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On the side of Lucas, looking around the hospital room, Dustin's eyes kept bouncing around the room.
He saw how everyone seemed happier that Will was back. Despite, the exhausted expression on everyone's face he saw the small things to show it. Even Steve who had been completely oblivious to what was going on. And collectively, well their way their eyes seemed a bit brighter, a bit lighter.
Nancy stared in space lost, blinking away tears that gathered in her eyes, before she tore her gaze away and it flicked to Steve for a moment before settling on Jonathan and her gaze seemed to soften infinitely. Moving from her creaky chair over to Jonathan as his leg bounced and he played with his fingers in worry.
Similarly to Hopper as his hand landed on top of Joyce's to calm her manic tapping rhythm against the chair.
As soon as the door opened, giving the slightest hint that Will might be alright. Everyone's head snapped towards it, their senses more aware then ever. The four boys barged into the hospital room that held Will, and began talking over each other. Telling of stories that had happened during their friend's disappearance.
Dustin, Lucas, and Mike crowded around Will's hospital bed, exhaustion clung to all of them but didn't stop how they all created a lively animated atmosphere. Will softly grinned at the sight of his friends, laughing gently as they blabbed on. With Mike's exaggerated hand gestures, Lucas's broad smile and snickers, and Dustin's vivid chattering.
Despite, how animately Mike was talking to Will about everything he missed, Dustin couldn't miss that haunted look in his eyes.
The way he was still shaken up from what happened was painfully obvious to Dustin. His eyes would glisten before he blinked away tears, wincing, and the ways he would random freeze up. His eyes darting around the room.
For hours, they stuck by Will's side rambling and keeping him company. When their parent's had showed up they begged to stay, even if it was just for a little longer, anything to reassure them that Will would be fine. Never letting him out of their sight for a split second when they were in there.
Eventually, they were forced out from the room and told to go him from weary drained doctors.
Before, they had all split up and left to go home, Dustin glanced around the room for a second before reaching out and grabbing Mike's hand.
Mike turned around, brows furrowed at Dustin. Confusion blatant on his face.
Dustin hesitated before drawing in a breath "..Mike, are you alright..?"
Concern swimming in his eyes as he looked over Mike's scrawny figure.
He nodded, clearing his throat "Uh, yeah I'm doing fine.." swallowing, he muttered "Come on, we should go home now.. it's been a long week."
For the sake of normalcy, Joyce had gathered everyone hoping for a day where everyone could relax. Especially, now that El was back, Joyce felt like she deserved a chance to feel a normal childhood. Even if most of it was already over.
They were all in the slightly tattered living room, brainstorming ideas of places to go. It was going fairly well, they managed to keep everyone's ideas somewhat organized.
"We could go to the theaters..!" Steve voiced
"Roller-skating rink!" Max chirped from her position near Lucas.
Or well it was going fairly well.
"We could go swimming--"
Mike froze up, face going blank. His mind muddled out the rest of what was said, focusing on 'swimming'.
An image of the quarry flooded his mind. Mike faintly realized he was spiraling but all he think of was as he would hit the water, salty water would fill his lungs.
Darkness would start to swell around him, and he'd be uselessly bobbing his head trying to get back to the surface. Only floppy black hair would be seen, a pile of scraggly limbs underneath.
He'd sink towards the bottom, and sob for air. Mike could imagine how the salt would sting his eyes, as it would draw water out from eyes. Or maybe he'd focus on how the water would fill his throat, mixing in with the bile that's coating the back of his throat. He'd suck in a breath, barely being able to recognize and tell a part the pain as he claws at his throat.
Where the water in the quarry is deepened his body, would lay as water covered his face. In deep murky depths, water would wash over him.
He recognized that having a fear of water wasn't totally out of the normal. But he couldn't help but feel like it would spark suspicion and curiosity with how he was completely fine with water in the past. Plus he didn't completely trust that his voice would come out completely steady.
He shifted from where he was standing, conflicted whether to speak up but ultimately stayed quiet.
Unknown to Mike, Dustin was watching for his reaction. He saw how he stiffened up, and how his face was wiped from any previous emotions. Dustin saw the hesitancy in Mike's eyes to speak up.
So, Dustin would do it for him.
Piping up, "I don't think it would be the best to swimming, y'know it's warming up and anywhere we went would he crowded. And we're trying to keep El hidden, Hawkins is a small town. Everyone knows each other." He couldn't help but snark the last bit out.
Dustin saw the tension release from Mike's stature.
He let a soft grin spread out across his face at it.
Hanging out in the basement, Will was bobbing his head along to "The Cure" that was softly playing the background.
Interrupting the calming silence, Lucas turned his head towards Mike and Dustin. Saying "I've been meaning to ask, what happened, the day I split off from you guys?"
"What do you mean?"
He cautioned "During, Will's.. disappearance, when Mike and I had a fight.. and I biked away from you guys to find the gate?" he swallowed, "What happened when I left?"
The color drained from Mike's face for a split second before he regained his composure.
Mike struggled "Well-- Uh, er-- it's when you left--"
Seeing how Mike was stammering over his words, struggling to a find a decent excuse to avoid saying what had actually happened, Dustin stepped in.
Dustin hesitated before blurting out a lie and cutting off Mike "When you left we had set off to find you before.. straying off from that and decided to see if we could find the gate, while keeping a look out for El.."
:"..Y'know if she decided to pop up" he added on to make it seem more believable.
Lucas stared at them blankly before just taking what Dustin said as answer. Not wanting to figure out actually happened right now.
Mike felt the tension release from his body before silently giving Dustin his thanks.
Dustin gave him a comforting subtle grin, before turning back to the conversation.
A cool breeze entered Dustin's room, moonlight spilt through the room from the cracked window. Half-stuck stars stickers on his ceilings, faintly lit up the dimmed room. A tank that was catching spiderwebs was on a dresser, a bulky radio on the side.
The radio buzzed creating static before a familiar boyish voice transmitted through it.
"D--Dustin!" was said through the radio, alarm laced in the voice. In the background, you could hear the person that was talking take in shuttering breaths. As if trying to steady themselves.
"Dustin!" panicked Mike, trying to make his voice louder. His heart was pounding in his ears, and he felt like he had blood in his lungs.
Dark. Wet. Freezing. Salty.
Mike gasped out, and he can still feel the water rushing over him. His forehead was beaded with sweat. He let out a harsh choked out sob, bottom lip trembling.
Blood. Crimson Red. Dripping.
The sound of a drop of liquid hitting the ground, echoed. His eyes widened at the sight of the red substance, hesitantly he looked up.
Blood dripped from Dustin's mouth, some crusting around his mouth.
A slick--slimey sluggish clawed his way through Dustin's mouth, it was sludgy and clammy. It squirmed and wriggled in his mouth.
He gagged-- Dustin gagged, bile rising in his throat, and blood pooling from out of his mouth into a small puddle on the ground.
Mike's mouth gaped open, he stared blankly at his fingertips. Feeling heavy blood coating his fingers. He stiffened in his spot, repeatedly muttering out 'Dustin' getting louder each time.
It wasn't until Mike choked out a harsh scream, that Dustin woke up, reaching out for his walkie-talkie, holding it loosely.
Sleep still clung to him, and his eyes barely fluttering open.
Mike's eyes flooded with tears, and small gasps left his lips.
Dustin froze, seemingly going pale.
"..Mike, Mike?!" cried Dustin, his hold on the radio getting tighter.
"F-Fuck, a--are you okay, what's going on?"
Mike heaved out shaky hitching breaths, feeling a spike of pain in his heart.
"I--I keep seeing it.. the image of you, blood staining your mouth, tears threatening to fall from your eyes, as you whisper out my name.."
"I-It's so fucking horrifying, Dustin." breathed Mike, barely processing what he was saying.
Dustin recoiled, not expecting to hear that. He knew that Mike had some type of nightmare. He felt nauseated at the terror in Mike's tone.
Swallowing, "T--There was this c-creature, it was slimy and wet. It was trying to find this way out your throat, it writhed, twisted, shifted, wriggled.. a-anything to get out of there and it caused so so much blood to drip from your mouth," pausing Mike's attempted to steady his shaking hands "..blood clogged your throat and I-I knew it was my fault."
"I-It was all on me and I couldn't do shit about it.."
A million things ran through Dustin's head right now but he focused on Mike.
Dustin softly began "Mike, focus on my voice. I'm not going anywhere"
He quietly sucks in a breath before continuing, "You're not getting rid of me that easily, I'm not leaving you, you're one of my best friends and we're sticking together. No matter if the world turns into a literal hell, we're still going to be stuck together. And nothings going to change that."
Dustin decided to go down a better route for right now, and distract Mike. Rambling about different subjects, from what he had eaten today and trying to lure information from him about their next D&D session.
Well, at least until he heard, soft breathing and snores from the other side of the radio.
Walking into the two story house, saying the usual "Hello, Mrs. Wheeler" with a beaming grin Dustin made his way to Mike's room.
Concern started to bubble up in Dustin, when he heard barely recognizable "no's" coming from Mike's room, and silent subtle sobs.
Without a moment's hesitation Dustin's hand wrapped around the doorknob, and he let himself in with a quick "Mike, I'm coming in."
Dustin paused, color draining from his face.
Mike's voice was hearse as he muttered out under his breath "Dustin..?"
And fuck if that was heart-wrenching.
Dustin inched towards Mike, making each movement obvious. He was cautious to how Mike would react if he made any sudden movements or got too close.
"..Mike can you nod if you can hear me?"
Mike drew in a shaky breath, and nodded.
He felt the rough scratchy material of his sweater the more his forearms brushed against it. His palms were getting sweaty, and his skin felt like a fire was bubbling underneath it.
Mike's heart thudded in his chest. A foreign feeling consumed him, as he gasped out for air.
He tried to blink back tears that threatened to fall. Swallowing, back the nausea that coated the back of his throat.
Mike's chest felt constricted, each breath drawn from his chest being forcefully taken.
The memory of the quarry kept flooding in his mind for months.
Troy’s grating voice echoing, “C’mon, Frogface.”
“Dentist’s office opens in, 5..4..3..2..1”
Mike rasped out, and muttered intelligible drawn out sentences. Jerking his head, hugging his knees, with shiny eyes. He felt the lump in his throat rise.
His knuckles were bruised, and his wrists has red rashes on them. His arms have painful scratches on them-- and oh would you look at that, now they're swelling.
Mike's vision is getting increasingly more blurry, and now there's a sheen of sweat on his skin. A flush crept up his neck, spreading across his cheeks.
His gnashing his teeth, and digging his fingernails into his palm. His voice sounds strange to him, like he's slurring his words.
The image of the quarry floods his mind. How the gravel crumbled underneath his feet, threatening to tip him before he could do so himself.
He remembered how he swallowed thickly, bile building up in the back of his throat. The way he squeezed his eyes shut, wind whispering in his ear.
Dustin sat a couple inches away from Mike, "Alright, can you copy my breathing? Try to follow the rhythm, if you can't that perfectly fine and we can work out something else to help calm you down."
Dustin let out a deep breath slowly, and tried to listen out for Mike's imitation rather then his silent whimpers. Once he heard the trembling breath, he said "Okay, great keep copying me.."
Mike tried to focus on the way Dustin's breath was steady, and aimed to imitate it.
"You're doing great.. only three more.." Dustin reminded gently.
In
and
Out.
One.
In
and
Out.
Two.
In
and
Out.
Three.
Mike stared down at the ground tongue-tied, trying to organize his thoughts.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Dustin's hand resting on the small of Mike's back. Mike turned to him with a miserable smile, "Crying for no reason again." he gave an attempt at a grin but the underlying tension in it betrayed him.
"Mike... you almost died, you were willingly ready to give up your life for me.."
"You had no idea El was going to show up when she did"
Mike took a steadying breath, "..They-- Troy was going to carve out your baby teeth.. with a f-fucking knife, what did you expect me to do..?"
Swallowing, Dustin stared at him "Tro-- Troy's cruel, sure. But he wouldn't have gone through with it"
Mike felt himself crumble, and his heart fall to his chest. "N-No, you didn't see that look in his eye, alright? He cornered us, f-fuck he started counting down, as iif his damn patience was thinning before I-I agreed to kill myself. At the time all I knew was either I jump or or you bleed.."
"..And I-I couldn't let that happen, especially after what was already happening.."
"Will was so called 'dead' and missing, Lucas had ran off and for good reason too.. he was right.." he paused, "all I did was find a girl that wasn't totally disgusted by me and cling to her even when things were getting increasingly more obvious and suspicious the longer she was here.. god, I put you all in danger just because I wasn't willingly to let go of some random girl we found in the woods.."
"N-Not to mention the fact that you were forced to be our d-damn mediator, that we put you through stress just because we couldn't get our act together.. and I was completely blind to how you felt. That-- you thought you weren't my damn best friend.."
"I--It wouldn't even be entirely bad if I didn't survive.. I was the whole reason the group was tearing apart anyways."
Dustin gave his hand a gentle squeeze, but when he looked into Mike's eyes he felt sick watching them well up and guilt swirl in them.
The look on his face was open and delicate.
He let Mike put most of his weight on him, he could feel him trembling. Taking in shaky breaths.
"Please, don't ever say that again."
"You mean so much to all of us, you keep us all together, pressure and stress was getting to you. It was going to happen eventually, it doesn't make you a bad person for making impulsive decisions."
"It makes you normal.."
"We all care about you, like this much!" he gestured vaguely to Mike with his arms. Mike cracked a grin, chuckling somewhat, when the initial anxiety and guilt that filled his chest died down.
"And sorry to tell you but I don't think we're going to stop anytime soon." Dustin commented, joining Mike with a broad smile.