Work Text:
When the Party compares freshman year class schedules, Will laughs when he sees that he and Lucas share a choir period.
“When have you ever been interested in singing?” Will asks, handing him back the folded piece of paper.
Lucas rolls his eyes. “I literally sing in church every Sunday, Will.”
And that was that! Will assumed his best friend’s talents were average. He was prepared to find out that he was good but not too good. Not knock-your-socks off good. When school started and the choir got up and running, he couldn’t tell which voice was his, which he was honestly a little disappointed about. That is until their choir director pinned up sign-up sheets on the board.
“This is for the monthly talent show! It’s not a real competition, there’s no prize of judgment, it’s just for you guys to show off a little!”
Will thinks he would rather cry in public than show off his art right now. And yeah, it’d have to be his art, because he can carry a tune, but his voice doesn’t have much flavour. However, he is not surprised when he sees Lucas signing up in spot number three. Unsurprised, and so, so excited.
Eventually, the end of the week rolls around. Talent show days mean free seating, and Lucas joins Will at the front of the risers. Will tells Lucas how excited he is to hear him, and Lucas just shakes him off. What a cool cat.
The first person goes. They’re pretty good, and perform a song Will has never heard before. He claps for them anyways, and so does Lucas.
The second guy goes, and Will is… not exactly impressed. But he didn’t totally crash and burn, and it takes courage to go up there! He claps for them too.
Finally, after what seems like eons despite it only being two performances, Lucas is up. Will shakes him by the shoulders before he stands, and tells him good luck. Lucas stands in the middle of the room, grins, and starts singing.
And holy fucking shit.
Will is almost downright angry he hasn’t heard Lucas before. He sounds good. Like, convince-mom-and-Jonathan-to-attend-church-good. Which is mostly a joke. But also it might not be.
Will is enamored by Lucas. He’s not just singing, he’s almost kind of acting too. Nothing major, but the song he’s singing is about some fancy guy. He sings a line about a Cadillac, and locks eyes with Will.
Will feels like somebody sucker-punched him. Where did his air go? Why does he feel like he’s about to pass out ? God. Will’s almost angry Lucas has never mentioned he can sing. He could watch this all day! Will wonders if Lucas has always looked this pretty.
It takes a few verses, but after a bit of subtle deep breaths, Will could confidently say he feels normal again after… whatever that was. Which he plans to wonder about after Lucas is done, but then Lucas winks at him after another line, and Will doesn’t have to wonder anymore.
Oh my god, Will realizes, I am in love with Lucas.
For a minute, Will’s almost in denial. Again? Another one of his best friends? Are you kidding? But then he realizes just how serious this revelation is and he almost feels sick to his stomach. Now he’s extra glad he didn’t sign up to perform.
He’s so busy crisising, he almost misses Lucas’ finish, which is surprisingly soft for how big the rest of the song was. He claps so hard, the sting of his hands kind of brings him back to reality. Lucas sits down and the next guy gets up, and everybody in the room carries on as if Will didn’t just have the second-biggest realization of his life.
The next guy is just okay, like the first singer. Then again, Will would be genuinely surprised if anybody could show up Lucas. Speak of the devil,
“So,” whispers in his ear that make him actually feel butterflies. Having crushes is so embarrassing. “How’d I do?”
Will turns to look at him, and wow that’s a mistake, because holy shit, Will wants to kiss him so bad. He’s kinda sweaty which should be gross, but really just makes him attractive in a stupid way that makes him want to punch him. He’s smiling like he somehow knows he’s driving Will up the wall, and he swears one day he’s gonna make Lucas pay for it.
Not today, though.
“Are you kidding? That was incredible! Where’d you even learn that song?”
They pause to clap for the end of a performance, and then it’s back to whispering.
“My grandma knows a lot of Broadway stuff! She always has it on when we visit. I’ll show you sometime. I bet she has songs you’d sound good on, too.”
First of all Sinclair, not the time for compliments, Will thinks. He can do this. Just get through this period. Then he can be normal.
A shock to probably nobody, but he did not end up being normal about Lucas anytime soon.
But, he does get better at dealing with it. Even though he can now pick out Lucas’ voice amongst the rest of the class, and swoons a little every time he hears it (or sees his best friend, for that matter), he thinks he’s doing pretty well. Apparently, Mike even likes Lucas too! So now he doesn’t feel guilty or anything.
However, he does feel extremely flustered every single day after school. Because now that they’re further in the school year, Fall Play has started up. And somehow, by some cruel trick of god, Lucas is one of Will’s assigned actors. Which means everyday, Lucas has to walk up to him shirtless, and Will has to reach around him to attach his mic pack, and get uncomfortably close to his face to make sure the head is hidden near his hairline. And now that Mike knows, everytime he sees his boyfriend afterwards he makes a point to make fun of him! What a little shit. Will can’t believe he’s smitten for two absolute idiots. It’s almost embarrassing.
Actually, scratch that. It is embarrassing. Will Byers is nothing if not dramatic, and he thinks nothing is worse than having to mic up Lucas every single day. If he has to stand on his tiptoes to get a good view of the top of his head one more time? With no kiss for compensation? Without at least one flirt? He might honest to god drop dead.