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As a leader, Mike’s always trying to gather as much information as possible; he’s always thinking things through before anyone takes action. However, so much happened in the last twenty-four hours; he’s getting a headache trying to process everything.
His day went as follows: planning to kidnap a group of kids, getting caught by the US military, failing to save the kids, almost dying by a demogorgon, and then Will saving him from the same demogorgon with his newfound powers. Just thinking about it all made him exhausted. He would drop dead right now if he could get a full night’s sleep.
However, he’s currently sitting next to Will, who’s sleeping on one of the couches at the WSQK Radio Station. On the couch in front of him is Ms. Byers, who tried to stay awake but passed out on the couch across from them. Despite everyone else sleeping, he couldn’t. Not when Will’s still conscious. So he’s sitting by Will’s feet on the couch, trying not to pass out himself.
But the thought of Will waking up alone was fueling his drive to stay awake. That, and the cup of coffee he was chugging down
Being the only one awake had its ups and downs. On the bright side, he could finally get the peace and quiet he needed, but on the other hand, his habit of overthinking took over his brain.
He knows Nancy was right. As much as he hates to admit it, he was naive to think that his family wouldn’t get involved.
God. The blood on Nancy’s hand would forever haunt him.
He should’ve realized Mr. WhatsIt wasn’t just Holly’s imagination. Maybe if he were a good brother who’d listen to her, she’d be safe at home.
However, no matter how much he thought about why Vecna targeted his parents and took his sister, it just didn’t make sense. Even with what he showed Nancy, there was no real reason to target them specifically. Not when Eleven and now Will are the real threat to him. His instincts (and Lucas's) told him that there was something else going on. No way that was just a coincidence. Not when everything Vecna does is calculated to a tee.
Just as Mike’s deep in thought, he feels someone tapping his shoulder behind the couch, pulling him out of his train of thought.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Mike takes a second to answer, trying to come back to reality. He looks behind him to see Robin, who just woke up.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Mike responds coldly. He doesn’t know why, but Robin really annoys him for some reason.
“Really? Because the huge eyebags say otherwise.” Robin points out.
“I said I’m fine.” He firmly responds before turning back around and slumping onto the couch. Robin’s eyes went wide for a second before responding.
“Geez, okay. Have you been awake this entire time?”
“Yeah…”
“Okay, now that explains why; you should go take a nap or at least take a breather outside for a second.” Mike whips his head back around at Robin, looking at her like she just suggested he go murder someone.
“I can’t just leave Will alone. He could wake up at any time, and I don’t want him to think we abandoned him or something.” Mike frantically said.
“Look, I’ll watch over him,” Robin said as she rabbled on. “You should go outside to get some fresh air, maybe even get a walk in if you’re not going to sleep because Nancy would murder me if I let anything happen to you. Especially if you, I don’t know, died from exhaustion.
Mike thought about what she said. He had been sitting in the same spot for the last couple of hours, and the only thing he'd done was list everything he’d done wrong when he could’ve been making a plan. Also, Will and she had gotten closer, so she wasn’t the worst person to have by his side when he woke up. Somehow, that thought only made his anxiety stronger, but it didn’t make sense, so he pushed it down, trying to bury it.
Taking in a deep breath, Mike agreed.
“Okay, um, I’ll be right outside; you’ll get me if anything happens, right?”
“Of course, little Wheeler, you’ll be the first to know. Well, technically second cause Ms.Byers is sleeping right there,, because Ms. Byers so obviously I’ll wake her up first. But what I meant was I will grab you the second he wakes up.”
Mike nods to this, too tired to even respond to Robin’s ramble. He finally gets up from the couch, leaving a tiny indent on the couch as he stands up. Slowly walking to the door, he turns around once more to see Robin sitting in his spot on the couch. Seeing that just put more dread in his stomach, so he quickly turned back around and started to walk outside.
He shielded his face as the morning sunlight hit him. He leaned against the pole near the door as he took a few deep breaths, trying to admire the view. But all he could think about was if this sunrise even matched the beauty of one of Will’s paintings.
Deep in thought, he began walking towards the sunrise and into the grassy area.
But a strange voice invaded Mike’s mind.
“I know your dirty little secret, Micheal.”
Mike was startled; he looked around to see no one there.
“Who are you!?” "Screamed Mike," although in the back of his mind he knew. A black void started to warp around him. Drowning him in the dark as the bright sunset disappeared.
“Micheal, you know who I am.” The deep voice teased, “Deluding yourself isn’t getting you anywhere.”
“Show yourself; I’m not afraid of you.” Mike stood his ground. This wasn’t the time to show fear. Not when his family and friends were in danger. Not when Will was still unconscious.
Mike blinked once and found himself unable to move, frozen in place; the grotesque creature he saw at the MAC-Z was walking towards him. Tilting his head upwards, he finally met Vecna’s eyes as he reached towards Mike with his hand.
“You’re not afraid of me,” Vecna mockingly repeated whilst looking deep into Mike’s soul, “but you’re afraid of yourself, aren’t you?”
Mike tried to stare him down, but Vecna just tilted his head and smirked.
“And you all call me the monster when in actuality they had one in front of them the whole time. Let's see who you really are, Mike Wheeler…”
And just like that, Vecna disappeared. Only for Eleven to replace him. The scene around him shifted into her room at Hopper's cabin.
“Why didn’t you love me?” He heard Eleven ask.
“What, of course I do, just not in that way. We talked about this when we broke up.” Mike defended himself.
“So you used me?”
Mike’s eyes widened as he tried to explain himself.
“What? No, of course not. I care about you so much, El.”
“Care. Always care. Never Love.”
Mike lost the words in his mouth. Was this what El truly thought of him?
“No, El, I car—” Mike stopped himself from saying the word El was fixated on. “I value you; you’re one of my best friends. I can’t stand the thought of losing you.”
A new, deeper voice popped in as Hopper opened the door.
“Is that why you treated her like shit for the past 2 years, Mike?”
Mike saw Hopper’s furrowed brows. Looking at him with an intensity reserved for hardened criminals.
“I—I didn’t mean to; I just wanted to do everything right. I just wanted everything to be normal.”
Hopper got down to Mike’s level as he spoke firmly, directly staring into Mike's eyes, “Normal isn’t a word I would use to describe you.”
Mike stood frozen in the room with both Eleven and Hopper staring at him. He hated this feeling.
So he ran. He ran out into the woods, hoping to avoid all confrontation. He didn’t want to face them again.
Blinking the building tears in his eyes away, he felt the wind against his face as he ran. Never getting away from that feeling. He closed his eyes for a split second, only to find himself quickly sliding off the edge of the quarry. He quickly stopped himself from slipping off the edge. As he stopped, he stared at the water below, the waves calmly flowing.
“Why were you running?” A sweet, familiar voice behind him asked. Mike turned around, already recognizing who it was.
“Will,” He panted out, still out of breath. The version of Will standing in front of Mike wasn’t the most recent one, but rather the one from the day they first met. Neither of them said a word as they kept on staring at each other. As the seconds passed by, Tiny Will slowly walked towards him. He took a slight step back, tiny rocks crumbling and falling down into the water below as he almost slipped off the edge again. Tiny Will was still walking towards him when he suddenly turned into Will the night he went missing.
“What is it you’re so afraid of?” Mini Will ominously asked as he slowly approached Mike.
Mike’s brain hadn’t caught up to the present at all. What was even happening right now? Why was he so scared of Will? Sweet, creative, loyal Will Byers. The same Will Byers who had been his best friend since kindergarten. The same Will Byers he silently vowed to protect in his head, not because he needed it, but because he felt like he deserved it.
“Friends don’t lie, Mike, so what's the reason you keep lying to me?”
“I haven’t! I haven’t lied to you, Will, I promise.” Mike said as he put his hands up in defense. “Will, please.”
“Lying yet again? I thought you were better than this.” The mini version of Will standing right in front of him morphed into the current Will. His Will.
“You know, I really pity you. What will happen when everyone finds out you’re the biggest freak out of all of us?” Will whispered in his ear.
Too fast for Mike to process, Will pushed his shoulder; Mike fell back as he instinctively reached for Will, but he was too late. He was falling, feeling the wind against his back as he desperately flailed, trying to reach back up to the edge.
He felt himself blacking out when Mike found himself sitting at his dining table, in the middle of one of his family’s many family dinners.
“You see, Michael, you see what happens?”
He turned to look at his father, his adrenaline still high. His family stared at him, eyes piercing through him like a knife, silently judging him for anything and everything. Swallowing a pill stuck in his throat, Mike found the courage in himself to ask.
“What happens when what?” Mike’s tone rose an octave, not wanting to hear his father’s words. Already exhausted from the other two exchanges.
Mike’s father tilted his head slightly for a second, then slammed his fist into the table, shaking everything on top of it.
“We all see right through you, Micheal. You’re not deluding anyone into thinking you’re normal. You thought that you could get away by hiding your disgusting queer thoughts?”
Mike froze at his dad's words. It felt like the surrounding air got heavier and heavier, constricting his ability to breathe. Looking around the dinner table, he could see the eyes of his mother, tears filling them while Nancy stared at him with disgust, covering Holly’s ears to “protect” her from the topic at hand.
Mike, not processing his father’s words, just uttered a meek “what.”
His father looked at his mother as they shared a knowing glance with one another.
“We can fix this, Mike; just tell us we’re wrong, Mike. Tell us that you want to change. That you want to be normal…”
The word "normal" from his mother struck him as nothing had before. He opened his mouth to try to deny all the accusations that his father just threw at him. However, the words got caught in his throat, and for once, he didn't have anything to say. He was paralyzed.
All he had to say is he wanted to be normal. But nothing came out. Not a denial of his father's words, not an agreement with his mother, not even a breath came out of his mouth. Nothing. He couldn’t understand why.
Until all of a sudden, everything suddenly clicked in his brain.
The realization hit him like a truck; He couldn’t deny his father's words because they were true. When he thought of his future, he didn’t think of the normal white picket fence in a nice neighborhood. He thought of Will. He wanted to have a life with Will.
He was a queer. And something inside him shifted
For years, he lied to himself, persuading his mind that he wasn’t like. Not only did he lie to himself, but he also lied to poor Will.
Will, who had done nothing wrong but been his best friend.
Will, who he’s treated like shit for the past 3 years.
Will, the guy he was in love with.
Mike jumped out of his seat and tried escaping through the front door. Every look of shame from his family flashed through his mind. He turned the doorknob only for it to turn into red ooze in his hand.
Turning his back to the door, he found everyone he ever knew staring at him like he was a circus clown. All staring and laughing at him because they knew that he wasn’t like them. He wasn’t normal. Mike’s ambition to run crumbled as he just curled up into a ball on the floor. Trying his best to ignore everyone, he covered his ears with his shaking hands.
“Micheal, now you realize. You treated El and Will like shit, you ruined your own family, and on top of all of that, you dragged poor innocent Will into your own selfish desires. You’re the true monster.” Vecna’s voice echoed across the room, overstimulating him.
Just as he said, the room changed into a dark red abyss with vines everywhere. Mike started shuffling backwards on the floor as Vecna approached him. His back hits a pillar of some sort. He subconsciously took this as a sign to just give up. Mike tucked his head in between his arms when he heard the voice he had heard a million times before.
“MMIIIIIIKKEEEEE. COME BACK PLEASE, I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE. Shit, he’s too high for us to reach.”
Mike looked up from his crouched position to see a faint portal appear. It was Will, Robin, Lucas, and Ms. Byers all staring at him, all screaming at him to come back. However, the only one he heard was Will’s desperate voice to get him back. Vecna stood in front of the portal, looking down at Mike.
“You know you can’t undo what you’ve done.” Venca says, appearing right in front of him. Trying to make him give up.
“MIKE, PLEASE, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I NEED YOU. SO DON’T YOU DARE STOP FIGHTING.”
“You’re right, I can’t.” Mike agreed, subtly looking at him, then back at the portal, listening to Will’s voice.
“But I can change what I do in the future.”
Mike forcefully pushes Vecna aside, sprinting towards the exit as a vine tries to grab him. While sprinting ahead, every rock and vine was an obstacle in his path. But all he could think about was the fact that Will was awake. Will was calling for him.
Will needed him.
The faint screaming of Will’s voice could be heard in the background as he sprinted and dodged floating rocks, screeching demobats, and vines that were trying to grab him.
Then he heard Will scream one final line before Mike reached the portal.
“MIKE PLEASE, I LOVE YOU. I CAN’T LOSE YOU. COME BACK.”
Mike jumped through the portal, adrenaline still kicking when he started falling again. For a slight second, he thought he was falling off the quarry again until he was caught by someone. That someone being Will. As he was being held in Will’s arms in the grassy field, all of Mike's adrenaline pumping inside him was suddenly gone.
Mike’s drive and ambition to escape all crumbled as he sobbed into Will’s shoulders. Will hugged him tight, giving him the comfort that he needed. Then everyone started to join: Lucas, Robin, and Ms. Byers all crouched down to hug the sobbing Mike in Will’s arms.
As his breaths slowed down, everyone stood up to give him space. He pulled away slightly from Will’s arms to get a good look at him. Mike put his hand on Will's cheek as he took a good look at his face. His eyes were red and puffy, filled with tears. They both stared at each other, the air filling with comforting silence.
Will then spoke up and firmly told Mike,
“You are never allowed to scare me like that again.”
Mike gave him a slight smile.
“Okay, whatever you want, Will Byers.”
They both melted back into a tight hug. And in that moment, it felt like time stopped. With no words being said, Mike knew that whatever happened, they would always have each other to rely on. And that was more than enough for him.