Look What I Found!

Ch. 15

The following day Mike stumbles down, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and sniffling. His nose was clogged up due to his breakdown yesterday, which he was hoping Richie wouldn't try and bring up. He hardly remembered anything other than Will, El, and the mind flayer, but that was something not to be discussed.

He walks into the kitchen, Richie already awake, making breakfast. What Mike didn't know, nor needed to know, was that Richie had stayed up all night. He couldn't sleep, worried that something like that would happen again. So, he had stayed up all night, binge-watching movies and even working on some skits; But it wasn't like he would ever use them, considering he was now unemployed.

"Hey!" Richie chirped, trying to lighten up the mood. Mike was hesitant toward him, and he didn't want him to think he couldn't trust him.

"Hey," he mumbled back, taking a seat. Silence followed after, and Richie decided to speak up.

"Do you want to go shopping later?"

Mike looked confused, "I thought we already went shopping?"

Richie turned towards him with an exasperated look. "Uh-Yea! For clothes. But your room is completely bare other than what you brought from nowhere, Indiana-"

"It's Hawkins-" his face went red as he realized he had given away where he was from, but Richie either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Whatever. Anyway, you need some personal items to fill in those empty spaces. Like a tv, maybe a beanbag chair, or a desk you could work at."

"Really?"

"I don't know what teenagers like these days-"

"Which proves how old-"

"I just know that they each have a desk that they place their computers on and play games all day or do homework or-" He stopped, and Mike rolled his eyes, already knowing what Richie would say.

"You're still in school."

"And how would you know that?" Richie gave him a pointed look as Mike raised his eyebrows sassily.

"You're 14."

"People drop out at that age all the time."

"So, you're a dropout?

"No!"

"So, you're still in school?"

Mike huffed, "I could have graduated early!"

Richie crossed his arms, leaning against the countertop after turning off the stove. "Where's your diploma, then?"

"I left it."

"Really?"

"Yea."

"You know, you need that in life, right?"

Mike scoffed, "no, you don't."

Richie made an unconvinced noise, tilting his head to the side in a sort of gesture.

Mike huffed and crossed his arms, changing the subject. "I don't want to go shopping."

Richie snorted, "don't think of it as shopping. Think of it as exploring the city."

"Already did that." Richie looked at him, annoyed, as Mike looked away in amusement and guilt.

He shrugged as Richie turned around, piling a plate full of food. "Come get your food, kid. I am not getting it for you."

Mike groaned, getting up to make his plate as Richie sat down. Mike returned seconds later, plate barely filled, which Richie gave him a disgusted look for.