Chapter Text
When it was first brought up that Will would have to move away from Hawkins and the Party, he didn’t want to believe it. Joyce sat him down and kept bringing up reasons like, “It’s not safe for you to be around Hawkins anymore with Vecna still around”, “It’s only a temporary arrangement”, and lastly, “You won’t be entirely alone! Hopper has to leave Hawkins too, it’s too dangerous having him here while the whole town thinks he’s dead.”
Great. Now Will has to move away, to an entirely new place, away from all his friends and his mom and his brother, and all he has is Jim Hopper. He’s so happy about this. But then, his mom dropped the real bomb on him.
“You’ll be going to The Academy of Derry up in Maine! Boarding school, very far away, no Demogorgons or bats or..” Joyce shudders. “Other things..”
“Boarding school?” Will stands up. “You never mentioned anything about boarding school! So now I’m forced to go to school with super rich people? How can we even afford boarding school?”
Joyce looks at Will with a sad smile. “Hopper’s got a position working at the school. He’s going to be a gym teacher. They’re starting a special gym program called Wilderness Education, and they needed a teacher for it. You can go there for free.”
Will sits down, absolutely dejected. While he despised Hawkins and most of the people here, it still had been his home since he was born. He had no desire to leave his friends, who were the only reason he was still able to stand this town. El, Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Mike. Mike. Oh god. How was he supposed to leave Mike?
After a minute or two of silence, Joyce speaks again. “I know it’s going to be hard for you. But this is a really good opportunity. I hear they have an amazing art program.”
She smiles at Will, and he halfheartedly smiles back, but his mom can tell it’s clearly forced.
“I have to go.” Will states with a slight quiver in his voice. “I need to..go tell the Party.”
Joyce nods, and Will takes the opportunity to run up to his room to get his jacket. He opens the door, and while he’s in his room 99 percent of the time he’s awake, for some reason, it feels more sentimental when he knows he’s going to have to abandon it for some fancy boarding school up north. He takes a deep breath, and really looks around his room. Posters of The Clash and Back to the Future litter the walls, along with drawings and paintings that he had made from all of his youth. It took him ages to put everything back the way he used to have it before the move to Lenora, but it seemed like it wouldn’t even matter, seeing as he would just have to leave again. He enters his room fully and walks up to one specific painting, the one of Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Mike fighting a three headed dragon. The one he made for Mike and attempted to give it to him just a few weeks prior, but Mike had told him to keep it. “To inspire you,” he said, not knowing the true significance of the painting, being ever-so-clueless, just as Mike always is. What did Will expect, really? That Mike was going to-
Mike. Will had always had a soft spot for Mike, ever since the day they met on the swing set, and he watched as over the years his inclination towards Mike gradually shifted into romantic feelings. He tried so hard to push those feelings down, as Mike slowly started falling for El, and their relationship was still going strong as of recently. While his feelings have been steadily fading since Lenora, he still felt like his heart was breaking at having to leave Mike. Combined with losing the rest of his friends, all he wanted to do was just pretend like the conversation he just had with his mother was all a dream.
Will grabbed his jacket and walked out of the house, ignoring Joyce’s lingering glare as he left.
–
“You’re moving away?!” Dustin exclaimed, looking crestfallen as the news he was just given.
Will had just gotten to Mike’s house, where the Party was planning to have their 6th movie night of the new year. Everyone was there, and he felt like this would be the best time to announce it while they were all together. He didn’t want to have to break it to them at different times, feeling as though it would be too awkward.
“When are you leaving?” Lucas asked sympathetically as he grabbed more pretzels from the snack bowls that Mike’s mom had made for them.
“In a week. I’m not happy about it.” Will says with a sigh, looking at El, who was the only one not surprised by this news.
“I heard. From Hop.” El stood up and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m really going to miss you, Will.”
“I’ll miss you too, sis. It’s only temporary though. Once El is able to get rid of Vecna, I can come back to Hawkins.” Will says matter of factly.
“Then we have to focus on killing that motherfucker.” Mike says out of nowhere.
During his talk about having to leave and the aftermath, Will had neglected to look at Mike, fearing that if he did, Will would just be reduced to tears. He didn’t want any of his friends to see him like that, so as he looked at Mike, he hardened himself just enough for no tears to form.
“We have to kill Vecna. So that Will can come back to Hawkins and not have to go to a stupid boarding school in Maine of all places.” Mike says angrily.
“What is it with you and Maine?” Dustin says half jokingly, but you can tell he’s genuinely curious.
“My stupid cousin lives there. He’s the most annoying creature in all of existence. His friends literally call him Trashmouth. You can’t be a tolerable person and have that be your nickname.”
The Party laughs, and the mood lightens just a little in the basement.
“Well Mike, we aren’t gonna defeat Vecna in one night. Why don’t we focus on just enjoying the time we have together with Will while we still can?” Lucas says smartly, and El nods her head.
“I agree with Lucas. I also want to spend time with Hop, I’m going to really miss him too.” Tears form in El’s eyes, and Will is reminded he’s not the only one who’s leaving for Maine.
“Don’t worry El, I’ll take good care of the dead man.” Will says, and El giggles at his words.
“Now, let’s WATCH A MOVIE!” Dustin yells, and the Party starts arguing about what movie they are going to watch, save for Mike and Will.
“Hey..” Mike whispers to Will. “Can you come with me for a second upstairs?” He glances at El, Lucas, and Dustin. “Alone?”
Will nods, and the two sneak upstairs. Even upstairs in Mike Wheeler’s kitchen, they can hear the bickering going on in the basement.
“Damn. They’re loud.” Mike says, and Will laughs a bit.
“So..what did you want to talk about?” Will says as Mike sighs.
“I just..didn’t believe you were leaving. El told me, of course, but before I actually heard it from you, I was trying to pretend it wasn’t real. You’re my best friend, Will, I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. Dustin and Lucas are great, but you’re..” Mike pauses for a moment. “Different.”
Will is truly in danger of crying now, but with extreme force, he prevents himself from letting most of his tears fall, with just a single drop etching its way down his cheek.
“Yeah, Mike. I’m..really going to miss you too.” Will says with a watery smile, and the two embrace each other in a tight hug, neither wanting to let go for a while.
Once they pulled apart, they stared at each other for a few seconds, with both boys not knowing what to say to one another. Finally, Will speaks up.
“You’ll come to visit, right?” he says hopefully, then also remembering El. “You and El?”
Mike looks him in the eye, smiling. “Of course I will. Can’t wait to meet all your new fancy boarding school friends. Think they’ll be better than the Party?”
“Not possible.” Will says firmly. “No way some rich kids are better than this.” He gestures to the basement, which finally seemed to have calmed down. They can hear E.T. starting to play downstairs.
“We better go join them. They’re gonna think we’re-” Mike stops. “Nevermind.”
Will looks at him curiously, but both boys go down the steps and join the Party once more, getting absorbed in the movie.
–
It’s a week later, and Will and Hopper haven’t spoken a single word to each other since the news had reached Will that they were going to be moving away together to Maine. The first words between them were spoken as they were putting their things together to try to fit into Hopper’s beat up minivan.
“So..you excited about school?” Hopper says in a questioning way, testing out the waters with Will. While he and Joyce were a couple, he never got too close with Will himself. Half of the reason was because he knew that Will never had the best upbringing by his biological father, and half of the reason was because Will wasn’t really seeking out that kind of relationship with Hopper in the first place. Due to this, Hopper tended to spend most of his “child time” with El, watching movies and playing games.
Will looked at Hopper in a funny way. “Who’s ever excited about school?” He said with a laugh. In reality, he’d much rather be at Hawkins High right now with his friends, in Art class or even math (which he hated), then packing up all his stuff with Hopper. A final goodbye took place the night before at Mike’s house, where Karen ordered pizza and the Party sent him off, saying that he’s gonna be just fine up in Maine (albeit with tears in all of their eyes).
“Y’know, Derry isn’t so bad. Especially where you’re going. Lots of opportunities at that school.”
Hopper says, trying to break the ice.
“Still not here.” Will says flatly, not trying to hide his discontent with the conversation.
“Well, get used to it, cause until El is able to kill Vecna, we both aren’t going anywhere.” Hopper sighs. “And I don’t even know if I’ll be able to ever come back.”
The weight of these words hit Will hard. At least someday he could hope to return to Hawkins in the future after everything with the Upside Down is settled, but Hopper? Hopper is supposed to be dead, and questioning about his “death” from the police would endanger everyone involved with Vecna, especially El. He felt some sympathy for Hopper, but still continued to wallow in his own feelings as the last box of stuff was put into the van.
“Let’s get the show on the road then, kid.” Hopper says, putting his hand on Will’s shoulder. He nods, and the two of them get into the car and drive off, leaving Hawkins behind.