Chapter Text

🕛

This can’t be real, Mike Wheeler thinks utterly frozen as he watches Will Byers’ body get pulled from the dark depths of the quarry lake, This has to be a mistake.

Will looks so small, surrounded by a crowd of police who haul him around like he’s a doll, unresponsive as they arrange his limbs, hands moving to check his pulse. Mike doesn’t want to see this, but his eyes are glued to Will, taking in every detail from the way his face looks bruised, purple lines streaking through it standing out against the brightness of his orange vest as they move him onto a stretcher.

But instead of moving Will into an ambulance and taking him to the hospital, the adults all whisper quietly over his body, shaking their heads.

No.

It’s freezing cold, the wind blowing through the trees and Mike himself as a tiny sliver of the moon is overtaken with the flashing emergency lights.

Eleven had promised that Will was alive and Mike believed her in a heartbeat. Even if she’d pointed at a picture of younger Will and said that he looked wrong, too young, and was something wrong with his hair. But what did she know?

Mike pulls away from the firetruck he’s hiding behind, kicking himself for trusting some random girl just because she had superpowers.

“Mike–” Eleven starts to say, reaching her hand out towards him.

Mike slaps it away in disgust, stepping away from her.

“Mike?! Mike what?” He exclaims, only able to think of how deeply she betrayed him by giving him false hope, “You were supposed to help us find him alive. You said he was alive! Why did you lie to us? What’s wrong with you? What is wrong with you?!”

Eleven whispers something but Mike can’t even hear her, overwhelmed by the anger coursing painfully through his veins.

“What?!” Mike spits out.

She stares at him, blank and unresponsive. That’s it, that’s the final straw for him. He stands his bike up from where he left it lying on the ground. He’s ready to leave, to go home and wake up to realize this entire week was just an awful nightmare. Mike doesn’t look back at the circle of adults murmuring about what to do with Will’s body. He can’t look back because then it’ll all be real, too real, and Will is– He’s–

Will can’t be– 

“Mike, c’mon don’t do this man…” Lucas tries to intervene, choking around the words as he steps towards Mike. Mike only gives him a brief glance, but he still sees the tears on Lucas’ cheeks, “Mike!”

“Mike… where are you going?” Dustin says, “Mike–” 

His friends keep calling his name, pleading with him, but Mike can barely hear them.  

Before he even fully realizes what’s happening, he’s pedaling away on autopilot as his feet pedal faster and faster, fleeing from the scene that Mike knows will be burned into him forever. Everything’s lost in a distant haze because the reality of the situation crashes into him all at once, like Mike’s been falling for days and he’s finally about to hit the ground. 

Will is–

Mike’s so fricking stupid. He can’t believe he’d trusted Eleven, who’d been fooling them from the start. What was some rando who escaped from a mental facility supposed to know anyways? Nothing. Nothing, that’s what. Mike’s face flushes from the shame of believing in her, for trusting her when he should have known better.

Will can’t be…

It’s starting to rain, just a little bit. Drizzling down and Mike’s thankful for it, the red stoplight he bikes under reflects off the puddles he splashes through, blinding him. At least he can pretend it’s just the rain rolling down his cheeks, flowing from his eyes and blocking his vision as he angrily scrubs at his face with one hand.

Will’s dead.

For a brief second, it’s almost like Mike can see Will on his bike next to him, looking at him with concern. Then he blinks and it turns into Will’s waterlogged body staring at him with dead empty eyes.

Mike startles, bike wavering for a second before he blinks again and Will’s gone.

Mike’s alone, of course Mike’s alone. Stupid, he’s so stupid. 

Will is dead.

It’s just… it’s too much. The thought’s too heavy and it hits him again, hard like a lance through his chest. 

It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real.

Mike’s foot slips from his bike pedal, pants catching on the chain. Sliding out of his control across the waterslick surface of the road, Mike’s bike flies out from under him and he goes down hard on the pavement.

It hurts, but Mike is barely aware of it, just conscious enough to realize he’s tumbled onto some damp grass. The entire world is a hazy mess as Mike tries to think of something, anything other than Will’s dead body floating for days at the bottom of the quarry. But Will’s hazel eyes and soft smile as he hesitantly admits that he rolled a seven are the only thing Mike can think of. He would give anything in that moment to go back in time and beg Will to sleep over, would plead with his mom, scream, cry, something, anything to not be here, lying in the mud like it's his grave instead of Will’s.

What’s he going to do without Will?

The thought that his desk next to Mike’s at school is going to stay empty forever, or worse someone else is going to take it but they’ll never be him, just a constant reminder of the best friend he’s lost forever.

Will is never going to smile at Mike again when he rolls his eyes at something stupid someone said in class. Will is never going to doodle stars on the margins of Mike’s worksheets. Will is never going to look at Mike in awe as Mike describes harrowing dramatic battles. Will is never going to pull him into a victory hug, high on the adrenaline of rolling a 20 ever again.

Mike tries to focus on the pain from the fall, his body scrapped up and bruising, or the mud on the ground staining the new pants his mom bought him beyond repair as he squeezes his eyes shut to block everything out. But even in the darkness behind his eyes, it’s like he can’t stop seeing flashes of Will, all the things Will would do and all the things Will would say turning into a flood that washes Mike away, lost in a sea of memories.

He doesn’t know how long he stays there lying on the wet ground, hoping it’ll swallow him whole.

Eventually, he hears the sound of Lucas and Dustin’s bikes skirting up to the curb and slowly sits up, trying to pull the pieces of himself back together so his friends can’t see them.

“Mike?! Jesus… you’re bleeding.” Dustin starts digging into the pocket of his backpack, looking for something.

Mike realizes he must look like a mess but it’s hard to focus when his head is pounding from the force of his earlier fall. He tries to wipe his face with his jacket sleeve, wanting to hide just how hard he’s been crying. When the tan fabric comes away from his face stained red, Mike realizes the wound on the bottom of his chin from where Troy tripped him must have torn open.

“Why’d you guys follow me…?” Mike asks, voice hoarse from crying. He wipes his hands on his pants, wincing at the movement and only then realizes they're all torn up by the pavement, blood and grime mixing together into an ugly brown stain on his palms.

“We didn’t.” Lucas says simply, “Eleven forced us this way.”

They turn to look at Eleven, who wipes her nose on her sleeve, blood still dripping. She doesn’t look at any of them, pointedly ignoring Mike in favor of looking beyond them.

“There.” She says, pointing into the woods behind them.

“What?” Lucas asks as he crosses his arms, clearly done with the situation as well.

“Will.”

It’s only one word, but El says it as if it explains everything. Mike’s about to start screaming at her again for lying but before he can open his mouth, Eleven’s walking forward into the woods without them.

The three boys look at each other, a mutual are we really going to follow this maniac shared between them, before Dustin sighs.

“This is stupid! She– We just saw Will’s–” Lucas chokes on the word, cutting himself off with a wince, “You know.”

“… We should still check.” Dustin says slowly, “If she’s wrong again then well, at least we tried. We’ll regret it if we don’t.”

Mike’s about to scream at them for daring to trust her but– Mike suddenly notices the tear tracks on Dustin’s face, the way Lucas is shaking illuminated by the thin beams of their flashlights. They’re all upset, exhausted and teary-eyed. It’s not just him.

Mike, too tired to argue and stupid enough to still have a flicker of hope, realizes with an emerging horror that even if El is just some cruel liar, Mike is willing to follow the most microscopic clues in existence if there’s even the slightest chance that Will could still be alive.

“Okay.” Mike whispers, mind too blurry to come up with much else as he walks slowly ahead into the trees, Dustin and Lucas right behind him.

It’s dark, but Eleven’s not hard to find as she moves slowly through the forest, tripping over a root when she forgets to pick her feet up high enough.

She ignores them, even as their flashlights help light the way in front of her. None of them talk, feelings still raw, but Eleven’s determined and barely gives them a second glance as she moves forward.

Eleven stops once, closes her eyes for a moment and then turns, heading off towards a group of boulders that are bigger than they are.

Eleven points at the largest boulder and Lucas, frustrated, yells out, “Hey! Is anyone there? Will?!”

Nothing happens for a long moment, a freezing gust of air blowing through the trees making them all shiver. 

It’s dead quiet. 

Mike looks between El and the boulder, entire body starting to tense at the thought that she’s still yanking them around, lying to them just so that they won’t turn her over to the cops or whatever, when they all hear a twig snap.

Suddenly, a person peaks their head out from behind the boulder.

Mike’s heart races for a moment before plummeting down into his wet sneakers when the person steps out in front of them, looking nervous.

It’s a boy, but he’s older, a teenager maybe judging by the way he’s tall but shyly peering out at them. He’s in some ratty hospital gown, covered in dirt and he looks absolutely exhausted. His hair’s a wreck, tangled and at a weird length. The boy keeps shoving his hair out of his face only for it to almost immediately fall back in front of his eyes.

He’s way too old to be Will.

Eleven immediately moves to grab him and the boy smiles down at her.

“Hey there El.” The boy says softly with a deep voice that Mike’s never heard before, but it strikes a familiar chord in his mind, “You found me.”

El nods at him, speechless as tears start to stream down her face. Her thin fingers clutch onto the boy’s arm tightly, as if afraid that he’ll run off again.

The boy puts a hand on Eleven’s shoulder before turning to Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, squinting to see beyond the glare from their flashlights.

“You’re not Will.” Lucas blurts out, “Who are you?”

The boy’s mouth drops open in shock, looking between the three of them like he’s never seen people before.

“Oh my god.” The boy whispers, free hand going to cover his mouth, “No way. No way, no way, no way.”

“Who are you?” Mike demands, repeating Lucas’ question as he points his flashlight directly into the boy’s face like he’s seen on detective shows.

There’s something oddly familiar about him, the shape of his jaw strong but containing a whisper of familiarity, a ghost Mike can’t quite place as he squints at him in the dark. 

The boy looks astonished, disbelieving, but he’s not scared like Eleven had been that first night, flinching at every sound, his wide dark eyes darting between them all.

“This can’t be real.” He whispers, the soft doubtful words ringing out in the silence of the dark forest around them.

Mike turns to Lucas and Dustin who are both looking back at him, completely lost.

“Great, another freak.” Lucas mutters and crosses his arms. 

The boy seems to hear him anyway, Lucas’ words pulling the boy out of his stunned silence, and he winces as he covers his mouth with his hand, mumbling something that Mike can’t catch.

“Nah, he seems more… with it than Eleven.” Dustin comments thoughtfully and then his eyes light up like he’s thought of something.

“Uh… do you… know Eleven?” Dustin asks, words slow and careful like he's asking Mike's younger sister a question.

“Of course I know Eleven,” The boy states like it’s obvious, resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“... How exactly?” Lucas asks, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

“Uh well… wait, how old are you guys?” The boy asks awkwardly instead, searching over them while he looks for an answer.

“Nope, nuh-uh. We don’t tell total strangers our personal details.” Lucas declares, “You first.”

The boy sighs, shuffling around in an attempt to keep warm in his thin hospital gown. He’s shivering, but barely seems to notice as the cold November whistles through the thin branches, deep in thought.

Mike waits, squinting his eyes against the darkness to see the boy more clearly. He’s not even wearing shoes, leaves and dirt smeared on his legs. He must have been in the woods all day, at least.

“I’m uh, it’s… Hi?” The boy squeaks out, voice breaking as he grimaces at his own words, head turning away from them with a frustrated groan.

Lucas’s flashlight jerks where he’s holding it and then Mike sees two familiar moles at the boy’s throat, a few distinctive marks. 

That could only mean–

“… Will?” Mike asks, his voice soft, disbelieving.

Dustin and Lucas jump, their heads snapping around to look at Mike

“No freaking way.” Dustin breathes out, face wrinkled in surprised contemplation while Lucas curses quietly under his breath.

Mike’s eyes are glued to the boy standing in front of him, searching over every inch of him to find any hint of Will, impossibly older and standing there like a confused deer trapped in the beams of their old flashlights.

“Will.” Eleven says, confirming his suspicions.

There’s a pause where Maybe-Will looks like he’s thinking something over before he sighs.

“Hey, Mike.” Maybe-Will says, giving him a little wave, “Dustin. Lucas.”

Mike gapes at the older boy in front of him, this Maybe-Will Byers. He’s tall, super tall and his face is older, with a defined jaw that makes Will look like… like a movie star almost. Definitely not Mike’s best friend that he’s known since kindergarten. It’s strange to see him without the characteristic Byers bowlcut, hair grown out and obscuring his face a little, but wow.

Wow. 

But… How is this possible? Mike wonders, just staring, eyes squinting like Maybe-Will is one of his campaigns that he’s trying to put together in his head, the pieces all there but not quite clicking.

“That’s– No way, Mike, this guy’s gotta be like, 18.” Lucas states, sure of himself, but he’s also blinking at Maybe-Will in confusion, “He does look… a lot like Jonathan though.”

“Yeah, if Jonathan grew his hair out and didn’t look like a sleepy zombie.” Dustin adds.

“Jonathan’s not that bad...” Maybe-Will weakly protests, adding another point in Mike’s head to the ‘probably Will’ column for defending Jonathan even though Dustin’s objectively right. 

“Guys, he’s got the same marks on his face that Will has,” Mike explains tiredly, “In the exact same locations. And his eyes are the same like… dark brown color.”

“How’re we supposed to notice all that when it’s so dark out?” Lucas scoffs, crossing his arms and Mike’s barely held temper snaps.

“Shut up, it’s obvious.” Mike states loudly, temper sparking, “It’s not my fault you can’t see well.” 

Lucas gives him a mean look. Before he can say anything, Dustin interrupts them, stepping in between the two of them and holding his hands up.

“Guys, it doesn’t matter. We still don’t know if he’s actually Will.” Dustin says, gesturing in Maybe-Will’s general direction.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Lucas turns to ask Maybe-Will, who’s been anxiously watching them argue back and forth without inputting anything. 

Mike adds another tally to the ‘probably Will’ column because that’s classic Will Byers behavior.

“I– honestly I’m not sure this is real? Or what I can say without breaking reality or whatever,” Maybe-Will comments slowly.

“Breaking reality?” Dustin repeats, bouncing on his feet and a bit too excited about the concept in Mike’s opinion, “I knew it! I knew there was something weird about all this shit!”

“How’d you get so old?” Mike asks Maybe-Will, confused. The other boys nod along with him.

“Will’s a kid like us. You’ve gotta be an adult.” Lucas states firmly.

“I’m sixteen, actually. Though wait… how old are you guys?” Maybe-Will asks.

“We’re twelve, duh.” Dustin says, “If you were really Will, you’d know that.”

“I don’t even know what year it is, man. I thought maybe it was just El turning into a little kid again or something but I guess… whoa.” Maybe-Will says, still taking it in. His eyes light up a bit, just like Will’s when something cool has happened, but it’s tempered by concern, fear almost.

“Okay, so this is going to sound crazy,” Maybe-Will cautions, slow and uncertain, “But I think I must have… time traveled? Somehow? But that’s–”

“What?!” Dustin yells, interrupting Maybe-Will who stumbles back at the sudden loud noise.

“For real?” Mike asks, immediately doubtful as the wheels in his brain start turning. But if Maybe-Will says he’s sixteen and a time traveler… Mike wonders what that means for the twelve-year-old Will.

“I think so? It’s all really confusing, honestly.” Maybe-Will says, hesitant.

“Yes,” El states strongly. Of course she’s in agreement about everything being confusing, Mike’s had to explain literally everything in the entire world to her over the past few days including friendship, privacy, and how to eat food.

“Prove it.” Lucas says, causing everyone to turn and look at him, “If you’re really Will Byers from the future, then you can prove it, right?”

“That makes sense. I wouldn’t believe me either.” Will pulls his arm from Eleven’s grasp, where she huffs a bit but just moves closer to him as he leans back against the boulder. 

“Okay so… My mom’s Joyce Byers, Jonathan’s my older brother–”

“C’mon, everyone in town knows that stuff. You gotta give us something better.” Lucas interrupts, eyeing Maybe-Will like the exhausted looking boy is going to attack them before turning to Mike and Dustin, “You guys know what we just saw! There’s no way this is Will.”

Dustin looks a bit sick at the reminder, and Mike sees a flash of Will’s pale body unmoving, causing Mike to flinch as well. He’s still smeared with mud from when he fell off his bike from the shock of it all and he tries to sneakily wipe the worst of it off his face with his formerly tan jacket sleeve. But at least it’s not raining anymore.

“But– but what if it’s really…” Dustin says, his voice trailing off, uncertain.

“No, this– this is insane!” Lucas yells, gesturing at Will, “We just saw them pull Will’s dead body out of the water! Like, fully dead!”

Maybe-Will shoots up from where he’s leaning against the boulder with a jolt.

“Shit,” Maybe-Will blurts out, “Wait, oh shit. Oh shit, what’s the date?”

“It’s November 9th.” Mike gives him, thinking about how weird it is to hear any potential Will cursing when Mike’s friend usually gets too embarrassed to say anything worse than ‘crap’.

Mike’s also wondering if Maybe-Will recognizes it. If he remembers November 6th as vividly as Mike knows he will for the rest of his life.

“1983.” Dustin adds helpfully, “‘Cause if you’re really a time traveler, then you probably don’t know what year it is.”

Maybe-Will’s eyes go wide, horrified.

“I-I hadn’t… realized… Wait, that’s why you’re out here with Eleven, isn’t it? I went missing on November 6th.” Maybe-Will says, adding another point to the probably Will column, “Well, twelve-year-old me did.”

“Everyone in Hawkins knows that too!” Lucas says, his voice shaking and he’s furious to an extent Mike hadn’t realized before, “You– you can’t jerk us around like this! Will’s–” Lucas cuts himself off, his fists clenched like he’s about to punch Maybe-Will or start crying.

“Lucas.” Maybe-Will says softly, concerned.

“Is Will alive? Our Will?” Mike asks, not caring when his voice cracks at the end. Maybe-Will looks at Mike, like he’s carefully considering what to say.

“He’s–” Maybe-Will starts.

“Wait, tell us something specific first. To prove your identity,” Dustin interrupts, “Like, what happened the last night we saw you?”

“Oh right!” Maybe-Will says, “The night I disappeared; we had a D&D campaign. We fought a Demogorgon, but it got me because I–”

“–rolled a seven.’” Mike finishes saying along with Will, eyes blown wide in realization.

“We’d been working on that campaign all month but I blew it, huh? We never went back to finish it, after everything, either.” Will sighs, his eyes crinkling in that same self-frustrated way Will’s do when he messes up a math problem in class and for some reason, that’s when it clicks fully. 

Mike sees the image of his Will grown up into this older Will, his frustrated face a more dignified adult version of Will’s annoyed pout that his face scrunches up into when he makes a mistake.

“Oh my god.” Dustin exhales, shocked speechless for once.

Lucas is also stunned into complete silence beside him, flashlight slipping from his grip to fall with a clatter against forest floor.

Mike is busy quickly putting the pieces together to come to a far more important conclusion. It’s crazy, absolutely insane, talking about time travel like it could really happen. But far more importantly, Mike suddenly realizes that if this is Will…

“If you’re Will from the future… then our Will has to be alive, right? Because he grows up to be you?” Mike exclaims, voice rising at the end in an obvious question as he turns to the other boys for confirmation. 

Lucas and Dustin both look surprised, then desperately back to Will.

“Yeah, I’m… or well, twelve-year-old me, should still be alive.” Will says. 

Suddenly Mike can breathe again, his whole chest relaxing from where he’d been tense and crying earlier but before Will can say anything else, Dustin starts yelling.

“Will’s alive!” Dustin’s face breaks out into a wide grin, jumping to throw an arm around Lucas and Mike as he pulls them into an excited hug. They’re holding each other and jumping around in a circle like they’ve beaten one of Mike’s most difficult campaigns, ecstatic, even though all of their faces are still a bit wet from crying.

The world snaps back into alignment, the thunderstorm of the past hour finally calming down within Mike as he blinks back the tears that threaten to start falling again. His friends shelter him for a moment, grounding Mike through their frantic excitement.

When they let go of each other, Mike sees Will watching them, his serious face lighting up with a hint of amusement that stretches into a full smile when Mike’s eyes meet his. Eleven just watches them, eyes darting between them all back-and-forth.

“I never realized you guys were so worried,” Older Will says, “Yeah, I’m– Will’s alive. The twelve-year-old one, at least. I’m pretty sure.” Will scratches his head for a moment, making Mike wonder what exactly happened to Will’s hair, why it’s grown out into such a mess, “Wow, that’s confusing.”

“But more importantly, I– the younger me, needs help. And so do we.” Will states with a seriousness Mike’s never seen from him before, gesturing between himself and Eleven.

“Help? What kind of help?” Mike asks worriedly.

“It’s… a bit of a long story. I’ll tell you everything but… It’s not exactly safe for either of us to be out here right now, so…” Will trails off, El moving to hide behind Will’s legs when she hears him say ‘not safe’.

“You can crash in my basement!” Mike says immediately, “I’ve kept Eleven down there for two days now and my parents haven’t noticed anything ‘cause Mom never goes down there during the week.”

“Thanks, Mike.” Will says with a warm smile, front teeth peeking out from behind his lips in a classic Will Byers’ grin that makes Mike’s cheeks heat up a little, and for the first time he’s glad it’s so dark outside, “Lead the way.”

✕

They head back through the woods, the mood completely changed from earlier. Mike keeps stealing glances at the older Will and he knows the others can’t resist either, unwilling to look away from this strange tall version of their best friend, all of them caught in the same quiet awe.

El stays glued to Will’s side and doesn’t spare any of them a second glance, which is ridiculous but Mike doesn’t care. He ignores her right back even though it’s difficult because she’s still clinging to Will’s side like she’s afraid that he’ll disappear if she lets go for a second. Mike understands the feeling completely, but at least he can keep his hands to himself like a grown-up.

Eventually, they come to where Mike’s bike lies in a heap on the side of the road. Will looks it over and then turns back to Mike with concern, noticing the scrap on his face for the first time. The others grab their bikes, but Will stops Mike with a hand on his shoulder, turning Mike around to face him under the flickering streetlight.

“Mike…” Will states worriedly, “Why are you bleeding?”

“I-I just fell off my bike, it’s not a big deal.” Mike mumbles, embarrassed at the thought of this older cooler Will knowing he’d been bullied in Will’s absence. Mike picks his bike up, trying to straighten out the tire that had twisted in an awkward direction underneath him to avoid meeting Will’s gaze.

“Troy tripped him today at recess.” Dustin interrupts, the traitor. Mike’s head shoots up and he glares at Dustin, but Dustin just gives him a look that screams you’re the one who made that rule about friends never lying.

“It’s fine, I’m fine.” Mike stresses, glaring at Dustin, “It doesn’t matter anyway.”

Will looks at him for a moment, as if he is taking in the state of Mike’s scrapped up chin and muddy clothes. Mike has to look away, overwhelmed with the attention.

“Man, I haven’t thought about Troy in ages.” Will says, thankfully letting the matter drop.

“Really? Did he die or something?” Lucas asks bluntly.

“Uh no he– his mom put him in private school after–” Will looks at them, “Oh man, I think that’s a… I don’t know, a spoiler? A fact about the future I’m not supposed to share? How’d it work in Back to the Future again?” 

“What’s that? A book?” Dustin asks, then grows excited, “A future book?”

“No, it’s a movie that came out like two years… ago… Wait.” Will says, stopping in his tracks to look at them with incredulous eyes when he realizes, “Oh my god, never mind, it’s not out yet.”

Dustin practically bounces as he walks, curly hair bobbing up and down as he repeats the title under his breath over and over again so as not to forget it.

“A future movie…” Lucas says, not quite as excited as Dustin but still clearly pleased.

“Whoa, how can we use this incredible opportunity… A real life time traveler!” Dustin exclaims, twisting his hands in his shirt. Mike knows what it means: Dustin is scheming, plotting how to take advantage of their newfound time traveling best friend from the future.

“Guys, if this Will’s a time traveler, then that means he’s on a mission.” Mike says as he tries to impart the seriousness of the situation, but it’s hard when yeah, okay, Will becoming a time traveler is the coolest thing that Mike has ever seen in his entire life, “So we gotta help him first. Fun future facts can come later.” He states with all the authority he can muster, hands on his hips.

Will’s eyebrows raise in clear amusement as he watches Mike, “I agree, but I’m uh, not sure what my mission is here, exactly.”

“To save Will, duh. My– our Will.” Mike says firmly, “That’s gotta be your mission.”

Will tries to hide another smile behind his hand in a way that makes Mike second guess himself, wondering what Will thinks of him, “That’s the most pressing problem, huh? I guess if we can help my younger self earlier then…” Will trails off almost ominously.

“What? What’ll happen?” Dustin asks eagerly, bike swerving from where Dustin’s holding it as he walks beside Mike.

“I don’t know,” Will hedges, “Aren’t there rules about not changing the past?”

“None that have been proven!” Lucas states with confidence, “Pretty sure you’re the first recorded time traveler ever.”

“Unless the government is covering it up…” Dustin murmurs, “The government could totally invent a time machine and never tell anyone about it.”

Will flinches, his face barely visible in the shadows of the trees. The others don’t see it, but Mike catches it.

“Nah, they would have used it to stop the Russians by now,” Lucas continues oblivious to Will’s reaction, “No way they have a time machine.”

“But Lucas, if they used a time machine then how would we know ? New timeline, bam.” Dustin argues back, retreading a conversation that Mike’s heard before. He’d done a campaign involving time travel once when they were ten and it… hadn’t gone well. Time travel was messy, confusing, and Mike refused to let the Party attempt it ever again.

“Then they could have come up with a better world than this.” Lucas responds with a sweep of his hand towards the old ugly houses they could see through the trees, “Like we’d have hoverboards by now.”

Dustin and Lucas turn to Will in unison as if on cue, question obvious in their wide eyes.

“No, we don’t have hoverboards in the future.” Will says plainly, “It’s really not that different.”

Dustin sighs, muttering something about writing it down while Lucas looks quietly disappointed.

“Guys, can we please focus?” Mike interrupts, annoyed. They’ve started slowly making their way towards Mike’s house almost on instinct, pushing their bikes alongside them through the dead autumn leaves in the pockets of dark forest that hide behind the suburban neighborhoods as they talk.

“How can we save Will?” Mike asks, turning his head towards the older Will.

“Now obviously, I don’t… know how you guys saved me exactly because I wasn’t there but… I have some ideas.” Will says, “And I think we can get him out.”

“Out of what?” Mike asks, completely lost.

“The Upside Down.” Will says, 

The eerie echo of the night before in Mike’s basement makes him shiver, remembering El’s short words and intense stare as she swept all of their D&D tokens to the floor and flipped the board over, placing Will the Wise on top of it. The Upside Down felt like some phrase Mike would come up with when he couldn’t think of a better word, a dumb joke.

But Will’s hazel eyes are solemn, dead serious, and it hits Mike so strongly he stumbles for a second when he instantly understands that whatever’s going on is much worse than his best friend going missing in the woods for a week.

Not for the first time, Mike desperately hopes that Will can come back from this alive, shoving all his worries down deep into the back of his mind so he can step forward and continue searching.

✕

Sneaking Other-Will into Mike’s basement is a piece of cake, none of their neighbors any the wiser at this time of night with the moon blocked by hazy clouds, obscuring them from view as they silently push their bikes from the treeline. Lucas peels off, heading to his house to check in with his parents first, promising to bring snacks and a hat that Will asks for.

Eleven makes a beeline for the hiding place Mike set up a few nights ago, bundling herself up in the old musty blankets Mike left out for her without saying a word to the rest of them, but Will heads straight to the bathroom without any further direction, like he’s been there before and knows the place completely.

It’s weird, Mike thinks, seeing someone who’s still a bit of a stranger but also a lot of his best friend move around the basement as comfortably as his Will would.

Eventually, Will pokes his head back out, the smears of dirt on his face lining the exhausted creases of his face much more obvious in the better lighting of Mike's basement.

“I need a shower so bad, but could you guys find me some clothes? Like real clothes? And pants?” Will requests, leaning out the doorway, “To be totally honest, I would probably kill someone for a pair of pants right now.”

“Yeah of course.” Mike says, turning to run up the stairs as he hears Dustin’s voice in the background, commenting on how much hospital gowns suck.

Mike heads upstairs, wondering how he’s going to find clothes that fit Will. He’s given Will, his Will, twelve-year-old Will, clothes in the past, but Will never liked Mike’s clothes. Too preppy and scratchy, straight out of those JC Penney’s catalogs his mom likes to cut the coupons out of, knowing she’ll never convince Mike to go clothes shopping with her without him throwing a fit. Also, more importantly, this older Will is way too big for Mike’s polo shirts.

Will’s gotten… big, like surprisingly big, with broad shoulders. Mike wonders if Will’s taller than Mike in the future, if they’re all still friends. He’s too afraid to ask though. 

Unlike Dustin and Lucas, Mike’s afraid that he won’t like the answers that he gets. He doesn’t know a single older kid in high school who hasn’t turned super weird, like Nancy who went to high school and then started spending all her time in her room on the phone, completely ignoring Mike.

Regardless, not being able to lend Will his clothes leaves Mike with trying to steal his dad’s boring clothes, but Mike’s pretty sure he’ll be able to find something. He sneaks past his mother, who’s busy cleaning dishes in the kitchen while his dad snores, passed out in front of the TV, channel turned to CBS with a bunch of old people mindlessly droning on and on about politics.

Mike digs through the boxes of old clothes stored in his parents’ closet and manages to find a pair of old athletic sweatpants that still have the tags on them, bought during a misplaced false hope of his father’s when Ted thought about leaving his reclining chair for a change. Shirts though… Mike finds a basic white undershirt, steals some socks from his dad’s dresser, and runs back downstairs.

Mike plans to sneak back into the kitchen later when his parents are asleep to grab Will and Eleven some food. They both probably need something to eat, Mike reasons, and they’ve got two whole boxes of Eggo waffles in the freezer from some stupid by-one-get-one sale his Mom wouldn’t shut up about. Not that Mike can cook anything else, but he knows that his Mom keeps a stash of Will’s favorite snacks in the back of the pantry.

Does Will even still like the same snacks, Mike wonders, realizing he has no clue. The Jiffy Pop popcorn and the weird off-brand fruit snacks that had become a staple in a small corner of the Wheeler’s pantry, hidden behind the soup cans. Other-Will can’t be that different, right?

“Honey, where are you–” Karen catches him right before he enters the basement, and he whirls around, stolen clothes hidden behind his back.

“Michael, you’re covered in mud,” His mom says with a frown, looking him over. Karen’s normally styled hair has been let down and it’s frizzy, like she’s been running her hands through it, “What happened?”

“I–I just fell off my bike. It’s not a big deal.” Mike replies quickly like he can cover everything up, “I’m gonna go wash up.”

Karen sighs, but then puts her hand gingerly on his dirty shoulder, manicured nails tapping against his collarbone.

“I need to talk to you about something first, okay?” Karen says with barely withheld hesitant concern, the same voice she always uses when she’s about to break horrible news, immediately alarming Mike. So he steps back, moving away from her. 

“Can it wait, Mom? I’m tired.” Mike begs as he turns to leave, fully planning to ignore her but Karen Wheeler knows her son a bit too well, so she grabs him by the arm, turning him back around.

“Michael, it’s about Will.” Karen says and Mike freezes, brain racing as he tries to figure out if she saw him sneaking the older Will into the basement.

“Uh… okay, what about him?” Mike asks, slowly, trying to think of a believable excuse. He wonders if his mom would believe him if he said that Will was Dustin’s cousin?

“I just got a call from the police.” His mom explains, looking at him with pity clear on her face, bright pink lips pursed in concern. Her eyes are red around the edges, a small black smudge on the side of her face where she must have rubbed at them earlier.

“Officer Hopper said that he saw you and your friends poking around where you shouldn’t be, and that you– that you saw Will’s body.” Karen finishes quietly.

Mike sees it again, flashing through his mind. He hadn’t been close enough to pick up on any real details, but Will had been so pale, almost glowing in the headlights of the cars parked nearby, limp as they dragged him out of the water. One thin arm dangling from the stretcher, limp and swinging from the motion as they moved him.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Mike says bluntly because he can feel the tears starting to rise again, but he doesn’t have time for that, fighting them down with effort.

“Are you sure? I know this all must be so difficult for you right now.” Karen says in her softest, most concerned voice. For some reason, the blatant worry in her eyes is the final blow that cracks through him. Mike suddenly feels sick, his stomach turning while he bites back a groan at the ache that spreads through his entire body because how the hell would his mom know what this is like, this constant terror?

“You don’t know anything, l–leave me alone.” Mike spits out and jerks out of her hold, running down the stairs and slamming the basement door shut behind him.

He hears his mom calling his name behind him for a few moments before she gives up with a heavy sigh.

“I’ll be upstairs if you want to talk about it!” Karen yells and then Mike hears her heavy footsteps walking away.

Mike sighs, wiping a hand across his face angrily before he winces, accidentally opening the wound on his chin again. He looks down at his hand and sees blood smeared across his fingers.

“Jesus, what was that about? Your mom sounded worried.” 

Dustin’s voice makes Mike look up, and he finds his friend’s worried face from where he’s sitting on the couch.

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter.” Mike says, “Just drop it.”

“Sure, I’ll just pretend we’re not hiding two fugitives in your basement that your mom could find out about if she just walks down the stairs for once,” Dustin responds, rolling his eyes, “No problem.”

“It’s not important Dustin, seriously. She wanted to talk about the… you know, the quarry.” Mike says, unable to bring himself to utter the words ‘Will’s dead body’ if there was any chance of it not being true.

Dustin is silent for a moment.

“Fine. You’ve got blood on your cheek, by the way.” Dustin says, pointing it out as a peace offering, “And I think Will – the time traveling one – is almost done showering.”

Mike drops the clothes he grabbed for Will right outside the bathroom door in a ritual he’s performed and perfected after years of sleepovers. Then he grabs a towel from the laundry bin nearby, trying to scrub the blood and mud off his face.

Dustin gives him a thumbs up when Mike turns to look at him before they hear a loud clatter inside the bathroom.

“Will?!” Mike whisper-yells, crossing the basement in a matter of seconds to grab the corner of the bathroom door that’s been left open just an inch, “Everything okay?”

“Gimme a minute,” Will’s voice rings out, strained, “I– actually, can you grab me a towel?”

Mike grabs the first one he sees from the dryer, an old faded blue one and sticks his arm through the small gap in the door.

“Here, I can pass you the clothes as well.”

The shower shuts off and Mike keeps his eyes trained on the wall, as he feels Will tug the towel from his grasp and then passes him the clothes as well, their fingers brushing on the way that forces Mike to look at the older Will. 

He catches just a glimpse when their eyes meet, but Mike can see a red puffiness ringing Will’s exhausted eyes.

Will’s been crying. 

Before Mike can say anything though, the door closes and he hears Will shuffling around on the other side of it, pulling himself together. He’s breathing heavily and an acute stab of worry shoots through Mike as he tries to figure out what to do. He feels like a huge creep just standing there though, so he walks back to Dustin, flopping down into his usual spot and trying not to anxiously watch the door.

Older Will wasn’t okay. But yet again, Mike didn’t know what to do about that, didn’t know if this is some new future thing or if time traveling was just super stressful. Will cried easily when he was upset but Mike didn’t think he would normally go so far out of his way to hide it from him.

Or maybe, Mike thinks, fear crawling up his spine, he never knew Will as well as he thought he did.

Not a moment later, future Will walks out of the bathroom, wet hair dangling around his hair and dripping onto his stolen clothes. They don’t fit quite right, the shirt a bit too tight around his broad shoulders and his sweatpants a bit too loose, but Will grins anyway.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed pants, oh my god.” Will says lightly even though his eyes are still red around the edges, “I’m never wearing a stupid hospital gown again.” Will moves and grabs a blanket from the couch, an old, knitted thing that Will always claims during movie night and wraps it around his shoulders like a cape.

Will sits down at their tiny card table set up in the middle of the basement and looks at the remains of their D&D game with a fond smile, like the ones his mom gets looking at old photographs.

“Have you… not been over in a while?” Mike asks, wondering why Will wouldn’t be over at his house at least once a week in the future.

Will shakes his head, “It isn’t that, it’s like… playing a weird game of spot the difference. You’ve put up different posters on the walls in the future. Not to mention my drawing skills were-“

“I like your drawings.” Mike interrupts firmly because this was an argument Mike had refused to lose since he was six and he certainly wasn’t going to stop now. Will had always been so uncertain of his talents in a way that Mike never understood, proudly displaying all of his drawings and happily proclaiming that they were from his friend, Will. His best friend, Will.

“I know, Mike. But I like to think that I’ve grown beyond my skills at age twelve.” Will says, patiently with the hint of a smile, likely thinking of the same tired argument.

The basement door is thrown open and Lucas walks in, brandishing a duffel bag.

“I bring snacks! And–” Lucas unzips it, pulling out a beanie and tossing it to Will, “– I brought what you asked for, check it out.”

“Thanks Lucas.” Will says, holding the beanie tightly in his fingers as he shoves it into his pocket. Then Will spots a bag of chips and immediately grabs it, tearing it open.

He gestures for Eleven to come join him and holds the chip bag out to her.

“Hey, try this.”

El takes a chip gingerly between her two fingers, holding it like she’s afraid to break it before she pops it in her mouth. She makes a face, nose wrinkling in disgust and shakes her head.

“No.” El says, so Will goes digging through Lucas’ stolen snacks before he finds a pack of fruit gummies and passes it to her.

“Yeah, I guess you never liked salty stuff that much either… You’ll like these though. Fruit gummies.” Will’s saying as El pops one into her mouth.

“Good.” El says simply, nodding with confidence, “You are right.”

“Yeah? I’m glad.” Will says with a small smile before he goes back to devouring the entire bag. Will’s never been a big salty food person, but he seems so happy munching on chips that no one says anything.

“Sorry, just haven’t had junk food in way too long.” Will says after a long moment when he notices them all staring.

“Like that time my mom banned processed foods for Lent and I had to beg you guys for chocolate bars all month.” Dustin says with an understanding nod.

“Yeah exactly. Not like the rest of us were eating our gross nougat candies anyway.” Will says, smiling, Dustin’s love for nougat chocolate a well-worn argument.

“Just because the rest of you don’t have good taste doesn’t mean that Three Musketeers are gross.” Dustin grumbles.

“No, they totally are–” Lucas starts to say.

“Guys, we need to focus.” Mike interrupts firmly, then gestures at Will who looks at Mike with an odd expression that Mike can’t decipher.

Mike’s a bit unsure of where to start (time travel wasn’t really something he’d thought he’d run into tonight) before he remembers how he recaps D&D sessions from the beginning when they’ve gone a whole week without playing.

“Okay so: Will went missing on the 6th. We went out looking for him at night on the 7th, but instead of Will we found Eleven who claimed to know Will and promised to help us look for him.” Mike starts explaining, mentally walking through the past three days as he moves the D&D miniatures around to match his thoughts. For Will, Mike moves Will the Wise back onto the flipped over game board, and Mike grabs a generic skeleton out of the box for El.

“Yep.” Dustin says motioning for him to continue.

“We’ve been looking for Will for the past two days with Eleven’s help, but stopped today when–” Mike pauses with a frown, the words caught in his throat.

“When they pulled a fake body out of the quarry, right?” Will finishes for him, “And you guys thought it was me? Or, twelve-year-old me.”

“So… it’s one hundred percent not Will, right?” Mike asks, eyes wide and pleading for confirmation.

Will shakes his head and it’s like the entire room sighs, letting out the tension and fear that’s been present ever since the quarry.

Mike blinks, trying to let go of the lingering doubts that keep flickering in the back of his mind that he  can’t help but hold onto even still before continuing.

“Well… then Eleven pushed us into the woods anyway and led us to Will. But not the Will we were looking for, but this other older Will, who must have time traveled from the future.”

“Do we know how he time traveled?” Lucas pipes up, pointing at older Will.

“Uh… It’s going to sound bad but,” Will shrugs, sheepish, “I can’t remember.”

There’s a pause where the boys all look between each other, the same thought in their minds.

Amnesia was always a bit too convenient.

“That’s suspicious. You know that’s suspicious, right?” Lucas asks out loud, stating the obvious with an eyebrow raised. Will sighs, running his hand through his still wet hair.

“C’mon Lucas, not this again.” Mike groans, “You know El has super powers, why is time travel so hard to believe?”

“Because it’s impossible, Mike! This stuff is fine in– in games or books, but it doesn’t happen in real life.” Lucas says, gesturing towards the table where Mike’s placed their very fictional D&D characters, “If he can’t explain it, then he’s probably making it up.”

“Let’s just go along with it for now, okay?” Dustin insists, stepping in again, “Future Will’s the best lead we have.”

Lucas sighs, rolling his eyes, but he lets Mike continue.

“So the question is: where’s our Will?” Mike asks, “And how can we help him?”

They all look at older Will, the newest addition to the team. Will fiddles with the corner of the old blanket, running the old threads dangling from the edges back and forth under his long fingers.

There’s a smudge on Will’s left wrist that Mike can’t make out, only noticing it because Will’s missing his watch.

“What happened to me is kind of… insane.” Will says and then doesn’t continue for a long moment, clock ticking away in the background as Will gets lost in his own thoughts.

“You all called it the Upside Down,” Will starts eventually, slowly like he’s not entirely certain, “It’s like… another dimension, parallel to ours, but dark… and cold…”

“Like the Vale of Shadows?” Dustin whispers amazed.

“Yeah, I guess. I never knew why you guys named everything after D&D concepts. Or why it was called the Upside Down, for that matter.” Will shrugs, reaching down to grab at the D&D miniature version of himself, flipping it around between his fingers.

“Anyway, I got trapped there when a monster pulled me into it.” Will says, “You guys named it ’The Demogorgon’, I guess because that was the last monster we fought in D&D? Anyways, It’s poking around in our world, pulling people into the Upside Down and then hunting them down, killing them.”

“… like the monster in Alien?” Lucas asks and Will shudders, looking at Lucas with horrified amazement.

“God, how have you already seen that movie? My mom never let me watch it.” Will mutters, shaking his head. Lucas is about to respond but sees Mike’s look of annoyance and shuts up.

“The monster’s more like hmm… More like the thrall of an Illithid.” Will continues, “Mindless, but hungry for blood, doing its master’s bidding.”

The boys all nod, knowingly.

“Illi... Illithid?” Eleven asks, confusion clear in her eyes as she stumbles over the word.

“They’re more commonly known as mind flayers,” Will explains as he shifts in his seat, pulling his blanket tighter around his shoulders, “But don’t worry about that, El. It really doesn’t matter.” 

Mike personally thinks it matters a whole lot but doesn’t interrupt Will.

“What matters is that I think El can get in contact with the me in the Upside Down. If she can do that, we can guide him towards the exit.” Will says. Mike’s about to ask for more direction, but Will apologizes first.

“Sorry, I’m not entirely sure how you all did it before, but I remember her contacting me in a… like a dark void…” Will trails off, lost in thought again. El, who’s mostly been content to stay quiet through the conversation, sitting snuggly beside Will on the couch as she munches on fruit snacks, pauses.

“The void…” El starts, then shakes her head, dropping the empty wrapper beside her.

“Wait, you know what he’s talking about?” Dustin asks.

“Dangerous.” El whispers quietly, pulling her legs up to her chest. Will puts a hand on her shoulder, comforting.

“We can try something else first then? You– future you– told me you could manipulate radios and stuff to communicate with people, even in the Upside Down. Maybe we can just try to guide him to the exit first instead?” Will tries and it makes El nod rapidly, leaning into Will’s touch, causing a spark of annoyance to flare up Mike’s spine.

“I think El heard Will on the radio earlier.” Mike says and El turns to look at Mike for the first time since he yelled at her. She doesn’t smile at him, but she does nod.

“Yes.” Eleven says, then points at the radio. “On the radio.”

“Can you find my Will?” Mike asks her, pointing at their winning Science Fair experiment picture again, all four of them smiling wide. With a photo, it’s easier to see the similarities between the two Wills, shared features standing out more obviously from the comparison.

Mike still can’t figure out why Will being so tall and older and stronger bothers him, makes his skin itch with discomfort, but he can’t help thinking about it.

Dustin passes El Mike’s Supercom and then she starts messing with the knobs, listening for a moment on each channel before switching to a new one with her eyes closed.

After a few minutes of intensely watching Eleven meditate with a radio, Mike sneaking glances at Future Will until Lucas speaks up.

“How do you know Eleven, anyways? She says you’re her brother.” Lucas says clearly doubting those words.

“It’s… complicated, but you can trust her.” Will says with a wince, but his voice doesn’t waver. He’s convinced that El is his sister, which Mike finds almost more unbelievable than the time travel. Will would have told him if he had a sister, right?

“Is she actually your sister? Do we have a long-lost Luke and Leia twin situation on our hands?” Dustin asks.

“I mean, not by birth? But yeah, she’s my sister.” Will says, “Though I think I’m probably Leia and she’s Luke.”

Even with her eyes closed in deep concentration, Mike sees Eleven’s mouth curl up in a small smile at Will’s confirmation.

“Yeah, but you’re a guy.” Dustin explains slowly, like he’s confused that Will doesn’t know that obvious fact.

“She’s the one with force mind powers, not me.” Will responds with a shrug, twirling his D&D miniature around in his fingers, a nervous habit Mike’s noticed him doing whenever Will’s low on health and spells in D&D but doesn’t want to trouble the Party by asking them to take a rest.

It’s only then that Mike sees it.

There’s a tattoo on Will’s wrist. Small and almost unnoticeable. A set of three small numbers that Mike can’t make out.

It’s almost exactly like El’s tattoo. Mike’s mind goes into overdrive, wondering how Will got it. Wondering if Will had gotten caught in the same terrible place that locked up El for so long she forgot how to talk to people.

After another few minutes pass where Mike’s thoughts spiral more and more anxiously, trying to guess what happened to the two of them, El looks up at them from the radio and shakes her head.

“Only you.” El says, pointing one slender finger towards Will, who sighs. A collective tired groan rings through the room.

“Sorry.” El apologizes quietly, fingers still playing with the dial of the radio.

“Don’t apologize, the radio was a long-shot anyway.” Will reassures her with a soft voice Mike’s never heard him use before, “You did great El.”

“Well, what now?” Mike snaps at them, starting to feel a bit annoyed by how much attention Will’s giving to Eleven.

“Well… We need a sensory deprivation tank. Or a stronger radio, I guess.” Will says thoughtfully before smothering a yawn.

Dustin’s eyes light up.

“Not sure what that first thing is, but I know where we can find at least one of those.” Dustin says before diving into a technical explanation of the A/V equipment at Hawkins middle school.

It doesn’t take long for Mike to realize Will's dozing off, head falling to the side as he blinks slower and slower as Dustin explains the fine details of his incredible plan to sneak into the Hawkins A/V club room and use the radio to contact their Will in the Upside Down.

El abruptly gets up in the middle of the long explanation, tucking into her blanket fort and closing the curtain with her mind as she cuddles into a ball. Not even a minute later, they can all hear her snoring softly.

“Guys, they’re tired.” Mike points out, “I think we can talk about the rest of this tomorrow.”

He’s not even sure what time it is, 'late' probably, the only hint a complete lack of light coming in from the door. Lucas cracks it open while Dustin collects the remains of his snacks, letting a chill breeze blow in. It’s dark, clouds blocking out the moon and the stars, the only light being the one old flickering streetlight near the Wheeler’s garage.

It reminds Mike of the last time he’d seen Will, the moment having taken on an incredible importance today when he’d realized that the last time he’d seen Will’s familiar toothy grin would be him quietly admitting that he’d rolled a seven.

Lucas and Dustin both leave, Dustin with a wave and Lucas with a disbelieving sigh, while Mike watches them go. Mind memorizing the details of their outfits, Dustin’s ever-present hat, Lucas’ big puffy jacket, the same way he has for the past few nights ever since Will disappeared. Mike can’t help but idly wonder if this is the last time he’ll see them as well. If Lucas and Dustin will be eaten up and taken away in the night like Will, leaving him completely alone.

Shaking the thought away violently, Mike turns back to see the older Will passed out hard on the couch. He’s cocooned himself in the many blankets Mike dug up, looking for all the world like his younger self with his eyes closed and the worry lines smoothed out on his face, the only sound in the basement his and El’s soft breathing.

“Night.” Mike can’t help but whisper quietly, before carefully tip-toeing up the stairs. He closes the basement door quietly, knowing his mom never checks the basement but still slightly afraid that maybe she’ll change her mind.

Lying in bed, Mike can’t seem to fall asleep, mind racing and running through every possible scenario.

Mike’s last thought before he finally drifts off into troubled dreams is that he hopes wherever Will is in the Upside Down or whatever, he’s okay. Safe.

🕐