Chapter Text
November 6th, 2021
Will Byers was 12 years old and sat across from
Deputy Calvin Powell and Chief Jim Hopper.
“I-I’m sorry I don’t know…” Will says, trying to hold in his tears.
“YOU WERE FOUND IN THE WOODS! WHY WERE YOU IN THE WOODS!” Deputy Calvin yells.Hopper can see every time Calvin raises his voice, Will tense up or flinch.
Will shakes his head.
Hopper clears his throat. “I need to talk to you in the hall, Powell.”
Hopper and Calvin go into the hallway:
“This is a domestic abuse case, and you think yelling at the kid is going to get anything done?!” Hopper says, giving Calvin a shove to the chest.
“Exactly, and we don’t know anything because Byers won’t tell us anything. We don’t even know if Lonnie was abusive. Maybe the boy is just clumsy!” Says Calvin, picking Hopper in the shoulder.
“Clumsy? The kid has bruises everywhere and a broken arm. He ran into the woods with nothing and nobody…” Hopper took a pause.
“In the middle of the night,it was just him and Lonnie.” Hopper says, hinting at the obvious.
“Which could mean nothing!” Says Calvin.
“Go home.” Says Hopper.
“Excuse me?”
“I said,go home.” Says Hopper.
“You can’t fire me!” Says Calvin, raising his voice now.
“I never said I was firing you, but you need to go home. We’ve got nothing done with all your yelling. You’re scaring him, and you need to leave.”
Hopper says,before he could get another word, Calvin sighs, knowing that Hopper is correct.
Hopper enters the room, sitting down in the chair across from Will.
Hopper says with a calm tone,
“I’m really sorry about him.”
Will doesn’t respond.
Hopper takes a deep breath.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?”
Will keeps his eyes on the tabletop. His good hand curls into the sleeve of his sweater, knuckles white.
Hopper notices—and doesn’t push.
“It’s cold in here,” Hopper says instead. He shrugs off his jacket and drapes it carefully over the back of Will’s chair, not touching him unless Will leans into it. “You don’t have to talk if you’re not ready.”
A long moment passes. The clock on the wall ticks too loudly.
Will swallows. His voice is barely there.
“I don’t… I don’t wanna go home.”
Something tightens in Hopper’s chest, but he keeps his face calm.
“Okay,” Hopper says. “Then you won’t. Not tonight.”
Will finally looks up, eyes red and glassy. “You promise?”
“I promise,” Hopper answers without hesitation. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
Will’s shoulders sag a fraction, like he’s been holding himself together with string and someone finally loosened the knot. He sniffs, embarrassed, wiping his face with his sleeve.
“I—I wasn’t supposed to be out,” Will says quietly. “I just… I needed to get away.”
Hopper nods, slow and understanding. “Sometimes getting away feels like the only safe choice.”
Will hesitates, then adds, “I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”
“You didn’t,” Hopper says firmly. “You survived. That’s not trouble—that’s being brave.”
Another pause. Will’s breathing evens out, just a little.
Hopper stands. “I’m gonna get you some water. When I come back, we can just sit. Or talk. Or not talk at all. Sound okay?”
Will nods once.
As Hopper turns toward the door, Will speaks again—so small Hopper almost misses it.
“Thank you… for making him stop yelling.”
Hopper stops, then looks back at the boy.
“Anytime,” he says. “No one’s allowed to scare you here. Not anymore.”
And that was the moment Will realized that he can’t keep every dirty little secret.
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In this AU, the upside down doesn’t exist.
This is a modern AU, so present time is 2025-2026.
El is short for Eleanor.
El is Hopper’s biological daughter.
Mike and Will haven’t met yet.
Max el and Will are all best friends.
Lucas, Dustin, and Mike are best friends.
Hopper and Joyce live together.
Jonathan and Nancy (older kids) are off at college.
Jonathan and Nancy never dated.
PLEASE FOLLOW mwtfaydgate22 ON TIKTOK BECAUSE I’M GONNA START POSTING ABOUT MY AU!!!!
EACH CHAPTER IS BASED ON A DIFFERENT SONG!!!
Songs:
1)Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects
2) Manchild - Sabrina Carpenter
3)I Think We’re Alone Now - Tiffany
4) Style - Taylor Swift
5)Good Luck Babe - Chappell Roan
6)Talk Too Much - Renée Rapp
7) Brutal - Olivia Rodrigo
8)My Kink Is Karma - Chappell Roan
9)Pushing It Down and Praying - Lizzy McAlpine
10)Boys Don’t Cry - The Cure
11) Heroes - David Bowie(2017 Remaster)
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“And that was the moment Will realized that he can’t keep every dirty little secret.”
Will had a lot of secrets,some more obvious than others.
Maybe the fact that he didn’t like girls was his biggest one.
He had always felt different, and in a small town like Hawkins, being different wasn’t always easy.
He remembered the first time he met Hopper,for the first time he felt okay with being different.