Downside Up [W.Byers]

038

Ruby and Will sit at the kitchen table, peacefully eating their breakfast until Johnathan frantically exits his room. "Hey, hey, Hey!" Joyce greets joyfully.

"Wait up." She calls, running up to him. "Oh, no, I'll eat at work." He responds. "No. Your cheek." She replies with a smirk, rubbing off the lipstick mark. "All right. All right." Johnathan chuckles, then runs out. "See you later."

Joyce comes back, taking a seat beside Will. "That'll be you two someday." She beams. "Mom, we're 14." Will rolls his eyes. "Well, better watch out. Next thing you know, you two will be 24." She responds.

As Will pours the maple syrup onto his pancake, Joyce gets up and crouches down beside a pile of fallen papers and magnets.

"Hey. What happened here?" She asks. "I don't know." Ruby responds, mouthful. She sighs, restoring the papers onto the refrigerator. "Hey, are we going to Dustin's today?" Ruby asks, picking up her plate and bringing it to the sink.

"Yeah. We have to leave soon." Will nods, following her along with his plate. "Mom, can we ride my bike today?" Will asks. "I don't know..." She sighs.

"Please? I promise we'll stay safe." He pleads. "If I have to, I'll use these." Ruby chuckles, lighting a small fire on her palm. "Ruby, please. No fire in the house." Joyce puts her hand up, signaling for her to put out the flame.

The two give her sad eyes, staring her down. "Alright, fine! But if anything goes wrong, call me. And if you come home past midnight, it's never happening again." Joyce gives in.

"Yes!" Ruby and will high five, jumping in joy. "Alright. Come on." Will takes her hand, pulling her outside. They run up to the shed, where they take out the bike. Due to not being used for quite some time, it's dusty and rusted.

Ruby and will share a look before shrugging it off. Ruby quickly climbs onto the back, wrapping her arms around Will's waist.

They arrive at Dustin's about ten minutes before he does, meeting along with Mike, Max, El, and Lucas. "Hey, el." Ruby smiles, giving the girl a short hug. "Alright. So, Dustin's gonna be here any minute now, and we're planning to lead him here through his robots." Max explains.

"Through his robots?" Will questions. "Yeah. El's gonna use her powers to move them here. We can freak him out a little." Mike chuckles. "Sounds like a plan." Ruby grins.

Suddenly, the front door opens, causing them all to quickly find a hiding spot. Will and Ruby pull themselves into a nearby closet, peeking through the key hole.

Once Dustin walks into his room, they all exit, standing up against the wall. "Ready?" Mike whispers to el, who nods. She closes her eyes, letting out a slight bleeding from her nose.

The sound of robots and toy trains approach as the six of them patiently wait. Dustin passes behind the wall, causing Max to signal lucas right beside her. Lucas signals Will, Will signals Ruby, Ruby signals Mike, and Mike signals El.

"Now!" He whispers. El powers down the toys, creating silence. They creep around the corner along with a large sign that read 'Welcome home Dustin!'.

Max counts to three, motioning for them to blow into the noisemakers. Dustin spins around with an ear piercing scream, spraying Lucas directly in the eyes with Farrah Faucet spray.

Ruby quickly backs away, falling into Will's chest. He holds onto her, pulling her up. Lucas and Dustin continue to scream, before Lucas moves out of the way.

"Dustin!" Lucas yells, covering his eyes. "Holy shit! Abort." He quickly turns around, attempting to walk away. Ruby grabs onto his arm. "Not so fast."

After pulling him back, she pulls him into a hug. "Okay, now, What was that?" She asks, watching as lucas runs to the sink with Max to wash out his eyes.

"Oh. Farrah faucet spray." Dustin responds. "No. Not the spray- I mean, why did you do that?" She playfully rolls her eyes. "You use Farrah Faucet spray?" Mike laughs.

"Shut up, Mike." Dustin and Ruby say in chorus. "Look, I'm sorry! You guys freaked me the hell out." He defends. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Lucas screams as he washes out his eyes.

Ruby glances at the boy for a second. "You're an idiot." She chuckles, lightly pushing Dustin's head down before joining beside Will.

"Ooh. I wanna show you guys some stuff I have from Camp Know-Where." Dustin smiles, leading them towards his room. "Know-Where?" Ruby asks. "Yeah. It's on my clothes. Get with the program." He replies in an obvious tone.

They stand in the center of the room as Dustin begins rummaging through his bag. "I call it... the Forever Clock." He pulls out a small wind mill looking structure. "Don't all clocks run forever anyways?" Ruby squints her eyes.

"Ruby, I did not invite you to criticize me. All right? It's powered by wind. Very useful in the apocalypse." Dustin explains. Ruby opens her mouth to say something, but Dustin shakes his head. Will chuckles, removing his arm from around Ruby to hold the device.

He examines it carefully as Dustin reaches for another object. "Then, I give you... the Slammer." Dustin beams proudly. He turns it on, causing the hammer to lightly shake. He leans it towards mike and el, who back away.

"But that won't actually-"

"Rube, dear friend, I love you with all my heart, and you're my best friend, but I won't hesitate to ask you to leave." Dustin says, raising his eyebrows. "Sorry." She chuckles, leaning her head on Will's shoulder.

"But this..." Dustin Continues. "This is my masterpiece." He pulls up a large duffle bag, setting it on the ground. They all bend down curiously. "I would like you to meet... Cerebro." He unzips the bag.

"What exactly are we looking at here?" Mike questions. "An unassembled one of a kind battery powered radio tower." Dustin states.

"A what what what what what?" Ruby squints her eyes. "So, it's a...a ham radio." Will comments. "The Cadillac of ham radios. This baby carries a crystal-clear connection over vast distances. I'm talking North Pole to South. I can talk to my girlfriend whenever and wherever I choose." Dustin smirks.

Mike, El, Will, and Ruby share a shocked look.

"Girlfriend?"