4.

For so long, Mike's blamed every bad feeling on Will and El's absence, convinced that if they returned everything would be okay. But now they're back, and nothing's okay. Eddie's dead, Max is in a coma, Dustin and Lucas are so traumatised they're barely recognisable and his own sister has been targeted by Vecna with a vision of the supposed future. Yet, on his way to see the two of them, he can't help but cling on to that one glimmer of hope.

He almost collides with Jonathan at the doorway, the older boy leaving the house just as Mike had ditched his bike and was about to knock. Mike does a double take, not due to the near miss but the scratches across Jonathan's cheek and neck. Jonathan sees him looking and turns away, hunching up his shoulders as if the colour of his jacket can hide the marks, muttering that he can let himself in, then disappearing into the woods, in the rough direction of Hopper's cabin.

Mike frowns. He'd heard the raised voices between him and Nancy last night. He hadn't been able to distinguish many of the words, hadn't wanted to, but his sister's voice had been so loud and clear at times, he hadn't been able to help hearing college and weed and don't even recognise you. That, followed by slamming doors, and Nancy's red eyes this morning, made it pretty clear that they'd broken up. But had his sister really clawed at his face? It seemed unlikely, but what other explanation could there be?

He pushes open the front door and heads instinctively to what used to be the lounge. El's in the middle, crossed legged on the floor. She has her back to him but, from what he can tell, she's staring forcefully at the wall.

He doesn't understand what's going on between him and El at the moment. He'd told her that he loves her, the thing she'd been so desperate to hear, and yet her reaction was as if he'd remained mute that whole time. When he'd finally found a moment on the journey back to Hawkins when it was just the two of them, he'd even checked with her that she'd heard what he said. She'd nodded but the distance between them hadn't closed and Mike doesn't know what to do next.

"Hey, El," he says.

She turns to look at him. "Hi."

If he were considering appearance alone, he'd like her hair short like that. It suits her. It reminds him of the younger El who adored him. But he knows why it's been shaved and who was responsible for it and so, despite the aesthetic, he can't like it. He could never like anything that had caused El pain.

"Do you want to hang out?" he asks.

"I'm busy, Mike."

"Oh." He pushes his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "What are you doing?"

"Practice."

"Practising what?" he asks, hoping it will start up a conversation.

"Mike," she says, firmly. "I'm busy."

She turns away from him, signalling the end of the conversation. He wants to suggest she takes a break to do something fun with him. He almost wants to demand they talk about their relationship, but he's too scared of the consequences if he does that.

"Okay," he says, softly, wandering away.

He finds Will in his old bedroom, lying on the floor, drawing. That, in itself, is nothing unusual, but what does strike him as odd is the speed Will slams shut his notebook when he notices him standing in the doorway. Mike frowns. Will used to share all his drawings with him, and it hurts to think that's changed. He opens his mouth to ask why, and then shuts it again, frowning. He doesn't want to pick a fight.

"Hey."

"Hi," Will says in return.

There's a beat of silence, where Mike's still debating whether to ask about his drawing. He decides to let it drop. He sits cross legged on the floor beside Will, searching for another topic of conversation, one which won't highlight the fractures in their friendship.

"Hey, so El was weird with me just now," he says. "You know what's up?"

Will eyes leave his, flickering back to the notebook in front of him. Mike gets the distinct impression his friend would rather he left so he could carry on with whatever he was working on.

"She's practicing," Will says. "With her powers. She wants to do the piggyback soon."

"Soon?" A wave of nervous energy races through him. "She can't do it before she's ready again, it's not fair on her!"

Will finally decides to move into a sitting position, which makes it feel like they're actually in conversation now. It feels better. Just slightly.

"I know," he says.

"Then why soon?" he persists. "Has something changed?"

There's a pause. "Just… Vecna, you know."

"Can you feel him? Is he bothering you?"

"I can always feel him now." Will's eyes latch onto his. "It's like… like, he's living inside my head."

"And you're worried about him spying back again?"

Will's face flickers with something Mike can't identify; it's not exactly fear but it's not a peaceful expression either. His eyes cloud over, and he looks away from Mike, staring back down at his knees,

"I'm worried about everything," Will tells him.

"Oh." Mike's not sure what he's meant to say to that. Everything is kind of a lot to reassure someone about. "Hey, listen. I know I said this before and it didn't work out like that, but this time, this connection really is a good thing. It means El can get to him. She's going to kill him this time, get rid of him for good. Everything will be better then."

Will shakes his head "It's not that simple, Mike."

"Do you know something that we don't?"

There's a pause.

"Will?"

"No, I-" His hand reaches for the back of his neck. Mike's not even sure if Will's aware he's doing it. "I told you before, it's just a feeling. Like… like a sixth sense or something. And right now I'm getting… it's almost triumph, I think" He shudders. "I dunno, it's like we're missing something, and he knows we're missing it."

"El will find the missing piece."

"But what if it's dangerous? Maybe we shouldn't always rely on her to save the day."

Mike frowns. He gets what Will saying, he's said similar himself in the past. But this different. The awful things that have happened to Max prove that point. The only one of them who stands a chance against Vecna is El. "Okay, well do you have any better ideas Will the Wise?"

Will opens his mouth and then shuts it again. Mike assumes that's a no. He uses the opportunity to try to change the subject, to distract Will from his worries.

"So, I was thinking, do you want to come over to mine soon? I got a whole load of new comics while you were away. You can borrow them if you like. Or we can read them together? Like we used to, you remember?"

"I remember. Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that." His eyes light up and he looks like himself for a few seconds, before something comes over him and his face falls.

"What is it?" Mike asks.

"Nothing."

"You don't want to come over?"

"No, no, I do. I really do. It's just… I didn't think you wanted to do that kind of thing with me anymore."

"What?" Something inside of him twists uncomfortably. "Of course I do, Will. You're my best friend." He waits for Will's usual response, you're my best friend too, Mike¸ but it doesn't come. He's surprised by how much that hurts. "What's wrong?"

Will squirms and Mike watches as picks at a loose thread in the jumper. His jumper. "I haven't… felt like your best friend much recently," he says, avoiding Mike's eyes. "Even before we moved you were spending all your time with El and I know, I know, she's your girlfriend and that's normal, but I just… I felt like you'd forgotten me." He takes a shaky breath. "And- and then we moved to California, and you barely called, didn't write, and I thought, yeah, he has forgotten. He really has."

"Will, I-" Mike begins. "That's not what it was like!"

"Wasn't it?" Will says, voice laced with either scepticism or hope, Mike can't tell.

"No! I mean, okay, I was with El a lot, but we spent time together too, right?"

"In body, maybe."

His hand flies out in front of him, frustrated. "What does that even mean?"

Will shakes his head. "Forget it."

"No, you can't say something and then back out. I want to know what you meant."

He sighs. "Just, even when we were together, you didn't want to do any of our things. You didn't want to play D&D or watch a movie, or- or we were going to create a comic together, do you remember? You just wanted to talk to Lucas about girls. About El."

Mike gawps at Will. At the top of Will's head anyway, his friend still won't look at him. He wishes he could deny it all, but Will's facts are straight. Mike just didn't have a clue he'd taken it all so personally.

Will finally looks up. His eyes are damp. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said-"

"I never forgot you though," Mike says. "Look, I know I got distracted with El and all that relationship stuff, but I never forgot you. That would never happen."

"Then why did you never write?"

"I- I dunno. I guess I didn't realise how much it would matter to you."

A tear slips down Will's cheek. "I really missed you, Mike."

He reaches out and takes Will's hand, the one that's still pulling at the jumper, and links their fingers together like they used to when they were kids. "I really missed you too. And now we're back together, I'm going to prove to you that we're still best friends, okay? Starting with a movie marathon with all your favourite snacks. And I'll write a new campaign for the party. I'll make it a really good one, I swear."

Will smiles but the tears are still falling.

"Are we okay?" Mike asks.

"Uh huh," Will says, through a sob.

Mike's about to pull him into a hug when he feels something brush against the side of his leg and looks down to see what it is. There's nothing there.

But there's a touch on his leg again and he looks down out of instinct. Still nothing to see. Just as he's going to roll up his trouser leg to check there's nothing on the inside, the feeling spreads, wrapping around his ankle and squeezing tight. It feels achingly familiar. He looks back to Will, about to tell him there's something weird going on, but he only gets as far as opening his mouth before he's grabbed around the middle and dragged backwards across the room.

He crashes into the wall, winded. There's a tight force around his stomach now and it's pulling so tight it hurts. He struggles away, but his legs are squeezed too, pinning him to the floor.

"Will, help!"

His friend remains in the same position, crossed legged, looking down at his hands, his fists squeezed so tightly into balls that his nails must be digging into his skin. He's muttering something under his breath, words that Mike can't make out.

"Will!" he shouts, louder this time.

Panic hits his chest. Is Will in a trance? Has Vecna come for him this time? He fights harder to break free from the invisible binds but the existing ones tighten, and a further two start snaking from his shoulders down each arm, pinning him splayed up against the wall. He struggles with all the force he can muster but he's no match for whatever force is working against him, he has no chance of getting to Will.

And then Will lifts his head, looking directly at him this time, and Mike can see that his eyes are normal, not the milky white that Dustin and Lucas had described. He doesn't understand. If Will's not been caught by Vecna than why isn't he helping him break free?

"Will? Will!"

A tear slips from Will's eye. "It's not real, it's not real, it's not real," he chants, under his breath, so quiet Mike can barely hear him. "It's not real."

"Will, no, no, it's real. This is real! I need your help. Will! Wil-"

His final word is cut short as something wraps around his neck. It presses down on his windpipe, painfully, immediately making it hard to breathe. "Help," he manages to choke out, and then the force increases, making it impossible to say anything else.

He can't breathe. He can't breathe. His face feels hot and his neck hurts and his chest hurts, and there's tears on his cheeks that he can't wipe away. He screams Will's name in his head, over and over, but his friend remains prone, shaking, muttering to himself, crying. He's going to die. He's going to die here, like this, in front of Will, without the chance to say goodbye or do so many of the other things he wanted to do. And, fuck, it hurts, really hurts, and he's not even being brave about this like Max or Eddie, he's just scared and crying and wishing his best friend would do something. Black spots cloud his vision. He's pretty sure it's only the binds that are keeping him upright now. There's no air getting to his lungs.

And then the door flies open crashing into the wall. El looks from Will, to him, then back to Will again, and then this time it's Will who flies backwards, hitting his head against the wall and sending him sprawling onto the floor.

Mike's suddenly released. He collapses onto the floor, spluttering and gasping and choking and it hurts with every cough, but at least he can finally breathe again.

A light hand touches his shoulder, and he weakly turns his head. There's blood beneath El's nose. He focuses on her eyes instead, wide and worried.

"Mike," she says. "Breathe."

"Trying," he splutters out. He remembers that there's tears and snot all over his face and slots that embarrassment away for later.

She takes his hand in hers. "You will be okay now."

He tries to slow down his gasping. Everything hurts. "Thanks."

El stays close to him, but he sees her attention shift to Will. "I had to get him to stop," she says. "Sorry I hurt you."

"I-I'm glad you did," Will says, shakily. He's rubbing the back of his head, looking like he's about to be sick. "Mike." He's still crying. Heavier now, if anything. "Mike, I'm so sorry. I thought it…" He shakes his head. "Are you okay?"

Is he okay? He can breathe a little easier now, but his chest is still painful, and his arms and legs are aching from where he was held. The biggest hurt though, is the thought that this was something to do with his best friend. Will had just sat there and watched. And whatever it was, only stopped when El threw Will and he'd hit his head.

"I don't understand," Mike says.

Will's looking at El, but Mike still sees the myriad of expressions that cross his face.

"Were you sad?" El asks, "before the vines got you."

"What?"

"It's important."

"I… no, not really." He glances at his friend. "Will was."

El's head turns to Will. She looks confused, which is never a good omen.

"What's going on?" Mike asks.

"He's been seeing things," El replies. "When people cry, the vines attack. Lucas, Jonathan, you. Except… for everyone else they were sad, and the vines weren't really there."

He remembers the sharp pull, the painful squeeze. "These definitely were!"

"I didn't know that," Will says, "I promise. I thought it was like with Jonathan and I didn't want to hurt you like I hurt him but, oh god," he shudders, "oh shit. I'm really sorry."

Mike frowns at the thought of Will hurting his brother. The only other time he's seen Will come even close to hurting anyone is when he was possessed by the Mindflayer. He looks back to El. "How's this happening?" he asks, warily.

"001. I think his hiding place is in the connection with Will."

"Vecna's hiding in Will?"

"Yes."

A sudden sinking feeling rushes through him, not dissimilar to when he jumped off the cliff all those years ago. His eyes flicker to Will then back to El. He's scared to even voice his question. "And so Will's, what- possessed again?"

"No. He sees 001 try to hurt people."

"Just try?" He rubs at his sore neck.

"Today it got worse," she says.