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That night, the group of Ethan's friends stayed over, to make sure no one from the lab would come and take Hallow, Jaeden or Ethan. The bad men were probably looking for them now. Lucas slept on the living room couch with Dustin sleeping upright on the end. Jaeden and Hallow slept on the floor under many layers of blankets, insistent with the comfort of the hard floor, and Mike slept on the recliner, leaning back halfway for comfort. Ethan slept in his bed for the first time in a year. He couldn't wrap his head around the comfort he once loved being so new and weird, he tossed and turned all night. He didn't sleep a wink.
And by morning, Lucas and Dustin both went home, Dustin to hide Dart, who was hiding in his hat, and Lucas to probably find Max and go crush on her more. It was kinda obvious that both Dustin and Lucas liked Max, but they probably wouldn't say it or try to show it off, a silent competition on who could win her heart first. Though, Dustin had a backup plan, possibly Hallow. Not an immediate backup, but for the future. He wanted her to be safe and understand the world and herself before even thinking of a future with her. Dustin finds these new feelings so odd, hoping they'll leave as time draws on.
Ethan and Mike wake up before Nicole, leaving her a post-it note on the door explaining that they'd be at Will's, wanting to make sure he was okay. They would leave Jaeden and Hallow to explore the small, but huge, new world around them. Just the Boise's home, though, they warned the two not to step foot outside for now. If they did, the bad men may spot and take them, which wouldn't be favorable right now.
It was too dangerous, they had to treat them like when they found Eleven, anyone seeing them could put them in danger. Specifically the tattoos. Even if they looked like normal kids, the heavy eyebags, the improper grammar, and dozed looking state would give it away. The neighbors would call the police on suspicion of kidnap, most likely. They were frail, skin and bone, paler than pale. They wouldn't blame them for suspecting, but it's not happening under their watch.
Mike and Ethan hop onto Mike's bike, their white Nike's and black Converse hanging onto the pedals for dear life. Carrying two people on these bikes was quite hard, you had to focus more on balance, and unluckily Ethan couldn't ride his bike out of fear of falling, and they couldn't be wasting time now. Plus, his weak body would just give up over a papercut, let alone a fall from his bike. He didn't even know where it was, probably stuffed in the back of the garage.
When they reached the rocky, long driveway to the Byers house, they were greeted by a red-orange car in the driveway. They threw Mike's bike down, rushing inside where Joyce greets them. The brunette woman looks at Ethan, a shocked expression on her face as she pulls him in for a hug, asking many questions like where he'd been and how to help his weak-looking state. Yeah, she didn't really notice him yesterday. It's fine though, her son is like, fucked up or something.
Joyce drags the boys inside, rambling about Will entering another episode, allowing them to take notice of the walls, covered in printer paper and crayon. Mike and Ethan look around, Joyce wasn't lying, the whole house was covered in some sort of map, meanwhile Bob was trying to figure out what it was a map of. Joyce explained that Hopper went missing and this was some sort of map that Will was making in a frenzy, that he somehow knew where the Chief was.
