I didn't really know how I wanted to start this chapter but I'm actually pretty proud of this one so here you go. Sorry this took so long by the way. I really just wanted to get this out and this is what I had then which is why it's a two parter.
But anyway, enjoy! :)
"Checkmate!" The voice of 14-year-old; Bradley Patel exclaimed, his lips tugged up into a smirk as he looked over his girlfriend of exactly six months and seven days; Y/n Byers. She looked over the board, quirking an eyebrow up, her mouth cranked open in just the slightest, "I won." His lips were parted slightly, stretched up into an excited little smile.
"I guess you did." Y/n chuckled, nervously, "You're getting really good at this." She noted, a rosy tint coloring onto Brad's cheeks just at her words.
"Thanks, N/n. Sooo what's my prize?" Bradley watched in elation as Y/n's arms snaked around his neck, Brad's mattress adjusting to their every movement.
"This." Y/n hummed before leaning more into him and peppering sweet little kisses all across Bradley's face causing him to burst out into innocent little laughter.
Butterflies soared through his stomach and electricity pulsed through his skin just at her touch. He felt her smile against his temple, growing just at the sound of his laughter, pecking her lips onto his skin.
Y/n continued doing this, his arms slinging around her waist, watching with a smile drawn on his face as she moved her face to meet his eyes. She just gazed at him as he shook beneath her arms, still laughing.
Y/n tilting her head, her lips curving up into a smile. "You're so cute." She told him, running a few fingers through his already messy hair.
His laugh faded yet his joyful grin still was drawn onto his face, "Look who's talking." Bradley exclaimed, happily, watching in glee as her cheeks lit up.
"I don't know about that." An awkward laugh ripped from Y/n's lungs while she shook her head a little.
"Would you like me to light you on fire?" Bradley chuckled, earning a playful eye roll from Y/n.
"Bradley, your parents are home. Maybe once they leave." She laughed, facetiously, forgetting just how innocent and sheltered her boyfriend was but realizing it once again as a look of confusion painted onto his face.
"What does that have to do with me not allowing you to talk down on yourself?"
"Nothing. It's a joke." Y/n giggled, scrunching her nose up a little causing him to smile. He shrugged it off with a smile carved onto his face.
"Well it doesn't really make any sense. Anyway, look at that." He grabbed her chin, gently, positioning her to look at the little circle mirror sat on his wall, "Look at how cute you are." Bradley cooed, looking from the mirror to her, "And pretty, and beautiful, and gorgeous." He pressed his lips to her temple with every compliment he uttered causing a smile and a blush to break out onto her face.
By the time Bradley had finished his little speech, Y/n's cheeks were heated up enough to make a fire with. She leaned forward against his gentle grasp on her chin, pushing her lips onto his.
He kissed her back, removing his hands from her chin and stringing his arms back around her waist. Her hands cupped his cheeks, her soft fingers taking in tufts of his luscious hair.
Warmth danced on their skin at the feel of their lips moving against the others. A rush flew through them both. Bradley smiled against Y/n's lips before continuing to kiss her softly.
In the seconds that they shared this wonderful little kiss, the door had flown open to reveal Bradley's father, Stanley standing in the doorway, "Hey, guys, I-" He was cut off as he snapped his head to face the two, letting a tiny gasp fly from his lips.
The two pulled away from each other, scurrying to the two different ends of Brad's bed, in a rush, regardless of the fact that Stan had already seen them.
Blood rushed to their cheeks, lighting their faces up a ruby color. Stanley let a sigh fly from his lips, pushing himself against the doorframe, letting his arms cross over his button up shirt.
The man didn't do much for a moment with the exception of just staring over at the two kids before groaned out the words, "What the hell am I gonna do with you two?"
All went silence once more for nothing more than a second before he said, "You guys know the rules. I'm not comfortable with this door being closed." Stanley poked his pointer finger against the door, mainly looking at Bradley. The kids spared his fingers a quick glance before turning back to Stan.
"I understand that you two want privacy, trust me, I completely understand and you can have that. But you have to follow the rules, alright?" Brad and Y/n both nodded their heads, their voices caught in their throats.
Exhaling lightly, Stan let his lips fold up into a small smile, "I'll be downstairs. Keep this open."
As he left the room, an awkward silence had managed to rise through the air leaving them to just stare at each other for a moment before going right back at it with their kissing.
>>>
"My god, did Mike die or some shit?" Y/n complained, leaning up against a pillar right outside the extraordinary Starcourt Mall, glancing down at her watch in annoyance. Bradley stood right beside her, her hand held in his as he leaned his head against hers.
The June sun had by now fallen under the horizon in the skies of Hawkins, Indiana yet Starcourt seemed to be enough to light up the sky for all of Hawkins.
"Are you even surprised he's this late?" groaned Lucas Sinclair, pacing around between the group of five, frustrating running through his veins. His girlfriend, Maxine or better known as Max Mayfield stood beside Y/n's twin brother, Will Byers, rolling her baby blue eyes at Mike's regular absence.
"We're gonna miss the movie." Bradley whined, his face twisted up into a slight pout as he gestured to the bright doorway to the inside of the mall. He had been the one to suggest going to see the Day of the Dead movie.
"More like the previews but still, he needs to hurry his ass up." Max corrected, crossing her arms and flaring her nostrils into the dark abyss where Mike would be biking in from.
Then, in from the dark abyss came Michael Wheeler, his bike wheels hissing beneath him as he neared the mall.
"Finally!" Y/n and Will both huffed out, their voices matching up in sync. Each of them watched as Mike pulled into the bicycle rack, pushing it into the metal before whirling himself around to face his irritated friends.
"Well, well, well, look who came crawling back from the damn grave." Y/n retorted, her face scrunching up with frustration.
"Okay, look I'm sorry I'm late, guys. But I have a good reason this time." Mike explained, his eyes flickering from one of his friends to the next.
"Getting half way to 2nd base is a good reason?" She joked, her voice dripping with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes a little in response, taking the lead in the group as they all began their journey into the one and only Starcourt Mall.
"Oh, don't pretend you don't love me, Y/n." Mike replied, smirking back at her.
Brad shifted his shoulders a little, awkwardly, squeezing Y/n's hand a little tighter than before. He was about to say something to Mike but then Lucas joined in on the conversation.
" 'Oh El, I wish we could make out forever and never hang out with any of our friends'." Lucas teased, earning a laugh from Y/n and Will, and a shoulder nudge from Max.
"Lucas, stop." Max fought back a small smile.
"Will and Y/n think it's funny."
"Because it is!" Will spoke up for both him and his sister, holding back another laugh.
"Yeah, it's so funny that I want to spend romantic time with my girlfriend." Mike groaned, casting Y/n a glance, watching as a smile lit up on her face.
"Hilarious, actually." She told him.
"Brad and I are spending romantic time with our girlfriends." Lucas piped up as the group turned a corner in the mall, nearing the escalators.
"Race you." Y/n smiled towards Brad, taking off towards the escalators before he could even realize what was going on. His face was plastered with shock and amusement as he too ran towards the escalators, laughs bursting through their lips.
The others followed behind them, watching with levity as Y/n had pushed through a group of people, clasping her hands onto the rubbery feel of the escalator railing. Brad got there right after she had, lacing his fingers with hers.
"I won." Y/n boasted, teasingly, the others sneaking up behind them on the escalators.
"That was so unfair." Bradley giggled, shaking his head, giving her hand a light squeeze, "You had a head start."
"Well I call it survival of the fittest."
"Ah yes, quality romantic time." Mike bantered, meeting Lucas' eyes.
The group of six rushed off the escalators, bumping into a load of people who scoffed in annoyance just for them to be ignored by the teens.
"Watch it!" Someone yelled to Lucas.
"Yeah, watch it, nerd!" The voice of Erica Sinclair echoed from just beside them and they all tore their attention over to the little 10 year old sister of Lucas. She held an ice cream cone, surrounded by her friends.
"Isn't it past your bedtime?" Lucas fired at her, achieving a shared laugh between Y/n and Bradley.
"Isn't it time you died?" Erica shot at him, causing Lucas' eyes to roll. She turned her body in her seat, watching as the group walked past her and her friends.
"Psycho."
"Butthead."
"Mall rat."
"Fart face."
Lucas blew raspberries at her, Max wrapping her fingers around his arm, dragging him towards their destination; Scoops Ahoy. "Well now that was mature." She scolded him, a small smile playing on her lips as the group walked into Scoops Ahoy.
The six darted up to the front desk, Mike ringing the little golden bell sat on the desk, repeatedly. Robin Buckley stood there, her blue eyes scanning the group with a bit of familiarity and irritation.
"Hey dingus, your children are here!" The words flew from her lips as she didn't dare tear her eyes away from the kids; more specifically Mike who stood right in front of her.
The door to the Employees Only Room was flung open, revealing Steve Harrington, dressed head to toe in a knock off sailors costume.
A sigh glided from his lips as he realized what they wanted, "Again?! Seriously?" His eyes darted around the room until they landed on Bradley who stood there holding Y/n's hand. She had her head rested on his shoulder, smiling towards Steve, "Really, Brad?"
Brad just shrugged his shoulder a little whilst smirking. "Sorry, Steve." Bradley mumbled, Y/n stifling a small laugh in the sleeve of Brad's t-shirt.
Mike pushed his pointer finger onto the bell once more causing Steve to sigh again. He pursed his lips, before giving in and leading them to a door through the Employees Only Room.
Steve looked to the kids, his voice lowering into a whisper, "If anyone finds out about this-"
"We're dead!" The Party cut him off, hearing the obvious bluff a thousand times at this point. Steve nodded his head before retreating back to his job.
The six rushed through the long hallway until coming to the familiar door that led the movie theater. Mike pushed the door open, the kids racing into the specific theater playing the Day of the Dead film.
They squeezed through the seats, muttering out 'sorry's and 'excuse me's to whoever they came in contact with on the way to their seats.
Y/n plopped down in her seat, sitting between Bradley and Will. "See, Lucas, Y/n, we made it." Mike smirked a little causing Y/n to roll her eyes and lean back in her seat.
"We still missed the previews." Lucas told him, in protest.
"We still made it... fart face." Max joined in, her lips tangled into a sweet smile.
The movie began playing, all eyes in the theater glued on the screen, intently. The music blasted through the room, filling the ears of each of them.
Y/n rest her head on Bradley's shoulder, feeling him squeeze her hand. He smiled her way, finding her attention still glued on the screen. He chuckled a little through his nose before relaxing his head right back onto hers and returning his eyes to the big screen.
Minutes past and suddenly, the music began to fade out, deepening as the volume got lower, the movie screen shifting in place as it too fading into nothingness. Boo's and whines sounded through the room.
Every light, every bulb in Starcourt flickered off, leaving the mall in total darkness and silence aside from the yells of protest from shoppers. But little were the aware that slowly throughout all of Hawkins, the same thing happened.
Every light, every bulb in Hawkins flickered off and for no reason at all. The entire town was left in a pitch black power outage and no one could explain why.
There was no car accident, no storm, no electricity pole got knocked into, nothing.
A feeling... a familiar feeling registered in Y/n's neck, building over time. She felt the ghost of her fingers massage the goosebumps on the back of her neck. Her eyes widened, flickering around as she tried to remember where she felt this before.
Just as the realization hit her, the movie and all of the lights flashed back on and cheers sounded throughout the room yet Y/n couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness rushing through her.
"Hey, hey, Y/n." Bradley's voice broke her from her trance and she snapped her head to look at him, "You okay?" He asked, taking her hand gently.
"I... I'm okay. I just..." Y/n shook her head, "Nevermind. It's probably nothing."
"Are you sure? You can tell me anything."
"Yeah, it's nothing." Y/n slowly turned her head towards Will to see him already staring at her and then she knew exactly what it was that she felt.
And he felt it too.