Work Text:
Will was waiting for Mike on his bed, when Mike finally finished up with the dishes.
"What are you doing here?" Mike asked, pausing in the doorway.
Will looked up from the book he was reading. "Waiting for you. I wanted to talk to you," he said. He stuck a bookmark in the book, and stuck it back on Mike's bedside table. It was the one Mike was currently reading, a Stephen King anthology that he thought was fine, if depressing. The stories seemed to get more miserable as he read them, but he couldn't put it down, either.
"You better not have lost my spot," he said without thinking, even as he sat down next to Will on the bed.
"Of course not," Will scoffed. "Do you think I would un-dogear your pages? What sort of heathen do you think I am?"
"Shut up," Mike said, shoving at him. A warmth suffused his chest. They had been through so much together, in so little time. Lost so much, and gained so much. In some other world, Will hadn't been brave, and they hadn't stayed friends. In this one, Mike was glad they had.
"What did you want to talk about?" he asked. He wondered why Will hadn't brought it up around the others, why he had waited until it was just them, and the house was quiet, Nancy already gone back to Boston, Holly and her friends in the basement, where no one would hear them build their own adventure. Hopefully one that would end happier then Mike's own Party had.
Will stiffened, pressing his hands flat on the bed. Mike watched him take a deep breath. So it was serious then, whatever it was Will wanted to talk about.
"You were half right," Will said, turning to face Mike.
"What?" Mike said. "What are you talking about?"
"You were half right," Will said, again. He seemed nervous, and Mike reached a hand out to steady him, but Will swatted it away. "You're not going to be happy with me," Will warned. "But you were half-right, because the mage got away."
Mike could feel his throat drying up, and he swallowed, just trying to get moisture back in it. "I don't understand," he said.
Will took his hand. "The mage got away, but it was her brother that helped her, not her sister. Her sister...she didn't make it. She was never going to make it. But it wasn't just the two of them, not anymore. The mage had a brother" tears were gathering in Will's eyes. Mike pulled his lower lip into his mouth and bit down hard, trying to control his own emotions. "The mage had a twin brother, and he wasn't as powerful as her, but he could connect minds. He could amplify."
Will took a deep breath, and then continued on, dropping all the allusions, and telling the story straight. "She knew that if she crossed the gate, the military would never let her go. And not just her, but her brother, and her friends. We came up with a plan that would keep all of us safe. We were supposed to have more time, but Doctor Kay was there, waiting for us, and it happened faster than we intended. But she got away, Mike, she got away."
"I don't understand," Mike said, his voice thick. The words stuck in his throat. "I-don't"
Will took Mike's face in his hands, and wiped the tears Mike didn't know had been forming away from his eyes. "If you knew, it wouldn't have worked," he said, softly, so softly it was almost a whisper. "You can't hide how you feel. It's a good thing, Mike, I promise. But we were being watched. We all were. And if you were anything less than totally distraught, they would never let her go."
"Why tell me now?" Mike whispered. He didn't know how to feel. He felt like he had stepped out into a storm he hadn't dressed for, like the wind might blow him away, blow him to pieces.
Will offered a small smile. "Because you had already begun to put the pieces together. Because we're no longer being watched as closely as we have been. And because it's time."
Will stood, and reached backwards into the pockets of his jeans. He pulled out a card, and passed it over.
Niagara Falls the front said. The back just read "Give them all my love. Kay".
Mike read the card, and looked at Will with confusion. "Who is Kay?" he asked.
He blinked, and then began counting on his fingers, ticking through the alphabet one letter at a time. Will stood patiently.
"You have got to be kidding me," Mike said. "That's the lamest code in existence."
"I don't think it was a code," Will said. "Do you believe me now?"
Mike flopped backwards on the bed. "All this time. And you never told me," he said, pressing his hands into his eyes. "All this time, you kept this secret."
Will sat back down on the bed and pulled Mike's hands away from his eyes. "What would you do?" he asked, "If it was Holly? She's my sister, Mike."
Will's sister. Mike had never thought of her that way. She was his superhero, his friend, his first love, his girlfriend. But she had been Max's best friend. Hopper's daughter, and Joyce's. She had lived with Will and Jonathan on and off since she first left the labs. Mike had been so wrapped up in all the things she had been to him, he had forgotten the role she had played in everyone else's life.
"I can't believe I got it even half right," he said. "So she's safe?"
"She's safe," Will confirmed. "She's safe."
Mike reached up, and pulled Will into a hug. "I forgive you," Mike said. "I forgive you."
Will wrapped his arms around Mike, and hugged him back. "She promised to write more, next time," he said.
Next time, Mike thought. Next time. A miracle.
El had been Mike's superhero. He was glad she had found her own.