Chapter Text
Will leaned his back against Tobias' shoulder as a cloud of grey disappeared into the air in front of him in a mix of cigarette smoke and breath against the cold, early December air, passing his cigarette to Tobias over his head to let him take a drag from it. Will stared off into the distance in front of him as a cloud of smoke passed over his head and the smell of nicotine filled his nostrils, his mind drifting again as Tobias passed his cigarette back. Will's brain flashed with images of dark blue vines and red clouds, cloudy black spiders crawling about in his eyelids, the sound of his own broken voice singing his old favorite song by The Clash and the quiet, distant voice of The Butthole Surfers echoing as vines and dust and a bright young woman turned into nothing filled his ears.
Will took another drag, a deep inhale and exhale filling the small space between him and Tobias. The images disappeared. The sounds faded. Will's brain did this less often than he'd expected it to back when the moments were really happening, but it was still a lot more than he'd prefer it to.
"Will? You still alive down there?" A smooth, steady voice called out, pulling Will from his own brain. Will leaned and tilted his head upwards, looking up at the man above him with a small smile and a huff of a laugh as he responded, "Yeah. I'm breathing." Will's head rolled to the side and fell back down, his eyes closing as the man above him pressed a kiss to his forehead and hummed. Will tucked his head down into his neck and crossed his arms, still holding his cigarette in between his fingers. A gust of wind flew by and Will shivered, scooting closer to Tobias and pushing against him. "Hey, can you grab me a blanket from the hall closet? It's too cold out here." Will asked quietly, looking at Tobias sideways. "A blanket? All of your blankets are so huge, it's not even that cold." Tobias chuckled and wrapped an arm around Will and pulled him closer, rubbing his arm to warm him up. "Tobi, go get the blanket. It's just down the hallway." Will turned and stared Tobias down until he caved, sitting up and hugging himself to keep himself warm once Tobias walked away.
Will turned back to face the tall buildings and city lights and sighed against the cold air, snuffing out his cigarette against the balcony railing and dropping it into their balcony trash bin. Another gust of wind blew by, and Will shivered again. He turned around, looking through the glass balcony door of his and Tobias' shared apartment, paid for and approved under the guise of being college friends wanting out of the dorm, and he huffed. What the hell was taking him so long? Will had sent Tobias to get him blankets millions of times before, throwing fits whenever the temperature dropped below 60.
Will stood up from the balcony chair with a sigh and slid the glass door open, walking down the hall and sticking his head around the corner when he heard Tobias talking to someone. "Tobi? Tobias? Who're you talking to?" Will asked as he rounded the corner and walked further down, spotting Tobias standing by the phone holding his blanket. Tobias turned around when he heard Will's voice followed by his approach, silently lifting the blanket with one arm while holding the phone in the other before pulling it away from his face. "Will, it's for you. No name, but he's adamant he speaks to you." he said while passing the phone over before waking past Will and draping the blanket on the couch on his way out. Will raised an eyebrow and raised the phone to his head, hesitantly speaking into the lower end of the phone.
"Hello?..." Will crossed his arms, resting the one with the phone on top of the other and leaning into the receiver. Will heard a sharp intake of breath on the other side, like the person wasn't really expecting to hear him despite asking directly for him. "Who is this?" Will spoke again, waiting for the voice of the other person on the line, getting an odd sense of Deja Vu, though maybe in this case it'd be reversed because last time he was the silent one being questioned by the familiar voice on the other line.
"Sorry-- shit, sorry, I just, I haven't heard your voice in a while. It shocked me." The person on the other line finally responded, stumbling over their words like they hadn't used a phone in years. Will's eyes narrowed for half of a second before they widened, his brows furrowing as he recognized the voice on the other side of the line.
"Mike? Is that you?" Will asked in astonishment, his hand mildly shaking around the phone as he awaited a reply. "Yeah! yeah, I'm honestly kinda surprised you recognized my voice, I feel like it's been so long you might've forgot who I was..." Mike rambled to the phone, his voice half hopeful and cheery, half reminiscent and sorrowful at the thought of a long-term friend suddenly forgetting him after years of friendship and shared experiences. Will cringed as Mike said that, his brain reverting back to that half a year he lived in California and Mike sent him a grand total of 0 letters in response to Will's 3 letters and called a grand total of 4 times and was never available when he would try to return missed calls. "Yeah, uh, pretty- pretty hard to forget that. I don't think that will ever happen." Will said with a forced small laugh, not really meant to sound real, just to fill the silence a little more. "Yeah, right, totally. Sorry, I guess I just don't really know what to do with myself right now, I've been trying not to scare myself over this, remind myself I'm just talking to an old friend. But my brain keeps making me feel like I'm... like I'm waiting in line for a huge rollercoaster and I know I won't have a seatbelt on." Mike rambled into the phone, making a small grin creep onto Will's face at Mike's old habit that he clearly still hadn't gotten over in the past 3 years they hadn't spoken.
"Yeah, I definitely get it. I felt a little nervous too when Tobias told me someone was on the phone for me, and then when I first picked up the phone it was just silent, but then I heard your voice, and I was honestly so surprised." Will spoke naturally, words flowing like they hadn't gone no contact for the last 3 years.
"Tobias? Who's Tobias?" Will could literally hear the grimace on Mike's face, something ugly and questioning curling into Mike's words that came through the phone to Will. Will made a face for half a second and sighed as he started to speak, "Oh yeah, Tobias. He's... Tobias is my boyfriend. He's the one you heard when you first called, I'm assuming. We met out here at school, he's also an art major." Will explained, sensing the shift in mood even from a phone line 700 miles away. Will paused for a minute, waiting for if Mike was going to say anything as a follow-up. But he didn't. The line was silent, and it really made Will worry for a second that Mike had hung up on him abruptly and said nothing else to him. "Mike? Are you still there?" Will asked, pulling the phone away from his face to look at it like it'd give him the answer before bringing it back to his face. "Yeah, I'm still here. Hey, I think my roommate is calling me, we're going out with some other friends in a bit, I just wanted to call and say hi before I left since it's been a while." Will's brows furrowed at Mike's response, not hearing anything in the background that would key another person being there, not to mention it was currently 9 o'clock at night. "You're leaving now?" Will straightened, tilting his head and looking out of a window, verifying it was still as late as he thought it was. "Yeah, we're going to a party. Honestly I'm already running late, so I'm gonna hang up and go get ready, but I'll talk to you later Will." Mike rushed out in what seemed like one short breath, barely giving Will the change to say 'bye' back to him before he slams is phone back into its place, leaving Will dazed and holding a dial-toned phone.
"The hell..." Will whispered while putting the phone back in its place, walking away from the phone while shaking his head and grabbing the blanket Tobias grabbed for him off of the couch to rejoin him outside.
Will slid the balcony door open with his blanket wrapped around his shoulders, stepping out into the cold and reclaiming his seat next to his boyfriend. "Hey stranger. What're you up to?" Will's voice was like honey, dripping slow and sweet as he sat next to Tobias and bumped his shoulder against his carefully, noting that he now had an open bottle in his hand. Tobias turned and grinned at him, turning back out to the balcony and shrugging before asking, "Waiting for you, I guess. Who was Mr. Mysterious without a name from the phone? Seemed like you guys knew each other." Will's face formed a ghost of a smile, something that wanted to be a halfhearted laugh but never really got there. "An old friend from Hawkins... We haven't talked in a few years, so we took a minute to catch up a little." Will silently had an emphasis on a little bit, because Mike never really talked about his life where or how he was doing and ditched right after Will talked about his situation. Tobias laughed a little, swaying a little bit and ending up a little further away from Will. "What? What was that for?" Will leaned forward and looked at Tobias with confusion written on his face, pressing more when Tobias just shook his head.
"Tobi, why did you do that after I said what the phone call was?" Will had caution and apprehension in his voice, trying to coax a reply out of Tobias and his weird reaction. Tobias shook his head softly and sighed before turning and replying, "Hawkins. You still won't talk to me about it, I feel like I'm missing over half of the puzzle pieces to your life. I want to know how you grew up; I want to know how you lived." Will's shoulders tensed and he sighed, realizing this was about to start another dead-end argument over Will not telling him things. Will lowered his head and inhaled, intertwining his fingers with Tobias' and looking into his eyes. "Tobias, I know it's killing you how badly you want to know. And it's killing a part of me that I just can't tell you. It's not just that I don't want to tell you, I know that's what you think, but I can't tell you. You wouldn't get it, I barely get it even after being out of it for the last 4 years."
"Right, just like I wouldn't understand your weird nightmares, why sometimes you can barely see out of one eye, why you go into random-- Deja Vu trance thingy's where you just stare at a wall looking horrified, just like I wouldn't get why you always shut yourself in the other room 'on the phone with your mom' every November 4th!" Tobias kept a steady volume, but his tone became more strained and aggressive as he got further on into his spiel. Will looked blank-faced, swallowing hard and refusing to make eye contact anymore. Will lifted his head upwards, looking straight up and exhaling before speaking in a half-broken tone, "You wouldn't understand it." Tobias laughed. "Okay... but- but Mike would I guess, right?" Will's head snapped in Tobias' direction, his eyes wide. "Wha- how did you-" Tobias cut him off, "I heard you saying his name while you guys talked before I walked away. 'Pretty hard to forget that.'" Tobias quoted Will's own words from the phone call, showing Will that he really was, in fact, standing there listening to them talk to each other before walking away to give Will the privacy of a phone call. Will's face changed to confusion and skepticism, turning his entire body to face Tobias before asking,
"Tobi, why do you get so rude when I tell you I can't tell you something?" Tobias answered by huffing and walking away, pushing himself up with his hands on his knees and starting to walk away before Will quickly sprang up to follow him inside. "Tobias, answer me! Why do you get so mad when I say I don't want to tell you something? I don't ever get mad when you bother me about knowing about my family and where I came from but then turn around and tell me I'm never gonna be able to meet anyone important to you!"
"That's just me being realistic, Will! Meeting family isn't something people like us can do. What you're doing, is avoiding. You're avoiding me, avoiding telling the truth!" Tobias turned back around and shouted, gesturing his arms in between them wildly. Will's brows raised and he cocked his head forward in astonishment, "Realistic?! People like us, what the hell is wrong with you?" Will's voice broke and his throat washed over with that burning feeling, his eyes starting to water before he blinked them back aggressively and looked up while shaking his head. "You're a real asshole." Will spat out towards Tobias, earning a cocky, sarcastic chuckle in return, "Yeah, you're not such a saint yourself." Tobias bit back before trudging away, shutting the door to their bedroom just enough for it to not be considered slamming. Will looked down the hall in his direction and pursed his lips, tears slowly making their way out despite his best efforts to keep them in.
"It's November 6th, you-- you asshole." Will quietly said while hitting his balled fist against the wall next to him, letting it drop limply to his side as he nodded his head back and forth while silently crying at the end of their hallway. Will turned his head to look in the other direction, spotting the house phone he'd just had a conversation with Mike from. Will rans his hands through his hair and down his face, dragging tears down to his shirt with them. "I need another cigarette."