Chapter Text
༉‧₊˚.⟢.⋆✴︎⸝꙳.˖𖥔݁˖๋
Mike woke from his sleep with the feeling of a subdued headache in the back of his head. It was a familiar feeling, one he felt often after a nightmare had plagued his sleep.
This headache however, felt quieter than usual. It didn’t feel like the pounding was thundering as much in the back of his head as it usually was.
And that's when he felt it.
He felt the soft fingers carding through his hair, slowly melting away his headache one rub at a time.
Mike leaned into the touch, it felt magnificent, it felt all too familiar while also feeling brand new, something he had never experienced before. He felt like he could take on the form of a cat and curl up here forever, being pulled back to slumber by the pull of..
Mike’s eyes flung open.
Will was there, in bed beside him, carding his fingers through Mike’s hair ever so carefully.
Mike blinked twice, trying to comprehend what was going on.
Will was in his bed.
How was Will here, Mike thought to himself, his mom hardly left the door open last night did she.
Why was Will carding his hands through his hair?
It did feel amazing, Mike thought, but that was besides the point.
What was Will doing here?
Mike abruptly sat up, confusion written all over his face.
“Will, what are you doing here, what time is it?” Mike mumbled the words out, sleep still clinging to his eyes.
Will just pressed a kiss to Mike’s forehead, and began gently pushing him back down.
Mike felt his face heating up.
“Will, what, what the fu-”
“Shh, it’s okay, rest easy my Paladin, it was only a night-terror” Will whispered quietly, placing his hand to rest on Mike’s cheek.
Mike sputters at the petname “my Paladin, Will, what?”
Will’s eyebrows furrowed at the comment. Then his eyes seemed to click, as if he finally understood something.
“So you are not my Mike are you?” Will asked, curiously peering into Mike’s wide eyes.
Mike scrambled out of his bed, in attempts to hide the ever growing redness on his face.
“Uh, your Mike, what, Will, are you okay” Mike began rambling “did Vecna come back, what happened” Mike finished, he was going to continue but was interrupted by-
Will’s hand reached out to cover Mike’s mouth, in an attempt to quieten his rambles.
Now that he too was stood up, Mike caught a glimpse at what he was wearing.
Will, or whoever this Will imposter was, was wearing a white shirt that was a little too big, and covered in dirt and…blood. He had black trousers, and brown boots that had matching dirt stains.
He was also wearing a soft purple cape that had intricate patterns across it. The cape softly swayed at the bottom from his sudden movements.
Mike brought his eyes back to face, this Will, to find his eyes already boring into his own.
He brought his hand down from Mike’s face and stared at him a little longer.
“It seems I may have cast my spell incorrectly” Will doppelgänger whispered, his eyes still lingering on Mike’s face.
Mike felt his jaw practically drop.
“Spell?,what, who are you, what are you doing” Mike began, panic rising in his voice.
Will brought a hand up to Mike’s cheek, in an attempt to calm the boy down.
It worked.
Mike could feel how hot his face was, he didn’t like how this Will imposter had this effect on him.
A small smile formed on the doppelgänger’s face. Mike hated how much it reminded him of Will’s.
“I am from a different reality, one where magic is all around us” Will said simply as if he was describing the weather.
Mike continued to stare at him, slightly confused.
Will continued, making no efforts to remove his hand from Mike’s cheek.
“In my world, I am a cleric, I have the ability to heal and protect peo-” Will softly said before Mike interrupted him.
“like , in DND..?” Mike asked, eyebrows raising in question.
“I do not know what this dnd is” Will began, slight confusion on his face.
“Well, my Will would know” Mike huffed, turning to move away from the imposter's touch.
This Will was strong though and grabbed him by the waist, causing Mike to turn a beetroot red.
“Can you please let me explain?” the imposter asked, very politely.
Mike, still extremely flustered from the hold on his waist, just nodded.
“Well, me and my Paladin were in the midst of a battle against a ferocious dragon, when my Paladin-” the Will lookalike stopped for a moment, his eyes going faraway.
“He got injured, and I had to cast a spell of protection over the two of us to get away from the dragon” He finished, blinking himself back into reality.
“Oh” was all Mike could muster out at first.
“So, are you Will?” he asked, looking up and down at the boy again.
“Indeed I am” Will said softly,”but I am not your Will, just as how you are not my Mike”
“Okay” Mike said,”this is weird”
“I agree” Will said, “normally, when I cast the spell, my Paladin comes with me, which is why I believed you were him at first”
“So, is there another version of me, just running around somewhere” Mike asked, it was weirding him out that there could be a potential doppelgänger of himself on the loose.
“No” Will amusedly sighed, the way one would if a child asked him a question.
“I thought you were at first, but once you awoke, I could not feel the connection” Will continued.
Mike was about to ask, what the fuck he meant by that, but Will placed another hand over his mouth, and Mike complied again.
His face actually felt so warm he could cook an eggo on it.
Will let out a small chuckle.
“What” Mike muttered against his hand.
“It seems this trick works throughout different realities” Will said with a smirk.
“What works” Mike mumbled in response as Will made no effort in removing his hand.
Instead, he pushed closer, until their noses were practically touching.
“Getting you to shut up” Will whispered with a wink.
Mike could feel his warm breath against his face.
With that Will dropped his hand and started looking around Mike’s room.
Mike stayed still for a second, his brain trying to catch up with what just happened.
Will was flirting with him.
But it wasn’t really his Will.
Mike felt like he could combust.
“Where is your Will?” the other Will asked, turning back to face Mike.
“Um, his own house?” Mike said shortly.
“Is he not here with you?” Will asked, head turning in slight confusion.
“No,why would he be here?” Mike questioned, it was now his turn to be confused.
Will’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Mike for a moment, Mike felt small under the scrutinising, yet all too familiar stare.
“Oh” Will began, realisation flooding his eyes. “You two are not yet there, are you?” he asked amusedly.
“Not yet where?” Mike questioned, giving Will’s doppelgänger a look.
This Will just shook his head.
“It does not matter as of now, what does matter is getting him to me, so we can figure this out” He said calmly.
“Okay, I’ll ring him, and the rest of the Party, they might be able to help you” Mike said, accepting defeat.
“The Party, they are here too?” Will asked, his eyes going wide.
“Yeah,” Mike began as he made his way to the door, “Lucas, Max, Dustin and El, do you have versions of them in your reality too?” he asked.
“Yes, are the zoomer and ranger madly in love in this universe also?” Will asked, flattening down his shirt.
“Uh, you could say that,” Mike responded.
“Mhm, So their love must be the same in every universe also” Will said, a small smile forming on his face at the thought.
Mike’s eyebrows raised at that last word. “ ‘Also’? What do you mean by that” he asked.
Will walked towards him, patting his shoulder
“You will figure it out eventually, now lead the way, not my Paladin.” Will winked.
Mike had to try his hardest not to let the comment get to him.
Who was this guy and why was he flirting with him?
It confused Mike to see Will flirting with him, while knowing at the same time it’s not Will.
“Right, okay” Mike began, snapping back to reality, “let's go to the basement, so my mom doesn’t see you.”
“Are you not ready to introduce me to the parents yet, Mike” Will teased, seemingly finding enjoyment from how red Mike was going.
“I-what, just shut up” Mike said, heading towards the phone that sat in the basement.
Will just let out a soft chuckle.
“Do you find enjoyment out of my embarrassment?” Mike asked, once Will had also joined him in the basement.
“I do actually” Will said with a smile, “I always used to enjoy flustering my Paladin in the early days, it’s a lot harder to now, he knows my tricks”
Mike felt his face going flush again. He did not like this effect Will had on him, it seems it would happen to Mike regardless of if Will was a cleric or just his normal Will.
“Okay, okay fluster me all you want i guess” Mike said, accepting defeat, knowing his face will flush regardless of what this cleric says.
“Im going to ring the rest of the party” Mike sighed.
“Magnificent” Will the cleric responded.
༉‧₊˚.⟢.⋆✴︎⸝꙳.˖𖥔݁˖๋
“Thank fuck you guys are here” Mike said, opening the basement door to let Dusitn, Lucas and Max inside.
“We came as quick as we could,” Dustin said, making his way inside.
“Yeah, this code red better be important. Wheeler, me and Sinclair had plans.” Max sighed as she was in the door.
“Trust me it is,” Mike said, peering around the group. “Wait- where's Will and El?” he asked, noticing their absence.
“Jonathan is dropping them off,” Lucas said, but his gaze caught something behind Mike. “But it seems Will is already here,” Lucas added.
Mike let out a nervous chuckle.
“Yeah about that..” he began.
Will the cleric rose from his spot on the couch and made his way over to the Party.
“Will?” Dustin asked curiously “you okay?”
“Why is he in his dnd get up” Max whispered to Lucas, Lucas just shrugged in response.
“Yes, I am Will,” he began, “but I am not your Will, I am Will the Wise”
“Holy shit, like in dnd!” Dustin exclaimed.
“I still do not know what ‘dnd’ is” Will began with a small laugh. “But, I cast a spell of protection over me and my Paladin, but it seems it only took me and not my Paladin.” He finished, sounding slightly sad at the end.
“Who is your Paladin?” Lucas asked carefully.
A small smile formed on Will’s lips. He grasped one of Mike’s hands and lifted it up gently.
“Tis, this fair fellow, Mike” he replied, pressing a kiss to the top of Mike’s hand.
Mike just stared, his face growing redder by the minute.
Max stared, mouth agape in amusement.
“But, this is not my Mike, this is your Will’s Mike” Will continued.
Mike felt his face flush even more at the wording. ‘Why did he keep saying ‘my’ ?’. It was driving Mike insane.
The Party shared a glance.
Max broke the silence, bursting into a small fit of giggles.
“Oh my god” she said in between laughs, “it’s truly in every fricking universe”
“Zoomer, you are aware of the universal bond between soulmates” he asked curiously.Moving his and Mike’s hands away from his face but not letting go.
Max sobered up at that question, slight confusion appearing on her face.
“Um, no” she began, a smirk beginning to replace the confusion. “But the two of you are insufferable enough in this universe, so I just figured” she shrugged.
“In this universe..” Will mumbled “but Sir, Mike, you said that the two of you hadn’t-” he began, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Oh, I’ll get it,” Mike said, practically scrambling towards the door.
When he opened the door he was met with Will and El, both wearing confused looks on their faces.
“Mike, are you okay?” Will his Will asked, concern etching his voice.
“Mhm” was all Mike could muster, before he felt a small tug on his hand.
He never let go of Will’s hand, he realised.
Mike turned around in realisation, being met with a small smirk from the other Will.
“What the fuck” Will, his Will, said, turning his gaze towards where Mike was looking.
“I’ll explain, just come in” Mike said, hurriedly pushing him and El inside.
Once they were inside the basement, Will turned to face, well the other Will.
“Who are you?”, he asked, moving slightly closer towards him. “And why do you look like me?”
The other Will sent him a small reassuring smile.
“I’m you, I’m Will, just from another reality” he said simply.
Will just stood still, mouth agape in surprise.
“This is impossible” he murmured to himself “we defeated Vecna months ago”
The other Will took another step closer.
“I do not know who this Vecna is, but it was not his doing, it was mine” He said softly.
Mike moved closer to both Will’s.
“He was with me when I woke up this morning,” Mike began, turning towards his Will. “I thought you had snook in or something”
Max just snorted in amusement, Mike barely glanced towards her.
“But I don’t think he’s lying, he keeps going on about his Paladin or something” he finished.
“His Paladin?” Will questioned.
“His Mike”, the rest of the Party explained.
Mike felt his face grow red for the hundredth time that day.
“Oh” was all their Will could let out in response.
“How did you get here?” El piped up from behind the rest of the gang.
“Well, I cast a spell of protection around me and my Paladin, but it seems it only worked for me” The other Will responded. “I woke up here”, he finished, closing his eyes.
“Oh” El said softly, making her way over beside this Will.
“It’s okay, We will get you back to your Paladin, I promise” El began, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s clear he meant a lot to you” she finished.
The other Will opened his eyes, Mike saw the tears clumping to his bottom lash, the exact same way his Will looks when he is deeply upset.
“He does, he’s my soulmate,” Will began softly. “It helps that there is some version of my Mike here with me but, my heart does not completely belong to your Mike” he finished, nodding slightly towards Will.
Will shifted uncomfortably at that comment, and glanced at Mike for a moment.
“I need some air,” he announced, making his way towards the back door.
“Will, wait” Mike began, stumbling after him.
༉‧₊˚.⟢.⋆✴︎⸝꙳.˖𖥔݁˖๋