Chapter Text
The battle with Vecna was finally over, although they knew they didn't win. He's still out there, that fool was still out there. Manipulating Holly and all of her friends. Will knew he failed, but had he really? He just became a goddamn sorcerer.
Joyce gets up first. Shocked. She is so proud of Will, the look in her eyes sparked and shimmered into his, he really just did that. Saved not only Mike, but Lucas and Robin. "I - I don't understand how did you-?"
Mike interrupts Joyce and runs over to Will, starstruck. "He's a sorcerer! A REAL LIFE HONEST TO GOD SORCERER!" Mike immediately embraces Will, holding him tight. He's so proud.
"Mike-" Will says softly.
Mike pulls away still holding onto his shoulders, "You really did it! Will, I'm - I'm so proud of you."
Mike was truly just mesmerized in that moment, when Will took out that demo, when he quite literally just saved his life. Little did he know, all Will had to do was think of Mike. Just Mike. He's the reason that Lucas, Robin, and Mike are all still alive. Mike pulls Will in for another hug, tighter this time.
Mike wraps his arms around Wills back and hip, forgetting Joyce is still there. "Thank you..." He whispers. Will is instantly flushed with his face red. Mike pulls back once more, with Will giving Joyce one last hug. "We need to get back to the others, now." She stutters. They then begin to search for their van.
Once they found the van, Mike is blabbing about Will having powers all the way back, just being obsessed with him at this point, but Will loves it obviously. He's really smiling. he's finally smiling. Will gazes up at Mike as he rants about him, He's happy. After all of these years he feels the slightest beam of joy. He's been kidnapped, almost killed countless times, bullied, treated differently, even by his own friends, but seeing Mike care, he really felt complete.
"Will really, how did you-"
Will interrupts him. "Mike I, really it's not that serious."
"What? Of course it is Will! You can tell me anything. You know that, right?"
But could he? Could Will really tell Mike anything? Just Mike saying his name made him blush. He makes himself think it's just a silly crush, but in reality, Mike is the love of his life. He couldn't ever imagine a world without him, but he knows that this was wrong, this wasn't right, and what about El? He couldn't ever do that to her. Will loves her with his whole heart. He feels guilty, so, so guilty. He tries to ignore his feelings but he just, can't. He can't hide this away in the back of his head. Every time Will looks at Mike, he feels safe, warm, happy. "Will?" It's just a stupid crush. Stop being so weird. "Will?" you're disgusting. How would El feel? "Will!" Mike shouts.
Will snaps out of his thoughts at last. "Oh god - uhm sorry I was just-" Will stammers.
"What - what's wrong are you okay!? Tell me you're okay Will please!" Mike worries.
"Mike- I'm fine really."
"Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it or anything? I'm always here you know. Always." Mike puts his hand on Will's shoulder, squeezing it gently. He stares into Will's emerald eyes that are shimmering in the moonlight.
"I'm fine again really I just-" Will looked tired, sad. "I guess I just needed to think of something I- loved. And somehow, I guess I just- channeled Vecna's powers and used them against him... I don't really know how but- yeah. I'm just so scared Mike - I- I'm really scared-" Will's eyes are starting to water with his expression dropping along with the tears streaming down from his face.
"Oh Will-" Mike embraces Will in for another hug. He holds him tight as Will sobs into his chest, Mike rubs his thumb in circles on Will's back with Will nuzzling into his chest.
"Shh, you're okay Will, Everything's- okay. You're safe with me." "Oh-okay- Sniff I-I'm sorry I'm such a- a mess- ha..." Will sobs. "Hey, don't you dare be sorry for anything. You're my hero Will. My hero." Mike says softly.
Will really did feel safe. He felt loved and cared for. But memories flashed back and forth throughout Will's mind, those tunnels, it was his fault, Mike ignoring him and being a complete asshole in California, was it because of him? Did he do something wrong? "I- I'm... sorry." Will repeats. The look on Mike's face was filled with a mixture of disbelief and sadness. He never wanted to see Will like this; he hated it. He hated it.
Joyce immediately steps on the gas and Will and Mike try to get a hold of anyone. "Lucas, Dustin, Robin does anyone copy over?" Mike repeats. "Lucas, Dustin, anyone do you copy over?" He says once more before giving up.
"I COPY-" cracks a voice on the walkie.
"Lucas is that you?!" Mike stammers.
"Yes- y-yeah I'm at the MACZ, I- shit- got really slashed man... please hurry-" Lucas says softly, his voice is weak, Mike and Will start to worry.
"Shit were coming- uh you're still in that tunnel, right?" Will adds.
"Yeah- it's just- did El? -" Lucas was confused and scared, they heard it in his voice.
"We'll explain everything once we get there, we're coming." Mike says.
They soon got ahold of Robin, and she basically had said the same thing as Lucas, everyone was so shocked and confused. As they got to the MACZ, everyone ran over to the entrance of the tunnels in the bunk where they were keeping the kids, grabbed Lucas and got him out of there, explaining everything.
"Oh my god- You're- you're really Will the Wise! Like for real!" Lucas says joyfully, he's proud of his friend. Everyone was.
"I'm not really-"
"He's more like a sorcerer than a wizard." Mike says proudly.
"Well sorcerer or wizard that was insane- Will you- you saved my life." Lucas says gratefully.
Mike seemed jealous. "And mine." Mike adds. They went to go get Robin and grabbed an icepack for her head from the impact of the crash. They dropped off Lucas and Robin back at the WSQK, and Joyce, Will and Mike headed back to the Wheeler's. As Joyce pulled into the Wheeler's driveway, Mike gave Will one last hug. It was so genuine, so warm.
"Thanks again... Really." Mike says. They both stepped out of the car and went straight into the house.
It was a long night. They all needed rest. Will got a quick snack and went down into the basement. He then proceeds to brush his teeth and take a long shower. He lit some candles and got his makeshift bed ready. That's when Will hears a soft knock up the stairs.
"Will?" A quiet voice whispers.
"Uhm- come in..." He says.
"Uh hey." It was Mike, what was he doing down here so late?
"Hey uh- what's wrong?"
"Oh n-nothing I just; I wanted to see if you were okay for the night." Will wanted to say something along the lines of, "I'm scared to sleep down here I know that's really childish but-" Or "Yeah I'm fine it's just cold and I feel pretty isolated haha..." But he ignored it.
"Oh yeah I'm fine." He blurts out, he couldn't say anything else.
"Will, I know today was- not great obviously, and I'm kinda worried... I just- do you want some company?" Mike responds. Will felt a sense of relief.
"Yeah, sure! It's pretty lonely down here anyway haha..."
"Alright! - uh I'll go get my blankets." As Mike slowly went back up the stairs to his room, Will stares at him walking up the stair well, frozen. In disbelief of what just happened. Mikes sleeping down here... with me?! Oh shit. He thought. This would be so awkward. But at least he would get a chance to talk to Mike for once, without having to fight for their lives. Will then finished making his bed as Mike came back down into the basement.
"So, has everything been alright down here? Sleeping wise?" Mike asks.
"Oh yeah uhm it's perfect really, thanks."
"Anytime." Mike smiles at Will, with Will returning it.
"Where should I uh- sleep?" Will freezes. Crap. He thought. How the hell should he know, Mike was the one who wanted to sleep down there with him in the first place.
"Oh yeah uhm I'm sleeping on the floor so I guess you can take the couch. He forgot his bed was right next to the couch, literally touching it.
"Yeah perfect!" Mike says. Mike sits on the couch getting his bed ready, once he was done, both Will and Mike got ready to sleep.
"Do you uh- wanna talk about anything?" Mike asks as he tucks himself in. "Like about I guess how the hell you did that- I'm just still in utter shock really, you saved my life Will..." He spoke.
"Oh, uh yeah sure I guess, uhm..." Will didn't know how to say this to Mike. How would he say to him, oh by the way, the thing that I thought about, you know the thing I loved, it was you, Mike! He couldn't do that, but he didn't want to lie to him again. "Well, I think it probably had to do with me being tapped into the hive mind obviously, and somehow I just- did that...?" He says unsurely. So far so good. That wasn't a lie.
"But- what was the thing you said you thought about, you know what you told me in the van?" Mike told him. Oh awesome. Just perfect. Will thought.
"This is gonna sound really corny and everything, but I guess I just thought about, you..." Uh oh. "And our party!" Will said quickly. Welp, I lied. Again.
"No, no that's not corny, and- I'm happy to uh... help? haha..." Mike said with a smile.
"Yeah, uh- you were really a big part of what I was thinking about so... thanks, Mike for just- being there for me for all of these years, really." Will responds. Did that fix it?
"But- I've been an asshole recently Will and it's not fair to you. I never wanted to- hurt you, ever. All I've ever wanted to do was protect you and I guess I just; failed." Mike told him.
Will rose from the ground to make eye contact with Mike.
"Hey, please don't say that..." But Will knew it was true, Mike was quite literally homophobic towards Will once, and he'll never forget that. But he never wanted Mike to feel guilty.
"You were kind of an asshole, but- Mike honestly, you've helped me through so much. I don't want you to feel so guilty about anything."
"Will, I- I hurt you... I promised myself I'd never do that to any of you guys, nobody in our party, ever." He said. "You never deserved any of the crap I gave you, you never deserved being fucking kidnapped and getting possessed by that asshole, none of it. I was so, so scared for you then Will, I just- want to; protect you. I just want you to be happy. I just want everyone to be happy, to play dnd with the party again, for you to... be my best friend again. Truth is I- I missed you so much in Lenora Nancy was getting tired of me being so depressed all the time. I just wanted you back. I just wanted to- be with you again." Mike says quickly. His eyes started to water a bit; he started to stutter more. "Haha… why are you crying? I hate seeing you like this, you know that!” Mike cries with a laugh.
“I- hah-I don’t like seeing you cry…” Will says into Mike's shoulder.
“Dork.” He laughs.
“Idiot.” Will says back. After a while of them both crying into each other's arms, they slowly pulled back as they both wiped the tears off their red faces, their eyes puffy. “Hey, we're gonna be okay alright? Promise me Will, please. I- I don’t want to lose you again.” Mike said with a raspy voice. “Promise.” Will said softly as he grabbed Mike’s pinky with his, holding it tight. “And Mike really, I… forgive you. I couldn't ever hate you, ever." Will puts his hand on top of Mike's, with their fingers intertwining.