IT'S A year or so later, and things have changed a lot. Icarus' hair had grown a lot, he changed a lot, he talks to more people in school, his best friend is Jonathan Byers, most especially with his sister going off to college, his wardrobe is definitely much more different, he no longer owned a leather jacket, now he owns a denim jacket he wears all the time, no more chains hanging on his belt loops, instead it was suspenders now he leaves hanging down, he didn't have black combat boots now, he wore bright red converse now, he didn't have t-shirts with bands on them, he had plain shirts, any colours and not to mention his hair was a much lighter shade of brown now and his mom says it's because it isn't as thick or long anymore like the year before.
He's even trying to diversify his music taste, listening to the Beatles, The Police, anything else he can find that isn't just the Clash, Queen or AC/DC, though those bands did hold a special place in his heart, but he wanted to listen to others too. He's still close friends with Nancy and Steve who were still dating, gross PDA and random declarations of love to one another and everything.
Icarus had to admit, it did bother him a bit and he tends to get jealous but he's determined that this year, he moves on from Steve, he finds someone new. Girl or guy, he just wanted to. He needs it. Not to mention, Jonathan keeps teasing him about it, saying he will never find anyone.
Icarus would only reply with an eye roll, and a bite me remark back at him. That's the only thing that didn't change about Icarus, his attitude and personality. He was still the smartass, humorous, optimistic and very caring guy he was.
Icarus woke up that day, drank coffee and ate oatmeal his mom made then quickly said goodbye, grabbing his backpack and walking out. He is surprised to see Steve parked on the road, "get in, Rus." He says and Icarus sighs. "Do I have a choice?" He asked as he walks over and Steve smirks as Icarus opens the car door. "No, not really," he says while Icarus got into the car, looking at Steve.
"Goodmorning, Stevie, what's up?" He asked and Steve sighs, driving off. "Well, since I am a Senior now and everything, my mom and dad keep talking to me about college.. so I wrote something up for the college application.. Can you read it? Nancy would just let me down easy if I asked her." He says and Icarus grinned widely before grabbing the paper. "Yay! I love being brutally honest about people's mistakes and dumb shit." He says and Steve rolled his eyes but still couldn't help but smile.
Icarus however waits until they reached the school and parked outside, where he opens his backpack and takes out a pair of glasses. He puts them on, glancing at Steve who was smiling. The frames were wire rimmed, the wire was gold, they were circle ones and he looked kind of adorable.
It was why Steve was smiling so much, he thought of how cute Icarus looked in them but Icarus thought he was just being a douchebag. "Let it out.." He sighs and Steve starts to laugh, covering his mouth. "Sorry, sorry, Rus, but you look like such a dork." He says and Icarus rolls his eyes.
"Bite me," he remarks before looking back at the paper in his hands. He starts reading, so the two sat in silence, Icarus sometimes humming and raising his eyebrows. Steve stares at him impatiently now, examining his face for his reactions and Icarus hums again, nodding slightly. "Ah.." He mumbled, his eyebrows furrowing together. "Okay.." He says then looks at Steve, their faces inches away as he points. "This sucks, dude." He admits.
Steve groans, snatching the paper from him. "I knew it.." He sighed and Icarus sighs as well. "You said to be brutally honest, Stevie. And yes, it does suck.. But we can work on it, alright? Let me help.. You just need more help with letting these flow together, sound more natural." Icarus said, reaching to the paper, his hand brushing against Steve as he grabs paper to take it away from him before he could ruin it because he was frustrated.
"I can move things around, make it sound better, okay? Are you free tonight?" He asked as he looks at Steve who sighs. "Yeah, yeah, I can make space for it.." He says as he nods, looking at the paper in Icarus' hands. "Great. I'll be at your place at eight then." He says as he looks back at the paper. "Not like it'd be a bad thing anyway.." Steve whispers making Icarus look at him with confusion on his face. "What would be?" He asked him and Steve looks at him, their eyes meeting.
"Me not going to college.. I'll end up working for my dad like everyone is expecting, and wow, hey, I'd be able to stick around for your Senior year." He says as he looks away. "And Nancy's." He quickly added and Icarus looks down, sighing.
"If Nancy loves you so much, she'll let you go to college, she'll understand and be supportive of you.. I know I am." He says making Steve look at him. "You're just a huge softie, aren't you?" He says with a smile at Icarus who also smiled back. "Well, I'm not completely heartless.. I care too, I love too.." He says and then realized what he said as he looks away. "Yeah, so.. Is eight tonight okay with you?" He asked again to make sure.
"Yeah, of course. I'll get my pens ready, my paper." He says and Icarus chuckles. "You're a dork, Steve." He says before looking at Steve who is already staring at him. "And you're—" "whoa." Icarus cuts him off when a blue car sped by them.
He gets out right away, watching as a brunette guy with a mullet got out of the driver's seat, smoking a cigarette. Icarus looks away instantly when he saw another brunette guy getting out, followed by a ginger, a teen younger than the other two, she had fiery red hair that caught anyone's attention. "Later Chris. Good luck on your first day." She says as she looks up at the brunette closing the passenger seat. "Who's that?" Steve asked and Icarus smiled as he watched the guy kiss the top of the girl's head. "I don't know.. but I wanna find out." He says as the brunette simply fist bumps her next before she is on a skateboard, skating away.
Steve looks at Icarus right away when he said it, then noticed as the brunette standing by the blue car, look over and notice Icarus staring. Icarus smiled right away and the boy smiled back before he is walking away, taking out a cigarette as he did. "Ugh, smoker." Steve mumbled, grimacing so Icarus turns to him. "Stevie, you smoke." He says and Steve sighs. "Yeah, well I quit. It's unhealthy." He says and Icarus rolls his eyes right away at that.
"See you around, Harrington."
At lunch, Steve watched as Icarus walked over to the corner of the cafeteria, where the new guy sat. Not the asshole one who was now popular, the other one no one talked to. "Hi." Icarus said, "can I sit?" He points to the seat across from the brunette. "If you want." The boy in the leather jacket said and Icarus felt as though that's why he was here, because they had a shared interest in style.
"So.. New guy. Where are you from?" He asked and the brunette sighs. "Cali. I just moved here." He says and Icarus nods, looking away. "Sorry but why are you talking to me? Most people only talked to me all morning only to get to my step-brother.. So why?" He asked and Icarus smiles.
"Because your step-brother isn't my type." He says then realized how it sounded. "Of friend." He quickly adds, then looks away. "You know, I-I-I don't hang out with guys.. guys like.. him." He sighs then looks up, shaking his head. "I'm Icarus Blood." He says, raising his hand to him.
"Chris Mayfield." The other said, shaking his hand and Icarus smiled. "Cool." He says with a nod and Chris nods. "Cool." He repeats after him and Icarus chuckles. "So, if that guy with the denim on denim was your step-brother, who was the little redhead with the skateboard?" He asked as he opens his bottle of water. "Ah, yeah, my little sister. I know, we look nothing alike but mostly because I don't have freckles and I dyed my hair because I hated it being so bright orange." He says.
Icarus looks at him like he was crazy, "you hated it being so bright orange? Dude, I always wanted coloured hair. I wanted red, orange, blue and even fucking purple, dude." He says.
"Not me. World like this, I always feel like I don't fit in... So I tried to." Chris says as he looks down and Icarus nods slowly. "I get that." He says and Chris looks up at him, smiling slightly. "So.. you? Siblings? Friends? Anyone else you should be talking to than me?" He asked and Icarus sighs. "Ahh, well my older sister just went off to college this past September. And well,uhh," he turns to look around the huge cafeteria that was full.
"There are my two friends. Steve, Nancy," he says, pointing to the couple who were arguing over something probably dumb. "They're practically inseperable." He says as he turns back to face Chris who is watching the pair.
"Are they siblings?" He asked as Icarus is drinking his water, causing him to choke. "What? No!" He laughed loudly, clearing his throat as he did. "Oh, they're not?" He asked and Icarus laughs more, looking down. "Fuck, they look like it, don't they? No. They're together. And ah, I don't know where my other friend is— Oh, wait there he is, Byers! Get your ass over here!" He shouts.
Jonathan, embarrassed, makes his way over, smiling slightly, "hey." He says as he sits next to Icarus. "Chris, this is Jonathan, my best friend. Jonathan, this is Chris, my new friend." He says, pointing between the two and Chris smirks. "We're friends?" He asked and Icarus sighs. "I'm the only one who genuinely talked to you all day, don't fuck with me." He says as he points his index finger at him. "Okay.. Okay. Nice to meet you Jonathan, Icarus' best friend." Chris then says.
"Yeah, you too, Chris, Icarus' new friend."
The three sat, talking now, talking about music and talking about movies, really getting along and Icarus had a good feeling about it. He felt like he was actually connecting with Chris and thank fuck he also was getting along with Jonathan. He groans internally when Steve and Nancy appear by the table. "Nance, Stevie," he says with a smile. "Ah, the incest couple." Chris says as he looks up, making Icarus and Jonathan chuckle at that.
Steve looks at Icarus, "the what now?" Nancy asked as she sat on the other side of Icarus. Steve sits next to Chris. "Nothing personal, um, sorry. I'm Chris Mayfield. I'm the other new guy." He says with a kind smile at both of them but Steve won't even look at him as he keeps looking at Icarus.
"Uh, Chris is from California. He's a Cali guy." He says as he looks at Nancy, not looking at Steve, not wanting to. "Ah, cool." Nancy nods, smiling at Chris. "Nice to meet you, Chris was it?" She says and Mac nodded his head. "Well, Christopher but I don't really like that name, so.. Chris." He says and Nancy nods with a kind smile at him.
"Yeah, nice to meet you but Nance and I gotta go, right, Nance?" Steve says as he stood up. "What? We do?" Nancy says, confused since it was Steve's idea to come over here. "Yeah.. Remember? That thing." Steve says and Nancy gave a more confused look. "If the girl wants to stay, let her, don't force her.." Chris says then chuckles as Steve looked at him and gave him a death glare. "Whatever, I gotta go." He says then walked away from them.
"What's up his ass?" Chris asked as Nancy left to follow Steve right away. "Nothing and that's probably the reason he's that way." Jonathan said then chuckled to himself. "Shut the fuck up." Icarus hissed through gritted teeth at him. "Right.." Chris said then chuckled at the joke.
authors note jonathan made a gay sex joke,, ugh he snapped😳👊🏼💆🏻♀️ his mind
also,,,,
steve: icarus completes me
nancy: um, hello?? i'm ur girlfriend
steve: yeah, but he's my soulmate
nancy: ...
[ basically part 2 tbh ]