Chapter Text
“Max, fuck – I can’t do this anymore. I’m genuinely going to kill myself!”, Will complains, pacing through the redhead’s dorm room.
“That bad, huh?”, she grins at his nervous frame, elbows propped up on her mismatched covers.
“Uh-uh! You know what he said to me today? I told him I’m glad he still wanted to be friends after I came out back then. Because he was going on and on about being too self-absorbed to notice and he was just rambling and honestly panicking to find the right words, so I had to say something, or his brain would’ve exploded right then and there. I wouldn’t even have brought it up but he wouldn’t stop yapping.”
Max grins, “I hate him already, but go on.”
“It was fine because, yes, he was too self-absorbed. But then I said this thing about him wanting to be friends with me. You know what he said? You know what he fucking said to me?”, Will stops pacing, pointing an accusing finger into Max’ direction.
She shrugs, “Hit me.”
“Friends? No, thanks.”, Will replies, recreating the dramatic pause Mike had made.
Max sits up, eyes wide, “Wait what? Yo, Will, is he– ?”
“…Best friends.”, Will announces, letting out a bitter laugh because honestly, he still can’t believe this is his life. Doomed to an eternity of Mike fucking Wheeler sending him the mixed signals of the century.
“You’re kidding!”, Max groans, “Oh, I will fucking kill him. I will smash his head with a brick; I’m so serious right now. You can’t make this shit up.”
“Please, throw it at my head, too. I can’t deal with his shit anymore.”, Will sighs, slumping down on the bed next to Max, “This is driving me insane and I don’t even think he’s aware of anything at all. I mean, he knows he was my gay awakening back then. How could he do this to me?”
Max puts a supportive hand on his shoulder, “You really need to set some sort of boundary, Will. Mike Wheeler is not going to be the end of you – I’m not gonna let that happen.”
Will leans against Max’ side, playing with the charms hanging from her bracelet, “Yeah, but what the hell am I supposed to say to him? Mike, stop all this gay flirting if you don’t mean it? Shit, I’m sure he’s not even realizing what he’s doing. It’s like there is nothing going on behind those pretty, dark eyes.”
“Okay, first of all: Gross. He has his normal loser-eyes. And second of all, I think I might have an idea how to stop him.”, Max announces.
“Yeah? And what would that be?”
“You tell him you have a boyfriend.”, Max grins, fully impressed by her own idea, “You don’t even have to actually date somebody – you can just make one up! And if he does some corny shit again you can just say ‘I don’t think my boyfriend would be happy with that’ and it will make him realize a) that he’s being, like, the homotron3000 of the century, and b) that he has to respect your boundaries!”
Will laughs at this, “And you think that’d work? What if he asks to meet him? He lives on the same floor as me, Max, I think he’d be suspicious if I’m home every night when I’m supposed to have a boyfriend.”
Max thinks for a moment, wide grin on her face, “How about you just soft-launch it to him and while his slow brain is processing, we actually find you a boyfriend? He’s not gonna ask to meet him the second you mention that you’re dating someone.”
Will matches her grin, “You know what? Sure, what the hell. I have nothing to lose except his implied flirting, and I can’t wait to get rid of that.”
Max presses a smooch to his cheek, “You got this, Will. Mike needs a fucking reality check and he will be miserable.”
“God, I hope this works.”, Will laughs, nervous at the thought but so happy to finally have a way out. He needs Mike to stop playing around, for fuck’s sake. And he will get there, no matter what it takes because he’s genuinely so sick of it all; so fed up with Mike’s oblivious ass. What does he have to lose?