoots back “Mike, you obviously tapped into a baby monitor. It’s probably the Blackburns next door.” Lucas mocks, Mike frowns if it was a baby monitor he would know. That was Will “uh, did that sound like a baby to you? That was Will!”
“Mike…” Lucas tiredly sighs out
“Lucas, you don’t understand. He spoke last night. Words! He was singing that song he loves. Even El heard him” he explains
“Oh, well, if the weirdo heard him, then I guess” Lucas mocks
“Are you sure you’re on the right channel?” Dustin interrupts, he looks at him “I don’t it’s about that, I think, she’s channeling him.” Lucas stares at him like he’s somehow grown two heads “Like…like Professor X” Dustin whispers, and Mike nods “Yeah” Lucas turns his head to look at Dustin “Are you actually believing this crap?” Lucas says, dismayed “I don’t know, I mean…Do you remember when Will fell off his bike and broke his finger? He sounded a lot like that” Dustin explains
He’s grateful Dustin stepped in “Did you guys not see what I saw? They pulled Will’s body out of the water. He’s dead!” When Lucas says this Mike’s body stiffens and his head starts to hurt “Well, maybe it’s his ghost, Maybe he’s haunting us” an image flashes through his mind, Will. Unmoving, cold to the touch, blood on his beautiful face, and his eyes…dull. No life in them. He can’t breathe, where is he? Where is Will? He can’t- “Mike?”
His eyes burst open “Will?” He looks around, no…El, it’s El, he bites his lip and ducks his head, staring at the floor. He clenches his fist in his lap. Inhale, hold, exhale. There’s a beat of silence “Don’t- don’t say that” He shakily says, “He’s not haunting us. He's not a ghost. And he’s definitely not dead” He looks up at them “So- so don’t say that. Will is alive. Will. Is. Alive.” he says, his firm watery gaze unwavering.
Lucas looks at him with uncertainty in his eyes “All we have to do is find him” he firmly states, wiping his eyes with his hands. Dustin and Lucas look at each other then back to him, but he turns his attention back to the radio “This isn’t going to work. We need to get El a stronger radio” he says looking around at them and the corner of Dustin's mouth quirk up “Mr. Clarke’s Heathkit ham shack” he says, and Mike nods “Yeah”
“The Heathkit’s at school. There is no way we’re gonna get the weirdo in there without anyone noticing.” Lucas looks at El “I mean…Look at her” they look at her and she looks back confused.
~
Him and El sit on Nancy’s bed with her makeup box in his hands. She’s not here right now so, she won’t know he used it…maybe. He opens the box and grabs the blush, opens it and dabs the brush on it, he holds the brush up to El’s cheek slightly flicking it. El flinches back a bit then she smiles a small smile and he smiles back “Are you ticklish?” he asks, as he’s putting blush on her cheeks, just a random question to fill the silence
“Ticklish?” El asks, confused. He stops his brushing motion to look at her face, then nods his head in approvement. Moving to grab the lipstick “Uhm- it’s like…sensative skin that- when you touch, can cause different reactions like- laughing” he opens the lipstick while El just stares at him “Will is very ticklish” he smiles to himself at the thought “I do not know” El finally says “That’s okay” he says, focused on putting lipstick on her lips
When he’s done he leans back to take a look at her face then nods his head in approval “Okay, Lucas and Dustin should be coming up here with the clothes” then as if he had summoned them the door swings open revealing them with a blonde wig and a pick dress “I got the clothes!” Dustin exclaims “WE got the clothes” Lucas sneers “Well I got the wig and I-” Mike gets off the bed walking over to them
“Right and that’s all you did. I got the dress and-” Lucas smugly says. Mike grabs the dress from Lucas
“Well I told you what color the dress should’ve been,” Dustin argues. Then Mike grabs the wig from him and turns toward El “Here, put these on, okay?” He puts the clothes down on Nancy’s dresser. Turns towards the two arguing and pushes them out the room “Ow! What the hell Mike” Lucas sneers “Hey!” Dustin says, he rolls his eyes steps into the hallway and closes the door behind him
They settle in a tense silence, Dustin speaks first “Mike, are you…like okay?” Dustin asks concerned “Yea I’m fine” he says back “Are you…sure?” Lucas asks uncertainly dripping off his words “Yes! I’m sure” he says tensely, Lucas and Dustin look at each other “You always say that Mike. But-” Dustin starts “But we know you’re not.” Lucas says adamantly “I said I’m fine. I’m fine we just- need to follow through with the plan” He’s fine, he's fine. Nothing’s wrong and they’re going to get Will from the upside down.
behind him, he could hear Nancy’s door open. He turns to look at El “Wow .She looks…” Dustin says mesmerized “Pretty” Mike finishes for him smiling, Lucas looks at Dustin then Mike bewildered “You look great El” Mike tells her, El shyly smiles at him. He watches as El walks over to the mirror to look at herself “Pretty” She tells herself, she does look pretty. He frowns, now that he thinks about it, when was the last time he complimented her? The more he reflects on his relationship with El the more he realizes she was right. Entirely right.
HAWKINS, INDIANA
NOVEMBER 9th
1983
Hawkins Middle School
“Okay, remember, if anyone sees us look sad” He reminds the three of them. Then the voice of the man on the PA rings throughout the whole school “Attention students, there will be an assembly to honor Will Byers in the gymnasium now. Do not go to fourth period” He couldn’t care less about that assembly they were all fake. They didn’t really care about Will, not like he- they did. Anyway, they were busy trying to get into the AV club room “It’s locked” Mike huffs out, but unfortunately for them it was locked.
“What” Lucas tries the door he gives him a tired look, he had just said it was locked “Hey, do you think you can open it? With your powers?” Dustin asks El, looking at her, she’s about to respond until “Boys?” Mike puts his head down when he hears Mr Clarke “Hey” Lucas says, sounding shady as hell “Assembly’s about to start” Mr Clarke says, confused on why they weren’t making their way over “We know. We're just- you know…” his mind draws a blank “Upset” Lucas finishes for him, suddenly looking sad
“Yeah, definitely upset” Dustin stammers out, upset is an understatement for what Mike’s feeling “we need some alone time.” he looks up at Mr Clarke “to cry” Dustin adds on “Yeah, listen…I get it. I do. I know how hard this is, but let’s be there for Will, huh” He looks at the three of them nodding “And then…” Mr Clarke reaches into his pocket and pulls out his keys “The heathkit is all yours for the rest of the day” he throws the keys to Lucas who catches them smiling
“What do you say?” Dustin and Lucas both nod, Mike bites his lip and reluctantly nods. Then Mr Clarke stammers when he looks at El as if he had just noticed her “I don’t believe we’ve met. What’s your name?” Mr Clarke asks her
“Eleven-” She starts
“Eleanor! She’s my, cousin” Mike interrupts
“Second cousin” Dustin holds up two fingers, Mike sighs in relief but also annoyance “She’s here for Will’s funeral” Mr Clarke nods his head in understatement “Ah, well, welcome to Hawkins Middle, Eleanor. I wish you were here under better circumstances” he gently tells her
“Thank you” She says in a low-pitched voice “Uh, where are you from exactly?” Mr Clarke narrows his eyes “Bad place-” El starts “Sweden!” Dustin yells out, Mr Clarke looks at them startled “I have a lot of Swedish family” he sheepishly blurts out “She hates it there” Dustin says “Cold” Lucas adds on “Subzero” Dustin tells Mr Clarke, he looks reluctant for a minute until “Shall we?” He says probably trying to get out of this awkward situation “Yep” Lucas rushes out,
‘Bang!’ The Auditorium doors open, everyone turns to stare at them he freezes for a moment. “Abort,” Dustin says, moving back but Lucas pushes him forward. But all Mike could do was stand there, all eyes were on him. They know. They know. They- He closes his eyes and shakes his head, what do they know? There’s nothing to know. He follows the rest of the group to their seats.
~
“Will Byers’ death is an unimaginable tragedy. Will was an exceptional student and a wonderful friend to us all…” Mike makes a face when the principal says that. Of course Will was a wonderful friend and he always will be but Will wasn’t even friends with most of the people in this room “She’s a local grief counselor from the church over in Jonesboro. But before she comes up here, I just want those of you who are having trouble dealing with this tragic loss…” Mike rolls his eyes and leans towards Lucas
“Look at these fakers” he whispers “They probably didn’t even know his name till today” Lucas whispers back, not probably. They didn’t. Mike could hear a chuckle to his side, he turned his head to see Troy? He thought he was in the hospital. Why is he here? Mike shouldn’t be here either but his Mom is his Mom. He could see James whisper something to him “Who is interested in this? This is so stupid. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Troy mocks. Mike frowns
“Oh, he was such a great student,” Troy mocks “Oh, he’s going to leave a hole in the community” Troy says fake crying, Mike sneers “Mouthbreather” El whispers, Lucas takes a look at his face “Mike…Man he’s not worth it” he puts a hand on Mike's shoulder “Not a second time” the bell rings and Mike just stares at Lucas then his gaze flickers over to Troy, Will is always worth it. Every. single. Time.
He stands up, he can hear Lucas sigh before following behind him as he walks down to Troy and James with the three of them behind him “Hey! Hey!” He yells “Hey, Troy! Hey Troy!” gaining Troy’s attention he walks up to him “you think this is funny?” he says sullenly, “Wha- What’d you say, Wheeler?” Troy stammers out, Mike could tell he was scared “I saw you guys laughing over there. And I think that’s a real messed up thing to do.” he glares at Troy “Didn’t you listen to the counselor, Wheeler? Grief shows itself in funny ways.” James says, and Mike’s gaze flickers over to him then back to Troy “Be- Besides, what’s there to be sad about, anyway? Will’s in fairyland now, right? Flying around with all the other little fairies. All happy and Gay!” Troy imitates a fairy, laughs then begins to walk away
Mike’s jaw tightens and he clenches his fist. He catches up with Troy and pushes him face first right onto his healing nose, everyone around them gasps while Troy grunts in pain “You didn’t get it the first time did you” He whispers unamused mixed with burning anger “Y- You’re dead, Wheeler!” He gets up holding his nose “Dead!” Troy starts dashing towards him. But he didn’t feel the fear he had felt the last time so he stands his ground then suddenly he freezes “Dude, Troy peed himself. Is he that scared of Wheeler?” Some random kid in the back blurts out. Troy looks down and Mike smirks ‘go El’ he thinks to himself.
Everybody laughs and he turns to look at El, smiling at her, she smiles back and wipes her nose walking over to Lucas and Dustin “Hey! What’s going on here?” The principal says, finally noticing all the commotion. Lucas rushes to him “Mike! Let’s go” they both dash out of the auditorium.
~
“Come on” Mike rushes into the Av club room “Close the door behind you” He tells whoever came last. El walks over to the chair beside him and sits down while he begins setting up the radio “Now what?” Dustin says walking over to them with Lucas beside him “Now…she’ll find him” he says, glancing at El for a brief second “Okay now we wait, and let El focus" sitting back after setting the radio to the right frequency, he gives her a nod of approval and she closes her eyes.
“She’s doing it. She’s finding him!” he turns his head to look at the two boys “This is crazy” Dustin says astonishingly “Calm down she just closed her eyes” Lucas says then the lights blow and they all gasp and look up. For some reason he feels fear but…he’s already lived through this? What would he be afraid of? “Holy…” Dustin whispers then ‘clang!’ They all jump and turn towards the noise of the radio ‘clang’ They all lean closer ‘clang’ “What is that?” Dustin asks ‘clang’ then “Mom?"
Lucas and Dustin’s eyes widen “No way!” Lucas says bewildered “Mom!” Mike’s jaw clenches “Mom!” The only word Will says is ‘mom’ but why? Of course in this situation you would want your mom but it’s the way he says it…like he’s calling out to her… “Will!” he yells out, maybe he can hear him after all? “Will, It’s us! Are you there” Lucas frantically shouts, please Will please hear us this time Mike frantically pleads in his head “Can you hear us? We’re here!” Dustin says, they wait a moment.
“Hello? Mom?” Nothing…Mike deflates, he can’t hear them… “Why can’t he hear us?” Lucas asks him “I don’t know!” he says back annoyed, this doesn’t make sense. How can Will hear Mrs Byers but not them? “Mom?..Mom!...” Mike had always hated the way Will sounded, desperate and sad “Mom…Mom, It’s coming! It’s like home, but it’s so dark… It’s so dark and empty. And it’s cold! Mom? Mom!” Lucas looks at Mike and Mike…he just stares at the radio, his gaze unmoving “Mom, please!” Then the fuse blows, El goes limp and the heathkit bursts out in flames.
They all yelp as the fire alarm goes off, Dustin moves to grab the fire extinguisher spraying it over the heathkit “El, are you okay” he asks at the same time as Dustin’s “Hey, are you okay?” He looks at Dustin who is putting down the fire extinguisher and walking over to El. He seems to be really worried about El, he can worry about that later. He bends down and grabs her arms “Can you move?” she looks disoriented and tired “Here, help her up” he hooks his arm under arms and looks at Lucas who hooks his arm on her other side, he nods and they head out the door “This way!” he says as they turn down the hallway to follow the other kids.
And as they do this he can only feel the same thing he felt the last time. Hopelessness.