a little more ✩ byler

XVIII. The Search Party

   Will sat on his knees in the abandoned junkyard crying for what felt like forever. No one had come to his aid, not even Mike. He was so embarrassed by what he did and hurt by what Lucas was saying about him, that he felt like nothing else mattered in the world. 

Will sat on the ground, resting his back up against the wall of the only old bus he left standing after his meltdown. He sat with his head in his hands until it started to get dark outside. Once the sun went completely down and no one had come to help or find Will, he felt like he meant nothing to anyone. He felt forgotten, and that everyone else was happier without him. 

Time jump back to the morning, after the accident.

All the parents that were in the kitchen were in a state of shock, all but Hopper. Hopper immediately jumped at the sight of Will running out the door. Hopper grabbed Mike by the arm saying, "Let's go", and running toward his car. 

"Wait." Mike said, pointing at cracks that had formed in the street, "What if that's where he went" 

"Are you sure? Those are just cracks Mike that could be anything" Hopper said, shutting the car door.

"I'm positive." Mike said.

"Okay, I hope you're right about this. Go inside, tell Joyce and your parents to come help us look, I'm gonna call El and Max and see if they saw him." Hopper said, sounding worried about Will.

"Okay, I'm gonna grab a jacket or two and then we have to go find him" Mike said, running in the house and up the stairs to his room. He grabbed one of his jackets and a sweatshirt, for Will. He ran back down the stairs and told everyone that they all had to help find him. Hopper got on the phone as soon as he got in the house and dialed Max's phone number. 

"Hello?"  Max said, answering the phone.

"Max it's Hopper, we need you and El to get over here ASAP. Bring warm clothes, it's going to be a long night." 

Hopper hung up the phone before Max could say another word. He ran upstairs and grabbed a coat and his hat, ran back downstairs and started leading everyone out the door. 

The party followed the cracks in the road, potentially made by Will, and met up with Max and Eleven on their way. They all shouted his whole name, William Byers. 

Now Will wasn't lost, he knew where he was, just no one knew where to find him. The darker outside it got, the colder it became. Will was still sitting by himself in the old junkyard when he began to hear rustling leaves in the woods. He quickly turned his head in the direction of the sound, he didn't need to get scared right now. He didn't need another episode to happen today. That would mean four episodes in the past two days. The leaves continued to rustle and twigs began to snap, causing Will to run into one of the buses and slowly shut the door in a panic. He sat in the very last seat, on the floor of the bus with his arms wrapped around his knees. He was freezing and scared, but he was too scared to try and walk through the woods and return back to the Wheeler's house. 

Will's head popped up when he began to hear a very faint yell of his name. He sat up from the dirty bus floor and looked out the window. He saw flashlights and heard more yelling. He ran out of the bus and started walking toward the flashlights. He stood in the middle of the junkyard thinking, Did they think I was lost?..

Will began to shiver from the cold and the now falling snow that was landing on his arms. The yelling became louder when he finally saw Hopper emerge from the woods. Hopper dropped his flashlight at the sight of the freezing boy and ran up to him, grabbing him into a warm hug. Immediately upon making contact with Hopper, Will practically melted into tears. Will didn't want to see Lucas, Dustin, Max, El or even Mike right now. He needed Hoppers fatherly protection and support right now. 

"I'm sorry Hop, I couldn't control it" Will said to Hopper as he tried to gather himself before walking back over to the others.

"I know kid, I know." Hopper replied, walking Will over to the rest of the family members who were waiting by the edge of the woods. 

Will was obviously freezing, so he accepted the offer of Mike's sweatshirt. The whole search party walked back to the Wheeler's house, Max and El, walked back to Max's, and Dustin and Lucas rode on their bikes back home to their houses. The snow was coming down a lot harder now than it was before and the temperature continued to drop. Once home, Mike took Will upstairs and got him ready for a warm shower. 

While Will was showering, Mike set out some of his warmest sweatpants and a sweatshirt to go with. He gave Will a pair of his fuzzy socks and a pair of old slippers that he found in his closet and left them on the bathroom sink for Will to put on. Mike also made not only his own bed, but Will's air mattress on the floor with extra blankets and a set of flannel sheets. Mike then laid down in his own bed, under the covers and waited for Will to finish showering

Will came into Mike's room after about 15 minutes warming up in the shower, wearing the clothes Mike put out, with his arms crossed. He shut Mike's bedroom door and walked over to the bed and got under the blankets, laying next to Mike.

"I'm sorry about what happened today Will." Mike said looking over to Will.

"I really don't want to talk about it." Will said, still shivering from how cold he was

"O-Okay", Mike began, " Then we won't talk about it"

Mike wrapped his arm around Will, pulling him into his chest to warm him up. the two boys fell asleep, snuggled together in Mike's bed.

hiii. hope everyone is doing well! thank u so much for 600+ reads<3 lots more to come!

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