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“It's not my fault you don’t like girls!”
Will stood there, not able to form a coherent sentence. Froze completely as Mike looked right through him. Could Mike tell? There was no way. Will thought he was hiding it so well. He was glad it was raining as it hid the single tear that rolled down his face.
“Will, I didn’t mean—“
Will snapped out of whatever trance he was in, grabbing his bike and pedaling away without another word. He sobbed all the way back to his house, not caring about the rain soaking through every inch of his clothes. Will threw his bike off to the side as soon as he saw his house, breaking off into a sprint towards Castle Byers. He hadn't been there in ages. Not since he was taken the first time.
Will moved the curtain aside, curling up in the safety of it. He sobbed louder, covering his head to hide from the world. As soon as Will could look around, his eyes landed on a photo of him, Mike, Dustin and Lucas. The party. The party that never had time for him since he’d been back from that awful place. None of them cared about him anymore. He might as well go back. Will grabbed the photo, staring at their smaller selves. Mike's voice rang in his ears.
‘It’s not my fault you don’t like girls’
In a fit of defeated anger, he tore the picture into tiny pieces, sobbing over it. “Stupid.” He grabbed the next. “Stupid” then the next and the next til nothing remained on the walls of Castle Byers. He grabbed the bat leaning against the wood, feeling the weight of it against his hands before rushing out of the curtain. He hesitated, seeing all the times he went there with Jonathan, seeing his safe space as it was. That didn’t matter though.
Will raised the bat high above his head, bringing it down hard with a crack! through the night air. He hiccuped a sob, bringing the bat down over and over til the last wooden log broke. Will fell to his knees in the mud, grabbing the curtain. He cried into it. Hours and hours curled up in the remnants of what used to be his favourite place next to Mike's basement.
Will woke up before the sun, looking around as he tried to remember where he was. He looked down, seeing the splintered wood and torn paper scattered around him.
‘Oh.’ Will thought, feeling shockingly numb. He stood slowly, walking deeper and deeper into the woods. It was uncomfortable, really, terrifying to be in the woods again. He hadn’t been back in the forest since at least a year ago.
Mike picked up his walkie, calling Will over and over. Why wasn’t he answering? Sure, they had a fight, and sure, Mike really shouldn’t have said that, but neither Dustin nor Lucas had heard from him since he ran. Mike spoke into the walkie again but when no answer met him, he went upstairs to call Mrs Byers.
The phone rang twice before the line picked up.
“Hello, this is Joyce Byers speaking?”
“Hi, Mrs Byers."
“Oh, hi Mike.”
“Sorry to bother uhm.. . You wouldn’t have happened to see Will recently, have you? He's not.. . answering his walkie.” Mike hated to do this to her. Knew that Will going missing again would crush Mrs Byers.
“.. . Uh. I have not. His bike is outside though. He should be here.. .” Mike could hear the hesitation in her voice. “Jonathan!” Mike heard a muffled conversation, then Mrs Byers back on the line, a little more panicked. “Okay, Jonathan said he didn’t see Will come in last night either. You're sure he's not at yours?”
“I— I’m sure. We had a fight. I saw him leave. I’ll go look in the forest.” He hung up before Mrs Byers could respond. Mike's breathing picked up slightly. That couldn’t have been the last thing he said to Will. He wouldn’t let it happen. Mike grabbed his walkie again, switching it to Lucas’ frequency.
“Hey, Lucas, Will’s not home. I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”
“Woah. Mike, slow down. He’s probably just at his castle. That's where he goes to calm down.”
“Yeah, I know Lucas, I tried to call him there first—”
“He could just be ignoring you. Have you tried looking for him yet?”
“No.. .”
A very loud sigh. “I’ll call Dustin. Be there in 5”
Mike tugged at his hair roughly. This couldn’t be happening. He blinked back tears furiously. First El, now Will. But now, Will was mad at him. Mike knew how small Will could make himself when he really wanted to. If he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. Mike was snapped out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.
Mike didn’t even look at Dustin or Lucas, just pushing them out of the way to get to his bike. “Cmon. We have to find him.”
Will stopped walking after what felt like hours. He found a tree that would shelter him from any rain and sat. Will curled up, knees to his chest. His tears had stopped ages ago, just a stone in his gut that made it hurt to breathe. He didn’t want to be found, not for a while anyway. He didn’t even think anyone would look for him. He hoped they wouldn't.
Mike had ridden far ahead of Lucas and Dustin, hating not knowing where his best friend was. Yeah, they hadn’t been very friendly recently, completely Mike’s fault he? was willing to admit, but that didn’t stop him from caring way too much about the boy.
He threw his bike down next to Wills, shouting loud enough to hurt his voice. He wandered into the woods, traveling fairly the same path Will did just the night before. After a couple more shouts that weren’t returned, Mike saw the remains of Castle Byers. The pictures, the wood, years of history just gone. Gone because Mike couldn’t keep his big mouth shut. Mike barely acknowledged Dustin and Lucas behind him, telling them to split up to find Will.
Mike saw Will before Will saw him. He froze, watching the boy curl into himself deeper. Mike took a step forward, trying to be as quiet as possible to not startle Will. Mike sat next to him as soon as he was close enough, trying to ignore the hurt he felt when Will refused to recognize Mike was there. Mike just sat there, watching tears fill Will's eyes again like they did the night before. And, oh, how Mike wished he could reach out and wipe those away before they even had the chance to fall.
Mike just sat there for several minutes, waiting for Will to make the first move. And he did, eventually, leaning closer to Mike til his head bumped against Mike's shoulder. Will refused to look at Mike or even move into a more comfortable position, just content to sit there with Mike.
“I’m sorry.” Mike finally said, softer than he usually was, using that special tone he always did with Will. One of his hands subconsciously grabbed Wills, lacing their fingers together. Mike bumped his head against Wills, then letting it stay there as he felt Will relax slightly.
“‘s fine—“
“No. No, It's not fine. It was uncalled for, and a dick move.” Will huffed. “You just wanted to play DnD and it wasn’t fair to make fun of a campaign. And it definitely wasn’t cool, what i did in the rain. That was just plain cruel. So, I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, Mike.” Will squeezed Mike's hand softly, pushing his head more onto Mike's shoulder.
“Cool?”
“Cool.”