Chapter Text
Will was in the the bathroom basement at Mike’s house, where the Byers had been staying. He was getting dressed and going through his thoughts, Mike had been.. clingy, like when they were kids, it gave Will some hope of a chance, but he wouldn’t want to ruin anything or take him away from El, not that he even thought Mike could like him back fully, so he tried to push the years long thought away for a moment and focus on something else.
And that something else was Jason, the fact that he’d been looking at him, and he didn’t look at him with disgust, but curiosity, and Will didn’t know how to feel about that. Had Jason been watching him before? For how long? Was he planning something? Will felt anxiety creep up his spine and tried to reassure himself that everything was ok, and if Jason was up to something, Mike and Dustin and Lucas would be there, he’d be safe.
—
Breakfast was quieter than usual, it wasn’t completely quiet of course, but Will was in his head, just listening and kinda feeling like he wasn’t really there. No one particularly noticed, of course Holly and Mr and Mrs Wheeler didn’t pay much mind to him at the breakfast table, Jonathan was probably in his own head about something or talking to Nancy, and Joyce, she had already left early for a double shift, and Mike..
Will had taken a moment to realize Mike was looking at him, he’d been to busy looking at everyone else. Mike was looking at him with an expression Will couldn’t quite place, but it looked kinda worried.
After breakfast Will helped Mrs wheeler clean the dishes before he left for school, he liked feeling useful, like he wasn’t just taking up space, but contributing to his load. Karen adored Will, she always had, being her son’s best friend since forever and all that.
Will and Mike left not long after cleaning up, getting on their bikes and riding to school, because with how their lives had been so far, they really did not have time to get drivers licenses.
“I..” Will stated, taking a deep breath, he didn’t know why it was so hard to talk to Mike, things are just different from when they were little kids. “You were looking at me kinda weird during breakfast, everything ok?” Will asked. Mike looked over for just a second before focusing back on the road and shrugged. “Uh yeah, no, just, Eddie and i were on the walkie last night and he told me that you told him that Jason was looking at you, I’m sure it’s nothing..” Mike answered, and Will nodded, speeding up a bit to avoid the awkward silence that filled the space once he stopped talking.
—
At school things were was normal as they could be, staying alert to the radio in case another crawl was announced, going to classes, etc. but now Will was aware that he might be being watched, so he kept looking over his shoulder, to which he found he was, it wasn’t enough to say anything and maybe start something, but the fact that Jason kept looking over at him was freaking Will out. Because why would Jason be looking at him? Was he going to threaten the party? Tell him he knows Eddie is alive? Will wasn’t quite sure, but his main concern was that Jason would hate crime him, it wasn’t an unfounded fear, sure, Will wasn’t out, but he basically was with how he had been bullied for his whole life, so the fear that the same guy who was hunting down Eddie in the name of godly justice would hurt him for his alleged queerness, was very real.
So needless to say, Will was anxious, scared, because the what if had a very real chance of happening. So, he stayed close to the party, tried to distract himself a little, even as he felt like eyes were peering into him. He was nervous to look over, to check if Jason was watching him, because what if he was, and they made eye contact, and things got more aggressive than watching?
It was hard to ignore, and the thought of how long he was being observed before he first noticed made his skin crawl.
During lunch Will was mindlessly poking at his food with his fork, he didn’t have much of an appetite, he always seemed to lose it when new upside down Vecna stuff was happening, and now it’d been happening for a while, no one seemed to notice really, aside from Karen telling him to eat more at dinner because he was a ‘growing boy’. He knew were Jason was sitting, Dustin had pointed it out the first day Will was back in this high school, it was just two or three tables over in front at his left, he could probably see it if he looked up from his lunch, but he didn’t dare.
Will tried to join back in conversation at his table, distract himself from the thoughts in his head, but they were mostly just talking about what happened before Will got back from California, and what they were going to do next, which didn’t help Will’s anxiety about everything happening right now, do you want to pretend everything was normal and fine just for a little bit, just like everybody else he was doing, but he didn’t have the luxury of being ignorant. So he did his best to block it out, just staring longingly at Mike because if he didn’t, he might look over at that other table, and he might see Jason looking back.
“Will, you ok?” Mike asked, and Will sat up a little straighter, being pulled from his thoughts. “Yeah, just tired, and worried about… everything.” Will sighed, and Mike gently kicked his foot under the table. “Hey, i’m sure everything will be fine, we’ve gone through this a million times before.”
Will forced a smile, standing up with his lunch tray. “I don’t think I can stomach anymore of this, I’ll be right back.” Mike nodded at Will’s words, turning back to the conversation Dustin and Lucas were having.
Will walked over to the back of the cafeteria to throw away his food, he felt kind of bad wasting it, but he was honestly too anxious to stomach anything, and that anxiety only got worse when he heard the one voice, he did not want to hear come walking up behind him. “Will Byers, right? I’m Jason carver.” He sounded nice, charismatic, and Will almost flinched in i’m surprised that he was even walking up to him. “H-hi?” Will turned to face him, putting on a little smile, I am trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible.
Jason was being too nice to him, all smiley and polite, and Will couldn’t help but wonder what his ulterior motive was. “I just saw you sitting with… those guys. And thought i might say something to you. Word on the street is you got back from California at the worst possible moment, heh.” Jason said, extending a hand, which Will took cautiously, not putting much energy into the handshake. “Yeah, just family stuff, and, I’ve been…” Will isn’t sure if he wants to defend his friends, because he doesn’t wanna make himself a bigger target, but he also doesn’t want to look like he’s on Jason’s side, so he decides to stick to his guns. “I’ve known Mike since we were like 6, so we’ve been friends for like ever, a-and I’m staying at his house for now.”
Will really doesn’t know what compelled him to give all that detail at the end, didn’t mean to expose to the one person he didn’t want to know, exactly where he was, he could hear his heart beating, he wondered if Jason could feel it in their still connected hands. “I see, uhm, well, that group is quite something.” Jason said, momentary glancing down, realizing that they were just kind of holding hands, then clearing his throat while pulling his away. “You know, Will, you’re a nice fellow, I know Hawkins hasn’t been the best to you. But I can see you’ve still got some good in you…” Jason kinda trails off, his eyes raking over Will for a moment before he looked away. “I-if you ever wanna talk o-or uhm, something, I’m here.” Jason said, standing there for a moment before giving him a thumbs up walking away.
Will stands there in disbelief. what just happened? Was Jason trying to recruit him? Why was he so desperate with no real goal? Will really doesn’t know what to make of it, he’s confused and anxious and a little flattered, like, somehow Jason was trying to ‘redeem’ him because he thought he was worth ‘redeeming’ and Will knows it’s stupid, but his heart flutters adept at the thought that maybe just maybe this pretty evil to their party, but honestly cute guy would like him.
Will tries to set himself straight, or at least not gay, because he knows that there is no way Jason is gay, and that just because a hot guy was nice to him doesn’t mean they want him, but the way he was looking Will up and down, held onto his hand for too long, nervously offered to talk like a girl asking her crush out, it gave him a small flicker of a something, and he honestly didn’t know if he was going to tell the rest of the party, he knew he should, but he kind of wanted to keep this close to his chest. And maybe he could be a spy? He had done it before for the wrong team, maybe this time he could get in good and figure out if they actually were planning something. It totally definitely is not to because he wanted to see if Jason could actually like him, no, there is totally not a thrill in the villain being hot and taking interest in him.. not at all..
Will walked back to his table, and sat down. “Will, you took a little while.” Mike said, looking at him expectantly. Will was about to explain why, to warn that Jason had talked to him, but he didn’t, he just responded normally when he knew he should tell them, but he just couldn’t bring himself to for some reason. “Yeah, there was a small line, don’t worry.”
Mike nodded, smiling at him. “Ok, we’re just talking about the next crawl…”
Will nodded along, pretending to listen, and glancing at the table Jason was at, to find him glancing at him to, and giving him a smile.
Will smiles back.