Chapter Text
Hawkins, Indiana
1989
Prologue: Unexpected
Three Years.
It had been three years since the start of the end of Hawkins, and possibly the world. The party, now extended to include Steve, Robin, Jonathan, Nancy, and even Joyce and Hopper (on occasion) have spent three years now trying to track down Henry without much luck. Today, however, their luck seemed to change and so their final battle began.
In Will’s humble opinion, it could be going better. El was struggling to pin down Henry, as he continuously called on democreatures to try to take her down. The rest of the party intervened by trying to take down the democreatures before they made it to El.
Will unexpectedly had an important role to play in this battle, as it turns out his little stint in the Upside Down when he was twelve gifted him with powers. Unfortunately, those powers aren’t as flashy as his adoptive sisters’. He can heal, which is pretty useful when he had the time, and he can take control of the democreatures. Problem was, there were too many of said democreatures. The party were beginning to be overpowered.
Will’s mind raced as he desperately began to form a plan, he knew the others would not like it, but it seemed to be the only way to end everything for good.
“Will? You okay?” A voice came from his side, startling Will from his thoughts. When he turned he noticed Mike there, curls half-hazardly tied up and machete clenched tightly in his hand. He looked super hot, but now was definitely not time for those kinds of thoughts.
“Just coming up with a plan. We have to get these democreatures away from El so she can focus.” Will sighed out.
“Right, but Henry just keeps calling more of them out.” Mike grunted as he stabbed another demobat into the ground.
Will nodded his head, eyes stinging as he thought over his plan, after carefully examining his options, he spoke, “Mike, I-I need to tell you something.”
“You sure it can’t wait? We’ve got like a million baddies out here Will.” Mike questioned as Will just barely stopped a new wave of creatures from descending on El and the others got to work killing them before they regained free will.
“No. It can’t, i-it’s important.” Will stated firmly, he refused to chicken out this time.
Mike turned his eyes on Will, examining him for a moment, before giving a nod, “Okay.. what is this about?”
“You remember the painting?” Will questions.
Mike heaves a sigh, “This again? Will it’s okay. Really. El made it very clear she didn’t feel that way when she dumped me back then. I already forgave you for lying, I knew you were just trying to cheer me up. It’s okay.”
“No, b-but that’s not it!” Will exclaimed quickly.
“What? What’s not it?” Mike scrunched up his face in confusion.
“I mean, I did want to cheer you up, but that speech. Those feelings I was talking about. They were all real Mike.” Will stressed.
“Will, El doesn’t feel like that for me, and that’s okay! I’m okay! I prom-”
“I’m not talking about El, Mike, I wasn’t talking about El back then either.” Will stated firmly, gazing desperately into Mike’s eyes.
Mike seemed confused at first, then slowly realization settled upon that handsome freckled face, “Oh.”
“Yeah.. Oh..” Will nodded slowly, tears beading his eyes.
“But- But why didn’t you-” Mike started to ask questions, but they were interrupted by El letting out a scream of pain.
“There’s no time!” Will shook his head quickly, he turned to Mike and grabbed the taller’s shoulders, “I just- I needed you to know- b-because I need- I need you to know. I-I love you Mike. I love you okay?”
Mike’s eyes were wide as he took in Will’s tears and desperation, then his brain kicked in and a gut-wrenching worry filled his chest, “Will. Will, why are you telling me this now?”
Will began to back away and Mike followed, calling out, “Will?”
Instead of answering verbally, the shorter boy pressed onto his toes and slammed their lips together desperately. It was messy and toothy, but perfect nonetheless. Mike was dazed when Will pulled off, but snapped out of that rather quickly as he watched Will take off running towards the center of the gate.
When Will arrived at the largest of the gates, he tapped into all the negative feelings in his brain. Lonnie was right, people like him never get happy endings, do they? He tossed out his arms and focused more than he ever had. Slowly opening his eyes, he noticed every single democreature had frozen and turned to face him. El had Henry pinned once again, so now was the perfect time. Will whispered out his command, “Follow.” Then with one last teary glance at his friends and family, he jumped through the gate to the Upside Down.
In the upside down, it was a little harder to control the democreatures. He was in their domain after all, his hands shook as he heard their desires shouting in his brain. They want to attack, they want to destroy, they want to kill. Very carefully, he found his footing at a gate where he could clearly see El and Henry. He could feel Henry choking El, pulling on his command to the creatures, fighting for control back. He was still too strong, there was only one thing Will could do. Once again, honing his focus, he kept one hand back on the horde of monsters and with the other he began to tug at the gate, healing it, getting it to close. It was a slow process, however, he could still feel Henry trying to rip it back open.
Eventually, four unexpected things happen: Dustin Henderson chops off Henry’s arm with an axe, El wastes no time disintegrating Henry, the gates start closing rapidly, and Mike Wheeler is jumping through the gate right before it completely closes.
Hawkins
By the time El noticed the democreatures filing off back through the gate to the upside down, she was barely holding Henry back from attacking her again. When she realized what Will was planning, she had dropped everything to run and stop him. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it far before she felt her feet leaving the ground and she was being choked out by Henry again.
Henry watched Will descend through the portal with his army and teasingly shook his head at El, “How very noble of your new ‘brother’ Eleven.”
Eleven glared at him instead, kicking her feet and struggling as she watched the other party members all calling for Will and rushing to try to get him to come out.
“Very noble, but very stupid.” Henry laughed, “I don’t need my army any more Eleven. I already have you and your little friends and new family exactly where I want you.”
“Stop.” El gasped out, clawing at the invisible tendrils around her neck.
“I am going to take such pleasure… in killing and taking you ALL.” Henry grinned down at her and laughed again. Henry’s laugh was cut short by a scream of pain. El thudded to the ground with gasping breaths and coughs and looked up in shock to see Dustin standing there with a bloody axe and a glare that could kill. Henry’s arm with his long sharp claws was laying on the ground in front of him.
“That was for Eddie.” Dustin spat down at Henry, causing the humanoid monster to glare back up at him.
El didn’t wait a moment more, Lucas helped her to her feet and she shot out her arm screaming louder than ever before.
The entire extended party had gathered around, watching in amazement as Henry was reduced to a pile of ash along the ground of Hawkins. Then they began to cheer, laughing as they realized Henry was gone for good.
They were only pulled from their happy cheering when Jonathan screeched, “The-the gates! The gates are closing and fast!”
There were looks of horror from everyone in the extended party, watching as the gates were sealing themselves. Then suddenly…
“Mike? MIKE! MIKE NO!” Nancy shrieked out and everyone watched as Mike Wheeler tossed himself through the gate he had been standing and staring at with wide, desperate eyes.
It was silent for a moment as the ground settled, going back to looking like there was nothing there to begin with. Nancy was sobbing, throwing herself against Robin, who looked surprised, but wrapped her into a hug.
Jonathan was crying silently as he sat on his knees in front of where the gate used to be, Steve settling next to him and gently clapping him on the shoulder in his attempt to comfort.
Joyce was shaking her head and repeating no over and over as Hopper clutched onto her tightly.
Lucas sunk to the ground defeated and recounted what exactly happened to Max who had tears steadily rolling down her pale eyes.
Dustin kicked at the dirt and cursed loudly, screaming about being tired of losing the people he cared about.
And El? El watched her friends and family fall apart before tumbling backwards and letting the exhaustion pull her into the darkness of unconsciousness. Just barely registering a call of her name in concern and the hands of her Dad catching her and holding her close.
Upside Down
The shock of everything made Will lose concentration for a moment and the democreatures broke free. Luckily they don’t get very far before Will is already blocking Mike and once again sending the freeze command to them, dismissing the blood pouring from both nostrils and eyes as well as the light-headedness he was beginning to feel.
This moment gave Mike enough time to get his bearings before rushing to Will’s side. Will sent him a glare and hissed, “What the hell were you thinking!?”
Mike shook his head fast, “Later. How much time do you have left?”
Will’s blinking was unsteady as he panted, “30 minutes… tops.”
“Shit- uh- okay… okay! 30 minutes.. I-I can work with that.” Mike responds, spinning around, he forced Will to climb onto him in a piggy-back hold and took off running as best as he could. Will clutched onto Mike and tried desperately to stay focused. Thankfully, they were in the town center. Mike skidded into a decrepit copy of Melvalds. He lowered Will onto the floor, then immediately got to work shoving every heavy piece of furniture he could in front of the door.
Once Will thought they were safe enough, he let go, arm falling to his side limply and falling back against the floor. Mike returned to Will’s side soon enough with a bottle of water and a packet of wipes. Will almost questioned where it came from before realizing both he and Mike had their backpacks with them. He gratefully took a few sips from the water bottle and went to grab one of the wipes, but Mike gently pushed his hand aside, opting instead to begin gently scrubbing at the blood himself.
The two sat in silence for a few moments, before Mike stated firmly, “Why the hell would you do that Will?!”
“Hmm?” Will asked exhausted.
“What were you thinking?! Dropping an I love you and-and leaving?! Really Will? I-I..” Mike’s shoulders slumped and tears crawled down his face. His hands came up to cup Will’s face gently, “I thought I lost you…for good this time.”
Will felt his own tears creeping back up, “It was the only plan Mike. The only way to stop Henry for good.”
“We could have come up with something else… we could have..” Mike went to argue.
“We could have… but I’m tired Mike. Everyone is. We needed to end it.” Will stated firmly and a sad smile came to his face, “Guess it worked a little too well though.”
Mike released a shaky sigh, “Yeah.”
“Why did you follow me through? You shouldn’t have done that Mike. I-I didn’t want you to be stuck down here. You don’t deserve that.” Will sighed out.
“And you do?” Mike questioned firmly.
Will’s eyes widened as he silently stared into Mike’s gaze.
“Neither of us deserve this, but if we’re going to be stuck here…” Mike slid their hands together, fingers interlocking, “I would rather us be together.”
Will couldn’t hold back the soft exhale of, “yeah?” That left his mouth.
“Yeah.” Mike affirmed softly, moving to lay down next to Will on the floor. They laid there in silence for a moment, listening to the chirping and howling outside the store. Then Mike rolled over to face Will, “Hey Will?”
Will turned to face Mike and hummed, barely awake at this point.
“I love you too.” Mike stated confidently.
Will’s eyes shot open and he gaped at Mike, “You- but-” He stammered for a moment before biting at his bottom lip, “What about El? I thought you-you liked girls?”
“Well I um- I did like El,” Mike started cautiously, “At first, but then the summer came when you two moved to Lenora.”
“Yeah?” Will hummed, urging Mike to continue.
“That moment, when I caught you giving away your D&D book… and you said it was impossible for you to find a new party.” Mike felt a grin tug at his cheeks and he let out a soft laugh, “I felt something then… in my stomach, it was like-like-”
“Butterflies?” Will tried with a raise of a brow.
“I think Dustin called it electricity.” Mike commented instead, still smiling as he turned to stare at Will, “Then right afterwards, El came in and-and she kissed me.” Mike paused to shake his head and laugh again, “and the whole time she was kissing me, I wondered, why didn’t I feel that electricity?”
“But if you knew then, why didn’t you say anything? Why did you ignore me?” Will questioned curiously.
“I was panicked. I um- I didn’t know at the time that you could like boys and girls. I was scared. Scared to face those feelings. Scared to lose El, because then I’d have to face them.” Mike’s breath shuddered.
“So, what helped you… get over all that?” Will asked, hand moving to gently squeeze at Mike’s arm in comfort.
“Steve.” Mike grinned.
“STEVE?!” Will laughed disbelievingly, “I thought you two hated each other?”
“Yeah.. turns out we were just too alike.” Mike chuckled, “Robin helped a lot too though. She’s the one who told us all about ‘the liking both’ thing. Bisexuality. That’s what she said it’s called.”
“Bisexuality.” Will hummed, trying the word out and smiling softly.
“They were helping me plan how to tell you, you know?” Mike suddenly stated.
“What?” Will gaped once again up at Mike. “Yeah, I um- I was planning on telling you after the battle…” Mike’s face reddened again, then he shot Will a playful glare, “Until someone decided to one-up me then almost sacrifice themself!”
Will laughed nervously and shifted closer to Mike, “Sorry.”
Mike smiled and reached over, wrapping his arm around Will’s wait and pulling him close, “Don’t be… it was almost perfect.”
“Almost?” Will laughed and pouted.
Mike smiled, “Well… that um- that kiss.” The taller boy’s eyes darted to Will’s lips before bouncing back to Will’s eyes.
“Yeah?” Will whispered softly, eyes hooding as he stared into Mike’s.
“It was a little rushed…don’t you think?” Mike asked, voice low and soft.
“Maybe..” Will hummed back.
“Definitely. So, we should fix that.. Right?” Mike continued to lean closer.
“Right.” Will whispered and shut his eyes, hands moving to bunch in Mike’s shirt as Mike finished swooping down and capturing his lips.
This kiss was as perfect as it could be trapped in an old upside-down version of a grocery store. Electricity seemed to flow through both boys as they held each other as close as physically possible. The need to breathe being the only thing that pulled them apart.
Mike grinned and rested their foreheads together, “There. Now it’s perfect.”
Will beamed through his exhaustion and simply breathed in their little moment, “Yeah.”
“Now that that is all settled… you should really rest.” Mike murmured softly, rubbing his hand up and down Will’s arm.
“What about you?” Will asked through a yawn.
“I have my machete. I’ll take first watch.” Mike winked at him.
“Only if you rest after me.” Will shot Mike a half-hearted glare.
Mike let out a soft laugh, “Deal.” He then pressed a kiss to Will’s forehead and pulled away to start watching over their temporary safe space.
Hawkins
When El came back to consciousness, she was laying in a hospital bed, a strange machine beeping steadily beside her. She blearily turned her head and was beyond shocked to see Lucas, Dustin, and Max leaning on each other sleeping in their chairs next to her bed. The door slowly creaked open and Joyce was sneaking in, when she saw El awake she smiled sadly.
“Hey.” She spoke softly as she settled down on the side of the hospital bed and ran a hand through El’s pixie cut, “How are you feeling honey?”
“A little better..”She spoke and it came out croaky.
Joyce passed her a cup of water with a straw and she took a few greedy sips down before sighing, “How long have I been resting?”
“Just a few days.” Joyce hummed, “Those three have stayed there the whole time.”
El smiled a little wobbly and tears built in her eyes, she squeaked, “Will and Mike?”
Joyce’s own smile tightened and she pulled El into a tight hug. They both cried into each other’s shoulders for a while.
“I am going to get them out.” El finally said in determination, keeping eye contact with Joyce she whimpered, “I have to get them out.”
Joyce sniffled and once again pulled El into a hug, fingers gently scraping through El’s hair, “I know you will honey. We will- we will all help you. We’ll get them back.”
The door opened again and Hopper inched his way in with a couple bags from a fast food place. He smiled softly seeing Joyce and El and gently shook the bag, “I got burgers.”
“No pickles on mine right?” Dustin questioned teasingly as he lifted his head from the position on Lucas’s shoulder.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Hopper groaned sarcastically as he plucked a wrapped burger from the bag and tossed it to the boy.
Lucas woke up from the removal of Dustin’s head and grumbled about the drool on his shirt and Max snickered next to him as they each caught a burger as well.
“Are you alright El?” Dustin questioned calmly afterwards, picking at the foil wrapper on his burger.
El nodded her head, “Yeah. I am okay.”
“How’d you even get El in a hospital?” Lucas asked through a mouthful of burger, “I thought she couldn’t be in public spaces like this?”
“Yeah, what about the government?” Max questioned tensely.
“Well yeah. Eleven can’t go to public places like this… and unfortunately the government knows too much about Jane Byers.” He grunted, “But with help from Owens, Elanor Hopper can safely go about her normal average life.”
“Elanor?” El tried the name out.
“We figured we should come up with something a little easier to explain your nickname.” Joyce shrugged, then her face turned to concern, “But if you don’t like it honey, we can come up with something else! I’m sure it-”
“I like it.” El smiled and squeezed Joyce’s hand, “I like Elanor.”
The next time the door opened Steve was jingling his keys with a soft, “Alright kids. If I don’t get you guys home today one of your parents’ are going to call the cops.”
The trio next to El let out a few whines of disagreement, but stood regardless, giving El hugs goodbye and promising to hang out soon. From behind Steve, Jonathan slowly entered the hospital room, he was disheveled and his eyes were red-rimmed, but he pulled El into a tight hug regardless.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” Jonathan sniffed.
El felt her eyes sting a bit and she hugged him back, “I’m sorry Jon.”
“You don’t have to be… it-it’s not your fault.” Jonathan sighed and scrubbed at his eyes, “It’s nobody’s fault.”
Joyce rubbed at Jonathan’s back soothingly, “He’s a big boy Jonathan. I-I’m sure he’ll be okay until we can get to him.”
“He also has Mike.” Hopper stated and everyone looked at him with varying looks of shock and playfulness.
“What? Look, Wheeler and I disagree on a lot, but..” He huffed, “C’mon Joyce you remember how the boy was during all that possession shit? He’s a protector, especially to Will.”
El nodded her head, “Mike is protective, even if he is not the strongest.” She sighed, “And Will is- umm..” She fought to find a word.
“Resilient.” Joyce smiled softly at her, “He’s a survivor. Always has been.”
“And they are both very smart.” Jonathan chimed in, “Smarter than most people I know.”
“So they’ll make it.” Hopper said confidently.
“They will make it.” El agreed with a sharp nod, “Until I find them.” She grimaced thinking about how weak she was feeling in the moment.
“However long that takes.” Joyce stated with finality and squeezed El’s shoulder in comfort once again.