The Night We Met *Remake*

09. 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔲𝔭𝔰𝔦𝔡𝔢 𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔫

Mike and Eleven had disappeared off somewhere while Dustin and Lucas went into the kitchen. Stan had gone to check out a noise he heard outside and he had been gone for around a minute by now.

Y/n turned her head, meeting Bradley's eyes. All was silent in the room until Y/n broke the silence, twirling the spoon with her pointer and middle fingers as she gazed at the boy, "You know, uh... Bill, is it?"

"It's um, It's Bradley." He corrected with a nervous smile.

"Bradley, that's right." She looked at him, a glint he couldn't identify sparkling in her eyes as she gaped at him for a long minute, "That suits you." She smiled sweetly.

His smile slowly contorted into that of a genuine, gleeful smile and he uttered out a small 'thank you'.

Y/n shrugged it off, peering down at her pudding with a thought in her eyes, "I um, I just... I wanted to say just in case we didn't..." She paused, pursing her lip, "... make it out." She then turned her head to look back at him to see he was already staring at her, "I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for helping me find my brother. Thank you for sticking by us. And... and thank you for being my friend, Bradley."

Bradley stayed silent for a long minute, a tension in the air growing. There was an intense thought in his eyes as they flickered about on the floor.

He, then, shook his head before snapping his entire body and face to look at her. She felt the soft texture of his hands sliding into hers and she gasped, spinning around to look at him with wide eyes.

"No, Y/n. Thank you. You and your friends took me and Eleven in. You've helped us. You never stopped believing in us. You taught us to see the world in a better way. You got us away from the bad people. I don't..." As she stared at him in awe at his words, he looked down with a dreamy smile on his face, "I don't know how I can ever thank you. Nothing I can ever say will be enough. I know that, but I'll never stop trying. For you."

Y/n's mouth was popped open, her awestruck eyes broad on him as his speech settled into her mind and his words dissipated into the air. The words stayed on repeat for a full minute before she could fully collect herself.

"I... I don't know what to say." She admitted.

Once more, the boy shook his head, "You don't need to say anything to me, Y/n. I just needed you to know that."

Abruptly, the doors flew open and there stood the others, "Guys! The bad men found us!" The two flung away from each other, turning to Dustin – who had been the one to say that – before looking back at each other with wide, frightened eyes.

>>>

The group of six bolted through the hallways, Stan taking the lead whilst holding a pistol that Hopper gave him just in case this happened. He had been hiding the gun in his back pocket, not wanting to freak out any of the kids.

"How did they find us?" Lucas hissed as they all darted down some stairs, almost tripping a few times but disregarded it, continuing on.

"I don't know, but they knew we were in the gym." Mike replied, a little pant in his voice. The sounds of the bad men talking echoed a few rooms down causing them to all run even faster.

"Lando." Dustin mumbled.

Suddenly, a group of agents came running from a set of double doors in front of them, "Got 'em!" One of then yelled.