Chapter Text
Sixteen. That was the age when everyone’s soulmark would appare. It would happen on your birthday. 5840 days to be exact and the soulmark would appear the exact minute you were born, not a moment before and not a moment after. A soulmark was a unique mark that showed up on your body and you shared that exact mark with only one other person. Your soulmate, the person that matches you in every way.
And on your sixteenth birthday, if your soulmate has gotten their mark, you’ll feel what they feel. It’s a bond, so even if the person your meant to be with is on the other side of the world, you’ll feel them and you’ll know they’re out there waiting to be found or perhaps are already searching.
Mike Wheeler was seventeen. He’d had his mark for a year and when he woke up that day and realized he couldn’t feel the bond, he knew they had to be younger than him. But that wasn't a surprise. Because he would willingly bet his life on the fact that El Hopper was his soulmate. He was positive it would be her, as far as he was concerned, it was already a fact that they would be together. So, unlike many teenagers who couldn’t feel their bond, Mike didn’t worry one bit because in 10 months El would get her mark too. But, it wouldn’t be the first time the universe had proved Mike wrong.
Since Joyce and Hopper had compared their marks and gotten married, their house had become the most visited by the group of high schoolers. It made sense seeing as how they could find two party members under one roof. It wasn’t even a question where the party would meet up for El’s birthday.
It was a late night party but El had been born at ten thirty sharp and nobody wanted to miss the moment she got her mark. The moment her and Mike became official soulmates. The group had started the night with helpings of sugary cake, afterwards gifts were opened, and then they broke out the board games.
Mike and her had been sitting right next to each other, holding hands under the kitchen table and grinning from ear to ear while they waited. Will sat next to them and tried to focus on the game and not on the sick feeling in his stomach. It shouldn’t bother him, it really shouldn’t.
Mike was his best friend, El was his sister. He wanted to be happy for them, he knew he should /want/ them to be soulmates. But why did it hurt so much to see them looking so happy? Deep down Will had his answer but he could pretend. He was great at it. He could pretend that he hadn’t been head over heels for Mike since day one. He could make believe that it didn’t ache each time he noticed them stealing kisses from each other when they thought no one was looking. If Will didn't acknowledge his feelings, then they weren’t real.
“Thirty minutes everyone!” Dustin called out excitedly as he glanced at the clock. After the games the group had switched to watching a movie in the living room, Joyce and Jim not far.
“Hey, I’m really sorry guys but I think I better turn in for the night,” Will mumbled. “I don’t think I can stay up any longer,” he said, giving the group an apologetic smile.
“What? Will are you sure, it’s only ten,” Max said softly, giving the youngest of the six a worried look. “You’re going to miss El getting her mark.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, really I’m just falling asleep,” he said, keeping the small smile plastered on his face. “But I’ll see it first thing in the morning,” he said, looking towards El who looked slightly disappointed.
“Alright, if you’re sure,” Mike said, wearing the same expression as Max had. “Sleep well okay?” He added gently.
“I will, happy birthday El,” Will said, forcing his smile to widen as he glanced towards her. “I love you,” he added.
“I love you too, goodnight Will,” El added, a smile of her own.”I’ll see you in the morning,” she said before pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.
“Goodnight everyone,” Will said, getting off the sofa and giving the group a quick and final wave before heading off towards his room.
He wasn’t tired but he wanted nothing more than to be alone at that moment. He just didn’t have it in him to watch. He knew they’d be excited when they compared marks, they’d kiss and they’d hold each other close and the rest of the group would be happy for them. Will didn’t feel like he belonged there. It was a happy moment and it should be shared with people who were happy for them.
When he closed the door he quickly leaned up against it, finally he was free to let the tears fall. He always knew the day would come and he’d realize he had absolutely no chance with Mike. Will had known there would be a time in his life when he’d have to watch Mike find the person he was meant to be with. The person that wasn’t Will.
He did his best to control himself, even though he felt like he was falling apart on the inside. Slowly he changed into his night clothes, trying to shut out the pain while he turned out his lights and crawled into bed. It felt like the end of something and Will didn’t want to face what came next. The Upside Down, Hawkins Lab, Demodogs and Shadow Monsters alike, nothing compared to the heartache Will felt.
He buried his face into his pillows and tried to sleep. While the tears slowed down, the empty feeling inside of him only grew as the minutes passed. Tomorrow would be a new day and he’d have to deal with it. One way or the other.
At some point Will must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by someone. “Huh?” He mumbled, jolting awake. He tried to adjust his eyesight to see into the darkness of his room. “What’s going on?” Will asked, startled. After everything that happened, Will always felt slightly panicked when he fist woke up, like he still expected to be in another dimension.
***
“Will, you gotta get up, El got her soulmark,” Dustin said, shaking Will once again even though it was plain to see that the other teen was awake.
“Dustin? I...I’m happy but I thought I told her I’d see it in the morning,” Will mumbled, finally feeling his heart rate start to slow. He’d been perfectly content with sleeping through the whole production, why did Dustin have to go and wake him up only to remind him why he’d went to bed in the first place.
“No dude, it’s not good. It’s actually the opposite of good, it’s bad,” Dustin said, his tone grave. “They don’t match. Her and Mike, it’s not a match.”
“What?” Will asked, sitting up and trying to get his brain to process what he’d just heard. Was he still dreaming? “What do you mean they don’t match?”
“Their soulmarks, Will. Keep up. Her mark and Mike’s mark don’t match. El is close to tears and Mike is having a meltdown and half of us are trying to comfort El and the other half are trying to calm Mike down, even your mom and Jim are talking to them. We really need you in there,” Dustin explained.
Will felt numb but forced himself to nod while he heaved himself out of bed. “Okay, okay I’m coming,” he said as he followed Dustin into the other room.
Like Dustin had said, the room was chaotic. Mike was pacing the floor while El sat on the sofa. Next to her were Hopper, Joyce, and Max. Each one talking at the same time, trying convince her that it would be okay.
Lucas had been following Mike around, trying to do the same. “I can’t believe this,” Mike mumbled, shaking his head. “I have to look again,” he said, rushing back to the sofa.
“Mike come on, they aren’t even the same color,” Dustin groaned. He was right though. On El’s left leg, right below her knee was a new was a soulmark. It had no real shape it to, like most soulmarks, instead it was a series of zigzagged lines in red and gold hues. While Will thought it was pretty, it looked nothing like Mike's.
Mike's was more circular and instead of red and gold, his was a shade of green and blue. It was something Will had grown used to looking at, it was on the top part of Mike’s right hand after all. He seen it everyday, sometimes it felt like he’d had the shape memorized. Swirled blue lines fading into green swirled lines.
“I thought...I don’t understand,” MIke mumbled, shaking his head again. “This...it’s not how it’s meant to be.” Mike stared at El with a look of sadness. “It was meant to be us.”
“Mike,” Hopper sighed, getting off the sofa and placing a hand on the other’s shoulder. “I know it’s been a hard night but I think you better head home. You need some time to...to…” the man trailed off, unsure of what to say. “You just need some time and a good night's sleep, things will seem better in the morning. The same goes to everyone else. It’s getting late and you can all see each other tomorrow.”
“Yeah, come on Mike, I’ll walk you home,” Lucas said, steering the taller teen towards the front door, Dustin and Max following. “We’ll see you tomorrow, guys,” he added.
It was clear they were all in for a long night.
Finally around midnight, everyone settled down. El seemed to be in a better frame of mind and Joyce and Hopper had let themselves go to bed for the night. Will had been almost been expecting to hear his own bedroom door creek open. It was something they sometimes did when they were struggling. Some nights El would crawl in bed next to him for a few hours, some nights Will would get in her bed for the night. And some nights they would stay up all night in the living room.
“Are you okay?” Will asked softly as he made room for her. He knew she probably wasn’t, Will doubted he’d be okay after a night like that.
“Can I tell you something?” She asked softly, carefully getting into bed beside Will. “Without you thinking any less of me?”
“Jane, you know I’d never think less of you,” Will said, using her birth name for emphasis. It was dark in his room but he could still make out her features. She looked worried and scared almost. “You can tell me anything.”
“I’m not upset,” she mumbled. “Not like Mike is.”
Jane had come along way when it came to communication. While she still didn’t say too much, still sometimes lacked the words she needed to convey herself, Will always understood her. Maybe because she always understood him too.
“I don’t understand. You're not upset that you and Mike aren’t a match?” Will asked. This was one of the very rare times that he couldn’t figure out what the other meant.
“I-I am,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “But he’s more upset. I’m...disappointed,” she added after a moment. “But not like Mike.”
“Are you okay with not being his soulmate?” Will asked, trying to find her logic behind everything. “It’s okay to not be sad, El. If it’s not what you wanted, you don’t have to pretend like it was.”
“My soulmate is out there, even if it’s not Mike. I still want to find them,” El said before sighing gently. “I will always love Mike. But not like I love my soulmate. I want them no matter what.”
Finally Will was starting to understand a little better. While Mike was devastated, El was just disappointed. She still wanted to find her match. “You’ll find them, I know you will,” Will said after a short moment. “And Mike will find his too.”
El nodded in return, a real smile ghosting her face for a moment. “Will, I’m excited to find them. I can’t wait to fall in love with them,” she whispered.
For the first time all night, Will felt an actual sense of happiness for her. He wanted that too. He wanted El to find her soulmate, to fall in love, and to get everything her heart ever wished for. “I’m excited for you too, El,” Will said, smiling back.
“Goodnight, I’ll see you in the morning,” She said grabbing Will’s hand and squeezing it for a few short seconds before crawling back out of his bed and slipping out of the room silently. Will was glad he knew what all of this meant for El, but it still didn’t solve everything. Especially not for Mike.
***
“Mike, don’t you think you’re being just a little over dramatic?” Dustin asked when Mike refused to eat his lunch that afternoon. “I know it sucks but it’s not the end of the world. So the person you liked didn’t match you, can’t be miserable about it.”
“You don’t understand,” Mike huffed, roughly pushing his tray of school food away from him across the table. “You have your soulmate,” he said, glancing towards Lucas. “El was meant to be my soulmate, I had my whole life planned out. It’s like suddenly everything I thought was true is a just...untrue,” he sighed, resting his head down on the table into his arms. “It’s fucked up.”
Lucas rolled his eyes when he was sure Mike could no longer see. “Dude come on, your soulmate is out there. Once you find them, you’ll forget all about this whole ordeal. It’s all going to be worth it in the end.”
“No. I wanted it to be her,” Mike said, raising his head again and lowering his tone. “I was certain that it was her,” he whispered. Will could see the sadness in his eyes and it hurt to know that he’d wanted El so much. But it hurt to see Mike hurt just as much. “I don’t even want a soulmate anymore. I don’t care who’s out there, I don’t care who gets my mark. They only reason I’d ever want to meet them is to tell them about how they fucked everything up!” Mike exclaimed before getting up and leaving.
“Where are you going?!” Dustin called out, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Mike you're overreacting!” It was too late though, the older teen had already headed out of the cafeteria.
“Will, maybe you should go talk to him,” Lucas finally said. “You’re the only one he’ll listen to. Just try to calm him down for us? I don’t want to spend all of science dealing with a Mike Wheeler melt down.”
“I can try,” Will said softly. Truthfully he felt like he was having his own meltdown. Mike had said he didn’t want a soulmate. That El had been the only one of him. How as he meant to feel? Since middle school Will had been absolutely in love with him. It stung to hear Mike say those things. But it wasn’t Mike’s fault, it was Will’s secret, one that he’d never tell. “Yeah, I’ll do my best,” he added before getting up and exhaling softly. “Don’t expect too much though.”
It wasn’t hard to find the taller teen, he hadn’t gone far after all. Will had spotted Mike not far from the cafeteria doors. Everyone was either still in lunch or in class so it left the halls empty. Mike had been leaning up against the wall, his hands shoved in his pockets and sullen look on his face.
“Is there anything I can do?” Will asked, leaning up against the same wall next to the other. “I don’t think I know what to say but If you told me what would help I’d do it.”
“It’s okay, Will. It’s just hard right now,” Mike admitted with a sigh before glancing over at the shorter boy. “I know she doesn’t feel the same way. I could see it last night. For a second all I could see was this new excitement on her face when she got her mark. Even after she realized it didn’t look mine.”
“Mike…” Will trailed off, wishing he actually did have the right words to say. “You’ll always have El in your life, just not in the way you thought you would.”
“That’s the biggest problem,” Mike groaned, running a hand down his face. “It’s like I have no idea what to do next. I didn’t need to look for my soulmate because I thought I had already found them. And now I know I haven’t found anyone at all. I planned it all out, every part of my life with her. Now I don’t even know what I’m doing.”
“Mike you’ll find them. Lucas is right, you know. You’re going to find them and none of this is going to matter to you. Cause all you’ll be able to think about is them,” Will whispered.
“It’s a nice thought but...doubt that’s going to happen,” Mike muttered bitterly. “Like I said, I honestly don’t want a soulmate anymore. I loved El, I still do. Nobody could understand what it feels like to care so much for someone who doesn’t have your mark. Nobody gets what it’s like to not be destined to end up with the person you want the most.”
Will wanted to laugh. He knew exactly how Mike was feeling. He knew how much it hurt to realize the person you love isn’t the person for you. He held his tongue and nodded. “No, I guess I don’t understand how your feeling but I know you hurt and I’m sorry.”
Finally Mike gave him a soft smile, his eyes lightening up some. “Hey, at least I’ll always have you. Thanks for coming to cheer me up, It’s just going to take some time to get over. You know you didn’t have to skip lunch for me though, let me buy you something after class?” Mike asked.
It was Will’s turn to smile and nod. “Of course, I never turn down free food. Especially if it’s French fries and a milkshake,” he hinted playfully while Mike laughed happily at him.
“Okay, hint taken, it’s yours,” he grinned before throwing an arm around Will’s shoulder. “Come on, the bell is about to ring.”
A few months later, when Max tuned sixteen, El found her soulmate.
While Will would have liked to say Mike’s attitude towards soulmates and soulmarks had improved, it only seemed to be getting worse.
***
El and Max were undeniably happy. Suddenly they became each others worlds. Not that the two girls hadn’t gotten close over the last few years, this was something new. Now instead of her and Mike holding hands, it was her and Max. It was suddenly the two of them stealing kisses from each other during movie nights and playing with each other's hair during quiet moments.
Will couldn’t help but think that somehow Max knew. Or she at least had a suspicion because El was the first person she compared her mark to. One and done. It was that simple. And amazingly...correct.
But he also had to admit that the group dynamics had changed drastically over the last couple of months. While El didn’t attend public high school with them, instead taking online courses at home, they were all still together after class ended. Dustin and Lucas had gotten their marks last year so they were content with things. The party had grown use to them being a couple.
El and Max were new though. Their happiness seemed to radiate off each other, they were always smiling and whispering to each other. It was the honeymoon phase and Will knew it would eventually pass. They two would start to find a find a comfortable medium. But he also didn’t want anyone to spoil their new bond. Mike however seemed to sulk more and more when they were all together. He was in his own perpetual state of grumpiness. Will could do nothing but feel awkward between the two happy couples and the unhappy single teen.
“Do you ever get sick of seeing everyone so happy?” Mike asked one evening while the group had gathered at his house to watch a few movies in the basement. Mike had taken the opportunity to make some popcorn and Will offered to help.
“Um?” Will started, unsure of how to answer that question. “Sometimes it would be nice to have a soulmate, but I love my friends. I want them to be happy,” he said, giving Mike a nervous look. Worried that that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. But Will wouldn’t lie either. He wa happy that they were happy, even if he wasn’t always.
“Yeah, of course...I mean I’m happy that their happy,” he sighed before setting down the popcorn bowl. “It’s just-it still kind of hurts to see El with anyone else, even if it is Max and it just reminds me of how I don’t have my soulmate. Even if I did I wouldn’t want them though,” Mike mumbled, shaking his head. “I’m a mess of emotions, you probably don’t know what to think huh, Will?” Mike asked, smiling sadly.
“It’s okay, Mike. It’s hard,” Will said, giving the other a sad look of his own. “You aren’t alone though, you’ve still got me. I don’t have my soulmate either. And even if our fiends have theirs, you still have them. We're always going to be best friends.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I get tired of feeling like the only anti soulmark person around. Do you...do you feel like that too?” Mike asked, asking Will a question of his own.
“What do you mean?” Will asked in confusion. He knew Mike was no longer a support of soulmates or soulmarks but he’d never given it much thought himself. Mainly because he’d always been too busy thinking about Mike.
“You know, like we don’t need our soulmates. That we can get along just fine without them. Fuck the whole soulmark shit,” Mike said, narrowing his he's some and shaking his head. “Good for them for being happy and with each other, but I’m fine on my own. I don’t need some ‘other half’ to complete me. I’m already whole.” Mike said, his face serious and deadest. “I just wondered if maybe you feel like that too.”
“I don’t have my soulmark so...I don’t really know how to feel yet.” Will shrugged, not sure he liked where the conversation was headed.
“You’ll get yours too, it’s already January. It’s only a few months away,” Mike said, his tone finally tapering off into something softer but unrecognizable. “Do you plan on spending the rest of your life searching for them? Don’t waste your whole life looking for someone when you could be happy, just as happy, with somebody right in front of you. You understand where I’m coming from? You might feel what they feel and you might share a silly mark with them, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for you.”
“I think so,” Will said heavily. “I don’t really plan on trying to find them or anything like that. If they showed up that’s good I guess, if not...well it wouldn’t matter. They just wouldn’t be there,” Will said.
Mike was the person Will loved. He had no idea how he’d feel trying to be with anyone else. It wasn’t something he could imagine for himself. Even with a soulmark, Will imagined he’d spend the rest of his life pinning after Mike. It was the opposite for him, the opposite of what Mike had said anyway. He’d waste his life on someone who was right of him, the person he could never have, instead of trying to find that one person who matched completely. It was ironic.
“You guys, is that popcorn done yet?!” Max said walking into the kitchen with El right behind her. “What are you talking about?” She asked when's he noticed how serious the two boys looked.
“Nothing, don’t worry about. Yeah it’s done, come on, we’re missing the movie,” Mike said, giving Will appointed look before grabbing the popcorn and heading down the stairs once again. The two girls exchanged confused looks but didn’t say anything more about it. Instead they grabbed themselves some sodas out of the fridge.
“Are you coming Will?” El asked, waiting for Will to follow her and Max back downstairs.
“Yeah, I’m coming,” Will nodded, forcing himself out of his thoughts for a bit. He didn’t want to think about everything Mike had said. And for a while he wouldn’t need to. He still had nearly two months before his own birthday, He could worry about it then.
And of course when Will’s birthday did finally come, things would change again. And not for the better.