Chapter Text
Mike sits on a bench, alone, staring at the big ‘NEW HAWKINS’ signs everywhere. They finally finished rebuilding the town, and it looks pretty good. Of course, it isn’t as good as how it was at first, how it was when he was raised here but what can he do? Everything else he knew, everything he loved, is gone; metaphorically anyways.
It all started with a stupid crush, a crush that has yet to disappear from his heart.
A crush on someone with a very nicely styled bowl cut, even though it’s horribly out of style, their face is sharp, but gentle in just the right places, eyes; a deep hazel- in short, everything about them is just perfect. It’s everything he could ever dream of.
But he’s realistic with the truth.
He knows he cannot have him.
There’s many reasons why, and yes it’s mostly because he’s a boy, but also, he used to be his best friend. Not that he remembers that, but Mike can’t do it. He used to be that boys, Will byers, everything.
Now, he’s not even a thing in his head.
He’s tried to avoid the voice in his head, telling him to forget him, but how can he forget Will?
It’s different when the memories are forcefully ripped out of your head, but it didn’t happen to him. He remembers everything that the others forgot, and he’d do anything to join them.
He hates himself for it, he was a kid and almost caused the world to end because he wanted to spend a few more minutes with his crush; that mind you, he didn’t know it was a crush at the time. He didn’t create Vecna, but he did create the bridge between the worlds.
So for the bridge to be disconnected, they needed to cut the relationships to the bridge out of everyone. No one knew at the time it was Mike and his overall existence, so it’s not their fault for letting him be deleted. Deep down inside though, he knows even if they knew, they’d make that sacrifice, and he wouldn’t have blamed them.
He blames himself for being a moron and letting evils into the world.
He often compares to himself as ‘Pandora’, as he sees it as a more fitting name than Micheal. Pandora was given and had everything she could’ve wanted, and had one rule, do not open the box. She was selfish, in Mike’s opinion, and opened the box despite having everything. He sees himself in her. He had everything, a loving family, anything he could’ve asked for, the world's best friends, but he was selfish. He wanted more, and opened a world giving him dire consequences in the end.
His eyes linger on the town sign in front of him, wondering how much it’s changed.
Everything just reminds him of the person he wished he got to know. He always dreamed of a future with Will, whether it was a romantic one or a platonic one.
None of that matters now though.
He destroyed that future when he wished for Will to stay.
It’s not like he disappeared entirely either, an ending where it would probably hurt less. He was documented and recognized as a student at Hawkins high, all the documents are valid though he wasn’t legally connected to his family anymore. He found all of his stuff scattered throughout alleyways of the city. He didn’t ever exist with them.
If he was erased completely, maybe he could’ve restarted. Moved to a new town where nobody knew him, and he knew nobody, somewhere beautiful and new where he could rewrite his path.
He tries his best, really, to not dwell on it too much. He just doesn’t have the heart, the will to risk it, to try to leave when he’s made it this far.
He’s barely getting by the way he is now, and he can’t be distracted. He has to stay focused on moving forward and grow from who he used to be.
It really shouldn’t be that hard, he’s made it this far anyways.
It’s his final semester in Hawkins high, he’s secured a job as a library receptionist, and he’s finally saved up enough to move out of his crumby apartment and into a dorm in what ever collage will take him.
And he’s almost out.
90 days left.
He has to survive on his own for 90 more days, and then he can move on.
Since his whole restart, he hasn’t made a new friend since, and seriously, he’s fine with that. Though all this time, he’s spent convincing himself he’s over them forgetting him, he stays. He’s hoping graduation will free him.
He stares at that sign, just still, just thinking, for so long. “Hey kiddo, you’ve been sitting here awhile. Are you okay?” Mike feels a tap on his shoulder.
He already knows who it is and can feel the pit in his stomach already. This isn’t the first time he’s talked to Hopper since the incident. “Hi chief.” He whispers, eyes not leaving the sign.
“I always find you here, alone.” He comments, sliding next to him on the bench.
Mike laughs, “You're always here to bug me, plus, being alone isn’t all too bad.” Hopper returns his laugh before he speaks.
“Micheal, right? I think you’ve mentioned that before.” Mike doesn’t move, it still hurts hearing
. “I’ve looked through a few records and you're a senior at Hawkins high, correct?”
Mike finally turns and looks at him, eyes narrowing. “What does that matter to you?”
“I got a few kids there… That I know, and I think maybe talking to them wouldn’t be a bad idea.” He slips his hat off. “They’d make sure you're never alone again.”
Mike rolls his eyes and looks back, melting onto the bench. “Like I said, being alone isn’t all that bad as you're making it.”
“I just thought I’d offer.” He places the hat back on his head and stands up. “Don’t be getting yourself into any trouble, okay?”
Mike watches as Hopper doesn’t move. He’s waiting for Mike to respond. “Yeah, yeah sure. No trouble.”
Hopper smiles before he starts walking away. He gives Mike one small look before talking again. “Even if you don’t want to be friends with them, I’m sure they want to be friends with you.”
“Are you implying that- Hey!” Mike stands up, calling out for Hopper as he just starts walking away faster. Mike lets it go, and just slumps back down on the bench.
Hopper, ever since the first day he’s seen him, keeps making these weird comments to him. Mike thought he was subtly saying ‘I remember you’ and when he mentioned his name Hopper didn’t even recognize it.
He also keeps saying stuff like ‘you don’t have to be alone’ and blah blah blah, but his old group is just so close, and in their final year, there’s no way they’d let some random nobody join them. It’s also not like Mike's going to be going out of his way to befriend them anyways so all done, case closed.
Though, the way Hopper talked to him today, that's out of the ordinary. He never sits with him or brings up anything personal about him, or matter of fact, mention that he looked for records on him. (Like what?)
So, maybe, just maybe, he should prepare for some kind of trouble.