Story's on archive so you can read here (chapters)

redamancy

Fatigue has already begun to creep into Will's very bones when Eddie clears his throat next to him in the car, his fingers flexing around the steering wheel. There is a distinct note of nervousness in his voice when he speaks. "Hey, uh, Nance? You cool with us just dropping you off? I wanted to take Will somewhere since I got the car."

"That's fine with me." Nancy drums her fingers on the thighs of her jeans, her gaze focused on the window, her scent sharply impatient in a way that makes Will's nose tickle. "I just want to get to Jonathan. Whatever you do after that is up to you."

"You don't need us to stop by your house and get anything?" Will eyes the small bag of clothes next to Nancy's leg on the backseat of the car, but Nancy only shakes her head. Maybe Mike can bring her something if she really needs it, Will thinks. Probably, she just doesn't want to waste any more time than she already has.

He leans back in his seat and stares at Eddie out of the corner of his eye, curious but trying not to let it show too much as he lets himself get comfortable, the slight tension in his muscles easing. Seeing the others always makes Will a little uncomfortable. He's been friends with the guys for so long that one of them is bound to notice something off about him- probably Lucas, because Mike is oblivious- and he has his concerns about Max. Nothing to really confront her about, by any means, but something to worry about anyway.

How much did she see, tied up in Vecna as she was? How much did she know about what Will went through via a connection that he had no control over whatsoever?

Thinking about Max always makes his chest hurt. Between the creeping sensation of loss in the very back of his mind where he tried not to notice it and the frantic panic seizing up his lungs at seeing the sheer amount of damage done to Eddie's body, Will had been so desperate for El to understand him. To understand his frantic explanation of the way Vecna captured souls within his being, and that for the precious minutes that the Upside Down collapsed around them, El might still have a chance to find Max. To free her.

Luck, more than anything else, he thinks. He had no way of knowing if they were too late or if there was still time, but in the end, all that mattered was that El found her. In the snarls and tangles and twists of the Upside Down, so thoroughly tied to Vecna that it died with him, she found Max, undamaged and whole. Ready to be taken home.

Maybe they should talk about that sometime, him and El. He never asked her what it felt like to carry another soul inside of her own head on the way back home, but Vecna did it with relative ease. Maybe it was easy for El because it was Max.

They arrive at the house sooner than Will expects them to, and he remains seated as Nancy darts out of the backseat of the car, grabbing her bag with such force that it whips into the back of Eddie's seat and the car door on the way out. No sooner does the back door shut before the front door opens, Jonathan spilling out onto the front porch.

He looks barely contained, and Will imagines him pacing impatiently from front window to front window, waiting for any sign of them. For any sign of his alpha, his mate.

Even with the doors shut and the windows up, Will swears he can hear the noise that leaves Jonathan's lips, equal parts wounded and excited. Nancy sprints to him on her newly-healed ankle, forever unafraid to risk herself, and drops her bag as soon as she clears the steps. Her arms slide around Jonathan so fast that he's off of his feet before he can even wrap his arms around her neck, burying his face against her softly curling hair, still slightly messy from her stay in the hospital. And there they are, reunited. Whole.

Eddie whistles quietly, and Will glances at him. "Those two really are crazy about each other," he muses, shifting into Reverse and backing out of the driveway. "Hope she's willing to tell them that we're taking off, 'cause otherwise they're gonna be worried about you."