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It’s been a year since they moved, it’s been five months since Mike Wheeler called frantically telling them that Hopper was back, it’s been four months since Joyce and Hops date at Enzos, three months since El got her powers back, it’s been two months since the Hoppers and Byers moved in together officially, it’s been one month since Will started having worse ptsd. It’s to be expected, again the anniversary affect should be able to explain it away, he’s getting worse panic attacks, worse flashbacks, his triggers are getting even smaller. Sometimes he can’t even get on his bike without freaking out. He’ll be back on Mirkwood seeing the demogorgan for the first time, swerving off the road and into the trees and he’ll run. Mike always ends up pulling him out, it’s always Mike, and Dustin will be to the left, Lucas on his right, El and Max give him space, and they give the boys room to comfort their friend. It always takes a while, and Will is always tired after. He feels guilty as well. They’ll be about to go to the arcade or to radio Suzie at Cerebro, then he’ll have the flashbacks and ruin the entire day. His friends always assure him that it’s fine, that they don’t mind, they want him to be safe. But he can’t help feel bad, like he’s ruining their lives.
He tells Mike this, after a really bad panic attack while he was sleeping over. It was the anniversary of Bobs death, and Will blacked out, all he could hear was screams, Bobs and his moms. He could feel blood all over him and he could taste it in his mouth. After that everything went dark, he woke up to Mike hugging him and whispering that everything would be alright, Nancy was there too. She was by his side softly petting his hair. She was also talking, but mostly to someone Will couldn’t see, he turned his head. Robin, for some reason, was also in the Wheelers basement, which meant Steve might be there too.
“Byers! Hey buddy how’re you feeling?” There he was, the party always joked about how motherly he was, but Will didn’t mind. Steve was helping him off of the ground as Nancy cleared off the couch for him, Mike was still hugging him. Steve ended up carrying both boys to the couch. Mike finally loosened his grip and it was then that Will realized he was freezing, he started to shake, he liked it cold, Will didn’t want to be cold.
“B-b-blanket, please, I’m, he likes- liked it cold, I’m cold,” Nancy immediately moves to the closet to grab him a blanket, Mike was holding his hand, talking him through his breathing. Once he was wrapped in a blanket and had started breathing normal again Robin went upstairs. She paused on the step and motioned for Steve to follow her. He was hesitant to leave but eventually followed her up the stairs. Now it was just Will, Nancy, and Mike. “Please don’t call my mom, she’s out with Hopper and Jonathan’s out of town. It’s bad enough I ruin stuff for the party, I don’t need to ruin things for my mom and brother,” and wow, he must really be tired cause he can’t stop himself from saying things, “and sometimes I can’t even be in the same room with them and Nancy because it reminds me of the “exorcism” and that makes me feel worse,” Nancy’s holding his hand now, which means both Wheelers are helping him more than he can help himself. He knows he’s probably crying, but he can’t bring himself to care. He’s just constantly scared and guilty, “I just want to be a normal kid again,” and he falls into Nancy’s side, Mike wraps his arms around Will, he’s a lot taller than he was when all this started. Will can’t help but think about how much they all had changed from when he got lost and when he got back. At some point he falls asleep. Luckily he didn’t dream, so he was able to sleep till morning. When he woke up he was still tucked into Nancy’s side, Mike still wrapped around him protectively.
Will felt better, a little less burdened than he did before. Maybe it was because the anniversary period was almost over, maybe because he knew his friends loved him. He just knew that whatever happened, they would be there for him.