Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

March 21st 1987

It has been around a year and 6 months since Will had left Hawkins and it has been that long since he had talked to The Party. It wasn’t even that they had left on bad terms, it's just that whenever Will had reached out to them he never got any response back so he decided to wait until they reached out. He hasn’t talked to any of them since and El had been receiving letters from Mike a ton meaning there weren't any mistakes in the mailing. Of course this hurt Will since they were his only friends since forever including Mike so Will had started to feel lonely and felt like he had no one to talk to anymore.

Enter Annabelle, Caleb, and Betty.

It was mid October of Will’s freshman year when he first met Annabelle and The Party hadn’t talked to Will for little over a month now since Will had given up on trying to reach out first.

He was in 4th period Art, which was his least favorite class due to the fact that his teacher believed in switching seats every day until everyone had sat with everyone to get them to know each other. He did like the teacher, Ms. Wilson, she was very kind and never judged the fact that Will always sat in her classroom alone during lunch. Her classroom was always open during breaks and she didn’t care who was in her classroom unless they were disruptive.

This day in particular, Will was working on a new project just for fun when he felt someone sit next to him which was not unusual because of some kids who thought he and Eleven were weird. However, instead of the normal bullying from one of the baseball guys it was just silence and he could feel eyes on him.

“Did we have homework?” The person asked him.

“Um hi. Nothing for today, it's just something I’m personally working on. Sorry, are you in my 4th period? I haven’t seen you in that class?”

“Yeah but I've been gone this whole week so I haven’t been switched into a new seat yet. Wow, why are you taking art? You have it perfected already.” She questions nodding towards his art.

Will instinctively covers it but then uncovers it because she doesn’t seem like the others who would have taken the paper and bullied him about it.

“It’s definitely not perfect but I like art and they didn’t have any higher level class for it other than beginner. Sorry also what’s your name? I don’t think I’ve ever met you before.”

“I’m Annabelle last name Martinez but everyone calls me Anna or Belle never my whole name for some reason not that I mind.” Annabelle does a little bow and gesture with her hands towards Will, “What’s your name? And do you have any nicknames?”

“I’m Will Byers and my name is already short so I’ve never gotten any nicknames.” He definitely wasn’t going to mention Will the Wise yet and risk gaining another bully. Not that Anna seemed like the type but he wasn’t going to risk it.

After that they began talking just about anything and everything leading them to realize they had a lot in common and apparently destiny was on their side because that very day Ms. Wilson paired them up to be partners. Anna continued to talk to Will about people that she didn’t like which was mainly everyone Will didn’t like who were bullies so he felt like he could trust she wasn’t going to turn out and be another person who made fun of him.

Ms. Wilson had finally gone through everyone pairing up so these were their new seats “until further notice” so she assigned them a project to work on outside of class. Anna gave Will her number so they could work on their project leading to Anna just calling for fun and asking Will if he wants to hang out which is how they ended up becoming best friends.

Will met Caleb through Anna a couple weeks later.

One day Anna called Will and asked if he wanted to join her and one of her friends to the movies and he said yes but when he got there he saw a guy from the football team with his arm around her. Will was gay so it wasn’t like he was jealous or anything he just was scared he was interrupting a date and was about to turn around when she spotted him and ran up to hug him. She introduced him to the guy who’s name was Caleb and he apparently was a hugger because he immediately pulled Will into a tight hug which Will was too shocked to give back.

After the movie, Will pulled Anna aside and asked if she was sure her boyfriend didn’t mind him intruding on their date even after that friendly greeting from him. She laughed so loud that Caleb had come over and wanted to hear the joke. Will seemed lost after he also started laughing when Anna told him what Will said.

“So you guys aren’t dating?”

“Oh my god will goodness no. No offense Caleb”

“None taken, that's hilarious genuinely.”

“Will, I’m sorry for laughing, I just thought you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“That I’m a lesbian.” She said without hesitation and without whispering which scared Will since they were out in public.

He knew he made a face because of the fact he was worried that they were in public but he knew they thought it was because of her coming out.

Caleb drew an almost angry face but he mainly looked worried, “Look man she said you were cool but if you got a problem with it…”

“No, I swear I definitely don’t have a problem with it. It’s just how can you say that in public without fear of other people?”

“I definitely worried about it at first but then I remembered that we live in a semi progressive area and a fraction of the people here don’t care and another fraction are somewhat queer so it doesn’t really matter to most. If it does and they have a problem with it, whenever I’m with Caleb they almost never give me shit.”

“Yeah and I’m bisexual but not a lot of people know about it except for the other queer people so I never get shit for it meaning I can defend my friends from fuckhead homophobes.”

“I’m um gay if we’re sharing. I’ve never told anyone that actually. Wow um sorry.” Will had started to tear up but he held them back. “It’s just I’ve never met anyone like me before and back where I used to live it definitely wasn’t like over here.”

“Well now you got 2 of us at least and we can introduce you to more don’t worry. Speaking of which, this girl Betty who we’re also close with is having a party tonight at 7 to celebrate Halloween early are you down?”

“Um I have to ask permission first but I’ll definitely let you know before 5. If my mom says yes can you pick me up, sorry my brother messed up his car and I don’t think his friend would be willing to give me a ride that late or my mom.“

“No yeah for sure let me know! Oh! I think your ride is here Will so see you later hopefully!” Anna drags him into a hug and when she lets go Caleb also drags him into a hug but this time he actually reciprocates it.

When Will meets Betty she is already 4 shots in and is playing guess the musical theater character.

Will had asked Joyce but she had hesitated to let him go to a party after hearing about what some of the kids did to his stuff from school. He reassured her that they weren’t like that but to ease her nerves he asked Anna and Caleb to come over before the party and introduce themselves to her which did help because Anna was her normal weird self so seeing that helped Joyce realize that he was going to be fine. He also asked if he could sleepover at Caleb’s house since it was a late party and he didn’t have his own keys. This was a lot harder to convince Joyce to let him but he just promised he would leave a voicemail from Caleb’s house.

What she didn’t know was that nerds and weird kids actually had more fun than the “popular kids” did and when Will arrived at the front door of Betty’s house there was a table of alcohol just there. Anna and Caleb made sure to not pressure Will into drinking and even offered him water which he took. Will didn’t really want to drink but then as he was watching the party from a couch he happened to see a couple and the guy reminded him of Mike.

He needed to stop thinking about it so he asked Caleb and Anna to make him a drink.

“Um, I want to try something to drink. Where are they at?”

“Are you sure?” Caleb questions him, “We don’t want to pressure you or anything it’s up to you.”

“No yeah I’m sure. I promise you guys didn’t pressure me, I just want to try it.” Will promises and with that they led the way to the kitchen where Will chooses something random and ends up enjoying it.

Maybe a little too much because next thing he knows he’s dancing with everyone he doesn’t know and he finally introduces himself to Betty who gives him a hug like they’ve known each other since the dawn of time. They continue talking throughout the night and when the party has finally died down she gives him her number and tells him to call her.

“I’m gay just so you know.” Will blurts out thinking she’s hitting on him.

“Oh god no. Sorry I’m gay too or well lesbian I promise I’m not hitting on you. You seem really cool and I want to get to know you better. Anyways see you around I see my friend is about to puke herself.” She laughs as she runs to her friend on the other side of the room.

And like Anna, he and Betty continue to have conversations to talk about whatever they want and it leads to them also becoming best friends.

Will’s life after that moment now consisted of hanging out everyday with Anna, Caleb, and Betty at either Anna’s house or Betty’s house after school or hanging out at Anna’s job at their local bookstore. He also began sitting at a table in the lunch room instead of sitting by himself in Ms. Wilson’s room. He does sometimes come to visit her but it wasn't like before where it was his only option. He had also started actually talking to her to get advice on his art since during class it was just repeats of what he already knew, he needed help with stuff that wasn’t taught in class.

Now Will was in his second semester of Sophomore Year and he had finally been able to have a good life and not worry about what others thought of him. He was popular and for some reason a lot of girls liked him (the ones who didn’t know he was gay). He had the most amazing friends and he had a good relationship with El and Jonathan finally. He had almost completely forgotten about his past life in Hawkins until El reminded him on a phone call that Mike was visiting them in 2 days.

He was at Anna’s house with Betty and Caleb and he told his mom they were having a “Study Session” (which is them just smoking Jonathan’s stash and Anna’s alcohol) (It was also a Friday and they wouldn’t have school next week so they didn’t need to study for anything but his mom didn’t need to know that) and since he told his mom, El called knowing he would be at Anna’s house.

Caleb, who was closer to the phone, got up when it started ringing, “Hello, Martinez Residents.” He answered, “Oh Hey Jane! How are you? Yeah let me get him. Mr. Wise, It’s Jane.”

“Don’t call me that.” Will laughed at him while getting up from his spot on the floor. “Hey Jane. What’s up?”

“Will! I need help picking out my outfit. Mike is coming in tomorrow and I don’t know what to wear. Help me please or can I talk to Betty to ask her opinion?” El continued, questioning him about her clothing options.

Fuck. Will completely forget Mike was coming to visit for spring break. How could he forget, Will like last year would have been jumping for joy if Mike was coming to visit but now? Now he wants to throw up and then once he sees Mike throw up again and again and agai-

“Hello? Will please let me just talk to Betty.” El said, interrupting his thoughts.

“Shit yeah one second. Bee? My sister needs help with something and apparently only you can help with it.”

“Comingggg.” She told him “Hi Jane what’s up? Oh yeah I can help. What are the options? Yeah thats sounds good but-“

Will walked away while they continued talking to go lay face down on the rug in Annabell’s room.

“Fuck my lifeeee.” He groaned into the fuzzy rug.

“Amen.” They all responded automatically even Betty who was on the phone replying with.

So what if Will was being a little dramatic. He felt like the world was ending and he should know because he lived in Hawkins. He hadn’t spoken to his so-called “best friend” since he moved and El had been receiving a lot of letters from him meaning he did have the time to communicate with the Byers just not Will. It’s not like Will didn’t know Mike was coming. Hell Will even painted him something because yeah he missed his old best friend so what. It’s just that he didn’t realize the day was so close and it caught him off guard.

“Hey babe what’s wrong?” Annabelle asked him while handing him the joint that Will brought.

“I’ll tell you once she’s off the phone.” Will whispered while taking the joint. He started getting into some of this stuff because of Caleb but mainly from his brother. Jonathan was always too high to even care or notice when Will would snab his supply so it made it easier to get high whenever they wanted.

“Is it about M-“

“When Jane’s off the phone remember.” He said cutting her off before El heard her in the background.

“No worries! Let Will know if you need any more help and he can call me! Bye Jane!” Betty said getting off the phone with El.

“Ok so are you moping because of what Jane just told me. She said a guy named Mike is coming here for spring break. Is this the same Mike you told us you used to be in love with? The same one you’re sister is dating?” Betty asked

“Yeah so kill me now while I can still be happy.” He said definitely not moping.

“Quit hogging that shit give me.” Caleb said snatching the joint, “It can’t be that bad can it? I mean you haven’t seen the dude in what 3 and a half years? I think? Shut up, you know Math isn’t my strong suit.” He says when they all start laughing at how wrong his timeline is. “Point is maybe your heart forgot about him so you guys can just be around each other without it breaking your sad little gay heart.”

“You’re the same age as me but I guess you’re right maybe it won’t be weird to see him. It’ll just be like I’m seeing an old friend. I’m still killing myself since I have to see Jane and him making out every second again. Which is so disgusting that it was probably the thing that turned me gay.” Will says getting up to grab his drink from the cooler.

“Oh also Jane said your mom was home and wanted you back to eat dinner Will.”

“Fuck. My. Life.” He groans while collapsing into the closest person’s body which was Annabelle’s body on the couch.

“Amen.”

“I smell like weed and cheap beer. I’m so dead.”

“To be fair Jonathan literally smells worse than you all the time and looks like he’s in a whole different world while we got the cheap shit and are just the tiniest bit high. Also your mom never says shit to him. I think you’re good, like Joyce Byers is the best mom I've ever seen.” Annabelle tells him while stroking his hair.

“Fine I guess just say you want me out of here. Sorry to end this extremely productive study session but can you take me home Caleb.” Will asks him.

“Yeah sure bye Belle bye Bee see you guys tomorrow!” Caleb says planting a wet kiss on their cheeks

“Bye guys see you tomorrow.” Betty tells him and gives him a hug.

“Bye mi amors see you.” Annabelle tells them. Betty is staying with her tonight because she hates sleeping in an empty big house and Annabelle’s mom is gone because of a night shift at the hospital.

On the drive to Will’s house they play a mixtape that they all made together of the friend groups favorite songs since Caleb is the car they all are always in. Heroes by David Bowie starts to play which is Will’s favorite song after Caleb and Annabell showed him a bunch of songs from him.

“So I never asked you about this Mike guy. All I know is that he was the first guy you liked but you knew he was one hundred percent straight.” Caleb sorta yells over the song.

“Well that’s mainly it.” Will responded yelling back, “ He was my first best friend and we grew up together but then I went missing as you know and he became closer friends with my sister and ended up dating her. After that we stopped really hanging out one on one because he became obsessed with her. It hurt because at the same time I started having feelings towards him he was making out with my sister. Then once I moved over here I kept sending letters to him but he never once replied. I eventually stopped and we haven’t talked since. I definitely don’t feel like he’s my best friend anymore, that's you guys so I’m kind of scared of how he’s going to react towards me.” Caleb didn’t respond and just let Will talk about his feelings towards Mike the whole car ride.

The drive is only around 10 minutes so they got to Will’s house somewhat fast since it’s late and there aren’t any cars around.

“Will just to remind you, you have 3 beautiful amazing awesome best friends so if this Mike guy gives you any problems about anything just remember I’m also a football player and can scare him away.” Caleb laughs but Will knows if he does need him to, he will, “I mean it, don't be afraid to call me and I’ll bring my scary straight boy character into play. Love you mucho man adios.” He grabs Will’s hand and plants a kiss on his palm then drives away.

As Will walks inside he yells so Joyce knows he’s home and she calls him into the kitchen where El and Jonathan are already in.

“Ok so we need to plan for tomorrow. Yes I know it’s late but we got to make sure we do this right since I won’t be picking Mike up myself. You guys will go to the airport and pick Mike up, remember not to be late. That means you need to wake up early, ok? I won’t be able to help you guys so you need to be responsible.” Joyce reminds them as she serves them their dinner.

Will is already hating tomorrow but he is also semi excited to see Mike again. It sucks because there’s a part of him that knows he is still in love with him but there’s another part that hates him for not writing to him in the 2 years they’ve been gone. Of course he can’t hate him too much since he has painted him something as a gift but it’s difficult to just forgive and forget when he hasn’t talked to his so-called best friend in years.

Well he has to chalk up his feelings because he has to see Mike tomorrow so he’s doomed.

Fuck His Life

Chapter Text

March 22th 1987

“Will get up, we need to start going!”

Will doesn’t know who yells it but it’s loud enough for him to wake up. But it also could be because of the banging on the door that wakes him up so who knows.

As he is getting ready he debates on whether or not to bring the painting because of his fears but ends up bringing it in case Mike hadn’t changed (which was unlikely but still) and was still the same Mike who said he would never join a different dnd group without him in it. Although he had heard from El that The Party had started playing dnd but he couldn’t be too sure.

The way to the airport was also nerve racking and since he decided to bring along the stupid painting to top it all off he was even more nervous. His head was filled with so many what if’s and worries that it was hard to keep track of all of them. The most predominant one that kept popping up into his mind as what if Mike had completely forgotten about Will. What if he just remembered him as his ”Girlfriend’s brother”? Then he would look like an idiot for giving him a painting he made. The painting was so stupid why would he bring it? Matter of fact, why would he even make it?

When they finally arrived and waited for Mike in front of his gate, El was so excited she couldn't hold in her excitement. She was talking super fast and loud about the day they were going to have which Will caught on that she kept saying ”me and Mike” instead of us or including Will. This day was already going so great. That was sarcasm. Anyways.

When El finally spots Mike she runs up to hug him while Will anxiously walks behind her with Jonathan and Argyle and that’s when all his fears come true. Will goes to give him a hug because he missed his old friend so much but Mike just gives him an awkward pat. Great, just great. At least he won’t have to be around them by himself. He is going to have all his best friends with him and then he gets to ditch Mike and El at the house soon so they can have some “couple time” or whatever.

When Mike pulls away he asks Will about the painting in his hand but there’s no way in hell Will is going to give him the painting now.

“Um, it’s nothing. Just this painting I’ve been working on.” Will shrugs off and he can feel Jonathan staring at him but Will just looks to the ground. Jonathan also introduces Argyle to Mike but Will is too zoned out of the conversation to see what happens. El drags Mike off so now Will can finally take a break and breathe. That was a shitshow for him. Just 7 more days.

After stopping at El Rodeo for burritos they head on over to Rink-O-Mania. Mike and El are talking in hushed whispers and giggles while El catches Mike up with her life. All that Will has heard the whole trip is lies. Not saying his sister is a loner but she has been telling him stories that happen to him not her. El has had a hard time making friends the whole time they’ve been here while Will made friends with people like Caleb, Bee, and Anna who have introduced him to others. He definitely knows a majority of the “weird kids” at school so he has friends but they never hang out with El which sucks but it also sucks that now El is trying to make it seem like she has all these friends when she never really tries to get to know anyone that well.

They head inside but not before Jonathan tells him that they’ll be back at 6 and to “have fun” whatever that means. Once they’re finally inside they head to grab their rollerskates. Will tunes out Mike and El’s conversation and gives his shoes to the person working the counter and is about to walk away until he hears.

“Oh hey Will! I’ve never see you here before. Are you celebrating your special day or something?” Lila from his math class says while Mike and El leave the counter leaving Will there.

“Hey Lila! I didn’t know you worked here. Uh it’s kinda a special day I guess but not really. My sister’s boyfriend is like visiting for spring break.”

“No I meant it’s your birthday right?” She asks

“Oh yeah it is, how'd you know?”

“I just pay attention. Especially to you.” She tells him and adds a wink. Will feels himself turn crimson and is about to tell her thank you when he feels Mike very close behind him. Almost touching his chest to Will back before Will gives them some distance.

“Who’s this?” Mike asks Will. There’s something in his tone but Will’s not too sure.

“Oh this is Lila! Lila meets Mike, he's the sister’s boyfriend who’s visiting I was telling you about.”

“Yeah hi nice to meet you.” She says barely sparing him a glance, “ But anyways, Will, are you going to Holly’s party tonight? I think it’s like a spring break party but I'm not too sure. Everyone from last time will be there so they’ll definitely want you there too”

“Oh yeah totally I can’t wait, she always throws the best parties.”

“Well if you’re going I’m definitely going to be there. It’s always fun to see you around.” Lila flirtatiously tells him with a smile.

“Um thanks Lila, see you around.” Will says while walking away as fast as he could to get away before she asks him on a date. As he walks away to sit where El is, he sees Mike’s face looking at him with that same look he had earlier but more harshly. Will sits down and Mike comes over to him.

“You know she was flirting with you right?” Mike whispers to him.

“Yeah, I'm not stupid Mike. It doesn’t matter, she has a boyfriend.” And because I’m gay but he doesn’t say that part outloud.

“She has a boyfriend and she’s still flirting with you? Why?” Mike questions like he can’t even fathom a person flirting with Will let alone someone who is already dating someone.

“Wow, is it so hard to believe someone could like me jeez Mike.”

“No Will, I’m not saying tha-“

”Mr. Wise! I didn’t know you’d be here! I’ve never seen you guys here before!” As Will looks up he sees a guy from his English class skating over towards him.

“I come all the time. Will never likes to come with me though.” El tells Mike.

“Did Caleb tell the guys to start calling me that? I’m never telling him anything anymore if he’s gonna just blab to the team about it.” Will laughs as Daniel tries to slow to a stop by looks like he’s having a hard time doing so.

“No swear he just got drunk at my house and started talking about his friends and mentioned how you used to-“

“Anyways Daniel, you need help? You look like Bambi on ice.” Will cuts off before Mike hears about how Will could never forget about him and Will the Wise.

“Nah man I’m fine I just never seen you here and wanting to come say hi. I don’t think I’ve seen you around school before have I? I’m Daniel” He tells Mike.

“I’m Mike El-Jane’s Boyfriend. I’m just visiting.”

“Oh damn I didn’t know baby Byers was dating someone, that's awesome. Anyways I need to get going. My baby sister is having a party here so if I leave her for more than like 5 minutes she starts crying. It was nice meeting you though. We should hang out soon Will, I like talking with you. Um yeah bye.” Daniel mumbles the last part so only Will could hear him while he skates off and shakes his head.

Will turns back to Mike and El but they’re having their own conversations when Mike forgets socks and El doesn’t know where they are. Will tells him where they are and doesn’t have energy towards El to argue with her about if she’s been here so many times how does she forget socks.

After they skate for a bit they sit down at a booth to drink milkshakes and that’s when chaos happens.

Angela finds El and pulls her onto the rink but since she told Mike that she was her friend he didn’t care. Will sees a guy holding a camera and that’s when Mike finally stands up. They’re too late and even when Mike goes to the dj booth they make a total joke of El. She runs away when Mike tries to go get her so him and Mike end up looking all around the place trying to find her

“You should have told me she was having trouble here.” Mike tells him as they continue searching for El

“I didn’t know she was lying to you!”

“which is why you decided to be a douche to her all day”

“I wasn’t being a douche.“ Will sorta yells at Mike

“You were! You were rolling your eyes. You were mopping. you were barely talking. You basically sabotaged the whole day!” Interrupts Mike and they pause their searches for them to have this argument in front of everyone at the Rink

“She was lying to you, Mike. Straight to your face ever since you got here. And I’ve been a total third wheel all day. It’s been miserable. So, so sorry if I wasn’t… wasn’t smiling.”

“Yeah, whatever, man.” Mike dismisses and walks away

“Well, what about us” Will yells towards him, causing Mike to whip around.

“What?”

“You’re mad that I didn’t talk to you? You made it super clear that you’re not interested in anything I have to say.” Will’s voice waverers while telling him.

“That's just not true.“

“You’ve called maybe a couple times. It's been almost 2 years, Mike. Meanwhile El has a book of letters from you.”

“That's because she‘s my girlfriend, Will.”

“And us?” Will regrets the words as soon as they fall out of his mouth.

“We’re friends! We’re friends.” it's not my fault you don’t like girls.

“We used to be best friends.”

“Then maybe you should have reached out more. I don't know. But why is this on me? Why… why am I the bad guy?” Mike says dismissively again and walks away to try and find El again.

A while later El comes out of where she was hiding because she saw Angela and started storming over to her. Angela had never bothered Will because he was well known around school and it would be a bad look for her but that didn’t stop her from bullying El even after the multiple times Will had told her to stop.

Will and Mike are still looking for her but hear her scream as El punches her and walks back towards them.

“Let's go.”

“El could get in trouble for that! You do realize that right! Mike asks incredulously when Will starts to walk away too.

Will ignores him and finds El already in Jonathan’s van guessing that she called him earlier to come pick them up.

In the van it was awkward and no one was talking except for Jonathan and Argyle who were obviously high and they just kept talking about nonsense.

“At least it wasn’t a roller skate. Those could break a face in half man.” Argyle tells El and then starts singing a random tune with Jonathan.

When they arrive home they find Murray in their kitchen making risotto and wearing a kitchen robe which isn’t the strangest part of their night. During dinner they find out that Joyce is going to Alaska for a business trip the next day and barely told them the night before.

Who the fuck goes to Alaksa

Chapter Text

March 22nd 1987

After that awkward dinner and El leaving to her room midway, Will starts to head to his room after cleaning up but hears the phone ring. He’s the closet to it so he picks it up.

“Hello?”

“Hey Mr. Wise!”

“Caleb? Dude you need to stop calling me that! Daniel from your team came up to me and yelled it all loud in public!” Will laughed, “So. Why’d you call me so late? Miss me already?”

“Don’t you know it. I was wondering if you’re going to Holly’s party? Wait no that wasn’t a question you’re going to Holly’s party tonight. My question is what time am I picking you up?”

“I say like around 9 or 10 to be on the safe side? I asked my mom but I don’t really feel like letting my whole house know I'm leaving. If you know what I mean.”

“Ah yes, Mike. Did he give you any trouble? Remember what I said.”

“Yeah Yeah you’ll bring out the ‘scary football player side of you’ not like that’s super lame to say or whatever. But no, no problems, it’s just like I predicted, not the same as before.” Will says sadly. He knows it wouldn’t have been like before he moved but he still had a little bit of hope that died today. “Anyways see you later bye amor.”

As he gets off the phone he sees that Mike saw their whole conversation but he doesn’t have the time or energy to deal with him, so Will gives him a tight smile and goes upstairs to his room.

“You’re leaving then?” Mike says quietly towards Will.

“In a bit yeah.” Will answers him while walking upstairs.

“Oh. Cool.” Mike responds and then walks away to the living room.

When Will starts to get ready he picks out “Caleb approved” clothes which are basically just black clothes that Caleb says he ‘looks hot in’. When Will first became friends with Caleb, Betty, and Anna he wasn’t used to his friends outright flirting with him because obviously but as time went on he realized they didn’t mean anything by it and that if he did it back it was ok too. Meaning Caleb would call Will hot and Betty and Anna did too so he started to lean into that even though he didn’t know a lot of non straight guys that were still single in Lenora.

He fixes his hair and is kinda scared because he sorta resembles the Steve that was called “The Hair” in high school in a weird way. Not completely but if he spent more time on it he most definitely would which meant for him to stop messing with it. Will does admit that he grew into his looks and that no one treats him like the lanky little kid anymore. Ever since he started working out with Caleb the summer before Sophomore year all the way until now he’s grown some muscle and apparently everyone has noticed it but him.

Once he’s finally ready he looks at his clock and realizes it’s already 9:30 so he starts to head out front since Caleb won’t honk this late at night. He does a double check in the mirror to make sure he looks ok and then he finally heads out to meet with Caleb.

“Hey Wise I picked up Anna and Bee on the way so we can just head on over. Are you ready?” Caleb asks, to which Will nods and gets in the car.

Anna was in the front seat so Will was in the back with Bee so when Caleb wanted to take a picture Bee just climbed on Will’s lap to get in frame and give him a kiss on the cheek which was normal for them so he didn’t pay it any attention and just gave the camera a smile while hugging her. After they took that picture since they were still in front of his house he looks over and sees at the window that Mike is looking at them but once he sees that he got caught he closes the curtain and walks away.

“Sorry if this is rude or anything but that dude is mad weird.” Caleb told him since he caught him too apparently, “I’ve never even had a conversation with him but he was like giving a death stare to us right now. Maybe I just need to talk to him and I’ll understand but I don’t know.”

“Honestly, I have no clue how he is anymore. It's weird I can’t understand him like I used to be able to.” Will answers solemnly but can feel the energy in the car start to become negative so he reaches towards the front and plays the mixtape that they always use. Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears starts playing which does bring their energy back up so as they’re driving off they scream the lyrics without a care in the world because they couldn’t care about who hears them. Will knows that even if everything in his life was going to shit he wouldn’t care because he has people who love him for him and wouldn’t change it for anything especially trying to fix his relationship with Mike.

They finally arrive at Holly’s house once a couple songs end and as they’re getting out they go over their rules for parties.

Get as wasted as they wanted and they could all stay the night at whoever's house.
Forget about the things going wrong in their lives even just for the night.
If someone wants to leave they all leave. Right away. No buts. No one stays behind.

Will’s definitely going to do 2 the most and his goal for tonight is to forget Mike Wheeler and try not to even remember him at this party.

When they enter Holly’s house they are immediately greeted to the sound of Madonna blasting specifically her song “Into the Groove” and Caleb pulls them all to the kitchen so they can grab drinks to check off rule 1 as fast as they can.

“Cheers to dancing til our feet fall off and to finally being out of Mr Davis’s English class even just for a little while!” Betty says raising her drink so they can all cheers. “Alright everybody go explore and if you’re not feeling it find one of us so we can go. We can all crash at my house tonight and if we do leave early we can take a night swim!”

Will decides to go look for where they are playing any time of drinking game because knowing Holly her parties always have to have one she makes sure of it. He goes towards the backyard and finds them playing cup games which is one of the only games he’s genuinely good at. Holly’s house is sort of small so most of the party is happening outside instead of inside.

After a while Caleb found him and joined his team and they were doing good until they weren’t. Caleb had handed his camera to Bee probably because as they’re both drinking from their cups a couple flashes go off so Will just grabs Caleb and gives him a kiss on the cheek for one last picture while Caleb grabs his face and gives the camera a kiss. They all generally take 4 pictures so everyone can have pictures of their night out but since it was only Caleb and Will in the pictures they step off to the side since they lost their game and go through the pictures to make it even on who takes what pictures. Will decides on the last one and the one of them drinking while caught off guard.

As the party goes on Caleb leaves Will to go dance with some girl that started flirting with him so Will goes inside to find someone to talk with. He sees Daniel sitting on the couch by himself so he goes up to him remembering their conversation from Rink-O-Mania.

“Hey Dan, are you tired already?” Will asks as he sits down next to him.

“Hey Mr. Wise! I’m not tired, just bored. I know there's so many things to do but they’re just not my vibe, you know?”

“Well what’s your vibe?”

“Some quiet time mostly. It’s weird I know but I enjoy chilling and just talking to someone at a party better than doing all kinds of stuff and never just being in the moment with people.”

“Well wanna go upstairs then? I know she told everyone the rule about not going upstairs but that’s mainly for couples looking for places to. Well you know. Anyways we can go to her room. She has really cool music for being a nerd.” Will offered it to him because he was getting bored too.

“Um no yeah we can go.” Dan says while standing up.

As they head up they make sure Holly isn’t looking just in case because they probably shouldn’t go if she made it clear to everybody. But at the same time Will is bored so might as well explore some more.

Will leads him to a door with Holly’s name spelled across it in an arch with glitter with also the door painted baby pink and they enter into even more pink all around her room.

“Geez I wonder what her favorite color is?” Will laughs as he picks up her hand held mirror that’s also pink.

Next to her mirror is Holly’s camera so Will forces Daniel next to him and they snap a picture too. It was a normal one compared to the pictures on Holly’s vanity mirror of her during some of her parties but still Will doesn’t know why Daniel immediately moves away after the picture.

They look around even more until they find her cd collection and what do you know her cd stand is also pink.

Will shuffles through her collection trying to find a song he loves but notices that Daniel is being at an awkward distance from him.

“What are you doing all the way over there? Just come sit on the bed and I'm gonna play the most amazing song ever for you.” Will tells him while getting up to play Starman by David Bowie.

Once he hits play he walks over to Daniel and lays down next to him. As they’re listening halfway through Will notices that Daniel still hasn’t moved from when they started the song and is just sitting stiffly on the edge of the bed.

“Hey you’re not like uncomfortable around me are you? I can go and you can just stay up here if it’s a problem.” Will says as he sits up.

“No, of course not. I just-“ Daniel pauses and looks away from Will, “It’s stupid. I just feel differently around you. Not a bad difference, just different. Like I feel nervous around you or something.”

He finally makes eye contact with Will who is shocked and just lets Daniel continue his talking.

“It’s stupid I know forget I said-“

Will really hopes he didn’t read the room wrong because he cuts off Daniel’s rant by kissing him. It was just a small kiss because Will wants to pull away to see Daniel’s reaction to it and he’s glad he did because Daniel just pulls him in again while clutching his shirts and his hair.

They kiss for so long Will doesn’t notice that the song has ended and 2 new songs started playing. In fact Will is so lost in kissing Daniel that he doesn’t even notice that someone walked in on them and it wasn’t like they were doing anything bad so maybe it was also that he didn’t care because they were just kissing who knows. What he did notice was when a flash went off which Daniel also noticed.

“Oh shit..” Caleb says holding the camera he looks shocked.

Will just looks at Daniel and Will could tell he was scared but he didn’t expect him to run off entirely.

“Daniel, wait!” Will shouts after him but he never even turns back to look at him.

“I’m so sorry Will! I heard that you went up here but I thought it was to sleep or something because no one told me you were with anyone and then I wanted to take of picture of you because I woke you up to show you and then I saw Daniel and then he ran. I swear I wouldn't have done that if I knew you were with someone.”

“Can we just go? I’m not feeling in the party mood anymore.”

“Yeah of course.” Caleb says while still standing in the doorway, “Maybe he’ll call tomorrow. I'm sure he has an explanation for why he ran. If not, I'll talk to him, don't worry.”

“Can I just meet you guys at the car? I’m going to head straight over there” Will says getting all his things together. He doesn’t feel like talking to anyone in case he starts crying

“Yeah of course. I’ll go get the girls and we’ll go.” Caleb starts to walk away as he says it.

Once Will has everything, Holly walks into her room so he just apologizes for being in it and says he was looking for the bathroom and tells her goodbye then leaves.

When he goes to Caleb’s car it’s unlocked surprisingly so he jumps into the backseat and falls asleep so he doesn’t have to talk to Anna and Betty.

It works because they figure he’s asleep and just talk to each other instead of waking him up as they head on over to Betty’s house for the night.