Work Text:
will byers was laying on the couch in his living room, scrolling mindlessly through his phone as the tv droned in front of him. he was incredibly bored. it was a friday night at 5pm. most teenagers would be scarfing down pizza with their friends and getting ready for a fun night out, which would ultimately end up in a hangover the next morning, but the memories would be worth it, nonetheless. will had never been like that, though. not that he didn’t want excitement by any means, but he preferred literally anything other than the typical cliche parties. popular people scared him. but who could blame him for that?
the front door opened and will looked over his shoulder. it was his mom, coming in with an armload of groceries. will immediately jumped up and went over to grab a few bags from her.
“oh, thanks, honey.” joyce dumped the rest of the bags and her keys on the table. “you really don’t need to help unpack, it’s alright! in fact, could you please call your father and ask when he’s going to be home?” joyce sighed and took a breather before reaching to unpack a bag. “i need to know when to start dinner.”
“sure, mom.”
will set down the bags he had and went to his room. he flopped down on his bed and pulled up his call log, clicking on “dad <3″. it rang a few times, then there was a click, signaling that it had been picked up on the other end.
“what’s up kiddo?”
hopper smiled when he picked up the phone, switching his hands so that he was steering with his left and holding the phone with his right. his gaze lifted to his rearview mirror at the kid in his backseat. the kid glanced over at hopper for a second, then put his chin in his hand and turned to look out the window.
“hey dad,” will said. “mom wanted to know when you’d be home tonight so she knows when to start making dinner.”
“depends,” said hop, “what are we having? i know she was debating between a few different things. if it’s tacos, i’ll be home in 20 minutes. if it’s that eggplant casserole, i’m stuck at the station until midnight.” the kid in the backseat smirked.
will laughed.
“no idea,” he said. “guess you’ll just have to take a chance.”
hopper sighed and chuckled.
“fine,” he said. “listen, i’ve got a kid here that i need to bring to the station. and then wait for his parents to come him. but i’ll be home after that, alright? probably 6 at the latest, if he gets a ride home quickly.”
will raised an eyebrow.
“a kid?” he asked. “what on earth did a kid do to get in trouble with the cops?”
“okay, i use the term ‘kid’ loosely,” said hopper. “he’s probably about your age. kid, how old are you?”
“seventeen.”
“he’s 17. so yeah, your age.” hopper cleared his throat. “one of the more polite perps i’ve had. and one of the more interesting cases i’ve had too, but that’s not my business to tell you.”
“perp?” the kid muttered, raising an eyebrow.
“interesting,” said will. he grinned. “is he cute?”
hopper laughed and glanced back at the kid, who was now watching him with mild interest.
“hey, kid.” will smiled as he heard hop talk to the guy through the receiver. “my son wants to know if you’re cute.”
the kid in the background cleared his throat.
“uh, i want to say yes, sir.”
will grinned widely as he heard hopper lose it on the other end. he kinda wanted to meet this guy.
“you know what, kid, you’re making my night a lot better,” hopper said to the kid in the background. “i got real lucky busting you instead of breaking up some annoying shitty party of something like that. you’re a lot like my will, you know?”
will felt his heart skip a little when hopper said that. this guy was a lot like him? and hop didn’t meet him by breaking up a party or doing some stereotypical teen shit like that? intriguing.
“alright, will, i’ll be home in a bit.”
hopper’s words shook will out of his daydream.
“s-sure,” he said. “yeah. yeah, see you soon, dad!”
“see you soon, bud.”
“bye, kid in the background!” will added quickly, almost instantly regretting his words. that was weird to say, wasn’t it?
“uh, yeah! yeah, bye!” the kid called up to the front seat. he almost instantly regretted his words, too. he had never even seen this guy but he found himself thinking he was cute. what was WRONG with him?
will smiled slightly to himself after hanging up the phone. all of sudden, he stood up and went to the kitchen, grabbing his keys off the table.
“honey, where are you going?” joyce said. “what time is your dad gonna be home?”
“no later than 6,” said will. “and i’m- i’m just going out, okay? i’ll be back for dinner.”
“oh, okay, h-”
but will was out the door and starting up his car before his mom could finish saying “honey”.
maybe it wasn’t a typical teenage rebellion thing, but the idea of going to see a kid in jail and possibly getting his number was enough to make will’s heart race.
***
hopper opened the door to the station and held it, gesturing for the kid to go ahead of him. he did so begrudgingly. hopper followed after him and went over to his desk, picking up a phone. he held it out.
“come on, bud, time to call home.”
the kid stared at him. it was very clear that he did NOT want to call home. hopper smirked.
“you know what, because i like you so much, i’ll do you a favor,” he said. “give me the number and i’ll call home for you, okay?”
the kid perked up and thanked him profusely before giving him his home phone number. he went over and stood further away from hopper as he dialed, hoping to be out of earshot of the call. however, after a few seconds of being on the phone, the kid heard an all too familiar “he did WHAT?!” screech through the receiver. he groaned as hopper explained the rest of the situation to his mother, then hung up the phone and stood up.
“she’ll be here in 20 minutes. come on, kid.” hopper picked up his keys and headed over to a small holding cell in the corner of the room.
“wait a second, you’re putting me behind BARS?” the kid exclaimed, looking panicked. “doesn’t that seem, i don’t know, a little extreme?”
hopper chuckled.
“all standard procedure, kiddo,” he said. “you’re not actually getting arrested or anything, it’s just a holding cell.”
the kid sighed and headed over to the cell, plopping down on a metal seat attached to the wall.
“for the record,” hopper said, as he locked the cell, “i didn’t want to pick you up. i liked the stuff you were spray painting. good messages.”
“then why DID you pick me up?”
“i had no choice, bud,” hop responded. “i circled the block and ignored you SEVERAL times until i couldn’t anymore. just doing my job.”
the kid put his head in his hands.
“you know,” hopper continued, “i really do think you’ve got some good stuff to say. maybe just, in a more non-vandalismy way, next time? listen, my son will, the one we were talking with? he’s an artist. i’m sure he’d like the stuff you were writing and i’m sure he’d probably be able to give you pointers on better ways to- um- express yourself.”
the kid looked up, tears at the rim of his eyes.
“i’m sorry,” he muttered. “i really am.”
hopper waved it off.
“don’t be,” he said. “really. corrupt asses like mayor kline need to be called out like that. and i can assure you that i won’t be in any rush to clean or cover that up.”
the kid smiled slightly, but put his head back down. he was going to get chewed out for this. a second later, he heard the door to the station open, but since it wasn’t followed by the yelling of his mom, the kid didn’t look up.
“hey! what’re you doing here?” said hopper.
“hi, dad.”
THAT got the kid’s attention. he snapped his head up and instantly spotted what was possibly the most ADORABLE person he had ever seen in his LIFE. the boy had brown hair, not messy, but slightly tussled. he had gorgeous hazel eyes, and a cute, crooked smile on his face. he was pretty tall and broad, but from his demeanor, seemed to be a complete teddy bear.
“i- uh,” the boy stuttered, “um. i decided to be rebellious.”
hopper raised an eyebrow.
“really?” he said with a smirk.
“yes!” the boy insisted. “but, like, not in a sneak out of the house to go to a party on a friday night kind of rebellious,” he said. “in a, sneak into your dad’s work, but not really sneak in because your mom knows you left the house and your dad knows you’re at his work, kind of way.”
the kid in the cell raised an eyebrow and watched with amusement. what a cutie pie. he was stuttering and blushing so much, the kid couldn’t take his eyes off of him.
“and why are you sneaking into my work?” hopper said with a grin. he already knew the answer.
“to see the cute 17-year old you picked up!” the boy spit out.
the kid in the cell felt himself burning up. so this WAS will. he had secretly been hoping that it was.
hopper laughed and shook his head, gesturing back to the cell. will turned and locked eyes with the kid. they both immediately started blushing and smiled and waved at each other shyly. “will, don’t seduce my convict. and kid, don’t corrupt my son.”
will rolled his eyes and laughed a little as he walked over to the cell. he sat on a chair next to the cell and the two boys looked at each other awkwardly. after a minute, they both laughed.
“um, i’m will,” will said finally.
the kid smiled. “i’m mike.”
“so, uh, what’re you in for?” will asked.
“vandalism,” mike said, rolling his eyes. “even though your dad said he liked my work. nothing serious, i was just spray-painting shit to call out our stupid government.”
will smiled.
“i think that’s quite possibly the best crime you could commit,” he said, making mike blush. “i wish i could’ve seen it.”
“well, you still can,” said mike. “your dad said he wasn’t gonna cover it up for a little while.”
“good,” said will. “i’ll certainly make sure to go take a look.”
there was a moment of silence between the boys as they looked at each other’s eyes, then away and at the floor. it wasn’t awkward, though. just full of typical teenage hormone-fueled tension.
“um, other than commit crimes, what do you do?” will said, once again breaking the silence. mike laughed.
“well, i write,” he said. “not just on bridges, on paper. and i play d&d because i’m a total fucking loser.”
“no way!” will exclaimed, his face lighting up. “i do too!”
“oh shit, really?” mike said, grinning. “oh my god, that’s awesome! we should start a campaign!”
“we totally should!” will agreed. “but i have to warn you, i’m a pretty good dm.”
“you’re also just a pretty dm,” mike added. his eyes went wide the moment he realized what he said, and he began stuttering and fumbling for some kind of recovery. “i- um- i mean-”
will, whose face was bright red, couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face. “i- um- thank you,” he said quietly, making mike shut up at once. “i’m really glad i called my dad. you are just as cute in person as you sounded over the phone.”
mike looked down at the ground and smiled.
“um, th-thank you,” he said. “you know, your- your dad said something about you being an artist. and i write. and he said i needed to figure out how to get that out in ways that aren’t graffiti so... maybe you can help me with that sometime?”
will beamed.
“of course,” he said kindly. mike smiled back at him, getting lost in those gorgeous, gorgeous eyes.
“MICHAEL WHEELER!”
will and mike’s heads snapped up to the door. mike instantly turned red. it was his mom, looking absolutely FURIOUS. and his dad, looking annoyed for being dragged along.
“you are in BIG trouble, young man!”
karen wheeler marched over to the cell and glared down at her son, who was looking up at her sheepishly. hopper was watching, amused, from the corner, and eating a candy bar.
“i’m gonna take a stab at this and assume that this little troublemaker is yours,” he said, smirking and standing up.
“yes, unfortunately, he is.” karen peeled her eyes away from mike and turned to hopper with an exasperated and apologetic look on her face. “i’m so sorry, chief. what can we do to make it up to you?”
hopper shook his head and stood up, going to unlock the holding cell.
“just get him some sidewalk chalk or something, okay?” he joked. karen smiled slightly and nodded.
hopper unlocked the door and mike walked out, clearly embarrassed. his mom grabbed him by the ear and practically DRAGGED him out of the station. will raised an eyebrow as she did so and gave mike a half-hearted wave goodbye. well that wasn’t the cliché, romantic parting he was hoping for.
hopper glanced over at will, who was staring out the window. he smirked.
“he’s a nice kid,” hop said, making will look over. “and i meant it when i said i thought you’d get along. and it would appear that i was right about that, wasn’t i?”
will blushed and opened his mouth to answer, but at that moment, the door to the police station flew open, and mike rushed it, panting and shoving a paper in will’s face.
“h- here,” he gasped. “it’s- it’s my phone number. it would have been written romantically in graffiti on the side of the station instead, but your dad took my spray paint, so....”
will looked up at his dad and smirked.
“buzzkill,” he said. hopper put his hands up and rolled his eyes in mock-offense.
“mike! come on!”
mike glanced out the door behind him, then turned back to will.
“please call me,” he said. “i don’t want to talk to you through your dad’s phone next time. no offense, sir.”
“none taken, kid.”
“please?” mike asked hurriedly as his mom called for him again.
will stared at him. then a small smile started on his face and ended as a huge grin. he nodded ecstatically.
“i will,” he said, “i will.”
mike grinned back and opened his mouth to say something, but his mother stomped in at that moment and dragged him out by the arm.
“okay, talk to you soon!” mike called behind him. “um, you, will, not you, chief.”
“i was hoping that.”
“bye mike!” will called enthusiastically, waving. he felt himself get just as embarrassed as he was when he said bye to mike over the phone.
mike smiled and blushed, waving back.
“bye, cutie pie!” hopper raised his eyebrows at mike, making him gulp. “and sir.”