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The shed brings back some horrible memories for Will.
This was the place where he would hide on days where his father’s rage was at full force; his back against the door and a tight grip on the latch so Lonnie wouldn’t enter on the slim chance he’d find him.
(In some of his nightmares, he hears his father’s angry, unforgiving voice; the stomp of heavy boots and glass bottles slammed loudly on the dining table.)
This was the place he last saw before the monster took him by the torso and tossed him into the Upside Down. He remembers the rifle slipping from his hands and the way he could feel his entire body freeze as the bony tendrils grabbed him.
(In some of his nightmares, he hears screeches of the monster; the squelching of its footsteps echoing throughout the darkness and amidst the spores.)
This was the place where he had fought with the Mind Flayer in the deep trenches of his mind; bright lights and the unforgiving scratch of rope against his arms. He remembers how the light made him see Hopper and his mom and Jonathan and Mike, fear painted on their faces as they tried to get him back. His own self and an otherworldly feeling of being in his body but not also not really , out of control as if he was a mere puppet dangling on strings.
(In some of his nightmares, he hears the muffled sounds of the people he loved the most; his mother’s desperation and the quiver in his best friend’s voice. It’s mixed with the screams of the dead, the crunch of bones and the horrible, tantalizing whispers of the Mind Flayer.)
“Will,” Mike croaks out, snapping Will immediately from his thoughts. Big hands grip his arm gently. The only source of light between them is a flashlight, but it’s enough for Will to inspect the scratch on Mike’s temple. Something akin to rage burns within his chest as he sees the trickling of blood down his best friend’s face.
He’s grateful that Dustin had remembered to pack first-aid kits, grateful that Max had taught him how to properly clean wounds and gashes, grateful that Lucas managed to shoot the Demodog just moments after it had scratched Mike’s face.
What he’s not sure he’s grateful of yet is how Mike had jumped in front of Will with no weapon on hand and no hesitation when the monster was meters away from his own body. The scenario replays in his mind like a pest no matter how hard he tries to forget about it.
Get it together, Byers, Will scolds himself. He opens the first aid kit and grabs betadine, cotton, and a bandage. “Are you ready?” he asks Mike as he sees how his shoulders tense up. Because of course, stubborn Mike Wheeler absolutely hated medical care. Will knows Mike despised the sting of cleaning a wound; knows how Mike tears up only after the nurse or his mother is done with him, too proud to let it be known to anyone else that he was afraid of the sensation.
“It can’t be as bad as getting scratched by a Demodog itself,” Mike jokes weakly. At the reminder, Will knows he sees red (both figuratively and literally). He forces himself to uncurl his fists and start cleaning the wound. One of his hands grabs Mike’s chin, and for a split second, they’re just looking at each other directly. Will’s eyes flicker to the wound and heeds no warning as the betadine-filled cotton covers it.
He tries to ignore how Mike’s eyes glisten almost immediately, yet stay in position and continue to stare at Will’s face. Will prays to any god out there that Mike doesn’t notice just how flustered he looks under his best friend’s scrutinizing gaze.
Will focuses on the cotton soaked with betadine and blood, the eerie dark color resembling the blood of the Demodog. His breaths become as erratic as the flickering of the flashlight, and his mind whirls with a vision.
(His episodes have been a tad more frequent upon the gates in Hawkins opening. It was never pleasant, and never any easier.)
*
The four of them—Will, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas—had ventured out into the Upside Down alone. It was a stupid idea, really. But the vision involved something beckoning Will back into the wretched place, and no, it wasn’t Henry.
It sounded like lost souls that were captured by the horrors of the Upside Down. Souls like Max and the other Hawkins High students that were killed; souls of the scientists and the other people who were treated like lab experiments at the cruel hands of Dr. Brenner. Souls that told Will there was something that could help them defeat Henry. Souls that wanted to be avenged.
The vision happened during a SuperComm call with the Party; Mike’s voice crackling louder through the radio waves than the other two, loud enough to snap Will out of it. And so it wasn’t something Will could brush off nor keep from the rest of his friends. After explaining what he saw, there was no hesitation of what was going to happen next: a secret mission into the Upside Down.
Yes, it was a stupid idea. Probably the stupidest one they’ve ever had. But at this point, there was absolutely no time to waste, and so they ventured off. They snuck behind the backs of Hopper, their parents, and the military, diving head first past the gates and into the Upside Down.
For a while, it had been going well. No monsters in sight for a total of 17 minutes, but suddenly they were swarmed. They could each hold off their own—years of dealing with what was practically the apocalypse had forced them to do so. Will had his gun, Dustin and Mike had swords (yes, swords), and Lucas had his bow and arrow.
By some stroke of luck, they fended the monsters off. Most of them, at least. One monster had managed to get up, and Will was its nearest target. Mike had all but ran, no sword in his hand for some godforsaken reason, and pushed Will out of the way just in time.
For mere seconds, Will was frozen with terror. The monster’s mouth was hovering inches away from Mike’s face, hungry for flesh and blood. Mike had almost squirmed his way out free, but the Demodog’s claws scratched as his temple. At the moment, Lucas managed to shoot the monster directly by its neck, buying Mike enough time to break free. Will had also snapped out of his trance, shooting the monster with almost all his bullets. Dustin had to pry the weapon off his hands to get him to stop.
“It’s dead, Will,” Dustin had told him shakily. “You can stop. You’ve got to stop.”
Will did not allow anyone else to touch Mike as they walked to the safety of the Upside Down version of Will’s old shed. It was a role reversal from when Mike had walked Will all the way back to his house the Halloween of ‘84, a death grip on his shoulders even as they entered the Wheelers’ doorway.
And so there they were. Will, pissed off at Mike and himself and the Upside Down in general. Mike, dazed from the attack. Dustin and Lucas outside the shed, keeping guard of their little bubble.
But all Will can see in the darkest corners of his imagination is Mike underneath the Demodog, face filled with false bravado as he faced death head on. All he can see is an alternate scenario, one where Lucas missed the shot, one where the Demodog had done more damage. All he can see is the person who's saved him time and time again not be saved like he should've been.
All he sees is red.
And all he hears is nothing but the whispers calling him a failure, saying "it's your fault!" over and over again like a broken record.
Amidst everything, he hears a soft whisper of his name. "Will? Will—"
*
"Will!"
He snaps out of his trance to see Mike staring at him, panic etched on his face. The bandage is plastered on his face properly, an action Will didn’t notice he was doing on autopilot.
"Will, are you okay?" he asks hurriedly. Will realizes that his best friend is gripping onto his shoulders hard enough to bruise.
And okay, maybe it wasn’t the best time to burst out laughing, but Will couldn’t help it. Mike literally almost died, and here he was, asking if Will was okay? Will almost lost one of the most important people to him, and said person asks a question as dumb as are you okay?
He laughs. They both know it’s not a humorous one, the way there’s a clear strain in the midst of his laughter. Mike lets go of his shoulders, but he’s noticeably anxious by how his hands fidget together and how his eyebrows furrow in concern. Will is on the verge of insanity; he wants to push Mike away and yell at him for being an idiot, at the same time he wants to take Mike’s hands in his own and kiss his concerns away.
The former thought wins, though.
“Am I okay?” Will spits out incredulously. “N-no, Mike, I am not okay.” His voice is slightly raised, and Mike is clearly taken aback. “W-we’re back in the Upside Down and we barely know anything, I keep getting visions, and we keep running into danger.” He jabs at Mike’s chest. “ You especially.”
“What do you mean me especially?” Mike asks. Will can’t tell if the question is serious or not.
“You threw yourself at the Demodog like it was nothing !” Will exclaims. At this point, he doesn’t care if Lucas and Dustin could hear him. “I-I don’t get it, Mike! I don’t get why you did that! You did it especially without your weapon in hand!”
Mike straightens and crosses his arms, petulant and defensive like a child. “Because you were in danger, Will! You didn’t notice the Demodog in time! You could’ve been hurt!” His voice is raised, too.
“Yeah, but now you’re hurt, Mike! And you know I’m capable of handling myself!”
“I know you are!”
“So why would you still do it?”
“Because I can’t lose you to the monsters again!” Mike exclaims. Will is stunned into silence, and Mike takes it as a sign to continue rambling. He grabs Will’s hands with his own, eyes once again glistening with tears but obviously not for the same reasons. “I-I keep losing you to those monsters, Will. Don’t you get it? Th-they keep getting to you and it’s not fucking fair,” he sobs, clutching onto Will’s hands a little too tightly.
“I can’t fight the monsters inside your head,” Mike continues. “But I can fight the monsters out to get you in the real world. Even if…even if I’m not the most agile or the most capable of wielding a weapon all the time…I would do anything to make sure you’re safe.” Mike’s forehead bumps Will’s slightly, and they’re a breath away from each other. “I just…I can’t lose you again, okay? I can’t. ”
And suddenly, Mike leans in.
It’s not at all what Will thought his first kiss would be like. Then again, he wasn’t exactly sure what he expected his first kiss would be like. It certainly wasn’t in the near-darkness of the shed (in the Upside Down, no less), the acrid smell of betadine, blood, and slime in the air, and with the boy of his dreams injured and with a mild chance of a concussion.
But it was also… everything Will imagined. Mike’s lips were surprisingly soft, and he was gentle, hands cradling Will’s face, thumb rubbing at his cheek gently. There’s a hint of desperation for what Mike was trying to tell Will by the shakiness of his breath as he continues leaning in, but matching what Will was willing to give in the moment and nothing more.
Will finally understands. This is Mike, showing his love unashamedly, both in the moment of the kiss and the moment of his near-death, and probably other moments before and in between. This is Mike, who Will knows now would do anything for him, no matter how ludicrous or dangerous it was. This is Mike, who would kick and thrash and go to the end of the world for Will.
This is Mike, who Will knows he’d do the exact same for.
The flashlight flickers intensely as their lips touch and touch, and suddenly the lightbulb lights up, too.
When they pull away, they both look equally dazed and confused. That’s something that we can deal with later, Will supposes. He smiles, thumbing over the bandage on Mike’s temple and blushing at how Mike easily leans into his touch, as if they’d been doing it forever.
“I can’t lose you either, Mike,” Will whispers. “I see the lengths you’re willing to go for me. But it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not with me by the end of it.”
Mike smiles. “I’m sorry,” he says. “But I would do it again for you. You…you’re the one I can’t bear to be without. Not ever again.” He pulls Will closer to him once more, and kisses him slowly. His cheeks. His jaw. The bridge of his nose. And then his mouth.
And fuck, Will’s giddy. The flashlight is too bright as they kiss a little more, until it explodes.
“Everything alright there?” Dustin yells from outside. Mike and Will pull away at the same time, as if pulled back into the real world, where they were in fact not alone.
“Yeah, what’s with all the lights?” Lucas calls out. Will can see Mike eyeing him curiously from the corner of his eye.
“Everything’s good,” Mike replies. “We’ll be out in a minute.” He kisses Will one last time, before packing their supplies quickly. “Have fun explaining to them why our flashlight broke,” he laughs, as if he knew something no one else did.
Will decides it’s nothing important at the moment. He’s too flushed from the confession and the kiss. When he follows Mike out of the shed, Lucas nudges him just as the other two bicker over what to do next.
“Are you sure everything was okay?” Lucas asks, skeptical.
“It’s going to be,” Will replies. Mike looks back at him, a knowing glimmer in his eyes, and for the first time in a long time, Will truly believes that everything will be okay.
(In some of his nightmares, he’s taken back to horrible moments of his life, a handful of those memories in his family’s tiny shed. But then he sees a flash of black hair and freckles and a warm smile, a hand outstretched to him, a voice asking him to come back to the world, to them, to him.
In those nightmares, he survives. And even though there’s a lot of things left unexplained at the moment, Will just knows that somehow, they’ll pull through. Even if—no, when —it comes down to having to explain to Dustin and Lucas and probably other people just why and how the lights flickered the way they did. Even if (when) it means seeing Mike’s stupid, smug, adorable, all-knowing smile on his lips that makes Will want to kiss him fucking senseless no matter the situation they were in . )