Literally Such A NOVEL Dear God - Blog Posts

who: Cole & @willthewize​

where: the Byers’ porch!

what: brother reveal (2.0) (semi-sober version)

The day after the Wheeler’s Fourth of July barbecue Cole woke up with a pounding headache and a faint memory of a conversation with Jonathan Byers. But, he’d also woken up in Adam’s arms, and that took precedence. Still, the memory haunted him; Cole couldn’t escape the embarrassment he felt knowing that he’d been noticeably drunk when he told Jonathan they were related. Not his brightest moment. 

In truth, he’d wanted to tell Will first-- he’d even tried before, after the camping trip at the lake, but he was too nervous. Cole figured that it might be an easier pill for Will to swallow, since they weren’t close in age like he and Jonathan. He’d fully intended to tell Will right away, Jonathan’s warning to ‘be careful’ ringing in his ears and convincing him that he needed to tell Will before someone else did. But, then the explosion happened and Cole was in the hospital. 

At this point, he didn’t know what to expect, and he was certainly worse for for the wear: bruises and cuts still healing, arm in a sling, bursts of pain in his torso from the broken ribs, and the ever-present fear that something worse was going to happen. That something worse might cause him to lose Adam again. And if something worse happened and Cole died (physically or otherwise) before he got to talk to Will, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. 

So, he filled up his flask-- only for a few bursts of liquid courage-- and drove over to the Byers’ neighborhood. Only, he couldn’t stop in front of the house. Nervous fingers tapping on the steering wheel, Cole looped around the neighborhood once. Twice. Three times. God, he didn’t have the gas money for that, so he parked about five houses down and got out, careful not to bang his ribs or his arm on the car, and began pacing. 

About a half hour passed, accompanied by a few more swigs of the stinging liquid, and the dread didn’t go away. So Cole took a deep breath and approached the house... only to see Will sitting on the porch, sketchbook in hand. Had he seen him the whole time? An embarrassed flush gathered on Cole’s cheeks, and he wiped his good hand on his jeans to dispel the sweat that had gathered.

“Hey, man,” Cole greeted, attempting to put on a casual smile. “Got a minute? There’s something I wanna talk to you about,” the words fell out in a jumbled heap, but he was glad he’d said it. That he couldn’t escape from it this time. “I talked to Jonathan a while back and, I just... I thought I should tell you.” Cole studied his sling, picking at the fabric fraying on the edge. “Lonnie’s my dad, too.” Saying it out loud, without copious amounts of beer to numb the feeling, left Cole feeling like he’d ripped a bandaid off. He was exposed, bare, vulnerable to whatever Will’s response would be. He wished desperately that he remembered what Jonathan had said, if only to have some litmus for how this would go.