Chapter Text
Michael Wheeler:
“The decisions final, Michael!’’ His mother, Karen, stood with her hands placed graciously on her hips, cocking her head at Mike almost as if she was challenging him. She stared expectantly, waiting for a snarky comment back but was instead met with silence. Mike let the tension roll off his back, instead resorting to looking up (or well, looking down) at his mother, forming a plan in his mind to somehow get out of the situation.Karen scoffed, turning around to continue washing up the dishes.
It's not that he didn’t mind doing favours for his mum, he would do anything for her if it meant she was happy! It was just this time the favour was too much to ask. At least that's what Mike thought.
“Mike!” his mum called from the bottom of the stairs, voice raised but not in a hostile way, “Come down, please!’’ Mike did as he was told,grasping the railing as he watched his feet drop further and further until he reached the wooden floor, the cold sending an unwelcome shiver down his spine. He sauntered into the kitchen where his mum was standing over the sink. Mike coughed, letting his mum know he was there and waited for her to acknowledge him. Eventually, she shook her hands that were covered with yellow gloves and turned on her heels to face him, a sweet smile painting her features.
“Ah, there you are!” She began, tucking a loose curl back behind her ear, “I need to speak to you about something.” Mike's heart began to race as his mind formed all of the worst case scenarios of the things he could have done and pulled them to the front of his mind, those thoughts were immediately shut down by his mum saying, “you’re not in trouble, don't worry.”
Now, Mike was confused. If not because he’s done something wrong, why would his mum need him? And most of all why did she sound so discouraged when speaking? “He gestured with his hand, urging her to continue
“Right, I need you to do a favour for me.” She sighed.
“Which is?” Mike was beginning to get tired of his mother, purely because she was taking so long to answer and he really wanted to continue his phone call with Will upstairs.
“You remember your little cousin, right? Richard.’’ Hell No. The last time Mike had seen his cousin was filled with terror and pain. He still has the scar on the right side of his waist to prove it. When Mike didn’t respond, his mum continued anyway, “Well, he’ll be coming to Hawkins for the Winter and I would really appreciate it if you could take care of him!”
“What! Absolutely not!” Mike turned his head away, looking as if he was about to run upstairs and have a tantrum like he would when he was a child. The only thing keeping him restrained was his mothers voice cutting through his sulk.
“Please Mike, I'll get you that dice set for your little fantasy roleplay game!’’ She asked, a persuasive tone replacing the usual posh one she faked.
“Why can't Nancy do it, or better yet Holly! They’re literally the same age!”
“The decisions final, Michael!”
Okay, so maybe Mike was being a bit dramatic about the whole thing, but still! He had a good argument. He was 17 and Richie was 12, not exactly the most compatible ages to put together, especially not when there was another 12 year old sitting on the sofa in the next room over. He took one final glance at his mum's back, silently praying she would change her mind, but trudged back up the stairs anyway, hoping to distract himself.
He slammed his door shut and threw himself face first into the covers, screaming into his pillow. Mike was pulled out of his breakdown when he heard distant muffling. He slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows, eyes darting around the room. He stopped searching when he saw the discarded yellow rotary phone on the floor a bit away from him. How could he have forgotten? He dove towards the receiver, clutching it in his hand and pulling it up to his ear.
“Will! Are you there?” He silently prayed that his friend hadn’t had enough of his shenanigans by now and cut the line off. After a minute of silence, Mike was sure he was waiting for nobody, until some static cut through.
“Hi, sorry I'm back! Are you okay?” Mike immediately let out a sigh of relief, leaning his back against the bedroom wall.
“Yeah, yea.. Sorry” He replied, running his hand through the mop he called ‘hair’. He couldn't help the smile that slipped as he heard a chuckle on the other line.
“It's fine, no stress! What did your mum need? Is she alright?” William Byers, forever a worrier. As much as Mike was endeared by his best friend's tendency to worry about things he shouldn't, he was still angered by the fact that he was being forced to look after his cousin without a say in the matter.
“You remember my cousin Richie, right?” Mike heard a grunt of agreement coming from the speaker, which was now pressed to his ear like a lifeline. “Well he’s coming to Hawkins for the Winter.”
“That's great! It’ll be nice to see him after such a long time!”
“No It won't be, because of course I have to be the one to watch him.”
“Why’s that so bad?” Will countered.
“Because Richie’s a pain in the ass!” Mike complained, sitting cross legged on his floor. His head was now resting in the palm of his hand, feeling the area go hot at the touch.
“Oh come on, you never know! Maybe he’s changed!” Will, like always, tried to make light of the situation. How could someone who was literally kidnapped at the age of 12 constantly be optimistic? Mike knew he would never say that thought out loud,though. Never.
“We say this every time, the kids been a menace since the age of 2!”
“Give him a chance, Mike.”
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Richard Tozier:
“Bill, that's disgusting! No way in hell you’ll see me anywhere near those sewers! Especially not in this weather!” a shrill voice cut through the hubbub of the school hallways, the loud volumes lowering to more of a whisper at the interruption. A small boy looked down bashfully, a red pigment replacing his skintone. Richie smirked, shoving the boy, his friend, into someone passing by.
“P-puh-please Eddie!” Someone, presumably Bill, stuttered, “Yuh-you can ju-s-st wait out-tuh-suh-side!” Eddie shook his head, opening his mouth with a snarky comment loaded. He would’ve been able to voice his complaint if it weren’t for Richie abruptly cutting him off.
“I gotta say, as much as I love getting wet– if you know what I mean” Richie winked and the other boy next to him, Stanley Uris, fake gagged at the remark, “I do think there are much wiser things we could be doing with our Winter break!”
“Oh god, here we go..” Stan muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes as he prepared his question, “Like what, Rich?”
“Like practicing on Street Fighter!” A unanimous groan could be heard from around him. Richie gaped at his friends, appalled by their reaction to a much more reasonable plan than going down into the sewers to look for a kid that's probably dead. “Oh okay! So no one cares about going into shit-water but they groan at actually going somewhere fun! I see how it is.” He crossed his arms, mocking an emotion of offence.
“You always make it into a competition!” Eddie countered, brushing himself off after being rudely pushed into an innocent high-schooler.
“I do not!”
“Do to!”
“Do not!” The two boys continued arguing for about a minute until finally they ran into two more of their friends, one of them being Beverly Marsh, who immediately shut Richie up with a slap to the mouth.
“Jesus Christ on a bike, You two act like a married couple!” Beverly watched in satisfaction as the two boys' faces turned crimson “So, what were you guys talking about before they started their 20th lovers quarrel of the day?” Before either of the boys could protest, Stan had already begun answering her question.
“We were talking about our plans for summer,” He said as he straightened out the creases in his polo shirt until satisfied before bringing his full attention to Beverly, “Do you have anything fun planned?”
“Nope, probably just going to shop and sleep!” Beverly responded, smiling at the thought of doing nothing for the next two weeks.
“BORINGG” Richie interrupted, drawing out the G as he hung from Beverly's shoulder, “You should come to the arca-”
“Nope!” she immediately cut him off, not leaving an inch of room for him to finish his sentence.
“What! Why not?” Richie pouted.
“You always turn it into a competition, and I want my holiday to be stress free.”
“HAH! TOLD YOU!” Eddie cackled at Richie, holding up an L sign, which Richie gladly responded to by flipping him the bird.
“In my defense, that's how you play the game!” Richie stated.
“Maybe, but you always take it too far. Sorry Rich!” Beverly patted the boy on the back.
“No you're not.”
“No I'm not!” And that's how their conversation ended, with Richie grunting incoherent words at the rest of them when they tried communicating with him. This continued on until Richie finally reached his house, with the only loser left being Stan, his house being just a couple of doors down.
“Bye Richie! See you tomorrow!”Stan bid him farewell and cycled out of sight, Richie let out a sigh and turned to open his front door. His hand reached for the knob and, to his surprise, found that the door was unlocked. He double checked the cracked watch on his wrist, the time read 15:45. His parents don’t get home until quarter past five, so either someone was in his house or something was wrong. His mind jumped to the worst possible conclusion, were his parents taken?, however the thought was immediately dismissed when he remembered only kids were being taken. He carefully twisted the handle, a soft click becoming audible. As soon as he entered through the arched doorway, he could see his parents sitting on the leather sofa, hushed words being shared between the two of them. Richie dropped his bag onto the ground, capturing his parents' attention.
“Richie! You’re home!” His mother, Margaret, spoke in a sickeningly sweet voice. Something was up.
“Hi ma” Richie raised an eyebrow at the pair, kicking off his converse before coming to stand in front of them, "What's going on..?” His parents shared a look that he couldn't decipher before turning towards their son.
“Listen, honey, you’ve seen all the missing posters around town-”
“Well yeah they're a bit hard to miss..” Richie muttered under his breath, shifting his weight around back and forth on the balls of his feet. He couldn’t handle the tension that was covering the room like a thick fog.
“Yes.. Well, we think it would be in your best interest that, just for the Winter, you spend time in Hawkins with your cousin..!” He didn’t move. He stood like a wooden plank, jaw to the ground. It took him a minute to comprehend what had just been said to him. Eventually, he let out a squeak, and then, to his parents' surprise, he just laughed.
“Oh my god! You almost got me! Phew, I felt my heart drop for a minute.” He used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat accumulating on his forehead, not noticing his parents eyeing each other again. When Richie returned his gaze, he noticed his mum lick her lips. Wait, they weren’t being serious… Right? “Wait-waitwaitwait! You guys aren’t being for real? Please tell me you're just messing.”
“Richie, we just want to keep you safe-”
“By sending me away? Wow! What great parenting! Why can’t I just stay here?” He didn’t know at that moment whether to be thankful or angry. His parents were right, there were missing posters littering every free pole or wall in the neighbourhood, and who knows whose face will be plastered up there next? But on the other hand, it’s summer! He should be spending time with his friends, not his freak of a cousin. Also, why can’t his parents just take care of him?
“Well, we’re going on a trip for the Winter..!” Okay, no. Now this was just plain rude. First, they tell him on the last day of school he’s going to be in Hawkins for the Winter and then they tell him that they’re going off on a nice vacation without him? Talk about hating your kid.
“Okay, and? You could have literally asked any one of my friends' parents! Bill, Ben, hell even Eddie’s mum might’ve said yes!” Now he was lying. Yes, any of his other friends would welcome him with open arms, but Eddie wasn’t any other friend. And his mum was also a hypochondriac weirdo who hated Richie because he was a ‘Bad Influence’ Hah! Yeah right.
“We need to know you’ll be safe! It’s only two weeks, Richie. You’ll be fine.” His father, Wentworth, was speaking now, and was less afraid to tell Richie the truth to his face. To get it over and done with.
“Whatever, I'm going upstairs.” Richie shouted as he stormed up the stairs and into his room, letting his parents know his fury with a loud slam from his door. He lunged for the rotary phone hung on his wall, spun the dial of the numbers he knew off by heart and waited for someone to pick up on the other end of the line. His foot tapped impatiently on the wood beneath his socks as he listened to the ring-back tone. He waited another 30 seconds until, finally, someone picked up.
“Hello? Kaspbrak Household, this is Eddie speaking.”
“Eddie- Oh thank god!” Richie let out a breath of relief he didn’t even know he was holding in, and heard a scoff from the other line.
“Richie, I literally just saw you and you were in a mood, why are you calling me?” Richie wasn’t in the same room as Eddie, but he could just tell that, despite his tone, there was a small grin on his face. Richie probably would’ve said something about this, but he couldn’t even get his words out. So, instead he let out a long groan of disappointment. “Jesus, are you OK?” Richie nodded, despite Eddie not being able to see it.
“You won’t believe what I was just told.” Richie began, pausing for a response before continuing.
“I have a few ideas in mind..”
“Okay so basically I get home right and I see my mum and dad sitting down on the sofa, and so I obviously walk over to them because they’re whispering and being all weird.” He made sure Eddie was listening and resumed his rant when he heard a short ‘mhm’, “So i was like “What’s going on?” and mums acting all secretive and says “we need to talk to you” super ominously so i’m now stressing because what have i done now? Then she tells me that number one, she’s going on holiday. Number two, she’s going with just dad and not me. And number three, she’s sending me to stay with my cousin in Hawkins for the Winter!” Richie huffed, trying to catch the breath he lost from talking so fast.
“That was nothing like what I had in mind.” Was the only response he got.
“I know! So now I can’t see my friends all Winter and instead I have to spend it with my geek cousin.” He heard a snicker from the speaker, “Are you seriously laughing at me right now?”
“I’m sorry-! I’m sorry.” Eddie coughed to stop himself from falling into a laughing-fit, “It’s just, don’t you think you're being a bit dramatic?”
“Imagine your mum sent you to a clean camp for the Winter.” Richie attempted to put Eddie into his shoes.
“Well that would never happen because, I don’t even think that’s a thing.”
“Eddie! I called you for comfort! Not for you to make fun of me..” He mumbled the last part, almost ashamed.
“Shit- Rich i’m sorry. I can come over if you want? After all we still have until.. When are you leaving?” Eddie asked, rusting could be heard and Richie assumed it was Eddie putting some more medical supplies in that stupid Fanny-Pack of his.
“I don’t know.. But I do not want to speak to my parents! Maybe they’ll change their mind!” Richie picked at a hangnail, holding the receiver in place using his head and shoulder.
“You keep telling yourself that, and I’ll come round to help you pack. See you soon!” Eddie shouted as he cut the line and Richie sighed, falling onto his bed with a flop.