Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

November 6th is an important day for Will Byers. He has his huge campaign with Mike, Lucas, and Dustin today. They had been planning it for weeks, making sure it was perfect, and he was ecstatic. He knew it would be their best one yet.

The sun was shining bright behind him as he biked to his best friend's house, and Will thought that was quite fitting. Today was going to be awesome, so awesome weather was appropriate.

He arrives, running his bike into the already open garage, throwing down the kickstand and barely looking back to make sure the bike didn't fall over before he was racing to the door, knocking on it and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

The door opened on the second knock, and he was greeted by Mike, flushed in the face and out of breath like he had run to the door.

"Will the Wise!" He yelled, and Will laughed as he ran inside.

They shot down the stairs to the basement to find Lucas and Dustin already there, bickering about what food they should order.

"Will!" Lucas shouted when he saw him. "Finally, bro, you took forever."

"C'mon, let's start already." He replied, and they sat down.

The next few hours passed in a blur, focusing on the game, only allowing interruption for food. Mike acted everything out perfectly, he had always been a great DM.

As he laughed, Mike's voice caught his attention again, suddenly.

"Wait a minute."

Will's eyes are on Mike again, wide with excitement.

"Did you hear that? That… that sound… Boom. Boom. BOOM!"

Dustin nearly falls out of his seat.

"That didn't come from Troglodytes, no. That came from something else."

Will groans as Mike slams the tiny figurine of a small two headed creature on the table in front of him.

"The Demogorgon!"

"We're in deep shit." Dustin sighed, putting a hand to his temples.

"Will, your action!"

He straightens up, exclaiming, "I don't know!"

"Fireball him!" Lucas waves his hands around, and Will shakes his head.

"But I have to roll a thirteen or higher!"

"Too risky, cast a protection spell." Dustin warns, but Lucas rolls his eyes.

"Don't be a pussy! Fireball him!"

"Cast protection!"

He whips his head around as Mike slams his hands on the table.

"The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you, BOOM!"

"Fireball him!"

"Another stomp, boom!"

"Cast protection!"

"He roars in anger!"

Lucas and Dustin yell, and in a moment of confidence he shouts, "Fireball!" and throws the dice with too much force. It lands somewhere on the ground, rolling away.

"Oh, shit." He sighs, jumping up from his seat.

"Where'd it go?!"

"I don't know-"

"Is it a thirteen?"

"I don't know, Lucas!" He says, getting on his hands and knees to look under the stairs.

"Mike!" He hears Mrs. Wheeler yell from upstairs, "It's fifteen after." And then Mike's exasperated sigh as he runs up.

"Mom, we're in the middle of a campaign!" Will hears until the voices become too quiet to hear over Lucas and Dustin shouting.

"Oh, I got it!" He says, finding the small dice on the floor. "Does the seven count?"

"It was a seven?" Lucas says with disappointment, then a grin breaks out on his face. "Did Mike see it?"

Will shakes his head, and Lucas pats him on the back. "Then it doesn't count."

He smiles and nods, and rushes to grab his jacket and keys.

Dustin stops them. "Hey, you want the rest of the pizza?"

He shakes his head and runs up the stairs, shouting a goodbye and a thank you over his shoulder at Mrs. Wheeler.

They all file out the garage door, a grumbling Dustin coming a minute after.

"There's something wrong with your sister."

Will smiles and Mike turns. "What do you mean?"

"She's got a stick up her butt!"

"Its because she's dating that barf-bag, Steve Harrington-" Lucas rolls his eyes at the name.

"Yeah! She's turning into a real jerk."

"She's always been a real jerk."

"No! She used to be cool, like that one time she dressed as an elf for our Eldertree campaign."

"That was four years ago!"

Dustin climbed onto his bike. "Just saying."

He rolls off, Lucas not far behind him. Something stops Will from following.

"It was a seven."

Mike turns to him, eyebrow raised. "Huh?"

"The roll, it was a seven. The Demogorgon. It got me."

Mike nodded, a puzzled look on his face. Wills shrugged.

"See you tomorrow!"

It took him a minute to catch up with the others, and he got there just in time to say bye to Lucas as he turned down his street.

"See ya, ladies."

"Kiss your mom night for me!" Dustin crows behind him, and Will chuckles.

They continue for a bit, and then Dustin pipes up, a mischevious tone in his voice.

"Race to my place? Winner gets a comic."

"Any comic?"

"Yeah."

Will grins and peels off before Dustin can even start.

"Hey!" He hears behind him as Dustin tries to catch up.

"I'll take your X-men 134!" He shouts over his shoulder.

Dustin sighs, "Shit." Before Will hears him slow down. That comic is so his.

His headlight flickers, and he looks down, frowning. Looking back up, his eyes widen as someone- something? Blocks his way. He turns abruptly, crashing down a small hill and rolling a bit.

"Shit-" He whispers, and at the supposed silence he wonders if he imagined it all.

Then a groaning sound, an unsettling squelch, and he's running, abandoning his bike. He turns on to his familair road, running up his driveway and turning his keys into the lock on the door, hands shaking as he breathes heavily.

The door finally unlocks and he runs in, slamming it and locking it behind him.

"Mom! Jonathan?" He calls desperately, and, embarrassingly, he feels the sting of a tear in his eye. His heart pounded in his chest as he ran to the phone, dialing 911.

Two rings, and then the dial tone. He drops the phone, not bothering to slam it back into the receiver and runs to the window.

He crawls up under the blinds, cupping his hands over his eyes against the glare of the streetlight, and there-

There it is again. A tall, too skinny, too mishapen form walking towards him.

He silences the shriek that begs to rip from his throat, and runs outside, through the back. The gun is there. He prays that there is enough ammo as he flings the door to the shed open and then closed again, hands trembling as he grabs the gun off the rack. He finds the ammo, and loads it, for once feeling happy that he payed attention that day his dad forced him to hunt with him.

The memory would have made him shudder if he wasn't terrified out of his mind.

He turns towards the door and raises the gun to it, waiting for something to break the door down any second.

But… Silence.

He only hears his own ragged breaths and small, dry sobs.

Then, a creeping feeling down his spine as the room grows infinitely colder, a shadow from behind him casting against the wall in front of him. He turns, petrified as the small lightbulb hanging from the ceiling flickers once, twice, and everything goes dark.

Chapter Text

Will's own heavy breathing echos in his ears as he runs, nearly tripping over slick vines in his haste. He looks over his shoulder and groans as he sees the bats still flocking.

He had gotten used to running over the past couple of years.

He wonders if he had enough time to stop and shoot at the hoard of bats trying to eat his guts, but he rebuffs the thought immediately. He would be dead fucking meat in two minutes if he stopped.

He sees his driveway coming up, the gloomy blues familiar now. If you asked, he probably wouldn't be able to remember what it looked like in real life.

He runs to the back and gets a strange sense of deja vu, flinging the door open. Except this time he isn't searching for the gun, but for wood. He's not twelve, but almost fifteen. He digs around quickly, not wanting to get cornered in the small space with the bats. He finds a good sized stick and runs out, closing his eyes intently, head throbbing and then-

A small high-pitched ring in his ears and the wood in his hands bursts to flame. He gasps as he opens his eyes, hand shaking. He doesn't like to do things like that unless its absolutely necessary, because it drains him. But this is an emergency.

For the last two years, (Three? Four?) He had been fighting to stay upright, stay walking, stay focused on finding a way out. Out of this hellish, dark, cold place he has been trapped in. Clinging to the small tidbits of information he could hear sometimes, sleeping in his bed in his house that wasn't actually his. His mothers voice, sometimes, wafting through the house, barely a whisper. Sometimes he would hear Jonathan. Not anymore now.

About a year ago he heard his mom in the kitchen, something about "Sale" and "Boxes" and "U-haul" and "El, are you ready-" before it was cut off, and that was the last he heard until people who's voices he didn't recognize replaced his mothers. He had cried for weeks, betrayal that they left him again, leaving him to rot. Everytime he had a thought like that he would get even more upset. It wasn't their fault.

Sometimes he would go to Mike's house. Occasionally Lucas and Dustin's too. It was usually too much for him, hearing them but knowing no matter how hard he screamed they couldn't hear him. He had tried. The last time he went was about two months ago, give or take, and he had heard his name. Something about art, and "Will used to-" and then he had left, tears welling in his eyes.

Sometimes when he visited one of the houses, he had heard unfamiliar names pop up. Sometimes even the people themselves. El. She seemed to be living with his family now, although he didn't know why, or where they were. She had a soft voice, but it could be firm when she wanted it to be.

Max, who Lucas talked about the most of the group. A girlfriend, maybe. He smiled at that thought. The little times he had heard her, she sounded sure of herself. Confident and uncaring of what people thought. He liked that.

He had been upset, the first time he heard their names spoken by his friends, afraid they had replaced him, but he didn't dwell on it too long. And besides, he wanted them to be happy.

A screech sounded behind him, and he thrusted the fire in its direction, looking up to see the bats had reached him.

He stabbed and poked at them, and after a few minutes they fled. He grimaced as he dropped the flame, doused out by the blue slime that covered everything here. He rubbed his temples and then held his arm, wincing as he pressed down on where one of the bats had gotten past the flame briefly and scraped him.

He stumbled into the house, suddenly exhausted and overwhelmed. That happened everytime he used his… abilities. He didn't like calling them powers, because he didn't feel particularly powerful when he used them. He doesn't even remember how he got them. Hell, he may have had them before he got to this place. Maybe thats why that thing chose him that night.

He hates thinking about his first week in this place. It was the hardest part of all of this. Because then, he had hope. He had even talked to his mom, but she lost hope about a year after, around the time of the huge earthquake that shook him to the core. At first, when the quake hit, he thought he was baing saved. It was about a year after he got taken here, but it seemed to be the exact opposite of being saved. After that, this place was even more dark, somehow more cold. Like his last chance of getting out, a gate, had closed.

After that he no longer heard his moms soft cries of "Will? Can you hear me? Baby?" from her room at night, voice cracking on his name. Of course, he had lost hope long before that, but it still stung.

He collapsed onto his bed, which he had cleared of vines and muck when he first realized he wasn't getting out of here. He just needed to sleep. Sleep, and maybe when he awoke he would be back home. In the warmth of his actual bed.

He closed his eyes. A minute later they were open again, a large rumble making him shoot up straight, standing up and reaching for his gun. The ground shook, and the weapon dropped from his hands suddenly as he doubled over in pain. His head pounded, high pitched ringing in his ears, his entire body feeling like it was being split apart, atom by atom.

He tried to make a noise, shout or scream, but nothing came out as he fell to the ground, curling into a ball. Paintings and trinkets fell from shelves as the earth beneath him heaved, and thats when he heard something. Not something through his ears, but inside of his head.

A sinsister laugh, and a girl screaming for help. And then a crack, another one, and then everything stopped.

He stayed on the floor, nose bleeding and the tase of bile in the back of his throat. His head continued to ache, as if someone was sawing into it, splitting it in two.

His hands shook as he tried to grab onto his desk for leverage to stand, and he sat heavily on his bed.

That was the first time that happened in two years.

Chapter Text

There was a complete shift in the air. Not anything you could see or hear, but it was there.

It felt like a trap.

Something in the back of his mind bugged him as he made sure his gun was loaded. Tapping at his neck while he peeked his head out of the door.

He wasn't sure what it was telling him. It sounded like a bunch of jumbled up sounds and starts of words, whispering in his ear. Or rather, whispering directly into his head.

He couldn't just stay at the house though, could he? The last time something like that had happened, it had been a gate closing. Was it possible what just happened was a gate opening?

But it was so different. When the gate had closed, he had heard a girl screaming, but it sounded like rage. Like pure, unbridled anger. But this time, it was a different girl. The scream was of pure terror, and he could hear snapping and popping. And then laughter, but not from the girl. A deeper, hoarse voice. Like it had not been used in years.

He shivered as he felt a pang in his neck, just above his shoulder, and reached back to hold it. He didn't know exactly where he was walking, but it felt like the right direction. As if there was a huge magnet, pulling him towards his destination.

He turned, and saw the trailer park up the road. Yes, this was it, he was getting closer.

It could be a trap. But would it matter? He was going to die sooner or later. He was barely surviving on the little food he could scrounge up, sometimes going a full week with no food or water. And there had been so many close calls lately with the creatures in this place. So if it was a trap, who cared? He would just die a little faster that way.

He rounded a curve and was met with a blinding sight. One of the trailers bled with bright yellow light, and he felt his heart in his throat as he saw it.

It was a gate.

Fuck it, if it was a trap. He dropped all sense of caution and ran, through the door and into the living room. He winced as the light blinded him. But there it was, a gate. In the ceiling, for some reason. He dragged a chair over, and cursed when it wasn't tall enough. In the bathroom he found a stepstool, and with some balancing he climbed up.

The change in gravity startled him, and he fell straight through, slamming into the ground with a thud and a groan. He rolled over, eyes screwed shut in pain. He must have bruised a rib.

He lay still for a moment, and then mustered the strength to stand up.

He let out a small noise of shock. There was a girl on the ground. Her limbs were bent awkwardly and there was blood streaming out of her eyes, mouth open in frozen terror.

"Fuck." He managed, and stumbled backwards, feeling his way out of the door. Cool night air washed over him, and he nearly collapsed. He hadn't taken a breath of fresh air in years.

"Fuck." He repeated, and walked out of the small yard, determined to keep the image of that girl out of his head. He needed to get to his house. He needed to find his mom.

He froze.

His mom didn't live in Hawkins anymore.

Jonathan didn't live in Hawkins anymore.

Dread filled him instantly, and he had to grab a nearby streetlamp to steady himself. He didn't have anywhere to go. If he went to the hospital he would be whisked away, probably put in some lab.

And how could he just go to Mike's house? Or Lucas's, or Dustin's? He couldn't just show up in their lives again, could he?

He sat down heavily, his breaths coming in ragged and uneven. He didn't have a home. How could he ever find his mom and brother? He didn't even know if they were out of state or not. Hell, what if they were out of the country?

He brought his knees to his chin and rubbed his eyes furiously, willing himself to not cry, don't cry, don't cry.

He froze once more at the sound of a door opening. And then a small whisper.

"What the fuck are you doing in my yard?"

His eyes widened. What the shit was he supposed to say? 'Sorry, I just came back from an alternate dimension, I'm a little disoriented'?

"Hey, I asked you a question, asshole." The voice rang out a little louder this time.

He turned around, and saw the person approaching him. He panicked a little, getting to his feet a little too fast, feeling dizzy.

"I- I'm sorry. Didn't mean to…" What the fuck was he even trying to say?

The girl's voice softened a little. "Are you okay?"

He didn't respond. He didn't want to outright lie to this rando, but he wasn't going to go on about his sob story. Not that she would believe a word he said.

"Who are you?"

He racked his brain for an answer. He can't just tell her his name.

"What, are you mute or something?"

He panicked again. This girl was kind of terrifying, and he hasn't talked to another human in years. Sure, in that place he had talked to himself. It made him feel a little bit more sane. Although it probably made him look crazy.

"I- Will."

He smacked his forehead and groaned.

"I mean-"

The girl closed the gap between them, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the road a little so he was under the streetlight.

In the light he could see her clearer. She had bright blue eyes, and a shock of red hair that spilled down her shoulders. He must have woken her up, because it was frizzy, and there were deep bags under her eyes.

"Holy shit." She sounded sick to her stomach. "Holy shit." She let his arm drop, and ran a hand through her hair. "Tell me your last name. Right now."

He sighed. Was there even a point in trying to salvage the situation?

"Byers."

Her eyes widened further, and she turned a sickly pale color. And then she gasped quietly and looked over her shoulders. "Get inside. Now."

He made a noise of argument, but she was pushing him inside, and he found he didn't really care. At least he wasn't in the cold anymore. She closed the door and locked it behind him, and then they stood awkwardly. There was a small couch across the room, with a tv. The kitchen was to his left, and then a hallway leading to bedrooms, he guessed, to his right.

He breathed out in relief with the warmth.

Across from him, the girl seemed to be at a complete loss for words. She stared at him, eyebrows furrowed like she was doing a difficult math equation. And then she spoke.

"I'm Max. Mayfield."

He nodded. "I think I've heard you before."

She crossed her arms. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I- Wherever I was, I could hear stuff. Up here. Sometimes. And uh- I've heard your name before."

She nodded, looking down at her slippers.

A moment more of awkward silence, and she looked up again. "Are you… Alive?"

He was a little taken aback by the question. "Um, yes. Mostly."

"What am I even doing? Do you need food? Or like- A shower?"

A shower. He hadn't taken a shower in so long, he felt disgusting.

"A shower, yes. That would be good."

She nodded once more, and pointed down the hallway. "There's a bathroom down there, and towels in the cabinet. Take your time."

"Thank you."

He nearly cried when he felt the hot water on his back. He scrubbed at his skin until he could see it clearly, and then did at least four rounds of shampoo on his hair. He didn't get out until the water flowing down the drain ran clear of dirt, dried blood, and slime.

He stepped out, grabbing a towel and taking his time drying off. He wasn't excited to go back out there. He was sure Max was going to have a lot of questions.

He stepped in front of the mirror, and the person standing in front of him looked completely unrecognizable. He was taller now, obviously. He must've grown ten inches in his time in that place. He was skinny, he could see his ribs clearly under his skin. His hair was long. He had cut it a few months ago with a piece of broken glass, just so he could see better, but it had grown in again, tickling his shoulders.

His cheeks were sunken, and his eyes were dark. The twelve year old boy he remembered seeing in the mirror was nowhere to be seen in those eyes. He ripped his gaze away, almost pained seeing himself. He dried off and looked down at his slimey, raggedy clothes. He was not putting those back on.

"Max?"

A crashing noise, like she dropped something, and then he heard a hum in response.

"Do you have clothes I can borrow?"

"Yes, one second."

The house fell silent and as he stood behind the closed door of the bathroom he started feeling like she had forgotten he was here.

Then he heard through the door, "There outside of the door, I'll be in my room."

When he was sure she was gone he opened the door and snatched the clothes quickly. A pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

He stopped as he saw the name written on the inside of the waistband of the pants.

Lucas Sinclair.

He slipped the clothes on, and threw away the clothes he had before. He never wanted to see them again.

He opened the door hesitantly and walked down the hallway, finding what appeared to be Max's room. She was talking, and a wave of panic stopped him from knocking. Had she called the cops? Was he gonna be sent to a hospital somewhere?

Her muffled voice continued. "Wheeler, when I say this is important, I mean it."

Wheeler.

As in Michael Wheeler. His heart stopped beating for a few moments.

He knocked on the doot lightly, and Max lowered her voice.

"I have to go." She whispered. "Get over here."

He heard the phone click into the reciever and a moment later she was at the door.

His panic must have been apparent on his face, because a guilty look crossed her face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know who to call. Or what to do." She said.

His voice came back, and he shook his head. "No. It's okay. Did you- Is he-?" He barely managed.

She nodded, and he didn't know what to think.

"Okay." He breathed out.

"You need food." She said after a minute, and walked past him, into the kitchen. "What do you want?" She asked, opening the fridge. He shrugged.

"Anything."

She motioned to the kitchen table, and he sat, and then a moment later she sat across from him with two bags of pretzels. She smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry. My mom has to go to the store tomorrow, we don't have much food right now. We had chicken, but- Sorry. I shouldn't talk about food That would make you more hungry. Sorry." She rambled, and he shook his head.

"This is okay."

He finished the bag quickly, and she eyed him as he ate. She looked a little scared, but also curious.

"If you have a question, you can ask it." He said shortly, crumpling up the empty bag in his hand.

"Sorry." She said again. "You just- I've only seen pictures of you. From like three years ago."

He straightened up. "What day is it? Like the date?"

She looked at him for a second, looking almost uncomfortable.

"It's March 21st. 1986."

"Holy shit." He whispered. Tomorrow was his birthday. His fifteenth birthday. Holy shit.

"Yeah." She responded lightly. She fiddled with her thumb a bit. "You know, I've been to where you were before. Once."

His eyes widened. "Really?"

She nodded. "I don't know how you- How you managed, for this long."

He hummed in agreement. He didn't know either.

He broke the silence that fell once again. "What's happened? Since I left."

She shivered. "A lot."

He backed up, feeling foolish. "You don't have to tell me. If you don't want."

She shook her head and took a deep breath. "You should know." She gasped. "Your mom."

He leaned forward. "Where is she? She moved. Where is she?"

"California."

California.

"Jonathan too?"

She nodded. "And El. Er- Jane. El?"

"I've heard El before. Not Jane."

Max sighed. "Jane is her birth name. But I know her as El, and she prefers El. Its short for Eleven."

"Eleven?" He asked incredulously.

She shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know if i should be the one to tell you this."

He nodded. He wasn't going to push her, if she didn't want to say everything. He knew what it felt like to not want to talk about something.

Outside he heard a faint crash, and then footsteps on the small porch. His eyes widened.

A knock on the door.

He caught Max's eye, and she pointed towards her room.

"I'll explain it to them first."

He nodded, feeling sick to his stomach as he walked down the hallway, closing the door and locking it again.

He heard the door open and then shut again.

"Where's Lucas? And Dustin?" He heard Max say.

"Tell me why the fuck you called me at two in the morning, Mayfield."

He knew that voice.

That was his best friend, right behind the door leading to the living room.

Mike.

Chapter Text

Will paced the room, chewing on his thumbnail nervously. He shouldn’t have come in here. He should’ve left as soon as he heard Max calling Mike. He could hear Max talking to Mike through the door, slightly muffled. He contemplated just jumping out of the window and leaving Max’s entirely.

“Mike, you need to sit down or something, okay?”

Will heard a tsk noise, and then a dramatic sigh.

“Spill, Max. Or I swear to god I will leave. Tomorrow is the first day of spring break, I wanted to sleep in.”

“Trust me, Michael. This is a lot more important than your beauty rest.”

He heard shuffling and a groan, probably Mike sitting down, and then Max spoke again.

“Okay. I- Well I was asleep. And I woke up.”

“Obviously.”

“I am about to kick you out, Wheeler.” A deep breath, and she continued. “I woke up to Eddie driving out of the neighborhood like a maniac, which, yeah- No big deal, he does that plenty. But the uh- the lights started flickering. And-”

“Shit, Max, is this the Upside Down?”

“Just listen, okay? I went outside and there was a- there was a boy sitting in my yard. And he was- He was really freaked out. So I asked him if he was okay and who he was and-” There was a long pause, and Will could feel the tension in the silence from the bedroom.

“It’s Will, Mike.” Max barely whispered. Will let out a long breath, realizing he had been holding it.

No one spoke for a good minute, before he heard Mike clear his throat.

“Fuck you, Max.”

“Mike, I am being so serious right now.”

“Fuck you.”

“You know I wouldn’t play with you like that. He was covered in that shit from the Upside Down, his hair is longer and he’s a hell of a lot taller, but that is the boy I saw in those pictures.”

“Where is he?” Mike said quietly.

“He’s in my room. But you need to- Mike-”

Will barely had time to react before he heard footsteps running towards the door, and then it was opening.

Mike’s grip on the door tightened, Will could see his knuckles turning white. They both stood completely frozen, Max standing behind Mike awkwardly.

Mike’s hand abruptly dropped from the door handle and fell to his side, hanging uselessly.

“Will.”

Will didn’t know if he could trust himself to say anything, so he just nodded, his hands fiddling together.

“Oh my god, Will.” Mike took a hesitant step forward, and then crossed the room. Will saw a tear slip down his cheek, and then he was hugging him, grasping onto his back. Like if he let go he would lose Will all over again.

Will was suddenly really glad that Max had called Mike.

“Mike.” Will finally let out, and Mike nodded against his shoulder.

Mike was a lot taller now. And his hair was longer. Will felt a pang of sadness. He didn't get to see Mike grow up.

Mike pulled away, and Will managed a wet chuckle.

“This is weird.”

Mike nodded, and Max walked in, clearing her throat.

“Will, do you want me to try to call Dustin and Lucas again?”

“Yeah.” His voice cracked. “I wanna see them.”

Max nodded and left the room, and Mike buried his head in his hands for a moment.

“Will, Jesus.” He looked up, and then his eyes widened. “Your mom. And Jonathan, and El. Oh shit.”

“They’re in California. Max told me.”

“Shit, Will. How are you- Jesus.” He took a shuddering breath. “I stopped looking for you.” Another tear slid down Mike’s cheek, and Will felt his own eyes well up again.

“I’m here now.” He managed.

“I saw your body. How are you alive?”

“Body?”

“Were you- have you been in the Upside Down this entire time?”

“Upside Down? Like from D&D?”

Mike nodded. “We named it after that.” He smiled sadly. “It sounds stupid now.”

Will shook his head. “No, it sounds kind of badass.”

“Will, I’m so sorry. It's my fault you were down there for so long.”

Will shook his head, but didn’t argue.

“How's… how's my mom?” He said in a shaky voice.

Mike’s lip trembled a little bit, and he shrugged. “She wasn’t herself. For a really long time. But uh- a few months ago, I think she just couldn't handle being in Hawkins without you. And Hopper died, so El went with her.”

“Hopper as in the chief of police? He had a daughter?”

“Shit Will, you missed so much. She isn’t his biological daughter. She grew up in- you remember Hawkins Lab?”

“She grew up in a lab?” He asked incredulously.

Mike nodded. “In the 60s there were these- experiments, I guess. And El’s mom was one of them. They were covered up, and when El’s mom got pregnant, they stole her. El, I mean. And told her mom that she had died during labor.”

“So… El-?”

“She has powers. Or did. They- they haven't come back for a while.”

Will gaped. “Holy shit.” Powers. Were they like his?

Mike nodded. “Yeah. Anyway, Hopper took her in, but he died. He sacrificed himself, closing the gate. So El lives with your mom and Jonathan.”

Will hummed. This was a shit ton to take in.

Max peeked her head in the door again. “They’re on their way.” She sat down beside Mike.

She turned to Mike, and rubbed the bridge of her nose nervously. "What do we do? Do we call Joyce, or- when was the last time you talked to them?"

"I talked to El on the phone yesterday."

"I did too. Fuck, how do you even say something like this over the phone?"

“Are you and El…?” Will tried to make the impulsive question come off as playful, but it sounded more upset than he would’ve liked.

Max chuckled into her hand and Mike shook his head.

“No. Well, we were for a few months. But not anymore, no.”

“Oh, okay.” Will picked at his nails, teying to wrap his mind around what was happening right now. He's pretty sure everyone in the room is in shock right now.

The silence was awkward again. They never used to have awkward silences.

“Do you want to talk about… It?” Mike asked hesitantly, and Will shook his head quickly. Mike nodded.

“Did you tell them on the phone?” Will turned to Max, and she frowned.

“No. This is definitely in-person level information. Right?”

“Yeah. Definitely.” Mike rubbed his temples. “You’re alive.”

“Mostly.” Will tried for a joke, but Mike’s eyes grew sad again.

He could tell Mike was about to say something, perhaps apologize again, when someone knocked on the door.

Max got up. “That's them.” She left the room and closed the door, and a moment later Will heard the front door open.

“What the hell, Max.”

Dustin. That was Dustin. He would recognize that voice anywhere.

“Are you okay?” A more concerned voice.

Lucas.

Lucas and Dustin were out there.

Mike turned to look at him, and Will saw his eyes were puffy from crying.

Before he actually registered what he was doing, he was leaning in for another hug, and Mike gladly melted into it.

“I can't believe you're here, Will.” He whispered.

“Me neither.”

Will flinched as he heard Dustin exclaim, “Did you just say Will Byers?”

Then Max spoke again. “Yeah. He’s in my room.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god, Max, are you shitting me?” Lucas spoke, and then the door was opening again.

“Byers!” Dustin practically screamed, and barreled towards him, crushing him in a hug. “Byers, what the fuck?”

Lucas came in right behind Dustin, and ran a hand through his hair, eyebrows raising. “Will.”

He came over too, hugging him and Dustin tightly. “How the fuck are you here right now?” He whispered, a quiver in his voice.

Will just shrugged and let them hug him, drowning in the warmth of his best friends.

Dustin was the first to pull back, keeping his hands on Will's shoulders and studying his face.

Will realized what had been bugging him about all three of them. Max too, although he didn't know her as a kid. They looked haunted. Will remembered them as tiny kids, carefree, obsessed with D&D, their only worry being the science quiz coming up. But there was a complete shift in their energy now, a weary and tired look to them.

"You're back." Lucas said softly, like he couldn't believe it, and it kind of smacked Will in the face all of a sudden.

He's back.

Chapter Text

Nightmares were usual for Will at this point. He had them all the time, never catching a break from the horrors of the Upside Down when he was there. He went to sleep and there they were again. But this one seemed worse. Harsher. He scrambled a little as he became aware of the covers surrounding him again, dream world and real world meshing together until he was aware of where he was again.

Mike Wheeler's basement.

Fuck.

Everything flooded back to him, and he shuddered. It didn't feel real. But he could hear his friends breathing below him in the sleeping bags, they were there.

He rolled over, trying to fall asleep again, but it was completely useless. Light was already shining through the small window in the basement door, and he could hear the house above him beginning to stir.

He tiptoed out of bed, not really knowing why when he froze. Police sirens, in the distance. Slowly getting louder like they were coming here. To the Wheeler's house.

He nearly tripped trying to scramble to the small window, arriving just in time to see an ambulance, a fire truck, and a police car pass the house. He stayed for a few moments, heart beating out of his chest, but they didn't come back.

He turned around and nearly jumped ten feet in the air. Mike was about two inches away from him, looking out the window too.

"Fuck- Mike, what the hell?" He said, but with no venom in his voice.

"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly. "Sirens woke me up."

They both jumped at the sound of the phone ringing, and Mike ran to grab it before anyone else in the house did.

Mike furrowed his eyebrows when he put the phone to his ear.

"Max?"

Will could hear her faintly, but couldn't hear anything beyond mumbling from where he was standing. A few feet away, Lucas stirred, rubbing sleep from his eyes groggily.

"Mike? Who's calling s' early?" He slurred, and Mike waved a hand at him.

"Eddie's? What do you mean?"

Eddie? Who the hell was Eddie?

Mike's eyes widened. "A what?" He shouted.

Mike turned to Lucas and Will. "A body, in Eddie's trailer."

Lucas shot up, tripping over his sleeping bag. "Eddie's?"

Max said something on the phone and Mike shook his head. "He wouldn't. He wouldn't hurt anyone."

Lucas saw the confused look on Will's face.

"Eddie's the head of a D&D club at our school. He didn't kill anyone."

Will nodded, and didn't say anything.

Behind him, Mike spoke again. "Did you see who it was?"

A pause.

"You're not sure? You said you saw him with someone."

A larger pause, and Mike gaped. "Chrissy Cunningham? The cheerleader? The hell was she doing at Eddie's?!"

Cheerleader. Oh my god. Will saw a cheerleader last night.

He winced at the image in his head, and sat down on the coffee table. It had to be who Mike was talking about.

"Okay. Get over here soon."

Mike hung up the phone and turned to Lucas and Will with wide eyes.

"Max is on her way." He said slowly.

Behind him, Dustin sat up.

"Guys shut up." He whispered, and then he caught sight of Will and his eyes widened a little. Then he seemed to sense the mood in the room.

"The hell did I miss?"

That was definitely the Dustin Will remembered.

Lucas rolled his eyes but rushed to fill him in nonetheless, and Mike sat down beside Will.

The whole room went silent after Lucas finished speaking, and Dustin heaved a breath in.

"Well, that's heavy." He said.

Understatement. Huge understatement.

Will nodded anyway. Mike turned to face him and Will could see his quirked brow from the corner of his eye.

"Your eyes widened. When I said 'Chrissy'."

"No, they widened when you said 'the cheerleader'."

"How come?" Mike pried, and Will wanted to go back to sleep.

He shrugged, knowing Mike could see right through him. Dustin and Lucas too. They all shared another glance, and he huffed.

"I heard. I heard it when she died."

Mike straightened up and gaped. "What?" He exclaimed, and Dustin stood up from his sleeping bag to walk over towards Will.

"Well, I mean." He shifted uncomfortably, not used to all this attention. He hadn't seen another human in three years for fucks sake. "I could hear a lot of things from there. Like if I was at my house, and Mom or Jonathan, sometimes El, were in the same spot I was in, I could hear them."

"So you were in Eddie's trailer? Why were you at Eddie's?" Lucas asked softly. He remembered that about Lucas. He was gentle when he needed to be.

"I was-" No, he wasn't. He had been at his house, miles away from Eddie's. "No. I don't know why that came through from so far away."

Dustin shuffled his feet. "Do you think her death was related to the UD? That's why you heard it?"

Will shrugged. "I don't know." He lied. Why was he lying? What did he have to hide from them? He felt a little spark between one of his fingers, as if he was reminding himself what he had to hide. Right. Powers. So, a lot.

He felt bad for lying, so he shrugged again. "Maybe."

Dustin turned to Lucas, fear written across his features. "Do you think it's the MindFlayer?"

Will glanced at Mike with an incredulous expression. Did they name everything after D&D creatures?

Mike shrugged, and turned back to Dustin. "If it is, then we need to tell everyone. Do you think it is?"

"Do you know about the MindFlayer?" Lucas asked Will, stepping towards him.

"I don't know what you mean by MindFlayer." Will said, honestly. "Like the D&D character?"

Dustin sighed a little impatiently at Lucas. "It's a huge spider looking thing. Made of shadows. Real creepy."

A shiver raced down Will's spine. Yes, the shadow-monster. He knew a lot about the shadow-monster.

He managed to nod, trying to keep the panic bubbling in his chest hidden behind a serious expression. He never knew that thing had left the Upside Down. But there had always been bigger problems there than the shadow-monster. Bats, slimy dog-whatevers, Henry. Henry was the biggest one.

"Okay." Lucas nodded, concern etched on his face. "Okay. Cool. Fuck."

Dustin walked over to the phone and picked it up, not making any moves to let anyone else know who he was calling. Lucas pivoted in his direction in annoyance.

"Care to share with the class what you're doing?"

"Calling Steve. He'll know what to do."

Will turned to Mike, once more, mouthing, "Steve?!", and Mike smiled.

"Steve Harrington, yeah. He's chill."

Lucas raised an eyebrow, and Mike backtracked.

"Okay, chill isn't the right word. He's kind of in a state of constant panic. But he's cool now."

"I thought he was a dick." Will was in awe of how much he had managed to miss.

"He dated my sister, lost a fight to your brother, almost got killed by a Demogorgon, and then my sister broke up with him. Again. I think that was the second time. Et voila, no longer a dick."

Will snorted, and decided to just go with it.

"Robin." Dustin said in a disappointed voice, and then rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not disappointed you picked up. I just need to talk to Steve right now."

He heard someone rambling on the other line, and then loudly and clearly, "Steve!"

Dustin winced and pulled the receiver away from his ear. "Tell him to hurry up."

A pause, and then Dustin huffed. "I'm not a "little man." And then his face brightened as, apparently, Steve was given the phone.

"Steve!"

Lucas exchanged a glance with Will and Mike.

"Sometimes we think he likes Steve more than us," Mike whispered jokingly to Will.

"No, listen, I don't care if you're at work. Robin can cover your shift! Or Keith!" Dustin rubbed his temples.

He turned to the other boys and rolled his eyes, making a 'blah blah blah' motion with his hands as Steve spoke on the other line.

"Listen, just get over here. Mike's." Dustin winced after he said that, and spoke again. "She isn't here right now. Hurry up."

He hung up the phone and flopped onto the couch. "He'll be here in fifteen."

Will only ever recalled meeting Steve once, sometimes when he was with Nancy while the boys were hanging at Mike's. He seemed to have changed a lot.

"Who else knows about everything?" Will asked, and Dustin held up a hand, rambling off names and counting them on his fingers.

"Steve, Robin, Nancy, your family, Erica, El obviously, us obviously, and I think that's it."

"And Eddie too, now." Lucas added.

"That doesn't count, we don't know what actually happened."

They fell into a silence, and Dustin shifted on the couch.

"I'm hungry." Lucas groaned, and they nodded in agreement.

"Us three will go upstairs and get breakfast, you wait down here, okay?" Mike stood up and smiled at Will. "We'll be right back."

Dustin grinned at Lucas. "Deja vu, man."

Will didn't know what that meant. Did they keep people hidden in Mike's basement often?

The three ran up the stairs, and Will was left alone again.