Chapter Text
Will had woken up late that morning, even though his alarm had been screaming at him for the past half hour. It had taken Jonathan banging on his wall, and El kicking down his door to smack him with a pillow to shake him from his slumber, and a panic-filled morning began.
It was the summer of 1987, right before his junior year of high school. After the events last March, Joyce wasn’t unable to lawfully relocate the Byers-Hopper family back to California, so they purchased a new property in Hawkins. The two adults had finally tied the knot (back in April) and after some questionable actions on Murray’s part, El finally obtained her official adoption papers, that had Joyce and Hopper listed as both parents. Will and Jonathan had been ecstatic at the news, that their wreck of a family was finally whole, and when they moved into their new house, Jonathan made the effort to take lots of family photos to scatter around the walls. Will’s art made some features, as well as some wedding pictures and polaroids of other key moments. The three siblings had rooms next to each other, and it wasn’t uncommon to see the Byers’ children sitting on Will’s bed (his room was in the middle) listening to music or just generally goofing around.
“Will! Hurry up!” El yelled from the kitchen, the boy running down the stairs.
“Yes, I’m coming, I’m coming,” He shouted back, tugging his shoes on and shoving bits and pieces into his bag. Water bottle, sketchbook, sunscreen.
“Mike will be here in 5 minutes! Have you eaten?”
“No?”
“Honestly, how on earth are you planning on surviving this trip?”
“Couldn’t tell you.”
The party had gotten permission from their parents (Mrs. Wheeler begrudgingly agreed) to go on a roadtrip across Indiana, now that they all had licenses, par Max, who fought with her examiner and was automatically failed. Between the six of them, they had two cars, several mixtapes, about 300 dollars, and trunks full of all kinds of rubbish their teenager brains thought they might need.
“Oh, look at you two! All grown up!” Joyce said, arms open wide. “Come here, give Mom a hug before you go.” The two gave their mom a hug, Jonathan and Hopper soon joining in.
“Promise you’ll call every night,” Jonathan instructed, and Will held up his pinky, linking it with his older brother’s.
“And if you have any trouble at all, I’ll drop work and come and get you as soon as possible,” Hopper said, patting the travelers on the shoulders.
El threw Will’s waffle at him as soon as it had sprung out of the toaster, and after one last family hug, the Byers’ twins stumbled out the door to see Mike’s car pull up in the driveway. The boy stepped out of his car, waved, and opened his trunk. The twins loaded their bags into the car, before slipping into the seats, El in the passenger and Will in the back.
“Will, do you wanna pick a tape?” Mike said, reversing the car out of the driveway.
“Sure,” Will said, grabbing a mixtape he had made for El, passing it up to the front. “Hounds of Love” by Kate Bush started lightly coming through the speaker, and Will started munching on his waffle.
Typical, he thought, but he bit the words before they could leave his mouth. Will lay his head against the window, watching the scenery pass by. Somehow, miraculously, Mike had saved his and El’s friendship, after everything. Saving the world with a breakup speech about how much he valued her as a friend or whatever may just help with that, even if the raven had practically stolen his speech word for word from Will’s lips. “It feels like my life started when we found you in the woods” was living on a loop in Will’s head, a miracle cassette tape that rewound itself without assistance and tortured his every waking thought. Mike and El giggling along to Take a Chance On Me only added to his brain’s cackling symphony, mocking words, and terrible thoughts.
He doesn’t want you, not like that. If at all!
It’s been a year, he probably doesn’t even remember it, and you’re much too pathetic to say anything about it. Best you don’t, you’ll just make yourself an inconvenience.
You’re terrible for loving him, being gay is a sin.
Lonnie was right.
“We’re gonna meet Lucas, Max, and Dustin at the park, and then Lucas is gonna lead us to our first stop, alright?” Mike explained, rotating the wheel. Will returned his gaze to the outside of the car, observing all the flowers that had rooted themselves in nature strips on the streets. Sometimes he missed California, with all its cactusy parts, but some part of him knew that Hawkins was home, no matter what had happened in this town. The flowers were still standing tall, and the boy knew that in his heart that he could hold his chest high as long as the purple petals were in bloom.
He would stay tall and silent, poised and steady, just like the flowers. He just hoped that Mike wouldn’t come and break his heart and stem, just like he had last March.
The car came to a stop, and the trio got out of the vehicle to see Lucas, Max, and Dustin sitting at a picnic table.
“There they are!” Dustin yelled, a grin wide on his face. “You guys ready to get rolling?”
“For sure,” Mike smiled. “Do we need to grab anything before we go?”
“I think we’re all set, and there should be a couple of gas stations on the way to the first campsite,” Max replied, standing up. “Alright, let’s make a move.”
“After you, Lucas,” Mike said, gesturing to the blue car that Lucas had been gifted on his 16th birthday.
—
“Don’t go wasting your emotion!” Mike sang, the song blasting on the stereo.
“Lay all your love on me!” El finished the lyric, laughing along.
Will stayed quiet. They had been driving for about an hour, and to say he was getting restless was an understatement. But god forbid he opens up about his feelings, so the need to pee was being repressed, thank you very much. The boy was so good at running from his emotions, that he’d joined the Hawkins High soccer team at the start of his sophomore year, and was going strong as an offensive player. So he just sat and considered the lyrics of the ABBA tune that was playing. The brunet couldn’t help but think that the song choice was kind of ironic, and how it had existed on his Mike Wheeler mixtape during 1986, and since then, Will could have sworn his crush had only gotten worse.
16 had treated Mike well, his face had matured, and he’d grown a couple of inches. His long, black curls had been swept up in a short little ponytail, which the boy had been promising his mother that he’d cut them since last summer. Will thought it was cute. Mike’s freckles sat on his face like misplaced paint flecks, or stars, or whatever poetic license Will was using at the time. He settled on paint, given his artistic tendencies.
As far as the gang knew, Will was 16. But, two birthdays in a row had gone uncelebrated, unnoticed, not a single thought given. Joyce, Jonathan, and El remembered but didn’t care enough to pass the memo on to the rest of the (extended) Party. But he had a license, so the others must have acknowledged somewhere in their minds that Will had aged another year. He decided not to dwell on it, or he might just start crying to Anna and Frida’s upbeat voices.
—
Another hour. Will still needed to pee, but the karaoke was not ending.
“Will, sing along!” El begged, and he sighed. Everybody Wants To Rule The World had just come on, and personally, it wasn’t one of his favourites.
“I’ll pass, I’m no good at singing,” he said instead. Mike frowned, Will could see it in the reflection of the mirror.
“Why’re you being such a buzzkill?” He asked dryly, and Will rolled his eyes. Mike and Will never sorted out their issues, and Will only really stuck with the party because of El and Max. They had nicknamed themselves “the sensible ones”, and Max had come to fill the title of Will’s best friend.
“I’m just tired.”
“Sure,” Mike dragged the word out. “I think you’re just being pissy because The Cure or The Clash haven’t occurred on this mixtape once, and you’re being petty and miserable about having to listen to some good music.” Will scoffed.
“Whatever you want to believe, Mike. Lucas is pulling over,” Will sneered, closing his eyes and counting the clicks of the indicator. The two cars arrived at a gas station, and Will practically jumped out of the cramped car and ran to the bathroom.
—
Will splashed some water on his face, staring in the mirror. Long gone was his bowl cut, but the rest of him was practically the same. He’d broadened a bit, thanks to the gym sessions for soccer, but for the most part, he was still a scraggly teenager in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, Indiana.
“Will.” El pushed down the door to the men's room, and Will yelped.
“El! You can’t be in here,” he hissed, and El shrugged.
“No one else is here,” she replied and Will sighed.
“What do you want?”
“Why are you being weird?”
“I’m not.”
“Yes you are,” El shoved his shoulder. “You can talk to me.”
“I just needed to use the bathroom and Mike was getting on my nerves,” Will said, and El raised an eyebrow.
“Alright. Whatever you say,” she eventually said. “But you can tell me anything, you know that right?”
“Of course,” Will smiled, taking his sister by the hand. “Shall we go buy some chips?”
“That sounds perfect.” The two returned to the main shop part, before purchasing a bag of chips and opening them. Max rounded a corner, grabbing a handful of chips and shoveling them into her mouth.
“Can we please do a car switch? Lucas and Dustin are driving me wild,” she pleaded, and Will chuckled.
“If you can get either of them to surrender their cars, I can take us three,” the boy offered, and Max fist pumped before running off to find the others.
“MIKE GIVE ME YOUR CAR!” El and Will made eye contact and laughed at Max’s shouts, before exiting the service station.
–
Will was driving Lucas’ car, Max in the passenger and El in the back, the ending of Lust For Life by Iggy Pop was playing in his ears. His mom had repeatedly berated him for the subject of the song, but it was boppy, so Will elected to ignore it.
“We’re gonna reach camp at about 3, at this rate,” Max said, looking at a map, compass perched on one knee, her watch on the other.
“Cool,” Will said, staring out at the open road. The intro groove of Does Your Mother Know started playing on the speakers, and Will grinned. The three started singing along as loudly as they could, laughing and screaming. Max and El rolled down their windows, and warm air started blowing their hair back, making it all the funnier. Will valued moments like these, where genuine happiness was circulating in his chest, a smile wide on his face. Moments where he could let the past go, even for a second, and just breathe. Songs came and went, and the three kept belting along, annoying everyone they happened to drive past, but Will couldn’t even find himself caring.
Everything was gonna be okay, this week was going to be great. He’d be able to shut out his dumb and annoying crush on Mike and just spend time with Max and El. He was going to have some laughs, make some memories, and get ready for the start of junior year with his friends.
Everything was going to be just fine.