STEVE AND EDDIE They both have been really weird about things and I was talking with Eddie Aaaaand he admitted to having a thing for Steve so I WITH EDDIE'S PERMISSION Went and talked to Steve about if he'd be interested in dating a guy Didn't say who until I was sure he wasn't going to freak out and possibly hurt Eddie Not that I think Steve would, ya know? Anyways, they both don't think they are the others type and it's incredibly dumb But in like...a cute way? Steve came up with the idea of going to a carnival that's coming up It'll be perfect because no one will know any of us there And no one will question Steve and Eddie hanging out!
Nobody will question them hanging out And nobody knows me unless the news made it out there but even then I could probably duck out of sight long enough to avoid people making a scene So if they're okay with it I don't see why not.
[ Lucas spends a lot of his time - most of it, to his mother's dismay - during his quick trip home at the record store with Max. It's not that he doesn't want to spend time with his family, he has missed them, even Erica to an extent, but he made the early November trip home specifically for Max's birthday. And even if they'd called it quits before he left for college, it doesn't change the fact that he'd rather be balancing on a folding chair in the corner of the store arguing about music, or anything, with her than anywhere else.
When Will appears halfway through her shift Lucas is glad to see him, giving him a big smile and a wave. He tries not to overthink if he should get up and hug him, considering they haven't talked but maybe once or twice since he's left town, but easily gets to his feet and gives him a half hug and pat on the back in greeting. ] Hey, Will!
[ He had planned on seeing him at Max's birthday party and maybe swinging by to see if he was available to hang out if he overstayed his welcome at the record store, but now that he's here he belatedly thinks he should've told him he was coming. Max moves to answer the phone at the front counter and they're left alone. ] It's good to see you. You look good.
[Will spends maybe a little too much time here, if he's perfectly honest, but it's one of the few places he still has in town that he really feels like he belongs. He likes being with Max even when she's not able to talk, thanks to actually needing to do the 'work' part of having a job, and it's great more or less having first dibs on some of the harder to find records. She'd even managed to get him a discount on a new pair of over-ear headphones better than those that his brother had. His mother had been a little frustrated over that, considering how much time he spent wearing them when he was at home and painting with his music cranked up loud enough that she had to actually wave for his attention.
At least here he doesn't tend to deafen himself to his surroundings, even getting a little hypervigilant if he's been particularly stressed out. So he notices almost instantly when it's Lucas that stops by, and he barely hesitates before lighting up and immediately wrapping his arms fully around his friend. Unlike Mike, there's no weirdness here. Maybe a touch of disappointment in how distant they had become.]
Me? Look at you, you're a jock now? [He can't help but tease a little bit. Lucas had been as twiggy as him, at one point. Taller. Now it's Will that's standing at least a few inches taller than all of them save for Mike, having shot up like a weed in spring.]
Technically, though I've been on the bench all season.
[ Still, the basketball scholarship had helped pay for college and meant there was more money for Erica's college education. Which was a good thing, because he doesn't want to think about the schemes she'd get up to if she had to raise 50k for four years of college.
He is in the best shape of his life, though, thanks to never-ending practice and drills. Sometimes when he looks in the mirror, he doesn't recognize himself. ] How have you been?
[ It feels weird that he has to ask when they all used to be in constant contact, but he hasn't been as good as he should've been about calling or writing.]
[Even if he hadn't been subjected to Erica as much as the others had been, he'd heard the stories. Lucas was prone to exaggeration, sure, but that didn't mean that he wasn't right about how conniving and intelligent his little sister was.
At least Lucas is still recognizable after how much all of them have grown up. Will bears almost no resemblance to the tiny child he was even just four years ago. It makes him feel a little better when it comes to trying to reconnect and actually keep eachother abreast of the situation now that it wasn't all monsters and trauma.]
We're all moved back in now actually. Everything's put away and we actually have more space now. It's so much nicer. I was able to set up a turntable and everything.
[Something he's actually pretty stoked about, considering that in the old house there was never enough room and his space was cluttered enough as it was with everything from the rest of his hobbies.]
That's great, man. [ He's glad that Will is back in Hawkins, even if he knows that can't exactly be the easiest thing for him. Still, they're adults now and he figures if Will didn't want to be there he would go somewhere else. ] I hope Max is giving you the friends and family discount.
Just the weekend, this time. I came down for Max's birthday and then I'll be back in two weeks for Thanksgiving. [ It was tough to swing, but worth it for the look on Max's face when he'd walked into the record shop and actually managed to surprise her. ] I heard the parents are thinking about getting everyone together for one huge Thanksgiving. You and Jonathan going to be there?
[It helps that he has a job now, so he has less reason to actually look into moving away, even though it is a valid option. It doesn't feel right, though. Not when his mom is still trying to find some measure of stability after the last decade's worth of turmoil.]
Even better, she makes sure I get first dibs on new stock when it comes in. Get this- [He glances toward the counter to make sure that Max isn't paying them any attention, and grins.] The minute it's just Eddie, I'm gonna get that special edition orange Cure vinyl that she's always staring at.
[Not that he's trying to one-up Lucas when it comes to gift things; this was a decision he'd made ages ago. He might have let Lucas in on the plan if time and distance had allowed. As it is, he's just excited to tell someone about it.
There's a touch of hesitation, but then a smaller smile at the mention of Thanksgiving.] If we can be. I know mom was talking about teaming up with Mrs Wheeler to set that up and Jonathan's gonna be helping cook. Holidays are kind of hard to swing at work, but at least I want to try and grab some food for my boss and his...partner? [Unsure what to call that whole thing that they have going on, but they're nice and deserve good food.]
I hope it's pizza Fine, let me grab my coat, be out in a few.
You can almost hear the fiiiiiine and see the eyeroll.
At least Dustin really doesn't have long at all to wait, before Will is hitting the buzzer to let him know that he's done at the bottom, waiting for the loop to be tossed down to allow him to pull himself up. He kind of is banking on pizza or at least the snack stash up here for why he'd come out here this late when literally everyone else in their friend group decided that they would brave the high school prom.
[ Mike has learned a lot about romance and how it’s not just about big gestures, but also it’s Valentines Day, so he even risked ridicule asking for Max to help, she laughed at him but agreed and left after a weekend in Chicago (to see Andy and a gig in a bar, not him, she had insisted) with the handwritten card to drop in at the florist which means a decent sized (not huge because he has a feeling huge would just be embarrassing) bouquet of yellow and orange roses (red is overdone, also he forgot he might need to sort it out in January so they wouldn’t be out of stock), will be delivered to the Byers house in the morning of the 14th because if he can’t be a sap on Valentines Day then when? The card itself reads; ]
Happy Valentines Day Sorry I can’t be there until next week I love you Mike
[ He’ll call later, if Will doesn’t manage to first ]
He and Mike haven't talked much lately. They're both busy, Mike has school and Will has the funeral home, and things have been...kind of tense, even after they'd tried to make it up to one another, stepping all over each others' feelings every alternate turn. He's starting to think that maybe they were just quietly breaking up over an extended period of time and trying to keep himself occupied until they finally broke and actually had that talk as well.
The card sort of shocks him, but not nearly as much as the bouquet does. He had been about to make himself some breakfast before checking his schedule for the day, until he's been alerted to the flowers sitting on the kitchen counter after they'd been brought in by the first person to leave the house that day. He...hadn't actually realized the date until now.
He has complicated feelings about this, most of it manifesting as a heart-gripping sort of anxiety that makes him feel like he's somehow fucking up by not knowing how he should be responding. He sort of wants to call at least so that Mike knows that he got the roses. The flowers end up with their ends trimmed a bit and lightly sugared water to extend their lifetime in a heavy little secondhand vase sitting on top of his dresser next to his favorite minis.
So he does, though he fully expects to only get the answering machine, or perhaps Andy on the other end.
Mike already decided sat in Max’s Fortress Of Solitude, which was actually just a blanket fort she’d built to sulk over her attempt at getting Lucas back blowing up in her face in, that if they were breaking up he wasn’t going to be the one who did it. He knows damn well the whole thing is on life support but he can’t fix it overnight and he’s not willing to pull the plug either. So he’d asked for Maxs advice, she’d told him through handfuls of M&Ms that she wasn’t the person he should be asking because she ruins everything she touches, then she cried, then they both agreed that maybe instead of fixing things by sticking bandaids all over them it was about time they fixed themselves instead.
It’s one of the reasons he’s been so busy, he thoroughly resented calling Owens at first, fumed over it even. But therapy is actually kinda helping, even if it does mean a lot of picking things open that are held together with glue rather than healed and then having to deal with them being open again. It’s hard is the point, really, really hard. And then he did the no alcohol January challenge with Andy and he can officially say he hasn’t been drunk since New Years Eve so there’s that. Because if this shit is what he has to haul himself through, the metaphorical hot coals he has to crawl over, to make things work out, then he’s going to at least try.
And all the school work he just… didn’t do has to be done. And he has until May to rectify it so he doesn’t have to redo first year, his parents will actually murder him if he fails. If they don’t murder each other first. Divorce seems to be looming harder than ever.
There are no less than six pens stuck in his messy bun and when he jumps to answer the phone all of his books that had been stacked precariously on the bed go crashing to the floor. Working at the desk would be smart but he’s not always smart.
“Hi,” he says when he picks up and then thinks about how Andy basically moved into his dorm following a post Christmas bust up with Diana. “Mike speaking.”
Will has been stuck for a long while in the impression that nothing that was wrong with him could be fixed. Therapy with Owens hadn't done as much as any of them hoped, and he's remained convinced every step of the way that everything was going to continue to be his fault. He entrenched himself in his work as much to earn everything back that he needed for college as to sequester himself away from the rest of them so that he couldn't hurt them and likewise nobody else would have to deal with him. Mike deserved better than him; the feelings he'd harbored for a decade would have to be shoved way down in a box and not acknowledged in any meaningful way ever again.
He hasn't actually admitted any of this to anyone else. Not even Dustin. Not even his brother. While Mike is making strides toward self-improvement, Will is tired of trying anymore.
It doesn't stop him from trying to at least keep some line of communication though, because in spite of it all he still values his friendship with Mike, and the gesture is lovely and thoughtful and he really likes the flowers themselves. The orange and yellow look really nice!
There's a second that he can't speak when Mike answers, sounding a little out of breath from launching himself at the phone. He manages after a moment, though he has to clear his throat to make his voice work again.
“Oh, hey,” Fuck. He’s been turning over what to say in his head for the last few hours and nothing seems good enough. Like when he wrote and rewrote what he was going to put in the card for so long Max got sick of waiting and roped Andy into pelting him with marshmallows because they wanted to go get dinner and not wait for him all night.
It might seem like strides on the outside but it feels like baby steps while he waits for it to all implode again. But that’s fatalism and he’s received a thorough dressing down for that from the therapist so he’s trying to learn to stop it before it overwhelms him and gives him an excuse to make stupid choices that he’s not proud of.
“I uh… I wasn’t really sure if I should do anything but…” but he’d been bullied into just taking the plunge. “I didn’t want you to think I was silently dumping you again or something.” And okay he’s not convinced Will hasn’t done just that to him instead but he’s trying to follow the request to stop assuming things if Will hasn’t actually said them. “And it’s Valentines Day, so yeah… happy that.”
It never used to be this awkward but he had never had to sit with two years of fear that he was about to lose the person who mattered most only to end up reflexively pushing him away to try and get rid of it then. He’s got making up to do and facing it for a third horrible time was a big enough push to decide to put in the work instead.
“Also I’m coming over on Friday, to Hawkins, not to drop in on you unannounced or something, but I’ll be staying with Eddie and Steve because my parents house is a fucking warzone.”
They'd gotten so ingrained in the pattern of only talking about the serious stuff when they were on the verge of completely falling apart that Will just didn't feel safe bringing it up to begin with lest Mike should think that it's time to start catastrophizing again. He doesn't want to examine that thought right now, though. This is supposed to be a nice thing, not a prelude to a final stab in the heart.
He really hopes that Mike isn't too hurt by his opting to not go out of his way to make any grand gestures this year. The idea of yet another possible rejection had frozen him in indecision until he'd given up.
"I really liked them, thank you," he says quietly, worrying the cord of the phone between his forefinger and thumbnail standing with his back against the living room wall with his head down and eyes sort of unfocused at the floor.
The corner of his mouth tightens as Mike explains the plan; every so often Karen had taken to leaving Holly with the Byers after she and Joyce had started getting close, to keep her away from the escalating fights at the Wheeler house. It meant that he got to lend her his crayons and watch movies with her that she might otherwise not be able to, while she's forced way too young to come to terms with the idea that her family wasn't all going to stay together. He knows that feeling, so he's trying where he can to make sure she knows that it's not her fault and it's not the end of the world.
"If you need to you can take over the couch here," he offers, figuring that Joyce wouldn't mind it overly much. "Holly does that when she's here."
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timeasmymeasure
For asking about the Carnival!
Date: 2022-09-16 03:25 am (UTC)DO YOU WANNA GO ON A DOUBLE DATE!?
BECAUSE GUESS WHO I JUST SET UP!?
[ He's so proud of himself. ]
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Date: 2022-09-16 03:38 am (UTC)A what now?
Who??
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Date: 2022-09-16 04:32 am (UTC)Steve and...
drumroll please...
...
...
EDDIE MUNSON!
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Date: 2022-09-16 04:41 am (UTC)We're going on a double date with Steve and Eddie?
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Date: 2022-09-16 05:00 am (UTC)They both have been really weird about things and I was talking with Eddie
Aaaaand he admitted to having a thing for Steve so I
WITH EDDIE'S PERMISSION
Went and talked to Steve about if he'd be interested in dating a guy
Didn't say who until I was sure he wasn't going to freak out and possibly hurt Eddie
Not that I think Steve would, ya know?
Anyways, they both don't think they are the others type and it's incredibly dumb
But in like...a cute way?
Steve came up with the idea of going to a carnival that's coming up
It'll be perfect because no one will know any of us there
And no one will question Steve and Eddie hanging out!
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Date: 2022-09-16 05:35 am (UTC)And nobody knows me unless the news made it out there but even then I could probably duck out of sight long enough to avoid people making a scene
So if they're okay with it I don't see why not.
Do they know you want to bring me?
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Date: 2022-09-16 10:43 am (UTC)I'm gonna tell him when I tell him Eddie said yes
But yeah!
It'll be great!
Like a real date!
Not that the ones we've had WEREN'T real...
You know what I mean.
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Date: 2022-10-27 03:39 am (UTC)When Will appears halfway through her shift Lucas is glad to see him, giving him a big smile and a wave. He tries not to overthink if he should get up and hug him, considering they haven't talked but maybe once or twice since he's left town, but easily gets to his feet and gives him a half hug and pat on the back in greeting. ] Hey, Will!
[ He had planned on seeing him at Max's birthday party and maybe swinging by to see if he was available to hang out if he overstayed his welcome at the record store, but now that he's here he belatedly thinks he should've told him he was coming. Max moves to answer the phone at the front counter and they're left alone. ] It's good to see you. You look good.
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Date: 2022-10-27 04:52 am (UTC)At least here he doesn't tend to deafen himself to his surroundings, even getting a little hypervigilant if he's been particularly stressed out. So he notices almost instantly when it's Lucas that stops by, and he barely hesitates before lighting up and immediately wrapping his arms fully around his friend. Unlike Mike, there's no weirdness here. Maybe a touch of disappointment in how distant they had become.]
Me? Look at you, you're a jock now? [He can't help but tease a little bit. Lucas had been as twiggy as him, at one point. Taller. Now it's Will that's standing at least a few inches taller than all of them save for Mike, having shot up like a weed in spring.]
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Date: 2022-10-30 01:26 am (UTC)[ Still, the basketball scholarship had helped pay for college and meant there was more money for Erica's college education. Which was a good thing, because he doesn't want to think about the schemes she'd get up to if she had to raise 50k for four years of college.
He is in the best shape of his life, though, thanks to never-ending practice and drills. Sometimes when he looks in the mirror, he doesn't recognize himself. ] How have you been?
[ It feels weird that he has to ask when they all used to be in constant contact, but he hasn't been as good as he should've been about calling or writing.]
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Date: 2022-11-04 05:09 am (UTC)At least Lucas is still recognizable after how much all of them have grown up. Will bears almost no resemblance to the tiny child he was even just four years ago. It makes him feel a little better when it comes to trying to reconnect and actually keep eachother abreast of the situation now that it wasn't all monsters and trauma.]
We're all moved back in now actually. Everything's put away and we actually have more space now. It's so much nicer. I was able to set up a turntable and everything.
[Something he's actually pretty stoked about, considering that in the old house there was never enough room and his space was cluttered enough as it was with everything from the rest of his hobbies.]
What about you, how long are you home for?
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Date: 2022-11-04 06:58 pm (UTC)Just the weekend, this time. I came down for Max's birthday and then I'll be back in two weeks for Thanksgiving. [ It was tough to swing, but worth it for the look on Max's face when he'd walked into the record shop and actually managed to surprise her. ] I heard the parents are thinking about getting everyone together for one huge Thanksgiving. You and Jonathan going to be there?
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Date: 2022-11-06 04:34 pm (UTC)Even better, she makes sure I get first dibs on new stock when it comes in. Get this- [He glances toward the counter to make sure that Max isn't paying them any attention, and grins.] The minute it's just Eddie, I'm gonna get that special edition orange Cure vinyl that she's always staring at.
[Not that he's trying to one-up Lucas when it comes to gift things; this was a decision he'd made ages ago. He might have let Lucas in on the plan if time and distance had allowed. As it is, he's just excited to tell someone about it.
There's a touch of hesitation, but then a smaller smile at the mention of Thanksgiving.] If we can be. I know mom was talking about teaming up with Mrs Wheeler to set that up and Jonathan's gonna be helping cook. Holidays are kind of hard to swing at work, but at least I want to try and grab some food for my boss and his...partner? [Unsure what to call that whole thing that they have going on, but they're nice and deserve good food.]
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Date: 2023-01-29 06:20 am (UTC)I need you to come to the fort ASAP
I have a surprise!
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Date: 2023-01-29 07:25 pm (UTC)Are you ok?
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Date: 2023-01-29 11:51 pm (UTC)I just have a surprise for you
It can't wait
Pleeaaaasssseeee
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Date: 2023-01-30 10:16 am (UTC)Everyone else ditched us
You're really not going to tell me what you're up to?
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Date: 2023-01-30 11:09 pm (UTC)Just trust me!
It'll be just us and I promise you'll like it!
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Date: 2023-01-31 12:01 am (UTC)Fine, let me grab my coat, be out in a few.
You can almost hear the fiiiiiine and see the eyeroll.
At least Dustin really doesn't have long at all to wait, before Will is hitting the buzzer to let him know that he's done at the bottom, waiting for the loop to be tossed down to allow him to pull himself up. He kind of is banking on pizza or at least the snack stash up here for why he'd come out here this late when literally everyone else in their friend group decided that they would brave the high school prom.
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Date: 2023-02-14 01:41 pm (UTC)The card itself reads; ]
Happy Valentines Day
Sorry I can’t be there until next week
I love you
Mike
[ He’ll call later, if Will doesn’t manage to first ]
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Date: 2023-02-15 01:45 am (UTC)The card sort of shocks him, but not nearly as much as the bouquet does. He had been about to make himself some breakfast before checking his schedule for the day, until he's been alerted to the flowers sitting on the kitchen counter after they'd been brought in by the first person to leave the house that day. He...hadn't actually realized the date until now.
He has complicated feelings about this, most of it manifesting as a heart-gripping sort of anxiety that makes him feel like he's somehow fucking up by not knowing how he should be responding. He sort of wants to call at least so that Mike knows that he got the roses. The flowers end up with their ends trimmed a bit and lightly sugared water to extend their lifetime in a heavy little secondhand vase sitting on top of his dresser next to his favorite minis.
So he does, though he fully expects to only get the answering machine, or perhaps Andy on the other end.
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Date: 2023-02-15 02:10 am (UTC)It’s one of the reasons he’s been so busy, he thoroughly resented calling Owens at first, fumed over it even. But therapy is actually kinda helping, even if it does mean a lot of picking things open that are held together with glue rather than healed and then having to deal with them being open again. It’s hard is the point, really, really hard. And then he did the no alcohol January challenge with Andy and he can officially say he hasn’t been drunk since New Years Eve so there’s that. Because if this shit is what he has to haul himself through, the metaphorical hot coals he has to crawl over, to make things work out, then he’s going to at least try.
And all the school work he just… didn’t do has to be done. And he has until May to rectify it so he doesn’t have to redo first year, his parents will actually murder him if he fails. If they don’t murder each other first. Divorce seems to be looming harder than ever.
There are no less than six pens stuck in his messy bun and when he jumps to answer the phone all of his books that had been stacked precariously on the bed go crashing to the floor. Working at the desk would be smart but he’s not always smart.
“Hi,” he says when he picks up and then thinks about how Andy basically moved into his dorm following a post Christmas bust up with Diana. “Mike speaking.”
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Date: 2023-02-15 02:47 am (UTC)He hasn't actually admitted any of this to anyone else. Not even Dustin. Not even his brother. While Mike is making strides toward self-improvement, Will is tired of trying anymore.
It doesn't stop him from trying to at least keep some line of communication though, because in spite of it all he still values his friendship with Mike, and the gesture is lovely and thoughtful and he really likes the flowers themselves. The orange and yellow look really nice!
There's a second that he can't speak when Mike answers, sounding a little out of breath from launching himself at the phone. He manages after a moment, though he has to clear his throat to make his voice work again.
"Happy Valentine's day..."
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Date: 2023-02-15 03:13 am (UTC)It might seem like strides on the outside but it feels like baby steps while he waits for it to all implode again. But that’s fatalism and he’s received a thorough dressing down for that from the therapist so he’s trying to learn to stop it before it overwhelms him and gives him an excuse to make stupid choices that he’s not proud of.
“I uh… I wasn’t really sure if I should do anything but…” but he’d been bullied into just taking the plunge. “I didn’t want you to think I was silently dumping you again or something.” And okay he’s not convinced Will hasn’t done just that to him instead but he’s trying to follow the request to stop assuming things if Will hasn’t actually said them. “And it’s Valentines Day, so yeah… happy that.”
It never used to be this awkward but he had never had to sit with two years of fear that he was about to lose the person who mattered most only to end up reflexively pushing him away to try and get rid of it then. He’s got making up to do and facing it for a third horrible time was a big enough push to decide to put in the work instead.
“Also I’m coming over on Friday, to Hawkins, not to drop in on you unannounced or something, but I’ll be staying with Eddie and Steve because my parents house is a fucking warzone.”
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Date: 2023-02-15 03:41 am (UTC)He really hopes that Mike isn't too hurt by his opting to not go out of his way to make any grand gestures this year. The idea of yet another possible rejection had frozen him in indecision until he'd given up.
"I really liked them, thank you," he says quietly, worrying the cord of the phone between his forefinger and thumbnail standing with his back against the living room wall with his head down and eyes sort of unfocused at the floor.
The corner of his mouth tightens as Mike explains the plan; every so often Karen had taken to leaving Holly with the Byers after she and Joyce had started getting close, to keep her away from the escalating fights at the Wheeler house. It meant that he got to lend her his crayons and watch movies with her that she might otherwise not be able to, while she's forced way too young to come to terms with the idea that her family wasn't all going to stay together. He knows that feeling, so he's trying where he can to make sure she knows that it's not her fault and it's not the end of the world.
"If you need to you can take over the couch here," he offers, figuring that Joyce wouldn't mind it overly much. "Holly does that when she's here."
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