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bamboozled-distress · 2 years

Text

all along there was some invisible string (tying you to me)

Summary: mike gets vecna’d two times but he’s prepared the second time (spoiler: his homosexuality is in fact not prepared) based on this post by the lovely @aemiron-main !!!

warnings: internalized homophobia, swearing, mike wheeler being oblivious, a little angst like if you squint, violence, will byers being sad, mike being called out on his shit, this being my very first fic ever (no we’re not counting my 2 year old unfinished larry fanfic on wattpad), canon being my little bitch and tears so so many tears

If you wanna read it on ao3 click this!

This wasn’t the first time it happened, although it doesn't make it any less terrifying whatsoever. He sat as close to Will as their body heat allowed (even though he’d want to be pressed closer than that), the couch sinking into their asses as Will asked about Eddie. The one man that Mike knew if given the chance would love Will, would care for Will, would not forget Wills birthday. He would love Will and it would be painless, nothing would ache; not like Mike Wheeler and his stupidity and not Will Byers for being a victim of his stupidity.

This is all what would be going through his head if Mike could stop staring at his childhood best friend’s lips that is. The glossy anxious-bit lips had him mesmerized, he knew he shouldn’t be doing this. But as he looked down every few seconds he should have been reminded of why he grew apart from Will, why it was painful to look into his eyes at the airport. He should know that his lips are simply a glossy reminder of why he can’t have what he’d give up everything for.

Everything including Will.

He’s decided to never make that mistake again, after seeing how much it affected Will and how he was his everything and in return Mike treated him worse than nothing. The way that he hurt Will because of how he felt, the pain he went through, the tears that were shed because of him, Mike simply deems himself as unforgivable because of it. Maybe if Mike loved him less he wouldn't hurt Will so much. If only he could feel less.

His thoughts were interrupted when a darting gaze from the other turned into a silent accusation before he vocalized it.

“What’s wrong with you?”

"W-what?"

Mike morphed into a deer in headlights, he immediately looked into Wills eyes and where there was usually a warm beach hidden, instead it looked..

disgusted?

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing, where you're looking, how you're violating me Mike."

Will leaned forward, a sneer twisting his face into something Mikes never seen on him before. Mike shifted himself far from Will to prevent whatever the fuck is happening at the moment.

"Will its not-"

"Bull! Do you know how disgusting you are? How could I ever like you, why would you ever think that? You knew about the rumours and what everyone said didn't you? And thought I'd be a fucking homo.

Like you."

Mike shut his eyes and murmured no repeatedly because, no that's not true. It can't be true. He's not taking advantage of him, not his best friend. He knew who he was, how he was, he couldn't.

He can't.

Right?

"I know what you are Mike Wheeler."

That voice, it was dark he could feel the lights flickering under his eye lids but hearing the voice that wasn't Wills. It wasn't the boy who he tried to bury down in his heart multiple times, wasn't the boy who knew about him and was going to leave him. Hearing that voice was the single thing that made him open his eyes.

It's what they all described, what he's seen a handful of times, he fell backwards scrambling back up to run away, run anywhere but here.

It was Vecna.

Mike was up and running, he shouldn't be as scared as he was and not wanting it to show he yelled fiercely so he would hear.

"What the hell man? Will would never say that to me, and whatever you're talking about is bullshit! You're a sick fuc-"

He was cut off because lo behold, Vecna was in front of him leaning forward with a terrifying glint in his eyes.

"What do you think Will would say when he finds out Mike? When he finds out why you ignored him for a year. Why you cant look at him? When he finds out why you and eleven really broke up Mike? What happens then?"

Mike fell at the sudden presence, and the weight of his words kept him down. His eyes widened and as his mind screamed to tell him to interrupt and deny but, his lungs wouldn't let him.

"What would they say of how you were with Eleven while you were a fucking fairy? When they find out you couldn't be a man. Will would hate you, he probably already does. Why do you think he's awkward around you? Why he can't be himself around you? Because he knows Micheal, and why would someone like Will be with someone who constantly hurts him?"

Mikes palms grasped at the carpet he currently was on, about to flee as he heard his voice. He turned and saw Will standing with the same expression as before.

"Why would I ever feel the same way? With a disgusting fairy like you?"

Then Mike heard it, as if someone above heard his dying prayers, he heard the familiar voice of Bronski Beat. He closed his eyes desperately trying to make all of this go away, trying to forget how his fears have been confirmed. He closed his eyes and tried to pay attention to the tune.

"Mother will never understand why you had to leave.

But the answers you seek will never be found at home.

The love that you need will never be found at home."

The first thing he saw when the wondrous tune of Smalltown Boy became louder and louder were those beach hidden eyes, this time frantic and pointed. By instinct he flinched and looked away as soon as he opened his eyes.

"Fucking hell Mike!"

The oh so sweet voice of Dustin let him knew that he was actually okay as he clutched the carpet below him

'That wasn't real, Will doesn't know.'

He just shut his eyes in relief but couldn't get out what Vecna said out of his head, because what would Will think of him.

A freak.

A fairy.

Pervert.

Shoving all of that below him he tried to catch one glance at Will before he allowed himself to actually pay attention to Dustin, and this time Will looked away with a firm look on his face.

Mike bit back a frown as they helped him back up.

A happy memory.

Thats the advice Lucas gave, the only thing that helped Max for a small amount of time before she..

Before she ended up in the hospital unconscious just barely breathing.

It was the only piece of advice he has to stall Vecna if he doesn't have Smalltown boy on him, so he made sure to have his happiest memory in mind.

Before the upside down, before Will went missing, before they met El, before his parents started fighting, when he didn't have a worry about a damn thing. The fresh scent of grass with the old creaky swing. And in the centre of everything there was a small boy with a shaggy bowl cut with a pair of suspenders and a question Mike asked that changed his life.

However, for the better or for the worst is still unknown.

It was the moment that changed everything, because of that moment Mike has his person. The person he could talk to about anything, the person he could always confide in, the one person he'd love forever. And maybe, if Mike could be less of a coward maybe, just maybe they could go back to that. And then he wouldn't be able to hide how much he cared, how much he longed for Will, to just touch him again. Oh how'd he kill for everything to go back, just back to that moment.

Although at the moment he, Will and Lucas were sat in an abandoned apartment waiting for Robin and Nancy to come back with some apparent 'information' they have on the upside down. Although he couldn't get what Vecna said out of his head, what will said-- no, what the illusion of Will said kept his eyes towards Lucas. Although his foot kept hitting the heel or Wills foot, feeling brave he stole a glance at Will and he gave back a slight smile.

This is okay.

He smiled a bit in relief but it was all short lasted until they heard loud shouting.

Oh shit.

A bunch of Jason's goons after he died have been blaming everyone that was in Hellfire, and have been wanting them all dead since. Before even registering that he, himself was in trouble he looked back at Will.

Fuck.

Screw him, but Will, he wasn't involved with Hellfire at all, but having 'zombie boy' with two members of hellfire is not going to look good. Mike knows exactly what they're gonna think and how their practically catholic cult wouldn't even hesitate to hurt Will. By instinct he grabbed Will's arm and gripped Lucas' shoulder and they all ran as fast as they could by his expression he hopefully conveyed for not a word to be spoken because if they hear them, then they would be in a shit load of trouble.

However, that didn't stop all their whispering to each other, "how the hell did they find us?"

Will turned to Lucas, "I don't know but we have to hope they don't have Nancy and Robin."

And although they were whispering it didn't stop them all from cursing like sailors.

They were met by two doors and kept on hearing the voices getting closer and closer, which they all concluded was pretty fucking bad. He was about to say how Lucas go one way and he and Will go another but Lucas beat him to it.

"I'll go with Will and shit, Mike you go left."

Mike gripped his fists tight and before he could say anything, Lucas grabbed the arm Mike was holding on to of Wills and left. Then Mike hearing the voices get louder scrambled to open the door and run inside trying not to think about either of them.

Mike grabbed chairs and started pushing them in front of him, and as his instict kicked in he knew he has to find somewhere to hide. He willed himself to think, because c'mon where would they not look, where could he fit, where could he hide?

His gaze fell on a couch.

There was a huge couch almost pushed to the wall and the space in between-- he knew at that moment that he'd hide there. He shoved himself on the wall and sat with his knees up and as he was about to grab his headphones and make sure Vecna wouldn't be able to get to him he froze.

It's not there.

Mike was fucked, he was utterly fucked, he left it on the couch, the only thing to prevent him from Vecna is gone. They probably found it and he bets on his mother that the christian cult have it. He closed his eyes and just hoped for the best because fucking hell he might get vecna'd and the people who are gonna find his body are a bunch of goons who've bullied him for fucks sake. He just hoped Will has his, because if anything happened to Will again, frankly Mike doesn't know what would happen. He can't even imagine it. A world without Will is something that's just impossible to Mike. The hold that Will had on him almost has him choking, it was so tight he wouldn't be surprised if he started bleeding.

Then he heard loud footsteps, he couldn't tell who it was but he knew for a fact that is was not Lucas nor Will.

"I know you're in here, you little twerp."

Mike closed his eyes the second the door opened and he appeared, Patrick was walking around and he could almost imagine the sneer on his face.

"You know Mike, I'm gonna fucking kill you."

Mike shut his eyes harder,

'it'll all blow over,'

Patrick won't be able to find him and then he'll just leave and Mike'll be with Will and find Nancy and just, be safe. He needed to make sure his trembles didn't get any louder than it was. He had to think happy thoughts after all with the painting that Will showed him, he's the-

"You're not a leader Mike."

"You're a coward, someone in the way, and nobody even needs you anymore."

What.

Someone does need him, Will needs him, his mom needs him, he's helpful.

Right?

He's not useless, he means something to someone-- to Will, to the party right?

"Wills dead, man. and you're useless ass did nothing."

No. He's lying, he- no.

No.

He got up, he opened his eyes, because what the fuck, who the fuck does this guy think he is? They wouldn't kill Will, him maybe, Dustin probably, but Will? He didn't do anything wrong.

He never does anything wrong.

He looked up and was supposed to see the annoying sneer and leather-man jacket on Patrick but instead he saw,

He saw what he should've thought, who he should've known, who he has no protection against.

Vecna.

"Wi-, Wills not dead. He's safe, safe from you."

He wanted to be confident but, there was also the chance that he left his walker just like mike and Vecna got to them first. God no, he can't. He wouldn't have right? Will he's not, he didn't do anything. FUCK.

He looked at him through his tears and balled up his fists because he's lying, he's bulshitting him. It's not real, none of this is fucking real.

"Oh you mean with his protection?"

With that being said, Venca pulled a broken pair of headphones and shit, a broken walkman and he can see in Wills bright handwriting, "boys don't cry."

No.

"That protection? It was by the couch along with yours Mike. And now I'm gonna kill you like I killed him."

He looked down and saw that the couch just, disappeared and as he saw everything getting darker than it was when he got here he remembered what he was supposed to do.

He remembered what he's to do in this exact situation, and then after Mike thought, he'll get out and find Will, and just apologize for everything. For the van, for his shit excuse of a hug, for when he couldn't look at him. For everything, and he's going to apologize to him, he's going to talk to him. Because he's alive and he's okay and so is Mike and he's gonna fucking apologize.

He has to live for that,

For Will.

He shut his eyes, and just let his heart swarm his head with his safe place, the best moment of his life, his happiness.

Take him to the one person that means everything to him, when they both became truly happy.

He ignored everything Vecna was trying to say and let his mind take him to Will, to his everything.

He thought of the yellow swing, the grass, the smile on his face that was so wide it hurt, the beach eyes, his hair going from side to side. He thought about Will, his hands holding the swing, and Will telling him later how much he doesn't like going on swings, his blue sweater, his brown shorts, his chipped tooth. The parting in his bangs from the bowlcut, the twinkle in his eyes, the heart shape formed on his smile, the sun that radiated out of him. He thought about the smell of grass, the smell of Will and how he giggled that day with Will because he smelled of perfume. He told him it was his moms, he smelled like sweat so he wanted to try the perfume.

He thought about everything during that day. When they built a sandcastle, not when he was riding his bike knowing Will was missing. He thought about when he told his mom later how awesome Will was and not about when he hugged his mom because Will was dead. He thought about the sight of other kids playing around them at the playground, not the sight of Wills dead body. He thought about everything Will was, of how Will is, of his smile or his own smile of how that day changed his life.

He embraced himself into the hold that Will has on him, he let himself be selfish and think about his love for Will, and the day he found his best friend.

His soulmate, how he's been tied to Will by some sort of invisible string, and of how he's been gripping onto that string and he didn't think of that string falling apart at the possibility of Will not holding on anymore.

Mike opened his eyes and he heard nothing, the booming voice of Vecna was gone and he looked around and saw grass, a yellow old swing and though no children were here Mike couldn't be happier, he escaped Vecna.

He took deep breaths, closing his eyes gently, trying, begging his heart to calm down because he was okay for now. That was interrupted when he felt eyes boring into the back of his head and he almost deflated because he found him so soon. But thats not what he saw though.

He saw that stupid plaid shirt and that god damn bowl cut and Mike blinked because, why is Will here.

No, it's an illusion.

He heard a faint, "Mike? Is that you?"

All thoughts went out of the window and all Mike could think about is, Will Will Will.

That was Will, those beach eyes and the hunched up shoulders, and holy shit.

Mike felt like he was going to have a break down, "Will? is- is that you?"

Mike didn't need to hear his answer, he went running, as fast as he could because he's alive, he's well. Will was okay, He was okay. He's alive.

Mike couldn't see, but Will was running too, he was running for his life, because he was told Mike died but he's here and he's, gosh. Will missed Mike.

They collasped onto each other but they didn't care, hands were everywhere searching for some sort of proof that this was real, that they had each other.

Mike knew, there was no doubt it was Will, his broad shoulders his floppy bowl cut, the twinkle in his eyes and those long fingers searching Mike's torso as they wouldn't let go. Mike held on to his shoulders as tight as possible, his vein was popping out from his grip but oh my god he's okay.

Mike felt weak with everything that happened as it hit him harshly, his knees bucked and he fell alongside with WIll and they both were on their knees holding each other.

"Will, I, I'm sorry for everything, for not knowing about anything, for treating you like shit, for not looking at you, for being different and I want to say sorry please I just, I need you Will."

He looked directly at Will and saw the tears in his eyes and knew he looked the same.

"Will I'm going to make it right, I can't lose you fuck, I need you here and I'll do anything for that please, I'm sorry for everything and anything I don't know about."

"Mike-"

"I just, I lo- need you please. I need you to be okay and I'm too selfish for you to be okay and not have me in the picture, I need you Will, so much."

Will muttered a small, 'you idiot' and just brought Mike back into his arms, and hugged him and hugged him and hugged him to make everything disappear.

Every time they argued, every time they looked away, every saddened moment in their lives; they hugged to make all of it disappear.

They broke apart hearing a small giggle from behind them, Mike reluctnatly broke apart from Will momentarily and saw what made his heart warm.

He saw a little boy in a blue sweater, brown shorts and strong womens perfume.

And Will saw a little boy walking up to the other boy, in a tank top and jeans with the brightest smile anyone could ever see.

They both saw the smaller Mike held out his hand to a wide eyed Will, "Will you be my friend?"

"What?"

"Will you be my best friend?"

"I have to think about it."

Mike looked confused and crossed his small arms and tilted his head and when he was about to complain he heard a squeak, "All done, okay I'll be your best friend even though I dont know who you are."

Mike clapped and smiled even harder and Mike sitting on the sidelines now remembered how much smiling that hard hurt.

"YES! I've never had a best friend, wait why do you smell like-- not how I smell?"

Smaller WIll giggled a bit, "you wanna know a secret?"

"I LOVE SECRETS!"

"It's actually my moms perfume."

"WHAT?!"

At that, the present Mike snorted a bit and Will looked a bit embarrassed, as they both stood up, looking at each other.

"I know I'm here because this was my.. but was this, is this..?"

Will didn't finish his sentence and Mike looked at him and took a bold risk and gripped his hand, "this was my happiest memory Will; you, me, the swing and Joyce's weird smelling perfume."

This time Will snorted and held on tight to Mikes hand as much as he was.

As Mike looked over at the smaller versions of them, he knew he and Will were still tied together by some invisible string and hoped the string would pull them together, for the rest of their lives.

He knew they were going to be okay, even when they shouldn't be.

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