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#but really i just think we shouldn't be getting quite so gleefully into bed with (as i understand it) k*wif*rms??
aeide-thea · 2 years
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it can simultaneously be true that (a) someone's conduct has been hypocritical, reprehensible, and the opposite of accountable, AND that (b) it nonetheless still behooves us to have standards for the methods/agents by which we think it's acceptable for that conduct to be exposed to the general public
i'm increasingly getting the impression that some of you would be perfectly fine with warrantless searches, blackmail, etc, as long as those practices targeted people you thought were sufficiently cringe and turned up behavior you were having enough fun gossiping about
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COSMIC - S1:E2; Chapter Two, The Weirdo On Maple Street - [Pt. 2]
A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series
𝘠/𝘯, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯.
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|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||
Lucas, Dustin and I take our seats once we get to class.
"Oh, that can't be good." I sigh, gesturing to Mike's empty seat.
"Yeah, he's never this late," Dustin added.
"I'm telling you, his stupid plan failed," Lucas stated.
"I thought you liked his plan?"
"Yeah, but obviously it's stupid, or he'd be here."
"If his mom found out a girl spent the night—" Dustin began.
"He's in deep shit right about now."
Dustin shifted in his seat, and leaned forward, whispering loud enough for us to hear. "Hey, what if she slept naked?"
"Ugh!" My face screws into a sour, disgusted look aimed at my brother, unintentionally speaking at the same time as Lucas. "Why would she do that, Dustin?"
"Oh, my God, she didn't."
"Oh, if Mrs. Wheeler tells our parents..."
The thought of Mom finding out was enough to elicit an anxious groan from me, and I let my forehead fall against desk where I buried my face.
"No way. Mike would never rat us out."
I hesitantly looked up, making eye contact with Lucas. He gave me a reassuring smile, knowing I worry easily.
"I don't know." Dustin said warily.
"All that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on what really matters, finding Will." I frown at his specific choice of words for El, thinking back on how scared she seemed last night. I desperately want to say something, but decided against it, not wanting to get in a fight. Fighting won't get us any closer to finding Will.
|| 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||
Mike Wheeler rides his bike down the small slope of grass towards his front yard. When El refused to let Mike's mom know she was there, Mike had no choice but to resort to plan b. He had led his mom to believe that he had ridden to school when in reality he had stopped around the corner until both his parents were gone.
When he got to the driveway, he dismounted his bike and led it into the garage, however something caught his eye. He stared in awe as the once withered and frankly the most miserable looking plant he had ever seen in his life, was now a beautiful lush green and stood as tall his knees. 'How had Y/n done it?'
It took a solid moment for Mike to gather his thoughts and focus on the task at hand. He parked his bike and made his way inside.
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
"You want anything to drink?" Mike decided to take advantage of the empty house so that he could show El around. "We have OJ, skim milk... What else? Um, we have..."
Mike trailed off when he saw that El was more fascinated with the things in his living room, mostly his TV set.
"Oh, this is my living room. It's mostly just for watching TV."
El lightly traced her fingers around the frame of the TV as she examined it.
"Nice, right? It's a 22-inch.
That's, like, ten times bigger than Dustin's."
El turned her head and said quietly.
"Y/n."
"Well, yeah of course. Y/n too."
"Y/n. Brother?" She asked, making sure she remembered correctly.
"Yeah!" Mike smiled, then lightly shrugged. "Well, technically adopted. But yeah, they're still brothers."
El's brows furrowed in confusion.
"Ad-adopted?"
"Yeah, um, it means that he came from different parents. Mrs. Henderson adopted him because his parents were unable to take care of him. It's funny actually, Y/n is from Hawkins. Or at least that's where they found him. They didn't used to live in Hawkins; I don't know much about it cause Dustin was so young he doesn't remember any of it, but I think him and his mom were visiting family here and they just... found him, I think? I'm pretty sure that's why they moved here, or something."
El seemed to understand as she thought about it. She then turned to look at the all the pictures on top of the fireplace. She slowly walks to the fireplace and steps up onto the brick platform. She gazes at all the family photos. Particularly, the photo beside the one of Mike; of a smiling girl, a little older than herself, with long brown hair and a pink sweater.
She smiles longingly and speaks in a soft voice. "Pretty."
"I guess." Mike's face is contorted in confusion and a little in disgust.
"That's my sister Nancy. And that's baby Holly." He said as she moved to the slightly larger photo of a young baby. She then moved along to a photo with Mike, Nancy, and Holly, along with two other people she didn't recognize.
"And those are my parents. What are your parents like?" As usual, El says nothing and she steps down from the fireplace and walks up to a large green chair.
"Do they live close?" Mike continued. He notices El run her hand along the top of the plush green chair. "That's our La-Z-Boy. It's where my dad sleeps. You can try it if you want." He offers. El looked up at him, intrigued. "Yeah." He assured her, with a warm smile on his face. She cautiously sits down as Mike kneels down beside the chair. "It's fun!"
She looked to Mike, wondering what he is up to.
"Just trust me, okay?" She gives a quick nod, and braces herself, not knowing what to expect. She is taken aback by the sudden collapse of the chair, she is now laying down and the chair is rocking back and forth. She lets out a gasp, and then a nervous chuckle.
"See? Fun, right?"
With one hand on the back of the chair, and the other on the front, he brings the chair back into its default position. "Now you try."
With a small smile on her face, and feeling more confident she leans over the side and pulls the handle, letting her entire body go flying backward into a slow rock. Mike and El both look at each other and laugh gleefully.
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
Some random rock song on the radio that Jonathan barely recognized came to an end as Jonathan Byers drove to his dad's house. His eyes darted to the radio unit in his car for a moment as his heart fell when the familiar sound of "Should I Stay or Should I Go" rang throughout the car.
- 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -
"Darlin', you got to let me know"
Jonathan is sat on the edge of the bed next to his younger brother Will. The two of them are in Will's room, bobbing their heads along to 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' by The Clash.
"Should I stay or should I go?"
"You like it?" Jonathan had to raise his voice so he could be heard over the loud song. Will looks to his older brother and grins.
"Yeah, it's cool!"
"All right, you can keep the mix if you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. All the best stuff's on there. Joy Division, Bowie, Television, The Smith's... It'll totally change your life."
"Yeah, totally," Will says with a smile. However, the smile is quick to leave when the two boys hear their mother yelling on the phone.
"Where the hell are you, Lonnie?"
Will slowly turns his head to the door, listening to his mother yell at his absent father.
"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it." Jonathan mimics his brother's actions and looks to the door. Finally, he gets up and walks towards the door.
"This is ridiculous! I'm so sick of your excuses.
"One day is fine and next is black"
Before Jonathan sits down, he lowers the volume on the stereo.
"He's not coming, is he?"
"Do you even like baseball?" Jonathan asks softly.
"No, but... I don't know." He shrugs sadly. "It's fun to go with him sometimes."
"Come on. Has he ever done anything with you that you actually like? You know, like the arcade or something?"
Will shrugs his shoulders weakly. "I don't know."
"No, all right? He hasn't. He's trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed to. Okay?"
Will only looks down at his feet sadly.
"Especially not him."
Will silently nods his head in understanding.
Jonathan decided to change the subject.
"But you like The Clash? For real?"
Will nods his head eagerly with a smile. "For real. Definitely."
"So... is Y/n a fan of The Clash?" Jonathan asks, genuinely curious.
A faint blush dusts Will's cheeks as he looks down at his hands. "Um, yeah, I think so."
"Maybe you should show this to him. I bet he'll like it."
"Maybe. You think?"
"Yeah, from what I know, he has great taste. He's pretty cool."
A loving smile spreads across Will's face. "Yeah, he is pretty cool."
There's a small pause filled only with the now dulled melody of drums and guitar drifting through the air. They had talked about it before, but only vaguely, never fully addressing it and it dawned on Jonathan that there was probably still loads of fear for Will because of it. He looks down at his brother who he loved more than anything and sent him an encouraging, honest smile.
"Will, you guys are best friends. You two are just too close to ruin the friendship. Why don't you think about asking him to the arcade or something? Just the two of you, maybe come back here for some mac and cheese or something if that'd make you feel safer, and you could " he shrugs. "let him know how you feel?"
Will looked up at his brother, shocked. But his body was flushed with relief, he could feel the air in the room hitting his sweaty and clammey skin giving him chills. Not quite knowing how to handle his brothers reaction, his eyes simply fall to his hands where they fidgeting in his lap.
"But what if that does ruin the friendship? What if he doesn't feel the same way, and decides to stop hanging out with me. Or if someone finds out- I just- I just can't. I'm not ready."
"That's okay. All I'm saying is, he is way too nice to be the kind of person who would do that. And you are way too important to him. And hey, if you ever do feel ready, or you guys do go out in the future..." Jonathan trails off, sensing the awkwardness creep up. He chuckles and looks back to his brother.
"All I'm trying to say is, I'm here for you. Always."
Will smiles gratefully and Jonathan leans forward to the volume back up.
"Should I stay or should I go? So you gotta let me know, should I stay or should I go?"
- 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -
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COSMIC - S1:E2; Chapter Two, The Weirdo On Maple Street - [Pt. 2]
A Will Byers x Gender Neutral!Reader Series
𝘠/𝘯, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯.
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||𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||
Lucas, Dustin and I take our seats once we get to class.
"Oh, that can't be good." I sigh, gesturing to Mike's empty seat.
"Yeah, he's never this late," Dustin added.
"I'm telling you, his stupid plan failed," Lucas stated.
"I thought you liked his plan?"
"Yeah, but obviously it's stupid, or he'd be here."
"If his mom found out a girl spent the night—" Dustin began.
"He's in deep shit right about now."
Dustin shifted in his seat, and leaned forward, whispering loud enough for us to hear. "Hey, what if she slept naked?"
"Ugh!" My face screws into a sour, disgusted look aimed at my brother, unintentionally speaking at the same time as Lucas. "Why would she do that, Dustin?"
"Oh, my God, she didn't."
"Oh, if Mrs. Wheeler tells our parents..."
The thought of Mom finding out was enough to elicit an anxious groan from me, and I let my forehead fall against desk where I buried my face.
"No way. Mike would never rat us out."
I hesitantly looked up, making eye contact with Lucas. He gave me a reassuring smile, knowing I worry easily.
"I don't know." Dustin said warily.
"All that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on what really matters, finding Will." I frown at his specific choice of words for El, thinking back on how scared she seemed last night. I desperately want to say something, but decided against it, not wanting to get in a fight. Fighting won't get us any closer to finding Will.
||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||
Mike Wheeler rides his bike down the small slope of grass towards his front yard. When El refused to let Mike's mom know she was there, Mike had no choice but to resort to plan b. He had led his mom to believe that he had ridden to school when in reality he had stopped around the corner until both his parents were gone.
When he got to the driveway, he dismounted his bike and led it into the garage, however something caught his eye. He stared in awe as the once withered and frankly the most miserable looking plant he had ever seen in his life, was now a beautiful lush green and stood as tall his knees. 'How had Y/n done it?'
It took a solid moment for Mike to gather his thoughts and focus on the task at hand. He parked his bike and made his way inside.
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
"You want anything to drink?" Mike decided to take advantage of the empty house so that he could show El around. "We have OJ, skim milk... What else? Um, we have..."
Mike trailed off when he saw that El was more fascinated with the things in his living room, mostly his TV set.
"Oh, this is my living room. It's mostly just for watching TV."
El lightly traced her fingers around the frame of the TV as she examined it.
"Nice, right? It's a 22-inch.
That's, like, ten times bigger than Dustin's."
El turned her head and said quietly.
"Y/n."
"Well, yeah of course. Y/n too."
"Dustin. Brother?" She asked, making sure she remembered correctly.
"Yeah!" Mike smiled, then lightly shrugged. "Well, technically Y/n's adopted. But yeah, they're still siblings."
El's brows furrowed in confusion.
"Ad-adopted?"
"Yeah, um, it means that they came from different parents. Mrs. Henderson adopted them because their parents were unable to take care of them. It's funny actually, Y/n is from Hawkins. Or at least that's where they were found. The Hendersons didn't used to live in Hawkins; I don't know much about it cause Dustin was so young he doesn't remember any of it, but I think him and his mom were visiting family here and they just... found Y/n, I think? I'm pretty sure that's why they moved here, or something."
El seemed to understand as she thought about it. She then turned to look at the all the pictures on top of the fireplace. She slowly walks to the fireplace and steps up onto the brick platform. She gazes at all the family photos. Particularly, the photo beside the one of Mike; of a smiling girl, a little older than herself, with long brown hair and a pink sweater.
She smiles longingly and speaks in a soft voice. "Pretty."
"I guess." Mike's face is contorted in confusion and a little in disgust.
"That's my sister Nancy. And that's baby Holly." He said as she moved to the slightly larger photo of a young baby. She then moved along to a photo with Mike, Nancy, and Holly, along with two other people she didn't recognize.
"And those are my parents. What are your parents like?" As usual, El says nothing and she steps down from the fireplace and walks up to a large green chair.
"Do they live close?" Mike continued. He notices El run her hand along the top of the plush green chair. "That's our La-Z-Boy. It's where my dad sleeps. You can try it if you want." He offers. El looked up at him, intrigued. "Yeah." He assured her, with a warm smile on his face. She cautiously sits down as Mike kneels down beside the chair. "It's fun!"
She looked to Mike, wondering what he is up to.
"Just trust me, okay?" She gives a quick nod, and braces herself, not knowing what to expect. She is taken aback by the sudden collapse of the chair, she is now laying down and the chair is rocking back and forth. She lets out a gasp, and then a nervous chuckle.
"See? Fun, right?"
With one hand on the back of the chair, and the other on the front, he brings the recliner back into its default position. "Now you try."
With a small smile on her face, and feeling more confident she leans over the side and pulls the handle, letting her entire body go flying backward into a slow rock. Mike and El both look at each other and laugh gleefully.
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
The random rock song on the radio that Jonathan barely recognized came to an end as Jonathan Byers drove to his dad's house. His eyes darted to the radio unit in his car for a moment as his heart fell when the familiar sound of "Should I Stay or Should I Go" rang throughout the car.
- 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -
"Darlin', you got to let me know"
Jonathan is sat on the edge of the bed next to his younger brother Will. The two of them are in Will's room, bobbing their heads along to 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' by The Clash.
"Should I stay or should I go?"
"You like it?" Jonathan had to raise his voice so he could be heard over the loud song. Will looks to his older brother and grins.
"Yeah, it's cool!"
"All right, you can keep the mix if you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. All the best stuff's on there. Joy Division, Bowie, Television, The Smith's... It'll totally change your life."
"Yeah, totally," Will says with a smile. However, the smile is quick to leave when the two boys hear their mother yelling on the phone.
"Where the hell are you, Lonnie?"
Will slowly turns his head to the door, listening to his mother yell at his absent father.
"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it." Jonathan mimics his brother's actions and looks to the door. Finally, he gets up and walks towards the door.
"This is ridiculous! I'm so sick of your excuses."
"One day is fine and next is black"
Before Jonathan sits down, he lowers the volume on the stereo.
"He's not coming, is he?"
"Do you even like baseball?" Jonathan asks softly.
"No, but... I don't know." He shrugs sadly. "It's fun to go with him sometimes."
"Come on. Has he ever done anything with you that you actually like? You know, like the arcade or something?"
Will shrugs his shoulders weakly. "I don't know."
"No, all right? He hasn't. He's trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed to. Okay?"
Will only looks down at his feet sadly.
"Especially not him."
Will silently nods his head in understanding.
Jonathan decided to change the subject.
"But you like The Clash? For real?"
Will nods his head eagerly with a smile. "For real. Definitely."
"So... is Y/n a fan of The Clash?" Jonathan asks, genuinely curious.
A faint blush dusts Will's cheeks as he looks down at his hands. "Um, yeah, I think so."
"Maybe you should show this to them. I bet they'll like it."
"Maybe. You think?"
"Yeah, from what I know, they have great taste. They're pretty cool."
A loving smile spreads across Will's face. "Yeah, they are pretty cool."
There's a small pause filled only with the now dulled melody of drums and guitar drifting through the air. They had talked about it before, but only vaguely, never fully addressing it and it dawned on Jonathan that there was probably still loads of fear for Will because of it. He looks down at his brother who he loved more than anything and sent him an encouraging, honest smile.
"Will, you guys are best friends. You two are just too close to ruin the friendship. Why don't you think about asking them to the arcade or something? Just the two of you. Maybe come back here for some Mac and Cheese or something if that'd make you feel safer, and you could," he shrugs. "let them know how you feel?"
Will looked up at his brother, shocked. But his body was flushed with relief, he could feel the air in the room hitting his sweaty and clammey skin giving him chills. Not quite knowing how to handle his brothers reaction, his eyes simply fall to his hands where they fidgeting in his lap.
"But what if that does ruin the friendship? What if they don't feel the same way, and they decide to stop hanging out with me? Or if someone finds out- I just- I just can't. I'm not ready."
"That's okay. All I'm saying is, they're way too nice to be the kind of person who would do that. And you are way too important to them. And hey, if you ever do feel ready, or you guys do go out in the future..." Jonathan trails off, sensing the awkwardness creep up. He chuckles and looks back to his brother.
"All I'm trying to say is, I'm here for you. Always."
Will smiles gratefully and Jonathan leans forward to the volume back up.
"Should I stay or should I go? So you gotta let me know, should I stay or should I go?"
- 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -
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COSMIC - S1:E2; Chapter Two, The Weirdo On Maple Street - [Pt. 1]
A Will Byers x Gender Neutral!Reader Series
𝘠/𝘯, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯.
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||𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕||
Lucas, Dustin and I take our seats once we get to class.
"Oh, that can't be good." I sigh, gesturing to Mike's empty seat.
"Yeah, he's never this late," Dustin added.
"I'm telling you, his stupid plan failed," Lucas stated.
"I thought you liked his plan?"
"Yeah, but obviously it's stupid, or he'd be here."
"If his mom found out a girl spent the night—" Dustin began.
"He's in deep shit right about now."
Dustin shifted in his seat, and leaned forward, whispering loud enough for us to hear. "Hey, what if she slept naked?"
"Ugh!" My face screws into a sour, disgusted look aimed at my brother, unintentionally speaking at the same time as Lucas. "Why would she do that, Dustin?"
"Oh, my God, she didn't."
"Oh, if Mrs. Wheeler tells our parents..."
The thought of Mom finding out was enough to elicit an anxious groan from me, and I let my forehead fall against desk where I buried my face.
"No way. Mike would never rat us out."
I hesitantly looked up, making eye contact with Lucas. He gave me a reassuring smile, knowing I worry easily.
"I don't know." Dustin said warily.
"All that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on what really matters, finding Will." I frown at his specific choice of words for El, thinking back on how scared she seemed last night. I desperately want to say something, but decided against it, not wanting to get in a fight. Fighting won't get us any closer to finding Will.
||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||
Mike Wheeler rides his bike down the small slope of grass towards his front yard. When El refused to let Mike's mom know she was there, Mike had no choice but to resort to plan b. He had led his mom to believe that he had ridden to school when in reality he had stopped around the corner until both his parents were gone.
When he got to the driveway, he dismounted his bike and led it into the garage, however something caught his eye. He stared in awe as the once withered and frankly the most miserable looking plant he had ever seen in his life, was now a beautiful lush green and stood as tall his knees. 'How had Y/n done it?'
It took a solid moment for Mike to gather his thoughts and focus on the task at hand. He parked his bike and made his way inside.
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
"You want anything to drink?" Mike decided to take advantage of the empty house so that he could show El around. "We have OJ, skim milk... What else? Um, we have..."
Mike trailed off when he saw that El was more fascinated with the things in his living room, mostly his TV set.
"Oh, this is my living room. It's mostly just for watching TV."
El lightly traced her fingers around the frame of the TV as she examined it.
"Nice, right? It's a 22-inch.
That's, like, ten times bigger than Dustin's."
El turned her head and said quietly.
"Y/n."
"Well, yeah of course. Y/n too."
"Dustin. Brother?" She asked, making sure she remembered correctly.
"Yeah!" Mike smiled, then lightly shrugged. "Well, technically Y/n's adopted. But yeah, they're still siblings."
El's brows furrowed in confusion.
"Ad-adopted?"
"Yeah, um, it means that they came from different parents. Mrs. Henderson adopted them because their parents were unable to take care of them. It's funny actually, Y/n is from Hawkins. Or at least that's where they were found. The Hendersons didn't used to live in Hawkins; I don't know much about it cause Dustin was so young he doesn't remember any of it, but I think him and his mom were visiting family here and they just... found Y/n, I think? I'm pretty sure that's why they moved here, or something."
El seemed to understand as she thought about it. She then turned to look at the all the pictures on top of the fireplace. She slowly walks to the fireplace and steps up onto the brick platform. She gazes at all the family photos. Particularly, the photo beside the one of Mike; of a smiling girl, a little older than herself, with long brown hair and a pink sweater.
She smiles longingly and speaks in a soft voice. "Pretty."
"I guess." Mike's face is contorted in confusion and a little in disgust.
"That's my sister Nancy. And that's baby Holly." He said as she moved to the slightly larger photo of a young baby. She then moved along to a photo with Mike, Nancy, and Holly, along with two other people she didn't recognize.
"And those are my parents. What are your parents like?" As usual, El says nothing and she steps down from the fireplace and walks up to a large green chair.
"Do they live close?" Mike continued. He notices El run her hand along the top of the plush green chair. "That's our La-Z-Boy. It's where my dad sleeps. You can try it if you want." He offers. El looked up at him, intrigued. "Yeah." He assured her, with a warm smile on his face. She cautiously sits down as Mike kneels down beside the chair. "It's fun!"
She looked to Mike, wondering what he is up to.
"Just trust me, okay?" She gives a quick nod, and braces herself, not knowing what to expect. She is taken aback by the sudden collapse of the chair, she is now laying down and the chair is rocking back and forth. She lets out a gasp, and then a nervous chuckle.
"See? Fun, right?"
With one hand on the back of the chair, and the other on the front, he brings the recliner back into its default position. "Now you try."
With a small smile on her face, and feeling more confident she leans over the side and pulls the handle, letting her entire body go flying backward into a slow rock. Mike and El both look at each other and laugh gleefully.
⊹ ⊹ ⊹
The random rock song on the radio that Jonathan barely recognized came to an end as Jonathan Byers drove to his dad's house. His eyes darted to the radio unit in his car for a moment as his heart fell when the familiar sound of "Should I Stay or Should I Go" rang throughout the car.
- 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -
"Darlin', you got to let me know"
Jonathan is sat on the edge of the bed next to his younger brother Will. The two of them are in Will's room, bobbing their heads along to 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' by The Clash.
"Should I stay or should I go?"
"You like it?" Jonathan had to raise his voice so he could be heard over the loud song. Will looks to his older brother and grins.
"Yeah, it's cool!"
"All right, you can keep the mix if you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. All the best stuff's on there. Joy Division, Bowie, Television, The Smith's... It'll totally change your life."
"Yeah, totally," Will says with a smile. However, the smile is quick to leave when the two boys hear their mother yelling on the phone.
"Where the hell are you, Lonnie?"
Will slowly turns his head to the door, listening to his mother yell at his absent father.
"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it." Jonathan mimics his brother's actions and looks to the door. Finally, he gets up and walks towards the door.
"This is ridiculous! I'm so sick of your excuses."
"One day is fine and next is black"
Before Jonathan sits down, he lowers the volume on the stereo.
"He's not coming, is he?"
"Do you even like baseball?" Jonathan asks softly.
"No, but... I don't know." He shrugs sadly. "It's fun to go with him sometimes."
"Come on. Has he ever done anything with you that you actually like? You know, like the arcade or something?"
Will shrugs his shoulders weakly. "I don't know."
"No, all right? He hasn't. He's trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed to. Okay?"
Will only looks down at his feet sadly.
"Especially not him."
Will silently nods his head in understanding.
Jonathan decided to change the subject.
"But you like The Clash? For real?"
Will nods his head eagerly with a smile. "For real. Definitely."
"So... is Y/n a fan of The Clash?" Jonathan asks, genuinely curious.
A faint blush dusts Will's cheeks as he looks down at his hands. "Um, yeah, I think so."
"Maybe you should show this to them. I bet he'll like it."
"Maybe. You think?"
"Yeah, from what I know, they have great taste. They're pretty cool."
A loving smile spreads across Will's face. "Yeah, they are pretty cool."
There's a small pause filled only with the now dulled melody of drums and guitar drifting through the air. They had talked about it before, but only vaguely, never fully addressing it and it dawned on Jonathan that there was probably still loads of fear for Will because of it. He looks down at his brother who he loved more than anything and sent him an encouraging, honest smile.
"Will, you guys are best friends. You two are just too close to ruin the friendship. Why don't you think about asking them to the arcade or something? Just the two of you. Maybe come back here for some Mac and Cheese or something if that'd make you feel safer, and you could," he shrugs. "let them know how you feel?"
Will looked up at his brother, shocked. But his body was flushed with relief, he could feel the air in the room hitting his sweaty and clammey skin giving him chills. Not quite knowing how to handle his brothers reaction, his eyes simply fall to his hands where they fidgeting in his lap.
"But what if that does ruin the friendship? What if they don't feel the same way, and they decide to stop hanging out with me? Or if someone finds out- I just- I just can't. I'm not ready."
"That's okay. All I'm saying is, they're way too nice to be the kind of person who would do that. And you are way too important to them. And hey, if you ever do feel ready, or you guys do go out in the future..." Jonathan trails off, sensing the awkwardness creep up. He chuckles and looks back to his brother.
"All I'm trying to say is, I'm here for you. Always."
Will smiles gratefully and Jonathan leans forward to the volume back up.
"Should I stay or should I go? So you gotta let me know, should I stay or should I go?"
- 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -
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