Chapter Text
It was way past closing and the record store was empty, which was perfect for Will. He didn’t have to worry about appearing in front of anyone—and by extension scaring them shitless—when he wanted to skim through what new music the decade had brought. He wasn’t exactly sure what year it was anymore, he stopped keeping track of how long he’d been dead after the 90’s came and went.
God. The 90’s. Part of him wishes he had stayed alive just a few years longer—stayed with his friends a little bit longer to experience it with them. For a while, he had haunted the basement of the Wheeler’s house in Hawkins hoping to see his friends grow up and be happy. They didn't, of course, they had lost their best friend all over again.
Will's death shook the town in a different way than the first time. This time it was real, there would be no ‘Zombie-Boy’ because he was dead for good. He wasn’t just a kid on a missing poster, he wasn’t stuck on the other side of a wormhole, he was gone. The funeral this time was real and even worse for Jonathan. Nobody should have to bury their little brother twice.
He shook the thoughts, returning to the many crates of records in front of him waiting to be flipped through. He wasn’t really set on anything he saw specifically, but he kept flipping and pulling out things that looked interesting. Some he recognized, some he didn’t—he thought while looking at the Faye Webster album named ‘Underdressed At The Symphony’ closely. The music in recent years was so jumpy and loud, which he wasn’t a fan of. He wasn’t ever a big fan of pop in the first place, but at least he thought 80’s pop was tolerable. What even was autotune and why was it used in everything? He took the album and brought it to the record player he knew the owner kept in the back.
Once again, he was glad the store was closed. It let him play as much music as he wanted without any interruptions… except for the occasional skid walking by and looking at him through the window. At least they could pass off seeing a ghostly blue apparition as an odd hallucination with little to no questions about it.
As he guided the needle to rest gently on the outer ring of the vinyl, he delicately dropped the clear plastic dust cover. He hovered around until he heard the first track begin. It was nice, he thought. Different from what he was used to… but not twangy and obnoxious like other music he’s heard briefly playing on the radio. It was soft, which is seriously the best word he could think of to describe it.
He didn’t know if other ghosts could also interact with the world like he did, but he thought himself as lucky for it anyways. It took about a decade to actually be able to do it, but man, he is happy about it. He doesn’t know what he would do if he couldn’t float through walls one moment and then toss a wad of paper at someone's head the next. He’d probably just die of boredom and get sent to super mega-hell. that would be funny, or at least a little fitting. He got so used to being on edge at all times that honestly, boredom probably is his ‘super mega-hell.’ Doomed to do nothing for the rest of time… at least he isn’t being chained down and whipped by some demon that's meant to be attractive, he thought.
Though his thinking didn’t last long as he and the music were rudely interrupted by the familiar siren of the Ecto-1 speeding down a street nearby. He didn’t mind, honestly. It’s not like it was this street they were coming down, and it's definitely not like he was a malicious ghost trying to like… destroy the city or something. He just wanted to listen to his music in peace! But then the Sirens started getting louder, and the flashing lights from the hearse were lighting up his street. They were heading down the street he was haunting.
He knew it was a bad idea, but he really couldn’t help himself. I mean, it's the Ecto-1. He’s been obsessed with the Ghostbusters since he was a kid, even doing a group costume with Dustin, Lucas, and Mike in ‘84. So, despite logic, and the fact he’s a ghost, he carefully headed towards the big window at the front of the shop to watch the hearse speed by. He quickly muttered a hushed “Oh my god,” under his breath at the sight. He had always dreamed of seeing the car in person—or technically in spirit now.
And everything was fine! They were slowing down, trying to relocate the ghost they previously had wrapped up in a proton stream, but they weren’t having much luck. The driver saw it go one way but the other two in the car were motioning that it went the other way. Will had seen it turn, the driver was right. Will wasn’t too worried though, it wasn’t like a ‘this will be the end of the world if we don’t find this ghost’ type of situation, they were just doing clean up after the whole Garakka thing had released so many spirits. But it was not fine anymore. He had forgotten that he was completely visible in the window, and was now staring directly into the eyes of one of the new Ghostbusters.
The boy looked about 18-ish, Will thought. He was obviously tall, but stood a little hunched over, and had this weird side part situation going on with his raven coloured hair. Everything about him seemed so familiar, and Will couldn’t bring himself to look away. A pang of nostalgia hit him where his heart would be if he wasn't a ghost, and he realized the boy was the spitting image of Mike.
Though the situation finally made itself real to him. He was a Ghost, and he was making direct, intentional eye contact with a Ghostbuster. He had to get out of there, or at least hide. So that's what he did, because he can be somewhat logical sometimes. He retreated to the back of the store, willing himself to become invisible to the human eye, which was great, but also they were Ghostbusters so obviously they would have P.K.E meters with them. He cursed himself for forgetting such an important detail… he would have to brush up on his basic Ghost-busting knowledge… It's been a while.
If it wasn’t for the fact that, well, the boy saw him, another key indicator would be the fact there was music blaring from inside a closed and seemingly empty record store. Will double cursed himself this time, he was really hoping for a total miracle right now.