FOURTEEN: MOUTH BREATHER

AN HOUR OR SO AND A MAKEOVER LATER, they were in the halls of their middle school. Mike had been so dramatic when they put Eleven in a wig and threw a dress on her, calling her pretty and shit. He thought they were getting somewhere, but it was just in his head. Mike could accept him, but Daniel would never have him. Maybe the sooner he accepted that the sooner he could get over Mike. Find a boy like him or maybe just find a way to be alone and be okay with it.

When Mike had suggested a bigger radio, everyone's thoughts went to the Heathkit Ham Shack in Mister Clarke's office, so they had to get there without anyone noticing Eleven. Thus the makeover was apparently a necessity. It was like they were in some bad rom-com or something. Eleven had ridden on the back of Mike's bike because of course, she had. He shared this huge secret with Mike and now it was like nothing happened. Was this what he wanted? What did he expect? Did he expect Mike to sigh with relief and confess his love for Daniel? God, makeover be damned, his brain was the one living in a rom-com.

They were so close to getting to Mister Clarke's office when they were stopped by the man himself, greeting the boys with a small and confused smile.

"Boys?" he asked, scaring the shit out of everyone. It was fate. They got caught because this was a stupid plan. Daniel should have gone home when he had the chance.

"Hey," Lucas said casually, leaning against the door as if there was nothing out of the ordinary going on.

Mister Clarke was definitely confused, staring at the group with a furrowed brow, "Assembly's about to start." Right, the assembly for their dead best friend. Emphasis on dead. Daniel was starting to wonder why they were here in the first place. Actually, not starting to, he's been thinking that just about the whole time.

"We know," Mike mumbled, "We're just, you know —"

"Upset," Lucas filled in, his charming smile trying to persuade Mister Clarke. Something told Daniel it was working.

"We wanted to see the radio, since —" Daniel drifted off for a moment, partially for dramatic effect, partially just realizing, "since Will never got to see it."

"We need some alone time," Mike nodded.

"To cry," Dustin very helpfully cut in.

Mister Clarke looked like he was actually starting to believe them. It would be weird if he didn't since according to literally everyone else in Hawkins, their best friend had just been found dead in a lake. No one knew the boys suspected something else, no one could.

"Yeah, listen," the man started, "I get it, I do. I know how hard it is, but let's just be there for Will, huh? And then —" Mister Clarke pulled a key out of his pocket and tossed it to Mike, "the Heathkit is all yours for the rest of the day. What do you say?" Daniel could not believe this actually worked out. God, he loved Mister Clarke sometimes.

At least, he thought things worked out until the man noticed Eleven standing quietly. "I don't believe we've met. What's your name?" Daniel thanked God too soon. There was no doubt the girl was going to fuck it up for them.

"Eleven —" and there it goes.

"Eleanor!" Mike exclaimed, cutting her off, "she's my uh —"

"Cousin," Lucas cut in.

"Second cousin," Dustin added unnecessarily.

Daniel smiled, trying to keep it looking somewhat sad. "She's visiting — of course, she was coming to help look for Will and then the day after she gets here, this happens. Terrible, so tragic." Daniel could not believe how fake he sounded. He had half a mind to just blurt out the truth to Mister Clarke so there would be at least one adult who might possibly know what to do. Daniel was tired of shooting in the dark with this telekinetic thing.

Mister Clarke nodded understandingly, "Ah, well, welcome to Hawkins Middle, Eleanor. I wish you were here under better circumstances."

Eleven looked at the boys nervously before looking back at Mister Clarke, "Thank you." So she could get something right, apparently. That was a first.

"Uh, where are you from exactly?"

"Bad place—" the girl said darkly, shaking her head. So they only got one good thing from her, it seemed, because she had to fuck it up right as things were starting to go smoothly.

Dustin thankfully cut her off, "Sweden!"

"I have a lot of Swedish family," the Wheeler boy supplied.

"She hates it there."

"Cold," Lucas nodded in agreement.

"Subzero," Dustin smiled. Okay, this was overkill.

Daniel chose now to come in and swerve things in a way that might actually help them, "Anyway, the assembly is starting, isn't it?"

Mister Clarke, despite still looking confused, nodded, "Shall we?"

The boys were far too enthusiastic to follow. They were all crowded into the gymnasium, although, with the small number of students Hawkins Middle had, it wasn't too uncomfortable. Of course, the boys had to make a scene, every head in the room turning to them as they entered the gymnasium. Daniel immediately felt a sense of unease, he hated having so many eyes on him at once. The principal stopped speaking, the staff staring at them as well. This was just great. Dustin mumbled something and tried to turn around, but Lucas pushed him forward. They found seats, their eyes scanning the crowd as the principal spoke. Lucas was on one side of Daniel while Mike was on the other, with Eleven next to him, and Dustin next to the girl. Due to the tight squeeze, Daniel's leg was pressed up against Mike and it felt like it was burning him. A good burn, fuzzy almost.

"Look at these fakers," Mike muttered, Daniel nodding in agreement. There were about four people in the room that knew the real Will and that was Lucas, Daniel, Mike, and Dustin. That's it.

"They probably didn't even know his name until today," Lucas scoffed.

Daniel sighed, feeling slightly angry, "It's all bullshit. Complete bullshit."

It was then a laugh caught their attention. It was Troy and his cronies. Daniel wished he had some guts to march over there and punch that smile off his face. God, he hated that boy so much.

"Mouthbreather," Eleven muttered. How she knew what that meant, Daniel had no idea, but she was right. Troy was a total mouth breather who really needed to get a taste of his own medicine. Daniel wished he was as tough on the outside as he was on the inside. Maybe then Troy wouldn't mess with them as much.

The bell rang and the sound of feet pounding against polished hardwood was the only thing to be heard. Mike, being much braver than Daniel, called out to Troy, "Hey, hey! Hey, Troy!" The boy stopped and turned around to face the group. Daniel placed a hand on Mike's shoulder softly, ready to hold him back. "You think this is funny?"

"What'd you say, Wheeler?"

"He asked if it was funny, are you deaf as well as dumb?" Daniel spoke up, surprising himself.

"Aw, you have a little queer defending you, how cute!" Troy mocked.

Mike tensed up, more than he usually would now that he knew the truth about Daniel. "Don't talk to him like that. I saw you guys laughing over there and I think that's a real messed up thing to do.

"Didn't you listen to the counselor, Wheeler?" the other boy asked. "Grief shows itself in funny ways."

"Besides, what's there to be sad about anyway? Will's in fairyland now, right? Flying around with all the other little fairies. All happy and gay!" Troy shouted. A small crowd was forming around them now. "Maybe you should join them, Daniel? Everyone knows you were all in love with Byers, right?"

Daniel's mouth formed as if to say something, but nothing came out. There was a lump in his throat blocking any sort of comeback. It looks like his bravery was short lived. The two boys turned around, ready to walk away. Daniel noticed Mike wanting to move forward, he lifted his hand and let him, hoping Mike would at least try to kick Troy's ass. He shoved Troy forward and the boy fell on his chest. Dustin and Lucas gasped, along with pretty much everyone else, but Daniel stifled a laugh, feeling proud of Mike.

"You're dead, Wheeler! Dead!" Troy exclaimed, but as he tried to move forward, something stopped him in his tracks. There were murmurs as the crotch of his tan pants began to darken and it was clear what was happening.

"Dude, Troy peed himself!" some random blond boy announced, causing the crowd surrounding them to break out into laughter. It was then Daniel noticed Eleven's nose bleeding, a sign she was using her powers. This was her.

Maybe he hated her a little less now.

( note! )

i feel like this story is progressing really slowly, so chapters might start getting longer/having more in them! also, i realized yara shahidi (Heather) is only 17 and since I'm a huge advocate for not mixing underage face claims with people 18+ I'm debating between changing the face claim or just holding off anything romantic between Heather and Steve until Yara turns 18 in February (which I probably wasn't going to do until this book hit season two anyway), but I feel it would be best to change the face claim to Zendaya or someone :/ if y'all have any african-american female faceclaims that are 18+ that you wanna suggest, please do!

EDIT: Heather's face claim has been changes to Keke Palmer!