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Chapter Text

"I'm just worried about the kid."

They're laying on Steve's bed, adrift in a sea of plaid, and Eddie's head is resting on Steve's chest. It's Steve's turn to be the cuddler and Eddie's turn to be wrapped up in his arms. They're good arms, strong and warm.

"You, Steve Harrington, worried about one of your teenage brats?" Eddie teases. Steve rolls his eyes.

"Half of them are yours, too. We share custody, dipshit." Steve smirks faintly when Eddie gives him that doe eyed look from under a veil of curly brown bangs.

"Dipshit? I'm wounded."

"Calm down."

"No, I'll never recover," Eddie proclaims dramatically. "I am wounded, surely I shall perish. The cause of death will be ruled betrayal."

"Eddie," Steve is on the verge of cracking up.

"Like a dagger to the back," Eddie's holding back a laugh too. He leans up and nips at Steve's neck in revenge. His teeth surround a tender bit of the underside of Steve's jaw. He's careful and precise as he applies pressure until he feels the telltale tension around Steve's shoulders and in his arms. But what he's really waiting for is that sharp intake of breath, as sharp as the teeth nipping at Steve's sensitive skin.

He gets it, hears Steve on the verge of a gasp. Then a sigh, "Eds," he's exasperated. "I'm trying to tell you about my problems here, not go for round two."

"Round three if you count the shower," Eddie reminds him and Steve thumps his head back into his pillow and Eddie laughs. "Fine, fine, Stevie, you have my full attention. We're worried about Baby Byers from California."

Steve nods. "Yeah. I mean, the kid has always been kind of quiet and traumatized-"

"This is Jonathan's little brother that got kidnapped by monsters when he was eleven?" Eddie asks, both to clarify and to point out that yeah no shit the kid has always been traumatized.

"Yeah and I know but ever since he's been back from California it's been different," Steve barrels on. "I think he's got a thing for Mike."

Eddie makes a sound vaguely like an 'eugh' before the idea fully roots in his head and then he frowns. "Ouch. Because Mike-"

"Is dating Will's adopted sister, yeah. El. And I get the feeling he's been a little shit about it." Steve remembers the mall, back before the Russians and the gate and everything; he remembers Will shooting up like a beanpole and Mike keeping pace. He remembers Will looking at Mike and Mike looking anywhere else.

"Well that's no surprise, Wheeler's a little shit in general," Eddie agrees. He's pretty sure that Mike is just going through that phase of being a teenage boy where you're a total butthead and you only think about yourself and the only thing that can stop it is the march of time. It doesn't happen to everyone, but when it hits, it's a doozy.

Steve hums in agreement. He plays with Eddie's hair, twisting the curls around his fingers.

"Anyway, the kid spent his Freshman year at another school and now he's back and he just seems really sad. And I wish there was something I could do, he deserves to be happy. If any of us do. His friends all - you know, Mike and El, Lucas and Max, Dustin and Suzie," Steve ticks them off with little twists of his fingers in Eddie's hair. "Even some other guy to just have a secret with. But, you know," Steve trails off and Eddie picks it up easily.

"It's Indiana and 1986," Eddie says and lets out a breath. "Yeah, it's hard. I mean, the only other fruity guy I know," he starts and Steve isn't sure he likes the grin that spreads across his boyfriend's face. He looks up at Steve and there is pure, unadulterated chaos in his eyes.

"I have an idea," he says and Steve's blood runs cold.

"Oh no."

Chapter Text

Will isn't sure what he's more afraid of: no one knowing who he is, or everyone remembering that he's the zombie boy, the freak. This is highschool now but it's still the same kids. Troy is still here somewhere, and his little lackeys. It's still the same class of kids that sat in the auditorium after he died but not really died.

Is zombie boy better or worse than fairy?

Either way, Will thinks maybe it's better if no one remembers him at all. He thinks it might be easier to fade into the background. It would be easier, anyway, if he still at least had his friends.

It isn't like he lost his friends. It isn't anything that dramatic. They still see each other, they're still part of each other's lives. But Mike and El are inseparable and Lucas is on the basketball team now, and there's this other wedge between them. It's called Hellfire.

Will had been the kind of hurt that burned through a person, when he heard about it last year. It felt like the entirety of 1984, Will had been begging his friends to play D&D with him, to carve out just a couple of hours to play like they used to, and it was one excuse after another. They were hanging out with the girls, they had to do this, they had to do that. The Mindflayer was attacking them.

Okay, maybe that was the one good excuse.

Will had even donated his books, declared that he'd never find another party because his friends couldn't be replaced. Maybe he was an idiot for thinking that was mutual. They started highschool without him, when he was in a whole other time zone, and then he started hearing stuff about Hellfire when Dustin or Lucas would call. How fun it was, how they had a great new DM, Eddie Munson this and Eddie Munson that. And Will kind of hated him a little, just the way you hated someone who stole your life.

When he'd moved back he'd finally met the infamous Eddie Munson. And he had hidden behind a scowl, that he thought he did look pretty cool.

Every time one of the guys asked Will, even up to that very morning, if he was going to join Hellfire he'd answered the same way: a shrug, a dismissive 'maybe if I have time'. Like he was the one who was too cool for his favorite game now, like he wasn't dying to play it again. Pretending he didn't like it hurt less than admitting how much it had gutted him that they'd all moved on.

He's looking at the back of Mike's head in World History class. Everyone else is in various stages of going over the class schedule or pretending to except Mike is trying to figure out how to pass a note to El, who's studiously paying attention to when they're moving from the Greek to the Roman empire. Mike is laughing, though he's trying to hide it.

And Will thinks maybe there's a hole in his heart.

The rest of the class passes by in a blur of ignoring that he wants to cry and trying to care about when they're covering the Golden Age of Piracy, and he walks out of the classroom after the others. He isn't sure if Mike even realizes he's in the same class even though they compared schedules during one of the few times he wasn't attached to El at the mouth during the summer.

His shoulders are dropped when he hits the hallway, making a beeline for his locker. He's just going to drop his stuff off before art studio class, the highlight of his day.

"Will Byers?" a voice, low and masculine, behind him and to the side has him clutching his history book to his chest. He expects the worst. This has rarely been proved wrong.

"Yeah?" he asks. Clears his throat after it cracks a little. "What?"

The guy has fluffy hair, red plaid vest over a shirt that looks familiar and not just because he's holding another one in an outstretched hand. Mike and Lucas and Dustin have them too. Eddie Munson was wearing one the day they met over the summer.

This guy is Hellfire.

Will's face rearranges into something a little more wary. The shirt isn't the only thing in the guy's hand, but Will doesn't get the little doodle first. It looks like a stick? Why is he giving him a drawing of a stick and a Hellfire shirt?

"Eddie said to give these to you," the guy says.

Will doesn't mean to be rude to this guy, who's probably just an innocent bystander and doesn't realize all of the landmines he's stepping on. But Will Byers' heart is primed and ready to go off when someone steps on it next.

"Why does Eddie want you to give me a shirt and a crappy drawing of a stick?"

The question hangs in the air and the guy breathes out a laugh that doesn't really sound like he thinks it's funny, what Will said. He sounds like he's nervous.

"It's supposed to be an olive branch? I'm not really an artist," the guy says. "See, that's, right there?" he gestures to a circle hanging from the stick and Will feels his stomach sink. He feels like a jerk.

"I'm so sorry," he gushes out. His brows raised, his voice softer.

"It's an olive," the guy continues. "See how it's an olive?"

Will stares. This weird conversation is his penance for being a jerk, he thinks.

"It's an olive," he agrees. Of course it's an olive. Will was rude so now this circle is an olive. The guy smiles at him. "I'm so sorry, that was really rude of me," Will barges on.

"Yeah," the boy agrees. "Eddie didn't warn me. He said you were quiet, not a vicious Mimic disguised as a sophomore with a bowl cut."

Will barks a surprised laugh, his face lit up with it. He can't remember the last time a laugh came so easily, came without trying or forcing it. He shakes his head.

"I'm not usually vicious," Will protests. The guy is still smiling though, so he doesn't think he really minds.

"I kind of hope you are if you're going to join Hellfire," the guy says. "We could use some of that cutthroat attitude at the table." Will smiles down at his shoes.

"I didn't say I was going to join," Will protests. He's still got his book clutched to his chest and they've made it as far as his locker, but he doesn't want to risk getting the combo wrong so he doesn't try it yet.

"Oh, come on," the guy says. "You like D&D, right?"

Will snorts. Like that's even a question. "I love D&D. I've been playing since I was eight." The boy nods in approval, looks at Will from under fluffy hair.

"Then play with us," he requests and Will hears his mouth answer. His heart told it to, his brain wasn't involved in the decision at all.

"All right, fine," Will says.

"Harrington's, Saturday, noon," the guy calls over his shoulder to him as he makes his exit down the hallway. And he leaves Will with several burning questions.

Wait, D&D is at Steve's house? Why is it at Steve's house?

And who was that guy?

Chapter Text

Will keeps looking at the olive drawing. He gets what it means after he thinks about it, after he shakes away the bemused feeling from the conversation with the fluffy haired guy in the vest. It's an olive branch. It's a metaphor. Eddie's declaring a truce (not that their conflict, if you'd even call it that, was ever anything more than one-sided jealousy on Will's part). Peace, that was what the olive branch is.

And, Will thinks: cute.

It's such a dumb little drawing. A line, a little leaf, and a circle that the boy had been very insistent was an olive. It's so bad that it's endearing and Will keeps looking at it. It just makes him smile.

Over the course of the week he answers a few of the questions. D&D is at Steve's because Eddie graduated in May and he couldn't really use the drama room anymore. Originally he'd planned to pass the torch to someone else to DM but no one had stepped up wanting to do it.

"He grumbled about being the forever DM and said he wasn't always going to be here so one of us had better get ready to take the reins next year," Dustin explains to Will the next day, Tuesday, while they were in English class waiting for the bell to ring.

"Okay, but why Steve's?" Will asks.

"Eddie's place is too small," Dustin tells him. "And Steve has the room and I think he likes to keep an eye on us too. You know the stuff they say about Eddie," he trailed off. Will looks more than a little uncertain.

There's a lot of things people say about Eddie. He's a satanic drug dealing homosexual. Will isn't sure which one of those is relevant.

"That he sells drugs?" Dustin lowers his voice even though no one is paying attention to them. "You know how Steve is."

Will cracks a smile. "Almost worse than my mom."

Dustin chuckles, a snort in his nose, and he nods. "Yeah so we all started meeting at Steve's after Eddie graduated." Will nods slowly, looking down at his notebook. The corner of the olive drawing is poking out but he doesn't dare to look at it.

"Who's in the club besides you guys?" Will asks. That's his chance, Will thinks. He can ask who the guy was without drawing suspicion.

"Just the rest of Eddie's band. There's Jeff, Kevin, and Gareth. If you were in our lunch you would've met them already," Dustin points out, like it's Will's fault his lunch was scheduled for the period after the rest of the guys'.

"I've got art studio during sixth," Will protests and Dustin waves a hand a little.

"Well, you're going to miss out. But you're coming to Hellfire?" There's an apology in Dustin's eyes, one that he hasn't said out loud yet. No one has. It's a slippery slope. Will doesn't even want the apologies.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Will says and then the bell rings. He spends half the period wondering if the fluffy haired guy is Jeff, Kevin, or Gareth. The other half, he steals peeks at the olive branch drawing and wonders what's so compelling about it.

---

"So you gave it to him?" Eddie's on the phone with Gareth, and Steve is stretched out on the Munson family couch, his feet in Eddie's lap. They were watching some Dateline special about the horrors of D&D and satanism and metal music. 'The best hour of comedy on TV,' Eddie calls it.

"Yeah," Gareth pops open a soda and leans on his kitchen counter. His parents aren't home, both at work, but he's been old enough for years now to be on his own. They'll be back for dinner, hopefully with a pizza or bucket of KFC. "The shirt, the olive branch drawing. You know how bad I am at drawing?"

Eddie grins. "Yeah. Okay, so what happened?"

Gareth snorts. "He basically cast Vicious Mockery on me." He takes a drink and then says, "he said my drawing was crappy."

Eddie gasps, dramatically. "Will the Wise took a level in bard?" Steve has no idea what he's talking about. He gives him a look, and Eddie tickles the bottom of one of his feet, making Steve jump a little.

"Apparently. Luckily it was just one level. I'd hate to see that guy with access to Ego Whip." Gareth sounds like he's smiling, Eddie guesses and he's right. Gareth is grinning at his can of Pepsi.

"It sounds like he's got first level Charm Person," Eddie says.

"Nerds," Steve whispers and Eddie swats his ankle in reproach. But Steve is laughing because, really, even though this is one of the nerdiest things he's heard in a while, it's sweet.

"Huh?" Gareth asks.

"Nothing, nothing," Eddie winks at Steve and then asks, "so is he coming?" He's playing with Steve's toes now, doing a 'this little piggy went to market' with them and Steve is trying not to break his face with how wide he's smiling.

"Yeah, he said he'd be there," Gareth confirms and Eddie pumps his fist. After he hangs up, he tells Steve that phase one is complete and Steve has no idea what that means or what phase two is going to be but he's actually kind of looking forward to it.

It turns out phase two is going to take place at D&D that weekend.

---

Will thinks he's early, getting to D&D. He thinks his hair is getting a little long but he doesn't want to mention it to his mom in case she wants to get the scissors out. He thinks he smells like weed because Jonathan gave him a ride over and everything Jonathan touches permeates with the smell of it.

He thinks he's early but he sees a van in the driveway. He knocks and Steve answers, but he can hear music that sounds a lot more like Eddie Munson than Steve Harrington.

"Hey, Will," Steve greets him and leads him in to the dining room where Eddie's setting up. Sure enough the Black Sabbath playing on the stereo is his.

"Hi," Will says. He feels a little awkward so he drops his bag on the end of the table opposite the cardboard fold-out screen that Eddie has set up to shield his plans and dice rolls from view.

"Let's see your character sheet, Will the Wise. You come very highly recommended," Eddie remarks. "So I think we can forego the tryouts and the application process."

Eddie's eyes are alight with amusement and Will isn't sure if he's joking. "Goody," Will jokes, just as dryly, and Eddie grins as he takes the character sheet Will offers out to him and looks it over.

"Gareth said you were vicious," Eddie says and Will can feel his cheeks getting hot. He hopes he isn't actually blushing. He sort of wishes he could crawl into a hole and he tells himself it's because he's embarrassed about being rude to Eddie's friend.

"He's got the wrong idea," Will insists.

Eddie hands back the sheet and the grin on his face, Will doesn't think he's ever seen one like it. It's full of mischief. "Does he?"

The question hangs in the air and then there's a knock at the door and Dustin and Lucas come barreling in. Will feels himself relaxing at the familiarity, even if Jeff and Kevin join them and he's never officially met them. They all have D&D in common, all wearing their Hellfire Club shirts. All there to adventure.

Mike and Gareth arrive at just about the same time, one after another, and Will feels his attention drifting toward Gareth even more. It's new. Gareth doesn't really pay too much attention to him beyond a greeting and Will tries not to care.

He cares.

The first hour or two go by quickly. The party meets Will the Wise just outside the cave they're searching for the artifacts belonging to the lich they're after. "The ancient tome will give many clues to the undead wizard's downfall," he'd crooned out in the voice of the ancient crone who'd set them on the task.

There had been a few sets of trolls and some stray zombies, pretty standard cave fare that they defeated almost too easily. It has them all on edge, sure they're being lulled into a false sense of security.

Will has his character situated toward the back, being a wizard. "Squishy," Gareth commented. So Gareth's character sticks close to him, just behind to guard from anything that may sneak up out of the dark to assail their wizard.

Eddie has an indiscernible look on his face as he scribbles something and rolls dice. A lot of dice, too many dice. He's tutting and humming and all of them are on the edge of their seats, even Steve where he's sprawled across his couch, pretending he isn't paying attention to the game.

"You hear a rumble from all around you, as though the cave itself is protesting your presence. Suddenly," Eddie slams a makeshift wall down in the middle of the party, cutting Will and Gareth's miniature figures off from the rest of them.

"A trap is triggered by the barbarian," the boys groan and Jeff smacks Kevin, annoyed. "A stone wall drops into place, sealing Gareth the Great and Will the Wise away from the others. What do you do?"

Will looks to Gareth in a panic and then back to Eddie. Gareth is playing a paladin; he tries to knock the wall with his sword but it won't budge. Will goes through all of his cantrips but nothing seems to work.

"I guess we'll have to go around," Will suggests. "Maybe we can meet up with the rest of the party somewhere further in the cave."

Gareth hesitates. "I don't know, I don't love splitting the party."

Will huffs. "No one likes splitting the party. I couldn't cast message, the stone is more than a foot thick, so what, should we sit here and hope the others figure it out?" Will asks.

Eddie clears his throat. "Now," he says. "To prevent you from being cheating little cheaters, since the party is split, Will and Gareth are banished to the kitchen. I'll join the two of you in a few minutes, after the rest of the group decides on a course of action."

Gareth starts to protest but Eddie waves him off. "Shoo!" he actually says. Will grabs his character sheet and slinks off to the kitchen. Gareth's close behind, shaking his hair out of his face and moving to the breakfast bar. He perches on a stool, fingers tapping out a quick beat on the counter.

"I still don't think it's a good idea to go too far into the cave. What if we run into another one of those trolls? I mean, you have, what, 20 hit points?"

Will the Wise, in fact, has 18 hit points left.

"I don't see what choice we have. We can't get the stone to budge, we've tried everything." Will moves to sit next to him, tugging a stool over.

"Maybe you could try insulting it's artistic ability," Gareth suggests and Will shakes his head, reaches over to nudge Gareth gently.

"Stop," Will laughs. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

Gareth shakes his head. "Not a chance," he confirms.

"We'll think of something," Will tells him. "A DM never sets a puzzle or a trap that you can't think your way out of." Gareth snorts.

"Clearly you've never played one of Eddie's campaigns but I appreciate your optimism, sunshine," Gareth teases. Will feels very... pink about it. He swallows hard and looks down at his spell sheet.

"We tried all of these," he sighs. "Unless you changed your mind about Earth Tremor-"

"Eddie would roll to see if the cave collapses and I don't like my odds today," Gareth says.

"Then maybe we look at your spells," Will says. "What'd you take as a paladin?"

Gareth names them off without looking. "Aid, Gentle Repose, Zone of Truth, Bless," he says.

"Mostly buffs and healing," Will surmises. "You're supportive. That's cool. I've only seen a paladin really played offensively."

Gareth shrugs. He looks like he's about to say something but Eddie pokes his head in, grin wider than any smile Will has ever seen.

"Pizza's here. You two figure out what you're doing while you're eating, you're up right after food is done."

Will offers a little smile up to Gareth, who's wearing a similar expression. Cautious optimism. "Guess we're eating together," Will says. Gareth smiles back. He gets up to get them pizza and brings back a few slices for Will and a can of soda and Will feels something like a twist in his belly when he murmurs his thank you.

He doesn't know what they're going to do about the cave but Will doesn't mind if they eat a little slow so they can really think it over.

Chapter Text

Gareth fidgets. Will is almost serene in comparison to the finger tapping, hair tossing, foot shaking that Gareth does but Will likes it. He's lively. Energetic. He watches him shake his foot while they eat and Gareth wipes his greasy hands on his jeans while Will reaches for a napkin.

Will thinks he should find it gross but it's just kind of cute. He's such a guy.

His hair falls in his face a lot and he shakes it out, and Will thinks about playing with it, he thinks about it for exactly four seconds before he makes himself stop being an idiot.

"So," he wipes his mouth on his napkin. "We're agreed? We go into the cave?" Gareth heaves a sigh, looking down at his hands where they're tapping out a beat. Will wonders if he's nervous or fidgety or if it's just a habit.

"Yeah, I guess we have no choice. Maybe we'll find something, or it connects around to the others." Will nods.

Now that they have their plan, there isn't anything they're supposed to be talking about. Will is happy to find that the conversation continues easily.

"You were in California last year?" Gareth asks and Will nods. He wonders how Gareth knew that. Did Eddie tell him? The thought of people talking about him makes him uneasy, like he's about to spring a trap. But maybe there's a little bit of excitement too.

"Yeah, a place called Lenora Hills," Will confirmed. "Just for a year."

Gareth seems to really be thinking about that, to be really listening to Will. "Did you like it more than Hawkins?" he asks. It's a hard question for Will to answer.

"Yes and no," Will tells him. "I missed my friends but the weather was nice and California is kind of more..." he trailed off, not really sure how to put it. "It's friendlier if you're different."

Gareth asks him almost too fast, "are you different?"

Will feels like the earth could open under his feet and swallow him and it still wouldn't be good enough. Gareth looks up to meet his eye and Will dares to look back. It's only a moment but it echoes, shakes him. Maybe he'll have to roll to see if his heart collapses.

"I don't know. I do a lot of art and I play D&D. Are you different?"

Gareth smiles and Will really likes how it looks on him. It's not perfect, but it's so warm. "Yeah. D&D, plus I'm in a metal band with Eddie." Will wants to ask him so much more about that, but Eddie comes into the kitchen.

"Am I interrupting?" Will panics and shakes his head fast. He feels Gareth watching him and he looks down at his character sheet and his dice. "All right," Eddie perches himself on the breakfast bar like he lives in the Harrington house, one leg crossed over the other and leaning back on his hands. "What's the verdict, Gareth the Great, Will the Wise?"

"We're going to turn around and go into the cave," Will tells him but Gareth lifts his hand.

"First I'm going to heal Will. I want to Lay On Hands," Gareth says.

He doesn't hear Eddie mutter, "yeah I bet you do," because he's rolling dice to see how many hit points he heals but Will does. His eyes widen. He wants to hide. Why would Eddie say something like that? Does he know? Will is convinced that it's written all over his face sometimes, like there's a big scarlet G pinned to him somewhere and he's never been able to find it to take it off. And that's how his dad knew and that's how the kids at school know and that's how Jonathan knew.

"That's nine points," Gareth leans over to look at Will's sheet, and he grins up at him and for a second Will forgets that he feels like he's falling down into a pit. "Looks like that fully heals you. Maybe we'll be okay."

The two share a look, a smile, and it ends after about three seconds because apparently that's as long as Eddie can wait before trying to destroy them again.

"You hear a sound coming from the corridor in front of you, as you turn to face it. Thump!" he shouts and bangs his hands down and Will jumps and then laughs out a nervous sound. "Thump! Scraaaaape," Eddie adds and then from the pocket of his vest he produces the figurine of a cave troll carrying a big club.

"He drags his club behind him as though it's too heavy for him to carry properly. He looks almost surprised to see you and snarls something in a language neither of you speak."

Will doesn't think it's important enough to use a spell slot to try to understand what threat the troll is probably muttering at them. Obviously they need to fight it, he thinks.

"Roll initiative," Eddie says like those are his favorite two words in the English language. Maybe they are. Will and Gareth roll and so does Eddie, for the cave troll. Gareth rolls high but Will rolls a two. "Gareth, troll, Will," he hears Eddie murmur to himself and they both look at Gareth expectantly. Gareth takes a deep breath, fingers curling the edge of his character sheet. A cave troll is a lot stronger than both of them. It probably has triple their hit points. It's downright sadistic to set one against the two of them.

"I'm going to take a step toward it and call upon my God to guide my strike as I swing with my great sword," Gareth rolls. "Does an 18 hit?"

The look on Eddie's face is amused as he describes, "Gareth the Great swings with his broad sword, connects with the cave troll's side. It doesn't seem to inflict any damage at all."

Gareth and Will groan in unison. Gareth throws his hands up. "It's all you, Will," he says and the death glare he shoots at Eddie might have melted a lesser man. "Obviously I'm not going to hurt it."

Will looks thoughtful, like he's really mulling something over. But he isn't sure yet. He has a few minutes to think, because Eddie is describing how the cave troll drags itself closer, the club scraping and scraping on the floor. It has to mean something, he thinks.

"The big, nasty cave troll takes an action, using all of its strength to lift it's club in the air. And Will the Wise, what do you do?"

He looks down at his spells and decides, "I'm going to cast Shocking Grasp," he tells them. Gareth scoffs.

"Just a cantrip?" he's looking at Will like he's crazy. "Magic is the only way to hurt this thing and you're not even using a spell slot?"

"I've got an idea," Will tells him and Eddie does his best to hide his smirk behind his hair but he can't quite do it.

"No effect," Eddie tells him and Will nods fast, like this just confirmed a theory. Like he was hoping the spell wouldn't do anything.

"What the hell, Eddie?" Gareth protests immediately. "I can't hit the thing, Will can't damage it with a spell, is this an unkillable cave troll? I know they're not immune to magic, we fought all those at the beginning of the cave. I guess-" Gareth starts to decide on his action but Will, excited, reaches over and touches his shoulder and leans in.

Will ignores the way his lips almost touch Gareth's ear when he whispers his plan to him. He tucks his body closer to Gareth's, knees touching. Eddie carefully inventories every point of contact as evidence.

"What? You're kidding me," Gareth frowns, and Will shakes his head and goes back to whispering. Gareth shifts closer, and Eddie sees his hand rest on the middle of Will's back. "Are you sure?"

"No," Will admits. "But it makes sense, right?"

Gareth nods slowly. It does. And it's just the kind of thing Eddie would do. And what's the worst that could happen? He wastes a turn? Swinging at the cave troll again would probably do that too. "I'm going to ready an action," Gareth says after he moves his figure back a step toward that trap wall.

Eddie's eyes are absolutely glittering. "And what action would you like to ready, Gareth the Great?"

Gareth looks at Will again, and then he tells Eddie, with confidence, "when the cave troll swings at me, I want to duck."

Eddie's reaction is impossible to read, no matter how closely Will studies his face. He holds his breath as he waits for Eddie to do his next move on the cave troll's behalf.

"As the cave troll swings it's club, Gareth the Great waits until the very last second and ducks out of the way. The club connects with the wall behind him and," Eddie pauses for dramatic effect and to roll a dice, "slams a hole clean through it, big enough for a human to climb through."

Will laughs and claps his hands together, happily. He looks at Gareth, who's grinning too.

"The cave troll, whose name is Tragerth Trap Breaker, stomps away with his enchanted stone-smashing club, his only job done. And you two wait here for me to catch the other group up," Eddie instructs, hopping down from the breakfast bar. "I'll call you in when you can rejoin the party."

Will takes a celebratory sip of his Coke, and when he looks up at Gareth again he's wearing this expression on his face that makes Will want to melt. He looks proud, almost. Impressed.

"That was amazing," Gareth tells him sincerely. "How'd you know?"

Will can't help it; he's beaming with pride. "Well, first there was the club. It had to be special somehow, enchanted or something. A normal cave troll can carry a club without having to drag it or use two turns just to swing it. Then it couldn't be hurt by you, but normal cave trolls aren't immune to physical damage. So I had a hunch about it being immune to spell damage too," he says.

"That's why you just used a cantrip," Gareth realizes.

"Exactly. I didn't want to waste a spell slot if my hunch was right. It's got to be some kind of guardian or maybe a spirit or something."

Gareth props his chin up on his hand, leaning on the bar. "But how'd you know it would break the wall?"

Will smiles again. "It was just a guess, since it came right after the trap triggered." He tries not to let himself get too happy about it, Gareth paying so much attention to him. It's been a while since he felt like this. Since he felt so special.

"Really cool," Gareth tells him. "No wonder they call you Will the Wise."

He gathers up his courage and says, "well it's no wonder they call you Gareth the Great either." His heart feels like it could beat out of his chest. This isn't like Mike. That had been slow, realizing he had feelings for him, and hopeless. That made him feel stupid for feeling things.

He doesn't feel hopeless when he looks at Gareth. He doesn't feel stupid, either. He feels warm all over. He feels the same way he feels when he looks at the olive picture.

"We make a pretty good team," Gareth starts to say, but Eddie pokes his head in.

"We're going to bring you back in and then wrap it up," he tells them. Will gets up out of his seat and stretches out, and glances back to Gareth with a little smile. He likes the way Gareth looks at him.

"Suddenly," he can hear Eddie's voice booming out as he and Gareth are on their way in, "a giant club slams into the wall behind you. Dustin, you take five points of bludgeoning damage since your ear was pressed against it."

"Aw, shit," Dustin complains. Then, "Will?" Dustin pantomimes looking through a hole, head peeking up and out. "Gareth?"

"We're here," Will laughs.

"What did we miss?" Gareth reclaims his seat. Will takes his. He looks happier than he has in a while. Dustin isn't the only one who notices. No one notices the way Eddie winks at Steve, who's on his way through with an armful of empty plates and soda cans.

The rest of the session is quick; they help Gareth and Will back to the right side of the trap and Eddie wraps things up. "Next time," he promises, "you'll hunt for the tome in the ancient tunnels."

Will gets his dice put away and makes sure his character sheet is updated with the session's latest details, and when he looks up Jeff and Kevin have already cleared out. Dustin's following Steve to the kitchen and Lucas and Mike are bugging Eddie about when they're going to level up.

And Gareth is still jotting down a few notes on his sheet.

"Good game," Will tells him, shyly. Gareth looks up and nods his agreement, and pushes his hair back out of the way.

"You too," he says and his voice is a little thick, and Will wants to do a lot of very stupid things. So he gets up instead, forces himself away before he does something too obvious. He wants to play with his hair so much it hurts.

"I'm gonna go call my brother for a ride," he tells him, as he gets up. Gareth watches him, gaze lingering even as he walks through to the kitchen, where the Harrington's phone is attached to the wall.

Eddie mentions to Gareth, after he manages to shake Wheeler and Sinclair, that he thinks Will might like coming out to see Corroded Coffin some night. Maybe, he suggests, this Tuesday.

"Phase three," Eddie stage whispers to Steve when he comes back out from the kitchen.

"Huh?"

"I'll tell you later," Eddie promises with a wink.

Chapter Text

It's Monday and Will is on his way to art studio. He can't stop thinking about a certain fluffy haired senior. All day yesterday and all morning he's been replaying every second of their time together during D&D, in his head, smiling to himself when he remembers Gareth's hand on his back.

He doesn't know if he's felt this totally happy since he was eleven and left D&D that night. Since the Upside Down happened to him, nothing had been this totally warm and fuzzy and untainted.

He stops at his locker to put his books away, smiling to himself. He's thinking about the freckles on Gareth's nose and how blue his eyes are. And he knows he shouldn't be thinking about him so much but thoughts are all he has, right? It isn't like he's one of the other guys. He doesn't think he's ever going to get to be with anyone. He can just think about how soft Gareth's lips look.

When he closes his locker door, someone's on the other side of it and Will just about jumps out of his skin. His hand lifts to clutch at his chest for a second. He's not thinking about the Demogorgon, he tells himself. It's not here. Nothing from the Upside Down is here.

It's Gareth, looking at him, concern furrowing his brow. "Sorry," he says.

"You just surprised me," Will tells him quickly as he waits for his pulse to approach a normal speed again. He can't really tell Gareth that he didn't used to be so jumpy but for the past five years, things that surprise him just aren't good anymore.

"Sorry," Gareth repeats, and he smiles at Will. "How's your day going?"

Will can feel himself calming, and the smile spreading across his face. "It's good. You have lunch next, right?"

"Yeah. You don't," Gareth notes. Like he's noticed that Will isn't there. Will can't explain it, can't even figure it out for himself, how nice that makes him feel. It spreads warmth from his toes to the tips of his ears.

"I have art studio," Will explains. He doesn't tell Gareth that he thinks he's going to paint something about them soon, either their D&D characters or Gareth's hair or maybe just an olive branch of his own.

"Cool," Gareth says and Will thinks he actually means that he thinks it's cool. "I don't want to make you late, I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to come see the band play tomorrow night. It's at the Hideout at seven."

Will has three thoughts simultaneously.

First, oh my god, he's inviting me. Gareth actually wants him to go and it isn't a group invitation, it's not everybody and Will happened to be there to hear it. Gareth cares about him being there.

Second, I need to go. He nods quickly before the third thought stops him.

The third thought is, there's no way my mom is letting me go see a band at a bar on a school night.

"Yeah, I'll be there," Will agrees. If he has to beg, cheat, and steal, he's going to do it. There's no way he's going to miss out on this.

"Yeah?" Gareth lights up in a smile. "Cool, I'll see you there."

Will doesn't think his heart is going to stop racing for the rest of the day.

---

"Absolutely not," Joyce tells him immediately. Will knew it was coming but it still makes him huff out a sigh, crossing his arms as he takes a deep breath next to start his argument. His mother's already refuting it. "I'm not letting you go to some bar on a school night just to watch a band-"

"But my friend is in it," Will tells her. "I'm not going to drink or anything mom, obviously, ew. I just want to go see him."

Joyce gives Will a very suspicious look. "One of the boys is in a band?" she asks him.

Will shakes his head. "No, it's a new friend. Gareth Emerson," he says. And he'll never know what look she must see in his eye or what look she must see on his face, just that she frowns deeply and says, "I'll think about it. Now go do your homework."

And he can't argue because 'I'll think about it' is a million times better than what he'd been expecting. So he goes to write an English paper about Moby Dick.

Later, he can hear the sounds of voices through the wall. Jonathan and his mom are talking and every now and then he can just about make out a word, just enough to know they're talking about him.

Jonathan pokes his head in closer to bedtime and tells him, "looks like we're going to a rock show tomorrow," with a big grin on his face like he just got to tell Will it was Christmas morning. Will's smile is huge. He sets his pen down and races to the door to give Jonathan a hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you," he says as he squeezes the life out of his brother.

"We have to be back by nine and if mom even suspects we looked at a beer, she's shipping us off to juvie," Jonathan tells him the terms. Will is pretty sure they're joking about juvie but he's not worried about it anyway. He's never even been curious about alcohol, after seeing their dad drink so much and seeing what he was like.

"So, who's Gareth?" Jonathan asks after the squeezing and hugging and thanking is over and Will goes back to his desk.

"He's a senior, he's in Hellfire Club with me and the guys," Will tells him. He's trying not to think about how much he likes him, in case Jonathan can see it. Jonathan looks like he's trying to phrase a question in his head.

"Have you met a lot of other new friends in Hellfire?" Jonathan has a way of asking Will things that doesn't make him feel like he's being interrogated, but like he just genuinely wants to know. And he doesn't want the information to use it against him, he's just interested.

"Not really that I'm close to," Will admits. "They're all in the band too, though. There's Eddie and Jeff and Kevin. It's called Corroded Coffin and it's metal music." It isn't the type of music Will usually listens to, he's more into the rock and roll and maybe a little punk when he's in a mood but it's Gareth's band and if he played weird folk accordion country music, Will would be there. And probably enjoy it.

"What instrument does Gareth play?" Jonathan asks.

Will stops for a second as he thinks about it. His brow furrows, "he's never said," Will admits. He tries to picture Gareth playing different instruments but he has to stop himself. He's going to start blushing if he starts thinking about him too much.

"Well I guess we'll see tomorrow," Jonathan tells him with an inscrutable smile on his face and he messes Will's hair up with a ruffle of his fingers through it. "Okay, finish your homework and get to bed," Jonathan tells him before he leaves.

Like Will could even think about Ahab's motivations right now.

---

The next day is a blur. Will has no idea what any of his teachers talked about or what he learned. All he can think about is going home when school is done and figuring out what he's wearing tonight. He doesn't have anything that screams 'I'm going to a metal show' but he's determined to pick something that looks good.

Maybe Jonathan will let him borrow something. He's filled out more in the past year, he can wear his older brother's things now without looking like he's swimming in them.

He winds up picking a plain black t-shirt and a pair of jeans, because he's hoping he'll blend in. And he's inexplicably nervous, watching the time tick down from three to four to five to six.

Three o'clock is homework.

Four o'clock is chores.

Five o'clock is dinner.

Six is getting changed and waiting by the door for Jonathan. Will is sure that he's anxious and it's making him impatient. It takes fifteen minutes to drive there so they'd still be twenty minutes early if they left now, he thinks. Then nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen minutes early and then finally Jonathan heads over, keys in hand.

"You two behave," Joyce tells them. "Jonathan, keep an eye on your brother. And no drinking," she orders and Will assures her that they're going to be fine, and he ushers Jonathan out the door. They'll still be fourteen minutes early.

The drive over is quiet until they're about halfway there. "Hey Will?" Jonathan asks him.

"Yeah?" Will is looking out the window, thinking about what he'll say if Gareth meets up with him after the show. He's practicing, in his head, telling him how good the band is.

"I'm really glad you've got a new friend or two. And I hope they make you happy," Jonathan says and Will smiles.

"They do."

"Good. Just, have fun tonight. I'll be around if you need me. I know you're probably too cool for your big brother to be chaperoning you so I'll try to stay out of your way."

Will smiled a little bit wider at that. "I'm not cool," he assured Jonathan.

"Yeah you are," Jonathan tells him as they pull into the parking lot of the Hideout. "Your friend Gareth obviously thinks you're cool, he invited you out to the show."

That thought makes Will feel like floating all the way in. He gets himself a seat at one of the dingy tables, and when he looks up he can't see Jonathan. He's sure he's around somewhere but giving Will his space.

He doesn't have too much time to worry that he's alone or out of place because he sees the band setting up. Eddie is messing with a guitar amp and Jeff has a bass guitar he's tuning.

And Gareth is spinning a drumstick between his fingers while he's looking at his kit, making sure everything's in place, one last check. And Will is just watching it, the drumstick, twirled with such ease like he's not really even thinking about what his fingers are doing.

Will doesn't know what to do with himself. He thinks he might die for a second. Gareth laughs at something Eddie says and his hair moves, and Will can feel every single shift of his heart as it pounds in his chest.

"Hey, Will," the voice to his side isn't even enough to distract him from Gareth. Nothing could. A truck could crash through the front of the bar right now and Will wouldn't notice. "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Uh huh," Will says and he doesn't wonder why Steve Harrington is at the Hideout to watch Corroded Coffin. But if he had two brain cells to rub together he would've thought, huh, that's weird, Steve and Eddie are kind of close. Closer than he thought. When did that happen?

But he doesn't have any spare brain cells, at least for a few minutes until Gareth walks back off the stage and Will blinks a few times, looking over at Steve.

"Wait," Will's expression might be confused but Steve looks downright delighted at catching Will staring. "Steve, what are you doing here?"

The smile on Steve's face is almost kind. It reminds Will of middle school science, when Mr. Clarke explained things to the kids who just weren't getting it.

"Here watching somebody who invited me to come watch them. Why, what are you doing here?"

Will looks down at his hands, smiling a little bit.

"So you and Gareth, huh?" Will thinks his eyes might bug out of his head. He stares, in a panic, not sure what Steve will do to him if he agrees. He must already know. Will doesn't respond because a second later, the band is taking their places and Eddie's introducing them.

"Oh cool, they're starting," Steve says. And Will forgets his panic, forgets everything. At times he forgets breathing in favor of watching Gareth drumming. And he feels the beat in his bones, the music rumbling through his skin, everything forgotten except that beat.

Gareth is the coolest person he's ever seen and Will can't fathom why he's invited Will here, above everyone else. There isn't anyone else from their school here, there isn't anyone else from Hellfire apart from the band itself.

Just Will. Gareth just wanted Will.