"Saw you downtown."
Everyone besides El had left and her and Mike sat on the couch in the basement silently.
"You should go get those old clothes off of you and go take a shower, then you and I can go to the arcade." El suggested.
Mike turned his head to look at Eleven.
"You really think we should go there?" Mike asked.
"Yes. I think you need something to take everything off of your mind." El answered.
"But I have a lot of memories there with Will and the other members of the party." Mike replied.
"I know, but they're happy memories. Plus, you need to relive the memories with Will." El reminded.
Mike sighed. "Fine. These clothes are all sticking to my body anyway."
"Okay. I'll be down here waiting for you." Eleven half-smiled.
Mike nodded and went upstairs to go take his shower.
El looked to her side and saw Will. She could feel his presence whenever he came.
"I'm glad you got him to wash and get out of his old clothes. If you hadn't, I don't think he would've done it himself." Will said.
"I know. I'm scared he's not going to take care of himself." Eleven confessed to Will, looking into his eyes.
"He will if you're around. He loves you, El. Even if it's not romantic, he truly loves you with all of his heart. I truly believe you guys are platonic soulmates." Will said.
"You're even wiser as a ghost." El half-smiled.
Will let out a small chuckle. "I guess death made me...think a lot more than I used to. And trust me I used to think a lot."
"Hm." El half-smiled.
"I hope he isn't hurt by what he has to remember the arcade." Will said.
"What happened at the arcade?" Eleven asked.
Will tilted his head at her.
"You know, Eleven. You were there."
El closed her eyes and sighed.
"Should I bring Robby then?" Eleven asked.
Will shook his head. "No need. Mike will remember on his own. As soon as he sees the arcade game, he'll know."
"Okay." El sighed. "I hate that he has to do this."
"Me too, he shouldn't have to, but he's doing so I can move on. And you know why this is what I need in order to find peace?" Will raised his eyebrows.
"Why?" El asked.
"Because me finding peace will be him finding peace. Him living through his pain and healing is going to heal me. We're going to find out peace together." Will explained.
"You two really are romantic soulmates." El nodded.
"Yeah. I like to believe you and I are soulmates too."
El half-smiled. "Me too, Will. Me too."
Eleven rest her head on Will's shoulder and he kissed her cheek.
Eleven closed her eyes for a moment and when opening them, Will was gone.
El sighed and when she looked up, Mike was at the bottom of the stairs.
"Was Will just here?" Mike asked.
His hair was wet and messy and he was wearing Will's sweater that Joyce had given him the day before along with a pair of black pants.
"Yeah. Talking about how you two are romantic soulmates and how him and I are soulmates too. I guess...I guess all three of us are soulmates." Eleven answered.
Mike nodded.
"Are you ready?" Mike asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, let's go."
Eleven stood up and followed Mike upstairs.
"Mom, Jane and I are going to the arcade!" Mike called.
"Okay! Have fun, kids!" Karen called.
Mike opened the door for El and the two left.
Mike grabbed him bike and hopped on it and El got in the back. She wrapped his arms around him and Mike started biking.
Mike exhaled sharply. Will used to hold onto him like that during bike rides.
They arrived at the arcade and Mike stood behind El as they got their tokens. Mike handed the money to Eleven who paid, then got handed the tokens.
Eleven thanked the worker then led Mike to Pacman.
"We played this together, remember?" El asked.
Mike nodded and looked over to see Dig Dug and his mouth parted.
Will and Robby entered the arcade with smiles on their faces.
"Max is really good at Dig Dug, but I'm the third best out of all of us. Dustin is second." Will explained.
"Well let's see how good you really are. I had top score at one point until Madmax beat me, which I'm assuming is the Max girl you're talking about." Robby replied with his cute smirk on his face.
Robby's smirk and smile made Will weak in the knees. It was his kryptonite.
"I don't think so, but if you want to believe that, then go ahead." Will smirked back.
"Okay, fine." Robby shrugged.
He put a token in the machine and it lit up and made it's usual noises.
Robby started playing and he was extremely focused. He was squinting and his face was so close to the screen that Will thought he was going to go blind.
"Haha! I'm in third place! 545,789!" Robby exclaimed when he was done.
"Shut up, I can do better than that." Will rolled his eyes and pushed Robby out of the way.
He started playing the game, but wasn't doing the best.
While he was playing, Mike walked in with Eleven, their hands intertwined.
It was a risk taking El out because the people from the lab were still looking for her, but Mike wanted to do something fun with her, so they went out.
After Mike payed for their tokens, El chose to play Pacman.
Mike explained the rules to her and the let her play first.
"Shit! I only got 184,037."
Mike knew that voice anywhere. He looked over to where Dig Dug was and saw Will with Robby.
"Ha! And you said you were the third best." Robby taunted.
"Mike."
"Let me try again!" Will exclaimed.
"Go ahead, but you're not gonna beat me." Robby shook her head with a smile.
"Mike."
Mike watched Will play again.
He thought Will was so cute when he was focused. He stuck out the tip of his tongue on the right side of his mouth and squinted.
"Mike!"
Mike slowly looked over to El.
"What?"
"Look!" El smiled brightly.
Mike looked over to the screen and saw that El had won the game.
"Oh, good job." He congratulated.
"You try now."
"Okay."
Eleven moved out of the way and Mike stepped up and started playing.
"You're doing so bad. Let me help you." Robby said to Will.
"Fine."
Robby pressed his back to Will's and put his hands on top of Will's.
Will smirked and looked back at Robby before turning back around and facing the screen.
"Here."
Robby started directing Will and moving his hands with his own.
Will started giggling. "I feel stupid."
"You're not stupid, Will. You just need a little help from the cutest guy in Hawkins." Robby shrugged.
Will giggled at that.
Mike heard Will's giggle and looked over at them.
Robby started moving Will's hands faster.
"Gosh, you're moving my hands so fast!" Will giggled again.
"That's how you win the game, William!"
Will laughed as Robby started moving his hands even faster.
"Robby! It tickles!"
Robby started laughing as well, both boys roaring with laughter.
Mike continued looking over and squinting at the boys. He hated it.
"Mike. Mike, you lost." El informed.
Mike continued pressing the buttons and moving the joystick while still looking over at Will and Robby still.
When Will finished the game, he saw his score and saw that he won.
"I did it!" Will yelled with a grin.
"No, I did it." Robby rolled his eyes.
"We did it." Will corrected.
Robby smiled. "Yeah. We did it."
They high-fived with both hands and shared a hug.
Mike cringed at the two.
Eleven looked over to see what Mike was looking at and saw Will and Robby.
"Do you want to go say hello to Will? You have been looking at him the whole time." Eleven asked.
"No!" Mike exclaimed, looking back to El. "No. No, we shouldn't say hi to him. We should...We should go."
"But we have just gotten here." El frowned.
"Come on, let's go somewhere else."
Mike grabbed El's hands and led her out of the arcade.
Will pulled away from the hug and looked into Robby's eyes. He had butterflies and chills went up his spine. He felt so attracted to Robby in that moment. And Robby felt the same way towards Will.
"Come with me." Robby whispered.
"Where?" Will asked.
"Just come." Robby smirked.
"Okay." Will giggled.
Robby pulled Will into the bathroom.
"What are we doing in the bathroom?"
"What do you think?"
Will's heart started pounding.
"We should use the big stall then."
"You read my mind."
Will led Robby into the big stall and the two started making out as soon as they locked the door.
Robby pushed Will against the the wall of the stall and put his hand under Will's shirt.
Not only was that the story of how Robby and Will fell for each other, but it's the story of how Will lost his virginity.
Mike shook his head.
"El, I want to leave." Mike said.
Eleven shook her head. "We can't. Not until you remember."
"I did, El. He was here with Robby and they were playing Dig Dug and I was there with you and I wasn't paying attention because I was paying attention to Will and Robby because I loved Will and I was jealous of him and Robby and then Robby took him into the bathroom and he lost his fucking virginity to Robby when he should've been here with me and playing Dig Dug with me and lost his virginity to Robby when I should've taken his virginity and he should've taken mine!" Mike exclaimed with clenched teeth.
Some kids looked over and Eleven sighed.
"Okay, Mike. It's okay. Why don't we go sit somewhere and relax. You need to breathe." El suggested.
"I want to go home, Eleven. I want to go
home." Mike breathed.
"Okay. Let's go home. We can go home." El nodded.
She put her arm around Mike and they went back to the Wheeler house.
Mike didn't want to remember anything anymore.