Chapter Text
“Do you remember what I said about art class? About me being jealous?” Chance questions.
“Yes, I do,” El nods.
“It isn’t about that girl. I never had a crush on her. It’s because she won’t stop staring at Will, and they keep talking– keep smiling and laughing while having conversations. I’m jealous of her. I want Will to look at me.”
“But… My brother is a boy,” El replies, puzzled.
“El,” Chance whispers.
“Yes?”
Chance watches as El falters, understanding soon washing over face. “Oh,” she starts, “You like him. And you are both boys.”
“Yeah,” Chance mutters.
“That is okay with me,” El reassures him with a small smile, patting his shoulder. Chance smiles back, whispering a small thanks. He lets out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding in. It was overwhelming to admit that he has a crush on Will Byers– especially to Will’s sister, and his own friend, but God was it relieving to get off of his chest.
“Will said he will be coming here today with the party. You should try to talk to him. They should be here soon,” El adds.
“Your guys’ friends don’t like me,” Chance sighs, “For a fair reason, too. My friends have been assholes to all of them, and I just watch until it goes too far, then sometimes come up with an excuse to convince them to stop.”
“The party didn’t like me when we first met.” El admits.
“Wait, really?” Chance questions. Wheeler and El, despite breaking up, obviously show deep care for each other, even if it isn’t romantic, Lucas and El seem to get along well, Henderson and El have a strong bond, and clearly care for each other, he’s never seen Mayfield and El interact now that Mayfield is in a coma, but from what he’s heard, they were pretty close, and Will and El are adoptive siblings– they support and love each other unconditionally. They all get along so well; Chance couldn’t imagine it any other way.
“Mhm,” El nods, rising from the floor. “Now let’s go, we should get back to work. We have been in here for a while. The party will be here soon.”
“Right,” Chance agrees, following her back to the front counter. He inhales nervously; the party will be here soon– Will will be here soon. He just has to act normal. He will not fuck this up.
A few minutes later, the party approaches, and Chance’s breath catches. He looks Will up and down, taking everything in. His messy brown hair, expressive hazel eyes, dark blue jeans, off-white shirt, and a crimson red flannel jacket. El pats Chance’s back, raising her eyebrows at him, and he coughs awkwardly, heat rising up to his cheeks, “Shush, El.”
“I didn’t say anything, Chance.”
“You were looking at me funny!”
El rolls her eyes fondly, and the two realize that the party is now at the front counter. “Hi, guys,” El greets them, smiling warmly.
“Hey, El!” Henderson beams, waving enthusiastically. Chance watches El’s expression, her eyes crinkling up, cheeks a light shade of pink. Huh, Chance thinks, grinning slightly; they totally have a thing for each other. He’ll have to tease her for that later. The rest of the party exchange greetings with El, and Chance tries his best to not stare too long at Will.
“Yo, what do you guys wanna order?” Chance asks.
The party hesitates for a moment before giving him their orders.
El and Chance scoop the ice cream, handing it to everyone. Chance lets his touch linger for a moment too long when passing it to Will, their fingers brushing gently. Will makes eye contact with him, blushing slightly. It makes Chance blush as well, and he’s suddenly very aware of his own heartbeat.
“By the way, I like your outfit, Byers,” Chance smiles, trying to play it casual, despite feeling that anyone within a one-hundred foot radius would be able to hear his heart beating rapidly.
His eyebrows raise in surprise before smiling back awkwardly. “Oh, uh… Thank you.”
Chance notices Wheeler giving him a scrutinizing glare, scoffing at him. “Why are you pretending to be nice?”
“Chill out, Wheeler, I’m not pretending. Am I not allowed to compliment him?” Chance replies as calmly as possible. He understands why his instant assumption was that Chance is pretending, he really does– his friends are dickheads, he knows that. Still, it annoys him; he’s just trying to be nice.
“You and your friends are absolute assholes, how am I supposed to believe that?” Wheeler spits, rolling his eyes at Chance.
“Mike, it’s fine,” Will speaks up quietly.
“It’s not! He’s a jerk.”
“Mike,” El warns. “Chance is being genuine. You do not need to start anything. And he is not a jerk. He is my friend.” Wheeler seems to listen to El, sighing and backing up. The rest of the party stands awkwardly, glancing between the three.
“Well, we’d better head off, guys. We still have stuff to buy,” Lucas says.
“Yeah,” Dustin agrees, “See you, El!”
The rest of the party agrees, saying their goodbyes and leaving. Chance groans, dragging his hands down his face. “How did I manage to fuck that up with one sentence?”
“It was not your fault. I’m sorry about Mike, I will try to talk to him later,” El sighs. “He does not mean any harm. He just cares about Will.”
“It’s fine, I get it. If I were him, I probably wouldn’t like me either,” Chance replies, before smirking at the memory of El’s flushed cheeks, and changing the topic. “Hey, do you have a crush on Henderson?”
“What?” El startles. “Well– I guess so. I do not think he likes me back, though.”
“He totally does! Did you see the way he was looking at you?”
They bantered for the next little bit, throwing lighthearted remarks back and forth, teasing each other about their obvious crushes. He's glad that he and El ended up working together, Chance thinks to himself, smiling fondly.
– ✰