Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The room slowly came into focus, blackness fading to light. Everyone was vaguely aware of a dull pain in the lower half of their body, probably from the stone floor they fell on. There was a collective bunch of groans as the strange group got up and helped each other from the floor. The group looked around the strange place they were in. It was a large dark room, only illuminated by torches on the walls. There was a long corridor that seemed to lead to other rooms, maybe others were in there? The room they were currently in was simple, a kitchen off to the side, a wooden table with a note on it, and a television with chairs and a sofa.

"Where the fuck are we?" One of the group members asks. She has short, dirty blonde hair and is wearing a blue Adidas tracksuit with white stripes and a name tag that read Robin Buckley. The rest of her friends shook their heads in response, not knowing. Robin looks around to check that everyone is safe and notices that not everyone is wearing the same thing. Erica Sinclair, Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson are wearing the same thing as she is but, the others were all wearing something different. Joyce Byers, Murray Bauman and Jim Hopper are wearing a khaki green Adidas tracksuit with muddy brown stripes while Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, Eleven Hopper, Max Mayfield, Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler are wearing a deep red tracksuit with black stripes. Although a few of the others had different coloured stripes. For example, Eleven and Max have bright, different coloured ones, while Nancy and Jonathan have purple. The whole thing seems very carefully coded.

El steps forward when she sees her dad and hugs him tightly, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes. "I thought you were dead." She whispers, her voice broken. Hopper hugs her back just as tightly. "I know, I know. We'll talk later, okay? First we need to figure out what's happening." 

‘Is everyone okay?’ Joyce asked. The group nodded their heads and turned their attention to the wooden table with the note. Max stepped forward to read it out.

Greetings, friends.

Welcome to the Viewing Room. For the week or two, as a group you will all relive the events of summer, 1985. The television in the middle of the room is what will be used to show these events. As you have probably noticed, not all of you are wearing the same out fit. I specifically colour-coded these outfits due to the groups you were in throughout these affairs. For Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington, Erica Sinclair and Dustin Henderson, we have blue tracksuits with white stripes to represent your time at Scoops Ahoy Ice-cream Parlour. For Joyce Byers, Murray Bauman and Jim Hopper, we have khaki green tracksuits with muddy brown stripes to represent your time trying to take down the Soviet Army. For Will Byers, Mike Wheeler and Lucas Sinclair, we have deep red tracksuits with black stripes to represent the Mind Flayer in it’s flesh form and shadow form. For Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler we have the same red with purple stripes to represent your time spent with Mrs. Driscoll. And finally, for Eleven Hopper and Max Mayfield we have, once again, the same red with different coloured stripes to represent your time spent at Starcourt Mall. The rules are quite simple, you are permitted to watch up to 2 episodes per day, no more. At the end of the hallway you will find three rooms with your names on them which will be your designated rooms for the next month. You are only permitted to go into you own rooms, no one else’s. You may notice there are locked doors which under any circumstances you are NOT to go into. You may occasionally hear voices coming from these doors, do not worry about it. There is food in the cupboards and fridge. You have twenty minutes to prepare for the first episode.

• Your Friend. 

The friends glance around at each other nervously, are they really going to have to live through the events that they tried so hard to forget? Joyce is the first one to speak.

"Everyone. I know this is going to be hard, but if we wanna get out of here, we going to have to do it. Okay?"

She tells them. They all nod their heads and Joyce pulls them into a group hug. 

"We can do this." The woman says as they settle onto the chairs and sofa. Lucas picks up the remote and anxiously asks if they can count down with him.

"Three, Two, One." They say. Lucas presses play.

Chapter Text

Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?

The camera shows a lab, filled with people, working with what looks like some sort of machine.

The group shuffles closer, intrigued.

Bold letters appear across the screen June 28, 1984 it reads.

"1984?" Mike asks. It clicks in Will’s brain.

"This was going on after I got back from the Upside-Down. Possibly during my possession." He explains. The party turns their attention back to the show.

Some scientists flip switches, preparing the machine for something. The camera focuses on two men in the box above the contraption, one smoking a cigarette. He turns to the entrance as two scientists enter the room.

Joyce, Murray and Hopper all recognise the man behind what looks like the head of the project.

"Alexei." Joyce whispers. The three go quiet at the thought of their dead ally. The others give them questioning looks but no-one says anything.

The lead scientist opens a box, revealing what looks like two keys. He hands one to the other scientist. The two insert their keys into some type of control panel, looking at each other before turning them at the same time. The device powers up and we see electricity running through it. It forms a laser and hits a crack in the wall in front of it.

"What are they doing?" Eleven asks. No-one answers her, too focused on the screen.

The laser widens the crack in the wall, revealing something red behind it. Vines creep out and slither along the wall.

"They’re opening a gate." Robin says gravely, turning to Will for confirmation. The boy nods his head slightly.

The camera focuses back on the scientists as the give each other a nod. The laser keeps going, until they’ve almost succeeded in opening the crack all the way. A coffee cup on a desk starts to rattle and the second scientist looks at it, concerned. The others in the box look around, increasingly worried. Down below, all the control panels and lights start sparking.

"What’s happening?" Lucas asks. Max is the one who answers this time.

"Disaster." She replies.

The crack starts closing back up as the laser falters. The machine powers down and everyone is silent, waiting for something to happen.

The party is silent, too.

Electricity jumps from the device and hits those close to it. People scream and we see their bodies being burned in slo-mo. 

The party watches on in horror.

The contraption finally stops, fires everywhere. The camera focuses on the man who was smoking a cigarette, now putting it out. He looks angry. As they walk down the stairs we see piles of burned flesh on the ground in front of them.

Multiple people gag, some wincing.

The man who was smoking a cigarette walks over to the crack and places a hand on the wall next to it. The head of the project says something in Russian, English subtitles popping up on the screen

Head Scientist: Comrade-General.

The General turns towards the man.

Head Scientist: We are close. You can see. You can see our progress.

The general does not look impressed.

"Uh oh." Murray says. A few others did their heads in agreement.

Head Scientist: We just need more ti—

A thug reaches forward and wraps his hand around the man’s throat, cutting him off. The lead scientist gasps and chokes as the thug holds him off the ground. The General walks past the choking man to the second scientist.

Comrade-General: You have one year.

Second Scientist: Yes, Comrade-General.

The though finishes choking the Head Scientist, who is now dead, and drops him on the ground. Doors open as we watch the General and the thug walking outside, it appears to be snowing. The camera moves up and focuses on a Russian flag. The screen goes black.

Lucas reaches forward to press pause on the remote which, thankfully, works. 

"How’s everyone doing?" Joyce asks. There are a few nervous laughs but they confirm they can continue. Lucas unpauses the tv.

CHAPTER ONE — SUZIE, DO YOU COPY?  Appears on the screen in red. The camera focuses on a radio before moving, a song playing in the back ground. ONE YEAR LATER appears on the screen in white.

"Oh no." Mike groans as he realises what’s coming. The others turn to him.

"Oh no what?" Nancy asks. Mike blushes and avoids looking at anybody.

The camera pans across the room, showing possessions like photos, lamps, drawings. The camera then focuses on Mike and Eleven, who are making out.

"Oh no." Eleven whispers. She’s looks cautiously over to Hopper, who is seething.

"Oh gross! Seriously? We have to show this?" Max asks as the others groan in disgust. 

Mike suddenly starts singing along to the song.

Mike: And nobody wants to know you now.

He imitates a guitar break.

Mike: Nobody wants to show you —

Eleven: Mike!

Eleven puts her hand over his mouth, muffling his singing.

Eleven: Mike, stop! Stop!

Mike: So if you’re lost and on your own

Eleven: Mike! Stop! Mike! Mike!

Mike: You can never surrender.

Mike says, making a strange noise at the end which causes Eleven to stop in shock.

Eleven [laughing]: Stop!

Mike: What you don’t like it?

Eleven: No!

Mike smiles as he and Eleven continue kissing.

"Thanks dude. I have to bleach my eyes now." Dustin says while the others make noises of agreement. Robin notices Will is frozen, staring at the ground awkwardly, not looking at anyone. Interesting.

We see Hopper, sitting on a chair, eating snacks and watching tv. He takes a sip of his beer and leans back in his chair. Through the gap in the door he sees Mike and Eleven making out.

Hopper: Hey!

Eleven slams the door closed and Hopper gets up.

Hopper: Hey! Three-inch minimum! Leave the door open three inches!

Hopper moves to try and open the door but it’s locked.

Hopper [frustrated]: El, open this door. Open the —

He’s cut off as the door opens. The camera shows El and Mike, at different ends of the bed, reading.

Mike: What’s wrong?

Hopper does not look impressed.

Lucas is the first one to start laughing. The rest soon joins in. Even Will cracks a smile. Once they’ve calmed down they take a look at Mike and El who are blushing, very uncomfortable.

"Serves you right." Max says, head held high.

Mike looks offended.

"What? Was I supposed to know there was a tv show made about us that involved this?" He asks. Max nods her head. 

‘Yes.’ She replies. She then turns back towards the screen.

The camera shows us Mike riding his bike.

Mike: That was priceless! Did you see his face?

He asks through the radio.

El: It was like a tomato!

Mike: Yeah, a fat tomato.

"Wheeler." Hopper growls. Mike looks over at him.

"Sorry." He says.

El: I wish I was still with you.

Mike: I know. Me too. But I’ll see you tomorrow alright? First thing.

El: Tomorrow.

We see Mike riding through a car park towards what looks like a mall. He parks his bike and the others walk forward to him.

Lucas: You’re late.

Mike: I’m sorry!

Lucas: Again.

Will: We’re going to miss the opening!

Mike: Yeah, if you keep whining about it. Let’s go!

Lucas: “If you guys keep whining about it. Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh.”

Lucas mocks as they walk.

Mike: Just please stop talking, dude.

Lucas: Let me guess. You were busy [smacks lips]

Mike: Oh, yeah, real mature, Lucas.

Lucas: “Oh, El, I wish we could make out forever, and never hang out with any of our friends” 

Max: Lucas, stop.

Lucas: Will thinks it’s funny.

Will: Because it is.

Mike: Yeah, it’s so funny that I want to spend romantic time with my girlfriend.

Lucas: I’m spending romantic time with my girlfriend.

He says as he puts an arm around Max. The group continues walking. The camera shows us the mall and the gang walking down the escalator, bumping into people and apologising.

Girl: Watch it!

Erica [sitting down eating ice-cream.]: Yeah, watch it, nerd!

Lucas [while walking]: Isn’t it past your bedtime?

Erica: Isn’t it time you died?

Lucas: Psycho!

Erica: Butthead!

Lucas: Mall rat!

Erica: Fart face!

Lucas: [blows raspberry.]

Max [grabbing his arm]: Oh, now that was mature.

The camera shows us the name of the shop the kids went into. Scoops Ahoy Ice-cream Parlour it reads.

Robin gasps.

"Here we are, Stevie!" She says excitedly while gripping his arm. He groans in response.

Mike walks to the front and dings the bell repeatedly. Robin does not look impressed.

Robin: Hey, dingus, your children are here.

The group bursts out laughing while Robin looks very proud of herself.

"They’re not my children!" Steve complains.

"Yes they are, don’t deny it." Robin replies. He sighs before turning back towards the screen.

The back window slides open to reveal Steve.

Steve: Again? Seriously?

Mike just dings the bell again. Steve lets the kids in through the back door.

Steve: Come on, come on. I swear, if anybody hears about this —

All: We’re dead!

Steve sighs and closes the door.

Mike pokes his head around the corner.

Mike: All clear!

He says. The group walk into the theatre and enter the Day Of The Dead viewing.

Joyce gasps.

"William Byers! I told you you couldn’t see that movie!" She says, trying to hold back a smile. Will grins sheepishly at her while El snickers.

The gang move down a row of people until the find some seats.

Mike: See Lucas? We made it!

Lucas: We missed the previews!

Max: Still made it. Fart face.

Will and Mike start handing out snacks.

"Why does Will have the snack bag?" Nancy asks, curious.

"Because he looks the most innocent." Max explains.

"I do not!" Will argues. 

"You do!" His friends reply in unison.

They begin watching the movie, an excited look on their faces. Suddenly the audio slows and stops as the movie goes black. The crowd gets very angry. We see all of Starcourt Mall go out.

Erica: The hell?

It reaches Scoops Ahoy.

Steve: That’s weird.

He goes and flips the light on and off again as if that could fix it.

Robin: That isn’t gonna work, dingus.

Steve: Oh, really?

He starts flipping the light faster.

We then see as the whole goes out, leaving everyone in complete darkness. The camera enters a building where we see little shards of blackness rise off the ground and form something. It resembles a mass of shadows.

We go back to Starcourt as the lights turn on and people begin to cheer. At Scoops Ahoy Steve flicks the switch just as the light turn back on.

Steve: Let there be light.

In the theatre the movie turns back on and the audience bursts into applause. The camera focuses on Lucas and Max, who are smiling, and then Will, who has a strange look on his face. There’s a fluttering sound and we see the hair rise on the back of Will’s neck. He puts a hand there, covering the sensitive spot. He flashes back to when he was on the oval. When the Mind Flayer possessed him. One of it’s arms surrounds Will, entering his body through any hole.

Will freezes and vaguely registers multiple arms wrapping around him, whispering reassurances.

The camera then shows Will’s exorcism. The boy thrashing around on the bed. And finally, the Mind Flayer leaving his body.

Mike: Hey.

Will is snapped out of his trance when he hears Mike’s voice. He gasps.

Mike: You okay?

Will: Yeah.

Mike: Are you sure?

Will: Of course.

Lucas pauses the tv and turns to Will with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Liar." He says. Will grins weakly.

"I didn’t think it was anything then, okay?" He explains in return. Lucas stares at him for a good minute, trying to read his emotions, before turns back to the screen and unpauses.

Will turns back towards the movie, an uneasy expression written on his face. The film shows a girl, looking at a calendar. Suddenly arms reach the the wall and we cut away to see Nancy sitting up. 

Nancy: Shit.

She reaches over and snatches her watch, looking at the time.

Nancy: Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

Jonathan also sits up.

Jonathan: Wh-What’s wrong?

Nancy: It’s almost 9:00.

Nancy and Jonathan flush, trying to ignore the pointed looks from their friends.

Jonathan: What?

Nancy: We forgot the reset the clocks. The power went out last night, remember?

Jonathan: Oh, shit!

The two get out of bed and start getting dressed. Jonathan tumbles out of bed and quickly puts on his shirt, tripping over when he puts his pants on. Nancy chucks her bag and shoes out the window which she quickly climbs out of. She quickly picks them up and runs down the side of the house. Jonathan is seen buttoning his shirt as he comes out, a very obvious lipstick mark on his cheek.

Joyce: Wait up.

Jonathan: Oh, no, I’ll eat at work. I’m late.

Joyce: No. Your cheek.

Joyce reaches forward the wipe the lipstick off her son’s face.

Jonathan: Alright, alright. I gotta run. See you later.

Joyce: Alright.

She walks over to the table where Will is having breakfast.

Will: Ugh. Gross.

"Agreed." Robin says which earns a surprised chuckle from the boy.

Joyce sits down.

Joyce: Well, I don’t think you’re gonna think it’s gross when you fall in love. 

Will: I’m not gonna fall in love.

Oh? Denial? Robin thinks as she shoots the boy a glance from across the room. Very interesting.

Joyce: Okay. Hey!

She’s distracted by something over Will’s shoulder. She walks over to the fridge where magnets have fallen down, taking stuff with them.

Joyce: What happened here?

Will: I dunno.

She picks up the mess and puts it back on the fridge. The last thing she hangs up is a drawing, showing a man in a superhero’s cape. Below that it reads BOB NEWBY- SUPERHERO.  

Most of the party smile sadly at the memory of him. Robin and a few of the others only knowing the he died a few years ago.

"What happened to Bob?" Erica finally asks, cautiously, not wanting to upset anyone. Joyce gives her a small smile.

"When Will was possessed he helped us escape the lab. He didn’t make it out." She explained. To Robin it was clear Bob meant something to her.

"I’m sorry." Robin said. Joyce looked over at her with a surprised face that gently melted into something softer.

"Oh, no, sweetie. It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault." The older woman reassures the younger one, then turning her attention back to the show.

The camera shows a car driving.

Nancy: Can you please drive faster?

We see the inside of the car which shows Jonathan and Nancy.

Jonathan: Do you wanna break down? We’re lucky this thing still drives at all.

Nancy: I’m serious, Jonathan, I can’t be late.

Jonathan: You mean we can’t be late.

Nancy: No, I mean I can’t be late. They like you no matter what you do.

Jonathan: Hey, they like you too. 

Nancy: Yeah. They like that I’m a coffee delivery machine. They don’t actually like me or respect me as a living, breathing human with a brain.

"That’s old, white men for ya." Robin comments while Nancy nods her head in agreement.

Jonathan: Wait you just —you just gotta be patient, okay? They’re set in their ways, you know? But… once they realise what a gifted writer you are, they’ll come around.

Nancy: I really don’t need a Jonathan Byers pep talk right now. Can you just… please drive faster?

Jonathan: Okay.

The car continues driving, passing a different one which we focus on. Inside is Dustin and Mrs. Henderson.

Dustin: This is Gold Leader, returning to base. Do you copy? Over.

The camera focuses on Dustin who has a headset on.

Dustin: This is Gold Leader, returning to base. Do you copy? Over.

Dustin: I repeat: This is Gold Leader, returning to base. Do you copy? Over. 

Dustin: I repeat: This is goddamn Gold Leader—

Mrs. Henderson: Dusty!

Dustin: What?

Mrs. Henderson: Relax! For goodness’ sake.

Dustin: I’m in range. They should be answering.

Mrs. Henderson: You’ve been away a whole month, honeybun. Maybe they just… forgot.

Dustin turns away from his mum and looks out the window.

"Dustin. You know we could never forget you, right?" Will asks his friend. Dustin nods his head in reply.

"I know." He says. The rest of the group smile and turn their attention back to what they were watching.

Mrs. Henderson then pulls into the drive way of her house and parks the car. Once Dustin is inside he puts his duffle bag on his bed and sits down next to it, rubbing his face. He looks over to his turtle.

Dustin: At least someone’s happy I’m home.

Suddenly there’s a noise coming from somewhere in the room and the camera shows one of Dustin’s toys moving forwards, by itself. All at once his toys come to life, making a variety of noises. Dustin seems very disturbed. The toys start heading towards his bedroom door and into the lounge room. Dusting runs over to his desk and grabs some hairspray. He cautiously pokes his head around his door and follows his toys.

Dustin: It’s just a dream. You’re dreaming.

As Dustin passes a wall the camera focuses on Max, who is hiding behind said wall. Max turns to Lucas, who give her a nod, then he turns to Will, who is looking very excited. The camera then shows us El, who has her eyes closed and a bloody nose.

Mike [whispering]: Now!

El opens her eyes and the toys suddenly stop, leaving Dustin very confused. He runs over to his toys and picks them up, trying to figure out what happened. In the background, we see the rest of his friends tiptoeing, holding noise-makers and a banner that says Welcome Home Dustin! Behind Dustin, Max begins counting down and on one everyone blows their noise-makers, causing the boy in front of them to scream. Dustin turns around and sprays Lucas in the face with his hairspray, making the other boy scream as well.

Robin is the first one to scream out a laugh, causing Steve, who she scared, to join in as well. Soon everyone is wheezing and rolling on the ground, clutching their stomachs and wiping tears. Once they’ve calmed down Robin makes a comment to Lucas.

"You scream like a girl!" She says, multiple people nodding their heads in agreement.

"I know! I keep telling him that!" Max adds on. Lucas just grumbles and unpauses the television.

The next thing we see is a boy at the pool, yelling ‘Cannonball!’ Before jumping into the water. The camera shows us a swimming pool, filled with people having fun. We then focus on Mrs. Wheeler, who is drinking a Coke and reading a book.

"Wait a second. What has Mom got to do with this?" Mike mutters, confused. He turns to look at Nancy.

"Don’t ask me." His sister says while shrugging.

Mrs. Wheeler is seen to be at the pool with her friends. One of her friends speaks up.

Friend: Ladies! She’s coming down.  

The women watch as the life guard comes down from her chair, readying themselves for something. The fix their hair and change their postures.

"What is happening?" Robin asks, very, very confused. Steve just shrugs his shoulders in response.

"Thanks. That’s very helpful." The girl says sarcastically.

The ladies finish and the friend speaks again.

Friend: And, showtime!

The door opens to reveal Billy, who only has red swim-shorts on and is smoking a cigarette. The camera focuses on Mrs. Wheeler, who bites her lip.

"Oh gross! Gross gross gross!" Max complains as she buries her head in Lucas’ chest, not wanting to see what happens next.

"Ew. Ew. Ew ew ew ew ew!" Mike says, gagging.

We then see Billy walking past bunches of girls, who wink at him. Billy blows his whistle and the whole pool silences, waiting to see who he’s telling off. He singles out one kid who is running by the pool.

Billy: Hey, lard-ass! No running on my watch! I gotta warn you again, and you’re banned for life. You wanna be banned for life, lard-ass? 

The boy shakes his head.

Billy: Didn’t think so. 

He blows his whistle again and everyone goes back to what they were doing.

Billy: Afternoon, ladies.

He says as he passes Mrs. Wheeler and her friends.

All: Afternoon Billy.

The women say in unison.

Billy: Dig the new suit, Mrs. Wheeler.

Mrs. Wheeler: Thank you.

Billy pushes his glasses up as he climbs on top of his chair. Mrs. Wheeler looks very flustered.

"What just happened?" Nancy asks in horror. Max whimpers in response and El moves over to comfort her while Mike’s face is quickly losing colour.

"Uh," He says, "Can we make a deal to forget that happened, everyone, please?" The rest of the group quickly nod their heads, happy to.

We then come into town and focus on multiple stores before coming to Melvald’s General store, where Joyce works. We see Joyce hanging up a sing when the bell rings. Hopper enters.

Joyce: Hey.

Hopper: Hey. You busy?

Joyce: You’re our first customer, so…

Hopper nods his head. Joyce sighs.

Joyce: What now? 

We cut to Joyce labelling things on hopper voice comes from the background.

Hopper: And then El, she just… slams the door. Right in my face.

Joyce: Uh-huh?

Joyce says, distracted.

Hopper: You know, it is that smug son of a bitch, Mike. He’s corrupting her, I’m telling you.

Joyce looks very confused, this is not the Mike she knows.

Hopper: And I’m just gonna lose it. I mean, I am gonna lose it, Joyce.

He looks very angry.

Joyce: Just take it down, Hopper.

Hopper: I need for them to break up.

Joyce: That is not your decision.

The women says, pointing a finger at the man.

Hopper: They’re spending entirely too much time together. You agree with me about that, right?

Joyce: Well, I mean, they’re just kissing, right?

Hopper: Yeah, but it is constant. It is constant. Okay? That is not normal, that is not healthy.

"Yes it is!" Mike says accusingly glaring at Hopper. Robin and Steve look at him in surprise.

"No it’s not." The girl says with a slight chuckle, her best-friend nodding his head in agreement.

"Whatever." Mike mumbles as he turns away.

Joyce: You can’t just force them apart. I mean, they’re not little kids anymore, Hop. They’re teenagers. If you order them around like a cop, then they’re gonna rebel. It’s just what they do.

Hopper: So what, I’m just supposed to let them do whatever they want?

Joyce: No, I didn’t say that. I think you should… talk to them.

Hopper: No. No. ‘Cause talking doesn’t work.

Joyce: Not yelling. Not ordering. But talk to them. You know, like a heart-to-heart.

Hopper: A heart-to-heart? What is that?

Joyce: You sit them down and you talk to them, like you’re their friend. I find if you talk to them like you’re on their level, then they really start to listen. And the, you know, you could start to create some boundaries.

Hopper: Boundaries.

Joyce: Yeah, but, Hop, it’s really important that no matter how they respond, you stay calm. You cannot lose your temper. 

Hopper: Maybe you could do it for me?

"Hop!" Eleven says with a glare, silently judging her father.

"What? I’m not good with these things!" He says in response, only looking slightly sheepish.

Joyce: No.

Hopper: Yeah, you could. Yeah, you could. You come over after work. Yes.

Joyce: No. It only works if it comes from you. But…

Joyce contemplates while moving to the next shelf.

Hopper: But?

Joyce: Maybe I can help you…

She grabs a piece of paper and a pencil.

Joyce: Find the right words. 

We see Nancy speed walk past Melvards and down the street, checking her watch. She rushes into a building that reads The Hawkins Post. She hands the receptionist a bag and gets and thank you in return. She then proceeds to give several people their food before walking into the dark room where Jonathan is developing photos, letting in the light and ruining the photos.

Jonathan: Oh, no, no, no, no! Nancy!

He throws up his hands in frustration.

Nancy: Sorry.

She quickly closes the door and proceeds walking. She enters a room with a bunch of old, white guys sitting a table. She walks around and hands then their food while they continue their conversation. Nancy interrupts.

Nancy: What about Starcourt?

They all freeze and look over at her.

Nancy: I-I was just… thinking… I mean, I know everyone loves the mall, but… how many small businesses have closed since it opened? Like, five on Main, at least. It’s changing the fabric of this town, in a way—

An old white guy interrupts.

Old, white guy: “The Death of Small-Town America.” I like it. I like it a lot. But I think I’ve got something even spicier. It’s about the missing mustard on my hamburger.

The table bursts into laughter.

Old, white guy: You think you can follow the clues and solve the case of the missing condiment, Nancy Drew?

Nancy looks devastated.

Nancy: Sorry

She says while walking over and taking the hamburger from her humiliator. She walks out the door with a big sigh.

"Ugh, those assholes! Don’t listen to them Nance, it was a brilliant idea. They’re just douchebags. Also, I don’t know why they would think you would be offended by the name “Nancy Drew” she was a very smart women.” Robin says matter-of-factly, earning a small but earnest smile from her friend.

"Thanks, Robin."

The next thing we see is Lucas washing his face after getting sprayed in the face by Dustin.

Lucas: Ow, ow, ow. Ow.

He complains.

Max: Better?

His girlfriend asks.

Lucas: Still stings.

He wipes the water from his eyes and squints at Max’s face. 

Lucas: Is that a new zit?

Max looks astonished.

Max: What is wrong with you?

She grabs Lucas’s head and shoves it back under the water.

Lucas: I was just askin-AHHH!

We then see Dustin with some sort of contraption.

Dustin: I call it… the Forever Clock.

He spins it around.

Dustin: All right? Powered by wind. Very useful in the apocalypse.

He hands it to Will who takes it eagerly. He then reaches down and pulls out another contraption that seems to be some sort of hammer.

Dustin: Then I give you, The Slammer.

He turns it on and it vibrates. He chuckles.

Dustin: Pretty neat, huh? But this…this is my masterpiece.

He sets a duffle page down on the floor and they peer inside it.

Dustin: I would like you to meet… Cerebo. 

It seems to look like some sort of disassembled radio is inside.

Mike: What exactly are we looking at here?

Dustin: An unassembled one-of-a-kind battery-powered radio tower.

Will: So, it’s a… a ham radio.

Dustin: The Cadillac of ham radios. This baby carries a crystal-clear connection over vast distances. I’m talking North Pole to South. I can talk to my girlfriend whenever and wherever I choose.

The others look shocked.

All: Girlfriend?

Dustin smiles. We then see them walking down the hall.

Mike: Wait, so her name’s Suzie?

Dustin: Suzie with a “z”. She’s from Utah.

Will: Girls go to science camp? 

Dustin: Suzie does. She’s a genius.

Mike: Is she cute? 

Dustin: Think Phoebe Cates, only hotter.

The walk past Max who is still helping Lucas wash his face.

Max: What’s going on?

Will: We’re going to talk to Dustin’s girlfriend!

Lucas stands up abruptly.

Max and Lucas: Girlfriend?

They rush out the door after the others.

"All right! Someone please pause it.” Joyce asks. Lucas does as asked.

"How about we all take a little break? Have something to eat?" 

The group looks around to see each other nodding. They all get up and head to the kitchen. 

Chapter Text

"Okay, what have we got?" Joyce opens the cupboards and looks around. "Come to think of it, I don't even know what meal this would be. Time, anyone?"

"10 AM." Robin's voice comes from over her shoulder. Right, morning tea then. 

"Um, we've got some cookies if you guys would like some of those and a drink maybe?" 

Various noises of agreement come from behind her and she gets the food out, telling the old kids to make coffee for themselves and pouring the younger kids some lemonade.

As they're eating a note appears in Nancy's hand and she reads it out.

Dear friends,

I have forgotten to add somebody so that will happen now. He will already know what's happened so far. Scoops Troop he will be staying with you.

-Your friend.

"Who the fuck is missing?" Steve asks. In answer to his question a flash of light and Eddie Munson is standing there. He looks positively shocked.

"I-um, wow-that's, uh-that's a lot to take in." He says as the past half episode flashes through his mind. His attention then turns to Dustin who wraps him in a hug.

"Hey!" Eddie then looks over at Robin. "Buckley!" She waves shyly.

After reunions and introductions they all settle down and eat.

"Robin, what's on your mind?" Nancy asks, she noticed that she was zoned out and wanted to check she was okay.

Robin hums in thought before answering.

"How do you think out rocks feel?" After getting a few confused looks, she elaborates. "I mean, they're immortal, right? So, they have to watch their loved ones die. Over and over and over. It's horrible. Anyone else think about that? No? Just me?"

Steve puts down his cup of coffee and turns to her.

"What the fuck?" 

The girl goes to respond but Eddie cuts in.

"No, that actually makes sense. Oh god, I'm never getting a pet rock. How could someone do that to them?" 

Steve gives up and the others look incredibly confused. Max abruptly stand up.

"Okay, let's go check out our rooms!" She says. The group obeys and they walk down the long corridor, splitting into their separate rooms.

THE SCOOPS TROOP

"Holy shit this is amazing." Erica gasps as they walk in.

The room where they'll be staying is spacious with imperial blue walls and doors that section off into mini rooms which, of you look closer, hold one queen bed each. There's a closet and under closer inspection they see it holds more jumpsuits, and surprisingly, casual clothes in their style and sizes. off to side is a bathroom with a shower, mirror, sink and multiple cupboards filled with essentials. There's also a bookshelf which Dustin and Robin are very excited about. in the corner of the room is a workbench and freezer filled with ice-cream.

'Oh My God. Steve we got ice-cream!' Robin screams in joy. Her friend chuckles good-naturedly. 

"I can see that, Robbie." 

"And the bookshelf holy shit! It's humongous!"

"Yeah, it is." 

"Ha, I bet the others aren't as good as ours."

THE SOVIET ARMY

"Okay, this is pretty good."

Joyce, Murray and Hopper's room is slightly smaller, since they have a smaller group. They've got dark green walls with 3 queen sized beds, once again seated in the mini rooms. The layout and furniture was the same as the Scoops Troop with small changes. Instead of ice-cream, they got fair food.

"Well, this looks comfortable enough." Joyce states and claims her bed, the one closest to the bookshelf. The others nod, satisfied with their sleeping space.

THE MIND FLAYER FIGHTERS

"OH MY GOD, HOLY SHIT IT'S SO BIG!" Lucas yells as they rush in.

Since they have the biggest group, the room is quite big with more beds and extra supplies. The walls are a light red, not bright so they get a headache and not dark so it doesn't dampen the mood. The food they have is mall food. 

Their exploring is interrupted by a knock on the door. When Jonathan opens it Robin comes rushing in and checks everything's out, pouting when she sees it's bigger than hers. All the others soon join and a note appears in Will's hand.

Some of the other doors are unlocked, they will be have names like Pool, Movie Room, Laundry etc. You may use these when you are taking a break. All I ask is you don't make a big mess. Once again, DO NOT open the locked doors. And ignore the voices. You should go back to reacting now.

-Your friend.

"Is anyone else getting the creeps from the fact that they say to ignore the voices"' Robin asks sheepishly. A few of her friends nod.

They head back down the hall and settle down in front of the tv.

Max presses play.

Chapter Text

Next we see Steve scooping ice-cream at Scoops Ahoy.

Steve: Alrighty, one scoop of chocolate. That's a buck-twenty-five.

He hands the ice-cream to the girl across the counter.

Steve: Anything else?

The customer hands over the money and Steve looks at the shirt she's wearing.

Steve: Ooh, Purdue. Fancy.

Girl: Yeah, I'm excited.

Steve groans.

"Not this."

Steve: Yeah, you know, I considered it, Purdue, but then I was like, you know what? I really think I need some real-life experience, you know, before I hit college, see what it feels like.

"Oh, really?" Dustin asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut up."

Steve: Kinda, like, I don't know, see what it's like to earn a working-man's wage you know? Uh... 

The register beeps  furiously, pulling Steve's attention away.

Steve: Oh, I'm sorry.

He punches a few buttons.

Steve: I think that's, like, really important.

The girl smiles awkwardly.

Girl: Yeah, totally.

Steve: Yeah, anyway, this was, like, so fun. We should kind of like, you know, I don't know, maybe hang out this weekend or --

"Uh oh" Max teases. 

Steve glares at her and then Robin, who's trying very hard not to giggle.

The girl drops some coins.

Steve: Oh, sorry about that. Uh... I don't know. Maybe next weekend or--

Girl: Yeah, I'm busy.

Steve: Oh, that's cool. I'm-- I'm working here next weekend, so... the following weekend's better for me.

"God, Steve," Eddie looks at his friend, "When did you become so awkward?"

Steve doesn't answer.

Girl: No. I'm sorry, I can't. 

Her friends behind her chuckle.

Girl: Okay. Thanks.

Steve: I- This.. my first day here.

The group of girls walk off.

Steve sighs.

"Oof," Robin exclaims, holding her gut like she's been punched. 

"Robin. Please stop."

In the background, Robin pulls up some sort of board.

Robin: And another one bites the dust.

Steve turns  around. On the board are two sides, YOU RULE and YOU SUCK. So far YOU RULE has no tally marks. Robin puts a mark on the YOU SUCk side.

Robin: You are oh-for-six, Popeye.

Steve: Yeah, yeah, I can count.

Robin: You know that means you suck.

Steve: Yep, I can read, too.

Robin: Since when?

Nancy turns to face the pair. 

"You guys are strange." 

Robin laughs and reaches over to ruffle Steve's hair.

"I'm just kidding, I love him." 

"Not the hair, Robin!"

Steve: It's this stupid hat. I am telling you, it is totally blowing my best feature.

Robin: Yeah, company policy is a real drag. You know, it's a crazy idea, but have you considered... telling the truth?

Steve: Oh, you mean, that I couldn't even get into Tech and my douchebag dad's trying to teach me a lesson?  I make three bucks an hour, and I have no future? That truth? 

Robin smiles before spotting something behind Steve's back. She points.

Robin: Hey, twelve o'clock.

Steve turns to see another group of girls coming up to the counter.

Steve: Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Okay... Uh... I'm going in. Okay? And you know what?

He takes off his hat and chucks it away.

Steve: Screw company policy.

Robin: Oh, my God, you're a whole new man.

Steve: Right? Ooh. 

Robin laughs and Steve turns to the customers.

Steve: (loudly) AHOY, LADIES!

The group of girls jump, being scared.

Steve: Didn't see you there. Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavour with me? I'll be your captain, I'm Steve Harrington. 

The girls laugh.

Steve: Can I get you guys a little taste of the Cherries Jubilee? No? Anybody? Banana Boat? Four people, four  spoons? 

Robin scoffs and puts another mark on YOU SUCK.

"Damn, what happened to King Steve?" Jonathan asks, shocked by what he just saw on the screen. Girls rejecting Steve Harrington? No way in hell.

"Ugh, please don't call me that. King Steve is dead and buried."

We then go to MELVALD'S GENERAL STORE where Hopper is practicing for his heart-to-heart.

Hopper: I know this is a difficult conversation to have... but I hope you know that I... care about you very much. And I know that you--

Joyce: Eye  contact. 

Hopper sighs and Joyce nods at him encouragingly. 

Hopper: And I know that you... both care about each other very much. This does not sound like me at all. 

Joyce: Just keep going. Come on. 

Hopper takes a deep breath.

Hopper: (uncomfortably) Which is why I think it's important to establish these boundaries... moving forward... 

He looks down at the paper in his hands.

Joyce: No looking. You know this. Come one.

Hopper: ... so we can build an environment... uh... where we... all feel comfortable and trusted and open... 

Joyce: "Share our feelings..."

Hopper: ... to sharing our feelings-- This isn't gonna work.

He stands up.

Hopper: Um, it's not gonna work. It's not gonna work.

Joyce: Yes, it will! I promise. Oh, come on.

Hopper moves to stand next to Joyce.

Hopper: Maybe I'll just kill Mike.

"Hop!" El hits her dad gently and the leg.

"Sorry, it was just a joke!"

Hopper: I'm the  chief of police, I could cover it up.

Joyce pats his hand.

Joyce: You got this.

Hopper focuses on Joyce holding his hand and smiles lightly. He looks her in the eye while music plays in the background.

Hopper: You wanna have dinner tonight?

"Whoo! And here goes Hopper, shooting his chance!"

"Shut up, Sinclair."

"Sorry, chief."

Hopper: You can give me some more pointers. 

Joyce: Oh, I... Um... Um, I... I have plans.

Dustin winces and Max hits him on the head.

"Shut up."

Hopper: Okay, sure. 

The door bell rings, saving them from the awkwardness.

Joyce hops down form the counter she was sitting on.

Joyce: Oh, a customer. Hey, Carol!

Carol: Oh, hi, Joyce!

Hopper watches Joyce talk to Carol with a slightly sad look on his face.

Hopper coughs awkwardly and Joyce pats his hand. 

"Sorry."

"It's fine." 

The camera then shows us the party hiking up a hill. 

Lucas: Aren't we high enough?

Dustin: Cerebro works best at a hundred meters.

Max: You know, I'm pretty sure people in Utah have telephones.

Dustin: Yeah, but Suzie's Mormon.

Lucas: Oh, shit. She doesn't have  electricity? 

Max: Oh, that's the Amish.

Will: What are Mormons?

Dustin: Super religious white people. They have electricity and cars and stuff, but... since I'm not Mormon, her parents would never approve. It's all a bit... Shakespearean. 

Max: Shakespearean? 

Dustin: Yeah. Like Romeo and Juliet. 

Max: Right.

Dustin: Star-crossed lovers.

Max: I got it.

"Is she really that great?" Eddie wonders aloud. Basically the whole room nods their heads.

Mike stops halfway up the hill.

Mike: Hey, guys!

The group stops and turns towards him and Eleven.

Mike: This is fun and all, but, uh...

He taps his  watch.

El: I have to go home.

Dustin: We're almost there.

Mike: Sorry, man. Curfew. Come on, let's go.

Mike takes Eleven's hand and starts pulling her down the hill.

Eleven: Good luck.

Dustin checks his watch.

Dustin: Curfew at 4:00?

Lucas: They're lying.

Will: It's been like this all summer.

Max: It's romantic. 

Will: It's gross.

Dustin: It's bullshit. I just got home.

He watches them walk down the hill.

Dustin: Well, their loss, right?

"Come on, that was a dick move, Wheeler." Eddie frowns.

"It's not that bad! I just wanted to spend time with my girlfriend!" Mike protests, but as he looks around at the party's annoyed and disappointed faces he feels something akin to guilt.

Dustin: Onwards and upwards! Suzie awaits!

Max and Lucas both sigh, following their friend. Will turns to follow them too, but freezes as he grabs his neck.

"Again?" Thats's so close together." Max says.

Will turns back around, looking for the presence he feels.

Dustin: Will, come on!

Will promptly follows the others up the hill.

"Will? Why didn't you tell us something was wrong?" Lucas asks, a note of hurt in his voice.

The boy winces.

"I didn't want to worry you." 

"But we care about you and would've wanted to help."

"I know." 

In the grass, we see a bunch of rats heading in the same direction. The camera shows us what looks like an abandoned work house, with hundreds of rats entering.

The group watches the screen intently.

All the rats seem to be heading to one location, but where? They stop in the basement where the other rats are squealing on the floor, in pain. One of the rats explodes, leaving a gooey pile of flesh.

Several members of the party look green, while the others are deathly pale.

More of the rats explode.

We next see Mrs. Wheeler at the pool, swimming. Billy is sitting on his Life Guard chair when he spots her, taking off his sunglasses to get a better view.

"OH GROSS! EW!" Nancy exclaims.

Max turns to the older girl in horror.

"Nancy, I'm so sorry."

Billy blows his whistle and a bunch of people suddenly jump in the pool, splashing and playing with their friends. Mrs. Wheeler hops out of the pool and Billy meets her.

Billy:  Looking good out there, Mrs. Wheeler.

Mrs. Wheeler: Thank you.

Billy hands her a towel.

Billy: Perfect form.

Mrs. Wheeler: Well... your form is amazing. 

Billy chuckles.

Mrs. Wheeler: I'm sorry, I mean, I... I've seen you... uh, teaching... lessons. Swimming lessons. 

Billy: You know, I could, uh... I could teach you if you like. 

"Hang on, what?"

Mrs. Wheeler: Oh.

Billy: I know all the styles. Freestyle. Butterfly. Breaststroke.

Mrs. Wheeler drops her towel and they both bend down to pick it up.

Billy: You okay? 

Mrs. Wheeler: I didn't think you... I din't think you taught adults.

Max scowls.

"He doesn't"

Billy: Well, I offer more, uh... advanced lessons to select clientele. 

Mrs. Wheeler: Oh. 

Billy: Come to think of it, there is a good pool out at a Motel 6 on Cornwallis.

Mike pales.

"Is he...?"

Max nods her head slightly.

"I think he is."

Billy: It's very quiet. You know, very private. 

Mrs. Wheeler: Mm.

Billy: Shall we say tonight? Eight o'clock? 

"Nancy, Mum's not actually going to, right?"

Nancy takes a shaky breath.

"Right."

Mrs. Wheeler: I'm sorry. I can't.

The group lets out a collective sigh.

"Oh, thank God."

Billy: Can't what? Have fun? 

Mrs. Wheeler laughs.

Billy: Mrs. Wheeler!

Mrs. Wheeler: No. I... I... I just, uh... I don't think I need any lessons.

Billy: Oh, you see, I think you do. I just don't think you've had the right teacher.

Mrs. Wheeler: I, uh...

Billy: It will be the workout of your life.

"Ew, gross." Robin shudders.

"I do not get it." El tilts her head. Joyce looks down at her.

"Let's keep it that way." 

Mrs. Wheeler looks up at him and smiles like she's considering it.

"Oh, god. She's actually going to do it." 

The camera then shows the party, Dustin drops his bag on the grass. 

Dustin: Made it.

Max: Yeah, only took five hours.

Will: Why couldn't we just play DnD? 

Lucas: I'm so thirsty. 

Lucas shrugs off his bag and opens the  water, drinking what they had left. Max watches, unimpressed. 

Max: Did you seriously just drink the rest of our water? 

Lucas' eyes widen and he quickly spits some back in, handing it to Max with a dorky smile.

Max rolls her eyes.

"God, you're such a dork."

Max shakes her head and walks off. 

We are then shown the party assembling Cerebro, which seems to take a lot of time.

Dustin: Pretty, impressive, right? 

Max: Yeah.

Dustin: Now, you ready to meet my love? 

Max: Okay, sure.

Will: Yeah.

Dustin switches on the radio.

Dustin: Suzie, this is Dustin. Do you copy? Over.

There's no answer.

Dustin: One sec. She's  probably... She's still there. Suzie... this is Dustin. Do you copy? Over. 

The rest of the party looks thoroughly unimpressed.

Dustin: I'm sure she's there. It's just--

Lucas: Yeah.

Dustin: You know, maybe she's like, busy or--

Lucas: Yeah.

Dustin: It's around dinnertime. 

Lucas: Mmm.

Max: Yep.

Dustin: Around here. Suzie, do you copy? This is Dustin. Over.

Dustin tries again multiple times. 

Next we see Joyce pulling into her driveway at home. She opens the door and lets her children know that she's home. When there's no answer she gets out some leftovers, warms them up, poor some wine and turns on the tv. As she's watching the show playing she has a flashback to when she was watching it with Bob. They're curled up on the couch and giggling. Bob says they're funny and Joyce agrees. He says he wishes they would get back together already. Joyce agrees one again. 

Present day Joyce digs into her dinner.

Joyce sniffles and wipes her nose, even though she's moved on, it still hurts.

Hopper wraps and arm around her and kisses her head, guessing her thoughts.

The camera then show us Bob's drawing on the fridge, it's magnet shaking. Suddenly everything on the fridge comes off. 

Next we see Nancy cleaning up after a long day at work when the phone rings. She answers it.

Nancy: Hawkins Post. 

A woman on the other end of the line says something and Nancy writes it down on a pad of paper. Something about... diseased rats?

We are once back again in Eleven's room who is making out with Mike. Music is playing in the background.  Hopper is laying in bed, smoking a cigarette and going over his speech. 

He knocks on the door and asks if he can come in. Mike and Eleven are sitting on the bed, looking confused. Hopper pulls up a chair and sits in front of them. There's an awkward silence while the music plays in the background. Hopper turns it off quickly. 

Hopper: Um... What I, uh... needed to say to you... What I wanted to say to you... is that, um, 

Mike: Uh-oh, I think we're in trouble. 

Eleven and Mike both laugh.

Hopper: No. No one's in trouble. I just um... 

Mike reach over and whispers something in El's ear, causing her to giggle.

There's an outburst in the room.

"Come on!"

"Mike that wasn't cool."

"Dick move, Wheeler."

Hopper: You know what? Your mum called. 

Mike: What? 

Hopper: Yeah. She needs you home right away.

Mike: Is everything okay? 

Hopper: No, I don't think so. It's your grandma.

"Hop!"

"Hey, I only did what he deserved!"

Hopper takes Mike out to his car.

Mike: Is she dead?

Hopper: No.

Mike: Did she fall again?

Hopper: No. 

Mike: Does she have cancer? 

Hopper: No.

Mike: Then I don't understand. What's wrong with Nana?

The open the doors and get in.

Hopper: Nothing! There's nothing wrong with Nana!

Mike: What? 

Hopper: But... there's something very wrong with this thing between you and El.

Mike: Oh, you lying piece of shit!

He goes to get out but Hopper locks the doors.

Mike: You're crazy!

Hopper: Crazy? You want to see real crazy? You disrespect me again. Okay? Here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna drive you home. And I'm gonna speak... and you're going to listen. And then, maybe... maybe by the end of it, maybe if you're lucky, maybe... I will continue to allow you to date my daughter. Nod if you understand! 

Mike nods quickly. Hopper starts the car and they drive off. 

We go back to the party, now late at night. They've been trying to reach Suzie for hours.

Dustin: ...do you copy? This is Dustin. Over.

Once again there's no answer. Dustin tries again. The rest of the group are laying on the ground, staring off into space. 

Dustin: Suzie--

Max: Dustin, come one! She's not there!

Dustin: She's there all right? She'll pick up.

Will: Maybe Cerebro doesn't work.

Lucas: Or maybe Suzie doesn't exist.

"Lucas," Nancy frowns. "That wasn't cool."

The boy winces.

"I know. Sorry Dustin." 

Dustin smiles a little.

"It's okay, Lucas. She's real and awesome and that's all that matters."

Dustin: She exists! 

Lucas: She's a genius and she's hotter than Phoebe Cates? No girl is that perfect.

Max sits up and looks at him. 

Max: Is that so?

Lucas realises he fucked up and sits up as well.

Lucas: I mean... you're perfect. I mean, like, per--  perfect in your own way. In your special-- your own special way.

Max laughs at Lucas' discomfort.

Max: Relax, I was teasing. I'm obviously perfect and Dustin's obviously lying.

"You too, Max?"

"Sorry, Dustin."

"Like I said, it's okay."

Max stands up, offering Lucas her hand.

Max: Come on, Don  Juan.

The start walking down the hill.

Dustin: Where are you going?

Max: Home.

Will stands up.

Dustin: Well... guess it's just you and me, Byers.

Will: Um... it's late. Sorry.

Will sighs.

"I'm sorry, Dustin, I would of really liked to stay but Mum was still a bit paranoid." 

Dustin gets a look of realisation on his face.

"Oh. Oh, that's okay. I probably should of guessed."

Will: Maybe tomorrow we can play DnD. Or something fun. Like we used to? 

Dustin: Yeah, sure.

Will: Welcome home. 

Will runs down the hill, leaving Dustin alone.

Dustin: Yeah. Welcome home.

Lucas reaches across Max to give his friend a hug.

"Sorry, that was really shitty of us. It was your first day back."

"Yeah, we're really sorry."

"Sorry, Dustin."

Dustin smiles at his friends.

"It's okay, it's in the past. Don't dwell on it."

Suddenly to radio starts up. Dustin falls over himself trying to reach it.

Dustin: Suzie? Suzie, is that you?

Dustin pays more attention and there seems to be a... man speaking Russian? It's some sort of code? 

We see a man sitting at a desk, who seems to be the one speaking over the radio.

Man: (in Russian) The silver cat feeds-- when blue meets yellow in the west-- A trip to China sounds nice-- If you tread lightly-- The week is long--

Behind the man the scientist from the start walks past, entering a long hall way. He opens a door which leads to a room with other scientists. He opens another door which leads to the laser room.  A scientists beside him speaks.

Scientist: Beautiful, isn't it? 

The lead scientist nods as he observes the laser work. 

Max turns towards the Scoops Troop.

"What does the code mean?"

Robin gasps and presses a finger to her lips.

"Spoilers!"

We then see Mrs. Wheeler who appears to be getting ready to go out. She takes off her wedding ring.

Everyone in the room goes quiet.

"I can't believe she's actually going to cheat on Dad." Mike whispers.

"Me either." Nancy replies.

Max looks very disappointed with the behaviour of her step brother. 

Just as she's about to walk out the door she sees her husband asleep on his LAY-Z-BOY with Holly curled up on his lap. She's reconsidering what she's doing. 

The camera then shows Billy, who's speeding down the road in his car. He looks in the mirror and practices for Mrs. Wheeler.

Billy: Hey Karen. You don't mind if I call you Karen, do you? Good.

Suddenly something hits his front window, sending his car spinning off the road.

The group gasps.

"Oh God."

"Holy shit."

"What the fuck."

It comes to a stop in front of the abandoned work shed. Billy groans and starts hitting the car.

Billy: Oh no. No. Piece of shit. 

He winces and touches a wound on his head.

Billy: Shit. Damn it!

He drags himself out to check the damage. It's pretty bad. 

Billy: Ah, sit. 

He kicks the car.

Billy: Piece of Shit! 

He notices strange goo on his window where the thing hit him. 

Billy: What the hell? 

A shadow screeches and runs past, scaring Billy.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God."

"HOLY SHIT!"

"Once again, what the fuck?"

There's a  strange chittering coming from everywhere.

Billy: Who's there? Hey! I said, who's there? 

Something grabs his ankle and drags him toward the entrance of the work shed. It bags him into a wall and finally down the stairs. Billy's screams can be heard for miles. The screen goes black.

"Um..." Max takes a breath. "I guess that's the end of the episode."

Everyone in the room is clearly shaken from what they saw on the screen.

Joyce class her hands.

"Okay, everyone! Let's... let's break for ten before starting the next one."

Nancy immediately grabs Mike and heads to a more secluded area while the others move towards Max.

Chapter Text

"Max, are you okay?" Will gently asks, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

After a tense ending to the episode, everyone was clearly shaken up and decided to take a break, the majority of the group moving towards Max.

Max takes a shaky breath.

"I mean, yeah. Well, he's an absolute asshole but he's still my step brother, y'know? And I'm not sure I'm ready to see how he got flayed. But yeah, I'm fine."

The group look at each other sadly, then at Will. He sighs.

"Max, can I talk to you?"

"Hmm? Oh, sure."

He gently guides his friend away from the group and sits her down at a table. Max looks at him curiously.

"What's up?"

Will mentally prepares himself for the conversation he's about to have.

"Given what's happening at the moment, we'll probably see some of Billy's point of view. I just wanted to prepare you for what you might see..."

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As soon as the episode ended, Nancy takes her little brother by the shoulders, steers him away from the group and pushes him into the hall way.

They stand there in silence for a minute or two before Mike speaks up.

"I can't believe she's actually going to do it. I mean, I know we aren't exactly a perfect family but- cheating?"

Nancy lets out a regretful sighs and pulls Mike in for a hug.

"I know. I never though she would do it either. But, hey, given what's happened to Billy, he might not even show up. Keep that in mind, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go see if Max is okay?"

Mike lets out a groan.

Nancy rolls her eyes.

"Hey, I know you may not like her, but she's still your friend."

"Fine, fine."

The younger boy gently prises himself from his sisters grip and exits the hallway. He turns back.

"Are you coming?"

Nancy smiles lightly.

"I think I'll stay here for a bit."

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Robin anxiously bounces her knee, eyeing the hallway where Nancy and Mike disappeared into. 

Are they okay? Should she go check on them? She knows it's rough and wants to help, but what if she screws up things even more?

Steve gently puts his hand on her leg, keeping her still. She looks over at him.

"I'm sure they're fine, Robin."

She sighs.

"I know, but like, their mum considered cheating. That must be rough. And I know no one's family is perfect but, I don't know, I always though the Wheelers were as close to perfect as anyone can be and now, well, I don't know what to think. I want to go help but what if I make things worse with my stupid rambling and mess up whatever bit of friendship Nancy and I have-"

"Robin!"

"Sorry, sorry."

"There's no need to apologise."

Steve smiles warmly at her and pulls her in for a hug.

"Look, Mike just left, I'll go talk to him, why don't you go talk to Nancy, okay?"

Robin lets out a nervous chuckle.

"Okay."

She stands up and makes her way over to the hall when a note appears in her hand.

You got  this!

-Your friend.

That's strange... why would their kidnapper encourage her...?

"Um, thanks, strange person. Thanks..." 

She chucks the note aside and walks into the hall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The door to the hall opens and Nancy quickly wipes away her tears, not keen on anyone seeing her cry. She looks towards the door and Robin's standing there awkwardly, like she's not sure if she can come in. Nancy shakes her head in amusement.

"Come in, Robin. It's okay."

"Right, right." 

The girl quickly shuts the door on moves to stand next to Nancy, hesitantly grabbing her hand in support.

"Um... are-are you okay?"

Nancy looks up at her friend.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

'Well, I mean, it's just, given what we saw it's okay to not be okay, y'know? And nobodies family is perfect, God knows mine isn't, so it's okay. None of us are judging you, I can tell you that. The decisions that your mum makes doesn't define you y'know and hey, she might not have even done it. Oh God, I'm rambling again aren't I? Sorry, sorry, sorry-"

"Robin! It's okay."

Robin looks at Nancy.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I like listening to you talk."

Nancy chuckles at the pure shock on Robin's face.

'You-you like listening to me talk?"

"Mhmm."

Robin then gives Nancy a smile that's bright enough to light up even the darkest of rooms.

"Thanks, for cheering me up Rob, I think we better go back to the others, now."

Nancy lets go of her friends hand and walks out, smiling to herself.

Joyce then tells everyone they better start the next episode and everyone goes back to their original seats except Nancy and Max. Nancy, sitting next to Robin and Steve and Max sitting with Will.

Just before they start the episode, Nancy notes that Max looks shaken up about something.

Chapter Text

The screen fades from black to show us the inside of the abandoned workhouse where Billy was last seen. We focus on the stairs to the  basement. Suddenly Billy jumps out, screaming.

The group jump, some of the younger ones screaming.

Max pales. She knows what might happen, Will prepared her for this.

Billy's blood from his head wound has covered most of his face, his whole body is covered in sweat. In the background, a creature snarls. Billy quickly evacuates the work house and runs to his car, opening the door and getting in. He drives off in a hurry, trying to escape whatever might be chasing him. He speeds down the road and pulls up at the nearest public telephone box, hurriedly punching numbers. He pants as he waits for an answer. A female voice speaks.

Female: 911, what's your emergency? 

Billy hesitates as he has  flash backs to what happened. We see him get dragged down, screaming. We see rats follow him. A long fleshy tentacle covers his mouth and pumps something into his body. He screams even more. 

Max covers her mouth with her hand.

"Oh my God."

Will gently places a hand on her back and she realises he's also shaking. It must be horrible for him to see this happen to another person.

Back in the phone booth the light  above Billy flickers and the voice on the phone distorts.

Female: Hello? Is some one there? Hello?

The light suddenly goes bald and Billy looks around in horror. He puts the phone down and walks out. He seems to be in some sort of... alternate dimension? There's vines covering the ground and little particles of who knows what floating around.

Several people in the room shudder.

Erica turns towards Robin.

"Is that the Upside Down?"

The older girl nods her head.

"Oh my God."

Covered by the fog is what seems to be silhouettes of people.

Billy: What do you want? 

There's no answer. The keep moving towards him. 

Billy: Hey! I said, what do you want? 

They move closer.

Billy: I said, what do you want?

Red lightning clashes behind him. The leader of the group walks forwards towards Billy. As we come into focus we see that it's... him? What?

There's various noises of confusion throughout the room. 

There's a thunderclap and the screen goes dark.

CHAPTER TWO: THE MALL RATS appears on the  screen in red.

The camera shows us Hopper's place, El pacing out the front. She seems to be looking for some one. She lets out a frustrated sigh and heads inside. She heads straight to the phone. Hopper is at the kitchen counter.

Hopper: Hey. Is everything okay? 

El punches in some numbers.

El: Yes. 

We then see the phone ringing at the Wheeler's residence. Mrs. Wheeler answers it. 

Mrs. Wheeler: Hello, this is the Wheelers. 

El speaks on the other side.

Mrs. Wheeler: Yeah, just a sec.

She lowers the phone.

Mrs. Wheeler: MIKE! PHONE! 

We see Mike in the basement nervously pacing.

Mike: OKAY!

He walks over to the phone and picks it up.

Mike: Hello? 

We're back at Hoppers cabin. Eleven walks into her room and closes the door.

El: It's 9:32. Where are you? 

Mike: Sorry, I-- I was just about to call. I, um... can't see you today. 

El: What? Why not? 

"Because Hopper made me." Mike grumbles.

Lucas hits him on the arm. 

Mike: It's my Nana. She's very sick. 

El: But Hop said that your Nana was okay, that it was a false alarm.

Back at the Wheeler's Mike mouths "Shit"

Mike: Yeah. That's... what... we thought it was at first, but then she took a real turn for the worse.

"Nice cover-up." Erica nods her head approvingly.

Mike rolls his eyes at her.

"Thanks."

"Your welcome."

El: Oh. 

Mike: Yeah. We think she might... die.

Up stairs Mrs. Wheeler is listening to the phone call.

Mrs. Wheeler: What?

"Uh oh."

"That's not gonna go well."

"Shut up."

Mike lowers the phone.

Mike: MUM! GET OFF THE PHONE! HOW MANY TIMES?!

At Hopper's Eleven gets startled by the screaming.

A few people in the room snicker.

Mrs. Wheeler: DID NANA CALL?! 

Mike: NO, MUM! JUST GET OFF THE PHONE! 

Mrs. Wheeler looks very confused. She sighs and hangs up. 

Mike's voice returns to normal as he goes back to speaking to El.

Mike: Sorry about that. 

El: Was that your mum?

Mike: Yeah. She's so upset, she's making no sense. Because we have to go to the nursing home. To see Nana.

Eleven looks very confused. 

El: You can come over after?

Hopper sighs.

"El, even though his Nana wasn't actually sick, you don't tell people to come over if some one they care about is sick."

El blushes.

"Right. Sorry."

Mike: No! I mean I-- I just think... I need to be alone today. With my... feelings?

Everyone laughs at how awkward he seems to be.

El: Do you lie?

"Oh," Eddie laughs. "She's onto you man."

"Please, shut up."

Mike: What? No. Friends don't lie. 

He lowers the phone again.

Mike: What, Mum? 

His mum definitely isn't calling him again.

He turns back to the phone.

Mike: My mum's calling me. Better go. Talk to you tomorrow. Miss you already. Bye!

He quickly hangs up the phone, leaving El looking very, very confused. 

Mike bangs his head again the phone and El walks out of her room.

"Well that was a train wreck." Dustin says.

"Yep."

"Mhmm."

"No shit."

El puts the phone back and walks to her room.

Hopper: Hey? What's going on? 

El slams the door. Hopper slowly starts to smile. 

We then see him in his car, speeding down the road, singing along to a song.

Hopper: And they say, you don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the  wind. You don't pull the mask on that old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim. 

He pulls up the MELVALD'S GENERAL STORE and opens to the door where Joyce is at the counter.

Hopper: Emotions have been shared. Boundaries have been set. Order... has been... restored.

He walks into the shop.

Joyce: Wait, wait, it worked?

Hopper: Uh, this is the first day in six long, excruciating months that they will not be seeing each other. 

Steve raises his eyebrows.

"Whoa, six months? Everyday?"

"Mhmm." Hopper nods his head. 

Steve turns to the pair.

"You should probably spend some time apart.

Hopper: Yes, I think it worked! Yes! 

Joyce applauds him as he laughs. 

Hopper: No, stop! It's all you! I'm a puppet, you're the master. 

Joyce: So you remembered everything? 

Hopper: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I had to improvise a little bit, you know? 

"A little bit, huh?"

"Yeah, just a little bit."

Hopper: It turns out, getting to Mike, now that was the key. 

Joyce: And you didn't yell at him? 

Hopper: I'll... tell you everything over dinner. 

"You are persistent, aren't you?"

"Jon!"

"Sorry, Mum."

Hopper: I was thinking, you know, Enzo's tonight, 7:00. Hey, before you say no, I'd-- I'd like to make one thing crystal clear. This is not a date.

"It totally is." Nancy whispers to Robin who snickers.

Joyce: Wait, a date? You never said anything about a date. 

Hopper: I know, I didn't say anything about a  date. I just wanted to clear it up in case there was any confusion on your part. 

Joyce: There's not.

Hopper: Great. It's just two friends getting together for a nice dinner. I mean, we've earned it, haven't we? 

Joyce: I can't be out late. 

Hopper: You'll be home by 9:00.

Joyce: 8:00.

Hopper: 8:30, I'll pick you up. 

Joyce: I'll meet you there.

Hopper: 7:00. Enzo's. Meeting there. Deal.

"Damn chief, you got moves."

"Jonathan!"

"Sorry!"

Hopper's radio turns on.

Powell: Hey,  Chief, you copy? Chief! 

He holds is up to his mouth.

Hopper: Yeah, I'm a little busy right now. 

The camera the shows us Powell, who's outside a building in the middle of a protest.

Powell: Yeah, well, I'm busier here. You wanna keep your job tomorrow, I think you need to get your ass to Town Hall. Now. 

Hopper sighs and puts his radio away.

Hopper: Duty calls. 

As he's walking out he walks past a white board. All the magnets fall off.

Hopper: Oh! Jeez. Cleanup on aisle five.

He walks out the door.

Joyce: Bye.

Hopper: See you tonight.

Joyce walks over to where the magnets are and tries putting them back. They fall again. They seem to have lost their magnetism. 

We then see Nancy pouring coffee at work, looking impatient. She looks at the pad of paper on the bench which has DISEASE RATS underlined. She accidentally over fills the cup.

Nancy: Shit, shit.

Bruce: Oopsie daisy. Careful there, Nancy Drew. Careful. 

The rest of the room laughs. 

Bruce: Pouring coffee's a tough gig, girl. 

"Ugh." Robin rolls her eyes. "It's okay Nance, ignore them."

Nancy smiles thinly and nods her head. 

Nancy opens the door to her boss's office and places the  coffee down.

Nancy: And here you go, two creams, two sugars.

Tom: Thanks, sweetheart. 

Nancy: Of course. Tom?

Tom: Hm?

Nancy: I really hate to ask this, but do you think one of the other girls could run and grab lunch today? 

Tom: They're needed at their desks.

Nancy: I know, I just, um... I really need to go to the doctor. 

Tom takes a sip of his coffee. 

Nancy: I've been having some... um... girl problems. 

Tom coughs nervously and nods his head. 

All the girls in the room laugh.

"Ah," Robin wipes away a tear. "Works every time."

Nancy opens the door to the dark room.

Jonathan: Oh, come one! The light!

Nancy: Let's go! 

The hurry out of work.

Jonathan: Look, I just... I just don't know if this is such a good idea anymore. 

Nancy: Really? Because I feel like it's the best idea I've had all summer. 

Jonathan: Look, all I'm saying is, what harm is there is asking? 

Nancy: The harm in asking is that Tom will say no. We ask for forgiveness, not permission.

"That's right!"

Nancy: And if the story's as good as I think it's gonna be, then tom won't care. In  fact, he'll thank us. 

Jonathan: Or the old lady is nuts and the story blows up in our face and Tom fires us. 

Nancy: And then we never have to work at this shit hole again. 

They open the doors and get in the car. 

Next we see an overview of Starcourt Mall. We focus on Scoops Ahoy where Robin dully had her customer's their ice creams. 

Robin: Have a nice day. 

They walk off and Dustin comes up tp the counter with a bright smile.

"Aw, look Dustybun, our first meeting!" Robin coos.

"Oh, yeah!" 

Dustin: Hi.

Robin: Hi. 

Dustin: I'm Dustin. 

Robin: I'm Robin. 

Dustin: Pleasure to meet you. Uh, is-- is he here?

Robin: Is who here? 

Suddenly Steve slams open the back door. 

Steve: Henderson.

They both laugh.

Steve: Henderson! He's back! He's back! 

Dustin: I'm back! You got the job!

Steve: I got the job! 

They then both do a very complicated handshake with too many gestures to keep up with. 

The room bursts into laughter.

"Aw, it's so cute." Nancy says through laughter.

The adults and Jonathan look very confused at the type of relationship Steve has with Dustin. Steve Harrington, soft on kids? No way.

Once the group calms down Robin wipes aways fake tears.

"Ah, such a beautiful sight to see a mother and a son reuniting." She says. 

That sends them off again.

Robin watches on in amusement. 

Robin: How many children are you friends with? 

Steve gestures to Robin with a tight smile as if to say, "This Bitch.".

Next Dustin and Steve are sitting down and catching up, Dustin eating ice cream.

Steve: No, no way. Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No.

Dustin: Mm-hmm. Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth. 

Steve: Wow. Yeah, that's great. Proud of you, man. That's ro-- that's kinda romantic. That's like... wow.

Dustin: Hm. So do you really just get to eat as much of this as you  want? 

He gestures to the ice cream. 

Steve: Yeah. I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in shape for the ladies.

Robin is cleaning a table nearby and hears this.

Robin: Yeah, and how's that working out for you? 

Steve: Ignore her.

There's giggles through the room.

Dustin: She seems cool.

Robin gasps. 

"Aw, Dusty, thank you! You're so sweet."

Dustin snickers.

"You're welcome."

Steve: She's nott.

"Steve! I feel betrayed!"

"Shut up, no you don't."

More chuckles.

Steve: So, where are the other knuckleheads? 

Dustin: They ditched me yesterday. 

Steve: No.

Dustin: My first day back. Can you believe that shit?

Steve: Whoa. Seriously? 

Dustin: I swear to God. Mm. They're gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don't get to  share in my glory. 

Steve: Glory? What glory? 

Dustin slides closer.

Dustin: So, last night, we're trying to get in contact with Suzie... 

Steve: Oh, mm. 

Dustin: Mm-hmm?

Steve: Mm-hmm. 

Dustin: And, uh...

He looks around to make sure nobodies listening.

Dustin: (whispers) I intercepted a secret Russian communication.

Steve: What?

Dustin: (louder) Uh... I intercepted a secret Russian communication. 

Steve: Just speak louder.

Dustin: I intercepted a secret Russian communication! 

Everyone around them turns to looks.

More laughs in the room.

Steve: Jeez, shh. Yeah, okay, that's what I thought you said. What--what does that mean?

Dustin: It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American heroes. 

Steve: Huh.

Dustin: Mm-hmm? 

Steve: American heroes. 

Dustin: Just think, you could have all the ladies you want and more. 

Steve: More? I like more.

More? Eddie raises his eyebrow. 

Dustin: Mm-hmm. 

Steve: What's the catch?

Dustin: No catch, I just need your help. 

Steve: With what?

"Home work, Mum." Robin says in her best Dustin impression causing the room to Burts out laughing and Steve to hit her upside the head.

Dustin brings out a book.

Dustin: Translation. 

Next we see Max practicing with her skate board on the street. She tries a trick and slips, sending her skate board rolling away. Some one picks it up. It's El. She walks over and hands it to Max. 

El: Hi. 

Max: Hi? 

El: Can we talk? 

The camera then shows us El sitting on Max's bed, Max pacing.

El: And then he  said he-- he missed me. And then he just hung up.

Max sighs wistfully.

"This is only the start to an awesome friendship."

Max: He's a piece of shit.

"Max!"

"What? You are!"

"Fuck off."

"Micheal Wheeler watch you're language!"

"Sorry Steve."

El: What? 

Max: Mike doesn't have jack shit to do today, and his Nana obviously isn't sick. I guarantee you, him and Lucas are playing Atari right now. 

El: But friends don't lie. 

Max: Yeah, well, boyfriends lie. All the time. 

We then cut to the Wheeler's house where Mike is freaking out.

Mike: She know I'm lying. She knows I'm lying. 

Lucas: I don't even understand. Why lie?

Mike: Hopper. He threatened me. 

Will appears to be setting up a DnD  campaign.

Lucas: Did he say he'd kill you?

Mike: What? No. 

Lucas: So then, what's the big deal.

Everyone in the room looks at Lucas in slight alarm while the people that were at the house when Billy beat up Steve wince.

Mike: The big deal is if I don't do what he says, then he'll stop me from seeing El. Like, permanently. You don't understand, Lucas. He's crazy. He's lost his mind.

Lucas sighs and shakes his head.

Will: Hey, guys, I'm almost set up here.

Lucas: I had no choice, Lucas. I really had no choice.

Max looks over at him with a raised eye brow.

"You could've just said you didn't want to hang out."

Lucas: I just wish you'd consulted me, because the way you handled this, you're in deep shit.

Eddie nods his head.

"Wise words from Sinclair."

We the see Max sit next to El.

Max: You're going to stop calling him. You're going to ignore his calls. As far as you're concerned, he doesn't exist.

"Hey!"

Max shrugs.

El: Doesn't exist? 

Max: He treated you like garbage. You're gonna treat him like garbage. Give him a taste of his own medicine. 

Mike looks over at Max in frustration.

"What are you teaching her?"

Max pulls herself up straight and looks him in the eye.

"How to be independent. She can't spend the rest of her life always thinking you're gonna be there."

El: Give him the medicine. 

Max: Mm-hmm. And if he doesn't fix this, if he doesn't explain himself, dump his ass.

Back with the boys, Mike sits down on the couch and groans in frustration. 

Lucas: I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be bad.

Mike groans again. 

Lucas: But... you can fix this. It's just one little mistake. I've made hundreds, thousands. Max has dumped me five times. But what have I done? Huh? Have I despaired? No. I've marched back into battle, and I've won her back every single freaking time.

Robin looks over at Lucas and places a hand on his shoulder.

"You're brave, Sinclair. I admire you." 

Lucas smirks and Max rolls her eyes. 

Mike: How? 

Lucas: I'll show you. Come on. 

Back at Max's, she grabs El by the arms and pulls her up.

Max: Come on.

El: Where are we going?

Max; To have some fun. There's more to life than stupid boys, you know. 

The boys get up and rush out, leaving Will alone. 

Will: Wait, guys! I'm still here! Guys?

Mike and Lucas wince.

"Sorry, Will."

"Yeah, sorry"

"It's... fine."

The camera then shows us Hawkins Community Pool, where people are playing and having fun. 

Heather blows her whistle and speaks into the megaphone.

Heather: Hey! No dunking, Curtis. No... dunking.

We Mrs. Wheeler and her friends.

Friend: God, even her voice annoys me.

Friend #2: Nails on a chalkboard.

Friend #3: Don't worry, ladies, ten more minutes until showtime. Liz, will you get my back? 

Mrs. Wheeler looks around uneasily, looking for Billy. She spots him heading into a storage room. She turns to one of her friends.

Mrs. Wheeler: hey, Jill, I gotta use the restroom. Will you watch Holly for me? 

Friend: Sure thing, hon.

Mrs. Wheeler: Thanks. 

Mrs. Wheeler walks into the storage room, trying to find Billy.

Mrs. Wheeler: Billy? 

She finds him standing in front of a shelf.

Mrs. Wheeler: Billy? 

He sets down a bottle of chemicals. Mrs. Wheeler walks closer.

Mrs. Wheeler: I... I understand if you're angry with me. I just... I wanted to explain... 

We focus on Billy, his hair is slick with sweat.

Max pales again and Will takes her hand.

"He does not look good." Steve says.

"No shit, dingus."

Mrs. Wheeler: ... why I didn't come last night.

Nancy lets out a breath she didn't she was holding. So Mum didn't end up going.

Mrs. Wheeler: It's not you, it's just... I have a family. And I can't do anything that will hurt them. You can understand that, right? But I shouldn't have said that--

Billy suddenly lashes out, slamming Mrs. Wheeler's head on a nearby shelf.

"HOLY SHIT!"

"FUCK!"

"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!"

"What just happened?!"

"Guys! Let's just watch. 

The screen goes black. Then we see it didn't actually happen, it was just in Billy's  imagination.

"Oh, thank God."

"That was so scary."

"Holy shit."

Mrs. Wheeler: Billy? 

Billy starts breathing rapidly and sweating even more. 

Mrs. Wheeler: Billy... please, will you talk to me? 

Billy turns around.

Billy: Stay away from me, Karen.

He walks past her outside, everything seems to be shaky and too bright, like it's not real. He walks past Heather, then Mrs. Wheeler's friends. He finally sits in his life guard chair and he looks close to passing out. The sun's too bright. 

Max covers her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, Billy."

Will squeezes her other hand tighter.

We  then head back to Scoops Ahoy to see Robin, who seems to be getting samples for Erica and her friends. Erica takes her sample and licks it.

Erica: Mmm. Can I try the peppermint stick? 

Robin: Haven't you already tried the peppermint stick? 

Erica: Yes, and I'd like to try it again.

"You're a genius." 

"Good job, Erica!"

"Please don't encourage her guys."

Robin rolls her eyes and calls for Steve who's in the break room eating a banana and trying to decipher the code. 

Dustin: So, what do you think? 

Steve: It sounded  familiar. 

Dustin: What?

Steve: The music. The music right there at the end. 

Dustin: Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!

Steve: I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music--

Robin suddenly opens the door and walks in.

Robin: All right, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there. 

She looks over to the white board where Steve and Dustin have written down the Russian alphabet.

Robin: Hey, my board. That was important data, shitbirds.

"What, the YOU RULE/YOU SUCK board?" Nancy asks, amused.

"Yes, important data."

Dustin: I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data. 

Robin: Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?

Will looks over at her.

"How do you know about the Russians?"

"I have mind powers." Was her answer.

Steve and Dustin look at each other.

Dustin: How does she know about the Russians?

Steve: I don't know. 

Dustin: You told her  about--

Steve: I t wasn't me. 

Robin: Hello, I can hear you. Actually, I can hear everything. You are both extremely loud. You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a word because you didn't realise the Russians use and entirely different alphabet. Sound about right? 

She lunges for the tape but Steve reaches it first.

Steve: Whoa! What do you think you're doing?

Robin: I wanna hear it. 

Steve and Dustin: Why?

Robin: 'Cause maybe I can help. I'm fluent in four languages, you know.

Eddie looks over at her in shock.

"Four languages?"

"Um... yeah."

"Damn, Buckley, nerd."

"Hey!"

Dustin: Russian?

Robin: Ou-yay are-yay  umb-day.

Both Steve and Dustin are impressed. 

Robin: That was Pig Latin, dingus.

"Idiots."

"Hey!"

Robin: But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian and I've been in band for 12 years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me.

Steve: Uh...

Robin: Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just board. 

Steve hands her the tape. 

Next we see Jonathan's car pulling up to what must be the old lady's house that they're going to talk to.  Nancy knocks on the door ad not soon after on old lady opens the door.

Driscoll: Yes? 

Nancy: Mrs. Driscoll?

Driscoll: Yes? 

Nancy: Hi, um, I'm Nancy. Nancy Wheeler. We spoke briefly on the phone last night.

Jonathan: We're form The Hawkins Post. 

Driscoll: Oh! Oh, yes! Oh, my goodness. Oh. You look too young for reporters.

"That's cause they're not."

"Shut up, Mike."

Jonathan: We get that a lot. 

Mrs. Driscoll opens the door wider and lets them in. Her place is very vintage, with a cat clock and the likes. 

Nancy: Oh... oh it's lovely. Um, do you live here all alone? 

Driscoll: Yes. Jack, my husband, he passed away, what is it now, ten years ago. 

Nancy: Oh, um... I'm... I'm so sorry. 

Driscoll: Oh, don't be. I kinda like the quiet. At least I did.

She leads them to the door to the  basement.

Driscoll: This way. 

Mrs. Driscoll leads them down the stairs and points to something.

Driscoll: It's right over there. 

Jonathan and Nancy mover over towards the storage room where fertiliser bags have teeth marks in them. It's all over the floor. Nancy picks one up and looks at it.

Driscoll: you see those little teeth marks, don't ya? 

Jonathan takes a picture.

Nancy: And... these bags, um... you're sure they were full before? 

Driscoll: I'm old, honey, not senile. Bought them over at Blackburn's Supplies just last Tuesday. Now you tell me, why would rats want to eat a poor old women's fertiliser?

Nancy: Are you sure they did? Maybe they just gnawed the bag? I mean... eating fertiliser seems-- 

Driscoll: Crazy. Believe me, I know, honey. But... something's not right with these rats. 

Nancy: What does that mean, exactly... "not right"? 

Driscoll: Rabies, my guess.

"I'm afraid is something much worse." Nancy sighs.

Nancy writes something down on her pad.

Driscoll: That's when I said to myself, "Doris, you gotta call the paper. Because if those diseased rats are runnin' loose, the people, they oughta know." Wouldn't you agree? 

There's a crashing and squealing sound coming form nearby.

Driscoll: Oh, yes, I forget to mention! Come on over here. 

She leads them over to where the sound is coming from.

Driscoll: I caught one of the little bastards. 

In the corner there's a cage covered with a cloth. 

Back at Town Hall, the people protesting have started a chant. "Kline's a swine! Kline's a swine!" They scream. 

We follow a big, buff man with motor cycle helmet in his hand who walks past Hopper. Hopper looks very bored, with a cigarette in his mouth. Kline's secretary walks down the hall.

Secretary: Jim? Mayor Kline is ready for you. 

Hopper: Great. 

Hopper enters Kline's office.

Kline: Jim. Thanks for coming by."

He shakes Hopper's hand.

Hopper: I'm not doing it,  Larry. 

Kline: Clam down, now. You don't even know what I want. 

Hopper: You don't like your fan club out there, you want me to shut 'em down. Sound about right? 

Kline sits back down inches chair.

Kline: When'd you get so serious? Take a seat. 

Hopper sits down. 

Kline: My fan club, as you call them, now, you know why they're out there, don't ya? 

Hopper: They're not actually fans?

Laughter choruses in the room.

Kline: They lost their jobs to the mall and blame me for helping make that happen. Now, you go ask anyone else in this town. They all love the mall. It's helped our economy grow, brought in new jobs, and just some  incredible new stores. Which is why they all stopped shopping at their, uh, mum-and-pops. Now, that's not me, Jim. 

Hopper: Mh-mm?

Kline: Uh-huh. That's just, uh, good old fashioned American capitalism. 

Hopper: Well, Larry, I think they're just exercising the good old fashioned American right to protest.

"You tell him, Chief!"

Hopper moves to leave.

Kline: I agree. 

Hopper: Yeah.

Kline: If. If they had a permit. Now, correct me if I'm wrong here, Jim, but, uh... I don't believe they secured a permit from your office, did they? 

Hopper: Not that I'm aware of.

Kline: Then I do believe it's in my right to get rid of them. 

Hopper: Larry, I'm not a politics guy, but I think if you force those people out of here with out provocation, I don't think that's a good look for your re-election  campaign. 

Kline looks out the window.

Kline: You know what's in four days, Jim? 

Hopper: Independence Day? 

Kline: That's right. And I'm gonna throw this town the biggest bash it's ever seen. Fireworks, music, activities, you name it. I'm gonna pull out all the stops. You know why? 'Cause at the end of the day, that's all the voters will remember. But I can't think, much less plan, with all that racket going on out there. So, if you don't mind...

Kline opens the door.

Kline: Please... just do your job. Flash your little gold badge, and get rid of them. 

"Asshole." Robin mumbles.

"Yeah." Steve sighs in agreement.

The camera then shows us a bus with people getting off, Max and El amongst them. 

Max: So, what do you think?

We see the sign for Starcourt Mall.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Hopper looks at Max. "She's not supposed to be there. 

Max blushes.

"I know, but, she needed to get out of the house. And she'd never been shopping before!"

Hopper frowns.

"Did anyone see her?"

"Nope."

"Okay, just, asks me next time."

"Yessir!"

El looks overwhelmed. 

Max: Hey, what's wrong? 

El: Too many people. Against the rules. 

Max: Seriously? You have superpowers. What's the worst that could happen? 

Max and El walk into the mall, holding hands. El looks positively amazed. 

Max: So, what should we do first? 

El looks at confused.

Max: You're never been shopping before, have you? 

El shakes her head. 

Max: Well, then I guess we're just gonna have to try everything. Ooh, come on!

Max takes El by the hand and they run into a nearby shop. 

Robin turns to the others.

"Can we take a break now?" 

Joyce answers.

"Of course, sweetie."

They all get up to stretch their legs and break off into little groups, doing their own seperate things.

Robin makes a beeline for Max and Will, Steve close behind.

Chapter Text

As soon as Hopper stands up he feels himself being pulled by the arm down the hallway and into his room.

"Ah! What?" 

The person sits him down on the bed and looks him in the eyes. 

"We need to talk." Joyce says.

He coughs nervously.

"What about?"

"How you treated the situation with Mike and Eleven."

"What do you mean?

"Hop! You know what I mean, it's not okay getting pissy at a 14 year old, telling him his grandma is sick, locking him in the car, and threatening to show him real crazy! I mean, come on! He's a kid!" 

Hopper sighs.

"Joyce, it wasn't right what they had going on!"

"It also wasn't right how you handled the situation. He's a kid, and he just wanted to spend time with his girlfriend!"

"But--"

"Now I'm not saying that they shouldn't spend some time apart, I'm just saying that you could've handled it better."

Hopper looks down, slightly disappointed in himself. I guess she does have a point. He looks up.

"Sorry, what can I do to make it right?" 

Joyce looks down at him in exasperation. 

"Go and apologise to Mike!"

"But--"

"GO!"

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When the episode ends, Will notices Steve and Robin making a beeline for him and Max. This makes him incredibly nervous. He doesn't really know Robin and hasn't really spent all that much time around Steve. Max seems fine, though, she waves them over. 

After telling Max about what to expect with Billy, Will wants to stick with her, just to make sure she's really okay. She looked awfully pale after the talk.

Max grabs his arm and sits him down at the kitchen table just as Steve and Robin get there. They sit down with a sigh. Steve immediately strikes up a conversation with Max about who-knows-what while Will awkwardly avoids Robin's eyes. She seems to be studying him intently. Abruptly, she sticks out her hand for him to shake.

"Hi! I'm Robin."

Will hesitates before grabbing her hand, chuckling.

"I know who you are."

The girl chuckles nervously.

"I know, it's just, we haven't been properly introduced and stuff and um, you looked like a cool kid so I wanted to come say hi."

Will relaxes, realising Robin isn't nearly as intimidating as she seems.

"Well, in that case, I'm Will. You know, you're not nearly as intimidating as you look."

There's a dramatic gasp.

"Excuse me? What are saying, Byers? That I can't be intimidating? How dare you!"

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Eddie sighs, looking around the room. After the episode everyone kind of drifted off into their own groups, leaving him alone.

Scanning the faces, he lands on Steve who's having a conversation with Max. Though Eddie will never say it out loud, he has to admit the guy is attractive. With his ridiculous hair, the way he softly smiles when he's being sarcastic to make sure you know he's joking, the way his eyes scan your face after he says something, almost like he's making sure he didn't accidentally hurt you. 

Eddie sighs, moving on to Robin and Will.

They seem to be having a good time, laughing at something Robin said and chatting. He's glad, Will seems like a pretty closed off kid to those he doesn't know, maybe Buckley can get him to open up a bit more. 

Glancing down, Eddie realises that Steve and Robin are holding hands. 

Harrington and Buckley's relationship has always confused them, he was almost 100% sure Robin was a lesbian, but then he saw the way she acted around Steve. But then there was that thing she wrote on her shoes that he picked up on today. I may not go down in history, but I will go down on your sister. But maybe that was a joke? Ugh, I can't think about this right now. It's hurting my head.

Turning his eyes, he sees Hopper talking to Mike about something, looking extremely sheepish. Wheeler just looks positively shocked. Eddie chuckles and checks his watch.

"Uh, guys?" He calls out. "We should probably start watching again."

The group return to their seats, Max and Will moving next to Robin and Steve this time.

Erica reaches over and presses play. 

Chapter Text

As soon as Max and El rush past we see the boys heading to no particular shop.

Dustin winces.

"That's not gonna end well."

Mike: I just... I don't understand what we're looking for. 

Lucas: Something pretty and shiny that says "I'm sorry." 

Mike: What, just something that literally says "I'm sorry"? 

Lucas: No!

Back at the Gap, Max and El are looking through clothes. El looks positively amazed. Max smiles gently. El stares at a particularly colourful piece of clothing.

Max: Do you like that? 

El: How do I know... what I like?

Lucas frowns.

She didn't know how to tell what she liked and yet she had a boyfriend?

Max: You just try things on. Until you find something that feels like you.

El: Like me? 

Max: Yeah. Not Hopper. Not Mike. You. 

El smiles widely.

Joyce coos.

"You guys have such a sweet friendship."

We then see Joyce, who's at work and has a bunch of science text books out on the desk. They all seem to be about magnetic forces. Joyce looks up like she has an idea.

She pulls out of the parking lot and drives somewhere.

When she reaches her destination she rings the door bell with a  bunch of books in her arms. 

Joyce: Hello? 

Inside the garage we see a man painting tiny figures.

Will gasps.

"Is that... Mr. Clarke?"

Joyce nods her head. 

He hears Joyce calling from the front door. 

Joyce walks  away, accepting that he's not home. When she's about to get in her car the garage door opens to reveal... Scott Clarke? 

Mr. Clarke: Mrs. Byers? 

She waves. 

The camera then shows us Jonathan trying to take pictures of the rat who Mrs. Driscoll caught but it's not keeping still, ramming into the sides of the cage. 

Jonathan: We're gonna have to keep doing this until you stop moving, you little shit.

Everyone laughs.

Upstairs Nancy is using Mrs. Driscoll's phone to call companies. 

Nancy: Hi, yes, um, this is Nancy Wheeler from The Hawkins Post. Yeah, um... I have a bit of a weird question for you. I was wondering if you guys had gotten any recent calls about, um... rabid rats? 

There's a male voice on the other end of the phone. 

Nancy: No, uh, rabid rats. Rats with rabies? Okay, um... what about just rats, in general? Uh-huh. Okay. Thank you. 

She goes to hang up the phone and Mrs. Driscoll walks over with a cup.

Driscoll: You're a  regular little detective, aren't ya? Lemonade? It's fresh-squeezed. 

Nancy: Sure, thanks.

She takes the cup.

"Aw, Mrs. Driscoll is so nice."

"She is, isn't she?"

Nancy: Um, do you mind if I make just a few more calls?

Driscoll: Not at all. I enjoy the company. 

Nancy goes to call Blackburn's Supplies. 

Back with Jonathan he walks away to refill his camera with film the rat's squealing suddenly stops. He turns around in confusion and sees the rat curled up on the ground, clearly in pain. 

Jonathan: You all right, little bud? 

The pained squeals intensify. Nancy suddenly rushes down the stairs. 

Nancy: Jonathan! 

He turns around. 

Nancy: I have a lead. 

Jonathan: Uh... yeah, okay, but, uh... I just think there's something really wrong with this rat. 

Nancy: Yeah, no shit.

A few muffled snickers throughout the room.

Nancy: Come on!

Jonathan: No, I... 

He grabs his stuff and rushes out.

Jonathan: Nancy, wait up! 

As Jonathan rushes up the stairs, we see the basement lights flickering. The rat in the cage explodes into a flesh pile, slinks out of the cage and onto the floor, pulling itself along. 

There's a few disgusted groans.

"Gross."

"No shit."

We then go back to Billy, who seems to be back in the Upside Down. He's speaking with the other version of himself again.

Billy: I said, what do you want?

Billy #2: I want you to  build. 

Billy: To build what? 

Billy #2: What you see. 

Billy: I don't understand.

There's a thunderclap and suddenly the people are gone, leaving the road empty.

"Well, that's... foreboding." Robin chuckles nervously.

"Yeah."

Billy: I don't  understand! What do you mean? I don't understand!

Suddenly Billy wakes up at the pool,  drenched with sweat. Everything seems to be too realistic. He groans and looks at his arm, which has been in the sun, and realises it's burned really badly. He gets off his chair and starts to walk inside, stumbling and bumping into people. Heather notices him looking off an asks if he's okay. He ignores her. Billy heads to the shower and turns the tap on, drenching himself. He sees the burn has gotten worse, there's something that looks like black veins spreading from it.

Max groans.

"Oh God."

Robin and Will rub her back, trying to offer her an ounce of comfort.

Billy has a flash if what looks like to be a shadow monster in the sky before screaming and collapsing on the  ground.

Will winces and multiple people shoot him concerned looks. He wave them off.

"I-I'm fine."

He places his hands to his ears, trying to block out the voices he's hearing. They suddenly disperse.

Heather: Billy?

Billy looks up to see Heather looking down at  him.

Heather: Billy. 

She bends down. 

Heather: Take me to him.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"He must be hearing things."

Billy: What? 

Heather is now looking at him in concern.

Heather: I said, are you hurt? What's going on? I heard screaming. Should I call an ambulance? 

Billy tightens his grip on his legs.

Heather: Billy? 

Billy suddenly leaps at her.

The room jumps.

"Oh shit."

"Fuck."

We see El and Max at The Gap, trying on all different types of outfits. El looks in the mirror and puts a hat on, Max shaking her head and fixing it. She pulls on her suspenders and they slap against her body, both the girls laugh. 

The camera then shows us the boys who are shopping in a jewellery store. Mike spots a little gold teddy bear that he likes.

Mike: Excuse me, sir. 

The store helper looks down at him.

Man: Mm-hmm? 

Mike: How much for this teddy bear right here? 

The man smiles at him tightly.

We then cut to see  the boys walking out of the shop. 

Lucas: Three hundred? Three hundred.

Mike: I should've shoved that teddy bear right up his--

We abruptly cut away back to the girls.

The room bursts out laughing, taking a good minute for them to calm down.

The girls try on multiple different out fits. Max sees a pair of sunglasses she likes and trues them on. 

The boys stop out side of a shop with lots of girls underwear and quickly  retreat.

Everyone laughs once again at the discomfort on their faces.

Robin quickly notes that Mike and Will look more panicked than Lucas. Interesting.

Back with the girls, El finds an outfit she likes and pulls Max out of the shop. They walk through the shops with linked arms. 

Hopper frowns.

"Where'd you get the money?"

Max blushes and avoids his gaze. Lucas gasps.

"That's illegal!"

"Shut up, Stalker. I'm pretty sure we've all done something illegal by now. Plus, we're not stealing from the people, we're stealing from the company."

We then see the boys at a perfume shop. Lucas taps Mike on the shoulder and sprays a fragrance at him, getting it in his friend's eyes. 

There's muffled snickers through out the room.

Max and El rush into a place called FLASH STUDIO. The dress up and have a photoshoot. The man taking the photos encourages them.

Man: That's it girls.  Okay, here we go. 

He takes some photos which come out amazing.

"Damn, you guys looks good." Robin nods her head appreciatively.

Lucas nods his head and kisses Max on the cheek. 

About a second too late, Mike realises he's supposed to say something.

"Uh-uh, yeah, um- gorgeous." He smiles awkwardly at Eleven.

Man: Wardrobe change, please. Wardrobe change! Thank you! 

The girls take more photos, which turn out  even better than the last. 

They then head to the shoe shop, where El is trying to walk in high heels. She falls over and the girls bursts out laughing. Max helps her up and they see a group of girls looking at them strangely, this only causes them to laugh harder. 

We then see Max and El poking their head around the corner, watching the same group of girls from the shoe shop. El focuses on one of there girl's drinks, making it explode all over them.

"Go El!" Jonathan cheers, the rest of the room applauding her.

"That's my sister!"

Max and El run away laughing. 

Max: See? What's I tell you? There's more to life than stupid boys. 

They run past the boys who are sitting down on a  bench, looking defeat.

Will: Can we please play DnD now? 

Mike & Lucas: No. 

The camera then shows us Dustin and Robin, who are deciphering the Russian code.

Robin: Wait, that last part, just one more time. 

Dustin rewinds the tape. 

Robin: Okay, that word. Um... it's pronounced... "dly-nna-ya." 

Dustin: "Dly-nna-ya."

Robin: Which is spelled... D... D, D, D...

Dustin rushes to the whiteboard.

Dustin: The-- The chair. The chair-looking thingy. 

Robin writes it down.

Robin: Yeah, okay. 

She opens the window to talk to Steve, who's serving at the moment.

Robin: We've got our fist sentence.

Steve: Oh, seriously? 

Robin: Yeah. [In Russian accent] "The week is long." 

Steve: Well, that's thrilling. 

Robin: I know. But, progress. 

She slams the window shut and Steve turns back around to the customers. 

Steve: Okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream.

He had them over to the customers, who we now see are El and Max.

El & Max: Thanks. 

Steve looks at El.

Steve: Wait a second, are you even allowed to be here? 

Max and El laugh before running off. 

Steve: That... okay.

Hopper stares at Steve pointedly.

"I didn't want to ruin their fun." Steve shrugs.

The girls then walk out of Starcourt.

Max: Wanna trade?

El nods her head and they switch ice-creams. In the background we hear Mike's voice.

Mike: That's ridiculous. Why can't I just... 

The girls freeze and turn towards his voice.

Max: Oh, you've gotta be shitting me. 

The boys are getting their bikes form the bike rack. El and Max walk over. 

Max: Isn't this a nice surprise? 

Mike drops his bike and points at El.

Mike: What are you doing here? 

El: Shopping. 

Max: This is her new style. What do you think?

Mike: What's wrong with you? You know she's not allowed to be here.

Max: What is she, your little pet? 

El: yeah. Am I your pet?

Mike: What? No! 

El: Then why do you treat me like  garbage?

Mike: What? 

El: You said Nana was sick. 

Mike: She is. 

Eddie winces.

"More lying isn't gonna get you out of this one, Wheeler."

Mike: She is. She is sick.

Lucas: Yeah, sick-- she's sick. She's sick. She's super sick. That's why we're here, actually. 

Mike: Yeah, we're  shopping. Not for us, but for her, for Nana. 

Lucas: For Nana.

Mike: Also, we're here to get a gift for you. Just, we couldn't find anything that suited you and I only have, like, $3.50, so it's hard. 

Lucas: Super hard. It's-- it's expensive. 

El: You lie. 

Mike looks up sheepishly.

El: Why do you lie? 

The bus pulls up and El looks at it before turning back to Mike. She walks up close to him.

El: I dump your ass.

"Oop. I didn't know you were dumped, Wheeler." Eddie says with a raised eyebrow.

Mike winces.

"Yes, but everything is okay now, because we are back together." El says, happily linking her arm through her boyfriend's. Mike smiles awkwardly.

Eddie narrows his eyes. Interesting. 

The girls walk onto the bus, leaving the boys by themselves. When they sit down, they laugh and high five each other. The bus drives away, the boys looking at it.

Will: Now can we play DnD?

Lucas: No. 

The camera then shows us Hopper, who's arresting people at the protest.

Man: He raises my property taxes, Jim. Forced me off my land. 

Hopper: You can protest all you want, Henry. You've just gotta gross through the proper channels first. 

He forces Henry into the car. 

Henry: Nothing proper about what that man did to us! To our town!

Hopper: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Flo runs up behind Hopper. 

Flo: Special delivering! 

She hands him a bag.

Hopper: Ooh, yeah. 

He pulls out a top.

Flo: That the right one? 

Hopper: Yeah. Yeah!

Powell: That's a lot of colour for you chief. 

Hopper: It's cutting-edge stuff, alright? It's cutting edge!

We then see Hopper entering what looks like a fancy restaurant and sitting down at one of the tables. He talks to a waiter.

Hopper: I'll start off with a Scotch, you can make that a double. 

Waiter: Very good, sir. 

Hopper: And I think we'll have a bottle of red, as well. 

Waiter: Very good, sir. 

Hopper: And how's your "chee-anti"?

Joyce winces at the absolute butchering of the word.

Waiter: Our Chianti is quite good.

Hopper: Chianti. 

Waiter: Medium-bodied, with just a hint of cherry. 

Hopper: Great. Women love cherries, huh? All right, we'll have that and two--two glasses, please, one for, uh, me and one for the lady. 

The waiter walks away and Hopper watches the door nervously. 

We then see Joyce, who's still with Mr. Clarke.

Joyce: And what's this again? 

They seem to have set up a project of sorts.

Mr. Clarke: This is a solenoid. It's a coil, wrapped around a metallic core, and when electricity passes through it... 

Joyce: It creates an electromagnetic field. 

Mr. Clarke: Exactamundo. Now for the fun part. Shall we? 

Joyce: Yeah. 

Mr. Clarke flips a switch. Joyce waves her hand over the contraption.

Joyce: I don't see anything.

Mr. Clarke: You can't see it, but it's there, I assure you. Our very own Clarke-Byers Electromagnetic Field. Pretty neat-o, huh? 

Joyce: Yeah.

Robin leans forward, taking interest in what the man is saying.

Mr. Clarke : And this field affects any charged object in its vicinity. 

Joyce: Just like my magnets.

Mr. Clarke: Just like your magnets. 

Joyce: Okay, why is nothing happening?

Mr. Clarke: Oh, because our field is stable. But, if we reduce the current... 

He turns the switch down and the magnets fall off.

Joyce: How... 

She tries to stick them  back on.

Mr. Clarke: The magnetic dipoles tried to orient according to the field, but--

Joyce: No, no, no, no. I mean, how is this happening at my house? 

Mr. Clarke: You want my honest opinion? 

Joyce nods her head.

Mr. Clarke: One of your kiddos got up in the middle of the night, bumped into the fridge and knocked the suckers loose. 

Joyce: And the magnets at Melvald's? 

Mr. Clarke: Apophenia.

Joyce: Apo-what-o-wah?

"You're seeing patterns that aren't there. Coincidence." Robin says offhandedly. 

Mr. Clarke. Apophenia. You're seeing patterns that aren't there. Coincidence.

"Huh." Robin mentally applauds herself for guessing the teachers next words.

Joyce: But what if... it's not? 

Mr. Clarke: Well... theoretically-speaking, I suppose some large version of this AC transformer could exist. A machine of some kind. 

Joyce: A machine?

Mr. Clarke: But, in order to reach your house and downtown, gosh, that would take billions of volts of electricity and cost tens of millions of dollars. 

Joyce: But it is possible.

Mr. Clarke: We cured polio in '53. Landed on the moon in '69. As I tell my students, once you open up that curiosity door, anything is possible.

The camera then cuts to and empty Starcourt Mall, showing us Steve, Robin and Dustin standing in front of the whiteboard, reading aloud.

Steve, Robin and Dustin: "The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." 

We then see Steve closing up Scoops.

Steve: I mean, it just... it just can't be right.

The start walking away from the shop.

Robin: It's right. 

Dustin: Honestly, I think it's great news. 

Steve: How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense. 

Dustin: It's not  nonsense. It's too specific. It's obviously a code. 

Steve: What do you mean, a code?

"Hmm, I don't know, Steve."

"Shut up, Buckley."

Dustin: Like a super secret spy code.

Steve: That's a total stretch. 

Robin: I don't know, is it? 

Steve: You're buying into this? 

Robin: Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, "Fire the warhead at noon"?

"Would've been much easier if they did." Steve says while looking down. Robin grabs his hand in comfort.

Dustin: Exactly.

Robin: And my translation is correct. I know that for sure, so... "The silver cat feeds." Why would anyone talk like that unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message?

Dustin: Exactly.

Robin: And why would anyone want to mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive? 

Dustin: Exactly. 

Robin: So I guess that confirms your suspicion.

Dustin: Evil Russians.

Robin: I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil Russians.

"I'm not strange!"

"Yes you are."

Dustin: So how do we crack it? 

Robin: Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges. 

Dustin: A pattern. Right, like maybe "silver cat" is a meeting place? 

Robin: Or a person.

"Damn, you two are smart."

"Well, thank you very much."

"Aw, thanks."

Dustin: Or a weapon. 

Robin: It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but... where's Steve?

They glance back and notice Steve has stopped at a horse ride. He seems to be looking for money.

Robin: Hey, Steve. What are you doing? 

Steve: Uh, it's a quarter. I need-- do you have a  quarter? 

The run over.

Robin: You sure you're tall enough for that ride?

Steve: Quater! 

Robin chucks him one and he quickly inserts it.

Robin: You need help getting up, little Stevie? 

Steve: Shh! Would you two just shut up and listen? 

The pay attention to the music the horse is playing.

Dustin: Holy shit. The music. The music! 

He gets the tape recorder out of his bag and plays it. The music in the background seems to be the same as the one the horse is playing. 

Robin:i don't understand. 

Dustin: It's the exact same song on the recording. 

Robin: Maybe they have horses like this is Russia. 

Steve: "Indiana Flyer?" I don't... I don't thinks. This code, it.. it didn't come from Russia. It came form here.

"Damn."

"I already know what happened but, shit."

We then head back to the  restaurant, where Hopper seems to be very drunk. The waiter clears his throat.

Waiter: Would you like to order your entrée, sir? 

Hopper: You know what, Enzo? 

Waiter: my name is not Enzo. 

Hopper: I just lost my appetite, all right? So, here you go.

He slams down some money. 

Hopper: You can keep the change.

He gets up and grabs the bottle.

Waiter: Sir! I'm afraid no alcohol is allowed off the premises. 

Hopper blows a raspberry.

Hopper: I can do anything I want. I'm the chief of police. 

He takes a drink and bumps into a surly looking guy, who we seem to focus on for some reason.

We then see what looks like Billy's car speeding down the road, and it arrives at the abandoned work house. Billy gets out of the car and opens the boot, where we see Heather tied up and unconscious. He remembers lunging for her and choking her.

"Shit."

"Fuck. Fuck!"

We then see him carry her all the way to the basement and put her down on the floor. Heather wakes up and starts struggling against the  restrains. Billy keeps her still. He leans over and whispers in her ear.

Billy: Don't be afraid. It'll be over soon. Just stay very still. 

He remove the tape from her mouth. 

We see something made out of flesh emerge form the shadows and hear Heather's terrified screams. We focus on Billy, who has no emotion watching it. The screen goes black.

The room's silent for awhile, all of them to shaken to say something. Finally, Hopper clears his throat.

"Um-- let's have a break. Maybe get something to eat."

The group shakily gets up and heads to the kitchen.

Chapter Text

As the group gets up and heads to the kitchen, Murray strays to the back of the pack. 

He's always found observing people easier from behind, and that's exactly what he plans to do. Glancing around, his eyes land on Joyce's kid, Will. 

To him, Will Byers has always been an interesting case, one he would've loved to investigate if Jonathan and Nancy hadn't told him the truth. There is something about the kid that makes anyone with a heart warm up to him instantly. His shy demeanour and kind words make him seem like less of a threat, but Murray has no doubt this kid could do some serious damage if pushed too far.

There's also the matter of his home life, which seems to be fine at the moment, but wasn't once. He can tell by the way Will flinches when anyone raises their voice too loudly, or when they unexpectedly touch him. Murray always knew Lonnie was an asshole, given what little Joyce had told him, but he had no idea he was abusive.

The only person Will seems to be completely at ease with is the Wheeler boy.

Mike is a different case, a very complicated one. Usually Murray finds it very easy to read people, but Wheeler is hard. His home life seems to be fine, although Karen did almost cheat. He seems rough with his friends, all except Will. If you're very observant, like Murray, you'll notice that Mike's voice drops an octave when talking to his best friend. It's possible he picked up on the flinching, or Will told him altogether given how close the boys are. 

The Byers boy and the Wheeler boy are a complicated case, but one for later.

His eyes move to the Sinclair boy, who seems to be doing what he is.

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Lucas watches Mike intently, noting every emotion that crosses his face.

He notices that Mike has been acting very... awkward lately. More unsocial. Isolated. The only person he seems really keen on talking to, is Will.

Lucas isn't stupid, he knows Mike and Will have the closest friendship in the party, seconded by maybe Max and El. They've always understood each other to a degree the others can't, even managing to speak just through looks. Although, their relationship has seen more strained, lately. Ever since finding Will in the rain, nothing's really gone back to being normal, whatever their normal is. 

Lucas feels immensely guilty about the DnD campaign, but he knows Will has forgiven him. Mike, on the other hand, has shown no actual remorse for it. He knows Mike's bad at expressing his feelings, they're friends after all, but... has he even apologised? Everyone makes mistakes, and that's fine. But the least you can do is say sorry. 

Will's always been too quick to forgive, something Lucas has picked up on through the years. Whenever he fucks up and tries to apologise, Will brushes him off, which makes him annoyed. Just let him say sorry! 

Back to the matter, Mike and Will's relationship is something... special. Don't think Lucas hasn't picked up on the odd behaviour between the two, like touches lingering too long or holding each other's gaze a little to intensely, he just hasn't figured out what it means yet.

Lucas knows Mike pretty well, can read his emotions almost as well as Will, but he's not really close to the other boy. Sure, they're friends and Lucas loves Will, but they don't really spend too much time together. Suddenly that seems wrong, so Lucas gets up to sit next to his friend.

"Hey."

Will smiles at him and he curses himself for not spending more time with him.

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Erica sighs as she leans against the counter and sips her juice box.

She can read these people too easily. They really need to get better at making their emotions. 

She's noticed the strange relationship between Buckley and Harrington (which she's 100% sure is platonic), she's noticed the way Nancy and Jonathan's relationship seems to be falling apart. She's noticed Max spending more time with Will.

Will.

That kid really is a strange case. Erica has known him all her life, and was absolutely devastated when she had to go to his funeral. She won't tell anyone that, though, He was the one who taught her how to punch when she first started middle grade, just in case she had to protect herself. 

She's noticed how Mike lowers his voice for Will, and she's taken to doing the same thing, noticing he seems calmer when his friend does it.

Friends.

Is that what you would call Mike Wheeler and Will Byers, friends? Certainly not. Not with all the blushing, the stuttering and overall awkwardness. No, there was something else going on there. Erica won't point it out to anyone, she doesn't want to do that to the people she's known for most of her life. No, she'll let people figure it out by themselves. 

Sighing, she checks the time on her watch and notifies the others that it's probably time to start watching again. Sitting down, this time closer to Mike and Will, Erica presses play on the remote.

Chapter Text

We focus on Hopper's cabin, music coming from El's room. Max is singing and dancing while El is looking at magazines. She opens a page to see a boy in it. Max chuckles.

Max: Oh, you found Ralph Macchio. 

El: Macchio?

Max: Yeah, he's the Karate Kid. 

She karate-chops the air.

Max: Hai-yah! 

The girls  giggle.

Max: He's so hot right? I bet he's an amazing kisser, too.

"Max!"

"What?"

Max: Hey, uh, is Mike a good kisser?

"Max!"

"Sorry, I just need to know things."

El: I don't know. He's my first boyfriend. 

Max: Ex-boyfriend. 

El looks down.

Max: Hey, don't worry about it. Okay? He'll come crawling back in no time, begging for forgiveness. I guarantee you, him and Lucas are, like, totally wallowing in self-pity and misery right now.

"We weren't!"

Both Max and Will raise and eyebrow at them.

Max: They're  like, "Oh, I hope they take us back." 

The girls laugh.

Max: God, what I wouldn't give to see their stupid faces.

El looks down, thinking.

Max: What is it? 

We then cut to see a radio, hissing with static, and El, tying a strip of cloth across her eyes.

Max looks over at Mike.

"See! Her idea. Not mine."

Mike rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever."

Max: Is this really gonna work?

El nods.

Max: Holy shit, this is insane. 

El: Max.

Max: Yeah, quiet. I'm sorry. 

El  focuses and we see her standing in an empty, black landscape.

Will tilts his head.

"Huh. Is that what it looks like?"

El nods.

"Yes."

In the background, Mike is  speaking.

Mike: What did I do wrong? What could I have done wrong? 

We see the boys in the Wheeler's basement, Will setting up DnD, Mike on the couch eating, and Lucas pacing. Back in the room, El speaks to Max.

El: I see them. 

Max moves to sit next to El.

Max: What are they doing? 

El: Eating. 

We then see the boys again.

Mike: I just don't understand what I did to deserve this. 

Lucas: Nothing, nothing. That's my whole point. You are the victim here. 

Mike: I know. It's just, why is she treating me this way? I don't know.

Lucas: Mike-- 

Mike: What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong?!

Lucas: Mike, stop. Relax. Just relax. Okay? Stop asking rational questions. 

Mike: I know, I know, you're right. 

Lucas: Because women act on emotion and not logic.

"Hey!"

"C'mon."

"Not cool."

"How would you feel if we said that about men, huh? I've seen you get more upset over a video game than the rest of us."

"Sorry."

Nancy shakes her head disappointedly and turns back to the screen.

Lucas:  Precisely. It's a totally different species.

"You too, Lucas?"

Max shakes her head and the boy looks down.

"I'm sorry, guys."

El: They say we are "species." 

Max: What?

El: "Emotion, not logic."

Max: What? 

Will: Guys, it's ready.

Lucas: Will, not right now.

Will: They broke up with you. What else is there to talk about?

Robin laughs.

"Sassy Byers in the house!"

Lucas: Tons. 

Mike: Yeah, we're trying to solve the great mystery of the female species. 

The women in the room shake their heads disappointedly once again.

"We're really sorry."

Luckily, the girls were quick to forgive.

"It's okay, guys. Just, don't say it again."

Mike lets out a burp and Eleven screws up her face in  disgust.

Mike: Dude, you can smell the nacho cheese. 

Will groans in disgust.

"Agreed, Will."

Lucas: I got that beat. 

Mike: What? 

Will: Oh, no. 

Mike: No, Lucas, no. 

Lucas farts loudly, much to the others protests.

"Ew!"

"Gross!"

Will looks around the room.

"Try being there!"

Lucas smirks at the faces of disgust in the room.

El abruptly takes off her blindfold and looks at Max. 

Max: What? What happened? 

El falls over laughing, leaving Max in confusion.

Max: What? What happened? 

Max starts giggling, not knowing what's happening. Outside, they hear a vehicle approach.

Hopper's car pulls up and he stumbles inside drunkenly.

Joyce frowns, not impressed.

"Really Hop? Drinking and driving? That's not safe. You have a kid that needs you, you have tp be careful." She whispers under her breath.

Hopper winces.

"Sorry. I won't do it next time."

"Good."

He hears pop music coming from the room.

Hopper: Hey! Hey!

He starts walking over to El's room.

Hopper: When I say three inches, three-- 

He opens the door, scaring the girls.

Will winces, being reminded of Lonnie.

Murray looks over at him with pity, guessing his thoughts.

Max: Do you  knock? Jeez!

El: Yeah! Jeez!

Hopper immediately softens.

Hopper: Oh, hey. I'm sorry. I thought that, uh--

Max: Mike's not here. 

El: Max wanted to have... a sleepover. Is that... okay? 

Hopper: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Your parents know about it? 

Max nods.

Max: Yup.

Hopper: Uh, yeah, it's cool. Yeah. That's-- That's really cool. 

He awkwardly stands at the door.

Max: Did you need something? 

Hopper: No, no. Uh, I'll leave. I'll just let you... I'll leave you... 

He closes the door and pauses outside for awhile before smiling. He poors himself some more wine, turns on the tv, and relaxes.

Joyce clicks her tongue and shakes her head.

"Hop."

"Sorry."

Back in the girls room, they seem to be getting ready for a game of spin the bottle.

Max: Holy shit, I can't believe we're really doing this. 

We see that the board has a bunch of guys names on.

Max: Ready?

El: Ready. 

El spins the bottle and it lands on someone. They read out the name.

El & Max: Mr. Wheeler. 

Max: Ugh. Boring.

El: Yeah, boring. 

Max: Spin again. 

El: Against the rules? 

Max: We make our own rules. 

El spins the bottle and this time it lands on Billy.

Max: Okay, look, I should just warn you, if he's with a girl or doing something gross, just get out of there right away before you're scarred for life.

The group awkwardly avoids each other's eyes while Steve and Robin try to muffle their snickers. 

Max hands El the radio and blindfold.

El: Max--

Max: No, I'm just saying, I'm serious. He's really gross.

El: Max! 

Max: Okay, shutting up now. 

El goes back into the void to find Billy. She finds Billy's car, with the head lights on, and walks over to it. After looking at the car, she hears a girl whimpering and sees Billy hovering over something. 

El: I found him. 

Max: What's he doing? 

El: I don't know. 

Billy: Don't be afraid.

El: He's... on the floor... 

Billy: It'll be over soon. 

El: ... talking to someone. 

El walks closer.

Billy: Just stay very still. 

Billy stands up and turns around, looking her in the eyes. 

Back in the workhouse, Billy thinks he sees a figure, fading in and out. 

In the void, Billy fades and EL rips of her blind fold, gasping.

Jonathan places a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"That must have been very scary." He whispers.

El nods.

"It was. But I am okay."

Max: What is it? What happened? 

The screen goes black. In red, CHAPTER THREE: THE CASE OF THE MISSING LIFEGUARD appears on the screen. 

We then see Will press play on a boombox, jerking Lucas and Mike awake. 

Lucas: What are you doing?

Mike: Yeah, Will, can you turn down the  music? 

Will: Please address me by my full name.

Mike: What?

Will: My full name!

Mike: Oh, my God. Okay, Will the Wise. Can you please turn down the music? 

Will: That is not music. That... is the sound of destiny! I have seen into the future, and I've seen that today is a new day, a day... free of girls!

Lucas: What is happening right now? 

Mike: Will, come on. 

Will: A tribe of villagers are under threat from an evil force from the swamps of Kuzatan. 

Eddie nods his head in approval.

"Sounds interesting."

"It was." Will mumbles bitterly under his breath.

Mike: Will, it's so early. 

Will: Is it? Is it early, Micheal? Tell that to the villagers crying for your help, the children so frightened, they cannot sleep. Are you truly going to let them perish? Or are you going to come to their rescue and become the heroes you were always meant to be? 

Lucas: Uh... Can I at least take a shower first? 

We then see Hopper getting ready in the morning, very hungover. With a towel wrapped around his waist, he takes out the milk and drinks it straight from the carton. He sees that El left a note on the fridge.

Gone to Maxs sleeping over- El

It says. There's a knock on the door and we hear Joyce's voice.

Joyce: Hopper, are you there? 

He opens the door and lets her in.

Hopper: Oh! Look who it is! 

Joyce walks over to the fridge.

Joyce: We need to talk. 

Hopper: Yeah, we do. I haven't been stood up like that since Alice Gilbert in the 9th grade. 

Joyce empties her bag, which has magnets in it.

Hopper: What are you doing? Joyce. Hello?

Joyce: Just watch. 

She tries to stick the magnets on the fridge, but they keep falling off.

Hopper: Okay, you're freaking me out.

Will smiles sheepishly.

"To be honest, you do look like a crazy women, mum."

Joyce rolls her eyes but smiles fondly.

She holds up a magnet.

Joyce: You slipped on this, remember?

Hopper: Yeah. 

Joyce: Yeah, it fell in the night. It lost its magnetism. 

Hopper: Oh, did it?

Joyce: And the same exact thing happened at my house the day before. 

Hopper: Wow.

Joyce: And I though, "Okay, that's weird." Right? Why are all these magnets suddenly losing their  magnetism? 

Hopper: Uh-huh?

Joyce: So, I went and saw Scott. 

Hopper: Scott. Who's Scott?

"Some one's a little jealous." Robin whispers under her breath to Steve who laughs.

Joyce: Scott Clarke.

Hopper: Your child's science teacher? 

Joyce: He's pretty brilliant, actually. And I asked him, "How is this happening?" And he built this magnetic field using an AC transformer and plugging it into a solenoid. And-- And with that solenoid, which basically-- 

Hopper: Slow down, slow down. I want to get this exactly right, okay? You stand me up... no phone call, no apology. Because you had to go to Scott Clarke's house.

Joyce winces.

"Yeah, I can see how the would look bad."

Joyce: Yeah. 

Hopper: You've outdone  yourself, Joyce. You really have. No, you've outdone yourself. 

Joyce: Come on, Hop! You're not even listening to me! Scott was able to demagnetise some of the magnets, and he thinks-- 

Hopper: I don't care what Scott thinks! 

Joyce: He thinks that a large-scale magnetic field could be built using some sort of machine or-- or experimental technology. 

Hopper: He's brilliant, isn't he? He's really brilliant. Is he single too? 

Hopper starts to walk into his room.

Joyce: What if it's them? To build a machine like this, you need resources. You need scientists, you need funding, tens of millions of dollars. 

Hopper: Joyce. 

Hopper: I can't just be a coincidence, Hopper. It has to be them. 

Hopper: Joyce, stop.

Joyce: It has to be the lab!

Hopper: It is impossible. 

Joyce: Well, then, prove it to me. 

Hopper: Prove it? 

Joyce: Yeah, take me back there.

Hopper: To the lab. 

Joyce: Yeah, I wanna go back. 

Hopper: Because some magnets fell off your fridge. 

Joyce: Yes.

Hopper: Okay, makes sense. 

Joyce: Thank you.

"He was being sarcastic." Lucas whispers under his breath.

Hopper: It makes sense. I'm sorry. I'm a little busy right now, but maybe we can meet up there, like  tonight, like seven o'clock? You know, of course, unless something comes up which, you know, it will.

Hopper goes into his room to change his top.

Joyce: You know, after everything that's happened, this is no joke. 

Hopper: No, I don't think it's a joke. I think that when I asked you out, I think you got scared. I think you got scared, and now, you're inventing things. You're inventing things to get worked up about so that you can push me away. Because God forbid any of us move on! Because that... that would be... I mean, that would be too much, right, Joyce? You know? That would be too much, wouldn't it, Joyce? 

"Damn."

"Christ."

There's whispers throughout the room. Hopper shuts them up with a look.

There's no answer. 

Hopper: Wouldn't it, Joyce? 

Hopper rips back the curtain to reveal Joyce isn't there anymore. 

He walks outside.

Hopper: Joyce? Joyce! 

The shed door opens and Joyce walks out with supplies.

Hopper: What the hell are you doing?

Joyce: I need to borrow these. 

Hopper: No, you're not going back there. Joyce. Joyce, you're not going back there...

Joyce opens the car door.

Hopper: Son of a bitch! 

Thunder rumbles and we see Max and El walking down a street.

Max: It's gonna start pouring soon. We should be at the mall, or, like, watching a movie or something. 

El: You don't believe me? 

Max: I believe you saw some super weird stuff, totally, but you said Mike has sensed you in there before, right? So maybe it was just like that. Maybe Billy just... sensed you somehow. 

El: But the screams.

Max: Yeah, I know, but here's the thing. When Billy is alone with a girl, they make, like, really crazy noises. 

El: They scream?

Max: Yeah, but, like... happy screams. 

El: Happy screams? What is happy screams?

Max: It's like... I'm just gonna lend you my mum's Cosmo.

There's a few awkward coughs and some laughs from a certain pair. El turns to Max.

"You still have not given it to me yet."

Hopper sits up straight.

"Nope!" He exclaims.

Joyce nudges him in the ribs.

"Hop, she's nearly fourteen, she should know by now."

Hopper lowers his voice.

"Fourteen? Jesus, I'm gonna have to talk to her," He turns toward El. "Come see me when we're done for the day."

They arrive at Max's house.

Max: His cars not here. You really want to do this? 

El nods their head. We  then see them walking into Billy's room.

Max: Why do I get the feeling we're gonna find all kinds of wrong in here? 

Max opens a draw to find magazines with half-naked girls on the front.

Max: Ugh, gag me with a spoon. 

They walk into the bathroom and turn on the light. El notices the bathtub is filled with water, empty bags of ice floating around.

"He likes it cold." Will whispers under his breath. Robin turns to him.

"Huh?"

"Oh, when I was... possessed... the Mind Flayer liked it cold, it absolutely hated heat. That's how they got it out if me, they burned me."

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm... fine."

El: Max. 

Max walks over.

Max: Ice. It's just ice. Probably for his muscles or something. He works out like a maniac. 

El turns to the cupboards and realises one of them has blood on it. Opening the doors, she takes out a small bin.

Max: El, what is it? 

She pulls out a lifeguard bag and a  whistle, which has blood on it. She turns around and looks at Max in horror.

Erica chuckles nervously.

"That's great."

The camera then shows us Jonathan and Nancy developing photos of the rabid rats.

Jonathan: You sure about this? 

Nancy: You really are your mother's son, you know that? 

Jonathan: What's that supposed to mean? 

Nancy: It means... you worry too much.

Joyce furrows her eyebrows and turns towards her children.

"Do I really worry that much?" She asks.

The Byers kids nod their heads, somewhat sheepishly.

Jonathan: Huh.

Nancy: I got this, okay? 

She kisses Jonathan quickly on the lips.

Jonathan: Okay. 

We then cut to the office where Tom is looking at the rat photos.

Tom: So, what exactly are we looking at here? Is this the Driscoll lady's stuff? 

Nancy: No. No, see, that's the thing. I mean, listen, I thought she was crazy too, but-- 

Co-worker: She told me that Johnson killed Kennedy.

The room laughs. 

Nancy: But, it turns out, she's not alone. Blackburn's Supply, Hawkins Farming, the Crawleys, they've all had some supplies go missing, all in the past few days. And it's not just fertiliser. It's pesticides, cleaning supplies, diesel fuel. And that's just from one day of calling around. I mean... there's gotta be more. 

Bruce: Okay, wait, wait, wait. Let me get this little... story of yours straight. So, little rodents have gone cuckoo in their furry little minds and they're running around the town of Hawkins, dining out on chemicals. 

Nancy: I know how it sounds, but-- 

He holds up the photos of the rats.

Bruce: But you've got proof!

The room laughs.

Bruce: I mean, fellas, you gotta admit, it's a hell of a headline, right? "Hawkins Rodents Prefer Poison: Nutjob Tells All." 

The room laughs again.

Tom: Guys, that's enough. I think this is... big. Bigger than one article. In fact, I think this has got to be a book.  The Mysterious Case of the Missing Fertiliser, a Nancy Drew mystery.

Robin shakes her head and puts a hand on Nancy's back.

"Once again, Nancy Drew is a very smart women. If anything, it's a compliment." She tried to give her friend a smile, on the inside, she was furious. How dare they tell Nancy what she's worth? She's part of something much bigger than she knows.

The whole room laughs again.

Tom: Next time a call comes in, do what you were hired for, and let us know, yeah? We'll decide what's a story and what's not. 

Nancy: Okay.

She takes the photos and leaves the room. 

Jonathan: Hey, it's okay. Nancy. Nancy! 

We then cut to Scoops  Ahoy, where Erica is ringing the bell repeatedly. 

Robin has headphones on, listening to the tape. She takes the headphones off and turns to her customers. 

Erica: I'd like to try the peanut butter chocolate swirl, please. 

Robin: No. No more samples today. 

Erica: Why not? 

Robin: Because you're abusing our company policy. 

Erica: Where's the sailor man? 

Robin: Sorry, he can't help you. He's busy. 

Erica: Busy with what?

Robin: Spycraft. 

The rooms snickers.

We then see Steve  hiding behind a plant, using binoculars to look around Starcourt.

Dustin: See anything? 

Steve: Uh, I guess I don't totally know what I'm looking for. 

Dustin: Evil Russians.

Steve: Yeah, exactly. I don't know what an evil Russians looks like. 

Dustin: Tall, blond, not smiling.

Steve: Mm-hmm?

Dustin: Also, look for earpieces, came, duffle bags, that sort of thing. 

Steve: Right, okay, duffle bags. 

He sees a girl flirting with a guy.

Steve: Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. 

Dustin: What? 

Steve: Anna Jacobi's talking with that meathead Mark Lewinsky. 

Dustin: If you're not gonna focus, just gimme the binoculars. 

Steve: Aw, Jesus Christ, whatever happened to standards?

The room laughs again.

Steve: I mean, Lewinsky never even cam off the bench. 

Dustin: Dude, you are the worst spy in history, you  know that? 

He snatches the binoculars off Steve.

Steve: Stop, hey. Stop.

Dustin: Give me those. I don't get why you're looking at girls. You have the perfect one in front of you. 

Steve: Seriously, if you say Robin again--

Dustin: Robin. Robin, Robin, Robin. Robin. Robin. 

Steve: No!

Robin smiles.

"Sorry Henderson," She says. "Not happening."

Dustin pouts.

"Why not? You guys would be amazing and so cute together!"

Robin goes to reply when Steve cuts her off.

"Just because, Henderson. Drop it." He turns back towards the screen. 

Steve: No, man, she's not my type. She's not even... in the ballpark of what my type is, all right? 

Dustin: What's your type again? Not awesome?

"Aw, Dustybun, you think I'm awesome!"

"Shut up."

Steve: Thank you.

Dustin: Hm. 

Steve: For your information, she's still in school. And she's  weird. She's a weirdo. And she's hyper. I don't like that she's hyper. And she did drama. That's a bad look. And she's in band? No.

Robin rolls her eyes, her smile faltering a bit.

"Aw, so nice to know that's what you think of me, Stevie." She says sarcastically. Steve rolls his eyes in response, then notices that his best friend has stopped smiling. He leans over.

"Hey, you know I don't mean that, right?" He asks.

"Yeah, I know." Robin responds, plastering on a smile and letting it drop the second Steve turns away from her. There's a sinking feeling in her gut, but she pushes it down to deal with later.

Dustin: Now that you're out of high school, which means you're technically an adult, don't you think it's time you move on from primitive constructs such as popularity? 

Steve: Oh, primitive constructs? That some stupid shit you learned at Camp... Know... Nothing? 

Dustin: Camp Know Where, actually. And no, it's shit I learned from  life. Instead of dating somebody you think's gonna make you cooler, why not date somebody you actually enjoy being around? Like me and Suzie. 

Steve: Oh, Suzie. Yeah, you mean, "hotter than Phoebe Cates." Yeah, that Suzie. And, uh, let's think about how exactly did you score that beautiful girlfriend? Oh, yeah. With my advice. Because that's how this works, Henderson. I give you the advice, you follow through. Not the other way around, all right, pea-brain? 

Back at the Wheelers, the boys are in the middle of their campaign.

Will: Do you guys hear that? It sounds like... thunder. But, no, wait. That's not thunder. It's... a horde of juju zombies. Sir Mike, your action. 

Mike: What should I do? 

Lucas: Attack?

Mike: Okay, I attack with my flail.

Will: Whoosh! You miss. Your flail clanks the stone, the zombie horde lumbers towards you, and... the juju bites your arm. Flesh tears! Seven points of damage. 

Mike: [sarcastically] Oh, no, my arm. Lucas, look, my arm.

Eddie frowns.

"Not cool, Wheeler."

Mike hangs his head in shame. 

Will: Sir Lucas, the zombie horse roars! Do you fight back or do you run?

Just as Lucas is about to say something, the phone rings. 

Will: No! It's a distraction! A trap. Do not answer it. 

The boys rush to answer the phone.

Mike: El? No. Sorry, not interested. 

He hangs up.

Mike: Telemarketers. 

Lucas: Maybe we should just call them. 

Mike: We can do that? 

Lucas: I think so.

Mike: Yeah, but what would we say? 

Will: We'll say nothing! The Khusiar tribe still needs your help. 

Mike: All right, then. I'll use my torch to set fire to the chambers, sacrificing ourselves, killing the jujus, and saving the Khusair. We all live on as heroes in the memories of the Kalamar. 

Lucas: Victory.

The boys high five.

Eddie shakes his head and looks at them, disappointed. 

"Really, guys?"

Dustin frowns.

"He just wanted to play." 

Will: Okay. Fine. You guys win. Congratulations.

Will starts to pack up. Mike must of realised he fucked up, because he instantly tries to make things better. 

Mike: Will, I was just messing around. Hey, let's finish for real. How much longer is the campaign?

Will: Just forget it, Mike!

Jonathan winces, they must of really hurt his feelings, Will rarely yells. 

Mike: No, we want to keep  playing, right? 

Lucas: Y-yeah, totally. 

Mike: We'll just call the girls after. 

Will: I said forget it, Mike, okay? I'm going home.  

Lucas: Come on, Will.

Will: Move!

Will shoves past Lucas.

Oof, Dustin cringes, angry Will is scary.

Will runs up the stairs and Mike chases after him. Will walks towards his bike in the Wheelers garage, Mike behind him.

Mike: Will, come on. You can't leave. It's raining. Listen, I said I was sorry, all right?

Mike internally cringes, Not this.

Mike: It's a cool campaign. It's really cool. We're just not in the mood right now.

Will: Yeah, Mike. That's the problem. You guys are never in the mood anymore. You're ruining our party.

Mike: That's not true. 

Will: Really? Where's Dustin right now?

Mike doesn't have an answer to that.

Will: See? You don't know and you don't even care. And obviously he doesn't either and I don't blame him. 

Dustin frowns and turns to Will.

"Of course I care."

Will: You're destroying everything, and for what? So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?

"Stupid?" El whispers.

Will pulls her into a hug.

"I didn't mean that, Ellie. I was just angry. I'm sorry."

Mike: El's not stupid. It's not my fault you don't like girls.

There's a deadly silence in the room. 

Will's heart hammers in his own ears, even though it's been over a year since Mike had said those dreaded words, they still hurt like they did on the day. He feels his eyes fill up with tears and registers some one, probably Joyce, pulling him in for a hug.

Mike winces, waiting for the outburst. He really, really regrets what he said. Like, more than anyone could ever believe, and he knows he deserves what's about to come.

Robin is the first one to break the silence.

"What. The. Fuck." She whispers calmly, the tone of her voice concerning. She stands up. "You don't ever use that against some one! Ever!"

Max is quick to follow.

"Really, Micheal? All he wanted was to play a game from his childhood, and you go ahead and say this?  Well excuse him for wanting to be a child again!" She shouts.

Lucas furrows his brow, this is what Mike said to Will? I mean, I always assumed it was bad, but, not this. 

Dustin is next.

"After all the shit he's been through, don't you think he deserves that? That one little thing." He exclaims. "He lost his childhood, Michael, and if he wants to do something that might help him have a glimpse of it again, then fucking do it!"

Jonathan sits in the corner, trying to keep his cool. He finally speaks up.

"I'm really, really disappointed in you, Wheeler. After all you know he's been through, what Hawkins called him, what Lonnie called him, you still have the fucking nerve to say something like that?" His tone is surprisingly level, but his friends and family can tell there's a lot of anger underneath them.

Robin feels herself tearing up, she's had her sexuality used too many times against her. She doesn't want that to happen to anyone else, she's knows how much it can fucking hurt. Steve rubs her back gently while shaking his head at Mike.

Mike sits there and takes the yelling and shouting, knowing very well he deserves it. He looks up at Nancy. She looks at him in disappointment.

"I'll deal with you later." She whispers, turning back to the screen.

The impact of those words hit right away, and Will looks like a kicked puppy.

God, the look on Will's face makes Lucas want to cry. He looks so... broken.

Mike: I'm not trying to be a jerk. Okay?

"Too late, Micheal." Erica spits out.

Mike: But we're not kids  anymore. I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? That we were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives? 

Will: Yeah. I guess I did. I really did. 

He rides out into the rain, heading home.

Mike: Will. Will! Will, come one!

Will leaves Mike behind, standing in the basement of his house. 

We then see Hawkins Community Pool, people rushing to get cover from the rain. We see Max and El, chaining up their bikes. They head to the front desk.

Max: Excuse me. 

Employee: No one in the water until 30 minutes after the last strike. And don't try and argue with me. You wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree. 

Max: Yeah, we don't care. We're not here to swim. Or get electrocuted.

El brings out the lifeguard bag.

El: We found this. 

Max: Does that belong to anybody here? 

Employee: Oh, yeah. That's Heather's. I'll get it back to her. 

El: We could give it back to her. 

Employee: You could. 'Cept she's not here. Bailed on me today. 

Max and El looks at each other.

Employee: What is this? You girls want a reward or somethin'? 

Max: No. We're just... Good Samaritans. 

A few people chuckle dryly, their thoughts still on the fight.

El walks over to find a picture of Heather on a board.

Max: Heather. Do you think you can find her? 

El rips down the picture. 

We then see Max turning on all the showers, providing whit noise for El. 

El puts on her makeshift mask and goes into the void,  searching for Heather. She sees a white mailbox and a red door. 

Max: What do you see? 

El: A door. A red door. 

She opens it and walks inside, finding a white bathtub. She sees that it's filled with ice. Suddenly Heather emerges from it, gasping.

The group jump, a few of them putting their hands over their hearts.

Heather: Help me. 

Suddenly she's pulled under and the bathtub disappears. El screams, dropping to the floor, trying to see where the other girl went. We can see Heather being pulled into the inky depths, screaming "Help me!" El tries to reach for her, to no avail. 

Back at the pool, El pulls of her  mask, panting heavily.

Max: What happened? El! 

She looks concerned at the state of her friend.

Hopper stands up and claps his hands.

"Right, you know what to do. We'll have a 20 minute break this time."

The group stands up, half of them gearing to Will's direction, the other half heading to Mike.

Chapter Text

Lucas is the first to pull Will into a hug, holding him tight. He feels Will sniffle against his shoulder and pulls the boy closer, offering any ounce of comfort he can. The others (Max, Dustin, Eddie, Steve and Nancy) join in, forming one giant group hug. 

I can't believe Mike said that. I mean, I know he was upset, but, really? This is why he was probably so desperate to find Will. Poor Will, that was probably a really rough day for him. The fight between him and Mike and then Castle Byers getting destroyed by the storm.

Lucas realises something. Is this why Mike and Will have been acting strange around each other? Probably. God, I knew something was up, I just didn't know what. 

His eyes also fill with tears as he remembers what Will looked like on the screen, like a kicked puppy. God, no one should feel like that. Especially not Will, not after everything he's been through. He rubs his friends's back before pulling away and heading to the kitchen, grabbing a snack. He walks back into the room and hands Will the food, sitting down and wrapping an arm around his friends shoulder. 

The rest of the group offer silent comfort, a few talking about things to get Will's minds off of the fight. Lucas looks over at Mike, who's in the middle of being yelled at by Robin, Jonathan and Nancy. El's off in the corner with Hopper, looking very confused about what happened.

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El stands off in the corner, looking very confused about all that's happening around her. In one corner, Mike is getting yelled at, in the other, Will is in the centre of a group hug. She looks torn, doe she go to her boyfriend or her brother? She doesn't even understand what happened, all Mike said was "It's not my fault you don't like girls.", why did that hurt Will so much? She looks up at her dad.

"Hopper? What's does "It's not my fault you don't like girls mean."? She asks. Hopper sighs and bends down.

"El, there are some people in the world..." He sighs. "You know how you Mike likes you and you like Mike? And how Max likes Lucas and Lucas likes Max?"

She nods her head.

"You're a girl and Mike is a boy. Max is a girl and Lucas is a boy." He continues.

She nods her head again.

"There are some people in the world who... like the same gender as them."

El furrows her brow in confusion.

"What does that mean?"

Hopper rubs his fore head.

"It means, okay, imagine if instead of liking Mike you liked Max."

"Oh."

"Yeah, out there, there are some girls who like girls and some boys who like boys."

El tilts her head.

"Is that a bad thing?" She asks.

"No, it's not," Hopper shakes his head. "But there are people out there who think it is and they can be very mean about it. But it's not wrong at all."

"Does Will like boys?" El questions. Hopper shrugs his shoulders.

"I don't know, maybe. But don't go asking him, I think he's very sensitive about it."

El nods her head in understanding and hugs her dad.

"Thanks Hop."

"No problem, kid."

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Steve sits down beside Will, absently rubbing his back. His mind is still on the reaction the boy had, he looked so broken. He felt the way Robin was close to exploding, and he looks over to where she's talking to Mike. Mike looks absolutely devastated and Steve knows he really, really regrets it. Abruptly, Robin stops talking, sighs and leans down to Mike's level. Nancy has her hands and her brothers shoulders even though she doesn't look happy with what he said.

Mike wipes his nose and Robin hugs him before walking over to sit with Steve. Jonathan then leans down to talk to the boy. 

Robin sits down with a huff.

"Hey." She says.

"Hey. How did everything go?" Steve asks. She sighs.

"Okay. He really regrets it, y'know? He wasn't thinking, I know that. But he's needs to understand that it's not okay to say that to some one. He's going to talk to Will after we finish the episode. We'll be done for the day after this one anyway."

Steve nods his head and uses his other arm to hug Robin.

"Hey, when me and Dustin were spying, and I said all that stuff about being hyper, you know I don't mean that, right? You're perfect the way you are."

Robin nods her head and smiles, but Steve can tell it's fake.

"I know, dingus."

"Okay, just making sure."

They spend the rest of the break talking to each other and Will, keeping their mind off things. Suddenly, Mike walks over. He pulls Will up and hugs him, whispering something to the boy that the rest of them can't hear. Will nods his head and then notifies the others they should continue watching.

They all sit down, Mike with an arm around Will, and Murray presses play.

Chapter Text

We see Hopper and Joyce arriving at Hawkins Lab, grabbing the supplies they need to break in. They enter.

Hopper: Hello? Anybody home? We come in peace. 

Joyce stares at a certain spot, flashing back to when Bob was  killed. She remembers her screams and watching the Demo-dog kill her beloved. 

Will shivers and Mike tightens his arm around him. He leans in.

"Are you okay?"

Will nods and swallows shakily.

"Yeah, thanks Mike."

Hopper:  Joyce! You okay?

She's jolted back to the present.

Joyce: I'm fine. 

Hopper: You want to wait in the car? 

Joyce: I said I'm fine. 

She and Hopper walk into the next room, and we see a security camera, the light blinking.

We zoom in on the lens and suddenly we pull back to see Dustin and Steve.

There's some gasps of awe in the room.

"Holy shit, that was a good transition."

"Yeah."

Dustin spots a tall, blond guy carrying a duffel bag.

Dustin: Target acquired.

Steve: Where? 

Dustin: Ten o'clock. Sam Goody's.

Steve: Give me that. 

Steve snatches the binoculars off Dustin and sees the guy.

Steve: Shit. Duffel bag. 

Steve & Dustin: Evil Russian.

They follow the guy.

Dustin: Slow down.

Steve: We're losing him.

Dustin: You're getting too close. 

Steve bumps into a passerby and they both hurry to seem like they're occupied. Dustin picks up a phone.

Dustin: [in monotone voice] Hello. Yes. I am fine. How are you? 

They both continue following the Russian. They see him enter a place called JAZZERCISE.

Russian: All right, everyone, listen up! I just have one question for you. Who... is ready to sweat? 

The women cheer and he unzips the duffel bag, which has a boom box in it. Music starts playing.

Russian: Okay! Let's start it nice and easy now. Let's move our thighs. Yeah, ladies, warm it up. 

It turns out the Russian guy is actually a jazzercise instructor.

Robin laughs at the two and Steve hit her upside the head.

"Stop."

Back with Robin, she seems to be going over the code. 

Robin: "The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly." 

She picks up the dictionary.

Robin: "Tread lightly"? 

There's a knock at the back door and she goes to open it. It's a delivery guy.

Man: Delivery for you.

Robin: Thank you

She signs for it and looks at the logo, which says LYNX. 

Man: Have a nice day.

Robin: Yeah, you too. 

As he's walking down the hallway, Robin looks at his back. There's a picture of a silver cat on his back.

"Silver cat." Nancy whispers. Robin nods her head.

Robin: Silver cat. Silver cat. 

We see Steve and Dustin walking back to Scoops.

Steve: Robin, you're not gonna  believe who Dustin thought was a Russian.

Max clears her throat.

"If I'm correct you also thought he was a Russian."

Steve rolls his eyes.

Dustin: You did too.

Steve: No, I did not. 

Robin rushes past them while they're bickering, causing them to pause and turn around. Robin races through Starcourt, standing up on one of the seats. 

Robin: "A trip to China sounds nice." 

She looks around and spots a Chinese restaurant. 

Robin: A trip to China sounds nice. "If you tread lightly." 

She looks around once again and spots a shoe shop. 

Robin: If you tread lightly. "When-- when blue and yellow meet in the west." When blue meets yellow...

She's sees that the giant clock's hands are blue and yellow.

Robin: ... in the west. 

Steve and Dustin walk over to her.

Steve: Robin. What are you doing? 

Robin: I cracked it. 

Steve: Cracked what? 

She hops down from the seat.

Robin: I cracked the code.

Eddie stands up.

"And a round of applause for Miss Buckley, please!" He exclaims. The room do as told and Robin gets up to bow.

"Thank you very much, thank you." She sits back down. 

We then see Nancy at Hawkins Post, making coffee. She opens the cupboard and a fake rat springs out at her,  scaring her. The men behind her laugh.

Bruce: There it is! Careful! It might have rabies! 

Nancy rips the rat down and walks into the dark room where Jonathan is developing photos.

Jonathan: Come on! 

She chucks him the rat.

Jonathan: What-- what's this?

Nancy: Proof. 

Jonathan: Proof? 

Nancy: They said they wanted proof, right? So let's give it to 'em. 

Jonathan: A rubber rat? 

Nancy: No, the real rat. Driscoll's rat. You said yourself it looked sick. We can take it to an animal control centre, they can run some blood tests on it, figure out what's wrong with it--

Jonathan: Whoa, Nancy, slow down. Tom didn't ask for proof. He asked us to drop the story. 

Nancy: That's because he didn't believe us. 

Jonathan: Nancy. 

Nancy: I'm right. 

Jonathan: That's not the point. 

Nancy: Then what's the point? 

Jonathan: The point is that you should've thought about that before you talked to them. All right? They're assholes, okay? I get it. But it's just some stupid story. 

Nancy: Oh, it's stupid? 

Jonathan: It's stupid to get fired over. 

Nancy: No one's going to fire us. Look, if you don't want to go, that's fine. Just... give me the keys. 

Jonathan: You're relentless, you know that? Come one.

They grab their stuff and head out. 

Robin smiles fondly at her friend, always stubborn and persistent.

Back at Hawkins lab, Joyce and Hopper are walking around, seeing if anyone's there.

Hopper: Nobody's home. All the cavities have been filled. I watched 'em do it, Joyce. 

Joyce remembers first going into the Upside Down and finding Will. Then she remembers burning the Mind Flayer out of him. 

The groups eyes widen.

"Oh God."

"Jesus Christ."

Will grimaces and sinks into Mike more, trying to avoid the stares. Mike shifts so Will can get more comfortable, Will's head ending up on his chest. He flushes slightly but thinks nothing of it, turning back to the screen. 

Hopper: It's over. It's over. 

Joyce sits down.

Joyce: I feel like I'm losing my mind.

Hopper: You're not losing your mind. Not any more than I am. You  know, the other day, I almost shot Betsy Payne's dog because it came rushing at me from behind this fence, and I... I swear to God I thought it was one of those things. You know that I'm keeping a close eye on things, right? 

Joyce: Yeah.

Hopper: Because it's important to me. It is important to me that you feel safe. That you and you'r family feel safe. I want you to feel like this can still be your home. 

Joyce sighs.

Hopper: What? You didn't think I'd find out about that? Gary called me. He said he's fixing up your house to put on the market. The kids know yet? 

Joyce shakes her head and Hopper sits down near her. 

Hopper: After Sarah, I had to get away. I had to get the hell out of that place, you know? Outrun those, uh... those memories, I guess. I mean, why do you think I ended up back in this shithole? But you have something that I never had. You have people that know what you've been through. You have people that care about you. Right here. In Hawkins. 

Joyce: You mean... you mean, people like Scott Clarke.

The room chuckles and Joyce smiles lightly.

Joyce: That was a joke. 

Hopper chuckles lightly. Suddenly there's a clanging coming from somewhere.

Joyce: What's that? 

Hopper peeks around the corner.

Hopper: Wait here. 

Hopper searches for the source of the noise, until he finds it. It's coming from behind a close door, he readies his gun. 

We then see Mike and Lucas out in the rain, arriving at Will's house. Mike bangs on the door.

Mike: Will! Will, I'm sorry, man, all right?

Dustin furrows his brow. Mike doesn't do anything after he broke up with El, and yet here he is, out in the rain, just because he had a fight with Will? Interesting.

Will peers at the screen, instantly recognising that Mike has been crying. His heart sinks. He never wanted to make his friend feel like that. He turns to Mike.

"Mike, I'm sorry." He whispers. His friend turns to him in surprise.

"For what?"

"Making you cry."

Mike blushes.

"You noticed that?" He asks.

"Mike, I've been your friend for years, I know what you look like when you're crying. I'm sorry." Will replies. His friend shakes his head.

"Not your fault, Will the Wise. It's okay."

He nods his head and leans it back against Mike's chest, his heart rate quickening.

Mike: I was being a total asshole! Please, can you just come outside and we'll talk? Will!

He bangs on the door again. Lucas looks through the window.

Lucas: Hey, Will! Come on, man! We're sorry! Will!

We then see Will in Castle Byers, flipping through a drenched comic. He throws it on the ground. He looks at his DnD booklet and a memory resurfaces. 

Past Mike: Something is coming, something hungry for blood. 

We see the young party at the table, playing DnD the night Will went missing.

Robin squeals, startling some people.

"Sorry, they were just so cute." She apologises.

Past Will: What is it? 

Past Dustin: What if it's the Demogorgon? Oh, Jesus, we're so screwed if it's the Demogorgon. 

Past Lucas: It's not the Demogorgon. 

Present Will looks at his old Will the Wise drawing.

Past Mike: Will, your action!

Past Will: Fireball! 

Past  Mike: Fourteen!

The whole table cheers and celebrates. 

Past Mike: Direct hit! Will the Wise's fireball hits the thessalhydra!

The boys smile sadly, remembering when things were so much easier than they were now.

Present Will picks up a photo of them on Halloween, 1984, in  their Ghostbusters costumes.

We see the past boys pull up to school, singing the Ghostbusters theme song and having fun.

Will: Stupid. So stupid.

Mike frowns and draws Will in closer.

"It's not stupid." 

He rips up the photo and pulls the stuff on his wall off.

The room gasps, looking concernedly at the screen. 

"What-- what are doing?" Jonathan asks.

Will shrinks further into Mike.

Will: So stupid.

He grabs his bat and exits Castle Byers, bashing at it, tearing it down. Trying to get rid of all those painful memories of when he was happier.

The group watches on in shock.

He eventually gives up on the bat, resorting to using his own hands. He tears it down and collapses on the floor, sobbing heavily. 

Lucas turns to Will, confused and hurt.

"You-- you told us the storm destroyed Castle Byers. Why-- what-- why would you do that? Why would you lie to us?" He asks, chuckling uncomfortably. Will's eyes fill with tears and he pointedly avoids the rooms stares. He can't handle to see the disappointment on their faces, the pure sadness on Jonathan's. 

"Castle Byers was your happy place-- you destroyed your own happy place." Dustin realises, looking absolutely devastated. Will smiles tightly and nods. He hears Mike sniffle ever so slightly and he tightens his grip on the boy. He finally has enough courage to look at Dustin.

"Look-- we'll talk about it later, okay? Let's just finish watching." He turns back to the screen, leaving no room for debate.

The camera then shows us Jonathan and  Nancy, rushing up to Mrs. Driscoll's front door. Nancy knocks.

Nancy: Mrs. Driscoll? 

Jonathan: Oh, she must not be home. 

Nancy: She's and 80-year-old woman and it's pouring. Where else would she be? 

Nancy starts to open the door.

Jonathan: Whoa, what are you doing?

Nancy: Maybe she fell. Or something. 

Nancy opens the door and walks inside. 

Nancy: Mrs. Driscoll?

Jonathan: Seriously?

Nancy: Mrs. Driscoll? 

"I believe that's called "breaking and entering", Nancy." Erica jokes, trying to lighten the mood. Nancy gives her a smile in return for her effort.

Nancy: It's Nancy. From  The Hawkins Post. 

There's no answer. They open the door to the basement.

Nancy: Mrs. Driscoll? 

The pair walk down the stairs and turn on the light, finding empty packs of fertiliser on the ground. There's a squeal and some sort of chittering coming from the storage. Nancy grabs a hammer. The pair slowly make their way over, and see Mrs. Driscoll feasting on fertiliser. 

Nancy: Mrs. Driscoll?

She looks over at them and wails.

"Well, shit."

Back at Starcourt, Robin, Steve and Dustin are put in the rain, watching some kind of delivery happen.

Robin: Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes. 

Using the binoculars, Dustin spots them.

Dustin: They're with that whistling guy, ten o'clock. 

Steve: What do you think's in there?

Dustin: Guns, bombs? 

Robin: Chemical weapons? 

Dustin: Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth. 

Steve: Great. That's great. 

Dustin watches them upon a storage unit.

Robin: Hey, what's in  their.

Dustin: It's just more boxes. 

Steve grans the binoculars from Dustin.

Steve: Let me check it out.

Dustin: No, I'm still looking.

Steve: Lemme see. 

"Not the best time to be bickering, guys."

"Sorry."

Dustin bangs his arm against the metal, alerting the guards.

Dustin: Duck! 

They all hide behind the wall, Steve and Robin holding hands. They notice this and quickly let go. The guards crept around, looking for them.

Guard: Stay put! Watch the door! 

The guard steps onto  the rooftop, but doesn't see anyone.

There's sighs of relief throughout the room. 

We see the group back inside.

Robin: Well, I think we found your Russians. 

Back at the Lab,  Hopper is still trying to find where the noises are coming from. He comes across a half-open door.

Hopper: This is Hawkins Chief of Police! Come out with your hands up! You hear me? Hands up! 

He kicks open the door and finds no-one, there's a thunder clap and suddenly someone grabs Hopper from behind, beating him up. Hopper fights back, slamming his opponent up against the wall. The man slams Hopper down on a desk, punching the shit out of him. The man kicks Hopper unconscious.

"Uh-oh."

"Shit."

"Fucking hell."

Joyce enters  the hallway, looking for Hopper.

Joyce: Hopper! Hopper! 

She sees him laying unconscious on the ground.

Joyce: Hopper! Hopper! 

A motor starts up and Joyce makes it just in time to see a motorcycle driving away.

With Max and El, they arrive at the place El saw in the void.

Max: Is this it? 

El nods. She opens the door with her powers and the girls walk inside. They see a family picture of Heather, Tom, and what must be Heather's mum.

Max: This is her house.

El: What? 

Max: Heather's house. 

They hear people laughing and enter the dining room. There, Billy, Tom and Heather's mum are having dinner together.

"Okay, what the fuck?"

"Now, that's just weird."

They turn to the girls.

Billy: Max. 

Max: We didn't mean to... barge in. We tried to knock, but... maybe you didn't hear us over the storm. 

Tom: I'm sorry, who is this dripping all over my living room right now? 

Billy: I'm sorry. Janet, Tom, this... is my sister, Maxine. What on earth are you doing here?

He gets up and walks over to the girls.

Billy: Is something wrong? 

Max: We just wanted to make sure everything was okay. 

Billy: Okay? Why wouldn't it be okay?

El: Where is she? 

Billy: I'm sorry. Where is who? 

Suddenly Heather walks in from the kitchen. 

Heather: Well, they're a little burnt, I'm sorry-- 

Billy: Heather! This is my sister, Maxine. And, I'm sorry, I did not quite catch your name. 

El: El. 

Billy: El. Now, what is it you were saying, El? You were looking for somebody? 

El turns to Heather.

El: I--I saw... I saw you--

Max: Your manager. At the pool.

"Good save, Max." Dustin sighs.

"Thanks."

Max: He said you guys didn't come in to work today, so we got worried. 

Billy: Heather wasn't feeling so hot today, so we though we'd take the day off to nurse her back to health. But you're feeling just fine right now, aren't you, Heather? 

Heather: I'm feeling so much better. Do you girls want a cookie? They're fresh out of the oven. 

We then see Max and El, picking up their bikes and riding away. Billy closes the door and watches them from a window. We focus and him and he has flashes of El closing the gate. His pulls dilate.

Back with Will, he's sitting the rain when he feels a sensation on the back of his neck. Touching it, he gets up.Lucas and Mike come rushing towards him.

Lucas: Will! What happened? 

Mike: Are you okay? 

Will turns around.

Will: He's back. 

"God fucking damn it." Steve complains. Robin rolls her eyes.

"We've already been through it, dingus."

"I know, but, still."

Back at Heather's house, Billy sits back down at the table.

Heather: Is everything all right? 

Billy: Yes. Everything's fine. 

Janet: your sister really didn't want to stay? 

Billy: No, she's just not, you know, really a people person. 

Janet: Well, I just don't like the idea of them out there in the storm like that. 

Tom: Oh, they'll be fine. 

Janet reaches for her wine and knocks the glass over.

Tom: I told you to slow down on that wine, Janet.

"I don't think it's the wine."

Janet: Yes, darling.

Heather: Are you okay, Mummy?

Janet: Yes, I'm-- I'm just... feeling a little lightheaded is all. 

Tom: Hm. It's all that wine. 

Janet: I'm  sorry. Um, if you'll excuse me, I[m just gonna go upstairs and lie down for a bit. 

As Janet, is walking she falls, and Billy and Heather make eye contact. 

Tom: Janet? Janet? Janet?

Tom goes to check on his wife. Billy brings out a bottle of chloroform. Heather grabs a wine bottle.

Tom: Janet! Call 911! Call 911--

Heath hits his over the head with the wine bottle, knocking him to the floor.

"Shit."

"Fuck."

Billy hands Heather the chloroformed fabric. She leans down next to her father.

Heather: I'm really sorry about this, Daddy, but it'll all be over soon, I promise.

She places the cloth over Tom's mouth and the screen goes black. 

Joyce is the first one to break the silence.

"Right, we're done for the day, so you can go do whatever you want to." She instructs.

The group drifts apart, Mike pulling Will down the hall and into their bedroom.

Chapter Text

As soon as Mike closes the door, he turns to Will and starts apologising.

"Oh my God, Will, I'm so, so sorry. You did not deserve what I said to you and I'm so sorry, it was such a shitty thing to say. Oh my God, you have no idea how fucking sorry I am. I'm really sorry. Sorry-" 

"Mike, it's fine." Will says. 

Mike grabs his friends hand, noticing that Will tenses a little bit. He keeps going.

"It's not, it's really, really not. Don't forgive me when I do something shitty! Sorry, sorry, sorry-"

He stops when he notices Will laughing. He tightens his grip.

"Will, I'm being serious. Why-- why are you laughing? Wh-what?" Mike stumbles in confusion. Will takes a few breaths to calm down.

"Sorry, I know, I just never th- I guess I just never thought the Micheal Wheeler would say sorry." He chuckles. 

"I'll always so sorry to you." Mike says softly, using what the party calls his "Will voice". 

"I know." The other boy says, smiling softly. His smile turns into a frown. "I'm sorry for making you cry. I didn't mean it. I didn't know it would affect you that much."

Mike waves it off.

"I deserve it." 

"No, you don't deserve it." Will says, his heart sinking. "You never deserve it." 

"I do, though." 

Suddenly a surge of courage rushes through Will, he uses the hand not holding Mike's to cup his friends cheek.

"No, Mike. You don't."

Mike holds the hand cupping his cheek, tempted to rip it away. He's not worthy of Will's affection or attention. Will is an angel, absolutely perfect in every way. Mike's not. He's the opposite. He's bitchy and mean and... selfish. His dad sure has told him that way too many times. Despite what his inner voice says, he leans into Will's touch.

"I just don't understand why you forgive me." He mumbles. "I'll just mess everything up again."

Will leans in closer, "Mike, you can never ruin anything. Not for me." 

"I made you upset! I made you destroy Castle Byers!" Despite Will's soft words, Mike is determined to let the other boy know how bad he actually is. 

Will sighs and gently brushes his best friend's cheek with his thumb.

"You made me upset, but you made it better. You're human, Mike. I don't expect you to be perfect and flawless at all. I don't want a flawless and perfect Mike." He reassures softly, resisting the urge to say more, in case he scares Mike off. But one look at the tears in his friend's eyes makes him break.

"I want Mike, I need Mike. I don't need you to be perfect. I don't need you to be a strong warrior or a jock. I need you to be you. Bitchiness and all." 

Mike sniffs.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Come here." Will says firmly, pulling Mike in for a hug. Despite what others might say, he impulsively kisses his friend on the head and immediately freezes, regretting it instantly. He only relaxes when Mike sinks further into his touch, and Will can feel tears soaking his top. It doesn't matter, though, because his friends top is also getting soaked.

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Dustin heads to his room and strains his ears, trying to hear what his friends might be saying. He can't hear anything important, given that they're speaking in soft voices. 

God, Dustin wants to cry. Will's happy place is gone, there's nothing left. And the fact that he lied to them about it? It must of really ruined him. 

Will has always been the purest of the group, the kindest, the softest. He didn't deserve what he went through, none of them deserve what they went through. It was terrifying for Dustin, not knowing wether Steve and Robin were alive. He can't imagine what it had been like for Will. 

And Mike, as soon as Mike said what he said, Dustin could see the huge amount of guilt on his face. He could see as Mike panicked and turned to Will, trying to communicate that he was sorry.

He has always known that Mike and Will's relationship is different to the others, he just can't put his finger on what it is though. Mike always seems way more upset when Will is angry at him then he would be if any of the others were angry at him. He always seems softer around Will, but Dustin just assumed that was because after the Upside Down, Will was more jumpy around loud noises.

Dustin sighs. He thinks Will and Mike just both really need a hug. He resolves to give them one after they both come out.

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El opens the door to the bedroom and sees Mike and Will hugging. When the boys notice her, they quickly pull apart, blushing. She doesn't pay much attention to it, instead turning towards her brother.

"Will, can I talk to you?'

He nods, and Mike heads towards the door, hesitantly leaving. He turns back.

"Will, come find me after, okay?" He leaves the room without a second thought.

El sits down on a bed, gesturing for Will to sit down next to her. He does so, curious. She takes his hand.

"Will, Hopper explained what Mike said meant to me." She starts. She notices how Will automatically tenses, going to pull his hand away. She grips it tighter.

"It is okay if you like boys. I like boys, I think. Love is love." 

Will relaxes and smiles.

"Thanks, Ellie." He sighs. "That means a lot."

El nods and kisses him on the cheek before exiting the room and heading to ask Joyce what's for dinner.

As she's helping make the meal, she sees Will instantly gravitate towards her boyfriend, smiling.

Chapter Text

Will sits next to Mike for dinner, close enough to bump each other with their elbows while cutting their food. Every touch sent a burst of giggles through the two, as cliche as it sounded. Butterflies fill Will’s stomach every time he sees Mike smile. It felt like the two were kids again, no Upside Down, no real fantasy monsters. Just fake ones told by Mike as the party worked their way through an unfair dungeon because Dustin pissed Mike off that day. However, as dinner drew to a close, Will couldn’t help but wish that time would stop. Not just because he wanted to spend more time with Mike, even if that is mostly is , it's because there was this feeling of dread in his stomach.

Watching the seconds tick by, Will’s good mood deteriorates like snow held in the palm of a hand. The small inside jokes he shared with Mike couldn’t even lift his spirits as he washed his dish. Jonathan must have noticed his voice getting stilted at the end of dinner as he pulled him to the side while everybody finished tidying up. “Are you okay?” He asked quietly, as not to alert the others. Will cracked a shaky smile, saying. “As fine as I can be with this whole.. thing.” He does a vague hand gesture towards the room where the screen is located.

Jonathan gives him an awkward smile back, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, I get that.” He hisses. “At least I’m barely there, you’re like the main character.” His eyes soften as he looks at Will, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “Are you sure you’re okay? Is there anything I can do to help you?” In the back of Will’s mind, an irritating grain of irrational anger builds up in him. He almost wants to smack Jonathan’s hand away and tell him he’s not a baby, but he knows that he’s just concerned. It still hurts though.

He sighs, pursing his lips. “I promise I’m fine.” He says, and an echo that sounds disturbingly like Mike comes through his head. Friends don’t lie. He winces, but brothers do. He argues back, shoving down any guilt he had. Jonathan still looks hesitant. “If you’re sure?” He says, Will nods. “I’m sure.” He narrows his eyes, scanning Will for any sign of lying. Jonathan must have worse vision than Will thought because he smiles at him. “Okay.. and my room is right down the hall, and my door it always open in case you have a nightmare, and-”

Will laughs, exasperated as he shoves Jonathan away. “I know, I know. Go away.” Jonathan sighs, walking sluggishly and turning to look at Will every few steps. “If you’re sure.” Will hums, smiling in what he hopes is comforting. “I’m sure,” He repeats. The moment Jonathan closes the door to his room, anxiety sinks like a stone in his stomach. He really doesn’t want to go to bed, but what other option does he have? He just shoved Jonathan away and if he went to go grab him now he’d ask a billion questions and never leave him alone. The “Scoops troop” is all together talking about something that’s gonna happen on the screen. Lucas is with Max doing God knows what. El is hanging out with Hopper along with Mom and Mike. He hisses, remembering the feeling of dried tears on his shoulder. Will doesn’t want to worry Mike, it’s already so good, he won’t let his weird feelings ruin that.

So, with a heavy heart, he does a dead man's march towards his room. Dragging his feet as much as possible in his attempt to stall going to bed. Searching for the “Perfect” pajamas, making sure his teeth are really clean and brushing them twice, getting something to drink for bed, getting out his clothes for tomorrow. Anything to hamper the inevitable, but he eventually had to lie down. He stared up at the dark ceiling, anticipation clinging to his bones, until his eyes grew heavy.  He closed his eyes, praying for a peaceful night, but Will never gets what he wants.

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Will lands hard on the ground and his heart sinks to his feet. "No, no, no, no-" He looks around with wide panicked eyes. He can’t be here, He cannot be here. Taking in the scarlet sky, mottled trees, and spongy ground that seems to consume him, it’s his worst nightmares come true. He could never stay in one place for long enough out of fear that the floor would eat him alive, make him become part of the upside down. He brings his hands up to his face, feeling small palms on chubby cheeks. A dawning terror consumes him as he pats himself down, feeling Jonathan hand me down puffer jacket damp with moist air. He's tiny, he's 11 again . Hands soft and untouched by the horrors he's about to experience again.

He has no time to comprehend the danger he’s in because he hears a growl behind him, pure panic and adrenaline fills him as he bolts. Stumbling over himself like a baby faun, more used to his longer limbs. He runs over ‘roots’ and branches, letting the lower hanging ones whip him in the face in his panic to get away. His chest heaves but he can't stop running for even a little or else he's dead. Instinctively, he heads straight for Castle Byers. Like he did when he was in the Upside Down the first time. He dives through the flap with all the finesse of a drunk toddler, tucking himself in the corner and putting his head in between his knees. 

He can hear it stomp around outside, the damp, sticky, ground muffling its footsteps but it doesn't help. It never helped. It might have masked his noise but it always knew where he was.  Will bites back a whimper, stuffing his knuckles in his mouth, the low clicking of the Demogorgon's maw haunting him right outside the sheets. Oh god, oh please, please, please. He begs, clasping his hand together and praying for a God that doesn't care for people like him.

It could have been years, or hours that he sat there kneeled but eventually it left. However, Will stayed. He stayed, frozen as tears dried on his face. Terror struck, in disbelief that it feels like he’s a little kid again. He unfurled, biting his lips and edging his way out the flap cautiously. The ashy, wet, ground gets stuck in between his fingers, making it feel gritty with every flex of his fingers. Every breath he takes of the polluted air sinks like disease in his lungs and it feels like he exhales fire just to breathe back in ash. He coughs, looking left and right before scrambling out of the fort in a mad dash towards the library. Where his Mom and Hopper saved him, about half way there, he hears demodogs behind him. Nipping at his heels, but he runs faster, begging and pleading just to make it. Somebody must have been looking down on him as he escaped the things.

He bursts through the library's door, a look of pure relief as he sees his saviors there. Dawned in stolen yellow hazmat suits. "Mom!" He cries out. Nothing, he stutters to a stop, confused. "Mom?" She says nothing. "Mom, please!" He begs, going to tug on her suit but he goes right through her. She is staring blankly ahead, tears pouring down her face. "He's gone." She whispers, Will panics. “What, No! Mom, I'm here! Please!" She curls into Hopper going right through him. Hopper holds her close. “I'm so sorry." He murmurs, Will starts to cry again. T-This can’t be happening. He escaped the upside down. He beat the possession! This shouldn’t be happening! This is cruel, this is mean, this is so mean.

“I'm here! Hopper, I'm right here!" He pleads, trying to grab onto them but his hand moves through blank air. They walk through him, heading towards the gate. "Please!” He goes to follow them but hits an invisible wall. He bangs on the transparent wall desperately." Hopper! Mom!" His voice breaks, he slams into the wall, screaming until all he can do is rasp. "MOM!"

He falls to his knees, begging for anyone to come and put him out of his misery. He hears footsteps coming towards him, looking up he sees the familiar raven colored hair of one Mike Wheeler. An overwhelming calm washes over him as he sees Mike’s face, although he can’t  help but feel hesitant. Something is off, wrong, maybe it’s his hair, or the look on his face, or the fact Mike shouldn’t be able even get into the Upside Down. Whatever it is, it makes WIll uneasy. “Mike?" He whispers, voice hopeful and broken. Mike stares down at him in pure disdain, Will takes a step forward. Mike steps back, Will steps forward, Mike steps back. "Mike please-" He collapses, eyes blurry with unshed tears. 

He reaches a hand towards him, the harsh red light of the upside down bearing down on the two of them. Mike looks at Will, disgusted. He brings his own hand to his chest. "I have never met a man as worthless as you." He mutters, pure vitriol spilling past his lips, glaring at him. He turns away, Will is frozen, stuck watching the love of his life leaving him to rot. For the first time, Mike Wheeler said no to Will Byers. Will bolts awake, covered with sweat.

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Will looks at the dark room, blinking back tears as he fans his face. His eyes adjust to the room, Mike’s words echoing in his mind. “ I have never met a man as worthless as you. ” He feels like cold sludge is stuck in his throat, and he chokes back a strangled gasp when he sees a shadow in the doorway. He jumps back, his spine hitting the headboard. It slaps against the wall with a hard crack, Will starts to hyperventilate.  His hand on his chest trying in vain to calm his heart, which is going at a jackrabbit pace.

He blinks rapidly, trying to clear his vision when he sees a flash of white on the shadows pants. He tilts his head to the side, making out a stormtrooper head on fleece pajama pants, multiple of them. He knows those pants! Will bought them for him. He squeaks out. “Mike?” He shuffles awkwardly from side to side. “Yeah?” Mike’s voice calls out, still foggy with sleep. Will sighs in relief, slumping down.

He glares harshly at Mike, making him look at his feet like a scolded puppy. “What are you doing standing in the dark like a hobo?” He says, an incredulous look on his face. “You almost gave me a heart attack.” Mike bites his lip, walking hesitantly into the room like if he takes one wrong room everything is going to blow up on him. He sits down on the very edge of the bed dubiously. Will narrows his eyes, now that Mike’s closer he can see that he looks like he ran a  marathon. He’s absurdly sweaty, like his hair is pasted to his forehead. He’s breathing awkwardly, like he’s trying to force himself to look somewhat normal, clearly failing. 

Will snorts. “What happened to you?” he asks, amused. Mike scoffs. “I should be asking that myself.” He rolls his eyes, Will gives Mike an unimpressed look, watching him squirm before giving in. “Aright, fine!” He throws his hands up.  “I heard you alright! You kept saying please, I mean, you think a place with a magical screen would have better sound proofing. Am I right?” He tries to joke, not noticing Will freeze as he looks down and plays with his fingers. “And- Um.” He hesitates. “I felt it, like there was this horrible feeling in my gut that I had to get up right now and see you?” He looks up at Will, a lopsided smile on his face. “Is that weird?”

Will shakes his head rapidly, giddy that Mike is trusting him with this. “No!” He shouts, slapping his hands over his mouth before quieting  down. “No.. never.” Mike smiles knowingly. “Yeah? You know what else isn’t weird?” He pokes Will in the chest, Will sighs, having a feeling where this is going. “What?” Mike smiles widely, comfortingly. “Telling me what’s wrong.” Will’s eyes dart away, bunching up his blanket in his hands. God, he should have known Mike would do this. He should have told him to get out, should have looked calm, should have just said he was fine before Mike opened his big mouth. Should of, could of, would of, but he didn’t. Now he has to face the consequences. 

Mike flops onto Will’s lap, making him blush so much that he’s happy it’s dark in the room or else he would have looked like a flamingo. He pouts, giving Will those puppy dog eyes that make him give into anything he says. “ Will.”  He drawls out, Will turns his head away, biting his lip. Then Mike does something that makes Will crumple like a wet paper towel. He grabs Will’s hand, gently, oh so gently, and rubs his thumb across his sore knuckles until Will looks at him. 

He has a soft smile on his face. His eyes are like pools of ink that Mike could use to tell a thousand stories, looking into Will’s like they’re the most interesting thing he’s ever seen. Will thinks he knows how Shakespeare’s dark lady felt if this is how he looked at her, because Mike looks like he could write 153 sonnets about Will right here and now. Or maybe that’s just Will projecting, who knows? What matters is Will can’t help but melt under Mike’s gaze. “Talk to me Will.” He says, soft and sweet like honey, still slightly raspy from the late hour.

Will sighs, amazed by how gentle Mike is being. Loud, reckless, energetic Mike is acting like he’s holding a glass rose in the palm of his hands. He was always more careful with Will, but this is on another level. Mike opens Will’s palm meticulously, taking care to be delicate with every finger like Will’s hands are made of porcelain. He rubs soft circles into the back of his hand. “We can talk here on your bed, or on the floor if you prefer that.”He mumbles quietly. Mike smiles at him, eyes lighting up. “I’ll be here, okay? Whatever you want, whatever you say, I promise I’ll be here.

Will almost whimpers, this isn’t fair. Mike doesn’t get to say things like then love El. He doesn’t get to say these loving things then not love him back. It’s not fair, Will’s eyes wet for what feels like the millionth time that night. “Oh Will .” Mike says softly, pulling him into his chest cautiously. Will tangles his hands in the back of Mike’s sleep shirt, wet tears soaking Mike’s shoulder for the second time today. Mike rubs his hand up and down Will’s back. “It’s gonna be okay.” He brings his second hand up, running it comfortingly through Will’s hair. “Everything will be okay.”

Will bites back a sob, because of how close he is to Mike, he can feel his shoulders shake. Mike lies down carefully, bringing Will down with him and coaxing him to lay down on top of him. Will presses his head onto Mike’s sternum, closing his eyes to the steady thump of Mike’s heart beat. “ I’ve never met a man as worthless -” Mike shushes absently, running a hand down Will’s back. “Everything will be okay.” Will’s breathing  evens out. Will trusts Mike with his life, if he says everything will be okay then.

Sleep tugs at the edges of his mind, “Everything will be okay.” Mike repeats, his voice drowning out the mimic Mike’s whether he knows it or not. Will nuzzles his head close, listening to Mike breath. “Everything will be okay.”

Chapter Text

Will woke up slowly, which was a welcome change of pace from the day before even if he’s used to it. He’s used to waking up in a cold sweat, shivering and shaking, looking left and right in anticipation that something was going to jump out at him. Waiting for a demogorgon or something equally worst to mug him and take him to the upside down. However, all he felt as he blinked the sleep away was warmth and bliss. For once, Will knew why he felt like this.

It was because one Mike Wheeler was sleeping beside him.

His arm was thrown over Mike’s chest, he must have rolled over in the middle of the night. A wave of embarrassment washed over him as he remembered breaking down into Mike’s shoulder like a child. Still, he couldn’t hold onto that guilty feeling when he looked down at Mike. There are no windows in this room, but the lights are on, seemingly turning on automatically. They’re a dim, soft, yellow that makes his face shine. Highlighting his freckles and painting his hair in an ethereal glow, making the usually black hair a toffee brown.

Gentle inhales and exhales was all Will could hear from him, proving that his best friend was still deep in sleep. Never has Will been more glad that Mike is a heavy sleeper. Mike sleeps like a log, once he’s out, he’s dead to the world. The complete opposite to Will, who would wake up if his window pane so much as creaks. Which means Will can afford to be slightly greedy and drink in the lovely sight of a relaxed Mike.

He always seems tense, eyebrows furrows and face in a permanent scowl, seeing his face slack makes him feel weirdly happy. He seems so peaceful like this, so serene, that Will wishes that he wouldn’t wake up for the next several hours. A soft smile crawls along Will’s face as he watches Mike snuggle into his pillow with a pleased sigh. God, he loves him so much it hurts. It hurts to watch Mike date El and it feels like he’s sitting on the shelf, collecting dust. It hurts being with Mike, being friends with him, because it feels like he’s constantly playing a guessing game. 

Sometimes Mike’s hot and he does things like this. Comforting him, pulling him into his chest and whispering sweet nothings. It’s holding hands in a movie theater and quiet ‘are you okay?’s.  Things that seem like they should be reserved for El. Then he’s cold and he won’t even look at Will. It’s jolting himself away and a cold garage on a rainy night. He knows that it’s unfair of him to say that, after Mike basically fell to his knees and begged him to forgive him like a pastor at church but it still hurt. It etched onto his skin like a scar, another reminder that Mike would never love him the same way he does.

Mike groans, rolling over, his eyes flutter open and lock onto Will’s. It’s silent as Mike’s still asleep brain tries to comprehend what is going on. The awkwardness from before returns 10 fold as he really doesn’t want to talk about last night but just by the look on Mike’s still processing face, he’ll want to. He opens his mouth, but Will is saved by a knock on his door. They whip their heads to the side.

“Hey, Will! It’s time for breakfast! I’m waking you up because I’m trying to stall waking Mike up for as long as possible.” Dustin jokes, Will watches Mike’s face morph into the most offended look possible. He brings a hand up to his chest like the dramatic fuck he is. Will snickers. “I’m in here too!” Mike hollers out, Dustin chokes, he smacks Mike on the shoulder. Mike looks at him, confused, before his eyes widen in realization. Will mouths to him. “ We are never escaping this. ” Mike nods his head, horror clear on his face at the amount of teasing they’re gonna get.

“ Max,” He mouths back, a pained look crosses both their faces. Just knowing that Max is gonna bully them relentlessly for this. “I-Um.” Dustin fumbles. “Well, that makes things easier I guess?” He tries. “Just, breakfast is ready! Uh, come down soon?” He says before rushing down the hallway. Will and Mike stare at each other, “We’re so fucked.” Mike whispers, Will nods, resigned to their fate.

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Mike and Will walked at a snail's pace to the breakfast table, expecting to be harassed by everyone the moment they sat down but to their surprise. Everyone just says a quick “Hey” then goes back to their conversations. Will looks at Dustin in confusion and is met with a contemplative look on his face, he visibly looks between Mike and him. It makes Will feel uncomfortably seen. With the amount of jokes Dustin cracks and how dorky he is, it’s easy to let his intelligence slip under the radar. That’s impossible now.

When Will first met Dustin, he found it cool the way his eyes seemed to peel back the skin of the world around him, reading the hidden code in the capillaries. Kinda like the way Mike looks like he’s deconstructing every shift of breath someone takes if he gets a bad feeling from them, or the way Lucas just picks things up quicker than the rest of the party, learning faster then Will could dream of. It was normal, they all have a trait about them that was deemed “Weird.” However, It’s unsettling to see it directed at him. Honestly, sometimes watching his friends think was terrifying to Will. 

Both Mike and Dustin seem to analyze the world around them similar to a super computer. It isn’t normal for someone to be so hypervigilant, the human brain wasn’t wired to open a hundred programs and still run. Sure, nobody in the party is normal. The upside down made sure of that, but this is different. It scares him. Dustin picking apart some random bully, sure, whatever! Dustin picking him apart, trying to see what makes him tick? He shivers, Dustin’s eyes narrow farther.

God, what if he knows? Does he know that Will’s disgusting? Does he know what he thinks? Will he tell the party? What would they say? What would they think? What does he do? Does he deny it? Oh man, his vision tunnels into the table in front of them. Oh, they’re never going to want to be around him again and Will’s going to be alone forever and- 

Will’s thoughts are cut off by a squeeze to his hand, he whips his head around and is met with Mike’s topaz colored eyes. He noticed Mike keeps squeezing his hand in a repeating pattern, his breathing slows down, he didn’t even notice he was hyperventilating. Will furrows his brows in focus, eyes widening in surprise as he realizes. Morse code? He focuses on where Mike starts, trying to decode the message. ‘ Are you okay? ” A warm smile sticks onto his face, he squeezes back. “ Yes.” Mike grins at him, loveable and dorky. Will feels his heart melt.

However, in being so wrapped up in eachother, they missed Dustin’s tiny. “ Hmm.”

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The group shuffles into the theater with all the excitement of attending a funeral. Everyone in the party, except Dustin, hangs to the back of the group. Max and El are staring at each other nervously, Max’s breath is short. She doesn’t want to see Billy possessed again, she doesn’t want to see Billy cry again. No matter how much of a dick he was, it was still a surprise. Even more so that she wasn’t really sad that he was gone. More sad that she didn’t care he was gone, she messes with her fingers absently. God, she hopes she doesn’t have to hear him scream again. Max digs her nails into her palms, Billy’s scream echoing in his ears. El looks over at her in worry.

Dustin is murmuring quietly with the rest of the Scoops troop, none of them want to see anything to do with the Russians. Dustin sighs, imagining how pissed Lucas is going to be when he sees that Erica was there. He’s so dead. Steve is sharing an anxious look with Robin, neither of them want to relive getting drugged, Steve especially. Luckily, Dustin guessed they have at least another “Episode” before that happens. Robin bumps shoulders with him in an attempt to comfort him. 

Will and Mike are standing as close as possible to each other, Will swallows thickly. It was terrifying watching Billy grab that pipe. It’s like he blinked and Mike was there, right in front of the possessed Billy Hargrove. His heart dropped to his feet, he wished Mike stayed by his side sometimes but he knows just how impulsive Mike can be. He just hopes that it doesn’t happen anymore, he doesn’t think his heart can take it.

It’s safe to say tensions were high, they all sat down. The adults looking at the anxious and despair covered faces of the party, dread fills their stomachs as they turn towards the screen.

We start off with El brushing her teeth, having flashbacks of Billy and Heather. As she exits the bathroom, Max holds up two comic books.

Eleven hisses slightly at having to relive this, immediately realizing what is happening in this episode. Max flinches back at seeing Billy again, El looks at her, worried. “I’m fine,” Max grumbles. “If you say so.” She turns her attention back to the screen.

Max: Which one? 

El gets into bed.

El: I don’t know. 

She looks down.

Max: Hey, there’s nothing to worry about anymore, okay? 

The party snorts, yeah, nothing.

El: It doesn’t make sense. 

Max: What doesn’t make sense? 

El: Heather. The blood. The ice. 

Max: Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she’s better now. That has to be it. I don’t know where that blood came from, but… we saw her. We both saw her. She’s totally fine. 

Max chuckles humorlessly, real convincing. 

El: What about Billy?

Max: What about him? 

El: He seemed wrong. 

Max: Wrong is kind of like his default. But it’s nice to know he’s not a murderer, because that would have totally sucked. 

El looks over at Max. She is biting her lip, staring at the screen with her arms crossed. She notices El staring. “Guess he was a murderer after all.” Max tries to joke but her voice cracks, El puts her hand over Max’s. 

El looks down at a Wonder Woman comic.

El: Who… is that. 

Max: See, this is why you can’t just hang out with Mike all the time. 

Mike scowls, “Hey!” Max laughs, a real smile on her face. “Was I wrong?” He rolls his eyes. “Yes! I do know wonder woman, El just doesn’t like comics.” He replies, crossing his arms, huffy. “And how?” She prods, amused. He freezes, eyes wide, realizing that he just cornered himself. Nancy chimes in. “He reads all her comics.” Mike whips his head around as the party snickers. “Shut up!”

She picks up the comic and opens it.

Max: This is Wonder Woman, AKA Princess Diana. She’s from Paradise Island, which is, like, this hidden island where there are only woman Amazon warriors. 

“Mike would know all about that, wouldn’t he?” Max teases, Mike flushes red. “I said shut up!”

We then cut to see Mrs. Driscoll, who’s being strapped onto a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance.

Driscoll: Let me go! Let me go! 

Nancy winces, remembering her screeching in the hospital. Guess she’ll finally get to find out why. 

EMT: Doris, we need you to stay calm for us, okay? Stay calm.

Driscoll: I have to go back! I have to go back! I have to go back! I have to go back!

Nancy and Jonathan look on in horror. Mrs. Driscoll is loaded into the ambulance.

Jonathan reaches up and rubs her shoulder, despite the lingering tension from their fight,  she leans into his touch. “It’s going to be okay, this already happened.” Nancy sighs. “It wasn't okay then, and I’m seeing it now, and things they did.”She points at the party, lips pursed, eyes locked on Mike specifically. Jonathan’s eyes trail onto Will. “I know what you mean,” She smiles, eyes sympathetic. “You do, don’t you?”

Callahan: Okay, so, you two want to explain what in the name of Jesus just happened here? 

The ambulance rushes past and Mrs. Driscoll manages to free a hand. We then focus on the abandoned workhouse, where Tom suddenly opens his eyes. He realizes he’s been bound and gagged and tries to free himself. Next to him is Janet, who has been crying. 

Heather and Billy walk over to them.

“Fuck…” Max whispers quietly, Lucas reaches over and holds onto Max’s other hand. “It’s okay,” Lucas might have hated the guy, racist prick, but he mattered to Max. At least he thinks Billy did. She brings her palm up to rub at her eyes. 

Heather: Hi, Daddy. 

She leans down and takes out his gag.

Both Mike and Nancy hiss, reminded heavily of Holly saying exactly that. Joyce puts her hand over her mouth, she couldn’t help but imagine herself in that situation. Except she had Will tied up in the shed, not her. God, this could have been her. With her son looking down on her, ready to feed her then himself to some creature. Dread pools in her stomach.

Tom: Heather… sweetie… whatever this is, whatever he’s got you into, you don’t have to do this. You can stop this. 

Mike bites his lip, staring at Joyce from across the room, Jonathan looks at them. They all remember, they will never forget it. “ Let me out. ” They will never forget trying to coax their brother, son, friend out from their own body. Trying to save them, heal them, even if they won’t understand and are actively kicking and screaming. Telling stories and memories Will should have known only for him to keep fighting them. Of being told to let Will die from the boy himself? They all shiver, no, they will never forget.

Heather: There is no stopping it, Daddy. You’ll see. 

Tom: No…

Billy takes out Janet’s gag. 

Max closes her eyes, praying that she can get used to this as time goes on. She hates Billy, she hates Billy with all her heart. He made her miserable, she knows he’s a terrible person. It’s just her brain seems to acknowledge that but simultaneously ignores it, stating she’s the horrible person for simply being unable to scrounge up the urge to be sad. She feels for him, he didn’t deserve to die like that, but she can’t care enough. Not like a sister would a brother. 

Janet: Heather, please! Heather! 

Billy: Try not to move. 

Will’s breath hitches, he can’t help but be reminded of freezing cold and being strapped down to hospital beds. He feels a thumb rub over his pulse point, he looks up to meet dark eyes. “It’s still the best thing I’ve ever done.” He murmurs quietly, swiping his thumb back and forth, Will smiles shakily.

Heather and Billy walk away, leaving Tom and Janet. A figure snarls behind them and we see the shadowy outline of some kind of creature. It seems to be the Mindflayer, but in flesh form. It shoots out a tentacle, covering Tom’s face and injecting something into him. It then does the same thing to Janet. 

Everyone in the room winces.

The screen goes black and CHAPTER FOUR: THE SAUNA TEST appears in red. 

We come into focus at Hopper’s cabin, where the man is just waking up. 

Hopper sighs, “Really?” He mutters.

Joyce: Hey, careful. Careful. 

Joyce sits down next to him and Hopper leans over to vomit in the pot that Joyce is holding. He leans back and she hands him a pill.

Hopper: How long have I been out? 

Joyce: A while. You’ve been drifting in and out. 

Hopper takes the pill.

Hopper: Yeah, but how did I get here? 

Joyce: Slowly. What’s the last thing you remember?

Hopper: Some thug attacked me. 

He starts to get up.

Joyce: Hey, you need to rest.

Hopper: No, I’m fine. 

Joyce: No, you’re not fine, Hop–

Hopper: I’m fine. I’m fine. 

He stands up and realizes he has no clothes on, only just catching the sheet in time.

The party all let out noises of surprise, bringing their hands up to their eyes. Dustin grumbles out. “Not this again!” Max and Will both shout out in disbelief. “Again?” Lucas remarks way too casually. “Well it was El the first time.” Max’s jaw drops. “El?!?” She flushes red, embarrassed.  Joyce laughs quietly, Hopper joining in after a moment.

Hopper: Where are my clothes?

Joyce: Uh… 

She points outside. He walks out to see his clothes drenched with water.

Joyce: They were soaked. 

Hopper grumbles. “Couldn’t have brought them in.”

They both walk inside.

Joyce: I mean, did you recognise him? 

Hopper: Who?

Joyce: The thug. 

Hopper: Well, I didn’t get a good look. 

Joyce: Well, I mean, he’s gotta be government, right? 

Hopper: Yeah, but if he’s government, what’s he doing slinking around? W-why is he running? You know, why didn’t we find anything down there? 

Mike rolls his eyes, “Yeah, because the government has totally never done anything shady or has tried to run from us.”Mike says sarcastically. Eddie’s eyes widen at Mike’s words, he smirks to himself. Hopper glares at him. “Show some respect.” Mike’s about to open his mouth to argue back when Will smacks him on the shoulder.

Joyce holds up a notepad.

Joyce: Let’s ask him. 

Hopper: What is that?

Joyce: His license plate. 

Jonathan chuckles. “What a save Mom!” He says, impressed. Joyce shakes her head. “Just watch.”

Hopper: What are the dashes?

Joyce: Well, they’re blanks. There was… I think it was either an H or a P with the part rubbed off. And there was definitely a Y. For sure. And that, I think, was a B, but it could’ve been an eight. 

Jonathan does a so-so motion. “More or less a save still.”

Hopper chucks the pad down.

Hopper: I think you should stick to sales. 

He walks into his room and closes the curtain, getting dressed.

Joyce: Can’t you run a search or something? 

Hopper: I just think you have to lower your expectations. I mean, this is a state government agency. It’s gonna take weeks before they find a match. 

Joyce: Weeks?

Hopper: If we’re lucky. And, I mean, what are the odds that this guy registers a car in his own name? 

Joyce: It wasn’t a car. 

Hopper pulls back the curtain, wearing the colorful top he was on their date night.

Mike bursts out into laughter, Hopper glares at him, Will would try to stop Mike if he wasn’t laughing too. “Way to be tactical.” Mike whispers to Will, which makes him double over, wheezing. “You can’t talk Mr. Pastel Polo.” He shrugs, smiling. “I didn’t exactly know we we’re sneaking around a mall, Will, I thought we were going to the mall.” He clicks his tongue in false irritation.

Joyce: Uh, what are you wearing? 

Hopper: What do you mean it wasn’t a car?

We then see Max’s house, the girls asleep and Lucas radioing them.

Lucas: I repeat, this is a code red. Max. Do you copy? This is a code red.

The party tenses, the older people look at the screen in a mix of curiosity and apprehension.

Max scoffs and picks up the radio.

Max: Shut… up. 

She turns it off and goes back to sleep.

Max blushes slightly, Mike groans. “What was the part of teaching you the language if you just ignored it!”He pouts, Will snorts. “Yeah, Mike sleeps like a dead guy but even when he hears a code red he jumps up.” Mike smacks his hand. “I do not!”He squawks, offense coloring his tone.  Dustin chuckles. “You kinda do.” Lucas teases, “Same person, different font.” Max and Mike bite out in unison. “No we’re not!” They look at each other while everyone laughs around them, displeasure clear on their faces.

With the boys, Lucas looks at his friends.

Lucas: She turned it off.

Mike grumbles quietly.

The phone rings at Max’s, and she gets up.

Max: You’ve got to be kidding me. 

Mike throws his hands up. “Yeah I didn’t want to do it either but someone turned off their coms!”Max groans, throwing her head back. “Oh my god , let it go!” Lucas and Will look at each other, amused.

She answers it.

Max: I’m sleeping. Go away. 

Mike: This is Mike, do not hang up. Something happened, something bad. Our very lives can be at stake. 

Max: What are you talking about?

Mike, still irritated, “What are you talking about?” He mimics Max’s voice.”Oh, I don’t know, just what a code red means!” Will snorts, grabbing his hand. “Mike, calm down. This is the past.” Mike sighs, sitting down, “ I know, I’m just…anxious.”

Mike: Just come over to my house. We’ll explain everything. 

Max: What?

Mike: Hurry. 

Mike hangs up.

It’s quiet for a moment before the theater bursts out into disbelieving laughter. Nancy wheezes. “I’m sorry, I know this is serious but could you be any less cryptic.” Lucas huffs, crossing his arms, but he has an amused smile on his face. “I would have explained more but-” Mike groans, explaining with a vague hand motion. “If I gave more information then she would have taken her time because she would have thought it wasn't as serious then if I couldn’t explain.” He says like it's common sense.

Max opens her mouth before closing it. “That’s…actually right. “Dustin levels Mike with an unimpressed stare. “You aren’t beating the allegations.” Mike almost jumps out his chair at him.

El: What did he say?

Back with the boys, they’re still trying to reach Dustin.

Mike: Try Dustin again. 

Lucas: He’s not answering.

Mike: So, try him again. 

Lucas: Dustin, do you copy? I repeat, this is a code red. 

Lucas hums. “Yeah, Why couldn’t we reach you? “ Dustin looks away, sweating bullets. He locks eyes with Robin who has eyes wide enough to make an owl jealous. She mouths to Steve, who is gripping his seat in a death grip. “ We’re fucked .” He nods rapidly, hair shaking. He looks to Erica who is already nodding along, the only one succeeding at looking casual. “So fucked.”

With Dustin, he’s using the binoculars to spy on the workers loading the store room. He sees one use a keycard. He tells the Scoops Troop this. 

“Geez, and I thought Lucas was the stalker.” Max comments nervously.

Dustin: That keycard opens the door, but unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun. Whatever’s in this room, whatever’s in those boxes, they really don’t want anybody finding it. 

Lucas stares at Dustin. “Care to explain?” He chuckles nervously. “I’d actually rather not, no.”Will raises an eyebrow. “I don’t think that was a question. “Dustin hisses. “You’ll see?”

Robin: But there’s gotta be a way in. 

Steve: Well, you know… I could just take him out. 

Jonathan snorts, “Yeah sure.”

Robin: Take who out?

Steve: The Russian guard. What? I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, and I take his keycard. It’s easy.

Nancy’s mouth drops but before she can say anything, Jonathan jumps in. “Excuse me?” Steve opens and closes his mouth in a fish like fashion. “Uhm…”

Dustin: Did you not hear the part about the massive gun? 

Nancy squeaks out, repeating Jonathan. “Excuse me!” Steve panics harder, “Uhm!” Robin wacks him on the shoulder, murmuring. “You’re blowing it dude.”

Steve: Yes, Dustin, I did. And that’s why I would be sneaking. 

Dustin: Well, please, tell me this, and be honest, have you ever actually… won a fight? 

Jonathan comments. “No, never.” But he’s shaking, staring at Steve with eyes full of worry.

Steve: Okay, that was one time-

Dustin: Twice. Jonathan. Year prior? 

Steve: Listen, that doesn’t count. 

Jonathan snorts, still looking at Steve with concern. “Yeah, it does.” Steve tries to joke.”Nah,”

Dustin: Why wouldn’t it count? Because it looks like he beat the shit out of you. 

Steve and Dustin bicker in the background, Robin tuning them out. She focuses on something.

Robin: That might just work. 

Hurrying out, she grabs money from the tips pile, heading somewhere. 

Max’s mouth drops. “Robin what the fuck!” Robin jumps in surprise. “What?” She asks, incredulously. Mike adds on. “Have you never watched a horror movie,” Max clicks her tongue. “Never split up from the group!” Robin stares at the two nervously as they glare her down. She laughs, offering hesitantly. “Uhh, not helping the allegations?” She says, voice breaking at the end. They narrow their eyes in unison, the other party watches in amazement.

Steve: Robin. Hey, Robin! Hey, what- what are you doing?

Robin: I need cash.

Steve: Well, half of that’s mine. Where’re you going?

Will stares at Steve in disbelief. “That’s what you’re worried about!” Steve looks away, blushing in embarrassment as he rubs the back of his head. “It seemed pressing at the time!”

Robin: To find a way into that room, a safe way. And, in the meantime, sling ice cream, behave, and don’t get beat up. I’ll be back in a jiff. 

Steve snorts, whispering to Robin. “Foreshadowing?” Robin chokes on her own spit, hitting the back of his head. “Don’t say that!” She whisper yells at him. Nancy narrows her eyes, looking between the two discreetly.

She rushes off. Steve spots Dustin licking ice cream off his scooper and snatches it away.

Steve: Oh, dude. Come one, man, not my scooper. 

At the Hawkins Post, we see Nancy and Jonathan waiting nervously. Bruce looks at them and mimics hanging himself with his tie. Officer Callahan walks out of Tom’s office, Tom following soon after. He has a bandage on his head. 

Tom: Nancy. Jonathan. 

Both Jonathan and Nancy groan. Jonathan grumbles. “Hate that guy.” Nancy sighs. “Who doesn’t?”

They walk inside.

Tom: I’ve worked at this paper for twenty-five years. Twenty-five… years. Now, we’re a small town paper, but we have something big papers don’t have: trust. The trust of our community.

Lucas snorts, leaning over and whispering to Max. “Why does he sound like a disappointed teacher?” Max chokes on air. “Oh my god, he does.” They share a soft smile. El looks at the two in confusion. Max leans over, trying to explain the joke to no avail.

Nancy: Tom, if you just- 

Tom kicks his chair.

Nancy groans into her hands, a muffled. “Oh my god!”, spills out.

Tom: Do you know how I built that trust? By placing my faith in something the two of you don’t seem to value a whole lot: facts. Facts. So, while we’re here, let’s go over the facts. Fact one: You disobeyed a direct order to stop pursuing this story. Two: You falsely identified yourselves as reporters, repeatedly lying to an elderly woman. Three: You broke into her home, committing trespass. Four: She almost died en route to the hospital. 

Nancy: She would’ve died if we hadn’t shown up! Whatever disease the rat had clearly passed to her- 

Tom: Five! Mrs. Driscoll is a paranoid schizophrenic. You didn’t know that, did you? Now… disease-carrying rats? The second coming of the plague? Does this sound credible to you, or perhaps does this sound more like the delusions of a very sick old lady? 

Mike scrunches his nose up, whispering to Will. “Why does he kinda remind me of Troy…like vaguely.”He makes a wide gesture to the screen. Will tilts his head to the side. “I mean sure?” His eyes widened, snapping his fingers. “You know what! He reminds me of Hopper! Like, before he got used to us.”Mike snorts. “Who’s us?”

Nancy: I didn’t know.

Tom: Her family’s furious. So furious, in fact, they’ve threatened litigation.

El furrows her brows. “Litigation?” She asks, confused. Before Nancy could answer, Mike says boredly. “The process of taking Legal action. Suing.” Nancy looks at Mike, confused. “How?” Lucas groans, rubbing his forehead. “He owns like 5 dictionaries and a thesaurus.” Mike sniffs, “It’s actually four.” Lucas levels him with a blank stare. “You see how that doesn’t help, right?” 

Jonathan: Litigation?

Nancy: That’s crazy!

Tom: For once, we agree! This is crazy. In fact, in my entire professional career, I’ve never dealt with anything quite like it. But hopefully, hopefully, you’ve learned something valuable here. You’ve learned, how in the workplace, in the real world, there are consequences to your actions. Which brings me to my sixth and final… fact. You’re fired. Both of you. 

Nancy sighs, crossing her arms and leaning back. Jonathan hums. “I mean..it was kinda deserved.” Nancy nods. “I know but-” He nods. “Yeah, could have gone about it better.” Nancy sniffs in a fashion similar to Mike. “That was not professional.” Jonathan looks away, hoping for her to mention their fight, for her to say sorry, but she doesn't. He sighs before turning his attention back to the screen.

Max and El arrive at the Wheeler's house and Will starts to tell them about his experience.

Will: I didn’t think it was anything at first. I mean, I think I just didn’t want to believe it. The first time I felt it was at Day of the Dead. 

Mike: Power went out that night, too.

Mike and Will stare at each other, swallowing thickly. He whispers quietly. “I thought I lost you.” Will nods. “I know, “He stares at him, “The light flickered the night you disappeared. '' Will looks at the ground, not saying anything, Mike puts his hand on Will’s. “I thought you were gone.”He whispers, voice wavering. Will sighs. “I’m sorry,” Mike shakes his head, running his finger along Will’s knuckles. “It’s not your fault.”

Wil: And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day. Then again yesterday outside Castle Byers. 

Max: What does it feel like? 

A part of Mike wanted to hiss out, ‘You don’t ask that’ but Will’s words from earlier echoed in his mind. It’s the past . He takes a deep breath.

Will: It’s almost like… you know when you drop on a roller coaster? 

The room all say yes, except El. 

Will: It’s like… everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but… this is worse. Your body… it goes cold and- and you can’t breathe. I’ve felt it before, whenever he was close. 

Mike’s grip tightens on Will’s hand, a shiver racks Will’s spine as he remembers what happens next. He looks towards the screen, looks at Mike, and looks at the party not paying attention.

Fuck it, he laces their fingers together. Mike jumps in surprise before a soft smile crawls along his face. He squeezes a pattern. “ Are you okay?” And for a moment, Will just wants to just say yes and move on but… “ I am now.” He squeezes back, a grin on his face.

Max: Whenever who was close? 

Will: The Mind Flayer. 

We flash back to a young Will shouting at the Mind Flayer, telling it to go away.

A moment of silence comes over the room as they take in the horror that’s the sight in front of them. A creature that looks like it comes straight out of god's description of hell. With 20 black tentacle-like legs that extend for miles, going up and through the fog and dipping back down. A starfish-like body that shifts and changes, unable to hold itself together so it whips around with startling cracks. Its head is similar to a Xenomorph, with a sharp spike on the end.  It’s so tall that it can't be seen fully and Will looks like a pebble in comparison. It’s like the mindflayer could have crushed Will at any time, but it chose not to. For reasons only it knows, because no thing that looks like that would god have created.

Max gags, leaning over and grasping her middle. El stares at the screen in shock, face going pale. Lucas shrieks, digging his hands into the seat cushions. Dustin lets out a pitiful whimper, breathing erratic. Will tucks his head into Mike’s chest, shaking. Steve brings a hand up to his mouth, swallowing back vomit, while Robin hides her face in Steve’s shoulder. Erica screams, diving over a sofa to get to Lucas who tugs her into his lap. Joyce and Hopper watch the screen in horror while Murray mumbles a quiet. “Mother of christ.” Mike watches the screen, face blank but eyes full of pure panic while he runs his hand down Will’s back. Eddie is frozen to his seat, unable to comprehend what’s in front of him.

El: I closed the gate. 

Will: I know, but… what if he never left? What if we locked him out here with us?

Will quickly draws a Mind Flayer, slamming it down on the table.

The party flinches back, Will squeaks, slamming his eyes closed.

Will: This is him. All of him. But, that day on the field, a part of him attached itself to me. 

We then flashback to Will first getting possessed by the Mind Flayer.

They want to look away from the screen but they are unable to, forced to watch their loved one go into a seizure from a thing beyond his control. Mike brings his hand up to rub at Will’s back, he whispers quietly. “I know…it’s disgusting, scary.” Mike shakes his head, running soft patterns into Will’s spine. “No, not scary. You could never scare me, Will.”He says, soft and warm, like a sidewalk on a summer's day. A helpless smile crawls along Will’s face.

Present Will swipes a hand over the drawing, some of the charcoal sticking to his palm.

Will: My mom got it out of me… 

We then see Will getting unpossessed.

Joyce buries her head in her hands, Hopper rubs her shoulder quietly. “I’m sorry.” Jonathan sighs, staring at the ground as his eyes start to blur. Nancy brings her hand up to rub his back, he smiles shakily at her. Mike bites his lip, filling a pit grow in his stomach, then he looks at Will’s shaky form. So he pushes everything down, focusing on comforting Will, though he couldn’t help the way his hand tensed over Will’s pulse. “Everything will be okay.”He says softly. Nancy looks away from the screen, trying to shake the phantom weight of the fire poker from her hand. The room is silent, as the party who didn’t see or only caught the tail end of it watches in despair.

Will: … and Eleven closed the gate. 

We see young El closing the gate.

The group sighs in relief, but there is still lingering tension. Erica sits in Lucas lap with her eyes slammed shut. He brings a hand up and rubs it soothingly up and down her back, it reminds him of when Erica was little.

Will: But the part that was still in me, what if it’s still in our world? 

He flips the paper over and uses his hand to make a print on it. 

Will: In Hawkins. 

Will’s breath hitches, “I’m sorry.”He whispers, Mike shakes his head. “No, you have nothing to be sorry for. It wasn’t your fault, it’s not anybody's fault. “He tilts his head, adding. “Except maybe the government.” Will snorts, but guilt still eats at his mind. 

Max: I don’t understand. The Demodogs died when El closed the gate. If the brain dies, the body dies. 

Mike: We can’t take any chances. We need to assure the worst. The Mind Flayer’s back. 

Max sighs, “God, I wish it wasn’t.” El hums in agreement. Dustin chuckles humorlessly. “Don’t we all?”

Will: Yeah. And if he is, he’d want to attach himself to someone again. A new me. 

Dustin shakes his head, whispering to Steve. “It really is like a Xenomorph.”Steve furrows his brows in confusion before his eyes light up in realization “Fuck, it really is.”

Lucas: A new host. 

Max looks at El.

El: How can you tell if someone is a host?

The theater is quiet, tension thick enough you could cut through it until Robin lets out a slight scoff. “Tch.”She shakes her head. “What a way to scene change, am I right?”  Steve snorts, shaking his head. “Oh my god, “ She looks at the group. “So,” She drawls out awkwardly. “How can you tell?” Robin asks curiously. “I think the pitch black eyes are a dead give away.” Nancy says, shrugging. Max gasps dramatically, pointing at Mike over her shoulder with her thumb. “Guys, I think Mike is possessed.” The party burst into laughter as Mike grimaces, yelling back. “Shut it Mayfield!” Mood successfully lifted, they turn back to the screen.

We see Joyce and Hopper pulling up to Town hall. They walk through a door and ask the secretary if Mayor Kline is in.

Will furrowed his brows, what are they doing there? He looks towards Dustin, who looks just as confused.

Secretary: Yes, he’s busy at the moment, but-

Hopper walks straight past her and into the office.

Hopper: Great.

Mike’s jaw drops, “You can’t just do that.”He hisses out, Hopper goes to open his mouth but Will cuts him off. “You hate every government, why do you care?” Mike sputters. Eddie’s eyes widen in interest, heart still racing from the mindflayer, maybe this kid has some potential. “It’s the principle of it.” Lucas chuckles, still holding Erica despite her getting annoyed. “Is the principle you don’t like Hopper?” Mike glares at him. “Quiet.”

Secretary: Excuse me!

Joyce: You should sit down. 

Jonathan snorts, “And how did that go over?” Joyce looks like she ate something sour.” Not well.”

Mayor Kline is on the phone when Hopper enters. He waves him in. 

Larry: I might have to- let me call you back. Okay. 

He hangs up. Hopper sits down.

Larry: Jim.

Hopper: I know, I know. You’re busy. I’m gonna make this fast, I promise. 

Larry: Is there… some kind of problem?

Steve chuckles, rolling his eyes. “I mean, I would assume so if you stormed into his office. “ Hopper nods. “You would think so.” He responds dryly.

Hopper: Yeah. You might say that. Um, I’m looking for the name of a guy. 

Larry: The name of a guy. 

Hopper: Yeah, I think you might know this guy.

Joyce scrunches her nose. “You did not say it like that.” Hopper puts his hands up defensively. “Listen-” Murray interjects. “I mean, Hawkins is a small town but it’s not that small. I doubt the mayor would know everyone.” Hopper rolls his eyes. “You’d be surprised.”  

Larry: Okay.

Hopper: He was here the other day. Rides a motorcycle. Big build, square jaw, dark hair. He’s probably military, maybe ex-military? Is this ringing… any bells? 

Larry: Uh… I don’t think so. 

Hopper: Really? ‘Cause it was just two days ago. This was right before I saw you. 

Larry: Oh! You know what?

Hopper: What? 

Larry: Could be the maintenance guy. 

Max scoffs. “Real specific.”

Hopper: Maintenance? Yeah. I can’t remember his name. Oh, God… uh… Gary or John or something. Candice will have his name on file. We’ve had trouble with the plumbing. Clogged toilets and… sinks with minds of their own. 

Hopper: You meeting with a lot of plumbers, Larry? 

Larry: Excuse me?

Hopper: This guy, when I saw him, he was coming out of your office. 

Mike leans forward, almost displacing Will, he moves away and settles back into his own seat. A shadowy feeling of guilt builds in Will but he shoves it away, noticing the look on Mike’s face. “Are you getting invested?” He asks, amused. Mike rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I love a mystery when it’s not killing my friends. Sue me.”

Larry: Okay, well, I don’t remember that. I shake a lot of hands, you know? 

Hopper: Do you remember when I caught you passed out in the hideaway with all that powder all over your nose? You remember?

Larry: Jim, come one, now. 

Mike rolls his eyes, Dustin cuts him off. “Please. We can already see it.” He says, annoyed. Nancy looks at them, confused. “What?”  El says, “Mike…talks a lot about authority.” He throws his hands up. “It’s corrupt!” Max responds boredly. “We know Mike.”Nancy furrows her brows, realization dawning on her.  “Oh,”She whispers to herself, he’s trying to spite dad. Eddie nods, a slowly growing respect for the Mini Wheeler building in him.

Hopper: Do you remember when my boys found you and Candice going at it like a couple of bunnies in the back of your Cadillac? Do you remember that? Does your wife remember that? 

Larry: You, uh… you really wanna play this game? Huh?

Hopper leans forward.

Hopper: Not a game, Lar. 

Mike laughs, “Oh, that’s good.” Hopper looks at Mike, surprised, before giving him a small smile. However, there is an underlying tension to it as he remembers what happens next.

Larry: Okay. Those pills you used to swallow like candy. I can’t recall, did you have a prescription for those? Or how about drinking on duty? Yeah. We have some real fun  stories about that. One call to Tom at the Post… and you’re done, buddy. You’re gone. Oh, and, please, don’t give me that dead daughter sob story, ‘cause I just don’t care. 

It’s silent, then all hell breaks loose. El looks at Hopper, shocked. “I thought she lived in the city." She whispers, Hopper’s face falls. “El, listen.” But he’s drowned out by both Max and Mike screaming at the screen. Max swears. “Oh that bastard!” Lucas grabs her by the wrist. “Max-” He whips his head around when he hears Will say. “Mike, calm down!” Mike’s glaring at the screen, mouth forming a snarl as he mutters vitriol at the TV.  Robin mutters a few curses but doesn’t move much. Steve and Dustin sit awkwardly, shocked but not as affected as the others. Eddie shakes his head, disappointed, but not surprised by how the Mayor reacted. Though El wants to get up to sit next to her Dad, she looks towards Max and remembers Billy. She needs her more, El sits back down.

He gets up and heads towards the door.

Larry: Now, if you don’t mind, I really am rather busy. 

Hopper gets up and slams Larry’s face into the door. He screams. 

Mike and Eddie cheer before looking at each other in surprise. He smirks at him, Mike’s eyes widen, a slight pink dusting his face before he turns away. 

Larry: My nose! You broke my goddamn nose! 

Hopper: Yeah, and your friend almost killed me last night, so I’d say we’re still not even. 

Hopper slams him into the door again and outside Candice gets up to try and open the door.

Mike whoops, standing up out of his seat despite Will trying to tug him back out of embarrassment. “Fuck yeah!” Max chuckles. “Deserved!” Hopper looks at the ground, smiling slightly.

Candice: Larry?

Hopper: Let’s cut the crap, Larry! Who is this guy? Government? Military? 

Larry: You’re making a big mistake. 

Hopper: Who is he?

Murray chuckles. “Real detective-like sheriff.” Hopper rolls his eyes. 

There’s shouting from outside. 

Larry: It’s Arnold Schwarznegger. 

Hopper punches him in the face again. 

Candice rushes to the phone and Joyce rips out the cord. 

Joyce: Who are you calling? The police? 

Jonathan smiles. “Nice one.” He remarks, Joyce smiles, looking proud.

Hopper slams Larry onto the desk and inserts his finger into his cigar cutter.

Larry: Are you insane? 

Hopper: I don’t know. Let’s find out. 

He starts to press down.

The party’s eyes widened. Joyce mutters. “Hopper, what the hell?” Hopper’s eyes dart away nervously. “Listen, it worked out.” She shakes her head. “That doesn’t make it better.”

Larry: Okay, okay, okay. Be cool, be cool. I don’t know his name, I swear. 

Hopper presses down more. 

Hopper: But you know him. 

Larry: He.. he gives me things sometimes. 

Hopper: What kind of things? 

Larry: Money. Presents. Aah! Gifts. 

Eddie whistles. “Bribery. “Mike huffs, crossing his arms.

Hopper: Who is this guy, Santa Clause? 

Larry: Starcourt. Starcourt. He works for Starcourt. 

Hopper: The mall? 

Murray sighs. “Everything really did lead back to the mall, didn’t it?” A course of, “Yeah, pretty much.” came from around the room. He shakes his head.

Larry: Yes, yes.

Hopper: Yeah, right. 

He goes to press all the way.

Larry: Aah! I swear! I swear! I swear! Starcourt. They-they own the mall. They want to expand to East Hawkins. They needed property, some land. Some people didn’t want to sell, so I leaned on them a little. That’s all. I swear, that’s all. 

Hopper lowers his hand and grabs Larry, pulling him up. 

Hopper: Why do they want this land?

Larry: I don’t know! 

Hopper: You have records of these purchases, these, uh… these land purchases? 

Larry: You don’t want to mess with these people, Jim. 

Hopper winces subtly, turns out Larry was right about one thing.

Hopper: I think you should worry about yourself right now, Larry, not about me. The records. Where are they? 

We then see Hopper and Larry exiting the office, Joyce already opening the next door.

Candice: Larry?

Hopper: He just bumped his head. Just a little boo-boo, right, Lar? 

They exit.

Joyce: Have a nice day.

She closes the door. 

We then see Jonathan’s car speeding along the road.

Nancy and Jonathan tense up, pulling away from each other slowly.

Nancy: It’s bullshit. So, according to Tom, Driscoll’s just a schizophrenic? And that rat is just a rat? And it’s all, what, some big coincidence? You know what I think? I think Tom was on drugs.

Jonathan: What?

Jonathan’s breath hitches as Nancy’s hand falls from his shoulder.

Nancy: Did you see him? He was sweating like crazy. And his palms were clammy. He looked awful. 

Mike looks at Nancy weirdly. “I don’t think he was on drugs Nancy. “ He says quietly. “I know Mike.”She bites back. He looks away, mumbling. “I was just saying.”

Jonathan chuckles.

Nancy: Oh, is this funny to you? 

Jonathan: No. No, it’s just kind of incredible.

Nancy: Incredible? 

Jonathan: Yeah, incredible how you just continue to convince yourself. 

Jonathan buries his head in his hands,”Fuck.” He groans out. Nancy avoids looking at Jonathan.

Nancy: What’s that supposed to mean? 

Jonathan: I told you over and over to drop this story. That it was a bad idea. But you refused, and now, I’m screwed.

Mike tilts his head to the side as Will’s eyes widen, Will mouths to Mike” Is Jonathan crying?” Mike nods sharply.  They look at each other in shock. Joyce looks at Jonathan, before turning to Hoppera asking silently, he nods. Joyce gets up and sits next to Jonathan. He looks up at her, she smiles comfortingly at him. Will and Mike smile at him, not wanting to overcrowd him. Nancy sits primly, looking ahead and refusing to take her eyes off the screen. 

Nancy: It’s a summer job. Your life is hardly over. 

Nancy winces, hissing.

Jonathan: I don’t live in a two-story house on Maple Street. My dad doesn’t earn six figures. Hell, he isn’t even around.

Joyce whispers, rubbing her hand down his back. “John.” He tries to smile at her. “I’m fine Mom.”

Nancy: God, here comes the Oliver Twist routine. 

Mike murmurs quietly, not expecting it to be heard. “Nancy, what the fuck?” She looks away, sighing.

Jonathan: Mortgage, college tuition. You know, they’re real things, Nancy. Things that you don’t care about, only because you don’t have to. 

Nancy: I didn’t realize I lived in a bubble.

Jonathan: Well, you do! You want everything handed to you on a silver platter. I mean, we were interns, Nancy! Interns! What did you expect, that you would make star reporter in a month? Crack the big case? 

Nancy mumbles, pinching her forehead. “I didn’t think that. “Jonathan sighs, avoiding her eyes. “I know.”

Nancy: You sound just like them. You realize that, right? Just like Bruce and those assholes-

Jonathan: Yeah, yeah, those assholes gave us jobs. 

Nancy: Is that what that was? That was humiliating. Humiliating. 

Joyce sighs, looking at Nancy with sympathetic eyes. She knows all too well what it’s like to be treated as incapable just because you’re a woman. To be given menial tasks because it’s all the men think you can handle.

Jonathan: Yeah, the real world sucks. Deal with it like the rest of us.

Nancy: You don’t know what it’s like. 

Jonathan: Neither do you.

Nancy: Well, then, I guess we just don’t understand each other any more.

Jonathan: Yeah, I guess not.

Nancy and Jonathan wince, refusing to look at each other as they scoot farther into their seats.

We see Nancy enter her house, Mrs. Wheeler vacuuming.

Mrs. Wheeler: Hey, you’re home early.

Nancy: Yeah. Light day. 

She heads straight for her room.

The camera shows us Robin arriving at Starcourt on her bike and she rushes to the Scoops Troop.

Robin: It is fascinating what 20 bucks will get you at the County Recorder’s Office. 

Max’s jaw drops. “That’s what you took it for?” Robin looks away sheepishly. “It worked, didn’t it?” Mike shakes his head. “Still should have stuck with the group, or at least told someone what you were doing.” He leans back. “I mean, we just saw what the mayor was doing. What if you just disappeared?” Robin and Steve wince, reminded of being drugged. Robin argues feebly. “I didn’t know that before. “Max raises an eyebrow, stating dryly. “Russians, Russians controlling an entire mall. Who’s to say they aren’t elsewhere waiting for someone to look closer?” Mike scoffs. “Seriously, it’s common sense.” Robin looks away, thoroughly scolded.

She lays out some blueprints on the table.

Robin: Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints. 

Dustin: Not bad. 

Lucas remarks. “I think it’s more than not bad, it’s impressive. “Robin grins before Lucas adds. “Doesn’t make it less stupid.”She throws her hands up. “Come on!”

She points at the paper.

Robin: So, this is us, Scoops.

She points at another place.

Robin: And this is where we want to get.

Steve: I mean, I don’t really see a way in. 

Robin: There’s not, if you’re talking exclusively about doors.

She takes the top blueprint off, revealing one with vents and air ducts underneath. 

Dustin: Air ducts. 

Mike comments casually. “That doesn’t make sense.”He raises his eyebrow. “You sure those blueprints aren’t off?” Robin looks at him, confused. “Uhh, yeah? Those are the right blueprints. “Hopper tilts his head, “No, no. The kid is on to something for once.” Mike scoffs, Hopper continues. “Air ducts aren’t that big, you can’t fit a person in there. Even if you did, it wouldn’t be able to support you.”He hums, shrugging. “If you did get through those, it points more to the Russians doing something. They made it like that purposefully. “He clicks his tongue. “Likely to smuggle something.”

Robin: Exactly. Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room. 

She grabs a marker.

Robin: And these air ducts… lead all the way…

She uses the marker to draw a path, connecting the room to Scoops.

Robin: … here. 

They look at the vent on the wall and Steve gets up to open it.

Steve: Flashlight. Thank you.

Dustin hands him one. 

Steve: Yeah, I don’t know, man. I don’t know if you can fit in here. It’s, like… super tight.

Mike snaps his fingers, “Told you.”Hopper nods. “Yeah, if that doesn’t fall right away the moment you get into it. Someone was definitely using those to smuggle things.” Robin and Steve look at each other with wide eyes. Steve whispers to her. “That makes things make so much sense,” She nods. “Yeah, like why they thought we were lying.” He sighs, rubbing his head. “Someone was probably using Scoops Ahoy as a cover at some point.” Robin snorts. “Money laundering scheme?”

Dustin: I’ll fit. Trust me. No collar bones, remember? 

Robin: Uh, excuse me? 

Lucas snorts, “You didn’t know?” Robin looks away, embarrassed. “It’s not exactly something you bring up in casual conversation!” Will shrugs. “I mean, it did in ours ,like, all the time.” Dustin adds in. “To be fair, it’s because Troy constantly bullied me for it.” Mike nods, pointing at Dustin. “You have a point.” Max looks at the group weirdly.

Steve hops down and Dustin climbs up.

Steve: Oh, he’s, uh… yeah, he’s got some disease. Chry, uh… it’s chrydo, um… something. Yeah, I dunno. He’s missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo. 

Robin: You mean Gumby. 

“It’s Gumby.” Eddie states dryly. Steve turns to look at him, however the moment he saw Eddie smirk at him, his mouth dried. He sputters, face red “I know that now!” 

Steve: I’m pretty sure it’s Gumbo. 

Dustin is now half in the vent.

Dustin: Steve, just shut up and push me!

Steve: Okay. I’ll push ya.

Steve grabs Dustin’s feet and starts shoving him in. 

Dustin: Not my feet, dumbass. Push my ass.

Steve: What? 

Dustin: Touch my butt! I don’t care! 

Joyce sputters while Hopper stares at Dustin with wide eyes. “M-Maybe don’t say that to someone older than you.” Joyce chokes out. Dustin stares at Joyce blankly, before realization dawns on his face. He looks away.

Steve now pushes Dustin’s butt.

Dustin: Come on! Harder!

Steve: I’m pushing!

Dustin: Push harder! 

Steve tries to get a better footing on the ladder.

Dustin: You’re playing with my legs.

Steve: I’m not playing, I have terrible footing.

Mike coughs, “Y’know,”He starts.” I don’t think this is gonna work.” Dustin snaps. “We didn’t know that at the time!” He shrugs. “Besides, it worked out in the end.” Erica shifts uncomfortably, looking at Lucas out of the corner of her eye. 

Robin shakes her head while watching them.

Steve: I’m just going to shove you.

Dustin: Just shove me?

Steve: One, two… 

He tries to shove Dustin in.

Dustin: Shit.

Steve: That work? 

Behind Robin, Erica rings the bell.

Erica: Ahoy, sailors! All hands on deck! Ahoy! 

Lucas smiles slightly, “That’s a sight to walk in on when trying to get ice cream. “Erica chuckles awkwardly.”Ha, ha, Yeah…” She stands up and moves to sit back in her own seat, he looks at her in confusion. “It was getting uncomfortable.”He nodded.

Robin smiles slightly, getting an idea.

Lucas narrows his eyes. “I don’t like that look Buckley.” Robin squeaks, looking at Steve. “Why is that kid scary?” Steve shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

We see the party spying on Billy at the pool.

Max tenses up the moment Billy is on screen, El puts her hand over Max’s. She turns to look at her, El smiles at her. She feels a warmth encasing her other hand, Lucas is holding it but staring at the screen still. Though, she can see him fighting back a grin. She smiles to herself.

Max: I don’t know. He looks pretty normal to me.

Lucas: Normal? How many times have you seen him with a shirt on? 

Max: I mean, it’s a little weird. 

Eddie snorts, “I love that’s how you deemed him possessed. “ Lucas shrugs. “I mean, that wasn’t the reason, but it was certainly a part of it. “He waves it off. “You’ll see.”

Mike: More than a little. He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything else-

Max: But he’s lounging at the pool, which is, like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever. 

Mike sighs, Max groans. “I know, I know.” Lucas rubs over her wrist with his thumb soothingly.

Will: Not necessarily. The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It’s like… like you’re dormant. And then, when he needs you, you’re activated. 

Max: Okay, so we just… wait until he gets activated. 

Mike: No. What if he hurts someone? 

Will: Or kills someone?

Will winces, the lab flashing before his eyes, he’s pulled out of his trance by Mike tugging on his hand. “Hey,” He says softly, face full of warmth and concern. Will almost cries, reminded of the Mike who sat by his side in the hospital, they look so similar at the moment. It’s as if the more time they spend in this room, the more of the old Mike he gets back. It’s not fair. Mike squeezes his hand. “It’s not your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong.”He whispers. “I know…”Will says hesitantly, looking away.

 “Hey Will?” Mike says, bringing his attention back to him. “Trust me, okay? Even if you don’t think so, I know so, I was awake the entire time.”He teases him. “Trust me, you did nothing wrong.” Will’s heart is pounding in his chest, his face is pink, and not for the first time, he’s thankful for the dark. “Yeah. Yeah! Okay.”He nods rapidly. “I trust you Mike.” He grins at him before turning back to the screen.

Mike: We can’t take that chance. We need to find out if he’s the host. 

Mike starts to walk off.

El: Where are you going?

Mike: I have an idea. Boys only. 

Max scoffs while El frowns. Mike sighs when he sees Nancy glare at him. “Look, you'll see in a moment. I promise.” She still looks disgruntled but settles back down.

Max: Seriously?

Mike: Just trust me on this one. 

The boys run off and enter the men’s change room.

“Ohh,” Nancy says, “Okay. That makes sense.” Mike sniffs. “What did I say?” Max rolls her eyes, “You still could have told us what you were doing.” She says as El crosses her arms. “Yeah,”She mumbles. Mike sighs, rubbing his eyes. “I didn’t want to risk Billy hearing.” Max opens her mouth before closing it. “But we were talking the entire time.” Max defends, Mike shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter if Billy knows we know. The mind flayer knew I knew, so it knew you guys probably knew too. It expects us to know, however, if it knows how we get rid of it…” He trails off as Dustin gasps in understanding. “Oh! It would break it.”

Max winces, mumbling. “Yeah, Billy’s real good at that.” Lucas squeezes her hand. Max gives in, huffing. “I guess you have a point, this time.” Mike nods primly.

Mike: Okay, so we wait until the pool closes, until everyone leaves, and we somehow get him to come from here and… 

They walk towards a door.

Mike: Get him into here. 

Nancy furrows her brows. “That- that’s a really good plan Mike.” She says, looking almost surprised. The party looks at Nancy weirdly, shocked to see disbelief on the older members' faces. “Mike makes most of our plans.”Lucas says, tilting his head. “You didn’t know?” Jonathan shakes his head. “No, but that," His eyes light up in understanding.”That makes a lot of things make sense.” Mike scoffs, crossing his arms and accidently dragging Will’s hand with him. “I don’t even want to know what that means.”

Mike opens the door, which is a sauna and has a bunch of old men with their shirts off in it.

Almost everyone in the theater ducks away from the screen. “Oh my god!” Dustin shouts.

Man: Hey, shut the door!

Man #2: Hey, come on, kid, shut it! 

Mike quickly shuts the door and turns away in disgust.

Lucas: I think I just threw up in my mouth. 

Max snorts, “Speaking for all of us there Lucas.”

Mike: And look, the controls are right here. It’s perfect. 

Will: Will it get hot enough?

Mike: 220 degrees. We just have to figure out how to get him in here. Then we lock him in…

Hopper whistles. “That would kill him,” Mike shrugs. “Nah,” He quickly adds on as he sees the look on their face. “A normal person? Absolutely, people can’t even withstand a temperature of 110 for longer than an hour at most. However, Billy is possessed by the Mind Flayer and it tends to not care about human limitation.”He finishes darkly, glaring at the screen. Max winces as Mike reminds her. He tilts his head, noticing Max flinch. 

She feels eyes bore into the back of her skull, turning around to see Mike leveling her with a contemplative look. He mouths. “ Break? ” She sighs, wanting to pretend she didn’t see but she knows just how stubborn Mike can be. She nods and Mike gives her a pleased look as she turns back to the screen, nervous.

Lucas: Heat him up… 

Mike: No matter what happens, we’ll know. We’ll know for sure. 

Back at Scoops Ahoy, Erica’s checking out the vent. She hops down.

Erica: Yeah, I don’t know. 

Lucas narrows his eyes. “Excuse me?” He says, looking over to Erica. She laughs nervously. “Listen-”

Dustin: You don’t know if you can fit? 

Erica: Oh, I can fit. I just don’t know if I want to. 

Lucas snorts, “Yeah, don’t.” He says sharply. She looks away from him, staring at Dustin who looks like his life is flashing before his eyes.

Robin: Are you claustrophobic? 

Erica: I don’t have phobias. 

Lucas mutters, toeing the ground. “You do,” Erica winces, “ Help me .” She mouths to the rest of the scoops troop. They all shake their heads with wide eyes. “No .” Robin mouths back, an almost hysterical laugh bubbling out her lips.

Steve: Okay, well, what’s the problem? 

Erica: The problem is, I still haven’t heard what’s in this for Erica. 

Lucas glares at the Scoop troop that’s on the screen. “Nothing, go home.” Erica crosses her arms, nervousness turning to irritation. 

We then see the group sitting down at a table and Steve sliding over an ice-cream boat. 

Erica: More fudge, please. Go on. 

Steve takes it and gets up. 

Robin: All right. 

She brings out the blueprints.

Robin: You see this? This is the route you’re gonna take. Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door. 

Robin shivers as she feels eyes stare into the depths of her soul. She nervously looks down at him, “ She better have not even touched that vent.”   He mouths at her, she starts sweating as she feels the eyes bore into her head more.

Erica: Then you find out what’s in those boxes?

Robin: Exactly. 

Erica: And you say this guard is armed. 

Lucas is gripping the seat in a white knuckle hold, fuming.

Dustin: Yes, but he won’t be there. 

Erica: And booby traps?

Robin: Booby traps? 

Erica: Lasers, spikes in the wall? 

Robin: What?

Erica: You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment. 

Lucas says through gritted teeth. “It is.” Steve refuses to even look at him as he feels a deathly glare burn into him. Erica scoffs.

Robin: We’ll be in radio contact with you the whole time-

Erica: Ah, ah, ah! Child endangerment. 

“It is!” Lucas blows up, “She shouldn’t even be hearing about this!” He yells at the Scoops troop, making them flinch back. Erica whips her head around, glaring at him, arguing back. “Why not!” He huffs, looking away as the screen pauses. “You just shouldn’t! “ Erica rolls her eyes. “That’s not an answer, you were the same age as me when you did this.” Lucas snaps, chest heaving. “That’s not a good thing!” He jumps up out of his seat despite Max trying to tug him back” I don’t want you to be like me! like us!” He gestures around the room. The party winces, looking away. “It’s-It’s not a good thing, you shouldn’t have to be.“ He stops, voice slowly softening as he goes on.

Erica crosses her arms, but not out of irritation. “What’s so wrong about you?” She asks, voice feeble. Lucas looks around the room, grimacing. “We’ll talk about this at the break, okay?” He says. Erica scoffs but nods her head. Lucas slumps down, flopping back into his seat.

Dustin: Erica? Hi. Uh… we think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm. Don’t you love your country?

Erica: You can’t spell “America” without “Erica.” 

Lucas scoffs, but stays silent, glaring at the ground hard enough to burn holes into it.

Dustin looks thoroughly put out by this statement. Erica slurps her drink loudly.

Dustin: Uh, yeah, yeah. Oddly, that’s, uh, totally true. So, so, don’t do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man. Do this for America… Erica. 

Despite the tension in the room, a quiet. “Dustin what the fuck.”Can be heard. Max lets out a muffled laugh.

Erica shivers.

Erica: Ooh! I just got the chills. Oh, yeah, from this float, not your speech. You know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is? 

Dustin: Yeah.

Robin: Yeah.

Erica: It means this is a free market system. Which means people get paid for their services, depending on how valuable their contributions are. And it seems to me, my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So, you want my help? This USS Butterscotch better be the first of many. And I’m talking free ice cream for life. 

Mike narrows his eyes. “It also leads to exploitation of workers.” He grumbles, but not speaking loud enough because of the fight that broke out in front of them.

Erics eats a cherry.

Lucas shakes his head, standing up before another scene can start. “Know what? Pause it.” He looks over the room. “That…was a lot, I think, we need a break.”He says, just looking tired. Joyce nods. “I think that’s a good plan, how long do we think?” They look around, Robin remarks. “An hour? Hour 30?” Nobody has the heart to disagree and soon everyone splits off. Mike gets up and Will goes to move with him but he shakes his head. Will’s face drops until Mike gestures towards Max with his head and realization lights up in Will’s eyes. Will moves towards his Mom and Jonathan while Mike follows Max. 

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Mike sits down next to Max, it’s silent. Max starts to tap the floor anxiously. “So, “Mike starts, “What’s up?” Max doesn’t say anything, tucking her knees into her chest. She can feel Mike’s eyes bore into her, she knows he will wait, she doesn’t want to talk. The words clump in her throat, building up into a big ball that is impossible to swallow. Lately everything is like that for her, big, complicated, and impossible to untangle. Mike shifts next to her, letting his arm rest on his knee. He sighs.

“Listen,” He shuffles awkwardly. “I know I am the worst possible person for you to talk with, I’m annoying, impulsive, frustrating, all the adjectives you have called me.” He scoffs, eyes softening. “I know you would want to be talking to El or Lucas right now,” Max almost corrects, almost telling him he’s wrong. Although she would rather be talking to no one, she would not want to be talking to Lucas or El if she had to choose. Has much as it pains her to admit it, she wants to talk to Mike. At least she knows Mike wouldn’t coddle her, wouldn’t pity her. Max just doesn’t know how to talk to Mike, it’s like her voice suddenly stopped working the moment he opened his mouth.

Mike exhales shakily, staring ahead. “But, I’m here okay? Even if I haven't been, I’m here.” He stops, letting the room fall into uncomfortable silence again. A knot forms in the pit of her stomach, Mike is stupid, a moron idiot boy and a million other things Max likes to throw at him but he’s also one of her best friends, and she knows he won’t judge him. She feels a tiny little bit of the walls she built around herself chip away as she uncurls her legs. “You…love Nancy right? Even if she gets on your nerves.”

Mike looks at her, confused. “I mean, yeah of course.” He shrugs. “She may be an ass some of the time but I love her. Why?” Max picks at a loose thread on the pants of her tracksuit, the sludge ball in her throat slowly melting and sloughing down into her esophagus. “ I…don’t…love Billy.” She says slowly, “I don’t care about Billy, about his death.” and it was as if someone lit a fire underneath her, everything spilling out of her. Only pausing to take breaths in between the waterfall of words. 

“ He hurt me, He hurt me a lot. He was such a dick , and he was only ever a dick to me but he was still my brother. So why,”Her eyes wet and she brings a palm up to rub at her cheeks to keep tears from spilling. “So why don’t I care . Sure, I feel for him, it was terrible how he died but I don’t care that he’s dead. I’m not mourning, I feel like I could just live my life if this stupid guilt would leave me.”She sniffles, tucking her head in between her knees. “You would care if Nancy died? Wouldn’t you?” She asks hesitantly. Mike nods. “S-so why don’t I? What’s wrong with me!”She sobs, something in her breaking as the tears won’t stop flowing.

Mike reaches out and places a hand on her back, rubbing it awkwardly. She chuckles wetly at the look on his face. He bites his lip, thinking. “I…bear with me here.”He says, laughing quietly. “I’m about to ramble a bit.” Max snorts, shaking her head. “When don’t you?” He smiles at her, leaning back. He taps rhythmically on his leg, humming slightly. “I don’t exactly want to say impaled,”He says nervously. Fuck, why is he such a dork. “If…Lucas was covered in, uh, dust, like starcourt collapsed on him, would you want to be covered in dust too?”

The question hits her like a bullet to the head, would she? If Starcourt was collapsing around them, and Lucas was dead on the ground, would she want to lay down and die next to him? She bites her lip, and imagines a life without Lucas. No more stupid jokes, nobody to tease and call dumb names, nobody to be annoyingly fond of, no warm hands to cover her own, no soft kisses and someone knowing what she wants before she does, no one to push her when she doesn’t want to talk, no one to call hers, no one to listen to her small problems, no one to hold her, no breaking up just to get back together. No, well, no Lucas.

A pool of dread fills her stomach the more she thinks, she says quietly, feeling slightly nauseous. “I would, “Mike hums, like he knew before she did. Which he honestly probably did. The way Mike looks at things, looks at people, scans them over to see how they tick. It was one of the things that made Mike off putting to Max even if she's used to it now, it was just strange how he broke things down into little components but still didn’t understand the big picture unless their life was in danger. Then separating things into little parts becomes useful in those moments, she appreciates it, just not when it’s directed at her.

He taps the ground in a pattern she’s seen him do a million times with Will, she almost expects the taps back from Will and is surprised by the silence. He says with fake casualness that Max can spot a mile away. “But not Billy?” She groans, feeling frustration build inside her. “Yes, we established that-” Mike interrupts her. “I feel that way about my Dad.” He says, quiet, calm. Max freezes, her full attention on Mike.

He takes a deep breath. “If my dad was covered in dust and rubble, I would not want to be, I would be sad, I would…mourn,” He bites his lip.” But if it was Nancy…”Mike sighs, “What I’m saying is blood isn’t everything.” He brings his legs up, mimicking Max. “You’re allowed to not like someone, and, sorry if I’m overstepping here but Billy clearly didn’t like you. Even if he did, he didn’t show it at all.” Max feels like it should hurt, but just like everything with Billy. She didn’t care. 

She sighs, “No, just, “ Max shakes his head, chuckling somberly. “No, when you're right, you're right Mike. “ She smiles at him, he takes it as his cue to continue. “You can choose your family Max, El did. I did, Will, Lucas, Dustin. “He lists off, throwing his hands up. “I’m pretty sure Steve thinks of us as his kids at this point!” Mikes says incredulously. “You can not care Max, you can feel bad, just.” He hisses. “Don’t mistake sympathy with empathy. You don’t have to understand how Billy feels, you don’t have to care about how Billy thought, to pity them. I mean,”He points at himself. “I pity Billy to an extent and I loathe him.”

Max laughs, uncurling fully, she smiles widely at him, feeling lighter than she has in days. Don’t get her wrong, there is still this lingering feeling of guilt clawing at her but this…helped. How the fuck did the notoriously emotionally unavailable Mike Wheeler help her, she shakes her head is disbelief. Max stands up, extending her hand to him, pulling him up. “Thanks Mike…that surprisingly made me feel better.” She quirks an eyebrow. “How’d you manage to do that?” He shakes his head, crossing her arms. “I can do emotions sometimes. “ God, he’s so dumb. Max looks at him, unimpressed. “Nobody who can ‘do emotions’ says they can do emotions.” 

Mike scoffs, bumping shoulders with her with a fond smile on his face. “Shut it Mayfield.” Max rolls her eyes. “ Never Wheeler.” She says, as they walk off to see what El and Will are doing. Neither had to say it, but they both knew where the other would go. One to Will and one to El, and they both know that Mike’s going to Will. So, guess that means Max has to go keep El company. She snorts to herself, ignoring the look Mike gives her, he is such an idiot.

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Steve and Robin sit criss-crossed on the floor like kindergarteners during story time. Steve snorts, looking at the array of colorful beads in front of them. Kindergarten seems about right. Robin looks up at him, tongue slightly stuck out as she struggles to align the beads properly, “What are you laughing at dingus?” She raises an eyebrow, he shakes his head, laughing.

“Sorry, this is just extremely pre-school.” Robin rolls her eyes, “Well then you should feel right at home!”

She claps her hands together, ignoring Steve’s defensive sputtering. “Now! What should the beads say?” Steve stares at her blankly. “You know? When you dragged me away I thought we would talk about the whole being drugged thing and not be making friendship bracelets.” He says dryly. Robin puts the string down, leans back, crosses her arms, and gives him a disappointed Dad stare. “Would you rather talk about the Whole being drugged thing, or would you rather make friendship bracelets? “ He opens his mouth, before closing it and nodding his head. “You're right.”

She shakes her head, picking the string back up. “I know, now what should be put? What colors?” Robin snaps his fingers, “Vamos hermano.”Steve rolls his eyes, “I don’t know, like our name or something?” She throws her hand down, throwing her head back with a groan.” Ugh! Why are you so boring!” She flops back. “No wonder so many girls reject you.” Steve crosses his arms, grumbling. “ I can say the same to you!” She raises her eyebrow even though he couldn’t see it. “Tell me if you know one other lesbian, one. ” Steve sputters, she throws her hands up. “That’s what I thought!”

He sighs, lying on the ground next to her, they think in silence for a bit before he offers. “Blue and pink?” She snorts. “Ah yes, the best duo. Boy and girl.”She crosses her arms on her chest, Steve mumbles. “I thought I was pink?” She burst out laughing. “Oh my god !” Steve huffs, pushing himself up. “Well I don’t want to do it now!” She waves her hand, brushing his words off. “Wait, wait, no! That’s perfect, let’s do it.” He groans, spreading his legs out and picking a string. “Fuck, fine.” He starts to put the beads on it. “I’m making yours in pastels though.”She rolls her eyes, holding up a bright blue. “I thought it was a given? Yours too.”

After a minute of quiet and sparse cursing as each of them fuck up the pattern. She clicks her tongue as she adds another bead. “Okay but like words?” Steve opens his mouth.”We’re not doing each other's names.” He groans, frustrated. “What do you want from me!” Robin yells back, exasperated. “For you to not be boring!” She sighs, fiddling with the string. Another moment of silence passes before Steve mumbles. “Maybe, you suck and you rule?” He says, rolling a pink bead in between his thumb and forefinger.

Robin’s jaw drops, laughing. “Did you just have a good idea?” Steve levels Robin with a blank stare. “You know I hate you right?” She snorts, grabbing a ‘Y’ bead. “You know you love me.” He shakes his head. “Unfortunately. “ She grabs another bead, commenting. “I’m totally getting ‘You rule’ right?” He nods, clicking his tongue, letting out a curse as he misses the string completely. “Yeah, obviously.”

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Erica and Lucas stare at each other in silence, Erica taps her foot impatiently. “Well?” Lucas sighs, rubbing his arm. “Listen, Erica, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you in front of everyone.” Her eyes widen in surprise but before she can say anything he keeps talking. “I just…I don’t want this for you.” He says quietly. Erica groans, annoyed. “Why! I get that it’s bad but you were doing the same thing as me when you were my age!” She grumbles. 

Why couldn’t Lucas just explain this to her. What’s so bad, she knows it’s scary. She knows she could die but why is he so peeved about her and nobody else. She gets she’s his little sister but he doesn’t have to baby her. Lucas rubs his forehead. “That’s not a good thing, Erica. I-” He pauses, “I don’t want you to be like me.” Erica’s shoulders slump as she mutters. “What’s so bad with you?”

He sighs, sitting down. “I’m not explaining this well, am I?” He peaks an eye open with a smile on his face, she sits down with him, shaking her head. “No, not really.” Erica smiles at him. He swallows thickly,  “It’s not me that’s bad. I’m not some horrible thing you should avoid. It’s.”He groans in frustration at not being able to put his thoughts out correctly. “I don’t want you to experience what I’ve seen.” He says finally, she tilts her head to the side. “I can handle it.” She says, furrowing her brows. Shaking his head, Lucas smiles fondly at her, snorting. “No, you can’t. I thought I could, but I couldn’t.” He drags his hand on the floor.

He exhales heavily, muttering. “I remember searching for Will when I was eleven, and seeing this magical girl with superpowers appearing and seeming like she had the answers to all our problems.”  He shakes his head, almost in disbelief of his past self. “But, it wasn’t like that. El is great, sure, she’s an amazing friend but she doesn’t understand things. Especially back then, and I’m not going to sugar coat it, I didn’t like her. I was rude, I screamed at Mike, and I just wanted her gone because I wanted everything to be back to normal.” 

He leans back. “I think losing Will was the start of our problems." Erica grimaces, remembering that time. “And the worst part was. It wasn’t the supernatural that scared me the most during that time. Sure, I saw the demogorgon and I was really freaking out over superpowers being real and the government coming after us but.” His eyes wet slightly as he rubs the back of his neck. “I think watching my friends break was the hardest part.”He looks Erica dead in the eye, it makes her feel uncomfortably seen. “I never want you to see people crumble Erica, it’s the scariest thing I think i’ll ever see.”

He curls up, it makes Erica almost laugh. Her big brother, her strong tall big brother, curling up into a ball, a pit of dread pools in her gut. “When I lost Will, I was worried. I wanted to find him. When Dustin lost Will, he was worried, he wanted to find Will. When Mike lost Will?” He scoffs. “He was desperate . Me and Dustin? We thought the police had it handled, of course we didn’t know about the upside down but still.” He shrugs. “We were content to sit back and wait, obviously we were scared and anxious for him. Mike however?” He runs a hand down his face. “He acted like how I would If I lost you or Max. He was willing to defy the police, say whatever to get us on board, hide a superhuman from the government just to get Will back.”

He taps the ground. “And when we saw Will’s body?” He puts body in air quotes but shivers all the same. “I’ve never in my life seen Mike break down, he was always strong to me, admirable, the leader.” He taps the ground. “I’ve never seen Mike the same after that day, and he was even more desperate when he found out Will was still alive. I think he was about ready to rip and claw his way into the upside down himself.” He grabs Erica’s hand, running over her pulse point, as if to remind himself she’s still alive. She bites her lip. “And last year? In searching around for Dart and seeing a demodog, and basically a Demogorgan, up close and personal for an extended period? I was terrified.” 

He laughs humorlessly, grip tightening on her wrist. “In those tunnels and seeing all those vines, dumping gasoline while Steve was stumbling around like a drunk guy behind us?
He shivers. “I still have nightmares, those things pouring out the tunnels and then just lying there.” He gestures with his hands, staring at the ground, muttering. “I still have nightmares of what if Steve wasn’t able to save Mike, or if Dart decided not to listen to Dustin and just maul him.” He glares at the ground harshly.

Erica’s mouth drops, watching her big brother. Her big brother ,who was almost invincible in her eyes, being so vulnerable, it hurt in a way. It made her scared. If he couldn’t take it, if his friends couldn’t take it, how could she? Her eyes start to well up, she brings her hand up to wipe her face. Lucas looks up at her, sighing. “So no Erica, I don’t want this for you, I don’t want you to be like us. You can be the strongest 11 year old out there but you shouldn’t have to be.” He taps his foot anxiously, taking a deep breath. “I don’t want you to worry about these things, I don’t want you to lie awake at night wondering what you’ve just seen and what could have happened.”

He leans back, resting his head against the wall, looking more tired than Erica has ever seen him. “ I don’t want you to jolt awake in the night like Will, I don’t want you to have to hide everything behind jokes like Dustin, I don’t want you to be scared and angry like Mike, I don’t want you to be running from everything like El, I don’t want you to be guilty like Max, and I don’t want you to think you have to be tough all the time like me.” He finishes, out of breath, squeezing Erica’s hand. “I don’t want you to be a part of this.” Erica chuckles wetly. “I think it’s too late for that now.” Lucas looks at her sadly. “I know.”

Erica squeezes his hand back, leaning on him. “But…I can try to stay out of it.” He snorts, letting go of Erica’s hand and bringing his arm over her shoulder, tugging her closer. “You and I both know that’s impossible.” He rubs her shoulder, letting Erica seek solstice in her big brother's arms. "But, thank you for trying.”He whispers, closing his eyes to bask in this moment of comfort between siblings.

Chapter Text

The group all reconvines back in the theater, the tension from Erica and Lucas is gone however there is entirely new anxiety present in the scoops troop. Robin and Steve reach down to mess with their new bracelets as they wonder if the screens are going to show them getting drugged this episode. Slowly, everyone returns back to their original seats with Joyce taking her place back by Hopper’s side. They turn their attention back to the screen.

We see Hopper, Joyce and Larry enter Larry’s house.

Hopper: Wow, I love the place, Lar. 

He looks down at a zebra carpet on the floor.

Hopper: Hey, you shoot that fella yourself? 

Mike snorts, leaning towards Will. “He’s such a dick.” He says, trying to fight a smile. Will knocks him upside the shoulder. “Don’t act like you don’t find it funny.”He says, not even trying to hide his amusement.

They head upstairs.

Larry: That’s- that’s not real. 

Hopper: No shit! 

“No shit.” Will and Mike speak at the same time as Hopper on the screen. The party looks at them with wide eyes. “How?” Steve asks, confused. Will raises an eyebrow. “We live in Hawkins, Indiana. Not only are there no Zebras here, you think the mayor gets paid enough to be able to even hunt zebras?” Steve looks away, embarrassed.

Upstairs, Larry opens a safe and grabs some documents out. He hands them to Hopper. 

Hopper: All right, so… what exactly are we looking at?

He opens them.

Larry: Land deeds, transfers of property. 

Murray whistles. “He was going for gold, wasn’t he?” Hopper grumbles, leaning back. “More like taking gold.”

Hopper: So your buddies at Starcourt, they suddenly start buying up all this property. They tell you why? 

Larry: I already told you, they don’t tell me anything. 

Eddie chuckles. “So he’s the middle man, the lowest person on the totem pole.” Joyce shrugs. “Pretty much.”

Hopper: They’re just using you, I get it. What I don’t get is why you have a bunch of land deeds in a safe in your bedroom. 

Larry: These people, Jim, they’re bad news. 

Hopper: So, what, this is blackmail? 

Larry: Protection.

Hopper: Protection?

Mike hums, resting his face in the palm of his hand. “Y’know? Something tells me that if you need protection from the people you're selling too. Maybe you shouldn’t be selling.” Mike says sarcastically. Will nods along sagely, responding dryly. “You may be onto something there Watson.” Mike smiles, nudging Will. “Thanks Sherlock.” He rolls his eyes and turns back to the screen.

Joyce takes the files and Hopper flings a rubber band at Larry’s head.

Joyce: Hold on a second.

Jonathan sighs. “Aww, why’d you stop the fun Mom?” He jokes, Joyce snorts.

She wanders off, Hopper close behind. She pauses in front of a framed map.

Hopper: Hey, what is it?

Joyce: Hess Farm, Henry’s place, Bullocks… look, they’re all here. They’re all in Southeast Hawkins, right near Jordan Lake. And what else is near Jordan Lake? 

Hopper: The power plant. 

Joyce: Four nights ago, there was a huge power outage, and the next day-

Hopper: Your magnets fell. 

Joyce: Yeah, I mean, Scott said that this machine would take a massive amount of power to run. 

Hopper: Yeah.

Joyce: So, what if this machine that we’ve been talking about really does exist, and the reason that we didn’t find it at the lab is because it isn’t at the lab, it’s at one of these properties. 

Murray whistles, “Impressive. “Will smiles brightly. “I know right?” Jonathan nods along with Mike. Joyce blushes, embarrassed. “Guys..” She whispers.

Hopper: Um… I want you to… forget about sales. I want you to come work for me at the Hawkins PD. 

Joyce: And have to look at your face everyday? I don’t think so. 

There’s a clattering and we see Larry trying to escape through his window. Hopper jerks him back in.

Robin snorts, looking towards Steve. “Did that remind you of Looney Tunes or just me?” Steve jokes on his own spit, leaning forward. “I think it's just you,” He coughs, thumping his chest.

Hopper: Larry! Hey! Hey, where do you think you’re going, pal? 

Max snorts. El looks at her, confused. “Sorry, it’s just, Your dad is kinda funny.” She shrugs, El smiles at her. “I know.” 

At the Wheeler’s house, Mrs. Wheeler knocks on Nancy’s door.

Mrs. Wheeler: Nancy? Nance? 

She starts to walk down stairs when her daughter doesn’t answer. Nancy suddenly opens the door, and it looks like she’s been crying. They go downstairs and Mrs. Wheeler makes her some tea.

Mike whispers, staring at Nancy. “Nance, “ She sighs, looking away. “I’m fine Mike. “ He taps his foot, looking unconvinced. “Okay, “ He murmurs. Jonathan and Will look at the two, confused. No ‘I'm here’, no 'Are you sure?’. It was for the first time that the Byer siblings realized how different the Wheeler’s are to them.

Nancy: Maybe Jonathan’s right. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about him. I wasn’t thinking about anyone, really. I just… I wanted to be right. I wanted to be right so badly.

Jonathan sighs, gripping his pants before saying. “I’m sorry Nancy.” He says, thinking about how distant the two siblings acted earlier. Both of them are unavailable, but Nancy has less of a support system. She lost Barb, and now she’s losing him. Maybe he should take the first step for them, even if he’s no longer sure how he feels about their relationship. “I was being…too harsh.” He says quietly.

Nancy shakes her head. “No, no, it-” She cuts herself off, shrugging. “I’m sorry to Jonathan. I wasn’t thinking fully.” She mumbles, they look at each other with slight smiles. “I guess we were both a bit blind. “Jonathan says, she nods. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Mrs. Wheeler: And were you? 

Nancy: I thought so. But maybe I just… don’t want to admit that I’m wrong, because if I’m wrong, then-

Mrs. Wheeler: You’re what everyone thinks you are. 

Joyce nods along, biting his lip as Robin sighs. She plays with the bracelet on her wrist, remembering the comments she’s gotten from Scoops Ahoy customers. Steve gives her a concerned look that she ignores.

Nancy: Just a kid who had no idea what she’s doing. 

Mrs. Wheeler sighs.

Mrs. Wheeler: It’s not easy out there, Nance. 

Nancy: I know. 

Nancy starts crying and Mrs. Wheeler tears up.

Mike looks at Will, who nods. He stands up but Will grabs his hand, he has a guilty look on his face before whispering, “Come back soon?” He smiles warmly at him, nodding, trying to ignore how hot his face feels. Will lets go of his hand as Mike moves towards Nancy. She whips her head up as she hears the chair squeak beside her, confusion tinged with relief clear on her face. Mike awkwardly smiles at Nancy, sitting with his hands in his lap. Offering silent comfort. Jonathan looks at Mike, confused. He expected him to rub her back, or at least say something, but nothing! It’s strange to him.

He’s so used to comforting his family, holding his mom through the nights when his dad would storm out in a drunken rage. Rubbing a hand down Will’s back and blasting music to drown out arguments that seemed to shake the walls. Jonathan just kinda…expects everyone to do that. So to see such a stilted moment between the two siblings made him reconsider some things, and it also made some of Wheeler's actions make way more sense.

Nancy slumps down, seemingly eased by Mike’s presence. Though it looks like nothing to the outside, for the two? It’s a silent “I’m here for you.” it’s “No more secrets.”, it’s how they  communicate when being too “touchy” would resort to a scolding for rough housing, being too emotional for Mike or not “lady-like” for Nancy. It’s what they are used to, it’s what they needed, actions speak louder than words after all.

Mrs. Wheeler: People are always saying you can’t. That you shouldn’t. That you’re not… smart enough, not good enough. This world, it… it beats you up again and again until eventually, I… most people, they just… they just stop trying. 

Dustin furrows his brows, murmuring quietly. “Is it really that bad?” Robin nods, trying to smile at him but it looks shaky. “Yeah, it is.” She fumbles for a way to explain it but Nancy jumps in for it. “Imagine Troy bullying you for your CCD, but it’s everyone all the time. Like they’re pitying you but it’s also your fault, because you’re missing your collarbones. You suddenly can’t do anything even when it has nothing to do with that. “Joyce nods along. “Yes, it’s like you’re incapable despite getting the same training and same experience as everyone. It doesn’t matter because of one inconsequential thing.” Dustin nods in understanding, frowning. “I’m sorry about that.” He says.

Nancy smiles sympathetically. “It’s not your fault, just don’t do it.” He smiles at her. “I promise.” Max chuckles, teasing them. “That means no more ‘girls can’t play video games’ or ‘girls aren’t allowed.’ “ Mike throws his hands up. “ I don’t do that anymore.” She opens her mouth, he points sharply at her. “You know damn well why I did that.” She grins at him, giggling. “I know.” Clearly just trying to goad him. He scoffs, turning his attention back to the screen. But if he leans slightly closer to Nancy, that’s nobody's business.

Mrs. Wheeler sits next to Nancy.

Mrs. Wheeler: But you’re not like that. You’re a fighter. You always have been. I honestly don’t know where you get it from. 

Mike’s eyes can’t help but dart around automatically, but once he remembers nobody is looking he murmurs. “You are.”He looks away, staring at the screen in an attempt to look natural. Nancy jumps, surprised before smiling softly at him. “Thanks Mike.” She whispers back, he nods.

Nancy: Dad. 

Both Nancy and Mike grimace in unison.

The girls look over at each other and laugh. 

Mrs. Wheeler: I think you were swapped in the hospital, to tell you the truth. 

Nancy: No. I get it from you, Mom. I get it from you. 

Mrs. Wheeler: Well, wherever you get it from, I’m proud of you. 

Nancy: Proud of me for getting fired? 

Mike sighs, tapping his chair into a message he knows won’t get a response. “ Are you okay? ” He doesn’t know why, but being in this room is making him slip, he’s being less careful with Will. His heart isn’t steeling and sucking it up, it’s cracking and crumbling like sun dried clay. He’s more touchy feely with everyone. He had a heart to heart with Max today, and the worst part is he can’t tell if it’s a good or bad thing. 

He looks up at Nancy, courage building in him before he says. “For what it’s worth,” He keeps tapping out his code as Nancy looks at him. “I think you’re pretty cool. “He says softly, Nancy’s eyes widened before a big grin breaks out across her face, praying that the darkness hides the wetness in her eyes. “You’re not so bad yourself, “ She mumbles, knocking their shoulders together.”Y’know, when you're not being a shit head.” Mike smiles back at her, groaning in false annoyance.

Mrs. Wheeler: That you stood up for yourself. That you stood up to those… shitheads. 

El chuckles, saying. “Mouthbreathers.” Mike nods, repeating back absently. “Mouthbreathers.” Then, as if a hivemind connection formed the moment those words were spoken. The rest of the party speaks at once. “ Mouthbreathers .” Eddie opens and closes his mouth, turning to Steve. “What the hell was that?” Steve shrugs, trying to ignore the blush forming on his face. “I don’t even know man.”

Nancy: Mom!

Mrs. Wheeler: Yes, those shitheads. And if you believe in this story… look at me Nancy.

Nancy does as told. 

Mrs. Wheeler: … finish it. Then go and sell it to The Indianapolis Star or whatever and… I mean, can you imagine their faces when they read a story about their own town in a big paper like that? 

Nancy: That would be… pretty amazing. 

Mrs. Wheeler: So, why not? Why not? 

Nancy: Finish it. 

Robin whoops, “Yeah! Do it for us!” Nancy chuckles. “I already did, “ She turns to face Nancy, offering a high five before her mind shudders to a stop as she sees a grin cross Nancy’s face. She smacks her hand lightly, Robin’s face burns while she sputters out. “Uh- good job?”

Nancy smiles. “Thanks.” Robin slumps down in her seat, trying to calm her jackrabbit heart beat. She looks at Steve with wide eyes. “I’m fucked,” She whispers, he nods along sagely, fanning his face still. “Mhm.”

Mrs. Wheeler wraps Nancy in a tight hug. 

We then see Hawkins pool, the kids getting ready for the night. Lucas and Will enter a shed, looking for stuff to use. 

The party, minus the scoops troop, tense up. Anticipation building in them at what things the screen would show. 

Lucas: Uh, Will? Um, you know, about yesterday…