stay with me.

𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬     ⸻    ❝ oh mother, i can feel the soil falling over my head. ❞

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𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 “𝐣𝐞𝐟𝐟” 𝐣𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐢𝐢     ⸻    ❝ can you help me occupy my brain? ❞

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𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐧     ⸻    ❝ i wanna guard your dreams and visions. ❞

mike has to laugh at what will says next. it’s hard not to. most of mike’s high school career was being bullied, they all knew this too well, they were there. it didn’t help that mike made himself punchable to the bullies by instigating fights on purpose just because he wanted to feel something. mike had been captain of the av club, and the science club all throughout high school which put a target on his back even when he was mouthing off to teachers. no one in their right mind wanted to be near him. mike had the ability of when he was hurting to take people down with him, he was a ticking time bomb in that way. it was incredibly unhealthy but he never had a good outlet to put it. “don’t make me laugh,” mike says rolling his eyes. “i had a girlfriend only once in middle school and she dumped me. i’m sure you remember,” he snorts thinking about it now. he had been heartbroken then, but he knew it was because he hung out with will and their friends more than he hung out with her. never mind the fact how he had jumped into that “relationship” so quick if you could call it one. he didn’t want to think about it. 

when he mentions the similarities between jonathan and himself, mike looks down. he knew what people had said about jonathan in high school, shit tends to stick, but it was even worse when will went missing. jonathan became the town pariah and half the people thought that he had killed will himself which was ridiculous. mike and jonathan might not be close the way mike is with steve but there’s a certain resilience that he has to admire. “well, it suits you,” mike says with a shrug. “we’re both weird,” he takes the joint from behind his ear and puts it in between his lips. 

mike always had an issue when it came to affection, he drew away from it because he didn’t want anyone touching him or getting to know him enough where they felt comfortable that they could. will was different because they were his best friend, he had known will longer than anyone in the party, they knew each other in a way that not many people did and it was amazing that their friendship had survived this long considering how mike was when people got close. even if there were things that mike didn’t know how to tell will, some things he thinks he might not ever, as to not bring up old ghosts, there’s a level of trust. and once upon a time it might have been all he thought about. when they finally get seated on the hayride, mike is about to spark the joint before will points to the flask. mike raises an eyebrow, taking it off his person and handing it over to will. “i stole some of ted’s good whisky when he wasn’t looking. i’d hold your breath when you take the shot.” 

“I do remember,” Will agrees. They’d taken an instant disliking to the girl in question, for reasons that, at the time, they couldn’t explain. It’s not like there was even anything wrong with her, at least not anything real, but Will had resented her sudden presence in their lives all the same. It seems so obvious now that they were jealous - jealous like they were with El, and to a lesser extent, Max and Suzie as well. It wasn’t fair to any of them. “But you do realise you’re not the same guy you were in middle school, right? That was ten years ago, you’ve changed a lot since then.” And it’s the kind of change that people tend to notice. Will has always seen something worth looking at in the cast of Mike’s features, but now... well, he’s handsome, isn’t he? In the eyes of many, being handsome can make up for any number of so-called deficiencies - like being a huge nerd, for instance.

Taking the flask from Mike as the wagon stirs into motion, they raise an eyebrow at the advice to hold their breath when they take their drink, deciding that he’s probably exaggerating for effect and decide not to listen. They regret it the moment the whiskey hits the back of their throat, trying desperately not to cough at the way it burns. "Ugh. If this is the good whiskey, I hate to think what the bad stuff tastes like,” Will groans, finding themselves completely unable to figure out why the hell anyone willingly drinks this stuff. It’s a million miles away from the fruity drink Gareth mixed for them at Reefer Rick’s party, and it seems their tolerance for stronger alcohol leaves something to be desired.

Quickly handing the whiskey back over, they start peering into the woods around them, wondering how quickly after setting off the first scare will come. Their breath hangs in the cold air, a pale ghost set against the darkness as they move further away from the rest of the festival. Anticipation is already starting to set their nerves jangling. “Scared yet?” Will whispers, prodding Mike in the ribs to make him squirm.

‘I’ve done this loads of times.’ There’s this little twinge in those words that makes Tommy fully regret walking into this room. He can smell the trouble coming from a mile away but he’s frozen there, like someone about to watch a car crash and unable to look away from it. “Yeah, worst time of my life in fact because you’re shit at cleaning up anything.” He bites back and without thinking really, his arms brace themselves at his side as if he’s waiting for the evident accident. It’s borderline ironic that in a matter of seconds, the crash truly becomes literal. 

On the second creak, Tommy is stepping closer (completely to save his closet’s shelving and not Drew’s dumbass) and his instincts don’t fail him too much when his arms come out to catch the other man on his quick descent downward. Drew’s whole body falls on top of Tommy’s and the abruptness causes him to stumble until his back hits the door, forcing it closed under his back. All the wind is knocked out of him, his mind focused on where his hands have landed as he holds Drew up by the waist. He tries to snap out of it quickly though, Tommy’s face scrunching up in annoyance. “Are you a fucking idiot?! My closet. The closet…” He slowly comes to a realization, his eyes peering back toward the door. “The lock…fuck.”

“That’s true,” Drew acknowledges cheerfully, “But it turns out I’m amazing at hiding weed from the gym teacher, so I guess it all balances out, huh?” It’s a shame the same can’t be said for his literal balance, because he hasn’t got a hope in hell of stopping himself from falling into Tommy when the shelf gives out, and it takes all of a second for him to accept that he’s going to end up dumped on the ground with a bruised ass. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time!

That’s why it’s such a surprise when the impact never comes, when instead he feels Tommy’s hands arriving at his waist in a bid to steady him. Interesting. Drew’s so busy thinking about this unexpected turn of events that he doesn’t immediately register that the door has slammed shut beneath the combined weight of their bodies, and that that might potentially be a problem. Frankly, he’s just glad to have made it out of this relatively unscathed - you gotta take the wins wherever you can get them.

x

She shrugged. “Maybe, but I’ll take the compliment first.” She grinned at him, ignoring the fact that hearing him say yes made her heart flutter a little. “Weirdly compelling indeed.” She did like the jacket on him. “Maybe I can borrow it sometime.” She winked at him before a pout came over her face as she noticed that they were heading towards another dead end. “I guess.” She said before sighing. “Lift me up on your shoulders. I’ll see if I can’t see the way.”

        “ oh, yikes. ” sabrina shook her head, hearing about the kid whose mother is basically letting him raise hell around here. she knew to stay clear of them, but it might be hard seeing as she had a few kids ask if she was some sort of ‘princess’. “ thanks for telling me. i’ll look out for them. ” she moved back a little bit, so that her wings wouldn’t hit him in the face or on the shoulder or anything. right as the comment about the beer came up, she was taking another sip of it. as soon as she finished, she lifted the can up and swirled it around to see how much was in there. “ i’m already, like, more than halfway through. it’s alright. ” she nodded her head, sending the other a smile. besides, it was probably wise for her to balance everything out with some water. looking down at his outfit, she smiled. “ you’re michael jackson? ”

“You shouldn’t have too much trouble - he usually announces himself by making the loudest pirate noise imaginable, which should give you at least a split second to side-step the sword.” Jeff doesn’t demonstrate the sound, but he’s confident the girl will know it when she hears it screamed at approximately ten million decibels anywhere in a ten mile radius. “Then my advice to you is to chug the rest, get it finished quicker so you can move on to something you might actually like,” Jeff says, taking another mouthful of his own beer. He learned to tolerate the bitter taste long ago, like most men do - even he isn’t immune to performing masculinity.

“You know those designs people do where they have their pumpkin throwing up its guts? Well, I totally get it now,” Will says, wrinkling their nose in distaste as they scrape away some more of their own gourd’s stinking innards. “This smells worse than Dustin’s feet.”

he looks down at their ankle before rolling his eyes. “yeah, i’m really a harlot in these streets,” he says before laughing, unable to keep the serious face. it seemed like mike never stopped growing, which was all too fitting considering mike often felt like he was too much anywhere. it didn’t help. he pushes that aside now before throwing his head back in another laugh. “jonathan is weird enough to pull off the robert smith look,” but when will mentions his own hair he tilts his head a little to look at it, he reaches out and grabs a strand before tugging softly on it. “i like your hair,” he says with a shrug, not looking at will now as he’s determined to get them going somewhere. 

affection had never been easy for mike, but it was when it came to will. they had been in each other’s lives for so long and once upon a time it was like every weekend the two had spent the night at each other’s houses, making forts with the help of jonathan, having told to be quiet from karen, giggling under sheets thrown over their heads to try and read comic books late into the night. things were different now but being with will like this with no interdimensional beings hanging over them was nice and he wanted to cherish every part of it that he could. he notices the stiffness from will, but thinks it’s because of the costume, he rubs will’s arm to let him know that it’s okay. “this is a hill i am going to die on, i called doctor venkman first,” it didn’t matter anymore but it was a nice call back. “we never did, but he knows the truth.” he shakes his head now. “alright, haunted hayride we go.”

“The Harlot of Hawkins - I’m in very real danger of being trampled to death under a hoard of women coming to admire those shapely ankles,” Will continues in a solemn voice, doing a much better job of keeping a straight face than Mike is. There’s something about being able to make him laugh - the sound of it suffuses itself in Will’s bones, lighting him up from the inside out. “That’s a crazy thing to say, when Jonathan and I are literally cut from the same weird cloth,” he replies. It’s funny, he knows he’s made of the same stuff as their brother, and in so many ways they are similar, but in practice... to put it mildly, Jonathan had no choice to be anything other than themselves. They wear their weird more comfortably than Will ever could, because they’re braver than anyone he knows.

Feeling the gentle pull at a lock of his hair, Will flushes and glances sidelong at Mike, but of course, he’s not looking at him. Of course. He told himself he was going to stop obsessing over these things, these comments and gestures that make his heart start asking ‘what if?’ There is no ‘what if’, though - just reality, fifteen years of friendship that he’s grateful for beyond measure. It’s enough. It is.

haunted hayride. the warning was pretty much in the name, yet holly was still surprised when someone dragged themselves into the cart. the werewolf mask should have been a giveaway that this was part of the ride, but everything felt like it was a movie on fast-forward until drew’s muffled voice was practically playing twenty questions with her.

“oh my god, don’t do that!” except for the fact it was his job for the festival. “if nance were here, she would have, like, totally kicked you in the face to protect me.” the only reason she hadn’t scramble to attempt a high heel to the face was that holly wasn’t flight or flight. she was freeze. “you were so scary! i’ve never been barked at before.” technically, not barking. “i’m having a ton of fun. are you? this seems… fun. is it?”

Holly’s reaction has been by far the most satisfying of the evening, and when Drew’s convinced that she’s fun-scared rather than scared-scared, he can’t help but grin behind his mask. Maybe this is the thing he’s good at? Is there such a thing as a full-time werewolf? Probably no, right? “Sorry, Miss, I gotta - first because it’s part of the ride, and second because, as a vampire, you’re my natural enemy. My instinct is to be mean to you.”

x

“It’s an adventure, Jeffy.” She teased as she squeezed his hand and walked down the new (or maybe new) path with him. She couldn’t admit that she liked this too much; to herself or even to him. They were friends and that was it. Even if she liked spending the most time with Jeff these days and it always made her smile when she was around him, but that was also things she didn’t admit or think about. Instead, she pushed hard on just making the most out of this time. At the compliment, she grinned and looked back at him; seeing that smile she loved to see (more so when she was the cause). “Yeah? These leather pants doing it for you?” She teased, nudging his arm with her elbow. “I like yours too. Michael’s not really my thing, but I’ll make an exception.”

     monnie could only sigh, but the eye roll that was paired was a loving one. ❝ thank you, andrew. ❞ at least she knew that whenever she needed a compliment from someone, drew was always there to provide. just one of the things he was good for. ❝ try making your own hole in the mask, or just focusing on looking out of one eye. i can already see mccorkle not paying attention and you getting run over. the man definitely has poor vision — ❞ honestly, she was surprised it hadn’t happened yet. and then, monnie let out a small hum, not quite agreeing to drew’s statement about being scary, but still giving him the satisfaction of not completely saying no.

“Hey, plenty more where that came from,” Drew replies with a cheeky wink. Finding things to compliment Monnie McKinney about isn’t exactly a difficult task, even for an idiot like him. She raises a very interesting point, however, one that Drew hadn’t initially considered himself. “Huh... in that case, maybe I should just leave it as it is. The legal pay-out would be probably be pretty sweet - totally worth a broken bone or two.” He’s only joking. Mostly.

x

She sighed as he knocked his knee against hers and looked over at him. Her heart ached just doing that. He was trying so hard and here she was getting upset. two years ago, she would be all dressed up too with Natty running around here, but it wasn’t like that anymore and probably never would be again. Lily listened as he tried telling her it was good she was there and she looked away from him. “I guess, but…” What if something happened again while they were all there? What if she heard the voice again and just kept being called crazy? “I’m just… I don’t know.” It was hard for her to pinpoint her feelings these days. Well, more like talk about her feelings. She knew what they were, but it was getting harder and harder to keep them all in. “I’m just dragging you down. You should’ve left me home.”