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English
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Published:
2026-02-02
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1,050
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1/1
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Sitting on an Empty Grave

Summary:

Chance lets his eyes wander across the graveyard while he stands, only to stop upon a figure sitting on top of a grave. His feet carry him closer without his permission.

The figure has brown hair and looks to be a teen around his age, he's wearing a blue long sleeve shirt under a white t-shirt and has on grey pants with similar colored shoes. As Chance gets closer he can make out the faint click, click, of a lighter failing to light, accompanying it are small grumbled curses.

The grumbles cut off as he approaches and decides to open his mouth. "Hey."

Notes:

First fic posted Yippee!

Uhhh hi?

Idk wtf im doing so uh yesh

I wrote this today and was like "oh i should post this" so i am.

I plan to write more things so i may post those whether that be soon or very very very far into the future

Enjoy (hopefully)

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Chance didn't know what the hell he was doing here. 

His family was back in Hawkins, back in his childhood home, the one that his mother's family built and passed on to her and the one his father had taken in the divorce. 

Thankfully it was passed back to them when he died. He thought it was good timing. They were going through a rough patch and would have had to find a new place to stay soon anyways.

Maybe thinking about it like that was part of why he was here, maybe he just felt bad and wanted to come apologize in the only way he could, to his grave. 

That was so stupid it wasn't remotely close to true. Chance didn't even go to the funeral. And it's not like the man could hear whatever fake apology he would give, he was dead and buried. In reality Chance just wanted an excuse to ditch his asshole friends.

Chance sighs while he's crouched down to stare at the grave before standing up. "Idiot." He doesn't know if he's talking to the grave or himself

He stands, looks up to the sky, closes his eyes, and lets himself feel the cold breeze against his skin for a moment.

Chance glances back down at the grave once more. "Don't even remember what I was planning to say, so, bye dad. You were a piece of shit then and you would've been a piece of shit now. See you never." 

With his fake reason for being here over he lets his eyes wander across the graveyard while he stands, only to stop upon a figure sitting on top of a grave. His feet carry him closer without his permission.

The figure has brown hair and looks to be a teen around his age, he's wearing a blue long sleeve shirt under a white t-shirt and has on grey pants with similar colored shoes. As Chance gets closer he can make out the faint click, click, of a lighter failing to light, accompanying it are small grumbled curses.

Chance can't see it from behind but from the way the other teen is holding the lighter up he can only assume he has a cigarette sitting in his mouth

The grumbles cut off as he approaches and decides to open his mouth. "Hey."

The second the word escapes his lips the boy is spinning around to stare at him, eyes going wide and muscles tensing as if ready to run. The lighter in one hand is dropped and the other hand reaches up to grab the cigarette in his lips. 

The two stare at each other before the other decides to speak slowly, almost scared. "Hello..." 

Chance leans down and picks the dropped lighter back up before reaching out a hand to give it back. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I'm-"

"...Chance?" The other interrupts. At the confused look he's given the teen points at his jacket where the lettering displays his name before reaching out to take the lighter back. 

The slight brush of the hand against Chance's makes the skin where he touched feel like it's buzzing. "Yeah, I'm Chance. Who're you?"

He hesitates for a moment, seeming to think about something before answering, almost in a whisper. "Will... Will Byers." There's a small smile on his face as Will answers, along with a little glimmer that shows up in his pretty hazel eyes.

The name seems familiar to Chance, and now that he's said it his face seems slightly familiar too, but he can't quite place where he's heard it or seen him before. "Well then, Will Byers, what are you doing out here in the graveyard? You visiting someone?" He tilts his head as he watches Will's face.

Will starts to shake his head before he stops himself. "I suppose I am." A small smirk grows onto his face, like there's some inside joke Chance doesn't get. "But no, really, I just like it here." At Chance's once again confused face he continues. "It's quiet, y'know? Normally just me and the ghosts."

Chance watches as Will puts the cigarette back in between his lips and once again fails to light it with a frustrated sound. "Here," Chance holds out his hand for the lighter, Will hands it to him after a second and Chance lights it in one swift motion, a single spark and it lit. "You have to block the breeze from blowing it out like this." 

He covers part of it with his hand as he brings it up to light the cigarette still in Wills mouth. Chance could feel the others breath on his skin for a moment but he pulled back the second the cigarette caught.

Will stared at him for a moment longer with a slight blush on his cheeks, presumably from the cold, before taking in a deep breath of smoke. Chance watched as he let out the smoke and it was like all of the tension left his body. 

Will smiled at him again, softer this time, and he felt a weird warmth overcome his chest despite the cool air. He handed the lighter back and the buzzing under his skin intensified for a moment before quieting and then disappearing.

"Thank you." Will said before bringing the cigarette back up to his lips.

"Yeah..." the two sat in silence for a few minutes whilst Will smoked.

At some point Chance saw Will look up at the sky and notice how dark it was getting. He took the rest of the cigarette and dropped it onto the ground before stomping down on it to extinguish it. "I should head back..." He looked back over at Chance, with a sad look in his eyes. "Guess I'll see you 'round." He stood up and started to walk off towards the road.

"Yeah, sure." Chance watched with a frown as the boy walked across the road and rather than turning one way or the other continued on straight into the forest.

He looked away back to the graveyard and the grave Will was sitting on caught his eye. He turned towards it and took in the text with wide eyes.

William Byers
Born March 22th 1971 
Died November 9th 1983

Beloved Son, Brother, and Friend.

Notes:

There is a lot more to this au in my notes so i might turn this into a series if i ever write more for it