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Will breathes heavily, blood staining his upper lip.
For a moment, the word seems to still—like it’s holding its breath alongside Mike. The glow of the fire dims, the groans of dying military officers fade, and the rapid blinking of lights slow as Mike watches Will, his heart thumping wildly in his chest.
This was the single coolest thing Mike has ever seen—his best friend, the boy he’s known since he was five, had absolutely sick powers.
And he used them to protect Mike.
Mike's brain was still short circuiting at that because never in their decade of friendship had Will been the protector—that was always Mike.
It’s not like Will didn’t care enough to, he wasn’t apathetic by any means. He had tried to stand up for Mike multiple times when they were younger, but it always ended in more taunts, so Mike learned to be loud enough for the both of them. He had quickly adapted to his role and learned to protect Will from the cruelty of the world. He did a damn good job of it, too, until the Demogorgon came.
After that, it was like he got slapped in the face with failure after failure. He had felt so helpless watching Will struggle over and over again—had felt so weak.
Even when Will finally seemed to catch a break, Mike couldn’t be around him for long. Seeing Will just reminded him of how he failed. He hated that feeling of shame, so it was just easier to spend all of his time with his tongue down Els' throat and push Will to the sidelines that summer.
Until Will left that was, and Mike was hit with the fact that he was completely alone. Sure, Lucas and Dustin and Max were around, but they weren’t Will.
Mike had lost him. Again. And instead of doing what he should have, he just ignored him, as if the loss would lessen if he didn’t have to hear Will's voice on the phone or hear about his new, amazing life in California with his new, amazing friends that were surely worlds better than Mike.
He finally got his head out of his ass though—El and Will’s painting giving him the confidence to do so. Mike has done a lot of work over the last eighteen months, and was no longer shying away from his role as the party’s leader and protector. Instead, he was embracing it.
Of course, Will had to throw him for a loop by having awesome powers and protecting Mike with them. It’s not that Will’s protection was uncomfortable or that Mike didn’t like it, it was more so the fact that it felt so natural. It didn’t strike a feeling of wrong like when El did. Not that Mike didn’t appreciate it--of course, he did—she saved his ass more times than he could count. But that always made him feel somehow small, less than. It was the same way he felt when Nancy or Steve shoved him out of the way too, like he was incompetent.
Will’s protection makes Mike’s chest buzz pleasantly, stirring up a giddiness that has him wanting to wrap his arms around Will and never let go.
Something stops him from going over and doing just that though. Mike doesn’t know what exactly, but he just can’t do it.
They used to hug all the time. A freakish amount when they were kids, in fact. He doesn’t exactly know when it stopped, the casual touching, but somewhere along the way it had—whether it was after the Demogorgon or the Mind Flayer or that summer was unclear. Mike missed it almost every time they saw each other. Problems used to just disappear when Will laid his hand on Mike’s arm or he threw his arms around him in greeting. But he knew he couldn’t touch Will like that again.
He never felt like that with Lucas or Dustin. It was just different with Will. He occupied a separate corner of Mike’s life in which he was all his.
A testament to their lack of physical contact, the spot on his chest where Will shoved him earlier still burns. Mike hadn’t known what to do with it, hadn’t been able to decipher the signal behind Will’s eyes. A shove was something he would expect from Dustin or Lucas, not Will. If it had been Lucas or Dustin, Mike would have rolled his eyes and pushed back, but something about Will’s touch paralyzed him.
Will and Mike didn’t do playful shoves and fake fights—they knocked knees and elbows together and shared furtive looks and soft smiles.
Will shakily lifts his hand to wipe away the trickling blood from his nose, eyes finally meeting Mike’s. Even from a distance Mike can tell his pupils are more blown than usual, nearly eclipsing the familiar hazel iris. But, he’s still Will.
His best friend, whose first instinct after unlocking cool powers was to look and make sure Mike was alright.
The world seems to swell with color, everything that faded to background coming back into focus all at once—pulsing with intensity.
Mike couldn’t breathe, air caught in his chest.
He feels lightheaded, dizzy like he would pass out any second.
The moment breaks as Will sways forward, palms smacking against concrete, and Mike is over touching his back without even knowing he had moved. Will’s body trembles beneath his palm for a few moments, the aftershock of unleashing all that power taking its toll.
Mike is murmuring phrases—platitudes he’s not even really conscious of—asking Will if he was okay, if he needed anything. Joyce rushes over too and now they’re both crowding Will, who’s pale and trembling but still blessedly conscious.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he grits out to his mom, shakily climbing to his feet. Mike keeps his hand on his back, needs to feel that he was alive and safe and okay and right here. Joyce does much the same, pressing a hand to Will's dirt-covered cheek. “Mom,” Will all but whines. “Please, I'm okay.”
She doesn’t want to move, Mike can see her urge to protest from a mile away. Joyce always had a hard time letting go with Will, had wanted to walk through the world with her arms permanently extended out in front of her son like a shield.
Mike understood the desire. Even before the Upside Down, Will had faced so much cruelty in his short life that it was hard not to put yourself on the defensive for him. Joyce had actually just started to let up as Will got older, trusting him with far more and trusting that the party would do her job and keep him safe. But then Will was taken and any hope of that flew out the window.
Mike thought that this time around she might loosen the reins a bit. Will was sixteen now, almost an adult, but Joyce, who was always a step behind Will, was having a hard time accepting that he didn’t want to hide behind his mom anymore.
She presses her lips into a line and allows her hand to fall, fingers flexing uselessly at her side. Will’s shoulders sag a bit, relieved as she steps away from him. The interaction reminds him of his own mother—clinging to life in Hawkins General.
The memory of her battered face, the way she couldn’t even speak, has guilt flooding Mike’s veins and sorrow gnawing at his chest. He had failed her, Holly and his father too, all because he and Nancy thought ignorance meant bliss. They were paying for that now, their parents and little sister with their lives.
“If you’re sure,” Joyce says, face pinched with melancholy. Mike can already see Will start to give in, the way his body curls toward his mom, but a noise from beyond the newly sewn up gate halts him.
The three of them whip their heads toward the noise. What or who made it is not clear, too far away and distorted—almost as if they were underwater.
“Let’s just get out of here before we have company again.”
Will is the first to move, walking in the direction of the tunnels. Joyce follows him, pulling out the busted up walkie to try Erica or Lucas or anyone.
Mike sends one last lingering look toward the gate, remembering the slithering vines around Vecna’s body, the way it looked like armor. He couldn’t imagine what Holly and Derek and the other kids were going through, what Will has gone through.
Vecna had pulled Will toward him, if Mike’s hazy recollection is anything to go by. He couldn’t make out what the bastard was saying, the ringing in Mike’s ears making everything indiscernible at the time. He would ask Will, but he knows he won’t get anything out of him. Will didn’t explicitly talk about the Upside Down—what he saw, what he felt. He could talk about the Mind Flayer, but something about that week turned him to stone. It makes Mike terrified for his sister and her classmates, can’t imagine any of them losing that sparkle of childhood innocence so soon.
He jogs to catch up with Will, practically gluing himself to his back. Will’s head jerks minutely, like he sensed Mike’s presence but he doesn’t turn or slow down, not wanting to talk yet. Joyce, who’s trailing behind them, just keeps repeating the same phrases into the walkie.
Things were dire, but Mike couldn’t keep a smile off his face.
Will had looked determined and fierce and cool when he tapped into the hivemind. He looked so sure of himself for the first time in—well, a long time. He radiated confidence and Mike's stomach had swooped at the sight, so proud that his best friend was finally seeing himself the way Mike always had.
And the best part was that Mike knows it was partly his words that finally made Will believe in himself. Earlier, Joyce had said sometimes it only takes one person, and that one person was Mike.
Will veers from his straight path slightly, and Mike takes the hint, lengthening his stride to come stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him. He was always taller than Will, equipped with long, gangly limbs that made him a fast walker. But, over the years, he learned how to shorten his stride so Will and he could walk side by side comfortably.
Will’s eyes are glazed as if he were thinking deeply about something, but when he looks at Mike's face, that disappears—his eyes focus and a soft smile breaks out across his perfect face. “Hi,” Mike says, feeling too excited to keep his big mouth shut.
“Hi,” Will returns, matching Mike's tone easily despite the way his face was tinged with exhaustion and sorrow. Mike ducks his head, focusing on his feet as they move toward the tunnels. “So. That was—”
“Can we not talk about it right now?” Will cuts him off. He’s not annoyed—Will never really is at him unless he’s being a dick—but rather pleading. Mike watches him out of the corner of his eye, the way his shoulders are hunched in and his feet drag. “Of course,” Mike answers, not even having to think about it. “Whatever you want.”
Because the last thing Mike wanted was to make Will uncomfortable. Will nods his thanks and the two descend into silence once more, the only sounds around them being Joyce’s repeated calls on the walkie and the crunch of their footsteps.
If not for the flames and dead military personnel around them, Mike could almost imagine they were just normal teenagers taking a normal walk on a normal autumn evening.
Mike and Will used to take walks when they were kids, used to soak up each other’s presence like dry sponges until they were sopping, disgustingly wet. They stopped once Will got possessed and couldn’t stand the cold any longer without hyperventilating and needing Mike to hold him until he calmed down. Will doesn’t seem to have any problem with the temperature now, his jacket abandoned in the safe house bathroom—waterlogged.
Mike thinks about shrugging his off and offering it to Will, but it’s soaked and it would probably just make Will shiver. He does move closer to him though, making sure to brush his elbow against his.
Will rolls his eyes but he’s smiling and that’s all that matters. Mike finds himself staring longer than he should, but he couldn’t help it. Will was so…pretty.
It was why girls still flocked toward him despite being labeled an outcast. For some reason, girls seemed to like that Will was softer, more sensitive, even if boys scorned him for it. It probably made him seem more trustworthy, made him all that more attractive.
Mike must be envious, he must be, because why else would he be pressing closer into Wills side at the thought?
He clearly wanted to crawl into Will's skin to transfer that beauty to himself, to somehow be able to look like him and get the attention from girls that Will got.
Guilt silences the thought.
He had El—there should be no reason for Mike to be pressing closer to Will to soak up his attractiveness by osmosis or something.
Though, it wasn’t like Mike was actually doing anything wrong, seeing as how he and El weren’t exactly together anymore. Also not broken up, but rather in a limbo of sorts.
When El finally decided to talk to him after getting back to Hawkins, she hadn’t mentioned what he said in Surfer Boy’s at all despite the fact that he had said everything she wanted to hear. Instead, she settled him down with a grim look on her face and told him she wanted to focus solely on becoming strong enough to defeat Vecna. Apparently, she had decided Mike got in the way of that.
She hadn’t said that part explicitly, but Mike could read between the lines. It hadn’t mattered that he professed his feelings for her, or that she commissioned that painting.
El didn’t need him.
Mike couldn’t understand how Eleven could pour her heart into the painting, could believe he held the party together, but then go and tell him in so many words that she was better without him.
It upset him more than it probably should have, and partly the reason he hadn’t pushed for them to ‘get back together’. She had looked shocked when he just nodded along, a little disappointed he just accepted her words so easily. But what was he supposed to do? Eleven claimed she loved him, but she didn’t draw strength from him.
“Do you think everyone else is okay?” Mike breaks the silence, not out of discomfort but missing the sound of Will’s voice. Will frowns, slowing his pace slightly. “I know Lucas and Robin are okay. I killed the demos that were after them too. But I’m not sure about the others.”
Mike’s brows scrunch because there were other demos? Will had killed not one, but at least two others? Will already knows he’s bursting with the need to express just how awesome he thought that was, eyes pinning him in place with an eyebrow quirk.
Mike bites the side of his cheek, smothering all his praises. He could respect Will’s wish of later, could even use the opportunity to plan out what he was going to say so he didn’t just word vomit and end up sounding like a broken record, telling Will he was awesome over and over again.
Mike clears his throat, shoving the stilted words off his tongue. “I’m sure everyone else is fine. El’s probably found the rest of them and Dustin is trying to work out how to get through another gate.”
Will closes off a bit, just humming in reply. Mike jerks to a stop, Will pausing with him. “Everyone’s going to be okay, Will. Jonathan, El, Dustin, they’re all just fine, okay?” Will won’t meet his eyes, the words not inspiring him.
It feels like a slap across the face.
Will trusted everything he said, took it to heart and internalized it. He valued every little thing out of Mike’s mouth, no matter how asinine it was. At least, he used to, up until activating his powers. Maybe he realized he didn’t need Mike anymore, that he had all the answers.
The thought has Mike swallowing hard, pill bitter. “Shouldn’t I be telling you that?” Will says in lieu of a true response. “Your parents are in the hospital and both your sisters are trapped in the Upside Down. El’s stuck there too.”
Mike stiffens at the reminder, but presses on. “Yeah, but you’re important too.”
Will gives him a shrewd look, not fully believing the declaration. “If you say so,” he mutters.
When they reach the hatch, Mike goes down the ladder first, lingering at the bottom to make sure Will was okay on his own. He was still a bit unsteady while they were walking and Mike wanted to make sure he was safe. Will descends carefully, a bit too slowly to pretend he wasn’t affected.
Mike moves closer to the bottom of the ladder, offering his hand. He doesn’t have time to second guess it, Will’s eyes snagging on the offered flesh immediately. Will could turn him down. It’s not like he needed Mike to help him anymore, clearly didn’t value him as much now that he realized he was awesome on his own. He thinks of dropping it, thinks of slumping to the ground and screaming like Holly did in her tantrums.
But, to Mike's relief, Will takes the hand Mike offers without complaint, and Mike helps him down the last few rungs, steadying him. As Will plants his feet onto flat ground, he presses back against Mike, making him frown in concern.
“Are you okay?” He asks softly so as to not be overheard by a climbing Joyce. The last thing Will would want is for his overprotective mother to be all over him again. A flush appears high on Will's cheeks, his eyes going kind of wide. He jerks away from Mike as if burned, stuttering out, “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”
Mike's frown deepens, pointing out, “You leaned against me.”
Will's ears get pink now too. “No, I’m good. Sorry, didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“You didn’t!” He hastens to say, probably more aggressively than he means to judging by the startled look on Will's face. To prove his point, he steps closer to Will, pressing into his side. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay, that’s all.”
Will stares at him, eyes wider than normal. “Well,” he shrugs, “I’m all good.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.”
“Boys,” Joyce urges, looking pointedly over her shoulder at them. She’s already a good ten feet down the tunnel, walkie dangling in one hand. Mike hadn’t even noticed she finished climbing down, let alone that she somehow shuffled past them.
For some reason, even though he and Will were just talking, Mike feels embarrassed—as if he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He hurries after her, trying to shake the feeling of shame.
Will wanders along behind them, the air surrounding him sour with melancholy. Mike didn’t know what from—the recent events or because he ran away. It had to be the former, it had to be the kids and the government and seeing Vecna again. There’s no way Will would care that much about Mike to notice how he all but ran from him for the second time in twelve hours.
It’s dark in the tree line but the flood lights of the Radio Station are on, acting as a beacon for the three of them to walk toward. Joyce is ahead of the both of them, talking shortly into the walkie—finally getting a hold of someone. “It’s Erica!” She calls over her shoulder, walking faster. “She has Lucas. They’re on their way here now.”
“Anything from Robin yet?” Will asks, hopeful, looking up from the ground briefly. Mike’s stomach twists at the question, frown settling on his face. “Or El?” He follows up, the question being ripped out of him. He doesn’t even know where it comes from, he truthfully wasn’t concerned about El right now.
Will must nearly miss stepping in a hole because he shrinks back, face freezing over. Joyce just shakes her head at both of them, returning to her efforts. Will once more catches up to his mom, leaving Mike lingering behind them.
He doesn’t even wait for Mike to go downstairs with him when they get into the building, descending the stairs purposefully as if he wanted to escape Mike for some reason. Mike lingers upstairs uselessly, pretending to be focused on other things until Joyce’s watchful eye catches him and tells him with an aggressive head jerk that he was supposed to be watching over Will right now.
Will is on the ratty couch, one leg pulled up to rest his chin on. There’s dirt on him and his clothes, his hair tousled and sweat-damp. Mike should look at him and want to crinkle his nose and ask what the hell happened to you.
But he doesn’t because Will looks so himself, and even though the radio station's lighting is harsh, it falls against Will’s features softly—illuminating them with a glow that seemed to come from within. He was perfect and Mike’s mouth was dry with envy the longer he stared.
The tranquility of the moment is lost when Mike realizes how weird he must look and he jerks forward awkwardly to try and cover up just how long he had been staring at Will from the base of the stairs. Heat builds at the back of Mike’s neck, stomach twisting at the prospect of Will’s face breaking out into a sneer and asking what are you doing.
Will doesn’t even seem to notice that Mike is fast approaching though, eyes clouded. Mike flops down, disturbing the peace and spreading out his gangly limbs to take up far more of the couch space than was required. He didn’t know why he did it, whether it be habit or to merely feel the press of Will against his side.
“Really?” Will scoffs, adjusting so that he was pressed even more into the corner of the couch in an attempt to get away from Mike. He just stretches out further in retaliation so that they’re still touching. To an outsider, it would look completely friendly and not weird at all. Mike just needed a lot of room, like he wasn’t aware of how his awkward body filled space. “You’re hogging the couch,” Mike says, gesturing widely.
Will doesn’t even have to say anything, the derisive look on his face communicating enough. “You’re the one that has his bony elbow pressed into my ribcage.”
“Bony?” Mike squawks, offended. “I’m not bony! I have it on good authority that I’ve filled out a bit.”
Will laughs, snarking, “Who's? Your nana's?”
“She’s a wise woman, William.”
Will looks down, smile on his face though he stays silent. Mike never liked silence but with Will, it was different. It was the good kind of silence, and he never thought he’d get it back after that summer.
Will opens his mouth, going to tell Mike something. He eagerly leans forward, waiting to hear the words fall from Will’s lips—about what he was thinking, how he was feeling, any of it, all of it.
Instead of that though, Will’s jaw snaps shut. Mike tries not to let disappointment manifest on his face but it must because Will smiles ever so slightly. “You’re bleeding,” he points out.
“I’m fine,” Mike says, swallowing thickly. He doesn’t know when, but Will moved closer to him, their bodies pressed together firmly. This close, Mike can see the flecks of brown in Will’s otherwise green eyes, the very flecks that make them hazel. Will’s got the prettiest eyes Mike has ever seen—he’s always thought so. Mike finds himself leaning more into his best friend's space, some invisible force tugging him closer.
There’s footsteps upstairs, Erica and Lucas arriving noisily. Even though they weren’t doing anything, Mike and Will spring apart, moving to opposite ends of the couch.
Mike's heart is thumping rapidly, that same feeling that he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t have plaguing him.
Joyce comes down the stairs first, expression a bit shaken. “I filled them in on the way up, and we finally got a hold of Robin and Murray. They both took some nasty blows to the head but they’re on the way.”
“Johnathan or El?” Will prompts despite knowing exactly why his mom said nothing. She just shakes her head sadly, though she smiles in an attempt to be comforting. Mike and Will stand up, ready to greet Lucas while Joyce slips away back to the radio to try and contact the others.
Mike and Will share a look when they hear an irritated Erica snap, “Get off my foot!” There’s an exchange of sibling banter as the Sinclair’s make their way downstairs, bodies pressed against each other. To their surprise, Erica was nearly carrying Lucas, the two pitifully shuffling along due to their difference in height.
“Byers!” Lucas calls, not concerned about being propped up by his younger sister. There’s blood seeping through his shirt, an ugly dark crimson line, but his eyes are lit up as if nothing was the matter. Mike darts to the count to arrange them so Lucas can sit down while Will goes to help Erica. She rolls her eyes, snarking something about priorities but she lets her brother be handed off to Will.
“That was you, dude?” Lucas smiles, awe plain in his voice. Will ducks his head. “I guess.”
Lucas’ grin gets impossibly wider, reaching out to take hold of Will's shoulders firmly and shake him several times. “That was awesome. I thought I was dead—you saved my life!”
They settle Lucas on the couch carefully as Will shakes his head sheepishly. “It was nothing. I’m just glad I could help.”
Lucas scoffs, “You did way more than help. You—you—the bones and the snapping and the floating mid air?” He continues rambling, making Will and Mike look at each other with raised brows.
Erica appears at her brother’s side once more, shooing Mike and Will away. Over the back of the couch, Lucas calls eagerly, “It was insane, Byers! Coolest shit I’ve ever seen!”
Will just nods along, indulging, as Erica all but forces Lucas down, wielding a first aid kit in one hand.
Mike laughs, bumping his shoulder into Will’s as they slip back upstairs to wait for Murray and Robin’s arrival. “Lucas is right, you know.”
“I think he’s suffered some blood loss,” Will retorts with a scoff. “Maybe,” Mike shrugs. Then, at Will's dubious look. “Probably. But he wasn’t lying. Coolest shit ever.”
Will looks at him for a long moment before shaking his head. “And I think you have a concussion.”
Mike's brows furrow. “What? No way! I just have functioning eyes.”
Will pretends he hasn’t even heard him. “I need to send you down to get checked out by Erica. It might be brain damage.”
“Why can’t I just praise you for being totally awesome? Just like I knew you were?” Mike asks instead, genuinely wondering.
Will looks away, merriment slipping from his face briefly. “Definitely brain damage,” he evades, slipping outside before Mike can say anything more.
Mike wanders back downstairs to converse with Erica and Lucas, it apparent Will wants some time to speak with his mother alone. Murray and Robin, looking battered but alive, stumble down and flop down onto the pleather chairs, gratefully accepting icepacks from Erica.
Joyce and Will return, Will choosing to sit next to Lucas instead of Mike. He resists a frown as Erica plops down next to him. Not that he didn’t like Erica, she was great, but he wanted to sit next to Will. He wanted to press their thighs together so the other boy knew Mike was here for him.
Joyce remains standing, ringing her hands together nervously. “In light of the recent events,” she starts, talking to a room that was very much out of focus, defeated, and exhausted. “I have a plan: We get Will close to the hivemind. Once he is, he jacks back in, only this time he doesn’t go after a demo. He goes after Vecna. One blow takes him out, ends him, ends his army, ends this nightmare.”
They stay silent, making Joyce add, “That’s it. What do you think? Any ideas, thoughts? There’s no bad ideas.”
They’re all quiet once more because were they really not going to mention it at all?
It’s Robin who finally speaks, pressing the icepack more firmly to her forehead. “I mean I think it’s a great plan. Uh, I mean it’s a great plan, right?” She directs to Murray, rambling and clearly wanting to address the elephant in the room.
Murray does much the same, smiling comically. “No, no, yes it’s a great plan. It’s just, uh, it’s just—”
“Will, you took out that demo with your mind?” Robin asks, amazement in her voice. Mike looks at Will but he doesn’t meet his eyes, hands knotted in his lap. “I mean—”
“Three, to be exact,” Mike corrects, annoyed that Robin hadn’t given Will the credit he deserved. Lucas, a bit out of it, nods, intoning, “Simultaneously.”
“Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit,” Murray chuckles, annoying Mike already. Awe shining in her eyes, proud smile on the corner of her mouth, Robin teases, “A real life wizard.”
Mike gets annoyed again, but before he can correct her, Erica does it for him. “A sorcerer actually. His powers are—”
“Innate!” Mike finishes eagerly, gesturing wildly. “Yes, thank you!”
“What does that matter?” Lucas huffs, the most visibly battered with his blood stained shirt.
“It matters!” He and Erica exclaim at the same time, leaning forward because of course it mattered.
Joyce sighs, urging them back, “Can we all just focus, please?”
Murray holds up a hand. “Yes, yes, but I just have to ask—”
“How exactly were you able to kill them?” Robin finishes for him once more. Will jerks his head toward her, looking uncomfortable with so much attention. A rush of fondness goes through Mike, his lips quirking.
“Through tapping into the hivemind. When I did that, I could not only see through the demo’s eyes, but siphon Vecna’s powers too.”
Robin’s jaw drops minutely, just enough to be noticeable but not comical. “Uh, how long have you been able to do that?”
Will shrugs, still uncomfortable and clearly wanting to focus on some kind of plan. “Today was the first time.”
“How—”
“I thought about what you said,” Will cuts her off, making eye contact with the older girl meaningfully. “In the tunnels.”
Robin's jaw works, her eyes wide but she just settles on a smile, looking pleased. “I realized you were right and once I did that, it was like a key opening a lock.”
Wait—
Mike's face falls.
Robin is what inspired Will? Robin? Not Mike, who knows Will better than anyone, who has been by his side since he was five?
“Sick,” she mutters appreciatively, eyes shining with pride. Will's face goes pink, ducking his head away from her gaze and turning his attention back toward the room. “We really need to focus on the plan,” Joyce says again, expression warning.
“How are we getting me close to the hivemind?” Will asks, shifting forward slightly. Mike pipes up, finishing Wills thought about the holes in Joyce’s plan, “I doubt Vecna will send his demos out for an evening stroll any time soon—assuming he knows that Will—“
“He knows,” Will cuts in gravely, face solemn. Mike wishes they were closer so he could nudge him to let him know it would be okay. “Right, so, I don’t see how we’re going to get Will close enough to the hivemind for him to go after Vecna.”
“Would a demo even be enough?” Erica asks with a pensive frown. “To get to Vecna, I mean.”
They all look at Will questioningly. “I don’t really know the extent of the…powers,” he says tentatively, as if he didn’t like the weight of the word in his mouth. “Or how far I’m able to reach with them. I could feel and see all the demos in Hawkins, but not beyond.”
Robin nods, deep in thought. “So you would need to be closer.”
“I’m not sure,” Will tells them truthfully. “All the demos are connected to Henry, but I don’t know if that connection would be enough to,” he looks at his mom, “take him out.”
“You need to get into the Upside Down,” Lucas attempts. “Yeah, I think, but I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves. We still need the rest of the group, especially El.”
Robin's eyes light up. “But if you can manipulate the Demogorgon, you can use it to open a gate into the Upside Down. We could get the rest of the group, tell them everything, then use the same strategy to get Will close to the hivemind and to Vecna.”
Mike rolls his eyes, annoyed for some reason he can’t place. “Unless you have any spare demos lying around I don’t really see how that’s possible. Vecna’s probably going to keep them in the Upside Down to prevent Will from doing just that.”
Robin's eager expression doesn’t fade, in fact, a wide smile stretches across her face. “We do have demos lying around.”
Mike scoffs, retorting, “Dead ones.”
“What if they weren’t dead?” She insists, invigorated now. Wills looks up at her, a bit confused but deeply trusting. Mike's frown grows. “And what if Vecna just stopped being evil and we all ran off into the sunset holding hands?” Mike spits sarcastically, making it clear what he thought of the ridiculous statement.
“Unless you can go back in time, I don’t see how that’s possible.”
Robin’s face pinches with offense, as she insists, “Not go back in time, but give them a bit of a…jolt.”
“A jolt?” Will echoes, cutting off Mike's much more mean-spirited protest. “Yeah, like how in the hospital doctors send an electric current to restart the heart.”
“I don’t think they have hearts,” Erica deadpans, making Mike nod eagerly in agreement. “Which is why it’s more likely to work. They’re monsters, we don't have to worry about brain death! They just need to reanimate, like—”
“Frankenstein-style,” Will finishes, looking pleased at the potential plan. Mike splutters. “There’s no way you actually are planning on reanimating a Demogorgon!”
“It could work, Mike,” Lucas betrays, speaking slowly with his brows furrowed. “And, if it doesn’t, we go back to the drawing board. But I haven’t heard any better ideas yet.”
“If it works,” Joyce chimes in, “and Will can get it to open a gate, we get everyone out of there. We end this.”
“That’s a pretty big if!”
He waves his hands around, swinging his head from Lucas’ direction back to Will’s again, needing his two friends to realize just how batshit insane Robin’s idea was. Instead of agreement, he finds—
“Come on, Mike,” Will says softly, meant for just him. His eyes shine imploringly, in that way Mike was never able to refuse. “It’s just a little bit of electricity, right?”
Mike, Lucas, and Erica were tasked with driving with Murray to retrieve the dead Demogorgon that attacked Robin and Murray, seeing as it was the most easily available. Will, Robin, and Joyce had been left behind at the station, allegedly working on the system that would actually deliver the shocks.
Joyce hadn’t been pleased with the idea of just the three of them—the last time that happened Robin kidnapped him—but after Will snapped at her (his version anyway), she finally relented. Mike was surprised, but she seemed to be backing off, her plan even involving actively putting Will into danger. From a distance, but still.
Wasting no time, Murray whips Joyce’s car into park, urging them out. Erica grabs the ropes and Mike and Lucas haul the green curtains out of the trunk, pursuing the corpse with purpose. The truck Murray had been using to smuggle their stuff is tipped on its side, waiting for El to come use her powers to place it right side up, and in front of it was the Demogorgon.
“Are you sure you’re okay to help us?” Mike asks Lucas as he and Erica unravel the tarp-curtains. Lucas grimaces but nods determinedly. “Erica used some of that skin glue and those fancy butterfly bandages. I’ll be good.”
“You better be good,” Erica snarks, huffing with annoyance. “My hard work is not going to waste.”
Lucas rolls his eyes, helping Mike to position the tarp beneath the demo’s body so they could roll the thing up like a burrito. The three of them do just that, using the addition of Murray’s help to hoist it on the top of the car and drive it back to the station like a perverse rendition of a family cutting down a Christmas tree.
Lucas nudges him with his arm, the two sharing the backseat while Erica rides shotgun. “What’s your problem with Robin?” He whispers conspiratorially. Murray and Erica exchange sarcastic banter, too caught up to notice Lucas leaning over to talk to Mike.
“I don’t have a problem with her.”
Lucas gives him a disbelieving look, knowing Mike too well to know that was true. Mike rolls his eyes, relenting, “I just think she’s a bit too eccentric.”
“Eccentric?”
“Yeah, and she comes up with these crazy plans that we keep trying even though the last one didn’t work,” Mike huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. Lucas raises a judgmental brow. “Crazy is exactly what we need to fight interdimensional monsters, Mike.”
“I just think she doesn’t fit with us.”
Lucas’ eyes are narrowed, puzzled expression on his face. “Because she’s eccentric?” He guesses slowly.
“Yes!”
"Aren't we all weird? Isn’t that like the whole point?”
Mike scoffs, looking out the window into the darkness of the outside. When will this terrible day be over? “Not how she does it.”
“You're being a dick, dude,” Lucas chides firmly. “Robin is chill and if this plan works, Vecna’s dead and El will be back so you can quit moping.”
Mike frowns, his brows knitting together. Truthfully, he hadn’t thought of El in a while, which was probably wrong considering she was trapped in the Upside Down. “I’m not moping—”
“You are. But El’s safe and she’s going to find Holly,” Lucas says warmly, attempting to comfort. The explicit reminder of his missing sister chases the fluttering feeling in his chest from seeing Will’s powers. “I know she is,” he snaps, not exactly rudely but too shortly to be friendly.
Lucas doesn’t mind though, nudging his arm before turning his attention back to his sister and Murray in the front seat.
Mike should be worried about El. Even if she could handle herself just fine, he should be feeling anxious and on edge not knowing where she was or if she was okay. And, yes, he was concerned—he cared about her—but it wasn’t the amount he should.
They put a band aid over their relationship, delayed the time of death, but it was still on the operating table with only a defibrillator keeping the pulse going. That fight in Lenora—he meant what he said to Will--it was one you don’t come back from, even if you tell your girlfriend you love her. He didn’t say it when it mattered and he knew El was still upset over it.
He could fix it, fix everything, if he just went up to her and kissed her and held her hand and proclaimed I love you while she was standing perfectly fine in front of him, looking at him with her big brown eyes. But, he didn’t necessarily want to.
It wasn’t easy between them—he was constantly having to work at it. Relationships were supposed to be work, he knows, but not constantly be on life support. He didn’t want to lose her—he knew that—but he didn’t know if they should be together anymore. She clearly agreed, seeing as she easily kicked Mike to the side.
Lucas, Mike, Erica, and Murray pull the demo from the top of the car, carrying it in the general direction of the radio tower. Will was over there, Robin nowhere to be seen, staring at some wires without really seeing. Mike lets go of the body, wanting desperately to talk to him again, but—
Robin comes bounding up to Will, basically bouncing on her toes. Mike can’t hear what she’s saying from his side of the courtyard area, but she’s waving her hands animatedly with a fervor that has Will smiling fondly.
The two had been getting closer the past few days, Will and her sneaking off to have private, giggly conversations nearly every chance they could. Will even slipped Joyce’s careful eye to go investigate with Robin—had deceived his mother. That was when Mike knew she was a terrible influence.
Will has never liked a girl before, let alone one that was so much older than them. And he never imagined Will to be the kind of guy that got so caught up in a girl that he ignored everyone else. Mike understood liking someone but there was no reason for Will to ignore Mike like he has been, especially now.
The whole thing just made him uncomfortable.
Robin wasn’t there when Will was possessed, hadn’t tirelessly searched for him even when he was declared dead. She didn’t know Will. Not like he (and the party) did. Will shouldn’t be sharing this revelation with her. She didn’t deserve it.
Mike had never really had a concrete opinion on the older girl, had just seen her as an extension of Steve and even Dustin. He hadn’t felt anything negatively toward her, she had just kind of been there. Just wacky enough to fit in with their ragtag crew but not different enough to be a pariah like Mike and the party were.
But now, he couldn’t help but feel twinges of dislike for the way she smiled at Will, the way she ranted to him, and the way she knocked her shoulder into Wills earlier. It was like she was trying to take Mike's position by Will's side, which was absurd. Mike and Will were best friends and Robin was just some girl Will decided to start hanging around.
“Mike, man,” Lucas urges again, standing there holding one end of the curtain. His voice is tinged by annoyance, like this wasn’t the first time he had exasperatedly called Mike's name.
Mike grabs the other end, mumbling out an empty apology. Lucas continues to watch him, even when Mike begins to halfheartedly lift the Demogorgon's dead body to the platform by the radio tower.
Lucas tentatively turns over his shoulder to look at where Mike was staring at Robin and Will. The older girl is still waving her arms and rambling while Will watches her, eyes looking exhausted.
Mike frowns.
Couldn’t she see he was tired right now and didn’t want to have his ear talked off? He was doing all of the work too while Robin just stood there uselessly.
Mike's hands clench around the green fabric, flexing to stop himself from marching over there and telling her to move out of the way while he helps Will.
“Kind of crazy that Will’s got powers, huh?” Lucas leads, finally turning back around to look at Mike once more. There’s something about his expression that’s different, like he’s realized something for the first time. Mike huffs, sharply jerking his arms up to try and lift the corpse himself. It doesn’t work very well, Lucas not even trying to assist with his pathetic attempt.
Mike snaps his head up, looking at Lucas with annoyance. “Yeah, crazy,” he dismisses. “Can you just help me?”
He doesn’t mean to snap, doesn’t know where the rush of anger comes from but he just needs to finish this quickly and go back to Will. He needed to coax him away from Robin, let him sit down and rest. He looked like he was two seconds from collapsing. Anyone who knew Will could see that, so obviously Robin was oblivious to it.
Lucas shakes his head, but complies and together they hoist the thing up. He leaves Lucas to untie the ends of the ‘tarp’, stalking over to where Will was trying to set up.
“Hey,” he interrupts Robin, not even caring that he looked rude. Will jerks toward him, eyes relaxing upon seeing Mike, as if he knew he was okay now that he was around. Mike's chest warms and he turns to Robin a bit too sharply.
“Do you mind helping Lucas over there? I think Will needs a minute.” He doesn’t even phrase it like a question, voice hard and unbending. The girl blinks in shock, eyes wide as she takes in Mike's combative posture and the way he’s standing half in front of Will.
“Oh, yeah,” she rambles, jerking toward Lucas, “yeah, sure, of course.” Finally alone, he turns to Will, laying a hand on his shoulder.
“Why don’t you take a second, yeah?” He softens his voice, the tone he saves just for Will. He nods, allowing Mike to lead him to the side and to sit on the bumper of Joyce’s car. “I’m fine, really,” Will tells him but his eyes say the opposite. “I’m just tired, but we all are.”
“We all didn’t kill three demos at once while unlocking our powers for the first time,” Mike retorts, handing Will a Gatorade. “Not mine,” Will says through gulps of the yellow-green liquid. Mike rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. “How are they not yours?”
“They’re Vecna’s, Mike. They come from the hivemind, I already said that.”
“Just because you’re siphoning them doesn’t mean they aren’t yours. I can’t do that. Lucas can’t do that. If they weren’t yours then we should all be able to puppet master the hivemind, but we can’t, right?”
Will clenches the bottle in between two hands, licking the excess liquid from his lips. “I don’t know,” he mumbles petulantly, “maybe you guys can too and just don’t know it yet.”
Mike just throws his head back exasperatedly. “Yeah, maybe we all just need a motivational speech from Robin.” He doesn't mean for it to come out as sharply as it does, the words pointed like a dagger.
Will blinks in shock, expression twisting into a frown. “It wasn’t just her, you know. What you said, in the field earlier, that is what made me believe I could even attempt to unlock anything in the first place, Mike.”
The words send warmth blooming from Mike’s head to his toes. They were perfect, Will always knew what to say.
Against all odds, Robin’s plan kind-of worked, and any growing dislike he had for her bloomed into full on resentment.
The Demogorgon did reanimate, and in that, it Will opened a gate for them. Robin and Mike were the only two going, just in case it closed on them.
They only had time to stumble upon El and Hopper as well as El’s sister before Will was screaming from the other side of the gate that they needed to run.
By the time Mike, Lucas, and Robin came stumbling back from the other side with their new additions, the Demogorgon had basically been barbecued and Will was red from strain—face and body trembling.
Mike had rushed toward him but he was too late and Will had slumped to the pavement, completely unconscious. If that wasn’t bad enough, Robin had gotten there before him, helping Joyce prop Will up and get him inside.
Mike nearly popped a blood vessel, and he really, really doesn’t know what he’s going to do if Will ever gets a girlfriend, because the thought of having to share him, to have a mere part of him while some girl, who was totally undeserving, got the whole? That was unthinkable.
To make matters worse, Will still has yet to wake up, laying flat on the couch, completely unconscious because of Robin’s plan. It didn’t even make him feel better to see El and Hopper, the pallor of Will’s skin making him unable to feel even a flick of relief.
He couldn’t even linger by Will’s bedside (well, couch side) because Joyce had taken up vigil there. And he got why she would, obviously, but Mike cared too, and all he could do was hover uselessly by the doorframe.
It’s on his fourth pass by the doorway in ten minutes that Joyce finally sighs, turning to look at him. “Mike, sweetheart, you’ll be the first to know if he wakes up, I promise.”
Caught, he splutters for a moment, her eyes too warm and too knowing for his liking. “Right, sorry, Mrs. Byers, I’ll leave you alone.”
“I wasn’t trying to chase you away,” she huffs, rolling her eyes fondly. “I just wanted to make sure you know that he’s going to be okay. It’s like El said, his battery needs to recharge.”
Mike nods, bottom lip worried in between his teeth. “Yeah, I know you’re right, I know you’re right, but I just…” He trails off uselessly, not being able to find the appropriate words.
She tilts her head, her smile understanding. “It’s alright to worry.” Joyce lets out a soft chuckle, looking at Will’s unconscious form. “I know I do a lot of it, and you’ve always taken good care of him, Mike.”
She says it warmly and fondly, her tone not any different than if she would be talking to Lucas or Dustin but it feels like an accusation, one that has Mike’s whole body stiffening. He stutters out some excuse, some stilted phrase and flees from the room as if it were on fire.
In his shame he ends up finding El, Kali with a hand on her shoulder. They both jerk up when he enters, startled by him. Kali is clearly expecting him to leave, watching him with a polite, neutral expression, but El’s face breaks open at the sight of him.
Even though they already embraced when he found her, she rushes over, throwing her arms around his shoulders. He returns the hug, finally allowing himself to be happy that she was back and okay. He may be a little upset with her, and things might be awkward, but he still cared a lot about her and wanted to know she was safe.
“Did you find Holly?” Mike asks, pulling back just enough to look at her face. It falls and that’s how he knows Holly is still a lost cause. “There is this wall,” she explains shortly, clearly waiting to give the full explanation to the group, “and she is behind it. I know she is, but I cannot reach her. Not yet.”
He untangled himself from El, turning his back so she couldn’t see how it affected him. Holly, still in that monster’s clutches all because he didn’t tell her the truth. There were monsters in Hawkins, and instead of doing something to protect Holly, Mike fed her some bullshit that would do little to help her against Vecna.
El rests a hand on his back, trying to coax him to turn around but he didn’t want her to see how her failure hurt him. And he knows, he knows it’s not Eleven’s fault there’s this massive, impenetrable wall, but looking at her pitying face would just make him feel worse right now.
She finally comes around to look at him, hands resting on his forearms. Her mouth opens, some sympathy-filled platitude about how they would rescue his sister no doubt forming.
“Mike!” Joyce calls from the other room. Not urgent or frantic but as softly as it could be called, a siren song just for him.
Mike pulls away from El, her hands falling off him uselessly—Will was awake.
Joyce has her arms wrapped tightly around Will when he walks in, Will’s face buried in her shoulder as if he was crying. Awkwardly, Mike hovers in the doorway, not knowing if he should stay or go. He tries to leave—to rejoin the group—but the floor creeks underneath his foot, making Will and Joyce jerk around toward him.
“Mike,” Will blurts, somewhat surprised but not unhappy. If anything, it was quite the opposite. His eyes, teary, cleared and he looked excited to see Mike. How bad of a friend had he been for Will to be shocked to see him after waking up from unconsciousness?
Joyce gets up, kissing Will's head, but leaves the room, giving them space. “Are you—”
”I wish people would stop asking me that,” Will cuts him off with a huff, readjusting on the couch as a clear invitation for Mike to sit down. He does so gingerly, not wanting to disturb Will. “Maybe if you stopped being in peril we would,” Mike retorts, smirk resting on the corner of his mouth.
Will rolls his eyes, not actually annoyed at all. Mike knocks their knees together. “Are you, though?”
“Yes,” Will says shortly but in his voice, there’s something that tells Mike he needs to press. “Before you passed out,” he leads, watching Will intently, “you screamed that we needed to run, but you sounded terrified.”
Will tenses, caught. “I could feel it,” he breathes shakily, reminding Mike of a much bleaker time, when he was possessed by the Mind Flayer. “It?” Mike questions, knowing the pronoun choice was deliberate.
Will turns to face him slowly, eyes wide with fear. “The Mind Flayer,” he clarifies, making the hair on the back of Mike’s neck stand up. “It wasn’t Henry. It was the Mind Flayer.”
“I thought—”
”It’s still out there, and it’s angry, Mike,” he utters ominously. “And I don’t think Vecna’s as in control as he would like us to believe.”
Mike hasn’t blinked, letting the words rest in the air around them—the implication making dread pool in his stomach. Without thinking, he reaches his hand out and covers Will’s with his own. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. Together.”
Will once more looks surprised, eyes flickering down toward Mike’s hand with awe. “Yeah, together,” he echoes, making Mike smile widely.
He stares back at Mike, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“You still have blood,” Will points out, getting up. Mike jerks to stand, confused by the abrupt change in conversation. Will just shoves him back down, reappearing with a damp towel in his hands. He stays standing, but rests one knee on the couch, bracketing Mike in with his body.
Mike’s breath catches in the back of his throat, his palms beginning to sweat as Will leans over him even more. “Is this okay?” He murmurs, towel hovering near the side of Mikes face in question. His eyes bore into Mikes imploringly, and he feels like he’s going to explode.
Mike doesn’t trust his voice so he just nods meekly, something in him begging Will to come closer.
Will finally lets the towel touch Mike’s skin, gently dabbing up the dried blood from earlier. He was always so careful and tentative, even having effortlessly killed three demos simultaneously.
Will is focused, eyes narrowed attentively as if he was performing brain surgery or something. The pressure he was using was so soft, clearly not wanting to hurt Mike. It was odd, seeing Will from this angle. He was always the taller one—so used to looking down instead of up.
The tenderness with which Will is taking care of him, it makes something in Mike’s chest come alive. He wants to do something ridiculous, wants to reach his hands up and grab Will’s hips to jerk him closer, wants there to be no room between their bodies.
He really thinks he’s going to do it too, his pulse climbing in rate, his every nerve goading him on.
“That’s better,” Will declares, stepping back and away from Mike, making him feel cold. “We should get out there,” he says, and Mike, helpless, nods along.
They join the rest of the group in the main room. El runs up to Will immediately, the two sharing a firm and lasting hug.
She pulls away just enough to touch the sides of his face, more being communicated with eyes than words. She looks so sad and Will is reflecting it right back. They looked like two people with the burden of the world on their shoulders, and Mike supposes they were.
It’s only when Will notices Kali that they separate. He frowns, recognition sparking on his face. “This is my sister,” El tells Will who’s already nodding along. “I thought so. She’s exactly what you described.”
He smiles warmly at Kali, enough so that it has her blinking in shock. The rest of the group hadn’t really given a very friendly introduction in light of everything going on, but Will made the time to make a personal connection. He was just good like that.
Mike doesn’t know when Will and El discussed Kali but it must have happened in Lenora. Sometimes Mike forgot they were actually siblings for a year. “Are you okay? How did you get stuck in the Upside Down?”
Kali keeps staring, not doing a very good job of keeping surprise off her face. Mike winces, no one really asked how she came about or if she was okay. That was a mistake on their part.
She nods jerkily. “Yes, I’m fine. The government, well Dr. Kay, found me.”
She doesn’t elaborate but it’s enough that Will is nodding with understanding. “I’m sorry.”
Kali looks at El, bemusement obvious. El just smiles morosely, hand lingering on Will's shoulder. “We should all talk.”
So they do.
They sit down and trade stories about everything that has happened since they lost contact, and about Joyce’s idea, that if Will was close enough to the hivemind he could use Vecna’s powers against him.
El’s eyes flicker over to Will. “I do not think it will be that easy. To do that, you would need to go into his mind.”
“I know,” Will sighs, looking over at Joyce nervously, like this was the thing he was trying to keep from her. “But you’ll help pull me out if things go haywire, right?” He smiles lopsidedly. El doesn’t return it, a haunted expression on her face. “And what if it does not work? What if you get stuck like Max?”
Will’s smile falters. “I won’t.”
“You don’t know what,” El fires back, voice thick. “What if he takes you?”
“He saw me at the Mac-Z. He taunted me but didn’t take me. He threw me to the side, actually. If Henry wanted me, I would already be there.” Will's eyes go downcast. “He made it very clear I’m not a threat.”
El tilts her head, not understanding Will was feeling insecure about something. “What do you mean? What did he do?”
Will closes in on himself impossibly more. “It’s not what he did, it’s what he said.”
Mike scowls. “Whatever he said it’s bullshit. He tries to manipulate people and get in their heads, Will. You know that.”
Will nods along dismissively, Mike's words falling short once more. “Yes, but this was different then that. He said I showed him what was possible and that’s why he took Holly, and Derek, and all of them!”
Will’s voice is thick and upset. He always wore his emotions on his sleeve. It wasn’t weakness but strength. No matter how cruelly he was treated by others for being himself, he never stopped. He didn’t retreat in on himself and become the man his father wanted him to be. He stayed Will.
“Possible?” El parrots, leaning forward and closer to him, a worry in her brow. Joyce looks like she’s two seconds away from sweeping Will up and rocking him in her arms, hands clenching at her sides.
Hopper grounds her in that sense, pressed close enough to remind her to give Will some space. Joyce was trying, if her plan was anything to go by. It was a bit over ambitious, as if she was trying to prove to Will she didn't view him as weak or helpless, but it came from a genuine place. Mike just hopes she won’t regret it.
“He chose them to reshape the world because they’re weak and easily broken.” He says it bluntly, as if he’s reading off a grocery list. Mike's stomach sinks and he audibly hears a breath of air leave the room. Anything Joyce tries to say or El or Mike or Robin or even Hopper, Will just shakes his head. He doesn’t want to hear it.
“But he did tell me what he wanted to do. In so many words,” he continues, face clearing of any storminess. “He wants them as vessels, like I was.”
Something then occurs to Will, his features twisting. “He said I was the first…” Will mutters, almost to himself. Mike is two seconds from going over and telling Will it doesn’t matter—that they would sneak out of Hawkins and leave and never come back—that Mike would take him away from Vecna.
Then, with more confidence, Will says, “I think he wants to connect them to the hivemind, to make them hosts for him.”
Mike's stomach twists at the wording, at the way Wills face closes off like he was holding back from saying more.
It always made Mike uncomfortable when Will talked about the Upside Down and what happened with the Mind Flayer. He couldn’t imagine Will going through so many unimaginable things, couldn’t imagine being connected to a monster in such an intimate way.
But it didn’t matter that Will’s experience made him feel helpless because he would always listen and be there for Will as he’s always been, since kindergarten.
“Hosts?” Hopper prompts, glint in his eye that meant he was already thinking far ahead of this particular conversation. Will nods, gaze moving to where El and Kali were sitting.
“He wants to connect them to the hivemind and—”
“Give them some kind of power, like he did you,” Kali finishes, nodding gravely. The room goes still, the reality of what was being said descending upon everyone. “But why?” Joyce asks, nose scrunching. “Why would he want to create more people to potentially oppose him if things get ugly?”
“A gate.” El shares a look with Kali, both seeking to puzzle something out.
“But there’s already a gate between the Upside Down and Hawkins. Why would Vecna need another one?” Mike prompts, spurring agreeing looks.
“Not between here and the,” Kali's face twists, “Upside Down. But here and—”
“The further place,” El completes, bracing her hands on her knees. It’s Lucas this time that prompts, “Further place?”
“It’s where I sent him when I opened the gate the first time. I don’t know what exactly is there but it must be important. He is not strong enough to connect Hawkins to it, that’s why he needed my powers.”
“He’s going to harness the powers from the twelve kids to make a bridge to another dimension,” Mike summarizes, face reflecting a vague horror at the thought of his sister being exposed to that. “How do we stop it?”
El frowns and Kali does too. Then, they look to Will purposefully. He doesn’t know exactly what transpires in the assessing look but Will gives a minute head nod, agreeing to something. Mike's brows furrow, lips twisting in protest.
“We’ll have to figure it out,” Will sighs, nothing in his voice that would hint at deception, not if Mike wasn’t looking for it. He frowns. Will has always been a terrible liar, because friends don’t lie. When did he get good at it?
“But first, we have to get the rest of the group out of the Upside Down, learn what we can about where Vecna has the kids, keep the military off our backs, and do it all before the world ends.”
They all share a look.
“Simple.”
Mike and Will bike in silence back to the Wheeler house, going at a relatively leisurely pace. It was the middle of the night, close to dawn, and the streets were dead. They were in the middle of the road, taking up the whole thing freely. Will was ahead of him, Mike staring at his back.
He’s been more reserved since the group meeting, not contributing as much to the planning as he usually did. Something was bothering him, either Vecna or them losing the kids. Either way, Will was far, drifting and Mike couldn’t get him back.
There’s no lights on at his house when they arrive, the simple suburban house Mike called home dark and lifeless. His mother had never not left the porch light on overnight, had been so sure that it would stop burglars to which his father had sarcastically asked what burglars she knew in their quiet, nice neighborhood.
There were no burglars, only monsters.
Will bumps their shoulders together, a comforting reminder that has Mike nearly swaying. He looks into Will’s eyes, sees the question in them: are you sure you’re okay? I can get your stuff? But Mike wasn’t going to let Vecna run him out of his own house, it red with his parent’s blood or not.
Shoulder-to-shoulder they walk in and go up to Mike’s room, Will carefully steering him away from the rust-stains in the kitchen and in the stairwell. His space is completely demolished, his closet no longer existent. There’s blood all over the splintered wood, his father’s blood by Nancy’s retelling.
His eyes stare at the wreckage, at the blood, and he can’t stop imagining his family screaming in terror and getting slashed by the Demogorgon's claws and their faces and how scared they must have been and wondering if they had screamed for him or Nancy and—
Will brushes his pinky along the back of Mike’s hand: I’m here.
Mike twists his hand around to clutch Will’s, nearly crushing his best friend’s fingers with the strength of his grip. Will doesn’t tense or pull away, just allows Mike to do what he needs. He doesn’t know how long he stands there, gripping Will’s hand like a lifeline, but eventually he does let go and begins collecting some things.
They work in silence, quickly swooping up anything essential from the second and main floor. Will tackles the kitchen so Mike doesn’t have to stare at the blood stain left behind by his nearly-dead mother, and it makes him feel slightly better. Will doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even try, and Mike wants to cry because that was exactly what he needed.
He didn’t want El’s frantic attempts to comfort, or Lucas’ earnest sympathies, or even Joyce’s motherly gaze. He wanted to know someone was there for him on his own time—someone who didn’t pry or go over the top—someone he could sit in silence with and process his emotions.
He wanted Will, his best friend, and he had him. Right here, in the Wheeler’s kitchen gathering supplies unobtrusively but making just enough noise for Mike to know he was in the house with him.
“I’m going to get some stuff from the basement,” he quietly tells Mike, inviting him to come along without explicitly asking. Mike doesn’t want to be alone so he follows him.
It’s been a while since he’s been down here, even with Will living here. It felt like intruding on his and Johnathan’s space so they typically hung out elsewhere or in Mike's room.
The mattress Will sleeps on is on the floor, sheets and blankets rumpled as if he had rushed to leave that morning. Will used to always have his bed made as a kid, was one of those weird people who needed to do it to start their day out right. Will's life was always disorganized, and Mike thought it was how he found some sort of stability
It contrasted so starkly against Mike's need for disorder. His life was always so orderly, his mom as a housewife, his dad as the provider. They had a nice suburban life living in their white-picket fence house with a cul-de-sac, so maybe that’s why Mike felt the need to make a mess of things.
He feels guilty now, only able to see all the times his exasperated mom had pleaded with him to clean his space only to get some snotty-nose remark in return. He looks at the basement, at the pictures on the walls and trinkets on the shelf and remembers how she had asked him repeatedly to clean up down here several times and how he always pushed back vehemently, like it was a personal attack. He hadn’t been good to his mom, in more ways than one and now she was paying the price in some hospital bed.
Will busies himself with gathering his things, sidestepping Mike politely, never sighing in annoyance or asking him to move out of his way. Badass powers and all, yet Will was still the same. He was achingly familiar and Mike wanted nothing more than to embrace him and bury his face in the other boy’s shoulder.
“So, can we talk about it now?” Mike leads, flopping on the couch, Will quietly shuffling his belongings around from one bag to another. “Talk about what?”
Will isn’t facing him, head down with his wavy hair covering his eyes. He can’t look at Mike, knows he would give himself away immediately. Still, Mike doesn’t even have to say anything, just stares blankly at Will until he eventually looks up. “There’s really nothing to talk about,” he insists, voice small and weak.
There’s something he’s hiding, something he doesn’t want Mike to realize, but he’s never been able to run from Mike.
“Fine,” he sighs, letting silence descend. “But I just want to say that was the coolest thing I have ever seen. Like ever. You were exactly like a sorcerer, like something straight out of a campaign—it—it was amazing.”
Will looks down again, messing with the fabric of one of Mike's old shirts he borrowed when they came back from California. “It’s not like you haven’t seen it before,” Will insists, “El has used her powers in front of you like a gazillion times.”
“Yeah,” Mike protests, “but it’s you.”
Something akin to hurt flickers across Will’s face as he drops his chin quickly to mask it. “You were surprised,” he mumbles, forlorn. “I guess no one would have expected me to be capable of something like that.”
“What?” Mike splutters. “No, no, that’s not it at all.”
Will looks up, trust and hope shining in his eyes, and it makes Mike come alive in the best way.
It wasn’t like when El or Holly looked at him like that. With them, Mike felt so small, like he would be crushed under the weight of expectation. With Will, he knew that wouldn’t happen. His best friend wouldn’t let it.
“It’s just. You’re incredible. And—obviously—obviously El is too, but it’s just…you’re you, you know? You’re you, and I’ve just never seen you look more like yourself than in that moment. It was like all your defenses were down and you just were.”
Will’s giving him a funny look, one Mike can’t exactly decipher. He doesn’t reply and Mike feels heat rush to his face. “I just—I mean that—am I making sense?”
“Like when we’re playing DnD and you aren’t worried about anything else. You just…”
Will just continues to watch him as he rambles, eyes narrowing a fraction. But then, miraculously, a smile spreads across his face—warm and real and Mike feels whole.
“Yeah?” Will asks, lips slightly red from where he had been chewing them absentmindedly in thought.
“Yeah,” Mike breathes out, trying and failing to contain his beaming smile. Will goes back to shoving things in bags, while Mike just runs his palms up and down his thigh—nervous for reasons he can’t explain fully.
He knew he had to bring up the whole Robin thing, Mike wasn’t exactly doing a good job of pretending it didn’t sting. But he was still nervous to hear Will say it, that he liked someone.
“So do you have anything you want to tell me?” He asks casually, trying not to sound too accusatory. Will snaps his head up, eyes wide, body shock-still. “W-what?”
“About you liking someone,” Mike expands, looking at the coffee table instead of Will’s face.
“I don’t—I don’t know what you mean—” Will attempts and his voice is off. Mike looks up sharply, noting how carefully Will is clenching his backpack strap in between his fists. He doesn’t know what has Will so freaked. Was it that terrifying to tell Mike that he’s fallen in love?
“So you and Robin—you aren’t?”
Will's eyes narrow, his nose scrunching like when he’s trying to work out the right angle for a drawing. He blinks a few times before his shoulders sag.
“Oh, God, no, Mike!” Will chuckles awkwardly, rubbing his hand over his face. “Robin is seeing someone else and even if she wasn’t…I don’t like her like that.”
“That’s good,” Mike nods, talking more to himself than to Will. His best friend snorts, teasing smile curling on his lips. “Good? You like that I’m single and miserable or something?”
“No, you’re just mine.”
A beat.
And Mike's mouth is twisting because he didn’t mean to say it like that! He sounded awkward and weird and possessive and—
Will looks like Mike just reached out and strangled him or something, blinking long with a flush rapidly coming over his pleasant features.
“I just—I meant that—” Mike stutters pathetically, face on fire, desperately trying to make his statement normal when it was anything but.
Will just starts laughing, it’s not his usual laugh. It’s too airy and wheezy but it dispels the tension brought but Mike's freaky declaration.
“God, the world’s ending and you’re still such a weirdo,” he teases and Will just always knew what to say to make Mike feel better. He plays along, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, just get your stuff and let’s go. El and your mom are waiting for us at Hopper’s.”
Will does just that and it’s only when they’re climbing onto their bikes that Mike frowns, remembering something he forgot. “I’ll be right back. I forgot something.”
Will frowns. “I’ll go with you—”
“That’s okay,” he rushes out far too quickly. “Just stay here. It’ll take me a second.”
Mike takes the stairs two at a time, not wanting Will to worry nor leave Will alone outside by himself for long.
He pushes open his bedroom door, eyes zeroing in on his thankfully still intact dresser though there is a large gash in the wood. Mike pries open his sock drawer, rifling around until his fingers touch canvas.
He shoves the painting in his bag, jogging back to Will.
Mike and Will are supposed to be sleeping, the curtains in the cabin drawn to prevent the new sunlight from streaming through the windows.
Everyone was supposed to be getting a few hours of rest—El and Kali in her room, Joyce in Hopper’s, Mike and Will in the living room, and the rest in their respective homes.
Mike had given Will the couch and rolled out his old sleeping bag onto the hard wooden floor. He would wake up with a killer backache but it was better him than Will.
Mike is tired, his eyes dry and aching, but he still can’t sleep.
It felt wrong to be doing so, knowing both his parents were in the hospital and his sisters were stuck in the Upside Down—one in the clutches of the very monster they were trying to fight. It didn’t matter how many times he told himself he would be of no use to them if he couldn’t stay awake—something was keeping him up.
Mike shifts in the sleeping bag, resting on his side so he can look at Will curled up on the couch. He’s already asleep, curled on his right side because that was his favorite position, lips parted just enough to breathe out slowly and deep.
His eyelids were twitching, a dream, but not a nightmare as his expression was clear. His fingers were curled around the pillow beneath his head, hair fanned out all over the place.
Will looks beautiful and Mike feels envious again, his stomach fluttering. But was that right?
In the silence and stillness of the cabin, with Mike being the only one awake, he can’t not acknowledge that fluttery feeling.
Mike has felt envy before and quite frequently, and it didn’t come as a buzz of warmth in the chest or a flutter in the stomach. No, this was something else entirely, something Mike had never felt before.
That wasn’t true either though.
He always feels this way when he looks at Will, when he talks with him, when he smiles at Mike.
This was something he’s read about in novels, heard about in movies and T.V. programs, and Nancy’s dumb girly magazines.
This was—
One moment of clarity and suddenly the world spins off its axis, leaving Mike with a truth he doesn’t know how to handle:
He was completely, hopelessly, pathetically in love with Will Byers.