There is an alternate reality where Will, rather than jumping in and calling a full war council to announce hes gay, takes a baby step and comes out to Steve first (with Robin's support, of course.)
Steve does what he's best at these days--making a dumb jokes so Will smiles throughout his choked out confession, opens his arms so Will has somewhere to hide all his tears, let's it be known, loud and clear, that no matter what happens, no matter who says what, Will has family here. People who care.
People who will always care.
And in the buildup to Will coming out to the group at large, so convinced Vecna will use this against him if he doesn't, Steve will take this oppertunity to rile Jonathan and Dustin both by loudly declaring Will his newfound male best friend and favorite.
("I'm so sorry." Will is saying, guilty hovering as he and Robin try and patch up Steve from his latest Jonathan inflicted injuries.
"Don't apologize, he's doing it on purepose." Robin hisses back as she dabs a wet towel on Steve's face. "Because hes stupid."
"Its not stupid if its what I wanted." Steve playfully responds, letting Robin maneuver his beaten face this way and that.
"You wanted a black eye?" Will's own face says he thinks this is a macho coverup he's calling Steve out on, and that simply won't do.
With a smile towards him, Steve leans forward and conspirituality says; "Did you ever see that black hanky Eddie had?"
This is both now Will learns about flagging and Robin gets confirmation that Steve's a fucking a masochist.
Theres a lot of screaming involved, moreso when its pointed out that its not exactly straight to keep taunting Jonathan into it, and Steve simply winks and responds "No shit.")
