Christmas, 1984

After the Christmas supper, and all the gifts exchanged, and carols and French toasts in the middle of the night, and Holly sleeping in his arms because a copy of Captain Marvel put him on the top of her list of favorite people; after all of that and putting Holly in bed and the neighborhood getting quieter along with their house, and the walkie-talkie finally stopping with the noise, Mike found Nancy sitting by her open window and decided to join her.

It didn't snow that year, but there was a thin layer of ice everywhere that had their relatives confined in the Indianapolis' airport.

"I told mom we should've gone to New Orleans instead of them coming here," Nancy said looking out the window and up at the sky. It was a clear night, full of stars.

"I bet uncle Klay thinks the same now," Mike added, making Nancy smile.

She gave him space and he sat by her side. On a warm day, they'd go out her window and lay on the garage's roof to watch the stars, but that was a long time ago, even a couple of years before the demogorgon. It was always nice, because Nancy knew a lot about constellations and Mike always learned something. He kind of missed that.

"I can't believe we survived this hell of a year," Nancy sighed.

"It managed to be even crazier than last year," Mike agreed rubbing his eyes.

They were tired, but hyped, and sleep was not an option, not yet.

Both siblings looked out the window again, even though they didn't exactly look at each other during their brief exchange. The chilled air settled in the room.

"You still like astronomy?" asked Mike, and Nancy smiled.

"Yeah…" she sighed, and stuck her head out the window. "Wow, it's been a while. Do you have a compass?"

Mike scoffed.

"You telling me you can't guide yourself through the stars?" he mocked, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm out of practice, dumbass," Nancy replied, trying to make sense of the sky. It was such a beautiful night.

"I have some, but they're all downstairs."

Nancy turned around, resting her head on the windowsill. It was an awkward position, but less freezing than sitting on the roof. It took her a couple of seconds to finally find herself.

"No, never mind!" she exclaimed, right when Mike finally got up. "Come here."

He mirrored her position, both siblings shoulder to shoulder to look outside.

"You see Leo?" Nancy pointed, and after some concentration, Mike found it too, right next to the moon.

"Yeah, I see it," Mike replied, smiling a bit.

"Can you find Hercules?"

He looked at Nancy, but she had her eyes on the sky, so he looked up again too and nodded, looking for the constellation. He just had to remember the sequence and follow it – Virgo, Ursa Major, Big Bootes, the Corona Borealis and… there it was. Hercules.

"There," Mike pointed, and he could practically feel the pride coming from Nancy.

They just laid there for a few minutes feeling their noses freeze and contemplating the stars in silence, and then Mike remembered something.

"What happened to your telescope?" he asked, frowning at the Corona Borealis.

"Loaned it to Barb, like… three years ago," Nancy answered. "Never got it back."

"Not even…" Mike started, and she shook her head.

"Nope," Nancy replied, popping the last syllable, and right after that a shooting star crossed the sky, making her gasp and hold Mike's wrist. "You saw that? Make a wish."

"I saw it," he said, surprised with how tightly she was holding his wrist. "Can we wish upon the same star?"

"Damn right, we can," Nancy said, a little out of breath.

It had been such a hard year for both of them. A wish would come in handy now.

"Did you make your wish?" she asked.

He did. So did she.

That position was painful.

"You know what Dustin's brother once told us?"

"Which brother? Grant, the hippie?"

Mike chuckled and sat straight, done with the stars already. Nancy did the same.

"That one," he said, laughing. "He told us that things tend to get bad before they get good."

Nancy nodded. That was a good saying, she'd heard it before.

"You think it can get worse than this year?" she wondered, and he shook his head just once.

"I think we'll finally be fine," Mike told her. It kind of had to do with his wish, kind of had to do with the noisy walkie-talkies and weird compasses. But he didn't go into details with her. He just had a feeling.

Mike stood up.

"Good night, Nance," he said. "Merry Christmas."

Nancy smiled looking up at him, and watched him leave to his room.

"Merry Christmas, Mike," she replied when he was almost out of earshot, hoping that he was right.