"boys don't cry" (byler) (stranger things)

02- how it all started

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    Will's heart sank. It really happened. His worst nightmare really happened. Will usually has nightmares about the upside down and the shadow monster, but it that's not what he's actually the most scared of.

It's his dad.

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His father, William Byers father. Lonnie Byers. Will doesn't remember much of him since he was young when his parents divorced, but he knew what kind of person he was.

He heard his parents fighting at night when he would run into Jonathan's room and hide with him. He heard them yelling about bills and pay checks while he hid under the covers in Jonathan's bed. He heard the sounds of their anger and sadness fading away as Jonathan held him close.

He knew his father didn't like him. He didn't want a second child, he didn't even want a first child, but he thought it would keep his wife busy and raise the household income.

He ended up hating the baby, the whining and the screaming and the lack of sleep and peace in the house. Joyce couldn't make them breakfast or dinner anymore because she was constantly tending to the child.

When Will's mom got pregnant with him, his dad demanded she get an abortion. He knew he didn't want the extra stress and to deal with the noise all night. But Joyce could never. She wanted another child, she said it was a blessing in disguise. She said she wanted the baby, she promised Will's father that she would take care of them by herself.

So she did.

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Joyce had her second son and began to raise two children on her own, Will's father getting less interested in their relationship by the day. All he did was work and sit on the couch, cracking open a bottle of alcohol he bought with his paycheck.

Neither of them could keep up with the expenses of the child and Joyce could tell she was stressing little Jonathan out. She tried her hardest to be the best mom and would often fall asleep in Jonathan's room, the small boy in one arm and her newborn in the other.

As time went on, Will's father hopped from job to job and soon couldn't find a well paying job anymore, now staying at home with the two children while Joyce found some work. He wouldn't watch the children though. He would sit on the couch like he always did and drink, and watch television, and drink, and sleep, and drink and read. The cycle went on.

Jonathan was now old enough to get food for himself now and helped raise baby Will while his father mumbled about the sports game or his wife. Jonathan would try and take care of his baby brother, usually sleeping or watching him play with his old toys. Joyce got home and would put the boys to bed, stepping out once they were all tucked in and starting to argue with her  husband. They would yell and fight, the  night usually ending with Joyce in tears. Will's father didn't seem to care anymore.

Then, he left.

Will's father had had enough of family life, complaining that he didn't want children in the first place and shouldn't have to pay for them. He and Joyce agreed on the divorce and soon Will's father was gone. Will barely remembered him, the silhouette of his father mumbling on the couch engraved in his mind as his only memories.

You know the rest of the story. Joyce gets a new job, raises Jonathan and Will on her own, watching her boys get older and more independent. She loved them both dearly. She ensured them everyday that they were the best things that had happened to her. They were her life. And now that was gone.

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