Chapter Text
A normal year in Hawkins, at last. With the military finally gone, Hawkins opened to the world once more. No one will forget how it was being stuck in their town shedded from the air outside their small town. But to some of the people they didn't even feel much change at all. All it felt was like a quarantine that still allowed them the same freedom as always. Yet to some very specific people they felt and knew they had the biggest change and in many ways.
Starting off with the Wheelers, seeing as they endured the most pain, from when Holly had her own fantasy which ended up being the manipulation of who she called Mr.Whatsit. Her kidnapping took everyone off guard, and only hurt them. Her parents especially, Ted Wheeler was unfortunately oblivious to everything that was happening and got struck by the demogorgon. Followed by Karen Wheeler who while protecting her daughter Holly, she was the one most severely injured; her larynx being torn was the worst injury she got. Nancy Wheeler suffered very minimal gunshots from when she had been shooting down some guards that were getting in their way. Finally Micheal, or Mike Wheeler who severely injured his arm in a battle, even though it is healing it is extremely slow in its process.
The Sinclairs, Henderson, Mayfield, Harrington, and Buckley . Erica was one of the few who were luckily left physically unharmed, along with Robin. Lucas however has suffered a not so severe slash from a demogorgon. Although it is clear to leave a heavy scar once it is fully healed. Dustin was luckily one of the few to hardly have injuries, maybe some scratches here and there but none to leave scars on his person. Max and Steve can share the glory of being partly blind. Max luckily is going to be able to ever so slowly recover her vision. The unlucky one is Steve who earned himself a pretty badass but nasty scar on his left eye. After pushing Henderson out of harm's way he was slashed by the claw of a demodog.
Most of the kids that were recently captured by Vecna only had small cuts from struggle, running, tripping, and getting dragged. For the other few kids, three of them to be exact. Two of the kids were sadly in a coma, and that other kid unfortunately perished which left many mad at themselves for not having been able to save him, that one loss made a huge impact on them.
Last but not least, the Hoppers, and the Byers, along with Khali, El's “sister”. Joyce was another one of them who didn’t get into much harm. Hopper most definitely had more scars and injuries since he was always at the front of the fight. His sense of protecting everyone didn't let him back down from any of the fights or missions. Jonathan was even more unfortunate as an attack he endured, even though it was not fatal, it did send him into a coma. Khali was fine aside from taking a huge mental toll from the excessive use of her powers, same goes for El and Will. However it wasn’t long till she parted ways with El again, not without making sure that this time they would keep contact with one another. Visits from Khali were sure to happen but not for a while since she needed to go back to her crew and set herself and them straight as well. El and Will, both only had their mental health screwed up. Now that the battle was over they didn’t need to use their powers and they promised not to as a way of trying to continue living a normal life and leaving that part of them in the past. However from time to time they would use them for the sake of simply wanting to keep knowing how to control them.
Now for those who haven’t changed, we could say it is the rest of the town, so you can imagine the surprise they had when they all walked in on their day back in school full of bruises, cuts, and wounds. There were glancing eyes left and right, whispers hushed here and there. Usually when a commotion like that happened it’d be over by lunch and forgotten. Yet as the party sat at their usual table they could feel the stare of people here and there. As much as everyone was staring them up and down no one did come up to them or spoke to them directly, which they honestly were glad about. They didn’t pay much mind to the staring and only continued with their day as if it were any other day.
And any normal day for them wouldn't be complete without: “Oi freaks, who had the honor of absolutely busting your asses, and why wasn’t I invited”, of course some taunting completed the feel of being back to normal.
Mike sighed as he looked up to the basketball members that stood at the foot of their table “What now Andy? Is seeing us absolutely busted not to your liking now”, Andy scoffed at Mike's comment and only started to make a comeback for it. However the focus now shifted to Chance who was seemingly quiet as usual behind Andy, usually the others were too but the other two members who tagged along started arguing with the party.
Chance couldn’t help but just stand slightly to the side as he bit the inside of his cheek before landing his gaze on the one person who also just stayed quiet instead of fueling the fire that was their groups arguing. Will Byers, the ever so artistic and shy Will Byers. It only took a few moments for said Will Byers to notice and seem a bit taken aback at the gaze that landed on him. They simply stared at each other for a few more seconds before Chance lifted his arm to Andy's shoulder followed shortly by his gaze which broke away from Byers. “Let’s go Andy, leave the freaks alone we gotta go meet up with coach”, Chance said, immediately shutting everyone up.
Andy only looked at Chance with a bit of a crazed expression before pushing off the table he was leaning onto to get into the faces of the party. He only scoffed before leading the group of his lackeys to the gymnasium.
Will's own gaze followed them a bit longer before Dustin caught his attention by smacking the lunch table, “Son of a bitch! Not even with us looking like absolute shit out of the gutter will he let us off the hook”. Dustin had the biggest grudge against the basketball players, but they were still stronger and higher in the school hierarchy. So if he even tried to do anything he’d be in for something he would regret, recalling back the day of their most intense crawl which he missed since he had a fun little visit from the team.
Lucas, who was sitting next to him placed his hand on his shoulder, “calm down man, it’s best we just thank that today Chance stopped him before he actually got physical” he said then looking over to Mike, Will, and El who then nodded at his attempt at calming Dustin down. Dustin relaxed and agreed that he would do his best to not get too riled up by the basketball team, and that for now he would lay low and try to avoid taunting them.
For the rest of the day they all just forgot about the basketball team and began to just talk about things, normal things like they used to, for example Mike brought the idea of starting a new D&D campaign and even helping El start playing. With a new joy she hugged Mike, to which he hugged her back. Dustin and Lucas immediately started coming up with new ideas for the campaign. Meanwhile Will was hidden behind his locker as he was trying to find a notebook he needed for his next class. He also was so caught up and confused about whatever happened in the cafeteria. It left him so uneasy. Was that basketball boy locking a target onto Will? He never had much trouble with them and they didn’t even pay much attention to him unless it was Andy who would sometimes just shove him in the hallways as he was walking and call him a fairy or a faggot.
“Move it fag!” Andy said as he pushed Will to the side seemingly in a hurry before running into someone else and also calling that poor person a similar slur. Will stood still for a moment looking around making sure no one stared at him or even paid attention to what Andy had just said to him. It didn’t save Will from rushing into a bathroom stall before silently trying to steady his breath. Luckily the bathroom was empty.
It wasn’t till the bell rang that he realized he had found the notebook he was looking for while zoned out. He hurriedly closed his locker and said bye to the rest of the group seeing as his class was in a different direction than the others and also quite the way to go, especially with the crowd that would be slowing him down. He only began to rush as he noticed he had less than a minute to arrive to class on time. It normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but he promised himself that now that things were supposed to be getting back to normal he would be focusing on doing well in school, which meant a clean attendance.
Right as the corner came closer a tall body blocked his way causing him to stumble back slightly, “I’m so sorry” he said quickly before looking up and got a clearer image of who it was as he was already rushing past the person.
Chance was always so slow to get to class, and he always took his sweet time to do it. When he was about to turn a corner he felt a body collide with him in which he froze and not even moving an inch back. He took notice of the familiar jacket and noticed it was Will Byers. He said nothing as he watched the boy stumbled back and apologize before already walking past him with a quick apology. Only in the last few seconds did they both catch each other's gaze.
Will felt discomfort that twice in a day he was being locked onto by the basketball player. He was slowly getting convinced that said basketball player is now out to get him but he was too much of a rush to actually worry about it. Chance on the other hand ever so slightly squinted his eyes at Byers trying to catch what he was thinking, but he couldn’t tell, he was told Byers was always so jumpy and in his own world so he shrugged it off and simply went back to taking his sweet time to get to his class.
Will sat at the back of his class, which was English, and the only class he would have with Max once she’s well and able to see enough to return to school. For now though he was stuck alone and most of the time the teacher just leaves them to do whatever. So he decided to just open up his notebook and began to sketch just whatever. He put one of his arms on the table as he then laid his chin above it as he hunched down to sketch. He kept his focus on his drawings with the slight ticking of the clock, and mentally counting down the seconds to what he could now think of as freedom.
When the bell finally rung Will sat up and looked down at his sketches, when he saw that he had drawn Mike, he was looking in the distance and he noticed that he made Mike look like he had the happiness of a child again, with his eyes glimmering on the page somehow, before he got too caught up in admiring his own art he mentally reminded himself that it could never happen and there was no use in hoping for it to happen anymore.
At the end of the day Mike met up with the others in the school parking lot who already had their bikes on hand, all except El, who was getting picked up by Hopper in which case so was Will. Over the course of trying to settle back into their home, Joyce and Hopper decided that they could move into the Byers home together since… Joyce and Hopper were super officially together. With Jonathan currently in a coma they agreed to let El stay in his room and when he woke up they would then later decide what to do with the room situation.
While waiting for their ride to arrive the rest of the party waited with them, continuing to talk about whatever. Like always, they weren’t capable of being left alone or catching the eye of their favorite basketball team. Mike immediately paused the conversation he was having with Dustin as he noticed a very annoyed Andy walking their way along with the majority of the basketball team this time.
Lucas stepped in front of his friends as a form of “protection”. He spoke before any of the players could and especially Andy, who they all agreed only loved the sound of his own voice. “What now Andy?” Lucas said, puffing out his chest slightly to appear bigger to the team. Earning a grunt from Andy who already seemed like he was regretting everything he was doing. One of the players quickly nudged him forward, in which he only got a glare from Andy making him back back down.
The party only stood and stared confused at what was supposed to happen. As Lucas was about to open his mouth again Andy interrupted, “you”. Lucas looked ever so confused, “what?”. Did Andy want to fight him if so he was down to fight Andy one on one whenever he just would never throw a first punch and get in trouble for it. He played it smart. Lucas lifted his hands up in fists seemingly getting ready to fight Andy. Andy only laughed at Lucas, same with the team, making him even more confused. “Woah Sinclair, as much as I would absolutely love to fight and totally destroy your ass, I actually came because coach wants you back on the team.” Andy said, raising his hands to show he meant no harm. Lucas shook his head with a slight chuckle before looking dead serious, “as if I would join you jerks again, especially after what you’ve done to my friends”.
A slightly taller player pushed through the group and stood next to Andy. “Coach said if we could get you back he wouldn’t end our season early. Also that we would have to tone down on the picking in order for him to not cut us..” Chance then received an elbow to his side from Andy “Hey man you make us sound like a bunch of wusses!” The party held back their chuckles at the current proposition Lucas was made. Chance gradually ignored the pain on his side “so Sinclair, whadya say?”
The air around the two groups felt thick and heavy. It was as if one wrong move from either group would cause a whole war between the two groups. Lucas could feel the pressure that was put on him, and he can’t lie if he said he didn’t miss playing basketball, when he played he felt like he found his own person outside the party. Not that he would ditch them just to play, but he knew he needed to continue something that could possibly get him somewhere in life, and of course the fact that he enjoyed it. It still wouldn't change the fact how much of the team is made up of jerks who only wish to make other people's lives absolutely miserable in the end. The fact that his friends weren’t saying anything either made it worse and harder to actually choose. He had hoped they would encourage him to lean towards saying no but they just stood there with bated breaths.
“Give me some time to think,” he finally said. Earning a few retorts from Mike and Dustin. “Lucas come on!” Mike was only silenced by Lucas who only needed to raise his hand up slightly, “So? Am I given the free will of thinking it over?” Lucas said directly towards Andy who had the most annoyed look, even though he was trying his hardest to look calm. Just as before, instead of Andy speaking up, Chance was the one to reply, “This Friday before practice, gives you 3 days plus this afternoon to think it through”. Lucas only nodded before the basketball team retreated.
“Lucas what the hell, please tell me your loyalty isn’t gonna switch over to them” Dustin spoke up as he stepped forwards to Lucas grabbing both his shoulders and shaking him. Lucas shrugged him off, “what? No, dude you think so little of me”. Mike and Dustin were already up on convincing Lucas to say no with small comments and agreements from El. “Okay guys jeez thanks for your careful consideration, what about you Will? What do you think I should do?” Lucas said as he cut through the others to get to Will.
Will was lost in thought for a while as he was suddenly snapped out of it by his suddenly requested opinion. “I think..” Will looked at the others behind Lucas who were clearly wanting him to say no, but he then put into account that Chance said they wouldn’t bother them so much, and in Wills case he thinks it would definitely be something that would help them ease into a calmer school year. So Will then looked back at Lucas who looked desperate to hear Will's choice, probably hoping for a no so it can be easy and over with. “You should join,” Will said as he received groans from Dustin and Mike, a disappointed look from El, and an even more conflicted Lucas. He quickly spoke up again before he lost them, “think about it we could be left alone, they won’t bother us and if I’m being honest Lucas, you wouldn’t be asking for time to think about it if you didn’t want to join back”.
His comment left everyone thinking, but before anyone could say anything else to try and convince Lucas otherwise or tell Will to elaborate more, Hopper pulled into the pick up lane. “Alright kids, get in” he shouted. El and Will said their goodbyes before getting into Hopper's police car. Will quickly poked his head out the window, “I say you should really think about it Lucas”. With that Hopper drove away and the other three were just left conflicted, mainly Lucas.
It’s not that Lucas didn’t want to but he knew if he said yes he’d be betraying his party if he decided to return with the team full of jerkwads. Thanks to Will however he did have a different perspective to think of. He could join back and do something he clearly enjoyed, and as a bonus if they decide to keep their end of the deal they would leave his friends alone.