Chapter Text
Will lay on his bed, staring at the peeling glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. The late autumn heat swirled lazily through the room, mingling with the fierce voice of Freddie Mercury.
Jonathan had recently introduced him to Queen and Will felt an instant connection with him, some kind of spiritual kinship. He closed his eyes and let himself be pulled into the universe of the music: the thudding drums that carried the weight of the asteroid belt, the electric guitar guiding the light of a swarm of shooting stars, and Freddie’s voice like the sound of creation itself.
More often then not, he spent the afternoons alone in his room with Queen or the Cure or the Clash, sometimes sketching with his new art, sometimes just lying there and listening. He would let the strength flowing from the music fill up all the cracks to impart unbridled cosmic power to his lanky teenage frame. It made him feel as if he could be anything in the universe just by being himself.
The first year of high school had been especially hard for Will. He felt small and weak in a world of brutish giants with booming voices that made his knees shake and the earth quake around his size 9 and a half shoes. With all his friends still in Hawkins, Indiana, he felt even less inclined to share out in class or make any noise at all.
Will had other reasons for wanting to stay invisible, as lonely as it was for him.
He hoped that along with the move, he was able to escape the whispers and jeers that had followed him around Hawkins like a second shadow, but he didn’t have a lot of hope. People somehow knew that he was different even before he did, like he was born with his darkest secret scrawled across his face. He worried that if his classmates looked too carefully they would find him out too, so he was never going to let them get close enough to get that chance.
But today was different. In half an hour, Will’s best friend and favorite person in the world was gonna come over and spend Thanksgiving break with him. Will had known Mike Wheeler since kindergarten. He was his first friend and his closest. Will had been anxiously awaiting their reunion all week.
His train of thought was interrupted by a sharp rap on the door. He flinched as his heart leaped all the way out of his chest. What is he doing here so early? he thought nervously.
“Will!” Joyce called up the stairs; he could hear the smile in her voice. “Mike’s here!!”
“I know, Ma! Coming!!” he called back as he practically jumped over the bannister in his hurry to get down the stairs.
He ran ungracefully, slipping on the dining room carpet on his way to the door. He slowed his pace right before he got to the threshold and took a deep breath to communicate some semblance of self-composure. With a cool expression masking his pounding heart and sweaty hands, he opened the door.
Mike had no such composure.
His smile was as big as all of Indiana, as bright as the summer sun, filled to the brim with the joyful memories of all the jokes they shared.
“Will!” he called out, hurrying towards him.
He pulled him into a hug and the rest of the world went silent.