the paladin and the sorcerer

i will be king.

Hawkins was a place of mystery and confusion.

People would truly never know the truth about what happened here.

why portals suddenly appeared, why kids went missing, why armed forces flooded the streets.

Some people even believed it was the work of Satan himself.

But the biggest mystery of all was Zombie Boy.

William Byers.

The town still talked. Still gossiped. Still spread fake stories and twisted truths.

People would never truly understand what he went through, all those years of fear and pain and being dragged back from death itself.

Well  all except a certain group of outcasts.

Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Max knew the truth.

They tried not to bring it up, everything that happened to Will. He seemed happy.

Or at least, that’s what they thought now that the Upside Down was gone, along with Vecna and those terrifying, faceless monsters.

But the truth was that Will still suffered the effects of it all.

Sometimes he woke up in cold sweats, heart racing, convinced Vecna wasn’t really dead.

He hated the cold  it reminded him too much of the Upside Down.

He always half-expected a Demogorgon to come charging at him, finishing what Vecna started.

Would this be his life forever?
He could never be sure.

On the plus side, he had come out to the party.

Things had never been better with them, despite drifting slightly Dustin away at college, Max and Lucas trying to make up for the time they’d lost.

Still, they always made time for a D&D campaign every couple of weeks in Mike’s basement whenever everyone was in town.

But something had been eating at Will since coming out.

He had lied.

Not about being gay but about being over Mike Wheeler.

Deep down, he knew it hadn’t been just a crush.

God, it was so much more than that.

Will didn’t know if he would ever be able to confess the truth to Mike.

The thing was, Mike was grieving.

Hard.

After El, the whole party tried to act normal.

Well  all except Mike.

He blamed himself for what happened. The party constantly tried to reassure him, telling him it was El’s choice, holding back tears themselves. Will never tried to correct Mike.

Not because he blamed him  but because he knew it wouldn’t help.

Will had people constantly telling him he wasn’t a freak or weird after “coming back to life,” and somehow that only made him feel more like one. He knew what it felt like firsthand.

The party was gathered in Mike’s basement, finishing up a D&D campaign.

Max, of course, was yelling about how it made no sense.

Dustin argued back, explaining it in words she didn’t even understand, while Lucas automatically took his girlfriend’s side.

Will barely noticed.
His eyes were on Mike.