Chapter Text
⋆˚࿔ᝰ.ᐟ
"Yeah mom, I'm almost done." Will muttered through the walls of his room as he threw the last of his things into a box.
It had been two months since the attack on Hawkins, and Will, along with the rest of his family were back in California. This time, however, they were packing up their things to move back to the small town Will grew up in; Hawkins, Indiana. California was a dream for most—the perfect weather for the beach, blue skies, long bike rides on the pike—but for Will, his home always has been and always will be Hawkins. Maybe it was because he had grown up there, or maybe it was the people he had met, his chosen family.
There was one person in specific though—Mike Wheeler. Sure, will had other friends; Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield, and Jane Hopper (more commonly referred to as El), but Mike, he was different from the rest of them. Mike was his favorite. He was Will's first friend.
Will still remembers the first day of kindergarten, he was on the swing set alone, watching everyone else participate in games of jump rope, tag, and four square. He tried not to be bothered by the sight, but he couldn't help but feel sad that everyone else had friends besides him. Then, little Mike came up to him and started swinging back and fourth next to him, shyly asking the words 'do you want to be friends?'. Will slowly turned to look at Mike, looking at his sun-kissed skin and freckles messily scattered across his face. He finally mustered up the courage to nod in response to his question, before slightly smiling. Mike returned the gesture, and they both continued to happily swing together. Will remembered being ecstatic after, and as soon as he got home, he told his mom, who may have been happier for him than he was. Almost immediately, they started spending all their time together, and became best friends. But ever since their argument—
"WILL!" A loud scream came from downstairs, as an annoyed Joyce snapped will out of his thoughts. It was enough to make him jump a little; for some reason he was more on edge today than usual, though—he was always jumpy.
The Byers were leaving California today, and Will was the only one who wasn't done packing and loading his boxes into the truck yet. This was a problem seeing as the moving trucks were already here, and charging by the hour, all while Will still stood surrounded by the piles of boxes in his room.
He heard footsteps approaching his door, and slammed the last box closed. "I'M COMING MOM!"
"Will?" El popped her head in the door frame, her usual sweet expression plastered on her face.
"Sorry, i thought you were Joyce." Will replied sheepishly, embarrassed for practically screaming at his step sister.
El and Will weren't technically step siblings, but Joyce had taken in El after Hopper's 'death'. Since then, Hopper has come back. he wasn't actually dead, but it's a long story. Hopper is El's legal guardian, but now that him and Joyce are dating, Will has never stopped referring to El as his step sister, and vice versa. They were basically siblings now anyways, they've lived together for almost a year and bonded over their shared trauma.
"It's okay...do you need any help?" El stepped fully into Will's room, if that was even possible due to the insane amount of things thrown around.
"Uh, can you take those boxes over there?" Will nodded his head towards the two boxes labeled art supplies sitting in the corner of his room. He didn't want to make El help him load everything, considering she already had to put all of her own boxes into the truck, but he really didn't want his mom to yell at him again.
El stepped through the maze of furniture and boxes scattered across the room and struggled to pick up the boxes. "Gee, these are so heavy, what's in here?" She let out an exasperated chuckle.
“I cant even remember anymore, I packed those forever ago." Will blatantly lied.
He remembered clear as day what he put in there. Those were boxes of everything Mike had ever given Will, and anything that even closely reminded will of his best friend. Each item carefully wrapped individually in bubble wrap, and placed into the box he had labeled art supplies, to cover up what was truly in the boxes.
"Well hurry up, Joyce is in full on panic mode. Hopper's trying to calm her down, but—" El started, making her way to the door again, finding it even harder to maneuver all the obstacles now that she was carrying two huge boxes.
"My mom is impossible to calm down when she's like this, trust me, I know." Will finished her sentence, picking up three boxes and peeking his head out the side of the stack to look in front of him.
Will and El both walked down the stairs and loaded boxes into the moving truck, coming back upstairs to grab some more. Will was beyond excited to move back to hawkins and see all of his friends again, yet he was still procrastinating packing his boxes. The truth is, Will was also nervous to see Mike again, and on top of that, him, Jonathan, and Joyce were going to be living with the Wheelers, which meant that Will would be subjected to constant proximity to Mike. This itself wasn't a problem, but since spring break when Mike had visited him and El, there was an unknown tension in the air that always seemed to just linger when they were near each other. Maybe it was all in Wills head and Mike felt that nothing was off, but Will swears that it was there.
Since Will had moved to California, Mike and Will hadn't talked once. No phone calls, no letters—nothing. El, on the other hand, kept the phone busy all the time talking to Mike, and had a whole book of letters from him. Will thought that after spring break; after Mike said that Will would always be his best friend, things would be different, but they weren't. They still hadn't talked, and deep down Will knew why, and so did Mike, but neither of them addressed it. So, it was going to be a little bit weird going back to Hawkins and living with Mike, but Will was excited nonetheless.
⋆˚࿔ᝰ.ᐟ
The plane ride to Indiana was fairly short, totaling around five hours. Joyce and Hopper spent the time talking in low voices, maybe they were being mindful of the people sleeping on the plane, or they were keeping secrets again. Knowing those two, it was probably the second one. El was writing something, though she was careful not to let anyone see what she was writing or whom she was writing to. Jonathan was looking through pictures on his camera that he had taken, probably ones of Nancy. He was excited to see her again, and live with her too. Will was sketching a drawing of him, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin, which he was going to present it to the three of them when they landed. Along with that, he had a drawing of Lucas and Max tucked away safely in his backpack.
When Will, El, Mike, and Jonathan first came back to Hawkins right after the attack, they were told the devastating news that Max was in a coma. El had tried to save Max—and she did, Max was still alive after all, just not conscious. Doctors said that they don't know if she is going to wake up, seeing as she was clinically dead for over a minute. There hadn't been any signs that she was going to wake up anytime soon either. Lucas was still hopeful, but even he was loosing confidence that she would wake up too.
But as if it were a miracle, two days ago Lucas had called Will and you could hear his smile through the phone when he announced that Max had woken up from her coma. She was stable, and was going to be discharged on the day after Will arrived into Hawkins. Will was beyond thrilled, he had missed Wax so much, and was so grateful that he'd be able to see her right when he arrived. Maybe it would make his time back in his home town more bearable. He might not be talking to Mike anymore, but his best friend was alive.
Finally, their flight had landed, and the group of five stood up, grabbing their backpacks from the overhead compartment. When they were off the plane, they grabbed their suitcases packed with some clothes and necessities, as their boxes wouldn't arrive in Hawkins for at least three more days.
Once they got to the gates, the five of them were greeted with the familiar faces of Nancy, Mrs. Wheeler, Mr. Wheeler, Holly, and Mike, who were waiting eagerly upon their arrival. Jonathan ran to Nancy right away, and their lips met each others for a small peck, before pulling apart and settling into a hug. Mrs. Wheeler greeted Joyce and Hopper kindly, Holly right by her side. El ran over to Mike right away, and they hugged each other tightly, their foreheads almost pressed against each other. They pulled away from each other as Will stood there, looking at the two of them.
Will had sort of hoped that Mike would run to him right away, considering they were best friends, and all of this no-contact situation going on would be over. But of course he ran to his girlfriend. Though, Will had to point out that Mike and El didn't kiss, they just briefly hugged, and they seemed a little awkward. He thought back to when El and Mike were last together in person, and he remembered the fight they had, where El stated that Mike didn't love him. They left the fight sort of unfinished, but Will had assumed that will all the phone calls that they were still fine. However looking at them know, the two of them didn't really seem the same after that, so maybe things weren't as good between the two of them as he had thought. Will felt a little bit of a weight lifted off his shoulders after thinking about that, even though it was probably just a theory he had concocted in his mind.
"Hey," Mike slowly approached Will, a flat expression on his face. Seeing Mike again was a lot. Looking at him in the eye, hearing his voice, it brought back all of the old memories.
In the two months Mike and Will hadn't seen each other, Mike had cut his hair the shortest it has been for the longest time. Mikes long hair was nice, it suited him, but the short hair, it was just—perfect. Will found himself just staring at Mike for a second, but then brought himself back to reality, where Mike was waiting for Will to say something.
"Hi," Will wasn't sure what to do, would a hug be appropriate in the moment? Or maybe a high five? A fist bump? Before he could think about it further, Will awkwardly wrapped his arm around Mike's shoulder, turning their greeting into a weird side hug.
Mike quickly pulled away and cleared his throat. "So, what's that?" He pointed towards the slightly crumpled piece of sketchbook paper held tightly in Wills hand. The interaction brought him back to spring break, when Will was holding the painting he spent hours maliciously perfecting in his hands. That didn't end well though, so he kept this drawing hidden for now.
"It's...nothing." Will hesitated, but decided now wasn't the time to give the drawing to him anyways; he would wait until Dustin and Lucas were also with them.
"Okay." Mike turned around and greeted Jonathan and Joyce with a hug, before returning to El.
Will felt his heart drop just a little, this weird no talking was still there. He had hoped that maybe Mike would ask about the paper one more time, maybe then Will would have showed it to him. Maybe that would then give them a way to start a conversation and work on returning back to their old friendship. But, he didn't, so he left it at that.
Will gave Mrs. Wheeler a hug. She adored Will, she was like a second mother to him. At least one person cared that he was back in Hawkins. Mr. Wheeler was sitting down in a seat, so Will gave him a polite smile, and he returned the gesture. They had never really formed a close relationship, or talked at all. It wasn't that Mr. Wheeler was a bad father, per se, he was just not an active one. It could have been worse though, he could've been like Will's father.
Before Will could start to dwell on the thought of his father, Holly ran up to Will and gave him a hug, barely being able to reach her arms around his waist. He bent down and hugged her back. Will had been called Holly's 'favorite' of Mike's friends, which was a great honor to him, even if the two boys weren't really friends anymore.
After that, the full group of people loaded into two different cars; all the adults plus Holly drove with Mrs. Wheeler, and the teenagers drove with Nancy. Mike was squished into the middle seat with El on one end, and Will on the other. Will scooted all the way to the edge of his seat to leave Mike with more space and to make things a little less awkward. He stared out of the window the entire time, taking in the disaster that didn't even look like Hawkins anymore.
Along the cracks where the 'earthquake' hit—or at least that was what the government called it—were huge sheets of steel that covered up every inch of the opening between the Upside Down and the real Hawkins.
Hawkins was heavily secured; not many people were allowed in or out. The rest of the citizens who had no idea about the Upside Down must have been confused. After all, there wouldn't be this much security for a simple earthquake.
The Byers were actually quite surprised that they made it back into Hawkins without being questioned, or El being found. Turns out having connections to the prior chief of police served to be very helpful, considering he knew exactly how to pull a couple of strings.
When the two cars finally got into the main part of Hawkins, there were military trucks swarming all over the place, guns ready and men shouting, and stations everywhere. While the cars passed by that area, they were careful to hide El.
Since El escaped from the Hawkins Lab, she was being hunted down by the military. While usually it wasn't that big of a concern, with the military covering every area in Hawkins she had to be extremely careful, because if she was caught, terrible things would happen to her. Currently, Hopper was trying to figure out a way to use the underground tunnels to get El from place to place, and Hopper and Joyce would be practicing with and training El everyday to prepare her for what is to come in Hawkins.
It's definitely complicated—everything that as going on here, but this was the only way to keep everyone safe and save Hawkins from Vecna, and whatever other dangerous monsters were out there.
The military was too stupid to acknowledge the fact that the Upside Down was a terrible place, and it simply wasn't safe to keep a whole population above it. Instead, they were doing periodical checks down there, and trying to contain anything that was happening. That wasn't enough though, so it was up to the group of teens and two adults to keep Hawkins safe.
The Wheeler house was more towards the outskirts of the town; not exactly at the end, but it was close to the woods. This meant more ground to cover and more guards to pass by, hoping that El wouldn't be recognized. But it also meant that there would be less military where the Wheeler house was, so they could get her out of the car easier.
Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were oblivious to anything going on, the two had no idea about the Upside Down, or El's powers, or Vecna, none of it—and they intended to keep it that way. The more they knew about it, the more they were in danger. So, for now, the Wheeler's were just inviting the Byers into their home as a place to stay before the family can find a new house on the market.
The drive to the Wheeler home felt longer than it usually did, but maybe that was just because of Will's nerves for his sister, hoping she wouldn't be found. He knew that the military wanted her dead; they thought she was the reason behind all of this.
Finally, the car rolled up to the large Wheeler house. Unlike the Byers, the Wheelers were a fairly wealthy family, who were raised in privilege, something Will would never understand. The house was huge, with a well kept front yard to go along with it, and an extra car parked in the driveway, in addition to the two cars the family already had.
Joyce was a great mother, but she was also a single mother with a job in retail, so she struggled to pay for everything herself and her children needed in order to survive. They rarely ever got anything extra, that would be considered a granted for most. Despite that, she always made sure that her children had a great childhood filled with fun memories and lots of love. It sounded corny, but it was always enough for Will.
"And, home sweet home!" Mrs. Wheeler declared, getting out of the other car. "Now don't be shy everybody, make yourself at home. I'm sure you're all exhausted from the trip here." She walked up the steps and unlocked the door.
Nancy popped the trunk of the car, and Mike went around the back and opened it up. He helped El carry her suitcase and backpack, while Will struggled to grab his huge luggage and get his backpack over my shoulders. He tried not to act annoyed about all the attention Mike was giving El, but that was kind of hard considering the two of them were having a conversation the whole car ride, nonstop.
Once Will got inside, it was like he was home again. Him and his friend group always met at Mikes house. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time they really hung out at anyone else's house. Mike set El's stuff down in the living room; El and Hopper weren't staying in the Wheeler house, they were going back to the safety of Hopper's cabin where they had less of a chance of being found.
Mike cleared his throat and turned to face Jonathan and Will. "You're staying in the basement." He led the two brothers downstairs.
Walking down the stairway to the basement, all the memories of playing board games together, building blanket forts, and playing dungeons and dragons together flooded into Will's mind. He couldn't help but smile a little bit, reminiscing on how close him and Mike once were. The smile quickly turned into a frown, remembering how they might never have that same connection again, just because of one argument.
Will was hoping that he could stay with mike in his room, and it would be just like their old sleepovers, but maybe they were past that age now. Will was too shy to ask, in attempts to not sound childish or stupid. But if Mike had offered up his room, Will would've gladly accepted it.
In the basement, the pullout couch was set up and a queen sized mattress was laid out on the floor with fresh sheets. Will knew from first hand experience that the couch was not as comfortable as it looked, so he was quick to choose the mattress.
"Do you need any help?" Mike asked the two of them, scratching the back of his neck. He was already starting to slowly make his way back to the stairs, walking backwards, trying to not make it obvious. but will noticed. When it came to mike, he always did.
"I don't think so, but I'll let you know." Jonathan shot Mike a polite smile. At this point, Will was sure that his brother already knew at least something was up, but he wasn't going to point it out now, not with Mike in the room.
"I'm good." Will kept his eyes glued to the mattress in front of him. He didn't want to look at Mike, but his stare somehow always wandered to his familiar figure. So, he put all of his brain power into not looking.
"Yeah, okay. Uh, just let me know if you need anything." Mike left, and shut the door behind him. There was a deafening silence for about one second, before Jonathan spoke up.
"What's up with you, will?" He faced his body towards Will, his words sounding firm and slightly annoyed.
What's up with Will? Maybe the fact that the prior best friends couldn't even manage to direct more than one sentence to each other anymore.
"Nothing, just tired." The number of lies grew with every word he spoke.
Nobody knew about Mike and Will's falling out. It was an unspoken agreement; this no-contact thing stayed between the two of them. They didn't need their families involved. So, even if Jonathan already knew, he wasn't going to actually say anything about it. Deny, deny, deny.
⋆˚࿔ᝰ.ᐟ
The rest of the day was spent gathered around the living room table answering a lot of questions from parents. Or at least most of them—Mr. Wheeler was fast asleep on the Lay-Z-Boy, snoring lightly.
“So, Will, how was California?” Mrs. Wheeler inquired, bringing her lipstick-stained mug filled with green tea to her mouth.
Will sat up straight in his spot next to El on the couch. He wasn’t quite sure how to answer that, his time in Lenora wasn’t exactly picture perfect. He hadn’t made any new friends or even done much in the almost year that he was there. Of course, he wasn’t going to admit that though, it was embarrassing to state, especially with Mike sitting two feet away from him. “It was nice; it really is a perfect place to live in. The community, the weather, all the attractions, it’s great over there, but—”
“But it’s not Hawkins.” El chimed in, stealing the words right out of Will’s mouth. Will knew that El didn’t enjoy her time there either, such was constantly being bullied, and maybe even had worse luck at making friends than Will did. He tried to defend her from the bullies at first, but it was no use. He was just as much of an outsider as El was, so it only made things worse. “We missed all of our friends.”
“Yes, I know Mike definitely missed you both.” Mrs. Wheeler smiled.
Mike agreed, squeezing El’s hand. But those words stung Will. He knew Mike didn’t miss him; he only missed El. Mrs. Wheeler was being kind, she really was. She was trying, but since she didn’t know the situation, she wasn’t helping at all.
El must have sensed the discomfort on Will’s face, and though she didn’t know exactly what was going on, she still knew that she needed to break any tension lingering in the air. “Hop—we should go now. Training starts tomorrow.” Will offered El a smile, her returning it.
“Good idea. El and I are taking off now. Thank you for having us, Mrs. Wheeler.” Hopper got up from his spot on the couch and grabbed their suitcases from where they left them.
“Come back soon,” she smiled.
“Bye El, see you later!” Mike smiled, waving the two of them goodbye.
“Goodbye El, love you.” Will managed to force another smile.
“Bye Mike, I love you Will.”
Mike ran off too his room after that, which disappointed Will a little bit, but it was pretty much what he expected. Will was kept in the living room for another hour, being asked countless questions from Mrs. Wheeler and Holly.
Finally, Will joined Jonathan in the basement while their mother made herself comfortable on the pull out couch in the living room. By then it was around 9 PM, and everyone was tired from the long day. Will settled down on the mattress and took out his sketchbook to start drawing a little, to take his mind off of things. Jonathan, however, had other plans.
“So, things all good with Mike?” he asked.
“Yeah. You don’t need to pry at my personal life.” Will rolled his eyes sarcastically.
“I just thought you might be upstairs with Mike right now, that’s all.”
“Nope. Once El left he had no reason to be downstairs with everyone else anymore.” Will slipped up by making that comment, it showed that Will was at least a little pissed off at Mike. This gave reason for Jonathan to be suspicious and question Will even more.
“Okay, what’s wrong? You have barely mumbled a word towards Mike all day.” Jonathan snapped, clearly sick of all of the tension and anger Will was refusing to address.
“I told you, it’s nothing. Now can you please just give me some personal space? Stop trying to find problems when there aren’t any.”
“I never said there was a problem, just that you’ve been acting weird. You’re only proving my point right now by getting mad at me. We never argue.”
“Yeah ‘cause you’re never this fucking annoying.” Will spat at his brother. “Mike and I are fine, just fine.”
“God, okay. Sorry.” Jonathan had a defeated expression on his face—realizing that Will wasn’t going to tell him anything.
Will tugged uncomfortably at the hems of his shirt. He didn’t mean to lash out at his brother, he rarely ever did, but this topic regarding Mike was making him really upset. He knew that he had to fix things with him eventually, they were living together now after all, but he just didn’t know how to fix things.
After that, the two of them didn’t talk for the rest of the night. Will pulled the covers over his head and tried to forget the past five hours and the oddness that was now his life. Will had prepared for the worst; he knew things would be awkward, but he didn’t prepare himself for how he would feel. Will felt so hurt—overhearing Mike’s and El’s two-hour long calls was one thing, but seeing them together in person, that was a whole different kind of feeling.
If Will had thought about it more, he probably would’ve spent the whole night overthinking or crying. But, he really was exhausted, so he fell asleep mere seconds after he closed his eyes. Maybe after a good night’s sleep, Will would be ready to address everything, or at least suck up his feelings tomorrow.
⋆˚࿔ᝰ.ᐟ
The next morning, Will woke up to the sound of the alarm he set. Jonathan was already missing from his place on the couch; he probably snuck into Nancy’s room. Will cringed at the thought, not only because Jonathan was his brother, but also because the idea of doing anything intimate with girls had always been a gross thought.
Will knew why he never thought of girls in that way—or at least he had somewhat come to terms with the idea. The truth was, Will had known for a while. He admired girls, he would think that they were pretty or liked the way they did their hair, but he never felt attracted to girls. Of course, he wouldn’t say that out loud to anyone, because it wouldn’t be what they wanted to hear. His mom was always pressuring him, asking if there were any girls girls he liked at school or when he would finally get a girlfriend, but Will had also pushed those questions aside, changing the topic or avoiding the remark altogether.
Will got out from his cozy spot under the covers, and stood up, wiping his eyes to try and get rid of the exhaustion he was still feeling. Yesterday was a long day, and he was going to need more than just one night of rest to recover from it, despite his wishful thinking. But he was excited nonetheless, because today he was visiting Dustin, Lucas, and Max for the first time in two months.
He wasn’t sure if Mike would be there too, but he had assumed not. It would be best if he wasn’t anyways. Will wanted today to be all about visiting his best friends, and didn’t want Mike to ruin that. It sounded harsh, but it was the truth. For as long as Mike was going to ice out Will, he planned to return the act.
Will didn’t bother to brush out his hair or change out of his pajamas, it was seven in the morning so who was going to be up anyways? So, when all of the Wheelers and all of the Byers were sitting down at the dining room table, staring at Will in his current state; it was safe to say he was a bit embarrassed.
“Oh, uh—” Will slowly retreated back to the basement. “I didn’t think you all would be up, sorry.”
He felt his cheeks flush and his body starting to tingle—this was the worst thing that would have happened on his first morning staying at the Wheelers house.‘It could have been worse’ Will told himself once he got back into the basement. And that’s true, Will could have been in just underwear, which he had resorted to when it got too hot for his usual shorts and old t-shirt.
His cheeks were still red as Will checked in the mirror to fix his hair. His hair had gotten some more volume and had become a bit more textured in the past two months, so it was a bit harder to take care of now. Will slipped into a pair of jeans and a clean t-shirt and tried to have a normal expression on his face before walking back out to the kitchen.
Usually, after a weird interaction like that Will would have just skipped breakfast and hidden downstairs, but he hadn’t had any real food since the prior morning, so he was starving.
He kept his gaze centered on the ground as he pulled out the only empty chair at the table; in between Holly and Nancy, and right across from Mike. He didn’t dare to look up, he simply grabbed the closest item close to him, which was the box of Fruit Loops.
Will found it weird; the conversation going on around the table, everyone smiling and laughing together. The Byer family never really had family breakfasts, maybe a dinner once in a while, but Joyce was always busy with work and as Jonathan got older, he as gone more too. So, it was a little bit out of the ordinary for him, but Will liked being able to have meals with a group of people around him.
“Jonathan, Will, I hope that the basement is nice enough down there, I know it can get hot during the summertime.” Mrs. Wheeler looked at the two brothers, a mildly concerned expression on her face.
Jonathan seemed to be really interested on the toast and jam on his plate, while Will responded to her. “It’s fine, thank you Mrs. Wheeler.”
The basement was pretty hot, Will felt the sweat that formed around him throughout the night. It wasn’t very pleasant, but it was better than complaining to Mrs. Wheeler about it, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Okay, because I can always buy an air conditioner to put down there.” She replied, and he knew that was the truth. They did have the money for it, and Mrs. Wheeler was overwhelmingly nice, so she would gladly spend the money to make the two boys more comfortable. He didn’t want to make her do that thought, so he kept is mouth shut.
“Ridiculous, Karen.” Mr. Wheeler slammed his newspaper on the table, finally engaging in the conversation.
“Excuse me, Ted?” Mrs. Wheeler whispered, her a disgusted expression visibly appearing on her face, despite her attempt to mask it.
“We’ve already invited the Byers into our home. If they want to complain about anything, I’m sure they can find a new place to stay.”
Thank God Will hadn’t said anything about the heat.
“I offered, nobody complained. Now please stop acting like it’s so crazy that I want to be welcoming to our house guests.”
“I’m not acting crazy, I’m being reasonable. You didn’t even ask me before inviting the Byers to stay with us, and it’s my damn house.”
“Ted, language! Will you stop arguing with me just this once, it is extremely inappropriate at the moment.”
Joyce, Jonathan, and Will all exchanged uncomfortable looks with each other, clearly out of place in this argument, that was about them. Will specifically wasn’t quite sure on what to do here, because when you’re staying at your ex-best friends house and their parents are fighting on whether or not you and your family should be allowed to stay, what exactly do you do?
Will made the mistake of looking in Mike’s direction for just one second, but for a brief moment, their eyes locked in on each other. The first bit of eye contact they have had in two months. But just as soon as it was there, it was gone again. Will quickly jerked his head down, scared to make things weird by keeping his stare for just a second longer. But he could’ve sworn that Mike had a sort of sorry expression on his face, and was trying to let Will know that he felt bad, and maybe even that he wanted him there.
Or maybe Will was reading too much into it.
The rest of the breakfast was—awkward, to say the least. Mr. Wheeler had gotten up from the table and migrated to the living room, clicking the TV on and turning it onto the news channel. The sound of the TV filled the room during the silence in between Mrs. Wheelers constant apologies for her husband’s behavior. The Byers reassured her that it was okay, and to not sweat it.
And it really was okay, Joyce knew firsthand what it was like to fight with your husband, and she would be the last person to judge. And Will and Jonathan were used to overhearing arguments, except between their mother and Lonnie, it was always much worse.
Breakfast ended shortly after that, everyone rushing to get away from the table. Babe it wasn’t the best way to start of the two families time together, but it could’ve been worse, right?
Will, for one, was more focused on the idea of seeing his friends again than whatever just happened at the dining table. He wanted to start his bike ride over to Dustin’s house as soon as possible, but he didn’t want to leave Mrs. Wheeler with all of the dishes.
“Hi Mrs. Wheeler.” Will entered the kitchen, his voice soft. He wasn’t sure the mood that she was in. He knew that the couple had fought before, he overhead one quarrels from the countless nights he had spent in Mike’s room. So, he doubted that Mrs. Wheeler was upset about the fight itself, but instead embarrassed about the fact that there was an audience when it happened. “Do you need any help?”
“It’s okay, Will, I’m fine here.” She insisted, but he didn’t listen. He started drying some of the dishes that were already washed and placed on the drying rack, and put them back in their respective cabinets. “I’m so sorry about breakfast, that wasn’t how your first morning with us was supposed to go.”
“You’ve already apologized enough.” Will took a break from the dishes, and turned to face Mrs. Wheeler instead, offering her a reassuring look. “I understand.”
The words lingered in the air while the did the dishes, the teamwork making the chore be done quickly. Will didn’t say anything when he left the kitchen, but the air felt lighter, and Mrs. Wheeler seemed to be less upset, so he felt accomplished.
By then, Will was more than ready to go to visit his friends, so he packed his backpack and rolled out the extra bike in the garage—as his still hadn’t arrived yet, the moving truck being someone in between California and Indiana.
He contemplated one last time whether or not he should invite Mike, or at least tell him where he was going, so it could be up to Mike on if he wanted to come. In the end, he decided against it though, and started his journey to the Henderson house.
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