"EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE" Will Byers x Reader

Bitchin' // chapter 25

El goes straight to Joyce, who wraps her arms around her. Joyce lets out a relieved sigh, and El sobs quietly into her shirt. 

'Hey.' Joyce soothes, rubbing her back. 'Hey, sweetheart.' 

El sniffles slightly, pulling away to look into Joyce's concerned eyes. 

'Can I see him?' She whispers, glancing towards the door. 

I follow her into Will's bedroom, closing my eyes at the sight of Will's small figure, fast asleep in the bed. 

Joyce sighs. 'He's not doing well.' 

'I know.' El hesitates. 'I saw.' 

I kneel down next to Will's bed, taking his ice cold hand in mine. If only he would come back to us. As Will, not the monster. 

'What else did you see?' Joyce asks, blinking. 'You opened this gate before, right?' 

'Yes.' El answers. 

'Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?' Joyce continues. 

El looks at her, then back at Will, a dark expression on her face. 

...

'It's not like it was before.' Hopper explains, as we sit around the Byers dinner table. 'It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs.' 

'Demo-dogs.' Dustin cuts in. 

Hopper sighs. 'I'm sorry, what?' 

'I said, uh, Demo-dogs.' Dustin explains fervently. 'Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass...' he trails off at the expression on Hopper's face. 

'How is this important right now?' Hopper says exasperatedly. 

'It's not. I'm sorry.' 

'We can do it.' El glances at me. 

'You're not hearing me.' Hopper glares. 

'I'm hearing you. I can close it. Y/n can help.' El says determinedly. 

'Even if El can, there's still another problem.' Mike points out. 'If the brain dies, the body dies.' 

'I thought that was the whole point.' Max frowns. 

'It is, but if we're really right about this...I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army...' Mike trails off. 

'Will's a part of that army.' Lucas says slowly. 

'Closing the gate will kill him.' Mike concludes. 

My mouth parts slightly, and I glance towards Joyce. 

...

'He likes it cold.' Joyce says, staring at the window by Will's bed. 

'What?' Hopper asks. 

'It's what Will kept saying to me.' Joyce nods. 'He likes it cold.' She turns back to Hopper, shutting the window. 'We keep giving it what it wants.' 

'If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then...' Nancy trails off, looking down at Will's frail form. 

'Then we need to make the host uninhabitable.' Jonathan finishes. 

'So if he likes it cold...' 

'We need to burn it out of him.' Joyce's voice hardens. 

'We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time.' Mike says. 

'Somewhere away from here,' I add. 

'Yeah, somewhere far away.' Dustins says. 

'I have to come,' I beg, turning to Joyce. 'I can't leave him like this.' 

'Honey, you have to stay with El.' Joyce urges. 'Close the gate. I promise, Will's going to be fine,' 

I nod reluctantly, sitting back down with Eleven at the table. 

'Take Denfield, then you'll see a large oak tree-' Hopper's voice fades away as Jonathan and Will follow him to the car to place Will in the backseat. 

...

'Just be careful, alright?' Mike says to El, standing on the front porch. I nod as Mike turns to El. 'I can't lose you again.' 

'You won't lose me.' El says, staring into his eyes. 

'Do you promise?' 

'Promise.' 

They lean in slowly, and my eyes widen, I try to back away slowly, but I end up kicking over a pot which clatters to the ground, breaking their eye contact. 

'Sorry,' I say nervously, turning towards Hopper. 

'El...Y/n, Come on, let's go. It's time.' Hopper calls. 

...

'So, what, we're just not gonna talk about it, huh?' Hopper says after we pull out of the driveway. El and I are both in the front seat, sitting side by side in the passengers chair. 

'About what?' El asks. 

'Oh, I don't know. I'm just curious, you know, why all of a sudden you look like some kind of MTV punk.' Hopper pauses. 'I'm not mad, kid. I just want to know where you've been. That's all.' 

El stares out the front window, a blank look on her face. 

'You left?' I gasp, 'You ran away from the cabin?' 

She nods, blinking slowly. 'To see Mama.' 

'Okay.' Hopper says quietly.  'How'd you get there?' 

'A truck.' El replies. 

'A truck?' Hopper's voice raises slightly. 

'A big truck.' 

'A big truck? Whose truck was it?' Hopper asks, slightly louder. 

'A man's.' 

'A man's?' 

'A nice man.' 

'Okay. So let me just get this straight in my head.' Hopper pauses. 'So a nice man in a big truck, he drove you to your mama's, and then what? Your Aunt Becky gave you those clothes and that makeup?' 

'I...' El trails off. 'I saw Kali.' 

'Kali?' I gasp. 'From the Lab?' 

'Yes.' El nods. 'She's okay. But she wants to kill all the bad men.' 

'Oh.' I sigh. 'That's-that's revenge....' 

'I shouldn't have left.' El says to Hop. 

'Mmm-mmm.' Hopper says softly. 'No. No, this isn't on you, kid. I should've been there. I should never have lied to you about your mom. Or about when you could leave. A lot of things I shouldn't have done. Sometimes I feel like I'm...' He inhales sharply. 'Like I'm just some kind of black hole or something.' He sighs. 

'A black hole?' 

'Yeah, it's a... You know, it's this thing in outer space. It's like, it sucks everything
towards it and destroys it. Sarah had a picture book about outer space. She loved it.' Hopper explains quickly. 

'Who's Sarah?' I ask, and El's face echoes the same question. 

'Sarah?' Hopper looks surprised. 'Sarah's my girl. She's my little girl.' 

'Where is she?' El asks. 

'Well, that's kind of the thing, kid. She, uh...She left us.' 

'Gone.'

'Yeah. The black hole. It got her. And somehow... I've just been scared, you know? I've just been scared that it would take you, too. I think that's why I get...so mad. I'm so sorry. For everything. I could be so... so...' He trails off. 

'Stupid?' El suggests. 

Hopper chuckles. 'Yeah. Stupid. Just really stupid.' 

'I've been stupid, too.' El whispers. 

'I guess we broke our rule.' Hopper sighs. 

'I'm sorry too.' I add. 'For telling Mike.' 

Hopper glances at me. 'It's alright, Kid.' He nods. 'You did what you thought was right.' 

He taps his fingers on the steering wheel. 'I don't hate it, by the way. This whole...look. It's kinda cool.' 

'Bitchin'.' El smiles. 

'Okay. Sure. Bitchin'.' Hopper says and we all chuckle.