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“So you had a hide out when you were a kid called Castle Byers?”
“Yeah. My brother and I built it, but a few years ago I kinda took a bat to it? And broke it down.”
“Huh, but it was like, in the middle of the woods. Secluded. Hidden.”
“Pretty much. It was a safe place for me. I would go there and just read comics or something. It was nice.”
Gareth watches the boy beside him take on a somber face. Will and Gareth have been getting closer and closer over the last few weeks. They met in the hospital while visiting Max and Eddie (respectively). They hit it off while standing in the hallway, talking about everything and anything. It was one of the first times Gareth had someone look at him like all the freshmen look at Eddie.
“That’s actually pretty cool. My little safe place was behind my drumset in my grandma’s garage.” Gareth runs a hand through his hair as he sits up. They’re both currently in the hospital hallway, sitting in the chairs between Max and Eddie’s rooms. Will and Gareth both turn toward the sound of a door opening, watching as the Sinclair siblings leave Max’s hospital room.
Will stands up and waves to Gareth, “I’ll see you tomorrow?” Gareth just nods as he watches the younger boy leave. His knee bounces as he waits, a plan formulating in his head that he feels the need to run by Eddie.
When the nurse that was cleaning Eddie’s wounds finally leaves his room, Gareth all but runs in. He ends up tripping over his own feet and almost face planting in the room.
“Eddie, Eds, bro, buddy I need your help.” Gareth scrambles up and holds onto the edge of Eddie’s hospital bed, watching as the older man tries his hardest not to keel over in laughter.
“You alright there, bud?” Eddie ends up laughing anyway, throwing his head back. He winces slightly and places a hand on his side but he doesn’t stop laughing.
Gareth stares blankly at his friend, waiting for him to calm down before starting his spiel, “Okay, so Will was talking about how he had like a little place in the woods where he felt safe and all that but it broke down a few years ago and he just never built it back up so I was wondering if it was a good idea or not for me to go out there with all my weird handyman skills and fixing it up cause he said it was called Castle Byers and I could totally remake it for him as like a gift ‘cause he said the other day that his birthday passed like a week or two ago when all of this happened-”
“Gareth, dude take a breath.” Eddie laughs, placing a hand on Gareth’s shoulder as he takes a deep breath, “You’re fuckin whipped dude.” Eddie reaches over and grabs a pudding cup, opening it and sticking a spoon in it.
“I- Yeah. I guess I am. He’s just so freaking cool and he is just super fun to talk to and I think I’m dying.” Gareth walks around the hospital bed and falls down on the recliner set up beside Eddie’s chair.
“You are one bisexual disaster, my guy.” Eddie sticks a spoonful of pudding in his mouth, watching as his younger friend deflates into the recliner even more with a loud groan. “I think it would be cool tho. To rebuild it and have, like, a safe space.” Eddie finishes eating his pudding and tosses the pudding cup across the room, watching as it bounces off of the side of the trash can and lands on the floor.
Gareth taps the side of the recliner, already getting a plan of everything he was going to need. He silently thanked whatever heaven or hell or godly being that was up there that his dad had taught him how to do woodworking and other handyman stuff before he passed.
“I need to figure out exactly where it is though. He just said it was in the woods behind his old house.” Gareth finally sits up from the recliner as his back starts to yell at him. He taps his hands on his knees, bouncing his foot as he thinks. He had plenty of tools to help him and could probably get some wood and such from the forest to help rebuild it.
Gareth spends the next few hours with Eddie, talking to him about the new campaign and everything else under the sun. At some point, Gareth ends up upside down in the recliner, head and hair falling to the floor. They both turn toward the door as it clicks open, Gareth no longer surprised to see Steve Harrington walk through.
Gareth waves to the other man, getting up from the recliner. He gives Eddie one last hug before making a hasty departure. He did not feel like being in between the weird stares the two give each other.
He waves to Dustin and gives him a fist bump as he walks out of the hospital, hopping into his grandmother's car. The whole ride home Gareth is mapping out what his next week is gonna be in his head. Due to the earthquakes, the school had shut down for a month in order to not only use the gym as a relief place and to fix up the parts of the school that had been destroyed.
“Hey, nana. Do you still have dad's old tool kit?” He looks over at his grandmother as they walk into their home. Gareth’s mother had passed during childbirth and his father died when Gareth was 15 due to cancer.
“Yes. I do.” His grandmother looks back at him, furrowing her eyebrows for a moment, “Is there any particular reason you need it?” She starts to make her way up to where the attic stairs are.
“I have a friend who wants to build a fort.” He answers, looking down at the floor for a moment as he taps his foot in a rhythm. His grandmother hums thoughtfully as she climbs up into the attic, appearing only a minute or two later with a tool box and a tool belt.
He thanks his grandmother as he takes them, rushing out to the garage for a moment to see what he was working with. He lays out the tools as he sits in front of his drum set, humming and tapping his hands against his legs as his brain runs a thousand miles a minute. He looks over at the time for a moment before looking back at his tools.
“Tomorrow. I’ll try to find it tomorrow and then work on it until his birthday.” Gareth nods once to himself before getting off the floor and helping his grandmother with dinner. He had a solid plan for himself and a good way to start it. He was kind of glad that no one would buy the old Byer’s home.
*****
Gareth walks through the hospital doors, bypassing the front desk with a small wave and heading toward the back where the stairs are. He pushes open the door just as a familiar voice rings through the hallway.
“Gareth!” Will, his sister El, and his older brother Jonathan are walking toward Gareth. He smiles and steps away from the stairwell door, waving at the three. He lets out a small “oof” as Will rushes up and gives him a hug. He gladly returns it after a second of shock.
“Hey, Will. Sup, guys!” He waves to Will’s siblings before starting the climb to the third floor with them. Eddie and Max were neighbors in the hospital.
The newspapers talked about how Jason Carver had apparently gone crazy and killed Chrissy in a fit of jealousy. When he got close to cracking it, Jason killed Fred as well and then Patrick afterward. According to the papers, Jason had kidnapped Eddie and Max with full intent to kill them, but the rag tag group of kids plus Harrington, Wheeler and Buckley had gotten there before he could do serious harm and managed to get the two out.
Of course that’s what the papers said. The instant Eddie woke up and saw Gareth, he spilled out the real story and Gareth had to take a few days to understand it. Steve “The Hair” Harrington even backed up the story and surprisingly that was the weirdest thing to try to comprehend. The fact that Steve fucking Harrington has been a monster hunter since 1983 and had become the protector of the rag tag group of kids that willingly went into another dimension.
Now, Gareth walks with Will Byers down the hospital hallways as they talk about the characters they’re making for Eddie’s dnd campaign he’s going to do when he gets discharged.
“Hey, Will. You said that Castle Byers used to be in the woods outside of your house. How far was it?” Gareth asks, putting his hands atop his head trying to be casual about it. He was pretty sure the light dusting of pink over his cheeks would give him away though.
“Just a few minutes' walk, maybe. It was behind where our shed was. Just straight out into the woods.” Will replies, a blush of his own tinting his cheeks. They finally get to the rooms and Gareth waves to Will before opening the door to Eddie’s room.
He’s not even surprised when he sees Steve curled up on Eddie’s bed beside him. Gareth raises his eyebrow at Eddie and shrugs before sitting down beside him on the recliner. They sit in silence for a few minutes, Gareth opening up his notebook and working on how to build the new Castle Byers.
“Hey, Gareth.” Gareth looks up as Steve slowly sits up from where he was resting against Eddie. Gareth waves slightly and lowers his head back down into his notebook, pretending not to hear the soft words spoken between Eddie and Steve and the soft sound of a chaste kiss. He doesn’t look up again until he hears the door click open and closed.
Eddie and Gareth lock eyes, Gareth slowly raising an eyebrow in question.
“He saved my life, shut up.” Eddie lightly crosses his arms and lets out a huff, turning back toward the front. Gareth just laughs at him, lowering his notebook onto his lap.
When Gareth finally calms down, he sets his notebook to the side and pulls his legs up onto the recliner, sitting sideways on it. Eddie and Gareth just sort of sit in each other's presence. Neither of them really talk about much. Throughout their friendship, their dynamic was always just happy to be in each other's presence. They just hung out and did absolutely nothing sometimes. It was how they worked.
They stay in silence for about 30 minutes before Eddie breaks the silence, “So how are you going to build the famed Castle Byers?”
“I'm gonna find wood from the nearby forest and slowly build it back up. Will said he didn’t damage it too badly, but he still damaged it enough. I have my dad's toolbox so I’m going to go out after this and actually find the place first then assess the damage, get my materials and begin.” Gareth shrugs like it’s that easy. It kind of is, given that the fort doesn’t exactly need to be anything grand, “Maybe I’ll grab some of the extra blankets and that mattress we keep in the attic. Make it comfy, ya know?”
“Oh, fuck yeah. That sounds awesome. You should make a sign that says “All Freaks Allowed”. That’d be cool.” Eddie says, stretching as much as he can with his wounds.
“I still can’t believe you got torn apart by fucking bats, dude. Makes the tattoo on your arm really weird.”
“I lost a nipple in that attack. Shits sad.”
“Oh fuck, really?”
*****
A few hours later, Gareth found himself depositing his bike in front of the old Byers house. He unhooks his tool box from the back and begins walking around the house. He taps a rhythm against his thigh as he walks behind the house and walks past the shed.
He only has to walk for a few minutes before he comes across a pile of logs. He looks over the debris, picking through it slowly and making sense of it all. He connects two broken wood pieces and sees the wording of ‘castle byers’ on them. He smiles to himself and ties his curly hair back as best as he can and gets to work.
Gareth spends the next few hours getting everything organized. When he deems himself able, he begins his challenge of rebuilding the small fort. He works until the sun sets and then flicks on a lantern to work some more.
He ends up taking a few two by fours home to paint them. He knows this project is going to take a while to do. He puts his tools back in the toolbox and looks over at the partially done fort, he holds his lantern up and assesses before leaving.
*****
Of course, Gareth returns the next day. And the next. And every day in the coming week to spend hours on the fort in the woods. After the course of the week, Gareth had managed to finish the outside of it and was starting to bring things into the interior. He had enlisted help from his grandmother to transport some of the stuff, setting it all up.
The finishing touches came on in the form of the signs he put up. He has paint on his cheek from when he had painted them and a few drops on his jeans.
Gareth slowly steps back from the fort, looking over it once more before smiling and doing a small victory dance. He checks the time on his watch and curses. It was almost time for him to meet Will at the hospital. Max and Eddie were both healing perfectly and would be discharged by next week.
Gareth gets on his bike and rushes back home, just in time to get into his grandmother's car and to go straight to the hospital. His grandmother simply laughs at him and tries to get a little bit of paint off of his cheek before dropping him off.
He almost runs into the hospital, only telling his body and mind to calm down just before he enters the main doors.
“Will!” Gareth does, however, run toward the younger boy and pulls him into a hug when he sees him in the waiting room. Gareth smiles at the giggle Will lets out as Gareth picks the smaller boy up.
“Gareth!” Will smacks his arm as Gareth lets him back down, “Why do you have paint all over you?” Will steps back from Gareth, hands on his shoulders as he looks at him.
“Oh, I actually wanted to show you something after this. If your brother doesn’t mind.” Gareth leans over and looks over Will’s shoulder at Jonathan.
Will looks over as well, “I’ll be back by dinner?” Jonathan simply nods and the trio make their way to the elevator. Will and Gareth fall in step side by side, Will constantly trying to get answers out of Gareth. The two continue to talk even when they get to Eddie and Max’s rooms. Gareth leans against the wall just in between the doors and watches Will as he recounts some of his old campaigns.
“Hey, lovebird, you actually gonna get over here and say hi today? Or are you gonna stand around flirting?” Gareth watches as Will’s face turns a bright red as Max hobbles out of her hospital room.
“You’re walking?” Will smiles brightly, watching as Max uses a crutch to make her way toward the two of them. Gareth is still somewhat hyper focused on the color Will’s face had turned when Max walks up to him.
“I’m gonna go bother Eddie. It’s really good to see you up and moving around, Max.” Gareth waves to the two before disappearing into Eddie’s room. He could pretty much feel the heat off of his own face as he rubs his eyes, trying his best not to kick his feet and giggle like a fucking school girl.
“You alright, big guy?” Gareth peeks through his fingers and looks over at Eddie, who is currently standing up with an arm around Steve as he takes a few steps forward.
“Holy fuck you’re up and moving.” Gareth pushes himself off of the door and takes a tentative step toward Eddie.
“Trying my best to get the fuck out of this goddamn sterile prison.” Eddie says, placing a hand on his side as he sits back down on his hospital bed. Steve stays beside him, holding lightly onto his arm.
“Yeah, I can understand not wanting to be in a place like this for too long.” Gareth looks around the hospital room, seeing the different trinkets and knick knacks everyone had brought in for Eddie.
“So, is there a reason you have paint everywhere on you?” Eddie asks after pulling Steve down beside him on the cot.
“Oh yeah, I finished the signs and all that. I'm going to take him to see it after the visit.” Gareth rubs the back of his neck, looking out the curtain covered window. He really hopes that he hasn’t overstepped anything when rebuilding Castle Byers. He wants Will to like it and to be able to have a safe space again.
After a little bit, a nurse comes into the room, promptly dislodging Gareth from his spot and forcing him to go further into the room. He sits in the recliner as the nurse does a vitals check with Eddie.
After the nurse leaves, Steve levels Gareth with a strange look, “So, Gareth. What’s your intention with my kid?”
“Your kid?” Gareth asks, glancing over at Eddie for help. Eddie just looks at Gareth and shrugs, looking back over at Steve as he stands and crosses his arms. Steve tilts his head to the side, still waiting for an answer from Gareth.
“Just- I just want to make him happy. I know he’s been through hell and back, literally, so I want to just give him the ability to relax after all of that.” Gareth says honestly. He watches Steve take on a soft smile before the older boy sits down. Gareth glances at Eddie with wide eyes, wondering if he had passed or not. Eddie just laughs for a moment, reaching out and holding Steve’s hand as Gareth sits confused.
He eventually shakes it off and has a conversation with Eddie about the campaign. Well, conversation as in he’s trying to weasel answers of what it’s about since Eddie won’t say shit. Gareth's knee continues to bounce as the nearing of their visit comes closer. He keeps glancing at the time, laughing alongside Eddie and Steve as they continue to tell him their interdimensional adventures.
“Fucking Russians?” Gareth looks over at where Steve is sitting, in complete awe at the fact that there were fucking Russians below the Starcourt Mall.
“Yeah, they drugged the shit out of us with some weird truth serum while torturing us. I can’t watch Back to The Future now.” Steve laughs, but Gareth is just sort of staring at him with his mouth open in shock.
“Damn now I know why you fell from grace. Highschool royalty seems to pale in comparison to fucking interdimensional monsters and Russians.” Gareth runs a hand through his hair, sitting back in the recliner as Steve continues his story up until Spring Break.
At one point, Steve stops and looks toward the door as it opens. Will walks through the door, waving at everyone before shutting it behind him.
“Hey, Will.” Steve waves back with his free hand, the other still clutched in Eddies.
“Hey, Will!” Gareth moves the chair he’s in over so that Will can pull another one beside him.
“What are you guys talking about?” Will pulls his legs up into the chair as he regards the three in the room.
“Getting Gareth up to date with everything. We just talked about Starcourt.”
Will's eyes grow big at the implication, looking at Gareth before turning to Steve and Eddie, “You told him?”
“Blame Eddie. He’s the one that spilled.”
“They had me on some strong ass pain killers! I’m sorry for telling my best friend random shit while drugged to hell and back!” Eddie and Gareth laugh, causing Gareth to almost fall out of his weird seating position and onto the floor.
“Alright alright. We gotta go. Will, you ready?” Gareth looks over at where Will is, seeing a slightly distant look on his face. Gareth leans forward slightly, watching as Will looks over at him and smiles.
“Yeah. It’s good to see you guys!” Will and Gareth get up from their seats, waving one more time to Eddie and Steve before leaving.
Will and Gareth are silent as they leave, both understanding that they can’t really talk about what they want to out in the open.
“Come on, my nana is gonna drive us.” Gareth reaches over tentatively and grabs onto Will’s hand, leading him toward where his grandmother was waiting for them. He didn't miss the blush that rose to Will’s cheeks as he giggled and followed after Gareth.
“Are you going to tell me where we are going?” Will asks as they get into the back of his grandmother's car.
“Nope, it’s a surprise. A belated birthday gift, I guess.” Gareth rubs the back of his neck insecurely, glancing over at Will. Will just has a confused look on his face like he’s trying to figure out what Gareth had planned. Gareth pulls out a bandana from his front pocket and smooths it down, folding it over and over until he has a length of fabric.
Gareth and Will thank his grandmother when she drops them off at the old Byers house. Gareth stands in front of Will, holding up the length of fabric.
“Do you trust me?”
Will looks from his old home down to where Gareth has a bandana. He smiles at the other man, “With my life.” He closes his eyes as Gareth ties the bandana around, waving his hand in front of Will’s face before lightly taking his hands and leading him through the forest.
Gareth watches Will, smiling to himself as he leads him. Will has a smile of his own on his face as he laughs when they both trip over an above ground root.
“Try not to kill us on the way.” Will laughs, holding onto Gareth's forearm as they make their way.
“Oh haha.” Gareth rubs his thumb where he’s holding Will, looking behind him for a moment and seeing the new Castle Byers ahead, “Okay, we’re almost there.”
Will's smile slowly faded into more of a surprised downturn. He knew where they were going and probably had an idea of what Gareth had done.
Gareth looks over at Will as they stop walking. The new Castle Byers was sat behind Gareth, but he took this moment to just look over Will’s features for a moment. Their hands were still joined, fingers carefully entangled.
Gareth reluctantly pulls one of his hands out of Will’s, stepping forward and slowly removing the blindfold. He watches as Will's eyes light up and widen when he sees it. Gareth steps to the side and smiles. He nearly lets go of Will’s hand, but Will tightens his grip, pulling Gareth forward as he looks at the newly built Castle Byers.
Gareth had managed to use a bunch of the old wood to rebuild it, gathering only a small amount of new wood for it. There was a new sign above the newly remade Castle Byers sign that read “All Freaks Allowed”. Gareth also managed to make a new flag with the hellfire demon on it for the top of it and a new curtain over the entrance.
“Did-Did you rebuild it?” Will’s voice is small as he looks over the fort.
“Yeah, I figured you would want a new place to hang out now that your family is back in Hawkins.” Gareth rubs the back of his neck, looking sheepish as he stares at the ground. Will still has a solid hold on his hand.
Before Gareth knows it, Will is dragging him forward into the fort. Will pushes the curtain to the side and looks in, crouching down to enter it. Gareth enters behind him, smiling as Will beams at him.
“Thank you. This is so cool!” He sits down on the new mattress, letting go of Gareth's hand.
“You’re very welcome, Will the Wise.” Gareth does the best bow he can muster while sitting down. He beams with pride at the giggle that Will lets out, “It’s a nice place. Figured it would be cool to hang out sometimes.” Gareth moves and sits down beside Will, placing his arms on his knees.
Will looks across the fort, smiling softly to himself. If Gareth wasn’t watching him so closely, he would’ve missed when Will’s eyes went distant and his smile wavered.
“Did they tell you about when I was taken?” Will asks slowly, almost carefully. He doesn’t look over at Gareth. He just looks forward at the nearby wall.
“Steve told me about how you were gone for a week. That you were taken by one of those monsters and your mom never stopped looking for you.” Gareth answers, debating whether or not it was a good idea to hold Will’s hand again. He decided not.
“It didn’t feel like a week. It felt like years,” Will says, taking a shaky breath as he continues, “There is no way to explain it other than it was hell. I was running all the time. Running away, trying to hide. I was constantly scared and cold. I don’t know how I did it. All I know is that toward the end, before my mother and Chief Hopper found me, I was ready to die. I was so tired of running and hiding and being terrified all the time.” In the end, Will ended up grabbing Gareth’s hand and holding it tightly.
Gareth stays silent, rubbing his thumb across Will’s knuckles reassuringly. He watches Will in this moment of vulnerability, allowing him to set the pace of it all.
“Then I got out. Mom found me and carried me out. When I did get back, I was called Zombie Boy. I learnt that my friends never stopped looking. I thought that was the end of it. Turns out I was wrong. It’s still so weird not to feel Vecna’s presence.” Will reaches up and places his free hand on the back of his neck, “When El finally killed him, it was like a large weight just lifted. It felt so weird, yet so freeing at the same time. I’ve lived with that presence for almost 3 years. Now it’s gone.”
Gareth couldn’t help himself, he lifted Will’s hand and pressed a small kiss to the back of it, “Now you can do whatever you want.” He looks up and sees that Will is watching him, “Now he’s gone. And, from what I’ve heard, he’s long gone.” Will turns his body toward Gareth, holding their hands in between them.
“Now he’s gone.” Will repeats. Gareth reaches up slowly, giving Will time to pull away if he wanted. He places his hand on Will’s cheek, rubbing his thumb along his cheek. Will smiles and leans toward the touch, closing his eyes for a moment as a few tears slip down his face.
“Am I reading this wrong?” Gareth whispers, almost too quiet. Will opens his eyes and looks over at Gareth.
“No,” Will answers, smiling softly. Gareth doesn’t know who moves first. All he knows is that they meet in the middle, a soft touch of chapped lips against soft ones. Afterward they stay close together, simply breathing each other's air.
It doesn’t take the pair long before they’re kissing again and again. Both boys are giggling as they fall back onto the mattress. Gareth keeps himself above Will, holding himself up with an elbow bracketed beside Will’s head. His free hand still has its position on Will’s cheek.
“Will you go out with me? Like officially?” Gareth asks, still running his thumb along Will’s cheek. Will’s hands have made home on Gareth’s shoulders.
Will smiles at Gareth, “Yeah. I will.” Gareth couldn’t help but lean down and kiss Will once more. They’re both smiling too much but it’s just about the best kiss Gareth has ever gotten.