Work Text:
He squints up at the almost clear sky, trying to gauge how long it’d be before the sun went down. Behind him, he can hear the rustling of paper and two voices talking quietly of nothing important. Letting out a sigh, Mike steps away, letting his hand fall from his eyes as he turns to face Will and Lucas, both fretting over the map they’d been given.
“I swear, if they really wanted people here, they’d make it easier to find your way around,” Lucas comments as Mike moves over to them, sneakers sinking into the sand until he reaches the wooden bridge-like contraption he didn’t really care to know the actual name of.
“Maybe they thrive from tourist confusion,” Mike finds himself throwing out there, shaking the sand off his shoes the best he can. “Can you leave if you don’t know how?”
Will glances up at him, a look of recognition bleeding into his already annoyed expression. “Still…”
Will falls back with Mike as Lucas moves forward, attempting yet another try at finding the building they were looking for. Mike sneaks his hand into Will’s squeezing gently. The breeze is cool, but it doesn’t help much with the heat, all of them in t-shirts and shorts, sunscreen on their faces, bar Mike, who couldn’t wear anything but jeans to save his life and absolutely refused to wear shorts. He makes sure to complain about it, but the two usually counter by telling him to shut up and he “made his choice”. There are other people passing them on sidewalks, but not many, the island being pretty small.
Mike gently swings his and Will’s hands, eyes inspecting the swaying palm trees and overall pristine campus, a far cry from the landscape that Hawkins is. He still isn’t even sure why they decided to accept this trip; a break would be the obvious answer, but the others were still back home, enjoying their own break from the supernatural.
“Mike? You okay?”
“Huh?” Mike moves his head to look at Will, whose eyes move from him to the path in front of them, making sure they don’t run into anything. There’s something in his eyes that Mike struggles to place, but he’s enjoying the view too much to complain about much. “Oh, yeah. Just thinking that we should have stayed home, maybe.”
“Ah ha!”
They both look forward to see Lucas’ triumphant look as he gestures to the building they’ve been looking for for the past fifteen minutes; a restaurant, open-planned in seating with lights decorating the canopy, white, see-through fabric covering them and supported by wooden beams.
Mike grins. “Thank fucking God, I was about to lose my mind,” he says, relief covering his words.
“Do I hear a ‘thank you for getting us here, Lucas?’”
Will snorts, and Lucas glares playfully, gently shoving Will’s shoulder.
They watch the sunset from their table, conversation shifting from subject to subject before settling on what they were going to do after getting back home. Lucas proudly declares he’s going to drag everyone together for a game, a new one he’d been thinking about and planning, and Mike raises an eyebrow.
“You sure you remember how, Basketball Boy?”
“Are we sure you haven’t forgotten, Mr. I’ve-been-too-busy?” Lucas shoots back.
A beat of silence, and they burst into laughter.
“We actually should do that,” Mike smiles, referring to the game. “It’d be nice to feel normal again, and the basement has been missing something lately.”
He turns to Will, who’s looking fondly at both of them. “Yeah, I’ve missed playing with you guys.”
For their last last night on the island, they stay in their room, watching movies and ordering room service. The whole trip is nice, but Mike really can’t wait to go home.