Chapter Text
The Byers’ house phone rings through the living room.
Will jumps as his focus shifts from what he's painting. His face twists as his paintbrush jumps with him.
He inspects the painting in front of him, making sure of no smudges. Every single day Will has been spending hours of his time in his room painting; it has become a daily routine for him. Will gets up after assuring the painting is unaffected, dropping his paintbrush into his cup of paint water. Will carefully walks away from his painting station. He quickly jogs over, and swings open his door, rushing down the stairs, hoping to not miss the phone. He's been expecting this call.
Will quickly picks up the phone, “Byers residence, Will speaking!” Will taps his foot as he waits for a response.
“Hey man!” Elijah's voice cracks through the speaker, his Californian accent heavy.
Elijah was a 15-year-old boy at Lenora High, he was a boy who was also a freshman like Will, a boy who shared similar interests as Will. They both liked art. Elijah for the most part loved drawing, he loved the satisfaction of it. The way he could express what he's feeling in his drawings, it made him relax, lift all the weight off his shoulders. Sometimes Elijah would draw will, his features, the way his hair was perfectly round and straight. He would draw and shade wills eyes perfectly, his eyebrows thick, the mark above his lip, a little under his nose. Elijah admired the way Will looked, if he had to describe Will with one word, it would be…well…perfect. Elijah was also a fan of movies like Will was. Another reason why Will and Elijah got along. Elijah loved the thrill. The excitement. The emotional scenes. Elijah just loved the idea and concept of movies in general; it satisfied him so much and made him feel emotions he thought were impossible to feel. But another thing that Elijah and Will had in common, was that they were both into boys.
“Hey! What’s up?” Will says, smiling as he speaks.
“What's up?” Elijah giggled quietly through the speaker. “You asked if I could call your phone man.” He speaks.
Will can feel Elijah's big smile through the phone, the thought of it causes him to smile as well.
“Oh yeah!” Will giggled as well. He then paused for a minute and starts to ask,
“Hey so, before I moved here, to Lenora, as I told you before, I lived in Hawkins, and I have this friend group-”
“Ohh! The one you kept telling me about?” Elijah cuts Will off. “What were their names…” Elijah trails off for a second. “Max? Lucas..Dustin and... was there another Max?” Elijah said with confusion, really trying to think of the names.
Will chuckled. “Mike.” Will paused for a minute, “His name is Mike.”
As Will says “Mike”, it makes his stomach twist, but in a good way! Will would be lying if he said he hasn't been thinking about Mike ever since he moved. He’d been always wondering what Mike would look like. Will had admired the way Mike looked. His faint freckles across his cheeks and nose. Will thought about what his hair would look like, his dark raven hair. Will often thought about what his hair would feel like. Would it be soft? He also realized Mike would always be taller than him. Would that change? Will he finally be able to have his moment to be taller than Mike and have the chance to make fun of him? He missed Mike. Though he was confused. Ever since he moved, Mike promised he would always send letters to will. But that changed. He never did. That always annoys Will. Every time when it's mail day. Will would always check the mail. Waiting and waiting for a letter. But there was no letter. He was always disappointed until he gave up looking. He did know though that El would receive a letter from Mike. That aggravated Will. Why would he send a letter to El instead of him? Will knows El is his girlfriend, but Will knew him longer. Will was his best friend. He wished he knew why Mike is not talking to him. The constant thought of “did he do something wrong? ”and “does he even want to be my friend anymore?” haunts him. And what even pissed Will off more, is that he also never received a call ever.
“Anyways...” Will continues, but shortly again he's cut off as he hears his name echo in the room through his ears.
“Will?”
It was a soft voice, Will always recognized that voice. El? Will quickly turns around and looks up slowly at El. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Is she okay?
Will quickly says to the phone, “One second...” and covers the mic on the phone.
“Yeah Jane?” Will said softly, “what's up? Are you okay?” Will started to find himself protective of El, he loved having El as his new sibling. They always connected and bonded in some sort of way. Whenever they have the chance, they would also gossip about Mike sometimes and the whole party. He’s really glad El showed up in his life. Though he was jealous of one thing about her...
“Yeah...” El says quietly with a soft smile. “Elijah?” El suddenly blurted out in question.
Will quickly nodded with a smile, then he tried to offer the phone to El, his lips parted open a little bit like he was going to speak but then realized. The government. He starts to feel guilty and swallows what he was going to ask down his throat, furrowing his brows again. He clears his throat and instead asks, “What are you doing?”
El quickly tilted her head in confusion but then she straightened herself. “Just getting water! Hey, you should invite him to go with us for Christmas!” El said while passing by Will, going into the kitchen. El loved Christmas. it was her favorite holiday. Yes, she loved receiving gifts, but what she liked most about the season, was the lights and the joy of decorating. Every year, she'd always volunteer to decorate, and she would decorate for hours and hours, going all out, everything had to be perfect. And seeing all the lights amazed her and every time she saw creative houses, it made her really happy. though, now that they are in California. there's no winter basically... no snow at all which disappointed El.
It's like his mind and her mind connected; Will was just about to ask Elijah before she interrupted him. He then gave her a quick smile.
“Yeah, I am!” Will said right after, El followed with a nod. She's grabbing a cup from the cabinet and filling the glass with water. Will quickly looked at the phone and uncovered the mic, realizing he just left Elijah there, waiting. He starts to feel bad; Will hopes that he hasn't been waiting for too long.
“Hey!” Will said quickly, “Sorry about that, sorry to keep you waiting, Jane was just saying hi.”
“Oh no worries, dude! It's okay.” Elijah says. Will is grateful to have a friend like him.
“Anyways, as I was saying,” Will paused for a bit. “We have this tradition every Christmas where we, the whole party and I, would always spend Christmas at Mike's house, it's really fun and I was thinking, maybe if you want…” Will says, twirling his finger around the phone cord. “You can come...?” Will says quietly with a slight smirk on his face. He feels nervous, he doesn't know why he is nervous right now. “We can drive you.” Will finishes.
A minute goes by, it worries Will for a bit, his heart racing, He fidgets with his sleeve until the silence was disrupted by a loud crackle on the phone.
“Really, are you sure Will?” Elijah questions out of surprise. "I really don't want to bother..."
“Of course, Eli!” Eli was a nickname that Will called Elijah. “I’d love for you to come and see the party!” Will excitedly says, “Don't worry at all! I really want you to meet everyone and besides, it will be so fun!” Will’s smile is even bigger than before.
“That’s rad! Of course I'll join, if it's okay, I can't wait to meet everyone!”
Will and Elijah end up talking for another hour. They both loved talking to each other. If they could, they would talk for hours and hours, even decades without even getting bored and stopping. Their bond was super strong. Though Will thinks that the bond between him and Elijah could never compare to his bond with Mike. Man... he misses mike. Will suddenly wishes he could talk to Mike instead of Elijah. After Will decides to hang up, he runs up the stairs and looks around for his door.
Will enters his room, looking around for a bit, he then looks at the alarm clock, 4:06 PM. He then rubs his eyes, looks at his canvas and sighs. He slowly walks over to his bed then turns around and slowly falls backwards onto his bed.