This takes place after the events in volume one and is my interpretation of how their relationship would go if they become canon in volume two!
I know nothing about good writing bear with me here, note I wrote this assuming they were also in the upside down
Mike watched as Will fell to his knees and unclenched his fists, it’s like time had stopped and the fire and chaos behind him was tuned out the only thing in that moment Mike could see was Will. Will wiped the now running blood from his nose with a new sense of strength and confidence, even if it was faked or forced. Joyce and Mike ran over to Will at the same time, one worried the other happy for him.
A beat, Mike wanted to say something else—something more passionate but the only word that came to mind in the moment was,
Will smiled softly and stood up his mom helped him up, she looked a bit worried but seeing he wasn’t struggling to get up she knew he was just fine.
“We could use your powers to defeat Vecna!”
Mike knew Will had what it took they would have to come up with a plan something strategic and using the new leg up of Will’s newfound access to the hivemind. Mike thought of a plan and Will was unsure if it would work.
“We have to meet up with El, she can teach me how to train or even tap into the hive mind from far away and-“
“You can learn to control Vecna!”
Mike finished Will’s sentence and Will smiled meeting Mikes gaze, Will wasn’t going to say that but he saw Mike had newfound hope in finding Holly and nodded along. Will wanted to playfully push him, laugh with him, or maybe just hug him but; like earlier, but he remembered Mike had walked away afterwards basically ignoring him entirely and he decided not to. Mike rummaged through his bag for his walkie talkie so he could contact Eleven and noticed it was no longer there.
He muttered under his breath,
He looked around and finally saw it lying on the ground next to his bag. He sighed in relief and grab the walkie talkie,
Mike asked into the talkie.
She responded out of breath, probably still on the run Mike had guessed.
“Where are you? we have some major updates on our plan,”
El tried to describe where Hopper and her were, Will remembered that he had been there when he was in the upside down the first time and started leading the others towards where they might be.
“I think I know where she is, follow me.”
Mike hoped they weren’t too far, and handed the walkie talkie to Joyce who was now using the walkie talkies and was checking on the others while Will and Mike walked not too far ahead of her.
“You’re sure we’re headed the right way right?”
“I’m sure I remember everything about the upside down…”
He shivered before realizing he made the mood a bit dark and went silent. Looking for a way to shift the conversation to Mike he talks about El instead.
“So remember about two weeks ago when you said you feel your relationship with El has changed?”
“What did you mean changed?”
Mike pauses for a second, “…I don’t know if I love her”
Will hesitates for a moment the air think like it could be cut with a knife. Will couldn’t relate as he had come to terms with his feelings a long time ago but he felt bad for Mike, and responded curiously.
“Then why stay with her?”
“We’ve been together a long time plus deep down I still like her.”
Mike was strung only trying to convince himself that and was hoping Will couldn’t tell.
“Mike. Do you like her or do you love her?”
Mike didn’t respond he had been questioning his relationship with El for at least two months straight, he remembered being a kid and his friends claiming he was in love with Eleven. He didn’t hate that idea at the time, but did he get with her because he wanted her specifically or was it just because he wanted to brag to people at school about having a girlfriend before they did. Or maybe did he just want a friend, was love or friendship really what he wanted that young?
After what felt like ages he responded looking down his voice soft, almost vulnerable. “I’m… I’m not sure.”
Truly he wanted to say something more, that he felt a way about Will, that Mike didn’t understand himself sometimes, and he felt shame boil up in his face.
Mike, to distracted by the tough conversation at hand and his overflow of pent up emotions he stepped his right foot straight into a bear trap dropping his bag next to him with a screech.
Joyce how had been walking a couple feet behind them talking to Hopper on the walkie talkie and immediately ran over to Mike as soon as she heard the howl Mike let out. Crouching by him she surprisingly thought fast under pressure,
“We need something to make a tourniquet.”
Will nodded handing his jacket over to his mom and she made tightly wrapped it above his knee minimizing bleeding. Joyce’s breath hitches as she realizes why a bear trap might be set in the middle of the upside down.
Joyce said looking around. Mike had hot tears going down his face the metal bear trap digging into his skin almost touching the bone. Will and Joyce nod at each other and they started prying it off of his leg, they tried to work quickly but it slipped out of Will’s hand and the bear trap snapped back shut against Mike’s leg. Will covered Mike’s mouth as he let out a loud painful scream.
Will muttered under his breath, suddenly Joyce gets hit with a tranquilizer dart, or something else of the sorts he couldn’t tell it all happened so fast. Mike realizes they’ve alerted the military. Both of them have no choice but to run Will quickly scoops and the bag Mike up and starts running as fast as he could, Mike is heavy and slows him down but all he cares about is getting them to safety. After what felt like hours he finds a safe spot isolated where no one would think to look and lays him down. It was a dingy (hopefully) abandoned military base he enters and puts Mike down by a wall so he could lean back. It was very rusty and there was nothing in there but dust, the cold metal floors, and walls that looked like they would collapse under a slight gust of wind.
Will says his voice low, he wishes he would rest as well but he’s too worried about his mom being hurt at this moment or getting caught and going to prison or something much much worse.
“I know, are you sure you wanna stay here for the whole night? We’re safe here.”
“No I’m sure, I need to make sure my mom’s okay.”
Will stands up and starts walking away,
Will stops to look at Mike and tilts his head.
“I can’t be by myself, I’m in a lot of pain. Stay, please.”
“Will if I die I don’t want to die alone,”
Mike words hang in the air Will looks pained by this.
“You… you’re not gonna die, okay?”
Will says, truly he’s only reassuring himself that because he doesn’t know what he’d do if his childhood best friend and crush died. Will thinks for a second and sit back down next to Mike who is sitting propped up against a wall.
Mike smiles at hearing this, they’re sitting so close their shoulders are touching. Usually Will or Mike would get nervous and create more distance between them but Mike was too hurt to move and Will was lost in a whirlpool of worries. Only the feeling of Mike’s hand covering Will’s made him snap back to reality. Mike looks at Will, Will avoids his gaze still worried about what could be happening to Joyce and what might happen to Mike if he won’t be able to get any medical attention.
“We need to find a way back up or a way to reach the others where’s the walkie talkie?”
“I believe your mom had it but you can check the bag.”
He unzips the bag and rummages through it,
“So I have good news and bad news.”
Will says as he gets to the bottom of the bag.
“Bad news first, always,”
“Well I didn’t find the walking talkie but I did find some disinfectant and some wraps to help prevent infection.”
Mike nods and watches as Will prepares the medical stuff needed for his wounds.
“Bite on this, this might hurt”
Will says to Mike handing him some gauze, Mikes stuffs it in his mouth and prepare himself for a strong to mid burning sensation. Instead he is met with an immense pain like fire, he hadn’t realized how bad his wounds were til his adrenaline wearied off. At least it’ll slow down bleeding, he kept biting on the gauze struggling to not let out even a yelp as he knew they could die. Well not that dying wasn’t already at steak it’s very possible he could bleed out right now right here. He felt his consciousness slipping through his fingers maybe it was death maybe he was gonna pass out from the excruciating pain, if this was death he would’ve expected it to be more peaceful. Then he saw Will looking at him as Will took care of him, he hated imagining Will moving on, forgetting about him, about what they went through together, forgetting about their late night DND games past their bedtimes when they were young, about their stupid inside joke they wouldn’t explain to anyone. He envisioned Will sharing a deep moment he and Mike had together when they were kids but with someone else, Mike knew there that he didn’t want to see Will with anyone else man or women. Suddenly it all clicked why he stopped wanting to kiss El, or why he didn’t tell her he loved her, or why he felt differently about Will then anyone else, and he remembers all times he tried to push down his feeling for Will and in that moment it all came bubbling back. If he were to die here he wouldn’t die happy without Will knowing how he truly felt.
Mike said dizzy with pain and the leftover adrenaline from earlier, Will looked at him and they made eye contact suddenly it’s like all words left Mikes mouth and he went silent. Will turns his back to Mike to put away the bandages, Will worries about Mikes health again Mike sounds pretty delirious he still thinks Mike needs rest to recover. He has no idea how the hell they expect to get the bear trap off without causing more bleeding, he feels tears start to form in his eyes and he quickly wipes them away trying to reassure themselves they will all make it out alive. After all when they were kids Mike had promised they would always have each other, he wouldn’t break his promise… right?
He turns back around and realizes Mike had passed out from the pain and possible blood loss. Will instantly felt his heart ache he can’t let Mike die he had to do something or else it would be his fault, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if that happened. Will without thinking crawls over him basically in his lap and shakes Mikes head panicking,
Will checks for a pulse and lets out a breath of relief he hadn’t realized he had been holding in. His head floods with worries surely it’s not normal for someone to pass out like that right? He continues shaking him frantically his hands on Mikes shoulders. Mike wakes up and sees Will and seeks the closeness he pulls him even closer into a hug.
“God, I thought you were a goner.”
Wills spoke softly into Mikes ear his chin resting on his shoulder, Mike shuddered slightly.
Mike laughed weakly and tried to play it off like he shivered from the cold but they both knew that wasn’t the truth. Will didn’t respond he seemed relaxed and Mike realized how close they really were and how much they were touching. They’ve bumped shoulders and similar stuff as kids but this was different and not only because Will was literally sitting in his lap. He felt Will’s chest rise and fall against his as he breathed he noticed his breaths were calm and slow. Will was asleep, this was bad, well maybe not entirely bad but he didn’t wanna wake Will. Still he wanted to make space between them as he felt red in the face thinking about spending the rest of the night like this. Then again this didn’t feel entirely terrible nerves aside, he tried to relax to and fall asleep and though it took a while he finally began to drift off.
Will woke up before him and assumed it was morning since it’s almost impossible to tell time in the upside down because no matter wait it’s dark. The first thing he noticed was that Mike had his arms around him in his sleep and he was basically trapped which made his head spin. As he started trying to pry Mike hands from off his waist Mike started to stir awake and before Will was able to get up Mike opened his eyes. It felt even more awkward now as they locked eyes Will tried to stand up but Mike pulled him back.
Will fought him again and got up,
“I have to go… umm. Just, be careful..”
Will was off to find out what happened to his mom, and Mike slowly started standing up on his one left foot.
“Will, I won’t let you go anywhere by yourself.”
Will looked at him likes he’s insane.
“You can’t, your injured you shouldn’t be standing I’ll help us find my mom, Holly, a way out, and we’ll leave”
“By yourself are you crazy?!”
The argument started getting heated—they hadn’t fought like this since before the eighteen months they spent sleeping in the same room.
“If you come with me you could die!”
“If you go by yourself you’ll die,”
“Mike I’ve been in the upside down by myself before I’ll be fine I can control the demogorgans.”
Will really didn’t want Mike hurting himself even more though he knew Mike was right he couldn’t be left by himself that radio would be really helpful right now. He noticed more blood dripping from his bandages.
“The more pressure you put on it the worse it’s bleeding again please sit back down.”
Mike sat back down and watched Will as he crouched down to unwrap Mikes bandages in search of any sign of infection or too much blood loss.
“We can’t just sit around and wait for them to come to us.”
Whether if what Will meant by them was their friends or the military didn’t matter.
“Either way it’s very possible I could die and I’m not risking your life.”
Even though I don’t want you to move on, it’s still what’s best for your safety.
Mike thought to himself, and before Will could think he started fumbling over his words like he usually does in high stress situations.
“You cant die! I won’t let you, I… you… Mike please let me go…”
Will was obviously holding back all the emotions that had been pilling since they were young, he had a couple tears running down his face Mike leaned in and wiped them with his thumb without thinking. The touch felt intimate and close, their faces were close too Will thought he was still dreaming as he starting pulling his face away which was strange since usually Mike was the one denying he’s feelings. Mike had pulled him back by his chin and leaned even closer this time,
He muttered he wanted to say something comforting but their faces were so close he wouldn’t even be able to remember the first letter of the alphabet if asked. Will thought suddenly getting powers had changed him and he’d been stronger mentally instead of Mike being the one to reassure him all the time. Their breathing synced up both of them breathing heavy shallow breathes.
Mike was going to say something to make Will less stressed out or anything else to express his feelings but his own brain betrayed him and suddenly kissed Will right there, he pulled away slowly. Mikes head was spinning and Will’s hands shook with nerves as he tangled his fingers in Mikes hair and Wills lips clashes against Mikes again this time less scared full of yearning from all those years. It felt like a dream though the events leading up to this was less than ideal their kiss felt like a song Mike had heard before when he was young ‘Hereos’ by David Bowie, their hearts were the drums beating loudly against their chests. They only stopped to breath for less then a second, neither Will nor Mike expected this to be cut short.
“Having fun? I gotta tell Lucas he owes me ten bucks.” Dustin said suprisely unbothered by accidentally breaking up the moment, the two of them scrambled to make it seem like they weren’t making out but it was pretty obvious Dustin had saw at least two seconds of it. They interjected defensively,
“It’s not what it looks like!”
Dustin clearly didn’t care “I was able to pick up on a radio signal by your mom. She was caught by the military and interrogated we were able to get her out and she told us a general area of where to find you two. So we’ve found a way to save Holly we not so sure about defeating Vecna though.”
“For the record we had this under control.” Mike said looking at Will who nodded.
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