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“Is Will..I don’t know, acting differently to you?” Mike asked, keeping his eyes to his shaking hands.
“What makes you say that?” Lucas replied looking straight ahead in the ‘dick’ as Robin so beautifully called it.
“It’s just that one minute I think he still is mad at me for everything in Cali..and before that, because he’s been ignoring me for Robin…” Mike paused.
He was still trying to wrap his head around what Will and him were talking about not even five minutes ago.
Well. Not even talking about but the way he felt around Will and how Will had talked was...that. It felt good was what he was trying to say. Really good.
“…But the next it’s like he’s acting like nothing bad ever happened and we’ve always been best friends.” He finally finished.
Maybe Mike didn’t want to be Will’s best friend anymore? It sounded horrific in thought but maybe it was true? How would Will react? Would he care that much? God Mike would miss him.
“You’re jealous” Lucas replied as if he was the smartest person in the world. So, basically, he replied like Dustin would have.
Which, he had to be honest here, sometimes Dustin sure sounded like he could be the smartest person possibly ever, but Mike would never tell him that. Mike was smart but not Dustin smart.
“What? I’m not jealous.” Mike muttered defensively. Almost as if he didn’t ask for this conversation by starting it in the first place. He really didn’t like where this conversation was heading all that much.
“Yes you are.” Damnit Lucas was really persistent sometimes. “It’s fine to be jealous, Mike. When we first met Max I would get jealous every time she preferred to hang out with someone else over me.”
How was that almost 3 years ago now? God he missed talking to Max, even if she was annoying as hell sometimes.
“That-That’s different asshole!” He had tried his best to keep a low volume from the sounds of Robin and Will talking behind them. Course.
Right after flirting with him or whatever the fuck that was he goes right back to Robin. He couldn’t make out what they were saying but it didn’t really matter at this point.
He felt confused and lightheaded right now. But like not as if he was going to pass out, does that even make sense? He’d never felt like this before and couldn’t decide if he loved the feeling or hated it. Probably because this lightheadedness was all focused on his best friend of over ten years now.
“Is it?” Lucas crossed his arms giving Mike a look. Erica had also given him this look hundreds of times so it had to be genetic…or something.
“You had a crush on Max at that time and just wanted her attention and everything”
Mike paused. Opened his mouth and then closed it quickly, most definitely rethinking his decisions in life.
He looked around to see everyone else. Joyce was around 10 feet in front of them and Robin and Will were around 25 feet behind.
Mike and Lucas both stayed silent for a little longer. It had definitely been around 10 to 20 seconds but it felt like forever. God he did not need to be going through this right before the end of the world.
He felt so bad for El- or Jane right now. (She’d decided to stick to Jane after Cali because of everything with Brenner and not wanting her name to be a number anymore). Okay, so Will was flirting with him. Supposedly. Hopefully.
“I think….” He sighed. Fuuuuhhhck this was so hard to say for some reason. Well a very clear reason actually. People like Troy way back when Will went missing didn’t help, I guess. The 80’s in a small town like Hawkins was not fun for queer people from what he’d seen over the years.
Did that make him a queer person? He didn’t know for sure right now. All he really knew is that he’d want to chase this feeling he’d just gotten from Will.
It was easier for him to open up like this with one of his closest friends for so long but part of him still felt he should consult Will. Even if he was basically the problem right now. Although he couldn’t really blame him, the problem was Mike.
Will’s words in Cali rang through his head:
Sometimes I think it’s just scary to open up like that… to say how you really feel. Especially to those you care about the most. Because… What if they don’t like the truth?
“…I think I like Will”
Maybe Lucas would just kill him now. He pinched his fingers into his opposite hand as a way to calm himself down. He usually did it to take his mind off of well… anything really, usually pain, the entire party got bullied a lot over the years. Some physical, some not. The ‘not’ part of it is what got him into this mess though, wasn’t it?
“Yeah?”
“..Yeah.”
“I know” Lucas grinned.
“You— what?” Mike looked at Lucas with wide eyes. He just laughed at him. He fucking laughed. The motherfucker. “I—just…how?”
“It’s pretty obvious, you and Will always seemed to have a closer more ‘special’ relationship than with Dustin and I”
“Lucas-“
“Jesus you’re oblivious”
“Fuck off”
“Actually though, I don’t care who you like. I just want you to be happy, I think everyone can agree on that”
Fuck. That got to him. He wiped his face in case it looked like he’d been crying.
“But if you do start dating Will, don’t make him as annoying as you”
He couldn’t even really be annoyed at this point so he just laughed. The smile on his face was a good enough sign that Lucas had said the right thing, at least that’s what he was trying to communicate. Lucas really just wanted to help.
The two stopped only moments later with Ms. Byers in front of them and Robin & Will still far behind. Oh. They were at the end of the tunnel.
He hadn’t even realized.
He hoped Joyce hadn’t heard any of that conversation. The last thing he needed was Joyce to tell Hopper….He was still scared of Hopper.
“Hey guys! Take your time will you?” Lucas called back.