Chapter Text
“Okay, you see that one that looks like a wonky ‘w’?” Will pointed vaguely upwards, and Max frowned at the dark sky above them.
“Yeah, what’s that one?”
“That’s Cassiopeia,” Will explained. “She boasted that she and her daughter, Andromeda, were the most beautiful women in the world.”
“That’s a bold claim,” Max remarked, and Will laughed.
“Yeah! Anyway, Poseidon – ”
“Sea god?” Max interrupted.
“That’s the one,” Will nodded. “He got angry at her and chained her to her throne and her daughter to a rock.”
“Men, right?”
“You said it.” Will pointed up again, and moved his hand in a slow arc. “Incidentally, if you look up from the central point of the ‘w’, you can find the Andromeda galaxy.”
Max propped herself up on her elbows and squinted, trying to make it out. “I can’t see it.”
“No, you won’t, you’d need a telescope.”
“Oh.” Max flopped back down, disappointed, and yawned.
“You tired?” Will turned his head to look at her, and she mirrored him.
“A little,” she admitted. “But it’s nice to be out, and away from the others for a bit. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah. I love them, of course, but I feel like we never hang out anymore. And I can only hear so many of Dustin’s ghost stories before I start wanting to kill him myself.”
Max laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it.” There was a pregnant pause. “Do you ever think about life after Hawkins?”
Will gave a nervous laugh. “I think we’ve already left it, haven’t we? And in September we’ll all have moved away.”
“That’s true, of course,” Max nodded. “But we still come back here for holidays and stuff. What about when we don’t?”
“I don’t know.” Will’s tone was slow and thoughtful. “I guess I don’t think about it. It’s hard, you know? The idea that we might not all hang out anymore.”
“Yeah,” said Max quietly. “I guess I just worry I’ll drop off the radar.”
“What?” Will rolled onto his side to look at her directly. “Why would you even think that?”
“I don’t know. It’s not serious, of course, it’s just a doubt, because you guys were all so young when you became friends, and I joined the Party late. It doesn’t matter.”
“Max Mayfield,” said Will, sitting up and pulling her up to his level. “Firstly: you are as much a member of this Party as any of us. You’re our rogue, our zoomer.” She grinned in spite of herself. “Second: the Party has always started small and gotten bigger. Mike and I were friends first, then Lucas joined very quickly, then Dustin a few years later, then El, then you the following year.” She turned to look at him. “We’re a rag-tag bunch, we always have been. The fact that you joined late doesn’t make you any less special to us. Got it?” She nodded, smiling slightly. “Besides,” Will added mischievously, “if we were to abandon you there’d be no Mayfield-Sinclair wedding.”
“Shut up!” she laughed, shoving him over. “We told you we’re not thinking about that yet.” Will smirked, and she stood up. “Come on,” she said, offering him her hand and pulling him up. “We’d better get back to the tent before Mike sends out a search party.”
“Where the hell have you been?” Dustin yelled when he saw them coming. There was a rustling as several birds flew from their roosts in alarm. The two surveyed the scene inside the tent. A large oil lamp flickered, lighting the room. Mike and El were playing cards in the corner, and Dustin was rereading an old Spider-Man comic for the thousandth time. Lucas had a book of some description, the title of which they could not make out.
“Stargazing,” said Will, closing the flap and kicking off his sneakers. A mutter of disappointment went around the tent.
“And you didn’t invite us?” Lucas complained. Max raised an eyebrow.
“As I recall, we invited all of you to come with us.”
“Actually,” piped up Will, “I believe Dustin’s words were, ‘walking is for losers’.”
“You said you were going for a walk, not looking at the stars!” Dustin threw his comic down crossly.
“I expect they’re still there,” said El from across the tent, laying down a card that made Mike throw up his hands in despair. Max smirked as Dustin pouted.
“Son of a bitch,” Mike muttered, dropping his cards in disgust. “I’m done, I’m going to sleep.”
“What?” Lucas looked at him in dismay. “It’s only just gone midnight!”
“I’m tired,” he protested, looking to his boyfriend for support, but Will shook his head.
“There’s no way I’m ready to sleep.” Mike placed a hand to his heart in feigned betrayal.
“Fine,” he grumbled. “But I’m getting into my pyjamas. I’ve been in these jeans so long my legs have gone to sleep.”
“Why you’re not wearing shorts is beyond me,” Will remarked, slumping down next to Mike and elbowing him in the side. “The rest of us are.” Mike kept muttering to himself as he disappeared into his sleeping bag. Will smiled fondly as El gave him a look that clearly said really? “Don’t judge me,” he whispered to her. “You dated him first.” She punched him playfully on the arm.
“Don’t remind me,” she murmured back, giggling, before leaning into his shoulder. They propped up their pillows to lean on. They also stole Mike’s, who had mysteriously not emerged from his sleeping bag.
“A clever ruse,” said Dustin grudgingly. “He’s smart, I’ll give him that.”
“Anyone for truth or dare?” Max said brightly. A collective groan went up.
“Not again,” El pleaded. “Hop let me off for stealing the scarecrow from Morris Farm once, I don’t think he’d be so generous a second time.”
“And there is nothing you can say that could convince me to jump into Mrs Luther’s pond nude again,” added Will. “Thank god she never figured out who it was.”
“Fine,” Max said, defeated. “Who’s got a better idea?”
“Since you ask,” Dustin said, reaching into his backpack, “I found these in one of my mom’s cupboards.” He pulled out a cloth bag which rattled curiously.
“What is it?” said Max.
“Poker chips,” said Dustin excitedly.
“Sweet!” said Lucas, thumping his arm enthusiastically. “I’m sick of using our snacks as money.” Dustin poured the chips onto the rug they’d laid down on the groundsheet and divided them up, while El dealt them all three cards each, and five in the middle.
“Okay,” said Dustin, placing one of the leftover chips next to the centre cards. “White is one, red is five, green’s ten, blues are twenty. Blind starts at one. Max bets first as the dealer’s left player. We good?”
“Game on,” grinned Max, tossing a white chip into the centre of the circle.
They played for the best part of an hour. El took an early lead, but Lucas and Will dominated for a while soon afterwards, during a period of nearly ten rounds in which nobody else won. This streak ended after a round in which nobody had any good cards, so Dustin won with a pair of kings. After that Max won most of the games and built up a veritable mountain of chips, until the others started to get a little disheartened.
“All in?” suggested Max eventually.
“Screw it, we might as well,” Dustin yawned.
“Do we have to do those special rules?” said El, frowning.
“I don’t think we need to bother,” said Dustin. “I’m guessing we’re stopping after this?” A unanimous nod greeted this.
“All in then,” said Will, and the others reciprocated. “Show ‘em, El.”
“Straight.” She turned her cards over.
“Son of a bitch,” muttered Dustin. Lucas, however, looked relieved.
“As long as she doesn’t win,” he teased, nudging Max, who elbowed him.
“Read ‘em and weep, stalker. Full house,” she said smugly, laying her cards down. Lucas swore under his breath and turned his own cards over, revealing his comparably lame two-pairs. Dustin had nothing. Max raised an eyebrow at Will, whose neutral expression betrayed nothing.
“He’s never going to beat a full house,” muttered Dustin. Indeed, no one had played higher than a full house the whole game.
“Four of a kind,” Will said quietly, smiling, laying his hand down to reveal that the two jacks in the centre matched the two he was holding, while Max swore so badly and so loudly that Mike sat bolt upright in fright.
“What happened?” he said, looking around the tent in concern.
“Max happened,” remarked El.
“Sorry,” said Will, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. “We’re good.” Mike grunted an affirmative, then noticed the chips on the floor in front of them.
“You played poker without me?”
“Relax,” said Lucas, slipping a hand into Max’s absentmindedly. “I daresay we’ll do it again if Dustin doesn’t tell his mom he found the chips.” Dustin tapped his nose as he poured them back into the bag.
“I’m going to bed,” announced El. “I’m exhausted.” There was a murmur of agreement.
“And if you lot are going to make out or whatever,” Dustin put in, addressing the two couples, “kindly go outside.”
“Got it,” said Max. “Come on, Mike, you heard him.” Mike choked on the water he was drinking as the rest of the Party burst into noises of mirth and disgust. The chatter continued as the six of them settled down into pyjamas and sleeping bags. Mike reclaimed his stolen pillow. El gathered and counted her cards, before tucking them safely into her backpack. Dustin finished his chocolate bar. Will ducked outside to brush his teeth. Max put her hair up for the night. And when everyone was settled, Lucas blew out the lamp, and the six of them settled down for the night.
The next morning, Mike woke to find that Will was practically wrapped around him. He was momentarily confused, as he was positive they had started the night in separate sleeping bags. He supposed Will had had a dream, unpleasant enough to want comfort but not so bad that he’d cried out. It would not be the first time that Mike had granted him access to join him in his bed before rolling over and going back to sleep. He kissed Will’s hair gently, thinking back to the first few times they had done this. Mike remembered the first instance with a lot of clarity.
It was a Friday in the middle of October, the year after the Mind Flayer had attacked, and Will was staying over. Mike had been worried about him all day, as he’d been twitchy and snappish both at school and throughout the evening. He hadn’t mentioned it, of course. They had a sort of unspoken agreement back then that Mike never asked Will if he was okay more than once. If Will wanted to talk to him about it, he could, without being concerned that Mike was going to fret over him like, well, basically everybody else.
They went to sleep in their usual way, with Will on a campbed in the corner of Mike’s room. At some point in the night, though, Mike became aware of someone shaking him. Will was standing next to the bed, his entire body trembling, tears pouring down his face. Mike, still half-asleep, simply flicked back the bedspread and tilted his head to invite him in. Will crawled in and Mike pulled the covers back over them, held his hand, and went back to sleep. At the time he thought nothing of it. The next morning, though, he was mortified when he thought about the connotations of what he had done. Boys didn’t do that… did they? He certainly never did with Lucas or Dustin. It occurred to him with no small amount of confusion that it was exactly how he’d have handled a similar situation with El before they’d broken up. He didn’t like Will in that way, did he? Then again, Will hadn’t objected, and Will probably didn’t like him in that way, so maybe he was good. This conundrum sorted, they repeated the solution whenever they were alone if Will had a nightmare.
Back in the present, Mike gave a snuffle of a laugh at how oblivious he’d been to his own feelings. Now, though, he was starting to overheat. He eased himself out of the sleeping bag as gently as he could so as not to disturb Will, slipped on some socks and went to sit outside. He walked a few yards from the tent and stifled a yawn as he lowered himself to the cool, dry ground. He looked out over the river, enjoying the breeze. He’d been out there a few minutes when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, and Lucas was walking towards him.
“Too hot in there, huh?” Mike asked, smiling as Lucas sat down next to him.
“You said it,” he agreed. “And no offence to the others, but it kinda stinks.” Mike laughed at that. “We’re lucky, aren’t we?” he went on.
“In what way?”
“I told my college friends about you guys, obviously. Of course, being typical guys, they mostly asked about Max.”
“Obviously,” Mike mused.
“But all of them said they don’t really talk to their friends back at home,” Lucas continued thoughtfully. “They were always surprised when I got letters. Some of them said they didn’t even see their friends at Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. That’s why I’m saying we’re lucky, as a Party. We meet up when we can, and when we do it’s like nothing’s changed, we always just seem to pick up where we left off. Know what I mean?”
“Actually, yeah.” Mike chewed this over. “And you and I are lucky, to have Max and Will.”
“Yeah,” said Lucas happily.
“I watch my college friends sleep around and get their hearts broken and shit like that, and think, actually? I’m so glad I don’t do that.”
“You and me both.” Lucas’ eyes were wide. “The clubs in Portland, man…” He shivered. “Really not sure they’re legal.”
“Yikes.”
“But yeah, we’re really lucky.” They sat in companionable silence for a moment, then Lucas stood up. “Come on, before they miss us.” He held out a hand to help Mike up, and they wandered back to the tent together.