Byler- The Unwanted Return of Everything (And How It Finally Ends)

He

Will sat right next to Jonathan the entire time they talked on the couch. He was still so excited that he was alive. And if they could close the gate again without him having to sacrifice himself, then it would be perfect. Maybe the Upside Down coming back wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

"So..." said Jonathan. "If there's a gate open, can't we just close it then? Seems like a pretty easy fix."

Mike shook his head from his armchair. "The Mind Flayer is out here. If we close the gate now, he can't get it back in."

"But isn't closing the gate gonna cut off his source and kill him or something?"

"Well, we tried that when Will got possessed and I don't think it necessarily worked in the Mind Flayer's case. We've just gotta get him back in somehow." Mike sighed. "Which is, unfortunately, probably just as hard as it sounds. We have no idea what to do."

Jonathan thought. "You could try closing the gate. I mean, it seems like it'd work to me."

Jane shook her head this time. "If we close it and it doesn't work, we'll have no place for the Mind Flayer to go. We've just gotta keep it open for now and hope nothing else horrible comes out."

Dustin groaned. "What do we do if something else does come out? Then we'll be dealing with the Mind Flayer and, like, a demogorgon or something. That's a lot."

"We've done it before," shrugged Max. "If we can take on all those little demodogs, we can definitely do this."

Will wasn't so sure about that mentality. "I mean, it'd be a lot easier if we didn't have to deal with anything else, although. Right?"

"Alright..." said Mike, looking up at the ceiling in concentration. "Then... we should find a way to cover the gate temporarily without closing it. Just to make sure nothing else gets out."

Will tilted his head. "Cover it up? With what?"

"Something heavy. We'll figure it out." Mike shrugged.

Dustin shifted his position, giving a laugh. " We? Who's we? I'm not gonna go waste my time with that. It's not gonna work."

"It'll work a little!" Mike argued. "And you don't have to come. Me and Will can just go. We're a good team anyway." He looked around, smiling. "And the rest of you should group up and make sure nothing else already got out. That'd be bad."

Lucas nodded, satisfied. "Huh, sounds like a plan. Since when did you brainstorm so quickly, Mike?"

Mike chuckled. "I guess it's the Harvard, huh? Turning me into a mastermind."

Brad shook his head. "Wait, wait, wait. You and Will? Who am I supposed to go with? I think you forget, Mike. Will's my boyfriend and I don't know the rest of you." Will had thought of that too. Mike seemed to be forcing Brad into a lot of situations like this.

"Perfect chance to meet 'em, huh?" Mike crossed his legs casually on his chair. "Unless you really wanna come with. I'm sure there's room for you..."

"No," said Jonathan suddenly, causing surprise from even Mike. "I'd like to go with Brad today. I think I deserve to meet my brother's boyfriend a little. Make sure he's alright." Well, that was unexpected. Jonathan wanted to go with Brad? Maybe Will should've felt relief. At least he didn't automatically hate him like a certain somebody...

Brad sighed. "Oh, yeah. That... sounds great. I'd love to get to know you as well, Jonathan." Will looked from his boyfriend to his brother. Jonathan smiled, almost as if he was plotting something.