Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Cunningham Home

October 25th, 1988

10:05pm

Walking into her room, Chrissy threw her gym bag down to the floor, grimacing when her empty metal water bottle inside her gym bag connected with the tile flooring, emitting a loud clanking sound that seemed to vibrate in her ears. She rolled her eyes at herself, she forgot the metal water bottle was inside, having been emptied of the water she stored in it hours ago.

She had spent her entire Sunday morning, afternoon, and evening at Heather's house doing cheer practice routines with the rest of her squad. Chrissy regrets ordering all the girls to meet at Heather's house for cheer practice straight thing come Sunday morning, she hadn't thought it would take as long as it did, but all the girls needed extra help and as their cheer captain it was Chrissy's responsibility to get them into top shape for their games. She was glad to finally be home though after a long day of stretching, cheering, jumping, and sweating trying to perfect the squad's cheer routines before the basketball game that was a couple of weeks away.

Walking over to her closet Chrissy pulled out a cream-colored knit sweater that was just slightly too big for her, and a pair of warm brown pajama bottoms. She let out a sigh of relief when she stripped out of the pink yoga pants and black tank top she had on, the outfit felt too constricting and uncomfortable after wearing it all day, to top it off it was wet with sweat which felt disgusting against her skin. Chrissy was all too happy to throw the offending articles of clothing into her laundry basket.

Making her way to the living room, she couldn't help the wide smile that split across her face. She had called her boyfriend Jason at Heather's house and had asked him to come over to watch a couple of horror movies with her. It was spooky season, Halloween was just around the corner, and Chrissy was all too excited to celebrate in whatever way she could. She had already been to a few haunted houses, the pumpkin patch, the corn maze, and had been to the drive-in theater two times with Jason to watch a couple of newer released horror films.

Tonight, they would be here at her home instead of the theater to watch their scary movies. Chrissy's parents were out with a few friends of theirs and wouldn't be home for a couple more hours. Her and Jason would have the house to themselves, something that made her equal parts nervous and excited.

Looking through her family's collection of VHS tapes, Chrissy pulled out Halloween and Poltergeist for them to watch. She's watched both films quite a bit of times already, but it wouldn't hurt to re-watch them again, they're some of her favorite scary movies. Sitting down on her couch, she tapped her fingertips on her bouncing knee, every so often squinting at her front door, waiting to hear a knock on it.

It was almost pathetic how eager she was, it's not like she and Jason were going to be doing anything they hadn't done before but still the thought of him being there with her was causing a fluttery feeling in her stomach. She wished he would hurry up, she had called him about 40 minutes before, he should be at her house by now, Hawkins wasn't a huge town, compared to the big cities it was actually quite small, Jason living less than 10 minutes away from her.

Chrissy wondered if she should get up to set them out some snacks and drinks to have while they watched the movies. She wasn't a huge fan of popcorn, but she knew Jason loved it, having decided she would make a little bit for him, Chrissy made to get off the couch. Just as she was pulling herself up, her house phone started ringing, causing her to flinch with the unexpected sound. God, she hadn't even started watching any scary movies yet and she was already so jumpy.

The house was extremely quiet, being home alone and having nothing on the TV playing because she was waiting on Jason caused a stilted quietness in the house that she hadn't even noticed prior to the phone ringing. Now that she was paying attention though, she realized just how creepy the silence was, she didn't like it, she made a mental note to herself to put something on the TV in the meantime that Jason got there after she answered the phone.

The phone continued its piercing ringing as she walked towards it, she really hoped it wasn't Jason calling to cancel on her.

Picking up the handle of the phone, she pressed it to her ear, "Hello." No one on the other end answered her, all Chrissy could hear was soft breathing.

"Hello." She said again, slightly moodier than her first answer, why call someone if you're not going to talk when the person answers the phone. Still no answer came, just breathing.

"Okay if you're not going to answer me back, goodbye." She hung up the phone, it was probably a prank caller trying to scare her, that happened a lot during this time of year. She remembered herself being younger and pulling the same kind of prank calls with her friends, getting a good laugh in the end with the mixed reactions they got.

Beginning to move away from the phone, Chrissy paused and turned back around when the phone started letting out its same shrill ringing. The noise was just terrible, she made another mental note to tell her parents they needed to get a new phone, this one was unnecessarily screechy and loud.

Getting a little irritated with the prank caller, she answered the phone with even more annoyance in her voice, "Hello."

This time someone did answer her back, simply saying "Hello" back to her. The voice wasn't one she recognized, not that she would recognize the prank caller, but it did surprise her to note that it was a man's voice, one that was pitched low and rough, clearly not a middle schooler like she had thought.

When it got quiet on the other end of the phone, Chrissy tried her best to not let more irritation through her voice as she tried to prompt the caller into talking to her, getting this prank call over and done with was her goal, this way she can get back to contemplating her movie snacks.

"Yes?"

Chrissy almost didn't expect them to answer her back, the prank caller was clearly new to the concept of prank calls, "Who is this?" They asked her, interest in their voice.

Rolling her eyes, she answered, "That's supposed to be my line, you know." Who the hell did this man think he was, calling her house and asking her who she was, he's the one calling, not her.

"Is it now?" Chrissy hated to admit it to herself but the man on the other end had an attractive voice, it was now tinted with good humor, like he was getting a laugh out of her remark back to him.

"Who are you trying to reach?" She questioned him, she was starting to wonder if this was one of her many friends acting stupid with her over the phone, she didn't recognize the voice but that didn't mean much of anything. This was by far one of the oddest prank calls she's ever been a part of.

"What number is this?" The man asked back, ignoring her question, she could hear the smile in his voice.

"You tell me, you're the one calling." She replied back.

"I'd rather you tell me." Came the instant reply, she started pulling on a loose thread on her pajama pants to have something to do with her free hand.

"Well what number are you trying to reach? Who are you trying to talk to?" Chrissy was starting to second guess herself if the caller was just a prank caller after all or if it was just a genuine mistake of someone getting the wrong number.

"Right now, I'm trying to talk to you." Was the man's answer back to her, Chrissy glanced at her front door thinking to herself again that Jason was taking way too long to get to her house, here she was talking with this mystery person on the phone when she could be sitting down watching Halloween .

Wanting to hurry along the phone call, Chrissy asked "And the number?"

"I don't know." The man let out a soft chuckle under his breath, she didn't know how he couldn't know the number he was trying to reach; he was the one making the phone calls.

"Sorry to break it to you, but you have the wrong number." She stated, letting go of the piece of thread that she had tangled between her fingers, getting ready to hang up the phone.

"Do I?" Chrissy let a small smile grace her lips, the man sounded confused but mischievous, she would say it was cute if it wasn't a complete stranger on the other end.

"Yeah, you do, it happens to the best of us, don't worry about it, bye." Not waiting for a goodbye back, she hung up the phone, she would give Jason ten more minutes before she called him to demand to know where he was. This wasn't like him to be this late for plans with her, if anything Chrissy was the one out of the two of them that was always running late, Jason was actually quite punctual for a high school senior jock.

Before she could take more than a couple steps away from the phone, the loud ringing of it once again shot through the quiet house.

Groaning out loud she picked up the phone again, "Hello."

"I'm so sorry, I guess you were right, I did dial the wrong number." It was the same caller, Chrissy would have believed his apology, but she could hear the playfulness in his voice when he talked to her, almost like he was playing a game, like calling the same number over and over again was amusing to him. Maybe it was a prank call after all, she didn't know anymore.

"So, your bright idea was to dial the same wrong number again?" She rhetorically asked, unable to stop her own playful scoff to the caller, "Third times a charm, right?"

"I wanted to apologize." He replied back, she thinks he's having fun with her little remarks back to him.

"No need to apologize, it was a mistake, it happens. Now if you'll excuse me, I have things to do." She was about to hang up the phone for the fourth time that night when the man on the other end started talking again.

"Wait, wait! Don't hang up, I want to talk to you some more." He sounded a little sad that she was going to hang up on him, like she was disappointing him by not wanting to talk.

"There are nine-hundred numbers for that. I hope you find one that fits what you need. Take care." Chrissy told him, feeling some pity for her mystery caller, she hoped he would be able to find someone to talk to if he needed help.

Not knowing if the man would call back or not, Chrissy waited by the phone for a minute before she determined that he finally got tired of calling her number.

Ignoring putting something on TV for the time being Chrissy went to her kitchen, once there she reached into the cabinet to pull out popcorn that came in its own aluminum frying pan and put it on the stove on high heat for Jason. Even though she was getting more irritated by the second with him, Chrissy still wanted to do something nice for her boyfriend, which meant cooking him the popcorn he loved to snack on during movies.

Leaning against the kitchen counter, Chrissy carefully watched the aluminum frying pan, waiting to hear the pop pop noises the kernels inside would make when they started cooking. Just as the first few pops started sounding out, the phone rang for the fifth time that night.

Hoping it was Jason calling her to tell her where he was, Chrissy rushed to the phone, "Hello."

There was no answer for a few seconds, but she recognized the same soft breathing, it was her mystery caller again.

"Why don't you want to talk to me?" He finally asked her just as the breathing on the other end was becoming a little weird being that it was the only sound coming from his end. Chrissy once again took note that his voice was sad, but this time it had a sarcastic tone to it, trying to imitate sadness rather than actually feeling it.

"Okay, this is your fifth time calling me tonight. Who is this?" Chrissy tried to ask with a hard edge to her voice, trying to sound stern in a way that she's never tried to be before. Her voice came out sounding like she had a sore throat, but she hoped she sounded serious enough to get the man to answer her.

"I'd rather know who you are." His voice lost its imitation sadness and was back to sounding like he was playing a game with her.

"Who is this?" She repeated with less sternness in her voice and more curiosity.

"Tell you what, you tell me your name, and I'll tell you mine." They bargained back, this definitely wasn't a normal random prank caller or even just someone who accidently got the wrong number.

Chrissy was now thinking for sure that this was one of her friends calling her somehow disguising their voice. Chrissy decided to play along, she's already made it through the calls this far, might as well see it through. Plus, there was a burning curiosity as to which friend was pulling this stupid prank (if it could even be called that) on her, Jason still wasn't there either so it wouldn't kill her to play along, who knew maybe it was Jason on the other end of the phone, trying to add some extra spice into her spooky season.

Hearing a few more kernels pop on the stove, Chrissy brought the phone with her to stir around the popcorn, the aluminum pan made a scratching noise on the stove when the popcorn moved from within it.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." If the person on the other end wanted her name, then they were going to have to try harder than that. Plus, she was eighty-five percent convinced this was just one of her friends messing with her, there was no harm in making this game harder for them.

"What is that noise?" The man asked her, she couldn't tell if he was genuinely curious as to what was making the weird scratching sound on her end of the phone or if he was just trying to keep her talking but she answered either way.

"Popcorn." She said simply.

"You're making popcorn?' It was a question she didn't feel really needed an answer at it was obvious that she was making popcorn because she literally just said that to the caller, so Chrissy didn't answer back.

"You know, I only eat popcorn when I'm going to watch a movie," he commented, "Are you going to watch a movie?"

"If you must know, yes, I'm about to watch a movie." She shook the aluminum pan again, watching as the top started to inflate into a bubble from the popcorn inside of it.

"Is it a scary movie?" He eagerly asked her, pleasure leaking into his tone, "It's almost Halloween, scary movies are a must watch this time of year." He added.

"Yes, it's a scary movie." Leaning against the counter again she smiled, even during Halloween time a lot of people didn't watch any horror movies, to chicken to watch them, it was nice to talk to someone who also thought it was mandatory to watch scary movies in October.

"You like scary movies?" Came his next question.

"Of course, I would say who doesn't, but a lot of people would disagree with me." Most people would probably disagree with her, scary movies weren't as popular as they deserved to be.

"Mmmm what's your favorite scary movie?" Considering the ordinary and nonchalant way he was speaking to her; Chrissy was now ninety-five percent sure this person was someone she knew. The casual way he was asking her questions was just too friendly to be a stranger talking on the phone with her, at least in her opinion.

"I really like Poltergeist ; I don't know if I would say it's my favorite, but I've watched it a good four or five times now." Going back to Jason's popcorn, Chrissy once again shook the pan, it was taking a little longer to cook the popcorn then what she thought it would, she could still hear the pop pop sounds coming from it. After she was done on the phone with her mystery caller, she was for sure going to call Jason, she wasn’t standing there over a hot stove cooking popcorn only for him to decide not to show up.

"What's your second favorite?" If Chrissy wasn't mistaken, the man's voice was now lower than it was before, still curious and playful but also flirtatious now. A light dusting of red pinched at her cheeks.

"Probably Halloween , I've watched that one a few times too." Chrissy lightly tapped her cheeks with the hand not holding the phone, needing to clear her blush, she slightly turned down the heat to the popcorn that was taking years to cook before she walked away, trying not to think about how she was fluttering around her house like she normally did when she was flirting on the phone with Jason.

"You know the one with the guy in the white mask who walks extremely slow and yet always seems to catch up with the people running from him, the one who stalks babysitters and has an unhealthy obsession with his sister." Chrissy hastily continued, trying and failing to ignore her blush, she didn’t even know why she was blushing, there was just something exciting about talking to her mystery (who might not actually be a mystery) caller.

"Yeah, I really like that movie too." Chrissy bit her bottom lip, trying to hold back the smile that wanted to come out.

"What's your favorite scary movie?" She asked in return, wanting to know a little bit more about him, to see if she could try to figure out which one of her friends she was talking to.

"Guess." He answered, dragging out the "S" almost hissing. She pictured whoever she was talking to having as big of a grin on his face as she did. 

"Is it Nightmare on Elm Street ?" Chrissy liked that movie too, not as much as the other ones, but it was a pretty good contender, if he had similar taste to her, which it seemed like he did, then this movie had to be on his list of favorites.

"Is that the one where the guy is burned and has butter knives for fingers? He comes in your dreams to kill you. That's the one, right?" He responded; she could tell he knew what movie she was talking about but was playing dumb.

"Yeah, Freddy Kruger." Chrissy replied back anyways, the smile only growing on her face, not being held back by her teeth anymore.

"Freddy Kruger! That's right! I really liked that movie. It was scary." He exclaimed in mock excitement, as if she didn't know he was playing dumb about what movie she was talking about.

" One. Two. Freddy's coming for you. Three. Four. Better lock your door. Five. Six. Grab your crucifix ." Unexpectedly, the man on the phone started singing the song the little girls playing jump rope in the film sang, the smile on Chrissy's face dimmed a little bit, she didn't like how he sounded, practically whispering the words out to her, it was creepy and sent an unpleasant shiver down her spine, " Seven. Eight. Better stay up late. Nine. Ten. Never sleep again ."

Chrissy stayed quiet after the song finished, questioning herself if she should hang up the phone, she didn't want to behave like a scaredy cat though, all because the man sang a song that came out in the movie.

"So, you can't remember the movie name or the main character, but you can recite word for word the creepy song the little girls sing? Suspicious." She teased him, choosing to ignore the slight warning bells going off in her head. She was being ridiculous; this was just one of her friends trying their best to mess with her, there was no reason to be scared.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" The question threw her off guard, needing to occupy herself, Chrissy gathered a few snacks and drinks after checking on the never-ending cooking popcorn to take to the living room. She placed all her goodies on the coffee table in front of the couch, organizing them in a neat order, placing Jason's favorites closer to where he would be sitting and her favorites closer to where she would be sitting.

"Why do you want to know?" She questioned him, giggling to herself, she didn't know why it was so amusing for her to flirt back, she just knew it was, so she did, hopefully her friends didn’t make fun of her for it after this, "You want to ask me out on a date?"

"Maybe," he said back, giggling with her, "So do you have a boyfriend?" He repeated.

"Mmmm, no I don't." She lied with an overexaggerated giggle, she wanted to test to see if the caller was Jason, she knew if she lied about not having a boyfriend then if he was the caller, he wouldn't be able to resist his jealousy at her mindless flirting and blurt out that it was him on the phone. Him doing this poorly done prank call would explain why he was so late to their movie night.

"You know," the man whispered out to her, less giggly now and more serious, "You never told me your name."

Thinking this was another flirting attempt, she replied, "Why do you want to know my name?" There was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone, Chrissy couldn't even hear the soft breathing that her first phone call produced anymore…just silence.

"Because I want to know who I'm looking at." The playful tone that the man had been using thus far in their conversation was pitched to her ears again, it hadn't bothered her until then, she thought that was his way of showing interest, now though it was almost threatening.

Chrissy didn't like that one bit, not being able to stop herself she anxiously looked around her living room, closely paying attention to the exposed front windows. The curtains had been pulled back to let the sun in that morning and she hadn't gotten around to closing them, now all she sees is pitch black outside.

With her heart thumping a mile a minute in her chest, Chrissy made her way to the biggest window, squinting her eyes to try to see past the inky darkness outside, "What did you just say?"

"I said because I want to know who I'm talking to." The man lied to her, teasing her, knowing she knows what he said.

"Don't lie to me! That's not what you said." Backing away from the open windows, Chrissy started pulling down the curtains, closing them and double checking that no spots were open where you could see in. It seemed basically pointless now, but it made her feel better to not be staring out into the darkness and not know if there was someone staring back at her.

"What do you think I said?" He asked, clicking his tongue around a laugh. Ignoring his laugh, Chrissy went to the glass sliding back door that led to her backyard, she couldn't remember if that door was locked or not, she knew she locked the front door when she got home so she knew she didn't have to worry about that one.

Tugging on the handle to slide open the door, she was met with resistance, she let out a sigh of relief that it didn't budge, she was glad to find that it was locked, it made her feel more comfortable to know that no one could have gotten in through the locked doors. Outside the sliding door she could see a little more than when she was looking out the front windows. There was light coming from one of the backyard lights that she hadn't even remembered turning on, in order to see better she reached her hand out to flip the switch to the other backyard light, illuminating the entirety of her backyard.

There didn't seem to be anything out of place, everything looked the same as it always did. She could spot the absurdly expensive lawn furniture her mother recently bought front and center of the yard, the grill her father never used off to the side gathering dust next to a tree, and bushes that were tinted orange and yellow from the change in seasons.

Everything looked normal.

She wanted to believe she was mistaken, that she was freaking out over nothing, and what she heard really was just a mistake, but those same warning bells in her head were raising hell fire in her brain now. She thinks she should have listened to them the first time.

"Hello?" The man was talking to her again, she had gone quiet as she checked her windows and doors.

Not wanting to entertain the person on the phone any longer, she turned her back to the glass sliding door, flicking off the backyard lights, determined to hang up and make a call to Jason to get over to her house right there and then. She didn't care if this was one of her friends or not anymore, she was officially freaked out.

"I-I have to-to go." She stuttered into the phone, her shaking hands gripping the phone too tightly.

"What! No! I thought we were having a wonderful conversation. You were just about to tell me your name." He countered, his tone going dark, unhappy.

"No-no, I wasn't." She said back, trying to emulate the dark tone in his voice but coming up short when she stuttered again.

As if knowing Chrissy was going to hang up on him straight away, the man raised his voice at her, "Don't hang up on me!" Not waiting to see if he said anything more, she hung up the phone.

She hated that her hands were shaking as badly as they were, it seemed like an overdramatic response to something that was more than likely an idiotic joke, but she was scared, she didn't like the vulnerable feeling falling over her.

The smell of burnt popcorn filtered through the air, burning her nose, she completely forgot about the popcorn she had been cooking on the stove, it was more than likely burnt to a crisp now.  

Before she could rush to the stove to take the popcorn off, the stupid ringing of the phone sounded again. A ringing that she could go the rest of her life never hearing again.

"Fuck." Chrissy didn't normally like cussing, she hated it and tried her best to not surround herself around people that cussed like their lives depended on it, but if this wasn't a moment to let out a swear word then she didn't know what was.

As the phone continued its screechy ringing she contemplated not answering. She hadn't even had the chance to make any type of phone call to anyone else because the caller kept calling her, making it near impossible to make any outgoing calls. As scared as she was she decided to answer the phone, there was no way she was going to let the man get to her like this, she started to re-think the thought that this person was a friend of hers after all, her friends were sometimes assholes but not like this, Chrissy didn’t think they would let a prank go on this long.

"Hello." She snapped into the phone, her voice only shaking slightly which she was proud of.

"I told you not to hang up on me." The man stated, skipping over any false pleasantries, his voice was deeper now, heavier, he was upset but not angry.

"Okay that's enough! Who are you? What do you want?" Chrissy was glad when her unamused and demanding tone didn't falter, she was not a confrontational person, she wasn't used to demanding answers the way she just did, she was normally so soft spoken and sweet, even when she purposely tried to make herself sound more tough, it came out sounding like a kitten playing lion. Not now though, now she sounded sure of herself, she sounded like she was done with the conversation which she was.

"I want to talk to you." She wondered if this mystery caller was bipolar or something, it seemed impossible to go from sounding upset (on the verge of anger) to sounding hurt in less than a few seconds without having some sort of mental disorder.

"Well talk to someone else. I don't want to talk to you." This time Chrissy didn't give him a second to answer her back, she just hung up the phone.

Taking a deep breath, her nostrils were once again assaulted by the horrible smell of burnt popcorn. Speed walking to the kitchen, Chrissy was telling herself to calm down, she had no reason to freak out, she was okay, everything was okay.

Stepping into the kitchen the shrill ring of the phone went off again, letting her know that the man was calling her again , she briefly thought about throwing the phone to the wall to break it, but she didn't want to have no means of contact with anyone, so she scrapped the idea as fast as it came.

Telling herself that this was going to be the last phone call she answered from the man, she answered the phone with an angry yell, not caring when her voice squeaked and echoed back, "Listen asshole -" the man interrupted her.

"No. You listen, you fucking bitch! You hang up on me again and I'll gut you like a fucking fish. Do you understand me?!" The man responded with his own yell to her, this time angry, spitting the words out at her, his flirtatious tone long dead.

Chrissy took a sharp breath in, trying and ultimately failing to slow down her racing heart, she didn't know what to say back, she wanted to hang up the phone again, she didn't want to be talking to the man anymore, but the threat he just issued loomed over her head, keeping her on the phone.

"Is this a joke? Is this some stupid prank?" She hoped the answer would be "yes" , she hoped that this was just one of her stupid friends taking a joke too far. The warning bells in her head told her it wasn't though, they've been telling her it wasn't, but still Chrissy could hope that this was all just a joke gone bad, to keep herself from having a full freak out right now, she had to tell herself that she was okay, and this caller was just messing around with her.

"A joke? No. It's more of a game, really." He chuckled into the phone, slipping into his playful voice, which Chrissy didn't like, she could hear now that her being scared was a cruel game to the caller, something amusing and entertaining for them.

Forgetting about the burning popcorn on the stove, Chrissy slowly backed out of the kitchen, whirling around, looking every which way she could. She wasn’t sure what she would have done had she actually seen someone, but it made her feel better to keep an eye on her surroundings.

"I want you to play with me," he said to her, almost childlike, she hated not having the guts to hang up, he was just further creeping her out, "Don't you want to play with me Chrissy?"

Her jaw made an audible snap when she forced it closed after hearing her name come from the caller's mouth, she forced her gasp back down her throat, not wanting him to know just how scared she was that he knew her name.

Her breathing came out choppy as she hurried to the front windows to peek out the curtains. She was positive he wasn't in her house, there's no way he could be, but she wasn't so positive that he wasn't outside her house. She didn't respond to him after hearing her name, he found amusement in that if his laugh was anything to go by.

"Peek-a-Boo, I see you Chrissy," he teased her with another laugh that made her flinch, "Can you see me?" He taunted.

"I don't know who you are, but this isn't funny asshole," she felt her eyes swell with tears that brushed her lashes but didn't fall down her cheeks, "I'm two seconds away from calling the police. Leave me the hell alone!" She raised her voice a little bit at him, blinking back the tears that desperately wanted to escape her eyes.

"The police? Do you really think they'd make it in time?" He laughed at her again, as if her threat of calling the police on him was nothing more than a joke, a silly joke .

"You live on the outskirts of Hawkins Chrissy, Chief Hopper would never make it here in time, you know that." He scolded her in a lighthearted manner. She hated that he was right, she did live on the outskirts of Hawkins, so did Jason, they lived in two of the few mansion sized homes their town had to offer, ones that were surrounded almost completely by the woods. Chief Hopper worked and lived on the other side of town; he wasn't just a two minute drive away.

The fact that the caller knew her name, where she lived, and knew the chief of police by name though had to mean that he was from Hawkins like she was, she didn’t think a random stranger would know that information. Chrissy tried barreling through her brain to pull up a face and name for the caller, but she came up empty. She couldn't think of one person that would be capable of doing something like this, Hawkins was filled with bigoted idiots, but she didn't think they would go so far as to scare a teenage girl in her own home like this.

"What do you want?" She whimpered into the phone; she didn't know how to get herself out of this without ending up on the wrong side of the caller.

"I told you already; I want to play a game with you." He softly answered back, cooing into her ear.

Letting out a sob, tears rushed to run down her cheeks, Chrissy didn't even think about her actions before she hung up the phone. She didn't want to believe that she was in this situation, she didn't want to believe that there was someone outside her house, purposely scaring her, making plans to do god knows what to her.

Bending over Chrissy put her hands on her knees, she tried to control the sobs escaping her, tried to taper in her breathing.

Ding Dong – Ding Dong

Chrissy jumped up from her bent position, letting out a loud scream, her doorbell, someone rang her doorbell. Looking to the front door, she tried to peer out of the small glass window that was at the top of the door without having to move closer to the actual door, she couldn't see anything, like the front windows, it was nothing but darkness.

"Who's there?!" She yelled out, "Who's there?!" She repeated when a beat of silence went by, she reached her hands to her face and used the sleeves to her sweater to wipe away the tears that blurred her vision.

"I'm calling the police!" Chrissy screamed at the closed door, hoping that the threat scared whoever was there away from her house. She picked up the phone again, telling herself to make do on her threat, even if she lived further away from the police station, she had to try.

When the phone rang again in her hand, she let out another scream, not expecting it to ring again despite feeling like the man's sick game with her wasn't over.

Feeling like she had no other option, Chrissy answered the phone, but she didn't speak into it, choosing instead to focus on calming her cries, not wanting the man to know how much he was getting to her.

"I thought you liked scary movies Chrissy," he stated to her, scolding her with irritation coating his voice, "You should know not to yell out "Who's there?" , that's asking for the killer to come get you. It's a death-wish."  

She still didn't answer him, she did like scary movies, she loved scary movies and of course she knew the hypothetical Scary Movie 101 joke, but this wasn't a scary movie. She's not seated on a couch with her friends, eating snacks and drinking sugary soda, yelling advice to the characters on the screen when they find themselves in trouble, this was her life, her real life, and she didn't know the first thing about how to deal with a crazy person outside her home.

"What's next? Are you going to come out here to investigate the strange noise you hear?" He joked, as he finished his question a loud bang thumped against the front door, shaking it slightly, she pinched back the sob that wanted to crawl up her throat.

"Okay. Okay. You've had your fun now. Please, please just leave me alone." She begged the man, unable to stop the tears from leaving her eyes like she did her sobbing sounds from leaving her mouth, she shrank in on herself, trying to make herself appear smaller than she was. She silently prayed that someone, anyone would come help her.

"What are you going to do if I don't leave you alone?" He asked, the smile clear in his words, he wasn't threatened by her in the slightest, he was having fun with her.

"My boyfriend is on his way here. He's going to be pissed when he finds your creepy ass outside my home scaring me." God, she hoped this wasn't an empty threat, she hoped Jason really was on his way, he should have been at her house long ago, but she didn't care as long as he got there to scare away whoever was playing this sick game with her. Her boyfriend wasn't the biggest man in town, but he did have muscles and he did have height going for him too, most people that saw him are naturally intimidated by him, she hoped that whoever was outside would fall into the same mind frame of being intimidated as those other people.

"Sure." He responded back sarcastically, not threatened in the least by her words to him.

"Trust me you don't want to mess with him! He plays basketball! He's tall and he has muscles, and he can kick your ass without breaking a sweat!" Chrissy yelled at him, wanting him to feel the same fear that was coursing through her veins.

"I'm truly scared shitless. You have me shaking in my boots." He laughed, he went silent after a few seconds, listening to her ragged breathing and poorly disguised cries.

"Oh Chrissy," he clicked his tongue at her, berating her, "Did you really think I didn't know you were lying about not having a boyfriend when I asked earlier? Of course I know about Jason, and unfortunately for you he's a little tied up at the moment, so he can't come rescue the damsel in distress even if he wanted to."

"How do you know him? How do you know me?" She breathed out, scared of the answer he might give her.

"Turn on the backyard lights again." He ordered her, disregarding her questions.

He left no room for argument in his voice, she didn't want to find out what he would do if she didn't listen to him, she had already hung up the phone on him when he specifically told her not to, she wasn't sure she wanted to face whatever sick punishment he had in mind if she dared to ignore him again.

With that thought in mind, Chrissy walked to the glass sliding door leading to her backyard, it was completely dark outside this time, her having turned off both lights when she walked away earlier. Tightly closing her eyes, she flipped the lights on.

"Open your eyes, Chrissy." He told her, letting out another cry she forced her eyes open and looked out the sliding door, at first, she didn't see anything different than what she had seen earlier, it was the same furniture, the same grill, the same bushes, but in the center of it all, almost directly in front of her on the other side, was Jason, her Jason.

He was tied to a chair, hands and feet wrapped in thick brown rope, with a strip of duct tape across his mouth. He had on a white collared shirt with his varsity jacket over it, the jacket proudly stitched with his name and class year, along with a pair of denim jeans and his favorite shoes. His blonde hair was dripping with sweat, his eyes were crying even more tears than her own eyes, and there was an injury leaking blood both on his left knee and forehead.

He looked petrified, absolutely stone cold, scared and helpless.

"Oh god!" Chrissy cried out, Jason pleaded for her help with his eyes, scared but wanting to help her boyfriend, Chrissy struggled to unlock the sliding door, fumbling with the lock in her haste to get to Jason.

Finally getting the lock to cooperate with her, she attempted to slide the door open before being stopped by the man's voice talking into her ear, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Sending a look of apology to Jason, Chrissy hoped he understood that she didn't want to close the door and relock it but she couldn't risk not listening to the man. After locking the door back up, she frantically looked around the backyard, trying and failing to see where the man was, where he was hiding that was giving him such a clear view of her.

"Where are you?! Where are you?!" She demanded of him, tears continuing to rain down her face.

"I want you to guess where I am, Chrissy," he replied back with a slight giggle, "It's no fun for me if I just tell you."

"Please," she pleaded with him, silently wishing to herself that she never answered that first phone call, "Please. Please don't hurt him. I love him." She felt the heavy weight of helplessness settle over her chest, a type of weight that crushed her lungs and pounded in her head.

"Whether I hurt him or not is going to depend on you." He said back, slipping further into his stupid playful tone that she was tired of hearing at that point.

"Please. Why are you doing this to us?" She whimpered out, pressing her face and free hand to the glass door, trying to reassure Jason with her eyes that she was there and doing everything she could to get them out of the terrible situation they found themselves in.

"This is the third time I'm telling you," The man sounded irritated with her but still mischievous, "I want to play a game."

"No." She whispered to him, this was already enough of a game he was playing with her, what more could he want from her.

"Then I guess he dies right now then." He coldly stated back to her, the lack of emotion in his tone scared her even more, the man was done with her questions, with her back and forth.

"No! No!" She yelled, lightly banging on the glass door, panic filled her voice and face. The only sounds for a couple of seconds were her cries and Jason's muffled sounds that came through the glass door.

"So indecisive Chrissy," he mocked her, "Which is it?"

"What kind of game do you want to play?" She asked him, Jason was shaking his head back and forth, having heard her through the glass door and trying to tell her not to play, but she shook her head back at him, unable to do much else, what other choice did she have.

"That's more like it," she could practically taste the smugness coming from him, "Now how about you turn off the lights for me Chrissy and you'll see what kind of game I want to play."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Through her blurred eyes she made eye contact with Jason, apologizing to him, he had to have been more terrified than she was.

Very faintly she could hear Jason's voice through the duct tape over his mouth and the glass door, "Chrissy! No! No! Chrissy! No!" She took her eyes off Jason, letting her hand settle over the light switches, she prayed that she wasn't making a mistake.

She flipped the switches off. Once again, the backyard flooded with darkness, making it impossible for her to see anything. Her legs started shaking so badly, feeling like she could barely hold herself up, she slid down the wall next to the light switches, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Here's how we play my game, it's very simple really. I ask a question, if you get it right, then Jason gets to live." The man explained with enthusiasm, happy that Chrissy was finally playing his game.

"Please. Please don't do this. Please." She whispered her pleadings around her sobs, not talking over a whisper knowing he wouldn't listen to her either way.

"Oh, don't be like that Chrissy, it'll be fun." The man didn't bother to scold her this time, likely too excited to play his game to take note of her prolonging it.  

"Please." She whispered again, going ignored again.

"It's an easy category for you I would say, scary movie trivia, being the scary movie fan that you are, it should be a piece of cake." He continued saying around her murmurings of ‘please’ .

"I'll even do you a favor and give you a warm-up question." He acted like he was giving her his lottery winnings with how much his tone suggested she should be grateful for her ‘warm-up question’ .

"I can't. I can't. Please. Please don't do this." She shook her head, she thinks her words weren't even registering with the man anymore, he talked around them like she wasn't even talking.

"Name the killer in Halloween ." He told her, another one of his sick giggles leaking through the phone to her ear.

"No." She cried; she didn't want to do this.

"Come on!" He joyfully shouted out to her, making her wince back from the phone, "It's one of your favorite scary movies, remember?" Why did Chrissy even answer his dumb questions earlier, why did she not just hang up the phone and stay away from it, why had she been stupid enough to continue to answer the phone even after her gut was telling her something was wrong.

"You know the one with the guy in the white mask who walks extremely slow and yet always seems to catch up with the people running from him, the one who stalks babysitters and has an unhealthy obsession with his sister." He quotes her word for word in her earlier answer to him, which makes her that much more terrified, they're just words he was repeating back to her, but it was still disturbing her beyond anything she's ever felt before.

"I don't know." She answered back, not wanting to stay silent, but not wanting to answer his question either.

"Come on, you know the answer," he mockingly encouraged her, "What's his name? Tell me his name Chrissy."

"No. Please. I can't think. I can't think." She wasn't lying to the man, her thoughts were a jumbled mess soaked in fear, trying to get her brain to focus on the question was near impossible, her brain continued to tell her to plead with the man.

"Jason is counting on you Chrissy, his life is in your hands right now, are you really going to let him down?" The faux disappointment in his voice made her want to yell at him, he was playing more than just movie trivia with her.

"His name is Michael - Michael - Michael Myers." She answered the question, stuttering through her speech well trying to remember the fictional killer’s last name.

"Yes! Very good Chrissy! I knew you could do it!" The false sounds of his praise were too much for her, she let out another sob, she didn't want to be praised by this monster, she wanted to get as far away from him as she could.

"Now we can move on to the real question." He said to her, laughing again as her sobs went up in volume.

"No!" She screamed, she couldn't handle any more questions, her brain felt like it was shutting down on her.

"But you're doing so well," he cooed to her, happily taking in her cries, "It would be a shame to stop now."

"Please stop! Leave me alone! Leave us alone!" She shouted into the phone, she had to grip the phone more tightly than she was already holding it when it slipped down a couple of inches, her palms were sweaty and her hands were still shaking, she wanted this to be over with.

"Then answer the next question. I'll even keep it in the same category for you." The man replied, once again acting like he was doing her some huge favor, like she should be thanking him.

"Name the killer in Friday the 13th ." He stated his next question, not giving Chrissy a chance to plead some more with him, in a distant part of her mind, she warned herself not to irritate the man with her pleading, at any point he could get tired of hearing her try to sympathize her way out of this and hurt her and Jason for her lack of thought.

A bout of hope and excitement went through her body, making her jump up from the floor, it's like the fog in her brain cleared up a tiny bit and allowed her to see the answer to the man's question straight away, before thinking about it, Chrissy started shouting, "Jason! Jason! Jason!" It was an easy name to remember and say, her boyfriend sharing the same name as this fictional killer.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry Chrissy," the man drawled out a phony apology, there was clear enjoyment in his voice, so obvious and plain to hear, "That's the wrong answer." He clicked his tongue, sighing to her through the phone, with mock disappointment again.

"No! No, it's not! No, it's not! His name is Jason! It's Jason!" She screamed her disagreement, she didn't get the answer wrong, he was just trying to scare her into thinking she did.

"I'm afraid not. That wasn't the killer's name Chrissy. I guess even scary movie fans get some answers wrong sometimes, right? What can you do?" He sarcastically answered back, she could picture his shoulders shrugging with ridicule at her through the phone, making her a little angry.

"The killer's name is Jason! I've seen that movie more times than I can count! He shares the same damn name as my boyfriend for goodness' sake! It's Jason!" She spat at him with anger through clenched teeth.

"Then you should know Jason's mother, Mrs. Voorhees, was the original killer!" He yelled back at her with anger that dominated her own, "Jason didn't show up until the sequel!"

Chrissy fell into silence at his yelling, her anger disappearing as fast as it came, leaving her drenched in nothing but fear and pain, unable to comprehend that she just got the answer to the question wrong, she didn't want to believe that, she couldn't believe that.

"Like I said, I'm afraid that was the wrong answer." The man stopped yelling at her, going back to a more neutral volume.

"That isn't fair, you tricked me." Chrissy muttered under her breath, unsure if he even heard her.

"Lucky for you Chrissy, I really like you. You're sweet and kind, you always have a smile on your face and quite frankly your crooked teeth are adorable," the man happily complimented her, she wasn't sure how to feel about the genuine tint to his voice, he wasn't lying to her in his compliments, "I'll tell you what, because I like you, I'll give you a bonus round."

A surge of hope threatened to overtake her heart, she was getting a bonus question, she could do this, she could save her and Jason, she just had to think carefully before answering the next question.

The hope she felt didn't last long, the man's next words froze her body, "Poor Jason though, no more chances for him, I'm afraid…he's out." The next sounds she heard didn't come from the man speaking to her through the phone, they came from the darkness in the backyard, it was screams of pain that were muffled, trying their hardest to break through a barrier that tried its hardest to silence them.

Needing to see what had happened, Chrissy slammed her hand on the light switches to the backyard, turning them on. She screamed when the sight registered in her mind. Jason's stomach was split open, his insides were spilling out onto the cement floor below him, his eyes were closed tightly in pain, and his whole body was trembling.

His sounds slowly died down, his movements becoming sluggish, it was mere seconds later when Jason's head tipped back, his body stopped moving, and his sounds stopped permitting the air.

Chrissy knew what that meant. She knew Jason was dead. She couldn't save him .

Pressing her hand to her mouth, she let her body be overcome with sobs, she fell to the floor, using what little strength she had left she dragged her body away from the glass door, not being able to stand looking at her boyfriend anymore, guilt pounded in her heart.

She couldn't save him.

"Chrissy. Chrissy. Chrissy. Chrissy." The man sang through the phone she still had in her hand, dragging out her name in a soothing melody that made a joke out of her pain, without having to prompt her, she pressed the phone back to her ear.

"We're not finished just yet Chrissy. You still have a bonus question to answer," he reminded her with glee, "Are you ready?" A humorous tone coated his question.

"Please. Please. Please," Chrissy resorted back to pleading, her fear a heavy constraint around her, "Leave me alone."

"Answer the question, and I will." He said, she didn't know whether to believe him or not though, she didn't think it would be that easy for some psycho killer to just leave her be because she answers one of his questions correctly.

"What door am I at?" He teased his question, knowing it was unexpected for Chrissy to hear. She was expecting another scary movie trivia question, not whatever this was.

"What?" She whispered, not wanting to believe the question he just asked, she knows he's outside her home, she's not stupid, but it was easier to pretend that this entity of a man couldn't break the barrier into her home from outside of her home, but this question made that faulty logic seem childish in her head, made him seem closer to her, just inches away.

"There are two main doors to your house Chrissy, you know this, the front door and the back sliding door. Answer my question correctly, and you get to live, it's that simple." He explained to her, talking in a way that was meant for a child.

"I can't. I can't. I don't want to play this game anymore. Please." She sobbed louder, letting her cries out.

There was no noise on the other end of the phone, like the man was considering her pleading, giving thought to her sobs, she wasn't foolish enough to believe that the heartless killer would let her go, so his next words and actions didn't surprise her, "Your call."

The phone disconnected mere moments before the glass of the back sliding door shattered, dropping the phone to the floor Chrissy covered her ears protecting them from the loud sounds of shattering glass, looking over the mess she could see the man had thrown one of the lawn chairs from outside through the glass of the door. She blinked at the shards of glittering glass covering her floor before leaping up and running away.

She ran into her kitchen, which was filled with white smoke from the burning popcorn on the stove that she had abandoned. Letting out a few coughs to clear her scratchy throat, she lifted her arm and pressed her sleeve to her nose and mouth. Making her way around the large island in the kitchen, she grabbed one of her mom's kitchen knives from its display and held it in front of her.

It wasn't the best weapon but it would do, she did feel a smidge safer knowing she had the knife in her hand.

Chrissy slowly backed out of the burning kitchen, glancing every which way with narrowed eyes to see if she could see anything, she didn't want the man to be able to sneak up on her.

Across from her, deep into the hallway, she saw a figure dressed in all black dart from one end of the hallway to the other before disappearing from sight. She tried to steady the hand holding the knife, telling herself not to drop her only weapon, muffling her coughs with her sweater, she backed away until she reached her front door, she carefully unlocked it before opening it and slipping her way outside, doing her best to be as quiet as possible.

She could hear the man's footsteps inside, slowly tapping on the floor but echoing in her mind. Chrissy chanced a glance through an open part of one of the curtains that covered the front windows, through it she saw the same black dressed figure dart through the opening of her kitchen before he disappeared from her sight.

Jumping back to the wall she was leaning against, she looked out into the large emptiness of her front yard, trees surrounded every inch of surface she could see. Through a gap in the trees, she saw two tiny lights making their way closer to where her house sat, she let out a breath that was filled with relief knowing the two lights in the distance were the headlights to her parents' car. They were coming back home, earlier than expected when she had made the movie plans with Jason but thankfully because she knew now she was going to be okay. Her parents were almost home, she just had to make her way closer to warn them.   

Chancing another glance through the open gap in the curtain, Chrissy could just barely see the figure through the thick smoke rapidly gathering in her living room, but she did see him, and he was none the wiser that she was outside of her home already.

She got down to her hands and knees and crawled under the span of the windows, not trusting that the man wouldn't be able to see her despite the curtains blocking the view. On the other end of the windows, just below the big one she had used to look outside when she was inside the house earlier, she looked towards her parents' headlights again, they were still hidden behind the many trees, but she was confident she could make a run for them.

Seeing another gap in the curtains to the window, Chrissy told herself to chance another glance inside the house, making sure the figure was still further away and not near enough to the windows to spot her running away.

Gathering enough courage, she slowly stood up to see through the gap in the curtains, it having been further up then she anticipated. At first, she didn't see anything, it was just black, she didn't understand, she could have sworn there was a spot to see through in the curtains.

Not standing up further but tilting her head back to look up at the expense of the curtains, Chrissy let out a high-pitched scream when her eyes connected with the figure in black, realizing the black she was seeing was his clothing. He had on a black long-sleeved shirt, black leather gloves, and black jeans, his face was covered in a creepy white mask that had three areas carved out in black for the eyes and nose of the mask and a mouth that had an exaggerated, elongated opening painted in black as well.

The figure broke through the glass of the window to grab hold of her arm before she could run away, he dragged her arm towards him cutting it on the spears of glass left from where it shattered, warm blood started seeping through the beautiful cream color of her sweater, tainting it a dark red. With a scream of panic, she raised her arm not being held by the man and did her best to aim the palm of her hand to where she believed his nose to be, she hit him with as much force as she could, grateful when he flinched back enough to let her tug her arm free from his grip and take off running on her trembling legs to her parents car, which was now even closer than before, but still not close enough.

Her backyard and front yard were essentially one and the same, the ‘yards’ around her home mostly being one big area of land surrounded by trees, in her hurry to run to her parents she had to pass by Jason's body, she turned her face away from him, telling herself she could grieve and cry when she was safe.

She stopped to take a needed breath and determine which way would be the fastest to run to her parents, when she heard glass crunching behind her, Chrissy risked a look back, her brain almost melted in panic at seeing the man calmly step through the hole he made in her back sliding door, his black boots crunching the glass underneath him.

Without another thought she started to run again, begging her legs to go faster when she heard the loud thuds of boots on the ground behind her, the man giving chase.

Chrissy was so close to her parents, she just needed to push herself a little more, she would be okay , she just had to keep going, she couldn’t stop.

On the back of her head, she felt a hand grip her hair, the man quickly tangled his fingers through the thin strands, gripping onto her scalp, and using force she couldn't compete with to tug her back into a hard chest by her hair, she felt clumps of her hair being pulled free which sent sharp pains through her scalp.

Opening her mouth to let out another scream, she silently choked on air and spit when an excruciating pain came to her chest, just above her left breast. The man pressed against her back brought his whole arm over her face, covering up her screams and sobs when she registered why she was in so much pain. His other arm was around her chest, clutching a silver curved knife that he had stabbed into her heart.

Ripping out the knife from her chest, the man tightened his arms around her and slowly lowered her to the floor with him, blood was gushing from the stab wound, running down the front of her sweater, leaking onto the grass beneath her. Chrissy was hyperventilating, she couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she realized she was going to die .

The man turned her around, laying her on the ground, he got on top of her, straddling her hips with his own, pressing down on her. She thought for a second that she was going to experience a different kind of pain when the man wrapped his leather covered hands around her throat and started strangling her. He tilted her head back enough for her to see through blurry vision her parents parking their car just ahead of them, slightly hidden away by the trees, Chrissy gasped for breath as she watched her mom and dad exit the car, dressed nicely for their day out, walking calmly with smiles on their faces, not knowing their daughter was dying just on the other side of their yard.

She tried calling out for her mom, tried making some type of noise besides her pathetic gasps that would attract her parents' attention, but she couldn't. Her vision was already blurred but with lack of oxygen she started to feel faint, and she started seeing black dots in the air.

The last thing Chrissy saw before she blacked out was the creepy white mask of the man looming above her.

Following her husband through the front door of their home, Laura paused in the entryway to the living room, gasping as she looked around her home. It was a mess. There was a thick layer of smoke coating the air around them, furniture knocked over to the floor, and glass shards coating almost every inch of surface.

Chrissy was nowhere in sight.

"What the hell?" Laura heard Phillip say to himself, looking around their house in bewilderment like she was, "Jesus".

"Chrissy!" Phillip yelled out, Laura followed him into their kitchen, on the stove was a pan of popcorn that was on fire, the source of all the smoke in the house, smoke that was filling Laura's lungs in an unpleasant way, causing her to cough. She rushed over to get an oven mitt to take the burning popcorn off the stove, picking it up she could feel the heat emitting from it on her bare arm, she ran it over to the sink and let cold water wash over it until the flames died down.

"Chrissy! Chrissy! Where are you?!" Her husband continued to yell out throughout the house.

Laura left the water running over the burnt popcorn, running back to the living room where she could hear her husband's screams coming from.   

"Chrissy! Chrissy!" She yelled out alongside him, "Where is she?!" Laura gripped her husband's arms with her hands, panic overflowing her mind. Where was her daughter?

"Call the police!" He shouted back at her, taking her hands off of him, "Now! Call the police! Get Chief Hopper over here!"

She searched for the phone but was unable to find it. Her mind wouldn't let her comprehend anything; she didn't know the first place to look for the missing phone.

Seeing her struggling, Phillip walked towards her, putting her face in his warm palms, he made her look at him, "Forget about looking for the phone, get in the car and drive to the Carver's house! Call the police from there, I'll stay here and search every place I can for Chrissy. Go!" He pushed her out the door.

Turning around, almost tripping on her uneven steps and shaking legs, Laura tried to walk to the car to do as her husband told her to, their daughter was missing, their house was a mess, something clearly bad had happened, and Chrissy was depending on her to get her head on straight to get help over to their house.

Something swinging from a tree caught Laura's attention from the corner of her eye. Turning to see what it was, she let out a blood curdling scream. Her daughter , her Chrissy , was hanging from one of the trees in their yard, a thick rope around her neck connecting her to the tree, blood covered her from head to toe. Vaguely she felt her husband's arms wrap around her as she collapsed to the ground, the only sound in the dead quiet of the night was her screams.   

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Byers/Hopper Home

October 25th, 1988

11:57pm

Homework was terrible. Really terrible. El wondered how it was legal for teachers to assign homework to students when they already go to school for eight hours a day. She groaned loudly with frustration as she turned yet another page of her book. She was lying on her queen-sized bed on her stomach, legs flat against the mattress, reading the book assigned to her by her English teacher.

English was her worst subject, Math being her best, she hated reading and she hated writing so of course it would be that class that was keeping her up on her Sunday night trying to finish homework that should not have been assigned to begin with.

Letting a yawn break free from her mouth, El turned the book to see how much further she had to read, she had about a quarter of the book left to go, which was not a lot but in her mind was a whole Olympic obstacle course.

She needed sleep if she planned to wake up for school the following day, but leaving the book unfinished was not an option, English was her first class of the day, knowing her luck the teacher would hand her a worksheet to fill out about the book first thing in the morning of walking into class. El had to finish the book tonight, she did not want to be caught unaware the next day.

A light knock on her bedroom door made her head snap up from where it was squished into her book, a smile blossomed on her lips. There was only one person who knocked that lightly on her door, everyone else in her family having a heavy hand in their knocking style, especially her dad.

“Come in!” She shouted at the door, it creaked open very slowly, a head popped in from the gap. Will flashed a toothy grin at her, pushing the door all the way open, coming in all the way, and shutting the door behind him. In his hands was her favorite mug, an ugly burnt orange thing that had a pug dog on the front of it with its tongue hanging out, it was a birthday gift two years ago from her dad.

“I brought you some coffee,” Will told her, setting her mug down on her nightstand, he moved her legs over so he could sit at the head of her bed, “I figured you would need it to finish your book.”

“Oh my god Will,” El dramatically said, getting up from her lying position and throwing her arms around him, hugging him as tight as she could, “Have I ever told you that you are the best brother a girl could ask for?” Pinching his pink cheeks, she giggled to herself, reaching over to her nightstand she grabbed her mug of coffee and brought it up to her nose to inhale the bitter yet sweet smell of it. She took a tiny sip, a taste test, moaning low when a burst of warmth went down her throat, she sent a huge smile at her brother, the coffee was perfect.

“Yes, you have told me that, multiple times actually,” Will said, rolling his eyes at her but El could see the smile peeking through his lips, “Too bad I don’t have the best sister a boy could ask for, I got saddled with you instead.” 

“Hey!” She yelled at him, throwing one of her decorative pillows at his head, he caught it between his hands, tucking it behind his head, he leaned back to laugh at her offended face. Soon after she started laughing with him, she knew he was just joking. Will was not her biological brother, rather her step brother, and El knew she was lucky beyond anything to have gained him as a brother when his mom Joyce married her dad Hopper. She hit the sibling jackpot with Will and Jonathan, and she will forever be grateful for that.

“I’m kidding El,” Will clarified, settling further back into her pillows, getting comfortable.

“Are you almost done reading your book?” He asked her, picking up her book from the place she abandoned it, flipping through the pages, Will’s nose scrunched up, he put the book back down, further away from him then it was before he picked it up, like it had somehow personally offended him.

“Yeah, I have about 7 chapters to go but I am close to the end.” She nodded proudly to which Will raised one of his eyebrows at.

“I told you to read this book when you first got it two weeks ago so you wouldn’t be in this mess,” he reminded her, wiggling his finger at her like a parent disciplining their child, “But did you listen to me, no, El decided she knew best, and now she’s awake past midnight on a Sunday, trying to finish a book that should have been finished days ago.” Will ended his words with another laugh, teasing her.

“Shut up.” She half-heartedly said back, he was right of course but she was not going to tell him that. Will had told her to read the book right when she had got it, knowing her pattern of leaving English homework for the last minute and then complaining about it to anyone who would lend her an ear, but she had not listened to him. El of course regrets that now, she could be sleeping but instead here she was having to listen to her brother rub it in her face that he had told her so, god sometimes he was annoying.

“Why are you even awake?” She questioned him, unlike her Will did not leave his homework assignments for the last minute, he used his ‘time management skills’ to get his assignments done with time to spare.

Glancing over his form, El noted his wet hair and tightly pressed clothing that had water patches here and there in his beige colored shirt, indicating he had taken a shower before coming to her room. Turning her head to look at the clock, it was past Midnight, an odd time to shower even for Will. Looking closer at his face El also noted the redness around his nose, the beginnings of a bruise, Will had not had that this morning when she saw him last.

“And what happened to your nose?”

“I’m awake because when I was sleeping, I had a nightmare, I ended up hitting my nose in my sleep, I couldn’t relax again after that so here I am.” He uttered out, reaching a hand up to his face to rub at his nose, wincing when he touched a tender area, he was not meeting El’s eyes, she knew he hated seeing the sympathy that always overcame her face when he mentioned having another nightmare. She could not help it though, Will was one of the greatest guys around, he was always trying his best to be a good son, friend, and brother to the people in his life, he deserved the literal world at his feet. It was not right for him to suffer from nightmares that left him twitching, restless, and with dark circles under his eyes, almost dead to the world.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She offered, grabbing Will’s hand with her own, she squeezed it, letting him know she was there for him.

“It’s the same old bullshit, Lonnie being a dick and me cowering away from him.” He told her pulling his hand out of hers, he shrugged his shoulders like his nightmares were not a big deal. El did not know a lot about Will’s and Jonathan’s past with their biological father, she only knew the snippets that Jonathan and Mike had told her here and there when she pried, but she did know Lonnie was a verbal and physical abuser to not only Joyce but Will and Jonathan as well, and that was enough information to decide that she hated him, “Plus I had my alarm set anyways to wake up, mom and Hopper are supposed to be leaving for the airport soon.”  

Just as she opened her mouth to respond a crashing noise came from outside her window, sounding like glass breaking, she shut her mouth closed, eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, looking to the window but seeing nothing but the night sky outside of it.

“What the hell was that?” Will whispered to her, keeping her eyes on the window she shrugged back to him. They both got off her bed together, keeping close to each other, they tiptoed to her window. It was wide open tonight, her curtains pulled back and clipped to the side, it was supposed to rain soon so she had opened it to let the smell of rain filter into her room.

“How many times has my mom told you to shut your window at night El? You don’t know what kind of creeps are outside.” Will hissed at her but not in anger, more out of worry, it was another thing she would not admit he was right about out loud; Joyce had told her over and over again to shut her window when it got dark outside, but she never listened to her.

At the window, El attempted to lean out of it to see if she could spot what made the noise, but she was sharply pulled back by her arm, “I’ll look, you stay behind me.” Will told her, tugging her behind him, she rolled her eyes at him but let him go in front of her.

Will leaned out the window, his head turned down, looking towards the ground underneath the window, off to the right side of him a pair of arms came out of nowhere and wrapped around Will. Both El and her brother let out a girlish high pitched scream, over the sounds of both their screams they were shushed by the intruder who still had his arms around Will.

“Shhh, calm down, calm down. Fuck, it’s just me.” Mike loudly whispered to them, cutting their screams short, he pushed Will back from the window but grabbed onto his hands to help himself climb through. Mike let go of Will’s hands once inside her room only to pull him into a hug, rocking them from side to side.

“You screamed like a girl.” He laughed into Will’s hair where he had pressed his face, El could see him inhaling the smell of Will’s freshly showered hair.

“You really did Will, I am never letting you live that down.” El giggled from behind them.

Will pushed Mike away from him, his face bright red, “Shut the fuck up, you scared me.” Mike laughed again, pushing Will’s hands away from trying to break away from him, instead tugging on him even more until Will was back in his arms.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered a sarcastic apology out, not really sorry at all for almost giving them both a heart attack. El looked at them for a moment, her eyes taking in how close they were, not an inch of space between them. She watched as Will hid his face in Mike’s neck and how Mike smiled against him, his eyes lighting up in a way she had never seen happen before with anyone else but Will.

Not even with her, his girlfriend.

Sometimes it was hard having a boyfriend who was best friends with her brother. But as hard as it was El did not dare bring it up or complain about it, she knew she could not understand the level of friendship between Mike and Will. They have known each other longer than either of them had known her, longer than what they have known their other friends as well, they have been best friends since kindergarten, their seniors in high school now. The commitment and loyalty they shared to one another was on another level and El did not push to get answers about their closeness in fear of losing her brother and her boyfriend all in one go, because in her heart as much as she knows they love her, she also knows they would choose each other in a second over her, and El never wants that truth to be a reality. Ignorance is bliss is what she thinks the saying is.

So, she ignored the stabs of jealousy she gets as best as she could when she sees one of them being touchy and affectionate with the other (which is often), sometimes even more than either of them were with her, which is normal for a brother, but she thinks is not normal for a boyfriend. She looks the other way when she notices they get caught in each other’s orbits, lost in a world of their own that she is not privy to. She does not argue or lose her cool when one or both of them cancel plans with her to hang out with each other. El just goes about her time with them, like now, waiting for Mike to stop hugging Will as if he will never see the other boy again in his life, and notice his girlfriend still standing there waiting for her own greeting.

Mike finally lets Will out of his hug, but not before affectionately ruffling his brown hair. Mike made eye contact with El, letting a warm smile come to his lips, he finally came to her and pulled her into a hug as well, one she felt was less warm than the one he shared with Will. Pushing that thought from her mind, she stood on her tiptoes to press several soft kisses to his pink lips, something she could do with Mike that was just hers and not shared with Will. Mike nipped at her lips with his teeth, letting his tongue trace her mouth with tease before pulling back from her.

“What are you doing here?” She breathlessly asked him, she could feel the heat in her cheeks, how embarrassing for her. Mike was an amazing kisser, he always left her feeling lightheaded despite if it was just a light kiss or a full on make out session. They have not gone beyond kissing and touching each other above clothing though, El being the one too hesitant to take that next step with him. Mike had already told her he was ready for the next step, he had been ready since their first year of dating each other, now they were going on three years together.

Not answering her question, Mike’s eyes looked down at her outfit, which was not exactly conservative, it did not have to be when she was alone in her room or hanging out with her brother, “You sleep in that?”

El looked down at her sleep outfit, it was a simple pair of silk shorts with a silk tank top, nothing overly sexy but the way Mike’s eyes darkened with lust, one would think she was wearing the skimpiest outfit imaginable. The only things she thinks are sexy about her sleep outfit were how tiny the shorts were, they sat just below her butt cheeks and the chest part of the tank top that did nothing to hide her nipples, not conservative but not skimpy either. She could not deny that she liked the look in Mike’s eyes though, he made her feel wanted and loved when he looked at her like she was a meal he could not wait to feast on.

“Yes, I sleep in this,” she gently hit his chest, leaning up again to press another kiss to his lips, “But seriously, what are you doing here? My dad is just down the hallway, you know he is going to be mad if he finds out you are here.”

“It’s okay, I’m only staying for a second,” he put his finger against her mouth, stopping any words she was going to say to him, “Plus I’m not scared of Hopper.” He clicked his tongue around a snicker, a habit of Mike’s that El found oddly attractive.

“That is not the point Mike, you cannot be here.” El said to him, the giddy feeling of having her boyfriend in her room slowly fading when she pictured her dad catching said boyfriend in her room with her when he has specifically told her he does not want Mike in her room, at all, no exceptions. From the corner of her eye, she spied Will making a side shuffle to her door, likely trying to escape to give them privacy.

“I just really wanted to see you,” Mike tells her but she unhappily noted that his eyes were not looking back at her when he says this, his dark eyes are watching Will, a small frown appearing on his forehead as it often does when Will leaves out of the vicinity of Mike’s gaze when they are in a room together, she knows the question that is going to leave his mouth next, it is like clockwork, “Where are you going Will?”

Rough knocking on her bedroom door interrupts whatever Will was going to say back, just like with Will’s soft knocks that are not shared with anyone else in the family, her dad’s rougher knocks are always louder than anyone else in the house, letting the person know exactly who is on the other side of the door.

“Shit!” El shrieks, she cannot afford to get grounded right now, her and Max had made plans to go shopping for their Halloween costumes this week for the Halloween party Lucas is throwing. She will never be allowed to go shopping or go to the party if her dad finds Mike in her room.

Pointing to the floor on the side of her bed that is not facing her bedroom door El hastily pushes Mike to the floor, “Hide! You have to hide!” She quietly yelled at him, not appreciating the amusement that danced in his eyes.

“El! I heard screams and voices in your room! What are you doing?! Who do you have in there?!” Her dad started turning the doorknob to her room, Will glanced behind him to check if Mike was hidden properly, when he could not see any sign of him, he yanked the door open, forcing her dad to step back with wide eyes.

“Sorry Hopper, it’s just me,” Will announced, smiling cheekily, “I know El was staying up late tonight to finish homework, so I brought her some coffee.” Her brother gestured to the forgotten mug of coffee on her nightstand, she hoped it was still warm enough to drink.

“Oh,” Hopper cleared his throat, the tips of his ears turned red, this sadly was not the first time that he had tried to catch Mike in her room only to be confronted with Will instead, it was actually quite funny to see her normally cool, calm, and collected dad splutter in his attempt to explain his actions, “I thought I heard – I could have sworn – Never mind it’s not important now. Thank you for looking out for El Will, I appreciate it.” He placed his hand on Will’s shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Yup,” Will nodded, “Is mom done packing?” Joyce and her dad were supposed to leave tonight to catch a flight to Alaska, Joyce needing to go there for two weeks for a business trip, her dad had offered to go with her, suggesting he take his vacation days and leave Steve in charge at the police station.

Nothing serious ever happened in Hawkins anyways, the highlight of Steve’s two weeks would be getting Mrs. Driscoll’s cat out of the tree for what is going to be the millionth time that year.

“Yeah, she is, I’m done packing too,” Hopper gruffly told them, clearing his throat a couple of times, “Your mom and I are leaving for our flight in a couple of minutes, so both of you need to say bye to her before we leave.”

“Okay.” El and Will chirped together, nodding their heads, their eyes not leaving Hopper.

“They don’t need to come to me to say bye, I came to them.” Joyce said from behind her dad, El had not even seen her, she was so tiny in comparison, her dad towered over poor Joyce. She pushed Hopper aside to tug both Will and El into a protective hug, giving both of them a kiss on their foreheads, “I love you guys so much. Be good, okay, don’t drive your brother crazy while we’re gone.” She pressed more kisses to their foreheads before Hopper pulled her away, giving each of them his own stiff hug and murmurers of love.

Appearing just behind El’s doorway was Jonathan, keys hanging loosely in his hand, hair unkept and frizzy, he looked tired to El, like he was not getting any sleep, “Are you guys ready to go?”

“Yeah, yeah we are honey.” Joyce smiled at Jonathan, who was able to manage a half decent smile back despite it looking painful for him to accomplish. El quirked an eyebrow when Jonathan’s eyes looked just beyond her bed, like he knew someone was there who was not supposed to be there, she squirmed uncomfortably in her place. Jonathan was a cool older brother; she did not think he would say something if he did indeed know Mike was hiding on the other side of her bed, but the thought that he could say something still made her nervous.

Chancing a glance back, El wanted to hit Mike, just at the end of her bed was a peek of shoes, black in color, not that visible all in all but still obvious when spotted. No wonder Jonathan knew Mike was there hiding in her room, Mike might as well be announcing it out to everyone. Forcing her eyes away from Mike’s shoes El tried her best to appear normal, she was not sure if she was actually accomplishing that, but she took it as a win when no one ( Jonathan ) said anything.

El was just starting to think they got out of a lecture when her dad placed his hands on his hips, taking his cop stance, sternly looking at both siblings with hard eyes.

“Jonathan is in charge,” he said pointing to a nodding Jonathan, starting the lecture that they were not lucky enough to get out of, “I expect both of you to respect him and respect this house well me and your mom are gone, I don’t want to come home to find out you’ve both been behaving like little hooligans. I’ve already left Jonathan enough cash for the next couple of weeks to get food and whatever else you guys might need. The number for the airports and the hotel we’re staying at are on the refrigerator. I want both of you to keep to your schedules, no missing school and no staying out late on a school day. Jonathan has already been told that both of you have permission to go to Lucas’s Halloween party, he knows what to look out for when you guys get back so he can report it to us. No drinking. No smoking. No fooling around. No Mike….at all, he is not allowed to stay over when I’m not here,” El knew that part was to Will, who was allowed to have Mike stay over in his room for sleepovers unlike El, she fought a blush when Jonathan hid a laugh around a fake cough, “Just because we’re gone does not mean you guys can ignore the rules. If there’s any problems at all, go to Jonathan or Steve. Joyce, do you have anything to add?” El held back a giggle when Joyce loudly scoffed at her dad.

“Nope, I think you covered it all.” She sarcastically says back, “Get some sleep kids, we’ll see you guys in two weeks. We love you.” Joyce gives them another hug and some more kisses; her dad gives them a look that says he is watching them before both of them leave completely.

“I’ll be back in a little bit guys, don’t do anything stupid.” Jonathan winked at them before following her dad and Joyce.

El, Will, and Mike were quiet in her room, Mike who stayed on the floor, reached his hand up to her bed so he could grab one of El’s plush toys before he slithered his way to Will’s legs, wrapping one of his hands around one of Will’s ankles. The two boys' glance at each other when they hear the front door close and the car outside start up and pull away from the house. Jonathan was taking their parents to the airport in his work van and waiting with them until they boarded their flight, he would not be back for at least an hour.    

“Well that was a close call.” Mike says from the corner of his mouth, moving around Mr. Fibley in his other hand that was not clutching Will’s ankle in a death grip, acting like El’s plush squirrel was the one talking to them. She watched Will smile down at Mike, running one of his hands through Mike’s jet-black curls, entertaining her boyfriend’s sad attempt at humor.

“Get up you idiot.” Will yanked at Mike’s curls, Mike made a face at Will in return, grabbing the hand in his hair and holding on to it until he got off the floor. Still holding Mr. Fibley in his arms, Mike bounded over to El’s bed and stretched his tall lanky figure over it, relaxing back into the pillows, acting as if they were not almost grounded for life by her dad had they been caught.  

“What are you doing here so late?” Will asked him, he was still by El’s bedroom door, leaning against it, poised and ready to make a quick escape if Mike and her start becoming more physically affectionate with each other in front of him.

“Like I said, I wanted to come see El,” Mike explained to her brother, it was an odd but typical thing for El to notice that he did not look away from Will despite talking about wanting to see her , she sulked at that, “I was at home watching The Exorcist and it made me think of her.” Mike finally took his eyes away from Will and placed them on her.

“It did?” Both her and Will said together, Will with doubt in his tone and El with shocked flattery in hers. It was an unusual thing to say and normally not something to say to a significant other but El was just happy that Mike was thinking about her in his free time.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Will crossed his arms over his chest, frowning at Mike.

“Yeah, it did,” Mike continued on as if her brother did not say anything, his voice lowered, “It got me thinking about us. How three years ago, we started off good, fantastic even, all hot and heavy,” El glanced over at Will when Mike said this to her, her brothers scowl deepened on his face, his lip curled in distaste, she only stared at him for a quick second before she re-focused on Mike, “Got me thinking about how things have changed, how we’re not as physical anymore.”

El did not know how watching The Exorcist made Mike think about their intimacy with each other, it seemed a strange thought to have well watching a movie about a girl being possessed, but she would not question it or him, she was thrumming with pleasure in her bones to just have him here with her.

“So, you thought you would come here and climb through my window so we can be all “hot and heavy” like before?” El could not believe him, he was ridiculously cute, wanting to be closer to him, wanting to feel his skin against hers, El went to her bed and laid down next to Mike.

“Alright,” Will said loudly, shuffling his feet awkwardly, “That’s my cue to leave. Mike your ass isn’t staying the night so make sure you leave in less than an hour,” Will gave Mike a hard stare, letting Mike know he was not joking, “El good night, I’ll see you in the morning…Love you.” Will gave her a softer look then what he gave Mike, nodding his head to her as he opened her door to walk out.

“Love you too.” El told him, she did everything possible to not flinch back when Mike said the words with her to Will, telling her brother he loved him with zero hesitation. It was not the first time nor was it going to be the last time she heard Mike say those words to her brother. It did not bother her that he expressed his love for his best friend, of course Will and Mike loved each other, that was only natural considering they grew up together. What bothered El was that Mike could not say those same words of love to her like he could to Will, despite being together for years Mike had never ( not once ) told El he loved her. She has said those three words to him countless of times, but she has never heard them in return, instead she heard “you too” as if that was equal to saying he loved her.

As soon as Will closed her bedroom door, Mike climbed on top of her, straddling her hips, he immediately started attacking her neck with rough kisses, her thoughts on his inability to tell El what she wanted to hear were gone just as fast as they came. She could only focus on Mike, focus on the way he nibbled on her neck, biting and sucking just enough to get a reaction from her but not enough to leave a mark.

El pulled Mike away from her neck, bringing his face to hers, she laid open mouth kisses around his jaw before letting her lips settle on his, a kiss that started out sweet and soft but quickly progressed into rougher territory, their teeth clashed together in a clumsy attempt to get closer. Mike tangled their hands together, bringing them between them as he leaned his body into hers, pressing more of his weight against her.

She tilted her head back, away from Mike’s aggressive kissing so she could breathe, she let a moan escape her mouth when one of Mike’s hands let go of her own to run down the length of her tank top. His fingers brushed under her shirt, slowly making their way up to her chest, where he slowly ran his fingertips over her nipples in a touch that was far more delicate than his kisses. Bringing his mouth back to hers, El let herself enjoy the next few kisses between them before she pushed Mike off of her, sitting up she took his hand out from under her top, pushing it to his own chest.

Mike stared at her with an unhappy frown pulled across his lips, he groaned loudly but still backed away from her to sit at the edge of her bed, letting her have some space to compose herself.

“Fuck, you drive me crazy El,” Mike groaned again, with a sudden movement that made El jump back he hopped up from her bed, he was laughing as he leaned over her, bringing his hand to cup her cheek, he pressed a few gentle kisses to her forehead, “I better go, don’t want to disrespect your dad’s rules anymore then I already have.” He rolled his eyes, mockery dripped from his voice.

“Okay.” El muttered back, getting up from her bed she took his hand and led him back to her window that was still open. At the window, Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and placed a kiss to her cheek.

“Thank you for coming over.” El said, she was sad he was leaving so soon but she was happy all the same that he came over at all.

“Of course,” he answered back to her, playfully tugging on a strand of her hair, “About the “hot and heavy” stuff El, I’m not trying to rush you or push you into doing anything with me when you’re not ready to. I was mostly just playing around when I said that stuff.” El smiled in assurance back to him when she caught the worried look in his eyes, she had not felt pressured to do anything with Mike, he had never made her feel that way before and she doubted he would ever make her feel that way now or in the future.

Nodding back at her, Mike gave her a final kiss to her lips and made his way out the window.

“Hey Mike,” El called to him when he was about to walk away, he turned back to her, “I love you.” She told him, fiddling with the drawstrings to her shorts, she stared back at him expectantly, hoping this would be the moment that he told her he loved her back.

El felt disappointment and a touch of annoyance when all he did was smile and wave goodbye back to her before disappearing from her sight. She stared out the window for a few more minutes before shutting it closed and letting her curtains down from where she had them tied up, she walked back to her bed scoffing to herself, she picked up her book and threw it on her desk, she was not in the mood to read any more of it tonight.

Will was in his closet getting an outfit ready for school the next day when he heard his window open and close and the sound of shuffling feet. He shook his head to himself before making his way out of his closet, shirt and jeans in hand.

Mike was making himself at home, pulling off his shoes and kicking off his jeans so he could pull the blankets back on Will’s bed, laying himself down underneath them, settling back against Will’s pillows without a care in the world. Mike didn’t say anything as he watched Will fold the shirt and jeans he had got from his closet to place on his desk, he stayed quiet while Will gathered a pair of boxers, a pair of socks, and his shoes to place them next to his outfit.

“Hey.” Mike murmured out to the room in a quiet voice that Will barely heard over the music he had softly playing in the background. Will narrowed his eyes at him, choosing to not say anything back, he got his backpack to pretend to clean it out of the past week’s assignments, so he had room for the upcoming week’s assignments, an unnecessary thing he faked to occupy himself with considering he had already done that the day before.

He wasn’t ready to get into bed with Mike yet, he wanted a little bit more time to collect his thoughts before he lost himself to Mike’s influence which was often the case when he was in bed with the other boy. Thinking that he slowly and carefully pulled out each of his school books and notebooks from his backpack, aimlessly flipping through them to find papers and assignments to throw out that he knew weren’t in them. He wasn’t purposely ignoring Mike, or at least he wasn’t trying to purposely ignore Mike. Will just wanted a moment more than what he was given to tell himself not to be mad or jealous of the way Mike had kissed and flirted with El in her room less than thirty minutes before.

The thought that he had no reason to be angry or jealous was something he was desperately trying to drill into his head. El was Mike’s girlfriend, he was supposed to show her affection, he was supposed to give her kisses, he was supposed to flirt with her, with or without Will in the room with them.

Telling himself that still didn’t ease the envy pulsing in Will’s blood though, it never did .

“Are you mad at me?” Mike asked from the bed, he sounded annoyed to Will’s ears but also nervous. Will paused his actions of flipping through his World History textbook for the third time since pulling it out of his backpack.

“You came to see El,” Will said back refusing to look at Mike, instead keeping his head down, he gathered his schoolbooks and started putting them back into his backpack, “You watched a movie that reminded you of how horny you guys used to be for each other and you just had to rush over here because you were missing that physical contact with her so much.” Will mocked, laughing under his breath when he realized how ridiculous that sounded. Even though he knew Mike straight lied to El’s face when he told her that, Mike having spent most the night with him before climbing through El’s window, it still didn’t stop him from hating having to hear that come out of Mike’s mouth to her, it didn’t stop his jealousy.

“Come on Will,” Mike whined from the bed, “You know I didn’t mean it baby; it was just something to sweet talk her with, she likes that weird shit.” Will glared at him, it wasn’t playing fair to call him baby right now, Mike knew that pet name was a soft spot for Will, he knew Will was basically putty in his hands when he said it to him. Plus, he didn’t care what El liked hearing or not, he didn’t want to be around to hear it himself.  

“You still said it.” Will grumpily stated and he did, Mike didn’t even wait for him to leave El’s room, that was the least he could have done, “You still hugged her. You still kissed her. You still did god knows what when I left the room.” The more he talked the less angry he sounded, by the end he just sounded hurt which was somehow worse to Will’s ears, he could deal with Mike knowing he was angry over the faux affection he showed El but Will couldn’t deal with Mike knowing he was hurt by it, that was a stab to his self-esteem that he didn’t need.

“Yeah, because she’s my girlfriend Will! It would be kind of suspicious if I didn’t look like I wanted to do that kind of stuff with her and just so you know we didn’t even do anything after you left the room, I copped a feel at most.” Mike threw his hands up into the air, waving them above his head with exasperated movements.

“And me?” Will’s eyes filled with unwanted tears, he hated arguing with Mike, he hated being as vulnerable as he was with him, he hated that Mike was with El, he hated that he felt like a side piece that was only ever good enough to be with when the main piece wasn’t around, he hated that he let Mike do this to him, most of all he hated that he didn’t want to stop sneaking around with Mike, he didn’t want to stop being the person that Mike trusted, that he came to, he would do anything Mike asked of him, he always has, ever since they were children and he knows he always will and Mike knew this too, “What am I? A whore you fuck on the side because you haven’t got El to give it up to you yet.” Will spat out, he wanted to continue sounding angry with Mike and though there was a hint of anger in his voice it was overshadowed by pain and sadness.

Will felt like he couldn’t even be too upset over the whole situation, like he had no right to feel his emotions, Mike never claimed Will as his boyfriend, only as his , he has never put a label on whatever was between them. He has told Will he loved him more times than Will could count, he has said he is only with El because he needs her in his pocket and to be on her good side, he has said the thing between him and El wouldn’t last (although now their relationship was going on three years despite the promise that it was going to last a year at most). He has also told Will he means everything to him, he has said to him that he can’t imagine a life without him, and countless other sweet nothings that any person would enjoy hearing from the one they love, but Mike has never referred to Will as his boyfriend .

Granted he’s never referred to Will as his side piece or whore either, but his insecurities were strong and loud, El has years of being able to claim Mike as her boyfriend, she has an actual label and security in the title of being Mike’s girlfriend, Will doesn’t have that, he’s scared he’ll never have that no matter what promises fell from Mike’s lips to him.  

“Don’t call yourself that.” Mike brought his arms back down, pointing at Will he gave him a glare as if Will calling himself a whore was the worst offense he could have done, “You’re not some side piece I pull out to play with to my convenience Will, you know that.”

Mike got up from his bed, walking to Will he pulled him up from his desk chair, moving a few items on the desk to the side Mike put his hands on his hips, picking him up he settled Will on top of the desk, pushing himself between Will’s open legs, his hands stayed pinching Will’s hips.

Will felt nearly every crevice of Mike’s body when he was pressed against him like this, the warmth radiating off of Mike felt all too nice. Will pressed his face into Mike’s neck, a habit he’s had since they were kids, he was inhaling his scent, just under the nostalgic smell of Mike’s laundry detergent and his earthy cologne was a sharp scent of iron, an odor Will was getting more familiar with.

“You know why I’m with her baby,” Mike whispered to him, the fingers on his hips moved to the waistband of his sweats, Mike tucked his fingers underneath, teasing Will’s skin with hints of touches, “You know that I don’t love her, you know that one day I won’t be with her anymore, you know that she will never be able to compete with you. I love you Will; you know you mean everything to me, you’re my partner in crime,” Mike pushed Will away from his neck, giving him a wink that Will fondly rolled his eyes at, glancing down at his red nose, Mike lightly pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose before he continued, “You’re my best friend , you’re the best parts of me Will. You’re mine .” After that speech it was no surprise that Will’s full body broke out in a blush, he would never get tired of hearing Mike tell him what he means to him. He would never tire of Mike calling Will his , he thinks he enjoyed the possessive way Mike says those words a little more than he should but still a distant part of his brain reminds him that Mike still didn’t call Will his boyfriend, he still didn’t label what was between them, he pushed that distant thought even further into his mind, concentrating instead on Mike’s beautiful, freckled face.

Trying to get rid of the stupid giddy smile on his face, Will tucked his face back into Mike’s neck, giving him a few appreciative kisses but not sucking on the smooth skin, he couldn’t mark Mike despite wanting to. Will patiently waited for Mike to talk again, he hadn’t said he loved him back, which Will knew was a sure-fire way to frustrate Mike. It was only a matter of time before Mike got tired of waiting and demanded Will to tell him he loved him too.

Will moved his kisses from Mike’s neck to his sharp jawline, purposely avoiding Mike’s lips that were puckered and waiting for Will’s own lips, moving his hands between their bodies Will started gently rubbing the bulge in Mike’s boxers, just teasing the other boy, not fully gripping him the way Will knew Mike wanted him to.  

“Say it back.” Mike demanded of him just like Will knew he would, he kissed Mike’s pink lips, grinning against them, Mike’s own hands were now aggressively undoing Will's belt buckle, trying with fast and impatient movements to get Will’s jeans down his legs.

When Will still didn’t say what he wanted to hear, Mike pinched his hips hard enough to bruise, “Say it back.” He growled into Will’s ear, tickling his neck with his breath.

“I love you, Mike.” Will loved seeing the softness that overcame Mike’s eyes when he heard the words he wanted to hear, it was a look that Will loved knowing was reserved especially for him, it was a look that made Will want to do everything in his power to keep Mike happy and with him.

Glancing over Mike’s shoulder to his bed, Will pushed Mike away from him, the bed was far more comfortable looking and inviting then the desk he was on, “Let’s get on the bed, this desk is starting to hurt my ass.” He complained.

“I’m going to be the one hurting your ass next.” Mike wiggled his eyebrows at Will, laughing just a touch too loudly when Will flipped him off, not at all amused by Mike’s poor joke.    

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins High School

October 26 th , 1988

6:10am

The next morning Will woke up to El banging her fist on his bedroom door, the force of her hits were shaking the entire door, Will huffed with irritation, El had a heavier hand then what she thought she did, she was practically busting down his door with her knocks. It was ironic that she thought Hopper had the heaviest hand in the house when it came to knocking, when in reality it was actually her.

Will squinted his eyes at his alarm clock, blurry numbers greeted him, rubbing his eyes he looked again and was relieved to see it was just after six in the morning. He had more than enough time to kick Mike out of his room and get ready for school.

Mike’s arm tightened around his waist when El banged on his door again, he hugged Will closer to him, sleepily muttering something under his breath that Will couldn’t understand. 

“Will! Wake up! It is time to get ready for school!” El called through the closed door, his doorknob was shaking from her trying to open it, thankfully Will remembered to lock it the night before when he had come to his room after leaving El’s bedroom, he didn’t think she would appreciate the sight of Will wrapped in her boyfriend’s arms this early in the morning (or at all no matter the time for that matter), “Wake up Will!”

“I’m up! I’m up!” He yelled back, “Fucking hell.” El finally stopped her attempts at busting down his door policemen style, he could hear her footsteps as she walked away, most likely back to her room to finish getting ready herself.

Will yawned into his hand, it was too early to wake up, too early to function, he really didn’t know how El could be so perky every single morning no matter if she got sleep or not. With sluggish movements that still felt like they pulled too much energy from Will he removed Mike’s arm from his waist and untangled their legs to sit up at the edge of his bed. Behind him Mike let out a whine in protest, blindly reaching his hand to Will’s back, his eyes still closed with sleep.

“Mike.” He shook the other boy’s shoulder, narrowly avoiding Mike’s octopus limbs trying to wrap around him again. Will loved how clingy Mike got when he spent the night with him but he hated how difficult it was the next morning trying to get Mike to properly wake up.

“Mike, wake up.” Will stressed his words, Mike still needed to get home and ready himself for school, he didn’t have time to be lazy, “Get up.” He flicked Mike’s forehead, snickering to himself when Mike’s hand came up to smack the same area, eyes tightly closed and scrunched.

He couldn’t yell at Mike to wake up like he wanted to, lest El hear him, so he settled for flicking Mike’s forehead over and over again, being a general pest to the other boy.

“Stop it,” Mike groggily objected, struggling to move away from Will’s flicking finger, “Baby stop, seriously.” Will giggled again but ultimately stopped his motions.

“You have to get up,” he quietly said, unable to resist Mike’s bedhead Will started to run his fingers through his black curls, “It’s already morning and you still need to get home to get ready for school.”

“I’ll get up right now.” He moaned, a deep sound that rumbled his chest, one that Will enjoyed hearing, Mike loved when Will ran his fingers through his hair, he would never admit to it out loud but his sounds were enough to clue him into what Mike was feeling. Will loved it too, his hands were caught in Mike’s hair more often than not.

“I need to shower so you need to leave,” Will unfortunately did not have a bathroom in his room, him, El, and Jonathan had to share the hallway one, something that Will sometimes hated, Jonathan had a nasty habit of leaving his dirty clothing and wet towels in there well El left various hair styling products and makeup, he would forgo a shower that morning had Mike not fucked him the night before, but that obviously didn’t happen and there was no way he was going to school that morning without a shower, “Hurry up.” Will flicked his forehead again.

Getting off the bed he grabbed the two blankets covering Mike and ripped them off of him, leaving Mike a groaning shivering mess, the house was starting to get colder as the weather outside chilled, in a few more weeks he would need to start sleeping with three or four blankets instead of the two.

“What the fuck Will, do you realize how cold it is?” Mike scowled at him, unsuccessfully trying to reach for the blankets that Will had pulled away.

“Sorry,” he apologized with a smirk on his face, one Mike grimaced at, “We need to get ready for school and you still have to drive home.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Mike said, putting his hands over his eyes he harshly rubbed at them.

“Of course I’m right, I’m always right.” He went over to the window to open it, hoping it would give Mike a heavier hint that it was time for him to go home, Will loved him but he really needed a shower.

“Alright, alright, I’m leaving.” Mike grunted, getting off the bed he hurried to dress, slipping on his jeans and shoes with ease, a practiced action that’s been repeated many times.

At the window, he paused to give Will a lingering kiss to his forehead, a gentle thing that Will blushed over, “I’ll see you at school, I love you.”

“Love you too.” Will mumbled back, backing away from Mike he gestured to the window with a pointed look that Mike chuckled at before he finally climbed his way out, sneaking his way through Will’s yard to get to the next street over where Will knew he left his car for the night.

Not having a sleepy Mike to deal with anymore, Will gathered his bundle of clothing and his towel in his arms to shower.

7:40am

Pulling into the student parking lot of Hawkins High School in Will’s mom’s car they had borrowed to take to school that morning and were going to be using for the next couple of weeks, El and Will exited the parked car, El with an open mouth and wide blown eyes. The lush green grass, the sidewalk, and the street to the school were flooded with yellow caution tape, orange and white police blockades, policemen, news channel vans, and various reporters and journalists. 

The reporters and journalists were spread around the schoolyard, some talking to students (interviewing them), some talking directly into cameras, some writing down notes and taking pictures, and some talking to the police that surrounded the area. Walking on the sidewalk leading up to the school with El at his side, Will could hear multiple voices overlapping each other, everyone talking at once, filling his ears with chatter he didn’t particularly care for.

“I heard she was found hanging from a tree.”

“There’s blood found. All right.”

“…he went over there for a scary movie night; you know how much she liked Halloween.”

“Chief Hopper is reportedly unable to be contacted, having left the state last night for a vacation with his wife, Joyce Hopper, his deputy Steve Harrington…”

“…are doing drugs, that they are high in the classrooms, and that they are involved in the occult.”

“Occult? Oh my god.”

“I had Algebra with him.”

El moved closer to his side, tucking her arm through his, head moving back and forth, unable to concentrate with so many people buzzing around. Passing by a familiar news van, Will stopped El from walking forward, when she gave him a curious look he pointed to an area of green grass, on it were Nancy and Jonathan, his brother and Mike’s sister. Jonathan was behind his camera, filming Nancy who stood in front of the camera with a microphone in her hand, the high school in perfect view behind her.

From the corner of his eye, Will could see the anger in El’s eyes when she saw who Will pointed at, there was always a moment, a split second of time where El looked at Nancy and couldn’t control her face from showing her true emotions for the other girl. A split second where someone could catch the irritation and anger El held inside of herself for Mike’s sister, a face that disappeared as fast as it came, with a blink from Will’s eyes El’s features were schooled back into a neutral expression, acting as if she hadn’t just sent a death stare to Nancy.   

As always Will ignored El’s look, choosing to let her believe he didn’t catch her expression to his best friend’s sister and his brother’s girlfriend.

Earlier that morning Will hadn’t seen his brother before leaving for school, Jonathan had already left for work by the time Will left his room to shower. Him and Nancy worked for a local news station as one of their reporters and camera men, Jonathan often drove around the news station's van for both work and personal related things. Will watched as his brother steadied the camera he was holding on his shoulder, giving Nancy a thumbs up to indicate she could talk. Him and El stood off to the side, almost directly behind Jonathan, looking at Nancy as she fixed her frizzy hair for a final time before starting to talk at the camera with a serious frown pulled across her brows, a frown that made her appear older than she was.

“The town of Hawkins, Indiana was devastated last night when two young teenagers were found brutally murdered. Authorities have yet to issue a statement, but our sources tell us that no arrest has been made and the murderer could strike again…” Will tuned the rest of what Nancy was saying out, he looked around the schoolyard, everyone looked like busy bugs, bouncing from one area to the next with fluttering motions that made them look like they didn’t know the first thing to do with themselves, it was amusing to watch them.

Will stood on his tip toes, glancing over faces in a hurry to spot a familiar head of raven curls, next to him El had her hand covering her mouth in horror, her wide eyes stared at Nancy unblinking, actually listening to Nancy’s words unlike Will, “That is awful.” She told Will through the hand across her mouth, Will didn’t answer her back, choosing instead to keep looking for Mike.

“Can you guys believe this shit?” Someone grumbled from behind him and El, forcing themselves in between the pair.

“Max!” El happily shouted into the redheads' ear as she hugged her, Jonathan gave them an annoyed glance, pointedly gesturing his head to his camera to give them the heavy hint that they needed to leave for him and Nancy could do their jobs. Nancy was just starting to wrap up whatever she was saying, giving them a similar look to Jonathan’s when she fumbled through the last of her speech. They both took their jobs a little too seriously in Will’s opinion, but he still gave both of them a silent apology, adding a quick smile to his brother before placing his hands on both Max’s and El’s shoulders to push them forward, making them begin a slow pace to the front entrance of the high school.

“We just got here, what in the world is going on?” El’s concern leaked from her voice, she kept Max close to her, replacing Will’s arm with the other girls, “Nancy said something about two students being killed?” Will crossed his arms, stiffly holding them in front of his chest, walking a little behind the girls, keeping them within hearing distance.

“Yeah, I can’t believe you guys don’t know,” Max said to them, she glanced over her shoulder back at Nancy and Jonathan who were now reviewing the footage they just shot, before continuing, “I mean I would have figured both of you would be one of the first people to know considering your brother works for the news and your dad is the police chief.”

“Dad is not here right now; he left the state last night with Joyce to go to Alaska for Joyce’s work.” El told her at the same time that Will said, “Jonathan leaves really early for work, plus he never tells us anything if we don’t ask.”

“I didn’t know that was last night, I thought it was in a couple more days,” Max answered back to El, “Steve was called last night, he was really nervous when he left the house in the middle of the night, but I didn’t get the story from him until this morning. Apparently, Chrissy Cunningham and Jason Carver were killed last night at Chrissy’s house.” Max told them both, keeping her voice low, Steve was Max’s stepbrother and Hopper’s deputy.

Steve was a bit of an airhead, but everyone around said he had a good heart, Will wondered how he was taking all of this, to Steve, Hopper wasn’t even gone a day and already two murders happen leaving Steve as the head cop to investigate, he wondered if Steve was looking at this as an opportunity to further his career or as a burden he wished wasn’t his to take on. 

“Chrissy?’ El gasped, she looked back at Will, allowing him to see that her eyes got impossibly wider, and her eyebrows had risen up to her hairline, Will could also see tears prickling at her eyes, “She’s so sweet though, who would want to kill her?” That was true, most everyone considered Chrissy as Hawkins very own sweetheart, the strawberry blonde always had a full smile to give everyone in her line of sight, adorably displaying her crooked teeth, she always had a compliment ready for anyone who looked sad and a hug for anyone who wanted one, she was also their high schools cheer captain, dating the captain of the basketball team. An all-around good girl, it was a shame that she had to die, not that Will felt guilty over the matter, they needed someone to kick start things, Chrissy and Jason happened to be good targets.   

“Jason was an asshole, who wouldn’t want to kill him?” Will offhandedly asked, well Chrissy was an angel in disguise, Jason was a demon, an asshole who loved using his captain title as a shield to bully and harass other students he didn’t think deserved his respect. His favorite person to harass was Mike’s friend, Eddie Munson, a metal head Will’s talked to a few times that Jason dubbed “The Freak” of the school.  

“They weren’t just killed you guys,” Max stopped them at the steps leading up to the schools' front entrance, she turned around to face Will, turning El with her, leaning forward she brought their little trio into a small secret circle, “It wasn’t like a fast thing that was over within a couple of minutes. They were splatter-movie killed, Jason’s stomach was ripped open from one end to the other and Chrissy was stabbed in her heart before she was strangled and strung up a tree, her parents were the ones who found her.” That was also true, Will might have gotten carried away last night, imagining El in Chrissy’s place did poor Chrissy no favors.

“I cannot believe that,” El’s already light completion paled, her hands started shaking, a terrified look was in her gaze, she stared at the people around them with twitchy eyes, “Chrissy sits next to me in English class, she is the reason I get through that class without falling asleep.”

“Not anymore.” Will mumbled, mostly to himself, but El and Max still heard him, giving him a look of disbelief, Will shrugged back at them, not entirely sure what they wanted him to say, it was a fact, Chrissy would not be sitting next to El in English class anymore.

“Will!” El gasped incredulity at him, “She just died.” Max nodded in agreement, El gave Will a look that resembled his mom’s when she was disappointed with him.

Will put his hands up in a surrender pose, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, you’re right El, that was insensitive of me,” he said, trying his best to keep the sarcastic tone out of his voice.

“Do they know who killed them?” He asked, hoping to pull the attention of the two girls away from him.

“The police are fucking clueless,” Max shook her head, rolling her blue eyes to the sky, “Steve was saying they don’t have any leads, that the crime scene didn’t look like it would give them much evidence either, it was just a gory mess for the most part.”

“Now we have reporters swarming the school like piranhas fighting to get a nibble,” Max fumed, pissed at all the people around them trying to catch a good headline, “Steve also said to be prepared to be interviewed, their interrogating the entire school to try and get a lead.” She warned them.

“Everyone?” Will questioned, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder, he looked around again for Mike but still couldn’t spot him, he wondered what was holding him up, by now Mike was normally attached to his hip. 

“Yup,” Max nodded, “Teachers, students, lunch ladies, janitors, you name it, the police are going to be talking to them.”

“Did Steve mention if they think it is school related? Does he think someone in this school could be the killer?” El hesitantly asked, watching the people around them with careful eyes, taking double glances of suspicion at anyone who she thought looked shifty.

“They don’t know, that’s why they're talking to everyone.” Max let them out of their secret circle, continuing on to the school like she wasn’t just giving them the rundown of the murders that happened.    

“It’s a shame that Hopper isn’t here right now, the town could really use his help. Steve was telling me this is the worst crime to happen in Hawkins in years, even worse than…” Max trailed off, leaving her sentence unfinished, avoiding looking into El’s eyes. They all knew what she had intended to say, it wasn’t like it was a secret… ‘Steve was telling me this is the worst crime to happen in Hawkins in years, even worse than Terry’s Ives’s murder.’  

“Let’s just say it’s bad.” She said after a beat of silence went by, a silence verging on awkward that Will didn’t want to be a part of. Fortunately, the school bell rang, giving students their first warning to get to class.

Striding ahead of the girls, Will looked back long enough to give El and Max a wave, calling out, “I’ll see you guys later!” He didn’t give either girl a chance to wave or say anything back, just continued his way to his classroom, pushing through students blocking his path, his gaze focused on the ground, he still hadn’t seen Mike, he was starting to wonder if the other boy even came to school or not.

El sat in her English class, trying to keep her attention on her teacher who stood at the front of the classroom going over the reading assignment everyone had, telling them they should have read their assigned book by then as they were getting handed multiple worksheets to fill out discussing their individual books (El knew her luck in this class was crappy so it did not shock her that her teacher was discussing the book she did not finish the night before).

Trying was the operative word as El’s gaze once again moved from her teacher to the empty seat next to her, the seat Chrissy normally occupied but was now vacated. Seeing Chrissy’s empty desk chair was bringing an unpleasant swirling to El’s stomach, making her feel nauseous and lightheaded. It did not feel right to know that the reason why the chair did not have the bubbly girl in it today was because she was viciously murdered, it was not as if El could chalk up her disappearance to being absent, staying home sick, or even skipping in the girl's bathroom, the harsh truth of what had happened to Chrissy was in her face, making it impossible to pretend otherwise.

It might have been El’s imagination, but the class also felt suffocating, she could tell she was not the only student eyeing the empty seat. The classroom felt like a restraint around her, keeping her seated and acting as if everything was okay, as if everything was normal, as if two students did not just die horrifying deaths while everyone else in town was asleep.

The sound of the door opening pulled El away from her depressing thoughts, one of the schools' front desk ladies was handing her teacher a note, that same lady had been filtering in and out of the classroom for the last forty minutes, coming in periodically with notes to the teacher, shortly after a student was told it was their turn to talk to the police. El waited to hear what unlucky student had been chosen to go next.

“Eleanor,” El’s teacher spoke in a softer tone then what she was used to hearing come from her gruff English teacher, who normally spoke with hard edged words and a sneer on her face, it took El a minute to register that the entirety of the classroom was looking at her, she was not used to hearing her full name, just her nickname, “It’s your turn sweetie.” El had to physically stop herself from cringing, never in her history of attending this teachers' classes had she ever called El “sweetie” , it was not a term of endearment or an act of comfort that her teacher wanted it to be.

Avoiding looking into anyone’s eyes, El got up from her seat, picking up her backpack that laid on the floor next to her, she took one last look at Chrissy’s empty seat before she walked out of the classroom and made her way to the principal’s office where all the students were being questioned. She wondered if any of her friends or boyfriend had already been interrogated or if she was the first one out of their group of friends.

Just outside the principal’s office she heard voices filtering out, all ones she recognized.

“Who is up next?” That was Officer Callahan, one of her dad’s co-workers, an officer that liked to steal her dad’s lunches and refused to admit it was him anytime he was confronted, at least according to her dad. Officer Callahan sounded bored from what El could hear, like questioning students was beneath him.

“Eleanor Hopper.” Both Principal Coleman and Steve Harrington said together, they both sounded apprehensive, like they were hesitant to say her name, which she thinks they are. Steve, she noted, held more affection in his voice when he said her name then what her principal did.

“Chief Hopper’s daughter?” Officer Callahan questioned them, “I’m not sure he’s going to be happy that we’re questioning his daughter without him present.”

“It’s okay, I know Hopper and El,” Steve told them, “He’s still not going to be happy, but he’ll feel better once he knows I was here with her.” Which was true, her dad trusted Steve, if he could not be present with her for questions, she knows he would appreciate Steve or Jonathan taking his place, “Plus, none of us have been able to get in contact with him or Joyce so it’s better to move this along as fast as we can, he’ll understand.” Steve assured the other two men.

“Isn’t El Hopper also the daughter of uhh…” Principal Coleman started asking the two officers, El chose that moment to walk into the room, not wanting him to finish his sentence, Steve loudly cleared his throat, glaring over at her principal, making him trail off, giving El a regretful expression that bordered on sympathetic, a look that she was quite used to getting when her mother was intentionally or unintentionally brought up in front of her. .

Principal Coleman put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently, “El, how are you this morning sweetheart?” Hearing the term of endearment from her principal did not give her as much of a visceral reaction as she had hearing it from her teachers' mouth, it sounded more genuine from him then it had sounded coming from her teacher.

She shrugged her shoulders at him, taking the seat he led her over to, uttering a quick and quiet, “I am okay.” To the men in the room.

“Hello El.” Officer Callahan told her, giving her a small smile and a head nod.

“Officer Callahan,” El nodded back to him, giving him her own small fake smile, she looked at Steve next, “Steve.” El let a warm smile come to her face, replacing her artificial one, Steve hated it when any of them called him by his first name when he was ‘on duty’ , he always made a point to stress to her and her friends the level of respect they had to show him when he put on the uniform and badge, it was quite cute to El how serious he got when telling them this, it was also hilarious because they loved testing him all the more for it.  

“Elllll,” Steve hissed at her, dragging out the “L” in her name, practically whining, which he caught himself doing judging by his sudden straight posture, “I’m in uniform right now, it’s Officer or Deputy Harrington.”

“Right, right.” El suppressed a giggle that wanted to burst from her throat at Steve’s face, it was just too easy to get to him, “Deputy Harrington.”

“How is everything El? Are you okay?” Officer Callahan spoke, turning El’s attention to him. She was not sure if he was asking out of genuine interest or just as a standard that he had asked all the students that were questioned before her, but she answered him all the same.

“Good. I am good.” She was not about to mention to them the nauseous feeling she has had all morning; they did not need to know that information.

“And Chief Hopper? How was he last night? Did he have any trouble packing or catching his flight?” He continued, again she was not sure if it was out of sincere concern or if it was standard to ask considering her dad was head-honcho at the police station and Officer Callahan did not want his bad manners to come back to bite him in the ass later on when her dad returned to Hawkins.

“Um yeah he was good, packed everything on time, gave me and Will a lecture, and then had Jonathan drive him and Joyce to the airport.” She rattled off.

“Thanks for asking.” She added on in afterthought, she also did not want her own bad manners to come back to bite her in the ass.

“Have you heard from Hopper or Joyce at all since they left?” Steve was the one to ask her this time, a concerned expression pulled his eyebrows together and tightened the corners of his lips. This time El knew it was genuine concern being expressed, Steve did not like that he could not get in contact with her dad, she understood that feeling.

“No, I have not,” El told them shaking her head, “They told me and Will they would call us when they landed but they only just left last night, I am not sure if they have even landed yet.”

“When you hear back from them El, you or Will, make sure you guys let me know.” El nodded her head to Steve, some of the worry left his eyes when she agreed to contact him.

“Right,” Principal Coleman clapped his hands together, “Well for right now the police are going to be asking you some questions El, nothing major, just a standard interview they’re going through with all the students and staff, it shouldn’t take long at all, they’ve been doing their best to try to make things as brief as possible.” El nervously nodded her understanding, she kept her gaze on Steve, she felt more comfortable looking at him then the other two men in the room with her, Steve felt safe, Steve was safe, he would not let the questioning get to a point that it made El uncomfortable.

Seeing that El was closely looking at him for guidance and comfortability, Steve moved closer to her, pushing a chair her way he sat down in front of the seat she had taken.

“Have you heard about what happened?” Steve started softly questioning her, his voice was low, almost too low for El to hear, she shifted closer to Steve, their knees knocked together from their new positions.

“Yeah, Max filled me and Will in when we got to school this morning and seen all the reporters and police outside,” El told him, in the corner of her eye she could see Officer Callahan writing something down in a notepad she had not noticed was on his lap, she pondered what he was writing down, it was not like what she just said was important to anything, “She said Chrissy and Jason were killed last night.”

Steve hummed in understanding and confirmation, “Yes, they were, and we’re doing our best to find the killer.” El did not say anything to that, knowing Steve was attempting to soothe her, probably noticing how fidgety and nervous she was. Not because she knew anything helpful to their investigation, she knew nothing about who killed Chrissy and Jason or why they were killed, but because she felt like extra attention was on her since that morning, attention she did not like, it made her anxious. El was already a nervous, untrusting person, suspicious of those around her, really only trusting her own friend group and the older people close to them like Steve and Jonathan (Not Nancy…Not for El), and this unknown killer in their town that could strike again was not helping her wary nature.

“Were you friends with Chrissy Cunningham and/or Jason Carver?” Steve knew the answer to this question already, El knew he knew she was only friends with five other people in the school, one of which was her brother, another one which was Steve’s own sister, and another one her boyfriend but she answered the question all the same.

“I was not friends with either of them. I do sit next to Chrissy in English class though and sometimes we talk but outside of that class we do not interact.” El only caught the present tense in her speech after, she would have to start saying she used to sit next to Chrissy in English class, and they did not interact outside of that classroom.

“Okay,” Steve said unsurprisingly, “A lot of students seem to know that Chrissy and Jason were planning a Halloween movie night last night. Did you also know this information?” She was not sure of the purpose of this question, what would knowing what Chrissy and Jason were up to the night before prove to their investigation of who the killer was? 

“I did not know they were going to have a Halloween movie night until I heard about it this morning, but it is not surprising, Chrissy has always been very vocal about her love for Halloween, everyone in this school knows it is her favorite holiday.” Lots of students were celebrating the holiday with scary movies, it was not shocking that Chrissy and Jason were a part of the mass in that regard.

“It’s your guys’ favorite holiday too, right?’ Steve asked nodding his head, he seemed more relaxed as he went on asking her questions and getting answers, El wondered if he thought she would say something unusual or weird, she still did not know why Officer Callahan was still writing in his notepad though, it made her feel like she was saying something that did not fit.

Steve was wrong, Halloween was not her group's favorite holiday, or at least not her favorite holiday. Her favorite was New Years, she liked the thought of being able to start anew every year, to be given another chance to get things right, she liked the thought of things in the past staying in the past and moving forward. Though Max and Lucas enjoyed Halloween, El knew it was not their favorite either. Halloween was Mike’s, Will’s, and Dustin’s favorite though.

“Some of ours, yeah.” She quietly muttered out, not bothering to fully correct him.

“Okay, last couple of questions El and then you can get back to class,” Steve teasingly knocked his knees against hers, giving her a dim but sincere smile, one she tried to mirror back, “Where were you last night between the hours of 10:00pm and Midnight? What were you doing? Who were you with?”

This seemed more like the questions that someone would expect to be asked in a police investigation, El wanted to be able to say she was asleep like a normal teenager, but she did not want to lie, at least not all the way, she was not doing anything bad exactly, but she did not want the fact that Mike snuck over to her house to get back to her dad. Steve and her dad were close, Steve also knew Mike was not allowed over, El was sure the information would get back to Hopper and she would be grounded if she told the full truth.  

“I was reading a book for my English class last night,” she started, she shifted uncomfortably in her chair, hoping Steve would not pick up the lie if she added mostly truth to it, “I was with Will, my dad, and Joyce for the last part of my night, Will was keeping me company while I read my book and then we said goodbye to our parents. I fell asleep around 12:40am.”

El felt like she was sweating, it was the truth what she said but the lie was glaringly obvious, at least she thought so, luckily no one else in the room seemed to pick up on it. She felt relieved that no one was picking up on her lies, Steve stood up from his chair, pushing it back, it made a terrible screeching sound on the floor as it was forced away. Officer Callahan was also closing his little notepad, placing it back on his lap and his pen back in his shirt pocket.    

“Alright El you’re all done; you can get back to class now.” Steve pulled her up from her chair, lightly pushing her to the office door, flashing one last smile to the room, El walked out. She kept her head down as she walked, she hoped Will would not contradict her words and mention Mike coming over when Steve questioned him.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana 

Hawkins High School 

October 26th, 1988

12:10 pm 

Hearing the school bell ring throughout the classroom was one of the best things that Will felt he’s ever heard; he was bored out of his mind and ready for lunch, he was hoping to see Mike at the usual lunch spot. Gathering his things back into his backpack he left the classroom, he met up with Lucas outside in the schools' courtyard.

All around them students were rushing to get places around the green fields of the school, placing their lunches down before plopping next to their friends for their lunch hour, happily talking to one another as if today was a typical normal Monday.

“Hey,” Lucas bumped his shoulder when Will got to him, “Did you get lunch?” He eyed Will’s empty hands with eyebrows raised, in his own hands he carried a standard lunch tray, one that had a milk carton, a bowl of tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich, an apple, and a cookie on it.

“I brought a couple of oranges from home to eat.” Will gestured to his backpack, he didn’t like eating the school lunches, so he always brought something to snack on to fill him up just enough to last throughout the second half of the school day.

Him and Lucas were quiet after that, quickly making their way to their normal hangout area during lunch period where the group was sure to be gathered like any other school day.

Sure enough, Will spotted El, Mike, Dustin, and Max sitting on the edge of a large cement water fountain that was surrounded by flowerpots, the school had the water fountain put in as decoration in an attempt to make the high school more appealing on the outside. Will did have to admit, it was nice looking, plus it didn’t hurt that the flat surface of the water fountain was comfortable enough to sit on, lay back on, and relax on.

Lucas left his side when they got to the group, immediately going to Max’s side, tugging her to himself to press several kisses to her glossed lips. 

Will stopped in front of them, looking at all of them he wondered where the best place to sit was. To the far left was Mike, who Will hadn’t seen all day until that moment even though he had paid attention in the hallways between classes for him. Mike was lying down with his backpack under his head acting as an improvised pillow, his eyes were closed, his face turned towards the beaming sun soaking in its yellow rays. Will thought Mike looked good in the sunlight, his fingers longed to grab his sketchbook, wanting to keep the image of this sunlit Mike immortalized on paper.

In front of Mike, in between his legs and leaning back into his chest was El, she too had her head turned towards the sun, eyes closed, relaxing back into Mike like the makeshift perfect couple they were.

Moving his eyes away from the picture Mike and El made together before he got too upset over it, Will looked further down the fountain, at the other end, at the far right side was Dustin by himself, stuffing his cheeks full of twinkies, there was empty wrappers gathered around him, he was talking to Lucas who had moved himself and Max into a similar position as Mike and El except they were sitting down instead of lying down.

In the back of Will’s mind he registered that the school’s intercom was on and Principal Coleman was talking through it, he listened more closely, “Remember students as your principal I love all of you as my students, and I want all of you to be as safe as you can be,” Will heavily rolled his eyes at that, “All students are being encouraged to return to their homes immediately after school is over. Please avoid strangers, walk in groups of 2 or more, and report any unusual sightings to the Hawkins Police Station. That will be all for these announcements. Please stay safe and have a wonderful day. Thank you.” Will resisted rolling his eyes again, like anyone was going to listen to Principal Coleman, teenagers were stupid, Will had already overheard a few students talking about going out to Chrissy’s house to see if they could see the left-over blood from the bodies, which they probably would be able to if they went, her blood had soaked the grass outside when Will had stabbed her, he doubted the police were able to get that cleaned up all the way.

“Will?” Snapping out of his thoughts, Will stared at the fountain to see who called his name, Mike was sitting up, El no longer pressed to his chest, instead she was sitting upright with her arms pressed firmly to her sides, an unhappy expression on her face. Mike was waving his hand to the empty space next to him, without a second thought Will sat down, he dropped his backpack to the floor before he pulled his legs up under him, sitting criss-cross he turned his whole body to face Mike.

Without falter Mike picked up Will’s backpack and dug through it, pulling out the two oranges he had stashed in it before letting his backpack drop back to the ground. After throwing one of the oranges to Will, Mike shifted his body to lay back down, this time with his head in between the open space made by the crossed legs of Will’s lap, Will grinned down at the other boy, not saying anything Will began peeling his orange, watching as Mike did the same.

He ignored the eyes he could feel on him, El was no doubt watching them as she always did, it was obvious she didn’t like how close Mike and Will got a lot of the time, but strangely enough she had never mentioned her dislike of it to either of them. She instead kept quiet and tried not to show the aversion for their closeness on her face, like with Nancy though, he was able to detect it before El gained control over her facial muscles again. Will sometimes wished El wouldn’t hold her tongue, he wished she would say something, if only just to see how Mike reacted to her words and how he would behave with Will afterwards.

“How’s your morning been?” Mike grinned up at Will from his lap, winking at him when they locked eyes, Will had a sudden urge to smack the side of Mike’s head but he resisted, instead he flicked Mike’s nose a couple of times, annoying the other boy who reached up to grab Will’s hand, keeping hold of it afterwards causing a deep blush to paint Will’s cheeks.

“It’s been okay,” Will whispered to him, glancing at the others he could tell the only one really paying attention to them was El, who appeared to be engaged with the group but was side eying them, a discreet grimace slowly making its way to her face, “Where have you been all morning? I was looking for you.” Will pulled his hand away from Mike’s to finish peeling his orange, breaking it apart he started eating the wedges, trying to act like he didn’t care where Mike was that morning but failing when his voice came out snappier than he intended it to.  

“Here and there.” Mike shrugged, he split apart his own orange to start eating it, taking an aggressive bite from his first slice Will watched as some of the juice from the orange sprayed from the wedge and dripped from the corner of Mike’s mouth, he licked his lips as he watched it trail down the side of Mike’s cheek, he wanted to lick it up but knew he couldn’t in present company.

When Mike didn’t elaborate what “here and there” meant to him, Will dropped the question, not really wanting to but not wanting to piss Mike off by bugging him even more.

“So, what kinds of questions did Steve ask you guys?” Max’s voice drew Will’s attention, she was giggling and playfully hitting Lucas’s arm as he tried to force feed her a slice of his apple.

“He asked me if I was friends with Chrissy or Jason.” Dustin answered back, hurriedly drinking some water he had next to him when he choked around the twinkies in his mouth, trying to talk around them. Will wrinkled his nose when a piece of twinkie fell out of Dustin’s mouth, splattering on the ground beneath him.

“Same.” Max, Lucas, and El said together, Mike and him were quiet, silently watching the others and listening to them.

Finishing his orange, Will couldn’t stop himself from running his fingers through Mike’s hair, purposely pulling the strands rougher than necessary, causing Mike to give him a cheeky smirk.

“He asked me if I knew Chrissy and Jason were going to watch scary movies, and I was like well duh, everyone fucking knew that because Chrissy is a Halloween freak and couldn’t shut up all week about wanting to have Jason over,” Max ranted, “What does knowing they were going to watch scary movies even prove? Like what does that information even provide when it’s basically common knowledge?”

“I thought the same thing,” El quietly admitted, “Steve asked what I was doing last night between the hours of 10pm and Midnight, he asked me who I was with too,” El snapped her head up like she had a sudden thought she couldn’t wait to share, turning to look at Will and Mike, she said, “Which reminds me, I do not know if you guys talked to them yet but I did not mention Mike coming over. I just said that Will kept me company well I read my English book and that I went to bed after I said goodbye to my dad and Joyce.”

“So, you lied?” Dustin snickered to himself, “Wow El, I didn’t know you had it in you, I’m proud of you, truly proud.” He had his hand pressed to his chest, giving El a mock bow, Will chuckled under his breath when he caught sight of El’s annoyed expression.

“Shut up!” She screeched back to Dustin, trying to reach over the space between them to hit him, settling on throwing one of Mike’s orange peels at him when she realized she couldn’t reach over without falling.

“Wait…Mike went over last night?” Lucas mischievously smiled at El, suggestively moving his eyebrows up and down, “Care to tell the class what you guys did?”

“Shut the hell up Lucas,” Max landed another less playful hit to Lucas’s arm, one that Will winced at, it sounded like it hurt, “El isn’t going to kiss and tell, she’s a lady, she has class.” Max declared with a firm head nod, El shook her head in embarrassment.

“I already got questioned, and no I didn’t mention Mike coming over last night. Do you think I’m fucking stupid; Steve would have told Hopper when he got back, and I would have been grounded right along with you.” Will told El wanting to get off the subject of what her and Mike did the previous night together, his voice was angrier than he wanted it to be, when El frowned back at him Mike painfully pinched his inner thigh throwing him a hard look when Will glanced down at him, one Will scowled back at.

“Did they ask you guys if you liked to hunt? Because Steve asked me that.” Mike said to them, keeping his eyes locked with Will’s, his glare seemed to get darker the longer Will stared back at him, unwilling to be the first to look away.

“Yeah, he asked me that too, like what the hell does that even have to do with anything?” Lucas answered with a clueless look.

“Right! It was fucking weird!” Dustin pointed at Lucas, rapidly nodding his head in agreement.

“Steve did not ask me that.” El and Max said together, both smiling at one another after. Steve had also asked Will if he liked to hunt but he kept his mouth closed, too busy having a silent standoff with Mike. Will couldn’t believe that Mike was upset over a sharp tone to El, it didn’t help Will’s feelings of jealousy and insecurity, he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of Mike’s glares in defense for El, Will was meant to be the exception to this glare.

“Why would Steve ask you guys if you like to hunt but not us girls?” El curiously asked.

“I’m guessing it’s because Jason’s body was gutted,” Dustin excitedly told them like he was talking about a new movie release or new invention he made, “Still a fucking weird thing to ask but it makes sense when you think about it.”

“Thank you for that delightful visual Dustin, appreciate it.” Will sarcastically replied without looking up, he narrowed his eyes at Mike, he wanted to ask Mike what his problem was but with present company all he could do was make facial expressions he hoped let Mike know he wasn’t happy with him.

“I think he didn’t ask you girls if you liked to hunt because they think a man killed Chrissy and Jason, the way they were murdered, gutted and gory they don’t think a girl could have done that.” Lucas announced to them, talking in a matter of fact tone that Will wanted to laugh at but refrained himself from doing so.  

“Lucas! That’s so fucking sexist,” Lucas just barely missed the next hit Max aimed at him, jumping away from her with a laugh, wrapping his arms around her he held down her flying hands, keeping them locked to her chest, “A girl could have easily killed them. Just because it was gruesome doesn’t just automatically mean it was a man, it’s the eighties for fuck's sake, women can do whatever men can do and even do it better.” Max finally got herself out of Lucas’s hold, she reached over to smack Dustin’s arm first, before she sneak-attacked Lucas on the second round, both boys let out fake wails of pain, snorting in laughter when Max glowered at them.

“It is the eighties.” El nodded with too much seriousness in her voice, letting everyone know that she was not sarcastically replying back like most of them would do. Mike was the first to break the staring contest, he looked away from Will’s eyes only to put them on El, fondly smiling at her, reaching her hand to him, Will flinched when Mike met her halfway and tangled their fingers together, sitting up from Will’s lap he scooted closer to El, slinging his arm around her shoulder and kissing the side of her forehead.

“Jason was basically hollowed out,” Mike clicked his tongue at them, his lips curled at the corners into a smirk, he was mainly speaking to the girls, he wanted to rile up Max again, seeing how offended she had got over Lucas saying the police think only a man could do such a grotesque murder, “And Chrissy was stabbed, choked, and strung up a tree, the fact is that only a man would have the stomach to do something like that, only a man would be willing to get his hands dirty like that.”

“Clearly you overestimate your gender and underestimate our gender,” Max immediately argued, pointing to her and El at the end of her sentence, “Being a man doesn’t automatically make you tougher or make you be able to “stomach” more things, being a man literally just means you have a dick between your legs, a dick half of you don’t even know how to fucking use properly.”

“Ohhhhh she just fucking went there!” Dustin shouted laughing so hard he almost fell back into the water fountain, catching himself at the last second before he tumbled over. Will started laughing too, in part at Dustin who almost fell into the fountain and was trying to appear nonchalant about it and part at Mike’s scowl to Max, taking her comment personally, Mike quickly glanced his way, Will caught the unhappy almost betrayed look on his face before Mike had turned away from him again.

“Yeesh Max, clearly that hit a little too close to home for Mikey-Boy here so give some of his dignity back, he only has so much of it.” Lucas joked giving a mock pitying look to Mike who glared at the couple harder than before. Dustin was trying to reign in his laughter, seeing that Mike wasn’t looking pleased, but Will didn’t try to hide his snickering, Mike deserved to be laughed at after how he glared at Will like he had done something wrong when he hadn’t.

“How do you…gut someone?” El questioned, she was observing them with puzzled eyes, after her question the group got quiet, Will felt his lip turn up and his nose scrunch when Mike’s hand started rubbing soothing circles to El’s lower back, he was whispering something in her ear that Will couldn’t hear but it was clear whatever Mike had said was comforting her, El’s shoulders relaxed their tense posture and she leaned further into Mike’s support.

Will opened his mouth to answer without fully realizing that’s what he was doing until his words started filling the silence between them, all eyes snapped to look at him, including Mike’s, his own eyes were focused on where Mike’s hand was still pressed to El’s back, “You take a knife, and you slit them from groin to sternum and watch as all their intestines fall to the ground. In theory, it’s really not that hard to gut someone, messy, but not difficult.” His voice had dropped to a low murmur, taking his eyes off of Mike’s hand, he looked up just in time to see El’s shudder and see Mike pull her even closer, which Will hadn’t thought was possible, El was already practically sitting in Mike’s lap, how much closer did she really need to be to him.

“Shut the fuck up Will,” Mike snarled at him, Will refused to let any emotion cross his face, he blankly stared back, not giving away any of the hurt feeling he had inside from being told to “shut the fuck up” by Mike, “Why the hell would you say that?”

“She asked,” he sneered back at Mike, “Why did she ask a question that she knew she wasn’t going to like the fucking answer to?” Will could feel everyone’s eyes shifting between him and Mike, the atmosphere around them got tense, the others not really knowing what to say to make things less strained.

“Hey Mike, didn’t you used to date Chrissy a while back? Before El.” Lucas blurted out, shifting awkwardly, he wanted to move along the conversation.

“Yeah, freshmen year, for like two seconds,” Mike scoffed, easing the tension around them, “Worse two seconds ever too, Eddie had a crush on her and got on my ass for dating her, mind you we didn’t even actually go on a date, I kissed her one time behind the fucking bleachers, and we never talked after that. I wouldn’t exactly say we dated .”

Will remembered that well, it was a couple of months before he introduced Mike to El and he started dating her, Mike had told him he wanted to know what being with a girl felt like before he did anything with El and so he went and asked out Chrissy, who had surprisingly said yes, doing this despite Will expressing he didn’t want Mike being with anyone other than him. Mike hadn’t got much further than a make out session with her behind the bleachers before his friend Eddie had told him about his crush, begging Mike to not date her, Mike being the good friend that he was ignored Chrissy after that, going back into Will’s arms and bed like nothing happened.

Fast forward a few months, Will's mom got remarried and moved in Hopper along with El into their home and Mike started dating El not long after that, leaving Will in a horribly jealous state that he hasn’t been able to get out of since. Looking down to the cement he smirked to himself when he thought about Chrissy’s body swinging from the tree in her yard, eventually she got what was coming to her for touching someone that wasn’t hers, El would be getting what she deserved pretty soon too.

“Yeah, didn’t she start dating Jason like right after that?” Dustin tilted his head, trying to remember their freshmen year, Will nodded to him, answering his question, Chrissy had started dating Jason immediately after that, breaking poor Eddie Munson’s heart at the time.

Turning away from the group Will ran his eyes over the other students, looking for the metal head. He spotted him by a tree with a girl Will thinks is named Robin, another peculiar student in the school, one he’s heard likes to ramble on about random things. From what Will could see it looked like Eddie was zoned out, just staring off into nothing with a sad expression on his face, Will wondered if he still had that crush on Chrissy to this day and was sad that she had died, he would ask the other boy but that seemed callous, even for him.

“Are the police aware that you dated the victim Michael?” Max raised her eyebrow at Mike, “Did you let my dear brother know that you had a personal connection to Chrissy Cunningham?” She smirked at Mike when he flipped her off, Will stopped looking at Eddie to throw Mike what he hoped was a sharp look that told him to not open his mouth, Mike tended to say stupid shit when he felt cornered.

“Your brother knows I dated her Max, he was there when all of you guys were pestering me about it in case you don’t remember,” Mike wouldn’t meet Will’s eyes, “Plus, what are you trying to say? That I killed her?” He shook his head at Max, clicking his tongue at her in irritation, Max shrugged in response, wearing a look of triumph, happy she was able to aggravate Mike, which wasn’t exactly hard for her to do considering her existence irritated Mike on any given day.

“Mike was with me last night.” El defended, her and Max had a silent conversation, one that ended with Max huffing and crossing her arms, Will wanted to point out that Mike was only with El for a small portion of the night, he was with Will before and after he was with El, he bit down on his bottom lip to prevent himself from saying that though.

“Exactly, I was with El last night.” Mike taunted Max, sticking his tongue out at her.

“Was that before or after you sliced and diced?” Dustin spoke in Max’s place, unafraid of El’s nasty looks, like all of them with the exception of El he enjoyed getting on Mike’s bad side, it was fun to watch.

“Where were you last night Dustin?” El asked, trying to turn the questioning around, her arms crossed and chin up in the air, watching Dustin closely for cracks.

“I was working, thank you very much.” Dustin said, making faces at El. Will was ready for this conversation to be over; he was done talking about this, his legs itched to get up and walk away, he wouldn’t be getting a private conversation with Mike like he wanted anytime soon anyways, he would probably attach himself to El’s side like he has been since leaving Will’s lap, making it impossible for Will to get him alone to talk.   

“You were working?” Lucas questioned, confused, he squinted his eyes at Dustin, “At the video store? I thought they fired your ass. Weren’t you going on angry rants to people about their movie choices?”

“Yeah, they fired me, twice as a matter of fact, I got hired back on though,” Dustin stated proudly to them, “And yes, how the fuck do so many people in this town have such shitty movie taste? How am I supposed to just let them walk away without knowing how shitty their movie taste is? I would be the bad guy in that situation.” Dustin stood up, putting his hands on his hips, giving them an exasperated stare, he wasn’t wrong Will thought, more than half the town did have shitty movie taste, it was honestly a little embarrassing for them as a town.

“I didn’t kill anybody.” Mike growled under his breath, glaring at all of them with anger, El rubbed his shoulder trying to soothe out his anger, giving multiple kisses to his lips when she got no response.

Irritated at the display, Will used his foot to roughly hit Mike’s thigh, when Mike moved his eyes to him, Will coldly said, “Nobody said you did.”

“Thank you, buddy.” Mike told him, smiling sarcastically back at him, Will’s jaw tightened in frustration.  

“Well you did say it takes a man to do something like those murders Mike,” Max mocked Mike’s words back at him, unable to resist getting Mike even more flustered with irritation, “Last I checked you’re a man, one of the half that don’t know how to use the dick that makes you a man, but a man nonetheless…unless you have something to tell us?” Max pointedly looked down to Mike’s dick, giggling to herself when Mike covered his crotch.

“Keep it up Max and I’m going to gut your ass next.” Mike threatened, Will rolled his eyes when all of them laughed, taking far too much joy in Mike’s anger. The only one who didn’t laugh besides him was El, she was looking between Mike and Max with a frown on her face.

“Tell us something Mike,” Dustin continued the teasing, laughing in between his words, “Did you really put Jason’s liver in Chrissy’s mailbox? Because I heard that the police found his liver in the mailbox next to his spleen and pancreas.” Jason’s liver was not in fact in the mailbox next to his spleen and pancreas, Will didn’t touch Jason after initially slashing his stomach open, what Dustin heard was a shitty rumor, not that Will would be telling him that.

“Ew man I’m still trying to eat here!” Lucas yelled, waving his half eaten grilled cheese in the air, ripping off a piece he threw it at Dustin, it bounced off his chest and landed on the ground next to Dustin's chewed up twinkie that had fallen out of his mouth earlier. 

“That is not funny.” El stated angrily as she stood up, she pushed Mike away from her when he tried to pull her back to him, telling her they were just joking and it didn’t mean anything, El ignored Mike, Will hid a smirk behind his hand as he watched El walk away in a huff, making little noises that drew the attention of the students she walked past. Mike didn’t move to follow her like Will thought he would, he just stared after her with pursed lips.   

“Aww shit. El! Come on El! I didn’t mean it! I was joking! I’m sorry!” Dustin called to El’s retreating form, he hurried to collect the wrappers of the empty twinkies around him before he rushed to follow after El, letting a string of apologies out of his mouth as he went.

“I better go after her too.” Max said with a regretful grimace, she jumped up from the water fountain, jogging to catch up to Dustin, without a word to Mike or Will Lucas collected the remainder of his lunch and ran after Max, trying his best to stuff the half uneaten grilled cheese into his mouth well balancing the tray in his hands.

Will didn’t think he and Mike would be left alone so soon, he had thought that was what he wanted, but to his surprise he didn’t really want to be around Mike at that moment who had scooted closer to him when everyone was running after El, their sides were now tightly pressed together, Mike lifted his hand to place on Will’s knee, beginning to tap a random rhythm on it.

Not acknowledging Mike in the slightest, Will smacked his hand off his knee, gathering his orange peels to throw away, he leaned down to grab his backpack so he could find the nearest trash can.

“Are you mad at me again?” Mike demanded of him, not answering him Will walked away, not two seconds later he felt Mike at his heels following him. Ignoring his urge to turn around to smooth things over with Mike, Will forced his legs to go faster, only briefly stopping at a trashcan to throw his orange peels away.

“Seriously Will, what the fuck is your problem?” From behind him Mike roughly pushed his hand in the middle of Will’s back, making him trip forward, he didn’t fall from the push but the fact that he could have fell angered him even more.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” Will stopped walking, turning to glare at Mike, they had already made their way back inside the school, they were standing in an empty hallway, facing each other with scowls.

“You’re mine , I can touch you whenever the fuck I want to.” Mike was in his face hissing at him, normally Mike’s possessive words would thrill Will to no end, normally he loved it, but at that moment he wanted nothing more than to rip out Mike’s tongue, not wanting to hear the usual things he spills to Will to make him forgive him.

“I’m not El, I’m not your fucking girlfriend or whatever the hell else, so no I’m not yours to touch and push around as you please asshole.” Will growled back knowing his words had no real merit, he was Mike’s and Mike was his , that fact has been woven into them since kindergarten. Shaking from his anger, he took a subtle step back from Mike, Will hated feeling like he had no control in his and Mike’s relationship. 

“You’re mine Will,” Mike harshly repeated, following Will’s footsteps back with his own forward ones.

Suddenly the scowl on Mike’s face all but disappeared as he tried to get closer to Will, his face softened, eyes looking back at Will like he was a precious diamond that needed to be kept safe, “I was being an asshole to you outside and I shouldn’t have been.” He said in a voice meant to sound apologetic, Will recognized the artificial tint to it though, he wasn’t stupid, he’s faked apologies enough in his life to know what one sounded like, Mike wasn’t sorry for being an asshole to him, he was sorry that Will took offence to it and tried to walk away from him.

“Then why were you?” Will asked in a whisper, stopping his steps back, this is what he had tried preventing, giving Mike the slight chance to explain himself, Will knew he was too weak to stay mad at him though, whatever his excuse, however fake his apology was, Will would forgive Mike and they would move on until the next problem came up and the cycle repeated. He briefly thinks to himself that he should have kept walking, at the very least to switch up the cycle.

“Baby, you didn’t have to answer El the way you did,” Mike smirked when he noticed Will not backing away from him anymore, without wasting a second he closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around him, pulling him in, Will found his face in Mike’s neck, a familiar place that relaxed his body despite himself, “She was clearly disturbed and I thought it would look weird if I didn’t get defensive over someone upsetting her.” In Mike’s defense, he was technically right, it would have looked weird to an outside eye for him not to get angry at someone upsetting El but Will refused to acknowledge that out loud. 

“I could give two fucks if I was upsetting her, you shouldn’t care either, it’s not like you’re with her because you actually love her,” Will spitefully mumbled into Mike’s neck, lips grazing his throat, reminding the other boy of the plaintive fact that he doesn’t love El, because that’s what it came down to, Will had Mike’s love, not El , Mike shouldn’t come to her defense regardless of the situation when the other party was Will, “You shouldn’t have been an asshole to me either way.” He finished saying; Mike had started laying kisses on his cheeks, forehead, and bruised nose pulling Will’s thoughts away from why he was upset. Mike hadn’t uttered a real apology to Will, he only came up with excuses for himself, Will thought about mentioning it just to be a brat but the thought disappeared as fast as it had come, a need to feel more of Mike’s skin overwhelming his senses.   

“Mmmm,” Mike hummed deep in his throat, finally giving his lips the attention they wanted, he pushed Will against the nearest wall, tilting Will’s head back Mike deepened their kiss.

“I love you.” He mumbled against Will’s lips, pulling away Mike looked up and down the hallway they were in, letting a relieved look come to his face when he noticed it was still empty, not a soul in sight, Will thinks he should have looked around before they kissed but he figured there was no reason to point that out now.

Seeing that they were still alone, Will stepped close to Mike, he laid his hand over his heart, smiling up at him, he could feel the rhythmic beats thump thump of Mike’s heart against his palm, it made him ridiculously happy, feeling Mike’s heartbeat, for a moment he could pretend that Mike’s heart was beating just for him, beating with the amount of love Mike felt for him, “I love you to.”

Mike smiled back at him, giving him a quick kiss before stepping away from Will, just in time as a wave of students flooded into the hallway, El being one of those students, she was skipping up to them. When she got to them, she attached herself to Mike’s side like a leech, as she often did, hugging him like she hadn’t seen him in years, the sight made his heart painfully clench but the pain was lessened when he noticed Mike’s gaze firmly on him still, not once sparing a glance down to El.   

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Byers/Hopper Home   

October 28 th , 1988

4:45pm

Arriving home Wednesday afternoon from school, El and Will got out of their borrowed car and made their way to the steps of their front porch. Since Monday morning all that has been on El’s mind is Chrissy and Jason, the killer was still on the loose and there were still no leads on who it could possibly be. The students and staff interrogation at the high school the police had conducted Monday and Tuesday yielded no results. That morning they had an all-school assembly to discuss safety precautions, an assembly El did her best to pay attention to, unlike the other students, who found it to be more amusing than anything else.    

All anyone seemed to talk about was the murders, all anyone seemed to do was make a joke out of them, as if two lives were not viciously taken.

El had heard her name whispered in the hallways in school the past two days more times than she felt comfortable with. Some people have taken to looking at her with sympathy and pity (as is the standard at this point), well others looked at her like the murders somehow have something to do with her, like it is her fault Chrissy and Jason are dead. She was glad there were only two days of school left for the week, she was looking forward to shopping with Max on Friday and going to Lucas’s Halloween party on Saturday. If nothing else, it would get her mind away from memories that are better left in the past.   

To make matters worse, the police still have not been able to get in contact with her dad or Joyce. They have called both airlines and the hotel they were supposed to stay at, only to be told from all three that no one under the names of Jim Hopper or Joyce Hopper are in their records. Her dad and Joyce never took their flight, they never left Indiana, where they were now was a mystery. When asked Jonathan told her, Will, and the police that he had dropped them off outside of the airport but did not go in with them because Hopper had told him to get home to be with Will and El and not to worry about them, that was the last time Jonathan had seen either of them.

She was trying to not think about what that could mean for her dad and Joyce.

Standing outside of their front door, Will waved his house keys in her face, looking at her with one of his eyebrows quirked up, “What are you thinking about?”   

El silently watched him put the key to their house in the front door, unlocking it, she walked past him into the house, hanging her backpack and jacket on the hooks next to the front door and slipping off her shoes.

“My dad and Joyce are missing.” She stated, Will ignored the hooks on the wall, keeping his own backpack and jacket with him as he walked to the kitchen, El following right after him. She sat at their kitchen island looking at Will, who was reaching into the refrigerator for a can of Coke.

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much El,” he told her, “I’m sure they're fine, they’ll get back in contact with us soon enough.”    

She could feel her lip pulling back over her teeth, staring in disbelief at her brother, “Are you not worried? What if something happened to them? The person who killed Chrissy and Jason still has not been caught yet, what if they have hurt our parents?” She stood from her seat, unable to sit still with the energy bubbling under her skin, she started to pace the floor.

The sound of gas releasing from aluminum was her answer back from Will, him having popped open his can of Coke, all the while watching her with an unreadable expression on his face, “My mom can take care of herself and your dad is the chief of police, I have to think their fine otherwise I’m going to drive myself insane asking questions and not getting any answers,” he shrugged back at her; he moved around El’s body to get to the living room, turning back to her, walking backwards he added, “Kind of like you are.”

Picking up one of the fake apples in the decoration bowl Joyce had displayed in the middle of the kitchen island El used all her strength to hurl the fake fruit at Will’s head. He grinned at her when it went straight past his head, missing him by a few inches. She stomped past him, lightly knocking her shoulder against his when he laughed at her. Well she picked up the fake apple from the floor, Will grabbed the remote to turn the TV on.

Leaning over the back of the couch with his backpack still over one of his shoulders he flipped through the channels, each one was a news channel, El stood in her place, plastic apple in hand, staring at the TV, the news channels having caught her attention.

The first channel was a blonde woman dressed in green outside their high school talking among the yellow school buses, “The bodies of seventeen-year-old Chrissy Cunningham and her eighteen-year-old boyfriend Jason Carver were discovered the night of October 25 th by Ms. Cunningham’s parents…” That was all she heard from the lady when Will held up the remote and changed the channel.

The next channel was a man dressed in a black suit just outside of their school’s front entrance, there were students walking all around him as he talked to the camera, El thinks she remembers seeing him the day before but walked the other way when she noticed the camera following him, she purposely avoided any areas that had cameras the past three days, “Hawkins double murder case. Authorities here are baffled by the lack of evidence and the savage…” once again she only heard part of what the man was saying before Will lifted the remote and changed the channel again, she glanced at him, noticing how he had a bored look to his face, the next voice on the TV brought her focus back to it.

It was Nancy. Nancy Wheeler. Mike’s sister. She was standing outside a building El knew very well, it was the Pennhurst Insane Asylum, located on the edge of town, a place El used to visit religiously. Nancy was wearing the same outfit she had on Monday when El and Will had seen her and Jonathan in front of the school, meaning this was filmed a couple of days before.  

“The town is in shock, and no one can quite believe what has happened here. Although this is not the first time the community of Hawkins has endured such tragedy,” suddenly a picture of her mom came on the TV, El blinked at the screen, not quite sure if she was really seeing her mother or if it was all in her head, “Only three years ago, Terry Ives, mother and friend to many was found murdered in Pennhurst Asylum, where she was admitted for breakdowns that tore apart her perception of reality and ultimately left her in a catatonic state…”

El did not want to hear anymore, she could not believe Nancy would do something like this to her again , or that Jonathan would willingly go along and film this, he was her brother, how could he stand there and film Nancy in front of the Asylum where her mother’s life was taken like it meant nothing. She sharply turned to Will, “Turn it off.” She glared at him, without asking her questions he did as he was told and turned the TV off.

Throwing the plastic apple on the couch El lifted her hands to her eyes, roughly rubbing them, getting rid of the tears that wanted to fall, they were both quiet, she could feel Will’s eyes burning holes into the side of her head, but she refused to acknowledge him. She did not want to see the same sympathy and pity reflected in his eyes that she always sees in almost every other person in her life. Will's always been so good about not making her feel like she was this pity inducing machine, she did not want to see if that had changed.

“I am going to call Max to arrange a sleepover at her house tonight. I do not think I want to be here when Jonathan gets home…will you be okay by yourself?” El asked him, she would stay if Will felt that uncomfortable being by himself, but she really hoped she did not have to, she could really use Max’s support after seeing her mom’s face plastered on the TV screen.

“Yeah, of course, I’ll be fine,” he told her, from the corner of her eye she could see him nodding his head, “I’m going to go to my room, if you need me just call out or something.” Will walked past her, briefly stopping to give her shoulder a warm pat, she did not turn to look at him but she heard his footsteps as he walked to his room, and she heard his door softly click shut.

Not wanting to wait another second, she hurried to the phone, picking it up she dialed Max’s number and waited to hear her pick up.

“Hello.” Max’s raspy voice answered, just hearing her best friend was calming for El, she was lucky to have someone like Max in her life.

“Hey Max, it is me.” El said back, she could hear the unfallen tears in her wobbly voice, she hoped Max could not though.

“Hey! What’s up?” If Max did hear it then like the good friend she was she ignored it, which El was thankful for, she did not want to get into why she was upset and a few seconds away from crying.

“Is it okay with you and your mom if I come over for a sleepover tonight?” El asked, she did not want to explain why she wanted to come over, so she kept her voice chirpy and excited, hoping Max would chalk up her sudden need for a sleepover to El wanting to spend girl time with her.

“Yeah! Of course!” Max exclaimed into the phone, “You know you’re welcome anytime El.” She felt a warm smile overtake her lips, Max really did not know how much her simplicity and easy-going friendship meant to El, she would have to find a way to somehow thank the redhead for her friendship in the near future.

“Thank you, Max.” She let as much sincerity into her voice as she could.

“It’s no problem, El,” Max reassured her, “I’ll pick you up later, after me and Lucas get back from the movie theater, I’ll drop him off at home and go straight to you.” She had forgotten  about Max’s and Lucas’s date night they had every Wednesday and Sunday if they could.

“Are you okay though? I can pick you up before, if you need me to? Or I can cancel the whole date right now and just go for you instead?” She could tell Max would not hesitate to cancel on her date with Lucas if El asked her to, but she could not do that to her best friend, she was already asking a lot by asking for a sleepover, she would not ruin anymore of Max’s day with her problems.     

“I am okay,” El rushed to say, she tightened her hold on the phone, she was not okay but she could not say that, she had to say something to Max though, not wanting to give a complete lie, she told a half-truth like she did with Steve when he had asked his questions to her in her principal’s office, “I am fine, I have just been feeling a sense of Deja Vu with the reporters, the questions, the looks, and the police…it is just a lot.” She hoped Max would not push for more answers. 

“I’m sorry El,” Max sympathetically said back, El could picture in her mind’s eye the sad look Max has etched on her face, one that does not anger El coming from Max as it does coming from other people, “Everything’s going to be okay though, you’ll see.”

“I know.” She whispered back without much sincerity; she was not sure if everything was going to be okay, but she really hoped Max was right.

“I’ll see you in a little while. I love you! Bye.” The line went dead before El could respond back.

She stared at the phone in her hand with pursed lips, it was so easy for Max to shout that she loved El, so easy for those three words to fall from her lips, they flowed out without thought or hesitation. El wondered why it seemed so easy for everyone to say, “I love you” , everyone but Mike that was. Why was it so difficult for him to say those words to her, why was it such a hassle to get him to say them, why could he easily say those words to Will but not to her.

Shaking her head, El placed the phone back on its stand, she did not have the energy to think about why Mike refused to tell her he loved her. She did not want to think about it, so instead she grabbed one of the decorative throw blankets from the back of the couch in the living room and laid down on the couch for a nap, leaving the TV turned off, not wanting to risk hearing another news channel talking about the murders in town or her mother.

9:07pm

Shifting in place on the couch, El reached her hands up to cover her ears, looking around with sleepy confused eyes, the whole house had gone dark. The ringing of her house phone had pulled her out of her sleep, she had slept longer than what she had planned to. Taking a quick glance outside then to the clock, El groaned when she read the time, it was late, already nighttime. She could not believe she had slept her whole afternoon away; she wondered why Will had not woken her up, surely he saw her sometime during her nap.

Getting annoyed with the ringing of the phone, El gripped it with frustration, “Hello.” She said into the phone, sleep coating her voice, making her sound groggy.

“I’m so sorry El,” it was Max on the phone, an apologetic tone overtaking her end of the line, “Lucas was acting stupid on our date trying to prolong it, I just dropped him off at home. I stopped at my house real fast to give you this call to tell you I’m on my way to pick you up.” El sat up from the couch, moving her sore shoulders back and forth.

“It is okay Max,” she murmured into the phone, she looked around the dark living room, squinting at the shadows some of the furniture made against the walls from the moonlight that filtered in through the open windows, “Just hurry please, it is very creepy here and I think Will is already asleep in his room.” Trying to listen to see if she could hear her brother moving around or not in his room, El got off the couch to walk closer, so far she could not hear anything coming from his room, all she could hear was Max on the other end of the phone, El was positive he was asleep. Will had trouble getting rest on a good day, she would not wake him up just to tell him she was leaving, he would stay up the rest of the night if she did that.

“I’ll hurry but don’t worry so much, Chrissy and Jason weren’t killed until after 10pm, you still have about an hour before the killer clocks in.” El rolled her eyes at Max’s joke, it was in poor taste, Max laughed a little to herself, only halfheartedly apologizing after she realized El was not laughing.

“That is really comforting Max,” she responded, not wanting to hear another apology, she hurried to say, “I will be here waiting for you.”

“Okay. I’m going to make a quick stop at the video store, Dustin said he’ll give me a free movie tonight for us to watch, I’ll be there right after. Promise.” Max said back to her, after El muttered “Okay” confirming she heard Max hung up the phone.

El placed the phone back, staring out the open windows, she felt a shiver work its way down her spine, she felt like someone was watching her. She could not see anything in the dark outside, there were too many places where someone could hide, going undetected, just free to watch her as they pleased.  

Taking one last look through the windows, she reached up for the blinds to close them, next tugging the curtains into place, closing off the sight into the house from the outside. It made El feel a tad better, but the persistent feeling of someone watching her did not leave.

The sudden ringing of the phone made her jump, thinking it was Max calling again to tell her she was on her way for the second time, El answered the phone with exasperation, “Max please just get in your car and leave your house already.”  

“Hello El.” The voice on the other end of the phone was not Max. It was a man. A voice El did not recognize in the slightest. The man’s voice was unique, low and hoarse, something about it sounded fake to El’s ears though, almost artificial.

“Hi?” She answered back with a clear questioning tone, tilting her head to one side trying to place the voice, “Who is this?” She asked.

“You tell me.” The man said, El could hear the teasing tone he had coating his voice.

“If I had any idea who you were I would not be asking “Who is this?” She did not have the patience for prank callers, it seemed like everyone wanted to take these murders and the fear people felt as a joke, thinking it was funny to make people more scared than they already were.

“It’s a scary night, isn’t it?” El gazed at the blinds and curtains she just closed, it was extremely dark outside, hardly any light out, the dim moonlight being one of the only things casting light to an otherwise dark street and yard. Looking away from the windows she glanced around her home, it was almost as dark inside as it was outside, it was a little frightening being in a dark space with no sounds emitting from anywhere in the house, “With the killings and all, it’s like something right out of a horror movie…don’t you think?”

El felt her body relax, letting out a giggle, the scared panic feeling she felt mere moments ago gone, she knew who was on the other end of the phone, trying to play a dumb prank on her, “Dustin, you just gave yourself away,” El laughed again, her friend was smart but not always the brightest, it was a dead giveaway that it was him on the phone, he is almost as obsessed with Halloween and scary movies as Chrissy was, “Are you calling from the video store? Max said you promised to give us a free movie tonight, she was supposed to go there before coming to pick me up.”

“Do you like scary movies El?” Dustin ignored her question, which probably meant Max had got there already, she did not live far from the video store, only a few minutes away at most, she was probably on the other line with Dustin making this terrible prank call on her, both of them getting a laugh at her reaction.

Walking to the living room lamp, she turned it on, illuminating the space, with the light turned on she felt better, as if the shine from it could scare away anyone or anything.  

“I like what you are doing with your voice Dustin. Do not tell Mike but I think it is very sexy” El said in her best seductive voice, wanting to tease Dustin and possibly Max like they were doing to her, she sounded like she had something caught in her throat, which is not very sexy she thinks, she hoped she did not actually sound like that when she attempts to talk to Mike in a suggestive way.

“What’s your favorite scary movie?” El huffed at the question, Dustin loves Halloween, but he knows El did not really care for the holiday, she does not have a favorite scary movie or anything else favorite for the spooky holiday.

“Dustin, you know I do not watch scary movies.” She told him, El had started walking the length of her living room, getting fidgety the longer Max took to get to her house, she wondered if the other girl was still on the other line next to Dustin.

“Why don’t you watch scary movies El? Are you too scared?” She rolled her eyes when Dustin taunted her, it was childish, just because she did not like watching scary movies did not mean she was a scaredy cat who was too afraid to watch them.

“No. No. I just do not see a point to them, they are all the same. I have explained this to you before.” Dustin seemed committed to this prank, it was no wonder the video store had fired him two times already, he was supposed to be working right now and instead he is making prank calls.

“Mmmm why don’t you explain it to me again?” He playfully clicked his tongue at her, in a way that momentarily reminded El of Mike who had a habit of doing that. Dustin was spending too much time with her boyfriend if he was starting to pick up on his weird habits.

“They are all the same,” she repeated to him, “It is always some dumb killer who is stalking some girl who cannot act, the girl always runs up the stairs when she could run out the front door that is always closer to her in all these movies.” El ranted, she has had this same discussion with Dustin seven or eight times before, he is always trying to make her switch her mind about scary movies which are his favorite genre of film.

“Max has also told me that scary movies are insulting to our gender.” She added, Max has told her that the scary movie genre paints the female gender as idiotic, concerned with their looks, and only good for laughs and sex remarks, Max is not normally wrong about things, so El took her word for it.

“Do you always believe everything Max tells you?” Dustin sounded annoyed with her, the playful hitch to his voice lessened with his question.

“Well Max is very smart; it would be an insult to her not to take into consideration what she says.” She tells him back, huffier than she intended.

“Right,” he chuckled under his breath, “She is so very smart.” El narrowed her eyes at his sarcasm, just as she opened her mouth to argue he asked her another question.

“Are you alone in the house?” She looked towards the hallway area, at the very end was her room and Will’s room, she was not home alone, Will was sleeping in his room.

“That is unoriginal Dustin,” El said back, turning her eyes away from the hallway area, “I am disappointed in you. Are you not our self-proclaimed resident horror movie enthusiast?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, a sudden stillness that made El think Dustin had hung up the phone.

“Maybe that’s because I’m not Dustin.” Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion at his statement, if the man on the phone was not Dustin, then who was he? How did he know her name?

“Then who are you?” She questioned him, she was going to kill Dustin if this was him adding to his prank, it was just like him to say something like that in an attempt to creep her out even more.

“Oh El,” the man clicked his tongue in amusement, his voice going lighter and more excited, “The question isn’t “Who am I? It’s “ Where am I ?”

El glanced around her living room, not knowing why she half expected to see someone, it was not as if anyone could sneak up on her from her position, she would see them instantly. She still suspected that the man on the phone was Dustin, but she eyed her surroundings just in case.

“Then tell me…where are you?” She exhaled around a skeptical laugh.

“Your front porch.” There was giddiness in his reply back to her. El frowned at the phone, walking to the front door, she paused to stare down the hallway to Will’s room, contemplating if she should wake him up and tell him about the caller on the phone.

Deciding against waking him up for a joke gone stale phone call, El continued her way to the front door, “Why would you be calling me from my front porch?” She questioned.

“Well that’s the original part El, I thought you would have figured that out by now.” He laughed with joy.

“Oh yeah?” She was getting tired of this caller, whether it was actually Dustin or not, she did not care anymore, she did not want to be talking to them any longer than she already had. At the front door El unlocked it, taking off the security chain from its hook she swung the door wide open and stepped out onto the porch.

She would admit to herself that her whole body tensed when she stepped outside, she was not as confident as she tried to sound to the caller. She had half expected for someone to be outside her home, she relaxed when she realized there was no one but her outside. The front porch, the yard, and the street were empty, nothing out of place or unusual looking, the only sounds being a couple of birds chirping from the trees and Joyce’s wind chimes. El took a minute to look around, squinting her eyes here and there to see if she could spot something out of the ordinary, something that told her she was not alone.

Not seeing anything she asked, “Where are you?”

She could hear the smile when he answered her, “Right here.” Once again, she looked around the yard, even going as far as leaning over the side of the porch to see over it to the ground, still she saw nothing.

“You can see me right now?” She asked with doubt, keeping her eyes on everything, trying to catch movement of a person.

“Mmmm.” The caller hummed back at her, not answering her question fully.

“Okay,” El nodded mockingly, she spun around in a circle, sticking her free hand up in the air, raising her middle finger, she flipped off the imaginary person in her yard, “If you can see me right now then what am I doing?” Getting no answer she continued her spins, she further taunted, giving the caller a taste of their own medicine, “What am I doing? Hello? Anyone there? What am I doing?” She stopped turning in her circles, scoffing at the silence coming from the phone.

“Nice try Dustin,” she laughed, he almost had her fooled, she did believe for a second that the caller was not him, “Get back to work before you get fired again, and please tell Max to hurry up. Bye now.” She put both her hands on the phone, prepared to pull it away from her ear and hang it up.

“Hang up on me you fucking bitch and you’ll die just like your crazy ass mother!” The man shouted at her with anger from the other end, El stopped in her tracks, she could not have possibly heard that right.

With wide eyes she listened as the man giggled with sick glee in her ear, happily mocking her about her mother, “Do you want to die El?” Another high-pitched giggle, “Your mother sure didn’t.”

“Fuck you asshole!” She cried into the phone with anger before hanging it up, running back into her house, she slammed the door behind her, locking it and putting the security chain back on its hook.

Turning around she shouted, “Will! Will! Wake up!” The person on the phone was definitely not Dustin, whoever they were thought they could play a sick game with her, bringing her mother into it, El did not feel safe right now, especially not after the caller told her he was outside her home. She was so glad not to be alone in the house at that moment, “Will!” She shouted again, running towards the hallway to go bang on her brother's door. She had to forcefully stop herself when the storage closet leading to the hallway unexpectedly swung open in front of her.

She screamed, backing away from the man who stepped out of the closet. She tripped over herself in her haste to back away from him, landing on her butt, she started to crawl backwards, trying to put as much distance between them as she could, “Will!” She yelled again to no avail; her brother probably couldn’t hear her from here. This had to be the same person that killed Chrissy and Jason. The man did not look the way she had thought he would, she was not sure exactly what she had expected but the plain black normal clothing was not it, El has seen this same outfit on tons of other males inside and outside of her high school, the normality of it was nothing special or identifying but it was jarring. What was unexpected was the mask the killer had on, a creepy white thing with a blacked out nose, mouth, and eyes.    

Calmly, creepily the killer cocked his head to one side, as if in curiosity at the sight of her, his steps to her were even and unhurried, like a game of cat and mouse. In his hand, clutching it delicately, fondly, was a silver knife that glinted when it caught the light.  

Refusing to let the man further intimidate her, El waited until he got closer, when he made another step towards her, she brought her leg up and kicked him in the knee, it bucked from under him, causing him to fall beside her. Thinking she had a chance to stand and run, she pushed herself up, not getting far before the man shook off the pain from his knee, grabbing a hand full of her hair, he slammed her down to the floor and climbed on top of her, El struggled with him, trying to push him off, without noticing she had started crying, tears ran down her cheeks.

Above her the man ran his black gloved finger from her right eye down to her cheek, tracing the path of her tears, when he was satisfied with that, he fisted another chunk of her hair, forcing her head up he slammed it back down to the floor, El could hear a ringing in her ears, her vision went blotchy, from the back of her head she felt warm liquid seeping through her hair. She gasped in pain, weak but knowing she needed to try to get help she tried yelling “Will!” but it was barely more than a whisper from her mouth.

Caressing the side of her head the man teasingly ran the glittering knife down her cheeks and across her neck, not cutting her, just nipping at her pale skin with the knife.

Backing slightly away from her the man looked down at her again, he raised the knife in the air with both of his hands, fully intending to plunge it into her chest or stomach, El did not give him the chance to.

“No.” El whimpered out in pain, using what little strength she had left she bucked her hips into him, forcing him a few inches away from her, enough room to slide one of her legs out from under him, she kicked him in his chest, making him topple backwards.

The second he was off of her, she ran to the front door, unlocking it, she tried to pull it open only to be forcefully stopped by the security chain, her trembling hands tried to undo it from the hook, “Come on. Come on.” She whispered to it, struggling to get the chain off the hook, it kept falling out of her fingers.   

Looking behind her when she felt the heat of another body far too close to her own, El ducked just in time to miss the knife being aimed directly for her skull, the knife stabbed into her front door instead. Using that moment to her advantage she pushed the killer further away from his weapon before she took off running deeper into her home, despite not wanting to.

“Will! Help me! Will!” She screamed as she ran for his bedroom door, smashing her body against his door. She reached out for the doorknob to open it, only to find it locked tight, “No! No! Will! Please! Open the door! Wake up! Please! Help me!” She banged on the door with both her fists, tears raining non-stop down her cheeks, sobs pouring from her throat.   

Knowing she could not stay outside Will’s door banging on it otherwise the killer would get her, she turned around to her own room door instead. Just as she was closing it, the man slammed into it with his shoulder, trying to force it open, she let out another sob, pushing her whole-body weight against the door, finally it gave way and closed all the way. She hurried to lock it, staring at the door she watched as it shook violently from the man trying to bust it down, El was not sure it would hold, she hoped Will did not wake up with the man right outside their doors, there was no way to warn him about the killer, El did not want him coming out into the hallway unaware.

Still having the phone in her hand, she shakenly raised it to her blurry eyes, punching in 911 to call the police, the line beeped at her, giving her a dead signal and not allowing her to make any outgoing calls, “Shit!”

The sudden silence from the door was just as mind numbing as the banging that was coming from it mere moments ago. El hoped the silence did not mean Will had finally woken up and the killer had noticed him. She wanted to check, make sure her brother was okay, but she did not want to open her door, afraid of what might be on the other side.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Byers/Hopper Home

October 28 th , 1988

9:33pm

Hands over her mouth, muffling her sobs, El listened to see if she could hear her brother crying out in pain, unexpectedly sound did not come from the hallway like she thought it would, it came from behind her, at her window that she had left open, forgetting to have closed it the night before. Whirling around with fright, El gasped with relief seeing Mike at her window. He was crouched forward, ready to climb through.   

“Mike! Mike!” El rushed to the window, grabbing hold of his arms, she helped him through, immediately crushing herself to his comforting chest, heat came off his body, soothing her trembling form.

“I heard screaming, your front door was locked, I couldn’t get in. Are you okay?” He pulled her back, hands on her jaw, making her look up at him, he searched her face and body with worry, running his eyes over her entire form to see if anything was injured, his hand clutched the back of her head to pull her back to his chest, she let out a hiss of pain when his hand connected with the cut on her scalp, hearing her sound of pain Mike immediately let go of her head, “Are you okay? What happened?” He tried looking at the back of her head but El would not let him move, she was terrified, she did not want him to move away from her.

“The killer is here,” she whimpered out, grabbing onto Mike’s jacket, “He is in the house. I tried to wake up Will but he would not wake up and his door was locked. You need to check on him. He is probably hurt. The killer is here. He is in the house. He has a knife. Will needs to be checked on.” El’s words came out choppy and stilted, her cries making her gasp for breath every few seconds, slowly she backed away from Mike, determined to let him go check on Will who El still did not know was okay or not.

Not letting her get far, Mike pulled her back to his chest, running his hands up and down her arms, trying to calm her, “Hey, it’s okay now, it’s okay. He’s gone. He’s gone. It’s okay, shhhh El it’s okay, you’re fine.”

“No! No! You need to check on Will! Why are you not worried about Will!?” She shoved Mike away from her, looking at him in anger, panic, and incredulity. Mike was not worried about Will. Mike was not rushing to check on Will. Mike was not leaving her side despite just hearing that Will is in his room unaware that there was a killer in the house.

That was not right.

The only way Mike would not be tripping over himself to check on Will was if he already knew he was okay. How would he know he was okay unless he had already seen him (which was impossible since Will had been asleep since getting home from school) …or if Mike had already been in the house and did not disturb Will in his room before leaving the house.

As subtle as she could, El glanced at her bedroom door and then to her open window. Mike got to her window not long after the killer on the other side of her door left. He was wearing different clothing then the all black outfit of the killer but she had seen Mike dress himself before, it takes him little time to change out of whatever he had on into whatever else he picked to wear, so El knew that meant very little.   

He did not seem all that panicked or worried, he seemed normal, preoccupied with making her stop crying, trying to convince her everything was fine, how could anything be fine when she was almost just killed. His words from Monday ran through her mind, Mike had been insistent that it was a man that murdered Chrissy and Jason, he said only a man would have the stomach to commit such violent killings. Mike had also looked upset when Dustin teased him about killing their fellow students, on the defense that “he did not kill anybody” . When Max further pushed the matter, he had said “I’m going to gut you next” … next meaning there was a previous time.

El could not believe she did not find his words to be weird or suspicious at the time.

Fear spiked in her heart, the evidence was there, right in front of her, glaring her in the face.

Mike was the killer. Mike had just tried to kill her.

Releasing another sob from deep in her chest, El continued to push Mike’s hands away from her, recoiling from his touch, not wanting him to grab her, not wanting to feel his skin on hers.

“El? Hey, what’s the matter? What’s wrong? El?” The more she struggled to get away from him the more Mike seemed to want to attach himself to her.

A soft knocking on her door had Mike stopping his attempts to put his hands on her, they both turned to stare at her door, “El! El! Are you okay!? El! Answer me!” Will’s panicked voice filtered through the door.

“Will!” She yelled, not giving Mike a chance to say or do anything she ran to her door, she could not let Mike hurt her or Will, not anymore then he had already. Will would not even see it coming, he would not expect his best friend to do something like this.

Opening her door, she grabbed hold of Will’s hand and dragged him down the hallway with her, not explaining her actions to him, ignoring his questions, ignoring Mike’s footsteps behind them, ignoring Mike trying to ask what he did wrong and why El was behaving the way she was.

Getting to the front door, she unhooked the security chain, and tried to run outside with Will still glued to her hand, trying to get them as far away from Mike as she could and as fast as she could.

She stopped right at the entryway to the front door, letting out a terrified scream that echoed in the street. In front of her was the mask the killer wore, the same creepy mask El could go the rest of her life never seeing again. Behind the mask came an equally terrified scream, copying El’s in almost perfect pitch.  

Behind the mask was Steve, in one hand he was holding the mask up in front of him, covering his face, and in the other hand he was clutching his gun, waving it around in fear.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry El! I didn’t mean to scare you!” Steve exclaimed at her, he stared behind her, seeing how her hand was holding tightly to Will’s and how Mike was just behind him looking between El and Will, “I found this mask on the side of the house. We got here as soon as we could, someone walking by heard screaming and called the police.” He held up the mask again, waving it at them.

Feeling a tugging coming from her hand, El turned around, Mike was pulling Will away from her, or at least he was trying to, she held tighter to her brother’s hand, refusing to let Mike pull him away from her, “Let him go! Let him go right now!” She shrieked at Mike, placing herself in front of Will she hit Mike’s hand with her free one, forcing him to let go of Will, who looked at El with bewilderment.

El ignored his expression, feeling more safe and confident with Steve behind her, she started hitting Mike’s chest, “Do not touch him! Do not touch him! You asshole! You psycho! You murderer!”

“El! What the hell are you doing!? El!” Will wrapped his arms around her, tugging her back from Mike, who had not moved an inch from his spot, he had a look of anger that El’s never seen on his face before, a sneer that dug holes into her skin, El flinched away from him, unable to meet his eyes anymore.

When Mike took a threatening step forward, Steve inserted himself between them, pushing back on Mike’s chest, who did not seem to register that Steve was there at all, his complete focus was on El, who tried to impossibly shield Will with her much smaller body, “You think I’m the killer?” He shook his head in disbelief, scoffing at her.

“You think I’m going to hurt Will?” Steve’s body was forcefully moved back, his feet sliding on the floor when Mike shoved himself forward, still ignoring Steve in front of him, as if he was not there at all, “I would never hurt him! You don’t get to fucking tell me that I can’t touch him!” He shouted at El, who had to physically stop herself from reacting, Mike had never yelled at her before, in all their years together he had never so much as raised his voice at her, let alone screamed at her. She did not know what to think of it.

He seemed more upset that she thought he would hurt Will then of her accusing him of being the killer.

“Hold On. Wait. Stop. Wait.” Steve had to put both his hands on Mike’s shoulders to hold him in place, by this time other officers including Officer Callahan had come through the front door, standing there looking at the scene in front of them.

“What happened here?” Officer Callahan asked, he took one look at Mike’s hostile pose and deemed him a threat, pulling out his handcuffs, he approached Mike with careful steps, his hands held out like he was getting close to a skittish wild animal, “I’m going to need you to put your hands behind your back Mr. Wheeler. You’re under arrest, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one…” El tuned him out, staring as Officer Callahan put Mike’s hands behind him and slapped the handcuffs on his wrists, Mike was fighting against him the whole time.

“Jesus Christ Wheeler, what did you do?” Steve muttered, shaking his head like a disappointed parent, he placed his hand around Mike’s wrist when he continued to struggle, helping Officer Callahan lead him out the door of their home.

“Where are you taking him? He didn’t do anything! Let him go!” Will followed them out the door, El right behind him, pulling on his sleeve to get him to stop, which he did, only for him to turn around and glare at her, “Tell them to let him go El!” She shook her head no, silent tears escaping her eyes, Will looked so angry with her, like he hated her.

“El! El!” Mike shouted to her, Officer Callahan was being rough with his treatment of Mike, moving his body every which way, causing him to trip over his feet, “Please El! I didn’t do this! I didn’t! I would never hurt you! Please! El! I didn’t do anything!” She forced her eyes away from him, hiccupping around her cries, she could not let Mike get in her head, she could not let him sweet talk her.

“Will! Will!” Unlike her, Will didn’t ignore Mike, he walked to him, or he tried to, another officer El did not know the name of stopped him, he tried moving around the officer but was stopped again, “Will!”

From behind El a lady from the ambulance put a heated blanket over her shoulders, grabbing her hand she led her over to the back doors of an ambulance, seating her inside of it, with her legs hanging halfway out of the back.

She followed easy enough, not putting up a fight as the lady moved her around like a doll, “I’m going to clean out this head injury sweetheart, you might feel a few pinches.” El nodded her understanding back, everything was blurry, her head hurt so bad, and her body felt like it went through a wrestling ring with an elephant.

“Ask her Steve! Ask her! I didn’t do anything!” She could still hear Mike shouting, she could vaguely see him through her blurry vision getting led through multiple cop cars and police officers to Officer Callahan’s police car, she did not try to focus on him though, acting as if she could not hear his yelling, “Steve! I didn’t do anything!”

“Okay Mike,” Steve tried to calm him down, softly speaking to him, getting Officer Callahan to stop outside the police car so he could talk to Mike, El narrowed her eyes at them, “We’ll figure this all out okay, we’ll figure it out. For now you do need to go to the police station for questioning, we’ll contact your dad, get him over to the station too. It’s standard procedure alright, everything’s going to be fine.” Steve patted his shoulder a few times before giving Officer Callahan a nod.

Mike was struggling again, not as aggressively as he was before but he was still screaming to Will, who was on the other side arguing with the officer who had stopped him from going to Mike, “Will! Will! Tell El to tell them I didn’t do anything! Will! Tell them -” 

His shouts got cut off by Officer Callahan shoving him into the back seat of his police car, closing the door in Mike’s face mid-yell, Officer Callahan turned to Steve and asked, “How’s El doing? Is she okay?” He nodded in her direction, El thinks he tried to keep his voice down so she wouldn’t hear him but she heard him anyway.

“El’s a tough cookie, stronger than what most people give her credit for, she’ll be alright.” Steve nodded in thanks back to him, glancing over at her, catching her watching them he gave her a smile before turning back to Officer Callahan.

“Yeah, I bet. I mean, she’d have to be. Everything she’s been through,” Officer Callahan shook his head, “Alright Harrington, I’m going to take Wheeler to the station now, call his dad and everything, make sure someone gets this place cleaned up and then meet me there with El and Will, we have to get their statements.” With that Officer Callahan jumped into the front seat of his police car, turning it on but not driving away yet.

Just as he turned his car on, Max pulled onto her street and turned her car off, El gave her one of the biggest smiles she felt like she could muster, relieved and happy to see her best friend.

“El!” Max shouted at her, running from her parked car, dodging officers trying to stop her, making a mad dash to where El was seated in the ambulance, “Shit! El!”

She had to brace herself for Max’s body when she slammed into her full force from running, hugging her tightly, crying into El’s neck, “I’m so sorry El! I’m sorry! I should have just canceled the stupid date with Lucas! I should have come for you when you called me the first time! I’m so sorry!”

“Alright sweetheart, you’re all done,” the ambulance lady smiled at her, getting out of the ambulance, she gave El a stern look, “It doesn’t look like you have a concussion, but to be on the safe side, try to stay awake for the next few hours just in case. The wound didn’t need any stitches, just a cleaning and some gauze. Take it easy for the next few days, okay?”

El smiled back, “Okay, thank you.” She whispered, the lady looked between her and Max for a second, repeating the instructions to Max when she caught the dazed look in El’s eyes, before she walked away.

“Jesus, are you okay?” Max hopped into the ambulance with her, getting behind her, she examined El’s head wound, making a hissing noise when she caught sight of it, “That looks painful.”

El giggled under her breath, “Yeah. Lucky me, I guess” When Max lightly touched the wound El let out a whimper of pain, it was still tender, Max was quick to pull her hand back.

Steve walked up to the ambulance, frowning at Max who shrugged back at him, “This is a crime scene Max, you can’t be here.” He told her, crossing his arms over his chest, puffing himself out slightly.

Jumping down from the ambulance Max rolled her eyes at him, “I’d like to see you try to make me leave Steve,” she said back, crossing her own arms, going toe to toe with her brother, “I’m not going anywhere, El’s my best friend. Plus, she’s coming home with us today, she was supposed to sleep over.”

“Does Susan know that?” Steve backed away from Max, El knew he did not feel like arguing with the feisty redhead tonight especially after El told him it was okay and that she wanted Max there with her.

“Duh.” Max scoffed, turning her attention back to El, her expression softened, a rare look on Max’s face, guilt clouded her eyes, “El, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I should have been here. This is all my fault.” An even rarer sight, Max’s tears, which were now gathered at her eyes, El could tell she was trying her best to blink them away, not wanting them to fall and expose her emotional state to everyone around them.

“This is not your fault Max.” El sternly told her, not liking that she was blaming herself. She shifted forward to bring Max back into her arms, giving her the reassurance that El was not mad at her and that there was nothing to forgive.

“No, of course not Max, this isn’t your fault.” Will’s voice flowed into El’s ears, for a split second she was happy her brother came back to her side, she had wanted him to stop arguing with the officer that had stopped him from going to Mike. She had wanted him to be right next to her as she got her wound treated, she had wanted to explain everything to him, but she could not do that when Will stayed away from her. El had thought he was coming to hear her out, but when she looked at him she knew he was not there to comfort her, or hear her out, or get her side of things.

He was angry with her. Very angry .

She blinked at him when he glared at her, El’s eyes that were drying of the tears she had in them once again filled to the brim with them, “It’s El’s fault.” He snarled, pulling his lip back at her, his eyes dark and his body tense for a fight. She hated that look in his eyes, like he wanted her dead, like he hated her for even daring to accuse Mike of something like this.

“Hey, hey. Now let’s just calm down,” Steve put his hands up in a surrender pose, stepping in front of Will, he blocked El from sight, “This is no one’s fault, we’re going to figure this out, let’s just get down to the police station, get some questions answered, and we’ll go from there.”

“This is not my fault Will,” El said stepping around Steve’s body block, “Something is not right. Mike showing up tonight unannounced just as the killer was in our house, him saying what he said on Monday about not killing anyone and him showing up Sunday night at my window too after the time Chrissy and Jason were killed. That is not all a coincidence.” She loved Mike but she was starting to wonder if she loved a version of him she made up in her head, the Mike she knew would never be capable of something this horrific, she wanted to tell herself it was all a coincidence but El did not believe in coincidences.

“Wait. Wait. Mike said he was home all night Sunday. Both you and Will said you were home Sunday night too, no visitors, just family,” Steve reminded them, hands on his hips, “You lied to me? You lied to the police in a serious investigation?”

El stared down at her feet, not wanting to admit she lied, all because she did not want to get in trouble with her dad. Will did not look down to his feet in shame, he crossed his arms, giving Steve a heavy eye roll, ignoring the questions on their lies.

“You could have let Mike explain himself,” Will went on as if Steve had never talked, “You could have let him talk, but you just stood there watching well that asshole Callahan arrested him, you ignored him when he tried calling for you, and you told him to not touch me when you have no right to tell him that.” El could practically see the steam coming from his ears and nostrils, he was not so much saying his words as he was growling them in anger.

“I was protecting you!” El finally shouted, tired of hearing Will defend Mike. It was starting to make her second guess herself, maybe she had jumped to conclusions before getting the full picture, before letting Mike explain himself, before she had all the details.

“I don’t need protecting from Mike! He would never hurt me!” Will yelled back at her, his face reddening.

“Stop yelling at her! You jackass! She’s your sister!” Max got in Will’s face, defending El, who could not talk anymore from how heavy she was crying, ignoring Steve who tried to pull her back, attempting to calm the situation.

El felt like she had always known Will and Mike would choose each other if confronted with an option of each other or her. The answer was always in a little box she tried her best to shove to the deepest parts of her mind, too afraid to face the reality of it. That little box was fully opened now though, doing nothing to hide itself away anymore.

Will felt like he was put in a position where he had to choose between Mike or El, choose to believe Mike or believe El, choose to defend Mike or defend El and his choice was glaringly obvious with how livid he was at El, not wanting to give her the chance to explain herself despite telling her she should have listened to Mike.

Her brother chose Mike. Will chose Mike. Not her.   

Without doubt, without hesitation, without regret, without listening to her, his mind was made up, that hurt a lot more than what she thought it would. Even knowing the answer to that question since first seeing Mike and Will interact together, some part of El still managed to fool herself into believing that she had a fair chance of not being left behind by either or both of them.

“Get the fuck out of my face Max.” Will did not yell at her best friend, but El thinks his low volume is just as bad as being screamed at, perhaps even more terrifying if anything, her brother's eyes have completely lost their beautiful hazel color, they were so dark and empty, unfeeling.   

“Make me you fucking dickhead!” El could see a tiny ball of spit from Max’s mouth spray onto Will’s neck from the force of her shouts, without thinking she reached out for Max’s arm and tugged her away from Will, not realizing she had placed her best friend behind her until Will sneered at her, glowering at her protective stance.

She felt like she didn’t even know who her brother was right now, this person in front of her was not her sweet, caring, and loveable brother.

He was a stranger.

Car doors slamming shut made everyone’s heads snap in the direction of the car that made the noise. It was Jonathan’s news van, him and Nancy scrambled out of the van together. Jonathan with more panic and shock filling his face and body language, worried for his siblings, and Nancy with more urgency and eagerness, excitement for a story.   

“What the hell happened?” Jonathan went up to Will to demand, he looked Will over for injuries, not finding anything he shook his little brother's shoulders before getting shoved aside.

“Ask El,” Will told him, shrugging his shoulders back, he looked to Steve, “Can we go to the police station now, I want to make sure Mike is okay.”   

“Wait! Mike is at the police station!? Why is he there?” Nancy let her reporter face drop for a second, revealing her worried older sister face just below it. El thought it was a shame that this was not Nancy’s permanent face, it was much softer and kinder then her reporter one. 

“Again, ask El.” Will spat out, without giving any of them time to comment back, he made his way to Steve’s police car, waiting by the front passenger door for Steve.  

“Look Nancy,” Steve could not meet Nancy’s eyes, neither could El, she stayed facing away from Mike’s sister, choosing instead to look at Max’s shoes, Max who was a steady presence by her side, reminding El that she still had people in her corner, people willing to fight for her, “Mike was arrested, he’s getting taken down to the station to get questioned. El was attacked by the killer tonight, Mike showed up just as the killer disappeared, which unfortunately for him does look suspicious. I’ve also just got information that he’s made some strange comments recently about the murders and that he was out past 10pm on the night Chrissy and Jason were killed, meaning he lied about his whereabouts, which again doesn’t look good for him.”   

“So what you’re saying is that you think my little brother is a murderer!?” Nancy loudly shouted at Steve, getting in his face just as Max did to Will not a minute prior, “Mike didn’t kill anybody.”

“I’m not saying that Nancy!” Steve shouted back, taking careful steps away from Nancy, putting distance between them, “I’m saying that he’s being brought in for questioning, that’s all.”

“El, are you okay?” Ignoring Nancy and Steve arguing with each other like wild dogs over a bone, Jonathan stepped into El’s space, pulling her into a gentle hug, cupping her cheeks, he looked her over, his eyes lingering on the bruises that were starting to form on her arms.

“Does she look okay to you?” Max grumbled next to her, moving closer to El to wrap her arm around her shoulder.

“I am fine Jonathan,” she weakly smiled in assurance back, “Me and Will have to go to the police station though, for questioning.”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course,” he nodded, taking a glance at Will's tense figure leaning against Steve’s police car, “I’ll meet you guys there. Be careful.” With that he grabbed a still arguing Nancy and pulled her to the news van, telling her to get inside of it if she wanted to see Mike.   

“El will ride with me,” Max said to Steve, who was pulling out his keys from his pocket. She eyed Will with disdain, “She doesn’t need to be locked in the car with Will on the way over there.” She added, without waiting for a reply back, Max steered El to her car and helped her climb into the passenger seat, even going as far as to clip in her seat belt for her. All El could manage back was a soft smile in return. 

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins Police Station

October 28 th , 1988

11:19pm

Tapping his fingertips against the desk in front of him, Will scanned the police station, letting his eyes roam over everything, trying to find something interesting to focus on. Where he really wanted to look was at Mike, who was conveniently located in Hopper’s office behind a window right next to where Will and El sat. He could tell Mike was watching him and El, but Will didn’t want to pay too much attention to him before beginning to answer questions, in fear that the police would be able to read something on his face.   

They had just got escorted into the station by Steve, being led over to his desk, both him and El were given swivel chairs to sit on. Jonathan, Nancy, and Max were led to the other side of the station, still in view of him and El but not near them. Steve sat behind his desk, hands on a notepad in front of him, flipping through it with lazy motions, a notepad Will recognized as the one Callahan had on him Monday morning when the two of them had questioned Will.

He was glad Steve was doing their questioning, Steve has always seen them as children, despite being far from that, he always wanted to see the best in all of them, willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Steve would be easy to talk to, he would be easy to lie to.

“Alright you guys, let’s get started,” Steve dropped the notepad on his desk, leaning back in his own swivel chair, he gestured to El with a pointed finger, “El you want to tell me what happened?” From his peripheral vision, he could see El turn his way, a continuance of tears trailing down her cheeks, tears that hadn’t stopped since they left their house, he didn’t look back at her.

“Where--do I start?” El asked, hiccupping around her cries that Will had no sympathy for, not when Mike was behind a window getting ready to be interrogated because of her.

“How about you start when you got home from school?” Steve delicately suggested to her.

“Okay,” El nodded, taking a deep breath and releasing it, she took a few minutes to calm her cries before she began talking, “We did not do much when we got home from school, Will got something to drink and turned on the TV, it was nothing but news channels that were talking about Chrissy and Jason. The news channel Jonathan and Nancy work for was playing too, she was talking about my mother,” El paused to throw Nancy a dirty glare, one she caught considering her, Jonathan, and Max had their eyes glued to Will and El, “It is as you know not the first time Nancy has used my mom as nothing more than a story to boost her own career. I was upset that she was talking about my mom, even going as far as to stand outside Pennhurst Asylum. I was even more upset that Jonathan agreed to film her, he should have known how much I would not like it.” Steve nodded at El with sympathy, he had pulled out a separate notepad then the one Callahan had written in and started to jot down notes while El talked.

“I did not want to be home when Jonathan came back from work so I asked Will if he would be okay by himself if I were to go to Max’s house, he told me yes before he went to his room. I called Max to ask her if I could stay over and she said yes that she would pick me up after her date with Lucas. I was tired so I laid down on the couch, I fell asleep, when I woke up it was already dark outside, I woke up to the phone ringing.” El stopped again, nervously twiddling her fingers together, body turned towards the window Mike was behind, as if she wanted to look his way but was stopping herself.

“Who was calling you El?” Steve softly prompted, giving El a look of encouragement.

“It was Max, she was calling me to tell me that she was on her way to pick me up and to apologize for being later than she expected. The house was quiet and dark so I thought Will must be sleeping. I did not want to wake him up, so I was just going to leave him a note to tell him I left. The phone rang a second time, when I answered it, a man was talking to me on the other line asking me if I thought it was a scary night and if I liked scary movies,” El’s tears that had calmed down when she started her story were prickling at the corners of her eyes again, she rapidly blinked her eyes, turning her head up to force them back, “I thought it was Dustin. He loves Halloween and scary movies, I thought he was playing a dumb prank on me or something. The man told me he was on my front porch, but I did not believe him. I thought it was still Dustin acting stupid, so I went outside to the front porch to ask if he could see me then what was I doing. When he could not answer me, I laughed and said that Dustin would have to do better than that if he wanted to scare me.”

Noticing El’s hesitation, Steve sent her a warm smile, “It’s okay El, take your time, there’s no rush.”

“I knew it was not Dustin when the man asked me if I wanted to die like my mother. I ran into the house, locked the door, and called out for Will,” at this El glanced at him, sending him a teary eyed look, one begging him to turn to look at her, to talk to her, to reassure her, Will did none of that, “When Will did not answer me I started walking to his room, our storage closet opened though and a man with a white mask came out of it. He attacked me, I started screaming for Will, but he must not have heard me. When I was finally able to get away from the man, I ran to the front door, but I could not get it open, so I ran to Will’s bedroom door instead, but it was locked. I was banging on it, screaming for him but he did not answer me.”

Steve passed El a tissue box, giving her a second to compose herself he asked Will, “Could you not hear her Will? What were you doing?’ It was not said in an accusatory way, but Will still bristled, not liking getting questioned.

“When I went to my room after El told me she was going to Max’s I started listening to music on my CD player, I fell asleep without meaning to, I couldn’t hear her.” He said to Steve, watching him as he wrote down what Will told him.

“What happened after Will didn’t open his door El?’

Holding the tissue box in her hands in a death grip, El continued, “I ran to my room, the man tried to force his way in behind me, but I was able to shut the door and lock it on him. I tried calling the police, but our phone would not let me. The man was trying to break down my door but then he stopped, and it got quiet. I thought he must have heard Will waking up or something, I got worried. I was thinking of going to check on Will when Mike came through my window. At first, I was relieved to see him, but that did not last. When I told Mike to check on Will, that the killer was in the house, he just kept telling me to calm down and that everything was okay, he did not want to leave to check on Will. I did not understand that,” El shook her head, “Mike is always wanting to make sure Will is okay, they are very close. Why did he not want to check on Will?” El rhetorically asked with another head shake.

“I thought the only way he would have been fine not checking on Will is if he had already known Will was okay. How could he know that though? Either he was with Will before which could not have been because Will was sleeping, or he was already in the house, and he did not disturb Will before leaving the house. Mike climbed through my window right after the man stopped banging on my door, that could not be a coincidence. When I thought about some things Mike said on Monday, and that Mike had come over late at night, past Midnight on Sunday. I started to think he was the man in my house, he was the killer that murdered Chrissy and Jason.” El placed the box of tissues back on the desk in front of Steve, keeping her arms on the desk, she watched Steve’s hand move over the notepad, smoothly writing down what she told him.   

“What things did Mike say that made you suspicious?”

Before El could answer, Will jumped in knowing exactly what she was going to say, “He made a few stupid comments in poor taste, nothing like what she’s implying.” Steve gave him a frown for interrupting El but didn’t stop him from talking.

“What comments?” He asked.

“He was very adamant that a man killed Chrissy and Jason, he was arguing that only a man would have the “stomach” to commit such gruesome murders,” El said, this time talking before Will could, “He was also getting upset that everyone was teasing him about killing Chrissy and Jason, he told everyone that he “did not kill anybody”, after that when Max continued to tease him he told her that if she kept it up he would “gut her next”. I did not think anything of his comments at the time, everyone was making stupid remarks and I thought he was too, but in my room with him in front of me, it was all I could think about.” Steve’s brows scrunched in an unhappy way when Max was mentioned but other than that did not give any indication about his thoughts on what El was telling him.

“I was going to run from him, but he started asking me questions, asking if I was okay and what was wrong. That is when Will woke up and started knocking on my door, asking me if I was okay. I thought Mike might hurt Will so I ran to my door, opened it, grabbed Will’s hand, and pulled him with me down the hallway with Mike chasing us. When I opened the front door, you were on the other side, and you know what happened after that.”

“Okay,” Steve told her, glancing at Will he asked, “What woke you up Will? How did you know to check on El?”

“I woke up because I needed to go pee. I turned off my music and got up to use the bathroom, when I went outside into the hallway I could hear El crying in her room and I could hear Mike trying to ask her what was wrong. I knocked on the door to check on her, next thing I know she’s opening the door, grabbing my hand, and running down the hallway with Mike behind us asking El to stop.” Will huffed out, he stared at Steve’s hand as it wrote in the notepad, he wondered if he tipped himself forward a bit if he would be able to see what Steve wrote down about him, he decided not to even try, he didn’t want to risk Steve’s questions on his curiosity.

“Alright, we’re almost done here guys,” Steve reassured them, reaching into a big yellow envelope off to the side of his desk, Steve pulled out a familiar mask from it, “El is this the mask the man was wearing?” He questioned, holding the mask out to El who cringed away from it like it would bite her.

“Yes.” She murmured under her breath, shifting back as if she could get further away from it despite the chair blocking her movements.

“Can you describe the man to me El?”

“He was wearing that mask, he had on a long black sleeved shirt, black gloves, black jeans, and black boots. He was tall, lean, his voice on the phone was weird though, like it was not his real voice.” El pointed to the mask before grabbing her throat in her hand, rubbing it when she explained the man’s voice over the phone. As far as descriptions go, El was not able to provide an identifying, unique one, which Will was relieved to hear.

Not saying anything for a moment, letting the air around them fill with silence, Steve stopped writing only to look at El and him with something close to pity, Will wanted to smack it off his face, he couldn’t stand that look directed at him, he has never been able to stand that look.

“I think that’s all we need for tonight guys, if we have any more questions, we’ll be sure to give you a call to come back down here. For now, Will, you are free to leave home with Jonathan, I’ll talk to him about not leaving the house tonight, we don’t want you being alone. El, Max said you’re coming home with us, I’m almost done here at the station all together, once I am we can all three leave.” He stood up from his chair, leaning backwards to pop the bones in his spine, El quietly nodded next to him, accepting Steve’s words.

“Have either of you heard from Hopper or Joyce at all?” Steve’s brows scrunched in concern, putting his hands on his hips in a mom pose that Will wanted to point out but didn’t, “We haven’t been able to locate them, and their last known whereabouts were the airport, it’s really worrying me.”

“No, they have not called us,” El shook her head, “When they do though you will be the first to know.” She promised, Steve nodded back before looking at Will, as if waiting for him to say something right after El. Will didn’t have anything to add though, he was more concerned with Mike in Hopper’s office than anything else.    

“What’s going to happen to Mike?” Will asked, El might have been okay with letting him stay here but Will wasn’t, Steve thankfully didn’t comment on his lack of concern for Hopper and his mom, choosing to answer him instead.

“Callahan agreed to wait to question him until I was in the room with them, I’m going now to fill Callahan in on what you two have told me, once Mike’s dad gets here, we’ll start talking to him,” Steve started cleaning up his desk, grabbing the mask he stuffed it back into the yellow envelope and then grabbed the two notepads in his hands to take to Callahan, “I’m going to be honest with you though Will, I think we’re keeping him overnight, the officers haven’t finished going through your house and depending on what Mike tells us we might have to start considering that he isn’t who we thought he was.” He could tell Steve was trying to look out for him, thinking Will was Mike’s worried best friend, wanting to believe his oldest friend couldn’t possibly do something as horrendous as these murders, he was trying to prepare Will just in case Mike said something that put him as suspect number one even more so than he already was, but Will didn’t want Steve’s gentle words, he wanted Mike .

“That’s bullshit,” he coldly stated, “Mike didn’t do anything. El was just overreacting and mixing things up in her head.” El winced back when his words caught up to her, he purposely said them knowing they would remind her of what people used to say about her mom in the beginning stages of her psychotic break, trembling El reached for the tissue box again, blowing her nose loudly into a tissue she pulled free.

The station doors opened before Steve could respond back, Mike’s dad walked in holding Mike’s little sister’s hand. Catching sight of Nancy he hurried to hand over Holly, looking far too glad to hand over his daughter to someone else. Will scowled at Ted, he hated him almost as much as Mike hated him, the man could never be bothered to worry about anything, he could never put in the effort to look like he cared about or loved any of his children, he was a terrible dad, Mike deserved better then Ted Wheeler, he always had.

There was a time where he had better, where Mike wasn’t so unhappy with his home life, a time where he would offer to Will to share his loving home with him because Will’s home life was filled with yelling and bruises. That time was no more though, gone and not ever coming back.

“I know this is upsetting to think about Will, I get it,” Will rolled his eyes, Steve didn’t know what he was talking about, it would be amusing if it wasn’t so annoying, “All we can do now though is move forward. Take this one step at a time to figure this out, once we talk to Mike we can decide what to do from there.” When Will didn’t answer him back, Steve sighed, collecting his things, he left El and Will sitting there without another word to either of them.

Will was bouncing his leg. Moving it up and down in a rhythm that made thumping noises that El was beginning to get frustrated with. Neither of them had moved from their seats since Steve left them. Will was allowed to leave but he had not wanted to just yet, El assumed he was waiting for Mike’s questioning to be done before he left home. El herself was waiting for Steve to be done, so she could go home with him and Max, now more than ever she did not want to stay at her home, she wondered if Max’s mom would allow her to stay more than just that night with them.

The thumping from Will’s leg increased, El frowned down at it, she did not understand how Will was still bouncing his leg, it had to have been hurting him by now.

Without thinking about it El moved her hand to Will’s leg, putting pressure on it to stop it from bouncing. Will stopped his leg, but his attention was not on her, it was on Mike who was behind the glass window to her dad’s office. Her brother had not taken his eyes off Mike for more than a few seconds before returning them back to him. El felt guilt prickle at her skin from his worried expression. She hated that she was the one who put that look on Will’s face.

Placing his hand on top of hers, Will roughly grabbed her hand and shoved it over to her own lap, laying it there, taking back his hand he shifted his whole body further away from El, like she was diseased or something, “Don’t touch me.” He spat at her, he was finally looking at her but she wished he hadn’t turned away from the window, she did not want to see the disdain for her on his face.   

“Will, I am sorry,” she whispered to him, she could not control her tears all night. She thinks she has cried more this night than she has in the last three years put together, “I am sorry. Please stop being angry with me.”     

“You got Mike arrested El,” his cold voice washed over her, making her shiver, “For something he didn’t fucking do. You could have heard him out. You could have listened to him. You could have talked to him but no you got in your fucking head and started mixing things up and now Mike is being interrogated.”

“I am sorry,” El hastily repeated, “I was scared Will, I almost died and then Mike came out of nowhere and was telling me it was okay but I was begging him to check on you and he would not listen to me. What else was I supposed to do? What else was I supposed to think?” She felt like she was actually begging Will for an answer, not just rhetorically asking him what more she was supposed to do or think in that situation.

“You were supposed to stop to think for a second instead of freaking out. You were supposed to realize that this was your boyfriend of three years and not some stranger trying to calm you down. You were supposed to have trust in him. You were supposed to listen to him, talk to him. You were supposed to know that Mike would never hurt me or hurt you.” Will told her, making her feel like she made all the wrong moves. Her brain and her heart fought with each other, each telling her a different thing.

El’s head was determined to hold to her accusations against Mike, she could not be the dumb girl in the scary movies that ignored obvious signs in front of her of something not being right. Her heart was screaming at her though that Mike was Mike, her caring, supportive boyfriend, why was she so eager to pin these murders on him, she knows him, she loves him, El’s heart was telling her Mike could not be capable of committing these killings.

Maybe Will was right, she should have listened to Mike, given him a chance to explain, she should have trusted him.  

Mike sat inside Hopper’s office on an extra chair in front of the desk that sat right next to a window that allowed a clear view of the rest of the station. The chair was uncomfortable, hurting his back and cramping his long legs, he paid no mind to his pain though. From his place in front of the desk, he could see everything happening outside of Hopper’s office. He could see the officers taking notes, filing into cabinets, and filling up stained coffee mugs from pots of coffee that looked days old from where Mike was sitting. He could see them answering the phone lines and moving about in slow but anxious motions. He could see them talking to each other, glancing periodically at the closed office door, expressions pulled into disapproving frowns.

Besides the officers, Mike also saw the moment they had brought Will and El in for questioning, he saw how Steve had gently directed them to his desk which conveniently sat right outside of the office he was in, giving him a perfect view of both their faces and bodies. He saw when Max, Jonathan, and his sister followed another officer into the station, being directed to the opposite end, with less delicacy. He also saw when his shitty father, Ted Wheeler, sluggishly dragged himself through the station's doors with Holly attached to his hand. He had looked around with his permanently bored expression etched on his face, spotting Nancy he passed off Holly to her before slowly making his way to the first officer he could find to ask them where to go.

Moments after that, Mike found himself sitting next to his father, an uneasy silence settling over them, avoiding each other’s eyes and not speaking. Mike didn’t have the best relationship with his father, he blamed him for a lot of things that had gone wrong in Mike’s life, he blamed him for a lot of the pain he’s gone through, and rightfully so.     

He tried not to think too much about the pain that his father caused him, when he thought about it too much in a single moment he always found himself wanting to jump ahead of things without thought, thankfully Will had been there time and time again to remind Mike not to get ahead of himself. 

Mike refused to give Ted Wheeler the satisfaction of having his attention, so instead of paying focus to the office around him, he laid his attention on something far more deserving than his piece of shit father.   

Will Byers.

Sitting on the other side of the glass window was Will, whose leg was bouncing up and down in rapid movements that Mike couldn’t keep track of, he was sulking back in the swivel chair Steve had given him to sit on, arms tightly crossed, and eyes staring straight into Mike’s own eyes. El was seated next to Will, in her own swivel chair, her hand was suddenly being pressed to Will’s bouncing leg, stopping its fast movements.

They had finished their own questioning twenty minutes prior; Mike couldn’t hear anything that was said but Will didn’t appear worried so he assumed it went as well as it could have gone.

El didn’t appear as relaxed as Will, she looked unsure of herself, timid . She did everything she could to avoid looking through the window at Mike, stubbornly keeping her head forward, refusing to turn it even an inch in his direction.

Mike felt a smirk curling on his lips when Will looked away from him to glare down at El’s hand on his leg, he brought his hand on top of hers, grabbing it, only to put it on El’s own lap, shifting his whole body a few inches away from El, clearly indicating he didn’t want her touching him. Mike could tell they exchanged some words, he could see their lips moving, El frowning and Will turning away from her, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other, the glass of the window acting as a sound barrier between them.

A smile spread across his face, one more genuine than his previous one when Will locked eyes with him again, hand running through his fluffy brown hair, pulling it back. Mike didn’t think he would ever tire of looking at Will, the other boy was heart stopping beautiful, he had the prettiest hazel eyes, a pair of full pink lips, a sharp jawline, a cute little mole above his upper lip, and a protruding Adam’s Apple Mike always found himself wanting to suck on. His best friend was the most gorgeous thing he’s ever laid eyes on and Mike had the pleasure of being able to call him his. Will was his .

His to hold. His to hug. His to cuddle. His to tease. His to kiss. His to fuck. His to love.

Will was his.  

Turning away from Will, Mike ran his eyes over El’s body again, seeing her shift uncomfortably when she felt him looking at her, Mike suppressed the sneer that wanted to overtake his face, remembering how she had screamed at him to not touch Will. Will who was Mike’s . El had told him not to touch what belonged to him, he remembered wanting to wrap his hands around her skinny throat the second those words left her mouth, wanting to watch in satisfaction as she choked for air.

He had to remind himself that he still had plans for her. That he still hasn’t dealt out the punishment she deserved. He had to tell himself her use to him wasn’t finished. Mike forced his eyes that wanted to glare at her to look at her with softness that wasn’t hers to have. He forced his gaze into a pathetic thing that was begging for trust and forgiveness from El. He could feel Will watching him with blazing eyes, hating when he had to watch Mike pretend, but Mike didn’t move his gaze away from El, determined to make her look at him. That’s all he needed, was for her to look at him, she already had doubt in her mind, she was already questioning herself, he just needed her to look at him to drive it home.

Finally, without having to wait long at all, El’s eyes flickered to his, quickly looking away a couple of times, before settling on him again. He tried to put as much sadness, misery, regret, and ‘love’ into his gaze as he could, when El’s hardened stare turned soft at the edges he knew he had her where he wanted her. She was looking for a reason to excuse what she knew to be the truth. She was looking for a reason to deny her suspicions and accusations. Mike knew it would take a little bit of time before she was truly trusting of him again, fully embracing him without hesitation, but he was positive he could bring her back into his web, he just had to be patient. He could do that; he’s been doing that for three years now.

Smiling a shy sweet smile at El, Mike let himself look at Will again, he hated seeing the jealousy swirling in his eyes, Will had nothing to be jealous of, Mike could never want El the way he wanted Will, he could never love El the way he loved Will. there was no competition between them.

Sure El was fun to play with, amusing even, she was a pleasant thing that Mike had spent years building up so he could have the sick satisfaction when he ultimately knocked her down, he could admit to himself that he sometimes did get carried away with showing her his interest , but to Mike it never meant anything serious but Will always seemed to lose sight of that lately.  

He was helping Mike, of course he was, Mike knew Will would do anything for him, he just had to ask, it’s been that way since they were children playing on their favorite swing set declaring each other as best friends forever . Will had already proven he would do anything Mike asked of him, he would go the extra mile if it meant Mike would be happy, a brief flash of diamond blue eyes went through his mind, eyes that didn’t look anything like his own dark ones, but ones that had looked at Will with undeniable affection and adoration. Mike hated thinking about that period of time in their plan, it never failed to make him want to tie Will to his bed and never let him out of his sight.

Yes, Will would do anything Mike asked of him, lately though Mike had noticed Will was more unhappy playing brother and best friend than ever before and he’s not sure if Will would want to be playing for much longer.

The whole plan had gone on longer than anticipated, Mike could also admit that to himself. He had promised Will he wouldn’t be with El for more than a year, he had promised him that they would run away together once his plan had went through, he had promised Will that they would get away, live together, be happy together, he had promised Will more commitment and he still hasn’t delivered on that promise.   

But it wasn’t Mike’s fault that El was harder to bend then he had thought. Mike didn’t think their relationship would turn cold, he didn’t think El would push him away, pull him back, and push him away again, over and over again repeating a never ending cycle. Mike had thought he caught her in a vulnerable time, where she was susceptible to outside influence, he thought he caught her in a time where she would fall head over heels for him and give him everything that she was.

Evidently, that hadn’t happened.

Though El had fallen in love with him, she had not given herself fully to him yet, and that was something Mike wasn’t willing to give up on (at least not yet). He had to have her, mind, body , and soul, he had to have her in the palm of his hand before showing her just who he was. He had to milk her pain in the end for all it was worth, he couldn’t do that if he hadn’t completely consumed her beforehand, the satisfaction in the end wouldn’t be the same, it wouldn’t be as gratifying.

All of that almost went to shit when she freaked out earlier, he had just wanted to mess with her, to scare her, he had gotten too confident though, he didn’t think El would connect the dots as easily as she did, it was a mistake that he shouldn’t have made but he knew in the end it was all going to fall into place just fine for him. He knew he could get in her head again; he was already halfway there.

Will just needed to play along for a little while longer, Mike needed him to play along a little while longer. Be a little more patient than he has been, Mike didn’t think that was asking for much.

Without Will (who had been and continues to be a core piece in Mike’s plan seeing as he was more often than not the one to get his hands dirty) Mike wouldn’t know what to do, all of this wouldn’t have the same gratification, without Will he would be lost, not only in the plan but in his mind , in his life . He needed Will and Will needed him.

“Mike. Mike.” Steve snapped his fingers in front of Mike’s face, grabbing his attention, he turned his body away from the window after giving Will a wink, enjoying the other boys' flushed appearance in response.

Callahan was seated behind Hopper’s desk, chest puffed out, playing pretend chief for the night, Steve was leaning against the front of the desk, legs crossed over one another, keeping a neutral expression on his face, and his father sat next to him still, spine straight, giving both officers a look of bored disinterest which didn’t surprise him in the least, sometimes he genuinely wondered if that was the only expression in his father’s ability to express.  

“Let’s get started Mr. Wheeler,” Callahan clapped his hands together, leaning forward on Hopper’s desk giving Mike his full attention with a mocking smile, Mike raised an eyebrow back at him, “What were you doing over at El’s house tonight?”   

“She’s my girlfriend, I wanted to see her,” Mike shrugged his shoulders, leaning forward himself he placed his forearms on his thighs and pressed his hands together, his wrists were still hurting from the handcuffs, red and swollen but he ignored the stinging pain coming from them, “Not to mention my best friend also happens to live there, I wanted to see him too. I didn’t realize that was a crime now.” He gave a full lipped grin to Callahan, playfully clicking his tongue at him.

Ignoring his sarcastic tone, Callahan went on, “And the night of the murders? El already told us you, Will, and her lied about what happened that night. She said you climbed through her window a little after Midnight?” Mike wanted to wipe the smug look off his face, he had nothing to be smug about.

“You were out that night?” His father asked, it was the first thing he had said since being led into the office. Mike wondered if it was possible for his father to show any more indifference then he already had, even his question was said with dullness, not really caring that Mike had not been at home and had lied about where he was but needing to show a smidge of interest in front of Callahan and Steve.    

“I was watching a movie, it reminded me of El, made me think of her,” Mike fed the same lie he had said to El to them, it rolled off his tongue just as easily as it had when he told it to El, “I wanted to see her so I got in my car and drove to her house.”

“Did you happen to drive past Chrissy Cunningham’s house on your way there?” Callahan stood up from his seat, walking around the desk, he stood next to Steve, giving Mike his best cop look he must have thought was intimidating but in reality wasn’t, he actually looked constipated if you asked Mike.

“Considering Chrissy lives,” Mike paused his speech, faking a sad regretful expression on his face, he continued, “I’m sorry…lived…considering Chrissy lived on the other side of town, no I didn’t drive past her house that night.”

“You little shit.” Callahan whispered; distrusting eyes narrowed on Mike.

Steve, who had stayed quiet until then, feeling it wasn’t right to question Mike himself considering his connection to him and Mike’s friends, turned to face Callahan, “Hey, you asked him a question and he answered, there is no need for name calling.” He said in Mike’s defense.

“Thank you Steve,” Mike smiled at him, staring back at Callahan he said, “I didn’t go anywhere else that night, I went to El’s because I missed her and wanted to see her. That’s all there is to it. I didn’t kill anybody.” He meant to keep his tone as innocent as he could, which meant keeping it light and flowy, but some of his annoyance slipped in.    

“Okay,” Callahan nodded, expression still in doubt, wanting to catch Mike up in what he was saying, “And the comments you made at school on Monday? El told us about those too. Why would you say a man murdered Ms. Cunningham and Mr. Carver and why would you threaten Max Mayfield?”

Mike sighed with irritation, “The police obviously think it was a man that killed Chrissy and Jason, otherwise you guys wouldn’t have asked only the guys at school if they “liked to hunt”, I was only taking what you had already planted and making a stupid comment about it. And threaten Max? I didn’t threaten her, we were all playing around, making stupid jokes, she said something that got on my nerves so I said something back to get on her nerves. It was hardly the threat that you’re trying to make it out to be.” Mike waved his hand at Callahan, the man was testing his patience, he had no real evidence to hold Mike there, he had no real information and yet he acted like he knew all of Mike’s secrets.    

Staring back out the window, Mike’s body relaxed slightly from its tense posture, Will was still there on the other side, not seeming to have a care in the world, watching Mike’s interrogation like it was a TV show. Just looking at Will put Mike at ease, just staring back at him made him feel like they were on top of the world, untouchable .

“Do you recognize this mask?” Callahan reached behind him to pick up a yellow envelope that Steve had brought in and had placed on the desk, from inside of it he pulled out the Halloween mask Mike would not be admitting to recognizing.

“Should I?” Mike clicked his tongue, cocking his head to one side he eyeballed the mask with disinterest, taking notes from his father’s perpetual expression and using it for himself. 

“Yeah, you should recognize it considering you threw it on the side of the house when you took it off to climb into El’s window.” A vein in Callahan’s forehead popped out, Mike wanted to laugh at this, Callahan was easy to rile up, he didn’t think that was a very good trait for a cop but what did he know.

“No, I don’t recognize it.” Mike held eye contact with Callahan, biting his lip as he watched the vein pop out even more, Callahan’s face was reddening with irritation, unlike Steve he wasn’t being fooled into believing Mike’s lies.

“Is that all for your questions?” Mike’s father asked, he knew he wasn’t asking out of any concern for Mike, most likely there was a news special coming on TV soon that he wanted to watch, but couldn't exactly do that from inside a police station.   

“Yes, that’s all the questions we have for right now,” Steve answered, interrupting Callahan opening his mouth to say something, the other man gave Steve a hard glare for talking ahead of him, “We are going to have to keep you for the night though Mike. You’re not being charged with anything right now so no worries about that but for everyone’s peace of mind and for officers can finish conducting a thorough search of El’s and Will’s home and have time to bring in any new information if they find any, you’re spending the night here at the station.”   

Mike tried to appear nonchalant when he shrugged back at Steve, “Fine by me.”

“Does this mean I can leave now?” Mike shook his head at his father’s next question, he was just told that his son had to spend the night in jail and his immediate response was to wash his hands of the problems Mike got into and ask if he could leave, it bitterly reminded Mike of his father’s attempt to wash his hands of his mom, biting at his lip he told himself to not think about that, least he get too angry in front of the wrong people.

Not caring what else was said between his father and the two other men in the room, Mike tuned them out. Once again facing the window of the office to look out at Will, who Mike knew he would find in the same position as before, he smiled to himself when sure enough there Will was, still watching his interrogation, hardly moved from his position, hyper focused on Mike and Mike alone, as he should be .   

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins Police Station

October 29 th , 1988

12:16am

The door to her dad’s office popped open, making a low squeaking sound that was scarcely heard over the police stations natural noises, but as if the door made an obscenely loud noise when opening everyone in the station turned to look as Steve and Officer Callahan escorted Mike out, each having a hand wrapped around one of his arms. Mike’s hands were handcuffed behind his back again, he was purposely dragging his feet on the floor, making it harder for Steve and Officer Callahan to lead him. El could tell Mike had a smirk on his face, one that he tried to hide by looking down at his feet, but it was obvious to anyone paying enough attention to him that he was getting entertained with his game.

Will straightened in his chair next to her, only waiting a second before jumping from his seat to rush towards Mike. El stood up from her chair as well, not following after Will, but keeping her gaze on him, she silently watched as he was intercepted by another officer and Jonathan, both preventing Will from getting too close to Mike.  

From behind, walking with hurried steps that got prolonged by his sons dragging feet was Ted Wheeler, the older man did not say anything to Mike, the officers, or Nancy, he walked around Mike, collected Holly’s hand in his own from where it was still cradled within Nancy’s hand and walked out of the police station as if Mike was not in handcuffs and being led to a jail cell for the night.

Ted Wheeler was not a good father, El’s always known this, though not physically or verbally abusive like Lonnie was to Will and Jonathan, Mike’s dad was almost as bad, emotionally absent and bored with his children, El cannot even remember a time when she saw Ted Wheeler show an ounce of affection, attention, or love to any of his kids.

El often wondered if that was why Mike had a hard time saying he loved her, his family was not one that easily expressed emotions to each other (if they expressed them at all). Ted was as good as a wall, not a single thought behind his eyes, Nancy was to career driven, focused on getting to the top of her reporter job by any means necessary (as she had already proven), and Holly was only a little girl, not yet old enough to understand something she was not being taught how to express. El was not sure if Mike received love or affection from his mother before she passed away, Mike did not like to talk about his mom.

From the information she was able to dig up on her own and from other Hawkins' residents that liked to gossip, Mike’s mother, Karen, had killed herself in her home one day four years ago. The reasons for her suicide were unknown to the public, despite wanting to ask Mike, El never questioned him about his mother’s death, giving Mike the same respect he had shown her through their years together by not questioning her about her mom’s death.

That did not stop the curiosity though, she often wondered what kind of mother Karen Wheeler was, El wondered if Mike had been happy in his home life with her, she wondered why Karen committed suicide, she wondered what kind of marriage was between Mike’s mom and dad, if they regularly said I love you to each other, if to say those words to each other came naturally to them.

When she had first started dating Mike, El had briefly thought about asking Will about Mike’s mom and his homelife before she had passed. That thought had not stayed in her head long, El was quick to pick up on Mike’s and Will’s friendship dynamic, there was not a single chance Will would say anything to El behind his friends back. That burning curiosity for Karen Wheeler was as hot today as it was three years ago.  

“Jonathan, I just want to talk to him,” Will pleaded with their brother in front of El, he was gripping onto Jonathan’s shoulders, scrunching the fabric of his jacket in his hands, ignoring the officer next to them who had his own hands up, physically ready to prevent Will from stepping closer to Mike, “Please. I need to make sure he’s okay. I need to talk to him.”

“I know you’re worried Will,” Jonathan soothed, wrapping Will in a hug he did not try to fight to get out of, El knew how warm and comforting Jonathan’s hugs were, they made everything feel like it would be okay, “He’s okay, I promise. We can come back in the morning to pick him up, Steve will let us know first thing when he’s released.”

“Will!” Mike’s voice rang out through the police station, looking up from his feet, he had caught sight of Will, “Will!” El frowned when Mike tried to pull away from Officer Callahan and Steve, moving his shoulders in an awkward way hoping to break their hold on him, his eyes not leaving Will, not blinking, simply staring with a rawness that was almost scary.

“Mike!” Will shouted back to him, thankfully not moving to get closer though, realizing no one would let him get near Mike at that moment, “Are you okay!?” Will asked with worry coating his voice.

Mike did not answer him. El felt his gaze on her. Turning his dark eyes away from Will and placing their full intensity on her.

Stepping closer to her brothers, El avoided catching Mike’s eyes with her own, not ready to be disarmed as she was earlier when he had been staring through the window during his interrogation.

“El! El! Please! You have to know I wouldn’t ever do something like this!” Mike’s struggles intensified the closer he got to the doorway leading to the cells, “Look at me El! El!” She did not look at him, Will was glancing between them, a scowl forming on his face when he went ignored by Mike.

Steve and Officer Callahan finally got Mike through the doorway, his words faded with him, unable to be heard anymore. El was grateful for that, anymore of Mike’s pleading and she would have crumbled under Mike’s attention for the second time that night, causing her already confused thoughts to be even more jumbled than they already were.

Causing more doubt to fill her body.

Jonathan let Will out of his embrace, gently leading him over to a random chair to sit on, speaking to Will under his breath, low enough that El could not hear what he was saying but judging by Jonathan’s protective stance in front of their brother, she guessed he was reassuring Will that everything would be okay.

Once again, guilt clawed at her heart, it was El’s fault that Will was as distraught as he was right now, her fault her brother had to watch his best friend get handcuffed and taken away. From across the station, Nancy and Max found their way to them, Nancy immediately going to Jonathan’s side, like magnets, and Max coming to her side, glowering at her brothers and Nancy.

“Hey man,” Jonathan said to Steve, who had walked back through the door he had just taken Mike through, both Nancy and Jonathan stepped to Steve’s sides, their hard eyes focused on Steve’s nervous form, “Do you mind having someone give us a call tomorrow when Mike is released? Will’s going to want to be here to pick him up.” Jonathan shifted back when he noticed how their defensive bodies were being perceived by the other officers in the station. Nancy stayed right where she was.

“My brother is a lot of things Steve,” she snarled in his face, Steve clenched his teeth together when Nancy stepped even closer to him, “But a killer isn’t one of them.”

“I understand that you guys are upset, I get it okay,” Steve held up his hands in a surrender pose, taking small steps back to put space between him and Nancy, “I’m upset about this too, you think I wanted to arrest Mike? Of course not! But until we have some more information, he’s a suspect. I promise to have someone give you guys a call the second that he can be released.”

“He shouldn’t have been arrested to begin with,” Will says from his seat, shaking his head, “The real killer is still out there and here you guys are wasting time with Mike because El couldn’t get out of her head long enough to think straight.”

“Fuck you asshole!” Max yelled in her defense, El tensed when Max got in Will’s face again, she did not like it the first time, and she liked it even less this time. She was glad Max was on her side, in her corner, but she did not like that she repeatedly placed herself in front of an unknown Will, a Will that had a look in his eyes that El was not sure she knew what to make of, she worried for her best friend with this version of her brother. 

“El is your sister! You should be in her corner! Not Mike’s! You should be comforting El right now, not worried about Mike! If he did kill Chrissy and Jason, then that fucker deserves to be here! He deserves to rot in prison!” Max pushed at Will’s shoulder, not hitting it exactly but close to it, Will was still seated, looking up at Max with narrowed eyes.

“Mike is my best friend ,” Will slowly stood up, towering over Max’s smaller figure, El moved towards them, grabbing hold of Max’s hand, she tugged her away from Will, “He didn’t kill anyone and I’m not going to be on the side of anyone accusing him of that, I don’t give a fuck if that person is family or not.”

“I think we need to calm down.” El told them; she did not want Will and Max at each other’s throats in defense of their best friends. More and more El was starting to regret her decision to not listen to Mike in the house, the doubt , the guilt , the frustration was becoming too much for her.  

“Bud, let’s go home,” Jonathan came up to Will’s side, swinging an arm around their brother’s shoulder, “We’ll come back tomorrow, in the meantime I think everyone is tired and scared and not sure what to think, it will do all of us a world of good to get some rest and perspective away from everyone.”

Will did not verbally answer Jonathan, but he did give a nod back.

Jonathan walked to El to give her a hug, pulling her head to his chest, he whispered to her, “Get some rest tonight, El. Call me if you need to at any point, I’ll pick up, I promise.” El could see how difficult Jonathan was finding comforting her and Will, not knowing if he was doing wrong by trying to reassure both of them.

Pulling away from Jonathan, looking up at him through her lashes, El asked, “Do you think he hates me now?” She nervously glanced at Will, who was stiffly standing with Nancy, both of them with glares on their faces, hatred in their eyes, before looking back at Jonathan. 

“No, no, of course he doesn’t hate you El,” Jonathan’s lips pressed together in doubt, he was attempting to comfort her which she appreciated but even Jonathan was unsure how Will would treat El after this, Mike meant everything to Will, this would not be something that is easily forgiven, “He just needs time. Once everything is sorted out, I’m sure he’ll come around. Mike and Will have been friends for a really long time, it’s just hard for him to see beyond that at the moment.”

“I keep thinking maybe Will is right, maybe I jumped to conclusions too fast. Mike is my boyfriend; I should have given him the chance to talk, to explain.” El lowered her voice even more, like what she was saying was a secret when really, she was sure everyone could see the beginnings of regret and guilt in her eyes without her having to say a word about it. She felt better saying those thoughts to someone though, to Jonathan, he would understand, and he would not pressure her to feel one way or another.  

“Maybe,” Jonathan whispered back, shrugging his shoulders, “But you were scared El, and for good reason, someone had just tried to kill you, maybe you didn’t think things through all the way, but this is not your fault. We don’t know what the police will find either, Mike’s actions and behavior were suspicious, I don’t blame you for thinking that he’s the killer.” Jonathan tugged her into another hug, this one softer than the one before it, she released a breath of relief against his chest, El could not stand that Will was angry with her but at least she had Jonathan’s reassurance that she did not have both her brothers mad at her. 

Letting El out of their hug, Jonathan patted her shoulder a few times before making his way to Will and Nancy, without another word from them, they glanced at the door that Mike was led through one last time before they left the station, giving Steve another reminder to inform them when Mike was released.

“Everything’s going to be okay El,” Max came up to her with a tissue in her hand, wiping away tears that El had not even realized she was shedding, “You’ll see, everything’s going to work out.” She did not have the energy to muster anything else but a weak smile and a pathetic nod back to Max, she did grab Max’s hand though, taking comfort in her best friends' presence.

“Steve, can we go now?” Max asked, giving her brother a pointed look, trying to subtly indicate to El, which was not very successful considering El saw the exchange, “El needs rest, she’s been through a lot tonight.”

“Yeah, we can go.” Steve said back, his gaze flickered from El to Max and back again, “I just need to let Callahan know I’m leaving, then we can go.”

“Well hurry the fuck up,” Max snappily replied, “El doesn’t need to be here any longer than she has already.” Ignoring Max’s attitude, Steve walked to Officer Callahan’s desk, talking to the other man who El had not even noticed had come back from escorting Mike to his cell for the night.

Whatever words they were exchanging between each other did not appear to make Steve happy, he stood with his hands on his hips, posture tense and head shaking side to side. Officer Callahan gestured to the back entrance of the police station, giving a firm nod, Steve jogged over to his desk to get his jacket, walking to Max and her he first put his jacket around El’s shoulders before putting one of each of his hands to hers and Max’s backs, leading them to the back entrance Officer Callahan had gestured to moments before.

“Word spread around town that El was attacked tonight,” Steve explained to their confused faces, moving them faster through the police station, “There’s a bunch of reporters, cameras, and news vans waiting outside the station for El. Callahan suggested the back entrance for us to leave through so we can avoid the questions.”

“Fucking piranhas.” Max hissed under her breath, she pressed herself further into El’s side, protectively wrapping her in her arms, El tried to relax but knowing people already knew she got attacked made her anxious, knowing they were outside waiting to shove cameras and microphones in her face brought back haunting memories of the time just after her mom died.

“You girls stay here and don’t move; I’m going to go around for the car. I’ll be right back.” Steve hurriedly said, pushing open the back door that led to an alleyway, he strode away from them, pulling his car keys from his pants pocket.

“Eleanor! El!” El looked down the alleyway when her name was shouted, at the mouth of the alley was a familiar face, Barbara Holland, Nancy’s reporter friend that worked at the same news station, behind her was an unfamiliar camera man, a short scrawny guy with big teeth and even bigger glasses, unlike Jonathan who held his camera with ease and practice, with comfortability, the man behind Barb was struggling to hold the big camera on his skinny shoulder, almost bucking under its weight.

El glared at Barb, she was dressed as she always is, in a ruffled multicolored flannel shirt and blue jeans, her own glasses reflecting the light from the lamp posts around them, short red hair curled outward, microphone attached to her hand like an extended limb. Barb had been a co-author of the book Nancy had written about El’s mother and her murderer, a book Nancy and Barb had used to advance their careers in their small towns news station, not that it had done them any good, only receiving attention the first few weeks after its release, like the news of her mother’s death, both faded in little time.

Though Barb and Nancy played equal roles in making the book, El had found it easier to focus her hatred for it more on the redhead in front of her then to focus it on Nancy, who is her boyfriend’s sister. She did not want to cause tension between the siblings, she did not want to be the reason they argued, so though she hated it, El had pretended not to be mad at Nancy for making the book, instead putting all the blame on Barb. It was still easier to blame Barb all the way, to make it all her fault, the glare in El’s eyes increased the closer Barb got to her.  

Shoving the microphone in her face, Barb started off her questions, “El, hi. This was some night. Can you tell us what happened exactly? Are you alright? Were you hurt?” Max stepped in front of her, pushing the microphone aggressively away from El.

“She’s not answering any of your questions. Leave her alone.”

“No. No. It is okay Max,” El said, moving forward, getting in Barb’s face much like the way she had seen Max get in Will’s face, “You are just doing your job, right Barb?” She sarcastically smiled at the other girl, tilting her head in false assurance.

Nodding quickly, smiling back, Barb answered, “Yes, that’s right. I’m just doing my job.”

There was a sudden anger that went through her veins with Barb’s answer back to her, El could feel the heat of it pulsing in her body, stiffening her, making her teeth clench together, it was unfair that El had to go through this again, she was almost just killed tonight, possibly by her boyfriend, she should not have to deal with news reporters first thing after coming out of questioning, not when her mom was killed and not now.

“How is the book?” El snapped, eyes daring Barb to reply back, from behind Barb and her camera man, more news reporters and cameras popped up, each shining brightly lit lights at her and Max, hands holding out microphones to catch anything said.

“It’s actually had an increase in sales recently,” Barb smiled at her, twinkling glasses making it hard for El to look straight into her eyes, “No doubt due to the murders.” The way she said it was so dismissive, as if the only thing that mattered was that the book was garnering attention again, not the fact that it was because two teenagers were killed.

“Fucking bitch.” Max declared from her side, El could not agree more, Barb was not worth her time though, she had better things to do then entertain her and her questions.

Rolling her eyes, El turned her back to Barb, fully intending to walk away from her.

“Have you had a chance to read it yet El?” Barb asked, stopping El in her tracks, Max was pushing her arm to get her to walk again, “I’ll be more than pleased to send you a copy if you haven’t.”

Spinning around with speed she did not know she possessed, El lifted her fist and swung it towards Barb’s face, trying to mentally remember the lesson her dad had taught her when he was showing her how to throw a punch when she was seven years old. Her fist connected with the side of Barb’s cheek, the other girl yelped in pain, falling to the ground from the force of her hit, her scrawny camera man tried to grab her but failed in holding up Barb and the camera at the same time.

From the ground, Barb looked up at El with tears in her eyes, her hand pressed to her red cheek, shock written across her face. Cameras clicked away, lights rapidly flashing as the crowd took in the scene.   

Max let out a giggle, nodding proudly at El. She could hear the people around her talking but for the life of her she could not understand them, she stood there staring down at Barb, satisfaction running through her veins, replacing the anger that was there.

Unexpectedly, Steve’s arms came around her, pulling her back, El glanced up at him, he did not look mad, but he did not look happy either, she hoped she would not get in trouble for punching Barb, “Where did you learn to punch like that?” He questioned her after telling Max to open the car doors for them.

“My dad.” El muttered back, climbing into the backseat of Steve’s car with Max, strapping her seat belt on, she looked back to Barb through the windshield of the car, smirking to herself when she saw her struggling to get up from the ground.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Mayfield/Harrington Home

October 29 th , 1988  

1:21am  

El fiddled with her fingers as she watched Max dig into her dresser drawers for the set of extra pajamas El normally used when she spent the night at Max’s house. She stood next to Max’s queen-sized mattress, awkwardly waiting for her friend to find her the pajamas to go to sleep in, the blankets were pulled back on the bed, just waiting for them to collapse into them.

Looking down to the hand she used to punch Barb with, she noticed her knuckles were a cherry red and slightly bruised, they stinged with pain anytime El touched the tender skin around them.

“Fucking finally!” Max exclaimed with glee, triumphantly holding up the purple tank top and white pajama pants in her hands as if they were a prized possession, she waved them above her head like a trophy, “I knew I had them in here, sorry they’re kind of wrinkled.” Max passed her the pajamas, scrunching her nose with her apology.  

El smiled back at Max, “Thank you.” She did not care if they were wrinkled, stained, or had holes in them, they were comfortable and they would do for tonight and any other night.  

“Of course El, you’re my best friend,” Max tugged her into a gentle hug, squeezing her shoulders just enough to add assurance without crushing her, “I would do anything for you. I’m sorry all of this is happening to you. I’m sorry about Mike and I’m sorry about Will.” She let herself enjoy her friend’s hold for a moment, letting Max take on just a little bit of the burden she has felt like she had been plagued with since getting that phone call.

Reluctantly pulling away from Max’s hug, she glanced at Max’s bedroom door, seeing it closed she started taking off her clothing to change into her borrowed pajamas, Max got into her bed, comfortably situating herself on the right side of it, leaving the left side for El, “It is okay, it is not your fault.” She uttered out quietly as she walked over to Max’s dresser and folded her clothing to place them on top of it, she hoped she could borrow some of Max’s clothing the next day and would not have to wear the same outfit but just in case she made sure to carefully fold her shirt and jeans so they would not wrinkle overnight.

“It’s not okay.” Max stated with a hard edge to her voice, “Will was being a jackass and you didn’t deserve that.”

“Mike is Will’s best friend.” El said back, she sat down at the end of Max’s bed, looking down to the mattress not wanting to look into Max’s angry eyes, her friend is more angry for her then what El is for herself.

“Yeah, and you’re his sister!” She retorted, gesturing her hand to El’s body, the braids that went down either side of Max’s head shook with her as she moved her head side to side, watching El with wide blue eyes that she could not meet, not wanting to see the displeasure reflected in them.

“I am not mad at Will,” El confessed in a whisper, her dreaded tears making a comeback to her eyes, “I have always known that Will and Mike share a friendship that far outweighed the relationship I share with either one of them.” This was something she had told Max before, something that she had confided in with the other girl. Max had always done her best to be there for El in those vulnerable moments when she cried to her about her fears of not being important enough to Will or Mike to choose her. In those times Max had done her best to comfort her and El was grateful for that but even Max could not lie to El and tell her she was imagining things or just feeling insecure, even Max knew that was a lie.

“You should at the very least be upset with him El, he’s your brother, I know Mike and him have known each other for years but god the least he could do is try to be neutral.” A few tears slipped out of her eyes, when she did not answer her back Max scoffed lightly to herself, muttering under her breath that she was not angry with El just frustrated that she did not seem to get that the situation was unfair to her.

Silence overtook the room, as quietly as she could she got underneath the blankets of Max’s bed, tugging them up to her neck, she glanced at her friend, Max was already looking back, no expression on her face until she caught site of El’s tears, with a look of regret that disappeared so a smile could replace it, Max threw her hand excitedly into the air.

“Let’s forget about Will’s asshole self. Instead let’s talk about that badass punch you aimed at Barbra Holland’s face!” El felt a smile come to her face, happy that Max was willing to switch the subject.

Max jumped forward, grabbing hold of one of the many stuffed animals at the end of her bed, her victim being a fluffy white bunny Lucas had won for her at the fair two years ago, “God it was fucking amazing El. I loved it,” Max laughed, “It was like, “I’ll be more than pleased to send you a copy” , then BAM punch to the face and bitch went down!” She mocked Barb with a higher squeaking voice, punching the poor bunny in her hands that El imagines Max is pretending to see Barb’s face etched in.

“I’ll be more than pleased to send you a copy.” Max mocked again, moving to be closer to El’s side of the bed, laughing all the while punching the bunny more times, “BAM, El super badass bitch.” El fondly rolled her eyes, Max made it seem like something it was not, El should not have let her anger get the best of her, she should have not hurt Barb the way she did.   

“You are literally so fucking cool El.” Max bumped her shoulder against hers, giving her a wide smile, El could not help but smile back.

“Bitchin.” She murmured to herself, she was not proud of letting her anger get the best of her, but she thinks she probably did look pretty bitchin punching someone, or at least she hoped she did.

“Yeah, bitchin.” Max nodded, knocking on the bedroom door pulled their attention, opening the door gently so as to not startle them Steve poked his head through, looking to El and Max with a small smile, in his hands was an ice pack.     

“I came to give this to you El,” walking around Max’s bed to her side Steve grabbed her hand to press the ice pack to her bruised knuckles, she let out a hiss of pain at the contact, “I thought some ice might be good for it, make sure you hold it there for at least ten to fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you, Steve.” She grabbed hold of the ice pack from Steve’s hands, nodding to him that she had it.

Steve let out a sound of acknowledgement before he made his way back to Max’s door, “I’ll be right next door, if you need anything El, just come get me. Please, both of you try to get some sleep tonight.” Steve sternly looked at them, more so Max then herself.   

“Yeah. Yeah. We hear you.” Max waved her hand dismissively at Steve, El bit her lip to keep in her giggles when Steve flipped her off, shaking his head as he left the room, closing the door behind him. Reaching her hand to the dresser next to her, Max flipped on the radio she kept next to her bed, from it soft music emitted, calming the atmosphere around El. She did not recognize the song, but she liked it. Laying down and turning her back to Max she hoped her friend took the hint that she wanted to stop talking and go to sleep after the day she had.

Max did not take the hint.

“Are you okay El?” She asked, Max pulled the blankets a little bit away from El’s face, she could see the genuine worry in her friend’s eyes, so she answered truthfully.

“Not really,” she said back, taking a deep breath she continued, “I keep thinking that maybe Will was right, and I should not have jumped to conclusions, that maybe I should have listened to what Mike had to say.”

“Not that I’m doubting you because you know I’m here for you either way so don’t take my question as me not believing you but…” Max hesitated to keep talking, looking away from El she fidgeted with the stuffed bunny she had playfully reenacted a demonstration with minutes prior, “But do you really think Mike did it?”

“He was there Max,” El replied with an agitated tone, she knew Max was not doubting her but to be questioned again was tipping the metaphorical iceberg in her head, “Mike was there, he did not want to check on Will, he was acting like everything was okay, telling me the killer was gone but how would he know that? Then what he said on Monday and how he was out on Sunday. What other explanation can there be?”

“Yeah,” Max muttered out with uncertainty, “I know I don’t really get along with Mike, it’s just really hard to come to terms with the fact that he could be capable of something like this, you know?” Silently El nodded to her in understanding, it was hard to come to terms with, to think that the boyfriend she has been with for three years now could be capable of such brutal murders, be capable of trying to kill her .

Quick knocks sounded from Max’s door immediately followed by the door opening, standing at it was Susan, Max’s mother. She was dressed in a grey nightgown, fluffy purple socks on her feet, and her red hair that matched Max’s pulled into curlers.

“Hey sweetie,” she said to El, giving her a warm motherly smile that reminded her of Joyce’s and her own mother’s smiles, a soft protective thing that made her feel safe, “There’s someone on the phone for you.”

“Who is it?” Max asked, jumping from the bed, pulling El with her.   

“Is it my dad?” El questioned with hope in her voice letting Max pull her from the bed, not protesting her rough tugs.

“I don’t think so honey,” Susan shook her head, giving El sympathetic eyes having heard no doubt that her dad and Joyce have not been able to be contacted, “I didn’t recognize the voice.”

“It’s probably Jonathan calling to check on me.” El told them walking out of Max’s room with Max hanging off of her arm and Susan behind them, she could hear Susan trying to whisper to Max asking how she was but she did not pay attention to the older woman, giving her the illusion that El could not hear her.

Striding into the kitchen El went straight to where she knew Max’s phone was, picking it up she held it to her ear, “Hello?”

Expecting to hear Jonathan on the other line El froze in place when a familiar voice she had hoped never to hear again rang through the phone, “Hello El.” She could feel her eyes widen in disbelief; she could feel the cold touch of fear creeping into her bones.

“What’s wrong?” Max asked her after catching sight of El’s frozen state, she started a rubbing motion on her arm that El could not feel, Susan came around them to look El in the face, mouthing her question of who was on the phone to El.  

“No!” El shouted into the phone, tears pricked at her eyes, making them sting, her shout echoed in the otherwise quiet house, Max and Susan jumped away from her in fright, “No!”   

“Poor, poor Mike,” the man laughed at her, dragging his words out, “Some girlfriend you are El. An innocent guy doesn’t stand a chance with you, does he?” El vaguely registered Susan leaving the kitchen, no doubt to get Steve, her throat felt like it was closing in on her, her heart felt like it would beat straight out of her chest from how fast it was going, Max was leaning in close to her, attempting to hear what the caller was saying to her.

“No, no he doesn’t,” the man laughed again, a full belly laugh that choked from his throat, “How quick you were to throw him under the bus, now that was entertaining.”

“Leave me alone!” She screamed into the phone, Max winced back from her, holding her hands over her ears.

“You know what this looks like to me El?” He asked her in a low threatening tone, one that had no sound of the laughing he had just been doing.

“It looks to me like you pointed fingers at the wrong guy,” the man went silent for a long second, just breathing into the phone, El thought he was waiting for her to answer him back but just when she opened her mouth he said a single word more, “… again .” He started giggling to himself, taunting El with that single word.

“Who are you?!” El shouted, slightly shaking the phone in her hand as if that would get the caller to tell her who he was and what he wanted with her. Max was quietly telling her to hang up, watching El with wild frightened eyes, she ignored Max.

“I don’t think you need to worry about that right now El,” he playfully told her, chuckling around his words, it reminded El of comedians that could not tell their jokes without laughing themselves first, “You’ll find that out soon enough, and boy am I looking forward to that.” He promised before hanging up the phone on her, the dial tone greeted her afterwards.

Shaking her head angrily, she slammed Max’s phone back down on the receiver. That man did not know what he was talking about, he could not possibly know anything, he was just saying things to get into her head. He was just messing with her, playing with her, this was fun for him, this was a game to him, nothing he said to her should hold any merit…and yet she could not stop replaying his words to her ‘It looks to me like you pointed fingers at the wrong guy… again .’

“What happened?” Steve rushed into the kitchen, in a white t-shirt and black boxers, in his hand he held his gun pointed down to the floor, right behind him was Susan, she was holding her hand to her mouth, staring at her phone like it was an unknown enemy she did not want to get close to.   

“A little late there Steve.” Max snarled at him without real anger, she was pulling El into another hug, El thinks she has hugged Max more in this one day then she has hugged her in the last year. Liking and appreciating that her friend was trying to show her comfort though El said nothing and just burrowed herself further into Max’s smaller form, letting the redhead shush her and rock her back and forth, muttering out soothing words that made no sense in her jumbled mind.

7:14am

Tapping her fork against the plate of Eggos Max’s mom had made for her that morning before she and Max had to go to school, El had a hard time looking away from the TV set up just in front of Max’s dining room table. Max and Steve were sitting next to her, each with their own plates of Eggos in front of them, Susan was behind them in the kitchen, wiping down the counters and washing the left-over dishes from the night before.

Steve and Max were also watching the TV, not saying anything to El but each laying their hands on her shoulders to show support. The news channel playing on the screen was talking about her family, the reporter clinically listing facts as if he had any right to, as if he had any real idea of the pain and hurt that went into actually having to live what was essentially just a story to him and everyone else. 

Playing on the TV being voiced over by the reporter was the last court date for Henry Creel, it was at that court that he was given the death sentence, the scene on the screen was of him being led out of the courtroom by several Hawkins policemen, including Steve and Officer Callahan (not her dad, he was considered too emotionally connected to the case), Henry was dressed in a standard bright orange jumpsuit, looking to the ground watching his footsteps, his shaggy blonde hair covering his vibrant blue eyes that El used to compare to sapphires, “Eleanor Hopper, Hawkins very own police chief’s daughter escaped a vicious attack last night, Chief Hopper is reportedly still missing, his last known whereabouts were just outside the airport with his wife Joyce Hopper, who is also missing. Eleanor Hopper is also the daughter of Terry Ives, a murder case Hawkins remembers well, Terry Ives was brutally killed three years ago when convicted murderer Henry Creel, an orderly who worked at the Pennhurst Insane Asylum where Terry Ives was admitted to, viciously tortured her before taking her life. Mr. Creel is currently awaiting appeal for the death sentence handed down after Eleanor Hopper testified against him. She was the key witness in the state’s case against the…”

The TV clicked off, her gaze shifted from it to Steve’s outstretched hand that held the remote in it, he sat there in his seat looking at the TV with a frown, he was against turning on the news that morning but was outvoted by El and Max who wanted to know exactly what people were saying.

“It is never going to stop, is it?” El hesitantly asked looking between Max and Steve, “I am never going to not be plagued by my mother’s death and now this…am I?” She scoffed under her breath when she got no answer from the siblings, they just watched her with pained eyes, ones that could not make promises despite how bad they wanted to.

Clearing his throat, Steve squeezed her shoulder, “Mike was released this morning El, from what I was told Will, Jonathan, and Nancy went to pick him up after being contacted with his release time.” El did not say anything back to him, she knew Mike would be released, he was not the killer, he was in jail last night when she got the call from the man here at Max’s house. She could not say she wanted Mike to turn out to be the killer, because that was far from the truth, but this just meant she was wrong, this meant her accusation was false, this meant that she strained her relationship with Will and Mike for nothing , this meant she might have lost both of them for nothing .

“Mike was in jail last night as you know, he couldn’t have possibly been the one to make that call to you last night. We also had some officers look into the mask the killer wore and unfortunately it was a dead end, it’s a popular Halloween mask sold in several stores at StarCourt Mall, it’s basically impossible to track the order history of who bought one. I really wish I had more positive news to share with you El, I really do but it looks like we are right back where we started, I’m sorry,” Steve apologized, “It’s going to take some more time but we’ll find him.” El nodded back to him, letting Steve know she was listening, and she understood him but she did not verbally say anything back. Next to her Max was asking if she was ready to go to school, El nodded again as she got up from her seat.

Hawkins High School

7:49am

Steve was driving Max and El to school in his police car, El sat in the backseat with Max holding her hand, rubbing soothing circles onto it with her thumb, they were on the verge of running late, having exactly eleven minutes to get inside the school, to their lockers, and then to their first class of the day.

Approaching the front of the school, Steve pulled his police car into the curb, sandwiching it between two news vans that took up a lot of the space. The school’s front yard was flooded with cameras, with people who wanted to talk to her, with reporters and journalists wanting to get a story out of her. The thought of having to walk past them well they poked their heads where they did not belong was causing an uncomfortable pit to form in her stomach.   

El heard Steve take a deep breath from his seat in the driver’s side, rubbing his hands against his temples, he looked out into the sea of vicious piranhas (as Max has taken to calling them) with worry, with hesitation, El locked eyes with him when he glanced behind his seat to check on them, he gave her a reassuring smile that did not reach his eyes and a wink that fell short of comforting.

Getting out of the car, Steve wasted no time in opening the back door for her and Max, grabbing hold of El’s arm he helped her out, leaning down close to her ear, he said, “Get that worried look off your face El, it’s just school, you’ll be safe here.”

“I am not so sure about that.” El whispered back to him, he gave her a sad frown in return, but El was not going to be delusional, school is somewhere she should be safe, but so was her home, and the killer still found his way there, he had hurt her in a place where she was meant to be safest at, who is to say he would not come here to the school to do the same.

She had not turned away from Steve for a second before the first microphone was pushing against her mouth, screeching out a sound of disgust she jumped away from the lady reporter who had shoved her microphone in El’s face, a petite older woman with brunette hair pulled into a slick bun, wrinkles covered her face, “How does it feel to be almost brutally butchered?” She demanded of El, trying to put the microphone back against her mouth.

Her eyes went wide with disbelief and surprise, the reporter in front of her really had no shame, just outright asking El how she felt about almost dying , not for the first time she wondered what was wrong with the people in the news industry.

“Hey! Leave her alone! Back off!” Steve barked at the lady, placing his body in between hers and El’s.

Max was not as gentle or as kind as Steve, she harshly forced her way through the multiple reporters blocking her from El, harshly elbowing people in their stomachs and ribs to get to El’s side, getting near her Max placed her hand in the middle of the woman’s chest and pushed her away, “Back the fuck off you shriveled up bitch! Who the fuck do you think you are getting in my friend’s face like that! What the hell is wrong with you people!?”

“People want to know what happened! The people have a right to know!” The reporter lady argued, once again trying to get her microphone closer to El’s face, only to be slapped away by Max’s hand.

“The fuck they do! El has a right to her privacy you fucking vultures!” Max yelled at the news reporters as Steve did his best to hold them back from getting too close to her, not that he was very successful in that but El appreciated the effort regardless, “Leave her alone!”

Motioning his head to the school, Max nodded back at Steve before having El wrapped in her arms, pushing through people without a second thought. Max led her to the entrance of their school, keeping a tight hold on her as they walked, snapping at anyone who dared get too close to them. Behind them El could still hear the lady reporter yelling “How does it feel!?” not at all discouraged that she was not receiving an answer.   

Glancing to her left as she walked, El spotted Jonathan’s work van, hanging out of the passenger seat to the van was Nancy, fiddling with something in her hands, just in the back of the open van was Jonathan, doing something with one of his many cameras. El changed hers and Max’s direction, heading straight to the news van, Max looked at her with confusion but did not question her, just followed along. If Jonathan and Nancy were here at the school then that meant Will and Mike had to be too, she could not imagine that Jonathan would leave their brother at home by himself when just last night someone had broken in.

Nancy glanced up from the thing in her hands, now that El was closer she could see it was a copy of the book she and Barb wrote about her mother. Tightening her jaw, she refused to give Nancy a hint of emotion, she did not walk over to the van for her, she walked over for Jonathan.

“Stop right there El,” the older girl ordered, pointing her painted finger at El, wiggling it back and forth, “Barb called me and told me what you did, I don’t need you trying to punch me too.”

“Nancy!” Jonathan hissed at her as he jumped out of the back of the van, camera forgotten on the floor of the van, its parts hanging out of it in a jumbled mess.

“She deserved that punch.” Max muttered next to her, shooting Nancy a nasty look that she personally would not like being on the receiving end of, she is almost shocked that Max’s look alone was not enough to spontaneously combust Nancy on the spot.

“Ignore her guys, she’s been in a mood all morning.” Jonathan told them, holding out his arms wide enough to invite a hug, she moved from Max’s embrace to go into his, squishing herself to her brother's chest, clutching the fabric of his band t-shirt in her hands.

“I am not here to cause problems,” she said into his chest, her words muffled by the fabric of his shirt, “I am not going to hit anyone. I just wanted to ask about Will and Mike…are they okay?”

“Their fine,” Nancy said, tilting her head to one side as she glared El up and down, an involuntary shiver went down her spine from her look, her and Nancy have never been on the best of terms considering the book Nancy wrote but El does not think she has ever seen as much hatred in Nancy’s gaze as she sees now, not that Nancy has any room to hate her, El is not the one responsible for half the animosity between them, that is on Nancy’s shoulders, “No thanks to you.” She finished saying with a heavy sneer.

“Nancy!” Jonathan turned to her, giving his girlfriend an equally fierce glare, “Will is okay El, Mike too, they walked into school about ten minutes ago.”

“Is Will still mad?” She hesitantly asked in a small voice.

“No,” Jonathan said unconvincingly, he winced when he heard his own voice, “Well he’s not as angry as he was yesterday, Mike talked to him so he’s calmed down a bit since then.”

“Are you okay? Be honest El.” Jonathan stepped back from her but kept his hands on her arms, soothingly rubbing them up and down with a concerned expression.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just-” she started to say before being cut off by Max, “She’s not okay…she got another call from the killer last night.” El threw Max her best glare, she did not want Jonathan to worry anymore then he was already worried, she was not planning to tell him about the call.

“What!” Jonathan shouted, instantly he started scanning her for injuries as if bruises he had not seen before would suddenly appear on her skin from getting a phone call, it annoyed her slightly, but it mainly gave her warmth to see how much Jonathan cared about her.

“Really? Well what did they say?” Nancy jumped from her seat still in the van, a recorder somehow finding its way into her hand. She stood next to El’s brother, not quite shoving the recorder in her face like the reporter did with the microphone but El still shifted uncomfortably from how close Nancy got to her.

“I am not going to speak if you are going to record me.” She told Nancy, pointedly looking at the recorder clenched in her tight grip, leave it to Nancy to be overly concerned about a possible story for her.

“Put it away Nancy.” Jonathan told her sternly, using one of his hands he firmly pushed the recorder down until Nancy slipped it into her pants pocket with an eyeroll.

El looked at the people around them, each walking with carefree movements that she envied, all these teenagers that lived normal lives, that were not plagued with their mothers' deaths and were not being stalked by a psycho murderer, she wondered if they knew how lucky they were, she would give anything to be as carefree as them. She had that for a while, she had a normal life with a normal family, a normal boyfriend, and normal friends. She had parties and get-togethers, study sessions and play fights, movie nights and connections. Now she felt like all she had was a dark cloud that followed wherever she went, tainting the good things she had in her life.  

Distantly she heard the school bell ring, and she watched as all the students fled with hurried steps to the school, trying not to be late to class, her and Max stayed put.

“El?” Jonathan prompted.

“They were taunting me,” El stiffened when Max pressed herself close to her side before she relaxed knowing her friend was just trying to show her silent support, “They told me Mike was innocent, and that I pointed fingers at the wrong guy,” she faltered when she realized who she was going to be saying the next word the killer told her in front of, Nancy, who with Barb wrote an entire book about her mom’s murder and believed Henry Creel was not as guilty as the system and El thought he was, “ again .” She finally whispered out, looking to the ground at her and Max’s feet.   

“Again?” It might have been her imagination but to El’s ears Nancy sounded triumphant, as if that one word proved her and Barb’s theories on Henry’s innocence.

“Henry Creel is not innocent,” El snapped, looking up from the ground, her eyes turned hard to glare at Nancy, “Henry Creel murdered my mother. Whoever was on the phone last night did not know what they were talking about, just like you and Barb did not know what you were talking about when you wrote that book.” She ignored Jonathan’s attempts to calm her down, choosing instead to confront Nancy about the things she has kept bottled up inside herself.

“You know, your mother’s murder has been the hottest court case in Hawkins three years running, I mean Jesus they’ve only recently convicted the guy, after a few years, putting him on death row, that’s newsworthy stuff, I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to write about it,” Nancy argued, “Not then and not now, someone was bound to write a book about it, even you can’t deny that.”

“Right,” El mockingly nodded back with sarcastic understanding, “and it just had to be you and Barb with all your lies and bullshit theories, not to mention that you are also my boyfriend’s sister.”

“My career comes before my little brother’s teenage love life-” Nancy tried to excuse before she was cut off by El’s loud scoff.

“Right! Right! Tell me Nancy, what does come before your career, because from where I am standing, it looks like nothing does.” From the corner of her eye, she could see Max nodding along, a proud smile adoring her face, and a part of her filled with pride, Max is always telling her to speak her mind on things, to let her opinion be known, to be herself, to be El.

“Alright El, calm down now, you too Nancy, there’s no need-” it was as if Nancy did not hear Jonathan trying to deescalate things because she interrupted him without falter, talking louder and with more force than she had been.  

“What is your problem?” Nancy stepped in front of Jonathan, staring down at El with cold eyes; she hated that Nancy was a few inches taller than herself, she was forced to turn her head up to meet the older girls' gaze, “You got what you wanted, didn’t you El? Henry Creel is in prison and they're going to kill him, a book isn’t going to change that.”  

“I cannot believe you still think he is innocent.” El shook her head in disbelief, how could anyone defend that monster was beyond her, he deserved to rot in prison, he deserved to be given the death sentence for what he put her mother through, her poor mother who could not even scream for help as she was viciously tortured.

“It was ultimately your testimony that put him away. It doesn’t really matter what I think or don’t think about it.” Nancy told her, a tiny smirk on her lips like she was getting the last word in on a fight she won.

“You told all those stories about me Nancy, you and Barb,” she was overwhelmed with the amount of emotions she was feeling, the anger at Nancy and Barb, the disbelief at Henry’s believed innocence, the grief from her mother’s death, the worry from where her dad and Joyce could be, the hurt from Will’s anger, the guilt of her accusation of Mike, it was all too much for her, it was to many emotions for her small body to handle at once “You both called me a liar.”

“I never called you a liar El!” Nancy argued back, raising her arms up and waving them around, “I said I think you falsely accused Henry Creel, but I did not call you a liar.” El scoffed again, from her side Max also let out a barely audible snort at Nancy’s remark, even Jonathan looked at his girlfriend with a grimace, maybe Nancy and Barb did not say she was a liar out right, but they might as well have, it was basically the same thing in El’s opinion.

“Wait. Have you talked to Henry?” Max asked tightening her arm that was still wrapped around El in support, her friend had not said much in the entire conversation, which surprised El considering Max was known to open her mouth even when people did not want her to, El assumed she was holding back in order to give her the peace of finally speaking her mind.

“Of course I have,” Nancy answered in a blunt tone that suggested it was stupid to think otherwise, “Many times.”

“Has his story changed?”

“Not a single word,” Nancy smugly told them with her head held high, “He admits to working on that floor that day, admits to being busy with visitors and patients, admits to being the one finding your mother after she had already died, and admits to grabbing her body when he noticed she was unconscious and not responding, but that’s all.”

“He is lying.” El stated with a frown, “He attacked my mother, he tortured her before he killed her, he was the only one on staff that day on that floor, the only one with access to my mother’s room.” She looked around when she realized her voice was starting to get louder than she intended, all the students had already gone to class, the bell ringing a while ago, only her and Max remained with all the news people, she did not need someone else overhearing her and writing yet another story.

“Her blood was all over him.” She added.

“Of course her blood was all over him El, he’s the one who found her, he’s the one who tried to resuscitate her.” Nancy retorted with pinched eyebrows, her chin permanently stuck in the air, El wondered if it really felt that good to defend a monster, so good that Nancy had to display a smug expression.

“He did not find her. He is the one who killed her. I am the one who found him above my mother, covered in her blood, holding her dead body as if everything was normal, he was the only one around, the only one with access, so do not stand here and tell me that I am wrong, that I did not see what I saw.” She growled out between clenched teeth.

Jonathan held his hands up in an attempt at a peace offering, looking between El and Nancy, not seeming to know who to tell what to, “Listen, I think that’s enough, both of you. This isn’t the place for this conversation.”

“Yeah El,” Max agreed in a rush, attempting to pull El to start walking with her, El planted her feet further into the ground, not allowing Max to pull her away, “We’re already late for class, we should go before things get more heated.”

“What you saw was an orderly who went to go check on his patient, only to find her dead. You pointed fingers at him and accused him of murdering your mother without even knowing any details, you saw him above your mother’s body and branded him a killer.” Nancy declared, also ignoring Jonathan’s gentler attempts to walk her to his work van.

“No,” El viciously shook her head, blinking back tears of frustration, “Henry murdered my mother.” Her voice cracked in the middle of her sentence, even she could hear the uncertainty in her tone, she knew Nancy would be able to hear it too, clear as day as well.   

Looking El up and down before settling her eyes straight at her own, Nancy softly said, “You’re not so sure now…are you?”

“Oh fuck you bitch,” Max sneered at Nancy, getting into a more protective stance when she seen the tears threatening to leave El’s eyes, “She doesn’t need to hear this. Let’s go El.” Glaring at Nancy and Jonathan, Max started to pull her away again, this time El didn’t fight her friend, knowing she needed to walk away, she refused to let any tears fall in front of Nancy, she refused to let the other girl think she was right in any capacity.

Noticing that El was walking away now, Nancy eagerly followed her, El was grateful when she seen Jonathan at least trying to hold Nancy back, giving his girlfriend a look of irritation that she didn’t know was painted on his face because she was to focused on El, “Admit it El, you know the killer’s still on the loose, isn’t he? Your mom’s murder and these murders are connected somehow.” It was disgusting how Nancy got the biggest smile on her face, loving to have something else in her pocket to write about.

Feeling petty and knowing it would make Nancy’s smile disappear as fast as it had come, El couldn’t help herself from showing false condolence, “I’m sorry I mangled Barb’s face, I would be careful if I were you though Nancy, you have a pretty face that my brother would hate to see look like Barb’s.” With a final smirk, she turned around and walked to the school with Max giggling at her remark, her friend calling her “bitchin” under her breath.

“What the fuck Nancy!”

“What Jonathan! Henry is an innocent man on death row, there’s still a killer on the loose!”

“You need to stop already! El didn’t deserve you getting in her face like that!”

“Me getting answers could save a man’s life! I can’t just ignore that!

“Jesus Christ.”

From behind her, she could hear Jonathan and Nancy arguing, she could not find it in herself to feel remorse though, the last thing she heard before she could not make out what they were saying anymore was Jonathan’s loud disbelieving scoff.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins High School

October 29 th , 1988

1:50pm  

Students rushed past him in the hallway, each of them trying to get to their lockers to switch out textbooks in the break between afternoon classes. Will was standing by his opened locker, not moving anything in or out of it like the other students, he had it opened so it blocked El’s view of him. She was by her locker, which was across the hallway from his, several lockers down from his own, stuffing books inside of it, how they stayed put was a mystery to him, El’s locker was a mess, an over-explosion of old homework, textbooks, notes, and trash.    

Next to her, cuddling into each other, were Max and Lucas, they stood off to one side of El, seeming not trying to crowd her but still within a protective distance.

They didn’t know he was there, listening to them, El’s flighty eyes blinked between the students passing her, but she didn’t pay attention to the students that were unmoving at their lockers and Max and Lucas were too busy trying to assure that she was fine that they didn’t pay attention to much else but El, which made it easier for Will to eavesdrop.

“I do not think I should have come to school today,” she was telling them, holding eye contact with students that had the nerve to look her in the eye as they walked past her, like they were daring themselves to look at something unreachable and untouchable with bravery and live to tell the tale, it was pathetic, “I think it was a mistake.”

El’s been popular since Chrissy and Jason died, gaining attention left and right with no end in sight. Which was no surprise, it was honestly expected, part of the plan was for El to be in the spotlight again, Mike had wanted her to be, he certainly got what he had wanted with no trouble.

Will wished he could say the same . He certainly hadn’t got much of what he had wanted for a while.

Making Mike happy made him happy of course, Mike was everything to him, but lately Mike’s happiness felt fleeting, like nothing was enough for him, like Will’s loyalty and actions were not enough for him.

“El you can’t hide away, that’s what this psycho is expecting,” Max chided, Lucas nodding along with her, not seeming to know completely what he was agreeing to in Will’s opinion, but Lucas had always been a bit of a suck up to Max, so it was no surprise, “He wants to scare you, he wants to get in your head, don’t let him.”

“I am scared.” El admitted with defeat in the set of her shoulders, they sagged down, hunching over for a second before she straightened them, Will stared at them, a smile blossoming over his lips that he did nothing to hide, it wasn’t like anyone was watching him.

“Everything is going to be fine El, I promise,” Max declared back with a confidence that Will doesn’t think she was entitled to, she couldn’t promise anything to El, thinking she could was delusion at its finest, “I’ll meet you between classes right here at your locker until everything settles down and I’ll meet you here after school every day to, I’m here for you.” El nodded back to Max, appearing grateful for her support.

A flash of Max getting in his face the night before flickered in Will’s mind, he had used everything in him to not physically react to her when she had done that, aware of the many police officers that had surrounded them at the time. Will remembered wanting to shut her up, images of cutting out her tongue and watching her choke on her blood had kept him under control, he’s always had a bit of an overactive imagination, he swore he could almost feel the bumpy texture of her tongue in between his fingers at the time, feel the wetness it left behind as his blade sliced through it. He had wanted more than anything to bring those images to life when El had pulled her friend away from him, watching him through teary frightened eyes that saw a stranger in place of her brother .

The urge to laugh at El’s naivety threatened to escape him, he bit his tongue hard enough to sting, swallowing back his laugh, El didn’t know what she was a part of yet, she didn’t know just how fucked up Will and Mike were, truthfully Will was looking forward to her reaction when she did find out.   

“I have not seen Mike at all today.” El surveyed the hallway, the guilt she harbored apparent in her expression, he almost felt sorry for her, she was too gullible, too trusting, it was no surprise that he and Mike were able to get into her head, she made it a little too easy for them to do so.  

“Have either of you seen him? Do you know if he is angry with me?”

“I seen him this morning walking into school with Will and a couple of times between classes but other than that, no I haven’t seen him,” Lucas answered her, raising his eyebrow he continued, “But he’s probably really mad El, I mean you labeled him a killer, that has to fucking suck for him.”

“Mike’s feelings in the matter are irrelevant,” Max growled well hitting Lucas’s arm, he backed away from her with his hands up in a surrender pose, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head, “Maybe if he acted like a normal person El wouldn’t have thought he was the killer.”

“I’m just saying,” Lucas defended, he snickered when he dodged another one of Max’s violent hits, “He has to be pretty heartbroken right now too, his girlfriend just accused him of murdering people.”

It wasn’t part of the plan to have El accuse Mike of anything, Will doesn’t know what Mike was thinking when he called El and staged that whole thing to scare her only to climb into her window a second after it. He was an idiot, because in reality what else was El supposed to think, Mike had gotten careless, too confident that this was all in the bag, had it not been for Will making that call to the Mayfield/Harrington home then everyone would still be thinking Mike was the killer. The last thing they needed was attention on either of them. 

Seeing a gathering of students at the end of the hallway, Will tuned out of what El was saying back to Lucas. Down the hallway, giggling to themselves were Troy and James, they were surrounded by the more popular crowd of Hawkins High. In their hands was a familiar Halloween store bag, from it Troy pulled out a white mask, black over dress, and a plastic knife, handing them over to James, who started pulling the black garment over his own clothing, slipping on the mask he pretended to stab a few people around them. 

Will watched in amusement as they pointed down the hallway to El, laughing to themselves, James started running towards her locker, screaming all the way there, when he got to El she flinched back, pressing herself to the now closed locker, gasping in fear, James laughed in her face before he continued down the hallway shrieking, scaring other students who moved to get out of his way, Troy followed behind him at a slower pace, smirking as he went.

“Morons,” Max spat out, glaring down the hallway to Troy’s and James’s disappearing figures, touching El’s shoulder she asked, “Are you okay?”

“I am fine,” she nodded back, even Will could tell her hands were shaking though, she was not fine, more amusement flooded him, “I will see you after school Max.” Before Max could stop her from leaving, El rushed away, dodging through students as she ran, Will slammed his locker shut, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder he followed behind her, keeping enough distance between them that she didn’t know he was there.

He hurried when he saw her turn a corner, stopping abruptly when he noticed she collided into someone in her hurry to leave, she let out a yelp as she crashed into them.   

Mike. She bumped into Mike.

Backing away so they wouldn’t notice him, Will felt irritation course through him when Mike’s hands lingered on El’s arms longer than they needed to as he steadied her, making sure she was upright and not about to fall on her face. Will couldn’t stand the grin on his face as he looked at El, a happy thing that he couldn’t tell was fake or not.

“Woah there, you okay?” Mike’s grin disappeared to be replaced with a concerned frown, El pushed his hands away from her but didn’t step back, they were only about a foot apart, “It’s just me El.” El stayed facing the floor, not meeting Mike’s eyes.

It was quiet for a minute between them, “You still think it’s me, don’t you?” Mike whispered to her, sadness leaking from his voice, Will stepped closer to them, keeping himself angled away in case they spotted him.

“No!” El shouted back, she inched closer to Mike, closing more of the distance between them, Will scowled at the rapidly declining space, “No. I do not Mike. I just-It just-Someone was in my house, someone was there, they were trying to kill me.”

“I know, I know,” Mike said back soothingly, his voice a delicate caress, he closed another inch of space between them, “The police think I scared him away. I swear to you El. It wasn’t me; I would never hurt you like that.” Will should really leave, let Mike say whatever it was he was going to say to get back on El’s good side, let him suck up to her like the loveable boyfriend he pretended to be, but Will’s feet refused to budge, like they were glued to the flooring beneath him. He didn’t want to hear the things coming out of Mike’s mouth, he didn’t want to think about how similar they sounded to words he says to Will, recycled speech patterns that feel special in the moment that they’re said but later lose their luster when they seem to be only words and not actions. 

Will felt like he needed to start considering if he was a masochist, his feet still refused to move.

“I know. I know you are not the killer Mike,” El assured him, letting a small smile slip passed her lips, another inch of space was closed, “He called me again last night when I was at Max’s house, you were in jail last night, there is no possible way you could have made that call.” El gazed down at Mike’s long fingers, on them was the left-over residue of the powder the police used to take Mike’s fingerprints. That morning Will had taken Mike’s hands in his own and had tried to clean them as best as he could, all the while giggling as he dodged Mike’s attempts to kiss him, that felt like a lifetime ago now.

Taking Mike’s hand in one of her own El lowered her voice even more, Will’s feet finally decided to cooperate with him, instead of moving away though they moved him closer to the couple, “I am so sorry Mike. I am sorry I did not let you explain last night, that I accused you of something that put you in jail for the night, that I yelled at you and that I did not listen to Will.” The joy in Mike’s eyes as he gazed down at El was nearly sickening, Will pondered if Mike ever got that look with him, did he gaze at Will with satisfaction when Will blindly did the things Mike asked of him.

“You were scared, I understand that El, I’m not mad at you,” Mike squeezed El’s hand, Will’s heart clenched in response, he reminded himself again that Mike was pretending but as always it didn’t do any good, “Listen, I’m not going to lie and say that I wasn’t upset with you, because I was but I had some time to think last night and I’m not going to hold your fear against you. You were scared, you were terrified, I saw that with my own eyes, and I can’t be angry when you did what you thought you had to in order to protect yourself and Will.” He did have to hand it to Mike, his words were smooth like honey, dripping with understanding, sweetness, and ‘love’ , El clearly stood no chance. 

“Why did you not want to check on Will?” She suddenly asked, frowning with uncertainty back at Mike, it was a question that stumped Mike, Will could tell from the way his eyes widened unexpectedly.

“El you were terrified when I came through the window, I wasn’t even registering what you were saying to me, I was so focused on making sure you were okay, I didn’t think about anything else or anyone else, not when you were right in front of me and needed me.” Will had to wonder if his heart was actually shattering to pieces in his chest.

It hurt.

It hurt so bad to hear those words come out of Mike’s mouth. He knew they were a lie; he knew they were fake, he knew this, but the insecurity of his relationship with Mike was always hanging in the wings waiting for Mike to say or do something for it could come out to taunt him.  

“You did not think about anyone else?” El repeated incredulity as if the concept of Mike putting her in front of anyone was foreign to her, just underneath that was a pleased tone, she stared back at Mike with amazement, Will wanted to gouge her eyes out.

“Of course I didn’t El,” Mike replied tugging her by her hand to close the rest of the distance between them, pressing her against his body, bending down he nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, “You’re my girlfriend, you’re the most important person in my life.”

‘You’re the most important person in my life’. Will forced his feet to back away, he didn’t want to hear anymore, his heart was holding on by a thread as it was, one more word from Mike’s mouth to El was sure to cut it.

“I know things are a little weird right now,” Mike continued, “But things are okay between us, right?” Will’s feet stopped, he didn’t know why he was torturing himself this way, why he couldn’t walk away and keep walking.

“What do you mean?” El asked him, she peered around the hallway, it was only then that Will realized the bell had rung some time ago, students were no longer flooding the hallways, he hadn’t even heard anything, to busy watching Mike and El make up, luckily, she didn’t see him, neither of them did as far as he was aware.

“I mean that we’ve been together for a few years now,” Mike sighed looking down at his feet, his whole appearance apologetic and hesitant, “When we first got together, I understood why you didn’t want to take things further, I really did. Your mom had just passed away, your dad had just remarried, and you had just moved into a home that had three more people in it then what you were used to. I understood why you never wanted to take things between us further, but it’s been years El and I’m starting to wonder if you’re ever going to move on from her death. One of my thoughts last night was that you would rather accuse me of being a psychopathic killer than to touch me, so yeah, I’m asking if we’re okay.”

“A few years does not mean that I would be over my mom’s death Mike,” El shook her head in anger, taking some steps away from Mike, reopening the space between them, “Are you over yours?” Will’s own eyes widened in surprise, he couldn’t believe El had just asked that, she’s never brought up the subject of Mike’s mom to Mike’s face before. Will knows whatever information she had on Mrs. Wheeler is information she’s gained through outside sources, not from Mike directly, he’s never wanted to discuss that sensitive subject with El, hell he scarcely talked to Will about it outside of plans and revenge despite Will growing up with him and viewing Karen as a second mother.    

With more patience and less anger than Will thought Mike would have in his voice he responded, “I accepted what happened to my mom, she’s not coming back, and I know that. It’s the way it is.”

El scowled back at him, “Your mother killed herself Mike, she took her own life with no concerns as to how that would affect you, your sisters, or your dad. She was weak and she was selfish, she decided to end her life instead of face whatever problems she had,” Mike’s face morphed into one Will doesn’t think he’s ever displayed in front of El before, it was an ugly tainted look that made Mike’s face as still as stone, his eyes a cold emotionless pit, the first time Will had seen this look was after Mike discovered why his mom had killed herself, he hadn’t been able to look Mike directly in the eyes at the time, “My mother was killed. She was murdered. She did not take her own life like yours did. She was tortured, tormented, and played with before that sicko Henry finally killed her in one of the brutalist ways he could think of. So don’t stand there and compare the two, they are not the same.”

Will considered El lucky that she made the decision to walk away from Mike, her movements agitated and furious, looking back to Mike she added, “I am sorry my mom’s death and my trauma are inconveniences to you.” Mike stood there in silence, glaring at El’s back as she sped away. Will wasn’t sure what to do with himself, he wanted to make sure Mike was okay but at the same time he didn’t want to go near him, what El said was wrong and she had no right to throw Mike’s mom in his face the way she had but Will’s own heart was still hurting and barely hanging on, he couldn’t get Mike’s words to leave his thoughts, they replayed over and over again like an overplayed pop song on the radio.

Some part of Will also just wanted Mike to suffer alone, to not be there for him, to not be the one holding him up and comforting him, he wanted Mike to feel his absence, Will wanted Mike to crave him like he craved Mike.

Will inched further away, intending to leave Mike to comfort himself when Mike’s voice filtered through the silent air around them, stopping him, “You can come out now Will, she’s gone.” Will froze in place, his heart racing faster than what he felt he could keep up with, he didn’t think Mike knew he was eavesdropping, being too focused on El and his sugar-coated words to her.

He thought about still walking away, ignoring Mike without giving him an explanation, but then Mike opened his mouth again, “Will? Please. Come here. Please.” He could hear the pleading in his wobbly voice, unable to ignore it Will came out of his little hideaway closing the distance between him and Mike.

As soon as he was within arm’s length of the other boy, Mike grabbed his hand pulling Will with him until they hit a more secluded and private area of the hallway. Will didn’t get a chance to say anything before his entire body was covered with Mike, instinctively he placed an arm around his waist, hugging him as tightly as he could, reaching up with his other hand he combed through Mike’s unruly curls. Will’s body pressed further into the wall behind him when Mike burrowed himself further into Will’s embrace, his head was on his shoulder, muffling what Will knew to be his cries, tears soaked through his thin t-shirt.

It took him a minute to realize that Mike was talking to him through his crying, hiccupping around his words, further muffling his sounds into Will’s shoulder, “I want—her dead. I want her—dead. I want her to suffer. She talked about—my mom Will. She deserves—it. Please Will, please, please, I want her—dead.” Will held him tighter, squeezing Mike in a way that had to be painful, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I know you do love,” he whispered to him, shushing him as he tried his best to soothe him, “She will be, okay? You haven’t been waiting this long just to rush into anything though, you made a plan and we’re sticking to it, she’ll get what she deserves but for now you need to calm down, take deep breaths for me.” Will removed his arm from his waist and his hand from his hair, placing his hands on either side of Mike’s cheeks, Will forced him to look up at him, slowly and deliberately he took a deep breath in, waiting for Mike to copy him before he released it.

Will stood there with him for several minutes, calming him down enough that he wasn’t leaking tears like a water faucet, and he wasn’t hiccupping around his words anymore. Will’s thumbs caressed his splatter of freckles, tentatively wiping away the few stray tears that still escaped Mike’s dark eyes.

“I want her dead Will,” Mike repeated, Will scarcely suppressed a flinch when Mike’s hands unexpectedly closed around his throat, squeezing enough that Will’s breath hitched, “Do you hear me? I want to make her suffer. I want you to make her suffer. Can you do that for me baby?” He nodded as much as he could with Mike’s hands slowly tightening their grip around his throat, Mike didn’t always display these violent tendencies, he mostly saved them for when they were having sex, but sometimes (like right now) Mike had to many emotions bubbling underneath his skin to a point that they overflowed out, creating a painful but strangely pleasurable experience for Will that he tried his best to ignore, not fully ready to unpack what it meant.  

When Mike released his throat he gasped for air, coughing around the stinging in his throat, not knowing what else to say he said, “I’m sorry she brought up your mom Mike.” He was sorry, Karen Wheeler was not a subject Mike took to talking about lightly, he was too angry, too bitter, too sad to talk about it in a way that wasn’t planning things with revenge on his mind.  

Mike stayed silent, just staring at Will with an unreadable expression on his face, Will shifted uneasily, this was why he didn’t ever mention Karen Wheeler without Mike bringing her up first, Will found it hard to read behind Mike’s cold behavior, “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s not your fault.” He finally said, grabbing his face in his hands he brought Will forward, kissing him with anger that wasn’t directed at him, he swallowed down a whimper when Mike bit his lower lip.

“I’m going to get to class before anyone starts wondering where I’m at,” Mike mumbled into his mouth, Will shook his head, kissing Mike again, he didn’t want to separate yet, he wanted more of him, he considered dragging Mike to an empty classroom but he didn’t think they would have much time to do anything before someone came looking for one or both of them, Mike kissed him for another minute, letting his tongue roam Will’s mouth freely, moaning low in his throat before he pushed Will away from him, “I don’t want El getting away with bringing up my mom so I need you to follow her, she couldn’t have gotten too far, I want you to get changed and scare her a bit…will you do that for me baby?” Mike clicked his tongue as he flicked Will’s backpack, where he had his and Mike’s extra set of clothing and masks stashed, never knowing when he or Mike were going to need them.  

Dumbly, not thinking about anything else but having Mike inside him, Will happily nodded back, agreeing without a second thought, it was worth it to see Mike’s wide smile directed his way, “Thank you baby. I’ll see you after class, okay, I love you.”  

He waited for Will to murmur “Love you too.” Before he leaned down to press a final kiss to Will’s lips, bounding off without another word, leaving Will gaping after him. Letting out a groan, he adjusted his jeans to relieve the tight pressure on his dick, he looked off to where El had disappeared to, all he seen was a long stretch of empty hallway … fucking Mike .

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins High School

October 29 th , 1988

2:15pm    

Sprinting away from Mike, El thought about what she had said to him, she refused to look back to see what kind of expression he had on his face. It had scared her seeing the blank look he had donned the second she mentioned his mother, El had not meant to bring her into their talk, but when Mike essentially told her to get over her mother’s death, she wanted him to feel some kind of pain in return for such a thoughtless comment. 

The blankness of his eyes reminded her a lot of Will’s the night before, how one second his eyes had been expressive, kind, and understanding, and the next second there was nothing in them, they were empty .

Maybe she should not have brought Karen Wheeler into their discussion, maybe she had been cruel in doing that, she recoiled when she thought about calling Mike’s mom weak and selfish , she did not know why Mike’s mother had killed herself, she did not know what she was going through or what kind of mentality she had at that point, El could admit it was not the most sensitive of her considering her own mother’s struggles with her mental health.

Trying to reach the bathroom as soon as possible before she had a full breakdown in the middle of the hallway, El was not watching where she was going, for the second time that day she bumped into another person.

Thankfully this person was not Mike. It was a girl with shoulder length straight brown hair, dressed in baggy jeans, a grey long sleeved top and a flannel three sizes too big over her long-sleeved shirt. There was dark eyeshadow surrounding her eyes and a light gloss covering her thin lips. El had seen this girl around many times, mainly around Mike’s friend Eddie, she does not remember her name though.

“I-I am sorry,” she apologized, hands gripping the other girls to steady her, much like Mike had done with her when she had bumped into him, “I was not watching where I was going, I am sorry.”

The girl raised an eyebrow back at her, quirking it up so high El thought it would disappear into her bangs forever, “It’s okay, no big deal.” She shrugged; one side of her lip quirked up to match her eyebrow.

“Are you okay?” The girl asked her, her eyebrow came back down, now scrunching together with her other eyebrow to create a worried frown, she glanced over El’s face, she wondered if the other girl could see the fear, the worry, the regret, and the guilt in every line of her face, El felt like she could, “You look a little scared?”

Not knowing how to answer El looked behind herself where she had run away from Mike. Staring down the way she had come from she blinked, she could have sworn she saw Will, blinking again her brother disappeared as fast as he had appeared, leaving El wondering if she imagined seeing him, it would not surprise her to find out that she was going a little crazy with everything happening.  

Turning back to the girl, El nodded, “I am okay.” 

“Okay,” the girl sounded unconvinced, she tilted her head at El, flashing her a white smile, “I’m Robin by the way, you’re Eleanor, right?”

“Just El, not Eleanor.” She corrected, she hated when people did not use her nickname, her full name has never felt like her before, she was not Eleanor, she was simply El.

“El,” Robin repeated, flicking her tongue around El’s name, testing it out, “You were running pretty fast there…are you sure you’re okay? I won’t judge you or anything! I swear! I just want to make sure you really are okay, you looked really freaked out.”

El smiled back at the strange girl, she did not know her, but she seemed really nice, “I am okay,” El reassured, she inched around the other girl, pulling her backpack to her tighter, “I have to go to the bathroom, that is why I was in a rush.” She took a few steps away from Robin, noting that the other girl watched her with a look that clearly said she did not believe her.  

“You must need to pee really badly; you were running like the devil himself was chasing you.” Robin joked, trying to ease the tension caused by El’s obvious lie, she did not owe Robin an explanation, but it still made her feel slightly guilty that she lied at all.   

“Yes.” El backed away, she could not tell a random girl in the hallway what her problems were, Robin was normal, she was not like El, she would not understand, “I have to go. I am sorry again for bumping into you.”

She did not wait around to hear a reply from Robin, she quickly hurried away, opening the door to the girl’s bathroom, she walked straight to the mirror, looking at her reflection with a conflicted expression etched on her face.

The words she had said to Mike were not kind, she should not have said them, especially not after having already accused her boyfriend of being a murderer. El was starting to think she was not a very good girlfriend to Mike, he was trying to talk to her about what he felt, and she had blown up at him, telling him cruel words about his mom despite not knowing anything about her or her suicide.  

From behind her, in one of the bathroom stalls, a girl started talking, El jumped when she heard her, not expecting anyone else to be in the bathroom with her, “I don’t think she was even attacked. I think she made it all up.” El recognized the girl’s voice, cringing when she realized who was talking from behind one of the stall doors, it was Angela Peterson, a popular cheerleader who liked to bully other girls that did not fit into her perfect standard of what a girl should be like, El was one of those girls.

“Why would she lie about it? What does she have to gain from lying?” Another girl in a different stall asked with doubt, El thinks it is Angela’s best friend, Stacey Albright, the two are not ever far from each other. She turned around to look at the stalls, they were talking about her .   

“For attention obviously!” Angela exclaimed back, giggling to herself, El could hear her and Stacy’s clothing shift as they finished using the bathroom, “Everyone knows she has some serious issues; I mean just look at who her mother is.” Two toilets flushed at the same time, not wanting to be caught by the two girls, El hurried to the last stall in the restroom, she closed the door, sliding the lock shut, she backed away from it, getting as far back as she could.  

One of the stall doors opened, banging on the metal, from the cracks in the stall she herself was in, El could see Angela stalk forward to the murky mirrors, she started fixing her blonde hair, combing her fingers through it, “What if she did it? What if El killed Chrissy and Jason?”

Stacey scoffed, “Why would she do that?” She asked, El heard her open her own stall, gentler than how Angela had opened hers, like Angela she moved forward to stand in front of the dirty mirrors too. El shifted forward, not by much, still not wanting them to accidentally hear her, Angela thought she killed Chrissy and Jason, she could not even wrap her head around that, what reason would she have to do that? She hardly knew Chrissy, and she definitely did not know Jason.

“I don’t know,” Angela shrugged, all the while leaning against the sink in front of her, getting closer to the mirror to look at her reflection, “Maybe she had the hots for Jason and killed both of them in a fit of jealous rage.”

Putting her bag down in front of the sink, Stacey pulled out a hairbrush and a lipstick, handing over the lipstick to Angela, she brushed through her own wild curly hair, teasing it up, “Why would El care about Jason? She has her own hot-as-fuck boyfriend, Mike.” El uncomfortably listened in on their conversation, she did not like Stacey calling Mike hot , he was her boyfriend.  

Angela laughed, “True! I mean he’s not as hot as her brother, but you know, he’s still really cute.” El’s teeth grinded together, she pushed back her anger though, her brother was more often than not objectified by the girls in school, he was attractive, smart, kind, and an artist, almost every girls dream boyfriend, but El hated when they chalked him down to his looks, it annoyed her because Will was so much more than that.  

“See! Why would El even bother with Jason?” Stacey put her hairbrush back in her bag, pulling out a different lipstick then the one she gave to Angela, she leaned forward to be closer to the mirror to apply it.

“Maybe she killed them because she’s crazy, just like her mother.” Angela grinned over at Stacey, showing all her unnaturally white teeth with the wideness of her smile.

“Oh my god, that’s an evil thing to say.” Stacey smacked her lips in the mirror, puffs of giggles escaped under her breath, joking around with Angela like they were not gossiping about a serious thing that changed lives ( her life ) for the worse. Angela knows nothing about her mom, she was tempted to open the stall door to tell the other girl that, but she did not, afraid that Angela would dig even further with her insults about her mother.

“Oh please,” Angela loudly scoffed, running the lipstick Stacey gave her over her lips, “Everyone in this fucking town knows her mom was bat shit crazy, she wasn’t locked up in Pennhurst for her good looks.”

Surprisingly, Stacey let out a sound of sympathy, El could not tell if it was genuine or not though, “Cut the girl some slack Angie, I mean she did find her mother basically butchered to death right along with her murderer.”

“Yeah,” Angela agreed, El backed herself even further away from the stall door, re-closing those inches she had walked forward a minute prior, she wanted to plug her ears, stop hearing the nasty words that Angela was saying, but she did not, her hand rubbed at her neck in a sad attempt to comfort herself, “That shit fucked her up, like royally fucked her up. I mean think about it, her mother’s brutal and unusual death leaves her disturbed and hostile in a cruel and inhumane world.” Angela spoke like it was a book or a play she was reciting, a fun little project to entertain herself with.

Running her fingers through her hair again, Angela continued, “She’s delusional, asking herself all these questions, things like, “Why me?”, “Why my mother?”, "Where’s God?” “Why did this happen?” Etcetera, Etcetera, she’s now completely suicidal. One day, like her mother, she snaps, she wants to kill herself , she wants to hurt herself , but she doesn’t because that would make people suspicious, make them wonder if she belongs in the loony bin like her mom, which makes for a higher possibility that she’ll end up getting sent to the same Asylum her mother was locked up in thus resulting in her taking out her crazy on other people and blaming her boyfriend so she looks like the victim.” El felt tears gather in her eyes, she blinked them back, her mother’s mental health was not a game or a joke, her murder was not something to discuss in a dirty restroom by two stuck up girls who could not see beyond their own noses, it made her angry that they were talking about her but even angrier that they were talking about her mom, who did not deserve this.

“That’s fucked up Angie,” Stacey pushed Angela’s shoulder laughing all the while, “Where do you even come up with that shit? Maybe you’re the one trying to hide your crazy.” Taking back her lipstick from Angela’s hand, Stacey zipped up her bag, walking backwards with a teasing smile.

“Fuck you.” Angela pushed Stacey’s shoulder, laughing with her, El closed her eyes when she heard both girls leave the bathroom, still joking with each other, taking a deep breath, she carefully opened the stall door, peeking her head out she glanced around the bathroom, listening for other girls that might be in the stalls, hearing nothing she stepped out.

Going to the sink, she looked into the mirror, hating the reflection that stared back at her, as cloudy as her reflection was, she still clearly saw herself for what she was… pathetic …she should have said something, she could not believe she let them talk about her and her mom like that, shaking her head at her reflection she wiped her wet eyes, murmuring to herself “Pathetic.”

Putting her backpack on the sink, intending to go through it for the tissues she kept in it at all times, El paused, hands on her zipper, a hissing noise sounded from one of the stalls, the stalls that were empty a second ago when she had listened for sound. Turning around she scanned all the stall doors one by one, thinking maybe she did not listen hard enough and missed a girl being in one of them, El crouched down to the floor, looking under them to see if she could see any feet.

All she saw was the dirty floor and the bottom half of the toilets, no feet, just crumbled up napkins and toilet paper on the tile that she thinks the janitor should really pick up. Pinching her eyebrows together in a frown, El stood back up, the whole situation made her more paranoid than she normally was, now she was starting to hear things that were not there.

The hissing sound seemed to get louder, looking to the bathroom door, El scoffed at her ridiculous imagination, the sound was the AC clicking on, she was definitely letting her imagination get the best of her.

Placing her hands back on the zipper to her backpack, El froze in place when a man whispered her name, “El.” She slowly turned back around, once more she scanned the stall doors, that whisper was not in her imagination, she knew it was not.

“El.”

“Is someone there?” She felt even more ridiculous asking the question, in the back of her mind she could hear Dustin telling her not to ask stupid questions, the killer in scary movies always kills the person asking stupid questions.

Fear sparked in her blood, dropping down to the filthy floor again, she looked under the stalls again, wanting to prove to herself that no one else was in the restroom with her, that she was freaking out over nothing. Still not seeing anything, she stood back up, her stance tense and ready to run, she told herself that just because she did not see anything did not mean nothing was there.

El’s breath seemed to catch in her throat, in the first stall closest to the bathroom door a pair of black boots deliberately and carefully lowered to the floor, just above the boots was black jeans, ones a bit faded from sun wear, that was all she could see, just boots and jeans from where the person got cut off from the bottom of the stall. They were men’s boots, heavy ones from what she could see. She watched as the lock on the stall door slowly turned, almost teasing her with its pace as the man unlocked it.

She forced herself out of her frozen state when the stall door finally opened, from it out came the same man from her house, he was wearing the same clothing and the same creepy mask, holding the same knife he had tried to kill her with too. Leaving her backpack on the sink, El dashed forward, fear and adrenaline overtaking her thoughts and actions.   

When the man made a move to grab her, El tried ducking underneath his arms, she knew she was not successful when she felt him grip onto her shoulders, holding them tightly enough that El knew they were going to bruise. Using strength that she could not compete with, he threw her against the wall next to the sinks, his blade nipped at her shoulder with the force he used.

Gasping in pain and fear she struggled with the man which did not seem to be of much use as he did not seem phased at her struggles, “Let me go! Let me go!” She cried trying and failing to kick her legs out to the man, noticing the nip at her shoulder that his knife caused the man placed a gloved finger over the small wound, trailing the blood from the cut up her neck. At her neck his entire hand gripped her throat, squeezing hard, El choked around the hand, trying to get air into her lungs.   

Kicking her leg to the side instead of forward she hit the trashcan next to her, causing it to fall to the floor with a loud bang, napkins and odd trash fell from it, exploding across the tile making a whole mess. El used that slight distraction to push the man off of her, she was not able to make him back away from her completely, but it was enough that it loosened the grip he had on her throat allowing her to duck downward and under his arms.

She fell forward from how fast she was trying to escape, skidding across the tile flooring but it got her closer to the door so El did not think much beyond that, going after her the man let out a grunt of pain when his foot collided with the metal trash can that had fallen over.   

El did not turn back around to see if he was still after her or not, she tore open the bathroom door, running out of it with labored breaths and terror etched on her face.

Running down the hallway, turning a corner at the very end of it El bumped into one of the front office ladies, not bothering to offer an apology to her she kept running, she could not afford to stop to see if the man was chasing her or not, she had to get away. 

Stiffly standing next to a tree in the Hawkins High courtyard, Steve couldn’t help but glare at Barbara Holland, who stood in front of a running yellow school bus with her microphone, her camera man filming her speaking about the pranks that students have been pulling throughout the school day, ones that aimed to torture El and are the reason Steve was called in to the school today. She appeared far too excited for Steve’s taste, like Nancy, Barb had a liking for mysteries and like Nancy, she had a knack for forgetting that the people around them and their investigations were real, not just game pieces being moved to satisfy players, it rubbed Steve the wrong way how careless they both seemed with reporting serious things like murders and trials.

“In what appears to be a prank, several students have now been seen wearing scary masks, school officials have yet to comment on the matter, but this mask I hold in my hand right now is known to be the very same one worn by the killer. Seventeen-year-old Chrissy Cunningham and her boyfriend eighteen-year-old Jason Carver have already lost their lives. The question that remains on people’s minds now is… who is next ? I don’t exaggerate when I say you can literally feel the fear running through this school.” Barb finished her speech with an over the top shudder, attempting to make her face show the fear she had said the school was feeling, scoffing at the display, Steve turned to walk away.

He hadn’t taken four steps before he felt a presence next to him, getting far too close into his personal space then he was comfortable with, Barb kept pace with him as he walked to the school.

“Hi,” she said brightly, knocking Steve’s shoulder lightly with her own, “Barbra Holland, one of the top field reporters for-”

“I know who you are Ms. Holland,” Steve cut her off with an eye roll, they went to high school together, yeah they ran in different social circles but Steve wasn’t as much of an airhead as people thought he was, he did remember his old classmates fairly well, especially seeing as most of them didn’t leave Hawkins and worked in everyday life around him, glancing over at Barb, he smirked at the purple and red bruise around her cheek and eye area, the results of El’s punch, “How’s your face doing?” He nodded to her bruise, not caring about tact.   

“It’s fine,” she huffed, Steve stopped them at the front entrance of the high school, “It hurts but it’ll heal.” She looked behind him to the school with eager eyes that wanted a story, one Steve wasn’t going to give her.

“That’s too bad.” He grunted out, his smirk widening at Barb’s annoyed hiss, “Was there something I could help you with?”

“Not much, I was just wondering if there was a problem in the high school?” She pointed behind him to the front doors of the school, leaning forward on her tiptoes as she waited for Steve’s response.

“No, there are no problems,” Steve replied, he narrowed his eyes at Barb, scarcely holding back the sneer that wanted to overtake his face, what she and Nancy put El through was unfair, how they both kept their jobs after exploiting a fourteen-year-old girl, he didn’t know, “Not that I would be discussing any problems with you even if there were any Ms. Holland, wouldn’t want to wake up tomorrow to see you’ve turned my words into a book.” He couldn’t stop his snarky remark even if he had wanted to.

“I wasn’t the only one who worked on that book, people tend to forget that.” Barb stated, she didn’t appear to be bothered by Steve’s words, if anything she just looked more annoyed with him.

“You shouldn’t be here Ms. Holland, you and Nancy have put El through more than enough, she doesn’t need you guys in her business even more than you guys have already been.” Steve protectively said, El shouldn’t have to worry about Nancy and Barb in a time where she’s running from a killer and being made a joke of by her peers.

Opening her mouth, whatever Barb was going to say back to Steve was interrupted by the intercom of the high school, Principal Coleman’s voice came out through it, “Hello students and staff of Hawkins High, due to recent events that have occurred, all classes are suspended until further notice, effective immediately,” Steve glared at the students around them that started cheering…idiots, “The Hawkins Police Department has issued a mandatory town-wide curfew beginning at 8:00pm tonight.” Adjusting his belt buckle, Steve shook his head when those same cheering teens groaned with irritation at the mention of a mandatory curfew.

Not giving Barb any more attention or a word of goodbye, Steve walked away, only to be followed by her, “Looks like we’ve got a serial killer on our hands.” She excitedly told him, her pudgy fingers rubbing together in a way that reminded Steve of a supervillain in a comic book.

“He’s not a serial killer,” he didn’t know why he was still talking to her, she was getting on his nerves, but still he felt the need to correct her, “He would have to kill a few more people to get that title.”

“Well, we could hope, can’t we?” She smiled, Steve offered a look of disgust back, these were real people, not for the first time he wondered if she understood that.

“I mean,” Barb rushed to say, seeing his disgusted expression and pushing past it to continue trying to get a word out of him, “we certainly don’t have any leads, especially seeing as the only suspect, Mike Wheeler, was released from jail after the accusation from El Hopper. Which brings me to my next curious question…have you guys been able to locate Chief Hopper or Joyce Hopper?”

“No comment, now if you’ll excuse me.” Steve could have answered her, it wasn’t as if the news of Chief Hopper’s and Joyce Hopper’s disappearance was a secret, everyone in town knew they were still missing, but talking to Barb, answering her question seemed like a betrayal to El and Steve wouldn’t do that to her, he couldn’t do that to her. El’s been through enough, she only had a handful of people she trusted since her mom’s death, Steve being one of those people, he wasn’t about to betray her like that.

Grabbing his arm as he started to move away from her, Barb tugged him back with more force than Steve thought she was capable of, “Chief Hopper and his wife aren’t suspects…are they?” To Steve it seemed like Barb was fishing for a story where there wasn’t one, Hopper and Joyce would never do something like this, to their own daughter no less, their disappearance was strange, and possibly linked to the killings but not because they were the killers, Steve knew that for sure.   

Steve shook off her arm, not bothering to answer her ridiculous question he continued on his way into the school, ignoring her still trying to talk to him and pull him back into her nonsense.

Walking out of the school building with Max’s hand firmly clasped in her own, El felt more confidence and safety than she had felt all day long. Max had an aura about her that made El feel invincible, like as long as she was with her best friend, she could get through anything. Max had been her biggest support through everything that had happened that week, El truly did not deserve Max’s friendship, half the time it felt more like she was taking then giving in their friendship, but she would never stop being Max’s friend for anything, she was extremely lucky to have her.    

Though sometimes it did feel like Max was listening to the things she said with half an ear, El knew Max tried her hardest not to make her feel like she was crazy or making things up, but occasionally, despite that, she had a tone that suggested that maybe things went too far in El’s head sometimes, “This school is filled with sick fucks El, I’m not saying that you didn’t see what you saw or that you didn’t go through what you went through. I’m saying that students have been pranking you all day with that mask, the guy in the bathroom was just another student being stupid as fuck, not thinking beyond wanting to get a laugh at you being scared, sure he took it further than the other students but it was a prank all the same.” El refrained from rolling her eyes at Max’s remark, not wanting to argue with her friend, a friend that has been by her side and in her corner even when El was accusing her own boyfriend of killing people, she would never admit it out loud to anyone but sometimes it did feel like she was losing her mind, her mom’s mental state deteriorated so fast and out of nowhere that El did have to wonder if someday that would happen to her.

‘It looks to me like you pointed fingers at the wrong guy…again.’   

“No!” El tugged on Max’s hand in frustration, trying to get her to listen to her, this was not in El’s mind, yes there had been people all day with the creepy mask the killer wore pranking her to see her scared but none of those people were the killer, the man in the restroom was though, “It was him Max! I know it was him! Everyone who has been pranking me today has been wearing that black dress over their clothing, the man in the bathroom was not wearing that. Plus, he hurt me Max, none of those other people pulling these pranks actually hurt me like he did.” She motioned to the tiny cut on her shoulder that had stopped bleeding and to the faint redness around her throat with her hand.

“Okay El,” Max stopped walking, pulling El to her so she could give her a comforting hug, “I believe you, if you say that it was him, then it was him. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it seem like I thought you were freaking out over nothing or something, that wasn’t my intention.” Max apologized giving El wide eyes that begged for forgiveness that did not even need to be given because Max was a friend doing her best to look out for El.

“I am sorry to,” El said, voice lowering significantly as her frustration disappeared when she was faced with Max’s unwavering support, “I did not mean to shout.”

“It’s okay,” Max smiled at her, “But you’re going to get sick of me pretty soon because girl you are not going to be alone anymore, you got that? Where you go, I go. You need to pee, then I need to pee. You need to shower, then I need to shower. You need to eat, then I need to eat. You need to lay down, then I need to lay down. Is that clear? Me and you are going to be stuck together like glue El, that I promise you.” El giggled as Max grabbed her other hand and swung their arms between them, it probably should have irritated El that Max did not trust her alone anymore but more than anything she was happy that she had Max volunteering to be by her side at all times until all of this was over, the safety that El felt in her friend’s presence increased tenfold.

“You will be my shadow?” El teased Max, giggling to herself when Max gave her a nod that was far more serious than it needed to be, as if they were discussing important business, “You will not actually shower with me though…right?”

“I mean,” Max spun her around by her hand, lightly smacking El’s hipbone with her palm, “Have you seen yourself El, I wouldn’t mind is all I’m saying.” Max let out a loud full laugh when El gasped, embarrassed she looked around them to see a couple of girls raising their eyebrows and a few guys smirking at them, one of the guys even winked at El when she caught his eyes, she shuddered in disgust.   

“Max!” Mortified El took her hand back and placed both of her hands over Max’s mouth, she laughed through El’s palms, blue eyes crinkling with glee.

“What’s this I hear about showering?” El let out an embarrassing squeak when Lucas and Dustin snuck up behind her, they laughed in her face when she jumped behind Max, using the other girl as a poor shield considering Max was several inches smaller than herself.

“Are you girls taking showers together now?” Dustin asked with his eyebrows wiggling up and down in a way El thinks Dustin thinks is flirty but is more disturbing than anything, she did not want to ruin his fun though, so she said nothing.

“What’s it to you losers?” Max flicked her finger at Dustin’s eyebrows, “And stop doing that you weirdo, it looks creepy.” El supposed Max had no qualms on telling Dustin how things were like she did.

“El, are you trying to steal my girl?” Lucas joked with false anger, putting his fists up, he took a mock fighting stance, “Alright, come on, you and me, right now, we’re battling to the death!” El laughed as she put her own fists up, poorly copying Lucas’s fight stance.

“Oh my god, you’re such a dork,” Max rolled her eyes with a fondness that was undeniable, “Both of you put your fists away, you look like idiots.” She laughed.  

“Ten bucks on El!” Dustin yelled out, eyeballing El’s fists with impressed eyes, “I heard she punched Barbra Holland and she went down so my money’s on her.”

“What the fuck man!” Lucas got out of his mock fighting stance to punch Dustin’s arm, “You’re supposed to be on my team, I thought we were friends, but I guess not.” Dramatically huffing and wiping nonexistent tears, Lucas stomped away with a barely contained laugh, Dustin followed him shouting apologies at his back.

“Morons.” Max muttered to herself, placing her hand back in El’s, she pulled her to follow Lucas and Dustin. Both of them stayed just behind the boys, listening and giggling at their jabs to each other.

“Hey so, before I forget, there’s been a change of plans,” Lucas stopped them from walking to the student parking lot where Max and El would get a ride to Max’s house in Steve’s police car, Max having left her car when she chose to be dropped off with El that morning, “Since school got canceled for the foreseeable future, I’m changing the Halloween party to tomorrow instead of Saturday. Are you girls okay with that?”   

“Seriously Lucas,” Max raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her boyfriend, “We don’t even have our costumes yet.”

“Well then go shopping for them today.” Lucas shrugged, wincing when Max glared at him, Dustin was laughing under his breath until Max shot him the same look, to which he mouthed a quick “sorry” before looking down, kicking a rock that was by his feet away from him.

“El has just been through a traumatic experience, I doubt she wants to go shopping for Halloween costumes today.” El knew Max was looking out for her but she did not like the disappointment in Lucas’s face when Max shot his excitement down.

It would probably be a good thing to go shopping, it could take her mind off of everything and she would like to just enjoy the day with Max trying on costumes, that certainly sounded a lot more fun than sitting at Max’s house, flinching at every sound she heard and anticipating the killer to be around every corner she turned or dreading the sound of the house phone ringing.

“No, it is okay Max,” when Max gave her a doubtful look, one filled with sympathy and clearly said she did not believe the words coming out of El’s mouth, she continued, “I am serious, I am okay. We should go shopping, do something fun today.” She gave Max’s hand a squeeze, hoping it helped convince her El was telling the truth.

“If you’re sure El…” Max left her sentence hanging, as if waiting for El to retract what she had said, when she nodded back, Max let out a sigh, “Alright, well then I guess we’ll see you losers tomorrow night.” She said to Lucas and Dustin, who cheered so loudly several heads turned their way in curiosity.

“Yes! Awesome! I can’t wait to see you in your costume.” Lucas leaned down to Max to kiss her after winking at her with an eye that had seemed more like it was twitching then winking, he pulled her away from El who with Dustin made sounds of disgust when they caught a glimpse of tongue action between the two, both Lucas and Max flipped them off.

“Don’t you worry about tomorrow either El,” Lucas said, smacking his lips as he pulled them away from Max’s, “I’ll totally protect you, like I’m so buff it’s insane. I got you covered girl; I mean just look at these muscles.” Lucas proceeded to puff out his chest and bring his arms up to rub his biceps, turning from side to side for his audience to see his muscles .

“What muscles?” Dustin asked, squinting his eyes at Lucas’s biceps, pretending to adjust a pair of glasses on his face, “I don’t see anything.”

“Fuck you asshole!” Lucas laughed, leaning down he gave Max another kiss, he and Dustin started walking in the opposite direction after, Lucas calling out to them, “We’ll see you ladies tomorrow! Party starts at 8:30pm! Don’t be late!”

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana  

StarCourt Mall

October 29 th , 1988

6:09pm  

Holding out another Halloween costume for El to look over, Max sighed with frustration when El gave a disinterested shrug in response to the Cheerleader costume in Max’s hands.    

They were at StarCourt Mall, inside the biggest Halloween store hoping to find El a costume for Lucas’s party. El could tell Max was starting to lose her patience with her, it felt like they had already walked the entire store yet El still had not found anything she wanted to wear, though she agreed to go to the party she had not thought choosing a costume for it was going to be as time consuming and irritable as it was. She thought she and Max would have fun, she had been looking forward to that, especially with the way her week had been, but instead of having fun she was constantly looking over her shoulder, repeatedly twitching anytime someone came too close to her.  

“Relax El,” Max told her for the thirteenth time since walking into StarCourt, El was keeping count, “I know you’re scared but we’re in public, nothing is going to happen to you with this many people here.” She did feel unnecessarily paranoid, Max was right, the killer would not attack her with so many witnesses present, that thought did not stop her from scanning the store again though, pausing on anyone who she could tell had their eyes on her, it was unfortunate that she could not tell if it was because they were the killer or because she was El Hopper, recent victim to be attacked by a psychotic murderer (the latter was more likely however).

“Hey,” Max clapped her hands in front of her face making El jump back from the sudden sound, “What’s wrong with this costume? It’s super cute.” She held up the green, yellow, and white cheer uniform in her hands to El, it resembled their high school’s cheer uniforms, minus the yellow megaphone and the green HHS lettering embroidered on the front of the top, it was essentially an exact replica, an uncomfortable feeling came to her stomach when she imagined herself in it.

“Is that not in poor taste?” El cringed, she would not be choosing that to wear, her thoughts all night would be consumed by Chrissy, which she would prefer to avoid.

“What do you mean?” Max turned the cheer costume over, running her hand down the length of it, picking at the pleated edges of the skirt. El was not sure if her friend was being purposely obtuse or if she really did not get why El would not want to wear the cheer costume.

“It looks like Chrissy’s cheer uniform.” El grabbed the costume from Max’s hand and hung it back up on the rack, the rack clearly had more of them then what was left, she wondered how insensitive someone had to be to purchase the costume knowing it visibly resembled the one Chrissy wore.

Next to the cheer costumes were the football and basketball boy costumes, jersey’s, shorts, and letterman jackets that resembled their school’s colors and designs as well.

“Oh,” Max whispered with a guilty expression, “Right. Sorry El.” She shrugged back to Max’s apology, El was probably thinking too much into it.

“Well! Let’s look over here instead!” Max enthusiastically exclaimed, El smiled at Max’s attempt to override the awkwardness of the situation and El’s words, she pulled El by her hand to another section of the store, one that seemed to mainly have masks and wigs. 

El silently stood by Max’s side as she flipped through the different colored wigs, muttering to herself if they were pretty or not, she was not sure why Max was even looking through them, her costume was Poison Ivy, she already had the red hair to complete the look, she did not need a wig.

Stepping closer to Max, El allowed herself to check the area again, there were thankfully less eyes on her now then there was when they had first entered the store, hardly anyone was paying attention to her now.

Loud laughing had El snapping her head to the other side of where she and Max were, gathered there was a group of middle schoolers, they were excitedly pulling something from the shelves in front of them, bumping into each other in their rush to get their hands on the items. El smiled warmly as she watched them, sometimes she wished she could go back to her own middle school days, she remembered how much fun she used to have trick-or-treating, how much simpler everything was at that point in her life, how much love she felt from both her mom and dad, how perfect she had thought their lives were.

Without knowing what she was doing, El moved away from Max, stepping closer to the group of middle schoolers who had no real idea of how cruel and scary the world could be. Not being able to see what had garnered their enthusiastic attention, El stepped on her tiptoes to see above them, catching sight of the white mask the killer had worn El recoiled back, hitting the shelves of fake blood behind her, causing a few bottles to fall to the floor.

The middle schoolers and Max turned to look at her, El’s eyes stayed on the white masks though, they were lined up in neat rows, next to them were packages of the black over dress and silver knife set. In the middle schoolers hands were the masks, each of them was carrying one, how they looked at something that a killer wore with so much excitement baffled her.

“El?” She flinched when she felt someone press their hand to her shoulder, turning her head she relaxed when she saw it was only Max. Max who was sending a glare to the still staring middle schoolers, making them scurry away like they were roaches in the kitchen in the middle of the night being blinded by a sudden blast of light.

“I am okay, I was not expecting to see those,” she pointed at the rows of masks on the shelves, “I know Steve said they were a popular Halloween costume, but I did not think there would be this many of them.”

“Yeah,” Max agreed, shuffling over to the masks she picked one up, turning it side to side, examining it with pinched brows, “This thing is creepy as fuck.” She shuddered before placing the mask back down with the others, El nodded in agreement, it was a creepy mask, with its blacked-out eyes and elongated mouth, it was a mask she knew she would be having nightmares about, ones that would join her nightmares featuring Henry Creel.

“Let’s go.” Max placed her arm around her shoulders, forcing them away from the aisle with the masks, “We still need to find you a costume.” Glancing around the store, El let a dragged-out sigh escape her mouth, she did not see anything that she wanted to wear.

Just as she was thinking of buying a simple pair of cat ears to dress as a kitten for Halloween Max gasped next to her, not giving El a moment to question her, Max pulled on her hand again, jogging them across the store to a more hidden section, lining the walls was even more Halloween costumes.

“What about that one El?” She followed Max’s pointed finger to the far side of the wall, at the corner, hidden by the poofy costumes surrounding it was a Wonder Woman costume. From what El could see it included a red bodice that had gold lining going down the middle of it, a gold belt, a blue skirt with white stars, a gold headband with a red star in the middle of it, and lastly Wonder Woman’s famous truth lasso. It was a very nice costume, reaching forward she pulled it off the rack, the colors were bright and beautiful, the costume did not seem to be cheaply made either, and it was not skimpy like some of the other girl costumes that she had seen around the store…it was perfect .

“You like it?” Max asked with hope in her voice, she was biting her lower lip as she waited for El to say something back to her.

“I love it.” She grinned, Max had introduced her to a variety of comic books throughout the time El had known her, most of the comic books Max brought to her were focused on female superheroes and villains, they would spend hours laughing together well reading the comic books, it was honestly one of El’s favorite past times to do with Max.

Her favorite comic book thus far and her favorite female superhero was Wonder Woman, why she had not tried to dress as her before for Halloween El does not know, plus she liked that the costume would somewhat match Max’s, El could not wait to see herself in her Wonder Woman costume and Max in her Poison Ivy one.

Taking the costume from her hands and folding it up, Max led her to the checkout, “Finally! I thought we were going to be here all night trying to find something for you to wear,” El giggled when Max sent her a playful glare, “You’re going to look hot in this El, be prepared to turn some heads.” She joked, El looked down to her feet when she felt her face heating up, she was not interested in garnering anyone’s but Mike’s attention.

She wondered if he would like her costume, if she would turn his head like Max said, she hoped so.

The place they were at with each other was not a good one but El hoped they could resolve their problems soon. She thinks both Mike and her said things that should not have been said to each other, things that upset one another, but El was ready to move on from that. She would apologize, Mike would apologize too, and then maybe, just maybe , everything can start going back to normal. She missed how things were before, which was not something El thought she would ever say but now knowing how much worse things could be she would much prefer to go back, maybe by making up with Mike and moving on from this disastrous week, things could start falling back into place for her.

After purchasing her costume, Max dragged El to the food court, after getting them both burgers and fries to eat, Max sat them down at a two-person table on the very edge of the food court, a table more secluded but in view of most of their surroundings. El felt a flare of affection for Max, she was beginning to feel like a marionette doll, being dragged around StarCourt but knowing her friend was being thoughtful in the small ways like getting them seats where she could eat comfortably made up for it.       

Stuffing her burger into her mouth for a bite, Max spoke as she chewed around her food, “Do you ever think that maybe Henry Creel might be telling the truth?” El was grateful when Max lifted her hand to cover her mouth, seeing chewed up food moving around in someone’s mouth was not on a list of things to do for El. Max’s other hand that was not covering her mouth played with her soda cup, she would not look at El after asking her question.

It was an effort to push back the sudden anger she felt at her friend’s question, Max did not look like she meant anything bad by it, and it was not like she was accusing El of lying or saying that Henry Creel was innocent, she was simply asking if a part of El thought Henry was telling the truth. Losing her appetite El pushed her half-eaten burger and fries away from her, sliding them across the table to Max who was eating like she had not seen food in years. 

This line of questioning reminded El of Max asking her if she really thought Mike was the killer the night before. El had felt confident saying that Mike was at her house and there could not be any other explanations, in the end though she turned out to be wrong, Mike was not the killer.

Knowing that did make her question if she was wrong about Henry too, which was not something that El wanted to think about, she could not be wrong about him.

‘It looks to me like you pointed fingers at the wrong guy…again.’

“I just mean,” Max swallowed back her food, letting her hand flop down to the table, she lowered her voice, not wanting anyone to overhear them, “Maybe he really did find your mom already dead, and he was trying to bring her back. Maybe you did just walk in at the wrong time.”

“If that is what happened Max then why could Henry not prove that he did not kill her, how come he could not prove that her blood on him was from trying to resuscitate her and not from killing her?” El said, voice coming out sharper than she had meant it to, she saw what she saw, Henry killed her mother, why Max was starting to question that at this moment confused El, it had been three years, why begin to question her word now?

“How could he possibly have proved that though El? It’s not like there were any other witnesses, it’s not like there were cameras there, plus I love you El, you know I do and I’m on your side no matter what but who was the court going to really believe in the end…a police chief’s daughter who loved her mother very much or a questionable young adult man that worked there with literal blood on his hands?” El clenched her teeth together when Max accidently poked at something she has had thoughts about in the past, she often wondered if her testimony was taken as fact over Henry’s continued claims of innocence because she was a police chief’s daughter, Max could not have known that was something she pondered over from time to time so El tried not to get even more upset with her. 

“The only reason anyone thinks Henry is innocent is because of Nancy and Barb,” El told Max through clenched teeth, once again refusing to acknowledge her own thoughts that also doubted herself, “They called me a liar, they made it seem like Henry was— is this innocent man when he is not, no one would think anything other than the truth if it was not for them making that book.”

“Did you ever talk to Henry? Like you, just you, without anyone else present? Did you ever listen to what he had to say?” Max asked, she picked up El’s fries and started eating them.

“No,” El shook her head, she had thought about talking to him herself when he was first arrested but she had not wanted to look into the eyes of the man that killed her mother, she already had nightmares about him, El did not want to imagine how much worse her nightmares would currently be had she known how it felt to have the full intensity of his blue eyes completely focused on her, “Will did, when he was first arrested, Will went to the station to talk to him, when he came back he told me Henry did not speak a word to him, did not say anything about what he had done to my mom, that he just smiled at him the whole time Will was there.”

El remembered how upset her dad had gotten at Joyce for letting Will go to the police station to talk to Henry, he had not thought it was a good idea, but Joyce argued that she trusted Will and that Henry had been a friend to him and he deserved to know why he did what he did.

At the time El thought it was sweet of Will to offer to put himself in a place El had not wanted to put her own self, she was grateful he had gone to talk to Henry, even though Henry did not say anything of significance, it still relieved El that her soon to be brother was looking out for her in his own way. They were practically babies then, fourteen-years-old and clueless about the disgusting acts people could commit.    

“Will?” Max frowned in bewilderment, putting down her fries she picked up her napkin to wipe her hands and mouth, El could not believe they were having this discussion in the middle of a food court, it was surreal, it seemed to important of a conversation to have over burgers surrounded by shoppers, “I didn’t know Will talked to him…why did he talk to him? How did he even know him?” The more Max questioned her the more confusion she could hear in her friend’s tone. El was not surprised Max did not know Will had talked to Henry after he murdered her mother, not many people did, truthfully just her, Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan, and maybe Mike knew, she was not sure if Will had mentioned that to him or not and she never brought it up either.

“Will was friends with Henry,” El could understand the puzzlement, hardly anyone would expect a young twenty-two-year-old orderly to be friends with a fourteen-year-old teenage boy, but Will had been going to visit her mother with El when it became apparent that they would be step-siblings sooner rather than later and he had hit it off surprisingly well with her mother’s attendant, sometimes El thought Will went to her visits with her because he wanted to see Henry rather than because he wanted to be there to support her, she used to think that maybe Will had a crush on Henry, but she never got a straight answer to that theory, still regardless of whatever reason Will went with her, she was amazed that he went at all, El’s mom had not gotten many visitors towards the end, really just herself and Will, she was happy that her soon to be brother was willing to put in effort in something that mattered to her, even if it meant going to a scruffy Insane Asylum, “Will used to go with me to visit my mom, before our parents married each other, him and Henry got along pretty well, it really upset Will when Henry did what he did, he was his friend. When I refused to talk to Henry, Will said he would talk to him for the both of us.”

El did find it curious how if she had been right about Mike being the killer that would have been the second friend in Will’s life to have gone crazy and abandon all sense to murder someone. She was glad that she was wrong about Mike, not only because he was her boyfriend and she loved him but also because she does not think Will could handle going through something like what he went through with Henry again with Mike. 

“How did I not know any of that?” Max questioned, El found it funny that Max’s mouth was hanging slightly open, visibly confused with the information she just learned, with a tiny smile El shrugged back to her, no one really knew anything, it was not like her or Will were eager to talk about Henry.  

“I am not wrong about Henry Creel Max,” El said, bringing the conversation back to what Max had originally asked her, “But if by some chance I am,” it almost killed her to have to say those words out loud, it was like validating everyone’s doubts in her, validating her own doubt in herself too, “Then that means the person who killed my mother is still out there, somewhere.”

That was not a thought El wanted to have, if— IF she was wrong about Henry murdering her mom then not only was an innocent man going to die for a crime he did not commit but whoever did murder her mom was still out there, living a normal life that they did not deserve to live, getting away with taking her mother’s life and ruining El’s in the process.  

“Hey,” Max whispered to her, she got up from her seat to go to El’s side of the table, leaning down to her, Max wrapped her arms around El, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have even said anything…I didn’t mean to make things harder for you El, don’t start getting caught up in your head, okay? Don’t start freaking yourself out over a hypothetical.” El reached out the little bit that she could from having Max’s arms around her to hug her friend back, she was not going to mention that it was too late to not freak herself out over everything, Max did not need to worry more for her then she already did.

“Come on,” Max helped her up from her seat, well she collected their trash, Max collected their leftovers, “let’s go to your house to pick you up some of your things so you’re cozier at my place.”     

The last thing El wanted to do was walk back into the house she was attacked in but begrudgingly she had to admit that she would like some of her own things at Max’s house. She was grateful that Max let her use and borrow anything she needed but Max was smaller than El was, not to mention she had different taste in style, where El was more feminine and leaned towards light colors, skirts, and dresses, Max was more tomboyish and leaned towards darker colors, baggy t-shirts, and loose jeans. It would be a relief to have some of her own things there at Max’s for her to put on and use, to make her feel more at home despite her sudden intrusion into the Mayfield/Harrington house.

“As long as we hurry,” El conceded, “I do not want to be there longer than what I have to be.”

The Byers/Hopper Home

8:20pm

“Can I see it now?”

Will glanced up from his sketchbook to Mike who was lounged back on Will’s pillows at the head of his bed, sprawled out in a relaxed position with a calm look to his face, Will’s hand stopped mid-motion of filling in shading around Mike’s prominent jawline on his sketch of him.

It was the fourth time Mike had asked him if he could see Will’s drawing, so far he’s denied him, he didn’t like showing his art to Mike until he felt like it was good enough to be seen. Despite Mike always singing him praises on his artistic abilities, Will always remained his own biggest critic, especially when he drew pictures of Mike, he felt like he could never capture the other boy’s beauty in just the perfect way, something was always off, and no matter how much Will erased or shaded or added to the drawings they were never just right, they never did Mike’s beauty justice.

Turning back to his current drawing Will pursed his lips when his pencil darkened a spot on Mike’s jawline too much, creating an unusual shadow that was wrong on Mike’s face. He was trying to recreate the other boy laying in the sun on the water fountain that he had seen on Monday, the image of him with his head tilted back and turned towards the rays of light not willing to leave Will’s mind so he decided to attempt drawing it, wanting his mind to be his own again and stop being consumed by that flawless image of Mike.

Erasing the darkened area, Will tightened his hold on his sketchbook, he kept imagining how Mike looked then, and unbidden by him the image that entered his mind didn’t stay just Mike for very long, El always made her way into it, laying back into Mike’s chest with her own face serene and perfect, both of them creating an image in Will’s mind that he detested, looking like Hades and Persephone reincarnated.

“Please.” Mike begged him, pouting his pink lips and widening his eyes in Will’s direction.

Not being able to deny Mike’s curiosity anymore, Will crawled his way to him from his place at the foot of the bed, he was careful to avoid Mike’s bruised knee from where El had struck him the night before as he climbed on top of the other boy.

Laying his legs on either side of Mike’s hips, he started grinding his own hips a few times against Mike with a teasing smile, acting like he was trying to adjust himself, when Mike let out a heavy groan Will abruptly stopped.

Without pause Will held up his sketchbook with both his hands, turning it around to face Mike, he waited to hear the verdict.  

Throwing him a dirty look for teasing him Mike’s hands found their way to Will’s hip bones, his grip tighter and rougher than necessary, he looked over Will’s drawing with awe and what Will wants to say is pride, “It’s beautiful baby, you made me look so pretty.” Letting one of his hands fall away from Will’s hipbone, Mike ran a delicate finger over his image on the paper, tracing it. His touch was far gentler than Will thinks he needed to be, but he appreciated that Mike saw his art as something soft, something to be careful with.  

“Yeah?” Will whispered with uncertainty, insecurely, he turned his sketchbook around to face him again, Mike’s hand fell away, he didn’t place it back on Will’s hipbone though, instead he fingered under Will’s t-shirt, using the same soft motions he used to trace his image on the paper to trace the muscles on Will’s stomach.  

Ignoring Mike’s wandering fingers Will studied his drawing, finding flaws everywhere he looked, it wasn’t his best work, the lines weren’t clean enough, they were wobbly and ugly, the shading was too dark in Mike’s jaw area and his neck, and Mike’s hair wasn’t as curly as it could be, it fell flatter than what his hair was like in real life.

“Get that look off your face,” Mike sternly told him, not subtle in the slightest despite his slow movements, he popped open the button on Will’s jeans and dragged his zipper down, the scowl Will knew he had on his face softened, “Your art is beautiful Will, you shouldn’t ever doubt that.” It was a comment Will had heard a million times over, ever since they were kids Mike had been his biggest supporter and his biggest cheerleader when it came to his art, even going as far as to keep several binders full of pictures Will drew and painted, some of them dating back to their kindergarten days.  

Despite how many years had passed it still amazed him to think about Mike valuing his art, treasuring it enough to keep even the silliest of his drawings, stupid scribbles that hardly resembled the things that he wanted them to look like, things he didn’t think twice about before crumbling up to throw away.  

Will lifted his hips slightly when Mike’s hand ventured into his boxers, despite the awkward angle he was still able to wrap his hand around Will’s dick, rubbing up and down well gripping him almost too tightly, leaning up Mike captured his lips in a gentle kiss, moving his lips against Will’s own in slow purposeful movements that made goosebumps shoot up his arms and a shudder go down his spine.

Unexpectedly, just as he was beginning to lose himself to the sensations that Mike instilled in him, Will found himself on his back with Mike hovering above him smirking, leaning down to kiss him again, Mike was interrupted by the front door slamming open, the sound of it echoing in the otherwise silent house, he paused just above Will’s puckered lips.

“Was that your front door?”

Throwing his sketchbook to the side of them and pushing Mike away from him Will frowned, Jonathan was with Nancy at the news station where they worked, he wasn’t supposed to be home for another few hours at least, with his mom and Hopper still concealed away, that could only mean the person making a racket coming into the house was El, who Will thought was staying at Max’s house.

“I think it’s El.” he said to Mike, getting up from the bed, Will adjusted himself as he walked to his window, sure enough just outside on their driveway was Max’s car parked next to Mike’s and his mom’s. Will couldn’t help himself from letting a look of anger overtake his face, he was looking forward to having the house to himself and Mike, the last person he wanted to see was El.

Especially seeing as Mike had told him first thing after getting home from picking him up from the police station was to apologize to El and make nice with her, he had told Will again after school that the next time he saw her to make things right between them. Will agreed because it was Mike asking him so of course he did, but he thought he wouldn’t see El until Lucas’s party the next day.

Coming up behind him, nuzzling his face into Will’s neck Mike mumbled, “I’ll stay here well you go see her, make sure you pout those pretty lips and bat your puppy eyes at her baby, she’ll forgive you in no time.” Mike clicked his tongue as he teased him, letting out a snicker into his neck, turning him away from his window, Mike nudged Will towards his bedroom door without another word.  

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana  

The Wheeler Home

November 6 th , 1983

8:50pm

Fidgeting in his place, Will tried not to make it obvious that he was growing anxious and worried with Mike’s silence, they were sitting in the Wheeler’s basement, heater on full blast to fight off the November cold. He was bundled up in a thick sweater with a jacket thrown over it, a scarf around his neck, a beanie on his head, and jeans on his legs. Will sat on the basement’s lumpy couch, one that he’s positive had been around since prehistoric times, it was so old. Mike sat next to him, leaning back against the arm of the couch, his legs thrown over Will’s lap, a dark purple journal in his hands.

Mike had told him to come to his house without explaining why, hearing the sadness and anger in his friend’s tone though had Will hopping on his bike without a second thought, racing across town in the dead of winter to get to his friend who he was sure needed him. He didn’t have to worry about telling anyone he wasn’t home, his mom was on another date with Chief Hopper, one he was sure she wouldn’t be coming back home from like the two previous dates they have had, and his brother Jonathan was working late interning at a local news station.

When Will got to the Wheeler’s home, he had noted the difference in atmosphere right away, it was going on six months since Mike’s mom died, since she killed herself in the bathtub of the upstairs bathroom. The only sounds in the house were coming from the living room TV, some documentary about World War 2 played well Ted Wheeler snored away on his recliner, Mike’s sisters were nowhere to be found, he knew Nancy was interning right along with Jonathan, but he had no clue where Holly was, if she was even in the house at all.

The air around him was suffocating, he was used to hearing the sounds of Mike’s mom asking him about his mom and brother as she fiddled around in the kitchen, banging pots and pans around as she cooked up something for dinner. With Karen the house was always warm, both literally and metaphorically, the house was filled with her light, her smile was always soft and caring, there was never a moment that Will felt unsafe in the Wheeler’s house, even with Ted Wheeler’s indifferent attitude to both his wife and children, Will thought of Mike’s home as his safe place, another Castle Byers.

Walking into Mike’s home at that moment though was a harsh reality check for Will, there was no more love, no more warmth, no more care, all of that had been sucked out of the home when Mrs. Wheeler had killed herself. Will had understood then why Mike had been spending so much time at his house, in comparison, with Lonnie out of his house, Will’s home was now the safe space. 

He hadn’t been to Mike’s house in months, the last time he was there was the day Mike found his mom in the bathtub, he had gotten a frantic call from Mike begging him to come help him with his mom, by the time Will had showed up, the police and ambulance were already there, Mike shrieking at the top of his lungs well being held back by some random officer when his mom was carted out of the house in a black body bag.

“It’s my mom’s diary,” Mike finally said, breaking the tense silence around them, he waved the purple journal in Will’s direction, his expression unreadable, “I found it when I was cleaning out her things.”

Sympathy for his best friend ran through Will’s veins, he grasped Mike’s calves in his hands, trying to tell his friend he was there for him without actually telling him. Mike was only thirteen-years-old, they both were, the responsibility of cleaning out his mother’s personal possessions should have never fallen to him and yet it did. Will knew no one in the house had touched Mrs. Wheeler’s things, not her clothing, her shoes, her makeup, nothing, it all sat in the master bedroom in exactly the same way it was before she died. Mike’s dad had moved all of his own things out of the bedroom and to a spare storage closet in the upstairs hallway a few days after Mrs. Wheeler’s funeral, he didn’t even sleep in that room anymore from what Mike told Will, his dad now slept on the recliner in the living room or in Mike’s bed when he spent the night at Will’s house.

Ted Wheeler refused to clean out any of his wife’s things, silently declaring it a job for his kids to do. Nancy never ventured into the room, choosing instead to spend all her time outside of her house, at school, at the news station, at a friend’s house, anywhere and everywhere that wasn’t her own home. Holly was too little to even understand what had happened to her mother, Mike had to be the one to explain it to her when Nancy and their dad refused to acknowledge Holly’s questions on where her mom was and when she was coming back.

That left Mike, Will’s best friend who was holding himself together by a measly thread, his best friend that was now always so angry at the world, picking fights left and right with anyone who wasn’t Will, he was left to clean out Karen Wheeler’s belongings. Will had offered to help Mike whenever he was ready, he told Mike he was with him every step of the way and would do anything he asked of him because he loved him and if he could make something easier for his friend then he would in a heartbeat.

Fast forward months later, Mike had left the master bedroom as is, Will didn’t even know he planned to clean it out, and in the process of digging through his mom’s belongings he found her diary, Will didn’t think there was anything nice in there, not according to the way Mike eyeballed the journal with hatred, appearing a second away from trashing the whole thing.

“You should have called me Mike,” Will rubbed his hands up and down Mike’s legs, his fingers lingering too long the further he went up, “I would have come over to help you.” Will didn’t say how he didn’t think Mike should be alone with his thoughts as he cleared out his mom’s things, his friend might not like what that insinuated.

“I know you would have,” Mike nodded biting at his lower lip, something Will noticed he did more often than he’s ever had before, it left his lower lip raw and swollen, puffy in a way that made Will want to suck on it, “That’s why I didn’t call you, I wanted to… needed to do it on my own.”

“Are you okay?” Will questioned, Mike still hadn’t let go of his mom’s diary, he still hadn’t told Will why he unexpectedly called him there, physically Mike looked fine, a little on the thinner side from where Will knows he’s not eating as well as he used to but fine overall. Mentally Will had no clue what was going through Mike’s mind, but he wanted to know, he wanted Mike to open up to him and talk to him about what he was going through, that’s all Will’s ever wanted.

“I found her diary when I was cleaning out her sock drawer,” Mike laughed under his breath in disbelief, like the notion of his mom hiding her diary in her sock drawer was something silly to laugh about, “I read through it.” Mike stopped talking, he fingered a place in the journal, turning it around in his hands, he showed it to Will, not sure if he was supposed to read what was on the pages or not, his eyes flickered from the journal to Mike and back again.

“My dad cheated on my mom with Terry Ives,” Mike spat out, his teeth dug into his lower lip even more making it bleed, something he didn’t seem to notice, “He was going to leave my mom…my mom! For that bitch!” Mike shouted, he pulled his legs back until they were under him, moving closer to Will, Mike hit the pages that were still open, held there by his fingers digging into the top of the diary.  

Terry Ives. Will knew who she was only because there was town gossip about her having mental breakdowns. Apparently, they were so bad that she would become unresponsive for weeks at a time, she also spent half her time being admitted into Pennhurst Insane Asylum, a crazy home for mentally ill people on the very edge of Hawkins. Will also knew who she was because she used to be Chief Hopper’s girlfriend some years back, not wife, as far as he knew they never married but they did have a daughter together, one that Will knows his mom wants him to meet since she’s dating Chief Hopper, she told him the girl was his age and named Eleanor Hopper. Will didn’t know much about her, really only her name and age considering she was homeschooled, his mom had told him she was trying to convince Chief Hopper to let her attend an actual high school when she graduates.

“He was cheating on my mom for a year,” Mike continued when Will didn’t say anything, “He told my mom that he was leaving her because she wasn’t worth his time anymore. That fucker told MY MOM she wasn’t worth his time. She didn’t even love him Will, she was only with him because she thought she had to have this perfect semblance of a nuclear family, that was the only reason she stayed with his sorry ass, and he thought he had a right to cheat on her! And with some dumb bitch who can’t even hold her sanity together no less!” Mike stood up from the couch, pacing the floor in front of Will, he aggressively rubbed at his curls, pulling the beautiful locks of hair so hard that Will thought he would take chunks of it out of his scalp.  

“He was going to leave her Will, leave her with nothing and run off into the fucking sunset with this bitch full well knowing my mom would have struggled with us,” not being able to stand seeing Mike as distraught as he was and pulling on his hair the way he was, Will also got off the couch, walking the short distance between them, he wrapped his arms around Mike’s thin waist, hugging his best friend, trying to offer some comfort after figuring out what his dad did to his mom, “She killed herself because she didn’t want to be left alone Will,” Mike broke out in heart wrenching sobs, grasping on to Will’s body like it was his only life line, “She didn’t want to do things by herself, she didn’t want to struggle, she was scared and felt like she meant nothing because that asshole told her that she didn’t mean anything to anyone and she didn’t want to face this fucking bigoted towns gossip and stupid judgements when he left her for another woman…so she killed herself Will…she killed herself…she killed herself…she killed herself.” Mike kept repeating to him through his sobs.

“Hey, hey, look at me,” when Mike’s breathing was coming out stunted Will placed his hands on Mike’s jaw, he forced his friends face up from where it was buried in his shoulder, “You’re okay, take deep breaths for me...in and out…in and out.” Will patiently waited until Mike caught his breath, calming himself down enough that he wasn’t suffocating around his cries anymore.

“My mom is dead because of him,” Mike said to him, taking himself out of Will’s arms he brought Mrs. Wheeler’s journal up again, flipping through the pages until he landed on the one he was looking for, “ I begged Ted today to stop seeing her, he laughed in my face and told me that she was everything he wanted in a woman and she could make him happy, he told me the only reason he ever stayed with me is because I got pregnant, he told me he didn’t want to waste his time with me anymore, he said he loves Terry, he wants to be with her. I feel ashamed that I begged him not to leave me, what kind of self-respecting woman does that? What I’m I supposed to do without him? I’ve wasted years on him…who I’m I outside of Ted Wheeler’s wife? ...That’s what she wrote, those are her words straight from her mouth, she begged my dad not to leave her and he laughed in her face.” Will tried to picture that scene in his mind and failed, he couldn’t picture someone as pretty, loving, and amazing as Mrs. Wheeler begging someone like Ted Wheeler to not leave them, that picture was all sorts of wrong.

“Does your dad know you found her diary? Does he know why your mom did what she did?” Will was hesitant to ask but he still did.

“Yeah, I confronted him,” Mike growled looking towards the basement stairs with rage, Will half expected him to walk up the stairs to go confront his dad again, “He just sat there on that stupid fucking recliner with a bored look to his stupid fucking face as he told me that my mom was dramatic and killed herself for selfish reasons, he didn’t give a single fuck! He still doesn’t give a fuck!” Throwing the journal on to the couch Mike balled up his fists, digging his nails into the palms of his hands, his body was trembling with the emotions he tried his best to rein in.   

“You want to know what else I was able to get out of him?” Mike asked without looking at Will, his focus trained to the basement stairs, not waiting for a response from Will he continued, “He was still planning to be with that fucking bitch, even after my mom died, he didn’t pack his things that week to move them out of their bedroom because he was sad, or missing her to much or some shit, he packed them to move in with Terry, he was going to leave me, Nancy, and Holly here, to do god knows what with ourselves well he went off with that fucking whore.” Will shook his head well running his hands through his hair, he didn’t know what to say back to that, he didn’t know how to soothe Mike in that moment. His dad was an even bigger asshole then he assumed, and god Mike deserved so much better than that, he didn’t deserve any of this.

“Why didn’t he?” Will questioned not understanding if that was Ted’s plan all along why he didn’t go through with it, why was he still there in the house with Mike and his sisters?

Mike scoffed, clicking his tongue around the sound, which Will found strangely attractive, he scowled at himself for his thoughts though, now was not the time to be thinking thoughts like that about Mike, “That’s the best fucking part of all of this! I asked him that and he had no problem telling me exactly why he didn’t leave that day. It’s not because he felt guilty, it’s not because he was rethinking his actions, it’s not because he knew it was wrong…no it’s because he didn’t want to deal with a woman that was slowly losing her mind. That bitch was racked with guilt so much over the part she played in my mom’s death that she started to have mental breakdowns when she found out about how and why my mom died. That’s why Terry Ives is the way she fucking is right now Will! It's god damn guilt eating away at her! My dad told me she struggled with her mental health before all of this even happened, she has struggled to keep sane for years now…the guilt triggered something, fuck if I know how that all works but she deserves to go insane, she deserves to not be able to tell what’s real and what isn’t. That crazy bitch is basically fucking catatonic because she couldn’t handle the role she played in my mom’s death!”    

“What the fuck.” Shocked Will could do nothing but stand there open mouthed, that was the last thing he expected to come out of Mike’s mouth, so far off the scope of possibilities that it wasn’t even a thought until Mike mentioned it and now it was all Will could think about. He wondered if anyone else knew why Terry Ives’s mentality started deteriorating, he wondered if anyone knew she struggled with her mental health before her recent breakdowns. He also wondered if Mike’s dad mentioned this to anyone else other than Mike or if he kept that information to himself and only revealed it to his son as some spiteful way to make Mike hurt more than he was already hurting, Will wouldn’t put it past Ted Wheeler to do just that.

Not seeing when Mike moved, Will flinched when he felt Mike’s hands grabbing his own hands, threading their fingers together. Figuring his best friend needed comforting Will moved closer to Mike, closing the little bit of distance between them, getting far closer than he really needed to be but he didn’t pull away, positive that if Mike had an issue with it he would say something, besides it wasn’t the first time they were that close.  

“You’re my best friend , right Will?” Mike asked him putting emphasis on ' best friend', taking his hands out of Will’s he wrapped his arms around Will’s neck, his breath caught in his throat when he noticed Mike’s eyes were trained on his lips, looking at them with a hunger that he’s only seen a few times before, a hunger he wasn’t sure he understood completely.

“Of course I am.” He replied.

 Looking pleased with his quick answer, Mike brought his eyes up from his lips to Will’s own hazel ones, “You would do anything for me?”

“Anything.” Will promised without thought, it wasn’t a lie, he would do anything Mike asked of him, sometimes he thought some part of him was built specifically to cater to Mike, it was that impossible to tell the other boy no.

“They deserve to rot in hell for what they did to my mom Will,” Mike’s eyes hardened as they stared into Will’s, no feeling in them, they lost all warmth and softness, it scared Will enough to look down, needing to break the hold they had on him, “They deserve to suffer, my dad and Terry Ives, they both deserve nothing but agony, they need to pay for what they did, they can’t get away with it, they don’t get to live well my mom is buried six feet fucking under. That shit isn’t fair!” Tightening his arms around his neck, Mike crouched down a bit to look into Will’s eyes again, he couldn’t bring himself to look up at Mike, he didn’t want to see his friends' empty dark eyes when he was so used to seeing life and happiness in them.

“You said you would do anything for me Will, you promised,” Mike gently reminded him, he did promise that, he couldn’t go back on it now, not when Mike needed him, and the thing was Will already knew what Mike was asking of him, he just needed to hear him say it, “I need you to help me make them pay, I need you to be with me all the way, I need you to help me no questions asked. My mom didn’t deserve this Will, you know she didn’t, she loved you so much, she loved both of us so much and they took that away from us, they took her away from us and they can’t get away with that, we can’t let them get away with that.”

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath Will nodded, Mike was right, Terry Ives and Ted Wheeler needed to pay, they couldn’t get away with taking Mike’s mom away from Mike, from them both because Karen Wheeler was a second mom to him, she loved him and cared for him on a level that not even his own mother did. Not that Joyce Byers was a terrible mom because she was far from it but she was an absent mom, one that spent more time at work than anything else which Will didn’t hold against her because they needed their bills paid somehow, but the fact remained that Karen was the mom that Will felt like he was lacking, there for him in ways a typical mom was supposed to be there for their kids, there for him in a way that his mom wasn’t.

They both deserved to suffer for taking someone as beautiful as Karen Wheeler from this world. 

“What do we do then?” Will opened his eyes, a smile spreading on his lips when Mike’s face broke out in a relieved expression, one of happiness that Mike’s been lacking since finding his mom’s body.

“Terry Ives has a daughter, doesn’t she?” Mike cutely tilted his head with his question, looking like a puppy dog to Will, one that was too cute not to squeeze, “Your mom is dating Chief Hopper, he’s that girl's dad, right? I think her name is Eloise or something old fashioned like that.”

“Yeah, Eleanor Hopper, mother Terry Ives, father Jim Hopper.” Will said, listing off the girl's information in a bored manner, he wasn’t sure what Mike was thinking exactly but he didn’t like that some girl was brought up, even if it was one that Mike might use for his own gain in his attempt to get revenge for his mother.

“Right…Terry Ives had no problem fucking up my life or playing a part in taking my mom’s life, I say it’s only fair to take her life and fuck up her daughter’s life in return.”

“Your dad?” Will asked, Mike had said he wanted to punish both of them.

“We’ll think of something.”

Leaning into Will’s space, Mike hovered his lips above Will’s, he could feel his breath fanning over his face, sticking his tongue out Will was quick to swipe it across his lips, wetting them, Mike followed his movements, just as he was thinking Mike was changing his mind about being this close to him, abruptly, almost harshly he moved forward, crashing their lips together in a clumsy kiss that had too much teeth and spit but one that was perfect regardless because it was Will’s first kiss and with Mike no less, the boy he’s known he’s loved since kindergarten.

Mike stayed there kissing him for a while before pulling back, having the dopiest grin on his face that Will did his best to ignore, he wasn’t sure if he should ask about him and Mike, about their kiss, about what they felt, he knew what he felt but maybe this didn’t mean the same to Mike that it meant to him.

Likely noticing the doubt on his face Mike cupped his cheeks in between his hands, pressing his palms to Will’s skin to tighten his face in his hold, “I love you Will Byers, no matter what happens I need you to know that you’re my best friend, the person I trust most in this world, and I love you.”

Kissing Mike again Will murmured against his mouth, “I love you too.” It wasn’t the first time Mike had told Will he loved him but it was the first time it felt like it had a deeper meaning, it was the first time that Mike wasn’t trying to hide the possessive tint to his words, likely realizing that Will wasn’t going anywhere, not after promising to ruin some lives specifically because Mike had asked him to.

The Byers/Hopper Home  

October 29 th , 1988

8: 26pm

Quietly making his way out of his room, Will was careful to shut his bedroom door as softly as he could, El’s bedroom was right next to his, he could hear her and Max rummaging around in her room, not bothering to try and be quiet.

Not wanting El to know he was there yet, Will crept his way to her open door and leaned against the entryway of it, spying into her room, watching her and Max as silently as a ghost. El was going through a storage chest she kept in her closet, pulling out the multiple bags and odd knick-knack items she had in there, well Max was digging through her dresser drawers, pulling out El’s clothing and neatly folding them next to her.  

Neither girl knew that he was standing at the doorway watching them and listening in on their hushed conversation.

“I mean I still can’t believe Will was friends with that man,” Max continued on a line of conversation Will hadn’t been privy to, he wondered what man she was talking about, it wasn’t like he ventured outside of the group that much, “Like the concept of that is unbelievable and really fucking creepy actually, what twenty-two-year-old is friends with a fourteen-year-old?” It seemed like Max was mostly venting to herself, not really expecting to get an answer from El, but El being El and missing social cues on the daily, answered her anyways.

“Henry once told me that him and Will were alike, that they were the same and understood each other, and that is why they got along so well,” El responded back, she set aside two of the bigger bags she had pulled out of the storage chest and started putting away the other things she took out of it back into it, “I did think it was weird at first, but after a while it stopped being weird, Henry was not “creepy”, at least not then, not with Will.” El’s voice faded as she looked down to her two bags.

They were talking about Henry.

Will shifted with uncertainty, trying his best to still be quiet so he could hear more of the conversation, when had El told Max about Henry? What did she tell her? How much did Max know? Logically, Will knew she couldn’t have known much because El didn’t know everything herself, but the thought of someone else knowing about him and Henry being friends was not a welcomed one.

“Do you think Will liked him? Did he have a crush on him or something?” Max curiously asked.

“I think he did at one point,” El said, looking lost in memories, “He was always so happy to see him, sometimes he would even leave the room with Henry, follow him as he attended to other patients well I stayed with my mom.”

He almost laughed out loud at El’s words, he had left the room with Henry but not to follow him around like a lost puppy, not to trail after him as he attended to patients that were worse than El’s mom. Will could hardly stand being in the room with El and her mom at Pennhurst, there was no way he was going to voluntarily go around the crazy ward with Henry as he did his job.

Not that El knew that of course.

“Still really weird if you ask me.” Max pretended to shutter to get El to laugh, when she did Max got a look of triumph on her face, like she had accomplished something amazing by getting El to laugh.   

“Very weird.” El agreed through her giggles, Will figured that was the time to interrupt, hearing them speaking about Henry was bringing up things that Will didn’t want to think about, things he tried his best to forget about, not needing the headache that those thoughts brought him.  

The Wheeler Home

February 18 th , 1984

7:00pm

“She told me there’s an orderly who works there that’s mainly assigned to her mom’s room; his name is Henry-something…I don’t remember his last name.” Will was sitting with his back to the ancient couch in Mike’s basement, his legs pulled to his chest, arms wrapped around them. He was watching Mike pace in front of him with impatience, energy thrumming inside of him that he couldn’t do anything with for now.

It had been a little over three months since Mike had found his mom’s diary when he was cleaning out her things. It’s been a slow moving process trying to decide the best way to go about things, for now Will’s been gathering information on Pennhurst and who is most often with Terry Ives from El, since meeting her a few weeks ago, he’s tried to show genuine interest in her life, including that of her visits to Pennhurst, El was none the wiser, assuming he wanted to build a sibling bond with her.

“Henry,” Mike parroted, eyes lighting up with a familiar look that Will knows an idea has struck his best friend’s mind, “How old is he?”

Brows pinched together Will said, “I don’t know, I’m guessing maybe in his thirties.”

“Thirties,” Mike repeated with a happy head nod, inspecting Will’s body he motioned for Will to stand up, when he did Will had to resist the urge to squirm in his place, Mike was looking him over with a critical eye that seemed more like he was assessing an object rather than looking at his best friend, “We can work with that, I think, if it doesn’t work then we’ll go in a different direction.”

Frowning in confusion Will didn’t say anything for a moment, trying to take in Mike’s words, running them over in his mind, “If what doesn’t work?” He asked, he hated when Mike made these decisions in his head and didn’t bother voicing them out loud to Will, as if he was expecting Will to be able to read his mind.

“When you start visiting with Eleanor you’re going to try and catch Henry’s attention , he seems like the easiest way to that bitch’s room without any suspicion. If he doesn’t bite the bait you dangle in front of him then we’ll figure something else out but,” moving closer to Will Mike tilted his head up from where he was facing the floor, fingers tracing over his skin in loving motions, “You’re so pretty baby, I doubt this Henry guy is going to be able to say no to you.” Kissing the tip of his nose Mike winked at him, Will was far too into his thoughts to think about Mike’s actions and words to him.  

Mike wanted him to…get with this Henry guy? He wanted to dangle bait in front of him? Bait…as in himself… he was the bait.

“Bait? You want me to what exactly…fuck this guy or something? Since apparently I’m the fucking bait that you want to dangle in his face like free pickings. What the hell Mike!” Will disbelievingly snapped, pushing Mike away from him, nose wrinkled in distaste, how could Mike even suggest something like that.

“No one said you have to fuck him Will,” Mike bit back, hands going to Will’s arms, grabbing onto them tightly enough that Will knew they would have a ring of bruising around them later that night, “You’re mine, you’re not fucking anyone but me.” He snarled in Will’s face.

“Then what the fuck are you talking about Mike!”

“I just want you to talk to him, get him interested in you, that’s all baby,” Mike let go of his arms, instead wrapping Will in a hug, tugging him to his chest, “I know it’s asking a lot from you, I know that Will, but this place has to have some kind of security measure, we're going to need a way in and he’s looking like the easiest way so far.”

“Why do I have to do this? I don’t want to give him attention like that Mike, he’s probably some creepy shriveled up old dude, I don’t-I don’t,” Mike cut him off by kissing him, moving his lips over Will’s with a deep pressure that sent tingles down his spine, he loved kissing Mike, he loved doing anything with Mike, he loved Mike .

“I need you to do this for me Will, it can’t be me, it has to be you, we decided it’s going to be me for Eleanor, so it has to be you with him.” Will didn’t decide that Mike was going to be with El, Mike decided that on his own, not that Will could or even wanted to show that kind of interest in his soon to be step-sister, that was wrong on more levels then he wanted to think about but the fact was that Mike made that decision, that when the time was right Will would introduce him to El so he could charm his way into her life.

“Do you love me?” Mike questioned him, lips pursed for an answer.

“Do you love me Will?” He asked again in a rougher tone when Will didn’t answer him right away.

“Of course I do.” Will responded, rubbing his hands down his face to collect his thoughts, how Mike could doubt that was beyond him.  

“Then you’ll do this for me.”

“El?” Will let his voice carry through the room, speaking louder than necessary, shaking his head he willed Mike’s voice to go away, he didn’t want to remember the things Mike had said to him in the beginning stages of his plan. Both girls jumped in their place, not expecting anyone else to be in the room with them, both of them whirled around with wide eyes to stare at him.

“Shit! Don’t scare us like that asshole!” Max shouted at him, Will rolled his eyes at her dramatics, he had some choice words he wished he could say back but Mike would be upset with him if he didn’t try to make things right with El and he guessed by extension Max, they couldn’t afford for Will to be in a rift with either girl, thinking that he softened his features to look apologetic, giving Max what Mike called his puppy eyes .

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, bashfully looking to his feet and up again in a way he knew came off as hesitant and shy, “I didn’t mean to scare either of you, I heard El and I thought I’d come apologize to her.” 

“Apologize?” El parroted, getting up from the floor she moved away from her storage chest and towards Will, stopping right in front of him she grabbed both of his hands in hers.

“Oh, now you want to say sorry for being a dick, little late there Byers.” Max commented with hard eyes that watched Will with suspicion, he did his best to keep the sneer off his face.

“Max.” El said in warning, not looking away from Will, she pulled him into her room and sat both of them on her bed, Max scoffed but accepted that El wanted to hear him out, instead of remarking anything else she focused on putting the clothing she had folded into the bags El had taken out.

“Yeah, apologize,” Will scooted closer to El, bringing with him the full force of his puppy eyes, even going as far as to make them tear up, something he learned how to do with Mike when they were little kids begging their moms to let them have a sleepover on a school night, “I am so sorry El. I don’t know what came over me, I was being selfish, and I treated you horribly when I shouldn’t have, you didn’t deserve that. Mike is my friend, but you’re my sister and I should have been more sympathetic to you both instead of only Mike. I could have handled the whole situation better than I did and I am sorry that I didn’t think before opening my mouth.” Will’s throat burned with his lies, he hated anytime he had to refer to El as his sister .  

El appeared happy with his apology, still a little uncertain but happy he was there, “Jonathan said Mike talked to you? About not being upset with me?” It wasn’t a full question, but he understood what she was asking regardless.

“He did,” Will nodded, glancing at Max; he noted her watching them with pursed lips, offering her a kind smile that hurt his cheekbones, he continued, “He got on my ass for treating you badly after we picked him up from the police station. He made me realize how unfair I was being to you. I’m apologizing because I want to El, because I feel bad, not because Mike told me to, he did help me realize what I did was wrong but I’m not here apologizing because of him.”

Will wanted to make that clear, El wouldn’t forgive him if she thought his words were coming from Mike and not himself, and despite that actually being the case because he wouldn’t have apologized to her or ‘make nice’ with her had Mike not told him to, she couldn’t doubt that his apology was from him.

“It hurt me when you defended Mike Will,” El bit her lip, mumbling her words through her lips, Will forced his face to remain frowned, holding back another eye roll at her words, “But I forgive you because I know how close you and Mike are, I understand that it was hard for you to see beyond your friendship,” El moved herself even closer to him, letting go of his hands she tucked herself into his side, laying her head on his shoulder, “Please just promise me that you will remember that Mike is not the only one who needs your support Will, you are my brother and I need you just as much as Mike does.” El turned her face into his shoulder, seeping through his t-shirt was a wetness he figured was her tears.

Tangling his hands in her hair, he turned his face to El’s, bringing her head a little bit away from his shoulder, he kissed her forehead a few times, whispering against her skin, “I promise El. I promise I’ll do better.” El nodded against him, burying herself further into his side, accepting his apology far faster than he thought she would have but that made things easier for him so he wasn’t going to complain or point it out.  

“You better not hurt her again Will,” Max moved around the bed to stand in front of them, crossing her arms at her chest, she glared at him through squinted eyes, “She forgave you way to easily in my opinion, but because I love her I’ll respect El’s wishes to give you another chance, but I’m watching you,” lifting her arm Max pointed two of her fingers to her eyes and then pointed them at Will’s eyes, hearing a thump against the wall that connected Will’s and El’s bedrooms, Max’s head snapped towards the noise, “And Mike, I’m watching both of you.”

“Of course.” Will said, another thump sounded on the wall. Will hoped that wasn’t Mike trying to tell him he was taking too long, he was the one that sent Will to El’s room to begin with, he was not entitled to complain about how long he stayed there to do what needed to be done.

“Mike is here with you.” El stated, there was no use in trying to deny it, she had seen Mike’s car in the driveway before making her way inside, she knew he was there in the house and she knew he was in Will’s room too, a third thump sounded, “Did he talk to you about anything else?”  

Mike had talked to him about wanting El to suffer but for obvious reasons Will wouldn’t be mentioning that to her, ignoring the fact that he desperately wanted to shout in her face that Mike was his , Will said, “After school he told me you said something that hurt him but that he understood that you’re going through a lot right now and maybe he was being too much. He didn’t tell me what you said though.”

“Oh.” El whispered, a guilty look came across her face, she gazed at the wall that connected their rooms but didn’t move from where she was.

“Are you ready to go El?” Noticing her staring at the wall Max interrupted their conversation, if Will wasn’t so irritated with the redhead he might have actually considered giving her a hug, he didn’t want El and Mike making up tonight anymore then she did. That night was supposed to be just Mike and him, El had already ruined that by coming back for some of her things, the last thing he wanted was for them to make up and have Mike ignore him the rest of the night in favor of El. 

Seeing El’s hesitance, Will added, “I think both of you need a little bit of time apart, it gives both of you some space to think about whatever happened and where you both want to go from there,” if he could permanently keep them apart he would, but Will knew how much Mike (and him) had put in to Mike’s plan, it couldn’t be ruined by his insecurity and jealousy, Mike would never forgive him if he did anything to backtrack their efforts, “Everything’s okay though, go with Max and relax for the rest of the night, you deserve it.”

“Yeah El,” Max hurried to agree, nodding her head so fast Will thought it would fly right off her shoulders, “Let’s go home for now and worry about all the drama later, we can go stuff our faces with snacks and watch bad comedy movies.” Max widely smiled as she grabbed El’s hand to pull her up from her bed, throwing El’s bags over her shoulder, she led the way out of El’s bedroom, silently trailing after them to the front door, Will thought about what he and Mike would be doing for the rest of the night, definitely not stuffing their faces with snacks and watching horrible comedy movies, if Will got his way he would be spending his night on his knees and on his back.

At the front door, El paused long enough to throw her arms around him, pulling Will down into a hug that practically suffocated him, resisting the urge to push her away, Will returned El’s hug just as fiercely, “Thank you for apologizing Will, I love you.” Closing his eyes to prevent himself from rolling them he lightly kissed El’s forehead, mumbling against her skin, “I love you too.”

Will waited until Max’s car pulled out of the driveway to make his way back to his bedroom, carefully opening the door so it didn’t alert Mike that he was back.

Inside he found a shirtless Mike still on his bed, on his stomach with his long legs curled into the air together, Will’s sketchbook was in front of him, Mike was flipping through the pages of drawings with that same prideful smile on his lips, eyes shining brightly with adoration. 

Leaning on his tiptoes Will tried to see what page Mike was paused on without getting closer to him and letting him know he was watching him. Will bit his lip with nervousness when he seen what page Mike was fixated on, it was a rough sketch of a concept he had imagined up a few weeks prior when he had caught Mike eyeing El with a rare sight of hatred, the other boy was normally so good at disguising his emotions which was why it was so difficult for Will to know what was real and what wasn’t.

At the time Mike and El were seated on the living room couch together, cuddled up as they watched a rom-com that El had put on for them, Will was seated on the armchair across the room from them, one of the times he had looked over at them El was grinning at the couple finally kissing on the screen well Mike’s eyes were boring into the side of her head, eyes black and narrowed, his face pulled into a sneer.

The drawing he did was of El on her knees in front of Mike, eyes blown wide but pure white with bloody tears trailing down her face, mouth wide open in a terrified scream, blood trickled from her mouth and down her throat, vines thick and dark with sharp thorns were tied around her body, restraining her. Mike was in front of El, standing in a way that was smug, his hand was positioned in front of his face, pulling off a mask made of skin, the mask itself was of Mike’s face grinning lovingly at El, looking at her like she was something precious and special. Behind the skin mask was Mike’s actual face, a look that perfectly resembled that of his look when they sat in the living room together, the edges of where the mask met his ‘real’ face in the drawing were dripping with blood.    

He wasn’t sure how Mike would take the drawing, he hadn’t shown it to him yet, in fear that Mike would hate it or tell him he shouldn’t be drawing things like that.  

“When did you draw this?” Mike asked, holding his hand out to Will, it took only a second for him to register that Mike was talking to him, beckoning him to his bed.

“A few weeks ago,” Will walked over to the bed, instead of taking Mike’s hand in his though, he climbed on top of him, gently pushing Mike’s legs down to lay flat against the bed, Will straddled the other boy, sitting directly on his ass, he leaned his upper body forward, when his mouth was right next to Mike’s ear he whispered, “Do you like it?” Will felt Mike shiver against him, enjoying his lips lightly grazing his earlobe and his breath puffing against his skin.

“Obviously.” Mike scoffed out in disbelief as if the thought of Will asking that question was so ridiculous and inconceivable.

“Obviously.” Will echoed sarcastically well laughing, he leaned further into Mike, pressing more of his weight against him, from the back of his ear Will started trailing kisses to Mike’s shoulder blade and down his back, sucking every now and then to leave little red marks he knew wouldn’t stick past that night.

“How did it go? With El?” Will bit into Mike’s shoulder, not wanting to think about El or anyone else other than Mike, Will hummed an approving sound in the back of his throat, getting across that things went well but he wasn’t willing to verbally express that and ruin the moment between him and Mike.

Sighing contently, Mike relaxed into the mattress, his body went slack under Will’s, grinning against his shoulder Will started up his kisses again.    

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hopper’s Cabin

October 30 th , 1988

1:08am

Shifting the bags of supplies he had on his shoulder, trying his best to not drop anything, the man reached into his pocket for the key to the cabin. Placing it in the lock and turning it, he stepped back as it swung open, revealing the inside of the cabin.

Walking inside he noted the quietness that permitted the air, he figured Hopper and Joyce were sleeping, not seeing a reason to disturb them yet, he shuffled his way around the bulky furniture Hopper insisted was top-notch interior design to make his way to the small kitchen.  

Inside the kitchen, he emptied the bags he had on his shoulder, from one bag he pulled out simple foods, mainly pre-packaged/pre-cooked things and snacks because he knew he didn’t have enough time to cook anything in the short spurts of time he came to check up on Hopper and Joyce. He only had enough time to place something in the microwave or the oven, clean around a bit, and to let the two in the bedroom stretch their legs and shower before he had to leave, his sporadic disappearances hadn’t been noticed yet and he planned to keep it that way, he needed him to keep it that way, he was counting on him.

From another bag he took out a few travel-size hygiene products, just enough so Hopper and Joyce wouldn’t feel like they were sitting in their own filth. That wasn’t part of the plan. He had to keep them here until otherwise told to move them, but he didn’t want either of them to be too uncomfortable, so he was providing as much comfort as he could, which included adding basic necessities to their showers in order to truly feel clean.

In the last bag was extra clothing and a few books and magazines for them to entertain themselves with. It wasn’t much but he figured it was more than what they’ve been having so that had to count for something. Grabbing the third bag he made his way out of the kitchen and to the master bedroom of the small cabin. Slowly opening the door, he peeked his head around it to see inside.

On the bed, right where he left them were Joyce and Hopper, laying back against some extra pillows he had put there in preparation for their arrival, a blanket thrown over them both, sharing each other’s warmth, the cabin wasn’t extremely cold, he had managed to also bring a small heater for them but it wasn’t the warmest environment either. Silently walking the rest of the way in and shutting the door softly behind him, he walked to the foot of the bed, staring at them both he narrowed his eyes at Hoppers wrists, they were rubbed raw more and more each time he came, the amount of time he’s had to clean the other man’s wrists from the blood that leaked through his restraints was ridiculous.

Luckily Joyce’s wrists didn’t show half as much damage as Hopper’s did, there was redness and slight bruising from being restrained to the bed but other than that her wrists looked fine to him, at the very least he hadn’t needed to clean blood off them for her. 

Placing the third bag he had on the bed, he pulled out the items inside and organized them around the room, putting the clothing he brought in the drawers and the books and magazines at the foot of the bed, close enough that they would be able to reach them with no problem. Looking at their tied hands he wondered if they would even be able to read what he brought, their restraints were tighter then he had remembered, he wasn’t going to loosen them though, that would risk them figuring out a way to escape and that was the last thing he needed.

It was bad enough that Hopper put up a fight every time he loosened the restraints for him to go to the bathroom and shower. The only reason Hopper hasn’t been able to overpower him was because he was exhausted and weak from hunger, he gave them food, he wasn’t going to let them starve but certainly not enough food to maintain a healthy diet for either of them, especially not Hopper, plus it helped that he slipped Xanax into the water Hopper drank.

Joyce thankfully wasn’t as much of a bother, she put up a fight that first night, but mostly it was crying he had to deal with from her, emotional displays he couldn’t say he was very comfortable with but as long as she was as calm as she could be and not fighting him at every turn then he could deal with it.

“What are you doing?” The question rose in the quiet room, almost startling him but he managed to hold back his surprise at hearing Hopper awake. Folding up the bag he brought into the room with him he found himself at the end of the bed again, it was a little hard to see them in the dim lighting of the room, shadows played on both their faces.  

“Putting some things away.” He answered, turning to look at Joyce he saw her awake too, watching him with sad betrayed eyes, but he would rather see that look reflected in her gaze then in his gaze. 

“When are you going to let us go? I mean really what’s the plan here?” Hopper coughed through his question, his voice hoarse and raspy from screaming. He hadn’t bothered to gag either one of them, he didn’t see a point, the cabin was deep in the woods, the chances of someone coming across it were little to none. Hopper had screamed himself hoarse that first night, begging people who weren’t there for help, well he did that Joyce pleaded with him instead, thinking it would do something in their favor.  

Not answering he shrugged back, he knew the plan, but that plan didn’t have an exact time limit, so really he didn’t know how long Hopper and Joyce were going to stay here, he knew it wasn’t going to be forever, they were eventually going to be released, being hidden away only to keep them out of the way. His job wasn’t to question the plan though, his job was to support it, his job was to be there in case he needed him, his job was to watch Hopper and Joyce and provide for them in the meantime that things played out.

“Please,” Joyce sobbed out, her teary eyes watching him through the water that dripped from them, “Please honey, please let us go.”

Tilting his head at her he smiled regretfully, “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

“The fuck you can’t.” Hopper growled at him; he thinks it would be more intimidating if the other man didn’t look seconds away from passing out, “This isn’t going to play out in whatever delusional way you think it is.” He’s heard that from Hopper’s mouth so many times now that he was starting to think Hopper was forgetting he’s said them to him already.

“How I think this is going to play out is not important,” he said to them, shrugging again, and it wasn’t, as long as he was happy in the end, it didn’t matter much how anything else played out, he knew things weren’t going to end perfectly, but it wasn’t like any of them weren’t already anticipating for that, no one was under any delusions as far as he could tell.

“You don’t have to do this,” Joyce tried again, barely getting her words out through her cries, it’s also something he’s heard a few times, maybe both of them were starting to lose it, not remembering the things they’ve said to him before saying it again, or maybe they were just that desperate that they thought repetition was going to break him and make him see reason enough to release them, “Please. You don’t have to do this.”

“Except I do,” he argued, of course she wouldn’t understand, neither of them would, he’s already tried explaining things to both of them on that first night, feeling slightly guilty for his part in everything but when they showed no signs of understanding (which he expected from Hopper because he was a meathead with his head stuck far up his ass, but not from Joyce, but that too came as no surprise) he gave up, “You don’t understand and I get that but I can’t let him down, I can’t be another person that he feels he can’t depend on, so I’m sorry but you should know by now that I would choose him a million times over anyone else.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow morning to let you guys stretch and what not,” he told them, backing away from them, taking steps closer to the door, “Try to get some rest tonight.”

“No! Come back! Please! Come back!” Joyce yelled after him, her voice not as raspy or as raw as Hopper’s, she hadn’t wasted her yelling unlike him, she still had a lung full of screams inside her.

Ignoring both of them he walked out of the room, whistling a tune under his breath he made his way back to the kitchen, folding his other two bags he glanced around the cabin, giving it a once over before he left. Being done there for the night, he walked out of the cabin, locking the door he examined the dark woods around him, not seeing anything out of the ordinary he walked back to his vehicle, getting in it and starting his drive back home he turned up his radio and started singing along to the song playing.

Family Video

3:30pm

Standing in front of the horror section at Family Video with Lucas, Will aggravatingly tapped his foot on the carpeted floor beneath him. Lucas had called him that morning to ask him to come pick out a few movies with him for his party later that night, he said he wanted a horror movie playing in the living room in case people weren’t in the mood to listen to music or dance. Having no reason to say no Will had agreed without thought, considering Mike had spent the night and was there in bed with Will when Lucas called him he came with Will to the video store.

At the end of the aisle of where he and Lucas were standing Mike was with three girls that went to their school, a year younger than them if he’s not mistaken, Mike had his hands in his pockets, leaning back on his heels every so often well he flirted away with a charming smirk on his face, the giggles that the girls released at Mike’s awful jokes were grating in his ears.

Getting there Mike hadn’t waited two minutes before separating himself from Will, telling him he was going to look around, well he helped Lucas pick out some movies. Will hadn’t realized looking around meant flirting with random girls in front of his face. He tried not to let it get to him, he really did, but with every giggle the girls did and with every word that fell from Mike’s mouth, Will was sinking further and further into a pool of jealousy. 

He knew Mike wasn’t completely like him, Mike liked girls and boys, not like Will, who just liked boys, Mike wasn’t all the way gay like him as he’s told Will in the past. It still seemed unfair that Will had to deal with things like this, it was bad enough that Mike was with El, that he hugged her, kissed her, felt her up, let her claim him as her boyfriend , and did god knows what else with El when Will wasn’t looking. He didn’t want to watch Mike flirt and charm his way with other girls on top of that, Mike knew how Will felt about this, he knew he didn’t like it and yet there he was, not a single glance in Will’s direction as he talked with these mindless girls.

In the background of the noise that the people made in the store Will could vaguely hear one of the TVs in the store playing Frankenstein , he could hear Victor Frankenstein yelling “It’s Alive! It’s Alive!” He wondered if he should suggest that movie to Lucas but didn’t bother to in the end, every movie he had suggested thus far had been shot down, he was thinking Lucas had called him there just to have someone to rant at about how excited he was for his party.

“—I already called Max to ask her if she and El can stop at the grocery store before coming to pick up some snacks for us because what I have at my house is definitely not enough, especially not with Dustin’s fat ass eating—” Will tuned back into what Lucas was saying to him, his foot tapped faster on the floor, with his arms crossed he did his best not to stare over at Mike.

Pushing a cart down the aisle they were in was Dustin, who by some grace of god still had a job there, interrupting Lucas’s rant Dustin carted over to them, “Fat ass? Bitch you wish you had this voluptuous figure.” Dustin struck a pose in front of them, running his hand over his ass, he gave a quick smack to it before blowing Lucas a kiss. Will couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from his throat, from the corner of his eye he saw Mike’s head snap in his direction.  

Picking up some newly returned horror movies Dustin started to file them into the shelves they were standing in front of, feeling petty Lucas leaned over and knocked a few movies from Dustin’s hands to the floor, chuckling all the while, “Voluptuous my ass.”

Bending over Dustin huffed well picking up the movies, “Yeah, you are an ass Lucas.”

Avoiding looking in Mike’s direction where he could feel the other boy glaring holes into the side of his skull, Will scanned the store, there were a lot of people browsing around, more then there usually was at this time, “Jesus, this place is packed today.” He absentmindedly commented, not expecting a response back.   

“Yeah,” Dustin nodded, grinning at him, he pointed down the aisle towards where Mike was standing, Will purposely didn’t look that way, “The mass murder section has been really popular this past week…want to take a wild guess why?”   

“Seriously,” Lucas said shaking his head, “That’s kind of fucked up.” Dustin shrugged in reply, Will wasn’t going to argue with that, it was kind of fucked up, but he didn’t really have any room to judge or talk either way.

“You’re coming to my party, right?” Lucas changed the subject to ask Dustin.

“Obviously,” Dustin rolled his eyes like Lucas’s question was stupid which maybe not so much stupid but annoying considering Lucas had asked Will that same question practically every day that week, he figured he’s asked Dustin even more considering they were closer friends then Will was with either of them, “I get off early today cause of curfew so I’ll be able to make it, so don’t get your panties in a twist.” Lucas scowled back but didn’t say anything.

Finishing putting away the movies he had in his hands, Dustin moved to grab another handful, looking up from his pile he scanned the store in what Will assumed was a habit by now to see if anyone needed help, he watched as Dustin stopped on Mike who was still flirting with those girls with one eye trained on Will before he moved his eyes away, stepping closer to him and Lucas he lowered his voice, his head turned down, “Now that’s in poor taste if you ask me.”

Confused, Lucas asked, “What?”

Moving even closer to them Dustin continued, “If you were the only suspect in a senseless bloodbath, would you be standing in the horror section…specifically the mass murder area of the horror section?” Scrunching his eyebrows together Dustin glanced between Lucas and Will like they were idiots, like it was so clear what was wrong with the equation, and without saying it out loud Will had to somewhat agree, Mike really shouldn’t be standing in the horror section of the store after being accused of murder, it didn’t look good on him.

He couldn’t say that though, “That shit was just a misunderstanding, Mike didn’t do anything.” His tone came off a tad more defensive than he had wanted, considering he did agree with Dustin (even if he didn’t tell him that), he assumed he was still a bit riled from having to go through questions with El and Steve on Mike’s ‘innocence’.

Dustin raised one of his eyebrows at him, scoffing to himself, “Come on Will, I know he’s your best friend and what not, but that doesn’t mean you have to be his little lap dog…his bitch.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Will growled, he wasn’t anyone’s lap dog or bitch, certainly not Mike’s.

Scoffing again, Dustin held his hands up in surrender, “I’m just saying man, Mike kind of has 'killer' printed right on his forehead, in big blocky letters and everything, watch enough horror movies and you learn to see the signs.”

“Horror movies? Really Dustin…that’s where you’re basing this insight from?” Lucas laughed mockingly, not seeing that Will was genuinely angry, still stuck on the fact that Dustin had called him Mike’s bitch , “If that’s the case then why did the police let him go, mmm? Answer me that smart ass.” 

“Clearly the fucking police are ignorant morons and have never watched a single scary movie in their lives,” Dustin exclaimed well throwing his hands into the air with exasperation, acting as if the answer was obvious and it was a chore to have to explain everything to them, “Scary Movie 101 dudes, this shit is standard horror movie stuff.”

“Why the fuck would Mike want to kill his own girlfriend?” Will argued with narrowed eyes, he couldn’t tell if Dustin was just saying shit to say it but either way it wasn’t a line of topic Will wanted to be on.

“Come on you guys!” He shouted at them, turning more than a few heads in their direction, Lucas awkwardly waved at them, shrugging one shoulder at them in apology, Will just glared at them in a way that clearly said to mind their own fucking business until they turned away, “There is always some stupid bullshit reason to kill your girlfriend! I really shouldn’t have to be telling you guys this, it’s fucking common sense.”

“There is?” Lucas doubtfully questioned, eyeballing Dustin with skepticism. For Lucas’s girlfriend and Mike’s girlfriend Will could definitely agree that any bullshit reason to kill them would be reason enough for him. 

“That’s the beauty of it all: Simplicity,” Dustin curved his hands in the air, lining out a rainbow shape as he stared at them to get his point across, “Besides if shit gets too complicated, you risk losing your target audience.” He finished saying, putting his hands down.   

“Alright, alright, I’ll play along,” Lucas bumped his shoulder into Will’s, rolling his eyes in Dustin’s direction, smiling at him in a condescending way, just saying this to humor Dustin’s passion for rants on scary movies, “What’s Mike’s reason?”

Dustin put his finger on his chin, tapping it in mock thought, “Let me think for a second,” humming to himself, he stuck a finger in the air like he was having a eureka moment before looking back to them, “I got it! So, everyone and their momma knows that El’s legs are closed and locked tighter than fucking Fort Knox and shit…Mike certainly ain’t getting any from her, maybe he did it because El won’t have sex with him.”

Will was now more than positive he didn’t want to be a part of this conversation, he hated thinking about Mike and El being intimate together in any capacity, he didn’t want to think about Mike sharing that part of himself with anyone but him but certainly not with El. Trying his best to appear to be the grossed-out brother that they expected him to be, he exclaimed “What the fuck Dustin! That’s something I really don’t want to be thinking or talking about!”

Lucas cackled, hitting Will’s back with the palm of his hand, “Dude did you forget that Will was here? No one wants to hear about their sisters' sex life man.”

“Well tough shit. I would figure you would want to know cause that might be the reason Mike almost butchered her.” Dustin defended himself, smacking Lucas on the arm when he let out another loud laugh.  

Will crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Dustin, “Mike didn’t “almost butcher” anyone.” Dustin held his hands up in another surrender pose, grinning at Will like they were playing a game he was winning.

“You guys want to know who I think the killer is?” Lucas pulled both of them close to him by their arms, glancing around the store he waited until a couple of people walked past them to whisper, “I’m thinking it just might be Chief Hopper, cause I don’t know about you guys but it’s kind of suspect that they can’t find him or your mom for that matter Will, I hope she’s okay and Hopper didn’t like hurt her or anything, but you guys don’t think it’s weird that they just disappeared right as all of this went down?”

Dustin nodded back appearing to be deep in thought, “Or the killer already got to them, and the police just haven’t found their bodies yet,” he muttered to himself, “The movie isn’t over yet, there’s still time for their bodies to pop up somewhere, possibly with their eyes gouged out, their fingers cut off, maybe even their teeth knocked out.” 

“Dustin, I swear to god, if you say one more word about my family, I will fucking castrate you.” Will threatened, eyes blown wide with surprise Dustin covered his dick with one of the movies from his cart well Lucas laughed at his stricken expression.

“Dude I’m not the bad guy here, I’m just the guy trying to tell it like it is,” Dustin ranted on, “The police are idiots, don’t get me wrong, I love Steve just as much as the next guy but it’s no damn secret that he’s an air head, if they would just sit down and watch literally any scary movie in existence they would save themselves some time. There’s a formula to it, I’ve been saying this for fucking years! It’s a very simple formula.”

Taking a deep breath after his long-winded words, Dustin put down the movie still covering his crotch to point at both him and Lucas, “Everybody’s a suspect!” He yelled so loud that everyone in the store stopped what they were doing to stare at them, all of them with judgmental eyes that could only be found in that of small town folk, Will clenched his jaw when he noticed some of them turning to each other to whisper between them, eyes flickering to the trio again and again, he would gladly tie Dustin down right now and cut off his dick for bringing unwanted attention on him. Lucas, the idiot that he is, was trying to smile and nod nonchalantly at everybody.

Scanning around the judgmental faces, Dustin’s shoulders hunched forward in embarrassment, shuffling his feet awkwardly and lowering his voice he whispered to them, “I’m telling you guys, Chief Hopper and Mrs. Hopper missing is a red herring, it’s not going to mean much in the end. Mike on the other hand, he’s a little shady, I know he’s my friend and everything, but I can smell the crazy on him.” Smirking to himself, Will wondered if Dustin could smell the crazy on him too.

Growing frustrated with their lack of response Dustin huffed with annoyance, from behind him Will spotted Mike casually walking up to them, hands no longer stuffed in his pockets, moving in an agitated way, not noticing Mike Dustin turned to finish reshelving the movies in his cart, directly knocking into Mike’s chest, he jumped back with a startled gasp when Mike grabbed the front of his t-shirt to pull him even closer to himself, looking down at him with a scowl firmly planted on his pretty face, “How do we know you’re not the killer Dustin? Huh?” The corners of Mike’s mouth quirked up teasingly.  

Glancing at Will, Mike’s eyes twinkled with delight, enjoying his taunting to the shorter boy, using his height to his advantage Mike straightened his posture to loom over Dustin in a playfully threatening way. Will moved past Lucas who didn’t really know what was going on and was standing off to one side not saying anything with a large if a little confused grin on his face.

Coming up behind Dustin Will wrapped his arms around the back of his neck, restraining him just enough that Dustin couldn’t move away but light enough to still be considered in good fun, tucking his face to the side of Dustin’s neck, he ran his nose up and down in a suggestive way all the while looking straight into Mike’s eyes, he heard Dustin’s breath hitch and could feel his body shudder against Will’s own.

 “Hi Mike!” Dustin squeaked out in a high-pitched voice.

Throwing a quick warning scowl to Will, Mike placed his hands on top of Will’s arms, painfully digging his nails into his skin, “For all we know, your movie-freaked mind lost its reality button Dustin. Have you ever thought of that?” Lifting one of his hands Mike gently slapped the side of Dustin’s face a couple of times.

Nodding rapidly Dustin agreed, “You are absolutely right Mike. I’ll be the first to admit it, if this were a scary movie, I’d be the prime suspect.” From behind them Lucas snorted, bringing his nose away from Dustin’s neck, Will threw a mischievous grin with a playful wink over his shoulder to Lucas, playing into the fact that he thought this was all a joke.

“That’s right,” Mike drawled with a tilt of his head, clicking his tongue he asked, “Now tell us…What would be your motive?”

Running his finger over Dustin’s ear and trailing it down his neck, Will leaned in close to whisper to him, “Come on Dusty, what’s your motive?” Even Will could admit to adding more flirtation into his voice then necessary, but he didn’t care, he quite enjoyed Dustin’s flushed appearance and Mike’s sneering face that did nothing to hide his jealousy.

Letting his arms fall away from Dustin’s neck, he turned his head to look at Will, “It’s the millennium,” turning back to Mike he continued in a shaking voice, “Motives are incidental.”

“Millennium, mmm I like that.” Mike hummed an approving sound from the back of his throat, reaching his hand up he squeezed Dustin’s nose between his thumb and finger, roughly shaking Dustin’s head from side to side.

“Let’s go Will, we have some shit to do before Lucas’s party.” Pushing Dustin aside none too gently, Mike swung a possessive arm around his shoulders, winking at Dustin and nodding to Lucas before leading Will away from them.

From behind them Will could hear Lucas chuckling at Dustin, “Millennium? What the hell does that even mean dude?”  

Glancing over his shoulder, Will tried to ignore Mike’s hand digging into him, Dustin wasn’t paying attention to them walking away but he was pointing at Mike’s back, “You’re telling me that’s not a fucking killer? I feel like we have to watch Will’s and El’s backs man, like I said, I can smell the crazy.” Turning back around Will tucked himself further into Mike’s side, wrapping one of his arms around Mike’s waist in a hold that was just as tight as the one Mike had on his shoulder, echoing in his mind were Dustin’s words to him, ‘Come on Will, I know he’s your best friend and what not, but that doesn’t mean you have to be his little lap dog…his bitch’.

Getting outside they walked to Mike’s car, adjusting himself in his seat Will waited for Mike to start the car, instead he felt Mike shift over to look at him with narrowed eyes, “What the fuck was that?” He snarled at him, lip pulling back over his teeth as he glared at Will like he had committed some terrible offense.

“What was what?” Will shrugged back, they were playing a game inside, he didn’t think much of it, it wasn’t like Mike hadn’t done worse with El in front of him, at least Will didn’t outright kiss Dustin, but if light flirting got him this reaction he considered maybe it would be worth it to kiss him next time.   

“Inside, with Dustin, you were all over him.” Mike spat out, hands slapping onto his steering wheel, long fingers curling around it with a grip so tight his knuckles turned white.

“Was I?” Will pretended to be clueless, even going as far as to blink his ‘puppy eyes’ at Mike, feeling a smirk edge on his lips he faced his head down to his lap not wanting Mike to see it.  

Mike’s hand was suddenly gripping his thigh, painfully digging his nails into Will again, “Don’t act stupid Will, why the fuck would you do that, look at me,” moving closer into his space Mike used his other hand to tightly grip Will’s jaw, making him look towards Mike unable to hide the smirk he was showcasing on his face anymore, “Don’t ever fucking do that again, you understand?”  

The way it came out of Mike’s mouth sounded like a threat to Will, licking his lips Will brought his hand up to knock Mike’s hold off of his jaw, “So you’re allowed to fuck around all you want with El but the second I pay attention to someone else it’s a problem, make that make sense to me Mike.” Will challenged, grabbing onto the hand Mike had on his thigh, he forced it away.

Not liking that Will took his hands off of him Mike sneered back, “You know why I’m “fucking around” with El and it sure as shit doesn’t give you permission to throw yourself at other guys, I don’t know what the hell your problem is but fucking fix it because the next time I see you touching someone that’s not me you’re not going to like what I fucking do to you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Will derided with a sarcastic apology falling from his lips, “Do you feel insecure right now Mike?” That is what Will feels constantly around Mike when he’s with El, always below her, always second best, not good enough, it served Mike right to be the one on the receiving end of that for once, it felt good to put him there.

Will had agreed to everything, he wasn’t going to pretend that his actions weren’t his own, he could have told Mike “no” whenever he asked Will to do things for him, though a small part of himself told him that telling Mike “no” has never been his strong suit. Still though Will followed along because he wanted to, because he wanted justice for Mrs. Wheeler, because he loved Mike, because he wanted Mike to finally be able to move on from her death, move on with him, be happy with him. Thinking back on it, despite all the pain he’s been through, Will wouldn’t change a thing, Mike was it for Will, there was nothing before him and nothing after him, Will wasn’t Will without Mike, that’s how ingrained he was.

“I get it okay,” lifting his eyebrow in question Will waited to hear what Mike ‘got’, “I make you feel like you’re not enough compared to El, I’m sorry Will, I don’t mean to make you feel that way. I’ll tell you a million times if I have to baby, El means nothing to me, she is nothing .” Mike put emphasis on his words, taking his hands off the wheel he ran them through his hair, making some of the curls fluffier, causing them to stick out at odd angles, a picture Will found adorable which isn’t a word he often associated with Mike.

El is nothing Will echoed to himself, a smile tugged at his lips, “You’re cute when you’re jealous,” he teased Mike, feeling a lot happier than he was a second ago.

“El is nothing, Dustin is nothing, glad we worked that out.” Will reached over to pat Mike’s cheek with the palm of his hand, he wasn’t going to apologize for his show with Dustin inside the video store, it was fun making Mike jealous, it made Will feel like they were on equal footing, like hell he was going to apologize for that, Mike gave him the worst side eye in the history of mankind, lips parted open slightly letting little puffs of air out, “Are we leaving?”

Adjusting himself back in his seat, Will glanced over to Mike to see him closing his mouth, shaking his head of whatever thoughts were in it, not arguing further he turned on the car, “He better be fucking nothing.” Mike muttered under his breath, almost too low for Will to hear, grabbing Mike’s hand in his own he brought their hands up to his mouth to press a kiss to Mike’s knuckles, enjoying the hint of pink that appeared on Mike’s cheeks when he did so.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins Grocery Store

October 30 th , 1988

5:00pm

Sitting in the backseat of Steve’s police car as he drove her and Max to the grocery store, El looked out the foggy backseat window watching as all the people who were out and about rushed to close shops up and finish doing whatever it was they were doing, in a hurry to get behind closed doors before sundown, before curfew. Every person they passed had a worried look on their faces, eyes flickering around them in semi-panic, as if the killer was going to pop out of any corner and any bush within radius of them. She felt some sort of sick satisfaction that they were scared too, El was tired of feeling like she was the only one in this town tormented by the killings, the only one worried that she was next, it was a little relieving to not be the only one feeling like that anymore, it was starting to make her feel like she was making more of it then it was, that she was freaking out over nothing.

Pulling into the parking lot of the grocery store, Steve got down with her and Max, “It’s so quiet.” He commented to them, nose wrinkled like he smelt something bad, like El he was watching the people of Hawkins scatter around in flighty movements.

“It reminds me of a movie Dustin made me watch,” El said recalling the memory of Dustin hounding her to watch the movie with him, promising her she would like it…she in fact did not end up liking it, “I think it was called The Town That Dreaded Sundown . People in Hawkins are scared of the dark now too.” El could not say she blamed them, things hid in the dark, only coming out when you are at your most vulnerable, there was reason to fear it, to avoid it.

“I saw that movie, Dustin made me watch it too,” Steve grumbled unhappily as he recalled Dustin forcing him to sit down to watch the movie he was insistent he did not want to see, “It’s about a killer in Texas or something like that, right?” El did not answer, she could not remember the exact details of the movie, only that she did not like it, she had no idea why Dustin thought she would, she was not a fan of scary/suspenseful movies, especially not when half the time she felt like she was living the plot of one in her everyday life.

“What if they made a movie about you El?” Max excitedly asked her, stopping El from walking into the store with a hand on her elbow, “Who do you think would play you?”  

“I do not want a movie made about my life.” El answered back, not entertaining Max’s question, the last thing she needed was for her life to be displayed on a huge screen in some theater, a bad actress trying and failing to capture on a screen real events that have happened and continue to happen in her life, events that have deeply traumatized her, changed her.

Seeing that El was not in the mood for playful banter, Steve interrupted whatever Max was going to say back to her, cutting his sister off before she even had a chance to get one word out, “I’ll stay out here well you girls go inside to get some snacks for the party.” Pulling his wallet from his police uniform, Steve handed a few bills over to Max, who did not hesitate to take them. Max looped her arm through El’s, beginning a fast-paced walk to the area with the grocery carts.

Grabbing one of the carts to begin their shopping, El entered the grocery store with Max at her side, “Do you think Mike will be there?” Going down the drink aisle, she tried not to get in Max’s way as she piled sodas and water into the cart, not really paying attention to what she was getting and how much of it she was getting, El had to sneak some of the things Max got back onto the shelves.

“I mean, more than likely,” Max told her, holding up two different jugs of juices for El to inspect, she pointed to the red one in Max’s right hand, “I asked Lucas to see if he could get him to not come but Lucas told me that Mike was his friend and he wasn’t going to do that…sorry El.” Max apologized, dragging the cart to her, she walked into the next aisle that was filled mostly with chips, El followed after her, shrugging Max’s apology off, it was not like it was Max’s fault, plus there was no reason for Lucas to ask Mike not to come over, he was proven innocent already, it was just El’s own hesitance to see her boyfriend again after their last conversation that made her nervous to be in the same room as him.

Max reached into the shelves, throwing a bag of chips into the cart that El had taken back from her seeing as Max was not really paying as much attention as she could have been, El glanced down to the family sized bag of Doritos, seeing that Max had no plans to get another bag of them El reached her arm over the cart to grab two more bags of the cheesy chips. They were getting snacks for a bunch of rowdy drunk teenagers, not a family of three, one bag would not be enough. 

Placing the bags of chips she pulled from the shelves far more delicately into the cart then what Max had, El examined the aisle they were in, seeing it empty save for her and Max, she confided in a thought that had been bugging her since talking to Mike in the school hallway, “I think Mike might have had a point with what he told me,” seeing that Max was going to interrupt her, El held up a finger, silently asking Max to hear her out before saying anything, “I have not been able to go beyond some light touching under my clothing, if even that, Mike has been very patient with me, understanding too. He tried to ask me if we were okay, tried to explain himself and his thoughts and I just shut him down.” She had not been completely honest with Max about what exactly she told Mike in the school hallway, she gave her friend half a story in fear of Max being disappointed or angry with her for saying what she did about Mike’s mom.

Figuring she would not get her friend’s honest opinion unless she told the full truth she continued, “I said some…things…about his mom when he told me that it has been three years since my mother’s death,” knowing Max was going to ask her what she said El took another look around to make sure they were still alone, lowering her voice she pushed the words through her mouth despite not wanting to speak them again, “I told him his mom killed herself because she was selfish and weak.” Her tongue seemed to burn with those hateful words, she still could not believe that she said them to Mike’s face the way she had. 

Max’s eyes widened with shock, but not with disgust or hatred El noted, “Holy shit El,” letting a nervous laugh through her parted lips, Max shook her head in disbelief, “You told Mike that his mom killed herself because she was selfish and weak?” Silently nodding to her question Max asked, “Why would you say that? That’s his mom El, you out of anyone should know how hard it is to lose your mom and deal with the aftermath of their death.”

“I know that, I regret telling him that,” El responded, feeling like she was trying to excuse inexcusable behavior, “I was just angry with him, asking me if there was a problem between us, it felt like he was blaming the fact that we have not been together…like that…on my mother’s death, like I am holding onto her so much that I am not actually living.”

“That was not okay to say El, you know that, so I’m not going to stand here and make you feel worse then you already do about it,” Max told her pushing the cart away from El, sliding herself in its place to hug her, “Moving away from that though, you have some intimacy issues as a result of your mom’s murder, that’s okay El, you’re not wrong or weird to feel like that.”

“Mike has been so patient with me though,” El protested, Mike had never pushed for more than what she was willing to offer, he took his time kissing her, always made sure she was comfortable, yet every time he tried to push beyond lightly touching her under her shirt El froze and pushed him away, though Mike handled that with understanding as well, “With all the sex stuff,” she explained, scrunching her eyebrows El almost wanted to wash her mouth out, it felt entirely too weird to be discussing hers and Mike’s intimacy issues with Max, “I am surprised that Mike has not tried to get another girlfriend yet.” Not that she thinks he would do that, Mike has only ever been focused on two things in his life, her and Will, to see him go out of his way to shower attention on some other girl was nearly impossible to picture.  

“Woah now, hold the fuck on El,” Max ordered, an offended expression was painted on her face, she was giving El disappointed eyes, “Mike is lucky to have you as a girlfriend, okay? Let’s get that the fuck straight right now,” placing her hands on El’s arms, Max leaned into her space, slightly looking up at El due to her shorter stature, “Mike and his pencil dick do not deserve you El, alright? You are a fucking goddess and Mike is a swamp monster, the fact that you gave him the time of day is a miracle in itself and I never want to hear you selling yourself short like that again, do I make myself clear?” Shaking the place where her hands were, El’s entire body swayed back and forth with Max’s movements. 

Max never failed to make El feel better, her friend had a way with words that made her get out of her head and appreciate what she is and who she is, Max helped her see herself in a better light, it felt wrong in Max’s presence to say or think anything about herself that was not praises to lift her self-esteem.

Giggling El stopped Max from shaking her, getting the cart back she began pushing it out of the aisle they were in, gazing over at Max with another giggle she asked, “Pencil dick?”

“What!” Max shrieked through a laugh, “I know he’s hiding a pencil dick, there’s just no fucking way toothpick Mike is packing, that’s all I’m saying.” Covering her mouth with her hand, El wondered if she should traumatize her friend for life and tell her that she has felt Mike through their clothing before and one thing El knows is that Mike was not wanting in that department, watching her friend dramatically shudder, no doubt involuntarily picturing Mike in a way she certainly does not want to, El decided to show her mercy and not mention that Mike was in fact packing.

Down The Street From Officer Callahan’s Home

5:44pm

“Are you sure about this?”

Flicking his tongue out of his mouth, Mike ran it over his lips, wetting them, he couldn’t help the annoyed sound he made from the back of his throat, a harsh noise that itched coming out. That was the second time Will had questioned him about this move in their plan, he knew he wasn’t sure about this particular move, but Mike didn’t think it would hurt him to go along with it anyways, as long as Will did what he said then everything would be fine.

“He pissed me the fuck off Will, I told you that already.” Mike said to him through clenched teeth, he couldn’t figure out if he was more upset with Will questioning him or with the fact that he himself wasn’t as confident as he pretended to be with this change in their plans.

The original plan was to go after Principal Coleman, kill him, string him up in the goalpost in the school football field as a distraction, wait for the perfect moment to spread the word to the idiots at Lucas’s party in order to get them to leave the party so the rest of the plan could play out. Now though they wouldn’t be going after Principal Coleman, the man apparently had a guardian angel watching him, Officer Callahan on the other hand wasn’t so lucky.

He had it coming in Mike’s opinion, if he had minded his own fucking business, if he hadn’t interrogated Mike the way he did, if he had been a little more gullible like Steve then he wouldn’t be sitting in his car down the street from Callahan’s house, he wouldn’t be planning to kill him next, wouldn’t be attempting to use his body as a distraction for the idiot teenagers at Lucas’s party.

Callahan could have walked away from this whole mess without a scratch on him, he could have lived the rest of his life in peace none the wiser, a blissful ignorant life had he just not gotten on Mike’s nerves, had he just believed all the lies from Mike’s mouth as blindly and as easily as everyone else had, had he kept Will’s name out of his fucking mouth . Really, this wasn’t on Mike’s shoulders, it was on Callahan’s, Mike would have left him alone but the comments he made to him after leading him to the jail cell for the night and Steve had left back out the door they led him through were not something he was willing to let go.

Almost tripping over his feet when Callahan forcefully pushed him into the cell he would be staying the night in, Mike straightened himself to his full height to glare at him, he had several inches on Callahan, a smirk found its way to his lips when the other man stepped away from him, putting more distance between their bodies then necessary considering Mike was in handcuffs.

“Alright, let’s get those handcuffs off of you.” Steve told him, not looking away from Callahan Mike silently turned to the side, giving Steve enough access to his hands that were cuffed behind his back without turning all the way around, he wanted to make Callahan nervous, he wanted him to fidget where he stood, he held in a laugh when Callahan did just that, shifting his feet side to side in nervous motions, eyes not meeting Mike’s, head turned down in a way Mike would call submissive if it were Will in front of him doing the same.

Taking the handcuffs off of him, Steve stepped away from Mike after patting his shoulder with a kind hand, “You’ll be released tomorrow morning if nothing else is brought into the station, try to get some rest tonight, if you can.”

“I’ll try.” Mike said, from the corner of his eye he watched as Steve moved around Callahan to leave his cell for the remainder of the night, pausing to tell him he was going to go finish talking to the Byers family and Nancy.

Callahan didn’t follow him. Mike could clearly see he was nervous to be left alone with him and yet he stayed put. Callahan had put on a brave show in Hopper’s office, well he played pretend chief but now that he was alone with him, that puffed chest and self-assured attitude was nowhere to be found.  

“Did you enjoy playing chief for the night?” Mike asked with a large grin, “It sure looked like fun.”

“I know you killed them,” Callahan growled out to him, his hand gripped on his gun, not unclipping it from its holster but fingers ready to move just in case, “I know you killed Ms. Cunningham and Mr. Carver; I’m not fucking stupid, you might have fooled Steve but you’re not fooling me.”

Raising his eyebrow back at the officer, Mike frowned, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, maybe this case is starting to get to you Callahan, you’re starting to imagine things.”

Glancing outside Mike’s cell, Callahan seen what Mike did, an empty hallway, empty cells lining it on both sides, they were alone for the time being, “I’m not imagining anything you little shit, I know you killed them, I know you tried killing El too, and soon you’re going to slip up like you did tonight and when you do I’ll be there to slap those handcuffs right back on you with a goddamn smile on my face.” He threatened, getting some of his gusto from the interrogation back in his voice and stance.

“Slip up?” Mike shook his head back at Callahan, he smiled at him, showing all his teeth, “You should really seek help Callahan, you’re sounding crazy.”

Huffing with irritation that he was once again not getting the reaction he wanted out of Mike, Callahan moved closer to him, trying to intimidate him, Mike supposed it would have worked had it not been for Callahan’s shaky steps in his direction, ones that let Mike know the other man was still not comfortable being alone with him, “The only people who are going to need to seek help after this are El and Will, those poor kids don’t deserve to be caught up in your fucked up mess, god help them.”

Clenching his fists together in anger Mike tried to reign in the urge to grab Callahan, “Don’t fucking talk about him, you keep his name out of your fucking mouth.” Mike sneered, he glared at Callahan until he backed away from Mike again, he didn’t deserve to say Will’s name, didn’t even deserve to think it, Will was gold where Callahan was lower than dirt, worthless, Will’s name didn’t belong in his disgusting mouth.

“Interesting,” Callahan muttered with a smirk, “Hit a soft spot, did I?”

“You didn’t hit shit.” Mike growled, his nails dug painfully into the palms of his hands where he was clenching his fists tightly, Callahan’s eyes flickered to them.

“You know what’s funny to me Wheeler,” Callahan asked as he started leaving Mike’s cell, closing the metal gate to the cell and locking it into place, he looked at Mike through the metal bars with a smug expression, “I said both Will’s and El’s name, yet you jumped to Will’s defense, not El’s, makes me curious as to why, you know?” Smacking his lips together, Callahan reached his hand up to his head, pretending to tip a hat at Mike, slapping his hand against the bars of his cell Callahan walked away.

The next morning found Callahan reluctantly opening Mike’s cell, pulling his hands behind his back Callahan cuffed him before grabbing him by the arm and leading him to the front of the police station, all the well grumbling under his breath. Mike thought the handcuffs were unnecessary considering he was being released but he supposed Callahan was feeling petty. 

Will, Jonathan, and Nancy sat waiting for him near the entrance of the station, all three of them with their eyes trained on the door Callahan led him out of.

“Mike!” Will didn’t even wait for Callahan to walk the rest of the way to them or to uncuff him before he was throwing his arms around Mike’s neck, the force in which Will launched himself at him made Mike fly back a little, planting his feet into the ground to steady himself he wanted nothing more than to be able to hug Will back.

“Can you take these fucking handcuffs off me now; I’d like to hug my best friend back.” Mike said when he noticed that Callahan wasn’t in a hurry to uncuff him, with motions far slower than they needed to be Callahan reached into his pocket for a set of keys, lazily flipping through them until he found the right one, reaching behind Mike he unlocked the handcuffs, taking them off of him Callahan immediately clipped them to his work belt.

Ignoring Callahan, Mike brought his own arms around Will’s waist, picking him up slightly from where he was hugging him, Will buried his face into Mike’s neck, he could feel him relax against him, his body going slack. 

“Are we free to go now Officer Callahan?” Nancy snappily asked, her and Jonathan walking up to them with matching frowns both aimed at Callahan.

“Yes, Mr. Wheeler is free to go, if we have any questions or concerns, we’ll be sure to follow up.” Callahan seemed as if he wanted to say more but was holding back, staring at his sister Mike figured Callahan didn’t want to get on her bad side.  

“Thank you.” Jonathan told him, shaking Callahan’s hand for a brief second before he laid that same hand on Will’s shoulder, “Alright Bud, I know you don’t want to but you need to let go of Mike for now, at least long enough for us to get to the van.” Jonathan teased his brother, smiling down at Will, Mike unwrapped his arms from his waist, taking Will’s hands into his own he pulled his arms from around his neck, keeping hold of one of Will’s hands, Mike didn’t wait on Jonathan or Nancy before he walked towards the front door of the station, a second later he could hear footsteps following him and Will.

Pausing at the stations front door, opening it and letting Will, Jonathan, and Nancy go out first Mike couldn’t resist turning around to face Callahan who still stood where he had uncuffed Mike, watching them leave with pursed lips that looked like they tasted something sour, “Good luck with catching the killer Callahan, I for one feel safer knowing you’re out here looking for him,” Mike added just enough sincerity into his voice to make it sound believable, but he knew Callahan could hear the taunting edge to it, see the smile behind his fake frown, “You be careful not to slip up though, you never know who’s watching and waiting in these dangerous times.”

Nostrils flaring with rage, Callahan turned red in the face as he listened to Mike’s mocking words, knowing he was powerless to do anything but stand there, feeling a tugging coming from his hand, Mike smiled a final time at Callahan before walking out of the station, tightening his hold on Will’s hand Mike pulled him towards him, getting him as close as he could get.

“What the fuck was that?” Will hissed to him, glancing behind them as they walked to Jonathan’s van.

“Change of plans baby,” Mike told him in a low voice, not looking at Will, instead watching Jonathan help his sister into his van, after he opened the back sliding door for both him and Will, giving them concerned eyes that Mike paid little attention to, “We’re not going after Principal Coleman anymore.” Will didn’t get to say anything back to him, reaching the van they jumped inside the back of it; getting situated together after moving a few of Jonathan’s work camera’s out of the way.  

“He’s a cop though Mike,” Will observed him from the passenger side of his car, “It’s a little different.” He pointed out unnecessarily, Mike knew killing a police officer wasn’t the same as killing their other victims, he wasn’t an idiot, killing Callahan was going to shine a bright light on anything and everything in sight, the police would be even more determined to find the killer seeing as one of their own was the latest victim.

It wouldn’t matter though, Mike planned to kill El tonight as well, he wanted to wait until she finally gave herself to him completely, but time wasn’t on their side anymore, it wouldn’t be long before other people besides Callahan and Dustin suspected Mike, from there they would connect the dots to Will, which Mike couldn’t let happen. Their plan had to be kick started before it was too late, he had to get Will out of the state of Indiana before anyone suspected anything and had the means to prove that suspicion.

Mike still planned to try to get El to sleep with him tonight, he wasn’t sure if he could charm his way into her pants in such little time though considering he hasn’t been able to before which was why this plan had dragged on so long to begin with.

“It’s not that different,” Mike argued with confidence he hoped would be transferred over to Will, “He’s just another person Will, he’s made of the same things as that bitch was, Chrissy was, and Jason was, nothing more and nothing less.”

Will huffed in reply to him, biting his bottom lip as he looked out his window, Mike turned in his seat to face him, gently grabbing Will’s cheeks into his hands, Mike brought their lips together, giving Will a deep kiss, “You’re still with me, right? You’re not backing out now that we’re so close to finally getting justice for my mom…are you?”  

“No, of course not, I wouldn’t do that to you Mike, you know that.” Will replied in an offended tone, giving Mike a glare for even suggesting that he wasn’t all in.

“I had to ask,” Mike said, shifting back from the wheel of his car he reached over to Will, grabbing him Mike started tugging until Will got the hint to climb into his lap, setting his weight against Mike, arms going around his neck, “I know I’ve asked a lot from you baby, I know that you’ve been patient and understanding, and I love you so much for that Will,” kissing Will’s jawline Mike worked his way down his throat, all the way to his Adam’s Apple, taking it in his mouth he gave a couple of heavy sucks to it that made Will moan before moving his mouth back up Will’s neck, “I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me, I need you Will, I’m lost without you. After tonight we’re leaving and never looking back.”

“You promise?” Will asked him in a whisper, looking up at Mike through his lashes with a face that spelled uncertainty, like he was afraid Mike was going to laugh and call the entire thing off, “No more El?”

“No more El.” Mike confirmed, if he got his way that night, then there would be no El to even be had, Will had nothing to worry about, “And even better…no more Dustin.” He growled letting his hands tighten their hold on Will’s hips where he was holding him. Though he didn’t push at it, Mike wasn’t about to forget about Dustin’s blushing appearance in the face of Will’s flirting, he had seen the enjoyment flicker in the other boy’s eyes when Will had run his nose up and down his neck. An enjoyment he wasn’t entitled to, Will belonged to Mike , he was his , he was the only one allowed to enjoy Will’s flirtations.  

“I would actually argue that no more El is a lot better than no more Dustin,” Will teased him, eyes twinkling with delight, playfully pinching Will Mike huffed without replying back. 

“We should get going before it gets later,” Mike told him observing the setting sun in the distance, putting thoughts of Dustin to the back of his mind for the time being, “Are you ready?” Without answering him Will popped open the driver side door, getting out he dug into the backseat for their masks and knives, they had already changed before leaving the house, each donning their pure black outfits with an extra set of clothing for each of them in case things got messy.

Glancing around the street, Mike noted the stillness and quietness that was unusual for this time of day, not a single soul was out tonight, everyone was safely tucked away into their homes, none the wiser of what was happening on their street. Closing the back door with both masks and knives in his hand, Will handed one of each off to him.

Giving one last look around the neighborhood they silently made their way down the street to Callahan’s home, careful to keep their faces turned downwards and their pace quick.

Officer Callahan’s Home

5:58pm

Waiting by his stove in his kitchen, Callahan impatiently tapped his foot on the floor, the water he put to boil twenty minutes prior was taking its sweet time, even being on full heat. He had gotten off work early that day, having decided he needed a break away from all the stress work was causing him lately; even if that break was only an evening off and later start the next morning, it was better than nothing. He was exhausted from following up on the calls that rang in to ‘tip’ useful information on the killer that turned out to not actually be useful in any way.  

He was irritated, hungry, and in want of sleep. He had to follow up with the calls though despite not really wanting to, he knew who the killer was already.

Mike Wheeler might have had everyone else in Hawkins fooled but not Callahan, he noticed the unhinged look in the boy’s eyes when he and Steve had interrogated him. Before Steve had called his attention Mike was staring at Will Byers through Hopper’s office window like he wanted to devour the other boy whole. At first Callahan thought the boy was watching El who sat next to her brother, but on closer inspection he noticed that his gaze was actually on Will instead, he seen the possessiveness in Wheeler’s look, a chilling thing that reminded him of the abusive assholes he’s had to arrest over the years, namely one Lonnie Byers.

That man used to stare at Joyce and her two boys as if he owned them, as if they were property. Callahan knew it wasn’t only appearance either, Lonnie Byers felt that way, he saw his ex-wife and his two sons as objects, possessions, toys that were there to do with as he pleased. He lost count of how many times he had gotten called out to the Byers residence for domestic violence, everyone at the station used to be familiar with those calls, pulling up to the Byers home, seeing two crying boys with blood staining their clothing, bruises littering their small bodies, clinging to each other with their mother off to the side of them not looking any better off than they did.  

It always saddened Callahan that he couldn’t do much for them in that situation, no woman or child deserved to live in fear of their husband and father. It was always hard having to release Lonnie Byers the next day when Joyce would come into the station claiming she wasn’t pressing charges and denying all the accusations of abuse both on account for herself and her sons. It was even harder knowing that it would only be a few days at max for another call to come in.

Mike Wheeler had that same air about him, Callahan didn’t understand how no one saw it but him, his own chief lived with Will Byers, surely he must have noticed the way Wheeler watches his stepson. Will Byers wasn’t safe around Wheeler, neither was El Hopper, he already tried to kill her once, Callahan was sure it wouldn’t be long before he made another attempt.

Wheeler was a tricky one though, he’s not sure how he was able to make that call to El at Steve’s house when he was locked behind bars, that more than anything else was what made his innocence. Perhaps there was a second killer in the mix, who on earth that could be was a mystery to Callahan though, the only two people he knows are close to Wheeler are El and Will. El already had an attack on her life, plus there was the issue of the call, how would she have been able to make a call to herself which left Will Byers, a thought Callahan dismissed as fast as it came, there was no way, Will was the sweetest kid, always smiling, always helping, he didn’t see him being able to physically hurt someone on such an extreme level. 

He isn’t gullible though, Callahan knows Mike Wheeler is the killer, he feels that conviction deep in his bones, all he had to do now was prove it before anyone else got hurt, before Wheeler set his sights on his next victim or went to finish what he started with El. It was probably wishful thinking, but Callahan did hope he was imagining a second killer in the mix, finding two murderers would seem like an even more impossible task for everyone considering they couldn’t even find the first murderer.

Finally seeing the water in his pot begin to boil he pulled some pasta noodles out of their container to drop into the water. Just as he was stirring them his doorbell rang, filling the house with its chiming rhythm. Tapping the spoon he used to stir the pasta on the side of the pot, Callahan glanced over to the clock above the archway in the kitchen that led to the living room and hallway, noting the time. It wasn’t yet curfew but whoever was ringing his doorbell was cutting it short, it was probably his neighbor Scott Clarke coming to ask him to borrow something from his pantry or refrigerator, that man was always forgetting things during his weekly grocery shopping trip.

Placing his stirring spoon down next to the pot of boiling pasta, Callahan wiped his hands on one of his kitchen towels, the doorbell rang a second time just as he was walking towards it.

Quickening his steps he opened his front door, there on the other side was nothing but his front yard, observing his yard and the street and not seeing a single thing out of place or a single person in sight he closed his door. Walking back to his kitchen Callahan stopped when the doorbell rang again, nervously watching his door like it was going to attack him if he got closer to it, Callahan paused long enough to grab his work gun before walking back to the door, the gun tucked behind his back.

Opening the door again and seeing nothing again he stepped outside of his home, the only thing he could see was the little gnome he had bought a few weeks ago to spruce up the dead grass around him, seemingly mocking him with his rosy cheeked smile from his place in Callahan’s yard. The teenagers in this town really pissed him off sometimes, always pranking and joking in serious matters, because it was obvious that that’s all this was, a stupid teenage prank to scare him.

Huffing in frustration, Callahan stomped back into his home, locking the door behind him, throwing his gun on the side table next to his front door he rushed to the kitchen hearing the sizzling crackle of overflowing water on his heated stove, his pasta was overboiling.  

“Fucking teenagers!” He bellowed, burning his hands when he grabbed the pot without thought to move it away from the heat, he should have grabbed some oven mitts beforehand, not thinking though he blindly reached for the pot barehanded.

Grabbing his spoon to stir the no doubt clumpy pasta, Callahan spotted a shadow moving in his peripheral vision. Not trusting that what he was seeing was all in his head he quietly tiptoed to the archway of his kitchen, hand firmly holding onto the wooden stirring spoon as he went.    

Peering around the archway into the hallway that led to the bedrooms and bathroom, Callahan held his breath, feeling a sickening sensation of fear taking over his senses. There at the end of his dark hallway was someone standing, he couldn’t see their body very well in the darkness but what he could see clear as day was the white mask with the gaping mouth and black holes for eyes. Whoever was standing at the end of his hallway cocked their head to one side, shifting slightly they disappeared behind his opened bedroom door.

It had to be Wheeler, there was no possible way that it was anyone but him, Callahan heard his threat loud and clear when he left the police station. He had another thing coming if he thought he was going to come into his home to scare him, Callahan was ready to handcuff him and bring him into the station with a smile on his face like he had promised.

Not thinking beyond proving that Mike Wheeler was the killer, Callahan trudged down the hallway to his bedroom, the wooden stirring spoon his only weapon, standing in front of his open door he didn’t see anything in the darkened room apart from his furniture, not a soul in sight, “Wheeler! I know it’s you in here! Stop with whatever fucking game you think you’re playing and come out with your hands up! Right now!” He yelled into the silent room, his mind played tricks on him when he saw shadows moving back and forth in the corners of the darkest parts of the room.      

Reaching his hand inside, Callahan felt around for the light switch he knew was on the wall next to the door, finally feeling it between his fingers he made a move to flick it up to allow light in the room and be able to see exactly where Wheeler was hiding. Before he could do that Callahan felt an unusual draft of air from behind him, felt a hold on both of his ankles, not getting a chance to turn around a searing burning sensation overwhelmed his mind, unable to keep standing he fell straight forward onto the tile floor of his bedroom, his jaw knocked on to it with a loud snap, the wooden stirring spoon flew from his grip to across the room.

Choking around the blood that pooled into his mouth from biting into his tongue upon impact, Callahan tried breathing through his nose, he could feel the warm liquid of his blood leaking from the twin cuts, his Achilles tendons slashed through on both his lower legs. Quivering with pain and fear he lifted himself onto his forearms to look behind him, at the doorway was another person, dressed the exact same as the first, with mask and all in place, in their hands was a knife dripping with his blood.  

A hand in his hair sharply forced him to look away from the second person, the hand manipulated his head until he was facing upwards, otherwise unable to move, excruciating pain like nothing he’s ever felt before rushed over every inch of his body. 

The hand not holding his hair slowly trailed downward, across his forehead, down the bridge of his nose, tracing the outline of his lips with soft touches, trembling so bad he was sure he was convulsing, Callahan opened his mouth, from it leaked the blood he had yet to swallow, his jaw was tight, painful to move, he momentarily wondered if he had broken it on his fall down, “You motherfucker.” He said through bloody clenched teeth.

From behind him he felt the second person step on either side of his body, leaning over him they replaced the hand in his hair, giving the person in front of him use of both his hands, that he used to shake his head by his cheeks, the hand in his hair had a tighter hold on it then the previous one, arching him backwards with experience to struggle.

Tapping his hand on the side of his stinging jaw, the man in front of him spoke, from behind the mask was the clear voice of Mike Wheeler, Callahan had a moment where pride went through him, he knew Wheeler was the killer, he knew it, that pride disappeared though when he realized he was paying the price for that knowledge, “I told you to watch for slip ups Callahan,” shaking his head in mock disappointment, Mike gripped his jaw in one of his hands, with his other hand he pulled a knife that mirrored the knife the other man had from behind his back, “You really should have listened to me.” Trailing the knife down from his temple to the corner of his lip, Callahan tried unsuccessfully to keep in his yelps of pain, the knife dug into his skin, cutting him on its journey down.  

“Fuck you.” Callahan gathered the blood and spit in his mouth to the forefront of it, using more energy than he thought it should have he spit into Wheelers face, leaving his mixture of spit and blood on the white mask, his body was going weak, he could feel how slacked he was becoming, he was under no delusion that he was making it out alive from this encounter, before he went though he wanted to see who the second man was. There were two killers, he needed to know who the second one was.

Not attempting to wipe off the mask, Wheeler shook his head in amusement at Callahan as he watched him try to reach backwards to the mask of the second killer, cackling Wheeler said, “Don’t hurt yourself now.”      

Sharply pulling his hair again, Callahan stopped his attempts at unmasking the second killer, this one was quieter than Wheeler, less amused, more forceful.

“I’m truly sorry it had to come to this Callahan.” Wheeler mockingly told him, he hated that the fucker kept the mask on, the fact that he couldn’t look into Wheeler’s dead eyes was somehow insulting to Callahan, some part of him wanted to see him for who he really was, without the cover the mask provided, Wheeler wasn’t who he pretended to be, and that mask allowed him to hide behind a façade.   

“Go head baby,” Wheeler said to the second killer, head turned up as he nodded at him, pinching his jaw for a final time Wheeler stepped away from him, excitedly bouncing on the heels of his feet as he watched them. Callahan had a small window of time where he questioned Wheeler calling the second killer baby , he wasn’t allowed to ponder beyond that though because the man slanted his head back further, placing the knife at one end of his throat he playfully tapped it against his sensitive skin, without warning, in a faster movement then Callahan was prepared for the second killer slashed the blade from one end of his throat to the other, releasing his hair he felt them press a boot against his spine to knock him forward.

Callahan was grasping at his throat with shaking hands, pressing them to the deep slit that was made there, blood gushed from the gash and through his fingers, covering the front of his shirt completely. Horrible choking sounds escaped his mouth, his eyes teared up well panic numbed his senses, trying and failing to crawl away, he flipped onto his back, at the doorway was Wheeler and his companion, both staring at Callahan through the dark pits of the mask as he bled out, it wasn’t long after that his eye lids felt too heavy to keep open, with one last gasp the world fell silent and black.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hopper’s Cabin

October 30 th , 1988    

6:30pm 

Walking into the cabin, he tried not to think about what was in store for everyone for the rest of the night, it made his muscles jittery thinking about it so he did his best to put those thoughts to the very back of his mind. He didn’t bring any supplies with him this time around, there wasn’t any need to, not only had he brought supplies for them less then twenty-four hours before but also things were getting kick started far sooner than he had thought they would, soon Hopper and Joyce would be in their own home, comfortably laying in their own bed and enjoying their freedom from the restraints.

Even from where he stood by the front door to the cabin he could hear Hopper’s struggles and poor attempts to break the restraints holding him to the bed, he had to hand it to the older man, he was persistent, but it was all for nothing, he was only hurting himself in the end. None of that mattered now though, Hopper and Joyce wouldn’t be here for much longer either way.

“Fuck!” Hopper yelled in pain and frustration, opening the door to the bedroom his eyes immediately went to the bloody mess of Hopper’s wrists, unfortunately for Hopper he didn’t have time to clean them for him at the moment. Roughly tugging with motions that were far more sluggish than he clearly wanted them to be, Hopper had tears brimming his eyes as he eyed the restraints with anger.   

Joyce lay beside him, silently watching her husband with her own tears as he tried his best to free himself, neither of them noticed his entrance into the room. Bounding over to the end of the bed he grimaced to himself when Hopper twisted his wrists around in an awkward angle, blood leaked from around the restraints, down his arms, the metal meeting wet skin made a squelching sound that turned his stomach.

“You’re only hurting yourself doing that,” he interrupted Hopper’s attempt to awkwardly bend his wrists again in hopes of slipping through the restraints, “I’ve told you that before.” He scolded, he didn’t have time to properly clean and disinfect the self-inflicted wounds but feeling bad he grabbed a clean washcloth, wetting it with a water bottle that sat on the nightstand, he carefully leaned over Hopper’s body to clean as much of the blood as he could. 

“Fuck you!” Hopper snarled at him, he moved his body away from him but wasn’t able to get very far away before the restraints stopped him, “Don’t fucking touch me!”

Ignoring Hopper he continued cleaning the blood in gentle motions, looking over at Joyce he seen in her eyes what he always sees, sadness, betrayal, anger, and helplessness, “I’m sorry I couldn’t come over this morning like I said I would, some things came up,” he apologized to the both of them, “I can’t stay long, I just came to tell you both that by the morning you won’t be here anymore, so please stop trying to escape Hopper.” He pointedly gave Hopper a glare, hoping the older man heeded his words and didn’t continue to hurt himself for nothing.

“What does that mean?” Joyce fearfully whispered to him, eyes flickering with poorly hidden panic.

“Nothing bad,” he was quick to reassure her, he did love Joyce, he loved her so much but in comparison to him , she was but a drop of water in a lake, “The police will be given your location and they’ll be here to set you both free, I only came here to tell you that and to say goodbye.”

“You really think you’re going to get away with this…don’t you?” Hopper shook his head in disbelief, his head sagged too much to the left when he did that, his muscles cramped and sore, unable to keep a steady motion without fatigue weighing him down.  

“Goodbye?” Joyce sobbed the word out, trying to shift herself upwards he watched as she blinked her big brown eyes at him, “What do you mean ‘goodbye’?”

“I keep telling you Hopper, it doesn’t matter what I think,” he says to Hopper, finishing cleaning as much of the blood as he could, stepping away from the bed, he threw the bloody washcloth in the trash, “I’m doing this for him , you both know that, after tonight we’re leaving and not ever coming back, so yeah this is goodbye.”

“You can’t leave! No! You can’t!” Joyce yelled at him through her crying, she started to struggle against the restraints, despite having more energy than Hopper, it having been bottled up during her duration at the cabin, she was unable to loosen or break her bonds.

“I know you both probably don’t believe me after all of this, but I love you and I’m sorry for everything.” Nodding to them he backed away until he reached the door, taking one last look at both of them, ignoring their protesting words, he reminded himself why he was doing this, it was all for him and that was something he refused to feel guilty about, he needed him and he’d be damned if he wasn’t there for him .

7:24pm

Creeping inside the Wheeler’s basement with the bag of supplies he had prepared ahead of time slung over his shoulder, he tried his best to be as quiet as he possibly could be. Thankfully for him the Wheeler’s basement door was almost never locked, especially not tonight. How on earth they had yet to get robbed was beyond him, the Wheeler’s weren’t the richest family in Hawkins but they certainly weren’t wanting for anything, overall being more financially well off than most other families in Hawkins, including his own.

Quietly going up the basement stairs and opening the door that led to the inside of the house he listened closely to see what he could hear. The house was more silent than he expected it to be, but he knew Nancy was at the news station with Barb and Fred, contemplating what they wanted to do that night, whether they wanted to go to Lucas’s party to stalk the teenagers or not. Mike wasn’t there either, off doing whatever it was that Mike did, and Holly was at a friend’s house, there for the week as she often was since Karen Wheeler’s passing, much like Nancy and Mike Holly couldn’t stand being in the house for long before wanting to leave it.

The only one in the house was Ted Wheeler, the only sound in the house came from the living room TV where some news program was playing, a common occurrence as well. Making his steps light, he peeked around the wall leading to the living room, and sure enough there was Ted Wheeler, asleep in his recliner as he always is, with his mouth hung half open, none the wiser to his surroundings.

Dropping the bag to his feet, having no use for it right now considering it was for later, he reached into his pocket for the sedative that he had been holding onto for several years, none of them were sure if it would still work, unaware if these things had unfailing expiration dates, if it didn’t work then he would have to use a more physical means of keeping Ted asleep. Making his way to Ted, he leaned into him as far as he dared to go without alerting the sleeping man of his presence until he could see his arm more clearly. He had told him to look for the clearest vein in Ted’s arm and to inject it there if he could, not that it mattered much as long as it was injected whether that be through a vein or muscle the sedative should still work but it seemed more likely to work through a vein so that was what he was going for.

Positioning himself to get a good angle on Ted’s vein, he slowly and carefully slid the needle in, quickly pushing the liquid through the needle and into Ted’s vein as fast as he could. Most likely feeling a presence in front of him that he wasn’t supposed to be feeling Ted groggily woke up, sleepily blinking his eyes up at him, he confusingly tilted his head, “What the hell?”

Ted tried making a move to get up but the sedative worked faster than he was expecting it to, even having been forewarned on how it worked, he wasn’t expecting Ted to slag back into his recliner when he was visibly attempting to stand. His movements were almost that of a drunk teenager, sloppy, he was saying something but for the life of him he couldn’t understand the words dripping from Ted’s mouth, he talked like he had something restricting him, something holding his tongue. He didn’t have to wait long until all the movements Ted was attempting to make seized and his eyes closed completely, his entire body uselessly fitted to his beloved recliner.  

Hand going to Ted’s front pocket on his shirt, he grabbed onto the car keys that Ted kept on him before making his way to the window, peeking out the curtain he noted the emptiness in the street, the quietness. People were too scared to be out and about, everyone was hiding away in their homes, hoping and praying that the killer was caught before they possibly became the next victim.

Waiting a few minutes he got the bag from the floor before he picked Ted Wheeler up and threw him across his shoulder, the man was heavier then he assumed him to be but nothing he couldn’t handle.

Praying that he wouldn’t be caught in the act he hurried to leave the house, taking large and even steps to Ted’s car, he didn’t pause to see if he missed anyone in the streets, going as fast as he could he opened the backseat of the car and slid Ted into it, laying him down on the stiff cushions of the car. Jogging his way to the driver’s side he slid into the seat, starting the car up he took a minute to look around as he slowly backed out.

There still wasn’t a single person in sight, he let out a sigh of relief as he drove away. He was on a time crunch, he needed to get Ted to Lucas’s house, tie him up and make sure he couldn’t make a sound nor could he escape before they needed him, he needed to hide Ted’s car in the woods surrounding Lucas’s house considering this was going to be their means of escape until they could switch cars a couple of towns over, and he also still needed to pop back up in the public eye so everyone stayed oblivious to his part in everything.

Throwing the bag of supplies to the passenger seat he eyed it with twitching eyes, he asked him to pack the bag ahead of time and to bring it with him, tightening his hands on the steering wheel he hoped that he knew what he was doing.   

The Sinclair Home

8:40pm

El once again sat in the backseat of Steve’s police car with Steve driving and Max in the passenger seat, at her feet were the bags of snacks and drinks she had picked up at the grocery store earlier that day with Max. She was looking out the window to the backseat, outside was nothing but greenery, trees upon trees are what met El’s gaze.

Lucas lived within the same area that Chrissy and Jason lived, his house was one of the smaller ones in this area, but it was still far bigger than most other houses in Hawkins. It was a nice home, the few times that El had been there she had hoped to be able to afford something just as equally nice when she got older. She could tell they were getting closer when they started passing by street lamps that lit up the street they were on, up until that point most of the drive had been dark, these fancier homes were so far into the woods that most the roadways were not lit.  

“Are you guys positive you want to go to this party?” Steve questioned them with a worried voice, it was not the first time he was asking them, he did not think it was a good idea to go to a party with everything happening, El understood why but she did not change her mind, she had been looking forward to this party, “I’m sorry but with everything happening I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“We’re positive Steve, god stop worrying so much,” Max scoffed at him from her seat, “We can handle ourselves, plus, it’s not like you’re leaving, you’re going to be outside the entire time.” El nodded in agreement, Steve only let them come to the party with the condition that he stay in the car outside in case something happened and he was needed. She could admit that she felt safer knowing he was not leaving them so she did not argue with it, Max however was a little bitter, she felt like her big brother was supervising them.

Outside they started passing by groups of cars with teenagers dressed in their Halloween costumes getting out of them. Feeling more apprehensive the closer they got to Lucas’s house she started to play with the skirt to her Wonder Woman costume, crumpling it between her fingers, she pulled the fabric down a bit, trying to cover more of her skin. The skirt to the costume was shorter than El had thought it would be, she was doing her best to ignore it though. Other than the tiny skirt, she felt beautiful, strong, like a superhero, she silently thanked Max in her mind for spotting the costume when she had. Max had helped her get ready, teasing El’s hair for her, doing her eyeshadow for her, even going as far as spritzing some body glitter on the exposed chest part of her costume. Her friend looked equally stunning in her Poison Ivy costume, Max had forgone painting herself green but she had curled her red hair, put on bright red lipstick, and covered almost every inch of herself in fake leaves and vines.   

Finally arriving outside of Lucas’s house, El and Max opened their doors, from the house came a blast of music that she was surprised was not louder, she had expected Lucas to be damaging some ears tonight. Teenagers filtered in and out of the house, red party cups in their hands, some bobbing to the music, others content with talking to each other.  

Getting out of the police car her and Max got a few unusual glances for their ride, ignoring them El grabbed the bags of snacks and drinks, passing a few over to Max, together they started walking away, “Hey, hey, not so fast,” Steve stopped them from walking away, hand waving at them to catch their attention, moving closer to the car, they waited for Steve to talk, “Please be careful, both of you. Stay together as much as you both possibly can and for the love of god if anything, and I mean anything happens please don’t hesitate to call for help.” Steve gave them both a stern look until they nodded.

“Good, now you girls have fun.” Dismissing them with a hand wave Max rolled her eyes at Steve, muttering under her breath, “Jerk.”

Leading the way Max walked them up Lucas’s large yard, reaching the front door they walked inside, Max immediately shouted to the drunk teens around them, “Caterer’s here!” Laughing as she waved the bags in her hands around, El smiled at her friend, enjoying her wide smile.

Following Max to the kitchen El paused at the doorway of it, across the way on the other side of the kitchen island were Lucas and Dustin. Holding up a beer bong and spilling beer into it was a laughing Lucas, who was dressed as The Terminator , black leather jacket with a black shirt under, black leather pants, and dark sunglasses to complete the look. On the floor at his feet was Dustin chugging the beer as it made its way down the bong, beer spilled out from the corner of Dustin’s mouth, dripping down his neck onto his navy jumpsuit, pulled over his head was a Michael Myers mask.

“Real classy guys, the party hasn’t even been going on an hour and you’re already getting shit faced.” Max set the bags she was carrying onto the island, leaning over she shook the bong in Lucas’s hand, making Dustin spill even more beer onto himself. Copying Max’s lead El set the bags she was carrying on the island too, almost immediately after they set them down, teens were scouting through their haul, pulling what they wanted from it.  

“Can you blame us? You guys are late so we made the executive decision to start without you.” Lucas told them smirking over at Max.

“Late? It’s like 8:45pm so calm down, fifteen minutes never hurt anyone.” Max grumbled as she picked up an empty beer can to throw at Lucas’s head who dodged it with ease.

Getting up from the floor, beer bong left hanging uselessly from Lucas’s hand Dustin let out one of the loudest most disgusting burps El had ever heard, she wrinkled her nose at him, that was gross, Lucas did not seem to agree with her, he shouted in glee, “My man!” clapping Dustin’s back with the palm of his hand making Dustin let out another loud burp, giggling to himself afterwards at the sound.

Seemingly getting a first look at them Dustin whistled, “Damn! You guys look fucking hot!” Putting his hands in the air he pretended to take pictures of them.

“Fuck yeah we do!” Max exclaimed, bumping her hip into El’s, still feeling like the skirt was too short, she tugged on it again, uttering a quick, “Thank you.”.   

“Seriously though babe, you look fantastic,” Lucas crept up behind Max after he set down the beer bong, putting his arms around her waist he tucked his face into Max’s neck to pamper kisses there that were far louder than El thought they needed to be. Ignoring their affectionate display she looked around the house, Lucas’s kitchen was pretty open, she could see most of the rest of the house from it. Trying not to seem like she was looking for anyone in particular, her eyes bounced between people, keeping watch for Mike or Will, where one goes the other isn’t far behind so she knew if she found one she would find the other.   

9:17pm

Sitting outside of Lucas’s house in the car with Mike beside him, Will watched with pursed lips as several drunk teenagers tripped over themselves as they ‘danced’ outside in the yard to some song that he could only vaguely hear from where he and Mike were. A girl with bright blonde hair fell to the grass beneath her when she tried to spin with her friend, as she went down she took some guy standing next to her with her, they giggled on the floor to each other, attempting to get up but failing when they were hit with another laughing fit.  

On his face he could feel the sticky wetness of Callahan’s blood, Mike had thought it was funny to dip his finger into the slit made in Callahan’s throat, swirling his finger under the gash before he had taken Will’s mask off of him and trailed his bloody finger over his face, tracing his skin and the lines on his face like Will himself was one of his drawings that Mike cherished. He could have wiped the blood off from his face at any point but he liked how it felt, he figured tonight no one would question whether the blood on his face was real, assuming it to be fake and a part of his Halloween costume.  

Glancing down to his outfit that he hadn’t bothered changing, Will fiddled with the hockey mask he had gripped in his hands, it had the same splattering of Callahan’s blood that his face did. He had thrown Mike’s green jacket over his outfit and was now just waiting to slip the hockey mask over his face so he could claim to be Jason Voorhees for the party; he had even gone as far as getting a fake machete to add to it.   

From where they parked they could see the majority of the property, the teenagers, and even Steve’s police car; he knew it wouldn’t be long before Jonathan showed up in his work van with Nancy, Barb, and Barb’s camera man. Neither of them had made a move to leave the car yet, Will was unsure of Mike’s reason but for Will his thoughts were centered on what Mike’s plan was once they did leave the car, particularly the part in Mike’s plan to try to persuade El to sleep with him tonight.  

Feeling fingers crawling up his thigh, Will turned in his seat to look at Mike who had a grin on his lips as his eyes trailed over the blood he had used to decorate Will’s face. Shifting closer to Will his fingers latched themselves onto his long-sleeved shirt, using more force then he needed to he brought Will’s lips to his own, beginning a rough kiss that sent a pleasant shiver down his spine.

Dropping the hockey mask to the floor of the passenger seat he tangled his fingers into Mike’s curls, Will moaned into his mouth when Mike bit down on his lower lip, keeping their lips together Will pushed Mike back into his seat so he could climb into his lap, he loved the feel of Mike’s warmth against his body, loved feeling his dick hardening in his jeans below him, Will loved being the one making Mike feel good.

Tightening his thighs around Mike’s hips he began a slow rocking motion that he already knew they wouldn’t be able to take further but he couldn’t resist teasing Mike. Lips leaving Will’s own Mike poked his tongue out of his mouth, turning Will’s head to the side, clutching onto his jaw with one of his hands Mike licked up the side of his jawline to his temple where one of the thickest stains of blood was, groaning Will moved above Mike faster, no longer subtly grinding against him.

Lips coming back to his Mike was quick to curl his tongue around Will’s, sharing the taste of Callahan’s blood between them.

Pulling Will impossibly closer to him Mike broke their kiss, “You’re so beautiful baby,” he whispered to him with gentle eyes and a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth, trailing his nose along Will’s jaw and cheekbone, “ Mine .” He playfully growled into Will’s ear, pecking his cheek with a simple kiss, Will smiled as he buried his face into the crook of Mike’s neck.

“ Yours ,” Will murmured against Mike’s neck, taking a deep breath he knew his next words were going to change the comfortable atmosphere around them, but he didn’t care, “I don’t want you to fuck her.” He spat out, hands tightening in Mike’s hair, pulling it none to gently. He understood perfectly why Mike wanted to fuck El, he got it, Mike was a sick bastard who wanted something to hold over El’s head at the end of all this, he wanted that ammo to be able to taunt her with, and if Will was less insecure about his relationship with Mike then maybe he would be okay with him fucking her, but he wasn’t.

Some part of him felt like the second Mike’s dick went into her he would find that he enjoyed her body a lot more then he enjoyed Will’s, that maybe Mike would realize he liked being with a female more than a male, that maybe he enjoyed El too much to actually do anything of what he planned to do with her, that maybe Mike would leave him for El . Will knew his thoughts weren’t based on any logic; he knew it was his own uncertainty that was feeding into them, but they still sat heavily in his mind, still came out to wave in the forefront of it.

Pressing his lips together Mike winced when Will gave a particularly hard pull to his hair, his scalp burned where his hair was tugged. Will was no longer grinding down on his lap, Mike sighed with disappointment and frustration when his dick started going soft again, Will was a fucking tease and sometimes he loved it, other times Mike hated it.

The words Will told him rang over and over again in his mind ‘ I don’t want you to fuck her ’, of course he knew he felt that way, Will hadn’t been subtle in the least expressing his dislike for the idea of Mike fucking El. He couldn’t exactly blame him either, even just the thought of Will with someone else was enough to make Mike hazy with jealousy and feel him with a need to consume Will and show him who he belonged to. Will was fucking gorgeous, people couldn’t help but look, men and women, and Mike was the lucky bastard to be able to call Will his , he didn’t want to ever make Will feel like he wasn’t all in, like he wasn’t enough.

Mike was selfish though, he was toxic, he purposely pulled on Will’s insecurities, purposely manipulated the all-consuming love Will felt for him to his advantage. He’s been doing it for years, even well before that day in his basement with Will and his mom’s diary, convincing Will to get revenge with him, for him. If Mike really thought about it, his actions date all the way back to their kindergarten days, crying crocodile tears to a small Will in too big hand me down clothing when he played with anyone who wasn’t Mike, telling tiny Will that he was Mike’s best friend , not anyone else’s thus successfully pulling him away from any other kids that had wanted to play with Will.

Will didn’t know it because Mike never said anything, but he had always felt like he was in a tug of war for Will, constantly fighting invisible foes threatening to take him away from Mike. Thinking about it made his stomach turn, Will couldn’t ever leave him, he couldn’t ever not want Mike, he could never not love him.

“I know you don’t but if she lets me, I’m fucking her,” Mike said with a hint of a patronizing tone, Will didn’t have to like it, he only had to accept it, before he knew it him and Mike would be long gone from Hawkins anyways, El would be a thing of the past a lot sooner then Will thinks, he’ll get over it and realize that him fucking El meant nothing to him in any way that mattered, softening his voice and widening his eyes at Will he said, “I told you already that she means nothing, I meant that. I need you to understand why I want to do this Will, why I need to do this, please...please.”

Hands tightening in his curls Will forced his head closer to his own, eyes glaring into Mike’s with warning, “I swear to fucking god Mike, if you leave me after fucking her, I will kill you ,” he could feel his eyes widen at Will’s threat, he’s never heard him this angry before, it probably shouldn’t have but the threat stirred his dick back to life, “Do you understand?” The way that single word came out of Will’s sweet mouth was a clear indication of Mike’s own words in the parking lot of Family Video when he had told Will he didn’t want to see his hands on anyone else ever again.

“I wouldn’t ever leave you Will.” He promised, he wished he could offer more to Will in that moment, but he couldn’t, he’s already offered as much as he could for now. He knew Will’s insecurities ran deep but he didn’t know they ran that deep, a slight pang of guilt hit him in his chest when Mike thought back to his purposeful manipulations of Will’s feelings, but he dismissed the emotion. Mike knew Will had half the insecurities he had because Mike had yet to claim him as his boyfriend, he felt like El had a title that he wouldn’t ever be able to claim, which was ludicrous.

Though Will didn’t know because Mike never told him, he didn’t claim Will as his boyfriend because he didn’t want to cheat on Will with El, claiming him in such a way was intimate to Mike, Will deserved to be able to claim Mike back in the same way. With El in the picture that wasn’t possible, he never wanted to disrespect the loyalty he would be promising to Will by claiming him as his boyfriend. Fucking around with Will behind El’s back wasn’t the same, in this scenario he was cheating on El, not on Will.

“We’ll see,” Will nodded with hatred in his gaze, Mike knew it wasn’t aimed at him but it still sent an unpleasant shiver down his spine, “We should go, it’s getting late.” Glancing out the windshield Mike noted that Will was right, they needed to get going before more time passed them by. Climbing out of his lap and back into the passenger seat, Will leaned down to the floor to pick up the fake machete and the hockey mask, gripping them both in his hands he made a move to get out of the car.

Mike quickly leaned over with a hand pressed to Will’s chest to stop him from leaving, his fingers dug into the fabric of his shirt with a nervousness he wasn’t willing to admit he felt, “I love you Will.” He murmured before placing a soft kiss to Will’s lips, he let relief fill his body when Will didn’t hesitate to kiss him back.

“I love you Mike.” Will brought his hand to his cheek to lightly caress it, just as Mike closed his eyes to enjoy the sensation Will moved back from him, opening the door he slipped away from him.

Feeling jittery sitting in his car Steve decided to get out to explore around Lucas’s house for a bit, with everything going on it couldn’t hurt to check things out, to make sure nothing was out of place or weird. He told the girls he would stay outside, well they had a good time at this Halloween party, but he hadn’t realized just how boring it would be waiting outside by himself.

Getting out of the car Steve walked around the property, only encountering one couple getting frisky near the tree line of where the yard ended and the thick forest began, shooing them away with an eye roll Steve thought to himself if he was that stupid and horny in high school, he was a basketball player, one who jumped from girlfriend to girlfriend so he came to the conclusion that he definitely was, still he was bored out of his mind and scaring teenagers out of getting it on was somewhat entertaining.

Jogging closer to the side of the house, he stopped to stare at the familiar news van pulling in, slightly hiding itself on the side of the house that had more coverage of trees and bushes, irritated Steve placed his hands on his hips, this was ridiculous, El couldn’t even enjoy a high school party without someone trying to ruin it for her.

He stomped his way to the van, getting closer the back door slid open, revealing a bunch of cameras and news equipment Steve didn’t know the names or purposes of, crowding into each other in the back of the van were Nancy and Barb, up front driving was Jonathan and in the passenger seat was the camera man from the day El punched Barb in the face.

Not noticing him yet they were talking, “Were we spotted?” Barb’s camera man asked them, adjusting his bulky glasses on his thin face, large teeth gnawing on his bottom lip nervously.

“No, we weren’t,” Barb shook her head, she was the first one out of the van, dressed as she normally is, she took stalk of her surroundings, a disgustingly pleased look on her face, “Hurry up and get your camera Fred, we need it running.”

Next to leave the van was Jonathan, who immediately went to the back sliding door to help Nancy out, Barb’s camera man, Fred Steve told himself had also left the van, only to jump into the back to start fiddling with equipment two times his size back there.  

“We’re here to keep an eye on things,” Jonathan firmly told both girls, folding his arms over his chest, “Not to catch a story, right Nancy?” Steve had to hand it to Jonathan, he isn’t sure he’s ever seen Nancy as embarrassed as right now, normally the thought of ‘catching a story’ blinds her to everything else, makes her disregard anything or anyone else around her.

“Right.” She whispered to herself, Steve figured it would be a good time to reveal himself to them, stalking around the van he stood behind Barb, waiting for her to notice him, when she finally did she jumped a foot in the air, eyes going wide with fear, “Shit!” She yelled; Steve raised an amused eyebrow back at her.

“Did I scare you Ms. Holland?’ He teased enjoying her frigid posture, that’s what she gets, Steve isn’t stupid, Barbra Holland was not there to keep an eye on anything, she was there to get another story out of El, she was there hoping to catch onto something or see something that would give her and Nancy another topic for another book.

“What the hell!” Barb snapped at him, “Don’t just sneak up on people like that.”

“Maybe if you guys had been paying more attention you would have seen me,” Steve shrugged without a care, they were news people, shouldn’t they know how to be stealthy and quiet, apparently not because they weren’t, “Why are you guys here?” He jumped right into his question; he didn’t see a reason to prolong the inevitable of asking it.

“To keep an eye on things.” Jonathan said at the same time that Barb said, “Come on you should already know Steve that you never know when or where a story will break.” Steve already knew she was not there to keep an eye on anything, but it did irritate him that she didn’t even try to hide her true intentions.

“No stories here to be found Ms. Holland, just a bunch of teenagers having fun.” He replied to her, it was always beyond frustrating dealing with news people, they always felt like they were above laws and morals, to Jonathan he said, “I’m already here watching things Jonathan.” Not as subtle as he probably should have been, Steve gestured to the van, indicating his unsaid words that they should leave.

“I don’t care if you’re already here Steve, both my little brother and sister are in that house with a killer on the loose, I’m not leaving.” Jonathan growled out taking a sturdier stance with his feet as if Steve would attempt to physically remove him.

“It’s not like we’re doing anything illegal anyways,” Nancy added in, patting Jonathan’s arm, “Plus can’t you use the extra sets of eyes Steve? Five pairs of eyes watching things is better than one pair.” Yeah, five pairs of eyes was better than one pair, had those other sets of eyes been anyone else Steve would have gladly accepted the help but when three of those pairs were more obsessed with catching a story then they were with actually keeping a close eye on things so no one gets hurt then things become dangerous for everyone.

Knowing he couldn’t very well make them leave Steve heavily sighed to himself, “Whatever, just remember that El is here to have a nice fun evening out, I don’t want to see any of you ruining that for her.” He pointed his finger between Nancy and Barb, knowing they were the main culprits who would attempt to do something like that, “I’m leaving, goodbye.” Nodding to Jonathan, Steve stepped away, intending to go inside the house despite telling El and Max that he wouldn’t, he wanted to see both of them for himself, to make sure they were still keeping safe.

Rushing in front of him Nancy cut off his walking, “You’re going up to the house? Inside?” Not answering her, Steve moved around her to continue walking, suppressing a groan of irritation when Nancy said, “Me and Barb will come with you.” She raced back to Jonathan, telling him to stay outside with Fred, well her and Barb went inside to make sure everything was okay, Jonathan and Steve both missed when Fred handed off a small camera to Barb.

From behind him Steve heard Jonathan tell Fred he was going to walk around the property and forest, see if everything looked normal, Steve tried telling himself that at least one of them was actually going to be helping him keep an eye on things.  

Reluctantly he walked up the yard with Barb and Nancy on either side of him, both having giddy expressions painted on their faces, getting to the front door he opened it, not bothering to hold it open for either girl he let it shut halfway on them, snickering to himself when they both glared at him.

Walking further into the house towards the living room Steve spotted El and Max on the couch, Max was kissing Lucas on one end of the couch, using far more tongue than what was appropriate, well El was flipping through some VHS movies on the other end of the couch, leaning back relaxed into the cushions. Dustin was up by the TV with two VHS movies in his hands, raising them he asked a group of sweaty teenagers how many of them were for watching Evil Dead and how many were for watching Hellraiser . Steve didn’t see Will or Mike anywhere in the house, he wondered if they came, Jonathan had said that both his little brother and sister were here.  

Flipping through the movies in her hands, El started listing the titles out loud, “ The Fog , Terror Train , Prom Night , Halloween ,” with each movie title she named her brows scrunched closer together, “How come Jamie Lee Curtis is in all these movies?”

Hearing her question despite how quietly it was asked in between his shouting, Dustin threw his own movies aside to lean against the couch where El was at, putting his hands together excitedly he explained, “It’s because she’s the scream queen.”

“I mean with a set of lungs like that, she should be.” Lucas stopped kissing Max long enough to add in.

“I bet it’s the tits, she has a nice pair, she probably gets casted so when she’s running from the creeps in these movies they’re jiggling thus satisfying the mass of horny teenage boys that objectify her.” Max said to El making Steve slightly proud, his sister had some good arguments when it comes to stereotyping and objectifying the female gender and she never strayed from voicing her opinions.

Spotting Steve, Barb, and Nancy walking into the living room Lucas shouted to the room, “Woah look who’s here! Nancy and Barb! Hawkins very own news ladies!” Steve could tell he’s had a few to many, his eyes were glazed over and red. Not wanting to be associated with Nancy or Barb, Steve moved further away from them, putting a distance between them that wasn’t there before. He didn’t want El or Max thinking that he asked either one of them here.

The kids around him cheered, each getting closer to Barb and Nancy, throwing compliments at them, unashamed both of them were clearly flattered, smiling wide at the teens around them.

“Steve, what the fuck are they doing here?” Max asked him angrily, getting up from the couch with irritated movements, her arms flinging about almost hitting a couple of girls passing by her.

“They were outside Max,” Steve was quick to explain, gesturing to them with his own irritated expression he watched as Barb walked further into the room, getting closer to the TV that was playing some horror movie, on point with the theme of the party, she seemed to be moving in slow evened steps, glancing around with a weird look on her face, his attention went back to Max when she snapped her fingers in his face, “They followed me in, I know I said I would stay outside but I had to make sure you and El were okay.” 

“As you can see, we’re perfectly fine,” Max snapped, El got up from the couch, handing over the movies in her hands to Dustin she walked out of the living room having to pass by Nancy who stayed closer to where they had come from, glaring at Nancy El bumped her shoulder purposely as she walked by, “Now leave and take the media muffs with you well you’re at it.”

Ignoring Max, Steve followed El thinking she was upset with him for ‘bringing’ Nancy and Barb into the party she was trying to enjoy herself at, “El, I really didn’t bring them here, I wouldn’t do that to you, they just followed me from outside, Jonathan is here too.”  

Not appearing to be angry with him El nodded in understanding, when she talked Steve realized she wasn’t worried about the two media muffs as Max called them, she was worried about her parents, “I know I already asked earlier today but have you heard anything about my dad and Joyce?”

Steve frowned back at her, El had already asked him that question that morning, he hated having to tell her that no one had heard anything from them or about them, he hates it even more now, he had seen how her eyes lit up with hope every time his radio or walkie went off, thinking that would be the call saying they found Hopper and Joyce, only to be disappointed when nothing of the sort was said, “I haven’t heard anything El, I’m sorry.”

“Do you think something really bad happened to them?” El wrapped her arms around herself, seemingly to keep herself from falling apart, Steve understood her worry, he really did. Normally when a person goes missing there’s a forty-eight-hour period of time that is crucial in finding them, after forty-eight hours the odds of finding the missing person alive is close to none, Hopper and Joyce have been missing for five days . 

“I don’t know El,” Steve didn’t want to give her false hope that they were going to find them in a good condition, it seemed too cruel to El to make her believe that her parents were okay when the likelihood that they were dead was very high, “I’m hoping we do find them soon and that they’re okay.” It was the best he could offer; it wasn’t much but El seemed to appreciate it either way, stepping into his space she gave him a hug. 

“Hey!” Letting her arms fall from around him El turned to face a glassy eyed Max who like her boyfriend had a few to many to drink, “Lucas ran out of beers, I’m going to the garage to get some more, I’ll be right back, are you going to be okay by yourself?” Placing her hand in El’s Steve saw that she gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Yeah, of course.” El squeezed Max’s hand back, smiling softly at his sister.

Not liking the thought of Max going somewhere by herself, Steve butted in, “I’ll go with you, I don’t want you going by yourself.”

Sneering at him Max threw her arm out to hit him on his shoulder, wincing Steve reached up to rub the spot she hit, for such a small girl Max had a heavy hand that she had no issues hitting people with, he was beginning to wonder if these violent tendencies were normal or not, “I don’t need you to come with me Steve! I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself!” She argued.

“Max there is literally a kil-” Steve started to argue back only to be cut off by Max hitting his shoulder again, in the same spot too making it sting a little extra, he let out a yelp, smacking her hand away from him Steve glared at her.

“I don’t need you to protect me Steve! I’m only going to be gone for five minutes tops, stop acting like I’m going across the state or something, it’s just the garage!” Shifting away from them El’s wide eyes bounced from Max to Steve and back again like watching a tennis match.

Throwing his hands up Steve yelled, “Okay! Okay! Excuse the fuck out of me for wanting to make sure my sister is safe.” He sarcastically griped, he still didn’t like the idea of Max going to the garage by herself, but he wasn’t going to argue about it further with her, the more he argued the angrier Max would get, and when Max got angry she started making stupid decisions in attempts to prove her point, in this case her point being that she wasn’t a little girl who needed protecting.  

“Max will be fine Steve,” El said in her defense, Steve knew how much El looked up to Max, she made it no secret that she admired her best friend for her strong personality and can-do attitude, in El’s eyes Max could conquer anything, Steve loved that for their friendship but the fact remained that it wasn’t safe for anyone especially a teenage girl to be alone right now, “Max can take care of herself.”

“Exactly!” Max exclaimed gratefully, moving past them she said, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some beers to get.” El waved Max off, Steve stared after her with an upset expression.

Wanting to be useful, he figured he would go back outside to see if Jonathan had seen or heard anything unusual, “El I’m going to go scout the area again. How about you go talk with Dustin in the meantime that Max comes back.” He suggested as he pointed to Dustin who was lounging on the couch still ranting about scary movies to anyone who would listen to him, which wasn’t really anyone as far as Steve could tell.    

“Okay,” El nodded, “Be careful.” Giving her a nod of assurance in return Steve watched until El got to the couch and sat down next to Dustin, immediately pulling him into a conversation he couldn’t hear but it seemed to make Dustin happy, he was wildly nodding to whatever El was saying to him.

Gesturing to Barb and Nancy that it was time to leave, Steve waited by the front door, he wasn’t about to leave the two vultures in the house with El, since he was leaving, they would be too. Not putting up an argument like he half expected them to, Nancy and Barb made their way over to him.

Letting out a sigh of relief that he didn’t have to argue with them about leaving, Steve threw open the front door, jumping back in fright he glared at Will who stood on the other side of the door, hand paused halfway to the doorknob, “Shit sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you Steve.” Will laughed at him as he moved around Steve’s body to get inside the house, he spared a single glance at Nancy and Barb before returning his focus to Steve.

“You didn’t,” he denied even fully knowing that everyone in the vicinity saw him jump away from the door, not expecting to see Will on the other side of it, “What are you dressed as?” Steve asked, Will seemingly didn’t put a lot of effort into his costume, he wore plain black clothing with a green jacket thrown over his shirt, a mask of some kind was perched on his head, fake blood splattered on his face.

“I’m Jason Voorhees.” Will pulled down the mask from his head allowing Steve to see that it was a cheaply made hockey mask with another splattering of fake blood on it, from behind him Will pulled out a fake machete, slashing it threw the air a couple of times in a demonstration of his Halloween costume.

Not giving Steve time to comment back, Will asked, “Do you know where El is?” Wordlessly Steve pointed to the living room area where she still sat with Dustin, no doubt arguing about scary movies considering Dustin was now excitedly waving some of the VHS tapes in El’s face, uttering a quick “Thank you” to him Will bounded over to El, seating himself next to her, he threw his arm over her shoulder. Steve didn’t know when they made up, but they must have seeing as El didn’t push Will away, instead she cuddled underneath his arm, pointing at Dustin as she laughed at whatever he said.

“Are we going outside,” Nancy waved her hand in front of his face, snapping her fingers far too close to his eyes for his comfort, “Or do you plan on creepily staring at the teenagers all night?”

Not answering her Steve held open the front door, gesturing to Nancy and Barb to walk out first, before following them he threw a final glance over his shoulder at Will and El, eyes lingering on the deep red of the fake blood on Will’s face, not liking how real it looked under the fluorescent lighting of Lucas’s living room. 

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Pennhurst Insane Asylum

March 13 th , 1984  

4:11pm

Nervously twiddling his fingers in the backseat of Hoppers police car, Will paid little attention to Hopper and El talking in the front seat, each laughing about who knows what as Hopper pulled into Pennhurst Asylum, parking his car front and center of the large building, patiently waiting for him and El to exit the car. Just on the other side of the building was a field of green grass, from it Will could see men and women dressed in white button-ups and white pants, around them was patients of the Asylum, El did tell him that in the afternoon hours the attendants sometimes took out some of the patients to enjoy the sun and get some fresh air.

Hopper wasn’t staying with them, just dropping them off, Will and El were there to visit her mom, something El does four to five times a week, sometimes even the whole week if she’s able to manage it. This was Will’s first time coming here with her, El thought it was in support, she thought it was Will taking a genuine interest in her life considering their parents were getting married, she couldn’t be further from the truth if she tried.

Even though this was Will’s first time coming with her, he pretty much knew what to expect, who to expect, El had given him a run down a few weeks prior to this when Will had expressed interest in coming with her to visit her mom. She had looked so happy, so touched that he was considering coming with her, no one came with El to these visits, too uneasy with the fact that her mom was unresponsive to the people and the environment around her, unable to do anything but sit there with a blank look on her face. Will had spent the last few months getting to know El, making an effort to be the perfect friend and brother that El needed in her life, after he insisted that his mom introduce them, Will took every opportunity possible to spend in El’s presence.

It was unfortunate really, he could actually see himself and El being real friends, real siblings in another life if things had been different for them. Aggressively shaking his head Will pushed those thoughts to the furthest point he could get them in his mind. He couldn’t afford those sorts of thoughts to circle his mind. 

It was dangerous to be thinking that way, who knew what Mike would do if he knew Will had stray thoughts here and there that El didn’t deserve what they were doing to her, what they planned to do to her. Will was afraid to think what Mike would do if he knew that sometimes Will didn’t have to pretend to like El, to get along with her, because he genuinely enjoyed her company, she was funny in a blunt way, sweet and kind, sometimes it felt like she was the missing puzzle piece in Will’s life that he had been unknowingly searching for.

He could never express that to Mike though, his best friend had been extra possessive of him lately, ever since their kiss in Mike’s basement back in November Mike hadn’t left Will’s side unless he had to. Things had changed in their friendship; he wasn’t even sure if the word friendship encompassed them anymore.

Friends didn’t kiss the way they did, friends didn’t explore each other’s bodies in ways only two inexperienced horny teenage boys could, with clumsy eager motions that sent butterflies throughout their bodies, friends didn’t whisper ‘mine’ into each other’s ears, friends didn’t get upset when they weren’t paid attention to, friends didn’t hold hands or intimately hug for long periods of time, friends didn’t cuddle every time they found themselves alone.

Friends certainly didn’t tell each other that they were in love with each other.

They weren’t boyfriends either though, Will had tried asking Mike what they were and though he didn’t say they were only friends he didn’t say they were anything more either, all he told Will was that they were each other’s. He didn’t quite like that response but being each other’s was better than being nothing, better than being told they were only friends too.

“Are you getting down, kid?” Hopper’s question pulled Will from his thoughts, he noticed lately that anytime he thought about Mike he tended to lose himself to the reality around him, so completely focused on Mike his thoughts on everything else were pushed aside so easily, in the back of Will’s mind he could hear Jonathan telling him that was the start of an obsession, “Did you change your mind?” Hopper worriedly glanced at El, who stood outside the car already waiting for Will, Hopper was glad someone had volunteered to go to visits with El, privately he had thanked Will for his efforts, but he did mention how he wouldn’t begrudge him if Will changed his mind, however he did say he was unsure how El would take to that news.  

“No!” Will exclaimed not wanting El to feel like he didn’t want to be here, he wanted to be here, maybe not for the reasons he had told her but he did want to be here, “No, I got lost in my thoughts for a second, I’m good now.” He said more calmly, exiting the car Will shut the backseat door behind himself, pinching his hands into two fists he made his way to stand close to El, only half listening to Hopper telling her he would pick them up in a couple of hours.

Waving goodbye to Hopper as he drove away, El grabbed Will’s hand, unclasping it from the fist he had made as she looped their fingers together, leading them inside the front entrance of the Asylum, walking them over to the front desk where one lady sat behind a wall of desks looking exhausted beyond belief, “We need to get you a visitor’s pass for today because this is your first time here but if you come again we do not have to do this, we can just go straight to my mom’s floor.” El told him, nodding his head at her, Will thought to himself that at least coming in and out of the building wasn’t going to be an issue in the future.

The lady behind the desk seemed so out of it that Will was honestly surprised she stayed upright in her seat as she gave El the bright red visitor’s pass to clip onto Will’s jacket, leaving the front desk Will curiously asked, “Is she always like that?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” El replied with a giggle.

Not knowing where to go, Will carefully followed El to the stairs, walking up one flight to the second level of the building, keeping his eyes peeled on everything they passed. Reaching a set of double doors that Will guessed led to the main rooms of the patients, El stopped them again in front of another row of desks, where another bored, exhausted looking lady sat, a perfect replica of the one on the first floor. Apparently knowing El by face the lady stood up from her chair, she pushed a black button located to the side of some dark green files, the double doors in front of them opened wide.

Walking around the desks and to the double doors the lady greeted El and him with a tired smile, El began making small talk with the lady as she led them through the doors, explaining to the lady that she would be seeing a lot more of Will in the future with El. Beyond the doors was a series of hallways, ones that on first glance looked complicated to navigate but on closer inspection weren’t, El and the lady walked down the middle hallway to reach the room El’s mom was assigned to.

He noted how quiet everything was, how little interaction the place had, he wondered if that was because of the floor they were on which El had explained held other less interactive patients like her mom or if it was from some patients being outside at the moment or if perhaps it was always like this regardless.

“Is it always so quiet here?” Will questioned, he didn’t see a reason not to, this was his first time here, it was normal for him to have questions about the place and its people.

At this question El didn’t smile or giggle, instead she looked around the emptiness of the hallway they were in with a sad expression, “Yeah, this floor does not have very many visitors, most of the patients are like my mom, they do not interact with the world around them, so people do not come to see them. The workers are here but since it is the floor with the least amount of visitors, they tend to get pulled onto the other floors leaving only one, maybe two attendants for this one.”

Turning his face to the white tile floor beneath him, Will brought his hand over his mouth, letting a fake cough into it to cover his smile. Mike would be happy to hear that bit of information, he would see it as the universe working in their favor. 

Arriving at the room, El paused outside the door letting the lady go in front of her, Will carefully watched as she pulled a retractable keycard from the lanyard on her shirt, running it over a black square box next to the door handle, a soft click sounded, letting them know the door was unlocked. Giving them a quick goodbye the lady walked away from them, going back the way they came. Hand on the doorknob to the unlocked room El gazed at Will, as if asking him if he was sure he wanted to go in with her, still holding onto her hand Will gave it a gentle squeeze, putting as much assurance into his expression as he could so El would feel at ease with letting him into the room. 

Letting go of his hand she pushed the door open, Will followed her inside, carefully keeping a step behind El as she made her way around a cart positioned in the middle of the room.

Sitting on a cozy looking rocking chair with a white hospital blanket thrown over her lap was Terry Ives. Well El greeted her mother with overexaggerated movements and a far brighter smile than what was necessary, talking in a voice two volumes too high, Will took that time to take Terry Ives in.

As far as he could tell she wasn’t all that special in the looks department, she had dry brittle brown hair pulled into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck, dead brown eyes that seen nothing in front of her, and pale skin with a sheen of sweat on her forehead, she was dressed in a blue nightgown with a brown cardigan over it. She was rather plain looking, Will imagined her dressed up in fancy clothing with her hair done and makeup on and yet that image still couldn’t compete with Mrs. Wheeler. Mike’s mom was far prettier than Terry Ives, for the life of him Will couldn’t see what about the woman in front of him entranced Ted Wheeler enough that he was going to leave his wife and kids for her.  

“This is Will mom,” El’s voice broke through his thoughts, waving him over to her, Will stepped closer, “He came with me to visit you, we’re going to be official brother and sister when dad marries Joyce.”

“It’s nice to meet you Ms. Ives.” Will took her hand in his, having to manipulate the dead weight of it enough to give it a shake before releasing her hand back onto her lap; it was awkward but at least El was happy as far as he could tell.   

An hour later found Will on the floor by the only window in the room, sketchbook positioned on his lap, pencil in his hand, shoulders hunched over as he drew a basic outline of El and her mom sitting together under a cherry blossom tree. He planned to gift El the drawing when he was done with it, hoping it would butter her up to him even more so.

Across the room from him El sat on the floor at her mother’s feet, arms wrapped around herself as she talked, keeping a steady stream of words falling from her mouth, talking just to fill the silence as her mom never answered her back.

The room was sparse as far as Will could tell, there was the hospital bed, the rocking chair, and one other single hospital chair that looked far too unpleasant to sit on (he had refused it when El had offered it to him). The room also had a cart with extra supplies such as hospital gowns, pillows, and blankets organized on it. Other than the minimal furniture, there was nothing in the room, it looked like a hospital room, nothing at all about it was comfortable, homely, or loving. He had expected El to have done something with the room her mom stayed in, perhaps liven it up some so it didn’t feel so empty and lonely. Not only did it look like a hospital room it reeked of one too, Will’s nose twitched every so often against the onslaught of disinfectant that perfumed the air around him.   

A loud creak from the door opening interrupted the next spill of El’s words to her mom, making them get caught in her throat. Will's head snapped up from his sketchbook to look at the door. He was starting to wonder just how long it would take for Terry’s attendant to come check on her, El had explained already to him who Henry was long before coming here, this visit was not only meant to see where El’s mom was located but to also get a feel for Henry Creel.

“I apologize, I always forget these doors are unnaturally loud sometimes.” The young man walking into the room apologized to El with a hint of insincerity, Will’s eyes roamed over the stranger. He was younger then Will pictured him being in his head, he had expected someone in their thirties’, the man in front of him looked in his early twenties’ at most, a mop of wavy blonde hair sat on top of his head, hands clasped behind his back Will noted the white uniform of the staff was tailored to his body, it outlined his thin frame perfectly, he was tall too, in a way he reminded Will of Mike, a sun version to Mike’s moon, Will’s fingers itched to draw him.

Unlike the second lady who kept her retractable keycard on the front of her button-up, Henry kept his at his hip, Will’s eyes lingered there for a moment before looking away.

When the man turned his attention to Will, appearing genuinely surprised that another person was in the room with them, Will had to physically hold back his gasp, the man…Henry had the most beautiful eyes Will thinks he’s ever seen in his life. A complete contrast to Mike’s ebony eyes, Henry's were bright blue, like the surface of the ocean, Will thinks his analogy of the sun and moon was pretty spot on, especially now that he faced Henry head on. He was very good looking, it made Will’s skin tingle, he wasn’t expecting to be attracted to the man Mike had sent him to be bait for.  

“Hello?” Henry stepped closer to him, seemingly running his eyes over Will in a similar manner to how he just did to Henry, fiddling with the pencil in his hand Will nodded back, his mouth not opening up to talk despite him telling it to, catching on to Will’s nervousness Henry smiled in a way Will would say was a smirk, “You are?”

“My brother, Will.” El answered for him as she stood up from the floor, eyes flickering between him and Henry with curiosity.

“I didn’t know you had a brother Ms. Eleanor.” Henry responded without turning away from Will, feeling awkward sitting on the floor still with El and Henry standing, he jumped up from the floor, his sketchbook fell to the ground from his lap when he stood, he had forgotten he had it there, face turning red in embarrassment he reached down to pick it up.    

“El, my name is El,” she grumbled back at Henry, it must have been something she’s told Henry time and time again for he didn’t reply back to her, “His mom and my dad are marrying each other, remember I told you that a couple months ago.” El reminded him, Will wondered how close they were if El had shared that information with her mom’s orderly, not someone typical to share personal information with.

“Yes, yes I remember now,” Henry nodded after a moment of thinking back on conversations he must have had with El in the past couple of months, things would be a little more difficult if Henry was close to El Will thought to himself, “It’s nice to meet you Will, I’m Henry Creel, Ms. Ives’ primary attendant.” Holding out his hand Henry waited for Will to shake it.

Wiping his palm on his jeans in case it was sweaty Will reached over the small space that separated them, grabbing onto Henry’s hand he shook it, it was a light handshake, hardly even a shake in Will’s opinion, really they were basically just holding each other’s hands, his hand was smaller than Henry’s, warmer to, he could feel his cheeks heat up in response to that, trying to hide his burning face he looked down to his feet, clearing his throat he murmured, “Hi.”

Henry held his hand in his own far longer than Will thought was appropriate after he introduced himself, he didn’t say anything though or try to pull his hand back, he kind of liked how their hands felt together, “You enjoy drawing?” Henry pointed to Will’s sketchbook that he had placed under his arm after picking it up from the floor. It might have been Will’s imagination, but the way Henry gazed at him in genuine interest made Will think he wasn’t just asking to make small talk.    

“Yeah,” Will said back, pulling his sketchbook from under his arm, he tightly held it in between his hands, “Would you like to see some of them?” It wasn’t often that Will let anyone aside from Mike and every once in a while Jonathan and his mom look at his art, he wasn’t comfortable with it, it surprised even him that he was willing to show Henry his art, a virtual stranger despite the pre-made plan involving him. He would take advantage of Henry’s interest though, so far the older man hadn’t looked away from Will, as if mesmerized, he stayed giving Will his full attention.   

“I would love to.” Will was almost blinded by the pure white of Henry’s teeth when he smiled at him, eyes crinkling in the corners, Will felt his lips quirk up in response, perhaps this part wasn’t going to be as tedious as he had assumed it would be.

The Sinclair Home

October 30 th , 1988

9:31pm

Huffing to herself after her disagreement with Steve Max opened the door to the Sinclair’s garage, the music faded into the background as she reached her hand into the dark room that the door revealed to her once opened. Placing her hand on the wall next to the door she blindly searched for the light switch she knew was there somewhere.

Finally finding the switch Max flicked it to the opposite side it was already on, light filtered the space with a warm glow, the garage door opened too before it stopped halfway up only to close again. Not giving it much thought she shrugged off the jittery nerves she felt being alone as she skipped her way down the few steps the garage had.

She had argued with Steve that she would be fine alone, that she was a big girl and could handle herself, there was no way in hell Max was taking that back now, no way she was going to go scurrying back into the living room to get someone to come back with her because she felt more anxious being alone then she thought she was going to feel. She had more pride than to do something like that, Steve would never let her live it down.

Spotting the extra refrigerator across the way, Max made her way over to it, she didn’t like that it was so far into the garage, of course it was her luck that it couldn’t be next to the door. Opening it up she crouched down to see the last shelf where she knew the extra beers were kept, biting her lip Max hurried to gather the beer bottles in her arms, counting them under her breath as she went, “One, two, three…” she didn’t have the arm space to carry all of them, someone would definitely need to make another trip back to the garage for more, that person was not going to be her again she thought to herself.

A crash of tools from behind her made Max jump up from her crouched position yelling “Fuck!”.

Twirling around with the beer bottles in her arms, Max frantically looked around the garage, her breath sounding shallow in her throat as she tried to calm her racing heart. Across from her an orange stray cat loudly meowed at her in offense, as if it was Max’s fault it tipped over the tools it must have been playing with before she came in.   

Laughing to herself for being such a scaredy cat Max kicked out her leg in the direction of the stray cat, “Shoo get out of here.” She told it, the cat meowed at her again but ultimately listened to her, leaving through the animal flap in the garage that Max isn’t sure why the Sinclair’s even had installed seeing as they didn’t have any pets.

Sighing to herself with a head shake Max muttered, “You’re being ridiculous Max, everything is fine.” She hated how stilted her voice came out, clearly she didn’t believe her own lies. Not wanting to be in the garage anymore she roughly closed the refrigerator door with the same foot she used to shoo the cat away, being cautious not to drop any of the beer bottles carefully cradled in her arms.

Walking back to the door she came in through Max shifted the bottles of beer to one arm, hugging them tighter since they didn’t have as much support anymore. She hadn’t noticed but the door must have closed behind her when she walked in, grabbing onto the doorknob she gave it a twist, only for it to not move a single centimeter.

It was locked, the door was locked, “Are you fucking kidding me?!” Max exclaimed into the empty air around her, scoffing to herself, she was so stupid, she couldn’t believe she locked herself out. 

Twisting the doorknob again as if that would magically open it up, Max banged her fist against the door, trying and failing to get someone’s attention from the other side, the music that was playing was further muffled then it was before now that the door was closed, she was pretty positive no one could hear her over it.

When the light unexpectedly went out in the garage Max turned around with a gasp, her eyes flickered everywhere at once, she didn’t like how dark it was, she could hardly see anything, there were far too many dark hidden places where someone could pop out from. Not turning her back to the dark room, she loudly banged her fist on the door again, yelling through it, “Hello! Someone unlock the goddamn door!”  

No one came to unlock the door, she let her fist bang on the wood of the door a final time before she flicked the switch again, she wasn’t staying in the dark creepy garage until someone noticed she was gone, she would just leave out the garage door instead. Once flipped the light turned back on and the garage door opened up like it did before.

Stomping her way down the few steps Max once again adjusted the beer bottles still being held with one of her arms, thinking to herself that the beers she carried better taste heavenly for as much trouble as she was going through for them. When she got back to the party she was going to horde them actually, no one else deserved to drink any as far as she was concerned, they weren’t the ones to get locked in the garage for them so they wouldn’t be the ones to drink them.

The garage door stopped halfway up like it did before, Max stopped herself in front of it, waiting for a second she watched as it did nothing, it didn’t go up or down, it just stopped. She would need to tell Lucas to tell his parents about it, the thing must have faulty wiring or something that it kept stopping halfway. Figuring she would just crouch to go underneath it, Max wrapped her other arm around the beers, pulling them closer to her chest, almost protectively, she bent her knees down to go under the door, just as she did the door started moving again, making a loud ruckus in the otherwise quiet garage as it went down, closing on her.

“Seriously!” She shouted at the now closed garage door as she moved away from it, getting out of her crouched position.

Angrily Max turned around to look at the switch, blinking a few times as she tried to understand the sight in front of her, squinting her eyes despite not needing to, Max took in the sight.      

On the steps was someone dressed in a long sleeve and jeans, a little emo for her taste considering everything was black with their hand outstretched over to the switch. She couldn’t tell who it was because like the fucking idiots at school that enjoyed torturing El the previous day they were wearing that creepy mask that’s been everywhere she’s looked lately. The only thing she could tell was that it was a man behind the mask, his frame told her that much, but she couldn’t tell who it was, all Max knew was that they had another thing coming if they thought they were going to scare her with this pathetic display.

She wasn’t El, she wasn’t frightened of a stupid fucking mask.

“I swear to god Dustin if that’s you behind the mask I am going to murder you.” She threatened him, it had to be someone she knew, she doesn’t think some random teenager would attempt to scare her like this, Dustin seemed the likelier suspect as he was obsessed with scary movies and enjoyed a good prank, plus he’s nonstop talked about the murders all week, ranting anyone and everyone’s ears off, creeping out if not scaring those he talked to along the way.

Taking their hand off the switch the man slowly shook his head ‘no’ at her, answering her question though not verbally, probably because whoever it was she would know who he was if he talked to her.

“Real cute.” Max sneered at the man, if it wasn’t Dustin it had to be Will or Mike, the man did have a thin frame now that she was looking more closely, had she paid attention to that at first she would have realized the man was too skinny and too tall to be Dustin, and it couldn’t be Lucas, as oblivious as he was sometimes he wouldn’t joke around with something like this.

Mike and Will on the other hand had been fucking assholes lately, it would be right up their alley to try and scare her with that mask, make her just as afraid of it as El is.

“So what movie are we in right now?” Max rolled her eyes as she walked to the man, maybe if she got closer she would be able to tell who it was, “ I Spit On Your Garage ?”

Getting to the steps Max walked up them until she was right in front of him, his chest was practically pushed against her own, the beer bottles being the only things keeping them from touching fully, “I’m not a fucking idiot, I know you’re either Mike or Will, so you can go head and lose the fucking mask before El sees it and loses her shit jackass.” Up close to them, Max put her palm out to push against their chest, not only were they trying to scare her, but they were blocking the switch to the lights and door, she wasn’t above kicking whoever it was, be it Mike or Will in the balls to get her way.

Holding out his arm, he blocked Max’s attempt to move around him, she had to strain her head back to look at him correctly, or more accurately the mask, sometimes she truly hated being so short, it made moments like this infuriate her, made her feel like she was being looked down on both in the obvious physical sense but also in the sense that the person thought they were better than her.

Slowly shaking his head at her in another answer of ‘no’ Max mockingly smiled at him, her lip being pulled back over her teeth, “What’s this? You want to play psycho killer?” She scoffed to herself when he nodded his head ‘yes’, “That’s pretty fucked up, but it really doesn’t surprise me Mike .” He tilted his head at her in a curious way, “What you think I don’t know it’s you…you’re taller than Will dipshit, skinnier than a god damn broom pole too, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that shit out.”

Mike still didn’t say anything to her, getting on Max’s last nerve, “What Wheeler, you want me to play the helpless pathetic victim?” She sarcastically asked, sneering when Mike nodded his head ‘yes’ again.   

Unable to stop herself Max’s hand flew forward roughly hitting Mike’s arm with the pad of her palm, the sound of her slap was muffled by his shirt which protected his bare skin from being hit, “Oh no, please don’t kill me Mr. Ghostface, I want to live long enough to be in the sequel!” Max mockingly exclaimed, hand coming up to her chest to be placed over her heart, she parted her mouth slightly and made her eyes bigger.

Face going back to normal Max chuckled, “How was that? Do you think I can be a successful Hollywood actress?” It was really starting to worry her when Mike still didn’t answer her, he was starting to take this dumbass prank to the next level, “You can move now asshole, I’m done playing your games.” Forcing her body into his Max tried to forcefully move Mike away from the top step, trying her best to get closer to the switch that kept her locked in.

Roughly grabbing onto her arms Mike stopped her, his hands were covered with black leather gloves, rubbing against the skin of her arms uncomfortably, his hold was actually hurting her, Max started struggling against him, trying and failing to get Mike to release her arms, “What the fuck Mike! Let me go! I’m not playing your stupid fucking game anymore! Let me go!” She screamed at his mask covered face, and the dipshit wondered why El accused him of being a murderer, he was fucking psycho.

Mike let one of his hands drop from her arm, seeing him reach for something behind his back that Max couldn’t see she renewed her struggling tenfold, the fear in her body spiking, something in her yelling to get away from him.

Not having any other choice Max dropped the beer bottles that she had managed to hang onto up until that point when Mike’s hand appeared from behind his back with a silver blade that looked nothing like a dumb Halloween prop. The bottles shattered at her feet, some of the glass from them embedding itself into the skin of her shins from the force of the drop, liquid pooled underneath the both of them, the stench of beer overtook the space.

“Mike! What the hell do you think you’re doing! Mike!” Tightening the hand that still had a hold of her arm, Max watched in fascinated horror as he brought the knife to the skin of her forearm, slashing through it without a care, the blade pulled away drenched with her blood.

It took Max a stilted second to realize what had happened, the burning pain in her arm hitting her at the same time that she registered Mike had cut her arm, blood was spurting from the wound, dripping to the steps she stood on and coating the fake leaves of her Halloween costume, “Oh my god,” she whimpered in pain, cradling her arm to her chest, Max could feel tears gather in her eyes, not bothering to hold them back she let them fall down her cheeks, “Oh my god, what the fuck is wrong with you?” She breathed out in a wobbly voice, pulling her arm free from Mike’s grip without much effort seeing as he loosened his hold, backing away from him she almost tripped over the beer bottles she dropped in her haste to get away from him. 

Keeping Mike in her sight she continued to back away from him, doing her best to hold her arm in a way to stop the blood from leaking from the slash, she felt silly as she bumped into several of Mr. Sinclair’s tools and odd knick knacks in the garage, Mike was slowly following her, mimicking her movements, she imagined the sick smile he must have had plastered on his face under the mask, “Stop it Mike! This isn’t funny!”

Advancing towards her with wide steps Mike made to grab her, Max jumped to the side, just missing Mike’s arms from enclosing around her, knowing he was behind her she rushed in the direction of the refrigerator, opening it she flung the door behind her, knocking into him but not stopping him by much as he just grabbed the door with his own hands, shaking it until she stumbled back.

Not giving it much thought Max ran back to the steps, to the light switch that was her only hope of escaping whatever Mike had planned for her. In the back of her mind, overshadowed by fear and pain, she thought about El, her poor friend was in the living room, unaware that the killer was here, unaware that she had been right all along, unaware that Max was possibly living her last seconds as she fought to get away.

Another thought crossed Max’s mind in the midst of her panic, she should have never told Steve not to come with her, more than anything she wanted her big brother here to hold her in his arms, to protect her, and tell her everything was going to be okay.

Reaching the top of the steps, Max’s hand flew out to slap against the switch, before reaching it she was pulled back by her hair, her curls being tangled in Mike’s hand as he forcefully dragged her down the steps by her head, the palms of Max’s hands scrambled on the floor, trying to anchor onto something to stop herself from being dragged. Her right hand clipped the side of a broken beer bottle, knowing she didn’t have much time she grabbed it without a second thought, it cut the palm of her hand where she grabbed onto it too tightly, not wanting to risk dropping it, she blindly slashed it towards Mike’s legs, knowing she hit him somewhere when he grunted in pain, releasing her hair, “Fuck!”

Max didn’t have any time like she thought she did to scramble away, Mike’s hands were on her again before she even took a breath, maneuvering her on her knees he back handed her, hitting her cheek so hard that the stinging sensation of it didn’t hit her until she brought her own bloody hand up to it, tears and snot covered her face from how hard she was crying, “You fucking bitch!” Looking down to his torn pant leg she noticed the little bit of blood that gathered by the torn fabric, she didn’t cut him deep, but pride still swelled in her chest for cutting him at all, plus it had the added bonus of making him talk, now she was positive it was Mike, she would recognize the fucker’s voice anywhere.

Unexpectedly the door she had come through popped open with a squeak, startling her and Mike when a curious voice rang through the garage, “Max? Are you in here?” Relief spread through her when Lucas’s voice hit her ears, she was never happier than now to see her boyfriend walk into the garage, face confused by the sight in front of him.

“Lucas! Help me!” Letting out a sob of relief, she tried getting up only to be pushed back down, she wasn’t as worried anymore though, Lucas was here, he would help her, Mike was going to regret ever coming after her.

“What the fuck! Max!” Lucas shouted at her, rushing down the steps without a thought to get to her, the door to the garage slammed closed behind him, Max hoped that it wasn’t locked again.

“No! Lucas!” She tried stopping him, she didn’t expect him to rush headfirst into this, she wasn’t sure what she expected but him coming towards them with flailing arms and panicked motions wasn’t it, he didn’t know Mike had a knife, he didn’t know that the killer was even Mike to begin with, he was coming into this completely blind, Max instantly regretted calling out to him for help, she should have screamed something else, something that wasn’t going to get her boyfriend hurt right along with her.  

Trying to stay positive Max told herself it was two to one, Mike didn’t stand a chance, that was until Mike turned his back to her the second he felt Lucas brush against his back, one arm going around Lucas well the other was trapped between them. Lucas let out a small gasp, from her place on the floor she could see him shaking, his wide eyes stared at her just beyond Mike’s shoulder. Max couldn’t keep in the loud sob that escaped her mouth when a wet squelching sound came from between them, she could see Lucas’s body go slack, see that Mike was the only thing holding him up. Moving his hand back, Mike stabbed Lucas in his stomach two more times, the same squelching noise coming from the wounds when Mike pulled back only to insert his knife into the soft skin of Lucas’s stomach again.

Stepping away from Lucas’s body, Mike removed his support, making Lucas fall to the floor with a harsh slap, “No! No! Lucas!” Crawling her way to Lucas’s quivering body Max was surprised when Mike didn’t try to stop her, instead he stayed watching them silently.

Blood rapidly gathered around the stab wounds in Lucas’s stomach, pouring out from them, Max leaned over him, wiping her eyes of the tears still falling from them she placed both her hands against his stomach, pushing down on the multiple wounds, she helplessly cried over Lucas’s body, knowing her feeble attempts to stop the blood were nothing, “Please, please, no, no, no, please. Stay with me Lucas, stay with me, please,” she pleaded with him, pushing her hands further against the holes in his stomach like that was going to do anything for him, “You can’t leave me! You can’t leave me!” She sobbed, Lucas coughed into the air, a wad of blood splattered out of his mouth, dripping at the corners of it, his eyes started to lose focus as his breathing got shallower.

“Ma-Ma-Max,” he tried talking to her, lifting one of her arms, she pressed her finger against his lips, silently telling him to not waste energy on talking.    

Max’s blood ran cold when laughing sounded from behind her, dropping her hand back to Lucas’s stomach, she slowly turned her body halfway to face Mike, he was bent over holding his knees as he laughed, hatred like nothing else that’s she’s ever felt before burned inside of her at the sight, “What the fuck is wrong with you!” She screamed at him.

“Please, please, no, no, no, stay with me Lucas, stay with me!” He cackled around his words... her words , using them as a metaphorical weapon to mock her with, straightening out of his bent over position Mike clicked his tongue at her, “Fuck it.” He muttered to himself, reaching up Mike pulled the mask back revealing his face to her and a barely conscious Lucas who managed to have enough energy to be surprised at the face reveal.   

Pointing to her, Mike wagged his finger at her, “That shit was gold Max, I fucking loved it!” Shaking with anger Max didn’t answer him, he was psychotic, she didn’t have enough time to care about that though, looking at the door she contemplated if she could make a run for it, giving her and Lucas a chance they desperately needed.

“No, no, no Maxine,” Mike scolded her, catching her gaze focused on the door, moving closer to them Max flinched away from him, he crouched down in front of her, pulling the knife that was coated with a mixture of hers and Lucas’s blood to him like it was a precious thing he had to protect, “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re not leaving this garage alive.” Mike frowned at her, his mouth turning downward in an exaggerated way to express sadness.

“Fuck you! You fucking psycho!” She shrieked in his face, she could feel Lucas struggling to sit up, words that blurred together falling from his lips that she ignored, she couldn’t afford to turn her back against Mike again.

Max couldn’t figure out why he was doing this, what his motive was, why he would want to hurt them, why he would want to kill them, it made no sense.

“That tongue Max…that fucking tongue that you never know how to fucking hold,” Mike said to her in mock disappointment, shaking his head at her, Max recoiled back when he suddenly gripped her jaw in the hand that wasn’t holding the knife, Mike pinched her jawbone in between his fingers, hurting her, a pained whimper left her mouth, one Lucas copied, “You know Will drew a pretty picture of you having your tongue cut out in his sketchbook, he doesn’t know I saw it but I wonder if you would look as pretty like that in real life as you did in his drawing.”

Mike used the hand on her jaw to make her turn her head left and right, his eyes analyzing her like she was a picture hung up in an art museum, “I doubt it, but we can always try…can’t we?” He whispered to her with a smile, eyes widening Max tried even harder to pull back from him, accidently pressing too much into Lucas’s stab wounds, hurting him further.

Forcing her back until she was laying halfway on top of Lucas’s body, Mike clutched onto her jaw tighter, moving his hand up closer to her mouth he pinched at her cheeks, forcing her mouth open, he wasted little time in reaching in, pulling a smidge of her tongue out, with her struggling he couldn’t get a very good grip on her, raising his arm with the knife Max closed her eyes, preparing herself for the unimaginable pain she was going to feel, when nothing but a grunt sounded in the room her eyes snapped open.

Mike’s arm wasn’t near her, his arm was outstretched to Lucas, cautiously she turned her head to look at her boyfriend, Lucas’s eyes were staring straight up, not blinking, not moving, lifeless and still, Mike’s hand hovered above his forehead, from it the knife protruded out in a sickening way, getting a firmer grip on the handle Mike yanked out his knife without a care, blood spluttered from the wound, falling into Lucas’s eyes, not that he was able to feel it.

Giggling Mike told her, “Oops, my hand slipped.”

Staring at Lucas’s dead body Max’s mouth made a weird croaking sound, one filled with deep sadness, anger, and disbelief, she couldn’t believe she fooled herself into believing she was going to be able to make a run for the door, that she was going to be able to save them, her mouth fell open wider, not even having enough time to muster the scream that wanted to be let out as Mike used that opportunity to turn her to him, he grabbed her tongue better than before with her mouth wide open of its own accord, she wasn’t thinking, her brain was still trying to process Lucas being dead.  

Her eyes followed Mike’s hand as he brought it to her mouth, the blade in it lightly touched the tip of her tongue, unable to do anything, frozen as she was, Max watched as he brought the knife further up her pulled out tongue, on it she tasted Lucas’s blood, she gagged around the taste making Mike smile at her, having enough with his games he pressed the knife further into her tongue cutting through it with a flick of his wrist.

A pained choked sound resembling that of a scream bubbled from her mouth, scratchy as it fought its way through the copious amounts of blood that flooded and poured from her mouth. Taking her hands away from Lucas’s body, she pressed them to her mouth, swallowing around gulps of blood, gagging as she did, she didn’t know the first thing about stopping her tongue from bleeding, this wasn’t a normal wound on her skin that she could help.

Standing up from his crouched position in front of her, Mike loomed above her, “Just as I thought…not as pretty,” he clicked his tongue, letting it flicker out of his mouth, he rubbed it against his lips wetting them, purposely keeping eye contact with Max as he teased her, “Not your fault, Will has a tendency to make anything look beautiful, even you Maxine.”

Clenched in his hand was the part of her tongue that he had cut off, he dropped it to the floor, slightly kicking it away from them before he pulled the stupid mask back over his face, once again hiding himself away from her. Max was making noise, not the sounds she was actually trying to make, screaming and sobbing, just noise, when Mike made a move to grab at her again she kicked him away, or she tried to, she didn’t get very far before Mike pinned her arms to her sides, laying her half across Lucas’s dead body again, his legs pinned hers to the floor. 

“I’m done playing with you Max, it’s boring me now.” He told her, without her even seeing Mike brought his hand with the knife up and buried it into the side of her neck, she didn’t think it was possible to feel any more pain then she was already feeling, but her body shook as waves of agony pulsed through her with sharpness she couldn’t comprehend, another choked sound vaguely resembling a scream garbled from her throat, closing her eyes against the torture she was suffering through Max welcomed the darkness behind her lids.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Sinclair Home

October 30 th , 1988

9:33pm

Nancy tried to rein in her eagerness to get to the work van with Barb at her side, Steve following them a pace behind, making upset sounds from the back of his throat that had her heavily rolling her eyes. He had made it fairly obvious that he didn’t want them there but he was being ridiculous and childish by making all these unnecessary noises, her and Barb got the hint already.

They weren’t leaving though, Nancy could feel it in her bones that something was going to happen tonight, she’s always had a nose for news, she could smell a story a mile away, and Lucas’s party reeked. She wasn’t going to miss this opportunity, not when she knew Barb was coming with or without her, she had to be here otherwise her friend would get all the credit and leave Nancy wishing she had gone with her gut instinct to come here tonight.

Jonathan was a little upset at her too, probably thinking she was there to exploit El more but that really wasn’t Nancy’s intention, not then when she and Barb wrote their book and certainly not now. El happened to be in the middle of this, that wasn’t Nancy’s fault, she was just doing her job. Being on thin ice with Jonathan was why Nancy hadn’t mentioned the camera Barb had taken into the house, she knew he wouldn’t appreciate the spying. He would understand once all of this was solved and the real killer was caught and put away though, she was positive of that, he would get why Nancy had to make some difficult choices regardless of how that looked on the outside.

“I’m going to my car for a bit,” Steve said from behind them, huffing his words out, “Please try to contain yourselves.” Nancy scoffed at him, Steve acted like they were animals that went after the first sign of blood they could smell, it was ridiculous.

She nor Barb answered him back, Steve gave them a final glare before walking away from them, waiting until he was a good distance away she and Barb rushed to the back of the van, opening it up they jumped in, Fred was snacking on some chips well hitting the side of a small TV that was connected to the camera in the house, trying to get it to play without the fuzziness around the edges.

Glancing around the van and outside of it, Nancy noted Jonathan’s distinct absence, he had said he was going to take a look around, she figured he must not be back yet. She loved that Jonathan was protective of his siblings, he was even protective over her siblings, seeing as Mike was as he’s said before his honorary little brother, but sometimes it grated on her nerves, especially when her work clashed with his protectiveness.

“There’s a delay on the feed.” Fred told them as he wiped his cheesy fingers on his shirt, Nancy wrinkled her nose at him, that was disgusting, she thanked the lord every day that she wasn’t stuck with him as her camera man.

“How long of a delay?” Barb adjusted her glasses, getting closer to the tiny TV, squinting at it like it would help clear her terrible vision.

“I’d say like thirty seconds or so,” Fred nodded while looking through the window from where they just came from, “About as long as it took you both to walk over here.” Barb hissed in irritation, lightly smacking the TV causing it to lose its picture for a split second.

“It’s fine,” Grabbing Barb’s hand Nancy took it away from the TV before the other girl could hit it again and possibly cause the picture to be lost completely, “We can work with a thirty second delay, it’s not a big deal.” She told them, eyes on the screen watching her boyfriend’s brother tease El’s lack of knowledge on scary movies with Dustin.  

10:49PM

From the sidelines of the house Mike silently watched as the majority of the dressed-up teenagers left Lucas’s house, some of them swaying drunkenly as they walked to their cars, complaining all the while about the mandatory curfew set in place. It was already way past curfew so he wasn’t sure why they were making it seem like they still had time to make it home before curfew set in but the less people gathered here the better, he wasn’t complaining about their early departure.  

From the front door Will waved them off, happily grinning at them as they passed by him to get outside, “Happy curfew!” He called out to them, snorting to himself when some of them flipped him off while walking away. From his place at the door Mike knew Will could see him, he wasn’t trying to hide away as he crept closer and closer to the front door.

“Max, come on! We are leaving now!” From inside the house, just beyond the point that he could see Mike heard El calling for Max in the house, the music wasn’t loud anymore as the party dwindled with just a few stragglers left so she was heard perfectly.

From even further in the house another girl answered El, “She’s not here El! It’s just us!” Mike recognized the voice as Robin, he didn’t know she knew El well enough to call her by her nickname.  

“Will, do you know where Max is? Have you seen her?” El’s voice got closer, Mike was standing right next to the front door now, a shiver of pleasure went down his spine from El’s worried tone.

“No, I haven’t seen her or Lucas for a while,” Will answered, licking his lips he smirked at El, “Maybe they're busy.” Not subtle in the least he motioned to the stairs, Mike liked the way his lips glistened after he wet them, he was tempted to pull Will into a kiss right there and then, pinching himself in the side Mike forced the thought away, him and Will would have plenty of time to kiss when all of this was over and done with, Mike could restrain himself for a little while without wanting to full on attack Will’s mouth and body with his own.

“Oh yeah they’re definitely fucking,” Dustin added in with a snicker as he walked up to Will and El, smacking his lips together in a poor attempt to mimic kissing, “Did you see the way Max was dressed? I’m not surprised Lucas wanted to get her alone.” Frowning his brows Mike thought back to what Max was wearing in the garage, she was dressed as Poison Ivy, a short green dress with fake leaves scattered on her entire body, he wrinkled his nose, Max didn’t look all that good, then again he’s never seen what was attractive about Max to other guys before, even dressed at her sluttiest she wasn’t appealing to him in the slightest.  

“Aww Dusty are you jealous that Lucas is getting some and you aren’t?” Will teased Dustin, moving away from the door Mike’s jaw tightened when he couldn’t see Will anymore, not being able to stand staying hidden, not knowing if Will was touching Dustin or not Mike moved himself into the doorway, leaning against it he pretended not to notice when El and Dustin jumped in surprise, not expecting him to randomly show up. 

Mike’s eyes zeroed in on Will’s hand that was on Dustin’s chest, his fingers danced on the navy jumpsuit that Dustin wore.

“Holy shit! Don’t just pop out of nowhere like that man! Almost gave me a goddamn heart attack!” Dustin dramatically shouted at him, hand going up to be placed over his heart, Mike glared at the inch of distance that separated his and Will’s hands, neither one of them had attempted to move away from each other.

“Mike.” El’s timid voice broke through the green haze in his mind, she stood just off to the side of him, arms tightly wrapped around her middle area as she uncomfortably shifted in her place, Mike took a moment to look over her costume, she was dressed as Wonder Woman, his gaze lingered on the short length of the skirt, if he got his way tonight that skirt would be easy to take off.

“El.” He smiled at her, pointing to her Halloween costume he continued, “I like your costume.”

“Thank you.” El shyly smiled back at him, her eyes trailed over his form, “You are not wearing a costume.” She unnecessarily pointed out, picking at the sleeve of his shirt Mike shrugged back without answering, tempted to tell her that neither was Will because swapping out one mask for another and throwing on a green jacket didn’t count as getting dressed up, but Will thought it was funny to dress as Jason Voorhees ‘ in honor of the question Chrissy got wrong Mike ’ he had told him. Both he and Will had left on their clothing from Callahan’s house, not seeing a point in changing because though some of the blood did get on them it could easily be explained away as fake blood if anything.    

“We didn’t think you were coming, most everyone left already.” Dustin butted in, Mike’s attention snapped back to him, without him noticing Will had inserted himself into Dustin’s side, the other boy had welcomed Will’s attention with an arm wrapped around his shoulder. If Dustin had one smart brain cell in that giant head of his he would be able to read the clear hostility signs coming off of Mike, he was touching someone that didn’t belong to him, Will was letting him touch him , Mike could feel his face morph into an unpleasant thing.

He knew Will was doing it on purpose, he wasn’t an idiot, after the conversation in the car it was clear Will was trying to give Mike a taste of his own medicine…it tasted horrible, but it wasn’t like his attention to El was anything but a cover of mock affection put together to make her love him so Mike could have one more thing to hold over her at the end of all of this, Will’s attention on Dustin was a petty action fueled by his jealousy and insecurity.   

“I was hoping I could talk to El…alone.” Will turned away from Mike at that, teeth biting into his lower lip with what looked like disgust, even with a scrunched up disgusted expression painted across his face Will was stunning, that seemed a little unfair, Will didn’t have a single bad angle on his face, he was impossibly pretty , too pretty to be jealous, too pretty to doubt himself, too pretty to be cuddled up to Dustin.

El’s eyes glanced around the open areas of Lucas’s large house that were visible from where they stood, so obviously still looking for Max, whom she won’t find considering her snarky friend was dead in the garage, not that El knew that yet but she would soon, “I do not think Max would think it is smart to go off alone with you.” She didn’t sound nervous to Mike’s ears, nor concerned with Max’s thoughts, more so El sounded playful, as if daring Mike to get her somewhere alone, a complete contrast to the way El acted the last time they saw each other in the school hallway.

Shrugging Mike grinned back at her, “I don’t see Max around…do you?” He made a show of looking around the space with scrutinizing eyes knowing he wouldn’t be spotting the redhead anywhere and neither would El.

“Come on Dustin, let’s go chill in the living room, well the lovebirds go off by themselves.” Will threaded his arm through Dustin’s, leading him away to the living room, for his part Dustin did seem apprehensive about letting El go off with Mike alone but he didn’t stop Will from moving him, if anything he leaned in closer to Will, enjoying the attention that was showered onto him, Mike scowled in their direction.

“Will!” Mike called out to his best friend before he disappeared, looking over his shoulder Will raised a questioning brow at him, “I’ll see you in a bit.” Throwing a look of warning at him Mike hoped Will caught the hint, smiling widely at him Will nodded back, giving El a final glare that she didn’t notice because she was so focused on Mike before he left them alone.  

“Come on El,” Mike grabbed her hand, half dragging her up the stairs behind him, it was near impossible to walk away from Will, he wanted nothing more than to get him away from Dustin, but he knew they had a plan to work through tonight, he couldn’t get stuck worrying about the wrong thing, Dustin meant nothing to Will , he was entertainment for him to occupy himself with in the meantime that Mike got what he wanted from El, now all Mike had to do was keep reminding himself of that, “I think there’s a guest room we can use to talk.”

Leading El to the spare guest room in Lucas’s house, Mike opened the door, stepping aside he motioned for El to walk in first, following after her he shut the door behind him and locked it. El took a second to inspect the room, it was nothing fancy or over the top, a simple beige room with white furniture, and a large queen bed with a beige comforter that matched the walls, but Mike let her get comfortable with her new surroundings, not stopping her from walking around the room, randomly touching things here and there.   

Finally El took a seat at the edge of the mattress, pulling on the tiny skirt she wore, trying in vain to tug the material further down her thighs, licking his lips Mike tore his eyes away from the sight, choosing instead to seat himself next to El, being sure to keep a small distance between them and hunch his figure over to appear more hesitant and worried about their conversation, he purposely fidgeted with his fingers, giving himself a nervous tick to further convince El that he was anxious about talking to her.

“El,” he spoke before she could, thinking about his impending apology he made his voice lower, meeker, “I’m sorry. I never should have asked you that question and then gave your mom’s passing as an excuse to back up asking it. That was stupid and selfish of me, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted nothing to do with me anymore.” Mike felt his tongue flick around the words coming out of his mouth, lightly tasting the lies as they spilled out into the room for El’s ears to hear.

“No Mike!” El moved closer to him, laying her hand on his thigh, squeezing it in a way that she must think is reassuring and loving, “No, I should have never gotten upset with you for asking your question. I should have not said anything about your mom, that was not right of me, I am sorry…for everything, I have not been fair to you.”

Laying his hand on top of hers Mike laced their fingers together, “You lost your mom El, I get it, I wasn’t –” El placed her finger against his mouth, stopping his words in his throat.

“I know I did, but so did you and that is not an excuse for me to have said what I said or treated you the way I did Mike. I cannot let my mom’s death determine how I live my life and how I treat the people I love around me.” Nodding his head Mike gave her a delicate smile, El’s body was leaning further into his own, relaxing into him, so far things seemed to be going perfectly. A part of him did want to push her away though, objectively El did feel good pressed against him the way she was but Mike’s body didn’t belong to her, it belonged to Will, having her this close was a mixture of sensations and emotions that almost overwhelmed his thoughts, just as it always did.

Will thought it was so easy for Mike to be physical with El, that it was so easy to show her the affection she craved from him and in a way it was in that when Mike got to thinking about why he was doing it all other thoughts pulled themselves to the background but in a larger way it wasn’t easy for Mike to play this loving, affectionate boyfriend, especially not when El’s tender touches felt nothing like Will’s rougher ones, especially when her softer and curvier body felt wrong against his, nothing like Will’s broader sturdier form.

“I feel like I cannot keep up with my thoughts sometimes,” El confessed to him in a whisper, her eyes filling with tears, “Sometimes I think I will end up like my mom…sometimes I feel like I am going crazy, like I am spinning in these circles, and I know it probably does not make sense, but I hate that I feel like I am a step away from being admitted into Pennhurst.”

Wanting to smile but knowing that he couldn't, Mike shook his head, “You’re not going crazy El, you went through something traumatic, of course you’re going to constantly be thinking about that, about your mom.” He whispered back to her, placing his hand over her cheek he caressed it, lowering it a bit he ran the pad of his thumb across her lower lip, holding back a satisfied sound when El kissed his thumb.  

If it hadn’t already been three years of him waiting on her he would almost say that it had been too easy to get her, she fell where he wanted her to, all too naively following the line Mike made for her.

Moving his hands to her exposed thighs, he played with the frill to her skirt, running his fingers under it and up her thighs, it didn’t take much coaxing for her to climb into his lap, humming to himself Mike let her run her nose across his jawline, slowly making her way to his lips until she finally kissed him, pulling away slightly she murmured against his mouth, “I love you Mike.”

Attaching his hands to either side of her face, Mike leaned his forehead against hers, his tongue felt heavy in his mouth, he knew what to say to drive it all home, three little words that El’s been waiting and wanting to hear from him that Mike has refused to utter to her because it felt like a violation against Will, he promised himself that he would only ever tell Will those three words because Will was the only one he’s ever felt deserved those words from him.

Mike didn’t love El, he hated her, he wanted her to suffer, he wanted her dead, he wanted to move his hands from her cheeks down to her throat to strangle her, finally give her all the pain she deserved, he couldn’t yet though, he was so close to getting what he wanted, so close to finally getting revenge for his mom, Mike’s told so many lies… what’s one more , “I love you to.” He sighed out the words, they felt wrong, like they were poison he was spitting out of his mouth but he closed his eyes and imagined Will in his lap, Will being the one playing with his hair, Will being the one smiling against his mouth, and that made it easier for him to lay El back on the mattress, easier to climb on top of her, easier to keep murmuring those words over and over again against her warm pale skin because she wasn’t the one he was telling them to.

Pennhurst Insane Asylum

May 27 th , 1984

5:22pm

Will sat across from Terry Ives, in one of the few comfortable hospital chairs they offered there at Pennhurst, it far contrasted with the uncomfortable one across the room from him. The chair had been placed in the room by Henry when he realized Will’s visits were almost as frequent as El’s seeing as he came with her ninety percent of the time. Terry was dressed the same as she always was at these visits, in a light-colored nightgown, she was placed in her same position on the same rocking chair with the same blanket thrown over her lap.  

In all the visits that Will had come to she was almost always in this same position, only a few times had he been there and she was laying down on the bed. Her blank stare into nowhere would have been unnerving if Will wasn’t already used to it.

He was by himself with her, El had gone down to the cafeteria for food when his and hers stomach’s let out twin growls, begging them for substance considering they hadn’t eaten anything since that morning when they left. El had run her fingers over his shoulders before leaving, smiling softly at Will as she closed the door behind her, unusually happy.  

Normally El was melancholy at these visits, a permanent frown etched onto her face as she sadly gazed at her mother, talking with her about anything and everything she could think of, not once receiving a reply back, or even a hint of understanding or acknowledgement from her mom.

There had been a few moments where Will had wanted to tell her to stop talking, it was a little annoying sometimes to hear her in the background of whatever sketch he was working on, El tended to drone on and on, getting more upset every time she paused as if waiting and expecting an answer from Terry she knew she wasn’t going to get, it made Will wonder why she even bothered if it upset her that much every time.

Narrowing his eyes at Terry, Will wondered if she processed that he was there at all, he knew she couldn’t move or talk but did she know someone she didn’t know or recognize was there in the room with her? As every other time that Will had come to Pennhurst, things were quiet, hardly anyone around, especially on the floor they currently occupied, it was like El had told him that first day, this floor scarcely got visitors and attendants were often pulled to work elsewhere in the building.

Sometimes Will wished this plan could be at its end already, but he knew him and Mike had to take their time, it wasn’t something they could rush, it wasn’t something they could complete without getting all their ducks lined up in a row first. 

Tapping his pencil against the sketchbook in his lap, Will’s ears twitched when the door opened behind him, it was quiet which gave him his first sign that it wasn’t El coming back with their food. Not turning around Will traced the picture on the paper, it was a drawing of Terry, he had her smiling in it, eyes filled with laughter and life. He planned to gift it to El, he’s gifted her two other drawings besides this one, she lit up with so much gratitude and love that Will knew it was something special to her, something that helped to solidify his place as her brother in her heart.

Feeling a warm body press against the back of his chair, Will tilted his head back, eyes meeting vibrant blue ones that were impossible to capture on paper, he had tried multiple times only to fail, leaning down to Will Henry grazed his lips to Will’s throat, “Hello Darling.”

Humming low in his throat, Will angled his head further to the side so Henry had more access to his neck, where he began to pamper light kisses, “Hi.” He whispered back, he would never admit it, especially not to Mike, but Henry’s affections were something Will looked forward to in these visits. Mike thought Will was here dragging himself through these interactions with Henry, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. He enjoyed Henry’s attention, he enjoyed his warmth, he enjoyed having Henry press kisses to different parts of his body, he didn’t love it as much as when Mike did it but Will knew he liked them a lot more than he was letting on.

Something about being with Henry like this was exciting, a lot of the time the reason why Will was doing this was so far removed from his mind in these moments that he had to physically shake himself to remind himself why he was here allowing Henry to touch him the way he did. He wasn’t sure what it was that made this thing between them so exhilarating. Whether it was the age difference, the secrecy, or the very real connection he shared with Henry was a mystery to Will.

Surprisingly it hadn’t taken much to carve himself a place in Henry Creel’s interest and life, really nothing more than letting Henry see Will’s clear want of him and explore the multiple sketches he had of Mike, the best friend that Henry was under the impression he had unrequited love for, Will hadn’t bothered to correct the older man in his assumptions, it was easier to play that role in Henry’s presence then Will thought it would be.

He supposed it also helped that Henry viewed them as the same , he often told Will that he was like him, misunderstood. It was almost scary how accurate he was in saying that; they were both gay, they both had abusive parents growing up, Will with his piece of shit dad Lonnie Byers and Henry with his high strung perfect mom Virginia Creel, they both found solace in art, and as far as Henry was aware they loved boys that would never love them back, him with Mike and for Henry it was some unnamed boy from his childhood that he no longer loved today but once had felt too much for.   

“Where is Ms. Eleanor?” Henry asked, Will smirked into the empty air, Henry knew El hated being referred to as Eleanor, it was something she’s constantly reminding him of. At first Will thought Henry was doing his best to be respectful despite El’s clear objections to her full name but it became obvious after the third visit that getting El irritated was something Henry enjoyed doing. He didn’t dislike her quite on the level that Mike did but Henry very obviously did not like El, he was respectful, not unkind, but he did things on purpose that he knew frustrated El.

When Will questioned El about it she told him that Henry tried being her friend when her mom was first admitted to Pennhurst, not wanting a friend at the time she was snappy with him, disrespectful, which resulted in Henry not having the best view of El. Since then, she’s tried amending that disastrous first impression but apparently Henry held grudges.

“Getting food.” Will tugged on the part of Henry’s sleeve that he could reach, bringing him in front of him, Will stood so he could gently push his lips against Henry’s, a flare of want went through his body, he pressed further into Henry’s lean figure, shuddering when Henry’s hands found their way to the back of Will’s hair, gripping onto his brown hair a low moan escaped his mouth into Henry’s. His hands found their way to the keycard at Henry’s hip, as it always did, Will did nothing more than tug at it before releasing it, Henry was so used to this ‘quirky’ action that he no longer looked down to Will’s wandering hands.

When the door opened again Will jumped back from Henry, seating himself back down in his chair, reaching his hands up he smoothed back his fluffed-out hair, for his part Henry turned to face Terry, pretending to adjust the blanket on her lap and move strands of hair that had somehow come undone from her ponytail away from her face.  

“I am back Will!” El called into the room, Will rolled his eyes, his back still facing the door before he turned around with a relieved smile on his face.

“Took you long enough,” he jokingly said, standing up from his seat he folded up his sketchbook and dropped it on the chair, walking past Henry he ran a quick finger across Henry’s belly, ruffling the fabric of his shirt, “I’m starving.” Getting to El he grabbed the two styrofoam plates from her hands, throwing her a thankful look he focused on taking them to the tiny table in the room that Henry had also brought in for him, when he noticed Will was more often than not seated on the floor eating.

“Henry,” El greeted her mom’s orderly with a turn of her lips, walking over to them she stood next to her mom, placing her arm around her mother’s shoulders in a sad attempt at a hug, “Is everything okay?” Her eyes flickered from her mother to Henry and back again, Will watched in amusement as he set up El’s plate on the table with the plastic fork and spoon set.

“Of course Ms. Eleanor,” there was that tick in El’s jaw that let Will know she was irritated at the greeting not two seconds after it left Henry’s mouth, “Everything is perfectly fine, I only came to check on my favorite visitor.” Will’s top teeth dug into his bottom lip when Henry said that.

“Oh.” El glanced over at him, raising her eyebrow in question, something Will ignored, she had developed a bit of a habit of doing that lately, trying to get answers from Will about his friendship with Henry. She had even gone as far as to ask him if he wanted Hopper to talk to the director of Pennhurst about Henry’s borderline inappropriate attention and words, it was funny to Will because behind closed doors he welcomed that inappropriateness with enthusiasm, not that El needed to know that.

“I was just about to take my lunch,” Henry continued, pretending to not notice El’s lingering gaze on Will that asked for answers, “I was wondering if Will would like to accompany me?” El’s eyes widened, her surprise clear in her expression, Will’s not sure why though, this was far from the first time Henry had come to him to ask if Will wanted to have lunch with him.

“Me and Will were going to eat –” El started to say before Will interrupted her, she had walked in at the most inconvenient time, he was liking what him and Henry were getting up to before she came back, he wanted to go back to that and Henry was presenting him the perfect opportunity for it, like hell he was going to sit another minute in the room with El and her withdrawn mom when he could be in an empty room kissing and feeling Henry.

“I would love to join you for lunch Henry.”

El huffed from her place but didn’t object to Will’s words, she strode her way over to him at the table, seating herself down on the lone chair, picking up her fork, she poked it around her food, alfredo pasta with a side salad from the looks of it.

A hand placed itself at the bottom of his back, Henry came into view in his peripheral vision, grabbing his own plate, Will thanked El as Henry gently led him out of the room with his hand guiding Will’s movements.

Walking side by side with Henry as he led them to one of the many empty rooms on this floor, Will leaned into his side, fingers clutching on to the styrofoam plate in his hands, Mike nor El had to know just how much Will enjoyed this thing between him and Henry, that was something he would keep to himself and take to his grave.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana  

Pennhurst Insane Asylum 

July 3 rd , 1984

6:15pm

Coming up on Pennhurst Asylum, Will and Mike stopped their bikes in front of the building, taking a moment to let themselves survey the area. There were more cars in the parking lot then what Will was normally used to seeing, he and Mike had expected it though considering Henry had told him how busy holiday’s get at Pennhurst, family members seeing those days and the days leading up to that holiday as obligatory visit days, Will had relayed that information back to Mike who decided the next upcoming holiday was the perfect time for them to implement their plan.

It was Fourth of July weekend, the day before Independence Day and Henry wasn’t lying when he said the Asylum got a full house.

In the green field area where he occasionally saw patients and attendants he sees copious amounts of people, men and women standing around awkwardly, stances uneasy as they shift their attention between their mentally ill family member and the orderly closest to them. Children ran around the open field without a care in the world, talking to each other, making friends despite the peculiar atmosphere that was thrusted upon them by their parents.

“It’s not like this all the time?” Mike questioned as he got off his bike, hands on the handlebars to hold it from falling to the cement, Will watched him look around curiously, taking in the things that Will had described to him. This was Mike’s first time at Pennhurst, having no reason to come before then, Will hoped it was busy enough that they could slip by the front desk but he knew either way it wasn’t going to be a problem, Mike was his friend visiting with him, it was that simple, the front desk lady would not look more into what Will told her, she had no reason to.

“No, sometimes the attendants take the patients out into the field but it’s not busy like this, it’s really quiet here.” Leading Mike to the side of the building Will rested both their bikes on the ground behind some thick bushes. They figured it was better for them if their bikes weren’t seen front and center of the building, more than anything Will wished they could drive already, he and Mike had been having lessons with Jonathan but they still weren’t old enough to get their licenses yet.

Stepping into Will’s side Mike grinned over at him, pointing to the front entrance he waved his hand, “Lead the way.” Rolling his eyes Will fought the urge to get back on his bike to go home. His entire body felt tense, sweaty, he didn’t know how his legs weren’t bucking from underneath him, they felt like they were wobbling even though they weren’t, he didn’t know the first thing about what he was doing. Peeking over at Mike Will’s jaw tightened when he noted Mike’s calmer demeanor, the other boy didn’t appear to have any nerves or anxious feelings.  

Taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself, Will adjusted his backpack on his shoulder that mainly held his and Mike’s extra clothing, a simple set each to change into in case things got messy they didn’t have to walk out of the building with bloody clothes on their backs. Once inside Will tried to shield Mike’s body with his own, quickly making his way to the staircase, Olivia, the front desk lady Will had come to know by name from how many times he had been there, sat behind her set of desks, just as she always was. Stalking past her Will noticed her distraction with the ringing phones in front of her and family of patients trying to talk to her, she didn’t appear to see him or Mike as they moved past her, to focused on the phones and the people around her.

Nervously fiddling with the strap to his backpack, Will was half expecting for them to be stopped, when they weren’t he had to tell himself that he and Mike had planned this out, almost to a tee, everything would be fine, everything would go smoothly, he had nothing to worry about.

Those repeated thoughts didn’t seem to do much in the face of his worries.

Getting to the stairs Will and Mike took them two at a time to get to the second level of the Asylum where Terry Ives was located, on the way up they passed a couple going down the stairs, seeming to come from the third floor, they ignored both of them as they passed, arguing quietly to themselves about whether they should spend another twenty minutes at Pennhurst before they left.

Laughing under his breath Mike told him, “Looks like there’s trouble in paradise.” Smiling weakly back Will didn’t answer him, he honestly envied how nonchalant Mike was acting, he tried to mimic it but Will knew he looked far too anxious to accomplish it.

Coming up on the front desks of the second floor, Will paused to look around, the phones on this level weren’t ringing, Whitney, the other front desk lady Will had come to know by name wasn’t behind the desks. That wasn’t an unusual occurrence, there had been several times where he and El had come to visit and she was missing, being pulled into other areas of Pennhurst to help out.

In those times it was assured to them to go ahead and hit the black button behind the dark green files to walk into the hallways leading to the rooms.

From there they had to find an orderly to open Terry’s door for them. Typically it was Henry that was walking this floor, he was more often than not the one who let them into the room before going off to do whatever it was he did. Will had been told that though this floor gets a tad more visitors during holiday’s than its normal desolate appearance, it was still scarce for the most part, busier but still not overwhelmingly so, he was counting on that being true tonight.

“Where do we go from here?” Mike asked him, hands running over the tops of the desks as he curiously looked around, eyes lighting up at everything new they happened across.

Shuffling around the desks to press the black button, Will brought Mike with him, “When we go through the double doors there’s going to be a series of hallways, go down the middle one, that’s the hallway Terry’s room is at, find a wall or something to hide behind well I try to find Henry, without his keycard we aren’t getting into the room.” Will quietly said to him, he had explained to Mike what to expect from Pennhurst already, they had both talked about what they were going to do in the meantime that Will got the keycard, but it didn’t hurt to remind Mike of the plan.

“Okay.” Mike nodded without argument, feet shifting in place as he got ready to walk.  

Hesitating only slightly with his hand over the button Will pressed it, without falter the double doors creaked open. Following behind Mike, Will pointed to the hallway Mike was meant to go down, giving a kiss to Will’s forehead Mike murmured, “I’ll see you in a bit.”

Grabbing the backpack from his shoulder and placing it on his own, Mike bounded down the hallway, disappearing from Will’s sight as he turned the corner. He knew Mike wouldn’t go far, he had told him not to so when he got the keycard he wouldn’t be going crazy looking for him, they had a time window that they needed to be cautious about if they planned to get away with this.

Being one more step closer to this plan he and Mike had cooked up was nerve wracking for Will. This was no longer planning something in the shadows of Mike’s basement, this was no longer running over what they could do or what they should do, this was actually doing it now.

Knowing he couldn’t waste time on his thoughts, Will set out to find Henry, who he knew had to be around somewhere, they needed the keycard to get into the supply closet and into Terry’s room, without it the whole plan fell apart. He needed to find Henry, stick to the plan of getting him alone.  

Roaming around the hallways Will noted that they weren’t as silent as they normally were, though he couldn’t see what rooms it was coming from, there was mumbling filling the white halls, voices overlapping and making Will feel like he was being stalked by something he couldn’t see. Well walking the halls he didn’t run into Mike a single time, he was glad he was staying hidden, but it did make Will feel like he was in this alone even though logically he knew Mike was probably watching him the whole time without him seeing him.

Not finding Henry in the hallways, Will went back to the double doors, the plan was riding on him finding Henry, getting him alone, and grabbing his keycard.

If he couldn’t find the older man then Will would have to go find Mike regardless of how he felt to tell him he failed, he didn’t even want to—

“Will?” Turning around to face the double doors Will held back a small yelp not expecting a voice to come from behind him. Dressed in his white uniform Henry stood behind him, having come through the double doors with hurried steps. He looked frazzled to Will, he must have ran his hand through his blonde hair multiple times because strands were sticking up everywhere, there was a sheen of sweat gathered on his forehead, a few stains of what looked like coffee on his wrinkled button-up, and his intense eyes gazed at Will with exhaustion leaking through them.

“You look tired.” Will blurted out, wincing at the sound of his own voice, hearing it echo back at him through the series of hallways, it wasn’t the most complimentary thing he could say considering his objective was getting Henry alone.

Shaking his head with a chuckle Henry said, “Yes, that’s because I am tired Darling. It’s Fourth of July weekend, they’ve had me running up and down this entire building, I’m the only one working this floor right now too, it’s like they expect me to split into two people from how much they're expecting from me.” Will let out a sound of sympathy, not one that he had to fake either, running his hands down his face, Henry let out a loud groan of irritation, his shoulders hunching forward with tiredness.

Will couldn’t explain the weird feeling that suddenly fell over him, it was a prickling sensation he didn’t find pleasant, if Mike wasn’t watching him before, he certainly was now, Will could feel his gaze burning a hole into him, likely hearing Henry call him ‘Darling’ , he hadn’t bothered mentioning to Mike the nickname that Henry had taken to calling him, he wondered if that was a mistake. 

Glancing around he tried not to make it obvious he was looking for something, someone , he couldn’t see Mike anywhere and yet the burning of his gaze stayed glued to him.

Trusting Mike to keep himself hidden away Will leaned in close to Henry, wrapping his arms around his neck, he nuzzled himself into his throat, taking a deep breath he smelled hints of coffee and the hospital’s disinfectant spray underneath Henry’s cologne, “Do you think you can take a small break?”

“Mmmm,” Henry hummed playfully, his hands came to rest on Will’s hips, “I suppose I can be convinced to take a break.” Smiling at him Will grabbed hold of Henry’s hand pulling him down the hallway of Terry’s room but not leading them to her room, instead leading them to an empty room just down the hall from Terry’s. A room that Will and Henry had grown accustomed to using in these moments considering it has stayed empty thus far, there were other empty rooms that they used as well but this one was more often than not the one they gravitated to.    

“Are you alone?” Henry asked him, glancing over his shoulder as if he expected someone to pop out of one of the white walls, if he had come alone then this wouldn’t have been the first time that Will had done so, not for visits with Terry but to see Henry, it wasn’t anything new, Will had already been there alone to see Henry by himself a good five times, something seemingly unimportant but Will knew from the start with Henry that he had to develop patterns with him so he wouldn’t come to suspect anything when the plan actually went through.

“Yup,” Will nodded, as far as Henry was concerned he was alone, unlike Will he couldn’t feel Mike’s eyes on them which would be the only indicator that he was lying.

Pushing Henry in front of him, Will grabbed the retractable keycard at Henry’s hip and used it to unlock the door, letting it go, it snapped back to his hip with a light smacking sound, “I wanted to see you.” He said placing his hand on the small of Henry’s back, leading him into the room first.   

Will observed the hallway a final time, the quiet voices were still murmuring but other than that, it wasn’t much different from a normal day.

A dark shadow at the end of the hallway caught his attention, Mike stood there with his arms crossed at his chest, looking back at Will with a sneer etched on his face, he couldn’t help but scowl back at Mike.

Will was in the position he was in because of Mike; he might have left some things out of what he and Henry did and just how much they got along but ultimately Mike had no one to blame but himself. He suggested that Will be the one to get Henry’s attention, he pushed him to capture his interest and dangle like bait in front of the older man, he couldn’t be upset now that he was seeing just how far that interest stretched with his own eyes. Will did this for Mike, he did enjoy Henry more then he let on but that didn’t lessen the fact that he was there to begin with because of Mike… for Mike.

Shaking his head in Mike’s direction, Will walked into the room and closed the door behind him, the click of the automatic lock sounded, Henry stood in front of him with a weary but mischievous smile on his face. Not giving him a chance to ask any more questions Will leaned on his tiptoes to press his lips to Henry’s, keeping their lips together Will led them over to the hospital bed, pushing Henry down on it he climbed on top of him, relocking their lips together from where they briefly separated.

This part was also something Will was used to, he loved kissing Henry, he had such soft lips and he always carefully moved them against his own as if he was afraid of hurting Will.

Mike was under the impression that Will had given only a few pecks to Henry, he had no clue that Will often pushed beyond that when he was alone with him. Mike already detested the idea of Will being with Henry, actively flirting with him, showing him interest even though it was his idea to begin with. Will didn’t want to even think about Mike’s reaction if he found out that Will enjoyed Henry, he enjoyed his attention, his kisses, his hugs, his words, his hands, everything about him Will liked far more than he was supposed to. He imagined Mike would also throw a fit if he found out Will actually cared about Henry, he didn’t love him , that much he knew, his feelings for Mike far outshined the ones he had for Henry, but he did care about Henry and truthfully Will thought he could see himself falling in love with him if Mike wasn’t in the picture.

A small burst of guilt went through Will for using Henry the way he was, all he had ever shown Will was acceptance, adoration…love. Without meaning to Will had unintentionally carved out a place in his heart for him, it hurt to think about betraying him. Though the moments they shared between them were planned scenarios he crafted out with Mike beforehand, from his first meeting with Henry to his irregular visits alone, Will had never had to pretend to enjoy that time with him. Will's reactions, his words, his feelings, those were all real.

Each of those moments shared with Henry were just as fake as they were real though, and that was the kicker wasn’t it, no matter how real it was, at the end of the day Will was always going to betray Henry, he was always going to choose Mike.

Fingers digging into Henry’s shoulders, Will harshly bit into his bottom lip causing Henry to moan into his mouth. Smiling against his lips Will trailed his kisses down Henry’s chin and across his jawline.

Eyes closed Henry leaned his head back to give Will better access to his throat, shifting his body lower Will began grinding his hips into Henry’s as he kissed his way down his throat. Wanting as much of his skin touching Will’s as possible Henry yanked at his white button up, tugging it off he grabbed Will’s face in between his hands, cupping his cheeks in a loving way that made a blush flutter up Will’s neck all the way to his cheeks, “You’re stunning Darling.” He softly mumbled to Will, pressing gentle kisses to Will’s swollen lips.

Grinning at him Will shifted even lower down Henry’s body, trailing his hands down his naked chest and torso until he hit the waistband of his pants, on his knees Will locked eyes with Henry as he popped the button off of his pants, breathing harshly Henry leaned up on his elbows to stare down at Will.

They hadn’t ever done anything like this before, they’ve kissed and rubbed against each other but they’ve never seen each other naked, they’ve never touched below clothing before. Will had done this and more with Mike so he wasn’t as nervous as he thought he would be but he was still nervous with the fact that it was a first with Henry. It didn’t help that he knew Mike was out in the hallway waiting for him, knowing Mike he was probably counting the amount of time Will spent in the room, counting how long he kept him waiting.

He wanted this though, even knowing that Mike was out there, he wanted this with Henry. Will didn’t know what would happen after this day, where he would be, where Henry would be, this was Will’s last chance to be intimate with him, he didn’t want to waste it. Will wasn’t planning on fucking Henry, he wouldn’t do that to Mike, but if he could get his mouth on him then he considered that enough for him, Mike wouldn’t interrupt despite being impatient, he wouldn’t risk Henry seeing him so Will had time, at least enough of it to enjoy being with Henry for one last time.

“Are you sure?” Henry questioned him, ocean blue eyes blown wide, he moved his hips up seemingly by accident, a red flush appeared on his chest and neck when Will forced his hips back down to the mattress underneath them.

“I want to do this,” Will replied, licking his lips he noticed how Henry’s eyes lingered there, placing one hand on Henry’s chest Will carefully pushed him down, making him lay back on the bed in the position he was in before, “Close your eyes and relax.” He lightly murmured watching as Henry took his advice leaning all the way back with his eyes closed, grabbing hold of his pants Will started to tug them down, Henry lifted his hips to help him, glancing up Will noted his eyes still pinched shut, with one hand he played with the band to Henry’s boxers well his other hand unclipped the keycard from Henry’s pants, quickly putting it in his own back pocket before he did anything else.

With both hands free Will used them to anchor himself against Henry, leaning over slightly on his knees he kissed just under his belly button, dragging his kisses down to the top of his boxers.

Fists clenched tightly at his sides; Mike stared at the door Will had dragged Henry into with anger he knew all too well. It took everything in Mike not to storm into the room they were in, not that he would be able to without a keycard but the thought of doing it still ran through his thoughts. He never imagined that he would want to hurt someone as much as he wanted to hurt Terry Ives and his father for playing a role in his mom’s suicide, but watching Will touch someone else other than Mike was making him realize just how fucked his thoughts were.

He didn’t care though, he wanted to chop Henry’s fingers off and feed them to him. Mike had expected for Henry and Will to touch each other, he knew the older man was under the impression that him and Will were together in some fuck up form. Mike had planned it that way, encouraged Will to place himself in front of Henry, seeing it as the easiest way to Terry Ives. He had expected Henry to look at Will with lust, with hunger, Mike had prepared himself for that.

What he hadn’t expected, what he hadn’t prepared himself for, was for those blue eyes to stare at Will like he was the most precious thing in the world. Henry looked at Will like all he saw was the younger boy, he looked at Will how Mike knew he himself looked at his best friend…with affection , with fondness , with love .

Those emotions had no business being on Henry’s face, he had no right to look at Will like he belonged to Henry, Will didn’t belong to him, he belonged to Mike . He’s belonged to Mike since that first day of kindergarten all those years ago when he went up to the lonely boy on the swing set and asked him if he wanted to be his friend, Will had belonged to Mike the second he said yes to being his friend.

Mike had also not expected or prepared for Henry to be as young and as attractive as he was. Will had made no mention of that to him, the entire time Mike’s been under the impression that Henry was this older pervy man thinking he was preying on Will’s innocence, if the way he looked at Will was anything to go by then Henry certainly didn’t view Will as a conquest. It angered Mike that Will made no mention of how young Henry was, how not ugly he was too, it made his skin itchy and his emotions overwhelming thinking about why Will kept that a secret from him.

Lips pursed together, Mike tried not to think about what Will was doing with Henry at that moment. He knew it had to be more than what he had done previously, he had to keep Henry in that room long enough to leave with the keycard to the supply closet for the next part of their plan. His feet moved in the direction of the room, halfway to it Mike forced himself to stop, Will had already been gone ten minutes, he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to stand there knowing that Will was touching someone else in ways he’s only ever allowed Mike to touch him in.

Mike couldn’t be more glad that this part of the plan was almost over, Will would no longer have any reason to come to Pennhurst, he would have no reason to see Henry anymore. He would be all Mike’s again; he wouldn’t have to share Will’s attention with the older man anymore. When Mike had come up with the idea of Will playing with Henry, he hadn’t thought that just the thought of them being in each other’s presence would get to him. He thought he would be fine knowing that it was all fake, all of what Will did with Henry wasn’t real, it didn’t mean anything, he overestimated his ability to turn off his possessive thoughts.   

Under no illusions Mike knew he was possessive of Will, even before they started being together in an intimate way he had always seen Will as his, he didn’t like Will talking to anyone else, playing with anyone else, laughing or smiling with anyone else. Anything and everything that made Will Byers was Mike’s and Mike’s alone and he didn’t want to share Will with anyone.

Thinking back on it, Mike figured that was why it was so hard in the previous school year to accept hanging out with Lucas, Dustin, and Max. It’s always been him and Will against the world, he’s never had to share Will’s attention before except maybe with Jonathan who surprisingly seemed to have no issues recognizing Mike’s and Will’s codependency, even encouraging it at some points and those few times in kindergarten when other kids had tried to be Will’s friend before Mike had convinced Will the only friend he needed was him. Mike didn’t want to have any other friends other then Will, not then in kindergarten, not when they moved on to elementary school, not when they started middle school, and not even now as they were going to be starting high school, but Will had gotten paired up with Dustin on a science project last year and from there they all came together into one ‘ friend ’ group despite Mike’s best efforts not to.

It was different with Henry though, he touched Will in ways that only Mike had touched him in. Will and Henry were not friends, at least not to the older man, to Will Henry was of course nothing more than a thing he was doing for Mike, which should have helped sate Mike’s jealous thoughts but the rage simmering under his skin was still there, telling him Henry was touching, grabbing, holding, kissing what belonged to Mike and he didn’t like it. A part of Mike also told him Will had been keeping things from him on purpose, things he knew Mike would want to know and yet he didn’t tell him, that wasn’t done for nothing.   

Seeing the expression on the older man’s face made Mike realize just how much he didn’t like it, he knew Will would say he had no one to blame but himself, considering it was Mike who pushed Will into showing Henry attention so he could have a way in to Terry Ives’s room but he didn’t want to acknowledge that part on his end.  

Mike’s foot started to impatiently tap the tile beneath him, it had now been eighteen minutes since Will walked into the empty room with Henry.

Wiping the corner of his mouth Will stood up from the bed, leaving a still panting Henry on it, he hadn’t taken off any of his own clothing, but he still adjusted his shirt and jeans, attempting to get their wrinkled appearance off. Making his way to the head of the bed where Henry laid with his hands over his face, Will pulled his hands down to smile at him, “Was that okay?”

“Was that okay?” Henry echoed in disbelief with a scoff slipping from his lips, “Darling that was better than okay, incredible,” sitting up he cupped Will’s cheeks bringing his mouth to his Will let him kiss him for a few seconds before pulling away, Henry dragged a hand through Will’s hair, ruffling the strands with a smile, letting his other hand rest on Will’s hip he tapped his fingers against the fabric there, “Would it be okay if I returned the favor?” Henry’s tapping fingers moved to the zipper of Will’s jeans.

Moving back Will forced himself to giggle, “Next time,” he promised knowing full well that there wouldn’t be a ‘next time’, Will had no reason to see Henry anymore after that day, “I have to get home before my family starts wondering where I’m at.” Will frowned back at Henry, the guilt in his chest flickering again as he ran his eyes over his face, before Will could start second guessing himself he brought Henry’s face to his own, laying a final kiss to his pink lips, he lingered there for longer than necessary, not really kissing Henry but more so pressing their lips together, it oddly reminded him of the first day he met him, when they had shook hands that first meeting they had really just been holding each other’s hands, not shaking them.

Carefully walking backwards Will told him, “Wait a good ten minutes before leaving the room, things are a little bit more active today, I don’t want you getting in any trouble.” Waiting those ten minutes would give Will and Mike the time they needed to go down the other hallway to the supply closet where they kept the medical supplies, including the mild sedatives they gave the patients when they were in freak out mode, close to hurting themselves or others, “I’ll see you tomorrow, I’m coming for a visit with El.” The lie fell all too easily from his lips, Will hated that he wanted to stuff it back in his mouth, he was doing this for Mike he reminded himself.

“Tomorrow.” Henry parroted shifting forward on the bed to grab his button-up from the floor, Will’s back hit the door to the room, breathing in through his nose he opened the door, silently leaving the room Will gave himself a moment to collect his thoughts, hearing Henry gathering his things he knew he and Mike didn’t have much time. 

Leaving the room Will was quick to make his way to the other hallway, keeping his eyes peeled for Mike, turning a corner he recoiled back when he bumped into another person, looking up Will was relieved to see it was just Mike. His best friend had a dark look to his face, glaring at him through narrowed eyes.

“What the fuck took you so long?” He snapped at him; lips pulled back over his teeth, rolling his eyes, Will walked around Mike forcing the other boy to follow him.

“I’m not answering that.” Will said back to him, there was no reason to make Mike even angrier, “I got the keycard.” Reaching into his back pocket he pulled the keycard from it, flashing it to Mike with a grin.

In the next hallway the supply closet came into view, its white door a perfect replica of all the other doors in Pennhurst. He lightly knocked on the door to see if anyone was inside, when no sound came from the other side he pressed the keycard to the black box.

“What did you do with him?” Mike asked in a growl, pressing further against Will’s back, breathing down his neck in a way that was similar to how Will imagined dragons breathing out fire.

“I’m not answering that,” Will repeated, brows frowned he led Mike into the supply closet.

Inside Mike watched as Will’s eyes took in the rows upon rows of medical supplies, his eyes rapidly moved between the supplies, finally spotting the tiny glass bottle filled with the sedative with unused needles next to it Will wasted no time in popping open the glass container, filling a syringe with the liquid inside of it. He had seen Henry use this same sedative on rowdy patients before, it made them go to sleep for a good thirty to forty minutes depending on the dosage, it didn’t seem too hard to administer either, he had seen Henry place it in patients necks and arms.   

They needed Henry out of the way, the older man couldn’t make his rounds without noticing his missing keycard, needing it to open the doors to his patients rooms, unlike Mike though Will didn’t want to hurt him to get him out of the way.

Mike had suggested hitting his head hard enough to knock him out but Will had shot down that option, he did not want to physically hurt Henry, thus the option to sedate him came about, which Will much preferred. Henry wouldn’t see it coming, by the time he woke up Will and Mike would have done what they needed to already and they would be long gone from Pennhurst.

“You’re seriously not going to tell me what you did with him?” Mike huffed, Will sighed with annoyance, Mike was focusing on the wrong things right now, they didn’t have time for this, knowing his friend wouldn’t let it go though Will crossed the small space between them, he didn’t pull Mike into a kiss, fully conscious of the taste of Henry in his mouth, but he did pull him into a hug, pressing a few light kisses to Mike’s pale throat.

“We can talk about this later, when we're not in the middle of doing something that can literally send us to prison,” Will reminded him, “Whatever I did with Henry in the room doesn’t matter, it’s done and over with and it didn’t mean anything.”

Recognizing that they didn’t have all the time in the world Mike scowled back at Will, his fingers digging into Will’s waist where he held him, “We’re talking about this later, I want to know exactly what you fucking did with him.”

Nodding back Will stepped away, he quickly pocketed the sedative with a few extra needles knowing they would be needing them again, opening the door to the supply closet a crack, Will tightly gripped the syringe in his hand, not wanting to risk dropping it, seeing no one he signaled for Mike to follow him.

Leaving the supply closet they made their way back to the empty room he left Henry in, hiding behind the closest wall they both waited for Henry to leave the room, Will silently prayed that no one else made an appearance in the hallway with them.    

They didn’t have to wait long, a mere minute or so before the empty room door popped open and Henry was seen leaving it, he didn’t appear to realize his keycard was missing yet and why would he, the employees at Pennhurst needed the keycards to enter the rooms, not to leave them. Henry had a dopey smile on his face that softened the tired expression that he had donned before going into the room with Will, both he and Mike didn’t acknowledge why that was, Mike biting back his words knowing they couldn’t risk anything going wrong when they were so close, and Will simply because he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to think about what to say to Mike. 

Will waited a second more for Henry to turn his back to begin walking away in the opposite direction of them before he crept up behind him with Mike. Sending a silent apology to Henry, Will handed the syringe filled with the sedative to Mike while he wrapped both of his arms around Henry’s neck, an easy enough feat considering Henry only had a few inches on him. Will had a little bit more muscle mass on him then Mike did too, which was why he would be the one holding the older man and Mike would be the one giving him the sedative, Will had already walked Mike through what to do.

Almost immediately after his arms went around his neck Henry started to struggle in Will’s hold, forcing him to tighten it, Henry couldn’t see him or Mike, he couldn’t know Will was the one holding him, he didn’t know that Mike was positioning the syringe to his neck, to busy letting out choking sounds from where Will pressed on his windpipe, hoping to keep the noise to a minimum.

Using more force then Will thought he would have to use he dragged Henry back into him, trying his best to hold him still so Mike wouldn’t hurt him too bad, luckily for him Henry wasn’t muscular, he was lean and he had strength but it was on equal footing to Will’s own strength.

Not gentle in the slightest Mike raised his arm and stabbed the syringe into the side of Henry’s neck, due to his struggling Mike couldn’t exactly measure out where he stabbed into but Will knew the sedative was working when Henry’s struggles lessened and his body became more slack in Will’s arms. Slumping back from Henry’s dead weight against him, he motioned for Mike to grab the keycard from his pocket so they could place Henry back into the empty room.

“How long does this sedative work for again?” Mike asked him as he watched Will drag Henry’s body closer to his own, far gentler then he needed to be he started making his way to the empty room.

“Thirty maybe forty minutes, so we need to be quick.”

Nodding Mike opened the door, holding it open for him Will hurried to drag Henry inside and arrange his body on the bed in a comfortable position before he walked out of the room with Mike at his side, making their way to Terry Ives’s room, after they were done in her room Will would circle back to place the keycard back on Henry’s sleeping body before he and Mike left Pennhurst.

Grabbing the keycard from Mike’s hold, Will opened the door to Terry’s room, motioning for Mike to go first before Will followed close behind him.

Inside the room Will gazed at Mike’s frozen figure, this was the first time Mike was seeing the woman his dad cheated on his mom with, the first time he was seeing the woman who played a role in his moms decision to commit suicide.

Not knowing how else to show Mike that he was there for him, Will silently grabbed his hand, weaving their fingers together in a tight hold.

The look Mike had on his face as he stared at Terry Ives was one similar to the look Will remembered seeing on Mike’s face when he found Mrs. Wheeler’s diary; he hadn’t liked it then and Will liked it even less now. More hatred was in Mike’s eyes now though then there was then, a burning resentment for the unresponsive woman in front of them.

Terry was as she always is, in a light colored nightgown, hair pulled back into a low ponytail, blanket covering her lap, a blank look to her eyes as she gazed at nothing in particular.

Slowly a malicious smile appeared on Mike’s face, his eyes lit up with joy in the vilest way, pulling the backpack off his shoulders he opened it enough to pull out twin hunting knives that had belonged to Will’s dad that he had left in their shed when his mom kicked him out for the final time.

Making his way to Terry’s body, Mike pulled Will with him, handing him one of the hunting knives, “Oh, this is going to be fun baby.”

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Sinclair Home

October 30 th , 1988

11:17pm

Sitting around on the couches in Lucas’s living room with his classmates surrounding him, Will tried to not think about what Mike and El were doing upstairs at that very same moment. It took a lot of restraint to keep his ass sitting down with Dustin, instead of stomping up the stairs to tear El away from what was his. He knew eventually El would give it up to Mike, he’s only a little surprised it took her this long, he certainly hadn’t waited himself when Mike first proposed having sex when they were fourteen and still new to everything happening between them.

The bedroom lusty eyes that El had been giving Mike at the front door were enough to clue Will into her intentions after she talked to Mike. He had joked about giving the two lovebirds time alone with Dustin, words that tasted like burnt ash when he had said them. This was something Mike wanted, Will told himself that it wasn’t because Mike loved her, he didn’t , Mike just wanted another thing to add to his arsenal against her, the ultimate payback, letting El know she fucked the man that murdered her mother.

His flirting with Dustin was the cherry on top of the sundae, it certainly wasn’t hard to flirt with the other boy, Will always thought him and Lucas were cute, he never went anywhere with those thoughts because why would he when he had Mike but Dustin was certainly entertaining in the meantime that Mike wanted to play his games with El, Will figured he could play his own with Dustin. It wasn’t like he was averse to Will’s attention either, he seemed to quite enjoy it actually, much to Will’s delight.

Dustin was right against his side, drunkenly leaning into him as they watched the movie Dustin had chosen to put in for the last bit of straggling teenagers left in the house. It was Halloween , a tribute to the costume Dustin chose to wear for the night. He could feel the way Eddie Munson eyed them with curiosity from his place on Dustin’s other side, raising an eyebrow at Will when they caught eyes with each other. Truthfully, Will only recognized two of the seven teens gathered around him at that moment, besides Dustin he only recognized Eddie and Robin, who sat on the floor in front of Eddie, back leaning against his legs with a redheaded girl at her side, leaning her head against Robin’s shoulder.

“Here it comes.” Dustin excitedly told him, pointing to the TV, Will’s attention snapped to the loud banging sounds of a door slamming open on the screen, everyone around him jumped in fright, letting out little squeals of laughter at their own reactions.

“What the fuck! That blood is all kinds of wrong! It’s too fucking red,” Eddie exclaimed shaking his head and throwing his arms out to the side, almost hitting Dustin with the beer bottle he had in his hand, “Why would they do that?” Turning his head back to the screen, Will compared the fake blood gushing from the wounded victim to the very real blood on his hockey mask; comparing the two, he thought they looked similar, deep in color and thick.

Clutching at his arm with a death grip, Dustin said, “Wait, here comes another one.” Warning Will of the second jump scare that was going to pop out, it was weirdly cute how excited Dustin was for the movie, one he’s seen about a million times, it made Will almost regret playing with him, almost but not quite. Will didn’t have the capacity to feel any true remorse, he had made the mistake before of letting himself feel too much and care too much for a person that wasn’t meant to mean anything to him, he was never making that mistake again.

Another shout went out through the room at the second jump scare, another bout of laughter followed it.

“That’s predictable,” the redhead at Robin’s side whispered into her ear, or well she thought she whispered into Robin’s ear, in reality Will and everyone else heard her loud and clear, “I mean come on we all saw that coming a mile away.” Giggling Robin agreed with her, somehow scooting closer to the redhead, almost sitting in her lap at that point.

“Right,” Robin attempted to whisper back, like the redhead she failed to do so, “I don’t see how Dustin can watch these movies over and over again.”

“Do we ever get to see Jamie Lee’s tits?” Eddie complained, beer sloshing around in his bottle from his hazardous arm movements, “I want to see some tits!” He shouted while laughing, a shout of agreement went through the room from the other males gathered, Will didn’t say anything, just watched with amusement as Dustin grumbled to himself.

Moving himself a little bit away from Will, Dustin pointed at Eddie with an exasperated expression, “Jamie Lee is basically known as the virgin of all virgins in horror movies, she doesn’t show her tits for just anything dude.” He told him far more seriously then Will thought he needed to, Eddie was drunk, hell everyone around them was drunk, they didn’t understand anything happening right now.

“Could she not afford a decent pair?” Some girl snickered to herself, unknowingly offending Dustin, who sharply turned to look at her with narrowed eyes.

“What did you say?” Will laughed under his breath as Dustin stared the unknown girl down, daring her to repeat herself, “This is why Jamie Lee always outsmarts the killer in the big ending scenes in all her movies. Only virgins have that kind of power! Don’t you know the rules?!”

“What rules?” Eddie unknowingly asked, Will rolled his eyes, he’s heard Dustin rant more times than he could count about all things scary movie, which included the 'Scary Movie Rules'.

“Excuse me!” Dustin shouted, he jumped up from his seat, hitting his foot on the coffee table in front of them, grabbing the remote on the coffee table he paused the movie, “Jesus' fuck! You guys don’t know the rules?!” He yelled at them as if not knowing his hypothetical rules was the most offending thing they could have done to him.

Mockingly raising his hand Will said, “I know the rules, Dusty.” Winking at Dustin as he enjoyed the heat blossoming on the other boys' cheeks.

Shaking his head Dustin briefly smiled at him before he scoffed at the drunken teens, “How is Will the only person in this room that knows the rules! What the fuck is wrong with you guys!”

“Calm down Dustin, there’s no reason to have an aneurysm.” Eddie laughed, Robin and the redhead nodded in agreement, throwing Dustin mischievous looks that he seemed to miss.

Standing in front of all of them with his hands on his hips, Dustin took a deep breath to calm himself, recognizing his posture Will settled further into the couch cushions, “There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie.” He told them, getting started in on his rant, he had everyone’s attention, all eyes in the room were on him.

Holding up one finger at them, he continued, “Rule Number One: You can never have sex.” Will giggled when the drunken teens booed at Dustin, waving their hands around as if to get rid of Dustin’s words from infecting the room, Robin grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it at Dustin’s head, the kernels bounced off his curly hair and his forehead onto the carpet below him, trying in vain to smack the popcorn away from him, Dustin turned away from them well shouting, “It’s a big No-No, big No-No!”

“Well I’m a fucking dead man.” Eddie slumped back with a defeated moan, scarcely holding in his laugh.

“I’m sorry to have to be the one to break it to you idiots, but sex equals death, I don’t make the rules.” Dustin said his hands came down to his sides when popcorn stopped getting thrown at him.

“Rule Number Two: You can never drink or do drugs.” This time Dustin was prepared for the protests and the popcorn throwing, turning his back to the teenagers groaning at him, he laughed when all of them cursed at him, shaking his head in good hearted fun at their misery of the metaphorical rules.

“Cheers to that rule my friend!” Eddie leaned over to smash his beer bottle against the one in Robin’s hand, turning back around Dustin picked up a random bottle to cheer the room with Eddie, explaining all the while, “It’s the sin factor, it’s an extension of Rule One.” 

Eyes checking the time on a clock above one of the windows in the Sinclair home, Will shifted his body forward, planting his feet to the ground he waited to hear Rule Three from Dustin’s mouth, “Finally Rule Number Three: Never, ever, ever,” he stressed his words, taking the time to look into individual eyes until he landed on Will’s hazel ones, “under any circumstances, say “I’ll be right back” because you won’t be back.”

Staring straight at Dustin as he got up, Will picked up a random beer bottle from the pile on the coffee table, walking around the couch he waved it in Dustin’s direction, “I’m getting another beer…you want one?” Slowly walking backwards, he smirked at Dustin.

Smiling shyly down at his shoes, Dustin nodded, “Yes, please.”

Grinning widely like a maniac, showing all of his teeth, Will said, “ I’ll be right back !” He shrugged back at Dustin’s horrified look, loud cheers and whooping went around the room, as he left Will could hear the clinking of the glass beer bottles knocking into each other as they celebrated his words.   

Bored out of her mind Nancy fidgeted with a random electrical cord she found on the ground of the van, wrapping it and unwrapping it around her fingers. Next to her Barb was cleaning her glasses for the fifth time, taking them off of her face, holding them up to the miniscule light provided by the vans overhead lights, then roughly rubbing them against her t-shirt, taking smudges off them that they didn’t have to begin with.

The only one in the van that looked alive and not ready to drop dead from boredom within the next second was Fred, he kept producing new snacks from seemingly nowhere. Munching and crunching on chips, cookies, beef jerky, and whatever else he could get his hands on, all the while staring intensely at the TV screen at the stupid teenagers that were left over from Lucas’s Halloween party. They were all sitting around the couches, drinking beer and watching a horror film, Nancy untwisted the electrical cord from her finger again, on the screen Dustin was explaining something about virgins.

“This is why Jamie Lee always outsmarts the killer in the big ending scenes in all her movies. Only virgins have that kind of power! Don’t you know the rules?”

“What Rules?”

“There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie.”

She tuned out whatever else he was saying, pinching the cord between two fingers she twisted it, “This is boring.” She stated to the two other occupants of the van, only getting a nod as a response back from Barb, Fred was too busy flicking cheese-dust off his fingers to pay her any mind. Movement from outside the van pulled Nancy’s attention, instantly she sat up straighter, Steve was making his way down the road, flashlight in his hand but not turned on, his shoulders seemed tense, as if ready for something.

“I’ll be back in a little bit.” She told Barb and Fred, throwing the electrical cord to the floor in the vicinity of the place she found it in, Nancy hurried to leave the van, almost tripping over herself in her rush to catch up to Steve who was further away than he was before. Sliding up next to him Nancy took a deep breath in, calming her racing heart which was beating faster than she was used to, she hadn’t sprinted like that since she was in high school, it was a little embarrassing how fast she ran out of breath.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Without her noticing Steve had stopped walking, being a few paces in front of him Nancy turned to face him, Steve had his arms crossed at his chest which to her seemed puffed out slightly as if to add to his attempt at intimidating her.

Playing dumb Nancy replied, “Walking.”

Steve scoffed at her, “Obviously,” he dragged, “I meant why are you following me?”

Beginning to walk backwards Nancy was relieved when Steve followed her steps, “You going off on your own doesn’t seem like a good idea.” It was a weak excuse, and she knew it, Jonathan was still off on his own, doing lord knows what, probably stalking his siblings through a window, and yet she wasn’t scrounging around looking for him with that same pathetic excuse.

“So, you figured you would come keep me company?” Steve asked well rolling his eyes at her, Nancy scowled back at him, she could do without the attitude, it wasn’t like she was doing anything wrong by following him, she was bored in the van and Steve looked like he was going off to investigate something interesting, so sue her for wanting to go along with him.

“Is there a problem with that?”

“Is there a problem with that…” he repeated back to her, slowly and carefully as if she didn’t understand the words she had just asked him, “As long as you don’t get in my way or try to dig up dirt on El then no, we shouldn’t have any problems Nancy.” Rolling her eyes Nancy wondered if Steve would calm down with the big brother act already, not saying anything she turned back around and slowed down a pace to allow Steve to catch up to her, they both walked quietly down the road together for a moment.

Her curiosity was getting the better of her though, without fully meaning to Nancy opened her mouth, “So why are we walking down the road? I’m I supposed to keep an eye out for something?”

Appearing hesitant to answer her, Steve pressed his lips together, sighing through his nose in a huff, “The station radioed me, someone made a report claiming to see a car in the bushes down the road, I’m going to check it out.”     

“A car?” Glancing over the darkened road they walked down Nancy thought that was an unusual report to make, why would a random car be hanging out this far on the outskirts of Hawkins, hardly anyone lived this way, being dubbed the ‘rich’ people houses. She hated that there was little to no light on the road, streetlamps apparently being a scarcity that the rich folk couldn’t be bothered to install, she shifted closer to Steve whose flashlight illuminated the darkness, not by much but by enough that Nancy didn’t feel as much concern.

“Are you scared?” Steve joked, bumping his shoulder against hers.

“Of course not.” Nancy lied, she could tell Steve knew it was a lie too because he turned his face up to the sky with a grin on his lips, she pinched his arm in response to that causing him to yelp and jump away from her, she rolled her eyes at the dramatic display. 

Leaning back against Lucas’s couch with a half-drunk beer bottle in his hand, Dustin hazily stared at the TV, Eddie, Robin, Vicky, and a couple of unknown classmates surrounded him, all watching the movie with enthrallment like he was. His body felt tingly, like it was surfing a good wave, grabbing one of the couch pillows he pulled it to his chest, hugging it close to him as he told the others, “Look! Here comes the obligatory tit shot!” Sure enough as he said, the blonde woman on the screen lowered the white sheet she was holding to her chest, showing the viewers a set of perky tits.

Glancing around the room Dustin noted Will’s absence, he wondered where he had gone, a little sad in his drunken state to have lost the attention that he was enjoying being showered with. Will was a good-looking guy, Dustin would be a fool not to try his hand with him if Will was showing interest, even if it meant getting glared at by Mike’s possessive ass.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about! Fucking finally!” Eddie cheered at the screen, high fiving Robin who giggled on the floor with Vicky still sat next to her, leaning on each other in support, beer bottles surrounding the two girls in an almost perfect circle.

Lucas’s house phone started ringing, half paying attention to the movie Dustin distractedly answered the phone when he realized no one else in the living room was going to answer it, holding the receiver up to his ear he cringed back from the cold plastic grazing his entire earlobe, “Hello?”

Creepy music played from the movie, the classic Halloween theme song, a suspenseful thing that let viewers know that something or another was going to be jumping out at them at any moment, listening to the caller, Dustin tried to understand their jumbled talk, “You’re not going to believe this.” It seemed like the caller was unconcerned about who he was talking to, excitedly spitting the words to Dustin in a hurry without asking to talk to someone specific.  

“Yeah?” He impatiently asked, wanting to get off the phone to continue watching the movie, which he was far more entertained with then he cared to admit, he would never tire of Halloween though, it was an incredible cinematic masterpiece.

“Officer Callahan is dead, his throat was slashed, he’s in the school parking lot in his police car.” The voice on the other end responded, not waiting for a reply back from Dustin; they hung up the phone without giving him a chance to react.

Officer Callahan is dead … Officer Callahan is dead … Officer Callahan is dead , the caller’s words echoed in Dustin’s head, making it throb with sharp pain.

“Holy shit,” he whispered, blinking dumbly at the screen where Laurie Strode stood with nervous hands, carefully placing the receiver to the phone back down, he turned around to face his classmates, giving them a wide eyed stare, shocked about the information given by the caller, “Guys listen up, Officer Callahan is dead. His throat was slashed, they found him in the school parking lot in his police car.”

“No shit! For real?” Eddie asked with a wide smile, Dustin knew Officer Callahan had slapped a pair of handcuffs on Eddie more than a few times but he still thought it was insensitive of him to smile after learning that Officer Callahan died, unable to answer him verbally Dustin nodded, “Then what the fuck are we doing here? Let’s go see that fucker before they take his body away!” Loudly cackling Eddie tugged Robin and Vicky up from the floor, waving at the unknown classmates to follow him, he led all of them out of the living room whooping and hollering, not bothering to stop to listen to Dustin’s protests.

Throwing his arms in front of him Dustin was sputtering, “Hey! Where-where are you guys going? We were just getting to the good part” Seeing that they were ignoring him Dustin rolled his eyes, he was slightly more sober then he was before answering the phone call but there was still a light buzz he was feeling, he figured he would ride it out there as he waited for Lucas, Max, Will, El, or Mike to come back, one of them was bound to show up at some point, the night was still young there was no reason he needed to leave yet. Relaxing back against the couch cushions again, he replaced the pillow back on his chest, bringing his beer bottle to his throat Dustin took a large gulp of it, his throat stung around the bitter taste.

Strolling down the street from Lucas’s house Steve shined the light from his flashlight into every dark corner of the miles of woods gathered on either side of the road they walked down. He saw nothing but trash, the occasional small nocturnal animal, and thick green leaves belonging to trees and bushes. There was not a single car in sight, he was starting to think it was a false tip called into the station to get him away from the Sinclair house, away from El and Max.

Just the thought of that made a shiver run down his spine, made him nervous enough to miss a couple steps in his walking, causing him to trip a little over his own two feet. Glancing over his shoulder he spotted the Sinclair home in the distance, it was well lit, easy to spot, he wasn’t far away from the house but he wasn’t close by either, if El or Max needed help he wouldn’t be able to hear them calling for him being this far away.

“You seem like you’re having doubts.” Nancy stated to the open air around them, letting her words tumble from her mouth with pursed lips, her eyes watched everything, catalogued everything, it was honestly a little frightening seeing how calculating she was with her surroundings, it made Steve a little uncomfortable being in her presence.

“I haven’t seen a car.” Steve said, he once more flickered the light of his flashlight into a darkened patch of green to his left, moving the flashlight around towards the back to see if he could spot a shine of metal, there wasn’t anything.

“Maybe there is no car.” Nancy commented, voicing out loud the doubts that Steve had in his head about getting a false tip into the station.

“There has to be a car.” If there was no car then that meant there was a huge possibility that the call was made to get him out of the way, a thought Steve didn’t even want to entertain, he promised to be there for El and Max, if they got hurt on his watch he wouldn’t ever forgive himself.

“Steve let’s be realistic for a second here,” Nancy placed her hand on his arm to stop him from walking any further, she pointed at his flashlight then around to the vast expanse of woods around them, “We’ve both been on the lookout for some mysterious car in the woods and so far we’ve seen nothing…does that not sound suspicious and convenient to you at all?”

Opening his mouth Nancy didn’t give him any time to answer her, “Because I’ll tell you what it looks like to me, someone made that call to get you out here helplessly looking for a car that isn’t-” loud shouting interrupted Nancy, from behind them two cars sped down the road, screaming and laughing echoed out from the open windows, the bright headlights shined in his and Nancy’s eyes.

“What the fuck?” Steve barely had a second to realize the cars weren’t slowing down, if anything it seemed like they picked up in speed, more obnoxious laughter came from the car, cackling that irritated Steve’s ears, throwing his arms around Nancy he forced both of them to the side, trying to make sure they weren’t run over by idiotic drunken teenagers, he accidently tripped both himself and Nancy in the process causing both of them to roll together down a small hill of grass. His arms went around his head, trying in vain to protect himself from the bumpy terrain, Steve let a puff of air escape his lungs when he rolled straight into a large tree log, thankfully it stopped him from rolling further but the log hurt him as his body impacted with it.

“Ow.” He heard a small whimper to his right, arms coming down from his head, Steve looked straight at Nancy who was a foot or so away from him, twigs and dirt in her curly hair, outfit dirty and ruffled from the rolling, she was holding her head on one side, rubbing a place on it that Steve guessed she hit on the way down, his eyes tried to catch hers in the dim moonlight, his flashlight having fallen from his hands somewhere along the way, but Nancy wasn’t looking at him, she was confusingly staring at something just beyond Steve’s shoulder.

Not liking that stare from a normally self-assured Nancy, Steve stood up and turned around, body tense with fear and anticipation for what he might see, just beyond the tree log that he had hit, hidden behind some bushes and random tree vines was a car, a black and brown station wagon that Steve unnervingly realized he recognized.

From behind him Nancy gasped, “That’s my dad’s car…what’s my dad’s car doing in the middle of the woods?”

Sitting at the edge of the bed in the guest room in Lucas’s house El adjusted the skirt to her Wonder Woman costume, she had just pulled it up and was now trying to make the frill of the skirt sit the way it had on her thighs before Mike had stripped her of it. Giving up on the skirt she ran her hands down her hair, petting the strands with heavy pressure so they were not sticking up in every direction.

Her body felt tingly, thrumming with a sort of excited but nervous energy, the space between her thighs was sticky, a sensation that was both unpleasant and enjoyable at the same time. Gripping a piece of her hair in her fist El thought about what she and Mike did… they had sex …they actually had sex, it was a concept she could hardly wrap her head around even though she just experienced it less than a few minutes prior.

It had felt good, she had expected it to hurt far more than it did, but other than the initial penetration inside of her, there was no pain. Mike had taken his time with her, he had made sure she was enjoying every part of what they were doing together, not pushing her to give more than she wanted to.  

Smiling to herself El thought her first time was perfect , she did it with a boy she loved and who loved her back, she could not have asked for more than that. Mike loved her, he finally said the words she had been waiting to hear, finally let her in to see what he feels for her, the whole thing was surreal, like a dream she was going to wake up from. Spotting a spare hairbrush on the white nightstand next to the bed El picked it up and began running the bristles through her hair.

“Are you okay?” Glancing over her shoulder to Mike El could not help but smile over at him, he sat on the floor on the other side of the bed, his chest bare as he turned his shirt the right way, her eyes trailed down from his face to his chest and stomach, lingering there as she remembered the way he had felt pressing her into the mattress.

“I am okay,” she nodded, “I am more than okay.” How could she not be? The boy she loved told her he loved her back, El could not be happier if she tried.

Moving to place the hairbrush back down where she got it from, it slipped from her hand accidently knocking into the phone the Sinclair’s put in their guest room, El frowned back at it.

A random thought entered her mind, when people got arrested they were given one phone call to anyone of their choice to come help them, Mike had gotten one phone call in jail, she wondered who he had called.

The atmosphere in the bedroom was pleasant, she was unsure if she should possibly ruin it by asking her curious question. She figured her and Mike were okay now though, that they could ask each other things, talk to each other about things, and joke about things, seeing no reason not to El asked, “Who did you call?”

“What?” Mike asked back with a confused tint to his voice, focusing on putting on her shoes El could hear Mike struggling to put on his own shoes from behind her.

“When someone is arrested they are allowed one phone call,” El clarified with a shrug, putting a lighter flow into her voice so Mike did not assume she was trying to argue with him or accuse him of anything, “You were allowed one phone call, I am curious…who did you call?”

“I called my dad.”

Thinking back to that night that she accused Mike of being the killer, El remembered hearing Officer Callahan and Steve talking to each other, she remembered Officer Callahan had said that he would contact Ted Wheeler, why would Mike call his dad when Officer Callahan was already going to contact him, “Officer Callahan called your dad, I heard him talking to Steve.”

Heavily sighing in what sounded like irritation to El’s ears Mike mumbled, “Yeah, but when I called that asshole, he didn’t bother answering me.” Unintentionally El winced when she heard Mike call his dad an asshole, it was not the first time she heard Mike say something like that about his father, repressed anger in his voice as he said it but it always made her uneasy hearing it, they might have issues but Mike should not be calling his dad names.

Mike’s clothing made ruffling noises against the wall as he stood up from the floor, feeling him come closer to the bed El hurried to finish putting on her shoes so she could face him. Mike was half leaning over the bed, hands placed on the rumpled comforter so he could place most of his weight on his arms, teetering back and forth on his half bent legs he clicked his tongue at her, looking at her through a few stray curls that had fallen in front of his face, “You don’t still think it was me, do you?” Teeth gnawing into her bottom lip El thought about Mike’s question, she did not still think he was the killer, but there still were some unanswered questions that she was curious about that Mike should not have an issue answering. A small part of her brain that possibly spent too much time in Dustin’s company also told her that Mike using his one phone call to call her at Max’s house would be a very smart way to make El believe he was not the killer, make her believe she was crazy .

Nervously laughing under her breath El shook her head, “No, no I do not still think it was you,” eyes looking back into Mike’s dark ones El moved a few inches in Mike’s direction, getting closer to the middle of the bed and to him, “I was just thinking if it were you then that would have been a clever way to throw me off track, using your one phone call to make me believe it was not you, make me feel like I was going insane or something.”

Puffing a sad attempt at a laugh out of her mouth El tried not to flinch as Mike’s eyes got that empty look in them again, it was hard to not look away from him as he glared at her, “What do I have to do to prove to you that I’m not a fucking killer?” He asked through clenched teeth.

El ran that question through her mind, hating that she asked anything at all with the way Mike was responding to her, unable to hold his gaze anymore her eyes flickered to movement behind Mike’s shoulder by the door to the room, something that looked like a dark shadow was slowly creeping in, body frozen on the bed, mouth open in shock El whispered, “Oh my god.”

Not understanding Mike opened his mouth to say something to her, by that point the shadow was not a shadow anymore, instead she faced the mask of the killer again, hurriedly getting off the bed, El reached over the mattress to an unsuspecting Mike who had no idea the killer was right behind him, “Mike! Mike behind you!” She shouted in fright at him, trying and failing to grab his arm to pull him towards her.  

“El?” Straightening his back Mike turned around, she did not have time to do anything other than scream a loud pitched shriek when the killer brought his knife down into Mike’s chest, horrified El’s hands reached up to her mouth, covering her screams as she watched the killer pull the knife free from Mike’s body only to stab into him again and again, blood soaked Mike’s t-shirt and the carpet underneath him.

“Mike!” El cried helplessly, the last stab turned Mike’s body in her direction causing some of his blood to spray from his wounds to her face, she had to physically hold herself back from gagging at the amount of blood Mike had on his body, gasping through his pain Mike opened his mouth, “El…El.” Taking a last wheezing breath, he dropped onto the mattress, an unmoving bloody mess, a loud sob came up from her throat at the sight.

She did not have time to comprehend Mike dying in front of her, Mike being killed right in front of her, the killer slowly stalked to the side of the bed, running his finger over the back of Mike’s legs as he did, not knowing what to do El forced herself to look at the killer, she could not afford to have her eyes away from him, she needed to know his moves before he made them, that was how she was going to survive.

Cocking his head to one side at her he brought the bloody knife up, it dripped with Mike’s blood, swallowing back a whimper El watched as he ran his hand over the blade, dark glove cleaning it of the blood that stained it.

When the killer made a move to run at her El jumped onto the bed, narrowly missing the arms that tried coming down around her, she landed on the other side of the bed in a slight wobble, not thinking about anything else other than getting away, surviving , El ran out of the door into the hallway with the killer a step behind her.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Sinclair Home

October 31 st , 1988

12:29am 

Running into a random room that led to more areas of the house El turned to lock the door behind her, from the other side of the locked door the killer was loudly pounding on it with his fist, shaking the entire frame of the door. El took off into another random room of Lucas’s house, silently cursing him that there was so much open space in his home, too many rooms, too many areas that led to other areas, a maze of a house. Getting to an area that led to the staircase El briefly let out a sigh of relief, rushing down the stairs she abruptly stopped when the killer popped out from another hallway that led to the same staircase, running back the way she came from El did not turn back to see if he was following her.    

Going into another room, she slammed the door just in time to stop the killer from entering the room with her, breathing heavily she locked the door before the doorknob could turn. Almost instantly the door started shaking from thunderous slamming coming from the other side, wiping the tears still falling from her eyes, El prayed the door would hold, it sounded like the killer was slamming his entire body into it, not just his fist. 

“Oh my god.” She hugged her arms around herself, telling herself to breathe. El turned to look around the room she was in, it was filled with junk, odd miscellaneous items that made no sense to her, but just on the other side of the room was a window big enough for her to squeeze through. Knowing she did not have many options at the moment El ran to it, fingers trembling she struggled to unlock it, glancing outside she looked to see if she could spot someone, Steve or Will or really anyone, she needed help, she did not care who provided that help.

Seeing a familiar news van, El lifted one hand off the lock to bang on the glass of the window, hoping someone in the van could see her frantic movements through the window, “Help! Help me! Somebody please! Help me!” She screamed as loud as she could, her throat feeling raw around the words coming out of it, nothing outside moved, no one saw her, no one heard her.

Flinching at the sound of the wood to the door breaking apart El looked over her shoulder, the wood was starting to splinter apart from how hard the killer was slamming into it, she knew it would not hold for much longer.

Putting all her focus and effort into unlocking the window El almost cried out in relief when the latch finally clicked open between her sweaty fingers, opening the window a rush of cold air hit her face, hesitating only slightly El started to carefully climb out of the window feet first, grateful that she was not wearing the heels Max had asked her if she wanted to wear before getting dressed earlier that day, once outside her fingers pinched the window’s edges so hard her knuckles turned white. Lucas’s house was tall, the drop down would break a bone if she attempted it but El had no other choice but to climb out onto the roof of the house, she could feel how unsteady her feet were on the shingles of the roof, her legs were a quivering mess that she did her best to control but was unable to.

Slipping down a little, El tightened her hold, looking back towards the news van she yelled, “Help me! Please, help me!”

Another sob came up her throat when she again saw no one coming to help her, hands suddenly grabbing ahold of her own from inside the house made her shriek, without her noticing the killer had broken through the door and had made his way to her.

Feet clumsily sliding all over the shingles El struggled to make the killer let her go, the grip he had on her hands was painful, it was like he was crushing her bones with his hands alone, “Let me go! Please! Stop! Please!” She begged him through a sob, leaning half his body out the window, the man waited until she pushed her weight away from him to release her hands, the force of her movement flung her backwards, her feet slipped out from underneath her completely as she fell back off the roof, screaming El braced herself for the hard impact.      

The drop was much shorter than she expected it to be, the impact less painful too, she had not landed on the cement like she had anticipated, instead she landed on Mr. Sinclair’s summer boat that had a cushioned protective covering on it. Though the landing was softer than she had braced for, the force of it still pushed all of the air out of her lungs, sucking in a deep breath of air El coughed around the sharp pain radiating through her spine and head.

Rolling off of the boat’s protective covering to the cement of the driveway, El struggled to stand on her feet, her body was hurting everywhere, she could not breathe right either, she was trembling so bad that she had to hold herself against the boat to take a proper look at her surroundings through her blurry vision.

First, she glanced up to the window she fell out of, no one was there, just the curtain swaying ominously from the wind, she did not know where the killer went but she knew he was not going to let her go that easily. Limping forward a little to test her legs El saw that she was in front of the garage, it was cracked open a little bit and a light was flickering from inside of it.

Seeing a strange dark liquid slowly trailing its way from inside the garage to outside of it El crouched down a little to look inside the small gap, curious as to what the odd thick liquid was.   

Not far from the open garage door, splayed on the floor for anyone to see were Max’s and Lucas’s dead bodies. El’s body shook as heavy sobs overcame her, “Max, oh my god, Max.” she sobbed, her hands found their way to her hair where she fisted chunks of it, shaking her head as if that would get rid of the image in front of her.

“Max.” El whimpered out her friend’s name, eyes stuck on the grotesque sight in front of her.

Lucas was laid flat against the floor with Max leaning against him in an unnatural pose, as if somebody treated her body like a doll and positioned her, from where she was El could not see Lucas all that well, she could only see the blood that surrounded him in a large puddle. She could see Max better, her friend’s mouth was opened, from it blood slowly dripped out, a large stab wound was on the side of her neck to, on her shirt where the blood from her mouth mainly dripped was something pink, getting a little closer El realized it was her tongue, her friend’s tongue was cut out and left on her chest as some sort of sick show piece.  

Rubbing at the tears leaking from her eyes El whispered to her friends, “I am sorry. I am so sorry Max. I am sorry Lucas. I am sorry.” Slowly she backed away, not really wanting to leave her two friends there but knowing she could not do anything for them until she helped herself El reluctantly turned her back to them, barely holding herself together she ran as fast as she could to the news van, to Jonathan, her brother who would know what to do, he would tell her everything was going to be okay, and he would get her out of this mess.   

“Jonathan! Jonathan!” El screamed as she ran, she could not see her brother anywhere near the van but that was his van, he had to be inside of it.

Telling her legs to go faster El chanced a glance over her shoulder to make sure the killer was not following her, she was so close to her brother and yet she felt like she was still so far away from him, like every inch of distance she closed was a foot of distance that grew.

“Jonathan! Help me!” Unable to stop in time her entire body slammed into the back sliding door, her body was already in so much pain that the shock of slamming into the metal of the van hardly registered in her head. Bringing her hands up she slapped them against the glass of the window, her palms reddened from how hard she was banging on the glass.

“Jonathan!” Her brother had to be here, he had to help her.

Without warning the back sliding door slid open, stepping back with confusion El stared at the man in front of her, it was the camera guy that had been with Barb when she had hit her, the one who had tried to catch Barb but ultimately could not hold up her and the camera on his shoulder at the same time.

El rapidly shook her head in denial, glancing around the rest of the van she saw nothing but camera equipment and screens, Jonathan was nowhere in sight, no one she knew was anywhere in sight, just the camera guy.  

“The killer is in the house,” she told him as she lifted herself into the van, even though no one she knew was there, inside of the van was a lot safer than the outside of it, “He is after me.”

Looking at her with wide shocked eyes through his blocky glasses the camera guy turned to one of the screens that El could now see was playing  a live feed from Lucas’s living room, “Wait, wait…where?” Pushing him back she grabbed hold of the door and slid it shut, for the first time being able to let out a cry that was not overshadowed by the need to run away, to survive.

“Where is my brother? Where is Jonathan?” She questioned, this van was his, she was not mistaken about that, but no one, not Jonathan, not Steve, not even Nancy were in sight.

“He-he left earlier; he hasn’t been back since.” He told her, shifting closer to the screen with the live feed, he pointed at it with a shaking hand, panic and fear written across his face, “Look.”

Turning to the screen El moved closer, it was fuzzy, on it was Dustin in the living room, he was lounging back against the cushions of Lucas’s couch, a pillow to his chest that he was hugging close to him, he was watching a movie and telling whoever was on the screen to, “Look behind you!”

Just behind Dustin, standing over him from behind the couch in a position that went unnoticed by Dustin’s shouts to the movie that played was the killer. He stood there completely motionless, watching Dustin with his head cocked to one side, as if in wonder.

“Dustin.” El whimpered, another one of her friends was in danger, a killer loomed over him and El could do nothing but look at the stupid screen in front of her, unable to do anything to help him, “Oh god, Dustin.”

“Behind you! Look behind you!” Dustin frustratingly shouted to the TV, if El had a moment to think about irony she would find it ironic that Dustin was shouting the exact thing he should be doing to a fictional character on a screen.  

“Behind you!” The camera man shouted close to her ear at Dustin, like her friend would be able to hear him through the camera Nancy and Barb must have planted inside the house when they went inside earlier that night.   

Slowly the killer lifted his hands up, in them was the curved knife, a sob escaped El’s throat at the sight of it, she squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch a friend’s life being taken. From behind her she heard the camera man open the sliding door to the van, muttering to himself that someone had to help Dustin, she opened her eyes when she heard his feet hit the dirt outside, turning to face him El wondered why he was not running to the house.

“Shit!” He shouted, just beyond his shoulder El saw the front door wide open, from it she could see the pretty flowers that Mrs. Sinclair picks straight from her garden in a vase on an entry table, “The feed has a thirty second delay, we’re not watching in real time, not completely.” He rushed to say, together both their heads snapped to the TV, on it the killer turns his head to look out one of the windows to Lucas’s yard, seeming to have heard something interesting, closing his hands into fists he carefully stepped away from Dustin’s yelling figure, disappearing out of view from the camera.

“What!” Hurriedly turning around El opened her mouth to tell the camera guy to get back inside the van, if the feed was a on a thirty second delay then who knew where the killer disappeared to and where he was now, “Get back in the—” blood splashing on her face cut El off from her sentence, she gagged a little when she tasted some of it, it had an almost sour iron taste to it, in front of her was the camera guy staring at her with an expression that did not quite know what to be…shocked, panicked, pained, he seemed to filter through multiple emotions as he processed what had happened to him.

Behind him was the killer, holding onto the camera man’s body with an arm around his waist, he slit his throat, crying El watched blood gush from his neck, watched as he gasped in pain, as he whimpered when he reached up to feel the slit in his throat, holding one hand to his throat he used the other one to point to the end of the van, falling to the ground he gasped out, “The…door.”

Adrenaline driving her actions El grabbed the door and slammed it shut before the killer could get in, holding in the next sob that wanted to come out she thought about how she did not know the camera man’s name, he used his last breath to help her, and she did not even know his name. Climbing over her brother’s camera equipment, El tried not to think about anything else but getting away, she tried to erase the image of Max, Lucas, and the camera guy, tried to tell herself that she could think about it all later, but the blood on her face was warm… sticky , it was a glaring reminder that someone laid dead outside, having just been killed because she chose to run to the van.

She could hear the banging on the sliding door from the killer, it shook the whole van in place, not paying attention to it El crawled her way through the tiny opening of the back door, getting on her feet outside, she did not waste a second to start running, she did not check to see if the killer knew she left the van or not, feeling like he was right at her heels, nipping at her with his knife, she pushed herself to move faster.

Running down the road they came from Steve resisted the urge to interrogate Nancy, he couldn’t tell if her surprise at finding her dad’s car in the woods was genuine or not, couldn’t tell if this was something she planned for a story. He regretted letting her come with him to investigate, whether or not she had anything to do with the car, she was too personally involved in this, and he couldn’t afford for her to get in the way of protecting El and Max.  

Just ahead of them a figure was walking towards them, reaching an arm out to Nancy he slowed their pace down, unable to see who was walking in the middle of the road, hand automatically going to his gun Steve squinted his eyes at the figure.

Huffing at him Nancy knocked away his arm, “It’s Barb.” Looking closer he was able to make out Barb’s frumpy appearance, she was adjusting the glasses on her face with one hand, and tugging at her shirt with the other hand, not seeming to be paying attention to her surroundings at all.

“Barb!” Nancy exclaimed as she ran to her friend, Steve stayed a step behind her, “What are you doing? Are you okay?” Checking her friend over Nancy relaxed a little bit when Barb nodded in confusion.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she told them, annoyance seeping into her voice, she glared at Nancy with an upturned look, “I got bored so I came to find you guys…thank you for asking if I wanted to come with Nancy, that was so generous of you.” Rolling his eyes Steve moved around both women, he didn’t have time for pettiness, the kids were possibly in danger at the Sinclair house, Steve needed to get there to protect them.

“We don’t have time for this Barb,” Nancy snappily replied to her friend, “We found my dad’s car in the woods, we need to get back to the house.” Hurried footsteps slapping the ground sounded behind him, Steve didn’t turn around to acknowledge them.

“What was your dad’s car doing in the woods?” Barb questioned sucking in a breath that even Steve could hear several paces in front of her, he tuned out Nancy’s response, ahead of them the house came into view, on quick inspection it seemed normal, like everything was fine, just another ordinary night, but Steve noted the silence, it was too quiet .

His hands went to his gun, pulling it from the holster he motioned to Nancy and Barb to get behind him, Jonathan’s van was parked closer to the other side of the house, his police car was just ahead of them, pointing to it he told both of them, “There’s a radio in my car, you two go call for help, I’ll go in the house to make sure the kids are okay, after that lock yourselves in the car and don’t come out.”

“I’m coming with you,” Nancy stated, “My brother is here somewhere, I’m not hiding away until I find him.” Steve had expected one or both of them to argue with him, especially Nancy, so when she did he wasn’t all that surprised, more annoyed than anything.

“You stay behind me Nancy, I mean it,” he ordered her, not bothering to put up a fight to keep her there, he would be wasting time trying to argue with her and Steve didn’t have time to waste, Nancy wouldn’t listen to him anyways, she was sure to go into the house with or without him and though she got on his nerves he didn’t want to see her dead, going in the house with him would be safer then without him, “Barb you call for help and stay hidden, be careful.”

The panic in Barb’s eyes was almost overwhelming, Steve felt a little bad for her, but he shook that thought away, maybe with this experience she and Nancy will come to learn that things like this aren’t a game, they aren’t just a story to cover, they’re real situations with real people that have real emotions, “Yeah, yeah of course…you guys be careful.” She told them through a trembling voice, nodding to them Barb ran in front of them to his car while Steve and Nancy quietly made their way to the house.

Gun positioned in front of him, Steve crept through the open front door of the Sinclair home, he tried to keep Nancy in his peripheral vision, somewhat hesitant to trust her. The inside of the house was not as quiet as the outside, he flinched when a scream rang out, walking forward with careful steps that Nancy was cautious to mimic, he followed her pointed finger to the TV screen where the screaming was coming from, some horror film still playing like all the teenagers were still gathered around watching it.   

“Max,” Steve whispered out, eyes flickering to every corner of the house, paying attention to every bit of space he could, “El.” He couldn’t see his sister or her friend anywhere, but neither could he see Ted Wheeler, who Steve had to start considering was the killer, what with finding his abandoned car so close to the house.    

Coming across one of the storage closets in the home, Steve slowly opened it, quickly looking inside and spotting nothing; he kept moving forward through the house, relieved that he didn’t have to turn around to tell Nancy to not go off on her own as she followed straight behind him.

Running a hand through his hair Steve lowered his gun slightly, no one was in the house, it was just him and Nancy, there was no sign of Max or El anywhere, an uncomfortable pit opened up in Steve’s stomach at that thought, he promised to protect them both and now he couldn’t even find them. 

Waiting until she saw Nancy and Steve disappear into the house Barb rushed past Steve’s police car, ignoring his instructions to call for help in favor of going to the van to get her things, the footage from the camera, and Fred so they could leave. She was positive that the footage held more than enough for a headline, she wasn’t staying around to see who the killer would kill next knowing full well that it could be her.

Once she got somewhere safe she would call for help like Steve said, but for now she was determined to get to the van.   

Walking up to the van she cautiously glanced around her, checking her surroundings to make sure no one was near her or stalking her moves, “Fred, get our things ready, we’re leaving.” She quietly said as she stepped up to the van, looking inside of it she noticed the messy disarray of it, things were thrown to the ground, the screen that displayed the live footage was blinking in and out of focus, and Fred’s empty snack bags were all over the place.

Fred wasn’t anywhere in sight; the van was as abandoned and quiet as the rest of the Sinclair property.

Shifting uneasily in her place Barb heard a squishing wet sound at her feet, not understanding what she could have stepped in to make that noise she looked down to her shoes, flashing the flashlight down she gagged when she saw the puddle of deep red blood she stood in, trailing the flashlight up she seen that the blood dripped from the side of the van as well, she didn’t know how she didn’t see it walking up.

Shaking her head Barb looked over her shoulder to the house, she needed to leave , she didn’t know whose blood was on the van and the ground and she didn’t care to know, all she knew was that she didn’t want to die so she needed to leave before the killer decided to make her his next victim. Jumping into the van, she closed the sliding door, taking a calming breath Barb hopped over to the front seat of the van, staining blood on the fabric her shoes touched, leaving behind bloody footprints as she went.

Situating herself into the front driver seat, Barb didn’t have a second to think about her next move before someone slammed themselves into the driver side door, body shaking the entire van as they impacted with it.

“Hey! What’s going on?!” They shouted at her through the open window, she briefly recognized the teenager as the one that came dressed as Michael Myers, the one that was telling all the other teens about the ‘Scary Movie Rules’, boring her, Fred, and Nancy half to death as they watched him earlier.   

Screaming Barb reached her hand to the passenger side seat, grabbing the first thing she touched, she swung it outside the window, repeatedly hitting the guy on his head, making him recoil back with a pained shout, falling to the ground with a loud thud and a groan. Dropping the item into her lap, she noticed it was one of Jonathan’s small cameras, one side of it was chipped from where it made contact with the guy’s head, ignoring that she felt around the keyhole, sighing in relief when she felt the key still locked in place, Barb turned the van on, determined to leave before the guy got off the ground.   

Looking up through the window shield Barb frowned at it, she couldn’t see a thing, something thick and dark was splattered all over the windshield, blocking her vision.

Using her sleeve she hurried to try and wipe it off, aware of the mutterings coming from the teenager on the ground outside of the van, noticing that it wasn’t doing much good she stopped wiping at the glass with her sleeve, instead turning on the windshield wipers, with the first stroke of the wipers she was able to see what the liquid was on the glass, it was blood, as thick and as red as the puddle outside the van, “Oh my god.”

Putting the van into reverse Barb pressed on the gas pedal with more force then she meant to, the van jerked backwards, slamming her foot on the brake something on top of the roof flung itself forward, landing on the windshield, Barbs hands went to her mouth as she opened it, letting out a loud scream…Fred…her cameraman Fred was dead, clothing soaked in blood, eyes blown wide open in a blank stare, hung halfway across the glass, arms uselessly hanging down on either side of him.

Blinking back tears Barb whimpered when she locked eyes with his dead stare.

Not knowing what else to do she put the car in drive and pressed on the gas, purposely slamming her foot on the pedal, once again the car jerked, bringing Fred’s body forward once more, hands clamped tightly to the steering wheel Barb drove the van in circles, trying to force Fred’s body off the windshield, “I’m sorry Fred! I’m sorry!” She called out in remorse, finally on one of the turns Fred’s body slumped to the left and fell right off the windshield and into the gate of the Sinclair home, breaking apart some of the wooden panels.   

Pressing harder on the gas pedal Barb reached her hand up to fix her glasses, they were smudged with something, and she could hardly see anything out of them, rubbing at her eyes she closed them for a second to rub away the blurriness that was blocking her vision, opening them back up she screamed.

Just in front of the van was El, limping down the road as she yelled, “Help me! Stop! Please! Help me!” Knowing she couldn’t stop on time to avoid hitting her, Barb simultaneously slammed on the brakes well she turned the wheel to the van in a harsher motion then she meant to, tires screeching on the gravel Barb missed hitting El by a few inches.

The van veered off the road in a reckless motion, wildly speeding down the hill that she found herself surrounded by, in front of the van was a tall thick tree, knowing she couldn’t do anything to stop the van Barb braced herself for the crash.

Rapidly and harshly hitting the tree head on Barb’s head flew forward, roughly bashing into the steering wheel and the dashboard of the van, seeing black spots in her vision Barb wasn’t given a chance to think or do anything before her eyes involuntarily closed and the world went black and silent around her.   

Hawkins, Indiana

The Byers Home

July 11 th , 1984

5:52pm

Getting out of the shower Will grabbed onto the towel he had placed on the sink and began drying himself off with hurried clumsy motions, in his rush to get dried off he could feel he didn’t do a very good job of it, he could feel water drops he had missed run down his neck, torso, and legs.

Not bothering to finish drying off correctly he grabbed his boxers and pulled them on, the fabric heavily stuck to his still wet skin, he didn’t like the feeling of it but he ignored it and did his best to get his sleep shirt and shorts on with more grace than he was able to get on his boxers.

Mike was in his room waiting for him, Will had left him there to shower, feeling uncomfortably sticky and warm after his and Mike’s activities, they had the house to themselves tonight. Jonathan was on a date with Nancy and his mom was once again at Hopper’s trying to be the perfect girlfriend by being a support system for both El and Hopper. Joyce not being in the house in her free time was a common occurrence even before Terry’s death, Will honestly couldn’t even remember the last time he had seen his mom for more than a few minutes or spoke more than a sentence or two to her since she began dating Hopper, so the past week of her being gone during this trying time for El and Hopper hadn’t really made much of a difference in Will’s life. .

He supposed he would miss her if his mom was more present then she actually was in his life before all of this happened. Will loved his mom, he did, but she didn’t know the first thing about him, which was fine because he didn’t know the first thing about her either, and how could he, she was more often than not gone from the house for one reason or another for as long as he could remember, that time away had just increased with Hopper and El.

It’s never been something they talked about, but everyone knew Joyce Byers wasn’t really a parent to him, she loved him, he was her son after all, but it was Jonathan who raised Will, it was Jonathan who took care of him, Jonathan who had tried his best to protect Will from all the bad in the world, including that of their own father. It was Jonathan who cleaned Will up when their dad or his bullies beat him, Jonathan was who Will went to when he had nightmares and needed comforting, Jonathan was the one to encourage Will’s passion for art (along with Mike), and it was Jonathan that knew him and understood him.

If it was Jonathan who was gone as much as his mom had been gone Will would be missing him, as for his mom he barely noticed the difference. It worked out better for him in the end, Will had the house to himself more often, which meant he and Mike could spend hours of uninterrupted time together.

Thinking about Mike had Will rushing out of the bathroom with his dirty clothing and wet towel clutched in his arms, he was looking forward to cuddling with Mike on his bed, he briefly wondered if Mike was still in the position Will left him in when he went to shower, sprawled naked on his bed with a sheen of sweat covering his skin and a cocky smirk playing on his lips as he watched Will carefully walking around his room to gather his clothing, he hoped he was, Mike made a pretty picture in that position.

Walking into his room Will’s eyes flickered to Mike who he unhappily noted wasn’t in the same position he left him in, and he was no longer naked either, having thrown on his boxers in the time that Will had been in the shower. He eyed Mike in his peripheral vision as he threw his dirty clothing in his laundry basket and hung up his towel behind his door. Mike sat on the edge of his bed with Will’s sketchbook in his hands, fingers flicking through the pages with what looked like agitation, his face was turned down to face the sketchbook, but Will was still able to catch the anger in Mike’s dark eyes, his lips pulled upward in irritation.

Will didn’t understand what was wrong with the image of Mike on his bed going through his sketchbook, but there was something uncomfortable about it, something that made Will tense, unconsciously bracing himself for something, he didn’t get his reaction though, this was something Mike had always done since they were kids.

Anytime Mike got the chance to, he would pick up Will’s sketchbook, go through it with no shame, and then proceed to shower Will with praises over his art. He had never seen Mike hold the look of rage he had on his face in this moment when he was faced with Will’s drawings, he supposed that was what was wrong with the entire image.

Mike shifted on Will’s bed as he silently flipped to the next page with a rough motion that tore the page he was turning, Will’s brows frowned when his sketchbook was propped up a bit more, giving him a slight look to the front and back coverings of it that were mostly covered by Mike’s lap. His jaw clenched when he caught a glimpse of the blue and white coverings, moving his eyes away from Mike for a second he spotted his normal brown sketchbook across the room on his desk, untouched from where Will had left it last.

The sketchbook Mike had in his hands was one Will had hidden in his underwear drawer, not the best hiding spot in retrospect but the only place Will could think to hide it at the time.

Now that he was paying more attention, he noticed that Mike didn’t have on the boxers he came to Will’s house in, he had on a pair of Will’s boxers, likely not wanting to put on the dirty ones that belonged to him. Will stayed silent as he watched Mike flip another page, watched as Mike slightly shook with rage on his bed.

That sketchbook held nothing but drawings of Henry.   

Finished drawings that had taken Will hours to draw as he struggled to capture the right vibrancy to Henry’s beautiful eyes, half done drawings that he had given up on and left as is without another thought, and doodles that meant nothing but were fun to make in the moment he was drawing them.

Finally looking up from the sketchbook in his lap Mike’s eyes immediately found Will’s own, “What the fuck is this?” He asked him through clenched teeth, Will took a deep breath in but didn’t answer him. There wasn’t anything he could say to make this look better, there was nothing he could say to make his sketchbook something it wasn’t, it was obvious what it was.

“Fucking answer me Will!” Mike yelled at him, he got off the bed with Will’s sketchbook in his hands and walked to him, stopping in front of Will with barely contained anger, “Answer me.” He repeated with a lowered voice that had just as much rage as his yelling did.

“It’s a sketchbook…my sketchbook.” He quietly responded, a part of him wanted to step away from Mike, he knew Mike wouldn’t ever lay a hand on him in a way that Will wasn’t enthusiastically accepting of, but he didn’t like the vulnerable feeling falling over him, didn’t like that Mike was a bit unpredictable right now.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Mike sarcastically said back shaking his sketchbook in Will’s face, “You drew him Will. You have a whole fucking sketchbook dedicated to drawings of that fucker!” He started to flip through the pages of Henry’s drawings again, this time with more speed and rage, the disgust on his face worsened with every page turned.

“Mike-” Will whispered before getting cut off, which was probably for the best as he didn’t know what he was even going to say to make this better.

“Do you love him?” Mike spat out his question, eyes unfocused in his anger and what was clearly jealousy, “Is that why you drew him? Is that why you still haven’t fucking told me what you did with him at Pennhurst? Is that why you didn’t tell me he was young and not some fucking old man? Is that why you didn’t tell me he called you that stupid pet name ‘Darling’? You’re in love with him Will? Is that it?!” Mike’s questions got louder and louder with each one asked, his feet bringing him further and further into Will’s personal space until the whole of his chest was pressed up against Will’s.

“I don’t love him.” Will answered, it was the only thing he could think to say, he knew it didn’t look good to Mike but he was telling him the truth, he didn’t love Henry, he cared about him but he didn’t love him, there wasn’t anyone in this world that Will would replace Mike for. It’s always been Mike for him, it will always be Mike for him, Henry might have dug himself into Will’s heart but he was a spec in the whole of it that was filled to the brim with Mike.

“Yeah?” The doubt and skepticism in Mike’s voice poured out without hesitation, Will hated that he put that tone in Mike’s voice towards him.

Suddenly and without warning Mike stepped away from him, bringing Will’s sketchbook back up he viciously started tearing out the pages, ripping each one with more force then the previous one, carelessly letting Will’s drawings fall to the floor. Will stood there with his mouth wide open, eyes on his drawings that had taken him hours to complete, torn up in a matter of seconds.

Finished with tearing out the pages from his sketchbook Mike roughly threw it to the floor, kicking it away from him making it hit a wall on the other side of Will’s room. 

Will could feel his tears burning at his eyes, but he refused to let them fall, afraid that Mike would misinterpret them and think they were tears Will was shedding because he loved Henry and hated to see the drawings of him destroyed the way they were. It did hurt to see his art laying around his room as if it were no better than trash, but it didn’t hurt because they were drawings of Henry, it hurt because it was Mike destroying them, it was Mike taking something that Will had created and destroying it without a second thought.

He understood that Mike’s actions weren’t for nothing though, he was waiting for a reaction from Will, he was expecting one, but it was a reaction that Will refused to give him. He wouldn’t make this entire thing worse by giving in to the tears prickling at his eyes or by showing how his heart felt like it was being crushed inside of his chest.  

“I want the full fucking truth from you Will, no more god damn lies,” ignoring the papers at his feet that bunched around his ankles Mike once again pressed himself to Will’s body, “Are you in love with him?”

“No.”

“Did you fuck him?”

“No.”

“Then tell me what you did with him at Pennhurst?” Will swallowed back the automatic answer he wanted to give Mike which was to tell him “nothing”, he couldn’t say that to him, it was so obviously a lie now, it certainly had meant nothing, but Will hadn’t done ‘nothing’.  

“I kissed him and sucked him off,” he confessed in a quiet whisper, flinching slightly when Mike aggressively turned away from him and punched the wall nearest to them in anger at Will’s words, leaving a cracked hole in the wall behind as he pulled his tightly clenched fist that was bright red with irritation and blood away from it, “I only did that the one time, before that day all I ever did was kiss him.” Will added in like that somehow made it better, it didn’t matter if Will did it one time or fifteen times, the point was that he did it at all.

“You sucked his dick?” Mike cackled at him with craze, behind the unhinged look in his eyes though Will could see the hurt he felt, “Why didn’t you tell me the truth Will? Why didn’t you tell me he was young and not as fucking ugly as we thought he would be?”

Swallowing back another lie that he wanted to tell Will said, “I knew you wouldn’t like it…and I liked his attention a little more than I thought I would, so I never said anything.”

Mike mockingly nodded at him with a sneer fixed across his face, “You tell me you don’t love him and yet you drew a whole fucking sketchbook of his face so obviously you felt something for him Will, otherwise you wouldn’t have bothered with these drawings,” Mike told him as he kicked at the papers on the floor, “So I’m going to ask you again and I want the truth… do you fucking love him ?” Will was cruelly tempted to tell him ‘yes’, not liking that Mike kept asking him the same question he’s already given him a truthful answer to, but he didn’t want to make things worse between them, he already knew this was going to change things between them, he wasn’t sure how exactly yet, but that change was inevitable with this information coming out.

Cautiously, not really sure how receptive Mike would be to him Will stepped closer to him, bringing his arms up he wrapped them around his thin waist, he tucked his face in the familiar space of Mike’s neck, Mike didn’t hug him back but he didn’t push Will away either which he seen as a win, Mike was angry with him but not enough so that he didn’t want Will touching him, “I don’t love him Mike, I care about him more than I should and I’m sorry about that, I swear to you that it was never my intention to get attached…but I don’t love him, I love you Mike . I love you, not him .”

“Care about him, you care about him.” Mike echoed, mostly to himself as he stared off into nothing, Will hesitantly nodded, scared that Mike would push him away after admitting that, “At any point did you want to leave me for him?” The overwhelming pain in Mike’s tone peeked out more than what Will knew Mike wanted it to, shocked by his question Will tightened his hold around his waist, locking eyes with Mike he frowned back at him.

“No!” Will exclaimed in disbelief at Mike’s question, he never, not once, thought about leaving Mike for Henry, even just the thought of that was incomprehensible, he would never choose anyone over Mike, it didn’t matter what he felt for that person, Will knew no feelings could ever compare to the ones dictated and ruled by Mike inside of himself, “I would never leave you Mike, not for Henry, not for anyone.” He promised.

“Okay,” Mike’s hands were suddenly on Will’s face, holding his cheeks in a painful hold, digging his nails into the sensitive skin of his reddened cheeks, “You’re mine Will, you’re mine , so do us both a favor and get over whatever feelings you have for that motherfucker because the next time I ask you what you feel for him, I don’t want to hear any other answer but “nothing” and it better be the fucking truth, do you understand?” His cheeks burned where Mike tightened his hold on them, he nodded back as a silent answer.

Of course he understood…Will had made a mistake, one that had almost cost him everything, all things considered Mike wasn’t asking a lot from him, the consequences could have been much worse. He knew it was unhealthy to the max but the only thing he could properly think of was that Mike wasn’t leaving him over this, Will wasn’t sure what he would do if Mike left him, he needed him like he needed air or water, an essential part to his being that kept him alive. He hadn’t chosen to care about Henry, Will’s feelings for the older man had unexpectedly crept up on him without Will noticing until it was too late, his attraction to Henry was instant but his care for him wasn’t and Will hoped choosing to stop caring about the older man would come just as easy as his attraction to him had, it had too because he couldn’t risk losing Mike.    

“Tell me you love me.” Mike demanded as he loosened his hold, his fingernails not pinching into Will’s skin as much.

“I love you.”    

“Tell me you’ll never leave me.”

“I’ll never leave you.”

“Tell me he means nothing.”

“He means nothing.”

Letting his hold on Will’s cheeks drop completely, Mike stepped back from him, looking down to his feet he kicked at the papers again, not as angry anymore but still with heated agitation, glancing over at the sketchbook that he had kicked across the room Mike pointed to it, “I want you to pick up each of these drawings and that fucking sketchbook and I want to watch you finish tearing them.”

Not knowing how to reply to that Will stayed silent, it was one thing to not intervene when Mike was tearing through his drawings, it was a whole other thing to destroy them even more himself but it was obvious it was another test for him, Mike needed to see with his own eyes Will destroying something he connected to his feelings for Henry, he needed to see how willing Will was to ruin them, all because Mike told him to.

Not giving an answer back to Mike Will dropped to his knees, picking up the drawings of Henry he didn’t bother to look them over, he tore through them without a second thought, repeating to himself that Henry meant nothing to him, he loved Mike, he would do anything for Mike, he would risk everything for Mike, and Will knew now that getting attached to anyone who wasn’t Mike wasn’t worth the possibility of losing him. 

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

Hawkins Police Station

July 25^th, 1984

1:29pm

It had been a few weeks since Henry was arrested, Will stood outside of the interrogation room with the two-way mirror alongside his mom and Hopper staring heatedly at Henry through it. He sat at a small black rectangular table with his hands handcuffed to it, just underneath the hand cuffs Will could see Henry’s pale wrists red with irritation from the metal. He looked terrible, exhaustion was set in the hunch of his thin shoulders, his blue eyes were no longer vibrant and alive but cold and detached, and his skin had a paleness to it that was sickly. He couldn’t lie to himself despite wanting to, it did sting a bit to see him like that, Will had only ever known Henry to be gorgeously bright.   

With half an ear he listened to Hopper scold his mom on bringing Will to the station with the promise that he could talk to Henry, Hopper didn’t like the idea of him speaking with a ‘killer’ but thankfully his opinion didn’t matter in the long run. Hopper might be against this, but he was going to let Will into the interrogation room regardless of how he felt because he was obsessed with pleasing his mom and fortunately pleasing his mom was an extension of pleasing Will.

The excuse on why he wanted to come here that Will had given to his mom was that he wanted to understand why Henry would kill Terry Ives with him knowing and caring about both Will and El. A lie that was far simpler to give then it should have been, even going with that theory the lie was faulty, which anyone would know had they spent two minutes in Pennhurst with El and him. Henry didn’t hate El, but he certainly didn’t like her either, and he knew Will didn’t very much care for Terry Ives, under the assumption that he was only there in support of his soon to be stepsister.

Luckily no one knew that, making things fall into place better than Will could hope for. According to everyone else Henry knew and liked El and Will, he was friends with them, and out of nowhere he snapped and killed El’s mom for no reason, Will was there to ask him why.

“Hopper I don’t want to hear anymore,” his mom sternly told the chief of police, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking her hip out in a stance Will recognized as one that said she was done with the conversation, “Will is my son, I trust him, he wants to talk to Henry and I don’t see anything wrong with that, he’s locked to a table, he can’t hurt him.”

“Henry Creel is a monster, do you understand the extent of what he did to Terry, he’s dangerous Joyce, he’s a fucked up human being,” quickly glancing Will’s way with a frowning face Hopper stepped closer to his mom and lowered his voice, it didn’t do much good as Will could still hear him, “Her eyes were gouged out Joyce, her wrists were slit wide open, and she was stabbed fifty-seven times, that man tortured her and you want to let your teenage son in a room with him?”

Will thought about what he and Mike had put Terry Ives through, first slitting both her wrists open in a poetic tribute to the way Mike’s mom had taken her own life before digging Lonnie’s hunting knives into her eyeballs, taking them from her skull because she had to be doused in fear of not knowing what was coming next even though she hardly understood what was happening being as catatonic as she was. Finally, he and Mike took turns thrusting their blades into her body over and over again, fifty-seven stab wounds for the fifty-seven diary entries that Karen Wheeler had made about her cheating husband, her failing marriage, and her suicidal thoughts.    

All the while Mike had talked to Terry Ives in a low threatening voice, telling her exactly why she was experiencing the torture she was, and exactly whose hands were doing that torturing. Will couldn’t be positive, it almost felt like he had imagined seeing it, but he could swear to heaven and hell that when Mike told Terry who he was and why he was going to kill her Terry’s eyes had widened in shock, when Will had blinked at the scene, her normal blank face had greeted him, making him think he seen what he wanted to see.

“Will wants to talk to him.” His mom repeated, eyes sympathetic to Terry’s ‘unfortunate’ death but ultimately not backing down from letting Will go into the interrogation room with Henry.  

“I get that Joyce, I’m just saying, it’s maybe not the best idea.” Hopper argued back but even Will could hear the acceptance, the defeat in his tone indicating that his mom won the argument. He had asked to talk to Henry alone with no one inside or outside the interrogation room, no one listening in, and he was going to get that, but it was under the promise that Will would relay any important information to the police if it was given. Something he knew wouldn’t be an issue considering Henry didn’t have any important information to give that he hadn’t already stated, only to be not believed in the end.   

“Honey, are you ready?” His mom came up beside him, wrapping her scrawny arm around his shoulders, glancing through the two-way mirror her eyes lingered on Henry, distrust clear in her expression, “Be careful in there okay? I trust you but he’s dangerous Will.”

“He’s cuffed to the table, I’ll be fine.” He replied.

Even if he wasn’t cuffed to the table Will would be okay in the room with him, Henry wasn’t a violent person, he wouldn’t ever hurt Will, but he understood that his mom saw a murderer, that’s what everyone saw, it was only natural that he would be cautioned to be careful.

“I’ll come back in 10 or so minutes to see if you’re done talking,” Hopper grumbled with an unhappy petulant tone that Will wanted to grin at, “Just…like your mom said be careful kid…if anything goes wrong don’t hesitate to start banging on the door, believe me I’ll hear it.”

Nodding with understanding Will allowed Hopper to grab his arm, pulling him to the door that led to inside the interrogation room. Opening it he let Will through, following in behind him, he gestured for Will to sit across from Henry.

“You have a visitor Creel,” he spat out, hands on the rectangular table, leaning over it to loom threateningly over Henry’s figure, “I don’t agree with him being here but I was ruled out…so just know I’m going to be watching every second of your interaction with him, do anything to upset him and I swear to fucking god you will regret it.” Without waiting for a reply Hopper stormed out of the interrogation room with a huff, the door slammed shut behind him.  

Will rolled his eyes at the theatrics but didn’t say anything, glancing over at the two-way mirror he trusted that his mom would keep to her word and let Will have a bit of privacy with Henry, who Will noted stayed staring at his lap as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Are you not going to look at me?” Will asked him, folding his hands on the table he scooted the chair he was on closer to it, leaning his body forward.

Not answering him, Will noticed Henry’s eyes flicker to and from the two-way mirror, a hesitant expression on his face, likely believing Hopper when he said he would be watching the whole time.

“He lied,” he stated, wanting Henry to look at him, Will tapped the table with his fingers, “he’s not watching us, I asked my mom to give us some privacy to talk, no one’s there watching us.” He promised, he really hoped he wasn’t lying either, in that moment he wished he had x-ray vision to see through to the other side of the two-way mirror, just to make sure his mom and Hopper weren’t going back on their word to him. Will supposed he would figure it out soon enough, there was no way that his mom or Hopper would be able to sit still on the other side as his and Henry’s relationship was inevitably revealed in this talk with him.     

The small part of him that still cared for Henry didn’t feel right to be there with him knowing that he was Terry’s actual killer, even though Henry didn’t know that (and wouldn’t ever know that), it felt like Will was flaunting his false innocence in the older man’s face, taunting him with his freedom. El believed he was here talking to Henry on behalf of both himself and her, seeing as she didn’t want to talk to him, didn’t want to come face to face with the man she wholeheartedly believed murdered her mom. El assumed he was being a good brother to her, being supportive, being willing to place himself in a situation El didn’t want to be in.

In reality, Will didn’t really know what he was doing there, he didn’t know why he asked his mom to let him talk to Henry, to help convince Hopper that it was okay for him to have a private conversation with him.

Mike didn’t know he was there, Will wasn’t sure if he even wanted to tell him either, Mike would absolutely detest the fact that Will was there talking to Henry, he would think it meant something it didn’t which Will wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with. Things between him and Mike had been tense since Mike found his poorly hidden sketchbook filled with drawings of Henry. Will thought he knew what Mike’s possessive tendencies looked like, he thought he had a good handle on how Mike viewed him because he viewed Mike in much the same way, with the same amount of intensity.

Now though, now Will thought to himself that Mike had been keeping a lot more hidden under the surface then what he let Will or anyone else see.

Their relationship had changed, just as Will had predicted it would, he guessed he should be grateful it didn’t change in a way that Mike wanted less to do with him.

No, it was the complete opposite, Mike was more possessive, more jealous, more clingy, less willing to part from Will’s side than ever before. He watched Will with a new look in his eyes too, like he was a moment away from losing him at any given time, his touches and his ways of expressing his love for Will became rougher as well, more violent in a way that sometimes hurt Will, not that he ever complained, enjoying those times far more than he was comfortable with admitting to himself.   

Mike had also developed a habit of checking Will’s room, freely looking through places he thought Will would hide secrets in, his searches always turned up empty because there were no secrets to hide away anymore. Mike knew the truth now though; he knew Henry hadn’t only been just a piece on the chess board that Will had moved around purely for Mike’s benefit and the changes that were happening were a result of that knowledge.

“Henry.” At Will’s voice that he purposely put a little plea into Henry’s head snapped up to look at him, Will could see the tears rimming his eyes, could see how Henry tried to swallow them back.

“I didn’t kill her Will,” Henry choked out, watching Will with eyes that begged him to believe him, and the thing was of course Will believed him because Henry was telling the truth, he didn’t kill Terry Ives, Will did, but saying that would be another betrayal to Mike, which Will couldn’t do, he had already been too invested in Henry, he never should have let himself feel anything for him, never should have lost sight of why he was with Henry to begin with, “Darling please, please you have to believe me, I didn’t kill her, I swear to you, I didn’t kill her.”

“Don’t call me that.” Will pinched his eyes closed, ridding Henry’s pleas from his mind, breathing in he understood now why he was there…he needed to let Henry go completely, before he lost the most important person in his life, Will needed to stop thinking of him as anything more than a chess piece he had moved around for Mike’s benefit, “Don’t fucking call me that.” He repeated in a harsher tone, opening his eyes he pretended not to see Henry wince away from him, pretended to be ignorant of the few tears that escaped his eyes.

“You don’t mean that,” he pleaded with Will, silently asking him to take back his words, he’s never told Henry not to call him ‘Darling’ before, on the contrary Will had giggled when he told him he loved it when Henry called him that after the first few times Henry tested the pet name out on him, “I didn’t kill her Will, I didn’t kill her.” It was like that was all he could say ‘I didn’t kill her’, Will wondered if repeating things like that was a sign of insanity, he was tempted to ask Henry but decided not to.   

“Did you tell anyone you were with me before El found you with her mother?” Will was positive he knew the answer to this question already, he would have heard it from his mom and Hopper had Henry revealed that just before he found Terry’s body he was getting his rocks off with Will but he still felt the need to ask.

“No!” He bellowed, the cuffs rattling when he tried to move his arms, he seemed alarmed and offended at Will’s question, “I didn’t say anything about us Darling, I wouldn’t drag you into this mess with me.” It went unsaid that Henry would also get into even more trouble if his inappropriate and definitely illegal relationship with Will was revealed, it was in Henry’s best interest that he didn’t say anything about Will and him.

“You mean the mess you created when you decided to kill Ms. Ives.” Will spat out through his teeth, telling himself that Henry recoiling from his words meant nothing to him, Henry meant nothing to him. 

“I didn’t kill her,” Henry said again, this time with more anger slipping into his tone, “I waited to leave after you left the room and when I left someone attacked me from behind, they stabbed me with a sedative to put me to sleep, which I told the police about but they didn’t believe me. When I woke up I couldn’t think straight, I was confused, so I decided to just make my rounds like I normally would have. I saw blood coming out from underneath Ms. Ives’s door when I passed by the room, when I walked inside Ms. Ives was on the floor. I tried to save her Will, I tried to bring her back but I couldn’t and then Ms. Eleanor was let into the room and she saw me there above her mom, accused me of killing her, and now no one will listen to me, everyone believes that I’m a killer but I’m not.” A plea for Will to believe him was clear in Henry’s voice, he wanted Will to tell him he believed him, wanted him to assure him that he knew he was innocent, but Will couldn’t do that, he wouldn’t do that…Henry meant nothing to him.

“Stop lying to me Henry,” Will growled, he crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Henry through a narrowed gaze, “El saw you, she said you killed her mom and I’m going to believe my sister over you any day. I don’t know what I was thinking coming here, I told her I would talk to you, try to see what the hell you were thinking but obviously you’re not ready to admit the truth.” Will knew the ten minutes Hopper had given him were almost up, he wanted to be done talking by then.

“I am telling the truth Will!” Henry shouted at him in exasperation, he was so desperate for Will to believe him, he could feel that dreaded part of himself that cared for Henry wanting to tell him Will believed him, he could feel that part wanting to claw its way into Will’s heart, he couldn’t let it though, Henry meant nothing to him.

“No, you’re not,” Will whispered, standing up from the chair, he leaned over the table to be closer to Henry, “You’re a murderer Henry and I regret ever letting you touch me, I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think you were worth anything to me, you’re nothing but a liar and a killer.” Will felt like his heart would split in two from his cruel words to him, he seen Henry’s flinch, like his words were physically hurting him, he seen his eyes overflow with tears again, doing nothing this time to try to stop them, he seen the anguish fill Henry’s figure, seen how badly his words affected him, but he didn’t take them back.

A prickle of disgust went through Will’s body when he realized how similar his words sounded to the ones Ted Wheeler told Mrs. Wheeler. Not exactly the same but enough so that Will felt revulsion for himself for a split second.

“Darling—” Henry started to say, Will shook his head at him causing him to abruptly stop.

“I don’t want to hear any more of your lies or your excuses.” Will backed away from the table, walking his way to the door, he knew Hopper was just on the other side of it, he could hear the gruff man grumbling to himself, for being a door to the interrogation room it wasn’t very thick, but it worked in favor for Will.

Looking at Henry for a final time, Will told himself that he couldn’t care, that he had to let Henry be a thing of the past.

Henry was nothing more than something Will moved around on a chessboard for Mike’s benefit , locking eyes with him, Will let a chilling smile come across his face, one Henry didn’t know what to make of by the look of confusion he gave him, “Goodbye…Darling.” Without waiting to see what Henry would say or do Will turned around, the door popped open just in time, he wasted no time in leaving the interrogation room, already knowing he was going to lie to everyone and tell them Henry told him nothing, just smiled at him the whole time Will was there.  

Walking past his mom’s open invitation for a hug, Will repeated to himself…Henry meant nothing to him.

The Sinclair Home

October 31^st, 1988

12:53am

Walking a step behind Steve with her hand tangled in the back of his police uniform Nancy did her best to keep aware of their surroundings in the Sinclair home. Steve had his gun out, aimed to the floor as they hadn’t seen or heard anything at all since entering the house, Nancy’s own hands felt empty with their lack of weapon. She didn’t like feeling like she was powerless in this dangerous situation they found themselves in, didn’t like feeling like she had to depend solely on Steve’s ability to protect them.

Quickly glancing around for a potential weapon, Nancy huffed to herself when she spotted nothing that would actually suffice for protection.

They hadn’t seen anyone, it was a bit ominous how quiet and empty everything was when just an hour prior there was life roaring from every corner of this house, drunken stupid teenagers having the time of their lives like a killer wasn’t on the loose. Nancy really hoped that just because they had not encountered any signs of life yet that this meant everyone was dead and they just have yet to find their bodies, she didn’t know what she would do if she found her little brother’s dead body stashed somewhere in this house.

“Where is everyone?” Steve quietly questioned mostly to himself, straightening his tense posture he clipped his gun back into the holster at his hip, something Nancy didn’t think was the brightest idea but she didn’t say anything. Seeing Steve slightly relaxing as the seconds ticked by, she let go of Steve’s shirt to put a little distance between their closeness, not wanting Steve to think she was a scared little girl in need of protection.

“Maybe they're upstairs?” Nancy pointed to the staircase that was barely visible from where they were in the kitchen area, she couldn’t hear anything coming from upstairs either but that didn’t mean much of anything.

Pursing his lips together in indecision Steve appeared cautious to go up the stairs, Nancy certainly didn’t like that look, she was searching this whole house for her brother before she came to the conclusion that he wasn’t there and she would do it alone if she had to, though having Steve with her searching the house was miles more appealing than being alone. Plus, Will and El were somewhere here too, Jonathan would never forgive her if she didn’t try to find his siblings at the same time that she looked for hers.

“Yeah, maybe.” Steve replied back, walking towards the staircase Nancy made to follow behind him, she watched as Steve’s hand found its way back to his gun holster, he had barely unclipped it to take out his gun when a dark shadow in the vague shape of a person attacked from just beyond the visible point of where the kitchen led to the hallway area that bordered the staircase. Letting out a scream that was louder than she thought she would have ever been capable of Nancy tripped over her own feet in her hurry to back away from the person who had tackled Steve to the floor and was currently doing their best to overpower him.

Landing harshly on the tile flooring of the Sinclair home, Nancy scarcely held back a sound of pain when her tailbone slammed down, sending sharp vibrations up her spine. Her eyes widened when they caught on to the scene in front of her, she had seen the mask the killer wore a good thousand times now, had even held a replica of it in her hands as she and Barb had discussed their plans for what news relating to the killer they were going to focus on telling to the public, and yet seeing the mask now sent a bout of fear through her heart so strong that she physically couldn’t breathe. She had to force herself to take a few deep breaths as wave after wave of fear washed over her, crawling back in a poor mimic at a crab walk Nancy tried to put distance between herself and the killer.

“Nancy! Fuck! Help me!” Steve shouted at her, head turned her way well his hands struggled to get a grip on the killer’s shoulders, a weak attempt on his end as the killer had the upper hand being on top of Steve, holding his body down with his own body weight, every hit Steve landed didn’t seem to faze the killer in the slightest, clearly used to struggling victims, used to holding people down, “Help me! Nancy!”

Knowing she couldn’t let her fear override her good sense Nancy got up from the floor on shaky legs, determined to help Steve, the killer didn’t seem to be paying too much attention to what she was doing, likely seeing her as less of a threat then Steve. Anger peaked in her veins at the thought of being underestimated, quickly scanning their surroundings for anything she could use to help Steve, Nancy grabbed the first thing she spotted that looked like it could be of use.

Picking up the candle stick from a decorative table the Sinclair’s had in the little hallway area they were in, Nancy got a firm grip on the heavy metal.

Striding to the killer she didn’t waste a second to swing the candlestick at him, hitting the upper part of his back, lower than she intended to as she was aiming for his head.

“Get off of him!” She yelled before bringing the candlestick back for a second swing, hoping this time she hit the mark she was aiming for. Before the candle stick could land for a second time the killer shifted his weight from on top of Steve, leaving one hand on Steve he used the other one to roughly push Nancy away from them. Not expecting to be pushed back she tripped over her feet again and landed right back on her tailbone again, this time she didn’t bother to hold in her sound of pain, “Fuck!”

“Nancy!” Steve’s eyes widened in her direction, distracted for a moment Steve unintentionally gave the killer a leeway, he quickly used Steve’s lack of attention to his advantage, flipping him over on his stomach, he pulled out a knife from the back pocket of his black jeans and plunged it into the upper part of Steve’s spine.

“No! Steve!” Nancy screamed through a whimper, helplessly watching as the killer gripped onto the knife and callously yanked it out of Steve’s back, sending blood splashing into the air, some of it spraying onto the white of the mask the killer wore, staining it red, without pause he stabbed the knife into Steve’s spine again, lower than the first stab wound. Nancy didn’t think about her next actions, she only knew that Steve was going to die if she didn’t try to help him. Getting up from the floor again she tightened her hold on the candlestick, bringing it with her she ran to the killer, more than anything she was hoping to catch him by surprise, which she certainly did when she full on tackled him to the floor, successfully pulling his body away from Steve’s bleeding one, leaving the knife embedded into Steve’s back.

The killer let out a grunt as Nancy’s arms and legs flayed about uncoordinated in the air, she tried bringing the candle stick down on the killer’s head as she had the advantage of being on top of him. The killer let out another grunt when the candle stick met its mark on his head.

Vaguely in the back of Nancy’s mind she registered someone shouting outside, their voice only a muffled thing that she had to strain her ears to hear, it sounded like El, “Steve! Where are you?! Steve!”

Finally getting a good handle of Nancy’s uncoordinated movements the killer wrapped his hands around her head, squeezing his hands around the points he held, feeling the sharp blades of pain of her head being crushed Nancy dropped the candlestick to the floor. When the killer got up from the floor Nancy had no choice but to follow him as he loosened his hold on her head, weaving his fingers through her curls he used the hold he had on her hair to lead her back against a wall with surprisingly more gentle treatment then she thought he would give her.

Unexpectedly and without warning his fingers tightened in her hair, forcing her head away from where it rested against the wall the killer roughly slammed her head back against the wall, yelping in pain Nancy tried to move away from him, an impossible feat considering he had her trapped between him and the wall.

Slamming her head against the wall again Nancy’s breath left her mouth in one foul swoop, her vision started to blur, black spots appearing in the air around her. Moving her head away from the wall again, she could hear the sick sounds of wetness from behind her, she could feel her blood on the back of her head, trailing down her neck and coating the collar of her shirt. Slamming her head against the wall for a third time Nancy couldn’t hold herself up anymore, the only thing keeping her up was the killer, she confusingly blinked her eyes at the killer as he put pressure on the back of her head where her wound was, as if trying to stop the blood flow from being as much as it was.

Closing her eyes against the suddenly too bright lights in the room Nancy faintly felt the air rush around her, she felt arms holding her up, carefully cradling her body against them she felt them moving away, the last thing she heard before she closed her heavy eyelids was the sound of a door opening and a murmuring apology, “I’m sorry Nancy.”

Chopped breaths coming out her mouth in painful air puffs El stared out at the van that she had accidently caused to veer off the road and into a tree. She did not mean to make Barb crash into the tree, she had just wanted help, Barb was the first person she saw besides the camera man and El had panicked when she saw her driving away.

Not seeing any movement come from the van El held in yet another sob, too many people were dead, left and right there were nothing but dead bodies surrounding her. Hands clutched to her chest she ran back up the street to the house, she did not have much choice in the matter, she had to find help somehow from someone…anyone at this point.

“Jonathan! Will!” El called out as she ran, hoping she saw her brothers pop out of somewhere, if they were smart then they would have been hiding but she needed them right now, as selfish as that was she needed them to come help her, “Steve!” She had not even seen Steve around, he promised to stay close by in case she needed help and yet he too was nowhere to be found.

“Steve! Will!” She called again, her shrill voice echoed back at her, “Steve! Where are you?!” Running up to Lucas’s house, El stopped to look around, Steve had to be somewhere close by…he had to be, “Steve!” 

A creaking at the front door pulled El’s attention, standing there panting was Steve, sweat was gathered on his forehead, his hands clamped tightly to the sides of the doorframe where he was holding on from how badly he was shaking, despite his appearance relief rushed through El’s veins, she was not alone anymore, “El…El?” Steve shakily said, brows frowned together and his mouth parted slightly open.

Coming outside the front door Steve no longer had the sides of it to support his weight, without warning he dropped to the ground face down, El could not help but gasp when she seen the killer’s curved knife protruding from Steve’s back, buried so deep in that all she could see was the black handle of it.

“Steve!” She shrieked at his frozen body, her hands went up to her hair, pulling at the strands, she wanted to go to him, she wanted to help him but she did not move, the killer stabbed him, he could not be far behind Steve.

Slowly stepping into view at the front door, replacing where Steve was just leaning was the killer, El took a step back when he took one forward, leaning over Steve’s body she watched as he gripped the knife in Steve’s back in his hand and pulled it free, Steve let out a groan of pain when the knife slid out from his skin.

Looking up at her the killer calmly cleaned off the blade with his gloved hand like he had done when he had killed Mike in the bedroom.

El tripped back a step when he started walking towards her with heavy steps, turning away from him she ran, quickly looking around for somewhere to hide she spotted Steve’s police car, El hurried to it, once there she jumped into the driver side, leaning over to the passenger side she slammed her hand down on the lock, just outside the window the killer stared at her.

She quickly slammed her other hand down on the lock to the driver side when she saw him making his way around the car, carefully keeping her eyes on him she watched as he paused outside of the driver side window, leaning in close to it so their faces were just inches apart, only separated by the glass. Eyes flickering away from him El ran her hand over the keyhole, hoping with everything in her that Steve had left his car keys inside the car, when she felt nothing she shouted, “Fuck!”

Tapping on the glass forced El to look away from the empty keyhole, tears leaking from her eyes she followed the killer’s hand as he tapped his blade against the window, teasingly his other hand came up to El’s view, in them was Steve’s car keys that he tauntingly shook in her face, eyes on his creepy mask El hated that she could feel the smile he had on his face as he watched her face fall with realization.

Suddenly he dropped to the ground, out of her view, El scrambled to get as close to the window as she could, trying to see out of it to the ground, she could not see anything, she flinched when the lock to the passenger side popped up, crawling her way back to the passenger side she pressed on the lock again, only for the driver side lock to pop up, rushing back over she forced the lock back down, all the while rapidly flickering her eyes from the outside to the locks in the car.

He was playing with her.

Enjoying his little game because he had her trapped and they both knew it. Unbeknownst to El the back of the police car was slowly being popped open, allowing another entry point for the killer without her noticing, too focused on the locks and trying to spot anything moving outside the windows.

A cracking sound came from Steve’s radio causing El to violently flinch back, not expecting anything in the car to sound off, from it a woman’s voice came out, “We have a suspect located at—” El did not listen to the rest of the woman’s words, picking up the radio she held it between both her hands to her mouth.

“Hello! Help me, please! My name is El Hopper, I am at Lucas Sinclair’s house located at 2550 Piney Wood Lane! The killer is here! I need help! He is trying to kill me!” El shrieked into the radio, harshly cutting off the woman speaking into it.

Without getting an answer back, the radio fell silent in her hand.

Opening her mouth to repeat her cry for help El was cut off by an arm reaching over the passenger seat, wrapping his arm around her neck from behind her the killer roughly pulled her back, trapping El with his arm tightly pressed against her throat, her breath was forced out of her lungs in a pathetic choking sound.

From just to the side of her face, the killer’s mask slowly moved into her vision, still struggling El sobbed around her choking when the mask got closer to her face. Using both her hands she fought to get them underneath the man’s arm, when her fingers had a strong grip on him she forced her head down at the same time that she forced her fingers to move his arm up, bringing it in level with her mouth, opening her mouth El clamped her teeth into his arm, digging them as far as they could go into his skin, she bit above the black fabric of his long sleeve but she knew it still hurt him when he shouted “Fucking bitch!” in her ear and loosened his hold on her neck, in the back of her mind she registered that she recognized the voice but her fear soaked mind couldn’t place who it belonged to, too overridden with the sickening sense that she was going to die.

Using that to her advantage El ducked under his arm, opening the passenger door she fell out of it, landing loudly on the ground, getting up with a pained grunt El ran her tongue over her teeth, swallowing she could taste the killers blood in her mouth from where she had punctured his skin with her teeth.

Running halfway to the open door of Lucas’s house, El paused halfway there when she noted the lack of footsteps following her, turning around she frantically glanced around for the killer, she could not see him anywhere.  

The passenger door and the back of Steve’s police car were both wide open but not a single soul was in sight, hesitating only slightly El turned back around and ran the rest of the way to the open door, she had no other choice, there was no other way to leave, and she had to find some kind of protection for herself until the police arrived… if they were coming at all , she did not get a response back from the radio. 

Still frozen in front of the door was Steve’s body, El let out a sob knowing she would have to go past him to get inside the house, not for the first time that night she had to ignore her friends’ dead bodies if she had any hope of surviving.

“El!” At the front door El stopped when she heard someone scream her name behind her, they sounded like they were in pain, like they were scared, but El was also in pain and also scared and she could not afford to be fooled by anyone right now, it felt like everyone was playing games with her, messing with her mind, making her go crazy . Seeing Steve’s gun strapped into his holster, El hurried to lean down to grab it, silently apologizing to Steve as she took his weapon from his body.

Standing back up on trembling feet El saw that it was Dustin who called her name, limping to her he was yelling, “El! Jesus, we got to get the fuck out of here!” Dustin was holding onto one part of his leg, tilting her head El could see blood seeping through his navy jumpsuit, staining it a murky color.

Panic and fear rushed through her at the sight of her friend, who El wanted to believe was not the killer but she could not take any chances, holding the gun out in front of her in the way her dad showed her how to several years before when he attempted to give El a few lessons in gun usage and safety El called out, “Stop right there! Do not move another inch Dustin!”

Skidding to a stop Dustin held up one of his hands, waving it in the air, tears leaking down his cheeks he looked from El to the gun in her hands and back again, “El? What are you doing?” He whimpered out, taking a fearful step back from her, the sight almost made her drop the gun, her friend looked so scared of her but for all she knew he was pretending, luring her into a false sense of security.

“Please El. Please, don’t shoot,” he begged her, taking another step away from her, “I found Max and Lucas, they’re dead! Their dead El! We need to fucking leave before we end up just like them!” Shaking her head El felt like her brain was being overloaded with too many emotions that she could not handle.

From behind Dustin El saw her brother run up, relief like nothing else she had ever felt before went through her body, Will was here, she was not alone anymore, they could protect each other until help arrived, her and Will could leave together, make it out of this mess alive.    

Lowering the gun slightly El smiled at Will, at her brother who was there with her, who would help her, noticing her drifted attention Dustin turned around only to recoil at the sight of Will, his next words knocked the breath right out of her lungs, shifting away from Will Dustin kept an arm out in front of him as if it would help keep his distance, he watched Will with so much fear in his gaze, “El, I think Will did it…Will’s the killer.” He told her, one eye still on Will.

“What?” She sobbed out in confusion, her brother could not hurt a fly, why would Dustin think he was the killer, unless he was trying to make her believe her brother was the killer because he actually was and he wanted her to let her guard down enough to hurt them both, lifting the gun back up the slight distance she let it fall El aimed it more so in Dustin’s direction then in Will’s.  

“El, you have to listen to me! Don’t trust him! He’s not who you think he is!” Dustin pleaded with her, begging her to trust him.

“Don’t listen to him El!” Will called out to her, Will was crying, his big watery eyes stared at her, like Dustin pleading with her to trust him, making El feel even crazier because staring into her brother’s eyes she saw nothing …no warmth…no affection…no love… El saw nothing reflected behind his gaze.

Wondering if she finally lost it El blinked at her brother, silently begging him to give her an answer, tears leaking from her eyes El watched him take a few steps closer to her, his face calculatingly morphing into one that put an effort into showing the things she noted he lacked, as if by command. She could not help but wonder if Will had always done that without her noticing…had she always missed his face switching up emotions like it was a game?

With another sob escaping her throat El backed away from both of them, unsure who to trust, unsure who to believe, her mind still not wanting to accept what she saw on Will’s face, still not wanting to accept that either her friend or her brother were possible murderers.

Walking backwards into the house El ignored Dustin shouting at her, “El! El no! No! Don’t leave me out here with him! Please! El please!”

Pushing past Dustin with a rough shoulder hit, Will purposely walked towards her, hands still out in front of him, “El listen to me, put the gun down,” Will told her in a gentle voice, his tears drying up faster than El thought was possible, “Put down the gun El…I’m not going to hurt you, you’re my sister El, I would never hurt you, please.” The tears welled back up in Will’s hazel eyes…that fast he was able to switch up again, despite not wanting to, El told herself that she could not trust Will, not right now. 

“I’m sorry.” El whispered to both of them before she slammed the door shut in their faces, ignoring the banging coming from the other side, ignoring both of them shouting at her and at each other, words she could not even understand. Leaning her forehead against the door El took a deep breath in, soon the banging and shouting stopped and everything went quiet again, the only sounds in the house being her cries.

Unexpectedly from upstairs a man let out a pain filled grunt, quickly turning around to face the stairs, El was shocked to see Mike walking down the steps, half leaned over with blood covering almost every inch of him, his hair a sweaty mess, with his arm held around his stomach, pressed tightly to it to help relieve the pain and put pressure on the blood that was no doubt still leaking from his wounds. 

“El.” He whimpered out, letting out a harsh breath around her name. She could not believe Mike was still alive; she had thought he was dead; she had left him because she thought he was dead, but he was alive and in front of her and she was so happy to see his face, so happy to know that he wasn’t dead like she thought he was.

“Mike!” She shouted back with relief and glee, halfway down the stairs now El rushed the rest of the way up the steps to meet him, helping Mike as best as she was able to.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Sinclair Home

October 31 st , 1988

1:30am

In an attempt to hide his grin, Mike gazed down at the steps underneath his feet, he let out a fake whine when El wrapped her thin arm around his waist, acting like she hurt the injuries she believed were there. Playing up the nonexistent stab wounds he had, Mike slowly made his way down the stairs when he heard El in the house again, he had seen the way her eyes lit up with happiness at the sight of him, she had believed he was dead, making her think that was just another game that him and Will had played with her.      

“Mike, are you okay?” El asked him as she ‘helped’ him the rest of the way down the stairs, her fingers on one hand twitched in the direction of his stomach where most of the fake blood was gathered, in her other hand she held a death grip on what he assumed to be Steve’s gun.   

“I’m okay.” He whispered to her, shifting away from her twitchy fingers, pretending like he was in too much pain for her to touch his wounds directly, his eyes flashed to the gun before he looked away.

“I thought you were dead Mike, I thought he killed you.” Stepping in front of him El wrapped her arms around his neck, forcefully hugging him with the relief she felt, burying her face in the crook of his neck she let out a cry that he thought only dogs should be able to hear, it was so high pitched and whiny, stinging his ears with the pitiful sound.   

Still playing her like a musical instrument, Mike amusingly wrapped his own arms around her trembling figure, “It’s okay El, shhhh, it’s okay, you’re okay, I’m okay.” He lifted one of his hands to bury it in her hair, threading the brown strands through his fingers, he gave her hair a light tug before he rested his hand there.

“How are you alive? I saw him stab you multiple times?” She cried out, her breath came out choppy between her words, she was barely holding on by a thread and the sight of her falling apart in his arms was as satisfying as he thought it was going to be, three years of waiting for this moment and Mike could hardly believe it was finally here, could hardly believe he was minutes away from finally getting everything he’s wanted since finding and reading his mom’s diary.

“I have no clue,” Mike added a touch of breathlessness to his laugh, making it sound forced to El’s ears, cementing Mike’s words to her that he himself was in disbelief on how he was alive, “I’m okay though El, I’m here, bleeding like a stuck fucking pig but I’m here.” His other hand joined his first one to tangle in El’s hair, tugging her closer to his chest despite her already being pressed as close as she could get to him.

Bringing El away from him Mike pulled her face up to him to press a kiss to her nose, “I’m so glad you’re okay too, I heard you screaming, and I didn’t know what to think.”

El smiled a watery smile back at him, “I am okay too, all of our friends though their—” she cut herself off with a loud sob that Mike had to resist rolling his eyes at, making sure to keep his gaze on her soft and understanding.

Moving El to his side, Mike made to open the front door, “We have to get out of here El, we can’t stay here,” he told her, “We have to get help.” She was shaking her head before Mike even finished his sentence.

“No,” El said through her tears, “No, you do not understand Mike, he is out there.” She pointed to the front door, placing her hand that wasn’t holding the gun on the doorknob to prevent Mike from opening it, a look of fear coating her face.

“Who’s out there?” He questioned, frown planted on his face well he waited for her to answer him, he knew who was outside, but he was hoping to get a more fearful look from El’s expression, he wanted her frightened out of her mind, he wanted her losing every bit of sanity to her fear and to her panic.   

“The killer,” her fingers twitched again around the gun, Mike put his focus there, wanting nothing more than to reach out to snatch it from her, “Will and Dustin are outside Mike but I do not know which one is the killer, they were both telling me not to listen to the other.”

Seeing another opportunity to mess with El’s head and make her feel like she was crazy, he replied, “You can’t seriously believe Will is the killer El,” shaking his head in mock disappointment Mike backed away from her, “First you fucking accuse me of being the killer and now you want to accuse Will…what the fuck is wrong with you El?” Another smile wanted to break through his lips when El recoiled at his words, her thoughts no doubt spinning a mile a minute, trying to set a balance of what she knew to be the truth with what Mike was telling her, just like when she first accused him of being the killer.

El made it all too easy to get in her head, even now with the truth breathing down her neck she was letting him get in her head, letting him twist around her thoughts to his liking… crazy like her mother , but Mike wasn’t going to be completely satisfied until she suffered like her mother too.

“Nothing is wrong with me,” she quietly voiced to him, eyes flickering everywhere at once, “You did not see him Mike, he was not normal…something is not right…something is not right, please, please Mike, I am sorry.”

Gently cooing at her Mike reclosed the distance between them, grabbing El’s face between his hands he stroked her cheeks, “You’re not okay right now El, alright, you’re not thinking straight so I need you to give me the gun before you hurt someone,” he moved his hands down her face to her shoulders and down her arms until he had his hands clamped on top of hers, “Give me the gun, everything is going to be okay, just give me the gun El.”   

Hesitating only slightly she released her hold on the gun, letting it fall into Mike’s waiting hands, trying not to show her how happy he was that she gave him her only weapon, Mike was quick to tug her into a hug, letting her rest there in his arms for a minute before he shifted her behind him, “I’m going to open the door, stay behind me.” Nodding her head El clutched at the back of his shirt with both her fists.

Placing his hand on the doorknob Mike swung open the door with more gusto then necessary, pressed against the door from the other side was Dustin, who immediately scrambled into the house, pushing pass Mike and El, he slammed the door shut again, El stilled at his side, pressing closer to him as she watched Dustin’s jumpy nervous movements with cautious eyes.

“You guys have to help me!” Dustin shouted his plea at them, “Will’s gone fucking mad! He’s flipping the fuck out! He’s the killer! Will’s the killer!”

Giggling to himself, Mike straightened his posture from its slumped position, no longer needing to pretend to have dire injuries when everything was coming to a head, his and Will’s plan finally falling into place, perfect piece by perfect piece, using the hand that held the gun he reached up to wipe at the fake blood and sweat on his forehead, “Oh Dusty ,” Mike laughed harder, spitting the stupid fucking nickname Will gave the other boy through his teeth, grinning widely at Dustin whose face was rapidly paling, at his side Mike could feel El stiffen up, “We all go a little mad sometimes.”

Pointing the gun straight at Dustin’s chest, Mike mocked a frown at the other boy’s trembling figure, “You know I probably would have let you live had you not laid your fucking hands on what belongs to me,” Mike shook his head with a click of his tongue, waving the gun in Dustin’s direction he curled his lip back, “But you did Dusty, you had your hands all over Will and unfortunately for you, I can’t let that pass.”

“Mike! No!” El screamed in his ear at the same time that Dustin whimpered, “Oh fuck” to himself, smirking Mike pulled the trigger on the gun, his arm recoiled backwards from the bullet releasing from the chamber, stinging his arm slightly but Mike paid it little attention, excitement swelled in his veins as he watched Dustin drop heavily to the floor, gasping and whimpering in pain as he struggled to hold his bleeding shoulder where the bullet had entered.

“Dustin!” El yelled again, leaving Mike’s side she skidded across the flooring as she rushed to get to Dustin, dropping down to her knees El placed her hands over Dustin’s shoulder, putting pressure to his injury in hopes of helping him, Mike was all too amused to stare at her petrified expression, “You are okay Dustin, you are okay, just breathe, it is okay.” Mike giggled when he heard El desperately whispering false assurances to Dustin’s bleeding figure, at his giggle El’s head turned to look at him, beautiful tears stained her cheeks as El gazed at him with betrayal, a sadness that Mike was so happy to see etched on her face.

“Mike, please no, no, no,” El released a loud sob that made her entire body shake, “Please, you told me – you can’t be - please. No.” She rapidly shook her head in denial, like if she shook it hard enough it would dispel the image in front of her.  

Cackling in return Mike used the gun in his hand to scratch at his head, “That’s fucking beautiful El! Keep begging me, it’s mesmerizing.” He told her smirking, El begging was like praise in his ear, he loved it. El hurried to get on her feet when she saw Mike take a step towards her, scared out of her mind, not wasting a moment to think about anything El took off running from him, not getting very far as she collided with Will’s body who was coming into the entryway from the kitchen area.   

“Will! Help me! Please help me! Mike is the killer! Mike is the killer! I was right about him! He killed them Will, he killed them.” El sobbed into Will’s chest, arms going around his waist tightly, burrowing herself into Will, seeking comfort from the brother she trusted and loved, trembling body trying its best to mix into Will’s. It was an ironic sight to see considering El had thought minutes ago that Will might be the killer, which she was right about of course, but the possibility that there were two killers hadn’t quite crossed her mind. 

Will kindly reached his arms around her, pulling her tighter to his chest, his hands tangled in her matted hair, beginning a slow petting motion that Mike scowled at, from over El’s shoulder Will mischievously smiled at Mike, “Shhh El, it’s okay, it’s okay, you’re okay.” He whispered into her hair where he had his face pressed.

Profusely bleeding out on the floor Dustin brought Mike’s attention back to him as he struggled to sit up, “Shit, fucking shit.” He was softly whimpering to himself, hand against his shoulder wound, tears streaming down his face, eyes wide and frightened as they met Mike’s.

“Will?” El’s body stiffened in Will’s impossibly tight hold, Mike could see her trying to scramble away, no doubt feeling like something was extremely wrong with the situation and Will’s lack of reaction to her words, she was stopped by Will’s arms crushing her even more, making El release a pained groan from the back of her throat, “Will? What are you doing? Let me go. Please, you’re hurting me, please.” She cried out, her struggles intensifying when Will simply smiled at her.

Turning El around in his arms to face Mike, Will tucked his face back into her neck, “Oh El, poor sweet pathetic El, if only there was someone here to help you.” Will mournfully said in a deep sad voice that dripped with mockery, grabbing fistfuls of El’s hair Will sharply pulled her head back, arching El backwards, from her mouth fell a scream of pain.

With sickening excitement Mike reached into his front pocket to pull out the voice modifier from it, getting close to El’s ear Mike held the voice modifier up to his mouth, “Surprise El.” He said into it with an uncontrollable laugh that shook his body.

“No, no, no, stop, please, please.” El begged, head slightly shaking in her denial, tears a never-ending stream down her cheeks.

“El!” Dustin yelled from the floor, when he tried to get up Mike walked over to him, pushing his boot into his chest, harshly forcing Dustin back down, dropping the voice modifier and gun to the floor just behind him Mike pulled his knife from his back pocket, twirling the pretty blade in his hand, staring at Dustin’s shivering body with amusement.

“I’d be more worried about yourself if I were you Dusty,” Mike told him, taking his boot off Dustin’s chest he tauntingly stood above the other boy with a wide grin on his lips, “Things aren’t looking so good for you there.” Mike gestured to his bleeding shoulder with a wave of his blade.

“Oh, fuck you Mike.” Dustin spat out, a wad of bloody spit spilling out of his mouth and dripping down his chin.

“Fuck me? No, I think you got it wrong Dusty! You don’t want to fuck me; you want to fuck Will! Isn’t that right?” Mike clicked his tongue in return, cocking his head at Dustin’s sluggish movements, his energy slowly leaving him, “Isn’t that right Dustin?!” He yelled when he got no response.

“Shit man why the fuck do you even care?!” Dustin shouted back at him, from behind him he could hear Will mockingly shushing El whose whimpers were getting louder by the minute as Dustin dug himself deeper and deeper into a hole Mike had never planned for a second to let him out of.

“Why do I care?” Mike repeated, shifting the knife in his hand he dropped down to his knees in front of the other boy, bringing the blade into the air he stabbed it straight into Dustin’s upper thigh, a few inches off from his dick, at this both Dustin and El screamed, “I care because you actually thought you had a chance. I care because you thought you could touch what’s mine. I care because I had to stand by and watch you fucking blush like a god damn school girl as Will played with you because that’s what it was Dustin, a game to him. I care because you didn’t take the fucking hint when you had the chance to.” Pulling the knife from Dustin’s thigh Mike shivered with pleasure at the wet squelching sound the blade made as it was yanked free from his skin, he loved that sound. 

“Look at his pretty face Dusty,” Mike climbed on top of Dustin, forcefully grabbing his face he turned him to look at El and Will, El had her eyes closed, her breaths escaping her mouth in uncontrollable puffs that she tried to control, Will had a similar grin plastered on his face as he watched Mike with Dustin, enjoying the show Mike put on, “I want him to be the last thing you fucking see.”

Without giving Dustin a chance to say anything, Mike made sure his eyes were completely focused on Will when he brought the blade to Dustin’s ear, the one that wasn’t pressed to the floor beneath him, stabbing straight into his ear canal, gasping in pain Dustin briefly tried bucking Mike off of him before his movements completely stopped, eyes wide with fear still staring at Will just how Mike wanted him to be.

Taking his knife out of Dustin’s dead body he wiped the blood from it on his sleeve and tucked it back into his back pocket before looking at Will who was already looking back at Mike with a familiar look of hunger in his eyes, El in his arms almost completely forgotten even though she was making a racket of noise.

Standing up Mike picked up the gun again, leaving the voice modifier where it was, he walked with slow purposeful steps towards them, keeping his feet light enough that El wouldn’t hear him as she still had her eyes closed, even tighter now that she knew Dustin laid dead a few feet away from them.

When he pressed himself to El’s body, trapping her between him and Will he felt her flinch against him, giggling Mike pressed himself further into her, he could feel her struggling to get closer to Will, it was amusing to see the disgust in her eyes at his touch when she opened them to glare at him, “What’s the matter El? You had no issues with my body earlier when you were letting me fuck you.” At the reminder El sobbed even more, firmly closing her eyes again, as if that would help her disappear from the situation she was in.

Backing them into the kitchen and away from the entryway they were at Will let one of his fists out of El’s hair, using that same hand he grabbed onto El’s jaw, clenching it in his hand he squeezed hard enough for El to snap her eyes open with a pained whine, “Tell me El, did he feel good? Did you enjoy Mike’s dick in you?” He asked her in a quiet voice, his hazel eyes looking back at El with a hatred that Mike thought even overtook his own at that moment.     

“Will, please, please, stop,” El pleaded with him, hands anxiously clenching the fabric of his long sleeve behind her, fingers turning white with her hold on him, “You are my brother, please stop, you are hurting me. You are my brother, you love me and I love you so please stop, please.”

“Oh El, that’s not going to do you any good,” Mike frowned at her with faux sympathy, “You’re really better off begging me then him, it should be easy for you considering you have practice with it, now come on, let’s hear those pretty pleas.” Mike ran his nose up and down her exposed neck, letting his lips graze her skin softly, he nipped at her in tease, enjoying each time he felt her cringe at his actions. Mike’s eyes snapped up to look into Will’s when he felt a painful pressure on his arm, one of Will’s hands had found its way there, nails digging into Mike’s skin, taking the hint Mike pressed a soft kiss to El’s neck before he stepped away from her, walking around them he threw the gun he had in his grip on to the kitchen island before he pressed himself against Will’s back, heavily leaning his body into his, molding them together the way they were meant to be, watching El from above Will’s shoulder.   

“No, no, please.” El whimpered again, mind still trying its best to not accept the truth, trying her best to blink away the tears that no doubt clouded over her vision. Will roughly pushed her away from them, causing El to violently slam into the kitchen counter behind her, unable to keep standing from the force of the push she slid down the counter to the floor with another groan of pain.   

Keeping eye contact with El Will brought Mike’s hand up to his mouth, putting two of his fingers in his mouth Will slowly sucked the fake blood off of them, breathing excitedly Mike moved even closer to Will’s body, pressing the beginnings of his hard on into Will’s ass from behind him, popping Mike’s fingers out of his mouth Will licked around his fingers with a giggle, “Corn Syrup. It’s the same stuff they used for pig’s blood in Carrie .”

Unable to stop himself, unbelievably turned on at the sight of Will sucking on his fingers in front of El Mike turned Will around to face him completely, bringing their lips together he gave him a harsh kiss, lips crashing together in an almost clumsy motion from how excited Mike was, his hands went straight to clutch at Will’s hips, digging his fingers into the skin there with a moan into Will’s mouth. Will’s hands found their way to Mike’s chest, laying them over his heart as he recuperated the kiss tenfold, body desperately seeking to be closer to Mike’s.

“No, no.” Mike only pulled away from Will when he heard El’s small voice talking to herself, eyes meeting hers he smirked at her shocked expression, her wide eyes were focused on them, doing nothing to hide the betrayal and disgust she felt inside at the sight of them kissing.

“Don’t look so shocked El, you had to have seen that one coming a mile away.” Mike scoffed, out of everything getting revealed tonight, him and Will being together was the least shocking, it was something El honestly should have seen coming, it wasn’t like he and Will did the best job at hiding their relationship from her.

“Why? Why?” El choked out at them, she slowly pushed herself up, grabbing on to the counter behind her for support, her figure trembling in its place, her eyes were Mike’s favorite part of her, they looked at him and Will with so much misery, revulsion, and betrayal, it was everything he had hoped for and more.

“It’s all part of the game El!” Mike told her through a bout of laughter, arms moving up from Will’s hips to wrap around Will’s waist Mike tucked his face into the crook of the other boy’s neck, “It’s called guess who let their mother’s killer fuck her and who was stupid enough to believe I loved her all the while I’ve been fucking her ‘brother’ behind her back for years…I’ll give you a little hint, her name starts with an E.” Mike winked at her.

“Please, stop, stop,” El cried to them, her whole body shuddering in disgust when Mike once again reminded her that she fucked the man who killed her mom, “You are both crazy.” She pathetically whimpered to herself, Mike was excited to see a hint of anger in her eyes though, a hint of rage that he hoped she wouldn’t hold back.

Widely smiling in El’s direction Will wiggled a finger at her, “We prefer the term ‘psychotic’ actually.” Giggling into Will’s neck Mike nodded in agreement, both of their eyes on El Mike had to wonder if she thought they were idiots, they could see her slowly inching her way out of the kitchen, trying not to bring attention to her movements Mike let her believe that she was being sly in her attempt to get away from them.

“You will not get away with this, you have to know that, so please just stop this,” El pleaded with them again, eyes begging them to see reason, “Please stop.”

Barking out a laugh at her feeble effort to convince them to stop Mike told her, “Tell that to Henry Creel, you know it wasn’t part of the plan for him to get blamed for your mom’s death but it was poetry all the fucking same,” arms leaving Will’s waist Mike made his way over to the open area El thought she was going to be able to escape through, blocking her way, motioning to Will Mike watched as he circled around her, “I should actually really thank you for that El, had it not been for you Henry would have never been blamed, so from the bottom of my heart… thank you .” Mike said to her with sincerity, his eyes quickly looked to Will for his reaction, pleased to note that there was no emotion there as Mike openly discussed Henry, that was the exact look Will should always have on his face whenever discussing anyone who wasn’t Mike or Jonathan, empty .

He truly was thankful for her false accusations, without her Henry wouldn’t have been framed for his and Will’s crimes, it was El in the end that stamped Henry as a killer, and Mike couldn’t thank her enough for that, the fucker deserved to be in prison one way or another for touching Will, the only reason he stayed alive was because he was in prison. After learning that Will had developed some type of feelings for the older man, Mike had wanted him dead, it was still satisfying all the same to know he’d been rotting away in prison for a crime Mike committed and in the end Mike was the one who Will loved, Mike was the one Will was with, Mike was the one Will put above anything and everything in his life, not Henry .

“Why did you kill my mom? Why? She never did anything to either of you!” El shrieked at them with anger that Mike was positively giddy to see, wanting to see El put up a little bit more of a fight, wanting her to think she had a chance against them, only for them to snatch it away from her at the last second, dashing all of her hopes of making it out of this night alive and well.

“Why?” Mike echoed back, jaw clenched tightly he snarled, “Your bitch of a mother is the reason why my mom killed herself! She was fucking my dad behind my mom’s back; my dad was going to leave my mom for that fucking whore!” Mike spat in El’s face, moving closer to her he grabbed her face in between his hands, tightly holding her in place when she tried struggling away from him, “My mom is dead because of her… is that motive enough for you El ?”

Quickly shaking her head back and forth El tried to force Mike away from her, he clamped his hands on her face even tighter, beginning to dig his nails into the sensitive skin of her cheeks.   

“It’s almost sad really,” Will told El, watching her fight with happy eyes, “Your mom couldn’t handle the part she played in that whole fucking mess…so much so that she went crazy, your mom had no one to blame but herself though El, you want to be mad at someone be mad at her for not keeping her god damn hands to herself…in fact how about you learn from her mistake and learn to keep your hands to yourself and not touch what doesn’t fucking belong to you.”

Will crept up behind El with his knife out, knowing what he wanted to do Mike grabbed her flailing arms and pinned them down to the nearest counter, laying her hands flat down to the surface and held her there, hungrily watching Will’s body move with agitated movements, jealousy and anger clouding a haze over his eyes, leaning in close to El he whispered in her ear, “Do you know how hard it was to watch you with Mike? How hard it was to keep up the façade of being your happy go lucky brother when you had your fucking hands all over him. How hard it was to walk away each and every fucking time so he could spit those sweet, sugar-coated words at you that you were always so eagerly eating up. How difficult it was to sit my ass down here with Dustin well he fucked you upstairs.” He growled at her with hate clear in his tone.  

Bringing the knife up without warning Will stabbed it straight through El’s left hand, the blade went through completely without much force, hitting the counter underneath her hand, slicing through skin and muscle all too easily.

Screaming in shocked pain El renewed her efforts to get away from them, all the well begging them to stop. Taking the knife out of her left hand Will stabbed it into her right hand next before he harshly yanked the blade out so he could trail it from the back of her hand up her arm, deeply cutting into her skin as he went until he reached her throat. Mike could see him eyeing the tiny scar that was left on El’s neck from their encounter in the bathroom at school, he imagined Will wanted to finish what he started there.

“Will, stop it, stop it, please, you are hurting me, it hurts,” El sobbed out to him in pain, her focus on her bleeding hands, eyeing the gashes in them with a pale face, “Please, you are my brother, I love you, please stop hurting me.” El’s words tangled together as she let them fall from her lips, pleading with an emotionless Will.    

“Awe did you really think he loved you El?” Mike cooed at her, his fingers began a tapping motion on El’s wrists where he held her down, clicking his tongue at her he said, “That’s real cute, so fucking adorable,” Mike playfully giggled, “The only reason he hasn’t butchered your ass yet is because of me El, Will loves me , would do anything for me , would risk everything for me and do you want to know what’s even better than that?” He mockingly asked her.

“Ohhhhh this is the greatest part, a total surprise, you’re going to love this El.” Will excitedly told her moving his blade away from her throat but not before making another cut next to her scar, enjoying the blood that pooled out of the slight slash and the sound of pain El let out through clenched teeth.   

Releasing her wrists Mike grabbed her face in a stern hold again as he forcefully turned her head to the open kitchen doorway, ignoring how El whimpered when she brought her bleeding hands to her chest, protectively cradling them there, “Jonathan loves Will , would do anything for Will , would risk everything for Will …Jonathan!”

Appearing suddenly in the kitchen doorway was Jonathan, a bag swung over his shoulder, he was roughly dragging Mike’s dad with him, Ted’s hands were tied together with a thick rope and over his mouth was a piece of duct tape, pushing Ted to the floor none too gently Jonathan stepped away from the pathetic sight of Mike’s dad, dropping the bag he had with him to the floor he looked up at El, sending her a half smile that reeked of a poor try at an apology.      

The Byers Home

July 4 th , 1984

2:23pm

“I’m here outside of Pennhurst Insane Asylum where a tragic murder took place last night. Terry Ives, a woman admitted into Pennhurst for mental breakdowns that ultimately led her to being in a catatonic state and unable to care for herself was brutally killed last night. Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Eleanor Hopper, Hawkins' very own police chief’s daughter, found her mother in the arms of the alleged killer, Henry Creel, an orderly who works here at Pennhurst. Henry Creel has been arrested as the prime suspect, an investigation is to be led by the Hawkins Police Station, if anyone has any information that could be helpful to the investigation, it’s urged that they contact—” Will tuned out Nancy’s voice coming from the TV as he blinked. Jonathan and Nancy had been called in by their news station to go report on the murder of Terry Ives and the only suspect under custody Henry Creel, that was a few hours ago, the tape playing on the TV something they filmed earlier.   

Jonathan sat next to Will on the couch, leaning forward on the cushions with his hands clamped together on his lap, a worried expression painted his brother’s face, one Will hated that he had unintentionally put there. Mike leaned on the couch behind Will, his hand on his shoulder, holding it with a tightened grip as he watched the TV with sly eyes that Will could see looked satisfied, happy .

His mom wasn’t there with them, having left to be with Hopper and El in this rough time, apparently El hadn’t stopped crying since finding Henry above her mother last night, clothing soaked in her blood. Hopper had called his mom to come over for help, lost in the midst of El’s grief, he didn’t know how to help her. Nancy was at the news station with her friend and co-worker Barbara Holland, likely trying to figure out ways to capitalize on this ‘ tragic ’ murder.

Any and all plans to celebrate 4 th of July were canceled in the wake of Terry Ives’s murder.

Suddenly on the screen popped up a picture of Henry, his work photo that Will had made fun of several times because he looked extremely unhappy in it, the image certainly didn’t help the accusations being thrown at him right now.

Henry wasn’t supposed to get blamed for this, that was never Will’s intention, the guilt that had been sitting on his chest since the previous day was an even heavier burden for Will to carry. He had already felt terrible betraying Henry the way he had, using him the way he had to get what he and Mike wanted, he felt even worse knowing the older man was going to be going to prison for what they did.

Though it was trying not to be outwardly said, words like ‘alleged’ and ‘accusation’ being used to soften the situation, Will knew Henry had no way to prove it wasn’t him. The sedative they gave him would be out of his bloodstream in a few hours so even if the police believed Henry when he tells them he was drugged the evidence of it would be long gone. Henry was the only one working Terry’s floor last night, the only one with access to her room, Will had even placed his keycard back like it had never disappeared to begin with, not to mention being caught by El over Terry Ives with blood covering him.

No, Henry was not getting out of this, it was ultimately going to come down to his word and El’s word and El was the sweetest thing around, everyone would believe her, Will knew that, everyone knew that. The guilt flared in Will’s chest, making tears prickle at his eyes, he never meant for Henry to take the fall for this.

Mike was happy about this turn of events, he hated Henry, it didn’t take a genius to notice that, Will knew he was probably seeing this as Henry’s punishment for touching something that didn’t belong to him. Unable to stand looking at Henry’s face anymore, Will got up from the couch, Mike’s hand slipped from his shoulder, he stormed his way to his room without saying anything, he could feel Mike at his heels, following him.  

What’s even more fucked up was that Will felt no guilt for killing Terry Ives, as worried as he was the previous day he thought he would be a guilt-ridden mess, unable to hold himself together, taking another life should have left him that way, but it didn’t. He felt good, proud that he had pleased Mike, that he was able to get some form of justice for Karen Wheeler, he didn’t regret that at all. He actually looked forward to completing the rest of their plan, having El being woven into their web soon by introducing her to Mike and getting Ted Wheeler to suffer some consequences as well once Mike figured out what he wanted them to do with him.

Holding Terry’s life in his hands was unlike anything that Will had ever felt before, he had always been so powerless with the things in his life, powerless against his dad, powerless against his bullies, powerless against his own need for Mike, that having something completely dependent on his will alone was invigorating, euphoric.

He didn’t regret killing Terry Ives, Will would redo it in a heartbeat, but he did regret not taking more precautions to make sure Henry wasn’t blamed for it. Because now there was nothing Will could do for him, Henry was on his own, and the thought of abandoning someone he deeply cared for that way hurt more then Will was expecting it to, but it ultimately came down to Henry or Mike, and Will couldn’t ever fathom the thought of choosing anyone over Mike.

“Will?” He ignored Mike as he walked into his room, slamming the door when Mike came in behind him. The tears that he had held back came flooding out, Mike stared at him with no emotion, Will knew he couldn’t say why he was crying, Mike would never accept that he cared about Henry, he would never accept that Will wasn’t always pretending when he was with the older man.

If Will told Mike the real reason he was crying he knew their relationship would change, he didn’t know how but it would, and he didn’t want to risk it changing for the worse.

So, taking a deep breath Will opened his mouth and let a lie on what he was thinking about filter out into the room, “I don’t feel guilty Mike, I don’t feel an ounce of remorse for killing her,” shaking his head Will tried to bottle up his sobs, “Why don’t I feel guilty? I should feel guilty. What the fuck is wrong with me.” All too predictable Mike’s face morphed from emotionless to showing Will kindness and understanding.

Suddenly a different person now that he thought Will wasn’t feeling bad for Henry going to prison for their actions.

Cupping Will’s cheeks in his warm palms, Mike brought Will’s face closer to his own, gently wiping the tears that fell from Will’s reddened eyes, “Baby you don’t have to feel guilty. That bitch deserved it, she played a role in taking my mom from us, she doesn’t deserve for you to feel anything but hatred for her Will, so stop worrying about not feeling guilty.”

“I liked it Mike,” he whispered as if sharing a secret between them, which he supposed he was, just not the real secret on why he was crying, “I liked taking her life, what the hell kind of person does that make me?” Really, he didn’t care what kind of person that made him, Will did what he had to do for Mike and for Mrs. Wheeler, if that made the world view him as a monster then he would proudly wear that title.

Grinning at him, Mike laid a simple kiss to his forehead, “It makes you crazy,” he mumbled into his forehead, “But that’s okay because it makes me crazy too, and if we’re both crazy then we’ll just be crazy together baby.”

Giggling into Mike’s neck, Will echoed, “Crazy together.” It felt like a promise they were making to each other, they were fucked up, they knew that now, but it was okay because they were fucked up together, they were crazy together .

Will flinched when his door unexpectedly flew open with a loud bang, it shook from the hinges that held it with the force that Jonathan used to come into his room, eyes wide and frantic, “What did you do Will? What did you do?!” His brother yelled at him, unable to understand why Jonathan was yelling at him, Will stood there dumbly staring at him.

“Will!” Recoiling back Will shrunk into himself, he has never liked when Jonathan got angry at him, it honestly scared a deep-rooted part of him that recognized that his brother looked like their dad. Will wasn’t truly scared of Jonathan, he loved his brother too much to ever truly fear him, but he also couldn’t help unintentionally shrinking himself when Jonathan was cross with him.  

It always helped to remember that Jonathan and Mike were the reason why Will made it through his childhood. He remembered all those nights that he was held by one or both of them after getting a beating from Lonnie, both of them trying their best to calm his sobbing, Mike fretting around him well Jonathan tried to clean himself and Will up because Will wasn’t the only one that suffered at Lonnie’s hands.

Remembering this always reminded Will that though his brother resembled his abuser Jonathan was the furthest thing from that.   

“Don’t fucking yell at him!” Mike stood in front of him, pushing against Jonathan’s chest with more strength than Will had given him credit for, noticing Will’s look Jonathan’s face lost the anger he had, the confusion was still there though, fear was there just underneath that.

Jonathan must have followed them when they left the living room, he must have heard everything that was said between them as he stood outside Will’s door listening in.

“Will…Mike,” Jonathan held his hands out like he was approaching two skittish animals, glancing between Mike and Will, “Please…what did you guys do?” He asked with a calmer voice, he took in Mike’s protective stance in front of Will, not lingering there long he locked eyes with Will, and despite everything Will could see the wheels turning in Jonathan’s mind, could see the fear slowly leaving his gaze as he looked at his little brother whom he would do anything to protect.

“We had to Jonathan,” Will placed his hand on Mike’s waist pushing him aside a little bit to get closer to his brother, “Please, you have to let me explain, please.”

“You guys killed her?” Jonathan questioned with a shake of his head, harshly breathing in through his nose he looked up to Will’s ceiling with an unreadable expression on his face, “You guys killed Terry Ives?”

“That bitch deserved it.” Was what came out of Mike’s mouth, Will winced at his harsh voice, unsure how Jonathan would react to it.

“Deserved it?” Jonathan asked with confusion, Will could detect the curiosity too though, that made him relax a little, Jonathan was his older brother, Mike’s pseudo-older brother too, he would listen to them, he would hear what they had to say, and Will knew his brother would understand. Jonathan always had an uncanny ability to encourage Mike’s and Will’s unhealthy behavior with one another and to look the other way when Will and Mike did or said anything unusual, excusing it, he knew telling Jonathan the truth would be a risk but not one he thought he and Mike would come to regret.

They’ve always had his brother’s support in everything they thought, did, and said, Will had a feeling this would be no different.

His brother loved him, he loved Mike, he wouldn’t ever do anything that would hurt them, he might not agree completely with what they did or what they still planned to do but he wouldn’t betray Will by saying anything either, he wouldn’t let Will down, he never has.

“Start talking.” Jonathan ordered, going to Will’s bed he sat at the end of it with his arms crossed, looking between Mike and Will, waiting to see which one would open their mouth to start talking first.

Having faith that his brother would understand and wouldn’t go to the police, or their mom Will walked over to Jonathan, sitting next to him he opened his mouth to explain.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Sinclair Home

October 31 st , 1988

2:00am

Though looking confused on why Mike’s dad was there with them El gave most of her attention to her ‘second brother’ that she was starting to comprehend had betrayed her, far slower than Mike thought she’d be, “Jonathan.” El cried, shaking her head in disbelief, “No. No.” She whimpered in denial, seeming to want to refuse the obvious evidence in front of her that both of her ‘brothers’ had been playing her for years.  

“I’m sorry El, I really am,” Jonathan apologized to her, Mike could hear the slight regret in his voice which did let Mike know some part of him was truly sorry for the part he played in all of this but not enough so that Jonathan was willing to offer a more sincere apology, Will moved away from him and El to go to his brother’s side, “Will’s my little brother though, I might not agree with this a hundred percent but I can’t let anything bad happen to him, I can’t let him down, I’ve done that enough in our lives. I really wish it didn’t have to be this way, but we don’t always get what we want.”  

“You are my brother too! Not just Will’s!” El screamed back at him, her fighting intensifying when she realized that both her brothers and her boyfriend were all the people she trusted most in her life, and they were the ones to betray her the most in the end.

“I care about you El,” Jonathan whispered to her with a head nod, ‘I do, but not enough to put you on equal footing with Will, I will always choose him over anyone.”

“You should be thanking Jonathan, if it weren’t for him Hopper would be six feet under right now, I wanted to kill the bastard.” Mike shrugged at El’s horrified expression, he had suggested killing Hopper at the start of everything, needing him to be out of his and Will’s way not only because he was the most competent person at the police station but also because he wanted El to feel even more alone and helpless with her dad out of the picture. He had been outvoted though when Jonathan had suggested hiding away Joyce and Hopper in Hopper’s secluded cabin in the meantime that everything played out.

Having not seen a reason why he shouldn’t agree Mike asked Jonathan if he could be the one to watch over Joyce and Hopper well he and Will did the dirty work, Jonathan was all too happy to agree if it spared Hopper’s life, not wanting to add another life to those that were going to be taken.  

After all of this was over, the police station would get an anonymous tip telling them where to find Hopper and Joyce, by the time they scouted the woods for the cabin and brought them home, Mike, Will, and Jonathan would be long gone, “Lucky for him Jonathan suggested just hiding him away.”

“My dad is okay?” El’s relieved voice broke through the air, seeming to forget that though Hopper was fine and dandy, she wasn’t, “You did not hurt him or Joyce?”

“Your dad had nothing to do with your mom’s or my dad’s stupid ass decision to cheat and even less to do with pushing my mom to kill herself,” Mike offered her that one bit of assurance, it almost killed him inside but he figured watching the life drain out of her was going to be more than enough to make up for whatever small assurances he was willing to give her right now, “Him or Joyce, there wasn’t a reason to hurt them.”

“Your mom, you, and Mike’s dad on the other hand,” Will cackled as he kicked Ted in the stomach from where he was slumped on the floor, breathing heavily as he watched everything with wide frightened eyes, “You guys aren’t so lucky.”

“Not lucky at all.” Mike agreed, shrugging again with a grin that hurt his cheeks, licking his lips he pushed El away from him before he went over to his dad.

Crouching down to the floor Mike grabbed the strip of duct tape and ripped it off Ted’s mouth in one swift movement, his dad yelped from the pain of having the duct tape removed so harshly, “We can’t forget about you Ted,” Mike roughly grabbed his arms and sat him up, he slapped the side of his dad’s cheek with the palm of his hand, Ted’s cheek reddened in response to the hard slap that echoed in the room, “See for you , death is too sweet, too freeing, and you don’t deserve to rest after what you put my mom through, I’m going to make sure you live the rest of your miserable existence regretting ever touching Terry Ives and telling my mom she was nothing.”

Standing up Mike looked at Jonathan, gesturing his head in El’s direction where she stayed frozen in place when he had pushed her away, Jonathan took the heavy hint he was giving, making his way around El he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her back to his chest, he restrained her enough that she couldn’t move anywhere, facing her to Mike, he walked up to El’s face, murmuring to her, “I want you to watch El, I want this image to be seared into your mind before I take your life, I want you to see the mistake you made trusting me.”   

Watching El sluggishly fight against Jonathan’s hold had to be one of the most satisfying things Will’s ever seen, he loved seeing the tears rain down her cheeks, loved seeing the blood from her hands and arm drip to the floor, loved seeing her skin grow paler by the second, loved seeing her realize that no one was coming to help her. Pleasure thrummed under Will’s skin at finally seeing Mike look directly into El’s eyes with hatred, for once he didn’t have that bubble of insecurity sitting just underneath the surface of Mike’s interactions with El, no bubble was taunting Will that Mike didn’t actually feel anything for him.

Going to the bag Jonathan brought in with him, Will said to his brother, “You might want to turn away for this next part Jonathan, it’s not going to be a pretty sight.” He warned, reaching into the bag his brother brought in for them he shifted through it, ignoring the stinging sensation on his left arm from where El had dug her teeth into his skin when they were in the car, he hadn’t checked the injury yet, but he didn’t have to in order to know it would scar.

Pushing aside the duct tape and rope in the bag, grabbing hold of what he was searching for Will pulled out a hammer, twisting it in his hand he locked eyes with Jonathan, his brother was forcing El to watch what was about to take place but that didn’t mean he had to watch it himself. Will actually thought he would prefer it if his brother didn’t watch what he and Mike were about to do, Jonathan still had an innocence about him that Will no longer had himself, he didn’t want to take that away from his brother, he could do now what he’s been doing for years, he could turn a blind eye to Will’s and Mike’s actions.

Staring back at Will, Jonathan pursed his lips with a reluctant head nod and turned his head up and away from the sight of Ted Wheeler pathetically crying on the floor at his and Mike’s feet.

Grabbing his free hand Mike pulled Will to his chest, turning his face up he pressed a light kiss to his lips, “Are you ready baby?” Nibbling on his lip, Will nodded as he clutched onto the hammer tighter.

Untying his dad Mike roughly pushed him to the floor, following him down, laying Ted’s palms flat against the tile in the same way that he had held El’s hands against the counter Mike loomed above his dad, hands holding onto his wrists so he wouldn’t be able to move away. Ted fought against his son’s hold but wasn’t able to knock Mike away, he eyed the hammer in Will’s hand with poorly hidden fear, purposely Will twisted the hammer in his hand again, smirking as the fear increased in Ted’s gaze.

“See Ted you wanted to use these hands to touch a woman who wasn’t my mom,” Mike said to Ted in a low voice that dripped with hatred, his own hands delicately caressing the areas he was holding onto, “Not to mention they’re the same hands that didn’t lift a fucking finger to help her when she needed it, from where I’m at it doesn’t look like you have much use for them…so how about we help you with that?” Mike asked with a taunting tone, grabbing onto his dad tighter, he motioned to Will with a head nod.

Glancing at his brother to make sure he was still looking up at the ceiling Will’s eyes met El’s, cruelly smiling at her he got down to his knees in front of Ted, turning away from El he brought the hammer above his head, clutching it with both of his hands Will used all the force he was capable of to bring the hammer down on the back of Ted’s right hand, ignoring Ted’s screams of pain and his struggles to get away he brought the hammer back up multiple times smashing it down on the same hand.

Will could hear El gagging as the sounds of shattering hand, finger, and knuckle bones overtook the room, already Ted’s right hand was bright red and swelling up, the bones in his hand deformed underneath the thin skin, the hammer also made several cuts on the back of Ted’s hand, each one bleeding more profusely than the other, a pretty sight to see.    

Feeling like he paid enough attention to Ted’s right hand Will switched to his left hand, giving it the same treatment. The goal was to break the bones in his hands, enough so that it would take months to heal, months of unbelievable pain and being incapable of helping himself, thus making him feel the same helpless feeling he made Mrs. Wheeler feel in her last months.

Bringing the hammer down one last time, Will took a deep breath before leaning over Ted’s gasping quivering body to press a kiss to Mike’s smiling mouth before he backed away, throwing the hammer to the side he watched as Mike flipped his dad onto his back.

“Stop! Stop! Fuck! Please! Please! Stop! No more!” Ted yelled into Mike’s face, spit flying out of his mouth as he did, “Michael please, son please, stop, please, I’m begging you, stop please.” Going to the bag again Will listened with half an ear as he pulled out a pair of disposable gloves, ones to put on over his black leather ones, reaching into the bag again he grasped the handle to the acid drain cleaner and took it out, along with that he pulled out an old towel that Jonathan had thankfully remembered to pack.

“I’m not your fucking son,” Mike spat out to him, he climbed on top of Ted, pressing his body weight against his dad to hold him down, holding onto Ted’s wrists still, just below his disfigured hands, Mike grinned at his dad’s crying face, so clearly enjoying the tears that fell from his eyes and the pained moans he didn’t seem to be capable of holding back.

It wasn’t a part of the plan but it didn’t surprise Will in the slightest when Mike let go of one of his dad’s wrists to reach behind him to grab hold of the knife in his back pocket and stabbed it into Ted’s palms in much the same way that Will had done moments prior to El’s palms, wanting to cause Ted as much pain as possible, a goal Mike reached going by Ted’s croaking sound of pain that scratched out from his throat.  

“You know you saw that my mom needed help, you watched her as she fell and not once did you offer to help pick her up, not once did you look at my mother and appreciate what you had, so you have no use for your eyes either Ted.” Knowing this next part was going to get slightly messy, Mike leaned away from Ted, leaving his blade buried in the palm of his left hand.

Will was glad they had the majority of their bodies covered by their black clothing, the last thing he wanted was him or Mike getting burned by the drain cleaner as well.

Stepping up to Ted’s head, Will took the cap off the drain cleaner, bringing himself back to his knees again, he placed the towel above himself, laying it across his lap, covering it completely, Will scooted forward until Ted’s head was between his thighs, lying above the towel.

Squeezing his thighs enough that he was able to trap Ted’s head without much fuss, using one of his hands Will held open Ted’s left eye. With a hurried movement before Ted could use extra force to try and get away, Will brought the drain cleaner up with his other hand and tipped it until a fair amount leaked from it directly into the eye he was holding open.  

Ted screamed bloody murder at them when the liquid fell straight into his eye, Will knew it wouldn’t take long for the acid to work its magic, eating away at the flesh of Ted’s eyeball. Letting go of his left eye, Will held open Ted’s right one, lifting the drain cleaner again he poured the same amount into it, he stayed there holding Ted in place for a few seconds, feeling his struggling and his screams of pain vibrate through his body as he was shaken from Ted’s meek attempts to escape.

“Stop! Stop! You are hurting him!” El yelled at them around her sobs, cringing away from the sight that Ted presented, Will scoffed to himself as he let go of Mike’s dad and stood back up, it was pathetic how she thought her words would get through to them, “Jonathan please! You have to see that this is not right! We have to help him! They are hurting him! We have to do something! Please!” El tried her best to turn her head to look over her shoulder at Jonathan, not succeeding in the slightest as Jonathan had a tight hold on her body and was refusing to let her move even an inch away from him.

Will knew he was possessive over Mike, that was never a secret to him, Mike was just as possessive over him, if not more so then Will, but he never realized how much he resented El for not only claiming Mike as hers but also claiming Jonathan as hers too. 

Mike was Will’s . Jonathan was Will’s .

They were both his people, not El’s, “Jonathan is my brother El, you can stop begging him for help, he’s not going to do anything for you,” Will smugly told her as he took off the disposable gloves, satisfaction thrumming inside of him as he got to taunt her and throw in her face that she was getting no help from anyone, least of all Jonathan, “He’s only ever pretended to love you, to see you as his sister, to treat you with care and kindness…just like Mike, he pretended to love you, pretended to see you as something special, when in reality you mean nothing to both of them and the way they treated you was only ever an imitation of what they feel for me .”

Flinching from his words El let out a deep sob that would have broken Will’s heart if he cared at all for her. He remembered a time when he enjoyed El’s company, those first few months of meeting her and getting to know her, he truly had felt once upon a time that he and El were meant to meet, meant to be friends, maybe even siblings, she felt so much like a missing piece of himself.

Now though, after Mike, after Henry, Will couldn’t find it in himself to care, his heart didn’t have the capacity for El Hopper, it never had because like with Henry, it was always going to come down to a choice of Mike or them, and Will couldn’t fathom the thought of ever choosing anyone over Mike, he felt like he would sooner kill himself then even dare entertain the idea of choosing someone over Mike.

His hatred for El was amplified by having to witness her with Mike, Will had enough self-awareness to recognize he didn’t start seeing her as competition until after he introduced Mike to her, until after he had to witness the first time Mike and El met, had to witness how stupidly they stared into each other’s eyes with the dopiest smiles gracing their faces.

It felt good to put her in her place in this moment, which was behind Will, the things she thought she shared with Jonathan and Mike were fake, only ever a poor imitation of what Will shared with his brother and his best friend, and it felt good to rub that in her face, make her feel inferior to him, because she was, El meant nothing compared to him .

The Byers/Hopper Home

October 8 th , 1984

6:11pm

“Get that grin off your face, you look crazy.”

Face turned away from Will’s Mike tried to force the corners of his lips downward to get rid of the grin that Will told him made him look crazy, in his mind he couldn’t help but echo ‘crazy together’ as he tried and failed to make his face resemble a more normal one. It wasn’t his fault that he was excited, it felt like all the planning they’ve done was finally going somewhere.

In just a few minutes Mike would be introduced to Eleanor, something he had been looking forward to for months.

Things were slotting into place for him and Will, months of planning had paid off on July 3 rd when Mike finally got to watch the life leave out of Terry Ives. Now he was finally going to be able to torture that bitch further from whatever after life she went to by charming her daughter into falling in love with him, he couldn’t wait to mentally fuck her up, and really Eleanor could thank her slut of a mom for not keeping her hands off a married man.

He had to wait longer than he anticipated when Eleanor didn’t start the school year off with them, too busy mourning her pathetic mother’s death, Hopper had decided to give her a couple of months before sticking her in Hawkins High. She was going to be starting school soon, later that week in fact, and Mike wanted to make sure he was one of the only people she knew starting there, it would make her trust him faster.

Sitting on Will’s bed with him Mike felt a nudging on his thigh, glancing over he noted Will’s unhappy, jealous expression, the same one he’s had on since Mike told him it was time to introduce him to Eleanor. He knew Will wasn’t too fond of the idea of him getting with her, he could understand that, though it was his idea Mike hadn’t been at all fond of Will being with Henry either.

Thinking of Henry brightened his smile, as it always did when he thought about him rotting away in prison. It wasn’t their intention for Henry to get blamed for Terry Ives’s death but Mike wouldn’t say he didn’t enjoy the sight of Henry in handcuffs getting blamed for a murder he had nothing to do with. He saw Henry getting blamed as natural punishment for being with Will, the universe punishing him on Mike’s behalf, probably not the most sane thinking but Mike never claimed to be sane.

“You don’t have to look so god damn happy you know.” Will growled at him, face irritated with Mike’s excitement. Mike quite enjoyed the rage leaking from Will’s voice, he liked that jealous look in his pretty hazel eyes, he kind of wanted to keep it there forever .

“Awe baby don’t be like that,” Mike teased him, pinching his pink cheeks, he kissed Will’s forehead, “I’m not happy to be meeting her, I’m happy that we’re getting another step closer,” making his way across the bed Mike climbed onto Will’s lap, wrapping his arms around Will’s neck Mike gently smiled at him, “I need you to remember that this is all just part of the plan baby, she doesn’t mean anything to me and she won’t ever mean anything to me, this thing with her isn’t going to last more than a year, and once I’m done with her we’re going to get far away and never look back.” He promised, cupping Will’s cheeks he planted a firm kiss to his lips, “It’s you and me Will, crazy together .”

“ Crazy together .” Will echoed while pressing another kiss to Mike’s lips.

Before things could go any further the sound of the front door opening interrupted them, from the living room, they heard Joyce shout out to them, “Will! Mike! El is here, come say hi!”

Climbing off of Will’s lap Mike grabbed Will’s hands in his own and helped him off the bed, giving one last reassuring squeeze to Will’s hands Mike led him to his bedroom door, gesturing for him to lead the way, Mike followed behind him, watching Will’s back as he walked closer and closer to the living room, closer and closer to Eleanor Hopper, closer and closer to another piece of his puzzle falling into place.

“Hand me the hammer baby.” Mike told him pulling Will from his thoughts and where he stood staring at El with his lip pursed in hatred and mockery, bending over where he had dropped the hammer, Will handed it over to Mike, there was no point in one of them holding Ted down anymore, the pain he was in was immeasurable. He laid on his back, one shattered hand desperately rubbing at his burning eyes to no avail, the other shattered hand pinned to the tile flooring beneath him with Mike’s knife deep in his palm, screaming out broken sobs and jumbled words Will didn’t have the energy to try to understand.

“We can’t forget that not only did you lay your hands on another woman, you also stuck your filthy dick in that bitch…I think you know what that means Ted.” Cackling from above his dad’s trembling body Mike brought the hammer up and didn’t waste a second in slamming it down to Ted Wheeler’s dick, even Will winced as he watched Mike lift the hammer over and over again, each time bringing it down to Ted’s dick with more force, only stopping when he finally thought he did enough damage, like Will he threw the hammer to the side, it landed with a clatter.

“My mom is gone because of you,” Mike’s lip curled back in disgust as he talked to a barely conscious Ted, Will moved to him, grabbing his hand in a show of support, this was everything Mike had ever wanted, something he had been planning for three years now, Will couldn’t imagine the immense relief he must have felt finally being able to see his dad in such pain, finally see him paying for what he did to Karen Wheeler, “You took her away from me and Will. I want you to remember every day that you’re a worthless piece of shit who didn’t deserve her or the children you have. I want you to never know peace, blinded to the fucking world around you, I want you to live in fear for the rest of your pathetic fucking life.” Seeing the tears gathering in Mike’s eyes, Will squeezed his hand.

Leaving Ted sobbing and screaming on the floor, Mike turned his focus to El, who stayed quietly crying to herself in Jonathan’s arms after Will’s words to her, hands pressed to the top of her Wonder Woman costume, blood soaked into the fabric of it.    

“Let’s pretend this is all a scary movie El,” Mike whispered to her in a chilling voice, “Do you want to take a wild guess how it’s going to end?”

“You will not get away with this,” El declared to them in anger, renewing her fight to escape Jonathan’s tight hold on her, “If this is a scary movie, then you should know the killer always loses in the end, they always end up dead or behind bars.” El slyly smiled at them, a look Will sneered back at, not liking how she thought she had the upper hand.

“Get the gun Will,” Mike said to him as he walked to El to stand in front of her, “The police are going to come here and find a bloody mess of dead bodies El and unfortunately for you you’re not final girl material, you lost that potential when you let me slip my dick into you.” Mike laughed in her face, Will hated being reminded that Mike fucked El just as much as she did, but this was why Mike wanted to do that, so he could shove it in El’s face as much as he could in her last moments, making sure she went out thinking about the grave mistake she made in trusting Mike and giving it up to him, making sure she understood she was put in that place because of her mother.   

Making his way over to the kitchen island where he saw Mike put the gun down at, Will paused in front of it, hand going up to tap the top of the counter in confusion he looked over his shoulder at Mike, “Where the fuck is the gun?” He asked him, hand tapping harder against the counter, the house was no longer being pierced with the sounds of a sobbing and screaming Ted Wheeler, the older man having passed out from the amount of pain he was in.

Glancing at him Mike scrunched his eyebrows in equal confusion, “It should be right there.”

“It’s not.” Will stated back with a slight attitude, his eyes worked perfectly fine, if the gun was there he would have seen it but he wasn’t mistaken Mike had definitely set the gun down right where his hand continued to tap.

Hearing a clicking noise to the side of him, Will’s head snapped up, his eyes stared directly into the gun, it was being pointed straight at him, following the hands that had a quivering but tight hold on it, Will trailed his gaze up to Nancy who stood firmly in her place with an equally shocked and confused expression on her face.

The last time Will had seen her she was comfortably laying in one of the many hall closets of the Sinclair home, Will having set her there after he knocked her out.

Mike’s sister had come into the house with Steve, Will knew he didn’t want to hurt her too bad; she might not be the best sister to Mike but she was still his sister, he knew if it was Jonathan that was clueless about everything he would want Mike to spare him had he unintentionally got caught in the middle of everything.

Plus, there was the fact that Jonathan genuinely loved her too. So, Will had done the best thing he could think to do at the time, he had grabbed Nancy’s head and slammed it against a wall a few times, likely giving her a concussion but it did the trick of making her black out, he figured it was better than killing her.

Standing in front of him now Will’s eyes took in her bloody appearance, he hadn’t been gentle with his treatment at the time, knowing he needed Nancy out of the way before he had went back to playing with Steve, she had blood all over her neck and her hair was matted with sweat and blood, glancing down to the floor Will could see a few red drops below her where the wound on her head dripped with the sticky liquid.

“I thought you said you knocked her out.” Mike hissed at him, staring at his sister with a look Will couldn’t decipher.

“I did.” Will answered back, he had hit her head against the wall a few times, it should have been enough to keep her passed out for a few more hours, Nancy was more resilient than he had given her credit for, had he known she was going to wake up so soon he would have tied her down instead of just placing her in the closet.

“Nancy?” Jonathan murmured behind them with panic, looking to his brother Will tried to assure him that everything was going to be okay, his brother didn’t want Nancy hurt, he could respect that, Jonathan loved Nancy, he loved her so much and Will knew he struggled with coming to terms with his expiration date with her. Jonathan wouldn’t be able to stay together with Nancy, not when he was on the run with both of their little brothers.

“Mike, what the fuck did you do?” Nancy asked her brother in a hard tone, Will wanted to smile though when he saw the tears gathering in her brown eyes, she watched Mike with disgust and confusion but there was still familial love shining through her gaze. He saw her eyes flicker to their dad and back again several times, struggling to comprehend the sight in front of her.   

“Nancy, listen to me,” Mike held up his hands, he approached her slowly, taking careful tiny steps that put him closer a couple of inches at a time, “Put the gun down, you don’t want to shoot me or Will okay, so put the gun down.” Mike stepped in front of Will so the gun was directly aimed at him, Will’s tapping hand left the counter to clutch the back of Mike’s shirt, not liking that Mike put himself in front of him.  

“What the fuck did you do Mike?!” Nancy yelled the same question again, gun unsteadily shaking in a few directions before it was focused back on her brother.

“What I had to do!” Mike yelled back at her, far angrier than Nancy pretended to be, “I got justice for our mom! Me Nancy! Not you! Well you were too busy with your god damn career and ignoring the fact that mom killed herself, I was busy getting revenge for her! You don’t get to stand there and act all fucking innocent, not when you left me to deal with mom’s death by myself! Not when you left me to explain to Holly why the fuck mom wasn’t coming back home! Not when I was left by myself to clean all her fucking things out!” Will’s hand clenched tighter around Mike’s shirt when he released a sob from his throat, recalling all the times he was left by himself to do what needed to be done, he knew Mike had some resentment stored away for Nancy but Will assumed it didn’t bother him too much since Mike never talked to him about it, though now he guessed that maybe he should have pushed Mike to open up about his sister more to him, clearly Mike had some bottled up feelings that he needed to let go of.    

“Look around you Mike,” Nancy breathed to him, a cry worked its way out of her throat, a few tears leaked from her eyes, “Look around you…do you really think mom would have wanted this? Do you really think mom would be proud to learn her son is a murderer?” Nancy didn’t wait for a reply before she spoke her next words to Mike, “She wouldn’t have wanted this Mike, she wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of you right now and you know it.”

Feeling Mike stiffen in front of him, Will pulled on his shirt, getting Mike to take a few steps away from Nancy, walking around Mike Will took a closer look at the gun she was holding before he told her, “I’m really sorry about this Nancy.” He apologized to her, a similar apology had fell from his lips earlier when he had laid her body down in the closet, lifting his leg Will harshly kicked her in the stomach, she flew back several paces, hitting the ground hard as she stumbled back with a pained yelp, the gun fell from her hands, Will wasted no time in picking it up, he didn’t bother telling her the safety was on, she hadn’t tried pulling the trigger despite having enough time to do so.  

From behind them the sound of glass shattering rang through the kitchen, Jonathan’s arms let go of El so they could go up to his head where a vase had been broken over it, the glass of the vase littering the floor underneath him and El. From behind his brother Will spotted Barb, who he had completely forgotten about, thinking she had died when Jonathan’s van had run into the tree when she swerved off the road trying to avoid hitting El.

She was heavily favoring her left leg and on her head was a gash that split from one end of her forehead to the other end.  

Taking advantage of being free El tried to clutch onto Barb’s arm without much success with her damaged hands, instead she used her body to move them several steps in the opposite direction of where he and Mike stood. Barb followed her with wobbling movements that seemed like El had to support, he didn’t know how she was alive, the gash on her forehead was dripping so much blood that it was honestly a little impressive that Barb was still able to stand and move around.   

Walking to his brother Will kicked at the shattered glass pieces at his feet, reaching his hand up he gently traced the cut made on his brother’s head with a scowl, Jonathan wasn’t meant to be hurt in this whole ordeal.

“You’re not very smart are you Barb?” Mike sarcastically asked her, wiggling his finger at her like he was disciplining a misbehaving child, paying little mind to Nancy on the floor or Will by his brother, he stalked forward, “You should have gotten far away from here, now that would have been the smart move to make, but instead you thought you’d come in here to rescue El like a knight in shining armor without any consequences. I think I should show you just how stupid that decision was.” Mike teased Barb, enjoying the look of fear that cased over her face, wildly grinning at her as he got closer to her and El.

“You can go ahead and try you fucker.” Barb seemed to swallow back her fear to spit her words at Mike, Will raised an eyebrow back at her, she looked far too smug for Will’s taste.

Glancing at Jonathan when he felt him tugging at his sleeve, Will paid his attention to his older brother’s anxious tugs and panicked expression, “We got to go Will, we got to go. Now .” His brother fearfully whispered to him; it wasn’t until Barb opened her mouth again that Will understood why his brother looked so worried.  

“The police are on their way,” Barb grinned a bloody smile back at Mike, pulling El’s body closer to her own, “I called them before I came for El, they're going to be here any second now and you fuckers are going to spend the rest of your days in prison.”  

“Let’s go Will!” Jonathan suddenly yelled in his ear as he pulled him further away from Mike, who stood there staring at El and Barb with a blank look to his face, “We have to go before the police get here!” Jonathan was right, the police were on their way, they didn’t have much of a choice but to leave before they got there to arrest all of them.

“Mike!” Will screamed at the top of his lungs, not understanding why Mike wasn’t moving, he struggled in Jonathan’s hold, not wanting to leave without Mike by his side, “Mike! Let’s go!”

Smiling condescendingly at Mike, El bragged to him, “I told you Mike… the bad guys never win .” 

“You think you’re so fucking clever don’t you,” Mike snarled at her, completely ignoring Will who was yelling at him that they had to leave, “You think you won, but you haven’t El, because just like your mother, you’re fucking crazy, how long do you think you’ll last before everything gets to your head and you end up in Pennhurst asylum just like she was…I mean let’s face it El, you were already going mental, it won’t be long until your mind completely breaks apart on you.”

Finally able to make Jonathan’s hold loose enough that he let go of his arm, Will rushed to Mike’s side, pulling him away with rough motions, panic overwhelmed every part of his body, they needed to leave, “Even if it doesn’t I still got the final laugh, I still killed your fucking mother with a shit eating grin on my face and you still fucked the man that killed your mom… I win .” Mike couldn’t resist taunting El even as Will pulled on him, without looking at Will Mike snatched the gun from Will’s hand, lifting it he aimed it in the general direction that Barb and El were in, not quite paying full attention and not having the best aim, Will harshly pulling at him still, Mike shot seven bullets at them, the rest of the bullets that were in the gun’s chamber according to the clicking noise the gun made as Mike tried to fire more shots.     

Will didn’t know if any of the bullets hit El or Barb or both of them as they both screamed in pain and fright, it wasn’t until then that Mike finally stopped working against Will’s attempts to get them away before the police arrived, together they turned to get Jonathan. Will’s body froze seeing Steve behind his brother, trembling and in obvious pain and clearly barely holding himself together but Steve still had enough energy to overcome Jonathan’s fighting against him, enough energy to handcuff his hands behind his back. Will hadn’t even heard when Steve came into the kitchen, hadn’t heard when he got the upper hand on Jonathan, too focused on Mike when he should have been focused on both his brother and Mike.  

Letting go of Mike Will tried to move forward to help his brother only to be stopped by Mike’s arms going around him, “Let me go! Let me the fuck go Mike! Let me go!” Will shrieked at Mike who had started dragging Will away from his brother, ignoring his shrieks to release him, Will couldn’t leave his brother here, he couldn’t, “ Jonathan! Jonathan! Let me go! No! Let me the fuck go! No! No! Jonathan!”

Tears streaming down his face Jonathan smiled pitifully at him, a broken smile that wobbled at the edges, “It’s okay Will, it’s okay.” Jonathan said to him, trying to smile in assurance, that did jack shit to calm or comfort him, shaking his head at his brother Will’s throat croaked with a broken sob as he was pulled further and further from Jonathan, further and further from his big brother who had an increasingly resigned look to his eyes.

Nodding to Mike behind him Jonathan yelled, “Get him out of here Mike!”

Mike didn’t hesitate to nod back and forcibly drag Will away from his brother, Will watched with helplessness as Steve forced Jonathan down to his stomach, watched as Jonathan lifted his head to offer Will one last smile, one with no regrets, no fear, before he inevitably disappeared from Will’s sight.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana

The Sinclair Home 

May 1 st , 1989

10:13am   

Shifting uneasily in front of the camera, Nancy tried to appear like she had everything together and under control. 

An appearance she had been trying to perfect for six months, and yet she still felt like it lacked a sincere touch. Her eyes involuntarily flickered to her camera operator, a middle-aged man with white hair coming out of his nose and ears, before she looked away. She didn’t know his name, she didn’t want to know his name, he had told her it when she first met him but at the time Nancy had been walking around with metaphorical cotton in her ears.  

He wasn’t Jonathan, she didn’t want him as her camera man, she hated that she had to pretend to accept him, she hated even more that she had to pretend to hate Jonathan when she really didn’t.

Everything about Nancy nowadays was fake, all of her laughs, all of her smiles, her revulsion for her ex-boyfriend, his little brother, and her own little brother, all of it was a mask she put on every morning when she woke up to fool the people around her.

“Are you ready Ms. Wheeler?” Her no name camera man asked her, hefting the camera onto his shoulder with a slight wince, silently sighing to herself Nancy nodded as she looked around the Sinclair property. So many lives were taken here, so many others scarred and traumatized, the very same place her little brother and his best friend committed atrocious acts that should have been unforgivable and yet deep-down Nancy knew she didn’t hate them… she couldn’t .

That day she knew the gun was on the safety lock, she knew she had enough time to take it off of the safety and shoot Will, especially seeing as he took the time to apologize to her, but she hadn’t. She purposely let him kick her away and she purposely stayed down as Mike further taunted El with cruel words and even when Mike dragged Will away from the scene, Nancy played dumb and stayed down.

“We’re rolling in 3…2…1…” the camera man waved a silent hand signal to Nancy, bringing up her microphone she shook her shoulders and took a deep breath before she pulled her face into a frown looking directly into the camera.

“This is Nancy Wheeler reporting live from the Sinclair home. Exactly six months ago today, a tragedy befell the town of Hawkins, Indiana…” Nancy droned on and on as she began walking towards the Sinclair house, keeping her steps evened and measured as she held her frown in place. This was all anyone could talk about, all anyone wanted to know about, in a repeated cycle Nancy had been back to the Sinclair house to recount the events that had taken place more times than she cared to.

She lived her life having to relay to a town of viewers over and over again that her little brother was a murderer, that he had worked with his best friend to kill nine people, with an intent to kill two more but were unable to, having to relay that her boyfriend helped both his little brother and her little brother with their murders. She had to report the story to the people of Hawkins as if they didn’t know it by heart. She heard the whispers in the streets as she walked past, she saw how people shifted away from her in caution. Nancy knew the only reason she was able to keep her job was because the news station knew having the older sister of the psychopathic killer reporting on said psychopathic killer was going to bring the viewers rolling in, which it did time and time again.   

Nancy hated that her life felt like a freak show on display for everyone to judge, she hated that everywhere she went there were people looking at her like she was a monster. She hated that she couldn’t defend her ex-boyfriend (whom she still loved with her entire heart despite herself), her little brother, or her little brother’s best friend without dragging a full bright light onto herself.

Not only would she lose her job, but she would lose custody of Holly and Nancy couldn’t do that to her little sister.   

If one good thing came out of this entire mess it was that Nancy finally stepped up to be the best damn older sister she could be, she resented the fact that she hadn’t stepped up before, thinking perhaps Mike wouldn’t have ended up the way he had if she had just taken the time to console him, mourn with him, and be there for him.  

Those were thoughts she couldn’t think for long though, she always felt the guilt wanting to swallow her whole in those moments and refused to let that happen.

Holly needed her.

Her little sister didn’t understand why their dad couldn’t take care of her anymore, why her and Nancy moved away from the Wheeler home into a small two bedroom house Nancy was able to purchase for them, why the people in their town whispered behind their backs every time they were out in public, or why there had been several angry outbursts from the friends and family of the people Mike and Will had killed.

Most of all she didn’t understand why Mike wasn’t there with them anymore. Nancy remembered staying up all night with Holly as she cried into her pillow after Nancy told her they wouldn’t ever see Mike again.

Mike wasn’t extremely close with Holly, but he was there for their little sister when she needed him to be, and he was the only sibling out of the two of them who took even the slightest interest in Holly’s life. He wasn’t winning any brother of the year awards, but he certainly did a better job at acting like an older sibling than Nancy had done, enough so at the very least that Holly was upset to learn she wouldn’t ever see him again. 

Their dad was unable to care for Holly anymore, it hadn’t taken much for a judge to grant Nancy custody over her seeing as Ted Wheeler was a broken man. He had undergone extensive surgery on both of his eyes, both of his hands, and his genitals but in the end the doctors weren’t able to do much for him.

He lived because of course he did, Mike’s and Will’s intention was never to take his life, deeming him unworthy of such a luxury , but her dad wasn’t living a happy life. He was blind in both of his eyes, the acid drain cleaner having burned away his sight and the skin of his face, he no longer had his male genitalia, the doctors having removed it from how much damage it had taken, and though he retained the use of his hands, it was very little use, one hand of his had slightly better mobility then the other, having gone through less nerve damage but as promised it was a long and intense recovery process that he still wasn’t over yet.

Ted Wheeler lived every day in panicked fear of his son coming back to finish the job, he lived in a state of constant regret and though he wouldn’t ever admit it Nancy also knew he was suicidal. She often caught her dad in a state of unrest and overthinking, making facial expressions that she remembered seeing on her mom’s face months before she committed suicide. Nancy hadn’t known what those expressions meant when she spotted them on her mother but seeing them reflected on her dad she knew it was them weighing the pros and the cons of taking their own lives.

A pro or con little game that her mother eventually tipped in the pro’s favor, as evident when she killed herself.

Seeing that familiar look Nancy had made the decision to pull aside her dad’s nurses that he had around the clock for his care to tell them to not let him out of their sight, no one knew she did that.

She wouldn’t ever say it out loud, but her little brother was right… Ted Wheeler did not deserve the mercy of death …Nancy lost her mom, her little brother, and her boyfriend ultimately because of his actions. She would be damned if her losing all of them held no meaning in the end, she would be damned if she let her dad kill himself, thus gaining the mercy he didn’t deserve.

Making sure he lived and suffered every day was the least she could do for her mother and her little brother.

Nancy sometimes wondered if that made her as crazy as Mike but the thought of that being a possibility didn’t upset her as much as it might have once upon a time.

Hawkins Police Station

May 1 st , 1989

1:08pm

Threading his fingers together on top of the black table in front of him Jonathan eyed the door to the interrogation room with poorly hidden impatience. He had been sitting inside the interrogation room, handcuffed to the table for over an hour as he waited for Hopper. He didn’t know why they bothered still bringing him in to be questioned, he figured they should know by now that he wasn’t going to be giving away any information on Will or Mike to them.

Jonathan thought they would know by now that they were wasting their time with him but he guessed not because he found himself back in this very room more times than he cared to count, having to wait longer and longer every time for his ‘interrogation’ to begin.

They really were doing nothing but wasting their breaths and their resources with him, he would never tell them anything they wanted to know. Will was his little brother, Jonathan loved him more than anyone else in the world, he always had, and he always will.   

There were times in their lives that he felt like he failed to protect Will, failed to be who his little brother needed and those were times that sat heavily in Jonathan’s mind, replaying themselves over and over again. Coming to understand those regrets he’s had with their past, Jonathan refused to make any more mistakes with Will.

He supposed that was the reason why it had been so easy to accept what Will and Mike had done when he found out about them killing Terry Ives, why it had been so easy for him to sit calmly as they explained themselves and their plan, why it wasn’t a question for him to attempt to take the fall for their crimes, why it was so easy to turn the other way as they killed, why there was no question about whether he would help them in their insane plan or not. He loved his little brother, he loved Mike too, he was an honorary little brother to Jonathan, how couldn’t he be when Jonathan had known him since he was five years old.

He saw with his own eyes how much Mike loved Will, saw with his own eyes how willing Mike was to let the world burn to the ground for Will and that was common ground that Jonathan could relate to with Mike, Will tied them together in the worst and best ways.   

As crazy as everyone else thought he was for attempting to take the fall for Will and Mike, Jonathan didn’t let that get to him, he was glad Will and Mike got away, he was glad that they weren’t locked up in some prison cell forced away from each other. He was happy to be the one locked away behind prison bars because that meant they weren’t, it meant he was doing his part as their older brother, he was protecting them, and that wasn’t ever going to be something he would regret doing.

The door to the interrogation room finally popped open with a loud screech, being forced open by rougher motions than what was necessary, with anger firmly planted on his face Hopper walked into the room with Jonathan’s mom right behind him.

Ignoring Hopper in favor of looking at his mom Jonathan scrunched his nose in distaste at the sight of her. He hated the times that Hopper brought her here to talk to him, Hopper thought he was appealing to a more empathetic side of Jonathan, he thought he was cracking Jonathan’s commitment in protecting Mike and Will by bringing his mom, but he wasn’t.

If anything, it was making Jonathan’s resolve to protect Will and Mike stronger, making him that much more determined to not give away a single bit of information on them to anyone. He knew exactly where they were, knew exactly who they were in contact with, knew exactly how they were doing and what they were doing, but he would never tell anyone that information, Jonathan would sooner shoot himself in the head then be the reason why Will and Mike get caught.

Bringing in his mom to try and force him to feel something that would make him want to go against them wasn’t something that was going to happen.

Jonathan loved his mother, he did but for all the love he had for her he felt equal measures of hatred. He hated how little regard she’s always shown towards Will, she’s never been the kind of mom Will deserved, hell she’s never been the kind of mom that he deserved either, but it was one thing for him to go through life with her absence and it was a completely different thing for Will to go through life with that same kind of mother. 

Which was why he understood Will’s anger at Ted Wheeler and Terry Ives, that anger was largely connected to Mike’s loss of his mom, but it was also for himself because Karen Wheeler showed Will the type of love and attention that Joyce had never shown him.

The kind of motherly love that Jonathan couldn’t show his little brother despite wanting to, it wasn’t something he could provide for Will growing up, he tried his best to be Will’s protector, Will’s guardian, his brother, his father, his nurse, his friend, his teacher, all these titles but Jonathan couldn’t replace what Joyce was meant to be in Will’s life but he didn’t have to because Karen took that role with no hesitation and showed Will all the things that Joyce didn’t.

He had never told anyone before, but he held resentment in his heart towards his mom, Jonathan hated her for never being the mom he and Will deserved, for forcing them into a household with an abusive asshole that could give two shits about them, for forcing Jonathan to grow up a lot sooner than he was ready to.   

Bringing her in to talk to him made that resentment in him grow even larger, he would never see Will or Mike again and though it wasn’t entirely Joyce’s fault she did play a small role in that play and that was unforgivable to him.

“Hey honey.” Joyce smiled the fakest smile his way; it was fairly obvious how adverse she was to talk to him ever since that first time Hopper brought her in to hopefully crack his resolve.

Jonathan wondered why she still bothered showing up if she was clearly uncomfortable being in the same room as him, not that he blamed her much, the extent of Will’s and Mike’s actions weren’t something she or Hopper were fully aware of when they were hidden away in the cabin. Jonathan never felt the need to go into detail on just how much havoc they were creating, just how many lives they were taking, “How are you doing?”  

Raising his eyebrow back at her, Jonathan offered his own fake smile, “Perfect.”

Closing the door behind him Hopper guided his mom to the chairs positioned on the other side of the table, making sure Joyce was seated comfortably in her place Hopper sat down with a huff, folding his hands in a similar position to how Jonathan had his, “Are you ready to tell us where Mike and Will are?” He asked not two seconds after seating himself, getting right to the point without any false pleasantries.

Hopper often played the whole ‘good’ cop, ‘bad’ cop when he brought in Joyce, seeming to think it would do something in his favor.

“I think you have issues with listening to me, Hopper, I always have to repeat myself to you.” Jonathan answered back, at the cabin when Jonathan would go check on them and bring them supplies this was an issue then too, Hopper was always asking him if he really thought this was going to work out for them in the end, now he always asked him if he was ready to give up Will’s and Mike’s location, he always got the same answer.

“For the millionth time, I don’t know where they are.” It was an obvious lie, and they all knew it, Hopper’s frustration was amusing to witness though, he couldn’t even get Jonathan to admit that he knew any information on them, let alone get him to tell him that information.  

“Do you comprehend that they killed nine people?! Does that register in your brain?!” Hopper snapped his questions at him like he always did, he never bothered trying to show an ounce of patience in these interrogations, not that patience would get him any closer to answers, but trying different tactics should have been something Hopper thought to do.

His anger always got the best of him though, which worked out in Jonathan’s favor in the end.

“Telling me nine people were killed doesn’t suddenly make me know where they are Hopper.” It was another repeat of something he was always saying back to the older man, that’s all these interrogations were, repeated performances .

“Your brother is dangerous Jonathan,” Joyce jumped in, placing her hand on Hopper’s arm to calm him down, “Mike is dangerous, and I know you want to protect them, but they’ve hurt people, they’ve killed people.”

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you guys the same fucking thing over and over again until you guys finally understand…I don’t know where they are and you’re doing nothing but wasting your time talking to me.” Jonathan said to them with little patience.

“That is a load of fucking bullshit! Tell me where they are Jonathan!” Hopper yelled at him as he stood up to lean over the table, into Jonathan’s personal space, trying with all his might to appear more intimidating, shrugging back at Hopper, he didn’t verbally answer him.

“Does none of this mean anything to you? Does nine people losing their lives mean nothing to you? Does El suffering in Pennhurst mean nothing to you?” Hopper demanded, his anger so forceful that the words left his mouth with spit, “People suffered at their hands, people are still suffering because of their actions, they don’t deserve to be free, they don’t deserve to live their lives well my little girl sits in the same fucking asylum her mother was in slowly losing her mind because of what those fuckers put her through!” Jonathan was tempted to tell him that El being insane like her mother wasn’t Will’s or Mike’s fault, but he kept his mouth shut, the less words he spoke to Hopper and his mom the faster they would leave him alone.

“Will is sick honey, Mike is sick, they need help, psychological help, so please tell us where they are so we can get them the help they need.” Joyce pleaded with him, her eyes swelling with tears that didn’t fall because they weren’t real. She didn’t bring up Will and Mike getting psychological help every time she came to these interrogations but it was often enough that Jonathan had to wonder if she truly thought he would believe her, he wasn’t a child, so gullible to believe her words that all she wanted was what was best for his little brother and Mike, if that was what Joyce wanted then she wouldn’t come to these interrogations at all.

“I don’t know where they are.”

“It feels that good for you to defend them, Jonathan? I mean let’s be honest here, both Mike and Will are fucked up in the head, their killers, their psychopaths, their disgusting human beings who deserve the worst punishment imaginable…that’s what you’re protecting…you feel good about that?” Jonathan really thought Hopper should go get his own head checked, this was another thing he constantly repeated to him like he would suddenly change his mind the more times Hopper said it to him.

He didn’t know if Hopper thought by telling him these things he was going to make him angry enough to spill the truth or if he thought he was going to make him sympathetic enough, but it did neither.

There was a point before all of this that Jonathan cared about Hopper, a point where he genuinely felt some form of love and attachment to him, a point where he felt bad for his part in everything because Hopper wasn’t a bad man but the more Jonathan listened to the older man talk about Will and Mike the more he could see the appeal of holding his life in the palm of his hand, the appeal of being the deciding factor of whether Hopper got to live or not.

It was those thoughts that allowed him to understand Will and Mike on a whole different level then before, it was those thoughts that Jonathan found himself relating to them and being able to see how they saw the world.

He was always getting asked if it felt good to defend his brother and Mike, if it felt good to protect them, and the answer was ‘yes ’ , the answer would always be ‘ yes ’.

It did feel good to defend them, it did feel good to protect them, it did feel good to help them, it did feel good to know they were away from all of this mess. Jonathan would never regret the decisions he had made, those decisions were based on the love he felt for Will and Mike, and that was something he wasn’t going to be made to feel wrong about.

“Honey, you understand that if you don’t tell us where they are then there’s the potential that the Judge will charge you with five counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder instead of just as an accomplice to these murders.” Jonathan stayed staring at Hopper as Joyce talked to him, moving her hands in a nervous way.

He did know that and it didn’t make a difference, either way he was going to prison for the rest of his life, there was no way around that, being charged as an accomplish to the murders or as the actual murderer wouldn’t make a difference in that, not with his other list of charges that went along with them. On top of that Jonathan had already come to terms with the full blame getting put on him in the event that he didn’t reveal Mike’s and Will’s location, he was fully prepared for that, expecting it even.

Opening his mouth no one in the room was surprised what words left it, “I don’t know where they are.”

Irritated at him Hopper slammed both of his hands onto the table, not uttering another word he stomped out of the interrogation room with Joyce right behind him attempting to calm him down, Jonathan stayed in his place, staring at the open door with no emotion on his face or in his eyes.

Jonathan made several promises to himself and to Will all those years ago when their dad first left them and he had no intention of going back on any of them, not then and not now.

He was never letting his little brother down again .

He was never going to be a person Will couldn’t depend on.

He would choose Will over anyone else including himself any day, anytime, anywhere.

Hawkins Police Station

May 1 st , 1989

2:27pm

Steve sighed heavily to himself as he filed away yet another interrogation report. Slipping the paper in between all the other copies that mimicked the one he had in his shaky hand he resisted the urge to sigh again. Once again Jonathan Byers had been interrogated, and once again he had divulged absolutely nothing about Will or Mike, keeping his lips tightly sealed with no emotion behind his eyes as he stared Hopper and Joyce down.  

He had to reluctantly admire Jonathan’s loyalty to his little brother and Mike, nothing fazed him, both Hopper and he had interrogated him and had even brought in Joyce Byers several times in hopes that Jonathan’s mom would be able to get through to her son.  

It was all for nothing as Jonathan did not once open his mouth to tell them anything useful, the only times he ever talked to them was to tell them they could stop bringing him in for interrogations as he didn’t know where the two younger boys were and they were wasting their time thinking he did know.

After six months of nothing Steve had to wonder if they should take those words more seriously, because so far they had wasted their time trying to break Jonathan, clearly his love for Will and Mike was not something that was easily going to be broken away.

Even in the face of spending the rest of his life in prison, taking the majority of the fall for Will’s and Mike’s crimes on top of his own, Jonathan didn’t crack. Steve honestly figured that they should start considering the possibility that he wasn’t going to. Saying that to Chief Hopper though was not something Steve wanted to do.

Hopper had become an angry and bitter man in the months following that night, not that Steve could blame him, all of them had changed, some of them more than others, but all of them carried the weight of those changes every day, some of them scarcely holding on.

The scars, both physical and mental, were forever ingrained in all of them, so obviously and undeniably there that Steve had to wonder how any of them got by every day, how any of them were still there.

They were scars shared between El, Nancy, Hopper, Joyce, Ted, and Steve himself.

He could never bring himself to admit just how deeply those scars ran in him, the mental ones seeming to scar him worse than the physical ones. Steve woke up every night from nightmares, unable to stop the thoughts of reliving his inability to help his sister, he tortured himself with images of her body found in the garage, a sight that El had tried her best to keep him from but wasn’t able to stop him in time from viewing.

Max had been in so much pain in her last moments, he hated thinking of her tongue being cut from her mouth and her body positioned like a doll on top of Lucas.

In his nightmares Mike or Will were always standing above Max, laughing in the face of her pained cries as her mouth dropped what seemed like gallons of blood from it, acting as if she told the funniest joke in the world to them. The worst nightmares though were the ones where Steve tried to protect her, tried to save her but she still died, in that nightmare Mike or Will, sometimes both of them, would turn to taunt him with how much of a failure he was as Max’s brother.

Steve had promised to protect both Max and El and he had failed miserably , his sister was buried six feet under and at that point he wondered if El was any different because it felt like he had lost both of them that night.

Feeling tears gather in his eyes Steve looked up to the ceiling and tried his best to blink them away.

As it always seemed to do when he had thoughts that he shouldn’t be having (which was all the time it felt like) the fully healed stab wounds on his back poked in slight pain at him. He couldn’t be sure if it was all in his mind, this impossible pain he always found himself experiencing from his healed wounds, so Steve never mentioned it to anyone, he just carried on his day like normal, if there was such a thing as normal anymore.

He was afraid of being told the pain he felt was all in his head, that he was imagining things that weren’t actually there, going crazy in his grief, so he kept that bit of information to himself.

Some of them were lucky enough to not have suffered too much physical damage, those people being Nancy and Joyce, although Steve couldn’t speak of the emotional damage they suffered, he couldn’t speak of that for anyone but himself. However, he knew that mental scars could hurt just as much as the physical ones did, and Nancy was Mike’s sister, Joyce was Will’s mother, that couldn’t have been easy to deal with for them.

Like Steve, El, Ted, and Hopper had sustained physical scars alongside their mental scars, most of them were left with disabilities that would unfortunately for them never actually go away or heal completely.

From what Nancy had told him Ted lost his male genitals, the sight in both of his eyes, and had little use of his hands that were permanently disfigured despite the doctor's best efforts to get them back to normal. 

Hopper had deep scars on both of his wrists from the restraints that Jonathan had put on him when he had locked away both Hopper and Joyce in Hopper’s cabin. Joyce didn’t have them as she didn’t make herself bleed from trying to escape the restraints but seeing as Hopper did he now had that evidence forever stamped on his skin, a daily reminder of what he and everyone else went through.

El had two scars, one on her arm and one on her leg from where two of the bullets Mike had shot at both her and Barb had clipped her, she had twin scars on the palms of her hands and on the back of her hands from where Will had stabbed a knife straight through on both of them, she also had a long scar trailing from the back of her right hand up her right arm to her shoulder and up to her neck where she had another set of scars, two smaller ones but still scars, nonetheless. El also suffered from a disability to use her hands normally, the stab wounds had hit several nerves that rendered her hands almost useless in motor function, as far as Steve knew she was still undergoing physical therapy to improve the mobility of her hands, physical therapy that wasn’t all that helpful seeing as El was hardly there in awareness.

Steve himself had little use of his left arm, more times than not he had it cradled to his chest, he also had a slight limp when he walked, the two stab wounds in his back had struck a few nerves that left him struggling to walk and have normal use of his arm and hand movements. Like El he was still going to physical therapy to help him gain more control and movement.

Despite the scars and disabilities sustained Steve thought they were lucky to have survived at all, so many lives were taken in Mike’s and Will’s quest for revenge…Terry Ives, Chrissy Cunningham, Jason Carver, Fred Benson, Phil Callahan, Barbra Holland, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair… Max Mayfield .

The lives that were brutally taken could have easily been their own.

One of those lives so violently taken from the world was Max’s, his beautiful snarky sister who he ultimately couldn’t protect in the end.

Every day Steve regretted not going with her to the garage, he should have never listened to Max, he should have dealt with her attitude and went with her even if she was going to be a pain in his ass with her complaints.

Steve should have been a better brother to her.

Maybe then she would still be alive .   

Pennhurst Insane Asylum  

May 1 st , 1989

3:59pm

Hearing the door make a clicking sound from behind her El bit her lower lip in irritation, she wanted to be left alone but as always he insisted that he check up on her way more then he really needed to. Shifting the white blanket she had on her lap El looked up to glare at him, eyes darkening as they met his own, her lip curled at him when he happily smiled back at her.   

“Don’t give me that look Ms. Eleanor, it’s impolite.” Henry Creel told her as he pulled a chair up to sit in front of her. Sitting down he folded his hands on top of his lap, his perfectly pressed white uniform hardly ruffled an inch as he moved about. El stared at him, not answering, which was unsurprising for both of them. Henry looked exactly the same as he always did, exactly as he always had when he cared for her mother.

If she could muster an ounce of emotion, El would laugh at how ironic it was that the man she accused of murdering her mother, the man who had her mother’s well being under his care was now, so many years later, caring for her as well.

They sat in an almost perfect replica version of how she remembered him sitting with her mom when she was under his care. Behind Henry’s intense blue eyes she could see a twinkle that let her know he understood the irony of their situation and was quite enjoying it.

Henry had been released from his death row verdict and from prison a few weeks after the night that ruined El’s life.

After having a few witnesses and Jonathan in custody the courts were forced to listen and release Henry on account of his innocence. El knew he would get out of prison; he was an innocent man who had spent time behind bars for a crime he did not commit but that had not meant that she wanted to see him or interact with him.

She could have spent the rest of her life never again seeing Henry Creel but as per the norm with her, luck was not on her side.

El had been admitted into Pennhurst Insane Asylum almost two months after that fatal night, unable to distinguish reality from the things that plagued her mind. There were times where she was okay, where she was functional and aware of the world around her, now was one of those times, but most times El was trapped in her own mind, unable to do anything to escape it.

Over and over again things would play back in her head like a movie reel, she would see Max’s and Lucas’s bodies in the Sinclair’s garage, see Max leaning back into her boyfriend like a marionette that had been moved by the puppet master to show affection. Though she did not witness their deaths herself, El still played the scenarios she thought up in her mind, never letting herself have a moment of rest.

Max and Lucas were not the only people she replayed, she often replayed her mother’s death as well, replacing the figure who was once Henry Creel with the boy she had considered her brother and the boy she had considered her boyfriend.

She played back Dustin’s struggling body as Mike played with him, forcing him to face Will as some sick amusement while he stabbed his knife into his ear. El could not help but also get lost in the images of Ted Wheeler withering on the tile flooring of Lucas’s kitchen as Will viciously hammered away at his hands and as he ruthlessly poured drain acid into Ted’s eyes. She could not escape the screaming that came from Ted Wheeler’s mouth, forced to also watch Mike brutally hammer away at his dad’s genitals, so much so that he finally passed out from the amount of pain he was in.

Always playing in her mind was Barb’s death too, the red headed girl that El had resented the past three years coming to her defense, being a stable presence at her side as she faced off against Mike and Will. She played back Barb screaming in pain and dropping to the floor, played back watching the blood pour from multiple shot wounds in Barb’s body, played back pressing her wounded and bleeding hands to those wounds, warm blood coating every inch of her as she told Barb to hold on, played back the moment she seen Barb take her last breath.  

Less so but still very much present in her mind was also Barb’s camera man that El had later learned was named Fred, she replayed watching his throat get slit open, she replayed the blood gushing from the wound and him dropping to the floor in front of who she now knows was Will.

There were spurts of moments where El was able to tune back into the real world, moments that she cherished like no other, but they were not often, which was why her dad and Joyce had decided the best course of action was to admit her into Pennhurst. They hoped by being here El would get better, that she would learn to live a normal life again, that she would somehow forget all about the things she went through, all the death and torture she had witnessed.  

It was two months in when Henry had walked into her room that first time, or what El remembered being the first time as she had not been lucid any time before that.

He had walked in with the asylum’s director and her parents; from there it was patiently explained to her that Henry would be getting his old job back due to her accusations being false. He was to work the same floor as before, the floor with the unresponsive, catatonic patients on it and if she or her parents disagreed then they could gladly remove El from the asylum.

She had not answered them when asked for her opinion, her dad and Joyce though slightly regretful, kept her admitted, telling her that there was no reason that Henry could not watch over her, he was not guilty of any crimes, and they wanted her to get better and that could not happen if she was removed from Pennhurst.

“How are we doing today?” Henry’s voice pulled El from her thoughts, she could not stand when he did that, she wanted to be left in peace, not to be questioned on things she had no answers for…how was she that day? The same as any other day, no better and no worse, El stared back at him with no emotion.

“You can talk to me Ms. Eleanor,” Henry assured her with a sympathetic expression that El was not going to be fooled into believing, she could trust no one , she knew that now, “The faster you heal, the faster you can go home…do you not want that?” Henry often asked her this, if she wanted to go home.

Like everything else, El had no answer for that.  

“There still have been no sightings of Will,” Henry shifted forward in his seat, hands unfolding from his lap, this was also something Henry mentioned often, that there have been zero sightings of Will, he never mentioned there being no sightings of Mike either, seeming to forget that Will was not alone when he ran off that day.

Will was not hiding away by himself, he was with Mike and had Mike been caught without Will then El would have had someone come to tell her this, so it was curious to her that Henry only ever mentioned Will, never Mike as if the thought of him being with Will was one Henry did not want to entertain, “His brother still refuses to give any information on where he could possibly be.” El could hear the slight tint of care and happiness in Henry’s tone as he talked, just as she always did when he spoke of Will, she could mention it if she really had a mind to but even that seemed like too much effort.

She did have to wonder though how Henry could possibly hold any sort of affection still for Will, he had been in prison for three years because of Will, how was that so easily forgivable in his eyes she did not know.

Giving El a moment to respond back to him Henry deeply sighed to himself when he was met with silence from her. She did not know why he expected a different reaction from her then what she was currently giving him, in her lucid moments this was all he ever got from her, to expect more was just silly of him.

Standing up from his chair and pushing it away from him, Henry reached over her to adjust the blanket she had on her, something he had done a few times that had not failed to deeply remind her of this same action of his with her mother, with her standing off to her mom’s side with Will somewhere in the room sketching.

A happier time she was almost desperate to go back to, that El still had her mother, that El thought she had the perfect brother, that El was ignorant and it was bliss .  

“I’ll see you later today Ms. Eleanor, hopefully you’ll be in a more agreeable mood.”

Straightening himself up Henry gently patted the top of her head before he walked away, stopping briefly by a picture frame she had brought to the asylum with her when she first came, unable to make herself throw it away. No matter the way it was gifted to her El could not find it in herself to trash the sketch Will had made of her and her mother under the cherry blossom tree. She had loved it so much that she framed it and now there it sits right on a side table when first entering the room.

El silently watched as Henry lifted a delicate finger to trace the inner part of the frame, smiling to himself slightly El knew he did not stop because of the image on the sketch but rather who made the sketch to begin with, he recognized Will’s art, as he should seeing as Will constantly showed it to him.

Sometimes before leaving her room Henry could not help himself from stopping to caress the sketch before he left, just as he did at that moment.

Taking his hand away from the sketch and moving both his hands behind his back, Henry left her room without another word.   

Staring at the sketch Will had made for her El could not help replaying in her mind all the special moments she thought she had shared with both Will and Mike. All the moments she had looked at them and considered herself lucky to have them as her brother and boyfriend. She looked back on their time together over and over and over again, trying and failing to spot moments where they slipped, times where she should have known they were playing her, El dug through her own mind, making herself insane with thoughts of them and still found nothing.

Once upon a time she hated the fact that Mike was right about her in his last words, she had gone crazy like her mother, she had got lost in her head too many times, enough so that she came full circle with taking her mother’s place in Pennhurst.

Now though when she thought about it, she could not find the energy to muster up anything, a part of her thought this was how things were always going to end for her.

El was always going to follow in her mother’s footsteps, she was delusional to think otherwise.

Lenora Hills, California

Sidney Prescott Park

May 1 st , 1989

5:30pm

Sitting stiffly on the park bench, Will stared as Mike walked away from him to go to the bright yellow Surfer Boy pizza van that had pulled into the parking lot of the Sidney Prescott Public Park.

Glancing around him in a habit that he had developed since running from Hawkins, Will roamed his eyes over anything and everything in vicinity of him and Mike. There wasn’t much to see, the typical of what one would expect to see at a park, green grass, tall trees, benches and picnics, fretting parents, and of course children running around, screaming, and laughing their little heads off.

No one paid any mind to Will or Mike, going about their day ignorant to the fact that two wanted killers were in their midst.

It was surprisingly easy to blend into society without worrying about someone recognizing them, way easier than Will had assumed it to be. The fact was no one expected murderers to be roaming the streets or sitting on a bench at a park, they had no reason to look for something they couldn’t fathom being near them. Will couldn’t complain, it made his and Mike’s lives easier, made going undetected a simple game to play.

Despite things being easy for them now though it wasn't like that when they first left Hawkins. A difficult part of leaving Hawkins was actually getting out of the state of Indiana, police were on the lookout for them, he and Mike had to ditch Ted’s car a couple of towns over and then ditch the car they stole after that, and the one after that, going on in a repeated cycle of stolen vehicles. 

By far though, the most difficult part was leaving his brother behind knowing he would probably take the majority of the fall for what Will and Mike did considering Jonathan was the only one they had in custody. Will had fought Mike the whole way through the woods to where Jonathan had hidden Ted’s car, Mike had not had an easy time getting Will into the car and keeping him there.   

The entire drive was filled with him crying and screaming at Mike, blaming him for what had happened to Jonathan, had he listened to Will instead of trying to get one last taunt at El then all three of them would have made it out like they were supposed to, like they had planned to.

Jonathan was now going to spend most of his life, if not the rest of his life, in prison. Thinking about his brother wasting away his life in prison had Will clenching his fists on his lap, eyes blinking back tears as he glared at Mike’s smiling figure.

He was standing at the driver side window of the pizza van, talking to Argyle who was wildly nodding his head as he handed Mike two beige folders. Argyle was Jonathan’s stoner friend with connections that neither Will nor Mike bothered questioning, it was none of their business what side hustles Argyle got into in his spare time.  

As it was, it benefited them seeing as it was Argyle who met them in Texas with their temporary fake identities and brought them to Lenora Hills in sunny California, a medium sized town that had treated them well so far, at the very least people tended to mind their own business and not ask too many questions here.     

Argyle had been their biggest help and support in starting over, Will knew he genuinely cared about Jonathan too, when he had told Argyle that Jonathan didn’t make it out with them the other man had let a few tears shed from his eyes for his friend before he gave Will and Mike a hug.

Up until now he and Mike had been doing odd jobs here and there with their temporary fake identities until Argyle was able to get his hands on their permanent fake identities, ones that were as legit as they could be, in those beige folders was Will’s and Mike’s new lives.

Things between him and Mike were up and down since leaving Hawkins.

It was funny in that one of the things that was up was Mike finally claiming Will as his boyfriend and letting Will claim him back in the same manner. A title Will remembered so desperately wanting for years, a title El had that he was immensely jealous of at the time, Will finally had it.

A few months after the night they left Hawkins Mike had finally asked him if they could be official, call each other ‘boyfriend’ before he had explained why he never claimed Will as his boyfriend in all their years together. A sweet sentimental explanation that would have been everything Will wanted to hear if things had been different, it was funny in that one of the things that was down was Will being unable to gain the same happiness and satisfaction at being Mike’s boyfriend that he would have gained from it months ago.

Will still loved Mike with everything he was, he couldn’t imagine not loving Mike, but he couldn’t deny that sometimes when he was looking at him he imagined watching the life leave from his eyes. The scenarios changed over and over again with Will’s wild imagination but the urge to take Mike’s life stayed there, rumbling in his mind and underneath the surface of his skin, his fingers twitched at his sides in the moments those thoughts were too loud for Will’s head.

Seeing Argyle enthusiastically waving at him from the inside of his van, Will lifted one of his hands up to wave back, forcing a smile to his face as he saw Argyle’s shining teeth as he grinned at Will.

Patting the top of the Surfer Boy pizza van Mike stepped away from the window with a head salute to Argyle, they both watched as Argyle’s van left the parking lot, turning into traffic, disappearing from their sight as more traffic overtook the road.

Walking back to the bench Will stayed sitting on, Mike held on to the folders tightly, staring down at them like they were going to start talking to him.

Reaching the bench Mike flopped down next to him, placing the folders on his lap his eyes flashed to Will hesitantly, “Do you want to go home? Open these there?” Lifting his head Will took a quick look at their surroundings again, more people were starting to arrive at the park now that the sun wasn’t as high in the sky, not many more people but enough that he didn’t think it was a smart idea to stay there to open the folders.

“Yeah, let’s go home.” Will got off the bench, walking to their car he reached over the small space that separated him and Mike to tug Mike closer to him, he kept his eyes forward as they made their way to the car, only briefly letting Mike’s hand drop from his as they got in the car before he grabbed it again.

He stayed quiet as Mike backed out of the parking lot and drove them home, occasionally looking over to Will with hesitation before he refocused his eyes back on the road. Will was only a little surprised that Mike hadn’t tried starting up a conversation with him on the drive.

It wasn’t long before they got back to their apartment.

Mike kept close to his back as Will walked up to their front door and unlocked it, stepping inside the apartment Mike took the lead in bringing Will over to their couch, the folders with their future held in the hand that wasn’t in Will’s.

Together they sat on the couch in a tense silence.

“Argyle said this one is yours.” Mike said to him after it became clear Will wasn’t going to start any conversation between them, he held out the folder for Will, grabbing it from Mike’s outstretched hand, Will stayed silent and reserved. He didn’t immediately open the folder, from his peripheral vision he could see Mike eying Will’s folder with caution, apprehension, and a bit of hate, he didn’t open his own folder, choosing to stare over at Will’s instead.

It was pretty obvious to Will that Mike worried about having their permanent new identities, he suspected that some part of Mike expected Will to leave and never look back. He knew Mike thought there was a good chance that he would use this opportunity to get away from him. As much as he wanted to lie to himself, Will knew he couldn’t, he had thought about it, despite that having to be one of the most painful thoughts he’s had in his head, he’s thought about it, he’s considered it.

Will has had moments where he stayed up late in the night, sitting up next to Mike in the bed that they shared, eyes on his boyfriend and thought about leaving him, thought about collecting everything he could carry and taking off on Mike.

He never told Mike about those thoughts but Will suspected he didn’t have to…sometimes in those moments Mike would wake up, possibly feeling Will’s eyes on him in his sleep or maybe he was so interconnected with Will that he just knew what thoughts circled Will’s mind in those times, whatever it was he always stared back at Will with a fear that he’s never seen before in Mike. He thought he had seen every emotion including fear reflected in Mike’s gaze before, but those times late in the night with both of them quietly staring at each other Will would see that all-encompassing fear in Mike’s gaze and he didn’t know how he felt about it.

They never talked about it.

It was near impossible to put into words all the emotions Will had for Mike.

He hated him, he loved him.

He resented him, he found comfort in him.

He wanted to hurt him, he wanted to hug him.

He wanted to kill him, he wanted to kiss him.   

A constant tug of war in his heart was what Will dealt with every minute of the day for the past six months, sometimes he wondered if instead of El he was the one who was losing his mind. He did want to stay with Mike, he couldn’t imagine his life away from him but he also wanted to leave him, he sometimes couldn’t stand the sight of Mike.

Will had lost his brother because of Mike, for Mike, and though it wasn’t the first time that he was losing something because of Mike, for Mike, it was the first time that Will didn’t know how to deal with what he lost. He missed Jonathan so much, to know he wouldn’t ever get to see his brother again wasn’t something that Will had come to fully accept yet.

“Are you going to open it?” Will’s head snapped to the side when Mike asked his question, he had scooted closer to Will on the couch but wasn’t yet touching him, a miracle if Will was to be asked. That was another thing Will thought he had a grasp on, Mike’s clinginess but the past compared to the present he realized he had only ever been exposed to a small part of Mike’s clinginess, now Mike always had his hands on him, no matter if Will wanted them there or not.

The closer they got to getting their new identities, the clingier Mike became, as if he thought constantly touching Will meant he had him forever and he wouldn’t ever lose him.   

“Yeah,” he murmured back, grabbing Mike’s hand in his own he gave it a squeeze, he could physically see Mike’s body relaxing in relief and contentment, Will didn’t initiate contact between them too often in the last six months, something he found himself unconsciously doing more times than not.

“Let’s open them together .” He told Mike in a whisper that sounded like a promise, it was as much of a promise that he could muster without full on telling Mike he wasn’t going anywhere, without full on telling him that he wouldn’t ever leave him. Will couldn’t say that out loud to Mike, at least not right now, his mouth wouldn’t open for him to make that promise to him.

Something that used to come so easy for Will was like pulling teeth now, before Will didn’t even have to think about it before his mouth was opening and uttering out promises to Mike without thought or hesitation.

He missed those times he didn’t hesitate but for now with feeling the way he felt, this was the best Will could offer Mike.

Together

Crazy Together.

Flipping open the folder Mike stared at the various official looking documents that made up the contents of his new identity. Flipping through the documents Mike let out an impressed whistle to himself, Argyle had really come through for him and Will.

In the folder was a white paper stating their new identities with a slight background on who they were, a driver’s license with a new name and new birthday, a birth certificate, a social security card, and a passport, there was even a filled out shot record and a high school diploma.  

Picking up the white paper with all the information printed on it Mike looked it over, his eyes lingered on his new name, “William ‘Billy’ Loomis.” He muttered to himself, his new name was Will’s old name, something that oddly filled his heart with pride, he would apparently be going by Billy Loomis though, not the most terrible name in the world, he could have gotten a worst name.

He didn’t feel like he looked like a Billy, or a William for that matter, but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice in his new name, plus he did kind of like having Will’s real name as his fake one, it made Mike feel closer to Will, something he felt like he was desperately seeking to be lately.

Glancing his eyes over to Will with more caution then he cared to admit to himself Mike leaned over to take a peek at Will’s new name, catching sight of it he said “Stuart ‘Stu’ Macher.” Mike tongue flicked around Will’s new name, testing it out, it was a weird name but somehow he felt like it fit to Will, he could pull off being a ‘Stu’.

“Do you like them?” He asked with curiosity, they couldn’t do anything even if they didn’t like their new names but Mike was still curious on what Will’s thoughts were.

“Yeah, they're fine.” Will said back to him, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket Will slipped the driver’s license into it before he neatly organized the rest of the documents back in the folder, closing it he leaned forward to place the folder on the coffee table in front of them.

Not once did he look over at Mike.

Mike wasn’t sure if he should mention it, like every time before now when Will paid him no mind Mike wanted to grab him and shake him to bring something, anything , back into Will’s hazel eyes. He knew Will hung on a tightrope of overbearing emotions for Mike, constantly getting tipped left and right of loving him and hating him, he hadn’t made that a secret to Mike.

He couldn’t really say he blamed Will either, Mike was the reason Jonathan didn’t make it out of Hawkins with them, it was all his fault. He had gotten so caught up with getting the last laugh in El’s face that he completely disregarded everything else in the room with him, including Will begging him to go when all three of them had the chance to.

By the time Mike had registered Will’s voice in his head Jonathan had already been pushed to his knees by a barely hanging on to his life Steve, had already had his hands cuffed behind his back.    

There hadn’t been enough time to help him and to leave, so Mike had made the difficult choice to leave, one he knew had been the right choice and he was sure Jonathan would agree with him.

Will meant the world to both of them, had situations been reversed Mike would have wanted Jonathan to leave with Will, to get him out of that mess as fast as he could. Him and Jonathan were similar in that they would give their freedom and their lives for Will, it did hurt that he left Jonathan there, he loved him as much as he was capable of loving someone who wasn’t Will but the right choice had been to leave and Mike had no regrets for that decision, Jonathan he was sure had no regrets in that decision as well.

Fingers playing with the edges of his folder Mike copied Will in leaning forward to drop it on the coffee table, his hands suddenly feeling empty with nothing to fidget with, seeing Will’s hand laid calmly on his lap Mike pressed himself closer to his side, picking up Will’s hand he played with his fingers, Will’s hand was limp in his hold, “I’m sorry.” Mike whispered to him, he didn’t need to specify what he was sorry about, this wasn’t the first time Mike found himself apologizing to Will for leaving Jonathan behind, he hadn’t wanted to leave him but the choice was a clear one, all of them would be in prison right now had Mike not pulled Will away.

“I know you are.” Will muttered back to him, nodding his head with pinched lips but he didn’t turn Mike’s way, choosing instead to stare straight ahead at their TV which was playing some informercial of baking pans that were ‘guaranteed to take your baking skills to the next level’ on low volume like it was the most interesting thing his eyes had ever had the pleasure of viewing.

“Will please,” scooting impossibly closer Mike still wasn’t satisfied, he needed to be closer, dropping Will’s hand he threaded both of his hands into Will’s hair, climbing on to Will’s lap Mike tucked his face into his neck, pink lips grazing the skin there, “Please baby, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Mike couldn’t apologize enough times for his mistake, he asked a lot from Will, he’s always asked a lot from Will and he was so willing to give and give and give that Mike continued to take without a second thought and in the end Will lost his brother, and yet still Mike asked a lot from him because it wasn’t enough for him that Will hadn’t left him over that, Mike was still asking a lot by asking him to forgive him, to love him, to want him like he did before.

Will was missing Jonathan something fierce, he knew that but Mike couldn’t really relate in that front, he didn’t really miss his sisters. He’s never been close to them in the way that Will was close to Jonathan, he’s never depended on Nancy in the way that Will depended on Jonathan and though he did have a few good moments with Holly Mike couldn’t say they meant something enough to him that he was missing her.

Plus, he supposed it helped that Mike had years to accept the plan of never seeing them again, he was never under any impression that they would be coming with him and Will or that he would be able to maintain a healthy connected relationship with either of them after everything came into the light. Mike had let his sisters go a long time ago, happily content to know that he would be with Will in the end, that was all that mattered to him. 

It wasn’t like that for Will though, once Jonathan had found out about them killing Terry Ives, their plan switched to include him.

Unlike Nancy and Holly, Jonathan was meant to come with them. Will hadn’t had time to resign himself to accepting a life away from his brother because that wasn’t supposed to be a life he lived.

The separation was only made worse by knowing Jonathan wasn’t in a happy home with Nancy, living his best life, if that was the case then Will would learn to accept that, but no the reality was that Jonathan was behind bars for an executed plan that he had little to do with in the grand scheme of things, on the brink of taking the blame for the murders that Will and Mike had committed.

Mike had never claimed to be selfless though, he hated to see Will in pain over Jonathan, but he hated even more that it felt like Will was punishing him. He wanted to be able to give Will time to work through his emotions, wanted to give him the space that he deserved to accept this new future, wanted to let the hold he had on Will loose a little so he could breathe without Mike there trapping his every breath…but he couldn’t .

The more he felt like Will was slipping away from him the more Mike felt panic collide with his every sense, the more he was determined to not let Will out of his hold, tightening it instead to where he knew it was becoming excruciating for Will and yet he still didn’t change a thing, determined to illusion himself that the tighter he held onto Will, the less likely he would be tempted to leave him.

“I am never going to see my brother again Mike,” Will finally whispered out to him, so quiet that Mike had to strain his ears to hear him, he kind of wished that Will hadn’t talked at all though, he didn’t want to hear his mistake being thrown in his face from Will’s pretty lips, pushing Mike away from him a bit to look him in his eyes Will continued, “I am never going to see my brother again because you wanted to get a final taunt at El.”

“I made a mistake Will,” he hurried to excuse, shifting in Will’s lap, Mike brought his hands out of Will’s hair to lay them on his firm chest, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what else I can say to you to make this better, I’m sorry . I’ve told you already that I got caught in the moment, I should have listened to you and I didn’t and I’m sorry…please say you forgive me, I need you to forgive me baby.”  

Eyes focused on his hands Mike didn’t look up to Will’s face to see what emotions played across it, too scared that he would see an empty expression reflected back at him.

Will cupped his hand around Mike’s jaw to lift his face from its downturned position, forcing Mike’s eyes to lock with his Will smiled a heartbreaking smile his way, one that wobbled at its edges and filled his eyes with tears, “I hate you Mike Wheeler,” he breathed out of his parted lips, Mike felt like he could physically feel his heart breaking into pieces in his chest, Will had never told him he hated him before, fear and panic swelled up in his nerves, image after image of Will leaving him played on repeat in his mind causing him to tighten his legs around Will, bringing his body even closer as if that could somehow force Will to stay underneath Mike if he tried to get off the couch, like Will’s watery eyes Mike’s own shined with unshed tears, with the tip of his finger Will trailed his touch from his jawline to his lips, “I hate you so much....”

“Stop.“ Mike begged in a whimper, he didn’t want to listen to those words, Will didn’t hate him, he couldn’t, he wasn’t allowed to hate Mike, digging his fingers into the fabric of Will’s shirt Mike tried to rein in his emotions, he didn’t know it was possible to feel so much fear and pain in one sitting, “Don’t say that, please don’t say that.”

“Do you want to know something crazy though?” Will continued like Mike hadn’t said a word back to him, like Mike wasn’t two seconds away from falling completely apart in his lap, like he wasn’t two seconds away from tying Will down so he couldn’t leave him, like Mike wasn’t having flashes of thoughts that he would rather stab a knife through Will’s heart then let him walk away from him, “I have so much hate for you and yet its still nothing compared to how much I love you Mike Wheeler.”

Pressing his lips to Mike’s forehead Will lingered there as he let his words sink in.   

Will wasn’t leaving him, Will still loved him, he wasn’t going to disappear on Mike, Mike still had him.

Trailing the kiss he pressed on Mike’s forehead to his temple he said, “I’m right here Mike.” I’m never leaving you went unsaid between them, Mike hated that Will couldn’t utter that promise out loud to him like he wanted him to, he wanted to demand that Will say the words, that Will tell him to his face that he wouldn’t ever leave him but he was terrified of pushing Will for too much too soon, terrified of losing him.

So Mike did the next best thing, he tugged Will’s face to his own and harshly crashed their lips together in a rough kiss, moving his arms around Will’s neck Mike pressed closer, desperately trying to mold his body into Will’s, desperately trying to forget the things Will couldn’t say to him.

Shifting his hips forward Mike felt the hard bulge in Will’s jeans poke at his ass, smirking into Will’s mouth he rolled his hips down, aggressively grinding down on Will, his mind filled with a fog of lust, of need, and he had no doubt that he would do anything to keep this within his grasp.

He would do anything to make sure Will never left him, anything to make sure he never spent a day of his life away from him, Mike loved him too much to ever let Will go. 

Mike needed Will and Will needed Mike.

It was clear in their kiss how Will felt though, that mixture of emotions fighting inside of him came tumbling through in the way Will twisted his tongue around Mike’s with a gentle motion, came through in the way that Will harshly bucked his hips upwards, came through in the way Will’s hands clutched at Mike’s hips with a grasp that made Mike moan in equal parts arousal and pain…

Will loved him, Will hated him.

Will found comfort in him, Will resented him.

Will wanted to hug him, Will wanted to hurt him.

Will wanted to kiss him, Will wanted to kill him.

“I have loved to the point of madness; That which is called madness,

That which to me, is the only sensible way to love.” -Francoise Sagan

FanArt By: SavioursViolation (Previously FullSaviourHalt)