Chapter Text
As Will held his example up, explaining all the different parts that went into making it, his creaking door opened.
Most of his students turned to look at the man at the door. Will, knowing damn well it was Mike, kept his eyes on his students.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Max is wondering if you want Wendy’s or that Mexican place we got last time?” Mike stood, phone in hand, as Will sighed.
“Mike, I am literally in the middle of a lesson”, he spoke, irritation in his voice but a hint of fondness on his face.
Mike raised his hands in mock surrender at the sound of his voice, “I just need to know if you want Wendy’s or- “
“Mexican.”
“Okay, okay- cool, I’ll tell Max you said Mexican” Mike paused for a moment before adding “, and that you’re in a mood”
That made some of Will's students snicker. Will, however, turned and gave a deadpan look towards Mike, “Micheal.”
Mike, with the slightest hint of fear in his eyes, replies, “Yes, Will?”
“Get out of my classroom.”
Mike nodded and, without another word, turned on his heels and walked out of the class. Will sighed as some of his students were still giggling at the whole interaction. “Alright, class, back to what I was saying”
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“Alright, have a good lunch, you guys and remember next class we have someone from yearbook coming to take a photo of the entire class, so make sure to be here!” Will announced as students filed out of his class with muttered response
Will smiled as he grabbed his keys and stood up from his chair. From across the room, a boy with black hair stood as well. “Good class today, right?” Will asked as they both headed for the door.
The boy nodded in agreement as Will locked up the class, “Would have been better if O and T weren’t talking the entire time.” Rowan scoffed as they walked side by side.
“They can’t be that bad.”
“Do you sit in between them?”
“…No”
Rowan motioned with his hand and gave Will a pointed look, to which Will laughed. “I’ll move you to the row behind and have you sit with M and L instead”, Rowan thought about for a moment before nodding. Will grinned at him as they walked into Mike’s room.
When Will sits down in the chair next to Mike and Rowan sits near the group of kids gathered in the opposite corner, Will gives looks at Mike through the corner of his eye as Max hands him a takeout box. He took one look at Mike, who had a permanent scowl on his face, and Lucus, who had a somewhat victorious smile and sighed, “You two are actual children”
Lucus only grinned wider at the comment, and Max eminently elbowed him in the side. “How was advanced art?” Mike asked as Max and Lucus glared at one another.
Will glanced at Rowan, who was currently laughing at some dumb joke, then looked back at Mike, “Was going well until a certain someone interrupted my lesson” He shot a pointed look at Mike.
Mike let out an indignant gasp as he pointed to the tamale in Will’s hand, “My interruption got you that tamaleamale.” Will didn’t say anything back to that and just shrugged, taking another bite of his food.
A silence fell over the group as they all ate their lunch quietly, listening to the conversations of the group of kids. Lucus swallowed the bite of his food before clearing his throat, “Dustin invited us to meet up with him, Steve, Nancy and Jonathan for dinner later tonight”
“Yeah, Nanc texted me about it earlier in the day”, Mike shrugged, “Me and Will are going for sure”
Will gave him a look “I didn’t agree to that?”
“Your brother is going to be there. Why wouldn’t you go?”
Will stuck his tongue out at him and went back to eating his lunch. The lunch continued like that as conversation flowed between the four of them, bickering between Mike and Lucus, a student asking Max for help in her coursework, and the quiet conversation of the five kids in the other corner.
“I don’t want to go to my next class,” Mike complained as Will just looked at him, giving an unamused hum. “This class is going to be the death of me!” Mike groaned dramatically.
“You say that every day,” Will stood up and looked down at Mike, who was sulking in his chair. “And yet, you're still alive.”
“That’s because I emotionally disassociate,” Mike shot back as he straightened in his chair. “You don’t understand, Will, I’ve got kids who scream across the class to their friends, and there’s like four kids constantly rage baiting me- not to mention one of them tried to set their laptop on fire the other day.”
Will chuckled as Rowan made his way across the room, “Hypothetically,” he started as he stopped next to Will. “What if I skip Mr. Wheeler’s class and stayed in yours?”
Mike stared at Rowan with betrayal in his eyes, “Absolutely not! If I must deal with it , then you do too!”
Rowan put his hands up in a mock surrender, “Just saying it would be nice to not go to my sixth period with a headache- plus, I’m already passing your class”
“I mean, you’ve got to admit,” Will hummed, looking towards Mike, “He’s got a good point,” he nodded just to mess with Mike a little bit.
“Will,” Mike warned.
Will chuckled as the bell rang, “Both of you just stick it through for an hour,” he said, walking over to the door. “Mike, stop being a baby, you’ll be fine” Mike stuck his tongue out at Will, making Rowan snicker. “And Rowan”, Will added, making Rowan look at him, “You can’t skip English because you like my class better.”
Rowan sighed and shrugged, “It was worth a shot.”
As Will left to head back to his own class, the kids filed into Mike’s room. Mike sighed loudly as Rowan sat in his assigned seat.
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Will had just gotten done explaining the assignment to his class; it was a simple project that Will did to check the progress of his students in Art 1.
The sounds of his students moving to sit with their friends, of kids grabbing colored pencils and paper, was a sound Will loved. He loved his students, he loved getting to see friendships form, watching as they go from being quiet to being loud, and he loved being able to make an impact on their lives in unimaginable ways.
Every new year brought another round of new classes, but in Will’s eyes, every year was the future in the making; each student brought new opportunities, and each was a different story to be told. In some of them, Will saw himself; in others, he saw Mike or Robin.
Every student, no matter how disruptive or blatantly rude they were to him, Will would treat them all the same. That was how Will got the trust of the boy who had never known support, how he broke down every wall the boy built up in a matter of weeks. That was how Will grew to love a boy as if he were his own.
That was how Will met Rowan Chau.
“Mr Byers?” The voice of one of his students broke his train of thought.
Will stood up and walked over to the table with the girl, raising her hand, “What’s up, C?”
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Sorry this is like a short fucking chapter 😓
I’ve been busy with school and extracurriculars so updates will probably be either every week or every other week.
For live updates on chapters join the discord in the summary 😓😓
Anyway have a good Day/Night!!
-Icarus Lost