Faye creeps upstairs, taking care to skip the third step from the top which always squeaks. Nancy has gone shopping with Barb, which means she won't be back for hours, and the boys are engrossed in D&D in the basement. Faye had feigned having a headache and claimed she was going to her room to lie down, when in actual fact she tiptoes across the hall to Nancy's room.

Slowly turning the handle, Faye pushes the door open and slips inside. It's been a while since she was in here, as Nancy has recently become weird about privacy- yelling at anyone who crosses the threshold without having been expressly invited. Probably because she spends most of her time on the phone to Barb talking about boys. Faye shudders. Gross.

Not wanting to linger too long in case she is caught, Faye goes straight for the objective. Nancy's dresser- more specifically, her makeup. Faye wasn't expecting so much of it. Almost the entire surface is covered in lipsticks, mascaras, nail polishes and numerous other products she can't identify. She only wants to try it. To see what it looks like. Besides, it's not stealing if she doesn't remove anything from the room, right?

It's not as if Faye has any other option. All of her friends are boys and if she goes to her mom she'll get the dreaded "becoming a woman" talk. Nancy warned her about it years ago and Faye is making it her mission to avoid the subject for all eternity. She picks up a bottle of mascara and pulls out the brush with a pop, but every time she attempts to apply it her eyes instinctively flinch shut. Next she tries blusher powder, but it's way too dark on her cheeks and makes her look like a porcelain doll. Rubbing the powder off on her sleeve, Faye spots a small pink container with the word 'Bubblegum' in glittery print. She reaches for it and realizes it is Bubblegum lipgloss.

Faye unscrews the cap and carefully sweeps a coat of the shimmering liquid over her lips, using Nancy's mirror as a guide. It's a little messy, but she likes the subtle sheen of the color and the sweet, sugary scent. Faye looks at her reflection and turns her head from side to side, watching the light bouncing off her lips-

"Faye?"

She spins around and sees Will standing in the doorway. She'd been so busy admiring the lipgloss that she hadn't spotted him in the mirror. Faye purses her lips and clutches the pink container behind her back. "What do you want?"

Will steps into the room "You said you weren't feeling well so I came to check you were okay," as he gets closer, his green eyes narrow "Are you wearing makeup?"

"No," Faye answers. Will just looks at her and eventually Faye sighs and turns around "Go on, laugh."

"Why would I laugh?" asks Will.

"Because I'm doing girl stuff and you all think girl stuff is stupid, so just get it over with," Faye mutters, waiting to hear the sound of Will's sniggers. They don't come.

"Just because we don't like girl stuff doesn't mean you can't. You are a girl, after all."

Faye peers over her shoulder "You don't think it's stupid?"

Will shakes his head, and then he adds "You look pretty."

Both of their faces flush and Faye turns back around to face him. For a moment neither of them seems to know what to say, then Will quickly walks out of the room, mumbling "I'd better get back."

Faye stands there, cheeks burning, as Will's footsteps hurry down the stairs. That was the first time anyone had called her pretty.

When Faye finishes going over her story for Mike and Ms. Byers, their mouths are agape. Ms. Byers jumps to her feet and heads to the telephone "We need to tell Hopper about this."

Mike's eyes flit between Faye and Will "So you saw the now memory, as it was happening?"

Faye nods "When I put my hands on Will's face."

There is a pause before Mike speaks again "Do you...do you think you read his mind?"

"What?!" Faye exclaims "That's ridiculous!"

"It makes sense!" Mike counters "How else could you have seen it when you haven't been to the Upside Down?"

Faye can't believe he is wasting time with such stupid suggestions "Mike this isn't a superhero movie."

"Eleven could do things with her mind," Mike points out.

"Because she was locked in a lab and tortured her entire life!"

"No," says Mike "She was locked in a lab and tortured because she could do things with her mind, not the other way around."

Faye shakes her head "Do you not think if I could read minds I would know about it?!"

"Not necessarily."

Mike gets up and moves to sit on the couch next to Will, then without warning he places his hands on Will's face.

"Um, what are you doing?" Will asks, leaning away from him.

"Think of a color."

"Oh my God," Faye buries her face in her palms.

Will is staring at Mike like he's lost his mind, but nonetheless he humors him "Okay."

Mike closes his eyes and concentrates "Red?"

"No," says Will.

Sitting back, he gestures to Faye "Now you try."

"I am literally embarrassed to be related to you right now," Faye glares.

"Just shutup and do it!" Mike snaps.

Sighing, Faye knows from experience the easiest way to deal with Mike when he gets an idea in his head is to just go along with it. She turns to Will, who is seated between her and Mike.

"Can I?" she asks.

"Yeah, sure," Will answers. Faye reaches up and tries to position her hands in the same place they were last time. Only now Will is watching her; his eyes are open and his skin is warm rather than cold- hot even. They have never been this close to each other. Faye picks out shades of green in Will's eyes she never knew were there, feels his breath as he exhales nervously.

"Are you thinking of a color?" Mike asks, interrupting her thoughts.

"Um, yeah," Will affirms.

Following Mike's example, Faye closes her eyes and empties her mind. In the movies, whenever someone can read minds it's always easy. People's thoughts jump out at them and play aloud like a radio. Nothing like this happens. For a few seconds, nothing happens at all, then Faye is suddenly aware of a single word. She doesn't hear it exactly, it just pops into her head. Like when you remember a random fact or figure you thought you'd forgotten.

"Blue."

Faye opens her eyes and Will's expression is one of surprise "Yeah."

"See!" Mike shouts in triumph.

"It was a fluke, it's just the first color I thought of!"

"Fine, do it again," Mike challenges.

They repeat the process a further three times, and each of Faye's guesses are correct. Mike then says she should try it on him, just to compare, which she does- the result is the same. Faye guesses colors, numbers, names- everything. By the time, she gives the tenth right answer in a row, Faye is beginning to freak out.

"Okay, no clues this time," says Mike "What am I thinking?"

Faye waits for the answer to come to her as it has before, but it doesn't. It appears her guessing streak has run out. She knew this was stupid.

"I don't know."

Mike sighs and leans out of Faye's hold.

"Maybe it only works if the person is thinking of a specific thing?" Will suggests.

"Or maybe she just needs more practise," says Mike, sounding excited.

Faye rolls her eyes "Or maybe I'm just really good at guessing."

"Why are you being such a douche?" Mike accuses "Do you not realize how cool this is?"

"It's not cool, it's insane!" Faye snaps.

Ms. Byers suddenly appears in the doorway "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Faye, Mike and Will chant in unison.

Ms. Byers fixes them with a scrutinizing stare "Okay, well you'd better finish up the 'nothing' because it's time for bed."

Faye and Mike make up their beds on Will's floor, Ms. Byers having agreed to them staying over. When Faye goes to the bathroom, she notices her nose is bleeding again, but wipes the blood away and thinks nothing of it. Returning to Will's room, Faye sees an old blue sweater on top of her pillow and smiles. The sweater had once been Jonathan's, then passed to Will when he grew out of it and hung at the back of his closet until Faye discovered it one day when she was cold. Will said she could wear it and it had become a sort of tradition ever since; whenever Faye sleeps at Will's house, she gets the sweater. By now it has a few holes and the logo is faded from so many washes, but it's soft and warm and familiar. Faye can't quite describe the scent of it- it's just sort of, Will.

Ms. Byers bids them goodnight and turns the light off. They lay awake chatting for a while, mostly about everything that's happened the past few days- wondering whether the others found Dart yet. Gradually, the conversation eases off into silence. Faye can tell from Mike's breathing that he's asleep; she knows to listen out for the tell-tale hitches in his breath from years of late night reading and drawing (he gets very angry if she turns the light on while he's still awake). However, she's pretty sure Will isn't asleep yet. As if on cue, he says quietly "Faye?"

"Yeah?"

"You think things will ever be normal again?"

Faye considers this question, ultimately realizing "No, probably not."

She hears Will's sheets rustling as changes position "I'm sorry I got us into this."

"What?"

"If the Demogorgon didn't get me, none of this would be happening-"

"Oh no you don't," Faye interrupts "Don't even try to blame this on yourself."

Will sighs "But it's true."

Faye sits up "If it didn't get you, it would have got someone else. This was gonna happen either way. "

There is no response to this so Faye lays back down, hoping Will believes her.

"Thanks for the sweater," she adds.

Faye can hear the smirk in Will's voice when he replies "You don't have to be a mind reader to figure that out."

She tries so hard not to laugh, but it's no use "Damn you Byers."

Faye doesn't remember falling asleep, but the next thing she knows it's light outside. Yawning and stretching, she burrows deeper into the covers, not quite ready to get up. Ever since baby Holly was born, Faye is used to being woken up at ungodly hours- and even now that her little sister has grown out of the crying and screaming phase, her body is accustomed to rising early. Faye is just dozing off again when she hears a gasp and Will suddenly sits bolt upright.

"Will?" Faye glances up at him. He's drenched in sweat "What's wrong?"

"Hopper," Will breathes "He's in trouble."

Faye immediately wakes Mike and the three of them head into the living room to inform Will's mom. She asks Will what he saw, but Will doesn't seem to be able to explain it. He only says that Hopper "is going to die." Panicked, Ms. Byers grabs an old sheet of Christmas wrapping from the cupboard (Will having used all the regular paper) and tells him to draw it instead. Will obliges, scribbling a nondescript area of the tunnels and handing it over. Faye, Mike and Ms. Byers go into the living room to locate the area. It's not an easy task; all of the drawings look virtually the same and there's so many of them.

"Here!" Mike shouts.

Faye and Ms. Byers run over to where Mike is pointing.

"So Hopper is here," Ms. Byers states, placing Will's new drawing over the existing one.

"Yeah, now we just need to find out where here is," adds Mike.

"Did Hopper say anything before he left?" Faye asks.

Ms. Byers hums in thought "Something about vines?"

The sound of a car pulling up raises their hopes and they run over to the window, but it's just Bob- Ms. Byers' boyfriend.

"Wait here," she instructs, heading out to greet him.

Faye and Mike peek through the curtains, waiting for Ms. Byers to turn him away. To their surprise, she invites him in instead.

"What is she doing?" Mike exclaims. "He can't see all this!"

Ms. Byers steps through the front door with Bob in tow "Bob this is Faye and Mike, Will's friends."

Bob smiles widely "Hey guys, nice to meet you. Wow, you two could be twins!"

"Um, we are," says Faye.

"Oh," Bob replies "That explains it then."

At that moment, Will emerges from his room- just as Bob notices the drawings. Ms. Byers explains that they need his help, but he's not allowed to ask any questions. Faye doesn't see how Bob will be able to help, especially if he doesn't understand what's going on. It turns out she couldn't be more wrong. Initially, Bob is overwhelmed, but in a matter of minutes he is identifying different places in Hawkins from Will's drawings and realizes the entire thing is a map. If the drawings are a map, then the only thing they have to do to find Hopper is to figure out where on the map he is.

The group spends the next hour assisting Bob to plot various locations, attempting to narrow down Hopper's whereabouts as much as possible. Eventually, Bob pinpoints the area Will drew as about a half mile Southeast of Danford. Without a second's hesitation, they run outside and get into Ms. Byers' car. Danford is a bit of a drive, so Faye only hopes they're not too late.

Unfortunately, the journey takes even longer than Faye anticipated- even with Ms. Byers driving faster than she should. By the time they are getting close, it's almost dusk. Faye and Mike strain their eyes out of the back windows, trying to spot anything unusual, but it's just empty fields either side of the road.

As Bob and Ms. Byers start bickering about what to do, Will suddenly shouts out "Turn right!"

"What?" his mom asks.

"I saw him."

"Where?"

"Not here, in my now memories," Will clarifies.

Bob turns around in his seat "In your what?"

"Turn right!" Will demands.

Faye is thrown against the window as the car veers sharply to the right and into the field. She screams in alarm as they crash through several hay-bales and knock over a wooden sign before Ms. Byers slams the breaks on. When Faye catches her breath, she looks up and sees that they are parked behind Hopper's cruiser.

Author's note: Hello lovely readers! I hope you're enjoying the story. I just wanted to ask whether people think the chapters are too long? I am aware each one is like a mini essay and I don't want them to be a chore to get through. If you have any thoughts on this please let me know and I am happy to amend the word count accordingly. I won't cut anything out, I'll just post shorter chapters. Thank you!