Willel

"Well, we're her brothers, and we're family."

- Will on his and Jonathan's relationship to Eleven

Willel is the family ship between Will Byers and Jane "Eleven" Hopper from the Stranger Things fandom.

Canon
In 1983, when Will gets transported to the Upside Down, his friends, Mike, Dustin and Lucas, go look for him in the woods where they come across Eleven. They take her to Mike's house and Eleven agrees to help them find Will. Eleven enters the Void and locates Will in the Upside Down's version of Castle Byers. She tells him to hold on a little longer since they are coming to rescue him and Will tells them to hurry. Eleven later disappears after saving Will's friends while Will is rescued and hospitalized. When Mike, Dustin and Lucas reunite with Will in the hospital, they tell him about Eleven.

In 1984, while Will is possessed by the Mind Flayer, Eleven returns and reveals that she is aware of Will's condition. Will is eventually rescued from the Mind Flayer's possession and Eleven closes the gate to the Upside Down. A month later, Will, Eleven and their friends attend the Hawkins Middle School Snow Ball.

By 1985, Will and Eleven have become friends although Will secretly holds some animosity towards Eleven because Mike began dating her and distanced himself from Will and his other friends as a result. When Eleven breaks up with Mike, Will attempts to play a D&D campaign with Mike and Lucas but becomes upset when they do not take the campaign seriously. Mike and Will have a heated argument and Will snaps at Mike for ruining everything just so he can spend time with a "stupid girl". However, Will puts his anger aside when he discovers that the Mind Flayer has returned and assists Eleven in defeating the monster. After Hopper's apparent death, Eleven is taken in by the Byers family and they move out of Hawkins three months later.

By 1986, Will and Eleven have become closer and attend Lenora Hills High School together. On the last day of school before spring break, Will supports Eleven when she presents her project in front of the class. Will later watches in shock as Angela and her friends destroy Eleven's project and is saddened when Eleven attempts to use her powers on Angela to no avail. As Eleven sadly puts her project back together, Will rushes to her and tells her that they can fix it together.

When Mike arrives to Lenora Hills the next day, Will's excitement turns into frustration when he discovers Eleven has been lying to Mike about Angela being her friend. At the Rink-O-Mania, Will becomes more annoyed as Eleven continues to lie to Mike about her social life. He privately confronts her and tells her that Mike does not deserve being lied to but she still chooses not to tell Mike the truth. When Angela joins them and takes Eleven to the rink, Will gets worried. He reveals to Mike that Eleven has not been entirely truthful to him. Eleven is humiliated by Angela and her friends and she runs away in embarrassment. As they look for her, Will admits to Mike that he has been jealous of how Eleven received letters from Mike during the past year while he only got a couple phone calls. Their search comes to an end when they see that Eleven hit Angela in the face with a roller skate.

The next morning, when the police come to arrest Eleven for hitting Angela, Will tries to cover for her and explains that what happened was an accident but the officers say that they have a warrant that says otherwise. At the police station, when Will, Mike and Jonathan try to see her, they are asked if they are a parent or a guardian and Will says that he and Jonathan are her brothers and family.

When Eleven is later taken away by Dr. Owens, Will, Mike and Jonathan decide to go find her with Argyle's help. On the way when Mike worries Eleven does not need him anymore, Will tries to comfort him by giving him a painting that he made for Mike, lying that Eleven commissioned it. When they reunite with Eleven, Will embraces her and cries in her arms. He asks her if she is okay, to which she replies that she is fine. Will later assists in making a sensory deprivation tank so that Eleven can gain access to Max's mind to protect her from Vecna. When Eleven gets trapped by Vecna, Will encourages Mike to confess how he feels about Eleven, enabling her to break free of Vecna's grasp.

Two days later, Eleven, Will, Mike and Jonathan return to Hawkins and reunite with their friends. As they rebuild Hopper's cabin, Will sees that Eleven is upset and asks Mike if she talked to him. Mike replies that she has started to think that she was not ready to fight Vecna and Will says that she will have another chance since he can sense that Vecna is still alive.

Fanon
In the early seasons, people who shipped Will and Eleven romantically used the term "Wileven" due to its similarity to "Mileven". In order to differentiate themselves from romantic shippers, platonic shippers created the term "Willel" and insisted the terms be kept separate. "Willel" was chosen because it is not similar to any of the other ship names and contains both of their names fully, "Will" and "El" unlike typical ship names.

After Will's sexuality was confirmed and Will and Eleven became siblings, the term "Wileven" faded into obscurity, leaving only "Willel". Although newer fans might confuse "WillEl" as a romantic term, it was never a romantic term and always intended to be platonic.

Fandom
FAN FICTION