Chapter Text
Will woke up to the sound of Jonathan wishing him a happy birthday
“already eighteen”
he said, leaning against the door frame, obviously hung over from last night. Will buried himself deeper under his blanket taking a bit too long to reply
“Thanks”
he murdered, barely audible.
Jonathan was about to head out of Will's room, but right before turning he remembered,
“oh Will, someone called for you, Boris..”
Jonathan paused, trying to remember what Boris wanted to tell Will
“he wished you a happy birthday and asked if you can hang out today”
Will, now fully awake nodded and thanked Jonathan yet again before getting up.
Breakfast was Will's favorite, french toast, and fruit. Joyce noticed the unusual happy Will. she wanted to shrug it off, excusing it as birthday excitement, but over the years she noticed that Will was never ecstatic on his birthday. last year Will didn’t want to even celebrate it because of what happened when mike came to visit the year before.
Will's relationship with mike only worsened over the years. he gets no calls or letters from him anymore. He couldn’t even call on Will's birthday wishing him a happy birthday. Will's jaw clenched at the thought of mike. he tried to brush it off, but seriously, couldn’t Mike wish him a happy birthday?
El glanced over “Will?” she questioned
she wanted to ask what was wrong, but instead chose against it
“Happy birthday!”
She smiled so wide that Will noticed the eggos stuck between her teeth. His expression softened “thank you, El”
“Yeah Will! it’s your birthday, any big plans?”
Joyce smiled while pouring orange juice into her cup.
“oh um”
Will didn't take a minute longer to answer
“yeah! El and I are going to the arcades— I’ll ask Boris to tag along— and Boris called earlier this morning asking to hang out”
Will grinned. Joyce was glad that will was finally having a proper celebration. “well I was planning on giving this to you later, but it seems that you’ve got a busy day today” Joyce said as she stood up. she smiled, Will knew this smile.
he chuckled, rolling his eyes and finally closing them.
Joyce reached into a cabinet, Will could hear plastic shuffling and els shrieks of excitement, then the sound of something heavy being placed onto the table
“Open your eyes” Joyce excitedly clapping
Will opened his eyes, in front of him was a blue and grey wrapped box
“Open it!” El urged
“This is a gift from us,” Joyce said, eyeing both El and Jonathan
“yeah dude, we went on this whole shopping spree for you,” Jonathan said, Will thought he almost sounded like argyle. He guessed Jonathan picked it up from hanging out with him so much.
“yeah! I really hope you like it, will” el pushed the box a bit closer to him.
Will eyed the box, it wasn’t big, but it was obviously stuffed.
“you really shouldn’t have” Will hesitantly reached and slowly opened the box.
a white notebook, almost 2 inches thick was the first thing Will noticed. He took it out of the box just to discover brand new art supplies hiding under it. anything from brushes, to sketching pencils, to even a paint set Will had been eyeing for a while.
A hand had covered Will’s mouth. he was in shock. it was too good to be true. Will knew all of these supplies are more than what they could have afford.
before he could say anything Jonathan placed his hand on Will's shoulder
“don’t worry, we’ve been saving for a while now,” he said as if he could read Will's mind.
will could feel tears threatening to fall. he stood up, instantly walking over to Joyce, and hugged her.
“thank you, thank you so much,” he said, hugging el next
“This means the world to me” he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Anything for my little brother” Jonathan embraced will, it has been a while since they actually hugged like this. Usually, it’s the occasional side hug they gave whenever Joyce wanted to take a picture, but this was different. after settling down, he actually took a good look at the gift.
first was the notebook, it was an art notebook, but not like any of the shitty ones he'd pick out at their local drug store, each paper was thick and gritty. Will touched the brush bristles, he was amazed by the different sizes, Will was convinced this must be a dream. what did he do to deserve all this? finally, he picked up the paint set. He has been talking about getting new paints since his are starting to run low, sometimes he had to mix god knows how many paints to get one simple color. but this, this paint set was diverse. it had every color anyone could ever think of. will could already imagine all the paintings he’d use these for. of course, there was also some additional stuff that Will was grateful for. he needed some new pencils, erasers, and sharpeners.
This was perfect. everything was perfect.