Chapter Text
Mike sat on a bench at the bus stop bouncing his leg impatiently. Max and Lucas chat to each other excitedly as they always do and Dustin was sitting next to Mike while on his phone.
With every sound of screeching tires Mike would look up from the ground and look down the road hoping to see a bus turn around the corner. Noticing Mike look up for the seventh time in two minutes, Dustin looks up from his phone.
“Mike, his bus isn’t supposed to arrive for another ten minutes.” Dustin said.
“I know, I know. It’s just been so long since we’ve seen him. What if we’ve all changed?” Mike asked bluntly.
“We’ve hardly changed.” Max piped up, “I mean just look at Lucas.” She said, gesturing to her boyfriend.
“Should I even bother asking what you mean by that?” Lucas sighed.
“Well, you haven’t exactly grown much taller since we last saw Will.” Dustin pointed out.
“Oh and you’ve grown so much, have you?” Lucas retaliated.
The two of them continued to bicker while Max just shook her head while stifling her laughter. Dustin did have a point though. Lucas hadn’t grown much taller than when they last saw Will around a year and a half ago. Max however, was now just barely shorter than him. The whole party had grown a little since last seeing Will. Except Mike that is. Sure, he was still quite tall but he hadn’t grown an inch in the last 17 months. Max’s theory for why that is is that he spends so long cooped up in his house all day working on his novel that the lack of sunlight has stunted his growth. Dustin gave a more logical reason being that he had just grown so much during high school that his body just stopped producing growth hormones. And Lucas just didn’t really care about how tall his friends were except for the moments where they mentioned being taller than him.
Mike however, hated how he had stopped getting taller. He had never really cared about his height before but that may have just been due to the fact he’s always been the tallest in the party. He just didn’t like how it felt like his body had been frozen in time. Almost like there was something other than simple biology keeping him from growing anymore.
Just before Mike could get a little too existential, another screech of tires was heard and he looked up to see a bus pulling around the corner. Max eagerly jumped up from her seat on the bench before grabbing Lucas’s hand and pulling him up with her. As the bus slowed down, Dustin slid his phone into his pocket and stood up as well. For the first time in the last twenty minutes, Mike stopped bouncing his leg and watched as the doors on the bus opened. A steady stream of people started flowing out of the bus, most of which carrying suitcases or obnoxiously large backpacks.
Mike was starting to lose hope that Will was even on that bus until he saw the flash of a pale yellow jacket amidst the crowd that was predominantly wearing different shades of grey. Apparently, Max saw it too because after a couple seconds she let go of Lucas’s hand and rushed into the small crowd. Just a few seconds after that Max was seen leading Will through the crowd and towards the rest of the party. Everyone immediately rushes forwards and hugs Will but Mike hesitates for a moment.
It feels so strange just going back to normal like no time has passed at all
Everyone eventually let go of Will and he turned to Mike. Mike stepped forward and awkwardly hugged Will.
“It’s good to see you again.” Mike said before pulling away, not wanting to make things awkward by having the hug last too long.
“Yeah, it's good to see you too.” Will grinned.