#stevewill

Knock knock knock.

"I'll get it!" Will scrambles off the bed the couch toward the front door, leaving behind Jonathan's uninterrupted sulking. The elder brother has a suspicion on who it is that bothers them this afternoon; the younger is just excited they actually have visitors.

With Hop and Joyce on a little vacay and most of the Party out doing the same, it's been a lot of Will and Jonathan this summer, and...

"Byersito!!" Steve beams when the door opens. He leans casually against the frame, definitely not a practiced pose once employed against many a young lady (all rejections, how sad). Summer meant shorter hair--not by much, of course--that curled in painterly waves around his ears and about his forehead, each strand carefully sculpted as always.

Today, however, it wasn't clear for whom Steve gussied himself up. His classic denim jacket circa 1954 shielded his shoulders, billowing slightly in the draft from the house and the breeze outside. Plain green shirt tucked neatly into second-skin dark jeans. Cocked hips caused that tell-tale crease between his thighs, a triangle marking the spot Will's eyes immediately shot to before looking back up to the young man and smiling wide.

"Hey dude! What're you doing he-" Will's voice cracked harshly and he coughed, fighting back redness to his cheeks. "What're you doing here?" That's it Will, very convincing deep voice.

"I'm here for--"

"No." Jonathan boomed. His arms had be crossed since this morning and it didn't take a minor genius like Will to piece together who caused it.

Will stepped aside, looking between them. "Do you guyssss need to talk?"

"Not really anything to talk about." the two young men said in unison, with markedly contrasting tones.

Will pressed his lips together, nodded, then returned to Steve with a grin. Steve realigned his cool-guy pose and dipped his sunglasses down, meeting Will's eyes with his own. "I'm here for you, big guy."

Will felt suddenly very small, like a cornered rabbit in the gaze of a sly lynx, only this one was immaculately dressed, smelled like smouldering hickory and expensive shampoo, and was definitely looking him up and down. And he was suddenly, painfully aware that he was only in a loose tank top and tight boxer shorts. Not easy to hide certain things like this.

"Me?" Will stammered, puling his shirt down.

Steve chuckled. "Yeah, you. I know you like comics and there's a new shop that's opened up downtown. And i fixed the AC in the Beamer, soooooo a swell guy like me figured a devil like you could use a day out on the town. Outta this lil paradise Jonny boy's got going on."

"I can fucking hear you, Steven."

"Yeah that's the point, babe!"

Will had yet to piece together the hidden intricacies and squabbles between Jonathan and Steve. Regardless his young mind couldn't fathom any of it because it burned with the thrilling fire of going out with Steve Harrington. Wait....is Steve asking me out?

"Whaddya say, big guy?" Steve clicked.

"Hell yeah! Uh, just, lemme change."

Steve slipped out the coolest laugh and pushed his shades back up, definitely not so he could stare at Will's fulsome, ever-growing bubble butt as is scampered off to his bedroom. Then he saw Jon, who didn't get up from the couch, but stared white-hot fire from across the room.

"What?" Steve said.

"What're you doing?"

"Taking your lonely little brother out for some fun. That a problem?"

"No. Unless it's you."

"Jonny, baby, you can't stay mad at me forever."

"Watch me."

Returning much quicker than he ever had to for something "important", Will stood at the door in a short-sleeved blue collared shirt tucked into high-waist jean shorts. To Steve's surprise the hems on the legs were frayed...and cut very high up Will's pale, feather-haired thighs.

"Damn, Byersito, you do that yourself? That brand does not sell shorts like that."

"Oh! Yeah, I, um, I saw the style in a magazine, and these were all I had so I figured I'd try it. I never really wear them out though, are they too much? I can change."

"Nah, they look fly as hell, big guy. Come on, I've got some CDs we can check out on the way."

"Wicked."

I'll be quite honest - a lot of my interest in that ship is pure personal fantasy and vicarious playing.

SteveWill is the type of fandom extracurricular thing that has no real merit for me in canon. I don't see it as a "real" ship. And to me, Steve is very much just a straight ally. The ship is just interesting and fun to me. And hot. Steve... is the type of guy I was soooo into when I was a teenager. I would crush on the hot jock boys at school, and the older guys who were most definitely straight and could never look my way.

So, I think of Will doing similar, admiring from afar. It's silly admiration and a little crush, some fantasy. BUT THEN since this is fiction and fun - I like to imagine a scenario in which Steve looks back. Notices Will. Confused but curious. There's something about Will that intrigues him, catches his eye. Maybe they're paired up together for something amongst the typical Hawkins happenings and they connect. I don't think they have much in common, but that makes it fun. What an odd pair. I envision Steve being mister popular, but genuinely uncool. And Will is an outcast and as unpopular as it gets, and he's sooo cool. At least in each other's eyes. So it works.

I like the idea in the fantasy aspect, that Steve is curious and is open to experiment, and Will with a lack of options, is into the idea of someone actually kind who he can experience his firsts with and have a good memory. In these scenarios, Steve is the only option at present. Or something like that. They learn to trust one another and so a fwb situation happens??

I know some don't like the age gap thing but I don't mind a little age gap in fiction. It's playing with the idea of indulging a teenage fantasy more than anything else. It's a way to put prose to and sub in characters for old fantasies for myself, but hey there's some good stories built upon that kinda thing.

if you don't like it you're mean to me and that makes me sad