Semi-Plotted Starter for @divinitatemxsanguis - Will Byers & Mike Wheeler
It felt weird to look at the streets you had known for most of your life and get hit by the unsettling feeling that you didn’t fully recognise them. The sight of them was still familiar, even despite the rubble and the trash that now occupied the usually well-kept pavements, even despite the cracks that had opened in the asphalt and in the buildings. And yet there was also something distinctively foreign in the landscape, a hint of something alien that disrupted the warmth that usually came with the view of a place that, at some point, had been “home”.
Will bit back a sigh, stuffing the umpteenth of dirt wrappers in the trash bag he was carrying with him. The easy explanation was that Hawkins didn’t feel the same anymore because of the gates that had literally torn the town apart, leaving it polluted with the touch of that living nightmare the Upside Down was. He could feel it, cold rot slithering under his skin, not strong enough to cause goosebumps to form on the back of his neck, but still there. Persistent, dark, dangerous...and alluring.
Or, perhaps, he could have tried and pushed himself to think that it was because of all the time he had spent away from Hawkins. California was a completely different world, with different rules, different shades, different vibes. And he had been getting used to it. So, it wouldn’t have been unthinkable to assume that he felt out of place because he had started to adapt to another place, would it?
His fingers clenched lightly around the bag. He wished it could be that simple. Those two options would have been easier to accept. They were normal, understandable, relatable. However, the real, deep truth lied elsewhere, whether he liked to admit it or not.
Everything around him felt foreign not because the town itself had changed or because he was no longer used to living there. No, what had changed, what had become alien was him. These days he felt even more like an outsider than he had most of life because something inside him wasn’t the same anymore. In his mind, in his cells. And, as a consequence, his perception of the world had shifted too.
A knot formed in his throat at those thoughts, but Will hurried to swallow down, not wanting to linger. They had more pressing matters at hand. And, for the moment, he would have really preferred just focusing on his currently, almost mundane task.
“Uh, hey,” he spoke, breaking the not fully comfortable silence he and Mike had lapsed into. “I was...I mean. Do you think this will really take us all afternoon? Like your Mom threatened?”
He let out an awkward chuckle. He wanted to make conversation, but things were so weirdly complicated between them too now. The danger hanging over their heads, the exhausting days they had had, Mike’s doubts about Eleven, Will’s own personal feelings. It was all beyond confusing. It made him wish they could go back to how things had used to be.
“Also...The things you said to El while she was fighting Vecna, I...You really helped out there, Mike. I told you that you could be the heart of the group. Especially for...for her.” He licked his lips, averting his eyes. “And, uh, glad to see that you listened to me. Not that I have any credit to take there, but...I’m glad that you guys could...you know. Get over your fears. It’s been awkward seeing you not getting along when you first came to visit us.”
He huffed out a small incredulous breath. “Speaking off. It already feels like a life ago, doesn’t it? It’s crazy.”
