Chapter Text
Queens is far colder than everyone had ever told Mike. It’s cold, dreary, windy, and to make matters worse, there is some snow that’s started to fall. His coat is barely warm enough, ironic since he is from the mid west.
His hands are turning a little red, and they sting as his raps on what he hopes is the right door. How they were able to afford this place is a mystery to Mike. The door itself looks large and heavy, he cannot even imagine the inside.
But his imagination does not have to work very hard, as the door opens to reveal one Jonathan Byers.
“Mike?” Jonathan’s brow furrows in worry. “Is Will with you? Are you alright?”
“He is not with me, but he is alright. Angry, I’m sure, but it will pass. Is Nancy home?” Mike tries in vane to brush past talking about himself.
“Yeah she is. Do you want to come in while I get her?” He opens the door and steps to the side, allowing Mike to walk in. “Is everything ok with you?” Jonathan presses again.
Mike glances to the ground nervously. He sways for a minute and sighs. “It's complicated. I’m sure you’ll know soon enough.”
Jonathan disappears for a minute, then Nancy comes into the hall. Suddenly, Mike can feel his otherwise neutral façade slipping away.
“Mike?” Nancy puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright? How did you get here?”
“I. Um.” Mike inhales a little too sharply, and his voice gets caught in his throat. “I ran.” He finally manages in a short whisper.
“Ran?” Nancy looks confused, then her face shifts to something more understanding. She pulls him into a tight hug. “Oh Mike…”
It is one of those strange moments for the two Wheelers. One that they will vaguely reference, but probably never actually talk about again.
After a few seconds Nancy pulls back and asks, “do you want something to drink? We have tea, coco, water, soda, ”
She tries to recall any other drinks in the house, but Mike waves a hand with a weak smile on his face. “Coco sounds nice,” he says.
She ushers him into the kitchen where Jonathan is also sitting.
“You’re going to be here for a bit?” Jonathan asks with sincerity.
“If you all will allow it. But it won't be for that long, I want to apply to colleges and start going this year. I have everything I need, generally, for that. And I’ll get a job! So I won’t be in the place that often to bother you all. I hope.” He sporadically answers
“Mike, you’re family. You’re no bother to any of us.” Jonathan says.
Mike found the phrasing strange, ‘to any of us’ implied more people in the house. Sure it makes sense, it’s a place way too big for two twenty-something year olds. But other people?
Before the cogs in his head can properly turn to think, a loud commotion enters through the front door. It’s bickering that is all too familiar, but too fast for Mike to put faces and names to voices until they have come into the kitchen.
“Wheeler? What are you doing here?” Steve says, stopping the doorway to the kitchen.
“Hey!” Robin exclaims at Steve’s sudden halt. Looking around him for answers she soon follows by saying, “Mike, what are you doing here?”
There is not a trace of disdain or annoyance, only genuine concern. It is a nice change in tone from the past few months.
“Mike will be staying here for a while.” Nancy interjects. She places the hot coco in front of him and ruffles his hair.
“Thanks Nance.” He murmurs, while the others begin their typical discussions.
Robin sits down beside him and looks him up and down. “So what’s your story.” She asks, blunt as ever, but caring, like she really wanted to know.
“Ran. Technically anyways, considering I’m still seventeen and all. But I did what I had to to keep myself sane and safe, so.” It’s more than Mike was planning to say, but Robin has always been someone you could do that with.
She nods solemnly. “Does anyone know you’re gone?”
“I left some notes. Will’s gonna be pissed at me, the rest of the party too. But Will especially. My parents know a little I assume, but I am not that worried about them hunting me down.”
Robin nods again, like she is thinking of every possible way to pick apart Mike’s head. “Well, if you need anything, I’m here. A job, money, a shoulder to lean on, whatever. I’m here for you.”
Mike gives a smile and a nod, the nerves from earlier washing far away.
He sits in silence for a little as Robin returns to bickering with and poking fun at Steven with Nancy. Jonathan does the same, but turns and looks at him like he is trying to recall something that was important to ask him.
"Doesn't your school start up again soon?” He finally asks Mike, who in response gives a smug look.
“I graduated early.”
“Awesome man. That takes some real talent.”
“Thanks, you’re the first person to know. Aside from, well, the school.”
Jonathan smiles at him, a real smile, a proud smile. He turns and taps Nancy’s shoulder. She turns back around and he whispers something in her ear, and gestures to her to pass it along. When the information finally gets to Robin, Nancy looks at Mike and says, “We’re going out tonight, somewhere nice.”
Then the group disperses.
“We have an extra bedroom upstairs. We can get you a bed and all that. Lets get whatever you brought into the house though.”
They go out to where Mike’s car is. It's old, it's a lemon, but it got him from Hawkins to Queens.
“Nice car, you buy it yourself?”
Mike nods and unlocks it.
“We have some space in the back, Steve leaves his car there, just couldn’t bear to part with it. You probably won't need it, but it wouldn’t hurt to have around.”
They haul all of Mike’s worldly possessions — two garbage bags and a suitcase — up the few flights of stairs to his room.
“Tomorrow, after my classes, we are getting you a mattress at the least. I have some bedsheets you can use, but that fun stuff you can figure out on your own. Talk to Robin, actually, she will have some kind of job for you. Steve too, but Robin has the more fun connections.” She winks in a weird way, like she knows something that Mike should know, but she should not.
She leaves him up there to decorate and set up his new life. It’s a nice room, not too big, not too small. But it feels like it could be a home.
He takes out some things, mostly music and books, and sets them up in a corner. He tacks pictures onto the walls and lays in the kind of dusty floor looking up. He feels silly, like he is in a movie, but it feels right. There is no furniture, and he can only see his friends through a picture, but it feels good. He feels free.
He lays there until Nancy knocks on his door, reminding him of the dinner. He gets dressed and goes downstairs where he is met with everyone else ushering him out the door and down the street to a nice little Italian restaurant.
The dinner, as Mike comes to find, is a surprise graduation party. Everyone brought him little last minute gifts, and spent the night celebrating him. The gifts given were a pen and notebook from Nancy, a small camera from Jonathan, and some money from both Robin and Steve so he can get some furniture and not have to waste the little money he currently possesses.
Not like the party did not love and see him, because they did. But for the first time he felt loved, seen, and comfortable with the people he was with. And that is not something he wanted to give up for the world.