Do You Even Doubt It On Your Lips? (When You Say It)

Okay, lots of uses of both the q-slur and the f-slur, used in both self-description and harassment. Most of the story revolves around the characters feeling unworthy and undeserving of life, and there is exactly one line that could be seen as suicide ideation. There is mild, not very graphic, blood and the characters do get injured throughout the story. There is also lots of strong language used.

If any of these are possible triggers for you, keep yourself safe and remember that your mental health isn't worth a fanfiction! If anyone spots triggers while reading that I didn't include, please be sure to leave me a comment so I can add it in!

Thank you so much, and enjoy your reading!!

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Mike awoke to a strangled yell, and he was on his feet in a matter of seconds, fear coursing through his veins like a drug. Despite fighting exhaustion for days, he felt wide awake, scared for his life.

Well, not his life, not really. His life was expendable.

The boy whom the yell came from? His wasn't.

The boy in question was curled into a ball on the floor of their little cave enclosure. Crumpled food wrappers shrouded his shaking body and the faint smell of blood seeped into the dusty air, sending Mike into a panic.

He was kneeling down next to him the next moment, arm placed lightly on his shoulder. His eyes weren't open. Maybe he was dreaming.

No, not dreaming. Mike remembered he told him one time he didn't get dreams.

Nightmares, though? Will Byers was plagued by those.

Mike felt useless, hovering as Will awoke with a shock, beads of sweat rolling down his face, a stream of blood gushing from his nose.

"Shit," he cursed, sitting up, bringing a mud-caked sleeve to wipe it away. This wasn't the first time this had happened in the three days they'd been stuck in the Upside Down. They blamed it on the absolutely atrocious air quality and called it a day, ignoring what was more probable. But their Walkmans were with them, being saved for when disaster struck. Their favorite songs were locked and loaded and ready to go.

It was just a matter of time before someone came to find them.

It was an accident, really. Mike, Will, Robin, Nancy, Hopper, and El had been sent on one of the mandatory checks to the Upside Down. It was part of the master plan to defeat Vecna. Check the nine positions daily, check all the gates, get out through the gate in Eddie's trailer, check in with everyone at Hopper's cabin, get tomorrow's assignment, sleep, and repeat the next day.

They were required to work in pairs, and Hopper wanted to spend time with El, so Mike and Will were paired up. Which was fantastic, Mike was... really, really glad to finally get to be with his best friend again, and even if it had been pointed out that it took the world ending for him to realize he was being an asshole, it was completely worth it.

He was trying. Really hard.

Their job was to check positions 2, 7, and 8. Position 7 was the farthest from the trailer, but Nancy had sprained her wrist on her last mission and couldn't climb the wall to get to it, and El needed to save her strength, just in case. So Mike and Will got the job.

Which would have been fine if not for the zombielike demodogs that stopped them from ever getting to the position. They fought hard, but Mike wasn't fantastic with his gun and opted instead for his knife, which didn't do much good damage, and Will couldn't fight three by himself. One of them caught his leg in its jaws, and Mike was fairly certain the image of Will bleeding out surrounded by demodogs would be ingrained in his mind forever.