Chapter Text
1990
The cold settles on Will’s fingertips as he bikes through the snowy streets. It’s finally Winter in Hawkins, and after spending a long year in New York, Will is finally home for Christmas. He was here to visit his mum, Hopper, and Jonathan when he’d come back from NYU later in December. Will wanted to stay in Hawkins as long as he could, so he extended his work leave so that he arrived in Hawkins in early December.
Unfortunately, when Will asked his mum if any of his friends were in town for Christmas, she said none of them were yet. Except for Mike. Joyce and Karen stayed friends, even though their kids grew up, maybe even apart, but Will doesn’t want to think of it that way. She had mentioned to Karen that Will would be in town for the whole month of December, so surely Karen would’ve told Mike, right? That’s what Will hoped until he realised he had been in Hawkins a week already and he hadn’t been visited by Mike, or even a mere phone call welcoming him back in town. Will doesn’t know why he was expecting this from Mike, it’s not like they talked a whole ton within the past year. A phone call every couple of months is all the contact they had.
When Will first moved away, Mike did well to stay in touch. They called each other almost every day in the first week Will had moved into his new apartment. But eventually, the lack of the phone ringing became a constant silence in his apartment. Will would almost always be the one to call Mike, because even though he was a bit petty that he wasn’t calling, he wasn’t going to lose his best friend because of it. He did that when he was in Lenora, and it ended up with the two fighting in a roller skating rink, arguing about their friendship. Back then, Mike said that Will ‘should’ve reached out more’, so he listened and did reach out. But Mike wasn’t reaching back.
And so today, Will found himself biking across town from his house just to see Mike again. He hasn’t seen him in over a year, not since their graduation, and he misses him. He can admit that. He misses his best friend. So, why wasn’t Mike reaching out? Does he not miss Will the same as he misses him? Maybe it was selfish for Will to be doing this if Mike doesn’t really miss him and doesn’t want to see him, but Will does.
These thoughts yell at Will as he anxiously continues to Mike's house. This only makes him pedal faster. No matter how loud those voices got, they weren’t going to stop him from seeing Mike. Nothing was. It’s almost like a force was pulling Will to him. He was going to his house to catch up with Mike and see how he’s doing. And maybe Will can be honest with him. He wasn’t going to tell him white lies as he did on the phone, saying he’s fine, New York is fine, everything in his life was fine and not talk about what Will actually wanted to talk about. Honestly, he didn’t know what he wanted to talk about, anything but this stupid, awkward small talk. They both hate small talk, so how come that’s the only way they’ve spoken in the past year?
Will slows down as he finally reaches the end of the cul-de-sac. He hops off his bike and walks it down to the driveway. There’s nothing, yet everything is going on in his head at the same time. But, admittedly, he can feel the butterflies playing in his stomach as he walks closer to his best friend’s house. He dumps his bike on the freshly mowed lawn and approaches the door. He feels numb, and he doesn’t know if it’s because of the cold or if it’s because he’s about to knock on the tall, intimidating door.
What if he doesn’t want to see you? What if he’s avoiding you for a reason? What if he doesn’t like you anymore?
He shakes his head, ignoring those thoughts as he takes a deep breath in, holds it, and knocks three times.
He stands there, holding his breath, when the door flies open.
The brightness of the house glows out onto the gloomy, overcast concrete in front of Will, and he can feel the warmth from inside. “Will?”
There he is, Mike Wheeler himself, standing in the doorway. Will is a little taken aback by how different he looks. He was wearing glasses, which was a first for Will. He’s never needed glasses in his life, and Will didn’t picture Mike, of all people, wearing glasses. His hair was relatively the same as it had been after graduation, tidy and swept to the side. And he was wearing these fugly jeans, it doesn’t matter though. His collared shirt was worse. It wasn’t bad by textbook standards, but it was just odd. It felt out of place, and it doesn’t suit Mike one bit. It was striped and long-sleeved, and quite wrinkled. He looks like a grandpa.
“Mike!” Will snaps out of his judgment and smiles at him.
“What- what are- you’re here?” A confused Mike manages to scramble words together to form a sentence. Maybe he didn’t know Will was back after all. That’s why he didn’t call, because he didn’t know. Karen mustn't have told him.
“Yeah, I’m back in Hawkins for Christmas, I mean, it’s still a couple weeks away, but why not come earlier?” Will is rambling, and when he realises, he shuts up.
“No- yeah- I mean, you’re at my house.”
Oh.
So Mike did know Will was back. He’s just confused and seems upset that he’s at his house.
“Yeah.”
An awkward silence fell upon them, and so Will kept talking. “Well, it’s just that I- we haven’t seen each other in like, so long, so, I thought I’d come visit.”
Silence, again. Mike is standing in the doorway, frozen. He searches Will’s face for an explanation he already got, so Will stands back in response. “Sorry, I should’ve called-”
“No, no. It’s okay! I’m glad you’re here. Come in.” Mike finally says.
Thank God.
Mike steps to one side to let Will in. The Wheelers’ house looks the same as it did last year, nothing different or out of place.
“Mike, who was at the door?” Karen yells from the kitchen. “It’s Will!” Mike yelled back, closing the door behind them. Karen walked out of the kitchen to see Will.
“Oh, hello Will!” She walked up and gave Will a hug. Why couldn’t Mike do that? “Nice to see you again.” She says cheerfully, pulling away from the hug. “Thanks, you too.” Will has always appreciated how welcome he is in the Wheeler house.
“I’m just washing up, but there’s still some leftovers from dinner if you would like a plate?” Karen offers.
“No, that’s okay. Thanks anyway.” She nods and heads back to the kitchen.
Will looks over at Mike, and he opens his mouth about to say something when he gets interrupted by Holly yelling at Nancy in the next room.
“Uh, you wanna go to a quieter room?” Mike offers. Will’s face lights up, all he wants to do is catch up with Mike, and for once, he’s offered that opportunity. “Yeah, sure.”
Mike leads the way through the kitchen and dining room to the door to the basement. He opens it for Will, letting him enter the room first. Such a small act, but it reminds Will how caring Mike can be sometimes, only when he chooses to be, I guess.
Will makes his way down the stairs, Mike following. The first thing Will notices is a d&d campaign set up on the table in the centre of the room. It looks so fun, the little figurines all standing around together. The board has so much detail that Will can practically see the story playing out in front of him.
Was Mike playing d&d again? Who was he playing with? The party wasn’t here. Testing his theory, Will looks up to see the party’s d&d binders, still sitting on the shelf where they left them a year ago. Will guiltily feels relieved that Mike hadn’t found a new party to go on adventures with. That wouldn’t be fair. Will looks back at the d&d game in front of him. “What’s this campaign?”
Mike is already looking at Will, but scrambles to find words again. “That’s uh, that’s my sister’s- Holly’s campaign.”
Will found it odd that he almost referred to Holly as his sister to Will, which, yes, obviously, she was his sister, but Will already knew that. He shouldn’t have to explain that to him. She’s still the same person Will was connected to for a short period of time when they were both victims of Vecna.
“Oh, cool.” Will manages to respond.
He remains staring at the characters below him. He hadn’t played d&d since their last campaign, he assumed Mike was probably the same.
Playing d&d felt so magical, no other feeling really compared to it. Being able to play a person who you’re not, going on adventures with your friends, and succeeding at missions, Will realises how much he misses it. Maybe if Max, Lucas, and Dustin come back to Hawkins for Christmas later that December, they could all play, like they used to.
“So… how’s New York?” Mike asks, breaking the silence that had been lingering in the air for a while. There’s the stupid small talk question.
“It’s good, yeah. Busy. Loud. Kinda chaotic actually, but it’s nice. In its own way.”
“Cool.”
Why is this so awkward? Was it Will or Mike who was making this awkward? Maybe Will shouldn’t of shown up unannounced like this? It’s clearly thrown Mike off.
Will came here to be honest. So why not think out loud? It would help cure this awkward silence anyway. He wants to talk to Mike, not small talk, but really talk, like they used to.
He looks at the campaign, “Maybe if the others are here for Christmas, we can play d&d, like we used to?”
“I don’t know, Will. I don’t really have time for that stuff anymore. I’m- I’m busy,” Mike says, looking at the ground.
Will’s eyes widen, fixated on Mike. Will goes quiet. What do you mean he’s ‘busy’? Busy? It’s fucking Christmas break, he shouldn’t be busy with anything. Playing d&d was their thing, they loved it. It’s what really connected them through childhood, it’s what they based all of the crazy supernatural shit on. Did that mean nothing to Mike? It’s obvious he’s making up excuses, like he always does. Will is sick of it.
“Busy with what?”
“You know, there are probably other people you need to see. You didn’t have to come over.” Mike ignores his question.
Will is shocked by his response. “Yeah, I kind of did have to. You knew I was in Hawkins, and you didn’t come to see me. I mean, you didn’t even call.” Will is being honest, but maybe Mike needs to hear this.
“I’ve been busy,” Mike replies sheepishly, eyes still locked on the ground.
“Yeah, right.” Will scoffs and rolls his eyes.
Mike picks up on that and finally looks up to meet Will’s eyes. “You moved away, Will. What did you expect? You can’t just show up here and act like nothing’s changed.”
But that’s all Will wanted. He wanted to talk to Mike like he used to. To play d&d like they used to. To be best friends again.
“I tried!” Will’s voice cracks. Not from raising his voice, but because he was hurt. “I tried to keep in touch, Mike. I really did. I always had to call you first. I’ve always tried first, and you never did. I thought you cared more than that?”
“I do care!”
“Then why do I have to chase after you just so you could keep being my friend?”
“We are friends, Will! We’re friends!”
“What happened to us being best friends?” He’s getting déjà vu, and he’s sure Mike is too. They’ve had this fight before.
“I don’t know, you can’t just move states and expect us to stay the way we were.” It’s clear Mike feels betrayed that Will moved away, but it didn’t help that he was trying to shift the blame to him.
“Even now! I literally just offered to do something-” Will goes to pick up a twenty-sided dice, “-we always used to do. And you’re still pushing me away when I’m right in front of you.” Will clutches the dice and points at Mike with it. “You don’t get to pretend that this simply doesn’t matter.”
“It’s just a game!” Mike sharply replies.
Will’s face drops. He feels a pain deep inside his chest. He takes a defeated breath in and opens his mouth to speak again, when the dice he’s holding begins to… glow? Both boys’ attention darts to the dice as it slowly glows brighter.
Suddenly, the dice’s temperature drastically rises, causing Will to drop it on the floor.
The lights begin to flicker around them. Their heads whip around the room, looking at the ceiling light, then the lamp light, back to the dice jittering on the floor.
“What the-”
BANG!
A large force, accompanied by a blinding light, threw Will back into the wall. He hit his head hard on the wall and blacks out.