009 // 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐑

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 9 : 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐄

"i'm still standing."

◇─◇──◇─────◇──◇─◇

"Nina?" Lucas breathed.

"Lucas."

They went in for a hug, holding tight. Beside them, they could see Mike and Eleven doing the same thing. They continued to hug in silence as Mike and Eleven talked. They pulled away when Hopper walked towards them.

"Because I wouldn't let them," he walked forward, walking past Mike and Lucas. "What the hell is this? Where you been?"

"Where have you been?" El asked as Hopper hugged both girls.

"You've been hiding them," Lucas realized.

"You've been hiding them this whole time!" Mike shoved Hopper, but he turned around and grabbed his collar.

"Hey! Let's talk. Alone."

He took Mike to a different room and they all could hear Mike shouting.

Dustin walked forward, hugging both El and Ni with Lucas.

"We missed you," Lucas admitted.

"We missed you, too," El said.

"We talked about you guys pretty much every day," Dustin chuckled, pulling away. El had confusion written on her face as she looked at Dustin.

"Teeth," she said, trying to touch his teeth.
"What?"
"You have teeth."

"Oh. You like these pearls, huh?" And then he purred, which definitely made El and Nina confused.

"Eleven? Nine?"

They looked over and saw Max come over towards them. They shared a look as she stopped right in front of them.

"Hey. Um, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you," Max said, holding out her hand. Eleven ignored it, walking over to Joyce. But, as much as Nina got jealous because of her and Lucas, she still shook her hand and then walked over to Joyce.

"Hey. Hey, sweetheart," Joyce said as she hugged El and then Nina. "Hey."

"Can we see him?" El asked. She took them into Will's room. He was passed out, lying on the mattress.

"He's not doing well," Joyce stated the obvious.

"We know. We saw."