MIKE POV -

---- One Month Later: Friday 5:43 PM ----

[Sub-Mission: Earn $3000 ($2923/$3000)]

The ravenette was exhausted.

Between school, multiple part-time jobs and juggling his relationship with Will, his life had become a blur of sleepless nights. The goal of this sub-mission was particularly difficult, earning $3000 wasn't an easy task for anyone, especially not a high school student. The only thing keeping him going was the reward, the one taunting him for the past few weeks,

[Sub-Mission Reward:]

[See What's Troubling Will Byers]

The ravenette nodded his head determined; he needed to do this for Will. The brunette had been acting normal but Mike could tell the truth. Despite the jokes and hangouts, there was a sullen expression behind every word he said. His smile didn't reach his eyes, he'd occasionally have bruises on his arm and legs, and when mentioned, he'd cover up quickly, as if embarrassed, saying he just bumped into something.

This was new, only after the confession. Mike worried what the effect of his rejection had on the brunette, but he couldn't accept his romance, no matter if he wanted to or not; he wasn't part of Will's world. It hurt to see Will in that state, but he wouldn't tell the ravenette what was wrong with him... with the reward, he can find out and help him.

Mike rubbed his eyes, working nonstop. He typed furiously on his laptop, doing a second job while at his first job; he was writing. He came straight from school to set up the studio for Max, preparing everything in advance, ensuring he had enough time to complete his task; he couldn't stop now, he was so close to his goal.

Suddenly, he felt someone plop on the couch beside him... it was Troy dressed in new clothes with his hair gelled back, ready for a photoshoot. The ex-bully had a curious expression on his face, as if he couldn't decipher the intention behind Mike's hard work and multiple jobs, wasn't Mike rich?

"You're sitting alone again?" Troy asked, adjusting the zip of his hoodie.

"You're actually at work again?" Mike mimicked sarcastically, not even bothering to look up from his screen.

"I had nothing better to do," Troy remarked.

Mike abruptly changed the subject as if it were the only thing on his mind, "How's Will?"

"You're so mean." The ex-bully scoffed with a pout, but he was not even slightly offended, "How can you ask the guy you rejected to watch over his competition?"

"I'm just a bad guy like that," The ravenette said exhausted, rubbing his eyes, turning to Troy, "But seriously, how was Will in class?"

"He pays attention, he does his homework and listens to the teacher," Troy listed

"How's his mood?"

"You're asking the wrong person... he's always annoyed when he sees me." the ex-bully rolled his eyes, slightly tried with the conversation,

The ravenette thought back to the previous weeks, picturing Will's bruises in his head, "Well... have you or any of the guys beat him up recently?"

"I don't know who hurt him." Troy sighed, "But it wasn't me; I told you I'm trying to be better... I'm not a barbarian."

"You don't have any suspects?" Mike asked, "What about your friends? Don't they still bully him?"

"Tsk, I don't think so." Troy clicked his teeth, "But then again, I don't know, I don't care about them..." He was bitter about something. Mike analysed his face; he had seen the boy be more isolated than usual, not hanging around the usual crowd- the ones who made Will's life miserable; Mike didn't understand why, but it probably had something to do with Troy turning a new leaf. He knew how those guys were, they were quick to turn on their own friends.

"Tell me if you get bullied... okay?" Mike said, sensing the situation,

"Huh?" Troy turned his head, he was embarrassed mike had even said that,

"I'll tell them off for you." The tall boy added,

The ex-bully blinked, clearly taken aback by the concern, opening his mouth to answer but no words left his lips. He was not used to anyone caring for him like that, when Twinkie was sick his old friends told him to get over it because 'he was just a dog'. Then there was Mike who comforted him and even took him to the Vet despite how Troy was; he knew Mike was a good person.

For a second, a warmth filled Troy's expression as if the words meant more to him then Mike could've guessed. But just as quick, the ex-bully cleared his throat standing up with a little sigh, "I need to change... I'll be right back," quickly trotting off.

Mike watched as Troy walked off, furrowing his brows at the boy's abrupt departure, clear he didn't see the type of effect he had on him. With a shrug, he continued to his computer screen, typing loudly once more, not aware of how furiously he was hitting the keys. He saw his friends huddled around in the corner as if discussing something of upmost importance.

"He's been on that laptop for hours." El noted, gesturing toward the ravenette.

"Maybe he's saving for something big?" Lucas questioned,

"I tried asking him, but he said it was just 'for fun'." Max shrugged.

"He was like that in school too," Dustin shared, his voice not as low as he thought it was, "He was trying out some 'get rich quick' scheme... it sounded shady."

"Do you think he's in debt?" Max asked,

"I don't know... but he's definitely stressed," El replied, her tone slightly empathetic.

The ravenette looked up at them, feeling the curiosity in their gazes. He couldn't really blame them, if someone he knew suddenly started grinding hard for money without saying what it was for, he too would jump to conclusions.

Clearing his throat, the ravenette pushed the laptop slighty down, raising an eyebrow mockingly, "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?" he asked amused,

They all shot him sheepish grins but didn't say much. Max and Lucas returned to working, taking photos with Troy, modelling different sample pieces. El and Dustin however, with nothing else to do, sat on either side of Mike, as if trapping him in, determined for answers.

"What are you doing?" Dustin questioned, eyeing the open written document on his screen,

"I'm writing a short story."

"We had homework?" the curly-haired boy questioned, feeling a shiver he forgot to do something.

"No... it's for a competition for the prize."

"Don't scare me like that!" Dustin sighed a breath of relief,

The doe eyed girl who had been quietly sitting was engrossed in the words on Mike's screen, the sentence structures, the hook, the flow, the mere essence of the paper spoke to her, it was really well written, "Where did you learn to write like this?" she questioned, assuming that, with his 'bad boy' looks he'd be bad at writing.

The tall boy was taken aback, feeling a redness on his cheeks from embarrassment; it had been the first time someone had complimented him on his writing, not knowing how to tell her, that over the past month he had taken a shine for writing because it was one of the only things that interested him. "I just do," he lied.

"You should join the literature club." El pondered,

"Yeah, maybe..." Mike whispered, he had too much on his plate to deal with to join a club right now, it was always one thing after another in this dating sim, he typed the last word after proofreading, making the final edit, "And... done."

"What's the prize?" Dustin question,

"I don't know, I think it's some make-up. Who cares though, I'm gonna resell it anyway." The ravenette nodded, only half listening,

"Dude? Are you strapped for cash? I can lend you the money." The curly-haired boy expressed,

Mike sighed, "Dustin we went over this, don't lend people money... you'll get scammed!"

"Oh right..." The curly-haired boy grinned embarrassed,

"Besides... it won't work." Mike replied shaking his head

"Why not?" Dustin questioned confused, money is money, why wouldn't his loan work?

"Because I tried that." The tall boy replied with a pout, remembering back to a few weeks ago when he first got the message to earn the money, immediately, he went home and asked his sister for some cash; he thought it would be easy, he could get the money from her and quickly gain his reward, but the system wasn't that nice to him. When Nancy gave him some cash, the total stayed the same, as if he had not gained anything so far...

He learned he had to make the money authentically.

Kicking him out his thoughts, his phone pinged, alerting him of a notification: an email that an item he put for sale from a previous writing competition was sold. He smiled bright as he stared at the notification; he had just sold the item for $76.50. his eyes widened, that was a lot higher than he expected,

As if on cue, a pop-up message appeared before his eyes, alerting him of his progress.

[Sub-Mission: Earn $3000 ($2999.50/$3000)]

The ravenette blinked, he didn't know what expression to make; he was frustrated and annoyed but also glad he was so close to his goal. "Fifty cents?" he muttered under his breath. He was so close to finishing the task that plagued him for the past month; he wrote more this month than he ever had in his four years of high school in the real world... and he still needed fifty cents...

He sighed, rubbing his tired eyes from staring at the screen all day, he felt like any longer and he would get a migraine. He stood up, stretching, "I'm gonna go get a drink, anyone want anything?" he asked, more out of curtesy than actually wanting to.

Max immediately perked up, listing off her usual order, followed by Lucas and even Troy who was still lingering awkwardly after their earlier conversation. Dustin and El shared a look, shrugging as they decided to come along with Mike to help him with the orders.

"We'll come with you," Dustin said casually, getting up with El in unison.

Mike nodded relieved by the company, in all honestly, he had forgotten what the orders were and he just hoped they could remember them. Together, the trio stepped into the street, walking down to the nearest store, their steps relaxed, not in any type of rush.

Dustin's phone suddenly buzzed repeatedly, taking his phone out, allowing a grin to spread on his face, tapping the screen excitedly.

"I see we're all lovey-dovey again," Mike chuckled, running a hand through his locks,

"Well... maybe just a little." Dustin passed a side-eye grin.

El was quiet, then noticing the small cuts on Mike's fingers, it wasn't much, but a thin line of blood started to form, "Mike, you're bleeding," she said soft, alerting his attention, taking out a few band-aids from her bag, and offering them to him,

Mike looked at her in mild surprise, he hadn't even noticed them, it must have happened when he was sorting out Max's papers' earlier, hopefully he didn't get any blood on those design plans, "Thanks El."

"You've been pushing yourself a lot lately," The doe-eyed girl watched him apply the band-aid to his finger, pocketing the other. "Are you okay, dude?" she tried to sound casual like Dustin, but he was better at talking to people.

"Oh, yeah, just busy," Mike shrugged,

El knew she couldn't pry no more, it wasn't her place; so instead she tried to turn the conversation light-hearted by turning to Dustin who was still engrossed in his texting, barely paying attention to their conversation. She noticed this and smirked. "Dustin's not busy. All he does is text Suzie."

At that, Dustin finally looked up from his phone, grinning. "Hey, we're making up for lost time. Long-distance relationships are no joke, you know."

Mike raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't it worry you, being so far apart? What if you never meet again? I mean, you both live completely different lives."

"Nah," the curly-haired boy shook his head, still focused on his texts,

"You didn't think you'd have to break up once you both went to your normal lives?"

"That's why we spend as much time together as we can, because even if one day we never see each other, we'll still have all these memories of our time together... we can both learn something. You know?" Dustin explained in plain words, as if it was the simplest concept in the world.

The puzzle piece clicked in Mike's head, his eyes widening as it fell into place, and without a second thought he raced off, his heart racing: he needed to see Will.

El blinked surprised, "Where are you-"

"Sorry! I'll see you later guys!" Mike shouted, already dashing down the sidewalk, leaving El and Dustin confused, watching him run.

WILL POV -

The brunette cycled back to his house; his father had been staying with him for a month, proclaiming himself to be a good father when in-fact he was just depleting the fund from Will's savings, the ones he had been saving his whole life. because of this, Will had to get a job, it was nothing fancy, just delivering food on his bicycle.

The brunette unlocked the door to his home, walking in, stopping in the doorframe; the living room was a mess. The couch upturned, with appliances pulled out of their places and cupboard items all over the place.

The sound of shuffling and drawers being opened and closed amplified as the brunette walked through the house. As he made his way to his room, the noise became almost deafening. His pulse quickened.

"Damn it! Everything in here is fucking useless!" Will heard the unmistakable voice of his father fill the house.

In his room, rummaging through drawers, Will spotted his father, his back turned as he threw clothes out of its place. Old trophies were piled in the bag, as if to be the only valuable things in the room; the most expensive.

"What are you doing?" Will stormed over, grabbing his father's shoulder to stop him,

"I know your mother was saving up money for you," Lonnie spat, not fazed by being caught, "I know it!"

"That's money she saved for me! Why are you looking for it?" the short boy argued.

"Why not? I'm taking it 'cause I want to." Lonnie shrugged, not even bothering to lie.

In that moment, that's when Lonnie found it under Will's bed; his mother's secret piggybank; the one she had been saving up for her son right before she went to prison. His father pulled out the object, shaking it around like some cheap toy, hearing rattling from inside.

Will's heart dropped, "Give that back! It's mom's! I didn't even touch it." Will explained, reaching out, clutching the small, ceramic pig tightly.

"Exactly." Lonnie shrugged unbothered, "She's not here, is she? And as her husband, what's hers in mine." He explained, a cocky grin plastering his face, snatching the pig away,

"It's just coins anyway!" the short boy replied, following as his father was leaving the house with the bag of trophies in one hand and the piggybank in the other,

Will didn't care about his trophies, he needed that pig, it was one of the last things that reminded him of his mother. His heart raced as he followed his dad to the porch, his body desperate as he grabbed the piggybank with both hands, preparing to tackle his father if need-be. "Give it back!"

"Oh, you're not gonna let go, huh?" Lonnie pushed his son away as his face twisted with frustration, anger filling his every pore. In a split second of fury, he held the piggybank high into the air, hurling it into the ground.

CRASH-

The ceramic glass shattered on impact, scattering across the porch. Will stared in horror at the carnage before him, his mouth quivering slightly in an emotion he couldn't express, he was tired.

"There! Here's your precious piggybank." Lonnie barked, stomping away from the house; it was as if he didn't even want what was inside, his sole motive was to cause pain for his son.

Will fell to his knees, hearing his father growing further away, his voice was caught in his throat; he was surrounded by the mere coins that rolled out- just nickels, dimes, and a few pennies. His chest was hollow. He didn't even bother to pick up the coins... instead, he was grabbing pieces of the ceramic, collecting the glass like a puzzle, hoping he could glue them together.

He didn't even realise he was crying, until his tears hit the wooden floor beneath him; he felt useless, like a pathetic baby. He was a cry-baby. In moments like this, he wanted to give up.

"Will?" a voice called out; he knew who it was, the one person who could always seem to find him. His hands trembled but, in that moment, he felt someone grabbing his wrist, stopping him mid-movement...

"Stop," The tall boy stumbled onto the scene, seeing Will on his doorstep; he wasn't sure what happened but whatever it was, it wasn't good. He knelt down next to him, holding Will's hand, stopping him from picking up more ceramic shards, "You'll cut yourself." He warned soft,

The brunette didn't dare look at him, but he immediately let go of the sharp ceramic pieces, not even realising the cuts it had caused on his skin; his hands fell to his side, and the shards clattered against the ground, "What are you doing here?" he questioned quiet,

But instead of replying, Mike reached into his pocket, pulling out the band-aid El had given him, now crumpled from the run over. He carefully held it out to Will's line of sight, "Will... buy it from me."

The short boy merely shifted his eyes, seeing the Band-Aid with a furrowed brow; it was a strange request, but then again Mike had always been like this, "What?"

"It costs fifty cents... go on, buy it." the ravenette nudged slightly,

Will didn't even need to think about it, "Okay..." he nodded; he couldn't refuse the ravenette. After the day he barged into his life, he felt like he was possessed and Mike had all the answers.

The tall boy passed a thin smile, picking up two quarters...

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2970 Words

Hehehe! get excited for the next chapter

Stay Safe <3