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Ever since he was a child, Henry had never been inclined of pursuing any sort of romantic relationship. Where his classmates and older sister Alice dreamt of charming prince, and romance, feelings akin to love were far from being in his interests. As a kid, Henry’s priorities laid in discovering more about the world. He discovered he had powers, something no one else had, a burden no one but him bore. He was the only person on this planet to have received those abilities, and it took a toll on him. He couldn’t understand why he was born this way, so odd, so different. But as he grew he managed to twist this somber curse into what, perhaps, could be a gift. He studied his ability, expanded on them. He could see beyond what anyone could show. He could see the world as it was, in its truest form. If at first he was caught with a gruesome sentiment of betrayal, a lack of trust installing itself between he and his family, he then turned it around, now pleased about being able to see the truth.
His mother thought he was broken. She wanted to send him away, so they could experiment on him. But Henry didn’t need his parents. They were traitors, liars. His father was a vile, cowardly man. His mother even worst. His powers grew to a rate in which he ended up believing he was a God. He wasn’t broken, he wasn’t the one in the wrong, this world was broken. The natural order had been disturbed by the virus that was the human race. And in order to restaure it, a god like Henry had no other choice but to act.
He expanded, pushed the limits of his potential, until the day he saw visions. He first saw this giant, shadowy figure standing above him. Shaped as a spider, big and threatening, but with infinite potential and power. Henry knew, from this moment on, that he had seen a glimpse of the future.
His visions kept coming, he would stand before the clock in his house, reversing the needles and catching fragments of what would lie ahead.
Henry only just thought about the possibility of romance when he saw a boy. Right there, in his future, was a boy with him. Standing beside, and apparently, he loved him infinitely. He wondered who was that boy, he wondered when he would ever meet him. Curiosity grew in his heart seeing the pale, brown-headed boy that had managed to turn Henry’s life around. He wanted to see him, he wanted to know everything about him, starting with his name. And for the first time of his life, he found himself to be excited at the thought of growing close to another human.
Those humans whom he despise, this one, he was different. And if love was an emotion he had never known, growing up in a loveless marriage with parents hiding their true sentiment, he caught himself wanting someone to be part of that future. One day, he would rule and reorganize this messed up world, and by his side would be a lover. The mere idea of having a lover was crazy, but somewhat comforting. Love could be allowed even for gods, even for someone like him.
He started drawing sketches of that boy. Him on a bicycle, wearing a red vest. Him smiling, warm like the sun. Him crying, making Henry wonder who could’ve possibly hurt him. He wanted to know everything about him.
He would often imagine what he would be like. He would imagine what his interests might be, where he would be from, probably Hawkins. He would ask himself questions that didn’t even matter, but that he would try to answer because he wanted to know everything about him. All he knew, was that wherever he was in this instant, this boy was also somewhere. Only just somewhere else. Maybe he was born, maybe he wasn’t yet, maybe he was in the future, but the question he would ask himself the most was when they would finally meet.
It was weird, already falling for someone whom he didn’t even know, all that because he knew he would be in love someday. He hadn’t exchange even a word, but he knew he liked him already. It was weird to be this impatient about the future, he who always thought it would just be an alienation of the same day coming back endlessly. But living the same day over and over with someone to share it with— he could see it happening. It was so silly, love and emotions, feeling such things towards another human being, but especially knowing his lover was only just in the future. It was bizarre to know that there was this boy out there, who one day would be the centre of his entire world. His boy was just a stranger by now, a stranger living his own life, with his own family, his own friends, his own struggles. A stranger eating breakfast, a stranger walking, innocent, careless, not even knowing yet that Henry would be his forever love.
For the first time in his pitiful, repetitive circular life, Henry believed in something beautiful. He hated the concept of time, he hated humanity, he hated the world they had built, he had no hope for this species— but as he was drawing portraits of the cute, brunet boy, he believed that as Henry was growing, changing, waiting to meet, he also was there, off somewhere, living, building, experiencing, making stories that one day they would share. One day Henry would know everything about that stranger. They would kiss under the infinite stars, the cover of firmament stretching endlessly, making Henry realize the depth of the universe. Maybe perhaps, he could love him as infinitely as the space would stretch. He used to think his heart would remain as hollow as the space between stars, an empty organ simply built to pump his blood and make him live. But perhaps one day this heart would beat for someone else. In his empty attic surrounded by his spiders as only companions, he contemplated that life he would one day have.
Henry was of impatient nature, and he foolishly thought if he could advance time, then maybe they would meet a little earlier, and that their lives together could begin just a little sooner. He attempted at going faster. He got scared of that doctor his mother was thinking about, the one she wanted to send him to to change him, study him, possibly rob him from his gift. And so he had to kill her, he had to avoid this. If he wanted to assure his future with certainty, he had to keep his powers to see said future, and make sure it would happen.
He had been wrong. This doctor Brenner he so desperately wished to avoid got his claw on him. It was out of question for Henry to become a lab rat. He was not a guinea pig to be played with. He could not be controlled. Martin Brenner took his will, his powers away from him, he restrained his strength, attempted to tame him like an animal. In those desperate times, as he grew up in this white, plain place living those same days over and over, he only had one hope to cling to. The one that his lover was out there, waiting for him to meet him. He couldn’t verify his visions, none of them had come true by now, he never saw that shadowy figure above him, he never saw that boy, and for a moment he believed he never would for as long as he was in this place. He had nowhere to go to, he was trapped. But insane, foolish hope was all he had. He figured maybe love really does make you crazy.
He tried to escape. He crawled through the gutter underneath the lab, thinking he could reach the forest, thinking he would see him on his bike amongst the trees. But they found him because of the same thing restraining his powers. It had a tracker, they brought him back, electrocuted him so he would behave. And as he laid in his cold, uninviting bed, he closed his eyes and thought of him. He thought about the future they could’ve had, his sunny presence warming up the bed next to himself. He thought about waking up next to him, day after day, the sheets bearing his smell and warmth. His only comfort in those desperate times were him. He whom he still didn’t know the name of, his only light in this never-ending darkness. He was a saviour without even being there, and he feared perhaps so much anticipation could lead to disappointment.
Humans were disappointing, why would he ever be different? Living a repetitive life with someone by his side would still be living a repetitive life. And maybe one day he would grow tired of him. Maybe that boy wouldn’t be like he expected. He was already an adult, and the lover he had seen was a child. But he couldn’t let something as trivial as age stop him from experiencing this. Even if it was just for a moment, for a day, he would’ve given everything to meet him. What he feared most above all else, above torture, imprisonment, death, was to never grow to know love with him.
As it turned out, through a life of misery, it was still possible for Henry to experience happiness. Hope came back to him when a child at the lab, Eleven, sent him to another dimension. There he discovered a new world, and in this world he discovered this godlike entity he first saw years ago. He created the spider shape he had seen and understood that he had a role to play in those visions. They wouldn’t miraculously come to him, he had a part to make sure to fulfill in order for it to happen. He was determined to do everything in his power to find the boy.
With the help of the entity he tried to make contact with the other world. This was an hard task, he was somewhere else entirely, with no entry for him to be able to spy. He tried to find people, use energy to connect himself, but the only ones he could ever see were those at the lab. Martin Brenner -who now had entirely white hair- and Eleven, they searched for people and in the same way, he used their connection to connect himself to Hawkins.
And after years, Eleven did a mistake. She re-opened a breech between their world. And at last, he was free. He could see, not leave but see. And after years of daydreaming, there he was.
He saw him on his bike, pedalling down the road surrounded by trees. Just as beautiful as when he saw him, even more so in real life. He had drawn him dozens of times, thought about his face on countless occasions, but finally seeing him— he couldn’t help but think he was the most beautiful thing this world had ever known. His realm was an extraordinary discovery, but this was nothing next to him.
He choked on the weight of his emotions, tears brimming his eyes. His realm, his new world, he would offer it to him. His heart swelled in his chest and he finally understood why it was there. Why it was beating. He would give him everything he may have, and he would change this world for the better. Because he deserved better. He deserved so much better than what this world had to offer. He wondered who might’ve fashioned this boy, this perfect being from Hawkins, a boy with dedication, passion, a creature Henry could only express adoration for. No actions, belief, budget, worlds could ever earn the soul of him. Will Byers. He was Will Byers. This world’s most perfect creation. Loving Will was a bottomless pit in which he kept falling, endlessly, forever. His feelings grew immensely each passing day.
He assumed it was what it must’ve feel like to discover space for the first time. Seeing this stretching, beyond thing out of reach for simple humans. Viewing the night sky and witnessing the wonders and miracles reserved to the divine. Only a god like Henry should’ve been allowed to view Will. He had to take him to his world, so they could live their story like they had to, so he could be only his to adore. As the only man in the world able to view the divine creations, he was left to marvel infinity. Will was a night sky of which only he had seen, and Henry was left to ponder in amazement what was created before his eyes. Will Byers was too good for this world. He could hardly express what he felt when looking at the art of the creator, only grateful at the world for finally doing something right. And for the rest of his life, Henry lived every day with a renewed taste to life and happiness. The only joy in the morning being the one knowing he was going to see him that day. The only peace he had at night the promise of sharing tomorrow. Even if it was from afar, Henry would observe. Simply being a bystander of this world’s most perfect creation. Will didn’t know yet what they would share, he didn’t know yet how loved he was. If only he could find a way to tell him, though he doubted words could ever express what he meant to him. His only light, his only hope, his faith and soul he put in this boy and he regretted nothing. Not those sleepless night thinking about him, not those drawings he obsessively traced seeing his face without ever being able to touch. None of it was a waste. Life would be worth living for as long as Will would be in his. He once feared he would grow tired of Will, but this wouldn’t be possible. All he needed in his life was there. Within him. His end goal wouldn’t be to kiss Will for the first time, to lay with him, to love until it would be so mondane and normal it would just feel ordinary. His end goal would be to cherish Will for as long as life would allow him. He could feel himself falling for him every time he would see him in Hawkins, every time he would see him smile, every time he would just breathe and exist. Loving Will was an experience beyond anything he had ever felt, everything he had ever wished for. He never thought it could feel so strong, so powerful, more powerful than the shadowy entity, more power than himself and all the soul of powered children he took. For Will, he would find ways to love every single day. For Will, he would settle in a boring home in Hawkins, washing glasses to see him drink in it every morning. For Will he would wash his clothes to see him wear them every day. For Will he would start a new world. For Will he would spend his entire day laying beside him, hugging him with all the care and delicacy he deserved. And he would repeat, live through a circular life as long as Will was in it. Bored was not an emotion he could ever feel if he was there. The light of expectations he could’ve had was billions of year away from reality. It was not even close, nothing could’ve ever reached the truest form of his love. Not his craziest dreams, not his biggest expectations, not his impatient anticipation. No scenario he could’ve possibly made up in his mind could ever be near what it was truly like.
He who once believed love wasn’t something he would know, who was not interested in it, got hit by the most powerful thing of this world, it was bigger than he was. It sufficed of a boy to change his lifelong beliefs. But he didn’t mind any of it.
For as long as Henry was alive, Will would be loved. And even in death, from his grave, Henry would love.