Fandom Mind Flayed

[upondecember]

Mike was so distracted by his attempt to write out a good speech for his parents that he nearly forgot about the mall. That is, until he was pulled away from rehearsal with his reflection by the sound of the walkie talkie, someone asking where he was. It sounded like Lucas.

"Hurry up, dipwad, or we're going in without you!" Static covered Max's voice, but it was still very obviously Max. He groaned and rolled his eyes, grabbing the communication device from his nightstand. "On my way, over!" He dug for change before running out the door, yelling that he'd be back later. His internal conflict certainly didn't end, however.

He'd been considering it for awhile, all things said and done. Telling his parents the truth. He and El had been serious all summer, he really cared about her. Nancy already knew and liked her... But his parents were a whole different ball game. They'd heard the lies about El... And seen pictures of her. They knew that he'd hidden her from them. But they thought that was over. Still, he wondered how he could get them to meet her without giving away who she actually was. It'd been awhile, she did look pretty different. He could introduce her as a friend from school who recently moved in! But why would a friend from school need to come to Thanksgiving at their house? This was so frustrating.

He placed his bike on the rack before running in to find the party. They'd all decided to pool together allowances and change into getting Will a present to welcome him back. Just to prove he was still one of them, that they still thought about him. Mike thought about him a lot. After all, Will was his best friend. He couldn't help but wonder sometimes if it was his fault they'd drifted and not the Mind Flayer's. But now was not the time to think about that.

As he caught up with the group he gave a half a wave. "Okay, where are we starting?"

-----

"Will! Will, honey! Have you finished your packing?" Joyce's voice rang through the small house as she was digging through her own suitcase to see what she'd forgotten, everything she'd packed ending up on thd bed and floor. Even with a checklist of essentials made for each of them, she was certain she didn't have at least four items. This would be their first time back in Hawkins since they'd moved five months ago... And other than a few particular people, she really wanted to avoid most contact there. Which meant, if she could help it, no stores to pick up forgotten items.

"Mom, we don't leave for two days." Will groaned in response, not moving from his bed, a mess of half-folded clothes at the end of it. He was looking forward to going back, truly. He hadn't been able to really make friends this year. He tried, he really tried, but he found himself retreating more and more into being alone with his art. And though the party members called him when they could, relationships and school had their attention. He understood, but he was lonely. But Thanksgiving meant seeing them all again and stuffing his face, so he was in a better mood than usual.

Joyce peeked in to see him just lying there, listening to who knows what. She opened her mouth to say anything, then just ran her hand through frizzy hair with a groan. She bit her bottom lip as she knocked on Jonathan's door next. "Jonathan, I promised that I'd bring sides to dinner if Hop took care of the turkey and I forgot!" She practically begged. "Could you get off the phone and go to the store? Please?" She rubbed her hands together as she stared at the silent door. It felt like her kids had grown more apart from her since the move... And it hurt. She knew they were just growing up, but they'd just been so close. Still, she was trying to let go.

 

[AvianJen]

At the mall, El giggled at Max's teasing. After months and months of begging Hopper had finally caved and bought her a bicycle of her own, which meant that she no longer had to depend on him or Mike for transportation. After starting high school she'd needed one anyways, since the bus didn't come all the way out to their cabin, Hopper left for work early and it was way too much to ask Mike or someone else to bike over every morning and afternoon to pick her up and drop her off. Besides, Hopper realized that depending on El's boyfriend to drop her off after school meant an increased chance of Mike staying over after school. And he hated that.

High school was...fine. El wasn't very good at it, though. Hopper insisted she'd be doing better if she had spent less time kissing Mike over the summer and more time studying like she was supposed to, but apart from her dictionary El wasn't very interested in school. She didn't particularly like science, she liked English but hated reading Shakespeare (thankfully she wasn't alone in that), and math was the only thing she was halfway decent at. But she lived for the weekends, and she was thrilled to have an entire week off for Thanksgiving.

"He's not usually late," Lucas commented, looking at his watch. "Anyways, what's our haul?" The teenagers dumped out all their money onto one of the tables outside the mall and counted out around $17, which was a great start. Maybe with Mike's haul they'd hit $20, and then as far as they were concerned they were rich.

"We could get him some new comic books," Dustin suggested, brainstorming what Will might like. "There's lots of really cool ones coming out."

"He probably already has all the good ones," Lucas pointed out. "We need to be...creative."

Minutes later, Mike rolled up at the mall. El ran over to the bike rack to say hello first, leaning against the metal. "You're late," she told him, as if he didn't already know. But she was smiling anyways. "We have $17.25, plus you. Do you think that's enough?" When he'd finished locking up his bike, El slipped her hand into his and they walked over to the Party.

"Well, Lucas shot down my comic book idea," Dustin complained. "And he doesn't play D&D anymore, he hasn't joined a new party." It felt frustrating; Will had been their best friend for years, and he still was, but it was like they had no idea what he liked anymore. It had been five whole months since they'd seen him, and so much had changed.

"He likes to draw," El remembered. He'd drawn a picture of her as a wizard that hung up in her room. "We could get-"

"Paper," Lucas said with a confident nod. Dustin looked at him like he had three heads.

"And my idea was bad, Lucas? Really? You want to buy Will paper as his welcome home gift? You literally just said we have to be creative."

***
​

"Well I'm working on my application, I finished up my essay for NYU but the fee is...well, you know. I'm trying to get it waived," Jonathan was telling Nancy, holding the phone to his ear. He'd been hogging the phone for about an hour already. "But I need to get it in by the early application deadline. When we come down do you think you could look it over for me?" Nancy was the best writer he knew, and she'd be able to help with the essay. His portfolio was set, but Jonathan needed his application to be amazing if he wanted to get a full scholarship- which he needed if he was going to be able to afford to go.

"Hang on a sec," he said, putting down the phone at the sound of his mom's voice. Two days until they were leaving, and she was already worried about sides? For real? At this point Jonathan knew not to test his mother when she was stressed, though, so with a sigh he put the phone back to his ear. "Hey, I need to go to the store for my mom. Talk to you tomorrow, okay?" He hung up the phone and sat up, stretching his arms over his head before pulling himself to his feet and opening his bedroom door.

"What do you want me to get?" Jonathan called, taking his car keys off of the table in the hallway. On his way, he passed Will's door. His little brother was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, something he did a lot lately. It had Jonathan pretty concerned, and he wasn't sure his pep talks were doing much good. They went to the same high school and Jonathan knew that Will was struggling to find his group. Jonathan was too, but he'd never had friends. Will had, and now he was lonely.

"Hey buddy," he said, knocking on the inside of the door frame and jingling his keys. "Feel like a trip to the store? I could use a hand deciding what Thanksgiving sides are going to survive a seven hour drive to Hawkins." He cracked a smile at his brother, hoping to cheer him up.

***
​

"Dammit!" For the sixth time in a row, the Byers' line was busy. Hopper didn't know why he kept calling. It was stupid, but...he needed advice, and Joyce was the best person he knew to ask about the particular problems that he was dealing with. She didn't have a teenage daughter, but...he didn't like Karen Wheeler, and anyways, her son was usually the problem.

It was true that sometimes he made up problems with El just to hear Joyce's voice, make sure she didn't forget he existed. But he didn't think there was any harm in that. And so, for the seventh time, he dialed the house number and held the phone up to his ear. When she finally answered, he couldn't help but smile as he took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Hey, Joyce," he said casually, as if he hadn't been bombarding her phone for the past hour. "Hey, I, uh, I got another question for ya." He paused, for a moment, then cut to the chase. "Okay so, Mike asked El to come over to his house for Thanksgiving. She didn't give him an answer yet but do you think that's appropriate? You know, at her age?" Hopper genuinely didn't think so- family holidays shouldn't include boyfriends or girlfriends until it was serious, and Hopper was still in denial about how serious their relationship was. But really, they were fifteen years old. They'd been agonizingly inseparable all summer, but the police chief still hadn't quite warmed up to Mike. He was a good kid, and deep down he knew that. But he was dating his daughter, which automatically made him a punk.

 

[upondecember]

Max popped her gum, unamused as ever at the boys' idiocy. Comic books were great and all, but it was true that Will probably had all of the best ones already. She quietly brainstormed, but she didn't know Will all that well. They had never really gotten past the acquaintance stage into the friend stage. She shared a look with El before the other girl was pulled away by the arrival of her boyfriend. Mike was close to Will, maybe he'd have some ideas.

After placing the bike on the rack, Mike met up with El, closing the last few steps between them as he accepted her hand. It had been a lot of work taking her home every day after school-- why the hell did Hopper live so far out?-- but, now that he didn't have to, it felt like he saw her a lot less. They didn't share all of the same classes, and since she was expected home pretty early, they didn't get much time after school. Weekends were fantastic, but not enough. This Thanksgiving break was sorely needed.

"I know. I'm sorry, I got... Distracted." He shrugged, then dug into his pocket as they reached the rest of the group. He dropped a crumple dollar bill and 1.85 in change on the table. "20 bucks and some change ought to get something nice." He listened to the argument over what to get him with a roll of his eyes.

"Guys, guys! All fantastic ideas--"

"Except for paper. That's a pretty stupid idea." Max butted in, giving Lucas a look. Seriously? Paper? The least he could have said was a sketchbook.

"Art is a great idea." Mike intercepted again, looking at El. "But maybe we could get him like, uh, a nice marker set? I know he likes crayons, but he might want to branch out." Markers were a lot of fun to use, and they could get a bunch of colors with the money they had. He shoved all the money into a pocket and led the way into the mall, momentarily distracted by all the colors as usual. It was just so bright, it was almost blinding.

Max hummed in agreement as she jumped off the table, walking right ahead of Lucas on the way in. Markers weren't a bad idea, so now they just had to find some. She wasn't sure what store to search, since art wasn't really her thing... But at least it got her out of the house.

-----

Joyce blew some hair from her face as she looked through the fridge for some sort of idea. "Uh, just... Thanksgiving sides! You know!" She called, although off the top of her head, she didn't really even know. She peeked down the hallway at her eldest son. "They don't have to be... Prepared, you know? I can do that when we get there. But I don't - - I don't wanna have to go to the store there. Okay? But corn on the cob, or, or sweet potatoes. That sort of thing." She disappeared back behind the wall to continue her search.

Will didn't look up at his brother, but he did listen. He'd always been a good listener, ever since he was little. Always the agreeable child. But at the moment, he didn't really feel like getting up. Not even to go to the store with his brother, something he'd usually be happy to do.

"Also, if you boys want cereal the next two days, we need milk!" He heard is mother's voice, muffled from being rooms away, and he sat up, cracking a smile for his brother in return.

"Sure, why not." Better than being stuck here where she would surely take the opportunity to try to have a heart to heart. He knew she was worried, and that she was trying not to act like it. But she didn't do a great job. And as little as he wanted to leave the room, he even less wanted to talk about feelings. "Let's go." He tied on his shoes and followed his brother out the door, only giving his mother a wave goodbye.

Joyce sighed as they left, only for the phone to ring almost instantly. She put down the bread and hurried to get it before it was too late. Before she could get out a complete greeting, Hop began, speaking a little too quickly as he usually did at the beginning of a conversation. And Joyce couldn't help but smile a little. Something about it was almost endearing.

As often as these calls came in, she enjoyed every single one of them. Sometimes they seemed kind of made up. Just like some of the times he'd come into the store in the mornings when no one was there yet. Before it closed down, anyways. But she'd especially looked forwards to them lately... It was really difficult to move, to find a new house and job, and pack up the home she'd raised her boys in. And not that they wanted so little to do with her, she felt awfully alone. The calls helped that for a time.

"Uh, well... That's ultimately up to El, I think. After all, Mike knows you, but she hasn't met the Wheelers." She didn't see the harm in their age, since those two seemed so different than most young teens, anyways.

"Does she want to go?" She asked curiously, halfway falling onto the couch. Will would be disappointed if he didn't get to spend time with her, after she had helped quite literally save his life, he had taken quite a liking to her, almost as if she were a sister. She'd hate it if he didn't get to spend time with her.

 

[AvianJen]

Lucas shot Max a look, raising his arms up as if to ask what was wrong. "At least I had an idea, you know, to get the ball rolling," he argued, but Mike interrupted with an actually good idea and he fell silent.

"He'd like that," El agreed, smiling up at Mike. "Or nice paints?" She'd gotten pretty close to Will over the summer, preferring to talk to him or to Max whenever she wasn't with Mike. They shared a sort of connection because of the time they'd spent in the Upside Down, and Will's sweet, gentle disposition had been comforting to El when she first met him or when the other boys were acting like they were going to tear each other's heads off. She'd become better at participating in their more animated conversations, but a lot of the time she just sat there and watched, which was what Will typically did too. El did think of him like a brother, which was why she had yet to tell Mike that she didn't think she wanted to come over to his house for Thanksgiving.

It was all complicated; meeting her boyfriend's parents should be normal, but her situation and history with them was a bit unique. El wasn't sure that Thanksgiving was the right time for that when the Byers were coming over, and it was the first time she was going to have a real Thanksgiving dinner. Hop said it was a family holiday, and wasn't he her family? But Nancy was coming over to spend it with Jonathan, and he wasn't her family. It was all confusing, and for once El found herself wishing that Hopper would tell her what to do.

"Either one," Dustin agreed, following his friends into the mall. "I just wish we knew what he had."

"Even if he has either of those things, he'll like something new," Lucas asserted. "Art supplies wear out. Besides, it's the thought that counts. Right Max?" he nudged his girlfriend teasingly and draped his arm around her shoulders. During the summer Lucas had managed to save up a little bit of money by mowing Old Man Humphrey's lawn, and at five bucks a week he was living large. A lot of his money admittedly went towards Max, but he wasn't very good at getting things she liked. If Will was hard to shop for, Max was impossible. Mike had it easy; El was much more inclined to believe that her boyfriend was perfect and he hadn't made nearly as many mistakes that would warrant apology gifts. But he wouldn't dream of saying that out loud.

"Does anywhere actually sell art stuff?" Dustin was asking as they wandered through the mall. He scanned every window, but their usual route didn't seem to have what they were looking for.

"There has to be somewhere," Lucas insisted. Finally at the end of the hall, they came across an art supply store. Lucas paused outside of it, tilting his head. "Has this always been here?"

"Does it matter? Let's go, then we can go get ice cream." Dustin mostly wanted to visit Steve, of course. He loved his friends but he was a little tired of being a fifth wheel- for a while it had been fine. He'd talk to Suzie with Cerebro almost every day and it had been great, but then last week she'd told him that she couldn't do the long distance thing anymore. Well, that and her parents had found out that he wasn't Mormon. It was a tragic, star-crossed romance, but now it was over. She wasn't even answering his calls anymore. He'd hidden how crushed he was, embarrassed to admit that his first relationship was over even though Max had dumped Lucas around seven times by now, but when he was with his friends he did feel a little bitter and it made him miss Will that much more.

But at least he had Steve, whose love life was also in shambles.

Inside the store the teenagers split up, heading down different aisles. El stayed glued to Mike as she quietly ran her fingers across the shelves, trying to decide what she thought Will would like. She came across the crayons, then the colored pencils, and then the markers like Mike had suggested. Picking up the biggest box, she turned it around and looked at all the colors. "This?" she asked, holding it up to Mike.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Max had stumbled across the sketchbooks. Lucas picked one up and showed it to Max. "See? Paper," he emphasized, grinning.

***
​

"I could run to the store there, Mom!" Jonathan offered, still yelling down the hall. He knew that his mom didn't want to run into any of her old Hawkins acquaintances, and he respected that. He also knew that this trip was mostly so that Will could see his friends and he could see Nancy, so Jonathan wanted to make it as easy on her as possible. She was good friends with Hop, but he highly doubted that they'd be getting together for Thanksgiving if it weren't for the kids' friendships. "I'll see what I can find," he promised. At the very least, he could pick up some milk and hopefully get Will out of the house for two seconds.

But Will didn't even look at him at first, causing Jonathan to bite his lip in concern. Jonathan completely understood that Will was getting older and he'd never exactly been a "cool" older brother, but they'd always been so close and now he seemed so distant. It was encouraging to see him get out of bed though and Jonathan smiled, ruffling Will's long hair playfully before heading out the door and getting into his car.

It was a miracle the old piece of junk was still running, but he couldn't afford a new one so he was incredibly grateful that it did. Jonathan glanced at his brother in the passenger seat, trying to brainstorm a way to get him to open up without being painfully obvious.

"Are you excited for the trip?" he asked. "Nancy said Mike is really excited to see you, he's been working on a new D&D campaign or something. That'll be fun, right?" Just like old times- he hoped. Jonathan hadn't told anyone, but he was a little nervous about seeing Nancy too. The reality was, she was smart and gorgeous and popular and he was, well, him. They were still together and she was coming to Hopper's for Thanksgiving, but he was worried that things would feel different, that maybe their chemistry was gone. They talked on the phone all the time but as he was sure Will understood, it was no substitute for the real thing. "I guess she's been helping El with her schoolwork, too," he added.

Nancy also shared with him that it had been her idea for El to write letters to Will, as a way to practice her writing. Jonathan had seen a couple come through in the mail, but he'd never asked about it in trying to give his brother some space. Now, though, he felt curious. "She's been writing you letters, right?"

***
​

Hopper listened to Joyce's analysis, this being a problem he was actually concerned about. He probably could have figured it out on his own, but it was always good to have a second opinion when a temperamental, telekinetic teenage girl was involved and Joyce was usually very helpful, even if he almost never took her advice and ended up doing his own thing anyways. She didn't know that, though.

"You think I should leave it up to her?" he asked. Huh. "Joyce, she hasn't met the Wheelers because those assholes from the lab tried to get them to turn her in," he reminded her. "If I'm being honest, that's the real concern here. Ted won't notice, he's a putz but Karen? She's not an idiot. And you know El, her mannerisms are a little off sometimes..." he trailed off, rubbing his hand over his face and smoothing his mustache. Did he want his daughter to go meet her boyfriend's parents? Absolutely not, because that meant the relationship was serious. But admittedly, that wasn't his main concern with this particular meetup.

At Joyce's question, he paused. Actually, he didn't know. "She didn't say," he explained. "I mean, I know she's excited to see you and Will. She just asked what Thanksgiving was like and I told her it was usually a family holiday, you know, for being thankful. She asked a couple questions about Jonathan and Nancy and then said Mike wanted her to come to his house but she hadn't given him an answer yet. And I didn't know what I thought." He still didn't, really, but he was curious how Joyce would interpret that. "Does it sound like she wants to go?"