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He's biking fast down the street, legs pumping and gripping the handlebar with each sharp turn of the wheels. Lucas would've headed for Mike's house, but the Wheeler’s are out of town visiting their Nana. Dustin would've been the next obvious option, but he had come down with a bad cold and Ms. Henderson didn't want to risk any of his friends catching it. That meant the only person available, who by no means is a last resort, is Will. Lucas tried not to go directly there first because Will's house is the farthest away, across town, passing by Mike and Dustin’s.
The air is a mild temperature, summer soon coming to a close and the leaves turning colors early like most Midwestern climates that tend to have longer autumns and winters rather than hotter seasons. It'll almost be a full year before the anniversary of Will's vanishing and El's "death" approach. The Party will all be eighth graders in two weeks tops, their last year at Hawkins Middle, and then they're shipped off to the intimidating high school as freshmen, officially ending their childish games. Until then, they had one more planned Halloween outfit together (Ghostbusters) and a carefree summer a year from now to enjoy being just kids.
Lucas pulls up to the Byers' house and jumps off his bike, letting his main mode of transportation fall to the earthy ground as he dashes to knock at the door. He's eager and impatient, hoarding something amazing in his backpack that he just has to share with any member of his Party that's free.
"Oh! Hello, Lucas." Joyce is greeting him with surprise. He peeks behind her and sees she has company. Bob Newby. Joyce's new boyfriend that Will has told the boys he has little opinion on compared to Jonathan’s open annoyance.
"Can Will come out to play?" Lucas refrains from cringing at how juvenile that sounds. Slip of the tongue. They're thirteen now. They're supposed to say "hangout", not "play" for goodness sakes.
She looks at him warmly, though he notices the hint of worry creasing her brows. Ever since everything went down with El, the Upside Down, shady government agents, and Will's return, well, Joyce is rightfully skeptical of letting her son leave the house unsupervised. This wasn't an issue before, but that was when things were safer for the boys to be outside by themselves. When things made sense and, according to Hopper, had order.
"We'll only go to Castle Byers! Scout's honor." Lucas swears, hoping it'll alleviate her doubt. It does.
"Fine. Go on and get him then." She relents, scooting over to let Lucas in through the front door. "And if you're staying for dinner, let me know and phone your mom. I'm ordering takeout."
"Sure thing, Mrs. Byers!"
Lucas marches towards Will's room. He rarely visits, usually seeing Will in either school or at Mike's basement, but on the occasions that he does go to the Byers' abode, he makes sure to do it when Mike's not in town (typically dragged off to a family function). Will doesn't know it, but Mike is very peculiar about Lucas and Dustin going to Will's room when he's not there. It's like Mike thinks something is going to happen which confuses the other half of the Party.
"Hey, Will." Lucas politely makes himself known with a knock on the already open door.
Will is sitting in his bed, still in his pajamas as he sketches. He is bundled up in blankets like it's frigid when Joyce doesn't even have the air conditioning on.
"Lucas?" He blinks and then brightly smiles. "What're you doing here?"
"To show off this bad boy, Byers!" Lucas goes to sit on the mattress, unzipping his backpack and pulling out a packaged item. He presents it like those TV salesmen revealing the latest gadget to buy.
His lips split into a proud smirk. Will's jaw drops in wonder, hazel eyes twinkling at Lucas's cheeky wink.
"Is that fireworks?!" Will oohs and aahs, hand reaching out to trace the flashy box of firetruck red, sky blue, and cloud white. Very American flag-y. Patriotic to the core.
"Shush! Don't want the adults to confiscate it. This is contraband." Lucas informs, looking around to make certain they weren't getting spied on. The chatter of Joyce and Bob is relieving. Means they're in the clear.
"How'd you get this?" Will questions, still marveling at the fireworks that definitely said 18+ and had a list of warnings.
Lucas chuckles, chest puffed, hands rubbing together. "I have my ways."
Unimpressed, Will quirks a brow, easily clocking him. "You stole this from your dad, didn't you?"
"Excuse me! It's called borrowing!" Lucas defends. He scooches closer to Will, leaning in to whisper the secret. "I found it lying around in the garage collecting dust. He didn't set it off for the 4th or any of our other barbecues so I figured he wouldn't miss it."
"And Erica didn't catch you red-handed?" Will knows Lucas’s little sister lives for thwarting her older brother like it's her job.
Twisting his mouth to a frown, Lucas crosses his arms grumpily. "I owe her two months' allowance and have to do her stupid chores for her to stay silent." He changes his tune, beaming at the fireworks. "Doesn't matter. It's all worth it once we blow this baby up!"
"How? It's still daylight out and I'm not supposed to be outside in the dark anymore." Will pouts, staring through his bedroom window longingly for when times were simpler.
Lucas rubs his chin in deep thought. "Well, we can just set it off now."
"But we won't be able to see it properly." Will complains and that's when Lucas drapes an arm over Will's shoulders to pull him to his side. His misses the light blush painting Will's skin.
"Who cares? We both like fire and we both like explosions. It'll be wicked!" Lucas grins at Will's agreeable laughter.
"Alright, alright. Guess it'll still be sweet. Lemme get dressed."
Will's out of his pajamas and in his regular clothes. The boys head out through the backdoor, walking to Castle Byers, and further into the woods past it to a less flammable area. Last thing they want is a forest fire. Joyce is distracted by Bob and Jonathan’s away at work, which makes sneaking out this far from Will's home perfect. Not too far, though. Just far enough that they're by the neighboring stream that passes by and less tall trees.
"You sure it's safe?" Will decides to ask this now, not confident in the surrounding nature.
Lucas pauses in adjusting a firework and squints quizzically. "Um... define safe."
Will rolls his eyes. "Lucas!"
"Will!" He playfully calls his name back, smiling at Will's frown. "Listen, if you're so nervous we can wait until Mike's back in town and Dustin isn't sick. How about that?"
"You sure?" Will knits his brows, voice trembling with guilt that he's technically being a party pooper, or worse, being labelled or treated like a baby. He's not as brave as Lucas when it comes to these things, making a mental note to be braver to help Lucas light fireworks next time. "I don't wanna make it seem like we came out here for nothing, though."
"S'not nothing, dude. We're having quality time right now. One on one. The ranger and the cleric!" Lucas reassures, toothily grinning.
Will mirrors him. "Okay, then yeah, let's wait for Mike and Dustin."
"No problem. We can do that." Lucas assents and carefully re-packs the firework into his backpack. He glances between the shallow stream and Will curiously. "Wanna see if we can find cool rocks? Since we're out here I mean."
"For the wrist rocket?" Will had heard the stories of how cool Lucas was for shooting the Demogorgon with one, even if it dealt zero damage.
Lucas shakes his head. "Nah. Just because. I like picking up interesting-looking rocks."
Will gets that. He often wanders - well he used to - and pick up sticks or fallen tree branches, pretending they're a wizard staff. The duo go to the stream's bank, eying the ground intently for treasure. It's fun and relaxing. He shows off his haul to Lucas and both appraise each other's gathered goods. In the midst of doing that they chat idly.
"See that new construction site, yet?" Lucas bends low at his knees, virtually crouching and inspecting a rock that's shaped funny.
Will crouches beside him, shivering a bit despite it not being cold at all. "You mean the mall?"
"It's gonna be a mall?!" Lucas is excited for that. Not much to do in this small town besides going to Palace Arcade, the junkyard, or the movie theater.
Will nods. "Yeah. They call it Starcourt or something like that. Heard it's gonna have a movie theater and tons of stores." He licks his lips, pensive. "Mom's upset it might mess up business at her job."
"Melvald’s?" Lucas never thought about how having a mall with everything conveniently located in one place could negatively effect Hawkins economy. He's not much for all that grown-up talk and shrugs. "I don't think it's anything to worry about."
"I hope so." Will sighs, recalling Joyce's mutterings about the fate of the general store.
Lucas doesn't like the look on his face. He thinks of something to lift up the mood. "Yo, I'm staying over for dinner! So, we can read comics and stuff."
"That'd be nice." Will smiles adorably. They haven't done that together in a while. Will stands up, staring at the trail where they came from. "Guess we should actually go to Castle Byers before my mom or Jonathan realize we're not there and send another search party."
Lucas laughs at the joke and they head back.
The next day, Mike's still held hostage by his family, particularly Nana Wheeler that enjoys looking at her only grandson. Dustin is still out of commission, doped up on all medicines, totally loopy in the brain. Again, there are two, Lucas and Will together this time at the Sinclair house having a sleepover.
"I love your mom's cooking!" Will pats his belly, spread out atop Lucas's bed. His eyes are shut, relishing in the aftermath of the meal, and of course, the lovely dessert he got. Pecan pie. Homemade. Freshly baked. Mrs. Wheeler has competition.
"Here they are." Lucas pops his head out from his closet, armful of fuzzy blankets. He dumps them on Will's lying form and goes to his drawers to find his pajamas. "You sure you're not getting sick? It's weird that you're freezing, like, when it's at least 80 degrees."
Gulping nervously, Will wraps himself up protectively in the blankets. "I'm fine. Dr. Owens checks up on me all the time and says I'm normal."
Although, Will doesn't feel normal. Coughing up slugs certainly isn't normal.
"Oh, yeah. You do get looked at once a week. Since... You know." Lucas doesn't elaborate as he takes off his shirt to put on his pajama top.
With his back turned, he's unaware of Will hiding his face in his hands. It's getting more and more prominent to Will that he does not like girls. He keeps observing all the details in male classmates' changing bodies, including his friends. Will knows he's small for his age, but Mike had a multiple growth spurts and Lucas lost his baby fat, and Dustin even got a deeper voice. Will is the only one with nothing to show. Dr. Owens mentioned he could be a late bloomer. That's practically a death sentence for him because it means he'll get left behind by his Party.
"Let's talk about what we're looking forward to once school starts." Lucas suggests, the mattress bouncing a bit as he jumps in next to Will.
They're facing each other, heads on separate pillows, and eyes locked. The light's on above, Lucas forgot to cut the switch off. Will has his sleeping bag on the floor right beside the bed for when they both call it a night and sleep.
"I don't really have anything to look forward to if it's not Halloween and Christmas." Will honestly answers. His sweet tooth is aching for candy, the best kinds from Loch Nora, and his hands itch for gifts come the snowy weather.
Lucas rolls on his front, folding his arms and angling his head to keep eye contact. "I'm ready for a girlfriend!"
"For real?" Will swallows the dreaded lump forming in his throat. Lately, Dustin and Lucas have entered into a phase, the girl crazy mindset that luckily Mike hasn't been consumed by. He had to listen to Dustin wax poetic about how he'd get someone to go with him to Snow Ball. Meanwhile Lucas seemed to have a crush on a girl every day of the week, this actress from this movie or that girl from Mr. Clarke's class.
"She'll be the prettiest and we'll hold hands." Lucas dreamily says and Will lets his own face turn wistful.
"Romantic." He's honest. He'd be lying if he didn't think about holding hands with someone like he'd seen Joyce and Bob do, or on TV chick flicks. Except, Will knew Lucas meant holding a soft hand with manicured nails, perhaps painted nails, wrists decorated in bracelets. Utterly girlish in nature.
Will didn't want that. He could only imagine the type of hands his friends have. Rough. Calloused. Bitten down nails. Wrists decorated in a wristwatch like his matching one with Mike. Utterly boyish in nature.
"What type of girl would you get, Will?" Lucas is rascally and Will pretends to be unbothered.
"I, uh, maybe..." He hums, then thinks of Mike and how when they all came to visit him in the hospital, he felt really worked up at Mike putting his entire head on top of Will's chest. "Kind and happy to see me."
"Duh." Lucas snorts. "She'd definitely have to be happy to see you. Otherwise it's trouble in paradise."
"Yeah." Will burrows himself more in the blankets. He's got a feeling he'll cough up a slug, but he can hold it off until he gets home. He doesn't want to clog the Sinclair's bathroom sink with such an icky creature.
They talk about other topics, like if Will is freaked out that Joyce is dating, and if Bob is worth his salt. Will likes Bob enough. He makes lame jokes and is very chipper, which is a reason why Will can understand Jonathan's petulance towards him. Bob also never yells and Will immensely enjoys that. Lucas tells Will about his attempt to search for him without the Party's help.
"I thought she was replacing you." Lucas admits. Somehow, through the hours of conversation, they end up sharing a pillow, almost touching. "I was wrong, though. You're irreplaceable."
Will's heart flutters at that. "Well, to be fair, she was trying to save me. Mike was right. She was helpful."
"There you go again." Lucas nudges him gently. "Always siding with Mike even when he's not here."
"Haha. Are you jealous?" Will snickers and Lucas nudges him less gently, which causes Will to graduate to guttural laughing at his pettiness.
"Aren't you gonna praise me for going solo for you, dude?!" Lucas wants some credit and Will buckles down.
"Thank you for fighting with Mike for my honor and defecting from the Party. Your loyalty knows no bounds."
"That's more like it!"
Lucas joins in Will's laughter until Mrs. Sinclair comes in, scolds them for being loud at this late hour, forcing them to go to bed as the lights shut off.
"Oh, man, I gotta get into my sleeping bag." Will groans, looking forlorn. "I just got warm, too."
"Then just stay here." Lucas offers a solution. "My bed's big enough for us both."
Will is grateful at Lucas's consideration. Then, he narrows his eyes and inquires. "You're gonna tell Mike about this just to mess with him, aren't you?" He clocks Lucas's ulterior motive easy.
In faux innocence, Lucas sweetens his tone. "Me? Nooo! Never to mess with Mike's fragile ego. S'not my fault he gets pissy when you have sleepovers and it's not with him. Mike gets that we're best friends, too, yeah?"
"Well, you know how he is." Will would be lying if he didn't get silly at the thought of Mike wanting certain liberties to be just between them, no Lucas or Dustin involvement whatsoever.
"Can't promise you that I won't let it slip that you think my mom's cooking is better than Mrs. Wheeler's and that you told me the type of girl you'd date."
"Oh, you're going for blood. That stuff's confidential."
"Even better. He'll be begging to hear what we talked about."
Will prepares himself for an earful of Mike hissing like a feral stray cat at Lucas knowing something about him that Mike doesn't. He already knows that once Mike and Lucas start arguing, he'll sneak away with Dustin to do anything else than play referee to the Party's most stubborn members.
It is what it is. For now, he'll snuggle in Lucas's bed, and if they wake up cuddling, they won't address it.