Chapter Text
Taxi cab tires rub the pavement outside of the Wheelers house. It's dark and the winter snow falling reminds Will of his time in the Upside Down.
A long shadow casts along the driveway. Will shutters, his eyes fixed and staring.
A cold chill runs along his neck and he finds himself grabbing at it in between his flashbacks of Vecna. The shadow grows longer taking on the shape of a man under the car port lights of the Wheelers driveway.
"Will? Will man. I've been calling for you. Are you alright?" Mike asks.
Will's heart is racing back to reality. His eyes lock onto Mike's face.
"Yeah, umm..sorry it's just cold and it's been a long drive from the airport. I guess I'm just tired." Will replies, trying to rub the goosebumps from the nape of his neck.
Mike slips the cab driver a fifty dollar bill while grabbing Will's luggage. He throws his arm around Will's shoulder, just like he did all those years ago outside of the arcade. With a friendly nudge he shakes Will's shoulder.
"Let's get you inside then." Mike replies.
The pair round the house, slipping silently into the backdoor of the Wheeler's basement. The warmth brushes Will's face. A rosy glow takes over the snow flakes lining his cheeks like winter freckles.
The smell in the basement is intoxicating to Will.
Slightly damp, yet arid, an old book smell coupled with antique furniture that's lived here as long as Will can remember.
"So how was your flight?" Mike asks, breaking Will out of his nostalgia.
"Not too bad. The layover was a bit longer than expected, but I'm glad to be back. What about you? How have you been Mike? Heard from the others yet?" Will asks.
Mike's eyebrows quiver, just as they used to at sixteen. Back when he didn't quite know what to say but his eyes said it all.
It sends Will's stomach into a fluttery swirl. A swirl he's spent the last three years trying to get over.
Truth be told he never could. Everyone he'd met in college never quite got him.
At least not in the way that Mike Wheeler always had him.
He's had to keep another secret locked away. His trauma kept forbidden to the ears of anyone he's met since leaving Hawkins.
Will shakes the snowflakes out of his dark hair. Mike stares motionless as Will's hair falls into wet delicate waves.
It reminds him of the time they stood face to face, in slow motion, on the night Will became a Sorcerer.
Mike's eyes fall upon Will's lips before returning to his eyes. His voice softens and cracks in a tone that's always been reserved for Will.
"Oh good, yeah..great I mean. I've been busy with my writing. The Radio Shack opened back up and I've been working there during the week to save up for a computer. Just imagine how much I'll be able to get done once I don't have to reset a typewriter for each line." Mike replies.
Will's lips turn into a soft smile as he brushes the snow from the shoulders of his blue sweater.
Blue always reminded him of Mike. He spent the previous year of color theory focusing on different shades of blue.
His professor found his work truly innovative, but there must be over twenty he's kept in his bedside table of his dorm room. A folder filled with small practice sketches. Soft blue curls, a slightly raised eyebrow, a shoulder, an elbow, a blue hued knee. A face drawn in blue colored pencils saved only for Will's eyes.
"And the other's? What about them?" Will asks warmly.
"Well Mom and Ted have been gone for about a week now. They're on their way to the Rocky Mountains. They said something about finding their love again.” Mike says, rolling his eyes and making air quotes before continuing.
"Steve let them borrow his Winnebago for two weeks." Mike says.
"And Nancy? Holly? The others?" Will asks.
"Nancy has been traveling back and forth every now and then. I think she's been seeing Steve while she's in town. Holly she's…she's hardly ever home anymore now that Derek's family has refinished their basement. They have their DnD clubs over there now. Lucas and Max are saving for a house so money is tight for them. They won't be in until next month." Mike replies.
"Dustin?" Will softly inquires. Almost nervous and half fearful Mike will say he's not around either.
"Yeah Dustin, he's on winter break too.
But, he's been talking to Suzie again now that she's moved out of her parents house. He said to tell you he's sorry he can't make it. He and Suzie are meeting up at his campus to work on his science thesis together." Mike replies.
A silent moment falls between them.
Will walks around the basement picking up a slinky laid out on their old DnD table before resting on the couch.
Mike shifts nervously. He yawns deeply, stretching his arms up into a Y formation before lowering them. He reaches across his body and holds his right elbow.
Mike's memory tracks back to their time in The Abyss. After he couldn't say what he really wanted to on the tower as the world almost ended. Seven times his elbow brushed Will's. He counted them as they walked side by side towards an unknown future, but he could never admit that to anyone.
Mike flops down onto the sofa next to Will. The old springs make Will bounce a little between Mike's added weight and the old worn out springs. Will laughs nervously.
"So." Mike says, pausing for far too long.
"It's just you and me here for the next week.” Mike states.
Will's heart beats faster, his eyes unsure.
"I thought maybe tomorrow you could read some of my stories, you know if…
if you wanted to." Mike says.
Mike is rambling in a goofy way that always made Will fall more in love with him. Will's eyes glisten with tears he's trying desperately to hide.
"Mom she's...uhh been teaching me how to cook so I'll make us breakfast in the morning. Well, I'm going to go, you said you were tired. There are some pillows and blankets next to the couch for you. Mom put them there before she left. If you need anything I'll be right upstairs, ok?" Mike says.
Will rushes his words, afraid Mike will notice the tears about to escape his eyes.
"Sure that sounds nice Mike I'll see you in the morning." Will replies.
Mike travels up the basement stairs just as he did the last time he saw Will on graduation night.
The basement door slips quietly behind him. Mike leans his back against the door speaking quietly to himself.
“Get it together Mike.” He whispers.
He tiptoes over to Ted's La-Z-Boy trying desperately to stay awake in case Will decides to come up from the basement. But he's exhausted.
It's been two weeks since Will called him to tell him he's coming back to Hawkins and every day since then he's been unable to sleep or eat much in anticipation.
His dreams and stories have all been filled with memories of Will.
Everything he should have said, or could have done differently, if he had actually had the guts to be Mike the Brave.
The TV flickers in front of him and he drifts off to sleep in the recliner just as Ted always did.