Chapter Text
If Will had to be honest he’d love for his life to be more normal than it already was. He didn’t need to stand out where anyone could see him.
He hated forever being known to some people as just ‘Zombie Boy’ because he had gone missing at 12. He’d had a funeral and everything. The only things he really knew about it were from his friends and really he loved them, but for 5 years now the only real info he had gotten was the girls there. And then he came out to them as gay a few years later. Which ultimately led to being called “queer” and that word that he would not like to repeat.
He hated being used for his ability to draw and paint. He hated having others make fun of his hobbies…or just make fun of Will himself. He mostly hated not always being able to show his true self. Always hiding from others who’d hurt him. But at the same time, there were clear reasons he’d hid some things from his peers.
Except he could never say “hated” out loud. He could never get the word out of his throat and people thought he was soft for it. And whenever he actually could, some adult would most likely materialize from somewhere and reprimand him for hating something.
Once they had found out he was gay, or really the student body had, the insults were relentless. It was almost like being faced with his father again, with much less alcohol…sometimes.
Of course he’d like to be more normal in other ways too. Having his dad yell slurs at him for being different really helped with the mindset Will had now. Thanks Lonnie.
But his dad was gone now, thank goodness for that, and now he had Joyce and Jonathan. He wasn’t dead, he’d just moved out. It would’ve been just Jonathan and Joyce until recently when his mom had started dating the chief of police, Hopper. Hopper’s adopted daughter, Jane, and himself had moved in with the family as well. And with Hopper they were at least a little more financially stable.
Jane had moved into Will and Jonathan’s room and Jonathan had opted to sleep on the couch in the main room.
Joyce was still working regularly, minus the very limited number of days off, and Jonathan was searching for jobs at the moment, having just finished college and wanting more from just a (somewhat failing) newspaper business he worked at with his girlfriend (and Mike, Nance had gotten him a job there)
Will, similarly, had started working as well. It was a small art store and he didn’t work there for as many hours as Joyce and Jonathan. But, it still made him money so he felt it was perfect for now.
His manager had once allowed him to hang one of his paintings up on the wall of the store. It actually did sell and give Will some extra money he was personally proud of. One day he might be able to do that for a real job, or something related to it at least. He knew the money artists could get was a wide range of things.
The store wasn’t very popular at the moment, which was great for someone like him with absolutely no social skills, but it was primarily the location it was in. People usually avoided this area because of the criminals that had lurked around there for years.
Mainly just some common thieves who picked off of the people who were brave enough to think they wouldn’t encounter someone. It was almost constant sometimes but others there was no one.
Will still worked at the shop anyway since the people who bothered to be around there were nice (and more aware of criminals than others). Hopper had told him just to call him if Will was ever in trouble.
The building the art store was in was old and dusty so Will swept the floors sometimes when needed. There were only two rooms, really. One was the main room and the other a storage room.
Mike, Dustin, and Lucas had all started complaining that now they’d have less time for campaigning once Will had gotten the job, as if the four didn’t basically spend every waking moment together. And they had also gotten jobs. They all collectively got on each other's asses about it really. Will in the art store, Mike as a writer for the Daily Bugle (sometimes, they were still 17 years old but Jameson didn’t care too much), Dustin interning at a lab, and Lucas assisting the hospital whenever he could.
Max and Jane usually hang out with the four as well, but they’d rather spend time together with each other. Which, understandable.
Will was actually really glad Jane had found someone that she could talk to other than him. That didn’t mean the two of them hadn’t quickly gotten along, they had almost instantly in fact. They hung out pretty regularly and could basically tell each other anything.
Although spending time with just Jane and Max was also a great experience. He's the only one in the group ever allowed to go shopping with them and the party was still pissed about it.
Jane was also the first one who knew about Mike. It was really obvious if you looked for the right signs on Will’s face. But no one did since he was looking at a boy instead of a girl. Finally having someone to talk about his frankly embarrassing behavior around his best friend was amazing, though.
The thoughts that had lingered in his mind when Jane started dating Mike though…would never leave. He pretty much had started to be annoyed with Jane more and more out of plain jealousy. He never told her nor anyone else. It was bad, he knew that, of course.
She didn’t seem the slightest bit jealous when she found out about Will’s crush either. Which made him feel even worse about himself and every time he thought about it his stomach would churn.
The two had been very public about dating each other for at least two weeks before Jane broke up with Mike. It had something to do with Mike not caring for her enough and her not being fully prepared for a relationship yet. The first made Will even more awkward and nervous about his crush. He knew Jane really liked Mike and clearly had a crush on him, but after they had broken up she’d seemed much happier.
Where was he? Oh yeah. In a lab being pulled around by his one-of-many best friends. He was there for a tour that Dustin may or may not have asked him to come to thousands of times, but Dustin had dragged him away from the group before anything really started.
He had been trying to sketch or take down notes about what he saw, if it weren't for Dustin hauling him through the many many rooms that, frankly, he wasn’t sure Dustin was even allowed to go in. Will found that if he ever had the chance to, it was easier to remember things if he sketched them out or wrote them down.
Will would always let him, of course, only act annoyed but didn’t actually care too much. Especially after what Dustin had been through as of recently.
Dustin took the most hits and was targeted the most by bullies because of the entire Eddie thing. A couple of murders a year and a half ago were blamed on him before he disappeared. No one, not even Dustin, saw him again. There wasn’t even any evidence Eddie had done anything at all. He was just a regular metalhead who enjoyed D&D.
Mike still got hurt often from jocks and others alike because he fought back sometimes still unaware of his strength or lack thereof apparently. Chanse specifically had it out for him…for some reason. Will and Lucas never fought back with any of the jocks so they were somewhat safer in a way? They still ended up with bruises or ripped clothing every so often.
Dustin stopped to tell Will about what the lab had recently been doing on the test subjects, animals only of course. Lots of insects apparently, but he mainly looked away from those because they freaked him out.
He stood next to Dustin who, although moody some of the time, was rambling on facts about the different bugs here.
Some things never changed about him despite Eddie’s disappearance, and the fact that Dustin was still grieving. Will tried as much as he could to remind himself that anytime Dustin had gotten aggressive immediately or started to ignore them that it was for a reason.
He wasn’t the Dustin they once knew and Will didn’t want to change him. When they had alone time together every once in a while, like today, it was nice and sometimes (emphasis on sometimes) calm. Not having to deal with his stupid crush on stupid Mike Wheeler and everything. Sometimes.
He’d hope that maybe one day Dustin would be more open, but for now Will would wait for whatever Dustin needed.
He was pretty sure that Dustin, Lucas, and Jane knew about Mike. Max too, maybe. Dustin only found out because Lucas had mentioned it offhandedly one time. God his gay-dar was absolutely shit (Lucas’ words, not his). No wonder Dustin was still trying to find Will a girlfriend. Will had told Jane after they had broken up and he was sure she had no lasting feelings for Mike.
A lot of things had happened with the 4 of them over the years. It had really started when Will went missing for a week. He tries not to think of it anymore, which is really hard when most people only know you for that. Mike had been forced to jump off a cliff during the days he was gone. He doesn’t really know what or how or why for that matter, it had just slipped out of Dustin’s mouth one time and Will never forgot it.
Then when Max moved into New York, her racist idiot of an older step-brother, Billy, did too. That didn't stop Lucas and Max from starting to date though.
Will had been having some traumatic things going on at that time so it all blended together into one awful memory. The one thing he could think of right now that was good during that time was Dustin finding a new friendship in The Steve Harrington and Jonathan and Nancy getting together. Oh, and the arcade that had gotten popular. He would say his moms relationship with Bob, he liked Bob he really did, but it hadn’t lasted long or ended well.
The mall had burned down, along with several civilians inside, including Billy. Steve had met a new girl, Robin, while working at his job, Schoops Ahoy. Billy, before dying obviously, had attacked them and given Mike a nasty scar on his face. Mike loathed it. Mike and Will seemed to grow apart during this time, Mike never really found time for D&D and things like that.
Then the Byers’ had moved to California. Joyce had started going long distance with a police chief she’d met in New York, Hopper or something like that. Will had started to work at Surfer Boy Pizza briefly here, and when he says briefly he means very briefly. Jonathan’s friend Argyle had somehow figured out about Will's crush despite no one but Will knowing at that time (besides maybe Lucas), if someone did know they wouldn’t tell Argyle of all people, and because he didn’t even KNOW Mike? And he’d never even MET Will's friends?
Dustin, Mike, and Lucas had all met Eddie, a new Dungeon Master; who was then accused of murder and disappeared. Lucas had also taken up basketball, he would still do it if it weren’t for Jason, aka the big dumbass who accused Eddie of murder.
Around here was when Will had finally come to terms with his big gay crush on his best friend. Fun times.
It didn’t take long for them to move back to New York. Hopper had moved in with his adopted daughter, Jane, and here they were. Max had gotten into an accident and was currently in a coma. Lucas was studying medical stuff in his free time to make sure she wouldn’t be hurt this bad ever again, it was sweet if it didn’t have to be because one of his friends was in a coma.
Max had written them all letters in case anything had happened to her, every time he came over to one of the party’s houses he could see it on their desk or drawer, unopened still. No one wanted to accept the fact that she was so close to death, not yet.
…
Did you know some male spiders force feed the females until they themselves eventually are eaten? Will didn’t want to but thanks Dustin, appreciate it.
The insects were all in small enclosures behind glass with a small sliding door, which Will supposed was maybe to feed them or take them out of the case? Although apparently (aka according to Dustin) they can survive for a few days to over a year without food.
One, however, was empty. The name tag at the bottom of it read “Trichonephila clavata (Joro Spider)” but there wasn’t one anywhere in the case. Will glanced at it multiple times (even tapping on the glass once) just to make sure before hurrying away quickly. He didn’t need or want to know.
He didn’t really notice the spider until it was right in front of him, well, on him.
He looked back to the empty case one last time before continuing on, not even notching the blue and yellow legs crawling down the inside of his jacket’s arm.
An eerie feeling creeped up on Will and as soon as it came he felt movement. Long spindly appendages that must've made time slow down, at least in Will's mind. It went from the top of his shoulder to his elbow to his wrist in only a matter of seconds. Its movements were soft but that hardly gave Will any comfort at all. He kept behind Dustin as if nothing bothered him. Dustin hadn’t turned to look at him yet so that was good. Will would’ve probably given him a haunted, wide eyed look. All of it was probably over the course of a few seconds too.
He tried so many times to try and shake whatever was on him off, it didn’t work. He would think he was safe for about a millisecond before he felt the legs on him again. The process repeated until the spider finally stopped at the base of his hand.
In one swift motion the creature dug its fangs into Will’s hand before he could even get the spider off of him. He didn’t let it stay on his body for long after however, hitting it away almost as soon as he could. Should have worn shorter sleeves today, he thought bitterly.
The spider had apparently been crushed in the process of hitting it away since it was laying on the floor motionless. Will kicked its small lifeless body to the wall before running after Dustin, who was yelling at him to speed up or he would start using brute force. It didn’t really matter if Will was the strongest of the group with Lucas just behind, Will wouldn’t ever hurt any of them.
— —
Will had said goodbye to Dustin and quickly headed home since his mom would get back from work soon. She was still nervous about him not being home when she showed up.
Jane and Will had started sharing a room since she had started to live with them a few months ago, he didn’t mind it at all, he loved Jane.
Will’s footing started to lose its balance and he held onto walls and counters to not stumble or fall down. Weird. He wasn’t this nauseous a minute ago. His vision was blurry around the edges too. His hands were clammy and hot, lips dry and cracked. Will’s throat was sore and he felt like he needed to find water as soon as he could. He opened the door to his and Jane’s room.
They both had small beds in the far left or right corners of the room. Jane’s side was covered in posters and comics and half done projects she had set out to make but never entirely finished, topped with a stack of (mainly purple) blankets and pillows and the plushies they bought every so often. Will, on the other hand, had art supplies, paintings, thick books, and a desk leaned up against his pale yellow and white bed.
The paintings on his walls or on his desk (and starting to appear slowly on Jane’s side of the room) went from works that took him hours upon hours to sketches he had made on a whim. His expensive paper that’d he’d worked way too hard for paper for to sticky notes and notecards he’d taken from people at school. His favorite brushes and colors to many short broken pencils and old paint that had somehow mixed together to form an ugly brown-green.
Jane was currently on the floor making bracelets for the party, currently having around 7 or more on each of her arms. She hadn’t been friends with Max for long but Jane cared a lot about people, and Max was her best friend.
Jane looked up at Will once she heard the sound of the door opening.
“Okay?” She asked
“Yeah…I’m fine.” He replied and tried to give a smile. “Just feeling worse, I’m gonna take a nap”
Jane nodded.
“Wake me up when mom or Hopper comes home?”
She nodded again with a confused smile.
Will flopped onto his bed (in possibly the least graceful ways to exist). He pulled his covers
over his body before he realized he was getting overheated. No blankets it is then. Without them he shivered until he felt his eyes droop and start to close before he fell asleep.
— —
Will startled himself awake and snapped his eyes open immediately. His head felt fuzzy and just flat out wrong. He looked out the open window seeing it was already dark, so Jane hadn’t woken him up.
(He would later ask her about it and she would reply something along the lines of “you look comfy!”)
He gripped the blankets below him before he finally fully regained his sight. Oh god he was still in the outfit he was in when meeting Dustin, shoes and all. Will almost almost fell as he stepped off the bed. It wasn’t because he was still tired, no, it was his hands.
His hands were stuck to the blanket. He wasn’t grabbing the blanket, in fact his hands were splaying themselves with all fingers as far as they could be from each other so he could stand up better. But instead, his hands had just stayed there. Will brought his hands up and the blanket moved with them. Okay Will just don’t freak out. Will started flailing his arms and moving and pulling against the blanket, trying however he could to get the stupid blanket off of him.
Stop sticking!
He leaned against the window sill with his head slightly outside trying desperately before his mom and/ or Hopper found out he was awake.
He fell. Out of the window.
Keep sticking please!
Clinging desperately to the blanket who had caught itself on a nail, Will was way too far off the ground for his liking. He wasn’t afraid of heights per say, but dangling above New York civilians freaked him out so much. He started to swing his legs hitting the brick wall far too many times. And then the thrashing of his legs stopped. He looked down.
His feet were stuck to the wall? He pushed the blanket back into his room with shaky hands (because they had apparently decided to stop sticking). He tried looking down again, only to see the very few people below walking normally as if a seventeen year old wasn’t clinging to the walls above them. No one looked up, thank God.
As stupid as it may sound, Will put his hands against the red bricks to try and pull his footing away. You can probably guess what happened.
Now with all four limbs attached to the side of a red brick wall to a small apartment building, Will didn’t know what to do. Jaw clenched and giving an exasperated look he still pulled. He wasn’t really given any other option but to keep doing that and somehow unstick himself and climb up, or fall.
The universe had chosen the latter.
Will was falling in slow motion from his point of view. All the buildings and other various things below him coming into place in the corner of his eyes. His breath hitched and faltered slightly as the sensation stopped abruptly. He looked around to see what could have stopped it but saw nothing so he looked down at his hands and (now flailing) legs. Coming out of his right hand and connecting to the window sill was a string almost? Whatever it is was holding all of Will’s body weight. He didn’t question it in the moment and pulled himself up with all the strength he could, falling onto the floor of his bedroom.
He got up quickly and ran into the bathroom before anyone entered the room to see him like this.
Overall, he had scattered bruises along his side, only one or two actually drawing blood from when he had hit the brick wall. He cleaned the wounds off, putting a bandage on the bleeding one and brushed off his clothes to make himself look at least a little nicer.
When he entered the main room again Jane was sitting in a chair reading a comic that Max had given her. She especially liked Wonder Woman. Jonathan was starting to cook dinner.
“What’re you reading?” Will asked
“Spider-Man”
“Oh. Cool.”
Huh.