By the time the sun set we were on the road again. Despite Lexi and Henry's intel, we decided to spend a few more days in crappy motels where we wouldn't be recognized. And if we were, the owners were usually anti-government.
"Two doubles and a single, please. We'll pay ahead in cash." I told the man behind the counter. He eyed Noah and Sadie for a while before shrugging and handing me three keys. "Okay, Finn, a single."
"Rub it in, why don't you."
"Noah and Sadie, please stay inside the room at night."
"Can't promise a thing." They replied in unison. "And this one is ours, Caleb." I gave him the last key and picked up my bag. Our room had a window pointed to the van so we could luckily keep an eye on it. Sure, it was basically empty apart from some sleeping bags and pillows, but we still needed it to get home. And we actually had the keys of our vehicle this time, which also didn't happen all the time.
"So, wanna push the beds together?" He asked me from across the room. "Can't be bothered, just get over here. They're large beds anyway." I said, moving over slightly. "It wouldn't kill you to do something with your life, Matarazzo."
"Nor you, McLaughlin."
"Are you saying I never do anything useful?"
"Are you saying I don't?"
"You can't just kiss me when you don't know what to say, Caleb."
"Are you complaining?"
"What? No. Come here."
"Are you seriously out of breath, Gaten?"
"Hey, I have not gone without oxygen for this long since that time I nearly drowned."
"Whatever, Matarazzo."
"Okay let's go to bed, it's really late."
"Come on, Caleb. Let's just not yet."
"We have a busy day ahead of us."
"No we don't. We're going home the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is ours."
"Fair point. Come here."
We definitely regretted that decision the next morning. We were both still asleep in my bed by the time the others came in. We'd agreed to meet in our room for some reason. Which was rather stupid. When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was Finn slipping Sadie five bucks and I immediately realized how this looked. Caleb and I were
- In the same bed
-Extremely tired
-In our underwear
"This isn't what it looks like." I whisper-yelled to them. "Looks like you two had sex, bud." Finn said. "We didn't. I'm ace, remember?"
"So? Some asexuals still have sex."
"I'm not one of them."
"Okay man. Now get up and get dressed so we can play some cards and have breakfast. Noah brought food." Noah held up a bag to demonstrate. I quickly pulled on some pants and a shirt before waking Caleb. "Wha? It isn't what it looks like!"
"They know." I replied before kissing his forehead. "Now get dressed. Noah brought food." This time Finn held up Noah's arm. The latter couldn't seem to be bothered to do it himself.
"Okay what are we playing? Presidents? Plague? Blackjack? Whores?" Caleb asked while he sat down in the circle next to me. "I say plague." I said. The others all nodded and Noah began to shuffle and then deal. Finn won. Three times in a row. And then we banned him so he was no longer allowed to play. Needless to say, he was kinda grumpy for a while. By the time the afternoon rolled around we were all bored. "If this is what a normal life is like, I don't want it." I said while I was hanging upside down from the bed. "Same." Caleb replied, he was still sat on the floor leaning against the bed right next to me.
We were bored to death by the time it was time to grab some dinner so we decided to just turn on the tv and see what happens. Big mistake. It was mostly propaganda and pictures of people that were wanted, including us, on the first few channels that we tried. Then we moved on to telecooking, which didn't help much because Noah kept muttering better instructions under his breath. And finally there was teleshopping, which also wasn't great because we kept wanting to buy the things they were advertising. All in all we had an interesting night.
The next morning we were all up at dawn with our bags in our hands. We quickly checked out and I paid while Caleb started the van. Once again we were nervously eyes up but that was okay, we were used to that.
"Hey Noah, I just remembered. Don't you owe Sadie some pancakes now that Gaten and Caleb are a thing?" Finn asked about one hour into the trip back home. "Oh come on, Wolfhard, she never would've remembered that if you hadn't brought it up."
"Holy shit, thank you, Finn."
"Stop exploiting us!" I said. "Shan't!" Sadie yelled back. "Okay but you better make us some, too, Noah." Caleb said. "May I?" Noah asked. Through the rearview mirror I saw Sadie nod. "Shan't!" Noah yelled.
Eventually it took us about six hours to make it back to the Upside Down. And we were all relieved when we saw it. I mean, there's only so much of Finn you can take before you want to strangle him. Noah actually did strangle him. That was fun. "Okay I'll have lunch done in a few. Sadie, you'll get your pancakes tonight. Gaten, Caleb, you split one. Finn, screw you." Noah said, causing Finn to throw his hands in the air. We all grabbed some bags and walked home laughing. I unlocked the door and kicked it open only to immediately stop walking.
Because guess who came back.
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Fix // Stranger Things cast
FanfictionBook Four in the Rebel Series //Gaten's POV// Gaten Matarazzo is often seen as less important than the others. People tend to think he's just comic relief and a carpenter. But he is so much more. In times like these, he is the only one keeping the o...