WILL POV-

(A few days later)

The dawn of a new day gifted Hawkins, the working day passed as the two friends biked their way to Starcourt Mall, the sun disappears behind clouds as rain threatens to close in on them

The pair race to the mall, dropping their bikes on the bike racks

"I'm so tired from biking here, my hat almost fell off" Will complained locking his bike up

"Well maybe if you didn't try to fix your car by yourself" The redhead side eyed Will. A grin graced her face. Will pouts looking away embarrassed

"It seemed like a good idea at the time" the chestnut-haired boy shrugs entering the building. The pair take the escalator to the first-floor walking side by side; window shopping passing the various shops.

They enter Scoops Ahoy, hearing calming sounds of music engulf the store. The redhead looks around; the place was virtually empty. She walked with Will to the back room greeting Erica who stood behind the counter waving not even looking up from her phone. Will sneaks to the bathroom changing into his uniform as he sighs wearing the outfit, Will thought the clothes was terrible, regardless he walks back out. The redhead sat on the chair tapping her leg up and down from the cold of the air conditioning. hearing the steps of the chestnut-haired boy grow near, she looks up

"You look like a prepubescent child" she screams struggling through laughter hitting her thigh.

"You look like a Weasley, Maxi-pad" the boy stretches the nickname, crossing his arms. The redhead gasps

"Say that again and I'll snap your bones" she threatens raising her fist

"Not if Vecna breaks yours first" Will retaliates

"What? Who's Vecna?" She questions tilting her head

"Oh! I forgot that's a spoiler in an alternate universe" Will explains

"Okay... whatever that means" the redhead scratches her head

"Honestly though, the outfit isn't that bad. I'm sure if Mike saw it, he'll be all over you" she adds changing the subject

"I haven't seen him ever since the last time we came here with him" Will places his everyday clothes into his backpack, carefully placing his yellow bucket hat – his metaphorical treasure from Mike- neatly atop of his clothes closing the zip. He sits down across Max stretching a leg on the chair to his side. He places both arms on the table staring at Max with a frown. She looks at him

"I've seen him... he's very busy with work. I'm sure he's dying to talk to you" the redhead grins poking the elbow of the boy. The pair sit in silence for a while, before Will softly questions

"Max, do you think anyone will ever love me?" Max eyes widen

"Of course Will! Where is this coming from?" She places a hand over his looking in his eyes

"I think the right boy is right around the corner from you, personally I think it's Mike" she adds chuckling softly cheering up the mood.

"No, it won't be Mike, he'll find someone; a girl better than me. He isn't... like me" Will explodes, he doesn't know where all this pent-up emotion is coming from. He shakes in his seat; tears threaten to fall. Suddenly the door bursts open to the main room, revealing Erica

"And how exactly do you know this Wheeler boy is straight?" The girl questions standing in the doorframe. Max looks at Erica signalling her to stop. the redhead walks over placing both arms on Wills shoulder, expressing him into a deep hug from behind

"Listen I'm pretty sure that boy is Bi, my gaydar tells me so" Erica continues consoling the chestnut-haired boy.

"I was right about you and Jake, so I'm basically never wrong" the girl adds complementing herself taking a seat next to Will.

"Listen Will, I can't tell you the perfect guy is going to waltz into this store and be your Prince Charming. But I do believe with my whole heart that you WILL fall in love with someone just as amazing as you" The redhead whispers into Will's ear. Max rested her head on the crevice of Wills neck. Will quietens down leaning his head back on Max's red hair

Once the boy calmed down, the trio all sit down a silence envelops then once again unsure of what to talk about

"Erica... How long have you known I was gay?" Will whispers breaking the silence. He wipes his face as the two friends turn their attention towards the youthful girl.

"I mean to be honest; it was an assumption but I'm glad I was right" she places an arm on the desk using the other to pat herself on the back. Will rolls his eyes looking towards the redhead. The chestnut-haired boy looked at the clock mounted in the wall; his eyes widened

"Max! You're going to get late for your dentist appointment" the boy blurts

"Oh shit, oh shit" the redhead jumps from her seat looking at her phone. Running out from the room, she pushed open the door. Running pass the counter and out the main door of Scoops Ahoy

Will looks at his friend run away from the store her figure getting smaller as she approached the exit. Will sighed. He could already feel that this was going to be a long shift

Ring

Ring

The bell rang, Will jumped from shock. Walking towards the counter seeing a very cute boy, Will loses all composure. The boy looked similar to Mike, he had the same raven hair but it was shorter he wore thick glasses and a Hawaiian button up shirt atop a graphic tee

"W-welcome to Scoops Ahoy! Umm what can I get for you?" Will nervously blushes looking at the mysterious boy.

"Umm Hi Will" the boy squints his eyes to look at his name tag, Will melts hearing the boy mention his name

"Are you on the menu?" The boy flirts, Will's blush darkens, taking a step back he turns around. Will takes a deep breath composing himself facing the stranger again. The glasses boy has a confused look on his face

"Umm well I'm not on the menu today" Will jokes in an attempt to alleviate the situation as his heart was beating too loudly. The boy smiles

"That's too bad I would've licked you all night long" the stranger says without a second thought. Wills eyes widen covering his mouth to laugh

"I'll just take a Banana split" the glasses boy finally orders

"ERICA! one banana split!" Will shouts sliding the window open. The boy looks at the two

"Could you scream my name Willy? My name is Richie" he winks. Will looks away as Erica slips the dessert through the window closing it. The chestnut-haired boy hands Richie the dessert paying before leaving

"Maybe I could give you a banana split next time, cute Will" he flirts turning around and heading towards the exit. A smile creeps on Wills face.

"Why are you so happy? A few minutes ago, you were crying" Erica opens the sliding window taunting the chestnut-haired boy

"I was not crying!" Will pouts leaning his back against the counter, facing Erica.

"You were crying... anyway that not what I wanted to ask" she continues

"I was gonna ask, why do you suddenly have like so many Insta followers?" She holds out her phone towards Will, he sees the number of followers that popped up on screen

"7000" he screams, eyes widening grabbing the phone

"Hey, I didn't say you could take my phone" Erica snatches her phone back from the chestnut-haired boy. He unzips the pocket pulling out his own phone and switching to Instagram. Scrolling through his notifications it consists of a lot of new followers, likes and comments on his posts.

Will looks confused, was this for real? Today didn't feel real to him he pinches himself. He scrolls through his notifications towards the very bottom of his feed, he sees

A picture of him with Mike, it was the selfie that they had taken a few days prior. The picture showed the both of them smiling while posing. He swipes through the pictures, looking through the posts. He notices two photos he didn't recognise. One was of Mike with the blue bucket hat Will had chosen. Another was a picture of Will who was busy looking through clothes on the rack while Mike stood in front with a grin on his face. Will's eyes widen his back leans on the counter, unaware Mike took that picture. Watching the notifications increase.

The chestnut-haired boy swipes through his followers again, seeing that one particular person followed him.

"MIKE WHEELER?" He screamed, practically exploding to Erica

"Yes...?" A voice called from behind Will, the chestnut-haired boy tilted his head towards the voice. His eyes widened; looking at the person. Mike stood there with his sunglasses and baseball cap on, a hood covering his hair. The shorter boy goes red. Snapping his head towards Erica again

"Have fun with your boyfriend" she smirks closing the sliding window. He turns on his heels to face Mike, struggling to maintain composure

"Yo!" Will trying to act cool says cursing himself mentally

"Hi Will!" Mike excitedly replies

"Umm anyway what can I get for you?" The chestnut-haired boy squeaks

"Oh just... A pineapple ice-cream cone" The taller boy stands fidgeting with the sleeves of his windbreaker. He removes the hood revealing his raven locks under his baseball cap. The chestnut-haired boy slides open the glass smiling taking his scooper while getting a hearty helping of ice-cream. With his left hand he grabs a waffle cone, placing the pineapple ice-cream atop of it. The boys smiled looking at the cone. Will holds his hand out cone in hand. Mike takes the ice-cream a smile printed on his face. The taller boy takes out his wallet reaching his hand inside. The chestnut-haired boy stops him.

"It's on the house" Will smiles shaking his arms around. The taller boy opens his mouth to say something but cut off by Will

"You get the family and friends discount" The boy smiled looking at the taller boy, they maintained eye contact.

"Excuse me! Can you hurry up?" a voice startled the two. Mike jumps up giggling towards Will strutting away to one of the booths, the taller boy sat on a plumped cushion seat facing Will. Watching the shorter boy work his smile grew, Will placed a grin as he spoke to the customer his eyes squinted laughing with the customer.

The customer left; Will waves walking from behind the counter. He walks towards a table- rag in hand, cleaning the tables until they shined, a hum escaped the smaller boy's lips. Mike watched the chestnut-haired boy who wiped the tables, his uniform fitting his figure appropriately, Will suited the outfit it was navy blue with a red ribbon accenting the collar, the sailor hat laid flat on his head, covering the chestnut hair of the smaller boy. Will pushed the hair away from his eyes.

"Mike!" Will smiles placing a hand on the raven-haired boy's shoulder snapping him out of thoughts

"We are going to close in a while" The shorter boy adds.

"Umm yeah, I'm waiting for you" Mike stuttered looking up at Will. Will blushed maintaining eye contact with the taller boy.

"WILL! FINISH CLEANING THE TABLE" Erica jumps from behind the counter, placing both hands on the table crossing her arms against her chest. She places a cheeky smile watching the two boys from across the store. Will walks towards another booth, Erica walks towards him

"How's the lover boy?" the youthful girl whispers, Will scowls at her wiping the table as Erica restocks paper towels and straws, she squinted smiling.

The trio walked outside, checking the lights. Will reached up towards the shutters attempting to pull them down, he jumps desperately trying to grab it, pulling it completely down walking away from the store. They take steps towards the exit, meeting other store employees leaving Starcourt.

The trio stand under the arches of Starcourt, Will stood in the middle beside Mike and Erica. Rain poured hard on the ground; the clouds of rain covered the Hawkins skyline

Honk

A loud noise came from the parking lot

"My mum is here!" The youthful girl placed a hood over her head, skipping towards the car. Will walked towards the bike racks, unlocking the padlock that held his bike. Placing his yellow hat atop of his head. Mike walked towards him

"What are you doing?" The boy questions placing a hand on Will's head

"Umm... Going home?" The shorter boy replied tilting his head.

"I'll take you home! I wouldn't want you to get sick" the taller boy smiles looking down at Will, the tall boy removed the windbreaker from his back using it as a cover for himself and Will.

Will grabbed his bike dragging it towards the raven-haired boy's car. Placing the bike in the trunk.

The two boys stepped inside the car. 

------------------------------

2185 Words

Another very long chapter

hope everyone enjoys it