Archive of Our Own

Even with toxic ashes from the Upside Down pouring down and a literal hellmouth ripping through Hawkins, things don’t actually change that much.

Mike and Nancy decided that it wasn’t fair keeping their parents in the dark anymore. Mike’s father still complains about the party using their house as a de facto headquarters, but now it’s mixed with a weird fixation on government conspiracies, and an even bigger disdain for all of Mike’s friends. Meanwhile, his mother watches him like a hawk, and Mike would have found it utterly unbearable a year ago, but right now, he’s secretly grateful that he has her in this battle. Nancy - well, Nancy is tired. Mike doesn’t see her much, but when he does, she always looks like she’s on the verge of biting back tears. He flashes back, briefly, to two years ago when Mike thought El had died and Nancy knew Barb had died, but neither of them actually said the words out loud. He hopes they’re a little better now, but he mostly thinks Nancy needs her space. 

El is another one who Mike thinks needs her space. There’s probably a lot that they should be talking about right now. There’s Max in a coma; there’s El traversing her mind scape trying to find whatever they can on saving her; there’s Mike telling her that he loves her; there’s also, in the deepest darkest part of his brain, the fact that all of it feels wrong. They should talk, but Mike keeps putting it off, and El doesn’t seem like she wants to talk right now either. Mike supposes there’s some safety in all that.

School is permanently on hold, which Mike is beyond happy about because the last thing he wants to do in the middle of a goddamn apocalypse is deal with high school. A portion of the Henderson house collapsed when the cracks opened, so Dustin and his mom are staying with the Sinclairs. Hopper’s cabin is mostly hospitable, but there’s only two bedrooms, and Joyce didn’t want to put the boys up in a hotel. That's how Mike suddenly finds himself living with Will and Jonathan. They take the guest bedroom, and the idea of not sharing a room with Will like they did when they were kids makes Mike sadder that he could bring himself to fixate on, but it’s not like he expects any different. After all, he took Jonathan’s room when he was staying at the Byers’ Lenora house. 

It shouldn’t be easy to avoid people when you’re basically quarantined in one house, but that’s what happens. Mike doesn’t see Will for four days straight. If Mike wakes up late, Will wakes up early and is already on his way to the cabin or to Lucas’s house. If Mike wakes up early to try and catch Will before he leaves, Will decides to sleep in until Mike gives up and goes over to Lucas’s house, where Will eventually joins them, but avoids Mike like he’s the walking embodiment of a deadly virus.

The fifth day, though, Mike finally sees Will. He’s standing in the doorway to Mike’s room, arms crossed across his chest.

Mike knows that probably looks a bit too excited when he grins. "Hey!"

“Uh, hey,” Will replies blankly. Mike stops smiling, and maybe Will notices that because he awkwardly shoots Mike a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Uh…I was wondering if I could borrow a shirt. I didn’t get a chance to pack more clothes, and Hopper’s washing machine is still down.”

Mike picks up a tshirt off the top of his clean laundry, and tosses it to Will before dropping back down on his bed. 

Will unfolds the shirt and raises a brow at Mike. He asks, “What’s the Hellfire Club?”

“Oh, it’s a D&D club at school,” Mike mumbles, feeling his insides turn at Eddie’s memory. That’s another thing he doesn’t want to think about. “You know Eddie? The guy that…passed away? He was our dungeon master.”

Will’s face softens. He says, “I’m sorry about that.”

“I’m fine,” Mike replies, with a wave. Will gives him a look that says bullshit, but Mike pointedly ignores it. He clears his throat and continues, “Uh, what about you?”

Will’s face twists in confusion. “Me?”

“Do you have a D&D club at school?” Mike asks, ignoring the sinking feeling at the thought that Will found someone else to play with. He knows it’s unfair considering he’s joined a club, but he’s playing with Lucas and Dustin, so it’s not like it’s all strangers. Right?

Will’s face contorts into an unreadable expression. He shakes his head and says, “No, I said that it wasn’t possible for me to find another party, but I guess you could.”

“Oh,” Mike says dumbly. God, you idiot. He doesn’t have a chance to apologize because Will turns to leave his room. Mike’s brain finally catches up with his mouth and he calls out, “Will, wait -”

By the time Mike scrambles off his bed to run into the hallway, Will is shutting the guest bedroom door. 

~

Mike finds the letter under the bed when he’s cleaning out his room for the donation boxes.

Will is painting a lot, but he won’t show me what he’s working on. Maybe it’s for a girl. I think there is someone he likes. He has been acting weird.

The words are right there, in El’s blocky handwriting, staring right back at Mike. He reads the letter - the last one El had sent before the spring break from hell - again and again, and each time he does, his head spins a little bit more. If the words on the page could mock him, Mike is pretty sure that they would call him the stupidest person on the planet. 

He won’t show me what he’s working on.

He knows that there’s a chance that the painting El is talking about and the painting that’s currently spread out on his bed are two completely different paintings. He also knows that almost every other sentence in El’s letter is a lie that they’ll never talk about, and this could be yet another one. He also, in the deepest corner of his brain, knows all that’s bullshit, and that Will lied to him for the first time in their friendship, and that thought feels too overwhelming to comprehend. 

Mike isn’t stupid; he’s clueless, and maybe a little bit caught up in his own head sometimes, but he’s not stupid. At least, that’s what he thinks, but he’s starting to doubt that with each passing moment. Right now, in his bedroom with Will’s stunning, perfect painting spread out on his bed and El’s last letter crumpled up on his desk, Mike feels like the biggest idiot on this planet. He’s missing something; that there’s something Will isn’t telling him; that Will can’t tell him; that there’s something hanging in the air between them like the biggest elephant in the room that Mike is somehow utterly blind to. He knows this. He heard Will biting back his tears in the van, and god, Mike wanted to reach out and ask. Ask the question that he needs to ask Will. Except - well, except, he doesn’t know what the question is, and he feels so fucking stupid. 

~

The door to the guest bedroom is opened slightly, and when Mike walks towards it, he sees Jonathan and Will in deep conversation. Mike waits, debating if he should just walk away, but decides against that.

“Hey Will,” Mike says quietly, as he taps on the door. Both brothers immediately look up and towards the door. Mike clears his throat. “Can, uh, can we talk?”

Jonathan looks between Will and Mike before getting up off the bed. He walks towards the door, but stops right in front of Mike. He drops a hand to Mike’s shoulder, squeezing it tightly, and gives Mike a look . It’s not angry, exactly, but it’s definitely pointed. It’s a look that says you fucked up, and Mike thinks that’s probably fair. 

Mike swallows hard and nods. Jonathan doesn’t say anything else before walking down the hallway towards Nancy’s room, leaving Mike alone with Will.

“Hey Mike,” Will says, smiling slightly, but there’s an undercurrent of something sad and forced there, and Mike feels his stomach turn. He looks exhausted, far more tired than Mike has ever seen him, and that’s saying something. Will puts down the sketchpad that he was holding and the smile that seemed so forced finally drops, and in its place is a small frown. “Is everything okay?”

Mike leans against the doorway, shifting on his feet and shoving his hands into his pockets to keep them from twisting around themselves. He feels a sudden stab of anxiety in his gut, and he wants to turn away. 

She commissioned it, basically. I mean, she told me what to draw.

Will is still staring at him expectantly, the worry creeping on to his face with each passing moment. “Mike?”

“Yeah, uh.” Mike says, eventually, when he can find his voice again. “Yeah, everything is fine. I just…I guess I wanted to check in on you to make sure you’re okay.”

“Oh,” Will huffs out, with a relieved sigh. He looks away from Mike and back down to his sketchpad, tracing a nervous pattern on his knee. He says, “Yeah…yeah, I’m fine.”

He smiles again, and it’s that same smile that Mike fucking hates. The world is ending, one of his closest friends is in a hospital in a coma, his girlfriend isn’t talking to him, and all Mike can worry about is how Will’s smile isn’t reaching his eyes and it’s all his fault.

“That’s bullshit,” Mike snaps before he could stop himself. Will whips his head up to turn towards Mike, his eyes widening almost comically. He looks a little bit like a deer caught in the headlights, scared and small, like he’s eight years old and accidently said his first curse word. Mike crosses the room and sits down on the edge of the bed. He adds, “You can talk to me.”

“I’m fine,” Will reiterates, and his voice is little bit stronger this time. He curls his legs into himself and looks away from Mike. He lets out a low laugh, bitter and humorless. “I mean, all things considered.”

“Right,” Mike says slowly, angling his head so Will would look at him, but all Will hunches further into himself. Mike sighs. “Will, what’s going on?”

Will doesn’t move. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what did I do?” Mike asks, looking down at his hands. He tries to keep the sinking feeling in his gut away, but all he wants to do is beg, plead, and cry, but he can’t. He just feels numb and so unbelievably confused. It’s like a dam breaks in him because he continues, “I mean, what’s going on with you? It’s like you’re pulling away, and I thought we fixed things. Like, we’re best friends, but you’re not talking to me. I don’t know what I did, and now you’re lying to me - ”

“What?” 

Will’s voice cuts off Mike’s rambling, and he looks up to see Will stare back at him. There’s tears forming behind the hazel of his eyes, and Mike absolutely hates that sight. He reaches into his pockets to pull out a crumpled piece of paper, and wordlessly hands it to Will. He watches as Will reads it, brows knitting together in confusion, and then clarity as Will realizes what’s happening.

“Mike, I didn’t…” Will starts before he breaks off, closing his eyes. He inhales sharply before opening his eyes again. His voice is uncharacteristically distant when he says, “I’m…I’m sorry, but I don’t take back what I said. El might not have commissioned the painting, but everything I said was real.”

“But why,” Mike begs desperately. What am I missing, he thinks. His head is a loop of you’re the heart and El needs you, but all of that feels like a lie. He gets up off the bed, and starts to pace around. It’s like he can’t control his mouth because he rambles, “I just don’t understand. You know I love everything you draw. It’s incredible…you’re incredible. And all that stuff about how El needs me, is that also -”

“Mike, stop,” Will cuts him off, voice rising slightly. He swings his legs over the edge of the bed, and looks up at Mike. “Everything I said was true. El loves you, Mike. She would be stupid not to, and you love her too. You’d be stupid not to.”

Stupid, Mike thinks. That seems to be the running theme of the day. He drops back down on the bed. He’s vaguely aware that he’s probably sitting too close to Will. 

“I love the painting,” Mike repeats quietly. He loves it so much. He wants to frame it and hang it up in his bedroom. He turns his head to meet Will’s eyes. “I mean what I said. You’re incredible.”

Will snorts. “Right.”

“What?” Mike asks, narrowing his eyes. Something flashes behind Will’s eyes, and Mike knows him well enough to know it’s anger. He tries again. “You really are.”

“So incredible that your life started the day I went missing, right?” Will asks, mouth twisting wryly. His eyes flash angrily as he continues, “The worst day of my life was the best day of yours.”

“Will, you know I didn’t mean it like that,” Mike starts, his stomach lurching in guilt. He said that; he can’t deny that, but he didn’t mean it. Will has to know that, doesn’t he? 

Will shrugs, not quite angry anymore, but it’s the kind of sadness that makes Mike wish that Will was angry again. He says, “I’ll be honest, Mike. I feel like I don’t know anything, anymore. You joined a D&D club when I…I waited all summer for you to play. One minute you’re telling me that Hawkins isn’t the same without me, but the next minute you’re saying that none of the stuff we did as kids even matters because your life didn’t start until that day. ”

“I’m so…so sorry,” Mike apologizes, his voice trembling slightly. He told himself that he wouldn’t cry; that he shouldn’t cry, but he can feel the warm tears forming. “I wasn’t thinking when I said that. I just meant that the day I met her, the day we all met her in the woods, was the day our lives changed forever. It’s like, I was living in this little town, totally unaware of everything going on around me, and suddenly, everything I knew changed.”

Mike looks at Will, hoping against hope that Will would understand. There’s tears running down Will’s cheeks, and Mike desperately wants to reach out and wipe them away. Instead, he stretches his hands out on his thighs, and starts pulling at a loose string on his jeans. When the silence stretches between them and Will doesn’t say anything, Mike pleads, “The day you went missing was the worst day of my life.”

He still remembers going to school the next morning and not seeing Will’s bike. He remembers fighting with his parents, and he remembers sneaking out in the rain to try and find Will. He still remembers the day they pulled that body out of Sattler’s Quarry. He remembers hearing Will’s voice on the radio singing “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” He remembers all of it like it was yesterday.

“You weren’t there,” Mike chokes out, fully giving up on not crying. If Will is crying, he might as well join him there, no matter what Ted Wheeler has to say about boys crying. “You have no idea how hard it was.”

“Mike,” Will says softly. He bumps his shoulder against Mike’s. His voice is gentle when he says, “It’s okay. I…I understand, and I forgive you.”

“You shouldn’t,” Mike replies immediately. He’ll never get over how unfetteringly good Will is. “You shouldn’t keep forgiving me. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I feel like I’m getting everything wrong, and constantly hurting you. I’ve been selfish and…and so fucking stupid.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Will says, voice light. “You’re just a bit…”

“Stupid?” Mike fills in when Will trails off. Will tilts his head to smile at Mike, a real smile for once, and Mike feels a rush of warmth surge through him. 

There’s a lightness to him. He doesn’t know what possesses him to reach out, but he pulls Will into a tight hug. It’s a little awkward, like they don’t know how to move around each other, or what they can do, or how much they’re allowed to touch. 

“Why did you paint it?” Mike asks.

“Because,” Will starts, frowning slightly. He pulls away from Mike, and Mike suddenly feels cold. It suddently feels like there’s a wall between them again, and that Mike messed up yet again. Will looks away from Mike when he says, “I just missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Mike says, without hesitation. He missed Will so, so much. Will looks at him, eyes bright, like he’s searching Mike’s face for something. Mike wants to look away, suddenly self conscious under Will’s gaze, but he holds steady. He feels like they’re on the precipice of something, whatever that is.

“Mike, I…” Will starts, but freezes. His hands twitch and he’s biting on his lower lip. The nerves are palpable on Will’s face, and Mike gently smiles, hoping it’s encouraging, and that Will can say whatever it is. 

But, that doesn’t happen, because there’s a knock on the door followed by, “Guys.”

Mike has to bite back a groan. He looks up to see Nancy standing in the doorway, hands crossed across her chest. She gives him an odd look before she states, “Team meeting.”

Mike sighs. Right, the world is still ending. That’s a thing that’s happening that he needs to focus on. He follows his sister out the room, and Nancy gives him the same odd look again, and when he tilts his head questioningly, she just shrugs. 

~

Mike thinks it’s kind of funny that they have team meetings now, like they’re the Avengers or something. When he follows Nancy down to his basement, he sees nearly twenty people scattered around. Hopper, Joyce, and Murray are in deep conversation with Ted and Karen, and Mike has to bite back a laugh when he sees his father ask Hopper something, which just makes Hopper’s face contort in frustration. The other parents crowd around too, asking questions. If there’s any silver lining to the world nearly ending, it’s that there’s actual adults in the room for once besides Hopper and Joyce.

Most of the party are scattered around the room, talking in groups of two or three. Mike watches Nancy slide up next to Jonathan, who is in a deep conversation with El. Mike immediately freezes, unable to walk towards her. When El catches him staring, she knits her brows together in confusion before giving him a small smile. Mike might be imagining it, but he can see the undercurrent of something sad under it.

“Are you two okay?” Will asks, from next to him, as solid as ever.

Mike shrugs. “I don’t know.”

Will looks between him and El, and Mike feels like he’s going to crumble. There’s so much he just doesn’t know, and he feels like he’s being pulled in two different directions, but heading towards a train wreck at the same time. 

“I’m sure you guys will be fine,” Will tells him, his voice distant. “You always are.”

Mike huffs out a low laugh. Right, he thinks. There’s a lot of things he’s sure about, and being fine with El is very low on the list. It’s not like he lied to her, but for some reason, he feels like he’s done a lot worse than that. He does love her; at least, he has a type of love for her. He’s just not sure that it’s the kind of love she wants, and he hates himself a little for being unable to give her that. 

Will is still looking up at him, and Mike shakes his head. He tries smiling. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Mike walks towards the sofa and drops down next to Lucas, with Dustin and Erica crouched on the floor, in a deep discussion. Will settles down next to him, their shoulders and knees touching, and Mike suddenly feels too hot, too aware at how close they are, but he can’t put some distance between them without it being weird. Luckily, he doesn’t have time to dwell on anything because Hopper clears his throat, commanding the attention of the whole room.

“Alright, our main goal right now should be to clear the town,” Hopper explains to the group. He eyes the parents and adds, “That includes all of you.”

Almost immediately, protests arise, with each parent speaking over the other, until Karen says, “You can’t seriously expect us to leave town while our kids are here, and more importantly, you can’t expect the kids to fight this…this Vecna thing.”

“No offense, Mrs. Wheeler, but we’re the only ones who can,” Dustin quips from his place on the floor. “Hopper is right. You all being here is going to be a liability.”

“Dusty…” Mrs. Henderson starts, just as Ted says, “That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.”

Mike nearly bursts out laughing at the severity of Dustin’s eye roll. He says, “Well, Mr. Wheeler, your attitude fills me with nothing but misery, but you don’t hear me complaining, do you?”

“Dusty, be polite,” Mrs. Henderson chides, but there’s no heat behind it.

“Anyways,” Hopper cuts in before things dissolve any further. “Step one should be to clear the town. Next, we need to find Vecna.”

“I can’t see him,” El says quietly. Mike looks across the room to where El is sitting with her legs drawn to her chest, and a small frown gracing her face. His heart aches seeing her like this. She looks up to meet his gaze, and Mike just wants to rush across the room and hug her. Hesitantly, she adds, “I’m looking everywhere, but he’s not there.”

The room falls into a stillness, and the anxiety is palpable in the air. Vecna has to be out there, waiting to make his next move, and they’re all just sitting ducks at this point. 

“Maybe I can help,” Will pipes up, breaking the silence. Mike immediately turns to look at him. No, he thinks, not you too. Almost instinctively, Will turns to look at him with a challenge behind his eyes, and all Mike can do is nod. Will inhales sharply before he explains, “I can still…feel him. He’s here in Hawkins, or well, in the Upside Down within Hawkins. I don’t know how to control it, and I can’t feel him all the time, but when he’s active, there’s this…coldness. Maybe…maybe if I can learn to control this, we can use it to help El track him down.”

It hits Mike, not for the first time, just how brave Will is. It also hits Mike, again not for the first time, how much danger they’re all in, but especially how much danger El and Will are in. His gut tells him to protest, to make a fuss about this, to yell and scream and say that they can’t do this because he can’t lose them again. A voice in his head, that sounds a lot like Max’s, tells him that he can’t really stop them from doing this, and that they’re their own people who are capable of making their own decisions. But then again, Max is in a coma and Eddie is dead, so Mike thinks some of his fears are well supported. 

“What do we do when we find him?” Mike asks the room. He looks at Will, who looks more scared than Mike has ever seen him. Mike looks across the room, from El to Nancy to his mother. When nobody answers, he points out, “We’ve barely been able to handle the demodogs, let alone a full demogorgon. Vecna is stronger than anything we’ve faced so far, so what exactly are we gonna do once El and Will find him?”

Nobody has an answer to that. He can see everyone considering it.

“I’m not losing again,” El says with a new air of determination. “I’m not losing to him again, and I’m getting Max back.”

Lucas shifts next to Mike. Quietly, he says, “For Max.”

“For Max,” El repeats. 

For Max, Mike thinks. 

~

When everyone clears out of the basement, Mike finds Will staring up at the drawings pinned to the wall above the couch.

“Hey,” Mike says softly, as he slides up next to Will. He bumps his arm against Will’s. “You okay?”

Will doesn’t say anything and instead turns to look at Mike. There’s just something about how Will looks at him that makes Mike’s face feel warm. It’s just so Will - gentle, caring, honest Will. Mike wants to look away, but he just can’t. 

Will gapes, “You kept them?”

He tilts his head towards the drawings, and Mike flushes. He doesn’t say anything; instead, he wordlessly walks towards the cabinet, pulls out a binder, and hands it to Will. Their hands brush briefly as Will takes it from him, and Mike stomach does a little backflip that he pointedly ignores. He watches as Will flips through the binder, his eyes widening in awe before softening.

“I kept them all,” Mike says quietly, when Will doesn't say anything.

Will looks away from the binder to look up at Mike, eyes bright, but then he turns away from Mike. He looks back at the binder, and Mike can see that his expression is clearly embarrassed. When he turns back, his face is soft and his cheeks are dusted pink. He says, “Thank you.”

Mike draws his eyebrows together in confusion. “For what?”

“For never thinking that my drawings are silly or stupid,” Will shrugs, with a small smile.

“I’d never do that. You’re…you’re the most talented person I’ve ever met,” Mike says, surprised by the intensity of his own voice.

Mike knows he’s being too honest; too close to saying something else, something far more guarded, but the way Will smiles makes it all worth it. They just stand there, looking at each other, and it’s like they haven’t seen each other in a long time, and maybe they haven’t. At least, not like this, and Mike doesn’t know what this is, but he knows it’s different. His eyes flicker from Will’s eyes to the slope of his nose; he looks down at Will’s lips before looking up to meet his eyes. Oh, Mike thinks, followed by, oh shit . 

When he catches himself staring too much, Mike clears his throat and asks, “We’re okay, right?”

“Yeah, we are,” Will replies, with the same, unfaltering smile. He huffs out a quiet laugh and shakes his head. “Do you know how annoying it is that I can never stay mad at you?”

“I’m sor…” 

“Stop apologizing,” Will says as he rolls his eyes, but Mike can tell there’s no heat behind it. “You’re just so, so stupid sometimes, Mike.”

Will steps forward and wraps an arm around Mike’s shoulders. Mike freezes for a moment before he brings his own arms around Will, pulling him closer. It’s the most they’ve hugged in years, and Mike missed this. He missed having Will close; he missed the way that Will leans his forehead against Mike’s shoulder; he missed the way they just fit together, no matter what. Except - it’s different now, Mike thinks. He feels his own heart thundering against his chest, threatening to break out and send him to an early grave.

~

Saying goodbye to his mother proves harder than anything else. Mike tries not to cry, especially with his dad around, but he finally breaks when he sees Nancy and his mom hug in the kitchen. 

“I love you,” Mike tells his mom, as he hugs her tight. He doesn’t remember the last time he told her that he loved her. He used to always be envious of the Byers family and how easily they expressed their love, but he knows that his mom loves him. She shows it in the simplest of ways, constant and unconditionally. He repeats, “I love you.”

Karen smiles up at him through her tears, pulling Nancy closer so that the three of them could share another hug. Through her tears, Karen says, “If you two don’t make it through this, I will kill you myself.”

“We’ll be fine, mom,” Nancy reassures her, but Mike knows that there’s a hint of a lie there, and he knows his mom doesn’t buy it. For now, they just need to convince themselves that they’ll be okay. Nancy tries smiling when she says, “For now, just try not to go crazy while you’re trapped in a hotel room with dad.”

“Oh, he’s not so bad,” Karen tells them. 

Mike and Nancy exchange a look. Mike isn’t sure what he’d describe his dad as, but before he could think of a word that’s not asshole, Ted walks towards them, two duffle bags in his hands and Holly by his side.

“I really think we should file a complaint with the governor,” Ted announces. “The half bald man has all sorts of ridiculous theories, and I’m not sure I trust Jim with all this. You know how he is.”

“Right,” Nancy says drily. “We’ll figure out how to file a complaint with the governor once we close the gates.”

Before Ted could add anything else, Karen pulls him away, shooting them one last look. Nancy leans down to kiss Holly on her head, and Mike ruffles her hair.

Once his parents are out of sight, Mike turns to Nancy. “You okay?”

“No, I’m not,” Nancy admits, hopping on to the kitchen counter. Their house is surprisingly empty for once. Mike pushes himself up to sit next to her. She sighs, crossing her arms and shrinking into herself a little. Quietly, she says, “When Vecna cursed me, he showed me things.”

A chill runs through Mike. He knows a little bit about the curse, but that’s very different to hearing Nancy talk about it. “Like what?”

“Holly dying, mom dying…” Nancy lists off, with a shudder. She chokes, “I saw you dying.”

When Mike looks at her, he can see the tears running down her eyes. He wraps an arm around her shoulder, and she leans against him. He vaguely wonders when he became half a foot taller than her. Change is so stupid. Time is so stupid. Everything is so stupid. He misses the days when the biggest problem Nancy and him had was that their dad was being an insufferable bigot, or both of them wanted their mom to drive them to their friend’s house at the same time. Now, it’s just a constant worry that one of them is gonna die, and the utterly pointless reassurances they give each other that they won’t actually die. 

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there,” Nancy says faintly. When Mike raises a brow in confusion, Nancy explains, “In California. I should have been there, and I don’t know why I wasn’t. I guess I was just scared to face Jonathan, but that was so dumb of me.”

“Hey, Nance, I’m fine,” Mike reassures, tightening the arm around her. It’s mostly true, anyways. “I mean, if anything, I probably should have been here with you guys.”

“No, you needed that time with El,” Nancy waves him off. With a pointed look, she adds, “And Will.”

Mike looks away. 

“Mike,” Nancy prods gently. “What’s going on?”

“Hm?”

“With you and Will?” Nancy asks. When he looks at her, her brows are knitted together in concern. “Jonathan said that things were…” She hesitates.

“Weird?” Mike fills in. Yeah, things were weird. Things are weird. He scratches the back of his neck, still not looking at his sister. “Can I ask you something?”

Nancy hums.

“How do you know that you’re in love with Jonathan?” 

Nancy’s eyes widen slightly in surprise before she smiles softly. She lets out a small laugh. “Well, I guess it’s because we’re a team. There’s nobody else I’d fight this crazy battle with, you know? He’s always teaching me things, and I’d like to think that I’m teaching him stuff too. We push each other to be the best versions of ourselves. He’s…my best friend.”

Mike blinks. “Oh.”

“You know I’m here for you, and you can tell me anything, right?” Nancy asks him, genuinely and honestly, and Mike feels exposed. He wants to protest and say that there’s nothing he needs to tell her, except he’s never been one to lie outright, so a lie of omission would have to do. 

Besides, it’s not like he knows what he needs to tell her anyways. Is it that he might possibly like boys, and probably even more terrifying, that he likes Will? Or, is it that he’s doing all this while he has a girlfriend that he loves, but hasn’t been honest to in ages? Maybe, it’s that he’s terrified that his mom and dad might not love him anymore if they knew. Or, maybe it’s that he wishes, more than anything, that he could just be in love with El the way he’s supposed to, and that when after all this is over, they can be a normal couple, destined for the suburban life that his parents have. Except, that’s all bullshit, and Nancy knows that too. 

When he doesn’t say anything, Nancy adds, “Even if it seems like I’m not, I promise that I am. Nothing would ever change how much I care about you.”

“I love you, Nance,” Mike says, suddenly emotional and overwhelmed at having his sister here. Then he catches himself and makes a face. “Okay, that feels weird.”

Nancy laughs. “Love you too.”

“Let’s not do that again,” Mike says with a shudder. He loves her; he really does, even when she’s the worst, but also, maybe he has the best sister in the world.

~

Mike finds Will on top of Weathertop, near Cerebro. He has three coke cans placed on top of three tree stumps. Mike makes it to the top of the hill just as he sees Will cock his gun, take aim, and shoot the can off the first stump.

“What the hell, Will?” Mike yelps. That causes Will to jump, turn around, and accidentally drop his gun, which luckily doesn’t go off. Will glares at Mike, and Mike immediately raises an apologetic hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Why would you sneak up on me like that when I have a gun?” Will practically shouts, rolling his eyes. He bends down to pick up his gun before lining up in front of the other can. Mike walks up to stand right next to him. Focused, Will mutters, “Don’t distract me.”

He shoots the other can off easily, and Mike just stares. He feels his mouth run dry and goosebumps rising on his skin. He’s always known that Will was a survivor. He just didn’t know that Will was a badass as well. No, that’s a lie. He knew that too, but there’s just something about the way Will narrows his eyes and bites his lower lip in concentration that makes Mike’s heart race. He clenches his hands, and follows Will to the third can.

“Are you okay?” Will asks, tilting his head to the side. 

Mike gestures wildly towards the tree stumps that no longer had cans because Will shot them. He thinks that should explain it, but Will just raises an unimpressed eyebrow at him. Mike manages to choke out, “I didn’t know you could shoot a gun.”

“Oh, I knew for a while,” Will says, with a shrug. He walks towards Mike and then past him towards Cerebro, and Mike falls in pace as they walk back down the hill. “You remember how my dad used to take Jonathan and me hunting?”

Mike wrinkles his nose and says, “Yeah, you were always miserable when you came back home.”

“Yeah, well, my dad is…” Will starts, before hesitating. 

“An asshole,” Mike finishes. The mere mention of Lonnie fills Mike with the kind of white, hot rage that he didn’t even know he could feel. He spits, “We’ve met a lot of assholes the last few years, and he’s the absolute worst.”

Will glaces at him from the corner of his eyes. “Well, he was useful for one thing.”

“What, shooting a gun?” Mike snorts, rolling his eyes. “Nancy could have taught you that.”

“No,” Will says, stopping suddenly. He turns to face Mike, and there’s probably less than a foot between them. His voice is quiet when he asks, “Do you remember that day in Kindergarten when you found me on the swings?

“Yeah,” Mike breathes out. It’s one of his favorite memories. 

“I was crying because my dad, he..he said something about me,” Will starts to explain, and there’s a misty look behind his eyes. “But, I mean, if I wasn’t crying that day then maybe you wouldn’t have come up to me.”

Mike shakes his head and throws an arm around Will’s shoulder. He feels Will freeze for a moment, and Mike knows he crossed some invisible line. They can’t do this anymore, he tells himself, but then Will relaxes. Mike exhales and says, “I would have definitely still asked you to be my friend. I just knew we would become best friends.”

“Best friends,” Will repeats. Mike thinks he sounds almost disappointed, but that could just be his imagination. 

He drops his arm and puts a couple of inches between himself and Will. He shoves his hands into his pockets and looks down at the ground, kicking up a little pile of dirt. The grass under his feet is an odd sort of brown-green, and the dirt is almost gray.

“So, uh, did you talk to El recently?” Mike asks, clearing his throat.

The casual smile gracing Will’s face drops slightly. He says, “I mean, yeah? She’s my sister, so obviously, I’ve talked to her recently.”

Mike shoots him a look. “My sister’s Nancy.”

Will laughs. “That’s fair.”

“Is she, uh, okay?” Mike asks when they’re almost down the hill. Something flickers across Will’s face before it settles into a mask, and Mike hates that he can’t read Will anymore. He rushes to explain, “I mean, uh. After everything that happened with Max, I was just wondering if she’s okay? Does…does she need help with finding Vecna?”

Will’s face pinches in confusion for a moment before he lets out a long, deep sigh. “Mike, what is going on with you two?”

“I don’t know,” Mike admits, looking up at the perpetually gray sky. He can’t even tell what time it is anymore. He knows Will is looking at him; he can almost feel the intensity of Will’s scrutiny. Without looking back at him, Mike says, “I thought if I just said the thing I needed to say, things would be better, but I don’t know. I just feel like that just made things worse, and nothing feels normal anymore.”

Will frowns, but doesn’t say anything for a long time, and Mike starts feeling awkward. 

“I’m sorry,” Mike rushes to say once the silence got too suffocating. “I know my relationship problems are the last of anyone’s worries, and I’m just being really stupid.”

“You’re not being stupid,” Will says gently. He hesitates, and the same unreadable expression crosses across his face. He crosses his arms across his chest and hunches into himself. “It’s just…well, I think you should talk to her about it. It’s not really fair to either of you if you’re holding all of this in and not being honest, you know?”

Will sighs and looks at Mike. Carefully, he adds, “And it’s not really fair for me to be stuck in the middle.”

“Right,” Mike says, frowning. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Will doesn’t say anything, and just keeps walking towards where Cornwallis intersects with Kerley, and where Mirkwood is clearly visible. Most of the houses are devoid of life and the remnants of Hawkins National Laboratory eerily peeks through the trees. Mike watches as Will’s eyes widen as he stares down the road, expression blank. 

“Hey, you okay?” Mike asks, more than a little uneasy.

Will shakes his head. “Yeah, I just…” 

He hesitates, biting his lower lip. Mike instinctively steps a little closer, as if he’s a protective shield between Will and whatever is hiding in the darkness. 

“I was just wondering how our old house is,” Will explains, as he kicks a rock on the ground. He adds, “It’s nothing. Just…”

“Do you miss it?” 

“Would it be weird if I said I did?” Will asks. He walks ahead, and Mike falls in line with him. 

“It’s a little surprising. I mean, as terrible as those assholes in California are, Lenora is probably miles better than Hawkins,” Mike says. Will lifts one shoulder in a half shrug, and looks down. Mike hesitates before gently tapping his hand against Will’s. When Will looks up at him, Mike asks, “Did they give you a hard time too?”

“Not really,” Will answers immediately, but his voice is uncertain. Mike is about to call him out on it when Will runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “I mean, I don’t know. It’s not like I’m Zombie Boy in Lenora. Nobody knows anything about me, and maybe that’s a good thing.”

“But?” Mike prods.

“I guess it was just lonely,” Will admits. “As much as Hawkins exists as this terrible reminder of everything that happened and still keeps happening, at least I had you guys here.”

Their eyes lock, and even under the gray skies of this new version of Hawkins, Mike feels like he’s going to crumble under the honesty spread across Will’s face. They’re close enough that their hands are touching. Mike thinks that if he wanted to, he could just reach out and hold Will’s hand, and he can feel his face warm at the thought. Mike doesn’t realize how close they’ve gotten until he can practically see the specks of green behind the hazel of Will’s eyes. His eyes flicker down to Will’s mouth and - not again. He drags his eyes away.

“I should, uh, I should stop by the cabin,” Will says, suddenly, taking a step back. He ducks his head, and looks away from Mike. “I think my mom wants to have a family dinner for once.”

Mike scratches the back of his neck and tilts his head towards his own house. “Right, yeah. I’ll…I’ll see you later.

~

I love you.

You love her, you didn’t lie, he tells himself over and over as he tosses and turns, unable to sleep. It’s not a lie when it’s true, right? He loves Eleven; he loves her so much that it hurts him sometimes. It hurts because Will is right, about everything. It’s not fair that he can’t love her the way she deserves to be loved. It’s not fair because El has been through too much to deal with Mike’s bullshit. It’s also not fair that he should love her like that when he can’t. 

“I love you,” Mike says out loud, as he stares up at his ceiling fan. Friends don’t lie, a voice in the back of his head that sounds an awful lot like El chides him. He groans, and stuffs his face into a pillow. 

I’m in love with you, Mike thinks. Except he can’t get Will’s face out of his head; the brightness of Will’s eyes; the way the corners of his mouth quirks up with amusement whenever Mike says something particularly funny; the way he can see through every wall Mike puts up in a desperate quest to hide. 

Mike buries his face in his hands, and lets out a choked sob, unable to run from it anymore. He curls into himself and lets the hot tears sting his eyes. I’m - I’m gay, Mike thinks.

~

Mike doesn’t get any sleep all night. The next morning, Mike bikes over to Hopper’s cabin. Most of Hawkins is under quarantine due to the upside down raining toxins constantly, so the roads are mostly empty. When he gets to the cabin, Joyce answers the door.

“Hey, sweetie,” Joyce says, letting him in. She gives him a look, and Mike knows he looks like shit, but she’s too nice to call him out. Joyce’s eyes are soft when she adds, “If you’re looking for El, she’s in her room. If you’re looking for Will, he’s at Lucas’s.”

“Thank you,” Mike replies politely.

As he starts walking towards El’s room, Joyce calls out, “Hop would probably want me to tell you to keep the door open by three inches.”

“Yes, Mrs. Byers,” he shouts back, smiling despite himself.

He finds El sitting on her bed and staring out the window at the falling Upside Down particles. Mike knocks twice. El drags her eyes away from the window towards him. She smiles, small and distant, and says, “Mike.”

“Hey,” Mike echoes, running a hand through his hair. “Can I come in?”

El silently pats to a spot on her bed, and Mike sits down. They don’t say anything for a long time. Mike doesn’t even know where he should start. There’s so many things he should tell her; so many things that he should explain, and that she deserves to know. Instead of doing any of that, he just sits there silently festering in his own thoughts.

“Mike,” El repeats his name, in the way that only she can. “Are you okay?”

Mike lets out a low laugh. “I should be asking you that.”

“I will be okay,” El assures, and he actually does believe her.

“We’ll get Max back,” he promises her. He repeats, “We will.”

El smiles at that. “Thank you for always being there for me, Mike.”

There’s something in her tone that gives him pause. When he looks at her, he can see a glint in her eyes, like she’s looking through him. She knows, Mike thinks. She knows that you lied. The shame creeps through him. 

“El, we should talk about, uh…” Mike starts, feeling like the world’s biggest asshole with each passing second. “Uh, what I said when you…when you were fighting Vecna.”

“Mike,” El says gently, taking his hand. “I love you.”

Mike looks down at their hands. It’s the moment of truth, and all Mike can do is stare. “El, I…” 

“No, listen, Mike,” El cuts him off. Her voice is steady when she continues, “I love you, and I always will, and I know you love me too.”

“But?” Mike asks because there’s always a but. 

“But, you’re not in love with me,” El states simply. Mike thinks it’s genuinely remarkable how easily she could tell him that, and how little she seems upset about that fact. El continues, “I will always need my friends, and I will always fight for my friends. But, Mike, I don’t think I need you. At least, not the way you need me to.”

The words should sting more than they do. Still, Mike says, “Ouch.”

“While I was away, I learned a lot about who I am,” El explains in the same, gentle tone. “It was a journey I needed to go on by myself, and I think I’m ready to figure out what I want by myself.” Her eyes twinkle as she adds, “Max said there was more to life than stupid boys.”

Mike can’t help laugh, vaguely aware that he’s tearing up. He says, “I really do love you, and I meant every word I said.”

“I know, Mike.”

“You mean so much to me that I couldn’t handle losing you, but maybe, I was being selfish in trying to hold on to us,” Mike rushes out, desperate to explain. “I tried so hard to love you the way I should, and maybe I spent so long trying to make that happen that I ended up hurting you.”

“You did hurt me,” El admits softly. She’s still holding his hand, as she traces comforting circles on the back of it. “But, you’re not going to lose me, Mike. You’ll always be my friend.”

“Is this your way of dumping my ass?” Mike asks, smiling slightly. El laughs. He feels the tension leave his body.

Friends. He likes that.

~

Will walks out of Lucas’s house just as Mike pulls up. 

“Hey,” Mike calls out, dropping the brake stand on the bike. Will walks down the Sinclair driveway where Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair’s cars are still parked, picking up his discarded bike. Mike asks, “How is he?”

Will shrugs. “You know.”

“Yeah,” Mike sighs, as he starts riding towards his house. It’s hard to find the words to comfort Lucas because it’s such a devastating situation to be in. “I wish I knew how to help.”

He sees Will frown next to him. “I think he needs his friends right now.”

Every other house looks abandoned. It’s terrifying seeing Hawkins this empty. There’s a crack running through the street that Mike eyes warily. “Are the Sinclairs leaving?”

“Tonight,” Will replies, as they bike around the crack. A ghost of a smile flickers over his face. “It’s kinda like old times, though, with the four of us having a sleepover in your basement. Is El coming?”

“No,” Mike mumbles. He bikes a little faster, hoping Will won’t ask the follow up question.

But, then, Will matches his speed. When they’re parallel, Will levels him a flat look, and it’s the kind of look that tells Mike that he can’t get away from this conversation.

“We broke up,” Mike blurts out. He glances over at Will, who stops suddenly. Mike stops biking, scratches the back of his neck, and looks at Will. “What?”

The crack on the road is hissing with all the menace of the Upside Down, there’s particles raining down, and they really shouldn’t be outside, but they are. 

“You broke up,” Will echoes, a little dazed. He clears his throat and says, “I’m sure we can figure out a way for you to get her back." 

“No,” Mike spills quickly, probably too quickly. Will gapes at him, and Mike flushes. “It was…mutual.”

“Mutual,” Will repeats, knitting his brows together. 

“I just…don’t think I love her,” Mike says. A fierce, protective expression crosses over Will’s face, and Mike rushes to explain, “I mean, I love her, but like I love Lucas, Dustin, or Max. I think I spent so long trying to make myself love her like that because I didn’t want to lose her. But…but all it did was make us both miserable. It’s just better this way.”

Will’s eyes widen, and Mike knows what he just said. He knows that Will realizes it too, and he just waits for Will to ask what they are, like he did in the roller rink. But, instead of that, Will simply says, “We should get back inside.”

~

Mike thinks it’s such a shame that the four of them haven’t piled into his basement in tattered sleeping bags in at least a year, and the first time they do, it’s in the middle of a literal apocalypse. Mike’s games have long been put into donation boxes sent to god knows where, and the basement feels like a cold, empty secret base. He eyes the falling particles outside his window, and the flickering lights before dropping down on the sofa.

“Are you okay?” Mike asks Lucas.

They’re all in their sleeping bags. Will is silently drawing a picture. Dustin is flipping through a D&D magazine, even if that all feels so hopeless at this point. Lucas is laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling, face blank. 

“Are any of us?” Lucas shoots back, with a humorless laugh.

Dustin tosses the magazine to the side. “We’ll get her back.”

It’s with an air of certainty that Mike wishes he could convey, but then again, Dustin has been in the middle of the fight for ages, and Mike has no idea what he’s doing. 

“We were supposed to go see a movie,” Lucas confesses, still staring up at the ceiling. He closes his eyes, and his shoulders start shaking in silent tears. “We shouldn’t have let her do that.”

“It’s Max,” Dustin points out gently. “We were never going to stop her.”

“She would have hated it if you tried,” Mike adds. “She practically thinks I’m a menace to society for worrying about El.”

This gets a laugh out of Lucas, so Mike thinks he won. 

“To be fair, you were annoying that summer,” Dustin teases, and Mike pouts. This gets another laugh out of the others.

“I just wish I could protect her,” Lucas admits, wiping the tears away.

“You’ll have another chance,” Mike says, even if he has no way of promising that. 

They all fall into a tense silence. Mike can vaguely hear Nancy and Jonathan upstairs in the kitchen, and he feels a little bit safer knowing that they’re there. Nobody says anything else. Mike watches as Lucas and Dustin settle into their sleeping bags. Mike stretches out on the sofa, which is way too small for him now, and his legs hang off the edge. He feels the anxiety rise through him.

A storm blows through overnight, and the wind rattles the whole house. It sounds wholly unnatural too, like another part of the Upside Down has decided to seep through the cracks to torment Hawkins just a bit more. A particularly strong thunder clap fills the basement, and Mike buries his head under the blankets and tries to tune out the sound of the wind and the thunder.

“Mike, are you awake?” Will asks, into the darkness. Mike hums, turning on the sofa until he’s facing Will, who sits up in his sleeping bag. He whispers,  “I think I should go down into the Upside Down”

“Are you insane?” Mike hisses, voice rising an octave. Mike nearly falls off the sofa with the speed at which he moves. Will just shoots him a look, eyeing the floor where Lucas and Dustin are still asleep. Mike shakes his head. He keeps his voice as low as possible and states, “No way. Absolutely not.”

“Mike.”

Mike shakes his head, pushing himself off the sofa. He paces, taking three steps in one direction and then three steps in the other. He nearly trips over Dustin’s sleeping bag. “This thing feeds off trauma, and no offense, but you’re basically a magnet for the Upside Down.”

“Mike,” Will says again softly. Mike crouches down next to Will’s sleeping bag, so they don’t wake their friends. Will lowers his voice when he asks, “Do you remember when I was possessed by the Shadow Monster, and we used my connection to it to defeat it?”

“We didn’t beat it,” Mike grumbles. He hates thinking about that. He still has nightmares of Will screaming in that hospital, and of Will tied up in that shed.

Will holds his gaze, steady and strong. “This whole thing started with me, and something tells me that it’s going to have to end with me.”

Mike hates thinking about what that means. 

“I just want you to know that I hate this,” Mike points out.

Will tries smiling, but Mike can tell he’s terrified. Will explains, “El and I were talking about it, and we need to take the battle to him. He’s fallen off the grid. Waiting for him is killing Hawkins, and who knows how long it’s going to be before it spreads to the world?”

“I’m coming with you,” Mike blurts out. Will shoots him a look and opens his mouth to protest. Mike cuts him off though, lowering his voice back down to a whisper. “Listen, I know you don’t need me there, and you and El probably have it all covered, but I just…” The I can’t lose you again goes unsaid, but he hopes Will knows that.

“I always need you, Mike,” Will whispers in a hushed tone after a lengthy pause. 

That kicks the wind out of Mike. The way the words spilled so easily from Will’s mouth, the way he meets Mike’s eyes with utter sincerity, as if he’s been meaning to say that forever. 

These past few months she’s been so lost without you.

If she was mean to you or she seems like she was pushing you away, it’s because she’s scared of losing you, like you’re scared of losing her. 

El needs you, Mike. And she always will.

I always need you, Mike.

“Oh,” Mike says, blinking. Oh, he thinks. The realization hits Mike with the kind of clarity that he wonders how it took him this long. Will looks at him in the dark, and all Mike can do is duck his head and scratch the back of his neck. “Right, yeah. Uh…me too. I, uh, need you too.” 

So, so much. 

~

Mike was nine years old when he thought, for the first time, how unfair it is that he can’t like boys like that.

( “I’m going to marry Princess Leia,” Lucas says, with all the sincerity in the world, as they walk out of the afternoon matinee of Empire Strikes Back.

“That’s gross,” Mike shoots back, without thinking, scanning the parking lot for Mrs. Byers’s car. “Who wants to marry girls, anyways?”

“My dad,” Lucas points out just as Dustin adds, “your dad.”

“My dad sucks,” Mike grumbles. Will shifts next to him and Mike frowns. Will has a faraway look on his face, and Mike suddenly pays attention to the conversation. Right, as far as terrible dads go, Will has him beat by a long shot. Mike throws an arm around Will’s shoulder, pulling him closer. He asks, “What about you, Will? Would you marry Princess Leia?”

Will wrinkles his nose and leans into Mike. “Gross.”

“Exactly,” Mike laughs.

When they separate from Lucas and Dustin to walk towards Mrs. Byers’s car, Will says, “I think Han is my favorite.”

Mike considers it. “Luke.”)

~

“Have you lost your mind?” 

“Mom,” Will whines, voice filled with exasperation. The Byers-Hopper family are sprawled around the Wheeler living room. “It’s the only way.”

Mike gets a sense of satisfaction seeing Joyce attempt to shut down Will and El’s plan. See, he’s not the only one being overprotective. If Joyce Byers thinks the plan is stupid, the plan is stupid.

“Listen to your mother,” Hopper chides. 

“He’s not reaching out to us,” El explains, pacing around with clear frustration. “I keep searching for him, and he keeps hiding. Will can’t even feel him anymore up here. We have to go down there.”

“You have to see that Hawkins is barely standing anymore,” Will adds. Mike doesn’t know how he hasn’t realized it before but Will and El are so remarkably similar. They look like twins, with their hands on their hips as they argue with their parents. Will continues, “The storm last night was a warning.”

Jonathan pinches the bridge of his nose. “There has to be another way.”

“I could go with them,” Mike says, interjecting into the family argument. “I could be a distraction while they find Vecna.”

“Now, are you insane?” Dustin snaps from next to him. Mike turns his head, almost too quickly, to cause whiplash. Dustin looks away from him, frowning. “I’m not letting you.”

“You’re not letting me?” Mike asks hotly, but then he catches Dustin’s eye, and there’s something in his expression that makes Mike pause. 

“He’s right,” Nancy announces, walking into the room. “We tried doing this last time, using Eddie as a distraction, and that didn’t work.”

Right, Mike thinks. He missed so much while he was away. Quietly, he acquiesces, “Yeah, fine.”

Nancy looks between the room, biting her bottom lip nervously. “Will might be right though. When we were down there, the Upside Down was stuck on the day Will disappeared. I don’t know why or how, but I think whatever it is, he has to be the one to go down there.”

This whole thing started with me, and something tells me that it’s going to have to end with me. Mike swallows hard and looks away from everyone. 

He doesn’t get a chance to protest because Lucas’s walkie-talkie starts staticing, and then a muffled voice comes through. “Luc…Lucas, can you hear me?”

“Erica?” Lucas springs up from his place on the sofa, and grabs his walkie-talkie. He shouts, “Erica? Are you okay?”

They all crowd around the walkie-talking, trying to make sense of what’s going on. There’s muffled bats, dogs, Hawkins, and a very clear, desperate Code Red. 

“...and then we saw them swarming, so we’re heading there now.” Erica finishes, more clearly than before.

Lucas’s voice is desperate when he says, “We didn’t catch any of that. Please…Erica.”

“Sinclair,” Steve cuts through the static. Mike is so confused. “There are bats, dogs, and full fledged demogorgons swarming the center of town.”

“I saw a bat hovering over a lamp post in front of our hotel last night,” Erica explains. They must be closer because the signal is a lot better. “I snuck out and called Steve and Robin. And…whoever this long haired man is.”

“The name’s Argyle, little pal.” 

Mike exchanges a look with Will, who hides his smile behind his hand.

“Hey, Argyle,” Jonathan exclaims, with genuine excitement.

“You snuck out?” Lucas chokes out, without bothering to ask who Argyle is, or why he’s with them. Mike thinks that, at this point, their little party might as well be a whole town. “Mom and dad are going to kill you, and then they’re going to kill me.”

“Don’t act like you’ve never snuck out before,” Erica shoots back, and Mike can just hear the eye roll on the other end. 

“The kids found me,” Another voice cuts through. “We’re heading towards the cracks to see where they’re coming from.”

Hopper raises a brow. “Murray?”

“Obviously,” Murray says. “Keep up, will you, Jim?”

Hopper doesn’t get a chance to retort because Robin adds, “I’m not sure how much you guys know, but it’s bad out here. We need to do something pronto.”

“He knows we’re going after him,” Will warns, reaching towards the back of his neck. He looks between Joyce and Hopper. “It’s now or never.”

“Okay, you’re right,” Hopper admits, with a deep sigh. His face clearly betrays his emotions as he exchanges a look with Joyce. His voice is firm when he speaks into the walkie-talking. “Murray, take the kids and fend off the creatures. If there’s anyone in town, get them out of here. We’re going into the Upside Down.”

When they disconnect, Hopper turns to the rest of them. He hands the keys to his truck to Jonathan and says, “You and Nancy take the boys into town, and see what you can do. Buy as much time as you can while your mother and I take Will and El down there.”

“I’m coming too,” Mike declares loudly.

“No, you’re not,” Will tells him. His voice cracks a little when he says, “I…I can’t fight him if I’m worried about you, okay? I need to know that you’re safe, or well, safer than you would be down there.”

When Mike looks at Will, he realizes this is non-negotiable. He blinks hard, twice, trying to keep his tears away, as he turns away from everyone. This is just all so stupid.

~

The party begins preparing by loading their weapons into their cars and saying their last goodbyes. Mike watches as Jonathan wraps an arm around Nancy’s waist as she calls their parents, and then a few minutes later, as Nancy stands by as Joyce hugs Jonathan. He sees El hugging Lucas and Dustin, and the three of them whispering something between themselves. When they all break apart, El catches his eyes and gives him a warm smile. Mike smiles back, with a mutual understanding that he hopes that she’ll be fine, and that he trusts her completely. 

Mike finds Will in the middle of the chaos. He’s sitting by himself, staring out the window at the dark, sinister Hawkins sky. He looks pensieve, and not at all scared. Mike shifts on his feet, and shoves his hands into his pockets. It’s now or never, he thinks. 

“Hey,” Mike says softly. Will looks away from the window, and smiles when he sees Mike. Keeping his nerves down, Mike asks, “Uh, wanna come with me for a minute?”

Will’s brows draw together in confusion. Mike reaches out a hand and tilts his head towards the stairs. Will looks between Mike and the outstretched hand, and Mike panics for a moment. What if he read all of this wrong? He doesn’t get to fall down that self-pity hole because Will takes his hand, and it’s warm and solid in Mike’s own. He pulls Will up the stairs and into his room, shutting the door behind them. 

“Mike, what’s going on?” Will asks, expression soft and warm. 

Mike squeezes Will’s hand once before dropping it. He walks over to his dresser, opens the third door, and pulls out a nondescript brown box with DO NOT OPEN scrawled on it. Mike is distinctly aware that writing that is an invitation for people to open it, but he managed to get away with it for this long, so he knows he’s in the clear. He pulls out a white envelope before he walks back to Will, standing in front of him.

Will tilts his head to look up at Mike, because as tall as Will has gotten in the last year, Mike still has a few inches on him. Mike, wordlessly, reaches back down to grab Will’s hand, and slips the envelope to him.

Will blinks at him, before opening the envelope. Mike watches as Will reads the letter, his face softening even when it already seems impossibly soft. Mike notices Will blinking back tears as he traces over a part of the letter. 

He looks back at Mike and asks, “Why didn’t you send it?”

“I was scared,” Mike admits quietly. 

An expression, a recognition, passes over Will’s face as he steps forward to wrap his arms around Mike, ducking his head into the crook of Mike’s neck. “Oh, Mike.”

Mike clutches the back of Will’s shirt, too scared to let him go again. His other arm tightens around Will’s rib, pulling him even closer. “I’m sorry.”

Will laughs into the skin between his neck and shoulder. “I think you’ve apologized more than enough at this point.”

Mike loses track of how long they stay like that. It could have been a few seconds, a few minutes, or days, weeks, years, and all of it feels just right. It’s Will who actually breaks apart first. He looks at Mike, eyes bright and face flushed. There’s tear stains on his cheek, and Mike doesn’t even think twice about reaching out to dry them.

“You’re not a mistake,” Mike says, like he should have done a long time ago. “When I said asking you to be my friend was the best thing I’ve ever done, I meant it. I still mean it. You’re…you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m so sorry for all the times I made you feel like you weren’t good enough, or that there was something wrong with you. I never meant any of that. I was just…scared, and stupid, and…and…”

“You’re from Hawkins,” Will fills in, raising a brow. Mike huffs out a breathy laugh. Will says, “Hey, Mike, it’s okay. It’s okay. We’ll get through this, and we’ll figure it out, okay?”

Will gently folds the letter in fours, and places it in his pant pocket. There’s still a lot unsaid, but when he pulls Will back and brings their foreheads together, Mike feels like he’s being truly honest for the first time in his life. 

It’s not until there’s a knock on his door that they separate again. 

“Let’s go,” Nancy says, with an air of impatience and anxiety. She looks between the two of them before walking down the hallway towards her own room.

Mike grabs Will’s arm as he’s about to walk away. 

“Will, I…I…” Mike starts, but stops. His throat feels tight and heavy. “I just want to say…”

“Mike, you don’t have to say it,” Will reassures gently. He reaches a hand out and places it on Mike’s chest. “I know.”

I love you. It hangs in the air, but unlike with El, Mike doesn’t feel like he needs to say it. He believes Will when he says that he knows. They’ve always been able to realize things about each other, and push each other to be more open and honest. This doesn’t feel any different.

“You better make it back alive,” Mike chokes out instead. 

~

Dear Will ,

I’m sorry I didn’t write to you sooner, and I’m sorry I haven’t called you much. It’s just that every time I try, I just don’t know what to say. I miss you so much. High school has been miserable. People keep shoving me into lockers, calling me things, and through it all, I just feel so alone. It’s like I’m in kindergarten again, and it’s just scary, but there’s nobody I can ask to be my best friend on the swings here.

Lucas is on the basketball team, and he thinks it’s our ticket out of being bullied, but those guys don’t care about him, or any of us. Him and Max broke up, which means we don’t see her much either. She sits next to me in math, but she barely talks to us anymore. Dustin is still around, but I don’t know. He’s always just been better with people than I have. I feel like I’m drifting away from everyone, and I just wish you were here. I miss hanging out with you every day after school. I just miss how things used to be. You always knew what to say to make me feel better.

You’re probably really busy, and a part of me really hopes that’s the only reason why you don’t call as much anymore. Or, El says your mom has a new job, and that’s why the phone line is always busy. But, I know I said some things last summer that I shouldn’t have, and if you hate me for that, I totally get it. I just want a chance to explain. I’m so sorry that I keep pushing you away, but I’m just so scared of losing you. I think about you every day, and the guys in Hellfire keep making fun of me for it, but you would love them if you were here. I just wish that we were like we used to be. 

This is probably really stupid, and it’s like the tenth version of this letter that I wrote. I’ll probably never send it, but I guess I just needed to let you know that I miss you. Anyways, I can’t wait to see you, and El obviously, soon.

Love,

Mike

~

Mike thinks downtown Hawkins is pretty much the equivalent of hell. There’s two bats flying overhead that Robin and Steve managed to take out. He watches as Murray uses his flamethrower on a demodog. Lucas, Dustin, and Erica are launching rocks at a baby demodog, which isn’t doing much. Nancy is about the only one who managed to get a hit on something.

“You’re terrible at this, little Wheeler,” Argyle tells him, as Mike manages to completely miss his shot. He hides in an abandoned Melvald’s. Argyle follows him in and they crouch low in the dry food aisle. Argyle adds, “Although those demothingys are pretty rad.”

Mike glares at him. “Are you still high? How are you still high?”

“Just high on life,” Argyle replies, but he sounds so dazed that all Mike can do is roll his eyes.

“We’re in the middle of the fucking apocalypse,” Mike mutters. “How can you possibly be high on life?”

Argyle looks like he’s considering it. He says, “I’m high on the end times, then.”

“Hey, guys, maybe you could do us all a favor and actually help,” Jonathan shouts from outside the store. Mike peeks out the side of the aisle to see where Jonathan is standing, one hand on his hip, with the most put on expression. Mike groans, picks up his gun, and gestures to Argyle to follow.

“We’re losing,” Mike mutters to Jonathan, as he walks out. 

Jonathan looks around and sighs, “We just need to buy them enough time.”

~

Mike doesn’t know what happened.

One minute, he’s in the middle of town, trying to shoot a baby demogorgon and the next thing he knows, he’s in an old house that’s falling apart. He’s not in Hawkins anymore, and it doesn’t take long for him to figure out where he actually is. 

“Will?” Mike calls out. “Will?”

Mike tries running, but he feels frozen in his spot, unable to move. This is a bad dream, he tells himself, but he knows it’s not. He runs out the house, and grabs a discarded bike. He’s looking around, recognizing the street signs leading from Spruce Street to Maple. There’s bats flying overhead, but he makes it to his front door. He runs down to the basement, and closes the door behind him.

Mike remembers Lucas telling him that Max hid in a happy memory of hers, so he thinks. The basement isn’t his basement, as it is now. It’s the basement of November 6th, 1983. There’s discarded dice on the table, an open D&D manual, and Will’s discarded cleric hat on the floor. Mike thinks back to that morning, when they were first starting their ten hour campaign, and before everything in their lives went to hell.

He remembers Dustin’s laugh. He remembers the wide eyed way Lucas reacted to the demogorgon. He remembers Will - god, he remembers Will. It’s a version of Will that existed before everything, before the demogorgon and the Upside Down, before Mike broke his heart. Mike sits in the blanket fort, wrapping his arms around his knees, and closes his eyes. He hopes someone manages to figure out his favorite song, or something.

“Michael,” A voice calls out. A chill runs through Mike. Vecna. “I see you.”

“Go away,” Mike tries to scream, but his throat feels heavy and the words don’t come out.

“Don’t worry, Michael,” Vecna taunts again. “I’m not going to hurt you. You’re here because I want you here. You see, right now, Eleven and Will Byers are searching for me. They think they’re outsmarting me, but they don’t know. They will find me, but only because I want them to. They’ll find me because once they realize I have you, they’ll walk right into my trap.”

Oh god, Mike thinks. He runs up the basement stairs to try and escape, but the door is locked. He starts crying. No, no, no. 

He sits in the corner of the basement, wrapping his arms around himself. He tries to keep his breath level. Please, he thinks. Someone help me. He’s not sure if he wants El and Will to find him, or if he wants them to be far, far away, and decides that it’s probably the latter. He feels so cold, so alone, and he can feel Vecna in every corner. 

“Mike?”

Mike’s eyes snap open. He looks around. The voice is unmistakable. He shouts, “Will, no, don’t come down here. It’s a tr…”

Mike blinks and the next thing he knows, he’s dropping down from twenty feet in the air into Jonathan’s arms. He lets Mike down gently, and almost immediately, he feels Nancy’s arms around him.

“Oh god, Mike,” Nancy says, wrapping her arms tightly around him. He could feel her tears soaking through his shirt. He opens his eyes, blinking at his surroundings. Dustin, Lucas, Erica, and Jonathan are hovering around him. Nancy kisses the top of his head and says, “I thought we lost you.”

“It’s…” Mike coughs. “It’s a trap.”

He sees Nancy look away from him towards Jonathan. “What?””

Mike feels the sensation in his legs return and he tries to push himself up. Jonathan and Nancy help him up and Mike explains, “Vecna, he…he said he was using me as a trap, and he released me as soon as Will and El found him. They were trying to surprise him, but he knew they were coming, and he’s gonna trap them.”

“Where are they?” Jonathan asks urgently.

“Our basement,” Mike says. “I was trying to hide there, but he knew.”

“Okay, we have to get there,” Nancy shouts. She looks over towards where Steve, Robin, Argyle, and Murray are holding off the bats and the dogs. “They should buy us enough time.”

~

“Can’t you drive faster?” Mike asks, as he leans over the driver’s seat. He knows full well that Nancy is doing everything she can. Jonathan glares at him from the passenger seat. “We’re never going to make it in time.”

Nancy gives him a pointed look, and shoves him back with one hand. “If you keep shouting in my ears, I’m going to crash the car before we get to our house.”

“Yeah, dummy,” Erica chimes in from the back. “We’re all going to die before we find your boyfriend and your ex-girlfriend.”

“He’s not my…” Mike starts, but just decides to give up. He drops down into his seat and angles himself so that Nancy can see him pout in the rearview mirror. “Just, hurry.”

Lucas and Dustin give him a look, and Mike groans. The world is ending, and they’re still picking on him. He snaps, “What? I’m just worried.”

“I said nothing,” Lucas says, just as Dustin adds, “We know you are, Mike.”

~

They pull up to the house just as Hopper walks out, with El leaning on him for support as she stumbles forward. The car barely stops before Mike rushes out and runs towards El. She sees him, limps forward, and wraps her arms around him. He leans back slightly, pulling her off the ground. 

“Mike,” She huffs out, as he lets her down. She reaches up to cup his face. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Everyone else spills out the car, running towards El and Hopper. Dustin and Lucas immediately hug El, and Mike watches as Jonathan runs inside the house. Above him, the sun finally comes out. The crack on the main road starts closing up, and Mike lets out a relieved sigh. 

“I know. Me too,” Mike says softly. “What…”

Mike wants to say something to her, or ask her to explain, but whatever he was going to say gets lost as soon as he sees Joyce and Jonathan help Will out of the house. He vaguely hears El say something that sounds a lot like go, but he doesn’t register it over the ringing in his ears. It’s like he’s in a trance, unable to move, but still moving anyways. He doesn’t even realize he’s in front of Will until he is, and Will falls into his arms, solid and real and safe. Mike leans forward to kiss Will’s forehead.

Will drops his head on to Mike's shoulder and murmurs, “I thought he got you. You disappeared as soon as we found you, and I thought…”

“Hey, Will, it’s okay,” Mike says softly, as his lips brush against Will’s temple. He places a soft kiss there as well. “I’m okay, we’re okay.”

Will doesn’t move. He just tightens his arm around Mike’s waist. Mike doesn’t even know what he’s murmuring; it’s just a constant stream of consciousness ranging from you’re okay to I’m okay to you’re safe. Mostly, he’s just content being with Will. They’ll talk about what happened later, and it’s probably a thing they’ll need to work through. He can already see the nightmares coming, but for now, they’re here and they’re safe.

He catches Hopper and Joyce smiling at them, and he tilts his head in acknowledgment. Hopper sticks three fingers up before he takes Joyce’s hand to walk away.

Steve’s car pulls up to his driveway, and Mike watches as all his friends reunite with each other. He looks at Will, who looks back, and with a silent agreement, Mike guides Will back into his house. As soon as they’re in Mike’s room, Will drops down onto the bed and closes his eyes. Mike lays down next to him, and the exhaustion catches up with him. They lay there in silence, with their hands by their sides, not quite touching.

“I can’t believe it’s all over,” Mike says, after what feels like an eternity. Will hums in agreement, not opening his eyes. Mike pushes himself up so that he’s leaning on one arm and staring down at Will.

Will cracks an eye open and asks, “What are you doing?”

“Looking at you,” Mike admits honestly.

Will makes a strangled sort of noise, opening his eyes just to shoot a half-hearted glare at Mike. His cheeks are pink, and it’s adorable. Will groans, “You’re going to kill me if you keep saying things like that, Wheeler.”

“And why’s that?” Mike teases, even if he knows. 

Will grins, somewhere between teasing and coy. “You tell me.”

“I love you,” Mike says, which causes Will’s eyes to go very, very wide, but his smile also does. Mike flushes, but he feels braver than he’s felt in a very long time. “I’m in love with you. I know it took me way too long to figure that out, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. It’s you, Will. It’s always been you.”

Will grins, as he sits up. He tangles one hand in Mike’s hair, pulling him down, pressing his lips against Mike’s. Mike has seen the movies, read the books, and he knows how he’s supposed to feel when someone kisses you. It’s supposed to be fireworks and electricity, and all that. Except, when Will kisses him, it feels a lot like coming home. It feels like he has a place to anchor himself. 

“I’ve loved you my whole life,” Will breathes out, voice low. He pulls back and traces a finger across Mike’s cheeks. “I never thought this day would come. I didn’t let myself hope.”

Mike kisses him again.

~

Mike doesn’t realize they’ve fallen asleep until he wakes up several hours later, tangled up in his sheets with Will draped over him. He blinks at his surroundings, shielding his eyes from the bright light pouring through his windows. It takes a moment for Mike to realize what’s happening, and as soon as he does, he pushes himself up and out of bed.

Will lets out a low whine, as he rubs his eyes. “Mike, what the hell?”

Mike doesn’t say anything. He rushes out of his bedroom and turns on the light at the top of the stairs. He shouts, “Nancy! Nancy, they’re here.”

He’s barely down the stairs before the front door opens, and he’s in his mother’s arms. He hears three pairs of legs rushing downstairs, and then he hears Nancy say, “Oh my god, mom.”

Mike pulls out of Karen’s embrace and steps back so Nancy could hug her as well. Will and Jonathan stand back a little to give them space. There are tears pouring down his mom’s face, which just causes Mike to tear up as well. 

“I’m just so glad you both are okay,” Karen tells them, pulling Nancy into a half hug and looking up at Mike. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Mom,” Mike says, words completely failing him. 

Karen looks past Mike to where Will and Jonathan are standing. She smiles brightly at them, through her tears. “Oh boys, you’re here too.”

“Hi, Mrs. Wheeler,” Jonathan says, raising a hand in greeting.

“Enough with the Mrs. Wheeler nonsense,” Karen chides, walking past Mike to pull both the Byers brothers into a hug. “You’re basically family.”

Nancy settles next to Jonathan, and Mike looks between them before looking at Will. There’s something so right about how the Byers and the Wheelers have found each other. He walks towards them before standing next to Will. 

There must have been something on Mike’s face because Karen looks at him. Mike’s face drops as he feels his mom studying him, and Will shuffles next to him nervously, but Karen’s smile doesn’t falter. She looks between the two of them before reaching a hand up to cup Mike’s face. 

“I’m so proud of you,” Karen reiterates. There’s something in her tone that makes Mike realize that she knows. There’s an open invitation for him to say the words, to come out, but she’s not putting him on the spot. She squeezes Will’s arm lightly before looking at Nancy and Jonathan.  “All of you.”

Mike blinks back his tears as he watches his dad walk in with Holly fast asleep in his arms. He pats Mike on his shoulder, without saying much else. There’s a part of him that wants to roll his eyes. They’ve all survived an apocalypse, and his dad still can’t manage anything that resembles parenting. There’s another part of him that’s just grateful that they’ve all made it through the apocalypse, and his biggest battle now is just his annoying dad.

Will catches his eyes and raises a brow. Mike quietly gestures towards the stairs. Once they’re in his room, Mike locks the door behind him.

“Was that…” Mike starts, but closes his mouth. He blinks at Will. “Did my mom just…what just happened?”

Will snorts. “She’s not Jonathan, but I think that was her opening.”

Mike drops down on his bed and exhales sharply. Will settles in between his legs, and Mike wraps a lazy arm around Will’s waist. He looks up and shakes his head. He mutters, “All that’s left is my dad, which, uh.”

“Take it one day at a time,” Will suggests, as if he’s reading Mike’s mind. He cups Mike’s face. “Welcome to being a gay teenager in small town America.”

“I can’t wait till we get out of here,” Mike grumbles, leaning into Will’s touch. "We just have to get through three more years of high school."

Will wraps both his arms around Mike’s neck, tangling his hand in Mike’s hair. Mike leans up to kiss Will again, smiling when he can feel Will laugh into the kiss. 

~

Max wakes up three days later.

The doctors at Hawkins General Hospital are all a bit confused, but when the town has been in a post-apocalyptic state for three weeks, people learn to let miracles happen without too many questions.

Mike isn’t exactly sure how it happened. From what he gathered, they were able to release Max’s mind from Vecna’s hold. With the Upside Down hivemind destroyed and the gates closed permanently, Max was able to recover fully. At least, physically. It’ll probably take her a while to recover emotionally.

Max looks between Mike and Will and asks, “How long was I out for?”

“Three weeks,” El tells her, with a shrug.

Max blinks. “How is Mike getting his head out of his ass, and finally dating Will, the biggest shock in all this?”

“You knew?” Mike squeaks out. Next to him, Will turns bright red.

Max rolls her eyes, and Mike wonders how she has the energy for all this. She says, “You’re the only person in this town that didn’t know Will was in love with you.”

Mike looks around the room, flushing. “That’s not true.”

“Yeah,” Will adds, but he brings a hand up to cover his face. “I wasn’t that obvious.”

“It absolutely is true,” Dustin tells them. “Although Mike had you matched."

Before Mike can protest, Lucas adds, “We’ve known for years.”

“I was about to start a betting pool for you dummies,” Erica continues. 

Mike looks at El, who is his last saving grace. She shrugs, and Mike can tell she’s biting back a laugh. It lasts about two seconds until she actually does start giggling. 

“We’re leaving,” Mike groans. He’s mostly joking, but he does want to get out of there. He looks at Will who has an exasperated look on his face, but Mike can tell he’s fond.

They’re about to walk out the room when Lucas calls, “Don’t be late to the movies.”

“I’ll make sure we’re on time,” Will promises, giving Mike a very stern look. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Mike says, with a wave.

Mike is halfway through a story about a D&D campaign that they played during the school year when he catches Will smiling, and it’s the kind of contemplative smile that Will gets sometimes. Mike bumps his shoulder against Will’s and asks, “What are you thinking about?”

“I don’t know,” Will admits, as they walk past their old elementary school with its ever present swing set. “Just that it feels really weird to be done with everything.”

It’s funny how they’ve spent so many years fighting interdimensional evil, and now they could just be normal teenagers with normal dreams. Hawkins is still Hawkins, with all the terrible things that come with it, but through it all, there’s still something to be hopeful about. They walk up the path and across the wood chippings before Mike sits down on one of the swings. Will drops down on the other.

“Good weird?” Mike asks.

“Yeah, I was just wondering where we’d be if none of that happened,” Will muses, staring out at the horizon. 

Mike chuckles. “Probably playing D&D in my basement.”

“Definitely,” Will agrees. 

“I think we’d still be here,” Mike says. “It might have taken longer, but I don’t think you and I were ever gonna end up anywhere else, but here.”

“You really think so?” Will asks, tilting his head to the side and fixing Mike with a warm expression.

“Yeah,” Mike replies with certainty. “We have shared trauma now, so you’re stuck with me forever. But…well, I think I always knew I loved you. I think I would have gotten here no matter what.”

“Me too,” Will beams. 

Mike remembers the day he told El that his life started when he met her, and he still means that. In a weird, twisted way, Mike can see the positives in everything that has happened. He feels like he has a huge, extended family now. He’s gone through something profound with a group of people, and that’ll bond them for life. But, it’s funny. Even if none of it happened, Mike thinks he would have still fallen in love with Will.