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Mike
“Are you ready?” Mike questions Will with a sideways glance.
“Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I bet with the party here, they won’t be bad at all.” Will smiles
Will’s been having nightmares recently, but not terrible ones. Not to the extent they’ve been before.
“I love that you always check in on me.” He adds, gazing up to meet Mike’s eyes.
The doorbell rings once. It falls on deaf ears.
They cuddled closer, both holding onto each other tighter.
The doorbell rings again impatiently, paired with a bang on the door.
Will leans in to give a kiss on the forehead, and Mike’s heart does something just short of palpitating.
Downstairs, the front door almost cracks the drywall. “We’re here, loser!” Dustin’s boisterous voice boomed from the entryway.
“Shit!” Will sputters, half breathless from the shock, and the other half from what Mike assumes to be from their earlier activities.
The two hop into motion, fixing each other's hair and tidying the covers on the bed.
Once they both look presentable, Will clambers down the stairs trying to beat out the other members of the party to the living room.
Mike takes an extra second to calm the butterflies in his stomach. Even after all this time of the two dating, Will can still make their love feel brand new.
“Mike? Are you here?” El’s dulcet voice flows from roughly halfway up the stairs. Even though the two obviously weren’t dating anymore, El never stopped being just as kind to him.
Mike scrambles up off the foot of his bed and walks out of his room, trying to be as inconspicuous as physically possible.
“Wow, we got to the sleepover at Mike’s house before Mike…” Max scoffed, nudging Lucas in the ribs.
“Really funny, Max! By the way, how’s summer school going? Is it just a fantastic time?” Mike quips, and tries to steal a glance at Will. It’s only been like a minute, but Mike already misses him. Will is too busy pawing through his sleepover bag, looking for god knows what until his eyes flash, bringing him back to the present.
“Fuck off, Wheeler. I already walked the stage, I pretty much already graduated.” Max laughs, no malice behind her insults.
“What do you say we get this party started? I brought my NES and Super Mario Bros. I hope it makes up for my lack of snacks.” Dustin chuckles while already opening the basement door.
The rest of the party follows suit and walks down to the dark and kind of musty space. El and Max set their bags down in their regular corner, already laughing about some newly formed inside joke. Dustin and Lucas start to camp out in front of the TV, trying to get a prime view for playing video games. The only place left for sleeping is the old too small couch, definitely not enough space for Mike and Will to both sleep at a friendly distance.
It’s not like the party wouldn’t support Mike and Will’s relationship, they would be the most understanding and kind. It’s more for privacy, Mike wants Will all to himself for the last summer at home. Selfish, he knows, but sometimes the heart wins out over the mind.
“I guess we’ll have to share the couch.” Will muttered, while trying to stifle a smile.
“I could switch with you, Mike.” El suggests, “I think me and Will would fit better so everyone can be comfortable.”
“It’s fine!” Mike and Will blurt in unison. The whole party shifts to look at the two in a moment of almost awkward silence. Will starts laughing, borderline maniacally, while shooting Mike a glance that begs him to join in. If he says so, Mike really tries not to sound insane. The humor catches on through the group, letting Mike finally breathe again. The crisis was avoided just barely, too close for comfort.
Everyone falls back into their normal sleepover routine quickly after, a little bit of arguing here, and the slow descent into lack of sleep that made everything funny.
“Dude, don't you miss New Coke?” Lucas whines.
“Oh my god, you cannot be back on that. Literally no one misses New Coke.” Max scoffs, earning a giggle from El.
“El, you didn’t even get to try it! Isn’t that an injustice?” He asks.
“I was too busy doing other things, Lucas.” El quips, this time getting something just short of a cackle from Max.
Mike, Will and Dustin watch from the sidelines, swiveling their heads like it’s a tennis match.
“How do all of their conversations somehow circle back to New Coke?” Dustin raises an eyebrow, then becomes preoccupied with fiddling on his NES.
Mike side-eyes Will, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Will casts him a smirk in return. A satisfied sign escapes Mike, and the two get just an inch closer.
Will
Will feels like he’s stuck in the middle of a battle field, metaphorically. Literally everyone else is sound asleep, and he’s right on the cusp.
This would be okay in normal circumstances, but he hasn’t been all that truthful with Mike. The nightmares he’s been having aren't bad, they’re nothing short of evil. They’re sweaty sheets, throat scraping screams, and silent sobbing type terrible. Would any of this matter if he could just stay up like he had planned? Not at all, but here he is.
A loud snort comes from somewhere on the floor, startling him and restarting his internal timer. Will’s fucked.
A few moments after the snort, a clock chimes three times, marking 3:00 am. Like he thought, fucked.
It’s hard, because Will wants nothing more than to just get his rest so he can have a good time with the Party tomorrow. They’re supposed to drive to a beach down south a little, which sounds like the time of his life. It would be, if he could just sleep normally like a functioning person.
To make everything ten times worse, Mike is so warm and his skin is so smooth. Weird thing to focus on, Will thinks, but when Mike’s T-shirt clad arm is pressed against his back, it’s like he’s being hypnotized. Seriously, the best thing right now would be to snuggle a little bit closer and sleep as deep as possible. He’s gotta get out of here. It’s too dangerous to be thinking like this.
It takes all of Will’s mental strength to separate himself from Mike’s warm mass, and tiptoe over everyone else asleep on the ground. He snags his bag, and raises it close to his chest. As much as sleeping in Mike’s basement sounds like heaven, it’s way too risky. His nightmares are his problem, and he doesn’t need to drag the party into it.
The walk up the stairs is easy, but opening the door proves to be harder. He presses his forehead against the cool wood, and feels around for the handle. It turns, but then sticks. Is this a sign? Leaving the Party isn’t what he wants at all. If he can’t fight his exhaustion, he might as well lean into it. He digs through his bag once again, fingers finding the smooth plastic bottle.
A few months ago, when the nightmares had reached their highest at the time, Joyce had taken Will to the doctors office. He was really hoping for something to fix the nightmares themselves, but obviously most doctors aren’t conditioned to the repercussions of fighting inter-dimensional monsters. The next best option was sleeping pills.
Will has to admit, he’s not really used to taking a whole pill. After a week’s trial, he pretty much gave up and resorted to only taking half of one. A full dose knocked him out, but made him feel groggy and out of it for hours on end after waking up. The nightmares started slipping through the medicated slumber anyways. It was better than no help at all, he’d rather be rested and traumatized than sleep deprived and traumatized. He just passed off these uncomfortable feelings as lack of sleep from aforementioned nightmares to Mike, not really digging into it. Will didn't need to burden him with his issues, and he definitely won’t burden anyone with them right now.
Time is ticking, and there’s a distinct lack of resources to help Will. The water in the basement is dark brown, and Lucas and Dustin pounded back ten cans combined of 7 Up earlier. Dry swallowing pills has never gone well, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The lid screws off with a pop, and two pills slide into his hand. Definitely overkill, but extra, extra coffee in the morning should counteract the problems that come with them. He can’t risk waking up at all. A countdown starts in his head, and he forces the meds down by the end. They stick to the back of his throat, drying out his mouth and making his eyes water. One final swallow gets the job done, and the choking panic goes down with the pills.
Will’s eyes start drooping on the walk back down, and almost cement themselves shut once he’s settled back into Mike’s warm aura. In his last conscious moment, Will places Mike’s arm over his waist, and snuggles in. They’re just far enough for it to look like an accident.
Mike
The first thing Mike registers is a weak whimper. His eyes snap open, and Will is trembling in rhythm with his gasps. Mike doesn’t have to make it a big thing, Will would be mortified.
“Shhh, it’s okay, I’m here.” He whispers in Will’s ear. The whimpers don’t stop, they intensify.
“Will, snap out of it.” Mike raises his voice to its normal level, and rakes his fingers through Will’s hair.
“Let go of me,” The whimpers form words, and Mike pulls his hands back like he’s been burnt.
“Will, I’m sorry, I just-”
“Let go of me.” Will mutters once again, eyes squeezed shut and curled in on himself.
Something slides into place in Mike’s brain, it's not directed at him. He glances around the room, and everyone is still sleeping.
He rubs Will on his back, and it’s slick with sweat.
“Babe, wake up, you’re having a nightmare. It’s okay, it’s all okay.”
His calming words don’t work, they do the exact opposite of calm. Will starts shaking so hard that his teeth chatter.
“Help! Mike!” A half plea, half groan ripped out of Will’s throat.
“No, shh, shh, it’s okay, you’re okay.” Mike starts to ramble, sealing his words with a kiss on Will’s forehead. It does jack shit. He tries again, the taste of salt from Will’s hairline becoming more pronounced.
“I fucking told you!” A sneer rings from the corner of the basement.“You two are literally the opposite of slick.” So much for not making this a big thing.
“Not the time, Max. It’s a really bad time right now…”
Max has a cake eating smirk, illuminated by the soft lamp light around them.
He almost walks over to her and smacks her grin off himself, when Will starts clawing at his neck, increasing the steady stream of fear to Mike’s chest.
“Mike? What’s going on?” She drops her smile, no force needed.
“He won’t wake up, and he’s stuck.” Mike deadpans. No need to sugar coat it.
“What do you mean he’s stuck? Like… you know?” Max squeaks, her voice uncharacteristically high, paired with a point at her own face.
“I don’t- fuck, he’s just like…” Mike grits his teeth and takes a deep breath. “Vecna’s dead, I saw it with my own two eyes.” His thought is cut off by a yelp of pain coming from Will.
El snaps awake, seemingly riled by the mention of Vecna. “He’s dead and buried. Let me check something.” She squeezes Max on the shoulder, and strides over to Will’s bag.
“Help, anyone! Dear god, Please.” The cries steadily get more intense and graphic. Mike slides Will into his lap and rubs the tears off his cheek soothingly.
“Just hold on, you’re safe, you’re here, I’m here.” Mike’s words shake under his anguish. If he’s stressed, he can’t imagine how Will’s feeling.
El’s rustling of the bag slows, then doubles speed.
“What’s going on? El, calm down.” Dustin joins the conversation, rubbing his eyes and yawning.
“I can’t do that right now, give me a moment.” El says, not even looking up. Mike feels like his head is about to explode, his boyfriend is in some sort of crisis and his ex-girlfriend is acting like a crackhead.
“Seriously, what are you doing? How is that helpful?” He spits, grabbing Will’s shaking body tighter.
“Jesus, is he okay?” Dustin gawks, hitting Lucas in the back.
“What do you think, dipshit? You think we’re doing this for fun?”
“No, dude, not at all. Is there anything we can do?” Lucas questions. He gets up and inches closer, reaching out in hopes to steady his friend.
“Don’t touch him!” Mike snaps and contorts his body to block his boyfriend. “You’ll hurt him even more!”
“God, my mistake! Just trying to help my friend like a sane person would.” Lucas backs away, hands in the air
“You’d make it worse, just back off.” Mike spits, almost literally.
“Ah!” El’s eyebrows raise, and she pulls something out of Will’s sleepover bag.
She grabs a bottle of… pills?
“I overheard Hopper a little while ago. Will got a prescription of sleeping pills to help with something. Joyce has also been bringing up nightmares, saying it’s heartbreaking to listen to them.” She punctuates each word with a shake of the bottle. “Based off of those two facts, they’re what’s causing him to be stuck. He’s not flayed or possessed or anything like that, just sedated and having a nightmare.”
“Enough of the exposition, when the hell did he get sleeping pills?” Mike scoffs, feeling hurt. Usually, Will shares everything with Mike, except for this really important info? It did make some things a lot clearer though. The grogginess that seemed more severe than missing a night of sleep, the extra care that he took to tidy up his room whenever Mike was over, or the glazed over look he got whenever anyone brought up a sleepover at his house specifically. How did he miss all of these signs from his own boyfriend?
“Like a few months ago? I don’t know, it doesn’t matter. How are we going to wake him up?” El’s unsettlingly calm, for her brother writhing around in a cold sweat.
“We could dump water on him?” Lucas chimes in. “Would that do anything?”
“Dumbass, he took sleeping pills, you really thought that would work?” Dustin laughs quite condescendingly. “You can’t wake him up, He has to just get up once they wear off.”
“He’s in pain! I can’t just leave him like this, is there anything else? Literally anything else we could do?” Mike yelps pretty much in tandem with Will, proving his point.
“I guess you could try and calm him down, subconsciously. He obviously can’t hear or see, I bet he can feel stuff though.”
Max gasps just a little bit, and widens her eyes in Mike’s direction. Kiss him.
He mulls it over, more like frantically fumbling the idea around. He obviously wants Will to be safe and calm, to not thrash around like he’s back under the Mind Flayer’s command. The other side of the coin, exposing their relationship to the whole party without Will’s say at all.
Everyone stares expectedly, almost like they already know. The options run through his mind like cars on a track, too fast to even understand either option.
“Holy shit, there’s something clawing at your door, Mike.” Dustin’s head is fixed to the back entrance of the basement. “What should we do?”
“What do you mean we? You go figure that out, I don’t give a shit. What happened to focusing on Will?” Mike spits out, the indecision strips his breath away from him.
“Okay, jeez, you take care of Will and we can go see what the hell’s going on outside. We’ll do that so he can get better without getting attacked by a wild animal.” Lucas scoffs and jumps to his feet, and everyone follows suit. Their attention is totally focused on the door. It’s just Will and Mike in their own little world now. Their own fucked up, thrashing around, nervously sweaty bubble.
“Will, I swear to god, please just wake up. You’ll be okay, if you just wake up.” Mike mutters.
He starts with just a quick and chaste kiss, heart beating out of his chest. The contact between the two calms Mike immediately, and he can get to work calming his other half.
“I’m here.” He whispers before leaning in and kissing deeper. He concentrates all his love, devotion, and desire into this kiss. It works, and the worry lines on Will’s face automatically smooth. His breathing evens out, and finally his body goes limp.
“Shit, it’s a raccoon, Mike! There’s a raccoon and he’s rabid!” El shouts, genuine fear in her voice.
Mike’s able to laugh now, and a smile breaks out on his face. “Come inside if it’s rabid! Jesus Christ!”
There’s no effort from anyone to come inside, still leaving the two in their privacy.
“I love you, Will.”
Will doesn’t answer, obviously, but Mike swears that his lips tilt up at the ends and he’s pressed just a bit closer to him.
A noise comes from the doorway, and the magic is broken.
“You did well, Wheeler.” Max smirks, pride instead of snark visible. “You know that we all know, right?”
“You what?” Mike squawks.
“We all know you’re dating, I’m just the first one with proof.”
“God damn. Thanks for being kind and truthful friends. I really appreciate that you came to us with that knowledge. Dumbasses.”
“Come on, you were not hiding it, like at all. You practically jumped for joy when he and you got the couch. Purely strategic by the way.”
“You ass.”
“Come on, you love it. You love him.”
“I really do.” Mike answers, in full certainty. He will truly love Will forever.