Chapter Text
The first thing Will felt was fear. Fear had been a constant feeling for most of Will's life, so this wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary. The second thing he felt was grass. Will found himself laying down on a bed of grass. He had a horrible pain in his back and he felt like he’d been thrown down a flight of stairs. He turned his head to press his cheek into the cool earth. The third thing he felt was hands.
Two or three sets of big, sturdy hands pulled at his arms, felt up his chest. He groaned and tried opening his eyes. The sun was beating down on him. Then he remembered he should be in Mike’s basement. Fear struck again.
A blurry head came into view to block the sun. Will sighed, thankful for it as a headache rang through his skull.
“Will? Will, are you alright?”
That was Mike’s voice. He moved his arm and felt a presence next to him. That must be Mike then. Will propped himself up on his elbows, his head lolling to the side as he sluggishly adjusted himself. What happened?
Then a hand grabbed his face. A cold hand. A hand sheathed in metal.
That hand guided Will’s face up by the chin. He came face to face with Mike. Or… maybe it wasn’t Mike? It sure seemed like it, though.
This couldn’t be Mike, this Mike had a scar running down his cheek from his eye. His hair was much longer and he was, oh yes, dressed head to toe in gleaming silver armor. Will didn’t know what to say. Did he need to say anything? Where the hell did this costume come from?
Will sat up, a warm breeze drifted over him, carrying a leaf into his hair. Why the hell was he outside?
Will’s head had stopped reeling enough for him to take in what was in front of him. To his right, a muscular Dustin with a leather band wrapped around his head and a red cloak draped over his shoulders. To his left, a tall, domineering Lucas stood bearing a quiver of arrows and a bow. And kneeling in front of him, Mike, lean with muscle and silky black curls to his shoulders. On his chest was a crested heart of reddish steel.
Will scratched his head, half to check if there was any blood pouring from his scalp. Surely, he was imagining all this.
“Um…” Will’s voice was scratchy, “Why are you Mike the Brave?”
Mike looked to Dustin and Lucas in worry.
“My love, what do you mean?” Mike cooed.
This snapped Will straight back into reality. Or fantasy? He felt like he was only now seeing his surroundings. He sat on top of a grassy hill, a singular tree standing behind him, providing sparse shadows. The sun was high in the sky and the few clouds overhead looked purple. Across the land, there were stone houses and colorfully shingled roofs. This could not be Hawkins. Will looked back at his friends, they looked back at him skeptically.
Will slid himself backwards towards the base of the tree.
“Where am I? What’s going on, what happened?” Anxiety seeped into Will’s voice.
“Will, your spell worked! Now let’s keep moving before we are caught again!” Lucas urged.
His spell? Was this…
“Our base is not too far now, let us take cover for a while and regain our strength,” Dustin crouched down to match Mike.
Mike was motionless, just studying Will. Will pushed back again, his confusion obvious on his face. Mike stood.
“This is not our Will,” Mike said. “This is an imposter.”
“What?” Will squealed. His back hit the trunk of the tree. Mike unsheathed a longsword that he had hilted at his hip.
Will put his hands up, pressing further into the tree. “No, no, no, wait! I can explain!”
Mike approached him with his sword drawn. “I will not listen to you, shapeshifter.”
Will had nowhere to go. Lucas and Dustin were not doing anything to help, rather looked ready to jump to Mike’s defense should he need it.
“Wait! You guys were just facing a group of liches, right?” Will shielded his face. “And I just cast a teleportation spell and then everything went all bright, right?”
No one said anything. Will lowered his hands, seeing Mike just an inch from him, his sword now hanging unthreateningly by his side. He looked back to Lucas and Dustin. Will took the opportunity to get to his feet. He held onto a branch for support, feeling a knot in the center of his spine.
“And a few weeks ago, you guys, or, we saved a village near Calimshan from evil cultists and recovered some missing goods, yeah?” Will’s legs were almost shaking from the way the three of his friends were looking at him. “A random shapeshifter wouldn’t know all that.”
Mike stepped ever closer. He dropped his sword into the dirt and Will watched it land and settle.
“I suppose not.” Mike looked down at Will’s clothes. He raised a hand and Will flinched away. The feeling of Mike combing through his hair forced him to unclench his eyes.
“You don’t look quite right.” Mike said matter-of-fact.
Lucas joined Mike. He analyzed Will’s face with the same intense scrutiny, even lifting Will’s arms and circling around to his side.
“But he does look much like Will,” he finally concluded. Mike put a finger to his chin.
“I am Will, just not Will the Wise if that makes sense. I think something strange has happened here.”
“Perhaps this is an alternate version of our Will, could Will have cast the wrong spell?” Dustin cut in.
Mike the Brave looked just as Will’s Mike looked. They had the same gorgeous brown eyes, silky hair, but the way he was looking at Will was so foreign. Will couldn’t remember the last time Mike looked at him with such warriness. He was used to the sort of kindness that would make his heart skip and wonder if there was more to their friendship.
My love, Mike the Brave had called him. Will saved that to his memory immediately. In this world, were Will and Mike..?
“Come on then, we really should get moving.” Mike the Brave turned to start heading down the hill, his armor clanking. “Even if you are an imposter, I cannot hurt you now, not while looking like Will.”
Will blushed a deep red, forgetting how to walk for a second. No one had ever said something so passingly romantic and yet threatening to him. When he took a shaky step forward, he realized he really couldn’t walk. A sharp pain shot through his back. He yelped in pain and fell to his knees.
Mike went to him in an instant, Will was surprised by the worry etched in his features after all the vague threatening. Will instinctively grabbed for Mike the Brave’s arm, and oh man was he muscular. Mike the Brave’s arm wrapped around Will’s waist for support.
“What’s wrong? We must go,” he said, hooking Will’s arm around his shoulders. Will took a staggering step, trying to free himself from Mike the Brave’s grasp. He didn’t want to be a burden, he hated the constant pitying looks on people’s faces whenever they came around him. But the look on Mike’s face wasn’t pitying at all, something warmer, like care, but stronger.
“My back, it’s just,” Will attempted another step and faltered. Dustin and Lucas anxiously checked their surroundings. They must still be worried about the liches or some evil finding them. The sun was beginning its descent across the sky and Will did not want to find out what creatures came out at night. “I’ll be fine, let’s go.” Will assured them.
Mike the Brave’s hold was strong on Will’s arm, he refused to take the next step with Will. Instead, Will felt himself being lifted off the ground, the metal plates of Mike’s armor pressing into his back, sides, and legs. Will was being princess carried down this hill by none other than Mike. Mike the Brave, that is.
They began swiftly moving down the hill, Dustin and Mike casually talking about things Will didn’t quite understand. Not that he was really listening, how could he when someone who looked exactly like the guy he’s been crushing on for literal years had his fingers curled around his thigh and had his face mere inches away? Mike the Brave smelled like mint and evergreen and his face was somehow even sharper than regular Mike’s. Mike the Brave would every so often look back at Will to check on him and Will would pretend to be looking at the horizon or a large bird flying overhead. Mike adjusted his grip.
“Put your arms around my neck, you are slipping,” Mike the Brave said. Will looked towards Lucas and Dustin as they walked a few paces ahead. They didn’t seem to hear what Mike the Brave had said to him, or maybe they didn’t care. Will’s fingers twitched as he brushed them against the nape of Mike the Brave’s neck and clasped them around him. It felt so intimate, yet it came so easily to Mike the Brave to say something that could shatter Will’s worldview. The sky gained a golden hue, fading into a pinker shade, and Will wondered about the nature of Will the Wise and Mike the Brave’s relationship.
They soon arrived at the party’s base, a small wooden house, the door frame barely tall enough to allow the party members to enter standing straight up. Dustin and Lucas entered first, the house looked dark. Mike stood before the stone steps, Will still secured to his chest.
“Um, you can let me down now,” Will said quietly. Mike nodded and gently set Will’s feet on the ground. There was still a slight pain fixed into his back, but he could at least stand straight now.
“It’s amazing,” Mike the Brave mused. Will looked at him. “You look just like my Will, it’s astounding, isn’t it? It makes you wonder how this is possible, what else might be out there.”
Will allowed himself a small smile.
“You sound just like my Mike.”
Mike the Brave mirrored his face. “Your Mike…” he repeated.
The sky was a soothing purple and the air was cool now with the sun obscured by the far off forest. Mike the Brave looked like a steely statue, sculpted from lean muscle and silver, standing over Will. Will suddenly felt embarrassed and ushered himself into their base, Mike the Brave following behind.
Lucas and Dustin were busy lighting candles and lanterns. Will felt an uncanny sense of deja vu, like he’d been here before, or like he’d seen this place somewhere else. Then it struck him-- it looked like Mike’s basement. The base was warm and wooded, an oak table sat just off the front entrance, four chairs sat around it, cluttered with quills and parchment and miscellaneous trinkets. Shelves of books and scrolls spanned the back wall above the couch that was laden with furs and wool blankets. A large arm chair sat next to a fireplace where Lucas settled in to take off his boots.
Mike sauntered over to the table, messing with the clasps of his armor. Piece by piece, Mike removed his suit, revealing a black linen shirt that fit him well. Will couldn’t help but stare. Mike the Brave was handsome as all hell, but mainly just because he looked like Mike Wheeler. Something in Will had changed since dropping into this world. His head still felt fuzzy, blurring his judgement, he felt like the rules of Hawkins didn’t apply here, that the rules Will had set for himself were slipping away from him. Will’s carefully constructed restraint and control was loosening the more he watched Mike the Brave flick off his chainmail and stretch his arms and back.
“So, Will, or is that what you go by? How should we call you?” Dustin’s voice cut through the buzz of Will’s mind.
“Oh! Well yes, I’m… I’m Will, I guess. Will Byers.” He felt weird re-introducing himself to one of his best friends. Dustin’s smile was the exact same.
“You also hail from Castle Byers?” Dustin questioned.
“Castle Byers is real?” Will stifled his childish delight in the fact. “Er, not exactly. I’m uh… Will of Hawkins… yeah.”
“Will of Hawkins,” Lucas repeated. Lucas set his boots to the side of his chair and threw another log into the fireplace, making the embers dance and stir.
“Will of Hawkins, please sit,” Lucas extended his arm to the couch across from him. “What else do you know of our journeys? Do you have stories of your own?”
Will thought back to their many D&D campaigns over the years, most of these stories being told by Mike. Will recounted stories they must have already known, but they listened attentively, amazed at Will’s ability to remember such details.
The stories came easily to Will, remembering the exact faces Mike had made while leading the group through the campaign. Will even recycled Mike’s gestures and movements to make the stories more immersive and exciting. Will adored the passion Mike had for storytelling and the lengths he’d go to make his friends happy. Mike was really one of a kind, even with an almost exact copy of him standing across the room, Will couldn’t help the ache in his heart for the Mike Wheeler he knew.
Will then went on to talk about what his normal life was like, having to stop occasionally to explain what a car or videogame was. Dustin was particularly invested in these inventions, even jotting down a few notes. Will touched vaguely on their battles against demogorgons and his time in the Upside Down, but he didn’t exactly love reminiscing back on those memories. He kept those stories short.
Dustin approached Will with a heavy bowl of what looked like stew with chunks of soft vegetables and meat whisking through the thick broth. It was delicious and it made Will wonder what about being in a fantasy world suddenly made his friends good cooks. Mike the Brave came to sit beside Will on the couch with his own bowl. There was an inch of space between their legs and it made Will’s stomach flutter.
“How’s your back?” Mike the Brave swallowed another spoon full of stew.
Will pressed his palm into his lower back. A dull pain ebbed in the base of his spine. “It’s better, just sore.”
Mike the Brave nodded, staring into the glow of the fire, making his brown eyes look like honeyed pieces of butterscotch.
“If Will the Wise were here, he could heal you up nicely,” Lucas pointed a spoon at Will.
Dustin finally took a seat at the table, facing his friends from a distance. “Do you have powers of your own, Will of Hawkins?”
Will thought back to the time he killed three demogorgons. The first time he really felt like he protected Mike after all the times Mike had been there to protect Will. He thought about Mike’s face when he picked Will up from the concrete.
A real-life, honest to God sorcerer!
“No, at least not really… No, I don’t.”
“We might have a potion somewhere that Will made,” Mike stood from the couch and went to the cupboards in the kitchen. They were an absolute mess with broken ceramic dishes laying among unlabeled bottles and tubes of potions. I guess some things don’t change across universes; Mike Wheeler was a mess in every timeline.
Will held a hand up shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it, I just need to sleep it off, probably.” Will had spent almost an entire day in a foreign world and all this confusion and talking was finally wearing down on him. He’d spent almost a whole day here and the thought of getting home had hardly even crossed his mind. Oh shit.
“We should probably focus on getting me home, or switching me and Will the Wise back to our normal universes.” Will spoke again.
Lucas was already scraping the bottom of his bowl with his spoon, finishing his meal.
“If Will the Wise were here, he could have easily sent you back,” Lucas thought out loud, “But I suppose if Will the Wise were here we would need not worry about this situation.”
Dustin and Mike the Brave gave him a blank stare. Mike the Brave paced back and forth in front of the door, the remaining daylight flickering through the foggy window.
“We know a mage studying magic at an academy just in the mountains. I’m sure she could assist us in returning you back to your home.” Mike the Brave proposed.
A mage, Will thought to himself.
Dustin passed Mike the Brave carrying his bowl to the wash basin in the kitchen area. “That sounds perfect! She’s become stronger since beginning there, she would know just what to do.”
“I propose we leave early tomorrow, perhaps after sunrise?” Lucas stood from his chair.
“Then it is done, tomorrow we will venture out to return Will of Hawkins to his realm.” Mike the Brave set his bowl aside and returned to the couch, standing beside Will in a lean against the arm rest.
Dustin yawned and removed his headband to ruffle his curls into a tangled mess.
“Then I better get to bed. Goodnight, friends.” Dustin walked to the back of the house around one of the wooden pillars holding up the roof. He disappeared down a hallway lit by a single candle Will hadn’t noticed before. Lucas picked up his cape he’d left on the back of his chair and carried it to the hall as well.
“I will do the same then. Goodnight.”
Will listened to the soft click of a door closing and then he was alone with Mike the Brave. The fire was starting to simmer down, leaving glowing logs of red coals behind. Will sandwiched his hands between his knees, his eyes trained on the floor, unable to look at Mike the Brave.
Mike the Brave sat on the armrest now, Will’s shoulder meeting the lower half of his chest. Then, he leaned into Will, falling onto the cushion of the couch beside him.
It took Will by surprise, feeling the weight of Mike the Brave press into his side. He hopped away from the contact. giving Mike the Brave space. Mike the Brave looked up at him, his chin pointed down. Will’s body filled with wanting.
Mike the Brave straightened up, his mouth slightly ajar.
“My apologies,” he cleared his throat, “I keep forgetting you’re not Will. Or my Will.” Mike the Brave’s face looked sadder, the darkness turning his pale skin blueish.
Will didn’t know what to say so he pursed his lips, waiting for Mike the Brave to move or speak first, to dictate what happened next.
Mike the Brave sat back on the couch and his chest rose in a long breath.
“You must miss your Mike, too, yes?” Mike the Brave asked. Will decide just to watch the glow of the hot coals. He nodded shyly.
“You spoke of him in such high regard earlier,” Mike the Brave’s voice was steady and confident, a slight change that made all the difference in how he was used to Mike’s voice sounding.
Will’s cheeks felt hot, thinking about how much he spoke on and on about his friends, but mainly how he couldn’t say enough about Mike and all the things they’d been through, how Will wouldn’t have met Lucas or Dustin without Mike. How Will wouldn’t have been able to be this happy without Mike.
“You two sound deeply in love, it’s beautiful.”
Will stopped breathing. He felt lightning crackle through his nerves that left his limbs feeling numb and tingly.
Will looked at Mike the Brave and he was already staring at him with lidded eyes.
Will puckered his lips in the shape of words, but couldn’t find the sense to voice them. He debated what to say, what to respond to. There was so much said in just a few words, and although Will wanted to push them away, they felt nice to hear. They made his heart feel full and light.
Will would only be here for another day, hopefully, before going back home. There were no stakes in talking to Mike the Brave. Will swallowed his fear.
“Well…” he began. “That love is… onesided, I fear.”
Mike the Brave’s head jerked back like those words physically hit him.
“On which end? I don’t think I know what you mean,” he said.
Will held his hands in his lap, rubbing his palms together, squeezing his fingers hard against each other.
“Mike doesn’t… Mike does not love me. He can’t love me,” Will confessed, his voice crackling in sadness.
Mike the Brave sat up and leaned one arm on his thighs.
“And why can’t he?”
Will cursed the tears in his eyes. “He’s not like me. He doesn’t like… boys.”
Will’s lungs felt tight, like they were bound together, not letting him release a complete breath. He glanced at Mike the Brave through a sheen of tears. He blinked them down and sighed. If there was one thing Mike and Mike the Brave had in common, it was their obliviousness. Mike the Brave looked lost.
“He doesn’t like boys? So he likes…”
“He likes girls. He only likes girls.”
“I don’t understand, why limit yourself?”
“That’s not how it works.”
“It sounds like he loves you, though, does it not?”
Will rubbed his eyes. Mike the Brave looked so sincere sitting there, his voice so modest and sweet asking questions. Will hated this. He hated that he loved Mike Wheeler. He hated that Mike Wheeler would touch him, help him, tend to him in seemingly every way except the way he really needed him. But most of all, he hated that he was so obvious it took one day for a stranger to figure him out.
Mike the Brave shifted towards Will on the couch and Will didn’t have the strength to move away.
“You talk about your Mike as if he lifts the sun from the sea every morning. You look so gleeful just at the thought of him. But the way Mike finds his way into every story you tell reveals to me that he wants to be there with you at every minute of every day. It is no coincidence he is the first to notice when you tremble with fear, or when you’d fall into one of your “visions” as you called them.” Mike the Brave’s face was much closer now, a close-lipped smile resting peacefully on his lips.
Will’s lips felt dry, he wet them with his tongue. “But it’s wrong… in Hawkins, at least. He would never love me like that.”
“I know he loves you, because I would like to think I love Will of Castle Byers in every universe and every hidden world out there.”
A small gasp escaped Will. Mike the Brave really loved Will the Wise.
“You love Will the Wise?” Will spoke quietly into Mike the Brave’s face.
“Yes,” he breathed. “You speak of your Mike the way I hope my Will speaks of me. I love him very much so with much respect, I cannot wait to see him again...”
Mike the Brave’s arm slipped over the back of the couch, grazing Will’s shoulder as he faced him straight on, “because…”
Mike the Brave gently poked Will’s nose with his own. “I really wish to kiss him right now. And you just look too much like him.”
Will felt like he might have a heart attack with the way his heart was hammering against his ribs. He wanted to be selfish, to lean into the heat Mike the Brave’s mouth that was a breath away, but he felt guilty about it. He couldn’t do it.
“I’m not sure Will the Wise would be happy about you saying that to me,” Will squeezed his eyes closed, like maybe Mike the Brave would disappear if he just waited it out. Will squeezed the couch cushion to keep his hands to himself. Mike the Brave chuckled.
“I suppose you may be right.” Will opened his eyes to see the handsome grin of Mike the Brave; he looked pleased with himself. Mike the Brave stood up from the couch and stopped in front of Will.
“I’m sure my Will wouldn’t want me to mistreat an alternate version of himself, though,” Mike the Brave extended a hand to Will and he shocked himself when he took it.
Mike the Brave led him to the back hall and into the third and final door at the end. Inside was a large mattress covered in comfy blankets with beautiful paintings covering the walls. It was lit up by a few candles on a desk in the corner.
“This is our bedroom,” Mike the Brave sat down on the side of the bed and leaned back on his forearms. Will’s whole body warmed. Mike the Brave laughed, but it was low and sexy and Will felt insane.
“I…” a lump in Will’s throat made talking hard. “I could just… sleep on the couch.”
“Nonsense, I won’t have a guest sleeping on the couch,” Mike the Brave said, “You will sleep here with me.”
Will didn’t say anything, still standing in the doorway looking like a shadow of a person. He must have looked horrified because then Mike the Brave added on, in a smaller, Mike Wheeler voice, “Or I could leave you here and sleep on the couch myself if that would make you more comfortable.”
Will stepped into the bedroom finally. “No, but it’s your bed, I wouldn’t want to kick you out.”
“Then I guess we’re both sleeping here.”
Mike the Brave’s scar became invisible in the dark bedroom and he caught a glimpse of the real Mike Wheeler, looking at him in this tender, unrestrained way with that stupid little smile on his face. Will sat next to Mike the Brave and laid back into the bed.
It was incredibly comfortable and he couldn’t imagine wanting to sleep anywhere else for the rest of his life. He rolled to the side and the sheets smelled like Mike. Will sighed and felt himself completely relax for the first time all day.
He heard movement at the foot of the bed and looked up. Mike the Brave was taking his shirt off and the candle light was highlighting every scar, muscle and tendon on his back. Will forced his eyes away and knew he’d hold onto that image until the day he died. Mike Wheeler was the most handsome person Will had ever known, but goddamn did buff Mike Wheeler give him competition.
Will pulled the covers up to his nose, waiting for Mike the Brave to finish changing. He felt a change in weight on the bed and Mike the Brave was laying beside him. Will turned to see him.
Mike the Brave was already staring at him. His hand found Will’s under the covers and he gave it a squeeze.
“Goodnight,” he whispered.
Will nodded, face ablaze, and turned over for the night.
“And it’s not wrong.”
Will was just falling asleep, but he fought it off just a second longer to listen to Mike.
“What?”
“It’s not wrong to love someone,” Mike the Brave said close to his ear. Will swore he felt a whisper of lips brush the shell of his ear, but he was too tired to care. He fell asleep faster than he ever had in his own bed.
Robin and Will the Wise walked behind the group as they ascended Weathertop, yammering away while Mike grinded his teeth. Mike couldn’t wait to get Will back, at least he didn’t talk this much to Robin. And was Robin really that interesting afterall? I mean, why didn’t Will the Wise talk this much to Mike? Mike could tell him just as much about Hawkins and his life as Robin could. Mike really missed his Will, but the small conversation he did have with Will the Wise last night made him feel sick.
Not sick in a bad way, but in the way that he felt dizzy and warm, his palms started sweating whenever he thought about Will coming back to them, how much he wanted to hug him, be the first to tell him all about what he was like in an alternate universe and how Will the Wise didn’t come close to him. Mike imagined Will’s face, just like Will the Wise’s but softer somehow. He thought about Will’s lips.
You mean to tell me you and your Will are not lovers?
Maybe he was more nervous about Will coming back.
When they reached the top of the hill, El and Joyce were already there waiting. El waved at Will the Wise and he seemed happy to see her. Mike supposed they must still be close in his world. He felt a prick of panic, wondering what Will was doing in his world. Had he really found Mike the Brave or was he just barely surviving on wild fruit while escaping beasts and dragons. And if he was with Mike the Brave, what were they doing?
“What a wondrous view! This reminds me of a hill near my actual home,” Will the Wise spun around, taking in the sights of the surrounding forest and the distant town.
“Is this a good amount of space?” Joyce looked like she hadn’t gotten much sleep, that nervous tremor still in her voice.
“Oh, this should be plenty,” Will the Wise spun his scepter in his hand. Mike almost wished he had let him stay in his robes to complete the ensemble. Will might be the only one to make a wizard robe look cool.
“So like, should we be ready to like, catch Will? Like, is he gonna fall out of the sky or…” Lucas braced his knees and held his arms out like he was ready. Steve shook his head at him.
“Sometimes magic is a bit unpredictable, so I’d actually suggest taking a step back.” Will the Wise rolled his shoulders back. Everyone took a few steps back to the shoulder of the hill.
Will the Wise stood there with his head down, taking a few slow breaths. He shook out one of his hands and stood still for a few moments. They all watched expectantly.
Lucas leaned over to Mike. “What are the odds Will has just completely lost it? Have we explored that possibility enough yet?”
Mike stared at him with dead eyes. The ground started moving again. Everyone stumbled in their spots and watched Will the Wise.
His free hand was clenched in a claw out to the side and he swung his scepter towards the sky. Blue sparkles swarmed around Will the Wise and his red crystals began to glow. The clouds above them began to condense and swirl above him.
In the distance, an alarm sounded, blaring loudly across Hawkins.
“What the hell?” Dustin shouted above the noise.
A beam shot out from Will the Wise’s scepter, but the alarms grew louder. Mike looked towards the center of town. Police lights flashed red and blue like tiny sparkles against the gray town.
“Will, stop!” Mike shouted. Will the Wise opened his eyes and the beam of light exploded into a rippling wave of purple mist, like a grand firework show.
“We gotta move! Let's go!” Steve yelled. Everyone began staggering down the hill, El and Joyce took off towards the woods to head to Hopper’s cabin. Mike hurried back up the hill and grabbed Will the Wise by the hand.
“What’s that sound?” He asked.
“I’ll explain later,” Mike took off behind everyone else, spending all his focus on not falling.
Steve, Robin, Lucas, and Dustin all piled into his car pulled illegally onto the lip of the grass. He quickly peeled off in a panic, leaving behind Mike and Will the Wise.
Mike panted, not having the breath to yell for them. The sound of the alarms grew louder and closer.
Ever since the whole Vecna situation, Hawkins had installed a huge alarm system to pick up any abnormal activity, including weather changes and unusually high decibel sounds. Will the Wise must have triggered it and now the police were coming to check out whatever that flash of light was.
Mike took a few more labored breaths and then took off, dragging Will along with him.
They ran on the outskirts of town, between an alleyway behind their high school as they heard police cars pass by. They ran through the center of town, dodging families and neighbors as they sprinted through the Memorial of the MAC-Z and the victims from the “Great Earthquake”.
Mike almost tripped when Will the Wise came to a screeching halt, their hands still connected. Mike looked at Will the Wise who was standing straight up, his eyes staring blankly at the road. Exhaustion suddenly hit Mike and he took a moment to breathe.
“Will… what…” Mike heaved. People began staring at the scepter still in Will the Wise’s grasp. Mike swallowed and it burned his dry throat. He spotted an officer walking purposefully down the road, a walkie talkie held up to his mouth. Mike pulled Will the Wise along with him again and they tumbled into the first building they came across: The Palace Arcade.
Mike watched the police officer breeze past them through the glass door and tossed his head back in relief. He coughed and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Will the Wise didn’t seem as out of breath beside Mike as he wiped his nose and sighed; his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
Mike turned to see Keith standing behind one of the games, staring at him in that unsettling way he does. His eyes drifted to Mike and Will’s hands, still held firmly together. Mike cleared his throat and dropped his hand. Will the Wise looked at Mike
“What was that? Why’d we run?” Will the Wise asked. Mike glanced at Keith and gently grabbed Will the Wise’s arm. He dragged him a few feet deeper into the arcade. Will the Wise looked absurdly at the game screens as they passed.
“So yesterday,” Mike was still catching his breath, “Do you remember us referencing the Upside Down?”
Will the Wise bit the corner of his mouth, remembering. “Yes, vaguely. Some sort of other world?”
Mike’s lungs finally stopped burning enough to talk normally. “Yes, it was this terrible, evil place that was connected to ours. It’s no longer tied to our town, but since all that happened, they’ve really amped up their surveillance and now any small disturbance in Hawkins becomes a DEFCON 1 situation.”
“Hmm,” Will the Wise hummed. “Apologies.”
“No, it wasn’t your fault, I should have factored that into our plan.” Mike leaned against the Space Invaders machine. “I guess I got a little too ahead of myself wanting to get Will back.”
Will the Wise grinned and rolled up on his toes. His face faltered for a second, like he was going to say something, but then he looked across the arcade.
“Pray tell, what is that?” Will the Wise walked straight past Mike. Mike got up from his position and scrambled to follow him.
Will the Wise stopped in front of the Whack-A-Mole as a little boy smashed the hammer down a second too late on one of the little buck-teethed characters. Mike placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back a few steps to not accidentally get hit in the crossfire of the plastic mallet.
“Don’t just go taking off like that!” Mike scolded. Will the Wise was particularly transfixed by the game, almost concerned at the force this child was using on these fake animals.
“What is this place?” Will the Wise asked Mike, the lights of the screens highlighting his eyes.
“This is an arcade,” Mike gestured around him. “This is where kids go to play videogames that they can’t play at home. My friends and I used to come here all the time when we were younger.”
Will the Wise took in all the blinking lights and neon colors. He started walking off again and Mike scurried behind him.
Will the Wise just stood in front of a row of games, watching the screen flicker their “INSERT COINS” animation over and over again. He pressed a few buttons on Dig Dug and moved the joystick back and forth.
“Dustin got the high score on this once,” Mike bragged for him. He wasn’t sure if Will the Wise would really know what that meant, but he still looked impressed. Will the Wise touched the screen with a flat hand and Keith shouted at them to mind their finger prints.
“You know we can actually play the games?” Mike fought a grin on his face. Will the Wise looked at him with big, shiny eyes.
“I… don’t know how to play,” Will the Wise gripped the joystick, moving it in circles now.
“I’ll teach you,” Mike shrugged.
Mike Wheeler loved to play a good video game, and he also loved to talk. Getting to explain how to play videogames to someone with absolutely no reference was almost more fun than getting to enjoy the games normally. Getting to do all that with Will just made it even better.
Mike exchanged a few bucks for some quarters at the register and took Will the Wise through a few of his favorite games. Pac-Man, Centipede, Satan’s Hollow, they ate through their coins faster than they ever expected, but it was so fun.
For as much of a rocky start they had, Mike was enjoying some alone time with Will the Wise. Mike would explain all the controls, the characters, the premise of the game and Will the Wise would listen like this was the single most important thing to know about Mike’s universe. If Will the Wise picked it up quickly, they’d celebrate every little victory, Will the Wise howling with delight when he was able to squash an enemy or evade death.
Mike introduced Will the Wise to Tapper as an example of a classic game. He played one round himself and then handed it to Will the Wise to do his first solo game. When they managed to get on the leaderboard, Mike explained what an honor this was and Will the Wise leaped into a hug with him. And Mike embraced him right back. It was nice.
Mike helped him enter his initials into the game: WTW.
Mike noticed Will the Wise’s shoes. He had let him borrow an old pair of his sneakers so he wasn’t stuck wearing his pointy toed leather boots, but now the laces were both untied.
“Don’t move,” Mike said. He leaned down and tied his laces into loopy bows. He looked up at Will the Wise from the ground. Will the Wise smiled.
“Why thank you,” he said once Mike stood back up. They were looking eye to eye and it felt comfortable now, just smiling in the dim light of the arcade.
“The student has become the master,” Mike raised his eyebrows at Will the Wise, patting the Tapper machine.
“Hardly,” Will the Wise pushed his shoulder.
Mike noticed a group of boys entering the arcade. They whispered behind their hands with smirks peeking through their fingers. Mike clenched his jaw and looked out the front window. Will the Wise was too busy looking at the screens to notice Mike’s mood change. Mike grabbed his wrist and led him out of view from the door.
Will the Wise was smiling in a knowing way.
“Do you always act this way with your Will?”
Mike arched his brow and a nervousness pooled in his stomach. “What do you mean?’
“You’ve been so kind to me here. Paying for games, tying my shoes, keeping tabs on me. It’s nice of you.”
A strip of LED lights came to an end at the corner of the wall, they grew red and then pink. Mike was always kind of like this with Will. Mike thought that was how a good friend acted, but then he realized he never did this sort of thing for Lucas or Dustin. Of course, he still cared about his friends, but when he did these things for Will, it was in a way that Mike wanted to be the one to do them for him. He wanted Will to see what he could do for him, know that he will always be there and be reliable for Will. He wanted to do these small acts for Will forever, he’d already gotten this far.
Mike couldn’t look straight at Will the Wise right now. “Well you can’t exactly pay for games with gold doubloons or rupees or whatever currency you have.”
The group of boys turned the corner and Mike leaped away from Will the Wise, suddenly finding interest in the Karate Champ game to his left. Now Will the Wise was taking notice.
“Mike?” Will the Wise reached for him.
Mike grabbed his wrist again and turned the corner of a machine for privacy.
“Are you always grabbing your Will like this, too?”
“What? I’m just showing you around.” Mike lied.
“Why are you so concerned with being seen with me?”
Heat was bubbling under the surface of Mike’s skin, all the way to his neck. “Because… people might misunderstand!”
“Misunderstand?”
“People might think we’re…” Mike gestured in between them, keeping his voice low.
“That we’re lovers?”
Mike blinked hard and sighed, trying to dispel this discomfort he couldn’t explain.
“In a way we are, like in a different universe--”
“Can you not say things like that?” Mike’s voice broke out into an angry rasp.
Will the Wise stepped to him. “Why?”
“Because it’s wrong!” Mike’s voice burst from his throat, louder than he meant. He pressed his fists to his temples. He took a steadying breath, his heart racing. “Because… we shouldn’t.. Guys shouldn’t be like that.”
Will the Wise didn’t seem frustrated anymore, that same curiosity found its way back on his face.
“Can you imagine what that group of guys was probably thinking? What Hawkins would think about two guys being in love?” Mike’s voice sounded pained, being restrained to an earnest, quiet shout.
“They might think we are a lovely pair,” Will the Wise responded.
“No, they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t.” Mike shook his head. “It would not be good for us.”
Will the Wise watched him silently for a while. The LEDs shifted through the rainbow, lingering on blue before turning purple. Laughter and electronic beeps played over their silence.
“Why do you let fear rule you? What is so wrong about falling in love?”
Mike had never felt so vulnerable to someone. The only person he’d ever confided in was Will, but this was never a topic Mike would touch. Sometimes Will would say something about how he still struggles with accepting himself, how he’s sometimes worried he’ll never find someone for himself. Mike would apologize, say how hard that must be, with full knowledge of how it felt. But he couldn’t be honest with Will or himself to save his life. It was killing him.
“This isn’t about falling in love, it’s about who I love.” That sentence hung between them.
“I don’t think it truly makes a difference, male or female, it’s all the same.” Will the Wise said softly.
“Maybe in Hawkstone people don’t care, but in Hawkins… people don’t understand.”
Mike could hear the way Will the Wise’s breaths came in, slow and steady, like the metronome of Mike’s heart.
“Do you like it here? In Hawkins? Do you plan staying here all your life?”
Mike almost chuckled. “God, no. I want to get out of here as soon as I can. Everyone here, everything here, it’s all so archaic, like, anything that goes against the norm is bad and it’s… suffocating.”
Will the Wise tapped Mike’s foot with his own. The LEDs warmed to an orange.
“So I’d rather be hated by people I don’t care for than be restricted from loving who I choose.”
The idea of it was so naive, like the lesson from a coming of age film, but it somehow put things into perspective. It made Mike really think about the rest of his life, and who he wanted to spend it with. He had one more truth to share.
“I’m scared.”
Will the Wise grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
“Love is scary whether it’s a man or a woman. So you should go with who you really want.”
Mike liked the image of holding hands with Will. He squeezed his hand back.
“Let’s get outta here.”
Mike held the door for Will the Wise and they stepped back into the sunlight, shielding their eyes from being blinded.
“This is always the worst part of leaving the arcade,” Mike kidded. Will the Wise didn’t respond. He was looking blankly at the road again. Mike waved a hand in front of his face and Will the Wise jolted back to life.
“That’s strange,” he said. “I just… when we passed through here earlier I had this… vision of being back home, walking through the field by my home and now… I saw a glimpse of the Steelfront Mountains.”
Mike’s gears started turning in his mind. “This is where the gate to the Upside Down used to be. There must be something here that is letting you shift back into your universe! We have to find the others.”
A car across the street leaned on its horn. They turned to see an irritated Steve leaning out the window.
“Where the hell have you two been? We’ve been looking all over for you!” Steve called.
“Guys, we figured it out!” Mike ran to the car with Will the Wise beside him.
“Robin!” Will the Wise delighted. Robin giggled and waved to him past Steve’s head. Mike’s mood for some reason soured again.
Will had been traveling with the party for hours at this point, and he was probably the one making it take so long.
He never realized his lack of athleticism among his friends who enjoyed all the same things as him: playing board games, watching movies, making up stories. He thought maybe their biking would have made up for some of this, but he was huffing and puffing, trailing behind the group.
And if it wasn’t his weak calf muscles slowing him down, it was his thoughts of this morning distracting him from following the path.
He woke up from the sun streaming in through the open window. He heard a rooster crow and he almost forgot he was stuck in an alternate universe with how peaceful he felt. He snuggled his face into the sheets and realized they were not the sheets. It was a shirt. Mike’s shirt over Mike’s chest. They were completely intertwined.
During the night they must have huddled together and now Will was hugged around Mike the Brave’s torso, with his face snuggled into Will’s hair with his arms holding him there. Mike’s scent engulfed Will and he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to go back to normal after this. When Mike the Brave woke up, he acted like this was the most normal, regular occurrence in the world. He simply ruffled Will’s hair and got out of bed to gear up for their trek.
“Will of Hawkins,” Lucas called back to him. He perked back up and trotted up to join the group. “Are you sure you’re not magic? A teleportation spell would be lovely right now.”
Will was somewhat comforted that he wasn’t the only one tired of all this walking.
“Oh, don’t whine now, we’re almost there, just a bit further,” Mike the Brave told the rest of the group.
The path inclined again and became rocky as they crested another ridge of the mountain. Mike the Brave grabbed hold of a protruding boulder and pulled himself up on an elevated part of the path, cut by a large crack in the stone.
Lucas and Dustin copied and Will was the last to awkwardly hoist himself up. Dustin helped him by pulling him by the back of his shirt like a cat carrying her young. The air felt colder now as they continued their climb, but now Will could see the academy not too far off. It had pointed towers like a castle and was surrounded by an arching, black iron gate. Flags billowed from every point, flashing purple and yellow against the cloudy sky.
The rest of the walk felt easier now seeing their end goal in sight, and the path was better cleared the closer they got to the school. The three of them seemed familiar with the school gate, getting it opened easily and waltzing right inside like they’ve been here many times before. Will had a good guess at who the mage would be.
They walked through the grand halls of the school, amazing murals painted on the walls of dragons and wizards casting spells of fire and lightning. Students walked around in plain black robes with buttoned shirts and grey slacks poking from underneath. They seemed to enter the housing wing of the academy as students walked between rooms, robes discarded, laughing and playing games on their beds. It reminded Will of his friends back home.
Mike the Brave stopped in front of Room 011 and knocked three times. A second later, someone opened the door and laughed cheerfully at the sight.
“Hello! Come in! To what do I owe this visit?” Will knew the voice well, but the energy and bliss in the tone threw him off for a minute.
“We must talk about something with you,” Mike the Brave leaned down to hug the girl in the room. Each party member hugged her and then Will was facing an El with hair down to her elbows. She looked pretty. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright, like she’d never had a bad night of rest. She looked at Will with a smile, but suspicion sat under her features.
“This is Will of Hawkins,” Mike the Brave said over her shoulder. “There was a mishap with one of Will’s spells and we seem to have switched Wills over different realities. Do you think you can send him back home?”
El stepped aside to let Will in. She observed Will closely as he made his way into the room and stood next to Dustin. She kept tapping her chin with her lips pressed together. Will looked around her dorm room, it was full of colors and patterns. El walked in a circle around Will, still thinking.
“Um, I like your room,” he said. “El from my home would like it too. We’re kind of like siblings in my world.”
El’s face brightened and she met Will’s eye. “Oh, how I would love to be the sister of Will the Wise.”
El grabbed Will’s hands and pressed their palms together.
“I think I could do it,” El said to Mike the Brave. “I feel an affinity for this Will. There’s something special about him.”
Will smiled at El.
“I think you might be right about that,” Mike the Brave returned. “So, how should we do this? Where is the best place to perform this spell?”
El grabbed her robe from the end of her bed and fastened it around her shoulders. “We should head to the end of the school yard, just so we don’t damage anything in here.” She slipped on her shoes and glided into the hall, radiating a liveliness Will had never seen. He hoped for his El to find this peace one day, to leave behind her trauma and feel light as air. Will wished El could meet herself here.
Dustin and Lucas walked ahead to talk to El about her studies and Will heard his name be dropped a few times in conversation. He couldn’t be sure which Will they were talking about. Mike the Brave lingered behind to walk with Will through the massive hall. Will glanced between Mike the Brave and El and a question he wasn’t sure was appropriate to ask sprouted in him.
“Mike,” Will started, “Have you and El ever… were you ever together?”
“Together,” he repeated as they turned down a stairwell. “I suppose we tried it once.”
Will’s stomach tightened for no reason at the sentence. Why should he care what Mike and El in another dimension do? Will nodded minutely.
“But it wasn’t real. I wasn’t being true to my heart. I think I wanted to be with the kind of person everyone expected me to be with, but afterall, I couldn’t fight my true feelings forever.”
Mike the Brave watched El lead them out into the courtyard, he looked at her kindly, but not the way he would look at Will. It was such an endearing sentiment, it filled Will’s heart.
“Have you ever talked to your Mike about how you feel?” Mike the Brave asked him.
“No, of course not,” Will tittered. Mike the Brave shrugged and stopped a few steps behind El and the others as they reached the far end of the gate.
“I think you should. I think it would be best for both of you if you stopped fighting your feelings.”
Lucas and Dustin backed away from El as she took a deep breath in and blew it back out. The wind began picking up.
“Get ready, Will of Hawkins, I will get you home in a flash,” El assured him. Will watched on, hope and a nervous kind of happiness sizzling within him.
The gang had decided they would strike at night, maybe 3 or 4 AM, Will the Wise would conjure a spell at the MAC-Z Memorial and be sent home. If Will the Wise felt a stronger connection at the memorial, they hoped the spell conjuring would take less time and they would avoid setting off the alarm system.
Since they didn’t need everyone there to execute this plan, it was only Mike, Dustin, and Lucas now sitting in the basement with Will the Wise, waiting for it to get just a little later.
Now that Will the Wise understood videogames, they passed the time getting him into Galaga and Super Mario Bros. Lucas and Dustin were amazed at his skill and Mike watched with great pride.
When Will the Wise did anything correctly, he’d look back at Mike for validation and Mike would have to act like he wasn’t absolutely beaming. They’d shared some snacks to fuel Will’s energy and had him also try some of their favorite candies. Dustin despaired at Will the Wise’s poor reaction to 3 Musketeers.
“Man, I told you, it’s just nougat,” Lucas bumped Dustin’s shoulder.
“You guys just don’t get it,” Dustin mumbled, having a bite of the chocolate bar himself.
Mike checked his watch and it was now a little past 3 AM. It was time to act.
Will the Wise changed back into his regular wizard robe and it brought Mike back to his memories of playing with Will at Castle Byers. He was so close to having that back. The four of them biked into the center of town, Will the Wise tacked onto the back of Mike’s, his arms holding onto his waist.
It was completely empty, not a soul to be seen pacing the streets, the only lights being the yellow streetlamps spaced out along the curb. The boys stopped just in front of the memorial plaque, long lists of names of those who were lost during the “Great Earthquake” casting melancholy over the group. Lucas opened his backpack to hand Will the Wise his scepter.
“Yes, I feel a great energy here,” he declared. Will waved his hands towards the party for them all to take a step back. They stood side by side on the road, watching Will the Wise once again prepare to cast a spell.
He raised his arms and that blue glow swarmed his hands once again. Will the Wise stirred his scepter around in the air, then pointed it towards the plaque. Suddenly, a white portal of light opened up, sparkles and stars circling the tear in their reality. Will the Wise looked at them over his shoulder.
“Holy shit,” Dustin whispered in amazement.
Will the Wise walked towards the party one more time.
“It was lovely to meet you all. Thank you for all you have bestowed upon me.” Will sauntered right up to Mike and grabbed his hands. This time, Mike did not fight the public display.
Will the Wise leaned close and kissed his forehead. Mike was stunned.
“Be not afraid,” Will the Wise said to him. He backed away slowly, lingering in Mike’s touch for the final time as their fingers fell away from each other. Will the Wise’s walk turned into a giddy jog and then he leaped into the portal, his body melting and disappearing into the circle of light.
The party stood in anxious silence, watching the swirl of light in the darkness of their town. With each second that passed with no Will, Mike began spiraling. What if the alarm gets set off now and they have to run? What if Will gets caught? What happens if Will doesn’t come back at all? What if time moves differently where he went and he’ll come back super old? What if Will gets sent somewhere else? What will Mike do when he sees him again?
Then, just as Mike was about to start freaking out, a body came tumbling out of the bright light. He dropped to his knees as the portal swallowed itself back up and Hawkins was dark again. Mike, Dustin and Lucas hurried over to the crouched form.
“Will?” Mike called, his eyes readjusting to the night.
A beat of nothing but breathing.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
It really was Will. Their Will. In the sweater he disappeared in. Will stood up, nursing his back with a hand. Mike reached for him.
“Mike?” Will croaked.
“Yes, it’s me,” Mike hugged Will harder than he ever had before. Will hugged him back. Dustin and Lucas joined in, repeating over and over how glad they were to have him back.
They all walked their bikes side by side, keeping in step with Will in the empty street. It was cool being out so late at night, not worrying about cars cruising down the street and being the only ones awake to see the distant stars overhead.
The party listened to Will as he described the journey to the academy, and how he got sent back, and El studying magic, and how each of them looked, and all the adventures his alternate friends had told him about. Some of these adventures were like their campaigns, and some of them were completely new, with unknown creatures and hidden lands. Mike mentally noted these details for his next campaign. Will asked about himself and they gushed about how awesome Will the Wise’s magic was. They each asked Will more questions, mostly eager to hear about themselves, but Will was just as excited to tell them every last detail. Well, Will left out a few key moments.
That was until Lucas had to prod more.
“So was there anything between you and Mike the Brave?”
Will swallowed.
“Oh!... What, um, what do you mean?” Will hoped a car would come out of nowhere and hit him.
“Well, Will the Wise said that he was dating Mike the Brave,” Lucas elbowed Mike. Will eyeballed Mike’s face for a reaction, but his eyes were blank. Will wanted to say he might even look cold. Will didn’t know where to go from here.
“Well, yeah, yeah, Mike the Brave did say something about that… Yeah…”
“Lucas, what does it matter, nothing happened.” Mike grumbled.
“Nothing?” Dustin butted in.
Will’s stomach twisted in on itself. He tried to play it off like that ‘nothing’ didn’t bring a million questions to his mind.
“Nothing?” Will repeated, glimpsing at Mike.
“Dude, they slept together,” Lucas tried to keep a straight face.
Will could die.
“Oh my god, no we didn’t!” Mike’s voice went squeaky.
“Why was he in your bedroom all night then?” Dustin said cheekily.
Will watched Mike sputter and rub nervously at his neck. Mike kept looking at him only to glance away every couple seconds.
“He slept on my pullout mattress! There was nowhere for him to sleep downstairs thanks to your asses!” Mike shoved at Dustin as he chuckled to himself.
Will kept quiet.
“He freaking kissed you on the forehead and you call that nothing?” Lucas poked Mike between the eyes. Now this intrigued Will.
“Did he now?” Will clenched his hands.
He knew it was stupid to be jealous of himself, jealous of a version of himself that Mike would never meet again, but he couldn’t help it. He was also just embarrassed that even in an alternate reality, he couldn’t keep his feelings for Mike under control. He feared Mike could hear it in the tight way he said it and the way his teeth clenched together, his jaw flexed.
Mike's face burned hotter than the sun.
“You know it wasn’t like that! He was just… it was just…”
“A thank you for spending the night, perhaps?” Lucas teased. Mike looked ready to kill.
“Well how about you Will, did you ‘sleep on Mike the Brave’s pullout mattress’?” Dustin elbowed him. The party waited. Will didn’t say anything.
Dustin looked at him, Will’s eyes were bugged and he avoided looking at anyone. Will opened his mouth to respond and nothing but a soft crackle from his throat sounded.
“No way,” Lucas put a hand on Will’s shoulder.
“Wait, it was like…” Will stammered as Lucas giggled to himself.
“Are you serious?” Dustin’s jaw dropped with disbelief and humor. Mike’s stare was now decidedly on Will.
“Wait, guys, it wasn’t… It was innocent! He didn’t want me sleeping on the couch as a guest, he was trying to be accommodating!” Guilt began climbing Will’s throat. He couldn’t look at Mike for fear he’d be looking at him with discomfort, disgusted that Will would take the chance to snuggle up to someone who looks exactly like him.
“The couch? So the floor wasn’t even an option? Where did you sleep then?” Lucas sounded like he already knew the answer. Will almost couldn’t take this, he was about to snag one of their bikes and take off into the woods again.
“Well, you know, he was… very respectful.”
Lucas and Dustin hooted and hollered into the night as Will tried to shush them.
“No wait, tell us all about you and Mike the Brave, this is so interesting!” Dustin put an arm over Will’s hunched shoulders.
His friends never had an issue when Will came out to them, but he felt mocked in this moment. Maybe that was the fear of Mike’s reaction to all this influencing his emotions, but Will wanted to tear at his chest and throw his beating heart behind him like a time bomb waiting to go off. He knew his friends weren’t trying to make him feel bad, but he didn’t want to talk about this anymore. It felt like he couldn’t breathe, he felt watched, he felt trapped. The weight of Hawkins came down on him at a crushing speed.
“Knock it off, guys.” Mike hissed.
The walk home went by fast as they soon arrived at the Wheeler house. They entered through the back door, Lucas and Dustin hurried down into the basement, shoving and hushing each other for the noise they were making. Will put his hands in his pockets and walked much slower behind them, feeling Mike’s eyes boar into the back of his head. Will was at the top of the basement steps when Mike leaned over his shoulder and closed the door. Will whipped around to face him, pressing his back into the wooded frame.
Mike’s eyes were dark and tired, his hair was a mess, but more than usual. His lips were slightly parted to where Will could see the tips of his front teeth. Will pressed his sweaty palms on the door behind him.
Mike hugged him again. Will wobbled and then steadied himself, shaken off balance by Mike’s unexpected action. Will wrapped his arms around Mike and rubbed his hands over his back comfortingly.
“I’m glad you’re back, Will.” Mike murmured into his shoulder.
“Me too.”
“I missed you. The real you.”
Will’s heart skipped a beat.
“I missed you, too.”
They slowly released each other, their skin calling for each other’s touch. Mike bobbed his head and smiled awkwardly and Will huffed a short laugh.
“What are the chances you get taken to another dimension twice in one lifetime?” Mike snickered.
Will shrugged and put his hands back in his pockets. “I can’t tell if that makes me incredibly lucky or unlucky.”
They laughed quietly and heard the TV downstairs flicker on. Mike’s face grew serious again.
“So you and Mike the Brave…”
Here we go.
“Did you guys really… spend the night together? Like what happened?”
Will couldn’t read Mike’s expression. Will thought he understood Mike’s micro expressions better than anyone, but he was at a loss right now.
“Oh, no, nothing really, it really doesn’t matter, it was nothing.”
“It matters to me! He’s me!” Mike’s voice pitched up. He looked startled and peered down the hall as if to make sure none of his family had heard. He cleared his throat. “I just mean… he’s like me in another dimension, right? His actions are like my actions so I want to make sure he didn’t like… force you to do anything you didn’t want.”
Mike’s concern for Will was sickening. Will’s guilt stirred inside him more and more like a physical thing that was going to chew its way out of his stomach and spill his secrets to Mike. Will folded his hands into tight spheres in his pockets and looked down.
Mike let out a sharp breath from his nose. Will could’ve sworn he sounded frustrated. Impatient?
“Like… so you guys shared a bed, or..?”
Will wondered if he could escape this by just opening the basement door and walking in to meet Dustin and Lucas, and just act like everything was normal. He’d never bring up Mike the Brave or Will the Wise ever again. He’d change his D&D character if he had to.
He thought of Mike the Brave and Will the Wise back together in their universe, catching up on everything that happened, and ending the night in the same bed. Will truly would never be able to escape if he ran now.
“Mike, I… I’m sorry.” Will melted an inch and put his hands over his face.
Mike placed his hands on both of Will’s arms like he was ready to catch him, like Will was something precious and fragile.
“What? What, Will?” Mike’s voice was full of concern and nerves.
“Mike the Brave and I talked a lot… about you while I was there. We talked about me and you in this reality. ”
“Oh?”
Will braced himself for total absolution.
“We talked a lot about the way I feel about you because… I love you, Mike, and I’ve loved you for a long time, but I could never tell you because you’re not like me and I didn’t want to lose you forever by telling you. Mike the Brave and Will the Wise just seemed so happy together that I felt like I should just tell you now because if I hold onto these feelings forever I might just lose myself instead.”
The words just kept tumbling out, Will couldn’t look at Mike. Will’s whole body tingled with adrenaline, he couldn’t even feel if Mike was still touching him.
“And yes, Mike the Brave and I shared a bed, but nothing happened! Really! I was just feeling selfish and took the chance to be with you, even if it was just in a fantasy world, and I probably could have fought him more on it, but I didn’t because… I just want you, Mike. I’ve only ever wanted to love you.”
The Wheeler house was silent. Will felt like he was floating in space. He couldn’t feel anything, he couldn’t hear anything, he was just existing. He didn’t want to look up in case Mike had walked away, or worse, he was angry. So Will just waited.
He felt the gentlest wisp of hands over his. They lowered Will’s from his face. Will’s entire body was rigid and tight, he looked over the tips of his fingers to see a teary eyed Mike. Will was terrified.
“Do you… do you really mean it?”
Will nodded.
“You’ve always loved me?”
Will nodded again and looked away.
Mike adjusted his hands to better hold Will’s. The air was tense between them.
“Will,” Mike’s voice quivered. “I think… I think I’ve loved you for a long time, but I just didn’t know it.”
The world stopped.
“Every time you’re away from me, it feels like years have passed and I just can’t wait to see you again. Even when I had an exact copy of you in front of me, all I could think about was you. Actually you.”
The distance between them suddenly felt too far and Will didn’t need the support of the door to keep him upright anymore. Mike tugged lightly on Will’s hands and they stood close with their foreheads hovering above each other.
“I need you, Will.” Mike squeezed his eyes shut.
“I’ll always need you, Mike.”
And then Mike kissed Will. He dropped their hands and grabbed Will’s face, pulling him impossibly closer. Will hooked his fingers through Mike’s belt loops and pulled him flush to his body. Mike backed Will against the doorframe again and tilted his head up towards him.
They felt like the only people on earth. They felt like the only people who had ever kissed before, truly kissed. All these years of lingering touches, heart to hearts with hidden meanings, shared looks finally accumulated into this. They could stay like this forever. Unfortunately, they did have to breathe.
They pulled apart, eyes lidded, cheeks pink. Mike thought Will looked absolutely perfect.
“You don’t think Lucas and Dustin heard, do you?” Will whispered. Mike giggled and rested his forehead against Will’s.
“I honestly don’t care,” he pressed a kiss to Will’s nose.
“Where did Will the Wise kiss you?” Will asked.
Mike moved his face to the crook of Will’s neck, his face felt hot. He picked his head up to point to the center of his forehead. Will quickly pecked the exact spot with a simpering grin. Mike bit his lip.
“Did Mike the Brave kiss you anywhere?” Mike’s eyes raked down Will’s entire body. Will placed his hand on the doorknob behind him.
“I don’t know,” he teased. Mike grabbed at Will’s waist and his eyebrows slanted pathetically.
“Will, come on,” he pouted. Will shrugged and he pushed playfully against Mike’s chest.
“We shouldn’t keep Lucas and Dustin waiting,” Will sang.
“Will!” Mike groaned.
Will opened the door to see Lucas and Dustin sitting at the top of the stairs, guilt written all over their faces. Mike and Will blinked at them and then Will grabbed Mike’s hand. He could never imagine ever wanting to let go now.