Maybe it was the fact that Steve was always looking after the party when they went out, or maybe it was because Will had begun to hang out with Max more and that lead to him going over to her house. Which lead to Will picking up on some things.
Like how Steve’s car would be parked a block away from the house when Will would go to leave, or how he would sometimes here two low voices coming from Billy’s room when he walked by to go to the washroom. But this extended further than just at the Mayfield-Hargrove household.
When Will would go to the arcade or to Mike’s he would often seen Steve hang around for a bit. He would just Sit in his car and act like he had to mess around with something, but then Billy would pull up in his Camaro and then whatever Steve was doing in his car was forgotten. Will could hear them sometimes yell at each other from their cars but never with venom. It was more like how Max would call Lucas stalker.
So maybe that’s what lead to Will walking out of Mike’s basement one night after Dustin had showed up. He said he needed to use the washroom but really, he went outside and straight to Steve’s parked BMW. He came around and knocked on the window, seeming to almost give Steve a heart attack before he rolled it down.
“Jesus Christ kid, don’t do that to me at night.”
“Sorry,” Will offered with a half hearted shrug. “Can I come sit in the car with you?”
Steve got a concerned look on his face as he unlocked the passenger door. “Yeah sure. Something wrong? Or do you guys need me to get you something for your campaign? Or is freaky shit starting to happen?”
Will shook his head and got in the passenger side. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he should have just kept it to himself and just stayed with just his mom and Jonathan knowing. But they weren’t like him, and he was pretty sure Steve was like him, or he seemed to be like him. Hopefully he was like him. Maybe he could at least help him get his feelings straight.
“No monster stuff is going on, unless I’m a monster, but I don’t think I am. I think.” Will had his eyes fixed on his hands as he moved them around. He bent back and pulled on his fingers, trying to keep his mind off of whatever Steve could be thinking or off of whatever Steve might say to him.
Steve quirked his brow and leaned back in the driver’s seat. “What do you mean? I thought we like, dealt with the mindflayer and stuff. So aren’t you fine? There is no way you could be a monster.”
“No Steve, that’s not what I mean. It’s something else.” He started to mess with his fingers more, his leg starting to move now.
Steve took in Will’s body language and sat up a bit straighter. He didn’t have to be a genius to know that this was something tough for Will to talk about, whatever it was. Steve was going to listen to whatever it was, he was good at that.
Will then started again, his leg going faster. “You can’t tell anyone. You can’t tell Dustin because I don’t even know how to tell him and I just don’t want him to spread it by accident an-”
Steve cut him off. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s ok. I’m not going to tell anyone. Whatever is said in this car stays in this car, and that’s a fact, ok?”
Will nodded slowly and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath in. He let it out and let the words fall out after it. “I like boys and I don’t know what to do with my feelings because I just feel like I shouldn’t and it’s gross and wrong and I don’t want the guys to think I’m a creep. I’m not a creep I just can’t help I like guys and I just wish I could like girls too but he makes me happy. Girls don’t make me happy like he does. And I thought I would tell you because I notice you and Billy are really close and I just thought that maybe you were, you liked boys too and that maybe you could help me.”
Steve took a minute to digest the steamroller of words he had just been hit with. Now this wasn’t the first person to come out to him, but it was the first guy to properly come out to him and not just smash his lips into his own and stick his hands down his pants. So Steve took a minute to process everything that Will said and to figure out a good response. This kid was obviously scared to death about the thing so he had to be careful.
“Will, calm down. It’s ok.” He put a hand on Will’s bouncing leg in hopes of stopping it a little bit. “It isn’t wrong or gross to like boys. Some people think it is, but who cares about them? It doesn’t make you a monster and it doesn’t make you a creep. You just like boys and you seem to like a specific one too. And yeah, some people aren’t as accepting but I don’t see any reason for your friends to think of you any differently. They’ve fought monsters! real fucking monsters! and El can move things with her mind! if they can swallow that and not judge, they can deal with you and not judge.”
Will was visibly shaking at this point and had tears welling up in his eyes. “But they are all I have for friends, and if they don’t want me..if Mike doesn’t want to be around me, I don’t know what to do. “
“Well, if they have a problem I’ll talk to them. Hell, I’ll get Billy to talk to them. I think Billy would scare some sense into them if they wanted to judge you like that.”
This earned a small laugh from Will as he finally started to lay back in the passenger seat and relax.
“And yeah, if you are wondering. We are a thing. It’s hard to be a thing in Hawkins, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Just be careful who you are showing it around.”
Will nodded and finally looked over at Steve. His face was red and his eyes were a little puffy from crying, but he was calmer now than he was before. He felt a bit more at ease.
“Thanks Steve.” He said softly.
“Yeah, anytime Will. Anytime.”
