Chapter Text
After finishing up with the lasagna that Mrs Wheeler had prepared for Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin and Max, the party had come to an agreement about going to Stacey’s graduation party. Max said it was to honour Mike’s theory of El being alive and living her best, free life. But that was just her excuse to get out of playing more d&d.
Mike was hesitant at first, however Will’s persuasion towards the idea of going to their first ever house party easily convinced him to agree to go.
Stacey’s house was relatively close to the Harrington’s house. Normally, it would take about a 10-15 minutes to get from the Wheeler’s house, however since Max finally got her drivers license she had insisted on driving them there.
“Come on you have to let me drive, I can guarantee you I’ll get us there in like.. under 5 minutes.” She argued.
Dustin was interested in challenging Max’s statement, calling “bull” on it, that it would take longer than that.
“Fine. You don’t believe me? Well, then how about the loser has to do something stupid in front of everyone at the party.” Max dared.
“Deal!” Dustin confidently agreed.
“Oh no.. I have a bad feeling about this.” Lucas sighed.
Dustin was proven wrong, she made it in exactly 4 minutes and 51 seconds. After all, Max was a true zoomer.
Dustin knew this meant that Max was probably going to make him do the most humiliating thing in front of all the girls in their class. “How exciting..” he thought to himself.
It was around 9pm and the house was packed with what seemed roughly over a hundred people, people who all 5 of them had seen around at school for years but never even spoken to. There were also some unfamiliar faces at this party, perhaps graduating teens from other schools?
Maybe this party was their opportunity to meet and mingle with new people. At least that is what Will thought.
Within 10 seconds of entering the crowded two-story house, a tall, muscular boy with curly hair bumped into Mike, spilling what looked like red punch over his shirt.
“Oh sh*t man!” Mike shrieked in anger.
“Sorry, maybe watch out next time.” The boy was Andy, one of the boys who had bullied Dustin back in ‘87, apart of Lucas’ basketball team in ‘86.
However no one had seemed to notice the punch being spilt on Mike as they were all too amazed by the feeling of actually being at a party for the first time.
The room around them illuminated with life and exposure, a vibe that completely juxtaposed the depressing vibes of Hawkins high school.
Mike quickly stormed off to find a bathroom to try and clean up the mess on his blue, stripped shirt.
Dustin headed over to the kitchen to look for any sort of alcohol, he intended on getting absolutely wasted.
This meant it was Max, Lucas and Will together, standing a little lost and out of place amongst the rest of the people. Lucas seemed the most comfortable with the situation as he had been to a small party with the basketball team before, his first time he got drunk.
Over in the kitchen, Dustin searches through all the interesting looking bottles of different alcohols, deciding which one to pick.
“Hey, Henderson.” A tall, dark haired boy with dark eyes casually appears to him.
Dustin turns his head to his right to see who it is that is interested in talking to him. Chance. Of course it was.
Dustin shot a vaguely irritated look at him, “Oh, hey.” He responds looking back down at the bottles of drinks.
“Uhm, I just wanted to say.. your speech was great today.” He stated.
“Mhm. Thanks.” Dustin dryly replied.
Chance hesitated before continuing, “and also.. I’m sorry for the way us jocks treated you throughout high school. It wasn’t cool.”
“Hm. Wow, glad you finally realised that.” Dustin replied sarcastically.
Chance laughed awkwardly at his comment, he knew Dustin wasn’t convinced at his sincerity.
He continued, “You know it’s just, Jason. He had us convinced that the hellfire club was some sort of satanic cult, and that you guys were killing people from our school. And, I know none of that makes sense but..” his thoughts trailed off.
“I don’t know. I guess we were just mad after the deaths and seeing you try to bring back hellfire brought that anger back too.. ” Chance seemed to finish like he knew Dustin would understand his feelings.
Dustin looked at the boy who just spilled his guts out to him. His gaze softened slightly.
“I mean, your excuse doesn’t justify your actions but.. they’re understandable. I guess I will forgive you-“ Dustin began.
Chance’s expression turned hopeful, Dustin continued, “-if you let me punch you in the face.”
This made Chance giggle. “Alright fine, sounds fair enough.”
~
Max, Lucas and Will were sitting on a couch in the living room, looking more relaxed than what they did when they first entered the house.
Max and Will had grabbed a red plastic cup and filled it with beer from the keg stand, which was placed in the corner of the room. Lucas had a fresh can of coke in his hand that he had randomly found on the floor beside the keg stand.
“So, what do you think I should make Dustin do tonight?” Max asked the two boys sitting next to her, taking a sip from her cup.
Lucas smiled at her like he thought she was crazy for still holding onto the stupid bet they had made half an hour ago. Will, however seemed eager to join in on Max’s plan to humiliate their curly haired friend.
It wasn’t like him to get excited about things like this, however it may have just been due to the fact that he was now pretty close with Max.. and the fact that he may have been a little tipsy.
Will began to speak but quickly paused to come up with an idea.
Whilst in thought, Will looked over towards the kitchen where Dustin had gone to. He spotted him talking to someone who he almost instantly recognised just from looking at the back of his head. Tall, tan, gorgeous, deep brown hair that looked perfect even without any styling, a player from the basketball team, also.. an asshole. It was Chance.
It was annoying how easily Will could recognise him, even from this far away.
Will hadn’t realised, because he was too distracted by this boy, that he forgot that Max and Lucas were waiting to hear a response from him.
They both turn their heads around to see who Will was staring at. Then suddenly-
“Oh my goodness!” Will quietly gasped. Max and Lucas display the same shocked look on their faces.
The pretty boy they were all staring at was hit straight in the face.. by Dustin Henderson.
Immediately the three of them run towards the kitchen. Others were staring at Dustin and Chance but did not do anything about it, they were either too drunk to realise what happened or they’ve seen this kind of drama before at parties so they didn’t care.
“Dustin what the hell is going on??” Max asked alert, yet amused at the same time.
“Everything’s okay, Just getting what I deserve.” Chance instantly responds, rubbing the area of cheekbone that Dustin had just insulted.
Will directs his eyes up at Chance, with a slight worry in his face that he tries not to show. Chance looks back at him and Will immediately averts his eyes back to Dustin. A curious look flickers across Chance’s face.
“Me and Chance were just making amends, weren’t we?” Dustin clarified. Chance gives him a smile and a quick nod.
Max begins to speak, “Yeah okay whatever, me and Lucas need to talk to you about what you’re gonna have to do tonight.”
Dustin rolled his eyes as Max pulls him and Lucas into the dinning room near the door which leads to the outside patio. Will thought he should probably follow them in there, but for some reason, his feet remained glued to the area beside Chance.
“So.. is this your first party, Byers?” Chance’s voice startled Will, almost like as if he wasn’t expecting Chance to speak to him. Chance immediately noticed his startled reaction.
“Woah are you okay?” He asked, placing his hand lightly on Will’s shoulder.
“Uh. Yeah no, I’m okay I’m just.. surprised.” Will responded.
“Surprised? What, that I’m talking to you?” Chance giggled in a light tone.
That brought out a smile in Will that almost made Chance melt right on the spot.
“No i just mean, you know, you calling me ‘Byers’. No one ever calls me that.” Will explained.
“Oh. Do you prefer that I call you ‘zombie boy’?” Chance asked.
Will thought for a moment, “Hm, no it’s okay.” he responds, drifting his eyes off to the side.
Chance studies his expression for a few seconds. “I like Byers better, it has a better ring to it..”
Will looks back up at Chance, intrigued by his comment. Chance leans down slightly, his face close up to Will’s ear.
“It suits you.” He whispers, looking back at Will’s startled face as he slowly stands up straight again. Will can feel a sudden pinkish warmth on his cheekbones, which sends bolts of electricity through his body.
~
Mike comes out from the bathroom, wondering around the house to find someone he knows. He spots Will over in the kitchen and immediately rushes over towards him.
“Dude that was so annoying. I can’t believe that idiot would spill his punch all over me. You know, I bet it was on purpose. He knew it would make me mad.” Mike rambles on to Will.
Will awkwardly stares at him like as if he’s intruded on something. Because that was exactly what he had done.
Mike notices his expression, raising a confused look on his face. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? did something hap-“
Suddenly Mike realises that Will isn’t the only one staring at him. Beside him, Chance appears in a fiddly expression, with one hand uncomfortably placed at the back of his head.
“Hey..” Chance laughs awkwardly.
Mike looks back and forth from Will to Chance, as if something in his brain wasn’t comprehending fully to him.
Will was the first to break the awkward silence. Or perhaps not silence, but rather the faint loudness of music and chattering that had created the silence between them.
“Uh, we were just-“
“Leaving. Come one let’s find the others.” Mike interjects, pulling at Will’s left arm firmly.
“What, no Mike. What the hell are you doing?” Will questions angrily, using his other arm to pull Mike’s hand off him.
Mike scoffed at Will in disbelief of the words coming out of his mouth. For a second, Will hadn’t believed what he just said either.
An entertained grin slowly lights up on Chance’s face, amused by the irritable reactions of two best friends who were usually always wanting to be by each other’s side.
“What do you mean? Are you suggesting you’d rather spend your time partying with some random douche over your best friends?” Mike asked Will, in the same tone he used to use when they would fight over their friendship. Except this time Will wasn’t the one fighting for the friendship, it was Mike.
“It doesn’t seem to bother the others. Besides, it’s not like this is the only time we’re gonna see each other again.” Will impassively points out.
Mike stares at Will for a slight second before surrendering, “Fine. I’m going to hang with the others.”
Mike looks back at Chance sceptically before pushing through the crowd and leaving the kitchen.
“What’s up with him?” Chance asked intrigued by what he just witnessed.
“Nothing really, he’s just weird like that.” Will replied robotically.
“Well.. I’m glad you chose me over that controlling freak.” Chance remarked.
“What?” Will says, letting out a soft giggle.
“Look, I get he’s your best friend and all but I swear he’s always glued to your side like he doesn’t want anyone else to be near you or something. It’s fine to wanna be with your friends a lot but it gets to a point, you know.” Chance elaborated.
“And how exactly do you know that he’s always by my side? You spying on me at school or something?” Will asked intriguingly with a playful smile on his face.
Chance nervously smiles back, realising he just exposed himself to Will. He leans down slightly to get closer to Will, their faces are inches apart.
“Well it’s not very hard to spot a pretty boy like you, isn’t it?” he replies, staring into Will’s suddenly dilated eyes.
Is this a dream or did Chance really just say that?
Will quickly pinched the side of his leg. Definitely wasn’t a dream.
“Also, Mike is just so loud and annoying you can hear him from a mile away.” Chance joked.
Will laughed instantly, ease hugging the gentle features on his face.
His smile quickly vanished away, he lowered his beautiful green eyes slightly down from Chance’s eyes to his left cheek.
He places his right hand over the side of Chance’s jawline, gently brushing Chance’s cheek with his thumb. Chance could feel his cheeks turning faintly red.
What was this boy doing? Was he about to kiss him?
I mean to be fair, Chance had sort of just been flirting with him just now.
Suddenly, Chance’s thoughts were interrupted by the shorter boy’s voice,
“Dustin must of hit you hard, your face is red. It’ll probably start bruising soon.” Will raises in a concerning tone, carefully studying Chance’s face.
Will Byers was a boy full of surprises. First of all, Chance hadn’t even expected to see this boy at the party. He thought that Will was the type of person who hated large events like this and preferred to stay in quiet places with a few friends.
Secondly, Chance was shocked by how much Will had been worrying about Dustin punching him in the face.
The shock must have shown on his face because seconds later, Will quickly removed the hand from Chance’s face as if he just realised what he did may have been overstepping something.
A sudden feeling of coldness rushes over Chance’s face, even though the heat of summer and the humidity of people crowded in the kitchen had made the room feel like the Sahara desert.
Both of their eyes wander around the room, at the random people making out, raiding the fridge and chugging cups of alcohol down their throats. Suddenly the feeling of being inside was overwhelming.
“Wanna head out the front?” Chance asks Will. He nods in agreement, quickly grabbing a cup of red punch.
~
Max and Lucas are playing beer pong against two other students from Hawkins high out on the back patio. Mike is standing on the side of the table watching all 4 of them play.
Max has the ping pong in her hand, carefully taking her time calculating how far to throw it so it lands in one of the cups. Lucas is quietly cheering her on, making sure it’s not too loud that it distracts her.
Max makes a perfect shot in one of the cups of beer. “YES!!” she shouts, facing towards Lucas, who has raised both his hands in the air to give her a celebratory high five.
Mike rolls his eyes unimpressed by Max’s strategic win.
“Seriously? That’s what you call fun?” Mike whined to the winning couple.
Max rolled her eyes back at Mike. Lucas gives Mike a weird look.
“Why don’t you try it out yourself? It’s way better than just watching.” Lucas suggests in an almost offended tone.
“No thanks, I’m good.” Mike refuses.
“Okay party pooper, why don’t you go find Dustin, check if he’s going to do the thing I asked him to do.” Max ordered.
“What exactly was it that you told him to do?” Mike asked the red haired girl.
Max and Lucas look briefly at each other with an evil grin.
“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough..” Lucas cleared his throat.
“Okay, whatever man.”
~
Mike begins to walk inside, through to the living room, which Dustin had been spending his time in. He was sitting on the couch with some girls, making a bunch of unfunny jokes that somehow managed to make them all laugh.
“Hey Dustin, Max wants to know if you’re ready to do the bet.” Mike stands awkwardly from the side of the couch. Dustin doesn’t seem to hear or notice Mike in the room.
“Hey Dustin!” Mike repeats, speaking in a louder, more annoyed tone.
This catches Dustin’s attention, he turns to Mike raising an eyebrow as to wonder what Mike is going to say.
“Are you ready to do the dare?” Mike asked.
Dustin looks at him with a regretful face, wondering why he ever agreed to this bet in the first place. He gets up from the couch.
“Alright ladies, I’ve gotta go. See you later.” Dustin smiles as he and Mike walk out the room and through to the back door.
~
Out the front of the house, Chance and Will had made their way down the porch steps and sat down on the grass. They had been talking there for about half an hour now. There weren’t many people out here, making Will’s time with Chance feel more personal and intimate, which made him a bit nervous.
“You’re really big into arts aren’t you?” Chance asked Will.
“Yeah, how did you know?” He questioned, turning to face towards Chance.
“English class, junior year.” Chance replies.
“What?” Will says confused.
“We were in the same class, you always sat behind me. Don’t you remember?” Chance reminded him, seemingly disappointed.
“No, of course I remember! I’m just confused how that has to do with me liking art?” Will genuinely wonders.
“Oh, come on! Don’t act like you wouldn’t constantly talk about it to Mike when you were supposed to be listening to the teacher!”
It was true. After they cut off the connection between the abyss and the real world, Will hadn’t seen much of Mike. Him and Jonathan started living in Hopper’s cabin and he was spending more time after school painting in the art room instead of hanging out with friends. It was mostly a way of him dealing with his emotions after losing Jane. The only time he got to really talk to Mike was in English class so he used that time to talk about art.
Sitting behind Chance in that class was also the reason why he was able to recognise who Dustin had been talking to earlier that night.
“That’s not true! Sometimes I wouldn’t listen to the teacher because I was too distracted by your annoying foot tapping!” Will argued teasingly.
“My what?!” Chance begins, pretending to be offended, “How dare you insult my foot tapping, it is not annoying!”
“It kind of is though..” Will admitted, squinting one of his eyes.
Chance giggled at Will’s comment. Maybe the foot tapping was annoying, but he would never admit that to him.
Chance slightly shifts from the position he was sitting in, there is a beat of silence before he speaks, “I like talking to you, Byers.”
Will looks at Chance with a soft smile on his face. “I like talking to you too. You’re not what I expected.”
This raises a curious expression on Chance’s face. “Well what were you expecting?” The brown eyed boy asked.
Will thought for a moment, looking up at the tiny sprinkles of light that have filled the night sky. He looks back at Chance before speaking,
“Honestly I’m just amazed you even wanted to talk to me. I mean, I’m the boy everyone would avoid at school and you’re a jock who would bully ‘freaks’ like me but everyone seemed to love because you’re so gorgeous or whatever..” Will anxiously rambles.
“Gorgeous you say?” Chance grins.
Will looks at Chance, red blush now shining on his face.
“Uh- I mean like, that’s what.. what people- other people think of you, you know-“ Will stutters.
Chance lets out a giggle, staring in awe of Will’s nervousness.
“So.. if I bully ‘freaks’ like you, why are you hanging out with me?” Chance asks.
Will stares at Chance for a few seconds before responding, “I don’t know.. if you bully freaks like me, why are you hanging out with me?”
Chance smiles flirtatiously at Will, “Hm.. I don’t know..”
Progressively throughout this conversation, they had been moving closer and closer to each other until eventually their hands were wrapped in each others and their faces were about an inch apart.
Will shifts his eyes down at Chance’s lips and back up at his eyes, which have a sudden glimmer in them that he hadn’t noticed before. Chance mirrors the look.
Will was still unsure whether or not he was dreaming. If he made one wrong move, everything about this night could go completely wrong. However, in that moment all he knew is that he didn’t care. He went in for it.
~
Mike and Dustin have now found Max and Lucas at the ping pong table outside on the patio.
“Hey guys, I found Dustin.” Mike says.
Max and Lucas look at Dustin with a cheeky grin on their faces, Dustin displays the exact opposite of their reactions. Dread.
“Wait so will someone now tell me what Dustin has to do?” Mike insisted.
“They’re making me sing ‘Never ending story’ in front of everyone and pushing me into the pool halfway through it..” Dustin shamefully admits.
This brings out an excited face of disbelief to Mike, Max was evil.
“You guys aren’t letting go of that are you?” Mike chuckled.
“Nope. I’m going to remind Dusty bun of this for the rest of his life!” Max proudly smiles.
Dustin smiles back sarcastically, giving her the finger.
“Oh wait! We should find Will, he needs to see this!” Lucas excitingly suggests to the 3 of them.
“I’ll go look for him.” Mike instantly volunteers.
~
Mike wasn’t actually sure where to look. He assumed that maybe Will was still in the kitchen so he went to go look there. The boy wasn’t in sight.
He began to search the rest of the house. The living room, the dining room, the bathroom, bedrooms, and another small room that looked like a study office, but Mike wasn’t too sure as there were many people crowded in there.
Mike began to panic. Where could Will be?
Then he realised there was one place he hadn’t checked. The front yard.
Mike quickly pushes past all the drunk teens, who were clumsily dancing, and makes his way out the front door.
Standing on the porch, Mike scans around him for any sight of Will. There’s a guy and a girl, about 6 feet away from him, passed out on a wooden bench. No sight of Will.
Mike lets out a defeated sigh and turns around to head back inside, until-
The sound of soft giggles suddenly echoes from below the porch steps. Mike recognised the sound.
Cautiously, he turns back to face the road and houses outside in the street, making his way slowly down the steps of the porch.
Mike turns to his right to find two boys leaned against the porch skirting.
His best friend and the king of Hawkins High… making out.
Mike’s bottom jaw automatically drops at the sight of the two boys cozied up together.
What was Will thinking? Kissing a boy who bullied Dustin 18 months ago?
Sure, the jocks had thought Dustin was a part of a cult that killed their friends Chrissy, Jason and Patrick - and sure, Dustin had made himself an easy target by wearing the hellfire shirt at school all the time - but did that make Chance’s actions justifiable? How could Will do this?
Thinking back on what happened earlier in the kitchen, it hadn’t made sense to Mike why they had started talking to each other in the first place. It was almost too random to just suddenly happen.
Mike walks back to the patio where Lucas, Max and Dustin were waiting. His face is still in shock from what he just witnessed.
“Hey where’s Will?” Max asked Mike.
Mike stood still, partially zoned out before asking, “Since when do Chance and Will know each other?”
The question had come to a surprise to the three of them.
“Oh, since tonight probably. Why?” Dustin answered.
“Well, it just doesn’t make any sense because that asshole literally bullied you, why would Will be with him?” Mike questioned, obviously annoyed.
“Wait hold on, they’re still together?” Lucas wondered.
“You guys saw them together too?” Mike asked confused.
“Yeah, but it started off as Chance and Dustin talking in the kitchen and then we came over after he punched him.” Max explained.
“Wait Chance punched Dustin?!?!” Mike angered.
“No, no, no. Dustin punched Chance.” Max clarified. Lucas placed his hand on his face.
“Oh… Why exactly did you do that?” Mike wondered, directing his eyes towards Dustin.
“As a way of accepting his apology for bullying me two years ago.” Dustin smiled.
Mike gave Dustin a look of disgust for wanting to accept the jock’s apology.
“Wait you still haven’t answered my question, where is Will?” Max asks for a second time.
“Uh, he.. he’s making out.. with Chance..”
Dustin and Lucas’ eyes widen in disbelief, a huge smile plasters on Max’s face.
“Hey guys I think I have a better idea instead of Dustin’s bet..” Max begins, “Let’s spy on Will.”
The four of them run inside, past the crowd to the front. Max is giggling loudly, unable to contain her excitement.
“Shhh, be quiet Max or they’ll hear us!” Lucas loudly whispers to her.
“Sorry! I just can’t believe Will is finally getting his first kiss from a guy!” Max giggled.
They lean against the porch railing, looking down at the two boys who Mike had claimed to have seen all over each other.
They weren’t making out anymore.
Their backs were up against the skirting. Will’s head was rested on Chance’s shoulder, while the other boy’s head was rested on Will’s head. Their complementing hair shades were messy and entangled together.
Both of their eyes were closed, they were silent, unsure whether or not they were both passed out or if they were just enjoying each other’s presence in the silence.
Between the small gap that their thighs had created, existed both their hands, which were encased like a puzzle that was just pieced together.
“Holy shit, this is insane.” Max whispered, looking down at Will and Chance.
“What is going on, are they sleeping?” Dustin asks, speaking in a quiet tone that matched Max’s.
“I don’t know..” Lucas begins, hesitating slightly before continuing, “But damn, I always thought Chance was the straightest of the group.”
Max stares at Lucas for a few seconds before letting out a light giggle.
“Will’s just too good to resist I guess, Mike you fumbled BADLY.” Max teased.
“Uh. What the hell Max!” Mike spits back, offended.
The four of them start laughing and bickering as Max and Mike argue again for the millionth time this week.
“We can hear you guys, you know.” Will suddenly speaks in an annoyed tone from below.
A silence breaks out amongst the four of them. They immediately look back down at Will and Chance, who are now looking up at them. Chance’s expression is dull, while Will’s expresses slight irritation for ruining the moment he had with the charming jock.
“Uh, sorry. So sorry about my annoying friends. We’ll go back inside and party, see you later Chance. Sorry, Will.” Dustin awkwardly responds, motioning the others to follow him inside.
Will and Chance look back at each other, worry fills Will’s glowing eyes.
“I’m so sorry, I-“
“It’s okay.” Chance laughs, quickly cutting Will off from apologising.
“Your friends seem pretty cool, I think I may have been wrong about them.” Chance finishes.
“You really think so?” Will genuinely asks.
“Yeah. Still iffy about Mike though, did Max say he fumbled you?” Chance smiles teasingly.
A panicked look appears on Will’s face. Why did Max have to say that??
“Uhh.. don’t worry about that, that was something from a long time ago.” Will quickly explains, trying not to seem nervous.
Keep it together Will.
The worry in his tone shifts to something more light, “You’re all I care about right now.”
Chance giggles, placing both his hands on Will’s face. “How are you so cute?“
Will smiles nervously, his cheeks growing pinkish-red. Chance leans in to kiss Will’s nose before letting go of his face.
“You know what?” Will begins.
“What is it?” Chance asks, curiosity arising on his face.
“I kind of do feel like partying now.” Will grins.
“What are we waiting for then?” Chance smiles as he reaches for Will’s hand and drags him into the house.
~
For about an hour, Will and Chance spent their time drinking and dancing together in the crowd. They would sing as loud as they could whenever they knew the lyrics to the songs that played, not caring how badly their singing voices were. Chance’s voice was slightly raspy, which made Will giggle. He thought it was sexy.
‘Into the Groove’ by Madonna started playing on the speakers, making the crowd go wild.
Will recognised the song, a wide smile develops on his face.
“Hey I know this song, Max sings it all the time when it plays on the radio!” Will beams, hitting Chance on his forearm repeatedly out of excitement.
Chance let out a heartwarming laugh. He wrapped his arms around Will’s neck, pulling their bodies closer together as they swayed to the music.
Get into the groove. Boy, you’ve got to prove your love to me, yeah~
Being this close to Chance in front of all these people made Will a little anxious. He chugged down the rest of the punch that was in the cup he was holding, hoping it might calm his nerves for a bit.
Throughout his entire childhood, Will had been bullied for liking boys, even though he never openly said he did, people seemed to just assume it because of how he acted and dressed. For a long time, he hated himself for being this way.
Of course after all these years though, he had finally accepted who he was and he wasn’t afraid of that version of himself anymore. It was rather the fact that he’d never actually had any romantic experience with a guy before which made this scary for Will.
The physical closeness he shared with Chance didn’t seem to bother anyone though.
He was grateful for this because being with Chance made him feel so alive and happy.
He was able to loosen up again, easing the tension in his shoulders.
“We might be lovers if the rhythm’s right-“ Chance honeyed along to the lyrics.
“-I hope this feeling never ends tonight!” Will passionately finishes the lyrics, swaying his arms up in the air.
The two boys smiled enthusiastically at each other. They stayed in this exact position until the end of the song, not wanting to let go.
~
Soon they had to take a bit of a pause on the dancing, because Will was now suuuppper drunk.
“Ahhh! Stoopppp! Where are we goingggg??” Will giggled, as Chance held onto him to stop him from stumbling over people or the furniture.
“We’re going to go outside and relax for a bit.” Chance answered in a soft tone.
“Waitttt nooooo..!! I wanna go parrrttyy with Maaaaax! She’s over thereee.” Will complained, pointing over to where Max was.
Chance dragged Will past Max and outside to the patio.
“Awwwhhh.” Will frowned, looking over his shoulder at Max, who was waving at him.
“It’s okay Will, you can see Max later you’re just really drunk right now.” Chance reassured him, placing Will down on the sofa outside.
“Noooo babyyy, I’m not drunkkk I promise!!” Will lied, wrapping his arms around Chance’s neck and pulling him down next to him.
“Baby??” Chance laughed, admiring drunk Will.
“Oh oops- I mean Chance. Are you Chance? wait yes. Hey Chancccee what are the chances.. I meet a guy named Chance?! Ahhhahaha wait that’s so funny.” Will rambles on, making Chance laugh even harder than he was before.
Suddenly Chance loved his name. The sound of his name escaping off the tip of Will’s tongue made it sound like an angelic melody he had always longed to hear for. That is what every word Will Byers spoke sounded like to him.
Abruptly, Will pushes Chance off of him, “Why are you laughingggg???” he asks offended.
Chance attempts to catch his breath, holding back any further laughter.
“I’m not laughing, I swear!” Chance lies, holding his arms up on a 90 degree angle.
“Can we sleep for a bit, please? I’m tired.” Will pleads in a quieter tone, shifting closer towards Chance.
“Yeah, okay.” Chance agrees wrapping his arm around Will, placing his hand on Will’s chest.
~
An hour later, Will woke up from his nap. Chance was already awake, with his arm still hugged around Will.
Will slowly looked up at Chance with a confused expression, “Wh..what happened?” his voice sounding sleepy.
“You fell asleep remember?” Chance smiled.
“Oh.. okay.”
Chance had seen Will almost everyday at school, either in the halls or when they had the same class. However, he never got to see his face in its full image, at least not up closely.
Tonight he had began to notice smaller details. The light blush of pink on his cheeks, the little mole above his lip, the low smile he makes when he gets nervous, the way his nose slightly twitched as he began to wake up.
Even in this lighting now, he noticed a faintness of brown around the green in Will’s glowing irises, like soil that buries itself in a meadow of grass.
How on earth could someone be so beautiful? And what could he have possibly done to deserve to be holding onto this dear boy right now?
Chance gently brushed a loose piece of hair to the side that had been covering Will’s eyes. He wanted to hold forever onto to the fragile beauty that was currently staring back at him.
“How are you feeling?” Chance asked.
Will thought for a moment, “I think I’m ready to party with Max now.. that is if you’ll let me.” he smiled, making a small groaning noise as he stretched his arms out.
The both of them head inside to spend some time partying with the others.
Max was the wildest party animal of them all. For a prolonged amount of time she stood up on the dining table, screaming random chants to all the other party goers who were as drunk and wild as her. It was pretty clear she was now the queen of this party.
Lucas, who was the only one out of them not drunk, kept trying to reach for her hand to get her to come down. He was afraid she might fall or get hurt, but of course Max would refuse. He decided to just go along with it and admire her having the amount of fun she was having, her happiness also made him happy too.
Dustin was off somewhere again, not with any girls this time, but instead with the other jocks from the basketball team. It seems as though after making up with Chance, it was also easier to get along with the other jocks too and they actually enjoyed each other’s company.
Mike was still stiff with the whole partying, maybe due to the fact that since being here he had red punch all over him. He did enjoy having a change of scenery though, instead of always being in his basement or at the video arcade with his friends.
~
At around 2am, the life of the party began to ease down. People were starting to leave.
Max, Lucas, Mike and Will decided that it was time they ended this exciting experience and left to go home.
Dustin stayed back at the party. He told the others that he would spend the night at the Harrington’s down across the street (even though he had no idea whether or not Steve would even be there).
They had all said goodbye to him before exiting the house.
They begin to walk out the front, Chance follows out with them just so he can spend a little more time with Will.
“Awh I’m so sad you have to leave already.” Chance whines, holding onto Will’s hands.
“Already? It’s been like 5 hours.” Will smiles playfully at him.
“I know but still.. how will I see you again?” Chance asks.
“You sure you wanna see me again after tonight? Weren’t you really drunk.” Will questioned.
“No, that was literally you! I didn’t even drink tonight.” Chance defended himself.
“Wait you didn’t? Why not?” Will asked, feeling slightly betrayed over the fact that he was the only one wasted this whole time.
“I’ve got work in the morning, can’t be hung over during my shift.. you know.” Chance admitted, with a tone of nervousness.
Will giggled in a flirty tone, “Alright fine, I’ll give you my number. I’m not expecting a call back though.” He surrendered.
Will took a sharpie out and wrote the number on Chance’s arm, drawing a few little smiles and stars around it just for fun. He always kept a sharpie and a few pencils in his pocket, just in case he ever felt like drawing. Or in this case, for giving a cute guy his number.
A wide smile spread across Chance’s face.
“We haven’t got all night Will, are you coming?” Lucas shouts from the car that Max and Mike are already seated in.
Will and Chance look over to him, “Yeah, one second!” Will responds back.
They look back at each other, “Guess this is goodbye then.” Chance sighs.
“I guess so..” Will sadly answers.
“I had a fun time with you, Byers.” Chance admits with a gentle smile.
Will stares at him for a short moment before reaching his arms out and digging his fingers into the back of Chance’s head, messing his hair up. Will leans on his tippy toes to give him one last kiss on the cheek where a faint purple bruise had appeared from the punch earlier that night. He pulls his arms away and stands up properly again.
Chance admires the gloomy boy before speaking again in a more sarcastic tone, “You tryna punch my face now too? That might have hurt more than when Dustin did it.” Chance smiles teasingly.
This lights Will’s face up again.
“Hopefully the bruise doesn’t look too bad in the morning, you might actually look ugly.” Will teases back.
Chance scoffs, pretending to be offended by Will’s silly insult.
“But hey, I had fun with you too.” Will adds.
Chance gives Will a kiss on the forehead before watching him leave to head to the car. Will looks back at him and waves, Chance waves back.
Will gets into the car. Lucas is in the driver’s seat, driving this time, since Max was kind of wasted from the all the alcohol she drunk.
From the passenger’s seat, Max turns to face Will in the backseat. “Seems like you had a fun night tonight, am I right? I mean the jock and the artsy boy, who would’ve thought?”
Will directs his eyes at Max, who is giggling to herself like she just said the funniest thing ever.
Lucas let out a big sigh, “Remind me to never let you drink that much again.”
Max sticks her tongue out at Lucas, who is looking at her from his peripheral vision. He lets out a small smile, whilst staying focused on the road.
Will then turns to look back at the window, planting a small smile on his face. He was glad he came to this party.
The rest of the car ride was quiet, but comforting. Will couldn’t help but replay all the exciting events of that night, resting his hand on his mouth to hide the huge smile that he had on his face.
He hoped to hear a call from the phone the next morning. He wondered if Chance found tonight as amazing and exciting as he did. If he did, perhaps he could finally get the romance he had always longed for but never thought he deserved.
Because.. he did deserve this didn’t he?
Will sensed that good things were to come.