"Hey, you remember what I said last year, right? We're Zombie Boy and Ghost Boy. I'm not ever gonna leave you."
"Promise?"
"One hundred percent."
***
In which Alistair fights the monster that possessed his friend alongside his friends, while trying...
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Chapter Five: Return To Hawkins
(pre-Suzie, Do You Copy?, Pt. 5)
***
Alistair jolted, gasping for breath. Sweat plastered his shirt to his skin and slicked his hair, and his chest was tight as Alistair tried to breathe again. Tried to forget his nightmare, the whisper-screams of the ghosts.
A caw came and Alistair looked over to see Hugin looking at him, concern running through the bond as the raven asked, Alistair okay?
"I'm fine, buddy. Just a nightmare," Alistair croaked, rubbing eyes gritty with sleep. Blinking blearily, he looked around in the hazy grey-blackness as his eyes adjusted, seeing the form of his cousin in his bed, Kieran still fast asleep as he snored. Relief flooded Alistair that he hadn't woken up his cousin—wait, maybe he shouldn't feel relief. Kieran usually slept like the dead, and for someone who literally controlled light, he usually woke up way after the sun had risen. He'd never woken up when Alistair had woken up gasping from a nightmare, whether it was ghost or Upside Down related. Alistair was glad for that—he didn't want to endure that particular awkwardness.
Sighing, Alistair looked over to the alarm clock on his bedside table, green numbers burning the darkness. He sighed again when he saw the time—4:45 AM.
Well, no point trying to get to sleep again, Alistair thought. Not when in a few hours, he'd be on a plane flying back to Hawkins. Back to home. Back to Aunt Aco, back to Mike, Lucas and Dustin, back to Cami, Max and El.
Back to Will.
Alistair gulped, stomach knotting. Today would be the first day he'd meet Will in full recognition of his crush on his best friend. He was excited to see Will—he would always be excited to see his best friend. But he couldn't deny he was also terrified of seeing Will knowing he felt more than platonic feeling toward him. Would Will see the change? Would Alistair ask differently around Will? Would Will ask why? Would Will notice Alistair's crush on him?
What would he say if he did?
Alistair twisted his mouth and shoved the sheets aside more forcefully than needed. Whatever. That didn't matter. Will had been his best friend before this crush, and he always would be. No matter what.
And that meant he had to start packing.
Moving as quietly as possible, Alistair quickly changed into what he was wearing on the plane and packed everything he'd taken into a suitcase periodically eyeing Kieran just in case he woke up. When his cousin continued sleeping like a log after Alistair zipped the suitcase for good. Holding it up, he checked again before creeping out and heading down the stairs, right toward the kitchen and making a much-needed cup of coffee.
But when he got there, he froze at the sight of Aunt Hazel, holding her own cup of coffee and smiling.
"Morning, Al," she greeted warmly, way to chipper for this time. "I see you're already awake and packed. Want to have something to eat while we wait for your sister and my kids to wake up? And before you ask, yes, there is some coffee still in the pot."
