Byler- The Unwanted Return of Everything (And How It Finally Ends)

Siblings

Notes- TW for violence 

Will drove Mike and Jonathan home. Jonathan sat in the back and Mike sat in the passenger seat beside Will. The car was slightly chilly, and Jonathan had protested against turning on the heater. Will wasn't sure why he was acting so weird, but he wanted to ignore it. He couldn't bring himself to believe that there would be anything wrong with his brother. He was alive. That's all that mattered.

Still, Will found himself looking in the rearview mirror and glancing at Jonathan. He was paranoid now. Something he'd said had given Will a bad feeling. I like it cold. It seemed familiar.

Nobody in the car talked much. Will and Mike told their demogorgon story to Jonathan, who seemed less than enthused by it.

"You killed it?" he asked, astonished. "You just killed it?"

Mike nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Why? You didn't think we'd be able to?"

Jonathan shook his head. "No, no. It's just... I'm happy we managed to fulfill our goal without any fatalities. Demogorgon hunting in the woods sounds pretty dangerous, no?"

"You're the one who said we should do it," Will reminded him. He watched as Jonathan sighed and crossed his arms, looking unsatisfied with something. There was definitely something off with him, as much as Will wanted to deny it. He tried to focus on the road more than his brother.

Lucas's car beat them home, just barely. Jane and Dustin were still exiting the back seat when Will pulled into the driveway. They waved enthusiastically at the group, obviously not too shaken up by their near-death experience.

Once everyone was inside, they made plans for the next day and everyone started heading out since it was so late. They'd have to save their dead demogorgon celebrations for tomorrow.

Mike was picking up his things, about to head out the door. He walked over to Will momentarily, looking around to see if anyone was listening. "Hey," he whispered. "Do you want me to stay?"

Will tilted his head, caught off guard by the offer. "What?" Why would he want Mike to stay over?

Mike looked around again. "Jonathan," he explained. "Something... something's up with him. I just thought maybe you would want backup if something happened."

Will gave him a disapproving look. "Nothing's gonna happen." That's what I said about Brad too. "Nothing wrong with Jonathan," he tried again. He was convincing himself more than Mike at this point.

Mike sighed. "Will, I know you love him and you're happy he's alive, but you can't tell me you're not seeing this. He's really off."

Will shook his head. "Maybe we're all just looking for bad stuff. I'm sure nothing's wrong. He has to be okay."

"You know that's not true."

"I'd like it to be." Will looked at Mike. "I have Jane if anything happens. I'll be fine. Thank you for the offer, Mike, but everything is fine."

Mike looked like he was going to argue against it, but he stopped himself, deflating. "Okay, that's fine. Just... be careful, okay?"

Will smiled. "Okay." He walked with Mike to the door and waved as he was about to leave.

Mike stared at his friend for a second before stepping forward and giving him a hug. "I love you," he said. "Can I say that?"

"Yeah... I love you too," Will said quietly. He returned the hug for a long moment before letting go and waving again as Mike went out the door. "Drive home safely!" he yelled to him.