I Called You The Heart Because I'd Give You Mine

Chapter 0: The Day Before Disaster

                          Hawkins, Indiana,

Saturday, November 5th, 1983

Will Byers
It was a cool November evening. Outside, dry orange leaves were blowing in the wind. Drifting down from trees like baby birds leaving a nest. On a Saturday evening such as this one, most people were inside. Relaxing with a nice movie. Spending time with a significant other. Making plans to do homework but ultimately procrastinating and waiting until the last minute. All of these people might describe what they did as fun or necessary. If they saw what Will Byers was doing, they'd probably laugh and dismiss him as unimportant. Maybe it was a bit sappy, but to Will, spending time with his friends was fun to him.

"Hello. Earth to Will."

Will gasped a bit. A small hand waving in front of his face. At the moment he was currently sitting in the basement of one Mike Wheeler. Mike's eyes were a soft brown. Like some of the coffee Will saw his mom drink whenever she had to work late. His hair was way darker though. He had a small frown on his face and was standing over him. "Are you okay? You stopped talking for a minute there."

Will was currently sitting on a blanket that Mike had put on the floor for him. Mike had offered Will a spot on the couch with him, but Mike was also planning their D&D campaign for tomorrow. So Will had decided to leave him space to brainstorm. "Oh. Yeah." He shrugged. "I just know how important this is for you. And I didn't want to like, distract you or anything."

"You weren't distracting at all." Mike gave him a small smile that sent a rush of reassurance through Will's body. Along with another feeling. Like a sort of warmth you'd get standing outside in the sun on a cool day. Not a scorching hot summer day. But a refreshing, relaxing, cool day. "I was kinda zoning out a little. But that's mostly because I've been planning this for a while. A bit nervous."

"Are you sure?" Will began playing around with his blue shirt sleeve. "I don't mind being quiet."

"Will-", Mike kneeled down so he was sitting on the blanket next to Will. He put his hands on the other boy's shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. "I could be in the middle of trying to stop a bomb from blowing up the world. And I still wouldn't mind if you talked to me. You're important to me. More than a campaign. Your voice and your opinions matter to me. So stop underselling yourself. Okay?"

Will nodded. Almost at a loss for words. His mind must've been playing tricks on him. Because he could've sworn Mike's eyes shot down to his lips. But when he blinked, they were back on his face. So he probably just imagined it. "Yeah. Thank you."

"Anytime." Mike shot back up as quick as he sat down and moved back to the table by the couch to continue planning out the campaign. But a frown quickly made its way onto his face. "Still can't believe Dustin and Lucas didn't show."

"Dustin had to clean up his place for his mom. I think he said she couldn't find something. And so she basically decided to turn the house upside down to look for it. Lucas decided to finish his homework early." Will shrugged.

"Finishing his homework early? That's why he didn't show up? Scholarly behavior?" Mike huffed.

"Mike." Will pointed at Mike and then himself. "We're nerds. Why are you surprised that he did his homework early? Just because you spend all day planning stuff and then forget to do your homework so you scramble before class to find someone to copy off of doesn't mean the rest of us can't do our work early."

Mike, who had been partially focused on planning, looked over at Will at that moment. He opened his mouth. But no words came out. Then he tried again. "I don't do it often, at least." Mike frowned when he saw Will's continuous stare. "Okay. Not super often."