A World Turned Upside Down: A Will X Reader X Mike (ST)

Where's Waldo?: Will Byers Edition

Hopper
"And that's it on News Center this morning. Thanks for joining us. Let's hand off now to Liz at the news desk."

"All right, thank you, Donna. Turning now to local news, we're getting reports of surges and power outages all across the county. Last night, hundreds of homes in East Hawkins were affected, leaving many residences in the dark. The cause of the outage is still unknown. We reached out to Roane County Water and Electric, and a spokesperson says that they are confident power will be restored to all remaining homes within the next several hours."

I groan and check my watch for the time. I go outside on the porch, smoking a cigarette, and then go back in to take a shower. I brush my teeth and take my meds {not sure if they're legit or not but oh well}, taking one last sip of beer and blowing out one last puff of smoke before getting dressed into my sheriff uniform, grabbing my keys, and heading out the door to work.

Joyce
"Where the hell are they! Jonathan!"

"Check the couch!" he suggests.

"I did!" I feel around the couch more and find the keys hiding under the cushions. "Found them!" I gather the rest of my stuff. "Okay, sweetie, I will see you tonight."

"Yeah, see you later," he says, continuing work on breakfast.

"Where's Will?" I ask, realizing something's wrong.

"Oh, I didn't get him up yet," Jonathan says. "He's probably still sleeping."

I sigh. "Jonathan, you have to make sure he's up!"

"Mom, I'm making breakfast!"

"I told you this a thousand times!" I rush down the hallway to Will's room.

"Will, come on, honey! It's time to get up!" I open his door further and he's . . . not there.

I walk back to Jonathan. "He came home last night, right?"

"He's not in his room?" Jonathan asks.

"Did he come home or not?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No. I got home late. I was working late," he stammers.

"You were working?"

"Eric asked if I could cover; I said yeah. I just thought we could use the extra cash."

"Jonathan, we've talked about this!"

"I know, I know!"

"You can't take shifts when I'm working!"

"Mom, it's not a big deal! Look, he was that the Wheelers' all day—"

"I can't believe you!"

"I'm sure he just stayed over!"

"I can't believe you sometimes." I grab the phone and call the Wheelers.

Karen answers, "Hello?"

"Hi, Karen, it's Joyce."

"Oh, Joyce, hi."

I hear voices in the background and Karen tells them to be quiet. "Sorry, it's just one of those mornings."

"Was that Will I heard back there?" I ask.

"Will? No, no, no, it's just Mike," she says.

"Will didn't spend the night?"

"No, he left here a little after eight. Why, he's not home?"