Chapter Text
Wills Apartment, New York City. June 1990.
9:00 pm
BRRING!!
“Huh?”
BRRING!!
The small yellowed landline in the corner of his apartment began to pulse, echoing its somewhat irritating and boisterous ring around the still apartment. Will spun round from his empty canvas, the only thing currently going on it was his hours ponderous staring. His entire flat was filled wall to wall with his works that came so naturally, like emotions, yet, for an unfathomable reason, he just couldn't seem to find any sort of muse today.
BRRING!!
“Alright, alright..”
Will gingerly placed down his paintbrush onto the easel and slowly meandered over to the landline.
“Who would be calling me at this hour?..”
A sheen of flaxen light leaked through the curtains and poured out onto the coffee table the landline was on, making it and the other miscellaneous items gleam with pride.
Will hesitated. A surge of unease came over him.
Okay, who really could it be? Someone looking for trouble? Lonnie? Was someone in danger? Joyce?
BRRING!!
Tentatively, he picked up the phone from its cradle.
“..T-this is Will Byers speaking, who is this?”
“Will!!” A cheerful yet muffled Mike beamed through the phone.
“Mike? Is that you..?”
“It’s nice to hear your voice. I haven’t heard it in a while.” Mike spoke so casually.
“A while? Mike, I haven’t heard from you in a year. The last time you rang was when I moved here..”
“I know…I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t want to get in the way of your new fancy artist lifestyle. I guess I was afraid to cramp your style…I mean you're successful in New York and I’m bogged down here in Hawkins still living with my parents.”
“You know you wouldn’t have gotten in the way.”
“Yeah…I know.”
There was a brief moment of prolonged uncomfortable silence between them, all you could hear were the muffled, giddy shouts coming from Holly and her friends in the Wheeler House.
“Is that Holly?” Will enquired. Half genuinely curious and half just a desperate attempt to break the lull. Oh how I wish we could just go back to our old easy banter. He thought as foolish conversation starters clouded his mind.
“Yeah. She has her friends around. The amount of noise they make used to bother me but then I remember it was me a few years ago so…”
Will snorted.
Silence, again.
“Mike.”
“Yeah?”
“Why did you call me?”
“Right. I know how unfair it is to not speak to you for ages and then ask such a huge favour…”
“That’s it?...You called me for a favour..?”
“NO!!” The conversation was spiralling and Mike began to panic. “I worded that wrong!! I was wondering if I could come see you in New York this summer, maybe stay with you for a bit. You know, I need a change of scenery and I want to see what you’ve been up to.”
“It’d be nice to see you again, Mike…but I signed up to be a camp counsellor at this summer camp in Cali for the summer. Moosehead? I think. I guess we had the same thought…needed a change of scenery.”
“Oh, alright then. I’ll-”
“Wait!”
Abruptly, Will cut in. He would never normally be so obnoxious (Mike would obviously) but he didn’t want to lose the one chance he had to see Mike in ages. As mad as he was for not hearing from Mike, deep down, he knew he did really want to see him.
“You could always come. Y’know I think they still have openings for counsellors still…then we could still spend the summer together. If you wanted to.”
“Like we used to.”
“Sure.” Will's tone had warmed, less of the cold shoulder he had tried to give Mike.
“I’ll see you then?” Mike probed.
“Yeah. I will.”
Will nimbly placed down the phone and it hummed its long tone. He took a step back and let out a reconciled sigh. It was as if the burden he had been bearing on his shoulders for almost a year was lifted off.
I’ve done the right thing. He thought.
Will had been under the impression that when he left to start his new life in New York, he had left Mike behind but, somehow, he had managed to catch back up to him.
Just as if something was keeping them together, like a little red string...