CHAPTER NINE:
CLEAN UP ON AISLE ELEVEN

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   BREAKING AND ENTERING was Danny's strong suit. He had mastered the art of picking locks, which he was very proud of. When Nancy pulled into the parking lot of a small grocery store that had closed hours before, Danny reached into his pocket and pulled out his lock-picking supplies. Nancy was going to break the glass doors with a brick but Danny thought it would be better and look less illegal if he picked the lock. It took Danny less than ten seconds to pick the lock and throw the door open.

   Max and Mike helped Eleven into the store before placing her down in one of the aisles that housed the first aid supplies including rubbing alcohol and gauze which Max and Nancy grabbed for Eleven. Everyone followed inside before Danny closed the door once more behind him. Danny followed everyone into the aisle as Nancy rolled up the leg of Eleven's pants, revealing the bite that was bleeding heavily. Everybody winced at the sight of the bloody bite.

   Nancy opened up a package of gauze causing Max to step forward, "What — What — Hey, what are you doing?"

   "I'm cleaning the wound," Nancy stated before taking out some gauze and pouring rubbing alcohol onto it, soaking the fabric.

   Max placed a hand on Nancy's arm, "No, first we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage." Danny raised an eyebrow at Max, impressed with the strange group of friends once again. Everyone gave Max similar looks of confusion. "I skateboard. Trust me."

   Max took the gauze from Nancy and placed it over Eleven's bleeding wound, holding pressure to stop the bleeding. Max called Mike over, "Mike, hold this." Mike kneeled and placed his hand over the gauze. "Keep the pressure on it, nice and firm, okay?" Max looked back up at Nancy. "We're gonna need soap and water."

   Nancy and Jonathan nodded at the redhead before heading off to find the supplies Max needed to help Eleven. Danny raised an eyebrow as Lucas unzipped his backpack and dumped everything out of it. The random supplies and equipment hit the floor with a thud as Lucas gestured to the cluttered pile. Max furrowed her brows at the strange items before looking back up at Lucas, "Does any of this help?"

   Danny shook his head, "Why would any of that help?"

   Max shook her head "No. Go get me a washcloth and a bowl."

   "A bowl?" Lucas questioned.

   Max glared at her ex-boyfriend, "Lucas."

   Will stepped forward and patted Lucas's arm, gesturing for the two of them to go off and look for the items Max needed. Lucas sighed and rolled his eyes but obeyed and went with Will. Danny left as well, wanting to help as best as he could. He also noticed that Lucas and Will were heading toward the cereal aisle instead of the towels and dishes aisle. Danny went in the opposite direction of the two idiots.

   Danny started to scan the aisles, looking for towels and bowls. Danny went through each aisle, scanning and observing everything in each aisle until he finally got to the edge of the store and found what he was looking for. He grabbed a white bowl and a white washcloth. Just to be safe, he grabbed a couple of washcloths in case Max needed more than one.

   Danny started to make his way back to the first aid aisle until he spotted Lucas and Will by the cereal aisle. Danny furrowed his brows at them, wondering why they were in the cereal aisle when Max ordered them to look for a bowl and a washcloth. Danny sighed in annoyance and made his way over to the two boys.

   As Danny walked over to them, Lucas made a beeline for the fireworks display. He eagerly grabbed a large firework called Satan's Baby and practically squealed as he held it. Danny chuckled under his breath and shook his head as he approached them, "That definitely looks like a bowl."

   "Nah, it's way better," Lucas smirked at Danny. He showed Danny the fireworks and pointed to a warning label at the bottom. "There is a reason this warning label says 18 or older. This sucker is filled with 150 grains of black powder aka gunpowder. Strap two of these together and it's bigger than an M-80. Five of them, we've got ourselves a stick of dynamite."

   "You wanna kill that thing with fireworks?" Max asked as she approached the three boys. Max then noticed the supplies in Danny's hand and sighed in relief. "Thank God, at least one of you did what I actually asked. Thank you, Danny."

   "Do you have a better idea?" Lucas asked.

   "Uh... yeah. Eleven," Max argued.

   "Against that thing?" Lucas scoffed. "She's gonna need some backup."

   Danny hated agreeing with Lucas Sinclair, but he was agreeing with Lucas Sinclair. Eleven nearly died at the cabin fighting the Mind Flayer, so it wouldn't kill her to have help with some fireworks that double as bombs. Danny hesitantly turned to Max who Danny was sure could kill him if given the chance, "As someone who hates agreeing with Lucas, I agree with Lucas. The fireworks could give her a serious advantage and possibly buy her some time."

   Max rolled her eyes, "God, not you, too."

   Before Danny could defend himself or Lucas, Max had stormed off. Lucas started to grab more fireworks and hand them to Will. He stacked them onto Will's arms until the boxes were covering Will's face. Will eventually set the boxes down on the ground and went to grab a shopping cart, leaving Danny and Lucas alone.

   "So..." Lucas awkwardly started. Danny looked at Lucas, waiting for him to get to his point. "Back at the cabin, when we were outside, what were you gonna ask me?"

   Danny took a deep breath, not knowing if this was the best time to be having that conversation with Lucas. Danny ran a hand through his hair and asked, "Why do you keep acting so hot and cold with me?"

   Lucas furrowed his brows, "What do you mean?"

   "You're all like, this is dangerous, you shouldn't be here, and acting all worried and concerned, then you'll get all weird and distant," Danny explained to Lucas. Judging by the look on Lucas's face, Danny could tell that Lucas knew exactly what Danny was talking about. "So, what the fuck is up with that? Cause it's getting really annoying."

   "I... I'm not —"

   Danny scoffed and cut Lucas off, "You kissed me, dude. You kissed me. And now you gotta decide if you wanna hate me or like me but it can't be both. So, what's it gonna be?"

   Danny took a step closer to Lucas and Lucas gulped. Lucas had a guilty expression on his face like he knew exactly what Danny was talking about and didn't like that he was doing it. Danny believed that Lucas felt guilty but it brought him zero comfort when Lucas kept doing it.

   "Look, I'm... I'm worried about you. I don't want you to get hurt. I — I care, Danny," Lucas explained. Danny knew that Lucas cared, it was obvious but he had a strange way of showing it. "It's just when Max said El was spying on us —"

   "The basement," Danny nodded, referring to the sleepover Danny had gone to where he had flirted with Lucas and they had gotten dangerously close to kissing.

   "I just got scared and I keep getting scared," Lucas explained to Danny. Danny almost felt sorry for Lucas. "I'm not like you, okay? That kiss was a mistake, I was confused and —"

   "Were you, though?" Danny questioned, furrowing his brows. Lucas's breath caught in his throat as Danny stepped closer to Lucas. "If it was really a mistake then you could just forget about it and move on like nothing happened but you keep going back to it. So were you actually confused and are you still, now?"

   Lucas let out a large sigh at Danny's words. Lucas's eyes flicked down Danny's face. Danny took another step forward. Lucas pissed Danny off like nobody ever has before and Danny pissed Lucas off like nobody ever has before but Danny couldn't deny the obvious tension between them. The only question was, was it hate or love?

   Lucas leaned forward. Danny was going to pull away. He wanted to pull away but he also didn't. Danny wasn't opposed to kissing Lucas and his sexuality wasn't something that he wanted to run from but he sure as hell wasn't going to run right into Lucas Sinclair's arms. Danny hated Lucas but if he hated Lucas so much then why were his lips pressed against Lucas's and why did he enjoy it so much?

   Danny placed his hand on Lucas's waist as his lips moved against Lucas's. Lucas wrapped an arm around Danny's back and pulled Danny closer. Danny hated admitting that he liked it but Lucas was a good kisser. As soon as Lucas started to deepen the kiss, Will came rushing over.

   "Guys!"

   Lucas pulled away immediately and even pushed Danny back so it looked like they weren't standing close together. Will had clearly not seen anything as he looked at them normally, "El's looking for Dustin."

   Danny and Lucas followed Will to the frozen foods aisle where Eleven was sitting in front of the open freezers, an American flag bandana tied around her eyes. The humming of the freezers was like the static on the TV. Danny leaned against a display of fruit beside Max. Lucas took his sweet time grabbing a New Coke before making sure to stand as far away from Danny as possible. Danny found himself scoffing under his breath as Lucas avoided Danny's gaze.

   Lucas opened up the can, the loud pull-tab snapping open echoing across the store. Max scolded him, "Quiet."

   "Oh, sorry," Lucas apologized, forgetting he had to be quiet for Eleven.

   Danny watched him take a sip of the soda and he nearly gagged. New Coke was one of the most disgusting things he had ever drank, "Of course you like New Coke."

   Lucas looked taken back by Danny's comment, "What does that mean?"

   "How do you even drink that?" Mike furrowed his brows, looking disgusted.

   Lucas scoffed, "Because it's delicious."

   Everyone questioned him before Lucas continued, "It's like Carpenter's, The Thing. The original is a classic, no question about it. But the remake..." Lucas started to slurp his New Coke loudly making Danny roll his eyes. "Sweeter, bolder... better."

   Mike shook his head, "You're insane."

   Danny nodded, "Psychotic."

   Lucas looked at Danny. Danny raised an eyebrow and Lucas immediately knew that he wasn't referring to Lucas liking New Coke. Danny was growing tired of Lucas Sinclair and his bipolar attitude towards him.

   "So, you prefer the original Thing?" Lucas questioned.

   "What? No," Mike shook his head, scrunching up his face in disgust at Lucas. "I'm not talking about The Thing, I'm talking about New Coke."

   "I'm talking about people who don't know how to decide what the fuck they want," Danny interrupted. Lucas gave him a look that told Danny to shut up but Danny was tired of listening to Lucas. "Like you, Sinclair."

   Everyone gave Danny and Lucas strange looks. Lucas glared at Danny before asking, "What the fuck is your problem?"

   Danny sat up, pushing himself off the display, "I could ask you the same question."

   "Hey!" Eleven interrupted, ripping the blindfold off of her face.

   Danny and Lucas whipped their heads toward Eleven and apologized in unison. Despite Eleven's obvious annoyance toward Danny and Lucas, she still found Dustin. Dustin had also called them over Lucas's walkie-talkie, giving them an SOS about shit going down at the Starcourt Mall. When Eleven informed them that Dustin was at the movie theater, Danny was utterly confused. Dustin Henderson, a boy who was freaking out about some sort of gate and the Russian code, was at the movies instead of trying to figure out what was going on. The group quickly grabbed the fireworks shopping cart and headed back to Nancy's car. Danny sat beside Lucas, pushing his entire body against the door of the car to ensure he wasn't touching Danny in any way. Danny scoffed at Lucas once more but tried to ignore his feelings and mentally prepare for what was about to happen with Eleven and the Mind Flayer.

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[ 2.1K WORDS ]

a shorter chapter but they kissed!

i know lucas is being annoying with danny but be patient, he's figuring his shit out.