Chapter Text
In his bed, eyes fluttering to a close, Will is all ready for the night. He redid his makeup and hair, and grabbed a few more jewelry pieces for extra measure. If Jane’s friends don’t like him, the least he can do is give them more reason to. Be more himself to scare them off.
A knock at the door catches his attention, and he knows it’s Jane. “Will?” She calls gently as the door creaks open.
His eyes are wound closed, like he might somehow be having a nightmare that he’ll wake up from any minute. “Mm?”
“It is time to go.” When he looks, sitting up, she seems worried. Her eyebrows are pinched together, and she’s playing with her hair like she does when she’s nervous. “Are you… sure you want to come?”
“N- no, no, I do.” He doesn’t want to per say, but he will. Will pushes to his feet, his jacket slumped over his shoulders like the hug he needs. “Let’s go.”
Thankfully his mother and Hopper are both out at work, so no one is there to act shocked that he’s leaving the house for once. He doesn’t need one more thing to deter him from going.
It doesn’t click until he’s locked the door that he’s not sure exactly where they’re going, and how far away it is. They don’t have their own car, that much is obvious. Jane notices this instantly, saying, “Max is here. To pick us up.”
Will knows Max. He likes her even, which is special, as he can’t say that about many people. When she comes over she’ll greet him, ask him questions, and try to get to know him. She never has to, but she does anyway when she can catch him out of his room. She’s genuine when she wants to be, although often tends to pick on her friends jokingly. She plays around with Will sometimes, which he often doesn’t realize she’s messing around until she says so.
While he doesn’t know her well at all, Will does like Max.
Jane is honest like always, because as they near the truck parked in front of the grass, Max can be seen tapping at the wheel through the window. Jane opens the passenger side door, while Will slides into the backseat.
“What’s up, Byers twins?” Is how she says hello, because that’s the name she’s coined them with. Her red hair is twisted into two braids, and she shrugs on a black hoodie with patches scattered all over it.
Will gives a small smile at that. “Nothing much.”
Jane nods along. “How are you?”
Max gives her a look. “You saw me today, dude. I have nothing new to tell you, ‘cause I dumped it all earlier.”
Jane laughs. “It is polite, Max.” Will wants to laugh, but he can’t make the sound well up from his throat.
“What about you?” Her gaze flicks to Will from the rearview mirror, glacier eyes staring through his soul. “Anything new?” She begins to drive, clicking through the radio stations to find one she likes.
Yes, he wants to tell her, Jason found out I’ve been doodling my hallway crush that’s also a guy, but no one’s surprised about the last bit. He doesn’t say that though, he just shrugs, because as easy as it is to talk to Max he’s not going to bring down the mood like that. No one wants to hear about his bad day anyways. “Nothing.”
Max bites her lip, he catches her doing it, like she’s going to say something but decides against it. Jane steals her attention as she bumps up the music, taking the moment to go on about her other friends.
Will watches the trees as they drive, the heat getting to his head and nearly lolling him to sleep. The only thing keeping him awake is Max’s music choice - punk. He dabbles in it a little bit, but it’s not always his thing, though it fits that Max would like the genre.
The drive is fairly short, and Will snaps up when they finally arrive. It’s a house he’s never been around before, but he supposes he will tonight.
Will towers over the two girls, who are all over each other the second they step out. Something festers in his chest at the sight, something that says he wishes he had friends, something that he desperately kicks away.
Max knocks on the door, loud and excessive. A blonde, rather done up woman answers with a fake smile. “Hello, Max. They’re in the basement.” Is all she says, already aware of where they’re going, and leads them inside.
She glaces over Will and Jane, prompting his sister to introduce them. “I am Jane, and this is Will.” They both give a short wave, and the woman lights up.
“Oh, Jane! I’ve heard so much about you, dear.” She exclaims, and holds her hands together.
Max yanks at Jane’s arm, which prompts Will to follow. “Guys, c’mon, we’re basically late. Dustin’s gonna kill us!” She chuckles dry like she does, and Will wonders where he’s heard that name before, or if he even has.
His nerves don’t stop jumping, and they’re reaching very high. This was for sure a terrible idea, but it’s also for sure too late to do anything about it. Will simply fluffs his hair, and keeps moving.
There are three people downstairs, all boys. One has curly hair, the other a septum piercing, and the other very big hair.
The one with the septum piercing starts, and Will has an aching recognition for his face. “Hey, guys! Hey, Jane!” He waves excitedly, and Jane gives one back. Of course, there is no hello for Will.
“No hello to me?” Max asks, scoffing.
“Never.” The boy slugs an arm over her shoulder, and places a peck to her forehead. She grimaces, making a fake puking noise, and he just looks like he got the reaction he wanted.
Will is the last to enter the basement fully, feet finding carpet. He stands behind Jane, who looks so comfortable and happy he just wants to steal it. Sometimes, as horrible as it is, Will hates when other people are better socially than him, especially Jane. He shoves that down too.
“Hey, Will.” That picks up his eyes from the floor, and the boy he can’t place is smiling at him like he should know who he is. He’s seen him around before, he knows that, but other than that it’s not coming back.
“H- hey?” It comes out as more of a question.
“Oh, shit, it’s been a while.” He laughs it off, and Will is sure he’s annoyed that Will doesn’t recognize him. He gestures to himself playfully. “Lucas.”
Will slaps a hand over his mouth.
Lucas was his elementary school best friend, the kid who decided to befriend him when no one else would. He adored Will’s drawings, he played dungeons and dragons with him, hell, he went as the ghostbusters with him for Halloween. Lucas, Will, and-
“Oh, shit, hey, Will!”
Dustin, the other third of their elementary trio, cuts into the circle. He looks virtually the same, although with a few more ear piercings and more teeth, but it’s Dustin. He pulls Will into a hug, one he doesn’t expect but takes for all it’s worth.
“Hey, Dustin.” His arms are warm and big, squeezing Will in a good way, and Will almost regrets pulling apart.
“This is crazy!” Dustin giggles, running his hand over his cap. “I didn’t know you were Jane’s step brother.”
Lucas agrees, Max shoving him off. “Yeah, man, how’ve you been?”
Would it be bad to say that their memories were the best he’s ever had, and that maybe he’s realized he peaked in elementary school? He decides immediately that yes, it would be bad to admit that. “Good, good.” Is all he answers with, although with a smile.
“I think we ran into you earlier but I’m not sure I recognized you.” Lucas adjusts his sweatpants, flashing him that white toothed smile he’s always worn.
Will has no clue what he’s talking about, because as far as he’s concerned they’ve never seen one another unless from across the hall. “You- you ran into me?”
Dustin nods. “Yeah, dude, you were hanging your head, and we were talking, and you collided with-,”
“I found the pick!” A voice erupts from around the corner, cutting off Dustin, who just rolls his eyes.
“Speak of the devil.”
Will can already tell who it is just by their shoes - roughed up converse doodled on in sharpie. His breath hitches, and he finds those goddamn dark waves and tender smile.
Mike steps up to the group, shoving a guitar pick in each of their faces. “I found it! And you all said it was gone forever!”
Dustin slaps Mike hand away. “Yes, Mike, because you lose literally everything."
It’s like Will can’t breathe. This was such a bad idea, and now it’s become an even worse one.
Stewing in his thoughts is just when Mike finds his face, and pauses. He doesn’t talk for a second, and Will sticks his expression to the floor. If he looks then he’ll stare, and he won’t stop.
“Oh. Hey.” Will is yanked back up, and Mike is actually looking at him, and with a gorgeous smile, one so pretty he wants to vomit.
He chokes out a greeting, one with a humiliating voice crack. “H- hey.”
The moment is over before he knows it, because Mike has already moved on. The least he can do is pray that Mike has no idea any of that morning ever happened, and has no idea that a boy with a crush on him is a foot away. “Hey, Jane.” He grins at her, the same as he does everyone else.
She holds out her fist for him to bump, a gesture Will had taught her so many years ago. “Hi, Mike!”
Lucas sighs, although still smiling. “Alright, now that you’ve got your dumbass pick we can finally start working.”
“It’s not dumb!”
Max shoves him away, stepping near the couch where the instruments are. “Oh yes, we can start because Mike got his stupid pick, not because your girlfriend arrived.”
Lucas’ face falls. “That’s not what I-,”
Will can’t tell what comes over him. “Wow, Lucas.” He says, and Jane looks back at him in surprise. He acts like they’ve known each other for years - which, technically they have - but he hasn’t been friends with these guys since they were eight. Lucas probably thinks he’s overstepping, and Will’s heart stops as soon as he says it.
Laughing, Lucas bumps his arm. “Shut it, Byers.” It’s rude if it were anyone else, but he says it in between laughs. “You’re not helping.”
“Will can’t save you.” Not allowing Will a second to process the fact that Lucas doesn’t completely despise him, Max makes a mischievous grin as she settles behind a drum set.
Jane takes Will’s hand in hers, leading him to a spot on the floor as the band bickers.
Dustin hangs his head, adjusting his bass over his shoulder. “Idiots! All of you!” He says it dramatically, flopping down beside the guy who hasn’t said a word yet.
“Henderson, you’re the biggest idiot of them all.” He huffs, mumbling, and strums a cracking note on his own acoustic guitar. He’s older than all of them, surely, and he looks far more “normal” than the rest of them.
Dustin makes a grimace, sticking his tongue out. “I’m not taking that from you, Steve.”
“Where’s Robin?” Jane asks this Steve person, and Will has no idea who they’re speaking of, but still listens in.
“They scheduled her tonight, and without me.” He plays around with the knobs on his instrument, and Will can’t help but watch the knuckles of his hands move. “She’s working with some random douche.”
“Good.” Is all Mike says, earning him a few glares around the room. The veins circling his skinny, long arms pulse as he picks up his guitar, and Will’s gaze lingers there longer than it’s supposed to. “I mean- she’s always distracting us, guys. We can’t get anything done with her around!”
“True, but damn.” Max still sits behind the drum set, but slumps to the wall behind her, arms crossed with a grin.
Mike shakes his head. “Don’t tell her I said that.”
“I will.” Dustin holds a goofy looking smirk, one that Mike scoffs at. “Besides, we’ve got Jane and Will to distract us tonight.”
Will pauses as his name is mentioned, and having no idea how to respond to that or if he’s supposed to respond to that, let’s Jane laugh with the rest of the group.
Her smile opens to reveal her teeth. “We will not.”
“It’s okay if you do,” Lucas has his own guitar resting in his lap, grinning from ear to ear, “I certainly don’t care.”
Max deadpans. “You don’t care because you barely do anything normally.”
Mike kicks at his back, howling a laugh that cuts off whatever Lucas would have said next. “Man, she got you good.”
“Calm it, guys.” Steve sighs, seemingly already exhausted with them. “You’re probably scarin’ the new guy.”
Eyes flock to Will, looking and staring and searching for vulnerability. Will is a scared guy, which is known and expected when you’re someone everyone wants to hurt. He surely didn’t need them to know that though, to be even more aware of his throbbing anxiety. His words lump in his throat.
When he realizes they’ve waited a second for him to deter that statement, he forces his voice out. “I- I’m good.” Is all he says, and it’s obvious that he’s lying.
Somehow, or at least they don’t reveal it, no one catches on. “We’re not scary!” Dustin retorts, his point proved right by Will. “We’re cool.”
“Oh yeah,” Max rolls her eyes, plucking at strings in between, “so cool that we hang out in Wheeler’s basement on Friday nights for fun.”
Mike shoots her a look, a curl falling into the space over his nose. Will wishes he could be the one to brush it back into place. “I’ll have you know that my basement is very cool. An invite only hang out.” His face says he’s joking, unable to take himself seriously.
Lucas laughs, and Jane speaks between a giggle of her own. “I am glad we made the cut.”
She stares right at Mike with those long lashed eyes of hers, and he stares right back. They laugh, only looking at one another with each of their bright smiles.
There’s no reason why Mike wouldn’t like her. She’s obviously hung out with them before, and who’s to say Mike wasn’t the one to keep inviting her back? Maybe this is just Mike’s attempt at getting her brother to like him so that he has Will’s approval to go after her. There’s absolutely no reason why that wouldn’t be the case.
Will keeps quiet when they keep going through circles of banter, just joking and having fun, always the resident buzzkill. He feels sort of like crying, but he always feels that way.
He shouldn’t be upset, especially not when they offered to invite him of all people to join them for the night. Will should be grateful to have had the chance of being in the same room as Mike, or any of these people, even if the end goal was to get to Jane. He should be happy for her, his beautiful, amazing sister. It’s only because he’s such a dick that he can’t muster that up, only a barbed jealousy.
There’s no reason to be jealous when in no world would Mike ever even think of him at all. This is the first time they’ve ever met, and some completely straight guy in the middle of Hawkins Indiana of all places would never see Will anything more than some kid in the hallway. Nothing would ever happen between them, and it’s crazy stupid to even have a longing for otherwise.
Jane keeps laughing, and so do the others, all listening to Steve and Dustin argue about something unimportant.
“Dude, actually shut up-,”
Will should really go. This space isn’t meant for him, fun isn’t meant for him, friends aren’t meant for him.
“Bleh, I’m Steve and I hate fun and intelligence-,”
There’s a tightness in his throat that’s getting to tense to bear, and he’s either going to cry or have an anxiety attack. That’s so dumb considering nothing’s even happen, and it’s so sad that it’s probably coming up because he’s not used to being around so many people ever.
Quickly and briefly he takes a glance at Jane, whispering something about needing to use the bathroom, before scrambling up the stairs. They quiet the moment he stands, just for a second, before resuming their fun. Will hopes to God he didn’t make too much of a disturbance for his damn anxiety.
It takes a second to locate the bathroom while evading the home owner’s family, desperate not to look like an idiot wandering around a foreign house he’s not even supposed to be in. When he finds it, rushing in, he locks the door before settling on the floor beside the bathtub.
He just needs a minute, that’s all. Will can do this. He can’t be so pathetic that twenty minutes of socializing will kill him, he just wants to take a breath is all.
That breath turns to several, even when the turning in his belly is long gone. The silence fills him with a strange sort of calm that only it brings, but he decides it would be better with music. Of course his stuff is still in the basement, so he doesn’t have any.
Once staring at the restroom tiles and thinking too hard about everything ever gets boring, Will stands to glance in the mirror. He stands tall inside of it, broad shoulders and a partially defined jaw. His makeup is spreading a little, which he doesn’t necessarily care about when the point is for it to be messy. Such is the deal with his hair, which also looks fine.
All of that is okay, good even, but there’s still something off. Maybe it’s just him. That sounds right, although he knows he shouldn’t think it, even when it’s true.
What would Lonnie think of him now?
He wouldn’t have anything nice to say, that Will knew well. He’d definitely be disgusted. That wouldn’t surprise Will, considering the fact that he wasn’t too happy even when Will was eight. The state he was in now would surely prove he still hadn’t grown out of any habits Lonnie loved to hate.
Slightly he jumps when a knock rings at the bathroom door, calling him over. “You okay in there?” A voice asks, and Will would hate for it to be a family member waiting on him to stop his nonstop overthinking so they can piss.
“Be out in a sec!” He replies, stepping to the side to flush and run some water over his hands just to make it seem like he was actually doing something.
When he swings open the door, the last person he hopes to see is Michael Wheeler.
And of course, it’s Michael Wheeler.
Will’s mouth goes dry. He waits for Mike to go first as he shuffles out of the way. It’s already awkward and he wants to dig a hole to die in.
“Hey, uh, Will.” Mike says, giving him an unsure smile. His sunken cheeks sit perfectly right beside his lips in a way the Will loves and hates that he loves. “You okay?”
“Oh,” Will starts, because what kind of question is that from Mike Wheeler? “Yeah. I’m okay.” Did they all notice his little freak out? Were they annoyed, pissed off that he ruined the mood? Was Mike here to kick him out?
“Sorry,” Mike says, sucking in a breath, “I was just going to get some snacks, y’know, for the group, and I guess I saw you leave and thought, like, maybe you weren’t having a good time or something. So I came to check on you.” He stumbles, waving his arms around while he talks. It’s endearing.
“O- oh-,”
Mike covers his face with his hands. “That sounds so weird. Sorry.” He groans, rubbing his eyes with his bony fingers.
“No, no, you’re good.” Will can’t believe what he’s just heard, thus his words are slowly trailing back to his brain. Mike came to check on him. “You’re fine.”
Mike just laughs it off, which pulls a small chuckle out of Will. “But you’re good?”
Will nods, arms stiff at his sides. “Totally.”
“You want to help me get some food?” Mike offers, already turning to make his way to the kitchen, curls washing over his shoulder and onto a bit of his back. “I don’t think I can carry everything Lucas wants all on my own.”
Will just laughs, one that comes easy and not forced, following him down the hallway. He adjusts his hair instinctively, just like he always does when there’s someone to impress.
“Alright. Twinkies, whatever chips we have, - specifically potato - one of each soda, and all the candy in this kitchen.” Mike lists, already heading to the cabinets, just before pointing to a door in the corner. “You can check the pantry.”
It feels a little weird taking things from someone else’s pantry, especially someone he doesn’t know well, but he does as he’s told. The closet is stocked from top to bottom, so it takes a pause for him to study the shelves to find what he needs, and what he needs is a lot.
As soon as he disappears into the stacks of candies and chips, Mike calls over to him. “So, you’re Jane’s step brother, right?”
That same lump comes back in his chest this time. No one warned him that he would have to make conversation with his hallway crush tonight. “Yeah. Yeah.”
“She talks about you a lot.” He comments, and for a second his voice is muffled like he’s shoved himself into a cabinet.
That’s interesting. Although it makes sense. “Really?”
“Mhm. About you’re art and your music and stuff. Everything we say always reminds her to bring up you.” He chuckles in a soft, kind way. “I knew it’d be fun to finally meet you.”
So Mike wasn’t completely opposed to the thought of meeting him. Maybe he doesn’t know about the whole Jason thing. Will can hope. “That’s sweet.” He mumbles, letting himself cherish the warm sensation in his chest. Jane is the best.
“What do you do anyways?” Mike sounds again like he’s reaching for something, voice strained. “Like do you paint or do you just draw? I mean, what’s your thing?”
“I paint a lot.” Will picks a piece of his hair out of his eye. “Or I sketch. Nothing that good.”
“C’mon, I bet it’s really good. I know from the way Jane talks about your stuff. And you know friends don’t lie.”
Will lets his face flush a little with a huff of appreciation. “Exactly.” It’s Jane’s saying she came up with not long after her and Hopper moved in with the Byers, and everyone who’s ever known her knows friends don’t lie.
“You should show me some of your work sometime.”
Will might as well choke on the nonexistent water he’s drinking. Never in a million years would he willingly show his work to anyone but his family and teachers. It’s too weird and average and embarrassing. Taking the route of hoping Mike is just being polite, he answers: “yeah, sure.”
When Will comes back out Mike has about eight cans of soda, while Will carries about ten bags of miscellaneous snacks hugged between his arms. “This alright?” He asks, genuinely checking if he grabbed the correct stuff.
Mike rushes to take some weight off, shoving things between drink cans. “Yeah! Hopefully these are all to Dustin’s esteemed tastes ‘cause I’m not coming back up here.” He mocks, cocking his head in a gesture to tell Will to follow him.
Jane is the first to notice them coming down the stairs, admittedly both wobbly considering they could barely see the stairs below them. She quirks a brow at Will, one that asks what the hell happened, is he okay, and he just shrugs a small, thin smile. She takes that as an acceptable answer, which she normally doesn’t.
Mike sets the bags down in a mess of a pile with a huff. “Here’s the goods. No need to thank me.” Placing his hands on his hips, he watches Will set each down carefully.
“Wasn’t gonna.” Dustin remarks, diving into the center table to snatch a coke.
Lucas opens his mouth instantly in protest. “You better not be taking the only coke right now, Dustin.” He grabs over to wear the curly haired one sits, Steve in between them, and Dustin just jerks back with a devious face.
“You bet I am.” He says, all smug as he clicks open the tab and steals a sip.
Lucas slaps his knee, the only part he can reach, before cursing back in a joking tone. “Fuck you, dude.” He reaches instead for a root beer.
Jane shakes her head. “Coke is gross.” She decides, sticking her tongue out.
“How dare you!” Lucas exclaims dramatically, just like how he would when they were kids. Will just watches in satisfaction, taking a lick of a tootsie pop. “You’re blasphemous, Jane. You disappoint me.”
Max, on the other side of him behind her drum set, taps him on the head with her drum stick, which follows with a yelp. “Don’t talk to my best friend like that.” She reprimands, and Mike howls a laugh at his friend’s demise.
Lucas rubs at his head. “Maybe don’t hit your boyfriend like that!”
“No, Sinclair, I think you need a good hit to the head.” Steve snickers, and Lucas just sputters a come back.
“Will!” He turns, and Will nearly jumps at the fact that he’s not entirely invisible to this group. “Defend me! I know you will!” He pleads, playing up his voice.
Will just laughs, meek but still there, and somehow feels settled enough to jump in. “Guys, stop bullying Lucas. He already didn’t get his Coca Cola, he’s in a vulnerable state.”
Lucas nods, appeased. “That’s exactly right.”
“Are we gonna practice now or what?” Mike chimes in, annoyed. He’s strumming a few strings, curling out a few individual squeals of the guitar in his lap. “Or are you people too busy eating?”
“If we don’t start soon I’m leaving. I could be home right now doing more important things.” Steve states, preoccupied with his own guitar.
Dustin doesn’t like that. “Yeah, like getting drunk and watching Murder, She Wrote or something.”
“That’s not-,”
Max sends them each a separate death stare, both just as intense. “Shut your mouths you two, or I’m leaving before he is.”
That gets them moving, and Will just leans back and observes as they start chatting about productive matters. It’s interesting to see how stark a difference it is between them messing around and getting to work, but it sort of makes sense. They take it seriously, which Will relates to himself and his own art. It’s admirable.
Only when Mike starts singing, just a few lines and just to himself, does Will really hone in.
He thought Mike couldn’t get any more attractive. He’s proven very wrong.
And Will can’t stop watching, which, for the record, he doesn’t want to. It seems like an original considering Will doesn’t recognize the words, which makes Mike that much more impressive.
His lips, perfectly reddened on his pale face, move along in a hypnotic fashion, eyes focused on his own fingers, which are working on the instrument dutifully. Will just listens and stares, caught in a spider’s web.
When Mike stops, trailing to the end with a grimace, he lets that same mouth curl into a frown, just as he looks right up at Will. He forms a smile once more. “That sucked, didn’t it? I fucked up the words.”
“No, that was amazing.” Will admits without thinking.
Mike takes it as a normal compliment. “You’re too nice. You can be honest.” He laughs, taking a sip of his drink.
Will glances away. “I am.” He doesn’t look up to gauge Mike’s reaction.
It’s only a while later that the woman from before yells down to Mike, who Will assumes to be his mother. “Mike! Practice is over!”
Mike shouts right back. “Give us a minute!”
The band packs up on cue, and Will and Jane follow suit.
“Thanks for coming out to join us, guys.” Lucas says, reaching out a hand to fist bump Jane. Will is surprised to get one next. “Nice to see you again, Will.”
Will hopes to reign in how uncharacteristically ecstatic he feels. “You too, Lucas.”
“You all were wonderful!” Jane exclaims for the millionth time, but of course it hasn’t gotten old.
Dustin takes her into a hug, one that’s a little awkward around the edges. “Thanks, Jane.” He says, and adds onto when he pulls back. “You two should come around more often. You make it a little more bearable.”
“Bullshit, Henderson, you love us.” Mike counters, following them upstairs to walk them all out.
Steve pats Dustin’s back. “Trust me, he does. The kid never shuts up about how excited he is for practice.”
Dustin’s cheeks go red. “God forbid I want to spend time with my friends!”
Max cuts between all of them as they find their way out the door. “C’mon Byers twins, let’s ditch these guys.”
A few more goodbyes are exchanged as the cold air hits them, and Will politely waves back. His shoulders feel lighter than they have in a while, and it seems the group may have helped him to forget all his worries for a little while.
“Will!”
He turns, and there’s no one else but Mike behind him. “It was nice meeting you! Come back soon, ‘kay?”
All Will can manage is a slight, stunned nod. “Yeah, for sure.”