WILL POV-

"... I think Mike has a crush on me" Will abruptly spoke filling the void around them; the area remained quiet as Dustin said nothing seeing the brunette blink repeatedly; only the chirps of the birds and faint rustling of leaves filling the area.

After what felt like an eternity the curly haired boy parted his lips "Weird flex but okay..." chuckling the words gliding across his tongue, shrugging his shoulders wanting to know more of this situation.

"What do you mean 'okay'?" Will mocked throwing his hands in the air

"I mean... Wasn't it obvious" Dustin shrugged placing an awkward smile on his face

"Girl, no!" The brunette retorted, attempting to diffuse the situation with a little humour

"Will!" Dustin deadpanned "He follows you around like you hold all the stars in the universe"

The small boy scrunched his face "That is the cringiest thing I've ever heard"

"But it's the truth" The curly haired boy raised an eyebrow

"Dustin" The small boy squinted his eyes "This isn't some 'Enemies to Lovers AU' Where Mike falls in love with El's step-brother"

"So dramatic" The curly haired boy sighed, rolling his eyes

"But last week he couldn't stand me... this is too sudden even for a comic" Will explained, it wasn't the fact that Mike had a crush on him, more of how quick that could have occurred

"That's true" Dustin leaned against the wall thinking, remaining silent for a moment "But then again do comics ever make 100% logical sense?" raising an eyebrow seeing the small boy shake his head.

"But this happened in the comic" Will repeated to himself audibly

"What? You just said that Mike likes you, not El!" Dustin scrunched his eyes

"No..." Will explained the confusion "I mean that, all the things Mike are doing to me... he does to El in the comic"

"I've never read the comic... remember?" The curly haired boy deadpanned

"Oh yeah" The brunette nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his neck

"Can I read it?" Dustin chirped excitedly

"Sure! If you'd like" Will shrugged

"Hell yeah!" The curly haired boy pumped a fist in the air

"You're way to excited about that!" The brunette shook his head

"I wanna see how I look in comic form!" The curly haired boy smiled bright "Now to deal with your crush problem"

"I'm pretty sure I'm over thinking it!" The small boy waved his arms around, nonchalantly trying to convince himself that he was being delusional; after all he was in a comic book for Heaven's sake, if that doesn't say he was losing grip of his sanity, he didn't know what was.

Dustin raised a hand high into the sky, an evil smirk on his face approaching closer to the brunette grabbing his shoulders "I think I know a way we could prove it!"

---- 8:43 PM ----

"Okay? I promise it will work" The curly haired boy, nudged Will's side

"I'm not so sure about this" The brunette sagged his shoulder, hesitant as these types of schemes never seem to work out, making someone jealous never amounts to anything besides miscommunication; a trope all too common in the comic he was sent to. The only reason why the story of the comic had gone on for over 50 chapters was because of the lack of communication between El and Mike creating angst and conflict.

"Trust me!" Dustin reaffirmed going over the plan to test Mike's crush; the plan was simple really... just make him jealous. Admittedly, Dustin knew a lot wouldn't need to be used to make the ravenette jealous: perhaps a few sly comments and dumb remarks should do the trick but if that doesn't work the curly haired boy had a few other tricks up his sleeve; a flawless plan that could be easily executable.

They would just waltz into the cabins since the cafeteria was closed for the day; walking aloof from the situation, the boy decided to follow Dustin's plan still not completely convinced... but if he was being honest; it seemed like a lot of fun- just acting silly as possible discussing how incredibly attractive a guy was to see Mike's reaction. Will opposed to the idea to begin with, finding it immoral to play with Mike's feelings if he does in fact have a crush but the curly haired boy explained it akin to a social experiment; for the betterment of life. Yeah, it was a bunch of bullshit and he knew it.

Dustin fumbled the keys out his pocket, kicking the door open after the lock clicked "Was the kick really necessary?" The brunette deadpanned

"Don't question me!" He appeared to sound threateningly raising a fist to the air, but Will couldn't be too scared of the guy who's afraid of gummy worms.

"Calm down there, incredible Hulk!" The brunette rolled his eyes, reaching a hand over lowering the curly haired boy's fist.

"Just stick to the plan!" Dustin instructed hoping his plan would be a success; if it were true then his hypothesis would be correct; plus, he thought it was a cute idea if the two boys got together considering enemies to lovers were always his favourite trope. He clasped his hands together walking over to the kitchen table. Mike and Lucas were nowhere to be seen as Max sat alone on the table spotting El laying flat on the floor, for what reason? It wasn't apparent but they didn't question it.

The brunette shrugged stepping around the room sitting beside Max, whispering to her, "Why is she on the floor?" pointing at the doe-eyed girl a few meters away

Max shrugged, popping another chip into her mouth "She is having a realisation"

"A realisation?" The boy repeated

"Yeah" Max continued speaking swallowing the food in her mouth "She says it's 'therapeutic'"

"Aren't you going to go over and ask her why?" Will scrunched his face

"I tried!" She retorted throwing her arms into the air, "She says no girlfriends allowed"

"What?" Will furrowed his brows "do you want me to go see what's wrong?"

"Yes please!" The redhead shuffled in her seat seeing the boy get up walking across the room to the girl crouching by her side

"El..." Will began "is everything okay?"

"No" El responded quickly

"Why? What happened?" The small boy sighed

"I have a girlfriend now" She whispered zoned out, counting the planks of wood that made up the ceiling.

"Okay..." He furrowed his brows

"It's only dawning on me now" The girl continued

"Is that why you are laying on the floor like a dead body?" Will remarked

"Yes!" She replied

"What will help you get up?" The brunette asked

"Max... And ice cream" El playfully stretched her words

"This was all a ploy for ice cream, wasn't it?" Will stuck his tongue out

"How could you possibly guess?" The girl joked flipping around on her front instantly changing demeanour, pushing herself off the floor with a grunt quickly skipping over to her girlfriend announcing "Will said he'll buy us ice-cream" snuggling the redhead

"Thats a great plan Will!" Max added, they were in cahoots about this!

"What's a great idea?" The ravenette burst through the room from the bedroom

"Will's gonna buy us ice cream!" El repeated in the same tone

"I never said tha-" The boy protested but fell on deaf ears

"Really?" Mike replied taking a seat on the small couch in the middle of the room, resting his feet on the coffee table. Lucas followed, making his presence known walking over to the brunette standing beside him

"And where have you been?" the athletic boy playfully placed an arm around the small boy

Will flinched, jump scared from the random touch, but calmed upon seeing the athletic boy's attractive face "Oh, I had to change my clothes!" Will chuckled seeing Lucas nod.

"He peed himself!" Mike jokingly chuckled,

"I did not!" The small boy stepped forward

"Really?" The ravenette squinted his eyes "Then why only your pants wet then? Huh?"

"I'm gonna kill him!" The brunette gritted through his teeth, taking a deep breath

"Ohh Mike you might wanna hide!" The curly haired boy watched as though this was some form of entertainment, hyping the fight even more.

"I'm not scared of him!" The ravenette chuckled, seeing Will suddenly charge over. Mike was quick on his feet dodging out the way causing the small boy to almost stumble. When the brunette calibrated himself, he flailed over for a second time but Mike grabbed his shirt throwing him on the couch, climbing on top to imobilise him "I thought you wanted to kill me, huh?" smirking light-heartedly hovering over Will's face, mere inches away.

"C-can you get off me... please?" The small boy murmured; the realisation of the situation registering itself; his blush deepening. What more could he say or do, except to end this moment, he could barely formulate a sentence, never excepting the playfight to get so... rough. But Mike didn't move as the cogs in his brain failed to spin; he was on autopilot and his cognitive function didn't have the capacity to move away. He kept steady eye contact with the boy underneath him, a small glow on his face causing his eyes to soften and his lips to part slightly.

Lucas crossed his arms to the side exchanging a glance with the giggling Dustin, rolling his eyes. The athletic boy stepped over pulling Mike away and flopping him on the other side of the couch, not bothering to look in that direction keeping his attention on Will, extending a hand out to him. The brunette accepted being hoisted up to a seating position.

"Thanks Lucas..." The brunette smiled softly; the blush on his face still present as Lucas sat beside him separating Mike and Will, keeping an eye on the small boy from his peripheral vision.

"Okay that's great and all..." Max playfully rolled her eyes, watching the event occur before her very eyes, sensing tension; spoke "But we want ice-cream"

"I never agreed to buy ice-cream" Will threw his hands in the air

"That would actually be a great idea Will..." Dustin cheerfully claimed winking "You could see your crush" enacting his plan into action, but slightly altering it to get maximum results

"CRUSH?" Mike and Lucas yelled in unison. The athletic boy shuffled in his seat turning his body to face the small boy while the ravenette jumped up from his lying position crowding Will.

"I wouldn't say cr-" The brunette defended slightly taken aback by their response: why would they be so surprised that Will had a crush on someone. It wasn't even true, this was part of the plan; the small boy would pretend to have a crush on someone to see the way Mike would react, however Dustin also had an ulterior motive. Recently noticing Lucas's fascination with the small boy and wanted to test out whether he would succumb to jealousy too.

"Yes!!" The curly haired boy raised a finger into the air waving it around

"Who?" Lucas spat

"The guy from the ice-cream store" Dustin answered

"Wait..." El arose from her seat "The blonde one?" seeing the small boy nod, pacing around the room clicking her fingers together "He is pretty cute!"

"Excuse me?" Max scoffed walking over stopping beside El, her hands crossed in front of her chest, the words had venom lacing them furrowing her brows. She leaned on one leg staring straight at the doe eyed girl.

"I-I mean..." El panicked, had she ruined the relationship only after it barely started? How silly of her to say such a thing.

"I'm joking" The redhead playfully rolled her eyes nudging her girlfriend's side, wanting to mess with her for a few minutes but upon seeing the shocked reaction on her face decided to give up shortly with the ruse "He is conventionally attractive, but he gives me the ick" scrunching her face

"Let's all go see him!" El chirped excitedly

"I-I don't think that's a good idea-" Will nervously rambled, this was not part of the plan; originally, only planning on saying the guy was attractive, gushing over his good looks for a while, as Dustin would note down Mike's reaction.

"Yeah..." The ravenette unenthusiastically said "Let's go see him" standing from the couch, stomping to the door before even waiting for the others to collect their bearings; Dustin and Will exchanged looks. The brunette slightly furrowed his brows... now this was suspicious behaviour and he knew that- but was it jealousy?

Personally, Will was confused; he didn't know if this was conformation or not. If it was, then Mike was doing a good job at hiding it, but if it wasn't then he was being plain weird, but the boy shrugged staring at Mike, trying to decipher. But Lucas had an eye on him, admiring the features of the small boy... He wanted Will to look at him, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from Mike causing a small frown "Let's go!"

"What?" Dustin furrowed his brows

"I feel like going too" The boy sighed standing from his seat, wanting to know what type of guy Will was attracted to.

"I guess it's decided... We're all going!" The curly haired boy nervously chuckled "Isn't that great Will?"

"Amazing!" The brunette sarcastically gritted through his teeth, slumping to the door, opening it as they made their way out. El and Max led the way, excitedly skipping along the path. Will remained quiet not knowing what to say once he sees the guy; having no sort of attraction towards the slightly older man from the ice-cream parlour. 

"This is going to be terrible" Will muttered under his breath

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2322 Words

Stay Safe <3