Chapter Text
When Nancy described what had occurred in Hawkins whilst he had been in California, Mike came to a silent realisation: he had been incredibly lucky.
He knew from the police officers in California that something had been brutally murdering people in Hawkins, and from El that it was an evil superhuman called Henry from Hawkin's lab who had murdered all the other superkids before El had sent him flying into the Upside Down, but there were gaps in this story, so now he was sitting in his basement with the rest of the gang (minus Lucas and Max) as Nancy filled him, Will, Jonathan and El in, with occasional help from the others.
Nancy had been listing the symptoms that Vecna’s victims had experienced when Mike momentarily froze, a look of wide-eyed horror flashing across his face. As everyone else was focussed on her, she was the only one who noticed it.
She briefly considered asking him if he was alright, but decided against it. Not in front of everyone else. Of course, if it had been Will, Johnathan would have immediately made sure he was okay… but Mike and Nancy weren’t like that. They cared about each other immensely, of course, but they were both almost incapable of talking about feelings to each other. It must have something to do with having parents who barely spoke to each other.
She looked away to ensure that he didn't notice her staring, but glanced at him again while she described how she and Robin had visited Victor Creel. He still looked shaken up, but so did Will and Johnathon - it was a horrific story, after all. Maybe she’d imagined it.
Unbeknownst to her or anyone else, Mike was currently replaying memories in his mind from the three days leading up to his trip to California. A pounding headache that wouldn’t go away. A drop of blood splashing onto his history homework. Nightmares causing him to wake up gasping and shaking, images of the Mindflayer, El disappearing with the Demogorgon and Will's body being pulled from that lake flashing behind his eyelids.
The headache had disappeared on the plane, and he didn't have a single nosebleed or nightmare in California, which had been a relief… but if those were the same symptoms Chrissy, Fred, Patrick and Max had experienced…
Oh, god. I was meant to be Vecna’s fourth victim.
The curse must have lifted when he left Hawkins. It could have been him brutally murdered. It could have been him used as bait for Vecna and ending up comatose. Instead, he'd been sitting in a pizza van whilst everyone else was fighting for their lives.
He listened to the rest of Nancy’s recap, trying to keep his face as composed as possible. So, all four doors to the Upside Down had been opened, the Upside Down was merging with Hawkins and Vecna was still alive. Great. On the bright side, now four doors were open, there was no reason for Vecna to curse anyone else, so Mike was supposedly safe. On the other hand, Vecna was still alive and whatever other monsters were in the Upside Down could now freely enter Hawkins, so they were probably all going to die anyway.
Will immediately approached him after the group dispersed and asked him if he was okay, his brown eyes full of concern. He hadn't been able to keep his emotions from affecting his face, then. He tried to force his face into a neutral expression before replying.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Why?”
Will frowned. “You’ve gone pale.”
That made sense. He did feel like throwing up.
“I’m always pale” Mike gave a halfhearted grin in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Will didn’t seem to find it funny. “No, you look like you’re going to pass out.”
Mike broke eye contact, looking down at the floor. “I’m okay” he repeated. “It’s just... a lot to take in, I suppose.”