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

redamancy

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"I mean, you know, she was nice and everything. It's not like I didn't like her. I guess the whole..." Dustin vaguely waves a hand. His knee bounces a little when he speaks, a nervous tic he must have developed during the time when Will was not here. "The world ended, you know? Or it almost did. And that kind of reframed things for me. Suzie's great. I love talking to her. But there are people here in Hawkins, too."

Will nods along as he picks at the bag of potato chips laying on the floor next to his head, finding one folded in half and popping it into his mouth. "Sounds about right," he says as he swallows it, and Dustin flashes him a quick, slightly pained smile.

"It changed a lot of things for a lot of people," Mike says, and Will can just faintly pick up the strain of something more in his voice. Something hurt, tiny and fragile. "I think that's normal. I mean, it's not like Nancy wanted kids, or like, all those people who moved out of Hawkins before things got really bad. It makes you rethink things."

"Yeah, it does," Will agrees softly, and Mike shoots him a cautious but quiet smile.

Hanging out in the basement of the Wheeler house should feel as normal as it always has; Will spent a good portion of his childhood squirreled away in here, where Ted and Karen never bothered them and they could all do whatever they wanted. Made it a good place to play D&D, though the thought of sitting down to work through a proper campaign seems so far away, so foreign, that Will wonders if they'll ever play again. If things will ever truly feel normal enough for them to just be a group of teenage boys hanging out.

Lucas drops his head over onto Dustin's shoulder like it's the most normal, natural thing in the world; Will supposes it must be, now. The two of them seem closer than they were before, and it makes Will think of how things used to be between him and Mike before everything went to shit. "My parents are not happy about the whole pack house thing."

"Mom wasn't happy about it to begin with. I guess no one really likes the idea of their kid moving in with an adult they don't know that well." Dustin huffs at the curls spilling onto his forehead, rolling his eyes as if to show just how absurd that really is.

It is absurd. Will agrees with that. Though he barely knows Steve Harrington compared to everyone else, he knows Steve is a good person. He knows that Steve was deeply and emotionally affected by the fact that Will was gone, treating it like it was his fault when it was nobody's fault at all. Nobody's but Vecna's, and Will's for not knowing any better.

He should have been more careful about coming back to Hawkins. When he knew the danger, knew the risk, he should have been more cautious about crossing the town line.

Maybe he can find time to apologize to Steve for worrying him so much. There are scars- old scars, scars that Will was not present for- etched into Steve's skin, proof that he cares, and cares too much, and he shouldn't have had to care about this.

Mike props one of his feet up on Will's thigh, and though the touch is as casual as ever, Will has to fight the urge to twitch under the weight. "I can't wait to move back in. I hate living here. I just want some sense of freedom, and it's not here."

"It did feel a lot freer," Dustin agrees, and Will hums softly as he picks out another folded-over potato chip. "Like, Steve still watched us, but he's not like our dad."

"Why aren't you guys living there now? Did something happen to the house?" Will only asks because he keeps hearing that Steve has to get it all back together, but if there was serious damage done to the building, there's no way he repairs that quickly.

Silence lingers as the three of them glance at each other, as if weighing the pros and cons of discussing this with Will or not. Finally, though, Lucas clears his throat and sits up straight, and Dustin has to physically lean up and off of him or risk slumping over in his lap. He seems tired, Will thinks. Really tired, all things being equal. But that makes sense. Everyone is tired, and everyone finally has a chance to rest.