Chapter Text
The D&D table stretched out before them, littered with makeshift trees and action figures layered with dust. Will perched his head on his palm, leaning over to observe the board further. Dustin tossed his head back and groaned.
“We’ll never finish this,” he griped, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes and rubbing the frustration out of them fervently.
“I hate to agree, but you’re right. We have an exam coming up,” Mike piped up, hair frizzy and face flushed from labor. Bags hung on the ridges of his eyes, but Will had a sneaking suspicion that they weren’t due to their campaign.
“Why do you need all of this? Can’t you just play normally?” Lucas’s voice rang out from up the basement stairs as he trekked down them, Max in tow.
She had a wry glint in her eye as she said, “Yeah. Can’t you at least be nerds normally?” Mike moaned petulantly, shooting her a glare.
“Ha-ha. ‘Kay, Zoomer.”
“A Zoomer is probably the coolest character type,” she countered. Mike scoffed indignantly, straightening up.
“A Zoomer isn’t even real! It’s not in the game!”
Will rolled his eyes. “Mike, she’s joking,” he reasoned. Mike only grumbled.
“Yeah, well, she—she has dumb jokes, okay?” He protested. Will laughed loudly and briefly, tugging Mike’s attention judging by the way his head snapped up at the noise.”Why are you so quick to defend her, anyway?”
Will shrugged. “She’s probably the most sensible out of all of you.”
“I agree,” Lucas immediately followed. Will knew for a fact it was more so out of lighthearted anxiety than actual authenticity.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Byers,” she replied, plopping down onto the cushion next to him and propping herself up on the arm of the couch. Mike shifted uncomfortably.
“Who invited you, anyway?” He asked, face unreadable.
“Why do I need an invite?”
He glared. “We’re kind of busy here,” he gritted out, folding his arms. He sat opposite Will on an oakwood stool, and Dustin on a chair. His brows were furrowed and his eyes sharp, practically emanating negative energies.
“And I’m bored. Can’t you do your silly little, uh,” she gestured vaguely at their over-the-top board adornment, “nerd thing later?” Mike huffed, slumping.
“I guess.” He sighed. “I don’t know, I just—I don’t know.”
“Mike, you’re being weird, dude,” Dustin commented. “Everything okay?” Will nodded. Mike’s eyebrows shot up, eyes widened marginally.
“Everything’s peachy. Zoomer, over here, though, not so much,” he said venomously, giving her a pointed glare. She shuddered theatrically, flashing Will a smirk. Will tittered, smiling shyly back.
“Come on. Don’t tell me you two still have beef after all this time?” Mike only bristled at that, shaking his head slowly.
“I don’t have beef with her—she’s just being annoying,” he protested. Lucas stomped up beside Mike.
“She’s always like that. You’re gonna have to get used to it,” he informed solemnly, shaking his head as if to further emphasize his point. Max’s eyes quickly glazed over to look menacingly at him, to whom furtively glanced away on impulse.
“I guess,” Mike murmured reluctantly. “But I don’t know if I exactly want to get used to it.”
“Come on, guys. We’re just being silly. Let’s clean this all up and we can work on it some other time.” He pushed himself to his feet, swiping dust off his jeans and adjusting the collar on his baby blue polo. The sun dipped below the trees in the window, casting purplish pink and orange shadows against the scape.
“Great. We’re probably just gonna forget about this campaign, anyway. And it was supposed to be a big one, too,” Mike complained childishly. Will heaved a sigh and moved to lift up the board, inspecting the models and dried glue pasted on.
“Ohhh, so this one is special, or whatever,” Max concluded, smiling audibly in her voice.
“No shit, dingus,” Mike bit back. Dustin and Lucas groaned in unison, and Max only chuckled quietly in reply, getting onto her feet and straightening up.
“Don’t worry, Michael. I’m not gonna stay around for your nerd shit, anyways—at least if you’re there.” Mike gaped, closed his mouth, opened it again, shut it again once he found that no words but a puny squeak could come out. Will giggled at his show of speechlessness. “Did you just squeak?”
“Oh, fuck you—“ the rest of their conversation was drowned out by an odd sense of tranquility settling in his chest as he put away the board, taking a second to admire it. Lucas sidled up to him while Dustin was busy chiding them for their bickering.
“Idiots, aren’t they?” He supplied, eliciting a pleased snort from Will.
“Yeah. Idiots. Mostly Mike, though,” he added.
“Isn’t that always the case?”
Will laughed. “I guess you’re right.”
When he stepped out of the Wheeler’s home after bidding a polite goodbye to Mrs Wheeler he was met with a humble gust of wind, tousling his severe haircut which he really needed to switch up at some point in time. It was a cloudless sky for the most part, stroked over by deep purples and striking oranges, last rays of sunlight burned into his cheeks. Suburban homes embellished by clean-cut trees glistened in the varying lights.
He jumped when he heard a pair of footsteps emerging from the front door and the sound of it swinging open and closed. A voice that he immediately recognized as Max spoke into the quietude, “Nice sunset, isn’t it?”
He relaxed, nodding. She walked up beside him, tilting her head up to look past the trees. “It kind of reminds me of California,” he uttered, and she snapped her head towards him.
“Read my mind, Byers,” she followed her words by elbowing him in the ribs. He winced and clutched them, shooting her a weak glare. “You look like a kicked puppy,”
“Yeah, well, soon I won’t be the only one who’s kicked,” he quipped, huffing, though a fond smile fought its way onto his lips. Max felt a little different from the other party members. Her stare looked deeper, like she lost something she never even had. It was familiar.
He just didn’t know exactly what she lost.
She drew out a sigh, kicking a pebble across the driveway idly. “Well, I’ve gotta get home.” Will’s heart pounded in protest, and he clenched his fists. He sucked in a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut for sobering determination.
He took a step forward and gripped her wrist, “Wait!” He started, not quite knowing what he was going to say in the first place. He gulped, and she raised her eyebrows, stunned, eyes wide. “Um… I have—“ he huffed, ready to persevere. “I have a question.” She relaxed visibly, slumping a little.
“Oh, yeah? What?” She laughed breathily. “I haven’t got all day.”
“Do you…”—Longing looks. Lingering touches. Hands subconsciously threaded through a mop of chocolate curls, sheen of natural oils pressing the pads of her fingers. Head fallen on shoulder, the stiffening of posture—“Do you like El?”
Her throat bobbed with a swallow, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Her mouth was slightly agape. “I—“ she wrestled herself out of his grip, grimacing. “What—What is it to you?” Her voice wavered.
He softened, giving her an empathetic look. “It’s okay if you do, you know.” Her cheeks flushed pink, gaze averting. She sighed defeatedly.
“Yeah, I guess. Why do you ask?” She conceded begrudgingly. Her expression was still guarded, if kinder.
“Then—Look, I—“ he was disrupted by the sound of the door creaking open. He stiffened, instinctively shutting his mouth. Max twisted her head to look at the intruder. Will followed suit.
It was only Dustin. He pursed his lips. “Hey, Dustin. What’s—what’s up?” He stuttered out. Dustin arched a brow.
“You two are being weird,” Will was about to spring to their defenses, but Dustin only pushed past them without another word. He let out a thankful breath in unison with Max.
“Look, I’ll talk to you about this tomorrow, okay? Don’t forget.” Max nodded and tugged her bike off its rack, pedaling off into the distance. He stared after her as she rode off, eventually blurring into the terrain.
“Will, why don’t you get a girlfriend?” Lucas said. A fry caught Will's throat and he broke out into a coughing fit, pressing his fist to his mouth to shield his labored breaths. Once they subsided, he flashed a glare at Lucas.
“You say that as if any girl actually wants me,” he bit back sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Dustin snorted at that.
“Dude, did you forget middle school? Every girl had a secret crush on you. They probably thought you were cool and mysterious, or whatever,” Dustin remarked.
“Yeah, well, the same doesn’t go for High School.”
“Why do you need a girlfriend to be fulfilled, anyways?” Mike added grumpily. “I’m going strong as a single man.”
“Yeah, as in going strong moping alone in your room or forcing us to deal with your obnoxious sulking,” Lucas laughed slyly. Mike grumbled, unable to muster an answer to that.
El frowned. “It’s okay, Mike. Being single is so much less stressful.”
“That’s easy for you to say. Your friends aren’t harassing you for it every waking minute.”
“Didn’t you just say you were going strong—“
“Zip it, Dustin.”
“Anyways, chicks are totally all over you, man! You’re just too oblivious to see it. It might also be the bowl-cut, too,” he added grimly. Will patted at his hair self-consciously upon the comment, frowning up at it.
“I don’t need a girlfriend to be happy. I have you guys.” Max strolled up to their lunch table promptly, plopping her tray onto it with a clatter and scooting into her seat.
“Okay, what’s all the rage?”
“Will doesn’t want a girlfriend,” Lucas supplied. She frowned thoughtfully.
“So?”
“So, he’s never had a romantic experience! He needs to live a little,” Dustin butted in. Max rolled her eyes, stirring her mashed potatoes idly.
“Why does it matter? If he’s happy, that’s it, that’s all he needs.” Will flashed her a thankful look, and she handed him a brief wink in return.
“Did you just wink at him?” Lucas gawked, brows furrowed and mouth ajar. Dustin’s eyebrows shot up and Mike suddenly looked constipated. Of course Lucas was the one to point it out, of course—he was always a little too observant for his own good. Well, in some cases. Mostly involving Max.
“What’s it to you?” She spat back. Lucas shrank in his seat.
“Nothing, just pointing it out.”
“Whatever, guys!” Mike snapped suddenly, grabbing all of their attention. Will’s eyebrows raised, and Mike cleared his throat, leaning back into his chair, almost recoiling more than Lucas. “I mean—I just mean that this is stupid. Will will get a girlfriend if he, um, wants to, and that’s final.” A stream of begrudged “Fine,”’s and grumbles of yielding followed.
“Thanks, Mike.” Will granted him a warm smile, slightly impressed at how quick he was to defend him. Mike tore out of their entrancing eye contact with a slight tinge of pink embellishing his cheeks.
Will stuffed down his fries after that, half out of hunger and half out of the adoration swelling in his heart. Why did idiots always have to be so cute?
They jabbered on and eventually drifted fully away from the topic of Will’s love life, going on about basketball practice and plans for their new campaign.
Will was frankly very thankful, that was until one fateful comment from Dustin. “Hey, Will, have you ever really been interested in dating? Or, for that matter, girls at all?” His heart choked up his throat, breaking the evenness of his breaths and almost blocking the airway. He didn’t know what he could possibly look like right now, but he figured it was at the very least incriminating.
“What?” He swallowed. Suddenly, the entire table had their eyes on him, something pondering glinting in their irises. He felt scrutinized, and the walls seemed to cave in around him, chatter outside of their table drowned out by his thundering heartbeat. “Could—could you repeat that?” He managed to choke out.
“I said, you were never really interested in girls, were you?” Dustin reiterated. Will shuddered under their judgment. Max, however, was strangely distracted by her nails, inspecting them idly and peeling off the excess skin.
“I mean—“ he couldn’t find any words. “I was just—“
Lucas laughed suddenly. “Yeah, he’s too wrapped in his nerdiness to think about girls. Isn’t that right, Will?” Lucas said lightheartedly. He relaxed almost instantly, muscles that were pulled taut slowly unwinding.
“Yeah,” he chuckled forcefully. “I guess so.” Dustin still looked skeptical, but he then went on to make some comment about the Hawkins nightlife. Will didn’t really know, keenly aware of Mike’s gaze burning holes into the corner of his eye.
His eyes quickly slipped away once he realized Will noticed, as if he had been caught doing something bad. Huh.
Will ended up meeting Max outside once the school got off, sky clouded over as opposed to the warm-hued sunset of yesterday’s evening. Max’s hair dulled once caught by the shadows, and the worry plastered on her face only added to the bleak look. She adjusted her jean jacket when Will walked up to her.
She cleared her throat. “So, um, you here to assault me or something?” She jested to divert him, though he could easily tell she was genuinely nervous.
He laughed and shook his head good-naturedly. “No, no, no—not at all. Pretty much the opposite, actually.” He took a stabilizing breath. “You know I’m gay, right?” He looked her dead in the eye. The word fit so uncomfortably around his lips—wrong and dirty, but at least it belonged to him. At least he had something to define himself, lest he be cast aside and practically turned invisible.
Max rang out in a full-body stream of laughter, eyes crinkling closed and a wide grin framing her face. It was short-lived, but the enthusiasm lingered. “Shoot. Me too. I mean—not—“ she cursed under her breath, tugging him to the back of the school. “Sorry, I figured we should have somewhere private to talk about this. I’m not—like—fully gay, or whatever. I still like men.”
He nodded. He thought he heard about that somewhere.
“That’s cool,” he said, hoping to provide at least a smidge of reassurance.
”Yeah?” She said back, something pleading tickling her voice. He tentatively rested his palm on her shoulder as consolation, and she relaxed into the touch.
“So, I guess we have some sort of qu—queer solidarity now.” He was hesitant to spit the word out, well aware of its implications and the negativity surrounding it. Gay seemed better, but queer seemed to encompass all members of this… club, or whatever.
Max swallowed, nodded, and Will suddenly felt nerves mounting. Goosebumps slithered across his arms, only now it might’ve been indicative of something more dire than even him.
Dustin never backed down from a challenge, a hypothesis. He believed firmly in discovery. Will felt the words spilling out before he could even think on it: “Hey—I, um, this is weird, but—“ he stopped himself. What was he thinking? There was no way she’d be comfortable with this. Not only manipulating their friends, but being used so carelessly.
Max raised one brow and jostled his forearm lightly. Her face tightened, denoting undeserved concern. “Will, what is it?” She breathed, eyebrows slanted upward. He shook his head fervently.
“No, No—It’s stupid. It’s stupid,” he repeated under his breath.
”Tell me,” Max persisted. Will gulped, turned his head away, afraid of what he might find in her freckled countenance. “Solidarity, right?” She elbowed him lightly. He smiled nervously.
”Do you think, ah—“ he hissed in frustration, suddenly feeling at a loss for words. Max stared patiently at him, though a typical humor shined in her eyes. “You totally don’t have to agree. I don’t know why I thought of this anyways, I mean—“ he breathed in deeply. “We should date.” Max’s eyes widened in shock, and he realized how that sounded. “Wait, no! I mean, like, like—pretend to date! Not actually.” Her face softened.
”Care to elaborate any more?”
He nodded profusely. “Yeah—Yeah. Um,” he composed himself. “I think Dustin is onto me. About, um. My… sexual preferences. So… if I have a history of dating girls…” he trailed off, a questioning look in his eyes as if he expected her to get the idea from just that. Luckily, she did.
”I get the gist. Not to kill your spirit, but, what’s in it for me?” He opened his mouth to reply, but apparently something dawned on her. “I could make El jealous! If she likes me, of course. That would be how I’d know.” Will nodded along. It was actually a pretty good idea. “And, if you’re lucky, maybe Mike will be, too,” she made a show of winking dramatically, knocking shoulders with him amiably. Will flushed head to toe.
”How did you—“ he couldn’t muster any more words. She only smiled smugly.
”A lady has her ways,” she replied cryptically. She jumped up in realization. “Or,” she added, “If I’m lucky, this whole plan will hide my horrendous crush on El.” Will giggled in amusement.
“Yeah, if you’re lucky.” She glared.
”The only reason you found out is because you look at Mike the same way,” she remarked wittily. Will shrunk with the, quite frankly, true accusation. He shrugged sheepishly.
”Or, maybe, you’re just obvious—“
”Do not send me into another crisis on whether or not the rest of the party, including El, knows.” He laughed good-naturedly.
”Well, I’ve got to get going, or else Joyce will get worried. Plan’s on?” She grinned.
”Plan’s on.”