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"Friends? No thanks…” Mike mumbled looking away.
What? Will's heart picked up speed. Surely he can’t be saying what he thinks he's going to say. The pause was too long. After what felt like a lifetime, Mike looked back at him.
“Will, I- I just..” Mike stuttered, trying to find the right words. Will was going to die. Spit it out, he wanted to scream. But he held his tongue.
“You are so brave. You're the bravest person I know. What you did there, coming out to all those people…You're so strong, I- I wish…I-” Mike’s eyes were glistening, downcast.
“Mike, are you okay?”
Mike looked up at him, eyes brimming with tears he was trying to hold back.
“I know maybe it's too late to say this, but you know what” Mike looked at him with a determined expression. “The world is ending, and I don't want to regret anything anymore.”
Pause.
Will wished, in that moment, that Mike would just say what he had to. He was tired of hoping, tired of trying to guess.
“Will, you're my best friend. And I don't want to lose you, ever. That day when you went missing, it was the worst day of my life. Even when you moved to California…it was like losing…losing a part of me.”
“Mike…” Will, whispered. His heart had picked up pace and if Mike wasn't going to say it, he was sure he would die of a heart attack right there, forget being killed by Vecna.
“And I didn't want to say it to you in a situation like this, when the world is ending, but I don't know when the right time or place is anymore. I just want you to know that…” Mike took a deep breath.
The next part, he said in a breathless whisper, “that I love you”.
Will's heart had beat out of his chest and jumped off the radio tower, because he couldn't believe what he was hearing. And maybe Mike read his mind, because he repeated it again, so Will could hear, loud and clear. “I love you, Will. And not like I love Lucas or Dustin. I love them too, but you…I don't know what my life would be like without you, and everytime I get a glimpse of a life like that, I hate it. I don't want to lose you ever. I love you” he repeated again, moving closer.
His hands caressed Will's cheek, wiping away tears that Will hadn't even realised had fallen.
This was everything he wanted. For Mike to love him back the way he loved him. A gut wrenching, soul-deep, inexplicable love. It felt too good to be true. Will's eyebrows furrowed, frowning, as he looked at Mike's face.
“Is-is this real?” he whispered. Mike's face fell. “Yes Will, what do you mean?” he asked back. Will shook his head, eyes still glistening, “you're not messing with me right? This is not- this isn't a Vecna vision or something?”
Mike’s eyebrows furrowed in concern; he let out a sigh, “No Will, this is real. I am real.”, he said, looking back at Will. He hesitated a little before wrapping his arms around Will, giving him the tightest hug that he'd denied himself all these years. Oh, how he missed hugging his best friend. Will hugged him back tightly and they stood there, holding each other, silent tears streaming down their faces. After what felt like seconds and forever at the same time, they let go.
Thunder rumbled and lightning struck in red. The others were above them, still climbing the tower. The dark blue upside down sky was closing in on them. The wind around them had picked up speed.
Mike looked at Will, his eyes lighting up with a glint of hope that had been in hiding for years now. His hands were still on Will’s shoulder.
“We have so much to talk about, Will. I wanna tell you everything and I want to hear so much from you”, Mike said, wiping the tears off his face. Will nodded, eyes still glistening.
“We will make it out alive okay? We'll get Holly back, and blow this thing up, it'll all be over”
“Hey lovebirds, we need to get going”, Robin called out hanging from one of the railings, and then continued to climb the tower to eternal doom.
"When all this is over, can i take you out on a date?" Mike whispered. Will felt fireworks going off in his chest. He nodded, wiping the tears off his cheek and wiping his on his jeans. They smiled at each other. Mike quickly placed a quick shy kiss on Will's cheek, blushing profusely. It took Will by surprise. Before he could even react, Mike said, "Let's go. We must save the world first, my sorceror" and then resumed climbing up the tower.
By the time the two of them reached the top of the radio tower that had pierced into the other dimension, everyone else was already up there. Mike entered through the cracked sky (or ground?) and held his hand out to pull Will up.
Thunder struck again in a resounding boom. And then something strange happened. The ground began shaking, the sky seeming to fall into pieces. Will was still in the Upside Down, his hand outstretched to hold Mike's, but the platform he stood on gave way as the tower began crumbling too.
Below Will, the Upside Down was breaking apart. He could see nothing but endless blue and red, with the occasional thunder and lightning. In a split second’s moment, right as he was about to fall, Mike’s hand caught him.
“Will hold on!!” Mike's trembling voice cut through the rumbling of the thunder. Beside Mike, Joyce was on her knees, calling out to him. Will could hear the others panic, trying to do something to pull him up.
Will’s hands were getting sweaty. His mind briefly flashed to a memory he'd thought he'd forgotten. One where he was atop a tree in the very same place, a demogorgon waiting below for him to fall.
Mike tried to pull him up, but his hand slipped. He was now hanging off - one hand hanging onto the cracked sky/ground like it was a ledge, and the other holding onto Will below him.
There was no way Will was making it up there. He knew it. But at least Mike could get up there, if he wasn't holding onto Will. And they were running out of time. They had to save Holly.
And so he gave one look at Mike, hoping beyond hopes he'd understand. It’s okay. You can let go.
“NO! Will hold on, I'll pull you up”, Mike still held on with great difficulty, panicking, his breathing coming in short gasps, his hands slipping from where he held onto Will's.
Lucas came running with a rope, "Mike, hold onto this!". The others were trying to find somewhere to tie it to. Will could hear someone say, “It's barren, there's nothing to tie this to!!”
Will shook his head, his eyes filling with tears.
Please, Mike, his eyes begged for Mike to let go.
Mike's face relaxed in realisation. His eyes filled up with tears too. He looked up at Lucas, whose face looked broken, devastated. He still held the rope out for Mike to catch.
And for a millisecond, which felt like forever, everything slowed down.
Will let go.
And he went tumbling down,
down,
down.
What he hadn't realised was Mike had let go off the ledge too, jumping in after him - both freefalling through the red-blue sky into hell.