Chapter Text
As usual, Will wakes up covered in sweat. Vecna is gone, deep in his bones he knows that that’s the truth. He can’t feel him anymore, and the gate is closed for good now that El seems to have lost her powers forever. It’s supposed to be the end, their happy ending. After three months, he should just relax now, but he just can’t.
He sees that he’s not the only one. All his friends and family around him are in the same position, it doesn’t matter how much time Will repeats that it’s over. For that same reason, now he feels the obligation to be the one that shows that he’s fine, because if he’s still scared, how would the others really believe that Vecna is gone?
Therefore, everything piles up in him until the night arrives. When everything is dark, Will dreams, over and over, of that horrible place, of Vecna’s coming back, of what could happen to his family and friends in that situation. He tries to be quiet, covered in sweat and his own tears, he has to be fine.
He starts to feel claustrophobic in his own bedroom, well, it’s not his as the one before. His family moved into Hopper's cabin in the woods, the only place that they all have now to live in Hawkins, as their old house was sold and Hopper’s was lost after everyone thought he was dead. People's reaction as the old sheriff coming back alive, justified as a government cover-up following the shopping mall accident, was definitely a funny moment that his family and friends will remember for a while. But now he’s not thinking about that, but about the images that he has seen in his head, the horrible scenes that he just wants to erase from his memory once and for all.
That horrible and cold place, so similar and yet so different, where he was trapped during a week that felt like years, running away from that monster without knowing what was happening. The idea of Vecna coming back from the dead, full of anger and searching for revenge, the whole world being destroyed with his powers. What he would do to his loved ones…
He trembles violently as he quickly stands up from the bed, he can’t just stay there, suffering in silence, he needs some air. First he puts on his old shoes, already worn out from use, but too comfortable to replace. Then, he picks up his jacket from his chair, and puts it on over his pajamas. It's summer but at night in the forest the cold air still flows, and after everything he hates to feel cold. Then he leaves the bedroom, trying to be quiet. He manages to leave the cabin, taking small steps and looking back all the time, with no sign of having woken up any of the residents of the house. Which now includes Hopper too, along with his mother and siblings.
When he’s outside he can finally let the air out, his feet move on their own toward the forest; perhaps a walk will calm him down. With his past experiences, maybe people will expect him to be afraid of the forest, his mother definitely forbids him to be there alone. But now she doesn’t know where he is, and it’s not like he remembers too much his run through the forest years ago, with the demogorgon chasing him. That forest feels now far away, near his old house, not where he is now.
He walks during a few minutes, his breathing calms with the cool forest breeze, the smell of pine noticeable from the rain that has been falling the previous days, as if cleansing Hawkins of its most recent tragedy. The town is still being rebuilt, and if it were for Will, he wouldn’t go there, but everyone wants to help with it and he doesn’t want to be alone. Still, he hasn't felt so free in days until now, walking alone through the forest. Guilt fills him; he feels so ungrateful.
He tries to get those thoughts out of his mind, he’s not there to have another breakdown. But then, he freezes as he sees something. For a moment is like, in front of him, a boy has come out directly from the shadows. He leans on a three, like he’s tired, and Will just stares at him. He tries to push those thoughts from his mind, nor El nor the demogorgons could do such a thing, probably just an optical illusion caused by the darkness of the forest and his nerves on edge.
But that line of thought quickly disappears as he sees the boy. He seems to have his age, and Will notices two things at the instant, he has never seen him and he looks extremely pale, this last feature is too noticeable in the middle of the dark night and it is even more highlighted by his black clothes and short black hair. All this together makes him look really sick, like on the edge of dying, and Will can’t help but get close and announce his presence.
“Hey! Are you okay?” He asks, taking a few steps until he is almost a meter away from him.
The boy reacts with a mix of surprise and fear, almost jumping away from him.
“How long have you been there? Gods, you’ve scared me!” The boy exclaims with a curious accent, something European, moving his hand toward his heart, how dramatic. His eyes look around, like searching for more people to show up.
“Sorry” Will can’t help but say. “I was walking through the forest and you just showed up, are you okay? You were just leaning on a tree like you were hurt…”
“I’m fine,” he quickly answers as he leans his back on the tree. He seems more calm now, as if that explanation had been useful to him. “Just a bit tired.”
“And what are you doing then in the middle of the forest?” Will asks, curious.
“I can ask you the same question,” the boy replies back and Will holds back a laugh, thank goodness he's already used to being surrounded by sarcastic people.
“Well, I needed some fresh air and I got out of my house for that,” he answers, crossing his arms. “And you? I think I’ve never seen you around Hawkins, although I'm moving back after a year, so maybe it’s that.”
“Yeah, I just moved in this year…” He murmurs, looking away. “I just don’t go out too much, the town it’s not in the best state and I don’t have any friends. I live near the forest so I just get out at night.”
“Well, you just got one,” Will says, offering his hand. “My name is Will Byers, and I’ll be happy to be your friend, and I’m sure that my friends will too.”
He’s actually not so sure about that last thing, his friends group even when it’s full of outcasters, it’s not really welcoming to strangers. Maybe it’s all the weird shit that they have come through together, that ties them to each other in a unique way. But if Max manages to get into it, this lonely boy can too, and if he has to skip the whole supernatural thing, all the better.
“Mine’s Nico di Angelo,” the boy, Nico, answers him, showing a tiny smile as he shakes his hand. “And I’m not so sure, no idea if I’ll be staying much longer…”
“You won’t be the only one moving away from here, I understand it,” Will laughs, leaning next to him on the tree. The atmosphere has changed to something more friendly, compared to the seriousness of before. Who would have thought that this walk in the woods could lead to this? “Me, my family and friends are too used to it, I guess. But if you end up staying, it’ll be nice if you can try to go out sometime with me and my friends, where do you live?”
“I’m not sure if I want to answer that to a stranger…” Nico murmurs, half joking.
“Oh, sorry, that may have sounded a bit too much, sorry,” Will says, changing the position of his arms, a little nervous now. “Maybe a safer question, your age? To see if we will be together in the same year at school, I’m 15 years old.”
“It’s okay, I’m just a little reserved, you know. And I’m 15 too” Nico says, trying to calm him down. “Maybe we can keep a bit more like this, just meeting and talking. I’m just a bit weird sometimes.”
He looks away after saying that, blushing a bit.
“Oh, you’ve found one of the weirdest of this town, and I’m not letting you take that position away from me!” Will says, trying to lighten the mood. “But I get you, this was nice, and…”
He looks at the watch on his wrist; dawn will break soon.
“Oh, I should probably be going back soon to my house, don’t want my parents to see that I left in the middle of the night, you know?” Will joke again, it feels nice to talk with someone that doesn’t know about anything.
“Yeah, I probably should be doing the same, see you?” Nico says, stepping out from the tree and looking at him somewhat nervously, as if he expected Will to tell him he never wanted to see him again. God, this boy reminded him of himself.
“See you!” Will says, smiling and waving as he gets on the way back to the cabin.
Nico gives another tiny smile, waving once before the darkness of the forest takes him away from Will’s gaze. After that Will keeps walking, hands in his pocket and a smile on his face, this walk has definitely made him feel better.
The next day Will is exhausted. And how could he not be? Last night he returned home near dawn, around six o'clock. And then, of course, he was woken up by his sister at seven thirty. She was always so happy about going to rebuild Hawkins, while Will only wanted to sleep a few hours more. Who calls him to spend his last night walking through the woods? Oh, yes, the nightmares about what has destroyed Hawkins.
So now he finds himself sitting in the back of Steve’s car, as his own brother had to go to work with Nancy. His sister is yapping happily to Mike, who is sitting next to the other window, surprisingly more awake than himself. Steve, of course, is driving, and in the passenger seat Dustin. He doesn’t know who made the arrangements to go to the town, but he could strangle them right now. It’s not that he doesn’t like to spend time with his friends, but he’s too tired to have to see El and Mike like this. He sighs, looking at the window, he hoped that his feelings for Mike disappeared when his family moved away, but he should have now that feelings don’t work like that. Just as he saw him back when he visited them, they were back there, at least weaker now. But after all, that is his best friend since they were little, he just can’t stop loving him, maybe it will change soon into that friend type of love.
When they arrive at the gymnasium of the high school, where they distribute the tasks to the groups of people, Will was going to head in with the rest as Steve stopped him.
“Hey, can we talk?” Steve asks him, and Will nods, staying with him outside. He’s surprised, as he has barely spoken to the older boy during this entire time; he’s sure their longest conversations consisted of orders at Scoops Ahoy.
“It’s just… I know that we’re not close,” Steve starts, he seems a bit nervous. Will has to admit that now he can’t really recognise any of the popular guy characteristics he had a few years ago, instead of being intimidating, he seems more accessible and friendly.
Will just nod, the atmosphere is uncomfortable and he’s starting to regret not pretending he didn’t hear the older boy and get in with his friends. Until Steve seems to have gathered his thoughts and decides to speak again.
“I’ve just been talking with some of the other guys, they have not been doing really well since everything ended, the typical, you know? Nightmares, some of their old memories coming to their minds after something that has triggered it…” He explains, and Will freezes, he was already thinking that his friends could be like that, but did Steve notice that he’s too? Was he that obvious? “I've noticed the dark circles under your eyes, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm here if you want to talk about anything. Of course your family is also there, but I’ve been told that sometimes it is good to have someone else…”
Will just stays there, unsure of what to say.
“Just… think about it, okay?” Steve finishes, resting his hand on Will's shoulder and he automatically nods.
After that they both get into the gym and go to where his friends are waiting for instructions. Maybe this day of reconstruction work is not going to be that boring, his mind is definitely going to be all day thinking about Steve's words.
After a full morning and evening of hard work, Will is exhausted. None of his friends have ever been what someone can call athletic, but after all of their experiences with the Upside Down they have definitely gotten better in that aspect. Still, after a night in which he has barely slept, he can’t help but end up so exhausted that he wants to ask to be taken directly to his house.
However, it is the day in which his friends and he go to visit Max at the hospital. Will always enjoys the visits, he wasn’t really close to Max before but it’s good to see that she’s getting better. It’s not like at the start, when she was in a coma and everyone was unsure of what was going to happen to her. During that time they spent more of the time visiting, though Lucas was the one who was staying even more than the rest. Now they just have some visits during the week to see how Max is doing with her treatment, her bones are healing fine but she’ll probably never get back her sight.
As always, he had a nice time, only overshadowed by his fatigue and the somewhat gloomy atmosphere of the hospital. They spend a good time there until Steve takes them back with his car, leaving Mike, Dustin, El and him at their respective houses.
When Will arrives there, he barely eats dinner to get to his bed soon. He needs some rest if he wants to get out again at night to go to see Nico, but excitement builds up in his body and sleep seems to evade him.
Hours later, he opens his eyes and sits up in the bed agitated. He has ended up falling asleep and once again, the nightmares have got him. He doesn’t even remember what he was dreaming about, only that it has left his heart beating too fast and all his body sweaty. He turns to look at his clock and it’s a similar hour to the last night, when he left his house.
So he repeats his actions of the previous night, again feeling a mixture of nerves, but this time excitement too. He puts on his shoes and jacket, and gets out of the house, only relaxing when he’s some steps away from it, already getting into the forest.
Like yesterday, he feels so free again, the fresh air waking him up and cooling the sweat from his body as he breathes in and out. He can’t wait to meet up again with Nico.
He doesn’t remember the exact place when they met, but he just has to keep walking until he finds him there, in the same exact position, like if he had stayed there and didn't move until he was back. Will gets close and leans on the tree next to Nico, who has his eyes closed.
“Hey,” the boy murmurs, as if telling him that he has noticed his arrival.
“Hey,” Will answers back, turning at him. “How did you know that it was me? I could be anyone, like… a serial killer.”
“Don’t know,” Nico shrugs, opening his eyes and giving him a tiny smile. “I was just waiting for you and I have assumed, maybe next time I should be more careful.”
“Yes, you should, by the way, how was your day? I have spent all day half asleep,” Will jokes, but also mentions a part of the truth.
“Normal, I guess, and I didn’t really have a problem, I’m used to staying up late and then sleeping during the day,” he admits, like nothing. Will looks at him a bit worried.
“That can’t be healthy, you know that?” Will lets out without really thinking and Nico shrugs again, like making himself smaller. “Sorry if that has come out too harsh, I’m just a bit worried. Maybe we should hang out some time during the day…”
“Better like this,” Nico says, quickly, and Will stays silent.
He doesn't really like the idea of this boy that he wants to call his friend being used to that unhealthy routine. Because he doesn’t look healthy at all, everyday less. The too pale skin, the too skinny body and the purple circles under his eyes matching Will’s. It was as if he was deteriorating.
But he can’t really help him if he doesn’t want to, especially when his eyes get so sad when he talks about it, or he becomes so small when they mention his life during the morning. Maybe it’s unhealthy too all the ways in which Will relates with this boy, even when he doesn't know too much about him. He might have a family life similar to his when he was little, hiding at night and even during the day, unable to rest in calm.
Now they are both silent, and Will wants to lighten the mood at least a bit, they aren’t hanging here to end up all depressed with each other. While he tries to find a change of topic, which it’s not really difficult after getting used to it during the last month with his friends, Nico ends up speaking first.
“Do you like Mythomagic?” He asks, and Will lights up.
The truth is that Will had never played that game before, too obsessed with D&D as his friends and himself were, but he's nerdy enough to have listened about it. The D&D topic has been a sensitive one lately. After he leaves Hawkins he remembers Mike promising to not join another party without him, that made him feel important in some way, affecting his stupid and unrequited feeling. And after all, having seen his friends' lack of interest in the game they used to be passionate about all summer long, it wasn't impossible. He spent the lonely days in Lenora with that promise in mind, but it wasn’t after he was back in Hawkins that he learned the truth.
Now, he wasn't mad at them. From what they told him, when they arrived at high school they felt really lost, and Eddie found them and helped them to belong to something, doing something that they like. If that opportunity had been presented to Will in Lenora, he would have joined without doubting, breaking the promise too.
So no, he wasn't angry, though a little part of him was just sad for having another promise from Mike that is now broken, piling up on top of the rest. He worked hard in hiding his part of him, that selfish and only focused on Mike part, no one needed to know about it.
But the thing was that Eddie had died months ago, during their final battle with Vecna. He can’t relate with their friends feelings, he never met the guy after all, but he can relate with the feeling of losing someone. All this grief was of course really connected with the game, as Eddie was their DM in the Hellfire Club, so now talking about D&D only brings up sad faces, tears and uncomfortable silences.
But now there was none of this sadness in that forest with this boy. After taking a large deck of cards out of his pocket, they sit on the ground and Nico spends almost an hour explaining the game to Will, showing the cards, telling him their meaning, what they do, tricks, curiosities, his favourites, and even more. Will has to admit that he has never felt so eager about wanting to play a game, less a card game. But the way in which Nico explains it, starting with nervous words, then becoming more confident when he sees Will's smile as he listens to him, sparks in Will an emotion that he hadn’t felt in a long time, one that matches with Nico’s shining eyes. It’s like having his best friend again with him, that same calm atmosphere in which he doesn’t feel judged. Of course, Nico is not Mike, they don’t have anything in common, but it's just… nice.
“And yes, that’s mostly the basics, there are also some special cards that I’ve stored and some that I don’t have…” Nico finished with a smile on his face, the biggest Will had ever seen in him. “What do you think? Can it compete with D&D?”
“It sounds good, but let’s not get carried away,” Will jokes, though he’s actually really excited to try. “I would tell you about D&D, but I think I would need my books to do so… Oh, I don’t have them anymore.”
That last thought comes like a spine in his heart, it’s true, he donated his D&D books as he thought that he wasn’t going to need them again, sure that if he wanted to play his friends’ were going to be available for him. But not now that it was such a sensible topic.
“It’s okay, you can tell me what you remember, the basic things, I would love to just listen,” Nico admits, looking away a bit shy, the blush noticeable in his pale cheeks. “I've never met anyone who wanted to listen to me ramble on about Mythomagic, let alone for almost an hour… My sister used to call me annoying when I started.”
“My friends also spent last summer being annoyed by my eagerness to play D&D. And you don’t have to listen to me just as an exchange, I really enjoy listening to your rambling! It’s good to see another person so passionate about a game, you even make me want to try playing,” he admits to Nico, which makes him smile again, a wave of emotion fills Will; he has never seen Nico smile so much in so little time.
“Oh, we can play! I haven’t in a while, I just don’t know anyone who likes the game,” Nico says, beginning to shuffle the deck.
“But I think that it’s better if we do it tomorrow. It's getting late and today I was exhausted…” Will says, looking at his watch as he stands up and offers his hand to Nico. “Tomorrow?
“Okay,” Nico nods as he puts the deck of cards in his pocket and accepts Will’s hand, looking a bit disappointed but understanding him. “See you!”
They say goodbye and Will goes back to the cabin through the path that it’s becoming very well-known to him, knowing well that the happy feeling that he’s feeling now it's going to turn into exhaustion the next day. Yeah, he should find a solution for that…
Of course, he was right. The next day he was exhausted, and the next, and so on until the current day. He knows that he has to talk with Nico, but every time that he brings up the idea of hanging up at a more normal hour, Nico’s face changes to a sad one and he tries to avoid the topic. He can’t understand it, is it that Nico doesn't want to meet during the day for some reason? Has he heard the rumors about him and the names they call him? But every time, Nico manages to change the subject.
And it’s not like the boy is doing better than him. Each day he seems more weak, when Will asks he says that he sleeps during the day, but it doesn’t seem true, he looks even more tired than him. His skin is every day more pale, when Will stares, it sometimes seems as if it’s about to become transparent. And his body is too skinny, as if he doesn’t eat enough. Will is too worried, and that distracts him during the day.
At least for now he has an excuse for his tired estate, his nightmares that are in part true, and at night he’s having a good time. They spend their nights talking and playing Mythomagic, and even when Nico promises that he hasn’t played in years, he still beats Will in every round. During their games, Nico relaxes and Will manages to get some information about him, he just wants to know more about this boy.
Will shares about his family, his mother, his brother, Hopper and his sister, he doesn’t mention too much about Lonnie, he doesn’t think he deserves to be known by Nico. Nico, for his part, tells him that he’s from Italy, but that his sister and him move out to the United States to be with their father after their mother's death, that he also has a step-sister. It’s only during their games, when he’s doing something that he likes and he can be focused on, that Nico shares things about his older sister, which Will knows soon that it’s dead, about the things that she liked, the things that she did for Nico… After that, Will opens about Bob, not mentioning the weird things, it’s good to have someone to talk about the things that he hides to not disturb his family and friends.
But still, the problem continues, he can’t keep going without resting at night. The problem it’s not only the fatigue, but also the people worried about his state. Steve has pulled him aside several times to see how he is doing. It's mortifying. Searching for solutions, he decides to start leaving earlier, then to not meet a few days of the week. At first, Nico is understanding. Will knows for what he has told him that he sometimes just sleeps during the day, but little by little it is more clear that he doesn’t like that, wanting to meet with him more. Will shares the want, so after some weeks of their silent fight, which none of them mention aloud, Will decides to try again.
“We could meet more often if we saw each other during the day, you know?” Will says, just after announcing that he’s leaving and seeing Nico’s grimacing.
“Okay,” suddenly the boy says, standing up next to Will. Will opens his eyes wide in surprise as he looks at the shorter boy. He wasn’t expecting such a quick affirmative answer.
“Are you being for real?” He lets out, too high from the surprise.
“Yes, I’m being for real,” Nico says, offering his hand to have his cards back. “Let’s meet up during the day, tomorrow is fine for you? And I don’t really know a lot about Hawkins, so you have to guide me around.”
“I prefer the day after tomorrow, I want to try to have a rest night, if my mind allows it,” Will says, still a bit shocked. He gives Nico his card back as he nods, it’s nice that he just knows that Will can’t sleep at night, but doesn't question it or ask why. “What do you think about the arcade? The previous one was destroyed during the earthquake, but they have done a temporary one inside the town which is fine even when it doesn’t have all the machines.”
“Fine for me, so Saturday at five o’clock?” Nico asks, smiling at the mention of the arcade, and Will nods. “Then see you.”
“See you,” Will says back as he goes for the path that brings him back to the cabin. His heart is beating fast in his chest, he can’t believe that finally he has convinced Nico to actually hang out like actual friends, and not just in the night. It seems to be too easy, but maybe Nico has been affected too by Will coming every time less time. At least Will doesn’t look now like he’s sick every day, he receives less worried looks and Steve has calmed down with wanting to know how he is doing. But now everything seems to be getting better, now he just has to rest and wait.
But it’s not as easy as it seems. After telling his family that he’s meeting with a friend, he is interrogated by his whole family and friends. All of them want to know who that friend is, how they met… Will tries to invent things fast, not wanting them to know that he’s leaving the house at night. His mother, brother and sister look happy to see that he has made other friends, and his friends seem to be intrigued about this boy.
“I don’t really remember a new student this year,” Mike admitted when Will told them what Nico said to him, they are in Mike's basement and he’s sitting on a sofa with El curled up beside him. “But I don't think I'm reliable, memories of things that I don’t really care about are not my thing.”
Will, on the armchair next to him, barely feels anything with this sight of affection, he is definitely doing better. He doesn’t understand when that thought has come to his mind, that maybe he’s starting to stop having that old crush on Mike, he just can be relieved.
“I was just too focused on basketball, so neither am I,” Lucas says, shrugging and pulling him out of his thoughts, as he grabs some chips from the bowl on the table. “Is he in any sports?”
“I don’t think so, we haven’t talked about it, but he doesn’t seem to be the type,” Will admits.
“I wasn’t really focused too, but I think that I remember a new student, still how weird that if he was a nerd he didn’t join the Hellfire Club!” Dustin adds, leaning too for chips and fighting with Lucas for the last ones.
“No idea, still he’s not really into D&D, maybe he just didn’t want to,” Will says, looking away.
“That’s not really important, we just want to meet that new guy, I’m sure that he’ll love to have new friends,” El says, leaning too to fight for the last chips, and managing to grab the last one.
Will smiles at El, it’s nice to see that she’s happy to meet Nico, he really wants to introduce him to his friends. But soon after that, Lucas and Dustin start to discuss with El about the chip, Mike joins and the subject has been changed. Will’s mind is quickly into another thing, but later when he's back at home, his mind goes back weirdly to the conversation.
He doesn’t get it, but his friends saying that there was no new student, even when Dustin said otherwise, was stuck in his brain. It was a stupid though, Nico met with him in the forest, he obviously lived in Hawkins and he didn't need to lie about when he arrived or if he’s homeschooled. Maybe it was the mysterious aura that the boy brings with him, or those years of discovering secrets of the government and another dimension, but something in Will's brain told him that there is more than what he’s seeing.
Needless to say, that night Will doesn’t sleep, too busy with the thoughts that he wants to keep out of his mind and the excitement for the meeting with Nico the next day. When finally the sleep catches up to him, he’s so tired that he doesn’t even have nightmares that wake him up in the middle of the night.
The next day, he gets out of bed too early, after tossing and turning for a while after waking up. He has some breakfast and decides to tidy up his messy room, everything to keep his hands and mind busy until the time comes. He has lunch later with all his family and, when he has noticed, it is almost time.
He goes to his room to get dressed, and then takes a surprisingly long time to choose what he’s going to wear. It’s a stupid though, he has always been meeting with Nico only wearing his pajamas and a jacket, while the boy is always with his pajamas o black clothes. But some part of him wants to show up well dressed and give a good impression, he can’t help but hide his blushing face in his hands as that thought comes into his mind, what is going on with him? This is just a hang out with a friend, like when he did it with Mike, Lucas and Dustin. Still, he chooses some of his newest clothes and tries to ignore his mother’s smile when he goes into Jonathan’s car.
Because still when Vecna is gone and Will is older, his mother doesn’t let him ride his bike alone or with friends. He understands why, but he’s still a teenager that wants some freedom and not having his brother, his step-father or Steve driving him around. He can’t wait to be able to drive…
“So, how did you meet this guy?” Jonathan asks after some minutes of silence. Will can notice the curiosity in his voice, even when they are both looking at the road.
“Around the town, during the rebuilding work,” Will lies, he doesn’t like to do that, less to his brother. They have always told each other everything, but lately he has felt him more distant, spending basically all the days in Lenora high and when they have come back to Hawkins, trying to resolve his disputes with Nancy. Their last real conversation wasn’t even one, but Will knows that his brother doesn’t need that when they were in the pizza place. Now he knows that Will likes Mike, that his little brother likes boys. They have never mentioned it again, and he wanted it to continue like that.
“That’s nice, we’re happy that you’re making friends,” Jonathan says softly, and Will feels himself relaxing. He seems to have believed the lie, and he’s also happy that they are happy for him. For a moment, he has a lump in his throat, imagining how they will react if they discover that he’s lying, but he takes the thought out of his head as they have arrived at the Arcade.
“Goodbye!” Will says as he gets out, and Jonathan answers back, waving as he leaves with the car.
His brother has let him in front of the entrance. It’s nothing like the previous one, now destroyed by the lines created by Vecna. Smaller and filled up with the machines that were saved from the other one, it is located where Will is sure there used to be a grocery store, which was probably closed after the earthquake, or even before that, when the shopping center was built.
Will looks at his clock, it’s 4:58 and he starts to worry and make scenes in his head about Nico not showing up. But when it’s five o’clock, an expensive black car drives through the streets that still needs to be repaired, highlighting that parts of the city still need to be fixed up. Will looks with his mouth and eyes open as the car stops just right in front of the arcade and Nico gets out of it, closing the door before Will was able to see the driver, probably his father or, if he gets creative, a butler or servant.
“Close your mouth,” Nico laughs, moving his hand to do so and Will let him. But quickly after that Nico put his hand away and Will stepped a foot away, taking a look at the boy. He’s relieved that he’s wearing his normal black clothes and not some expensive and designer ones that will make him look ridiculous next to him. Nico seems to notice his reaction. “Em, sorry if that was too much, it’s the only way that I could get here…”
“No! It’s okay, it’s okay,” Will says quickly, wanting to show that he’s telling the truth. “I was just surprised, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Most people around here don’t have that type of expensive car. Let’s get in?”
“Yeah, let’s get in, and it's only my father's taste, dark, elegant and expensive,” Nico jokes as they move into the Arcade. “But believe me, this is not going to prevent me from beating you over and over again.”
“Oh, don't be so sure!” Will laughs, heading toward the change machine. He feels himself relaxing now, unable to understand why he was so nervous about this hang out when it’s just Nico. They have spent hours at night talking, and this is not going to be different at all.
“Well, which one would you like to start with?” Nico asks when they have their coins, he is smiling slightly, but his shoulders are tense. Will notices that now that they are in public, he’s acting more wary, as if he was expecting something to happen around them. Will is starting to feel a bit bad about making him accept to meet.
“Come here,” Will says, wanting to cheer him up with the games.
They go to a Pac-man machine, Will has been playing with his friends since he was young and even when he wasn’t the best player in the group, he was one of the best playing Pac-man. As he starts, his hands tremble a bit, he feels Nico’s eyes on him. But as soon as the game continues, he sinks into it and gets more focused. He goes for a while, until he slips and the typical “Game Over” letters show up on the screen. He can’t help but smile proudly when the score shows up 45.000 points.
“Phew,” Will sighs, stretching and looking at Nico. “And I haven’t played in a while, are you seeing that?”
“Impressive,” the boy admits, nodding and giving him a thumb up. “Let’s see if a simple commoner like me can beat you, I’m not really good at this one.”
Nico starts to play, a little clumsy at first. But soon, he starts to get better, the light from the screen lights Nico’s face and Will has to make himself look away at the game, mesmerize for a moment. The score goes up and up, beating Will with no problem.
“You’re totally good at this,” Will says, a reproachful tone in his voice mixed with admiration as he leans closer to Nico.
“Maybe, I wasn’t sure,” Nico says, smirking a little. “ I haven’t played in a few years.”
Some people start to gather around them, seeing how the score keeps going up. Will can hear people murmuring, surprised to see someone that they don’t know as a regular beating all the previous scores so easily. But then, Will sees how one of Nico's fingers suddenly moves, as if sporadically, and the “Game over” letters and music show up just before passing the highest score.
“Shit,” Nico says, sighing disappointed. Some people around show their disappointment too, with some comments and sighs, starting to leave as soon as that happens. Some of them pat Nico’s back before leaving.
“What a bummer,” Will says, and quickly notices the sad look on Nico's face. “Well, you still beat me, huh? How did you dare to say that you weren’t good at this game?”
“Lack of practice,” Nico says, just ignoring the subject. “Oh, they have a 1 vs 1 game, come on, I want to beat you in that too!”
Will lets himself be grabbed by the arm and be taken to the machine, where they put their coins to play, the mood lighted again. Still, Will sometimes catches Nico’s eyes looking at his hand with a worried look, has he hurt himself in some way? Maybe that is why he has lost earlier. But even when the curiosity was too much for Will, he knows that he can’t just ask that to Nico and ruin their recent happiness. So they keep playing and laughing, and of course, Nico beats him every time.
After a while of trying different games, they decide to rest. In this new place, a small snack bar has been opened in a corner, so they both go there and they order some fries with two milkshakes. They sit on a table with some chairs and eat while talking, the previous nerves and Nico’s first loss with Pac-man are already forgotten.
But it seems that Will's luck can't last a few more hours. When they have finished and paid, standing up to play a bit more, Will sees as his body freezes how his old bullies from elementary and middle school get into the Arcade.
“So now what can we play, want revenge on something?” Nico asks, now more relaxed and smiling at him.
“I think that it’s best if we go out for a while, just to have some fresh air…” Will murmurs, and Nico frowns as Will grabs his arm and starts to move to the exit, trying to go out before Troy, James and more guys whose names he doesn’t remember sees him.
“Oh, okay?” Nico says, confused but following him. But before they can get out, the group of boys notice them.
“Hey, look who’s there, Zombie boy,” one of the boys says, his voice dripping mock. Will can’t help but freeze with the nickname, he hadn't heard it in a long time.
“Seems that the faggot it’s back, and oh! It seems that he has brought a little boyfriend with him,” another one says, and Will just wants to get out, pulling on Nico's arm, who has also tensed up.
“Hey, who do you think you are?” Nico says, his voice filled with rage as he tries to get close to the group of guys, Will starts to feel the previously stifling air becoming cooler.
“Nico, stop,” Will says, trying to lead him towards the door. “Let's go, I don't want any trouble.”
“Ohh, is the little one standing up for his boyfriend?” Troy mocks, and Will admits that the difference in height and physical build is quite noticeable. What is Nico thinking? These guys could easily beat them up.
“Look, you assh- “ Nico starts to say, the air gets even cooler and Will can see some of the boys stepping back, what is happening? The room is colder now, and it reminds him of that time in which he was in the arcade with his friends and he had a vision of the Upside Down.
“Nico!” Will repeats, they haven’t come here for this, and he is not going to let his friend get into a fight with these guys, aside from the growing fear he was feeling. Luckily, this time Nico senses the urgency in Will's voice and, with one last look that Will swears made Troy take a step back, he approaches the door with him.
They left in silence, Will’s hand keeps grabbing Nico’s arm as they walk through the street, the only thing that keeps him from shaking. They are unsure of where to go, Will’s brother is not supposed to pick him up yet. They end up going into a dead end, trying to find some privacy, where they stop and sit on the floor. The only sound it’s their breaths, Nico is clearly still angry, while Will is overwhelmed by the situation.
“I’m sorry about that,” Will manages to whisper, all his previous happiness has vanished after that unexpected encounter. “I haven’t seen them in years, and I guess that I was just expecting that they would have moved out or calmed down after all this time.”
“No problem, really,” Nico says, breathing in and out as he tries to calm himself. “I wasn’t expecting that to happen, and I hate when someone bullies my friends. Sorry if I have acted too much, they were saying shit about you.”
“It’s fine, you were kind of cool out there, all these assholes were shitting themselves, you have to teach me how to do that,” Will laughs, resting his head on the wall. But suddenly, another thought comes to his mind, his head moving to see Nico in the same position. The boy has heard how they have called him, will he have questions? Is he acting like this because he thinks that it’s a lie, just mockery? He can’t keep it up as if nothing happened, just lying to his new friend, he won’t be able to handle disgust later. It's better to cut it off before their friendship grows. “And you are right, that was shit, but maybe they weren’t completely wrong…”
For a few seconds they are silent again. Will feels the necessity to stand up, he's screwed up. Now Nico will probably look at him with disgust and never talk to him again, and he’s going to lose his new friend, and…
“I’m too,” Nico says, with the softest voice that he has heard on him, and Will freezes for a few seconds.
“What?” Will asks, turning his head completely, Nico does the same at the same time.
“I-I’m gay,” Nico manages to say, he’s trying to act nonchalant, but Will can see his hands shaking at his sides. “I haven’t told many people, and I think that this is the first time that I say it aloud. Shit, say something.”
Will notices that he was just staring at the other boy, he wasn’t expecting that at all. He can’t help but breathe out the air that he doesn’t know he was holding, it’s like something in him has unclenched, his chest more light now.
“I like boys too,” Will says, even when he knew that it was clear he needed to say it aloud, knowing that he wasn’t going to be judged.
“…Okay.” A beat, quiet and warm. “Good.”
Will lets out a tiny laugh, more of a shaky breath. “Yeah, good.”
And then, at the same time they both start laughing, letting out all their nervousness and tension. He feels Nico slightly resting on his shoulder as he lets out a loud and full of relieved laugh, it’s as if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. Will knows how it feels, because he’s feeling just like that.
They stay for a while like that, just resting on each other as they keep laughing. Even when they think that they have calmed down, one of them will let out another chuckle and they will be back again. The only sound around them is their laugh and the cicadas buzzing, the sounds of the arcade are too far away from them. It’s like they are alone in the world, just hiding in an alley. Will feels something he hasn’t in a long time: Safe. And Nico, watching him with soft eyes and his guard down, seems to be feeling the same.
The agreed time with his brother arrives soon after and Will is picked up. Jonathan asks Nico if he wants a ride home, but he just says that his father is nearby and that he is going to pick him up, so after a hug, Will gets in the car and leaves. Throughout the entire car ride, the smile on Will's face barely fades, and he’s relieved that his brother doesn’t mention it at all.
After this day, Will and Nico’s meetings have a change. Will keeps getting out of his house the days that he can’t sleep, but he doesn’t always find Nico there, though when he does they spend hours talking or playing Mythomagic. But most days they meet at places around town, maybe just walking around the streets still under reconstruction, getting something to eat together, or even going again at the Arcade, this time being more careful about the bullies, not wanting to find them again and have another incident like the one that day.
Will's friends want to meet the boy, as they tell Will when they meet in Mike’s basement, but every time he asks Nico he seems reluctant. Of course it could be just that Nico seems to be a shy guy and may be scared of not getting along with them, but one thought keeps running through Will's mind, that words from his friend not remembering a new boy. But still, why would he be lying?
The days keep passing and Will begins to realize that he will probably never ask Nico that question and the truth will always remain a mystery, but like some people say, the truth will out. Now someone could think that after years of fighting about creatures from another dimension, Will is used to weird shit, and in some way he was getting used to the Upside Down shit. But he was not ready for the one that he was going to see that day.
It started as a normal Wednesday night like so many others, one in which Will couldn’t sleep. Knowing that the next day he isn't going to do rebuilding work, he doesn't think too much before getting out of the house and going to the forest, expecting to find Nico.
Just after stepping into the woods he began to feel a bit different, but as it isn’t like an Upside Down thing he just ignored it, the forest sometimes just looked too creepy. His steps were quick as he tried to reach their meeting spot.
Nico was there, and after greeting each other they just went to play Mythomagic, like a thousand times. It was just a normal night, until the dog showed up.
The first thing to notice was the forest going silent, then Will was the first one to see it, hiding in the dark and the trees, his eyes shining red. At first, because of the size he feared to see a Demogorgon, but that thing was on all fours and had hair. It could be a normal dog with rabies if it wasn't the size of a bear, its mouth was open and saliva dripped between his enormous fangs, which seemed to be the size of one of Will's fingers.
“N-Nico,” Will managed to say, poking the boy’s shoulder and pointing at the beast, his own body seeming paralyzed by shock.
He was expecting Nico to react in a similar way, but the boy just sighs as if he was annoyed by the sight of the enormous thing that clearly wants to eat them. The shorter boy stood up, moving his hand toward his pocket and then pulled it away, as if he wanted to take something out but is reluctant to do so. As Will got up too, the temperature around the forest seems to have dropped in seconds, oddly similar at that time where the bullies had said things to him in the arcade and Nico defended him.
“Get out of here,” Nico says to Will, turning his head a few seconds to look at him, but quickly looking back at the beast. “Run to your house.”
“What? No!” Will says automatically. “I’m not letting you alone with this thing.”
“Believe me, I’m better alone with it, just run and go to a safe place,” Nico shouts, but Will can’t obey him now. What if he leaves and something happens to Nico? He couldn't live with the guilt.
Nico looks back again, and after seeing that he’s not going to convince him, he reaches his hand to his pocket and pulls a sword out of nowhere. The image that Will is seeing doesn’t match at all his mind, which is now a mess. In some way, the Upside Down and related things have to be with science, breaking some rules but in some way being possible. This wasn’t at all, a sword can’t materialize from nothing, a boy of his age shouldn’t have one, and much less one that seems to attract the shadows that are around it.
But he’s seeing that right now, just witnessing the scene before his eyes. Nico takes a posture as if he was going to attack, it seems to be an easy posture for him, one that he has made a thousand times before. And then he lunges towards the beast.
If you had asked Will a few days ago who would win in a fight between his friend and a bear-sized beast dog, he would have said the beast without hesitation. But Nico was fighting as if he were born for it, his face focused on the beast and his sword, his arms and legs in perfect coordination as he moved across the trees, things that are too similar to skeleton hands come out of the ground, trying to hold the beast as he threw jabs at the thing. Every time that the dog tries to bite, Nico goes back at a perfect time. The boy also gets close to the shadows, getting into them and showing up in another place, agile and fast. It was a scene in a movie happening in real life.
Will gasps when the dog seems to dissolve in the shadows too, it is over now? Has it run away or has Nico done that? But no, it shows up again, coming out of another shadow behind Nico and managing to throw him to the ground and bite his arm. But at the same time, the other arm of Nico plunges the sword into the beast's chest, which howls as it seems to turn in shadows and dust that are absorbed into the sword.
For a few seconds, the forest is finally silent. No sound except Nico’s breaths as he lies on the ground, dirty from the dust, and the typical sounds of the forest seems to come back. Will, still paralyzed in where he was, remembers Nico’s arm, where the thing has bit him, and manages to stand up and run to help him.
“Shit, shit…” Will murmurs, holding the arm, the fabric of the shirt is torn and the bite is visible. His dinner threat to go up his throat at the bloody sight. “I don’t know what to do…”
He feels so useless, everything he knows about first aid has vanished from his mind because of the panic, and, yet, would it be useful in this situation?
“My bag...” Nico mutters, and Will turns and sees the bag Nico always carries his deck of cards lying next to the tree and the cards on the ground.
He quickly gets up, picks it up and comes back to his side on the ground, rummaging through it as he takes things out. There is a plastic bag full of weird and big coins, another bag with squares made of something that he doesn’t know, a bottle of a silver liquid, what seems like a first aid kit and a little knife.
Trying to remember what his mother and Hopper has taught him about first aid, something that they saw necessary after all their encounters with the Upside Down creatures and all the damage that it entailed, he grabs the knife to cut the fabric and fully expose the bite. He can’t be sure how bad it is, but there is too much blood and his hands are shaking too much.
“The ambrosia…”Nico managed to say, pointing to the bag with squares. “Give one of the squares to me.”
“What, this?” Will asks, grabbing the bag and opening it. “Nico, what is this? You need medical help, I should run to call an ambulance…”
“No!” the boy says, stopping his words. “No ambulances and no hospitals. I’ll explain everything when I’m better, but please, give me the ambrosia.”
Worried, Will handles him the square, he’s not understanding anything. His friend needs medical care, he has just been attacked and bitten by a beast. But he’s acting like he's fine, even when his arm is bleeding and doesn’t look fine at all. The sword keeps lying on the ground, next to them.
“Don’t touch it,” Nico warns, eating the square and asking for another one. After that he sits up, the color seems to be going back to his face, at least everything possible for his already pale appearance. “I’m the only one that can. What are you seeing?”
“What?” He says, startled. Of all the questions, he wasn’t expecting that. “I’m seeing a sword Nico, can you at least answer me about that? Why do you have a sword? Why did you just fight that thing like if you have done it thousands of times before and...?”
His string of words stop as he looks at the bite. Seconds ago, it was freshly open, and now it seems to be close, healed, just a scar left of it. Nico wipes the blood with one of the cloth of the first aid kit, as if nothing impossible for biology had happened.
“What are you?” Will asks again, feels frozen, as if it weren't summer, his body is trembling. Nico just lowers his head.
“It’s too much, you wouldn’t believe me,” he murmurs, looking away and trying to stand up.
“Wait!” Will says, grabbing his arm, stopping him. “You can’t know that if you don’t tell me. I’m all ears, you’re my friend, and apart from that, remember that you have just saved me from that thing. I’m not going to think differently about you, I just… I want to understand what has just happened.”
Nico thinks for a few seconds, but finally he sighs and sits up again next to him, Will’s hand still on his arm. Before talking, he grabs the bottle with the silver liquid, taking a sip. Suddenly, a thought comes to Will's mind, what if Nico is like El? According to her, the only experiments that survived after the attack from Vecna were Kali, who had escaped before it happened, and Eleven herself. But what if she’s wrong? What if another one survived? Will looks at his left arm, where there appears to be nothing, and then he moves the right arm, the one that he’s grabbing, also clear.
“What are you doing?” Nico asks, shyly, and Will notices that he’s still grabbing his arm, looking at his wrist.
“Uh, sorry, just checking something,” he mutters, letting go of the arm, and looking in front of him. “Is your story related to Hawkins Laboratory?”
“No, not at all,” he tells him, shaking his head, confused. “Does something happen with the lab?”
“Kind of, it’s a long story, you wouldn’t believe it,” Will says, trying to joke and winning a chuckle from Nico that makes him smile. “You first.”
Nico nods, waiting a few seconds to organize his thoughts and prepare his words.
“Firt of all, I have to tell you something that you’re not going to believe, I know that it will sound crazy, but it’s a big part of the true, okay?” The boy asks, serious.
“I’m listening,” Will answers back.
“The Greek gods are real,” Nico says, his tone and face are serious.
Will stays still, his mouth opens and closes in confusion. He must have misheard, because those words together don't make sense.
“W- What?” He asks, frowning. “Can you repeat that? I’m not sure that I’ve understood you.”
Nico sighs, looking around and grabbing the sword, putting it back in its sheath. A sheath that Will just realizes now that Nico already has in his trousers. How didn’t he notice that? It’s impossible. And still El powers and the Upside Down are true, so he has to be more open.
“The Greek gods, as Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, and so on, are real,” Nico repeats, this time talking more slowly. “I know how it sounds, believe me, I think I only believed it at first because I was young and had already seen so much weird shit that it looked like a possible thing. They have demigods, their children, I’m one of them. And the thing that attacked us it’s a hellhound, monsters like that and more are always attacking us.”
“Wait, I’m not following,” Will says, frowning, noticing the worry in his own body and a knot in his throat. When he speaks, his voice sounds too high, full of disbelief. “You’re saying that you’re a demigod, the son of a god? But you said that you lived with your father, are you okay Nico? Did he tell you that?”
“No, no, it’s not like that, I kind of lied to you, I don’t live in Hawkins,” he admits, taking his hands to his face in embarrassment. “Gods, I lied too much to you and now everything is just blurting out of my mouth. I’m so sorry, you shouldn’t have seen that, I tried so hard to prevent it from happening…”
“Hey, it’s okay, I know that definitely something in your words has to be true, I’ve seen the monster, your sword and that shadow thing after all, by the way, where was it? I couldn’t see it before,” Will says confused.
“It’s called the Mist,” Nico explains, his words getting more and more curious. “It hides demigods, demigods’ stuff and monsters from the mortals. I was genuinely surprised with you seeing the hellhound and my sword, you shouldn’t be able to! Have you never seen something like that? Weird or strange?”
Will thinks about it, the weirdest things that he has seen has been around town, related to the Upside Down. No monster like that, no swords showing up from nothing, and much less teens like him fighting like that.
“No, not at all,” he admits, shaking his head in negation. “Though, around Hawkins there is another type of weird. I know that I'm supposed to keep it a secret, there are even signed official documents, but after this… I think that I can tell you.”
“Official documents?” Nico asks, raising his eyebrows and elbowing him. “Ohh, so this is real shit. Come on, surprise me. Let’s see if we can relate it with what I already know.”
“It’s a really long story,” Will says, thinking about how to start. “But for me, you can say that it started three years ago, when I was going back home from a friend's house…”
Will's story is definitely longer, and he tries to explain everything that he remembers since he was chased by the Demogorgon at twelve, but also tries to summarize. About the Hawkins lab, about the kids with powers and El, and even about Vecna and his defeat. Of course, he doesn’t give too many details, wanting to keep some things to himself.
“But after destroying Vecna, everything is over and going back to normal,” Will says as he finishes, his throat is dry and his chest feels lighter now that he has let that go. Nico is just watching him with surprise in his face, he hasn’t made a comment while he explained. “And I can’t really see how it can relate with, you know, Greek gods. Any comments?”
“Wow, that’s was, wow,” Nico finally says. “I wasn’t expecting, well, all of that. How are you even alive?”
“And what about you?” Will says back, bumping their shoulders together. “I couldn’t survive fighting against things like that all the time.”
“It’s not all the time,” Nico says, rolling his eyes but letting out a little smile. “I live in a camp, like a summer camp type, it’s called Camp Half-blood. Some of us spent all the year, and no monster can hurt us there.”
“And then what are you doing in Hawkins of all places?” Will asks, frowning. “Is the camp around here?”
“Em, not at all,” Nico says, looking rather nervous. “It’s in Long Island.”
Will stays still for a moment, if he remembers well Long Island is in New York, hours away from Hawkins, Indiana. There is no way that Nico can come here every day and go back to camp with no one noticing.
“I know it, it doesn’t seem possible,” Nico says, quickly, before Will can say nothing. “I have a way of traveling faster than everyone else, shadow travel, it’s basically what I've done while I fight before. It’s a power that comes from my godly parent.”.
“Who is…” Will says, noticing that the boy hasn’t answered that yet.
“Hades,” Nico murmurs, alert, as if he isn’t sure of Will's reaction.
“Like, the death god?” Will asks, unsure.
“More like the Underworld god,” Nico corrects. “People normally confuse them, the god of death is Thanatos.”
“Okay, got it,” Will says, nodding and standing up and helping Nico do so, giving him a hand to help him up from the ground. He looks better now, it seems that the squares and the weird liquid worked on him. “But I think that I should be going back home, I’m just really confused right now, too many things learned today.”
“Yeah, I’m tired too, I wasn’t really expecting all that,” Nico says, shaking his head as he tries to clean his clothes from the dust that came from the monster and the dirt of the ground. “I’m not sure if we should keep meeting in this forest.”
“What?” Will asks, looking at him a bit scared. “Do you think that more monsters will show up?”
“Yes, but you don’t have to worry Will,” the boy promises, his hand resting on Will’s arm. “The monster only goes after demigods, you’ll be safe.”
“And even so, I'll still have you to protect me, won't I?” Will says, shyly, a smirk and a blush starting to show up on his face.
Nico’s face gets red too, glancing at him sideways as he smiles and nods. His hand moves down to hold Will’s. “Yeah, I will be here to protect you.”
Will looks down, to look at their intertwined hands. Nico's hand, paler and somewhat sickly, though stronger than it appears, carefully holding his hand. Both look dirty from the mud and that golden dust that has come from the monster, and the demigod’s hand is colder, the skeleton ring that he wears doesn’t help with that at all. But Will’s chest feels warm and he doesn’t want to let go.
“So, you’re going back home with your shadow thing, right?” Will asks, looking back at Nico’s eyes, his face is still flushed and it looks like he was also looking at their hands.
“Eh? Oh, y- yes,” Nico says, clearly startled, Will can’t help but let out a laugh, which makes Nico’s flush grow on his face. “Sorry, I was a bit distracted. Yes, I’m feeling better now and I can do it fine.”
“Okay, then, goodbye?” Will says, letting go of the other boy’s hand reluctantly.
“Yeah, goodbye, see you tomorrow!” Nico says back as they part.
But despite other times, Will can’t help but turn to see how Nico leaves, how he uses his powers. The boy closes his eyes slightly as the shadows accumulate on the shadow of the tree, making it darker. It scares Will, but the boy looks calm, used to doing this over and over. But when he's going to step in, his face contorts in pain and exhaustion, as his knees fail and he falls. The shadows approach him, fast and threatening, and Will runs to hold Nico and pull him away from them. For a second, he thinks that he has seen how one of Nico’s hands has been covered by a shadow, the pale skin around it becoming even paler, translucent.
“Hey, what was that?” Will manage to let out, practically dragging Nico across the ground.
“Sorry, I just…” Nico says, a bit breathless, he looks surprised too. “I thought that I was fine, but it seems that I’m still exhausted.”
“Is that what happens when you exhaust your powers? You fade away?” Will is almost screaming now, how is this guy left alone to control himself? If Will hadn't been there, what would have happened? The simple thought is too dark, and Will tries to push it out of his mind.
“It’s okay! It hasn't happened to me in months!” Nico promises, trying to stand up. “And a simple fight can’t just do that to me.”
“But you’ve been using them nonstop for months, right? To come here at night,” Will says, holding Nico as he stamps with his feets and realizing how dangerous that might have been. All those months, Nico traveled back and forth to Hawkins, saying he slept in the morning. And that would have been fine if Nico lived a few miles away, but he didn't, and the demigod was taking too many risks. “That’s why you looked so exhausted even when you say that you were sleeping during the day? Were you even doing that?”
“Yes! Of course that I was sleeping, believe me, some of my campmates were being unbearable about it, even trying to find out what I was doing at night…” He says, his voice getting quieter as he speaks.
They stay silent after that, the whole thing becoming very real between them. And then Will notices their position, with Will basically sitting on the ground with Nico’s body sprawled before him. But Nico seems too tired to notice, his eyes almost closing, and unable to go back home…
“You should go back home with me,” he says, suddenly. Nico’s eyes open as he looks up, frowning. “Like, you can’t just stay in the forest at night. Other monsters may show up, and you can’t rest well here! I can lend you my bed, and in the morning if you feel better you can leave.”
“It’s okay, this is not the worst place where I’ve slept…” Nico says, shaking his head and trying to stand up again, this time successfully. He leans on the tree, his face looking around as searching a place to sleep.
Will stand up, now that he doesn’t have half of the body of this boy on his legs. He goes quickly next to him, grabbing his shoulder. “Look, I’m not even going to ask you about that right now, even when it really worries me. Come with me at my home, it’s not like you’re a stranger, you’re my friend.”
Nico stays still as he thinks, but he finally nods and, after picking up the things that they’ve left on the ground, lets Will take him to the path that reaches the cabin where Will lives with his family. The walk is silent, both of them thinking about what has happened the previous hours, as both their worlds have turned upside down, no pun intended.
When they finally reach the place, they enter trying to be the most silent possible, and Will can’t help but sigh when they both get into his room and they close the door with the latch. They have to keep being quiet, but now it is more difficult to get caught by some of his family members suddenly deciding to go to the kitchen to have a glass of water or something like that.
“Take the bed, I can manage with the floor,” Will whispers, pointing at the already unmade bed, they don’t have time to prepare a bed on the floor or take a sleeping bag, as it’s already late and they would make too much noise.
“Don’t be stupid,” Nico says, already going to sit on the floor. “It’s your bed, you can take it. I can take the floor, I’ve slept in worse places.”
Instinctively, Will moves forward to grab Nico’s arm and put him on his feet again. He tries not to think too much about the idea of Nico sleeping in worse places than a cold floor in his house, while refusing to give in. “What are you talking about? You have to recover, and on the floor you would barely sleep.”
“It’s fine, and you’re not going to make me sleep on your bed if you’re sleeping on the floor,” Nico says, crossing his arms, stubborn.
“Well, I'm not going to sleep in my bed while you sleep on the floor!” Will says back, also stubborn.
They stare at each other, waiting for the other to give in to the pressure. Both of their gazes are directed at the single bed, and an idea starts to form in his head. Would it be weird for Will to suggest sleeping together?
“If none of us is going to sleep on the bed if the other is on the floor…” Nico murmurs, the same idea clearly creeping in his mind.
To no one's surprise, two teenagers fitting into a single bed is a bit of a challenge. So they end up lying down next to each other, their shoulders pressed against each other’s. If Nico is not making it weird, Will is going to do the same. This is just two friends sharing a bed, nothing more, why is Will making it something more? The previous hours run through his mind over and over again, Nico protecting him and being attacked, the touches that linger too long...
But Nico liking boys doesn’t mean anything, someone like him probably doesn’t even like boys like Will in that way. Nico is pretty (yes, Will can think his friends are pretty) and has a nice car, he also can fight monsters with a sword and use shadows to move around. Will is lanky, with an unremarkable face and he can only let himself be possessed by a monster while his family and friends have to save him.
Will turns his head to his side, unsure of what Nico might be thinking. But the eyes of the boy are already closed, his breath steady. He must be really tired, falling asleep at the moment that he has laid on the bed. Will’s eyes scan the other boy's face, he looks peaceful like that, just like when they are playing Mythomagic in the forest. Will this attack mean that they can’t meet together there? The mere thought makes his heart ache, the feeling was too similar to when he was younger and his mother told him he couldn't hang out with Mike. No, no, this can’t be happening again. He has just got a good friend, he can’t ruin it again like that!
But it’s already inevitable as Will’s gaze goes down, the warmth of their bodies accumulated in their shoulders and arms pressed together, their hands painfully closed but not touching and all the memories flying through his mind. Yes, he has fallen for this boy.