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Eleven (Jane? Will wasn’t sure anymore) buzzed excitedly, boxes in her hands, and eyes shimmering, the thought of living near Mike again showering her with happiness. Will can only give her a small smile, continuing to pack up for the move back to their old house. He thought it was lucky, that his mom was able to get back the old Byer’s house. Of course, this news was only made aware to them after she came back to California with Hopper. So, the information of them moving back was dulled by the absolute shock of their hometown’s declared dead police chief alive and breathing.
Considering…well everything, Will could admit that he was excited. Happy about being near his best friends again. Seeing them every day, being able to truly hear them. Not just having to read a short letter on the rare occasion they send one. Maybe they’d even remember his birthday, with him being around them more.
“Come on kids, we’re leaving!”
He hurriedly crammed the rest of his stuff, carrying the remaining boxes outside and getting into the car. El and Jonathan rushed after him. He could feel his excitement grow a bit, the reality that this was actually happening, and they were actually going home. He leaned his head against the window seal, looking at, what he hoped to be, the last memory he has of California.
The uncomfortable car ride was bearable, with the circumstances they were in. Living in California had been difficult, to say the least. Everyone just wanted to go home, for everything to just be normal. They knew that was asking too much, not a single part of their lives had been normal recently. Not when they had just defeated a psychotic demon that resided in Hawkins, snapping people’s bones in half and taking out their eyeballs. Not when El tried to get her powers back and had come face to face with the man who controlled her entire childhood. Not when Hoppers had been thought of as dead, but he’d really been stuck under the Russian's command. Nothing about what they had gone through was normal.
But, this was the best average would get for them.
The airport was nothing if not exhausting, and Will found himself passed out the moment he hit the airplane seat. He came to when Jonathan shook him awake, already getting up to leave the plane. Will followed after him, and he quickly spotted El, Hopper, and his mom as well.
A giddy feeling enveloped him, the closer they got to the waiting area. He could see Eleven and Jonathan’s bliss, probably excited to see their significant others. Will finally saw them, his friends. Dustin and Lucas were sitting together, both fidgeting. Nancy was with Steve and Robin, and Max off to the side by herself.
Will silently wished they would wish him a happy birthday, late as it may be, but nothing was said on the matter. Instead, El ran to Mike and they enveloped as though they hadn’t seen each other in years. Jonathan awkwardly patted Nancy’s back, Steve staying to the side as Robin snickered at him. Dustin and Lucas ran to El and Mike, asking El all kinds of questions.
Will had no one. He wasn’t acknowledged by them in the slightest. Max noticed him and welcomed him back before she strode over to El. Will was frozen. Joyce came up behind him and patted him forward, and he mindlessly followed her.
The joy vanished, numbness replacing it. He knows he just saw them, after all, it had only been less than a month since they stopped Vecna together, but nothing? Not a single hug, or welcome back (with the exception of Max). He tries his hardest to stop the tears in his eyes from falling, but he was just so damn frustrated. He looked over at El, who Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Mike were talking with. He was gonna throw up.
“I’ll be right back,” Will managed to get out before he scurried to the restroom. Everything hurt and his eyes were burning. The stall door closed behind him, and he let the first few waves of tears slip past. He almost wished someone would be worried enough to come to check on him. No one does. He slides down the wall of his stall, curling up in a ball, and wraps his arms around his knees, in a pathetic attempt to mimic a hug.
What did he expect? It’s not as though any of them bothered sending him letters, to check up on him or tell him about how things are there. No birthday calls, not even when Mike flew in on Will’s birthday and all he did was offer an awkward pat and an invite to be a third wheel on his and El’s date. He roughly rubbed at his wet face, moving out of the stall to clean up.
When he made it out, Lucas yelled over to him, “Come on, we’re going to Mike’s!”
He silently followed after them. It wouldn’t have made a difference whether he came or not. He walked by himself and was silent the entire ride back to Hawkins. He looked out the window with glazed eyes and tormenting memories of everything that has ever happened to him in Hawkins. Everybody seemed so happy, and Will felt the same uselessness he felt when he was stuck in the Upside Down and could do nothing to save himself. He was always the replaceable one. Did anyone even notice he had ever left Hawkins? Looking around, not a single soul focused on him, it didn’t seem like it. Well, he supposed everyone just moved on, and he was left behind. His heart hurt.
Mike’s house came into view, and everyone crashed inside and went straight to his basement. It was always where The Party went when they hung out. Will smiled a bit. It was mostly the past party members, but a new addition, whose name was Eddie, was there too. Apparently, he had been blamed for the deaths of Vecna’s victims, which Will found flabbergasting. Vectna’s attacks didn’t look like anything a human was capable of inflicting.
“I guess this means Hellfire is back in business!” Dustin exclaimed.
“Hellfire?” Will question. What was that?
“Yeah, it’s a club for DnD.” Dustin explained, “You should join when you come back to school. Mike, Lucas, and I are part of it, Eddie’s the leader.”
“Oh,” Will whispered.
He swore the world was closing in on him. They joined a DnD club, after telling him to grow up for begging them to play just one game. It was ‘childish’ and ‘they were too old for it.’ That’s what they always said. But they’d gone and joined a club for it after Will left, cutting contact with him, and just forgetting about him. The conversation moved on, but Will can’t hear anything anymore. They all look so happy, so glad to be back together, but he’s not there. He’s not with them, but they don’t seem to notice or care. They don’t care about him, did they ever? Maybe they’d outgrown him. He was just intruding on the new party, a party they’d made without him, and wouldn’t care if he wasn’t part of it. He wants to go home.
“I gotta go home.” Nobody seemed to hear him. All talking over each other and blending Will’s voice into the background. Dustin and Lucas were talking or arguing more likely. Mike was with El, giving heart eyes to each other. Nancy and Jonathan were talking about something, Robin was talking to Steve, and Eddie was trying to speak to Max, who was ignoring him.
Will grabbed his bag and escaped the basement. He said bye to Mike’s mom before he left and started his journey home. It was quiet in the dead of night, it reminded him of that day all those years ago. How things have escalated since then. He supposed that if he was taken to the Upside Down now, his friends wouldn’t even notice he was missing. The thought struck him, and tears made their way down his face and to his chin, dripping slowly to the pavement below. He shivered, from the cold or the overwhelming emotions, he wasn’t sure.
“Will, where’s Jonathan? What happened, why are you crying?”
His mom pestered him when she saw Will’s face after entering their old home. He explained Jonathan stayed to spend time with Nancy, and that the tears were from the cold of the night. She nodded, doubtful but leaving him be. Will’s hope for her to remember his birthday was drained, and he made it to his room where the moving boxes stood in the corner. His bed and desk were already in the room. He would unpack tomorrow. He stared at his ceiling, for minutes, or maybe hours, he couldn’t tell. His door burst open.
“Where did you go?” El question immediately.
Will sighed, “I was tired, it’s no big deal.”
El came further into the room until she was basically towering over Will, “It is big deal. You did not tell anyone.”
Frustration overcame him. He did say he was going to leave, but nobody decided to listen to him! His hands curled into fists, and he was an inch away from yelling at her. He didn’t. He lied, and he’s not even sure why.
“Sorry, I guess I forgot to say.”
El looked at him before she turned around and walked away, closing the door. He couldn’t tell if she slammed it or not, his ears were buzzing and tears fell down his face. He angrily wiped them away, he’s been crying far too much recently. He doesn’t know why, no one else seemed to realize the difference in their treatment of him.
Emotions crashed into Will, suffocating him until all he could do was gasp through a choked sob. With all the hurt he’s suffered, he never would’ve thought his friends would be the ones to shatter his heart finally.
__
Will and El came back to school. It was strange, adapting to his hometown and the new school. El seemed happier, constantly around Mike and the others. It didn’t feel any different to Will. It felt like he was still in California, with no friends and no one to talk to. There were the occasional strange looks, after all, his disappearance a few years back is still well known throughout the community.
He hadn’t joined the DnD club yet, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do. It hurt so bad when he sees Dustin, Mike, and Lucas all laugh and talk about the game. Everything has been hurting him recently. The indifference to his existence struck him down at each turn. He slowly pulled away from everyone, joining events on rare occasions.
When it was Mike’s birthday, and everyone was celebrating it at Mike’s house, Will just detached. He was so tired of this, so tired of not existing. He had barely been there for 10 minutes before he stood up abruptly and went to leave.
“Will! Where are you going?” Lucas shouted after him.
“Fuck off.” He said before he walked away from them, left the house, and was getting his bike to leave.
“Seriously, what’s you’re problem?” Mike yelled after him. He was accompanied by El (of course), Dustin, Lucas, and Max.
“What’s my problem? Are you kidding me?! Have you even acknowledged me once since I came back? What about joining a DnD club after fucking belittling me for begging to play and telling me to grow up?!”
“Wait, you’re mad about that?”
“Yeah, I am! I’m mad that you haven’t so much as looked in my direction after coming back. How I got barely any letters from you when I was in California. You never listen to me!”
Mike opened his mouth to talk, but Will beat him to it.
“March 22nd. That was the day you flew to California, all I got was a half-assed hug and all you did was hang around Eleven.”
“That’s not fair, El’s my girlfriend.” It was said so determinedly, that something inside Will broke. And he was his best friend.
“March 22nd is my birthday, but I guess I’m not important enough for any of you to remember. Years of friendship and you can’t spare time to give me the one game of DnD I wanted, send any letters, or wish me a happy birthday. I’m so fucking tired. It’s so hard to breathe when I’m around you. I can barely listen to your voices anymore.”
By now, almost everyone in The Party was outside watching them. Will’s face burned in embarrassment, but he simply got on his bike and rode away. Maybe they were calling after him, or maybe they couldn’t care less and went back to celebrating. It didn’t matter. Nothing Will did ever mattered to them. He drops his bike when he makes it home and rushes in. Jonathan is with Nancy still, his mom is probably working, and El is at Mike’s. He’s alone, which isn’t a rare occurrence.
On his bed, he stifles his first few sobs, as if there was anyone near to judge him. The first few were choked up, quiet sobs. They increased in intensity and soon, he was gasping for breath every few seconds.
“Will! Will, are you there? It’s Mike. Please talk to us.” The radio that was placed on Will’s desk rang loud, his breath got caught in his throat for a second. “I don’t know if you’re there, but if you are, please listen. We fucked up, we know that now. I’m sorry- we’re all sorry. We treated you like shit, you deserve to be pissed at us. Is there any chance though, you can- can you give us a second chance?”
Silence. Will didn’t get up to grab the radio, there were no thoughts of answering Mike’s apology. He sat still.
“Happy-...Happy birthday Will. Sorry, it’s so fucking late.” There was stillness. “Over and out.”
Will looked away from the radio. He fell asleep with a heavy heart.
__
He avoided them at school. Sometimes they caught up to him, in which they would talk, probably an apology, and Will would walk away when they were done with no response. At least one of them would speak to him on the radio every day. To apologize, or to talk about their day. No one forced themselves onto him, he could sometimes feel their stares from a distance, and they confronted him every now and then, but they kept a distance. It helped Will think.
He was at home, in his room, finishing the painting he was gonna give Mike back in California when the radio alerted him.
“Hey Will, it’s Mike…again. I just wanted to check up on you, but I guess you probably won’t respond or even hear this, so maybe I’m just talking to myself.”
Will moved to his desk, radio in hand as he continued to listen.
“Uh, it’s been really hard without you. I guess you were kind of the glue that kept us all together. Max hasn’t stopped lecturing us about our tendency to treat people like shit since what happened,” Mike laughed softly. “I was wondering if- if you could meet us at my house tomorrow? You don’t have to but we…we want you there. Goodnight, Will. Over and out.”
He didn’t show up. Not that day, or the next, or the following ones to come.
Maybe two weeks after the initial question, Lucas, Dustin, Max, El, and Mike were shocked to find Will there. That he had actually agreed to meet them this time. It was somber, but also…relieving. They talked and made promises that were solid and unbreakable. They would do better, and Will would attempt to forgive. An aggressive game of DnD started, with laughter, cheering, and frustration. To end off the night, when everyone left, Will finally gave the gift he had made Mike.
A painting of them, the day their friendship had bloomed.