One and Only (Byler)

When Blue met Yellow

Eleven years prior~

Will Byers stood holding his mom's hand, looking anxiously at the building in front of him. He turned his head, peering at the kids playing in sandpits and kicking little plastic blocks around, chewing at his bottom lip. It was his first day at kindergarten, and he wanted nothing more than to bury his face into his pale yellow shirt, and hide from the rest of the world, but Joyce had already begun to steer him through the gates, and into a small, colourful building.

A woman with far too many bracelets sliding against her wrist, and a purple sweater on, greeted Will and his mom, smiling widely at them. Will didn't like her very much. She had a creepy smile. "Hello you two! This must be little William then - how are you sweetie?" The woman moved towards Will, and he stepped away from her, hiding behind Joyce. Joyce smiled at her, fixing her hair. "Sorry about that, he's just a bit shy." The woman gave a high pitched laugh, the bracelets on her wrists jangling loudly.

"Oh well, I'm sure that we'll be able to get him to come out of his shell some day! Wave goodbye to your lovely mother now, Will!" Will shook his head, clinging desperately to Joyce's leg. Joyce made a gentle attempt to prise him off her, but he held on, tears forming in his eyes. "Don't leave me here alone mommy, please," he begged, and Joyce gave a soft chuckle, kneeling down so she was level with her son.

"It's alright, darling, I know that being in new places can seem scary and strange, but this place could turn out to be really fun and exciting - you could even make some new friends!" Will wiped his nose on his sleeve, sniffing. "But what if no one wants to be my friend?" Joyce scoffed, shaking her head. "Who wouldn't want to be friends with my super awesome and amazing son? Even Jonathan said that you wouldn't have any trouble finding friends - and Jonathan's always right, isn't he?"

Will nodded at her, his face suddenly bright. "Yeah, he is!" Joyce smiled at him, using her thumb to rub the tears off his cheeks. "Now get in there and make some new friends, Will." Will ran towards the colourful bracelet lady, and she smiled down at him, carefully steering him away from his mother, and towards the outside play area. "Why don't you go and see if Harry and Mariana need an extra player in their game, hmm? It looks like great fun!"

She gave him a gentle push in the direction of a pair of identical twins, disappearing almost immediately after doing so. The twins, who Will thought to be Harry and Mariana, were in the middle of what looked like a funeral game, and they were lowering a barbie doll into a little hole in the sand they had made. The two of them did not even seem to register Will's sudden appearance.

Will hung awkwardly behind them, wondering whether he should say something, before wandering across the playground, all the confidence he had before completely gone now. A group of kids rushed past him, almost knocking him over in the process, and continuing on without saying sorry. Will sniffed, feeling dangerously close to tears, and making his way towards the deserted swing set at the edge of the playground. He sat on the closest swing, swaying himself backwards and forwards.

A boy had started to run towards him, a large grin on his face. When he moved closer, Will could see that he wore a grey shirt with blue stripes on it, and matching pale blue shorts. He had dark, unruly hair that fell in rumpled curls around his face, a missing tooth, and a few stains on his otherwise pristine shirt. Will gave him an anxious look. "Hello there! Would you like to be my friend? I mean, you looked really lonely there on those swings, so I figured we could be lonely together!"

Will gave him a nervous smile, sticking his hand out. "I think I would like to be your friend too, what's your name? Mine's Will." The boy grinned at him again, shaking his hand, and taking a seat on the swing next to him. "My name's Mike!" Will gave him a sideways look, the palm of his hand digging into the metal chain of the swings. "I like your name, Mike, I think it suits you." Mike beamed at him, his dark eyes twinkling in the sunlight. "You really think so? You're not just pulling on my leg like everyone else, are you?

Will shook his head, smiling back at him. "No, I'm being serious, it's a really pretty name!" Mike tucked his hair behind his ears, swinging his legs backwards and forwards. "I like your name too, Will, I think it's really pretty too!" Will looked down, blushing. This super-confident amazing boy thought his name was pretty? Will smiled to himself, buzzing at the possibility that he might of made a new friend.  "What happened to your tooth, Mike?"

Mike looked up at him, pursing his lips.  "It fell out yesterday, and the tooth fairy came and stole it!" Will gasped, his hands going to his own teeth.  "Did it hurt when it came out?"  Mike nodded his head, his eyes wide.  "Yeah, it did, but the tooth fairy gave me a whole dollar for it!"  He rummaged in his pockets, pulling out a crumpled one dollar bill. Will marvelled at it, pulling at his yellow shirt.  "Wow, I wish my tooth would come out already!"

The two boys stayed chatting together on the swings, until it was lunch time, where they both swapped their sandwiches, claiming the other's looked 'better.' And then it was story time, and Will and Mike sat together in the Story Circle, whispering and giggling to each other, while the teacher had clearly given up trying to shush them. They called themselves Blue and Yellow, and they were inseparable.

♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎

Back to Present Time~

Mike adjusted the tray in his hands, knocking on the door of the Byers residence. Will had just been discharged from the hospital, and he wanted to see him. For a moment, no one answered the door, and there was nothing but silence on the other side. Just when Mike began to contemplate coming back later,
the door opened, and revealed a slightly distressed Joyce. "Oh, good afternoon Michael, I thought you'd be in school by now?"

Mike pulled down the cuffs of his blue checkered button up, blinking at her. "Can I see Will? I mean- my mom baked some cookies for him, so I'm just dropping them off." Joyce nodded at him. "Of course, he's resting in his bedroom, but please try to be quiet, he might be sleeping." She opened the door wider, and Mike stepped inside the house, looking around. "Sorry for the mess, I wasn't expecting any company."

Joyce kicked aside an empty juice carton, sighing. "Oh, no, it's fine," Mike said quickly, excusing himself to Will's room. He gently pushed open the door, hoping that Will wasn't asleep. Luckily, he was sitting up in his bed with a book in his hands, and looked up when Mike came in, smiling. "Hey Will, I brought you some cookies." Will put his book down, giving Mike a sideways look. "If this is what you call 'making it up to me,' I'm somewhat disappointed, Mike."

Mike laughed, drawing up a chair to sit next to his bed.  "It isn't, I promise. The cookies actually taste like shit by the way, my mom can't bake to save her life. I just needed an excuse to see you."  Will smiled at him again, the kind of smile that sends butterflies rushing to your stomach, and his face went slightly pink. It felt so strange to feel that way when Will looked at him, with his soft brown eyes, and it was even stranger when he talked, because Mike couldn't ever take his eyes of him.

He wondered why he didn't feel that way about El.

♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎ ♡︎

A/N: Why am I only just finding out that Shakira's in jail??? 😟