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"I wonder if they realised that the portal closed."
"Oh my God, that's..." Will clicked his tongue, trying to find a word for how wrong that sounded.
Mike laid his cheek on his knees, staring at Will. "See! You can't even find a word for it, because it's an honest question! Like, are they trying to open the portal to save us right now, or have they not even realised that we're trapped in here?"
Will looked down at his mutilated walkie-talkie sitting on the ground by his feet. "It's up for debate."
A silence fell between them once again. Not an awkward silence, but definitely not a comfortable silence— more like a solemn silence. They've got nothing to talk about, they've tried everything they can.
When they first ran to the portal after setting up all their makeshift , they could see it from afar.
Then it just... disappeared. Poof. One minute they were staring straight at the portal, and the next, it was gone. Mikes lucky he was with Will, because if he was with anyone else, Will knows he would've freaked out. He still sort of did, but he definitely would have even more if Will hadn't been their to put his hands on his shoulders, stare him dead in the eyes, and explain why this wasn't that big of a problem.
Apparently, this happened a lot when Will was trapped in the upside down when he first went missing. He would see a portal and run towards it, desperate to get out, and it would vanish. He said he always thought it was just the upside down trying to mess with his head, giving him hope and then snatching it away again.
So, they went to the next place that they knew had a portal. And then the next one. And then the next one. They had gone through every one of the spots the portals usually were—nothing.
They got tired, and defeated, and slightly scared, so they walked a little and sat down in the upside down version of Mike's basement. The stairs were treacherous, vines curling and moving all over, and one of them got so close to Will's feet that he dropped his walkie talkie and it tumbled down, getting crushed by a different one. Now they're sitting on the ground, backs against the couch, with no way to contact anyone on the other side of the world.
"This must've been terrifying back when we were eleven," Mike said, eyes wandering all around the room.
Will let out a small laugh. "You think?" Mike doesn't know how many times Will hid in his basement back then, how many times he laid down across the rotting carpet and begged for a redo of what happened that night, begged to have just stayed at Mike's for the night, begged to have left just a little earlier. Begged to see Mike again.
"Especially since we didn't know anything about the upside down either, y'know? Like, we're not super scared right now, because we know how the upside down acts. We know no one's coming for us."
They both knocked on the wood floor in unison.
A grin broke out across Mike's face, the kind of dazzling grin that always made Will dizzy. Mike lifted his head up, looking at the vines encircling the table. "Who knew I'd become superstitious?"
"Who knew we'd end up trapped in the upside down, just the two of us?"
Mike laughed. "I mean, we're not trapped."
Will shrugged. "It sort of..." He didn't know whether or not to tell Mike this. He somehow always has this dilemma. "It feels like... like it did when I was here, back in '83. It's the same feeling."
Mike turned his head, looking at Will with curiosity sparkling in his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when I went to the upside down a couple weeks ago, it didn't feel like it did when I was missing. It didn't feel... clautrophobic, or trapped, even when I couldn't see the portal. But, right now, it does. It feels like there's no way out."
Mike chewed on his bottom lip, looking around the room. "Does it really, or is it because we're in an enclosed room? Because we can totally leave and go outside, go look for the—"
"No, Mike, it's fine. I'm just saying. It feels like we're not going to get out." He can't tell Mike that he knew this was going to happen. That he knew from the moment the portal closed that they weren't going to get out.
"We will." Mike rested his chin on his knees. "We... yeah, we will."
Shit. The whole point of Will keeping anything he may have suspected about this endeavour to himself was so that Mike wouldn't get worried. Mike wouldn't get scared. Mike deserves to enjoy every moment of this because it's not his fault that he's stuck here.
Will's got the upside down injected into his veins. If it's going to fall apart, it's going to take Will down with it.
And if only Mike hadn't been so insistent on coming with him, Mike wouldn't have ended up as collateral damage.
"Y'know, I used to hide down here all the time in the upside down."
Mike perked up at that, finally looking back at Will. Will loved it when Mike was looking at him. "Really?"
"Yeah. I know you know that I spent a lot of time at Castle Byers, but I came here just as much as there. I would sit here, or I would mess around with the D&D characters that permanently sat on that table, or I'd go through all my drawings that you keep down here. It was always a nice spot." Because it was the closest I could get to you, is what Will doesn't say.
The thing about that week in the upside down is that there were only two people he desperately wanted to see: Mike and Jonathan. Obviously he missed his mom, and obviously he missed the rest of his friends, but those were the two people he was begging to see again before he died.
At least now he's got one of them here.
"That's awesome." Mike was smiling so sweetly, practically reeling Will in. "Oh my God, that means that sometimes I was sitting in the basement and you were right there, the whole time!"
Will couldn't help smiling, smiling like the world as they know it wasn't going to end. "Yeah, that is really cool. Maybe that was why I always felt better when I was down here."
Mike nodded. "Yeah... Yeah, I always kind of felt like—
Bang!
They both jumped at the noise, feeling a rumble pass underneath them. Mike's eyes were as wide as saucers.
Will saw Mike's adam's apple bob up and down. "Oh God, what was that noise?"
Will took a deep breath, re-situating himself. He could just... not tell Mike, right? That it's their bombs going off.
But Mike's a little too smart for that to work. "Were those our bombs, Will?"
Will was itching to grab onto something, to ground himself. He was supposed to at least make this a good time, a good time until they died. Why didn't he beg Mike to stay with the others? Why didn't he tell him, tell him just so that he wouldn't go?
When Will met Mike's eyes, they were still filled with fear.
And then Mike's face fell with understanding. "You knew."
Will swallowed the tears that he knew were coming. "Mike, I'm so sorry, I should've told you before we came in, but I sort of already knew that we would get—"
Mike's face broke out into a grin and he started laughing, so softly that for a split second Will thought that he was crying.
All of Will's fear was replaced with confusion. "Excuse me? Why are you laughing?"
Mike only laughed harder, leaning forward and resting his forehead on Will's shoulder.
"Mike? Are you alright?"
Mike laughed for a bit longer before it died out and he lifted his head up to look at Will once again. Will's shoulder felt empty without him.
"Mike?"
Mike smiled at Will. "I'm sorry for laughing."
"I don't really care about that, I'm more wondering why you're laughing?"
"Nancy told me about how you were totally going in there knowing you'd probably die. She knew it."
Will's eyebrows furrowed. "Nancy told you?"
"Yep. And because she told me, I was obviously coming with you."
"What?"
Bang!
Mike jumped closer to Will, their hands just barely touching. "Jesus Christ. I feel like that one was louder."
"Yeah." Will's voice shook.
They both looked at each other, faces only a couple inches apart. Will could see every blemish, every angle, every shadow on Mike's face. He could see the way Mike's lips were parted, the way he wasn't exactly looking into Will's eyes.
That couple seconds that they sat looking at each other felt like hours. Every breath, every shift, every movement were loud, so loud they were overpowering.
Then Mike whispered, "oh fuck it," and leaned in.
Will's dreamt about kissing Mike since he has been ten years old. He's laid awake, staring at the ceiling, wishing and begging for this moment. Dreaming and dreaming of it.
None of his dreams, not even the most vivid, ever lived up to what the real thing felt like.
Mike's mouth is warm and inviting, soft and lovely. Oh, he's all so lovely, the way his hand snakes behind Will's back, the way he shifts closer, the way he leans in. Will always felt like the 'sparks fly' thing was cheesy, but this kiss feels like fireworks— and bike rides, and long days spent at the skate park, and sunlight, and home.
Like this is where he was supposed to end up. His whole life, ending up right at this moment.
Bang!
They jumped apart, the explosion ringing in their ears.
"Oh my God, I almost forgot that we're about to be blown to pieces," Mike said, a helpless grin on his face.
Will laughed, his shoulders shaking. Mike laughed along with him. Will doesn't think he ever imagined this happening in the upside down, though it's close enough to his dreams about kissing Mike in his basement.
Once they were done laughing, Will looked up and at Mike, who was staring at him like he was the most extraordinary thing to grace this Earth.
Mike smiled sweetly. He slotted his hand into Will's and shifted closer, resting his head on Will's shoulder.
Will's heart felt like it was jumping out of his chest.
"I love you," Mike whispered.
Will squeezed Mike's hand. "I love you, too."
Bang!