Chapter 1: Yorkers
Chapter Text
"Michael! They're in the van without you!" Says a stern voice from the bottom of the stairs. Mike recognizes his mother, Karen Wheeler's, voice instantly.
"Coming!" He shouts back. She knows she half lying. Most of the party had slept in his basement the night before, in preparation for the early morning in which Jonathan, Robin, Dustin and Steve were planning on parking the van in the drive way, ready to load it up, and Max and Lucas were still brushing their teeth so he wasn't the only one running behind.
"Sleep well Mike?" Lucas smirked at him followed by giggles from Max, Mike knew exactly what Lucas was referring to. Mike just rolled his eyes. "Late night for you?" Mike was about to speak up but as if on cue, El came trudging out of Mike's room, lugging her bag over her shoulder not even so much as giving Mike a glance. Again, Mike rolled his eyes.
"You guys let's go!" Mike's sister Nancy called again from the bottom of the stairs, followed by a honk from the van out front. Quickly, they all began to finish their tasks and rushed to grab their things.
Out front, Dustin was leaned over Jonathan, giving ferocious honks to the stragglers inside.
"I told them all six on the dot." He spat. "Not.." He checked his watch, "six fifteen!?" He threw his arms up in the air, falling back into his spot next to Steve and Will, who were both too, obviously annoyed. Nancy climbed in next to Will sharing in everyones disappointment.
"Maybe if we'd stayed over too we could've... awoken them early, or something." Robin sniffled, tired and without caffeine in her system which she surprisingly needed right now. She looked over at Jonathans signaling him to pass the cigarette he'd been blowing out of his open van door.
After a moment of silence, El, Lucas, Max and Mike climbed in the van taking places along the back two rows. Nancy slid the door shut, they all waved by to Karen and Jonathan pulled out from the driveway, switching on some music and throwing his cigarette in the street.
"Robin when did you pickup smoking?" Will asked curiously, he admired Robin a lot and watching her grow into something new despite her straight edge mentality all of high school was something Will desperately wanted to hear about.
"Oh you know, New York I guess." She brushed off gently, earning a small and relating chuckle from Jonathan. It was partly true at least for Robin. She'd not liked school, despite her longing passion for knowledge and the arts, college for it just seemed to taint her passion. She'd become depressed to say the least. From the shameful denials her professors would give her to the strangely cliquey nature of her all girls university she had lost the drive. So, in complete lack of true Robin nature, she gave up. Which really ended up being for the best honestly.
She gazed out of the passenger window, watching the 'Leaving Hawkins' sign fade away in the rearview mirror. She'd barely been home since she dropped out, and in the two days she spent camped at the Byers house, she felt the looming doom that the town cursed her with. And not the supernatural doom, the 'in-house' doom.
See, right after she'd decided to quit school and take up an interning position with a small radio program, that depression faded for a moment. She was around fellow artists, she'd been learning about producing music, and getting some amazing production master-classes with the best of the best that New York had to offer, she'd even briefly found love in the company of her very own instructor. An older woman, her near boss to be exact. And though it was a questionable decision for a freshly 22 year old to be smoking with, confiding in and even fucking a 35 year old, she found her confidence growing in her sexuality. Which is precisely why she decided to come out to her very unsupportive father.
She'd been disowned. And shortly after, she'd been dumped.
So why was she smoking? Horrible college experiences, a lack of self drive, a nymphomaniac older ex-girlfriend, a homophobic father, a shared apartment with Jonathan Byers, and oh yeah... a universe changing high school experience. But of course, nobody really wanted to hear that.
"What about you Byers? I thought you were all about the weed but no? Nicotine? True film major nature right there." Robin switched the conversation onto Jonathan who's takes were all over the place, and Robin already knew them. That's why he gave her the dirtiest look.
"Caught me!" Jonathan laughed, "All about the look you know. I just... happened to get a little addicted."
Jonathan had never handled anything well. From his dad leaving to the world almost ending in his hands, he'd barely kept it all together. With Nancy, things were easier. He shared that with someone close to him. Someone that could kiss his wounds and someone who he could lay his head on for comfort and warmth. Someone who'd encourage him to put the weed down and just sit and talk, or let him fall apart in her hands, in whatever way that he could undo himself. But when he moved to NYU and their connection was severed, things changed for him. He was alone now. And since Robin didn't move in with him till just a year ago, he had absolutely nobody to talk to about the things that had changed his life. Things that he could never imagine moving on from.
But weed was out of the picture for school. Alcohol just never appeased his appetite and while smoking could hold him over by the hours, there was only one thing Jonathan craved that allowed him to forget and gain back his sense of individuality and self.
Sex.
Jonathan did it on the daily. Girls from the bar, girls from class, girls from his short films. He could fuck anyone and he did. Nobody denied him, nobody suspected him. He did it so much he didn't even need his right hand. Nothing was stopping him from getting his high. Nobody was tying him down. And if he wasn't so cute, he'd be absolutely embarrassed of his behavior. He'd ask for ridiculous treatment in bed, he'd ask permission to give ridiculous and ludicrous behavior, he was a fantastic fuck... if you could look past occasional tears and spouts of random anger.
It wasn't until Robin moved in and questioned him on his habits that he really started to grasp the gravity of his problem. He was an addict, and since he'd been back in Hawkins, he'd been clean.
"Better clean up then there Byers." Steve called from directly behind his seat. Jonathan was pulled from his thoughts and looked confusingly at the rearview mirror to see Steve smiling, "I can't take the stench of cigarettes so if we're here you can't be doing it."
Jonathan looked over at Nancy opposite of Steve gazing out of her window. She was still as beautiful as ever. Not one person could ever compare to the beauty she radiated so prominently. Jonathan cursed himself and his life and everything he'd done to it. He'd bought this van, he'd had a long conversation with Robin and he knew they all needed to be closer together then they had been this last three years. Fuck, he thought, he hadn't seen Max or Lucas since he left three years ago. He knew a lot of them had similar experiences with eachother. How can they had gone through so much and grown so far apart.
This trip will change things.
Chapter 2: A Visit
Summary:
Mike reflects on an encounter with Will as Will reflects on his college experiences. Steve recounts his beef with Robin.
Notes:
Early chapters will fill in on the last years of each characters lives, and when we arrive at the cabin, things shift back to current dialogue instead of reflections on the past. The lore runs deep in this guys, its not busy work i promiseeee these things must be addressed before the cabin catastrophes.
Also my writing can be unhinged, trigger warning for blunt sexual recountings and characters personal battles and experiences through sexual desires.
Chapter Text
Pulling into a gas station, Jonathan opens the side door to let everyone out.
"I'll be done filling this tank in five, relieve yourselves and get back in here.' He called to the party, as they made their ways to the bathroom. Will Byers, however, didn't make his way to the mens room, he made his way to the telephone. Pulling a few quarters from his pocket, Mike looked over from the gas stations front door, seeing Will as he closed the booth door in behind him.
"Mike you coming?" Dustin called. Mike followed in, picking up some twinkies and red vines instead of using the bathroom. Who was Will even calling, he thought to himself. Joyce and Hop were in Italy, spending a long awaited honeymoon they very much deserved. And as far as Mike knew, all Will's friends were right here. Sure, it had been a few months since Will and him had talked, but things couldn't have changed so fast...could they? Paying, and catching Max as she exited the ladies room, he caught her giving him a strange look.
Max, Lucas and Mike had all moved in together not far from Hawkins in a little flat by a small lake. Max was working a retail job and Lucas had started getting himself into investing, which Mike followed in suit soon after since it had basically got them their house. One weekend, Max had called Will and asked if he was okay for some company as Lucas and Mike had a meeting in New York with a stock broker and they were looking for a place to stay. Why Mike didn't ask himself, he didn't really know. Max and Will called weekly, so Mike figured it would only make sense for her to ask instead of him. Lucas hadn't been the greatest at keeping in contact either, but he was less awkward about it. Mike failed at that part.
Anyway, when Mike and Lucas made it up there, Will HAD changed. He went to classes energized and early, he stayed out later than Mike'd bedtime, and wake up the next morning with black eyeliner residue underneath his eyes. He'd make coffee in the morning and smoke joints with his roommates. This wasn't who Mike came to know and it freaked him out.
Will let them both crash on the couch, with an air mattress blown up next to it. And one night, when Will hadn't come home, Mike couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned and wondered where he was every night, what he was doing, who he was with. And when Will finally crept through the door of the apartment, he was followed by someone else. Mike pretended to be asleep as he peered through his eyelashes, watching as the boy grabbed Will's waist and put his mouth on his neck. He watched as it pleased Will, and could see will bite down on his own bottom lip. Quickly, Will pulled him into the sanctity of his bedroom. Mike was stunned. The next morning, it was as if there was never a midnight guest to begin with. And that was the last time Mike had seen Will.
Since then, El returned from a two year hiatus, exploring the world and doing some occasional government avoidance. Sure, they'd broken up YEARS ago at this point. Must've been '88 when they called it quits, feeling a great need to focus on the end of the world and give eachother some space, but seeing El back in Hawkins instead of a far off land or Montauk with Hop, it brought up a lot of undecipherable feelings. And not romantic ones, although Lucas and Max seem to think theres something hidden behind the layers of pure nonchalance.
"Mike." Max pushed his shoulder and signaled him to leave the stop. Mike followed her into the van, once again squeezing in next to El and Lucas, but this time someone was missing.
"Hey wheres Will at?" Mike asked immediately followed by the van door opening and closing and Will taking his place next to Nancy, closest to the window this time. "Get hung up on something?" Mike asked bravely.
"Oh yeah, just some school shit. Checking in on the apartment and whatnot." Will looked lifelessly out of the window. It was a lie, if it wasn't already obvious enough. He was calling Marco, his friend from New York yes, and his fuckbuddy on occasion. Only when times were desperate.
When Will first moved to the city, Jonathan offered him a room in his apartment, which he'd had to himself for the next few months. But Will, sensing more time with family and old friends was the last thing he needed, denied politely. It was fine anyway, he dormed his first year at Uni. Sharing a room with a complete ditz of a man, he found more solace in his roommates obliviousness then he would with someone that knew him well. Will could be anyone he wanted.
It took him a minute before he was brave enough to go to a queer bar, but he'd befriended a girl in his dance history class who made fake ids and made him one free of charge if he'd go with her to one. Who was Will to deny. His first few times were uncomfortably out there. Will was a smalltown closeted queer with ZERO sexual background. Which was okay, he was nineteen at the time anyway, he figured plenty of people had his story.
With each visit, his confidence grew. And they loved him there. He was cute, shy, and Will had that small town appeal to him, which drove the city men crazy. What they didn't know was Will wasn't shy when you got to know him a little. He just needed to warm up to you. But he was anything but shy. Thats why when Mike Wheeler came to visit him a few months back, Will did not care to subject his old friend to his new lifestyle. He was loved here, things weren't sugarcoated and he didn't have to hide. Sure, seeing Mike's face dance around the room to avoid eye contact... pleasured Will a bit. But Will had moved on, he was on a different level now. And Mike, Mike was a lost dream he'd never have or want again. And that was okay for Will. He'd gotten anyone else he'd wanted.
"Will, red vines are still your favorite right?" Mike leaned over to the headrest where Will had his head leaned on, "Cause I bought a huge bucket and I cannot finish these." Will looked over at Mike, teeth peeking from a small curl in his lip, mouth slightly agape.
"Oh, thanks yeah, they were but I puked a bunch up one time when I was drunk and I haven't been able to keep them down since." Will laughed, "Just reminds me of being drunk and sick. Thank you for offering though."
"I'll take some?" Steve piped in for the first time all morning, reaching over Dustin and Nancy and grabbing a handful of the long pieces of licorice. "I fucking love these man."
Steve was the only one who stayed in Hawkins after everything. He watched them all leave slowly. Robin, Jonathan and Nancy left nearly instantaneously after the world went back to normal and even though Dustin stuck around through the rest of those high school years, Steve had stunted himself in looking for any kind of life of his own. He tried every hobby and though he had a great job being a coach and a teacher and while he loved it, he felt stuck in one place. Nobody to love, no place to go. He nearly enlisted, but was quickly talked out of it from Dustin.
It was the falling out with Robin that really did it for him.
Amongst his teachings and her lifestyle changes, they lost contact quickly. In fact, out of the three of them, he called Jonathan the most. Even in the last year, when Robin moved in with Jonathan, he still didn't call her and vice versa. He had no idea what was going on with her and clearly she didn't care to say what it was to him. He was hurt, he had always been there for her and now they were sitting in Jonathans van as strangers. Why was this?