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When the Byers arrive back in Hawkins, Eddie’s just a little surprised not to see Will hanging out with the others.
Whenever Mike and Dustin (and when he had the chance to, Lucas) played D&D, that’s all who he heard about. Will this, and Will that. He learned about Will the Wise, about Will Byers, William “Will” Byers (he thinks it's a little fuckin’ depressing that his best friends don’t even know his middle name), and felt, on a level, he knew this boy secondhand, just from them.
But he knows, from experience, that his friends could also be totally wrong on how Will is. The boys think they know who Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson is, but do they know about how he had a buzzcut in middle school? Do they know that the reason he lives with his uncle is because his parents were such pieces of shit that they willingly gave him up to his uncle only in freshman year of high school because they wanted to do all the drugs that they would like without ever stopping? (They were dead by the end of his first senior year, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even go to their funerals.) Do they know that he secretly loves comics, very specifically X-Men? Do they know that he’s gay?
No. Of course, they don’t. Because he hides those parts of himself, and he only shows what needs to be shown. What needs to be proof that he’s not some loser who’ll take what everyone gives him.
But, getting past all of that, he hasn’t met Will Byers yet, even though the family’s been back in town for like, what, over a week now? He’s barely met Jonathan, though the man did greet him with a small smile and nodded at one of the band pins he had on his vest, so Eddie knows this family isn’t terrible. (He knew that already, learning about how badass Mama Byers is, and how nice and sweet she is, and he can’t help but think that Will and Jonathan are so lucky to have her as a mom.) Jonathan didn’t say a word about Will to him, and Eddie didn’t ask.
But now, he’s so fucking lost.
Because of the whole… situation at hand, Hopper and Joyce decided that it would be best for him to hide out in the old cabin in the woods. They were incredibly kind about it, Eddie can’t lie at all. They didn’t have to do it, have to risk the chance of harboring a criminal (he’s not, and especially not one because of murdering people), but they did, so he’s not going to complain, not one bit.
But now, he doesn’t really have anything to do. He’s already bored himself playing solitaire on the table twenty times at this point, and quickly, he’s losing things to do, because he doesn’t want to tire himself of playing his sweet, sweet guitar. So when Jonathan stops by to bring him some food, he takes his chance while he can.
“Byers, could I ask you for a tiny little favor?” He puts his hands together as if he were praying, and Jonathan shrugs, continuing to unload the food from the bags.
“Sure.”
“Don’t do this if the kid’s like. Not supposed to be near me or anything, but could I meet your little brother? He’s the only one in the group I haven’t met, and after listening to Wheeler talk about how great he is all year, I need to meet this little mastermind.”
Jonathan laughs, nodding his head. “Sure, sure. If he doesn’t mind, I can go pick him up from the Wheelers when I head back with the rest of the food. I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind hanging out with you, especially since I’ve heard that you two are pretty similar, with D&D and all that, y’know?”
“Yes!” Eddie raises his fists in the air. “D&D campaign time! And meeting Will Byers time!”
Jonathan chuckles and Eddie can see the smile still on his face as he leaves the cabin, and he smiles to himself. He thinks he’s doing a pretty damn good job making friends with these people.
A while later, he’s sat on the couch upside down, strumming his guitar while trying (and failing) to watch the TV, and he doesn’t hear the car outside or anything else until the door opens and it scares him so much that he falls off the couch as a horrible note hits the air. He ignores it, though, jumping to his feet and grinning as if nothing happened.
“Baby-Byers! So lovely to meet you on this fine day.” He smiles, grandly offering a hand, and Will accepts, albeit slowly.
“Baby-Byers?” Jonathan questions, a tilt to his head as he stares at Eddie, and Eddie grins.
“Yeah! You’re Byers, and so since Will is younger, and I would assume, you think of him as your baby brother, he’s Baby-Byers!” He says, and Jonathan shrugs.
“Good enough for me.” He turns to look at Will, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Be good, okay? I’ll be back in like, two hours, okay?”
“Okay.” Will smiles at his brother, and oh god, Eddie might just barf from the cuteness. “I’ll be fine, Jonathan, don’t worry. You know I can handle anything, since like… everything.”
“You know I can’t do that. I still gotta worry over you.” Jonathan messes up his hair, and Will bats his hand away. Jonathan sighs dramatically, “Bye.”
“Bye.” Will and Eddie say in unison, and soon enough, it’s just the two of them.
“So, Will,” He starts, noticing Will turning to look at him awkwardly, “How do you feel about guitar?”
“It’s… alright, I guess?” Will answers and Eddie sighs, a grin on his face.
“Baby-Byers, there’s no need to be awkward around me! C’mon, we’re the cool kids in the group. Cool kids need to stick together, amirite?” He lightly elbows the teen, grinning when Will elbows him back even lighter. “Now, do you wanna see my guitar? Don’t think we’d have time for me to do anything else, like teach you how to play some sick fuckin songs.”
“Sure.” Will shrugs.
He leads the teen over to the couch, quickly picking his guitar up and hiding it behind his back.
“You didn’t see anything, right?”
“As blind as a squirrel.”
“Squirrels aren’t- okay. Moving on.”
He pulls his guitar out from his back, and he can see Will’s mouth drop open.
“That looks so cool!”
“I know! My uncle got her for me when…” His smile drops, and he shakes his head and coughs. “Anyways, this pretty girl has been with me through thick and thin, and I just wanted to show her to you. Figured you could appreciate her. SInce, y’know, you’re a cool kid.”
“She’s so cool!” Will smiles, looking up at Eddie, and Eddie grins back at him. “How’d you even get into playing an electric guitar?”
“Oh, it’s not really that exciting of an origin story. I just wanted something where I could get away from my parents.” He shrugs. “Which, it worked, granted, since I spent as much time at the shop as I could in middle school learning how to play the electric guitar, and the guy working there was super nice. He’s part of the reason I love the guitar so much. And, actually, because of him, I got into comics and would stay in the comic book store in town all the time.”
“You like comics?” Will asks, and before Eddie can even say anything, Will claps quickly, before shoving his hands under his knees. “I love comics! Who’s your favorite? I love X-Men a whole bunch, but my friends try to steal my comics, so I can’t enjoy them as much as I want to.” He frowns.
“Baby-Byers, you have such great taste.” Will smiles brightly. “X-Men comics are the greatest ones! I love both Scott and Logan, but who’s your favorite? I bet it’s a badass.” Will ducks his head, mumbling his answer. “Sorry, bud, I couldn’t hear your answer. But if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine! I just wanted to ask.”
“No, no, it’s fine.” Will raises his head. “It’s, uhm, Kitty Pryde.”
Oh, god, Eddie really has to protect this kid. Kitty Pryde? Really?
“Oh, god, Baby-Byers, stop having such good taste.” Will giggles. “Oh! That reminds me of something I’ve heard mentioned.”
“Yeah?” Will says, suspiciously, and Eddie grins.
“I’ve heard you like D&D?” He says, and Will, god, he just lights up like a rocket.
“Yeah! I love D&D.” He smiles, “I haven’t gotten to play it in a while, since it seems that people really don’t like it in California. And since I made a promise to Mike, and I don’t really want to break it, because that would just be horrible, I haven’t played it. Would’ve been hard to, anyway.”
“Oh, yeah?” Eddie says, “Why’s that, Baby-Byers? Too cool for your friends?”
Will doesn’t respond, and shit, fuck, what did Eddie do? But Will speaks before he can question it, before he can say anything to disrupt the silence that had settled.
“As if I had friends in California.” Will chuckles humorlessly. “Y’know, you would think they’d be more tolerant of shit there, but it was worse than this shitty town, and that’s really saying something. Since it’s like everyone has a death warrant signed for me, but it’s not like I can do anything. Half the town thinks I should still be dead and the other half just doesn’t care what happens to me, they just want me out of sight. And so California should’ve been better, but god , it was so much worse.”
“Yeah?” Eddie doesn’t want to ask, doesn’t want to make this kid keep thinking about that horrible town, but clearly, this kid needs a place to vent. And if he has to be that right now, then goddammit, that’ll be him. “A town shittier than Hawkins? That has to be like. Rare.” Nice one, Munson.
“Yup. And I got so lucky.” Will pulls his knees up to wrap his arms around them, and Eddie notices him trying to wipe his eyes inconspicuously, and Eddie pretends he doesn’t notice. He’s not going to be a jerk to him. “I just got the jerks who’ll trip you in the hallway and laugh at you when you scramble to pick up your books, or they’ll shut the door to make sure you have to be late to your next class. And I got th-the assholes who’ll follow you on your way home so that they can beat you up like the bullies in the fucking movies, and then they threaten me to not tell a soul or else they’ll hurt my sister, so of course, I just lie to my mom and say I tripped. Because what else am I supposed to do? Can’t even do anything .”
Will’s crying fully now, trying to turn away so that Eddie can’t see him. But Eddie knows what it’s like crying and wanting a hug so badly but being too scared to ask for one, so he takes the plunge. He just leans back against the couch, opens his arms, and whispers to Will, “C’mere.”
Will doesn’t hesitate. He nearly throws himself into Eddie’s arms, and Eddie quickly wraps his arms back around him, rubbing his back as the boy sobs on his shoulder. He doesn’t try to reassure him, doesn’t try to tell him anything, because that wouldn’t really be any help now. So he just stays silent and comforts the boy in his arms.
He doesn’t know how much time has passed when Will pulls away, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands. He doesn’t say anything, though, waiting for Will, letting the boy decide when to break the silence.
“I’m sorry,” is the first thing out of Will’s mouth, and he’s already confused.
“Why’re you saying sorry, Baby-Byers? You don’t have anything to apologize for.”
“I know, but I feel so guilty for crying on you after complaining about my life because I could’ve just not done that! I could’ve just stayed quiet and not bothered you with my problems, and let you leave without having to deal with stupid fucking me!”
“Hey! Baby-Byers! I’m not dealing with you, alright? I’m not. I’m willingly choosing to spend time with you, okay? I wanted you to come here. I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to hear about your life. I wanted to spend time with you. I made every single choice. I made the choice of being with you! Because I like you, you funky little man. From what I’ve heard from your friends, you’re super cool. You can draw really well, you’re super smart in school, and apparently, you’re sick at D&D. And that’s so cool! So I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. I like you, Baby-Byers! But not like a creepy pedo way, before you say anything, because ew, disgusting. But you’re the coolest one out of everyone by far, so you don’t need to apologize to me for anything. Unless you like. Brutally destroy my guitar, but I don’t think you’ll do that.”
Will is giggling by the end of his ‘speech’, and Eddie’s glad. He doesn’t want this kid to be sad, ever. He barely knows him, but look at what he’s already done to Eddie. Eddie’s one of the ‘cool kids’ (maybe not to the others, but godammit, his outfits rule), and now he wants to protect Will. Jesus.
“Now, c’mon, let's watch something so we can hang out while waiting for Jonathan, alright?” When Will nods, he grins. “How about A New Hope?”
(When Jonathan knocks on the door and hears no response, he nearly panics because he worries that Vecna or something’s come by and snatched them in the time he’s been gone. But the doorknob turns when he tries it, and when he takes a tentative step into the house, he turns around and goes to his car for his camera, before returning quickly.
Eddie’s laying against the back of the couch, leaning slightly on the arm of the couch, and Will’s sitting beside him, head resting on his shoulder with Eddie’s arm wrapped around him. They’re both asleep, and Jonathan smiles softly at the sight of them. He takes a couple of pictures, grinning to himself.
Maybe Will’s found someone else to also have to help him. And though Jonathan should be groaning, because he’s Will’s older brother, he can’t help but feel happy.
Will deserves happiness.)