Chapter Text
May 1989
“Shit.” Will was fed up with the freaking tie.
No matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t tie his tie.
He had to leave in 30 minutes, but that tie was not cooperating. Suddenly Will wondered if he should even go to his prom. Would they even notice if I don’t go?
He felt ridiculous. At 18 years old, on the day of his senior prom, Will Byers still did not know how to do what every other man on earth can do.
Who would he even ask for help? His mom didn’t know either, and his brother was over 600 miles away.
God, I miss Jonathan. Will thought as tears started forming in his eyes.
Jonathan and Will did bicker a lot while they were in California and while they were living at the Wheeler’s house. Still, Will didn’t know how to exist without Jonathan. His brother was his mentor, his distraction from life, the person he would trust with anything, and the person who had all the answers to all his problems. He was now gone.
Jonathan applied to NYU in the spring of 1988, and with a beautiful essay about his brother’s disappearance, his passion for film, and his horrible father, he miraculously got in.
He left the following summer, so Will had only seen him 3 times since; on Thanksgiving, on Christmas, and on the weekend of his 18th birthday. That’s it.
He was possibly coming next week, for his graduation.
“Jonathan, I need you” Will whispered in front of the mirror, as if his brother would magically teleport from New York City to Hawkins.
Suddenly, a knock on his door made him jump. Will frowned, he lowered the sound of the music and replied “Come in!”
“Hey kid” Hop slowly opened the door and stood under the doorframe.
“Hey Hop” Will replied, his face red and sweaty from fighting with the damn tie.
“So today is prom” Hop said, awkwardly. Actually, most of their conversations were awkward for some reason.
“Yeah… today is prom” Will repeated, trying to remain polite when actually, due to his irritation, what he really wanted to say was, what’s your point?
“I know you’re a smart kid, but as the sheriff — and as your, mm, as an adult — I feel like I should remind you a couple things.” Hop recited, and it was so evident that he had practice beforehand.
Will took a deep breath and nodded. He was very anxious, and he wanted to scream and kick him out, but he would never be rude to Hopper. After everything that man had done for their family, including letting him and his mom live in his cabin, the least he deserved was respect.
“Do not drink and drive, do not let anyone pressure you to drink, if you do drink then please be mindful, pace yourself and stay hydrated, please call us if you’re staying at someone else’s house, and if you are doing anything you have to use protection-“
“Hop” Will cut him off sharply, feeling the embarrassment creeping up “Understood, thank you.”
The sheriff noted and started to step out of his bedroom.
“Wait” Will’s mouth was moving faster than his brain. He usually hated asking for help and feeling like a burden, but he could not waste another second on that tie “Can you help me with this?”
Hopper looked down and spotted the undone tie around his neck. He chuckled and nodded.
“Thank you” Will said as Hopper stepped closer to him “I know I should already know how to do this but-“
“Nah, not necessarily, I learned to do this when I was around your age.”
Will knew he was lying, but he appreciated it. Hopper always tried to make him feel less weird.
The man was awkward and clumsy, he rarely said the right thing, but still Will appreciated his persistent effort. Hopper tried to start conversations, he tried to give him dad talks, he tried to give Jonathan a short call every Sunday, he tried to keep his voice down, he tried to remember the little details, and he tried to be patient. He was not perfect, but he was trying.
“You know, for my senior prom, I stole my old man’s flask and snuck it into school. Your mom and I poured it into our punch. We got so wasted.” Hopper laughed as he remembered that night, and then he realized he was speaking to a teenager “Don’t do anything like that, okay?”
Will chuckled and nodded. Hopper knew he had nothing to fear. Will was a god kid, he would never steal or purposely get wasted. Even if, hypothetically, he did get drunk at some party, he would probably regret it.
“So Will, I actually need to talk to you about something else.” Hopper said once he finished fixing the tie. He cleared his throat and immediately Will started to worry.
“Oh my god, is mom pregnant?” Will said, half joking and half worried.
Hopper laughed loudly “She’s too old to get pregnant, kid”
Will frowned, not really sure what to respond. “Then what’s up?”
After a few moments of silence, Hopper finally started speaking “Look, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but I needed to ask you before.”
“Okay…” Will was confused, but intrigued.
“I have known your mother for a very long time. I have loved her for years, and she makes my life better in every single way. I know I have my imperfections but… but if maybe she agrees, I would like to spent the rest of my life with her.”
Will’s green eyes widen, he looked like a deer. He finally understood what was going on. “Oh my god”
“Before anything,” Hopper reached down and pulled a small black box from his back pocket “I wanted to ask for your blessing.”
Will’s big eyes fixed on the box, he nodded slowly as a huge smile formed on his lips “You have my blessing.”
“Thank you” Hopper smiled right back at him “You can’t say anything! This is a secret for now, okay?”
“I promise” Will replied, still smiling.
Will’s smile had become part of his daily futures. He was smiling so much lately. Since he could finally be a kid, he was enjoying every second of his senior year to the fullest. Hopper and Joyce were really enjoying his endless positivity.
“When are you going to ask her?” He asked, voice full of excitement like a little kid.
“Probably next week, when Jonathan comes home for your graduation, cause I need to ask him too. He worries me a little more.” Hopper replied.
“I’m sure he’ll be happy” Will chuckled “We just want her to be happy, and you make her happy. We can both see that.”
They stood there for a moment, smiling and glancing at the box. Hopper became so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice when tears started forming in Will’s eyes “Are you okay, kid?”
“I’m sorry” Will turned to look at the wall to avoid eye contact “She should be here.”
Hopper swallowed hard. They both stood there, in Eleven’s former bedroom, looking at each other.
“She should be here, getting ready for prom too, and getting excited about your engagement. She would be so happy that we were going to be 'real siblings,.”
Hopper turned to look at the wall too, where Will had a bulletin board filled with pictures. Pictures of his family, his friends, and Eleven was in most of them.
“When we were in California, I told her about prom. She seemed so excited-“ Will’s voice started shaking “I made her try mom’s prom dress, she looked really pretty. I really wish I had a picture, I’m sorry.”
Hopper looked down at the floor, trying to hold back tears “Look kid, don’t be sorry. We’re always going to miss her, specially on special occasion like this.“
“Yeah” Will’s tears started descending, his eyes shinning “I miss her so much.”
“Me too, kid.” Hopper finally met Will’s eyes and carefully opened his arms, offering him a hug.
Surprisingly, Will immediately wrapped his arms around Hopper tightly and sobbed.
Hopper was always secretly thankful towards Will. It was his disappearance that lead Eleven to his life. Now that she was gone, he couldn’t help but see a bit of her in the boy. Will Byers had been to hell and back, he had suffered so much, yet he remained kind. He was so much like El.
“She had a great dad” Will whispered, Hopper almost didn’t hear.
He mumbled back “And she had a great brother.”