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The moment Mike got through the portal to the real world, he felt like a newborn baby. He loudly gasped for air and his eyes went comically wide. The Upside-down air infiltrated his lungs and he had to cough it out.
Arms found around his body. His back, side, front. The cold that had steeped into his bones relished in joy. People were holding him. Very tight as well which made him groan. And he got pulled into someone's chest.
"Holy shit, dude!" Dustin called and Mike faintly registered the voice coming from his side.
He gulped around his dry throat caused by the unhealthy air. Curls clouded his vision which were neither his or Dustin's. When he tried to get a look around he first noticed the frantic look of Dustin and then the nearly sobbing Lucas. Apparently, the pain he felt was Lucas holding onto him like his own life depended on it.
Seeing his best friends after years of only phone calls made him pause and watch, mouth slowly forming an 'o' shape. Until a body shuddered against him. Gentle arms and a small body pressed closer to him and he finally noticed it was his big sister holding him.
"Hey." Mike tried and it started up his sister's systems again. She leaned back and her previous crying face contorted into one of her battle ones.
"You pull this stunt of covering up curse symptoms again you're dead by my hands Michael Wheeler." Her voice was thick as she said it.
It had been a while since she got one of those facial expressions. With no Upside-down, it had stayed locked away until an argument came up. And if she didn't have tear tracks on her face Mike could've gotten scared.
He didn't respond, just watched on as the people around him worried. Nancy, Dustin and Lucas were by his side. Steve and Robin stood in a distance, torn between two places. And that's when he noticed Will.
He was being held by his mother and his brother stood close at her side. Will's eyes were rolled back, whole whiteness taking over his originally beautiful hazels.
They looked young.
Mike bit his lip and finally said something.
"We're still supposed to defeat Vecna." He offered but the words felt foreign to his own mind.
To find himself back at the beginning when he lived through 15 years was unimaginably mind distorting. He wasn't even sure if he lived those years in a twisted power of Vecna or if he was being flooded by fake memories. He wasn't sure which one was worse than the other.
"Mike, honey, I'm glad you're alright." Joyce said. "Did you see Will? Is he— Is he coming back?"
Her tone carried one of a mother's worry and Mike felt his nostrils flare up. It had been a while since he had heard of her voice. He gulped.
"I don't think so. I think he's joining—" El.
Eleven was alive in this time.
People looked at him expectedly and he had to suck it up and move on.
"El. I, I think he's joining El in defeating Vecna inside his mind."
The concept of being able to talk about El and it not involving any grief from the surrounding left him breathless. These people hadn't lost their Eleven yet. And if he had a say in it, they never would.
With new determination Mike scrambled into his feet, leaving the three holding onto him to stumble and they also rose after him.
"We should go to the Abyss. Help defeat from the outside."
"Hold on, are you okay? You just got Vecna'd, man." Lucas asked, previous tears still haunting his voice making it gruff.
"I'm okay. We should go, come on."
Without waiting anyone, Mike walked towards the ladders and started climbing it, leading the team to the other dimension. It could've felt like 15 years but he still was the leader even out of practice.
——
It was probably the most lost he felt when they truly defeated Vecna. The battle itself was crazy in itself. And he feared every second Will would just drop dead as he controlled Vecna against the Mindflayer.
But in the end, the Mindflayer lost to its own monsters and creation in a twisted turn of events. Will's connection to the Hive Mind was severed by Eleven at the last second, saving him from sharing the same fate with Vecna or the Mindflayer.
All in all, it was a success in the eyes of the others.
When they were climbing down the Radio Tower so they could finally leave and bomb the place up, Mike attached himself to Eleven even though Will kept glancing at him.
By now, he knew all he'd seen had been just a vision from Vecna. As he walked around, runned around, felt pain he could feel his shattered mind getting put into pieces. His real memories slowly started to drown out the fake ones.
But he still couldn't help the anxiety. Last Vecna had shown a vision to Nancy, it had come true. Their parents were hospitalized, their little sister was kidnapped and Mike himself had just got Vecna'd.
Who was to say Eleven wouldn't sacrifice herself again?
"Are you okay?" Eleven asked when she noticed his eyes darting around.
It felt stupid but he really wanted to reach out and make sure she had a beating pulse. But the idea of being able to touch Eleven who had been dead was still a work of progress in Mike's mind.
"Yeah. Just, uh, making sure you're okay."
"You're making sure I'm okay?" She asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Just..." Mike felt torn between confessing the vision or just lying through his teeth. But he settled on telling the truth as he had lied enough to her.
They neared the truck and Murray made victory noises, hollering around and screaming in joy. Some other voices accompanied him but Mike didn't mind them as he helped out the kids into the truck's back.
"Bad vision." He simply stated as he helped up Derek. Weird enough the kid smiled widely at him. Mike gave a quick awkward smile back.
"I thought your vision involved Will." She said it innocently enough but Mike still froze in guilt. He partially felt like cheating. And he probably was cheating to an extent, if emotional cheating counted.
He didn't want to have this conversation with so many people around. At least, he couldn't tell the whole truth about his vision.
"Mike!"
With that, he was saved from answering at all. His little sister appeared in front of him, arms up. Even through jumbled up memories he had run to her small, battered up body. Now looking at her, he could imagine another, bigger version of her and Mike wondered if Vecna had predicted that right.
"Hey, Holls." With one swift move, he helped her up and instead of doing something like running to one of her friends, she stayed, waiting for him or Nancy to get on.
For someone having a clear memory, being kidnapped while your parents got hurt defending you and you had to live through hell to even be able to get out of where you were kidnapped to, Mike didn't blame her for seeking comfort in family.
Next, he helped Eleven who was watching them silently with a sad look in her eyes and settled down. Eleven sat by his left side and Holly hugged him by his right side. Although she stayed where she was, she still struck up a conversation with her friends from her position.
He put an arm around his little sister. God, she was so small. He could remember her graduation, why was she so small?
Mike cleared his throat and took a deep breath to not let any wandering thoughts sway him from his current mission. Then, as if it was done by fate, Will settled right opposite of him.
They catched each other's eyes and Mike traced Will's movements as the other gulped. But now was not the time. He had to make sure Eleven wasn't going to end up the same as in his visions so he had to take his gaze away, unaware if it hurt Will or not.
"When we're out, what do you want to do?" Mike asked quietly to his left, testing the waters. Eleven stayed quiet for a minute, thinking before she answered.
"Three waterfalls. You said it yourself, didn't you?" Her voice didn't carry any excitement or any emotion for that matter.
Mike felt the nervous energy floating in his veins and settled on playing with Holly's hair in order to tame it. The answer got him back to thinking about his theory after Eleven had died. Perhaps she could do it without having to fake her death this time.
"Yeah, but uh, were you like thinking of going to college? I mean, I'm pretty sure Dustin's going to Boston after we graduate."
She didn't respond for a suspicious amount of time and Mike took his gaze from his shoes to look at her face.
"El?" He called out quietly. The surrounding chatter became a background noise as he focused on her, eyes wide.
"Mike, you know I don't have any other choice." She suddenly said in a whisper, words only meant for him.
But this time they weren't in her mind nor were they surrounded by darkness and water. They had people being happy around them and Mike felt horrified as his whole body froze.
He didn't want this. He didn't want Vecna's vision to become true.
"No." He said it so loud and without meaning to, too as the background noise quieted down. He couldn't stop though.
"You can't, El. There has to be another way. Kali! She could help you, one last spell!"
He felt stupid bringing his theory into the table but he was desperate. He could fight off interdimensional creatures but his abilities stopped at smuggling a teenager right under the US Army's nose.
"You were wrong, Mike." Eleven's voice came out so cold and harsh, Mike felt like he was back at the Abyss.
"There was no last magic spell from Sister Mage. She's dead. My sister died." Eleven emphasized her words and Mike could see her eyes getting watery.
He felt horrible for putting her through this but if he didn't do something in the next half an hour or so, he would end up in her position. Grief was something hard to get over. No, it wasn't even something you got over. It was something you got used to.
Although it would never be as fresh as the first day, those feelings of missing the other person would always hurt. They would twist around like a knife in your heart until you bled dry and had nothing left to feel.
It was something he never wanted to relive again. If he had to mourn Eleven again, he thought going to the quarry might take him less than 15 years this time.
“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry El. I could never imagine the pain you're going through.” Mike felt his hands trembling around Holly who was intently listening to them as much as the rest of the others did.
“But I'm not letting you put us through that, either.” He felt his lips wobbling and bit down on them. If Eleven knew about his theory then she must have seen how miserable he was other times in the vision as well.
“There's no other choice.” She said, gritting the words.
As the others were now clearly listening to them, Hopper cut through the thick air with just one word.
“Jane.”
Eleven turned to face him and Mike watched as her face went through determination to fear.
“Hopper…”
The father and daughter duo looked at each other in silence and even the little kids who didn't understand half of the conversation respected it.
“They are waiting for us.” Eleven said, voice thick. “They will not stop until they have me.”
“Doesn't mean you have to go kill yourself for nothing, kid.” Hopper pressed on. “You fought this hard for this stupid town. You can't die in it.”
The implications of the previous conversation was now laid bare as Hopper let the words out. A gasp came from Joyce as many others' heads whipped around to look at Eleven as if she had grown another head.
“El, what!?” Dustin immediately interjected, his face was horrified. It hadn't been more than 3 hours since he almost lost Steve and now he was hearing one of his childhood friends ready to give up on her own life.
“No way, we just got Max back. We can't lose you now. The Party can't keep losing!” Lucas added on. Although his spirits were up with Max's return, he would be back to square one if they lost Eleven.
From the corner of his eyes, Mike could see Will's eyes widening with horror at his sister's silent self destructive plan. Apparently, the siblings' conversation hadn't extended beyond Kali and Eleven.
“Doesn’t matter. They'll have sound waves surpassing my powers and have soldiers all around the town looking for me.” Eleven counted reasons as if they were nothing.
“Admit it, Hop. We might've won this war but not the one on the other side.” She wasn't just ready to sacrifice herself. She had already done it in her mind.
Suddenly, Robin perked up.
“Wait!”
Hopper looked at her offended for ruining their moment but if anyone knew something it was you didn't interrupt Robin Buckley when she sounded like she had an idea on what to do.
“El can open gates right?”
“Yes?”
“So what if she did this whole self sacrificing shtick of hers, but—!”
Mike saw Eleven frowning beside him.
“She just made it seem like she was sacrificing herself. Like, she went loud and proud ‘fuck you, if I can't have freedom in this life I'll have it in the after life!’”
“Morbid, but continue.” Dustin said.
“But instead of just staying by the gate, she went deeper and opened up a gate where we couldn't see from.” Robin talked, hands flying around. “The soldiers and their captain think she's dead— but she's not. What do we say?”
“Isn't there a time problem in your solution?” Nancy asked from where she was sitting next to her.
“I could help.” Will offered quickly. His eyes seemed to be glazed over but he seemed determined as he said it.
“Will, what do you mean?” Joyce asked, her hand on his shoulder.
“I still..” Will fiddled with the end of his sweater as he lifted his head to look at his sister. “I still can manifest the powers. I can push you forward, get you far for somewhere more safer.”
“Push her forward? Wait, powers?!” Holly whispered to herself from beside him.
“But wasn't the connection severed?” Jonathan asked, worry hidden in his furrowed eyebrows.
“With the Mindflayer and Vecna, yes. With Abyss? No.”
Mike… didn't know of this. If this was the case was Vecna hiding this from him in his visions or had Will seriously been caught off guard to do something, anything.
“There'll still be soundwaves.” Eleven reminded. And it made Mike reevaluate what was real and what was fake.
“They won't be directed at me. They'll expect you.”
“It still can affect you.”
“Trying doesn't hurt.”
Eleven and Will looked at each other's eyes in challenge before Eleven relented.
“Fine. But don't expect this to work.”
“It's the best we've got. And anything is better than losing you.” Hopper said and extended his hand in order to squeeze Eleven's.
Mike looked down at Holly and pressed her closer to his side.
——
However rushed and risky their plan was, it still worked in some way. After the military let them go (taking action against them meant there was something going on and apparently Dr.K didn't want other people to know, at least not without Eleven to prove that something), they divided into little teams.
Some going back to Squawk to regather, some(namely Hopper) going to where Eleven might have ended up at and some turning back to their families.
Mike was in the last group as he was led by his little sister's hand through the hospital grounds with Nancy holding her other hand.
It suddenly struck to Mike that he never saw what happened in the following year and a half in Vecna's visions.
Further from Eleven dying, he didn't remember what happened afterwards. Had the military held them longer than today or was it the same amount of time?
Had they visited their parents like now or was he too distraught to do anything after watching Eleven die?
It was all a big question in Mike's head and he didn't know the answers. The only person who could've given it to him was dead.
“Mike.” Nancy nudged his side and he realized he was zoning out.
“I'm okay.” He quickly said, taking in his surroundings. Holly had left his side as they had gotten to their mother's room. The two were hugging each other tightly, not wanting to let go.
“Are you sure? Even without Vecna, the zoning out is not exactly healthy.”
“I'm sure. I just need some coffee. You want some?” Nancy frowned at him but nodded.
He went to grab something from the vending machine, checking around in his pockets for a change. Thankfully, there was enough to get himself and Nancy a cup. As he waited for the coffees to be ready he caught his reflection in the glass.
His foot which had been previously tapping the floor in rhythm stopped. Slowly, he raised a hand to his face and felt the skin there.
Smooth. Although he had one or two zits.
He had been too caught up in other's appearances, he hadn't even stopped to think about what he would look like. He was not 33 anymore. He was back to 18.
Those 15 years in the vision had been a lie.
Everything had been a lie. A false memory to trap him inside Vecna's mind forever.
The machine beeped and Mike had to take a deep breath and move on. The hotness of the coffees made his senses get pulled back to reality so that was nice.
When he got back in the room, Holly was sleeping curled next to their mom and she was stroking Holly's hair.
Nancy sat in a chair close to them and looked up when he entered the room. She immediately got up and started to down the coffee.
“Jeez, slow down, it's hot.”
“Shut up, Mike. I'm running low on energy.” She said and plopped back to the chair with the cup between her hands.
Mike looked around for another chair but when he couldn't find one he saw his mother beckoning him.
“Come, sit here, Mike.” Her voice was still stiff but she smiled, pointing at her footside of the bed and with no other choice Mike sat down.
“How are you doing? If you have any injuries you should check them out when we're in the hospital.”
He was glad his mother's care for him never changed throughout ages.
“I'm fine, mom. I should be asking you that.” Mike said, fiddling with the cup in his hands.
“If my kids are fine then I'm fine, too.”
He was so glad it was his mom awake right now and not his father.
——
Although Mike wanted to have a private conversation with Will again, to talk to him, to hear him talk, maybe touch him (appropriately of course), the chance never came.
It was too frantic in Byers household as their two Hopper members were now planning to either switch countries or just go to a far away city where no military base a camp at.
Mike was okay with either option as long as he knew Eleven was alive. At least, in this version of reality he had the option to visit.
Joyce wanted to go wherever they went. Strangely enough, she seemed to want to follow Hopper more than Will. Perhaps she was finally seeing him as an independent person and not just her little baby. That was good.
That meant Will wouldn't go, right? Jonathan was staying to go to college. Will could too. Mike sure hoped Will didn't decide to move far away from him.
The idea of Vecna's vision becoming true and Will distancing himself from Mike made him feel physically sick. He couldn't entertain such a thought. Even as the fake memories faded away, the feeling they brought with them stayed.
It wasn't until The Party held a Goodbye Party to Eleven that Mike had the slightest chance of talking to Will. It wasn't like a real party. They only watched a movie, played a game or two and then talked shit about the high school they were finishing. (Sucks to be Max, she had another year before her.)
From afternoon to close to midnight the Party stuck close and even closer to Eleven. Max basically draped herself over her. Lucas kept knocking their shoulders and Dustin wouldn't shut up about how they could make a signal tower so they could walk through walkie-talkies even long distances.
Mike also stayed close to her but his eyes never stayed straight on her. They would dart over to Will and he either would find Will already staring or quickly noticing and looking back. Mike lost count how many looks they shared.
The last thing he told Will in Vecna's mind weighed heavy on him. He wanted so much to follow through his promise. But it had dragged on this long and he was starting to become afraid of Will's reaction.
If Mike was really a Tammy, Will could've gotten over him. But Will had told him he loved him. You didn't just get over someone you loved, right?
The chance to talk came when the third movie of the night left the other four asleep.
“Mike?” Will's voice came through Dustin's quiet snore and Max snuggled closer to Eleven.
“Yeah.” Mike felt his breath catch on his throat as he waited.
“Do you,” Because Mike couldn't keep his eyes from him, he watched on as Will wetted his lips. “wanna go outside? Fresh air?”
“Sure.” His voice came high pitched and he tried again. “Yeah, yeah, let's do that.”
As they hurriedly got up the last thing Mike saw was Lucas trying to throw his arms around the other three.
The outside air hit their faces like a whip, a harsh cold waking them up from half sleepiness. Mike had needed that if he was going to talk about it all.
“How do you feel?” Will asked.
Typical of Will Byers, the first thing he asked after weeks was about his well-being.
“I'm fine. How do you feel?”
“I'm not the one who got a vision from Vecna, Mike.” Will pressed on like a hypocrite.
“Will. If anyone has the right to complain about Vecna, it's you.”
He expected Will to either laugh or roll his eyes or something but Will's face stayed the same.
“Mike.” Will looked at him with concern written in his eyes. “It took you a complete week before you stopped flinching at people's faces.”
Had he been doing that?
“Well, it's been weeks though. No more Vecna, no more vision.”
Their eyes met and stayed on each other for long seconds. As Mike conveyed he was truly fine, Will sighed.
He nodded slowly and took a step forward, putting his hands on the rails.
“No more Vecna…” His gaze didn't meet Mike's as he continued. “So it's just Will and Mike now?”
The wording brought up the memories from the quarry. The last meaningful words Mike had uttered to Will.
‘I want us to be just Will and Mike.’
Suddenly, it felt intimate. The words, the atmosphere, Will leaning on the rails as Mike watched couple steps away. All of it felt too intimate.
Will and Mike didn't convey just close friendship anymore. Not with Will confessing his love and not with Mike being a hollow shell without Will in his life.
“Did you… did you see any of the memories?” Mike asked, walking closer to stand beside Will.
Will looked at him as he settled against the rails and then shaked his head.
“No. It was Jane who could see you. Then she went after Vecna and I walked through the memories to find you.”
“What memories did you see?”
“Nothing alive. They were more like film sets. No people, just props. A park bench, a graduation ceremony, a rooftop… The basement.” Then he paused. “It was actually interesting.”
“Oh.” Mike also paused. The basement had his core memories in both real and fake memories. Especially the fake memories haunted the basement for him.
Party's last DnD campaign. Their books standing next to each other, with one book missing. Will's painting. The paper pinned to the wall for years as Mike made the basement his study room.
“Was it a good interesting?” He chanced asking and Will shrugged.
“Depends on if you still think the painting was from Jane.”
Mike frowned. His hands found the rails as he grabbed on them. He grabbed and un-grabbed in nervous energy.
“It wasn't.”
Will huffed from beside him.
“No, it wasn't.”
He had suspected it. The only reason Eleven was even aware her class was called mage was because he kept calling her the title.
Plus, DnD was special to him and Will. They had discovered the game together and made their characters together. Paladin and Cleric.
Even with Will becoming a Sorcerer, the two were always meant to be.
“I would think about you when I looked at it.” Mike could see Will's eyes widening as he recounted the fake memories.
“Whenever I was stuck on a paragraph, my eyes would find us fighting the dragon and I’d be stuck looking at the Heart on my shield.”
He took his right hand from the rail and put it against his chest, on top of where his heart was.
“I knew I had to think of El since it was ‘commissioned’ by her. But my mind would still go to you first.”
Will stayed quiet. Mike contemplated telling more of his fake memories, indirectly confessing every instance of his longing for Will.
Slowly and faintly, something tapped on his left pinkie. Will wasn't looking at him anymore but he could see his fingers sliding closer, asking for permission.
Mike felt a tingly sensation as their fingers interlocked. The places Will touched felt warm and he gulped down his nerves.
He wanted more. So he confessed more.
“I think the day I realized I was in love with you was the day Lucas called me about your wedding.”
Will's fingers gripped tight for a second at the word love and his head whipped around.
“We were 28 and hadn't spoken around 6 years. You finished college and was suddenly absent from get-togethers.” Mike took comfort from their interlocked fingers.
“Only information about you came from occasional letters from either Joyce and Hopper or Lucas and Max. And… and one day when Lucas called, told me you were getting married to a guy named Carlton…”
“I— I remembered back to the Radio Tower and felt so, so stupid. Because it could've been me. I could've been the one marrying you.”
Will's eyes softened and he turned his body sideways. The motion separated their hands but Mike didn't have to miss Will as the contact returned in Will holding his face.
He wanted more.
“You're not stupid, Mike. I don't know what happened in your version of the Radio Tower but that was fake. You're here now, with me.”
Mike bit his lip and nodded.
“No Carlton?” He asked. Carefully, his hand settled on Will's waist.
“No,” Will chuckled, the fake husband seeming funny to him. “No Carlton. Just Will and Mike, remember?”
The thumbs on his cheeks caressed him as Will leaned closer. Their temples collided in a soft thump, merely hurting.
He wanted more.
His hands on Will's waist pulled him in, making sure they were pressed against each other.
“Just Will and Mike.” Mike repeated absentmindedly, gaze fixated on Will's lips.
One of the thumbs touched his lip and Mike couldn't breathe any longer.
“Will.”
“Yeah?” They had gotten closer even more as now Mike could feel Will's breath on his lips.
He wanted more.
So he took more.
As his grip tightened around Will's waist, one of his hand went up to cradle his head, pulling him in as their lips crashed.
It wasn't anything special. It was lips on lips. But it still felt electrical to Mike. He breathed in Will's scent before pushing to get more taste of him.
Will didn't waste any time in reciprocating as his hands on his cheeks descended down to snake around his neck. Their lips was anything but coordinated as they tried to make up for all the time's they yearned for each other from afar.
With a gasp from Will, Mike kissed him through it. Lips and the occasional teeth evolving to something more sticky with the saliva and tongue.
As the saliva shared between the kiss tasted salty, Mike opened his eyes to find Will's lashes wet. With an un-holy sound accompanying him, he leaned back.
“Will?” He asked, breathless. The cold air had turned warm at some point and now was being filled with their gasps of air.
“Yeah?” Will asked, unsure if his voice was gruff from silent crying or the kiss they just shared.
“Did I do something wrong?” The hand behind Will's head came around to wipe away at his tears as they fell. Will chuckled wetly, shaking his head.
“No, those are just happy tears. I'm, I'm really happy, Mike.”
Will's eyes looked soft and sparkly. His now kiss reddened lips stayed in a smile and that made his features look even more soft.
Mike felt even more in love.
“Me too.”