s t r a n g e -- ST one shots

you are loved.

joyce byers was a mother, a fighter but mostly, she was a broken woman. 

her son had been possessed for over a month, and she hadn't even realised. she almost lost her youngest son, with his whole life ahead of him. she had lost her lover, who had tried to protect them all.

as she sat cold and alone with a thin blanket draped over her shoulders, she stared down at the ground as if trapped in her own mind. she understood how will had felt, a prisoner in his head. joyce refused to think about what had happened in her living room. instead of family christmases and movie nights, she thought of taunting fairy lights, monsters in walls and demons crashing through windows. 

and it hurt.

she had nothing else but her sons, and she tried her best to be the best she could for them. working as long as she could to keep that broken roof over their heads, where they'd built a home from hell for themselves. 

she just wanted to be a better-

"mom?"

there, young william byers stood at her door in his pyjamas, wearing a look that joyce couldn't decipher.

"hey, sweetie. what are you doing out of bed?" she asked softly, honestly not having enough energy to put on the mask of 'concerned mother'. he shuffled on his feet, looking down at the carpet.

"can't sleep." he mumbled.

"me neither." she chuckled.

she stood up, holding the blanket in her arms as she walked toward him. will hugged her tightly, wrapping his arms around her waist as tight as he could.

"he died because of me." he whispered, hiding his tearstained face.

"what? honey, that is not the case at all. he wanted to help you, and everybody else." joyce wrapped the blanket around him tightly, only pulling her son closer than before.

"he's a superhero." he said.

"yeah, he really is." she sighed.

bob newby was a superhero. he saved her family, little mike wheeler, even jim hopper and doctor owens. but she still remembered his face of shock and fear, as teeth teared into his leg.

it was too late, and now he lay on the floor of the lab, painted in blood.

"mom?"

she snapped back. 

"you're loved, even without him." joyce looked down at her son, slightly confused but intrigued.

"love is everywhere, in so many different forms. it finds you in so many different places. it comes up when you least expect it. just when you've given up and you're all sour and grumpy, and the last thing you wanna do is get up and out of bed, love will find you." will said softly, still holding onto his mother. she smiled for the first time that night.

"maybe its through a friend, trying to help like chief hopper did. or.. maybe a dog at the park running up to you to sniff your butt!" there was laughter for a soft second, a relax from the panic that had ensued the past few days.

"it will find you, mom. it always does. it's important to remember, you are loved."

"but, bob is-"

"not by bob. but my me, and jonathan, the chief, the guys, even eleven. she loves you, because you helped her believe in you when she was too scared to believe in herself."

she allowed her tears to fall at this point, as mother and son bonded over an individual loss but a collective win. 

will was back for the first time in two years, and their family could start to heal itself.