Chapter Text
The first rays of sunlight filled the Wheeler house with warmth, but despite that warmth Will only felt coldness.
One shiver after another ran down his back.
He had been awake most of the night, tossing and turning while Mike slept peacefully beside him.
For what felt like an eternity, he kept looking at the clock every minute.
04:06.
05:15.
06:32.
He couldn’t take it anymore and sat up, his gaze falling on Mike.
His hair was tousled, and every worry had fallen from his face.
Hesitantly, Will lifted his hand and carefully moved it toward Mike’s face to brush a strand of hair away, but he held himself back before he might regret his actions.
Instead, he got up and sat at Mike’s desk, opened the notebook Joyce had given him for his last birthday, and pulled the pencils toward himself that he had gotten from Mike for what he called his “move‑in.”
Time passed until Jonathan knocked on the door and announced breakfast.
What Jonathan noticed immediately was not Mike’s sleep‑marked face, but Will’s sad expression returning once again, just like the day before.
“We… hnnng… we’ll be right there.”
Mike didn’t manage to say more before he rubbed his eyes vigorously, yawning.
In the meantime, Will closed the notebook and followed Jonathan to the door.
“Will, Jonathan, I need you today.”
“Oh, yes, of course, Mr. Wheeler. How can we help?”
Ted looked at Jonathan and sighed.
“Just a few errands outside of town.”
“Oh, Ted, take Michael with you. I need Will.”
Ted sighed again.
“Alright, Michael. You’re coming with me.”
“But that’s not fair! Why does Will get to go with Mom?”
“Would you rather watch Holly all day? Nancy would surely have no problem switching with you.”
Karen’s look was enough to bring Mike to his senses.
When Karen and Will got into the car, Karen broke the silence.
“You miss your mother, don’t you, Will?”
Will turned his gaze from the window and looked at Karen.
“What? No, I… I like it here with you.”
He smiled. But sad.
“Well… maybe a little.”
Karen looked at him confidently and smiled.
“She should be in Lenora tomorrow, so you can call your mother again. The drive is long, but she’s not gone from this world.”
Will nodded, though he still looked sad.
“Yeah, maybe.”
Gone from this world. Not like Barb, who died in the Upside Down. Not like Bob, who died to a Demodog. Or Hopper, who died in the explosion of a laser that opened a portal to the Upside Down.
Lost deep in thought, Will didn’t notice where they were heading at all.
“Where are we going?”
Karen grinned mysteriously.
“Well, the Starcourt Mall was our only way to get goods from outside. But my friend Vivian gave me a tip…”
Will still didn’t understand.
“You’ll understand when we get there.”
Will didn’t recognize that place.
He estimated the drive to be about half an hour, actually longer than the longest distance in Hawkins. So he assumed they were no longer in Hawkins.
Karen and him entered the mall. Smaller than Starcourt Mall, but no less exciting.
They stopped in the lobby when Karen pulled him aside and handed him $50.
“I don’t know how much you’ll need, but there’s a studio here that has all kinds of supplies for artists. Maybe… it’ll make your stay with us a little easier.”
Her smile was warm and reassuring. Like that of a mother.
Will smiled and hid the money, even though it was hard not to give it back. He knew she didn’t want that and wanted to make him happy.
“Thank you, Mrs… Karen.”
She hugged him. Normally, Will felt awkward with hugs, but Karen was like a second mother to him. Now that his own mother wasn’t with them.
“I’d say we meet back here in… an hour?”
Will nodded.
“An hour is perfect.”
Will could never have dreamed of such amounts of art supplies.
Shelves full of all kinds of brushes with different bristle thicknesses, paints in such a wide palette that Hawkins seemed even more bleak, and much more.
But in the sea of all these products, he would have recognized that certain green from a mile away.
Hawkins green. More precisely, Tigers green.
In disbelief, he looked at the boy who turned around at that exact moment and grinned. Grinning right at him.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
Will grinned, but he still couldn’t believe that he was seeing Chance here.
“What… what are you doing here?”
“What I’m doing here? Well, I… needed new… brushes.”
“You needed new… you’re an artist?”
Chance laughed.
“Me? No, well, I paint. Not well, but I paint.”
“You paint?”
Will couldn’t believe his ears.
“You’re a basketball player and you paint?”
Chance shrugged.
“Happens sometimes.”
After an hour, Will left the store, arms full of supplies, when he spotted Karen.
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow, Will?”
Will nodded and grinned.
“See you tomorrow, Chance.”