Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sound of something wet fell to the concrete.

"Hey! Watch where you're-"

"I know-I know. Watch where I'm going."

Will's eyes were closed. He didn't want to open his eyes. Although he had his cherry, red, webbed mask on, he didn't want to risk contact with whatever, or whoever he just bumped into.

"Shit, man. You made me drop my coffee."

Will grunted, as he finally opened his eyes, and stood up. He looked to the ground. Indeed, he did make the figure's coffee fall.

"I'm sorry. I-"

Will made contact with the figure.

Wow...he was attractive. Physically, he towered over Will, but not by a whole lot. He noticed a small, almost not even clear "swish" in the guy's gelled hair. He seemed around his age. His skin was--let's face it--perfect. No pores. His eyes surveyed his lower half, checking his outfit. He was filthy rich. As his eyes looked back up to the figure, he noticed his lips were a dusty shade of rose. His face was symmetrical. If his face had been carved out by a potter, the right amount of tension was placed around his cheekbones and jawline. No wonder Will was an artist, he noticed the details in people. His eyes crossed over the almost visible freckles placed on his cheeks, and how his frown was slowly turning into a grin, until he wiped it off with his suit sleeve.

"I'll be more careful, sir."

The figure chuckled.

"You would thinking that a superhero like you would be less clumsy. That was 20 dollars."

Will blinked. 20 dollars for a coffee? Granted, he was in Manhattan, so it made sense. As he stood up, he noticed how the figure bit his cheek, holding back a possible insult or cocky threat.

"If you excuse me, I need to get back to catching that thief."

Will tried passing the figure, but they wouldn't budge.

"But you owe me 20 dollars."

"Sir-"

"Name's Mike."

"Si-Mike. I NEED to catch that thief. Now, I have to get going."

"You need to pay for a new coffee. I can't go to school without a coffee in hand."

"I don't- I don't have time for this. Sorry." Will huffed, as he pushed away from the man, and ran, shooting webs from building to building.

Mike chuckled quietly, watching the webbed man get away. A girl with soft, long curls walked towards Mike, two coffees with her, one in both hands.

She took a sip of her coffee and smiled.

"I saw what happened, and got you an extra coffee."

Mike smiled, still looking at the webbed man get away. "El, you didn't have to spend forty dollars, you know."

"I have the money, might as well." She chuckled lightly. "And I know you're angry if you don't have coffee in the morning.

He looked at her and grinned. "Thanks. We should get to school."

They turned to walk down a few steps and waited for the chauffeur to open Mike's door to the limo.

A few blocks away, Will had finally caught up to the thief. He narrowed his way down to an alley-way, slowly climbing down the brick walls, carefully enough to not make a sound,
The figure had stopped and took their mask off, revealing a scrubby-faced, older gentleman.

Will smiled. He shot a web to the closest lamppost and climbed downwards.

"Crazy day, isn't it?" He snubbed, trying to make conversation.

The figure spoke, "Yep." and laughed. "Wait."

"Gotcha." Will kicked backwards and hit the man in the nose, knocking him to the cold ground.

He grabbed the duffle bag, and webbed it to the wall.

"Didn't mean to hit ya that hard, sir. But stealing is never good." He webbed the man's hands together.

"But-"

"Uh-uh, the police are on their way." He tapped a button, alerting the police of the precise address to where they were. "Stay put."

The man got up and tried running out of the alley-way.

"Oh no, you don't."

He webbed the man's feet together and webbed him to the opposite wall of where they money was, securing him in place. Police sirens hummed down the street and out jumped Jim Hopper, Police Chief of the Queens Precinct, with other cars behind him.

"Spiderman, good to see you again." Jim said, scruffily, cigarette in hand, ready to light.

"It's a pleasure." Will smiled, smugly.

"Why are you always webbing your enemies, exactly?"

"It's to make both of our jobs easier, sir." Will jumped up and walked onto the wall, leaving the crime scene.

"Where's the mon-"

Will threw the money down to the ground.

"Thanks." Jim sighed, other policeman came around him and un-webbed the thief. Will climbed up the walls and leaped to the top of the building, watching the scene below. Will's phone buzzed from his pocket and he picked it up, still keeping an eye below.

"Will?" A bright voice questioned.

"Hey Dusty."

"I hate that name."

Will chuckled.

"Where are you? School starts in five."

Will's eyes widened.

"Five minutes?"

"Yeah? Where the hell are you?"

"Uh-- I woke up a little late. I'll be there soon."

"Will, it's the first day!"

"See ya there!"

"Will-"

Will hung up the phone and watched the police cars drive away with both the thief and money. He quickly webbed his way back to his small apartment and opened the window to his room, slowly creeping in, hoping he wouldn't make too much noise that would wake up his mom, Joyce, who'd just came back from a late shift of work. He quickly changed into a navy blue hoodie and khaki's and navy blue converse, hiding his suit under his clothes, quickly grabbing an orange for breakfast before webbing himself again out of the apartment. His school was close enough that he could just walk there.

As the warning bell rang, he darted inside of the school and sprinted into Mr. Clark's homeroom.

"Ah, William Byers. Right on time." Mr. Clark croaked jokingly as he smiled and allowed William to sit down.

Will chuckled and sat by Dustin, out of breath.

"I thought you wouldn't make it." Dustin chuckled.

"I'm here. Aren't I?" Will smirked.

Dustin and Will smiled at each other as the final bell rang and class started.

Chapter Text

"Mike...Mike."

El had snapped her fingers in Mike's face but he hadn't noticed. He'd been staring off into space, thinking about the minor coffee spill accident and how of all people bumping into him, it was Spiderman. Not someone impersonating him, but the real one.

"Hm?" He questioned.

"Are you okay?" She chuckled, taking a sip of her coffee. "You've been staring off into space for the past, like, five minutes."

"Ye-yeah, yeah. All good." He shook his head, adjusting his posture and his collar, smoothing out his uniform as he got a grip of himself.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"We'll be at school soon. Did you finish your homework?"

"Yup, finished it last night. I also finished Hauser's reading list."

"Pretty boy got his work done." El smirks endearingly. "Of course you have it done."

They would talk for the next five minutes, rambling off about the latest gossip between their grade, waiting to pick up along their life-long friend, (since at least middle school) Lucas Sinclair. They all attended Hawkins Academy, the most prestigious academy in New York City. It was hard to get into because of how high the demand was to get in, and even harder to pass classes because of how much the work load was.

"Let's see what excuse he uses this time for not finishing his assigned summer homework."/p>

"I didn't finish my summer reading homework." Lucas chuckled, climbing into the car, setting his leather backpack down on the floor of the car. There was always an excuse for him not having his homework done, yet he was incredibly gifted. He just never used it to his advantage.

"Lucas!" Mike groaned, chuckling, as he grabbed his backpack and gave him his notes. "You can't always use me as your point of reference whenever you don't get homework done. What was it this time? Basketball? Your family name's pressure? A girl? A boy?"

"I seriously don't understand how you haven't been kicked out of school left. You always leave everything to the last minute." El rolled her eyes with complete admiration for her friend but with some sort of caution.

He'd let them talk before he said anything. "It wasn't just Basketball." He leaned in, ushering Mike and El to come closer. "I met a girl."

Mike gasped, jokingly.

"Ooo, a girl." El crooned. "Tell me about her."

He cleared his throat.

"I've never seen her on the train before. So, I assumed that she must be new to New York City."

"Lucas, you are aware New York has a population of almost 20 million. She probably isn't new, you've just never seen her before. We're from the Upper West, she could be from Queens.." Mike whispered.

"I'm not stupid- as I was saying, I've never seen her before. But I saw her when I got on the train on the way to basketball practice. I sat down and looked up to see this beautiful, red-headed girl, with a skateboard in hand, just standing across from me. When I tell you-" Lucas grinned, excitedly, "she had the BLUEST eyes and the prettiest smile."

"What was she doing?" El questioned.

"She was sketching and had these headphones on. And they were on FULL BLAST playing Kate Bush. And I was thinking, "This girl has great taste AND she's beautiful?"

"Did you talk to her?" Mike interjected, sitting up, actually interested in the conversation now.

Lucas's smile dropped.

"Uh-no, but-but I'll see if she'll ride the same train again. She has to be!"

"Dude, you tanked your shot. You do this with every girl you meet. You fall in love with them at first sight, you shuffle enough courage to say "Hello.", and then you miss your chance." Mike groaned. "And to make this story even better, you're not even positive you'll see her again."

"I know, I know, I know. But this time, it will be different. I swear! I promise I'll make a move."

El grinned. "You better. If you keep on missing opportunities, then who will you ask to Prom or Sadie's, or you know like any school dance ever?"

Mike saw Lucas droop his head in despair but sighed, knowing that they were right. Lucas wanted to be serious, so in a last-ditch effort, he took a quick glance at Mike's notes and finished his homework right before they got to school, just as the subtle force of stopping the car disrupted his focus, making his pencil drop. The driver opened the door, and exiting the car being the last one to get out, Mike waved off the driver, smiling as he walked inside with his friends.

He sighed to himself as he glided through the entrance of Hawkins Academy. The hallways were paraded, as per usual, with roaring sounds of laughter and overlapping voices. This was it-- the beginning of the first semester senior year. Few more pit stops away from hell and he would be done with high school, and hopefully, off and away from the loud city to a small-town college.

"Have you heard about the scholarship students being selected yet? They usually drop their names after break." El grinned excitedly as she walked confidently down the halls. Posters of clubs and weekly announcements were covered delicately around the tall walls of the academy. Banter seemed to only get louder before they turned into the hallway, close to their classroom. /p>

"Not yet. They don't really announce it till the end of the day." Lucas corrected El.

Mike nodded, surveying his classmates, waltzing his way through the crowd. "Scholarship? Oh yes, scholarship students. The only other way into the academy. Oh yeah, I forgot about the scholarship students. Shame they have to start a week later than all of us. But I guess that's how it works...or something. The system's rigged as is." Mike jerked as he grabbed his backpack strap, starting to walk into his first period classroom with Lucas and El, sitting in the back.

The room was starting to fill up with students eager to await the rest of the first day of school. Loud conversations echoed the classroom until a tall and broad figure with an attractive smile and wandering gaze walked in, silencing everyone in the room. Mike adjusted his hair and sat back in his seat as the second bell rang and class started.