𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

xvi. TURN AROUND.

WHEN the van came to a stop, Charles paused his music and looked up just as Will, Mike and Jonathan rush out of the van so he followed behind them, his headphones wrapped around his neck. Mike walked into the phone booth and Will raised the paper, "202-968-6161." He recited the numbers to Mike who punched them in after inserting a coin.

The other three outside the phone booth wait patiently, "is it ringing?" Jonathan asked. "No. No, it's just making a bunch of weird noises." Mike tells them. "Busy?" Will asked and Mike just slowly turned towards them.

"Listen to this." He held out the phone and Charles leans closer as well, both of his and Will's ears to the phone. "Does that remind you of anything?" Mike asked. "WarGames." Will and Charles say in sync, looking at the Wheeler who turns to look at Jonathan.

"What?" The older Byers said and reached out, grabbing it from Mike's hands. Jonathan now held the phone to his ear as Will glanced at Charles. "Oh, my God, we're not calling a phone." Will tells him. "We're calling a computer." Jonathan looked at them.

"Shit, I got it." Charles rushed back to the van and they quickly followed him. "This might be a bit of a reach, but this computer might be a computer at Owens' lab... and dead dude gave us the number for a reason." Charles said before opening up the back of the van, unfolding the paper. "So we just find the computer, find Owens and warn him. Then warn Mikey's little girlfriend with magic powers." He said and nodded firmly as Mike rolls his eyes.

"And I know who can help us." He grins widely as he laid out the map. "I know a hacker." He turned to them and looked directly at Mike, raising his brows. He turns back to the map when he notices Mike's brain gears shifting. "I know one who lives in little old Utah." He pointed. "Wait, Utah?" Jonathan asked and Charles looks at him, nodding. "Salt Lake City, to be specific." Mike then tells the older.

"Oh, my God." Will realized, putting his hands over his bowlcut as Charles looks at him, smirking. "Oh, my God." He repeated. "What? Why oh, my God?" Jonathan asked his brother. "Turn around, look at what you see." Will sang and Charles glanced away, the association of that song being the night he lost his mom as Jonathan looks away.

"Oh, no." He cringed. "Never Ending Story. That scared the shit out of me. The Nothing, man? That's some proper existential shit, dude." Argyle then rolls his yo-yo. "You can't be serious." Jonathan looks at Charles who nods. "Serious as a heart attack, Johnny boy." He said as he looked back at the map.

"If we take the I-15 north, we'll get there by morning." He said as he pointed. "Oh, you're being serious." Jonathan said and Charles sighs, turning to look at him. "What else do we have, Jonathan? Suzie saved the world last year... maybe she can save it again." He said and Jonathan just sighed.

And the plan was in motion, driving to Salt Lake City all night. "Did you really eat a whole half of a pizza?" Will whispers suddenly to Charles as Mike was laying on the other side of the back of the van while Jonathan and Argyle are in the front. "Yes. And I hate that it was only because I had what Argyle calls, the munchies... Because I don't wanna depend on weed to get better." He whispers back to Will.

"You were right. It's not the healthy way to deal with it, my... eating disorder." He whispers it like it's a big secret. "And I will... I--I'll deal with it, you don't ever have to worry about it. I don't wanna be a burden to you." He said suddenly and Will raised his hand right away, cupping Charles' cheek gently. "You'd never be a burden to me." He whispers to him.

Charles looks at him in the eyes. "Yeah?" He whispers back and Will nods. "Never." He smiles and Charles leans in slowly, his droopy eyes fixated on Will's lips. "I really wanna kiss you." He whispers and the Byers giggled. "You can. We are boyfriends." He whispers back and Charles leans in slower. "Yeah, I know, but... I--I thought you were upset with me." He mumbled and Will just shook his head.

"I mean... yeah, but I guess it's apart of life and we all get to that point eventually. Just like everything else." He shrugs and Charles just leans closer again, not even closing the space between them completely, so Will does so, pressing his lips gently to Charles', moving them slowly together. Charles then raised both hands to either side of Will's waist, kissing back just as passionately. He pulled back and kept their foreheads together, pursing his lips together before smiling faintly.

"You have pretty eyes, Byers." He whispers, his thumb caressing his boyfriend's back gently. "So do you." The hazel eyed boy stared back into his blue eyes, smiling widely. "I don't like seeing them look red though." He whispers and Charles glanced away immediately, closing them. "Yeah, sorry." He whispered quietly.

"Can I lay on you?" Will whispers suddenly and Charles looks at him. "Yeah, of course." He murmured and Will laid down, his head onto Charles' lap. The Dumont raised his hand, brushing his finger through Will's hair. "I love you." He whispers to him. "I love you too." Will mumbled, his eyes are closed and he's relaxed, resting his head on his lip.

When Will fell asleep, Charles stayed awake the whole time so he can stay seated that exact way for the entire time Will was sleeping then glanced up to see Jonathan rubbing his eyes a lot, trying his hardest not to fall asleep while driving. "Hey, you should switch with Argyle now... I'm sure he slept off the weed." Charles informed him and Jonathan grumbled something quietly back in response, slowly pulling over. Charles gently moves Will while the van wasn't moving and put something soft under his head while Jonathan was waking up Argyle and telling him to take over.

As Argyle drove off, Charles stayed there by Will, brushing his thumb over his boyfriend's cheekbone and admiring him with a small smile before he slowly turned around, noticing Jonathan was now in the back, laying down so that he could get some sleep so Charles went over him and Mike, going over to the passenger side seat so he can join Argyle.

"Hi." He greeted Argyle quietly who's sipping a soda. "Hey dude." The older male greeted him and Charles sighs. They drove mostly in silence at first then the Dumont glanced over to the driver, sighing. "Hey, I just wanted to say sorry... I shouldn't have coerced you into... giving me some weed." He tells him.

"Oh, dude, don't sweat it..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

authors note self inserting myself a bit in the next chapter so it might not be argyle canonically bc we don't know much about argyle but it's me in a way (kinda) so yea