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

Pushing Rocks

Notes- TW for description of gore

Will's day had been going so well. Jane made everyone awesome eggos and then he found out his favorite person in the world, his brother was actually alive. Things had been looking up for a while.

But then he'd agreed to join Mike and cover up the Upside Down gate together. It had been stupid. He thought maybe they could just talk again like old times, but of course, that didn't happen. Mike wanted to talk about how Will had said they weren't best friends. He wanted to talk about Brad (marrying Brad, at that. Something about it made Will queasy). And then he'd decided to spring it on Will that he was in love with him. Or at least he had loved him. Will didn't know if the statement still applied today. The dumb half of him wanted it to. The smart half wanted to just go back to California with Brad and forget about everything. Unfortunately, the dumb half seemed to be more present at the moment.

They were in the middle of the woods. Alone. Looking for a stupid portal to another dimension. Will's entire problem with Brad and Mike seemed out of place here. There was a literal gate to the Upside Down and he was thinking about boys.

Mike hadn't said anything further on the subject of love after the diner. Thankfully, because Will wasn't sure he was ready for that conversation.

Somehow, just walking through the woods with his hands in his pockets, it was just as bad. Will couldn't stop staring at him. This stunning guy that he'd been in love with for the majority of his childhood liked him back! And they were alone in the woods. If he really wanted to, Will could just walk up to him and kiss him right then and there.

No, no, no. You have a boyfriend! What's wrong with you? You've barely even seen Mike lately. You're not in love with him. It doesn't matter if he likes you or not.

Will sighed. Right. He had Brad and he didn't need Mike. Brad was the sweetest guy in the world and Will had to be grateful to have a boyfriend like him. Mike wasn't even part of the picture. Mike was barely even Will's friend.

Mike pointed ahead, stopping in his tracks in the woods. "The gate. It should be right up there."

Will studied the ground ahead of him. He saw a slight bump in the earth, which must have been the gate. He shuddered, thinking about how close he was. Despite it not being a problem for many years, the Upside Down still scared Will immensely.

The two walked closer, the slimy, glowing crack in the ground coming into view. They stood around it and Will could feel the chill radiating from its opening. It was all too familiar.

"How should we cover it up?" Mike asked, kicking it.

"A big rock?" Will suggested. "We came past a couple. We could gather them up and pile them on top of the gate. That'd probably be heavy enough."

"Yeah, sounds good." Mike looked around, putting his hands on his hips. "We'll probably need to work together to move the rocks. They're pretty big."

Oh, great. "Yeah, de–"

Skreee! Will turned his head towards the gate, hearing a quick noise from the other side.

Mike tilted his head. "What is it? Is something there?"

"Didn't you hear that noise?" Will asked, cautiously looking towards the gate and trying to hear it again.

"No..." Mike said. "What did it sound like?"

Will continued to study the gate, kneeling down beside it. "I- I'm not sure. It just sounded like it came from inside the gate."

"Did it sound like a demogorgon?" The word sounded urgent.