“No way. No, you’re not coming.” Mike scoffs, tone final as he packs his bag full of supplies.

It’d been like this for months; constant disagreements about whether you should come, you arguing for, him against, but the result was always the same. You stayed behind with Joyce, Will and Robin, and were absolutely no help.

It was weird. Last year, Mike wouldn’t hesitate to let you join in whatever it was that they were doing. You were best friends, after all. But now? He wouldn’t even let you come on lookout with him and Lucas. You were so used to being right in the middle of the action, so being stationed where you had minimal interaction made you feel kinda useless.

And why, I hear you ask, isn’t Mike letting you join along? Oh, yeah. Last year, you were attacked by a demogorgan. You collapsed into Mike’s arms, and lost a shit ton of blood, yada yada yada. It was old news now. At least, to you it was.

“Come on, it’s just lookout. Lucas doesn’t care if I take his place, do you Lucas?” She says, looking at Lucas for backup.

“Yeah, dude, it’s just one night. What’s the big deal?” He says, with a knowing look that you can’t decipher but Mike can.

This is still a bit of a secret (I mean, to everyone else it was common knowledge, but to you? You were entirely clueless), but after everything that happened last year, Mike had a kind of revelation. Looking down at you, all bloody with the life draining from your eyes, he realised something. He realised after all this time, it wasn’t El that he loved, or even Will. It was you. All this time. It was you.

“No, this is not a discussion. The plan stays the same. Me and Lucas go lookout, and you stay here.” Mike says, firmly, leaving no room for argument. But will you argue? Oh yes, you will.