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In the few months that Will has spent living with the Wheelers, maybe one of the most surprising side effects is how close he’s gotten with Holly.
Not that she’s not a nice kid. Will’s known her her whole life, but only by proxy. A cursory “hi, Holly” before running down to Mike’s basement, stilted small talk while he waits for Mike to get a movie from his bedroom so they can watch it on the Wheelers’ giant downstairs TV. There’s not really much to talk about with a six-year-old when you’re double her age.
But now, Holly’s ten, going on eleven, and Will is sixteen, and shockingly, she’s grown up a lot. Always has her nose in a book, and the books she reads are good, too. She’s past the age of having coloring homework, but sometimes Will sees her drawing, just for a moment before she feels his eyes on him and hunches over. It makes him laugh - he can’t be mad, he does that too.
He wonders what she draws. He only catches a glimpse of a figure that looks like her and someone else. A friend, probably. Will remembers when Mike starred in all his drawings.
(Not that that ever stopped.)
Sometimes, when all the Wheelers are busy, when Mike is at one of 50 clubs he’s joined this school year to distract himself from everything, when Nancy is at the Squawk with Robin and Steve and Jonathan, and Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler are… well, Will doesn’t really know what they do. But sometimes, Will goes to pick up Holly himself.
They get along pretty well. Will likes hearing about her day - it’s been so long since he was that carefree, the only thing weighing on his mind being schoolyard bullies. It’s almost laughable how there are still people at school who think they can get a rise out of him by calling him a fag. Of course, he acts offended, because if he didn’t it’d seem like confirmation. But it doesn’t bother him like everyone thinks it bothers him. Not anymore. Not really.
He tells Holly to kick him between the legs, and Holly always laughs at that. It’s nice to know someone finds him funny, even if it is Mike’s ten year old sister. Hey, you get what you get, right?
Today, they walk home together, hand in hand. He wonders if the teachers ever get concerned when he picks her up - he’s not her brother. Then again, with Hawkins in quarantine, it’s not like anybody can kidnap anybody without being found out in ten minutes flat. There’s only so many places one can go in Hawkins.
“You wanna go to the library?” he asks. There’s not really much in the library these days, not for him, anyways. It feels like he’s read every single book twice over and he’s not really itching for a third time. But Holly’s not as old as him, there’s probably something for her that they could find together.
“Can we get a movie instead?” she asks. Will sighs.
“Your parents might kill me,” he says. He tries to stay on the Wheelers’ good side, and that includes not being a terrible influence on Holly, even though she would probably love Back to the Future and he’s wanted to rewatch it for a long time now. He never really got to properly watch it at Starcourt, anyway.
“No they won’t,” she argues.
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m the favorite.”
Will snorts - it’s probably true. But she says it so confidently he can’t help but laugh.
“What?” she asks, all innocent. Will just rolls his eyes and snorts again.
“Okay, a movie. What do you wanna get?”
She thinks for a moment, head tilted up at the sky. “I don’t know. You pick.”
“I pick?” He’s surprised. Generally kids at her age seize the opportunity to make other people do what they want. He knows when the Party was that young they never listened to a single damn word that came out of any of their parents’ mouths.
Well, before… all that, anyways. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin still don’t listen to their parents, but Will kind of has to listen to Mom’s word like God. Out of guilt, maybe, more than anything else.
“Why don’t we watch Back to the Future?” he suggests. “I think you’ll like it.”
Holly shrugs. “Okay,” she agrees.
Cold bites at their skin as they walk to the video store. It’s more awkward now that Steve and Robin don’t work there - not that he ever really knew them, but on account of being Dustin’s friend he could usually snag discounts. Though if he asked the new guy behind the counter for a discount he’d probably just give it to him. Money means kind of nothing when nothing new ever comes in and nothing old ever goes out.
They walk in companionable silence. Holly has already tired herself out a bit talking about Dipshit Derek, and there’s nothing Will can tell her about his life that would be deemed appropriate. No homework that she would understand, no bullying that he could play off as a joke, no girlfriend to speak of, and if there was a - Well, he wouldn’t tell her about that anyway. He doesn’t know if she’s been introduced to the world of all that yet - if not, he doesn’t want to be the one to do so, and if so, she might just get him kicked out.
The Party is mostly back to normal, but there’s a lingering sort of tension between him and Mike from… everything before the quarantine. It’s getting better the more they talk to each other - there’s definitely been a shift ever since that night. But Mike still hasn’t broken up with El, and Will doesn’t know if he was lying, delirious, or just… afraid.
They’re quick in and out of the video store, and Holly gets impatient getting back home so she challenges Will to a race. He agrees - stays a couple paces behind her, lets her win. She crows in victory when they run up to the Wheelers’, and when she turns around to look at Will he feigns exhaustion.
“You’re too fast for me, Holly,” Will pants.
She looks at him for a beat. He feels weirdly analyzed.
“Did you let me win?”
Will gasps in offense. “Of course not! You think I wanted to lose to a ten year old?!”
She examines him further, squinting at his doubled-over form. He grits his teeth and prays she doesn't call him on it.
“...okay,” she surrenders. “Hah. Loser.”
Was he like this to Jonathan? He can’t imagine he was.
They walk into the house together, and predictably, no one is home. He hands the cassette to Holly and tells her to load it up on the TV while he gets them something to eat. The Wheelers have a lot more junk food than he and Jonathan were ever allowed growing up, and so he gets a bag each - original Lays chips for Holly, and Doritos and a Coke for him. Holly doesn’t like soda much, so he balances a glass of tap water in his arms and watches everything wobble precariously as he slowly walks towards the couch.
Holly gasps in delight as she sees Will walking out of the kitchen. The VHS tape is stuck into the player, but the TV isn’t on. Will raises an eyebrow, and Holly says, “I don’t know how it works. Sorry.”
“‘S fine,” Will says. “Here - can you get these - ?”
Holly picks the drinks up first and puts them on the table in front of the TV, then takes the bags of chips from him. Will smiles gratefully, then goes to push the VHS tape in all the way and turn on the movie.
When he turns back around, Holly’s already opened both bags of chips. Will would be more annoyed if he didn’t like Holly so much. One of her drawings is on the table, and he picks it up as he sits down. He’s already seen the first Back to the Future millions of times - if anything happens, Holly can let him know.
He examines the drawing. It’s Holly and a tall figure next to her, but it isn’t Mike. It’s less of a person and more of a silhouette - colors placed in random places like she only has the vague idea of where they're supposed to be.
Will nudges her side. “Hey - who’s this?”
“My friend,” Holly answers simply.
“What’s his name?”
“I dunno,” she says. “I just see him sometimes. Well, we’ve talked once but all he said is that he wanted to be my friend. I don’t think he knows my name, either.”
It rings alarm bells in Will’s head. It rings wrongwrongwrong. But… it’s normal for kids to have imaginary friends, right? Holly’s - she’s ten now, far past that age, but some people are late bloomers. Will was a late bloomer. It might be nothing but that.
“How are your other friends?” he asks. “Uh, Melissa?”
“She’s good,” Holly says. She says nothing else. Will wants to push, but…
He’s just projecting.
Holly’s not - she’s not - Vecna wouldn’t want her. He has no business with her. And Will won’t get her wrapped up in all this because of some stupid gut feeling. For all he knows, Vecna is dead.
And he hopes Vecna is dead.
His stomach churns at the thought of Holly being caught up in Vecna. In the Upside Down. He was only two years older than her when he was taken - the thought that she could be taken at only ten -
It’s not happening. Whatever Will thinks is happening is not happening. He forces his breathing to mellow out.
When he looks at Holly again, she’s engrossed in the movie. They spend almost all of it like that, Will not really watching it, feeling a compulsion to watch her, to make sure she’s safe even though he knows nothing will happen to her. Sometimes it feels like Vecna is everywhere - seeping into the cracks of every interaction, every relationship, everything. He tries to be normal but he knows deep down that it makes him hard to talk to. To even be around.
He’s not her brother - he can’t bring her into his side and cuddle near her, because they’re not close like that. Still, he feels the urge - just to keep her safe. Just to ease his heart.
“Did you know Mike looks at you like that?” she says, suddenly. Will’s head whips around to the TV - Marty’s mom and dad are getting together.
“Like, uh, like what?”
She points at Marty’s dad. “Like that.”
“Wh - no,” he laughs, “no, Holly, he, uh - that’s how you look at your girlfriend.”
“Oh,” she says. “But he looks at you like that.”
Will’s heart kicks up. “Holly, I think - I think you’re confused. Mike looks at his girlfriend like that, not me.”
“Mike has a girlfriend?”
Sometimes Will forgets that most of the people he talks to don’t know about El. Holly included.
“Yeah. You haven’t met her, though.”
Holly crosses her arms. “He looks at you like that.”
“Why don’t we, uh, stop talking for a bit? Just enjoy the movie.”
“But he looks at you like that.”
Will sighs. He nearly puts his head in his hands - talking about this, talking about him like this always makes his chest heavy. “Holly, boys don’t look at each other like that.”
Normal boys don’t, anyway.
“What are you talking about?” And it’s honestly impressive that this shit hasn’t already made its way into Holly’s life, but lucky Will gets to be the one to introduce her to it.
“Boys who like boys - that’s not natural, Holly.”
It hurts right down to his atoms to speak the words, but Holly has to hear them. He needs to hear them. They’re true, aren’t they? No one else in this town is like him.
“Why not?”
Ever curious, Holly asks. Will… doesn’t have a good answer. He doesn’t even think the Wheelers have been to church since… since they started middle school.
“It’s just not.”
Holly doesn’t say anything after that, and Will thinks that’s it. He’s relieved. He doesn’t know how to answer the questions of why boys liking boys isn’t natural. It feels like it’s all he’s ever known. It feels like every time he tries to like a girl he just can’t. And it’s not for lack of trying - especially in California, when girls would flirt with him in class and he wouldn’t notice until El teased him about it. There’s just something - some nerve ending or brain bit that’s broken. Maybe it’s because of the Upside Down, maybe this is an unfortunate side effect to top off all the other unfortunate side effects. Maybe it’s just another way to make him different different different from everybody else.
They watch the rest of the movie in silence except for the crunching of chips. Will tries not to think about it. He likes to think he’s gotten good at not thinking about a lot of things. Going through life as someone who’s only worry is finals.
The movie ends, and Will stands up to pick up his soda can and her empty glass off the table. He leaves the chips with her - he figures she’ll still want to eat them, over homework or something. But as he gets up, he sees her face contort in something like indecision. And he has the sneaking suspicion that whatever it is won’t be good for him, but he asks anyway.
“What, Holly?”
She worries her lip in between her teeth, and he raises an eyebrow.
“...he does look at you like that.”
And Will is tired. And Will is weak. And Will would like to hope for just one second. And, for some reason, Holly is very invested in making sure that Will believes her.
So he says, “okay, Holly.” And she beams, and he smiles back. Small.
Maybe.
Maybe there’s something.