𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐂³ || Temporary!Will Byers x Fem!Reader [...] ⇢𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥

━━ 𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐔𝐒 𝐔𝐍𝐔𝐌 - 𝐏𝟔 ━━

⚠️: mentions of drugging (truth serum) with one very brief mention of needles, implied torture w/o details. (all canon) if you wish to skip, just jump to the next chapter when the scene cuts to Robin and Steve as it starts very soon after they are introduced here

📝: I don't want to start any Billy discourse today or... at all really but I just felt like I had to disclose that me following the plot of the show does not equate me making any statements towards Billy's character cause I know the moment I do that's gonna start a war in the comments which makes me tired enough. I have my opinions on him but again, that'll just start shit but how I wrote this scene (aka how it was presented IN THE SHOW, like how i tackle any other scene) does not automatically represent my feelings towards a character/scene

❓️: top three cosmic moments?? 🤔

||𝟑𝐑𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐕||

Static. That's all there ever was.

In a matter of time, the obnoxious coat of static returned to the air of the Hopper Cabin with a simple click of the television dial. With all (but most) discussions aside over an impromptu and makeshift mid-afternoon lunch for all, El promptly returned to the floor just beneath the TV.

As she prepared herself for her next journey, she was privately reminded of her days shut inside, searching for her friends in her loneliest of moments. The thought of what she was about to do did in fact twist knots in her stomach, or however Y/n had said it. But she knew with complete certainty she could stand to. If it meant finding the source and stopping the Flayed—if it meant protecting the ones she cared about, then so be it.

"El," Mike's soft whisper reached her ears just as she pulled the checkered headband from her hair. Lowering himself to the ground beside her to match her height, Mike spoke with as little influence as he could muster. "I know you think you have to do this, but you don't,"

Yet unseen from her spot on the floor just across the coffee table, Max scoffed noiselessly to herself at his attempts. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but having just spoken to El only moments ago as she saved a spot for Y/n, she couldn't help but feel part of her heart sink as Mike stole her away yet again.

"It's just, you've only done this before once. A-and you're mom--," Mike quickly interjects himself when he sees the almost wary look in her eyes. He didn't know if it was directed at himself, or her her plan, but he was too afraid of messing up again to not try and correct himself. "She loved you and wanted you to know what happened. But Billy's mind, is sick—diseased. The Mind Flayer is in him,"

Had he gotten through? Mike wasn't at all sure, and he was less convinced by the second. It was the clench around his heart and lungs tightening with every thought that drove him. He could see that now. And what he thought at first to be a contemplation on her face as he spoke had quickly revealed itself to be the misty eyed result of mourning she was burying within her at the mention of her mother.

"He can't hurt me." She states, her tone almost dipped in warning. "Not in there,"

"We don't know that,"