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Holy shit. Holy shit.
The Demogorgon, with cracked limbs and a bloodied face, fell to the dirt, limp and motionless.
Robin stared at the Demo for a few seconds as she tried to slow her heartbeat and even out her breathing. For once, she was rendered speechless. What the hell just happened?
"We have a problem here," a voice crackled from Robin's pocket.
Robin quickly grabbed the walkie and spoke, "What's going on, Erica?"
"Byers is passed out, and we need a way out of here, stat."
Robin took a glance at the overturned truck behind her. "Yeah, that may take a minute."
Murray and Robin ended up using the WSQK van and sped to the MAC-Z. While driving, Robin couldn't help but think about Vickie, who was probably sitting all alone at Enzo's. Robin tried to swallow down the guilt. It wasn't her fault, not really.
You could've told her.
Robin tried to shake the thought out of her head as they approached the military site. The entire area was engulfed in flames, creating scary illusions of moving buildings and bodies.
"Jesus, what happened?" Robin said, sticking her head out the window as Murray drove through the gates. "I mean, I know Erica said they're under attack, but I wasn't expecting Vietnam. Holy shit, are those soldiers dead—?"
"Robin, get ready to open the back doors. I see our cargo!" Murray yelled.
Robin jumped out of the van as Murray slowed. She felt the heat lick her face. It was so hot, she felt strangely cold.
"In here, come on, come on!" Robin yelled, wrenching the doors open. Erica wasn't lying — Will was passed out, limp as a flour sack.
"Will, honey, please wake up. Will. Will —" Joyce's rang clear, slightly jogging alongside Mike, who — Robin couldn't believe her eyes — was carrying Will. Mike's hair was plastered down to his forehead, and he seemed to wince with every step; yet, he trudged on. Robin got the shrewd idea that Mike didn't let anyone else help.
As soon as Mike gently put Will down in the van, he clambered in, along with Joyce and Erica.
"The kids?" Robin asked.
Joyce only shook her head.
"We need to find Lucas," Erica said.
"Lucas has probably used the tunnels to get back to the WSQK. If he's not there, we'll look for him," Joyce said, rubbing Erica's shoulders.
As they drove back, a solemn silence coated the group. Nobody said anything else about the kids that were taken, but Robin knew they must have felt as badly as she did at that moment.
As Joyce said, Lucas was making his way up the hill as the group arrived.
As soon as the van stopped, Robin watched Mike slam the doors open and haphazardly carry Will into the Radio Station.
Huh.
────
"Okay, I've got more gauze, tape, rubbing alcohol, and this weird ointment that Joyce said would clear up the nasty mess," Robin said, dumping the supplies on the table next to the sofa on which Will was still passed out.
Mike glared at her.
"Just to let you know, this cream smells so goddamn bad, so I'd suggest plugging your nose when you open it. Why you won't just let Joyce clean him up instead is beyond me, but maybe you have a thing for freakish smells."
"Thank you, Robin," Mike said stiffly. "I got it now."
"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Robin asked. "You've been down here for 3 hours."
Mike didn't say anything. Rather, he started to undress the blood-soaked bandages on Will's arm gently.
Robin knew she should probably leave. But if she were being honest, she didn't really want to.
"You seem to care about him a lot," Robin said, sitting down on the table.
"Yeah, well, he's my best friend," Mike said. He balled up the dirty bandages and started dabbing rubbing alcohol on Will's wound, which was totally disgusting, if Robin had anything to say about it. Will's arm jerked slightly, and Mike drew his hand back, his eyebrows knitted in worry.
"Will cares about you, too," Robin continued. "More than you may realize."
"Doesn't seem like it," Mike said.
Robin's eyebrows shot up. "Is that so?"
"Not when he's spending all his time with you," Mike said, placing the bottle of rubbing alcohol back on the table with slightly more force than was necessary.
Robin had no idea what to say.
"I mean, how old are you anyway? 18? 19?" Mike continued.
"Dustin and Steve are like best friends." Robin frowned. "Why is my being friends with Will a problem for you?"
"That's not what I— never mind." Mike began to dress the wound.
Holy shit.
Mike Wheeler was not Tammy Thompson.
"Oh, what, Wheeler, Will and I — we're just friends. Like 100% platonic. With a giant, capital 'P'. I mean, seriously, this 'P' could not be any bigger," Robin nearly laughed.
Mike swallowed. "Oh."
"Besides, why do you care so much? What about El?"
If Mike was starting to pick up what Robin was putting down, he didn't say anything.
"El and I... we're not together. We haven't been, not really. Not since California." Mike said. "I never said anything, but I thought it was pretty obvious. Only Will knows. And now you, I guess."
"Mike, I can promise you that whatever you thought was happening between me and Will is not at all happening," Robin clarified. "And that... Will cares about you a lot. Like, so much. It's a bit insane what he'd do for you."
Mike didn't say anything. Robin sighed.
"Do you know my friend Vickie?"
Mike turned towards her. "The one who works at Hawkins General?"
Robin smiled. "That's the one. She and I are also best friends. Kind of like you and Will. But, she and I, we wouldn't have become best friends if I didn't — I don't know, take the signals the right way."
"Signals?"
"You know, the flirting signals," Robin said. For a second, Mike just stared at her, and she thought shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit—
"I—" Mike turned back to Will's wound, just staring at it.
Suddenly, Will stirred. His eyes fluttered open, and Mike straightened up. "Will?" he said softly.
Robin quietly got up and left the room, hearing Mike's voice fade out as he spoke to Will. Hopefully, she didn't jack shit up.
────
Mike didn't know what to think about Robin. She showed up a couple of years ago. She talked a lot. She was best friends with Steve, and up until recently, Mike thought Will had a crush on her.
Mike waited in the corner as Mrs. Byers fussed over Will. All Mike could think about was that moment at the MAC-Z, when the demo fell to the ground with splintered arms and legs. His moment of confusion was quickly overtaken by... he didn't even know what emotion he was feeling. Awe, he settled on.
Will, arms outstretched, saving Mike, saving everyone (he later learned), all with the powers that Mike told Will hours earlier he had.
And then Will passed out, and Mike didn't know what to think. He was scared. Scared not only for Will, but for himself. All he could do in that moment was run to Will, run to the only person who had ever made him feel like himself. And he didn't know how to handle that thought.
By this time, everyone knew what had happened with Will and the demogorgons. Nobody knew that Mike knew it was in Will all along. Mike wasn't really sure why he wanted to take credit for it, anyway.
When Mrs. Byers got up, Mike took his place by the sofa again.
"Hey," Will said, his voice a bit scratchy. His eyes looked tired, and his hair was ruffled, but Mike found it endearing.
"Are you okay?" Mike asked.
Will nodded. "What about you? Your shoulder?"
Mike glanced at his bandaged shoulder. "That's nothing."
Will raised an eyebrow. "Mike, I saw you slam into the stalls. That doesn't look fine."
"Okay, it hurts a little," Mike admitted. "But that doesn't matter. I just wanna know how you... How did you—"
"How did I turn into a sorcerer?" Will smiled. "I don't know, Mike. You were right. It's been there all along. I just had to... accept it." Will swallowed. "Accept myself."
"So... you're like El now, I guess," Mike said.
"Yeah, kind of," Will said. "Except... I don't think these powers are mine. I think I was, sort of... harnessing them? Does that make sense?"
Mike frowned. "Yeah. Like you were stealing Vecna's powers, or something?"
"Something like that," Will contemplated. "I could reach it when I was right there, when I was right by Vecna, and the demogorgons, and the gate to the upside down. But now, I don't really feel anything."
"It was still pretty badass," Mike said, grinning. "You looked..." so beautiful. "Awesome."
"You think so?" Will asked with a faint smile.
"Definitely," Mike said. They locked eyes, and for a second, it was so nice and normal and perfect. And then Mike recalled his conversation with Robin. You know, the flirting signals.
He turned away.
"Are you sure you're okay, Mike?" Will asked, putting a hand on Mike's shoulder, so soft and gentle that Mike didn't feel any pain. His heart began to palpitate.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm good." Mike said lamely, but all he could think about was Robin's words. Will cares about you a lot. Like, so much.
A beat went by, and then Will said, "Mike, something's bothering you."
Mike's face was flushed. "No, it's nothing, Will. Please."
"Mike—"
Mike stood up. "It's nothing." But it wasn't nothing. Mike knew that. Will knew that. But what was it? Why did he want Will to look his way? Why did he hate Robin so much for no reason? Besides, why do you care so much?
"Why do you keep doing that?" Will asked from the couch.
"Doing what?"
"Pushing me away?"
Mike turned back to Will. "I'm not pushing you away."
"Yes, you are. Everything's fine one second — you're here, talking to me, sitting by my bed for the past 4 hours — and the next second, you're... you're like this. What did I do?" Will asked.
The only thing Mike could think of doing was to leave.
"Mike, what did I do?"
So he did.
────
Robin didn't have time to worry about why Wheeler suddenly fled Will's room because Steve immediately came up to her.
"Hey, uh, someone's waiting for you upstairs," Steve said, hands on his hips.
"Shit," Robin said.
She made her way up the staircase, already knowing who'd be there. And there she was...
"Vickie," Robin's throat went dry.
"Robin." Vickie looked pissed. Like, astronomically pissed. But on top of it all, she looked so beautiful. Which only made Robin's guilt bubble up further, thinking of the time Vickie must have spent on her makeup, sitting all alone in Enzo's, in the little black dress Robin liked so much.
"Okay. I know. It's just... not what it looks like," Robin started.
"What it looks like is you hanging out all day at the radio shack, and forgetting about me," Vickie said, chewing on her lip.
Robin raised a fist to her forehead. "I know. I am so sorry. But, I promise, I didn't forget about you. In fact, you were all I thought about today."
"Then why did you leave me?" Vickie asked, her voice breaking.
"I didn't mean to."
"The waiter kept asking if I wanted to order, but I said no each time," Vickie continued. "I said, I'm waiting for someone. And I waited, Robin. I waited for two hours."
Robin took a deep breath. "Are you cold?"
"I— what?"
Robin took off her sweatshirt and handed it to Vickie. "Please put this on. I know you're cold. And then I promise, I swear on my entire life, Vickie, I will explain everything."
Vickie took the sweatshirt tentatively. "Help me put it on."
Carefully, Robin stepped closer and guided Vickie's arms and head through the sweatshirt. "You're so goddamn gorgeous," Robin whispered.
Vickie laughed wetly. "You can't charm me into not being mad at you."
"Yeah, but maybe I can..." Robin looked around quickly before taking Vickie's face into her hands and pecking her lips.
Vickie smiled before saying, "But, I'm serious, Robin, you better have a good explanation for this."
Robin placed her hands on Vickie's waist and her head in the crook of Vickie's neck. "I know. I do, I swear. I had to help out my friends. It was really important — I mean, not more important than you, because trust me, if I could choose between going on a date with you or... whatever I had to do today, I would've chosen you. I will always, always choose you."
They pulled apart, and Vickie placed a small kiss on Robin's cheek. "I hate you."
"Tomorrow, okay? I'll meet you."
────
Will couldn't get the image of Mike's face out of his mind. Right after Mike left the room, panic had seized Will. He knows. But how? Will had been so careful... except that he'd been becoming obvious. Too obvious. Brush of the knee, bump of the elbow. A shared look.
"Stupid," Will muttered to himself.
"Hey, Byers. What's stupid?" Robin said, materializing next to Will.
"Jesus, don't do that," Will flinched.
"Whoa, jumpy," Robin said. She plopped down on the couch beside Will. "Joyce still keeping you on bedrest?"
"She and Mike," Will grumbled. "You seem happy."
"Yeah, well, Hawkins' only radio-jockey-slash-demogorgon-fighter-slash-girl-kisser just made up with Vickie," Robin said with a smile.
"You do realize that all of those apply to Steve as well," Will stated. "But, good. I'm glad you worked things out."
Robin gave Will a small bump. "So... why did I see Wheeler run out of the room?"
"What? I don't know. No reason," Will sputtered.
"Will," Robin said. "It's a little obvious."
Will turned towards Robin quickly. "Is it? Do you think he knows?"
"Relax, dude, only obvious to me," Robin said. "And to the second question, I have no idea."
"I think he does know," Will said quietly.
"What makes you say that?" Robin asked.
Will shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know. He just suddenly got like, spooked or something. I mean, everything was fine at first. And then he suddenly couldn't look at me... and, I don't know, Robin. Do you think I did something wrong?"
Robin didn't know whether to admit to her conversation with Mike. "I don't know if it was you. He might be dealing with something internally. Mike seems like he's got a lot going on. And not just with his parents, or Holly— there's something up with him. Trust me. I know when someone's..." Robin trailed off, not wanting to reveal too much, which was unlike her. I mean, when has Robin Buckley ever been known to shut up?
"But he'd tell me, wouldn't he?" Will asked. "He tells me everything. Even the fact that he and El broke up." Will quickly grimaced. "I mean—"
"It's okay, Byers, I know," Robin said. "He told me."
"He told you?" Will said incredulously.
"We might've had..." Robin tried choosing her words carefully. "A conversation."
"About what?"
"You."
"What? Robin, did you say something—"
"No, of course not. Of course not, Will," Robin assured him. "But I'm not gonna spill his guts, either. You guys need to talk it out."
Will sighed. "That's what we were doing, before he ran out of here."
"Hey, you ran out of the entire goddamn hospital when you caught Vickie and me," Robin said. "Just... let him come to you."
Will seemed to sit with that thought. "Okay."
────
"How do you differentiate between liking someone and loving them?"
Will had seemed a bit startled when Mike came to him with this question. "I guess you care for them differently. But, not in a bad way. Like— like your heart feels so full and it's because of them."
Mike thought about this. "Jeez, Byers, when'd you become a love expert?"
Will was quiet for a moment. "I'm only assuming. Why do you ask?"
Mike, who had just gotten back from Hop's cabin, flopped onto the basement couch, where Will and Jonathan had been staying for the past 3 weeks. "Okay, I need to tell you something. But don't make it a big deal."
Will seemed to grow a bit nervous, but Mike continued on. "El and I just broke up."
"What?" Will straightened. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"
Mike sat for a second. "If I'm being really honest, I think I am. It's like... I love Eleven, I really do, but now that we're friends, it doesn't really feel..."
"That different?" Will suggested.
Mike nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Which makes me feel kind of shitty, but I think we're better off as friends."
"Yeah, yeah, of course," Will said.
Mike knew Will would understand. Somehow, Will always understood.
"Mike?"
Mike looked up. El was standing above him. She, Hopper, and Kali had gotten back a couple of hours ago, and now everyone was using this time to recuperate.
"Hey, El," Mike said as she sat down on the floor next to him.
"How is Will?" El asked.
"Good," Mike said. He knows he shouldn't have left Will. He knows it was shitty, just like it was shitty to distance himself from Will in California.
El put a hand on Mike's arm. "Mike, how are you?"
"I'm good, El," Mike said. Jeez, was it really that obvious?
El didn't say anything for a moment. "You and Will are special."
Mike turned to El. "What?"
El just stared back at him, seemingly knowing something.
Mike turned back and leaned his head on the wall. "I don't know what's happening to me, El."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Mike paused. He didn't know how to explain himself. What would El think? "I mean, sometimes, the things that I feel for Will... I don't— I don't know how to..."
"Mike. We are broken up," El stated matter-of-factly.
Mike's heart was thundering. For so long, he didn't allow himself to feel these things, to think about them. They were wrong.
"You know something I've been thinking of?" Mike said.
"What?"
"That painting Will made for me..." Mike said. "He said you commissioned it. Told him what to paint, or whatever. But that can't be right because in your letter, you said he wouldn't show it to you. You didn't know what it was."
"He said I told him to paint it?" El said. "I did not."
"I know that. I just don't understand why he would lie," Mike said.
"Maybe he did not want you to know that it was from him," El said.
"But why?" Mike said, exasperated. "And that means he must've lied about everything else. About all the things you said to me."
"What did he say?" El asked.
"He said... he said that I make you feel better about being different, and that you'll always need me," Mike recalled.
"No offense, Mike," El said. "But I never said any of that."
"I realize that now." Mike was getting frustrated.
"He said that it was from me, and that I said all those things. But you know the painting is actually from Will, so maybe those were his feelings," El suggested.
Mike's stomach swooped. He felt like he was going to throw up. "El... sometimes I feel like the most disgusting person in the world."
El frowned. "You are not."
Mike knew what he had to do. He knew he had to apologize to Will, and if Mike was lucky, they'd be best friends again. And if Mike were really lucky...
"I can't stop thinking about him," Mike whispered.
El pulled Mike into an embrace. "I understand."
They pulled apart, and Mike slowly got up and knocked on Will's door before entering. Robin was sitting next to Will, and to Mike's relief, Will didn't look that upset. That is, until Will's eyes landed on Mike.
"I think I'll leave now," Robin declared. Mike stepped out of the way so she could slip out the door, but she didn't leave without saying, "Don't fuck it up."
The door closed, and Mike just stared at Will for a few seconds before remembering that he came here to do something. He cleared his throat. "Um, I'm sorry, Will. You were right."
Will looked at Mike with tired eyes. "About what?"
"About pushing you away. But the truth is, I wasn't trying to push you away." Mike took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. "I was trying to push myself away. When I'm around you... It's like, I feel like I'm completely and totally me. And that scared me. It really scared me."
Will didn't say anything. Mike tentatively took a seat next to Will. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Will said. "I get it."
"Why are you so nice to me?" Mike asked.
Will looked surprised. "I don't— I mean, I'm just..."
"Can I ask you something?" Mike interrupted.
"Yes."
"Why did you lie about the painting?"
Will turned away. "What do you mean?"
"I know El didn't commission it. And that she never said any of that stuff. So, why lie?" Mike was pretty sure he knew, but he wanted Will to say it so badly.
"Because it's what I thought you needed to hear," Will said. "That's all."
Disappointed, Mike said, "Are you sure? Because if it's for any other reason, I understand. And I think I do know why, Will. I know you. And I don't know why it took so long for me to figure it out. I guess I needed to figure myself out first... and figure out my feelings for you."
Will turned back to Mike, looking into his eyes. It was electrifying and terrifying. Seconds passed.
"You're right," Will whispered. "I lied. I didn't think you felt the same. And I was so scared that you would hate me, or never want to talk to me again, so I never said anything."
"I'm sorry," Mike said. "I'm sorry I made you feel like that."
Will shook his head. "Don't blame yourself."
They sat in quiet for a moment before Mike put his hand up to Will's face, gently caressing his jaw. "Can I...?"
Will nodded.
Heart thundering, Mike leaned in. He hoped he would do it right. He hoped Will wouldn't think he was an absolute idiot. He needed it to be perfect.
Their lips met briefly, and Mike pressed harder. It was clumsy — Will's nose bumped into his, but after a moment, they slotted together flawlessly. Mike knew his lips were chapped, but Will's somehow were impecibly soft.
And, oh, it was exactly what Mike needed it to be. It was exactly right.
Will pulled away and looked down, and Mike's breath hitched. Will's face was red, but so beautiful. Mike put his hands around Will and pulled him in.
"I love you," Mike said. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too," Will whispered back.