Chapter Text
“Holy shit, Will, are you serious?” he hears from Max. It whispered into the cold air like she didn’t mean to say it out loud. That couldn’t be true, though, because Max says everything with confidence and sureness in her words. She says what she thinks, and doesn’t hold back.
Will slowly lowers himself to the ground, his legs suddenly feeling much weaker than they were a second ago. Max, who’s still holding onto his hand, goes with him without complaint. Will can’t peel his eyes away from his own name and the dates etched on the stone. The words stared back at him, unmoving and unchanging.
William Byers
March 22th, 1971 - November 6th, 1983
A loving son, brother, and friend.
The light you gave still shines.
He feels his heart stutter in his chest as he reads the full inscription, having only focused on his name so far. He wonders who chose the words, who chose the headstone, and who chose what coffin the fake body would lay in for eternity.
Who had to make those choices for him?
Did his mom and Jonathan spend hours going over the type of wood he would lie in? Did his friends work on what would be written on his grave?
He stared at the date that was supposed to be his end, memories coming to the forefront of his mind.
He tries to remember the grounding techniques the psychiatrist had taught him when they thought that his now-memories were just flashbacks and episodes. He reaches his free hand down to the grass below him, closing his eyes and focusing just on the feel of the blades running across his palm and fingers. He hones in on the feel of it. He runs his hand over the grass as he breathes, deep and slow.
When he opens his eyes again, he feels a lot calmer, and thinks that maybe the government-assigned psychiatrist wasn’t as unhelpful as he previously thought. He’s grateful that Max is just sitting there with him, offering a silent and constant comfort as he pulls his thoughts together.
He takes one last deep breath, letting the panic wash away. Max squeezes his hand, and he squeezes back, grateful for her support.
“Lucas did tell me they found a body in the quarry.” She commented softly.
Will swallowed. “They told me I had a funeral. I knew that the government threw a fake body in the quarry. I guess I just… didn’t make the connection that I would have a- a grave and a headstone and all that.”
“I mean it is kind of insane.” Max comments, and it chokes a laugh out of Will. “I mean, we’ve seen a lot of insane shit, but this isn’t something from the Upside Down.”
Will nods. “This won’t go away from closing a gate.” he says. “I don’t really know what to feel right now. I mean, it’s not like this is new. This has been here for almost three years now.”
“I wouldn’t know how to feel either. It’s not like there's a guidebook to dealing with your own fake death.” Max says. “I mean, I know my heart stopped. I died, but I didn’t have, like, a funeral or anything.”
“My heart stopped, too.” Will says. He’s not sure why he admits it. He hadn’t told anyone about it, so the only people who knew besides the doctors were his mom, brother, and Chief Hopper. He remembered the numb and confused feeling he had when the doctor calmly explained the medical side of things that came with spending a week in the Upside Down.
“What?” Max asks, breathless.
Will takes another deep breath. “When my Mom and Hopper found me in the Upside Down, Hopper had to resuscitate me. My ribs were broken when I woke up in the hospital, and they told me why. Hopper performed CPR on me, and my ribs couldn’t handle the pressure.”
“...does anyone else know?” Max asks after a few seconds.
“Besides Jonathan, no.” he answered, suddenly feeling shameful. He knew he didn’t technically lie by not telling the rest of the party, but there was still an ugly curl in his gut as he admitted the fact.
Max shifts next to him, letting go of his hand and choosing to wrap her arms around him, pulling him into a side hug. Will leaned into it, wrapping his own arms around her as he leans his head on her arm, still staring at the grave in front of him. He feels his throat start to close up and his eyes well with tears. He squeezes his eyes shut and lets them fall onto the ground as he grips onto Max.
Max tightens her hold on him as a silent sob rips through his body. His hands grip the back of her shirt as hers pull him closer. He feels tears splash onto the back of his neck, and he realizes Max is crying again. It forces another sob through him as more tears slip through his eyelids.
“We’re real fucked up, aren’t we Byers?” Max laughs wetly.
Will nods through his sobs, his head feeling hot from the pressure. He tries to take a breath, but it just comes out as another sob. Max rubs his back soothingly, which helps as he tries his best to pull himself together enough to speak.
“Yeah.” he chokes out wetly in between sobs. His head starts to hurt, and he forces himself to take a breath. He tries to follow Max’s breathing, but it’s hard when he can’t focus through the fog in his brain.
After a minute, he finally gets a full breath in and out. His head feels hot and pained, but his chest is rising and falling as normal. His sobs start to slow to just steady tears that drip onto the grass below. He opens his eyes and looks at the grass, still comforted by Max’s steady circles along his back.
He slowly starts to loosen his grip on Max’s shirt, bringing his hands to himself and flexing them as he starts to sit up. Max lets go of him, leaning back as well. His head still hurts from the pressure, and his hands feel sore from gripping the front of Max’s shirt. He flexes them a few times to gain some more feeling. He wipes his face, even though some tears still form and fall onto his lap. A glance at Max shows her wiping her own face, and he really just thinks that Max doesn’t need to cry any more tears today.
He feels slightly lighter now, as if the tears that fell held more weight than they looked. Through the pain, his head felt clearer, like he could hear himself think now. Suddenly, looking at the engravement on the stone in front of him doesn't cause his body to go cold and his heart to skip a beat.
He reaches a hand in front of him, feeling the stone itself. It's a light gray stone, smooth on the front and back, but rigid on the edge. He runs his fingers over his own name and date, feeling the crevices of the letters and numbers.
“What does it say?” Max asks. Her face is now devoid of tears, but still flushed, her eyes red. He wiped his own slowing tears away before he answers.
“Uhm, ‘William Byers, March 22nd, 1971 to November 6th 1983. A loving son, brother, and friend. The light you gave still shines.’” he recites.
“That’s sweet.” Max comments, and Will smiles, nodding.
“Yeah.” His voice breaks as he says it, but he pushes back the tears that start to form again.
Max reaches forward with her hands until she reaches the stone, rubbing her hands over the smooth surface and feeling every etching like he had a few minutes before. Will watches as she traces the letters and numbers as he just did, trying to recognize the one she was feeling. She took her time, making sure to get every symbol.
Will took the time to focus on calming himself down all the way. He wipes away the last of his tears, runs a hand through his hair, and breathes. He watches the methodical movements of Max tracing the letters.
When she’s done, she leans back and shifts to sit with her legs crossed. The sun has fully set by now, the sky red where the sun was with a darker blue overtaking the rest of it. Will is starting to think that they should leave soon, but he still can’t peel his eyes away from the tombstone. He knows that his mom, Jonathan, and Hopper were home by now, so they will probably expect him to be home soon and he still has to give Max a ride home.
Max knows this too, but she doesn't mention it, even when the colder air picks up from the sun not offering additional heat. She simply sits there with him as he processes, and he’s grateful for it.
“Thank you, Max.” he says at the urge to voice his gratitude.
“Don’t thank me for this, Byers. I’m just staying cause you’re my ride home.” Max replies.
Will snorts. “Oh, right, how could I forget.”
“Yeah, I can’t believe you would think so selfishly. Not everything is about you, Will." Max says, a wide grin on her face.
“I apologize for assuming.” He grins back.
“You know, you’re never gonna lose two truths and a lie in college.” Max says.
“What?” he laughs out.
“No but just imagine, okay. You have so much shit you can say. ‘I have had a funeral.’ ‘I have a grave.’ ‘I went missing for a week.’ ‘I died.’ ‘I have a blind friend.’ ‘My sister has been hunted by the government.’ Byers, you’re never gonna lose at that game.”
Will places his head in his hands, body shaking with laughter instead of the sobs like earlier. He enjoys Max’s bluntness. She’s so unafraid of things, and he finds it admirable. He knows that he himself can be quite blunt, but Max doesn’t hold back.
“We should play that with the party some time.” He says.
“Oh definitely. We should get the older ones, too. I’m sure that Argyle guy has a lot of weird stories.”
“From what he had told me, I’m sure he does. He might win, though, since the only one that knows much about him is Jonathan.”
“Mmm, true, but I bet he will be so high that he won’t realize what the rules are.”
“Is it true that the weed in California is better than anywhere else?”
Max snorts. “I’ve heard that, but since I haven’t tried it I can't judge that very well. If Argyle says so, I’ll believe it.” She paused. “Hey, do you think he’d let me try some?”
Will snorts. “I think he probably would, but he would definitely blab, and Steve would freak out. You’d get a lecture into the next day.”
“Yeah, probably.” She says. “I wonder what it’s like.”
“What, weed?” Will asks.
“Yeah. I mean, Billy preferred just cigarettes, but he smoked pot sometimes. Jonathan does it all the time. I’m pretty sure Steve does too.”
Will hummed. “Well I’ve never smoked pot either, but I was on some, some pretty hard drugs at the hospital after I was found. I didn’t really feel it, though. I basically slept for two days. The next year they gave me some painkillers but those also made me sleep. When I was awake I was pretty loopy, but I don’t know if that was the drugs or… well, you know.”
“Hmm. They gave me some painkillers when I woke up, too, but those also made me tired.” Max comments.
They both jump as a crackle sounds through the air.
“Max, are you there?”
It’s El’s voice that comes through the radio. Max reaches to her side and unhooks the walkie-talkie. She pulls up the radio wire and presses the button on the side as she answers.
“This is Max.”
Another voice crackles though. “You’re supposed to say ‘over’ when you’re done talking. Over”
Max rolls her eyes. “Shut up, Mike. Over.”
“You didn’t say that to El. Over.” It’s Dustin’s voice that comes through this time, Max smirks.
“Shut up, Dustin. El’s still learning walkie-talkie code. Over.”
“Maybe I am, too. What about that, Wheeler? Over.”
“Oh shut up!” Mike replied, and Max grins over at Will. Will smiles back.
“What did you need, El. Over.”
“Is Will with you. Joyce and Jonathan are home now, and he’s not here. It’s getting dark, and Will left his walkie-talkie here.” El states. There's a crackle again a second later. “Over.”
“Wait, where's Will? Over.” Lucas’ voice comes through.
“Oh, my god, why is everyone on the channel right now? Will is fine. He’s with me. He’s giving me a ride home. Do you need proof of life?” Max states.
“You forgot to say ‘over’ again. Over.” Mike says.
Max sighed. “Over. Are you happy now?”
“You have to say it at the end. Over.” Dustin chimes in.
“Shut up, all of you. El, can you have Mrs. Byers call my mom and tell her I’ll be staying the night. If that’s okay with Mrs. Byers. Over.” Max says, and Will shoots her a look. She springs a thumbs-up at him.
“Yes. I will tell her now. Over.”
“Why do you get to sleep over? Over.” Mike says.
“Because I’m better than you, and me and El are gonna have a girls night. If you want to join us while we look through magazines for hot guys, that's up to you. Over.” Will snorts.
“Then why is Will invited? Over” Lucas chimes in and Max makes a face at the walkie-talkie.
“He lives there, idiot! Over!” Mike retorts.
“If you’re going to sleep over there then why was Will giving you a ride home? Over.” Dustin asks. Will watches as Max purses her lips.
“I changed my mind. Is that a problem? Over.” She retorts finally.
Will speaks up when Max lets go of the speak button. “Hey, can I see that real fast?” He asks. Max holds out the walkie-talkie to him and he took it from her hands.
“We should totally do a sleepover with all of us. I’m sure we can take over Steve’s house or something.” Dustin says, cutting through the argument. “Like a survival party. Over.”
“Will Steve even be okay with that? I mean, isn’t he still recovering from his… y’know. Over.” Lucas questions.
“He hasn’t had another seizure that I know of, but I’ll ask him. Over.” Dustin says, voice having a grave twinge to it.
Will finally decides to cut in. “Hey, guys. Over.”
“Hey, there’s Byers! Over.” Dustin replies.
“Hey, Will! Over” Lucas says.
“Hey, Will. Over.” Mike says.
“Hello, Will. Uh, over.” El says finally.
Will feels his heart swell as they all chime in to greet him. His gaze flies up to the headstone again, and he forces himself to answer them.
“Hey guys, uhm. Can you all meet me at my house tomorrow? It’s not a code red, but I just… wanted to talk about something. Over.” He says, sparing a glance at Max who looks surprised.
“Are you okay? Over.” Lucas says.
Will debates lying, but decides he’s done enough of that in the past year anyways. Instead he replies, “I’ll tell you all tomorrow, okay? Over and out.”
Will shakily puts the wire down and turns off the walkie, handing it back to Max by tapping it on her leg. She grabs it back from him, putting it back on her waistband.
Will takes another deep breath. He didn’t expect another onslaught of emotions coming through as he talked with the rest of the party. He’s glad that he turned off the walkie-talkie, because he didn’t think he could handle hearing their concern over this, though he was sure he would get an earful when he saw them tomorrow.
“Ready to go?” Max asked him, and he sighed.
“Yeah, I think so.” Will stands up, brushing the grass off of his legs. He sees Max stand up as well, also brushing the grass off herself. He looks around the cemetery, noting that it has gotten significantly darker now. It wasn’t pitch black yet, but the majority of the sky was a dark blue and the street lights next to the cemetery by the gate were on.
Will stares back at the headstone for a moment, but he pulls his eyes away as Max clears her throat. “Sorry.” He mutters. Max holds out her hand and Will takes it again, sending one last fleeting glance at the headstone before starting to walk away from his own grave.
He maneuvers around the cemetery as he walks to the gate. He can see his bike now, and a weight is slowly starting to lift off of his chest as he walks further away from where they were, however it is starting to be replaced by the sinking feeling of being confronted at home. He was glad that Max decided to come back to sleep over, because he couldn’t imagine walking into his house this late and feeling the way he does. He knew that someone would pick up that something was wrong as soon as he stepped in the door, so he was glad that Max was going to be there with him. Her hand in his gave him a bit more confidence as it grounded him back into reality.
They reached the gate with a minute more of walking, and he let Max know before letting go of her hand and grabbing his bike. Repeating the same process as earlier, he got on the bike and gave Max his hand so that she could get on the pegs.
Max turns on her Walkman, turning it all the way up so that he can hear it as Will bikes back to his house. The music is a nice distraction, and it adds a comfort to biking back after sunset. ABBA may not be Will’s favorite band, but he likes the music. He doesn’t think that something from the Upside Down would come for them, but it was nice to have an added security anyway.
They reached his house soon, and Will let out a breath as he pulled into his driveway and saw that the lights were on, people moving around inside through the curtains.
“We’re here.” He says to Max, slowing the bike to a halt. Max gets off the back and Will swings himself off and walks the bike to lean on the side of the house. He walks back over to Max, putting his hand on her shoulder and they walk together up to the door.
“Hey,” Max says, and Will looks over to her. “You’ll be fine, okay?”
“Thanks.” he replies, smiling despite the sinking feeling in his chest.
He opens the door, letting go of Max’s shoulder knowing that she knew her way around his house. As soon as the door opens, he comes face to face with the warm lights of the house and the smell of dinner being finished.
He sees Hopper and El sitting in the living room, and they both look at the door as he comes in, Max following close behind. As he fully enters the house, he spots his mom and Jonathan in the kitchen finishing up, his mom dealing with the food on the stove and Jonathan washing dishes in the sink.
“Hello, Will, hello, Max.” El says, standing up from the couch where she was sitting next to her dad.
“Hey, kids.” Hopper says, only looking away from the TV for a second. It was weird coming home to see Hopper all the time now. With Bob, it was weird, but the guy was so different from Lonnie that he didn’t mind too much. However, Hopper is a lot more like his father than Bob was, but Will calms down a bit when he realizes that the bottle in Hopper’s hand is just a root beer, and there was no sneer at him when he walks in the door.
It was an adjustment, but he thinks it may be a good one.
“Welcome back, Max. I called your mom and let her know. You can borrow some of Jane’s clothes, okay? We have a uh, spare toothbrush in the bathroom since you didn’t pack a night bag. We made meatloaf and green beans for dinner, so I hope you’re okay with that.” his mom says, still looking at the pans in front of her.
El hugs Max as she reaches her, but Will shies away when she looks over to him. He knows his eyes are probably still a bit puffy, as Max’s still have a bit of redness to them. El glances back at Max, and she obviously notices it as well.
“Will-” She starts, but is interrupted by Argyle coming in from the hallway.
“Yo, baby Byers and Red. How’s it going, dudes?” he says, walking over to them. He pulls him and Max both into an awkward hug, but Will is quite used to it now after knowing the eccentric guy for almost a year now.
“Hey, Argyle. I didn’t know you were here.” He says when Argyle lets them both go. He smells of weed, but it’s faint, so Will thinks he is probably sober enough to drive. A glance outside the window shows the van in the driveway, and he’s surprised he didn’t notice it before.
“Yeah, man. I’m just about to head out back to my apartment.”
“Oh Argyle, I made you up a container to take with you.” His mom says, walking over from the kitchen, a Tupperware container filled with meatloaf and green beans.
“Aw, thank you Mrs. Byers. You’re a real good one.” He says, taking the container and hugging his mom. Will laughs slightly as she bewilderedly returns it, patting his back.
“Have a safe drive, sweetie.” she says as Argyle lets her go. He smiles back at her.
“Thanks, Mrs. Byers. Bye Jonathan, man. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Argyle says, heading to the door.
“Yeah, bye man.” Jonathan says from the sink. Argyle waves a hand at all of them before leaving through the door, Tupperware in hand.
“Alright everyone can come grab a plate and eat!” His mom says, heading back over to the stove. He, Max, and El walk over to the counter with the plates set out and the meatloaf pan sitting on a hot pad.
They all slowly got their food together and sat around the dining room table. It was a tighter fit with two more people than they were used to, but it was definitely doable. Unfortunately, their table from California was not salvageable as it had been shot at too much, but they were able to get a new one for cheap from a garage sale a couple months ago. It was slightly smaller than their last one, but it worked. When they had more people over, they normally had people sit in the living room at the coffee table or they would stand and eat.
Dinner did feel a bit tense, but that was expected when El knew he and Max had been crying and Max had decided to stay over out of the blue. Will could tell that Jonathan had picked up on it as well, if the glances he was sending Will’s way meant anything, but he knew his brother was smart enough not to bring it up at a dinner.
El, however, wasn’t so forgiving in that sense.
“Will, Max, why were you crying?” She says, and Will freezes with his fork halfway to his mouth. He sees Max freeze next to him as well, mouth falling open in shock. Will watches as everyone stops eating and stares at him and Max, besides Jonathan who looks down at his plate, pursing his lips.
“What? Will, Max, are you okay?” his mom asks, and he forces himself to return her gaze. “Your eyes are a bit red, you two.”
“Mom, we’re okay.” he says back. “Just a rough day.”
“Did something happen?” Hopper asks, taking another bite of meatloaf.
Will shrinks under the attention, setting his fork back down on his plate and starting to fidget with his fingers under the table and staring down at the half-eaten plate in front of him. A sinking feeling hit his stomach again, and the headstone he stared at earlier was now at the front of his mind, flashing through his vision.
Max answers after a few seconds of awkward silence. “I had him take me to the cemetery today to visit Billy and it was harder than I thought it would be. I didn’t want to go home, so I asked if it was okay to stay over.” she says.
His mom answered back. “Oh, sweetie. You can stay over whenever you need. Just let us know, okay?”
“Yeah, thanks, Mrs. Byers.” Max replied.
“Will, you okay, bud?” He heard Jonathan ask. Will forced himself to look up at his brother. Jonathan was staring at him with those knowing eyes of his, something he had used against Will multiple times throughout his life. It must be an older sibling thing, because he’s seen the same look come from Nancy being directed at Mike, and the same with Lucas at Erica. He has even seen it a few times when Steve gave them a lecture, like when Dustin had scratched the side of Steve’s car and tried to act like he knew nothing about it. Unfortunately for Dustin, he was pretty bad at hiding things, so Steve figured it out pretty quickly.
Will didn’t answer, and instead he stared back at Jonathan dumbly, not able to think of an answer. It was silent for a second before Max came to his rescue again.
“He’s fine, don’t worry about it.” She said, though from that statement Will just felt more eyes piercing into his skull. It was starting to give him a headache, which was quite annoying since his head had just stopped hurting from crying earlier.
“Will,” He heard from El, and his eyesight moved from Jonathan to her. She was staring at him with that worried look she gave everyone at times. El was like that, always thinking of others even when she needed the most support. As he met her gaze, he felt something in him crack. A wall he had built up over the past couple of hours started to falter.
“Hey, Jane, it’s okay, yeah? Let’s just eat.” His mom says, and part of him hopes that would be the end of it, but he knows that a door has already been opened, and it wasn’t going to close now.
El takes her intense eyes off of Will, and it feels as though the world snaps back into place around him. She turns over to his mom, her face morphing into a more confused rather than concerned expression.
“But-” She starts. The wall cracks more.
Hopper cuts her off. “Hey, kid. It’s okay. Let's just give it a rest-”
“We found my grave.”
The house goes silent as they turn to look at him. He is looking down at his plate again, not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes. The wall inside him has crumbled, he feels his headache come back full-force as he swallows back tears that threaten to reach his eyes.
“What?” his mom says. It's spoken so softly that Will wants to retract his statement, curl up in his bed, and have everyone forget that he even said anything. His mom had already gone through enough stress because of him, and he really didn’t want to add onto that, but the words were threatening to spill past his lips as soon as he had stepped inside his house earlier, so even with his guilt, he feels an immense amount of relief as they leave his mouth.
“Will, what do you mean?” His mom asks, and he breathes in slowly, trying to keep his emotions in check.
“Will you don’t have to-” Max says but he cuts her off.
“No, Max, it’s okay.” he says, setting a soft hand on her arm. She purses her lips, but he lets go after a reassuring squeeze, and he sighs, relenting.
Will finally meets the eyes of the other people at the table. El looks confused, her normally wide eyes slightly squinted as she looks at him. It occurs to him that El probably didn’t go to his funeral, and quite possibly didn’t even know that it happened. He didn’t know much about the fine details of events that happened while he was missing, but he did know that El was on the run from the government at the time. He has heard from the party about El flipping a van with the ‘bad men’ chasing them.
Hopper has an almost haunted look in his eyes, and Will is reminded of the fake body that was made for him, and wonders just how involved Hopper was in that as the Sheriff. While he wasn’t the closest with Hopper, even Will could admit that finding the body of a twelve-year-old would be hard for anyone in his position.
His mom’s expression looks concerned. Her eyebrows are furrowed, and her eyes haunted. He wonders what it was like for her to have to bury him. He sees a bit of panic in her eyes as they pierce through him. He sees Hopper set a hand on her leg under the table, and he is again reminded just how different Hopper is than his father.
His eyes lastly meet Jonathan’s and Will almost breaks as he sees the stricken look his brother has on his face. His brother seems the most aware that Will has seen him since the house was being shot up in California, his full attention on Will. There was a sort of intensity about his stare, one that was different from El. Will wonders what Jonathan is feeling right now, and he feels guilty even more for bringing up memories that Will was sure Jonathan tried to smoke to forget.
And maybe Will understands Jonathan a bit more because of it, because he thinks he would want to be high and forget everything if he had thought he lost Jonathan and had to go to his funeral. Will wouldn't know what he would do if he lost his brother.
It takes a second to pull his eyes away from his brother’s. He instead focuses on the middle of the table, his head still raised, but not making eye contact with anyone there.
“When Max and I were walking back to the exit, we found a headstone with my name on it. It just… freaked me out I guess. That’s why I was crying.” he explained.
“Oh, Will I-” his mom says, and he sees her set down her fork.
“It’s okay, mom. I guess I just didn’t expect it.” He says, looking up to her. “I mean, I know that I had a funeral, Dustin and Lucas told me about it, but it didn’t click that I would have, like, a headstone and all that.”
His mom frowns at him sadly. “Will, baby, I’m so sorry you had to see that. I completely forgot that it was still there.”
“Is the, uh, body they found in there?” He asked suddenly, morbid curiosity overpowering the guilt of asking the question.
He regrets asking as soon as he sees Jonathan take a deep intake of breath and rub a hand over his face.
“Uhm,” his mom starts, looking to her left towards Hopper.
Hopper sighs, locking eyes with Will. “Yeah, kid, it is.”
“Sorry, we don’t have to talk about it.” Will says, feeling the tension in the room starting to be too much.
“No, no, Will, it’s-” His mom puts down her silverware, rubbing her hands on her pants under the table. “You can ask whatever you want, baby.”
Will can still feel guilt pour in his stomach at bringing up the topic, but the flashes of his headstone in the back of his mind filled his curiosity too much not to ask.
He kept his words careful, not wanting to ask the wrong question. Jonathan still wasn’t looking at him, staring at his food. Will swallowed nervously, feeling grounded by Max’s presence besides him.
“How did… how was it found?” he finally said.
Hopper took a deep breath, and Will turned his gaze to him.
“Really asking the easy questions, kid, aren’t you?” Hopper said, taking another bite of his meatloaf and setting down his silverware, wiping his face on a napkin before clearing his throat. “Well, I uh. I received a radio call that someone had found a body in the quarry. I drove over and there were people on the scene already. They uh, they pulled out a body. It looked and was dressed like you. Then they took it in the ambulance, then the morgue.”
Will shivers a bit, though he isn’t fully sure why. He sees Jonathan staring deeply into the table that Will is positive he could burn a hole in it if he tried hard enough.
“I went to your mom and brother and let them know that night.” Hopper finishes, and Will nods at him.
“But how did- how did you find out it wasn’t real? I mean, if it looked just like me then…” He stops, trailing off awkwardly.
“Mom and I IDed it. An agent took us to the morgue and showed us your body just lying there on a table.” Jonathan said, and Will looked over to him again. He still didn’t look up from the table, but his hands were now ringing around the back of his neck tightly, elbows resting on the table. “I thought it was you and ran out but mom knew it wasn’t. I mean, shit I thought she was crazy for it too and she was right.”
“Jon,” His mom started, being cut off.
“Mom.” His brother started again. “You knew it wasn’t him. How did you know?” Jonathan finally looked up, eyes now looking at their mom, who sat staring at his brother.
“Mother’s instinct? I don’t know. But whatever it was, I just knew.” his mom answered, looking back at Will. Will met her gaze, eyes focusing on the unshed tears in her eyes.
His brother ran a hand over his face before clenching them at his sides under the table. He laughed, hollow and haunted. Jonathan finally looked at him, and Will saw an empty look behind his eyes. “I should have… I should have known it wasn’t you. I mean, in the end it wasn’t you. It didn’t really look like you anyways. It was too pale and lifeless. I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to see that.”
Will shook his head. “No, Jonathan, don’t. You couldn’t have known that.”
“Jon, sweetie. I know you blame yourself, and you shouldn’t. It wasn’t your fault, and you had no way of knowing that it wasn’t actually Will. God, I did look crazy thinking it wasn’t, but I saw the lights and the Demogorgon in the wall. You didn’t. You couldn’t have known.”
Jonathan didn’t take his eyes away from Will the whole time their mom was speaking. Then, Will watched Jonathan purse his lips and look away at the wall, indiscreetly wiping at his eyes before taking a deep breath and looking back at the table.
“I went to the morgue after being questioned by the lab. I found out that it wasn’t you.” Hopper started, and Will turned his attention to the man at the head of the table. “I told your mom when I found out. We went and confronted the lab; negotiated with them to go and grab you in the Upside Down. We found you and brought you back, but that wasn’t before you had a whole funeral service and all.”
“I’m sorry you guys had to plan one in the first place.” Will commented.
“Oh uh,” his mom started awkwardly. She glanced over at Jonathan who didn't meet her gaze. “Jon was actually the one to plan it. I was a bit out of it by that point.”
Will’s body felt cold when she said that. Glancing at his brother, Jonathan did not look back over to him.
His mom took a deep breath. “I was spending all my time on one child, that I forgot the other.” His mom set a hand on his brother’s shoulder, rubbing soothing circles into it.
“I had to plan a lot of Billy’s funeral.” Max said suddenly.
Jonathan looked up at that, eyes trailing over to where Max was sitting. Will squeezed her arm again, letting her know he was there for her.
“Niel left in a rage, and my mom was kind of out of it after that. She was scrambling to get a job cause we were gonna lose the house after all the funeral costs and no income. She didn’t really have time to worry about what wood the casket would be or what to put on the stone.” She said. El reached over her own hand to Max’s other arm. Max smiled softly when she felt it. “So I get it, I guess. How it can be to plan that kind of thing on your own.”
Jonathan nodded. “Thanks, Max. I appreciate it.”
“So did you pick the inscription?” Will asked.
Jonathan nodded again. “Uh, yeah. I hope it’s not too corny or whatever.”
Will smiled. “No, I… I loved it. It was… really nice.”
Jonathan smiled softly, looking back down at his plate.
“What does that mean? An inscription.” El asked, sounding out the word.
“It’s writing on something. In this case, there’s writing carved into the headstone.” Hopper answered her.
“Oh,” She replied. “What does it say?”
“Uhm,” Will started. “It says-”
“‘A loving son, brother, and friend. The light you gave still shines.’ That’s what it says.” Jonathan interrupted.
El smiled. “That is nice. It fits Will.”
“I think so too.” His mom said, and Will felt his face flush in embarrassment. “Did you have any more questions, hon?”
Will took a deep breath, both to calm his face and gain the courage to ask his next question.
“Was,” Will started, swallowing, “Was Dad there?”
His mom blinked back at him. “Uhm. Yes, he was. For a small bit he stayed in the house, but he, uh, left soon after.”
“Mom kicked him out again.” Jonathan said before taking another bite of what Will was sure was now cold green beans.
“Jonathan, I-” his mom started before stopping herself. “He deserved it.”
“I’m not saying he didn’t.” His brother shot back.
“Wait, does he know I’m alive?” Will asked suddenly. “Or does he still think I’m dead?
When no one answered, Will blinked.
He heard Max cough out a small laugh, and he started laughing too. After a few more moments, the house was filled with more laughter. His mom laughed openly, eyes scrunched together. Hopper covered his face with his hand as his body shook. Max and El giggled to his left, and Jonathan leaned back in his chair as he laughed wholeheartedly as well.
As he laughed, he felt another weight fall off of his shoulders.
Seeing what he saw now, he knew that everything was going to be okay. Sure, he had to tell the rest of the party tomorrow, but he had passed the hard part of telling his family.
He may have found his grave, but it made him feel much more alive than before.