Work Text:
If there was one positive to his and Mikes awful fight the summer of 1985. When Mike called him out for something he had been repressing desperately. It was Will being aware his friends knew he was gay. He wasn’t trying to be mean but if Mike had worked it out, with his general sense of obliviousness, then obviously super smart Dustin and emotionally-conscious Lucas had as well.
Max was from liberal California and bragged about having gay friends, so she would have clocked him instantly. Will didn’t exactly fly under the radar, hence giving up on even trying. His mom and Jonathan probably knew before he did, and Hopper would have been told by his mom. The only person who didn’t know was El, so she was the only one he actually said it too.
It meant Will didn’t have to repeat that extremely embarrassing experience one by one with all the people he loved. They knew, he knew they knew, and Will got to just get on with his life. It was a win win. Will didn’t have to pretend or hide, he got to be himself and no one abandoned him. It was perfect.
Or he thought so, until a few incidents that were… weird.
1
It was the best kind of day.
The kind of day where there was no monsters, hadn’t been for years at this point, no responsibilities. The sun was shining, the heat beating down on them, and the whole party gathered at the pool. Will really couldn’t complain. Especially seeing as the poolside had one of the best views in Hawkins, filled with the best eye candy.
Will wasn’t being a perv but if his gaze happened to catch on the exposed torsos and the muscled thighs, and the water dripping down the swimming captains back between his strong shoulder blade…
Will licked his lips absent-mindedly at the sight, having tuned out the party’s conversation in favor of focusing on some of the most handsome boys from school messing around at the other side of the pool.
He was not being subtle, but they were too far away to notice him and his friends didn’t care. The swim captain bent over to pick up his towel and Will had the perfect view of his sculpted ass, making him squeak involuntarily. He was disheartened that he was going to cover up his tanned body, but he only wiped away the droplets of water.
“ill?”
The voice saying his name broke him from his single-minded focus, turning to Lucas who had evidently been trying to get his attention for a while.
“Yeah?” Will said, hoarsely due to the view he had been ravenously devouring.
“Dude,” Lucas frowned at him throwing a potato chip in his direction that fell miserably short, tumbling onto the large blanket Mrs Wheeler had packed for them. “I’ve asked the same question like three times. What were you staring at?” Lucas looked over his shoulder in the direction Will had been salivating over.
“Or who? More like,” Dustin chimed in, critically examining the opposite side of the pool himself.
Will smiled, happy that his whole gay thing was so normal to them. He didn’t answer immediately, curious if his friends would figure out his type, letting them examine the group. It wouldn’t be easy seeing as it skewed heavily young and male on that side of the pool, all the jocks hanging out together.
In fact, there were a fair few possibilities that Will was alternating his gaze between. The captain still won out though.
He gave them a good few seconds to make a judgement, and when no answer was forthcoming was preparing to point out who it was, hesitating momentarily when he registered the significant eye contact between Mike and Lucas, both wearing their apprehension freely.
Weird.
Will cleared his throat, “I was looking at-“
“The ice-cream stand,” Mike interrupted shrilly, widely motioning across the pool to the man selling treats behind the jocks, “Great idea Will!” he smiled nervously, with far to much teeth, “It’s sweltering today. Isn’t it sweltering Lucas?”
“Yeah,” Lucas said, nodding along as Mike raised his eyebrows at him, “Yeah totally, It’s boiling. We should definitely get Ice-creams.” He turned to Max, “What do you want? I’ll go get them.”
“What a gentlemen,” Max snarked from her position on sun lounger, not moving a muscle as she soaked in the sun’s rays.
“Well, if you don’t want one-“ Lucas noisily got to his feet as if he would actually leave without her order.
“Wait-“ Max flipped her sunglasses up to the top of her head, “Strawberry please,” She smiled cheekily at Lucas, who grinned dopily back at her leaning down to peck a quick kiss on her lips.
“You got it.” He said softly, standing back up straight, “What about the rest of you losers?” he asked, making an exaggerated face of concentration as he memorised their orders.
“Mike, help me.” He said, extending his hand out offering to help pull him up.
Mike raised his upper lip, displeased, “Why me?” he whined.
“Cause I need help to carry them all, and you’re the richest so you’re helping me pay! Up you get, come on.” He jiggled his hand encouragingly.
“Urgh,” Mike rolled his eyes, but let Lucas pull him to his feet with a strong yank, “Fine,” he muttered grumpily searching his shorts pockets for his wallet.
It didn’t take them long to get back with the ice-creams and it wasn’t until Will was half-way done with his mint choc chip cone did he realise the subject of which guy had caught his attention had been dropped completely.
Weird, Will shrugged going back to his cone, that he didn’t even have to pay for, and staring once more at the sleek bronzed muscles of what had to be the hottest guy in the entirety of Hawkins.
It was a great day.
2
His friends were locked in some kind of intense argument, Will could see from across the cafeteria, Dustin widely gesticulating as Lucas and Mike looked unconvinced. Mikes familiar sour expression and Lucas’s raised eyebrows as they argued back when Dustin took a breath.
Will smiled as he approached, aware that the argument was inconsequential, as arguments have been since they defeated Vecna. The worst things that happened nowadays was getting grounded or detention. It felt good.
He slipped quietly onto the bench beside El who was ignoring the arguing boys frowning at her open math homework. Will grimaced in sympathy, he struggled just as much as she did with math and he didn’t even have the excuse of being raised in a lab most of his life.
Math sucked.
There was a party member missing Will realised as he unpacked the lunch his mom had made him that morning, “Where’s Max?” He interrupted the boys, asking Lucas directly as the most likely to have the answer.
His question had been innocuous enough he was surprised when all three boys jumped dramatically, Mike barely catching himself from falling off the bench and Lucas letting out his signature scream of surprise, as they turned on him wide-eyed.
“When did you get here?” Dustin demanded, after a moment of calming his shock.
“Erm, like a minute ago,” Will shrugged, unwrapping the clingfilm from his sandwich.
Lucas shook his head, hand placed over his chest to soothe his beating heart, “You are too quiet Byers, giving me a heart attack.” Mike nodded his head beside him.
Will chuckled, eyes lighting up with mirth, “You know what they say, I’ve always been a bit light in my loafers.” He said mischievously.
It felt good to take back the power from the insults bullies used to throw at him.
Maybe his friends felt differently Will considered as they didn’t laugh at his joke, uncertain looks distributed between them.
“You don’t wear loafers Will” Els quiet voice pulled his attention from the boys, to where she had paused pen hovering over the workbook.
“I know,” Will smiled, “It’s a joke, because-“
“Could you imagine Will in loafers,” Mikes said, voice strangled as he gestured to him, “It would ruin the whole look.”
“What look,” Lucas shot back, “Everyone knows I’m the only one here with any fashion sense.” He leaned back smugly, arms crossed smirking at them.
Mike sneered, “Yeah if you call jock sheek good fashion.”
“Better than wannabe metal-head when you can’t even stand metal music.”
“I can, I like it!” Mike defended himself, causing Dustin to scoff loudly, and suddenly they were off arguing again.
Will exchanged a significant look with El at the ridiculousness of them all, rolling his eyes dramatically causing her to giggle, before she returned back to her work, frown etched in the line between her brow.
Will didn’t get involved in the argument, despite agreeing with Dustin and Lucas. Mike might like the fashion of the metal-heads, but his music tastes definitely leaned more pop as much as he denied it.
He was a little dismayed his joke didn’t land but maybe his friends weren’t aware of the double meaning, Will was the expert on gay culture after all. He didn’t even get the chance to explain it, although generally if you have to explain a joke it means it’s not funny.
He should probably leave the humor to Dustin, apparently Will wasn’t very good at it. He never did find out where Max was that lunch.
3
One of the best parts of being out, was his room. Will didn’t have to second guess what the things on his wall would say about him, because everyone knew exactly what they meant.
His friends could keep their posters of Phoebe Cates and Pamela Anderson and whoever else was the favorite. Will didn’t spend a lot of time looking at them when he was in their rooms, not seeing the appeal.
Will got to have David Hasselhoff in a tiny speedo, and a topless Bowie. He even had a Rambo poster despite not particularly liking the film because Sylvester Stallone’s arms were a sight to behold. He had better posters than El or Max, El agreed as she tried to steal his Ralph Macchio poster, one to many times.
He was constantly looking out for new ones to add to his collection. Will liked to revel in being open about what he liked. It felt like he was spitting in his dads face with every handsome man that ended up on his walls. The posters replaced the drawings his father would cruelly rip and tear.
It was why he often found himself sprawled across his bed flicking through magazines with El and Max, searching for anything that caught his eye. One of the perks of being close to the girls was the easy access to their stuff.
Another perk of being gay was that no one questioned Will spending time with them like that. Even Lucas, who any other guy spending that much time with their girlfriend would probably be questioned about their motives, he didn’t care that Will would hang with Max alone.
He sometimes would join them, despite having no interest, just happy to spend time with Max and his friends. Inevitably getting bored and fiddling with Wills stuff. Will swore every member of the party had concentration issues, always having to touch and mess with stuff.
Will was enraptured by a particularly evocative picture of River Phoenix in the magazine he had snatched from Max, trying to form an argument in his head to convince her to let him have it, when a loud slam startled him.
Will glanced over to Lucas kneeling awkwardly beside Wills drawers, his face bright red, as he avoided looking at them. Will frowned at the guilty expression on his face, narrowing his eyes at the drawer, realisation hitting him with his own blush.
Okay, this was embarrassing, mortifying in fact, but Lucas was a teenage boy he’d understand. As long as he didn’t say anything to the two girls, Will could get through this unscathed. It was his own fault for thinking a drawer would be a good place to hide stuff like that, he should have put them under the bed.
Lucas, thankfully, was a good friend and just awkwardly cleared his throat explaining away the slam to the girls as hitting his knee.
Will tried to meet his eyes to send his thanks but Lucas pointedly avoided eye contact so Will let it go. It was probably a bit of a shock for a straight guy to see that, Will would let him recover in his own time.
He took the opportunity of Max teasing her boyfriend for his clumsiness to sneakily tear the photo from the magazine and hide it down the side of the bed. He smiled innocently when Max turned back to him, narrowing her brows at his behaviour.
He let his smile evolve into a smirk when she returned to her magazine, briefly apologetic when El shook her head at him, before they both started laughing. That left Max looking between them confused, asking what was funny as Lucas excused himself to the bathroom.
Will assumed to use cold water to cool his flushed face. He felt guilty that Lucas seemed so traumatised by what he found, Will would probably apologise at some point, although it was his fault for snooping.
4
They were all pretty tipsy, Dustin’s mom having gone to visit her sister, leaving an empty house that had immediately been taken advantage of by the group of bored teens. Steve provided them a case of beers on the promise they wouldn’t leave the house, tell any parents, and call him if there was a problem.
They agreed to his terms and were steadily making their way through the beer at their first co-ed sleepover. The prominent vein in Hoppers forehead would surely explode if he found out, despite the fact El and Mike broke up many moons ago. Grudges are hard to squash.
Will wasn’t sure how they ended up playing middle school party games, likely around the time their vision got to blurry to continue on the Nintendo. It should be embarrassing and childish, but Will was excited.
Now that he was out, he could actually participate without being terrified he would slip up or his friends would notice his lying or hesitation. He finally got to act like a normal teenager, with his best friends.
They were in the middle of an intense game of truth or dare, mostly truths at this point due to their intoxication and laziness, and Will had mostly got through unscathed. His friends weren’t holding back but Will had mostly received softballs.
The exception to that rule was his sister. Will swallowed when she pierced him with her gaze, mouth twisting cruelly as she thought up a question to ask him, he braced himself for the worst and was rewarded.
“Who do you have a crush on?” She asked innocently.
Will narrowed his eyes, scowling at her. She was well aware of who he liked, the boy in question being her ex-boyfriend, as they spoke about it all the time. Will needed to talk to someone about it and she was the only one who knew he loved Mike.
Which saved him because he loved Mike, but he had a crush on a few boys from school. He couldn’t help how handsome some of the kids were and Will found it easy to develop fleeting puppy crushes.
He cycled through the more recent boys that had caught his eye, determining which one was the least embarrassing to admit too. Max could be ruthless in her teasing and Will wanted to avoid that if possible.
He must have been taking to long as his friends started visibly fidgeting from their positions, eyes darting around and silent conversations abound.
“Erm,” Will started, about to cop to crushing heavily on the swim captain, he was innocuous enough, “Probably-“
“Ahh,” Will was cut off by Lucas’s screech as he accidently spilled his newly opened beer down the front of his shirt, immediately causing chaos as Dustin leapt to his feet demanding he not spill any on the carpet or his mom would kill him.
It was a frantic ten minutes as Dustin and Mike argued over the best way to get the sticky beer out of the carpet, Lucas having failed to keep the spill contained. El went and searched for cleaning products, thrusting them at the boys interrupting their argument with a raised eyebrow.
Will wanted to help but he was distracted by the sight of Lucas, his shirt soaked with beer, sticking tantalisingly to his chest showing his abs. Max appeared to have the same problem and she soundlessly stared at her boyfriend, eyes tracking the rippling muscle.
They did their best, but Will was certain Mrs Henderson would notice the discoloured patch of carpet and smirked as Dustin demanded Lucas help pay if his mom charged him for it. Their game was over after that, settling in to watch the movies they had picked up at family video earlier that day.
Will snuggled next to El on the couch, sharing the blanket they snuck from home, whispering into her ear that he would get her back for that. She giggled next to him and buried her head into his shoulder ignoring the very real threat to her life Will promised.
Well, maybe not life but he was going to embarrass her at some point.
5
Now While Will was out to his friends and family, he was only partially out publicly. As in he wouldn’t deny it and he had a few symbols that if you were in the know you would understand but he hadn’t stood on the cafeteria table and declared it.
Unfortunately that meant the few girls who hadn’t figured out Will was disinterested would occasionally shoot their shot. Will had to admire their bravery despite how uncomfortable it made him every time. It was never fun to turn someone down.
The gay thing meant his friends didn’t even tease him about it, obviously realising how annoying Will found the whole thing. Dustin would sometimes send him a weird look before getting distracted and Will got it. It must be infuriating that the only one of them that gets asked out is the one that hated it.
It was especially annoying when it happened when Will was taking advantage of the party waiting for Lucas to finish practice, by sketching the point guard with long flowy golden hair.
Will chased off the girl as gently as possible, likely helped when she spotted the sketch Will had been working on that clearly outlined every ab on the boys torso. He immediately went back to his drawing, the sound of Dustin spluttering from somewhere on the stands to his right.
“What is wrong with you-“
“Shut up-“
“I don’t-“
“You’re an idiot-“
He was focused on his work, ignoring the muffled conversation between his friends, he didn’t expect his pad to be ripped from his hands. He glared at the culprit finding Max staring critically at the half-finished drawing.
“Hey-“ Will said threateningly, she was lucky he hadn’t been touching the paper at that moment.
She whistled, impressed at the detail “This is good Will.”
“Obviously,” Mike sneered, attention pulled from his bickering with Dustin, “It’s Will.”
“That ones not even finished,” Will waved her compliment away, desperately not letting his heart stutter at Mikes comment. He was always happy to hear Mike praise his work.
She started flipping through the sketchbook, and Will tried not to be embarrassed at her perusal. There was nothing too scandalous in there but there was a couple of shirtless drawings Will had worked on, and a maybe more than acceptable number of renditions of handsome classmates including Mike.
“Who’s this?” Max asked pausing, showing the drawing Will had done of the swim captain from that day at the pool.
“Umm,” Wil blushed, “Carter, you know swim team-“ he mumbled.
“I don’t know why everyone thinks he’s so cool,” Mike muttered mutinously, “I mean he’s on the swim team that’s lame,”
“He’s the captain,” Will corrected, blush deepening when Mike turned on him betrayed, “That’s pretty cool, I guess.”
“Whatever,” Mike rolled his eyes grumpily.
“Steve was on the swim-team are you saying he was a loser?” Dustin questioned, incredulous.
“Steve is a loser,” Mike rebutted, glaring at Dustin, “I’m just saying there are better people you could draw-“
“Like Phoebe Cates” Dustin interrupted, “Wish I could draw that well, then I could make whatever I want.”
Will smiled, it was nice. Even though he always found himself circling back to Mike eventually.
He plucked the sketchbook from Max, “Now that we are done critiquing my work can I get back too-“ he flipped back to the half-done drawing, refocusing on the court dismayed to see the practise coming to an end. The team making their way of the court and back to the lockers.
Will huffed in disappointment, closing his pad and putting it back in his bag. Max went back to gossiping with El and Dustin, whilst Mike was glowering at someone on the court.
“You all, right?” Will asked, quietly.
Mike startled, glancing anxiously at Will, “What? No, I’m fine.” He shrugged, “Just hope Lucas won’t be long. I’m starving.”
Will examined him not convinced but it wasn’t the time to push, “Okay. I’m sure he won’t, he can’t stay away from Max for too long or he would explode.”
Mike forced a grin at Wills comment, quirking an eyebrow in agreement good-naturedly.
+1
Will groaned as he was struck with the memory of what happened at the party last night again, on his way to Mikes. He had stopped at the diner for a pick-up order, knowing his friends would need the grease if they were anywhere near as hungover as he was today.
It was going to be embarrassing but he had to get it over with besides it’s not like he hadn’t caught his friends in intense make out sessions before. Even if they were with their girlfriends and not some random boy Will met last night.
It was hard not to jump at the opportunity when he realised the guy was gay, the same little pink triangle stitched onto his hem as Will had patched onto his bag. Will found he was a confident flirt when he had confirmation of queerness.
What he hadn’t expected was for his friends to get worried when he disappeared for a while at the party, searching for him as a group. Until the stumbled to the back of the garden where Will had his back pressed to a tree and the guys tongue down his throat.
It was stupid to be doing that so publicly but in his intoxicated state all he cared about was kissing. He was still smart enough to push the guy off him when he noticed the approaching figures, going stock still as they got closer.
He only relaxed when he identified the shadowed figures as his friends, letting out a sigh of relief. He wanted to reassure the guy that everything was okay but he was so spooked he ran the moment he realised there were people behind them.
Will cleared his throat, “Hey, guys,” he smiled embarrassedly, voice hoarse from all the kissing. It was too dark to make out his friends expressions, but he imagined they were either embarrassed like him or gearing up to start teasing.
Please be the first.
It was Dustin who eventually broke the awkward silence, “Where you jus- Oww-“ he yelped suddenly, whipping his head to stare accusingly at Lucas who stood beside him, “What the hell-“ he shoved him, leading to an impromptu wrestling match between the two.
Mike approached him, wrapping his arm over his shoulder, and this close Will could make out the sour twist to his mouth, “Come on, parties getting boring. We were going head off-“
Will tried to wipe his lips as subtly as possible, knowing they were swollen red and glistening with the other boy’s spit, from his position. God this was humiliating.
“I can’t stay remember; I’ve got to help my mom in the morning.” He muttered from under Mikes arm, still sad he had to miss out on the sleepover.
“That’s fine,” Mike mumbled, the deep timber of his voice vibrating through Wills head, “We need El to drive us anyway, she’s the only one who didn’t drink.”
“Okay,” Will agreed, not seeing the point in staying now the other guy had run off. He probably left the party in fear. Will hoped he could find who he is and reassure him that his friends wouldn’t spread it around.
Mike’s face spasmed in a approximation of a smile, dropping his arm from Wills shoulders and moving to pull apart Lucas and Dustin who were now rolling around on the wet grass, “come on idiots-“ he muttered, grabbing their shirts, “We’re off.” He said frog marching them away.
Will had straightened out his shirt, which had come untucked and rumpled, and flattened his hair before racing to join the trio in search of his sister and Max. Who managed to get them all home safely.
Thankfully his mom only needed him for an hour, so Will arrived at the Wheelers, where the rest of them crashed, fairly early the next day. He was surprised to find the three of them awake, usually they wouldn’t rise till past noon if they had been drinking.
Will felt like he had interrupted something important as they all fell suspiciously quiet when he announced his arrival, knocking and entering through the back door to the basement.
“Um,” He tentatively held up the takeout bag, “I bought food?”
They all stared at him before Dustin leapt to his feet, ripping the bag out of his hand, “Oh thank God. You are a lifesaver.”
Will smiled at the appreciation in Dustin’s tone and face. He sat on the free armchair, Mike and Lucas lounged on the couch, as Dustin started unloading the many dishes Will had ordered for them to feast on.
Will refused the box Dustin offered him, having eaten with his mom, and watched as his friends devoured the food. They were like animals, he thought, fingers covered in grease as no one considered getting cutlery.
Will shifted uncomfortably in his chair as he prepared to broach what happened last night. Unfortunately he had to bring it up, just to make sure they knew they couldn’t mention the other kid.
Will might be out but that didn’t mean it was easy and no one should be forced to do that before they were ready.
He blushed down to his collar-bone, sheepishly rubbing his neck, “So, about last night-“ he began still pretty embarrassed at his friends catching him practically eating the other boys face.
“Crazy night right,” Lucas interrupted, his teeth shining as he grinned at Will, “We were just talking-“ He motioned to Dustin and Mike with the bacon held in his greasy fingers, “about how we can’t remember anything-“
“Yeah,” Dustin nodded frantically, “Like black-out drunk. Surprised we even got home,” he said, mouth full of half-eaten eggs.
Lucas forcefully jabbed his elbow into Mikes chest, making him scowl, glaring at Dustin and Lucas before softening his eyes when he turned back to Will, “Vodkas lethal, I suppose.” He mumbled, flush creeping up his neck.
Will’s forehead creased as he frowned at his friends, each of them looked shifty, “You all forgot.” He said in disbelief.
“Yep,” Lucas did his best poker face, eyes wide “Weird right, so if we did anything embarrassing maybe ignorance is bliss, you don’t need to tell us.”
“You didn’t do anything embarrassing.” Will replied automatically. Not that he had seen at least. Unlike Will who kissed a stranger publicly and likely not very well with how drunk he was.
Were they pretending to not embarrass him? That’s nice he guessed. As long as it was because of that and not because of the queer element of it all.
“Well that’s good, no one did anything-“ Dustin chimed in frantically, “So we don’t need to talk about it anymore, we should-“ he widely searched for a topic, “focus on how good this food it, I mean-“ he shoved a huge forkful in his mouth, “Yummy,”
“Subtle Dustin,” Mike sneered.
Will was so confused as he stared between his friends, “Okay, what is going on?” he was not reassured by the blatant panic his friends telegraphed between one another, no one gathering the courage to respond to him, His heart dropped as a possible explanation occurred to him.
“Do you-“ Will couldn’t restrain his stutter, betraying the deep dread he felt building at their potential answer, “Do you want me to go back in?” he whispered, barely able to look at them, but enough to see the confused frowns his words caused.
“Go in-“ Dustin twisted his brow in thought, “Go in where?”
Will twitched his nose, “Like the closet, go in. Do you want me to pretend? I thought-“ Will cut himself off. Eyes resolutely focused on his clenched hands.
He stupidly thought he didn’t have to say anything because they knew and were cool with it. Instead of reality, where Will should have remembered he lived, where they didn’t speak about it because they didn’t want to acknowledge it.
Will should have known better.
“You thought what Will?” Mike voice was so soft it almost relaxed him, but he couldn’t relax not when he was so wrong about everything.
“I thought you were okay with it,” Will didn’t hide the shake in his voice, he couldn’t “Okay with me.” He whispered, blinking rapidly to fight off the oncoming tears. Had been so certain everything was fine.
“What do you mean?” Mike had the panic back in his tone, moving closer to Wills side, “Of course we’re okay with you, you’re our best friend.”
Mike reached out and gently placed his hand on Wills arm, making Will flinch back like his touch burned, “But not this,” he whispered bitterly, staring at his feet ignoring the three sets of eyes boring into him.
Mike faltered his hand still outstretched from his failed attempt to comfort Will, but Will didn’t want his comfort if they only tolerated this side of him. It might only be a part of Will but it was a pretty significant part that couldn’t be ignored, not even by his closest friends.
If they didn’t love him, all of him, including the gay part. Then what was the point in sticking around.
“What’s this, Will” Lucas had softened his tone to try to match Mikes, gentle enough to give Will the courage to look at him, his posture open and welcoming.
The faux naivety drove an electric bolt of anger through him, he scoffed derisively and rolled his eyes, “You know,” he narrowed his gaze at them one by one, “You all know. You always did. Everyone did. I don’t understand why you suddenly have a problem with it now.”
“Have a problem with what?” Will almost believed Dustin genuinely didn’t know what he was referring too. Almost.
He blew up, “Is this make Will think he’s crazy day-“
“No Will-“
“Then why are you pretending you don’t remember last night-“ Will exploded, jumping to his feet and making them all fall silent.
“Do you really think I’d believe you all were blackout-“ he pointed accusingly between them, “You saw me- you saw us. Kissing-“ he spat, crossing his arms against his chest protectively, “Was it to much? Seeing me being actively queer? It was okay as long as I didn’t rub my gayness in your face’s-“
“Will-“
“What Mike,” Will choked on the oncoming sobs, “I don’t want to hear how you think I’m disgusting now-“
“Will,” Dustin roared, cutting off his spiel, shocked at the forcefulness in his voice, “Stop okay. You’re right, we were lying.” He gestured to the other two, as Lucas motioned at him to stop. “Give it up Lucas, he didn’t buy it- Mike was right.”
“So, I was right, you do have a problem with it now.”
“No Will, we don’t have a problem with it.” Mike reassured, brows knitted together in concern at Wills blatant fear, “We just- didn’t want to make you have to tell us, okay.” He made an aborted motion to comfort him, unsure if Will would appreciate it.
Will was stuck on what Mike just said. Slowly he parsed through the words as if they would make sense on repeat.
He was still confused, “Huh?”
Lucas cleared his throat pulling Wills attention from Mike, “Max- Max said it was important to let people tell you when they are ready, so-“ he shrugged despairingly.
“But-“ Will stuttered, “I’m openly gay. I’ve been out for years, you guys know-“
All three gave him matching frowns, “You never told us Will,”
“I didn’t have too,” Will defended himself, looking widely around at his friends, “It was obvious. I didn’t hide it.”
“Oh,” Lucas seemed embarrassed, “I just thought you were really bad at covering it up.”
He gaped at them in utter disbelief, “I’m practically a stereotype, Jesus Lucas you’ve been in my room-“
Lucas cringed, obviously recalling the many posters Will had accumulated and his accidentle stumble on hidden material, “I uh, you never said it Will.” He repeated helplessly.
“Okay fine, I never said it, but Mike did-“ he pointed with his hand at Mike who flinched at that comment, Dustin and Lucas turned on him accusingly, as his face drained of color.
“I didn’t-“ he started defending himself to their glares, before refocusing on Will his tone softening, “I didn’t mean it like that. It wasn’t a reference to that, I promise. That wasn’t meant to be about that, I’m sorry that’s the impression I gave,” Mike chewed on his lower lip anxiously.
“Oh,” he said, scrutinising Mike and seeing nothing but complete honesty, “Oh,” he repeated, nibbling on his own lip, “Well, I’m gay.” He did a lacklustre jazz hands, “Surprise.” He finished monotonal.
“Congratulations Will.” Lucas enthused quickly, rushing forward and wrapping Will in a tight hug, as Will laughed lightly, “Congratulations, seriously?”
“What?” Lucas pulled back beaming at him, “This is a celebration.” He squeezed his shoulders, moving aside to let Dustin approach, wrapping him in his own hug and an “I love you man” whispered in his ear.
Eventually it’s Mikes turn, his long arms enclosed around him and Will let his head fall into the crack of his neck above his shoulder, “I’m sorry Will- I can’t believe you thought all the years- I’m really sorry. I’ve never had a problem with this, with you. I love you, okay, you are so brave.”
Will was wrong. It was better to actually say it out loud and have this outpouring of love from his friends. He thought he knew they loved him before but there was nothing quite like overt confirmation and the boy he loved whispering the same in his ear.
Will cleared his throat when Mike pulled away, cheeks-tinged pink, “thanks guys,” he muttered self-consciously, sitting back down.
The others shuffled back to their places, the atmosphere much more comfortable that five minutes ago, Dustin shovelling his food in his mouth and Mike giving Will continued looks that were a mix of concern and fondness.
Lucas broke the quiet, “It makes a lot more sense that you thought we knew. You were so bad Byers, I was really concerned that you literally wouldn’t be able to lie even if your life depended on it.”
Will shrugged, he can lie when necessary, he didn’t realise he was meant to be, “Well, you did know, so no big deal.”
Lucas snorted, “Yeah, you’d have to be stupid or-“ he smirked, “Dustin.”
“You promised,” Dustin yelped, throwing a piece of toast at Lucas who caught it and happily started munching.
“What?” Will said, questioningly between them.
Lucas grinned brighter as Dustin groaned in embarrassment, “Dustin didn’t know, you gave him quite the shock last night.”
“Seriously?” Will said to the smallest boy incredulously, who looked helplessly at the ceiling, “forgive me for not making assumptions like these two.”
Will gave him that even as Lucas and Mike spluttered denials, “Yeah, but my bag.” He said to him, “You’re the smart one, I thought you’d recognise the symbols.”
Dustin frowned, “Symbols? I thought they were just patches I guess?”
“You thought the pink triangle was meaningless?” Mike sneered at him.
“How do you know about the triangle?” Will asked Mike surprised, he had never been a huge history buff.
“Oh,” Mike self-consciously fumbled with his take out box, “You know research?”
Will narrowed his eyes at Mike, “You researched queer stuff?”
“Well, yeah.” Mike said, red dusting his cheeks and enticingly down his neck.
“Huh,” Will leaned back in contemplation as Mike busied himself digging into his breakfast.
For Will? Or did Mike have more personal reasons for his research? Something to pry at later perhaps?
He had more pressing concerns like if he wasn’t out to his friends like thought he was. Was he also not out to his family? And did that mean he was going to have to have another awkward conversation with them?
Will missed when he didn’t know he was technically still in the closet.