"...Did we get that verse right? It's 'unfold behind the clouds?'"

Dustin stared at his two least favorite friends with nothing but disappointment. Out of every traumatic thing that had happened to them over the past few months, he was clueless as to how this ended up being the one thing they just would not let go of.

Realistically, maybe Dustin should be more glad to even be sitting here right now. Safe, uninjured, and together with his friends and family.

Well... at least for the next couple of hours.

It was starting to feel like every time the party had a peaceful moment together, something just had to come and ruin it. The only difference this time is that the Byers were moving away, and even though they all made promises to keep in touch, there was no denying that their party wouldn't be the same without Will.

None of them could ever be the same after what happened.

And still, regardless of how lucky Dustin was to get to hear his friends laugh and sing after everything, he couldn't help his irritation at their song of choice.

"...Yeah, but you're butchering it, so could you please stop?"

The curly-haired boy made a show of rolling his eyes when Lucas just carried on.

"So then join in, Dusty-bun."

Dustin hid his face in his hands as they doubled back down on the teasing.

"We just wanna hear you sing!"

"I am not going to—"

"Turn around!"

"..."

They were going to be the death of him.

The curly-haired teenager flipped them off with a look that promised a shunning for at least a month, promptly getting to his feet and carrying the box he'd been sorting through to the other side of the room.

"Aww, I think our Dustin's embarrassed!"

"Are you embarrassed, Dusty-bun?"

"And what have I told you about calling me that?" he snapped, halting his steps to properly stare them down. The innocent looks plastered on their faces succeeded in annoying him further.

"Oh, right-" Max crossed her arms over her chest. "Only Suzie gets to call you that!"

"Max, let it go already!"

Lucas grinned. "Should we go radio her? Maybe then we'll get to hear you—"

"I said stop, guys!"

An empty box soared across the room, doing little to silence the giggling couple with its hollow clunking across the floor. A silence stretched for a moment, as if deciding the fate of the boy who was now slowly backing away from two mischievous figures.

"So we're throwing things now, are we?" Lucas laughed, reaching for an old Star Wars figurine, its colors faded and missing a limb. It looked nostalgic in the mostly empty room, unfit for the strange bareness of the walls and lack of laughter that would be soon to follow the Byers out of their home. And then it was soaring out of the boy's hand and right into Dustin, who squeaked out a curse and searched for more toys to fling.

Things went on like this for a while, plastic figures clattering around the three teens as war broke out, no rules and no real goal but to hit the other party as much as possible. It felt like a tension was leaving them— one that made conversations hard and last hugs awkward. Like maybe the end of the day didn't have to mean the end of everything.

Dustin panted as he ran across the room, diving behind a stack of boxes to avoid getting hit. Figures knocked into his makeshift shield in a flurry of taps as he stuck an arm out to flip off his offenders.

He reached for some of the mess on the ground, popping out from his hiding spot and hurling a couple of toys at his friends.

"Take this, assholes!"

Suddenly, a sharp cry silenced the chaos in an instant as Dustin caught sight of Max grabbing at her eye. Lucas immediately dropped his ammo as he turned to check on her.

"Oh, shit." He stumbled to his feet, making his way over to the pair. "Sorry, I didn't mean t—"

The teen cut himself off with a squeal as Max suddenly bolted towards him.

"That's it. You're dead, Henderson!"

And then his world was turned sideways as she tackled him to the ground, both a mess of shouts and flying limbs in the middle of the room.

Lucas, recovering from the abruptness of the whole situation, rose with the intention of diffusing the argument before one of them pushed a bit too far.

"MAX! Waitwaitwait stohop it!—"

Like right now.

"Okay, Max. Get off of him," he sighed, placing a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder with gentle caution.

"No, he'll be fine," Max smirked, in the process of prying the boy beneath her off of her arms. "He just needs to learn some awareness."

And then, in the matter of about two seconds, Dustin shrieked with such conviction that Lucas was tempted to throw the redhead off, startling as the teenager twisted violently under her touch.

"Fuhuck yohou! Fuck fuhUCK!"

Another squeal flew past his lips, and then, all at once, things started to make sense again to Lucas.

The curly-haired boy's face was twisted into a wide smile, shiny teeth on display to the whole world through explosive giggles. All the while, Max dug under his arms, looking pleased with herself for how effect her methods were proving to be.

"Yeah? How about fuck you for trying to blind me!"

Dustin shook his head, elbows clamped to his sides in a death grip, though it did little to stop the digits wiggling in his armpits.

"To be fair, I don't think it even left a mark," Lucas interjected, unsure of who exactly he should be helping right now. On one hand, he could come to the rescue of one of his closest friends before he totally lost his shit, or aid his very beautiful and amazing girlfriend in committing murder via tickling.

Dustin snorted sharply, head thrown back in hysterics.

"Gohod damn ihit! I'm soho gonna kill yohou!"

The athlete reached for Max's hand, and in an instant she turned to glare deep into his eyes. When she spoke, she sounded completely serious, and it would've been nearly impossible to guess what she was currently up to by the look on her face.

"Help him, and I dump you."

Ookaaay, not doing that.

Lucas shrugged in defeat, settling just above his friend's head as he tugged his arms up with an ease that came with his newfound interest in sports. Dustin gave a pleading look upwards as his defenses were wrenched away, flailing twice as hard now that he was properly pinned.

"Luhucas, shit— don't do thihis!" he cried, but all he received was an apologetic smile and a much harsher scribble along his side.

"Hey, Max?"

"What is it, stalker?"

"You're doing it wrong."

The girl looked up irritatedly, fingers halting for a few blissful moments as she looked at her boyfriend expectantly.

"Okay, then tell me how to do it right."

Lucas smirked, ignoring the babbling below him as he chose violence. I mean, go big or go home... right?

"His stomach is way worse. Dude's got it bad there."

Max hummed, poising her fingers over their new target. Dustin groaned indignantly.

"What is it, Dusty-bun? Is this a bad spot or something?" She drummed her fingers over his midsection a couple times, laughing at the squeal that bounced off the walls in response.

"Trahaitors! Yohohou guhuys—" he kicked his legs out frantically in an attempt to knock at least one of the bodies off of him. "You fuhucking suck ahass!"

And that was the last coherent sentence the boy managed before being submit to a tickly doom by the hands of his own party. The remainder of his vocabulary consisted of giggly threats and an occasional plea for his release, though even those became intelligible after a while, lost to bright laughter.

The minutes ticked on, and soon enough, as Dustin's laughter had gone silent and breathless, the redhead decided she'd got her fill of revenge. She sat back on his legs, smoothing over his shirt before giving him a pat that he would later deny flinching from.

Lucas released his arms, snickering when it took him a couple of seconds to come to and bring them down.

"You okay, man?"

The teen rubbed his eyes, wet and droopy from being worn out so recently. He groaned.

"I'm never... talking to either of you... ever again."

"Yeah, yeah. You love us."

Dustin gave her the finger.

A peaceful silence filled the space while the three took their time picking up the aftermath of their silly game. Soon enough, the room was clean and organized, bare in such an unfamiliar way that one couldn't help but long to just get out. Not that there was much to leave behind anymore.

"We'd better take these to the moving-truck," Lucas murmured, glancing out the window just as Ms. Byers passed through, carrying a suitcase and an old jacket he wasn't sure he'd ever seen her wear before.

Dustin nodded and lead the way outside. The door clicked quietly behind them, leaving an empty room behind. The afternoon sun filtered through the windows, giving the wooden floor a strange glow that lit up the plain walls, illuminating dust particles as they floated aimlessly across the space.

Outside, a group of friends gathered for a last goodbye. Hawkins was going to be different, but maybe change doesn't mean the end.

Maybe change would be a good thing, after all.

"Hm, but I thought you weren't ticklish?" Lucas sarcastically remarked over his girlfriend’s giggles.

Max could never live down the fact that she was ticklish. Even though Lucas was 100 times more sensitive than she was, she couldn’t escape the fact that tickling made her lose all control and submit to laughter.

And maybe she didn’t really mind that. Not that she would ever tell anyone. But she didn’t need to. Lucas saw through her tough girl façade and made sure to indulge her in tickle fights every now and then.

The whole situation had started when Lucas was the victim of a tickle attack himself. He was unable to do anything but laugh as Max massaged his ribs and poked his neck.

After he surrendered, she proclaimed how she couldn’t believe anyone could be that ticklish. Even going as far to say, “I couldn’t imagine being that ticklish. Not that I’m ticklish anyway.”

This sparked that revenge nerve inside Lucas. He eyed his prey and pounced before giving it a second thought. Without time to process his sudden counterattack, Max yelped as Lucas pinned her to the floor and started squeezing her sides.

“Luhucahahahahahas! Stahahahahahap!” Max scrambled to grab at his hands. She failed in the long run as he would switch to her underarms or ribs and back to her sides. This kept her on high alert and unable to predict his next move.

"Hm, but I thought you weren't ticklish?" Lucas smirked, moving to do the same technique she used on him just a moment ago.

“NAHAHA! NOHOHOHO! LUCAHAHAHAHAHAS! NOHOT THEHEHERE!” She pushed at the hand attacking her ribs and scrunched her shoulders when the hand tickling her neck skimmed her ear.

“What’s wrong? Can’t take what you dish out? Sucks for you, Mad Max~” Lucas teased. Max kicked her legs and soon came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to get out of this by squirming.

She reached out and tweaked Lucas’ side. A high pitched squeal, that Lucas would never admit to being the source of, echoed through the air before he pinned the offending hand down with his knee.

“Oh you are so in for it now, Mayfield!” He moved his wiggling fingers to her underarm and watched as she screeched and erupted once again into laughter. Her other hand tried hard to protect the area, but all efforts were futile.

“STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Max pulled at her wrist and even let out a snort. To which Lucas struggled to keep upright as he was sent into hysterics at the sound.

“SHUHUHUHUT *snort* UHUHUHUHUP!” Lucas laughed so hard at the second snort that he completely fell over onto his side. Max immediately curled into a ball and grasped her sides. Giggles rang through the air as Max recovered from the tickles and Lucas calmed down.

“You’re soho mehean.” Max playfully whined, kicking at Lucas’ arm while he controlled his giggles.

“Sahays the one who tickled me first!” He pushed at her foot and even gave it a few scribbles making her squeal and pull her legs to her chest.

They continued to giggle and lay on the floor, telling stories and eventually getting up when it was time for Max to leave. She placed a kiss to his forehead before Lucas cupped her face and kissed her lips.

They melted into each others embrace as they hugged. Lucas waved goodbye and smiled at the memory of recent events. Yet another memorable date for the books.

~