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It had been a while since everything in Hawkins had gone down—Vecna killing Max, Eleven and Hopper reuniting, and the world pretty much ending.
Lucas sighed, looking down at Max’s grave. He no longer had tears left to cry for her, yet he still made sure to bring her fresh flowers every day.
After Max had died, it wasn't long before her mum succumbed to her sadness. He looks to his right, ‘ Susan Hargrove’ . He didnt understand why they could be buried next to Billy, thought at the same time, he wasn't sure if Max would want to be.
He sighed, pulling himself up from the grave—he didnt want to be late for school, he’d better hurry.
“Hey”, Lucas looks behind to and notices Will has drifted away from the rest of the group. He slows down and gets further away from the arguing Mike and Dustin.
“Will?” His voice goes down to a whisper, “You okay?”.
Will sighs, “It's just. You were late again.”
He blinks, confused for a second, then laughs. “Oh yeah, I was visiting Max”.
“Oh, yeah,” He looks away awkwardly.
Something Lucas has never been able to understand was how, for some reason, everything felt so awkward around Will. Even that day in the hospital when they had gotten him back, it just never felt normal around him. Like the upside-down took a part of him away. And now, 5 years later, that uneasy feeling still lingered around him—in his stomach every time he would talk or look at Will; Like something was wrong.
The conversation quickly died between the two, instead opting to walk in silence behind Dustin and Mike.
“Hey, what are you ladies doing back there?” Dustin called out with a smile on his lips. At some point, the two must have stopped arguing. Lucas was too focused on Will to notice.
“Yeah, yeah. We’re coming.” Lucas rolls his eyes, looping his arm around Will's to drag him forward.
The four boys now sat around a lunch table, Dustin was going on about something Lucas couldn't be bothered to listen to.
“Hmm? Is that the same villain from your last campaign?” Lucas smiled as Will egged Dustin on. Will was definitely the only one paying to Dustin, or at least half listening. Will's legs were up on the bench. His sketch book, resting on his lap—pencil in hand.
Lucas felt something hit his face. He looked over to Dustin, who had his hands full of fries, clearly ready to aim and fire at him. “Hey, Mr. popular, you gonna listen or keep staring at Zombie boy over there?” Dustin crossed his arms.
“Hey, I was so totally listening”, Lucas tried to ignore the way he felt his face heat up. For some reason, he feels Mike's glare on him every time he talks.
“Oh yeah? What's my new amazing campaign about, then?”
He paused for a second, “Zombies?” He smiled awkwardly.
The other three boys stared at him with confusion. Dustin sighed before recapping his campaign idea—Lucas tried his best to follow along, but his attention slowly different over to the two boys to his right. When Dustin had gone off again, Mike had moved over to sit next to Will. Will still had his legs up on the bench, blocking Mike from sitting next to him properly. He kept trying to focus on Dustin, yet every time he would tune in, he had no idea what planet Dustin was on.
Mike and Will started laughing over something, yet again capturing his attention. He noticed the way both boys' faces seemed slightly red over each other. Mike leaned over Will’s legs to whisper something into his ear. He had placed one hand on Will's leg to keep himself from falling over.
“Mhmmm,” He replied to Dustin, before completely cutting him off. “What are y'all whispering about over there. Huh?” He tried his best to sound cocky, though he wasn't sure if he sounded that way.
“Huh? Oh, I was just complimenting Will's drawing.” Mike took his hands off Will to grab his sketch book without permission and held it up without his permission.
The drawing showed Him, Mike and Dustin from where Will was sitting. He always loved Will’s drawings, he often surprised people with drawings of themself that Will would draw when he got bored.
He remembers Mike kept all of them in a binder—Lucas often just put them scattered around on his walls, though. He's pretty sure Dustin keeps his as well.
He remembers that once Will tried to teach them all to draw, it just ended with profanities written on each other and an empty piece of paper.
“Hey, that's really good” Dustin pauses his rambling to focus on Will’s sketch. Will quickly grabs the sketch book back from Mike's hands. “Hey! Give that back” With a bright red face, he hugged the book to his chest, looking down at the cafeteria floor.
Lucas starts, “It really—” The bells cut him off, and the other boys immediately jump up from the table.
“What do you ladies have next?” Dustin seems to be in a ‘ladies’ mood today. Will looks down at his schedule, his eyes glued to the back of his sketch book. “Art”
Mike rolled his eyes. “Fitting”
Will leaned over to shove him in the arm.
Dustin interrupts, “Oh! I have art as well” He throws his arm over Will's shoulder, “Guess it's just me and you byers”.
Lucas and Mike awkwardly follow each other to English.
“Great, we have Ms. Ratliff” Lucas shrugs off the fact that Mike ignores him in order to walk faster, maybe he didnt hear him?
Classes had just ended, and the boys were waiting in silence for Dustin and Will to get out of class. “What's your deal?” Mike Spurs randomly, and Lucas tilts his head in confusion.
They hadn’t said anything to each other on the walk to class, or in class, now Lucas thinks about it.
“What?”
Mike stands off the brick wall he was leaning on, “You’ve been acting weird all day,” He scoffs, “Not to mention you're always staring at Will.”
Lucas feels his face grow hotter, “W-What? Dude, what are you talking abou—”
“I'm not stupid, Lucas! Neither is Will! It's like every time he talks, you pause and look at him weird! Look, if you have a problem with him—”
Lucas feels a pit growing in his stomach. “No!” He spilled out way too quickly.
Mike pushed him back, his head hitting the brick behind him. He quickly pulls his arm in front of his face, trying to stop any further blows. Accidentally, Mike's face was way closer than he thought. Landing a blow straight to his eye.
“Oh shit—Dude, I’m sorry” Suddenly, everything happens so quickly, and he feels blood dripping from his nose.
“What the—” Both boys pause, looking up at Dustin and Will, whose classes must have ended.
“Oh, hey guys—” Without thinking, Lucas goes to greet the boys standing in shock by the scene in front of them.
“Screw you”, Mike calls out one last time before giving Lucas a matching black eye.
“Fucking Christ”, Dustin yells out before running to hold Mike. Will stands in shock for a second longer before running to hold Lucas upper arm.
Lucas looks down to meet Will's concerned eyes and gives him a reassuring smile.
Currently, Lucas and Will sat in the Wheeler bathroom, Dustin and Will had insisted on talking about it before they could avoid each other for weeks.
The bike over had been completely silent. The second they’d walked in, Dustin and Will had exchanged some words Lucas didnt catch as he was too focused on the death glare Mike was giving him.
After Will had dragged Lucas to the bathroom, they sat on the floor while Will pulled out the first aid kit the Wheelers kept in the bathroom cabinet.
Will grabbed the cotton balls from Nancy's makeup bag and wets them under the sink—he dabbed all the dirt and blood from Lucas' face. Clearly getting frustrated when his nose continues to bleed.
Lucas tries his best not to laugh when Will ends up placing the wet cottons into his nose and covering it with a band-aid before calling it a day. “Will I dont think—”
“Shut up, I'm still mad at you” He stands up, leaving briefly before coming back with an ice pack to hold to his black eye.
He sighs, “What even happened? I thought we got over fighting over nonsense when we were kids…”
“I know, I know, I'm sorry. I'm not even sure what happened.” He looks at the bathroom floor, “I think he noticed me acting weird and got mad, he’s been extra angry and snappy since El broke up with him…”
Will gives an angry pout, “He should know better than to take that out on his friends, Lucas.”
“I get that, but with everything that’s happened, everyone's a little angry.”
He sighs, standing up, “Yeah, I suppose so”. Will stretches his arms over his head, yawning. “C'mon, you and Mike have to make out before we can hang out.”
A knock comes from the bathroom door. “Hey, you guys—” Dustin pauses.
“Hmm? Oh yeah, we’re coming” Will walks over to the door before noticing Dustin’s pale face. “You okay?”
“Will, I get we’re meant to be mad at them, but I dont think suffocating Lucas is the way to go…”
“Huh?” Will looks over to Lucas, who looks a lot paler than before.
“I—uhhh—dont think I can breathe”
Mike calls out from the other room. “Deserved”