Chapter Text
Ever since the Byers came back from California and after all of the happenings of the 'end of the world' and that case being closed, it was a little bit weird to get back to routine.
Joyce and Hopper had decided to move in together, accommodating the cabin to fit the four of them, that includes Jane and Will. Jonathan had moved to California for college, but he frequently called back home to hear from his family.
Jane and Will were back to their regular teen life: class, friends, highschool crushes, D&D. Still, their detour to California had taken a toll on them, and both of them had to stay extra hours at school to catch up with the rest of their class. Jane had even gotten a good math tutor to help her.
Will drew little doodles on the corner of his paper, he had been staring at it at least fifteen minutes before losing all interest. The history teacher was talking so slowly, he was having trouble shadowing the little heart he had drawn, his eyes heavy with sleep.
"Byers." The severe tone of Mrs. Lovett woke him up. When did he fall asleep? "You might want to wash your face, or else you'll never catch up." She returned to the front of the class, Will could feel everyone's gaze on him. As if all of those people were there, not because of a transfer, but because they were just stupid and had failed the class. Will sighed and stood up, leaving the classroom.
Ever since school opened again, Will had spent almost every afternoon taking History, Spanish and Chemistry catch up classes. Meanwhile, Dustin and Lucas were probably doing something way more fun. Mike would sometimes show up randomly outside his class to keep him company. Will tried not to think much about it, Mike was probably still affected by all that had happened when Vecna was still a problem, the thought of losing everyone probably still healing. Still, Will would be lying if he said he didn’t expect to see Mike every time he went to the bathroom or went for a break.
He pushed the bathroom door open, hoping no one else would be inside. Unlucky for him, he saw the broad back of what seemed to be one of the jocks from the basketball team, the green jacket Lucas kept at the back of his closet gave it away. Will rolled his eyes and walked to the sink to wash his hands and face.
He looked sideways, the boy on the other side of the sinks had his shoulders hunched, looking down. Will saw a single drop of blood fall from his face to the sink, staining the not so white material with a vibrant red.
"Are you okay?" Will asked, out of chivalry. The green jacket stopped heaving, as if the boy had stopped breathing for a second. Suddenly he was met with the dark eyes of one Chance Lawson. He had seen him before, and he sure had heard his name from Lucas whenever he reminisced about when he was a part of the basketball team.
It was clear as day, his cheek was bruised, some blood dripping all the way to his chin. It seemed his nose had taken a hit too, something like Jane’s bloody nose, but way messier.
"Do I look okay?" He asked, Will regret even asking, he furrowed his brow and grabbed a piece of paper to dry his hands. "That came out wrong, sorry." He heard him mumble, "I'm fine."
He didn't look fine. Will sighed "You should probably disinfect it, the nurse'll do it for you."
"Experience with injuries?"
"I don't get into fights. My friend does, though." That wasn't a lie, Mike had been to the nurse's office plenty of times because of his recklessness. Troy had a great hook.
"I didn't get in a fight."
"Frankly, I don't know if I believe that." Will was feeling too cocky out of nowhere, as if the guy was his every day friend. Chance chuckled, and Will felt his stomach twist.
"And I understand that." His hand reached his cheek and winced when he touched it. Will walked to him and took Chance's hand off of his cheek.
"Don't touch it." He insisted, he grabbed a paper towel and put it under the stream of water. He handed it to Chance, who stared at him as if he didn't quite understand Will's action. He sighed once again and carefully pressed it against the bruised cheek, cleaning it. "You should tell someone. Maybe your friends." Said Will.
"My friends did this." Chance replied, Will couldn't make sure of it, too focused on cleaning the bloody skin, but he could feel Chance's eyes on him. Maybe he felt like the proximity was too disgusting for him.
"Then I don't think you should call them friends." Said Will with an ‘unbelievable’ scoff. Chance chuckled softly. Will got rid of the now bloody paper towel and stepped back.
"Thanks." Said Chance and Will pressed his lips in what seemed to be an uncomfortable smile. "What did you say your name was?" He asked.
"William. Will."
"Oh, Byers. The zombie boy" he said, Will wrinkled his nose at the nickname. For a long time he had been targeted by Troy and his friends, calling him a zombie boy once he was rescued from the upside down. "Sorry, uh. Will, got it. It's just-- it was such a big story and-"
"Yeah, I know." he did, in fact, know. Everyone used to look at him like he was a living dead, and it wasn’t really a good experience. He had decided that the conversation was over, so he left the bathroom without giving the other boy a chance to finish his apology. He walked the hallway with heavy footsteps, not ready for another thirty minutes of History. Outside of the classroom, a fidgety Mike was bouncing one of his legs, resting on the wall. He looked up and straightened his spine when he saw Will stepping closer.
“Shouldn’t you be doing anything else?” Will asked.
“Shouldn’t you be in class?” Mike asked back. “I thought you’d be falling asleep by now”
“I was, Mrs. Lovett sent me to ‘wash my face’.” Will said, quoting on air, Mike looked at his hands and furrowed his brow.
“You hurt?” he asked, taking Will’s hands. He notices a bit of blood, leftover from Chance’s own injuries. Will took back his hand and wiped the almost dry blood on his shirt, he’d worried about that later.
“I’m okay. I should get back to class.” Mike smiled lightly, and nodded.
“Wanna come to my house after? We could watch a movie or something.” Will’s heart skipped a beat, just the two of us? he wanted to ask, as he wondered. “Dustin convinced Steve to rent us the ‘Predator’ movie. I’ve heard it’s sick.” There it was, reality coming back. Will’s shoulders went back to relaxing, and he huffed.
“Sure. I’ll see you there.” Will said, he put his hand on the door, about to push it, Mike’s smile distracting him from opening the door.
“Bring some snacks, okay?” he said, stepping backwards, hands inside his pockets, so non-chalant. Will nodded and half smiled back. Then he was back to Mrs. Lovett's boring class.
—————
The last bell rang and Will was free from his last spanish class, he gathered all of his things and quickly left the classroom. He met Jane at the door, she showed him her latest math quiz, with a C, she was very proud of it and so was Will.
They sat on the bus stop, since Jane didn’t really have a bike yet, Will took the bus with her in solidarity. Jane was saying something to her about how a girl in class fell asleep and the teacher gave her detention, but Will couldn’t find it in himself to pay attention. Instead he saw Chance crossing the door, a patch on his face, his hands in his pockets. They locked eyes and Chance nodded his head at him with a half smile, acknowledging his existence. Will looked back to Jane, feeling weirdly giddy.
“Are you listening to me?” Jane asked, Will opened his eyes even more, trying to say yes. “I asked you if we’re going to Mike’s.” she repeated. So Jane was also invited, why wouldn’t she be? She was a part of the party, so chances were that Max was also invited and suddenly Will didn’t feel like watching a movie.
“You go, I have to do some homework.” he lied, Jane narrowed her eyes at him, she did this whenever she thought someone was lying. “Okay, I don’t have homework, I just don’t feel like going.” he admitted.
“Why?” she asked again.
“I don’t know.” he replied, and Jane nodded, it didn’t really matter, she wouldn’t be able to convince him to go.
When they got home, Jane emptied her backpack on her bed, instead she filled it with pouches of candy and Eggos for herself. She made a last stop at Will’s room, who had already laid in bed, staring at his ceiling.
“Are you sure you don’t wanna go?” she asked, resting on the door frame. “Is it you-know-who?” she asked. Jane didn’t know Will liked Mike, but she did know that they had gone through some rough patches. “Should I punch him? I’ll do it.” She said, Will chuckled as he shook his head.
“No, everything's okay. Have fun.” he stated and so Jane left his room and left for Mike’s house, using Will’s bike. Will laid in bed, thinking about Mike. His encounter with Chance had indeed remembered him all of the times Mike had gotten in a fight just to defend him. One time, Troy had punched open Mike’s lip, blood was everywhere. Dustin freaked out, Lucas was making fun of Dustin and Will had taken Mike to the bathroom to clean his face. That was the first time Will had really looked at Mike’s lips so thoroughly. He remembers the heat on his cheeks, as Mike complained about how much of an asshole Troy was. Then his thoughts circled back to Chance, why had he been punched? By his ‘friends’ nonetheless? Will’s friends protected him, apparently Chance’s friends had a twisted concept of friendship.
He fell asleep as he remembered the softness of Chance’s cheek beneath his touch, the feeling of his eyes on him, not looking at him with disgust.
—————
The next day, Will slept in, being late for his first period. Jonathan wasn't home to wake him up, in fact he was responsible for waking Jane up, Hoper and Joyce left so early in the morning, they were lucky they left them breakfast.
Will struggled to button up his shirt as he knocked on his sister’s door.
“Jane, we’re late!” He yelled, the door creaked, he opened it to find absolutely nothing, Jane’s bed still done from the day before. So maybe Jane slept over at Max’s, she used to do that.
Will was left bike-less, so he could either wait for the bus or run to school, he chose the latter. He sprinted to school, trying to catch his breath every other minute. He stormed in and looked at the time on his watch. 9:45.
“Shit.” He mumbled. His face was red from all the running, his shirt barely stained by sweat, he didn't sweat much. He stormed into Mrs. Click’s class, breathing heavily. Every single pair of eyes fixed on him.
“You're late, Mr. Byers” said the teacher, lowering her glasses to take a better look at the panting boy. He nodded and swallowed.
“I know, I’m sorry.” He entered the classroom and let himself collapse into his seat, next to Mike. Mrs. Click's class was about the only class they shared, their schedule sucked.
The older woman continued with her lesson, and Will tried to ignore Mike's insistent look on him.
“I thought you were coming to my house yesterday” Mike whispered to Will, who had started to get his notebook out alongside with his pen.
“I told Jane, I was tired. But she brought the snacks, didn't she?” Will added. Mike scrunched his nose, clearly bothered by Will’s indifference.
“That's not the point–”
“Mr. Wheeler, please stop talking.” Said Mrs. Click. Mike looked at her and nodded, his cheeks slightly blushed at being called out.
Instead, Will was passed a note.
I still have the tape, wanna watch it tonight?
Will’s chest ached, he looked at Mike who tried to play it cool, as if it wasn't him who had written that down. Still, he noticed long fingers fidgeting. Will didn't answer, instead he just paid attention to class.
The bell rang, Mike rushed to Mrs. Click.
“Mrs. Click, I was wondering if maybe I could change my partner for the project? See, Will wasn't here yet, but I was hoping I could pair with him instead.” Said Mike, Will heard him as he put his notebook on this backpack. “We have plenty of good ideas for the paper.”
“I'm afraid Mr. Byers was late, so he doesn't get to choose who he works with, does he?”
“No, but-”
“You will work with Miss Hayes, and Mr. Byers will be working with…”
“Me.” Mike heard the voice from behind him, a familiar guy now standing next to Will who hung his backpack on his shoulders. Mike was no stranger to Chance Lawson, they had had their encounters, his friends used to pick on them like Troy used to do, especially when Will had left for Lenora. He pursed his lips in discomfort.
“That 's right. No changes.” said Mrs. Click, she then returned to her papers, Mike sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Let’s go, Will” he mumbled walking to the door, defeated.
“I should probably talk to Chance about the project.” said Will adjusting the straps of his backpack “We’ll go to the library, but I’ll see you at lunch, ‘kay?” he added. He and Chance left the classroom, Mike followed suit and watched them walk to the library, the other way to where he had his next class.
—————
“It looks better” said Will, breaking the silence that had reigned between them for the last couple of minutes, although it wasn’t strange, they were at the library after all. Chance looked at him, not entirely understanding what he meant. “Your cheek.”
“Right,” he replied with a half smile. “My mom basically poured alcohol on it, so…”. Will winced at Chance’s words, rewarded with a chuckle from the dark haired guy. “I’m sorry you’re stuck working with me. Your friend seemed… upset about it.”
“Well, firstly, I don’t mind working with you. Secondly, Mike’s just… we always work together so we know how the other works and stuff. But it’s not a big deal.”
“You two uh… close?” Chance asked, his eyes glued to his notebook, as if he were embarrassed for asking something like that. But Will felt so embarrassed himself that he didn’t even get to clock Chance’s expressions.
“We’ve been friends since kindergarten. So, yeah, kinda.” The silence returned momentarily, the only noise being Will’s pen writing his name and date on the top of the paper. Is not that he had to, he just couldn’t bring himself to find anything to say to Chance.
“Say, you think I could have lunch with you?” The question made Will lift his eyes in surprise. It made no sense for a guy like Chance to ask a guy like Will to hang out at lunch, he was popular, and Will was far from it. Always targeted and made fun of. Will’s eyebrows lifted and Chance’s gaze faltered. “Sorry, I just- I know you hang out with your friends at lunch but I’m not really-- My friends they… We’re not really–”
“Yeah.” Will’s voice interrupted Chance’s rambling, it was as loud as a whisper but still managed to stop the other boyin his tracks. “It’s cool, you can have lunch with us.” He reassured, nodding his head and smiling. Chance smiled back, his fingers holding up his pen. He nodded back and locked back to his notebook, his face feeling warm.
“Great. Thanks, man.”
—————
“You look like you stepped on poop.” Dustin’s unintelligent remark barely made Mike glare at him. He dropped his tray on the table, swinging one of his legs over the bench, then the other one.
“Leave him alone. He was just born with that face.” joked Lucas, sitting next to Dustin right across Mike. Dustin laughed and bumped his elbow in Lucas’ arm in a ‘good one’ kind of way.
“Shut up.” Mike barked back at them, opening the cap of his cheap orange juice box.
“What’s got you so snappy, dude?” asked Lucas, his eyebrows flying up at his joke not really landing “You’ve been pouting since yesterday.”
“Yeah, you couldn’t even enjoy the movie that I went so out of my way to get my hands on,” added Dustin, waving his hands in front of him to establish a point in a very dramatic way. Mike ‘tsked’ his tongue, knitting his eyebrows together. “not to put you on the spot.”
“Well, you kind of are.” Mike whispered back, almost to himself but loud enough for Lucas and Dustin to take the hint and stop asking him questions. It was simple, really. Or so he thought, he was simply upset about Will not showing up to their movie night the day before. But then why was he so keen on keeping it to himself and not being able to tell the truth?
He wouldn’t let himself linger on it for more than a minute.
“Where’s Will?” Lucas asked, the question mainly directed to Mike who usually arrived to lunch with Will by his side. The question, just like his previous joke, didn’t seem to sit well with Mike as he frowned again.
“Last time I saw him he was at the library,” he explained, his tray featured a chicken sandwich with a side of what seemed to be mashed potatoes and an apple. But he wasn’t feeling very hungry, especially after remembering the other details about Will’s company “with Chance.” He said, his fork moving the smashed potatoes around.
“Basketball Chance?” asked Dustin. Mike hummed in response. “Will’s been making friends I see.” he added, taking a bite of his apple, a gentle smile behind his chewing.
“I wouldn’t say ‘friends’. He was late so he had to pair with him for Mrs. Click’s stupid project. Apparently no one wanted to pair with him.” I wonder why, Mike thought with a huff.
“I heard someone beat the shit out of him yesterday.” said Dustin in a secretive way, although rumours spread very quickly at Hawkins High, especially when they involved one of the popular kids.
“Yeah. Some… rumours have been spreading. About Chance.” said Lucas, looking somewhere else but his friends' eyes. “I’m pretty sure it was Andy and the others who did it. Beat him up, I mean.”
“Why?” the question left Mike’s lips before even thinking about it. Maybe the new information made him feel slightly guilty for being so harsh on the other guy. Then again, he knew Chance wasn’t a white dove, after all he had beaten up the other guys of Hellfire club along with Jason and Andy a couple of months ago.
Mike watched Lucas hesitate and trip over his words as his gaze was now behind Mike himself. He turned around to see Will alongside Chance, who had a sheepish smile. Mike felt his jaw clench, and his fingers grab onto the table maybe a little too harsh.
“I hope you don’t mind Chance joining us.” Will voiced, he looked at the spot next to Mike. It’s not like he had saved it for him, they just usually sat next to each other.
“Uh, no. That’s fine.” said Lucas “Sit down, man.” he said, his eyes darting between Dustin and Mike. He managed to smile as Will and Chance took a seat. Will between Mike and Chance. It was cinematic, really.
“Say, why aren’t you with Andy and the other douchebags?” asked Mike, not really looking at Chance. Besides, Will was in the way. Not in the way, Mike thought to himself.
“Mike.” Will said, it sounded as if he was scolding him for being rude. And maybe he was.
“Well, you said it yourself. They are douchebags.” added Chance, his lips pressed together, as he crossed his arms on the table. “And I realize I… might have been too. A while ago.”
“Yeah, no shit.” mumbled Mike under his breath, earning a small kick from Will under the table. He looked at him, feeling slightly embarrassed but ultimately shrugged in his place, silently asking him ‘Am I wrong?’.
“I guess, I’m trying to say I’m sorry.” said Chance after a beat, under his crossed arms, his fingers picked on the fabric of his varsity jacket. He looked at Will as if he was looking for some reassurance. Then he turned to Lucas and Dustin he even leaned slightly towards the table to be able to see Mike. “I was, well, kind of an asshole,” he said with an apologetic chuckle “but now my friends turned on me and I kind of get how it feels to be… targeted.”
Mike bit his lower lip with a frown, his eyes settled on Will. His face was serene, a shy smile on his face. He damned how nice Will could be sometimes, and yet he found it so endearing.
Not endearing, Mike thought to himself. I just wish I was that nice sometimes.
“It’s cool, man.” Lucas was the first one to talk, his smile was now genuine. When he was on the basketball team, Chance was the nicest one of them all. They even chatted sometimes.
“Yeah,” added Dustin, he shrugged with a half hearted smile. “I mean, Andy is an asshole.”
Suddenly, everyone seemed to turn to Mike, he felt observed as he pretended not to notice. Lucas cleared his throat and Dustin whispered his name. Still Mike wouldn’t give in.
“It 's okay. You don’t have to forgive me, I just wanted to come clean.” said Chance, shaking his head. Mike wanted to scream, he wouldn’t let the guy make him look like the villain. No way.
“Mike.” Will’s voice reached his ears again, and this time he turned. Green eyes were insistent, deep and so infinite. Mike thought he got lost for a second, and maybe he did. He felt his neck flush, as he cleared his throat.
“Whatever.” he mumbled, going back to his tray of food. He propped his arm up, and rested his cheek on his hand, avoiding everyone’s gazes. Especially Will’s, since he started feeling that weird tingly feeling in his stomach. If he hadn’t been hungry, now he felt like throwing up. But there was something he relished about the feeling.
Mike remained silent for the rest of lunch. Lucas and Chance seemed to hit it off right away, Dustin and Will joining the conversation easily. Mike wasn’t even listening to whatever they talked about, whether if the topic was homework, girls, D&D, he couldn’t seem to concentrate.
All he could think about was the warm feeling on his neck and his ears, pretty sure they looked as red as his still uneaten apple.
“Mike?” Will called out his name, and Mike had started to notice some kind of pattern on the fluttering feeling in his stomach. “Lunch is over.” He said. Mike looked down to his tray, maybe he took a bite of his chicken sandwich, other than that it remained filled with food. He looked up to see teenagers scattering, people throwing trash away. Lucas and Dustin were gone, and surprisingly (and gratefully), Chance too.
“Don’t you have a class to get to?” Will asked playfully, his hand on the table as he swung his leg outside of the bench.
“Uh yeah. Shit, yeah.” Mike answered, he shook his head, trying to get out of it for a change. He stood up and took his bag, swinging it to his back.
“Are we still up for movie night?” asked Will, shyly. Mike looked at him, his eyebrow shooting up, almost in surprise. “You said you still had the VHS, right? ‘Predator’?”
“Yeah.” Mike said, almost a squeak. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, still have it.”
“You think Lucas and Dustin would mind watching it again?” Will asked, as they started walking to the trash can, where Mike threw away his basically untouched food.
“Well, it could be just us,” said Mike, his gaze on the floor. Why am I so nervous? He thought. Will turned to him almost too fast, almost too suspicious. He cleared his throat. “There's no need for them to watch it again, right?”
“Right.” Will agreed, nodding. The bell that announced every student had only five more minutes to get to class rang across the hallway. “See you tonight, then.” Said Will, he waved his hand lazily and sprinted to his class, leaving Mike standing looking like an absolute idiot. At least that’s what he thought he probably looked like.
Just us. Mike thought to himself.
Shit.