Mike recognizes her.
She has the same style, same face, same smile, and same voice. The only thing that is different about her is her hair, which is now short and curly. Mike thinks it looks really good on her. It suits her.
"Mike," She speaks again, "Is it really you?" She asks.
Mike nods and she jumps toward him, wrapping him in her arms. "I missed you so much. You're so annoying but all I could think about was you after I ran away." She confesses, sniffing softly. She lets go of him and touches his hair, smiling. "You grew your hair out a bit. It looks great, Mike."
"And you cut your hair."
"I like it. Do you? Jonathan likes it." She smiles. Mike nods, "Yeah. It looks really good Nancy." He pauses, "Wait, Jonathan? As in Jonathan Byers? He's here too?" He asks her.
Nancy chuckles, "Yeah, he is. Where else would he be?"
Mike turns to the tent, running back inside, ignoring Nancy's confused face. As soon as he's inside, Vickie shushes him. His eyes trail down to Will who is sleeping peacefully on the mattress, his arm in an arm sling.
Nancy walks inside, looking more confused than she was before. "What happened to him?" She asks, bending down to touch Will, but Vickie swats her hand away, smiling sweetly. "Don't touch him, he's really tired." She looks at Mike. "When was the last time he got to sleep? As soon as the arrow was ripped out, he basically passed out."
Nancy gasps, "Arrow? Robin, did you shoot him?" She asks. Robin just shrugs.
Mike ignores them, "He hasn't been sleeping for a couple of days. I'd say a week. Maybe more." Mike tells Vickie. She shakes her head, "He needs to rest for a couple of days, without visitors. Luckily, his shoulder is okay. No broken bones, no fractures, nothing. But his arm does need to be kept in an arm sling for a couple of weeks, just to be careful."
Mike nods at what she says as Nancy and Robin go back and forth.
He bends down to see Will's face more clearly, and his face is still wet with tears and covered in blood. Mike grabs a rag that's next to him, looking at Vickie. Vickie seems to get what he needs as she hands him a water bottle. He opens it slowly and pours some of the water onto the rag.
He gets closer to Will and starts to attempt to wipe away the blood and the tears. He tries not to scrub too hard, in case he accidentally wakes up Will. Will moves a bit, making Mike pull his hand back quickly. There is still blood on his face that won't come off as Will's eyes flutter open.
Mike knows that Will isn't a very heavy sleeper, but he didn't expect him to wake up from that.
He grabs Will's hand hesitantly, rubbing his knuckles softly. "Close your eyes, Will. You need rest, okay? I promise once you wake up, I'll be right here, waiting for you." Mike smiles.
Will smiles back, closing his eyes almost instantly and falling back asleep. Mike sighs as he puts the rag down on the side, standing straight up. "Come on Nancy, I wanna see the people in this village." He says, walking out of the tent. Nancy follows after him with a small frown.
Mike notices it, but he doesn't say anything to make the situation awkward.
But of course, Nancy does.
Her frown turns into an awkward smile. "Is that boy your lover?" She asks. Mike nods, "Yeah, we've been together for two months." He tells her.
"I'm proud of you. Although I never knew you were.."
"I didn't either. Not until I met him. I don't even know what I am. I like girls, but I also like Will, and obviously, he's not a girl."
"Mike, you could be―"
"Nancy!"
Nancy snaps her head toward the direction she had heard her voice, and Mike sees Jonathan. He looks a lot different than when he did years ago, but still recognizable.
They hug and give each other a small peck on the lips. Mike rolls his eyes as they let go of each other. Jonathan looks at Mike, curiously. "Mike?" He says.
Mike nods as Jonathan's eyes widen. "You look different." He says.
"Could say the same for you." Mike shrugs. He's still upset that Nancy ran away with Jonathan, but he isn't angry at Jonathan, so he knows he shouldn't take it out on him.
"Your brother is here," Mike tells him.
"What? Will is here?"
"Yes."
"I have to see him. Take me to him."
"No, I can't."
"Why?" Jonathan asks.
Mike frowns, "He needs rest. Just wait for him to wake."
Jonathan opens his mouth to say something, but Nancy grabs his arm and starts to drag him. "Come on Mike, let's go show you the others that live here with us." She smiles brightly.
Mike follows after them, looking at the beautiful decoration that the village has. The lights are a bit bright, but they don't bother Mike. They remind him of his mother. He wonders if Nancy decorated this place. It feels like something she would do.
"So Mike, that is Chrissy and Jason." She points toward a strawberry blonde-haired girl talking to another blonde-haired boy. "Fred and Barb." Jonathan says and points toward a short-haired redhead and a boy with glasses. She names some other people, but Mike isn't really paying attention.
He can't help but feel overwhelmed by the worry he feels for Will. He bled out so much, Mike wonders if he'll ever wake up again.
Jonathan places his hand on Mike's shoulder. "Hey, I'm worried for my brother too. I want to see him, but we can't. We'll have to wait for him to wake up." He pauses, "What are you to my brother? How did you two encounter each other?"
"Oh.." Mike chuckles nervously. The truth is, "I was planning to murder your brother in cold blood with my sword and leave him facing down on the ground." but he knows not to actually tell the truth. "Uh, I wanted to meet him because I had never seen him outside the castle. We're dating now."
"What do you mean you haven't seen him outside of the castle? When I was there, he loved going outside almost every single day."
"Well, you see, his father, if you can even call him that, banned him from going outside."
"What?" Jonathan says, angrily.
Mike averts his eyes as Nancy steps in. "Jonathan, it's okay. Your brother is here now, and I'm hoping that they stay here." She smiles at him reassuringly.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter." Mike says, "He ran away with me and we're happily dating." He says confidently.
Jonathan walks over to Mike and hugs him. Mike looks at Jonathan, confused.
"Thank you. For bringing him here. And thank you, for being his lover or I know he would have probably been arranged for some marriage that my father most likely would have set up."
Mike chuckles nervously again, deciding not to tell Jonathan about the whole marriage that Will almost went through back at the castle.
Jonathan lets go of him and smiles, saying something to him but he still can't pay attention to anything besides Will.
All Mike can think about is Will and whether or not he will be okay. If he will even want to talk to Mike because it's Mike's fault that this happened to him.
Mike loves Will, but he isn't sure if Will still feels the same.
