𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡 - Byler ✔

Chapter 19 - Joyce and Will

3rd Person

"..You were possessed." Mike told him.

"I-I was about to hurt you.?" Will looked down at his hands, and there were tiny cuts from how hard he was gripping the shard of glass.

"No, you weren't. The mindflayer was." Mike corrected him, but Will just shook his head.

"Mike I was going to hurt you!" He backed away from Mike, terrified of getting even a scratch on his boyfriend.

"Will, it's okay." Jonathan tried to move towards Will, but Will moved back.

"Jonathan stop! I might hurt you!" Will panicked, no longer trusting himself.

"Will your being ridiculous! Calm down!" Jonathan fired, and Will kept shaking his head.

"Stop, stop I might hurt you." Will looked down at his hands, which were shaking quite violently.

"Will, stop." Mike stepped forwards and grabbed Will's shoulders.

Will looked up at Mike, his eyes frightened, but nodded.

"I-I'm sorry." Will whispered, and Mike sighed.

"It's okay. Just calm down." Mike gave him a small smile, and Will nodded.

"Sorry." He mumbled, feeling ashamed.

"It's okay, let's sit down." Mike smiled gently at the boy, and everybody moved out of the way to let them sit down.

"..Can I have a plaster?" Will asked, and Nancy went to go and get him one.

"What happened? A-All I remember was at the table and then I was about to attack Mike?" Will looked around for answers, and Jonathan stepped in.

"We mentioned Vecna and the Mind Flayer took control of you." He explained.

"How did you know?" Will questioned.

"You go cold. And your eyes go bright blue." Mike told him, and everybody was confused.

"He goes cold? How would you know that?" Lucas scoffed.

"I- Uhh.. His knee was touching mine. I felt it get cold." Mike made up an excuse, and everybody seemed to believe it.

"Oh. Right. Well anyway, how do we get it out of Will?" Hopper looked around, but everybody's face was blank.

"Have we tried burning it out of Will? That worked last time." Nancy suggested, but Jonathan shook his head.

"Yeah but it just came right back, we need something better than that." He sighed, and Will felt himseld beginning to panic.

"I-I am gonna go for a minute." Will muttered, stepping out of the room.

"Poor kid." Hopper sighed, and a few hums of agreement was heard.

Will wandered up the stairs, seeing if Mike's room was free.

He was about to go in, when he heard sniffling from Karen's bedroom, which his mum and Hopper were staying in since Karen, Ted and Holly decided to go and help the Sinclair's with their home.

He frowned and walked over to it, gently knocking at the door.

"Come in." He heard his mums voice.

He pushed open the door, and on the bed was Joyce, crying.

She looked up and saw her son so she tried to wipe her tears, but Will had already seen her crying and was making his way over to her.

"Hi sweetheart, what's up?" She gave him a gentle smile.

"What happened?" Will frowned as he sat down on the bed next to her.

"Nothing. Are you okay?" Joyce tried to shift the conversation, but Will wouldn't let that happen.

"What happened?" He repeated, and Joyce let out a shakey sigh.

"I-I don't know." She tried, but Will knew something was up.

"You don't just sit and cry over nothing." Will reminded.

"Okay, fine. I-It just feels like this Vecna creep is targeting you." Joyce began, and Will froze.

"I mean, ever since you went missing it's just felt like he's had some weird hatred for you. You were possessed. You were the one that was trapped in another dimension. You were just cursed by Vecna himself." She told Will.

"Oh." He whispered, feeling guilty.

She was crying because of me. - Will thought to himself.

"I'm sorry." Will looked down, avoiding eye contact with Joyce.

"Baby, it's not your fault." She sighed, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm sorry." Will burst into tears, Joyce's arms making him feel a bit safer.

Everything from the past few days just seemed to be hitting him all at once, the Mind Flayer, Vecna, being cursed.

"Oh sweetheart, don't cry.." She frowned, gently rubbing Will's back.

"B-But-" Will went to speak.

"None of this is your fault." Joyce told him.

"How did you know-..?" Will questioned, and Joyce laughed gently.

"I can always tell what you're thinking. Whether you think you're slick or not." She told Will, who went slightly red.

"Now, is there anything you would like to tell me?" She asked Will, looked down at him.

Will debated telling her about her and Mike, but wasn't sure.

"N-No.." He looked away.

"Are you sure?" She tried again, and Will sighed.

"You would hate me." Will told her, and Joyce scoffed.

"I could never hate you." She reassured him.

"I-I'm gay.." Will began crying even harder, and Joyce's heart shattered.

"Oh sweetheart, don't cry. It's okay." She frowned, and she pulled Will's face up so that she could see him.

"Will. I love you so much. I will always love you. You don't need to hide anything from me." She told him, and Will nodded softly.

"Thank you." He whispered, tears completely dampening his face.

"Does anybody else know?" She asked him, wiping away his tears.

"I think.. B-But I didn't want people to find out. I was meant to tell them! It's not fair." He cried, and Joyce's heart shattered.

"Will.." She whispered, before pulling him back into a hug.

Will cried into her chest, and Joyce felt herself tear up.

"It'll be okay." She spoke softly, rubbing his back with her hand.

Will couldn't respond, as every time he tried to speak a loud sob just came out of his mouth.

"Oh sweety.." She sighed, gently rocking Will as a way to calm him down.

Joyce just being there made Will feel better, and within five minutes he was feeling a bit better.

He pulled his head away from her shirt, and saw the big tear stains on it.

"Oh.. I'm sorry." He mumbled, wiping his eyes.

"Hey, what did I say. No more sorries."  She warned.

"Sorry.. Wait no-.. Yeah. Right." Will stumbled over his words, making Joyce laugh slightly.

"Will. I love you so much." Joyce told Will, who looked back up at her with teary eyes.

"I-I love you too."

yall is anybody even reading this..

{Word Count: 1091}