Chapter Text
“Mom…mom! I’ll be ok…” Will said, slightly struggling to breathe due to the fact it felt like his mom was trying to squeeze him to death. “Montauk isn’t that far, I can come over for weekends sometimes!”
“I know…I know sweetheart, and Jonathan’s here for his last year, but it’s your first time out of the house, and I know you can handle it, but it’s just going to be so quiet without you and Jane home-“
“Joyce, love, let the kid breathe, he’s turning purple,” Hop said with a smile. “We know you’ll be alright kiddo. I’ll make sure she doesn’t call the school too much. But, come to visit us, yeah?”
Will nodded with a smile and hugged him. Joyce and Hopper had only been married for a few months now, but it felt longer. Will loved Hopper, and he finally felt like he had a dad. He hadn’t called him dad yet because he felt like it was too soon, but the feeling was there.
He pulled away and Hop ruffled his hair. He turned to El, who now went by Jane, as she was finally starting to feel comfortable in her own skin.
“Janey,” Will said, smiling and pulling her into a hug.
”William,” she responded into his chest. She was off to college with Dustin (#henderhop crumbs? Who said that) hours from NYU, so he was going to miss her. Will pulled away reluctantly, moving his hands to her shoulders and looking her dead in the eye.
“You’re gonna kill it out there Jane,” Will said, tearfully smiling at the girl who had grown to be his sister.
”You are too, Will. You will be a famous painter by the end of the semester,” she said, reaching up to wipe a tear off of Will’s cheek.
”The semester?” Will said with an exasperated laugh. “You have high hopes for me.”
”Fine, by the end of the year. Better?”
“Better,” Will laughed again. “God, I’m gonna miss you so much. All of you.” Hop had his arm around Joyce, who was quietly crying into his chest. Jane stood next to them, looking wistfully at her little found family. They all shared a hug before Will pried himself away and grabbed the handle of his suitcase. The rest of his boxes were already in his dorm, so there was no need to linger any longer with his family. Still, he stood at the door to the building his dorm was in, waving goodbye for a moment too long. Eventually, he sighed, steeling himself as he turned away and walked up the stairs to the new life he was about to begin.
He took a breath as he approached his dorm door, hesitating with his hand on the handle for a moment. He inhaled and pushed the dorm door open, exhaling as he stepped inside. His eyes flickered around the place, filled with unpacked boxes and uncomfortable looking beds. His eyes landed on his roommate, who was already half unpacked and hanging clothes up. Will stared in shock for a moment before realizing that was rude. Instead, he focused his attention on opening up a box to start unpacking himself.
“You’re Will, right?” Will glanced up from the box as his roommate addressed him. “I’m Jamie.” Will knew this already, as there was a sign on their door, but he smiled at the fact Jamie still introduced himself.
“Yeah, I’m Will. It’s nice to meet you, Jamie!” Will said as he successfully opened the little box on his desk and started organizing his art supplies. As he took out his main sketchbook, a loose drawing of a dragon with multiple heads - three to be exact - fluttered to the floor. Jamie caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and picked it up for Will.
“Holy shit, did you draw this?!” he said, eyes scanning the rough sketch before handing it over. Will took it back and tucked it back into the sketchbook, giggling, a bit embarrassed.
“Yeah…yeah I did. ”
Jamie whistled. “Then please tell me you’re an art major and not wasting that kind of talent in, like…math, or something. Because holy shit, I can’t even draw a dog without it looking demented.”
Will flushed, not used to such high praise. “Yeah, no, don’t worry, I’m majoring in visual arts.”
“Sick! I’m majoring in humanities. You going for a minor, too?”
“Yeah, theater. What about you?”
Jamie nodded. ”Psychology.”
Will offered him a smile. “That’s really cool! Learning how people's minds work-” He was interrupted by a knock on their door. Jamie answered it, and a girl a few inches shorter than him with blonde hair and green eyes was on the other side, crossing her arms impatiently at him.
”Hey, you done unpacking yet?” she said, eyes darting to Will. “Hey, I’m Elizabeth, this loser’s only friend. Sorry you gotta bunk with his smelly ass.”
Will laughed. “He doesn’t seem all that bad yet, don’t worry. I’m Will, by the way.”
She grinned at him before turning back to Jamie, waiting for a response. “So…?”
”Just about done. Patience child, Jesus! You’re not my only friend,” Jamie said, turning around and getting back to work as he talked. She plopped down onto Jamie's bed with the same grin and turned to Will. “So, Will, where you from?”
Will finished breaking down his box and turned to sit on his own bed. He’d finish up later. “Indiana, but the town I’m from is pretty small, so I don’t know if you’d know it.”
Her eyes widened. “Damn, you’re pretty far from home, Bowl Cut. Why are you all the way out here?”
Will chuckled at the nickname. “Well, I was having a hard time finding a college that sounded like somewhere I could see myself and had a good art program, but my brother goes here and said that the program was good here so I decided to give it a shot. Plus, my mom and stepdad moved up here too. Our hometown wasn’t really…good to us.”
Jamie was more listening than unpacking at this point. “What do you mean?” he piped up.
Will inhaled deeply. “Did you guys hear about that giant ass earthquake in Hawkins, Indiana?” The two murmured in agreement that it sounded familiar. “Yeah, that’s my hometown.”
“Yikes, dude,” Jamie said, hissing between his teeth in sympathy.
“Wait, it gets better. Did you hear about the kid that they thought was dead and then came back to life?” They both nodded and he gestured to himself. “That was me.”
The two stared back in shock and Will suddenly felt awkward. “So…yeah, I kinda wanted to get away from all that…” There was another pause as they continued to process the information, and it made Will very anxious. “Sorry we just met and I’m dumping all of this on you, I-“
Elizabeth shook her head, finally snapping out of it. “Don’t worry about it. We all got shit in our lives, and it’s hard to live with it all bottled up. It’s just…damn.” She exchanged a look with Jamie.
“Look, how about this? Me, Jamie, and our friend Via were planning on hanging out at my house tonight. It’s literally only, like, a ten minute drive from here. I’m coming back to pick him up, so feel free to join.” She smiled and hopped off the bed. As she walked to the door, she turned and said, “Nice meeting you Will, I hope to see you later!”
Will and Jamie waved as she closed the door behind her. When she had fully left, Jamie turned to him and said, ”It’d be really fun for you to come. It’s kinda lame being the only guy in our group and you seem like you’d fit in! Via has been friends with Lizzie since they were ten. She’s…a bit intense at first, but she’s the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet.” Jamie reached into the last box of his, pulling out a sweater that he went to go hang up. He had finished unpacking - insanely quickly, too.
He turned to Will and waved. “Alright, I got this basketball orientation thing I gotta get to. See you later!” He grabbed a duffel bag and walked out.
Will waved back and smiled to himself as he walked out the door. Maybe New York would be good for him.