11-01-84
The second he had seen the creature inside Dustin's proton pack, Mike knew things were about to utterly go to shit.
First of all, its name is d'Artagnan – because of course it is, it's Dustin – and that's not really a name that strikes him as trustworthy. Secondly, it felt cold and slimy in his hand, and it was hard not to cringe at the feeling – again, not something that he thinks is a good thing. Also, it's nothing any of them have ever seen before – Dustin says he thinks it's a new species – and having an unknown, slimy creature right in front of him had sparked a feeling in his gut that it's happening again. But, he'd went with it; Dustin was really excited about it, and Mike didn't have any actual proof of it being bad, so he'd held off on ruining Dustin's fun until he had a real reason to.
That reason comes to him in the form of Will Byers.
"Will, you coming?" He asks after school, ignoring all the other students shoving past him in a hurry to leave. "Let's go show Mr. Clarke."
Will doesn't say anything; he just shuts his locker and looks at Mike with that look on his face that says something's up. "What?" Mike questions as Will steps over to him, and repeats himself when there's no response.
Will leans in just the slightest bit with wide eyes, and murmurs, "It's about d'Artagnan."
Oh shit.
Mike glances around them, making sure nobody's looking at them before quickly reaching out and grabbing Will by the wrist, pulling him over to a relatively empty spot of the hallway so they're not standing in the way of anyone. He huddles in close to Will and, dutifully ignoring the fuzzy feeling in his chest, motions for him to continue.
"Okay, but don't get- don't get mad at me, alright?" Mike can feel concern rising quickly, but nods slowly. It doesn't appear to relieve Will in any way, because he keeps staring into Mike's eyes with a look of quiet fear on his face. The air seems to grow thin around them as Will drops his voice to a whisper. "After I got back from the Up- from there, I started… well, coughing up things."
"Things? Like, like what?" Mike prompts when Will doesn't continue, his lips twisted downward.
"They were kind of like slugs, I guess. But, they- they looked like Dart." The words come out hurried, like he's not sure how Mike's going to take it, or maybe he's not sure he'd be able to say it otherwise.
Mike feels his heart drop into his stomach. He knew there was something wrong with that thing.
"Tell me everything."
And Will does. He tells Mike in hushed tones about how Dart looks so, so similar to the slug, just with an added tail, he tells Mike about how he'd heard an unsettling chittering noise during his episode yesterday that sounded just like the noises Dart made. Mike won't even try to deny that there's panic squeezing his heart in its grip; Dustin's going to show Mr. Clarke something that, more likely than not, is from the Upside Down.
"Oh god, okay, um- let's go get the others!" There's an urgency in his tone that he didn't plan on as he reaches up and pats Will's shoulder without thinking twice, and cringes immediately afterwards, stiffly dropping his arm back to his side. He waits for Will to nod, and, after nodding back, takes off for Mr. Clarke's classroom, hearing Will's footsteps following quickly behind him. Luckily, they're just on time, because when he bursts through the door with a shout, the proton pack is sitting on Mr. Clarke's desk. Mike does his best to come up with a good excuse for Mr. Clarke – though he can tell by his face that it's not very convincing – and scoops up the proton pack, backing out of the classroom with a yell that spurs the others into following him, although it does kind of hurt his throat. He makes sure Max stays outside the AV room; she doesn't know anything about the Upside Down, and he wants to keep it that way, both because he doesn't trust her and because it would put her in their line of sight, and he's not going to put her through that even if he doesn't like her that much.
And then, they talk.
Mike does most of the talking for Will, really. He knows talking about it's probably really hard – god knows he doesn't like talking about last November – and Will had already told it once, so Mike might as well make it easier on him. And, soon enough, he says the thing that's been dancing around in the back of his mind throughout the school day: "Dart is from the Upside Down."
He can see Dustin's expression fall, and dimly feels a little guilty at having to do this, but at the same time, he's thinking come on, Dustin.
Lucas sighs, and for a split second, Mike thinks he's going to disagree, but then he continues with, "We have to take him to Hopper."
"I agree."
"No. No way. If we take him to Hopper, Dart's as good as dead." Dustin protests, because of course he does, because Dustin wants this so bad, and Mike remembers that he's not the only one who throws himself into things. Mike can kind of relate to this, and he feels bad, but at the same time, he knows Dustin's in the wrong here, he's trying to protect something that could and would eagerly kill all of them, so Mike can push away the guilt pretty easily.
"Maybe he should be dead!" It's the truth, and Mike doesn't regret saying it, but the hurt that flashes across Dustin's face makes him think that he maybe could have worded that better.
"How can you say that?"
Mike's patience is starting to wear thin. "How could you not? He's from the Upside Down!"
"Maybe," Dustin retorts, "but even if he is, it doesn't automatically mean that he's bad."
…Wait, what? Really? "That's like saying just because someone's from the Death Star doesn't make them bad."
Dustin looks away from him, trying to shield his expression from Mike's vision – it doesn't work; Mike can see every hint of pain in his face, and he hates that he put it there, but more than that he hates that Dustin's so broken up about Dart, of all things. He says softly, "We have a bond."
Oh my god. Honestly, what the hell is Dustin thinking? That's the most ridiculous thing Mike's heard in months! "A bond? Just because he likes nougat?" He can feel a smile settle on his face, and there's a hint of laughter in his voice, because it's just so damn stupid it ends up feeling like a joke.
"No, because he trusts me!" Dustin shouts, turning to stare Mike in the eyes. He can't help but deflate a little at the look in Dustin's eyes – there's fear, desperation, hurt, anger, and it shakes Mike to the core because this is a side of Dustin he's only seen maybe four or five times. It never comes up without a good reason. It's obvious he's invested now more than ever; if he's acting like this, there's no way Mike'll be able to pull him back to his senses on his own.
But Mike's not on his own. "He trusts you?" While it's technically a question, Lucas' tone makes it clear he's not actually interested. He's looking at Dustin with a single eyebrow quirked, and it's such an utterly Lucas expression that, in a better situation, Mike would have to bite back a fond smile.
"Yes! I promised that I would take care of hi-" Just as Dustin's about to finish, Dart screeches from inside the proton pack, and the pack starts jerking violently. They all back away from the table, ignoring the banging on the door and Max's muffled calls. Dart tips the pack over onto its side, and Mike instinctively grabs at the nearest blunt object on the table, not even registering what he's holding. "Don't hurt him!"
Mike keeps his gaze set firmly on the proton pack, not looking up at Dustin as he replies, "Only if he attacks."
"Just open it already," Lucas snaps at Dustin. He reaches over, grabbing the remote, and pauses before opening the doors. Dart tumbles out, bigger, greener, and with two more limbs than before.
"Holy shit," Lucas says, and Dustin drops the remote quickly. There's a pulse on Dart's side, and Mike wonders for a split second what the hell it's going to do now before- oh god, oh shit, make that four more limbs. Dustin looks like he's about to barf, and Lucas screeches out, "Oh, shit!"
Okay, fuck this. Mike steps forward and swings down, but Dustin's shouting and pushing Mike's arm roughly. He hits the table with an unsatisfying clonk, but Dart's fallen off the table and is skittering towards the door. The door swings open, Max on the other side. Dart runs past her, and Mike thinks he hears her murmur something along the lines of what the, but that doesn't matter. "Oh shit!" He spits, and all four of them scramble to get outside. Dustin somehow brings both himself and Max to the ground, Lucas tripping over them. Mike steps around them to look down the corridor.
Both Dustin and Lucas ask where Dart went, but Mike can't see any sign of him. Max, picking herself off the ground, asks, "What was that?"
"Dart!"
"What?"
"You let him escape!" His words come out snippier than intended, but he doesn't care enough to correct them, nor does he have the time.
Dustin shoves a finger into Mike's chest. "Why did you attack him?" It's strange – Dustin's been mad at him plenty of times, considering Mike's quite good at angering people when he wants to (and when he doesn't want to, too), but he's pretty sure this is the first time Dustin has been really, truly angry at him. It kind of tears at his chest that the first time had to be over a creature from another dimension. Speaking of which, he needs to find that thing as soon as possible. God knows what it might end up doing if they let it run free. So, he pushes past Dustin, mutters a quick come on, and takes off down the hall.
He ignores the way face twists as Dustin yells at him angrily, "Don't hurt him! Don't you hurt him!" It's okay. He's okay.
Somehow, it takes them ten minutes to find Dart. And by them, Mike means Will, because Mike ended up getting kind of… distracted. First, it was Max circling him over and over, and then, who he thought had been El, but apparently, he was wrong. Either way, Will says that Dart's in the bathroom near Salerno's, so Mike and Max (who ends up sticking with him, both because she doesn't have a radio and because she's still trying to get in the party) make their way there, meeting up with Lucas along the way. When they get there, Dustin's standing there empty handed. No sign of Dart.
"Where's Dart?" He asks, because Dustin has a better chance of knowing than any of them do.
Dustin, however, just shrugs, "I don't know. Not here." His voice is a little cold, and, okay, maybe Mike deserves it, just a bit.
"What?" Mike moves to check the stalls for any sign of the little bastard.
Max speaks from behind him. "He said by Salerno's, right?"
"Yeah. Maybe Will has him," Dustin responds, and Mike feels like the temperature drops 10 degrees when he realizes it.
He looks right at Dustin. "Where is Will?"
Dustin's eyebrows scrunched together. "He wasn't here when I got here."
Oh, shit.
hey it's 2018! that's pretty cool
anyway this one took less time than expected
going to write the mike & max scene but i just,,, couldn't figure out how to do it,, it just never turned out right. sorry if you wanted that :/
i also made a poll for what i should do for the snow ball! here's a link,, please vote - www . strawpoll . me / 14724577
