Chapter Text
Will was finally having a good time again.
He can't remember the last time everyone's mood was up, it felt like it had been forever because, well, it had been.
-
For a year and a half, Max laid still in a hospital bed going from casts and monitors hooked up everywhere to just a neck brace with an IV and a tube feeding her. There was the heart monitor beeping every so often, being the only thing in the room making any noise.
Lucas hardly ever left her side, he kept a strong face and a positive attitude all the while everyone around him knew that he was secretly falling apart. Max died in his arms. He witnessed her bones crack and crunch, with blood streaming down her face from her eyes. For days afterwards, even when the California group returned, he remained quiet. It was clear that he had lost something valuable that day in the attic. That valuable something laid on the bed he sat next to day in and day out.
Dustin wasn't much better, Will hadn’t known Eddie, Mike had mentioned him once or twice in California when talking about school back in Hawkins. (Will pretended that it didn't add salt to the wound that punctured when he found out that Mike played DND with a new party after insistently telling him no that whole summer prior, but he tried to ignore that). After hearing that he died in Dustin’s arms, that was another blow., Unlike Max, Eddie hadn't gotten another breath of life, he was just gone.
Dustin was the opposite of Lucas, while one was reserved now, the other was angry. Dustin’s face would contort whenever someone mentioned Hellfire and he would blow off whoever asked how he was holding up. He would shove off anyone who tried to comfort him.
It hurt seeing all his friends hurting when he was off in a land of humidity and endless summer, all of them losing something they shouldn't have, going through something that he had caused.
Sure, it wasn't direct, how could he know that a manipulative monster from another dimension would kidnap him? But, Will had been the one to have started all of this, to have made contact with the Upside Down and its monsters; to have released them onto Hawkins to prey upon his friends and family.
The car ride back to the small town was the universe's karma onto him. Other than the sounds of the radio and the sound of an occasional cough, silence filled the car, which made things increasingly awkward as time passed. Everyone was anxious on the ride back; seeing the world burn wasn’t the nicest thing to see. Not to mention that El had witnessed her best friend dying, completing Vecna’s plan to open up all four gates.
Plus it was clear that hers and Mike’s relationship had taken a dip even after the confession in the bathtub, when El was so close to death’s doorstep; despite Mike saying the three words El had desperately wanted to hear for a year and a half (with Will’s help, of course, but that meant nothing). He clearly felt something was off with it. So, the two weren't speaking to each other, now turning opposite ways from one and another and Will was just there.
He spent all summer trying to get them to see eye to eye with each other, to get them to be the couple everyone knew they were, the soulmates who knew from day one that they were meant to be. To be like Superman and Lois Lane, but with Lois Lane being Mike and El being Superman., Will knew—through what his sister would tell him— that she didn’t want to be placed on a pedestal. A pedestal that Mike had built the foundation for.
So, he had no idea where they stood, but he hoped that his painting would help them more. It had gotten Mike to say the feelings he had been so afraid to say, so who can say that if can't fix the rest of their problems? Will was more than happy to let him believe that the painting he poured his heart and soul into, all of his feelings and deepest wants into one, was from the girl of his dreams instead of his best friend.
When they got back to Hawkins for the first time in months and got the gist of everything that happened, Hopper had taken El away to his cabin to start her training. He said it was to prepare her for what's about to come, they had no idea how long it would take Vecna to regenerate and bring his forces back to attack them once more. Mike had followed them, but returned a few hours later in a bit of a daze, but snapped out of it quickly when the rest of the were faced with a question- where were the Byers going to stay?
They barely had anything to their name now, even less than they had before, if anyone could imagine that. Their home was sold off, an old couple with more than seven cats living there now, and almost every physical item they had owned was either in the van or all the way in Lenora, destroyed. Asking the Hendersons was an absolute no go, the Sinclairs were going through enough, Ms. Mayfield was MIA though she wasn't even considered, and there wasn't enough room in Hopper’s cabin for three more people.
This has been what snapped Mike out of whatever was going on in his mind, saying that they can stay at his house, the Wheeler resident having enough space for them. The younger male wasn't fazed by Joyce’s concerns and kept on pushing it, running back home with them and running past his mom in the kitchen telling her the plan.
Mrs. Wheeler shared a glance with Joyce, joining her with why they can't just take them on but Mike stubbornness stuck and, somehow, the Byers were officially staying with the Wheelers in a blink of an eye. The only thing Ted had to add was that Will was staying in the basement with Jonathan, after Mike offered up his room to Will.
So, that's where they stayed, two very different families under one roof.
-
Over the year and a half, almost everything stayed the same; Lucas sitting at Max’s bedside waiting for her return, Dustin being distant and more closed off as he barely answered his walkie, and El being at the cabin trying her best to train for the upcoming fight all while hiding from the military who were hitting her down.
His mom was still overprotective, Jonathan snuck in through Nancy's window after dark when their parents went to bed, Steve had been.. well, Steve, though Will heard that his and Dustin's relationship was getting more strained. Hopper was mostly at his cabin, though Will had seen him and his mother together when he came back into town.
Will had started talking to Robin here and there and discovered he liked her company. There was something about her that felt familiar, but he couldn't see why his gut was telling him that.
The biggest thing that had changed was Mike.
Mike Wheeler.
The boy whom he met the first day of kindergarten who came up to him and asked him the best question of his life, the boy who taught him the funniest game ever invented that got them two more best friends; the same boy who searched for him aimlessly, who figured out he wasn't himself before anyone else even his mother.
The same boy who stopped playing their game because he had matured and out-grown it, the boy who yelled at him in the rain saying eight words Will never thought he would hear out of his mouth, the boy who couldn't hug him in the airport.
Who didn't remember his birthday.
Who said they were now just friends, not best friends.
Who hadn't noticed how upset he was not even two feet away.
The entire time in Lenora, even the summer prior, Will felt like he lost the boy he knew. He felt like he blinked and the boy who could read him better than a book, who would comfort him and wouldn't tease him regardless of what has upset him, who would stare him straight in the eye with no fear— was gone.
That boy he knew was replaced by someone new, who ran off without him without a care, who couldn't decipher what had upset him and couldn't even put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, who couldn't stare him in the eye without looking away.
Then a miracle occurred over the time the two families lived with each other, Will could see the old little boy who he dearly called his first best friend was coming back to the surface.
Mike started spending more time with Will, going out of his way to invite him into his room to just hangout- sometimes they didn't even talk, Will would just draw and paint while Mike read or wrote on his typewriter.
Mike started bumping his elbow at dinner, knocking their knees together while trying to avoid looking at each other or else they’d break into laughter like middle school girls. Whenever the group came together and discussed upcoming plans, they would look at each other and speak; They would be across the room and just share their thoughts with no words, just their facial expressions and gestures, just like they used to do.
If Will was thankful for anything over these grueling months, it was getting his childhood best friend back, the genuine Mike that was hidden under expectations and pressure from others.
Unfortunately, this relative peace didn't last.
Karen and Ted getting hospitalized and Holly going missing just like he did.
With the realization that more kids are being targeted by Vecna, something that Will absolutely would not allow, remembering the torture he went through the week he was in the Upside Down.
The only relatively fine part of the day was seeing Robin kissing someone, with that someone being a lady named Vickie who worked at the hospital. That's what had been his gut feeling, how he and Robin were alike.
This then led to a conversation, about dating— not that Will had thought about anyone! Even if he had thought about someone, he couldn't have him, since he was already dating someone; the said person being very close to Will as well, and he could never put them through more grief than she already had in her life.
However the conversation has many eye opening points, those being how you would know that they like you back. A touch of an elbow, knowing glances— all of which Will had shared with Mike, but no. Will shouldn’t, and couldn't.
Mike wasn't like Robin or like Will, he was normal.
Robin did say that he shouldn't look for answers in anyone else, that everything he needed was inside and to not look for anything from other people as he didn't need fixing or completely.
Maybe Mike wasn't to him like Vickie was to Robin, but instead was how Tammy Thompson was to her!
Of course, Mike and Will weren't just hallway peers, they were best friends since kindergarten, and maybe that's all they had to be, should be.
Will could survive just being like that with Mike, he's done it for years now and it was possible to get over him, just like Robin had.
As long as Will had Mike’s friendship, he was fine. Mike was still talking to him, spending time with him and wasn't calling him a freak or avoiding him at every waking moment.
Will still had, at least for now in this moment, his heart.
-
The MAC-Z attack made his heart feel as though it would explode, ignoring the fact that he and Mike were covered in gray water.
The military were getting clawed and bitten left and right, all while shooting at them and killing them with Will feeling every single bullet, every graze of a shot.
It burned, and fuck, did it hurt like hell. Will felt bullets in his arms, legs, neck, back, head, every part of his body and it was pure agony everywhere.
Then to knock it off, the monster has decided to show himself again, knocking off the rest of the military while throwing Joyce and Mike away; Vecna.
Will was powerless in his control, being called weak and how he was broken then getting his face caressed as he was told how good of a spy he is.
Getting told how the two of them were connected, how he was permanently linked to the thing that ruined and made his life a living hell, that hurt everyone around him.
How the kids are perfect vessels for Vecna, just like how he was the original vessel.
All of that for Vecna to just drop him and head back through the gate he opened, calling demogorgons after his friends.
Seeing how Mike was almost killed by the attack, just for something inside of him to just unlock, getting a rush of memories; DND, his mom, Jonathan— but mostly, Mike.
Almost all of his happy memories he used to unleash his powers were of Mike.
To think he almost lost him to a demogorgon, if Will had to watch him get murdered there at that battleground, he probably would have died as well.
Will was half convinced that the moment Mike dies, he will too, sure he had nothing to prove it but he didn't have anything to disprove it either.
Watching Mike running towards him, surrounded by fire, with his mouth agape with shock and disbelief was like a masterpiece Will wished he could paint. All he could think about was how it would've become his Magna Opus.
Mike hitting Will’s chest, arms wrapped around his shoulder, shouting “You're a real-life, honest to God sorcerer!”
All Will could do was break into a tired smile, wrapping his arms around the younger male, gasping “Mike..” happily.
At that moment in time, in Mike's arms, the world just fell away. That it was just them, back when things were simpler- that all of this was just another one of Mike’s campaigns, but reality set back in after a second.
Realizing that they failed, the kids were gone.
-
Reuniting with Max was the light the party needed, seeing her bright blue eyes awake and aware brought life back into all of them.
Although she can't stand on her own, her voice is scratchy from being silent for months, and her vision blurry as they weren't used to the light (and almost had gone blind). It was still Max through and through, giving out her tough love and teasing them, with a twinkle of light in her pupil that wasn't there before.
Lucas finally had a real, genuine smile on his face, laughing in disbelief still— he had shared that when they were being chased and cornered, he had believed that it was the end of the line for them.
If not for Mrs. Wheeler coming in and intervening, then Max, Robin, Vickie and himself would be dead right now. He hadn't left Max’s side still, holding her hand or wheeling her around wherever she wanted to go.
Dustin also had a light relit inside of him, apparently he had redeemed himself as he saved Steve from falling to his death; there was still that guilt of Eddie, but at least it had been overcome by successfully keeping Steve alive.
Will didn't want to think about the possibility of Dustin failing this time as well, if that had happened then the Dustin they had known would truly be gone. Thankfully though, that did not happen, and the other teen finally had his special smile on his face once more.
Surprisingly, Jonathan and Nancy had broken up, apparently being close to death made them realize they had bonded unhealthily with one another.
Will had been saddened when his brother told him the news, they seemed so perfect for each other, but as he looked closer now- they both look so much brighter now, lighter, like a chain on their ankles had been broken and they were now free.
All of this was making this the happiest time in such a long time, even though they were close to ending things. Everything seemed to be going great, almost perfect.
All of this happiness that then Michael goddamn Wheel decided to switch up, once again.
Mike seemed to regress into his old ways again, going from close and touchy, familiar in such a lovely way to seemingly oceans apart when he was only feet away.
All of the signs; bumping elbows, knee knocking, eye locking from across the room were now hand hovering, sitting the furthest away from him, and avoiding eye contact like the plague. Of course Mike would choose to change again, when things were going so well.
He was acting distant once more, always right next to him but never really there, always hovering. While everyone else had gotten their sparks back, Mike had lost his somewhere.
And all Will could think about was: Was it because of him?
Mike started to pull away after Will unlocked his powers, all the progress they've made with their friendship once more started to disappear, and Will felt like it was all his fault.
Mike had said it himself, his powers were just taken from Vecna, how he was basically the same as Vecna.
What if he thought of him and Vecna as one of the same?
Was Mike afraid of him now?
That was the only explanation Will could conjure up in his mind, it's where all the evidence was pointing.
Why Mike was hovering and always around but never next to him, so if Will did something suspicious he could alert the others, it was clear Mike thought of him differently now.
It surely wasn't helping the visions Vecna was showing him, the bastard always relentless in his torturing of Will, it was probably just like shooting the breeze to him.
Of course he was forcing his hand more and more, now making him see that if Will kept going like he was that they would all separate, go different ways and never look back at each other. The exact opposite of what Will wants to happen.
Will loves his friends, he wants to be around them for the rest of time, they were the ones that made him feel like he should keep going on the worst days and making him ticked off on the best.
However, to stop this all from happening, Will had to reveal himself. A secret covered in dust, not known even by his mother or Jonathan- not to any of his friends.
Especially Mike.
If any one of them knew, they would turn their back on him anyways, either way was a lose-lose.
Will wasn't stupid, Hawkins was a small town and people like him don't belong, his own blood-father had shown that much. Somehow he had known when Will was only a little boy, who didn't know that Santa Claus wasn't real.
The only reason Robin had been so accepting and open to talking about it to him was because she was like him, she had the same fears and secret he has- the only difference between them was that she had accepted it as a part of who she is, while Will was still trying to find who exactly he was through all the trauma he had endured throughout these years.
Henry wasn't a liar, these visions he was making Will see could very well be true and that if he doesn’t come clean about his secret, everyone grows apart.
However, he wasn't shown what would happen if he didn't tell everyone that he was different, that he will never see girls like how Lucas sees Max; like how Mike sees El.
For all Will knows, if he does come clean with the truth to everyone, it could turn out even worse, it could be their downfall and doom all of them to the fate Vecna has planned for them.
That was just not a risk Will could take, so he’lll risk it, at least for just a while longer. All he had to do was protect everyone from Henry, even if hiding parts of himself Henry was forcing him to tell others about.
He won't let that man force his hand, not about this, not the one thing about Will that that monster hasn't touched yet but now wants to.
He’ll solve that issue soon, hopefully in the next day or two since November Sixth is arriving fast and with it, Vecna as well.
No, the problem that’s encompassing Will’s mind was Mike. He just wants to go back to how he was acting before Will’s power surfaced.
No, he wants to go back to before all the Upside Down mess, back to when his biggest worry was how he and the party was going to take down whatever beast Mike decided to throw their way when they were twelve.
Back to when Mike wore his heart on his sleeve, not buried under whatever new, and old, weight he was carrying. He just wants the Mike who was innocent back once more, at least to see him one last time before another world fell on them, literally.
But Will won’t get that, all of his wishes that were mostly centered around the Wheeler boy, since he’s closed in on himself once more. Just before the final fight for their lives, hopefully just metaphorically.
He wasn’t sure if he was ever going to see that boy again, it was a miracle he came back after Lenora when everyone else was closed off.
Will had been able to peek behind the curtain that heavily surrounded Mike Wheeler only to then get closed shoved back once more- this time not knowing if that veil will ever recede again.
-
They were all at the Squawk radio station, all being dispersed around the place.
Dustin was mainly hanging around Steve, them both still recovering emotionally from Steve’s almost death.
Lucas and Max had headed to the kitchen with El, the girl wanted another sweet treat with Max wanting to tag along with her friend and Lucas was practically glued to her side.
Robin and Vickie had snuck away somewhere, Will’s heart hurt a bit from jealousy, that they were confident in themselves and each other that they got to have that kind of relationship.
One that Will desperately wanted for himself, but he guessed in order to do that that he had to come fully in terms with who he was; at least, according to Robin’s words.
Nancy had gone off to reload all of her guns and sort through all of her gear, he’s glad he’s always kept himself on her good side, because boy is she a good shot. Will doesn’t know where she got it from, because everyone knew it certainly wasn’t from the infamous Ted Wheeler.
Ted is the exact opposite from being a hunter— all he did was work a 9-5 and come back to sit on the couch then wait for Karen to finish dinner.
In these past months, Will loathed the man more and more, of course he can’t say anything directly to his face or else he’d be kicked off and banned from the Wheeler residence. Plus, Will really wasn’t the kind of person to bad mouth someone who could go to the light at the drop of a hat.
Will had seen Jonathan go off with their mom and Hopper, most likely talking about a plan that his mom won’t allow him to hear. He loved his mom, true and dear, but Will can defend himself perfectly fine; however, Joyce still insisted on keeping him from the fight even as everyone else ran towards it, on the grounds of ‘keeping him safe’.
Will would never forgive himself if any one of his friends got hurt because of him, because his mother was too scared on his behalf to send him towards the inevitable fight that he had brought on. Will sometimes wished for the treatment Joyce gave him and Jonathan would switch, where she would give all of her time and affection to Jonathan and leave Will for later.
Will sat on the station’s couch, sketchbook on his lap with a pencil in his hand, he had doodled a little on the fresh but was too anxious to actually bring anything to life. The reason being the person across from him.
Mike looked like he went three rounds with Freddy Krueger and lost each one of them; his cheekbones were more prominent than they had been two weeks ago, which was saying something. The bags under his eyes were shades of purple and blue, bouncing his knee up and down as he chewed on his thumbnail while lost in whatever thought was in his head.
He looked bad, while he still looked good to Will in all aspects (Will doesn’t think that Mike could ever look bad), but he looked as if he hadn’t slept for weeks.
Will doesn’t think he had any night terrors recently, all the party members have had them since that fateful November back in ‘83. However, whenever Mike had a nightmare he would murmur and gasp- crying out for someone, unlike how he was when he was awake.
Some nights when the Byers were living with the Wheelers, Mike would sneak Will up to his bedroom during the night to hang out (just like Nancy and Jonathan, but that didn’t mean anything). Sometimes Will would leave after a few hours to go back down to the basement, but other times he stayed with Mike.
It was rare that Mike did have a night terror, but whenever he did, Will would be right there next to his side in an instant. He would shake him slightly, stopping once the other boy’s arms wrapped around his mid-section, and Will would massage his head. They would usually sit in silence for a few minutes, during the time Will could feel as Mike’s heart beat slowed back down.
Sometimes Mike would release him and turn back around on the bed, other times Will would feel his breath slow down as soft snores came from him and they would sleep like that. Whenever the latter happened, Will would always wake up by himself, the other side of the bed being cold.
On most nights, however, Will would usually wake Mike up because he was having a nightmare.
On those nights, Mike would comfort Will, gather him into his arms and whisper into his ear, gently holding his arms down into his lap. It felt so domestic, whenever he got back into his right state of mind part of him was embarrassed, but most of him was selfish. He wanted to stay there forever, have the world melt away in that moment; if Will was completely honest, if Vecna had chosen one of those moments to bring another world down on theirs, Will would’ve died happy, being in his favorite spot.
Of course, that never happened, and Will can’t openly share those thoughts. Mike was dating El, the girl who played as his twin sister for a year.
He acknowledged her as his real sister now, not by blood but by their souls, and he can’t just go steal her boyfriend of three years out from under her.
Plus, Mike wasn’t like him, not that different from society. He loved El so, so dearly, and it was just as he said on the floor next to the bathtub, his life began the moment he laid eyes on her. The same twenty-four hour timeframe in which Will’s life had ended, been changed forever. But, it’s whatever, it doesn't matter.
What did matter was the boy in front of him, who looked and acted like he was falling apart at the seams.
Will didn’t know what it could be, everything was going so right and good now, there was no reason for any one of them to be down in the dumps right now. Except for one reason;
Himself.
Being like Vecna, having his powers, being his vessel and the perfect spy— it was probably reminding Mike of everything that that bastard had taken away from him. Everything he and El were separated from one another.
Being by Will, who was almost a carbon copy of the monster, probably wasn’t helping Mike cope. That’s why Mike looked so bad right now, he was being forced next to someone who was surfacing bad memories.
Call Will selfish, because he was probably being selfish, but he couldn’t bring himself to part from Mike. Not after all these months of having after such a long time, he can’t bring himself to let go again. He’s convinced himself that the moment he does, Mike will be gone forever.
”Hey,” Will calls out to Mike, but Mike simply looks at the spiderweb on the ceiling, still biting his nail.
”You do know that’s really unhealthy, right?” He chuckles, a bit nervously because Mike would not look back at him. Knee still bouncing, nail only getting shorter and shorter, eyes still glazed over.
”Hey.” Will called out to Mike, trying to get his attention.
’What if Mike was purposefully ignoring him? Was he just annoying him?’
”Hey!” He called out louder, this one finally knocked Mike out of whatever daydream he was having.
Mike looked around, eyes darting over everything like he was almost surprised and confused at where he was, until his sigh finally settled onto Will. His eyes widened the tiniest bit, mouth curving down slightly until it turned into a tight smile.
“Hm? What, Will?” Asking dumbly, it took all of Will not to go straight-faced at that question. It’s not like he’s over here thinking his best friend of eleven years secretly hated him now and was ignoring him. No, nothing like that, at all.
“I was trying to get your attention for, like, a minute.” Mike’s eyebrows raised, looking taken back at the realization.
‘Okay, maybe he wasn't ignoring me then..?’ Will took a deep breath, thankful to know that one single fact. It didn't excuse any of the other teen’s behavior though.
“Oh, um.. sorry, there’s just a lot going on, y’know..” Mike trying to cover up, eyes darting over the room; going back and forth from Will to the wall, then back to Will then to the floor, over and over.
“Yeah..” Will agreed, looking down back at his doodles- they were all cartoonish versions of Mike's face. ‘I can't let anyone see these.’ He can just imagine how badly his face would burn if anyone did.
The two of them fell back into silence once more, only this time, there was this awkward air around them. Mike started picking at his nails with his fingers, the noise filling the awkward silence of the room.
Will couldn't really stand it anymore, he’s dealt with Mike's ever changed behavior before, this was nothing new. He just needed to crack him open slowly, make Mike feel safe and secure so that he knows he can open up to Will.
“So, Mike, I know we-” Will started to speak, wanting to have a conversation with Mike again, not just exchange words with him. When suddenly, Mike shot up from where he was sitting, like a spooked deer.
Mike started speed walking, almost jogging towards the door. “Sorry Will! I just, um, realized how badly I have to piss, I'll be right back!” He called, not even looking back at him over his shoulder.
Before Will could say anything in return, Mike had already turned the corner and left his field of vision. Running away once again, only this time it was literal.
Will sighed, setting down his pencil and putting his sketchbook next to him, running his hands through his hair and looking up at the ceiling.
‘God, why must I love Michael fucking Wheeler.’ He was really trying not to get agitated at him, it was clear something was going on, but goddamn.
Not even a week ago they spoke normally, like how best friends should talk, but now Mike's acting like he was just a hallway peer.
When Will looked at the clock, hearing the ticks of the seconds’ hand, it was 11:11 am.
Oh, how deeply Will wished he didn't love Mike. How much easier it would be if he didn't.