I think it’s really funny if no one told Steve that Will didn’t actually die and that the body in the lake wasn’t him because then Steve is running with the belief that Will legitimately came back from the dead. So when he goes to Dustin’s house to help him get ready for Snowball and he sees a picture of Mews, and then sees a cat that looks exactly like her with a similar enough name that he can’t hear the difference over the constant ringing in his ears, he doesn’t this it’s a new cat. The thinks Mews came back from the dead and Dustin has a zombie cat.
warnings: vecna, mike being a little shit, gay panic
summary: Season 5. Will gets Vecna’ed in the final fight, but their walkman is busted. Mike has one final cry of hope to save him.
art credit: @daniartonline on instagram
“It’s not playing!” Mike yells, voice shrill and forceful. “Something isn’t working!”
“We’re running out of time here, guys-“ Lucas clings to the sword he’s wielding like it’s a lifeline. He cuts down another demedog, but not after Dustin hits it clean in the head with a bat. “They keep coming!”
“Where’s El? Where’s Eleven!” Mike’s face is red hot, emotion bubbling inside his cheeks. In front of him- eyes glassed over- is Will Byers, floating an inch off the ground. Mike bangs on the walkman, coughing as the debris from the upside down floats into his mouth and swirls around his throat.
“Come on you son of a bitch, play!”
A scream- purely guttural- echoes over the hills in the Upside Down. The gate crackles and shrills in response. Eleven hovers with her arms extended, blood gushing from her nose, in the distance. She’s holding it off- holding it off until they can wake Will up- and then they’ll be able to escape, and she can seal the gate for good. Except… Will won’t wake up. One of his blue vans lifts higher, but Mike drags the other back down by stepping on his foot hard, driving him back down to earth.
“Will- Stay with me!” Mike chokes on some fluid in his mouth- blood or spit, he isn’t sure. His black fluffy hair has been matted to his skull from the drying gash in his temple. The pain of it barely even registering. “Somebody help me! Somebody do something, Jesus Fuck!”
In the blue glow of the parallel world, Mike clings to Will’s forearms in desperation. Will, however, with red light beating down on him, is in a different place completely.
Vecna’s voice echoes in his mind. “They’ve left you,” He coos. Will’s tears have long since solidified in the congealed dirt that’s built up on his face, having been knocked on his hands and knees in some abandoned baseball arena. The warped stands shroud around him, empty of patrons but still deeply foreboding nonetheless. Will struggles to his feet, only to lose his footing and smack his chin on second base. He feels the hot sensation of blood escaping his body, and doesn’t dare to touch his chin to feel how deep it is.
“They’ve all left you, Will.”
“No, they’re looking for me.”
“You’re lost, Will. No one can find you- and no one is looking.” A form comes into view from the dugout. A cloudy, slimey, growing form that resembles a creature from a scary movie, but is too unfocused to make out the shape of. Will’s head spins as he pulls his hands across the field, trying to drag his body away from the creature. But he only gets closer. Will lets out a deep yell- mustering as much strength as he can and drags his body forward. All he has to do is survive. He managed to make it a week in the Upside Down at ten years old- He can survive a few moments in this place.
“Did you think if you stalled long enough, your mother would come and find you? Rescue you?” Vecna lulls, his voice sounding as if it must be directly behind Will’s head. “Or was it Mike- was it your paladin? The holy night. He’s moved on- He doesn’t care about you anymore, Will. You already know it’s true.”
It isn’t.
“Worthless- A wizard with no party.”
“Get out of my head!” Will yells, his voice breaking at the sheer force of his scream.
Mike jams the rewind button one last time on the Walkman and furiously presses play.
“It’s not gonna work, man!” Lucas shouts, the demedog on him and Dustin getting close. They’re fending it off, but only barely.
“I wish we had Eddie right about now-“ Dustin wacks the demedog in the leg, causing it to limp backwards. “Mike, come on, snap him out of it so we can get out of here!”
“I’m trying, I’m-“ His voice snags. “Will! Will, can you hear me?”
“Mike!” Will screams, wiping the spit and blood from his mouth. “MOM- Eleven, MIKE-!”
“They can’t hear you. No one is listening. It’s only you,” Vecna appears in his grotesque form in front of Will, his long Freddy Krueger hand lifting Will's face up by the chin. The sharp talon-like-nail pressing against the newly made gash and causing Will to yell out in pain. “…And me. At long last.”
“You were the first soul I claimed.” The monster waxed, lifting Will’s body into the air as he squirms and fights against it. “You were my first victim, my first connection from this world I was sent to into the one I used to call my home. You are the bridge between worlds. Eleven opened the gate, but you are the first traveler.” Will finds himself parallel to the dead, black, soulless eyes of his captor. With every ounce of strength in his body, he fights against the urge in his bones to go stiff. Every fiber inside his frame seems to will itself against him- his own body rejecting his control. He feels his fingers begin to crack- not yet break- but pull backwards against their natural track.
Mike watches as Will’s pinkie finger snaps backwards, and he yells. Lucas gets in the last blow, his leg bleeding after snagging a nasty bite from a demobat. “Mike,” He pleads. “Please, man, we can’t lose you too.”
“We haven’t lost him,” Mike breathes. “We, we….”
A scream of courage echoes over the cliffs. Eleven’s eyes streak red down her cheeks, and her hands tremble with force. A low growl that sounds like a wounded animal- but that Mike quickly realizes is the world itself- emanates around her.
The boys all halt in their tracks. Dustin drops his bat in disbelief. She isn't just closing the gate- she’s destroying the entire Upside Down.
The chaos of the battlefield all at once starts dissipating. The bats, gently, begin falling from the sky. Eleven screeches once again, and the very fabric of the universe feels as though it has begun to crumble. Chunks of rock and earth fall from the sky- the world she created, being destroyed by the hands that made it. And yet, while rage had birthed and begotten it, it was love and belonging that ripped it from the seams.
The remaining demogorgons collapse into the dirt and the mire. The Upside Down is silent.
As if on cue, the older kids come jogging into view from their positions in the fight. Steve runs to Dustin immediately, Eddie right behind him, and scoops the kid up in pure excitement.
“Henderson!”
“Steve-“ Eddie grabs Steve by the arm. His eyes are fixed on the two boys standing in the middle of the battlefield, dead demobats surrounding them in hideous piles. Steve’s face pales in realization. Nancy, who’s just come around the corner with Jonathan and Joyce, grabs their wrists in shock. Everyone is frozen. Except for Mike.
“Will, Will come on-“ He sobs, completely oblivious to the dead silence surrounding him. He paws at Will’s face, trying to wipe away the dirt, as if somehow it might help. “Will, come on you can hear me I know you can.”
Small. His voice is small. The onlookers, were they not adults who knew better, may have sworn left and right that in front of them was suddenly no longer a tall, lanky, grown-up Mike Wheeler that stood pleading with Will’s lifeless body- but instead was a tiny little ten year old, fresh out of his moms basement from a ten hour campaign. He sniffs, wiping the tears from his eyes with a snotty sleeve, his hands around Will’s shoulders. The walkman headphones sit uselessly against Will’s ears, and Mike pulls them off, flinging them down. He yells, anger bubbling out of him, and stomps on the walkman.
“Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Fucking—!” His voice cracks again, and he holds Will tight, sobbing into his chest. Everyone else watches, their hearts breaking in front of them.
“Darling you’ve got to let me know,” Mike whispers, singing only ever so slightly. Off key. Pitchy. Quiet. Broken up by gentle sobs he can’t swallow. “Should I stay or should I go,”
Jonathan squeezes Nancy tighter.
“If I say that you are mine,” Mike cups Will’s face in his hands, his nose pressed against Will’s cheek. “I’ll be here…” -A hiccup- “…till the end of time.”
Mike’s eyes are swollen. Will’s are dead white.
“If you don’t want me set me free,” He squeezes Will’s hand tight. “Exactly who am I supposed to- supp- suh- exactly who am I supposed to be without you man? Come on please wake up wake up please I need you, I need you. don’t go, don’t—-“ he squeaks, swallowing hard and catching his breath. “If… if you go, there will be trouble. But if you stay it will be double.”
“So come on and let me know. Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
Joyce clasps a hand over her mouth.
Hopper pulls her into his chest.
Dustin shuts his eyes tight, and Steve holds his shoulders steady.
Lucas looks away. He knows this feeling.
Jonathan buries his face in Nancy’s hair.
Eleven watches in disbelief.
And then Will heaves a breath, and opens his big brown eyes.
Mike’s eyes widen with shocking hope. He holds his breath, then lets out a horribly ugly laugh. “Y- You-!”
“Hi,” Will coughs, his eyes dazed and confused but locked on Mike’s. They mimic his and well with big crocodile tears. “You have a really bad voice.”
Mike barks a laugh, grabbing Will by the face. “You little- You- You—“
“Yeah?” Will smiles, weak but gentle.
Oh, he’s not wasting another second.
Mike pulls their faces together, colliding in the silliest, most important kiss of either of their lives. Will laughs into it, shocked so much that the wind is knocked out of him. He inhales high into his chest, breathing in Mike’s kiss like it’s an anchor to life. And in more ways than one, it is. Will quickly takes charge, holding Mike's face in his hands, kissing him again, deep and full of emotion. The electricity in his fingertips is intoxicating. Pulling away too soon, Will pushes their foreheads together.
“I’ve waited my whole life to do that.” He whispers, breathing hard. His pupils are huge, dizzy with wonder.
“I can't believe I almost lost you before you did.” Mike laughs, tears still spilling over. He looks over to their audience, but specifically to El, who just smiles. Without missing a beat, she runs at them both, and throws her arms around them. Dustin and Lucas don’t waste another second- rushing at the three friends and almost tackling them to the floor in a mess of laughter and tears and chattering voices.
“Alright alright, let mom through.” Joyce smiles, her eyes puffy red and her face bright and smiling- if exhausted. Will’s eyes melt as she hugs him.
“Mom, I—“
“Oh hush. I already knew.” Giving him a gentle wink, and kissing the top of his head. “My boy. Please don’t ever go away like that again.”
Will’s eyes drift over to Mike as Joyce wraps him in a hug. “Don’t worry.” He smiles. “I think I’m planning on staying.”
*casually comes up with random ST OCs because I read one post where there was another Mayfield and the potential AUs and storylines are endless.
Seriously, though, I might make a side blog for that kind of stuff. Emphasis on side blog. This is still very much a fruity four account plus random other thoughts about my favorite ST ships and memes.
My inability to be a normal person has compelled me to make a side blog specifically dedicated to an AU in which Steve has a little sister named Jennifer.
A really random decision to make a Stranger Things blog specifically for an OC I dreamed into existence or whatever.
a/n: this is the first byler fic i’ve ever written and i’m so sorry for it
* * * *
“it was a REALLY short campaign, mike,” says dustin.
“but it was good!” will interjects. “really good. i liked that you made the village smaller so less people would be caught in the crossfire.”
mike smiles. it’s always will.
“or becos he was too lazy to build a bigger village,” lucas teases.
“or too busy making out with his girlfriend all break,” adds dustin.
mike’s brow furrows. what’s their problem?
“screw you guys, it was fun! i’m not eddie, i can’t come up with—“ mike freezes.
dustin and lucas look sick to their stomachs.
eddie. why can’t you think before you talk?
“i’m, im sorry guys, i didn’t—“ mike tries.
“no man, it’s okay.” lucas mumbles.
“yeah, it’s fine. we have to uh, go though,” sighs dustin, still looking a bit nauseous.
“right, lucas?” he widens his eyes.
“yeah— yeah. we have to go visit max. only two at a time now, so we have to get going. cool campaign though, mike. really. see you guys later.”
lucas and dustin stand and disappear up the stairs.
“i really do think it was good, mike,” gives will.
“it was fun. who cares if it was short? you barely had time to plan it and they left early anyway.”
he reaches and puts his hand over mike’s. mike ignores the flush of his cheeks and looks at their hands, together.
“shouldn’t have mentioned eddie,” mike grumbles. “should’ve just let them make fun of the campaign,” he sighs.
“they didn’t seem all that bothered by it. you weren’t saying anything mean.”
will leans closer to mike and waits for mike’s eyes to meet his. mike feels the weakness of will’s gaze and looks up at him. he feels an overwhelming urge to smile, to say something, to hug him, to—
he feels a surge of full and attentive pain in his chest, like he missed a step while walking down the stairs.
why are you looking at his lips?
a teasing voice in his head taunts.
mike feels a ball of tears begin to form in his throat, and looks away from will and back down at the table. he pulls his hand a bit quickly from will’s and stands, pushing his chair from behind him, and starts to pace the floor. he rubs the backs of his hands into his eyes.
why can’t you just be normal?
that taunting voice questions.
“mike, what’s wrong? oh my god, mike, are you okay?”
will’s voice fades.
“mike.”
it’s a different voice now, calling his name.
“will? will, where did you go? please don’t do that terminator voice again, that was fucked up,” his voice echoes.
he’s in the basement still, but he’s not sure why it feels different than it did mere seconds ago. something is off. his safe place feels… nightmarish.
he scrambles to the stairs to find will. the familiar panic of being unable to see his best friend slays him, and he’s weak again.
“will! will, where’d you go?!” he cries.
“mike.”
at the bottom of the stairs, mike first turns his head, and then turns around on the spot. a monster.
vecna.
mike is frozen. not only in fear, but physically unable to move his body.
vecna’s curse.
“i know your secret, mike.”
mike swallows his fear.
“you don’t know shit, knockoff freddy krueger.”
he feigns bravery, hubris.
“but i do, mike.” vecna’s voice carries on mike’s name.
mike is pale, nauseated. what secret?
“i don’t have a secret, you stupid piece of shit,” he booms.
“you are not normal, mike.” vecna reaches for mike, and the boy is even further glued to the spot. he can hardly lift his chest muscles to breathe.
he sees the monster’s hand reach above his head, and it lurches his body upward. he swallows hard, determined not to show fear.
mike sees moments of his life project before him in rapid playback;
a flashlight beam landing on a rain soaked young girl in the woods.
el.
el in a blonde wig, and pink dress.
“pretty.”
a kiss he shared with her in the school cafeteria.
a dance with her at the snow ball.
stolen kisses behind a door left open three inches.
mike feels relief.
this monster thinks my biggest secret is having a girlfriend.
“no, mike,” vecna’s voice hangs over him, like a cloud of bad intentions.
“you tried to be normal.”
the memories mike has of el, every single one, flash before his eyes in warp speed.
then, everything burns in front of him. a bright, electric blue.
he shows mike a swing set, at a playground. two boys swing side by side, smiling shyly.
“STOP! STOP IT!” mike cries.
two boys, in another memory, holding hands on the way to school in second grade.
it’s mike and will.
“quit holding hands like fairies. give people the wrong idea,” grunts lonnie.
and with that, the boys let go of eachother.
“HE’S MY BEST FRIEND!” mike yells.
another memory, of mike and will on a halloween night.
“well if we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?”
“yeah, crazy together.”
“shut up! SHUT UP SHUT UP!” mike strains, still unable to move. tears pour from his eyes.
the boys, in a garage, in the rain.
“it’s not my fault you don’t like girls.”
another.
“what about us?”
“we’re friends. WE’RE FRIENDS.”
“SHUT UP! SHUT UP!”
“cool.”
mikes throat is hoarse from screaming. his face, hot with tears, is blotchy and bright red.
“i know your secret, mike.”
“SHUT UP! LET ME GO! YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT!”
“you are so scared to be honest that you’ve instead chosen to live a lie.”
“i love el!”
“no, mike.”
“no! SHUT UP! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! LET ME GO!”
“so ashamed to like boys, that you’ve strung along an innocent girl to appear normal. you’ve lived a lie to appear normal. breaking the hearts of those you say you love, so selfishly.”
“that’s not true! LET ME GO! i’m not gay!”
mikes voice is guttural and wet.
“i know your secret, mike. and so do you.”
* * * * *
“mike? mike, wake up! can you hear me? please, mike, god damn it. wake up! i’m here.”
mike sees will, his face pink, his eyes drowned in tears. his hands on his shoulders. mike’s face is hot, his legs buckling. he collapses to the cold floor of his basement, in a heap of tears and gasps.
he knows what he has to do. he has to rid himself of the shame to save himself.
“will, i like boys.” his voice muffles into his sleeve.
please don’t make me say it again.
will puts his hand on mike’s shoulder.
“mike, what? what did you say?”
mike clears his throat and tastes blood. swallowing hard, he looks up at will. his nose running, his eyes bloodshot, face burning.
do musical artists ever wonder why their songs will spike in streams/popularity seemingly randomly?
Like, specifically for fandom, did Tears for Fears ever find out that Head Over Heels jumped up in popularity because the fandom for a netflix show decided one character was in love with another and also that this character really likes their music?
Do they want to know that Everybody Wants to Rule the World is widely associated with this character in that same sect of fandom because of one (1) super popular gay fanfiction where he’s groundhog day-d??
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