Worlds Turned Upside Down: Will Byers x Reader

Chapter Twenty-Six: Home Sweet Home

(Y/N) and Will lay, resting, both in hospital beds. They're staying in a conjoined room. (Y/N)'s parents wait for her to awake by her bedside, Joyce and Jonathan do the same for Will. Both children wear nasal canulas and looks of extreme drowsiness. Will awakens slowly and is greeted by sweet words from Joyce and Jonathan.
This quite whispering perks (Y/N) up as well. Her eyes flutter open. Right away she sees her mother, who is seated to the right of her. "Hi, sweetheart," Mrs. (L/N) says softly, grinning ear to ear. (Y/N) smiles a soft smile back, so purely happy that she's back safe with her mother. The color hasn't completely returned to (Y/N)'s face, the same with Will. Their lips and eyelids are still tinted purple, but their skin is starting to flush back with color. And their eyes are regaining the familiar sparkle they had lost in the Upside Down.
"Where...where am I?" (Y/N) asks quietly as her mother strokes the girl's clean hair lovingly.
"You're home. You're home now," (Y/N)'s mother grasps onto her daughter's small hand, "You're safe," she responds, a single tear sliding down her cheek. Mrs. (L/N) looks at her husband briefly, then back at her daughter, "We missed you. We really missed you," (Y/N) turns her head to the left, confused on who she meant by "we". There sits her father against the wall, his eyes red and puffy. His gaze is filled with fear and regret. He doesn't want his daughter to hate him. To be scared of him. And the look on her face when her eyes meet his definitely reflects fear, but then they soften. The bitter memory still lingers, however, she can feel something is different.
"(Y/N)," his voice breaks.
"Daddy," she responds, her lip quivering. He dives at his daughter and engulfs her delicately in an embrace, crying heavily in her ear. (Y/N) is taken aback, she never expected her father to do anything like this. Ever. But, here he is, crying his heart out, apologising repeatedly. Her arms wrap sensitively around his neck. They stay like that for a few seconds. Mrs. (L/N) observes this interaction, a few more tears streaming down her face. After twelve years of the three of them coexisting and getting along just enough, she now knows they're really a family. The family she's wanted all along has been right in front of her, they just needed something to prove it.
"It's okay, Dad," (Y/N) says softly, knowing that her father truly means what he says. She knew something was wrong. Out of place. But, it won't be anymore. She's sure of it.
(Y/N) turns her head back to her mother and notices she's crying, "What's wrong, Mom?" The young girl asks worriedly.
"Nothing, honey, nothing," she responds, tearily, appreciating how caring her daughter grew up to be. She leans in and kisses her forehead. Behind her mother, (Y/N) finally notices the Byers to the right of her. "Will?" She asks.
The small boy turns his head away from his smiling family and looks towards the voice. Him and (Y/N) meet eyes, "(Y/N)," The children begin to giggle, giant weights seem to leave their shoulders. Seeing one another in a safe and smiling state is so relieving. They both survived. They're okay now. Because they were there for one another.
Will turns back to Jonathan, who's showing him a box of items he brought along for his younger brother. Jonathan pulls out a new mixtape and shows it to Will, telling him there's some new music he might like on there. Will wears a grateful expression and looks to (Y/N), "Can (Y/N) listen too?" Will asks his brother.
Jonathan nods feverishly, "Yes...yes, of course," hearing this, Will turns excitedly to (Y/N) and she grins at him, she can't wait to listen.

♥︎

In the waiting room, Hopper gazes off thoughtfully whilst Ted Wheeler snoozes beside him. Next to Ted, Steve's tired eyes stare at the floor below him, his face brutally bruised from a previous encounter with Jonathan. Nearby, Karen Wheeler fidgets with her hands while Nancy sits beside her with her arms folded. Dustin rests his head on Lucas' shoulder, both boys are asleep. In the seat beside them, Mike is hunched over, lost in thought.
Everyone who's awake darts their eyes to the door as Jonathan enters the waiting area. He gives Mike a nod and mouths, "Come on," Mike jumps up and begins to shake his two friends awake, "Guys. Guys, they're up. Will and (Y/N) are up. Guys, (Y/N) and Will are up," Lucas gives Dustin a disgusted look as he pushes the boy's head off of his shoulder, "Guys, come on," the three boys clamour as they run out of the room.
The energetic three make their way down the hall to their friends' room and burst through the door. Everyone turns their heads toward the boys. Will and (Y/N)'s faces light up. Their grins become even wider. "Byers!" Mike yells as he throws himself at Will. Dustin laughs.
"Be careful. Be careful with them," Joyce warns the boys. Lucas also launches himself at Will.
"Move," Dustin says prying the two off of Will and engulfing him in a hug.
"Guys, guys," Jonathan chuckles, "Go easy on him," Will pats Dustin on the back, giggling along weakly. The three boys continue to cheer as they make their way around Will's bed to (Y/N), who they all hug one by one because she's always seemed a bit more fragile.
"We really missed you (L/N)," Mike says as he breaks his hug from her.
"I missed you guys too," (Y/N) smiles sweetly at her friends. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin stand in between the two hospital beds looking between the two as they converse with them.
"You won't believe what happened when you two were gone," Lucas says, excited to fill his friends in on all the details.
"It was mental," Dustin exclaims.
Lucas continues, "You guys had a funeral,"
"Jennifer Hayes was crying," Dustin adds. Will's mouth goes slightly agape and (Y/N)'s eyes widen. Jennifer Hayes was pretty popular, she can't believe Jennifer actually cried. At her funeral!
"And Troy peed himself," Lucas says gaining an astonished,
"What?" from Will and a fit of giggles from (Y/N).
"Yes," Lucas confirms.
"In front of the whole school," Dustin explains, making it even better. Will begins to cough, all the excitement overwhelming his system a bit, he is still at a loss for breath.
(Y/N) feels a sharp pain in her head and hisses. She touches her hand to her forehead which she now realizes is bandaged. (Y/N) regains the memory of the monster wrecking Castle Byers and knocking her unconscious. Her heart speeds up a bit and she feels a tad sick. But, looking around at her loved ones, the feeling subsides.
The three boys' smiles fade and they gain looks of concern at (Y/N)'s display of pain and Will's fit of coughing. They all go silent. "You okay?" Mike says looking at the two, touching both of his hands to their hospital beds briefly. "It got me and it hurt her," Will says looking over at (Y/N), the bandage on her head now making sense to them all, "The Demogorgon," Will clarifies.
(Y/N) nods, she didn't know that they were calling that thing the Demogorgan. But, it is pretty creative. And fitting. "We know," Mike says delicately, "It's okay. It's dead. We made a new friend," Will and (Y/N) perk up, curious on who that friend could be. "She stopped it. She saved us. But she's gone now," Will and (Y/N) observe the sorrowful look on Mike's face. There's a short silence.
"Her name's Eleven," Dustin says smiling, trying to remind them all of how great the girl had been. (Y/N) raises her eyebrow, that's a strange name.
"Like the number?" Will asks confused.
"Well, we call her "El" for short," Lucas responds.
"She's basically a wizard," Dustin says wondrously. Mike giggles.
Lucas whispers, "She has superpowers."
"More like a Yoda," Mike corrects Dustin. (Y/N) and Will stare wonder-filled at their friends. Before this all happened, they probably would have thought that the three were joking. But now, they'll believe nearly anything.
Dustin begins to explain what the girl could do, "She flipped a van with her mind," Will's jaw drops and Mike and Lucas nod, confirming  what Dustin was saying, "And these agents were trying to shoot us—"
Mike cuts in, "Yeah, it flipped over us—" he makes a rolling gesture with his hands.
Lucas motions to his head, "Then she squeezed their brains out..." the boys all talk over each other eagerly.
"And blood was pouring out of their faces," Dustin grotesquely adds.
"It was pouring out of their eyes," Mike says, in more detail. (Y/N) and Will are engulfed in the story, both clearly shocked, yet intrigued.
Nancy stares endearingly on at the reunion from behind Jonathan. Her smile eventually drops and she exits the doorway, reminded of how her friend wasn't so lucky. Barb never made it out alive.