Chapter Text
Summer of 1986
Mike has been avoiding Will, at least trying, and failing miserably. Will has noticed and believes that if Mike is trying not to interact with him at all, he must have a good reason, too.
It's not like Will wanted to speak to Mike either, not long before Mike started to avoid him.
They were walking around the forest, making sure no unwanted gates were around, and they found what remained of Castle Byers. Ouch, it stung.
They did not speak to each other for the rest of the day since that brought up some... Unfortunate memories. Coupled with the dread he has been feeling, he has been masking his feelings as El’s to somehow tape their ripped relationship back together.
Honestly, Will thought it had worked even though it was a long shot. Only for Will to accidentally walk in on Mike getting slapped across the face by El, followed by a “Friends don't lie, Mike,” which, knowing Mike, he most definitely deserved.
At the time, Will did not want them to notice him, so he quietly shut the door and never brought it up to them. Cause honestly, how do you tell your best friend who's obviously avoiding you that you saw him get slapped by his now ex-girlfriend and she has famously dumped your ass for like the millionth time. Of course, Will feels bad, but it is not enough to break the.
“I'm horrible at trying to make it look like I'm not avoiding you! So don't talk to me, law.”
Will decided about two months ago to try to give up on his not so heterosexual feelings for Mike. He’s been doing great, since you know Mike's avoiding him and all, and oh yeah, he's obviously straight, definitely can't forget about that.
"Will! Earth to Byers! What’re you thinking about?" Steve waved a hand in front of him.
"Huh? Nothing. Go on," Will says, waving his hand dismissively.
Steve Harrington and Will Byers, yes, quite the strange duo we have here, but it totally wasn't like Will asked him how to get over a crush.
“So, as I was saying, it's super easy to get over a one-sided crush! You just have to find a new girl who piques your interest and make a move,” he says. Steve uses the pointer to point at the whiteboard, where he drew stick-figure-like characters to represent Will and his so-called one-sided crush.
“You mean how you tried to get over Nancy with Robin?” Will raised an eyebrow in concern about how well his plan may work.
“... Do not speak of things you don't understand, Byers.” He responded quippy.
Oh, Will understood all right. Only because he was too embarrassed to ask his brother for dating advice, even though there was no dating involved, so he asked the next best person: the person who had dated his brother's girlfriend. When Will went to ask Steve for dating advice, Robin was there. She said it would be a bad idea to ask Harrington for any advice; when he tried to move on from Nancy to her, she shot him down. This led to him pining for Nancy all over again, but he was unable to get back with her, for obvious reasons.
“Okay, make sure there is distance between you and the girl you're crushing on–”
“Oh, I promise you, there if they could get any further away from me they would.” Will mumbles, interrupting Steve's lesson.
“Ssss, Oof. Well, at least that's one problem out of the way for ya.” Steve says, while not hiding the that's fucked face.
Will shakes his head, trying to dispel the thought of Mike. He’s already been thinking about him for years; it's about time he stopped.
“Sorry, just… just continue.” Will looks at Steve with newfound determination in his eyes.
Steve begins to nod, finding the glint in Will's eyes admirable. He closes the pointer in one fell swoop.
“Alright, Byers, ready to be my top student?” Steve says with a mischievous smirk on his lip, coming to a devilish curve at the end.
“Yes– … Wait what? Steve, there must be some misunderstanding here.” Will says with his brows furrowed.
“I’m here to get over mi– my crush, that's all…” Will crosses his arms while slightly tilting his head at Steve, trying to tell him this is all he wants.
“But come on, Byers.” Steve walks up to Will and wraps his arm around his shoulder, turning him towards the whiteboard.
“The only way to get over a crush is to catch someone…” Steve looks him up and down, noticing the same tucked-in yellow flannel he always wears with cuffed blue jeans and an old, worn-down pair of Winner II sneakers.
“And I doubt you do much catching in… this.” Steve tries his best not to sound offensive, but doesn’t do a great job of it.
“Yes, I do!” Will, obviously offended, gives Steve an annoyed look which slowly turns into a deep, thoughtful look. “There was this one girl…”
Steve smiles, already knowing where this is headed. “Oh, really, and what happened with her?” said teasingly, all the while bringing Will in closer to himself, using his arm to hold him tight in place.
Will begins to avoid eye contact, feeling knots forming in his chest. “She lives in Cali… and I rejected her.”
Steve, with his not-so-perspective eye, notices nothing, but is that a surprise? He isn't in moma bear mode. “See, Byers,” his eyes looking up to the whiteboard.
“This is why I'm your teacher, to help you move on and gain some good skills for wooing the ladies.” Steve nods while not breaking his eye contact with the whiteboard.
You can see his thoughts all over his face: ‘Wow, I’m such a great teacher, I'm teaching this kid life lessons.’
Will didnt know what he needed more, for Vecna to appear to snatch him from this uncomfortable feeling magically, or how there’s this thought in the back of his head saying that if he couldn't get over Mike, he’ll just woo the ‘ladies’. Which is literally Mike but just with a wig, but not like he needs it, his hair is already long enough– Long– Beautiful– Black– Falls around his face most perfectly when– Will shakes his head, ridding the thought from his head.
“You know what, I think this was a bad idea, I think I'll just stick this one-sided crush out on my own.” he ducks from underneath Steve's arm wrap around his shoulder and takes a step back at the same time in one swoop.
Steve arm now having nothing to his weight on stumbled to the side in confusion. “Aht Aht.” he grabs Will's Fannel by the back of it just enough to have a fist full of it.
“You ask for my help, not backies Byers.” Steve points his finger at the poor boy who's trying to run while cocking his neck to the side and lifting a single eyebrow.
Will battles with himself for a moment, trying to remember why he asked Steve for help again, but when he does, nothing comes to mind, but since he's here, he might as well take what her can get.
A low sigh escapes from his mouth, and he looks at Steve, “Fine, but you only have a few lessons,” he starts to walk back to him.
Steve put his arm right back where it was, nesting around Will's shoulder. “Aww, there's the Byers, Wheelers always talking about. Always ready to face things head-on.”
Oh.
“Mike said that about me?” trying not to feel a slow burning creeping on his neck, making his hair stand.
Steve nods, “Yeah, and a whole bunch of things too, like how you're kind to kind, actually. Oh, and how you're an amazing artist. I know there was more, but that's all I can remember–”
While listening to Steve's Voice slowly blend in the loud buzz of Will's head, he starts to spiral, not because he's doing something stupid that he knows for a fact won't help it, or at least help him distract himself from Mike. But because the moment he heard Mike talk about him, even if there weren't romantic suggestions behind it. He finally understood.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, so the board,” Steve said, gesturing at it.
He was totally and utterly fucked.