the vanishing of will byers:
❛ CARDIGAN ❜ ↷ stranger things
❝ is he your boyfriend? ❞

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Tommy Hagan was trouble but in his eyes there was nothing that could ruin his reputation more than anyone seeing him getting close and personal with Clarissa "Clary" Byers.

1) Steve would beat him to death.

2) Carol would claw his eyes out and then make an attempt at fighting Clary which would only lead to her ending up in the hospital.

And 3) Clary had the title of Hawkins High's resident slut. So that would definitely put a stain on his reputation.

He just hoped that what happened last Sunday night stayed solemnly between him, Clary, Chief Hopper and the jail cell the two teenagers had spent the night in.

If you asked either of them, they weren't doing anything wrong. They were teenagers, juniors, practically adults. So, it was natural for them to live a little and have fun. Even if that fun consisted of getting high and hooking up in Tommy's car behind Hawkins High.

"Why didn't you just call daddy and ask him to get you out of here if all you are going to do is complain?" Clary finally snapped after the hundredth groan the boy next to her let out. They have been sitting in this cell for the past three hours in almost complete silence and it was already almost one in the morning.

She couldn't sleep in a fucking jail cell and Tommy's complaining only made her head hurt more.

Calling her mom would be simple. Hopper had her on speed-dial after the amount of times Clary got arrested. But Joyce has been working 24/7 for the past few weeks and barely slept. So Clary would rather die than be another burden her mom had to carry.

Hopper was just going to call Joyce in the morning.

"He's not in town." Tommy vaguely explained, "Don't act like I enjoy spending my night here with you."

Clary rolled her eyes, "And you don't act like you wouldn't be spending the night with me anyway."

She heard him let out a huff of annoyance from his side of the cell and he clearly did not have a good comeback because he stayed quiet for the next couple of minutes. The silence was broken by Hopper unlocking the cell.

The Chief looked at Clary and said, "Okay, your time is up. Go home, kid."

Despite her confusion, the Byers girl rose to her feet and made her way towards the exit of the cell with a blank look on her face.

"Woah, woah, woah." Tommy exclaimed with wide eyes, "What about me?"

"You can leave in the morning after you think about your actions." Hopper gave him a fake smile, his voice dripping with bitterness as he slammed the doors behind them.

"Why am I allowed to leave?" Clary asked him when they reached his office, "You didn't call my mom, did you? Because I specifically told you not to ── "

"I didn't call Joyce." Hopper cut her off, "But I'm tired of seeing your face in this cell every weekend. Go home and get some sleep before school tomorrow. A part of me thinks that that asshole in there is the main reason you got into this mess in the first place." he leaned against the edge of his desk while she crossed her arms over her chest defensively, "Is he your boyfriend or something?"

𝘕𝘰, 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥.

Those were the words that Clary wanted to say. But she could already picture the disappointment on his face. He didn't even look disappointed whenever he arrested her for vandalism, drug use or underrated drinking. Hell, he even got over arson. He always just looked unamused and a little bit annoyed. She does not think she could handle him looking actually disappointed in her. She was tired of everyone looking at her life that.

Tommy was an asshole. There was no denying that. He and Carol have been having an on and off again relationship since eighth grade. And when she bumped into Tommy at the store, he mentioned them breaking up again. And then he told her about the weed he had in his car.

She scrunched her face up into a grimace, "Ew, no. It was just a one night thing." Hopper raised a knowing eyebrow that made her roll her eyes and admit, "Okay, a one weekend thing. He's not my boyfriend, he is just Steve's best friend who is passably attractive."

"Oh, okay I get it now." Hopper nodded with a faint smile of amusement on his face. The two of them have always had a bit of a love-hate relationship. Clary did not dislike him, by any means, but she was an angsty teenager and he was a cop with anger issues. So, seeing the annoyance and unamusement on his face whenever he arrested her always made her day.

He wasn't a bad person. Him not giving her too hard of a time might have been caused by his fondness for her mother but he also had a soft spot for kids and teenagers. It was probably due to the death of his daughter Sarah that happened a few years ago. His wife ended up leaving him after that which caused him to get a bit of a drinking problem.

Clary could not blame him though. The person that loses both of their parents is an orphan and the person whose wife or husband die are called widows. There was a reason there was not a name for someone who lost their child. Because that was the worst thing that could happen to a person.

So, Hopper might have been a little rough around the edges ( much like Clary herself ) but he also had a good heart. It was barely visible through all that armor but Clary knew it was there.

She guessed that her habit of always seeing the best in people never really went away no matter how hard the men in her life have disappointed her.

"Grab your jacket and I'll drive you home." Hopper told her, leaving no room for arguments as he grabbed his coat and the keys from his desk.

-

"Where the hell are they?" a frustrated Joyce Byers exclaimed from the hall, "Clary? Jonathan?"

"Check the couch!"

"Check the shelves above the TV!" Clary yelled back at the same time as her younger brother.

"Ugh, I did." Joyce groaned but still walked back over to the couch and five seconds later, spoke up with relief in her voice while holding her keys up in the air, "Oh . . . I got them."

Mornings at the Byers house were always . . . fun. Jonathan would cook breakfast ( because Clary couldn't cook for shit ) while Clary would make coffee, Joyce would get ready for work and Will would sleep in until breakfast was ready. They were a mix of functional and dysfunctional but Clary didn't mind.

Joyce squeezed Jonathan's shoulder and placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead, before putting her bag over her shoulder and saying, "Okay, kids, I will see you tonight."

"See you, mom." Clary called over her shoulder while pouring coffee in her and Jonathan's mugs.

"Yeah, see you later."

Joyce moved to walk out of the door, only to halt in her step and look back at them, "Will? Where's Will?"

"Oh, I didn't get him up yet." Jonathan shrugged, "He's probably still sleeping."

"Guys, you gotta make sure he's up." the woman huffed and quickly walked over to Will's room.

"I'm making breakfast!"

"I'm making coffee."

The two teenagers called after her simultaneously. Clary shook her head and shared an annoyed look with Jonathan before taking a long sip of her coffee. The sound of their mother calling Will's name and telling him to wake up rang through the house while Clary quickly read over her English essay about The Black Cat.

It was probably one of her best essays she ever wrote. She didn't try too hard in school and cheated her way through freshman and sophomore year. But she had a talent for writing essays and the English teacher was the only teacher that liked her.

"He came home last night, right?" Joyce demanded loudly, making Clary look up from the piece of paper in front of her to give her a confused look

"He's not in his room?" Jonathan asked, equally confused as she was.

"Did he come home or not?"

Jonathan shook his head, "I don't know."

"Me neither." Clary admitted with an apologetic look on her face, "I crashed as soon as I came home last night. His bedroom door was shut so I guessed he was already sleeping."

Joyce gave them a loom of disbelief, "You don't know?"

"No." Jonathan stuttered, "I got home late. I was working."

"You were working?!"

"Yeah." he nodded, "Eric asked if I could cover. I said yeah. I just thought we could use the extra cash."

"Jonathan, we've talked about this."

"I know. I know."

"You can't take shifts when I'm working." Joyce told him firmly.

She did not like the fact that her kids were even supposed to work in the first place but them working late at night when she wasn't home was something she 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. Clary did not mind working that much because all she had to do was show up. The arcade was always filled with people but there was nothing she really had to do other than lock up at night and make sure people were not breaking anything.

"Mom, it's not a big deal." Jonathan tried to convince her, "Look, he was at the Wheelers' all day. I'm sure he just stayed over."

"I can't believe you two sometimes." Joyce scoffed and stormed over to the phone, immediately dialing the number to the Wheelers' house.

Clary let out a long tired sigh and shared a look with Jonathan. They were wearing matching frowns and both felt guilt building up in their gut.

"Hi, Karen. It's Joyce." their mother smiled nervously, "Hi. Was that Will I heard back there?" her eyebrows furrowed, "Will didn't spend the night?"

"Fuck." Clary muttered and squeezed her eyes shut, her mind immediately traveling to the worst possible outcome.

"Um, you know what? I think he just left early for school. Thank you so much." Joyce hurried out and put the phone down. Her face showed nothing but worry when she turned back to her kids and Clary made sure she was the small reassuring ( and fake ) smile she sent her way.

"I'm sure he just went to school earlier. You know Will . . . "