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Monday 4th April 1988, 09:18am
“Good morning Will... Earth to Will, come in please"
“Huh? Oh hi, Mr. Clarke"
“You seemed so distant”
“Oh yeah, sorry.”
“I get it, truly I do” Mr. Clarke rested his hand on the boy's shoulder. “It was two years ago, wasn't it?”
“Mmm" Will looked down sadly, he remembered the day he had woken up and tried to talk to Mike before school on his radio but had, for the first time ever, received no reply. “Two years in six days" Will mumbled, his eyes feeling watery.
“Will, he's alright. I dunno what happened but he's alright" Mr. Clarke paused, “wasn't that the day the Chief and his daughter also vanished, as well as Miss Mayfield?” Will simply nodded, he hadn't forgotten that Jane, Hopper, and Max had also vanished without warning he just found himself preoccupied with Mike's disappearance than that of the others.
“My mom almost had a heart attack when she heard the news on the TV. Broke two plates and dropped her and Jonathan's meals all over the floor" Will sighed, “She hasn't been the same since, she was close to Jane, they...” he choked up. “We were pretty much siblings” he compromised instead of not finishing his sentence. He couldn't say they'd both been in abusive families or traumatized by the government and their MKUltra program. What fucking bullshit, I fucking hate Brenner and his sick colleagues
The science teacher sighed, “Will, it's great how you and the party come to help out around here but maybe you should be taking time off, I know Mike's disappearance affected you badly"
“Mr. Clarke, I appreciate your concern but I found out a long time ago that it's better to keep busy than to have nothing to do, why do you think we all spend our spare time here?” It helps that you've always been here for me and the others, Mr. Clarke
“I know, you all have such a great aptitude for science, I'd certainly recommend you to the principal to become teachers here"
Will smiled, a rare occurrence even in the days after his week in the Upside Down, but two years on from his crush’s disappearance it was almost impossible
“When will the rest of the party get here?” Mr. Clarke asked“Byers!!” Right on cue, an obnoxious shout echoed down the corridor. Dustin, as curly haired as ever, ran forward from a small group. A black boy was talking to a dark-skinned woman and a tall man and even though Dustin had been with the group he had run forward to greet his favorite teacher and the other remaining member of their party
“Dustin" Will gave him a nod. Can he ever not be himself? Just for a few days, aren't we all supposed to be grieving?
“What's up, My Lord?” Dustin held out his hand to Mr. Clarke who smiled naturally and shook it, well used to his exuberant manner
“Dustin!!” Lucas hissed, “get your ass back here and help me with the tour"
“Tour? What tour?”
“Mr. Clarke, I'd like you to meet Adam and Kaylee Pratham, newlyweds who are expecting and will be moving to Hawkins" Will and Dustin shared a look, “soon. They wanted to see what the school was like before they decided between Maine and here"
“Good morning, Mr. Clarke" the woman extended her hand and shook the teacher's hand. “As Mr. Sinclair here said, we're just having a look before we move here"
“Moving to Hawkins?” Will muttered
“Is that strange?” the man, Adam asked of Will, “moving to Hawkins?”
“Mmmhmm” Will nodded but it was clear that he didn't want to discuss it so Kaylee clipped Adam's shoulder to prevent him from asking about it
“Very well.” Mr. Clarke was smiling, “These three used to come to this school back when they were in middle school so you couldn't have better guides than our resident AV Club members" he indicated each of the party
“Unfortunately our other friends had to move away from Hawkins" Dustin began to glares from both Lucas and Will, “but if they were here they'd welcome you into the school just as eagerly as we have"
“Well I'm sure they miss you" Kaylee whispered quietly and Adam nodded as Kaylee clipped his shoulder once more.
“Come on then!!” Dustin exclaimed, “tis time for us to continue our quest of exploration!”
Will rolled his eyes and tagged along on the tour having been given a nod by Mr. Clarke, he wasn't really with the group though, he was a long way away.
Wednesday 9th April 1986, 04:15pm
“Byers!!”
“Dustin, shut up, you keep yelling at me!”
“Dustin, calm down" Mike stepped in, acting, in Will’s opinion, like his knight in shining armor. Sure, he loved Dustin like family, but his continuous enthusiasm and good cheer had gotten a bit wearing after years of it
“Where's El and Max?” Lucas asked
“Presumably they're kissing" Dustin blurted out, he then went bright red as he realized what he had just said, he had just unwittingly blurted something that might have hurt Lucas and Mike's feelings. He looked away guiltily
“What?!” Mike and Lucas exclaimed at the same moment and Will shot Dustin an irritated glare
“Nothing"
“How long has that been going on for?”
“Several months" Will admitted.
“And when were you gonna tell us?”
“Eight.” A voice came from the stairs, “Eight months" Jane had been halfway down the stairs, taking advantage of the boys' distraction to sneak in a last minute kiss with Max
“But only Will knew" Max mumbled distractedly, she still had Jane's lips affixed to her own and a hand behind her head
“I saw you snogging" Dustin explained at the couple's accusatory glares aimed at Will. “Will didn't tell me"
“Well congrats” Mike mumbled, blushing bright red, Lucas nodded and shared a surprised gaze with Mike.
“Yeah, congrats" Lucas echoed. He then turned back to their game which they had started without Max or Jane since the pair didn't join in. In Lucas' opinion, they had even less reason to join in than they had before
Max and Jane continued their gentle kisses in the blanket fort that Mike had made for Jane three years before while the others continued their campaign“Kids, food" Karen Wheeler’s voice interrupted the game and the girl's kissing four hours later, both Max and Jane pulled back away from each other faster than they realized they could. Karen came into view with Holly right behind
“Come ooon Maxxie, Mikey, Willy, Dusty, Luc-ass and Ellie” Holly put on the voice she used to tease her older brother and his friends
“Don't call me Maxxie!!” Max had snapped, “only one person gets to call me Maxxie, if that's what they want"
“Who would that be?” Holly replied
“None of your business" Mike grumbled, “and Holly stop calling us those stupid names now” he insisted, “You're old enough to know better!” With that Mike led the party upstairs. As usual, he sat next to Jane at the dinner table to avoid arousing suspicion and Max sat on Jane's other side, holding hands surreptitiously under the table. While Mike realized his mom would probably be understanding he wasn't so sure about his dad, hell I'm not sure how I feel about my ex-girlfriend dating one of my best friends. Mike wasn't bothered by or worried about Jane and Max being gay or bisexual but he didn't know how to feel about his ex dating someone else
“So how's the campaign going?” Jonathan asked from his seat next to Nancy
“Good"
“Where's our babysitter?” Dustin whined. “You didn't invite him did you??” He exclaimed, holding his chest in the pain of the Wheelers' betrayal
“Dustin...” Max began, she missed their babysitter too but she was too tough and stubborn to say so
“You miss Harrington too!” Dustin exclaimed, “admit it or forever be banished from The Party!”
“Yeah" Max admitted, knowing Dustin was joking and that Jane wouldn't let Dustin kick her out anyway
“Let's go see him after food!” Will suggested
“Sure"
“I'm up for that if you are Will"
“I'm gonna bug him some more about his hair, try and find out how he makes it like that"
“Trade secret I'm afraid, Mayfield"
“You know Dustin, one of these days I'll force that answer out of you”
“I bet you will" Dustin replied mockingly
“Kids, play nice” Karen reminded themHalf an hour passed in which the only noises were the clink of cutlery on plates and polite conversation then The Party were finally free to leave. They left the house eagerly, biked over to the Harrington household and hammered on his door, the door opened and King Steve himself stood in the doorway
“Shitheads? What are you doing here you lot?”
“I dunno" Dustin replied, “finding the biggest house in Hawkins to have a party in it" Steve's eyebrows furrowed in confusion
“They're here to see you, dumbass"
“Robin?” Jane enquired quietly
“Hey, Jane" she smiled and ruffled the girl's curls
“Well," Steve blushed, embarrassed. “Come on in then you shitheads"An hour later and the party was lounging around Steve's gigantic living room, reminiscing on their adventures with sodas all round, except for Steve who had a beer and Robin who had a glass of wine. “Yeah, poor Steve he got his butt kicked but he fought valiantly on behalf of The Party!” Mike explained
“I hate that guy!!” Dustin exclaimed, “no offense, Max”
“None taken, he is a dickhead”
Robin smirked, “and Steve thought Mike was Nancy!!” Lucas barked out amongst his laughter
“Wait what?” Robin asked, feeling both confusion and amusement as well as a massive amount of concern for Steve
“He did have a concussion...!” Dustin protested
“We know, Dustin" Mike soothed
“Shut up about our babysitter!” Dustin glared
Max and Jane were too busy gazing into each other’s eyes to notice Robin and Steve looking at them. “How long's that” Robin whispered, indicating Jane and Max, “been going on for?”
“What, Elmax?” Dustin replied, “as Will already knows, about eight months” Lucas replied, teasing Will for his act of loyalty to the couple
“Elmax?” Steve questioned
“It's a compound okay? Eleven and Max, Elmax"
“Is Hopper okay with it? Does he even know?” Robin asked
“Yes. I told dad seven months ago"
“We even get to sleep in the same room" Max added with a sly teasing smile
“Screw you too Mayfield" Mike grumbled, envious of their close relationship All too soon it was time for The Party to leave the Harrington household and return to the Wheelers'. Mike and the others returned to their game while Jane sat in the fort and Max went to get her a drink. “Mrs. Wheeler, could I please have some water for Jane?”
“Sure Max” she handed over a glass and smiled at her. Max took it, filled it and returned to Jane with it who glugged it down eagerly.
“What? Thirsty" Jane had whispered to the group of amused kids
Thursday 10th April 1986, 07:55am
“Where's Mike?” Lucas had been tapping his foot waiting for the rest of The Party
“I have no idea" Will replied with worry evident in his voice
“He wasn't with you?” Lucas asked, frowning. “He wasn't at home this morning"
“Where's Max and El?” Dustin asked
“Haven't the foggiest"
“You live with El half the time, Will”
“Because the cabin is too far out of the way for her to make it to school on time" Will explained, “and actually she's been spending a lot more time at the cabin lately...” Will said what remained to be said unsaid
“Because of Max, we know. Pity the Hargroves are bigots"
“What did you just say about me, Sinclair?!” a voice snapped
“That you're a bigot, Hargrove. Do us all a favor and piss off back to the high school"
Billy looked to be debating whether to punch Lucas, “actually I came to ask about the Shitbird”
“Sorry don't know anyone by that name, buddy” Dustin and the others turned to walk away from Billy
“Alright, ALRIGHT!” Billy was close to losing it, “I came to ask about Max” he moved his mullet out of his face which revealed a bruise around his eye
“What about her??” Will exclaimed, worry caused by his past experiences had made him forget who he was talking to
“Yeah, what's up?” Dustin asked, taking the smallest pity on the older boy once he saw the boy's bruise
“Max disappeared in the night" Billy had been too drunk to remember the rest of it, he just remembered being woken up by a fist in his face and a thumping headache that had been made fifty times worse
“Shit.” Lucas looked around nervously, half expecting people in suits to rush them
“Mike didn't turn up for school either" Will whispered
“Mike?” Billy asked blankly
“Nancy's brother, Karen Wheelers' kid"
“Oh, Mrs. Wheeler! Why would he not turn up though?”
“I dunno, we haven't seen Max"
Billy looked as if he didn't believe Will but the clatter of a car behind them caused them all to turn. “Hey, you lot" Flo clambered out of the car, “you haven't seen Hop this morning have you?”
The Party shook their heads, “E... Jane hasn't arrived yet"
“I'm gonna kill that man!” Flo grumbled and returned to the car, driving off
“What was Flo doing here?” Billy asked
“She's Jane's dad's employee, looking for her boss"
“Jane?”
“My ex" Mike mumbled
Billy shrugged and moved away. “How come Billy knows Flo?”
“Oh man how can you be this thick, that guy’s one massive walking talking w-hormone, that and I heard he was arrested for... being a dick, I believe that's what Hop said, I heard it all through Jane of course" Will replied to Dustin using his own vernacular against him
“Ouch.” Lucas winced, “but I don't think you should insult whores like that"
“Actually a male whore is a gigolo"
“Shut it, Dustin" Will complained with a roll of his eyes
“You'd know all about that, right Toothless?”
The boys felt their bubble pop and they were back in the cold harsh reality. Hopper, Mike, Max, and El were missing in action and to make things worse, Troy was still an asshole. Everyone was wondering the same thing, when the news broke, would Troy be a dick about their disappearances as he had been about Will's? Probably. In the middle of their third period their names were called out over the loudspeaker system. “Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson and Will Byers to the principal's office"
“Oh shit" Will looked at the others and stood
The trio walked to the principal’s office. When they knocked on the door and entered they found the principal talking to Callaghan and Powell. “Hi boys"
“Mr. Coleman?” Dustin inquired, “what's going on?”
“Jane Hopper didn't turn up for school this morning, neither did Mike Wheeler or Maxine Mayfield,” the principal, a black man named Russell Coleman stated
“Furthermore, Chief Hopper didn't appear at work this morning" Powell added
“We saw them last night, all of them" Will spoke, a feeling of dread slowly numbed his entire body.
“And was everything normal?” Callaghan asked
What the fuck is normal? Will thought, and by the look of it, the other two were thinking exactly the same. “Everything was perfectly normal, we played Dungeons and Dragons at Mike's, visited Steve Harrington and then returned to Mike's”
“All of us, together" Dustin piped up making sure he covered their babysitter.
“I see" Callaghan nodded, they all turned to the door as it opened. Joyce Byers walked in, “kids” she whispered and moved to hug them. “He wasn't home” she spoke to the officers
“Hop wasn't home?” Callahan asked and Joyce confirmed with a shake of her head. Will's heart sunk even further. Joyce shook her head dejectedly
“Well, shit”
“Mr. Henderson!!”
“We have no idea what's going on" Lucas stated plainly, firmly.
“You can go”The boys left the office with Joyce following them. “I've spoken to reception, I've told them I'm taking you three out of school for the rest of the day"
“Thank you, Mrs. Byers"
“Hey! Losers! Where's Frog Face and The Freak?!”
“Ignore him" Joyce warned, half expecting Lucas to jump on him
“I hear the Ginger is missing too? They're probably all happy and gay in fairyland! Where's his grave so I can piss on it!”
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up!!” Will hissed
“Zombie Boy defending his freak sister Eleven, best friend Ginger and his Frog Faced Boyfriend!!”
At that, at the mention of Mike being Frog Face and his boyfriend, Will lost it, he screamed and ran at Troy. He leaped at the larger boy and, fuelled by rage and adrenaline, collided with Troy and shoved him back into the lockers behind him. Troy was so startled he didn't have any time to prepare himself and he fell back with a grunt
“What the fuck!?” Dustin ran forward to console Will. “Will, stop, Will it's just Troy!” Eventually, Joyce had to intervene, gently pulling her son back off of Troy and halting the flurry of blows that were flying into the bully.
“Enough, sweetie" she stated and Will broke down in her arms. Holy shit. Not even Joyce had ever seen Will try to punch someone before, much less try to beat them up
“What on earth is going on out here?” Mr. Clarke and two other teachers had left their classes behind to investigate the disturbance
“Mr. Clarke!!” Lucas exclaimed then launched into an explanation, fighting with Dustin to tell the story.
“Boys!! Quiet!” Mr. Clarke all but yelled
Will who was still sobbing into Joyce shook with adrenaline, “but My Lord!! Troy was saying how happy was that he expected Mike had died, along with El and Max but...”
“El?”
“Jane's nickname, Mr. Clarke, El. Her middle name is Eleanor.”
“I saw the whole thing, Scott" Flo stated having hurried up to them. “That boy” Flo indicated Troy, “was making fun of the kids that have gone missing"
“I see... you three get out of here" Mr. Clarke pointed at Will, Dustin and Lucas, the latter two of whom breathed a sigh of relief and followed Joyce who was carrying Will.
Troy, still groaning and wiping his eyes stood slowly. “You are under arrest” Callaghan stated having come down the corridor to see what all the fuss was about. He handcuffed Troy and took him away, he had had a quick whispered conversation with Flo before moving to arrest Troy
“Will...” Joyce began
“Mom...”
“Now isn't the time to talk about what happened, let's just get back home, all of us" Joyce indicated her car and the boys gratefully clambered in“So... do you have any idea what's going on?” They were halfway to the Byers’ household before the subject was broached by Joyce
The boys shook their heads. “All of us were at Mike's for our D&D campaign, me, Mike, Dustin, Will, Max, and Lucas. Jonathan and Nancy were at the table with us when we ate and we all saw Steve and Robin when we went over to his place. Everything was fine. Max and El left together with Hop, we saw him when Max and El left, he would've dropped Max off at her house and then gone home with El. Will was taken home by Jonathan who then returned to Mike's and we" Lucas indicated himself and Dustin, “rode home"
“I spoke to Mike later last night,” Will admitted, “it must've been around one in the morning but everything was fine, he just had something he wanted to talk to me about this morning,” oops I just lied. “Then he never showed up” Will looked distraught and his friends quickly moved to hug him
“Do you think that this is... Them?” Lucas offered up
“Hawkins lab? The bad men?” Dustin asked, “wasn't that place doomed by Nancy and Jonathan?”
“I think he meant the psychotic son of a bitch" Joyce elaborated
“Dead" Dustin stated
“Proof?” Joyce asked and Dustin frowned, shrugging
“What are we gonna do?”
“I don't know... they're gone without a trace”The next few days for Will were somewhat an emotional rollercoaster. Again and again, something would remind him of his missing best friend and set him off. Sometimes he left the room and others he just collapsed and sobbed. On top of his despair at losing his best friend he also had to deal with constant reminders of his own past, his disappearance into the Upside Down. While the reminders of his own visit to the Upside Down were horrific, it was the fact that Mike wouldn't be there to help if the Upside Down or the demogorgons or the Mind Flayer ever returned that really scared him. Mike had literally been his rock. “Fuck this shit!” Will had screamed on the second day after Mike's disappearance, on his way to bed at five after seven in the morning, five minutes after he had woken up
“Will...”
What the? Will was barely conscious, he soon slipped into unconsciousness but that made it easier for them to make contact
“William Byers!” a voice shouted in his head
“El?!?”
“Expecting someone else in your dream?”
“Point taken. Where the hell are you and the others? Everyone's been going crazy”
“We're fine, we had to split up, Mike and Max are with Hopper and my sister’s friends"
“What about you?”
“I'm with my sister, Kali”
“Oh right, I miss you"
“I'm so sorry, we had to run, Will. The bad men were coming” Jane stared blankly, unseeingly at the blacktop she had all but fainted upon
“I understand, El. When will we all see you again?”
“I don't know, someday" Jane was very careful to use the word someday in place of the word she loathed, soon.
“Hurry home, sister and tell the others to do the same"
“Will do. See you soon, Will" Jane vanished from Will's dream and returned to her unconscious body. That was goodbye, brother“I heard from El!!" It was the day after El had spoken to Will, a Saturday
“Really?!”
“Yes Dustin, really. Now shut up so I can say what I have to say" Will’s house had become the designated hang out for The Party, even for Steve and Robin. All eyes were upon him as he began to talk. “El spoke to me yesterday. All four of them are safe, they had to split but they're all okay. Mike, Max, and Hop are with Kali’s friends and El is with Kali, she's El's spiritual sister, another experiment. The bad men came back so they had to flee"
“Shit"
“That psychotic fuck!!”
“I wish I had been able to shove my spiked bat...”
“I'm gonna fucking murder...”
“At least we know they're all safe"
“El really can do weird shit"
The next few moments were a cacophony of different voices. Will smirked as Dustin and Lucas swore, Joyce became protective, Steve voiced his regret that he wasn't able to shove the bat somewhere unpleasant, Jonathan was quiet, Nancy attempted to reassure everyone and Robin was wide-eyed with amazement, voicing her amazement about El's powers. “Easy, guys, they got this” Will sighed, a huge weight lifted from his shoulders, they were okay, Mike was okay.
Thursday 10th April 1986, 01:02am
“Will, are you there?” Mike's voice echoed out over the radio
“Mmm, I'm here, Mike" Will was still wrapped up in bed
“I just wanted to talk to you. Can we?”
“Okay" Will flipped his radio over to channel fifteen. The normal public channel that The Party all used was still eleven even after all those years but Mike and Will, being as close as they were, had settled on channel fifteen as their private channel. Lucas and Max had had their own channel when they were in a relationship and both were certain that Max and El had their own private channel for when Max wasn't spending the night with El. Naturally, Max spent as much time as she could out of the still somewhat toxic environment that was her home.
“Hey, Mike" Will's voice had softened considerably, “What did you wanna talk about?”
“I like someone in the party" Mike blurted it out as if hesitation would prevent him from saying it, “I like a boy in the party"
“You... you do?” Will felt his hopeful heart flutter, “I...”
“It's you" MIKE! You just admitted to that!! You're gonna scare him away you imbecile!!
“... Do too” what? What?!
“The guy I like is you, William Byers” Mike admitted, it was too late to backtrack
“The guy I like is you, Michael Wheeler"
“We like each other?” Mike felt like crying. “How about I come over to your place after school tomorrow and we can talk about it then"
“Promise?”
“Promise. Goodnight Byers, I love you"
“Goodnight W...”
Mike's hopeful and happy bubble lasted for a few seconds. “Wheeler, if you can hear me, pick up" the Chief's gruff voice came out of the second radio the chief had purchased for him and drowned out whatever Will was saying. Mike knew with dread that it couldn't possibly be good news. “Brenner has found out where we are, he is coming. We have to go. You have three minutes, Wheeler, if you're not ready on the end of your drive in three minutes we'll go without you. Do not contact anyone else. Hopper out.”
Thursday 10th April 1986, 10:18pm
Mike can't have gone. We love each other. He promised he'd talk to me about it today. Will sat on his bed his eyes red and sore from crying endlessly. He had held a small amount of hope that Mike would turn up after school as he had promised and Michael Wheeler never broke a promise but he hadn't shown up. Will looked down at his lap, the glint of reflected moonlight was bright in his eye as he mumbled to himself, “five more minutes, Mike will show up"
He never did and Will was left to try to cope with his sorrows by himself