Chapter Text
It was happening. Again.
Ever since Will moved from his home in Hawkins to university in New York, he’s been having nightmares.
Every. Single. Night.
~
They started off not too bad; dreams of being 12 years old and stuck in an alternate universe, being possessed at 13, fighting a terrifying giant creature at 14. You know, typical nightmares you would be expected to have if your childhood was filled with those types of events.
Will did not have a normal childhood, and he always looks back on that time of his life with great sadness. He never got to experience the things that ordinary teenagers got to experience, because while his peers were complaining to their friends about how the bad grade they got was ‘the end of the world’- Will felt as though his world was actually ending. And it wasn’t because of a stupid test at school.
Will also never got to experience that fun, silly, cringey middle school crush that everybody talks about. And that wasn’t because of the world ending- but he doesn’t want to get into it. All his friends got to adventure into these things; girlfriends and first kisses and holding hands even with the threat of fighting countless monsters. But he really doesn’t want to get into it.
It’s okay though. He doesn’t care. He has a boyfriend now. And he is amazing and kind and Will loves him and he loves him back. It’s perfect. He doesn’t think about his tainted childhood anymore- and he certainly doesn’t care that he only had his first kiss at 18 years old when his best friend had his before he turned 13.
He doesn’t care. If you were to ask him what his thoughts about his childhood were, he would say he didn’t think about it at all and has moved on from the bad memories. And for the most part he has moved on.
Or so he says.
Will tries to distract himself as much as he can. Painting, hanging out with his new friends, going to the gallery with his Boyfriend, studying in the library, volunteering at the local animal shelter, and picking up extra hours at his job.
When he moved to New York for university, the first thing he did was look for a job. He spent weeks applying for random jobs here and there. A barista, a library assistant, a waiter. He even applied to work as a receptionist, which was completely out of his comfort zone but “Money is money” he had told himself.
Luckily he didn’t need to take that job, as in his second month of job hunting, he came across a small art supply shop that wasn’t too far from his dorm. After a friendly conversation with who he assumed was the shop owner, he was hired. The owner was an older man who said that Will reminded him of himself when he was younger, and seemed really excited and eager to offer Will a job in his shop.
Will was extremely thankful to finally land a job, as the month he spent in the city without a job had caught up to him, and had him dipping into his savings. Who knew living in a city would be so expensive?
Growing up in a lower-class household and experiencing poverty throughout his childhood, Will knew his mom went the extra mile to send him to his dream university. Since his mom and Hopper married, the Byers have been much better off, with two incomes coming in instead of just one- but after paying for Will and his brother to study at NYU, he knows her bank account took a hit. To show his appreciation for his mom’s efforts, Will decided he wanted to slowly pay her back, and this started with getting himself a job with a steady income- and luckily the art store allowed this to happen. She would probably try to talk Will out of doing this, but he loved his mom so much that his decision was already set in stone.
That’s probably why his nightmares got so bad after moving away from home.
He always felt so safe at home with his mom. Whenever he would wake up in a cold sweat with his eyes red from crying, the comforting knowledge of his mom being down the hall always made him feel better. Even in the 18 months he spent sleeping in the Wheeler's basement, he was always able to somewhat relax after remembering his mom was only a couple of flights of stairs away. Now she was more than just a staircase away; she was over 700 miles away.
His mom and Hopper were planning to move to Montauk in the next year, which is significantly closer to New York than Hawkins, but until then Will would have to be content with her being a phone call away.
With Jonathan studying Filmmaking abroad, and having drifted away from his childhood best friend, he had no tethers to home- to safety- when he was at university. Not that he would call home safe but, it’s all he’s ever known and to him it felt like security. Instead he wakes up in a puddle of his own sweat every night next to his sickenly sweet boyfriend who is no use at comforting the nightmares away.
Will doesn’t tell his boyfriend what his nightmares are about- nor does his boyfriend ask about them. He’s embarrassed to tell him. The times that Will has accidentally woke his boyfriend up from his gasping breaths, he just chalks it up to the stress of moving to the big city, and how overwhelmed he is by the amount of school work he has been given. His boyfriend never asks any follow up questions, just snakes an arm around his waist, pulls him down onto the bed, and tells him to go back to sleep.
But Will never does go back to sleep.
And tonight was no exception.
~
Will had another nightmare. Big surprise.
He had to be thankful though, this one wasn’t too bad.
It started off with him back in the Upside Down, particles floating everywhere like microscopic snow bubbles, and the occasional red clap of lightning above the looming trees. Will was running down the streets of Hawkins, something big and loud chasing after him, but every time he turned around to look…there was nothing there.
He ran and ran and ran until he turned onto Maple Street, the familiar shadow of his best friend's house coming into view. He was scared, and cold, and when he looked down at his hands they were covered in blood. He had no idea where the blood came from, but there were bigger problems to worry about than that right now. The noises behind him were getting louder and louder and closer and closer until Will was sure he could feel something breathing down his neck from behind.
His feet stopped slapping the concrete road and met the slightly soggy grass of the Wheelers front lawn. He needed to get inside the house. He knew he would be safe inside. As long as he was with his best friend he knew he would be okay. As Will got closer to the house, he ran straight through the sprinkler spray, not caring if the water got in his eyes and stung. He hit the front door with a bang.
Will fumbled with the doorknob for about half a second longer than comfortable, and as he slipped through the door he caught a glimpse of what was chasing him down the street. It was humongous. Much taller than any Demogorgon he has ever seen. It was so tall he couldn’t even see what its face looked like- all he could see was darkness- but he saw its body, and that was enough to make him bite back a scream.
It was long and skinny with a shiny coating all over it, and it looked like there were bullet holes littering its skin, each little hole seeping with what he could only describe as black goo. Too thick to be blood but too thin to be a liquid. The worst thing about it was its hands; more importantly its claws that were gripping onto the doorframe with a force that made Will wince. He turned around and took off up the stairs towards the bedrooms.
He just needed his best friend. He knew he would be safe with him.
As Will rounded the corner at the top of the stairs he could hear the creature start climbing behind him, claws digging into the banisters and leaving deep scratches all up the wall. Will saw his best friend’s bedroom door come into view and used every last bit of his energy to propel himself towards it , but just as his hand touched the doorknob, something grabbed his ankle.
Will felt claws pierce his skin and he screamed in pain, falling to the floor with a thump, desperately raking at the carpet with his hands to stop the creature from pulling him back down the stairs. Every time he shook his leg the creature just gripped onto it tighter, drawing blood from Will’s ankle with a disgusting squelching noise.
As the creature carelessly dragged him down the stairs like a ragdoll, he attempted to reach for the banisters in a desperate effort to stop himself from going with the monster, but to his horror every banister he held onto crumbled and broke off in his hands. It was no use. The creature was too strong.
He was so close. He knew it. If only he had made it into the bedroom he would’ve been okay. He would’ve been safe with his best friend.
But instead he was being dragged down the Wheelers staircase and his vision was fading to black. With the consciousness he had left, he used it to muster up a scream that came out sounding broken and terrified.
He didn’t shout for help, he didn’t shout for his mom, he didn’t shout for his brother. He shouted for his best friend.
He shouted for Mike.
Little did he know he was also shouting for Mike in his shared dorm room with his boyfriend.
~
Will shot up in bed. Breathing like he had just ran a marathon. Carlton was already sat up in bed next to him.
“Will, baby, are you okay? You were shouting.” his boyfriend cautiously asked, rubbing Wills back in small circles.
Will looked around and let his eyes adjust to his surroundings. He was in his dorm room at university- not being dragged by an unknown creature in the Upside Down. He turned to look at Carlton with wide eyes, trying to focus his attention onto him instead of the nightmare he just emerged from.
“Y-yeah I’m fine Carl. Just… you know. Another nightmare.” he stuttered out, taking a deep breath in through his nose.
Carlton raised his eyebrows slightly and pushed a strand of Will’s hair away from his eyes, “Will, you were shouting for someone, baby. Are they the person causing your nightmares?”
Will internally cringed at the pet name. He hated when his boyfriend called him baby. It made him feel small, fragile, and 12 years old again. He was none of these things. Not anymore. It reminded him of when he was younger and his mom would call for him through the walls when he stuck in the Upside Down, and try to communicate with him through the Christmas lights. Will would always try to call back to her when he could, but the fear of being heard by the horrifying creatures that roamed the dimension was always at the front of his mind.
“Will?” Carlton poked him in the side of his ribs, making Will squeal in surprise. A smirk tugged on the corners of Carlton’s mouth, “who’s this mystery person? Do you need me to deal with them?”
Will cringed again. He knows his boyfriend means well and is just trying to make him laugh, but the last thing he wants right now is to endure his terrible attempts at flirting.
“I’m fine Carlton I promise- just…” Will glanced at the watch on his wrist. It read 3:47 AM. “Just go back to sleep. It’s fine.”
The bed creaked under Will as he lay back down on the pillow and turned around to face the wall, his ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ poster staring back at him. He could hear Carlton sigh and follow suit, sliding an arm under Will and spooning him from behind. He could feel Carlton’s breath on the back of his neck as he buried his face in Will’s hair, which was unfortunately reminding him of the creature's breath on his neck as he ran from it down Maple Street.
Carlton always did things like this, things that made him feel uncomfortable. Back when Will and his boyfriend first started going out, Will had been forced to open up about hating feeling anything on the back of his neck, after he had a panic attack when Carlton snuck up on Will and put a cold spoon on the back of his neck ‘as a joke’. Will did not find it funny. He told him the nape of his neck was extremely sensitive after a traumatising event that occurred when he was a child, and he told him he did not want to go into any details about it. Carlton- as always- did not ask any follow up questions, just said he was sorry and grabbed him by the waist and pulled him into a too-much-tongue kiss that made Will want to zip his mouth shut and throw away the key.
Every time that Will attempted to communicate to his boyfriend something serious like this, Carlton would just flash him a stupid mix between a smirk and a smile, and pull him in- latching his lips onto his own. Will really didn’t enjoy kissing him. He always used more tongue than necessary, or he would sometimes bump his teeth against Will’s- they were incredibly uncoordinated- but hey, that must be what kissing is like? Will doesn’t exactly have any other experience to check against. Movies always describe kissing someone as feeling like fireworks are exploding inside your stomach; and you can’t get enough, but in Will’s experience the only thing he has ever felt when his boyfriend was necking him was boredom. And sometimes a bit of stress as his time would be much better spent working on his growing pile of assignments than doing whatever… this was.
Anyways, Will knew Carlton had fallen back asleep as he could hear him snoring right in his ear. Will groaned and tried to wiggle out of Carlton’s grip, but it was no use. He would have to stay here and endure this horrible noise for the next… 3 hours. Great. Most nights when Will couldn’t fall back asleep he would carefully slip out of bed, pull his shoes on, grab his coat, and quietly leave the dorm.
Now, walking in the middle of the night was never his thing, especially after the whole being kidnapped late at night drama when he was 12, but since moving to New York, he found it comforting. And the rumours were true, this city did in fact never sleep. There were always countless students and locals walking around even after midnight, so Will never felt alone.
There was a coffee shop that stayed open 24/7 just down the road from his dorm, and he had become somewhat of a regular customer in the middle of the night. The usual barista who worked the graveyard shift was a girl who was slightly older than Will, and had a talkative energetic vibe that he found endearing for someone working that late. She had long black hair, an eyebrow piercing, and usually wore some sort of indie band t-shirt. Will thinks her name was Tara but she hardly ever wore her name badge so it was hard to remember.
Her and Will got along quite well. Will always sat on a table close to the counter so he could chat with her, but also in a position so he could look out the window at the people passing the shop. Him and the barista would usually talk about random things; how much they both enjoy the city, Will’s art, the most crazy customers she has come across, you know just silly little conversations you have while getting coffee in the middle of the night.
It made Will feel to some extent better, knowing that there was always someone else awake at this hour that he could have a friendly conversation with, to take his mind away from his nightmares. Also, the coffee was really good.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by another loud snore coming from behind him. He couldn’t stay here for another 3 hours. After a solid 5 minutes of attempting to break out of Carlton’s death grip around his waist, he eventually managed to get out. Carlton was still in a deep sleep, grabbing onto a nearby pillow and pulling it into his chest, hugging it the same way he was hugging Will just seconds ago. Will rolled his eyes and crawled down to the bottom of the bed, jumping off into the darkness of the room.
His dorm room was set up slightly different to how it should be. Carlton’s bed was pushed from one side of the room to be right next to Will’s bed, turning it from a single bed into a slightly bigger double. Both their desks and dressers were still in the same position, the only thing that changed was the position of Carlton’s bed. Moving their beds together isn’t officially allowed- they need to move them back apart when they have room inspections- but the beds are relatively light and easy to move so, what’s the harm in them being together?
Will carefully pulled on his paint stained jeans that were folded neatly on top of his dresser, and reached for his favourite hoodie, yanking it over his messy bed head. He didn’t care how he looked, he usually kept his hood up anyway. His vans sat next to the door, and as he slipped his feet into them he looked back into the room- squinting through the darkness. Carlton was lying sound asleep on their shared bed, still tightly hugging Will’s pillow. He probably didn’t even realise it was a pillow and still assumed it was Will. Stupid, Will thought.
He grabbed his keys, and slipped out the door, listening to the quiet click it made as it shut and locked behind him. He loved Carlton- he really did- but it just didn’t feel like how Will imagined it would feel. He expected to have butterflies in his stomach whenever he saw him, to smile whenever he heard his name be called, to want to be with him every minute of every day. But Will just… didn’t.
He never experienced any of these things when he was with Carlton. Will just assumed everyone was hyping up being ‘in love’ too much, and this was actually how it was. Oh well. He doesn’t like to dwell on it. This coffee and nocturnal chat would make him feel better.
The air was cool when he stepped out the front door of Weinstein hall onto the street, and began walking the couple minutes to The Urban Grind. Even though it was April, there was still a slight twinge of the cold in the air that made Will shove his hands in his hoodie pocket. There was a relative amount of people on the street, all minding their own business heading to their destinations. Will pulled his hood further over his head, looking down at his shoes as he walked further down the sidewalk- still thinking about his nightmare, trying to ignore the elephant in the room. Why was he calling for his former best friend? Usually in his nightmares he shouts for his mom or brother, sometimes even for Lucas or Dustin, but he never shouts for him. Not anymore. Not since they stopped being best friends.
He doesn’t want to think about it. He doesn’t care about him anymore. And he shouldn’t. It was his decision to stop making an effort and distancing himself from Will. It was his decision to start ignoring Will when he saw him around Campus. It was his decision to stop answering the door when Will came knocking. Will tried to keep their friendship alive, he really did, but there’s only so much you can do when your best friend stops acknowledging your existence without giving an explanation.
Whatever. Will has new friends now. And a boyfriend. He doesn’t need him anymore. He doesn’t even want to see him again, which should be pretty easy considering every time they run into each other, he diverts his path and pretends Will doesn’t exist.
He pulled his hand out his pocket, quickly checking the time on his watch. 4:02 AM. Perfect time to catch up with his favourite barista. The sky was still black, lights from cars and streetlights illuminating the roads, along with the ambient sound of taxis honking and shouts from party goers who were just now leaving the nearby clubs. Will scoffed as he passed by a particularly drunk girl who was being held up by her friend, both of them wearing tiny skirts and boots, nothing more than thin shirts on that showed their bright red bras underneath. How are they not cold? he pondered as he turned the corner and saw the sign for the shop come into view- and it’s a Tuesday morning. Who the hell goes clubbing on a Monday night? Do they not have school? Or work?
Will shook his head, glancing back at the girls before pushing the door to the shop open, hearing the quiet ring of the bell that signalled someone had entered. There was only one other person in here; sat in the corner, head buried in a book. This would be a very weird thing to be doing in a coffee shop at 4AM anywhere else in the world, but in New York City it was normal- and Will learnt not to judge the things people were doing in the middle of the night very quickly. He continued to make his way over towards his favourite seat, when he stopped dead in his tracks.
Behind the counter with their back to him, was someone else. Not the normal barista that Will had grown accustomed to. This person was different. They had the same black hair as the girl, but instead of long and sleek, this hair was short and messy- curling as it covered their ears. They wore a plain black T-shirt with an olive coloured apron tied loosely around their neck and waist- but Will didn’t need an apron with a name badge on it to know who this new barista was. He could recognise those curls and lanky limbs anywhere.
Will was still frozen in place, eyes wide and mouth slightly parted, when the barista turned around, and locked his eyes onto Wills. They both stood staring at each other for what seemed like forever, probably looking like two deers caught in headlights- if the headlights were each other.
The barista gulped at the exact same time as Will, neither of them sure what to say, or do. To Will’s horror, he began to feel butterflies blooming in his stomach, and a heat crawl up his neck towards his face, a matching blush spreading across his cheeks.
Oh god.
Eventually, the man behind the counter spoke, breaking the silence.
“Hi, Will.”
Will had to bite back a smile at the words that came out his mouth. Why is he smiling? He should not be smiling right now. His lips felt dry as he opened his mouth to respond, voice shaking slightly.
“Hi, Mike.”