Chapter Text
As Will Byers stepped out of the car after the cross country road trip to move from Lenora, California to the town of Hawkins, Indiana, he stretched, feeling a sense of nostalgia from the town. This was the town he grew up in, this was the town where everything happened. He looked at his old childhood home, now seeming to be a rundown abandoned house and remembered his past years there, from his parents divorce to his brother, Jonathan, showing him The Clash, he even remembered trying on his brothers clothes, this was the place where he realized that he was a boy, this was the house that held all the memories of him before becoming Will, back when he was Willow.
Will grabbed his bag, walking slowly towards the house, it smelled like fresh rain and the beginnings of fall. He glanced around, taking in his old family home, it was hard to believe that the last time he saw this house was when he was only 9 years old, now he’s 16 and an entirely new person. He noticed some movement on the front porch he froze, but soon realized that it was just Hopper and his adopted daughter Jane, who would soon be Will’s stepsister. Jane had her long curly hair tied up into a ponytail, she wore a simple outfit, just a sweater and jeans, but she wore many homemade bracelets and a few necklaces, you could tell she was trying to look presentable to the people she was meeting, while still being comfortable and able to help with the move. It was a stark contrast to Will who just wore a long sleeve plain tee with a band tee on top of the Clash, a shirt that was originally Jonathan's, and he was wearing basic sweatpants since he needed to be comfortable for the drive. As Will was looking at Jane and Hopper, Joyce caught up and happily gave her boyfriend a hug.
As Joyce and Hopper started talking, Will and Jonathan hurried inside to set their things into their old rooms, reclaiming them as their own places. They hurried back out to get started on moving everything inside with the help of Jane, who hadn’t said a word to anyone yet, not that Will minded, he was a pretty quiet person himself. They all silently worked together to get everything moved in, they were about halfway done when Joyce decided that a break was in order. She looked at everyone and smiled, “alright everyone, let’s take a break, we all deserve it with how much hard work you’ve all done!”
They all grouped up in the kitchen while Joyce dug around in a box labeled kitchen, grabbing some glasses and pouring water from the tap. She handed a glass to everyone, Jane mumbled a quiet “thank you, Mrs. Byers,” which Joyce responded, “honey, you can call me Joyce if you’d like.” with a sweet smile she always does. Jonathan and Will both downed their glasses, considering they did most of the heavy furniture moving. Will was out of breath when they first took a break, it felt nice being able to catch his breath and breathe in the crisp fall Indiana air, especially since he wasn't wearing his chest binder.
Joyce looked over at Will, “are you excited for your new school?” she politely asked, knowing it was a sensitive topic to her son. He looked over at her with a small look of anxiety and fear, “I guess, I know it will be different from California but I hope it will be nice.” He missed California a small bit, but he knew that moving back here to Hawkins would be a good start to his new life. He thought back to his childhood, he wondered where his old best friend, Mike Wheeler, ended up, maybe he was still around? Or he moved away like Will did, got out and explored the world like they always dreamed of as kids.
He thought back to when they first met, Will was sitting at the swings in kindergarten, he wore a simple pair of leggings and a superhero tee that used to be Jonathan's. He remembered being so happy when Jonathan gave him the tee, it was a graphic tee of Spiderman, Jonathan gave it to him to help with his first day of school nerves. He sat at the swings because no other kids wanted to swing with him, but then a small kid with dark hair walked up next to him and asked “can I swing with you?” little Will was so excited he immediately started wiggling from happiness, “yes! Wanna be friends?” he asked, the other kid nodded as he swung, “best friends! I'm Mike, what’s your name?” Will started swinging too, “I’m Willow” back then he didn’t know why he hated that name, he just knew he felt anxious and stressed whenever someone called him Willow, but when Mike called him by his old name, he felt okay for once.
Will smiled at the memory, it was his first time ever making a friend, and they grew closer than ever, that was until Lonnie and Joyce got a divorce and Will had to move across the country to California, where Joyce, Jonathan, and Will all lived in a small home while Joyce worked several different jobs just to afford enough comfort for the three, but in the end she was just happy to have her boys in the home with her.
Soon, Will snapped out of his memories at the noise of Hopper standing up and stretching, “The rest of the boxes aren’t going to move themselves, let’s get this done and over with.” He started heading for the front door, soon the rest of the Hopper-Byers family was back to moving furniture and many boxes into the home.
By the time they were done moving it was pretty late, the sun set and the moon and stars were starting to emerge in the void of the sky. Will was standing at the front porch, leaning with his arms crossed resting on the railing while admiring the stars. The front door quietly creaked open and out walked Jane Hopper, she moved to stand next to him in comfortable silence. Just two kids admiring the beautiful stars. While they stood out there for a few minutes, Jane glanced over at Will and quietly spoke to him, “So Will, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Will looked over at her, a faint wave of shock was seen on his face, before returning to look back at the stars, “well, there isn’t much to share about me, I’m just a guy who likes art, I grew up here but had to move away, but now I’m back and it just feels nice to be here again, I really missed this place,” he looked back over to Jane, “What about you?” She hesitated slightly before talking, fidgeting with the many bracelets on her arms, “There isn't much to really share," she paused, "Uhm, I haven’t really seen anything outside of Hawkins, the foster care I was in was pretty…interesting, we weren’t allowed to do much.”
Will looked at her with concern, he thought about what to say before responding, “I know we don’t know basically anything about each other, but I’m here for you, just letting you know that” he gave a small smile to try and comfort her. She returned the smile before quietly walking back inside, letting Will relax in the outdoors before heading inside, changing to a simple pair of sweatpants and one of his old school's sweaters, he collapsed on his bed, knowing he needed to rest to get ready for the long days ahead of him.
As Will rested, he thought of his childhood, he really did miss this place and he was glad he was back, but also being back meant that he had to remember his past and the nightmares that followed. He slept through the night, knowing he was safe and was able to have a full night sleep after all. He slowly closed his eyes, the last thoughts on his mind about his old friend.