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After seeing Will’s body being pulled out of the water, Mike had lost all hope for his best friend.
This spark of hope for something, anything, was only revived when there was even the slightest possibility of Will being alive again.
So, for a while after he got back, everything was okay. He was happy to have his best friend back. He was happy, he really was.
And yet, he still found himself only being able to see the completely unmoving and lifeless body belonging to his best friend in those eyes of his whenever he only even tried to hold contact with them at times.
Will's possession didn’t make this easier for him. No, if anything, it only made things worse. It definitely made things worse.
At this point, he couldn't even bring himself to recognize his eyes anymore, as much as he may have wanted to. They were now a dark, empty brown, stripping away any hints of the once bright, green color from his best friend's eyes.
Mike hated it.
He wanted his best friend back more than anything, not being able to deal with losing him a second time. The boy was trying to make up for lost time, but he just wasn’t able to.
Will had still been growing up all throughout this time. Seeing him now, almost taller than himself, something changed. Mike was distant. He somewhat knew he was, but he couldn't help it.
He didn’t know anything about Will Byers, who was once his best friend, who he would've died for and probably still would anymore, and he didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about that undeniable truth of his perspective.