"And you think you know where will is?" Mike asked Eleven, the three boys seemingly trying their hand at interrogation.
El nodded, and flipped over the board of whatever game they were playing, placing a figurine on it afterwards.
"What does that even mean?" Lucas asked, frustrated.
"Hey!" Null scolded. "We advised you not to get into our business, and now you're in it, and you're going to question our certainty on this shit? Are you fucking mental?"
"Sorry," Lucas mumbled.
"That's what I thought," Null crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back into the couch. As she did, she caught sight of the clock, which of course meant she'd seen the time. "Oh shit. Gotta go."
"Go where?" Mike wheeled on her.
"Took look for Will. With Jason... no that's not right. Jackson? No that's not it either. With Will's brother," Null informed.
"With Jonathan?" Dustin asked, incredulously.
"Is that so hard to believe?" Null replied, grinning.
"Yeah, a little bit," Dustin sassed, "when you were supposed to stay here all day."
"Oh please, what are you? My mother?" Null questioned.
"Wait guys, this might not be a bad thing," Mike compromised. "Null can see if anything strange has been going on at Will's house when she's with Jonathan."
The boys seemed to ponder it for a second before Dustin said, "I still think it's a bad idea."
"Good thing you have no choice in the matter," Null stood up, making herself invisible on her way out the door. "See ya when I see ya."
~~~~~
Jonathan and Null said awkward hellos, before sitting in silence for several long moments, listing to The Clash.
"Not a bad band," she commented.
"You like The Clash?" Jonathan asked.
"Yeah. Not my favorite, but I still enjoy listening to them," she replied.
"What's your favorite band, then?"
"Band? That'd be Jimi Hendrix, if that counts since it'd probably be consider an 'artist.'"
"Let's say Hendrix didn't count, then what?" Jonathan asked, smiling slightly, more comfortable now that they'd found some common ground between them.
"Led Zeppelin," Null said, without hesitation.
"You have good taste in music," Jonathan complimented.
"Thanks," Null grinned at him, "I'd hope so, considering the amount of time I spend listening to music."
"They're household names for a reason," Jonathan added, as he pulled off to the side of the road, next to where Will's bike was found. "I brought an extra flashlight, in case you forgot one."
Null patted her pockets, before realizing she indeed did not bring one. "Good thing you did."
Jonathan chuckled a little before they took to the woods together. It was colder than Null original thought, so she took to humming as she went along to keep her distracted from the temperature.
"'Aint No Mountain High Enough'," Jonathan placed the tune.
Null laughed. "Yes!"
"You cold?" He took in the sight of her arms crossed tightly.
"Sweating, actually," she replied sarcastically.
He laughed. "Here," he took off his large tattered jacket, and swung it over her shoulders. "What are friends for, right?"
"Right," Null answered, absentmindedly.
Germany, 1981
"You cold, Null?" Alex asked, after literally hearing her teeth chattering.
"Fine," she replied meekly.
"Uh huh," he said, unconvinced.
"I'm not cold," she said, sharply.
"You just don't want me to be right," he smirked.
"About what?" She growled.
"About how earlier when I said 'you might want to wear something warmer than that,' and you said 'I'll be fine, you absolute ass.'"
"I didn't call you an absolute ass," she objected.
"True, but I'm sure you'll call me that soon enough."
"Why? Have you suddenly developed precognition?"
"No, you fool. Because I'll be rubbing how right I was into your face for the rest of the night, once you put my sweater on."
"I'm not putting it on," Null said.
"Sure, that's fine. At least I'll be warm," Alex stayed sat on the ground smoking a cigarette, waiting in the line for the dance club.
Several more minutes passed, before the breeze already passing through the street picked up.
"I'd like that sweater now," Null mumbled.
"Sorry, what was that?" Alex asked, looking up at her, leaning against the brick of the building.
"I said, 'I'd like that sweater now,'" Null repeated.
"Huh. Well, too bad. I think I'd rather keep it," Alex changed his mind.
"Don't be an absolute fucking ass, Alex."
"Ha! I'm right on two accounts now, not only was I right about the cold, but I was right about the insult as well," he jumped up, securing his sweater around her shoulders tightly, rubbing her arms to speed up the warmth reaching her.
She looked up at him, annoyed but also thankful. Not just for the sweater, but everything he'd done for her in the past couple years. He stopped focusing on rubbing her arms when he heard her teeth stop chattering. The intensity of her gaze made him freeze. "Thank you, Alexandar."
He looked away, bashfully. "It's just a sweater, Null. You don't need to thank me for it."
"I'm not talking about just the sweater," she replied.
He met her eyes again. "Anything for you, Null."
"What are we looking at?" Null asked Jonathan.
"Steve Harrington's house," Jonathan replied sourly.
"And you don't like this Steve character because..."
"He's a douche," he answered shortly.
"Fair enough," Null turned back to watch the party. "Oh, I saw four of them earlier, in the hallway when I talked to you. Which one is Steve?"
Jonathan pointed him out, and Null's eyes widened when she realized it was the guy she winked at.
"What's wrong?" Jonathan picked up on her tense stance.
"He and his friends were staring at me earlier, and I don't know, I just winked at him," Null blurt out.
Jonathan groaned. "Oh god."
"How bad is it? Scale of 1-10?"
"Well it's not bad per say, since you're not a student yet. But it definitely wasn't a harmless 1."
"Shit," Null muttered.
"Yup," Jonathan replied, and they then sat in silence for a while, watching them have fun. Null smiled unwillingly as they all swam in their clothes.
"Why are you smiling?" Jonathan asked.
"It just reminds me of someone I used to know," Null answered, feeling bittersweet.
"Who is he?"
"Who's who?"
"The guy," Jonathan clarified.
"Nobody too special," Null's smile dropped. "If he was, I wouldn't have left him, would I?"
"Sorry," Jonathan said quickly. "I didn't mean to pry."
"No, it's fine. It's just weird."
"What is? Are you talking about me?" Jonathan asked insecurely.
"What? No. Well you are odd, but you're a good, comforting strange."
Jonathan smiled. "Wow, thanks."
"Anytime, Byers."
"Then what's weird?" He backtracked.
"The guy. His name is Alex. When I was in Germany-"
"You came from Germany? You speak English really well then, and I can't even hear an accent. It's impressive." Jonathan replied, bewildered.
"I'm not from Germany. I was just there the past few years."
"Where are you from, then?"
"Here, actually."
"What-"
"That's a story for another time though," Null said quickly. "I think I might've loved him, but he was so easy to leave. I just feel like I have attachment issues, like the kind where I don't form any. Like 'hey, I love you, but that doesn't mean I'll stay.'"
"Why'd you leave?" Jonathan redirected the conversation away from her potential issues.
"Family," Null chose the word carefully.
"Well, there's worse reasons to leave someone than that," Jonathan pointed out.
"True. Doesn't make me feel any better," Null mused. "If only we could go grab those leftover beers by the pool."
By now, Barb was the only one left outside, sitting on the diving board, feet swinging back and forth over the pool. Jonathan took a few pictures of her.
"Why'd you take her picture?"
"School art project. The theme is 'A picture's worth one thousand words.' And I think right now, Barb sums up how I'm feeling right now," he sighed.
"Yup," Null agreed. "Wanna get drunk?"
"Yup."
Null and Jonathan were parked behind the high school, as she'd insisted on him giving her the school tour. They stumbled through the hallway, laughing their asses off.
"And then I'll go up to him and say Steve," Jonathan enacted his plan to win over Nancy Wheeler. "*Blows raspberry.*"
Null fell into a fit of wheezing laughter, crumpling into an unsteady Jonathan, sending them both sprawling to the ground, making them laugh some more.
"Hey!" Null shot up, idea in mind. "We could develop your picture now! I've always wanted to go into a red room!"
Jonathan shrugged, seeing no reason why not. Null followed behind Jonathan as he led the way, and Null pretended to ward off imaginary demons, then laughing at herself.
Entering the room, Null was left temporarily disoriented. "Shit, I think I can taste the color in here."
Jonathan laughed hysterically at this. "You can taste the chemicals?"
"No, the color. The red color."
"Liar," he insisted.
"I am not lying, Byers!"
"Shhhh!" He urged, suddenly paranoid. "Someone might hear us."
"Okay," she obeyed, childish in her drunk state. She watched him closely as he developed him film. "Wait," she noticed something, sure she was just drunk and seeing things. "What's that?"
As Jonathan's gaze followed hers to the right top corner of the picture, he said, "Hold on, let me zoom in and brighten it."
When he finished, he showed Null. She stiffened. "Monster," was all she was able to say.
Jonathan yanked the picture out of her hands, to see for himself. For him, however, this picture matched the description his mother had given him of the monster she'd supposedly seen. He gulped. "Monster," he concluded.