OKAY OKAY I HAVE AN IDEA
Remember that framed picture of the party pre season 1 of them with their science fair (?) trophy? So they are working on that project but mike and lucas bicker over will and while he stands there embarrassed for his life dustin keeps giving mike and lucas the side-eye and whispering snide comments into will's ear because he just wants to get the project done correctly with no distractions😭
I feel like this captures their dynamic perfectly especially because i LIVE for Lucas and Mike both having a tiny crush on Will before season 1. that happened, it is not a made up headcanon. Obviously. Totally.
Anyways, congrats on the followers, i really enjoy your work :))
oh my god this was an adorable idea, and listen i love the og party. i love the party in general but the og party is just SO GOOD. also i WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE. BYLER AND BYCLAIR RIGHTS THANK YOU SO MUCH.
anyways! i hope you enjoy!
—
honey, life is just a classroom
It’s that time of the year again.
It’s time for the annual Hawkins Regional Science Fair, and oh boy, Will already feels like he’s going to lose his mind.
Listen… Will loves his best friends. He really, really does. The Party is made up of the coolest people Will knows, and sure, none of them have any friends besides each other… but who cares? Will doesn’t really need any other friends besides Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. The Party is perfect the way that it is, and Will loves his best friends.
…
Most of the time.
He loves his best friends, but the glaring exception to this statement happens every year when it comes time for the science fair. Because every year, Mike and Lucas bicker for God knows how long for the stupidest things, and somehow, Will always ends up stuck in the middle of the two of them.
He doesn’t get it. They don’t seem to care what Dustin has to say or whose side of the argument Dustin is on. But for some reason, Will’s opinion on the argument is worth like… a hundred first place ribbons to Mike and Lucas.
Will usually doesn’t even have an opinion on these arguments, so um, yeah… that’s fun. That’s a lot of fun, especially when Lucas and Mike end up derailing their entire first project planning session by arguing over what project they should even do.
“Everyone does a stupid volcano, Mike!” Lucas argues, for the umpteenth time this hour. He throws his hands up in the air and gives Mike an exasperated look. “Cody Morris and his group did one last year, and so did Olivia Baker’s group, and Dylan Tapscott’s group! Volcanos are overrated, and if we do that, we’re going to lose again!”
“Not if we make the best volcano and show everybody up, Lucas!” Mike argues back, and when he gets up into Lucas’s face, Will can’t help but wince. That’s never a good sign. It usually means the fight is escalating, which means Will’s gonna have to step in and stop them again.
Ugh.
“Look, we’re the smartest people in our grade,” Mike reminds. “Dustin’s like a freaking genius. If anyone can make a shitty old volcano cool, it’s us. And then nobody will ever want to make a volcano for the science fair again. It’s genius.”
“It’s stupid,” Lucas deadpans. “How the hell are we going to make a volcano cool? There’s only so many ways to make a baking soda and vinegar explosion look cool. Woohoo. We put food coloring in it. Please, give us first place.”
Mike narrows his eyes even further at Lucas, and as he continues their argument, Will just sighs, falling back onto the floor of the Wheelers’ basement and closing his eyes. This is never going to end. It’s never going to end, and Will thinks he’d probably just be better off disappearing off into some faraway land, simply so he can escape the stupidity of his best friends.
“How did you put up with this for three years before I came along?” Dustin asks curiously, and Will opens his eyes, turning to look at his best friend.
“I have no idea,” Will admits. “I don’t think they were this bad when we were little. Do you remember them being this bad?”
Dustin purses his lips, glancing towards the other two Party members; then, he nods. “Yeah, they were always pretty bad,” he remarks. “They’re being so stupid. It’s like… neither of them actually care about what we’re doing! They just want to be right! And they want you to agree with them! I just wanna make shit explode and tell people why it did that!”
“Me too,” Will says glumly, and he, too, looks over at their best friends. “I don’t know why they’re getting so upset about this. They didn’t seem to care that much yesterday when we were throwing ideas around at lunch.”
“Eh.” Dustin sits up, and he shrugs slightly. “You know how they get sometimes. Maybe that’s what we should do our project on. The human brain and all its intricacies. Why do our friends make stupid decisions and fight with each other? Do you have a hypothesis, Will the Wise?”
Will snickers, sitting up and looking at his arguing best friends in amusement. “I think… Nancy probably did something to piss Mike off this morning,” he remarks. “And Lucas’s little sister probably stole his action figures again. So both of them were already upset and wanted to be right about something.”
“Hmm,” Dustin hums, and he mimics stroking a fake beard. “Interesting hypothesis indeed, but I do have one thing to add here.”
Will raises an eyebrow. “Go on…”
A smirk forms on Dustin’s face. “I think they fight with each other because they both want to be your favorite Party member,” he declares, and Will just sputters, feeling his face go warm.
“What?” he exclaims. “I don’t… I don’t have favorites. That doesn’t even make sense!”
“Maybe not, but it’s the hypothesis I’m sticking with,” Dustin says smugly. “And the science backing it is indisputable.”
“And what science is that?”
“Well, you’re clearly Mike’s favorite Party member,” Dustin points out. “You two have been best friends since kindergarten. And you’re Lucas’s favorite Party member too, because you were the first one to befriend him too. So, if you’re both their favorites, and they already like bickering with each other… I think they want to be your favorite Party member.”
Will feels his face get even warmer, and he glares weakly at his best friend. “I’m not… their favorite,” he mumbles, embarrassed. “And just ‘cause I’ve been friends with them the longest doesn’t mean anything.”
“Okay, well even if you stop factoring in how long you’ve been friends with all of us, I think it’s safe to say you’re still everyone’s favorite,” Dustin says with a shrug. “I mean, you’re my favorite Party member, and I’m not afraid to tell the others that. Just look at them, Will. They’re bickering like idiots and wasting precious time we could be using to beat the shit out of everyone and win this science fair. Meanwhile, you are being entirely unproblematic, as usual. Plus, you’re just always nice and always willing to help all of us out, like a good friend. Ergo, you’re my favorite. And for similar reasons, I believe that you’d be Lucas and Mike’s favorite as well.”
For a moment, Will just stares at his best friend, and he blinks, trying to take in Dustin’s words. “That’s… really nice,” he admits, smiling shyly. “Thanks, Dustin. That means a lot to me.”
A bright smile forms on Dustin’s face. “No problem,” he says cheerfully. “Anyways, while that was fun, I really don’t want to go through the rest of the scientific method to figure out why Mike and Lucas are idiots. Do you want to go ahead and end their argument?”
Will raises an eyebrow. “You think I could end their argument?”
“Will.” Dustin gives him a look. “What did we just talk about? You’re everyone’s favorite. Just… pick a side, then the other one will go with it. Simple as that.”
“Okay, I’m beginning to think you are really overestimating how much sway I have in the Party.”
“Please,” Dustin scoffs, falling back onto the floor. “Will, I hope you know that all of us would go to hell and back for you. I mean… I think we’d do that for anyone in the Party, but I dunno, it’d take a little more convincing for the others.”
Will just laughs, and he nudges his best friend lightly. “You’re the worst,” he says, shaking his head. “Okay… fine. Let’s test your hypothesis, then.”
“Be my guest,” Dustin says, gesturing to Mike and Lucas. “Pick a side, and watch how fast they stop arguing.”
Will just rolls his eyes, but he stands up, willing to humor Dustin’s silly hypothesis. It probably won’t work, but if anything, maybe he can convince Lucas and Mike to compromise or something.
“Hey, guys,” Will says gently, walking up to the others.
At first, Mike and Lucas don’t hear him, and Will glances over his shoulder, giving Dustin a look that says, I told you so. Dustin rolls his eyes, and he gestures for Will to keep going.
“Guys,” Will says, a bit louder now, and he waves his hands in front of Lucas and Mike’s faces. “Hey!”
Both of them stop, and in perfect unison, they turn to Will, their expressions softening.
“Oh, hey, Will,” Lucas says with a smile. “What’s up?”
“Did you need something?” Mike asks, tilting his head and offering a smile as well. “Everything okay?”
Literally, they look like two entirely different people from the boys arguing just a moment ago, and Will blinks, momentarily stunned.
…
Maybe Dustin’s hypothesis isn’t that far off.
“Well… I was just thinking we should probably decide what to do for our project,” Will suggests, and he glances over his shoulder at Dustin again. He hopes Dustin understands the silent question: What project do we do?
Dustin raises a brow, and he considers this for a moment, before nodding to his left. Go with Mike, the gesture says, and his expression also seems to say, We’ll figure it out later.
Will nods back; then, he turns around and smiles at his best friends. “Dustin and I thought it could be cool to do the volcano too,” he says. “Then, maybe next year we could do something entirely different that nobody else has done before, like Lucas suggested. … What do you guys think?”
Time for the moment of truth.
Will holds his breath, looking back and forth between Lucas and Mike. Mike looks a bit smug, but Lucas is a little harder to read, which makes sense. After all, Will is going against his opinion here.
But then finally, Lucas shrugs, and he offers Will a smile. “Yeah, that’s fine,” he says. “I don’t really care as long as we actually win this year. I swear, last year was so rigged.”
“There’s no way Tanner and his stupid friends should’ve won!” Mike agrees, and he throws an arm around Will’s shoulder, leading Will back to where Dustin is sitting. Lucas follows after them, and Mike adds, “I’m with Lucas. I just want to make sure we win this year, so we can take that trophy and tell everyone else to shove it.”
Lucas snickers, and he reaches over Will to high five Mike. “Hell yeah,” he says with a smirk. “Mr. Clarke’s rooting for us too, so I’m sure he’ll be willing to give us advice again this year. We’re gonna make the best damn volcano anyone has ever seen.”
As the two of them continue to go back and forth, sharing ideas with each other, Will just… sits there, his mouth open in complete shock.
That… actually worked.
That actually worked.
…
Has he always been able to do that?
No… there’s no way, right? Will would’ve noticed that. He’s been friends with both of them for years now. This has to be something new.
But then, Dustin catches his eye, and he grins at Will. “Told you so,” he mouths. “You’re our favorite.”
Will’s cheeks turn warm again, and he can’t help but roll his eyes, glancing at Mike and Lucas once more. The two of them seem much more relaxed now, which is nice. This is exactly how it should be.
Maybe this year’s science fair won’t be so bad after all.
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