Hawkins, Indiana,

Saturday, November 5th, 1983

Will Byers
It was a cool November evening. Outside, dry orange leaves were blowing in the wind. Drifting down from trees like baby birds leaving a nest. On a Saturday evening such as this one, most people were inside. Relaxing with a nice movie. Spending time with a significant other. Making plans to do homework but ultimately procrastinating and waiting until the last minute. All of these people might describe what they did as fun or necessary. If they saw what Will Byers was doing, they'd probably laugh and dismiss him as unimportant. Maybe it was a bit sappy, but to Will, spending time with his friends was fun to him.

"Hello. Earth to Will."

Will gasped a bit. A small hand waving in front of his face. At the moment he was currently sitting in the basement of one Mike Wheeler. Mike's eyes were a soft brown. Like some of the coffee Will saw his mom drink whenever she had to work late. His hair was way darker though. He had a small frown on his face and was standing over him. "Are you okay? You stopped talking for a minute there."

Will was currently sitting on a blanket that Mike had put on the floor for him. Mike had offered Will a spot on the couch with him, but Mike was also planning their D&D campaign for tomorrow. So Will had decided to leave him space to brainstorm. "Oh. Yeah." He shrugged. "I just know how important this is for you. And I didn't want to like, distract you or anything."

"You weren't distracting at all." Mike gave him a small smile that sent a rush of reassurance through Will's body. Along with another feeling. Like a sort of warmth you'd get standing outside in the sun on a cool day. Not a scorching hot summer day. But a refreshing, relaxing, cool day. "I was kinda zoning out a little. But that's mostly because I've been planning this for a while. A bit nervous."

"Are you sure?" Will began playing around with his blue shirt sleeve. "I don't mind being quiet."

"Will-", Mike kneeled down so he was sitting on the blanket next to Will. He put his hands on the other boy's shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. "I could be in the middle of trying to stop a bomb from blowing up the world. And I still wouldn't mind if you talked to me. You're important to me. More than a campaign. Your voice and your opinions matter to me. So stop underselling yourself. Okay?"

Will nodded. Almost at a loss for words. His mind must've been playing tricks on him. Because he could've sworn Mike's eyes shot down to his lips. But when he blinked, they were back on his face. So he probably just imagined it. "Yeah. Thank you."

"Anytime." Mike shot back up as quick as he sat down and moved back to the table by the couch to continue planning out the campaign. But a frown quickly made its way onto his face. "Still can't believe Dustin and Lucas didn't show."

"Dustin had to clean up his place for his mom. I think he said she couldn't find something. And so she basically decided to turn the house upside down to look for it. Lucas decided to finish his homework early." Will shrugged.

"Finishing his homework early? That's why he didn't show up? Scholarly behavior?" Mike huffed.

"Mike." Will pointed at Mike and then himself. "We're nerds. Why are you surprised that he did his homework early? Just because you spend all day planning stuff and then forget to do your homework so you scramble before class to find someone to copy off of doesn't mean the rest of us can't do our work early."

Mike, who had been partially focused on planning, looked over at Will at that moment. He opened his mouth. But no words came out. Then he tried again. "I don't do it often, at least." Mike frowned when he saw Will's continuous stare. "Okay. Not super often."

"Friends don't lie, Mike."

"It's not a lie. Plus, sometimes I remember to do it the night before it's due. I don't always do it in class." He crossed his arms.

"Right. Speaking of which, what time do you want us to come over tomorrow?"

"Probably about 10 or so. Gives us time to hang out and eat before we start. It might be about 9 to 10 hours before we're done."

"9 to 10 hours!?" Will felt his voice raise a few octaves without his permission. He coughed. "Okay. Should I let Dustin and Lucas know or are you gonna?"

"I'll tell them both later. Don't worry about it."

Will nodded. "Okay. I'm sure it'll be fine. Since you're doing it."

A puzzled look came over his face. "What do you mean?"

"I just always have faith in you. You're amazing, Mike. You have really great ideas. And I just know this campaign is going to be the best!" A bright smile had spread across Will's face.

The tip of Mike's nose went red. And that red slowly spread across his face. He looked away for a moment. "You really think so?"

"I know so."

A silence swept over the room. It wasn't an awkward silence. Where both parties didn't know what to say. It was more like a contemplative silence. Where both parties were thinking about what was just said and wondering what to do next.

Will felt something strange building up inside his chest. A strange feeling. As if he could do anything he wanted. The kind of feeling a knight might get before he unsheathed his sword and charged at a fearsome dragon. Courage. Bravery. Or in some cases, stupidity. So when he opened his mouth next, he didn't exactly think before the words came out. "Do you like anyone?"

Mike paused for a moment. Absorbing what Will had asked before he scrunched up his nose. "Ew. No. Gross. Girls are weird."

Will felt oddly happy for a moment. But that happiness soon vanished once he realized what Mike said. "Oh. Okay."

"Why'd you ask?" He raised an eyebrow.

Will took a deep breath. The deepest breath he'd ever taken in his 12 years of life. Well, aside from that one time his Dad had "jokingly" jabbed him in the stomach and told him he needed more meat on his bones. Well, it wasn't just one time. But that wasn't important. "Mike, I have to..I have to tell you something."

All of his attention shifted strictly to Will. As if his words could shift the balance of the world as they knew it. "Do you wanna tell me?"

"Not really. But it's something I have to get off my chest."

"Okay. Don't force yourself though."

Will nodded and gulped. Stopping my mind from running a mile a minute and thinking of scenarios that would make him back down. "The truth is, I-".

The basement door swung open before he could finish. "Will!" Karen's voice called down to him.

"Yes, Mrs. Wheeler?" Will tried to hide his smile as he watched Mike cross his arms in annoyance.

"I just got off the phone with Joyce. She wants you to head home now. Since it's...9:10. And a bit dark out."

"Okay!" Will slowly stood up and began to put his jacket on.

"Wait." Mike stood up with him. "Aren't you going to tell me?"

"Oh. Right. Well, I could tell you tomorrow."

"Our campaign is tomorrow. And it'll probably be all day."

"I could tell you the day after that."

"I have to wait two whole days?" He groaned.

"It's fine, Mike. I'll just tell you in school. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

His frown lessened slightly. "You promise?"

Will pulled Mike into a tight hug. "I promise. In two days, for better or for worse, you'll know everything." He went to pull away from the hug, but felt a small bit of resistance coming from Mike.

The other boy almost looked to be in a daze. Then he looked down at the floor. "Sorry."

Will grasped Mike's hands in his. "Don't be." He slowly let go of his hands and turned towards the stairs. "See you tomorrow!"

He nodded. But it was like he wasn't really processing. "Yeah. Tomorrow."

When Will reached the top of the stairs, he almost ran straight into Nancy. Mike's older sister who was currently far happier than he'd seen her in a while. Most likely because of her new boyfriend, Steve Harrington. Will didn't really understand why Dustin got so frustrated about them being together. But Nancy was Mike's family. If she was happy, that was more than enough for Will. "You look happy, Will." She glanced over at the basement door.

"So do you." He shrugged.

"I didn't realize my brother made such good company." She pretended to vomit.

"Nancy. You shouldn't make fun of your brother." Karen let out a sigh of exasperation. "Tell her, Ted."

Ted looked up from his plate and prevented Holly from spilling her cup all over the table. "What was that?"

"Nevermind." She rolled her eyes.

Nancy walked upstairs to her room. "Be safe, Will."

"Nancy. I wasn't done-", Karen looked up towards the ceiling for a moment before turning her attention towards Will. "You ready to go?"

He nodded.

"You told your mom you'd be staying over tomorrow too?"

"Yes, Mrs. Wheeler."

"Aren't you going to say goodbye to Will, Ted?"

Ted glanced over at Will and gave a halfhearted wave.

Karen let out another sigh. "Okay, Will." She walked him over to the door. "You be safe now. Head straight home. You know how worried Joyce will get otherwise."

"Okay. Bye, Mrs. Wheeler. See you tomorrow."

She nodded and pulled him in for a quick hug. "Tomorrow."

Will then left the Wheeler house and began to ride away on his bike. He was focused on what was ahead of him. But there was also a very eerie silence. A silence that threatened to swallow him whole. The only light in front of him was a small one attached to the front of his bike. Aside from that, darkness.

As the streets continued to pass, Will felt increasingly more worried something might happen. Even if it was super unlikely. Something still felt off. Like millions of hands were reaching out from the shadows. Ready to drag him away to some undisclosed location. Anything could jump out.

Will's train of thought was cutoff as a dark figure stepped out in front of him. "AH," he yelled out and swerved to the right to avoid crashing into them. He felt the sudden loss of weight as gravity ceased to exist for a moment. Before he could process it, he had flown a bit through the air and into a soft spot of leaves, his bike landing next to him. He groaned and rubbed his head. Aside from a small headache and a pounding heart that felt like it would break out of his chest, Will was mostly unscathed. He turned his eyes towards the figure he had seen.

An older boy with neat brown hair and matching eyes stared down at him. He wore a zipped up blue and yellow jacket as well as slightly ripped jeans. "What are you doing out here so late, fairy?" Troy Walsh raised an eyebrow at him.

"I was heading home." Will spoke with more sass than he intended.

The bully didn't seem to notice. Or care. His buddy James wasn't with him either. He looked at the direction Will had come from.

"Why are you out here so late, Troy?" Will felt slightly confused at the lack of antagonistic energy.

"My dad had to work late. And I was bored." He shrugged. Then pointed down the street into the darkness. "Frogface lives this way, doesn't he?"

Will gulped.

Troy turned to look at him. "Answer me."

"Yes."

"You came from his house, didn't you?"

"Yes."

In a flash, Will felt himself being pulled up to his feet and pressed against a tree behind him. He saw a glint and tried to keep himself from trembling. It didn't work.

The bully held a switchblade up to Will's throat. "Why are you like this?"

"Why..am I like...what?" Will made sure to choose his words carefully. Keeping his breath steady as best as he could so as to avoid his throat pressing against the knife. So far, his attempts weren't going so well. But he hadn't been cut yet so that was nice.

He didn't answer for a moment. Part of his face hidden in shadow. The other part illuminated by the light from Will's bike. "Do you like being gay or something?"

Will felt his knees wobbling beneath him. "Troy...".

"Yes, fairy?"

"I need...", he took a deep breath. "I need to go...home."

His brown eyes had a strange glint in them. And at the same time, a sort of emptiness. It was almost contradictory. "You can still get on the right path. Be a man. Stop hanging out with those losers." He moved his blade away and closed it.

It was a suggestion, but to Will, it sounded more like a warning. "Why..?"

Troy began to back away from him. "Because karma always comes back to people like you. I'm telling you, fairy. You keep hanging out with frogface." He suddenly advanced far closer than he was earlier. Until they were nose to nose. Forehead to forehead. Until Will had no choice but to look directly into his eyes. He could feel every breath from Troy's mouth. A single misstep could lead to a kiss like in one of those comedy movies his mom liked to watch. Will felt a strange chill down his spine. An indescribable chill. "You keep hanging out with him," his voice deepened with his next sentence, "and something very terrible is gonna happen to you." He backed up again.

Will felt his breathing slowly begin to steady. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if there was anything to say. So he simply grabbed his bike. Troy's eyes were watching him the entire time as he got on and pedaled away. Even after he was no longer in sight, even after Will got home, even after he switched into his home attire and crawled into bed, he still felt Troy's gaze on him. His mother and Jonathan wouldn't be home for another few hours. So he knew there was no point in staying up. A part of him wanted to fall asleep. Another part of him continued to think about Troy's message.

He began to shiver again. Something was very wrong. But eventually, despite whatever worries he might've had, Will fell asleep.