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Mike sees him when the gate opens fully – the bright, blood red light illuminating the whole scene in front of him.
It's the first time he actually sees Vecna, the monster ruthless while he repels the soldiers’ attacks with ease. Not a strain in his body.
It was easy to ignore the threat for the last eighteen months, with Mike never actually seeing Vecna, never actually hearing him. What's happening now, right in front of his face, is a harsh clash of his deepest, hidden fears with reality. And it's so much worse than he'd ever imagined.
It's been years since he was in the direct line of attack, a real, otherworldly danger this close to him. To kids. To Will.
There's too much happening all at once, the soldiers screaming, the burners directing their weapons at Vecna, only to be faced with Vecna ricocheting their own doing back at them.
Something blows up.
Something –
***
Everything hurts. Mike winces hard at the pain spreading throughout his body.
Kids. Where are the kids?
He looks around him frantically, his sight finally focusing on the children, and he can do nothing but watch as they're being dragged away by the demos.
He tries to scream, his voice dying in his throat, the massive lump not allowing him to do so. The tears build up in his eyes, but he's in too much pain to wipe them away.
He watches the kids disappear into the dark void.
He breathes out a rugged breath, his pupils shifting rapidly, trying to access the situation.
His eyes zero on Joyce laying on the opposite side of the yard, unconscious.
His breath becomes shallow, heart rate speeding as he searches the battlefield for Will.
The air's knocked out of his lungs when he finds him – levitating, face to face with Vecna.
That's what happened to Max is the first thing he allows his mind to voice, the same thing happened to her and now she's in a coma – she died, he will die
Except today there's no Eleven to bring Will back.
His whole chest spasms, heart clenching so hard he curls into himself a little, but he doesn’t allow himself to stop looking at Will. He stands up, despite the pain echoing through his body. His limbs are trembling, legs straining under his weight to hold him upright.
He watches as Vecna gets closer to Will, and when the monster raises his hand and stops it right in front of Will's face.
Everything is silent, Mike's focus set fully on the interaction. Nothing hurts him anymore, not his head, not his arm. The only sign of him being alive is the shuddered breath he struggles to take. Eyes glazed, body frozen.
Mike's heart stops when Will starts falling down, back to the ground. The horror he feels for those few seconds – before he notices that Will is supporting himself, still alive, his limbs still strong, his bones not snapped – nothing he ever felt, nothing he ever encountered could ever come close to the absolute terror and dread he's felt for those few, excruciently long seconds, thinking it was Will’s dead body being pulled down by gravity.
His eyes are focused on alive Will the entire time, Mike’s barely able to register Vecna leaving.
His focus only shifts when he hears the groans of a demo, his eyes trailing quickly from Will back to the gate, the same one where kids previously got dragged away into, only to be faced with the monster coming back and charging at him with full speed, its hand cutting through air to strike.
His brain is so slow now, he can’t move, can’t think, his vision blurry – the only thing running through his head is Will is alive Will is alive
He tries to shield himself with his hand, his breath catching. He braces for the impact – except – there's none.
When he lifts his eyes the demo is – frozen. Frozen mid-air, straining against some invisible force.
He looks past it.
He looks past it – only to be met with Will – wielding the monster.
Will lifts it up in the air, snapping its bones, killing it. Saving Mike's life.
Mike feels like he's underwater, the sounds coming back to him delayed, his sight so indistinct – he feels like he's in a dream.
Will's eyes are blank, cloudy, Mike's not able to look him in the eye, as there is no pupil to focus on.
But – when his eyes roll back to normal, they are already set on Mike.
Mike's breath hitches, the pain long forgotten, as his gaze meets the sorcerer's.
He can’t help the smile, the warmth in his stomach from spreading.
He was right.
***
He's the first one to reach Will, Joyce still unconscious, probably injured, on the ground.
Mike should be more worried about her, after all Will looks fine, but it’s like his body is drawn to Wills like a magnet. It's like an instinct for him to always follow Will. He runs over to him on his wobbly legs.
Mike drops down on his knees and pulls the boy into his arms, gripping him tight at his sides.
It takes a second for Will to reciprocate, his arms more brushing Mike's sides than really holding him, which makes Mike worry he might be still out of it, in a trance – Mike loosens his grip and pulls back in order to hold Will's face in his hands and checks if his eyes haven't become cloudy again.
Two thoughts hit Mike in that exact moment – the first being that Will is already looking at him, his gaze wavering but focused, so he's here, he's present, safe. The second thought is just an observation really.
With the position Mike put them in, they’re really close.
Mike is so shaken, so grateful, he's never been so full of everything, he connects their foreheads together, allowing Will to lean on him again.
– Thank you, thank you, thank you – he whispers under his breath, just for Will to hear.
He can see Will's eyes fluttering close, the boy taking a deep breath in, calming down.
Mike doesn't close his eyes, using this opportunity to fully take in Will’s face. His lidded eyes, his long eyelashes, wet with old tears, his parted lips drawing in shuddered breaths.
He's alive.
Mike closes his eyes, when he can feel them starting to water, the relief flooding his body.
He's alive and he saved my life.
Will finally lifts his arms, draping them stiffly onto Mike's shoulders, the rest of his body still frozen in place.
Mike opens his eyes again, his gaze flickering between Will's furrowed brows and his quivering lips.
– I was so scared, I thought he was gonna kill you – Mike whispers into the small space between them.
Will lifts his head and opens his eyes, hearing the shakiness of his words, now scanning Mike's distraught face.
It's all too much, Mike's so overwhelmed, he's feeling so much – the absolute horror blending with immense relief, blurring the lines between dread and ease. His body is in a state of shock, legs frozen, kneeling, his arms clinging to Will, clasped hard on the sides of his face as a reminder that he's alive and conscious, right in front of him.
– And then – Mike attempts to take a deep breath in, the air hardly reaching his lungs, his breath short and uncoordinated – when-when you started to fall–
He’s unable to finish the sentence, a sob ripped out of his body. He can’t calm down, his lungs feel too small to contain the air he’s attempting to force down, his heart too slow to catch up with the blood coursing through his veins.
His hands tremble, despite being anchored to Will’s body, Mike brushes his hands one last time against Will’s face before sliding them down his neck to rest at his biceps, his arms too tired, too weak for him to hold them higher, against the boy’s face.
– Shh, it's fine, we're fine – he feels Will straining his muscles under his hands, the boy moving his arms up, sliding them along the back of Mike's neck, finally finding their place on Mike's cheeks, mirroring their previous position.
Will's tense fingers wipe away the tears seeping through Mike's eyes and running down his cold cheeks.
Mike's eyelids flutter, closing for a second before opening again, where he's met with the worry etched onto Will's face.
– Everything's fine now, see – Will smiles softly at him, connecting their foreheads again, his hands now just resting on Mike's face, letting the last of Mike's tears fall freely.
Mike struggles to form a coherent response, his mind absolutely blank – he doesn't know what to say, he doesn’t know what he's feeling, he doesn’t know anything other than the boy in front of him.
His gaze falls from Will's eyes to his lips and settles there for a second.
Then he moves closer.
Mike brings up one of his hands to brush Will's disheveled hair behind his ear, his other hand still grasping onto Will's arm.
Will locks eyes with him, caught off guard.
But his eyes are filled with nothing but affection and emotion.
Mike doesn't think about anything, not about the kids, about Joyce, not about the consequences – he doesn't think about anything other than kissing Will.
He moves his hand down to trace Will’s lips. Will’s breath hitches, his eyes never leaving Mike's, even when Mike's focus fully shifts to his lips.
Feeling brave, Mike closes the space between them.
He doesn’t move at first, giving Will an opportunity to back away, but when Will starts moving his lips against his, Mike breaks – the tears rushing down his cheeks once again.
He brushes back against Will’s soft lips, the touch slow and delicate.
Mike wants to pour all of his love into that moment, all of his wait and fear.
He doesn’t entirely understand what’s happening right now and how it might affect them. He doesn’t understand, but even if he did, he wouldn't care.
Not when Mike can feel Will grazing his fingers alongside his jaw, not when he can feel the way he's softly tracing lines on his skin.
The kiss is nothing but pure and tender.
They're both so gentle, careful, moving their lips alongside each other, in sync.
They pull away from each other slowly. Mike's gaze immediately settles on Will's face, searching for any sight of distaste, hatred, regret.
But he finds none of those things.
The only thing he finds is undeniable affection.
Mike is sure that Will can clearly see what that kiss meant to him – Mike couldn't always find the right words to say, but he knows Will could always see what was going on inside of his head. Will always understands.
And that kiss meant to him so much.
Mike brushes his fingers alongside Will's face gently, lovingly gazing at the boy when he flutters his eyelids in response to the tender touch, his lips forming a small smile. Mike smiles at the reaction, grateful he didn't mess anything up with his decision.
– Sorry – Mike shakes his head lightly – was that alr-
Mike attempts to ask, but he gets cut off by Joyce – Will! Will, are you okay!?
Both of them turn their heads in her direction, Joyce attempting to lift herself up, but visibly struggling.
Will gets up on his own shaky legs, momentarily heading in her direction.
– We're fine, don't get up, I'm coming!
Mike watches as Will assists his mother, helping her to stand up, leaning her weight on himself.
Okay, time to get out of here.
Mike looks around – and it's the first time he actually does that since he noticed Will – and it’s. The scene is a lot.
There are dead soldiers, everywhere. The trucks blown up, bullets scattered around. Death everywhere.
– Radio shack – he mumbles, his eyes set on the building – guys, let's go through the radio shack!
Mike runs up to the rest, reaching out to help support Joyce.
– It's fine, Mike, I've got her – Will doesn't wait, already leading Joyce to the shack.
Mike's confused by the rejection, did he-
Oh god. He did mess up
But everything seemed to be alright? Will seemed to be alright – with his loving eyes, his shy little smile and.
He reciprocated, right? He did kiss him back? Did Mike just imagined it all?
Suddenly he's shaken again, frozen in his tracks. He messed up. He took advantage of the situation. Maybe Will wasn’t actually here, maybe he was in a trance.
Mike feels like he might cry again.
– Mike, you coming? – Will turns around to look at him.
Mike snaps out of it, locking eyes with Will.
He doesn’t look angry, he doesn’t look like he feels anything specific actually, he looks like he's just set on the task – getting them out of here.
– Yeah. Yeah, I’m coming – he shakes off his worries for now, following in Will’s footsteps.
***
They're at the Squawk now. All of them. The children got taken, Lucas and Robin are injured – they had to bandage Lucas, Robin settled with an icepack.
They're all sitting down around the table, Mike and Will seated next to each other, with their thighs lightly brushing. Silence is filling the room, while everyone is processing the new revelation they've just heard.
Will explained everything that happened, Mike staying mostly silent throughout his talk, chiming maybe once or twice to clarify the technical details regarding his powers.
But he was too busy processing his own feelings and worries to be actually, actively, participating in the conversation.
The silence is comfortable, everyone seemingly deep in their own thoughts.
A lot happened today.
Mike doesn't know if he should pull Will aside to talk or just let him have his space. He can’t get a good read on him – Will seems distraught and absent-minded and Mike can’t place the exact reason behind those feelings. Is he thinking about the kids? about Vecna? his powers?
Or was Mike a cause of that emotional turmoil he seems to be facing?
Will's frame is tense, sitting straight and still. Mike can notice in the periphery that the only moving part of his body is his chest and an occasional furrow of his brows. It's almost like he's not present at all.
– Can we talk? – he hears Will ask from the side, Mike's head snapping in the direction of his voice immediately.
Except – Will isn't talking to him. He's talking to Robin who's sprawled out on the couch opposite of them.
She looks taken aback, not expecting the plea, but gets up from her seat momentarily, reaching out her hand to Will.
– Sure, come on.
Mike attempts to lock eyes, at least briefly, with Will, but Will isn’t looking at him. He takes Robin’s hand in his own and stands up to follow her.
Mike watches as the pair leaves, his heart rate speeding.
Why would Will want to talk to her right now? Out of nowhere? Mike noticed they have gotten close in the last couple of days, but what was so important that Will needed to talk about with her now? At this very moment?
He should be talking with Mike, not Robin.
Mike watches as the door of the basement closes behind them, the room once again filled with silence.
Mike looks around, wanting to assess the situation, wanting to know what the others think about Will disappearing with Robin out of nowhere. And literally no one seems to care, in fact it doesn't look like they've even noticed.
He needs some air.
– I’ll just go outside for a minute – he mumbles under his breath. He's not waiting for any response, already heading to the exit.
The exhaustion hits him once he leans against the cold brick wall. It's like his body can’t take anymore tension, his stiff shoulders dropping down, his knees buckling under his weight.
He sits down on the ground, sliding his back against the wall.
The harsh November wind stings his skin, but he's not bothered by it. It feels good, the cold grounding him.
He closes his eyes, the only thing keeping him awake are his thoughts. He feels like he's running around in circles. He's scared for the kids. He's scared for Holly, his parents. He's worried about Nancy and Dustin. He's terrified of what he did to Will. Because he must’ve done something. Will never run from confrontations, so why can’t he even properly look at Mike?
Tears escape from underneath his lidded eyes, creating warm tracks on his freezing cheeks.
The last few days must’ve been one of the worst in his life, and when he finally thought he did something right, it backfired hard. The world is ending, everything was already a massive mess and he managed to make it even worse.
It's not like he kissed Will out of nowhere and hoped for the best – the last eighteen months drew them closer than they've ever been before. They've shared warm, longing looks, they’re always touching, even if it’s just their fingers brushing, knees connecting – it's like they are being constantly drawn to one another. And there's also the painting. The painting Mike knows Will lied about.
Mike was always afraid to voice his love for Will, but he was never scared to show it.
He was stupid to think that it'd be enough.
He wipes his face with his hands, then runs them through his hair in an act of frustration, gripping hard at the ends.
He never planned on kissing Will, certainly not in those circumstances, he was just so scared, terrified. He can’t imagine his life without Will in it.
He hears the doors opening in one swift motion, the old hinges squeaking, then closing just as fast.
He barely has a chance to think about lifting his head to check who came out of the station, when there's a body dropping down right beside him.
– Here – Will wraps a blanket around the front of his body, Mike’s back still tightly squeezed to the wall – It's freezing.
Will's got his own blanket draped around his shoulders. When he's satisfied with the way Mike's body is covered by the wool, he tightens his own blanket around himself.
Mike just gazes up at him in silence, confused.
Will looks back at him, a small smile set on his lips. The same lips Mike kissed an hour prior.
The silence that settles is filled with unspoken words, yet it's so comfortable.
– Do you hate me? – Mike asks after few minutes of quiet, his voice wavering, breaking at the very end.
The smile drops from Will's face, his whole body freezes.
– No, why- why would you say that?
– You wouldn't look at me, you never said anything after – Mike takes a deep breath in, struggling with saying it out loud – after I kissed you.
Will looks genuinely guilty, his brows slightly furrowed when he turns his body fully in Mike's direction.
– I'm sorry, I just. I didn’t know what to do – he reaches under Mike's blanket to hold his trembling hand, intertwining their fingers – You kissing me was the last thing I expected after killing a demo – He laughs wetly, tears slowly filling up his eyes.
– Three. You killed three demos.
– Yeah, three. – He smiles.
Mike can't take his eyes off of him. He can’t take his eyes off of the way the yellow streetlight warms up Will's face. He can’t take his eyes off of the way Will looks at him, like he's the most important thing right now.
– I was scared I did something wrong. That I messed us up. I didn't really think what I was doing, all I could think about was how scared I was that he was gonna take you, like he took the kids. And then – Mike's voice breaks, his hands shaking, from the cold and the stress – then I remembered what happened to Max, and, and-I can’t lose you, Will.
Will brings up his free hand to wipe his tears away. Mike cried today so much, he didn’t even notice his vision becoming blurry again.
– You're not losing me, I'm right here. I'm always here – Will pulls him into his arms – You won't lose me, ever.
– You don’t know that.
– But I know. We're a team, right? Whatever happens, we're in it together.
Will lifts his head up, guiding Mike's to look him in the eyes – Alright? Together?
– Together – Mike leans on him, connecting their foreheads.
Will smiles, his eyes crinkling.
They’re both quiet for a while, the only sound being the blowing wind and their beating hearts.
– Can I kiss you again? – Mike whispers into the space between them.
Will just nods, already closing the gap between their lips.