Chapter Text
Bill Denbrough was crazy tired. He had just stayed up all night talking to his friend and sort of lover, Stanley Uris. It was 12:00 already, shit. The sun was shining brightly outside in the town of Hawkins, Indiana. Bill had been here before, but he never stayed for long. His grandfather lived here after all, so he had to visit sometimes. He hadn’t been back since Georgie died though, so this visit was extra rough. The problem was that Bill’s parents didn’t care enough about him. They couldn’t care less about his whereabouts. That’s why he didn’t bother to tell his parents he was leaving before he walked out the front door into the blazing heat.
The walk to the woods behind his grandfather’s house was short and sweet. He knew where to sit in the shade so it wasn’t too cold or too hot. Him and Georgie had always hung out back here, discussing the mysterious Hawkins lab and hiking along the train tracks. Bill decided he was saddened by his own thoughts and decided to trek along the railroad again for old times sake. The trip was agonizingly long, and the summer heat didn’t really help. Being out of the house was nice though, so he persisted.
A figure appeared down the railroad, so Bill climbed off the tracks and hid behind a nearby tree.
“...I don’t care how hot it is lucas, we need to get to Will’s house.” he heard a voice say loudly from the distance.
“Whatever.” another voice answered.
Bill didn’t want to confront anybody, so he just stood behind the tree like an idiot. He heard footsteps begin to approach him from the tracks, so he peered over to try to catch a glimpse of the mystery boys.
“Who are you?” a voice asked from beside him. Bill’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he realized the two could see him.
“I-i-i’m B-Bill.” curse his stutter.
“Well I’m Dustin, and this is Lucas.”
They boy Lucas nudged the other boy Dustin in the side. “Dude, what do we say about not talking to strangers.” whispered Lucas. “Remember eleven? What if this dude has powers or something-”
“You know I can h-h-hear you, r-right?”
“Shit” Dustin uttered.
“It’s alright. I’m n-not crazy about r-random s-s-strangers either.”
Dustin laughed a bit but Lucas kept a straight face.
“Don’t worry about it. Bill, right?” asked Dustin.
“Y-yeah.”
“Cool. So are you like new here or something?” This Dustin boy had a lot of questions.
“I g-guess you could s-say t-that. My g-g-grandfather lives d-d-down the t-tracks. I’m j-j-just visiting for a few d-days.” Bill found himself giving away a lot of information to two strange boys.
Lucas suddenly pulled out a walkie talkie. “You seem cool I guess.” he stated suddenly.
“Uhh, t-thanks” he replied awkwardly.
“Mike, do you mind if we bring someone new over to Will’s house? His name is Bill and we found him in the woods.” He spoke evenly through the walkie talkie.
“Isn’t this party big enough?” asked the boy through the line.
Dustin pulled out his walkie talkie too. “Come on, just ask Will.” he urged through the walkie talkie.
“Fine, but you guys owe me for this.” answered the boy.
“We’re on our way, over and out.” said Lucas, putting his walkie talkie back into his pocket. “So Bill, wanna hang with us today? We’re going to our friend Will’s house. It’s been awhile since we all got together. I think they’ll love you.” This Lucas kid seemed to change his opinion of Bill rapidly, but it was alright with him.
“S-s-sure.”
So the three boys walked down the railroad, complaining about the sun and how bored they were. When they finally went off the railroad into the woods again, they arrived at a small fort called “castle Byers.” In front of this was a backyard filled with teenagers waiting for something interesting to happen.
Two boys were talking to each other while two girls talked to each other.
“Gather round, Nerds.” yelled Dustin. “I’d like you to meet our newest friend, Billiam.”
“Actually it’s j-j-just Bill.”
“Hi just Bill, I’m Max.” said a girl with ginger hair. They shook hands before the others introduced themselves.
“I’m Eleven.” said the other girl, shaking his hand too.
“I’m Mike, and this is Will.” said a boy, gesturing to the boy next to him. “Nice to meet you.”
“Hi g-guys.” he said with a small wave.
The one boy had a striking resemblance to Richie.
“M-mike, right?” asked Bill, looking at Mike.
“Yeah.”
“You l-look j-j-just like my friend R-richie. Except he has g-g-giant g-glasses.”
“That’s funny you say that. I have a cousin named Richie, he just lives pretty far away.”
“D-derry, Maine?”
“Yeah… I didn’t you knew him.”
“Yeah, I live t-there. I’m j-just visiting my g-grandfather. He l-lives down the t-t-tracks.”
“Well I’ll be damned.” joked Dustin.
The group of friends awkwardly caught up while Bill watched from a short distance. Will walked up to him, and initiated a conversation.
“So you know Mike’s cousin?” he said shyly, trying to spark up a conversation.
“Y-yeah. All my f-f-friends call him trashmouth because he’s s-super f-fucking dumb, not in a s-s-stupid way, but in an idiotic w-way.”
Will found himself genuinely laughing for the first time in a while.
“Mike is no way similar to that whatsoever.”
“S-so Mike got all the b-braincells and we g-got an actual t-trashbag.”
“I guess so.”
After a pause Bill continued the conversation. “S-so how l-long have you all known each other?”
“Oh, well Mike and I have known each other since kindergarten.”
“T-that’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah. He’s probably the closest friend I’ll ever have.”
“I w-wish you guys could m-meet my friends. I think you’d l-like them.”
“Well maybe not Richie.” joked Will. They both laughed, drawing Mike’s attention. He walked over to them and joined the conversation.
“So how’s Richie doing? I hope he’s not as annoying as I remember.” said Mike, casually.
“He’s d-doing pretty g-g-good. Still v-very annoying though.”
“Good to know.” he answered with a small laugh. “So how’s him and Eddie?”
“W-what?” Bill asked, confused. How did this Mike kid know about Eddie Kaspbrak?
“Well everytime I talk to him over the phone he’s rambling about this kid named Eddie. I just figured they were dating.”
Bill burst out laughing. “Oh my g-god. R-richie has been p-pining over Eddie for s-so long! I think they j-just recently g-got together, actually. Eddie is m-my b-b-best friend so I know a l-lot about the s-subject.”
“Oh wow. Small world.” Mike added softly. Bill couldn’t help but notice Will watching every move Mike made. Not with intensity though, just curiosity. I guess Will looked up to him or something. Bill made it his new goal to figure it out.
Dustin ran over to them, with the others trailing behind him. “I’m glad you like him, Micheal.” This earned a glare from Mike. “I’m glad we have a Billiam and a William now, I sense a wonderful bond being formed.”
“Dude. What the fuck.” Lucas remarked, earning laughs from the other teenagers.
“I’m sorry they’re so weird, Bill.” said Max.
“I’m u-used to it.” Bill joked. If only the party knew the truth behind his words.
Joyce Byers made hamborgers for them all, using an old, and I mean old, grill. After they finished they talked for a bit before going their separate ways. Mike walked home with Bill, since they were going in the same direction.
“Do you g-guys not have b-bikes here or something.” asked Bill sarcastically.
“Oh you have no idea.” Mike responded with a laugh.
When Bill got back home to his grandparent’s house, it was already dark. He snuck in through the backdoor and casually made his way up the stairs to the guest bedroom. There was a phone upstairs, attached to the wall. Bill dialed Stan’s number, which he knew by heart. The phone rang for a while and Bill became flooded with anxiety. It all washed away though when he heard a familiar voice over the line.
“Hey Bill”
“Hey Stan, how’ve you b-been?”
“Alright I guess. Today Richie told me he and Eddie made out in the barrens. I wish he hadn’t told me.”
“And now I wish you hadn’t t-told me.” they both laughed at Bill’s joke.
“So how’ve you been? Do you know when you’re coming back to Derry?”
“I’ve b-been alright. I think I’ll be b-back by the end of the w-week. I made some n-new f-friends today. Turns out one of t-them is related to R-richie.”
“Wow. I hope they’re not as annoying as Richard.”
“Oh definitely n-not. I t-think he g-got all the b-brain cells.”
This earned a laugh from Stanley.
“Most likely.” Stanley took a breath, listening to the silence over the line. “I really miss you, Bill.” he said suddenly.
Bill smiled, wishing he would hug Stan and make everything better. “I m-miss you too. I can’t wait to h-hold y-you again.”
“I’m still grounded, but I successfully snuck trashmouth in for a sleepover so I think I could sneak anybody in at this point.”
“That’s p-probably true, b-but I don’t want j-just anyone sneaking into y-your r-r-room. Ok?” Bill’s tone was semi serious.
Stanley laughed a little. “Sounds like someone’s jealous.”
“With g-good reason.”
“Bill, come downstairs.” yelled his grandfather from the bottom of the steps.
“Well I’ve g-got to g-go. Love you Stan” he said with sincerity.
“I’ve missed those words so much. I love you too, Bill. Call back when you get the chance.” and with that Bill hung up the phone and raced downstairs.
“Some boys wanna see you.” said his grandfather, sounding bored out of his mind. He pointed to his door, where none other then Mike stood with a walkie talkie in hand.
“Do you have a walkie talkie?” asked Mike, ignoring Bill’s grandfather’s presence.
“Y-yeah. Why?”
“Just grab it. Let’s go, follow me.”
Bill grabbed his walkie talkie from where it lay abandoned on the floor and followed Mike out the door.
“We have to hurry before it starts!” Mike said loudly as he got on his bike.