Will and Dustin were setting up for D&D while Mike was wallowing on the couch in the basement of his house. El had broken up with him and he was going on and on about what the hell he did wrong. Mike was eating Doritos while Lucas was trying to get him to calm down.

"What did I do wrong!?" Mike wailed.

Lucas was pacing and he stated,

"Do I go through this again?

"God no please! You shouldn't have lied to her Mike, end of story. I mean why even lie about your Nana being sick? You should have just said you needed time alone because Hopper said so." Dustin groaned as he set up more pieces.

Mike shoved more chips in his mouth and sighed.

"I don't know what I did to deserve this? Why is she treating me this way? What did I do wrong?" Mike panicked and was on the verge of sobbing.

"Nothing, you did nothing. Mike stop. Stop asking rational questions. Relax okay." Lucas explained.

"Yeah you're right since women act on emotion and not logic."

"Exactly. They are totally different species." Lucas agreed.

Will rolled his eyes since this was really horrible of Mike to say. Dustin also thought so and he really didn't need to hear this from Mike. A smile soon grew on Will's face as his campaign was ready. This can get Mike's mind off El and everyone could have fun. Dustin whistled at the set up and it looked to be a good campaign and he couldn't wait to play.

"Come on, it's ready. I finished setting it up." Will urged.

"Will not now okay." Mike spoke flatly, eating another chip.

"They broke up with you. What else is there to talk about, really? You lied and you know El would hate that. Now come on off your butt and let's play." Will spoke a bit firm.

Mike scoffed a bit and shook his head.

"We're trying to solve the mystery of the female species." Mike addressed.

Dustin shook his head and took the chips away from Mike. He understood Mike was upset but this was just getting pathetic. Will sighed as he glanced at the D&D game he set up. Did Mike really change so much by having a girlfriend and losing her? Will could understand why El would be upset, Will would be upset too if Mike lied to him. El became Mike's world since he found her and now he's just lost and doesn't know what to do. Will can's understand why he can't just move on and be like before El came.

"Mike, another one of your friends is coming down!" his mother called out to him.

Mike and Lucas looked really confused since who else would be here. He knew it wasn't El since his mother would have mentioned El by name. Will heard this and he felt a very bubbly feeling in his chest. Sure enough when Will got to the stairs, he saw Five coming down with an old backpack and a very playful smirk.

"Fi….Aidan, you came. I was thinking you weren't going to show." Will expressed with a very warm smile.

Five got down to the basement and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well I was very intrigued by the little campaign last night that I wanted to see what an actual campaign would be like."

Mike rose up from the couch and he couldn't help but glare at Five. What the fuck was he doing here, in his basement and clearly being all buddy-buddy with Will. Dustin also seemed to be happy to see him and welcomed him to the basement. He glanced at the backpack and motioned it asking,

"What's in the bag?"

"Oh just some stuff for tonight's campaign. My character sheet, some old dice Will had that I could borrow, and stuff in case I have to sleep…

"What the hell are you doing here? You can't just come in and join our party." Mike interrupted and got up to confront Five.

Five crossed his arms and stated,

"Will invited me. It's his turn to be the dungeon master and he wanted us all to get to know each other Mike. Are you really going to be an asshole tonight."

Mike glared at him and spat,

"I didn't invite you and it's my basement. So leave."

Five scoffed and got in his face. Clearly he had been crying or been upset about something and he looked to Will.

"What the hell did he get all upset about?" Five questioned.

Will sighed as he got out his costume for the campaign.

"El broke up with him and he's still very upset about it. Stop being an ass to Aidan. It's not his fault you lied and you weren't treating her how she should be okay? Like he said, I invited him and he could be a part of our girl free fun tonight."

Five raised an eyebrow and he really couldn't help but laugh at that. Wow he had such a puss on for his own stupid mistake. From what he had briefly seen of El, she was a very pretty and sweet girl and she had been with Mike of all people. I would dump his ass too if I was being lied to and not treated well. Heck if he was being a bit rude to his friends, he would hate to see how he treated El.

"You mean the girl I saw with Max? Brown hair, brown eyes, lovely dress and the tattoo on her wrist? Yeah she did seem pretty nice and you went and fucked it up huh. No wonder you're pissy. I would dump your ass too if you weren't being honest. A nice girl like her should have better and be with better."

Mike's eyes widened and he couldn't help but feel his temper rising. How dare he talk down to him and kind of eye his girl. Nice girl, lovely dress, should be with better…was he trying to anger him.

"And you know this all how?" he said with gritted teeth.

Five rolled his eyes in contempt. And this was one of Will's best friends…wow what a prick.

"They got ice cream at my job. I may not know what El has been through but it must have been a lot. The last thing she needs is her boyfriend to not be honest. Also if I am to be frank, your pissy mood and inability to balance your ex-girlfriend and friends is kind of shitty. Anyway, I'm not going to be that way for Will and I am staying." Five growled slightly.

"The hell you are. Get. Out. Now." Mike argued.

Dustin got in between the two boys and made sure that no one would get hurt. Lucas went to gently get Mike away from Five while Five went to Will's side and looked over his wizard costume that was packed. Will was really going all out Five thought. It was almost kind of cute the way Will was getting all excited for this night. All the more reason why Five was really hating Mike right now since who knows how long it took Will to make this campaign up. Huh Five was really caring a lot about Will and his feelings, at times he didn't even get this way with his own family.

"You don't make decisions for the party Mike. I say we let Aidan play. Will's vouching for him so Aidan must be pretty cool." Dustin defended.

"Yeah Mike. I'm sorry El dumped you, but I've been waiting all day for this. You've been ruining this party ever since summer started. No longer; I want to do this campaign and I want Aidan to be a part of it. Can you please do that for me." Will asked, almost begged Mike.

Mike let out an annoyed yell and he sat back down on his couch. Lucas sighed and he looked at Aidan with a curious look. Aidan was wearing a long sleeved shirt, which was an odd choice for the summer and he just seemed…out of place when compared to the rest of them. Will looked to be happy and he really didn't want to upset Will, even though Mike was clearly more upset.

"Look Mike, let Aidan in on this one campaign. We owe Will that for kind of dragging him along all day."

Mike just let out an annoyed groan and protested,

"Are we just letting anyone into our party now? Besides, how do we even know we can play with him, let alone trust him?"

"It's just a game Mike and he and Will are friends. Now you can either suck up whatever displaced anger or upset feelings you have for El away and play or just wallow on the couch while the rest of us play. I just got back and you're being a real downer." Dustin complained to him as he got settled in a chair.

Five watched as Will got himself dressed in a purple robe with stars and a matching wizard hat. God he kind of looked lame but also Five couldn't help but smile a bit goofily at Will. The closest anyone was to theatrical was his sister Allison with her pink boa and her costume chest. Man he even had a staff and he brought a music player for ambiance…dear lord Will was so fanatic about this Five thought. He laughed softly as he got out his character sheet, dice, and a mini figure of a rogue. Will beamed a bit when he saw that Five put some effort into his figure and saw the edits he made to his character sheet. He truly cared.

"Now let's get this conquest started and save the Khusiar from the juju zombies that came from the swamps of Kuzatan." Will expressed with glee as he put on some medieval sounding music.

Lucas and Mike reluctantly sat down at the table with Five and Dustin. Mike sighed as he sat next to Lucas, glancing over the campaign map and the figure Five painted. He leered at it and really wondered why Will was just allowing this random stranger in his house and getting close to him. At first the campaign was going well and Dustin and Will seemed to be very animated about the whole thing. Five was too to a certain extent and was just enthralled with the story Will was crafting for this game. He was being a bit cheeky with Will and making very intriguing if odd actions as a chaotic good character should be.

"Allow me to help the children escape the zombies by helping them hide in the trees. Roll for an action check?" Five asked.

Mike rolled his eyes and expressed,

"We need you to fight. All you do is keep dicking around and making the game go by longer. This is bullshit"

Five scoffed and motioned the game board. If it were up to Mike, this campaign would have ended as soon as it started. Pathetic that he can even pretend to be happy for Will.

"The Kushiar would want their children to live Mike. Besides, if we clear them from harm's way, it will leave the zombies open without any casualties to get caught in the crossfire. Besides, I might be a chaotic rogue, but I do have a sense of honor to do what's right to a degree; especially if I can get us more gold for our trouble." Five argued.

"Yeah and well zombies can't climb trees, physically they can't so Aidan's being smart Mike. Again stop being such a killjoy." Dustin argued.

Mike sighed as he glared at Aidan.

"Fine, perform the stupid action and be a glorified babysitter while the rest of us try and kill the zombies." Mike spoke in a dour tone.

Five was able to save the children from the zombies and got good action rolls to attack the zombies from the trees. Will didn't even think that Five would think of a strategy that kind of made the zombies powerless towards him. He didn't know whether to be in awe or kind of dislike Five for that. At least he and Dustin were having fun while Lucas and Mike were clearly apathetic to the campaign. Will was trying everything to be a good DM from trying to get emotions out of the party to throwing good twists in his storytelling, but alas Mike clearly was half-assing the role-play components of this game. Lucas just seemed disinterested and bored, only laughing when Will was kind of going a bit over the top as a DM. As the campaign went on, Five noticed Mike's disinterest growing and didn't like the tone he was using to declare his actions.

"Um I guess I will attack with my flail." Mike said flatly, barely rolling his die.

The die roll was a very low number and that constituted as a miss.

"Your flail clanks the stone, the zombie hoard lumbers towards you and…"

Will rolled his dice and he chuckled lightly.

"The zombie horde lunges at you and tears at your arm, flesh tears AH! Seven points of damage!" Will expressed.

"Ah oh no, my arm. Lucas look my arm." Mike expressed with a hint of sarcasm.

Lucas laughed and Dustin clearly seemed to be focused on the hit point numbers because of Mike's stupid roll. Will was kind of defeated as he saw two of his friends kind of mocking him and not possessing the sheer joy for the game like years prior. Five glared at Mike and threw a pencil at him. The pencil hit Mike's head with a light sting and Mike got up and clenched his fists.

"What the hell was that for!" Mike yelled.

"For being an ass Mike, a sarcastic and fucking ass! Will went through all this trouble, at least try to have some fun." Five hissed.

"Look maybe it should have occurred to him that I am not really in the mood but I am doing this anyway. Besides, why the hell do you care? You're probably thinking this whole game is lame and you're just trying to find ways to laugh at it." Mike expressed in an annoyed tone.

Just then the phone rang and Mike went towards it. Will frowned and got up from his chair and slammed his makeshift staff on the floor.

"This is only a distraction, come back!" Will expressed.

Dustin sighed as he was starting to think this campaign might have been a bad idea. He didn't hate the concept, far from it, but Mike and Lucas were so into their girlfriends that it was downright upsetting and rude. Mike heard the call but it wasn't El and he hung up, sighing in annoyance.

"Telemarketers." Mike told Lucas.

"Maybe you should call them and yes we can if they aren't going to call us." Lucas suggested.

Five rubbed his temples and he looked to see Will was getting very flustered.

"The Kushar tribe still needs you Mike!" Will yelled.

"No we don't if he's going to be an asshole. I can take my action if you like?" Five asked.

Will crossed his arms and wanted to hear from Mike. He knew Five was being great but it was Mike he needed to hear from if he was taking the game seriously.

"Fine, I will use my torch to set fire to the chambers, sacrificing myself to kill all the zombies. We will be heroes to them in their memory." Mike suggested as he high fived Lucas.

Un-fucking believable Five thought and he looked to Will, who was just done at this point. He took off his robe and hat in frustration and turned off the music.

"Okay fine. You guys win, congratulations." Will snapped as he started to put the stuff away.

Mike frowned slightly as he saw he upset Will.

"Will, I was just messing around. Come on, let's finish it for real. How much longer is the campaign?"

"Just forget it, okay!" Will sneered lightly as he zipped up his backpack once he was done packing.

"Come on Will, we really want to play." Mike expressed.

"No you really want to call your fucking girlfriends to make up with them and ditch Will, again. Some fucking friend you are." Five argued as he started to pack up too.

Mike tried to stop Will and said,

"We can call the girls after…"

"I said forget it Mike, okay! I'm going home! Aidan, you're coming right?"

Five nodded and he got his bag.

"Wait guys, come on, please don't go." Dustin expressed with a light whine.

Will was already storming up the stairs to his bike in the garage and Five sighed as he got his school bag on.

"Sorry Dustin, I can't stay. I have to do damage control since someone is being a depressed and somewhat kiss hungry boy that is pissing one of his best friends off." Five stated, teeth gritted at Mike.

Mike got up in Five's face and was trying to stare him down. When Mike realized Five wasn't cowering or scared, he tried to lay a punch on him but Five quickly intercepted the punch with his hand. Will came down to see if Five was following him and saw the whole thing.

"Now you're trying to hurt one of my friends Mike?! Aidan didn't do anything and is doing much more than you've been lately! What the hell!?"

Mike pulled away his arm and looked up to a very upset, nearly tearing Will. Shit Mike thought and he could see Will's body shaking.

"Will wait please…"

"Just stop okay Mike. Just leave me alone! Aidan come on, let's go home together, please."

Five nodded and he went upstairs to leave with Will, side by side. Will found his bike and Five glanced at Will with a slight frown. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" Five asked.

Will looked to Five and he could see a look of…concern? He shook his head and he wasn't mad at Five at all. Five was at least trying to be creative, having fun, and trying to be a good team player. It was just Mike and Lucas screwing up things.

"No Five please don't think that. It's Mike. Ever since he and El got together he's been more of an ass lately. Ditching me to kiss her, not being here even when here, and finding excuses to bail on group things to be with her. Lucas is similar to Max, but Mike is just more high and mighty about it. Now that he lost her, it's like he forgot how to be a person without her. I worked so hard and he isn't giving a proper shit about me or my campaign. It's just…it just really hurts that I'm losing one of my best friends it seems, maybe two with Lucas too. I know we're not kids anymore but I lost time the last two years."

"With the Upside Down and the monsters...right?" Five asked.

Will nodded and sniffled.

"They were there for me then and wanted to save me. Now...I don't know but it seems things changed despite that and it upsets me you know?"

Five nodded and he patted Will's shoulder. He looked up at the sky from the garage and it was getting dark. It wasn't a problem for Five to get to the Byers quickly, but for Will it might be different. He didn't want Will to bike home, especially since it did look like rain was coming.

"How about I take us home? Tomorrow we can do what you want okay. I took tomorrow off just in case something like this happened. No girls and maybe even no Mike or Lucas if you want that. How does that sound?" Five mused.

Will sniffled a bit and managed to crack a very weak but small smile. Five didn't have to do this but the fact that he was, really cheered him up and was showing that Five trusted him. Perhaps it was a bit of wishful thinking, but maybe Five came back to this time for a reason. Maybe that reason was to help him grow but also for him to help Five be a better person. I mean from the little he learned about Five, he was kind of a know-it-all asshole who wanted to be the best of his siblings, and very stubborn.

"You sure you can handle taking me home?" Will asked.

Five chuckled as he motioned Will to walk with him a few blocks away from the Wheeler's house and made sure they were alone.

"Okay, I think we're alone now. Doesn't seem to be anyone around….god I miss that song."

Will laughed a bit.

"What song and when does it come out?" Will asked.

Five turned a bit pink since he was letting stuff that will be released in the future slip out.

"It's I Think We're Alone Now' by an artist called Tiffany and it will come out in two years. I really shouldn't be sharing stuff that hasn't happened yet..

"What, you think I'm going to find her and stop her from recording it? You can trust me, you know. I'm not some evil villain wanting to change the future, just a boy who is curious about his new friend's life and what happens to a minor degree."

Will did have a point and he really couldn't trust anyone else. Besides, burying and lamenting things that will not be released for awhile was going to drive him crazy and really upset him. He glanced to Will and he held out his hand.

"Yeah I know, it's just…this is all new to me. I didn't see my family as friends; heck I saw them more as competition then siblings most times. So if I seem a bit hostile and on edge, it's not you, it's just me and how I grew up. I really was this close to beating the shit out of Mike but I knew I would upset you and that would have them ask you questions about me. All of which I want to avoid for now."

Will looked at Five's hand curiously and Five expressed,

"Hold on to me and I will teleport us back to your house. It's a really cool thing, trust me. I've mastered spatial jumps."

Will smiled and took Five's hand. With a quick flash, Five teleported himself and Will to Will's house. However someone was watching them and their eyes widened at what they saw. He needed to know what the hell was truly going on and if Will was going to be in more danger.

For those who are reading, I thank you for the support it means a lot that this story gets even the faintest of attention. This story is a fun side project and updates might be a bit on 'when the mood strikes me' basis. I swear this won't be like another story where updates were months apart. Reviews help with motivation and comments on how it's going will help to shape up this story. I will also answer any PMs about the story if anyone has any questions or comments they don't want to leave in a review. As for people maybe thinking 'where's the romance?' well I am deciding if I should show the pairing on this story or not. Opinions are welcomed in my inbox. More will come.