Flames//Mike Wheeler

FRIEND

You and El were sitting next to each other on Mike's bed when Mike's two friends walked in. they looked at the two of you "Are you outta your mind??" one of them said, causing you to frown. "Just listen to me-" mike was cut off by the boy, "You are out of your mind-" he raised his voice a bit, annoyed at Mike.

"They know about Will" you turned your head and faced El then shrugged.

"What do you mean "they know about Will?" The one wearing a cap asked.

"She pointed at him, at his picture, she knew he was missing, I could tell" mike put the photo down. The boy didn't look impressed,"You could tell?" Mike cut him off, "Just think about it, you really think it was a coincidence when we found them at Mirkwood? The same place where Will disappeared?"

You watched them as they talked back and forth. "And they said bad people were after them! And I think maybe these bad people were the same ones that took Will. I think they know what happened to him" you were starting to get anxious as you knew nothing about this kid called Will. You looked over at El and she was sitting, waiting for them to ask her something.

The boy walked up to us, "Do you know where he is?" you stared at him for a few seconds. He then shouted at the both of you "DO YOU KNOW WHERE WILL IS??" you started to get scared and shifted back, further away from him. El grabbed your hand and moved next to you.

"Stop it, you're scaring them!" Mike looked at you worried. "They should be scared! If you know where he is, tell us" he started to get angrier every time he spoke to us, you didn't know what to do so you quickly shook your head. El didn't do anything, she just stared at him.

"This is nuts, we have to take them to your Mum" the boy was mad, he wanted to get his friend back, not find two girls they had nothing to do with. "No! Tia said telling any adult will put us in danger. The boy turned his head and looked at both of you confused. "What kind of danger-"

"Her name is Tia? Which one?" the boy looked back at Mike, thinking he was stupid for calling you Tia.

"Yes, that's her nickname for 'Ten'" Mike said as he pointed in your direction.

The boy wearing the cap raised his voice "Mike, what kind of danger!?" Mike turned his body towards him and took a step closer with his hand raised in the shape of a gun, like what you showed him earlier this morning. "Danger, Danger!" He then moved his hand towards the other boy before he slapped it away.

"No, no, no! we're going back to plan 'A', we're telling your Mum!" He walked past Mike and tried to leave the room but the door slammed shut.

You smiled as you knew it was El doing it. He took a step closer to the door and tried again, the same thing happened, it slammed shut. You watched as you saw the door handle lock. You looked over at El and saw a streak of blood drop down from her nose. You looked back at the boys as they turned to look back at you and El. "no" El said as she wiped her nose.

Mike's mum called the boys down for dinner. "Okay, stay in here and don't move. Got it?" you both nodded your head and watched as the three boys left the room.

You stood up off of Mike's bed and looked around his room again. You sat on the floor and started to play with a few of his toys that were laying around.

You really liked the dinosaur and mostly played with it. El went over to the photo that had Mike and his friends, she pointed at one of the boys, "Will" she whispered.

You looked up to see what she was doing, you stood up and walked over to her. She was still staring at the photo then went towards Mike's door. "El, M-mike said s-stay" you said as you walked up to her.

She opened the door and started walking down the hallway, you quickly picked up the dinosaur and then ran after El. Before you could stop her it was too late, she started walking down the stairs. Mike saw you and spat out his milk which caused his Mum to turn around.

You looked back at El and ran down the steps to catch up to her. Dustin banged on the table that made Mike's Mum shoot her head back towards his direction. You sighed in relief then grabbed El's hand and pulled her to the basement.

As soon as you got to the basement, you quietly closed the door and turned around, "W-hy. W-why you do th-that?" you whisper yelled. El just kept walking down the steps and went into your little tent that you shared.

You just sighed and went down the stairs then sat next to her. She started playing with the supercom but just ignored whatever she was doing with it.

You heard footsteps coming down the steps and looked up. "Tia? El?"

You instantly smiled when you saw Mike and El put the supercom down and looked up.

"No adults, just us, and some meatloaf," he said as he crouched down to place the food in front of you. You watched as he put the tray down and El looked behind him, glaring at the two boys.

Mike looked towards El and saw her glaring at the boys, "Don't worry, they won't tell anyone about you two...they promised" you both looked back to Mike and you slightly smiled as you picked up some of the food. El didn't move, she kept glaring at them, still unable to trust them.

"We never would have upset you if we knew you had superpowers." the boy with the cap grinned. Mike leaned back and slapped his leg and turned back around, "what Dustin was trying to say is that they were just scared, earlier. That's all" he said with a shrug.

You stopped eating and looked up. "Yeah, we just wanted to find our friend." you looked at the boy and you were confused "Friend?" you weren't sure what that word was supposed to mean.

"Yeah, friend, Will" he said, a bit confused. "W-what is f-friend?" you asked as you tilted your head to the side. "Is she serious" the boy turned his head towards Dustin and looked at him as if you were dumb.

Dustin just shrugged his shoulders and looked back at you. "Um, a friend is-" before he could finish Mike cut him off. "Is someone you'd do anything for." Dustin jumped in and started naming examples. "You lend them your cool stuff like comic books and trading cards."

"And they never break a promise-"

"Especially when they spit."

You and El kept looking back and forth as the boys tried to explain what a friend was.

"Spit?" El asked questionably. "A spit means..." You watched as the boy spat on his hand then shook Dustin's hand. "...you never break your word, it's a bond." he said as he smiled.

You looked back at Dustin and giggled as he made a disgusted face when the boy spat on his hand and shook his hand.

"That's super important because friends, they tell each other things, things that parents don't know." Mike sounded really confident when it came to friends.

You and El looked at them before accepting their apology. Once you had finished eating you walked over to the couch and sat with Mike and his friends. Not long after El had finished and walked over to sit next to you.