Chapter Three:
Alien Boy

"This is disgusting." Scotty gagged, glancing at Dustin as he bent over the trashcan and began to go through it.

Scotty shifted, rolling his eyes as he leaned against the brick wall. His eyebrows furrowed as Mike, Will, and Lucas each waved to the group of four girls passing them, each with a look of confusion or disgust on their face.

"Don't fucking wave." Scotty hissed, "We look like that thing from the elmo show."

"The trash guy?" Will hummed, "What was his name.."

"Probably Mr. Fu-"

"I got it!" Dustin interrupted suddenly, pulling himself from the trashcan with a rolled up piece of notebook paper in her hand and a triumphant look on his face.

Scotty's arms fell to his side as Mike peered over him to look at the writing on the paper.

"Well?" He was impatient as he tapped his foot against the concrete, "What does it say?"

"I'm getting there." Dustin waved him off as be uncrumpled the paper. "Stop spying on me, creeps. Well, shit."

"Damnit." Lucas huffed, covering his face with his hands and letting out an obnoxiously loud groan.

"Pft." Scotty chuckled, "Stalkers.. Told you so."

"Whatever, man. It's not stalking-"

"It's research." Scotty interrupted, rolling his eyes. "Whatever you say, Mike."

~~

"Who you gonna call?" Will's excited voice rang out through the air.

"Ghostbusters!" The party cheered in unison. Scotty laughed, the leaves crunching under his feet. A chill ran through the air, causing Scotty to shiver.

His heart warmed as his eyes landed on Mike, but his lungs ached. Scotty coughed, raising his hand to clutch his chest. This went unnoticed by everyone but Dustin. Before he could ask what was wrong, Mike had already jumped in.

"Woah, why the hell aren't you wearing a costume?" Mike asked, a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Well, 'cause I'm not a nerd." Scotty snickered, jokingly shoving Mike with his shoulder.

"Okay." Mike scoffed, "Says the one who has every single marvel comic and DC comic to date. Even those weird alternate universe ones."

"I-" Scotty pursed his lips, sheepishly shuffling his feet as he looked away from Mike. "Whatever."

Mike smiled to himself, knowing that he'd gotten him. Soon, that smile vanished once he read the nametag on Lucas' costume. "Why are you Venkman?"

"Because I'm Venkman." Lucas answered, clearly already done with the argument that hadn't even started yet.

"Mike-"

"No, I'm Venkman!" Mike argued, his eyes narrowing as he pointed to the patch reading Venkman sewn onto his costume.

"Uh, why can't there just be two Venkmans?" Will asked carefully, looking in between the two stubborn boys.

Mike turned his head to Will, a look in is eyes that said he thought Will was crazy for even insinuating such a thing. "Because there's only one in real life! Come on, we planned this months ago. I'm Venkman, Dustin's Santz, you're Egon, Scotty... whatever the hell he wanted to be. What was it?"

"An alien."

"Right! The green blob ghost," Scotty blinked, shaking his head in confusion as Mike stepped closer to Lucas, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "And you're Winston."

"I didn't agree to be Winston." Lucas deadpanned, crossing his arms.

"Yes, you did." Mike stubbornly crossed his arms, glaring at Lucas.

"No, I didn't."

"He didn't." Scotty shrugged, "Because why? Winston's a bitch."

"Stop calling everyone a bitch!" Dustin groaned, "You called my mom's cat a bitch last week and she still talks about it."

"No." Scotty smiled, tossing an arm around Dustin.

"Yeah, Winston is a bitch. No one wants to be Wintson." Lucas agreed.

"Winston is not a bitch! What's wrong with Winston?"

"He's a bitch, for starters." Scotty hummed.

"What's wrong with Wins- He joined the team super late, he's not funny, and he's not even a real scientist. Oh, and.. he's a bitch."

"Ye-Yeah, well.. He's not a bitch, and he's still cool!" Mike defended himself, shifting as he slowly realized that he was on the losing side of the argument.

"Well, if he's so school, why don't you be Venkman?" Lucas challenged. Scotty stifled a laugh, covering his mouth with his hand.

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Well.. Be-Because." Mike stammered, stumbling back and becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

"Be-Be-Because.. you're not black?"

"I didn't say that!" Mike jumped to defend himself.

"Well, you thought it!"

Scotty rolled his eyes, tuning out the argument as he looked around the schoolyard as students got dropped off from either their parents or the buses.

"Guys.. Guys.. Guys!" The arguement silenced as Will, Mike, Lucas, and Scotty each followed Dustin's gaze. "Why isn't anyone else in costume?"

"Ha!" Scotty laughed, "Called it. Didn't I te you, Mike. Last night, on the radio?"

"Yeah." Mike snapped.

"And what did you say?"

Mike grumbled to himself, crossing his arms.

"You said I was full of shit! Ha, ha." Scotty chuckled to himself, wincing when his lungs constricted as Mike turned his head, making direct eye contact with him.

"Whatever. Let's just.. get this day over with."

~~

"What are you?" Mike asked, raising his eyebrows as he trailed his gaze over Scotty.

"I'm an alien. Duh." Scotty gestured to the glasses shaped like alien eyes resting on the top of his head.

"Oh! Perfect. The green guy from Ghostbusters." Mike smiled, stepping to the side to let Scotty out. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Uh.. no. No, Mike. Alien." Scotty said slowly, gesturing to the green face paint.

"Green guy." Mike said stubbornly, his lips curling into a grin as he readjusted the pack on his back.

"Alien.." Scottty said slowly, emphasizing each syllable.

"Sure, okay. Green guy." Mike joked, nudging him.

"Dude, please. I will step on you." Scotty groaned. "I'm an alien, so I've got those special ass powers."

"And I'm Venkman."

"I have eyes. I can use them to read."

"Yes, we all do." Mike laughed, "Well... most of us. Hey, where are your parents?"

"Oh, they went out with Lucas' mom and dad. Some special dinner out of town? I don't know, but I guess I'll be home alone for a little bit tonight."

"Cool, cool.. Nancy's having Steve come over after her stupid party, so-"

"Yeah, you can stay at mine." Scotty nodded. Mike smiled in thanks, his eyes lingering on his best friend's face a moment longer than he'd admit to. Just a moment, though. No longer.

The rest of the walk to the meet up point where Lucas, Dustin, and Will were was in silence. Scotty didn't mind, though. Even if the only sound was the howling of the wind and the cars whizzing by. Occasionally, kids would run by dressed as ghouls or superheroes or princesses, dropping candy here and there.

All of which Scotty would pick up and drop into his own bag.

By the time there bags were nearly full, the sun had long fallen behind the hills and the moon was high in the sky.

"Aw!" The woman cooed as she opened the door, "Four little exterminators and.. a slime monster!"

Dustin's smile fell as he reached into the bowl, grabbing a large handful of candy and dropping it into his bag.

"Ew, it's just nougat." Lucas gagged, sticking his tongue out. "If I get another piece of nougat candy.. I'm gonna kill myself."

"Oh? Just nougat? Just nougat? It's top three for me!" Dustin said, reaching over and taking the piece of candy from his hand.

"Top three?" Lucas repeated, his eyes widening. "Oh, give me a break!"

"Seriously! I could just eat a whole bowl of nougat."

"Pft. Weird of you, nougat sucks ass here. When we go visit my grandparents.. The candy they give me? Fucking delicious. Unlike anything ever-"

A sudden loud shout stopped Scotty's sentence short, and he jumped. Dustin and Lucas let out high-pitched screams, jumping towards each other

Laughter followed the shout, and the mystery person pulled off their mask, revealing Max.  "Ha, ha! Holy shit. You guys should've seen your faces. And you, who screams like that? You sound like a little girl."

Mike, almost as soon as he recognized herx became annoyed.

"Hey," Scotty warned, looking at him pointedly. Again, his lungs stung and his throat burned when the two locked eyes. "Don't be a dick tonight, okay? I know you miss her, but we all like Max. She's cool."

"Whatever." Mike scoffed, "If she's so cool why don't you go ahead with her."

Scotty rose his eyebrow, "Fine. I will."

"Wha- Wait!" Mike tried, but Scotty had already jogged off towards Max.

"Max!" He greeted, raising his hand for a fistbump. "'Sup?"

"Don't say 'Sup, you sound weird."

"You're weird!" Scotty shot back, shaking his head.

"Least I'm not a nerd!" Max grinned, raising her eyebrows. She was challenging him.

"Okay, sure, whatever you say, miss I-own-every-wonder-woman-comic-to-date." Scotty teased, unaware of the three jealous stares on him and Max. Lucas and Dustin grumbled to themselves. Somethinv about how unfair it was that Scotty always got the girl, but never actually dated them.

"Oh, shut up!" Max blushed, covering her face with her hands. "You own every single marvel and DC comic."

"And what about it? Them baby's are gonna make me rich some day."

"Oh, please!" Max scoffed, "Keep dreaming."

a/n: boy oh boy is next chapter juicy as fuck  *eyebrows eyebrows*

edited: no