AS ICARUS got ready for Will's funeral, his mom walks by, but then stops to watch him from the door. He is putting on his tie, then looks over at her. "What?" He says before turning around and she just smiles. "Nothing. You just look handsome, honey." She says and he smiled at her.
At the funeral, Icarus kept glancing over at Jonathan who was sitting with his parents. "Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. It's times like these that our faith is challenged." Pastor Charles said as Icarus looked down at the ground.
"How, if He is truly benevolent.. could God take from us someone so young, so innocent? It would be easy to turn away from God.. but we must remember that nothing, not even tragedy, can separate us from His love. We are here today to find comfort in the truth of scripture, and to surround Will and his family.." Icarus watched as everyone is throwing flowers into the grave, on top of the coffin before he looks at his parents standing beside him with Riley and Megan in front of them.
"Can I go talk to my friends now?" He asked his mom in a hushed whisper. "You have friends?" Riley retorts and he rolls his eyes. "Mom.." He says, looking at her and she sighs. "Go ahead, honey." She says and he nods before walking away. He walks over to Nancy and Jonathan. They sit by some grave, so Icarus sat right beside Jonathan, so he was between him and Nancy as everyone else is leaving to go to the church for the service.
"This is where we know for sure it's been, right?" Jonathan said as he points to the map. "So, that's.." Nancy spoke as she pointed at the paper. "Steve's house.." Icarus said as he nods. "And that's the woods where they found Will's bike and that's my house." Jonathan said as he pointed to the other two red X shapes on the paper map.
"It's all so close." Nancy says and Jonathan looks at her then back at the map. "Yeah. Exactly." He says and Icarus looks at them both. "I mean, it's all within a mile, or something.. Whatever this thing is, it's.. it's not traveling far." Jonathan says as he looks at Nancy who looked back at him.
"You want to go out there." She says and Icarus sighed loudly. "We might not find anything." Jonathan said as he looks at Icarus now. "Nance found something." Icarus said and Jonathan looks at Nancy again. "And if we do see it.. then what?" Nancy said, looking at Jonathan who looks away. Nancy sighs as Jonathan looks back at her. He looks at Icarus who raised his eyebrows, wondering the same thing that Nancy had asked about then looked back at Nancy again who was staring at him.
"We kill it." He says and then he got up. The other two quickly follow as he made his way over to one of the cars. They watch as Jonathan got into the car and held up the knife, trying to open the glove department. "What are tou doing?" Nancy asked and he looks up. "Just give me a second." He replied then continued to try and open it. When he got it to open, Icarus stood by the door, leaning down and his eyes widen when he saw Jonathan take out a gun. "What the fuck, man?" He said as Jonathan checked if it was loaded.
"Are you serious?" Nancy asked as the brunette quickly grabbed the bullets and he looks at her. "What? You want to find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?" He said before getting out, brushing past Icarus as he did. He shuts the car door and Icarus sighed. He had a point, they needed protection but stealing a gun?
"This is a terrible idea." Nancy says and Icarus nods. "I agree with Wheeler." He says as he stands by them. "Yeah, well, it's the best we've got." Jonathan says before putting the box of bullets into his pocket on the inside of his suit jacket. Nancy rolled his eyes at this, looking at Icarus who sighed. "What? You can tell someone, but they're not gonna believe you. You know that." Jonathan said and Icarus nods. "I agree with Byers too." He says.
"Your mom would."
"She's been through enough," Icarus said before Jonathan could say it and Nancy looks at him. "She deserves to know." She says and Icarus looks at Jonathan. "Yeah, and I'll tell her.. when this thing is dead." He says so Icarus looks at Nancy who looked back at him. She merely sighs. But judging by the look on her face, she was gonna agree.
In the open field, Jonathan watched Icarus shoot all the targets. "Shit.." He chuckled and Icarus looks at him, putting the gun down. "I use to hunt with my dad.." He says then looks back at the targets. "Oh, here comes Lady Wheeler." Icarus says and then hands the gun to Jonathan. "Impressive, Icarus." She said as she reached them, she had a grin on her face. "Want me to set up other cans so you can try?" He asked and she smiled more widely. "Sure, why not?" She says and he walks away.
"You ever shot a gun before?" Jonathan asked as Icarus sets out a new set of cans. Nancy scoffed at this comment before asking, "have you met my parents?" Jonathan chuckled softly at this as Icarus raised two thumbs up at them. "Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten." Jonathan says as Icarus walked over. "My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit." Jonathan says and Icarus snorts slightly. "Lady Wheeler, it's all yours." He then decides to announce to her.
She smiled at that as Jonathan starts to load the gun with new bullets. "Yeah, he thought it would make me more of a man or something. I cried for a week." Jonathan says and Icarus looks at him. "Jesus.." Nancy mumbled. "What? I'm a fan of Thumper." Jonathan said and Icarus smirked, nudging him slightly as Nancy chuckled.
"I meant your dad." She says and Jonathan nods. "Yeah," he whispers and Icarus looks at him. "I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but.. I wasn't around for that part." He says then Nancy holds out her hand. He sets the gun in her hand and Icarus points towards the targets. "Pretty simple, Lady Wheeler, you just aim, get it steady, and squeeze the trigger," he says.
"Got it," she mumbled before looking up. "I don't think my parents ever loved each other." She says then glanced at the two by her side. "They must've married for some reason." Jonathan says and Icarus looks at Nancy. "My mom was young. My dad was older," she says, the gun now raised and aimed at one of the targets. "But he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac.. and started their nuclear family." She says to them.
"Screw that." Jonathan says and Icarus looks down. "Yeah.. Screw that." Nancy said then pulled the trigger, shooting one of the targets. She looks at Jonathan and Icarus with a grin who both smile back at her. "What about you, Icarus?" She asked as she pointed to the other can.
"Oh, me? My parents love each other.. Just not who I am." He says and Jonathan looks at him. He sighs. "Yeah, so they know this thing about me and they don't want me to be that.. My dad's the only one actually okay with it because he's sort of like me, but then he met my mom. He thinks she's the love of his life." He says as he smiled. "Lucky you.." She whispers and he looks at her. "No. Not lucky me. You get to be happy, straight and out there, Nancy. Not me.." He says and then looke down.
"Are you, like..?" Jonathan trailed off and Icarus looks at him. Hesitantly, he nodded. "Oh.. I kinda figured.." Jonathan says as Nancy looked down, thinking about Millicent. "Is it Steve?" She suddenly asked and Icarus looks at her right away. "Nance.. I'm—" "No. No need to apologize.." She said right away, cutting him off and he sighs. "But you know that I am though, right?" He says and she looks at him. "It's okay, Icarus. Really." She says and he still isn't convinced but reluctantly nodded.
As the trio walked through the woods, all Icarus could think of was the fact he literally came out to Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers. People he never considered friends until recently. "You never said what I was saying." Nancy said, they were more ahead than Icarus who was staring at the ground as he walked. "What?" Jonathan asked.
"Yesterday. You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture." She says and Icarus looks up at them. "Oh, uh, I don't know.. I guess I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. But for that moment.. it was like you were alone, or you thought you were." Jonathan said as he looks at Nancy and Icarus grimaced in confusion. "And, you know, you could just be yourself." He finished before looking at Nancy again.
"That is such bullshit." She says, walking ahead. "What?" Jonathan stammered, stopping so Icarus bumped into him. "I am not trying to be someone else." Nancy said as she walks back, now facing Icarus and Jonathan. "Just because I'm, or was dating Steve, and you don't like him—" "You know what? Forget it. I just thought it was a good picture." He says as he walks past her right away.
"He's actually a good guy."
"Who cheated on you with another guy." Jonathan argued back and Icarus sighs. "Yesterday, with the camera.. He's not like that at all." Nancy says and Icarus looks down. "He was just being protective." She says and Icarus looks up. "I know why.. He probably thought you might've saw us and thought you had photos or something.. Because it was that night." He says before looking at Nancy who looked back at him. "Oh.." Jonathan mumbled, then he continued walking again. "I'm sorry. It's all my fault." Icarus says then Jonathan stops.
"Okay, whatever but I still don't have to like him." He says and Icarus gave a confused look. "Obviously.." Nancy starts. "Fine, so don't take it so personally, okay? I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority. And, Jesus, it's so sad you are defending a guy who fucked Icarus behind your back." He said and Icarus scoffed loudly.
"What the fuck man?" He says as Nancy looked at Icarus then at Jonathan. "You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay." She says and he turns around again. "Yeah?" He says. "Yeah. Yeah, I was thinking Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is." Nancy says and Icarus sighed, rubbing his face. He knew this would happen. They stick around each other for too long, they end up snapping and it was all his fault for the confession he made.
"Well, I was just starting to think you were okay." Jonathan says as he walks over. "I was thinking Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other surburban girl does until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock who now works sales, and they live out a perfect boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it." He says and Icarus looks at Nancy.
Jonathan walks away and Icarus looks at Nancy again. "You shouldn't let him talk to you that way. Actually.. If he likes you so much, he shouldn't be." He says, looking ahead at Jonathan before looking at Nancy again. "Likes me?" She said then scoffed before walking away. He rolls his eyes. Straight couples can be so fucking confusing.
authors note lmao icarus is a mood