Chapter Text
Will didn’t know how it happened. Well, he did. He knew the way it happened, just not the explanation behind it.
Around three weeks ago, he was bitten by a radioactive spider. At first, he figured it was a regular spider, and the bite would go away in no time.
But it didn’t. He started to get these strange feelings — feelings that something was about to happen. And then, it would. At first he thought he was going insane, maybe dying. Or maybe the spider was venomous, and he was poisoned and having hallucinations.
But, he was able to rule all of those out when a web flung out from his hand. Or maybe it was when he was stuck to the ceiling in his room.
So whatever it was, he didn’t know how to explain it. He's a spider now? A spider’s lovechild? None of those things sounded quite right.
This wasn’t some El-related thing, this was... different. And Will could feel it. El never told them about a human-spider mutant that was able to shoot out webs and climb on things like Spiderman from the comics. Spiderman wasn't supposed to be real, he was supposed be a fictional superhero who saved New York! But instead he was given these powers, while being in the middle of Indiana in a small town where everybody knew everybody. Just his luck.
So, when things started happening around Hawkins, he knew he had to take action. It's what Spiderman would've done and well... now he is Spiderman. Plus, with El not having her powers anymore, who was supposed to step up if not him? There was nobody to save Hawkins, so he knew he had to be the one to do it. He had these powers, might as well use them for good.
So he quickly created a suit — even though quickly isn’t the greatest word to use. After all he had around 50 different sketches — but after he decided on the final one, a black and yellow suit, he knew he had to make it fast.
And now, 3 weeks after he got bitten by said spider, he’s swinging around Hawkins, stopping crime and helping people around town.
Even though at first, he didn’t want to give himself a superhero name (because that sounded cringy) the public gave him one.
They called him Spiderman — of course — Hawkins’ Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman.
He had gotten popular. Maybe a little too popular. To the point where now even his friends were talking about him… to him.
Initially, he wanted to tell the party. He was going to, but then he realized how much danger it puts him — and more importantly — his friends in.
So now, he has to keep this secret from them. This big, spider-related, secret. And he was never good at keeping secrets.
Plus, he’s starting to think that they’re catching on. His excuses are getting to a point where they even sound like excuses to his teachers, who usually don't care who's in or out of their class. But hopefully, his identity stays secret, because there’s no way in hell, that the party can find out.
Will's phone buzzed on his desk softly, loudly enough for it to wake him up. He groaned groggily, wiping the crust from his eyes as he sat up.
He didn’t want to go to school — he was dreading it, in fact. He slowly, but surely, got up. He reached for his phone at his desk, unlocking it and heading to his notifications.
The buzzes he was getting were messages — messages from his friends.
The first message was around an hour ago. It was from Mike.
Mike [7:45 am]:
will, u up? don’t be late today, we've gotta do the campaign.
Lucas [7:46 am]:
you too, dustin!
Dustin just replied to with an annoyed emoji.
Shit, the planning for the campaign was today, how could he forget? Well, he was fighting one of the most uncooperative criminals he’s ever met last night, so it's kinda not his fault.
He rubbed his temple as he read the next message. This one was from Lucas. This was the one he woke up to.
Lucas [9:13 am]:
will, dude. it’s second period already. where are you?
It's second period? Will glanced at the time. 9:15. Shit! He was supposed to be at school at 8!
He shot up from his bed, the blanket flinging off of him quickly. He flung his web from his wrist at his pants, snapping them towards him.
He shuffled to put them on, grabbing a random shirt from his floor and quickly putting it over his head. He grabbed his phone, headphones, and his keys, stuffing them in his pocket as he rushed out his room.
As he reached the living room, he saw Jonathan — who was slumped over on the couch. His mom wasn’t there, she had gotten a new job in downtown Hawkins, so she went to work before anybody in the household woke up.
She had trusted Jonathan to get will to school, but most days he just sleeps in, leaving will to get to school on his own. Will doesn't mind it, though. Makes everything a bit more easier for him.
Will just shook his head at the sight of Jonathan, and walked out the door. The sunlight was blinding, the air heavy with the hum of early morning life in Hawkins.
He quickly made his way to his bike, unlocking the bike lock and hopping it on it quickly. He could just swing all the way to school, but that’s too obvious. Someone would see him. So, he has to take his old, rusty bike that creaks every 5 seconds.
God, he can’t wait to get his drivers license.
As quickly as he possibly could, he biked his way to Hawkins High, desperately trying to make it before he missed another period.
He pulled up to the bike parking in front of his school. As he slowly reached to put on the lock, the air shifted, and the now familiar tightness returned.
Suddenly, he heard a noise — a sharp screech of tires. His senses kicked him into overdrive.
He turned around just in time to see a car swerving wildly, heading straight towards him. Will froze, his heart hammering in his chest.
Instinctively, his hand shot out, and — Wham! — a web shot from his wrist, slamming into the car’s side, pulling it off course. The car veered to the side, narrowly missing him, and skidded to a stop near a light pole to his side.
He breathed heavily, looking at the car and then back at his bike. He was shaking, he could feel it.
“Will!” he heard a voice from behind him. He turned around quickly, and was greeted by: “What happened dude? You okay?” Dustin asked, walking beside him.
Will looked back at the car, then back to Dustin. “Uh, yeah. I— I guess the car just lost control,” He replied, dusting his pants off nervously.
Dustin started, excitedly. “I've never seen someone dodge a car like that! How'd you—”
But Will just cut him off. “I was lucky… I guess. Anyway, shouldn’t we get inside?” Will said as he clicked his lock and started walking towards the entrance. Dustin didn’t see the web? Thank god.
Dustin looks back at the car, and then back at Will. “You aren’t gonna go talk to them? They almost killed you!”
Will stopped in his tracks, looking back at Dustin and the car, that was still parked there. He just shrugged, then continued walking. Unfortunately, almost dying, was now a regular day occurrence for him. It didn’t phase him too much.
Dustin sped up to walk next to Will. Will pulled out his phone and looked at the time. 9:32. “How late were you?” Will asked.
“Not as late as you,” Dustin stifled a laugh, making Will just scoff and roll his eyes. “I got here like, halfway through first period.”
“Then why are you out here?” Will questioned, finally reaching the entrance doors to the highschool.
“I've got study hall second period and Mr. Gerald is on his computer the whole time. He doesn’t even notice when I slip out,” Dustin chuckled as they walked through the empty halls. “So, why not just use it to my advantage?”
Will just shook his head, laughing as he reached his locker. He put in the code, opening the creaky door and grabbing out his books.
“You know,” Dustin started, leaning against a locker near Will’s. “Mike and Lucas are gonna be so mad.”
Will just sighed, shuffling through the papers on the shelf in the metal locker. “Yeah, I know.”
“You’ve been late almost every day now. Even max is starting to get worried,” Dustin sighed, looking away. then, he mumbled, “I am too,” even quieter.
Will looked at Dustin, who was just looking at the floor. “Listen…” he started, making Dustin’s head pop back up. “It’s nothing. I promise. Just… Jonathan hasn’t been waking up in the mornings, and—”
“Your mom goes to work at 5’o clock in the morning. Yeah, I know,” Dustin sighed. “I believe you, man. Trust me, I do! It’s just… I don’t know about Mike.”
Will looked back in his locker, away from Dustin. Mike. Of course, he just had to be the main problem.
“Yeah, I get it,” Will says, and slams his locker behind him, making Dustin flinch at the loud noise. “I should get to class. I already missed most of it.”
Dustin narrowed his eyes. “Why would you go to class when you already missed most of it?” he inquired.
Will stood silent for a second, seemingly thinking about the question. “Fine, you’re right. Let's go hang out in the office?” Will suggested, making Dustin's face light up.
“And bother Mrs. Harper? Hell yeah.”
The rest of the morning was a blur. After Dustin and Will had got back from the office, It just felt like minutes going by for Will.
After a bit, the bell rang for third period. Then fourth, Then fifth. And finally, sixth. Lunchtime. God, Will was starving. He hadn’t ate breakfast and he was out all night. The lunchroom was its usual mess of clattering trays, yelling freshmen, and questionable food smells. Will scanned the crowd as he stepped in, tray in hand.
His eyes flicked to a table — their table — the one they always sat at. Where mike and lucas were already sitting.
When he saw the table, he hesitated. Mike looked pissed. Lucas was chewing, looking down at his phone. Max was sitting with them too, poking at a carton of mashed potatoes like it personally offended her.
He looked around, maybe for Dustin so he didn’t have to walk up alone. He took a deep breath, then forced his legs to move towards the table.
He reached the table, plopping down next to Max and in front of Mike slowly. Mike didn’t say anything when Will sat down — all he did was narrow his eyes.
“Hey,” Will said, breaking the unbearable silence.
Mike crossed his arms. “Third time this week.”
“Fourth,” Lucas corrected, without even looking up.
"Even worse!"
Will pressed his lips together, deciding not to say anything. Just as he was about to respond, Dustin came and sat down right beside Mike. “Hey guys! What’re we talking about?”
“I think you know what we’re talking about, Dustin,” Lucas said quietly, side-eyeing Mike, who was still staring ahead at Will, obviously mad.
Dustin made an ah sound, and then stood quiet.
Mike started again, “If you don’t wanna be apart of the campaign, just say that,” Mike mumbled, making Will open his mouth and scramble to say something. But Mike continued before he could reply. “But we need you, Will. You’re the best batshit insane member we have!”
“Hey!” Dustin said, sounding offended.
Will sighed. “I’m… sorry,” he replied softly, making Mike’s face tighten a little less. “I’ve just been… caught up in a lot of stuff. A lot’s been going on.”
After Will finished, Mike’s face tightened up again. Will hated lying. Because whenever he was lying, it was obvious. And Mike, who’s been his best friend since he can remember, can definitely tell when he’s lying.
“You know you can talk to us, right?” Lucas added, locking his phone and placing it faced-down on the table.
Will just nodded. “Yeah, you can tell us whatever,” Mike added, pressing closer to Will from under the table, even though they were across from each other. He knew that this was Mike's way of saying, tell us what’s wrong. Tell us why you’ve been late every-fucking-day.
But what was he supposed to say? Hey! Sorry I was late today, I almost got hit by a car because my spider-senses kicked in too late! or, Sorry I've been so late lately, I’ve been waking up hours later because i’m sleep-deprived from fighting crime all night!
Will swallowed hard, his throat tight. He knew Mike meant well. He always meant well. There was no good excuse, but Will had to make one.
“It’s just that…” Will took a deep breath. “Jonathan’s been less present. And Mom’s so caught up about her job and—”
“We’re asking about you, Will,” Max added, finally putting her fork down.
Will just blinked. He didn’t know what to say, it was like his mind blanked. “Yeah, I know, just—”
Mike cut him off. “I don’t believe that, Will. Tell me what’s actually going on,” he said, his tone getting more serious.
Will doesn’t think he’s ever seen Mike this serious. The way he says stuff, the way he looks. It's all so confusing. he looks over at Dustin who’s giving him an, I told you so, face.
He looked back at mike, who seemingly hasn’t glanced away from him once, maybe hasn’t even blinked. He knew he had to make something up to convince Mike, really convince.
And then, he realized. Maybe he didn’t have to lie.
“I’ve just been sleep-deprived lately. My sleep schedule’s been… messed up. I think I have… insomnia. Or whatever it’s called,” Will replied. And this time, Mike stayed silent. So did Max, and so did Lucas.
So he continued. “Plus, all this Spiderman stuff isn’t really… helping.”
“Yeah I… get that” Mike said, quietly. Had he finally done it? Made mike lay off of him, even just for a little? All he had to do was tell the... half-truth?
“Speaking of,” Dustin started up again. “Did you guys see that Spiderman caught that dude last night? The one who keeps robbing all those gas stations?”
Max scoffed. “Yeah, finally. He’s robbing gas stations. Can’t believe he wasn’t caught earlier.” You'd be shocked, Will thought.
Lucas shrugged in response. “Spiderman works in mysterious ways,” making Dustin and Mike laugh. Will just stood silent.
Mike cleared his throat. “Just… listen,” he started up again. Shit, maybe he didn’t do it. “You can tell me anything. Anything. I can help you with anything you need! Well… I can try.” Will chuckled quietly, making Mike form a smile on his face. “That’s not the point. but, I just want you to know.”
Dustin cleared his throat, making the party look at him. “Maybe it’d help if you guys lay off him a little? I mean, it’s probably just making everything more stressful.”
That made Mike and Lucas turn their heads to Will, who, with his lips pressed together, just softly nodded. Quickly, Lucas stuttered to say, “Yeah— yeah! We can do that!” he said feverishly. then — quieter — he said, “Sorry, man, we didn’t realize.”
Will just shook his head. “No, no. It’s alright. I get it,” Will smiled, looking over at Mike who was looking down at his tray. He looked troubled. Like he felt really bad.
“No need to get worked up about it, alright?” Will said, putting a smile on his face, he hoped it didn’t look as fake as it was. “Now, are we working on this campaign, or not?”
Mike's face lit up with a smile, and so did Dustin's. Mike pulled out a large notebook and a pencil, placing down in front of all of them. Max scoffed quietly, making Lucas stifle a laugh.
As Will looked across the table, he realized somebody was missing. His sister, El.
Even though they live together, El always make it to school on time. Hopper picks her up every morning, because he’s living up in his old cabin, renovating the place.
He tells El he ‘plans to move in with her,’ but he hasn’t really talked to Joyce about it. And even though Hopper asks El every morning, does Will need a ride? She just brushes it off, and tells him no.
Lately, El’s been different — maybe it’s because she doesn't have her powers anymore, or maybe it’s because of how distant Will’s been getting — but she’s different.
“Hey, where’s El?” he asks in a whisper, careful not to let anyone else hear the name, since everybody knew her as ‘Jane’.
Mike looked around, and shrugged. “She said she had this group project to work on. Guessing she’s in the library still.”
“Yeah. For economics,” Max confirmed, making Dustin groan.
"I still have to do that! I haven’t even started,” Dustin whined sarcastically, making Lucas chuckle. “My group is so ass.”
“I’m, in your group, Dustin,” Mike blinked, looking over at Dustin.
“Exactly, dude,” Dustin shrugged, making Mike roll his eyes at him and scoff.
He didn’t know what was going on between El and Mike. He was pretty sure they weren’t broken up — or El would’ve told him. But, they’ve been distant lately too. One day, they’re like strangers, and the other, they’re acting like a couple again.
It was so confusing, and it wasn’t helping his situation. And no, not the radioactive-Spiderman-superhero situation. The gay-crush-on-bestfriend situation. He sighed, and took a bite from his sandwich.
As they talked and discussed their campaign, Will couldn’t help but notice the uneasy feeling in his stomach. It wasn’t his spider-sense — not yet, at least.
Suddenly, the bell rung, stopping the party’s planning.
“We just have a little left. Who wants to finish it later?” Mike inquired, closing the notebook on the table.
“I can’t, I have a basketball game later,” Lucas sighed, making Mike scoff. “Will, do you have an art meeting today?”
Will had joined the art club at the start of the year. They do have meetings, but every once in a while. He figured, art meetings was a good excuse for his disappearances.
Max starts, “He probably does, there’s one almost every day—”
“He doesn’t! Me and him are going to the arcade later today,” Dustin interrupted. “We’re still going, right?” he looked at Will hopefully.
Fuck, he had forgotten all about that.
“You guys are?” Mike asked, looking over at Will, awaiting his answer.
“Uh… yeah, we are,” he mumbled, seeing Dustin smile from the corner of his eye. He continued, “We’ll take the rest and do it once we get back.”
“Perfect, then,” Mike said, sliding the notebook across the table to Will.
Will grimaced slightly at the large notebook. He definitely wouldn’t be able to carry that while swinging around. “Dustin, can you carry it in your bag?”
“You mean his unnecessarily big ass bag?” Lucas added, making everyone except Dustin laugh. "Yeah, I think he can."
He crossed his arms. “It’s a perfectly normal sized bag!”
Lucas rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath, something they couldn’t hear. But Max caught it, making her laugh quietly.
“Anyway, are we meeting at the arcade or…?” Dustin asked, turning his attention to Will.
“Uh, meet at my house?” Will suggested, making Dustin nod. He might as well go on patrol early, so he could get back to his house before Dustin got there to meet up. It seemed like the perfect plan. Go do his Spiderman duties quickly, and then go to the arcade.
“Okay then,” Dustin said. “What time?”
“Uhh…” he looked at the time on his phone quickly. 1:15pm. 6th period was over. School ends at 3:00. patrol should take around… 2 hours? Maybe 3, just to be safe. So that means… “6:30?”
“Alright! I’ll be there,” Dustin said, getting up from the table and grabbing the notebook, stuffing it into his bag. The party followed, starting to pack up their belongings and throw away their trash. “And don’t be late, Will.”
Will stifled a laugh, grabbing his phone off of the table. “How can I be late to my own house, Dustin?”
That made Mike laugh softly, his laugh crinkling up his nose. Will couldn’t help but admire.
“How about you don’t be late,” Will teased back, making Dustin scoff.
“Watch! I'll be on time!” Dustin bounced back, making Will laugh a little bit harder. “I’ll see ya guys!”
Max and Lucas waved at them, both going off together. “See you. Bye Will,” Mike said, waving at Will and giving him a smile before he left. Will gave him a little wave back, his stomach turning as he did.
“You are so obvious,” Dustin stated, making Will narrow his eyes at him.
“Shut, up,” Will scoffed, playfully pushing Dustin on the shoulder. “Goodbye,” Dustin chuckled, waving to Will as he walked off.
When Will reached the hall, he couldn’t help but the notice the uneasiness rising. His senses heightened, and he could feel himself starting to sweat.
It felt like something — someone — was there. Watching him, stalking him — just lurking. He didn’t know what or who it was, and it he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out right now.
So he quickly made his way to his 7th period, trying his hardest to walk as fast as he could.