"What are you going to do then, just be alone for the rest of your life?"
"The Snowball is such bullshit."
It's been Dustin's mantra since they first announced the dance in late November. They're all 11 now, and the curly haired boy has asked every girl from Sarah Johnson to Emily Fitzgibbon without the slightest bit of luck.
"I'm telling you, Will, it's these stupid, goddamn teeth."
"Your teeth are fine," Will assures. "You said yourself they're coming in."
"Yeah, but I need them to come in now, or I'll never get a date for this stupid dance."
"So, what?"
"What do you mean so what?"
"I mean, it's just a dance, right? There are like five every year. You've got plenty of time."
"Yeah," Dustin sighs, exasperated, "but this is the Snowball. The big one. It's like prom for middle school."
Dustin flops on the couch next to Will, hat askew on his head. They're at his house for once; his Mom's at work, Jonathan's at work, and for a rare moment it's just the two of them. Lately, Mike and Lucas have been spending a lot of time together, bonding over Star Wars and the fact that their homes are nearly side by side. Will and Dustin can't quite match it, and while they're still a party in every sense of the word, at times, they still end up separated, and it can get a little lonely.
"I bet that son-of-a-bitch Lucas has a date," Dustin fumes.
"Kathy," Will confirms.
"Kathy with the tits?!"
"Mhm."
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
Will knows that coming out to Mike didn't change things. They're still friends—good friends. But spending less time with him hurts, and not just because of his stupid crush. In a selfish way, he misses being the most important person in Mike's life. He misses late night phone calls, and Mike jumping through his bedroom window to avoid his dad. He misses sleepovers in the blanket fort, just the two of them, and Mike sacrificing his favorite pizza in favor of Will's. All the stupid things that made him fall for him in the first place.
"What about you?" Dustin asks.
"What about me?"
"You thinking about asking anyone to the dance?"
Will shrugs his shoulders.
"Nah," he answers.
"Is it 'cause of Mike?"
The smaller boy feels his face scrunch up.
"What does me asking someone to the dance have to do with Mike?"
"I mean, you like him right?"
The way Will's blood runs cold could be compared to being dunked in ice.
"I-I don't—"
His stomach drops like being on a rollercoaster and he leans forward to fight off the nausea. Did Mike tell? He wouldn't do that would he? Will's heart is racing in his chest and he's suddenly developed a stutter and can't seem to stop.
"W-why, I-I I w-wouldn't—"
Dustin sits up and goes to put a hand on his back.
"Hey—"
In an act that shocks both of them, Will slaps his hand out of the air.
"Get out." His voice is firm. Tears are suddenly threatening to spill over his cheeks that are splotched red in embarrassment, but his voice is firm. He stands up. "Get out of my house. Go home."
Mike had to have told. Will's been so careful about keeping his feelings a secret. Sure, people tease him about being queer, but Mike's the only person he's told, and he's told absolutely nobody about his crush on Mike. Which means Mike must have figured it out on his own and told Dustin, and what if Dustin told Lucas? What if that's why Mike and Lucas spend so much time together now? What if Mike's freaked out and doesn't want Will around anymore? It's one thing to have a friend that's queer, it's another to have that same friend like you.
"Whoa. Will. I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. I just assumed—"
"Assumed..?!?"
"Assumed?! Mike didn't tell you?"
"Mike didn't tell me?" Dustin parrots. "Tell me what?"
Will and Dustin stare at each other for a long time, Will full of heated and heartbroken suspicion, and Dustin full of innocent confusion. Will taps himself on the chest.
"That I'm...you know...that I don't like girls," Will finishes lamely.
"First of all, no, and second of all, what the hell, you tell Mike, but you don't tell me?" Dustin asks, offended.
"Well, apparently, you already know!"
"So! I still like to be told things!"
Silence hangs heavy in the air for a moment before Dustin pats the couch beside him.
"Sit, I'm not gonna tell anyone, I promise."
Will hesitates.
"Will. Friends don't lie."
Just like that, all the fight goes out of the smaller boy, because his friend is right. It's been their pact from the beginning—and if he can't believe in that, then he can't believe in anything. He sighs and flops on the couch, boneless and suddenly tired from his rush of adrenaline.
"Look, I didn't mean to upset you," the curly haired boy starts, "I've just seen the way you are around him. Mike, I mean."
"Oh my God," Will covers his face with his hands.
Dustin's smart, but sometimes has the tendency to be oblivious. If he's noticed he has a crush on Mike, who else has?
"Don't worry, I know what you're thinking. I don't think anyone else has noticed. I didn't notice until he started spending more time with Lucas, you know? But like, how you two sometimes still share a sleeping bag or a bike, or how you still have all of Mike's shitty drawings and campaign ideas hung up in your room, or how the two of you lift the arm between your seats at the movies...stuff like that...it's different. I never payed attention before, but then Lucas was there, and I noticed."
Will hadn't even payed attention to any of that. They're so engrained into his daily life that he had taken them for granted. His heart is plastered along Mike's wall along with all of his drawings dating back to Kindergarten, his soul housed between a blanket fort and Castle Byers and an extra cheese pizza split between two best friends.
Will chuckles, and it sounds a little bit sad even to his ears.
"When we were five, we were gonna get married."
"You were?"
"Me and Mike. We met and Kindergarten. And we used to talk about getting married. I've liked him since I was five, Dustin."
Dustin stares at him, toothless mouth wide open, brain clearly going full speed as he processes the information.
"Does Mike like boys too?!"
Will shakes his head.
"I don't think so. We were little then and didn't really know what married meant. And when I told him about me, he definitely liked girls. He doesn't mind me being..." Will sighs, because Mike gets mad when Will calls himself a queer or a fag, "...me...but he's not like me either."
"So...what are you gonna do about it?"
"Do about it?" Will asks incredulously.
"Yeah, are you gonna tell him?"
"Are you out of your mind? No! No, I'm not gonna tell him!"
"Well, are you gonna try to find someone to go to the Snow Ball with?"
"It's not that easy, Dustin! If you haven't heard, being queer isn't exactly normal."
"What are you going to do then, just be alone for the rest of your life?"
Will shrugs.
"I mean, I guess."
"That's sad, Will." Dustin says.
They sit there quietly for a moment.
"You know what!" The curly haired boy declares with sudden fervor.
"What?"
"We may not get dates to the stupid dance, but dammit, Will Byers, we're gonna find you a boyfriend."
"I...Dustin...no."
"It doesn't have to be now. I don't expect to find a girlfriend right now. But, there are other people like you out there, you know. And we're gonna find them! Maybe it'll be in high school, or in college, or when we're grown up. But you're not going to spend forever alone, Will. You're too good for that."
Dustin scoots in closer and throws an arm around Will's shoulders.
"Just call me Wing-Man Dustin. You may not find love with Mike, but dammit, if it's out there I'm gonna find it."
Will covers his face with his hands again.
"Oh my God."
This is story isn't mine in case you think it is :)
The original creator AND owner is Ryomou!!
-Carrot