Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The thing is that Will Byers doesn't bother to set an alarm on his phone every night. Because, every morning, without fail, he's awoken by the annoying ping! notification sound. Today is no exception, and after he's done blinking the sleep from his eyes, he checks what lovely message he's gotten today. 

Was he for real? Will groans, rolling over so he's lying on his stomach, chin pressed against his pillow with his phone in front of him.

Will tosses his phone against his pillow, sitting up. He'll send Lucas the notes after he brushed his teeth, as long as he didn't forget. Not like Lucas would let him forget, anyway.

--

"Good morning, sweetie. How'd you sleep?" Joyce asks Will when he walks into the kitchen space of their apartment flat. Hopper's new job as chief of the NYPD had surely paid off, because they had a great view of the city.

Will gives her a smile, pulling out a box of cereal from an overhead cupboard. "Fine. Where's Jane?"

Right on cue, Jane rounds the corner. Her hair's still messed up and she's in her pink pajamas, so she must've just woken up as well. "I'm here!"

Joyce is making scrambled eggs at the stove, and Will's nose scrunches up at the smell. They've always made him feel nauseous, but Jane loved them paired with her Eggos. Speaking of...

"I can put some Eggos in the toaster for you." Will offers after pouring Fruity Pebbles into his porcelain bowl. Jane gives him a smile, all teeth and blue braces that she'd been against getting until she got them, and ended up loving.

"Yes, please!" She says. Looking around, her brows furrow. "Where's Dad?"

Joyce sighs, forking the eggs onto a plate and placing it on the island counter. "He was called into work early." She says. "Some teenagers were messing around near an old building, dropped a cigarette and accidentally started a fire."

Will chokes on air, head snapping around so fast he's afraid he'll give himself whiplash. "Are they okay?"

Joyce nods. "They're fine, it wasn't too big and the fire department put it out in a few minutes. But they're in trouble for it anyway."

Jane giggles. "That sounds like something Steve would do."

Steve Harrington was still living back in Hawkins. Everyone else in the Party had taken the government's bribe for a fully-paid move to New York as long as they didn't say anything about what transpired with the Upside Down. They all still kept in contact, and Steve promised to visit occasionally. Nancy, Jonathan, and Robin all were at college, although Jonathan was only a city over and Will still saw him regularly.

"Yeah, but Steve wouldn't get caught." Will adds. Joyce shakes her head at the both of them, pointing at them with her spatula.

"You two get dressed before you're late. I'm not calling in to excuse another tardy."

"Yes, ma'am!"

--

--

When Will gets to class, he's greeted by the sight of Max and Mike at each other's throats, while Lucas and Dustin try to get them to cut it out without being in the line of fire. Will sighs, slipping next to where Lucas stands awkwardly.

"Hey. What is it this time?"

Lucas gives him an apologetic smile. "They were partnered up for a project, and Mike forgot to bring the project today. They're supposed to present first." He says, leaning against the wall. "Thanks for the notes, by the way."

Will smiles, gently brushing his shoulder against the other's. "No problem. And, well, it's kind of on Max for trusting Mike with their project."

Lucas snorts. "Don't let her hear you say that." He warns. "She's on a roll today. I heard swears I didn't know existed until now."

Will humms. Aside from the obnoxious arguing going on, the day seemed pretty nice.

Well, until the five-minute warning bell snapped everyone out of their own little worlds. Dustin groans, hoisting his backpack onto his shoulders. "You know, I'll never get over how this school starts an hour earlier than Hawkins High did."

Lucas nods in agreement. "What I wouldn't give for that extra hour of sleep every morning. At least we get out an hour earlier. Well, you guys, at least."

Dustin raises a brow. "Hey, I got an hour of tutoring freshmen for chump change, you're lucky. All you do is play basketball."

"Basketball is a very hard sport, okay! And the people in New York are actually serious about it, I swear, they make Hawkins seem like beginners."

"And Lord knows Jason ran that team like it was the army." Max huffs. Will laughs, and Max shoots him a wink. Ever since everything smoothed over, he'd taken the time to really get to know Max, and she ended up being one of his closest friends. He was glad Lucas had someone like her to keep him on his toes like he needs.

Jane steps to Will's side. "Do you want me to walk you to class? I have to go that way, anyway."

As good as spending more time with his step-sister sounds, Will has AP Biology first thing today, and it's a substitute teacher anyway. He's got a good grade in that class, and he already knows the sub will throw on an episode of Bill Nye like they were elementary schoolers again and take a nap, so he wouldn't be missing anything. He shakes his head, a few stray strands of brunette hair falling in his face as he did so.

"Thanks, but I think I'm gonna use the bathroom first." Jane seems a little sad, but she smiles anyway and waves in parting, before clutching the straps of her backpack and walking to her class. Will watches her go, thinking about how easily the lie had rolled off his tongue. Will hated lying, especially to Jane, but if she knew he'd been skipping, she would tell Joyce. Not to be mean, Jane was the sweetest person you'd ever meet, but because she was really, really bad at keeping secrets, bless her heart.

When he's said goodbye to everyone, Will slips away, down the staircase and past a couple swapping spit, entering the girl's bathroom. Technically, thanks to all the paperwork Joyce had powered through, Will could use the boy's bathroom, but this bathroom was the one with the busted smoke detector, and because none of the teachers used it, it wouldn't be fixed anytime soon. So, whenever Will skipped, he opted for the furthest stall of this particular bathroom, in case he decided he wanted a cigarette. Today, his hands found his jeans pocket first, pulling out his phone. Cigarettes aren't the best first thing in the morning, and Will didn't want to waste any.

Seeing the red notification on his email app, he presses on the icon, opening up a new email from Robin.

Will grins. It's not like he and Robin don't talk, but they surely haven't been talking as much as they used to. The distance did its toll, so simple things like this never failed to brighten up his day. He hastily types up a response.

From: [[email protected]]

Subject: [Re: Hiya, Will!]

To: [[email protected]]

Just as he hits send, Will's attention is drawn away by a text from Mike. He presses on it, but not before he fumbles with a cigarette, pressing it between his lips as he lights it, taking a long drag before checking what Mike sent him.

Just as Will goes to stub his cigarette out, a sudden sting on his left wrist draws his attention. "Shit!" He yelps, cigarette dropping to the tiled floor. He crushes it with the sole of his shoe, bringing his hand up to inspect what the source of the pain was. He's met with a disgusting large spider clung to his skin, and he nearly gets a heart attack, his free palm slapping against it.

Will stands there, palm still crushing the offending creature, before he removes it and flicks its corpse off. He turns his wrist, wincing a bit at the two holes punctured into his skin, already starting to raise into angry, red bumps. Carding his fingers through his hair, he sighs, walking out of the stall to run it under cool water.

By the time he's grabbed his backpack to go meet Mike outside, he'd forgotten all about it.