Chapter Text
July 1986
Weekly doctor check-ups are annoying and a painful reminder of all the trauma sheʼd experienced not too long ago, but Max would much rather have them than continue being stuck in a hellish coma. She would also have preferred to keep her eyesight intact, but beggars can’t be choosers and at least the vague blobs of colours that she can see now are starting to slowly take shape. Kinda. If she squints. Point is, there’s a chance that her vision will recover, and her broken bones are healing nicely, and yes, even if she has to drag herself to the hospital every week, Max is glad to be alive.
At least she has company, if somewhat questionable one. Lucas is a godsend of a boyfriend who makes a point to come with her every week, which she very much appreciates, but this week Mike and Will have decided to grace them with their presence too.
Mike is… not as bad as he used to be, honestly. He started working on repairing some friendships after last summer, but he’s doubled his efforts since his break-up with Eleven after Vecna’s defeat in March. Now, that’s not to mean he doesn’t get on Max’s nerves nearly every time he opens his mouth, but she’s learnt to appreciate his company and to enjoy their stupid bickering. As for Will, he’s an absolute sweetheart but also a sassy little shit at the same time, and Max doesn’t understand how he does it, but he does it so well that she has to respect him for it. He’s cool in her books, is what she’s trying to say, and they get along great, especially when they, along with Lucas or El or whoever’s nearby, gang up on Mike. That’s always fun. However, it is Mike and Will together that gives Max a headache because honestly? The mutual pining that radiates from them verges on painful to watch — or, not watch because, well, you know why — but even just hearing them makes Max want to puke. And the worst part is how utterly oblivious they are.
Take now, for example:
They’re sitting at the hospital’s waiting room, passing the time with meaningless conversation until the doctor calls Max, when Will gets up and says,
“Hey guys, do you want something to eat from the vending machine?”
Bless his heart and good timing, Max was starting to get hungry.
“Sure,” she says. “Maybe some Skittles —” she turns to face Lucas — “and maybe we could share, stalker?”
“That’s fine by me,” he says and squeezes her hand.
“What about you, Will?” Mike asks, probably before even thinking about what he wants, the whipped boy that he is.
“I’ll just — uh, get whatever, I guess.” And then he’ll probably get nothing ‘cause he’d rather spend his money on his friends.
“No way,” Mike responds without leaving room for argument. “I’ll come with you and we can get some Reece’s Pieces to share, alright?”
“Alright,” Will says, his voice all soft and mushy and Max just wants to throttle both of them until they confess their feelings to each other.
Once the boys are out of hearing range, Max turns to Lucas to tell him her plans — but she hesitates. Lucas… wouldn’t take it badly, would he? The idea that two of his boy best friends could be crushing on each other? He’s not like Billy or her ex-step-father or any of those close-minded assholes that throw out slurs to anyone who shows even the smallest of hints that they could be ‘like that’. She doesn’t want to think that Lucas could turn out to be like them; in fact, she’s going to trust that Lucas isn’t going to be like them and she’s going to share her observations. Before she can do that though, Lucas speaks up.
“I’m glad Mike and Will solved their issues,” he says — apparently Max wasn’t the only one thinking about those two. “Last summer they got into a really bad fight. Mike wouldn’t tell me what happened but it was obvious that they were both hurting a lot. They seem to have made amends though, and I’m very happy for them. Their friendship is stronger than ever now.”
And… Max could hum and agree. Leave it at that. But she can’t just leave it at that.
“Suuure,” she says, sarcasm absolutely dripping from her tone. “They’re such very close ‘friends’.”
She can already picture the bewildered face Lucas must be making.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Max huffs. Was it too much to ask for Lucas to catch on quickly to her meaning?
“Just— look at them and tell me what you see.”
Her instincts couldn’t be wrong about this.
“Okay…” he says wearily. “They’re standing by the vending machine? Uhhh… Will has fed it a coin and —” he snorts — “it looks like snacks are stuck. I swear, hospital vending machines always malfunction.”
“Ugh that’s true but that’s —” Max tries to find the right words. How to say it without saying it? “Look closer. How are they standing? How are they talking to each other? What faces are they making?”
Lucas must have noticed the pleading in Max’s voice because he takes a few seconds to answer.
“I guess they’re… standing pretty close,” he starts. “Mike is leaning over Will’s shoulder while he presses buttons on the keypad. He’s got that face he makes when he’s frustrated but he’s trying to not raise his voice. Will… he’s staring at Mike and trying to hide a smile… he definitely wants to laugh at Mike but in a ‘you’re being endearing’ kinda way.
“I don’t know what your point is, Max.”
Max groans. How can it be any more clear?
“And they call me the blind one —”
“Max —”
Thump.
“What’s that noise?”
Thump. Thump.
“Is Mike hitting the vending machine?” Max asks, unimpressed.
“Yup,” Lucas answers, equally unimpressed. “Mike is hitting the vending machine.”
The thumping continues and at this point, Max thinks it’s a matter of time before a hospital worker comes to kick Mike out of the hospital but then Wheeler surprises her with one last, loud thump and an excited, “I got it!” — and then the waiting room must have quieted down for a second because she’s able to hear Will’s response as clear as day:
“You’re my knight in shining armour, aren’t you, Mike?”
And the world screeches to a halt in Max’s head because did Will just —
“Did he just —”
— openly flirt?
“Lucas you have to tell me —” she pats his arm vigorously— “is Mike blushing?”
Lucas takes a moment to process this but Max can tell the moment he understands what she’s been trying to say all along when he starts patting her arm back.
“Oh my God, he totally is,” he says, and he sounds awed, like he’s just made a world-changing discovery. “Is this what you meant?”
“That they’re totally crushing on each other?” Screw subtlety. “Duh.”
“Wow, okay — I can see it,” he says. “I just don’t quite understand… if Mike had feelings for El, a girl, how can he be crushing on Will?”
That’s… that’s sort of a valid concern? But not really, at the same time? At least he doesn’t sound mad or disgusted about it, just confused.
“Well, I cannot tell you what goes on inside Mike Wheeler’s mind, nor do I want to actually know, but maybe he never had romantic feelings toward El, just platonic ones, or he just — likes both.”
“Both?”
“Yeah, both girls and boys.”
“Oh…” Lucas says slowly. “Wait — that’s a thing?”
Max raises her eyebrows in a ‘yeah, catch up, Stalker’ expression, and Lucas thankfully takes the hint.
“That’s actually pretty cool,” he says at last, and then in a lower voice: “makes me want to reconsider some stuff, too.”
Reconsider? Could Lucas be… well, whatever Lucas may or may not be, he’s taking this whole thing well enough so she might just…
“I’m like that, too,” Max says quickly, before she can lose her nerve. “I like both.”
She faces downward, trying to hide her blush and control her breathing. She’s never said this out loud to anyone.
Lucas interwins their fingers and simply says, “Cool.”
And Max smiles, feeling her shoulders untense.
“Cool.”
She loves Lucas. She really does.
“Anyway,” Lucas continues, his tone lighter than before, “I think you’re right about the Mike and Will thing: they’re definitely smitten with each other.”
“Right?” Max laughs. “Took you long enough to notice. Should we bet on how long it’s going to take for them to get together?”
“I don’t know,” she feels him shudder in her grip. “I’m kinda afraid of making bets with you — and I’m afraid they will never get together because they can both be so…”
“Oblivious?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re not wrong about that,” Max muses. “Sometimes I think I should just push them into a closet together, lock them in and not let them out until they’ve confessed.”
“I see your point,” he concedes, “and I agree that we should do that but we should give them some time to figure themselves out before taking any drastic measures.”
“Okay, but if in a few months’ time they’re still being pining idiots, we will get them together my way.” She disentagles her hand from his and raises it for him to shake. “Deal?”
He takes her hand and shakes it.
“Deal.”
Not a second later —
“What’s going on here?”
Max smiles viciously.
“Nothing for you to know, Michael.”
“I’m sure nothing you say could be so important, Maxine.”
“You did not just say that.”
“Oh but I did.”
She hears Lucas and Will share an exasperated sigh and — yeah, Max thinks, hospital visits are bad but… not so much when they’re with friends.
August 1986
Another blistering August day arrives and Robin has never been as thankful as she is right now to have returned to her job at the Family Video Store, where she can laze around all day in the sweet company of her friends and a fan. Today it’s just the Scoops Troop in the store, with Steve in the lookout for customers, Robin in charge of cataloguing movies (Steve tried that once — never again) and the kiddos, Dustin and Erica, working on some DnD project behind the counter.
It’s been like this all summer, with the other kids coming and going, and honestly, Robin hasn’t felt more at peace since working at Scoops Ahoy, knowing that the whole supernatural, world-ending stuff was done for good this time. Now, her only ' big ' problem was figuring out how to ask Vickie out, and even that wasn’t that bad because she was practically certain that Vickie had been flirting with her these last few months. Like, 85% certain — sue her, she’s never had a girlfriend before, much less have another girl flirt with her before, this is new territory for her — but anyway, the point is that it may be stressful but it’s a fun, not-world-ending sort of stress, and Robin takes comfort in it.
It seems like it’s a slow day, with only a couple of customers having come in since lunchtime. It’s around mid-afternoon when Steve finally calls out, “Incoming!”, signalling the arrival of potential victims of Steve’s terrible movie recommendations.
Curious, Robin turns around to greet the surprise guests and finds that they’re no other than Mike Wheeler and Will Byers. Robin smiles.
“Hey there, little guys!” she says excitedly. Those two may be the kids that she’s directly interacted with the least, but they’re still some of her favourites, partly because they’re entertaining, sassy little shits when they wanna be, but also because of a certain theory of hers that makes her want to squeal every time she sees them together.
“I’m pretty sure I’m taller than you,” Mike starts to argue, with that funny disgruntled frown on his face, but he’s interrupted by Will, who shoves him to the side in a successful attempt to distract him. “Hey! What was that for?”
“Hi, Robin,” Will says, deliberately ignoring Mike and his attempts at retaliation. “Hi, Steve.”
“Hey, kids,” Steve responds with a wave.
The commotion must have gotten to Erica and Dustin cause they pop up from behind the counter all of a sudden, Dustin with an excited, “Will! Mike! You’re here!”, and Erica with a sarcastic, “Great, the nerds are here.” (Robin sees her smile, though — they’re her friends too.)
Dustin wraps them both up in a quick hug, which they both return fiercely.
“What are you guys doing here? I thought you were volunteering at the library today,” Dustin asks, still smiling widely. It makes Robin happy to see him like this. For the bright, sunny kid he is, he’s had too many sad, quiet days since Eddie’s death, so it’s good to see him recover some of his characteristic enthusiasm.
“We were, but they dismissed us early,” Will says. “We were thinking about doing a horror movie marathon. So far it’s just the two of us since Max and Lucas are having a date night, El and Nancy and Mom are having a ‘girl’s day out’, and Jonathan is hanging out with Argyle before he goes back to Lenora, but you guys are more than welcome to join if you’re free.”
Will makes eye contact with every one of them, and he’s so earnest that Robin kinda wants to put him in a box and protect him because yes, the kid can be a brat but hello? He’s also absolutely adorable. And if Robin’s intuition’s right, she’s not the other one who thinks this, and in a less platonic way too. The way Mike looks at Will… there’s no accurate way to describe how head-over-heels the boy looks at his best friend.
“A movie marathon sounds fun,” Dustin says.
“A horror movie marathon,” Erica interrupts. “I don’t know… they all look so fake, I can’t take them seriously.”
“But that’s part of the fun,” Mike says like he was a telemarketer or something. “Criticising and making fun of them is all part of the horror movie watching experience.”
“That,” Will says with a smirk, “and watching Mike scream like a little girl at the jump scares.”
Dustin, Steve and Robin snigger while Erica hums appreciatively.
“You both make very good points.”
Mike groans and pokes Will’s arm repetitively.
“What’s up with you today?”
“Haven’t you heard?” Will says with a sly smile. “It’s National Annoy-Michael-Wheeler day, I’m just doing what I must.”
Mike gives Will his most offended look, but it’s obvious he’s trying not to laugh.
Gosh, this is totally a flirting thing, Robin’s sure of it. It’s just another little piece of evidence for her ‘Mike Wheeler and Will Byers are crushing on each other’ theory.
“Anyway,” Steve says, “I think it’s a good idea.”
“Yeah!” Dustin agrees, and Robin wants to agree too but then she’s hit with a vision.
“I agree it would be great,” Robin quickly says. “However, in case you’ve forgotten, we already have plans, the four of us — so you two are gonna have to have your movie da– your movie hangout on your own.”
“Wait, I’m confused,” says Steve. “What plans?”
Dustin also looks ready to protest but thankfully, Erica seems to have caught on to what she’s trying to do.
“Have you been drugged by Commies again? Dustin and I are going to teach you how to play DnD for our next campaign. How could you forget?”
“You are?”
“We are?”
“Yes, dingus,” Robin intervenes. “We agreed like, a week ago.”
She shoots Steve a pointed look.
“Oh– yeah sure, silly me, I totally forgot we were doing that today.” He laughs nervously.
“Oh, okay,” says Will, though he doesn’t seem to be too put off about it. “Do… Do you guys need any help with that?”
“No!” Robin exclaims and now both Will and Mike are looking at her weirdly.
“Don’t you trust me to teach ‘em well or something?” Erica intervenes, once again saving Robin from herself.
“What? No!” Mike says. “You’re great at DnD, of course we trust you.”
“Then leave it to me,” she says smugly. “These two nerds will soon be the best DnD players you’ll ever see.”
“I’m not a nerd,” Steve is quick to defend but Erica is quicker to shoot back, “But you will be,” with a wicked grin. Steve looks appropriately cowed.
“Don’t worry guys,” Dustin says to his friends, still looking a bit confused but apparently deciding to just go with the flow of the events. “We’ll be okay. Do you want any movie recommendations?”
“That’d be great,” Will smiles. “Thanks Dustin.”
Remembering her job, Robin straightens up.
“I’ll help too!”
“I can help —”
“No!” Dustin stops Steve before Robin can. “I’m sorry Steve, I just don’t trust your judgement in movies.”
“What?! I recommend the best movies.”
And then the bickering starts.
Just another day with the Scoops Troop.
(Robin loves her little family of misfits.)
Eventually, they manage to give Mike and Will a variety of horror movies (Robin tried to give them the scariest ones — you know, to give them a small excuse to hold each other during the movie — Robin’s a genius, she knows) and then they were gone, leaving Steve and Dustin looking at Robin and Erica expectantly.
“So?” Dustin asks expectantly. “Care to explain what that was all about?”
Erica turns to Robin, “Should you explain or should I?”
Robin sighs.
“Look, we just thought that those two could use some time alone, just the two of them… see if anything happens.”
She lets that sink in for a second.
Steve’s eyes widen.
“Wait, are you telling me that Will and Mike…”
“I mean —” Robin shrugs — “I can’t know for certain but…”
“Can’t know for certain?” Erica exclaims. “I swear those two have been doing heart-eyes at each other for as long as I’ve known them.”
Dustin looks at her, gobsmacked.
“What!?”
“You know, it makes sense,” Steve says, ignoring Dustin. Suddenly, his face lights up and he turns to Robin. “Remember last summer? It was like they were going on little double dates with Max and Lucas!”
Robin gasps.
“Oh my God, you are so right! How did I not think of that?”
She adds this to her ‘mutual pining’ evidence.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Dustin raises his voice and makes wide gestures with his arms, making them all shut up. “Let me get this straight —” Robin snorts, unable to help herself, but Dustin pays her no mind — “are you implying that two of my best friends are like, gay and like each other?”
There’s a beat of silence before Erica speaks up:
“We’re not ‘implying’, we’re stating.”
Dustin’s brows furrow as he stops to think for a second.
“Huh,” he says, sounding surprised with himself. “You know what? I can totally see it. It makes total sense — they have that electricity.”
Robin’s not even going to pretend to know what that last bit means, just breathes a sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” she says and, riding the high of her victory, she adds, “Anyways, I’m glad I can recognise my fellow gay compatriots.” Then subtly tries to see everyone’s reactions.
Dustin raises his eyebrows, surprised; Erica looks unphased, like she’d known all along; and Steve… Steve bursts out laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Are you sure you’re talking about yourself? You, who wouldn’t believe me when I said that Vickie likes women even when I showed you compelling evidence?”
“Okay, first of all, pausing a movie at a specific time is not compelling evidence —”
“It definitely is —”
“Secondly —” she glares at Steve — “we’re still not a hundred percent sure that she likes women.”
Steve gapes at her.
“But she’s been flirting with you all summer!”
Robin feels herself blushing and decides to ignore that statement.
“And third, I’m very biased when it comes to her, so whatever her preferences are, I can’t be trusted to tell.”
“Okay, I can agree with that,” Steve concedes.
Robin brings back her attention to her little friends. Again, Erica looks like she’s cool with everything — she did once say that she has no phobias — even bordering on being bored with the topic. Meanwhile Dustin looks like he’s just received the answers to the secrets of the universe.
“So this is why you and Steve never dated.” His eyes are wide in a everything-makes-sense way.
“I thought this was all obvious.” Erica shakes her head and Dustin makes a noise of protest. “Whatever,” she continues. “We should be concentrating on more important things right now.”
She makes significant eye contact with Dustin and nods towards the counter. Dustin immediately understands.
“Ohoho Lady Applejack, how right you are!” He makes intense eye contact with Steve and Robin. “You know, in this friend group, our most important rule is: ‘friends don’t lie’, and I don’t want to break that rule, even if it’s to give my two oblivious best friends some romantic time together that will hopefully get them to realise their mutual feelings. Now, the only way to fix this, is to actually go through with the lie, meaning…”
“Meaning that you’re about to be taught the art of playing DnD and you’re going to be blessed with the honour of ascending to the highest nerd-state of being,” Erica finishes off.
Robin looks at Steve and they have a small silent conversation.
Are you seriously considering going with this? Steve raises his eyebrows.
Sure, I mean, what can we do about it? Robin shrugs, then she smiles sharply. It shouldn’t be too bad… or does it scare you, ‘King Steve’?
Steve rolls his eyes but admits defeat.
“Fine,” he speaks up in a ‘I guess I have no choice’ tone. “We’ll do it.”
He can’t hide his smile though, and neither can Robin.
Dustin and Erica waste no time in dragging them into their madness. Robin has a vague idea of what to expect from the game. What she does know for sure though, is that she’s going to have fun, and that the company is going to be the best part of it all.
September 1986
It’s the start of September and Jonathan does not envy his siblings. Just because the world nearly ended last March didn’t mean that highschool was cancelled, and just because the kids had saved the world didn’t mean they were exempted from classes and homework. Honestly, Hawkins might be the only town that could survive an apocalypse and get the school system running again only a few months later, and get it running well enough to make the kids have a pile of homework after only one week back from the Summer holidays.
Jonathan watches with a grin as Will thumps his head against the dining table he, El and Mike were currently working on. Mike sniggers and pats his head consolingly, though Jonathan doesn’t know what he’s laughing so much about because if his intuition’s right, the work Will is struggling with is Maths, and Mike is no way near good enough at Maths to find Will’s suffering amusing. El has a look of feigned disappointment directed at the boys — it’s obvious she’s having fun too.
Jonathan doesn’t envy his sibling’s (and Mike’s) unreasonable amounts of homework, but he does envy the ease with which they’re quick to offer each other help and make working a fun time. Until he made friends with Nancy, and later Argyle, he never had that kind of support during his time in highschool. He’s glad, though, that the kids get to have this kind of simple happiness, especially after everything they went through.
Speaking of happiness, Will must be ecstatic to have his long-time, no-longer-taken, crush leaning over his shoulder, with their faces mere inches apart, to explain one of the maths problems. It’s likely that Mike doesn’t even know what he’s doing — both with the Maths and the proximity to his best friend — but Will is definitely flustered, if his blush is anything to go by.
Sometimes Jonathan wishes Will would just get it over with and just tell Mike. Jonathan is sure Mike wouldn’t take it badly — in fact, who knows? Mike might even reciprocate his feelings. Even if he didn’t, he definitely wouldn’t let it ruin their friendship. But Jonathan understands Will’s reluctance, especially after all the heartbreak he’s been through. The hateful opinions of the outside world don’t help either.
Jonathan sighs. He just wants his brother to live happily and in peace for the rest of his life with the boy he loves. Is that so bad? Right now Will might be happy but he’s also —
“He’s such a pining mess,” comes a voice from beside him and Jonathan turns to see Nancy coming to stand next to him by the kitchen counter, joining him in watching the kids.
Jonathan gapes as Nancy her arm around his and leans on his shoulder.
“How did you know?”
Will is usually pretty subtle, Jonathan thinks. He’s had a lot of practice in hiding and Jonathan only notices because he actively looks for signs of his brother’s crush, if only to look out for him and make sure he’s not hurting again. (During the last few months, he appears to have come to terms with his love for Mike and accept it as part of who he is, letting himself moon over him without guilt. Jonathan’s pretty proud of him for that.)
“He’s my brother,” Nancy states, deadpan. “Of course I know.”
Jonathan’s thoughts screech to a halt.
“Wait. You’re talking about Mike?”
Nancy looks at him, brows furrowed in confusion.
“Of course I was talking about Mike — look at him! He’s got it bad for Will.” She bites her lip and Jonathan can practically see the gears turning in her head. “Who did you think — wait, are you telling me…?”
“... that Will has a big, fat crush on Mike too?” Jonathan grins widely. “I guess I am.”
“Oh my God,” Nancy gushes. “It’s not one sided! And it seems so obvious now, doesn’t it?”
Jonathan nods. It does seem obvious. It’s in the way they smile at each other, swaying from flirtatious to absolutely smitten.
Right now, they’ve teamed up to annoy El by throwing little balled-up papers at her, which, big mistake, because she’s now retaliating with her own paper attacks and she’s got the biggest advantage of all: superpowers.
They laugh and play-fight and Mike steps in front of Will saying, “I’ll protect you!” while Will does the actual heavy hitting. They’re all over each other: pulling, shoving, always touching each other in some way or another while El continues her relentless attacks from a distance. By the end, they’re both lying in the ground, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, facing upwards at El, who stands over them, grinning in victory.
“They have no idea, do they?” Jonathan wonders out loud.
“I… don’t think they do,” Nancy replies, thoughtful. “Should we do something about it? Give them a little… push in the right direction?”
Should they? Jonathan knows Will has struggled with his feelings for a very long time, and for him to realise that they weren’t one-sided at all? It will be the best feeling in the world, Jonathan’s sure of it. However, it will probably be even better if he figures it out organically on his own, with Mike. And he’s sure that the same applies to Mike. So, as much as he wants to…
“...No,” he says with a soft smile. “Let’s give them time. I’m sure they’ll figure it out eventually.”
She smiles back.
“Yeah, okay.”
And they watch as the kids fill the recently-moved-into Hopper-Byers home with laughter and fun and love.
Jonathan holds Nancy tightly in his arms, knowing in his heart that things will turn out alright in the end.
October 1986
It’s Halloween evening and Joyce, strangely enough, feels no stress about it. How could she, when she’s wrapped up in the arms of the man she loves, watching her children have fun in their Halloween costumes? Will and El are posing in their Luke and Leia costumes while Jonathan does a photoshoot that’s going to fill up a whole album. They play-fight with the fake lightsabers that the younger siblings had spent weeks working on and El uses ‘the Force’ to lift a nearby vase while Will pretends to do the same. If Joyce hadn’t given birth to only one of them, she wouldn’t believe it if someone told her that those two weren’t twins.
It’s honestly amazing how they managed to find each other — how they all managed to find each other, and form this amazing family that fills Joyce’s heart with love and joy.
“Here we go!” Joyce jumps a bit on her seat at the couch, jostling Jim in the process, when Murray makes his sudden, loud appearance. “Here’s some fuel to start the night!”
He places a bottle of clear liquid — definitely vodka — and some cups on the small table at their feet and proceeds to make himself comfortable on the lay-Z-boy on Joyce’s left.
“I thought we agreed to not take out the alcohol till the kids had left,” Jim grumbles but starts filling the cups anyway.
“What do you think, Jim? That your kids are not going to end up more wasted than we are at whoever’s name’s party they’re going to?” Murray shakes his head. “You should know better.”
Joyce places a calming hand on Jim’s back before he can even think about not letting the kids go, while sending Murray her best glare.
Maybe Murray’s right. Maybe the kids will try some drinks, but she trusts that they won’t go too far and she wants them to have this normal teenage experience of partying with their friends. They deserve that much, at least.
Joyce’s thoughts get interrupted when the bell rings.
“I’ll get it!” Both Will and El shout and Joyce watches them rush to the front door. She doesn’t even need to look to know who it is because Will and El’s synchronised “HI, MIKE!” is clue enough, but it’s still worth it to see Mike’s utterly bewildered face as he experiences the full force of the Byers Twins’ enthusiasm.
Mike gets over his surprise fast enough though, and his face breaks into a grin.
He wastes no time in wrapping El in a tight hug — making Hop grumble something about personal space, which Joyce shushes him for — and then giving Will the same hug treatment, except… Except they hold each other tighter, it lasts some seconds longer, and when they let go, Mike’s hand lingers on Will’s arm.
Interesting…
“So,” Mike says, “are we ready to go?”
He certainly looks ready, with his styled hair, white shirt and dark vest, and the fake gun strapped to his thigh.
Jonathan coughs loudly, bringing him back to attention. He raises his camera.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Mike groans and Joyce has to hold back her laugh. She suddenly recalls all the times Karen had complained about how ‘difficult’ Mike was when it came to taking his photos. At first, she hadn’t believed her because she’d seen Mike in photos with Will and their friends and he always seemed happy enough, but then Karen brought proof and Joyce could not deny it: Mike looked absolutely done in those solo pictures, as well as some family ones.
“C’mon, Mike,” says Will in an uncharacteristically soft voice. “It would be nice to have something to remember tonight.”
It’s only now that Joyce starts to think that there may be a common denominator for those ‘happy Mike’ photos, because by the time Will had finished speaking, the warmest of smiles had made its home on the teen’s face.
There’s a sudden flash of a camera and it breaks the moment. A disgruntled Mike looks at Jonathan who shrugs guiltily. (Just as guiltily, Joyce will ask him later to give her a copy of that photo — but can you blame them? That was a beautiful moment to capture and if her intuition’s correct, she’s sure that some day, Will and Mike will be thankful for it.)
Mike rolls his eyes but says, “fine”, making Will laugh and El cheer. And so, the photoshoot begins, with all three kids posing and Jonathan directing them.
Joyce continues watching them, enjoying every little bit of their happiness.
Murray, who seems to be also watching, hums in thought, catching her and Hop’s attention.
“I feel there’s some… tension between Mr Solo and Mr Skywalker over there,” he says, and if Joyce had been drinking her drink, she’d have surely spit it back out.
“Murray,” she hisses. She has noticed, of course she has — she’s one of the boys’ mother and might as well have the honorary title for the other seeing how much time he’d spent at the Byers’ home. She just hadn’t expected anyone to actually say it out loud, much less — okay, maybe she could’ve expected Murray to say something. He had precedents for this type of thing. Still, it’s a delicate topic, even if she wishes it wasn’t.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” comes Hop’s deep, unamused tone.
Murray raises an eyebrow.
“I’m just telling it how I see it, Jim.” He shrugs. “Joyce agrees with me, right?”
She spares a glance at the kids, who are thankfully paying the adults no mind, then takes in Hop’s incredulous look, before answering carefully though trying to sound nonchalant.
“I mean… I always thought that Mi– I mean, Han and Luke had some chemistry.”
Jim groans, rubbing a hand up and down his face. Joyce’s eyes squint at him.
“You don’t… have a problem with that, right?”
The warning that flashes through her tone must have not gone unnoticed because suddenly Hopper is sitting straight and looking her in the eye.
“No, not at all, not with that…”
Okay. Good.
“But?” she asks, this time more lighthearted and Jim groans. Again.
“Why,” he hisses, “does it always have to be Mike fucking Wheeler? I don’t understand — why are you laughing? I’m serious, it’s like a curse!”
Murray bellows out in laughter and Joyce can’t help but giggle too. The kids look over in concern but Joyce waves them off and they carry on with their thing.
“You have to admit,” Joyce says when the laughter died down, “that they’re good for each other.”
They look over at the boys. It’s like they’re in their own little world. They’ve got the biggest of smiles as they pose together, back-to-back, fake gun and lightsaber at the ready for any danger that could come their way.
Joyce shares an understanding look with Jim and she knows they’re both thinking back to three years ago, when Will went missing and Mike never gave up hope that they’d find him; to two years ago, when the Upside Down came back for Will and Mike refused to leave his side for a second, when Mike managed to reach out to Will when nobody else could; to last Spring, when they teamed up to find El, and later when they managed to escape Vecna’s clutches together during the final confrontation.
Yes, they had each other’s backs.
They always had.
Joyce remembers when Will came back from his first day of kindergarten like it was yesterday. She had never seen him smile so brightly — not even Lonnie was able to dim it — and it was all thanks to one boy. From that moment she knew that Mike Wheeler was always going to be special for her son, even if she couldn’t have predicted just what type of special it would be. Looking back, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
They’ve had their ups and downs, Joyce is aware of this, but at the end of the day…
“There’s no one I’d trust more with my boy than Mike,” she says, and it rings true.
Hopper nods.
“My turn!” El exclaims, and pushes Will aside. The boys grumble but in no time, Mike and El start their photoshoot while Will watches with a smile by Jonathan’s side.
“What about… Leia?” Hopper asks in a low voice so only Joyce can hear. “Do you think she’d be alright with it?”
Mike and El try to strike one of those ‘romantic’ couple poses typical of movie posters, with Mike holding El in his arms, looking deeply into each other’s eyes, but they barely last a second — barely enough for Jonathan to take a picture — before they break apart between cackles and giggles.
“I’m sorry El,” Mike says, clutching his stomach from laughter, “I can’t do that — I really can’t.”
El giggles and wipes tears from her eyes.
“It’s okay, I could not do it either…” She sends Will an appraising gaze. “But I know someone who could try.”
And that’s how Will ends up wrapped up in Mike’s arms, blushing faces inches apart, gazes soft and — dare Joyce say it — loving, while El stands aside grinning at them like a maniac.
Joyce doesn’t have to think too much about her answer to Jim.
“I think she’ll be just fine, Hop.”
Jim nods again.
“She does look happy.”
And as long as their kids are happy, they are happy too.
Jonathan takes a hot second to start photographing again, but once he gets over his shock at the two boy’s sudden closeness, he’s off again, flashing his camera non-stop. Who knows when they’ll manage to get such a Mike-and-Will photo again? Joyce is sure that her eldest son has noticed that something between his brother and said brother’s best friend too.
“Jesus,” Murray speaks up, reminding Joyce that he was there and that he’d watched the kid’s exchange too. “Those two are worse than their siblings. They’re even worse than you two. Though, I do understand that dealing with external and internal homophobia is not fun or easy at all so I’ll give them that. Still —” he hums, thoughtful — “they might need a little… ‘ Murray intervention’ if this carries on for too long.”
The reaction from the other adults is immediate.
“WHAT?”
“NO!”
“I do not want my kids traumatised, Murray,” Joyce hisses.
“But I already meddled with the other Byers and the other Wheeler and they’re just fine!” Murray defends himself. “In fact, this could be great! Three out of three Byers, together with their one true love, thanks to moi.”
Murray’s grinning smugly now, and Joyce just gapes at him. Chief of police Jim Hopper is having none of it though.
“You will leave the kids alone, Baumann,” he threatens and throws his most intimidating glare at Murray.
Murray holds Hopper’s stare for a minute straight before relenting.
“Fine,” he says, “I honestly don’t want to get involved in teen romance anyway. A second time, too. A third time, even, because really, you two acted like children back then.”
“Murray!”
“Alright, alright! I’ll shut up now.”
Joyce sighs. Hopper chugs down half his drink.
“Is everything alright?”
Joyce blinks up and finds a concerned Will hovering nearby. Apparently the photoshoot was over.
“Everything’s fine, sweetheart,” she answers warmly. “Are you leaving already?”
“Yeah, at this rate we’re going to be late.”
He laughs and lounges forward to hug his mother. She holds onto him tightly. No matter how much he grows, he’ll always be her little baby.
“Will you be okay, Mom?” He whispers.
Her kind, sweet baby who she loves more than anything in the world.
“I’ll be just fine,” she whispers back, and means it. They pull apart. “Have fun, okay?”
Will smiles.
“I will,” he says, and Joyce can tell that he means it too.
Maybe she should feel stress about the kids leaving for some party, about them not returning till very late at night — or not returning at all — but she knows her kids. She knows that they’ve been through hell together and that they’ll take care of each other no matter what.
The kids say their final goodbyes and suddenly, they’re gone.
Joyce melts into Jim’s arms.
There’s nothing to worry about.
November 1986
“Mike! Time to wrap things up! It’s late and your friends’ ride is here!”
For just a moment, Karen felt like she’d been transported back in time. She hears the boys’ noises of complaints downstairs and she has to hide her smile.
Hurried footsteps make their way up the basement stairs and Karen looks at Mike expectantly when he opens the door.
“Ten more minutes?” He asks, hopeful.
“You know I’d say yes, but Steve might not be too happy to have to wait out there in his car for so long.”
“He could… come inside?” he tries.
“I’m sure he has better things to do,” she remains firm. “Don’t be rude, Michael. He’s doing you boys a favour.”
Mike deflates. He makes a half turn and heads downstairs.
“We’ll have to finish next week guys.”
He sounds disappointed on the surface, but Karen can tell there’s an undertone of excitement too. After all, after everything those boys’ have been through, they get to have this again. Hanging out in their basement, playing their fantasy game just the four of them, Lucas, Dustin, Will and Mike, the way it used to be.
Not that things haven’t changed. They have. So much. And it’s frightening to look back and realise just how much Karen had missed, and not just the whole inter-dimensional monsters and super powered humans thing, but also her kids’ hardships and internal struggles. Getting Nancy to open up wasn’t easy, per se, but with enough gentle prodding, she was willing to share her problems with Karen, and Karen tried her best to offer comfort. It was different with Mike. He was stubborn, and tended to bottle up his feelings till he couldn’t any more. Still, Karen tried her best to be a shoulder he could cry on when he needed one. Last year had been especially hard for him. If there was one thing Karen was grateful to the literal apocalypse for, it was that it brought the Byers back for good, bringing back Mike’s smiles and good attitude back with them too.
She decides to spare the boys from more nagging and goes to join Ted and Holly in their TV-watching. It looks like they’re on a Disney marathon. On the screen, a boy who never grew up fights the captain of a pirate ship and Karen’s husband and youngest daughter watch on, enraptured. Another good thing about the apocalypse? It got Ted to start actually trying to be a half-decent father. The truth about what had been happening in this town shook him to his core (and Karen too) and apparently got him to start reevaluating some of the things he had considered as facts until this point. Finding out how many times they could’ve lost Nancy and Mike was also a real wake up call. The changes were small and slow-going — it was hard to let go of old habits — but they were happening, and it made Karen feel… content.
The movie is close to finishing but Karen still tries to catch on to the plot from what she remembers from previous watchings. She likes Peter Pan, but there’s something about children who never grow up that makes her heart ache.
Distantly, she can hear the boys rushing up the basement stairs.
“Give me just one sec!” Someone says, loudly, and suddenly, Dustin’s there in their living room, giving Ted his cheekiest grin.
“Thank you so much for your hospitality, Mr Wheeler,” he says, in a tone that screams sarcasm with the clear intent to tease. Then with a much more truthful voice and smile, “You too Mrs Wheeler.”
And then runs off with a quick “Bye Holly!” before either adult can respond.
Ted rolls his eyes and mutters, “brat”, while Holly and Karen share a look and giggle.
There’s faint talking by the front door, some laughing and happy good-byes. Then the door slams shut and Karen turns back to the movie.
“Mom?”
Karen blinks, surprised to hear Mike. She expected him to go back downstairs, work on his campaign, or go up to his room and drown out the rest of the world as he practices playing guitar. Playing DnD, whether with the expanded ‘Hellfire Club’ or just with the original ‘Party’ made Mike incredibly happy, but he’d often get into a mood afterwards, shutting himself in his room and playing songs to express his grief — Eddie Munson’s death had hit her son harder than what he’d ever admit, but Karen was glad that he had a healthy outlet for expressing himself when he didn’t feel like talking to his friends about it.
She’s then even more surprised when she looks up and finds Will standing behind Mike, looking shy in a way she hasn’t seen in a long time. The Wheeler house is like a second home to the young Byers and has been since Mike first invited him over all those years ago, back when they were still in kindergarten.
“Is everything alright?” she asks.
Mike’s looking at her but it’s obvious that his attention is all on the boy behind him.
“Oh yeah, um, everything is fine, just — is it okay if Will stays over tonight?” he asks, and sends her a silent pleading look.
Karen raises an eyebrow, concerned. This is not new; Mike and Will have been having sleepovers since forever and after the whole ‘Vecna’ thing, it was more uncommon to find them in separate homes than together in one of them. Often, Karen only found out about it when she found Will sitting at their table during breakfast and she’d started joking with Joyce on the telephone about how their boys were now a package deal. So yes, Mike asking this was uncommon, though not totally unheard of, but it looked like today they needed reassurance. Seeing Will confirmed this: the boy who had arrived a few hours earlier with a bright smile and excited greetings was all but gone as he slightly trembled by Mike’s side, his eyes dark and distant like he wasn’t quite all here with them.
The TV turns to sudden static as the movie finishes and the boys flinch. It’s then that Karen remembers: today’s November sixth.
“Of course he can, honey.” Karen smiles gently. “You know Will is always welcome here.”
Tension drains off the boys’ shoulders, as if they’d expected Karen to say no, to send Will home when it was in a night such as this, three years ago, that Mike said goodbye to his best friend, not knowing that he’d be gone come morning.
“Just be sure to give your mom a call, alright?” she tells Will, who nods and smiles softly, sweetly. It’s hard to believe that such a good, innocent kid had gone through so much in such little time. She’s glad that he feels safe here, safe with Mike. She can tell that Mike feels safe with Will too. It’s sweet.
“Will you stay and watch Sleeping Beauty with us?” Holly pipes up, looking up at Will and Mike with her best pleading look. She adores spending time with Will and Mike. Mike has been tasked with babysitting her a lot recently and therefore, so has Will, seeing as they rarely leave each other’s sides. Holly has no complaints: her drawing sessions with Will and storytelling from Mike may be her favourite things in the world right now. She listens to them more than she does Karen at this point. She’d find it annoying if it wasn’t so endearing, and it’s obvious that the boys love her just as much as she loves them because it only takes one shared look between them before they’re agreeing to stay.
It’s amazing to think that, if things go on the way Karen suspects they will, then Holly will only have memories of Mike and Will as Mike-and-Will, the inseparable unit, the self-proclaimed team. She won’t remember that week that Will went missing where Mike had to hold on to the hope that they’d find him even despite everyone telling him otherwise, or those months where Mike had been a shell of his usual self when Will had left for California with the intention of staying away from Hawkins, for good. Holly’s known them both for her whole life, and if everything goes well, they’ll remain a comforting constant for her.
Will calls Joyce and then the boys settle in on the free loveseat sofa. They huddle up close though not quite enough for it to be called cuddling. Holly doesn’t waste a chance and jumps off from where she was laying on top of Ted and makes herself comfortable on what little space there is next to Mike, forcing her brother to scoot even closer to Will — not that he seems too upset about it.
The movie watching goes smoothly, with added commentary from the kids that slowly dwindles down as they grow tired. Karen wishes Nancy were here so it could’ve been a whole family bonding type of thing, but she was at Robin’s for their almost-sacred monthly sleepover, and that was something Karen would never dream to take away from her daughter.
By the end of the movie, the kids are all asleep and Mike and Will are definitely cuddling. It’s a heart-warming sight to behold, the boys holding onto each other in their sleep while Holly rests sprawled out over Mike and part of Will, and it’s one that Karen commits to memory.
Karen hears Ted sigh before he gets up from his Lay-Z-boy and manages to manoeuvre Holly onto his arms without waking either of her ‘pillows’. Karen grabs a spare blanket and carefully places it over the boys before following Ted to their daughter’s room. He gently drops her off on her bed and wishes her a quiet goodnight. Karen goes to do the same, but her daughter blinks her eyes open before she can.
“Can —” Holly yawns — “Mamma, can Mikey tell me a story?”
Karen’s heart melts a little at her youngest’s request.
“He’s asleep, Holly,” she tries to reason softly.
“S’okay, I’ll wake him!”
And suddenly, Holly’s sleepiness is gone, replaced with excitement, and she’s jumping off her bed and speeding back down the stairs before either Ted or Karen can think to stop her. The parents share a look, accompanied by an exasperated sigh, and they wordlessly come to the agreement that Karen would deal with this since Ted had to rest before going to work tomorrow.
Karen takes her time making her way through the house, knowing that she’d never be able to catch up with Holly before she got to her brother. She hears hushed voices as she approaches, and pauses by the entrance to the living room to listen in on the conversation, making sure to stay out of sight.
“— promised to finish the story today!” Holly whines while attempting to whisper. Karen can imagine her little pouting, guilt-inducing face directed at Michael with certain clarity. God knows Karen’s been on its receiving end plenty of times already.
Mike groans dramatically.
“I did, didn’t I?”
Karen chances glance around the corner to find Mike wide awake, a sleeping Will still being held in his arms. The way Mike looks at Will… it’s obvious he’s more than reluctant to leave him alone.
Following her brother’s example, Holly looks at Will too.
“Will is really pretty,” she says, awed.
Mike smiles tenderly.
“Yeah.” His voice is softer than Karen had ever heard it. “He is.”
For a moment, under the warm light of the living room, Will looks young and peaceful, as if nothing had ever hurt him, as if he’d never known pain.
The illusion doesn’t last long, though.
“Mikey,” Holly chimes up with a small, fragile voice, “why is he frowning? He looks sad… and scared.”
Mike’s hand rises to Will’s face, his thumb caressing over his furrowed brow. The sleeping boy’s face relaxes, but he still looks troubled.
“It’s probably a nightmare, Holly.”
The girl hums, thoughtful.
“Is it… like a curse?” she asks.
“Oh um, sure, yeah,” he answers distractedly. “Kinda like a curse.”
Holly nods seriously.
“Then you have to wake him up —”
“Maybe I should, ye—”
“— with a kiss!”
Mike lets out a sudden burst of laughter, like he couldn’t help himself. Karen herself has to cover her mouth to contain her giggles at the startled look on her son’s face.
“What?!” he exclaims in a whisper, still mindful of the sleeping boy in his arms.
Holly gives Mike her best ‘are you dumb?’ look.
“A true love’s kiss!”
“True love?” Mike parrots back, looking slightly dazed.
“You love him, yes?” Holly asks expectantly.
“I do,” Mike answers. No hesitation. Holly nods like she had expected nothing else.
“And he loves you, so, true love’s kiss!” She says, confidently. “It will break the curse, and Will will never have nightmares again.”
Oh, Holly…
“I’m afraid it’s not that easy,” Mike says with a small, far-away smile, echoing Karen’s thoughts.
“You should still try.” Holly shrugs innocently. Mike’s smile brightens slightly.
“Yeah, maybe I should.”
He doesn't get the chance.
“Mike?” Will mutters groggily, glassy eyes staring up, almost unseeing
“Hey,” Mike says — and there it is again: that soft, loving voice. “I’m here, Will. I’m here.”
Just like that, it’s like they’re in their own little world. They’ve always been like this, for as long as they’ve known each other, but it’s only now that Karen is starting to comprehend the true depth of their bond; the absolute devotion they hold for each other.
True love indeed.
Holly, unaware of the moment she’s interrupting, whines loudly.
“Awww,” she pouts, obviously upset that Will woke up without… help. “Promise that you’ll try next time, okay Mikey?”
Will raises an eyebrow in confusion but Mike shakes his head, choosing to answer Holly instead of offering explanation.
“I will, I promise.”
Will he do it? Karen wonders. Karen doesn’t want to speculate whether the boys are already in a relationship or not, not until Mike comes to her with the information, but it is obvious they love each other, at least to her watchful eye. If they’re not together, Holly’s plan would definitely be an… interesting way for Mike to confess his feelings.
“Now go wait for us in your room,” Mike continues. “We’ll be there in a minute.”
That’s Karen’s cue to leave before her eavesdropping is discovered.
It’s not long before they’re all inside Holly’s room. Holly is tucked tight in her bed and Mike and Will sit to either side of her. When Karen stays in the room, Mike sends her a curious look but says nothing, finally nodding to himself with something like approval.
Now, it’s not the first time that Karen hears Michael tell one of his fantastical tales — when he was younger, he would not stop spilling all of his DnD campaign ideas to Karen, who listened patiently but didn’t really try to understand — but it’s the first one that she truly appreciates the talent her son has for bringing his stories to life with immense passion and talent. He uses his whole body to express himself, gestures widely to convey the tension building up, gives each character a unique voice that encapsulates whole personalities… simply put, Mike is in his element. Will watches with tired eyes but a genuine smile. Every once in a while Mike will ask Will the Wise for input, which Will gives with true enthusiasm.
Holly enjoys every second of it. Karen does too — she’s thankful she got to see this side of Mike, that she can see him like this and think of how proud she is of the wonderful young man he’s becoming.
Eventually, the story ends, the heroes win, the town is saved and the little girl falls asleep, content.
The other room’s occupants creep out of the room, unwilling to let Holly be woken up. Once Mike closes the door, he lets out a sigh of relief.
“Well, that was embarrassing,” he says, sounding uncharacteristically self-conscious.
Will places a comforting hand on Mike’s shoulder.
“It wasn’t,” he says, gently. “I thought it was sweet.”
Mike tries to pout but his smiling lips betray him.
“Yes,” Karen says, reminding them of her presence. The boys pull away from each other slightly and Karen’s heart pangs with pain as she curses the world that taught these sweet, caring boys to be wary of the affection they show. “Thank you, Mike, for doing this for Holly — she loves it. You too, Will. Thank you.”
Thank you for being you, Will. Thank you for being the person who brings the best out of my son, who brings him happiness just by being there. Thank you.
The young Byers’ cheeks pinken slightly, probably not expecting to be in the spotlight.
“Ah, it was no problem, Mrs Wheeler.”
“Haven’t I told you before, Will? You’re more than welcome to call me Karen,” she says lightly. She can’t help but ask, teasingly, “After all, you’re practically part of the family, right?”
The boys share a look and blush deeply.
“Oh – um – sure.” Will smiles nervously.
“Stop being embarrassing, Mom.” Mike grabs Will’s hand and starts dragging him to his room. “C’mon, let’s go to sleep. I’m exhausted.”
Karen chuckles.
“Good night, boys!” she calls out.
“Good night!” they chorus back, and Mike’s bedroom door shuts behind them.
After going through her nightly routine, Karen slips in bed beside her husband, who is still awake, completing some kind of crossword. She grabs her latest romance novel and sets out to start reading, but Ted’s voice interrupts her before she can even find the right page.
“Should we be letting them sleep in the same room?” He asks, voice monotone, almost uninterested, but it brings all of Karen’s thoughts screeching to a halt.
“What?!”
Ted barely looks up from his crossword for a second to give Karen a slight disbelieving look.
“We both know their relationship isn’t going to stay ‘platonic’ for long.”
Karen gapes at him.
“You noticed?”
“That my son is obsessed with that Byers boy?” He huffs. “Of course I noticed. I still can’t believe he ever had a girlfriend when he’s always been like that.”
Karen hums, a bit unsure how to proceed with this. Ted doesn’t sound mad or even disappointed.
“And you’re… okay with it?”
Ted drops his crossword onto his lap, giving Karen his attention. He doesn’t look mad or disappointed either. Just like all of this was simply a… fact of life or something along those lines.
“It’s been a long time coming, really, and even if I wasn’t ‘okay’ with it, it’s not something I can change,” he says. “It’s obvious the Byers boy likes him right back, so there’s nothing I can do except be thankful that my son didn’t fall for someone like that Henderson kid — he’s a real pest, that one. Anyone’s better than him.”
Karen can’t help but giggle a little. This is such a strange turn of events that she almost wonders if she’s dreaming. She won’t question it too much, though. She’ll take this reassurance, that if Mike ever decides to come out to them, he’ll be in a safe environment, where he’ll be able to feel loved and unjudged.
“Will’s a sweet kid,” she says. “He makes Mike happy.”
Ted hums in what seems like agreement.
“At least we will never have to deal with our son getting some random girl pregnant.”
…
What — this —
“Ted!” she hisses.
She should’ve known this was all too good to be true. And now Karen is starting to wonder if perhaps they should make the boys not share a room; set some kind of boundaries.
Then she remembers the date, remembers Will’s nightmare. She remembers the look of pure relief in Will’s eyes when he woke up to Mike, and just how safe they always seem to feel around each other.
Best to leave them alone, she decides. Besides, she can’t even be sure that they’re together yet, so there’s no true reason to bother them with those kinds of things yet.
Until her son is comfortable with sharing this with her, she’ll let it pass. Karen can wait.
There’s no rush — they’ve got time.