Chapter Text
MIKE
Mike wandered through the SQUAWK building’s twisted hallways, searching for Will and Joyce, planning to alert them of the groups looming departure, operation beanstalk was about to commence. He could hear Will speaking in the other room as he approached, he sounded sad, scared. Mike felt an all too familiar pressure in his chest, one that he felt back when Will was missing, when he was possessed, when Mike tore their friendship to shreds only to watch Will try and piece them back together. Guilt. Shame. Fear. He couldn’t help Will then, he probably couldn’t help him now. Mike was broken, he always had been, getting himself involved with anyone only seemed to cause others pain. Mike inches closer, finally being able to hear what the Byers are actually saying to one another.
“He sees everything, mom. He sees my thoughts. He sees my memories. And…he sees my secrets.” Will’s voice begins to break, becoming shaky, fearful. “But- but Max, she told me that he’s also afraid, which proves I can beat him. But for me to do that, you need to know…”
Secrets? Need to know? What was Will talking about? The party didn’t keep secrets. Friends don’t tell lies.
Aren’t I being a bit hypocritical? Mike thought to himself as he stood just behind the corner, listening to a private conversation between mother and son. His curiosity had gotten the better of him. He’d walk into the room in a few moments, he just had to school his expression first, ensure that he didn’t come across as rude or accusatory when he entered. If Will had a secret then it wasn’t Mike’s place to pry.
“I think that you need to know the truth.” If not now then when will I get a chance to walk in there? I can’t just stay here, hidden, listening.
Mike strode into the room, slamming the metal door beside him for effect (so that it seemed as if he’d only just entered the building), acting as if he hadn’t heard the past half of the conversation. “Oh, uh…Sorry, we just heard from Hop.” Joyce and Will look up, faces morphing from surprised to expectant, eager to know about the plan.
“He’s 15 minutes out, so we should probably leave in 5… Is everything ok?” Joyce reaches out to her son, rubbing his arm, comforting, what did I interrupt? Should I have waited outside? Oh god, I’ve gone and ruined everything all over agai-
“Yeah, we’ll be out in a minute.” Joyce smiles but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes, she’s lying. Will whips his face around to look at his mother, the sunlight streaming in from the window casting an almost ethereal glow. When, right after Mike had walked in, he’d been looking at him, Mike had seen fresh tears pooling in his hazel eyes, he looked so sad and so…vulnerable, a sharp contrast to the way he looked now, holy and composed as he stared at his mother in what might have been disbelief.
Why was he even thinking about how pretty Will was in the evening light? That wasn’t normal. It wasn’t right. They’re best friends.
Mike chose not to look into it too much, Holly’s still missing, she needs her older siblings, they don’t have the time.
He knows how to pick his battles. Pushing for information now will get him nowhere. He turned to leave.
“Wait! I think you need to hear this too.” Mike turned on his heel, facing Will once more, wondering what on earth Will might want to say to him. Will had been talking about secrets, did he trust Mike enough to tell him? He should…right? Even after everything, they had stayed best friends. Will could trust him with anything, Mike refused to let him down, again that is. He’d failed Will far too many times before, he wouldn’t now.
“Everyone does.”
Mike’s disappointment was immeasurable, why did everyone need to hear it? This can’t be anything good, maybe it’s about Vecna, or our plan.
He gave Will a small nod and went off to fetch the others, jogging outside, possessed with a certain urgency.
Mike walked back into the room, everyone in tow, smiling nervously at Will as he approached the Byers, taking his seat second closest to where Will was sitting. Glancing at him as the group took their respective positions around the room, Mike saw Will mouth something.
‘Did you have to bring everyone?’
‘Yeah, it’s about Vecna, right?’ Mike mouthed in response, careful not to make a sound.
‘Sort of, you didn’t tell anyone that did you?’ Will seemed panicked now, as if whatever he had to say wasn’t important enough to justify everyone’s presence at this point in time. Maybe it wasn’t really about Vecna. Either way, Mike had only told the others that Will wanted to tell them something, nothing more nothing less. In response to Will’s soundless, pleading question, Mike only shook his head, confident that Will would understand what he meant to convey with the subtle gesture.
It seemed to work because Will took a shaky, nervous breath, and began to speak.
Sitting with everyone else in that small room, listening to Will talk, Mike was ashamed to admit that he wasn’t really listening all that much. He’d been spacing out a lot recently, he feels terrible, especially considering Will’s expression. Will was on the verge of tears, shaking as he talked about pretending to be ‘not different’, of wanting to be like his other friends, years of pretending dissolving as he speaks.
Mike smiles when he hears Will mention playing D&D, a reflex by now, his mind providing images of his various campaigns over the years, Will smiling so brightly in every memory, beautiful, perfect. For some reason, he can’t really remember whether or not Lucas and Dustin were even half as happy.
The whole party giggles when Will refers to how many times they’ve watched Holy Grail, by god they’ve watched that movie far too many times. Will continues, struggling before eventually saying the one thing that he’d really wanted to tell them:
”I don’t like girls.”
Well no shit Sherlock! Mike had sort of known, at least he’d known there was a very possible chance, but hearing Will say it out loud was relieving. He now knew for certain the answer to the question that he’d been to afraid to ask since the summer of ‘85.
He’d brought up Will’s disinterest in dating girls then, the way he’d spoken to Will, he disgusted himself.
How could Mike talk to his best friend like that? No matter how many times he’d apologised, how many times Will had forgiven him, it never was enough for Mike. He didn’t think that he’d ever stop feeling bad about it. As always, he screwed everything up and nearly lost one of the only things that mattered to him, why Will even forgave him to begin with, he’d never know.
*back to reality*
It seems as if time itself stopped to take a breath, everyone in the room in some state of pride or respect. No one speaks but a few inhale audibly, Robin and Jonathan nodding at Will in approval. Will goes on to clarify that he does like girls, just not…romantically, before mentioning a crush. A crush that would never like him back, he looks at Mike, and suddenly Mike finds himself doing everything that he can to avoid eye contact.
Did he…like me? Does he still? Do I like him back? What am I supposed to do with this information? I mean, me and El broke up ages ago, right after we got back to Hawkins…is it ok if I date her sort-of-brother? Are we still friends? WHAT THE FUCK SHOULD I DO?! Everyone’s ok with…this?
*general homosexual internal screaming*
Mike vaguely registers Will mentioning how Vecna had showed him a future where his confession ruins everything, tearing up. The others begin to comfort him, assuring him that they’ll never leave, Mike remains frozen in his seat, only getting up to join the massive group hug, declaring his support as he tries to figure out what he’ll do next, too shel-shocked to say anything of substance. The crushing sensation of all the warm arms that had chosen to surround Will felt strangely comforting, when was the last time that someone hugged Mike? Excluding El, after their breakup they’d become remarkably clingy friends, practically holding each other together. He and Will used to be like that, now they talk so much less.
I should say something, make promises, ask if he likes me, if maybe we could be…something.
No, Mike couldn’t risk destroying the careful balance that the two of them had worked on over the past 18 months, they were best friends again, that was all that mattered. All that they could ever be.
”I guess you didn’t need that truth serum after all.” Robin, since when did she and Will have inside jokes? Has Will replaced me, gotten a new best friend? No he wouldn’t do that to me…would he? Either way, you can have multiple best friends, why am I even upset about this.
Max pipes up from her wheelchair across the room, “Sorry, this sucks but you’re going to have to hug me.” Will runs to her side, hugging her tight, can she feel him hugging her? Do her arms and legs hurt? Mike really needed to talk to Max, he hadn’t been there for her when she was cursed and while they had never been best friends, but he still cared about her. He was there when Vecna cursed her, he should have noticed, should have done something. God he was a shitty friend. When was the last time that he’d had a proper conversation with Max? Or Lucas? Or Dustin? Or Nancy?
Mike went back to tuning out the conversation: blah, blah, blah, Vecna, Will needs to be there, Will’s not afraid anymore. Mike was a bit more concerned with how Will was looking at him, he’s not sure if Will has always been this pretty but he’s not complaining. Will looks so…happy, so free, as if some great burden has been lifted off of his shoulders. It reminded Mike of how Will had been when they were younger, carefree, innocent.
The mindflayer and Vecna deserved what was coming to them for what they did to Will alone, forget all the deaths, they deserved to suffer for whatever they did to him.
They’re all in that awful van, drowning in red light and anxiety, driving through the Mac-Z and into the upside down. What could possibly go wrong? Mike was sit-standing next to El, he had wanted to be next to Will, to be able to talk to him properly before they all rush to their deaths. He can hear gunfire outside, some shots are from the government, some are from Hopper, it’s impossible to know which are which.
What happens if we die here? The worlds will merge, Holly will die, Nancy will die, Will will die. We have to get though this, we can’t loose here.
The van rocks violently as the side scrapes against something, pretty much everyone in the back of the vehicle is in some state of nauseous terror by now, clutching onto whatever stable surface they can get a hold of as they try to keep their last meal from coming back up. Then Murray slams on the breaks and they stop moving entirely, van jolting aggressively beforehand. Nancy clambers up to provide cover fire as Jonathan prepares to open the door for Hopper. Mike catches himself praying under his breath for Nancy’s safety, while they weren’t extremely close (nor religious), she was still his older sister and he couldn’t bear to lose her. Holly didn’t deserve that, to lose her only older sister. Neither did Mike.
Nancy ducks back into the van, safe and sound, thank god, as Jonathan and Steve open the door, pulling Hop into the back of the van. Once he’s in, they speed off again, van jolting violently, closing the door right before crossing through the gate, leaving Dr. Kay standing there in disbelief. Mike didn’t blame her, everything had happened so very fast, fences and gates parting before them like the Red Sea (thank you Mr. Clarke). With how Murray was driving, things were only going to get faster.
Murray drives like a madman, useful in this particular situation, but Hopper might need to look into getting Murray’s license revoked.
Steve is the first to speak, breaking the tense and uncomfortable silence, “Jesus Christ!” Then Hopper asks if everyone is ok before complimenting Nancy’s shooting, she compliments his in response. Easy conversation to drown out the creaking of the metal walls in the back of the van. Considering what they were about to do…perhaps they shouldn’t be chatting idly.
”I kind of thought that that was supposed to be the easy part.” Robin again, much like everyone else, she’s clinging onto whatever she can get a hold of in order to remain upright and standing as Murray races through the upside down. Lucas is the one to respond to her, “It was.” Mike was about to throw up, how did Murray get a driving license?
It seemed weird to Mike that they hadn’t run across any opposition from the hive mind yet, that no demogorgons had attacked. The upside down was uncomfortably quiet, the calm before a storm. Where were the monsters? The military? He’d traveled into the upside down earlier, in search of his sisters and Dustin, there hadn’t been any monsters then. The vines had looked dead. What was going on? Was it because the worlds were moving together? Did the hive mind evacuate? So many questions, so little time. All we can do is stick together and hope for the best…
Mike turns to El, realising that he has yet to ask her how she’s feeling, after all, she’s the one going into Vecna’s mind, the one who will kill him, end this. Attempting to break the awkward tension in their section of the van, he poses her a question.
“You ready?”
“Ready.”
He nods, content with her brief answer, and turns to look at Will who seems just as nauseous as he is.
Even in the dull, red lighting, Will still looks mesmerising, once again Mike catches himself wondering if Will was always this pretty.
In truth, he was, Mike just didn’t want to see it before, afraid that so much as thinking in such a way would ruin whatever bond they had.
It was no secret that Will and Mike had always had a stronger relationship than mere friendship, even best friends weren’t as…close as they were. Not in the same way. He certainly didn’t think of Dustin or Lucas in such a way and they were his best friends too, weren’t they?
Mike was sure there was something wrong with him, his father certainly thought so; Mike was too emotional, too weak, too bad at talking to girls, his grades were too low, he got in too much trouble, he dressed weirdly, he played ‘the devils game’. The list went on and on and on. Ted Wheeler would be livid if he knew that Mike was so much as entertaining the idea of liking a boy romantically, his son, a faggot?
Maybe he was right, maybe this was all wrong…then again, the entire party was perfectly fine with Will’s - preferences.
So Mr. Wheeler could have been wrong, he normally was. Maybe Mike was allowed to feel like this.
So Will liked guys, he had a crush on one, there was a possibility that Mike was said crush…did he like Will like that?
Mike didn’t think that he’d ever truly loved Eleven, not romantically at least, he’d thought that he was broken but maybe, just maybe, he liked guys, or at least he liked Will?
It wasn’t normal to feel how he did about Will. So possessive. So trusting. So understood. So desperate to impress him. So………
As if everything they did was both too much and not enough.
Was that attraction? Love?
Or was he broken? What if he said that he liked Will, but didn’t actually, and ruined everything? No, that wouldn’t happen, he wouldn’t let it happen. They had to stay friends, best friends, no matter what. Although, it couldn’t hurt to try and be something more… To talk, to ask, to try.
Will would let him, probably. Let Mike try to be worth his time, his affection, his love. But there was no time to dream about what could or might be, Holly was still missing, the worlds still moving together, Vecna still drawing stolen breath. This isn’t over yet.
Mike steeled his resolve, he’d figure out everything with Will once this was over, once Holly was safe, once everyone was safe.