· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
˚ ₊ ♡ ❰  𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙸𝙻𝙻𝙴𝚁  ❱ ˖⋆࿐໋ ⋆ ✰
CHAPTER TEN ━━
of what ifs and might have beens

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HE HADN'T MOVED A MUSCLE SINCE HE SAT DOWN IN the chair across from the bed Milo was laying in, peaceful slumber taking the blonde boy after his breathing had slowed down. Jim's eyes hadn't left the sleeping figure only catching Will looking at the blonde from the corner of his eye occasionally. He nervousely wringed his hands together as his thoughts were racing around a mile a minute.

It felt so surreal to the man sitting motionless in the chair, a lump in his throat and seeing the blonde boy after so long, after so many years believing him to he dead. To visit an empty grave to be remined how the case was never solved.

Never getting any closure.

"Jim?" Joyce whispered softly coming to stand beside the exhausted man, and she placed gentle hand on his shoulder when he remained unresponsive. "Jim honey? You should drink something, he won't disappear if you leave him for a couple minutes." The woman coaxed softly.

"I-I can't. I left him once I won't do it again." Hopper shook his head, a sad look crossing his eyes as he thought back to when the teenager in front of him was still a little four year old running around the house.

Cautiously, Joyce took a hold of Jim's trembling hands and crouched down in front of the man. "Hey, look at me." Slowly and uncertainly Jim's eyes flicker to her, like he expected Milo to vanish in thin air any moment. "Jim talk to me. You've been quiet for the last hour. We're worried about you."

"You know the last thing I ever talked to him for was because of this- this ridiculus argument." Jim finally started, eyes glazing over. "I was so mad about a goddamn cookie and the boy was four for christ sake!" The man took his hands back from Joyce, rubbing his forehead. "I was irritated and angry and I just exploded and took it all out on him" He trailed off eyes averting back to a sleeping Milo.

"You couldn't have known he would disappear Jim, there was no way of knowing." Joyce replied dark eyes flickering to he blonde boy behind her.

"But maybe if I hadn't sent him up his room, he would have come to work with me like he often did. Then he wouldn't have gone outside and he would have been safe!" He rubbed his head angerly, the shouting attracting both Will and Mike who peeked inside the room.

"The last thing he heard me do was yell and he apologised Joyce! He apologised for that stupid cookie and I still remember that look he gave me because I told him I was dissapointed in him. It haunts me everday! And then these people took him, the things they must have done to him, to my boy-." Jim stopped not able to continue talking anymore as he exhaled deeply, gaze averting to the window on his right.

"You can't dwell on what might have been Jim. All we can do is be happy he's back. You must focus on tomorrow not yesterday alright. One day at the time." Joyce encouraged kindly, voice gentle as she stood back up and walked over the boy to smoothen his damp blonde strands away from his eyes fondly. A deep apprecation for the young teenager that helped her boy in the Upside Down.

"I remembered when you told me how he would say he wanted to be a hero like you when he grew up." Joyce continued as Jim glanced at her from the corner of his eyes before she looked back at her own son who had went back to the dinner table with Mike. "He saved my son Jim, he's a hero now. Maybe some things don't change afterall."

Jim didn't say anything as he let Joyce's words sink in, his gaze averted towards Will's strange drawings and realisation dawned on him as he shot out of his chair, only slightly hesitating when he watched Milo sleep. "I have to go. Please take care of him." And just like that, Jim Hopper rushed out of the Byer's home.

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WHEN ZERO WOKE UP HE FELT FLUSTERED IN the strange surroundings he found himself in and shot up in the bed he was laying in. Soft sheets twisted around his limbs, capturing his body as he broke out in a sweat. His eyes were wide, almost feral in his current state, but there was also something broken inside his brown irises.

His hands fumbled wildly around the sheets, blind hands grapsing the soft material as he tried to free his body until he finally freed himself, tumbling onto the hardwood floor.

Footsteps approached the door across from him in a hurry and the boy backed away from until his back hit the cold wall beside the bed, the duvet sprawled across the floor.

The door flew open and the blonde watched as multiple people flood inside. His breathing was ragged but he calmed down slightly when his eyes landed on Will standing beside a woman that looked somewhat familair.

"Hey, everything is alright." The woman spoke softly. "Do you remember what happened?"

Memories flooded back and Zero carefully sat up straighter, left hand coming up to push some wild strands of blonde hair away from his eyes. "Y-yes." He breathed out.

"Can you maybe tell us what happened?" The woman, Will's mum- he assumed asked carefully.

Slowly Zero nodded, pushing his sore limbs up to stand up again and he took cautious steps towards the three people standing in the doorway.

Noticing the boy's hesitation, Joyce send Mike and Will ahead of her towards the dinning table before she beckoned the blonde to follow her.

Darkness had already set over Hawkins, leaving the woods in a gloomy state as the blonde glanced outside for a moment, the scene reminding him of the Upside Down.

Reluctantly, Zero sat down across from Will at the table, hands neatly folded on top of the wooden surface as his eyes darted around the room like something would jump at him any second. The blonde didn't pay Joyce and Mike much attention as his eyes focused on Will after a moment. "You feel too?" His sentence was messy but Will knew exactly what the blonde meant. The shadow slowly creeping towards them, preying on them. "The shadow."

The blonde watched the slight change in Will's posture before the boy slowly nodded, but something shifted in Zero's eyes and before anyone could stop the boy, Zero had a tight grip on Will's wrist and the boy winched, trying to free himself. "Not alone. Here! It is here! Sp-"

Suddenly the boy was pulled away from Will harshly by Joyce, cutting his words off immediately as she looked between her son and the blonde cautiously, afraid the teenager might break down again. "Not safe, not safe." He kept muttering, grabbing onto the roots of his hair before desperatly looking up at the woman. "He not safe. He not safe."

"We can protect him. He's safe." Joyce reassured the boy.

They didn't understand. He could see it in their eyes. They didn't understand. Will wasn't in danger he was the danger.

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A/N

OHHH shit is getting real now. Zero knows about the mind flayer but doesn't know how to explain it :( but he is still my smol bean who needs to be protected at all cost. Everything is making him shake in his boots! I'm evil for making him suffer like this. But I've got a whole lot planned for my mini Hopper. Maybe it involves getting the boy some happiness he deserves, or not, you know no pain no gain ;)

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edited