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Hawkins hadn’t been the same since it was torn to pieces several months ago.
Sure, some of its residents had moved back in after the so-called earthquake that quite literally ripped their town apart, but many others stayed away. They had seen Hawkins for what it really is, and there was no changing their decisions.
Besides, there wasn’t all that much to return to - the library had been all but destroyed, the roads still unsafe to travel on, the plants dead and rotting. Sometimes the party themselves wondered if it was worth staying there, but after all they’d done and everything they’d lost to defend it, it seemed only right to remain there.
So they stayed, cooped up in each other’s spare rooms until they had homes of their own again, because despite the distinct lack of other people in Hawkins, there weren’t really any houses spare - most had been damaged, some beyond repair.
For Mike and Will, this was the perfect situation. Not only were they finally safe from the chaos of the upside down, but sharing a room (and, unbeknownst to both of their parents, a bed) meant they no longer needed excuses to hang out, just the two of them - especially since hanging out nowadays seemed to result in a notable lack of personal space and, oftentimes, as much making out as they could get away with without getting caught.
It was safe to say that after being together for the past few months - and sharing a roof with all of their friends and family for most of that - they were getting particularly good at the latter.
They had learned their lesson after Lucas and Dustin had walked in on Mike kissing Will against the wall. After their initial what the fuck our friends are kissing moment, both Lucas and Dustin expressed their support for them, before politely leaving and closing the door behind them. From inside the room, they could hear their exclamations of “Finally!” and, “Only took them how many years?” as they walked away. Even now, several weeks later, Mike swears his door had been locked.
Needless to say, it was easier to avoid getting caught now Lucas and Erica had moved back into their newly-fixed house, lending what little spare space they had to Max and Dustin, drastically reducing the number of people living in the Wheeler’s house.
At long last, following months of restlessness and overcrowded rooms, it was quiet. Calm.
The middle of a pitch-black, not too hot, not too cold night in autumn. The only sound breaking the silence of Mike’s bedroom was the gentle breathing of Will asleep next to him.
It’s nights like these when Mike doesn’t mind being kept awake by his own thoughts. He’s done it his whole life - get trapped in a rabbit hole in his own head that would keep him up for hours - but he can’t find it in himself to even try to sleep when everything around him is so perfect.
So he allows himself this moment. These few seconds to relish in the fact that, while their lives would never go back to the way they were before, they were all beginning to find their new normal.
Take his relationship with Eleven as an example. Sure, he hadn’t technically met her until after everything with the upside down started, but they both knew they were better off as friends, and probably would have been this whole time.
Or Max. God. She had lost her step-brother, as big of a dick as he was. She had held him as he died. Not even a year later, she was cursed by the very thing that had killed him - and came so close to taking her, too. While her bones had since healed, no one was sure whether she was ever going to get her sight back.
Dustin. Granted, he had been bullied along with the rest of the party even before everything else went down, but it didn’t seem nearly as significant anymore. After all, having your whole town suspect you’re going round killing teens in a murder cult led by your friend who sacrificed his life mere months ago, when all this time all you’ve been trying to do is protect the town and occasionally play a nerd game with your nerd friends… Yeah. It was a lot.
Lucas. He had almost died multiple times in the past few years, and watched so many of his friends go through the same, or worse, at the same time. He had been beaten within an inch of his life and almost been shot for trying to prove he would never do anything to hurt Max, and then as soon as he gains the upper hand, was forced to hold her as her heart stopped.
Will.
Hell, Mike had literally jumped off a cliff three years ago so Dustin got to keep his teeth inside his mouth, and that was hardly a fraction of the amount of fear Will was feeling at that one single point in time, let alone for the rest of that week.
Or when his suffering was dismissed as being in his head which, naturally, lead to him being possessed by a shadow from another dimension and ending up believing he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, including his mom’s new boyfriend who she had finally found happiness with.
Or being ignored all summer by his closest friends because they got girlfriends and decided Will wasn’t worth their attention anymore. Or that one fight in the rain. Or facing a physical manifestation of the hell that had been haunting him for the past few years, or leaving his hometown behind because for some reason every aspect of it seemed to be against him.
Losing contact with his best friend of ten years while his sister exchanged letter after letter after letter with him every single week. Getting into countless arguments when they’re together again for the first time in a year. Aforementioned sister getting arrested for cutting someone’s face open with a roller skate while his mom was on a spontaneous “business trip” to “Alaska”, or his house getting shot up with him and his friends and family still inside, or literally burying a dead guy in a shallow grave in the desert, or getting back to Hawkins to find he is still connected on such a deep and uncontrollable level to the evil tormenting them, or-
Mike stopped, feeling the guilt and the worry rising in his chest with every piece of Will’s trauma he listed, and that was only since everything with the upside down began.
It was no wonder, really, considering all of those horrific experiences, that when Mike finally snapped himself out of his train of thought and back into the real world, Will - who had been sleeping peacefully beside him just minutes ago - was now trembling and breathing unsteadily in his sleep.
Panic flooded Mike, but he knew that sometimes Will’s nightmares would pass easily by themselves, and if they were lucky, Will wouldn’t even remember it in the morning. Still, every instinct told him to wake him up, even if he knew he shouldn’t yet.
Mumblings of Mike’s name mixed with no and stop began to tumble from Will’s sleeping mouth, gradually getting louder and more frantic, along with his breathing and the rocking of his body. Mike couldn’t take this anymore. He couldn’t let Will go through this anymore.
Tentatively at first, he placed a hand on Will’s shoulder, before shaking him more firmly when he got no response.
“Will?” His voice was loud in the quiet of the rest of the house, but seemingly still not enough to wake him, so he tried again louder. “Will!”
The next thing he knew, his hand was being shoved out of the way and Will was sitting up, eyes darting frantically across the room, seeing Mike but not recognising him and trying to get away. His breathing was still unsteady, and his tremors had turned to full-blown shakes.
“Will- Will, hey, it’s me. It’s Mike.” He holds a hand out cautiously. “You’re okay, it’s just me.”
It takes a second, but Will’s expression changes to one of relieved recognition, and he visibly loses some of the tension in his posture.
His voice is hoarse, and even in the quiet Mike has to strain to hear him ask, “Mike?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” He supplies, and Will crumbles.
He folds in on himself, collapsing into Mike in the process, fractured cries escaping his lips and dampening his face. Instinctively, Mike’s arms come up to cradle him, and Will leans impossibly closer to his chest.
“Hey, its okay. You’re gonna be okay now, yeah?” He sighs, not out of annoyance but out of defeat. “I’ve got you.”
Mike holds him for as long as he needs, only letting go when his sniffles have subsided and he moves to lay down again, an action which Mike closely follows in.
Will glances up at him, their eyes locking. “Thank you, Mike.” He pauses. “For calming me down and… and just for being here.”
Mike briefly wonders how many times Will has woken up from a nightmare like tonight, alone and in the cold with no one to talk to about it. The thought presses a sharp pang of guilt into his stomach, but he tries not to show it. Instead, he just smiles in response, reaching a hand to the nape of Will’s neck, pulling him close enough to plant a reassuring kiss on his forehead.
Still considering the loneliness and isolation his boyfriend endured from those closest to him, Mike is increasingly grateful for Will’s forgiveness, even if he wasn’t sure he deserved it. If anything, he appreciates more than ever the privilege Will has given him in simply letting him be there with him after all that time they spent so distant.
Mike is dragged out of his thoughts by Will throwing an arm over his waist and slotting his legs neatly next to his own, bringing them as physically close to each other as they could possibly be.
With limbs tangled together and the comfort of each other’s steady breathing, sleep quickly welcomes them both, where they safely remain until morning.