Lover boy[s] // Will Byers

-chapter fourteen-

Will sucked in a breath of the cool night air. Not polluted by the surrounding city, but clean and cold, in the desert. His shoes crunched against the gravel as he stepped out of the van, watching while Johnathon filled up the gas for the pizza van. Argyle rubbed his eyes sleepily and trudged out, wandering into the little store lit up with red and blue neon lights. A grumpy looking man sat at the counter, reading a newspaper.

Will turned back to the van, where Mike was climbing out, the crumpled map left on the seat, and Sev was tying the laces on his chunky black shoes that still didn't make him taller then Will, much to his delight.

"This is like the tenth pit stop," Mike mumbled, leaning against the side of the van and looking up at the stars. Will scrunched his nose when a waft of petrol wafted over towards the two.

"Seventh." Wil corrected, tired eyes drooping. He couldn't sleep, but he wasn't sure why. Apart from the stress inducing thoughts spiralling around his head, that is. Mike shrugged indifferently; a thoughtful look crossed his face for a moment.

"Hey Will," he started slowly. "When you were- when you went missing, and me and Lucas and Dustin found El in the woods....we went looking for the gate, right?"

Will nodded along, not sure where the conversation was going, but he remembered being told about everything. Everything that happened when he was stuck in the upside down, in the cold, with the Demigorgon and the white flakes, the vines and the cold that seeped into his bones and ate him from the inside out-

Mike pacing broke him out of his memories, and he watched dubiously as the boy started waving his hands while he spoke. "And we were using a compass to find it because of the electric magnetic fields that it gave off with all the elect- anyway, we kept walking around in circles, we weren't getting anywhere, right?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"And then we figured out that El was fucking with the compasses, and Lucas got mad and then we fought and-look, the point that I'm trying to make is El was interfering with the compasses because she knew that the gate wasn't safe, and she didn't wanna go there, because well, we probably would have died...."

Mike shook his head, "anyway, don't you get it?"

Will blinked at him, and then frowned, his chest hurting again at the thought. "You think Sev keeps stopping us because he doesn't want to find El?"

"No, well yes, but not because of El. At least I think its not cause of EL... I'm saying that he must be scared, so he's trying to delay us getting to whatever lab thing the coordinates are pointing us too."

"He likes slushies, a lot?" Will said quietly, but he knew there was no point arguing, Mike was right. No one needed to pause a trip that much, especially when lives were on the line. He just didn't want to think that Sev didn't care enough. He didn't want to think Sev was messing with them. With him.

"Will." Mike said, just as softly, with raised eyebrows. Will rolled his eyes and stepped away from the van. "Yeah, I- yeah. I guess so."

"What flavour do you guys want?" Sev asked with a grin, hopping onto the ground and out of the van with a thud. Will could see the uneasiness underneath his smile though, probably because of the nightmare. Mike glanced at Will, and he just looked at his shoes.

"I'm not hungry." Mike said sternly, and then crossed his arms. "And neither are you. you keep making these- these excuses not to get to Nina, we have to. We have to save EL."

Sev blinked for a moment, "I think I missed something?"

Mike stepped forward, and Will could see him get angrier. "You think this is joke? I know that you're scared, but its bullshit! We have to find Nina and you're slowing us down because what, you don't wanna be in danger?"

Sev stepped back, and then he was pressed against the machine that pumped the petrol into the van, except Johnathon had put it back, glancing between Mike and Sev like he wasn't sure if he should intervene. Sev gulped, "of course I want to find Jane, she doesn't deserve to, to be there."

"Be where? Do you know where she is?" Mike snapped. Sev shook his head quickly, blue eyes wide. Will felt terrible.

"No but they're fixing her powers, she'd have to be at a lab, right?" Sev asked, blinking a lot. "I don't- I don't wanna go there, they'll get me too."

Will pushed Mike out of the way a little bit, heart pounding in his ears. He didn't want anyone looking for Sev, especially if they were dangerous. He gulped, "who will get you? Sev what are you talking about?"

"You don't get it! EL is in real danger; you don't know what these people are like!" Mike yelled at Sev, voice echoing around the empty parking lot. "They're monsters! They think she's a lab rat!"

Sev brought his hands up over his ears slowly, and Will's stomach dropped, he felt bad for letting Mike confront him. He didn't think It would get this bad. Mike didn't seem to care though, because he stepped forwards again, fists balled at his sides. "She could die! You don't get it!"

The neon lights flickered.

"What the-"

Johnathon dropped the petrol pump and stepped in front of Will quickly, holding an arm out as they all stared in horror at the lamp posts and hazy lights turning on and off above them all. Will peered around his older brother's shoulder and saw Sev with his hands still over his ears, tears streaming down his face. 

Tears of blood, that is.

"Sev?"

"Actually, I get it a lot more then you ever will." Sev had a blank look on his face, staring at Mike with ice cold blue eyes that usually were so soft, Will wasn't used to seeing the pain and anguish in them. The lights flickered again, and blood dripped down his cheeks in two deep red lines.

Will realised that it hadn't been a bloody nose in the car, it had been his tears. "And it's not Sev." His voice was scratchy, and he could hardly be seen as the lights flashed to a beat no one could hear.

"My name, is Seven."