#jonathan is a good brother | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

self-proclaimed-chaotic-good · 2 years

Text

Freaks Stick Together | Hawkins Crew

Prompt: Forest

Words: 4429

Fandom: Stranger Things

A/N: Will-centric. He needs a hug and to know that he has a strong support system that he can lean on. This became longer than I intended just to fit in the prompt, so this is very late for Writer’s Month.

Summary: School is back in session, allowing students to make up for lost time due to the recovery from the “earthquakes”. While Will is glad to be back where his friends are, the town also brought back unpleasant memories. This time, he has more people to help him feel less alone.

Will stared at the entrance of Hawkins High with trepidation, clutching at the straps of his backpack tightly. His brother ruffled his hair, a familiar and soothing feel that eased the nerves only slightly. They spoke about this day any chance they could ever since they decided to stay in Hawkins for school. Jonathan promised to be there for Will and they could hang out if he wanted.

Will didn’t want to bother him, knowing that his older brother was considering helping the school’s newspaper under Nancy’s encouragement. El was going to be dropped off by Hopper later after they got a last minute meeting with Dr. Owens in the morning, but Will was sure that she would most likely be hanging out with Max and Lucas.

Jonathan sighed when Will didn’t react to him, leaning back in his chair. He looked at the familiar high school, then around the parking lot, picking at pieces from his memory of the last time he was there. He never thought that he’d be able to finish high school back in their hometown, a small place with a bittersweet mixture in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Now that the Upside Down was dealt with, for good, knock on wood, he felt more confident that by graduating here, he’d finally close a chapter of that story and start something new.

A knock on the window jolted the Byers brothers out of their deep thoughts, swiveling their heads over to Nancy who gave them an apologetic smile. Jonathan grinned, looking back at his brother who rolled his eyes and jerked his head over as if giving his permission to go. He hesitated, stopping to ruffle his hair again with more vigor before getting out to greet her.

Will grunted to himself, climbing out the car and continued to stare at the building. It didn’t last long as a familiar BMW rolled in with Dustin and Steve finding things to nag each other about. Dustin’s ankle had healed, but he still asked Steve for a ride and no matter how much he complained, Steve would always give it to him. Back to the usual, then.

Right behind was an old black van playing metal music parking right next to the BMW. Lucas and Erica jumped out, the former quickly going around to help Max climb out and handed her crutches.

“You’re lucky I didn’t puke from your driving, you crazy ass –”

“Erica!” Lucas scolded.

His little sister rolled her eyes. “Bye, losers! Bye, Max!” With that, she marched over to Hawkins Middle School with purpose, leaving the older kids shaking their heads fondly after her.

“Why are we losers and you’re just Max?” Lucas asked the red-head.

Max snorted. “Seriously? You had to ask?”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the ride, Eddie!”

“Don’t mention it, my young padawans,” Eddie said with a grin, hopping out of the van. He eyed the BMW where Steve and Dustin were still sitting inside arguing about a movie. “Now, go on in. I’m gonna talk to your mom over there.”

Lucas grimaced. “Just don’t be late. Principal Higgins might crack down on your attendance record.”

Eddie waved him off. “Nah, he wouldn’t. Well, maybe. Well… it’s fine. It won’t take long.”

Lucas nodded, his eyes landing on Will who was watching the whole interaction. His face brightened as he waved him over. “Will! Come on, man, get over here!”

Will smiled, looking back at Jonathan who paused his conversation with Nancy to give him an encouraging nod. Nancy smiled. Will wasn’t that close to her at first, only exchanging pleasantries out of courtesy and not knowing how to interact. Lately, they’ve been making the effort with Nancy staying for breakfast when she slept over instead of sneaking out the window and Will testing his ideas for dungeon puzzles with her.

It felt very normal and domestic with Jonathan and his mom cooking breakfast together in the kitchen, Hopper heading out early and grabbing his breakfast and lunch packed in tupperware from his mom, and El digging into her eggos. Every other day, Jonathan would make a different version of eggos, whether he added banana and chocolate syrup, assorted berries and a mountain of whip cream, or even cutting it up and building it like a house. El liked covering that one in syrup and knocking down the walls one at a time.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he heard Dustin shouting to Steve, stopping his older friend mid rant. “Will’s here!” He clambered out of the car before Steve could finish, leaving him huffing about how he never listens.

Will felt an overwhelming flood of happiness as Dustin ran over to him, dragging him over to meet Lucas halfway. Max nodded over at him in her usual cool greeting, but her grin showed how glad she was that he was here.

“Dude, there’s so much to catch up on, but the most important one is Hellfire Club,” Dustin started as the group slowly made their way into the building to match Max’s pace. “So, after what happened, Principal Higgins isn’t allowing us to host Hellfire on campus, so we’re planning to alternate between Eddie’s place and Steve’s. You’re going to love Eddie, he’s amazing. You saw him, right? He’s over there talking to Steve.”

Will twisted his head to see said metalhead bending down with his forearm leaning on the roof of the car while he spoke to Steve. There was a weird feeling in his stomach watching them talk, so he quickly looked away. He couldn’t tell what that feeling was.

Maybe it was that bitterness of finding out that they were crazy about DnD again, and was obsessed with their new DM, Eddie, when he had been trying to get them to play with him for the entire summer. He shook that thought immediately, knowing that he had gotten over that when he first found out about it and was happy that they were playing again. He just missed playing with them.

If it’s not that, then maybe it was because Eddie was smiling sweetly at Steve while the latter was leaning in closely, the distance between their faces, or lack thereof, being something that would be completely shunned or mocked if anyone else in this narrow minded town saw.

Will remembered the road trip to LA over the weekend, how overwhelming it was being in the city. Then, hanging out by the skateparks that reminded him and El of Max, he saw two couples on a double date. What surprised him was that the two men ended up being a couple as well as the two women. And they were holding hands. In public.

“Where’s Mike?” Will found himself asking.

They all shrugged, or what was close to a shrug in Max’s case. “Nancy’s here, so I assume Mike is here somewhere,” Lucas said.

“Let's go over our schedules again so we can figure out where to meet up before lunch and after school,” Dustin said, “Do you have a copy of El’s schedule? This is going to be the first time that we’ll be at school with her. Like, actually taking classes at the same time and not sneaking her around and stuff. This is exciting!”

Lunch was interesting to say the least. As he figured, Will saw Jonathan leave campus with Nancy to take pictures around town for her article, so he went to Dustin’s locker that was assigned as the meeting spot before they headed to the cafeteria. Will had been working on his new character sheet in between classes and was sketching out a character design when someone stopped in front of him. Part of him wanted it to be Mike, who he had only seen in passing so far, or even El to check on how she’s doing so far. Instead, it was Eddie Munson himself, appraising his work.

“Uh, hi,” Will said, shifting his binder around to have a better grip on it. “You must be Eddie.”

He grinned, baring his bright white teeth and flashing his dimples. “And you must be the great Will the Wise,” he said, bowing dramatically with a wave of his hand. “Tis a pleasure to finally meet.”

Okay, Will thought, I can kind of see the charm of him. “You know about me?”

“Of course. The boys talked about you in almost every session, especially in the beginning of the school year. ‘Our friend Will used to do this’, ‘Will, our other DM, had made a campaign with that’. I knew your brother from before, but even Steve spoke about you.”

Will’s eyes widened, feeling his cheeks heat up when he mentioned the Party’s de facto babysitter and chaperone. “Really? What would Steve even say? He’s closer to Dustin than he is with the rest of us.”

“Oh, you know, I really shouldn’t be telling anyone this, in case this information gets into the wrong hands, but…,: Eddie said, leaning in to whisper, “Steve said that you’re one of his favorite kids.”

“No way,” Will said in disbelief, shaking his head.

Eddie nodded excitedly. “Totally. You should see how he looks when he talks about –”

His body slammed onto the lockers hard, knocking the breath out of him as one of the jocks twisted a fist around his worned out Iron Maiden shirt. Principal Higgins had not only banned Hellfire on campus, but also prohibited the club from wearing their t-shirts. Although the band shirt wasn’t breaking any dress code, Eddie was still met with disapproving looks.

“Why am I not surprised,” Andy growled, eyeing Eddie before grabbing Will’s collar as well. “The satanic worshiper and the zombie boy hanging out. Thought we chased you two out of our town a long time ago.”

“Knew you’d miss me too much,” Eddie retorted with a smirk.

“You –” Andy felt his jeans violently yanking down his legs, the force making him stumble back and almost fall on his ass. He quickly pulled them up and spun around, looking for the culprit.“Who… what the fuck?”

“Leave my brother alone, mouthbreather!” El called out, glaring at him. Will smiled, seeing his knight in floral sweater standing in the middle of the hallway with their friends behind her watching in awe and glee.

“What did you call me, you –” He tripped over as his pants fell again, making him face plant the floor. The students all burst into shocked gasps and laughter, drawing the attention of nearby teachers. Andy pulled himself up and strode over to El. “You bitch!”

“Mr. Cooper!” Ms. O’Donnell scolded with her arms crossed, pursing her lips. “This is only the first day back at school, Mr. Cooper. I do not want to give you detention, or worse, for not only public indecency, but also harassing and attempted assault on a few students.”

Andy’s jaw dropped as he stepped away from El. “But –”

“No. You’re lucky I’m feeling gracious today. Do this again and it won’t be just detention that you’ll be worried about. As for everyone else, move along. There’s nothing to see here.” With that, Ms. O’Donnell sent a nod at Eddie before walking back to her classroom.

Andy stomped away, shoving people in his path. The moment he left, the Party felt like they could finally breathe again. El ran over to Will and hugged him tightly.

“Are you okay?” El asked him.

He nodded. “I’m fine. Thanks, El.”

“Yeah, that was pretty metal staring him down like that, young Skywalker,” Eddie added, patting her shoulder.

She frowned. “Skywalker?”

Eddie blinked, mirroring her frown. “You know, Luke Skywalker? Star Wars?”

“Oh.” She nodded in understanding. “The others spoke about this, but I have not watched it yet.”

He gasped, clutching a hand over his heart as he began to make his way towards the cafeteria, the group following without a second thought. “We need to fix that, don’t we?” El grinned and Will could see that she had also slipped under his spell.

“I’m sure Steve can get us the tapes with his employee discount,” Dustin said, then gave a cheeky grin, “Or probably pay for us if Eddie asks nicely.”

Mike snorted. “He has been paying for his rentals.”

“What? No, he hasn’t. I’m a respectful paying customer,” Eddie defended himself.

“No, you flirt with him then leave without paying. Robin can vouch on this.”

“Absurd.”

Mike shook his head, then nudged Will with his elbow. “Hey, you okay? Sorry, I wasn’t here this morning. I had a habit of wearing the Hellfire Club shirt and got caught wearing it this morning. Higgins made me change my shirt, so… I’m stuck with this sweaty one from the gym’s lost and found box.”

Will wrinkled his nose, not even daring to sniff his shirt. “No, I can tell. I could smell you from the other end of the hall,” he said.

“Shut up,” Mike said, nudging him again with a smile. “I have an extra Hellfire Club shirt if you want one.”

Will smiled back. “Cool… sure.”

Lucas and Max had taken to eating at the back of the school, so they promised to meet up after school at the front. The rest of the former Hellfire Club members had distanced themselves from Eddie even after his name was cleared, much to Eddie’s dismay. He hoped that they could at least continue as Corroded Coffin, but with the Satanic Panic still ongoing and the town still thinking that he was a devil worshiper, their parents did not want them to associate with him. Gareth still acknowledged Eddie in the halls, but Frank and Jeff were close to graduating and they didn’t want to mess anything up.

Eddie took his usual spot at the head of the table, Will on his right and Dustin on his left. Mike took his usual spot next to Dustin while El sat across from him next to Will. The older boy let them talk amongst themselves as he sat deep in thought. Usually it was about his campaign, retracing the character arcs of his main NPCs and how they come into play in the main storyline, the types of challenges that the party will face, the mini bosses leading up to the big bad. Now, he was thinking about how Mike kept looking at Will as he spoke and how the latter would look towards him whenever he laughed.

“What do you think, Eddie?” Dustin asked.

Eddie blinked. “Huh?”

Dustin let out an exasperated sigh. “I knew it. Stop daydreaming about Steve –”

“I wasn’t… this time.”

“Gross.”

“Hey, dude, you said it.”

“I know, but, it’s like, you guys are like my big brothers, so…”

“Anyways,” Eddie interrupted, flicking a pretzel at him. “What were you guys talking about?”

“We were talking about how Will could redesign the t-shirt,” Mike said excitedly, “He’s really good. You should see all the drawings he did for our previous campaigns and this poster he painted and –”

“Okay, little Wheeler, cool your jets. I know how good Will is, I’ve seen his character design.” Eddie leaned an elbow on the table and tilted his head to look at Will with wide curious eyes. “Got some ideas already, little Byers?”

“Uh,” Will leaned back, flustered at his sudden undivided attention. “I have some. I can have some drafts down by this weekend, if you want.”

A grin spread across his face, showing off his dimples. “No rush, little Byers. I look forward to seeing it.”

He patted Will’s back affectionately before asking what other movies that El had yet to watch. Will smiled to himself, thinking that maybe the rest of the semester won’t be so bad after all. He could see why his friends praised the older boy so much. Eddie was loud and obnoxious, but he was also kind and affectionate. Dramatic and attentive. Chaotic and intelligent. He’d been through the trenches with the Party and their bond had become stronger than ever. Will hoped that he could build anything remotely close to that kind of bond with Eddie now that he was back.

The rest of the day came and went, Will’s steps feeling lighter as he made his way to the front entrance of the school. Halfway down the hall, he spotted a group of jocks, one of them being an angry Andy looking for someone. He turned his head just as Will came into view and he narrowed his eyes. Will was all too familiar with that look and his feet shifted to run in an instant. So much for the rest of the semester being good.

His feet carried him to the back of the school past the bleachers and towards the forest. He could still hear their heavy footfalls and shouting close behind him. His muscles were already screaming at him to stop, but he wouldn’t. This wasn’t something he could just stop in the middle of the field and shout at it to leave him alone. He needed to pick and choose his battles while he had the luxury of choice.

He collapsed against a tree, sucking in air into his lungs as he tried to steady himself. Will didn’t hear anyone behind him, so he took the time to close his eyes, but couldn’t bring himself to fully relax.

“Little Byers?” Eddie asked calmly. Will’s head whipped around, almost making him dizzy. Eddie held his hands out in surrender before tentatively reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. “You good, Will?”

Will looked around at his surroundings, seeing an old picnic table in a clearing that looked to still be in good condition. Eddie’s backpack was thrown on top with a binder and DnD monster manual wide open. The younger boy blinked his eyes into focus before remembering that he was asked a question.

“I… they were… and I just…” Will shook his head, leaning his shoulder on the tree.

Eddie nodded in understanding. “Sit with me. Those losers don’t dare to venture out here into the woods after what happened, so we’re safe as far as I know. You can tell me all about your character while I write up some things for the campaign.”

Will joined him on the picnic table, having the sense to pull out his walkie and turn it on in case his friends wondered where he was. They fell into a nice flow with Will talking animatedly about his character and Eddie asking him questions every now and then to get a feel of where the character would fit in the world he created for the campaign and what he could add to it.

After a while, Eddie looked up from his writing at Will. “Uh, so I’m going to ask a question and you don’t have to answer this, but… is there something going on between you and Mike?” Eddie asked as gently as he could.

Will sat in shock, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as his cheeks reddened. His body was itching to jump up and run again, but there was something telling him that Eddie was safe. “Is there something going on between you and Steve,” he countered.

Eddie smirked. “Yeah. It’s still new, but it’s been a long time coming. Nancy threatened to send us to Murray if we didn’t get our shit together. Nothing official, since we’re still trying to figure things out. I just wanted to let you know that if you need someone to talk to, someone besides your brother, then I’m here. Though, I would like to add my two cents and say, why Wheeler out of all people?”

“Mike’s my best friend,” Will said, relieved that his suspicions were right about Eddie but also wanting to defend his crush. “He’s always been there for me. Not like there were many guys that I would feel safe to crush on anyways.”

“True. I lucked out with Harrington, though, didn’t I?”

Eddie wrapped up the finishing touches to his worldbuilding notes sooner than Will wanted. He fell into step with him after they packed up their things and headed back to the school. Will stuck close by, eyes scanning the remaining students and every corner warily. From what Dustin and Lucas told him, those jocks could be very persistent when they wanted to.

Jonathan was by the bleachers when they walked back, frowning in concern. His arm reached out before Will got to him, drawing him in as soon as his fingers gained purchase on his shirt. Will sighed into his brother’s shirt, hugging him back. Jonathan nodded over to Eddie to show his gratitude for looking out for him. Eddie waved a dismissive hand, patting his back.

Jonathan pulled away, his hands still on Will’s shoulders. “You okay?”

Will nodded. “I’m good. Just never thought that there were people still hung up about the whole Zombie Boy thing,” he said tiredly.

“They’ve got nothing better to do and they want someone to take their anger and boredom out on,” Jonathan said as they continued to walk. “Someone told on Andy and his friends, so you don’t have to worry about them now.”

Will sighed in relief. “I hope so. Good thing I found Eddie, though.”

“Hey, us freaks gotta stick together,” Eddie piped up. “Besides, Zombie Boy sounds kinda cool if you think about it.” He slung an arm around Will’s shoulders. “Kind of like a superhero or a rock band name. Zombie Boy! Playing at the Hideout at 10 with special guest Corroded Coffin!”

“Well, hearing it in the same sentence of Corroded Coffin, Zombie Boy doesn’t sound that bad,” Will admitted.

“See? You know, I tried recruiting your brother for the band a few years back,” Eddie said, nodding over to his brother who was avoiding Will’s shocked expression.

“Really? You never told me! As what?”

“Drummer,” Jonathan mumbled, “I… I didn’t want to be on stage in front of people. I would take pictures for them, though. They used to use them for their flyers around town.”

“Whoa, you could have been much cooler.” That remark earned Will a playful smack upside his head.

When they reached the parking lot, their friends were already crowded around Jonathan’s car and Eddie’s van, Steve’s BMW parked not too far. Max and El were perched on the hood of Jonathan’s car, watching with amusement as Lucas tried a trick on his new skateboard. Dustin and Mike, having no interest in anything sports related, were pouring over a map and a few open magazines next to them. Steve was leaning against his car, talking to Robin and Nancy who looked to be teasing him about something. Jonathan came over, bumping his hip with Nancy who entwined their fingers without a second thought.

“Hey, Will!” Dustin said, waving him over. “Where do you want to go for the road trip?”

“What road trip?” Will bent over at the map, seeing a few destinations circled and scribbled on.

“Steve’s gonna get an RV for our summer road trip.”

“Did we ever return the one from the trailer park?” Lucas asked, trying to kick the skateboard up but hit his shin instead.

“Yeah. That got sorted out and they were compensated for their troubles,” Max said nonchalantly. “That’s cool of Steve to get a new van for us, though.”

“Hey, hey, whoa. Steve,” Steve stressed, waving a finger at them.

Robin rolled her eyes. “He’s talking about himself in third person again,” she muttered to Nancy who tried to hold back a smile.

“Did not say anything about a van or anything. I simply said that it would be cool if we did something for the summer. You guys volunteered me to do this road trip.”

“So, no road trip?” El asked softly, looking at him with puppy eyes that Max taught her to utilize. As if it’d take much to convince Steve to do anything for them.

Steve deflated instantly, putting his hands on his hips. Eddie snorted, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Thanks for letting me drive Stevie,” he said, blinking his doe eyes at him.

“Fine,” he sighed. “We’re going to have a set of rules, though, and if any of your parents say no, then we won’t do it.”

Dustin raised his hand. “Can I try to drive the RV? My mom said that if I start learning on a big vehicle, then I’m able to drive any car.”

“Sure,” Eddie said at the same time as Steve’s firm, “No.”

“We’ll talk about it when the time comes,” Steve said.

“Cool, now that that’s settled, movie night at Steve’s this weekend! We’re watching the Star Wars trilogy, since Supergirl hasn’t seen it yet. Thanks for renting it out for us, big boy.”

Steve shook his head fondly at him, leaning closer with a smirk on his face. “Jokes on you, I bought those tapes already.”

“You're a romantic.”

“I feel like I’m getting used to their sappy display of affection,” Dustin said, packing up the map and magazines and shoving his backpack in Steve’s car. “I gotta go, though. My mom wants to run errands together today.”

“Right, we’ve got things to do,” Jonathan said, ruffling Will’s hair. “We still got that cabin project to work on, then I’m going to help Nancy with something. You kids hanging out over at the Wheelers?”

Everyone except Dustin nodded, splitting between Jonathan’s and Nancy’s cars. Dustin took his spot in Steve’s car and rolled his eyes when Steve and Eddie were taking too long to say bye to each other. Robin left, catching a ride with Vickie and promising to see them tomorrow. Will caught Vickie smiling widely at Robin as she climbed in, her face turning red under her gaze.

Growing up with his small group of misfits, he still felt alone, different, wrong. From disaster after disaster, he had pushed his feelings aside because they weren’t as important as saving the world and his friend’s and his new sister’s happiness. It seemed to be a Byers thing, from what he had seen from his mom and his brother. They just needed to surround themselves with the right people to feel that their wants and feelings mattered. This also meant that he had to let them in as well.

After opening up to his brother and to Eddie, he was gradually feeling comfortable expressing himself more. Gradually, he’ll tell the others, too. Now he knew that this evolved group of misfits and weirdos and freaks would love and accept him no matter what. Like Eddies said, freaks stick together.