Hey everyone! It's Bomin (博敏) here. Thank you for the concern and I apologize for taking so long to release this chapter. The last few weeks flew by. One of the clubs I participate in had an event that took me out of town and I didn't have time to update. I plan to continue working on this story for a long time and I hope that through practicing my writing will improve (you all deserve the best). I want to warn you that the next month or so will be hectic. I have research papers and finals coming up, and after that I will have an extended stay abroad. (Wow, I am posting a lot of personal details… jajajaja.) Nevertheless, I will try to maintain my weekly updates. If I think I might miss a week, then I will post on both Friday and Saturday either the week before or the week after as a way of making up for the chapter I missed. Please review if you have time. I really want to know how I can improve so that I can properly tell this story. I hope you all have had a great week!

Chapter Two

Will's POV

Since he was a child, Will has always preferred to watch and to listen. He uses it as an excuse to explain what he knows. He finds it easier than coming out. The world regarded people like him cruelly. Others just weren't ready for sorts like him yet. He struggled through school enough as a geeky, awkward nerd. Imagine what would have happened if people knew the full truth. Sometimes he feels guilty about not telling his friends though, but secrets spread in small towns. Each person who hears the secret passes it along, and in half a day the whole town knows. He probably could have told Mike, but Dustin… Well, Dustin has a bad habit of opening his mouth at the wrong moment. Not to mention, Will did not want to tell one of his best friends and not the others. If the conversation had come up, he might have mentioned it, but it never did. Will can't tell if he wants it to talk about it or not.

Now that he, Mike, and Dustin are studying in New York, he plans to tell them. Eventually… He just doesn't know how to tell them. Part of him worries that they won't accept him after finding out. He tries to quash that irrational feeling. Jonathan has been encouraging him to tell his friends for years. If even Jonathan encourages him to talk about it, then he ought to tell them the truth.

Will looks over at Mike, who's frantically throwing socks, shorts, and figurines into his luggage. Mike's mind seems to be day-dreaming about their new flatmate. Mike seems nervous, but Will knows Jane reciprocates Mike's feelings. Mike really shouldn't worry. Throughout their little meeting, Jane was fixed upon Mike; she barely looked away from him. Jane looked at Mike like a land-locked fish looks at the sea. Mike had regarded Eleven similarly, but a tad more subtly. Mike had the habits of an overthinker; he wouldn't reveal his inner thoughts as openly as someone as direct as Jane might.

Dustin nudges Will and nods towards Mike, "So, looks like we got a pair of lovebirds. I'm sorta jealous. I was hoping Steve's lessons would have gotten me a girl first." A hearty belly laugh rumbles from Dustin. Will still hears a chord of sadness at the core of Dustin's joking announcement. Poor Dustin. He'll find someone soon. Dustin's warmth would draw girls in, and his jokes and easy-going nature would keep them around. Dustin just needed to be patient. At their age, girls still wanted jocks, popular guys, or bad boys. Look at Nancy. She had dated Steve before realizing that Jonathan suited her more. Will liked Steve. He knew Steve had a warm heart and good intentions, but Steve felt too soft. Steve liked small town living and appreciated the details of daily life. Nancy felt sharp. She needed to peel away the lies and she had an acrid taste. She enjoyed the thrill of adrenaline as she faced death with steely eyes. Steve and Nancy could stay friends, but Will couldn't picture them as anything more. Nancy's danger might attract Steve for a while, but eventually the novelty would wear off. The different paths they walked on would turn them away from one another.

Eleven's POV

He found her. Her dark haired boy turned up on her doorstep just days after she came to the city. Her heart soars within the confines of her chest. For the first time she can remember, Eleven wants to dance. She wants to sing and to laugh. She wants to run after him and just hug him. She doesn't know if she'll ever let go if she starts hugging him though, so she stops herself from fleeing the apartment and sprinting to his side. Soon, he'll live with her. Maybe he could even have the room next to her own? Then she'll have an excuse to make sure that he's the last one she says good night to and the first one she greets in the morning. For some reason, these sorts of details matter when she thinks of her dark haired boy. She wants the rest of his mornings and all of his good nights. She wants to wake up beside him.

God, she needs to stop this. She spent one night and the following day with him years ago. He could have forgotten her by now. If he hasn't, then he probably has only a fuzzy recollection of her. But once, her world was composed solely of him. He showed her life on the outside. Now she has family and friends. She has a father. She has a sister. She has friends. Her world has widened. Nevertheless, he was the first one she met on the outside. He showed her eggos and named the stars.

She has to call Laura. Well, Laura might disapprove of her having flatmates. Maybe she should wait a week or so? Just so that she has evidence to show she can handle living with a few normal people. Besides, Laura usually trains around this time, so someone else would pick up the home phone. It wouldn't matter if Psylocke picks up, but other students might prove chattier. She doesn't want Cyclops to know. He always demands that they all follow the rules. He'd try to stop her. He wouldn't even give her a chance to try. Besides. Professor X supported her.

If her dark haired boy wants to move in, she should really decorate the place. It must look so boring. Eleven doesn't mind the empty walls. They remind her of blank pages: full of possibilities. Most people would disagree though. She saw how the others decorated their rooms back at the mansion. Most of them made wallpaper out of posters, pictures, postcards, and mementos. When those kids decorated their rooms, they pasted their souls on the walls. They bared and celebrated themselves. Eleven's skin crawled at the thought. Still, maybe this could help her dark haired boy see her for who she is?

Eleven starts to write a list. She'll start to look for posters… And cuter clothes. She never really cared much about clothes. As long as she didn't feel too warm or too chilly, she did not mind the pattern or cut of the cloth. He'd seen her in some loose jeans, a ratty Ghostbusters t-shirt, and flannel; he probably doesn't even realize her sex. Feeling her chest, Eleven sighs. She certainly lacks the proper curves. Jubilee claimed milk helped, but Jubilee's t-shirts lay flat across her chest. Laura and Psylocke acted like boobs just grew overnight.

Mike's POV

Mike felt like an idiot. Jane, who Mike feels convinced is his magnet girl, stood right in front of him, yet he could barely stumble through sentences. Even if she remembers him, Mike had just ruined his chances. He could barely speak, and then when he did he just blabbered on about Raymond Carver. Mike had grown up with the taunts and the whispers. Mike knows that most people would staunchly categorize him as a nerd, but he just wished he had looked cool this one time.

Sighing, Mike shoves more clothes into his duffel bag. He just wants to get back to Jane's apartment. He wants a second chance at making a first impression. Well, he couldn't exactly call this a first impression. Still, he wants another chance. He wants to impress her. He doesn't know how though. She seemed to like Star Wars as well, so they could talk about that. But how much could he talk about Star Wars before she considered him a geek?

"Mike, Mike… hello?" Nancy has started to snap her fingers in front of his face.

"Yeah, hey… We found an apartment."

"Yeah, I know. Dustin told me over an hour ago. He also mentioned a girl… Look, I probably seem like a hypocrite for saying this, but are you sure it is a good idea to move into a place with someone you are interested in like that? I mean, it has worked out for Jonathan and I, but we have been dating for years now. We knew each other and we also both had friends who could lend us a couch to sleep on if… Well, if we broke up, which I hate to think about because Jonathan… Jonathan… He helped me grow up and he's been my companion every time the world seems like it will end. We've been together through a lot of rough times and we've pulled each other out of plenty of sticky situations."

When younger, Nancy would sit with the boys as they played Dungeons and Dragons. She would burp and laugh along with them. Her starting high school had really tested her and Mike's relationship. She'd stopped wanting to talk or hang out, so Mike had chosen to ignore or tease her. When times got hard though, Mike and Nancy had started talking over breakfast and even hung out together in public. They hadn't talked much about their love lives though. Mike had never had one and Nancy had been the central protagonist of the high-school soap opera they call dating.

"Nancy, nothing will happen. Do you think that some girl who lives with me would want to date me when none of the girls at school ever have? I cannot pretend I am someone else every hour of the day."

"Look, I know I teased you a lot when we were younger…."

Mike interjects, "You still do."

Nancy sighs, "Fine, I know I tease you a lot about being a nerd, being geeky, being shaped like a scarecrow, your weird friends… You get the point. Anyway, I know I tease you, but that is because I am your older sister and I was not mature enough to tell you how much I cared when I entered high school. At that time, I wanted to have cute boys like me and all the girls want to be me. I was stupid and self-absorbed. Sometimes I still can be. But… you are a great guy. You are smart, loyal, understanding, and you are a leader. Besides, you and your friends never gave up what you guys liked simply to fit in. That takes a lot of bravery. There were girls who were interested in you during high school. I saw them watching you. You were just too preoccupied to notice. You always had that stupid game on your mind. I had started to wonder if you were gay."

"I am pretty sure girls only looked at me to mock me."

"Sorry, no. Girls in middle school and high school might still be idiots, but there were a couple smart enough to realize what a catch you are."

. "If you thought I was gay, why did you never ask?"

"… Well, I didn't need to. I found your collection. Next time hide it better."

Mike wants to go crouch behind the couch now.

"Why were you in my room?"

"Look, I just needed to borrow a VHS."

"So you thought it would be in my room?"

"It wasn't in the family room. Besides, it was Tron."

"Fine. Whatever. That doesn't matter anymore. I just really need to get going. Will's probably done by now. I want to move in before rush hour. Being squeezed like sardines with luggage on the subway doesn't sound like fun."

"Why are you rushing this? I admit, it is a great deal for an apartment in Manhattan, but she said you guys can have the rooms. From what Dustin said, she seemed flexible. Just move in tomorrow. I don't have any shifts tomorrow, so I could help you guys."

"You just want to meet her."

"Is that so wrong? Dustin comes back telling me that my kid brother is head-over-heels for a girl and going to be sharing an apartment with her too. You've never been interested in anyone before. I just want to make sure she isn't a druggie or something."

"She is not a druggie!"

"How would you know? You can't tell when kids are smoking cigarettes or a joint!"

"So?"

"So?! How would you know if she was a junkie? You barely know her! You had one conversation with her!"

"Two. We also talked on the phone. I know her. She isn't a junkie!"

"Really? How do you know this girl?"

"I… I… Well, she just isn't. She likes Star Wars!"

"Mike, everyone likes Star Wars!"

"No, not everyone."

"Ok, fine. You can't use Star Wars as a personality gage though."

"It works…"

"Not really."

Dustin breaks out laughing. Will looks up from his paintings. For the last hour or so Mike had seen Will covering his three oil paintings with some sort of weird liquid. When he asked, Will explained that since they were moving, he was applying a drying medium to his paintings. Apparently they still would not be dry until late tonight, but Will said Jonathan had told him to just leave the paintings here until they were complete and able to be moved. Mike thinks it must help that Will and Jonathan can understand each other through their art. Jonathan liked photography; Will preferred painting. Still, they were able to communicate with each other through their work. Mike sometimes wished he and Nancy had something like this to unite them.

Dustin shakes his head, still laughing.

"You two are ridiculous sometimes" Dustin sputters.

"Not really" Mike replies.

"Really? Then just tell each other the truth. Nancy, you're worried about Mike and you wish he could live with you, which… He can't. We can't. You live with Jonathan in a studio apartment. There's hardly any space for us, and you guys need private time. I don't want to walk in on you guys and be scarred for life. Mike, you want Nancy to treat you like an adult, and you are crushing on Jane. God. If you both just communicated, I swear you wouldn't fight so much. You both are just too proud to admit the truth."

"Ok. I do kind of agree with Dustin. The city is a big place and it is different from Hawkins. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Thanks, Nancy. You can come visit whenever you like. We could order take-out and watch movies, like old times."

"Sounds good. I got work. You'll be alright moving in by yourselves?"

"Yes, now go."

"Fine, but you better pay for the take-out."

"Someone needs to warn Jonathan he's dating the world's biggest cheapskate."

"Actually I learned this from Jonathan. Now I really got to go. I'll be late. Bye! Love you, nerd."

"Love you."

She ruffles his hair and shuffles her keys before running out the door. Mike looks down at his luggage and then at the others. Dustin grabs his luggage and Will struggles to juggle his luggage. Since high school Will always refused to go anywhere without at least his sketchbook, a pencil, and some watercolor paints.

"Does Jonathan know?"

"I left him a note," Will replies.

They stumble out the door. Mike strokes the peeling paint on the door one last time before turning and walking away. They'll be back.