Chapter Text
“It’s me, right?” said Dustin, knocking his elbow.
Will frowned at him. “What?”
Dustin dropped his voice and plucked at his sleeve, just as Will was about to follow the others into the next corridor. “Your crush.” He winked. “It’s me.”
Will stared at him, rooted to the floor, bug-eyed. “What.”
“Well, I can’t imagine who else it would be. Who could compare?” Dustin flashed him a conspiratorial grin. “Like, there’s nobody more important in your life than me. It stands to reason. Plus, I’m incredibly attractive.”
Will was incredibly confused. Why was Dustin winking so much? Did he really mean this?
“It’s OK, Will. You don’t have to pretend. I know what’s going on. I’m flattered, really I am.”
Will’s brain sparked, malfunctioning. Is this what Dustin truly believed? He ran through his recent interactions with him. Had he done anything to suggest this?
“It must be me. I’ve seen the way you look at me.”
Will wasn’t sure there was a way he looked at Dustin. Had there been? Oh, God, had he been unconsciously hitting on people, or something? Had he been trying too hard to act natural around Mike that he’d somehow gone the other way with Dustin? Surely not. Surely not.
Dustin nudged him again. “Go on. You can admit it. It’s only a crush. We all get little crushes.”
Maybe this was an easy way out. Play along with it. Dustin clearly didn’t seem to mind: it wasn’t like he hadn’t inherited Steve’s ego. And maybe this would stop any other questions. He wouldn’t have to admit the truth. This wouldn’t ruin their friendship the same way confessing it to Mike would. But would anyone believe him. Dustin?
“Uh...” said Will.
Dustin winked again, giving him a very meaningful look. Will had no idea what that meaning could possibly be.
“Yeah. Yeah,” said Will, slowly. “You got me.”
Dustin nodded, vigorously. “I knew it,” he said, emphatically. “Ever since the Snowball, right?” He gave Will another meaningful look. Will was still stumped. What was Dustin’s aim here?
Will didn’t know what to say. “Uh, maybe? I guess?”
“Farrah Fawcett hairspray: works every time.” Dustin grinned briefly. He patted Will on the arm. “It’s not your fault.”
Will opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. He never said it was – sorry, what the hell was going on here. “Look, Dustin, I’m sorry, but –”
“Look, I’ve had crushes,” said Dustin. “Hell, I’ve even had a crush on Nancy, so I know what it’s like to –”
Will cut him off hurriedly. “Yeah, I get it. You sympathise. Thanks –”
“Anyway,” re-interrupted Dustin, “what I’m saying is that if your crush on me was because of that, then that’s totally understandable. An infatuation, a kid’s thing, based on a really chance series of factors. Hell, I bet you’d never even thought of me as a sexual being before then, right?”
Will blinked. Sexual being. That cut through his general stupefaction and forced a response: “I was – you were – we were twelve, Dustin! I wasn’t thinking of you like that at all!”
“Sure you weren’t.” Dustin smiled again, softer this time. Less manic. And, again, with a meaningful look. And another wink.
Will was suddenly very tired of all this. He just wished he could do this whole day all over. Maybe his whole life. “Dustin, please…”
“OK, OK – what I’m really trying to say, is that, uh, there’s a difference between fancying someone for their amazing hair, or great taste in hats, or sheer animal magnetism, and that’s a crush, then there’s someone being the person that you look for first in any room, that you want to spend all your time with, that you know every thought of, who makes your life feel complete whenever you’re with them.”
Will caught Dustin’s suddenly very serious eye, and trembled. Ah. Oh.
Dustin took Will’s hand gently. “And that’s not what I’d call a crush, is it?” He winked for what must be the dozenth time in this conversation. “Honoured to be your first crush, Byers. I’m sorry that I’m not like you. But even if I did swing that way, not sure I’d stand a chance against the guy you love.”
Will stared at him, open-mouthed. He was not going to cry again. He was not.
“Because if you were saying that what you feel for that guy was just a crush, then, Will, that’s the strangest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Will blinked very rapidly. “Dustin, no – it’s not like – I don’t – it isn’t – he can’t – you –”
“And, and,” Dustin looked really serious now, “if you think that that guy is not like you, will never be like you, then, I’m sorry, but you are dumber than Steve.” He spread out his hands. “No offense. I love Steve. But he can be so obli-”
“Will? Will?”
Mike burst into the corridor, breathing hard. His face lit up with relief as he saw Will. “Oh, thank God. You disappeared.” Mike clutched Will’s arm, roughly pulling Dustin’s hand out of the way. “I was really worried there for a minute.”
“I’m fine, too,” chipped in Dustin.
Mike spared him a single glance and an abrupt nod, before turning his attention back to Will’s face. “Everything OK?”
Will nodded, trying not to think about Mike’s hands in his. “Yeah, no, it’s all good. Dustin and I, we, uh, we were just checking some equipment.”
“And it’s fine? You don’t have any problems?”
Will glanced at him, and away. “Not equipment problems, no.”
“Good.”
Will was then startled as Mike leaned in close to him, mouth almost brushing his cheek. He braced himself and tried not to flush –
Mike tugged down hard on one of his backpack straps, then backed off. “There. That should be easier for you.”
Will nodded silently, running his thumbs under the straps.
Behind Mike, Dustin raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah, that’s good. Um. Thanks, Mike.”
His best friend jerked his head, his face already sliding back into the neutral expression it had seemed to be stuck in these last few days. “Now, come on. I need – we’re gonna need you.”
Tugging on Will’s hand, he led him through the door, Dustin at their heels, muttering something about ‘need me, too, right?’
On the other side, the rest of the group further up ahead, Mike dropped his hand. Will glanced back to check that Dustin was still there. His friend winked yet again, and gave him a big thumbs up, nodding towards Mike’s back.
Yeah. Maybe Will did understand what Dustin was trying to get at. But he couldn’t be right about everything. Surely not.
Sparing Dustin the quickest glare he could managed, he then looked back up the corridor, where Mike was already turning back to look for him.
Surely not.