Chapter Text
Summer Break. June 5th. 1987.
Mike Wheeler woke up in shock.
His alarm clock was ringing quite obnoxiously, more than usual. The best start to his summer.
But he wasn’t looking forward to it much, anyway.
Summer just meant more looking for Vecna. Stopping him.
Mike wasn’t complaining, though. It was another chance to find and destroy the bastard to killed Will.
–Mike slammed his hand on his alarm clock, the annoying sound thankfully stopping.
Today was their 20th crawl, and Mike actually had to go into the upside down now. Like, for real now.
The closest he’d ever been in that nasty hellhole was when they went to find the hub in the tunnels back during 1984.
But now, it was the summer of 1987.
Mike had grown into his features, his jawline sharper, his freckles messier, and his hair a long, tangled mess falling just past his jaw line/bone.
Of course, he was also taller. 5’9.
But Will disappearing forever, and the introduction of interdimensional beasts, the upside down, and Vecna, a physic serial killer had changed Mike a lot.
He constantly had eye bags, dry responses, and an attitude.
. . .
Mike rushed downstairs, into the kitchen, as he pulled on sweater. He needed to get ready as fast as possible without making it look like he was going off to war to his parents.
“Good morning, Mike.” Karen hummed, flipping pancakes for Holly.
Mike mumbled back a response, a piece of toast already stuffed in his mouth. He grabbed his supplies and back, slinging it over his shoulder.
Karen noticed his hassle, looking up from the stove. “What do you need that all for?”
“Just some exploring in the woods, mom.” Mike groaned sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
“Really?” Ted looked up from his newspaper. “Exploring the woods..?”
Mike knew what his dad was implying, but he didn’t have time to be emotional, so he just dashed out the door after throwing a quick ‘love you’ at his family.
“Took you long enough, Wheeler.” Steve snapped, ducking his head back into his car. He’d been waiting
“I’m out at a regular time, alright??” Mike retorted back.
“It’s almost 10am.” Lucas remarked from the front seat once everyone was in the car.
“Yeah, normal time. You guys don’t sleep in?”
“It’s not a day to be sleeping in.” Dustin said dryly, leaning his head against the window.
“Whatever.” Mike mumbled, fumbling through his backpack a third time, checking he had everything.
. . .
They arrived at WSQK (that's it right?) radio station. Hopper, El, Joyce, Jonathan, Robin, and Nancy, who seemed to have left the house before Mike was even conscious, were all gathered in the basement.
“Nice of y’all to show up.” Hopper sighed, gathering everyone around the table.
“Yeah, someone had the gall to sleep in until 9:30.” Lucas said teasingly.
“It’s a normal time.” Mike stated firmly again, unaware of the joking.
Lucas nodded a sarcastic ‘uh-huh’ until Hopper called their attention back to the front.
“Okay, everyone. This is our 20th crawl, and we’re switching up teams this time, so we need extra time to prepare.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. They looked so awake and ready unlike Mike.
“Joyce, El, and Robin are going to stay here, in the basement.” Hopper gestured to their surroundings. “--They will be helping Dustin and Steve who are going to monitor Me, Mike, Nancy, and Jonathan’s location once we enter the upside down.”
He gave a strict look to everyone on his team, then wrapped up his speech. “Lucas, you’re on your own for this one, letting us know when the burn commences, et cetera. You got that?”
“Yup.” Lucas nodded, determined.
“Alright, everyone is on the same page, yes?”
The group exchanged confident nods, until they split up into their groups.
Joyce and El were chatting about her training, Dustin and Lucas hanging around Steve and Robin, like normal.
But Mike couldn’t chat. He had to meet up with Hopper, Jonathan, and Nancy to discuss the plan.
Hopper passed a shotgun and two grenades to Nancy, a Molotov and an AK-47 to Jonathan, until he simply tossed flares and a pistol to Mike.
“HEY! Why do I have all the shitty weapons?” Mike groaned.
“Why are you complaining about it? You’re not a kid anymore.” Hopper snapped back.
“I have to defend myself, and if we do come across Vecna, I need to help, right?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Then why am I even in this group? Because I’m expendable?”
“You’re not, Mike–” Nancy began, getting cut off.
“Because we need backup. El had a weird feeling that we were getting closer.” Hopper stepped closer, challenging.
“So I need good weapons to kill him if we find him, right?” Mike didn’t flinch, but he did find it hard to swallow without looking intimidated.
“Do you want nothing? It’s flares and the gun or nothing, okay kid?”
“Fine..” Mike grumbled under his breath, strapping the flares over his shoulder and locking the pistol into his belt.
(after planning, training, getting ready, going over the plan several times.)
8pm. Burn time.
Mike was pressed up against the wall, behind Nancy, who was behind Jonathan, who was behind Hopper, the leader.
Even though they said otherwise, it looked like Mike was pretty expendable right now.
They were waiting for the burn so they could sneak into the cars, one by one.
That was their plan, then meeting up in zone E4, right their target exploration for this crawl. They could maybe even check off E3 as well, they had 2 full hours to check for that psycho.
Mike was waiting anxiously for Lucas’ signal over the walkie, his heart heating faster than usual.
Then he heard it.
The low crackle of Lucas’ voice through the transmission. “Burn commencing in three.. Two.. boom.” He chuckled after that. This was too easy.
Or so they thought.
They had a straggler, right in their pathway to easily sneak onto the cars.
“Fuck.” Hopper mumbled.
Nancy grabbed Mike’s hand and squeezed it out of anxiety. Jonathan did the same with Nancy.
Hopper stayed calm though, until the soldier moved and they had time for action.
Hopper went first. Smooth, tumbling into the back over the moving vehicle. He gave a thumbs up, signaling Jonathan.
He kissed Nancy’s forehead quickly before rushing into the other van.
Good, half-way there. They were so close.
When it was Nancy’s turn, she glanced at Mike, smiled, then let go of his hand, dashing off.
He watched her go, suddenly more aware that he could mess everything up right now.
He waited. Then got the signal from Nancy.
“Fuck it.” Mike mumbled. He checked the perimeter, then sprinted towards the last van. He tumbled inside, knocking over a box, but he did it.
No one suspected a thing.
The ride was smooth, Mike getting a little too relaxed and a little too anxious at the same time to realize he was supposed to jump out 5 minutes ago.
“SHIT. Shit shit shit…” Mike fumbled, quickly gathering his supplies and rolling onto the grass. “Shit shit shitttttt..”
Mike fumbled into the woods, away from eyesight. He grabbed his map out of his bag and started examining the zones.
He was right by the church, so he looked for that and realized he wasn’t even close. He was in zone F5. He had to walk all the way to their meeting spot.
This irritated Mike, but he couldn’t just stand there, so he decided to suck it up and start walking through the forest.
“Goddamn Hopper and his goddamn picking teams.. with his goddamn ugly beard..” Mike grumbled as he walked, paying close attention to the map, and ready to pull out his pistol at any slight noise.
Of course, he couldn’t use his flares; it would alert all the military. Wait. Why the fuck did they even give me flares?
He would bring that up later, if he even survived this crawl.
Mike kept moping and walking until he suddenly heard a branch crack.
He whipped out his pistol and started aiming wildly, not shooting just yet. “HELLO?? Is anyone there? Hopper??”
Suddenly, he felt the tip of a rifle bump against his back.
“Put your hands up. Drop the gun.” An unfamiliar voice commanded.
“OKAY OKAY,” Mike didn’t know who this was, but he did as he was told.
“Good. Now why are you here, soldier?" The voice inquired, pressing the gun closer to Mike’s spine. “Your base isn’t over here.”
“I-I-I’m not a soldier, okay?? I- I just got lost from my group, we’re trying to find this psycho serial killer, I mean, I don’t know why I’m telling you this–”
“Turn around, and address your name.” The voice stated, firm.
“I’m not a soldier, alright??” Mike started to turn slowly, hyper aware of the rifle on him. “I’m Mike-- Mike Wheeler, okay?? I-I just need to find my friends, please...” He squeezed his eyes shut, stammering over his words.
The voice paused for a moment, causing Mike to open his eyes again in confusion. The rifle is just slightly dropped from Mike’s chest.
Just slightly.
And now Mike got a look at the body of the mysterious voice.
He was a boy, who Mike thought could be in his grade. He wore a hooded cloak with combat pants and boots.
Mike’s breath stopped when he got a good look at the face.
The features were entirely too familiar, even as details were shaded by the hood.
The one soft, sparkling hazel-green eye he couldn't only see currently, and the lips always pressed into a thin line or a sheepish grin. brought back too many memories, but Mike didn't entirely realize why yet.
Mike couldn’t speak, so the mysterious boy finally broke the silence. “Wheeler..?”
Mike choked on his own words. “W-Will..?”