Chapter Text
After Eleven closed the portal things strangely got to their normal order. She even stopped to hide now and was adopted by Jim Hopper and became Jane. Somehow that pissed Mike off. He liked the time when she was a secret only for their crew. That made him feel like he was a part of some superhero story. Wasn’t it a dream for every single kid? A friend group fighting the bad guys? And moreover, he was a guide to the very Superman – or better say Supergirl, but Mike never thought of doing that – into their world. He felt very special by explaining to El basic things around there.
But it all changed after Bob died. It was the first time the realization of a danger hit Mike. It should had been the second, but he, personally, never believed in the Will’s dead body, not even for a second. However now… Now it was different. Obviously, Mike wasn’t close to that boyfriend of Mrs. Byers, but he’d be a fool if he didn’t notice that his best friend was deeply affected by Bob’s death. Over the past two years Mike grew very protective of Will. Others, of course, were there also most of the time, but one of them were as close as Byers and Wheeler’s boys were. They were inseparable since elementary school, always hung out together. Later Dustin and Lucas joined in the middle school. But Mike and Will? They were just like brothers already. There wasn’t a parting in the Party, but no one would doubt the specialty of the bond between them.
For three good months they followed each other everywhere. The night in the Hawkins National Laboratory almost glued them together. A curious reader might very reasonably ask why there’s a specific time period and if anything happened after. The truth was, nobody knew. Whenever Lucas or Dustin tried to ask any of them, Mike suddenly became hot under the collar and gave one of his brand irritated grimaces, that made everyone embarrassingly scratch the back of their necks and change the topic. However, there were some rumors about some school fight among other pupils because someone saw Mrs. Walsh, Mr. Dante and Wheeler parents entering principal’s office in the middle of a school day. But that was still a rumor and such a big fight would be definitely discussed among children their age, so Lucas and Dustin had chosen to deny them skeptically. “Mike cannot statistically beat Troy and James all by himself and stay alive after that,” Dustin once said to Lucas and Max, agreeing on that. Shortly after, Mike started to hang around Hopper’s cabin, and the Party just assumed that he started to date El. It seemed logical after Lucas and Max got together after the Snow Ball. No one else was close with Eleven as Mike was, right?
By June, the Party separated on two pair of lovebirds, Dustin in some science camp and Will, who was forced to observe the third pair of lovebirds in his very own home.
Mike seemed happy to spend time with El. They laughed, listened to music, read comics. One day, Eleven saw on some comedy that Hopper watched how two people kissed and then she asked her boyfriend if they could do it to, like on the TV. Mike never kissed before and didn’t even think about it, but there was an urge to prove El and himself that he’s cool. “Of course I can teach you how to kiss!” He said proudly with a hint of nervousness. He only saw the rare kisses between his parents on holidays and birthdays and on some mother’s soap operas that she watched every evening while she cooked a dinner. Mike thought that it would come naturally during a process, but when they kissed… he actually was confused. Behind all that teenager and manly proudness, he felt not really much. He was slightly disappointed by that, but brushed off the feeling and decided that it was just another overrated ‘adult’ activity. Mike also wasn’t sure how long a kiss should last, so he always counted to forty or get distracted by the sudden thought he wanted to share immediately. And El seemed to like kisses. “It’s like in movies!” She always exclaimed.
Today Mike was already bored by kisses, but he couldn’t come up with a new idea how to spend time with his girlfriend. They were used to fighting monsters together, saving the world side by side. But hanging out? Mike Wheeler didn’t know how. He obviously knew how to spend time with his friends, even with Max – who was also a girl – but he didn’t have any troubles thinking about how to entertain her. Probably it was Lucas’ business. Were the only activities you could do with your girlfriend kisses, hugs and break ups? How even his parents aren’t bored by that after all of those years of marriage… He’d like to discuss with El a new X-men comic, but she never looked truly interested. And that made Mike feel slightly embarrassed. Sometimes he’d like to just return in his basement and play with the Party, but it was way too immature and not cool in his own opinion. Suddenly, Mike heard a familiar tune and broke another kiss. He liked to show off in front of Eleven, especially when it came to knowing things she didn’t such as song lyrics. “Mike, stop!” She laughed and shut him with her palm. She didn’t know why even Mike did all of that. Perhaps, it was something that you should do while you listened to music. And El tried to mimicked how he sang some songs when she was alone at home in the mornings. But it was still kind of a mystery to her. “You don’t like it?” he sounded so genuinely confused it made El laugh. “No!” She burst out in a laughter again. That wounded Mike’s proudness. He thought that he looked really cool during that performance. To hide his embarrassment, he leaned for a kiss again. It now was clear to him why adults were so boring all the time; those kisses are pretty draining!
The door was suddenly shut, not without El’s help. Jim definitely saw them kissing. He caught them several times before already. It pissed him off so much every time and Jim grimaced ridiculously. “Three inches minimum!” He screamed from the living room and crossed the distance between his beloved chair and his daughter’s door. When he stormed in, Mike and her were already pretending to read comic books. “What’s wrong?” Wheeler looked at Jim shamelessly and El couldn’t suppress a giggle. Hopper’s lips twitched and Mike was kicked immediately out.
“Oh my god! That was priceless!” Wheeler rode on his bicycle up the road to the Starcourt Mall. “Did you see his face?” He laughed, remembering how red the chief of Hawkin’s police was. “It was like a tomato!” El giggled through the radio. “Yeah, a fat tomato,” he corrected her jokingly. He loved to make Hopper angry and tease him. Somehow it helped him not to think that Jim hid Eleven for nearly a year. He was the one who found the girl, he was the one who saved her. And now some random douchebag wanted to hide her from the Party. That was simply hilarious! Mike wanted to prove Hopper wrong so bad, he sometimes couldn’t sleep at nights, plotting another treat to his sanity. “I wish I was still with you,” Mike heard through the radio. “I know,” he said automatically, “me too. But see you tomorrow, alright? First thing”. It was a right thing to say, Mike knew that she needs to hear this. Like a necessary phrase you had to say out of politeness. “Tomorrow…” El responded and the connection was ended.
Eleven curled on her bed, surrounded by pillows. Jim continued to watch that detective show of his. Not long after she heard his snore. Her eyes wondered across the ceiling of her room. El hated those parts of evenings when she was all by herself. That reminded her of the last year when she had to hide from the soldiers. But soon she would go to school, just like normal children! Only one and a half months were left, what could go wrong? That always made Eleven feel overexcited and kick her feet in the air. She craved a lot to finally have a chance to find new friends, attend Mr. Clark’s classes and join the radio club. Hopper and Joyce spent a lot of time teaching her the material she should had know by the senior year of a middle school. It was only a matter of time when her dream would become her reality.
Lucas, Max and Will waited for Mike fifteen minutes longer than they agreed on. Sinclair wondered around nervously and tried to stretch his neck as high as possible to see a familiar bicycle. That pissed his girlfriend even more that Mike’s delay. “Can you just stop making so much noise?” She rolled her eyes, pulling him back by his shoulder. “It’s a mall, there will always be noise!” Lucas noticed reasonably. “Exactly,” she waved her hands in the air, “there is enough already even without you.” Somehow that made him stop to jump around, but his leg gave up his stress. Finally, he noticed a familiar silhouette and crossed his arms on his chest like his mother would do when she was angry on him or Erica. “You’re late. We’re gonna miss the opening.” Lucas said instead of a greeting. “Yeah, if you keep whining,” Mike rolled his eyes, grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging towards the entrance. “Let me guess, you were busy?” Lucas mimicked the kissing sounds. “Oh, El, I wish we could make out forever, and never hang out with any of our friends.” Mike felt an irritation because Lucas addressed him in front of Will like it was something bad. At least he thought it was. A sudden urge to protect his posture and defend himself in friend’s eyes. Moreover, he heard a giggle from behind his back and felt how his armpits become wet. That was so embarrassing, Mike hated when Lucas teased him, as if they’re not the only two with relationships. Wasn’t Lucas supposed to be on his side?
“Lucas, stop,” Max’s voice cut the upcoming joke.
“Will thinks it’s funny.” Lucas was quick to defend himself.
“Because it is.”
And Will genuinely believed it was funny. To his own opinion, Lucas was the only one not possessed by that Love Fever. Even dating Max, he still constantly hung out with him, unlike Mike. There was also Dustin before, but he disappeared in that science camp a month ago and left him alone with all those lovebirds. “Yeah, it’s so funny that I want to spend romantic time with my girlfriend,” Mike was irritated that he now had to explain the basics. But he actually hadn’t to. Will squinted his lips. Like Mike didn’t spend most of his life with him and the Party. How long did he know that girl? Two years? And how did it erase all those years of their friendship. That all made Will confused and a bit irritated, but he quickly hid that negative feeling beneath the surface. It was normal to spend time with your girlfriend, he knew that. Knew, but didn’t understand why exactly. Seemed like past two years that he lost from the regular life distanced him from others and that exactly what made Will feel lost.
The Party rushed to the Scoops Ahoy, where Steve worked since the start of the summer. They quickly figured out that there’s a passage to the cinema, and that was only a matter of time when they’d use it to their profit. Steve’s coworker, Robin, a short-haired blonde girl exhaled when the crew entered. “Hey, dingus, your children are here,” she called Harrington and her eyebrows rose up in a specific funny manner she had. He slid the doors of a kitchen window apart and a sincere exhaustion was written on his face: “Again? Seriously?” Mike ringed the bell again instead of a verbal reply. They rushed through the kitchen to the back door and ran to the direction of a cinema hallway. The polished trick led them right by the time a movie started. The Party quickly found four free seats in one of the middle rows and pushed through the legs to them. Max and Lucas took two outside seats and Will sat between them and Mike. The food and drinks were passed from Will and they settled comfortably. But only for a short time because the picture on a screen suddenly stopped and the light turned off. All the hall exclaimed in disappointment. Little did they knew there was a whole energy cutout in the whole town. Something, that caused one very certain organism to awake somewhere deep in the dark basements… After five long minutes the light returned and so did the movie. The hall cheered and applauded. All of them, except Will. He felt something. He felt something familiar. The goosebumps. His lips trembled and a wave of a fear overwhelmed him. His fingers touched instinctively the back of his neck, trying to sooth them. To brush off that feeling. It was impossible to feel it again!
Mike glanced at him, but Will didn’t notice that.
“Hey?” A familiar voice took him back out of trance. The genuine worry was thick in his voice. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Will was quick to response, avoiding Mike’s eyes. He nodded several times to emphasize his words. “Of course.”
Jonathan rushed out of his room, putting on his shirt in a hurry. Joyce looked at him and suddenly stopped him to clean his cheek from a lipstick mark. Will glanced at his brother and sighed. He knew that Nancy was tonight at their house despite how they wanted to hide that fact. He bumped at her in the bathroom doors last night with wide eyes. Mike’s sister pressed a finger to her lips in a silent plea to be quiet. Will shrugged in response and returned to his room. He hated how even Jonathan now was a part of that Love Fever that consumed Hawkins. His mom returned to the table and Will shared his thoughts: “Ugh… Gross.” Joyce chuckled and said: “Well, I don’t think you’re gonna think that’s gross when you fall in love.” Will felt embarrassed. Why everyone now had to fall in love? He lived almost perfectly without any relationships. Moreover, he didn’t think that he would ever swap his party for some random girl. That just felt wrong. “I’m not gonna fall in love,” he muttered, pouring some maple syrup on his pancakes. Mom agreed, but Will didn’t think she believed him. Luckily, she was distracted by something in front of the fridge. His gaze followed Joyce down to the floor, where all the magnets they had laid chaotically like they were threw down by someone. Mrs. Byers picked up a picture of Bob drawn as Superman. Will couldn’t see but she smiled touchingly at the drawing before clipping it back to the fridge door.
After the breakfast Will rode to the Handerson’s household where they agreed on meeting by ten o’clock to prepare for Dustin’s return. He was away for a month and the Party missed him. They agreed that no games would be settled before he returned, and Will missed that a lot. Especially he missed one of those who weren’t in a relationship in that crazy world. All of them – Mike, Lucas, El, Max and Will – hid outside the Dustin’s room. The plan was simple: El move the toy robots to simulate a machine sabotage. When Dustin walked past their hiding spot, Mike counted till ten and whispered: “Now!” The band sneaked behind their friend and suddenly blew the whistles. Henderson screamed and sprayed Lucas’s face with setting spray that was in his hands for some reason. Sinclair screamed from pain while others burst out laughing. “Dustin, what the!” he cried out, trying to wipe the sticky liquid from his face, but that only made it spread over his face. Mike high-fived all of them as a sign of a successful mission.
Soon, the Party grabbed all the stuff that Dustin commanded to take with them, heading to the hills to catch a signal. He said that he invented Cerebro and now wanted to introduce them to Suzie – his girlfriend. That was like a knife in the back to Will. He didn’t even think that Dustin could betray their single club during only a month away. Now he definitely found himself left out. But all those thoughts went to the background after several hours of walking under the heating sun. “Aren’t we high enough?” Lucas moaned, his forehead was glistening from sweat. “Cerebro works best at a hundred meters,” Dustin replied, enhancing his walk speed. He seemed very enthusiastic. How he even wasn’t tired after that ascending? Mike was completely bored even without any stuff on him. So, when El whispered to him an idea to run away, he agreed quickly. After a quick lie about curfew, they ran away, laughing quietly.
“Curfew at 4:00?” Dustin asked skeptically the remaining members of the Party.
“They’re lying,” Lucas shrugged. He definitely wasn’t happy that mike and El could just run home after such long road.
“They’ve been like this all summer,” added Will.
“It’s romantic!” Max tried to defend them. Mostly El.
Again, that annoying romantic. Did everything really have to be about it? Will grabbed the metal construction tighter. Can’t people just hang out together like they used to all their lives before this summer?
“It’s gross,” Byers frowned exhaustingly.
“It’s bullshit! I just got home…” Dustin sounded really offended by that. Will could understand him perfectly. Though he was more annoyed by the fact that Mike left them again.
The band continued their way upward, but before Will could do a step, he froze. That feeling. Like in the cinema hall. Again. Goosebumps covered his back immediately like he was being stalked. He turned round trying to see something suspicious. But there was just a peaceful landscape with disappearing in the woods Mike and Eleven’s backs. Nothing outstanding at all. But that feeling… It was like the object was just few inches from him. Strange. Will rubbed his neck, looking lost. For a moment he looked down the hill an – he could swear to God – Mike turned to him for a second before noticing his eyes on him. Then he disappeared in trees. Dustin called him from the top of the hill and the feeling was quickly pushed back to the deep of his soul.
“Made it.” Dustin’s hands were on his sides in a proud posture. “Yeah, only took five hours” Max snapped at him teasingly before turning round and noticing that Lucas drank all the water they had. She shouted at him. Will turned back to Dustin and sighed: “Why can’t we just play D&D?” He was waiting for that all summer. That games were something that anchored him to the real world, time before monsters and other dimensions. His question remained without answering, only Max and Lucas argued on the background. Will sighed and started to help Dustin to set up the so-called Cerebro. Shortly after others joined them and by the sunset, they established the tower of a metal tubes and wires. It was really big and created an impression of something really futuristic from the Party’s perspective. Now only it took was just to call Suzie.
“Suzie, this is Dustin. Do you copy? Over.”
That phrase was repeated at least three million times over the past hours; Max could swear on that. “Dustin, c’mon, she isn’t gonna answer you,” she finally groaned and sat up. Her back ached because of the solid ground underneath her, and the plaid didn’t save from it. She scratched her back and looked lazily at Will and Lucas in a silent signal. “Or she’s not real,” Sinclair suggested, “a girl that’s hotter than Phoebe Cates? No girl is that perfect.” Will chuckled. He didn’t really think if Phoebe Cates was hot or not, but others usually said so, so he just accepted it’s a new adult way to say ‘cute’. Max teased Lucas playfully, which always made him panic in a funny way. He would start to apologize just to be laughed at. Will looked at them and thought, that they were way more normal than Mike and El were. At least they wouldn’t disappear randomly during their hang outs. It was late already. Will looked at his watches and noticed that it’s already past nine. Max and Lucas decided to recede, and, to be honest, he also was already tired of sitting on the wet grass and wasn’t really interested in hearing Suzie’s voice. “I guess, it’s you and me, Byers,” Dustin waved at Mayfield and Sinclair. Will stood up awkwardly. He didn’t want to leave his friend, but he was already dead on his feet. “Ugh, it’s late...” He pointed on his watches, “mom is probably worrying now.” Dustin nodded disappointingly. “Maybe tomorrow we can play D&D? Or something fun like we used to…” Will suggested with a hope in his voice, then patted him on the forearm. “Welcome,” he said, before running down the hill.