✓ cold blooded, mike wheeler ¹

xxiii. ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING

        "I thought that was the point," Max and Ben said at the same time, Ben being more quiet than Max. The two friends shared a glance before returning their attention to Mike. The raven haired boy looked in between the two, but focused his attention more on Max than on Ben. That hurt the brunette boy, "It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the Mind Flayer's army..." Mike trailed off.

        "Will's a part of that army," Lucas finished for him, glancing down at the redhead to his left in worry. Mike nodded, "Closing the gate will kill him."

        Everyone let out sighs, and it was quiet for a moment as it sunk in that Will could possibly die. Ben felt like crying again. He couldn't handle another death, especially not Will's. Will meant a lot to him, he was the only one that made him feel better when his father started dating Joyce. Suddenly, the older brunette woman moved from her spot in the kitchen to her bedroom where Will was still passed out on her bed, and everyone followed her.

        She looked to the open window that was letting in cold air. Ben shivered. "He likes it cold," Joyce mumbled.

        "What?" Hopper questioned, glancing between Joyce, the window, and Will. "It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold," Joyce informed before rushing over and sliding the window shut. "We keep giving it what it wants!" The older woman exclaimed.

        Nancy's eyebrows pinched together in thought, "If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..."

        "Then we need to make the host uninhabitable," Jonathan finished from where he was crouched beside Will.

        Dylan bit her bottom lip, "So," Nancy started again, then Dylan continued what she was going to say, "if he likes it cold..." the two girls shared a glance.

        "We need to burn it out of him," said Joyce, her jaw clenched and her eyes focused on her son. To Ben, she looked angry, and he felt the same way.

        Mike moved in front of the group, Ben hadn't even noticed that Mike had previously been standing beside him until he moved, but Ben did notice the Eleven was on the other side of where Mike was, so now Ben was stood next to her with an awkward gap between them. "We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time," Mike spoke up. Beside him, Dustin nodded, "Yeah, somewhere far away."

        Hopper pursed his lips in thought, before nodding and moving to leave the room. "I know a place."

        Mike was saying goodbye to Eleven. Ben was leaning up against the house behind the group. The Byers and Nancy were taking Will to Hopper's cabin, and Hopper was taking Eleven to the lab to close the gate. That left the rest of them with Steve and Dylan. Ben couldn't hear what Mike and Eleven were saying, but he felt his stomach start to twist. He felt like he was being cheated on in a way, even though he knew deep down that Mike wasn't his and he most likely never would be.

        When Mike and Eleven's faces became closer, and they were leaning in to kiss, Ben's stomach dropped. The Newby boy looked away and shuffled into the house. He felt tears prick the corners of his eyes but he refused to let them fall. He refused to cry over some boy that clearly enjoyed toying with his feelings and was obviously just using him to feel less lonely, and now that his girlfriend was back from the dead, Ben knew that Mike was going to drop him all together as soon as things were over.