Chapter Text
It was the first Monday of the school year, the first death rattle of the year. Will usually referred to it as, “the worst days of his life,” but Monday was a more optimistic word to describe it.
It was only almost 8 months since everything happened; since the world opened in on itself. It was like the universe wanted to make things worse for Hawkins, like it wasn’t already cursed on its own with its close proximity.
What happened that day, on November 6th, 1987, was never fully shown to the whole world, or even the town itself. It’s almost like everyone just forgot about it because everytime even a hint of that day is about to be brought up, it’s just as easily put back away into the, forget about it, box.
Will just assumed it was because it was brushed under the rug so well.
It scared Will more that people could so easily forget about something so catastrophically impacting on the town and the people themselves, even his own friends.
That being said, it was kind of sad, the leftovers from what happened and how it was resolved. Eleven ended up losing her powers due to having no more connections with Henry, and the same came with Will. It wasn’t too bad on Will, but it was on El. It was something she was finally beginning to be good with, something that helped her keep herself upright. But after everything, after losing something that made her so sure of herself, it was like she went into hermit mode.
For all that Will knew, she was in a depressive state for the first time in her 17 years. It was heartbreaking, knowing Will had dealt with it plenty of times, but there was nothing he could do to help the girl.
Besides El and her deep emotions, pretty much everyone else got over the fact that some evil man with dark powers almost caused an end to the world, and went back on to live their normal lives.
Will took time to get over the fact, knowing that the world was no longer something he had to hold fear for. There was no more of the upside down, no lingering traces that could inflict any insanity to Will, but it was still tainting having to get used to this new world around him.
He still would wake up in a cold sweat every now and then, and the nightmares got less and less intense over time, but it was still haunting.
Along with this, the shame was absolutely overpowering for months after.
He had come out, yes, but not only to his mother, friends, and a few randoms, but Mike. Micheal fucking Wheeler.
For a while, he could still feel that hitch in his heartbeat anytime Mike would approach him, or even look his way, because he knew.
He knew how disgusted Mike had to be with him.
He admitted willingly, in front of him, that he had a crush, and that it was a boy. Shortly after everything happened, they did talk about it, but it went nowhere. That on its own made Will somewhat grateful, but, oh so, devastated. It left him so dangerously curious. What did Mike think? He definitely knew, but how did it make him feel?
After that, Will never talked about things involving deep feelings because it would only make him uncomfortable, and he was sure it made Mike feel just the same.
Nonetheless, the two quickly drifted apart, sadly. Not due to Will’s feelings, but just from simply — change. As much as Will dwelled on it, he knew things wouldn’t and couldn’t change for the worst, and the worst being that he and Mike would become close again like they were. Like they had been, but he knew that wasn’t possible. It just couldn’t be.
It was also inevitable. It had been a considerably long eight months, so time can change a person.
This Monday morning was one of dewy and foggy air, Will noted in his mind. His window was completely fogged over, nothing in eyesight.
He and Jonathan had shared a room for a while in their new house, being that it only had 3 bedrooms. It was short lived though, as Jonathan moved away to Illinois only 3 months later to go to some raunchy college he had never mentioned in his life.
With the first Monday of the school year came the great news. It was El’s first day of school!
Will couldn’t tell if she was ecstatic or utterly terrified, as her look the whole week before showed somehow both emotions at the same time.
It was only minutes before he was fully awakened by his unusually beaming mother, who came in his room, completely spreading a smell of freshly baked bacon and eggs throughout his room.
“Will, it’s 10 past 7!”
He groaned, sitting up to fully wake himself up.
With that being said, he was dreading the rest of the day.
After waking a deep in slumber El and eating, they headed off to something Will also liked to metaphor as a “hellhole” (or school).
Will just dressed himself in a simple light yellow tee and some jeans, while El wore a cute pink sweater she got for Christmas last year and some jeans.
Will pulled up in Jonathan’s old car, due to Jonathan’s sudden odd efforts to get himself a better car, leaving Will with his leftovers.
El sat in the passenger’s seat and was some way making Will more dreadful for the day.
She continuously picked at her nails, and her lip looked as if it were about to bleed from the skin peeling off of them.
Will knew that feeling too, all too well.
Will shut the car off, and before getting out, he glanced at the girl beside him.
“El?”
El’s eyes met his almost too quickly, and she looked like the epitome of a sad and lost puppy.
“Yes?” Will glanced down at her nails, and grabbed at her hand.
“Everything’s gonna be okay. I promise.” he paused.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?”
Now she could barely look at him. She was staring right at all the teens strolling into those glass doors Will was dreading meeting with.
At last, she finally looked at him, “I’m nervous.”
Will sighed, turning away to meet with a familiar blue car, and looked away instantly.
Fuck.
Will looked back to El, who was now staring at him with a look that he couldn’t read this time.
“Look, I know how it felt last time, I was scared shitless too, but…” El looked down at her hands, now finding her place of touching at Will’s knuckle.
He was sort of lost with his words, something he always struggled with. He wasn’t the best at giving advice.
“This time it’s different. You have me, you have the whole party with you this time. And if you have to, you can come hide in here anytime you feel yourself getting too overwhelmed.”
She nods, but doesn’t say anything right away. That’s usually how she was.
She frowned as she looked up at Will again, “What if… they’re mean to me again? What do I do? What can I do?”
Will didn’t have quite an answer to that. He was used to the constant bickering from other classmates, but it wasn’t like how El dealt with it back at Lenora.
“I’m not sure. But try standing up for yourself. I know you’re not… super El anymore, but there are many other things you can do to defend yourself from them other than superpowers. If they ever tell you anything, you tell them to go fuck themselves.”
El laughs softly, “Okay, I will. Thank you.”
Will smiles, and then it was time.
“Well? You ready?” El breathes in deeply before turning to look at him.
“Yes.”
The two got out of the car, now presented with the chatter of teens rather than the comforting silence of Jonathan’s car.
Will sighed to himself, and walked around the car to find a place with El shortly before her once nervousness was now placed with excitement.
“Max!”
Fuck.
Will kept his eyes wary, his heart rate picking up slowly as the seconds passed.
He heard the shuffling of rocks beneath shoes as Max and another person came rolling in.
Max came into El’s arms, the excitement beaming on her face.
With Max, she was completely fine after everything. Although the healing took a tad long to process throughout her body, she grew accustomed to the developed sensations in her muscles.
They rocked each other in the hug before pulling away, Max’s eyes then finding Will’s.
“Hey Will!”
Will sent her a soft smile, making sure his eyes wouldn’t stray away from hers.
“Hey.” He sent her a small wave before a new head of locks was now in his peripheral.
Mike.
The boy went up to El, seemingly only capable of giving her a side hug, considering they just saw each other a week or so ago.
That was something else that came with this whole massacre of a situation, and it was that Mike and El had stayed close, even after the almost ending of the world.
While this would make Will sad, selfishly, mostly because Mike would occasionally visit their home and he would have to meet eyes with the brown eyed boy every so often, he was happy El had someone she could call on for things.
Max and Mike would commonly ride together, given the fact that Max still hadn’t gotten a car and Mike was one of the few out of their friend group to have a car. So it was usually a last resort for Max, in case Lucas wasn’t going to school or something stupid.
Mike didn’t even meet eyes with Will, his face quickly moving to face those glass doors that seemed to be burning holes into Will’s head at this point.
The two girls were now chattering about something Will didn’t have much interest in, and he looked down at his beaten up shoes.
Mike only made his heart perk up more and more, the mere energy and tension radiating off of him only a reminder of who Will now had no connections to for some ridiculous reason. A reason Will could never pinpoint other than that Mike had to have been disgusted with him.
It made Will sick, the thought of seeing his coinciding best friend and, at the same time, first love of his life now be what the average person would consider a stranger.
He knew nothing about the boy now, his eyes and body now reading of nothing but mystery and suspense.
It hurt Will’s soul.
It wasn’t soon after that he looked at Mike again, and was met with those brown eyes he hadn’t seen in weeks.
Again, another look he couldn’t read. Mike was always hard to read, even for Will, and this time it wasn’t just hard — it was impossible.
They held eye contact for an impeccably long time, actually too long, and Will attempted at sending the boy a small smile after a minute or so before Mike’s eyes averted back to the doors.
“We should get inside, yeah?”
Mike spoke hastily, and Will could almost sense the shakiness in the boy’s voice as he spoke a bit louder than he would in a casual conversation. Will assumed he did that so the two girls would stop talking.
The girls looked at him before agreeing with him, and then they were off. Will trailed behind, his eyes staring right at the curly-haired boy’s back, full of wonder and curiosity.
Will felt his heart beat start to get back down to its normal rate, but he could still feel that soreness in his chest.
That persisting and nagging pull at his heart strings to reach out to the boy. To get some sort of sign from him that things were okay and that he didn’t hate Will.
But he knew that wasn’t possible, at least not today.
It was now passing period, the final moment before Will’s last class.
The day dragged on boringly, packed full of teachers talking about their life stories that Will was sure they had to tell twenty times, and a few papers he stuffed into his binder thoughtlessly.
Sadly he only had one class with El, but other than that he was completely on his own.
Contrary to Will’s belief that the entire day would be miserable, only that specific thirty minutes of time out of the school day was something he could truly measure to complete and utter misery.
And that was lunch.
He had never had to deal with the sight of El and Mike at the same lunch table together, so to see them right in front of him (unlike how it was always just the party), was certainly something that made him feel spitefully ill.
He knew he shouldn’t feel jealous, he couldn’t. Especially since they were just friends, but it still sent a shock to his nerves anytime he saw them even remotely laugh together.
It was more so to him the haunting factor of knowing he had lost a connection, and also a person he once had such a hold on.
Despite the temporary nausea, and his gnawing urge to shut himself inside a bathroom stall like last year, he pretended all was well.
Any thoughts coursing through his mind were quickly cut off by the voice of a familiar friend of his.
“Will!”
He turned his head sharply, his eyes meeting with Lucas’s.
He smiled, “Hey Lucas.”
Lucas made his way to Will, his hands oddly empty, but maybe not super weird considering it’s only the first day.
“So what class do you have last? I have stupid basketball stuff to do, but I figured I would just skip.”
Will tilted his head at the boy, slight disappointment coursing through his mind. He sighed, then closed his locker door.
“I think I have…” He glances down towards his schedule that he had been holding onto all day, “art?”
He paused, his lips spreading into a straight line as Lucas’s once faithful features were now droopy.
“Damn it. Mrs. Hammond would never let me go in there. Do you know where Dustin would be?”
Will paused again, despite not saying anything, but he looked away, as if pondering about literally nothing.
“Nope.”
Lucas sighed, “What about Mike?”
Will could feel his heart drop a little, and the air around him lessen in quality. He hated that even his name sent him into an anxious wreck.
“Um… nope again.”
Lucas was now just disappointment reincarnated as a person, and leaned his back against the lockers.
“Well, shit,” Lucas pauses, Will notes.
“I mean, speaking of Mike…”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“You two have been weird lately. The past few months, I mean. I know sometimes things just happen and we brush past it, but it’s really been bothering me.”
Will’s brows furrowed, in a way to express faux confusion, although he was already completely aware of the obvious.
“What… What do you mean?” He could feel his voice shake a little, but he wished and prayed that Lucas didn’t notice.
“Well, I mean…” He gestures with his hand, something Will couldn’t pinpoint he was gesturing, but he also understood his point.
“I just…” Too many pauses for Will to count at this point.
“I just can’t understand you two sometimes. You get into fights, then you two get over it. But every so often it’s like… y’all can’t. I don’t know if it’s some tension or something that comes around in the air, but… Even when I bring it up with Mike he has practically nothing to say.”
Will stared at Lucas in fear; fear that he would find out something just by looking at him.
But, alas, Lucas continued.
“After that day… You know, the day you told us…” A falter.
“Well, you know? Mike seemed fine, but then it’s like something happened after everything ended. He never told me what happened, or if something actually happened, but I could just tell something changed.”
Lucas sighed, eyes moving to look at the wall ahead of him. Will noticed the halls were pretty much empty now, only a few common lingerers still left behind.
“But I also know it’s probably not a good time to talk with school and everything, but I think I just wanted to check up on you and… yeah, just everything. It was making me worry for a bit, and it would be nice for everyone to get along again.”
Lucas’s eyes found Will’s again, this time holding some sort of curiosity, or something close to wonder. Wonder for what Will was going to say or what he was even thinking, Will assumed.
The cat had, once again, gotten a hold of Will’s tongue. He was speechless. It was like that was all he was good at now.
“Um…”
But before Will could even get a single word out, the deafening sound of the school bell began ringing in his ears.
Lucas seemed to be just as startled as Will, and he sighed in relief, but it only lasted a short while before he began speaking again.
“Look, we can talk about it later, okay? Just for now, is everything okay?”
Will hesitated, but he nodded anyways. He only did so to get the other boy to have that faithful look again.
Lucas sent him a small smile, before they both sent their goodbyes, and went down the hall to God knows where.
Will could still feel his heart beating faster than normal, and he could hear it in his ears. Even the multiple mentions of Mike and knowing that he had barely anything to say was even more gut wrenching than not knowing if he did have anything to say about Will.
It was more of a reminder to Will that if he wasn’t the only one to have noticed a change in Mike, then something was definitely wrong.
But Will couldn’t dwell on it, he couldn’t. Mike made his choices, and so did Will.
He made his way to his art class, the one he had been attending for only minor things like lunch visits or to ask Mrs. Hammond for help on his work.
He really had no exact idea of who would be in a seventh period art class, or who would even put themselves in that position. Will had, but he didn’t mind since he genuinely had the passion for art.
Once finding the class, he made it inside, only to be presented with a class of an estimate of around fifteen people.
He was quite stunned, to say the least, but more surprised to see people actually taking the class.
Hawkins High was weird in terms of electives — art being one of those. For some reason, this specific art class was one only juniors and seniors could take. Will never understood it as an underclassman, but maybe because it focused more on the anatomy of it all or something.
He was then met with an intense wave of confusion as he glanced around the room and saw people next to each other who would definitely not be by each other.
Someone who Will had known to be from the science club was next to someone who played basketball, and a girl from the cheer team was sat next to someone in the astronomy club.
It was then that it all made sense to him, or really it was announced to him.
“Hello! There is assigned seating, so just find whichever desk has your name on it,” Mrs. Hammond stated, still sat at her desk.
Will nodded, and made his way row by row in an attempt to find his desk when he finally found it.
It was (thankfully) all the way in the back, closest to the big windows to the outside world.
He noted that an empty seat was beside him, odd, considering that all of the desks in the room were filled from front to back.
But still, he let himself feel grateful.
Only a few minutes passed of getting adjusted to the seat he had found comfort in, when footsteps were echoing throughout the halls near the door.
A knock pounded against the shut door, or the supposedly closed door because when the knock hit it, it swung out and open.
“Shit…”
Oh no. An all too familiar voice crowded Will’s thoughts.
The footsteps were now inside, and the person was now on full display for everyone to see.
“Micheal Wheeler, you’re late.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
It was him. It was actually him. Mike Wheeler. And this was definitely his class. Shit.
“Sorry, Mrs. Hammond. I got lost.”
Mrs. Hammond checked her watch cartoonishly, and glanced back up at the boy, “8 minutes late, to be exact. But I’ll let it slide since it’s the first day. Find the seat with your name on it.”
Mike nodded, “Yes, Mrs. Hammond.”
It was moments before the brown haired boy glanced around nervously about the room, attempting to find his seat before it could find him, when —
That moment. It happened again. Will’s eyes met his, almost telepathically. It was like something out of a movie, a weirdly sad movie. Mike could barely hide his emotions as he glanced beside Will, the only empty seat being the one beside him.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
It seemed like they were both thinking the same thing, because he faltered before taking any more steps, Mike’s eyes shutting for a second.
He made his way towards the seat, his hands similar to Lucas’s due to the lack of books in his hands.
Will’s heart rate picked up rapidly, his mind thinking of a thousand things a minute.
Why him? Why did Will, of all people, have to be sat beside the one person who despised him this year? He felt more guilty than when Vecna had basically tortured him with visions into coming out.
Mike sat down despondently, his eyes completely trained on the blank board ahead of him.
Will groaned mentally.
This was going to be a long year.