Chapter Text
The bell that hung above the door clanged as Mike entered the Hawkins Video Store. Immediately, he felt himself starting to cool down. The AC was always turned up high during the summer months at Robin's insistence, to which Mike was eternally grateful. This summer in particular had been hotter than he could ever remember, so he was grateful that it was always borderline chilly inside the video store.
"Hey kiddo!" called Robin's voice from behind the counter. "Good to see you!"
"Hey Robin!" Mike answered back, grinning at his co-worker. Robin was dressed in a yellow shirt with jeans and had her hair pulled back into a ponytail today. It was a look that suited her.
Mike glanced around for a sign of their other co-worker, who could normally be found shooting the breeze with Robin behind the counter.
"Where's Steve?" Mike asked.
"Oh, he's in the bathroom," Robin said. "He said he'd be back in a minute and then we can have our gossip time."
Mike grinned and nodded as he walked behind the counter and logged onto one of the available computers. He entered his name on the clock-in page and got on the clock right when he was scheduled to begin his shift. Normally, he was a minute or two ahead of his scheduled start time, but there had been a bit of traffic on his way to work.
Mike turned to Robin, who was pulling out a stick of gum from her pocket. She offered one to Mike, and Mike took a stick, opening it and throwing it into his mouth absently.
"How has it been today?" Mike asked.
"Well you know Hawkins Video during a summer day: it'll be dead most of the day, but we'll pick up when the nine to fivers get off from work," Robin replied as she chewed her gum. "Who knows, maybe there will be a random rush of customers. Would make for a nice change."
Mike grinned again. "Well, at least we have Will and Johnny coming in a little bit. They're gonna pick out some movies for us to watch during the party tomorrow."
"I thought they were going shopping with Max and El?" said a voice from behind Mike. Mike turned around and watched Steve walk behind the counter. "Do I get any gum?" Steve asked, noticing that both Mike and Robin were both chewing.
"I suppose so," Robin sighed, putting her hand into her pocket again and handing Steve a stick. "It's a good thing I brought extra so you guys don't clean me out."
"You can say no to us, you know," Steve replied, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, but laying guilt on you is more fun," Robin smirked.
Steve put the piece of gum into his mouth and turned to Mike. "I thought the plan was for you to pick out the movies for tomorrow."
"Well, it was, but El and Max have plans after they all go shopping," Mike said. "I'm not sure what they're doing, but Max said no boys allowed, so they're gonna drop off Will and Johnny when they're done shopping and I'll help them pick out some movies for tomorrow."
"You'd better not pick out any shitty movies, Wheeler," Steve warned in a vaguely threatening voice. "I'll never let you hear the end of it!"
"Ignore him, Mike," Robin said, slapping Steve on the arm. "He's just mad that he wasn't assigned movie duty for the party. Otherwise, he could force us to sit through six hours of Farrah Fawcett movies so he could point out how much his hair looks like hers in every scene."
Steve went silent while Mike and Robin howled with laughter. After a beat, he turned to Robin and simply said, "Touche" before he turned toward the nearest computer and started clicking, acting as if he were working hard.
"Yeah, take your giant L, Harrington," Robin said with a wicked grin on her face. "Meanwhile, us cool kids will simply be getting paid to hang out."
Mike and Robin spent much of the next hour shooting the breeze about the party that was being hosted the next day at the Wheeler house. Everyone and their families in their friend group were invited for the party, meaning there would be almost thirty people present. Will's dad Jim had even bought a projector and a small movie screen so they could watch movies under the stars. As Jim was the police chief, they didn't have to worry too much about anyone making a noise complaint.
Soon, they all turned toward the front door of the store when they heard the familiar sound of the bell clang. Mike's heart leapt as he saw his boyfriend walk into the store. Will looked radiant in Mike's eyes, and today was no exception. Will had recently gotten a hair cut that made him even cuter than he already was. He was wearing a yellow shirt similar to Robin's. Will was flanked by his ex-boyfriend, Johnny.
Johnny was a relative newcomer to the group. Even when he and Will had dated, Johnny hadn't spent a lot of time with the group, though he had gone to prom with The Party, ironically on the same night he and Will ended their relationship. But, they had ended on good terms and Johnny had found himself as the newest member of The Party, though he didn't have much experience with D&D. Johnny was dressed in a red shirt and khaki shorts, making him look like a mini Target employee.
"Hey guys!" Robin called out to Will and Johnny as they walked toward the counter. "How was the food and drink gathering for tomorrow?"
"Oh, we got quite a bit of food!" Will replied. "We got burgers and hotdogs for the main course and got a bunch of different kinds of chips and different sodas! We also got two veggie trays for anyone who wants to snack on them!"
"And we also got some cookies that El and Max are gonna bake tomorrow morning before they come over to the Wheeler house," said Johnny with a grin. "I think we have enough food to feed a small country.
The five of them chuckled merrily.
"Well, that's a good thing, because I, for one, plan on eating my weight in food!" Robin exclaimed. Everyone laughed again; it was common for Robin to joke that she ate far more than she ever did. In fact, compared to how Dustin and Lucas tended to go back for seconds and even thirds on occasion, Robin didn't eat nearly as much as some of the others.
"Anyway, I know you guys are here to pick out movies, so I'll let Mike give you a hand," Robin said.
"Are you sure?" Mike asked.
"Oh yeah, Wheeler, don't worry," Robin said. "Steve and I gotta work on returns anyway. Plus, we gotta find work for Keith to do tomorrow when he works all by his lonesome while we're having a good time. You three just find us some good movies to watch tomorrow. Preferably nothing that will put us all to sleep!"
Mike, Will and Johnny laughed as Mike exited from behind the counter and joined Will and Johnny. Will hopped toward Mike and pulled him in for a quick hug, before pulling away, blushing slightly at his excitement.
"Hi," Will said in an almost nervous-sounding voice.
"Hi," Mike replied, beaming.
"Yeah, yeah, you're stupidly in love," Johnny said in an amused voice. "Let's keep it moving, shall we?"
"Sorry, Johnny, I didn't..." Mike stammered, but to his relief, he looked over at Johnny and saw he was grinning.
"I'm kidding, Mike, you know that," he said, chuckling slightly at Mike. "You guys are allowed to be as disgustingly cute as you both are."
"Still, I don't want it to be awkward," Mike said, looking down in shame.
"Hey," Johnny said in a firm voice as he stepped closer to Mike and put a hand on Mike's shoulder. "It's not awkward, I promise. If it was, I wouldn't want to be friends with you guys. Okay? You don't have to worry all the time, Mike. You and I are good. Heck, I never had any bad feelings toward you."
Mike nodded. He still felt guilty about the way he had been jealous during Will and Johnny's relationship. Even though he had done his best to hide it and he had never said anything verbally to Johnny about it, he still felt bad about not being more polite to Johnny. But Johnny, the good friend that he was, had told Mike many times that he had nothing to be sorry for and he was happy for him and Will. Still, Mike couldn't help but feel bad that Johnny was now single.
Will grabbed one of Mike's hands and curled his own around it. Instantly, Mike started feeling better and he grinned at Will.
"Let's find some movies," Will said, pulling Mike and looping his free arm around one of Johnny's arms and yanking the two of them with him. Mike and Johnny both yelped in surprise while Will cackled.
The three of them made their way over to the collection of 80s movies that were available to rent at the store. They spent several minutes grabbing movies off the shelf and debating over which ones to pick. Will loved a good rom com, while Mike was all for action movies and Johnny liked pretty much everything there was to offer. Finally, they narrowed it down to three movies, all of which, they noticed, were released in 1984: The Terminator, The Karate Kid and Sixteen Candles.
"Well, what do you guys think?" Mike asked, holding up the three movies. "We can easily get through two of the movies tomorrow night under the stars, but knowing Dustin, Lucas, El and Max, they'll probably be willing to stay up late for all three movies."
"Hell, I'll stay up for three movies," Johnny exclaimed with a grin. "We still have some time before school starts, so fuck my sleep schedule!"
Mike and Will laughed.
"That's a good point," Will mused. "We still have time to fix our sleep schedule for school. We might as well get all three movies. Even if we don't watch all of them tomorrow, we can always watch on Sunday once everyone wakes up."
"Sounds good, I'll go ring us up," Mike declared, turning toward the counter. Will and Johnny followed him.
"And the winners are?" Robin asked when Mike reached the checkout desk and entered it. He held up the movies when he reached his computer and typed in his log in to check out. "Oooh, excellent choices! We just gotta decide what order to watch them in. Quick, before Steve tries to pick for us!"
Will and Johnny laughed while Robin guffawed. Mike smirked while staring at his computer screen, focused on ringing up the movies. As an employee, he could check out up to five movies at no charge, so to save money, he was just checking out the movies using his credentials.
"Oooh, I think we have to start with Sixteen Candles, kind of ease our way into the night," Robin suggested. "We can start with some laughs and some questionable moments. Then, we go with the Karate Kid. It's kinda like a happy medium between the two movies; it still has a little romance and laughs, but also has some action at the end. And then that will take us to The Terminator, which is pretty much all action with a little romance at the end. It'll be the perfect balance."
"I fail to see any flaw in your reasoning," Johnny said, holding up a hand to his head and giving Robin a salute.
"Hell yeah, Johnny, I love it with the gays agree!" Robin exclaimed, high-fiving Johnny.
"Really?" Mike asked, unamused. He looked up from his computer and turned toward his friends and boyfriend. Will was grinning while Robin and Johnny were both doing a sort of goofy dance together. "Are you guys done?"
"Nope!" Robin laughed. "We are going to have one hell of a night and we managed to plan it without interference from King Steve!"
"Interference for what?" Steve asked, having reappeared.
"From you screwing up our movie list!"
"Who said I would do that!"
"OKAAAAAY," Mike yelled. "Will, Johnny, we're all good here. You guys better get going before these two start bickering like an old married couple."
"Make sure they file for divorce as soon as possible!" Will joked.
Mike, Will and Johnny cackled while Robin and Steve simply held up their middle fingers while they continued bickering.
"See you guys later!" Mike exclaimed to Will and Johnny as they took the movies and left the video store.
The next day, the gettogether at the Wheeler home was in full-swing by 6:30 that evening. Hopper was manning the grill, cooking hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone while Joyce was in the kitchen making cocktails and mocktails with Karen.
Meanwhile, Jonathan and Steve were setting up the projector and screen Hopper had purchased. Dustin and Erica were there to help. Predictably, Jonathan and Steve were bickering on the best ways to set up everything. Fed up, Erica eventually yelled at them to shut up or she was going to strangle them with help from Dustin. Jonathan and Steve stopped talking while Erica and Dustin high-fived.
"Burgers up!" Hopper called when the first batch of the burgers were finished. "Youngest siblings get to go first!"
"Oooh, that means me and El get to go first since we're basically twins," Will said.
"You suck!" Mike pouted.
"Don't worry, Mike, I'll get some extra chips for you that you can steal while Dad makes the next batch of burgers."
Mike grinned as Will headed toward the grill. He and El were in line together and they were chatting animatedly when Hop placed a burger on paper plates that were next to the grill. Hop handed the plates to his kiddos and grinned at them.
"Thanks, Dad," El said. "It's been way too long since we've had some of your burgers."
"Enjoy, kiddo!"
Just then, Joyce came out of the kitchen, holding a cocktail in her hand. She gently tapped on it with the ring on her hand and called for everyone's attention.
"Oh geez, what is she doing?" Will groaned.
"Probably gonna give a thank you speech," El grinned.
"Everyone!" Joyce called out to the group at large. "Can I have everyone's attention for just a minute, please?"
The group started to gather near the backdoor, all of them with questioning looks on their faces. It was a little unusual for one of Joyce's "thanks for coming" speeches since they were at the Wheeler home and not hers and Hop's.
"No, I'm not doing one of my famous 'thank you' speeches," Joyce laughed. Several of the group chuckled appreciatively. "I just wanted you all to see the surprise Jim and I have in store for all of you."
"What surprise?" Will called out.
"That would be us!" came a voice from behind Joyce.
Joyce smiled, standing to the side, as three new people appeared in the back doorway.
"No way!" Dustin yelled.
"What are you guys doing here?" Lucas exclaimed.
Will looked up and his mouth dropped into a perfect-sized O. Standing in the doorway was his cousin Chris and Chris' parents, Dale and Pearl. Chris was beaming at the group, most of whom he had grown up with before a career move by Pearl forced them to move just before high school.
"Chris!" Will exclaimed, throwing his plate down and making a beeline for his cousin.
"Will!" Chris yelled back as he ran toward Will. The two cousins collided into each other and Chris pulled Will into a bone-crushing hug.
Within seconds, the rest of The Party had crowded around the Byers cousin, all of them shouting out at Chris.
"Dude, what are you doing here?" Dustin asked, grinning.
"Are you guys back?" questioned Lucas.
"It's so good to see you, Chris!" Max beamed.
"It's been way too long, Chris!" Mike shouted.
"Will, don't hog our cousin!" El demanded.
Chris laughed as he turned to El and pulled her in for a hug. When they broke apart, he took turns hugging the rest of his friends while his parents were greeting the other party attendees.
Chris smiled at his friends once he finished hugging all of them.
"Did we get you guys or what?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, I think you did get us!" Will said, beaming.
"So, are you guys back or what's the deal?" Lucas repeated.
Chris grinned.
"Yep, we're back just in time for senior year! Mom's contract at the old TV station expired in May. She was looking around for some other jobs when she spotted the evening anchor job at her old station here. She interviewed last week and they hired her pretty much immediately!"
The rest of the Party cheered and they each took turns hugging Chris again.
"The Party is complete once again!" Dustin declared in a loud voice.
"Oh shit, you need to meet Johnny!" Lucas exclaimed, turning and looking around for a sign of the boy. "Johnny, over here! Come and meet Will's cousin."
Johnny detached himself from a conversation with Eddie and walked over to the rest of the Party. When he reached them, Will stepped forward to make the introduction.
"Johnny, this is my cousin, Chris," he said. "He and his parents are moving back to Hawkins just in time for senior year."
"Pleasure to meet you, Johnny," Chris smiled, holding out his hand and shaking Johnny's.
"I've heard a lot about you," Johnny said.
"Nothing bad I hope."
Johnny smiled at him.
'It's good to meet you, Chris. Welcome back to Hawkins!"
"Thank you!"
Midway through Sixteen Candles, Chris joined Mike and Will separately from the others to do some catching up. Years earlier, the three of them had been in the same kindergarten class. Although Will and Chris were cousins and had spent most of their first recess together, Will had met Mike while swinging alone at the same time Chris had started digging in the nearby sand pit. Mike and Will had become instant friends and within five minutes, Will had introduced Mike to Chris and the three of them became thick as thieves. They were the original founders of The Party, later joined by Lucas and Dustin in grade school, and Max and El by middle school. Although their friend group had expanded to include older and younger siblings and, more recently, Johnny, the original seven still referred to themselves as The Party.
"How have you guys been?" Chris asked once he joined Mike and Will with a drink in hand. He had already eaten a burger and hotdog and wanted to pace himself so as not to overindulge. "I notice you two have been glued to the hip as always."
"Asshole," Mike spat, although he was grinning. He also held up a middle finger before wrapping that hand around Will again as if to show off.
"I'm glad you two got together," Chris said. "Though I can't imagine it could've been easy."
"You could say that," Will agreed, nodding. "After all, Mike is kinda the reason Johnny and I broke up!"
"Hey!"
"I'm kidding," Will placated, giving Mike a kiss on the cheek. "Honestly, Johnny is really the one who broke up with me, not the other way around. He was able to clock my feelings for Mike, and he picked up on Mike's too."
"Yeah, I was kinda an asshole to him," Mike admitted, sounding ashamed and looking downtrodden.
"You weren't," Will said reassuringly. "You managed to hold your tongue when you saw us together."
"I bet that was hard," Chris interjected, smirking.
"Again, asshole," Mike said, flipping off Chris again while Chris cackled. "My keeping quiet did cause me some fantastic headaches, though. Tylenol and I became good friends for a couple of weeks there."
"Is Johnny friends with Tylenol now?" Chris teased. "I'm sure you two are annoyingly cute around our friends."
"He puts up with it, but I'm sure it's hard for him," Will conceded. "He always reassures us that everything is okay and he's happy to be friends with all of us. But I know it bothers him, seeing me and Mike together, even if he won't say it out loud."
"Well, maybe a new friend can help distract him," Chris suggested. "From what I've heard about him, it sounds like he'd be easy to get along with. And I bet we have some shared interests. Nothing else, we can pretend to puke together whenever we see you two swapping spit."
Chris laughed while Mike and Will both flipped him off. Will even held up both middle fingers to illustrate the point. The three of them laughed together for several moments before quieting down again. On the projector, Long Duk Dong was shouting, "Oh, sexy girlfriend! Banzai!" before drunkenly leaping out of a tree.
"Ooof, that's gotta hurt," Chris muttered.
"How about you?" Will asked, grabbing Chris' attention again. "How have you been? How's the move going?"
"About as typical as any move," Chris answered with a shrug. "We actually hadn't quite unpacked everything at our house in Chicago, so some of the things that were still packed away were loaded up first. The good news is Mom's new contract with the station is a five-year one instead of just three years, so we have a little more time to settle in. Plus, I don't think they'll want to leave Hawkins even if she doesn't renew her contract. I think they've had their fill of being away from home. I have too, if I'm being honest."
"I'm really glad you're back," Will said. "It's been weird being in school without you."
"You're telling me," Chris replied. "It was super weird being at school and not seeing you guys every day. Thank god we had our group texts and our FaceTime sessions, otherwise I would've lost it."
"Are you sure you didn't already lose it?" asked Mike with a grin.
"Fuck off," Chris snapped although there was no true malice in his voice and he was smiling.
"Sorry, had to be an asshole right back to you," Mike said, sheepish. "Anyway, are you still gonna do band and newspaper this year?"
"Yep," Chris nodded. "I'm actually meeting with both the band director and the newspaper adviser about joining up. I'm gonna audition for band to see if I'll be able to still be first trumpet and maybe play some solos for marching band. And I'm gonna show the newspaper adviser some of my clips in my portfolio."
"Well, why don't I go with you to meet with Mrs. Baker?" Mike suggested. "She's the newspaper adviser and since I write for the paper, I could introduce you to her. She's super nice and down to earth; I think you'll like her."
"Yeah, I'd really appreciate that," Chris said fervently. "If you can believe it, I'm actually more nervous about meeting with her than I am the band director."
"Why's that?" asked Will, frowning slightly. "You're a great writer, Chris. And I want to meet the essay or short story that you haven't butchered with your editing."
Chris chuckled while Mike and Will grinned at him.
"Yeah, that's true. I just don't wanna be seen as a kind of nepo baby or something. I mean, if she knows who my Mom is already, that might give me an advantage that I don't want. I want to earn my spot on the newspaper staff."
"Nerd," Mike teased.
"Asshole," Chris retorted, holding up his middle finger while chuckling.
"That's cool, though," Mike said earnestly. "You want to get on the newspaper staff based on your own strengths, not just because your Mom anchors the news."
"Exactly!" Chris agreed.
"Well, just make sure you hype up your portfolio, and I'm sure Mrs. Baker won't even consider your mom already being a famous journalist before letting you on staff.
Chris smiled.
"Thanks, Mike," Chris said. "I'm really glad to be back with you guys again. We're gonna make it one hell of a senior year."