ONE: MADMAX

"TELL DUSTIN I'VE GOT FIVE BUCKS," Daniel exclaimed as he came practically running down the stairs to Mike's basement. He hadn't expected to find his boyfriend sitting in his fort, staring straight ahead with his walkie-talkie in his hand, "Mike? You okay?"

It was only the boys and their siblings that knew about their relationship. They made things official around Christmas last year, meaning they were only a few months away from one year. Sure, some could say that a year-long relationship a the ripe old age of fourteen was a little weird, but he could undoubtedly say he was in love with Mike Wheeler. Even after almost a year, the butterflies in his stomach never faded and his skin still burned in the best way possible when they kissed. It was love.

It was then that Dustin's voice cut through the static from the walkie-talkie, "Mike, do you copy? Mike, do you copy?"

Mike smiled at Daniel as if just noticing him before speaking into the device, "Yeah, I copy."

"What the hell are you doing on this channel?" Dustin asked. As soon as the boy said that, Daniel realized what was happening. Mike had been trying to find Eleven. He had done it every day, sometimes Daniel would do it with him, but no dice.

"Nothing," Mike lied, lacing his fingers with Daniel's as he sat down next to him.

"Well, Lucas and I have six bucks total, what about you and Daniel?"

Mike's eyes went wide, "Uh, Daniel said he's got five bucks, but I don't know mine yet."

"What do you mean you don't know yet?" Dustin asked angrily through the walkie-talkie, "Also how the hell does Daniel have five bucks?"

Right as Mike pressed the 'speak' button, Daniel yelled, "Dude, I've got a rich mom!"

Mike laughed before saying, "Anyway, hold on, call Will."

He pushed the antenna back in, kissed Daniel on the cheek and ran upstairs. He already knew the Wheeler boy was probably breaking into his sister's piggy bank, so he walked up the stairs and waited by the garage door, knowing they would probably have to make a hasty getaway to escape Nancy. Daniel felt bad every time he saw Nancy since he knew his sister's best friend, Veronica, was still harboring a crush for her. It didn't help that Nancy cut all her hair off, causing Veronica to try and reason with: "It's the bisexual haircut!"

"Hey, Daniel! Where's Mike?" Karen Wheeler asked when she noticed the boy standing alone.

Daniel just laughed and pointed upstairs where there were audible rushed footsteps and Nancy yelling. Karen smiled and rolled her eyes before walking back into the kitchen to shout, "What is going on?"

"Daniel, let's go!" Mike shouted as they ran out, running alongside each other while Mike rolled his bike down the driveway. He hopped on and Daniel right behind him and they rode off towards the arcade, leaving Nancy in the dust.

He wasn't promoting robbing your siblings, but he would be lying if he didn't find joy in their getaway. He could hear Nancy in the distance yelling obscenities, which only made him giddier. He rests his head on Mike's shoulder as they rode, his arms around his waist tightly. Over the summer of 1984, his friends had somehow convinced him to get into video games, meaning Daniel now joined them all the time for their arcade trips. He even held the high score on Tetris now.

They arrived at the arcade right as Lucas and Dustin pulled up on their bikes. Placing them in the rack, they waited for the Byers family car to pull up. Ever since Will got back from the Upside Down, Joyce never let him go anywhere without her or Jonathan driving him.

"Hey!" Lucas shouted when they saw the car pull into the parking lot. They watched as Joyce gave her little speech about walking or biking home to Will before he finally got out of the car and joined the boys.

They all ran inside and right to the Dragon's Lair game, Dustin inserting a quarter into the machine and taking the controls.

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword!" the very racy Princess Daphnee spoke in her airy voice. Daniel knew she was designed to get people hot and bothered, but he had no idea why Dustin was so obsessed with winning her. It could also be that Dustin was purely jealous because Lucas held the highest score and had held that score for months, almost since the beginning of summer when they began their weekly excursions to the arcade.

As Dustin got started playing the game, his voice was unsure, "Oh, Jesus! I'm in uncharted territory here, guys."

"You're doing fine!" Daniel exclaimed as they all began to shout, "Down! Down! Down!"

Their voices muddled together, all four telling Dustin what to do while he reassured them that he was listening. In all the chaos, Dustin must have made a wrong move because his player faced them through the screen and crumbled to nothing more than bones.

"No!" Dustin shouted, hitting the machine in anger, "No, no, no, I hate this overpriced bullshit!"

They all sighed, except for Lucas who had a triumphant grin on his face, "You're just not nimble enough, you'll get there one day. Until then, Princess Daphne is still mine!"

Daniel rolled his eyes with a smile on his face, "You guys are so lame."

"Shut up, you're only saying that because you know no one can beat you at Tetris!" Dustin argued, but it was all light-hearted.

"Yeah, but I can still kick your ass at Dig Dug," Lucas pointed out with a laugh, earning a chuckle and a shake of the head from the curly-haired boy.

"Maybe, but I'm still tops," Dustin shrugged.

Then, a new voice joined the group. "You sure about that?" It was Keith, the teenager who worked at the arcade. His fingers were coated in cheese-puff dust as always, which Daniel found pretty disgusting. He never understood how people liked cheese puffs.

"Sure about what?" Dustin asked nervously. Keith just ate his cheese puff and it was like a switch flipped in all the boys. They sprinted towards the Dig Dug machine, rushing to check the scores.

"No!" the boy screamed as soon as he saw his score had been topped by someone with the name 'MadMax.' Daniel sighed, but he cared slightly less seeing as he was now in fifth place, but at least he was still on the leaderboard.

Will eyed the highest score, exclaiming, "751,353 points!"

"That's impossible!" Mike shouted. He had one arm loosely hung around Daniel's shoulders as they eyed the machine. To anyone, it was just a loose gesture between two friends. To them, it was everything.

Dustin turned around to Keith, who was still standing there with his cheese puffs, and asked, "Who is Mad Max?"

"Better than you," was all the teen had to say.

"Is it you?" Will asked. Although it seemed somewhat plausible, except for the fact that Mad Max would be a weird name for Keith to pick.

Keith disproved Will's theory with a scoff, "You know I despise Dig Dug."

"Then who is it?"

"Yeah, spill it, Keith!" Dustin exclaimed.

"You want information, then I need something in return," Keith stated. Daniel sighed, throwing his hands up in annoyance. Why was Keith always like this? He had never been anything but a nuisance for the boys. Everyone knew exactly what Keith wanted as all the boys turned to Daniel and Mike.

Daniel scrunched up his face in disgust, "My sister is out of the question!"

Mike nodded, "So is mine! You're not getting a date with her!"

"Come on!" Dustin sighed, giving both boys puppy dog eyes, "What about your sister's friend, Daniel? What's her name? Valerie or something?"

"Oh, Veronica's hot," Keith nodded, "Really, a date with either of them and I'll give you the information you need."

"No!" both Mike and Daniel yelled at the same time, Mike finishing the statement with, "I'm not prostituting my sister! And neither is Daniel!"

"Guys, come on, just get him the date!" Lucas argued. "It's for a good cause!"

Mike was about to yell something back when Dustin cut them off by saying, "No, don't get him the date. Know what? He's gonna spread his nasty ass rash to your whole family."

Keith immediately got defensive as soon as the words left the younger boy's mouth, "Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious you prepubescent wastoid!"

"Oh, I'm a wastoid?" Dustin retorted, "She wouldn't go on a date with you! You make like, what? $2.50 an hour?"

"Nice perm," was Keith's genius response.

"What you're gonna make fun of my hair?"

It was then that Daniel noticed someone was missing. He turned around and saw Will walking slowly towards the door of the arcade. This wasn't the first time things like this happened since Will came back from the Upside Down. With a furrowed brow, Daniel nudged his boyfriend's shoulder, nodding towards the distant boy. Mike sighed, mumbling something about being right back before taking off after him. Mike always seemed to be the one that was best at getting Will out of his trances. Sometimes Daniel could, but the Wheeler boy always seemed the be able to shake Will out of it. He didn't think much of it, Mike had always been closer to Will out of everyone in the group before Daniel came along. He was glad to see at least that became back to normal once Will was back. If anything, everyone's friendship with Will was even stronger. Especially his and Daniel's. He remembered telling Will about him and Mike like it was yesterday, Will's laugh and accepting smile. Will was back and that had been all that mattered. He just wished the boy could get some peace.

( note! )

ayyy im back bitches!! uhh not much daniel and mike in this chapter buuuuut there's more to come i promise! also, if anyone has a link to a faceless stranger things 2 gif hunt PLEASE send it to me! i cannot find ONE and i need it!!