#spiral mike

[venleaf]

Presenting the perhaps awaited, Spiral avatar Mike !!!

To take to notice this is NOT DISTORTION VERSION, the spiral has more to offer than our all time favs distortion, spiral avatars so lichtenberg figure + mike = this

There is a point where you ran so much and hope becomes less and less . one breaks or the mind starts to bend and melt and shatter all simultaneously and you see start to loose sense and choose to do something perhaps seemingly unwise

Aka the au mike did not find ex altiora and had more bad finds on his book hunting days

[ikarakie]

mike has a panic attack.

it's sudden and it's terrifying and eddie has no idea what to do. one minute they're all yelling and laughing and just playing d&d, and the next, mike is collapsing to the floor struggling to breathe. gasping out the same two names over and over again. the panic attacks eddie's had before were never, never this bad. for a fucking awful moment he thinks he's about to watch wheeler die.

lucas stays with him, crouched by his side and talking in gentle tones. murmuring words of assurance that, while good, don't seem to reach his friend. dustin had sprinted out of the room yelling into a walkie talkie as soon as mike went down, so eddie has no fucking idea what he's up to. not that he's able to focus on much other than the kid (because, god, he's so young, what the hell has happened to him?) trying and failing to just breathe.

he tries the shit that worked for him, trying to get him to breathe in time with his counts, but it's like mike's ears are full of cotton. there's not even a hint of recognition in his eyes as either him or lucas speak.

dustin returns exactly three minutes later, trailed by the last guy eddie would've ever expected to walk through the doors of hellfire club. steve harrington zeroes in on mike like a hawk, crosses the room quickly and crouches in front of him. lucas scoots away, visibly relieved to see steve, so eddie reluctantly does the same. mike's knees are to his chest and he's heaving sobs so powerful they wrack his entire body. for about thirty infuriating seconds, steve just watches.

"oh god- oh fuck- fuck- will, will-" mike is saying, through stilted breaths. "will, el- el- i can't- they're-"

"mike." steve's voice is like honey, low and soothing in a way lucas' can't be yet. mike snaps his gaze up, finally proving his ears work. "where are you right now?"

"hawkins lab-" mike chokes, and eddie just listens, dumbfounded. "hawkins- starcourt- fuck-"

"no," steve says gently. mike stares at him, slightly less glazed. "where are you?" he asks again, a little more pointed. a few seconds pass. mike's eyes dart around the room.

"hellfire." he whispers, barely audible. steve nods, asks if he can come closer, if he can touch mike. the kid nods frantically, and then his hands are being peeled from where they were curled protectively against his chest. they're placed against steve's instead, and they spend the next few minutes breathing in tandem. harrington demonstrating and mike doing his best to follow.

his breathing eventually evens out, thank god, and the heart-wrenching sobs simmer down into quiet tears. mike all but throws himself into the embrace steve offers, tucking his head under the guy's chin and seemingly making himself as small as possible.

"it's okay, you're okay." steve promises, speaking into mike's hair as he gently rocks them back and forth. "they're okay. they're just fine, both of them. you looked after them so well, bud." he keeps whispering reassurances and sweet, kind words into the little cocoon he's crafted. mike stays curled up there for a while, making a wet patch on steve's shoulder.

then finally sounding more like himself, grumbles, "just 'cos we're hugging doesn't mean i like you." after maybe four or five minutes have passed. steve just huffs a laugh, because despite his words, mike is still clutching steve's arms as he pulls back.

"of course not." steve agrees. mike smiles as his hair is carefully ruffled. turns and reaches for dustin and lucas, who waste no time in piling themselves onto their friend. steve doesn't go far though, keeping a hand in the hair at the nape of mike's neck.

it's only then that he finally makes eye contact with eddie, who's watched the whole thing go down with a sick curiosity. because... who was this guy? this was not king steve, or the asshole, cookie-cutter jock steve harrington that eddie knew of. eddie had thought dustin's nickname for him of 'number one babysitter' had been an exaggeration; that maybe he'd watched them a grand total of three times back when he and nancy wheeler dated, and dustin had developed some fixation on him.

but... no, here he was. having brought hard ass michael wheeler down from easily the worst panic attack eddie had ever seen with the ease of someone who's done it a million times. (and wasn't that a harrowing thought?)

"you mind cutting it a bit early tonight, man?" he asks, softly, and it takes eddie a second to register that he's speaking to him. "i know you've still got, like, 20 minutes, but-"

"no, no," eddie cuts him off, kind of desperate for wheeler to get home and rest. "shit, man. that was... yeah, of course, take him." steve smiles appreciatively (an annoyingly pretty expression eddie never imagined him capable of, let alone directing at him), and turns back to the kiddie hug pile.

"hey, boys? mike?" he calls, all gentle and warm. it makes eddie's heart ache; even more so when all three turn to steve with big, shiny eyes. mike's peek out from dustin's arms. "how about we head off now, and stop at that payphone on the corner of glenview on the way home? give the byers a call in california?"

mike nods, hinging on desperate. dustin and lucas give him one more good squeeze before agreeeing themselves. steve corrals them all up, bids a fucking goodnight to the present company, (plus an extra one for eddie specfically), and shuffles them out of the room. eddie, and the rest of hellfire, are left stunned in the wake of babysitter harrington.

(when mike tries to apologise the next day, eddie absolutely refuses to accept it- and, at lucas' timid request, writes the mind flayer he'd introduced out of the campaign entirely. the next session, it's like the thing never existed.)

[ectonurites]

happy birthday Mike!!!!!!

[kald-dal-art]

re listening to TMA so have Michael (+ Michael) because he is fun to draw and honestly wanted him to be in more episodes 😔

[dysfunctionalupsidedown]

Rewatching "We're friends... We're friends!" has me gone.

Who are you trying to convince and why?

Will? Yourself? The audience? Get out of here with that.

[vampryn]

trent reznor behind the scenes of march of the pigs, by joseph cultice

[freuleinanna]

'what was the point of madeline's fake bangs' THE POINT WAS SHE'S OLD

*deep breath*

no, actually, not that. the point was she's old and grey and refusing to accept that her time is up and all her ai immortality and stolen egyptain artifacts won't keep her here. the point was, her honey wig is still much closer to herself than the grey streaks that I bet are making her fucking angry. the point was, she could've done so, much, more. guys. madeline usher is one strong-willed bitch who's absolutely fucking refusing to die.

and I appreciated her taking the wig off before going in for verna, ready to maim and negotiate, specifically in that order. it has certain beauty. she knows she won't fool verna, so she doesn't try. verna is ancient. so madeline bares teeth, because cornered animals are the most dangerous and because age becomes an advantage now, and reminds herself that she is an old, conniving, seasoned monster too.

she fought her death, and boy did she raise hell

[mikeslawyer]

bless u the truth or dare no, i’m not kissing you. not like this. byler first kiss trope. you will always be famous

[honkygay]

the magnus archives has a new hold on me, making michael and mike kiss like barbie dolls as we speak

-

[fullsaw]

I feel like the tma fandom doesnt acknowledged that Mike Crew did a tour de france of the fears before landing on the vast

[venleaf]

Imagine Mike and the lichtenberg figure simply merged into one and so spiral mike was born

[travisdermotts]

"today in the warm light of the sunset i don't see it"

the core four + sleep patterns

[mattdevil]

Considering how many Michaels in TMA, it is statistically safe to say there would be a major Michael serving each avatar, which potentially leads us to a into the mikeverse situation

[spiral-man]

You can’t name three very important characters Michael, it’s a audio podcast, just because you spell them differently doesn’t help-

[qutille]

84$3!4&(&;$73&:)3&/6;84)art