Chapter Text
Monday, September 12th, 2022
Will woke up to the theme music for Magic and Mayhem blasting through his headphones. His eyes shot open to see Jane standing at his desk, holding the volume key down on his keyboard. His controller had been abandoned on the bedside table. Will quickly came to the conclusion that he had been playing until at least 2 am, which was when he last checked the time. It was only a few weeks into the school year, so his sleep schedule was still pretty shit.
“Jane,” he grumbled.
“Will,” she grumbled back. “Dude, you missed your alarm and your door was locked. We’re gonna be late for school if we don’t leave, like, right now.”
They weren't technically going to be late but the girls always did their makeup together and Jane would have a fit if they didn’t have enough time.
“Fine, just… gimme a sec.”
“Alright, but mom said if you’re not ready to go in five minutes, she’s gonna take the car to work and make us take the bus.”
“Okay, okay. Get out so I can change.”
Will stumbled out of bed and closed the door behind Jane. She always left it open a few inches, a weird rule she and her dad had brought into the Byers household.
The clothes Will wore the day before had been thrown onto the back of his desk chair- and he’d never really cared about his appearance- so he put on the same old white t-shirt, yellow flannel, and jeans with his white converse.
Will ran down the hall and as he grabbed his keys and backpack, he saw his reflection in the hall mirror. He only then realized how messed up his hair had become while asleep. He grabbed his white baseball cap from on top of the coat rack and rushed out of the house, nearly slamming the door on his heels.
Will slid into the driver’s seat and Jane passed him a pack of room-temperature PopTarts. He opened them with one hand and started the car, pulling out of the driveway before either of them could get their seatbelts on.
“Geez.”
“Well, we were gonna be late,” he waved his Poptart around. “What did you want me to do?”
“I dunno. Just never seen you in such a hurry to get to school.”
“It’s just, Lucas is probably looking for me. Don’t want him to go to first period alone.”
“Aww. Will cares about his friend.”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
Jane shrugged. “I mean, Max and I care about each other a lot too. But that’s really thoughtful of you.”
“Aw. Does somebody love her awesome brother?”
“Jesus, forget I said anything.” Jane rolled her eyes with a grin.
As soon as they pulled into the student parking lot, Jane rushed out of the car to Max’s side. She kissed Lucas on the cheek before they ran into the building together.
“Hey,” Lucas called. “You okay?”
“Yep. Coming.”
Will climbed out of the driver’s seat and walked towards his best friend.
“You look really tired. Did you stay up all night playing Magic and Mayhem again?”
“What? No!”
Lucas gave him a knowing, quizzical look.
“Okay, okay! Yes, fine. I stayed up all night talking to this guy who was, like, a Level 30.”
“Of course you did,” he smirked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Nothing! You’re just quite the nerd.”
“Am not!”
“Are too,” Lucas laughed.
“Well, you used to play it too, so…”
“So what?”
“Joining the basketball team doesn’t exactly get you out of being a nerd.”
“I dunno. I think it does,” he shrugged.
The first bell rang throughout the schoolyard.
“Wanna head to class,” Will asked.
“Already?”
English was their first class and Ms. O’Conner’s room was at the very front of the building, giving the pair an extra ten minutes every morning to do what they wanted.
“To be honest, I kinda wanna see where everyone else goes for first period. Just watch. Is that weird?”
“Eh, a little. But I’m bored and it’s hot as balls out here.”
Will and Lucas walked into the school building where kids of many sizes bustled about, opening lockers and classroom doors. Freshman seemed shorter to Will than they used to, but he tried not to think about that too much. The passing of time seemed all too real lately and he didn’t know what to do with his thoughts about it. Instead, he tried focusing on faces he did know. Troy Walsh and James Dante throwing a football over the sea of heads between their lockers, Max and Jane coming out of the bathroom with freshly done makeup, Jennifer Hayes leaning against her locker while on her phone, and walking past her was Dustin Henderson followed by Michael Wheeler .
Will groaned and after Lucas followed his gaze, he groaned too. They never talked to Mike Wheeler but they’d had classes with him and knew how he could be. He always wore clunky rings that made a lot of noise and didn’t take care of his hair, meaning it was everywhere all the time. A dark mass of tangled curls could hit you in the face in the middle of a lecture because he would fall asleep and let his head fall backward instead of forwards like a normal person. But it wasn’t just this that annoyed the boys, it was also the fact that everyone- anyone that didn’t call him emo- pined after him and they didn’t think he was much to look at.
Well , if you asked Will to look a little closer, he might admit that he actually thought Mike Wheeler was pretty in a way. His bone structure was sharp and the freckles coated his pale skin in a flattering pattern. But of course, he would never say it out loud, even to the few people who did in fact know that he was gay. Because liking Michael Wheeler would be too much for anybody , especially Will.
As the late bell rang, Lucas and Will slipped into their desks and pulled out their English books.
“Actually, kids, today we’re doing a project with Mr. Locke’s class. They’ll be here any minute and we’ll explain the project and pair you guys up. Yes, you heard me, we will be picking your partners. So no funny business, because we know who likes who.”
There was a loud knock and when Ms. O’Conner opened the door, the other class poured in, immediately occupying any empty desks and floor space. Will felt choked up by how many people were in the room now. Especially since one of them was Michael Wheeler. All Will had to do was listen to the project rules and hope not to get paired with him. But he wasn’t even that lucky.
“Wheeler and Byers, you guys will be doing… Let's see… What did I put down for you guys?”
Ms. O’Conner and Mr. Locke searched the clipboard, but Will never heard what their assignment was. He was still stuck on the fact that he was paired up with Michael fucking Wheeler .
“Hey.”
“Oh, hi.”
Will hoped he didn’t look as small as he felt while Mike stood next to him. In all fairness, he was sitting so Mike had the advantage, but he was still pretty tall. How had Will never noticed how tall he was?
“So… got any ideas?”
“What did we get?”
Mike smirked, “We got The Great Gatsby .”
“Oh, cool. I liked that one.”
“It was okay,” he shrugged.
How could he insult The Great Gatsby like that? It was a masterpiece laced with gay innuendos and the most confusing relationships of all time! Not to mention the drama and slight violence. Maybe he was homophobic? Will couldn’t even begin to protest. He just silently cringed and nodded along with Mike’s all-but-good ideas.
Five minutes before the bell, Will zipped up his untouched pencil case and shut his binder, only for everyone else to do the same at the very sound. Will felt a nudge and turned to see Mike holding his phone out to him.
“Can I get your number?”
“Uh, what?”
“So I can text you? For the project?”
“Oh, right. Yea— yes. Of course.”
Mike truly didn’t know what he was thinking. He’d seen Will Byers around school since Freshman year and never dared to talk to him. And then, they were finally paired together for a project and he couldn’t stop talking!
Will was clearly nervous around Mike; most people seemed to be these days. Whether it was for the same reason, he wasn’t sure. Dustin said people thought he was mean because of the way he dressed. But Mike was just happy to be wearing his own clothes for once and not the bright-colored polos and pun t-shirts his mom used to buy. Plus his long hair blocked the once frog-like features of his pale face.
While it significantly reduced the number of people bullying him, the everyday armor didn’t always help. So every afternoon when Mike got home from school, he would start up Magic and Mayhem and get lost in a different world.
Not only had Mike gotten his Paladin to Level 30 the night before, but he also met someone during the campaign. Mike liked that nobody knew anyone’s real identity in the game, but he also wished he had some idea of who this mystery person was. His character was self-designed and pretty badass, even if it was a Cleric.
His username was “thewise07” making him wonder if he was born in 2007, but people chose numbers for many reasons, surely it was like that. They had opened up a private chat after the campaign finished and managed to find a lot of things in common. They both had issues with their fathers and felt like they were supposed to be someone else or be doing something they weren’t. But that was as far as they had gotten before they fell asleep. So Monday after school, Mike had one goal in mind: finding him , but he was nowhere to be found.
Will was busy that night. He had spent hours on homework and trying to come up with a better idea than “old” for their Great Gatsby project. Will hoped that Mike would text or call with some sort of input, but he was left empty-handed. So around 10 pm, he logged on to Magic and Mayhem , looking for the charming Paladin he’d met the night before to lift his spirits.
Will found him in the lobby, unmoving. He was probably asleep or just away from his keyboard. Will decided to shoot his shot either way and turned on voice chat.
“Back again?”
There was a moment of silence and some rustling sounds like he was putting on his headset.
“Yeah! Actually, I was looking for you.”
“You were looking for me? How sweet.”
“Don’t push it. I can still leave.”
“Oh yeah? Go ahead.”
“Nah. What were you doing so late?”
“Homework and a project.”
“The project for Locke and O’Conner?”
“Uh… yeah. How’d you know?”
“I'm doing that one too.”
“Oh. Cool… cool.”
“What did you get?”
“Actually, I’ll catch you later. I'm gonna go to bed.”
“Oh, okay. Goodnight.”
“Night.”
Will couldn’t believe it. It just wasn’t possible. He knew that voice. And his knowledge of the project only confirmed his suspicions. He had been talking to Mike Wheeler. He had developed a crush on Michael Wheeler . And he couldn’t know, Mike couldn’t know it was him. So now, not only did he have no idea what to do about the project, he had to keep Mike from figuring out that he was the Cleric.