Things changed. They'd never be the same, not even now after Eleven had closed the gate. Things like that are just hard to break away from and forget. But they were learning how to move on in baby steps. At least some things had improved though. Will seemed happier. They had Eleven back in their life. What could be better? This was where they found their normality again.

At least that's what Mike assumed, as he joined his friends outside of their school. Max was there as she always was now and days. Mike had grown to accept her as a part of them and had even come to like her as a friend. After all, she had proven herself and with Eleven back, she didn't pose a threat to Mike.

"Hey, Mike" Will was the one to speak to him with a large grin. Mike looked over to him, returning the smile. Will's happiness as of late is something Mike didn't think he'd ever tire of when he saw it. "Hi Will, how are you feeling today?"

"Good." Will responded as they began to follow behind the rest of the group. Max and Lucas were discussing some kind of video game strategy with Dustin.

"Did you have a good time with El yesterday?" Will asked. Even still, neither of them could bring themselves to call her Jane just yet… All but Max but she just didn't know her like they did.

Mike shrugged. "It went well… I'm still excited for her to join me-uh-us in school… I think she'll really like it here." Mike managed, glancing up at Will.

Will let out a small chuckle. "Sure, Mike… Sure."

Mike glared at him. Why did his friends have to give him a hard time? He didn't do that to Max and Lucas… He was silent as they walked the rest of the way to their class.

After school, they met back at the bike rack. "Sooo… I'll see you tomorrow?" Mike heard Lucas ask Max. Tomorrow was Saturday. "Yeah, at the arcade as usual?" Max asked in response. Mike tuned out after that, uninterested.

"Hey… I was thinking, maybe we could hang out with them tomorrow… Since we're rarely together outside of school?" Will asked. These days, it seemed Mike was always occupied with visiting Eleven. Will was beginning to miss their time together out with their friends.

Mike reached for his bike as he answered. "Um… I don't know…"

"Please Mike… You don't have to spend all your time with her…" Eleven was special to all of them. But, Will felt that she was in some way splitting them up. Sure Max hanged with them but she was in a way one of the boys… right?

"You don't understand it… B-because you don't have a girlfriend." Mike retorted as he got on his bike.

"M-Mike?" Will asked, shock written across his face.

"Just stay off of my back, okay?" Mike asked but he didn't wait for an answer before he sped off. Will just stood there watching him leave, still surprised at the tone he had took with him.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dustin asked, placing a hand on Will's shoulder. Will let out a little sigh and lowered his head slightly. "Yeah…I'm okay…" He answered, moving from Dustin's grasp. He got on his bike and left.

Will sat in his room holding one of his action figures. He had even opted to skip dinner. He sighed, pressing a button that activated the figure to speak although it brought little comfort. He thought things would be different but Mike… He was still the same if not even more distant.

Suddenly there was a knock on his door, making him look up to see Jonathan standing there. "Hey buddy… Is everything okay?" Jon asked as he came in. He took a seat by Will on the bed.

Will looked up to him and answered quietly "I guess…"

Jon stared at him, beginning to worry as he did before when that thing from the Upside Down had taken control of him. "You're…" He cleared his throat. "You're not hearing voices again… are you?" He asked, unsure of how Will would take that. Things were supposed to be normal, he didn't want to bring up any bad memories... All of them still suffered in some way from what happened but they had tried to move on with their lives the best they could and rebuild.

The youngest Byers brows furrowed. "What? No! It's nothing like that…" Will had exclaimed in surprise, voice quietening down though afterwards. He knew his family was still on high alert and looking for any abnormal signs but this was something completely different and foreign for him.

"I just…" He sighed again. "I just wanna hang out with my best friend but all he cares about is Eleven…" He looked back at his action figure. "I feel like we're drifting apart."

"Well…" Jonathan paused momentarily as he thought of what to say next. He had never really experienced these kinds of things… No one had really wanted to hang out with him when he was in middle school either, just like now. Nancy bless her heart for seeing something in him no one else did.

"He's uh… Just catching up on lost time I'm sure. You know it was hard for him to lose her the first time… Give him a little bit, let all of this set in…"

"It's been three months… Uh… I think…" Will grumbled, somewhat nervously.

Jon placed a hand on his back. "Yeah but he needs to know he's not going to lose her again… Besides after awhile everything will be routine and he'll wanna be with his friends again… It's fresh right now."

Will looked up to Jon. "Will things between you and Nancy become routine?" He didn't understand how these relationship things worked. He hated to admit it but he was behind on that sort of stuff and that's what bothered him even more seeing his friends progress where as he was still lacking.

Jon let out a sigh. "Yes. But that's not a bad thing. That just means you're secure and you don't have to prove yourself… You're comfortable with each other."

Will put his action figure back on the nightstand. "I guess. Relationships are weird."

Jonathan gave a small chuckle as he stood up. "They can be… Hey, since it's Saturday tomorrow… Wanna stay up late and watch scary movies with me?" He offered with a smile.

Will just shook his head though. "Nah… I think I'll just stay in here and turn in early."

"Oh… Okay then… Get some sleep, Will."

Will nodded to him with a smile.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEAVE ME A REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! THIS MEANS A LOT TO ME AND I REALLY WANNA KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK WITH THIS STORY. 3 HELP A GIRL OUT.