TECHNICOLOR - stranger things.

ix. TRUST

vix. exhaustion!

wendy sat on the couch next to lucas, watching as mike paced back and forth in front of eleven's door.
"mike, you need to relax." max mayfield dismissed mike's concerns about el.

"what if she gets brain damage or something?" he shot back.
lucas perked up, concerned.
"oh shit. is that, like, a real thing?" lucas glanced between max and mike.

"no, it's not. he made it up. mike doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."
"oh, and you do?"
"no, i—"

"i can't listen to this." wendy shook her head, walking away from mike and max's argument. she walked over to jonathan and will, leaning against the counter as all three of them listened to nancy's phone call.

jonathan crossed out a section of the phone book as nancy hung up the phone.
"it doesn't make sense." nancy sighed.
"what part of any of this makes sense?" jonathan questioned.
"there's a pattern, okay? a consistency to their behavior. they've been feeding on these chemicals since this started, and—and, what, they just stop, out of the blue?" nancy responded.

"maybe they have all the chemicals they need. maybe they've all turned into those...things." will tried to theorize.
"but what about the source?" wendy questioned. nancy nodded along.
"wendy's right. did the mind flayed just suddenly stop infecting people? and even if the flayed are monsters now, why can't el find them?" nancy glanced between the three.

"can you guys settle an argument for us?" max asked the older teenagers and will. no one said yes, but max continued.
"who do you think should decide el's limits? mike or eleven?" she asked.

"the way that you frame that is such bullshit." mike snapped at max.
"it's not bullshit, m—"

wendy couldn't take it anymore.
"okay, enough!" wendy interjected the argument. max and mike both looked at wendy. "you two need to stop arguing over el and her powers. mike, you need to stop being so overprotective because she is more than capable of holding her own. max, i love you, but dear god, stop giving mike so much shit. he has a reason to be this way." wendy carmichael ranted.

"exactly, she's risking her life for no reason!" mike interrupted wendy's rant.
"no reason? mike, the flayed are out there doing god knows what." nancy informed.
"killing, flaying..." lucas listed out.

"transforming into monsters." will included.

"and el's not stupid. she knows her abilities better than any of us." nancy preached to mike. wendy nodded along.
"nancy is right." wendy carmichael spoke up.

"exactly..." max started as she went on another tangent before her and mike started arguing again. wendy watched as the kids argued, and she sighed—her rant had been for nothing. wendy zoned out and it wasn't until she heard, "because i love her and i can't lose her again." that she zoned back in.

everyone paused, realizing what mike had just said. the group stood in silence as mike stood, shocked by his own words. the door to eleven's room opened as she joined the group.
"what's going on?" el asked.
"nothing. nothing." mike reassured.

"just a family discussion." lucas stated.
"oh," el stated, looking down towards the floor. "i found him." she added as she looked back up at the group.

nancy furrowed her brows as she looked at el.
"found who?" nancy questioned.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

as eleven sat with the blindfold covering her eyes, wendy allowed her mind to wonder. steve was the first person that she thought of, where he was and what he was doing. wendy carmichael also couldn't shake the thought that he had lied to her—was he going to break up with her?

wendy's thoughts were interrupted by a distressed el, who pulled the blindfold off and had a stream of blood flowing from her nose.
"what's he doing now?" max asked, looking at eleven.

"he's....he's in his room." was all el said before she stood to go grab herself a glass of water.
"and that's not normal, right?" nancy wheeler spoke up.

"billy staying in his room on the fourth of july? no that's not normal." max retorted, her eyebrows stitching together.

wendy began to think about billy, she wondered if steve was going to end things because she went to go talk to billy. if only he had known about the past couple of days that she had been having.

"he wants us to find him." lucas sinclair stated.
"yeah, that's what i'm afraid of. if we go to billy, then the rest of the flayed know where we are." nancy explained, and wendy nodded as she knew that nancy was right.

"it's a trap, i agree. we'll be ambushed." mike agreed with his older sister.
"we won't be surprised. we'll know that they're coming and we will kick their flayed butts." lucas added on.

wendy sighed and stood up. the teenaged girl walked over to the sink and grabbed a glass of water as well. she was tired, to say the least. she missed steve, she wondered what the hell was going on with billy, and her arm hurt badly. but she knew that she couldn't abandon the kids, they trusted her and she knew that she needed to help the team.

wendy looked up, seeing eleven staring at a box of lucky charms. she could see the girl zone out, then el looked back towards the group. wendy hadn't heard what nancy said, but she listened as eleven spoke.

"billy knows it, billy's been there. to the source." el stated, walking back over to the group.
"yeah, but—" eleven interrupted mike.
"it's a trap. i know. we can't go to billy, but i think there's another way. a way for me to see where he's been." eleven began to explain.

eleven turned on the television and sat in front of it, urging mike to give her a pep talk. mike's words only resulted in an eye roll from max and a dismissal from eleven.

"mike, i need you to trust me." eleven held his hand.

as wendy looked at the young teenagers, her eyes softened at the sight of young love. she knew that there was something greater meant for mike and eleven, even she could feel it.

"just be careful." mike nodded.