Chapter Text
After the defeat of Vecna, the main members of the party, Will, Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Max were preparing to enter their last year of high school, they were all excited and somehow Steve and Robin had managed to convince Will to change his hair, finally getting rid of that god forsaken bowl cut he's had practically all his life.
Since Will and Robin became friends during the final fight against Vecna, Will has been expressing himself more, seeming more confident than ever before, and because for some reason Robin and Steve are a packaged deal it seems, Will, by default has been around Steve more this summer then he probably ever has since he met the guy.
His new haircut wasn't that drastic of a change from his usual bowl cut, the sides and the back of his hair were cut shorter, and thanks to Steve's obsession with hair, the front is styled and hair sprayed in place to keep it out of his eyes. It definitely wasn't a bad look, especially not on Will, who was already considered attractive to most of the girls in school, they just didn't talk to him because of who he hung around, and he'd be lying if he said it bothered him all that much.
It's now the first day of senior year and the rest of the party have yet to see Will's new hair, as the rest gathered by the bike rack, waiting for Will to arrive, they were making small talk, as the last week of summer break as they had all been too busy to get the whole group together before school started.
The only person who knew about Will's hair was Max, as she had seen him the day after he got it cut. “You guys will never believe it, Will finally cut his hair! No more bowl cut” she basically cheered to the rest, a mixture of ‘what!?’ and ‘no way!’ rang out for the 3 boys in shock, all extremely excited, more than before, to see Will.
Will normally rode his bike to school, he has for the past 10 years of his life, but today Steve insisted on driving him to school, as to not “ruin” his hard work, and Robin by default was in the passenger seat of the car. So Will found his way to the back seat of Steve’s new BMW, and as the engine roared to life, they began to make their way to Hawkins High. “so, are you excited to show off your beautiful new doo to the rest of Hawkins?” Robin said in her usual playful voice, but Will didn't seem as excited as they expected him to be, putting his hands over his face in embracement, “Robin….” He groaned out from between his hands, his reaction apparently hilarious to the duo in front of him started cackling as they pulled into the parking lot of the school.
Will quickly got out of Steve's car, before they could embrace him anymore, quickly muttering out a thanks for the ride he made his way over to the bike rack his friends were stationed around waiting in anticipation for his arrival.
Upon greeting his friends as he closed the gap between them, the group's eyes all shooting up to look at Will, the others frozen in place in shock from how well this hair suited Will, Max made her way over to him “Byers! You're finally here!” she yelled before enveloping him a quick hug, the nickname she picked up from Lucas and had decided she would call him by his last name as well.
When she noticed the others hadn't moved or said anything in over a minute, she made a coughing sound to gather their attention to her and Will, “Well? What do you think?”
Will let out a small giggle at this and before he could say anything Dustin and Lucas had surrounded him, jumping around him in excitement. Lucas was the first to speak up,
“Dude! You look so cool! I can't believe you actually cut your hair!” he cheered, “Yeah, dude you look awesome!” Dustin added on, both now stepping away from Will so he could get some space,
“Mike? Your thoughts?” Max said in that tone when she's up to mischief, Mike snapping out managed to finally look Will in the eyes, a slight blush beginning to flush his cheeks, but that's just how best friends were, it wasn't cause he was madly in love with him and just didn't have the balls to tell him… definitely not… “O-oh, uh you look g-good!” Mike finally managed to stutter out, not suspicious at all mike…
Before anyone else could comment on it, the school bell rang, calling the students inside for their first day back. As they made their way inside the building slowly separating as they all went to their respectful classes, Will walking to his class, now alone. When he was with his friends he did notice people stopping in the hall to look at him, he wasn't used to having this many eyes on him, and without his friends to talk to it was nearly impossible to ignore the amount of eyes on him, it was weird.
When Will finally made it to his first period class and found a seat near the back of the class as almost every other seat had already been filled, and the ones that weren't he didn't feel comfortable taking.
As he put his school bag on the ground by his chair since he didn't have time to go to his locker, a figure took the last seat right beside him, glancing over to see who was beside him, it was none other than Chance, the same Chance that bullied Dustin, the same Chance who was now the vice captain for the basketball team, that Chance.
Will quickly looked away as to not draw anymore unwanted attention but it was too late, Chance had looked up and was now staring directly at Will, great…
But he didn't look like he was looking for a fight, more like he was almost admiring Will, that's new, “Hey Byers” he could hear Chance whisper at him, loud enough for him to hear yet quiet enough as to not gain the attention of the teacher.
“What do you want, Chance? Are you gonna call me fag like the rest of your friends do?” Will said a bit more harsh than he might've intended, but it was Chance he was talking to so he couldn't bring himself to care. But instead of Chance saying anything insulting like he expected, he saw Chance's eyes slightly widen before he continued, “what? No! Uh i was gonna say your hair cut suits you…”
Okay yeah this is new, like he's noticed Chance glance at him a few times while his friends were picking on Dustin but he never really thought much of it, well until now. “uhh… thanks i guess?” was all Will could say as a response, cause truthfully how exactly do you respond to your former bully complimenting you on your looks?
“Well anyways, my friends are going to a party tonight, to start off the new school year and all, and uh, i was wondering if you would wanna come?” Chance had asked with even the slightest hint of blush creeping onto his cheeks and all Will could do was stare at him, looking more confused than anything, This dude who he's basically never talked to unless it was defending his friend from bullies, is asking, HIM, to a party?
“You're saying you want me? One of the school “freaks” as your friends call us, to go to a party with you?” saying it out loud was nearly enough to make Will laugh, and honestly? He was actually considering it.
Though he's never been to an actual party before doesn't mean he was completely inexperienced in some of the activities these parties partake in.
Back in Lerona, Will would sometimes smoke with Jonathan when life got a little rough, he never really picked up the habit, but there were still times where Will really needed a break and would sneak out of his house at night to find a quiet place to smoke whether it was just cigarettes or pot. And he would be lying if he said that he'd never drank alcohol before, being friends with “King” Steve, even though he's matured a lot since high school, still likes to throw mini parties with the group and provide alcohol to them if asked, cause who was he to judge?
“Hello? you still there Byers?” That cut Will out of his thoughts, Chance looking at him waiting for an answer, “Oh, uh i don't know Chance, you and I aren't really what I would consider friends, and wouldn't it be weird for me to show up to a party where i don't really know anyone there? if you haven't noticed i'm not the most liked person in this school” Will finally replied, but this answer didn't seem to satisfy Chance,
“But we could change that, and if you haven't noticed all the girls dig you, the only reason they aren't fawning all over you is cause of who you hang around. If you come to this party all of that could change” before Will could say anything in response,the class bell rang out signaling it's time for next period,
“Let me think about it, Chance okay?”
That seemed to be a good enough answer for the Boy for now, smirking as he got up and headed for the door.
“I'll be waiting for your answer Byers, No later than Friday, See you soon”
and with that he was gone, this isn't exactly how Will imagined his first day to go, but he can't really complain.
The next few classes went by fairly quickly, by the time lunch had come he was sitting with the group, they were talking about how their first few classes had gone, either complaining about who all is in their class or teachers being annoying. Will wasn't really listening, his brain still racking about his earlier interaction with Chance, it wasn't until he heard his name being called that he focused back on the conversation, “Huh?” he said, looking around the table, all their eyes were on him, “Will, we were trying to ask about your classes for like the past two minutes, what going on?” Dustin had said, everyone else nodding along in concern.
“Oh uh it was fine, nothing really interesting happened.” He said, not wanting to mention Chance inviting him to a party, mainly because of the history his friends have with the basketball team not being all to fun,
“Um, okay i guess, anyways what class do you have next? we're trying to figure out if we have any classes with you.” After they went through all their schedules for this year, they realized that nobody has any classes with Will until next semester, and the only class being in common was P.E with Lucas.
“Damnit, so we're not really gonna see you besides after school and at lunch this year… that sucks man!” Lucas said looking disappointed by the lack of shared classes, “Well you'll at least see me in gym class?” Will added on in hopes to brighten the table's mood, “Yeah but that's not until next semester! Final period with only Lucas! We're barely going to see you.” Max groaned, seeming more bummed out with not having any classes with Will than everyone else. The Bell ending lunch soon rang and they said their goodbyes the time being and headed back to class.
It's been about 3 days since Chance first asked him to the party, who was being very persistent on getting Will to go, either bringing it up during their shared class or even finding Chance leaning against and blocking his locker to ask for his answer. He still can’t decide, maybe it would be nice to experience high school like a normal person for once, going to parties and having fun.
Thursday night Will was hanging out with Robin and Steve at his place, his mom and Hopper had bought a house in a quiet part of Hawkins not long after Vecna’s defeat. It was a nice place, small and cozy, but had enough room for Them all plus Jonathan when he was home from NYU during breaks. Joyce and Hopper had gone out for dinner so it was just him, Steve, and Robin, they had been in Will's room talking about random things, like how Steve’s job as a junior baseball coach had been going, having just started it a few days ago.
After a break in the conversation Will finally brought up his invitation to the party, he knew what kind of reaction he would get from the party if he even told them about it, but Steve on the other hand would find a way to convince Will to go even if he refused at first.
“So, uh I kinda got asked to go to a party tomorrow night?” He finally said quickly filling the silence, even though neither of them were talking before he said anything the room somehow got even quieter as they stared at him. “Oh my god Little Byers got invited to a party!? This is ground breaking!” Robin cheered as she grabbed onto Steve’s shoulders shaking him back and forth in excitement, once Steve finally got her to cut it out, Steve finally asked the question Will was kind of dreading to hear, “So who invited you out? Was it a girl? Not that it has to be a girl of course! Just curious!” For now Will was gonna ignore the last part he said and focus on the pressing question, “so… crazy thing is, it was Chance that invited me, like basketball Chance…” he cringed, waiting for the duo's response.
“WHAT!?” Robin blurted out before quickly covering her mouth with her hand, “Shit sorry, didn’t mean to yell, but The Chance asked you to a party?! That’s crazy! Steve, what did you put in his hair? Some sort of magic?”
Even though the two were older than everyone else by a few years, they’ve heard plenty about basically everyone on the basketball team, mostly from Dustin of course. This did make Will laugh a bit, Robin always had a knack for lightening the mood even when she wasn’t inherently trying to, “What? No I didn’t put magic in his hair stupid, though it could seem like it sometimes with its powers drawing people to those with the gift, but forget that, is there like something you did to make yourself stand out to get Chance's attention?” Steve asked as if he wasn’t the one coaching Will on how to style his hair and gave him all the product he could ever need to maintain it.
All Will could do was stare at the two sat in front of him as they nattered away, not even giving Will the chance to respond for the next few minutes as they yapped away. It finally got to the point where Will had to interrupt the two rambling that had started to morph into an argument, which happened more often than not.
“Okay, that's enough! I was asking for your guys opinion on whether i should go or not, not how dumb Steve sounded for saying his hair basically had magic powers!”
Will had shouted over the bickering, which seemed to get their attention as they finally settled down enough to actually listen to Will, Steve was the first to properly respond “Oh, yeah you should 100% go man, when I was in high school it was my favourite part of the year.”
This answer resulted in Robin lightly slapping Steve in the arm, which caused him to rub his arm acting as if it hurt more than it actually did, before she gave Will her own answer, “Well I for one think you should choose on your own, don't let his dingus sway you to going if you don't want to.”
“Dingus?! If anything you're the dingus, dingus!” Steve said, slapping Robin in the shoulder in response to her previous hit and name calling, "I don't think I'll ever get over how much you two act like siblings…” Will said chuckling before continuing on, “Well the thing is… I was actually considering going? I don't know, it just seems like it could be a fun way to get my mind off of the past and all…”
To this, Robin reached out and grabbed Will's arms, making him look at her, “If you think it could help you get your mind off everything, and that you actually think you'll enjoy it, then by all means go. But! If anything happens or if you feel uncomfortable at any point, you WILL be calling either me or Steve and one of us will come pick you up, okay?”
Will let out a slight smile, it was nice knowing that he had friends he could actually talk to this stuff about, Will knew he could never tell the party about any of this, being invited to a party and by none other than Chance, they would freak out, probably making sure Will never even got a chance to accept the invite, “Yeah of course i will, i probably can't call Jonathan or really anyone besides you guys without getting a talking to or yelled at for attending” he said laughing, the thought of Jonathan picking him up and complaining and worrying about him going out the whole way home.
A few more hours went by before Steve and Robin left for the night, reassuring Will that he didn't have to worry about going to the party before leaving. The next day as Will, walked into his first class of the day, he saw Chance was already there, sat in his spot, which most probably wouldn't consider weird, but every other day this week he had either showed up late or right as the final bell rang.
By the time Will sat down the class began, he could help but notice Chance continuously glancing over to him, it wasn't until the end of class that Chance finally asked the question that seemed to be eating him alive, “So, they uh parties tonight… have you decided if your coming or not…?” Chance whispered to Will, eye pleading as if basically begging for Will to say yes.
Will let out a small sigh before slowly nodding his head, “Yeah i thought about it, i’ll go, just this once, so please stop nagging me before i change my mind”
Apparently this is exactly what Chance wanted to hear, as his eyes widened in shock, as if not actually expecting to get a positive response from him, a smirk crept onto his face as he looked away, “Good, I'm glad you made the right decision Byers.” He said, trying to keep his cool, “I suppose I'll be seeing you tonight then.” and with that the bell rang and they went their opposite ways for the rest of the day.
Now Will just had to make it through the day without getting questioned by his friends about his plans for the night, which might be harder than he anticipated.