Chapter Text
Chance’s evenings after school had been becoming more and more productive lately.He trained at highschool constantly for the next game, but he also kept himself in shape at home, as if he simply couldn’t stay still.
So here he was now, next to the open garage, training intensely in the darkness of Hawkins night.The Lawson Perez family house was positioned close to the edge of Ravenwood Forest, and the silence outside made everything feel even heavier.
He dribbled the ball on the ground, caught it, pivot, shot!The ball hit the basketball hoop again and again, with a sharp sound that disappeared into the damp evening air.
It was quiet.Just him and the crickets.The smell of a recent rain still lingered in the air, mixed with wet grass and the cold asphalt of the yard.
He stopped for a moment.
The moon slipped out from behind thick, dark clouds, lighting up the yard in an almost unnatural way.Chance looked up, breathing deeply, letting his well-trained shoulders relax for a few seconds.It was one of those rare moments where everything felt calm.Until…
A noise.
Fast.Agitated.From the forest.
His head snapped toward the darkness between the trees.His heart jumped violently in his chest.
Chance knew strange things happened in Hawkins.He hadn’t lived there long, he had moved only two years ago with his family, but from the very first month he had understood one simple thing:this town was not normal.And that forest…even less so.He wasn’t afraid of darkness.Not even of being alone.But that sound wasn’t normal.
He slowly dropped the ball.
For the first time that night, he no longer felt like continuing his training.
A loud noise, like a chaotic run through leaves and branches, was heard again from the left side of the forest, where Chance’s yard directly bordered the darkness between the trees.
Chance took two steps forward, listening carefully. He held his breath.
Then he heard it again, this time closer.
A weak, broken sound, like a deep sigh, as if someone was struggling to breathe.His eyes instinctively fell on the axe resting on the stump in the yard, where his father used to chop wood for the barbecue.Without thinking, he grabbed it firmly.
He moved toward the edge of the forest.
For a second, he stopped.He knew it was impulsive.He knew he should go back inside, ignore it, let the night pass.But something inside him refused.
He gave one last look toward the house.That warm glow from the windows now felt like it belonged to another world.He scoffed softly, shaking his head as if trying to clear his thoughts.
Then he stepped into the dark trees.
He quickened his pace as he got closer to the sound.He wanted to be cautious, someone could be hurt…or maybe it was just a deer that wandered too far.But his instinct was telling him something else.
At one point, much too close, a shadow suddenly moved in front of him.Chance immediately dove behind a thick tree, pressing himself against the damp bark.He held the axe close to his chest, breathing slowly, trying not to make a sound.
He dared to look up.In the distance, a boy’s silhouette was leaning against a tree, panting with his head down, his body trembling with fear.He looked completely terrified.But Chance couldn’t see him clearly, couldn’t recognize his face.
And then…Sounds.Wet, low growls coming from behind them.Chance’s heart stopped for a fraction of a second.
Without thinking, he began moving from tree to tree, quickly tracking the silhouette that was trying to escape.
— What the hell was that… he whispered more to himself through his teeth.
The boy in front was stumbling, running chaotically, as if he had no control over his body.Chance felt the urge to shout:
— Who are you?! What are you doing here?!
But the words got stuck in his throat.Because then he saw it.
Another silhouette emerged from the trees.Much too tall.Unnatural.Its head looked split open, filled with teeth, like a flower opening in the wrong way.Its arms were long, ending in claws.Its skin glowed faintly in the moonlight.Chance froze.The creature wasn’t just there.It was watching.Hunting the boy….
At the same time, the unknown silhouette collapsed behind a tree covered in moss and leaves.And then, in the faint moonlight…
Chance recognized him.
“Zombie Boy”… Will Byers.
His green, wet, terrified eyes were desperately searching for an escape.He was breathing heavily, his body shaking, as if he could barely hold on.
Chance stayed frozen.In the dark, crouched down on one knee, the axe tightly in his hand, he realized this was no longer about curiosity.It was about survival.
Chance reacted immediately.Without thinking, he grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it in the opposite direction, as far into the trees as he could.
The sound of it hitting a trunk was enough.The creature reacted instantly, a massive, distorted body snapped toward the noise and charged in that direction, moving quickly between the trees, with those wet, heavy sounds that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
For a second… silence.
Then Will started running.Straight toward the place where Chance was hiding.His breathing was ragged, his steps uncoordinated, as if he had barely any control over his own body.He was getting closer fast, unaware of Chance’s presence.
But the creature wasn’t far.In fact, it was closer.It suddenly changed direction.Too fast.Too intelligent.Those wet, heavy sounds turned back toward them again, circling closer, as if the forest itself was betraying them.
Will was only a few steps away from the tree where Chance was hiding.He didn’t make it past it.A hand grabbed his arm violently and pulled him into the darkness.Will flinched, ready to scream.But before he could make a sound, another hand covered his mouth completely.Chance pulled him in, much closer than he had intended.His back hit the tree bark hard, and Will was pressed against him in the dark.
For a moment, Will struggled instinctively.Not aggressively, more in panic.His hands grabbed Chance’s sleeves, trembling.Their faces were so close that their breaths mixed.
Then Will looked at him.His green, wide, terrified eyes locked onto Chance’s face.And something changed.
The panic didn’t disappear completely, but a sudden relief replaced part of it, the realization that he wasn’t in a monster’s hands.Chance was holding him firmly, but carefully.He was breathing hard, but still managed to whisper, almost silently:
— It’s ok… it’s ok… be quiet.
Will gave a small, shaky nod, still trembling, trying to control his breathing.Then…
Again.The sound.
The creature was close.Circling the trees, as if it had smelled them.As if it knew exactly where they were, but couldn’t see them yet.
Will held his breath.His eyes didn’t leave Chance’s.Green and brown, terrified and focused, locked in a strange connection born out of forced silence.
Chance felt something warm in his stomach, heavier than just adrenaline.The grip between them tightened without either of them noticing.
There, it was no longer just fear of the creature.It was fear of how close Will was to him…and the fact that he couldn’t afford to make a single mistake.He wasn’t a “freak”.He couldn’t be…
He let out a small breath.Then immediately regretted it.Chance bit his lip hard, trying not to make another sound.
Both of them slowly closed their eyes at the sudden sounds around them.Slowly, carefully, Chance moved his right hand away from Will’s mouth.
Will didn’t protest, but he didn’t dare say anything either.He couldn’t.He watched Chance as he leaned slightly beside him, picking up the axe from the ground.His movements were quick, but controlled, calculated in the tense silence of the forest.
The hand that had initially held Will’s arm moved him to Chance’s right side, slightly behind him, as if he was instinctively protecting him.
The creature was getting closer to the tree. Closer and closer.And then, in a final split second, Chance struck first.He raised the axe and swung it with all his strength, hitting wherever it landed, no clear aim, only pure survival instinct.The blow hit the creature.It reacted instantly with a violent, wet scream as it recoiled, its body jerking back from the impact.
At the exact same moment, Will cried out too.
A sharp, involuntary sound ripped from him as if the pain had passed straight through him, forcing his body to react without control.He almost collapsed, his knees giving in for a split second, but instinct kept him moving, kept him trying to run.
Chance turned toward him, confused and terrified, his mind struggling to understand what he had just witnessed.He grabbed Will.
Without hesitation, the two of them ran side by side, in the same direction.But not toward home. Not toward safety.Forward, into the unknown. Into chaos.
Because of the shock, Chance didn’t even realize what they were getting themselves into.He didn’t understand anything.He had heard the stories.He knew what people at school said about Will Byers and his friends.But now, being part of the nightmare Will was reliving, everything he thought he knew began to twist into something far more different.Will didn’t seem to be “the devil in disguise.”Will didn’t seem to be on the side of evil, actually.He looked like he wanted to run away from it…
But Chance couldn’t think about that now.His mind was completely overwhelmed with chaos and fear, and the only clear thing was that they were moving further and further away from the houses.
They stopped near a large rock, catching their breath side by side.Will looked like he wanted to scream in pain, yet there were no visible wounds on the surface.They both glanced at each other briefly, then collapsed against the cold stone wall.
Will gathered the courage to speak first, between exhausted breaths:
— What are you even thinking?Are you crazy?Do you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into?
Chance looked at him in shock and shot back:
— What?!What the hell was that, Byers?Is that how you thank me for saving you from the jaws of WHATEVER THAT THING WAS?What is going on, Ha?Wha— what was that?Does it have something to do with that club of your friends from last year?
Chance didn’t say it aggressively, more scared and completely exhausted.His voice didn’t rise at Will, but he was clearly shaken.He didn’t want to scare him, like the other jocks did.
He regretted deeply the way they treated Dustin and his friends.He knew it was hard to fit in at high school, but he had chosen in the past to play the “tough guy,” staying in the shadow of Jason or Andy, simply because it felt like the easier, more “accepted” version.
The fact that Will’s friends were seen as freaks, and that Eddie Munson had been involved in all the strange events happening in Hawkins over the past months, didn’t help their reputation.
But…Will hadn’t been there back then.Will had been gone for a while, in California.He didn’t know much about him.The story of his disappearance at twelve was told in multiple versions.And Chance, coming from a religious and protective family, despite the rumors at church, chose to believe that people just talked too much.That Will had gone through something terrible…but real.Still, he had never truly believed it had anything to do with what happened last year with Chrissy and the rest.
And now he was standing in front of him, looking for answers after everything he had seen.
— Listen, Will said.I was handling it on my own…thanks.But everything you saw doesn’t concern you!You and your friends can beat me up later for whatever you think about me right now.
Chance scoffed softly.His head dropped, both hands resting on his knees.Then he lifted his gaze from the ground again, meeting Will’s.
— You really are crazy, Byers.If I wanted you hurt, I would’ve left you there.
A complete silence fell between them.
Will let out a slow breath, trying to steady himself, still feeling a pain that seemed to come from somewhere beyond his body.
The tension between them was suddenly cut short by a crushing pain that hit Will in the stomach.
Chance flinched immediately.
— Jesus Christ…are you okay?Are you bleeding?
— Yeah…yeah.I mean no, I’m okay.I don’t understand…I don’t even know what’s happening to me.
He didn’t get to say more.He lowered his head over his knees, curling into himself harder from the pain.
Instinctively, without thinking about the “good guy” image he was letting slip through, Chance moved closer to him, until their shoulders were almost touching.
— Look… I have no idea where we are or what the hell all of this was, but before I hit that creature you didn’t seem affected…like this.
Will tensed immediately at the mention of the monster.He looked directly into Chance’s eyes, scared, his voice shaking and his eyes slightly glossy.
—Demo-The Demogorgon…I had to distract it.I was the distraction…it left.I have to catch up to it.
He tried to stand up, but the pain overwhelmed him instantly.Chance stopped him right away, resting his blood-stained palms on one of Will’s shoulders.
— Listen, Byers.I don’t understand half of what you’re saying, but there’s no way you’re going back there.We stay here until we know that thing is gone.
Will finally gave in.Tears threatened to overwhelm him, but he tried to hide them.
Chance watched him for a second, worried.His attention drifted down to Will’s ankle, covered in blood.It looked bad.That was probably why Will had been running so unevenly.The strange part was that Will barely seemed too affected by the injury itself…but by the rest of the unexplained pain.
Chance wanted to say something else, but hesitated.He swallowed dryly, then quickly pulled off his green-brown flannel shirt, leaving himself only in the plain tank top underneath, stained with blood.
Even through the pain burning through him, Will looked at him in surprise and confusion.
— What are you-?
Chance pulled off the white tank top too, placed it over his leg, then grabbed his shirt again to put it back on.
For a fraction of a second, Will’s gaze completely froze on Chance’s well-built body.His abdomen was, without question, enviable in a natural and effortlessly attractive way.His chest rose slowly from his still uneven breathing, while his steady hands searched quickly for the sleeves of his shirt so he could put it back on faster.In the faint moonlight, Chance’s skin looked almost mesmerizing.
Will realized he had been staring for too long.
He immediately lowered his head back onto his knees, trying to focus on the pain.Both the one in his body…and the one inside his mind.
After Chance buttoned a few buttons on his shirt, he grabbed the tank top and tore the fabric into several strips.He chose the part untouched by blood and, without hesitating anymore, moved closer to Will again.This time without any hesitation at all.Will lifted his gaze toward him, letting out a surprised, slightly embarrassed breath.
— Can I? Chance asked, far too gently for a gesture happening in the middle of the adrenaline and chaos they had just survived.
Will looked at him.He nodded lightly, pulling his leg a little for a better position.They moved his sneaker aside.And the sock too.Chance wrapped the soft cotton material around his ankle and heel. It wouldn’t help much.The area should’ve been disinfected first.But at least it could stop the excessive bleeding for a while.
At the touch of Chance’s fingers against the skin of his foot, the boy with green eyes flinched in tears.The realization of the actual bruise hit his body.Neither of them said anything anymore.
Chance lifted his gaze toward Will’s eyes while bandaging the scratched skin gently.He gave him a small smile, which was surprisingly returned.It was a solf smile, slightly rushed, strangely intimate.
— I’m Chance, by the way…
— I know who you are.
— But did you know my name?
— Not really…
Both of them laughed shortly.Then Chance finished tightening the bandage.
— This is gonna help a little, he said. My house isn’t far from here, from there we can disinfect your foot properly and I can take you home or we can call the police or whatever is necessary.Do you think you can walk?
Will nodded lightly, then stopped himself, speaking quietly:
— Actually, that wasn’t the plan.
—Ha?What plan? What are you talking about?
— Listen…Chance? Everything you know about what happened these past years is wrong.And if I explained the whole truth to you right now, you’d think I’m crazy.
Chance shifted his weight onto one arm, and smiled at Will a little wider than he intended to, resting his head against his own shoulder.
— Listen, Byers.I’m sitting with you on the ground, covered in blood, somewhere in the forest, after we got attacked by a faceless monster.That’s already insane enough for me anyway.I think we passed the part where I think you’re crazy.If you’re crazy, then we’re crazy together.
— Yeah?Will said surprised, almost hit by a revelation that was about to change his life completely.
He smiled.
— Yeah… and honestly I’d rather know you’re safe at my house than somewhere through the woods with whatever that plan you’re talking about means and that monster trying to eat your leg again.
Will pushed Chance lightly by the shoulder, laughing.The tension eased a little.And so did the pain.
— That monster is a Demogorgon, and it didn’t eat my leg, it’s just a scratch.
— A demo-? Yeah, however you say it, Byers.Tara na, c’mon. Let’s get going.
Before they got up, they made sure no sounds could be heard.Chance took Will by the arm, Will lightly leaning on Chance’s shoulder.
— Can you walk like this?Chance said while lifting the axe again and hooking it loosely onto the seam of his jeans at the waist.
— Yeah, I think so.As long as that thing doesn’t come back.
They started walking like that, sometimes separated, other times Chance helping Will.
Now that his life wasn’t in danger anymore, walking for Will became harder, the pain becoming more noticeable.
— So? What was the “plan”?And what do you have to do with that monstrosity, Byers?
— The plan was to distract it, but I went off track so Lucas and Max wouldn’t get attacked, Will answered with his gaze on the ground.Then I got lost in the woods and I lost my walkie-talkie.
— Wait? Lucas? Sinclair? He’s involved in all this too?Chance replied, surprised but not scared.
— Yeah, but not like you people in Hawkins think.Everything that happened in the past years has nothing to do with Hellfire, or Eddie…What happened with that guy Eddie was just bad timing…he was in the wrong place at the wrong time…Will said in a very quiet voice.He spoke so softly, but Chance was very focused on everything he said, lowering his own voice as well into a calm, gentle tone.
Chance listened to Will as he explained, briefly, things he had never heard before.
— And that creature?The…
— The Demogorgon, Will answered.That monster… is the reason I…disappeared…
— In the woods?The stories… Chance continued.
— Yeah, but you probably know some of that story wrong too, Will agreed, hesitating.
— Ay, Teka! no no no.It’s okay, if you don’t want to talk about it I’m fine.But I’d rather hear your version, not everyone else’s, Chance admitted with a short laugh.
Will stayed quiet.Then he finally dared:
— When I was twelve…
His voice changed slightly, becoming lower, heavier, slightly broken.
— I was taken by it…the Demogorgon.I was on my way home, through the woods…and then everything just stopped being normal.I tried to run, I really did, but it grabbed me.I disappeared into the world it comes from… a world like this one, just darker, with air almost impossible to breathe.We call it the Upside Down…
He hesitated for a moment, checking Chance again, still not understanding how he had ended up in the woods with a high school jock, telling him all of this.
—I survived there for days…on the other side of the world, being missing.My friends managed to bring me back, and since then everything with the Upside Down, the Hawkins Lab, and now Vecna…has progressed.
— Vecna? Chance responded quietly, short, almost afraid to ask too much.
Will explained more briefly. Sometimes he hesitated; he didn’t give too many details, trying to keep it strictly to what was necessary.Even though Chance listened with interest, something unexpected could be read on his face…
At one point, Chance stopped.Will did the same.
— Wait.I can’t figure out where we are.We already passed this fallen tree about ten minutes ago, Chance said while trying to make out in the weak light of the night whether he was right or not.
— Oh my God…it’s all my fault, Will replied with a sigh beside another tree, leaning one hand against the trunk again just to catch his breath.
Chance looked at him with something close to pity.He didn’t understand why he was being so gentle with this stranger he had only heard bad things about.He was supposed to be on the other side, wasn’t he?
He stepped closer, lowering his gaze.The height difference between them became obvious again.
—Look, it’s not your fault.I found you.I came on my own risk.We’ll find a way out of here, Byers, whether it’s near my house or somewhere else.
— What were you doing in the forest anyway?Will asked, looking at him with eyes full of implication.
— I heard noises, and I came to see what they were.
— Very smart, Lawson.And? Do you regret it?Are you gonna go to school tomorrow and say you ran into the weird “Zombie Boy” in the forest?Will replied with a look more provocative than Chance expected.
That’s when Chance realized how close he was leaning next to him.Their faces were only inches apart.His eyes stopped on Will’s, then involuntarily slipped toward the mole near his lips… then directly to his lips.
He flinched immediately, straightening his shoulders and pulling his body back, avoiding any suspicion that his gaze had wandered somewhere maybe it shouldn’t have.
— We… we should keep moving.
After a few more long minutes of short conversations interrupted by the sounds of the forest, they finally spotted light.
It was one of the yards near Chance’s house.Soon enough, they reached the backyard of his house, lit by the warm lights he had left on a few hours earlier inside the large quiet villa.
His parents worked shifts, sometimes in Hawkins, sometimes in the neighboring town.
That night, they wouldn’t be home.He also had a younger sister, but she was staying at their grandparents’ house too.Their parents had sent her there after all the chaos with the “earthquake” over the past few months.She commuted back for school.
So the house was empty.Chance didn’t even think about the fact that he had left the house unlocked in the middle of the night.
He led Will toward the door.At the entrance, Will took off his shoes, then hesitated before fully stepping inside.
— Is no one home?
— No. My parents work outside the city on weekends.My sister isn’t here either.Because of everything that’s happened these past months…nanay, my mom decided it was safer for her to stay with my grandparents outside town for a while.
They stepped inside, the warmth of the house and the ambient lights slowly warming their frozen bodies.
Will let out a relieved breath.
— Could I use your phone?
— Sure, there.I’m gonna go change out of these clothes.
Chance left Will near the phone.He quickly headed to the bathroom, where he washed the blood off his hands and face.He grabbed the first aid kit too, then hurried to his room, searching through drawers for clean clothes.He stopped after closing one of the drawers.Then opened it again.He grabbed an extra pair of clean socks for Will too.
When he returned to the living room, Will was still standing there, waiting with his arms crossed.
— No one’s answering… maybe we can try a walkie-talkie? Do you hav—
— Yeah, we have one.But before that… let’s take care of that leg.
Chance grabbed a chair from the kitchen and signaled to Will with his eyes.Will reacted immediately.Chance knelt down and started searching through the first aid kit. Will watched him, confused.
— You know, Lawson… I didn’t expect you to be like this.
Chance froze slightly, his hands slowing down.
— It’s fine, Byers.You can do my art homework for this.
They both smiled faintly.A short silence settled between them.
Chance unwrapped the improvised bandage.He soaked the cotton in alcohol and carefully began cleaning the wound: slow, precise movements, pressing only as much as needed, making sure not to worsen the already inflamed area.He kept the leg steady with one hand while wiping away dried blood and dirt with the other, trying to be as gentle as possible.Will winced at the contact, gripping the fabric of his jeans tightly.
— You know… if someone had told me a day ago that I’d have Will Byers in my kitchen bandaging his leg, I would’ve said they are crazy.
He paused, looked at him, then kept working on the bandage.
— But most of us aren’t what we seem…If you tell anyone I said that, you’re going straight into the first locker at the lockers.
He said it with a light joking tone, but also to keep up his “jock” image.
He looked up at Will.Will was slightly red in the face.Chance wasn’t sure if it was from the pain or from his words.
— There you go.Man, I don’t know how you managed to run with this. You’re in shape, Byers.
— Adrenaline beats pain.
— You know… you should try a sport.
— I’ll… keep that in mind.Thank you…
Will’s expression was confused.He wasn’t sure if Chance was joking or actually complimenting him.Chance packed the kit and handed Will a walkie-talkie.Will found the correct channel and pressed the button.
— Lucas, are you there? It’s Will. Over.
Silence.They exchanged a quick look.
— Lucas, do you copy?
A pause.Then faint interference.
— Byers!Jesus Christ, I thought you were dead!
It was Robin, Rockin Robin.Her voice came through clearly through the static.Will immediately flinched.Just a few hours earlier, at the hospital, he had seen Robin in the hallway.He had followed her to say hi, but was caught off guard when he saw her with another red-haired girl, a closeness that didn’t seem like just friendship.He left, confused, and never got the chance to talk to her about it.He had planned to pretend it never happened.
Now her voice hit him directly through the walkie-talkie.Robin kept talking without stopping, and through her words Will vaguely heard:
— Lucas, he is ok! He is—
Then she leaned closer to the microphone:
— Where are you, Byers? Over.
Chance looked at Will, unsure what to say.Will swallowed hard.
— I’m near Ravenwood Forest.I lost it.Over.
Lucas immediately cut in:
— WILL!Man, I was so worried.Don’t ever do that again.I ran to the hospital as soon as you disappeared.I couldn’t reach the others, I think they started patrolling without us.Over.
— Is Max okay?
— Yeah. I’m heading with Robin to Squawk now.Probably your mom is there.Dude, if she finds out what happened she’s going to kill us all!
Will gave an awkward smile.Chance glanced sideways at him, slightly amused, slowly realizing that Will’s “plan” in the woods had not been what it looked like at first.Will had said he could make it to the radio station alone, even though Lucas insisted on coming after him.Will hadn’t mentioned the injury.Or who he was with…or whose house he was in…
Chance stayed quiet.He didn’t want to expose him.He thought his friends didn’t have much faith in him anyway, seeing how often they were overprotective with Will.He wondered if Will felt uncomfortable with his help.
After they ended the communication, silence fell again between them.
— So…the ,,plan”?Chance asked, raising an eyebrow.
Will looked at him, embarrassed.
— Ok, ok…it wasn’t a good plan, but I need to get to Squawk as fast as possible.Thanks for everything, but-
— Wait, no way you’re leaving like that with your leg.And what do you even plan to go with?
— I left my bike at the hospital…
— Woah, Byers… I’m still surprised by your physical confidence.I can drive you.
— It’s pretty far, plus I already dragged you into enough of this…
Will looked at him uncertainly.He didn’t know what excuse to give Chance.Of course, he was still shocked by the fact that not only had he saved him, but he was also helping him all the way to his house. He had bandaged his leg, twice, carefully.Just the thought of it made Will’s cheeks warm up, confused and uneasy.A different kind of fear.
— No way.Now that I know everything, I can’t just leave you here, Byers.What if that creature comes after me?said Chance, with a sly, almost charming tone, placing both hands over his chest dramatically.
He was playing a role well.Will let out a small laugh.He didn’t know why, but the way Chance talked to him was just-
— So c’mon, let’s get in the car.Can’t wait to see Sinclair’s face!
Chance gave Will a light, energetic pat on the shoulder.