Don't Panic - B. Hargrove

THREE

David was still thinking about how to fix Steve's essay when he was watching his mother make popcorn on the stove. Her new boyfriend, Bob, a middle-aged nerd who worked at Radio Shack, was filming with his high-tech video camera. The two were fooling around like teenagers in love, and David had never seen his mother that happy.

Bob was so different from his father, and that was the best thing that could have happened to the family. While his dad was a cheating drunk who called him names and beat him up for being different, Bob was the most supportive man he'd ever met, apart from police chief Jim Hopper. One time, Hopper had saved him from his father's rage, and ever since, David had wished for his mother to fall in love with the man.

But Bob was cool too. He'd explained every button of the camera to David, and whenever he was doing electronic work around the house, he was welcome to help. So when Bob filmed him, he smiled.

"You're excited about the movie?" the man asked.

"I don't know which one Will choose, so I don't know, " David answered truthfully, which made Bob chuckle. His dad always hated it when he was too blunt. Bob found it refreshing. David really wanted to keep that man around. As long as he kept making his mother happy.

" Maybe you could go and ask your brother " Joyce entered the conversation with a soft smile, and even David was aware that she wanted to get rid of him to kiss her boyfriend without him watching.

"Okay" he happily granted her that wish and left the room, darting for Will's bedroom down the hall. His brother was quietly drawing. Another Zombie boy picture. That had been his nickname ever since he returned from the upside-down.

David found it dumb, but he had never believed his brother was dead in the first place. Somehow, he'd known that Will was still alive. And he had believed his mother when she had stated she was talking to him through the Christmas light around the house. Regardless of how unmoved he seemed from the outside, he always felt when one of his closest people got in trouble. It was a gift.

As he entered his younger brother's bedroom, Will drew on his bed. That was his gift. His drawings had always had their charm to them, with much detail for a kid his age. But since he had returned from the upside down, his art had become sad and grey. At the moment, he was working on a zombie portrait of himself, 'Zombie boy' was written underneath. That was what the other kids had started to call him.

David could live with all the names they threw at him, but bullying his brother was something that hurt him deeply. And yet, he couldńt do much against it. He would just make matters worse. The weirdo standing up for the zombie boy wasn't a good look for Will's reputation.

„Don't mind them. You're not a zombie, boy. Technically, you're more of a Jesus." And as anticipated, Will softly smiled at the awful joke. David sat down next to him, eyeing the drawing.

„I like the shading, though." he pointed out. There wasn't denying that as cruel as that picture was, it was still good work.

„Sometimes I think I'll never get rid of that nickname." Will muttered.

„Oh, you will. You'll go to high school, and everything will be forgotten. Until then, someone else will mess up ad be the new center of attention. And as soon as you go to college, the last ones who remember are gone.Simple as that."

Oh, how he hoped for his little brother that he was right. For me, it never happened that way, and college was the only possible escape left. But for Will, it seemed like he wanted to believe, and his smile got wieder as he looked at his big brother.

„People say you're weird too. At least we are weird together."

„ You two are pretty weird." Jonathan agreed as he entered the room with a grin.

„But Im pretty sure that makes the best people." ignoring his brotherś glares, Jonathan held up three VHS tapes from the video store in town.

„It's your turn to choose." he told Will.

„I dońt care. Doodle can pick." Will shrugged, putting his drawing away. David eyed the three movies. He knew the all and wasńt particularly fond of any of them. So he just pointed at one. Jonathan nodded.

„Good choice." He smirked. It was a shared understanding between all of them that whenever bob rented tapes, it was always a type of movie neither of them enjoyed, and they just went with the least terrible one. But that had become a family tradition, and that felt just as nice as seeing their mother cuddle her newfound love. So they never said a word, not even David. Jonathan waited for his brothers to stand up and follow him into the living room, where the popcorn and smell of caramel popcorn and coke greeted them.

Joyce and Bob had already taken their favorite spot on the couch, snacking and cuddling. Jonathan put the tape in the player and sat beside will while David rolled himself up in his favorite armchair. As usual, he wasn't really following the story but was observing his family instead. How Bob occasionally looked at his mother with so much love in his eyes and how the girl in the movie obviously reminded Jonathan of his beloved Nancy.

David was good at watching, always noticing the little things. And still, he understood them so little. But at moments like this, it was okay. His entire family was weird. Weird together. And that had something incredibly calming to it. During movie nights, he was at peace.
It was his happy place, regardless of how shitty the movie was and how burnt the popcorn was.

Yet, every good thing ended, and as the house calmed down and all went to sleep, he lay in his bed, staring at his ceiling while the silence of his room screaming at him. His thoughts were racing around everything that had happened today, from Steve over the new guy, Nancy and Jonathan, Zombie boy, and the weirdest weirdo of Hawkins. And while he stared, the door opened and his twin snug into the room, almost silently crawling into bed with him as the most natural thing in the world.

He didn't touch his brother, nor did one of them speak. They just lay next to each other, comfortably waiting until Will joined, curling himself together at their feet, wrapped in his own blanket like a burrito. Three Byers in one bed, staring at the ceiling together. All lost.

"Do you think it will get better someday?" Will asked into the silence,referring to the fear they shared of being alone since everything that had went down the previous year.
"I don't know, buddy. I don't know." Jonathan answered truthfully. "But we're in it together." "Together." David agreed.

"Do you think Bob will ask Mom to marry him soon?" he added. His brothers had an easier time reading human interaction, and he heavily relied on their intuition.

"Absolutely." Jonathan nodded in the dark.

"I want him to," Will said. They all wanted him to.

"But I don't know if she would say yes, though." Jonathan pointed out, and Will hummed softly.

"Why not?" David asked, frowning.

"Because of us." his twin responded, turning to his side. That was always his way of preventing further questioning by implying to go to sleep. But today, David felt like he still had so much to say.

"Do you think we could show her somehow that it's okay?"

"I don't know." Jonathan sighed.

"Maybe you should talk to her, Jonathan." Will yawned, and David could feel how he shifted his weight into an even more comfortable position.

"She listens to you." "She also listens to Doodle." Jonathan disagreed, his voice muffled.

"I don't think I'm sensible enough. But I could talk to Bob. He had wanted to show me his radio shack for a while now. Maybe I should just go."

There was no answer to David's statement, just the soft breathing of his younger brother, who had fallen asleep.

"Jonathan?" David whispered. His twin hummed.

"Do you think dad would do anything?"  At that, Jonathan turned forcefully, his hand searching for and finding David's to press it hard. "He won't do anything. I promise. Or we get Hopper on his ass for all the shit he's done to you."

"I'm just afraid, Jonathan. I'm still so afraid of him. I know it's dumb, he's gone, and he has been for a while. But I still remember how broken she was."

"He can go fuck himself. We don't need him. We've never had." his twin huffed. "And now, sleep. You need to rest."