Chapter Text
Mike was sitting across from Will at lunch, his brows furrowed as he watched the boy fiddle with his sleeves.
Dustin and Lucas talked animatedly beside them, Max quiet as she read a comic Lucas had given her earlier that week. Will wouldn't glance up from his barely touched food, and when he was included in the conversation he never said much.
The black-haired boy had lost all attention to whatever was happening around him, focusing only on the way the zombie-boy in front of him acted.
It was weird.
Really weird.
Sure, everything felt... normal. The gate is closed, El is alive and well, they we're doing okay in most of their classes, they hung out whenever possible.
But that didn't erase what had happened. What Will--everyone experienced. Maybe it wasn't fair, that everyone else got to be okay when he wasn't. That Will had gone through all of that, only for everything to... have some sort of social pressure to be normal.
What he couldn't understand was why Will wasn't talking to anyone, or even more so why no one was approaching him.
It had been a week since the Upside Down was sealed off, and Mike hadn't seen a single person ask Will why he looks like he just got told he has one day to live.
He never liked seeing Will sad.
Sometimes it felt like his one goal in life. The one thing he could be good at. Helping Will. And yeah, most of the time, he was pretty good at that. But lately, Will had been... distant. Always seemed like he was looking through things rather than at them, staying quiet, preferring to be alone. He wasn't talking to Mike much.
Maybe he should talk to him after school. Meet him somewhere by the forest, where it's just them. They could throw their bikes to the ground and sit in the grass, winter sun shining down on them even though the cold would be biting at their round faces. It's been a while since he looked at him in the sun, there were always too many clouds.
It would be nice.
"Wheeler!" Lucas shook him, startling Mike out of his Will-induced trance.
Mike immediately noticed he was staring at Will. His cheeks heated, embarrassed. Why was he embarrassed?
"Yeah?" He said, rubbing his eyes and looking over half-heartedly at Lucas.
"Were you even listening? What were we just talking about?"
"Uh," Mike panicked, looking around their table. His eyes stopped on Will's plate for a moment. He had taken a few more bites. Good. His gaze averted, taking in the scene before him. "We were talking about... Max's comic?"
Max laughed, not glancing up from the page she was on. Lucas face palmed, and Dustin stayed focused on trying to explain how the plot hole he encountered ruined his entire day.
That was the type of stuff Will laughed at, Mike being oblivious to the things around him.
But today, he sat still, his fork picking at a single piece of corn that had fallen onto his pizza slice.
"Are you okay, man?" Lucas asked, leaning forwards on the table to better look at Mike's face. Mike hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, dude. All good." He avoided looking at Will, but somehow, they all still noticed.
Dustin's ranting trailed off as he looked at Mike, his eyes drifting over to Will. He hesitated, before going to back talking about his comic, a crease appearing between his eyebrows as he looked down at the book, occasionally glancing up at the two and wincing every so often when looking at Will.
Max was a lot blunter than Dustin.
"Why were you staring at Will?" She asked, chewing loudly in between each word, eyes still fixed on the story in front of her.
"I wasn't staring at Will!" Mike said defensively, though he didn't know why.
Will's eyes widened, looking up. "Were you guys talking to me?" His lips trembled, something like fear in his tone as his eyes darted from person to person, trying to gauge their conversation that he clearly wasn't listening to.
"No, you're okay." Mike said, smiling kindly at the boy across the table, waving a hand to dismiss him. Will nodded slowly, looking back down at his food and taking another bite.
And for a bit, everything went quiet. Between the five, at least. The noises of the cafeteria we're loud around them, kids and teens talking and shouting at each other, the hum of electricity seemed to amplify when Mike wasn't paying attention to it.
Mike went right back to what he was doing beforehand.
Except--Will was looking right at him. His cheeks burned hot, turning away from Mike and onto the comic Max was reading. Why was Will staring at Mike? Was that not Mike's job? He's staring again, and he can tell, because all he sees is the dark brown hair of a boy he thought he knew well enough to talk to.
Dustin glanced at the two. He cupped one of his hands to his mouth, blocking out Will, leaning towards Mike. "Seriously, man. What's going on with you and Will?"
"Nothing!" Mike snapped, instantly regretting it. Dustin seemed a bit surprised by the outburst but waited expectedly, frowning. "Sorry. Just... can we talk about this later? AV Club maybe?" He rubbed the bridge of his nose, nerves on edge for a multitude of reasons.
"Of course," Dustin put a hand on Mike's shoulder, patting it before going back to eating. "When he's not there, I'm assuming?"
He looked back at Will, who was sipping on the chocolate milk he had snuck, already half gone. The fluorescent lights hummed above, shrinking the world down to the very table they all sat at.
"Yeah," Mike mumbled. "Yeah. When he's not here."
Five minutes ago, Will Byers had removed himself from the small room to use the bathroom. Five minutes ago, four kids were left alone with their thoughts, some louder than others.
Dustin sat cross legged on a chair, fiddling with his walkie. He switched between channels, not looking up at his friends. Lucas' actions were louder but voice no less silent as he played with the wheels on Max's skateboard, foot tapping the ground.
Max was leaning against the wall, hands in her pockets as she watched the black-haired boy move around. It got to a point where she got dizzy, looking away to the other two.
Mike was pacing around the table in the middle of the AV Club room, arms crossed and brows furrowed, too nervous to speak.
He hated the way everyone was treating Will, but at the same time, he related to it. He didn't know what to say or how to say it. Really, did he expect everyone to go up to Will and say "I'm sorry you got trapped in an alternate dimension for a week and had a shadow-monster live inside you, that must've been gross. Wanna talk about your feelings?"
He hated himself even more for not at least trying. It was torture to him, seeing Will go through those things. No human--adults and children alike, should go through that.
It... it was a good idea to talk to him, right? What if Mike's overreacting? He knows he can be overbearing with him sometimes, but he can't help it. He needs to know if Will's okay. Any best friend would react like this.
So then why wasn't the rest of the Party doing the same?
He's going to talk to him. He doesn't know what he'll say, or do, or--or when for that matter, but he will.
But right now, Will was still in the bathroom, and no one was checking on him--what had it been, seven minutes? No one had even seemed to consider it an option. Why weren't they as worried as Mike? Is he seriously the only one who cares about Will?
Mike stopped dead in his tracks, head snapping up to look at the others. "Has anyone tried to do anything about Will? Anything at all? Seriously, what's happening is-"
"Mike, calm down." Lucas stepped forward, hesitantly reaching out a hand, not touching him yet.
"How am I suppose to be calm when our best friend-"
"MIKE!" Dustin shouted, but not out of anger. He closed his eyes, hiding the fear behind his brown lashes, rubbing his temples. "Sorry for yelling, just--we're all worried, okay man? This is stressing us out as much as it is for you."
Mike stood there, losing hope. "Then why haven't any of you talked to him?" He said quietly, barely a whisper.
"We've tried, believe me." Lucas murmured, pulling out a chair and sitting backwards on it. Mike waited.
"Yesterday, before school. You weren't there yet. We asked him if something was wrong, told him we'd be there no matter what." Dustin continued, sounding a little bit choked.
He took a deep breath, looking at the ceiling and blinking back a tear. "And then he got angry. We didn't know why, so we tried to help him. Max tried to grab his arm, but..."
Everyone looked over as Max held her bandaged hand up. She had told Mike it was from her dad, just a little cut from glass. "He snapped." She said, looking at the ground in front of Mike. That wasn't from a beer bottle, was it? "He apologized frantically and darted down the hall. That's probably why we didn't see him in first period, if I had to guess."
He was at a loss for words, an uncomfortable silence settling over the room. He thought he could hear rain pattering against the roofing. Fitting, wasn't it? Nature is a weird thing.
Mike slumped against the wall, sliding down until he hit the floor. He wrapped his arms around his knees, staring at his own shadow.
"We tried Jonathan. Joyce too. Both said Will won't speak to them at all, saying he'd just say I'm fine whenever they pushed." Dustin said after what felt like an hour but must've only been a few minutes. Dustin looked over to Lucas, who had an arm thrown around Max, who had grabbed a chair and sat next to him.
Crrrrack! Lightning. Well, no sitting around with Will, then.
"So, what do we do?" Max said, glancing up at Mike.
"I don't know. Maybe-" But he cut himself off, not continuing that thought. "Never mind."
"Any ideas are better than none, dude." Dustin said, sniffling. Mike looked up. They all had a sad, desperate look covered with deep browns and blues, flecks of gold electricity peeking through.
He hesitated, rubbing his own eyes.
"I could try to talk to him? I mean, he always talks to me. He tells me everything." He said, looking for even a flash of approval.
"Worth a shot." Lucas said, putting a smile on his face, clearly trying to be hopeful, despite the darkness around him.
Everyone saw him doing it and decided it might be a good idea to try it too. Skin crinkled, lines and half circles showing up, each beautifully crooked. No one likes being sad. Why would they let Will feel that?
A bell shrieked above them, startling them all up right. They yanked their backpacks off the floor, Mike mumbling something about handling Will's bag. They shot out of the room, slamming the door being them.
They were met by chaos.
Kids and teenagers scuttled through the halls, desperate to get out of what they deemed hell, even if they hadn't seen anything close to it. The poor janitor watched as dirty shoes touched the floor she had just cleaned, sighing and simply watching it happen.
"Do you see Will?" Mike asked, having to talk a little louder over the obnoxious students.
"No." Lucas said, looking over everyone as the tallest of their group.
Mike cursed under his breath, catching up to the group that was a few paces in front of him.
Thunder crackled above them, Max's umbrella shielding them all from the weight of what had to be two tons of rain pattering against the ground. They all collectively shivered as lightning struck miles away, sending a cold rattle down their spines as they waited for Will.
"Are we sure he didn't just get out before us?" Lucas hissed, annoyed at Mike for making them wait.
"His bike is still here!" Mike countered.
Dustin groaned, rubbing his face. "Let's just get out of-"
He got cut off as the school door opened, one last kid leaving the school. A pre-teen with brown hair, shaped something like a bowl, with hazel eyes that made Mike's light up as another burst of electricity came from the clouds, closer this time.
He spotted them first, and he looked a bit pale. His cheeks twitched, the skin around his eyes wrinkling. Oh. Mike thought, staring at Will. His eyes are red.
Will was walking towards them now, saying something about how they shouldn't have waited for him, but Mike couldn't hear it. His ears ringed, and his heart pounded. Had someone made Will cry? Or worse, did he make himself cry?
Mike's mouth opened to speak, but the revving of an engine distracted him.
He looked over, and everyone else did to. Steve's car idled at the curb. He rolled down his window, yelling over the rain for them to get their bikes and skateboard and throw them in the trunk or strap them to the top.
"Steve? Dude, what are you doing here?" Dustin asked, but grabbed his bike anyway and shoved it into the open trunk.
"Just get in, knuckleheads. I can't deal with the anxiety of one of you getting pneumonia today." He sighed, looking tired and already done with antics no one had attempted yet.
"Aww, does Stevie really care about us?" Max teased, throwing her skateboard in the trunk and hopping inside.
"I, what, no--" He said, surprised, looking at the kids who had piled into his car and strapped their bikes to the roof. "Okay, yeah. Maybe I do. That's not the point though, shitheads. I just didn't want you guys to get sick."
He turned up the heat, slowly warming the kids. They instantly relaxed. Even Will's shoulders seemed to slump. Well, as close to slumping as you could get when you're squished in between two people. Dustin sat in the front passenger seat, comfortable and limbs free to move around. Lucas, Max, Will and Mike squished into the three back seats, grumbling over the lack of space, though they would never complain too much in case Steve decided that maybe they didn't need a ride.
"Whose house do we go to first?" He asks patiently, fingers tapping rhythmically on the steering wheel, glancing around at them with wider eyes than before, a sort of brotherly look behind them that was more comforting than he knew.
"Sleepover?" Mike asked, directed towards Will with that gentle voice he only ever used with him. Max snickered but didn't say anything, elbowing Lucas in the gut to which he coughed to cover a laugh.
Will clearly hesitated, but then Mike made those sad puppy eyes and Will faked a smile. "Sure."
And just like that, Mike's plan was secured. He'd talk to Will once they left to his room for the night, and he'd make sure that Will felt okay, and he'd do anything Will needed. "You can drop me and Will off at Will's house, Steve."
He didn't notice, but in the small amount of time he had talked to the brown-haired boy currently being crushed by him and Max because of the space issue, they had started moving. They drove slowly down the road, the sounds of water splashing under them a comforting silence.
Throughout the drive, he kept glancing at Will. Despite the thick clouds, you could see hints of dusk descending upon their little part of earth. The greyish lighting accompanied by the occasional flash of bright blueish white made all his features twist into this fond, familiar shape that made Mike feel squeamish and warm. He didn't care to give attention to that feeling, it couldn't be as important as planning out how to help Will.
Soon enough, everyone had been dropped off, and Mike and Will stood on the porch of the Byers house.
"Wheeler!" Harrington said, making him turn around. "Come here for a minute."
The rain had turned into more of a gentle drizzle over the Byers home, so he didn't mind stepping out of the dryness to go talk to Steve.
"Yeah?" He said, panting and blinking the wet droplets out of his eyes.
Steve looked somewhere past Mike, where he could only assume Will stood waiting for him. He turns the radio down, leaning out of the car a bit. "Take care of him, yeah?" He said, swallowing back some kind of worry.
"You noticed it too?" He whispered, careful not to glance back to give away their conversation. He nodded, still staring behind him.
"I'm going to talk to him tonight, don't worry." Mike said, gaze holding on Steve's until it met his. He turned, ready to leave into the warmth of the house.
"One more thing, Wheeler." Steve said, grabbing his arm from inside the car. He groaned dramatically, twisting around again.
"Of course, you're greatness. What else do you wish to enquire about?" But he was grinning this time, and Steve had something like a smirk on his face.
He pulled him in closer, close enough for him to see most of the freckles on Mike's face. He spoke, voice barely a breath. "Where exactly on Will's face were you staring at for the entire drive?" He asked quietly, like it was a secret no one could hear.
"His... eyes?" Mike said, confused at the weird question.
Steve looked him up and down, then behind him, and then at his face. He cheeks must've been red, because he could feel blood rushing to his face like lava flowing steadily down a volcano.
"Sure, kid." He said, chuckling. He ruffled his hair, cranking the radio up and making a shoo motion.
Finally, Mike got to run back towards the dry porch where Will still waited in the doorway. "Have some fun, you two!" He heard Steve shout over whatever song was playing on the stereo, car driving off into the stormier part of town where he lived, only a mile or so away.
Behind him, the sky seemed to brighten just a tiny bit. In front of him, Will held the door open, letting Mike inside with a click of metal, warmth flooding deep in his bones.
Wait--what did Steve mean by that?