Chapter Text
Will tossed and turned miserably through the excruciating night that makes insomniacs everywhere shiver: the night before the first day of school. Well, Will’s first day of school. Well, Will’s first day of school in the middle of nowhere Hawkins, Indiana, that his mom insisted they move to from lovely Lenora just because she happened to grow up there. Sure, Will’s sister, El, was getting horrifically bullied back in Lenora, so he was more than ready to move. But why couldn’t they have moved to somewhere closer, and cooler, somewhere like San Francisco?
Will was NOT prepared to make nice with the small-town country kids here who probably didn’t even know what the word gay meant. And somehow, with all that lack of knowledge, still have an uncanny ability to make homophobic comments. So yeah, with his combined hour and fifteen minutes of sleep the night before, Will was not in the best mood. He suffered through his toast that seemed to be emulating cardboard.
“Will?” El asked, alerting him to her presence next to him at the table.
“Yeah, hey,” he replied, sounding way nicer than he felt.
She reached out and squeezed his hand, “It’ll be okay, we’ll get through it together,” she encouraged softly. His adopted twin-sister, who somehow reads his mind like they’d truly shared a womb.
He squeezed back, which was enough of an answer.
After four dreadful red-face introductions in front of each of his morning classes, Will finally found solace in lunch, the only time his and El’s schedules aligned, despite the aforementioned smallness of the town.
“How’s your day been?” He asked El as she settled in the seat across from him, hoping it had gone better than her school days in Lenora went.
“It’s been okay,” she shrugged. Her expression wasn’t one that would make Will worried about her, just her normal disinterest in school.
“If I have to introduce myself in front of one more class…” Will mused, earning a snort of approval.
Will endured an impressive five periods before hearing the f-slur. His good luck ran out as he walked in the hall for his next class, but was too busy admiring the artwork hung on the wall to properly watch where he was going.
He ran right into his new least favorite person in Hawkins, a guy of medium height with messy brown hair and soulless eyes.
“Watch where you’re going fag,” He growled, shoving Will out of his way a little harsher than necessary.
Just as Will opened his mouth to apologize, he saw someone’s pale hand shoving the mystery asshole hard enough to make him stumble backwards.
“Fuck off Troy, leave him alone,” Will’s mystery hero shouted back in warning, getting a scoff and a middle finger in reply from Will’s new enemy, Troy. Will stepped back to appraise him, mortified to feel a blush rise to his cheeks at what he saw.
The guy was tall enough for Will to have to look up at him to see his facial features, which looked like they were hand-crafted by angels. Pallid, high cheek bones, lightly dusted with a smattering of freckles. A strong, regal looking nose. Sharp brown eyes that were boring into his own. Will pointedly did not look at his lips. This might be the most beautiful guy Will has ever seen.
“T-thanks,” He tried, still in a bit of a reverie from the entire hallway scene and the masterpiece of a boy standing in front of him.
The mystery guy held eye contact with him for so long, Will briefly wondered if he had powers that could stop time. Finally, he nodded once, decisively, before walking away.
Will watched in awe, his style was much different from everyone else’s that he’d met in Hawkins so far. He looked more like a California type, in his black skinny jeans and black leather jacket. His bombed out black hair. Will fought down a smile as he continued his way to English (hopefully, he kept getting lost).
As he settled in his seat near the back of the classroom, he was met with a young male English teacher seemingly cool enough to not force a formal introduction. He suddenly cursed himself for not getting the only cool guy he’s met so far’s name.
About fifteen minutes into the period, Will was startled awake from his nap (in the inexplicably comfortable position of sitting upright with your head resting on your hand) to the classroom door slamming. He turned, eyes widening as he recognized the guy in the hallway from earlier.
They guy scanned the classroom, and Will felt his stomach leap with excitement at the conclusion that the seat next to his was the only one empty. When he met Will’s eyes, he cracked a half smile that definitely had his blush returning. He really had to get this under control.
“Mike, late again,” Will’s favorite teacher so far scolded, though he didn’t seem that upset about it.
So that was his name! Mike! Will wanted to feel the way his mouth shaped to say it out loud.
The hallway hero-Mike!- broke out into a toothy smile, making Will’s blush deepen. “Sorry, teach,” he replied, in a way that really didn’t make him sound all that sorry.
“You can sit next to our new student, Will, all the way from California.”
And there was Will’s dreaded introduction. At least he didn’t have to stand in front of the class this time. A few heads turned towards him anyways. He pretended not to notice.
Mike sat down next to him with a sigh, immediately drumming his fingers on his desk. The teacher droned on about Pride and Prejudice as Mike turned to face him.
“So, Will, you like art?” Mike questioned, saying his name like it was the most important part of the sentence.
Will swallowed, eyes flitting nervously between Mike and the teacher. He never talked in class. “Um, how’d you know that?” he whispered, despite Mike asking in a normal tone of voice.
Mike grinned again, “I watched you run right into Troy, terrible choice by the way, because you were too busy staring at all the art in the hallway to watch where you were going,” Mike explained, teasing evident in his tone.
Will flushed at the admission, Mike had been watching him! And intervened to help him! Maybe he’d made his first friend in Hawkins.
“While you were busy staring at… me?” Will teased, delighted to watch a soft pink color Mike’s gorgeous cheeks.
“Hey, I’ve lived in this shithole my whole life, I probably know the first and last name of every kid in this school. Except for yours, that is…” Mike trailed off, simultaneously fishing for information and defending himself.
Will didn’t offer up personal information that easily. “Mine and my twin sister’s,” he corrected, stomach sinking the tiniest bit as he watched Mike’s eyebrows shoot up.
“What, are you interested?” Will joked, while engaging in Mike’s tactics and fishing for information.
Mike chuckled, and for the first time since meeting him, Will thought he looked a little nervous. “No, I was just surprised. I haven’t seen her yet.”
Will felt his stomach settle back into place, satisfied, and thought that was the end of their conversation. Until Mike turned to him, a hesitant look on his face before adding, “I actually have a girlfriend,”
Well, shit. Will seriously considered asking for a schedule change, or begging his parents for the umpteenth time to PLEASE consider moving literally anywhere else.
But what he said out loud was, “Oh, that’s… cool. What’s her name?”
Mike looked vaguely disinterested, but Will assumes he’s had this conversation millions of times. Which means they’ve probably been dating for a while. He’s fine, seriously. He just met the guy.
“Heather,” Mike answered, waving his hand like he was swatting at an invisible fly.
“Cool.” Will replied politely, even though he did not think it was cool at all. He probably should’ve asked more questions about Heather, but he pointedly did not, instead turning to the teacher and pretending to have any idea what he was talking about.
If he felt Mike’s intense eyes on him for the rest of the period, he pretended not to.