Work Text:
It was a normal day for Mike Wheeler, oppressively so. He had a wife, a kid, a job doing something he loved, so why wasn’t he happy? Maybe he missed his friends, yeah, that’s it. He just misses Dustin and Lucas and Will…..and Robin and Steve and Jonathan and Nancy. He decides to turn on the radio. Robin was still hosting the Squawk, it would help him feel more at home.
“Welcome back my lovely listeners! You are listening to the Squawk, I’m Rockin’ Robin and that song you just heard was Pink Pony Club by Chappel Roan. This next song is another Chappel hit, and this one goes out to an old friend of mine, straight from the Midwest! Hope you like it, Mike.” A song apparently titled ‘Good Luck Babe’ starts playing. He hadn’t heard this song before, why was she being so cryptic? He continued writing, before finding himself humming along to the music. It was strangely sad, he thought. All the talk about love and pretending the feelings weren’t there. still, it was catchy.
Everything was fine until the bridge of the song hit. The words triggered memories. Memories he wished he hadn’t thought of because of the feelings they brought up. Memories of Will.
Mike wondered if he had made a mistake. He wondered what could have happened if that talk on the radio tower had ended differently. He wondered if he could have been happier.
Those thoughts were things of the past now. He had a family, and he cared about them. That’s all that mattered. He wouldn’t go chasing some silly fantasy from decades ago. Everything was fine.
As the song ended, Robin’s voice came back and she began to talk. “So, I hope you all enjoyed that beautiful song, my lovely listeners. And to Mike, hope you realized something. Anyway-” Robin continued talking, but Mike didn’t hear. He turned off the radio, and just sat with his thoughts for a moment. He got out his phone, and scrolled onto Will’s contact. He hovered his finger over the call button, before scrolling out and putting his phone away. It was too late for anything that could’ve been. Too late for him.