Work Text:
“Hey, so I’m having a party later tonight.” Stacy’s voice rings through Will’s head, now distant and muffled under the booming noise coming from the speakers. “You guys should come.”
And so they did. They went to the party.
Stacy’s house was big, able to fit a whole generation of just-graduated-high-schoolers, and some more. The group had dissolved as soon as they arrived, much to Mike’s dismay, considering how against he had been to the idea of coming until, of course, Will had managed to convince him. It was their last high school party after all! Their first, too, actually.
Max and Lucas had gotten lost in between the sea of bodies that swayed and moved to the rhythm of a track that Will didn’t know. Then, when they were just three, Stacy had approached them. Actually, Dustin. She had approached Dustin. Engaging with him in a conversation that had both Will and Mike looking at each other with wide are-you-seeing-this eyes.
But before one of them could even say something, maybe mock the ridiculousness of the situation, another girl came near them. Will was sure it was a friend of Stacy’s, he’d seen her earlier that day, when they had been invited, though her name he didn’t quite remember. She greeted them, politely looking at them both, but soon made it clear she was here for Mike, as her eyes locked on his face, just sparing a few glances at Will, her lips pursued, as if wishing he wasn’t there.
Will blinked rapidly, quickly catching on. Of course. He avoided eye contact with her, looking around the house and feigning disinterest in the interaction happening before him. He took a guarded step back when he saw the back door through the crowd. Silently continuing to separate himself from the awkward situation.
Mike didn’t seem to notice, with the mixture of noises around them and being, apparently, too engaged.
Will swallowed the lump in his throat at that.
He sighed immediately after he crossed that door. Taking a few steps and reaching a small bench, to which he slumped against.
Stacy’s backyard was tranquil. Realistically speaking, Will knew this wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing at a party, but there was something soothing about the chilly night air combined with the muted music in the background. Plus, he couldn’t spend one more second inside the stuffy, filled to the brim house. Especially he wouldn’t want to loom awkwardly as his friends actually enjoyed their… companies.
He shook his head softly at himself, maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to come.
Will dug his hand into his jacket’s pocket, fishing out a cigarette. One of the new, unhealthy habits he had picked up since everything ended. He wasn’t particularly proud of it, nor did he like it that much, but something about it helped to ease his mind. He only smoked when he was alone, he didn’t want anyone seeing him. Especially mom or Jonathan or Hopper. He could already picture their worried looks, their motivational speeches about how smoking had fucked them up, about not wanting him to follow their steps… or whatever. For now, he’d keep it a secret.
His other hand went to the other jacket pocket, looking for the lighter. Empty. He frowned, shuffling in his seat and stretching his legs to pat the pockets of his jeans. Still, nothing there.
“The hell…” Will mumbled to himself, still gripping the cigarette between his fingers, looking down at himself and rummaging again through the pockets, as if that could make the lighter magically appear.
“Need something?” A voice called out in front of him, followed by the distinct metallic clink of a lighter.
Will stiffened. He looked up to find this guy standing in front of him, looming over, a lazy smirk on his face, a lighter in his hand.
He knew the guy. It was Chance… something.
Will would be lying if he said he knew anything else aside from Chance being in the basketball team, he remembered from when Lucas was too. And that he was a jerk. One of the guys who bullied his friends when he had been in Lenora. He had also given Dustin a beating, the reason as to why Dustin hadn’t arrived on time during that Last Crawl.
Now in front of him, Will could see Chance a lot more clearly, noticing his rich and tanned skin tone, despite the darkness around them. He was a tall guy too which, in insight, he guessed it made sense, after all Chance was an athlete. A basketball player.
He was also lean, but not in a Mike-Wheeler-slender-legs way. More in a fit-with-enough-muscles kind of way. Enough that, even while wearing that stupid green varsity jacket that seemed to be glued to the boy, Will could distinguish his wide shoulders and trained arms. His hair, almost black, curled slightly on the tips and was slightly longer than average, it seemed that he liked it to look put together. Pristine.
Deep into his thoughts, Will hadn’t said anything yet. The silence stretched awkwardly, Will just kept staring up at him, and Chance shifted on his place awkwardly. “Uh, like– like a lighter, I meant. Lighter.” He waved the lighter in his hand, showing it off to Will stiffly.
His expression changed drastically, his lips going from that easy-going smirk to a pressed white slash.
“Look I’m just offering, all right? Don’t know why I even bother if you're just gonna– I shouldn’t have approached you, actually.” Chance sneered, his voice came out rushed and with a heavy sort of impatience behind it. His hands fiddled with the lighter once more before shoving it back ungracefully into his jacket.
Will gaped, his whole body going still as his brows furrowed in confusion, his gaze looking around briefly before going back to Chance in front of him. He was half expecting to see more of the jocks, ready to crowd and jump him. For this interaction to be a distasteful way to beat him. But the backyard was empty. Just him and Chance, who seemed weirdly defensive all of a sudden.
“What?” Chance’s arms crossed over his chest, a deep scowl on his face. “Are you gonna stay silent or actually answer me, Zombie boy.” The nickname came laced with venom. Spat out.
Ah. There it was. ‘Zombie boy’. So Chance was actually going to bully him, right here, right now. At their fucking graduation party.
Will blinked once, twice, as the situation settled in his mind. Unbelievable, he had thought they were over this. He had saved the world for fuck’s sake! He had disappeared, he had died, he had come back to life, he had been possessed, he had fought, he had had powers!
But it seemed none of that mattered in the real world. He was still a freak, a nerd. He was back in square one, victim of the bullying.
He raised his hand, still holding the cigarette between his thumb and pointer finger, and used his palm to rub at his eye. “No way.” He whispered to himself.
Chance clenched his jaw and tapped his foot impatiently as he analyzed Will. It was almost as if he was trying to get a reaction out of him, but he wasn’t getting it. And that frustrated him.
“I’m talking…” Chance’s voice came through gritted teeth, leaning forward and uncrossing his arms sharply, grabbing Will by the collar and hustling him up. “...To you, freak.” The cigarette Will had been holding fell to the ground, forgotten on the grass.
“Let go,” Will instantly reacted, pulling his body away, latching onto Chance’s forearms and tightening his grip, bunching the fabric of the jacket. “What is your problem?”
Something sharp and bitter bloomed in Chance’s chest. He felt angry, but it was a weird kind of rage, too complicated for him to understand. All he knew is that Byers was a freak, the type of guy he wouldn’t think twice to shove, to throw some insult at, punch him.
But he hadn’t done that.
Instead he had approached him after seeing him sitting alone on a bench. Had offered a lighter. Had stared at his squinting eyes when he realized it was Chance. Had seen the way his mouth gaped in confusion when Chance became defensive. How his lips pursed tightly. His lips. Byers’ lips. Which were now mere inches away from his own.
“Shut up,” Chance growled, tugging at Will’s collar once more, his eyes stuck to Byers’ lips.
Before any of them knew it, Chance had leaned in, colliding his mouth against Will’s. It was rough, more of a crash than a kiss. Their noses bumped, and their chins brushed together. Will’s eyes widened, a cold rush of wind rustling the leaves around them and settling deep in his chest. He felt frozen.
It didn’t last long before Chance separated just as roughly as he had begun. His face had a deep flush to it as his hold on Will loosened, not completely though.
Will stared up at Chance with bewilderment, he could see how his breath had become erratic, his eyes seemed unfocused as he processed what had happened. What he had done. He looked scared, Will knew that expression a little bit too well. “...Chance?”
Snapping out of his daze, Chance focused on Will’s face, masking his own expression with a frown and shoving Will, not with gentleness, but also not with all of his strength. Still, Will stumbled back, barely catching his footing before he could fall completely to the ground.
As Will regained his composure he looked around to find that Chance had made his way over to the bench, sitting stiffly on it with his elbows on his knees. His chin resting over one of his hands as he looked down at the grass, eyes unfocused.
Will stands there for a while, just observing. The air around felt as if it had suddenly dropped in temperature, a chill ran up Will’s back. Or maybe it wasn’t the actual temperature, but the fact that Chance, popular basketball player Chance, had kissed him. He shook his head softly, deciding then to slowly approach the bench, sitting down on it and making sure to leave enough distance between the two of them. Almost as if Chance was a frightened animal, Will’s movements were careful and calculated.
He sat there, his hands over his lap, looking straight ahead of him. Silence settled between them. Will could even swear the music and voices in the background had stopped. At least he couldn’t hear it anymore over the thumping of his heart.
Will briefly wondered if he should just… leave. Get up and run before anything else happened, before Chance decided to actually kill him this time. Or maybe he could say something… anything. Though, what could he possibly say in this situation?
His thoughts stopped abruptly as he looked down at his feet, the cigarette was still there. He bent forward to pick it up, cleaning it from some grass blades that stuck to it. Will turned it over in his fingers, playing with it nervously until he, instead, decided to hand it over to the side, to Chance, though he didn’t dare to turn and actually look at him. “We didn’t crush it.”
Chance frowned, tilting his head to the side to understand what Will had just said. “Hmm,” he reached to take the cigarette from Will’s hand, careful to not touch his hand. He didn’t know why he was still here, he should go. Leave and never see Byers again. But instead he reached to take out the lighter, still in his jacket.
He flicked the lighter open, placing the cigarette between his lips and leaning in. He took a long drag, slumping back on the bench and blowing out the smoke into the nightly sky, eyes focused ahead on nothing in particular. Without turning he handed it back to Will, who grabbed it mindlessly and pressed it to his lips, the smoke drifting out of his mouth into the air.
“I didn’t know you smoked, Byers.” Chance mumbled, breaking the ice, but still not daring to look anywhere else but the grass or the sky. His tone was lighter, kind of defeated, but definitely not as tense as Will would’ve imagined. He was passed the cigarette once again.
Will swallowed, his fingers fiddling with the zipper of his own jacket as he nodded. He realized Chance wasn’t looking at him either, so he cleared his throat softly. “I try not to.”
He got no answer.
They kept smoking for a while, silently passing the cigarette between them. Will stared at the fading smoke between them, trying to keep his mind from wandering. Yet he kept wondering what Chance was thinking. The curiosity tickled the back of his throat. None of this made sense, not to Will.
He built the courage to finally direct his gaze to his side, to Chance. He still had that frown on his face, though his mind seemed elsewhere. The finished cigarette hung lazily between his fingers.
Will’s mouth ran faster than his thoughts, his curiosity taking hold of his acts. He took a deep breath. “I didn’t know you were–”
“I’m not,” Chance hissed, his head snapping immediately towards Will. His facial muscles tightened all over again, clenching his fists over his lap while he squinted defensively at Will.
Will closed his mouth straight away. “Uh– yeah, right.” He stuttered.
“I mean… I–” Chance sighed loudly, his head dropped down as he avoided eye contact. His frame relaxing from the tense posture he had adapted. “...I try not to.” Will’s words were thrown back to him, though now there was an underlying tone of shame in Chance’s words, a look of defeat on his face.
Oh.
Will understood right away. He understood too well, more than he would’ve liked to.
“Oh,” Will’s mouth was dry, the words stuck in the back of his throat. His mind torn between a million things he could say. Sure, the guy was an asshole, had bothered Will’s friends far more times than he could remember, he would probably always be a jerk. But now Will knew something else about him, related to him in some way. He knew what it was like to be… different. That type of different.
And Will was nothing but empathetic. One of his biggest flaws, though Mike once had said it was a strength. Will wasn’t so sure anymore.
He drew a small breath, blinking slowly. “Yeah… I get it.” Will shrugged. He knew that Chance probably knew about him. It was a common rumour in town. Most times “Zombie Boy” was the lightest insult people threw at him. Some even kept believing that whatever had happened to him, the disappearance, was because of that part of him. That’s what happens to people like him… queers, fags.
Chance raised his head, locking eyes with Will for a brief second. A noise of acknowledgement came from the back of his throat despite not a single word being said. A silent understanding passed through them, Will could see himself reflected in Chance. As crazy as that sounded. After all, they were totally different, complete strangers, a nerd and a jock. Who would’ve thought.
All signs of vulnerability vanished from Chance’s eyes suddenly, his droopy posture going to a rigid one. Shoulders and back squaring as he extended a hand, pointing a finger accusingly at Will. “Not a word about this,” His eyes never left Will’s, feigning intimidation, though Will could see the torment behind them. “I’m being serious, Byers. If I find out you opened your damn mouth, I’m gonna–”
“Will?” A voice called out from behind them, coming from the door.
They both jumped, separating themselves from each other. Will turned around quickly.
Oh. “Mike! Uh, Mike.” Will stood up, scratching the back of his neck, weirdly feeling as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t. Chance had sat back against the bench, ignoring both Will and Mike’s presence.
Mike’s gaze traveled from both Will to Chance, to Will again. His eyebrows drawn together in a strong frown. “What is– Are you okay? Was he saying–” Mike took a step closer, lips pressed together as he was ready to plant himself to Chance. It wasn’t the first time someone bothered Will, and definitely not the first time Mike defended him, even when the bullies had all odds in favor. Which was always.
“No!” Will cringed at the way his voice came out high pitched. He cleared his throat. “He wasn’t. Nothing’s wrong.”
Just then Chance turned around to look at Mike, staring with a calm, bored expression. Daring him to say something else.
Mike stared back, not convinced at all. His attention was directed towards Will as he spoke again. “Everything’s fine, Mike. Come on, let’s go.” He said, placing his hands into his pockets awkwardly and walking towards the door.
“All right,” Mike mumbled, casting a last glare at Chance before shaking his head and heading to open the door. “Come on.”
Will nodded, pressing his lips tightly and avoiding looking at Chance. However, just as he was about to cross that door, his voice stopped him, making him turn around.
“I meant it, Byers. Nothing.” Chance used his fingers to imitate zipping his mouth, his stare was crude but full of concern. Actual fear.
Will stared back, eyes scanning Chance before he nodded stiffly. He didn’t miss the confused stare Mike gave him as he turned around and finally entered back into the house, but Will ignored it.
Maybe Chance wasn’t his friend, or a completely good person to them, but Will understood the distress he could be feeling.
And so he kept quiet. He said nothing.