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Ever since Will discovered his powers, he hasn’t gotten a single moment to himself. For some reason, he had thought that it’d be the other way around. But apparently snapping the bones of three Demogorgons at once and saving most of his friends didn’t make his mom any less over-protective.
He could tell she was trying. After he’d exploded at her in the car, she really was attempting to give him space. But after what happened, it was no wonder she’d slipped back into her old ways.
Apparently getting magical powers didn’t make the adults around you trust you more or believe he could handle more; it just made them shelter you even harder. It didn’t help that he hadn’t managed to do anything with his powers since the attack. Maybe they were brought out in times of crisis or something. Will wasn’t sure how it worked.
He wished El was here to help him figure things out. But she was still lost in the upside down along with half of their team. Hopefully they’ve found each other. Hopefully they have more information on where Holly is. Or where Vecna’s hiding.
Or any information, really. Anything to get people’s minds off of him, he’ll take.
Anything to make people stop crowding around him, acting like if they leave his side, he’ll die.
He’s sitting in the basement of the WSQK building, hunched over in his chair, everyone in a semicircle around him. Well, not everyone, the Upside down people still haven’t made it back yet. Will wishes Hopper was here. He could tell people to leave the room, and they’d listen. His mom was too keyed into him to even notice that anyone else was here.
Will could feel that they were here. That was the one major difference Will had noticed in himself. It was like every noise in the room had amplified. He could hear everyone breathing; he could hear Robin’s nervous pacing like it was boring into his skull. Joyce’s hushed whispers to Murry weren’t hushed for Will. He could hear every word they said. Lucas was tapping his foot, worried because it’d been a while since he’d seen Max. He always got like this anytime a mission took too long. Normally, Will would be sympathetic, even offering to go sit by Max with him, but right now Lucas’s tapping was surrounding him, keeping him from thinking, feeling, breathing...
And then there was Mike. Confusing, oblivious, wonderful Mike.
Mike had rushed to Will as soon as he’d dropped; he’d tried to pick him up, even though he wasn’t nearly strong enough, especially after everything that had happened that day. But he tried anyway. As soon as it became clear that Will could walk on his own, Mike had stopped carrying him (Well, more like half dragging him) but hadn’t left. It was like he was glued to Will’s side. Keeping some part of them touching at all times. A knee on the drive back in the car they stole. A hand on his wrist as he led Will inside. An arm around his shoulders. And finally, leaning against the back of the chair Will was currently sitting in, resting his hands next to Will’s shoulders, just barely brushing him.
Will wasn’t sure what to do with that. He remembered Robin’s advice, to “look for signs”, are these the kind of signs she meant? Or are these just Mike Wheeler things? Will could never tell.
What Will did know was that Mike, intentionally or not, was a grounding presence for Will. His usual hyper energy has seemingly disappeared for the time being. He was standing perfectly still behind him, like he knew any extra movement would lead to Will going insane.
Will was gripping the seat of his chair as hard as he could. He wasn’t sure how long he could hold out. Everything was too loud, the world seemed like it was ending.
But it wasn’t. That had already happened. And was going to happen again if they didn’t save those kids. This wasn’t that. This was something else.
Will tried tapping out morse code like he had that night in the shed. Maybe it would help. At first, he tried calming words, something that would soothe his mind.
Friends here
Safe
Mom
Mike
But eventually it just devolved into
Loud
Loud
Loud
Loud
No one else seemed to notice his inner turmoil. There wasn’t anything unusual about him staying silent. The few days he’d been speaking up more often weren’t enough to change everyone's expectations of him.
Will clenched his jaw. There wasn’t really anything he could do to stop whatever this was. He didn’t even know what it was. The only thing he could think right now was loud.
Will felt something shift behind him, but he didn’t register what it was. He couldn’t focus in on anything. There was too much all around him.
Suddenly, Will’s field of vision was taken up completely by Mike crouching in front of him, hands resting on Will’s knees. Will let a breath out. The touch was grounding, but it wasn’t enough; he still felt like crawling out of his skin.
Mike looked worried; his eyebrows furrowed. Will loved Mike’s eyebrows. They betrayed his every emotion, even if he was trying to hide how he was feeling. Mike was saying something; Will knew he was. He could hear the words, soft and careful pouring out of Mike. The only problem was that Will didn’t know what he was saying. He could hear individual words “...okay?...sorry...code...outside...cold...help.” But Will couldn’t string them together in his head; he couldn’t think of what Mike meant. He wasn’t able to focus on anything but the desire to rip his skin off. Preferably with his teeth.
He tried to do just that. Bringing his hand to his mouth without even meaning to, biting down on the meat of it. He must look crazy, but only Mike was looking at him. He didn’t care if Mike found out he was crazy, they’d discovered that about each other long ago. Mike knew his brand of crazy, the way Will knew his.
So when Mike’s face hardened at Will biting himself, Will didn’t worry. Mike wouldn’t turn away from him just because he’d done something odd. Mike had stayed by him through abductions and possessions and the hell that had been driving across the country in a van. He’d stuck by him through living in the same house for months, and demogorgons, and Will getting powers. There was no way Will biting his hand was going to drive him away.
Mike took his eyes off of Will, glancing behind each of his shoulders. Will didn’t know what he was looking for, and he didn’t particularly feel like figuring it out. He was far too busy trying to force tears out of his eyes. Maybe crying would help. Will had always cried easily; it was one of the things his father had hated about him. But now that he wanted to cry, it was impossible.
Mike had seemingly finished looking around and was standing up. Not to his full height; he was leaning over, keeping low. Mike gently took the hand Will had in his mouth out, keeping it in his own soft grip. Mike dragged his thumb over the spot Will had bitten, and started walking backwards leading Will by his hands, Will hadn’t even realized he’d grabbed the other one too.
Will wanted to say something, ask what Mike was doing, thank him for whatever it was, apologize that this was happening in the first place, but he couldn’t. His teeth were pressed together, keeping him from saying anything.
Mike didn’t seem to mind. He kept leading Will away, occasionally glancing over Will’s shoulder at the rest of the room. All Will could do was stumble after him. His feet doing all the work. His eyes were glued to the floor; he couldn’t bring himself to look up, to take in any new information.
One of Mike’s hands left his for a few moments but quickly returned. Will heard the click of a door opening, and a rush of cold from outside.
Will took another step forward, this time his foot landing in something cold and wet. His brain didn’t manage to supply the word for it until he was a few dozen steps in, eyes still trained down.
Snow.
It had snowed, already an inch thick. That was strange for Indiana. Usually, it didn’t snow this much until at least a few weeks later.
The cold finally registered. It cut through Will’s thin layers. He wasn’t wearing his coat. The white of the snow, the blank slate, was nice. It calmed his brain a little. His jaw was still clenched, and he couldn’t look up, but it was soothing.
Mike led him across the field, until they got to the tree line. Mike sat down, leading Will to sit next to him, and they leaned against a large tree.
The snow was wet, and Will wasn’t wearing very many layers. But he couldn’t bring himself to do anything about that. The cold helped. It was better that the room. Suffocating. Loud.
The only noise out here was Mike’s breathing. Slow. Steady. Grounding.
Will leaned in. Tucking his head into Mike’s chest, ear right over his heartbeat, eyes still on the snow. Arms, Mike’s arms, pulled him in. Not tight. Just holding.
Mike had almost died. Mike had almost died right in front of him. Will had stopped it. He had saved him. But Mike had almost died.
The thought made Will wrap his arms around Mike too. He was here. He was safe. They both were.
Will didn’t hold Mike gently. He squeezed him as tight as he possibly could. Mike didn’t protest. Will could hear Mike’s breath catch in his ear, but he didn’t say anything. He let Will do whatever he wanted.
They stayed there. Sitting silently. Will holding Mike as tight as he could, Mike just holding. Will burying his face in Mike’s warm chest, Mike exhaling into Will’s hair, his nose cold against Will’s scalp.
Slowly, Will felt the thing that had trapped him release. He took deep breaths of cold air while his jaw unclenched. Will could feel whatever it was that had kept him prisoner unwind from around him. His hold on Mike loosened. His breathing was easier. The tension in his body relaxed.
Will felt like he could try to look up from the snow. Take in new information. Will slowly uncurled from Mike, just now realizing just how much he’d wrapped himself around him. He had to untangle their legs too.
Will leaned back against the tree, looking around at where Mike had led him. Just at the edge of the forest near the radio station. Behind a tree, so they couldn’t actually see the station. Or, more accurately, so the station couldn’t see them.
Will shivered. Now that whatever that was was over, the cold wasn’t helping; it was just cold. He heard a shuffle from next to him, and when he looked over, Mike was holding out Will’s jacket.
“Here. Put this on.” He said with a small smile, worried eyes flying over Will’s face, and eventually landing on Will’s own eyes.
Will gave a small smile of his own, and took the jacket, pulling it over his arms. He sighed as the jacket started to warm him up.
Mike didn’t say anything after that. They sat quietly some more. But now Will was aware of everything, especially aware of how much Mike had just done for him. God, Mike had practically dragged him out of the radio station and let him squeeze him tight. Maybe too tight. Will was suddenly very worried he’d accidently hurt Mike.
He turned to face him. Mike noticed and looked over at Will with a soft look on his face.
“Are you okay?”
Mike looked surprised, then started laughing. “Why are you asking me that? I should be asking you!”
Will felt himself blush. But he wasn’t embarrassed. He was just in love. “I was squeezing you! Are you okay?”
Mike laughed again. He looked good when he laughed. His whole face lit up. “I’m fine. It was nice. I missed hugging you.”
Will fell silent. Mike seemed to realize what he said. It was like Will could see him thinking of what to say next. Planning out each word and how to say it.
“I mean that. I miss it. I know things have been better since California, but we still don’t hug as much. I miss it.”
Will smiled again. Softly. Mike missed hugging him. Mike enjoyed the hug that just happened even though Will had been squeezing him so hard he could have broken a rib.
“I missed hugging you too.”
Mike’s smile was blinding.
Mike scooted closer to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Will leaned against him. Tucking his head under Mike’s chin.
It was nice.
Now that it was quiet again, Will couldn’t help but think about how he didn’t want to go back. Even though he knew the noise wouldn’t bother him now, he couldn’t go back there. Not when it was so nice here. Here with Mike. Who wasn’t dead because Will saved him. Who had led him out to the forest because it was loud. Speaking of...
“How did you know?”
They weren’t looking at each other, but Mike knew what he was talking about anyway.
“You were doing morse code. You said it was loud. So I got you out. I figured you wouldn’t want anyone else to notice, so I waited until no one was looking. Everyone was pretty preoccupied.”
Will smiled. Mike had heard his morse code. He hadn’t even been trying to signal him. But he’d noticed anyway.
“Do you want to go back? They’re probably freaking out now that we’ve both disappeared.”
Will shook his head. His mom would just have to deal with it. He wasn’t going back. Not when it was so nice out here.
Mike nodded. “Okay.”
He pulled Will in tighter. “Don’t worry. No one will find us out here.”