Chapter Text
Will would be having a nice family dinner with his mom and brother. Dustin would be eating with his mom and new cat, Tews. Lucas would be eating with his mom and dad, and probably getting annoyed because of Erica.
But Mike was in his room, alone, and dreading his family arriving. It was a tradition in the Wheeler household that Mike's relatives would visit over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They were why he preferred Halloween.
6:06, the digital clock on Mike's bedside table read. Mike's nana, uncle and cousins said they would arrive at 6:10. Mike's nana was the nicest grandparent Mike had and, after the death of her husband, became the most invested in her grandchildren's lives, sometimes visiting the Wheelers outside of just special occasions and holidays. But also after her husband's death, she was a lot quieter and often went a long time without talking.
Mike's uncle was a lot like his mom, seeing as they were siblings. They were both mostly emotionally open and supportive of their children, even if they weren't the most conventional kids. They looked alike as well, with the same brown hair and the same brown eyes.
Mike's cousins were James and Christopher, aged eight and ten. James only liked Mike because of all the cool games he had, and Christopher made it his personal goal to piss off Mike as much as humanly possible, for no clear reason.
Mike's grandparents on his dad's side would be arriving later, at around 6:15, and they were who Mike feared. Often when they arrived, the first thing they said would be a comment on Nancy's weight, and always told Mike that he should start getting into sport and finally becoming "more of a man". It was clear that those beliefs ran in the family.
"MIKE COME DOWN!" Mike's mom yelled from downstairs. "HELP SET UP THE TABLE!"
"COMING!" Mike said, without moving another muscle. He was looking at a drawing Will gave him around this time last year. When Mike told him about how he hated the holidays because of his grandparents, Will gave him a drawing of Mike as his D&D character fighting his grandparents, who were drawn as liches.
"MIKE!" His mom yelled again.
"I SAID I'M COMING!" Mike sighed loudly and put the drawing back in his binder full of Will's drawings. He ran down the stairs and joined Nancy, who was setting the table with help from their mom.
"Come on, Michael, take some responsibility," Mike's mom said, "Everyone will be arriving any minute now, set up the table with us." She strode over to the kitchen to get the roast she'd cooked.
Mike rolled his eyes and got the Extra Special Silver Forks, Knives and Spoons that they only used when important guests were over, which basically meant, only when the rest of their family was there.
Nancy was laying down their set of delft plates they bought in The Netherlands that they saved for similar special occasions. Mike handed Nancy some of the cutlery and they set them out on each side of the table.
"You think we could just run away? For the next two days at least," Nancy asked.
"Yeah, but we'd have to come back at some point. And mom and dad would be livid," Mike replied.
She sighed and went to get cups and Mike followed to get the water jug.
A couple minutes later, and they'd set up the table, with the roast turkey and potatoes in the centre. As if on cue, the doorbell rang - it must've been their relatives on their mom's side. Mike's mom went to the door and Mike and Nancy followed, but they hung back a couple feet.
Mike's mom opened the door, and the first to step out was Mike's uncle. "Karen!" He embraced her while James and Christopher shoved past them and made their way inside. "And there are the kids!" He walked over to them with a big smile and hugged them both, which was only slightly reciprocated by Mike and Nancy.
Meanwhile, their nana also walked in and Mike's mom hugged her too. "I baked some Christmas themed cookies for the kids." She pulled out a tupperware box with cookies shaped like snowmen and Christmas trees.
"Oh, thank you." Mike's mom took them from her own mother. "I'm sure these will make a good dessert after dinner. Come into the living room, I think Ted's already there."
They all followed her into the living room where Mike's dad and Holly stood up and greeted all of them with hugs and handshakes before they all sat down again. They were all catching up and engaging in boring small talk while Mike was zoning out and thinking about his other grandparents. Last year they spent what felt like years berating Nancy for sleeping with Steve and talked on and on about how Mike should start playing baseball or basketball instead of playing D&D and going to the arcade. He also thought he caught one of them saying 'he should've gone missing instead of that other boy."
Bringing Mike back to reality, he felt someone kick his shin.
"Ow!" Mike hissed under his breath. He rubbed where the kick hit and turned to who hit him - Christopher. What a surprise. "The hell was that for?"
Christopher shrugged. "I'm bored."
"Oh no, whatever will we do!" Mike said before turning away again.
But on the other side of him was, of course, James. "Can we go down to the basement?" He asked, "Did you get any new games or stuff?"
Mike groaned. "We can go later, but just-just wait! Okay?"
James huffed and pushed himself back into his seat before picking up a small bouncy ball from the desk next to the couch. It felt like thirty damn seconds before James was shaking Mike's arm and asking him to find the ball because he'd dropped it between the cushions. After he'd done that for him, Christopher started pinching Mike every couple minutes because he had "nothing better to do."
Mike was both relieved and terrified when the doorbell finally rang. Relieved because now they just had to get through dinner, but terrified because it was his grandparents.
When Mike's dad opened the door for them, Mike's grandparents entered with a loud, "We're here everyone!" and a "Sorry we were late!" They all went to sit down in the dining room and start eating. Mike's mom served everyone while Mike's grandparents started talking.
"It's nice to be here, all together, as one big family, isn't it?" Mike's grandma said, cutting her portion of turkey into bite-sized pieces.
The adults all nodded and grunted in agreement.
"It is unfortunate that your wife can't join us though," Mike's grandpa said to Mike's uncle.
Mike's uncle shrugged. "Well, she usually does join us, so she doesn't really get to see her side of the family all that much, since they're so far away."
"But we're still here!" James interjected before going back to shovelling too-big bites of turkey into his mouth.
Mike's grandpa ignored this. "Well, we still manage to join our family at least once a year, couldn't you all see her side of the family in spring or summer?"
"We do, but she rarely gets to see her family for the holidays, and, I don't mean any offence by this, but, you're...retired. She still has to work everyday, and take care of the kids, so she hasn't got much time to visit them anytime else."
Mike's grandma huffed. "Back in our days women weren't working all the time. Back when people weren't so sensitive about equality."
Mike definitely disagreed. Were they suggesting that Eleven, badass superhero Eleven, should be a stay-at-home mom, and not a super soldier fighting Soviets?
Nancy clearly held the same beliefs. "Well, isn't it good? Women can work in jobs just as well as men."
Mike's mom tried to hide a smile at her daughter's words, but Mike could see it.
"Yes, but women have their job as carers and men have theirs as providers. That's the natural order, that's how it should be," Mike's grandpa said.
Natural order? What natural order? "But it's not the natural order. It's the order that people have created and imposed on themselves. Back when everyone was just working as cavemen, there weren't any clear-cut roles for men and women," Mike argued.
Mike's grandpa shook his head. "You haven't been taking the kids to church, have you? Now they're all polluted with that fake science stuff that'll mess with their thoughts."
Mike rolled his eyes. Mike was about eight or nine when the Wheelers stopped going to church frequently, but that time had still turned Mike against the Bible and Christianity. It was clearly plain wrong, they didn't know anything about science, so they made it all up as a way to explain everything.
"Fake science? The whole point of science is that it's true and proven," Mike's uncle voiced Mike's thoughts.
"Science explains some stuff, religion explains the rest," Mike's dad said, "But no, we've not been taking the kids to church because of someone." he glared at Mike's mom.
"The kids don't even believe in any of it, or want to go!" Mike's mom argued.
"Anyway, let's move to another topic." Mike's grandma defused the argument. "Kids, how are your friends?"
"Yes, Mike, are you still friends with those people you play that...that board game with?" Mike's uncle asked.
"Yeah, Dungeons and Dragons," Mike said, trying not to smile, "Yeah, there's Will, Dustin, Lucas, but there's also this new girl called Max."
"Girl?" Mike's grandma asked.
"Yeah, but she's not my girlfriend," Mike said, "My...girlfriend...is this girl called E-I mean Jane. Jane." It felt weird referring to El as his girlfriend in front of them, and also calling her Jane.
"Okay," Mike's grandpa said skeptically, "Don't do anything reckless." He looked at Nancy, but then quickly turned away when they made eye-contact.
"You're pretty close to Will specifically, aren't you?" Mike's uncle asked. "I remember you talking about him a couple years ago for...what? An hour or so?"
Mike's cheeks went red and he cringed from the memory. "Um, yeah, he's probably the closest of my best friends."
Mike's dad scoffed. "I've been telling him he should put some distance between himself and Will. You should've seen what people have said about them, especially when Will went missing last year."
Mike knew what he was talking about, even if he was trying to be vague. Everyone always teased them about being gay together. Will took the brunt of it, but Mike reacted to it more. Thankfully Troy, the worst bully of them all, mostly stopped after that day when El snapped his arm.
"I think it's good that they're so close," Mike's mom said, "You need someone like that who isn't necessarily romantic."
"He does need to man up though, doesn't he?" Mike's grandpa said. And there it was. The inevitable mention of Mike not being stereotypically masculine.
Mike's dad nodded. "I've enrolled him in a baseball group for spring - hopefully that will help."
"What?" Mike asked. This was the first he was hearing of it.
"Mike, I've told you to do this before, but you've never listened. You're a teenager now, you have to start doing this sometime soon," he said, "It's not a question anymore, you're starting in spring break."
Mike's grandpa nodded. "Good."
Mike held back tears. "I'm going to the bathroom."
"Mike-Mike!" His mom called after him, but he was already out of the room.
"Let him go, Karen," Mike's uncle said.
Mike entered the bathroom and locked it. He looked in the mirror and felt the tears flood out. Why, why, did his dad have to be like this? Why couldn't he let Mike do what he wanted, and just live his life? Mike's mom told him a couple years ago that it was because he wanted to shape Mike into what he wanted to be when he was younger. Mike thought that was dumb and selfish.
He turned the faucet and splashed the water on his face. They were no better than Troy and the other bullies. Just because they were family didn't give them a special place in Mike's mind for them. Fag. Gay. Queer. Everything they called him before. Everything they wanted him to be instead of what he was.
He remembered what Nancy said before. "You think we could just...run away?"
Mike crept up the stairs and into his room. He picked up his walkie-talkie and crept back down. He crept outside. No one saw him, thank God. He got onto his bike and started riding away. Outside, everyone's lights were on and he could hear everyone celebrating, laughing, talking from inside their houses.
For what was meant to be the idealized version of a family, the Wheelers were full of problems.
"Will, do you copy?" Mike asked on the walkie-talkie, "Will? Do you copy?" He knew where to go. It was Will's safe place; there was no way he wouldn't let Mike hide there. Mike would've gone to Hopper's cabin with El, hell, maybe even gotten her to snap his grandparents' necks, but there was no way Hopper would let him stay the night. "Will? Please? Will, please copy, I need-"
"Mike?" Will's voice crackled on the walkie-talkie. "I copy, are you okay?" He sounded genuinely worried.
Mike breathed a sigh of relief. "Will, I know this is a lot to ask, but can I stay at Castle Byers tonight?"
"What? Wh-oh...right. Um...sure...I'll meet you there," Will said, "Err, not to like, sleep with you, just...to check you're okay, you know."
"Yeah, yeah. Of course," Mike said, "I can tell you what...what happened at dinner. See you there."
"See you," Will said, "Over and out."
Mike continued cycling to Castle Byers in darkness. The street lights were on, but literally no one was on the road or walking to benefit from it. Except Mike. When he looked up, he saw the cloudless sky painted by the crescent moon and thousands of silver stars. Alone with Mike. He was alone, in emptiness, like he was completely alone in the world. It must've been what the Upside Down felt like to Will. And it only got worse once he got into the woods. The tree canopy blocked any light that would've otherwise lit the path. Every snap of a twig that wasn't himself gave him a heart attack.
But when he saw a bright light coming from somewhere in the woods, he felt safe again. It was Will, with a flashlight, looking for him.
Mike got off of his bike and rested it next to Castle Byers.
"Hi Mike," Will said, "Are you okay? What happened?" They both crept into the fort.
"Well..." Mike sighed. "It wasn't even that bad, honestly. It definitely wasn't the worst Christmas I've had, it's just...just..." He sighed again. "I just got tired of it all."
He started to explain everything. "My cousins got there first, and they were being annoying like usual, but it was mostly okay until my grandparents got here. They basically immediately got riled up on this "women shouldn't be in the workplace" shit, and then started talking about religion and stuff, but then my dad revealed the information that I'm gonna have to start doing baseball in spring, and...yeah...I just ran away." Mike scoffed at himself. "Saying it now, it's really not a big deal, but I just...hate him. I hate them all."
"Are you going to...go back?" Will asked.
"Well, I can't really hide here for the rest of my life, can I? Even if it...probably would be better than there." Mike did think about it, even if just for a second. Staying there, hiding from his family. It didn't feel fair though, escaping it all himself, but leaving Nancy and Holly there until they were old enough to move out. Also, there just wouldn't be a possible way to do it in the long term.
Mike groaned and fell onto the cushions. "I'm really annoyed about the baseball thing though. There's no way my dad's gonna budge on it, and I know basically nothing about how to play! I know you hit the ball, run around the bases, and if you get all the way around, you get a homerun!"
Will considered this. "Well, I mean, it never really gets that much more complicated, to be honest."
Mike furrowed his brow. "Really?"
"Yeah, pretty much," he laughed, "Yeah, there's things about how you get out and stuff, but that's...mostly it."
"I guess I'm not as screwed as I thought I was then." Mike laughed too. "I'm still screwed though, I mean, did you see me trying to run the mile in gym class last summer?"
"Yeah, you came, like...tenth, and everyone behind you were those girls who were all running together and just treating it like recess!"
"Hey, I beat Dustin though!"
"Oh my god, you beat Dustin!" Will mock-gasped in shock. "You need a gold medal, how could you achieve such a feat? Forget whoever came first, give all the prizes to Michael Wheeler over here!"
They were both laughing their heads off now. It reminded Mike why Will was his best friend. The way he so easily turned what would've been a terrible day for Mike into such a fun one. When Will left and Mike started to go to sleep, Mike had almost forgotten about baseball, and his family, and everything that had happened that day.
***
When Mike woke up, his watch read 8:45. He was torn between waiting for Will to see if he would return, and leaving immediately. What if Will had already forgotten he was there? Will wouldn't forget though, right?
No! What was Mike thinking? It was Christmas damn day, why would Mike think Will would wait for him? Not every family was as bad as his. He exited the fort quickly and hopped onto his bike, and started riding back to his house.
Now it was much brighter, but there was still, naturally, no one on the roads. Mike wondered what was going to happen when he returned. He was getting a lecture by his mom and dad, no doubt. The basement was probably a wreck because of Christopher and James.
Mike sighed. This was definitely in his top 5 worst Christmases.
When he got home, Mike's mom was outside, smoking a cigarette. She was staring daggers at Mike. She was silent while Mike pulled up into the driveway. She was silent while Mike put his bike on the rack. She was silent when Mike was next to her, just in front of the door.
Then she hugged him. Surprised by the show of affection, Mike half-heartedly hugged her back.
"Never leave like that again," she said dead serious, "I mean, what were you thinking? Running away like that? You didn't leave a note, you didn't tell anyone, we were all worried sick!"
"Really?" Mike muttered as they were walking into the house, but his mom heard it.
"Yes! Well, I wanted to tell the cops or something to find you, but your dad told me we should let you. 'It'll teach you a lesson' or whatever. But the bottom line is, never run away again!"
"Exactly." Mike's dad stood up from his chair where he was watching the TV. He walked over to Mike while his mom slowly shuffled away. Before saying another word, he slapped Mike right across the face.
"Ow!" Mike held his cheek where he was hit. It stung like a thousand bee stings at once in the same spot. It almost felt like it had its own heartbeat from the stinging.
Everyone else, who were all eating breakfast in the dining room, turned around at the sound. Mike swore he could've heard Christopher snicker.
"Ted!" Mike's mom said.
"He needs to learn discipline." He turned back to Mike and held his face tightly, stopping Mike from rubbing his cheek, which was now turning red. "You hear me, boy? If you run away like that again, we're leaving you out there, understand?"
"Ted, come on-"
"Shut up, Karen! He has to learn like this or he won't learn at all!" He turned back to Mike and squeezed his face tighter. "Do you understand?"
Mike nodded. If he tried to say anything, he knew he would start to cry.
"I want to hear it, Michael. Do. You. Understand?"
Shit. "Y...Yes," Mike croaked out, holding back the tears for as much as he could, but he felt one roll down his cheek, where Mike still felt the impact of the slap.
"Good." Mike's dad let go of him. "Now go to your room. You're grounded until school starts again."
Mike didn't need to be told twice. He ran upstairs and let everything out. He blubbered into his pillow on his bed and heard his parents and other family arguing.
"That was way too far Ted!" Mike's mom said.
"It was the necessary force," Mike's dad said.
"It's how I would've treated Ted," Mike's grandpa said, "I probably would've done worse!"
"Aren't you even giving him breakfast?" Mike's uncle asked.
Mike didn't want to check in the basement. It probably would've just made him even angrier. He also didn't ask about a present. God knew there was no way he was getting one.
He corrected his previous thought. Worst Christmas ever.
"Mike?" A voice said on Mike's walkie-talkie. "Do you copy? Are you there?" Will. He sounded properly scared for Mike.
Mike tried to regain his composure before responding. "Yeah?" Shit, that was a bad voice crack. "Yeah, I copy."
"Are you okay? I was going to check on you, but you weren't there? Are you back at your place? Wh-where are you?"
"Yeah...yeah, I'm back at my house."
"What happened? Did they let you not have to do baseball?"
Mike almost laughed. "Yeah, no. No, my family would never."
"Oh...Well...um, are you okay?" Will asked, "It doesn't...sound okay." Will could definitely hear the argument downstairs. It was escalating, and Nancy and even Mike's nana had joined in.
"Um..." Ugh, this was hard to say. "My...my dad...hit me." Mike could tell Will squirmed when he said that. "And it started this big argument."
"Oh...Do you want me to come over? Tomorrow maybe?"
Mike sighed. "I can't. I'm grounded."
"Oh right...of course. I'll...I could send you a drawing, or something? I'm guessing your parents aren't giving you a present."
"Yep."
"Okay...bye." Mike could tell this was awkward for Will, but Mike didn't have the energy in him to fix it.
A couple minutes later, a knock came at Mike's door.
"Come in." Mike sat up. It was probably his mom or dad to come and give him a lecture or patronize him.
"Hi." It was neither of them, surprisingly. It was Nancy, holding something behind her back.
"Oh," Mike said, "I thought you were mom or dad."
"No...no it's just me." She sat down next to Mike on his bed. "I'm sorry...about dad."
"I probably should've expected it, honestly," Mike said, "It's my fault-"
"-No! No, it's nowhere near your fault. If you're on Earth, the fault is all the way on...on Pluto!" Nancy joked, "I mean, it's not your fault that dad's a bad father."
Mike looked at Nancy. They both knew their dad wasn't...the best, but they never said it out loud.
"But yeah. It's not your fault. Anyway, what I really came in here for"- Nancy revealed the thing she was hiding. -"is this."
"Is that...my present?" Mike asked. It was a box covered in gift wrapping paper.
"No, it's a chainsaw," Nancy said sarcastically, "Yes it's your damn present!" Mike took it from her while she continued. "Dad was going to throw it out, but while no one was looking-"
"-You stole it?" Mike asked.
Nancy nodded.
Mike tore off the wrapping paper and looked at it. "An NES?" Mike asked incredulously.
Nancy smiled. "Mom got it for you because she remembered how many times you asked for it last year when it released. I mean, you would not shut up about this thing."
Mike looked at Nancy. It had been years since Nancy had done something so kind for him without some other condition. "Th-thank you. Oh my god, thank you."
Nancy's smile grew. "No problem." She stood up and left without saying anything else. No, 'You owe me', or 'You'll have to pay me back for that'. She just left.
Even if Mike hated most of his family, there were still some people that made it all worth it. Will. Nancy. El. Dustin. Lucas. Max. They were his real family.
Maybe not the worst Christmas ever.