#stranger thigs

Hopper: I was tortured by Russians

Robin amd Steve: Hey! We too! We should start a club.

El and Will walked along the town’s main street, exploring the shops. They had a mission to find the bases for their Halloween costumes. Will was going as Bowie. El was going as Boy George. He had already tried explaining that Boy George was in fact a boy.

________________

“So?”

“Well, I thought you might want to know. In case you wanted to go as someone that’s… well... A girl.”

She had furrowed her eyebrows. “I want to go as someone pretty. He’s pretty.”

He shrugged. It wasn’t worth arguing. “I guess so. You just like his makeup.”

She smirked and pointed at the picture on her wall of him from the Rolling Stones magazine. The singer was donned in a straw hat, blue eyebrows, and eyeshadow that had dotted lines and arrows. “It’s gorgeous.”

Will shook his head and couldn’t keep the smile from his face. He was kind of happy that she didn’t care about boy and girl stuff. He knew he was supposed to be informing her of things, of the way the world worked, but he also loved that it didn’t matter to her.

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As they walked down the avenue, Will mentally catologged places of interest. There wasn’t a stand alone arcade, but there was one inside the local movie theater. There was a five and dime with a soda fountain, which was pretty neat. But Will was just biding his time until they got to the thrift store. He hoped the cute boy would be there again. He mentally corrected himself, ‘cool guy.’ He shouldn’t call him cute.

Will pondered what he would say to him. Maybe he could ask for his help finding something Bowie-esque. A small smile pressed into his face at the thought and his heart fluttered a bit. ‘Act cool,’ he coached himself. He played out several scenarios. He was trying to affect a carefree attitude and posture. He had to keep reminding himself to keep his head up and not to slouch. He had to straighten his back every time he caught his reflection in the shop windows they passed.

El gave him that ‘processing’ look, like she was trying to figure him out. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. I’m… I’m trying not to slouch. It’s bad for your back.”

She squinted and pursed her lips, not believing him, but she didn’t press further.

They finally got to the corner. Will walked a little faster across the street, to the thrift store parking lot. El quickened her pace to catch up. If he had looked back he would have seen the smile of sudden understanding spread across her face.

Read the rest at:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20162464/chapters/57715327