Chapter Text
The Byers Residence | Sun 4:36 PM
Will Byers
The wooden floor creaked as Will walked across the house, carrying boxes from Johnathan's room to Joyce's car. Every time Will stepped outside, he was hit with hot air and the scent of pine trees that came from the wilderness surrounding his house.
He retreated back to the cool air inside and walked to his older brother's now empty room. He marveled at his work, feeling proud of himself for doing it alone.
Will wiped the sweat off his forehead and left the house once again to hug Jonathan one last time before he went off to college. Will was excited for Jonathan and he knew that he deserved this, he just wished that Jon wouldn't leave him alone in the house with their father.
Joyce had taken Lonnie back, despite how abusive he was to both her and their kids. Will had resented Joyce for this, feeling as if she didn't care about his safety, but he was still supportive.
Today however, Lonnie was the least of Will's worries. Tomorrow was his first day of sophomore year and judging from last year, Will felt this year would be just as terrible. He felt a pit in his stomach just thinking about it.
"Have fun." Will said while hugging his older brother. He pulled away and watched as Joyce and Jonathan boarded the vehicle. He waved to the two as the car started to back away from the house. Jonathan smiled and waved back to his younger brother.
Will stepped back inside to a house that he was all alone in, and he knew he'd be feeling that way for a while.
***
The next morning, Will woke up to the chirping of birds. The light blue tint of the sky shined through Will's blinds and crept into his eyes, blinding him a bit.
He groaned as he turned over in his bed to look at the alarm clock that sat on his nightstand. 7:32 it read. Will was very late.
When he realized the time, a surge of energy sparked through him and he quickly got out of his bed and ran to the bathroom to take care of his hygiene.
Will brushed his teeth so fast and forcefully that his gums began to bleed. The taste of blood caused him to gag and blindly spit. He yelped at the sight, grabbing a rag and wiping off his now blood-stained mirror.
Will felt like he was a mess, and honestly he didn't know what he expected. He didn't think to set an alarm the night before or even already have clothes set out. He mentally punched himself and then continued his morning routine.
He put on all his clothes including his shoes in under a minute, and then grabbed his book bag while heading out of the house. He softly closed the door so he wouldn't wake up his parents and then ran to his bike.
He was supposed to meet Dustin nearly 20 minutes ago, and assumed that he'd get tired of waiting and leave without him. But to his surprise, Dustin was there at the end of the dirt road, sitting on top of his bike.
"Dude! What the hell!?" Dustin said when he finally saw Will.
"Sorry, forgot to set an alarm."
Dustin rolled his eyes at Will's response and got up off the ground and back on his bike. The boys began to pedal down the street and towards the school while talking to each other about their plans for the school year.
"Will were going to get you a boyfriend this year." Dustin said while looking over at his friend.
"Shhh! Could you be any louder!"
Will was still somewhat uncomfortable with his sexuality, it being the main thing causing him pain in his life. He was glad Dustin was supportive though.
"Will your being paranoid, nobody can hear us out here!" Dustin assured him.
Will always thought that Dustin was way cooler than himself. Dustin had a girlfriend and stood up to the bullies, while Will was single, and quiet, and weird.
The two had met in 2nd grade when Will and his family had moved from Derry to Hawkins. Joyce had gotten tired of the town folk, who were always discussing creepy clown conspiracy theories.
Once the two made it to school and parked their bikes, Wills heart sunk. What if he didn't make any friends? What if Dustin made more friends and left him? What if he got bullied by upperclassmen, again?
Dustin could see the fear in his eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"It's just high school, that's it. Just high school." Dustin said, trying to comfort him.
Will nodded and gulped, beginning to walk into the school. The halls were loud and busy, causing Will and Dustin to have to push through some people to get to the sophomore hallway.
Will spotted a couple of papers on a wall and walked up to them. The papers were sign up sheets for the different clubs and sports. The one that caught Will's eye was the one for art club, which he didn't remember being a thing.
"You should sign up Will, your like really good at drawing and all that shit." Dustin said.
Dustin was right. Will was really good at drawing and all that shit. Plus, Joyce wanted him to be more sociable and maybe he could make some new friends.
Will smiled and said "Thanks." While continuing to look at the paper.
"I'm gonna go to my locker, I'll see you later."
"Bye." Will said while Dustin walked away into the crowd.
Will grabbed the pen and was getting ready to write his name when a group of guys came up to him. He knew they were jocks from the matching team jackets.
"Hey Byers! What you doing?" Troy said in a condescending tone.
Will was completely silent. Even though he's known Troy for 8 years at this point, he still feared him greatly.
"Looks like he's signing up for that queer art club!" James said, causing the football player behind him, who Will knew as Lucas Sinclair, to snicker.
At this point Will was trembling, his hands shaking out of control. He wanted to say something or do something, but he was way shorter than these guys and alone. He knew after they took turns calling him slurs, they would push him and leave, so he waited it out.
His eyes went to the next person in line. He recognized this football player but couldn't think of his name at the moment. He stood with his skin paler than it already was and his teeth clinched. He flashed Will a look of pity and shifted around uncomfortably.
Troy distracted Will from his observations by pushing him against the wall and trying to take the book bag off of Will's back. Will tugged his book bag back from Troy and ran down the hall, away from Troy and his group of jocks.
Will walked into the first classroom he saw, desperately trying to get to a safe place. He took a couple of breaths before being startled again.
"Are you in my class?"
Will violently turned his head towards the teacher, who wore glasses and a friendly smile on his face.
"I-I'm not sure." Will said quietly.
"Well what's your name? I could check for you."
"Will. Will Byers."
The teacher skimmed through his attendance paper, using his pointer finger to keep track of where he was reading.
"Aw yes, you are in my class. Well I'm Mr. Clarke and I hope to get to know you better."
Mr. Clarke looked back up to Will, and subconsciously, Will copied a smile onto his own face. Will liked Mr. Clarke's energy and felt like he brightened up the room.
"Yeah me too." Will said slightly louder, feeling somewhat comfortable around his new teacher.
"You can just sit anywhere, I don't really assign seats." Mr. Clarke said.
Will nodded and went to sit down, even though he didn't go to his locker yet. Will felt too scared to go back out there and didn't want to have another encounter with Troy.
Will sat in the far back and began taking out school supplies. Will took out a sharpie and was about to write on his notebook when he thought to himself, What class am I even in?
***
"Hey Will! How was school?" Dustins mom asked while opening the door wider so that Will could come in.
"Good, thanks for asking." Will said politely.
"Dusty! Will's here!" She called.
Dustin came out of his room to greet his friend. They walked back to his room and Dustin began looking for Dungeons and Dragons. Will looked at all the posters and gadgets that covered Dustins room as he spoke.
"We should wait for the weekend to play D&D. It takes way too long to set up." Will suggested.
"True, wanna read comics?" Dustin asked.
"Of course."
Dustin crouched down and pulled out his box of comic books from under his bed. Dustin placed the box on top of the bed and Will went to sit next to them.
"Was going back to school as bad as you thought it was going to be?" Dustin asked as Will began to browse through the comics.
"Honestly, yes." Will said while looking up at Dustin. "After you left, Troy, James, and Lucas had messed with me so that just made me more anxious."
"I swear, when I see Troy I'm gonna beat the shit outta him."
"One, don't do that and Two, there was another guy there who looked like he was gonna do something to help me but I can't remember his name." Will said.
"What'd he look like?"
Will looked up and thought for a moment before answering. "Black hair, pale, tall, skinny-"
"Oh your talking about Wheeler!"
"Wheeler?"
"Yeah. Mike Wheeler." Dustin reiterated.
Now that there was a name to the face, Will couldn't wait to write in his man journal about Mike. Write how despite being a jock, he was actually a good person. How maybe they could be friends? No no, what is Will thinking? Mike would never want to hang out with a loser like him, right?
***
Will opened the front door to his house and walked in. He turned his head to the living room and saw Lonnie asleep on the couch with beer bottles covering the coffee table.
Will walked over and observed his father, who had a little of drool piling in the corner of his mouth. Will turned off the tv and picked up a couple of bottles, which he emptied out in the sink before throwing them away. As he continued to clean, he tried to think back to a time when Lonnie didn't day drink, and he couldn't.
Once Will was done, he warmed up leftover spaghetti in their microwave and then ate silently, in the dark. He didn't want to risk waking up Lonnie by turning on a light.
After eating his dinner, Will discarded the plastic plate in the trash can and the fork in the sink. He then went to his room to pick out some clothes to wear to sleep, which were a plain white tee with gray plaid pants.
He placed his clothes on the toilet and then turned to look at himself in the mirror. Will never thought he was necessarily handsome, but he thought he could look worse.
He lifted up his shirt to expose a couple of bruises around his chest and stomach. Some were from the bullies, some where from Lonnie, but all for the same reason. Because Will Byers, was a fag.