A World Turned Upside Down: A Will X Reader X Mike (ST)

What Ifs

Joyce
"I see Will the Wise is back," I said, peering over his shoulder to see his drawing as I made breakfast. "What's that shooting out of his cane?"

"Fireballs." He shrugged. "I couldn't find the red crayon, so that's why it's green."

"Oh, well . . . if he's so wise, why does he need fireballs?" I asked, placing his breakfast on the table. "Can't he just outsmart the bad guys?"

"Most of the time, yeah, totally," he said. "But . . . sometimes the bad guys are smart, too. You know?"

"Yeah. So he needs the fireballs?"

"Yeah, to burn them to a crisp." {He's so cute OMG}

"All right, well, I don't know who's been raising you, but I'm gonna need to get you some new crayons because it looks like he's shooting cabbages."

He chuckled, continuing to draw little green circles, and I ruffled his hair.

I hear a pounding sound coming from the living room and get up to investigate. Lonnie is there, nailing boards to the hole in the wall.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he retorts. "You want to freeze to death all winter?" He continues nailing.

I notice the lights coiled on the floor. "I told you not to take these down!"

"They were in the way, babe. How long are you gonna keep those up? I mean, really?"

I proceed to hang them back up.

"You know, it's a shame what they've done to this family," he says.

"What?" {The Duffers? Yeah, I agree.}

"The Sattler Company. I went to the quarry on the way over here. I just wanted to look around, you know? Couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. No warning signs, no fence, no nothing. Ought to be held accountable, if you ask me."

Hopper
I wake up, gasping, drenched in sweat. I look around everywhere, realize I'm in my house, and grab my gun, running outside. No one's there, but I have no idea how I got back to my house. The last thing I remember is being caught by those guys from Hawkins Lab and blacking out. Somehow, they got into my house and left me there.

I head back inside and know they must have done something. So I start looking everywhere—in the lightbulbs, couch cushions, everywhere. I ransack the entire house until it's a mess, and finally find it in the ceiling light in the living room—a bug.

.^.^.^.^.

Someone knocks on the door, calling for me, and I jump, grabbing my gun before answering.

"Jesus, Chief, you all right?" Powell asks, standing next to Callahan on my porch steps.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"We tried callin', but—"

"Yeah, the phones dead," I cut him off angrily.

"Ey, so, Bev Mooney came in this morning all upset," Callahan says. "Said that Dale and Henry went hunting yesterday, and they didn't come back home.

"She thought they were on another binger, but she's not so sure now," Powell says.

"I think this whole Will Byers-thing has everyone on the edge," Callahan says.

"Where was this?" I ask.

"It was at the station," Callahan says.

"No, no, where did Henry and Dale go hunting?" I clarify.