Chapter Eight

Christmas, 1982

"I've got you beat!" Scotty laughed joyfully, tossing the neatly wrapped present (his grandma taught him while telling him stories of Christmas' she had as a child in Korea) over to Mike.

Mike laughed, catching the box in his hands. He excitedly tore the wrapping off the box, his eyes lighting up in joy when he saw the newest star wars lego set. "Scotty!"

Will, Lucas, and Dustin have all since left the Party's annual Christmas. They've done it every year, it was a tradition. They'd each get one gift for one another, they'd eat a shitton of Christmas cookies, watch the classics. Nancy used to join, but she was older now, and in high school. She had her friends to do that with.

"I love it." Mike grinned, his eyes lighting up as he looked from the gift to Scotty. "Thank you."

Scotty gulped, smiling nervously at him. His leg bounced up and down and his palms grew sweaty. "Uh. Yeah, no. No problem, I knew you'd like it.. So, I used my allowance for it.."

"But.. I only got you one thing." Mike said, a frown etching itself onto his face. Scotty shrugged, he didn't care. He just wanted to see Mike happy.

When Mike was happy, it made Scotty feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He liked how it felt when he was with Mike, not that he didn't like to hang out with Lucas or Dustin or Will.. But something with Mike, it was different.. he couldn't describe it, he didn't know how to. He wanted to be with Mike, all the time.

The feeling was similar to what he felt when he was at summer camp (a place he vowed to never go to again after he fell out of a tree and broke his arm, shortly followed by his first panic attack) with a girl he had in his arts and crafts hour.

oh shit.

Everything hit him all at once, all at once it all made sense to him. Suddenly, he didn't know how he couldn't have realized before.

"Scotty? Scotty, are you listening?" Mike waved his hand in front of Scotty's face. "Starting to worry me, Scotty. Your eyes got all glossy."

"I have to go." Scotty stood abruptly, his hands shaking as he did so. "I have to go. I'm sorry. I have to go."

"Scotty?" Mike furrowed his brows in concern, reaching forward and grabbing his hand. "Are you okay? Hey, hey. Hey, breathe."

"No, no." Scotty shook his head, pulling his hand away and stumbling back. "I have to go."

"Scotty," Mike said softly, watching as the boy in front of him began to shake, his breathing quickened. "I-I-"

"Sh, sh. Sh." Mike shushed him, racking his brain to remember what to do. He'd seen Mrs. Byers handle one of Scotty's panic attacks before. He was ashamed to admit that he couldn't remember how she calmed him down, too worried to focus on anything else. "Breathe. Slow down. Breathe."

"No, Mike, I need.. home.. Mom wants me." Scotty stammered, tripping over a box and falling backwards. "Home. Curfew, it's past curfew."

The room spun around him and he shook his head rapidly, "Please. Home."

"Oh." Mike realized the time and assumed that this attack was because he would be home late. "Curfew passed?"

"Sh, sh," Mike carefully crouched next to him, "Scotty, it's okay. Your mom will understand, it's okay. Breathe with me, we can call her. I can call her for you. Let me call her for you."

Scotty dug his fingers into the carpet, part of him was grateful that he misinterpreted what he was anxious about. While the other part was disappointed. He knew that was dumb, how could Mike have any idea what it was about?

It was good that he didn't, really, it was. Mike, under no circumstances, could find out about what had just hit Scotty square in the face.

As Mike whispered to Scotty, both hands on his shoulders, gently rubbing circles on them, Scotty realized that he was in deep, deep shit and that these feelings (that he hadn't even begun to process yet) he had for Mike, weren't going away anytime soon.

~~

Scotty grimaced, looking away as Lucas tossed trash from the dumpster. "This is disgusting. Probably the most disgusting thing we've done, ever."

"This is disgusting, is it really necessary?" Max agreed and glanced over at Mike, who stood with his back straight. Scotty sighed, kicking around a pebble with his foot.

It was day three. Day three of Mike and Scotty being at each other's throats. Day three of Scotty choking up flower petals in secret when his mind drifts too deeply into Mike, to what his lips felt on his own, to what he smelled like, how his nose twitched and his right eye narrowed ever so slightly when he had an idea. The opposite eye when he was mad or about to shoot some snarky comment someone's way. That was something new that he'd realized, after being the victim of the comments recently.

But FUCK he was so easy to think about. So. Fucking. Easy.

If Scotty were honest, Mike was all he wanted to think about. That kind of pissed him off, because he wasn't really happy with Mike at the moment.

"Hey!" Scotty was more than thankful for Dustin's sudden arrival, a sigh of relief audibly escaping his lips. "What the hell's going on here?"

"What do you think?" Mike responded, his voice snappy. "We're looking for Dart."

Scotty grimaced, stepping back as Lucas tossed trash out of the dumpster, jumping out after it. His dark eyes trained on Dustin, clearly unimpressed. "Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up. After I drew the short straw, real convenient."

"Ugh." Max scrunched her nose up, walking towards Dustin. "You stink!"

"Hi, Max." Dustin said, a giddy smile growing on his face. Lucas' eye twitched and he huffed.

"Hi?" Max's voice trailed off, confusion underlying in her tone.

"Where's Will?" Dustin cleared his throat, glancing over at Scotty who gave him a shrug.

"He'll be here." Mike answered as Lucas tossed a stick over to Dustin.

"Are you just gonna stand there? Or are you gonna help?"

Scotty grimaced, his nose scrunching up as he poked around the ripped open trash bag. "This is disgusting!"

~~

Scotty tossed the cassette tape he held  from one hand to the other, watching as Mike rubbed his hands together in nervousness. It was something he always did when he was anxious, or about to tell you something that he's been holding in.

"Will didn't want me to tell anyone.." He started, unknowingly taking glances over at Scotty. Of course, he picked up on this immediately, his cheeks warming (whether that be from nervousness or annoyance, Scotty wasn't sure.) "But on Halloween night, he saw a shadow in the sky."

"Halloween?" Scotty muttered, Mike nodding to him in return.

"A shadow?" Lucas repeated, "What kind of shadow?"

"I don't know. But it scared him, and if Will really has true sight, I mean, if he can really see into the upside down, maybe he saw that shadow again yesterday."

"So that's why he was frozen like that?"

"Maybe."

"We're so fucked." Scotty sighed, resting the cassette tape on the desk and moving to take a seat in between Dustin and Lucas.

"Can it hurt him? I mean, if this shadow thing isn't from our world."

"I'm not sure.." Mike answered honestly, his eyes shooting over to Dustin. "Dustin?"

"Well, if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the natural plane. So, theoretically, no. It can't hurt him."

Scotty breathed a sigh of relief, tilting his head back.

"Yeah.. if that's even what's happening. This isn't D&D. This is real life."

"So, what do we do?"

"We acquire more knowledge."

"You know..." Scotty trailed off, "That would be easier with another person."

"Not now, Scotty." Mike said, "She isn't in our party."

"Just sayin'.. Would be easier." Scotty mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Okay. I'll go to Will's tonight, see what's going on. You guys stay here and find Dart."

"Dart?" Dustin's back straightened at the mention of the creature's name. "What's he got to do with this?"

"Will heard him in the Upside Down. I don't know how yet, but he's connected to all of this. He's gotta be." Mike continued, Dustin's heart sinking as Mike's sentence continued. "If we find Dart, maybe we can solve this thing. Maybe we can help Will."

"Anything for Will."

~~

a/n: scotty is so gone for mike