THIRTEEN: TRUST ME

IT WAS EARLY WHEN LUCAS AND DUSTIN SHOWED UP AT DANIEL'S DOOR. Heather answered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she saw the two boys.

She sighed, "It's too early for this, what's up?"

Lucas looked just as annoyed, "We need Daniel. Mike wants us all at his place, says it's urgent."

"Give me two seconds." She closed the door, leaving them on the stoop as she quietly went back up the stairs and into her brother's room. She sat on his bed and shook his shoulder lightly. Her brother was always startled when someone woke him up, so she made sure to be gentle.

Daniel sat up in seconds, almost knocking heads with Heather. When he realized what was going on, he yawned before speaking, "What's going on?"

"Your friends are here. They need you at Mike's place." Normally, Heather would have slammed the door and told the boys at the front door to screw off at this early hour, but the boys must be fragile having heard the news of their dead friend. She didn't even know they watched his body get pulled out of the quarry, which made things feel infinitely worse.

"Do I have to go?" Daniel asked, his soft voice rough from sleep. He only got three or four hours. His eyes were glued to the stars on his ceiling as the image of his best friend being dragged from the water played in his head over and over and over.

"Mama already gave you the day off, you might as well spend it with your friends. They're grieving too, you know," Heather sighed. "Listen, I gotta get ready for school, but your friends are waiting at the front door when you're ready. I can go tell them to fuck off if you really want me to."

The girl pat him on the shoulder one last time before she left the boy sitting up in his bed, still groggy from sleep, but knowing what he had to do. Begrudgingly, Daniel pulled the sheets off of himself and stood up, cracking the bones in his back as he did every morning and walking over to his closet. He shrugged on jeans and a shirt, reaching for the hook on his closet door before remembering he had thrown his jacket over the back of the couch when he came in last night. Sighing, he ran one hand through his untameable curls (he wasn't even going to attempt to sort them out, he wasn't in the mood) and running downstairs. Shoving boots on his feet and his arms through his coat, he opened the front door. Just like Heather said, Lucas and Dustin were waiting on the stoop.

"Took you long enough," Lucas sighed, rubbing his hands together as his friend closed the door behind him.

Daniel looked unimpressed as he glared at the boy, "Screw off, I just woke up."

"Wow, okay," Lucas mumbled as the three walked over to the two bikes. Just like routine, Daniel hopped onto the back of Lucas's bike since Mike wasn't there. Without another word, they were off to Mike's house.

When they got there, Mike pulled all three boys down into the basement where Eleven was sitting next to Mike's walkie-talkie. They got situated in a circle as Mike started fiddling with things.

"We keep losing signal, but you heard it right?" Mike asked, but Daniel had heard nothing. At least, nothing that would cause Mike to usher them all over to his house at eight in the morning.

"Yeah," Lucas didn't sound pleased, "I heard a baby."

"Same here, why am I here?" Daniel sighed, rubbing his still tired eyes, "I should be sleeping."

"We all should be," Dustin mumbled in agreement.

Mike squinted at Lucas, ignoring the other two boys, "What?"

"Mike, you obviously tapped into a baby monitor," Lucas offered the logical explanation, "It's probably the Blackburns' next door."

Will was dead, they all knew that, so why was Mike still getting his hopes up? Why was Eleven still here? This was her fault, Daniel and Mike had discussed this when they ran off the night before. Right as Mike dropped Daniel off at home, he remembered the words, "I can't believe he's dead. I can't believe I trusted her." So why was she still here?

"Uh, did that sound like a baby to you?" The Wheeler boy argued.

"Yup," Daniel cut in, falling backward so he was laying down. He wanted to go back to sleep and forget all of this was happening. Who knows? Maybe he could wake up and Will would be here. Maybe in his dreams. "I know Will's death like royally fucking sucks, Mike, but it'll be so much easier if we just accept it. We're all sad he's gone, I'm fucking heartbroken, he was our best friend, but we don't wanna go crazy looking for him when they already found him."

"He's not dead," Mike spoke sternly, "I'm telling you! He was singing Should I Stay Or Should I Go?!"

"The Clash song?" Daniel sat back up, his eyebrows furrowed at the boy across from him, "God, Mike you're gonna turn into Joyce if you aren't careful."

"Dude, her son is dead," Dustin scolded, hitting Daniel on the arm softly.

"Trust me, I know."

Mike scoffed and rolled his eyes, "No, I heard him. Even El heard him!"

"Oh, because she's a trustworthy source!" Daniel's voice was almost at a shout now, "She's the one who told us he was alive, hiding or whatever bullshit that's supposed to mean, and he ended up fucking dead in the quarry. You know what? You're insane, Mike, Will is dead."

"Dude, what's up with you?" Mike asked his voice softer, "You're never like this."

"Yeah, well, normally my best friend isn't dead." It hurt Daniel to yell and Mike, it really did, but Mike needed to get some sense knocked into his head. As much as Daniel liked Mike, the fact that their best friend was dead was a little more important than these inappropriate feelings. No one should feel that way about their best friend, especially not at a time like this. "I'm going home. I'll walk."

The boy stood up and stormed up the stairs. He heard Mike come after him, but he didn't catch up until Daniel was almost at the front door. He went to open it, but Mike grabbed his wrist and turned him around, stopping him in his path.

"Daniel, you can talk to us, you don't have to scream, we get it," Mike mumbled. They were alone. Daniel's mind chose this time to remind him of the promise he made to himself. He cursed his past self. "What's been up with you? This can't just be about Will."

"God, I wish this was just about Will," Daniel sighed, "I have other shit that I can't, I can't tell you guys about! Okay?"

Mike looked offended by this, his hand still gripping the curly-haired boy's wrist. "We're best friends, you can tell me anything, Daniel."

The way Mike said his name, all hurt and confused, it was killing him. These feelings were already way worse than they should be, they were a cute little crush but now they were a huge monster looming over the young boy's head. It made it so much worse when Mike said his name like that.

"You cannot breathe this to another soul. Only my sister knows, got it?" Daniel took a deep breath, realizing he was actually going to do it. Mike nodded and the boy shakily continued. "I'm, I'm not like you, Dustin, and Lucas. I, I don't, I don't think I like. . . girls. I think I like boys." It was out there. His words hung in the air, the room painstakingly silent.

Mike said nothing at first, but eventually, he found his words, "Did you really think I was gonna judge you for that?" Daniel shrugged. "Dude, you're my best friend. I don't care if you like boys, I mean, I know some people do, but I'm not them. You could kill someone and I probably wouldn't judge you for it."

And in that moment, Daniel loved Mike a little more. Shit. Loved. That was what it was.

"Now, come on, I know you wanna think Will is dead, but hear me out, okay? I think El can actually help us find him, for real this time. I think he's out there."

"I don't know."

"If you trusted me enough to tell me your biggest secret, you can trust me on this. I swear."

Daniel nodded hesitantly and Mike immediately went running back downstairs, letting go of his friend. His wrist burned with a funny feeling after the contact was lost like his skin was missing the other boy already. He shook out his wrist and ran back down the stairs.

He silently sat back down on the spot which was still open for him. Everyone was looking at him.

"Are you gonna lose your shit again?" Lucas asked quietly as if he was walking on eggshells, treating Daniel like he was fragile and about to break. Maybe he was.

"Dude, shut up," Mike chastised. Eleven was still fiddling with the walkie-talkie, but Mike's face brightened with an idea, "I think we need to get her to a bigger radio."

( note! )

yoo!! my boy finally told Mike about his little secret!! can you believe my little baby is starting to accept that this is who he is? wow!!

me with daniel: