Byler one shots

26

On the first day of kindergarten, Will Byers sat on the swing set alone. He didn't need to kick much to swing lightly, it was a windy day and he was smaller than most boys his age, barely hitting the 38 pound mark. His family weren't starving or anything, he had just always been... fragile. The September wind swayed him easily.

He tried to make friends today, but everybody seemed to already know each other and he had never been a very confident child. So, instead of running around with the other kids, he sat on the swings and hoped for a better day tomorrow.

He didn't know what to think when he saw a boy from his class approach him slowly. The boy was average height, with huge brown eyes and a scattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. He looked nervous, his fingers twisting and untwisting together. They looked at each other for a moment.

"C-can I sit?" The boy asked, vaguely gesturing to the empty swing next to Will. He nodded, maybe a little too eagerly.

He sat down on the swing, grabbing the chains along either side and kicking his legs out just enough to swing him gently. They were silent for a moment, not really knowing what to say to each other.

"Do you want to be my friend?" The other boy blurted out, his big eyes growing impossibly larger, the tips of ears red with shyness. Will could have cried he was so happy.

"Yes!" He said excitedly, and the other boy gives him a shy, but bright smile.

"I'm Michael," he said, holding out his hand. Will took it in his smaller one, shaking it firmly the way his dad taught him.

"I'm Will. It's nice to meet you, Michael," he answered, the way his mom taught him. Michael leaned back into his own swing, kicking his legs harder to start actually swinging. Will copied him, happy to have made a friend.

"Mike," his new friend said after a moment. "I like Mike better."

"Okay," Will answered.

He liked Mike, too.

Will was almost twelve when he realized all the other boys in his class were obsessed with girls, and he had never even spared a thought towards one. All he cared about was his role in the party and getting to see Mike after school every day.

It worried him. It worried him a lot. His dad had always commented on how strange he was, and different, and the kids at school did too. He could deal with being called a geek, a dork, a nerd. He could handle the bullies and the occasional beatings. But this... this was something else. This was dangerous.

He couldn't talk to Lucas, or Dustin. The two were as girl-crazy as the rest. Mike, though... Mike hadn't mentioned a girl once. Maybe he was different, too.

Will shook his head. He had no way of knowing what Mike did or didn't feel. And he needed a certain amount of courage before he asked.

So he waited. Seventh grade began, and Will saved his courage in a special space inside of him. He worked on his art, he drew the party, his Cleric character, and in a special box underneath his bed, he kept his drawings of Mike.

He didn't know why he only ever drew him, or why he could never seem to stop. Maybe because he could always see Mike's face so clearly in his mind whenever he thought about him. Yeah, that was it. He just... knew Mike's face better than anyone else's. And it was good practice. He got better every day.