Mike Whisperer
The moments after had stretched. A feeling like growing pains came after pouring out your heart. It was probably the hardest thing he’d ever done, and it showed in how drained he felt, his sluggish movements, the need to think about his exhales. Still, a hope for the future shone through it all. No one had spit in his face or turned their back. They hugged him; held him up when his knees threatened to buckle.
One of the first people to have his back was Lucas. He jumped into the fire without thinking twice and worried about putting out the flames later, once everyone was safe. So, it came as no surprise when he was one of the first to approach Will afterwards in the lobby of the Squawk with a comfortable ease.
“How are you?” Lucas opened. It was genuine, casual, and such a breath of fresh air.
Will didn’t have to force the easy smile. “I’m alright. Surprisingly okay.”
“World hasn’t exploded yet.”
A small laughter bubbled out of him. Sure, nothing exploded. He told everyone his deepest secret, and everything was terrifyingly normal still except for the odd lingering looks. It was gratifying as much as it was irritating. He almost wished that someone threw a walkie at the wall, that there was a big glass drop moment. Something.
Lucas interrupted his thoughts with a soft voice, “You’re ready for this?”
“No. Not at all.”
“Not even gonna lie to me??”
“What would be the point?” Will shrugged.
“That’s fair.”
Will scratched the back of his neck in an anxious motion. He didn’t want to voice the thoughts aloud to give them any more credence. Speaking them out loud made them real. If they were just intangible thoughts, he could keep pretending they didn’t send cold fear into his bones.
His tone was almost a whisper. “I can’t shake this feeling that... we’re not all making it out.”
It had been nagging in the back of his mind for the past few hours, this insistent feeling that something was wrong. That they were missing something. That someone had failed to communicate. That there was some secret they weren’t privy to. It wouldn’t be the first time that people in the party had kept secrets, leading to someone getting hurt. Everyone and their mom had had some kind of death wish at some point. Everyone wanted to be the one to save somebody with a sacrifice.
Everybody making it out seemed too... neat. Too convenient.
His friend’s voice was stern. Brows drawn and eyes twitching with fear. “Hey, we can’t talk like that.”
“You’re right. Sorry, just me being pessimistic, I guess,” Will rushed out. “How are you? How’s Max? Raging at not being able to join?”
Lucas relaxed at that, a sweet smile taking over his face at merely the thought of Max. He always was a big softie for Max. God, Will hoped he’d never made a face like that when he thought about Mike. He’d have been found out in an hour.
“Oh yeah. She’s not happy. But I’m a little relieved that she’ll be out of the way for this. Less of a chance of him getting her.”
He nodded emphatically. After everything they’d gone through, Will would understand Lucas staring at her every time she so much as blinked. No, this was- yeah.
After a few seconds of silence, Lucas’ eyes drifted to the other side of the lobby where Mike sat holding a book, seemingly engrossed in his reading. He was hunched over and biting his lips occasionally. A fact Will tried and failed not to notice.
“And him? Is he holding it together?”
The landmine that was Mike Wheeler. He was hoping the topic wouldn’t be broached, but unfortunately, the way he pitifully looked at his friend during his coming out was painfully obvious and far too exposing. The topic of him made Will a bit nervous though, in a way that almost made some nervous laughter erupt out of him.
“Mike? Well, Mike is Mike.”
Lucas looked back at him in a way that was halfway between amused and convinced Will was an idiot. That was about how he felt when he talked about Mike in general, so that was pretty par for the course.
“Really helpful. Mind if I write that down?”
Will smiled sarcastically. “I mean, he is. Kind of? Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
“In all the years we’ve known Mike, when have you ever seen him be open and vulnerable about how he’s feeling?”
“... touché.”
Lucas gave him a smug grin. “Besides I thought as the local Mike Whisperer you might have some kind of special insight.”
At that, Will did laugh out loud. Noting his outburst, he slapped a hand over his mouth. He responded lowly, careful to keep his volume down, he giggled out, “I’m the Mike whisperer??”
“Yeah, you know. He’s a little different with you.”
Will turned this over in his head. Sure, they were a little different from what either of them had with Lucas or Dustin, but that could be for a lot of reasons. It didn’t necessarily mean that Mike, what? Trusted him more? Was more vulnerable with him? No. Sure he was less prickly, maybe. Less... for lack of a better word, bitchy. But that didn’t mean that it was anything Will was doing to unlock that side of him. It just kind of... happened.
He took a chance and looked over to where their taller friend was slouching. Ignoring the curls around his temple underneath that stupid beanie, there was a key detail that was off about the picture.
Will squinted his eyes and spoke loudly, enough to carry over across the room.
“Yes, we are.”
Mike looked up from his book, snapping his head up for a brief second and immediately looked down again.
“Are, what?” he responded distractedly.
“Talking about you.”
Mike didn’t look up, just stared at his book. “Wasn’t listening. I’m busy.”
Will lifted a corner of his mouth and tilted his head up in challenging motion.
“The other way up.”
Mike blinked a few times and pulled his book away from him for a moment as if looking at it in a different light and turned it the right side up.
Lucas stifled giggles into his hand.
“Oh. Yeah,” he mumbled. He turned his whole body away from them and flipped a page.
“Mike whisperer,” Lucas hissed into his ear.
“Yeah. Maybe I have seniority or something.”
“Or something.” Lucas raised his eyebrows meaningfully, and Will felt himself flush at the implication. He looked away from both boys and stared at the wall. Cool poster over there. Cooler poster over there. That poster... was actually kind of lame, but it was distracting him.
“Screw you,” he breathed out with red ears.
“Not my type, man. Sorry. I hate to let you down if I was your “Tamby” or whatever you called it.”
“Lucas!” Will exclaimed scandalized.
“I’m kidding,” Lucas placated. He took a breath. “You’re totally my type. Those long sleeves are doing it for me, man.”
“STOP!”
“That bowlcut is just... so hot,” he shook his head severely.
Will pushed him to the side snickering all the while, with a muttered “asshole” under his breath. The two tittered to themselves. A bit of weight was lifted from Will as he realized the ease with which his friend was able to joke about this. Somehow, despite having seemingly the worst luck in the world, he got lucky enough to meet the best, most accepting friends he could ever hope for.
A few minutes were spent with the two leaning on a wall, still steeped in a warm giggly air.
“Really though, is he okay?”
Will sobered up quickly, collecting his thoughts.
“I... I wish I could say I knew. Holly is still God knows where. El and Kali have that weird thing going on that’s putting us all on edge... I think he’s especially worried about El.”
The suspicion around El’s random sister was evident throughout the party. No one, except for Hopper, said it in so many words, but while everyone trusted El, they didn’t quite trust Kali. Something about the way she said very little, and when she did say something, it was shrouded in layers of mystery, cryptic statements that left everyone unsettled. Still, she had firepower, and they were going to need every last ounce of it if they were going against Henry.
“Don’t forget about yourself. He’s also worried about you,” Lucas pointed out with a careful shoulder bump.
Will rolled his eyes but didn’t respond.
“No, don’t do that. He is. Anyone can tell. Even with his,” he gestured vaguely at the Mike lump, “emotional constipation.”
“Emotional constipation?” he asked with a laugh.
“Yeah. He acts like a weird, detached, cardboard cutout sometimes when he won’t get his head out of his ass. It’s why he’s over there still pretending to read a manual instead of over here with us or with El.”
“He’s not that bad.” The words didn’t even sound sincere coming out, especially not with the heavy squint and head tilt.
Lucas gave him a flat look.
Well.
“Okay. Maybe a little,” Will conceded.
“Whatever it is, we got his back. We’re going to come back from this.”
The look was meant to be comforting. It was paired with a hand on his shoulder, steady, solid. All it did was tug at his chest in what he refused to call dread. But Lucas looked so hopeful, Will smiled in a way he hoped was convincing.
“Yeah. Yeah, we are.”
