The three boys are sitting on the floor beside Will's bed, Will explaining what he's been doing the past couple days with Dustin, Steve, and Robin.
"So you're telling me, for the past two days, you, Dustin, Steve, and the girl who works at Scoops Ahoy have all been translating some secret Russian code, and now you think the Russians are hiding something in the mall?" Lucas asks.
Will nods. "Pretty much."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Mike asks.
Will gives him a look that makes Mike's cheeks go pink. "I tried to."
"Oh, right." Mike glances away. "Well, what can we do to help?"
"Apologize to Dustin."
Mike and Lucas furrow their eyebrows. "What'd we do to Dustin?" Mike asks.
"You ditched him the day he came back from camp."
Lucas puts his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, I didn't ditch him! I helped with Cerebro and stayed for awhile. It started to get boring though, so don't blame me for leaving."
"Yeah, fine, Lucas. Whatever." Will turns towards Mike. "But you need to apologize."
Mike frowns. "Okay, but when am I supposed to do that?"
"Tomorrow morning. I'm meeting Dustin at the mall at nine. You can do it then."
Lucas yawns, stretching as he gets to his feet. "Fine by me. Are we sleeping over?"
"If you want. I've got blankets you can sleep on and pajamas you can borrow."
"Alright, cool. But is it alright if I shower? I got mud all over myself today."
Will shrugs, getting up to go through his closet. "Yeah, go ahead."
Mike chuckles as Lucas leaves for the bathroom. "More like he face-planted in a ditch."
"Really?" Will laughs, grabbing some pajamas and tossing them on his bed.
"Yeah, he tripped on his bike and fell in a ditch on the side of the road. It was hilarious."
"Wow."
"I wish you had been there."
Will stops laughing and looks at Mike whose eyes are fixed on him. "Yeah, me too." He looks back to his closet for extra blankets.
"Will, I really am sorry."
He can feel Mike's eyes on him as he sifts through his closet. "It's fine, Mike. You don't have to keep apologizing."
"I know, but..." Mike lets out a loud sigh. "I just feel really bad about it. Not being able to talk to you... it sucked."
"Yeah, you too."
"It's just that... what I said, at the mall, it was... it was really shitty."
Will finds a pile of clean blankets in the corner of his closet and takes them out, plopping them down on the floor as he faces Mike. "Mike, I said it's fine. We don't have to talk about it."
Mike jumps to his feet. "But I want to."
"Mike, really, it's fine."
"No, Will. It's not. I said some awful things to you, and you're... you're right about me ruining the party."
Will shakes his head. "I didn't mean that. You're not ruining anything."
"Yes, I am. I ruined my relationship with you, and El, and Dustin's annoyed with me, and Max doesn't like me either."
"You didn't ruin our friendship! We're still friends! And Dustin will forgive you, and so will El. Max isn't so bad either, if you would just try to get along with her."
Crossing his arms, Mike flops down on Will's bed, groaning. "I still can't believe El dumped me like that. Why were you with them at the mall that day? Was it because of the Russian code?"
"Yeah. I was trying to get you guys to listen to me, but you wouldn't so I thought maybe they could help me."
"So much for that."
"Yeah, so much for that."
Mike sits up on his elbows, watching Will intently. Not wanting to maintain uncomfortable eye contact, Will takes the blankets he'd tossed on the floor and spreads them out for Mike and Lucas to sleep on. He can feel Mike's eyes following his every move. He turns his back to the bed, praying Mike can't see the blush trailing up from his neck. He jumps, nearly falling backwards, when Mike clears his throat.
Will turns, looking up at the bed where Mike is watching him. "What?"
"Sometimes I think I'm better when I'm not with her," Mike says.
"Who?"
"Eleven."
"Oh."
Mike shakes his head, staring up at the ceiling. "I think differently when I'm with her. It's like I'm more... possessive. And not always in a good way."
"Yeah, I've noticed."
Their eyes meet, and Mike pats the bedspread beside him. Will hesitates before lying down next to him, trying to make his heart beat slow down. They both stare up at the ceiling.
"It didn't used to be like this," Mike says.
"What didn't?"
"Me and El. It was different before. Better. Now, I feel like I'm going crazy."
"Maybe you're worrying too much."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know. Like, you're always thinking about her. Worrying about her."
"That's because I care about her."
"But you can't uproot the rest of your life just for her. She can do things on her own, you know. She's not helpless."
"I know that. I never said she was helpless. I just get... I don't know. I feel like if I'm not with her, she'll... it sounds stupid when I say it."
"What?"
Mike sighs. "I feel like she'll forget about me."
"Why would she forget about you?"
"I don't know. It's stupid. I think I'm just going crazy." When Will doesn't answer, Mike laughs quietly and nudges him. "Well, hey, if we're both going crazy, we'll go crazy together, right?... Wow, that feels like ages ago. Remember Halloween?"
Will huffs. "How could I forget?"
"Yeah, you're right. God, I can't believe after everything that happened, the Mind Flayer, the demodogs... that now we're worrying about stuff like girls and going to the mall and sneaking into movies."
The Mind Flayer. Will's stomach flips when he thinks about it. Should he tell Mike about the feeling he had earlier? He doesn't want to worry Mike more though, especially if it's nothing.
He can feel Mike watching him from the corner of his eye. "Do you ever wonder what we would be like now if you hadn't got lost in the Upside Down?" Mike asks.
Will shrugs. "Sure. We'd still be losers. You just wouldn't have a girlfriend."
Mike guffaws, shoving Will playfully. "Wow, alright. Thanks."
The two of them laugh, Will batting Mike's hand away when he goes to shove him again. The action is useless as Mike grabs Will's wrists, wrestling against him. Will tries to sit up to get an advantage over Mike, but Mike pushes him back, pinning Will down and moving on top of him. "You won't get away that easily!" Mike chuckles.
Trying to ignore the tingling from Mike's touch and the way he's looking down on him, Will pouts. "Ah, c'mon, that's no fair! You're a whole head taller than me."
"So what?"
"So you've got the advantage."
Mike huffs. "That's bull. You're not at any disadvantage." At that, he loosens his grip on Will's wrists, raising an eyebrow as if challenging him to make a move. Will yanks his hands up, grabbing the front of Mike's shirt to throw him off of him, but Mike is too quick. He dodges Will's hands, takes him by the shoulders, and flips them both over so that Will is hovering above Mike. Will is frozen, too stunned to move. His heart flutters seeing Mike's flushed face, freckled and pink, below him. It takes everything in him not to blurt out how much he wants to kiss him. He shivers when Mike leans up to his ear and whispers, "Now who's at a disadvantage?"
Panicking, Will pulls free of Mike's grip and falls to the side, lying in the same spot on the bed he was in before. His chest rises and falls quickly, and he sees that Mike's does, too.
"We don't hang out like we used to," Will says.
Mike sits up on his elbows. "What do you mean?"
"Dungeons & Dragons. The arcade. We don't do those things anymore."
"That's not true... we still play D&D and go to the arcade."
"Barely."
"Do you want to?"
"What do you think, Mike? I've been suggesting we play D&D all summer."
"Well, we've just been busy."
"Just you and Eleven, and always with each other. Never the rest of us."
"That's not true! And besides, Lucas and Max are always with each other."
"But they actually spend time with us. They don't run off together when we're all hanging out, and they let us come with them on their movie dates."
"You know El can't go to the movies. It's too crowded."
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Why do you hate El so much?"
Will scoffs. "I don't hate El! You just don't let her hang out with the rest of us. I barely know her enough to hate her."
"I don't let her hang out with you guys? I help keep her safe! It's too dangerous if she goes to the mall or in town with us. If you want to get to know her so badly, you can go to her house on your own."
"Okay, fine. Forget I said anything."
"Will?" The mattress shifts as Mike turns towards him. "When did we start fighting this much?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You seem angry at me."
"I'm not angry."
"But you seem angry."
"Mike, stop. Seriously, I'm not angry at you."
"But we do keep fighting."
A sigh escapes Will's lips. "Maybe that's a part of growing up."
"Fighting? No, it's not." Mike pauses. "I think differently when I'm with you, too."
"What?"
"Well... never mind."
Will sits up, staring at Mike's tired eyes. "No, what were-"
Footsteps down the hall. Lucas comes into the room, towel wrapped around his waist. He nods to Will. "Have any clothes I can borrow?"
Will glances around for the pajamas he'd left on the bed, finds them beside Mike, and throws a pair to Lucas. He tries to catch Mike's eye, but Mike seems to be observing the patterns on Will's bed sheets.
After changing into pajamas, they get ready to sleep since it's nearing midnight, Will in his bed, Mike on the floor beside his bed, and Lucas on the floor by the foot of his bed. Will traces patterns in the ceiling, listening to the stillness in the air and the steady breathing of his friends. He shuts his eyes, but his mind is too loud to drift off to sleep. He can't help thinking of what Mike told him. I think differently when I'm with you, too. What did he mean by that? Think differently in what way? Will reminds himself that Mike probably didn't mean anything by it. That he just meant since they've been friends so long, they were different than with, say, friends that only met a year ago. But the thought still nags at him. What was Mike about to say before Lucas walked into the room? Will shakes his head, telling himself it wasn't anything important, that he should be grateful Mike and Lucas are here and can help him, Dustin, Steve, and Robin at the mall tomorrow morning. Yet something about the way Mike was acting today seemed... different. Sighing, Will turns over, shutting his eyes and willing himself to get some sleep.