American Heroes: A Stranger Things 3 Fic

The Middle of the Night

Will wakes up with a start, grabbing his chest as he struggles to breathe. Something's wrong. Something's definitely wrong. He should have known by the feeling of dread he'd felt in the car last night. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tries to remember what woke him up. A nightmare, but it was something more. The back of his neck tingles. Glancing around in the darkness of the room, he squints at the clock and realizes it's still night time. Four in the morning to be exact.

Still struggling to take a steady breath, Will staggers to his feet, barely missing Mike's head on the floor. He leans down and shakes him lightly. "Mike? Mike, wake up."

Mike groans and rolls over, still asleep.

Will sighs, not wanting to disturb him anymore. He doesn't want to worry him in the middle of the night especially after everything that happened. He knows who he needs to talk to. Quickly changing into a shirt and shorts, this time remembering to put on his shoes as well, he leaves the house as quietly as possible.

He rides his bike unsteadily down the road, shivering in the chilly night air. He thinks back to the night before, when Steve nearly crashed the car into Max and Eleven. Eleven mentioned she was going to Max's house, so he's hoping that's where they are now.

The brakes of Will's bike screech to a halt as he jumps off in Max's driveway. He runs around the house, peering through the windows until he spots Max and Eleven sleeping in a bed. Will knocks on the window frantically. El jolts awake, staring terrified out the window. When she spots Will, her face softens, and she shakes Max awake.

Max raises her eyebrows at Will. He motions her to come over, and she opens the window. "What are you doing here, Will? It's the middle of the night."

"It's important."

El sits up in the bed.

"Can I come in?" Will asks.

"Yeah," Max says, "but you can go through the front door. We're home alone." She closes the window, so Will heads back to the front of the house and waits by the door. Max opens it and lets him in. She points at his muddy shoes. "You can leave those by the door."

After taking off his shoes, Will follows Max back to her room, where El is sitting on the edge of the bed. Max sits beside her. They stare at Will patiently, waiting for an explanation of why he's there.

"The Mind Flayer," Will says. "I think he's back."

El leans forward on her knees, aghast. "I closed the gate."

"I know. I can't really explain it, but I just know he's back."

Max throws her arms up. "Wait a second. Where are Mike and Lucas then? Do they know about this?"

"They're at my house."

"Your house? Why aren't you with them?"

"Because I have to tell you about the Mind Flayer."

"You told them, though, right?"

Will pauses before he shakes his head, realizing how dumb he seems right now.

"What? Why didn't you tell them? What are they doing?"

"I figured if they came with me, you wouldn't want to talk to us. And also... they're asleep. I didn't want to wake them."

Max crosses her arms. "Then why'd you wake us?"

"Because this is important," Will tries. His mind is too jumbled to think properly, so he's not sure what else to say.

"Will," Max says, "are we in imminent danger?"

"What?"

"I mean, if we try to, you know, get some sleep, will we be dead in the morning?"

Will huffs. "No, but-"

"Then can we please go to sleep? I'm tired as hell, and we can always talk about it in the morning."

Will eyes Max who just stares him down. He sighs then shrugs. "Fine, but we have to talk about it."

Max smiles and hops to her feet. "Alright, good. I'll grab you some blankets from the closet, and you can sleep here." She skips out of the room, far too happy after what Will just told them.

"Will," El says softly, and Will turns to look at her, "are you okay?"

"Not really? The Mind Flayer returning isn't something I'm happy about."

El shakes her head. "No, I mean... with Mike and Lucas."

"What?" A sudden wave of fear falls over Will. Does El know something? Can she somehow tell what happened with him and Mike?

"I saw them the other day going to your house trying to say sorry to you, but you weren't there. Then they started talking about me and Max, saying we were another species?"

Will blinks. "You saw them?"

"Yeah, I..."

"You were spying?"

El stares down at her hands uncomfortably.

"Sorry, I'm not accusing you. It's sort of funny, actually." Will shrugs. "I'm fine, though. We just had a fight, but they apologized... Are you okay? I know you and Mike had that fight."

El gazes at the bedspread. "I'm fine."

"You were right, though," Will says.

"About what?"

"Mike shouldn't have lied to you."

"Yeah, I know."

"But he does care about you." Will wrings his hands together. "He really does."

El frowns. "But why did he lie? He says friends don't lie, but he lied anyway."

"It's more complicated than that."

"How?"

"You'll have to talk to Mike."

"Does Mike lie to you?"

"Well... sometimes probably, but no, not really." Seeing El's face fall, he rushes to add, "It's different with us than with you."

"Why?"

"You're his girlfriend."

"So? Why does it have to be different? Why does he lie to me and not to you?"

"Because... I don't know." Will runs a hand through his hair. "Because dating is different than just being friends. Still, he shouldn't have lied to you."

"Do you lie to who you date?"

"Oh... I'm not dating anyone."

"I know, but if you were, would you lie?"

Will shakes his head. "Not if I could help it." Surprising El and himself, he places his hand on her's. "Friends don't lie, and neither do boyfriends or girlfriends. If they do, don't let them get away with it."

El and Will share a smile before Max walks back in the room, tossing Will a pile of blankets and hopping onto the bed. Will sets up his blankets on the floor, and just as he's pulling the covers over himself, he curses, slapping a hand on his forehead.

Max and El look down at him. "Are you alright?" Max asks.

Will pinches the bridge of his nose, grumbling. "I forgot my Supercom."

"Oh, that's fine. I've got mine."

This calms Will a bit, letting him lie back down. He makes a plan in his head for the next morning. He'll radio Mike and Lucas, and tell them to meet him, Max, El, and Dustin at the mall at nine, where he'll tell everyone about the Mind Flayer.