chapter one trip down memory
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THE BYERS WERE HAVING their annual cleanup day, will and jonathan were tasked with cleaning up their too shed while joyce was busy in the kitchen. while jonathan was busy cleaning their tools will was looking through old boxes, one in particular stood out to him. a box while 'school' written on it. will's curiosity got the best of him so he grabbed the box, opening it and seeing what's inside.
it was mostly old school school books, some most likely dried up pens, broken pencils. will's eyes widen and a grin breaks open his face. jackpot. it's their parents old graduation yearbook. "jonathan! look!" will holds up the yearbook and his older brother squints his eyes to read the text. jonathan softly chuckles. "go show mom." he says jerking his head towards the door of their shed. will nods and runs towards their mom.
"mom! mom!" will yells looking around the house for joyce. "i'm in the kitchen honey what is it?" he hears her say. "look what i found!" will grins at his mother holding up the yearbook. joyce eyes widen in surprise, she hasn't seen that thing in years. "my graduation yearbook!" joyce puts the dishes in her hands away, taking the book softly out of wills hands. she glances at him then back at the book. "wanna look at what's inside of it?"
will nods, a wide smile on his face while he pulls joyce with him towards the couch. the two browse through the book, only noticing jonathan being there with them when he points out a funny quote. the three laugh and flip the page but then joyce freezes seeing the bold bright red letters of 'stay crazy horowitz' in her former best friend's handwriting by her own picture. "who wrote that?" will asks in all his innocence. "mommy's best friend did. his name was benjamin, let me search for him for you yeah?" joyce mutters flipping through the pages until she found him. benjamin smith.
the king of hawkins high title has been around for as long as hawkins high itself. right now it's steve harrington but there was only one person who truly made the title his own. that person was none other than benjamin smith, yes he was best friends with outcasts like jim hopper, joyce horowitz was sometimes even seen hanging around the 'biggest nerd ever' bob newby and yet he was the most popular guy in school.
joyce used to call it pretty privilege which benjamin always replies to with a shrug and that cheeky smile of his. and right now that same cheeky smile is staring at her through her yearbook. a small smile on her face she points to the picture. "that's him boys, that was mommy's best friend."
"was? is he dead or something?" jonathan asks and joyce's eyes widen, her head jerking towards little will and jonathan mouths a 'sorry'. "no we just grew apart. he lives somewhere else now also but we were extremely close in high school." the boys nod staring at the picture. joyce's fingers softly glide over his picture before shaking herself back to reality. "well enough on that! this house doesn't clean itself go on boys."
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JOYCE SCREAMS BOODLY MURDER when she suddenly feels hands around her shoulders, turning around only to see her best friend in the world cackling his ass off. "you asshole." she hisses slapping him on the arm but she can't help but crack a smile as well. "oh come on now. you were the perfect target you can't blame me."
"i am blaming you."
benjamin smith, captain of the hawkins high tigers, one of the smartest kids in school and most importantly of all. a pain in joyce horowitz's ass. he pouts, his lip mockingly jutting out but a laugh comes from him once again when joyce goes to slap him for a second time. benjamin sits down next to joyce. "whatcha doing?"
"studying. you know the thing us non perfect beings have to do." joyce has a teasing smile on her face when she looks at him. "oh har har. i study."
"you skim the pages of our textbook an hour before we have the test ben."
benjamin looks at her weirdly. "i know, that's what i said. hey!" he takes hold of joyce's hand when she goes to strike him again, the two friends giggling on a random bench close to school. the two are interrupted when they hear someone whistle, they both look over. it's the rest of the basketball team.
"SMITH! GET OVER HERE!" one of benjamin's teammates yell at him, clay joyce thinks his name is. benjamin looks at joyce with a sorry expression. "i gotta go joy." but joyce only waves him off. "go, i'll see you at lunch."
benjamin nods, pressing a quick kiss to joyce's cheek before he runs over to the team, only to stop halfway to look back at joyce but she only flips him off. benjamin chuckles, shaking his head as he now jogs to his teammates they immediately swarm him.
joyce watches them leave, eyes only following benjamin as the group walks into the school. she waits for a few minutes, looking over her study notes once again before going into the school. benjamin and joyce's lockers are close to each other but with the entire basketball team surrounding him it's hard to see him. it's also hard to get to her own locker with those boys around.
benjamin locks eyes with her and she mentions to her locker. he nods letting her know he'll take care of it. "hey freshmen." benjamin snaps to the boys in front of her locker. the two look terrified and she almost feels bad for them. "yes?" they squeak. "move. she can't get to her stuff." the freshmen turn around to see joyce, they mutter a quick sorry before moving away.
benjamin sends her a quick wink before he's once again caught up in conversation with his other friends. having a popular friend isn't so bad after all. especially if that popular friend is benjamin smith, the king of hawkins himself.
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━━━━━━━━━━authors note.
ok so im thinking that im more going to write like the important things that happen between them rather than like a true plot. like a few drabbles per chapter what do we think of that ???
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dream boy , j.byers
Fanfic━ dream boy in which joyce byers's dream boy comes back to hawkins and he may just become her boy in reality. ❪ joyce byers x male!oc ❫ ❪ pre stranger things au to stranger things s3 to stranger things s4 ❫