Chapter Text
Sitting down on the couch in Mike’s basement, Will feels bile rise in his throat. Lucas is handing out envelopes to everyone, goodbye letters that Max wrote before heading to the Creel House. Before her coma.
“She said these were for if she didn’t come back, and I know she’s not dead,” Lucas says, his voice quiet. “But since she’s in a coma, I think that it should be your choice if you read them or not.”
Will stares down at the one he’s been given, trying to focus on that instead of the way that Mike keeps throwing puppy dog eyes in his direction. He knows that they had a good heart-to-heart in Hopper’s destroyed cabin, but it doesn’t change everything that’s happened. It doesn’t take away all of the things that Mike has said.
Once this all calms down, they need to have a very frank conversation about everything, because up until the other day, it didn’t even feel like he and Mike were friends anymore. And after telling El that his life began the day he found her in the woods? Will isn’t quite sure he wants to be friends with him anymore. That was possibly the worst night of Will’s life, so call him selfish, but Will can’t help but harbor resentment towards Mike for that.
His fingers play with the edges of the envelope, deciding that he wants to read it. He wants to know what Max wrote to him, because for all he knows, they’ll never get to talk again.
Dear Will,
If you’re reading this, I’m either dead, or possibly something worse. In a perfect world, I’d be able to tell you all of these things to your face. Actually, I’d rather none of these things were even true, that I’d never have to tell you because they never happened. But you are such a good person, Will, and you deserve to know the truth.
When I moved to Hawkins, you were kind of the first person who saw me for me. Not some cute girl that played video games that they wanted to date, but someone who just wanted to be my friend. Eventually, I became friends with Dustin, Lucas, and hell, even Mike. Then came El. I remember being so excited that there was another girl… You weren’t there, on account of you being possessed and everything, but the night that she came back, she totally ignored me when I tried to introduce myself. She only ever tried to be my friend when she needed something from you.
This is why I’m telling you all of this. If anyone deserves my loyalty, it’s you.
At some point, El decided that she could talk to me about anything. And, for a while, I was okay with it. But ever since you guys moved to Lenora, she’s started treating me like some kind of confessional.
Do you remember that day we were looking for Dart, in the school? It was the first time that Mike actually joked and laughed with me, and I remember zooming around him on my skateboard, asking him to put me in one of your stupid nerd games. But then I felt my skateboard tug out from underneath me, and I crashed to the ground. When I told Mike that it felt like a magnet was pulling it, he got this weird look on his face and ran out into the hallway.
I now know that it was El. In one of her letters, she confessed it to me, she told me that she was jealous that another girl was talking to Mike. But we were just joking around, Will.
I see the way he’s looked at you in the past, and I know how he’s been mourning your absence. He cares more that you aren’t here than he does about El. And, now that I know the things that I know, you need to be careful. She was incredibly possessive of Mike before you two moved away, and I can’t imagine how things are going to be if you are all headed back here.
At some point this past summer, Lucas told me a little bit about the week where they were trying to find you, when you disappeared into the Upside Down. El made it seem like she was helping to find you, but Lucas figured out that she was lying. Then she lashed out when Lucas called her out on it, and she threw him into the air. Will, he hit something so hard he was unconscious.
Those things are bad enough, but they don’t really affect you, right?
But those aren’t even the worst things that she’s done. Jesus, Will. I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, but if I’m dead and you don’t find out for a long time, I don’t even want to think about what will happen in the future.
That night that you got taken? Will, she led the demogorgon to you. She knew that she needed to get away, so when she saw a kid riding his bike, she made you crash. Then she followed you to your house, and after you locked the door, the demogorgon was going to give up. But then she opened the lock on your door, Will.
She’s the reason you were taken.
She opened the first gate, and I know she was forced to, that part isn’t really her fault. But she sacrificed you to the demogorgon so she could get away. And then when she found the one boy who would stop at nothing to find you? She convinced him to take her in, and she tricked him into thinking she was helping to find you.
I know she did actually find you, in the end. Maybe she felt so guilty that she couldn’t help it?
I don’t know. Lucas always says he doesn’t believe in coincidences, and I know that when she came back into the picture, you kind of lost your best friend. I saw first hand how Mike was with you before El came back. Before this past horrible summer. And I can tell you that anytime he tried to dote on you like before, she would find some way to tear his attention from you. I think she’s threatened by you, Will. You hold a piece of Mike’s heart that she’ll never have.
Plus, she’s a beta; she’ll never be able to connect with him in the same way that you could. He’s an Alpha, you’re an Omega. You two are, quite literally, made for each other.
You deserve to be happy, and someone as manipulative as El has been… I’m conflicted, because I know she’s had a horrible life before she came to live with Hopper, but since then? She’s been shown nothing but love and kindness from all of us, and yet she’s still been like this. Consider this-she even tried to hurt Hopper! She told me this before you guys even moved, but one night at the cabin, they had an argument, and she threw a couch against his legs. He’s old, Will! She could have seriously hurt him!
So why am I telling you all of this? Honestly, I don’t know. But I can’t know these things and not tell you!! You deserve to know this. You deserve to know that she threw you to the wolves, and then kept interfering when Mike tried to be his normal self with you. I’m usually not about manipulation, but if those two are still together, and if they’re half as insufferable as they were last summer, then please, do something about it. Talk to him, you can even show him some of this if you want. Or take matters into your own hands. All Mike needs is a little push. Make sure he gets a whiff of your pheromones. Hell, I don’t care, get turned on around him and let him smell you in a way he’ll never smell El.
Is that too much? I don’t care. I love you, Will. Please take care of yourself, and keep an eye on her. I know she’s the key to saving the world, or whatever, but at what cost?
Oh, and if I’m dead, please don’t cry too much. Just having people like you in my life has been worth everything.
Love, Mad Max
“Are you okay?” Mike whispers, nudging Will with his elbow.
Will swallows, his mouth dry. He can hear his heart racing, and it’s taking everything in his willpower not to start screaming right now. “Um, y-yeah. I just-”
Without another word, he stands up, rushing towards the bathroom. He barely makes it in time, the contents of his stomach emptying into the toilet as tears flow out of his eyes. He prays that no one follows him, but he doesn’t get that lucky.
“Will!” Mike exclaims, running into the small room, kneeling behind him. “What’s wrong?”
Will scrunches his eyes shut, trying to breathe. He feels Mike’s hand start to rub his back, and on instinct, he flinches away. “Please don’t touch me,” Will hisses.
“But I’m worried about you,” Mike says quietly.
The tremors in his stomach calm down enough for him to get up off the floor, rinsing off his face in the sink, feeling grateful that the Wheelers keep mouthwash down in their basement bathroom so he doesn’t taste the bile that just came up.
“Talk to me, please,” Mike pleads. “Do you feel sick?” Will snorts derisively. “Okay, fair," Mike mumbles. “But you seemed fine before. Was there something that bothered you in the letter?”
Sucking in a breath, he tries to figure out what to say. “You could say that,” he replies. He can see the question on Mike’s face as he turns around. “And no, you can’t read it, at least not yet. I need to, I dunno, process what’s in there.”
“Whatever it was, it must be intense.”
“Yeah,” Will says, chewing on his bottom lip. “Mike, what’s in that letter isn’t even all that you and I need to talk about.”
He wants to bring up all of the mixed signals of the past week: Mike staring at his ass, which has grown admittedly round since he presented as an Omega. Or the way that Mike has stared at his lips for years now. He could tell Mike that the painting was actually him declaring his love, and now he regrets using it as a tool to get El and Mike back together.
Instead, he decides to be as honest as he can be without bringing up what’s in Max’s letter. He also wants to make Mike feel like shit, because if anyone can make him feel guilty and force him to come crawling back to him, it’s Will.
“When you were trying to help El, back in the pizza shop, you said something to her.” He looks into Mike’s eyes, seeing that his best friend has a confused expression on his face. “You told her that your life began the day you found her in the woods.”
Mike pales instantly. “Will, I-”
“Save it, Mike,” he hisses. He can smell his pheromones turn sour, and he watches as Mike notices the change as well. “You’ve made it quite clear that she’s your girlfriend, and I’m lucky if you remember I exist.” He watches as Mike’s face falls, but before he can say anything, Will keeps speaking, his first sentence a lie. “I can accept that she’ll have a part of you that I never will. But I can’t believe that you would be so horrible, so heartless, to have said something like that in front of me.” He can see the guilt all over Mike’s face, so he twists the knife even deeper. “It’s bad enough what you said to me in your garage. Something that you never apologized for, by the way.”
“You wouldn’t let me,” Mike protests weakly.
“Because we were battling the Mind Flayer!” Will exclaims. “There were more important things to deal with. But after that, you went back to ignoring me until we moved away, and then when we were in Lenora, you never wrote back to me, or called me, or anything. Jesus, Mike, you couldn’t even hug me at the airport.”
He can smell the sadness radiating off of Mike, and while it’s making Will feel a little guilty, he thinks that Mike deserves to hear all of this.
“You had an opportunity to talk to me about it, to apologize. Instead, you made me question if we were even friends anymore, let alone best friends. And then you tell your girlfriend, while you confess your love to her, that your life began the day mine basically ended? Do you realize how messed up that is?”
“Damn, dude, that’s cold.”
Dustin’s voice surprises them both. Will’s been so focused on Mike that he didn’t even see Dustin walk up behind him.
“I get telling your girlfriend that you love her, but that’s fucked up.”
“I didn’t, I didn’t mean it like that,” Mike says, his eyes going wide.
Will can sense that he’s starting to panic, and a part of him wants to comfort his friend. His inner Omega wants to release calming pheromones, flood the room to make Mike feel better. But after all of the ways that Mike Wheeler has broken his heart, Will thinks he deserves to feel like this, at least for a little. And, who knows, maybe if Mike feels bad enough, and Max is right about how Mike feels about him, he won’t even have to push Mike even further.
“But you said it, Mike. Friends don’t lie, remember? Or was that something you said that you don’t mean, too?”
Will can hear the ice in his voice, and he sees Mike recoil from his words.
“Will, please. I swear I didn’t mean it.”
“Then why did you say it?” Will pleads, wishing Dustin hadn’t interrupted them. Maybe Mike would be honest if they were alone. Instead, he stands there speechless.
Will wipes the one traitorous tear that leaks out, then pushes past Mike. Thinking back to an earlier conversation, Will asks Dustin, “Do you think that Steve’s offer is still up for grabs?”
Dustin nods, a wide smile appearing on his face. “Yeah, dude! He has no idea when his parents are coming back, so he has a ton of free space until your mom can figure out where the hell you’re supposed to live.”
“Great,” Will grits out, following Dustin up the stairs to find Steve, who has been lying on the couch in a puddle with Robin, Nancy and Jonathan on the loveseat beside them.
Jonathan’s not going to be very happy about this, and Will has a sneaking suspicion that at some point, they’re going to somehow end up living with the Wheelers, but for now, he can’t. He can’t be here, so he supposes that in the meantime, he’s going to live with Steve Harrington! When his brain calms down a little bit, he’ll be able to think about the next steps on how to handle Mike. But, if he’s being honest, he can’t wait to see what Mike will do first.