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Will slowly slides a plate of Eggos across the table.
El looks up, barely noticing the two slightly burnt waffles that sit in front of her.
"It's breakfast." Will mumbles. "I'm sorry— I didn’t mean to burn them, I promise. I'm just not the best at cooking."
That’s sort of a lie. He loved Eggos as they were the one food that he could usually make without much failure. He had been really distracted this morning however, the events of last night replaying in his mind, over and over.
He had decided to make breakfast for everyone this morning— he didn’t want his mom or Jonathan to have to worry about feeding him or anyone else after the previous day's events. Joyce had insisted for El to stay with them for as long as she needed.
They all needed their rest, although he doubted that either of them had a good night's sleep. He definitely got no sleep. He spent the night, tossing and turning; plagued by the traumatizing events that had gone down in Starcourt Mall.
He had heard his mom quietly crying through the night, small sobs that perforated the thin walls that separated their rooms. Jonathan had spent his night talking to Nancy, the two of them speaking in hushed tones. El had been extremely silent for the whole night, and he had wondered if she had finally gotten her long deserved nap.
Looking at El now, he doubts she’d gotten much sleep either. She looks worn down; her usually bright brown eyes were now puffy and dulled, drooping from the lack of sleep.
El looks down at the waffles, noticing that Will had drawn two lcrooked smiley faces with chocolate syrup. She sniffles, quickly wiping her nose.
"Thanks, Will." She softly whispers, managing to flash a small smile.
"Anytime."
* * *
It's been a week since El's world fell apart.
It had also been a week since she'd gotten her favourite comfort food; Eggos. Will had told her they had ran out of waffles, which sucks. She didn’t want to bother Joyce about getting more waffles so she stayed quiet.
She had heard Joyce crying at night, real quiet so as not to bother anyone. El wanted to comfort her, reassure her, but she doesn't know if she can even talk about Hopper without crying.
She’s sitting on a rather comfortable couch in the Byers' living room, her cheek pressed against the cold glass of the window, despondently staring outside. Today was a beautiful day, the sun was fat and high in the sky, the clouds a stark fluffy white against the cerulean backdrop of blue. Hopper would enjoy this type of weather, he’d always had a penchant against the cold.
She sighs. Everything these days always one way or another reminded her of her dad.
Oh, you see that show on the TV right now? Hopper said he was going to watch that with me.
Or, we're eating spaghetti for dinner, Hopper once tried making me spaghetti but he failed so bad and it was so funny.
She isn’t prepared for the sudden flush of tears that began to well up.
El hasn’t cried over Hopper since the night of Starcourt. She doesn’t want to accept the fact that Hopper's gone. Maybe, just maybe, he still was alive, and all she needs to do is recharge her batteries and find him.
She’s been trying to find him for the past few days to no avail, her powers appearing to be not working.
"Hey."
Will sinks down on the cushions next to her, distracting her from her thoughts.
There's a moment of silence that passes between them, and El quickly blinks her tears away.
"It’s nice out,” she finally responds, fiddling with a loose strand of thread from the couch.
“Mhm.”
"Can... Can we go outside?" she hesitates, before quickly adding. "Can we buy Eggos?"
"Sure. Let me ask my mom if she can drive us—“
"No." El doesn’t want to burden Joyce. She's the closest thing El has to a mother. She’s hurting over Hopper, and she needs the time to collect herself.
"We— we call Steve,” she offers instead, twisting her fingers nervously. "Don’t want to bother Joyce."
Will nodded, and quickly scurried off to the phone.
Will has been acting so nice and polite around her, just like what a butt-ler from a TV show she once watched.
Yesterday, she had asked if he had any Wonder Woman comics, and he turned his room upside down, before finding one. He had insisted on reading it aloud to her, and she had fallen asleep onto his shoulder. She had woken up on Will’s bed, tucked in tightly, Will nowhere in sight. It turned out he had spent the night on the couch.
If Joyce is now her mother, then that would technically make Will her brother. Mike and Lucas always talked about how annoying and terrible their siblings were even though they’ve gone through so many things together, both the good and bad.
She and Will had been through a lot together, and there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for him in a heartbeat. El always had a strong urge to always protect him from the bad people, and them being siblings wasn’t going to change that.
Hopefully.
“Steve says he’ll come over soon, and he’s bringing Mike and Dustin.” Will returns, beaming.
He holds up a crinkled bill. “Joyce gave me some money to buy Eggos.”
They sit in a comfortable silence, and wait for Steve’s camaro to roar down the street.
(Steve ends up buying them ice cream, and fails to flirt with the new worker at Scoops Ahoy. The rest of them make fun of him on the car ride home.)
* * *
Mike finally comes over to see Will, two weeks later.
Will greets him quietly at the door. “Hey, Mike.”
“Hey, Will.” Mike smiles, and awkwardly sidles into the Byers' household. He holds a grocery bag, fingers tightly gripping the flimsy plastic.
Will fiddles with a painting that was hung on the wall, trying to make this small conversation less awkward than it had to be.
"El isn’t here right now. She’s out with my mom and Max to buy stuff for her new room...?" Will scratches the back of his neck, the awkward tension increasing between them.
"Wait— I— I actually came to talk to you." Mike quickly took out a box of Eggos, offering them to Will with both hands. "Peace offering?”
It had been a while since they’d talked. The walkie-talkies had been damaged during the battle of Starcourt, and he hadn’t had the guts to call or walk over to Mike’s. Mike hadn’t come by to visit him. He had however, taken El out for lunch several times.
Mike had asked him every single time when he came by to pick up El if he wanted to join them, but Will didn’t want to be an awkward third-wheel on their stupid dates.
”It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”
The words hit Will like a brick. He had trusted Mike with his secret, he hadn’t even told anyone else about it. Not his own mom, not Jonathan, no one.
Now, Mike seemed indifferent about it, just like Troy and his dad and just about anyone at his school. He didn’t seem to care about how this was one of Will's fiercely guarded secrets, maybe he had even told someone else about it? Was Lucas listening to their conversation right now and laughing at him right now?
He let out a small shaky breath, suddenly feeling very small.
Mike’s eyes immediately widened, regret flashing through his face. “I—I'm not trying to be a jerk, okay?"
The rest of Mike's words were blurred together in Will's ears.
But, although Will is still upset with Mike, he can’t stay mad at Mike. Not even if he wants to.
Something about the other boy just makes him feel so... so... frustrated. But, despite all of the up and downs of their relationship, they always find themselves together.
"Okay, let’s talk?" Will trails off, uncertain of what territory their conversation may lead to.
"I’ll make you some Eggos first." Mike walks to the kitchen, busying himself with preparing the waffles. "I also brought whipped cream and some chocolate chips and some other candy and stuff!"
Will sits down on a chair, watching quietly as Mike whips up a diabetes-inducing, quintuple-decker Eggo extravaganza. He rests his elbows on the countertop, staring as sunlight from the kitchen window paints Mike in shades of gold.
It almost feels like the old days, with Mike trying to figure out what was the sweetest possible combination of candies he could put on Eggos, and Will laughing every single time at Mike's reactions to taking the first bite of the dessert. Joyce would scold them for
Now though, it was unnervingly quiet, the joy of their youth lost.
"Hey, uh, wanna help me decorate the Eggos?" Mike nervously pushes a plate with five Eggos precariously stacked on top of each other across the table.
The top waffle, like always, had a humongous dollop of whipped cream and two little stickmen holding hands, done in chocolate chips— their universal symbol which meant Mike & Will: best friends forever! which they had created back when they were six.
Will's lips quirks up into a small smile.
"Sure."
They begin to decorate the waffles, while slowly warming up to a conversation about about some silly old memories.
“—Remember that time you drew on the wall in my room—“
“Your mom got so mad at me—“
“—Remember her face? I nearly cried...”
The afternoon is lost to reminiscing the past, and lots of laughter. Will can barely remember why he got mad at Mike in the first place.
Finally, after an hour or so, the two step back to admire their hard work.
Fluffy whipped cream spilled from between each waffle, chocolate syrup and caramel slowly oozing down the side of the stack of Eggos. Chocolate chips had been wedges into the cream, and Reece's pieces were speckled all over the desert. Gummies of all sizes, shape and colour peeked out from the waffles. As a final touch, Mike reveals that he had a bottle of sprinkles, and he sprays the last bit of whipped cream on the top, and the two coat it with rainbow sprinkles.
"Wow." Mike grins at Will, looking the happiest Will has ever seen him in such a long time. "That was so fun."
Mike’s dark eyes sparkle in the late afternoon light, and he holds his hand up for a high five. There’s a streak of chocolate on his cheek, and Will fights the urge to carefully wipe it away.
Mike raises an eyebrow at him, still smiling. “Don’t leave me hanging.”
Will goes for the high five, the two of their hands resting against each other, a second that seems longer than usual, and his heart skips a beat— but then Mike is pulling away.
"Let’s eat!" Mike enthusiastically dug into the Eggo extravaganza with a fork, and takes a large bite.
"Holy shit! This is definitely the sweetest one yet! But it still tastes so good! We've done it, Will!" Mike's eyes boggle as he takes another bite.
Will digs in, and almost immediately spits out his first bite.
It’s terribly sweet— the peanut butter of the Reese’s clashing with the gummy bears and sprinkles— and Mike is laughing his head off.
"Oh my god." Will gasps, quickly downing down a glass of water. Mike continues to laugh,
As the laughter died down, Will sticks his hand out. "I’m sorry."
"Why are you shaking first? I drew first blood." Mike says, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
Will bites his lip, voice quiet. "I couldn’t stop nagging you guys to play D&D with me like we were still stupid kids. I just wanted things to go... to go back to how it was before the Upside-down. When it was just us. And hours and hours of silly D&D campaigns and I missed that, and I got jealous. I— I called El stupid and I’m sorry. It’s all my fault."
He continues to hold his hand out.
Mike shakes his head. "That’s all bullshit! I’ve been ignoring you for a while, and I’ve been refusing to play with you and— and I never ever should’ve used your secret against you like that." His voice softens. "You— you know, I was really honoured that I was the first person you trusted with your secret. But in that moment, I— I got mad and lashed out, Will. I’m so sorry. I really do miss the old days, where we had no responsibilities and stuff, but we're growing and learning. And well, with learning comes mistakes. This was one huge mistake, hurting you like that. Friends?"
He holds his hand out.
Will tackles him with a hug instead.
"Always." He whispers.
(Later, Joyce and El come back to find Will and Mike asleep on the couch. Mike's arm is tightly wrapped around Will. El takes a photo.)
* * *
Jonathan decides to take Joyce, Will and El on a trip to the local diner for a Byers' day out.
They haven’t really done much all together after El moved in.
They go to a small diner, and he let them order whatever they wanted. El ordered a bunch of waffles, which she shared with everyone. Will had a burger and a side of fries, which he ended up giving to El. He and his mom split a plate of spaghetti. They talk while eating, bonding over some old memories.
After, they walk home and sit in the living room and share some things. They learn a little bit more about each other.
Jonathan admitted that, in the future, he wanted to marry Nancy and they would get a nice little house, away from Hawkins. He wanted to have two kids, and he also asked them if they thought he’d make a good dad. Will, El and his mom almost agree that he would make a fantastic dad immediately.
His heart swelled at the thought of one day, he’d be a dad. And a good one, at that.
Joyce talked a little bit about Hopper, but stopped quickly, wiping some small tears that escaped. They give her a big group hug.
El talked about how she missed her powers, and how life felt a little bit different since their disappearance.
She also talked a little bit about Mike. Will made a funny face when she mentioned him.
* * *
El started to wonder if she actually liked her decision of dumping Mike's ass, while she stress-ate a plate of Eggos. Will was quietly munching on a Eggo, sitting cross-legged on her bed across from her. Neither of them had said anything.
On retrospect, it had appeared to be a good choice but after everything that went down, she wanted to crawl back under the blanket fort in Mike's basement and pretend everything had never happened. She really missed him, and their old relationship.
He did take her out for lunch several times, and made sure to call almost every day, annoying the heck out of Will. He promised to check in on her as much as possible, and he kept that promise.
Friends don’t lie. She remembers. Yeah, well, boyfriends do.
She thinks they were back to being just friends— Mike had been honest with her for the past while. Some days, she missed the simple feeling of holding Mike's hand. She had held other people's hands before, but it never gave her the satisfaction of holding Mike's hand.
On another hand, her and Mike's relationship had also, not purposely, split The Party up. It had especially taken its toll on Will and Dustin.
Dustin found a new group of friends— Steve, Robin and Erica— but Will continued to stick around, although he usually got ignored. After Hopper had decided to split Mike and her up for a bit, she came to some terms that maybe she was being a bad friend. Particularly towards Will— she'd seen him just ask Lucas and Mike over and over if they could just play D&D, but they were too busy thinking about her and Max.
El had also seen the way Will looks at Mike when he thinks no one else is watching.
She feels sorry for him. Sometimes, she wondered, what would their lives be like if she had never bothered them? Maybe they’d all still be friends, and Barbara, Bob, Heather, Billy and Hopper and so many others would all still be here. Joyce had told her to stop blaming everything on herself, but she just couldn’t stop wondering.
She also kept wondering if she and Mike could get back together, kind of like how Max and Lucas kept splitting yet always kept getting together. But her relationship was so much more different than Max's.
Although, ever since they’d broken up, The Party had began to slowly mend itself back together. Maybe they did need some time apart.
She can't help but feel guilty about wanting to get back with Mike though.
She missed having him comfort her as she cried.
Today, there had been a lot of tears. She cried when Joyce said the town was throwing Hopper a funeral— there wasn’t even a body to bury.
Earlier, she cried even more when her powers still refused to work and prevented her from finding Hopper.
El had been too scared to go seek Will's comfort; she was supposed to be strong in front of him.
He had knocked on her door though, like a human sad-El detector, and stood there, holding up the plate of waffles with chocolate smiley-faces. She had given him a big hug.
"Do... Do you think me and Mike just being friends is good?" She finally spoke out loud.
Hopper had wanted her and Mike to not spend so much time together, and Max had said Mike was too controlling and took too much of her free time away. Maybe she did use to spend a lot of her alone time with Mike, but she could learn how to balance out her dating and friendship life.
A look flashed on Will's face, but it’s quickly replaced by his poker-face. "Um. I don’t know." He blinked several times.
"Do you think you and Mike being just friends is good?" Will questioned, flopping onto his back. "Or do you, well, want to go back to how things once were?" Will is using a slightly different tone than usual, and she’s subtly reminded of how he and Mike's history went a long ways back.
"I miss being with him." El confessed, stuffing another waffle into her mouth. "But it seems like when we’re happy together, no one else seems very happy. Like... Like you." She knew she was treading on hot territory. She remembered the lesson that Mike had delivered about people liked another person of the same gender. Liked, as in more than friends liked. It was okay to like people like that, but sadly, adults and lots of other people didn’t like the idea, so it was best not to discuss the topics in front of older people.
Will froze.
"Well— well, you know. I— I was just upset that he was ignoring me for— for you." He stammered, sitting back up.
"Will." She said, and gently placed her hand on his. "It’s okay."
He's trembling, his eyes welling up with tears, and El wondered if what she did was bad. He doesn’t remove his hand from hers though.
"Did... Did Mike tell you?" He finally asked in a small voice.
"Mike?" El scrunched her face up in confusion. "No.”
”Oh.” Will seemed to deflate slightly, the skittish fight-or-flight energy dissipating. A lone tear ran down his cheek, and El brushed it away.
”It’s okay.” El repeated, and she wrapped her arms around the smaller boy.
(He falls asleep later and El lets him take the bed. She sleeps on the floor. She later wakes up on her bed.)
* * *
The day for the funerals finally arrives.
It's a somber day, and the weather corresponds to everyone's moods. The skies were a hue of myserious dark greys, shielding them from the sun's warm rays of light. It was quiet, as the residents of Hawkins slowly filed into the graveyard.
No one else in Hawkins knows the true answer to why suddenly a bunch of its residents had died mysteriously.
They had an elaborate cover up story that seemed a lot easier to believe than the truth; the Russians had killed several of Hawkins' residents as they had been caught sneaking around where they definitely shouldn’t have. This was a lot easier to explain than oh, these mind-controlled residents turned into little fleshy blobs to create a really huge monster called the Mind Flayer.
They’re all burying just a bunch of empty caskets. Billy's body had disappeared after the events that went down at Starcourt, which Max found really suspicious. She doesn't want to bury the empty casket, but her father and mother insisted on doing so. She's currently sobbing, Lucas holding her close.
They first lower Hopper's coffin into the ground.
El holds Mike's and Will's hands tightly. Tears roll down her face as she watches people slowly sprinkle handfuls of dirt onto the empty coffin.
She wants to scream; he couldn’t be dead. He wasn’t dead. And although it’s been imbedded in her mind for a while that there would be no body as he had been atomized instantly by the machine, she doesn’t believe that he’s dead.
Everyone sounds really muffled to her ears for some reason.
People murmur quietly to her: I’m so sorry for your loss, he was a great guy, blah, blah, blah.
It’s not until Joyce, tears streaming her face, crushes her in a big hug when she wonders if Hopper may really be dead this time around.
She can’t accept the fact that he’s dead.
She won't.
* * *
El watched as Hopper slipped in the Eggos into the box in the woods. She watched as he looked around, and then began quickly walking away. She quietly stepped out from behind the thicket of trees, snow crunching under her soaked shoes.
Hopper turned around, and his eyes widened.
* * *
The cabin is nice and warm.
Snow fell outside, the winds howling in the distance. El was glad to be out of the terrible weather and safe inside Hopper's cabin with a bunch of Eggos to eat. Hopper was currently cleaning up the rooms of the abandoned cabin, preparing El's room.
She helped Hopper clean up the cabin, and over the course of the next few weeks, they move in a bunch of furniture. A nice little bed for El, some board games and a nice comfy couch. It felt exciting to finally have somewhere to call home.
* * *
Hopper set down a bunch of ground rules.
1) Always keep the curtains drawn.
2) Only open the door if you hear my secret knock.
3) Never ever go outside alone, especially not in daylight.
"I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. This means you'll have to obey my rules, okay?" Hopper took her hand. El nodded in agreement.
Safe is good.
* * *
Over the next few months, she finally finds out what it's like to have a good dad.
Hopper buys her clothes, plays board games and makes lots of Eggo Extravaganzas for her. He even brings her a television! Best of all, he doesn’t make any false promises like Papa did.
* * *
El remembered hugging Hopper inside Starcourt.
Why did she let him go?
* * *
Joyce stared at Hopper's uniform.
It was neatly hung up inside the cabin's closet, the familiar badge still pinned above the breast. A pair of worn-down boots sits neglected beneath.
It still smelled of him, the warm smell of cigarettes and coffee. She carefully touched the collar of the uniform, and closed her eyes.
"I hear Enzo's pretty good." Joyce smiled sheepishly over at Hopper. "What do you say? Friday, eight o' clock?"
He looked stunned for a moment, blinking several times before replying. "El— El likes to watch Miami Vice on Friday’s. So, uh, I can’t be out late on Fridays."
"Oh— okay, what about seven then?"
"Seven? Enzo’s? Friday? I meet you there?"
"No, you pick me up." Joyce grinned.
"Picking you up... Seven PM... Friday." Hopper sounded as if he were in a daze, slowly dragging each word out.
"Yeah, it’s a date."
Tears rolled down her face.
Why did Hopper have to play the goddamn hero card?
* * *
Will watched El from where her door was left open a crack. He came bearing maybe-bad news and some Eggos.
She has herself blindfolded, and the television is crackling with static. She was probably trying to find Hopper, but her powers seeed to have abruptly dissapeared after the Battle of Starcourt. He doesn't know why they're gone, and neither does she.
He eventually knocked, startling the girl. She quickly removed the blindfold and turned the television off.
"Your powers still gone?" He asked, placing a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. She nodded.
"Hopper isn't dead." El insisted. "I can find him. I... I just need to recharge."
"Don't tell Joyce about this." She added.
Will hummed in agreement. He handed over the waffles to El.
Hopper's death had really taken it's toll on Joyce. He was here to tell El that after all the diastrous events, and terrible memories made in Hawkins, his mom had finally decided it was time to move. Bob had suggested they move to Maine, and she admitted that she wanted them to all move.
"We're moving." He stated quietly.
Her eyes widened.
Will himself had been caught off guard by the news himself; he didn't want to leave Hawkins or leave The Party, but the more he thought about it, maybe a fresh start would be good. In Hawkins, he was only known as Zombie Boy. In Maine, he would be a nobody, but that was better than being known as the resident zombie.
"You... You don't have to come with us." He muttered, wringing his hands awkwardly. "You can stay here, with Mike or something."
Will knew she probably wanted to stay in Hawkins, to continue trying to look for Hopper. He didn’t know if he really believed he was dead, but Joyce saw him die, so that was that.
He wanted her to come with them though.
El had became the sister he didn’t know he wanted. She was nice and non-judgemental. She was someone he could talk to about the Upside-down and the Mind Flayer, and she would listen to him as he had breakdowns. She knew how to comfort him, and he knew how to comfort her. Plus, they both a huge love for Eggos.
And maybe, the fresh start would be good for El too. She could finally live a more normal life and go to school and such.
El looked down, and he could hear the gears spinning in her head.
"I want to come with you." She whispered.
* * *
The Party is pretty upset that they’re moving. Tears, hugs, and Eggos were shared around as they spent one last huge sleepover together in the Byers' house, with Steve and Robin babysitting them.
El woke up in the middle of the night, her head dizzy from crying so much. She carefully tiptoed out her room, quiet as a mouse so she wouldn’t accidentally wake Max. Sleep-deprived Max was scary Max.
She walked to the kitchen to grab herself a glass of water, only to find Mike sitting despondently at the table.
"Mike?" She whispered loudly. He quickly whipped his head up, wiping his hand across his face. It was dark, and she wondered if he had been crying.
"E—El!" He stammered, looking a bit surprised to see her. "Wh—what are you doing up?"
"Water." She scooted over to the sink and filled up a glass.
"You want?" She asked, holding up another glass. "Sure, sure." Mike answered, bobbing his head up and down, kind of like that bobble head Hopper had by the window of their cabin.
"Why are you sad?" She finally decided to ask, the two of them calmly sipping their waters.
"What?" He exclaimed, maybe a bit too quickly. "I’m— I'm not sad."
"You were crying." El hesitantly offered. "Why?"
Mike let out a huff. "Well—" he started, and his voice cracked. "Well, my best friend for practically ten years is moving away and so— so is the girl that I really, um—uh, care about."
"A—and well, this girl, I also happen to really l—like."
El felt her face get warm. She placed her hand gently on top of his.
The two of them quietly sat there for the rest of the night.
* * *
Max grabbed a bunch of Eggo boxes from the freezer and put them into the shopping cart.
"More! We need more Eggos!" Dustin declared, and continued to empty the freezer of the waffles. Max rolled her eyes, but helped Dustin with clearing out the grocery store's Eggo section.
The grocery store worker was warily staring at the group of kids from around the corner.
Mike and Lucas were busily grabbing candies of all sorts and dumping them into another cart.
Steve and Robin were grabbing several tubs of ice cream, precariously balanced on top of each other. Erica was yelling out orders at them. "Hey! Hey, why so many tubs of vanilla ice cream, huh? We need some variety in here!"
Eventually, they all crowd around the register and wait for the poor fellow to finish ringing up each item. The total is a staggering amount of $53.69, and they stare at it in dismay.
"We helped save Hawkins from Russian spies. We're national heroes, mister."
The cash register guy gave Erica a withering glare that could’ve instantly killed a plant.
They end up emptying their pockets to only realize they have $35.43, not nearly enough. Steve sighed and pulled out the emergency twenty dollar bill he’d been trying to save. Robin gave him an encouraging slap.
* * *
They spend a long time preparing the huge, we-will-miss-you Eggo Extravaganza.
Steve somehow convinced the Byers' to go see a new movie with just him, which totally did not seem suspicious at all.
Back at the Byers' household, Nancy and Mike fought over whether they should add more M&M's or Reece's pieces onto their huge Eggo masterpiece. Dustin just dumped both onto the waffles.
Robin was arranging the waffles into a huge heart, with Erica giving her some sort-of-constructive criticism. "Is that supposed to be a heart? It looks a little bit more like a freaking kidney."
Lucas and Max were carefully icing on the words, WE'LL MISS YOU in big block letters.
They hide behind the Byers' couch as they hear Steve's car pull into the driveway. Robin counted down with her fingers. "Three... Two... One... NOW!"
They burst out from behind the couch, and Will screamed. Then that’s followed by awkward silence.
"Wait, were we supposed scream surprise or something?" Erica questioned. They shrug.
They have a great time eating the humongous farewell Eggo Extravaganza, they laugh and share memories; reminiscing the good times. Their mini party of sorts then gets interrupted by someone knocking on the door.
A policeman stood there, holding up his badge.
"Can we help you?" Erica asked, folding her arms.
"Actually, yes." The officer responded. "A grocery store reported that several children had bought an alarming amount of Eggos. I’m here to check on what the hell you kids are doing with fifty boxes of Eggo waffles, ten bars of chocolate, and two bottles of chocolate syrup, maple syrup and caramel sauce?"
"It’s a farewell present, dum-dum." Erica gestured at the huge Eggo Extravaganza. "What, you think we feeding Russians or something? We were the ones who discovered the Russian base."
The officer gave Erica a wary stare, but looking at the faces of the rest of the kids, he quietly backed away.
* * *
Moving day rolls around, and Will doesn’t expect for the onslaught of nostalgia and memories that flood in as he carefully packed up his room.
He carefully put Jonathan's epic tape of songs into a box, remembering how Should I Stay or Should I Go kept him sane during the week in the Upside-down.
He packed Mr. Snuffles, a Christmas present from Mike from kindergarten. He loved the stupid fuzzy bear to death, and as much as he hated to admit it, Mr. Snuffles helped him sleep at night.
He took down the different drawings that were hung around his room, remembering each story that each picture brung. A framed photo of him and The Party and their science award, made his eyes prick with tears.
"Hey." Mike, Dustin and Lucas stood in the doorway, more boxes in tow. Will smiled.
There's a lot more tears than he expected as they pack up the rest of his room together.
* * *
El shares a final hug with Mike, freely crying now.
She'll miss him, and Dustin, and Lucas, and Max, and Steve, and Robin and practically all the good people in Hawkins. Joyce tells her they’d be allowed to visit whenever they wanted, and it makes her feel a little bit better.
She gets into the car, and waves a final time at her friends.
* * *
Somewhere, in a cell in Russia, a man sits, facing a wall filled with tally marks. He carefully adds another mark to the wall.
"It’s been ninety-two days since I’ve last seen my daughter."