Chapter Text
The Byers were moving.
It made sense, after years of suffering. Mostly for Will. But the years hadn’t been good to his mom or Jonathan either. It had been traumatic for them as well. Will getting lost, thinking he was dead and having a funeral. Even after getting him back they still had to watch him suffer.
Will knew he shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Jonathan always told him to stop blaming himself, but he could help it. He felt bad for being the reason they hurt.
He knew they missed his old self, the kid he was before everything happened. Will missed his old self too, but he knows it’s a part he will never get back.
Even after El had closed the gate and the connection between him and the mind flayer was severed. He’d gotten back his mind and body, but he would be changed forever. This summer had really made him realize that. All of his friends were moving on, having fun and starting to live normal teenage lives. Will was not normal. What he had gone through was not normal.
But he also knew that even if that had never happened, if he never got lost, the upside down didn’t exist, he still wouldn’t be like them. Will struggled with accepting that. He had hoped the only reason he felt like an outcast with his friends was because of something that he couldn’t control, that wasn’t his fault. But this was just him, his feelings. And his feelings were there, regardless of how much he hated them.
Will was sad about leaving. His home and his friends. Leaving Mike.
But a small guilty part of him also felt relief.
He had a chance to start a new and leave his trauma behind. A chance be recognized as something other than “Zombieboy, the boy who came back to life”.
He knew he was moving from one small town to another so the population probably wouldn’t be much better there, he wasn’t that hopeful. He knew he was different, hell everyone had known he was different, even before he did. Rumors spread fast in Hawkins. So the people in Derry would probably also be able to sense his….differentness.
But he was used to that. That was normal bullying, not being kidnapped into another dimension and having your mind and body taken from you by a shadow monster. Normal bullying was something he could handle.
“Will come on it’s time to go!” Jonathan yelled from outside .
Will stood in his now empty room, well, former room. All his posters, his drawings, games, his desk and bed were packed away. The only thing in the room now was the closet.
Mike stood beside him in the echoing room, looking forward out of the window. Looking at his best friends entire childhood packed into a moving truck.
“So… i guess you need to leave now?”He said, his voice sounding low and a bit sad.
Things between them had been weird. Ever since El and Mike started dating he completely changed. They grew apart. Well, Mike grew apart from him. Will understood that the he was growing up and that Mike wasn’t like him, but Will was still hurt by the complete change. Especially since their fight this summer, which Mike had yet to apologize for.
“Yeah…i do..it feels so weird… I’m going to miss you” Will answered, maybe with a tad too much honesty but he didn’t really care right now. He didn’t want to leave with regret.
They looked at each other. Will felt a shameful spark in his chest when their eyes connected.
“I-I’ll miss you too. But Maine is not that far…you have to visit! You have to! Or I can visit to you!” Mike said nudging his arm, talking a bit easier now. Will smiled up at Mike as he kept speaking.
“You know i have cousin in Derry right?”
“What? You do?” Will said surprised, never having heard of this cousin.
“Yes, i could stay at his place if i visited!” Mike happily responded.
Mike looked at Will with a huge smile on his face. That smile that made Will feel crazy. That crazy feeling that was the worst and best feeling in the world simultaneously.
They stood there smiling at each other for what felt like an eternity before Will got out a question.
“W-what’s his name?”
Mike looked a little lost saying “W-Who’s?”
“Your cousins?” Wills smile turned a little shy.
“Oh yeah right..uh.. his name’s Richard, Richie for short. He’s the same age as us. And oh god he is so annoying, never shuts up”
“Soooo… kind of like you?” Will said teasingly.
“Oh if you think I never shut up you will have an aneurysm if you meet Richie” Mike teased back.
Both of them laughed at that together. It felt bittersweet to have a moment for themselves before he left. It felt easy, like they hadn’t strayed away from one another this summer.
Their laughter was interrupted by repeated honking from outside. Will sighed before looking away from Mikes eyes and said “ I really need to go now or Jonathan is going to get really pissed”
Mike just answered with a slight knowing nod before trailing behind Will out of their house, for one last time.
Outside, his mom and Jonathan were already sitting in their car, waiting. The car that was strapped to a giant moving truck.
Will looked up at Mike, tears almost springing from his eyes. Without thinking too much about it he wrapped his arms around Him. His head placed at the crook of Mikes neck.
He felt Mikes arms wrapping around his waist and hug him back.
They stayed like that for a while. He couldn’t keep the tears from coming and started quietly sobbing into Mikes neck. And Mike, he was hugging Will like he had no intention of letting go.
Will suddenly felt another hand softly land on his shoulder.
“Guys I’m sorry… but we really need to leave now...” Jonathan said with pity in his voice.
They both pulled away. Will looked back at Jonathan while silently wiping tears and snot on the back of his hand, nodding.
When he looked up at Mike he saw the sadness in his eyes, even though he didn’t outright cry like Will did. Instead he just stood there looking kind of frozen, like what was happening wasn’t really real. Like it was too much to process.
“B-bye Mike” he said hiccuping with a whisper, almost not being able to talk because of the choking cries.
Mike didn’t say anything back, just stared at him with that frozen look while Jonathan put a comforting arm around his brothers shoulders and walked him to the car.
Jonathan opened the car door for Will. He got in to the back seat with his head in his hands, crying.
Not quietly now. With heavy uncontrollable sobs.
He wanted to look out and back at Mike but he couldn’t, it would hurt too much.
He felt the car starting and pulling out of the driveway onto the main road. He was now leaving Hawkins, his friends and Mike.