Chapter Text
Mike Wheeler knew one thing and one thing only. Living with his best friend was the greatest thing that had ever come out of the world nearly ending. After the earthquakes that destroyed half of the town, the Byer’s family had moved in with the Wheelers and though it was awkward to live with his ex-girlfriend, it was awesome to live with Will.
He and Will stayed up every night together playing video-games, planning out DnD campaigns, and just talking. Every night without fail Hopper would have to come down to the basement and send the boys to bed like they were 5 years old.
“I think we should pitch it to Dustin, I don’t know if he’d be comfortable if we make that his character’s backstory.” Will said softly
“Come on! Good trauma makes a good campaign.” Mike insisted as he fiddled through the large binder he had been creating for their latest DnD campaign.
“I think giving him a dead best friend is maybe too soon? With the whole Eddie thing?”
“I guess you’re right.” Mike said softly “Has he talked to you about that?”
“No, I wish that he would.” Will said “I just want him to know that we’re here for him you know?”
“He knows.”
“Does he? I mean he hardly even comes over anymore, and Lucas doesn’t come over either-”
“Yeah, but Lucas is just at the hospital. I mean, he hardly leaves that place- and I don’t see why he would.” Mike paused for a moment, as if he was collecting himself to say something so incredibly crucial to the conversation. “How did I get so lucky?” he asked.
“Lucky?”
“You lost your house, Eddie died, Max nearly died… I didn’t lose anything in that fucking earthquake. What did I do in some past-life to deserve this?”
“You lost your privacy.” Will said as he playfully nudged Mike on the shoulder, Mike laughed. “You don’t have to lose something directly to feel it… you lost Eddie too. You also nearly lost Max, you’re allowed to be upset that things have changed in a way that you never expected.”
“I hate that you know exactly what to say.” Mike scoffed.
Hopper opened up the basement door. “Again? Boys its nearly midnight.”
“Sorry Hop!” they both called out in unison as they quickly packed up their things.
“Thanks Hop.” Jonathan muttered from the couch where he was supposedly sleeping.
“I thought you were out cold man!” Mike said, startled.
“Hard to be when you two are yapping on like idiots. Go to bed.” he said, rolling over and covering his head with a pillow. Mike started heading upstairs, he nodded to Will, a gesture of a goodnight without the words and watched as Will made his bed on the old air-mattress they had pulled out of storage.
Hopper walked Mike all the way upstairs into his bedroom. “I don’t need an escort to my own room.” he said under his breath.
“Big day tomorrow, you need to sleep.”
“What’s tomorrow?” he asked.
“The memorial, kid.” he said with his voice gruff.
“Right… sorry.”
“It’s okay. Get some sleep.” he said as he tossed Mike’s hair and headed off into the guest bedroom that had been converted into a room for Joyce and Hopper.
Mornings at the Wheeler house had been chaos ever since the Byer’s moved in. Holly had moved into Nancy’s room with her in order to give Jane a space of her own, she seemed to be appreciative though she knew that it must have left a sour taste in Nancy’s mouth forcing her to share a bedroom with a 13 year old while she was home for the break. Mike woke up to the usual morning kerfuffle. Nancy screaming for him to wake up and join them for breakfast, running down the stairs careful not to trip over Holly as she did the same, overhearing Nancy and Hopper argue over the bathroom schedule Nancy had insisted on. Mike sat down with the whole group at the kitchen table, plates being passed from all sides, mugs of coffee slamming down and spilling over slightly. Will poured a mug of coffee only to have it intercepted by Joyce and replaced with a glass of orange juice with a muttering about caffeine not mixing with his medication, Will's eyes rolling so hard Mike could practically hear them.
Mike sat beside Will, as if to use him as a physical barrier between himself and Jane. It wasn’t that he and Jane didn’t get along, they did. It was that no matter how much they got along it was always going to be awkward living with the girl you dated from the time you were 12 and learned what dating was, until Sophomore year of highschool.California was good space for the two of them, when the Hopper-Byers family had moved to California for a year Mike and Jane were finally able to put the past behind them, and move on from one another.
“Hop, did you need me to iron your shirt?” Joyce asked.
“It’s okay Joyce, I already Ironed Jim’s while I did Ted’s last night.” Karen interrupted. Mike and Will shared a glance that spoke volumes, both knowing how stubborn their mothers were, and just how disastrous any more time spent together would be. Breakfast didn’t last much longer than that. Nancy had to rush off to work, and Johnathan agreed to give her a ride. Jane, Mike and Will had plans to meet with Dustin and Lucas at the hospital. Ted had to go to work, and Karen had to take Holly to a birthday party for some boy in her class that Karen hadn’t even bothered to learn the name of. But they all agreed that they would go to the memorial together at 6pm.
When Mike, Will, and Jane arrived at the hospital they found Lucas already in Max’s room, half-asleep holding onto her hand.
“Hey man.” Mike said as he walked into the room, he had more confidence than Will and Jane combined by that point.
“Hey.” Lucas said pulling himself up off of the bed, sitting upright in the chair once again. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. How is she?” Will asked as he stepped into the room, pulling up a chair on the other side of Max’s semi-lifeless body.
“She’s the same.” Lucas said, refusing to pry his eyes off of her as he said it, as if a part of him was willing it to be untrue. “Hi Jane.” he said as he looked up to find Jane still standing in the doorway with a gentle sway.
“Hi.” she said softly. Lucas stepped out of the chair and nodded for Jane to take his place, she did so. Sitting next to Max and taking her hand in her own. “Where is Dustin?” She asked softly.
“He said he would be here by 10.”
“It’s 11.” Mike pointed out, earning him one more of Will’s infamous eye-rolls.
“He’s probably just playing a video-game, lost track of time or something.” Lucas said softly. He leaned on the wall across from Max, the sight of his beautiful girlfriend still in her coma, flanked by the Byers twins. A sight he never thought he would see in a million years. He had always wondered if he would ever visit anybody in the hospital when he was younger. He had seen it on TV more times than he thought to be normal, people on television shows were always sitting in hospital rooms visiting the people that they loved. He first stepped into a hospital when he was 10 years old after Will had been diagnosed with Epilepsy, he was in the hospital for 3 weeks undergoing tests, and recovering from a string of seizures so intense that they became a banned subject for anybody in the Byers family. He had remembered walking into the hospital room with his mother standing behind him, and Dustin following soon behind with his own mother, Mike was already in the room with Will. The biggest difference in the picture wasn’t just that Will was sitting at the bedside instead of Mike, it was that unlike Will. Max was asleep. When he had visited Will all those years ago he was awake, he was tired, and pale, and looked generally unwell- hooked up to a vast variety of machines that monitored his brainwaves and heart-rate. Max lay there motionless with a breathing tube down her throat.
“You good man?” Mike asked as he nudged Lucas gently.
“Yeah, yeah I’m good.” he said, snapping himself out of his fuge state.
“We’re all going to the memorial.” Will said, turning his head to Lucas. “It starts at 6.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to be gone if she wakes up. I already hate leaving when visiting hours are over” Lucas said softly.
“Just come for an hour. I think it would mean a lot to Dustin if we were all there.” Mike said.
There was a beat of a horrible awkward silence that filled the room “Okay.” Lucas said finally, though Jane seemed to be the only person in the room that picked up on the fact that Dustin didn’t really have any bearing on Lucas’ decision to attend, that there was something else going on in his head that he wasn’t telling the rest of the group.
The memorial was held in town-square. All of the remaining residents of Hawkins were in attendance. There weren’t many. 72 people had died in the earthquake, and about half of the survivors had fled the town after their houses were destroyed, and their loved-ones died.
Hopper stood next to the mayor and listened as he listed off 72 names to the crowd of people wearing all black. He tried his best not to think about Sarah in that moment, but as he looked out and saw Joyce sitting with Johnathan, Will, and Jane he couldn’t help but imagine his own little blonde girl sitting with them. He saw that old blue hair-tie he gave to Jane wrapped around her wrist, he watched as she silently twisted it around her fingers as she tried her best to pay attention. He watched as Johnathan bit his lip, doing his best not to shuffle too much in his seat or draw any attention away from the mayor as he read the names. Hopper watched as Will stared forward with a vacant expression that he had learned all too well, he watched as Will's eyes fluttered and his breath hitched slightly catching the attention of both Jane and Johnathan at the same time. Hopper stared as Will started to rock slightly in his seat, as Johnathan glanced at his watch to keep time, and as Jane took Will’s hand in her own. Jane and Johnathan refused to remove their eyes from Will for even a split second until his swaying stopped, his breath became more laboured, and his eyes blinked back to reality. Jonathan glanced back at his watch and nodded to himself. Will looked over to Jane, and Hopper could just tell they were having one of those twin telepathy moments that they always claimed to have. He watched as Will sunk down into his own shoulders slightly, as if he had something to hide.
On the other side of the crowd, Hopper saw Lucas sitting with his little sister and their parents, he watched as Lucas grimaced at the sound of the name “Christina ”Chrissy” Cunningham” Hopper knew that Lucas was on the basketball team, so him being friends with the cheerleader hadn’t come as a shock to him, though he wondered if the rest of Lucas’ friends had known that he even knew the poor girl. He looked around the crowd for any other familiar faces, the Wheelers with their heads hung low right next to his own family, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, but no Dustin. That he found strange, very strange. That kid was the Munson boy’s little prodigy, and he wasn’t even there at the memorial to hear his name be called. He saw the Harringtons, the Buckleys, Max Mayfield’s mother, the Holloways, the Turbows. Community.
While Hawkins Indiana lacked a lot of things, there was one thing for certain that they had: a strong sense of community, and a need to help one-another.