It had been a week since Daniel showed up at the house, and Tk hasn't seen him since, which he was thankful for. It was the last day of school before spring break. He could not wait for the break. He was tired of school.

The teacher had given them projects to do before the break, and today They had to turn in their projects. The subject was on historical heroes, Will did his on Alan Turing, Tk did his on Albert Einstein and El was doing hers on hopper. Tk had finished his visual aid the night before so he didn't have to worry about it.

Tk was laying on his bed listening to "you don't mess around with Jim" by Jim Croce on his walkman. It has become his favorite song since Hopper died; it made him feel like he was still there. He had been up since three in the morning, he didn't get much sleep anymore because of the nightmares.

It was always the same three nightmares that haunted him at night. The first one that he got most of the time was about his uncle's death. He had convinced Joyce to tell him how he died a while back so Tk knew how he died. It was him in the room with hopper and Joyce but he couldn't move, like he was stuck in time. He had to watch as his uncle died over and over.

The other one was about his mom and the night she died. Sometimes it would be a few hours or minutes before they got in the car. Most times he was watching from a third-person standpoint, he had to watch as the younger version of himself cried and screamed for his parents to wake up. Other times he was the younger version of himself feeling it all happen again and those are the ones that scare him the most.

Every once in a while he gets ones about bob Newby which he thought was weird because he didn't really know bob like Joyce or Hopper did. But he still felt horrible, the way he died had kept him up for weeks after it happened, to be eaten alive by demo dogs was not a way he wanted to go out.

A lot has changed about Tk since the move. He stays in his room most of the time, he is always out finding things to do for extra cash and to top it all off he doesn't wear his hat anymore, and if he does it's rare.

Joyce had become very concerned for the boy, especially about his unusual habits; she thought it might have something to do with Daniel's surprise visit. She tried to get him to talk to her but he just said he was fine.

Jonathan opened Tk's bedroom door, making Tk take off his headphones so he could hear him. Jonathan told him that Argyle was here and they needed to go.

Once Jonathan left the room Tk got up, groaning as he did so. He opened the drawer of his bedside table and took out a bottle of Tylenol. his head was killing him, Tk had been having headaches for weeks it wasn't just headaches it was nose bleeds too. but he didn't think much of it. He's had nosebleeds and headaches before so it's no big deal.

Tk grabbed his backpack, putting the bottle of Tylenol and some tissues just in case. then he grabbed his project and started to walk out of his room but stopped just a few steps before the door. His focus was on his hat. It was hanging on the wall next to a corkboard full of pictures and drawings of the party and his family.

he wanted to wear it, he couldn't remember the last time he did. but ultimately decided it would be best if he didn't. Tk wanted to blend in as much as possible and wearing a cowboy hat in California was not blending in.

He took a glance in the mirror before he left. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, Tk didn't like the way he looked without his hat, he thought he looked naked. but Tk was going to focus on the positives, he wasn't excited for school but he was ecstatic about after school. He could not wait for spring break. It was going to be great, it had to be.

Tk runs to the front door just in time for all of them to get out the door and into Argyle's pizza van. Argyle was Jonathan's new friend, he worked at surfer boy pizza. He drives them to school since Jonathan's car is broken.

"hold onto your butts, brochachos" Argyle says as he speeds out of the driveway. Once they pulled up to Lenora hills high school the three of them said goodbye to argyle and Jonathan.

As they walked through the halls El started to wave to some of the girls in the hall who paid no attention to her. El had tried to make friends but because of her learning delays, they only made fun of her. Tk had tried to tell her about bullies and how they pick their prey, but she insisted that they were going to be friends.

Tk and Will haven't made any efforts into making friends. Tk wasn't sure why will hadn't but he didn't simply because he already had friends, amazing friends. Why would he try to make new ones?

The three of them made it to the classroom, they had to squeeze their way through the other students to get to their seats. El sat in the middle of the class, Tk sat in front of will on the right side of the room.

Soon the students started to present their projects in front of the class, first was Angela, She did her presentation on Helen Keller. Tk zoned out most of her speech, he didn't like Angela she was one of the many kids that bullied El. He only zoned back in when the class started clapping.

"That is wonderful, Angela. Truly wonderful. What an inspiring story" their teacher, Mrs. Gracey said as she turned on the lights.

"Okay. Now let's see who has to follow that" she reached down into the jar she had on her desk and pulled out a piece of paper and read it out loud. "Jane"

The class started to slowly clap as El stood up from her seat. Making her way to the front of the room. Jane was the name she goes by in California since it is her legal name, but Tk and the others still called her El.

"Hi. For my hero, I... I chose my dad. And for my visual aid, I made a "direyama" of our cabin" El struggled on a few of the words here and there. Tk was proud of her for doing it, he hated talking in front of others, he was sure that he was going to mess up a lot when it was his turn.

"More like diarrhea" one of Angela's sidekicks jokes, making the whole class laugh except for Tk and will. They both sent reassuring looks toward El. Who was trying to laugh along with his joke even though she didn't find it funny.

"Quiet, everyone let's be respectful" Mrs. Gracey scolds.

El picks up the tiny figure of hopper that she made. "This is my dad. His name is hopper. He made the best eggos, and we like to watch Miami Vice on Fridays" El then picks up another figure. "This is my brother, Tk. He likes space and his hat. We liked to go and look at the stars. Orion is my constellation. His is the Big Dipper"

Tk couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. He wasn't aware that El had made him a part of her visual aid, he was also over the moon about the fact that she called him her brother.

She then held up the last little figure. "This is Mr. fibbly. He is a squirrel" El didn't get to finish explaining when she was interrupted by the other students laughing at her. She looked to will and Tk for reassurance, to which they both nodded their heads for her to continue.

"And this is the alarm that my dad made. I... I was never scared because..." El was interrupted once again because Angela put her hand in the air.

"Uh, Angela, let's save questions until the end of jane's presentation," Mrs. Gracey told her.

Angela put her hand down but started talking anyway. "Yeah. Sorry. I'm just, like, confused. I thought this was a presentation about a historical hero"

"My dad was in the newspaper," El defended.

"Your local paper?" Angela laughed, which caused everyone else to laugh. Tk was a firm believer in men shouldn't hit women but for her, he might just have to make an exception. "I just think Mrs. Gracey meant by historical. This is supposed to b about famous people"

"My dad is famous. He saved lots of lives. In a mall fire. He was a hero" she paused and looked at Tk. "For people. And he was my hero too" Tk could tell El was struggling to hold back tears.

"That's not what I'm saying at all, but it's okay. I am so sorry, Mrs. Gracey. I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted clarity on the rules of the assignment" Angela says innocently as if she wasn't trying to embarrass El a few seconds ago.

"Well, technically, you are correct. But Jane decided to do her father. So, please continue with your presentation, jane" the teacher said.

Tk could see that El was humiliated, she was trying to stop herself from crying. He knew she needed a break to calm down and pull herself together. So Tk raised his hand in the air and waited to be called on.

"Yes, Thomas"

"I was wondering if I could do my presentation now?" Tk asked as he put his hand down.

"Jane hasn't finished yet," she told him.

" I know that, but I think she's done. Angela kinda wasted everyone's time with her useless questions" Tk ignored the glare he revived from Angela.

Mrs. Gracey was going to say something but El soon caught on to what Tk was trying to do and cut her off. "It's okay. I'm done" she then rushed to her seat, sending him a look of thanks which he reciprocated.

Tk by no means wanted to do his presentation this early into the class. But if it meant it would take El out of the hot seat for a while he would do it in a heartbeat. Soon enough the bell rang infecting that the class was over. El was one of the first kids out of the class, Tk and Will right behind her.

"El, it wasn't that bad '' will tried to tell her.

"Friends don't lie" El responded as she walked faster.

"I'm not lying. El. Come on" but El didn't listen instead kept walking to her next class. Will went after her since the two of them had the same class. Tk put his headphones on as he walked to his next class. The sound of Jim Croce blasting through his ears gave him a huge feeling of comfort. Tk couldn't wait till school was over.

Once the bell rang Tk and Will went outside of the school to see if El was waiting outside since she wasn't at the meeting spot. As soon as they open the doors they notice a large group of people surrounding the courtyard.

It doesn't take long for them to realize it's El, the two of them start to make their way over when El does something that makes Tk freeze in his place. It was like he was stuck in place as he watched her extend her arm out and scream as if she still had her powers. A huge wave of secondhand embarrassment washes over him.

He can hear all the other students laughing at her. The two of them watch as a teacher drags Angela away and the crowd starts to dissipate. Will has to drag Tk to El, not because he didn't want to see her but because he was still embarrassed for her.

"El, shit! El. It's gonna be okay" will reassured her as he helped pick up the pieces.

"Yeah, we can fix it" Tk added after he noticed her trying to put the cabin back together. El didn't say anything, she just held the broken Tk and hopper figures.

The two boys tried to comfort her as they waited for Jonathan to pick them up. Tk did have to hide his excitement so El didn't think he was happy about her situation. He couldn't wait to go home.

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As soon as Argyle pulls into the driveway, Tk practically throws himself out of the car and runs into the house. He goes straight to his room and dumps out all of his school supplies onto his bed. The boy starts to fill his bag with important things in case of an emergency.

Luckily, he packed his suitcase the night before so he didn't have to worry about clothes. Tk knew he was on a time crunch, once he was satisfied with what he packed in his bag he ran out the door. But stopped before he left and grabbed his hat.

Tk back into Argyle's car along with a new rider, Joyce was in the car as well. Once Argyle was sure he was in they were on their way to the airport. Ever since Daniel's unfortunate visit Tk has been in kind of a slump, he knew he needed a break, he needed his friends. So Tk had been buckling down on getting cash until he was able to buy a plane ticket to Hawkins Indiana.

He had called Mrs. Sinclair to see if it would be okay if he stayed with them, but she didn't answer the phone, Erica did. Once he told her his plan to visit she handed the phone to her mother, who told him that he was welcome anytime. Tk asked them not to say anything to Lucas, he wanted it to be a surprise so the only people who knew about his arrival were Erica and Mrs. Sinclair.

Another main concern of his was if he was going to be able to make it to Lucas's game, Tk knew how much it meant to him and he was determined to be there no matter what. When they arrived at the airport, they went through security and Tk had twenty minutes until he had to board his plane.

"Thomas, you better be on your best behavior, okay? I don't wanna hear anything about you not listening. And be safe okay?" Joyce ranted as she brought the boy in for a hug.

"Okay, Mrs. Byers, I promise. I'll be careful" Tk said as he pulled away from the hug.

Tk moves to El next. "Are you going to be okay?" He wasn't sure about how her spring break was going to go. He hoped Mike would feel better.

El nodded her head. "Yeah. Are you?" To which Tk nodded, as long as he was with Lucas he would always be okay. The two shared a hug before she went to sit down in the chairs with Joyce, Jonathan, and argyle. While he moved onto will.

Tk reaches into his backpack and pulls out a little black box and hands it to will. "Here"

Will looked at him confused. "What's this for?"

Tk sighed. "Will, just open it"

And he did just that, when he opened it he saw Two bracelets, handmade. They were green and yellow with "T.H + W.B" on them. Will looked at Tk still confused about why he gave him these.

"Their friendship bracelets," Tk said as he took one and tied it on his wrist, and then took the other and tied it on wills. "One for me and one for you. I figured since I'm not going to be there for your birthday, this is one way I can be there"

"You remembered, my birthday" Will whispered.

"Of course I did. You're my brother, I'd be an asshole if I forgot." Will continued to look at the bracelet so Tk couldn't see his face. Tk was worried he didn't like it. "I know it's dumb and childish. I'll give you a real present when I come back I-"

Tk was cut off when Will pulled him into a hug. "No, it's perfect. I love it. Thank you, Tk ''Will said as he pulled back from the hug.

Soon a voice came over the intercom saying that his plane was now boarding. After a few more goodbyes they finally let Tk leave to board the plane. Tk gave the man his ticket and went to his seat, which was next to the window. He put his headphones on and played the mixtape Lucas had sent him in the mail a few weeks ago and looked out the window as the plane took off. Next stop Hawkins Indiana.

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Four hours later the plane landed, luckily Tk slept through most of it so it didn't feel like forever. Tk grabbed his suitcase and started to look for Mrs. Sinclair, which wasn't hard. She was standing in the middle of the airport holding up a sign with his name on it.

Mrs. Sinclair was quick to pull him into a hug. "Oh, Thomas! look how big you are. You're taller than me. How was the flight?"

"The flight was good, I slept most of the time so I couldn't tell you much about it" Tk jokes. When he pulled back from the hug that's when he noticed the details on the sign.

"Erica's aliens are looking better!" He complimented the small aliens the girl had drawn on the sign. Over the summer he taught her how to draw the type of aliens that he draws on his shoes.

"She wanted to be here but she had some D&D things to do. It's hard to keep up with them nowadays" she told him. Tk was a little bit upset that she wasn't there but he has all spring break to see her, plus he's staying at her house so it didn't bother him too badly.

"Well, we better get on the road. Lucas's game has already started but hopefully, we can get you there in time for the last quarter of the game"

They put Tk's suitcase in the trunk of the car and he got up front with her. The whole way there Tk was telling her all about California, he only told her the good things though. The plan was for her to drop him off and she would go home with his luggage.

When they pulled up to the school, Tk felt like he was going to throw up. What if Lucas didn't want to see him? He knew that it was highly unlikely but he couldn't help but think about it. Tk took a deep breath then grabbed both his hat on his backpack putting those on. He thanked Mrs. Sinclair for the ride and started on his walk into the school.

When Tk walked into the gymnasium everyone was in the midst of cheering so he went unnoticed, which he was thankful for. He stepped onto the bleachers looking for an empty seat, ignoring the looks and whispers from people who recognized him as Hopper's nephew.

Once he found an open seat he started to look for Lucas. Lucas had told him that his jersey number was eight and that he had been riding the bench all year, Tk always reminded him that he was a valuable asset to the team whether they knew it or not. But when he looked at the bench he didn't see him, so he started to look on the court and what do you know.

There he was. Lucas Charles Sinclair was on the court.

Tk watched intensely as Lucas played, he didn't know much about basketball but he did know that if Lucas helped score a point he was cheering. No matter whether they won or lost, Tk was going to be proud of him no matter what.

Soon someone called for a time-out, Tk guessed it was the captain. Tk could feel his nerves skyrocket he knew how badly Lucas wanted this. Soon the game was back in action, the guy who called a timeout threw the ball it looked like it was going to go in but it bounced off the rim, landing right into Lucas's hands.

Lucas was able to get himself away from the other players so that he maybe had a shot at getting this point. Tk looked at the clock, there were only three seconds left, if Lucas could make this shot they would win.

Tk watched as Lucas threw the ball toward the hoop. "Please go in! Please go in!" Tk whispered to himself over and over. Tk rose to his feet as the ball bounced around the rim of the net, everyone was practically on the edge of their seat as they waited for the ball to go in. And then it did.

Tk didn't hesitate to start cheering for him, he screamed as loud as he could hoping Lucas could hear him. Tk watched as Lucas's teammates surrounded him, putting him on their shoulders in celebration, chanting his name, Tk could not have been more proud of his boy.

Lucas started to look around the gym like he was looking for someone, Tk figured he was looking for the party, which brought him to his next question: why wasn't no one else here for Lucas? But then Lucas and Tk made eye contact.

Tk gave him the biggest smile and waved at him, while Lucas looked like he just saw a ghost, shocked. Lucas was in shock. Tk was here? Since when? Did he see him make that shot? When did he get into the gym? He wasn't there before, was he?

The team made their way to the locker rooms to change, Tk followed them and waited for Lucas outside of the door. Once Tk was sure all of the other team members were not in the locker room anymore he went inside.

"Lucas?" Tk whispered as he walked further into the room, only to be tackled into a hug it almost knocked him over but luckily he was able to stabilize himself.

He knew it was Lucas as soon as his hands touched him. Tk wrapped his arms around Lucas, you never really know how much you miss someone until you don't have them around anymore. Tk needed this, he had a horrible few weeks but this makes all of it worth it.

The two of them stayed like that for a while just enjoying each other's warmth for a moment, enjoying the silence for a while until Tk spoke up. "You did so good luke. I saw you make that shot. It was perfect. It felt like I was watching a movie"

"What are you doing here? How are you here? You said you couldn't make it '' Lucas asked as he pulled away from the hug, but only enough to see his face.

"Yeah, I couldn't but then I scraped up some money and flew out here, your mom dropped me off here actually" Tk explained. As he was explaining he happened to look at the ground and noticed something that matched him. "Hey! You're wearing our shoes!

"Of course, I'm wearing our shoes, these are really the only shoes I wear besides my basketball shoes. I missed you a lot, cosmo '' Lucas said as he6 looked him in the eyes.

"I missed you too, luke. So much" Tk mindlessly said as his eyes trailed to Lucas's lips. He wanted to kiss him but didn't know how to go about it. Does he just ask? Would that be weird? But what Tk didn't realize is that Lucas wanted the same thing.

"Can I kiss you?" Tk blurted out. He would usually have been embarrassed but he didn't have time to be. Before Lucas grabbed him by the back of his neck so he could pull him down to his height. Tk immediately wrapped his arms around Lucas's waist bringing him in closer, if that was even possible.

When Lucas had pulled away for some air Tk couldn't help but chase after his lips. He hasn't kissed his boyfriend in eight months, can you blame him?

Lucas laughed as he had to push Tk back, as much as he wanted to stay in the locker room and make out the team was most likely outside waiting for him. "We should go before someone comes looking for me"

"Yeah, we should" Tk agreed, he picked up his hat off the ground since it fell because of their kiss. They started to walk out the door, Tk pulled Lucas toward him, causing him to crash into his chest. "Just one more" he whispered as he went to kiss Lucas again.

When they pulled away Lucas reached his arm up and smacked him in the head, knocking his hat off of his head. "Dork"

Tk picked his hat up off the ground and ran after Lucas. "Worth it"

The two of them were walking to the other side of the parking lot, laughing and talking about dumb shit when Lucas abruptly stopped causing Tk to run into his back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked but then he heard it. Tk looked up to see Dustin, Erica, Mike, and some other kids cheering. It looked like they were celebrating something, Tk quickly realized that this must have been the hellfire club Dustin talked so highly about. They ditched Lucas's game to play D&D.

"I'm gonna kill them" Tk stated.

"No you're not, '' Lucas told him.

"Yes, I am. How could they do this, they knew how important this was to you and they didn't care. Hell, I flew all the way from California just to see you ride the bench. I didn't even know you were playing" Tk ranted. Luckily Tk didn't get the chance to dwell on it for too long because one of Lucas's new friends came up to them.

"Lucas. Come on, man" the boy's voice trailed off when he noticed Tk next to him.

To avoid an awkward situation Tk decided to introduce himself. "I'm Tk, Lucas's friend"

"Patrick. Aren't you the chief's nephew?"

Tk sighed. "Yeah, I am"

"Where are we going?" Lucas asked desperate to change the subject.

"Celebratory party at the abandoned Benny's burgers. Your friend can come too" that's the last thing Patrick said before leaving the boys.

"Come on, luke. We have a party to attend to" Tk says as he throws his arm around his shoulder.

"Thanks for being there for me today, cosmo, '' Lucas said with a smile as he wrapped his arm around Tk's waist.

"As I've said before Luke, I'll always be there for you, until every star in the sky burns out" Tk beamed as they walked to Jason's car.