Chapter Text
The Static Between Us- Chapter one.
Will's pov
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Will reached for the gun. A horrible squelching noise, followed by a bone shaking chitter. God. he thought, his entire body cold with sheer terror this is how I die isn't it.
This thing had been following him for some time. Maybe since hollyleaf ave? From the glances he took at it (while running away screaming like a little girl) it looked like some sort of freakishly pale, tall, humanoid thing, with a thin, bony frame.
It's face was a whole different story, it was as pale as the rest of its body, but it had no features. Will remembered. It was like it opened, like the worst flower you've ever seen. How is that biologically possible. Will shivered, How is any of this biologically possible.
The light bulb was getting brighter and brighter. The door of the shed was about to bust off of it's hinges, leaving will to deal with whatever that thing was outside. The horrid noises the creature was making outside made a horrible crescendo, the light bulb kept getting brighter. Will let out a squeak of utter fear when the bulb finally br-
*beep-beep* *beep-beep* *be-*
Will reached for the alarm clock and shut it off. another nightmare? He groaned to himself when am I going to stop having these? He begrudgingly flipped on the light and attempted to fully get up.
The morning air was crisp, but not in a cozy autumnal way, more like in the way that made will want nothing but to get back into bed and just throw in the towel for today.
The clock read 6:04 am. Entirely too early. He wondered if a 7:30 am start time counted as child abuse on the schools part.
Okay. He snapped back to reality, I need to actually get dressed. He pulled together a worn out t shirt and a pair of blue jeans. It wasn't the fanciest thing in the world, but it would do.
He noticed a neatly folded bunch of clothes on his desk. Right. He thought. That's today. Will sighed, He couldn't find a singular matching pair of socks.
It was all to early in the morning for this. And he stayed up all to late.
Slowly but surely, he got dressed. The creak of wood floors filled the quiet house as he made his way to the kitchen.
Johnathan was already there, making his lunch for work. "Oh my fuck, get. on. the. goddamn. sandwich." His brother threatened through gritted teeth
"What did that kraft single ever do to you?" Will laughed.
"Everything." Johnathan managed to breathe out. "Literally everything."
Will poured himself a bowl of whatever cereal they had. This time it was corn flakes. Fun. When breakfast was over he brushed his teeth. The handles of the bathroom faucet were off centered. Not enough to be conserving, but just enough to be annoying.
He put his binder and lunch into his bag. "Bye, heading out." He said. "Have a good day at school honey." His mother called back.
Will then walked out the door and made his way to the bus stop.
Apon getting on the bus, he got the many strange stares he always got. The girls behind him were loudly gushing about their wonderful dates. Will couldn't even be mad at them. At least they had dates. I would be lucky if there was another queer kid in the entire state, let alone one that would take me to prom, he thought. Even if there is someone, I know who I wish would ask m-
He figured that was enough of that. He knew that had no chance of happening. Even if he really, really wanted it too.
The bus pulled up to the "beautiful" building everyone called Hawkins high, and will headed through the foyer, down the halls, up the stairs, and straight to his locker.
First period pre-calc was not his favorite, he was never that good at math. But at least he sat next to Lucas, so there's that.
The teacher was droning on about something regarding number systems, but will couldn't care less. His mind was still stuck up on the date situation.
Everyone had a date.
Everyone except him, Ella from the marching band, and Mike, pretty much. He only knows about Ella not having a date from how openly she'd complained about it on the bus.
"Dude" Lucas exclaimed, "you missed like half a page of notes, you can copy mine if you want."
Shit. "Oh my God, have I really been spacing out for that long" Will asked.
"Yeah, kinda."
The next two classes went by rather quickly, but it was time for everyone to head to lunch.
He made his way out onto the field, where his friends were usually sat. "Hey." Will recognized the voice of his childhood best friend.
"Hi Mike, How's it going" he replied.
"Alright, I guess."
They sat in the grass, still waiting for the others to arrive.
We used to talk about every deepest darkest secret we ever had, and now all we can manage is some embarrassingly vague small talk. Will thought, a little frustrated. He gets why Mike wouldn't really want to talk, I mean, last year he saw the person closest to him get blown up with the terrifying wormhole.
El was like a sister to him, hell, she would have been his sister right now since their parents were married. And it wrecked him for those first couple months. He still feels a weight in the bottom of his stomach talking about it. He can't imagine how Mike would be taking it.
"Will?" Max snapped him out of it, the rest of the party seemed to arrive while will was spiralling. "Hello? I asked if you wanted my apple." "Oh, yeah sure" He took the apple, but he didn't eat it. He kind of just dropped it in the grass
"So, what's the deal with carpooling?" Mike asked, "I mean, who's going with who, and who's car are we taking? My mom can fit like maybe all of us if we pack in."
"Okay, but like what do you mean 'if we pack in', like would it be slightly more squished then usual, or like no personal space whatsoever?" Dustin wondered
"Probably the second one, have you seen his mom's car? I could probably pick it up." Max retorted, her face contorting into an expression will could only describe as "mildly cracking up but also trying to stay serious, but also failing?"
"I feel like it would be pretty entertaining to see you of all people try pick up a car." Mike laughed out. "Besides, it's not that small."
"I can bribe Jonathan into driving us." Will offered
"Yeah that would work." Mike said. He was looking at will, but not in the eyes? What else would he even want to look at on his face, there wasn't really much more than his eyes, come to think about it the human face was kind of weird. Like, what is up with it? There were two huge eyes in the center of the head, and the human body was about seven heads tall, and-
Instead of pondering the ever so important concept of anatomy, I should probably eat my lunch. He realized.
The conversation switched up a lot more times, but will wasn't really paying attention to that.
He probably shouldn't dwell on it, but he's still wrapped up around the date thing. It's not really that bad of him to just want someone to treat him right for one night of the year. The person he really wanted to treat him right was currently arguing with Lucas about whether or not he could win a fight with 1,000 pigeons. But that wasn't really that important.
It was kind of embarrassing having to shut himself up like this everytime he started mentally rambling about the crush he'd had since the 7th grade. It was really nothing, it would never be more than a crush, and will was just fine with that.
To be completely honest, he really wasn't but who cares about that amirite?
"Hey man, you alright? You've been kinda quiet today." Dustin asked him
"Oh I'm fine, busy day I guess."
"You know you can tell us if anythings bothering you, right? That's what we're here for." Mike worried, the sunlight framing his face in a way that made will want to curl up and cry.
No, I really can't.
"Yeah, but nothing's going on guys." He reassured "Promise."
Lunch eventually finished up, and they went back inside.
The buzz of excitement filling the halls was getting a little irritating. After a long hard day of constantly spiraling about how he'll probably die alone, he was worn out.
He made his way down the hall and back to his locker. The stupid thing has always been finicky, but it just wouldn't open. Will had to get the help of whoever had hall monitor duties today.
This time on the bus, the girls that sat behind him didn't say much. Around the 5 minute mark the bus driver accidentally hit the curb, with a mildly concerning thump. The seats were peeling and the windows were fogged up, honestly not the nicest place in the world.
He unlocked the front door of his house with his spare key and went inside.
"Hey, how was school?" Jonathan asked, not looking up from whatever he was reading.
"Good." He answered, "Me, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max need a car to get to the school for the dance later, could you drive us?"
"Yeah, sure." His brother replied, barely paying attention.
Will went to his room and stared at the clothes still on his desk from the night before. Suddenly a thought came to his mind, it was a pretty bold idea. It was the biggest night of his highschool life, so bold it was.