Chapter Text
Hawkins was different.
It felt like his whole life had been put upside-down, no pun intended, since the moment he arrived back in Hawkins. To start, Will was lucky he even got to enter the town at all, since the next day he arrived from California, they had quarantined the zone because of the particles that had mysteriously begun to fall from the sky like an early snow. Of course, the government was not saying it was because the upside-down was bleeding into reality, but they all knew the truth.
So all the people who didn’t get to escape from Hawkins were trapped there under military vigilance.
Which was not ideal when you were hiding things from the government, and housing the number one enemy in their books. Will looked up at his sister, who was eating her breakfast with a smile on her face. She didn’t look very dangerous at all, but they couldn’t risk anybody seeing her at all.
Will hated taking the tunnels to visit her, but he had made the effort anyway because he didn’t want her to feel alone that day. He had been able to get her Eggo’s by bribing Murray, so she had something sweet today, since they were starting the school year, and Eleven had to stay alone while they went to classes.
Not even the end of the word was apparently stopping him from failing algebra.
“Will you tell them I miss them?” Eleven asked as she hugged him goodbye.
“Of course.”
Will took the long way to school, since he needed to get away from the cabin without the government noticing anything weird, so he took the tunnels again. He hated them, it reminded him too much of the upside-down for his likeness. But at least he had gotten to school at a good time.
Hawkins High was different from what he expected.
It still shared a lot of similarities to what he already knew of high school life from Lenora. It might be his first day here, but he already knew that he needed to keep his head down and not bring attention to himself, be just another face in the crowd. Still, the air around the school was tense, probably the fact that nobody could leave, even if they wanted to, was driving them all insane.
Jason was dead, but his ghost still wandered the hallways. He saw the boy in every guy with a frown on their face who was wearing a varsity jacket. Will was making a conscious effort to stay out of their way every time he saw one of those green jackets. Even when he caught one of those boys looking at him, he made his best to stay away.
And if you asked Will, he would say he was making an excellent effort to stay under the radar, he got to lunch period without anybody talking to him or insulting him.
“Hey, I didn’t see you at breakfast.”
Will looked up from his food to see Mike sitting down in front of him with a smile on his lips.
Another thing that was different. He was now living with the Wheelers, having breakfast at the same table every morning, sleeping in the basement, which was covered with his childhood drawings that Mike had kept over the years. He drew with Holly, helped Karen Wheeler with the chores, and kept quiet when Ted Wheeler made some comment.
Saying that his relationship with Mike was weird was an understatement.
He thought the proximity would burn out the spark inside of him, but it seemed like it only helped to turn the spark into a flame.
“I went to the cabin, and I had breakfast there.” Will said as he looked back at his food.
“Oh.” Mike made a pause that Will didn’t know how to interpret. “That’s nice of you.”
Everything would be easier if he were back at being inseparable from El, if they were attached at the hip like they were back in the summer of ‘85. But it seemed like that love had died down since they were back at Hawkins. Will was not even sure they were even dating at this point, and it was driving him insane, he barely saw them interact at all.
Because it was almost like Mike was back in his own self. Back to being the sweet kid that he met in the swings.
“Have you seen Lucas and Dustin?” Will decided to ask instead.
“I wouldn’t blame Dustin if he is not here,” Mike said softly. They both knew how hard it had been for Dustin. “I think Lucas went to the hospital in the morning, maybe he lost track of time.”
“So it's just us.”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.”
Will allowed himself to look up, finding Mike’s eyes already looking back at him with a smile on his face.
“It’s always us, isn’t it?”
Mike laughed softly at his comment, and Will had to bite down the urge to jump out of the table and kiss the boy and ruin their friendship. But like always, he just looked down and kept eating, grateful that Mike took that moment to start talking about something Holly had said during breakfast that he had missed.
Maybe his days at school weren’t that bad after all.
But maybe he had opened his mouth too soon.
“Hey, Zombie-boy.”
Will froze in his place as he turned around. Just by the tone of voice, he knew he had not been good at going under the radar as he had assumed. Standing by the lockers was one of Jason’s goonies, a now senior, with that green varsity jacket that screamed danger.
Will knew Lucas had told him the name of all those guys, his past teammates, this one that was talking to him was the same guy who had spoken to him at The War Zone, but Will had already forgotten his name.
“Why do you hang out with Wheeler?” The boy asked.
“What do you mean?” Will asked quickly.
“Do you not know he was part of that fucking cult?”
He was not aggressive in his tone, not in the way Will would have expected, the boy asked like it was a genuine question he had, like he couldn’t understand why anybody would be hanging out with Mike Wheeler willingly.
And Will, in a way, understood where that was coming from, since “the earthquake” people had been judging the guys who were in the DnD club, blaming them like it had been something demonic that took over Hawkins. It was almost comical how close but so far they were from the truth.
But since the rest of Hellfire had been smart to leave town the first chance they got, it was just Dustin and Mike who were looked down on, since Lucas had been part of the basketball team, he wasn’t as antagonized as the other two.
Will had been a social pariah his whole life, it wasn’t an unfamiliar concept to him, so most people didn’t have a high opinion of Will to begin with. So it was a little bit weird how actually concerned this guy sounded, like Will was about to damage his reputation for hanging out with his friends.
“Oh, you meant Hellfire?” Will asked, trying to feign confusion. “I mean, I wasn’t here when that was happening… I don’t think it was actually a satanic cult…”
“Just saying, better be careful before you start being grouped up with those weirdos.”
“Thanks.” Will said, his words coming out sharper than he intended, but the guy didn’t seem to realise.
“Chance.” The boy introduced himself.
“Right.” Will nodded his head, ready to get out of his conversation. “I’ll need to go back to class, but thanks again, Chance.”
“You’re welcome, Zombie-boy.”
The days passed, and things started to settle down. Dustin was distant than ever, but Will still made the effort to keep talking to him like nothing had changed, but his attitude was weirding him out sometimes, the way he moved, the way he spoke, it wasn’t like Dustin at all. Lucas had confessed during one of their visits to Max that Dustin was acting like Eddie did when he was at school.
And Will's heart was shattered.
They had failed Eddie.
Lucas was still behaving like he always did in his memories, he was still strong and funny, but Will could see him breaking when he was alone in that hospital room, talking to Max, holding her hand even when she didn’t respond in any way. Even when Max was not dead, it was known but unsaid that she was not there anymore.
They had failed Max.
He kept failing people, he thought of the ghosts of the children stuck in that fucking basement, Billy’s echo still in the mindescape, and even before that, he had failed Bob.
Death was no easy feat for anybody, he was very familiar with it, so he tried to be extra kind and patient with Dustin, even when he felt like his eyes were burning holes in the side of his head sometimes. He couldn’t help but wonder if he knew something was wrong with him, after all, Dustin had always been smart, probably had smelled the weirdness on him.
He had yet to tell his friends anything other than a vague explanation of what happened in the basement. They didn’t know about the nosebleed or weird visions, or the fact that, despite his best efforts, he was still in love with Mike.
They didn’t know even when the headaches were killing him.
Sometimes he swore he could hear Billy’s voice in the back of his head, but it was too distant to understand any words, almost like there was something blocking the signal, still he hadn’t said a word about it to anybody. Because Will was convinced it was better that way, they didn’t need to worry about him when they had so many other things to worry about, and since he had yet to feel Vecna in the back of his neck, he didn’t see the necessity of telling them yet.
Whatever was happening with his head didn’t have anything to do with Vecna, and he didn’t know if the thought calmed him or terrified him more.
Things worked differently at the Wheelers' household. Growing up, Will was used to the noise in the background filling up every space of the house, the messy but cozy space, hearing his mother or Jonathan doing their own stuff in other parts of the house. But the Wheeler house was quiet.
He had never realised how quiet the house was when the party was not there, considering the times he was in the house were in their friends' presence, their laughter filling the basement, but now he was sitting in the dinner table in what felt like complete silence, even when he knew he wasn’t alone in the house, it felt empty somehow.
Karen was cleaning something in the kitchen with one hand, while in the other hand she held a glass of wine, she seemed to be unaware of Will's presence. He kept wondering if she was counting back the minutes until they were out of her house, but Mrs Wheeler had yet to comment on her annoyance, even when Will could practically feel it.
Will looked down at his homework, at least it was easy. Spanish in Hawkin’s high school was a lot easier than the one he was taking in Lenora, and with all the classes and Robin's help, he was practically finishing the homework in ten minutes.
“Will, can you help me?”
The moment he turned his head, he was met with Holly’s curious eyes looking back.
“Of course, Holly.” Will said, smiling at the girl, pushing his notes aside to make space for the paper the girl had in her hand. “What are we doing?”
“A drawing, I can’t get the hat right.”
“Of course, I’ll explain it in another paper so you can try it in your drawing after, okay?” He took his pencil and started drawing in his own notes. “Let’s start with the basic shapes.”
Will adored Holly, he didn’t know how much he had missed her until he started living under the same roof, having her around made him feel like he had a little sister again, since he couldn’t live with El since she was on hiding. It also reminded him of the youngest of the Blakes, little Gwen, who spent long days in their house criticizing bad movies from the living room.
Of course, Holly was younger than they were, and she was quieter than they both. Maybe it was the fact that Holly’s eyes always seemed to drift like she was seeing something they weren't, head in the clouds most of the time.
But Holly reminded him so much of himself.
That’s why he was always kind to her, helping her with each little task that she asked. He spent around fifteen minutes helping Holly understand the shapes that could be used to draw all kinds of stuff, like the hat she wanted to draw.
“Thank you very much!” Holly said when she was finally satisfied with her drawings.
She took her paper back and practically ran up the stairs. Will followed her path with his eyes, noticing immediately that there was somebody in the entrance.
Resting against the arch of the entrance was Mike.
“You are really good with Holly.”
“It’s nothing, just a drawing,” Will felt his cheeks start ot heat up a little bit.
“Yeah, that doesn’t make what I said untrue,” Mike said with a big smile on his lips. “You are a good teacher.”
He hated when Mike’s voice dropped like that, to the gentlest of tones, because he couldn’t help but feel the butterflies come back to life again.
Because yes, his plan to let go of his feelings for Mike was not working as he thought it would.
In fact, it was almost like they had just intensified. But still, he couldn’t just say anything that would give away his crush, so he needed to take the conversation away from the praise of Mike.
“I can’t believe how grown she is.” He said after a couple of seconds.
“Yeah, and I can’t believe she goes to school now. Is this how Steve feels?”
“Probably.” Will laughed. “God, we are old.”
They both laughed for a bit. It was crazy to think how fast the time has passed.
Thinking about time, Will checked the clock on the wall, only to realise he needed to leave now or he was going to be late. He started to pack his books and papers inside his backpack so Mrs Wheeler would have to clean his mess when she went to serve dinner.
“Are you still going out?” Mike asked the second Will stood up
“Yeah, it’s Monday.”
“You could call them from the basement, you know?”
“And having you eavesdrop?” Will asked as he put on his jacket, passing next to Mike as he went to the door. “I’ll be back before curfew, don’t worry.”
The last thing he saw before he closed the door behind him was Mike playfully rolling his eyes, still with a smile on his face.
He biked down the street.
Will had missed biking around town so much in Lenora, but now that he was in Hawkins he couldn’t help but miss the way Robin used to drive him around. He missed the comfort of those tapes playing at top volume with the windows down in the back seat.
He missed his friends.
There was not a day that he didn’t think of them.
He went to the same phone booth that he used every week, the one that was in the middle of the road. It did cost him a lot of money that could have been used in the arcade, but he thought the calls were worth it. And more important than anything, both Robin and Finney had been true to their word, they hadn’t missed a single call since the first day of his being back at Hawkins.
The government was obviously listening to the calls, so they didn’t speak about the things related to the upside-down, and only referred to El, as Jane. But despite those little things, they talked about everything.
Robin picked up the call with his usual enthusiasm, immediately launching into a story of something that happened to him at work, asking about school and how Will was.
Will loved hearing Robin talk about Lenora, as if time hadn’t happened, as if it had been just a week since Will had been in California. He was hearing him talk about his school week, complaining about the teachers like he usually did, talking about his family and his new favorite topic of complaints.
“Do you know how horrible this is?” Robin asked, frustrated. Will only laughed in response, just like he always did when Robin started with the same topic again.
“That you can't keep fooling around with Finney in your room?
“I hate this.”
“Ernesto is sweet,” Will said, still laughing. “So polite, unlike you.”
Since the start of ‘87, Robin has been complaining about his little cousin coming to live with them in Lenora, and it was extremely funny hearing how his tone changed from excited and curious to frustrated and annoyed. Ernesto was a sweet kid, extremely polite to Will from all the times he had picked up the phone before Robin, he had been nothing but kind. Even with his restricted knowledge of English, he had been fun to talk to. But Ernesto was curious, always wanted to know what Will and Robin talked on the phone, and for what Robin complained, he was always trying to hang out with him and Finney, which meant that Robin cound’t just explain to him why he needed to hang out alone with Finney in his room with the door closed.
And that was driving Robin insane. Will still thought it was one of the funniest things ever, especially since every time he called Finney, he didn’t share the same annoyance, in fact, he seemed to think of Ernesto as adorable.
“He is a little shit, I tell you, man! And to top it all, his crush on Gwen is getting pathetic. The Blake genes are too strong for the Arellanos.” Robin complained, Will couldonly laugh, especially because he had heard the same complaint at least a hundred times since Enresto came to live with them. “I never considered how annoying having a baby sibling would be.”
“It's part of the charm of being the youngest,” Will responded simply. He was the youngest sibling, almost the middle sibling if you counted El. Finney was an older sibling, the only one who didn’t know how to have siblings was Robin. “Talking about the Blakes, how are things with them?”
Will expected to hear with excitement about Finney’s baseball practice, or Gwen's classes, but instead he only received a weird silence from Robin’s part, like he was debating how to answer the question.
“Not too good…” Robin answered after what felt like hours. “Finn got into a fight today.”
“Is he okay?”
“Yeah. He fucking won.”
There was a mix of exasperation and confusion in his voice that Will couldn’t understand. He wasn’t surprised at the thought of Finney being able to win a fight, he had seen what the boy was capable of, but at the same time, Finney didn’t like to fight, he would always pick the peaceful route. If he had to run, he did. But the way Robin was telling him about the fight, it was like there was something there that Will didn’t understand since he wasn’t there.
“Did you fight?”
“Nah, they know better than to mess with me.” Robin dismissed quickly, continuing with his explanation, “It was a new kid, he wanted to challenge Finn, said he didn't look too tough for a killer, and Finn just punched him straight in the nose.”
“I bet you loved that.” Will tried to joke, hearing a soft exhale that he knew was accompanied by a little smile.
“Guilty.” Robin said. “It was funny, I’m not going to lie to you, it was pretty funny until he didn’t stop. The kid was knocked out, and I had to pull him off him.” His voice went from the light tone he was using as he told the story to a concerned tone quickly. “It’s weird. He is angrier, I think, since… It's starting to worry me.”
“I know.”
Since Hawkins.
They hadn’t explicitly talked about it, but they knew Finney had changed since that night. Finney had killed Jason, his bullet blowing out his face. His hands were covered in the blood of an innocent man, because even when Jason had been deranged, he was not a killer.
Killing a murderer, rapist, pedophile was easier, the weight of killing The Grabber was not pulling him down, he did what he needed to do to save himself and his friends. But Finney didn’t have the same comfort in having killed Jason, especially since Max was still in a coma and Vecna had gotten away with his plan. He had killed him, and they had still lost.
Will didn’t know what to say or do to help him, especially since Finney always acted like he was completely fine on the phone. He wished he were there to help him, to do something, but there was nothing he could do being stuck in Hawkins.
Especially since it had been his fault that Finney was carrying that immense guilt.
“How are things living with Romeo?” Robin cleared his throat, ready to move on with the topic.
“Like always.”
“Like shit then?”
“Yeah, it's still weird.”
Weird was a good way to put it.
Because he couldn’t just say that sometimes, it felt like Mike was flirting with him, like he was trying to see what would get a reaction out of Will, and he didn’t know why he was doing that, if it was all in his head, or Mike’s lingering looks were really there. Even when it didn’t even make sense for them.
“Shit,” Robin said suddenly, which was usually their cue to finish the call. “Gotta go, remember Finney is gonna call you on Friday, I probably be there too, but if not, same time next week?
“Take care, try not to kill your cousin!”
Will stood there with the phone in his hand, knowing that the call was already disconnected.
With a sigh, he got out of the phone booth to grab his bike. It was going to be a rough school year.