11-02-84

Mrs. Byers lets Mike in after he explains what's happened in the past few days, and she tells him everything Will's been going through, which was extra worrying. ("He likes it cold," yeah, great, awesome.) Once he's inside, he can't help but marvel at the papers adorning the floor and the walls. He knew about it, sure, but hearing about it really didn't prepare him for… this. Before he can get a closer look, though, Mrs. Byers ushers him into Will's room, where Mike finds himself spluttering and averting his eyes hastily – Will's shirtless, and Mike hates that his stupid, teenage brain is picking now, of all times, to freak out over it. He's known Will for most of his life, goddammit, he shouldn't be getting flustered over it now, when there's very obviously something wrong with Will!

Fortunately, Mrs. Byers seems to pick up on his embarrassment, because then she's picking out a shirt and handing it to Will, nudging him when he hesitates to pull it on. She scoops up a few loose papers, pats Will on the shoulder, and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her. For a good minute, Will just stares at Mike silently, already starting to sweat through the shirt, and Mike fidgets under his troubled gaze. He looks over at the wall, quickly taking notice of the papers taped together messily in here, too, and he decides to follow the path wherever it goes now that he has a chance to.

"So, your mom told me about the… the stuff that's been happening." He breaks the tense silence, because he doesn't know what else to do. "But, I'm still kind of- kind of confused." That's not even a lie, really – he got the gist of it from Mrs. Byers' explanation, sure, but a lot of it's still not quite clear to him.

"Well…" Will starts, but then he stops, falling silent for a few minutes. Mike decides not to push; he knows Will will tell him when he's ready. Pushing him forward now would probably just make things worse. So, Mike just keeps following the path in silence, and he lets Will think. And, eventually, Will speaks again, voice quiet and shaking, and he sounds like he'd rather be saying anything but this, but he's saying it anyways because he needs to. "It's like… It's like I feel what the shadow monster's feeling. See what he's seeing."

Mike had glanced between Will and the pictures as he kept tracing the path with his finger, and he settles his gaze on Will fully as he asks, "Like in the Upside Down?"

Will nods his head just the slightest bit, almost imperceptible from where Mike's standing. "Some of him is there. But some of him is here, too."

Here? Mike looks around, almost as if the shadow monster's just going to be sitting in the corner of the room, waving a shadowy tendril at him. Of course, he knows it's not there, logically, but still. "Here, like, in this house?"

"In this house, and-" Will's face twists up, and it looks like he's about to start crying – Mike's seen this look too many times to count. It still pulls at his chest every time. "-in me." Mike moves over to the bed, sitting down next to Will as he tries to provide any bit of comfort he can. "It's like… It's like he's reaching into Hawkins, more and more. And the more he spreads, the more connected to him I feel."

"And the more you see these now memories." Mike continues as it begins to form clearly in his head.

"At first, I just felt it in the back of my head. I didn't even really know it was there. It's like- when you have a dream, and you can't remember it unless you think really hard. It was like that." Mike looks away, not able to bear looking at him when he can't think of anything to say to comfort him. C'mon, Mike, think, think, think! "But now it's like… Now I remember. I remember all the time."

"Maybe…" Mike looks back over at Will, whose arm is shaking, "Maybe that's good."

"Good?" Will's voice is wet, strained, and incredulous, like it's the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard, and he looks at Mike for a second with tears in his eyes.

"Just think about it, Will. You're like a spy now, a super spy, spying on the shadow monster." Oh, god, Mike hopes he's right about this. "If you know what he's seeing and feeling, maybe that's how we can stop him. Maybe all this is happening for a reason." He's not really sure where he got the idea – the thought popped into his head without warning, and it stuck like glue until he was saying it out loud, voice extremely soft, even to his own ears.

"You really think so?" The look in Will's eyes is screaming that he wants to believe it, wants to believe him, but he just doesn't know if he can.

And if Mike can do anything, it's convince Will that this is okay, that they're okay. "Yeah, yeah, I really do." Will eyes flit around before landing on one thing in particular, and he starts shaking anxiously. Mike follows his gaze and sees a drawing of what he assumes is the shadow monster.

"What if he figures out we're spying on him?" Will sniffles, and Mike turns back to look at him. "What if he spies back?"

"He won't." Mike rushes in, trying his best to cut off Will's train of thought before it gets nasty.

Will shakes even more as he asks, "How do you know?"

Mike lets instinct take over, reaching over and covering Will's hand in his own. Will stills, and Mike can't take his eyes off his face. It has to be the truth, it has to be. He hopes, he prays that he's right, and then he states, "We won't let him."

Slowly, almost excruciatingly slowly, Will relaxes, eventually slumping over onto Mike's shoulder. After a few minutes, he turns his hand over, linking their fingers delicately. Mrs. Byers comes in later, asking if Mike wants to stay the night, to which he readily agrees. Getting away from his family and spending time with Will? It's like a double win, he thinks. Dinner's a little awkward at first, but then a conversation sprouts and he feels like he's finally come home. It's kind of sad, really – the only place he feels completely and utterly comfortable is with a family other than his own.

He goes to sleep, wrapped tightly in a sleeping bag, feeling okay for the first time in almost a year.

11-03-84

Mike had gone to bed feeling okay, but that feeling leaves when he wakes up to Will shifting loudly in his bed. It's almost funny how easily he got distracted from all the shitty things going on around him. He contemplates shaking Will awake – it seems like he's having a nightmare, what with all the moving and whimpering – but before Mike can get up to do anything, Will's shooting up with a gasp. While his heavy breathing is slowing, Mike asks, "Will, what's wrong?"

Will looks over to him with fear in his eyes, still panting, for several moments before he finally manages to get out, "I saw Hopper… in- in my now memories. I think he's in trouble. I think he's going to die."

Oh. That's… not what Mike was expecting. He expected more from the shadow monster, but Hopper? That's a surprise. "Should we tell your mom?"

Will nods, standing up from the bed, and holds out a hand to help Mike up from the ground. Mike unwraps himself from his sleeping bag, and takes Will's hand. He almost trips on the sleeping bag, but, luckily, Will steadies him. He offers a sheepish grin and squeezes Will's hand once before letting go. He doesn't want to make it weird or anything. Will gives a small smile back, and, on trembling legs, makes his way out of the room slowly. Mike follows, grabbing his hoodie from his bag beforehand and sliding into it, zipping it up partway because damn, it's cold as hell in this house.

Will tells his mom the same thing he told Mike, and she asks, panicked, if he can draw where he saw Hopper. She grabs a tube of wrapping paper, tearing off a large piece, and the two of them rush into Will's room, Mike following, feeling like a useless duckling. Will sits at his desk, picks up his crayons and starts colouring frantically as soon as Mrs. Byers sets the paper in front of him. Will stops abruptly, and Mike can hear thunder rumbling faintly. It almost feels like a warning.

Mike peers around Will to see the scribbled blues and blacks on the paper, not really paying attention to what they're saying as he tries to memorize the shape as best as he can. He might not be the best person to have along in this scenario – he's not very strong, and he can't even lead the rest of the party when they're not with him – but the least he can do is help look for Hopper. As soon as Mrs. Byers picks up the wrapping paper, he starts scouring every inch of the house that's covered by paper alongside her.

He finds it on the fridge, a spot where four paths merge together. Mrs. Byers runs over after he calls her, and holds up the paper to see that it matches. She says, "Okay, so- so Hopper is here?"

"Yeah. Now we just need to find out where here is, right?" Mike does his best to reassure her – she's always gotten stressed so easily, even more since last year, and Mike really needs her to stay calm.

"Right."

"Did he say anything? I mean, before he left?" He asks, because they'll need as many clues as possible if they're ever going to find Hopper.

She sighs, gesturing uncertainly with one hand. "Some- something about… vines?"

Mike wants to keep on this train of thought, he wants to start brainstorming about where the hell there would be vines, but then there's the sound of a car. His first thought is what if that's Hopper, what if he's alright after all, and it seems Mrs. Byers thinks the same thing, because as they walk to the windows, she breathes out, "Hopper."

It's not Hopper.

It's Bob.

Mike's only met Bob maybe two or three times, and he seemed… nice. Nothing super out of the ordinary, but if that's what Mrs. Byers wants, he can't really say anything about it. Mrs. Byers goes out to talk to him, and Mike gets distracted by Will creeping into the room behind him. He smiles softly at Will before the door opens again, and Mrs. Byers is letting Bob in- letting him in? Is she insane? But, there's nothing he can do about it – this isn't a democracy, this is her decision. (Doesn't mean he has to be happy about it.)

Mrs. Byers gives Bob the vaguest possible explanation, and Mike swaps a wary glance with Will. She calls Bob over to the crossroads on the fridge, and he hands Mike the pile of things he's holding before following. Mike plops the things onto the table and pads over to them as Mrs. Byers draws an X with a red crayon in the center of the crossroads.

"That's the objective. Find the X," Mike supplies.

"Yeah? What's at the X, pirate treasure?" Bob chuckles, and god, he's such a typical adult. He doesn't believe them. Mike knew this would happen.

Joyce interrupts sternly with, "Bob, no questions."

"Okay," He whispers.

There's an awkward silence for a moment, and Mike almost wants to say something, but there's nothing to say. Then, Bob pulls Mrs. Byers out of the room, saying, "Let me talk to you for a second. Hang on, guys."

Mike and Will look at each other at first, lost, before Mike slowly walks over to the table. He sits down quietly, and Will waits a second before coming to sit next to him. They sit in silence until Bob's voice starts getting louder, clearer, as he and Mrs. Byers come back into the hallway.

"Okay, I get it, that's Lake Jordan. And if that's Lake Jordan, then you can probably find…" They're all the way down the hallway now, and Bob snaps his fingers, pointing at the wall, "Yeah, that's, uh… Sattler's quarry. And then if you just follow it naturally, it leads to the Eno river. And there it is! That's the Eno, do you see it?" He looks back at Mrs. Byers, who tilts her head, trying to see it, and Mike is actually kind of stunned. Maybe Bob's actually the right person to have with them.

"Okay, so, the lines aren't roads, but they act like roads," Bob continues, walking into the kitchen. "And they act like roads 'cause when you follow 'em, you'll see… they don't go over water. And that's the giveaway. That's the giveaway!" He laughs triumphantly, and Mike twists in his seat to watch as Bob walks behind him. "Don't you get it? It's not a puzzle. It's a map. It's a map of Hawkins!"

Mike looks at Will, who stares back with wide eyes full of shock. Bob laughs again, and Mike turns back to him. He looks towards Will, and asks, "Right, Will?"

Will looks up at him blankly, nodding awkwardly after a few moments of silence. And then. they think.

Eventually, Mrs. Byers comes up with a plan: label all the bodies of water, measure it on a map of Hawkins, and measure it in the house. She goes to dig out a ruler, map, and tape measure, and Will brings a pad of paper and crayons from his room so he and Mike can make labels. Bob lists out all the areas that need labels, and tapes up the papers after they're done. They're done before Mrs. Byers comes back, and Bob busies himself with writing on the back of the now empty pad of paper. She comes back with what they need, handing the ruler and map to Bob. Mike grabs one end of the tape measure, and Bob asks them to get from Lovers' Lake to Tippecanoe, so they measure from her room to the living room.

Then, they measure from Tippecanoe to Danford Creek, and Mrs. Byers insists that that has to be enough. Bob says it's not, the ratio isn't one to one, but says that the X is probably half a mile southeast of Danford. Mrs. Byers kisses him on the cheek, thanking him before grabbing the map and running out of the house. Will sends Mike a quick surprised glance before the two leave after her. Mike can hear Bob call from behind them, "What? Are we- we really going?"

No one answers him.

The drive feels like it takes hours. He knows it probably only takes ten minutes, but once they get into the farmlands it's like an endless landscape of grass. Mike waits, watches, and waits, before he finally gives up. "There's nothing. There's nothing here."

"A-are we close?" Mrs. Byers asks Bob from the driver's seat.

"We're in the vicinity," He answers after a moment's pause.

She sighs, "What's that mean, the vicinity?"

"It means we're- we're close, I mean, I don't know, it's not precise."

"But we did all that work!"

"I told you, the scale ratio is not exactly one to one. We needed to take more mea-"

"Turn right!" Will bursts in while Bob's mid-sentence, voice loud and urgent, calling Mike's attention over to him.

Mrs. Byers twists her head to look at Will. "What?"

"I saw him."

"Where?" She cranes her neck, scanning the fields outside the windshield for any sign of Hopper, but Mike's pretty sure that's not what he meant.

"Not here, in my now memories."

Mrs. Byers looks back at him one more time, and Bob looks back too, asking, "In your what?"

Whoops. Mike probably should've stopped Will from saying that. Oh well, he figures, just another detail Bob knows. It's not like they told him everything. Apparently, Will could care less about explaining to Bob right now, because then he insists, "Turn right!"

And turn right she does. She veers off the road entirely, and things immediately go to shit as they smash through a sign (pick your own pumpkins, Mike thinks it said) and a hay bale, Mrs. Byers quickly losing control of the car. Mike can't help but yell as the car bumps violently, and the car's filled with screams before they just barely manage to stop before hitting Hopper's police cruiser. Mike chokes for a second thanks to his seatbelt as they're all thrown forward from the abrupt stop.

"Are you okay?" Mrs. Byers asks breathily, looking back at them, and Mike knows she's talking more to Will than him. (It's okay. He doesn't blame her.)

Will looks shaken, hair all mussed up, but Mike doesn't really care; just then, the way he just knew where Hopper was, it was almost like he was a- "Super spy…" Mike murmurs. Maybe he was right after all.

"What's Jim doing here? Joyce?" Bob asks her, but she doesn't respond, instead looking back at Mike and Will.

"Boys," She says, popping open the car door, "I need you to stay here."

As she's getting out of the car, Will leans forward, gripping onto the driver's seat. "No, Mom, Mom, Mom, it's not safe."

Bob gets out of the car, too, as Mrs. Byers replies, "That's why I need you to stay here. Stay here!" She slams the door, and Mike flinches back from the loud noise instinctively. Mike watches as Bob and Mrs. Byers disappear down below the ground. He looks over at Will wordlessly, and Will stares back. His eyes are swimming with fear, and Mike's heart twists at the sight. C'mon Mike, he thinks, now's not the time for your crush – not a crush! – to get in the way. They could be in danger, he can't just sit here and do nothing while they're down there, possibly walking into their deaths.

Mike takes a sharp breath in, and breaks the silence, still staring into Will's eyes. "I'm going out there." It's a statement, but he's pretty sure that Will can hear the question behind it: are you coming with me? Will's eyes flick over Mike's face – it feels weird, like he's being exposed in every way possible – before nodding slowly, but decisively.

Their car doors slam shut at the same time.

His resolve quickly fizzles out as he approaches the hole (vines covering it, of course there are vines), and it seems Will's going through the same thing, because they both walk slower, slower, and stop. "Do you see anything?" Mike asks, because, well, it can't hurt to ask. "I mean, in your now memories?"

But Will shakes his head, swaying on his feet nervously. Well, shit, there's one plan down the hole. Mike's pondering whether he should just suck it up and go in when there's the sound of engines and tires screeching. They whirl around, and Mike can only watch as three vans from Hawkins lab pull into the field. He has to repeat to himself that they're on his side, they're on his side, because the last time he saw those vans was when he was biking for his life last year. Not exactly his favourite memory. Will looks at him, he looks at Will, they're both illuminated by the headlights and there's nothing they can say.

Several people step out of the vans, pulling on hazmat suits quickly. One man in a coat looks at them, and he asks, "What're you two boys doing here?"

And all of a sudden, all eyes are on them. Well, all eyes are on Mike, because he can feel Will looking to him, and Mike knows he has to say something. "There- there's people down there!" He manages to stammer out.

There's an explosion of noise around them, one person heading down past the vines almost immediately, and Mike almost loses himself in all the chatter. He steps closer to the hole, more comfortable now that there's actual experts here to handle the situation, but then Will's grunting in pain, collapsing to the ground while clutching at his stomach. Mike drops to kneel next to him, grabbing onto Will's arm as he tries to keep him still. "Will! Will, you okay?" Will keeps squirming under his hands, whimpering, moaning, crying, louder and louder. "Will! Will, what's wrong?"

Then, Will flips onto his back, and he screams.

Mike practically flies off of him and steps back; Will's screaming, jerking, eyes rolled up, and it doesn't stop. If Mike knows what he thinks he knows, this is probably a seizure. Mike might know that, sure, but what he doesn't know is what caused it, and that's all that he can think about as he watches Will convulse on the ground, looking almost like he's not himself. (He looks like Will, but more like a lifeless version of him. No, no, that's not right, Mike's seen a lifeless Will before. It's more like he's soulless.)

Mike has no idea what's wrong with Will, what happened, and that's almost scarier than the sight of Will seizing on the ground, mouth wide open as he shrieks. Almost.

hhh sorry this one took so long ive been distracted lately

longest chapter yet though! wait times are probably going to start getting longer as the chapters get longer too :/ sorry

ty ty for reading this far lmao i love all of you