𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

viii. MONSTER KILLER

  
    
     

     The boys all stood in the basement of the Wheeler's home again, all surrounding the table again. "We just tell our parents we have AV Club after school. That'll give us at least a few hours for Operation Mirkwood." Mike tells the other three.

     "You seriously think that the weirdo knows where Will is?" Lucas asked him.

     "Just trust me on this, okay?"

    "Okay." Lucas says, looking at Charles who looks down. "Did you get the supplies?" Mike asked him. "Yeah," Lucas says, turning away and picking up his backpack. "Binoculars.. From 'Nam. Army knife... Also from 'Nam. Hammer, camouflage bandana, and the wrist rocket." Lucas said with a proud grin as he held up his slingshot.

    "You're gonna take out a Demogorgon with a slingshot?" Dustin asked and Charles sighs. "First of all, it's a wrist rocket. And second of all, the Demogorgon's not real." Lucas said.

    "Yeah, it's made up, Dustin." Charles says as he looks at Dustin. "But if there is something out there, I'm gonna shoot it in the eye." Lucas says, pulling back the slingshot and letting it go, making Dustin flinch. "And blind it." He adds.

    "Charles, what did you get?" Mike asked and Charles looks at him, holding up his backpack, "protein bars and water for our travels, the protein bars for energy. And the water so we don't dehydrate and die." He says and Mike nods.

    He's not surprised, Charles was always carrying around protein bars and water, he looks at Dustin, "what did you get?" He asked him.

    "Well, alrighty," Dustin said as he emptied his backpack. Charles isn't surprised to see all the junk he poured out, he sighs, looking away as he crossed his arms. "So, we've got Nutty Bars, Bazooka, Pez, Smarties, Pringles, Nilla Wafers, apple, banana and trailmix." He said, smiling.

    "Seriously?" Lucas says. "We need energy for our travels and those stupid protein bars won't be enough, no offence, Charlie." Dustin quickly says the last part. "And besides, why do we even need weapons anyway? We have her." He then says, gesturing towards Eleven who was sitting on the couch, holding Mike's supercomm.

     "She shut one door!"

     "With her mind!" Dustin exclaimed back and Charles sighs. "Are you kidding me? That's insane! Imagine all the other cool stuff she could do. Like.." Dustin said then walked away.

    He takes the blanket off of Mike's Millienium Falcon toy, "I bet.." He says, picking it up. "That she could make this fly!" He said before turning to Eleven. "Hey. Hey." He says then holds up the toy. "Okay, concentrates. Okay?" He said then lets go of the toy, it falls to the ground with a thud.

    "Okay, one more time. Okay." He said, holding up the toy again. "Use your powers, okay?" Dustin said then lets go of the toy again, it clatters onto the ground. "Idiot." Lucas says.

    "She's not a dog!" Mike said as he picks up the toy. "Boys! Time for school!" Karen shouted and Charles picks up his raincoat, slipping it on and grabbing his backpack. He runs up the stairs with Dustin and Lucas following shortly behind.

    Later at school, the boys looked around for rocks at the school field, "how about this one?" Mike asked Dustin who takes the rock. "Too big for the sling." Dustin said before throwing the rock to the ground. "So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them like.. like Green Lantern?" Dustin asked them as they continued looking for rocks.

    "She's not a superhero.. She's a weirdo." Lucas said and stuff like that is what made Charles so worried about how they might think of him. He wasn't like Eleven sure with the powers, but the fact Lucas called her a weirdo got Charles thinking.

     "Why does that matter? The X-Men are weirdos." Mike asked him, holding up his arms. "If you love her so much, why don't you marry her?" Lucas asked and Charles chuckled at that, looking over. "What are you talking about?" Mike asked.

     "Mike, seriously?" Charles said as he looks at the boy in disbelief. "What?" Mike says. "You look at her all like... Hi, El! El! El! El! I love you so much!" Lucas said mocking Mike as he grabs him, hugging him before he pulls back, "would you marry me?" Lucas said and Charles starts laughing. "Shut up, Lucas." Mike said in annoyance.

     "Yeah, shut up, Lucas." They all look over to see Troy coming over with James. "What are you losers doing back here?" Troy asks.

     "Probably looking for their missing friend." James said and then smiled. "T-That's not f-f-funny. I-It's s-s-serious." Charles said with a serious glare. "Yeah. He's in danger." Dustin said. "I hate to break it to you, Toothless, and gay boy, but he's not in danger. He's dead. That's what my dad says. He said he was probably killed by some other queer." Troy said and then they laugh, Charles clutched his hand in a fist, continuing to glare at them.

    "Come on. Just ignore them." Mike tells him before walking away, about to walk past Troy but the bully trips him. "Watch where you're going, frogface." Troy said as he and James laugh.

    Dustin and Lucas quickly help up Mike as Charles looks at Troy. "You alright?" Lucas asked Mike and Charles grimaced when he saw the mark on Mike's chin. "Yeah," Mike said as he held his hand to his chin. "Hey. How about this one?" Dustin said, holding up a rock Mike takes from him as he pats Mike's shoulder gently. Charles smiles as Mike smiled as well, "yeah." He nods.

    "Yeah?" Dustin says. "Yeah, this is it." Mike said as Charles also nods with a smile on his face, looking at the rock which Lucas then takes from Mike who held it out towards him. He holds it up, "oh, yeah!" Lucas said with a wide smile. "Yeah, this is the monster killer!" He said and Mike chuckles.

  
   

   

    

     

authors note these boys are so pure i love this scene 🥺 also if it hasn't been made clear, charles is like not good with social situations and whatnot and so when he talks to people he doesnt usually talk to, he stutters a lot (i can relate to this honestly) because he doesn't like talking to people he doesnt talk to and such.
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