Paladin

[alex fitzalan, cis male, he/him] who’s that? oh it’s [michael "mike" wheeler]. i hear they’re [18] and are known as [paladin] around [the wheeler's basement]. they’re also a [freshman] at [hawkins community college]. they’re known to be [compassionate & dedicated] and [bull-headed & reckless]. some people say they remind them of [a beat up old bicycle leaning against the side of a brick house, a messy kitchen with the remnants of attempting to make homemade waffles, and mysteriously bruised knees].

mike wheeler had been a snotty kid. it was something troy had decided when he first met the boy. he didn’t remember too much about it, and he didn’t even know their names properly for the longest amount of time. even then it had only been their given names, not their surnames. troy had only learned those after ‘the incident’. byers first because of course byers first, the other three happened in tandem because how could he ever forget after that?  he remembered being at least under 7, he was fuzzy on the actual age, and describing his new playmates to his mom. weird, snotty, strange, funky, funny, dorky, fun. of course, she hadn’t realized his meaning of fun with the excitement bristling in her son’s expression. most little kids meant fun as in ‘hide and seek’ or ‘tag’. not making other kids flinch, stealing their pudding, or making them run and hide. his mom also hadn’t realized, when troy had said ‘playmates’ he hadn’t meant ‘friends’. after all, friends didn’t push eachother into the mud. and who cared if they weren’t having fun? troy was. back then, that was the only part that had mattered ( and playmates sounded a lot nicer then victims ). 

then hawkins got very weird very quickly. one of them was dead and troy had thought the whole thing was some twisted fucking joke in every sense of the word. back then, he thought he’d met the most sick twisted freak to ever exist in the world. the root of his nightmares and the worst event that could possibly ever happen to anyone ever. his child self’s point of view was centered on what other children thought of him, and back then that was his biggest problem in the world. he was pee boy. that was all he had to worry about. troy envied his younger self for that. not that he was missed being pee boy, but in comparison in was enviable. after all, it was far later he realized the actual most sick twisted freak in the world had been living under his roof. or to be more accurate, providing the roof over troy’s head. his past nightmares of that snap were replaced by daily occurrences. sometimes troy’s eyes didn’t even need to be closed for him to be living the nightmare. 

all this to say, hawkins reminded troy of simpler times. it was the best place to lay low, to get his college degree so he could find a profitable job, and hopefully find some semblance of the mom he used to know in the shell she’d become. so yeah, the reminder was a lot nicer then troy had realized heading there. sure there were dragging reminders of the past in the shape of familiar faces, but it was a past far less grave then what he’d come to know. 

he barely recognized the kid at first glance. he could keep on walking, leave the guy alone to get on with his day and troy could continue on with his own. it would probably be the most mature adult thing to— oh shit, wheeler spotted him staring. if troy broke the eye contact would that be losing? if he retreated would that be taken as a sign of weakness? fear? was he afraid? of who he used to be? of who he resembled? ( was it like father like son when the son had been the bully first? ). his feet moved under his legs and suddenly he was standing before mike wheeler. “shit.” troy said, he had to look up at wheeler. maybe this was karma. “i mean-” what did he mean? a sigh was in his chest but troy refused to let it withdrawal. he was stubborn and stupid like that. “been a long time, wheeler.” he was at a loss for words and so that led him to state the obvious. 

.

       For as long as Mike could remember – about the age of four or five – he had been a social outcast. His peers had picked him out of the crowd, labelling him a nerd. He was weird. He was frog faced. But where other kids would leave Mike alone for the most part, Troy and James plagued him. They were a looming threat, the possibility of their figure appearing around every corner like the boogeyman kept Mike’s heart rate up, his adrenaline pumping as he waited in anticipation. The only safety provided was the momentary relief of AV Club. Nothing lasted forever though. 

       Meeting Eleven had been one of the greatest things to occur in his life. She had come at a time when he needed her most. Will was gone. Will was dead. Mike couldn’t, no, Mike wouldn’t accept that answer. It was too final. There had been no goodbye, no one last awkward hug. Eleven had provided him hope when he thought he had lost it all. She was his hero in more ways than one. At his lowest she had protected him. Tory had never been an issues again after that. 

       Troy had been a trivial threat only made apparent by the threat provided by the Upside Down. He was childish – the monster under Mike’s bed or in his closet. There was no real harm to befall him when compared to the world shattering Mind Flayer. In his mind Troy didn’t linger. He was lost somewhere in the memories of a boy who had grown up knowing real danger. Everything had changed when he met Eleven. In more ways than one. 

       That was likely why it had taken Mike a second to register who the face staring back at him belonged to. A ghost of memories past. Troy didn’t live in Hawkins anymore which left only three options, two which were viable. Troy either: 1. was the Doppel in disguise, 2. was a figment of his imagination and a sign that he needed to get more sleep to ward off the side effect of sleep deprivation, or 3. Troy had moved back to Hawkins. The third option seemed the least likely. What would have brought him back? Maybe it was wishful thinking that kept him from accepting that as a true possibility until Troy spoke. Shit was right. “What do you want, Troy?” There was no patience in his eyes, no want for answers to the questions that flew around his mind like a tornado. 

       The campaign Mike and Lucas had been planning had been put on hold due to the Doppel and other strange things going on as of late. It felt like right as they took a breath to relax, things started back up. It was that realization that pushed Mike towards the Sinclair’s house that afternoon. If they were ever going to get their campaign done they needed to actually work on it, and what better time than now? There was no murmuring on the walkie, no sign of anything hiding around the corner ready to interrupt their day. There wasn’t a better time to attempt to brainstorm together. 

        Knocking on the front door, the wood shook underneath the force of Mike’s knuckles. A dull knock echoed through the other side of the door, hopefully alerting one of the many family members that someone was standing outside waiting to be let in. In hindsight it might have been a good idea to check that Lucas was home or unoccupied, but it was too late for that. Hearing someone from inside, he stood up straight, excepting to be greeted by one of the Sinclair’s, instead coming face to face with Max. His posture fell, back hunching and shoulders slacking as his jaw lowered into a gaping expression of shock. So Lucas was busy. “Where’s Lucas?” 

Eleven’s expression became thoughtful as he spoke. “Why would she spend time with someone who wasn’t a friend?” she asked, her eyebrows drawing together. “School doesn’t count. Or work. He can’t be mad at her for that. It wouldn’t make sense.” But then she didn’t think any of this made sense. Her lips pursed as he went on. “Then he’s mean,” she declared. “She can have her own friends.” Granted, she didn’t really have many – or any – friends that weren’t associated with Mike to some degree. But she understood that was rather unusual. It just so happened that the framework of her life revolved around a certain group of people. That she would do anything for. 

She frowned a little as he spoke. “No, that’s not wrong,” she agreed, her brow still furrowed in confusion. “I think…” El paused, considering her words, trying to find the right ones. “I think friends are important,” she said. “And if he doesn’t want her spending time with other people…” She frowned again. “That’s bad,” he said. “He can’t control her.” El’s arms folded across her chest as she nibbled at her lower lip, her expression making it clear she wasn’t just talking about relationships. She knew she would do everything she could never to be under anyone else’s thumb again, in any way, whether it was big or relatively small. Like a boyfriend not letting her hang out with anyone else. 

She turned her eyes to Mike’s ice cream cone, a little moue touching her lips. “We should get more ice cream,” she said. “Yours is almost gone. And it’s melting.” Her own cone was long gone – she didn’t have much self-control when it came to ice cream. Which was why she already wanted more, despite having just consumed a cone herself. She tugged on Mike’s sleeve, looking up at him. “This time,” she said, her eyes widening slightly, “can we get a sundae? And split it? Please?”

.

      Eleven’s question was a good one. Not that any of her questions were ever bad, but for this one he lacked an answer. His shoulders moved in an unknowing shrug in the absence of an answer. He wasn’t aware of all the intricacies of the stranger’s relationship. The only one who could know why or who the girl had been spending her time with. It was a mystery left unsolved to them. “Maybe it wasn’t at school or work.” Mike agreed that it shouldn’t count against her if she had been speaking to peers or co-workers. El had made her decision. The stranger was mean. Once her mind was made it didn’t often waiver. A moment of silence played between them, dancing as Mike made up his indecisive mind to ask, “Do you want your own friends?” Their friendships were intertwined, unable to tell where one started and the other ended. It had been that way since the beginning. When they were dating and when they weren’t.

      At one time a younger Eleven might have disagreed with herself on the subject of Mike and Max spending time together alone. A memory flashed in his mind. Max falling off her skateboard, hitting the ground of the middle school gym with an echoed thud. It had been sudden, something in the way she seemingly flew from the board made him think of Eleven and he knew. It was her. She had done it. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind. A lot had changed in the years that passed since then though, and it was no longer and issue to Eleven. The reasoning unknown to Mike, whether it was because they were no longer dating or if it was clear that Mike and Max could never be interested in each other that way. Either way he was grateful that it no longer bothered her. 

      Friends were very important, on that they could agree. Their bond was thicker than blood. They were a makeshift family of their own. “What if he’s not trying to control her?” The question held no purposeful sympathy for the stranger. It was merely a suggestion of different scenario – one unseen. With that the subject turned lightheartedly back to ice cream and a smile found its way onto Mike’s lips. His eyes lit at the prospect of more and he quickly finished what remained of his before agreeing to the sundae. “Banana Split?” It was times like these that he missed El the most, able to remember how easy being with her had been. 

     The moment Will got home from his shift, he picked up the phone and dialed a well-known number. He didn’t wait a moment, even knowing his mom would be home later tonight to talk to about this, there was one person he could count on to show up for him, to listen and understand, to make him feel less crazy—or, at least, if he was crazy then they both were, together. He tried his best to sound calm and collected and normal on the call, a facade of ease he didn’t necessarily feel, and then headed for a quick shower, expecting Mike to take the usual amount of time biking over from across town.

     So he was just finishing getting dressed when he heard the knocking and an ever-so-slightly frantic calling of his name at the front of the house. He hurried to answer the door, shaking his damp hair out as he swung it open. “Hey. Sorry, I thought…You got here quick,” he commented and stepped back to allow Mike into the room before shutting the door behind him. He must have raced over as soon as they hung up. Will was just going to pretend his face was flushed from the hot shower. There were important things to discuss.

     He motioned for Mike to sit with him on the couch and then, trying (if at all possible) to ease into this conversation, prefaced with, “Something happened at work today…” He quickly clarified, not wanting to worry his best friend any more than necessary before the actual bombshell dropped. “I mean, I’m fine. Just shaken…It was just…You remember Bob Newby?” Will looked at Mike and then quickly dropped his gaze; of course he remembered. He was there. He was there when…Will took a shuddering breath, his leg bounding with nervous energy. This was going to be more difficult than he’d dared to hope for after all.

.

       Will came into sight and a wave of relief washed over Mike, taking his fears with it. There was a sensible part of himself that knew there wasn’t a reason to be afraid since they had just been on the phone, but ever since his disappearance in 1983, Mike found himself unable to shake the idea that he could lose his best friend at any moment. The first time had been hard enough and then the next year he had almost lost him again to the Mind Flayer. It had unlocked a new type of anxiety, one that Mike still carried with him years later. He was sure it would stick with him forever.

      One side of his lips kicked up into a crooked smile as he pulled away from the window and walked back over to the door to meet Will. “Hey,” his smile only grew when the door pulled open, flashing laugh lines as he shook his head. “Yeah, no, sorry. I took the shortcut through the woods.” He explained, walking into the house and turning to watch as his best friend closed the front door. “So...” The word hung in the air between them as Mike tried his best to keep his focus off of Will’s damp hair and the way it curled perfectly against his forehead like Superman. No, he definitely wasn’t thinking about that. “What’s up?” 

     Mike took his cue and sat on the couch next to Will, his smile faltering as he started to say something happened. Something was wrong. His eyes darted towards Will’s neck, wondering silently to himself if he felt anything - if they had more to deal with than the dopple issue because that was already the start of something bad. Things always got worse though. Instead of interrupting with the intrusive thought, he continued to listen. There was another, much smaller, sense of relief when Will said that he was fine, however it was quickly dispelled by the mention of Bob Newby. Mike watched as his gaze dropped and without so much as a thought, he was reaching for Will. Placing his hand over leg that bounced up and down nervously, he squeezed softly trying his best to reassure him. Mike was there. He would always be there for Will. “What about Bob?” He asked carefully, trying not to release the memories of that night. 

       Mike liked Suzie. He honestly always had since finding out that she was real and not some fake girlfriend that Dustin had made up after coming home from summer camp. She had done a lot for the Dustin, the party, the world, and even Mike personally. That made her good in his book and her transition into the party had been smooth, much smoother than the never-ending power struggle he faced with Max. Unlike Max, Suzie made a great addition to the party. 

         Despite her quick wit that had been aimed in his direction a time or two, the pair got along. Mike didn’t hold Suzie’s aptitude for sarcasm against her, instead trying to learn from it. She didn’t possess Max’s same talent for getting under his skin, a fact he was thankful for. A perfect example of their compatibility presented itself at his mom’s last annual summer barbecue. The party spent the event the way they did every year: playing Dungeons and Dragons. This year, however, had been different. Instead of it just being Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas as normal, El, Suzie, and Max had joined the party in the basement as they played. That had quickly transformed into the girl’s playing the game with them, which as much as Mike hated to admit it, had actually been a lot of fun. 

       It was Suzie’s enthusiasm and seemingly enjoyment for the game that prompted Mike to invite Suzie over. If she was going to continue to play with the party then she would need to flesh out her character and the best way to do that was with a character sheet. Pulling one out of his stack of miscellaneous D&D folders and books, he set it on the basement table. “Okay, so this is a character sheet. You just fill it out as Suzie the Barbarian and when we play you bring it.” 

El’s head tilted as Mike turned to her, a little frown touching her lips as he just looked at her, clearly waiting for something. Her eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. She realized that he hadn’t been listening, but what was she supposed to do about that now? It was his own fault that he hadn’t been paying attention. Not that she was angry with him for it – she understood that you couldn’t always control where your thoughts wandered, or when. But nevertheless, his thoughts had meandered away from their conversation, and she didn’t see why that was her problem. It was also rather miraculous to her that he hadn’t heard that couple arguing. They hadn’t exactly been quiet. 

Maybe it was just that she noticed everything. The world was still a fascinating and confusing place, made up of wonderful things, made up of terrors, made up of a whole range of experiences and emotions in between. Mike was definitely a wonderful thing. What they had was also a wonderful thing, even if it wasn’t romantic anymore. But that didn’t matter to her. Mike was Mike; her love for him was contingent on Mike himself, not the label that they applied to the feelings they shared for one another. Mike, at his core, was the same person he had been when they were boyfriend-girlfriend, and that was what mattered to her.

“He said,” she said, frowning slightly, “that she shouldn’t be talking to other boys. Or spending time alone with them. Because they are together.” Her frown deepened. “Why?” she said. “I did that when I was with you. Dustin, and Lucas, and Will.” She paused, thinking. She was sure she was missing people – stork clerks, bus drivers, teachers – but there were too many to name. “Is that wrong?” she said, looking over at Mike.

.

        Mike made sure to listen this time, not allowing his attention to be captured by anything or anyone else. Eleven was his focus. As he listened to her recollection of the events played out by the company moments before, he nodded. There was a small part of him that was able to sympathize with the guy. When Mike and El were together, there was never a moment where he felt uncomfortable with her talking to other boys, especially not the party but he could see a small sliver of jealousy peeking through at the idea of her spending alone time with any guy that wasn’t Dustin, Lucas, or Will. It wasn’t a large part, but it was enough to understand where the stranger’s head was at. 

      ”Yeah, well, they’re our friends. Maybe she was spending alone time with someone who wasn’t a friend.” There was a lazy shrug of his shoulders as his eyes turned to trail of ice cream running down the side of his cone. Reaching his hand up, he licked up the trail until he reached the base of the ice cream and took one lick around to prevent it from happening again. “Maybe she was with someone she liked or someone he didn’t like.” He tried to reason, licking his lips. There were plenty of people Mike didn’t like and even though they were exes now, he could see himself upset by El spending time with them. Maybe it was just one of those things girls didn’t get. Maybe it was a guy thing. That was the only conclusion that Mike could reasonably draw from Eleven’s reaction to the situation.

      “I don’t know.” Mike didn’t have a lot of experience with relationships, only ever officially being with El, but what he had gathered from watching his friends and the people around him was that every relationship was different. “I’ve spent time with Max alone.” Granted nothing would ever happen between them, it was still an example of being alone with one of his best friend’s girlfriends. “That wasn’t wrong.” 

        Mike hadn’t heard the phone ring when Ted shouted down to him from the top of the basement stairs to pick up the phone. In doing so he was pleasantly surprised to hear Will’s voice on the other end of the line. That was until the underlying problem became evident. Something was wrong. It wasn’t initially obvious in Will’s voice or the words he used to ask Mike to come over. To anyone else the conversation would have sounded pretty normal - just one friend asking another to come hangout, but Mike knew there was more to it than that. 

       When Will hung up, Mike took no time in slamming the phone back on the receiver and running up the basement stairs, skipping every second step. He shouted a half assed goodbye to Ted, who was already half asleep and clearly not listening as he sat in his La-Z-Boy recliner watching the television, on his way out the door. There was no time for questions about where he was going or what he was doing, and besides, Karen would know to call Joyce if she wanted to find Mike. 

       Pulling up to the Byers house, he all but jumped from the bicycle, letting it fall to the ground on the side of the old driveway the way he had a thousand times before. He walked through the yellowing grass towards the familiar front door, knocking on it and tapping his left foot as he waited impatiently for someone to open it. “Will?” He called out when no one came for another two seconds. Walking to one of the nearby windows, he cupped his hands over the sides of his face and peered inside. There was no sign of Will which shot a wave of panic through him. “Will!” He called out again, knocking on the window this time. 

“That does not make sense…” Eleven watched the pair of people walk away from her, holding hands and leaning into each other. Only moments ago, they had been shouting at each other, flinging hurtful words back and forth as though they were slinging handfuls of mud. But then the man had put his arms around the woman – as if they were being affectionate. They weren’t being affectionate, though. Eleven could tell because the woman’s words were still angry, and she had her hands planted against the man’s chest as if she wanted to push away. And though his posture was loving, his expression remained irritated, his tone rough, like sandpaper rubbing away any gentleness in his actions. 

But he didn’t let her go, even though she was resisting. That was not nice. Eleven was about to get up and go over there, but then the woman was hugging him back, and they were kissing. Her brow furrowed in confusion. She hadn’t heard anybody say they were sorry. Wasn’t that supposed to be how you finished an argument? “Why did they do that?” she said, looking at Mike, who was sitting beside her. They had gotten ice cream and were eating it outside, people watching. Although Eleven might be a little more focused than Mike. “They were fighting. And then they weren’t. Nobody said sorry.” She frowned. “That isn’t how you should act after being mean to someone. He was being mean. I heard him.” 

.

       The break up between Mike and Eleven had been as amicable as it could have been provided that they had been only fifteen, on the verge of sixteen at the time. There had been no huge fight, no words better left unsaid. It had been an emotional, tearful parting that they had both needed. Mike loved El. That had never been an issue in their relationship and was still true even now in their friendship. The problem had been their co-dependency. They had been suffocating each other, leaving no room for growth. 

        “Hmm?” Mike hummed, pulling himself from his thoughts and back to the reality at hand. Turning his head to meet Eleven’s deep brown eyes, his brows raised as he waited for a repeat of the question. One never came, a reminder that social cues were not her strong suit, no matter how many years past. It was an argument for nature versus nurture. Social cues just simply weren’t natural to her even after all this time of being out in society among other people instead of trapped in a lab like an animal at the zoo. There was in no judgement in that or any other thought when it came to El, though. It was one of the ways she made him better. 

        She continued her train of thought and Mike sat there listening to her until she finished, hanging onto every word. His dull umber hues only parting from hers long enough to glance at the couple in question and lick the ice cream that had begun to melt down the side of his cone. “What was he saying?”

      Mike wasn’t thinking clearly, his head clouded with jealousy. Just when his relationship with Max was starting to get better, she had to go and ruin it. Shoving the bike to the ground, he took a step over it, making a beeline for the front door of the Mayfield trailer. His footsteps landed hard against the dirt, hands curling into fists at his side, the nails cutting into the soft flesh of his palms. Silent, seething exasperation had consumed him.

        His fist hit the door before he realized how much force he was using, a loud slam echoing back towards him as it reverberated off of the shaky material. There was no immediate response, no yelling, no opening door - just silence. His fist went to meet the door again but instead fell through the air, stopping right before it made contact with Max. “What the fuck, Max?!” His voice filled with the bite of bitterness. Annoyance transformed into anger, the fire within him growing into a wild, untamable force. It swept through him so quickly that he was surprised when he hadn’t breathed flames as he exhaled the words. 

WHO: thad bradshaw & @paladinmakesyoucrazy WHAT: thad tries inserting himself into the wheeler family dynamic (and fails) WHERE: lover’s lake

to thad, the wheeler’s were everything short of special. from the picket fence, to the three kids, to the complacent father paired with a doting mother, they were entirely average. how nancy ended up like she did, was a mystery to thad. a mystery he wouldn’t even begin to try and unravel. that being said, thad was still going to lay the charm on, and heavy at that. he wanted nancy’s family to like him. it was only another step in securing their future. he’d had his small triumphs and losses since he arrived in hawkins, but like the wheeler family, none of them had been remarkable. karen and ted were hard for him to read, holly was easy to impress since she was a little kid, but mike…well mike seemed to be giving him the most trouble. they hadn’t exchanged words to a great length, but they didn’t need to in order for thad to clock the seemingly impermeable exterior of nancy’s little brother.

those lack of exchanged words were changing tonight. he had been properly tipsy the moment he stepped foot on the lake, and now? now he was fully drunk. the blurriness that only came from the excessive consumption of alcohol contributed to thad’s shitty recollection of what went down in the cabin, but he did remember one thing, and it was burning at the front of his mind when he spotted mike near the fire. essentially cornering him, thad called as he walked over, “mikey! hey!” he didn’t seem too keen on conversation, but thad didn’t care. once he got into an earshot of the other, he began babbling, “so i noticed you didn’t kiss that girl in the cabin?” his words slurred when he spoke, but he continued on, making the discomfort of the situation infinitely worse. “we’re like, basically brothers at this point, so your secrets are mine.” it didn’t make a lot of sense, especially not for two people who hardly knew each other, but if thad could establish some kind of bond with mike, he’d probably never stop boasting about it to nancy. “anyhow, between you and i, i know a thing or two about babes, so really man, tell me what’s going on.” he clapped mike on the back, eagerly awaiting an answer.

.

        Here we go, Mike thought to himself, wanting nothing more than to be able to make Thad disappear in that moment. The night had already been rough enough without having to make idle conversation with Nancy’s new stuck up boyfriend. Where was Steve when you needed him? With that thought, Mike took the time to look around his surroundings, eyes wandering over faces in an attempt to identify Nancy’s ex. It was no use. That would have been too easy, a life raft after being thrown overboard into the raging sea of despair Mike found himself in. 

       “Hi Chad,” he replied rather unenthusiastically, his expression unwavering from the resting position it held. “It’s Mike, by the way. Just Mike, not Mikey.” He held hope that it would be enough to stop the conversation in its tracks but that dream was quickly dashed. “So you noticed that.” Everyone noticed. How could they not? He had basically called kissing El stupid in front of most of the party and a few stragglers, which for the record, it wasn’t. Kissing her was the best. He was just hurt and Mike, like a cornered animal, lashed out when he was hurt. It was a bad habit. 

        “What secrets?” His brows pulled together with exaggerated speed, lips diving into a deep frown. “I don’t have any secrets. I’m an open book.” There he went lying again. Thad wasn’t a friend though, so it didn’t count. Mike was the farthest thing from an open book, more like a password protected diary, his inner most thoughts for his eyes only. “There’s nothing going on. I just didn’t want to kiss her. Spin the bottle’s a stupid game anyway. Who wants to kiss someone random?” He began to ramble, trying to fill the silence with a defense. 

who: lucas & @paladinmakesyoucrazy​ what: catching up, just guys bein’ dudes💙 where: mike wheeler’s basement (where else)

since his injury, he and mike had been planning out a d&d campaign for the rest of the guys, but with…everything going on lately, lucas hadn’t been by to plan in a couple of weeks. with the day off from work and armed with his dungeons and dragons handbook and some snacks and beers from his dad’s fridge as a peace offering, lucas headed over to the wheelers’ to see mike. though they butted heads -a lot- they were still best friends. 

so, after finding the book wedged between the bookshelf and the wall, he hurried out of his own home, up the front porch steps and let himself inside without bothering to knock. the wheelers’ had been the party’s communal meeting spot for years, so it wasn’t weird that he’d just walk in, though he did call out a greeting to anyone else who may have been home as he headed for the basement, taking the steps two at a time to get down there.

he was late because erica’d hidden his handbook (again), but only by a few minutes. “hey!” he breathed, flopping down heavily onto the couch next to mike, head tipped back to peer up at the ceiling “sorry. erica.” he said by way of explanation, eyes rolling automatically. they lapsed into silence. lucas scanned his brain for something to talk about that wasn’t open graves, time warps, and nightmares and what he came up with was-

“so, el’s back, huh?” nice. very casual. not going to start shit at all with that one.

.

      Mike wanted to forget about the camping trip, to pretend as if it had never occurred because it meant he didn’t have to think about it. To face all the things that had happened that night - all of his mistakes and all of the weird shit that had gone down. D&D had always been a great distraction, pulling his mind away from the real world for hours at a time. It didn’t matter if he was DMing or just planning a new campaign, it kept his mind occupied, leaving no room for intrusive thoughts.

      When Lucas agreed to come over and help do some more planning for their current campaign (their best yet), Mike couldn’t have been happier. It was exactly what he needed to keep his mind from looping over the way he had rejected El when the bottle’s opening had stopped right in front of him or the way he had grown defensive in the face of being publicly called out (even if it was just a joke). The sudden storm and mysterious room were weird too but they didn’t weigh as heavily on his mind, although maybe they should have. His emotions overwhelmed him, keeping logic at bay. 

       It felt like hours that Mike was sitting on the old beat up couch in the basement before he heard the front door open and close, Lucas’s greeting getting lost somewhere in the walls upstairs before he spotted one of his best friends making his way down the basement stairs. “Hey,” he greeted back, eyes following Lucas as he settled into the couch. There was a nod that followed, understanding exactly what he meant when he apologized for Erica. Mike thought that Nancy and Holly could be bad, but they were nothing like Erica was. That was something to be thankful for. 

      The air chilled. So, El’s back, huh? “Ye-Yeah.” He extended the word, drawing it out so that it would fill the silence. That distraction couldn’t come soon enough. “I guess so.” Mike turned his attention to the open DM guide in his lap, tracing over the messy tally marks that were scratched in the corner of the page. 

WHO: will + @paladinmakesyoucrazy​

WHERE: mike’s room

    There was too much to think about after everything that had gone down on the camping trip. The biggest focus should naturally be whatever they discovered in the cabin, the supernatural and government bullshit that seemed to cling to this town, but interpersonal drama was where Will’s mind stuck for some reason. Either because his brain was actively trying to block out the matter of paranormal activities as if simply refusing to give them permission to enter his life would keep them at bay, or because his friends’ feelings (and his own, if they even mattered) felt more real, near and pressing.

     Certain things had been replaying in Will’s head…Mike moving away from him when Erica made her remark; his evident annoyance at the bottle pointing to him when El spun; El matching his energy and using her powers to rig the game and avoid kissing him; Will’s own kisses with Erica and then Lucas; El’s panic attack and the fact that neither Mike nor Max, two of the people he was most sure cared about her as much as he did, made any move to help. What the hell was going on with them?

     He was dying to talk about it, but Will managed to wait until they were finally alone, far from the lake and the cabin and any prying eyes or ears of anyone would make snide comments about them (god forbid) whispering. Not trying to ambush Mike—he knew how he’d react to direct confrontation—but not able to let it slide either, he elected to ease him into a discussion with a soft but pointed question. “Is everything okay between you and El? I mean, I don’t know, but it just seemed like you guys were…mad at each other. Back at Lover’s Lake, in the cabin?”

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      Stepping foot back into the Wheeler residence, Mike wanted to do his best to forget about the camping trip and all that had come along with it: the way he had thought about kissing Will, Erica’s callout (whether she knew it or not), the bottle landing on him when El spun it and the repercussion of him getting jealous and her kissing someone else, Will kissing not only Erica but also Lucas. It was all too much for his head to process and the emotional turmoil was giving him a brain splitting headache.

        Mike couldn’t stop the sigh that escaped from between his lips at the question of his relationship with El. She was inescapable. Rightfully so though. Ever since Mike and the other boys had stumbled onto her in the woods while they were scouring for Will, she had been apart of their lives in some shape or form. But for Mike it had been different. She had grown to be more than that girl they found in the woods, more than a friend, more than just a girlfriend.        

       He offered a superficial shrug at the question. Who knew, honestly? Not him. Everything was weird since her return back to Hawkins. Mike felt more confused and unsure than he ever had. “I don’t know.” He spoke honestly, never feeling like he had to hide from Will. “I just didn’t want to play the game. It was stupid, the whole thing. And you looked like you had her when she got scared. I didn’t want to crowd her.” There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. “Is she okay?” 

Jonathan grabbed a pen from below the cash register and documented a recent raincheck. Summer had fallen on Hawkins and increased foot traffic in town meant that Melvald’s couldn’t keep enough stock to meet demand of sales in their flyers - especially sunscreen. The store was noticeably busier than usual and he found himself picking up additional shifts to appease upper management. He initially ignored the chime, continuing to jot down notes until Mike said his name. Although Jonathan had a name tag, customers generally didn’t look at it. This prompted him to look up immediately.

“Oh - hey” Jonathan opened his mouth, following Mike’s eyes down to this vest. “Yeah, I’ve uh, worked here for a while now - about two years.” He settled both his hands on the counter. Unless Will said anything, which he doubted, it was unlikely that Mike knew about his departure from Hawkins College. Being a college dropout wasn’t something Jonathan generally advertised to the world. “Are you … here for something?” Normally Jonathan saw Karen puttering in the store. Sure, he saw Mike around town but it’s not like they had much common ground other than their connection to Will. Neither did he have any reason to show up at the Wheeler residence anymore - especially since Nancy was out of the picture. Most of what he remembered about Mike came from their stint in California or when the party was a bit younger. He honestly wasn’t sure what was going on in his life.

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         It had been years since Mike himself had stepped inside Melvald’s. There was really no reason for him to, especially after the opening of Starcourt and even after the closing. Will and Mike had found other ways to spend his allowance and their time together as they grew older. Karen also did most of, if not all, of the shopping for the Wheeler household, leaving Mike no reason to go to Melvald’s anymore. 

        Mike nodded in understanding, astonished with himself for having no idea that Jonathan had been working at the General Store all this time. It wasn’t as if he saw Will’s brother very often, especially not since he moved out of the Byers’ house and since his breakup with Nancy. There was no overlap anymore. Maybe Will had mentioned it to him before and he had forgotten. That sounded more likely than his best friend not mentioning it at all, although it was a possibility too. Making a mental note, he reminded himself to ask about it later. 

       “Yeah, I am actually.” He confirmed with a nod, turning to look around the store. Karen had sent him in search of the paper towels she had forgotten. It was a rare occurrence but his mother was only human. “I need paper towels. Do you have any?”

Cassie stifled what could have been the most embarrassing cackle of her life as Mike spoke. To piss Thad off, she often called him by the wrong name, but stopped when he once got a little too mad about it while drunk at a party. Now, though, that he was back and insisted on using the nickname she reserved only for a handful of people, it might’ve had to make a comeback. “No, it’s Thad,” she confirmed, letting out a small laugh. “Not Brad, not Chad. I don’t know what the fuck his parents were thinking subjecting their son to a name like that. I mean, I have my thoughts, but I didn’t want to influence yours,” she said with a shrug.

Watching intently as Mike continued to stay laser-focused on playing his game, Cassie opened her mouth to ask a question, but honestly wasn’t sure where to even start. “I’m trying to figure out what exactly what you’re doing, but you play so damn fast,” she laughed. “Could you, like, walk me through what’s going on? If that’s not too much trouble. I at least want to get good enough to challenge the frat boys back at school who are rich enough to have a television in their dorms.”

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       Mike nodded, pursing his lips as he processed the name. It was stupid to say the least. He couldn’t understand why Nancy would date someone with such a dumb name. She had always been smart, smarter than that he had thought, to put up with someone named Thad. That kind of name implied a certainly kind of...attitude. It wasn’t the sister he knew, but honestly what did he know anymore? Now that she wasn’t living at home, it felt like he knew even less than he did when she still lived in the Wheeler house. “It’s a shitty name. Who name’s their kid Thad?”  

       Mike’s lips curved, containing the small laugh that had attempted to leave his mouth. What could be heard instead was a soft exhale of breath. He had already explained the objective of the game to her. Pitfall was on the simpler end of games as far as mechanics went. It was the obstacles’ difficulty that made the game anything but simple though. The little man on screen jumped, catching the 8-bit rope just in time to avoid the opening in the ground. He went to make another jump off the rope and onto the ground when he landed on an incoming log. Death meant a restart and a chance to teach Cassie how to play. “Here.” He handed her the controller. “Use the joystick to move and press the red button to jump.” 

WHO: Dusty Bun & @paladinmakesyoucrazy

WHAT: WTF happened tonight?? Let’s discuss!

WHERE: By the camp fire later that night

Dustin was now certain that the lake was cursed. He didn’t need to run any sort of experiments on it to know that bad shit just seemed to run rampant here. Everything tonight was consistent with his findings from Spring Break two years ago, when Steve had nearly drowned and they’d all had to deal with the chaos of Watergate. At least back then, he’d been safe on the shore. 

An uneasy air seemed to follow most of them now that the evening was beginning to wind down. Dustin sure as hell wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. Instead, he’d camped out by the fire with a beer in hand, ignoring that it’d gone warm by now. Taking a long sip from it, Dustin stared into the flames until he heard someone else approaching. “Hey, dude,” Dustin called, offering Mike a tense smile and patting the spot next to him on the log by the fire. “Can’t sleep?” 

He hadn’t mentioned to everyone in the party yet what had happened tonight in the woods. It would probably be a good idea to talk about it, but it didn’t seem like they’d had the best night either. “How many times do you think we need to be reminded to never split the party before we actually listen?” Dustin joked dryly, offering Mike a beer from the cooler near them. 

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         To say that the camping trip had been bad so far would be the understatement of the century. Bad wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how poorly the night had gone. Between the way he had reacted to Erica calling him and Will “lovebirds” to the way he called spin the bottle “stupid” when El spun the bottle and it landed on him, the disastrous night felt endless until he spotted Dustin - his light at the end of the tunnel. Letting out a sigh, the relief on his face was hidden in the dark as he approached one of his best friends. “Hey,” he greeted back, moving to sit down on the log beside him. This was exactly what he needed. 

       “Yeah.” The half-hearted nod was followed by a shrug. “What about you?” The concern in his eyes lit by the lapping fire. “Where were you, by the way? Earlier. You weren’t in the cabin with us.” Dustin had been the only one in the party to not be in the cabin and Mike had noticed his lack of presence. If he had been there none of that would have happened or they would have been able to find out more before El’s breakdown. Dustin was a genius. He always had been.  

       A soft smile broke out across his lips at the question. When the party split up it always ended in disaster. “I don’t know.” He admitted honestly. No matter how many times Dustin told them something and they ignored it, he was always right. They really had to stop doing that. Maybe if they had actually stuck together they would have found something helpful in the cabin. Instead all they knew was that the cabin was connected to Hawkins Lab or the Government somehow. Taking the beer, he cracked it open and took a sip, pausing for a moment. His lips parted but nothing came out, the words stuck in his throat. Closing his mouth again, he sighed, turning to look at the fire.