I think part of what stings so bad about Mike's non-reaction to Will's coming out and realization that Will has feelings for him is that I have actually been Mike in that situation.
When I was 11 years old, my childhood best friend who I met in kindergarten (who later came out as a trans man, so I will be referring to him with he/him pronouns) came out as a lesbian to an audience of two people: me, and our other friend who I'll call A. It was very emotional. It was a tear-filled coming out much like Will's, just with fewer people, and on A's backyard trampoline. And A and I met the confession with immediate comfort; assurances that there was nothing wrong with being lesbian, that our friendship and our love for each other was the ultimate thing that mattered, so on and so forth.
And then we probed, a little. Which is something I'd refrain from doing now, but I was 11 and had never encountered queerness in my personal life. So we asked, "How did you figure it out?" "Do you have a crush on someone?" "Do you know if she's gay too?" And then, even more tearful and torn-up than he was when he was coming out, my friend admitted that he had a crush on me, had had one for years, and knew it wasn't reciprocated because I was genuinely ludicrously boy crazy the whole time we'd known each other.
And even then, little me who was a year out from figuring out I liked girls, little me who was being confessed to for the first time, little me who was put in the position to reject someone for the first time, little me who was in so much shock- I instantly reached out and I hugged him. I thanked him for telling me. Despite the fact that A was sitting there and acting as an audience member to something that, in a perfect world, would've unfolded between just the friend confessing, and myself. Because holy shit, that took so much guts, and I love you, and you've been a core part of my existence since before I knew how to spell my own name, and I cannot imagine a world where I exist and you're not constantly at my side, and I need you to know that there is nothing in this world that could change how much you mean to me, and I can't let you doubt it even for a second.
But Mike hesitated. I understand Jonathan and Joyce being the first to hug Will- I'm glad it was that way given the group of people who were in that room. But a big (admittedly veiled, though poorly) admission of Will's in the course of his coming out was his "crush" (don't even get me started) on Mike, which we've since been told Mike clocked then and there. And Lucas and Dustin still stood up first. Before Will's #1 cheerleader. The one who put in the work to make him feel better when everything else felt like it was going to shit (you're a super spy, it was the best thing I've ever done, it's Hawkins it's not the same without you, you protected your mom not the other way around, you're a sorcerer).
I don't have to imagine what it's like to be in his shoes. I've been in his shoes. And if I were Mike Wheeler, I'd have probably reached Will before Jonathan did, even if I didn't love him back.
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