Chapter Ten: The Complexities Of Mike Wheeler's Love Life

(The Mall Rats, Pt. 2)

***

To say that Alistair felt like death when he woke up the next morning would be a severe understatement.

After the nightmare and the encounter with the ghosts, Alistair had tossed and turned for the remainder of the night, catching a few fitful hours of sleep. So it was really no surprise that when Alistair made himself get up at around six, he was more or less a walking zombie. Especially when he hadn't had any coffee yet.

His family immediately noticed—well, maybe his aunt more than his sister, who was currently inhaling a bowl of cereal like her life depended upon it—when he entered the main space, and Aunt Aco quipped, "Well, good morning, zombie. Would you like some brains with your scrambled eggs?"

Alistair only groaned and shambled over to the coffee machine, pouring himself one. The minute the hot liquid passed his lips and went down, he felt himself perk up.

"Coffee really is a miracle," he murmured as he went back to the table, sitting down. Looking at Rowan, he said, "Hey."

"Hey," his sister replied through a spoonful of cereal.

"Speed-inhaling because of Pennhurst?" Alistair questioned.

"Yup," Rowan confirmed, as she finished off the last of her cereal and slurped up the milk. The minute she was done, she put it into the sink and raced off to her bedroom to get ready.

Alistair watched her go, before digging into his eggs and finishing off his coffee. When he did, he made to get himself another cup of coffee, but his aunt slapped his hand and said firmly, "No."

Alistair gaped in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. You've had enough for today, kid," Aunt Aco told him, already grabbing the coffee pot to put leftover coffee in the fridge for tomorrow.

"I've had one cup!" Alistair protested.

"One cup is enough," Aunt Aco shot back, giving him a look as she added, "I don't like you drinking so much coffee, kid. You need to curb it back, okay?"

Alistair glared at her. "You drink three cups a day!"

"I'm an adult. You're a kid," Aunt Aco fired back, a steely look in her eyes as she went on, "One cup. Two, max. That's it, kid. No more until you're older."

Alistair stared at his aunt, torn between shock and irritation. He glowered at her, saying, "Okay, then how am I supposed to function on one cup?"

"You functioned pretty well without it. I'm sure you'll live," his aunt quipped, sarcasm dripping from her words like melted ice cream. However, her face softened as she said, "I'm just worried about you, kid. I don't know how drinking this much can affect you, but I don't want to take any chances, okay? Especially when you already struggle so much with sleeping."

Alistair wanted to argue, but he couldn't. Instead, he muttered, "Fine", obviously unhappy but not going to argue.

His aunt took it as a win before she looked at him, concern deepening. "Hey, you alright, kid? You look tired. Did you have a bad nightmare?"

Alistair tensed as he remembered—the nightmare, the encounter with the ghosts—before he shrugged and said, "I'm fine. It wasn't great, but nothing I've been through before."

Aunt Aco frowned, before she sighed and said, "Okay. As long as you make sure you get some sleep, kid. You don't have Halloween to excuse those eye-bags of yours making you look dead."

Alistair let out a laugh, rubbing his left eye. "Yeah, I'll try, Aunt Aco."

His aunt smiled, and Alistair returned it. It was quiet save for his sister getting ready for her internship, before he asked, "Could you take me to Will's? Before you take Rowan to Pennhurst."

"Of course, kid. But you do know you can bike, right?" Aunt Aco reminded him, only half-joking.

"I know. But I like having a personal taxi," Alistair joked back. His aunt glared at him, but a smile tugged at her lips before she said, "Get ready, kid. I'll wait in the car."

"Yes, ma'am," Alistair replied, shooting finger guns that Aunt Aco reciprocated before bolting into his room, startling Hugin from pretend-sleep. He grabbed a graphic shirt, shorts, a pair of socks that smelled clean, and his black Converse, hurriedly dressing while Hugin gave a caw of disgruntlement from being disturbed.

"Sorry, buddy," he apologised as he laced up his Converse, smiling as he saw the little cartoony ghosts and skeletons Will had drawn on the white rims last month. They were his favourite pair just because of that.

When he was dressed, Alistair tamed his curls as best he could and grabbed his bag, walkie safely inside, before zipping it closed and heading into the bathroom to put on some deodorant—thankfully, it was empty, Rowan having already used it. After spraying it on, he grabbed the big bottle of Tylenol shared between the three of them—he had a headache from last night, and while it wasn't as bad as some headaches he'd gotten from lack of or little sleep, he did not want to deal with it today.

Popping a couple into his mouth and dry-swallowing, Alistair put the bottle back and straightened up, ready to wash the tablets down with some water.

Instead, he was met with a figure in the mirror.

"Jesus!" he yelled, stumbling back, eyes wide as he stared at the mirror. A mirror that now only showed his reflection.

"Al? Everything okay?" Rowan asked, looking at him in concern.

"Y-yeah, everything's fine!" Alistair assured, pasting on a smile.

Rowan gave him a disbelieving look. "Uh-huh. Sure."

But she didn't press, instead saying, "Have fun at Will's, okay?"

"Yep, will do!" Alistair exclaimed, still grinning as he finger-gunned at Rowan.

His sister gave him another disbelieving look, before leaving. The minute she did, the smile dropped and Alistair whirled to the mirror, glaring at it.

"Okay, ghost. Are you really pulling the Bloody Mary shtick right now?" he said, glaring into the water-spotted glass, as if he could glare hard enough, it would bring the ghost back.

When only his reflection stared back at him, the glare dropped as he gripped his hair.

"Congrats, Al, you're freaking hallucinating ghosts now," he muttered. "You're definitely going crazy."

Letting go of his hair, Alistair turned to leave the bathroom—and that's when he saw it, just out of the corner of his eye.

A woman, hunched over in the corner, head tilted, in the mirror. Only in the mirror.

Alistair turned, gripping the sink as the ghost stared back at him. Her mouth was gaping, and now Alistair could see her head wasn't tilted—but instead, her neck was broken, the silhouette of a rope circling it.

Swallowing down childhood fear, Alistair demanded, "What do you want? Because I think I made it pretty clear last night I wanted you to leave me alone."

The hanged ghost just stared at him, before her mouth creaked open and the mirror seemed to shiver as she spoke in a raspy voice.

Stay away.

Confusion bled through the irritation and fear. "Stay away? From what?"

The ghost looked at him, still in the corner. And then she wasn't.

"Wha—" Alistair started, but it died away as the woman reappeared in the forefront of the mirror, eyes bulging out of her sockets as her mouth hung open in a distorted way as she yelled, Stay away! YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND! 

"I don't understand, what are you talking about!?" Alistair yelled.

But the ghost ignored him, and instead screamed, STAY AWAY!

And then she was gone.

Alistair panted, looking at his reflection, saw his confusion, frustration and fear play out across his face, before he looked down and splashed water on his face and marched back out, slamming the door.

In the hallway, he was met with the concerned face of his sister, who asked, "Hey, are you okay? I heard you yelling. Did any ghosts give you trouble?"

"I'm fine," Alistair mumbled. "Nothing I can't handle."

Rowan frowned. "You sure?"

"Positive," Alistair affirmed with a grin that didn't feel fake. "See you later, Ro."

"See you later, squirt," Rowan replied, ruffling his hair. Alistair swatted at her hand as he protested, "Jesus, will you stop doing this? I'm not five anymore."

"Never," Rowan said with a grin. Alistair glared daggers at his sister, before she stopped ruffling his hair and Alistair patted it. Satisfied, he walked away, waving at his sister before leaving.

Once outside, he grabbed his bike and pulled it over to the car, putting it in the trunk and then putting his bag in the back before joining Aunt Aco in the front. The car was already idling and a radio song was playing as she asked, "What do you wanna listen to, kid?"

The answer was obvious for Alistair.

Reaching down, he grabbed the Too Low For Zero cassette and put it in. A smile instantly dawned on Alistair's face as Elton John sang from the speakers, thundering through the car as it ripped out of Forest Hills and zoomed down the road to the Byers, singing along to It's Too Cold For Christmas.

It'd just started on I'm Still Standing when they arrived. Alistair was slightly disappointed—it was his favourite song.

"Okay, kid. I'll either see you later on or tomorrow," Aunt Aco said.

Alistair nodded, already getting out of the car. "Yup, will do, Aunt Aco."

"And don't get into too much trouble!" Aunt Aco warned.

"I won't!" Alistair promised as he got his bag, then his bike, out and headed over to the Byers porch.

"Love ya!" Aunt Aco yelled.

"Love you too!" Alistair shouted back.

Aunt Aco waved before she was turning and leaving, a trail of dust behind her. When she was gone, Alistair turned back to the Byers house and knocked on the door.

It opened, revealing Will on the other side.

"Oh, hey Al," he said, obviously shocked to see him.

"Hi," Alistair replied, smiling and desperately praying he wouldn't become a disaster now.

Will looked at him, before asking, "Not that I don't mind, but why are you here?"

"I wanted us to hang out. Just the two of us. With like, no one else around. Me and you. Just us, alone. Together," Alistair explained, a nervous smile stretching across his face as he face-palmed internally. What was he doing?

Will's eyes widened, and Alistair wondered if he was imagining the red dusting Will's cheeks.

"O-oh," his best friend stammered. "That's, uh... that's..."

He cleared his throat before saying, "That sounds great. Do you wanna go over the campaign or read some comics?"

"Yeah!" Alistair exclaimed, his voice going shrill. Coughing, he said again in a deeper voice, "Yeah, totally. That sounds great."

"Great," Will echoed and he opened the door wider. "Come on in."

Alistair smiled, and followed Will in.

Inside, he couldn't see Jonathan or Joyce, which Alistair expected—both were working. Still, he kinda hoped at least Jonathan would have been home, so Alistair wouldn't feel like he and Will were more or less alone.

Inside, Will grabbed his campaign notes, looking at Alistair as he questioned, "Okay, what do you wanna go through?"

"Well, I was thinking we'd tweak up some of the side-quests..." Alistair started, leaning over to do it as Will let him. And that's how it went for the next few hours or so, after Alistair let Hugin out—going over the campaign, making their final tweaks to the quests, the NPCs, even the monsters and villains the Party had to face, Hugin cawing his commentary on it. And it felt easy, the familiarity of D&D and campaigning flowing easily as Alistair relaxed, smiling and laughing and moving closer to Will. Fingers brushing when handing paper and pencil or if their hands were just close enough.

After deeming the campaign was ready, Will handed one of his X-Men comics to Alistair. Alistair took it, happily reading it as Will read a Spider-Man comic, Hugin roosting in his hair.

It probably would have kept like that if Will's walkie didn't crackle to life.

"Will! Will, can you come over? It's urgent, I need some help with El! I think I messed up! Over."

Will and Alistair looked at each other, before Will groaned.

"Is he actually serious?" he muttered, glaring at the now-silent walkie.

Alistair gave Will a sympathetic look. "I think he is. Wanna ignore it?"

"Tempted," Will replied, but his face shadowed. "But, uh, maybe we should head over to Mike's. Just to case this out."

"Yeah, for sure. Maybe we could convince Mike, Lucas and Dustin to play the campaign together after we discuss Mike's love life. And if not, we can ditch and head to the arcade or something," Alistair said, and a smile came to life on Will's face.

"Yeah, that... that'd be great," Will said, and this time, Alistair knew he didn't imagine the way Will's face flushed before he turned away, saying, "Let me get my manual and campaign notes, just in case. Meet me out front?"

Alistair nodded. "Yeah, for sure. That's totally cool."

"Cool," Will echoed, sending Alistair a smile before grabbing his notes.

Alistair nodded as he grabbed Hugin and put him back in the bag despite Hugin letting out a croak of protest, before leaving the Byers house and now standing on the porch and processing how Will had blushed in front of him.

Could... could that mean Will could like him as more than a friend? 

Alistair didn't know, his mind saying it could be platonic. But it didn't stop the spark of hope in his chest.

As he waited, sending silent promises to Hugin he'd let him back out when they got into the Wheelers' basement, something brushed against Alistair as the wind whispered his name.

Alistair.

Alistair turned, catching dark figures in the trees before they winked out, taking the cold with them.

Alistair glared. What do you want?

"Al? You okay?"

Alistair turned, seeing Will there, concern on his face.

"I'm fine," Alistair said, giving the woods another look.

"You sure?" Will pressed, still looking at him with that concern.

"I'm fine, Will. Just had a bad night," Alistair assured. He tried for a grin as he added, "Also, my aunt has declared I need to limit myself to two cups of coffee per day. Which is probably why I look and talk like a zombie."

"I was wondering that," Will replied, sarcasm evident as he grinned. But it couldn't hide the concern and Alistair turned away, saying, "Guess we should head to Mike's, Byers."

"Guess we should," Will said.

Together, they headed to their bikes and began the long ride to Mike's house. And if what Will said was true, about the reason Mike had for contacting the Party, Alistair hoped he wouldn't regret it.

***

Alistair was wrong. He regretted it. He regretted it a lot.

He was currently sitting in Mike's basement, in a chair at the table they used for the campaigns, as Will set it up for the campaign he and Alistair had been planning for a month—with some advice from Eddie when Alistair showed him the notes he had for it—while Lucas sat on the couch, Mike pacing back and forth as he said he'd lied to El about not wanting to spend time together right now for some reason, and he was now panicking over her picking up he was lying. Will, of course, didn't really care and Lucas had stared at Mike like he'd lost his mind.

Alistair, however, was annoyed. He could get why Mike would lie, if he suspected the reason right. But in Alistair's opinion, his friend should have been honest with El and not lied at all, resulting in panic and El probably being confused about the sudden change with Mike.

Miscommunication. Such a delight.

Like now, as Mike now was even more panicked over El catching on to him lying. 

"She knows I'm lying. She knows I'm lying!" Mike exclaimed, as he finally stopped pacing.

"I don't even understand. Why lie?" Lucas asked.

"My exact question," Alistair muttered, rolling his eyes again at Mike's stupid decision.

"Hopper. He threatened me," Mike explained.

"Did he say he'd kill you?" Lucas asked, in a way that had Alistair arch his eyebrows and feel anger brew inside him.

"What? No," Mike instantly said.

"So then what's the big deal?" Lucas inquired, Alistair nodding in agreement.

"The big deal is, if I don't do what he says, then he'll stop me from seeing El. Like, permanently," Mike elaborated.

Alistair's eyebrows rose again. "Okay, that's messed up."

"Right?" Mike exclaimed, gesturing to Alistair before turning back to Lucas. "Look, you don't understand, Lucas. He's crazy. He's lost his mind!"

"Hey guys, I'm almost set up here," Will said.

"Yeah, so can we wrap up the love drama and start preparing for the campaign?" Alistair asked. 

However, it was drowned out as Mike went on, "I had no choice, Lucas. I really had no choice."

"I just wish you'd consulted me, or Al," Lucas said, looking right at Mike as he continued, "Because the way you handled this, you're in deep shit."

Alistair nodded. "Like, really deep shit."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, guys," Mike snarked.

"At least we're being honest," Alistair pointed out, shrugging.

At hearing that, Mike groaned, collapsing into a chair as he pressed his hands against his eyes.

"I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be bad," Lucas said as he stood up.

In response, Mike groaned again, clenched hands now raised up and shaking.

"But, you can fix this," Lucas went on, standing before Mike as he divulged his advice on how to fix something as bad as what Mike had done. "It's just one little mistake. I've made hundreds. Thousands! Max has dumped me five times. But what have I done? Huh? Have I despaired? No. I've marched back into battle, and I've won her back every single freaking time."

"How?" Mike breathed, staring at Lucas like he held all the relationship answers.

Lucas grinned. "I'll show you. But Al can back me up here, right Al?"

At that, Lucas and Mike turned to Alistair, and Mike asked, "What did you do when you made a mistake with Cami, Al?"

Alistair looked at his friends with a flat look before saying, "I think you should be honest, Mike."

Lucas and Mike stared at him in stunned shock, before Mike said, "What?"

"I think you should be honest," Alistair repeated, returning the look. "Instead of trying to do whatever Lucas is saying, you should tell El that yes, you did lie about your grandma being sick, but you lied because Hopper threatened you that you wouldn't be able to see each other if you didn't stay away from each other for a bit. That's what I would do and did do with Cami—especially when we decided to break up and instead remain friends. Just be honest with El."

Now his friends were staring at him like he was crazy, and Lucas eventually said, "Okay. That's a good backup plan. But I think we should do mine first."

Alistair stared at his friends now, before he rolled his eyes heavenward, resisting the urge to facepalm. How am I the only one here with actual communication skills and I'm not even in a relationship anymore?

Instead, he watched as Lucas pulled Mike up and said, "Come on. Let's go and I'll show you how to fix this."

Mike immediately followed, the two racing up the stairs and leaving Alistair and Will behind. Alistair rolled his eyes again, as Will shouted, "Wait, guys! Al and I are still here!"

When no response came, Will tried again, "Guys?"

Alistair sighed and grabbed Will.

"Come on. Let's go," he said, and together they headed after Lucas and Mike to do whatever Lucas thought would fix this instead of just being honest and actually talking.

Both of them ignored the rush of heat as they held each other's hands before biking away to the only place everyone was mostly at in summer.

Starcourt Mall.

***

Man, this chapter was fun!

Yeah, Alistair's getting a little bit of a coffee curb—boy's drinking five to ten cups per day and Aco is Concerned. And yeah, the ghosts aren't leaving him alone

Also, we got more Alisill!!! They <3

And yeah, Alistair was literally holding the brain cell here, plus having the best communication skills/advice by literally saying Mike should have been honest (and yet, he's still ignored)

Next chapter should be soon!

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!