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Even though they'd said goodbye to each other, Ethan and Will were in no way separated. Ethan may have been walking with Mike and Lucas while Will trailed behind beside Robin, but their goodbye wasn't actually a real goodbye, just a teasing way to end their conversation. Thankfully, it didn't take long to poke a hole in the military base floor. Not so thankfully, they had to burst a pipe in the process of digging up into the bathroom as a distraction of sorts, meaning Ethan and Will were on duty of sorting through the kids and trying to contain the pipe leak while Lucas, Mike, Joyce, and Robin helped the kids down to help them inevitably escape Hawkins.
The hole broke through the wooden floor in the final stall, Lucas climbing up, eyes protected with clear goggles. He eyes a young girl standing in the doorway, sent by Derek who was signaled by Joyce via walkie-talkie. They set a ladder up under the hole, allowing easy access for the young kids.
Ethan and Will slide to the sink, seeing water gushing from the exposed pipe under the open sink. Ethan clutches his hands over the gap, calling to Will.
"Wrap it with your jacket!"
"Got it!"
Will rips his jacket off, placing it over the leak to try and screw the pipe back together. He's left in his dark grey t-shirt with the green stripe and light grey undershirt, fingers fiddling with the jacket, becoming soaked under the immense water pouring from the pipes. Ethan yelps beside him, clutching his eyes tight to avoid any water splashing his sensitive eyeballs.
A girl walks in behind them, a witness to the ever-growing chaos. Ethan and Will turn back, lying on their stomachs, hands clasped over each other's.
"Oh, hey," Ethan nervously smiles, trying to avoid scaring the girl, "Bit of a plumbing problem here,"
"Are you looking for Mr. Whatsit?" Will asks.
The girl with the glasses silently nods.
Ethan removes a hand from the pipe, pointing to the last stall. Will nods forward, keeping his hands tightly pressed around Ethan's.
"Right through there," they speak in unison.
The girl follows, carefully treading over the pooling water and the boys' legs. Her purple and white dress gets splashed with cold water, but she doesn't fear. From the hole, they can hear Mike and Lucas directing her down the ladder. Another boy follows her shortly thereafter, once the water had pooled from under the door, once the pipe had burst even more.
A young boy in red and white sneakers slips before he enters. Ethan notices the sound, the squeaking of sneakers on linoleum floor. He was used to that noise every morning it rained, sneakers squeaking as students trudged through the halls of Hawkins High.
"Hey!" Ethan kindly smiles at the boy, "You looking for Mr. Whatsit?"
The boy shyly nods.
"Just go over there," Will points to the last stall with a groan, being splashed in the face with freezing cold water, drenching him and Ethan both, "Our friends will bring you to him, okay?"
