superfreaks

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Will had been oddly quiet today, more quiet than normal, and Alina and Jonathan had made a unanimous decision to check on him. Alina knew that he hated lab days almost as much as she did, and he did have to go through much worse than she did during his appointments. From the injections to the blood tests, two things Alina generally didn't have to do, Will's lab experiences were the stuff of horror movies. Alina wished she could be there for him while he was going through it, but she wouldn't force herself into the lab any more times than she already had to.

Alina, who had been sitting in the living room in her pajamas, petting Skywalker, got to her feet when Jonathan gathered the movies up. It was his turn to pick the movie they'd watch tonight, but he wanted to give Will an option to choose, to cheer him up.

Every couple of days, the Byers household would have a movie night with Bob. Alina liked him. Normally, she'd hate that someone reminded her so much of her own father, but she couldn't help it. He was such a nice man. Always laughing, joking around, and he seemed to make Joyce really happy. And he didn't treat her differently than he did the boys. From the first day he'd met her, he'd treated her like she was as much a part of the family as Will and Jonathan were. And Alina had to be grateful for that.

Alina and Jonathan headed down the hall to her and Will's room. Alina was wearing her bunny slippers, and Skywalker kept biting on the ears, so she was a little glad to get away from her teething cat. As they walked, Jonathan put an arm around her, and a rush of fondness went through her as they reached her room.

Jonathan knocked on the door, even though it wasn't necessary, and then opened it. Will was sitting cross-legged on his bed, drawing, looking so downcast that Alina knew she and Jonathan had done the right thing by coming to cheer him up.

"Hey, bud," said Jonathan. "We didn't know what you'd like, so we got a variety." He placed the movies he, with Alina's help, had picked out, on the dresser. They were all rated PG.

Will let out a sigh. "Whatever you guys want."

"All right," said Jonathan, and both he and Alina sat on Will's bunk. Skywalker came in after them, and although he didn't like Jonathan or Will very much, he was getting used to them, and even snuggled on the bunk, immediately beginning to chew on Alina's slippers again. She sighed in amusement and tried to gently nudge her cat off, but it was as if his teeth were glued to these white bunny ears.

"Hey, what are you drawing?" Alina asked, trying to get a glimpse of Will's sketchpad. Will had always been the artistic one in the household, and she found herself admiring his talent quite a lot. When she'd become friends with him officially, he'd drawn her a picture of herself as her Druid, and Alina kept it framed in her locker.

Meanwhile, Alina could barely hold a crayon, and her drawings looked like they were made by a five-year-old. She didn't mind. After Jonathan had taught her to photograph, she was using that more to express herself, and so, along with Will's drawings, the walls also held pictures Alina had taken. She preferred using a camera or to immerse herself in Dungeons and Dragons, both of those options infinitely better in her opinion. She had a big imagination, and before everything had happened, Alina had thought she'd like to become an author one day. Now that was out the window.

Will moved slightly, allowing Alina and Jonathan to get a glimpse of the drawing. It was of a zombie in the middle of the woods, arms splayed out grotesquely, blood dripping from a contorted mouth. The yellowed shirt had holes in it, showcasing the ribcage underneath, and the pants were covered in dirt. Beside the drawing was a label. Zombie Boy.

"Zombie Boy?" Jonathan read. "Who's Zombie Boy?"

Will looked up at them for a second, his face emotionless, before glancing back down at his drawing, continuing to color in an arm. "Me."

Alina clenched her fists. This was what Will had been hiding from her this morning, she realized. Will's bullying, which had already been bad, seemed to have gotten worse after he came back from the Upside Down. Between the blatantly false rumors, the nicknames (which had escalated from 'fairy boy' to ones Alina couldn't even speak) and the notes—plus Daniel Tree attempting to get a rise out of him any time he was alone with him—Will's school experience was going downhill.

If she could, Alina would have stopped it. She would've broken the jaw of anyone who dared whisper anything about Will. The rumors, ranging from everything from the fact that Will had run away to California, to that he'd been kidnapped by hobos, even one that said he'd actually died and come back to life, were nasty, but the only problem was that Alina didn't know who had started them. And she didn't know if she had the willpower or ability to find out.

Detective Fairgrieves was barely there anymore. Alina didn't have the motivation to solve big mysteries after what had happened the last time she did. Detective Fairgrieves only came out with small ones, temporarily making her forget.

"Did someone call you that?" Jonathan asked. Will didn't respond, keeping his eyes locked on his drawing, and Jonathan's face softened. "Hey. You can talk to us. You know that, right? Whatever happened..."

"We won't judge you," Alina added. "We promise."

Will still didn't respond, his face hardening as he colored, and Jonathan sighed, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Will, come on, talk to us."

Will shrugged his arm off, finally taking his eyes off his sketchpad. "Stop treating me like that," he spat.

"What? Like what?"

"Like everyone else does," Will explained. "Like there's something wrong with me."

"What are you talking about?" Jonathan leaned forward on the bed, and Alina ran a hand over Skywalker's fur, biting her lip.

"Mom, Dustin, Lucas. Everyone," Will listed. "Even you, Alina. You all treat me like I'm gonna break. Like I'm a baby. Like I can't handle things on my own." He huffed. "It doesn't help. It just makes me feel like more of a freak."

"I'm sorry, Will," said Alina quietly. For a moment, she put herself in Will's shoes. A boy who had obviously been traumatized from being kidnapped and taken into another dimension having all of his friends treat him differently because of it. She realized it was exactly what she had hated her friends doing in the first couple months after her dad had died. It was what had caused her to shrink away from them. And she was doing the exact same thing to her friend.

"You're not a freak," Jonathan said after a moment.

"Yeah, I am," Will argued, his eyes narrowed at his brother. "I am."

Jonathan let out a sigh, watching as Will colored in his drawing more forcefully. Then he swung his legs so he was sitting right across from Will and spoke. "You know what? You're right."

That made Will look up from his sketchpad, his eyebrows raised. "What?"

"No, I'm serious," said Jonathan. "You're a freak. But what? Do you wanna be normal? Do you wanna be just like everyone else? Being a freak is the best, alright? Alina's a freak. I'm a freak."

Alina sat up straighter, realizing what he was saying. It was what she'd realized last year but had quickly forgotten. That sometimes, being a little weird was okay. Sometimes it was okay to be an outcast. Midnight Girl. Fairgrieves the Freak. And newer ones like Psycho. All were labels she should wear proudly. People were always going to be racist. They were always going to be mean. And although Alina may not think she was ready to fully fight back, the least she could do, her little rebellion, was to wear those names with pride.

I'm a freak, Alina thought, but today it didn't have as much weight as it did before.

"Is that why you don't have any friends?" Will asked Jonathan after a minute. Alina let out a snort, but, at Jonathan's glare, quickly disguised it as a cough, cheeks burning.

"I-I have friends," said Jonathan, letting out a mortified laugh. "I have friends, Will."

"Then why are you always hanging out with me and Al?" Will shot back.

"Because you're my best friend, alright?" Jonathan responded, his eyes shooting to Alina, who was still sitting on the edge of the bunk, her eyes on Skywalker, who had moved from biting her slipper to playing with the pom-poms attached to it. She was thinking that she shouldn't have intruded this brother bonding time when Jonathan added "Both of you."

Alina sat up again as Jonathan finished, smiling at Will. "And I would rather be friends with Zombie Boy than with a boring nobody. You know what I mean?" At Will's lack of response, he chuckled. "Okay, look... Who would you rather be friends with? Bowie or Kenny Rogers?"

Will wrinkled his nose at the second name. "Ugh."

"Exactly," said Jonathan. "It's no contest. The thing is, nobody normal ever accomplished anything meaningful in this world. You got it?"

Alina wondered if that was really true. If, in millions of years when humans were just a memory, only the freaks would be remembered. She hoped that she would find her place within a memory, too. She felt so small. In the grand scheme of things, was what she'd gone through really important? Would she do anything for this world besides battle Demogorgons and try not to pass out in class?

Would she ever be anything compared to Max?

I'm a freak, Alina thought again, and it stung a little more. She should wear the labels proudly, she knew, she knew, she knew that being weird was okay, she knew the best way to fight back was to not be affected, but she just couldn't make it happen. She didn't know if she ever could believe it. Tears brimmed in her eyes, but before either Jonathan or Will could see them, she wiped them away.

"Well... some people like Kenny Rogers," Will was saying.

"Kenny Rogers?" this was a new voice, a voice from outside the hall. All three of the teenagers turned their heads to find Bob, who'd evidently caught the last fragment of their conversation. "I love Kenny Rogers."

Alina exchanged a glance with both Will and Jonathan, and soon the three of them were cracking up on the bottom bunk. Alina wasn't fully laughing yet, but it was a start. The corners of her mouth had managed to turn up.

"What's so funny?" Bob asked, coming into the room and taking the movies off of the dresser. At his presence, Skywalker leaped off of the bed and started winding himself around his ankles, meowing loudly until Bob gave him a pat.

"Nothing," said Will quickly, the smile still on his face.

Bob went through the movie choices, stopping when he saw one that he liked. "Mr. Mom!" he exclaimed. "Woo! Perfect!"

Alina, Will and Jonathan all chuckled some more as Bob left the room, excited to watch the movie, Skywalker on his heels. Joyce called them for dinner, and Jonathan and Will made to stand up, but Alina stopped the latter. "Will? Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked, exchanging a meaningful look with Jonathan, who nodded and left.

"Yeah, sure." Will sat back down on his bed. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry if I was treating you badly," said Alina. "I hated when people treated me like that, and I just realized I've been doing the exact same thing to you. I'm... I'm really sorry, Will."

"It's okay," said Will, putting an arm around her. "I forgive you, and I understand. You didn't know me before I was taken, not really. You're different. I'm sorry I lumped you in with the others."

"It's fine," said Alina, slipping her hand into his. "We're in this together, Byers. You and me. But just know that you can talk to me. About the rumors, the nicknames, all of it. We're going through the exact same thing, you know. You don't have to hide things from me."

Will nodded. "Okay. You're right. I shouldn't hide things from you. And I won't, but only if you promise not to hide things from me. I know you have nightmares, too, and I know you don't like to talk to anyone about them or your flashbacks because you don't want to be a burden. But you're not, Al. You're not a burden."

"Okay," said Alina, smiling, really smiling, for the first time all day. "I won't hide things anymore."

"Will? Alina? Dinner!" Joyce called again, and Will and Alina glanced at each other, both of them smiling.

"We better go, Byers," said Alina, pulling Will off of the bunk.

And so Alina and Will made their way to the kitchen, and to the beginning of another pleasant night. 

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: sorry for missing an update day! i was facing extreme writer's block with the next book and didn't want to post the next chapter until it went away. anyway, alina's back and i'm definitely gonna start working on the next book again, as well as my stanley barber fic! also i hate this chapter for some reason but whatever.

hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless! don't forget to vote and comment! <3

'till next time!