Chapter Text
Mike was coming to Lenora tomorrow. It’s been 231 days since the Byers moved to California, 198 days since Will received a letter from Mike, and 86 days since Mike bothered to speak to Will on the phone after finishing up with El. Will was trying his best not to take it personally, but how else was he supposed to take it? How hard would it be to say “Oh, El, could you pass the phone to Will, my best friend of ten years? Just wanted to say a quick hello,”
But no. Mike couldn’t even be bothered to do that. Will wasn’t bitter. He wasn’t – just. Confused. Maybe a little bitter. Dustin and Lucas called at least once a week – hell, even Steve called him once a month, and he and Max had become fairly prolific pen pals. Something about Will moving thousands of miles away had brought himself and the redhead way closer, but the distance that had been growing between him and Mike even before he left Hawkins now seemed like an insurmountable cavern.
The worst part was, he had no one to talk to about it. Every time he brought it up to Lucas or Dustin, they stammered awkwardly until he changed the subject. He mentioned it to Steve who went straight into threatening to beat “the little shit” up. He wrote about it to Max, but she seemed to be pulling away from all their friends – that was another thing that kept Will up at night worrying. It wasn’t healthy for Max to be shutting herself out like this. From what he could tell from her letters, she barely spoke to the party anymore. He knew Lucas was trying to get her to open up to them, but he complained that the harder he pushed, the further away she seemed to get.
Will and Max had never been especially close before he left Hawkins – they hung out a lot in groups, and enjoyed one another’s company, but she mostly stuck with Lucas and El and he mostly stuck with Mike and Dustin. But after moving to California, he sent everyone in the party a heartfelt letter saying that he missed them and that he hoped they wouldn’t forget about him, and she was the first one to respond. Will was pretty sure he was the only one Max would open up to, even a little bit. She joked in her letters that he was the only one who understood her pain. She lost her childhood to an abusive stepfather and brother, and he lost his to an abusive father and an interdimensional monster. And they both couldn’t get over their guilt – Max felt she should have done something to save Billy, and in his darkest moments, Will thought if he had just died in the Upside Down, his friends and family might not have to deal with otherworldly monsters once a year.
He shook himself out of his thoughts, wishing once again that Max could come for Spring Break with Mike, but her mom couldn’t afford it. He glanced at the clock on his wall and realized he was going to be late if he didn’t get a move on.
After throwing on his usual outfit of a striped shirt and jeans, he brushed his teeth and ran downstairs to see El already making him a plate of Eggos. “You’re a lifesaver,” he kissed her cheek. They had grown a lot closer over the past year of being siblings, and he was grateful to have her in his class. It made the move much less lonely.
“I know,” she replied, grinning at him.
“So when are you gonna tell me what your project’s about?” Will questioned. El had been secretive about their history project since it had been assigned.
“You’ll see when we present,” she said, coyly. “When are you gonna show me your painting?”
“You’re no fun.”
El stuck her tongue out at him. Jonathan rushed down the stairs, calling “Argyle’s here, come on,”
Will and El shoved their waffles into a napkin, grabbed their backpacks and projects and ran out to the Surfer Boy Pizza van that always smelled like purple palm tree delight, a strain of weed Argyle wouldn’t shut up about.
“Baby Byers’” the surfer bro called as they hopped in the van.
“Hi, Argyle,” El and Will called in unison.
They made it to school in one piece, though it was a near thing as Argyle almost hit no less than three mailboxes on the way there. School passed in a blur until it came time to give their presentations. Will gave his on Alan Turing, a gay computer scientist who he really looked up to for obvious reasons. And then it was El’s turn. Will’s heart sank in his chest as he realized she had misunderstood the assignment. It was meant to be a historical hero. Not her hero. Not Hop.
Angela, predictably, was a huge bitch about it, and it hurt Will’s heart to see El look so crushed over something she had been excited about just this morning. “Hey, it’s ok,” he whispered as she sat back down, barely concealing her tears.
“I guess I should have showed you,” she sniffed.
The day got worse before it got better, with El trying to use her powers on Angela and failing miserably. When he walked into the courtyard and realized what happened, Will rushed over to her and helped her clean up her crushed diorama. “It’s gonna be okay, El, we can fix it together,” he tried to cheer her up.
She gave him a watery smile, and he knew that she would be okay. At least, relatively. The bullies made his blood burn with anger. It was one thing for him to get made fun of, he had been dealing with being different his whole life, but El? El was the sweetest girl alive. Despite everything she’s been through, she still looks at the world with wonder and joy, and Will would give anything for Angela and her crew to target him instead, but they just wouldn’t leave El alone.
The rest of the day passed without any further incidents. Argyle drove them home in a slightly less harrowing way than the morning and the three Byers children trudged inside, where Joyce was on the phone trying to sell encyclopedias to some poor old woman. She waved in greeting and then gestured to the table where there were three letters waiting for them. One for El from Mike. One for Will from Max. And one for Jon from Nancy. El always looked sad when she didn’t get one from Max, but Will was always silently devastated he didn’t get one from Mike, so he called it even.
He ran up to his room to read the letter.
Dear Will,
I didn’t think Hawkins could get any worse and yet: it has. We have to go to a stupid pep rally for the basketball team this week because they may make it to the finals this year. Woo hoo. The worst part is Lucas is still asking me to go to every game. I don’t know when he’s gonna take the hint, but I just want to be left alone. Things can never go back to the way they were. You asked how I’ve been doing, and the honest answer? Not great. I’ve still been having nightmares and headaches, and I know you told me to talk to the guidance counselor but genuinely, she’s a bitch and I hate her. So that’s not helping. Anyway, I know you’re scared for Wheeler to visit for Spring Break, but I think it’s gonna be fine. And if it’s not, I’m here to punch him in the nards when he gets back. Tell El I’m sorry for not writing Tell El hi from me. I wish you guys were coming here instead Mike going there.
-Max
Will sighed as he finished her letter. It was so her to dump her feelings in the middle of otherwise unimportant crap. He wished he were going to Hawkins too, if only so he could shake some sense into that girl. She had the bulk of the party in Hawkins with her, and their most important rule was that when a party member is in trouble, the rest have to help. If she would just let them in, he was sure she would feel at least a little better.
He headed into El’s room, “Max says hi,” he said leaning on her doorframe. El looked up and smiled at him.
“Mike says hi too,”
“No he doesn’t.”
“I’m sure he meant to,”
“Don’t do that, El. He’s made it pretty clear he doesn’t wanna talk to me,”
“I don’t know what the problem is. You two used to be so close.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“He was going crazy over you when I first met him. He yelled at me when they pulled your fake body out of the lake. I have never seen him so upset.”
“Yeah, well, things change.” He left El’s room.
Will couldn’t stand that conversation anymore, but he didn’t want to be alone either. He considered what to do before heading to Jonathan’s room. Things between them had been weird lately, but they used to be able to talk about anything.
“Ahem, hem,” Jonathan coughed, putting out his joint quickly as Will flopped onto his bed. “Watcha doin, bud?”
“How’s Nancy?” Will asked.
“She’s, uh, she’s good. She’s excited about Emerson. She’s sad she can’t come here for break. The usual.”
“Have you heard back yet?”
“No, not yet.”
They fell into a tense silence. Will didn’t know when his relationship with Jonathan deteriorated. Probably halfway between Hawkins and weed city, but he missed how close they used to be. And he really needed someone to vent to. “I miss you.”
“You miss me? Will, I’m right here,”
“Are you? We, like, never talk anymore.”
Jonathan immediately looked crushed, “Shit, Will, I’m so sorry. I’ve been so wrapped up in my own shit I – I guess I haven’t been paying enough attention to you.”
“It’s okay, I mean, it’s not like there’s a monster after me anymore or anything like that –”
“No, it shouldn’t take a monster, man. I always want to be here for you. What’s going on?”
“I’m just so worried about everything. El’s getting bullied at school and nothing I do seems to change anything. Max keeps writing me increasingly depressing letters about how she’s isolating herself from all of our friends, and Mike never calls or answers any of my letters anymore and I don’t know what I did to make him hate me.” Everything Will had been stressing over came pouring out of him like a faucet.
“Whoa,” Jonathan was probably too high to deal with this.
“You’re probably too high to deal with this.”
“No. No. I’m not. I’m just processing. Ok, why haven’t you told me about El’s bullies before? We go to the same school, I could help,”
“She swore me to secrecy. She’s been lying to everyone about having friends,”
“Ok, well, I’ll talk to her about it later, probably after break. But that’s not on you. All you can do is be there for her and it sounds like you have been if she’s swearing you to secrecy.”
“I have been.”
“That’s good. I know it can feel a little useless, but sometimes it’s the best thing you can do. Now as for Max, she’s been through some really rough shit, man. I only lost you for a week and I almost went insane. And I know she had complicated feelings for Billy, but seeing your brother impaled in front of you isn’t gonna be something you can get over quickly. So, I’d say again, you being an outlet for her – someone to talk to when she feels like she doesn’t have anyone else. That’s doing all you can. I know you want to take away their pain, you’re a selfless guy, but I guarantee you’re helping more than you know.”
“Thanks, Jon,”
“And Mike? He’s being an idiot. I don’t know what to say about that. Want me to kick his ass when he gets here? Cause I bet you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Please don’t kick his ass, El might never forgive us.”
That set Jonathan into a fit of laughter. It was like a dam had broken between the brothers and they spent the next few hours catching up and enjoying each other’s company before bed.
“You need your sleep, Will. It’s a big day tomorrow. 15 years old! That’s huge, man”
“Yay,” Will sarcastically drawled, but he got up anyway, gave Jonathan a brief hug before passing out in his own room.