Chapter Eleven: Home Again

My eyes opened onto a familiar looking yellow painted ceiling above me. I was in Will's bedroom and in his bed. Daylight poured into the room through the window on the right.

"Hey, sleepyhead," I heard Will say. My eyes darted to the source of his voice. He was sitting at the edge of the bed on the left side toward the door.

"Hey," was all I could muster while still waking up. He leaned over and kissed my cheek, making me blush.

"I woke up about two hours ago," Will said. "It was really tempting to wake you up, but my mom said to let you sleep, so I've just been sitting here waiting." Before I could ask him what was going on, Will got up and opened the door, sticking his head out. "Guys! He's awake! Come say hi!" he called out.

A few seconds later, the whole party filed into his bedroom and crowded around the bed: Mike, El, Dustin, Max, Lucas, and of course Will. Everyone went up to hug me one by one. I was all smiles.

"El told us all about how Will and you had her powers and how all of you defeated the Mind Flayer," Dustin said. "That's got to be like the coolest thing ever. If only I could've seen it…"

"It was only part of the Mind Flayer," Will corrected.

"Don't ruin the story," Lucas frowned at Will.

"She said it was your idea that really helped defeat it," Mike said. "I think that's really cool." My cheeks turned red from his compliment. "What was it like… having powers?"

I sat up. "Well, at first, it was kind of scary because I couldn't control them, but then it was pretty awesome. It's like having an extension of your emotions that you can manipulate things with. I didn't really have them that long though." I paused. "What happened, afterward?" I asked. "All I can remember is going through the front door and collapsing."

"We made it out of my vision, but you and Will passed out. Then everyone left the mansion and took you both here to rest," El explained. "Papa said no more hospitals for a while."

"So is it really gone? All of the Upside Down stuff? Closed off or wiped out just like that?" Max asked.

"Hopefully," Mike said. "It's hard to know for sure."

"Good riddance," Lucas said. "I swear if I see another Dart running around…"

"Hey, Dart was cool and my friend," Dustin protested.

"Oh no, not this again," Max groaned.

We laughed.

"Thanks, Robert and Will, for saving me," El said.

"It's the least we could do for you saving us," I responded.

"Multiple times," Will added.

"That's what friends do," El said, her lips forming a small smile.

"Lucas, Robert and I have something to tell you," Will said. I knew immediately what he wanted to say, remembering that Lucas hadn't been there when we told everyone about our newfound relationship.

Lucas looked at the two of us curiously. "What is it?"

I turned to Will. "Do you want to say it or should I?"

"You can say it," he answered, motioning me on.

I turned back to Lucas and took a deep breath. "We're together now."

Lucas stared at us for a moment. "Wait what?" He looked around at the rest of the party. "You guys hearing this?" Everyone gazed back at him knowingly. "You all knew already, didn't you?" Mike, El, Dustin, and Max nodded. "Wow, well I missed a lot apparently."

We all laughed.

I jumped onto my bed. Home sweet home, I thought. It felt like it had been ages since I'd been in my own bed, let alone my house. My mom was glad to see me home again, but of course she had no idea what I had been up to the last few days. I never told her about the Upside Down. She wasn't allowed to be in the know. She only knew about Hawkins Lab closing down like everyone else. That was public news. Why it really closed down was left out of the papers, of course.

I looked around at my walls. I had a Star Wars poster on the wall right across from my bed next to my dresser. To my right, I had a collage of pictures of me with various other party members. To my left was my desk, which I hadn't really used the last few weeks because I didn't have any homework during summer vacation.

It was nighttime now. Just a few hours earlier I developed the photos on my camera's film roll. The ones from the baseball game were nonexistent, which didn't surprise me. The group photo Max took of us in front of the mansion did turn out really well. I decided to save it for Castle Byers. I had spent most of the day with the party, hanging out like we had been before the whole mansion and shadow man business started. Steve hosted a pool party at his house today to celebrate the hopeful end of our Upside Down troubles. Unfortunately it wasn't all sunshine and games at the party.

"What are you waiting for, Robert? The water's nice and warm!" Dustin shouted at me.

My feet were pressed together at the edge of the pool. Nancy and Jonathan were behind me sitting on adjacent chaises lost in conversation, while Steve and the rest of the party were already in the pool, looking up at me. Bending my legs, I leaped forward, splashing into the water. I emerged from under the water and swam over to the everyone else.

"Who's up for a game of chicken?" Max asked the group.

"Me!" El exclaimed emphatically, raising her arms up quickly and splashing Mike accidentally in the process. Mike squirmed from the impact of the splash.

"Girls versus guys?" Lucas suggested.

"You're on, stalker," Max smirked at her boyfriend.

"If we're going to do this, let's do it right. Tournament style. Two games at once and the winners face each other," Mike proposed.

"Will, wanna be my partner?" I asked him. Will looked unbelievably attractive standing in the pool sans shirt, his usually neat straight hair tousled in wet strands pushed away from his forehead toward the side, water beads dripping gracefully down his shoulders and pale chest.

"You know it!" he beamed.

I watched as Max climbed on top of El's shoulders while Lucas climbed on top of Mike's shoulders. The pairs were squared off.

"Dustin, looks like it's you and me, buddy," Steve said. Dustin nodded.

I turned back to Will. "Looks like we're facing Dustin and Steve."

"We got this," Will said. I lowered my body so Will could straddle his legs around my shoulders. I grabbed his legs dangling in front of me and hoisted myself up with him on top of me. He was heavier than I thought. Will had grown a bit taller in the last few months and wasn't quite as diminutive as he used to be.

"Everyone ready?" Mike asked the group.

Everyone responded in the affirmative.

"Nancy! Can you call it so none of us has an unfair head start?" Mike shouted at his sister, who hadn't been paying attention to us and was surprised to hear her brother calling her name.

Nancy turned away from Jonathan, her eyes meeting Mike's. "What do you want?"

"Just call out 'chicken fight' on a count of three," Mike said.

Nancy stood up and scanned the pool of chicken fighters. Her face lit up, revealing a sudden investment in our game. She turned to Jonathan, snickering. "Oh this should be fun to watch." Turning back to us, she raised her voice. "One, two, three, chicken fight!"

Max and Lucas grappled each other, desperate to knock the other off.

At the same time, Dustin and Will began to engage each other. Their hands met as they tried to push each other backward. I pursed my lips as I held onto Will's legs, determined to not let him fall.

"El, move forward," Max commanded. El moved Max closer to Lucas and Mike. While her right hand grappled with Lucas's left hand, she moved her left hand behind Lucas's ear and tickled him.

Lucas started laughing uncontrollably. "Max! Stop! That's not fair!" Apparently right behind his ears was a particularly ticklish spot for him. He lost his composure as he let go of Max to block his ear. She grabbed his arm moving toward his ear and yanked it, pulling him down into the water.

"Lucas and Mike are out!" Nancy announced.

Lucas glared at his girlfriend. "You cheated!"

"Did I?" Max retorted.

Dustin and Will were still going at it.

"You're not making this easy, are you Will?" Dustin teased.

Will stuck his tongue out at Dustin, eager to beat his curly haired friend.

I was caught in a forward and backward dance with Steve. As Dustin and Will pushed up against each other, we moved with the momentum of whoever had the advantage. Taking a more aggressive approach, Dustin started pushing us farther and farther back. Will couldn't hold back their advance. Suddenly Dustin stopped and let go of Will, but the momentum from walking backward and sudden loss of extra support from Dustin grappling Will caused me to lose my balance. Will fell backward off of me and into the water. It was a strategic, but risky move by Dustin, that ended up paying off.

"Robert and Will are out!" Nancy called out after I popped my head back up at the surface. Will poked his head up above the surface a little later. He glanced at me quickly before turning away.

"I'm gonna go dry off," he said, sounding distant. Before I could say anything, Will quickly swam away and up to the edge of the pool before climbing out. He wrapped a towel around himself and sat down on one of the chairs at the table near the sliding glass patio door.

Why was he being so weird all of a sudden? Maybe he took the loss worse than I thought he would. No, it couldn't be that. Will was always a good sport. I wondered if something else might be troubling him. Was he hurt?

I swam up to the edge of the pool closest to where Will was sitting. "Will, are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," he replied not looking at me. So he was definitely not making eye contact with me now. Something was definitely wrong. I didn't want to make a scene, so I decided I'd try to talk to him after we all got out. Right now the final chicken fight between team Mike and Steve and team Max and El was about to commence.

"3, 2, 1, chicken fight!" Nancy shouted.

Max and Dustin grappled each other. Dustin had a very clear height advantage from being on top of Steve, but that didn't seem to bother Max. They circled each other, both trying to exhaust the other one's carrier under them. El was doing a very impressive job of keeping Max up. Eventually Steve got exhausted from carrying Dustin so long and it caused them to slip up as the back and forth and circling movements became more and more frequent. El backed Max up quickly as Dustin lunged forward to try to push Max off. Dustin missed his mark and fell face first into the water. The girls were triumphant.

"Max and El are the winners!" Nancy declared.

"Wooh! Girls win!" El shouted. Max was beaming with pride.

"I went easy on you," Dustin explained, trying to sound macho.

"Oh really? Well, I'd hate to see what try-hard Dustin looks like," Max mocked him.

Later when we had all gotten out of the pool and were drying off in the sun, I was so engrossed in a conversation about soap operas with Max and El that I hadn't noticed Mike was not with the group. When I realized he wasn't chatting with the other guys, I spotted him sitting with Will at the table in the corner by the patio door. Damn it! I forgot my own boyfriend was sitting off in the corner by himself all this time. Curse my increasing interest in soap operas. I tuned out of the conversation and stared at Will and Mike, eager to determine what they could be talking about. Unfortunately they were out of earshot. It seemed to be something serious as no smiles or laughs were shared between them. They must have realized I was staring at them because they glanced over at me for a second, both pairs of eyes meeting mine before turning back and resuming their conversation. No wave or other acknowledgement. Well, that was awkward, I thought.

"Earth to Robert!" Max snapped, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Sorry, I'm just worried about Will."

"Go talk to him! He's your boyfriend," El encouraged.

I walked over to the table Will and Mike were sitting at. Before I could open my mouth, Will stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mike. Bye." He grabbed his stuff and hurried off.

"Will, wait!" I called out. He ignored me. He disappeared into Steve's house. I heard the front door open and close soon after. He was gone.

I never got a straight answer from Mike about what they talked about. Why couldn't Will talk to me but could talk to Mike? He must have been talking about me. That's what that glance was. Maybe he really did mean what he said to me in El's vision. The more I thought about the more I realized we did kind of rush into this whole relationship thing and never really discussed it. It just happened by circumstance. Neither of us had really been ready to confess our love to the other. Did I blow it by telling him too soon? Will was dealing with enough, and I went and dumped my secret crush on him into the mix, putting more pressure on him. Maybe he really does want things to go back to the way they were before we were together. Could I really blame him for wanting to feel normal after everything he's been through? Our relationship is anything but, or maybe "was" is the better word. I don't even know anymore.

I tried radioing him throughout the evening, but he never picked up. I also tried calling his house, but his mom told me Will was drawing and didn't want to be disturbed. I had a feeling that was bullshit, but I didn't want to be rude and call her out on that.

Is this it? Is this the end for us? Is Will just going to ignore me now? He seemed perfectly fine before the chicken fight, but as soon as we lost, a switch flipped. I wanted so badly to know what was going on with him, so I could help him through it. But it seems like I'm the problem. He doesn't want to speak to me or even look at me. I felt a pit in my stomach as I closed my eyes and curled up on my bed, trying desperately to think about something, anything, more positive.

Tap, tap, tap. I jolted up and almost fell out of my bed. The sound came from my window. Was it a bird? No, the sound was too blunt to be a beak. I got off my bed and opened the curtains. It was Will! Somehow he had climbed up to my second story window. Mike had told me about how he saw Steve once climb into Nancy's bedroom in a similar way.

I opened my window. "Will, what are you doing here?" I whispered. It was really late and my mom was sleeping so I didn't want to wake her up.

"That's one way to say, 'hi,'" Will replied, squatting on the roof outside my window.

"How did you even get up here?"

"I climbed up. It's not that difficult," he chuckled. Well, that's a comforting thought: my bedroom window easily accessible by burglars.

"Alright Spiderman, come in, but keep it down, my mom's sleeping," I said. I backed up to let him crawl through my window. Once he was inside, he closed the window behind him.

"I couldn't sleep. I kept feeling like I needed to talk to you, make sure that we're ok, you know?" Will said.

"Yeah, we didn't really have any chance today," I agreed.

"So, are we ok?" he asked.

"You tell me."

Will tilted his head a bit. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, I'm just confused. After that chicken fight, you just ran off."

Will bit his lip. "I'm sorry. I've just been feeling a bit guilty… actually a lot guilty. The things I said to you in El's vision… they were so awful. When I fell in the water during the chicken fight, it reminded me of how you flung me back with El's powers in a fit of well-deserved rage for saying those things. Every time I've looked at you since, I just hear myself saying them all over again. And no matter how much I want to blame the shadow man, I still said them. They were my thoughts."

Poor Will. He blamed himself for me force pushing him in El's vision. I really am a terrible boyfriend for allowing him to think that way. After we defeated the shadow monster, we just pretended like nothing happened and we were supposed to be ok. Why did I expect that he would just be ok after what we went through in there? "Hey. Don't blame yourself. I shouldn't have flung you back with El's powers. No matter what you said, it wasn't right of me. I'm sorry."

Will was trembling. "Why do you put up with me? How could you possibly still love me when I've said such terrible things to you…when I took advantage of your trust? I don't deserve your love. I never have."

I absolutely hated seeing Will like this. So broken and self-loathing. I pulled him closer to me and wrapped my arms around him.

"Will, you deserve the world. Those things you said to me in El's vision don't define you, nor do your brushes with the Upside Down. It's your persistence, your bravery, the way you're so accepting and caring for your friends and others, your sense of humor and love of music, art and adventure, and how you've always been there for me. That's what defines you. All that and more is why I love you so much. Also you're pretty freaking cute, Will Byers."

Tears fell down Will's cheeks and dripped onto my shoulder as I held him in my arms.

"I was thinking earlier, just before you knocked on my window, about us," I continued. "About how I kind of just dumped my feelings for you on you without thinking about what you were going through. We kind of rushed into this relationship without really talking about it. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry I put this pressure on you, and if you want me to give you some space I'll gladly do so."

"I pressured you into confessing your feelings. I even made you cry. What kind of friend does that?"

"That's all on me, Will. A part of me wanted so badly to let go of that secret I had been holding onto forever, and you gave me an opportunity to do it. I have plenty of regrets, but telling you how I feel about you that night is not one of them. You came over tonight because you wanted to know if we're ok. Well, I think we're more than ok, but if you disagree, please let me know."

"If anything, you're the one who took the pressure off of me. You confessed first. Us being together finally — it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I don't ever want to lose that." He wrapped his arms around me.

Great, now I was crying. "Me neither." I sniffled. I hugged him back squeezing him tight. In our embrace, we were like two opposite velcro strips clinging to each other.

After a few moments, we separated, although I think both of us would have been fine holding each other like we were forever. I stared into Will's big hazel eyes, which were especially reflective from being watery. "How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?"

"You forgot your lunch that day in first grade. And I shared mine with you," he reminded me, of course knowing I remembered how we met, since I used that memory when I told him my true feelings for him.

"Best lunch I never had," I joked. He laughed. Will had the most infectious laugh. It was just right. Not too obnoxious, and not too understated. Ever since the Upside Down started plaguing our lives and especially Will's, I hadn't heard that laugh as often as I used to. Within the larger party, when Dustin or someone else made a joke, he would chuckle, but not laugh the way he was now. It's not even like my joke was that funny, but I think he just reserved his real laugh for times like these, more intimate moments between close friends, or in our case, boyfriends.

"You have no idea how much I really want to kiss you right now. I spent the whole morning and afternoon with you and didn't even get to kiss you once."

Will laughed again. It was like he was relinquishing all the inner pain he arrived at my window with through his laughter. We leaned in and pressed our lips together.

I pulled away for a second for some pillow talk. "You know I could really get used to you sneaking into my room like this," I smirked. "How about we do this again same time tomorrow?"

"It's a date," Will replied with his own smirk. "Maybe a little earlier though." I nodded and laughed before our lips met again. Once we were satisfied, we sat crisscrossed on my bed.

"Do you really hate Mike?" Will asked me out of the blue.

Just the fact that he had reason to ask me that made me feel ashamed. "No. Of course I don't hate him." I had hoped that the hug Mike and I shared after Will and I told the party about our relationship would be a step toward rekindling our friendship beyond the larger party, but Will seemed to have his doubts. "I guess you've already picked up on this, but I would sometimes get jealous of you and him together because unlike our friendship, he never had to worry about hiding feelings for you. He could tell you everything."

"We can tell each other everything now. You know I couldn't tell him everything so it was pretty one-sided anyway. Like I could trust him about Upside Down stuff but when it came to liking boys, I kept that to myself."

"There are other boys?" I teased.

Will's face turned red. "You know what I mean!"

"I'm sorry for being jealous. I guess it doesn't really make any sense."

"You're right, it doesn't. I need you to be ok with Mike and I being close. And honestly you should talk to him more. He misses you."

"He told you that?"

"Yeah. At the pool earlier. He tells me everything, remember?"

I sighed. "I miss him too. And yes, I'm definitely ok with you and Mike being close."

He crawled on his hands and knees toward me. "Besides, we're closer," he breathed in my ear, before kissing my cheek. My face flushed from his seductiveness. Seductive Will. Now that's a Will I could get used to. He moved back into his criss-cross position.

"You ready for high school?" Will asked in earnest.

"Yeah, I hear it's much better than middle school," I answered.

"From whom?" Will asked.

"Steve, mostly."

"Well he was basically the king of Hawkins High for a while, so of course he'd make it sound amazing," Will reasoned.

"Are you worried about it?"

"I don't know. Jonathan didn't really have many friends in high school so I guess he's not the best person to look to, but I know a lot of the kids picked on him. I don't want that to happen to us too," Will responded. "Troy and James were bad enough, but high school has people like Billy."

"Billy's crazy. I don't think most people will be like him. Besides, if we can take on the shadow monster, those bullies won't stand a chance," I said.

"You're always so sure of things," Will observed. "And I always hope you're right, but remember we don't actually have powers in the real world."

"That doesn't matter. The bullies don't have them either," I replied. "How's Jonathan doing? Senior year coming up and all," I asked, changing the subject.

"He's alright, I guess. He and Nancy have been spending a lot of time together this summer, so I don't get to see him as much," Will answered. "On top of that he's also been taking more hours at the general store."

"That's got to be rough."

"It's not too bad. I'm happy he has someone else to hang out with. I used to be his only friend, as you know," Will said. "I'm just worried about next year when he goes off to college. My mom is going to be an emotional wreck. She always relies on him to help out with things like grocery shopping, dropping me off and picking me up, and cooking. It was hard for her when my dad left, but at least Jonathan was there. Once Jonathan's gone, I'll have to step up and help out," Will said.

"I'll help too," I offered.

"In between helping your own single mother out?" Will asked. "Come to think of it, what's with our group and broken families? Only Mike and Lucas have normal families and Mike's parents are clearly not happily married."

"I honestly don't know," I laughed. "But it makes me think marriage isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Will nodded before looking over at my digital alarm clock sitting on my nightstand. "Oh man, it's midnight."

I looked over at the alarm clock. 12:00am, the lit up numerals read. "I didn't realize it had gotten so late," I said.

"I gotta get home," Will said starting to get up.

I grabbed his arm. "No, you shouldn't bike home this late at night. It's not safe. You can stay over," I recommended.

"But my mom will go crazy if she wakes up and I'm not there. And it's too late to call her to let her know I'm here," he worried.

"We'll get up real early and call her first thing, ok?"

"Alright. Thanks for letting me stay the night," Will said.

"No problem. I'm really glad you came over."

"Me too. I feel a lot better," Will said. "Hey, do you mind if I take my jeans off to sleep? It's kind of hot in here."

"No, not at all," I said. "You know, I think I'll take my pajama pants off too. It is pretty hot." I thought it might make Will more comfortable if I undressed too. I pulled down my pajama pants and kicked them off my feet. I watched Will do the same to his jeans. His skinny legs were so cute. He was wearing a pair of white boxer shorts. Will looked over to catch me admiring him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Will questioned me.

"You're just so adorable, I can't help it," I admitted.

Will's cheeks went crimson. "Quit it. It's embarrassing."

"I'm sorry."

There was a moment of silence. "You're really cute too," Will blurted out.

"Oh, um, thanks," I replied with hesitation. Even for us, this was getting awkward. "Do you wanna…"

"Yes," Will interrupted.

We started making out on my bed, both of us wearing boxer shorts and t-shirts.

"Is it me or did it get way hotter in here?" Will asked.

"It's just you," I joked. Will laughed. "Yeah, let's take off our shirts," I said. Will nodded. We pulled our shirts off and threw them on the floor. I gazed at Will's undefined chest lit by the soft yellow glow of my table lamp. His small nipples were adorable. We continued to make out, our tongues dancing between each others' mouths. We rolled around in the bed, finding it impossible to settle in one position.

"Can I kiss your neck?" I asked Will, wanting to try something new in this sensual moment we were sharing.

"Yes," he said. I began sucking at his neck, right around the two moles he had on the right side of his neck (my left side when facing him). Will moaned softly. I ran my hands across his chest, my fingers particularly lingering around his nipples.

"I love those moles on your neck. They make you one of a kind," I said.

"God, you're so embarrassing, Robert," Will groaned. "But if we're being embarrassing, you know I love that mole next to your nose."

"Oh, I was actually thinking about getting that removed when I'm older," I quipped.

"No don't!" Will whined. "I'll never forgive you."

I laughed. "I'm just kidding, Will." He groaned.

"My turn to kiss your neck," he demanded.

"Ok, I giggled. He lifted his legs to move over so he could position himself on top of me. He started sucking at my neck. I had never felt anything like this before. It felt incredible. I moaned in pleasure, trying not to be too loud because my mom was still sleeping. I knew I'd have marks on my neck in the morning, but I didn't care.

"We really should get to sleep," Will suggested after he had his fill of my neck. "Or we're not going to be able to get up early enough to call my mom."

"You sure you don't want to make out a little more?"

He rolled his eyes at me.

"Alright," I acquiesced. I pulled the covers on my bed back. We both tucked our feet under the sheets before I pulled them back over our half naked bodies. I leaned over and shut off the lamp. The room was dark, except for the pale moonlight shining through my window. Will snuggled up to me, his smooth legs brushing up against mine. Despite the warm temperature in my room, the warmth of Will's body on mine didn't bother me one bit. In fact, it was soothing, the same way it was that night in Will's bedroom just a few days ago.

"I love you, Robert," Will murmured.

"I love you too, Will."

That was the last thing I remember before I fell asleep.