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Mike blinked awake as the sun poured into the window. It was blinding him to be honest, to the point where his eyes were barely open. He turned his head around, shoving his head back into the pillow, pulling it over his eyes.
The “pillow” he was clinging to gave a soft laugh and brought his hands up to rest on Mike's back pulling him closer. Will had pressed a soft kiss to Mike's forehead which appeared to be the thing that finally woke Mike up.
Mike threw his head up, still holding onto Wills chest tightly.
“What time is it?” He rushed out
“Uuuuhhhm….” Will mumbled turning his head to the clock on his dresser. “5:37”
“SHIT” Mike scrambled off of Will’s body and promptly fell onto the floor in probably the least graceful manner possible. “Shit shit shit shit”
“Mike!!” Will whisper-yelled throwing the covers fully off of himself to see him. Mike was currently cursing at himself quietly as he grabbed his jacket and dark green beanie.
Mike was currently standing in a hoodie he had “borrowed” from Will the previous week with a black tank top under it. His key necklace flipped around his neck as Mike quickly rushed to put on his shoes.
Will absentmindedly fiddled with his own necklace, a lock, while he opened the window for Mike.
Once Mike had finished getting ready he kneeled onto the bed (making sure to keep his shoes off of it. Last time he had, Will had given him the silent treatment for not even half a day before giving up. They both loved each other too much anyway).
He kissed Will’s lips and felt Will smile into it. His hand held Will's cheek as he deepened the kiss before pulling away.
“Love you” he pulled himself up onto the windowsill and swung his legs so they were only a few feet above the grass.
“Love you” Will replied waving at Mike. “Cover your neck before you get home Mike…!”
Mike heard the door to Will’s room open, definitely due to Mike not being quiet at all…(Sorry Will). He sprinted past the back of Wills house and snuck to his bike that he had hid earlier.
— —
He had gotten to his house easily and crept through the front door. Once he had tried to climb up the side of his house to his window because Steve had told him he had done it once to get to Nancy’s room. Of course Steve didn’t tell him he had two other people to help him. So of course he was caught by his entire family.
Holly wouldn’t let him live it down for weeks.
So he had opted for the closest door to his room, the front door.
The kitchen light clicked on as soon as he had closed the door. FUCK.
Leaning on the kitchen counter was his both of his sisters. Nancy clearly knew he had snuck out with the stern look on her face and arms crossed. Holly was stood next to her with a poorly hidden smile and hands on her hips (thank you Steve for teaching everyone that)
“NancE! I-“
“Don’t” Nancy stepped closer to Mike with Holly close behind.
He stopped talking almost immediately.
“Will’s?” She asked. Karen sure didn’t know about Will and Mike but everyone else did (he’d still hadn’t worked up the courage to tell her, even after everything which he thought was a bit pathetic). But even then you can’t be very discreet when the love of your life’s face is splitting, blood spilling everywhere because he’s connected to a hive mind with Vecna/ 001/ Henry/ himself.
“….maybe?” He replied just now remembering what Will had told him earlier and using his collar to cover up his neck more.
Nancy sighed and Holly laughed.
“Don’t act like you didn’t do it!” He recalled how many times Nancy had snuck out the house. He was the only one who knew, of course, because he was also sneaking out.
“That doesn’t make it right!” Nance was actually trying to keep quiet to not wake up their parents. Thank God for that. But at the same time he’d hoped she’d just left him alone. Holly was chanting “Mike and Will sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g!” before Mike covered her mouth. Mainly out of annoyance and embarrassment but also because she was fucking LOUD.
“Can I go….? Please…?” He begged not wanting to keep this up for any longer. God forbid his mom woke up.
“Fine but only if you….” Nance started
“Give me your breakfast in the morning!” Holly finished
“Yeah. That.”
“Fine. I’ll just eat at Will’s” Hopper would hate it, but he cared for Will so he was forced to accept Mike had snuck his way into the Byers family yet again. He still let Mike know that he still did not like him, unfortunately, to Will and Mike’s disappointment. Hearing “keep the door open 3 inches!!” Over and over gets tiring fast.
He didn’t mean to be rude to Nancy and Holly, but he had gone to bed at around 4 am (2 hours ago) and wanted to be around Will again. Sue him.
Will and Mike been dating for around a year and a half now and clung to each other every time they were together. Dustin made gagging noises half of the time (not in a homophobic way, in a my-girlfriend-is-hundreds-of-miles-away-and-i-still- haven’t-kissed-her way)
Mike had always been clingy with Will he supposed, but it really was at the maximum when they started dating. Mike always had to have his arm around Will or was holding hands with him or just holding him altogether. He somehow always found a way.
— —
He’d thrown himself onto his bed, kicking his shoes off onto the floor. Though dark, he still could make out the painting Will had shown him in California. He wished he knew back then that Will on his own had made it, not El.
He’d wished a lot of things had happened sooner between him and Will, to be honest. Goddamn internalized homophobia when they could have been together for years.
On his desk sat a picture frame of him and Will with their graduation caps and cloaks on. If you looked close enough there were still bruises on Mike's neck from earlier that day. It’s been at least 2 years, more or less, since they had defeated Vecna. But even in the present day everyone was still experiencing nightmares of what they had gone through, I mean this thing had ruined some of their childhoods.
At the moment Mike and Will were both getting ready to move away for college. So was Dustin, but they had all decided to go to New York so it wouldn’t be just the two of them. Lucas and Max had promised to visit a lot too which meant Mike would write campaigns every time they decided to come around.
Mike's room was filled with small trinkets and messes and clothes that he knew it would take forever to clean at this point. He sighed, turning to face the other wall.
He hadn’t noticed at first but soon enough his eyes drifted closed and he had fallen asleep.
— —
He’d woken up in the morning to the sound of his mother yelling his name downstairs. Things weren’t the same anymore without his dad in the house but it felt weird.
His dad wasn’t a big contributor to his life all that much but without him around it felt as though something was missing. Whether that something was good or not he didn’t know because of his parents' relationship known for being well… not the best per say.
Mike had decided to take his time getting ready upstairs and had come downstairs wearing a loose black tank top and jeans. He’d sat down at the table everyone else was at and started piling food onto his plate. (of course for Holly)
His mom somehow had survived the demo attack on their house but now had long scars from the middle of her chest to her face. Some even winded down to her elbow too.
And, well, she was the only one with injuries from the whole ordeal.
Nance had been hit by the mindflayer (the one they could hurt, not the shadow one) pretty badly. She’d been carried out by Hopper. Now she had a big scar at her hip from where she’d been hit. It definitely caused some serious pain sometimes and was hard to walk on some days but that wouldn’t ever stop his sister.
Mike had only been told the details of what happened to his sister at the battle instead of being able to see it. He’d heard when everyone yelled “Nancy!!” But that was it.
If it wasn’t clear enough already, Mike had chosen to stay by Will’s side, away from most danger. Vecna had gotten into his head and made him see Will collapse on the floor, presumably dead. It was awful.
The real Will, though, had helped him out of being Vecna’d. Max had said something later about how Lucas was the only thing she’d needed to help her out of her coma and not music.
Once Mike had woken up, however, the first thing he saw was the Mind Flayers claw coming down on him. He didn’t really remember much of the battle after that.
Will had later filled in that the claw sliced almost entirely through Mike's right arm. While he had passed out the party had defeated the Mindflayer and Vecna but that only allowed for the real Mindflayer to gain control. Apparently Steve had also shot Dr. Kay in the head to save his heavily bleeding out friends.
Now Mike was stuck with a plastic right arm or no left arm at all. Everyone, especially Will, was so glad that he was alive. Will spent hours upon hours in the hospital just to hang out with him.
Holly, however, had missed most of the battle and had no lasting injuries from Vecna. Which was unfair?? He spent like 20 minutes in The Abyss/ Vecnas Mind Palace and had his arm chopped off meanwhile Holly spent DAYS in there and left without a scratch? Unfair as hell.
He didn’t have any more time to think about it when he remembered Holly’s agreement last night. He started speaking.
“Hey mom, can I head over to Will’s like now?”
Karen thought about it for a second mulling it over in her head. “Will Joyce and Hopper be mad?”
“Joyce won’t”
His mother stared down at him, sighed and agreed.
He had almost immediately sat up plate in hand and moved around to the end of the table giving Holly the plate. Then he left the dining room with only a glance back to the rest of his family.
He watched Holly take his plate of food with a smug smile on her face.