Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Despite the popular phrase coined by their friends, friends do lie, and Will and Max have been doing just that for their entire lives.

After the disaster that was Starcourt Mall, the goal on everyone's minds was to get back to any semblance of normal as soon as humanly possible. For Will's mother Joyce, she was renovating the Byers' home with the money Dr. Owens' team gave her and adding a room in the tiny house for El, or Jane Hopper, as she's been forced to go by publicly. For Will's adoptive sister El, she was moving into the Byers' home and studying her basic school subjects, so she could catch up with the other kids at Hawkins High. For Will's brother Jonathan, he was disappearing to hang out with his girlfriend, Nancy, almost all hours of the day. And for Will, it was the same thing he had been doing all summer— trying to retain some of his childhood and enjoy his time with the Party... and failing. 

It wasn't that Will hated the Party, it was the opposite. Will loved Dustin, Lucas, and especially Mike (especially Mike) but with the way they've treated Will all summer both before and after Starcourt Mall, it didn't feel reciprocated. Dustin routinely ditched the Party to hang out with Steve and Robin, Lucas and Max were back together (only to break up during winter break), and Mike and El spent every waking moment kissing, cuddling, and crying (or whatever. Will was making assumptions at that point, and he didn't want to know what they got up to when they were alone). And so, Will spent the majority of the rest of the summer in involuntary solitude.

Will had hoped that maybe this would change once the school year began, and it did to an extent because of one thing and one thing alone— Max and Lucas broke up... again. And this time for good.

Dustin, Lucas, and Mike never hung out with Will outside the occasional Party hangouts, lunchtime, and Hellfire meetings. But Max did (sure, El hung out with Will when she was home as they began their journey of siblinghood, but El was his sister and Will wasn't going to lump her into all of this). Max began to hang out with Will alone almost every day after school after she broke up with Lucas, just because she could. While all the other members of the Party were distracted by their partners or their new friends, Max and Will were left alone with only each other as company.

And what Will learned from his constant congregations with Max was that they had way more in common than either of them initially thought.

Firstly, they both agree that Mike and El are horrible for each other. Now, don't be mistaken, Will didn't just think this way because he was jealous (not that he was jealous. He's 100% not jealous). The youngest Byers had been the first-hand witness of around two dozen fights between the two lovers within the last month. And outside those fights, Will had been the witness of around three dozen Michael Wheeler-centered rants narrated by none other than El (which, by the way, he was always on El's side during her rants. He may be in love with Mike, but sisters before misters).

Secondly, they both agree that Lucas' basketball friends are assholes. Will was all for supporting his friends in their passions, regardless if he found them interesting or not. Because of this, Will attended numerous of Lucas' basketball games, both alone and occasionally with Max and El. However, that all came to a stop after the last basketball game right before spring break which was the first domino in this entire shit storm that was Operation Wax. The tale began with Lucas finally getting off the bench for a game and shooting the winning goal point during his time on the court. Will, Max, and El were all there to witness it (Dustin and Mike didn't attend due to Eddie's campaign and in Will's opinion, they barely tried to get Eddie to change the date) and they were so excited for Lucas that they all ran onto the court to tackle him in hugs after the game was officially over. During the celebration, however, one of Lucas' teammates decided to interrupt the festivities by inviting Lucas to a celebratory party ("Lucas, remember we got a party tonight!"). He told Lucas that he could invite all of his friends ("feel free to invite the ladies too") except for Will ("but not the queer. We don't want him spreading any diseases at the party"). To say Will was hurt was an understatement. Will wanted nothing more than to run home, climb under his sheets, throw a pillow over his head, and just sob. He was mortified; Will couldn't believe that his mere existence was enough to embarrass Lucas in front of his new friends, and all Will had done was celebrated the team's victory like everyone else. Will tried to convince his friends not to worry about him and to go to the party without him, however, Max refused to budge. It was then decided that Max would walk Will home while Lucas and El went to the party.

Now, this is what leads to the third thing Max and Will have in common:

They're not straight. 

Will's sexuality wasn't a recent discovery, Will had known he was gay since he knew what gay meant, but knowing another gay person... now that was new. It all happened one cold night right after their winter break. Will was having his weekly sleepover at Max's place (Will always told Joyce he was at Mike's. He didn't want to have to explain why he and a girl having a slumber party was no big deal) when Max decided to blindside him with an unopened beer pack. After ten minutes of what Will would consider peer pressure, the two began their voyage of getting rid of their alcohol virginity. After around five or six beers, Max had the brilliant idea of playing truth or dare-

"Max, truth or dare?" Will asked with a wide smile. 

Max took a small sip from her beer can before answering, "Truth."

"Okay!" Will exclaimed with a giggle, "Who's your celebrity crush?"

"What if I don't have a crush?" Max asked, her words slurred.

"It's called truth or dare, Max. Not lie or dare! Everyone has a celebrity crush!"

"Okay fine," Max giggled, "I'll tell you, but you have to keep it a secret! It's super embarrassing!"

Will nodded eagerly, her brown bangs coming into his eyes from the action, "I promise!"

"Honestly, I know I make fun of you nerds for liking Star Wars, but Harrison Ford is kinda cute."

"Really?" Will asked incredulously, his voice increasing a few octaves. "Harrison Ford is hot but I think Mark Hamill is way hotter!"

Both Max and Will sobered up after that comment.

The entire moment was humiliating for Will to look back on because after that statement, Will just burst into tears ("Please don't hate me, Max") before Max could even think of a response ("Will, I could never hate you"). Eventually, the conversation led to Max coming out to Will and admitting that she only liked girls and that Lucas was her attempt at trying to like a boy. Not only that, but she didn't really find Harrison Ford cute. She lied. She found Carrie Fisher hot instead. After that confession, Will gained the courage to officially come out to Max, as well.

Since then, the two have been inseparable. They were the only people like them that they knew and because of that, they trusted each other with all of their secrets; from gay crushes ("Seriously, Will? Mike? Gross!" "I could say the same to you! El is my sister") to deadbeat dads to Upside Down survivor guilt to homophobic bullies, they spilled it all to each other. This was exactly why Max chose to walk home with Will after the basketball incident. If anybody understood how Will was feeling at that moment, it would be Max.

If Will was being honest, he couldn't remember much of their conversation after the basketball game. The teenage boy was too busy sobbing and brooding in self-hatred to pay attention to what was going on. However, what Will did remember-

"-remember how you said you read about all those murder cases against gay people? You read articles about them at the library?" Max asked, anxiety tainting her voice.

Will nodded as he wiped the tears off of his face with his sleeve, "Yeah. It totally freaked me out."

"Me too. I was just thinking about how that politician guy in San Francisco got killed for being gay just a few years ago, and that was in San Francisco! It's supposed to be better over there."

"Are you trying to comfort me or make me feel worse?" Will asked as more tears welled up in his eyes. 

"I'm sorry, it's just so scary," Max let out a frustrated groan as she laid back onto the bed the two teens were currently sitting on. Will followed and laid down next to her, turning onto his side, so he could face her. Max turned on her side too and looked at Will's face, only to see more tears coming out of his eyes. She quickly wiped them away before saying, "it's scary how in places like San Francisco, people like us are being killed. Meanwhile, we live in a small town full of crazy Reagan supporters... just imagine if we were out of the closet here in Hawkins."

"I don't need to imagine it," Will said as his breath hitched, "I'm not even out! I just exist and people still throw slurs at me," Will began to sob again, causing Max to whimper in response and pull the boy in for a hug. "Max, I'm so scared."

"Me too," Max said in agreement, "Me too. I just wish we could hide somehow-" Max abruptly stopped herself and pulled back from Will. "Wait, Will," she said with wide eyes. Will stared back at her in confusion. "We can hide!"

That was the moment when the idea behind Operation Wax was put out into the world. Max's brilliant plan was for the two of them to fake being in a heterosexual relationship, and in doing so, help the two of them safely remain in the closet without any suspicion. However, it didn't officially go into motion until spring break, when Max sat Will down and explained the game plan-

"I call it, Operation Wax!" Max said with a mischievous grin. 

Will gave the redhead an unimpressed look, "I am not calling it that," he deadpanned.

"Oh come on! It makes total sense. I'm Max, you're Will. Put our names together and you get Wax-"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Okay, then Operation Mill?"

"That's even worse!"

The plan had three phases. Phase one— the Budding Romance. In this phase, Max and Will would begin flirting with each other in public and create the facade of a budding romance. Phase two— the Wingmen. In this phase, Max and Will would confess their 'feelings' to their friends and family and hopefully get them on board to pair the two together. And finally, Phase three— the Fruity Files. Max and Will would finally 'get together' and their actions would cement themselves as straights to the public, and officially remove them from what Max dubbed the 'Fruity Files'-

"What the actual fuck is the fruity files?" Will asked in confusion.

"It's where all of the homophobes keep their tabs on anyone who's not straight."

"You made that up," Will said with an eye roll.

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Are you really doubting your girlfriend right now?"

"Max, we aren't even at the fruity files phase yet!"

"Aha!" Max exclaimed with a smile, "So, you are calling it the fruity files!"

"I'm done with this conversation."

After a few more arguments about Max's naming abilities, the two teens exchanged a firm handshake and agreed to the terms and agreements of Operation Wax. And just like that, the charade begins.

"You're seeing this, right?" Lucas whispered to Dustin conspiratorially. 

Dustin nodded before picking up his milk carton and taking a sip from it, "Oh, I'm seeing it alright."

The Party sans Eleven and Mike (they decided to go on a lunch date today) were sitting and talking at their designated table in the Hawkins High lunchroom. However, Max and Will weren't exactly talking to Dustin and Lucas; instead, the pair were only talking to each other. The two were smiling at each other and whispering away from their end of the table, while Dustin and Lucas watched on in disbelief. 

Lucas frowned before whispering, "Do you think they're...?"

Dustin shook his head no, "No way!" Dustin quietly said back, "And besides, Will knows bro code-"

Before Dustin could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a girly giggle. The two boys slowly turned towards Max and Will, only to watch in horror as Will leaned in close to Max with his hand cupped around her ear as he whispered to her. Max flushed a bright pink in response before playfully shoving Will away with an astonished smile, "Will!" she exclaimed with another giggle, "You can't just say stuff like that!"

"What did he say?" Dustin deliberately asked, observing the pair closely. Lucas watched on too, studying Max and Will's every move.

Max and Will shared a knowing look before turning back toward the two boys. "Nothing!" Max sang with a wide smile.

"Friends don't lie," Lucas reminded the girl. Lucas then turned his attention to Will, "What did you say, man?"

Will gave his two childhood friends a shrug, "Friends don't tell secrets," Will said with a mischievous smile. 

Max scoffed, "You're so annoying, Byers!"

"You cannot be saying that, Mayfield. Have you ever met yourself?"

And with that, Max and Will went back to bickering and ignoring the other two boys' existence. Dustin and Lucas slowly turned back to each other with identical looks of suspicion. However, where Dustin felt curious, Lucas felt bitter. 

"I think we should keep an eye on them," Dustin whispered to the basketball player as he discreetly eyed the two giggling teens. 

Lucas nodded in agreement, "Should we tell Mike or El?"

"Nah," Dustin quietly said with a shake of his head. "El would accidentally spill the beans. As for Mike, we only tell Mike if our observations require his assitance. You know how Mike get's with Will. He'll act all weird!"

"Yeah," Lucas said absentmindedly as he watched Max whisper to a now blushing Will from the corner of his eye. The feeling of bitterness multiplied as he watched his ex-girlfriend and one of his best friends seemingly flirt with each other right in front of his face. They can't be into each other, Lucas thought to himself, that just wouldn't make sense. Max told me she broke up with me because she couldn't be in a relationship right now. Then why- "We wouldn't want Mike getting all moody," Lucas said, interrupting his own thoughts. We don't want me getting all moody, either.

Chapter Text

"Why do I need a haircut again?"

Max put down the magazine in her hands with a huff; the glossy book was full of photographs of various male hairstyles. The redhead gave Will, who was currently clad in dripping hair and a chair cloth, a judgmental look. "If I'm supposed to be your girlfriend, you cannot have the bowl cut your mom gave you!"

"My mom worked really hard on my hair!" Will spluttered in defense from his spot in a salon chair. As he said this, the hairdresser who was currently taking out her supplies let out a small laugh.

Max raised a brow, "Really? You swear she didn't just put a bowl on your head and cut away?"

Will hesitated, "She has shaky hands. The bowl helps her cut evenly!"

"Right," Max sang sarcastically. Max then turned toward the hairdresser and shoved the magazine in her face. "I want this," Max demanded, pointing to a picture of a man with short wispy bangs and longer hair in the back. "I'm thinking of Rob Lowe in Youngblood." 

The hairdresser nodded with a smile, "What does your boyfriend think of it?" 

Both Max and Will blushed at that comment. The hairdresser's smile widened at the sight. Will shook his head no. "Uh... I don't think my opinion is the important one. It's just hers," Will said, nodding his head towards Max.

"Good answer," the hairdresser said in approval as she picked up a comb and a pair of scissors. She then gave Max a wink, "He's a keeper!"

Max forced out a laugh, "He sure is!"

"I look like a douche."

"William! Language!" Joyce scolded, looking astonished.

The teens at the table all had different reactions. Jonathan spat out the water he had just drunk as he began to hysterically laugh. Nancy shrieked in disgust as water droplets splashed on her sleeves. Max cackled at both Will's comment and the sight of Jonathan spitting everywhere. El just looked confused.

"What's a 'douche'?" El asked with furrowed brows.

Joyce groaned in frustration before giving Will a disappointed look, "Now, look what you did."

The Byers and Hopper (that being El, of course) family was having dinner with the added guests of both Nancy and Max when the conversation shifted yet again to Will's brand-new haircut. His hair had been the number one topic that night, with every other conversation being derailed by someone making a comment about it.

"Sorry, Mom!" Will gave his mom a sheepish smile, causing her to roll her eyes fondly at the teenager. 

"Is 'douche' a bad word?" El asked. 

"Yes, honey," Joyce answered while giving Will another seething look of disappointment, "Don't repeat it!"

"So, it's like the word bitch."

This comment caused another uproar at the table. Joyce let out a small laugh, "You kids are killing me."

"Anyway, El, it's a bad word, but Will used it wrong," Max started with a smile. She turned to Will and gave him a not-so-subtle wink, causing Will's ears to turn pink before Max could even finish her statement. Will knew she was going to say something super embarrassing right now, and he was not excited about it. "Douches look stuck up but ugly. Will looks stuck-up and hot!"

"HUH?!" Will exclaimed with wide eyes as his face quickly became bright red. The Byers and Hopper family all had a big laugh at Will's expense, watching as the usually quiet and timid boy spluttered in embarrassment. Meanwhile, Nancy watched the exchange with squinted eyes and a small smile.

"Yeah! You're hot!" Max doubled down on her previous statement with a wide smile and no shame, "Like, before you were just cute. But now with the height and the hair and the jawline-"

"Please stop."

"-Nancy, don't you agree that Will is hot?"

Nancy gave Will a mischievous smile as she nodded in agreement, "Totally. I think I might have to break up with Jonathan now."

"Hey!" Jonathan shouted with faux offense.

Will groaned in embarrassment as he covered his face with his hands, "I think I'm dying," he groaned, causing Joyce to let out a hearty laugh.

"You know," Nancy started, shifting her observant gaze from Will to Max, "you were oddly detailed about your description of why you think Will is hot now. What's up with that?"

Mentally, Max was cheering. Hook, line, and sinker! However, outwardly, Max began to panic and stutter. "Uh... I-I have no idea what you're talking about!" Joyce and Jonathan watched the redhead's failed attempt to deny Nancy's implications with combined looks of shock and realization, while El just watched on in confusion.

Will decided to put the poor girl Max was playing out of her misery and cheerfully exclaimed, "Wow! This meatloaf is superb!"

"Right!" Max said, turning to Will with wide eyes, "I just love the seasoning! It's melting on my tongue!"

Jonathan watched the two with a raised brow, "Really? Will, you always told me you hated mom's meatloaf."

"What?" Joyce questioned with a sad frown, "I thought you loved my meatloaf!"

Will gave his mother a panicked look before hurriedly glancing at his watch, pushing his seat back, and standing up from the table. "Would you look at the time? We're going to be late for our movie!" Will said as he grabbed Max with both of his hands and yanked her up from the table. "Come on, El. Get up! Let's go."

El stood up and followed Max and Will as they quickly exited the dining room. As they were walking out, El took a peek at the clock on the wall before turning back to her step-brother with a confused look, "The movie starts at 8. It's only 6:30."

"I really like watching the trailers!"

"Do trailers even start this early?"

"Shut up, Max."

With a creak and a slam, the door shut behind the children and their voices faded away to the three people still remaining in the dining room. Jonathan, Joyce, and Nancy all stared at each other in silence with identical looks of astonishment. 

"Are Max and Will together?" Nancy asked, breaking the silence first. 

"I thought Max was with Lucas," Joyce commented in confusion. 

Jonathan shook his head no, "They broke up a few months ago, I'm pretty sure. Also," Jonathan started, turning his gaze toward his girlfriend, "they're not together. Will would've told me!"

"Maybe Will is keeping it secret," Nancy suggested. 

"No, trust me," Jonathan said, "Will tells me everything. He would've told me if he got a girlfriend."

"Or maybe," Joyce said with a conspiratorial smile, "they have crushes on each other but neither of them has a clue."

"Aw!" Nancy cooed, "That's so cute!"

Joyce beamed at Nancy before turning toward Jonathan, "Do you think they like each other?"

Jonathan let out a sigh as he thought back to all the interactions he had witnessed between Max and Will in the past few months. "If you asked me before today, I would've thought you were crazy. But after the way Max reacted to Nancy... she definitely likes Will."

"And Will?" Nancy asked, leading the conversation away from Max, "He got super flustered. That has to mean something!"

"I don't know. I feel like Will would've been super embarrassed regardless of who said that about him," Jonathan began. His eyes then widened in realization, "But they do hang out all the time alone. After school, Max is almost always over, regardless of if El's home or not."

Joyce shared looks of giddiness with the two older teens before speaking once again, "I say we spy on them for a little while," Joyce proposed with a smirk, "See if they really do have crushes on each other. And then, when the moment is right, we give them a little shove."

El knew that Max and her brother were close, but she didn't realize they were this close. El had always assumed that their little subgroup which was formed at the start of the school year was a trio, with El and Max being the closer pair out of the three and Will being both of their plus-ones. However, ever since that weird moment during dinner, El had been noticing the various quirks of Max and Will's relationship— friendship, El corrected herself mentally. By the time El got home from their outing to the movie theater, she had compiled an entire list of odd things that Max and Will did that she considered being too close to be friendly (and more close than she was personally comfortable with).

Firstly, they stood awfully close to each other all the time and even touched each other, and El knew that neither Max nor Will were particularly touchy people. For example, on the way to their seats in the theater, Max and Will had their arms linked together as they walked. Not only that, but Will put his arm around Max during the movie. El took a triple take when her brown eyes initially witnessed that scene.

Secondly, they kept making each other laugh and blush. Typically, El loved the sound of Max's or Will's laughs. Hearing the two usually sullen and quiet individuals let out howls of laughter normally brought a bright smile to El's face. However, they just kept laughing and would not stop. By the end of the night, the sound became grating to her ears. As for the blushing, that was usually paired with the giggling. El would overhear laughter and turn to face them, only to see either Max or Will (or in some cases, both) blushing and looking embarrassed. Now, this would be fine if either of them told El what was so funny, but they didn't. This was what led El to her last point on the list:

They kept lying to her. Nonstop for the entire night. 

Every time either of them let out a laugh, El would ask what was funny. Their response would always be...

"Oh, it's nothing!" Max said, laughter still infecting her voice.

Or...

"It's not that funny," Will said with an obnoxious smile.

Or worst of all...

"You wouldn't get it, El. It's an inside joke," they both said in unison.

El felt the frustration bubbling within her with no exit in sight. The entire night felt like they were mocking her or something but El knew that wasn't the case because it was Max and Will! The two nicest people she knows besides Joyce! But what else could it be besides mockery? They weren't just laughing to themselves and hiding the jokes from her, they were also whispering. It was almost like El wasn't even in the room and she was invading their alone time. But that doesn't make any sense, El thought to herself as she stared at the ceiling from her spot in her bed, we planned this movie night as a group! We planned to go as a trio!

The brunette let out a frustrated groan as she turned away from her ceiling and onto her side, curling into her comforter. El didn't understand what she was feeling but she knew it was bad.

The Byers brothers were in Jonathan's room folding laundry the morning after the dinner incident when Jonathan decided to finally talk about the elephant in the room. 

"So... got anything to tell me?" Jonathan asked with an upward inflection to his voice, not even trying to appear nonchalant. Will had to stop himself from covering his face up in embarrassment; this entire situation was just so mortifying. While Will was thankful to Max for coming up with such a brilliant plan (who knew it would actually work!), the youngest Byers dreaded every moment of flirting or public displays of affection of any sort. He was naturally a shy guy and wasn't used to this sort of attention, faked or misled or whatnot. Being gay had nothing to do with his embarrassment, really. Actually, him being gay made the situation funny. Watching his family be caught up in his and Max's web of lies was entertaining, to say the least. Sure, he felt a little bad... but it was a harmless lie! It's not like the lie was hurting anyone.

"Nope," Will answered with a blank look on his face; he was determined to keep his poker face strong throughout this conversation, even though his greatest desire was conflicted between bursting out in laughter and running out of the room in a flushed frenzy. Will knew that he had to stay in character, and his character was himself... but straight. And straight Will would've been way too awkward and closed-off to say anything about a girl potentially liking him. Jonathan would have to dig it out of him if he wanted straight Will to squeak.

"Really?" Jonathan questioned, dropping the towels he was currently folding onto the bed in front of them. The older teen then crossed his arms across his chest and gave Will an incredulous look. "You got nothing to tell me? Nothing at all?"

Will shook his head quickly, his freshly cut locks whipping across his forehead. "Nope," he repeated, "I got nothing."

"Nothing about... Max?"

Will knew what he had to do. Max trained him well. It was time to play the role of the flustered straight. "W-What about Max?" Will forced himself to stutter, internally cringing at his own voice. Not to kiss my own ass but I'm so good at acting, Will thought to himself as he watched Jonathan's face light up in joy at the sight of Will being 'flustered' and 'avoidant', I'm getting second-hand embarrassment from myself being super awkward! Max would be proud.

"Oooh!" Jonathan sang with a smirk, "So, there is something about Max!"

"No!" Will denied with a shout. "There's nothing! I swear!"

"You're telling me that Max calling you hot yesterday was nothing?"

Will wasn't acting when his face flushed a bright red in response to Jonathan's comment. He still couldn't believe Max said that about him... in front of his mother! "She... uh... she was just being nice," Will stammered. "Max does that with everyone! You know... compliments! Max is always complimenting everyone!"

"So, Max tells Dustin he has a nice jawline that makes him hot, too?" Jonathan asked with a knowing smile. 

The youngest Byers had to stop himself from smiling when he mumbled a small, "I hope she doesn't," loud enough for his brother to hear. Jonathan's eyebrows shot to his hairline in response while Will stammered to defend himself, "Uh... I mean! I mean that I... I... uh-"

Jonathan put a hand up to Will's face in an attempt to silence the stuttering teenager, "No need to say anything else, Will," Jonathan said, "I understand what you're feeling, and I support it."

"I'm not feeling anything!" Will exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Sure!" Jonathan cheerfully said, going back to folding his towels.

"Jonathan, I mean it!"

"Sure you do!" Jonathan said with a breathy laugh.

Will went back to folding his own laundry as he watched his brother laugh to himself with internal pride. And... scene! I should get an Oscar for this performance.

"You said what?" Max questioned with a loud chortle, causing the other inhabitants of the table, Lucas and El, to stare at her in curiosity. Today at lunch, only Will, Max, El, and Lucas were present; Mike and Dustin opted out to hang out with the Hellfire Club, instead. However, instead of talking to Lucas and El, Will and Max mainly spoke amongst each other, both discussing the Operation Wax situations that came up the previous weekend. Will made eye contact with the other two Party members before switching his focus back onto Max.

Will picked up his breadstick from his lunch tray and whacked Max in the arm with it. "Quiet down, you idiot!" Will hissed.

Max looked down at the breadstick in Will's hand with wide eyes, stupefied, "Did you just hit me with a breadstick?"

"Is that a question?"

"Wow," Max said sarcastically, giving Will a look of offense, "First violence and now sass. What happened to the sweet Will we all know and love?"

"He met you," Will deadpanned.

"That's cold, Byers."

Will rolled his eyes before taking a bite out of the stale breadstick in his hands, "Weren't you just asking me about my conversation with Jonathan?"

"Right!" Max exclaimed, her entire demeanor brightening up at the reminder, "Please repeat what you said to him, again. I cannot believe you said that!"

The teen gave Max a cheeky smile before whispering, "He said, 'oh so, Max is complimenting Dustin's jawline too?' and I was like, 'dang! I sure hope not!'" Max let out a loud howl in response, banging the lunch table with her hands, causing her and Will's lunch trays to rattle. Will sucked his bottom lip in as he tried to hold in his laughter as well. "Please, Max. You should've seen the look on his face!" Will said in hushed tones, "He totally bought it!"

"You're a masterclass actor now," Max whispered with a giggle. "I'm still laughing about the dinner situation! Your face turned so red!"

"Yeah, because you said that in front of my mom!" Will said back. "You did that on purpose!"

Max nodded with a smile, "Of course I did!" Max said in agreement. "You know, we could probably push the budding romance phase a bit further... just for fun."

Will raised a brow, "Further how?"

"What if we pretended to secretly date and your mom or Jonathan walked in on us making out?"

In almost an instant, the youngest Byers' face morphed into the human version of a tomato. Max cackled in response to Will's red face, while Will wielded his breadstick yet again and began to repeatedly hit Max's arm with it. "Never say anything like that ever again!" Will exclaimed to a still laughing Max. The breadstick attacks only seemed to make Max laugh harder.

"Come on, Will! It's just a joke-"

"What are you guys laughing about?" Lucas' voice surprised both Max and Will out of their bubble of breadstick swords and lighthearted jokes. Both teens turned toward the other side of the table, only to see both Lucas and El watching them with serious expressions adorning their faces.

"Nothing!" Both Max and Will exclaimed in unison.

"Nothing, huh?" Lucas questioned with furrowed brows. 

"Yup! Just nothing!" Max exclaimed, noticing the sudden tension filling the air.

Will noticed the change in energy too. The artist quickly thought of ways to dissolve the tension before turning to his sister with a small smile and saying, "So, Jane! How were your classes today?"

El gave Max and Will an unreadable look before going on to describe her day. Max and Will gave their fullest attention to El as she went on about the math test she took earlier that day, neither noticing the watchful gaze from the fourth dweller at their table.

"El? Are you listening?" Mike's voice shocked El out of her stupor. She had been distracted by the entire Max and Will situation the entire day and could hardly think straight... especially not about... wait. What were we studying again?

"What are we doing right now?"

Mike stared at his girlfriend in incredulity, "English homework...?"

"Right."

The raven-haired teen let out a sigh before setting his pencil down on the worksheet in front of him. The young couple was sitting down next to each other doing their English homework in the basement of the Wheeler house, as they did every Monday after school. However, unlike all the previous study dates, El wasn't paying attention at all; Mike spoke to El for almost three minutes before realizing that the girl's mind was absorbed in something else entirely.

"What's on your mind?" Mike asked, his voice drenched with concern.

El peered into Mike's eyes for a moment before asking, "Have you noticed anything... weird about Max and Will?"

Mike furrowed his brows, "Max and Will? What do you mean?"

"I don't know," El mumbled, looking down at her hands as she tried to find a way to vocalize her feelings to her boyfriend, "It's like... they're closer but in a weird way. A bad way."

"Closer?"

"Yeah," El started, looking back into Mike's eyes. "When I went to the movies with them the other day, they wouldn't stop touching each other-"

"Touching?!"

"-and they wouldn't stop whispering to each other. It was like I wasn't even there!" El continued with a shout. Mike listened to the girl's rant in confusion as he tried to piece together everything she told him, "And today, at lunch, they were acting all weird too! They barely talked to me or Lucas! They only talked to each other. And when Lucas asked what they were talking about, they both said 'nothing'! But I know that they lied!" El exclaimed as tears of frustration gathered in her eyes. "They were acting like that at the movies too. They would whisper to each other and I would ask what they were talking about, but they wouldn't tell me!"

Mike shook his head to himself, "That... that doesn't sound like Will."

"That doesn't sound like Max, either!" El said in response as some tears spilled over her cheeks. We agree to disagree, Mike thought to himself as he helplessly watched his girlfriend wipe away the moisture from her eyes. "That's not the only weird thing, though," El continued with a frown. "At dinner on Saturday night, Max complimented Will's looks."

This caught Mike off guard completely, "Wait, what?" Mike questioned with raised brows. "Like... she complimented his new hairstyle?" It is a good hairstyle. It suits him, Mike thought to himself. 

"Yes, but not just that," El began to explain. "She said that Will was hot-"

"WHAT?!" El stared at Mike in shock after the boy interrupted her with a shout. The couple stared at each other with wide eyes as Mike finally pieced together the puzzle pieces El laid out for him. Mike calmed himself down before beginning to speak again, "El," Mike said, his voice shaking slightly, "how did Will react to Max's comment?"

El bit her lip as she thought back to the dinner just a few nights ago. "He turned really red and made us leave early for the movie," El started with a thoughtful tone, "But... he didn't seem too upset by it. On the way to the theater, he was giggling about stuff with Max and being all touchy with her," El began to speak slower as she too pieced together the puzzle pieces. She then met Mike's wide eyes with her own as they both came to the realization together, "Actually, besides him being embarrassed, I don't think Will minded at all."

"Holy shit," Mike said, his voice breathy, "We need to call a code red."

Chapter Text

"What was so urgent that you felt the need to call a code red?" Dustin asked from his seat on the corner of the couch in the Wheeler's basement. Dustin's eyes swept across the room, taking in the sight of Lucas and El sitting on the couch as well, with El sitting in the other corner and Lucas sitting in the middle. Meanwhile, Mike, ever the dramatic one, was pacing anxiously in front of the couch. Dustin frowned, noticing that two key Party members were missing. "Where's Max and Will?" 

Mike stopped pacing and turned toward Dustin, "This meeting is about them."

"So, that's why you called our home phones instead of talking in the walkies," Lucas said, connecting the dots of Mike's odd behavior. "You didn't want them to know."

Lucas and Dustin shared a knowing look before turning back to Mike, who was glancing between the two of them with wide eyes. "You've noticed it, then?" Dustin asked, already knowing that Mike's answer was going to be yes.

"Noticed that Max and Will are into each other?" Mike asked back. Both Lucas and Dustin nodded yes in response, causing the lanky boy to let out a loud sigh and wipe his hands across his face. "I can't believe this is happening."

"When did you notice it?" Lucas asked with a raised brow. Lucas had known Mike for almost a decade now, and he had never known Mike to be a particularly observant person. The basketball player then glanced at the girl next to him, taking in the frown on her face. "Or, more accurately, when did El notice it?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Mike spluttered in defense. He then calmed himself down and admitted, "Okay, fine, you're right. I actually haven't noticed anything first-hand. I got all of my info from El, and I just... connected the dots, I guess."

Dustin's eyes lit up in curiosity, "What info did you dig up, El?"

"I did not go digging," El said monotonously. 

Mike rolled his eyes, "It's a figure of speech."

El gave her boyfriend an intense look of annoyance, "Obviously," she said, copying Mike's eye roll. There was a pause before El continued, "Douche."

Both Lucas and Dustin guffawed at the remark, while Mike stared at his girlfriend in a state of shock. "Who taught you that word?" Mike demanded as he watched his two childhood friends cackle from the corner of his eye.

"Will."

"WILL?!" the three boys exclaimed.

"I need to know the context of why Will taught you that word," Dustin said, still laughing. 

"It had to do with his new haircut," El started to explain. "Max took him to get it cut and chose the hairstyle. Will said he looked like a douche-"

"Wait," Lucas interrupted, "Max chose Will's new haircut? I didn't know that!"

"I didn't even know she went with him to get it cut," Dustin added.

"She went with him and then came to our house for dinner," El continued with a frown, "And then after Will said he looked like a douche, Max said that Will didn't look like a douche because he looked hot. And then-"

"SHE SAID WHAT?!" Lucas and Dustin shouted in unison.

"There's more," El said. "Nancy asked Max why she was saying those things about Will... about his height and his jaw-"

"Nancy was there?" Dustin asked in confusion.

"Max talked about Will's jaw? I guess he does have a nice jawline..." Mike mumbled thoughtfully.

"Will isn't even that tall! I'm taller-" Lucas adamantly said with a frown.

"Let me finish!" El demanded with a shout. The three boys went silent at the sound, causing El to let out a small sigh before continuing, "Thank you. Now, Nancy asked Max this and Max got all red and started to panic. I wasn't sure why until I talked to Mike," El said, gesturing to her boyfriend, "And we talked and figured it out. Max wants to be boyfriends with Will."

"Girlfriends," Mike corrected, "She wants to be Will's girlfriend."

"Okay," Dustin started, eyeing the couple with narrowed eyes, "And does Will want to be Max's boyfriend?"

El and Mike hesitantly glanced over at each other. Mike scratched his head before saying, "El said that Will basically welcomed the compliment with open arms."

"That's not what I said," El corrected, "I said he got embarrassed but didn't mind."

Mike rolled his eyes, "That's literally what I just said."

"Jonathan told me that 'literally' means exactly," El argued back. "What you said was not exact."

"Well, Jonathan isn't a good source!" Mike responded, his voice raising in volume. "Besides, doesn't Jonathan smoke weed with that pizza guy?"

"Argyle," El corrected again with an eye roll, "And he doesn't smoke weed. Argyle called it purple palm tree delight."

"El," Mike said with an exasperated expression. "That's literally weed."

"Stop using literally wrong."

"You stop-"

"Guys!" Lucas shouted, interrupting the lover's quarrel. The couple looked over toward Lucas, only to see both him and Dustin staring at the two with matching expressions of annoyance. El and Mike flushed red in mortification as Lucas continued to speak, "Can we get back to the topic at hand? This is really important to me, okay?" Lucas said with a sad grimace, "I need to know if they're together."

Mike furrowed his brows, "Why are you so invested?"

Lucas frowned, "Dude, Max is my ex-girlfriend and Will is one of my bros! Of course, I'm invested!"

"Why are you two so invested?" Dustin asked, narrowing his eyes as he observed Mike and El. "Lucas has the right to be upset if they got together. Especially if they did it without telling him. But you two? What's your deal?"

"What's wrong with worrying about my best friend?" Mike questioned defiantly.

While Mike got defensive, El chose to be honest. "Will is stealing Max from me," El gritted with a snarl, causing the three boys to look at her in shock. The girl said it with such anger that they all knew that if El still had her powers, all the lightbulbs in the room would've flickered. "Max is mine."

"Okaaaay!" Dustin said with a clap of his hands, attempting to switch the topic away from El's possessive confession about the zoomer in the Party. "That's enough of that!"

"Do you think they're together?" Lucas asked, aiding in Dustin's efforts to switch the topic. 

"There's no way they're together, Lucas," Dustin said, putting a comforting hand on the basketball player's shoulder. "They would never get together without at least talking to you first."

"Right," Mike said in agreement, "Even if they did like each other, which they don't, they would ask you for your blessing and all that!"

"Wait, I never said they didn't like each other," Dustin said with a shake of his head, "they definitely like each other. It was all conspiracy theories before, but with El's story about Max calling Will hot, it's basically confirmed."

Mike let out a frustrated groan, "What do we do?!"

"We do nothing," Dustin answered with a shrug. "I know you guys don't like it but there's nothing inherently wrong with Max and Will liking each other."

Lucas nodded, "Yeah... and if they come to me and ask for my blessing," Lucas let out a resigned sigh, "I would give it to them. I would."

El shook her head as she crossed her arms across her chest, "I don't like this."

"Trust me," Dustin snorted, "We know."

"Maybe we should spy on them," Mike suggested, finally sitting down on the couch in the space between El and Lucas. "Just for fun!" Dustin gave the raven-haired teen a look of disbelief, "I swear! It's for fun!"

"Okay, whatever. Let's spy on them 'for fun' during school tomorrow," Dustin started, "Or, well, I'll be doing it for fun and you three will be torturing yourselves."

What should've been a normal school day for Mike, El, Lucas, and Dustin transformed into an undercover spy mission with Dustin being the squad's spymaster (Mike argued that he deserved the title of spymaster because he was the Party's dungeon master, but El and Lucas both rejected Mike's self-nomination on the grounds of 'professionalism'. Mike had a lot of words about that! Since when was he unprofessional). The quartet spied during classes, lunch, and even in the hallways in between classes. Their target, Will and Max, remained unassuming and continued to flirt away without a care in the world-

"Dustin was right. This is torture!" Mike groaned to himself during the study hall period that he had with Will and Max. Mike would've been concerned about the two overhearing his external monologue, but the two scarcely paid attention to him since they all sat down at their table for their free period. Will and Max were busy whispering to each other about who knows what, while Mike sat quietly, brooding in the corner. It seriously pissed Mike off. "So, Will!" Mike exclaimed, interrupting the two teens' conversation. Both Will and Max turned over to look at Mike, Will with a look of surprise and Max with a look of annoyance. "Want to come over today after school? Just to chill?"

"Sorry," Will apologized, giving his best friend a sheepish smile. "I already have plans with Max."

Enraged was too tame of a word to describe what Mike was feeling in response to that. "I guess I don't mind hanging with Max, too," Mike said with gritted teeth.

"Who said you were invited, Wheeler?" Max asked with a raised brow.

Mike glared at the redhead, "Of course, I'm invited! Right, Will?"

The dungeon master gave Will a look of anticipation. The artist frowned apologetically, gently placing a hand over Mike's in solace, "I'm sorry, Mike."

"Why am I not invited?" Mike questioned, glancing between the two teens sitting with him.

"It's just that Max and I want to be alone," Will tried explaining, beginning to get flustered. 

"Why?" Mike implored, frustrated with the way the conversation was going. "What can you do with her that you can't do with me?" Mike meant to add 'being there too' to the end of his question but hoped that that part was implied.

At this, Will turned bright red before turning to Max with wide eyes begging for her assistance. Max snorted at the sight, "You're on your own, Byers."

Will bit his lip and refused to look Mike in the eyes when he muttered, "You know... stuff?" 

"Stuff?" Mike incredulously asked. 

"Yes," Will answered with a stiff nod, "Stuff."

The two boys stared at each other in silence waiting for the other to speak while Max watched the standoff with a smirk. Eventually, Will was the one to break. The youngest Byers stood abruptly, his chair making a scraping sound as it dragged across the floor. Will picked up the sketchbook he had laid out on the table in front of him and snatched his backpack from the ground before saying, "I totally forgot!" Will said with an easy smile, "I had to show Max something!"

"Right!" Max said as she too packed up her things. "Let's go so you can show me the thing!"

"The thing?" Mike asked as he watched the two teens quickly load up their backpacks with their stationary that had previously been on the table, "What thing? Can I see the thing?"

"No can do, Mike!" Will exclaimed, grabbing Max's arm and dragging her with him to the room's exit. "Bye!"

"What?" Mike demanded, while Will and Max all but ran out the door, ditching him at the now empty table. Mike let out a frustrated groan and placed his face in his hands; he had never felt this much exasperation toward his best friend before. However, annoyance wasn't the only thing Mike was feeling, but he couldn't put a word to the other emotion that was bubbling up within him. Mike didn't understand what he was feeling, but he knew it was bad.

"Am I a bad friend?" 

"Huh?" Dustin asked in confusion. Both him and Lucas were walking to their lockers at the end of the school day when Lucas asked him the ridiculous question. The curly haired brunette didn't understand why Lucas asked him that question at all. "Of course you're not a bad friend," Dustin answered adamantly, "Why would you even ask that?"

The two teenagers stopped walking once they reached Lucas' locker. Lucas let out a self-deprecating sigh as he yanked his locker open and began tossing notebooks into his backpack. "It's just," Lucas started as he continued packing away, "I know logically that there's nothing wrong with Max and Will being into each other. It's not like they're hiding the relationship from me or they're doing it on purpose to make me feel bad. They can't help the way they feel. There's nothing wrong with it."

"But?"

"But," Lucas said as he zipped up his backpack, tossing the bag over his shoulder and turning to face Dustin. "I don't want them to be together. I really don't. Even if them dating would make them happy... I just wouldn't be happy," Lucas' brown eyes began to water as the boy continued to spill his feelings to his friend, "And I feel horrible about it, Dustin. It's all I've been thinking about today. Spying on them made me realize that they really do like each other, and I hate it."

Dustin let out a sigh, "It's okay to feel that way-"

"No!" Lucas exclaimed, "It's not okay! It's so wrong! They're both my friends, and they've been through so much. They deserve to be happy together, so, why am I feeling like this? Why am I so jealous?"

Dustin thought for a moment before answering, "It's because you still love Max. You aren't over her, and maybe in your mind you thought that this break up wasn't permanent. That you two would eventually get back together, but-"

"-But seeing Will and Max today made me realize the truth? Yeah, that sounds about right," Lucas finished Dustin's sentence with a frown. "It feels like our breakup all over again, but it's even worse because I have to watch two of my best friends flirt with each other all the time."

"Look," Dustin started, "you shouldn't feel guilty about your jealousy, okay? It's totally a normal reaction, and anybody in your position would feel the same way."

"I suppose this is my time to say 'but'?" Lucas said with a small smile.

Dustin smiled back, "But, for the sake of Will and Max, you'll have to accept it and move on."

"Right now?" Lucas asked with a gloomy frown, "I'll be honest with you, Dusty-buns. I don't think I can do that right now."

"Not now," Dustin answered with a shake of his head. "Give yourself time to get over with it. And honestly? Tell Will and Max how you're feeling, too. They'll understand, and they'll give you the space you need to get over it."

"I'll tell them once they finally realize that they're into each other," Lucas said with a snort. "I can't believe they're so oblivious."

"I know right?!"

"Mom, we're home!"

Jonathan and El walked into the kitchen to greet their mother, while Joyce beamed at them from her spot by the counter. She was currently sorting through the mail when the kids returned from school— or well, two out of three of her kids.

"Where's Will?" Joyce asked.

El frowned angrily, "I don't know. Ask Max, she'll know," El grumbled before stomping off out of the kitchen.

Jonathan and Joyce both glanced at the now empty spot El previously occupied. Joyce turned to Jonathan, "What was that about?"

"Not sure," Jonathan shrugged, "I think she might've had a rough day at school. She was upset in the car, too."

Joyce hummed to herself thoughtfully, "I'll check in on her later once she's cooled down a bit," Joyce then gave her eldest son a smirk. "So, where's Will? Is he with Max?"

Jonathan nodded gleefully, causing his mother to squeal in excitement. "He told me and El to go on home without him, and when I asked why he said he was hanging out with Max alone."

"Are they on a date?"

"I think so," Jonathan confirmed with a nod. "Or Will hopes it's a date."

"Did he tell you that?" Joyce asked with a wide smile.

"No, but I know he likes her," Jonathan said, grinning at his mother. "On Sunday, when Will and I were doing laundry, I asked him about him and Max," Jonathan began. Joyce inched closer to Jonathan, eating up every word that came out of his mouth like they were kernels of popcorn. "Will was in denial, but mom, you should've seen the look on Will's face! He turned so red!"

"That's so adorable!"

"That's not it," Jonathan said, "I asked him about Max calling him hot and Will was like 'she says that stuff to everyone'! Which is bullshit, I know. But then, I said 'oh, so she calls Dustin hot too?' and Will said 'I hope she doesn't'!"

Joyce let out a loud gasp, "He did not!"

"He did!"

As the two Byers continued to gush to each other about Will and Max's crushes on each other, a singular Hopper listened in on the entire conversation. In their giddiness, both Joyce and Jonathan failed to notice El Hopper eavesdropping on the conversation from around the corner with a furious look on her face.

El frowned to herself as she quietly walked over to her room to avoid gaining attention from her brother and her mother. She gently shut the door to her room before tossing herself onto her bed and screaming into her pillow. "Those douches!"

Chapter Text

"What do you think Mike thinks the 'thing' is?"

Will felt his cheeks heat up as he quickly sifted through the rack of clothing currently in front of both him and Max. The two teens were currently at a trendy clothing store in downtown Hawkins; Max insisted on taking Will shopping for new clothes because, in her own words, her straight beefy boyfriend couldn't only wear flannels and hand-me-downs. "If it was Dustin or Lucas, it wouldn't be PG, that's for sure," Will muttered, taking a black, green, and red shirt out and holding it in front of his torso.

Max took a peek at the shirt and let out a loud laugh, causing the other patrons in the clothing store to stare at the pair. "First, that shirt is a no, Byers. It makes you look like Santa Claus and a watermelon had an accident," Will scoffed in offense before throwing the shirt back onto the rack. "Second, do you really think that Mike wouldn't think the same thing?"

"It's Mike."

"And?" Max asked incredulously. "Mike has a girlfriend!"

"And that girlfriend is Jane," Will argued back.

Max shook her head in disagreement, "Jane is innocent because she is an angel. That doesn't mean her beastly excuse for a boyfriend is!"

"Mike is innocent!" Will said adamantly.

"You're only saying that because you have the oogies for him," Max hissed back, lowering her volume as she did.

Will took a quick survey of the room before leaning in toward Max and whispering, "If I was thinking about my oogies for Mike, wouldn't I want him to think that the 'thing' is my-"

"Will! Saying those things in a public establishment like this?" The redhead exclaimed, pretending to be gravely astonished. "What will our fellow plebeians think?"

The artist rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the clothing rack. He grabbed a neon orange and pink patterned shirt and showed it to Max, "How's this? Funky enough for you?"

Max let out a sigh, "No! I don't want you to wear that type of shit."

Will threw the shirt back onto the rack with a huff, "That's what you and El buy whenever you two go shopping!"

"Yeah, but that's for friends," Max said with a meaningful look. "We," Max whispered, gesturing towards the two of them with her pointer finger, "are a straight couple! We need to act and look the part!"

"Okay... then what does that look like for me?"

Max thought for a moment before giving Will a sly smirk. "I know... and I know just the place to get it, too."

With that, Max dragged the reluctant teenage boy out of the brightly lit clothing shop and ran with him down to a more gloomy-looking clothing shop a block away. Will paused at the doorway before hesitantly taking a step inside. Immediately, Max zoomed to the clothing racks and tossed clothes into her arms, while Will watched on in shock. In under ten minutes, Max had arms full of outfits, and Will was already forced into the dressing room with outfits in his arms as well. After about two minutes of Max waiting and hearing Will shuffle around in his dressing room, the shy boy finally stepped out to show off the first fit.

If Max didn't pass the anatomy portion of her biology class, she would've thought that Will's jaw unhinged with how quickly his jaw dropped at the sight of his new outfit. The formerly flannel-clad boy was now dressed up in a leather jacket, a white tank top, and acid-washed high-waisted jeans. Will checked himself out in front of the body-length mirror in awe.

"Now, I really look like a douche," Will mumbled to himself, causing Max to cackle.

"That's because I took you to Billy's favorite store," Max commented with a small smile. Will frowned as he looked over at his friend, who was now wistfully gazing at the pile of clothes she had in her arms for Will to try on. "Billy was the ultimate manly man. I thought maybe you could emulate that."

"Do you want me to emulate that?" Will asked gently. Though, what he really was asking was if it hurt Max too much to see Will dressed up similarly to Billy. Will knew better than anyone that Max hadn't been dealing with the loss of her step-brother well; the girl was conflicted between mourning and feeling relieved, and any mention of Billy since last summer has sent Max into a depressive spiral. 

Max nodded yes before handing Will another outfit, "I don't mind. If anything, I think you look better in these types of clothes than he ever did."

"So," Will sang, trying to lighten the mood. The boy grabbed the clothes from Max and tilted his head at her, "your inspiration for all things manly is Billy?"

"I know you didn't talk to him much, but Billy was so macho that it was gross!" Max grimaced as she shoved Will back into his changing room. Will closed the curtain and got to work, changing into the new outfit while Max continued to speak, "He was also a raging racist. Both he and his dad were. So, maybe don't emulate that."

"Wasn't planning on it," Will said from behind the curtain, his voice muffled. After a minute, Will stepped out of his changing room and showed off the outfit to Max. He was wearing a jean jacket and a white collared shirt that was tucked into a pair of high-waisted black jeans that had patches on the knees. Max eyed the outfit before walking up to Will and unbuttoning the top three buttons of his shirt. "What are you doing?"

"Manly men like to show off their man boobs."

Will furrowed his brows in confusion before whispering, "That's a straight thing?"

"I don't know if I would call it that," she mumbled before stepping back to observe her work. Max beamed up at Will, "You look hot!"

"Really?" Will asked in disbelief. The teenage boy walked up to the mirror and looked himself up and down. "I see the vision."

Max rolled her eyes and gave Will a fond smile, "Just admit that you look hot. It doesn't hurt to give yourself some self-love."

"Okay, fine. I look hot."

"Damn right, you do!" Max cheered, while Will sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Now, I can drool all over you in public and everyone will understand where I'm coming from."

"Drooling?" Will asked with a raised brow. "Why can't I be the one drooling over you?"

"I don't think straight Will would do that," Max answered with a shrug. "Think about it. I think our heterosexual dynamic is that I'm the tough tomboy straight girl who has an embarrassing but obvious crush on you but is too shy and proud to show it. You are the quiet artsy straight boy who would be way too shy to bring up his crush in public unless it's reciprocated."

"So, you're technically the shyer one in the couple?" Max nodded as Will let out a sigh. "So, what? You continue to flirt under the pretense that it's a joke and I continue to act all embarrassed until straight me realizes that you get flustered?"

"Yes! Because straight you just needs that confirmation. Meanwhile, straight me is just so embarrassed about the entire thing," Max explained with a grin. "It makes total sense because you're so in tune with your emotions!"

Will nodded in agreement before letting out a soft laugh. "This entire situation is so stupid."

"The others are definitely catching onto our straight counterparts."

"About that," Will started, "Did you notice how everyone has been acting recently? Like it's more than just suspicion."

"Do you think they're mad about us?" Max asked.

"I'm not sure... but it's weird."

"Look," Max said, putting a comforting hand on Will's shoulder. "I think they're just confused. You've never been in a relationship, and I've been out of one for months now... us being a thing is a shock to them."

"It's a shock to us. Wax defies the laws of physics," Will said with a small laugh. "You're right," Will said in agreement once his laughter died down. "They're all probably just confused. It's not like this lie is hurting anyone."

To say Nancy was shocked by the sight in front of her would be an understatement. It was five in the evening on a Tuesday, so, it wasn't too crazy that one of Mike's friends came knocking on the front door. However, Nancy wasn't expecting a fuming El that looked one second away from regaining her telekinetic powers and blowing up the Wheeler household, Ted's lazy-boy and all. 

"Oh dear," Karen Wheeler said from behind Nancy after taking a peek at El. "What did Mike do this time?"

"Nothing," El answered with gritted teeth. "But I need to speak to him. Now."

"He's in the shower," Nancy answered with an apologetic smile. "I don't mind chatting with you until he gets out, though!"

And that's how Nancy found herself in the living room, sitting across from her brother's (angry. Very angry) girlfriend. Holly was sitting with them too, but was too busy playing with her dolls to take notice of the dark energy being emitted from the glaring girl next to her. Nancy smiled awkwardly at El, "So! How are you feeling?"

"Horrible."

"Right!" Nancy exclaimed, cringing at the sound of her own voice. Nancy hasn't had many one-on-one conversations with El before, and the ones that she has had were never like this. Usually, the girl was a little sullen, but never outright furious. "Do you want to talk about it with me?" El looked conflicted, staring at Nancy with narrowed eyes. "You don't have to give me details! Just vent a little if you want."

"Vent?"

"Yeah, vent. It's when you talk about what's bothering you... it can make you feel better," Nancy explained. El still looked confused so, Nancy decided to add a little detail, "Sometimes, Jonathan vents to me."

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay," El said with a sharp nod. Nancy leaned in closer as El took a deep breath, preparing herself for her first ever Nancy Wheeler vent session. Nancy assumed El was going to list off the things that Mike did to piss her off this time. However, Nancy was not expecting— "I hate Will."

Nancy blinked. "What?"

"I hate Will."

"Will... as in Will Byers. Your brother?"

"Yes."

Nancy furrowed her brows in confusion. "That... that doesn't make any sense. I thought you two were super close!"

El let out a huff and rolled her eyes, "That's what I thought, too."

"What happened?" Nancy questioned.

"He stole Max from me."

Nancy blinked yet again. "I thought you three always hung out together, though. Didn't you three just go to a movie together last Saturday?"

"We did," El said with a nod. "We do, but it doesn't matter if I'm physically there because they still leave me out."

The older teen nodded slowly as she absorbed the words El was telling her. It seemed that she, Jonathan, and Joyce weren't the only ones to notice Max and Will's budding relationship. However, instead of being giddy about it like the older three have been, the younger crowd seemed to have more negative opinions. "Have you told Will or Max about how you're feeling?"

El shook her head no, "I can never talk to Max alone, anymore. She's always with Will."

"Okay," Nancy started, "Have you tried talking to Will?"

Before El could answer, both teens heard the sound of footsteps descending the staircase. They turned to the sound only to see a damp-haired, pajama-clad Mike Wheeler strolling toward them. "El?" Mike asked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk now," El said before standing up, grabbing her boyfriend's arm, and dragging him down to the basement. Nancy watched as the young couple left her plane of sight. The girl let out a sigh before standing up herself and heading toward the front door. She needed to pay her own boyfriend a visit.

When Dustin said that the Party should do nothing about the Will and Max situation, he meant it. However, Dustin just couldn't ignore the obvious tensions growing within the group. While the curly-haired boy biked to the Family Video store, he couldn't stop thinking about how, in a way, he too was jealous of Will and Max. Not because one of them was his ex or because he thought one of them was his (Dustin still shivered thinking about El's comment about Max from yesterday) or because of... whatever Mike was jealous about (Dustin still hadn't figured that one out yet). No, Dustin was jealous because while he was dealing with three jealous emotional hyenas, Will and Max were blissfully ignorant. Flirting away while the rest of the Party fell apart at the seams. Dustin decided that he couldn't let that happen. Not on his watch. So, he did the only thing he thought he could do at that very moment— ask Steve and Robin for some advice.

The bell chimed as Dustin slammed the door open to the video store. Dustin gave the two older teens a wide grin as they both greeted him from behind the counter. "Hey, man! What's up?" Steve asked with a smile, "How's Suzie?"

"She's good," Dustin said absentmindedly. "Actually, I came here for some advice."

Robin and Steve shared a look before turning back to the younger teen, "About Suzie?" Robin asked with a concerned frown.

Dustin shook his head, "No, it's actually about the Party, actually," Dustin let out a sigh as he placed his elbows on the countertop and place his head in his hands. "I don't know how else to describe the vibes other than a hot mess. A serious hot mess."

"Are you kids fighting?" Steve asked, his eyebrows raised in shock. "Like... seriously fighting?"

"Yes," Dustin answered before shaking his head, "No? Actually, I don't know! Everything is wrong, and I don't know how to fix it."

Robin licked her lips before leaning into the counter across from Dustin, "Maybe you could explain the situation to us?"

Dustin nodded in agreement before telling the older teens everything he knew. From Will and Max's flirting to El's weird declaration of possession over Max to Lucas' confessions about his jealousy. Everything. To say Robin and Steve looked shocked would be an understatement. Both Robin and Steve stared at Dustin with wide eyes and slacked jaws. "So?" Dustin asked. "What do you think?"

Robin let out an awkward laugh, "You sure Max and Will are a thing?" 

Dustin nodded in response, "Yeah. We are pretty sure!"

"Okay..." Robin didn't seem to buy it as she continued to laugh to herself.

Steve ignored the laughing girl and gave Dustin a thoughtful look before commenting, "I think you've handled the situation fine so far. But maybe you should have a chat with Max and little Byers to see what's up with them? Maybe if they knew how Lucas, Mike, and El were feeling then they would try resolving it themselves instead of you having to fix everything."

"But what if they don't even know that they like each other yet?" Dustin asked, "I don't want to ruin their natural flow of love!"

At this, Robin let out another snort. Steve rolled his eyes, "Look," Steve started, "I don't think you'll be ruining anything. They obviously both like each other and honestly, you'll be doing them a favor by pushing them together."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Steve said before ruffling the younger boy's hair. "Everything will be fine. You guys have fought literal Demogorgons. This is nothing."

Mike decided at that moment that he'd rather face off a hoard of hungry Demogorgons than face off a singular angry Eleven. "What happened?" Mike asked carefully as he watched his girlfriend angrily stomp to the couch and throw herself onto it. 

"Will happened."

"What did Will do?" Mike sat down on the couch next to El, trying to not show his nerves as he waited for the girl to explain what pissed her off in the few hours since he had last seen her. Angry El always seemed to put Mike on edge; he knew that the girl wasn't about to blast him across the room with her powers, but the fact that she used to be able to, freaked Mike out sometimes.

"I overheard Mom and Jonathan talking," El started with a pout, "They were all excited about Max and Will. It was disgusting. Apparently, Will basically told Jonathan that he loves Max, and now he keeps hanging out with her, hoping that their hang-outs will turn into dates."

"Loves?!" Mike questioned, revolted. The boy shook his head as he stared at his girlfriend in fury, "Okay, I understand why you're pissed. This is horrific."

"I still don't understand why you're mad," El commented, observing Mike closely. "I'm happy you're mad, but I'm confused."

"Why are you happy I'm mad?" Mike asked, hoping to deflect El's curiosity and shift the conversation in another direction.

El bought the deflection. "Dustin and Lucas said they would support Max and Will being together," El said with a sigh, "Jonathan told me once that people like them want to take the 'moral high ground' and be good people. I'm glad that somebody else is being a bad person with me."

"Are we not good people?" Mike asked hesitantly.

The girl gave Mike a blank stare, "If we were good people, wouldn't we be happy for Max and Will?"

Mike rubbed the back of his neck as he thought over what El said. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"So?" El asked with a raised brow. "Are we supporting them or not?"

"Do you want to support them?"

"No," El answered. "Do you?"

"No."

The young couple stared at each other in silence before El broke it by spitting onto her hand loudly. "We spit shake on it," El said, pushing her hand in Mike's face. "We join forces to break apart Max and Will and we swear to tell no one."

"I guess we'll be the Wax saboteurs," Mike commented, causing El to furrow her brows.

"Wax...? Sabo...?"

"Wax meaning Max and Will," Mike started to explain, eyeing the saliva on his girlfriend's hand as it slowly dripped onto the couch. "Saboteur means that we're trying to mess with shit. We're sabotaging everything." El nodded and hummed while Mike spat on his hand. The young Wheeler then took his saliva-slathered hand and pressed it into El's, shaking it with a grimace. "'We join forces'... that entire statement sounded like a line from a comic book or something. You've been watching too many sci-fi movies with Will, haven't you?"

"I did," El said in agreement, letting go of Mike's hand and swiping the spit onto Mike's pajama pants. Mike hollered in offense while the girl continued to speak, "But those days are now in the past. I will never hang out with that traitor ever again."

"Don't you think you're being too harsh on Will?" Mike suggested as he got up and grabbed tissues to wipe his hands clean with. "It's not like he's trying to take Max from you."

El frowned, "And you're not mad at Max?"

"That's different!" Mike exclaimed, "Max has been trying to fuck with me since I met her two years ago! She's doing this on purpose and I know she is because today during our free period, she was all smug about how Will was hanging out with her and not me! Meanwhile, Will is the nicest guy alive. He's thoughtful, he's caring, he's-"

"I know he is," El said with a huff. "I know he's nice but I'm still mad at him. When we went to the movies, it felt like Will was laughing at me. It was like he was a different person."

Mike let out a frustrated groan as he sat down next to Eleven, "They're horrible for each other, I swear. They bring out the worst in each other. We just need to talk to them alone and get it through to them."

"How? They're always together these days."

Mike thought for a moment before his eyes lit up as an idea hit him. "You can't talk to Max alone but you could easily talk to Will," El rolled her eyes. "No, El, listen to me! You could easily talk to Joyce about wanting to have some family fun time and use that as an opportunity to talk to Will."

"And you'll talk to Max?" El asked, crossing her arms across her chest. 

"You know that won't work!" Mike whined. El gave Mike a look before Mike groaned, "Fine! I'll try to talk to Max while you're busy with Will. But if that doesn't work, then I'm talking to Lucas."

"No!" El shouted, causing Mike to jump in his seat. "Do not try to get Lucas and Max back together."

"What? Why?" Mike asked. "That's an easy way to prevent Wax from happening-"

"Just don't."

"Why?"

"Do not or else."

Mike knew better than to push it when a threat was in place. "Jesus, fine. I won't! But I'm still going to talk to Lucas if my talk with Max doesn't work out because Lucas is far more likely to help us than Dustin."

El frowned to herself, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay," El said with a nod, "I'll trust you."

After Nancy's venting session with Eleven, Nancy knew that she had to talk to Jonathan. The situation with Will and Max was more serious than she initially envisioned it to be, and if El was this upset, then Jonathan had to be told about it. These were his siblings that were fighting, after all!

Nancy opened the front door of the pizza shop where Jonathan worked part-time, hearing the chime of the bell from the door as she did. "Welcome to Surfer Boy Pizza, even though there's no surfing done in this part of Indiana. What can I get for you?"

The girl rolled her eyes as she walked up to the front counter. "Hi Argyle," Nancy greeted the long-haired stoner standing behind the cash register, "I don't think there's any surfing done in any part of Indiana."

"Nancy!" Argyle exclaimed with a dopey smile. "It's so nice to see you, dudette. Jonathan is in the back if you'd like to see him!" Nancy nodded before moving behind the counter and entering the backroom... only to see Jonathan smoking a joint in the corner by the window. 

"Jonathan?!" Nancy cried, causing Jonathan to jump in shock and fumble the joint out of his hands, "Seriously? You're smoking pot at work?!" 

"It's been a long shift!"

"Haven't you only been here for an hour?" Nancy questioned, placing her hands on her hips. "Ugh! Just sit down, okay? I came here to talk to you about something important." Once the couple was situated at a table in the backroom, Nancy gave Jonathan a short summary of her conversation with El from earlier that day. Jonathan nodded along to the story, listening closely (or as closely as he could considering he was feeling kind of weightless from his joint) to the tale.

"I think," Jonathan started once Nancy concluded her story, "That it's not an issue."

"Seriously?" Nancy questioned in shock. "El said she hated Will!"

"El gets like that sometimes," Jonathan began to explain, "She gets frustrated and doesn't know how to express her emotions. She's just a kid and with everything she's been through, she tends to get pissed easily," Jonathan then rubbed at his bloodshot eyes. "She's jealous of Will and Max's relationship because she's confused about what's going on. Once she gets used to it, she'll be fine."

Nancy frowned, unsure of what Jonathan was saying. "Are you sure? She seemed pretty upset."

Jonathan shrugged, "If anything, it's a normal kid fight. Those happen. They can deal with it among themselves, Nancy. There's no need for us to get involved."

"Jonathan!" Argyle suddenly yelled from the front, "Your little bro is here!"

Nancy and Jonathan shared a look of surprise before the two of them got up and exited the backroom. In front of Argyle stood none other than Max and Will, however, Will looked different. "Whoa!" Jonathan exclaimed after taking in Will's new outfit. "Will, you look great!"

"Thanks," Max answered with a proud smile. "I chose it for him! I took him out to go shopping and everything!"

Jonathan smirked, "Oh, did you, now?" Nancy tried to hold in her laughter as she watched her boyfriend wink at his younger brother, who rolled his eyes in response. "So, a day out shopping and now a romantic night at Surfer Boy Pizza? Nancy, aren't you jealous? I sure am!"

Nancy nodded eagerly, "Totally!"

Max spluttered, "This isn't romantic! This is a friendly night!"

"Sure!" Jonathan sang. The three of them continued to talk back and forth, while Nancy and Argyle watched on in amusement. Watching her usually sullen boyfriend all giddy and excited brought warmth to Nancy's heart. She knew there was something up about this entire situation, but for Jonathan, she was willing to table her suspicions. For now.

Being a single mother was tough. Joyce Byers had known this fact first-hand ever since Lonnie left her, Jonathan, and Will all those years ago. But now, being a single mother of three kids, all of whom have seen and been through horrible things, it was even harder. All three of the kids suffered from constant nightmares— even she did, at times. Each child suffered in different ways and Joyce had been there supporting them through it all. Despite all of this, Will had always been her greatest worry. She would never admit it out loud, but she knew that they all knew this truth.

After everything Will had been through, from his abusive father to going missing to being possessed, Joyce could never shake off her constant state of worry about him. Because of this, she always kept a very close eye on the young boy. That's why when Will began smiling and talking more, Joyce knew immediately that something in his life had changed for the better. The spark that fizzled out from his time in the Upside Down and being possessed had been lit up again, and Joyce knew now that the source of this change was Max.

Watching her son who had been through so much fall in love... Joyce just thought it was beautiful. Joyce knew she wasn't the only one who thought so. Jonathan was also giddy with excitement at the mere thought of Max and Will being together. Watching the two children get flustered around each other was so cute to Joyce; their love was so innocent and pure. It also helped that Joyce loved Max as her own daughter (Joyce felt that way about all of her kids' friends, honestly). 

If Joyce was being honest, she always thought Will had a crush on his other friend, Mike Wheeler. The way Will acted toward Mike before the Upside Down incident always pointed toward that conclusion (hence why Lonnie was so brutally mean to their youngest child). However, Joyce never cared about who Will fell in love with; she just wanted her son to be happy and to be with someone who made him happy. Whether that be a male or female, Joyce didn't care. 

While Will had been getting happier, Joyce noticed the opposite in her only daughter, Eleven. Ever since Saturday night, El had been in a constant state of grumpiness that Joyce had just been waiting to address. However, from Joyce's past experiences with El, she knew that the best way to address emotional issues with the young girl was to wait until she cooled down before going forward with any emotional talks. Hence, why Joyce allowed El to bike over to the Wheeler household for the evening. Joyce knew that maybe a visit to her boyfriend's place would make El feel a bit better before having any serious talks with her mother. 

"I'm home!" El shouted from the front door. Joyce sat up in anticipation as her daughter walked into the dining room. The single mother smiled softly as she noticed that El was a lot less tense now than she was when Joyce saw her after school.

"El, sit down and let's have a little chat, okay?" El nodded and sat down across from her mother. "Are you okay? You seemed really upset after school today."

The girl thought for a moment before responding, "I feel like Will is pushing me away." Whatever Joyce was expecting, it was not that. The older woman raised her eyebrows in shock while El continued to talk, "I want to have sibling bonding time with him, but he's always out with Max. I love hanging out with him and Max, but sometimes, I just want to hang out with Will alone!"

Joyce nodded along, slowly realizing what the true issue was. Will and Max were hanging out more together because they liked each other, but neither of them considered how their other friends would feel about the couple ditching them to hang out alone. Unfortunately, Eleven was their first victim of social neglect. "Will doesn't mean to hurt you, sweetie," Joyce started with a comforting smile. "But he should still hang out with you!" Suddenly, an idea came to Joyce, causing her to grin at her daughter in excitement. "I know what we should do! Let's have a little family road trip this weekend. It'll be a time for family bonding only. No one else, just us four."

That seemed to be exactly what the girl needed, because, in response to Joyce's idea, El beamed up at her mother. Her smile was so big that the corners of her eyes were crinkled. "Yes! I'd love that!"

Before Joyce could respond, both she and El heard the noise of the front door opening and both Byers males chatting away. "Come into the dining room, boys! I have an announcement to make!"

With that, both Will and Jonathan walked into the dining room, taking their seats at the table next to El. "What's up?" Jonathan asked, his eyes bloodshot. Joyce rolled her eyes at the sight and chose to ignore it for the time being. Kids will be kids, Joyce thought to herself. The mother then turned to look at her youngest son, only to see that he was dressed in completely new clothes. First the hair and then the clothes, Joyce mused, must be Max's doing.

"We are going on a family-only road trip this weekend!" Joyce exclaimed with a smile, "I was thinking of going to Chicago!"

"Uhhh..." Will started as he rubbed at the back of his neck, "I have plans this weekend with Max." At this, Joyce watched as Jonathan smirked and El rolled her eyes. 

"What plans?" Jonathan asked with a sly smile.

"There are no plans, anymore!" Joyce said quickly. "This is a Byers and Hopper family trip only!"

"Maybe Will could invite Max-" Jonathan started.

"No!" El interrupted, causing the rest of the table to look at her. "I want this trip to just be us four. Besides, Will hangs out with Max all the time. He can handle one weekend away from her."

Will rolled his eyes at this comment before saying, "Like you have any right to say that. Considering the way you and Mike are always acting with each other," Will muttered, causing both Joyce and Jonathan to raise their eyebrows in shock. This trip is necessary, that's for sure, Joyce thought to herself after watching the exchange. Since when were Will and El rude to each other?

"Let's all be nice to each other," Joyce said carefully. "And let's all especially be nice to each other on this trip, okay?"

All the kids nodded and mumbled in agreement. After that, Joyce let the kids leave the dining room and do whatever they wanted for the rest of the day. However, while both boys went to their bedrooms, Joyce observed as El went to the phone and dialed the Wheeler's number. 

"Mike?" El spoke into the phone. Joyce heard the incoherent mumblings of what must've been Mike Wheeler before El continued. "Yeah, I'm busy this weekend," El then turned to look straight at Joyce as the girl continued her conversation with her boyfriend. "It's a family trip. Me, Jonathan, mom, and Will are all going," Joyce heard more mumbling from Mike before El concluded the call with, "Good luck."

With that, El hung up the phone, wished Joyce goodnight, and went to her bedroom. Joyce thought back to everything she witnessed tonight regarding her children. There was definitely something weird going on, but Joyce was confident that it was nothing a family road trip couldn't fix.

Chapter Text

The car ride could not be any more awkward—at least for the occupants of the back seats. The Byers and Hopper family was on their first ever weekend family road trip together, with the older two in the front and the younger two in the back. While the front of the car was full of music, laughter, and energetic conversation, the back was full of nothing. Just silence. 

Every minute or so, Will would sneak a peek at El, only to see her glaring at the seat in front of her. He had never been more uncomfortable in his life.

”—What do you think, Will?” 

Will blinked. He looked up to see all the inhabitants of the vehicle looking at him expectantly. Will cleared his throat. “About what?”

Jonathan rolled his eyes from his spot in the passenger seat. “Have you zoned out of this entire conversation?”

”He did,” El said with a straight face.

Will gave Jonathan a sheepish smile. “Kinda,” Jonathan let out a snort. “What were we talking about?”

”We were asking you if you wanted to go to that big art museum in Chicago!” Joyce said. Will could see her smiling in the rear-view mirror.

“I’ve read about that,” El inserted. “It looks like a boat.”

Will frowned. That didn’t sound right. “The boat-looking museum is in Milwaukee. That’s not in Chicago,” Will corrected.

El gave Will a harsh glare that made him physically flinch. El growled, “Stop being a know-it-all, Will.”

Silence. Just silence. Will couldn’t fully see Joyce’s face since he was sitting directly behind the driver’s seat, but he could see Jonathan’s face. Jonathan’s face would’ve been funny if the situation wasn’t so awkward; his eyes were wide in shock and his jaw was hanging open. “Who taught you that?” Jonathan asked, astonished.

”Max,” El answered with an angry frown. “She said that’s what Mike is. But I think she’s wrong. Will is the know-it-all.”

Joyce laughed awkwardly. “Honey, maybe we can see the boat-looking museum on another trip when we go to Milwaukee!”

El immediately dropped the frown and forced a smile onto her face. “Okay!”

”And, uh,” Will said as he forced a smile on his face as well. “I’d really like to go to an art museum in Chicago. I heard the Art Institute of Chicago is pretty cool.”

And with that, Jonathan and Joyce continued the conversation with ease, ignoring the tense energy emanating from the backseat inhabitants. Will sighed in exasperation; it was only Friday—they still had two days left of their trip—and he and El had already gotten into an awkward argument. How'd he survive this? Will had no clue.

A weekend without Will or El meant a weekend alone for Max. She really didn’t mind, but she did feel a bit lonely. Despite her embarrassing feelings of loneliness, there was no way she was going to hang out with Lucas, Dustin, and Mike alone—at least, not without El and Will there too.

Max always thought about how strange it was that she met Lucas, Dustin, and Mike first, but she felt more comfortable with the two members of the group she met last. Lucas was someone Max felt like she could always go to, but ever since they broke up, it’s been awkward. Dustin was always nice, but they never really had interactions alone, so, again, it was a little awkward. And Mike, well. Mike was Mike. Even if he wasn’t dating the girl of her dreams, she’d have issues with Mike. For one, Mike was always hurting her best friend, Will. Mike was always belittling Will and throwing him to the side, while also being weirdly possessive. If Max didn’t know any better, she’d think Mike was into Will (of course, that’s not possible because Mike was the straightest guy to ever be straight). Secondly, Mike would always dish it but could never take it—

Max was shocked out of her thoughts when she heard multiple loud bangs on the door of her trailer. “Who is it?” Max yelled out.

”It’s Mike! Let me in!” 

This must be a hallucination, Max thought to herself as she jumped out of bed and ran to the door. Why the hell would Mike come over to my place? She swung the door open only to see Mike fucking Wheeler standing at her doorstep, looking pissy, as per usual.

”What the fuck?” Max exclaimed.

”Thanks for the polite greeting,” Mike deadpanned.

”Uh…” Max said as she leaned against the doorframe. Max pointed towards the trailer next door and said, “Eddie’s trailer is over there.”

”No, you idiot!” Mike sneered, “I’m here to see you!”

Max furrowed her brows. “Why?”

Mike scoffed. “What do you mean, why? We’re friends!” Max gave him an unimpressed look. Mike stuttered, “Okay! We aren’t friends. But our friends are friends!” Mike then frowned bitterly. “And our partners are siblings…”

Max’s eyebrows raised up so high, they almost flew off her forehead. “Partners?” Max had to hold back an evil grin. “Mike, me and Lucas broke up months ago—“

”You know that’s not what I’m referring to!” Mike interrupted. He groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “Whatever. Can you just let me in?”

”No.”

Mike’s jaw dropped open. “Seriously?”

Max shrugged, “I’m feeling nice and cozy right here.”

Mike groaned and threw his arms up in the air out of frustration, “God! You’re so annoying!”

”Thanks!”

”I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Mike grumbled to himself before turning to Max and glaring into her eyes, “What’s going on between you and Will?”

“We’re friends.”

”Just friends?”

Max scanned Mike’s angry flushed face with a small mischievous smile. She should continue with the Wax protocol (AKA get embarrassed and deny deny deny), but Max wanted nothing more than to make Mike lose it. So, that’s exactly what she did.

”Yes and no.”

Mike blinked. “Yes and no? What does that mean?”

”What that means, Wheeler, is that we are just friends,” Max said as the evil smile from before spread across her face, “but that will all change very very soon.”

”Excuse me?” Mike asked, affronted.

”I like Will and Will likes me,” Max said, smiling even wider when Mike physically recoiled from her statement. “And you’re just going to have to deal with it. So, stop having your little jealous fits.”

”Jealous?” Mike repeated, eyes wide open in shock. “I am not jealous! I’m-“

”Jealous! You are jealous!” Max exclaimed. “You’re just mad that Will realized that you’re not worth his time and attention anymore!”

”Stop lying!” Mike demanded. “Will does not like you. That makes no sense! And you… you’re just using Will!”

Max gave Mike an incredulous look. “How the hell am I using Will?”

The look Mike gave Max could only be described as crazy. His eyes bulged as he pointed at Max, “You’re using him to fuck with me!”

Max let out a mean laugh, “Do you seriously think that I care about you that much?”

”Oh really?” Mike said sarcastically. “Then why have you been rubbing this shit in my face? I’m not dumb! I noticed what you were doing during study hall. It’s fucking rude!”

”You know what, Mike? Maybe you’re right. Me dating Will kills two birds with one stone.”

”What are you—“ Mike said before Max interrupted him.

”I genuinely like Will,” Max said with a fake petty smile. “And I hate you and I love seeing you suffer.”

Mike’s jaw dropped as he was shocked into complete silence.

”Now, fuck off. Your geekiness is seeping into the walls of my house.” And with that, Max shut the door of the trailer in Mike’s face.

Mike’s face flushed red with anger as he violently stomped away from the trailer. As he bent down to pick up his bike from the ground, he heard someone scream out his name. Mike turned around only to see Nancy, Steve, and Robin staring at him in confusion.

”Mike?” Nancy started with a concerned frown. “Are you okay? You look—“

”Just leave me alone!” Mike shouted back as he hopped on his bike and quickly biked away.

The three older teens watched the boy zoom past them and out of the trailer park with shared looks of bewilderment. 

“Damn!” Steve exclaimed and turned to look at Nancy. “Moodiness sure runs in your family, huh?”

Nancy’s gave Steve an unamused look before smacking him on the back of his head.

A weekend without Jonathan didn’t necessarily mean a weekend alone for Nancy. With or without Jonathan, it was the norm for her to hang out with Robin and Steve during her downtime. Usually, they would all go out to eat, watch a movie, or chill at someone’s house. However, this time, Nancy had an agenda.

Jonathan may have said that the Max and Will situation was all okay, but Nancy had a journalistic instinct that couldn’t be suppressed. She just knew that something was up. And she wasn’t wrong. One question about Max and Will sent Robin reeling (“There’s no way those two are together, trust me,” Robin said with confidence. “And what makes you so certain?” Nancy pressed. Robin shrugged, “My natural instincts?”). Steve, on the other hand, was more concerned about the current state of the party (“I don’t know… Dustin seemed pretty stressed,” Steve said with a concerned frown. “And why was he stressed?” Nancy asked. “He said that everyone was angry at each other. Which is crazy because I thought they were all tight!”).

Further questioning led to Steve saying that perhaps a certain Eddie Munson could provide more information about the conflicts within the party. This is exactly what led the trio to the trailer park in search of Eddie Munson, the leader of her little brother’s nerdy Dungeons and Dragons club at school and Nancy’s next witness.

Once they arrived at the scene, they ran into a very pissed-off Mike Wheeler, who looked like he was one second away from forming his own telekinetic powers and blowing up all of Hawkins.

”Just leave me alone!” Mike cried out before climbing onto his bike and zooming out of the trailer park. He’s such a little brat, Nancy thought with an eye roll. 

“Damn! Moodiness sure runs in your family, huh?” Steve said with an annoying smile.

Nancy didn’t think twice before she smacked her ex-boyfriend hard over the head.

“Ow! What the fuck, Nancy!”

”Let’s just go to Eddie’s trailer,” Nancy said, ignoring Steve’s cries of pain.

The trio walked up to the trailer and knocked on the door. After a few minutes, the door swung open revealing Eddie Munson, clad in a shirt full of holes and jeans ripped at his knees. Eddie gave them a dopey smile. “Hello Steve and others.”

”Hi Eddie!” Steve greeted back with an easy smile before scrunching up his nose in disgust. “Dude, are you hotboxing your fucking trailer right now?”

”Hell yeah, bro,” a voice from deep within the trailer said. Wait, Nancy thought, that sounds a lot like—

“Argyle?” Robin asked in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

”Smoking some purple palm tree delight,” Argyle answered, still unseen by the trio standing outside of the trailer. “Wanna join?”

Robin’s face lit up at the offer and said, “Sure! Why not!”

And that is what led the trio to smoking weed with Eddie and Argyle in Eddie’s trailer.

”Dude,” Steve said before coughing out smoke. “I didn’t even know you two knew each other.”

“We met last week,” Eddie explained. “I was getting some pizza at Surfer Boy’s and smelled this beauty,” Eddie pointed at Argyle’s stash of weed and said, “And I knew that me and Argyle were gonna be good friends.”

”Jonathan was supposed to be here today,” Argyle said with a longing sigh. “But he had to go on a road trip with the fam.”

Steve furrowed his brows. “What the fuck is a fam?”

”About that,” Nancy said with a slight slur to her words, ignoring Steve’s question. “Will and Jane are having issues. So, the trip might be awkward.”

Nancy’s comment made everyone in the room sit up in confusion. “Wait,” Eddie started with a frown. “Will as in little Byers and Jane as in Mike’s girlfriend? I thought those two were super close.”

”That’s what I thought too,” Nancy said before snatching the blunt from Argyle’s hand. Nancy took a hit before she said, “But, Jane was at our house the other day and she told me that she hated Will.”

Chaos ensued.

”Hate? I know El can be blunt sometimes but I can’t imagine her saying that about Will!” Steve said, astonished.

”Haha, blunt,” Argyle giggled to himself as he gestured to the blunt in Nancy’s hand.

”Who the fuck is El?” Eddie asked as he stole the blunt from Nancy.

”Truly rest in peace, Johnny boy,” Argyle said as he raised an invisible cup in the air to honor Jonathan’s imaginary spirit in the sky. “Good luck on your journey to Chitown.”

”Is this because of the Will and Max thing?” Robin asked. “Because Dustin told us that Jane was jealous of them hanging out.”

”Hanging out?” Nancy repeated with raised brows. “Don’t you mean dating?”

”Dating!?” Argyle and Eddie exclaimed in unison.

”Nah Nancy,” Argyle said as he shook his head. “There’s no way those two are dating.”

”Thank you!” Robin exclaimed with wide eyes. “This is what I’ve been saying too!”

”Well, they’re not dating yet,” Nancy conceded. “But they definitely like each other.”

Robin, Eddie, and Argyle all shared looks of disbelief. Nancy saw it and rolled her eyes. “Okay, let us explain what’s going on and then you two will understand.”

After a long explanation of everything Nancy, Steve, and Robin knew about the situation, Argyle and Eddie stared at the trio thoughtfully.

”Something’s definitely off about this entire situation,” Eddie mumbled to himself as he took another hit from the blunt in his hand.

”I still don’t think Will and Max are a thing,” Argyle said confidently.

”What do you mean?” Nancy asked. “You were there when they went on their pizza date the other day!”

”That wasn’t a date! They went as brochachos!”

”Also,” Eddie started, smoke escaping his mouth as he spoke. “Didn’t you say that Mike was throwing a hissy fit outside? Maybe the real issue here is that Mike’s having a lovers quarrel!”

“Huh?” Steve said as he scratched his head. “You mean like with El?”

”Jane,” Nancy corrected.

”I mean Jane.”

”Nope,” Eddie answered, ignoring the Eleven’s name slip-up.

”Then who?” Steve asked.

Instead of answering, Eddie just let out a loud and ugly cackle. Argyle joined in after a few seconds and soon after he joined in, so did Robin.

Steve furrowed his brows and turned to Nancy. “I’m confused. Are you confused?”

Nancy nodded slowly in response as she watched the other three giggle away, high off of weed and their shared secret information that they refused to reveal to her and Steve. Nancy would find out the truth of the situation with or without their help. She’d get to the bottom of this… eventually.

After reaching their hotel in Chicago, Jonathan and Eleven took off to explore their hotel. And by explore, Will assumed that they were going to dip their feet into the hot tub and chill over there. Joyce and Will opted out from the adventure and chose to chill in their hotel room instead—Joyce because she was tired from driving and Will because he needed a break from El and her constant pissed-off energy.

The mother-son duo sat on one of the two queen-sized beds in their room and watched TV. Will could feel his mother’s eyes on him as he tried to watch Ghostbusters in peace. She was going to give him a talk. About what? Will wasn’t sure.

”Will?” Will had to hold back an eye roll—he was not in the mood for a lecture right now.

”Yeah, mom?”

”All three of you have been through a lot,” Joyce started as she ran her hands through Will’s hair. “Hell, I’ve been through a lot. That’s why we all have to stick together, you know? Besides us being a family, of course.”

Will nodded. He still had no idea where she was going with this.

”But,” Joyce said before turning her body to face Will. “You and El have been through things me and Jonathan can’t even imagine,” She tucked a short lock of hair behind Will’s ear. “That’s why you have to make sure you’re making time for El, alright? It’s really important that the two of you bond. You two understand each other in ways that we can’t or even your other friends can’t. El needs you and you need El.”

Will frowned. “I’m confused… I have been making time for El. We hang out all the time.”

”Do you two hang out alone or do you hang out with Max?”

“With Max. The three of us are a trio.”

Joyce gave Will a knowing look. “Will,” She started with a sigh. “You do get that El is the third-wheel whenever you three hang out, right?”

Will blinked. It sounded absolutely ridiculous; El as the third-wheel? If anything, Will was the third-wheel because of Max’s oogies for his step-sister. But then Will thought about it… all of this fake-dating meant that to everyone else aside from Wax, El was the third-wheel. She was hanging out with a couple and that couple was him and Max!

“Oh…” Will softly said as he realized the situation for what it was. That’s why El is so mad at me, Will thought to himself, she feels like we are leaving her out!

“You understand now?” Joyce said, watching her youngest son closely. “It’s not real sibling bonding if your girlfriend is there too.”

Wax protocol initiated. “Girlfriend!?” Will exclaimed with wide eyes. “Max isn’t my girlfriend!”

Joyce gave Will a sardonic smile, “Uh huh. Sure!” She said before pinching his cheeks. “My itty bitty Will all grown-up! Just yesterday you were running around with a stick saying that you were Luke Skywalker! Now, you have a girlfriend!”

Will felt all of the blood in his body go to his face. “Mom!” He exclaimed as he batted his mother’s hands away. “Max isn’t my girlfriend, I swear!”

”Then you better ask her out soon!” Joyce said with a wide smile. “That girl likes you! I can tell.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Okay, I will! I swear!”

”That’s my little Jedi!”

On the bright side, Will thought to himself as he rubbed his sore cheeks, Operation Wax was working perfectly on his mom. On El? Maybe not as much.

Mike wish he had telekinetic powers so, he could blow up Max’s trailer van with his mind. 

Who the hell does she think she is? Mike thought as he hastily biked to Lucas’ house. Talking to Max was a bust, which was exactly what Mike expected. But Eleven was adamant that it would work so, Mike gave it a try for her. El doesn’t see the true nature of Max, Mike mused to himself, Max only shows me her true self which, of course, is demogorgon adjacent. Mike always knew that Max was an asshole but she really did shock him today. Like her claiming that Mike was jealous! Me? Jealous? Mike thought to himself as he let out a sardonic laugh. I just don’t think it’s fair that Will showed Max ‘the thing’ but he didn’t show it to me! Or that Will hung out with Max and didn’t invite me. Why couldn’t he invite me! Mike abruptly stopped his bike at this thought. Wait… maybe I am jealous!

After this revelation, Mike hopped off of his bike and walked his bike for the rest of the journey to Lucas’ house. He thought back to what happened at study hall and even his conversations with the Party about Wax. Maybe his issue with the pairing was just like El’s… maybe he’d been jealous this entire time! Oh well, Mike thought to himself as he pulled into Lucas’ driveway and threw his bike onto the ground, there’s no way I’m admitting that out loud.

Mike knocked on the Sinclair’s house and waited. Eventually, the door opened only to reveal Erica, Lucas’ little sister. “Hey Erica,” Mike greeted. “Can you grab Lucas?”

”Sure,” Erica said before shouting at the top of lungs, “LUCAS! MIKE IS HERE!”

Mike heard a faint “I’m coming down!” from upstairs. 

“You look like shit,” Erica bluntly stated. Mike scoffed in offense. “Who pissed on your parade?”

”Max,” Mike deadpanned.

Erica perked up in interest. She was about to ask a follow-up question when Lucas showed up beside her. “What about Max?” Lucas asked in confusion.

Mike grabbed Lucas’ arms and led the two of them inside and upstairs into Lucas’ room. “We gotta talk.”

Lucas let out a nervous laugh. “That doesn’t sound good…”

Once the two were in Lucas’ room with the door shut, Mike began his rant. “Dude, we cannot let Max and Will happen. I think the world would actually end if they got together. I’m talking like 40 foot waves, an army of demogorgons, and an apocalyptic plague would break out if they got together!”

Lucas stared at Mike in shock. “But Dustin said—“

“Screw what Dustin said!” Mike interrupted. “We all know that Dustin can be too nice sometimes! And that he never looks at the bigger picture! Remember Dart?”

Lucas nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah… you’re not wrong there,” the basketball player then let out a sigh. “I don’t know, Mike. Shouldn’t we let Max and Will be happy?”

”And when their relationship ends up in flames? Then what?”

Lucas ran his hands over his face as he contemplated Mike’s words. He’s hesitant, Mike thought to himself, Lucas just needs an extra push. Suddenly, an idea came to Mike, an idea which caused him to internally cringe when he realized what he had to say to sway Lucas to the anti-Wax side. El is gonna kill me… but it has to be done.

“Lucas,” Mike said as he placed a hand on Lucas’ shoulder. “You and Max are perfect together. You know it. We all know it,” Mike watched carefully as Lucas lowered his hands from his face and looked Mike in the eyes, contemplating his words. “Max is just confused and Will doesn’t even like Max like that.”

”Are you sure about that?” Lucas asked. “I’ve seen them talk at lunch, Mike. They basically flirt for the entire hour!”

”No,” Mike said as he shook his head. “Trust me on this. Will doesn’t like Max and I don’t think Max even knows that she has a crush on Will.”

Lucas frowned. “Do you think they’d get together if Max realized she liked him?”

Mike nodded and said, “Yeah. You know Will… he’d be way too nice to turn her down. He’d give her a chance.”

“Shit,” Lucas muttered to himself as he looked at the floor. “Maybe we should put a stop to it…” Mike’s face lit up at Lucas’ words, but then Lucas shook his head. “Actually… I don’t know…”

”Lucas, listen to me,” Mike said sternly, causing Lucas to look Mike in the eyes yet again. “They would be horrible for each other.”

”But—“

”Bro, you know I would never lie when Will is involved,” Mike said, fully aware that what he just said was a lie. If Mike was being honest with himself, he had no idea if Will had feelings for Max. He just prayed Will didn’t. “I’m trying to help Will out, dude. Max isn’t the one for Will. Will needs someone who thinks about him first always, someone who likes his art, someone who doesn’t try to change him, someone who actually likes Dungeons and Dragons, someone who’s also artistic, someone who—“

”What? You gonna say Will needs someone with short black hair too?” Lucas joked with a small jovial laugh. 

Mike face turned bright red. “What are you trying to say?” Mike spluttered. 

Mike’s reaction to Lucas’ light hearted joke caused Lucas’ smile to vanish entirely. Lucas scanned Mike’s face closely. It was silent for a few moments as Lucas observed the dungeon master closely and in turn, Mike tried to avoid eye contact. ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION ABORT—

“Anyway!” Mike exclaimed as he clapped his hands together loudly, causing Lucas to jump slightly in shock. “Max and Will would be a disaster! And you and Max are meant to be together! The end.”

“But—“

”No buts!” Mike interrupted. “You gotta stop letting fear hold you back, bro. You can win Max back!”

“You really think so?” Lucas asked tentatively.

Mike nodded his head aggressively. “Yeah dude!” Mike exclaimed with a smile. “Just talk to her!”

Lucas looked at his life-long friend’s encouraging smile and let out a sigh. “Okay… I’ll think about it.”

 El is so going to kill me for this!

Eleven was so going to kill Will for this.

After Jonathan and Joyce went to sleep, Will shook El awake and asked her if she wanted to talk. One, El was tired. Two, she did not want to talk to Will. However, Will looked adamant so, she went along with it and went outside with Will to talk.

”I know you’ve been upset with me lately,” Will started with the obvious as he rubbed his hands together nervously. “I didn’t know why, but I was talking to mom and I think I understand now. El, you do know that me and Max didn’t mean to leave you out, right?”

“No,” El deadpanned. “I do not know.”

Will hesitated, “Well… we didn’t mean to leave you out.”

”And?”

”Uh… and I’m sorry?” Will apologized awkwardly. El stared at him in silence. Both Will and El knew that the apology was not accepted. Will audibly gulped. “Is there anything else I did wrong? I don’t want you to be upset on our trip if I can fix it.”

”You can fix it, Will,” El said, now fully glaring at Will. “Stop talking to Max.”

”Huh?” Will blurted in confusion. “What do you mean stop talking to Max?”

”Do not speak to her. Do not look at her. And especially, do not date her.”

Will’s jaw dropped in shock, “What? You want me to just stop being friends with Max?”

”You want to be more than friends with Max!”

Will was quiet for a moment. He seemed conflicted. “Is it that obvious?”

El rolled her eyes. “Yes, Will! It’s very obvious. And it’s also very obvious that Max likes you back!”

”El… if me and Max get together, it doesn’t mean you’d stop being friends with either of us,” Will said carefully. “I get that us hanging out as a trio would be weird if we got together, but we could all hang out one-on-one! Like, me and you could—“

”I don’t want to hang out with you alone.”

Will looked offended. “You don’t mean that.”

El nodded and said, “Yes, I do. If you become boyfriends with Max, I don’t want to speak to you ever again.”

Will ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Do you realize how crazy you sound?” Will asked, his voice increasing in volume. “We are siblings! We are always going to be siblings. Me and Max dating won’t change that!”

”You made Max hang out with me less!” El hissed back.

”I didn’t mean to, I swear!” Will exclaimed. “Look, Max and I aren’t even dating and if we did end up dating, neither of us would ditch you!”

El clenched her fists and scowled. “Do you plan on being boyfriends with Max?” El questioned, her voice low and gritty.

Will hesitated and refused to meet El’s gaze. That was all El needed for an answer.

”You’re right,” El started slowly, causing Will to look back up at her. “You will not be ditching me… because I will be ditching YOU!” El shouted in anger.

Will’s eyes bulged. “What?!”

”I’m not going to wait to be ditched! I’m the ditcher! I ditch you first, you DOUCHE!”

And with that, El barged back inside of the hotel, leaving Will alone outside feeling stunned in the worst way possible.

The rest of this family trip was going to be an absolute disaster.

Chapter Text

Will always considered himself a very easy-going guy. When his friends ignored him for the entire summer, he was upset but he accepted their apologies (no one actually apologized but Will assumed they felt bad) and moved on. When Jonathan ruined his favorite shirt by spilling cooking oil all over it, Will forgave and moved on. When Nancy left a permanent scar on him from burning the Mind Flayer out of him, Will thanked her, forgave her for the scar, and moved on. 

But this was something else entirely.

He honestly didn’t understand why El had such a major issue with him and Max. Feeling left out… that was something Will could relate to. But if Will could accept El dating the love of his life, then El should be able to accept him dating her best friend. Will didn’t understand why he had to bend over backwards for El but she could walk all over him. It just wasn’t fair!

And now, because of El’s attitude, Will’s trip to Chicago was tainted. Even their visit to the art museum was weird because El made it that way.

”This painting is ugly,” El bluntly stated. The Byers and Hopper family all stood next to each other as they stared in confusion at a white canvas with yellow and red squiggly lines decorating its surface. “Reminds me of your art, Will.”

Ouch?

Will had to hold himself back from saying something childish in response to his step-sister. This painting reminds me of your face! Will felt embarrassed for even thinking such a thing. But no, Will would be the bigger person. Will swore that he would be the bigger person if it were the last thing he’d do-

”I like how this painting is called ‘The Traitor’,” El said as they all came across another painting. This painting depicted a man (who Will assumed to be the traitor in question) being burnt alive by a mob of smiling people. “Reminds me of you.”

Will clenched his fists.

”Look Will,” El said as she pointed at a painting of a grotesque man with the ugliest bowl-cut imaginable. “It’s you!”

Will gritted his teeth.

”Will, look-“

Something broke inside of Will at this moment. No, it wasn’t his heart or anything like that but rather it was his kind nature that was shattered into pieces. No longer would Will keep his sassy comments inside his head; they were all being unleashed like currents into a valley after a dam had broken.

He just couldn’t take it anymore.

Will spotted his weapon on the wall next to Jonathan. Framed in rustic gold was a painting depicting a bald pocket-sized man being ignored by a goddess with luscious red locks. “El, look! It’s you and Max!”

Nobody found that funny. Jonathan and Joyce stared at Will with wide offended eyes (Oh, Will thought to himself bitterly, so now you’re offended!) and El glared at him with such intensity that if looks could kill, Will would be back in the Upside Down.

However, instead of deterring him from making more comments, their anger encouraged him to make even more. It was like his evil twin took control over his body and reveled in his family’s suffering.

”This painting reminds me of you and Mike,” Will said with a fake smile, pointing at a painting of a man and a woman yelling at each other with tears running down their faces.

”El, you’re like the personification of this sculpture!” Will started as he pointed at a sculpture of a robot melting. “Oh wait,” Will said with a derisive laugh. “You don’t know what that means!”

El, of course, fought back every time. She continued to point at paintings of ugly old men with horrible haircuts and say that they resembled Will, but Will’s comebacks always cut deeper. His comebacks were more personal. More impressive. Will was the sass God and he could not be beat.

If El wanted to fight dirty, Will would fight dirtier. If El wanted to stoop low, Will would stoop even lower. This was war.

Jonathan quite literally could not believe what he was hearing.

In the past year, he had heard multiple petty arguments between El and Will (well, the arguments were usually one-sided. El would make comments and Will would try to dissolve the tension), but this was something else entirely. 

For the entirety of Saturday morning, his two siblings battled each other verbally. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Joyce stood awkwardly as unwilling bystanders to their constant back and forth.

”Do we stop them?” Jonathan whispered to his mother as they watched the two 15 year-olds point at paintings and make snide remarks. 

His mother looked at a lost for words. “I suppose we should,” she said slowly. “I had a talk with Will yesterday about El.”

That was news to Jonathan. “About what exactly?”

”About her feeling left out,” Joyce said with a sigh as Will said tossed another petty remark towards El. “Will seemed receptive yesterday. I’m not sure why he’s acting like this. It’s not like him.”

”Technically, El started it,” Jonathan pointed out.

“She did, but El struggles with managing her emotions. We know this,” Joyce argued back. “Will knows this. That’s why I’m confused by his behavior. He should be more lenient with her. He has been in the past.”

Will made another mean joke, this time about El being jealous of him and Max. Jonathan cringed. “It does seem a bit mean of him,” Jonathan started. “I’ll have a talk with him. I’m sure he just doesn’t realize how he’s coming across.”

Will definitely knew how he was coming across and didn’t care. At least, that’s what Jonathan gathered from their talk so far. 

”Will,” Jonathan said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The two brothers sat in a cafe on Michigan Avenue while Joyce and El went window shopping. Jonathan looked down at his half-finished cappuccino with a frown; he needed more caffeine to dispel the migraine he was gaining from this conversation. “What do you mean you won’t stop the comments?”

His little brother shrugged nonchalantly and took a sassy sip from his latte. “I’ll stop when El stops.”

Will was going to drive him crazy. ”You’re going to have to be the bigger person, Will.”

”Why?” Will said as he put his cup down on the table. “Why do I always have to be the bigger person? Not just with El but in general?”

Jonathan frowned. “What are you-“

”I’m always the one who has to forgive and forget or just sit there and take it. What if I don’t want to sit here and take it anymore?”

Jonathan sighed. “Okay, I get that El can be hard to deal with sometimes. Especially recently with how she’s been treating you, but it’s a phase. Once she understands, she’ll-“

”She does understand, Jonathan,” Will snapped. “I know you and mom love to baby El, but she’s not as dumb as you guys think she is.”

“We don’t think El is dumb,” Jonathan said with a scoff. “We’re just patient with her. The same way we’re patient with you.”

Will was quiet for a few moments before responding, “I get that, I really do, but El said some stuff to me yesterday that rubbed me the wrong way and I don’t think I have it in me to be patient with her anymore.”

”What did she say?”

”She said enough for me to get it.”

”Get what?”

Will let out a frustrated sigh. “Nothing, okay? It’s between me and El.”

“But Will-“

”It’s just stupid high school stuff,” Will said as he took another sip from his latte.

”If it was just stupid high school stuff, I don’t think you’d be this upset,” Jonathan said with raised eyebrows.

”Let’s just say that it was stupid high school stuff, but El decided to push it past that with what she said.”

”Will-“

”It’s between us. Just drop it.”

Against his will and better judgement, Jonathan dropped it. For now.

Will was late to lunch.

When Mike and the rest of the Party sat at the lunch table on the Monday after the Byers and Hopper family trip, the tension was so intense that it was visible. Or, at least, the tension between him and Max. And honestly, there was tension between him and Lucas. And maybe even between Lucas and Max. And also, him and El, but that was the norm. Okay, so there was tension between everyone but Dustin (and Will because he wasn’t here yet, Mike thought to himself. Where the hell was he?).

“Sorry, a teacher held me up,” Will said as he walked towards the table with his bagged lunch in his hands. Will didn’t even bother giving the other members of the Party a glance before he looked straight at Max and said, “Max, we’re eating lunch alone today.”

Mike didn’t know what shocked him more, Will’s statement or Max’s reaction. The normally stoic redhead became an absolute mess; her face and hair all blended into one massive ball of crimson as she stammered away her agreement to Will’s offer.

The Party watched with wide eyes as Will and Max left the cafeteria together without even saying goodbye.

“That douche,” El said through clenched teeth. “He’s doing this on purpose to make me angry.”

“What?” Lucas questioned.

“Will would never do that,” Dustin added.

“Yes, he would,” El doubled-down. “On our trip to Chicago, Will spent all of Saturday making fun of me.”

The boys all shared a look. “Maybe you misunderstood?” Mike said. “Will wouldn’t just make fun of you-“

“Yes, he would! And he did!” El bellowed. “When we were at the art museum, Will said a painting of two people fighting was me and Mike-“

“What!?” All of the boys exclaimed.

“-and he pointed at a melting robot statue and said I was the… uh…” El’s face grew red as she tried to say the word Will threw at her. “Person…eee…fiction? He said I was the person-eee-fiction of the statue! And then he started laughing and said I wouldn’t know what that word means!”

“Did you?” Mike asked. His question was answered by Dustin smacking him on top of his head. “Ow! What the hell, Dustin?”

“You mean personification?” Lucas asked slowly, ignoring Mike and Dustin’s antics.

“Yes! That’s the word! What does it mean?”

Lucas hesitated, “It means like a non-human thing has or is described to have human qualities. So…” Lucas shared an awkward look with Mike and Dustin before clearing his throat, “…Will was saying that you were the human version of the melting robot…”

The table was silent for a moment.

“Dude,” Mike said miserably, “That’s kind of fucked up for Will to say.”

“Let’s back up, okay?” Dustin said. “What happened before Will started being a bitch to you?”

El crossed her arms across her chest, “Does it matter?”

“Yes?” Dustin answered with raised brows. “I’m sorry, El, but I highly doubt Will woke up on Saturday and just decided to be a bitch. What happened on Friday?”

El rolled her eyes, let out a huff, and refused to respond.

The boys stared at a pouting El in silence for a minute. The silence from El was an admission on its own. “So,” Dustin said, “Something did happen on Friday! What happened?”

“We had a talk.”

The boys stared at El as they waited for her to continue explaining. Dustin nodded slowly, “Okay… and?”

“Will like likes Max.”

Lucas frowned, “He confirmed that?”

“I asked and he refused to answer my question. He was quiet.”

“Okay,” Dustin said. “He didn’t deny it, then. So, Will does like Max!”

“Yes. That was the conversation,” El said as she shared a meaningful look with Mike. Mike knew what that look meant… it meant El was withholding information.

“So,” Mike started, trying to find a way to spin the conversation back in their favor. “You asked Will about him and Max, he essentially confirmed that he liked her, and then he started being mean to you?” El nodded. Her wide eyes, however, telling a different story. Holy shit, Mike thought to himself, what crazy shit did El say to Will to piss him off so badly? It’s time to do damage control. “Did he get really defensive when you asked about him and Max?”

El hesitated and gave Mike a panicked look. Mike discreetly mouthed the word ‘yes’ to her and slowly nodded, causing El to nod in response. “Y-Yes! He was!”

“Huh,” Dustin muttered to himself. “I wonder why he got all weird about it.”

Lucas shook his head, “It seems really out of character…”

“I’m telling you guys,” Mike said as he held back a victorious smile. They bought it! “Max and Will are horrible for each other! The Will we know would never do these things! He only started acting this way because of his weird thing with Max. They’re bringing out each other’s worst traits!”

Dustin sighed, “Maybe you’re right.”

Lucas was silent for a moment before adding, “Yeah. Maybe.”

Max never knew Will had it in him to play the role of the dominant oogie straight man. She was impressed… and kind of grossed out… but extremely impressed nonetheless.

“Damn,” Max laughed to herself as the two sat down at a lunch table outside. “I never knew you could be such a casanova, Will! If I weren’t a raging you-know-what, I’d be so turned on right now.”

Will’s casanova era had come to a swift halt as his face morphed into a giant tomato. “Oh my god,” Will cried as he covered his face with his hands. “I didn’t even mean for it to come off that way! I just wanted to rant with you alone!”

“Rant? You know I love a good rant. What’s up?”

Will let out a frustrated groan. “What isn’t up at this point? The trip to Chicago was a disaster.”

“For real?”

“Yes!” Will exclaimed. “I was basically ganged up on for the entire weekend even though I didn’t start it, El did-“

“Start what?”

Will fiddled with his paper lunch bag as he tried to think of a response. “I guess… me and El are like… fighting.”

Max blinked. “Like… fighting fighting?”

“Yeah.”

“How the hell did that happen?” Max asked, her voice astonished.

“I don’t even know,” Will said as he ran his hands through his hair. “She was pissed at me before we even left. And then in the car ride there, she was even worse. And then my mom gave me a lecture about not leaving El out-“

“That makes sense,” Max interjected. “Now that we’re a ‘couple’, she’s kind of like the third-wheel…”

“Yeah, well, I thought it was just that too,” Will said. “But then, on Friday night, me and El had a conversation about everything. I felt bad, you know? I never wanted to make her feel left out…”

“Right…”

“So, I apologize to her. And you know what she does? She throws it right back in my face and is like ‘I’ll forgive you if you stop talking to Max’-“

“Huh?!”

“Right?!” Will exclaimed, his eyes wide and wild. His arms danced around in exaggerated movements as he recapped the tale to Max. “I was so confused and El refused to budge. And I was like, you know, if it’s weird for us to hang out as a trio, I get it! So, we can hangout alone. You and El can hang out and then me and El can hangout. It was totally reasonable!” Will said with a sassy eye roll, “And then, El just goes, ‘I don’t want to hang out with you’ and I was like excuse me?”

“Hold up,” Max said, holding up her hands placatingly. “El said she doesn’t want to hangout with you at all?”

“Yes! She said she didn’t even want to talk to me if we got together.”

“That… that doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Exactly!” Will said with a huff as he threw his hands up in the air. “And I thought I was going crazy during that conversation, I swear. I was trying so hard to understand where she was coming from, but I just couldn’t. Like… why is it okay for her and Mike to straight it up 24/7, but we can’t?”

Max was at a loss for words. Before she could say a thing in response, Will added: “And she called me a douche! Not even as a joke!” Will let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah right, I’m a douche. Do I look like a douche?”

The two teens stared at each other in an uncomfortable silence. Will then looked down at his current outfit—a white wife-beater, a leather jacket, and ripped acid washed jeans—and then looked back up at Max with a grimace. “I forgot about my douche-over.”

“Yeah… I was about to say,” Max said with a strained smile. “You look like a huge douche, now. It’s your douche-sona, dude.”

“Anyway,” Will said with a sigh, “That was my weekend. It fucking sucked. How are you?”

Max laughed awkwardly as she thought back to the verbal ass-beating she gave to Mike on Friday. “Not too shabby… minus the fact that Mike came over to my place to throw a temper tantrum about us being together, too.”

Will’s eyes bulged. “What? Why?”

“No idea! He was all up in my face saying that we can’t be together. It was really…” Max said slowly as she tried to make sense of everything. “Bizarre.”

Max was silent for a moment as she thought about her argument with Mike. Originally, Max just assumed Mike was being his typical annoying self, (AKA being weirdly possessive over Will and being a sensitive geek) but now with this new information about El fighting with Will, Max wondered…

“Will?” Max hesitantly said.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think we should call it quits?”

“What?”

“Operation Wax,” Max clarified. “Should we end it? Just end the entire charade?”

Will frowned. “What? Why?”

“It’s just… I feel like we accidentally set off a nuclear bomb.”

Will sat in silence for a few moments before shaking his head. His face was slightly flushed with a bitter smile spread across it. “You know what? Who cares!”

Max’s eyebrows raised in shock. “But-“

“But what, Max? So what if we set off a nuclear bomb? Their reasons for being mad are stupid as shit anyway! If they can all date, then so can we!”

Max nodded slowly as she took in Will’s words, “But is this worth it? If it were just Mike being a bitch, I wouldn’t care… but El…?”

“El is being just as petty as Mike right now. You do know that, right?”

“I know…”

“Max,” Will sternly said as he leaned forward. He then whispered, “They’ll hate us for being gay. We know this. Remember what Mike said to me last year?” Max cringed as she thought back to the story Will told her about Mike’s too-close-to-home comment about Will not liking girls. “They won’t accept us for being gay,” Will continued, his nose flaring in anger. “So, they’re going to have to accept this.”

Max thought back to all of the homophobic shit she had witnessed both in California and Indiana. She thought about Will’s bullies who purposefully left him out and called him slurs. She thought about the gay and trans hate-crimes her and Will read about in the papers. She thought about it all.

The red-headed girl looked up at her best friend, his eyes matching her’s—stern and determined. “Will, you’re right. We can’t end it.”

Will gave Max a smile that could only be described by one word—vindication. “Operation Wax is still a go?”

“Yeah,” Max said with a firm nod. “And we’re in stage three, motherfucker.”

Stage three, the Fruity Files, had now been initiated by the head of the operation—Maxwell Mayfield.

Unlike the previous stages where Max and Will had to partake in an act-ception (“Will, how do you not know what an act-ception is? Everybody knows it’s an acting inception!” “Max… nobody knows what that is!”) of pretending to like each other while also holding back, now they had the freedom to go fully in on their ‘feelings’. And they did. Aggressively.

“Max, you look pretty today.”

Well, Will got aggressive with the flirting. Stage three seemed to have killed all remnants of Will’s shyness and created an unfiltered, flirtatious, straight beast. Max barely had to put on a show of being flustered because of how unabashed Will was with his comments.

Like… Will said this while having dinner at her place in front of her mother.

Her mom watched in awed silence as Max genuinely turned bright red and stuttered out her thanks. Jesus Christ, Max thought to herself. Will is going to kill me one of these days.

Will gave Max a cheeky smile. “Just telling the truth.”

The sly smile on her mother’s face made Max want to sink into a hole and never come out.

Later, Will claimed that this was revenge for the ‘stuck-up and hot’ comment a few weeks back. “If my mom had to hear it,” Will said with a smug grin, “then your mom had to hear it.”

“You’re about to hear the fires of hell, Byers. I’m going to kill you!”

The flirting only got worse from that point on. It was as if Will as in a competition with himself to see just how badly he could embarrass Max with his one-liners.

“Max, your hair looks good today.”

In front of Dustin? Really, Will? Max thought to herself as she felt her face heat up. Will, Dustin, and Max were chilling by Max’s locker when Will flung the hair comment at Max like it was a damn projectile. “Thanks, Will. I got new hair products…”

Will nodded and gave Max an approving smile. “I like it.”

“I-I’ll keep using them then,” Max said, tucking her face down to hide a shy smile that she forced on her face for extra pizazz.

Dustin watched the interaction with wide eyes, his eyes going back and forth to watch both of their reactions to the situation. Will’s smile widened as he looked over at their confused curly haired friend, “Oh, hey Dustin,” Will started. “I forgot you were here.”

Dustin nodded slowly, almost like he was in a daze. “Yeah, dude. No shit.”

Will really had no shame when it came to the flirting, either. He'd do it in front of anyone just to piss Max off; if Max and Will were around anyone with a pulse, Will threw in a cheesy one-liner. 

"I'd paint you, Max, but my paintings could never capture your beauty."

Max didn't even have to think about an imaginary El kissing her to get the blush on her face this time; the tomato-face was one-hundred percent genuine. It didn't help that Will said this cheesy ass shit in the damn video store in front of Robin and Steve of all people.

Steve whistled as he nodded in approval. "Damn, little Byers," Steve said, sounding incredibly impressed. "Didn't know you moved like that."

Robin, on the other hand, was laughing so hard that she was bent over and clutching onto her stomach. "Oh my god, I can't breathe."

Max refused to respond to the now grinning Will. She let her silence and blush speak for itself.

Unfortunately, the flirting only got more heinous as the weeks went on. Max would know—she was the victim of the attacks!

“That top looks good on you, Max. You should wear it again for me.”

This comment was a safety hazard; Max was taking a sip from her juice box when Will decided to drop the nuke. Immediately, she spat out the juice in her mouth and started choking. Instead of helping, Will just smiled and watched as she almost choked to death. That douche!

And of course, Will just had to say it in front of the entire Party at lunch. Though, their reactions were worth the near-death experience Max just had. While Dustin and Lucas just seemed shocked by Will's forwardness, both Mike and El looked like they were about to have a conniption. Mike stared at a choking Max, open-mouthed and watery eyes wider than saucers. El stared at a grinning Will, face flushed and nostrils flared. They were not happy.

"Will!" Max croaked as she picked up Will's sandwich and began whacking him with it. "You evil evil man."

Will laughed as he repeatedly got hit. "I just thought you looked nice!"

"Take that back!"

"No!" 

The Party stared on in complete and utter silence. They usually stared in silence whenever Will's douche-sona attacked.

Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce, however, were not silent when Will's douche-sona attacked. Not only were they not silent, but their reactions made the embarrassment even worse.

"Hey Max, wanna watch a movie tomorrow night?" Will asked one night when Max was over for dinner. Max looked up slowly in trepidation. With any other audience, this question would be an innocent one that Will had asked many times before in the past. However, they were not alone. Max risked a glance at the rest of the table, only to see Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce staring at the two fake straights with raised brows on their faces. If El was there, she would probably be glaring at them.

Max turned back to Will and gulped. "Yeah, sure," Max answered, her voice frail and shy. "With the Party?"

"No," Will said firmly, an evil smile slowly sneaking its way onto his face. "Just us."

A long clang sounded and echoed across the room. Max's head jerked towards the sound only to see Jonathan staring, jaw dropped, with the fork that was previously in his hand now lying on his plate. Max then looked at Nancy and Joyce and they were just smiling. Smugly. Evilly. And just like that, Max was ready to move back to California.

"Y-Yeah. Okay."

Max could've sworn she heard someone gasp and she didn't need to look to know it was Jonathan. And if Jonathan wasn't trying to be the cool wing-man brother to Will, Max knew that the moron would've clapped and applauded his little brother for his smooth ways.

"Cool," Will said calmly. "Tickets on me."

Max jerkily nodded in response and prayed to all of the gods she didn't believe in that no one at the table would say anything-

"You seem really excited for your date, Max."

Fuck my life. Nancy is such a sneaky bitch.

"Date?" Max stammered. "It's not a date! We're just going as friends!"

"It can be a date if you want," Will said, his now staple smug smile taking form on his face. “Only joking!” Will added with the fakest laugh Max had ever heard in her entire life.

"Oh my," Joyce said, astonished.

Max refused to speak and just remained permanently flustered. That's how most of their flirting scenes went—Will acted a menace and Max blushed and stammered her way to the finish line.

However, when it came to the flirting scenes in front of El and Mike, they both fully took part in the flirting. They upped the ante to one hundred. They put their straight-sonas into full gear. It was like a gay person's personal horror movie with how straight they were acting in front of El and Mike.

Mike felt like he was in a horror movie.

Lunch today was just him, El, Will, and Max... and it was pure torture.

First, Max hit it off with: "It's like a double-date!"

Ouch.

Second, Will whacked right back with: "If lunch period counts as a date, then we've gone on hundreds."

Double ouch. A little bit of bruising, but Mike could survive the pain.

Lastly, Max slam-dunked Mike's life into the deepest pits of pain and misery with: "If free period counts as a date, then we've gone on thousands."

Triple ouch. It was beyond bruising now. Mike was on the verge of death.

"I'm in your guys' free period," Mike interjected with a frown. "I literally sit with you guys everyday. How is it a date if I'm there too?"

"Oh yeah..." Will said breathily. "Honestly, I forgot you were in our free period!"

Nevermind. Mike was dead.

It had been like this for two weeks. Every time he was around Will and Max, it felt like they were dangling his life on a thin thread with all of their damn flirting. It'd be one thing if they were actually dating, but they weren't even on that stage yet (and Mike knew they weren’t because he had asked Max multiple times if they were together and every time she said “Not yet, but soon” …whatever that means). They were on the tip-toeing flirting pre-dating stage with high unresolved sexual tension and Mike was forced to be in the front-row seat for it all! It made him feel sick.

And the sick feeling remained until after school.

“El, I can’t take this anymore,” Mike said with a whine. The two were attending their weekly Monday night saboteur meeting in Mike’s basement as he paced around nervously. Eleven watched her boyfriend walk back and forth from the couch with a pout. “Will and Max keep saying their flirting is a joke, but I don’t think it’s a joke! I think they’re for real!”

“Will is for real. Trust me.”

Mike stopped pacing and stared down at his girlfriend. “Right. About that,” Mike plopped down on the couch next to El. “Are you finally going to tell me what the fuck you said to Will when you guys were in Chicago?”

El clammed up. “I said nothing.”

“Come on, El. We both know that’s a lie. What did you say?”

“I gave Will a choice,” El grumbled. “Either he chooses family or he chooses Max.”

“Meaning…?”

“Meaning he either doesn’t date Max or he’s permanently ditched by me.”

Mike was at a loss for words. “You gave him a fucking ultimatum?”

El let out a huff and threw her arms up in the air. “Mike, I told you I don’t know what your fancy words mean!”

“An ultimatum is like a final demand and if the person doesn’t meet the demand, they get punished.”

“So… a choice.”

“No, El,” Mike said with a frown. “A choice implies having the freedom to actually choose. You didn’t give Will a choice. You basically said, listen to me or get fucked!”

El nodded as she absorbed Mike’s words. “Yes… and Will chose to get fucked.”

“Oh my god,” Mike muttered. “No wonder Will was all bitchy to you! You freaking threatened him!”

“It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.”

“Has he talked to you since the trip?”

“No. Haven’t you noticed? He never speaks to me anymore at lunch.”

Mike did notice. In fact, Dustin and Lucas had noticed as well. It’d been a topic of discussion whenever El, Max, and Will weren’t around.

“Trust me,” Mike said. “I’ve noticed. I was just wondering if he ignores you at home, too.”

“He ignores me everywhere,” El answered with a sigh. She then squinted her eyes as she observed Mike closely. “You know, you never told me what happened with your talk with Max.”

Fuck.

Mike had been avoiding this conversation for a reason. El may not have her powers anymore, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t scary.

“That’s not relevant.”

El’s eyebrows furrowed. “How is it not relevant? We made a deal. I speak to Will and you speak to Max.”

“You didn’t speak to Will. You threatened him!”

“Threatening is a form of speaking. Tell me, what did you do to Max?”

Mike gulped. “So,” Mike said with a nervous laugh. “About that!”

El glowered. “Mike… what did you do?”

“Remember how I said that if talking to Max doesn’t work, I’d talk to Lucas?”

“No…” El said slowly as the memories came back to her. 

“Yeah…”

“Mike,” El said, her voice shaking as she spoke. “Did you tell Lucas to get back with Max?”

Mike didn’t have it in him to respond with words. So, he just responded with nervous laughter.

El let out laughter of her own, but it wasn’t nervous laughter… it was just unhinged. Mike gulped again as El stood up and towered over him, her eyes burning with hatred as she glared down at him.

“You messy bitch,” El growled. Her voice was so rough that it caused Mike to flinch. “We were supposed to be a team! What the hell is this?”

“I-I-I-“ Mike stuttered anxiously.

“I-I-I-I don’t give a shit!” El shouted back, mocking Mike as she did. “You don’t care about the Max side of things, but if Will had an ex and I told his ex to get back with him, you’d be mad! Wouldn’t you?” 

There was no way in hell Mike was gonna answer that. “I don’t get you at all!” Mike deflected. “You don’t want Max with Will. You don’t want her with Lucas… then what the hell do you want?!”

“I don’t want Max with anybody!” El yelled. She clenched her eyes shut as she continued to scream, “I don’t want her to date anybody ever!”

Wait. What?

Suddenly, a word floated into Mike’s head… or more appropriately, an orientation. El doesn’t want Max to date anybody, she constantly gets extremely jealous of her and Will, she said Max was her’s…

Holy shit.

“Hey El…” Mike said after a few moments of silence; the only other noise being El’s heavy breathing from her previous yelling session. “Do you… do you think Max is pretty?”

El blinked. “Yeah? Obviously? She’s the prettiest girl I know.” Mike nodded slowly as he took in this information from a new angle. "What does that got to do with anything?"

"Do you think Max is better looking than me?"

The incredulous look El gave him made Mike feel insecure. “Obviously? Yes?”

Mike scoffed in bitter offense, “That’s so fucked up, El.”

“What? Why are you asking me these questions?”

Instead of clearing up the confusion, Mike continued to interrogate Eleven. “If you had to choose between hanging out with me everyday for a week and hanging out with Max everyday for a week, who would you choose?”

“Mike, why are you-?”

“Just answer the question, Eleven!”

El rolled her eyes before sitting down on the couch next to Mike, her anger from before completely vanished in the onslaught of Mike’s weird questions about Max. “I’d choose Max, obviously. Stop asking dumb questions.”

Mike went silent. He crossed his arms across his chest and pouted. "So," Mike started, looking down at his lap. "You don't want to date me?"

El's confusion grew even larger. "What are you talking about?"

"You like Max more than me," Mike said with a petulant huff. He then whipped his head towards El, who was staring at Mike in pure befuddlement, "What's so amazing about Max? Huh? Like... She's not even that pretty. Why is everyone so obsessed with Max now!"

"Mike, you're not making any sense!"

"You want to be girlfriends with Max!"

Silence. Absolute silence.

El blinked a few times. Her mouth opened and closed multiple times as she tried to figure out what to say. After three minutes of complete silence, El finally said: "Wait... that's allowed?"

Now, Mike looked confused. "Yes? Did you not know?"

"No?" El responded as she put her head in her hands, beginning to question her entire existence. "Since when was this allowed?"

"Since always?" Mike said as he looked down at El in concern. The girl was practically in fetal position; her knees were up to her chest, her elbows were on her knees, her head was cradled in between, and she was swaying back and forth. "Are you okay?"

"No..."

Mike swiped his hand over his face in disbelief. "El... is this like the time where you didn't know how babies were born? Do you not know what gay people are?"

El lifted up her head and looked up at Mike, her eyes glistening. "What's a gay?"

"Oh my god."

Mike readjusted his position on the couch to fully face Eleven, preparing himself physically for the conversation he was about to have. This might be worse than the birds and bees conversation, Mike miserably thought to himself. 

"Haven't you heard the guys on Lucas' basketball team calling Will a queer?" Mike asked in a gentle manner. El nodded. "Do you not know what that means?"

"No," El said with a sniffle. "I just assumed it was another word for mouth breather."

Mike almost burst into tears. "No. That's not it at all, El."

"What does it mean?"

"So, you know how I said girls can be girlfriends with each other?" El nodded. "Well, boys can also be boyfriends with each other. Girls who like girls are lesbians and boys who like boys are gay. And there are people who like both and they're bi. Are you following me?" El nodded again. "Okay, so these people exist, but people in our society judge them for it and call people who do that mean names. Queer is one of those mean names."

"Is it actually bad or are people just mean?"

Mike thought silently for a moment before shrugging. "I mean... I don't think it's bad. My dad does though. He's always ranting about it..."

"Your dad also makes mean comments about Lucas' skin color."

Mike cringed, "Yeah he does."

"So... he's not the best judge of character."

"No, he's not."

"That means being gay or lesbian is okay?"

"Yeah, it does."

No one spoke a word for a moment as Eleven took in the information Mike had just delivered her. "Wait," El said with furrowed brows. "Why are we together then if that's an option?"

Mike rolled his eyes, "Well, I didn't know you liked someone else until now!"

"What do you mean? Mike, you like Will and I like Max! We're in the same boat!"

Mike gawked at El, his jaw unhinged and his eyes wild. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down there, buckaroo! What the fuck are you talking about?"

El readjusted herself on the couch so, she could fully face Mike. "I've realized that I don't want Max with anybody! I only want her to be with me," El said, her voice saturated with new-found awareness as though she just had a revelation. "It's the same for you! You're always talking about how good Will looks-"

"What!?" Mike squeaked, his voice cracking. "No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!" El said with an eye roll. "Remember when Will got his haircut? You talked about how good it looked for our entire date!"

Silence possessed the room once again as Mike visibly put the puzzle pieces together in his mind. Suddenly, a sheepish smile spread across Mike's face as he let out a breathy laugh, "Oh yeah. I did do that."

El rolled her eyes and playfully shoved Mike. "You knew being gay was a thing and didn't realize you were gay?"

Mike scratched his head, "I'm not sure if I'm gay per se, but I think deep down inside... I always knew I kinda had a thing for Will."

El nodded slowly. "So, I like like Max and you like like Will?"

Mike let out a deep sigh, "I guess?"

The two sat in mutual silence, yet again. "...What do we do now?" El asked.

"I guess," Mike said with a shrug. "We break up? I mean... Do you even like guys?"

"I don't think so, no. I think you're just my best friend, nothing more."

"Okay," Mike nodded as he took in this information. "So, we should break up."

"Yes."

"I think... let's keep the break-up private though. At least for now," Mike added. "For me, at least. I think it might be better to stay together publicly for now while I process..." Mike waved his arms around at nothing. "All of this."

El nodded in agreement and the two fell into another silence. "Mike?"

"Yeah?"

"I think Max and Will actually do like each other."

"Yeah... I think so too."

"What do we do?"

"We could keep trying to break them up, but," Mike gave El a sad smile. "I don't know... I feel like them getting together might be inevitable."

"What does that mean?"

"Basically, it means that the situation is unavoidable," Mike said with a weak shrug. "There's nothing we can really do to stop it."

"Maybe, I was too harsh on Will," El said, a guilty look gracing her face. "How would he know that I was into Max when I didn't know myself?"

Mike silently nodded. Maybe Eleven was too harsh on Will, but Mike knew that he wasn't harsh enough on Max. Thinking back to their fight, Mike realized, Max definitely knew Mike had a thing for Will. She constantly referenced Mike being jealous and kept acting like she knew something he didn't... was that why Max always rubbed Mike the wrong way? Because deep down inside he knew that she also knew?

"Shit," Mike said, suddenly feeling a sharp sting of pain in his heart. "This sucks."

"Yeah," El said with a sulk. "It does."

And just like that, the saboteurs' mission was declared a failure. 

Not even weed could save this night from being a failure.

It was Friday evening and her, Jonathan, and Steve were all chilling at Robin's place. Jonathan had been on edge for two weeks and so, Nancy decided what her boyfriend needed was a nice night with a few joints and good vibes. Unfortunately, the weed only made Jonathan's anxiety worse and what should've been a chill night turned into a Jonathan venting session. In hindsight, Nancy should've known the night was going to go bad when Argyle rain-checked for reasons unknown to her. Sometimes, Argyle could calm Jonathan down more than even Nancy could.

"Dude," Steve said with an exasperated look. Jonathan had been ranting about his family trip to Chicago for a half hour before Steve finally broke, "I thought you said you wanted to relax. Why the fuck are you freaking out?"

Jonathan ran a shaky hand through his already fucked up hair. "Maybe I wasn't in the right mental space for weed."

"No shit."

The phone rang. Robin shot up from her spot on the ground and yelled, "I'll get it!"

As Robin left to pick up the phone, Jonathan mournfully shook his head to Nancy, "Nance... maybe you were right. Something is seriously wrong with El and Will."

"Of course, I was right," Nancy said as she stole the joint from Steve's hand. "I'm always right."

Robin ran back into the room with a panicked smile on her face. "Sorry, guys! But I gotta go!" The three watched in confusion as Robin picked up her keys and wallet and threw them into a small cross-body bag.

Steve got up from the couch with a huff, "What? Why?"

"Can't say!"

Nancy frowned, "What? Why are you being so secretive?"

Robin let out an unhinged laugh. "Sorry, but you guys are going to have to find a new spot to hang-out tonight. I don't know if my parents would be too happy to see that you guys are here without me."

And with that, Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve were left stranded and high outside of Robin's house while Robin biked away, abandoning them.

Steve turned to the young couple slowly, "Was that really fucking weird to you guys too? Or am I just really high?"

"No," Nancy said firmly. "That was really fucking weird."

"Where do we go now?" Jonathan said as he scratched his head. "We could go to Nancy's, but Will and Mike are probably hogging the basement."

"Mike and Will are hanging out today?" Nancy asked. That was news to her. It'd been a while since she saw Will all alone at their house.

"Yeah, he's sleeping over."

"Huh. I had no idea."

"Let's just go to my house," Steve said with a shrug. "I'll drive."

"You're high," Nancy bluntly stated.

"It's like a two minute drive, who cares?"

After two-minutes of Steve swerving left and right down a thankfully empty road in Hawkins, the three arrived alive and sort-of well at Steve's house. After getting situated in Steve's basement, Jonathan continued his rant about Will and El.

"-Like, Will hasn't spoken to El in two weeks! He pretends like she isn't there! Isn't that crazy?"

"Yeah, man," Steve said, completely zoned out. "Totally crazy."

"Steve," Nancy said. "Didn't Dustin tell you and Robin about El and Mike being upset about Will and Max?"

"Nancy, I'll be honest, I'm too high for this shit," Steve drowsily said, "Repeat that with less words and speak slower."

Nancy rolled her eyes, "Dustin was worried about Will and Max. Remember?"

"Oh yeah," Steve said as he sat up. "He was like 'bro, the vibes are off' and we were like 'bro, relax' and he was like 'bro, El claimed ownership of Max' and we were like-"

"Hold up," Jonathan said, "'El claimed ownership of Max'... what the fuck?"

"Yeah. Apparently she's real jealous of the entire thing. So, is Mike and so is Lucas," Steve added. "Well, Lucas makes sense considering..."

Jonathan turned to Nancy, his red-tinged eyes wide and wild. "Why the fuck is this causing so much shit? No one made this big of a deal when anybody else in their friend group got together!"

"I don't know," Nancy admitted quietly. Suddenly, she thought back to the way Argyle, Robin, and Eddie were laughing about the Will and Max situation. Something wasn't right about this situation. She was missing a core detail and Nancy knew it. Nothing was adding up.

"I feel like," Jonathan added, breaking Nancy out of her reverie. "Things are going to get worse."

"Nah bro," Steve said, "That's just the bad high talking. You gotta chill." Suddenly, the phone rang. Steve let out a loud groan before hopping off of the couch and swaying his way to the phone.

Nancy let out a sigh and turned to her boyfriend, "I think you're just really anxious right now. Everything is going to be fine," Nancy said. Mentally, however, Nancy disagreed with her reassurances. She also felt like things were going to get worse; Nancy felt like they were on a roller coaster that was about to drop. "You need to relax."

The phone clicked as Steve set it back on the receiver. He then walked back into the room with a worried frown adorning his face. Jonathan and Nancy looked up at him from the couch with matching frowns. "Steve," Jonathan started. "What's wrong?"

"Guys," Steve said, his voice panicked. "Dustin just called a Code Nuclear."

Another Friday night, another lie Will gave about sleeping over at Mike's when he was actually at Max's place.

"The Fruity Files phase has been a success thus far, comrade," Max said dramatically. The two were sitting on Max's bed having a meeting about Operation Wax, as they've done consistently for weeks since they stared the charade. "No one suspects a thing and everyone seems to buy that we're into each other. Copy?"

"Copy," Will said in the same dramatic tone. "You know what I want to know? How do you get so red on the spot? It's pretty impressive."

Max let out a groan and shoved Will playfully. "Ever since you got possessed by your douche-sona, my blushes have been real. You're so fucking embarrassing-"

"Thanks!"

"-but I typically think of how hot your mom is when the blushes are fake."

"EW!"

Will shoved Max back and Max responded with a shove of her own. This led to the two of them play-fighting and consequently, Max beating the shit out of Will with her pillow. "Okay!" Will said with a loud laugh. "Stop! Stop! I'm dying!"

Max dropped the pillow and laid on top of Will with a loud huff. The laid peacefully for a moment until Will said, "We should probably come out as straight soon, right?"

Max snorted and lifted her head up from Will's chest, "Come out as straight."

"You know what I mean!"

Max sighed and rolled off of Will and onto her side. She held up her head with her hand and looked over at Will, who was still lying flat on the bed. "I feel like we can just act how we usually do. No need to flirt 24/7 in front of everyone... just act normal now that the idea has already been planted into their heads."

"Right," Will said with a nod. "But what about... kissing."

"Yeah, we're probably going to have to kiss occasionally. They'll find it weird if we don't."

Will rolled to his side to face Max. "I cannot have my first kiss with you in public, Max. Everyone will know I'm gay just by how I'll react!"

"Okay, then let's kiss," Max said with a shrug before leaning into Will.

Will leaned his head back in a panic, "Whoa! Hello?"

Max rolled her eyes. "You said you couldn't have your first kiss in public!"

"Yeah, but... isn't this weird?"

"Kinda," Max admitted as she sat up and pulled Will up with her. "But it's chill. Besides, neither of us are into each other. So, it's not like we're risking anything."

Will nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "Just... don't make fun of me for being shit, alright? I'm a kissing virgin."

And thus began the least attractive make-out session in human history—a gay dude and a lesbian chick kissing... when they know they're gay.

"Will, you're supposed to put your hands on me. Not the bed sheets!"

"Whoops! Sorry!"

"Just give me your hands! Why are you putting them on my shoulders? It's so awkward!"

"Your waist feels illegal to touch."

"You're such a dork."

After a few fumbles and fuck-ups on Will's end, the two eventually got into the groove of things. Max tossed her arms over Will's shoulders while Will had one hand on her waist and another cupping her face as they deepened their kisses. After a minute, Will was about to throw in the towel and call it quits for the night when-

"What the actual fuck?"

The two broke apart fast; Max swiftly shoved Will off of her, causing him to tumble off of the bed with a loud slam. Max looked up quickly only to see Lucas standing in the doorway of Max's room; his brown eyes welled up with unshed tears as he slowly backed away from the door.

"Lucas," Will said, his voice shaking as he sat up. "This isn't-"

Before Will could finish his sentence, Lucas ran out of the trailer in a flurry, leaving Will and Max stunned, wondering what kind of shit storm they had just caused.

Chapter Text

Two weeks before the Party Apocalypse

If Lucas was being honest, he always had suspicions about Mike’s feelings towards Will. It all started when Will returned from the Upside Down. Mike was just possessive over Will in a way that couldn’t be healthy. Will tripped? Mike panicked. Will coughed? Mike freaked. Will is standing normally? Mike somehow found something to be anxious about.

Dustin and Lucas talked at length about Mike’s weird behavior surrounding Will; Dustin said it was Mike’s way of coping with Will’s disappearance. Lucas agreed to an extent. After Will went missing, they all became hyper aware of what Will did, but Mike was something else entirely… especially because of how inconsistent he was. One day, Mike would be ignoring Will’s existence and the next, Mike would morph into Will’s personal shadow. It felt like Mike was fighting with himself on how he wanted to interact with Will and the result of this internal battle was the infinite pendulum Mike had found himself swinging on for the last two years.

For a while, Lucas didn’t know how to put his observations into words. However, his talk with Mike tonight provided Lucas with the final puzzle piece he needed to solve the Mike Wheeler mystery.

“Will needs someone who thinks about him first always,” Mike said, waving his hands in the air as he always does when he goes on a tangent. Lucas watched with raised brows as Mike continued on to describe a very familiar person. “Someone who likes his art, someone who doesn’t try to change him, someone who actually likes Dungeons and Dragons, someone who’s also artistic, someone who-“

”What? You gonna say Will needs someone with short black hair too?” Lucas joked with a small jovial laugh. 

Mike face turned bright red. “What are you trying to say?” Mike spluttered.

Hold up.

Mike’s eyes seemed to be allergic to eye contact as Lucas stared at his face with squinted eyes. From the corner of Lucas’ eyes, Mike was wringing his hands together, turning the typically pale skin into a bright pink.

Mike was embarrassed. Avoidant. Anxious. His reaction was weirdly… honest. Very honest for a boy who’s known for being a professional bull-shitter (or compulsive liar for the psychologists out there). Too honest. Way too honest for a comment that Lucas intended to be a lighthearted joke.

Lucas’ mind swiftly sorted through all of the observations he’d mentally packed away in the back of his mind for the last two years. Mike was possessive over Will, he would randomly go through phases of ignoring Will at the detriment of his own mental health, he intensely disapproved of Max and Will even though they clearly liked each other, and… Mike talked about Will’s jawline a bit too much for it to be considered normal.

Oh my god, Lucas thought to himself, feeling as though he just had a revelation of the beings above, is Mike…?

Lucas blinked once. Twice. And then, he just stared at the blushing boy standing in front of him in an entirely new light.

But… he’s dating Eleven? But maybe he’s into dudes and chicks? But… why would he still be with El if he’s clearly into Will? But what if he doesn’t know he’s into Will? But maybe-

“Anyway!” Mike exclaimed with a shaky voice as he clapped his hands together loudly, causing Lucas to jump slightly in shock. “Max and Will would be a disaster! And you and Max are meant to be together! The end.”

“But-“

“No buts!” Mike interrupted. “You gotta stop letting fear hold you back, bro. You can win Max back!”

Lucas was pretty sure that he could not win Max back. If anything, this conversation with Mike solidified his opinion on the matter; if Mike had been into Will this entire time, then this talk was just a desperate attempt to end Max and Will’s relationship before it could start. It’s going to start, Lucas thought to himself as he watched Mike twitch in anticipation for his response, whether me or Mike like it or not.

Lucas decided to gift Mike mercy. “You really think so?” Lucas asked, playing along with Mike’s delusions.

Mike nodded his head aggressively. “Yeah dude!” Mike exclaimed with a smile. “Just talk to her!”

I don’t know what’s worse, Lucas thought to himself with a sigh, me knowingly having unrequited feelings or Mike feeling heartbroken and being ignorant to why he feels that way. “Okay… I’ll think a it.”

Lucas was not going to think about it… at least, not in the way Mike wanted.

11 days before the Party Apocalypse

After Lucas’ revelation about Mike’s feelings for Will, he began to really wonder about Eleven’s place in all of this. The possibility of his friends not being straight awakened a part of Lucas’ brain that he didn’t even know was dormant. If Mike was into Will… then why couldn’t El be into Max?

Lucas couldn’t believe he didn’t consider this as a theory earlier. In hindsight, El having a crush on Max made so much sense. She was never really romantic with Mike (and vice versa), she was extremely jealous of Max and Will, and she said Max was hers. What else could that mean?

I guess, Lucas thought to himself as he watched Eleven rant about Will at lunch, Dustin and I never considered this to be an option at all.

"Will like likes Max," El exclaimed. She was breathing heavily and she sounded borderline hysterical. It was honestly hard to watch.

"He confirmed that?" Lucas asked, frowning as he watched El get worked up.

"I asked and he refused to answer my question. He was quiet."

"Okay," Dustin said with a wide smile, seemingly not noticing the growing tension at the table. "He didn’t deny it, then. So, Will does like Max!"

"Yes. That was the conversation," El said as her and Mike shared the most suspicious look that Lucas had ever seen in his entire life. God, Lucas thought to himself as he watched Mike and El try to paint Will having a crush as some immoral act, they're so into Will and Max that they're hallucinating shit about Will being a bitch! Lucas cringed as he watched Mike jump into the conversation with his declarations about Will and Max being horrible for each other. It was like watching two idiots have a back and forth when neither have accurate information. Did they even know they were into Will and Max?

Lucas closely watched the couple’s shared jittery expressions in silence. They definitely don’t know, Lucas firmly thought to himself, feeling a giant wave of pity washing over him, and I bet my entire allowance that El doesn’t even know girls being into girls is a thing.

4 days before the Party Apocalypse

Lucas was tired. Tired of watching Will and El avoid each other. Tired of watching Mike and El foam at the mouth at the sight Max and Will interacting. Tired of watching Max and Will be the most oblivious people on planet earth when they clearly like each other, but won’t get together.

“Maybe, they know they like each other, but they don’t want to hurt your feelings,” Dustin offered up to Lucas as the two spoke by Lucas’ locker.

Lucas threw up his arms in frustration. “Why don’t they just talk to me?” Lucas asked. “Okay, maybe Max isn’t aware of their feelings because she’s as emotionally dense as a brick wall. But Will has to know. Why else is he slinging out these flirty one-liners?”

“Maybe Will is waiting until you talk to him first?” Dustin said with a shrug. “Or maybe he‘s waiting until he’s sure you’re comfortable with them being together before talking to you? You know, to avoid conflict.”

“Or maybe,” Lucas started, “He’s waiting until I talk with Max.”

Dustin snapped his fingers and pointed at Lucas, showcasing his wide smile. “That’s it! He wants to make sure you and Max break up break up before going forward with anything! Because, you guys are always so on and off… maybe he’s not sure where you two are at.”

Lucas let out a breathy laugh, “I can’t believe I’m playing cupid for these two morons.”

“When are you gonna talk to them”

“I’ll talk to Max this Friday,” Lucas said as he slammed his locker shut. “I got practice all week after school so, I got no time before then. I’ll clarify my stance on everything and wake her dumbass up to her feelings for Will. Then I’ll talk to Will this weekend. Hopefully, that’ll end their annoying will they won’t they phase.”

Dustin nodded. “What about Mike and El?”

Lucas held back an eye roll at the thought of the dramatic ‘couple’. “They’ll get over it,” Lucas said firmly. “If I can, then so can they.”

The day of the Party Apocalypse

In hindsight, this fact alone should’ve been enough information for Lucas to figure out what was going on. Lucas biked to Max’s place after dinner with the purpose of clearing the air with Max once and for all. However, when he pulled up to her trailer, he noticed something peculiar . He saw Will Byers’ bike thrown on the ground in front of the trailer. Will Byers’ bike… at Max’s place… on Friday night… that was the first red flag.

Lucas ignored the bike on the floor and threw his own bike on the ground next to it before walking up to the trailer door. The door of Max’s trailer was slightly ajar. That was the second red flag. Max had constantly complained about how janky her trailer door was and how she had to aggressively slam it shut to get it to remain closed. The only times the door was left open was when someone other than Max and her mom were over and forgot to use their Hulk strength to close the door.

The third red flag appeared to Lucas when he was going to knock on the opened door (because it’d be rude to just barge in, obviously. He’s not El who constantly commits breaking and entering on a weekly basis) when he heard it—the giggling. What the hell , Lucas thought to himself, maybe Max’s mom brought someone over? Or…?

Lucas stopped that train of thought immediately. No fucking way. Lucas wouldn’t believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.

It felt as though time was moving in slow motion as Lucas carefully entered the trailer. His mouth was dry and his eyes burned as he tip toed closer to the source of the giggles—Max’s bedroom.

And then, he saw it.

Max and Will on Max’s bed making out. Not just a peck… they were full on making-out. They’re together. Lucas should be happy. Lucas would’ve been happy, but they’re together and they didn’t talk to him. They didn’t tell him. Why didn’t they talk to him? What-

“-the actual fuck?” Lucas could hear his voice shaking as he spoke, thick with tears. Max kicked Will off of her, but it was too late. Lucas saw everything. Lucas saw enough to know.

He vaguely heard one of them apologizing to him, but he couldn’t hear the details over the sound of his heartbeat pounding violently. Everything else was muffled. It felt like Lucas was underwater as he stumbled away as fast as he could. Lucas could barely see past the tears in his eyes as he grabbed his bike and sloppily hopped on. As Lucas biked away, he heard Will, Max, and weirdly enough Eddie (when did he show up?) yelling his name. However, Lucas refused to stop. He just had to get out of there.

Lucas went on autopilot as he biked away from the trailer park. He didn’t even realize where he biked to until he found himself knocking on Dustin’s front door. The door swung open, the gust of air feeling cold on his wet cheeks, revealing a worried Dustin who quickly ushered Lucas inside.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Lucas responded with a sob. Dustin frowned. “Was it your talk with Max?” Lucas nodded as he tried to wipe away the tears from his cheeks, only for them to be instantly replaced. “Let’s go to my room, okay? And tell me everything.”

And just like that, the Party Apocalypse had arrived.

By the time Dustin called the Code Red, Lucas’ tears had dried up. However, Dustin knew that the tears vanishing didn’t mean the hurt Lucas felt did as well.

While Lucas slumped over himself with a depressing frown, Dustin paced around his room as he worked through all of the information Lucas gave him.

According to Lucas, he went to Max’s house to give her and Will his support only to find the two exchanging spit on Max’s bed. Dustin had to admit, he was completely baffled. If it were Mike telling this story, he’d assume it was a lie… but this was Lucas. And so, Dustin did the one thing he knew was necessary—he called a Code Red that excluded Max and Will.

This is a disaster , Dustin thought to himself as he carefully watched Lucas from the corner of his eye. Lucas was doing the same thing he’d been doing since Dustin called the Code Red, which was staring out the window with a sad kicked-dog expression on his face.

The doorbell finally rang. Dustin all but ran downstairs and wrenched the door open. Behind the door stood Mike and Eleven, both looking worried and confused.

“What did we miss?” El asked with a frown.

“Come upstairs and I’ll explain everything.”

With that, the couple followed Dustin up the stairs and into his bedroom. When they entered, Lucas looked up and gave the two a weak smile. “Hi guys…”

His greeting seemed to make Mike and El even more worried. Mike turned to Dustin, “Uh… is he okay?” Mike turned to Lucas. “Dude, are you okay? You look like you just cried for hours.”

“That’s because I did.”

“Oh…” Mike awkwardly turned back to Dustin. “What the fuck is going on?”

Dustin sat on his bed with a loud huff while Mike and El tentatively sat on the carpeted floor. “It’s about Will and Max.”

“Yeah, I figured that out when you called my home phone,” Mike said.

“I’m shocked you managed to get here without tipping Will off,” El said casually.

Mike’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t Will sleeping over at your house?”

“No…?”

“Will said he was sleeping over at your place today.”

Mike looks completely befuddled. “No, he’s not? Why would he tell you that?”

Lucas and Dustin shared a look of morbid realization as El responded to Mike with a confused, “Because he’s sleeping over?”

“Hey El,” Dustin started in trepidation. “How often does Will ‘sleep over at Mike’s place’?”

“Almost every weekend.”

Mike looked absolutely baffled, “What? El, that doesn’t make any sense. Will hasn’t slept over at my house in over a year.”

No fucking way, Dustin thought to himself as his enraged eyes met Lucas’.

“What aren’t you two telling us?” El asked nervously as her and Mike watched the other two boys with furrowed brows.

“Well,” Lucas said with a grimace. “I just came back from Max’s place. And guess what I saw? Will and Max making out on Max’s bed!”

If the situation wasn’t so serious, Dustin would’ve laughed at the way both El and Mike’s jaws dropped in unison.

“That’s not… That can’t be it. You’re confused!” Mike exclaimed.

Lucas shook his head in denial, “I know what I saw, Mike.”

“Are you saying they’re officially together, now?” El said with a frown.

Dustin let out an unhinged laugh, “No. I’m saying they’ve been together for a while, now. And they’ve been doing it behind everyone’s backs!”

The room went silent.

Mike placed his arms across his chest and glared down at the floor. “So, you think every time he’s lied about sleeping over at my place… he’s been at Max’s?”

Both Lucas and Dustin nodded in response. Meanwhile, El seemed to be in complete and utter shock. “I don’t get it,” El started. “But Will has been sleeping over at Mike’s since winter break?”

El’s revelation was met with a stunned silence.

“Max and I broke up in December,” Lucas said, breaking the silence.

Dustin hadn’t felt this mad in ages, if not ever before in his life. “What the actual fuck is wrong with them?” Dustin exclaimed as he jumped up and began pacing around the room. “Why would they date so close after Lucas and Max broke up?”

“Probably because they knew it’d make Lucas upset…” Mike answered quietly with a small shrug.

“What if…” Lucas started, his gaze focused on his fingers drumming on the window sill, “What if Max broke up with me for Will?”

The room went still. 

“No way,” El said, her eyes wide in shock. “Wouldn’t we have noticed?”

“Obviously not,” Lucas responded, turning his eyes away from his hands and towards El. “We only started noticing their flirting a few weeks ago when Will has been sneaking over to Max’s for months now!”

“This is so messed up,” Mike said as he ran a hand through his tangled hair.

“I don’t know what to think,” El said, frowning.

“What do we do?” Lucas asked.

Dustin planted his feet in the ground and stared down at the rest of the Party. His face stern and serious as he said: “We call in reinforcements. This is a Code Nuclear.”

Eddie had to admit, seeing Lucas crying wasn’t what he was expecting to see on his Friday night.

“Lucas! Are you alright, dude?” Eddie shouted after the boy. Lucas continued biking away.

“Lucas! Stop!”

“It’s not like that! Lucas!”

Eddie spun around, only to see Max and little Byers yelling after Lucas as well. It didn’t take long for Eddie to do the math in his head and realize that this must’ve been the drama Nancy and Steve brought up two weeks before. Eddie turned back to Lucas, only to see him bike out of the trailer park. “Oh shit.”

“Eddie,” Will said once he noticed the older boy. His voice was shaking as he spoke, “What do we do?”

“What even happened?”

Eddie had to hold back a sigh as he watched the two gayest teens alive share a meaningful look. Honestly, those two? Dating? The thought of it made Eddie laugh.

Maybe they’re together because they’re confused? Eddie pondered himself. They need guidance and a serious wake up call! God damn!

“How about you two come inside my trailer and we can have a nice talk about the conundrum you found yourselves in. How does that sound?”

Max and Will looked confused, but they still nodded in agreement before heading inside Eddie’s trailer.

“You guys sit tight. I’m gonna call in reinforcements.”

When Dustin called Erica's house phone telling her there was a Code Nuclear, she had to admit, she got anxious. Was there another secret Russian base in Hawkins? Was there another portal to another dimension? Erica was not in the mood to deal with all that shit. It also didn't help that when she got to Dustin's house, she was met with three high teenagers in the forms of Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan.

"You guys reek."

"Thanks, Erica," Steve said, his face reflecting zero gratitude for Erica's comment. "Really loving your commentary here."

"What's even going on?" Erica asked as Steve rang the doorbell. "Do you guys know?

Jonathan shivered, "I have a feeling..."

"You've had a feeling all night, dude," Steve said with an eye roll. He then turned back to the front door and aggressively rang the doorbell five more times. "Open up, moron!"

Suddenly, the door flew open, revealing Dustin and Eleven. Immediately, Dustin frowned upon seeing the group. Dustin pointed at Jonathan and exclaimed, "What the hell is he doing here?"

Jonathan pointed at himself in shock, "Me?"

"Yeah you!"

"What did I do?" Jonathan asked, his voice panicked. He turned to Nancy and shook her, "Nancy! What did I do!?"

"You did nothing!" El answered instead before turning to Dustin. "Dustin, what's wrong with Jonathan?"

"What isn't wrong with Jonathan?" Steve muttered under his breath. 

"It's a conflict of interest for him to be here!" Dustin said back.

"No it's not! He's my brother too!"

"Oh no," Jonathan said as let go of Nancy. "What did Will do?"

Dustin and El shared a look before the boy let out a sigh. "Fine. Jonathan can be here. Come upstairs and I'll explain everything." Dustin led them all upstairs to his room and immediately once they arrived, Erica began her interrogation.

"Are there Russians?"

"No."

"Are there aliens?"

"No."

"Are there Russian aliens?"

"Not this time," Dustin said, shaking his head. "It's even worse than that."

"The hell could be worse than that?"

"Dustin is being a little dramatic," Mike ironically said. Everything Erica knew about Mike pointed in the direction of him being the dramatic one. "There's just... social issues?"

Erica raised her eyebrows, "Social issues? What? Are you racist?"

"No!" Mike exclaimed waving his hands in the air. "Not those type of social issues!"

"Then what are you talking about?"

"There's issues with the Party," her brother explained. "That's what he means. Social issues with the Party, I guess."

Erica turned and took a hard look at her brother. He looked... odd. "Have you been crying?" Erica asked her brother with a confused frown. She had never seen him this way—eyes red, watery, and puffy and his general demeanor just... depressing. What the hell?

"It'll make more sense once we explain everything," Lucas said, gesturing for the four new arrivals to sit down. Once the four sat down on the carpeted floor, Dustin began his tale of the Party Apocalypse.

"Lucas went to Max's place to give her his blessing about Will and Max," Dustin started, "And when he got there, he saw Max and Will on Max's bed making out."

Shocked silence spread across the room like a giant tsunami wave.

"Will?!" Jonathan exclaimed incredulously, his eyes wide. "Making out? My brother Will? Itty bitty Jedi Will? Baby Will? WILL?!"

Nancy put her hands on Jonathan's shoulders in an attempt to placate him. "Jonathan, you need to relax-"

"That's my baby brother!" Jonathan said, throwing his arms up in the air.

"And he got more game than you!" Steve added with a loud laugh. "Damn! He's smooth, honestly. Did I ever tell you about what he said to Max at the video store?"

"No," Jonathan responded. "What did he say?"

"So-"

"Stop," Nancy interrupted. "You two, stop. Something's not right. Just look at them!" Jonathan and Steve looked away from each and at Lucas, Dustin, Mike, and El, only to see their grim frowns. Nancy scanned the room before stopping at a trembling Lucas. "Lucas," she started. "Did they tell you they were getting together?"

Lucas shook his head, causing Jonathan and Steve to frown.

"You mean... they went behind your back?" Steve asked. Lucas nodded again. Steve ran a hand through his hair, "That's fucked, man. Why would they do that?"

"That can't be right," Jonathan added, shaking his head. "Why would Will even be at Max's? He was sleeping over at Mike's place tonight. Unless I got the days wrong..."

"What do you mean Will was sleeping over?" Nancy asked. "Mom never told me Will was sleeping over tonight."

"Right, about that!" Mike said with a pained smile. "Will hasn't slept over alone at my house in over a year."

"But... but he's been sleeping over at the Wheelers every weekend since Winter Break?" Jonathan said. He looked at his sister with furrowed brows, "El, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

"I do," El said. "Will lied, Jonathan. Will has been at Max's this entire time."

"I've never seen Will at our house for a sleepover," Nancy added. "At least, not recently."

"The hell?" Jonathan said. "So, he's been lying to me and mom, too? What?!"

"Damn!" Steve exclaimed in shock. "Since Winter Break, huh? That's crazy. I thought Lucas and Max broke up in Winter Break."

"We did."

Silence. Complete and utter silence.

"Oh," Erica breathed as the weight of the situation hit her. "I get why you called a Code Nuclear, now."

"Either they got together right after they broke up or..." Mike said, his voice trailing off as he thought about the other possibility. He hesitantly looked over at Lucas before saying: "Or they got together while Lucas and Max were still a thing."

"That's... that's insane," Jonathan muttered as he ran his hands through his hair. "That doesn't sound like Will at all! That doesn't sound like Max, either. Why would they do that?"

"We don't know if they cheated," Nancy said firmly. "For all we know, they were hanging out as friends and then-"

"I know what I saw!" Lucas exclaimed, his eyes filling with unshed tears. "They were full on making out, Nancy! What else could that mean?"

"I mean that maybe this is a new development!"

"I don't know," Steve said, shaking his head. "Remember when we brought this up to Eddie and he acted all weird about it?"

"Eddie?" Dustin asked with a frown. "What did he say?"

"He was just acting all suspicious, man."

"Wasn't Eddie denying it, though?" Nancy asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah, denying it a bit too much," Steve said. "He was laughing about it! You thought it was weird too, Nance!"

"Sure, but what does that got to do with-"

"Think about it. Eddie is Max's neighbor. It's not like there's much privacy in that trailer park. Don't you think maybe he found out about them on accident and they told him to keep it a secret? That would explain why he was acting so weird!"

"Well, in that case then, Robin and Argyle knew too because they were also adamantly denying it and laughing about it," Nancy responded with an eye roll. "See? You sound-"

"Oh my god," Dustin interrupted. "They were in on it?"

"What?" Nancy exclaimed, shocked. "No! That's not what I-"

"Argyle knew all along but didn't tell me?" Jonathan asked. "Why is everyone hiding things from me?"

"You and me both, dude," Lucas said as he slowly shook his head.

"That explains why Robin was acting all weird earlier!" Steve exclaimed before turning towards Dustin. "Dude, before you called, someone called Robin. And remember we were at Robin's house! Whoever it was or whatever they said must've been super important, because Robin left and kicked us out during our weed sesh!"

"Maybe it was a call from Max!" Dustin added.

"Guys," Nancy said. "This is sounding really crazy. I mean, why would Robin, Eddie, and Argyle hide this shit from us? What do they gain from that?"

"What do they gain from telling us?" Dustin countered. "Think about it, those three have always had a soft spot for Will and Max. Haven't you noticed?"

"Well yeah... but-"

"It explains why they were acting so weird," Steve interrupted. "And trust me, they were acting really weird."

The group went into another silence. Erica scanned the room closely and analyzed everyone’s expressions—they all looked pissed. Dustin was red in the face from anger, Lucas was this weird angry sad combination, Steve and Jonathan were a mix of disbelief and anger, El and Mike just looked uncomfortable, and Nancy… Nancy just looked shocked. Pure unadulterated shock.

“We should calm down,” Nancy said, being the voice of reason. “I think-“

“No,” Jonathan interrupted her. A grim frown adorning his face, “I know you want to see the best in them, but Will is my brother. I know him best-“

“And you still think he could do something like this?” Nancy asked, disbelief seeping into her voice.

“What about Max?” El said, speaking up for the first time in a while. “She wouldn’t do something like this either.”

Mike scoffed, “Yeah right.”

“I think that they wanted to avoid conflict. And in doing so, they just caused more conflict,” Jonathan said, ignoring Mike. “That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.” Jonathan turned to Lucas, “But that doesn’t make this right. Especially if the timelines of the relationships intersect.”

“Maybe,” Dustin said with a frown. “They’re not who we thought they were.”

Nancy shook her head, “Dustin-“

“You know what?” Jonathan said, standing up. “I’m gonna tell my mom. Will and Max shouldn’t be sneaking off to do… well,” Jonathan grimaced. “I hope they’re not doing what I think they’re doing.”

This resulted in the whole room, minus El, making sounds of disgust. El turned to Mike with furrowed brows, “What are they doing?”

“Remember the bird and the bees?”

“Of course! The birds and the bees!” El exclaimed, shaking Mike’s shoulders as she did. “Mike! What about the stork?”

This resulted in everyone giving Mike a confused look. Mike looked like he was about to cry, “There’s not always a stork, El.”

“What about the baby?”

“Oh my god.”

“Okay, so we’re going to table this conversation for later,” Jonathan said with wide eyes. “El, no birds and bees until mom explains it to you, alright? Jesus.”

El shook her head, “I don’t want the baby on my windowsill.”

“Dude,” Steve breathed out, astonished. He then turned to Mike, “What did you tell her?”

“I used a kid’s book from the library.”

“Of course, you did.”

“On the bright side, we know they’re not doing shit!” Erica said with a smile, causing Lucas to burst out in laughter. The entire room seemed to relax at the sight of Lucas smiling.

“I’m sorry that my brother hurt you, Lucas,” Jonathan said with a sigh. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but I hope this is a misunderstanding.”

“It’s not,” Dustin said, shaking his head.

“Look, I’ll try to fix it from my end,” Jonathan said before turning back to El. “Come on, let’s go home. We’ll keep you guys updated.” With that, El and Jonathan left Dustin’s house, leaving the rest of the crew sitting in silence. 

Something wasn’t right here, Erica thought to herself. She knew deep inside that things weren’t adding up. Max and Will being together was confusing enough on its own, but the two possibly cheating? Them getting Robin, Argyle, and Eddie to hide secrets for them? Nothing made sense. 

Erica looked up at Nancy, only to see her staring at the floor with furrowed brows. And it seems like I’m not the only one who’s not buying this shit.

Will didn’t know what to think. First, he had his first kiss ever and it was super awkward because it was with his best friend who was a girl. Second, Lucas walked in, freaked out, and now Will and Max felt really bad. Third, Will and Max were now in Eddie Munson’s trailer, sitting in silence while the older teen smoked weed.

“You guys want some?” Eddie said, offering a blunt.

“What?” Max questioned. “No!”

“You know what?” Will said before snatching the blunt from Eddie’s hand. “Fuck it. Why not?”

Max’s eyes bulged. “Will? What the hell?”

“I’m stressed, alright!?” Will exclaimed as he took a hit and consequently coughed. “Ow! Is it supposed to hurt?”

“It’ll get better, summer child,” Eddie said. “Try not to inhale too much for now.”

“Smoking dank weed is part of the Byers’ genome, bruh.”

Will turned to see Argyle and Robin standing at the entrance of Eddie’s trailer. Will frowned, “Argyle? Robin? What are you guys doing here?”

“We were called in to help,” Robin explained before sitting down next to Will and snatching the blunt from him. “Thank god you guys are smoking. Eddie’s call cut my weed sesh short!”

“You know you can always rely on me to get you the good shit!” Eddie said with a laugh.

“Have you explained shit yet?”

“Nah. I was waiting for you guys to arrive.”

Argyle sat down next to Max and looked over at her with a dopey smile, “How’s the straight agenda, little red?”

Will and Max whipped their heads towards Argyle in a panic, “What!?”

Robin leaned over Will and Max to smack Argyle on the knee, “Shut up, you moron! Let Eddie explain first!”

“Sorry!”

“Explain what?” Max asked with a raised brow. “What’s going on?”

Eddie snatched the blunt from Robin and took a hit before saying: “So, like, we’re queer or whatever,” If there was a train track in Will Byers’ mind, it went off the rails, crashed into a house, and blew up as a result of Eddie’s revelation. Both Will and Max’s jaws dropped as they were shocked into silence. “I’m gay, Robin is a lesbian, and Argyle is pansexual.”

“We’re like a literal pink triangle!” Robin exclaimed with a wide smile. “Get it? Because there’s three of us? Eh?”

“How did this even happened?” Will asked.

“So, a few weeks ago we were smoking with Nancy and Steve,” Eddie began explaining as Argyle took the blunt from him. “And it just clicked for us… we’re gay as fuck!” 

Argyle took a hit, “And now we got our little gay group!”

Max opened and closed her mouth a few times before squeaking out, “Why are you telling us this?”

“What do you mean, dudette?” Argyle asked. “Why wouldn’t we tell you? You two are like the gayest people to ever gay.”

Max and Will stared at the three older teens in shock. Will looked at Max, then at the three teens, and then back at Max. Well, Will thought to himself, I guess that’s that!

“Okay yeah,” Will said with an unhinged giggle. “I’m gay!”

Max slammed her hands on the ground. “WILL!? WHAT THE HELL!?”

“How did you guys know?” Will asked, ignoring the fuming Max sitting next to him.

The look Robin gave him was scathing. “Will, you undress Mike with your eyes,” she then leaned forward to look at Max. “And you, Max, you’re so in love with El.”

Max slowly turned to Will, “Damn. Are we really that obvious?”

“Hold up,” Eddie said with a frown. “You guys both know that you’re both gay?” Max and Will nodded. “Then what is this dating shit all about?”

“We’re each other’s beards!” Max explained.

“OHHHHHHH!” The older three teens exclaimed in unison.

“And here we thought we were going to have an intervention!” Robin said with a laugh.

“I suppose it still kind of is one,” Eddie said. “What the hell happened with Lucas back there?”

“Right,” Robin said. “didn’t you say he was crying?”

Will scratched his head, “So, it was a big misunderstanding…” He trailed off and let out a groan before snatching the blunt from Argyle. 

“Damn, dude! Smoke til your heart’s content!”

Will inhaled the smoke and then continued, “Basically, me and Max were practicing kissing and Lucas walked in on us.”

Three pair of eyes widened in shock.

“Oh shit,” Eddie said under his breath.

“Yeah,” Max said as she buried her head in her hands. “I know! This is a disaster!”

“I’m assuming you guys didn’t talk to Lucas about you guys dating first?” Robin said with a wince.

“No… but we weren’t planning on going public just yet!” Will argued. “And besides, Max and Lucas broke up months ago and we’ve been heavily hinting that we were into each other!”

“Yeah!” Max exclaimed. “It’s not like we’ve been hiding shit entirely. We’ve been flirting in front of everyone!”

“Sure, but think of it from Lucas’ perspective,” Robin said. “He broke up with his first girlfriend and her and one of his best friends got together without even talking to him first. That’s his situation.”

Max and Will shared a look. “Okay,” Will started. “We should’ve talked to Lucas first, but again, we were just practicing! It’s all fake anyway.”

“But he doesn’t know that, Will!”

“I’m confused,” Argyle said with a frown. “Are you dudes sure that your guppy pals would hate you guys for being gay?”

“Yes,” Max and Will both answered in unison.

“Really?” Robin asked incredulously. “You guys fought a literal Mind Flayer together. I don’t think they’d drop you for being gay. If anything, I think Lucas would be more than happy about you two being gay than thinking you guys have been sneaking around behind his back.”

“Have you told Steve?” Max countered.

“I have actually,” Robin said with a nod. “And he was a little confused at first, but he accepted me.”

“I don’t know,” Will said with a shrug. “Mike has said some things in the past that really… I don’t know. I don’t want to risk it.”

Argyle, Robin, and Eddie all shared a look. “Maybe don’t tell Mike,” Robin said. “But maybe consider letting Lucas know. Lucas doesn’t seem like a guy who cries easily so, you guys must’ve really hurt him.”

“Could you guys maybe test the waters with him first?” Will asked. “I don’t think I can just come out without getting a feel first. Plus,” Will grimaced. “I don’t think he wants to talk to us right now.”

“Sure, dude,” Argyle said with a smile. “The pink triangle is here to do some investigations!”

“If Lucas is in the clear, will you guys tell him?” Robin asked.

Max let out a sigh, “Maybe. We’ll think about it.”

Robin smiled, “Okay good. Now, let’s smoke!”

“Now that that’s over,” Eddie said as he snatched the blunt from Will. “What the fuck is a Mind Flayer?”

Joyce didn’t know how to fix the situation her family was currently in. It had been two weeks since their Chicago trip and the tension between Will and El had skyrocketed to new heights. Will won’t even talk to Eleven anymore!

The mother let out a sigh as she washed lingering dishes in the sink, letting her mind wander as she did.

Joyce had a few talks with Jonathan about everything, but all her older son had to say was that the two had a ‘disagreement’. She assumed whatever it was, it must’ve happened after her talk with Will because he was responding so well to it.

What a disaster, Joyce thought to herself.

It didn’t help that Will’s relationship with Max was speeding up, if their flirting said anything. It seemed as though the further along Will and Max got, the further away Will and El got. All the while, Joyce was stuck in the middle between encouraging her son to chase after his first love and encouraging him to get along with his sister. Why do things have to be so complicated?

Joyce’s thoughts were interrupted by the front door opening and shutting. “Jonathan? Is that you?”

“Yeah,” Jonathan said as he and Eleven walked into the kitchen. 

Any positive feeling in Joyce’s body left quickly after seeing the looks on her two kids’ faces. “Are you two okay?”

“We found out something about Will,” Jonathan said grimly. “You might want to sit down.”

Joyce felt a jolt of electricity go through her. “Oh my god! Is Will okay? Is it the Upside Down again? Where’s-“

“Will is safe,” El interrupted. “It’s not about the Upside Down… It’s about something else.”

With that, the three sat down at the dinner table. Joyce watched the two teens anxiously. “What’s going on? You two are scaring me a bit.”

“Will has been lying to us, mom,” Jonathan said.

Joyce frowned. “About what?”

“For one, Will isn’t at Mike’s place right now. He’s at Max’s.”

My baby is a casanova! Joyce thought to herself, slightly impressed by her baby boy’s moves. But- “That boy is grounded!” Joyce exclaimed with a breathy laugh. “Wow, I never thought he had that in him. He’s growing up so fast. But don’t you two worry, he’ll be grounded for this. Plus, I’ll have to give him a talk about safety.”

Jonathan grimaced, “Ew.”

“I don’t want any baby Byers running around! Not yet!”

El turned to Jonathan, “Bees?”

“Not now, El,” Jonathan shook his head before turning back to his mother. “Mom, that’s not all.”

Dread filled Joyce instantly, “Oh no… Max is pregnant?!”

“WHAT!?” Jonathan yelled out. “No! No! That’s not it at all!”

“Oh thank god!” Joyce said with a relieved laugh. “Okay, what is it?”

Jonathan and El shared a look of pure discomfort before turning back to Joyce, “Mom…” El said, her voice wavering. “Will has been saying for months that he’s been sleeping over at Mike’s place, but he hasn’t slept over there once.”

Joyce blinked, “Are you saying he’s been sleeping over at Max’s for months now?”

Both teens nodded.

“Alright, he’s in big trouble and I’ll be giving him a lecture,” Joyce said. She observed the teens and saw that they were still extremely uncomfortable; both Jonathan and El were frowning and fidgeting in their seats. She frowned, “There’s something you two aren’t telling me. What is it?”

“Well… you know how Lucas and Max broke up around Christmas time?”

Joyce did not know this. In fact, she only realized Lucas and Max broke up a month ago. She never kept up with the teenage gossip like that. “Yes?” Joyce lied.

El gulped. “So… Max and Will have been sneaking around since Christmas.”

Oh shit. “Oh shit.”

“Yeah,” Jonathan said with a frown. “Lucas found them kissing and well, he’s not happy. Nobody is.”

“Oh my god,” Joyce said before covering her mouth with her hand. She felt completely baffled from this revelation. In what world would her baby, her Will, do anything like this to a friend? She didn’t know Max as well as she knew her baby, but Max didn’t seem like she’d be the type either! “Are you sure this isn’t some misunderstanding?”

Jonathan shook his head, “I don’t know, mom,” he said with a shaky sigh. “I really don’t know.”

Joyce frowned grimly, “I’m going to have a talk with Will.”

Chapter Text

When Will stepped foot in his house Saturday morning, he felt something was off. The house was eerily silent, with the only noise being the wood creaking underneath his feet with every step he took. When Will entered the kitchen, he was surprised to see both his mother and brother sitting silently at the kitchen table. The absolute stillness that greeted him this morning made him believe that everyone was asleep.

“Hey guys,” Will said as he sat down across from them. They just stared at him with blank looks adorning their faces. Will frowned in concern. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” Joyce said, now giving Will a look he’s only seen when he was in trouble. Will swallowed thickly. He was in for a lecture. “Everything is not okay. Where were you last night?”

“Mike’s,” Will lied easily. “I told you I was sleeping over at his place earlier this week.”

Will watched as Jonathan and Joyce shared a look. What the look meant, Will didn’t know. All he knew was that it didn’t bode well for him.

“Can you tell us the truth?” Joyce said, turning back to Will. “Where were you last night? We know you weren’t at Mike’s.”

“Okay,” Will said slowly, realizing that after months of lying, he had finally been caught. Nancy and Jonathan must’ve finally traded notes and realized Will was never there. Shit. “I was at Max’s.” Will admitted. He closely watched as the facial expressions on his brother’s and mother’s faces scarcely changed. Will gulped. “As a friend. I slept over as a friend,” Will said, emphasizing the word ‘friend’ with a stiff hand gesture.

This statement caused shifts in the blank looks he was receiving, but Will didn’t know if he liked these incredulous looks any better. “You’ve been sleeping over at Max’s as a friend?” Jonathan asked, his tone cynical as a mean, disbelieving smile spread across his face. “Max. The girl you have a thing for. That Max.”

Will knew he must look like the biggest liar on planet earth. The craziest thing was that he was actually telling the truth this time. “Yes?” Will replied, wincing at his own answer. There was no way they were going to believe him.

They didn’t.

“Will,” Joyce said, her face stern. Will had never seen her look this serious before, especially not towards him. “You need to stop lying.”

It was way too late for that. “I’m not lying about this,” Will said earnestly. “We’ve just been hanging out. Nothing more than that!”

“Then why did you lie and say you were sleeping over at the Wheeler’s house?” Jonathan demanded, his voice slightly raising in volume. Damn, Will thought to himself, why is he so mad?!

“Because I knew Mom wouldn’t let me sleep over at a girl’s place!”

“Yes, because of things like this!” Joyce said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Tell me right now, William-“ Fuck. She’s using the full name? “-what were you doing at Max’s place?”

Will gave them a weak shrug. “Hanging out?”

If looks could kill, Will would be six feet under right now. Both Joyce and Jonathan were giving him scathing looks, causing Will to sink lower in his seat.

“We know everything,” Jonathan said eerily. Will started to bounce his leg up and down under the table. “We know what you and Max have been doing.”

“This is your last chance,” Joyce said, her voice sounding ominous. “Tell us the truth.”

Will swallowed nervously. Ain’t no way he was doing that. He was gonna lie til he died.

“I am telling the truth.”

Silence. Absolute silence.

“So,” Jonathan said, breaking the silence. Judgment oozed off of him as he looked down at Will. “Making out is a friendly thing now?”

Will felt his jaw drop. How did they know about the straight experiments?

“How did you-?” Will cut himself off as a single name came to his mind. Lucas. “Why is Lucas telling you guys shit?” Will asked, sounding offended. He knew Lucas was mad and had a valid reason to be upset, but what the hell? Telling his mom was a low blow.

“Why shouldn’t he?” Jonathan asked with a defensive tone.

“Will,” Joyce interjected, her tone calm. “Everyone knows.”

Will felt cornered. “Okay,” he said before exhaling a shaky breath. “I know it seems like I’m lying a lot-“

“You are lying a lot,” Jonathan interrupted with a look of disapproval.

“-but I swear, we kissed for the first time yesterday!” Will explained, feeling frantic. “We’ve been hanging out as friends before that, I swear!”

Neither of his relatives responded. They just continued to stare at him, skeptical.

Will felt like he was scrambling. “You guys told me to go for it, so I did! I went for it last night!”

“You promise you made your move last night?” Joyce asked, her tone sounding uncertain.

“Yes!”

Joyce and Jonathan shared a long look in silence before turning back to him. Will could tell that neither of them fully believed him. Pathetically, Will felt like crying.

“I’m going to keep it real with you,” Jonathan said, speaking in a way Will had never heard directed his way before. He sounded disappointed and tired. “Everyone is under the assumption that you and Max have been hiding your relationship for months now.”

Will shook his head. “But we haven’t.”

“Yeah, but-“

“So, who cares?”

It was Jonathan and Joyce’s turn for their jaws to drop. They were both watching Will with wide shocked eyes. They were looking at him like they had never seen him before.

Will was so confused. What was he doing that was making them so mad?

“Lucas,” Jonathan blurted, his eyes still wide as he spoke. “Lucas cares.”

Will thought back to Lucas breaking down in tears and running away. Guilt washed over him.

“We didn’t… we didn’t mean to hurt him,” Will said, his eyes now glued to the dining room table.

“He thinks you guys went behind his back,” Jonathan explained, his tone softening at the sight of his brother looking downcast. “Everyone thinks that. And in a way, you guys did.”

“Did you and Max not think to talk to Lucas before getting together?” Joyce asked with furrowed brows.

“It didn’t really cross our minds.”

“You’re dating your friend’s ex-girlfriend and they just broke up… but it didn’t cross your mind at all?”

Will felt dumb when he admitted: “No. Not really.”

The three fell into a silence while Will mentally looked back at everything with a fresh new perspective. Of course, everyone is mad! Why wouldn’t they be? Will and Max probably looked like the worst friends to ever friend on planet earth. Lucas probably thought they were purposefully hiding shit from him! We never even thought of this shit being an issue, Will thought to himself in a panic, because we never saw the relationship as a real thing!

“Oh my god,” Will muttered to himself, causing Joyce and Jonathan to instantly glue their eyes onto him. “No wonder he was that upset! That’s why Argyle, Robin, and Eddie told us to talk to Lucas!”

“Wait,” Jonathan said, interrupting Will’s muttering. “When did you guys talk to them?”

“Last night,” Will said, his panic leaking into his voice. “They were at Eddie’s trailer.”

Jonathan let out a breathy laugh. “I… I need to talk to Argyle.”

With that, Jonathan got up, grabbed his keys, and left the house.

“I need to talk to Max,” Will said, but before he could get up, Joyce placed her hand on his.

“Absolutely not,” Joyce said, causing Will to sit down immediately. “You’re grounded.”

“But-“

“No buts. You’ve been sneaking around, Will,” Joyce said sternly. Will shifted uncomfortably under his mother’s gaze. “You’re housebound for the entire weekend.”

Will let out a frustrated noise before getting up from the table and dejectedly trekking to his bedroom.

However, on his journey there, he saw something, or rather, someone. 

Eleven.

The girl was staring at him with wide eyes, like she’d just been caught. And from where she was standing—behind the kitchen door with her ear pressed against it—Will would bet everything he owned that she had.

Will felt something ugly bubble up inside him as the two continued their silent stare off. “You’re probably really happy about this, huh?”

El didn’t respond. She just continued to stare in silence.

Will hated it.

“Whatever,” Will grumbled before stomping to his room and slamming the door shut.

Dustin was pissed. It was a new emotion for him. He’d been annoyed, frustrated, and even on edge for the last few weeks, but this feeling? It was new. 

He was enraged.

Dustin watched as Lucas picked at his lunch from across the table. He’d never seen Lucas this depressed. And that made him even angrier. Lucas was too sad and too heartbroken to be pissed, so Dustin decided he would be pissed on his behalf.

“El walkied me before I left,” Lucas said, breaking Dustin away from his thoughts. “She snuck into Will’s room while he was showering to do it.”

“She’s like a spy.”

“No shit,” Lucas said with a small smile. That smile eased Dustin’s internal rage a bit. “She walkied me just to tell me intel she got from spying on the Byers. Apparently, Will is grounded for the entire weekend.”

“Good riddance,” Dustin said before taking a big bite out of his sandwich. He didn’t even know he could feel this much rage towards Will. Nice, sweet Will… It seemed illegal to be mad at him, really. That was, until Will changed. “Maybe El was right to be a bitch to Will.”

Lucas shifted in his seat, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Really? I mean… El and Mike both were out of line.”

“Were they though?” Dustin said, putting down his sandwich. “Maybe they were onto something. Maybe they weren’t overreacting when they said Max and Will were being rude to them.”

Lucas shrugged. “I can’t see them being overtly rude like that. Not in the ways Mike and El described.”

“They’re cheaters, Lucas.”

Lucas winced. Dustin felt a bit bad, but he had to get it through his friend’s head. Will and Max weren’t good friends, and they weren’t worth defending.

“I just feel like Mike and El overreact a lot,” Lucas countered.

Dustin shook his head in disbelief. “I think we don’t give them enough credit,” he said as he thought back to all of the complaints the young couple had about Will and Max for the last few weeks. Dustin dismissed them as sensitive and crazy, but maybe he was the crazy one for refusing to accept the reality of the situation. “And I think we have been giving Will and Max too much credit.”

“I don’t know,” Lucas said, going back to picking at his food. His eyes were glued to the food in front of him as he avoided eye contact with Dustin. “I don’t even know if I can talk to them right now. I’m really embarrassed.”

“Why?”

“I just acted like a big baby in front of them,” Lucas mumbled with a weak shrug.

Rage engulfed Dustin again. “You weren’t a baby,” Dustin said firmly. “You were hurt.”

Lucas didn’t answer verbally. Instead, he just gave Dustin another sad shrug.

“Don’t worry, Lucas,” Dustin said, feeling a wave of determination. “I’ll talk to them for you.”

Nancy must’ve been too busy at Dustin’s house stressing over the Will and Max situation to have noticed anything amiss because when she got home that night, she found a note buried in her jean pocket.

‘Fatty Scoops, tomorrow at 1 PM. We have things to discuss - Erica’

When that note got into her pocket, Nancy had no clue. Why Erica wanted to meet with her and only her, Nancy had no idea. The two girls had never really spoken one-on-one before, so Nancy had no idea what to expect from this secret meeting. She still decided to go, though.

When Nancy arrived at Fatty Scoops, Erica was standing outside patiently waiting.

“Hi Erica,” Nancy said with a small wave.

“Finally, you’re here. I’ve been waiting forever. You think I got all day?”

Perhaps she wasn’t waiting patiently after all.

After purchasing both herself and Erica some ice cream, the two girls sat in the corner of the store and began their discussion.

“Why me?” Nancy said after stabbing her mint chocolate ice cream with her spoon.

Erica glanced down at Nancy’s cup and grimaced. “You like that shit?”

Nancy frowned. “What’s wrong with mint chocolate?”

Erica shook her head, disgust still showing on her face. “Only scary people like eating toothpaste-flavored ice cream. Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

Nancy didn’t even know what to say in response to that. “Can you tell me why you gave me that note last night?”

“You’re smarter than the rest of them,” Erica said with a shrug. “You’re not buying into this shit show.”

“I’m assuming you’re not either?”

“Nope.”

The two girls stared at each other for a moment. Nancy let out a sigh. “I’ve heard from Steve and Robin that you’re more observant than you let on.” 

A smug smile spread across the little girl’s face. “People underestimate me.”

Nancy smiled back. “I can relate.”

“I think we have a lot in common.”

“I think so too.”

Erica gave Nancy an approving look. “I gave you that message because I think we can discover the truth together,” Erica explained before licking her blue moon ice cream. “The others are too involved, too emotional, or too stupid to really get down to it.”

“What do you think is going on?”

“There’s no way Will and Max are together,” Erica said, conspiratorially. “I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t seem right.”

“I don’t know,” Nancy said. “They’re an odd pairing, for sure, but I’ve seen them flirt. They’re definitely into each other.”

“Something just doesn’t feel right about this situation.”

“I know!” Nancy said, her voice sounding desperate. “I was going crazy last night! They were all just going along with this crazy plot when it doesn’t make sense at all!”

“Mike and El didn’t seem to believe it,” Erica said. “I was watching them last night. They just seemed uncomfortable.”

Nancy put down her spoon. Erica was right. Mike and El were uncomfortable yesterday. They weren’t angry like Dustin, sad like Lucas, or irrationally immature like the two have been towards Will and Max for weeks now. Instead, they were quiet and uncomfortable.

“They’re the least angry out of everyone,” Nancy said, her voice hushed. She felt like she just cracked the code. “Which really makes no sense. Erica, they’ve been against Max and Will getting together for weeks now.”

Erica licked her ice cream and hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe they know something we don’t.”

Nancy and Erica shared a look. That was it. Mike and El were the key to everything. 

And so, after finishing their ice creams, the two girls ventured to the Wheeler house. It was time to have a good talk with Mike.

“Do you think he’ll spill?” Erica asked as the two girls entered the front door.

“I can make Mike talk,” Nancy said, closing the door behind them.

Before Erica could respond, however, Nancy noticed something peculiar. Eleven’s shoes were by the front door.

“El’s here,” Nancy said, her eyes glued to the shoes on the floor.

“Good,” Erica said, kicking off her own sneakers. “We can interrogate her too.”

“They’re probably in the basement,” Nancy said, leading Erica to the basement door. As they walked closer, they began to hear what sounded like an argument. The closer they got, the louder the voices became. 

Erica and Nancy shared a look. Nancy put her finger up to her lips, causing Erica to nod in response. They were about to partake in some serious spying shit.

The girls tiptoed slowly down the stairs, carefully avoiding making any noise. And just like that, the noises morphed into proper words.

“We did this, Mike!” El cried. “We did all of this! We were mean about them and now everyone hates them because of us!”

“You can’t seriously think that!” Mike responded. Nancy and Erica could hear that one of them was angrily pacing around, the sound of their feet making impact with the floor echoing across the room. “We barely did anything!”

“Don’t lie!”

“Okay… we did do some things,” Mike admitted, sounding sheepish. “But we didn’t make them sneak around behind Lucas’ back! That’s all on them! Not us!”

“But we both know they weren’t sneaking around, Mike.”

Nancy and Erica shared a look. That was news to them.

“Do we, though?”

“Yes!” El said. “Will told me-“

“Will was probably lying to you!”

“Do you really think Will would lie?”

There was a silence.

“If we were nicer,” El said, her voice slightly shaking. “Maybe they would’ve felt more okay being public about their relationship. Us being mean is why they felt like they had to hide things.”

“Haven’t they been sneaking around for months?” Mike asked.

“You don’t really believe that.”

Mike let out a sigh. “No, I don’t,” Mike admitted. “But Max-“

“What is your issue with Max?” El asked, suddenly sounding annoyed. “I get that you’re jealous of her but it’s more than that.”

Jealous? Nancy and Erica shared a look. It seemed that Erica also found the word choice odd.

Mike was silent for a moment. “She knows.”

“Knows what?”

“About my feelings for Will.”

Nancy’s jaw dropped and Erica’s eyes bulged.

“How do you know?” El asked, now sounding concerned.

“She just says things to me… she makes fun of me,” Mike said, sounding embarrassed. “Remember that talk I had with her while you were in Chicago? Max practically rubbed it in my face that her and Will liked each other.”

“That… doesn’t sound like Max.”

“Well, she did it.”

The two were silent for a moment. “Does Will know about your feelings for Max?” Mike asked.

What?! Nancy and Erica shared another look. This time, both of their mouths were wide open in shock. 

Before El could even respond, Nancy grabbed Erica’s arm and gestured upstairs. Erica nodded and the two girls snuck out of the basement stairwell.

Once upstairs, Erica turned and gave Nancy a crazed look. “They’re dating to cover up… you know what!” Erica said in a hushed tone. “That’s why they were all anti Will and Max! It was never about thinking they weren’t good together or whatever their excuses were!”

Nancy held her hand to her forehead and shook her head in disbelief. “This is so much more complicated than I ever could’ve imagined.”

“What do we do?”

“I need to have a talk with Mike,” Nancy said, removing her hand from her head. “Maybe you could talk to El?”

Erica let out a big huff. “Yeah, I’ll talk to her.”

“Don’t tell anyone!”

“Obviously,” Erica said with an eye roll.

Argyle was sober.

Bro wasn't California sober. Nah. Bro was zaza sober. Zober, if you will. No weed. No eddies. No nothing.

Many assume that Argyle was a chill dude. A go-with-the flow type of dude. The reality was that Argyle kind of got anxious a lot. Like he used to cry during tests at school, that type of anxiety. The weed mellowed him out, for sure, but deep down he was still that nervous wreck.

That was why when Argyle went into work today, he knew it’d be rough. He ran out of weed last night when he smoked with the gays in Eddie’s trailer, and he wouldn’t get another stash until tomorrow. So, for now, Argyle was sober.

And so, when Jonathan barged into Surfer Boy Pizza with a scary look on his face, Argyle immediately got spooked.

“Hey man,” Argyle greeted, feeling his heart pounding as Jonathan stomped to the cashier counter.

“Hi,” Jonathan greeted back. His tone was harsh and his gaze was analytical as he glared at Argyle. Angry Jonathan was kind of hot.

Argyle wasn’t sure if his nerves came from finding Jonathan hot or from Jonathan being mad him.

“Welcome to Surfer Boy Pizza! Can I-“

“I’m not here to order anything.”

Argyle blinked. “Then why are you here, man?” Argyle asked, his brows furrowing. “You don’t have a shift today.”

Jonathan crossed his arms over his chest. The movement emphasizing his biceps. Argyle tried not to stare. “We need to talk.”

That didn’t sound good.

“Bro,” Argyle said, “Are you good?”

“You’ve been hiding things from me.”

Argyle did a quick search around the restaurant only to find it empty. He then turned back to Jonathan. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

Argyle gulped. He knew this day would come eventually. He spent too many weed seshes checking the dude out and finally, the day had come. Argyle felt his stomach churning. This was it. This was the end. He was too obvious. His heartbeat was so loud. Was it always this loud? Did little Byers tell Jonathan? He must have! It was so over. He just had to say it. This was it.

“I’m pansexual.”

Jonathan blinked. “Huh?”

“I’m pansexual?” Argyle repeated with a frown.

Jonathan just looked confused. “What?”

“Bro… I’m pansexual!” Argyle said again, his voice now raising in volume.

Jonathan scratched the back of his neck and peered around the restaurant. He turned back to Argyle after confirming it was empty. “Is that like when you’re into anyone?”

“Yeah, man,” Argyle said with a nod. Jonathan didn’t seem to be mad anymore. Maybe he’s an ally? “I dated a guy before back in Cali.”

Jonathan slowly nodded. “That’s cool, man,” Jonathan said, sounding earnest. He then shook his head, looking lost. “But what does that got to do with anything?”

“Are you like… are you like accepting me?”

“Yeah, bro. Love who you wanna love.”

Argyle let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, good.”

“I wasn’t here about that, if that’s what you thought,” Jonathan said, “I was upset because you knew about Will and Max, but didn’t tell me.”

Argyle blinked. Oh. That made a lot more sense. “Oh!” Argyle said as an easy smile spread across his face. “I thought little Byers outed me to you!” Argyle said with a laugh. Wow. Being sober made his mind work in mysterious ways. “I was like damn! That’s messed up!”

“Why would Will know about you being pansexual?” Jonathan slowly asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Argyle felt his jaw drop. Oh fuck. He’d done it now. He said too much.

“You know!” Argyle said with a nervous laugh.

Jonathan still looked confused. “Know what?”

This was a disaster. He shouldn’t say anything. He was going to say something.

“Okay,” Argyle said before taking a deep breath. “I’m not supposed to say anything, but Wax isn’t what they seem to be!”

“Wax?”

“Will and Max.”

“What do you mean?”

“Bro. Just think.”

Jonathan looked like he was thinking a bit too hard.

Argyle didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know,” Argyle said with a shrug. “Just ask Will what he thinks about pansexuals.”

“Okay,” Jonathan said slowly, still looking lost. “I’ll ask him that.”

After crying his heart out last night, all Lucas felt was numbness. He felt completely and utterly numb.

And guilty. Lucas felt really guilty. Everyone was mad on his behalf. Dustin, specifically, was raging in a way he’d never seen before, and it was all because of him.

He knew logically that it was actually Will and Max’s fault for sneaking around and maybe possibly having a cheating scandal, but as Lucas watched everyone argue and debate, he just felt bad. He brought attention to it, after all. If Lucas had kept it between the three of them, none of this would’ve happened.

He just wished he had stayed and had a chat with Will and Max instead of crying and running away. It was way too late for that now if whatever this was said anything.

This being the argument Lucas walked in on in the Family Video Store.

“What are you guys hiding?” Steve demanded from behind the cashier. 

“Dude, we told you! We aren’t hiding anything!” Eddie replied, looking exasperated.

“Then why did you call Robin last night?”

Robin, who was next to Steve organizing some paperwork, just groaned. “I told you already! Eddie just wanted to chat!”

“About what?” Steve asked, looking like he was a second away from yelling. “What’s so important that it requires Robin to leave her own house so you two can chat in private?”

Eddie and Robin shared a look. What the look meant, Lucas had no clue. Robin nodded and Eddie leaned over the counter towards Steve. “Come here, I’ll tell you.”

Steve looked confused as he leaned over. Whatever Eddie whispered in his ear must’ve been a good excuse, because immediately afterwards, Steve leaned back and said: “OHHHHHHH!”

“See?” Robin said, turning back to her files with a nod. “What did I tell you? Nothing shady.”

“You too?” Steve said, pointing at Eddie.

Eddie responded with a nod.

Suddenly, a sheepish expression washed over Steve’s face. “Whoops… I made everyone think that you guys and Argyle were in on it…”

Robin and Eddie shared another look before saying in unison: “In on what?”

Lucas decided to make his presence known and walked towards the counter. “We thought you guys knew about Will and Max.”

Robin and Eddie shared another look. This one was odd. Lucas’ eyes narrowed as he watched them. Why did they look so panicked?

And it seemed like Steve caught it too. “What the hell was that?” Steve asked, his eyes darting between the two teens. He then turned towards Lucas. “You saw that, right?”

Lucas nodded. “Oh, I saw it alright.”

“Look,” Robin said as she set down a pile of papers on the counter and turned towards Lucas. “I can’t say, but just know that we’re dealing with it.”

“With what?” Lucas asked, distantly feeling the ugly emotion of anger break through his numbness. “Them sneaking around behind my back?”

Eddie shook his head. “It’s not like that.”

“Why would you guys know that?” Steve pointed out.

“And what is it like then?” Lucas asked with a frown. “I know what I saw. I saw them kissing.”

Robin and Eddie shared another look Lucas couldn’t decipher. Robin turned back to Lucas. “Lucas, I think me and you should talk alone, okay?”

With that, Lucas followed the older girl into the employee room in the back. The two sat down on some crusty old couch and stared at each other in silence.

“So?” Lucas said, breaking the silence. “What do I not understand about the situation?”

Robin sighed. “I know it’s hard to believe, but they really didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s a huge misunderstanding.”

“How would you know?” Lucas asked. He was lost on how Robin was even involved at all. “How long have you known about them?”

“I really only got a confirmation last night,” Robin said. “Me and Eddie both did. They only got together yesterday.”

“They could be lying to you.”

“Trust me. They’re not,” Robin then looked conflicted. “I don’t know how to say this without breaking their trust…”

Lucas watched in silence as Robin struggled to come up with words to say. Eventually, Robin began to speak:

“Everyone used to think I was dating some guys in my grade,” Robin started. Lucas frowned. He had no idea where she was going with this. “I’d deny it and they wouldn’t believe me. I was just one of those girls who vibed with the bros, you know? Guys even took it the wrong way. Hell, even Steve thought I was into him for a bit, but I wasn’t.” 

“What do you mean?” Lucas asked. “What does this have to do with-“

“I’m getting to that,” Robin said. “The thing was… I couldn’t be into Steve or guys like Steve no matter how hard I tried. And trust me, I’ve tried. He’s my best friend now… I didn’t want to lose him, but I had feelings for someone else.”

Lucas frowned. “You like Eddie?”

Immediately, Robin burst out laughing. “What? Oh my god, no. No way! I was into a girl.”

Lucas blinked. First Mike, then El, and now Robin! Just how many people in Hawkins were gay? “You’re gay too?!”

Robin’s eyes widened. “What?”

Lucas’ eyes widened as well as he realized what he had just said. “Shit! Forget I said anything-“

“I thought Will and Max didn’t come out to you, yet?!”

Silence. Absolute silence.

Will. Max. Come out. Gay. What?

“Huh?” Lucas said, his mind feeling jumbled.

Robin covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh shit,” she said, the words sounding muffled.

It felt as though the world was moving in slow motion as Lucas processed the information Robin had just revealed. “They’re gay…? But then why are they together?” Lucas wondered if it was similar to Mike and El and they just hadn’t realized they were gay.

Robin removed her hands from her face. “They’re not together!”

“But-“

“It’s all fake! It’s to protect themselves!”

In an instant, Lucas understood what Robin meant. Every homophobic comment he’d ever heard thrown at Will came to the forefront of his mind in that moment. Every homophobic rumor regarding Will’s disappearance came to mind. Every insult Will used to cry about to him when they were kids came to mind—those insults were from his own father. Will grew up hearing the vitriol, and Max probably did too, so of course, they wanted to protect themselves. Of course, they were scared. Why wouldn’t they be? It’s not like Hawkins or even the world was kind to people like them.

“Oh,” Lucas said, his voice breathy. “Why didn’t they just tell me that? I would’ve understood.” And he really did. As a black person, he knew how it felt to be hated for something he couldn’t control. He empathized with the struggle.

“They’re really scared,” Robin explained with a sad frown. 

“I need to talk to them,” Lucas said, standing up from the couch.

Robin stood up as well. “I think you should talk to Max first. She’ll be more honest with you. Will seems way more resistant and scared.”

“Yeah… he was bullied a lot for it growing up,” Lucas said, a wave of sadness washing over him as he thought about Will being closeted throughout all of the bullying he faced. It must’ve hurt him immensely, especially since when the boys would defend Will, they’d defend him by claiming Will wasn’t gay at all. “No wonder he’s scared.” Lucas shook his head as guilt bubbled up inside him. “He probably thinks we’d hate him.”

“Would you?” Robin asked, concern marring her features. “Would Mike?”

Lucas thought about Mike and that boy’s own sexuality issues and shook his head. “No. None of us would, but I get why they’d assume otherwise.”

With that, Lucas began to walk out of the room. Before Lucas could leave the employee room, Robin stopped him. “Wait. If you didn’t know about Will and Max being gay… then who did you think was gay?”

Lucas turned around and let out an awkward laugh. “Well… it’s just a hypothesis…”

Will was going stir crazy in his room. It’d only been eight hours, but he already wanted out. He desperately needed to talk to Max, and the phone was out of the question. Like he’d talk about gay shit on a line that El or Jonathan or his mother could intercept. No, he had to talk in person.

And that was exactly why he was sneaking out. 

As Will climbed out the window, he questioned his own sanity. Since when did Will ‘goody two shoes’ Byers climb out windows to sneak out of the house? This was completely out of character. 

Well, everything Will had been doing in the last 24 hours had been out of character. Kissing a girl, smoking weed, getting yelled at by his mom, getting grounded, sneaking out—Will was off the rails. In general, he felt like his life was going off the rails with or without him acting all out of sorts. So, why can’t he act rash? Why did he need to stick to the rules? Will was tired of it. He was tired of it all.

And so, Will jumped down into the bushes, ran to his bike, and biked away to Max’s trailer. Fuck consequences.

When Max opened her door, she looked completely stunned. “I thought you said you got grounded?”

“I did! I snuck out,” Will said, bypassing a shocked Max and walking straight to her snack cabinet. Will grabbed a bag of Pringles and began munching away. “I wanted to say more on the call, but El was spying on me. I could hear her breathing. She was using the kitchen phone.”

Max shut the trailer door and watched as Will chowed down on the chips. “Did Mrs. Byers ban you from the kitchen, too?”

“I’m stress eating,” Will said with a mouth full of chips.

“Stop stuffing your face and tell me what happened when you got your ass beat.”

“They just yelled at me.”

“Okay, then when you got your ass verbally beat.”

Will swallowed his food and began explaining. He explained his horrible lying skills, Jonathan being irrationally mad, and-

“They all think we’ve been sneaking around for months!?” Max exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock. “That’s insane!”

“I know!”

“No wonder Lucas was so upset.”

“Yeah,” Will said with a frown. “I feel super bad.”

“We should’ve told Lucas,” Max said, shaking her head. “We should’ve told him a long time ago-“

“Yeah. You guys should’ve.”

Max and Will turned around, only to see Dustin standing by the entrance of the trailer. Nothing but anger showed on his face as he shut the door and walked towards the two shocked teens. 

Dustin turned to Will, who was still clutching the chips bag tight, and gave him a dirty look. “Wow! Look who’s here! Aren’t you supposed to be grounded?”

Will flinched at the harshness of his tone. “I… really wanted some chips.”

Max winced at the lie. 

Dustin let out an incredulous laugh. “Wow. So, you snuck out? After everything you guys did, you still got the nerve to meet up behind everyone’s backs, huh?”

“Look,” Max interjected. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I? I know everything. I know how Will has been sneaking over since winter break-“

“It’s not like that!” Will interrupted. “Believe me-“

“Why should I believe you?!” Dustin demanded, his voice cracking. “Do you guys know how much you hurt Lucas? Do you?”

Max and Will shared a look of pure discomfort. “We didn’t mean to,” Will said, his voice shaking. “I swear! If we knew Lucas would’ve been hurt, we wouldn’t have done it!”

Dustin’s eyes darted between the two of them. He looked like he didn’t believe them at all. “Then why have you guys been sleeping together since winter break?”

Their jaws dropped. “Whoa?!” Max exclaimed with wide eyes.

“Sleeping together?!” Will’s voice cracked. “That’s insane, man!”

“Then what have you two been doing this entire time?” Dustin asked in a mocking manner. “You’re telling me that you two have been having friendly sleepovers this entire time? I’ve seen you guys flirting for over a month now!”

“We’ve been talking,” Max said, her voice small. “I know it doesn’t sound true-“

“That’s because it doesn’t.”

“-but it’s true!” Max said, her eyes beginning to water. “I’d never cheat on Lucas! I never meant to hurt him!”

“Then explain the timeline!” Dustin demanded. “Explain everything, actually!”

Both Max and Will went silent, unable to answer Dustin’s question without exposing the truth behind Operation Wax.

The silence was tense. Dustin took a step back, looking at the both of them like he’d never seen them before. He let out a mean laugh of disbelief. “So, that’s that, then?” Dustin said, shaking his head back and forth. “I get it. I really do.” Dustin walked towards the door and opened it. He turned around to face the two teens, his face showing nothing but disgust and betrayal. “You guys aren’t who I thought you were.”

And with that, Dustin left, slamming the door on his way out.

Max let out a shaky breath and covered her face with her hands. Meanwhile, Will stared at the door in silent shock.

“You should go,” Max said, her voice wobbling. Will looked over at the girl, only to see tears streaming down her face. She looked devastated. “Go before your mom catches you.”

Will nodded and left in silence. What else was there to say? 

When Will left the trailer, he turned around, only to see Max standing by the opened door of her trailer, practically sobbing. 

“Bye, Will,” Max said. She then slammed the door shut, locking herself inside. 

Will took a deep breath, grabbed his bike, and biked home. He felt numb. Must be the shock.

Will felt nothing as he biked home. He felt nothing as he climbed up his house. He felt nothing when he crawled back into his room through the window. He felt-

“William Byers.”

Will, who had just finished sneaking back into his room, turned to see his mother sitting on his bed with an enraged expression on her face. Fuck.

“How dare you?” Joyce said, standing up from the bed. “I came in here to check on you and I find the room empty with the window open. Do you know how worried I was?”

Will didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing.

His silence didn’t ease his mother’s anger. She shook her head in disbelief. “What the hell has gotten into you recently?”

Will remained silent.

“I want to believe you, but you’re making it so hard when you’re acting like… like… like I don’t even know!” Joyce exclaimed, the increase in volume making Will flinch. “I don’t even know who you are anymore, Will! You’re not acting like yourself!”

Will felt his insides bubbling up. He felt pure unadulterated anger. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair.

“Being mean to Eleven, sneaking out, hurting Lucas? None of this is you, Will!” Joyce said, her eyes watering up. “Just tell me what’s wrong! I know something’s wrong! You can tell me-“

The dam inside Will shattered into pieces.

“Maybe I’m just a horrible fucking person!” Will yelled, cutting off his mom. Joyce stared in shock, his outburst rendering her silent. “Maybe the Upside Down ruined me!”

Joyce shook her head in response. Will ignored her.

“I can’t do anything right!”

“That’s not true,” Joyce said, her voice shaking. “You’re not ruined, Will-“

“You’re going to hate me no matter what I do!” Will interjected, feeling his face heat up as he bellowed. “So, what’s the fucking point?”

“What?” Joyce said, tears escaping her eyes. “I’d never hate-“

“Just leave,” Will said in a hushed tone, his eyes glued to the floor. “I need you to leave.”

Joyce’s lips wobbled as she left Will’s room in silence. Once she was out, she turned around, only to see an angry Will standing by the opened door, his eyes wet with unshed tears.

“Will-“

Before Joyce could finish her sentence, Will slammed the door shut, locking himself inside.