Robin seeing Mike and Will on the Field
I'm still thinking about Robin turning around and looking at Mike and Will talking before the trapdoor to the tunnels.
She's not walking that far ahead of them. She probably could hear snatches of their conversation. She turns around and watches the end of conversation that was basically:
Mike: Will what if you have superpowers
Will: Mike you cannot be serious
She turns around and watches Mike go 'hey I've had crazier theories and with the only superpowered person we have in the other dimension, we need all the magic we can get' implying Will is the magic.
She watches Will say nothing, just smile and shyly punch his friend, finally beaten into accepting the compliment. She watches Will's face fall for allowing himself even that much affection to be shown.
Robin doesn't see Will get rejected. Robin sees Will struggling to accept that he could be loved. That he's not wrong in what he's reading. The conversation about signals and 'how obvious' - she doesn't see him pining for his tragically straight friend.
Instead, she sees him struggle with the idea that he's allowed to show signs of his own. That he doesn't have to be passive. That he's allowed to reach out his hand and at least attempt to be happy when the object of his affections treats him this way. The compliments, the bashful smiles, the care and longing.
Robin sees Will feel bad for even trying to have that for himself. Where others would have made bolder moves, Will beats himself up and feels silly for even mildly playful actions.
That's why Will needed to hear what she says in the tunnels. Will cannot be happy with anyone unless he accepts that he as a person is worthy of being loved. That he's allowed to seek out love and he's allowed to feel pride in it. That he should not resign himself to being so guarded and jaded about his heart.
Because Robin sees an entire conversation of Mike being ridiculous in an attempt to engage his best friend and I refuse to believe she didn't realise the problem here wasn't that Mike is apparently straight, but that Will would not take a chance because he thinks he doesn't deserve it and he's a fool for trying.
