Hold My Heart // Byler

prologue

Will Byers and Mike Wheeler have been best friends for almost their entire lives. They've known each other the longest out of the entire friend group, therefore, they had the strongest connection out of any other two in the group.

Mike and Will were together before Lucas and Dustin joined their group. Since then, the party had been inseparable.

When Will went missing that day on November 6th, 1983, Mike had lost a part of him. When he searched the woods for Will one night with the rest of the party, they had stumbled upon a girl named Eleven. They soon figured out that Eleven could help them find and rescue Will.

When Will was found, Eleven had sacrificed herself, and Mike was left not knowing if she was alive. The Upside Down was still in Will, as he soon became possessed by the Mind Flayer. A girl named Max Mayfield had joined their party. Eventually, we learned that Hopper had been hiding Eleven in his cabin deep in the woods. She was eventually reunited with Mike. She had to close the gate in Hawkins Lab. Joyce Byers got the Mind Flayer out of Will, but the Upside Down had always somehow been connected to him. Soon after this, was the Snowball. Lucas and Max had danced together, as they had feelings for each other. Dustin danced with Nancy Wheeler. Eleven showed up at the dance and danced with Mike, just like they'd talked about in season one. Will had danced with a girl in his class, with encouragement from Mike. Despite him not enjoying it, he did it because Mike had encouraged it. It was around that moment that Will knew exactly how he felt for Mike. He knew he liked boys, Mike especially. He knew Mike had always remained more than a friend in his mind. Seeing Mike kiss El made him realize one thing, Mike did not feel the same way, because he was not Eleven. And he was not a girl.

Now, years later, in the summer of 1986, Will still felt the same hurt everytime he even thought of Mike and Eleven together.

Mike felt something for Eleven when they first met, because he loved feeling needed by someone. He started dating Eleven because the fear of losing her became too much; because if something bad ever happened to Will, and Eleven wasn't there to save him again, he just couldn't bear it.

Mike has always felt this gnawing feeling at the back of his head telling him that Eleven isn't the person he's in love with. Whether or not he would ever admit it, he knew the answer. He knew it loud and clear.