Chapter Text
Autumn in Ohio 1985
The Byers have settled into their new home and are getting ready for the upcoming holidays.
- The (new) Byers Home -
" Will! Did you take the Walkman again?" shouts El from her bedroom.
Will is spacing out a bit, being in his new room and listening to the Walkman. He doesn’t hear El, simply feeling homesick and nervous about the new town. El walks up and bangs on Will's door. Will hears the banging on the door, he takes the headphones off and walks over, opening the door, "what?"
"The Walkman... you're using it?" She looks at him pointedly, noticing that he has a bit of an irritated expression on his face.
"Yes, I am." Will has a harsh tone to this before getting a conflicted look on his face before saying "sorry..." he hands it over.
"Thanks." Attempting to clear the awkwardness a little, El glances down at the mix-tape he had hurriedly taken out of the Walkman "...oh, what were you listening to?"
Will stammered for a moment "Howard Jones, Things Can Only Get Better,'' he didn't know why Jonathan put that in the mix tape. Maybe it was the message behind it, he thought.
"I know that one!" El exclaims, giving him a friendly smile. "... they played it on MTV, it's a good song."
Will was slightly taken aback by the reaction "Yeah, it's good." He awkwardly looks around for a moment before saying "well, um, how's the unpacking going?"
“It’s going... okay,” she replies with a lack of enthusiasm. Will frowns for a moment, "You need any help?"
El gazes at Will for a couple of seconds, “That would be nice, thank you.” she smiles at him kindly.
A soft smile forms on Will’s face and the both of them head to her room to unpack her things. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Joyce and Jonathan are unpacking the dishes. As Joyce takes out a plate, her hand accidentally slips and the plate crashes to the floor.
Jonathan jumps back a bit in shock of the sudden noise, “Step back, I’ll take care of this. Are you okay?” he asks while searching for the sweeper.
Joyce touches her temple. "My hand slipped. I'll get it, it's fine" Her voice had a tired and worn out tone to it.
“No, Mom, you should get some rest. You sound tired. Are you feeling okay?” he replies, and finally finds the sweeper that he’d been searching for. He takes into action, sweeping the broken pieces into a pile. Giving into Jonathan's concerns, Joyce sits down at the dinner table "Stress, I guess. Now Mike and Nancy are coming to visit, Thanksgiving preparations. God, I’m acting like a cranky old lady, aren’t I?"
Jonathan shakes his head, “Of course not, mom. It’s been a hectic time for all of us. We’ll be here to help you anytime.” He reaches for her hand, giving it a tight and caring grasp.
- Hawkins High school-
The bell rings, signalling the start of the third period.
Max panicked, “drat!” she starts to pick up the pace. She was still a bit disheveled and nervous about being in high school, quickly hurrying to her next class. She runs through the halls to get to her class, arriving there right as the “ one minute ” bell rang. As she tries to stop, she ends up crashing right into Mike & Dustin.
The collision brings forth the attention from the students passing by, one of them yells "WIPE OUT!" before someone else laughs. The three collect themselves.
Mike turns around and looks at Max in the eyes, “Watch where you’re going next time!”
Max rolls her eyes, not in the mood for Mike’s annoyance towards her "You guys alright?"
"Besides being embarrassed? Yeah, I'm good," Dustin says with a coy grin, as he brushes himself off.
“C’mon, let's just get to class.” She replies. This was the only class that her, Dustin, Mike & Lucas had together this year.
Once in the classroom, Max drops her books on a desk and takes a seat, waiting for the teacher to take attendance. Mike sits down, setting his books down carelessly. He glares at everyone in the classroom.
Dustin knocks him on the shoulder, "Hey, you contacting El tonight?"
Mike turns to Dustin and smiles at the thought of El. “You know it. Are you going to sing the neverending story with Suzie tonight?” he laughs to himself.
“Oh shut up, asshole.” Dustin remarked.
"Hey, you got yourself into that one." Mike says snickering. Dustin retorts "Look, I just wanna know how long you guys will be talking, it isn’t just about you and El. I have Suzie to talk with as well!"
“I know, man.” Mike says. “How about we each get an hour? It’s Friday, after all.”
"Fine. Hour for you, hour for me." Dustin holds his hand out, "deal?"
“Perfect.” Mike says as he shakes Dustin’s hand. As soon as they shook hands, the door bursts open with Lucas breathing heavily, "Is this the right class?! ...this damn place is a maze!"
“No kidding.” Max replies. “Almost three months here and I STILL don’t know the way around.”
Lucas slowly walks his way over to where Max is, and sits down by her. He adjusts himself a bit in his chair before something catches his eye: it was Max's wrist. It was bruised. But before he could say anything, the teacher walks in.
“Alright, kids, settle down. I know it’s almost Thanksgiving break but we still have work to do.”
Lucas looks over at Max with a worried look, before deciding to let it go for now. He reluctantly tries to pay attention but can't help but think about that nasty bruise on Max's wrist. Max was already focusing on the teacher, Mike and Dustin as well.
"I want you all to turn to page 30 in your textbooks. If you forgot to bring yours today, use your neighbor’s." The teacher paces back and forth, surveying that they follow the instructions. Then, it’s the start of a new lesson, the usual routine commences....
-INSIDE FAMILY VIDEO-
Steve was having the same usual day, rearranging the shelves with VHS tapes of movies, while being quizzed again on his movie knowledge by Robin. "What horror film takes place in Texas?"
He ponders for about a minute or two. “ Shit .” He mumbles to himself, “I don’t remember!” He admits. "Uhh wait, I think it's coming to me." He ponders for a bit more, "Ah! The redneck shotgun massacre!"
Robin smiles with mirth. “I knew you’d get it! Good job. Ready for the next question?” She asks after she congratulates him sarcastically.
Steve could sense the sarcasm oozing off her, "I got it wrong, didn't I..."
Robin looks over at him “Hey, it’s okay. There’s always room for more practice, m’kay? Want to try again?”
Steve sighs and goes to say something, before the dreaded crunch was heard "It's a hopeless endeavor. But please, keep going. The effort amuses me", Keith crunches on a cheese puff again.
Robin rolls her eyes in disbelief of how rude Keith could be. “Why don’t you lay it off of those cheese puffs?” Keith’s crunching was annoying to hear and somewhat gross to watch. Robin looks to Steve, waiting for the response that was once interrupted.
Steve just ignores Keith and goes back to doing his job, he asks her "What's the next question?" He was determined to get this one right.
“In what year did Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope come out?” she asks, hoping he would get the correct answer. Keith watches very closely, still crunching on his cheese puffs.
Steve thought long and hard about this one, then an interaction with Dustin came to mind, "May 25th! uhh 1977!"
Robin made a squealing noise in excitement, “correct!!” She said excitedly.
"Wow. You actually got that right.” Keith says, genuinely surprised.
"Looks like there's a new hope for you after all... " Keith snickers to himself, before throwing a puff into his mouth and goes to the front to help out a customer wanting to rent a video.
Robin was still happy for Steve’s accomplishment. “You did it, dingus!”
"Lucky guess… woah woah hey ." Steve nudges Robin, "Hotty at 3 o'clock!"
Robin turns to see a long haired brunette girl wearing tight jeans. She had freckles and a smile that could make anyone have a heart attack over. Keith was trying to flirt subtly, but it wasn't working. Robin dazes out, not knowing entirely how to react to someone seeming so flawless. Steve hands her a VHS tape quickly, "Get in there, tiger! Offer a recommendation before she leaves!"
“Woah-“ Robin pauses and glances at the VHS tape, not knowing what it was at first. She acts casually and walks over to stand near the girl, waiting for the perfect moment.
Steve watches quietly from over the shelving, nodding at her to say something. He then realizes he gave her a horror movie tape. He mentally smacks his forehead "idiot!"
Robin smiles about Steve’s encouragement and finally says something to the girl.
“Hello there, may I recommend you-” she pauses while looking at the tape, “-the Exorcist?” she has a confused expression on her face, but goes along with it and smiles very brightly at the girl.
The girl stares for a moment "not a fan of horror, already got my pick," she waves the VHS at robin, it was The Breakfast Club .
“Ohhhh! Fantastic choice, what’s your favorite genre? Comedy? I can recommend a lot of Comedies like Blazing Saddles or Animal House , but yeah, great choice! The Breakfast Club is already an american classic!” Robin was talking a lot without realizing, while looking into the girl’s eyes.
Steve looks on with a grimace, as he mutters under his breath, "No, no. Too much, too quick!"
The girl stares, looking quite taken aback from the speed round of recommendations from Robin.
"I, uhh. I'll just take this. Thanks though!" She exits the store quickly.
Robin watches the girl exit, and then realized that she had turned into a complete blabbermouth. After watching, she walks back over to Steve, feeling a bit disappointed in herself. “Well, looks like I’m the dingus now.”
"No, no, I am. I sent you into the lion's den without proper instructions." He sighs, looking down at the floor. "I’m starting to think I'm losing my touch."
“It’s okay, there’s always a next time, and the next and the next and next-” she stops herself. “Hey look, I don’t believe that you’re losing your touch. I hope that counts for something.” She pats his back.
Steve smiles at this before saying, "Maybe, maybe not. Look, what matters is that we need to work on your skills and we obviously have to get me up to speed on this movie stuff."
“I agree completely.” Robin smiles back after replying.
"Alright, come on, blabbermouth. Let's get back to work before cheeseman over there graces us with his presenc-" CRUNCH
"... heard that. Shipment came in, get on it you two. Chop, chop " He snaps his fingers for effect. They both groan as they made their way to the back.
-THE BUSTLING HALLWAYS OF HAWKINS HIGH-
Nancy hurries through the crowd, looking down and mumbling over the college applications she had been working on so feverishly. Glancing up to make sure she didn't collide into anyone, she spots out her brother, walking in her general direction.
“Why does your sister look so serious today?” Dustin asks. Mike shrugs, only catching her brushing by him. "Mhm, I dunno."
He then thinks on this for a moment and says "ah, she's probably going off about her college applications. Probably why she's acting weird."
Dustin nods, “Ohh, yeah.”
Max was standing next to Lucas, as they walked through the halls towards the cafeteria for lunch. Lucas could see she was more reclusive today. "Hey, you alright?" he asks her.
"Yeah. Thanks for asking, how are you?" Max replies.
Lucas frowns a bit before saying, "Max i-i saw your wrist alright, What's going on?" He grimaces, waiting for a blow up.
Max stops and glares at him, stiffening up almost immediately "... what's going on? what's that supposed to mean?" She lowers her voice to a whisper, "I was on my skateboard and I tripped and it got bruised, okay?"
Lucas frowns at this before saying "Okay." He knew that bruise was more than a skateboarding injury, but decided to let it go for now.
The kids got together at lunch, and they began talking about their plans for Thanksgiving.
"Man, I’m nervous about that trip up to Ohio...." Mike confesses to everyone.
"What, why?" Dustin asks. "I thought Nancy was driving you both up there."
Mike got confused at Dustin before saying "Well yeah, exactly. Stress is getting to me about this trip. Gonna be stuck in a car with my sister for hours," he sighs.
"Just bring your Walkman & some CDs. It'll kill lots of time." Dustin says with a confident look, taking a sip from his Minute Maid juice box.
"I would, but I know my sister is gonna get bored and want to talk about things. It's always awkward," Mike says.
“Just pretend to sleep or something.” Lucas mumbles. “I do it all the time when I don’t wanna talk to Erica.”
"Yeah, but it's just us in the car. Nancy is gonna notice that trick immediately." Dustin speaks up, "Just talk with her. You two are going through long distance relationships, talk about that."
Max then chips in, "He's right. You have that as common ground now, she's missing the hell out of Jonathan just like you miss El..." she paused, "...maybe you can, I dunno, bond over it or something."
“I guess” Mike replies.
“I wonder how Will is holding up,” Lucas says, through the munches of his stringy beef jerky.
"They're all still settling in, it's tough..." Mike answers gloomily, "... but it seems like he's being optimistic about it. I'm gonna check up on him when I use cerebro tonight."
As the kids ate lunch, Lucas couldn’t help but ponder about Max’s bruised wrist. Something definitely wasn’t right, Lucas figured. He squints at her wrist and then upwards directly at her. Max looks back at Lucas and there’s an awkward pause...
“What is that?”, Lucas asks again, still in confusion.
She shakes her head - visibly annoyed with his relentless inquiry - and rolls her eyes, mouthing her words "can you stop?"
Lucas sighs and carries on eating his beef jerky. He knew Max wasn’t entirely telling the truth about how she got that bruise, something just didn’t sit right. The school bell rang, lunch time was over.
- The Byers House -
“Mom, I’m home.” Jonathan calls as he arrives back from the local 7/11. By this time, everyone was pretty much done unpacking, Joyce was just adding a few minor touches to the kitchen.
“I see you haven’t gotten rid of the old magnets?” Jonathan says in a jokingly manner, slouched shoulder against the wall. He overlooks Joyce, who is sticking the magnets from the old house on to the fridge.
“Yeah honey, these things have been around even since before Will was born. You picked them out at Bradley’s Big Buy when you were three years old actually!” Joyce says ecstatically as she rises to her feet.
Jonathan raises an eyebrow and smirks. Pushing himself off the wall with his shoulder, he swings a plastic bag on to the kitchen table.
“Milk, bread, eggos.... and a pack of camels.” Jonathan lists out.
“Oh, sweetie! Thank you so much" Joyce replies with her eyebrows happily arched upwards towards Jonathan.
"No problem," Jonathan takes out the groceries and starts putting them away, soon turning back to Joyce as another thought sprung to mind "Hey mom, I was also thinking about getting a job at this... um, record store I saw on the way home? I want to help out with the money."
"Hey look, you can get any job you want. I don't care, hun." She smiles as she lights up a cigarette. He smiles back, appreciating the sentiment, but he was feeling a bit conflicted. "But of course, I... I still want to focus on my classes, mom. You know, for college. So I may not be able to skip too many-" She cuts him off, reaching to grab his hand. "hey hey, it's okay. Of course I understand."
"Plus, gonna need that extra money for the turkey," She says with a bit of sarcasm.
"Yeah," Jonathan says lovingly.
He looks towards El's bedroom, knowing that both her and Will had went there to unpack a while earlier. "I'm going to check on those two, let me know if you need any more help, okay?" Joyce nods, "sure, honey."
Jonathan quietly opens the door of El's Bedroom. He sees the two unpacking stuff, but he notices the vague air of awkwardness between them.
“You guys doing okay in here?”
They both jolted a bit at Jonathan’s unexpected presence. "Oh! um, yeah. just unpacking stuff...helping her out"
El nods in stiff agreement.
"Shall I help you with the unpacking ?" Jonathan asks.
"It's fine. We got it." Will smiles a bit.
"Okay, well that's good, looks like you got a lot done anyways," Jonathan nods towards El, "Hey, are you liking the Walkman?"
"Yeah, the mixtape is great as well, I like the song from, um… Joy Division?” She looked on with uncertainty. Remembering the names of all the bands and their songs was no easy effort.
“Yes! Man, that’s awesome that you like it. The buildup in Love Will Tear Us Apart is so sick, right?” Jonathan had a gleeful look on his face, feeling unabashedly proud that he introduced someone else to his favorite artists.
El gives a shy thumbs up, “yeah, sick.”
"Well, I’m glad you like the Walkman, I’ll make you another mixtape soon with more stuff.”
However, Will currently had a bit of a jealous look on his face at this comment. He just couldn't help but feel that way at times.
"Will don't worry, on your birthday, I’ll get one for you too." Will rolls his eyes.
"Anyways. You two yell if you need any help. we will be in the kitchen." He exits the room.
"..back to it then?" El says to Will.
"Uh, well, I actually have something to do... so maybe you can just, you know, continue on your own..." Will gestures stiffly towards the remaining boxes. El frowns but nods along, "Oh, okay."
Will exits the room rather stiff and tense. El blinks at this thinking "What did I do wrong?"
-THE WHEELER'S-
Karen gets a phone call, picking up the phone after several rings and frustratedly telling Ted to pick it up. “Hello, who is there?”
"Hello there. we are here today to offe-" CLICK "Damn ads.." She shakes her head in annoyance.
Mike walks in with his backpack and heads upstairs. Karen screams up to Mike's Room, "MIKE! Can't you say Hello to your Mother?"
"HI MOM. IM HOME!" Mike says, being a smartass. "That's better!" she yells back up. Mike eyerolls before he hears a knock at his bedroom door.
He opens the door and sees Nancy standing there with a serious look. "Can I come in? I need to talk with you."
"Oh. Yeah, sure." Mike gestures the way in, furrowing his brow in confusion. Nancy didn't usually come to speak to him like this. "So, what is it?"
"I don’t want you to start acting all immature, about what I’m going to tell you. Ok?" Nancy asks this a little bit sadly, there was something akin to slight pleading in her voice.
“What do you mean?” Mike curiously replies.
"Sorry, look, I just don't want this drive to be awkward or tension filled, ok? We used to talk all the time...when we were young, and I don't wanna have radio silence for this whole trip...alright?"
"Alright." Even with the brief response, Mike has a surprised look on his face. He didn't think she'd be so upfront about it. Nancy nods, "good. glad we got that out of the way." She heads for the door, but Mike couldn't just leave it there, "Hey, Nancy?"
"Yeah?"
"I... I felt the same way, like I didn't want to say it, but yeah..." Mike grimaces to himself, feeling like he jumbled up his words. "What I mean is that, I'm happy we talked about it. We can catch up and stuff." Nancy gives a bemused look, smiling in return. "That sounds good, little bro."
Mike nods and he begins packing, as Nancy heads to her room to pack as well.
-NIGHT TIME// CEREBRO LOCATION-
* radio static *
“El, this is Mike, do you copy? Over.”
"Hey, El copying....over."
Lucas, Mike and Dustin were there sitting next to the radio. Max was absent.
“Hi, El. I miss you so much. I can’t wait to see you at Thanksgiving.”
"You’re leaving tomorrow, man!" Dustin says mockingly, "Romeo will be there soon!" Lucas says in the foreground, picking grass and bored to tears.
He had still been pressing the transmitter button, so he could hear El laughing on the other end. "Who else is there?" she asked with mirth. "Oh, just Lucas and Dustin, being goofs." Mike smiles and shakes his head at them.
"Hey El!" They both said in unison.
"Max there as well?"
"No, she had to be at home with her family... um, but she told me to say hi to you!" Lucas exclaims, chuckling in his usual fashion. All the while, his eyes painted a different picture. They were nervous and frenetic, another concern plaguing his thoughts.
"Oh. Ok, tell her I miss her and I hope she's doing good!" On her side, the bedroom door opens, and Will walks in excitedly, "Oh, are they on?"
El nods her head, feeling a bit more apprehensive after what went on earlier that day. Will seemed to be acting normally again though, and he quickly pulls up a chair.
“Guys!” Will shouts with excitement. “Will!” The boys shout back.
“How are you holding up dude, dude? Mike asks.
“I’m doing good, but I miss you guys so much” Will responds.
"I know, we miss you a lot too! It ain't the same with the party missing some key members right now." Dustin laments.
“It isn’t the same here,” Will replies.
"Why? Isn't Ohio better than Hawkins ?" Lucas asks.
“Not without you guys”, Will clarifies.
Joyce screams through the kitchen into El's bedroom, "El, Will, dinner is ready to eat!"
El reluctantly sighs, feeling like the call was way too short, “Mike, we have to go... and eat.”
Mike was a bit aggravated that he didn't even get an hour with El but takes a firm resolve, "Alright, I'll see you soon anyways. Enjoy your dinner. Bye!"
"Bye, Mike.." the transmission soon ends. Dustin soon crawls over and changes the frequency to Suzie's wavelength.
"Suzie poo? This is dusty bun, do you copy?"
"Suzie coming in, over! DUSTY BUN!" The chatter began to become white noise for Lucas, his thoughts were swirling about Max. He gets up.
"I'm gonna head home, I have some things to do. See ya tomorrow, Mike!" Mike nods and Lucas heads down the hill. But, he wasn’t heading in the direction of his house.
-OUTSIDE MAX'S HOME-
Lucas hears some screams from the inside of the house, he steps off his bike.
From a distance, he could make out some figures moving around in Max's room through the closed curtains. He moves in closer and peers through the crack in the curtain. Inside, he could see Neil fiercely shaking Max around by her bruised wrist. "IT'S YOUR FAULT HE’S DEAD!"
Max yells at him, "HE DIED SAVING US FROM THAT FIRE! YOU NEVER EVEN CARED ABOUT HIM!"
Max is immediately met with a smack to the face that sends her flying to her bed, she begins crying as her mother enters the room, trying to intervene. Lucas backs away from the window, he trips on a branch making him fall backwards with a loud thud. "WHO'S OUT THERE?!" someone screams from inside.
He makes a break for his bike quickly riding out of there before he could be seen.
END OF CHAPTER ONE.