🦕dinostomp🐾

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That previous morning had been the start to it all. Mike had awoken in his bed by himself, having forgotten that Will (having slept over), had to leave early to go help Johnathan with something, only briefly giving a small goodbye to a half-awake Mike. Now that he’s fully awake, he grumbles in annoyance, already missing Will.

He untangled his legs from the sheets and sleepily trudged downstairs, hoping his mother was home- to his disappointment, she was not, having left earlier with Holly and Ted to get some essentials at the store. And Nancy was probably off with Steven and Robin or something.

Annoying.

Mike eats breakfast by himself, hoping that Will or—and he hates to say it— Nancy gets back soon.

He decides to have a day just resting up, watching some TV and other mundane things, until a though hits him. He could totally go downstairs and set up the party’s DND setup for a campaign sometime later- or sometime in the week. He loves setting up the table and he knows Will would want to play again eventually so why not.

Mike excitedly got downstairs into the basement and began setting up.

He got the board ready, the characters- all of it. Except for one thing.

“Where are my dice…” he murmurs, huffing and groaning and every other little thing he does when slightly annoyed. Mike examines the room, going through the drawer that he usually keeps his dice set in- they are not in there. He examines the shelves. No dice. He keeps checking around the room until resorting to looking under the couch, now starting to feel worried.

Those dice were a gift from Will for his tenth birthday and he can’t find them anywhere. He uses those dice for every game he’s able to play them with!! Mike starts to panic.

Now, usually Mike doesn’t panic like this, and despite the day going relatively smooth, he starts to feel his chest tighten up. The day started off bad when he didn’t wake up to Will next to him, having almost forgotten that Will did say bye that morning, though while Mike wasn’t fully awake yet. Will wasn’t there when he woke up. His family wasn’t there when he woke up. And now his dice aren’t here either!!

He didn’t think he was so upset about all those things but they just piled up so, so suddenly and now here he is, sniffling and searching the room for his dice.

“So stupid!!!” he felt so dumb for losing his dice set, opening up binders and dumping out the contents in frantic hope that they could be hiding between the papers.

He scrubs his sleeve over his face and pushes his hair out of his eyes, huffing through his nose and trying not to cry, he cannot cry!! Will is going to be so sad when he finds out that Mike lost his dice and-

A scary thought whooshes through Mike’s brain, making him stop his rummaging.

‘When will Will be back?’

It feels like his heart got poked with a cold metal rod, stabbed. Mike suddenly feels how he did on the day Will disappeared.

He hasn’t seen Will all day, and logically he knows it’s because Will is with Johnathan and he’s okay but now that Mike is already worked up and has a wonderful track record of being afraid of losing Will again, he can’t help it. He starts crying. Crying just as hard as he did when he was twelve and thought he lost Will forever.

Mike whines and sobs, curled and sitting on his legs on the floor, his head and arm leaning against the couch, while his unoccupied hand pulls at the front of his shirt in an attempt to cling to something. He was so very scared, all those old feelings just getting thrown around his heart all over again- and Mike Wheeler doesn’t cry anymore so he doesn’t know how to stop when he does.

“Stupid- So stupid-!!“ he emphasizes the word, not really knowing what he’s calling stupid anymore. He’s crying too much to really care, even coughing a few times when breathing becomes too hard because of the sobs. There’s no one here to save him and he wishes there was. If only Will was there, he wants Will.

“Aughhgg-“ he half yells, becoming frustrated at this situation. He doesn’t want to cry!! Mike doesn’t cry, Mike shouldn’t cry, Mike is the leader of the party and he’s supposed to help the others when they cry!! But all he can really focus on is the horrible thought that maybe Will isn’t coming back this time; Will’s gone and he’s so sad about it and he can’t even find his dice and he can’t breathe with all these tears and-

“Mike?”

Mike’s crying briefly stops so he can look up, breath stuttering violently. Through his tear filled eyes he catches a glimpse of someone at the bottom of the stairs- he hadn’t heard them come down the steps. His crying resumes when he realizes who it is, he wishes he could talk but the tears are too much.

‘It’s Will,’ he thinks, feeling a terrible flood of relief, making him cry somehow even more, ‘It’s Will, It’s Will, It’s Will!!!’

Will Byers, the good guy that he is, rushes to his best friend quickly and crouches down. He hesitantly sets his hand on Mike’s back and holds his hand with his other.

“Mike- Mike, what’s wrong?”

The boy in question shakes his head, feeling his breaths overlap each other still. He’s no stranger to having these.. these attacks? by himself, but he never lets anyone else see them, he just can’t. But it’s happening now and all he can think is maybe Will can help, Will is here now and Will can help.

He takes a shuddering breath, ending his previous rapid hyperventilating, and lets his head drop against Will’s shoulder, hiding his face near the other’s neck.

“Dice,” he finally gets out after a few more seconds of shaking and huffing, “My dice.”

“….Your dice?” Will questions as gently as he can, worried about how some dice could make Mike crumble like this.

“Can’t find th’ dice you gave me,” He whispers against Will’s collar, voice muffled and warbly. The tears on his face have started to dampen Will’s shirt, making his shoulder start to chill.

“The dice I gave you?” Will whispers back, rubbing Mike’s back and pulling him a little closer when the boy started to lean in more, “Mike, it’s okay if you lost them-“

“No it’s not!!” Mike raises his voice a little, stressing the words when his voice starts to crack. He doesn’t want to yell at Will, he really doesn’t but he’s just so upset!! Will doesn’t get it!!! “You don’t understand!!” His breathing picks up a little from how upsetting this is.

“Okay- okay! It’s alright, Mike… We’ll find them okay? We’ll check the shelves and-“

“No, we won’t!!!” he whines and clings to Will, clutching the back of his shirt, “They’re gone! Not gonna find them! They’re gone!” The last words he says makes his voice break, turning into a rushed sob. He’s so scared to lose anything anymore, especially when it’s something pertaining to Will.

He crumbles all over again, letting his body fully push into Will’s, not finding it in himself to hold himself up anymore. Everything’s too clouded and scary; he covers his ears and cries, curling against his cleric. He is no paladin leader at this moment, he’s only just a boy.

The next few minutes, Will spends his time hugging Mike and swaying their bodies slightly, hoping to get Mike to calm down a little.

After the cries turn to shuttered sniffles and stuttering breaths and Mike lowers his hands, Will decides to try again.

“Mike. Tell me what’s wrong.” It’s not a question anymore, but it’s just as gentle as before, with Will looking at Mike’s face and smoothing his hand over the boy’s hair. Ever since the end of the upside down, they’ve been better at physical touch.

Mike breathes in and out, getting the hard words out, “My dice. Looked everywhere- and, and I can’t find them, Will… I looked everywhere-“ he almost starts crying again, but Will rubs his thumb under his eye comfortingly and nods at him to keep talking.

“And- You weren’t here.” There it was. That was the part that was making him cry oh-so much. “Gone, you were gone, Will-“

“I’m right here, Mike,” Will whispers, his own voice shaking. He hates seeing Mike cry like this, especially over him, “I’m here now, I’m not leaving you.”

The freckled boy makes a sound resembling a relieved breath and whine, his body relaxing finally, “Okay..”

“…I’ll help you clean up the basement?” Will phrases it as a question, wondering if Mike wants a distraction.

After shaking his head, Mike softly says, “Dice first…” it was a reasonable request, since those small dice were the things that started this whole mess. Or possibly what really started it all was the Upside Down and its shenanigans.

“Okay. Dice first,” Will takes Mike’s hand tentatively, only strengthening the hold when Mike does first. They look around the basement once more… finding no dice.

Before Mike can start to cry again, Will leads him upstairs to his bedroom, “Did you check your room yet?”

Mike shakes his head, huffing and wiping his eyes before scrounging around his bedside desk. Will tags along and helps him look. It only takes about a minute before Will holds up a little box, beaming.

“Hey, look what I found!” he looks just as excited as he was when they defeated a monster together in a previous DND campaign.

Mike gasps and barks out a short laugh of excitement, grabbing the box and opening it- his dice!!!! He feels so silly now, knowing that the dice were upstairs in his room. He had completely forgotten he left them in here.

“Yea!! Thanks, Will!!!” Mike hops up and down, feeling like an excited puppy. He feels so happy now- not bothering to wonder about his quick mood change, it doesn’t matter because now Will is here and his dice are here!!! They can finally finish setting up the table in the basement!!

Mike grabs Will’s hand and tugs him along, smiling all the way down the stairs. Will’s also happy, he’s glad that Mike is acting like Mike again. The soft and excited and happy Mike that he’s always loved.

They get downstairs and Mike doesn’t even care about the big mess on the floor like Will does, he’s too excited!! He sets his box of dice in the center of the board on the table and smiles proudly.

“Okay, we should seriously clean this up before your Mom and Dad get home,” Will chuckles, beginning to pick up the strewn items around the room.

“No way!! Will, let’s play! We can pick up later,” he’s acting just like he used too, there’s no time to clean, he just wants to spend his time with Will, playing DND and going crazy together.

Will thinks about it before rolling his eyes playfully, he decides to go along with it, as long as Mike is okay now.

There’s a sort of comforting energy in the room as they set up; there is no actual campaign for this game like usual since there’s only just them playing, but that’s okay because maybe they can workshop this game into a bigger campaign some time!!

Mike sighs and pushes the notebook he was writing in away and stands up. He fixes the front of his shirt and climbs upstairs onto the main floor of the house before trekking even higher onto the second floor of the house.

He keeps walking until he could hear the sound of the faucet running, which is strange because Will should’ve filled the tub already.

He knocks on the door, “Will! Are you almost done, man?” Mike was both concerned about his best friend boyfriend and worried about the water bill his mom and dad will have to deal with later.

After a few seconds of no response, Mike tries again, hitting the door a little louder, “Will!! Are you okay?” He gets no response again, hearing only the water when he presses his ear firmly against the door. With more worry building in his chest, he decides to go downstairs and retrieve a butter knife from the kitchen before returning to the bathroom door.

“Will if you don’t answer me, I’m just gonna open the door and come in!” he shouts, knowing that both his parents and Nancy are out of the house, and Holly is off at a friends place, so he can be as loud as he needs.

After once again only hearing the water, Mike slips the end of the knife into the bathroom door lock and turns it to the left. He grabs the knob and carefully opens the door, looking down slightly and setting the knife on the counter.

“Will are you okay?” he asks quietly, a little nervous about walking in on him in the bathroom of all places, but when Mike looks up and looks at Will, he sees that hes curled up with his knees to his chest and a hand in his hair, sniffling.

“Will?” with so much worry bundled in his heart, Mike speed walks over and crouches near the tub, noticing how high the water is by now and shutting off the faucet- barely taking note of which temperature it was set to.

“Will, talk to me,” he places his hand ever so gently on the nervous boys shoulder, not too heavy so as not to startle him. Will sniffles more and peaks up from his knees, shivering from the cold.

“Why is the water so cold, huh?” Mile murmurs to him quietly, knowing how much Will despises the cold ever since the incident with the mind flayer. He doesn’t like it being too hot either because of the way they got the mind flayer out of him.

“Dunno,” Will mutters back, looking down and shifting in the water slightly, becoming uncomfortable from how much it froze. It was starting to become too scary, he shakes a little more.

Mike schools his face into a determined look, “Can we make the water warmer?” he tries, hoping Will responds well. He’s still unsure why Will would willingly take a cold bath, only to just freeze up like this.

Will sniffles some more, his breath hitching from previously crying. Mike wishes he had been there.

It’s so quiet in the room aside from the sniffling. Mike suddenly has an idea ‘What would Dustin do?’. Well, knowing Dustin, he might try to copy Eddie. Okay well what would Eddie do?

“…Should we cast fireball on this despicable ice beast, O’ Will the Wise?” he asks in his best DND-Dungeon-Master-Accent, making sure to emphasize his voice on certain words and to sit up straighter. He knows that anything DND related can help Will out when he becomes like this- though this is the first time it’s been so vulnerable and in Mike’s face before. He’s helped Will out before when he starts to feel off or if he needs extra affection, this feels basically no different.

Wills eyes wander to Mikes face, slightly interested in what he’s said, “Fireball?” he shakily mutters, the cold making his voice shake.

“Yes! O’ great Will the Wise, let’s slay this beast and make this kingdom warmer!… Okay?” he reaches for the plug in the water, waiting for the ‘okay’. The little cleric slightly uncurls to swipe his arm over his eyes to make them less wet with tears- only to get his face damp with water instead. His voice wavers, yet with slight determination, “Okay…Tayr…” he huffs a sighed giggle, using Mike’s DND name.

Mike unplugs the water and lets it start draining, trying not to look at Will too long so that hes not uncomfortable, however, he seems fine despite the cold and shivering. He even unravels from his previously curled form, opting instead to sit cross legged and watch Mike as he talks about the next campaign to keep Will busy.

Finally, after what feels like five elf lives, Mike re-plugs the tub and sets the water to warm. He looks to Will and nudges him slightly, hoping he understands. And being Will, he understands Mike like the tip of his magic staff, “Fireball..!” Will waves his hand slightly over the water as Mike cheers. The tub refills, and it’s not too hot, and it’s not too cold. It’s just right. The Ice Beast is slain, and everything is alright once more.

Mike makes sure everything is in order, double-checking with the now consoled Will before he heads out into the hallway to wait, even speaking to Will through the door as he finishes his bath.

After it’s all over, Will walks out with his pajamas on and a fluffy towel wrapped around his shoulders for his hair, smiling. They walk hand in hand back downstairs into the basement, their base, their home. The two boys cuddle on the couch as Mike writes down ideas, saying a few silly ones so that Will laughs, while Will doodles new designs for monsters… though these ones are a bit tamer than his usual drawings.

They eventually settle down, resting against each other.

“Thanks.. for earlier..” Will says shyly, a bit embarrassed that he let himself slip like that, just because he wanted to quite literally test the waters on his fear of cold temperatures.

“Of course! I mean… it takes both a wizard and a paladin to defeat the Ice Beast and save the kingdom,” Mike grins, saying it like a fact and leaning into Will’s side some more, “I would never leave you hanging, not ever.”

Will huffs a laugh, “Alright, O’ Great Paladin of mine…”