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“And then Argyle fell off the bed, laughing like it was the funniest joke he’d ever heard, but Will didn’t crack a smile,” Jonathan says, smiling softly as he looks around at everyone.
They’re currently at the Wheeler’s house. Jonathan, Will, Mike, Eleven, and Argyle had just returned earlier that day, and now they were catching up with the others.
A small laugh escapes Karen’s mouth. “Well, that sounds fun. I heard California is beautiful. Is that true?”
Jonathan shrugs. “Well, sort of. I mean, it’s ok…”
Will nods. “Where we live, it’s… kind of dry. There’s not much color in Lenora, but… yeah. California is nice.”
Karen nods back. “Well we’re glad to see you guys back in Hawkins. It’s probably nice to have a change of atmosphere, huh?”
Joyce nods. “Yeah. It is nice. We missed Hawkins. But California has its perks too, you know?”
Jonathan tries to smile a little. “We’ve had some pretty interesting and crazy things go down in Lenora.”
“Yeah, like that house shooting that happened earlier this week.”
Everyone freezes as Mike says this, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly gets serious. Nancy decides to cut through the thick air with a dull knife.
“What?”
She wears a confused yet concerned expression, eyebrows knitted and arms folded. Joyce’s eyes are wide, with her mouth slightly agape. Her face shows worry and anxiety.
Will and Jonathan slowly shift their eyes to Mike, who sits, with his eyes trailing around at everyone and his lips parted a little in realization of what he just said.
All eyes are on him. But they start switching between him, Jonathan, Will, and even Argyle. A couple people look at Eleven, but she looks confused and concerned herself as she looks at the boys.
“H- house shooting?” Joyce sputters out.
Mike looks down and plays with his hands. “Uh…”
“There was a house shooting?” Eleven asks, looking directly at him. “When?”
“Uh, it- it was on Monday,” Jonathan responds.
Joyce now shifts her eyes to his and her eyebrows knit further. She was hoping Mike was just bullshitting, but now Jonathan has admitted to it too. Jonathan notices as her eyes are wide with worry and her face starts turning pale as she looks at him.
“But we’re ok,” Jonathan assures. “I mean, obviously, we’re all still here.” He rubs the back of his neck. “But yeah, there- there was a, uh, house shooting.” He shoots daggers at Mike for bringing it up.
Mike looks away from Jonathan. Not only does he feel guilty for bringing this up and now causing a tense atmosphere, he hates the way Jonathan’s gaze is burning into him.
Will is sitting quietly, eyes looking at the floor. He sits with his hands between his knees. He looks a little pale, and he purses his lips into a tight line. His eyes sting a little. He looks uncomfortable.
Joyce looks between the guys, but especially focusing on her sons.
Argyle nods. “It was insane. Like I was driving up to the house, and I saw like four cars or something around the Byers’. ‘Aww, having a party, and not inviting me?’” He shakes his head dramatically. “But no. That’s not what it was at all. I had never seen anything that unsettling.”
Everyone is looking at the boys in silence, concern and worry clear on their faces. But some of them, such as El, look confused.
“When- wait,” she starts. “I don’t understand. This happened on Monday?”
Mike nods slowly.
“The day after I got arrested?”
Joyce’s eyes widen at Eleven. “You got arrested?!” She looks at Jonathan. “What?!”
Hopper’s eyes also widen and he looks at Eleven. “El?”
Eleven opens her mouth and looks at Jonathan.
Jonathan opens his mouth, but Lucas starts first.
“Ok, one revelation at a time,” he says. He looks between Mike and Will. “This shootout. How… how did it start?”
Mike hesitates and looks at Will, who refuses to meet anyone’s eyes. Then he looks at Jonathan.
“Well…” Mike starts. “We, uh, we ordered some food. Pizza, to be specific.” He sighs softly, giving Jonathan a look.
Jonathan continues as Mike struggles, deciding to spill the truth. “We… we needed to go find El. We couldn’t handle being stuck in the house anymore. So we told the agents that were watching us that we were hungry, and so… we called for pizza. We told Argyle the plan, and then, right as we were getting ready to leave…” he sighs.
Joyce, Nancy, Eleven, and Karen lean forward a bit, waiting for him to continue. Jonathan struggles.
“Bullets came out of nowhere,” Mike starts again. “We… we were in Jonathan’s room. And… then… we heard a gunshot from the door. Jonathan ran out and… we kept hearing guns firing. He ran back into the room and said we needed to leave, but then the windows shattered because a couple bullets flew into the room. We just ran through the kitchen, trying to escape all the military men that were trying to shoot us. We were able to avoid the bullets, but…” he swallows hard, and his lips feel chapped. “Our agents both died in the process. One was shot immediately, that’s when we first heard the gun. And then the other was shot and died when we were driving away from the house.”
Nobody says anything as they take in Mike’s words. They each wear a different expression, but there’s some type of horror on everyone’s face.
Eleven looks between Mike, Will, and Jonathan.
“Why- why did you never tell me anything?”
Before Mike can say anything, Nancy opens her mouth.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She looks at Jonathan. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?” She looks at Mike.
Her brother nibbles his lip and looks at the others that were in the shootout, trying to get some backup.
Will still hasn’t said anything. Jonathan sighs softly.
“It all happened so fast,” he tells Nancy. “We- we could barely think about what was happening. It was just pure adrenaline.” He looks at his brother, who’s still sitting, quieter than ever. “Will was having a panic attack. He could barely breathe.”
Joyce’s eyes, along with mostly everyone else, glance over to Will. He just nods stiffly, feeling awkward now that the attention is on him.
“I- I thought we were going to die…” he finally says. He looks up and his eyes meet Joyce’s.
She looks very concerned and anxious, but also relieved that her children are in her presence right now.
Nancy puts her hand to her forehead and mumbles softly. Everyone sits in silence again, before footsteps approach the Wheeler boy.
Mike looks up and sees his mother, but before he can say or do anything, she’s wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. He’s taken aback by this.
This triggers the need for Joyce to hug Jonathan and Will. She starts with Will, and as she does, Nancy turns to Jonathan, hugging him. When Joyce pulls away from Will she hugs Jonathan.
Karen holds Mike tight for a minute before she finally pulls away and looks at him with utter distress.
“Oh my God…” she mumbles. “Now you really are never going on vacation again. I mean it.”
Mike doesn’t say anything but Nancy turns and looks at him. He looks at her in silence. He doesn’t know what to do or say because she’s giving him quite a sinister look. But that look quickly fades and draws into something more comforting as she steps closer. Then she does something Mike never expected his own sister to do. She hugs him.
He hesitates once again but awkwardly wraps his arms around her.
“Jesus…” she mutters. He sighs softly at this. It’s clear to him how upset she, Joyce, Karen, and everyone else are to hear what happened.
“Well… shit,” Dustin says, breaking the somewhat silent room. He looks at Lucas, and they both get up.
Before Mike or Will can process what’s going on, they’re pulled into a group hug with Lucas and Dustin.
They both tense up a little as they’re pulled in, but they quickly relax and wrap their arms around their friends.
When they pull away, Eleven turns away from Jonathan, and she hugs Will. She squeezes him a little and he whimpers softly.
Then after a second, she pulls away from him, and she turns and tries to find who else she needs to hug.
Eleven quickly embraces Mike into her arms after she releases Will, and Mike is tense once again. It’s almost as if he’s never been hugged so much at one time.
El squeezes him just as tight as she did for Will, then she pulls away and looks into his eyes. He looks at her nervously, waiting to see what she’s gonna say or do next. He fears that she might scold him for not telling her anything sooner, or that she may ramble and ask questions that he won’t know how to answer. Instead, she just smiles weakly at him and tries to hide the tears in her eyes.
When he thinks he’s free from any conversation between them, she speaks up.
“I’m glad you’re ok,” she says quietly.
Mike’s breath goes a little cold, and he nods stiffly.
“Yeah,” he says just as quietly. “Yeah, me too.” He looks down, suddenly feeling guilty. “I should’ve been there…”
“For me?” Eleven shakes her head. “No. You did everything you could. I deserved it. There was just no avoiding it.” She squeezes his shoulders a little bit. “What matters is that you’re not hurt. That you’re ok. That Will’s ok. That Jonathan’s ok. And that Argyle’s ok. Right?”
Mike nods weakly. “R- right, I just…”
Eleven puts her finger to his lips and he stops. “Don’t,” she says, but her voice is still quiet and gentle. “It’s ok.”
He nods again. Then he looks down at her hands on his shoulders and back into her eyes.
She smiles weakly before she lets go and turns away.
“Jesus,” Max says as they sit back down. “You were really in a house shooting?”
Mike rolls his eyes slightly. “Yeah. Didn’t you hear us?”
Joyce looks at her youngest son. “Will…” she places her hand on his shoulder when she sees that he’s still uncomfortable. “It’s ok now. Isn’t it?”
Will looks at her. She still looks mega concerned but she’s right. That’s over and they’re still ok. So Will nods weakly.
“Yeah, I- I know,” he says weakly.
“Man,” Steve mutters. “Can’t believe that happened. What if you guys didn’t…”
Nancy looks at Steve, and he stops. She sighs softly and looks back at them. She tries to smile.
“We’re just glad you guys are ok,” she says. “That’s what’s most important.” She looks down a little bit.
Jonathan tilts his head and approaches her. “Are you ok?” He whispers.
She sighs softly. “It’s just…” her voice is quiet too. “I don’t like hearing what you guys said. Why would I? I mean, hearing you were in a house shooting…”
Jonathan nods. “I get it, I do. I- I was scared too. But we’re ok. It’s all over.”
Nancy nods, but she can’t help but bite her lip gently. “But what if… what if things didn’t turn out that way? Like what- what if… what if one of you guys… one of you guys got…”
“Hey,” Jonathan starts as her eyes start watering and her voice starts shaking just a little. He puts his hands on her shoulders. “We’re all ok, right? We’re fine. We survived, and now we’re back together in Hawkins. It’s over.”
Nancy looks away from his eyes and her eyes focus on something else. Jonathan follows her gaze and sees she’s looking at her little brother.
“He’s fine,” Jonathan tells her, turning back to her. “Ok? He was scared but… he’s alive and well. Just like the rest of us. Alright?”
Nancy nods weakly. “Yeah. I- I know. Yeah.”
Mike is now looking at Will, who refuses to look at anyone right now. Finally, after a couple minutes, Will looks up and his eyes land on Mike.
They look at each other for a minute, and Mike can see the discomfort and distraught in Will’s eyes. So he smiles softly and pats the seat next to him.
Will looks around, then slowly gets up and walks closer. He sits beside him and shivers gently, feeling a cold chill run through his body.
Mike notices this and puts his arm around Will. Will doesn’t fight back as he feels himself lean into his side a bit. Will sighs a little.
And he can’t help but feel a little warm now as his friends look at him, leaning against Mike like he was a soft pillow.
Lucas and Dustin whisper to each other about Will’s blushing face, but Will ignores it. Instead he looks around at everyone else. They all seem to be discussing quietly amongst themselves. About five different conversations are going.
Only Mike and Will sit in silence, just watching. Will is leaning into Mike’s side and the side of his head is resting on his shoulder. Mike’s arm is draped around Will and his other arm just sits by his side. That is until it moves and his hand discreetly grabs Will’s.
Will feels Mike grab his hand and he lifts his head a little and looks at him.
Mike returns his gaze.
“Is this ok?” He asks quietly.
Will looks down at their hands, then looks up with a smile. He blushes a tiny bit.
“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
Mike smiles back and his voice is soft as he talks. “Cool.”
Will smiles a little bigger and his butterflies multiply as Mike rests his head on Will’s. “Cool,” he repeats.
After another minute, Joyce approaches Eleven.
“El?”
The girl looks up at her and nods.
Joyce sounds a little stern, obviously serious, but not trying to rush if Eleven doesn’t want to discuss it yet.
“I think it’s time to talk.”
Eleven tilts her head. Mike and Will notice their conversation and start to pay more attention.
“Talk about what?” El asks.
“You getting arrested.”
Eleven looks down in silence. Hopper walks over and stares at her too.
Mike and Will look at each other and their eyes widen. Will grows warmer but now with fear and Mike’s grip on him goes tighter.
Will looks down at their hands. Mike’s grip is stronger and their hands feel really warm together, and that’s when Will notices they both have started sweating a little.
Jonathan runs a hand through his hair nervously.
Joyce folds her arms as she looks down at Eleven. Hopper repeats her actions. Eleven starts moving her eyes around, looking at everything except Joyce and Hopper.
Mike mutters as he watches the scene unfold in front of him.
“Oh no.” He gives Will’s hand a tight squeeze and looks at him. Will looks just as nervous.
“It’s now or never,” he whispers.
Mike nods. They already spilled what changed the atmosphere. What’s the point of avoiding the other thing now?
He closes his eyes for a second, exhaling a long breath.
Now or never.