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“Okay, okay!” Lena held out her arms, trying to calm the chaos erupting around her. “I’m calling it! We’re done with truth or dare before my apartment ends up underwater!”
“You sure, Prescott?” Andy drawled, twisting the head of the sprayer towards her girlfriend menacingly. “Maybe we should turn this into a wet t-shirt contest.”
Lena snatched the sprayer out of Andy’s hands, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure.” She let the sprayer recoil back into place, then tossed a towel at Ben. Andy jut out her lip. “Besides...” Whatever she said next was not meant for Will, seeing as she whispered it right in her girlfriends ears.
Based on the blush spreading across on Andy’s face, Will didn’t want to know.
“Alright, for the sake of Lena’s apartment,” Carlton said, “why don’t we play a different game.”
Andy rejoined Carlton, Will, and Spencer on the floor, reaching over to snag the half-eaten bag of chips.
“How about Spin the Bottle?” Ben called from the bathroom, where he was presumably ringing out his shirt.
“Half the people here aren’t interested in the other half,” Carlton said.
“Doesn’t stop the straights,” Lena pointed out, dropping four fresh cans of beer into the center of their little circle.
Carlton tilted his head. “Huh, I guess you’re right.”
“If anything, we have more crossover than your average group,” Andy said through a mouth of chips. “Thanks to me and Ben.” She gestured vaguely towards the bathroom.
Andy and Ben were both bisexual, a term Will had learned his first day at NYU. Since moving to New York, he’d learned lots of new words that would never have been uttered in Hawkins. He’d also learned how some words he heard in Hawkins could take on a whole new meaning when said for a different audience.
“I don’t know about that…” Lena said. “I mean, statistically speaking, there’s got to be more bi people out there then we realize, right? I’d guess, more often than not, every group of–” she paused to count the bodies in the room, “six people has to have at least one or two who swing both ways.”
“I think your bias is showing there, Lena,” Spencer laughed. “Just because we spend our days surrounded by queers, doesn’t mean everyone else does.”
Case and point… that was one of those words. The first time Will had heard one of his new friends use the term, it had sent alarm bells racing in his head. But then he’d realized they were saying it about themselves. And they were saying it in a way that seemed almost… celebratory. It wasn’t spat out, or thrown like an insult. It was almost… friendly. It took some getting used to, and Will wasn’t sure if it would ever flow off his own tongue so easily. But it felt good to be surrounded by people who got it.
“Yeah, but even if they don’t admit it, gay people are everywhere,” Ben finally emerged from the bathroom, his hair still damp but no longer dripping wet. “You have no idea how many guys I've made out with who immediately tell me they aren’t gay.”
“I don’t know. Will, what’s your take?” Spencer said.
“Me?” Will raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah!” Spencer said. “We need your middle-America perspective. What’s the distribution look like out there?”
Will could count the amount of gay people in Hawkins on one hand. “I don’t think that’s going to help,” Will laughed. “It’s basically just me, my friend Robin, and her girlfriend. Although, I think her girlfriend also dated guys, so maybe that’s one bi to two gays to…” Will tried to estimate the population of Hawkins in his head, but he was admittedly too many beers in to do that kind of mental leg work.
“-to ten stalks of corn,” Carlton joked, bumping his shoulder against Will’s. Will flipped him off.
“There’s no way that’s it! Come on, there’s no one else that you even had an inkling about?” Andy reached across the circle to wiggle Will’s ankles.
Dark curls, cheekbones, and brown eyes flashed through his mind. But there was no way he was going there.
“Mmm. I’ve always had my suspicions about my friend Max,” he said finally. “I definitely think if she weren’t so in love with her boyfriend that she’d go for it.”
Lena clapped, “Yes! We’ll take it. So my point stands. Our group is an accurate representation of the proportion of people who are open to making out with the half of the group... that the other half of the group… aren’t into?” Her sentence trailed off as the logic did.
Andy patted her girlfriend’s thigh, “that’s okay, babe. Thinking is hard.”
“Moral of the story,” Carlton leaned back onto his hands. “We’re not playing Spin the Bottle.”
“That’s where this conversation started!?” Spencer said, accidentally throwing a chip out of his hand. They all burst into maniacal laughter, officially at the point of the evening where their brains were completely fried.
Will popped open another beer, handed it off to Carlton, then grabbed one for himself. Carlton smiled at him in thanks.
“How about Never Have I Ever?” Lena suggested.
“Yes! Okay, I have a good one,” Ben jumped right in. “Never have I ever… kissed a boy.”
The room groaned.
“That’s not a good one!” Andy complained. “That’s like the first one in every game of Never Have I Ever... ever.”
“Whatever, I don’t get to be honest about it that often, okay? Let me have this!” Ben pouted. He was a business major, unlike the rest of them who were all in the arts. So most of his time was spent with frat guys and friends of frat guys.
“Aren’t you supposed to say something you haven’t done?” Will pointed out, causing Ben to flop onto his back dramatically.
“Ugh! Fine. Then one of you say it so I can drink.”
“Guess that’s my cue,” Lena sat up from where she had slouched against Andy’s shoulder, raising her drink. “Never have I ever kissed a boy. And thank god for that!”
The rest of them drank, including Will. He caught eyes with Carlton over the rim of his beer can.
“Okay, Ben. Now say a real one,” Lena prompted.
“Never have I ever… stolen anything.” Ben said. Predictably, Andy and Spencer both drank. Will’s pretty certain they had stolen the beer they were all currently drinking.
When Will brought his own cup to his lips, Ben’s jaw dropped. “Really, Byers? I didn’t think you had it in you!”
“I stole some fireworks on the Fourth of July one year,” Will shrugged. It was a testament to the amount of alcohol he'd consumed that he was able to say that like it was casual. As if he had stolen them for a silly, private firework show, rather than… well.
“Never have I ever…” Carlton pulled at his lip as he thought. “Broken the law. But don’t count stealing, since we just did that one,” he added.
Unsurprisingly, Andy and Spencer drank. Will took two sips, because he and the law certainly did not get along.
This time more than just Ben looked at him in surprise. He shrugged sheepishly. “There’s not much to do in Indiana.”
Or entirely too much to do. Either way.
“Okay, Byers,” Lena grinned at him. “Well it’s your turn. That is, if you can even think of anything,” she teased.
Will tapped his can, thinking. “Never have I ever…”
Travelled to an alternate universe. Nope, can’t say that.
Been possessed by an evil wizard. Nope.
Siphoned said evil wizard’s powers to use against him. Definitely can’t say that.
Before he could help it, a giggle fell from his lips. “Never have I ever…” He really couldn’t think of anything.
“Will!” Andy said, half-proud, half-disbelieving.
“He’s lived a whole other life before he met us, apparently,” Ben said in a stage-whisper to Spencer.
You have no idea.
“Okay, never have I ever thrown up from drinking,” Will decided on. Everyone else drank. “Ha! Suckers.” He was quite proud of that one, actually.
“Alright, moving on from the man who can do it all, apparently,” Spencer said. “Never have I ever… smoked weed.”
Lena, Andy, and Will drank. He and El had stolen some from Jonathon one night back in Lenora. She was having a hard time understanding why Jonathon all of a sudden seemed ten times dumber and always smelled bad. Will had tried to explain it to her but then he figured… why not try a live demonstration? They both ended up hating it. It made Will anxious and El paranoid, to the point where they spent the whole night sitting under a blanket on Will’s bed, jumping and clutching onto each other every time the house creaked.
“Never have I ever… been written about in the paper.” Andy said.
Will was the only one to drink. Everyone except Carlton looked at him in shock.
“What was the story?” Lena asked.
Will grinned, shaking his head. “You’re going to have to get me a lot drunker if you want to hear about that.”
Lena hummed. “Never have I ever… won a contest”
Will and Carlton both drank. Lena started to look victorious, but Will held up a finger while he swallowed. “That wasn’t what I was in the paper for. My friends and I won the Science Fair. And for some reason the local paper didn’t care all that much.”
“My turn!” Ben shouted. “Never have I ever… heroically saved someone’s life.” He looked smugly at Will. Will raised his cup in cheers, before taking a sip. “No fucking way! You’re lying!”
“I’m not!” Will laughed. This was kind of fun.
“What happened then?” Ben demanded.
Will bite his lip. “Sorry. We’re not playing Truth or Dare anymore.” Ben threw his hands in the air. “Oh, and that still isn’t why I was in the paper,” he added, just because he could.
Carlton burst into laughter next to him, while Ben looked like he wanted to strangle him.
“Never have I ever skipped a class,” Carlton tried to get them back on track. Everyone sipped, and immediately looked at Will.
“Never have I ever… lied to anyone in this room.“ Will pressed his cup to his mouth. Andy laughed hysterically. Lena stared at him with wide eyes. Spencer had his elbows on his legs, leaning towards Will and squinting at him. Carlton dropped his head back, resigned to the chaos.
“You’re doing this on purpose!” Ben practically screeched.
“Doing what?” Will asked innocently.
“Never have I ever…” Spencer appraised him. “Shot a gun.”
Will begrudgingly drank to that one. Lena reached across the circle to smack Will’s arm. “Will!” she scolded. “This is an anti-gun household.”
Will raised his hands defensively. “It wasn’t my choice. Take it up with my piece of shit father.”
There was a wave of understanding throughout the group. Each of them had their own experiences with shitty parents.
“Never have I ever confessed to a crime,” Andy said.
Will paused. “Does it count if I told the chief of police I was gay before same sex activity was decriminalized on a federal level?”
“No!” Ben said, at the same time that Andy cheered, “hell yeah!”
“Why the fuck would you tell the chief of police you were gay?” Spencer asked incredulously.
Will shrugged.
“Never have I ever… fucking I don’t know. Buried a body.” Lena said half-heartedly.
Will took a sip.
“Will, what the fuck!”
“Never have I ever fucking died!” Ben jumped to his feet, practically shouting.
Will finished his drink.
“Guys, he’s obviously messing with us!” Ben pulled at his hair.
“No I’m not,” Will said, smirking. “Why do you think I was in the paper?”
The room exploded. Everyone was screaming over one another, gesturing wildly. People were jumping, furniture was tripped over.
“He’s lying, he’s lying, he’s lying,” Ben took to chanting.
“It’s fucking Will! He never lies!” Lena argued.
“Oh, you think he fucking killed a guy?”
Will just stayed where he was, cross-legged on the carpet, enjoying the show.
Hey, he didn’t go through all that for nothing.
Carlton looked over at him, shaking his head softly with a begrudging smile.
Will winked at him.
“Hey guys,” Carlton said eventually. “Guys!” Eventually he managed to get their attention. “I think I got it.”
Carlton twisted so he was face to face with Will, leaning in slightly with a playfully determined stare. Will matched his positioning, raising one eyebrow.
“Never have I ever…” Carlton started. Their friends were clutching one another dramatically, looking back and forth between the two boys remaining on the floor with bated breath.
“Kissed a girl.”
Will set down his cup.
“Oh, you fucking piece of sh–”