"You have got to be joking!" Robin said with the phone against her ear, tangly little demon wire around her fingers and wrapped twice around her waist that she tries to undo (she's been pacing something manic).

"Robin,"

"No, no." And she lowers her voice down to a whisper, "that freak-a-zoid monster was after Will? It wasn't just by chance? God, that poor kid."

"I know, Robin," Steve says humourlessly, "I'm not a fan either. We don't know what the Mind Flayer wants with him, not yet. Will said, he said it might talk to him again. So, the basic plan is to try and use Will's link to our advantage, probe for answers, and try not to have it spy back. Until then we're not gonna know where to even start. At least El's got clearance to close the gates tomorrow, or however many she can close in a day, but… they seem on edge about it." Steve has a hint of tightness in his voice, and Robin stops twiddling with the wire as the seriousness of the situation dawns on her.

Whatever the Mind Flayer has planned, could it affect tomorrow? What if everything backfires?

Steve takes a crackling breath inward, "I'm not gonna lie, it's been super tense since we explained everything. We're all just waiting for the next shoe to drop, I guess."

He takes a moment to force some brightness into his voice, wanting to put an end to the morbidity of his thoughts, "hey, shall I come pick you up now? Eddie's driving me insane."

Robin mumbles a hasty, "meet me in twenty, I can pull an excuse," and she hears Steve's agreement, before…

"You talking about me, lover-boy?" Robin hears down the line. And then it sounds like the phone is switching hands as if in a struggle.

"Now who's this fine lady?"

"Oh my God, Eddie. Don't be disgusting." Robin grimaces but is happy anyway to hear from Eddie. It's been a good feeling making another friend.

"Robin! Oh, how I've missed your voice!" He says theatrically, "how's it been hanging, y' know, with the parents?" Eddie watches Steve as he speaks with an entirely too dramatic shiver, smirking as he shifts away and clutches the phone tighter to his ear, and Steve crosses his arms in exasperation.

"Horribly." Robin grimaces at the thought, her mom's yelling voice replaying in her head: 'do you even know how worried we were?'

"They're super not happy with me right now. But they'll get over it, I guess. They always seem to."

"Yikes. Well, if you can get out of their hair today, the sooner the better…"

"Are you quite done talking to my best friend, Munson?"

"Ooh, hear that Bucks? Possessive much?"

Robin rolls her eyes at their griping.

"That's it, morons. I'm hanging up."

"Wait, wait!" She hears before she cuts the line, smiling softly.

"Mom! I'm running out, needed for a shift!"

"Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast." Her mom comes into view just as she's a foot out of the door, and she looks back at her sheepishly.

"If you aren't back for-,"

"10 o'clock sharp. Got it." Robin says quickly.

"It should be even earlier with what you pulled this morning, we were ringing Steve's house something daft until you finally deigned to show up," her mom says, tidy brown hair pulled into a lazy bun, expression hinting at displeasure.

"Look, I'm so, so sorry! Time got away from me, you know what I'm like! I'll do all the chores for the next two weeks, I promise," she says imploringly, hands clasped together.

Her mom's face softens, "just make sure it doesn't happen again. I'll speak to your dad."

Robin nods her head, mumbling her acceptance and gratefulness before closing the door hurriedly.

She hears a whisper of a sigh before she does so.

Now just to head over to the usual spot Steve pulls up at, when they're being kind of on the sly about things.

As she does just that, about five minutes in she sees a car almost zipping around the corner, music blaring loudly.

It starts to slow down as it comes her way, and Robin feels a slight unease scurry up her spine. She tugs her Wranglers jacket on more firmly, and then the window in the car is peeled down and…

There she is. Vickie. Her face is glowing.

"Robin!"

She sees Vickie reaching over at someone in the driver's seat, and the car pulls over to a stop.

Robin's eyes are wide with shock.

Vickie gets out and bounds over to her, cheerful and bouncy, but fleetingly Robin detects an edge of nervousness.

"How have you been?" Vickie asks shyly.

Robin, at the same time, questions her, voice high-pitched with surprise, "what are you doing here?" And Robin winces at her own tone.

"Oh, um."

"And I mean that in a totally 'hey, this is so cool! What are the chances!' way, not like an 'oh, what's she doing here?' kind of way, just in case that… wasn't clear?" Robin was quick to explain.

"Oh, totally!" Relief seems to put the smile back on Vickie's face, and she reaches up a dainty hand to brush her fringe and to tuck a strand behind her ear. She has blue wide earrings matching both her striped shirt at the collar and a very fluffy-looking jumper over the top. She looks snug, comfy. She looks cute.

"Well, just going out for a ride with my boyfriend, Dan. He's here for spring break, can you just believe it? I'm so lucky, he's always saying how busy he is with college!"

Robin's face shutters, ending her train of thought abruptly, and she turns away to hide it with embarrassment crawling up her neck.

She swallows down all the surging and rioting emotions climbing up through her chest, and just says, "yep! So great! Hey, maybe we could talk later? I'm meeting up with someone for a drive too, so." She sounds very much so like she's faking the chipper beat to her tone to even her own ears, but hopes anyway that Vickie doesn't catch on.

And she doesn't, which is good in hindsight, but…

"Oh really, are you headed somewhere in particular? Dan and I would be happy to take you instead! Save your friend the travel?"

Stupid, so stupid. Robin berates herself mentally.

She squeezes out, "oh, I couldn't possibly! Besides, he's on his way right now. Maybe I'll take you up on the offer another time, okay?" Robin begs to herself that Vickie doesn't insist, because that would just be fate being too cruel, and…

Vickie's face sort of falls in dejection before she nods, and chirpily adds, "yeah, we should hangout sometime, right?" And Vickie nods at her own words, almost gearing herself up as she asks, "could I, could I maybe get your telephone number? It'll definitely save me looking through the phonebook like a complete stalker, or something." She laughs sweetly, wringing her hands, looking up through her eyelashes into Robin's face.

Robin's heart hasn't hurt much like this before.

"Yeah, sure." Vickie grabs a note and pen from the car and scratches down the number that Robin recites with a lump in her throat.

Dan honks the horn, and Vickie raises her hand in a goodbye before she hops back in, "I'll look forward to seeing you, Robin!" And she's zipped away, just like that, but not before Robin sees Dan squeezing her thigh as the door is pulled to a close.

When Robin not so smoothly slides into Steve's car, she does so quietly, feeling a sensation at her eyes. She feels her face going blotchy with emotion that she tries her damndest to repress because she hates crying, so she just states miserably, "she has a boyfriend, Steve."

And she looks over at him for comfort, mostly, but instead witnesses complete shock just as he snaps his head behind him…

"Who has a boyfriend?" Eddie asks, head peering around the back of her seat at her, with a blanket draped over his shoulders and head.

"No one! No one has a boyfriend!" Steve says anxiously, eyes watching Robin as he panics and flounders. Even teary-eyed, she can't not raise an eyebrow at him.

Robin doesn't think about it much before she exclaims, "oh, it's okay Steve! God, you are not subtle. I've been meaning to, to ask anyway. The handkerchief?" She sniffs, wiping at her eyes as she turns around to Eddie.

His face comes to a realisation, "wait, what! So, you," and then he looks to Steve, doubly silently shocked, "and you?"

"Uh, no," Robin shakes her head minutely, and Eddie collapses back in his seat, wrapping the blanket around himself and burying himself in it whilst crossing his arms, tucking them up to his sides, eyes wide.

"Wait, what? Handkerchief? What are you guys-?"

"It's nothing, Steve. Don't worry about it." Now it's Robin's turn to flounder. Even if Steve's safe to her, Eddie could completely not feel the same. Which is understandable, because Eddie hardly really knows them, and with what Steve was like in school…

Steve pouts, "I have literally no clue about what's just happened, guys. So, mind clueing me in?"

And Robin grimaces, how has she slipped up twice already today?

"I mean. I gather he's," Eddie glimpses at Steve's face as he talks to Robin, "okay with it?"

Robin gulps and nods slowly.

"Right." She sees his whirring emotions and as he comes to a sudden decision.

"I'm also gay, you dunce," he lets out a whoosh of noise, clicks his tongue against his teeth, and ignores Steve's utterly astounded face as he leans forward to rest an elbow on Robin's seat, the fleece material bunching up at his shoulders as he does so, "so what's this about a girl with a boyfriend?"

"You're gay?"

"Yeah, got a problem with that, Harrington?" Eddie's voice goes a little aggressive as he twists his neck at him, glaring, and even though Eddie seems remarkably silly with the fluffy blanket draped over his head like a hood whilst trying to simultaneously look intimidating… well, still, Steve's suddenly reminded about the instance of when they first met, the broken glass bottle shoved against his neck and warm breath close to his face.

So, Steve meagrely stutters out, "w-well, obviously not!"

"Great. We're all on the same page, then."

Robin repeats, "Vickie. Vickie has a boyfriend. I just saw her, she told me."

Steve returns attention back to Robin, face contorting in sympathy and sadness for her, "oh, Robin."

"I know, I know. It was utterly stupid, to even think I had a chance-,"

"Hey, Robin. You're not stupid. I mean, I was convinced too. That Vickie was…"

"Yeah, well, I guess we were both wrong." Robin says, crestfallen, hands screwed up in her lap and fiddling. She looks out of the window, so they don't see her eyes watering yet again.

"Hey, man. It's her loss. You're awesome, okay? And I get it, I understand. Small town, very minimal options. But plenty heartbreaks anyway? Screw it. We'll find our people, right?" Eddie says softly, a total juxtaposition to how he was before, ruffling at her shoulder until she turns back around.

"I-I guess. I just feel so," Robin slouches in her seat, rubbing at her face, and then sliding her hands up and pulling at her hair.

"She, she asked if I wanted to hangout sometime, and I gave her my number. How did I get it so completely wrong, y' know? I would've been, literally over the moon, if she'd asked that even a week ago."

She feels the tiniest little bit pathetic, especially with everything else going on that's exceedingly more important than her failing love-life, and waspishly she just says, "it's fine, it's whatever. Let's just go, I don't think I wanna talk about it anymore."

"Robin-," Steve replies, but she just shakes her head resolutely, and he sighs, pulling the car away from the kerb with a fellow feeling face, glancing over at Robin every few minutes, but Robin just curls up tighter in her seat, and they drive on.

"So, you're staying, huh?" Jonathan says, walking over to where he sees Argyle's sat, one leg up, a puff of smoke being exhaled out. He's sat in the back of the Surfer Boy Pizza van, the backdoors swung open.

Argyle looks up, grins big at him, "hell yeah, your mom and that Hopper guy's sorting it all out for me right now, dude. Can't miss all the action, it's just getting to the bad part," he says jokingly, but Jonathan frowns.

"You know, I wouldn't blame you, right? I mean, all this, you got dragged into it. If you wanted to up and quit whilst you're ahead," he shrugs, eyes squinting at the sun and he raises a hand to block it, "you can go home if you want to."

Argyle stares at him, then looks down and scuffs his shoe against the ground, "nah, man. Looks to me like you all got dragged into this by default, too. Besides, I couldn't leave if I wanted to, dude."

Jonathan looks at him questioningly, and then toward where Argyle pats at the metal of the car, so he comes and sits by him, being offered a pull of the blunt between two fingers, and he takes it gladly.

After a minute, he says, "okay, how so? No one's forcing you, y' know. Hell, if I had the choice, I'd want out too."

"You ain't got no choice because it's your brother, man. I ain't gotta choice because it's you," Argyle bumps his shoulder as he says it, watching him with a warm smile, then he points challengingly at him, "so, I'm staying, whether you like it or not."

"Yeah?" Jonathan's not quite surprised, but it pulls at his chest all the same, "hey, you're family to us too. Just so you know."

Argyle goes a bit bashful, lowering his head and hand, "aw, dude."

"Hey, I'm serious. In Cal', well, it was never right without you at the table. You kinda became a Byers house staple family member. I know my mom enjoyed watchin' you scarf down her special casserole. Made her day, sometimes."

"Hey, it's delicious!" He defends himself.

And after a small beat, Argyle continues, "once this is all over, you'll have to finally fix that ol' car of yours up and visit me sometimes. That'll give you the right motivation, right? Not college?"

Jonathan nods at him seriously, then laughs, "for sure, man."

A pause, and then introspectively, Jonathan goes, "it's been, wild. Seeing you here, in Hawkins," he waves at him, "it's like, I kinda, separated these two lives, right? Hawkins and Cal'," and Argyle just listens to him, "I guess, it's partly why I didn't want to come back, sometimes. Too many bad memories. But, it wasn't all bad? I mean, I met Nance, and she's, well, the best thing that ever happened to me, the most understanding person I've ever met..."

"It was just easier to forget the bad stuff than it was to remember the good stuff that came with it. Easier than if I was to work through things, and come out of the other side," his voice goes steelier, "but, I don't want to forget now. I wanna come out of the other side, this time."

Argyle nods at him slowly in understanding, "we will," he claps his shoulder in a firm grip, "we will, man."

So, Jonathan and Argyle re-enter Hopper's cabin, shoving at each other and laughing, but find themselves faced with an exploding argument.

Mike is facing with his back to them, arms splayed in a whipping anger, and in front of Mike stands Will, who looked sort of like he's being singled out, attacked unjustly.

"You couldn't have said something before now, Will? Is that what you're saying?"

Will is meek now, voice shaking, "I-I didn't know for sure, Mike," he grips his hands by his side, and he feels the ache in his wrist being pulled at slightly, "I didn't want to ruin things, again, if it wasn't something to be worried about," and he mutters, quietly, as if not wanting anyone to hear, "it's all I'm good for, right? Ruining things?"

Lucas steps in, watching Will with a befuddled, yet concerned expression, and then turns a hard look toward Mike, "hey, dude, not cool. You're taking it too far."

"No! No, I'm not, Lucas. He's," he takes on an accusatory tone, "he's just making excuses. What you're really saying is you'd rather, rather put everyone in danger than be the bearer of bad news! Well, it's time to grow up, Will."

We're not kids, anymore, Will hears. It's not my fault you don't like girls. The same self-hatred he felt then burns at him again with its force.

Mike storms toward Will, and Will flinches back. It freezes Mike mid-step, but Dustin cuts across to stand in front of Will protectively, his face scrunched up, "Mike, come on. The last thing Will wants is to put anyone in danger, you know that."

"Yeah," Lucas sticks up, "he went to fight a monster on his own for us, and you think that's Will putting 'everyone in danger'. You're just mad," he says it tauntingly, "that El broke up with you."

Everyone snaps their heads toward Lucas, who has his arms crossed now judgementally, including Will whose eyes widen, tears brimming the corners.

But Mike just looks away and gulps, once again reaching to twist and pull at his wrist in a burst of anxious energy.

"Yeah, that's right. You think Max wouldn't have told me by now, before she followed El who had to take a breather from you and go outside?" He gestures pointedly to the front door.

Mike stays silent, and then Will's voice rings out, as he steps closer and Mike gets a full-view of him again, "is that really why? Is that really why you're blowing up at me right now?" Will says in an urgently hushed tone, angry but yet not surprised.

It reminds him of the roller rink, how Mike focused on him for ruining the day, and not on how El had been lying. Derailing the focus of who he's upset at, and targeting Will instead. But why? Because it's easier? Or because he knows…

"What would happen, say Mike found out your dirty little secret, hm? Would he grow to despise you?"

Mike scoffs, but his voice sounds tearful, upset, "you say that like you didn't blow up at me at the hospital."

"That's not fair," Will states, lips tightening.

"No, you don't get to tell me what's not fair! Not when you're the one not being fair. Y-You accepted my apology, back in California. We agreed to be a team. And then we're back in Hawkins, and you won't, you wouldn't look at me, anymore."

You wouldn't look at me, either, Will thinks.

"It's like I didn't exist, and then you nearly died, twice, fucking twice. I nearly lost you again. And I tried to even things out, smooth things over, 'cause I knew you were still mad, even when you wouldn't say it, but I wanted things to go back to the way they were, alright? And we were talking, finally, and then you just went distant, like it was something I said, and you held everything against me again, and it's like. I can never do anything right, with you." Mike implores, honesty bequeathing his tone.

"Because you never explained, you just ignored me all year and never explained why!" Will explodes, a fury ringing in the room that they've never seen before from him, "you never replied to my letters, either, so how was I meant to feel, Mike? I could feel it, that you're sick to death of me. So, excuse me for keeping my distance, a little, excuse me for not really believing any fucking 'sorry' that came out of your mouth?"

Mike's mouth gapes open, and immediately he states, "that's, that's what you think? I never-,"

"Fucking, fucking save it, Mike. I'm done with you."

Somehow, those words hurt more keenly in Mike's chest than El sincerely breaking things off with him.

He rushes after Will, past Dustin and Lucas who are watching both of them like, like this was completely new territory, like they've never witnessed a fight this bad between two people before. And that makes tears leak from his eyes, too.

"W-Will," he grabs at his arm, and it reminds Mike of them both back at Eddie's trailer, "please. You didn't deserve anything that I said. And I-I, I didn't call or write," he shakes his head sharply as Will watches him, even now, still giving him the benefit of the doubt, "not because I'm sick of you, or whatever. But because…"

But because I'm in love with you, Mike realises the words he couldn't even think to himself hours ago.

But he's too late, the silence being too long, and he sees Will's face collapse, hears an uncharacteristically scathing laugh burst right out of him, and Will sidles closer, whispers, "because you can't stand what I am, right? That I'm a freak… that I'm a boy who likes other boys," he hisses it, and Mike can't even begin to think about what Will just said, the implications of this whole argument…

He's in love with Will.

He's in love with Will.

Will likes boys.

Will thinks Mike stopped talking to him because…

And Mike watches Will's face helplessly, as he sees an emotion other than anger settle behind his eyes, something akin to self-loathing (because that's what it was, wasn't it? The expression he's seen on Will so many times, now, the one that set a pit in his stomach each time that he saw it, each time that he caused it).

Will watches him for a moment, and then nods as if he's seen all that he needed to see, before he pulls away from Mike's loosened grip and enters into El's room, slamming the door shut, a bellowing echo.

The silence permeates the room.

Mike shakes himself out of it, and he goes as if to follow Will, because they're not done. That's not the end of it. Will was wrong, so wrong. Mike had to fix this.

But something bodies him, stops him, and he tries to shake them off, says desperately, "get off, I have to,"

"That's enough," Jonathan's voice is deadly. "That's enough, Mike. Leave him alone, because we're way," Jonathan elongates the word, something forceful about him, "overdue for a long fucking chat." Jonathan looks like he's wanted to say that for a long while, and he scowls something sharp at him, glowering.

Mike's mouth goes dry.

And then he's pulled outside, Jonathan damning any attempts of resistance, "Jonathan, please. I-I, I can't leave it like that. Will has it all wrong, just let me,"

He's pushed outside, and the front door is pulled to a close, but not before Mike sees the faces of his friends over Jonathan's shoulder, riddled with shock, none of them daring to make a noise.

Jonathan puts his hand on Mike's chest, shoving a tad, and Mike stumbles backward as Jonathan strides toward him.

"Frankly, I've had enough of watching you break my brother's fucking heart, stomping on him like it means nothing to you, over and over again. He's had enough pain to last a lifetime as it is, without you making his life even harder. For Christ's sake, you two were best friends, and you've been acting like you making him cry is some fucking joke that can be made right as rain the next day, something to be forgotten about, because Will doesn't hold grudges, right? Well, no, that's not how it's going to fucking work, not anymore-," but Jonathan cuts himself off, as he finally looks at Mike's face after the tirade, and instead of seeing a scowl, or surprise, he sees him sobbing silently.

Mike takes a deep, blubbering breath, "I, never, I never wanted to make Will feel like that. I love him, I just didn't know what to do with it. I wanted to push it down, away. And I knew it wasn't fair, or right, but I didn't want to keep feeling like this. I just wanted it to stop! But I saw him again, in Cali', and I couldn't, I couldn't keep doing it. I realised it didn't work, it didn't work because it never was going to."

Mike's rambling now, overwhelmed, with a blotchy face, "and, I've, I've made him believe, all this time, that I hate him? I'm a fucking horrible, I know it, alright, a fucking terrible person." He's twisting angrily at his wrist, and Jonathan zeroes in on the red marks, the scratching, the inflammation, and it dawns on him, that Mike was struggling, and he didn't know, he didn't know, and he's just shouted him down, looking for retribution, and.

And Mike was only fifteen.

He pulls at Mike's hand in a quick motion, tearing emotion of his own clogging up his throat, and Mike stills, tear-tracks stark on his face, and dizzyingly, unexpectedly, Mike's pulled into a tight hug.

And Mike tries to scramble out of it, fighting, shrieking, (he doesn't deserve this, not from Jonathan, especially from Jonathan, he has the right to be angry, the right to be furious), but Jonathan holds him tighter anyway.

But he goes limp, slowly but surely. And Jonathan feels a dampness where Mike's face is shoved into his shoulder, and he hears the sounds of weeping by his ear, and it breaks him up, eats at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's okay," he feels a hard shake of a head, as the boy screws himself firmer into the hug.

Mike whispers brokenly into his shirt, with eyes clutched tightly closed, "I love him, I do, I really do."

Jonathan thinks he understands now.