Chapter Text
When Will wakes up, the world is fuzzy. It doesn’t just look fuzzy, it feels fuzzy too. He’s not exactly sure where up and down and left and right is, so when he tries to move, he ends up submitting to gravity completely. He falls, most likely downwards, or that’s what he’d like to think.
“Will!” A voice comes from… somewhere , catching him off guard. It’s Mike’s voice. Hands are on his chest and around his waist, slowly retreating back around. One disappears while the other stays on his back. He looks around, finding that the hands are connected to arms, the arms to shoulders, the shoulders to a body and the body to a head and- oh, the head is connected to Mike’s face. For a moment, it’s like Will forgot how to read facial expressions. Instead, he looks around, finding that they’re alone, in the van, obviously unmoving.
“Do you still hate me?” His brain supplies as the only thing to break the silence, because not only his skull but his mouth, too, feel like they’re stuffed with cotton.
Mike’s face twists - that means he’s confused, Will’s tired brain tells him.
“W-what - No!” Mike retorts quickly, his free hand fidgeting in the space around them.
“So you don’t think I’m disgusting?” He asks away because he likes the answers, or because he’s still doubting that what happened before was an illusion. Maybe he just passed out when he hit his head against the ceiling of the car after Mike told him how horrible he is for liking him. Maybe.
“Jesus, Will, where did you get that idea?!” Mike seems kind of distressed, almost like when Will was possessed. Almost . “Did you have a nightmare or something?”
Will looks at him, tilting his head as if Mike-from-a-different angle was more real. “So all that stuff was an illusion then.” He comments, more to himself than anyone but Mike obviously hears him. “I need water. My head hurts.”
“Wait, Will-” But Will doesn’t wait, he throws a make-shift blanket (that he’s pretty sure is someone’s jacket) off of his shoulders and jumps out of the open door of the van.
And the gravity is still way stronger than him.
“Oh God .” Mike sighs, catching him for the second time that day.
“Oh.” Will manages breathlessly as the ground gets further when Mike raises him back to his legs. “No water, then.” He mutters, letting himself be guided to the vehicle and sitting on the floor, his legs dangling off the edge.
“I’ll get you water, okay?” Mike gives him a half-smile before running off towards the gas-station.
Oh, so they’re stopping for gas, then.
Not even 50 seconds after Mike enters the store, El runs out and heads towards Will in an excited hurry. She wraps her hands around him, swaying them side-to-side.
“You’re okay!” She exclaims, pulling away before he even gets a chance to hug back.
“Uh-huh.” Will responds. He still feels off, like he breathed in too much smoke from Argyle and Jonathan’s smoking.
She looks around, as if checking if anyone else can hear them. She leans in closer to his face. “What about your powers?”
Will frowns a little, before perking up, his eyes widening. “My powers!” He exclaims, examining his hands as if there’s supposed to be something different about them now.
El hops into the van, pulling him up with her and closing the door behind them. She pulls out a backpack and inside is about a dozen cans. She takes one and places it on the floor between the two of them. Will wonders if she raided the trash for these.
“Can you crash it?”
Will looks at it, his sense of direction and reality finally returning, even though he was still thirsty.
“Hmm,” He rubs his eyes, the cotton finally gone from his brain, “I can try.”
El watches him tentatively, her hands clasped together, holding back a smile.
“Hey, I’ve got the-”
The water bottle explodes, spilling its contents all over Mike.
“Ah!”
Will looks at him, his cheeks heating up because the white shirt he’s wearing is completely soaked and completely see-through.
“Sorry!” He hurries to apologize, reaching for the jacket he shrugged off earlier, which, now that he looks at it, is the blue one Mike wore this whole time. “Here.” He hands it to him, snatching the remains of plastic he was still holding. “You should change.”
Mike gives them both an awkward smile, seemingly debating if he should go hide into a stall at the public toilets, or just stay. He ends up staying, just quickly shrugging off the shirt and zipping up the jacket. He threw the shirt back into the van.
“All done! So what are you two-”
El interrupts him by snatching his wildly gesturing hand. “Mike.” She begins sternly. Then she turns to Will while still holding the other boy’s hand. “Will, stay here and try to crush the cans.” She orders and Will nods absentmindedly, because he and Mike are having one of those silent conversations with their eyes they haven’t had since they were maybe 12. “Me and Mike have got to talk.” She announces afterwards, focusing on Mike again. Mike doesn’t even get the chance to answer before El is pulling him away from the van and towards the picnic tables off the side of the parking lot.
Will only looks after them for a second, because they’re probably gonna make out and he really doesn’t want to see that. He reaches for El’s bag full of cans, pulling out three and placing them in front of himself. He focuses on the first one, slowly getting familiar with the feeling of electricity-like substance circling through him again. It’s nice. Especially as the first can crumbles to the floor as if someone stepped on it. A smile takes over his features as the second can follows, and the third is not far behind. Good to know he’s still got it. He notices he’s not wearing the clothes he fell asleep (unconscious?) in, a blush creeping up his cheeks - because who the fuck changed him? A 15 year old guy?!
The van shakes, making him flinch and turn, but it’s just Argyle and Jonathan who got on board.
“Oh hey little man, you’re up!” Argyle exclaims from the passenger seat, angling the bag of gas-station groceries in his lab.
“Will!” Jonathan exclaims, spinning around in his seat. “Are you okay? You’ve been out for a solid 11 hours, I was seriously starting to worry you were- uh.” He looks down on the floor sourly, but his face changes when he sees the crushed cans. “What are those?” He points to them curiously.
“El said to practise.” Will explains shortly, pulling another can out of the bag and holding it out on display for the two men. The invisible force tightens around it as it thins and bends in the middle.
“Holy shit man!” Argyle exclaims, taking the can from him as if he could harvest the magic from it. Jonathan just stares, his eyes wide.
“So, you really do have powers like El, huh?” The question is rhetorical, so Will just grins. “Wait until mom hears about this. God, I’ll never be able to watch you and El again.” They both burst into laughter.
It takes a minute for Mike and El to come back, but when they do, Will ends up sitting between them, awkwardly playing with a loose string on his shirt. Something happened - he knows it. He leans over to El, who doesn’t seem all that bothered, but she doesn’t say anything. He sneaks a quick glance at Mike but realizes he still isn’t brave enough to talk to him.
The landscape begins to change sooner rather than later. They enter a city - Decatur, the sign says. Will is no-good at geography, but a quick glance at the map his brother’s holding while pointing directions to Argyle tells him they’re in Illinois. He pushes the whiny voice in the back of his head that begs him to ask “How much longer? Are we there yet?” Into the background as they stop at a gas station. Jonathan and Argyle get out to pump the gas and pay for it, while the 3 teenagers in the back reach for the bag of snacks.
Will chews on some kind of off-brand chocolate-and-caramel bar, tencion still high in the car.
“I’m gonna stretch my legs!” He announces eventually, after Mike rips the wrapper on his threat so roughly all the skittles end up flying everywhere. He looks at Mike as he jumps down onto the parking lot asphalt. “Please talk. This is even worse than being a third wheel.” He frowns, Mike mirroring it, then he leaves.
The familiar buzz of a town is nice, after hours spent in the desert. It makes Will feel a lot more secure, despite the fact that he’s much more likely to get hurt here. He wanders to the side of the building, leaning at the corner and looking over the abandoned-looking building on the other side of the street. He ducks his head pretty quickly though, because the former basketball court in front of it is overgrown though-and though with weed, reminding him of the Upside-down.
Footsteps interrupt his spiraling, he looks up to see his sister.
“Hi.” She greets, sitting down on the curb and patting the place next to her.
“Hey.” He greets back, looking down at her in confusion.
“I am sorry we made you uncomfortable.” She finally explained when he sat down next to her, his knees pulled up to his chest. “I just couldn't wait any longer.”
Will quirks an eyebrow at her, hugging his legs close. Her sentences are as riddled as ever.
“I broke up with Mike.” She gives in after a few seconds.
If Will was drinking water, he’d either choke on it or spit it out. “What? Why?!”
She shrugs, stretching her legs out. “He doesn’t love me.”
Will stutters, unable to find the words. Mike just said it! He told El he loved her so much! So much he couldn’t live without her! Why would she break up with him?!
She turns to Will, watches his mouth hanging open and his hands frozen mid-air. Like a paused record.
“He lied about it. It couldn’t have been true.” She practically answered his thought - she did it often. Sometimes, Will would wonder if she could actually read his thoughts.
“Why do you think he lied?”
She sighs, deeply. “He just did. You can’t magically gain the ability to say ‘I love you’ to someone after months of silence.”
He gulpes, because that actually sounds reasonable. He has nothing to say, but El doesn’t seem bothered by his lack of response.
“And that thing he said - My life started that day we found you in the woods .” Will winces at that, and if she notices, she doesn’t say anything, “That was a lie. He cares about his life before he met me. He talked about you non-stop when I came into his life. He yelled at me for hurting Lucas and for lying to him when they found the fake body in The Quarry.” She admits, and for the heaviness of the situation, she doesn’t even seem sad. “Besides, Max’s right. I need to be my own person before I’m anyone’s girlfriend.”
Will processes it, jaw slack. There’s an audible click when he shuts it, alarming both him and his sister. “I’m sorry.” He blurts out on autopilot. “About the break-up, I mean. When we get home we can have an eggos bar, like we had for Christmas morning last year, okay?” He suggests sheepishly, because El is, first and foremost, his sister. His sister who just broke up with her boyfriend. (What does it matter if her boyfriend is his best friend and crush?) He opens his arms for her, offering a hug. She accepts enthusiastically, a smile on her face as she rocks them side-to-side.
“It’s okay,” She says, calm. She really doesn’t seem upset at all. “,but I won’t say no to an aggos bar!” She giggles, making him repeat the action.
They sit in comfortable silence for a while, watching the cars pass by. Will teaches her the ‘yellow car’ game when he lightly punches her arm as a taxi drives by. Him and Jonathan used to play it when they went on those very few roadtrips as kids.
“Hey Will?” She asks eventually, turning to face him.
“Yeah?” He mirrors her position.
“The kids at school, back in Leonora,” She begins, playing with her finger sheepishly, but still with a grin on her face, “they figured us out.” She made a dramatic effect with her hands - something like jazz hands, but with more movement, “The freak twins.” the way she said it sounded like she was introducing a comedic duo, so Will burst out laughing. It seems that was her intention, because she’s giggling, barely breathing, too.
“We should probably go back to the van!” Will manages to choke up between laughter, El nodding as they both stand up on wobbly legs.
They’re back on the road in the next few minutes. Mike’s still a little pouty, but the tension seems to ease up as he busies himself navigating. Will and El sit on the backseat while Mike is on the floor in front of them, focused on his map and ordering Argyle around.
El shifts one of the crushed cans between her fingers, inspecting it. “So,” She begins, like their history teacher would, “You can crush cans.” She eyes him, pretending to push glasses up the bridge of her nose, earning a giggle, “but what else can you do?” She whispers, leaning in closer.
Will shrugs lightheartedly, smiling. “I don’t know.”
El whips out two stripes of dark fabric from that same backpack that was previously full of cans and hands him one. He isn’t sure who’s clothes she tore apart to make it, but he doesn't care, either. Clothes are pretty replaceable, after all.
“We’ll try going to the void. It’s okay if you can’t, it took me a long time to learn to actually get there.” She explains, offering him one of the stripes. He takes it.
“We can focus on… Dustin! We both know Dustin, so it should work.” She ties the fabric around her head and stretches one of her hands out. “Maybe I can guide you there, if you take my hand.”
Will stares down at it and nods before realizing El can’t see him anymore. He wraps the make-shift blind-fold around his eyes and makes a knot in the back, blindly reaching for and taking her hand.
Static spills out from the walkie-talkie positioned on her lab, and somehow swallows them whole.
When he opens his eyes, the blind-fold is gone. It is still dark, but it’s not because of the fabric. He’s standing, El is opposite him just like back in the car, also standing rather than in the sitting position they began in. Her eyes are already open when he gets there, her grin practically splitting her face in half.
“You really are like me.” She states before turning to her left (Will’s right), where Dustin is, sitting legs flat out in front of him on the floor. There’s an ice-pack on one of his ankles. The water splashes around their ankles as they walk towards him - it’s strangely temperature-less, but still leaves the sensation of chill and humidness on Will. Weird.
Slowly, Erica materializes next to Dustin, holding some notebook, reading through it.
“Bullshit.” She mutters under her breath, flexing the pages.
Will watches as El kneels in front of her, as she’s sitting on a corner-couch.
“Dustin!” Lucas rushes onto the scene, his voice coming in before the fog can even form him properly. They’re all dressed weird, not like themselves , Will thinks. “Oh my- Jesus, they-they took them! Steve and Eddie and Max -” El flinches, “They took them all!”
Dustin doesn’t move, but his eyes go extremely wide. “Who took them?! What are you talking about Lucas!?” His fingers are twitching, he wants to grab Lucas and shake him, but the other is too far away for him and his injured leg.
Will flinches - what did they walk in on?!
“The- the lab? I don’t know- the receptionist said we asked for them to be transfered!” At this point Lucas was pacing, his hands gripping onto his curly hair or chopping the air.
Will and El share a look, hands shaking, mysterious shivers running down their bodies.
The lab.