Chapter Text
Will Byers liked to think he was observant. He noticed things that other people didn't about his friends. Dustin was usually good at catching things with other people, and nobody knew Will better than Mike did. As they got older, it seemed that Lucas had gotten more and more oblivious to tells and subtle signs, but Will adored him anyway. Will could read everybody. He knew when El was having a bad day, when her sentences got shorter and stiffer. He knew when things weren’t good at home for Max, when she was sharper and meaner to Mike than usual. It used to bother Mike, until Will had explained his theory. Mike took it stride now, and he thought that maybe Mike and Max’s friendship was a little stronger now because of it.
Will was good at observing people, and he was pretty damn sure that Dustin Henderson had a crush on his sister.
He first noticed it at game night at Mike’s house about two weeks earlier. El always got excited about board games, especially checkers which she had always said was her favourite to play with Hop back in the cabin. Now, they rarely played checkers at game night because it was a two-player game (Will always offered to play whenever they went home, even though he’d never really been able to get the hang of the simple game) and it was supposed to be DnD night in truth. El hadn’t expressed that she was sad to not play checkers, because she’d understood, but Will had been able to tell. Before Will had had the chance to offer to play with El when they got home- because this was Mike’s first campaign since before the whole incident at Starcourt Mall, sue him for being excited- Dustin had jumped in and offered to sit out the game and play checkers with El.
Will had remembered thinking that was surprising, because the only person who had seemed more excited about Mike’s campaign than him had been Dustin. El had always been enthusiastic about DnD because it made her friends happy but she’d always gotten a little lost in the process, and Max had never played a Mike campaign before and had no idea what to expect. Lucas always got the same amount of excited for DnD. But Dustin and Will had been having long, overly excited conversations about this for weeks, since Mike had told them he was planning one, until Mike had gotten embarrassed and begged them to stop.
Yet here Dustin was- offering to skip out on the campaign he’d been so excited about- to play checkers with El. It had set instant alarm bells up in Will’s brain and he’d been watching them ever since. Noticing how Dustin would trade his Kool-Aid for El’s regular apple juice because El had tried Kool-Aid once and thought it was the most amazing drink, and Joyce never bought the fancy drink boxes. How Dustin would take the sit beside El without even seemed to think about it. How his cheeks would go bright red when El would laugh and squeeze his wrist.
After two weeks of careful watching, Will Byers came to a very serious conclusion. Dustin definitely had feelings for El, and he would never tell a soul about it. Will, albeit vaguely, remembered the time in eighth grade when Dustin and Lucas had both liked Max when she’d moved there. Will had- admittedly- had other things going on, and had missed most of the situation, but he still remembered how it had been after Lucas and Max had gotten together. The air of awkwardness that had settled over the Party, the way Dustin had pulled back. It had been the start of the falling out that Will had blamed on Mike, and it had taken Will a little too long to see that.
Given Mike and El’s history, Will knew that Dustin would never tell El about his feelings. Not when it had taken Mike so long to stop being a little dickhead about the whole thing. Mike had been going through something a lot deeper than just being dumped by his girlfriend, but without that extra information, to outsiders (anybody who wasn’t Will) it would’ve looked that way. The idea that Mike had been so in love with El would turn Dustin off completely. He’d never put the party at jeopardy.
Will Byers had never used to be a meddler, but maybe sometimes desperate situations called for desperate measures. But he couldn’t confront Dustin himself, no. That wouldn’t help anything.
Mike was laying across the mattress in New Castle Byers, comic book in hand and hair messed up from the wind. Will smiled for a moment, remembering the day in August when Lucas and Mike had showed up on his front porch with arms full of random tools and big grins on their faces, telling him they were rebuilding Castle Byers. It wasn’t the same, could never be, but Will liked this one just as much. Just differently.
“Mike.” Will called over to his best friend. He longed to use a more serious word, but he knew that Mike wasn’t ready for that. They’d had countless conversations about it, tearful and apologetic on Mike’s part, and utterly understanding on Will’s. He’d had a few years to fight with this himself (god, his own father had been shoving the thoughts into his head since he was a child) and Mike had had this thrust on him very unexpectedly. Will would happily give him the time he needed to be comfortable. At least he wasn’t suffering from a broken heart anymore, even if the waiting game got a little tiresome sometimes.
“Yeah?” Mike lowered the comic immediately, Will always quick to get his full attention. Will often wondered how it was nobody had figured them out yet. Will thought it must have been obvious, but Mike had always reminded him that you’ve always had my full attention, this isn’t anything new to people. And while Will would maybe argue the ‘always’ of it all, he couldn’t completely deny Mike’s point.
“I think Dustin likes El.” Will said, deciding to just rip the band aid off. He knew that Mike didn’t have feelings like that for El anymore, that Mike sometimes questioned if he had at all then shook himself off that road because he wasn’t ready for it, but Will still wasn’t completely sure how Mike would take that idea. “Like.... like likes her.”
Mike pulled a confused face, frowning and shaking his head slightly. “You... what?”
Will sighed and crawled up onto the mattress closer to Mike. They pressed together from shoulders to feet, and even though Will knew this moment wasn’t about them, he still felt a spark of excitement he always got from being so close to Mike Wheeler after so long of longing for it.
So he explained all his theories, everything he’d noticed and he watched it wash over Mike’s face slowly.
»»»
Mike started watching them, too, after talking to Will. He couldn’t deny that he saw it, too. How Dustin would sometimes be looking at El when she wasn’t paying attention, and how when she’d turn to him, he’d just smile at her. How they’d huddle over El’s math homework, talking quietly, Dustin teaching her the highlighter method and getting her grades up. How when Dustin’s mom took him IKEA to get some sort of random furniture to take up space in their home, he’d bring her back a cinnamon bun because he knew she loved them, but didn’t bring anything to anybody else.
Mike had felt blind a lot in his life before. Mostly involving Will, or El, or sometimes his parents. He knew he wasn’t the more attentive person sometimes. Dustin had said it himself one time, sometimes you total obliviousness just blows my mind, but Mike didn’t think he’d ever felt quite so blind before. How had he not noticed this? How had he needed this spelled out for him?
Mike decided to act. Acting had always been the better action that sitting on his thoughts and letting them stew. The day he decided that yes, Dustin liked her, he walked up to the Party at their lockers and asked Dustin to hang out after school.
“Sure, Mike.” Dustin said immediately. “What are we doing? Did you want to go see the new movie that opened up?”
“No, uh-” Mike cleared his throat awkwardly. “I actually meant... me and you. Just me and you. I need to talk to you.”
A silence settled over the Party then, as everybody looked at Mike. Max raised one brow, while Lucas and El wore matching expressions of confusion. Will had a look of apprehension, like he still wasn’t sure what Mike planned to do, how Mike was reacting to this. Mike give Will- and Will alone- a reassuring half smile.
Dustin didn’t seem confused or concerned at all, he just nodded and gave Mike a big grin. “Sure, man. Sounds good.”
Mike and Dustin met up at the front of the school like they always did, getting onto their bikes but instead of following the others towards their houses, Mike ushered Dustin in the other direction. They kept the conversation light as they rode, and Dustin seemed grow a little more uneasy as it clicked with him where they were going.
Once they reached the top of the cliff, they dropped their bikes and Mike walked towards the edge. Dustin hesitated back, and Mike waved him over. Dustin still didn’t go as close as Mike was. “I come here sometimes.” Mike admitted, and well that... that was something he’d never told anybody. “To think. Do you remember the day I jumped?”
“Yeah,” Dustin replied, voice cracking. “Yeah, don’t think I’ll ever forget that, man. El saved you, broke Troy’s arm. It was badass.”
Mike knew that wasn’t the only thing about that day Dustin would never forget, and wondered if Dustin had nightmares about it, too.
“That was day you were telling me that Lucas was jealous of me and El,” Mike continued. “You told me because Lucas was my best friend and I could only have best friend. I told you were wrong, that you were my best friend, and Will, too. And you were wrong.”
“I know Mike.” Dustin said with a nod and small smile. “We were stupid kids, that’s what I thought. I know it’s true, we’re all best friends.”
“You’re my best friend.” Mike turned to Dustin, who seemed startled by Mike’s deep seriousness.
“Yeah...” Dustin said slowly, concern growing over his face quickly. “You’re my best friend, too, man. Are you okay?”
Mike nodded and took in a deep breath. “You like El. You like like her. I know you do.”
Dustin finally looked confused. “What? No I don’t. Mike, that’s crazy. What the hell are you talking about? I don’t like El... like that. That’s weird, that’s... that’s wrong, I don’t...”
“Come on, dude.” Mike let out a little laugh. “Do you really not know? Think about it. You do.”
Dustin started shaking his head. “No, I- I don’t! I’ve never thought about... I don’t...” His mouth stayed open a little gaped and looked up at Mike with panic in his eyes. “Oh my God, I... I like El! Fuck!”
Mike nodded slowly, starting to smile, but quickly losing the smile when it was obvious that Dustin’s panic was only growing stronger.
“Oh my God, Mike, I’m sorry!” Dustin started stammering. “Is that why you brought me out here, are you going to throw me off the edge? I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I won’t do anything I promise, I know you love her-”
Mike’s eyes widened comically and he reached out quickly to grab Dustin’s shoulders. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude! Breathe!” Mike shouted and waited for Dustin to finally calm himself slightly. Mike let out a chuckle. “I didn’t bring you here to kill you, man, come on. I think it’s... El and I aren’t a thing. I love her, but like... it’s not like that. Will and I, you know?”
The deeply confused and still slightly panicked look on Dustin’s face made it pretty clear that no, he didn’t know.
“We’re...” Mike cleared his throat. “Boyfriends... I guess.” Dustin’s eyes blew wide and Mike clapped a hand over Dustin’s mouth. “Shut up, shut up! I haven’t told anybody that, nobody knows! I haven’t even used the word boyfriend when talking to Will before so now I’m freaking out and we’re not talking about you so if you’re going to hate us or whatever, then just don’t tell me-”
Dustin stood there, one eyebrow raised until Mike lowered his hand and looked at him nervously. “I don’t hate you guys. We’ve defeated how many demons from other dimensions? I spend the night in an underground Russian lab! You and Will being queer, or whatever... that’s probably one of the least weird things to ever happen to our group.”
Mike let out a shaky breath he didn’t know he was holding. “And for what it’s worth... if El likes you back, I think... I think it would be nice if you were together. I do love her a lot, and you- I know you both would be good to each other.”
Dustin smiled little and kicked his toe into the dirt. “Thanks, Mike.”
“Yeah,” Mike nodded, smiling softly and blushing. “Uh. You, too.”