Episode Two - TRICK OR TREAT, FREAK
one of y/n l/n's hobbies before she moved to oregon was scaring mike wheeler. the way he shrieked and jumped a little as she startled him were purely hilarious to her. he used to tell her it was childish of her, but she just couldn't help it.
y/n and max adjusted their masks as they kneeled behing a bush, waiting for the party to arrive.
when they heard a series of footsteps and dustin and lucas's voices, max and y/n jumped out, screaming and immediately laughing after the boys' reaction.
"you should see the looks on your faces!" y/n said through laughter, expecting to find a slightly annoyed mike laughing weakly after her.
but, wasn't laughing this time. an annoyed expression landed on his face and y/n's brows knitted. he'd never been this touchy about her pranks.
"you screamed like a little girl!" max laughed before her turning around, lucas and dusting hanging from her lips.
"you guys coming or not?" max asked. "i heard we should hit up loch nora," she said, "it's where rich people live, right?"
"yeah!" the boys exclaimed, following her.
y/n noticed mike sigh, following them with much less enthusiasm than she was used to see in him.
"everything alright, mike?" she questioned, her brows still knitted.
"sure." his voice spoke with a hiss.
"you on your man period?" she joked with a smirk.
"shut up, y/n." he snapped.
"sorry," she replied. she reached to pat his shoulder, but he avoided her touch, hitting her arm not too hard to hurt her, but enough to annoy her. she's only trying to be nice. mike told himself.
"what's wrong with you?" she spat coldly.
he didn't answer, looking at her as she ran to the others, her beautiful e/c eyes no longer trying to understand his tormented, dark ones.
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"stop!" max laughed as dustin and lucas made terrible impression of a californian surfer, "my ears are hurting!"
will turned to record y/n laughing, camera held firmly in his pale hands as the boy laughed with his friend.
"put it down, will!" the girl with h/c hair giggled.
"you look pretty" will smiled.
"aw, you're so sweet, thank you!" y/n smiled, reaching and kissing his cheek.
"did you guys agree to this?" mike asked in an annoyed tone, looking at will and y/n.
"what?" will asked as he finally put his camera down.
"to her joining our party," mike replied.
"it's just for halloween," will said.
"you should have checked with me," mike commented dryly.
"we all agreed to invite her," y/n claimed, "i really don't get why you don't like her."
"she's ruining the best night of the year," mike spat. y/n scoffed.
"really?" she queried, "because i think you and your pessimistic demeanour are ruining the best night of the year."
mike rolled his eyes at her with a glare, and walked away, leaving will and y/n.
"i get it, he misses eleven," y/n sighed, "but he can't act like such a jerk when max's around. and-"
"watch it, zombie boy!" a stranger wearing a mask yelled, startling both y/n and will.
"trick or treat, freak?" another one shouted, making will fall to the ground.
"will, are you okay?" y/n asked worriedly.
he didn't reply. he just stood there, frozen, staring at nothing in particular.
"will? will!" y/n cried. "mike! mike!"
but mike didn't show up, not even when y/n started screaming his name louder.
it was just a frozen wil and a terrified y/n. but after a few seconds, not even will was there.
the boy started to run as if he was being chased by someone - or something.
"will!" y/n cried, chasing after him. "where are you going?"
will didn't reply, he just kept running like he was going to die if he didn't find somewhere to hide soon.
y/n ran faster, finally managing to grab will by his left sleeve. "it's okay, will, it's me, it's y/n!"
"what's wrong with will?" mike's voice asked from behing y/n. she thanked god he was there as she turned and faced him.
"i don't know," she said, tears of fear pricking her eyes as she held on will's arms tightly as he squirmed and tried to set free from her grip.
"will, what's wrong?" mike shouted, trying to get y/n off him as gently as possible despite the rush. he grabbed will by the shoulder and mike and y/n watched will wake up with relief.
"are you okay?" y/n questioned, her brows knitted together as she wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her shaking hand.
"holy shit!" dustin yelled running towards the three, lucas and max following him.
"we're gonna get you home," mike stated.
"wait, i can't-" dustin exclaimed.
"me and y/n are getting you home, okay?" mike promised to will, "is it okay for you, y/n?"
the girl nodded, a worried look in her e/c eyes reddened by the fear tears. "yeah, course."
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"it's like i'm... stuck." will explained.
"like you're stuck in the upside down?" mike questioned.
"no, it's like... you know on the view-master when he gets like-"
"caught between two sides?" y/n and mike said together.
"yeah. like one side's our world and..."
"the other is the upside down." y/n completed. will nodded, his hands shaking. mike looked worried.
"and there was this... this noise coming from... everywhere." will continued, his voice trembling. "and then i saw something."
"the demogorgon?" mike asked.
"no." will replied, "it was like... a huge shadow in the sky. only... it was alive. and it was coming for me."
"is this all real?" mike queried, but it sounded more like a rethorical question. will looked traumatised by what just had happened to him. "or is in your head, like the doctors say?"
"it can't be," y/n said. "they don't know what he's survived. it can't but just trauma, it-"
"please, don't tell the others." will begged. he really was terrified, y/n observed. he wasn't used to cut people off while they were talking. he looked so terrified, it hurt her to see his friend like this. "please, please don't tell them. they wouldn't understand."
"eleven would." mike sighed.
y/n felt a pang of jealousy in her stomach, but she ignored it. it's just because you wish you had met her, she told herself, and you're jealous because you can't fully understand what the others are living.
"she would?" will asked softly, looking as mike nodded.
"yeah." mike replied. "she always did."
y/n felt invisible. she, mike might be in love with this eleven, but y/n couldn't help but feel cut off from her own group of friends whenever mike mentioned her.
"sometimes i feel like i still see her, like she's still around." mike admitted, his eyes fixated on his shoes. "but she never is. i don't know. sometimes i feel like i'm going crazy."
"me, too." will whispered softly.
y/n felt out of place. she didn't know anything about what her friends went through. nothing about eleven.
nothing about everything.
"i gotta go home," she spoke softly, grabbing her candy from the table and walking to the door. she bit her lip, trying to keep her tears of frustration from falling.
"wait, y/n-"
"i really need to go home." she cut him off.
mike stood on his feet and gently grabbed her wrist.
"i'm sorry i treated you like shit earlier." he apologised. "you didn't deserve that."
"yeah, well, goodnight, mike." y/n whispered. she knew that if she'd raise her voice to normal it would break, and she didn't really want to cry in front of him. she kissed his cheek and headed home despite the dark sky upon her.
mike looked at the door closing, his best friend walking away, a light blush blossoming on his pale cheeks.