Chapter Text
The boys were sitting in the Wheeler's basement. Lucas and Dustin were sharing a magazine, Mike was on the couch eating Doritos, and Will was cleaning up their DnD campaign. It was a comfortable, lazy silence. Until Lucas and Dustin started giggling at something in the magazine. “Come here, you two!”
“What is it?” Mike muttered. Will walked over without question.
“Look at this guy!” Dustin and Lucas both burst into laughter. The magazine had a full page of David Bowie. “He has to be queer.” Dustin said, almost in disgust.
“Oh, hes a fag for sure.” Lucas this time.
“Totally” Mike agreed, still on the couch.
“I’ll be right back.” Will said quietly and hurried towards the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Mike.
“Just to the bathroom.” He couldn’t skip up the stairs quickly enough.
Once he got past the Wheeler parents and into the upstairs bathroom, Will was finally able to cry. He sat on the toilet sobbing. He knew it was stupid to think his friends would support gay people. He didn’t think they were saying it out of real malice, but they weren’t even open to the idea. He didn’t know if he could go back down there, especially with Mike agreeing. He took a deep breath. Then someone knocked on the door.
“One second!” He yelled through the door, hoping he didn’t sound like he was crying.
“Will?” A girl answered. It didn’t sound like Nancy or Mrs. Wheeler though.
“Yes?”
“It’s me, Robin. Can I come in?” Robin entered anyway. Damnit! Will should've locked the door. Such an idiot. He turned around and furiously wiped at his face.
“Hey doofus. I could hear you out in the hallway. I know you were crying. And I’ve had my share of sobbing by a toilet, but honestly, it works better in public. Then nobody can really hear you that much. And most people won’t care. And-”
“What are you doing in here?” Will cut her off. He was mortified.
“Well , I was going downstairs to grab me and Nance a soda, but I heard you and thought I should check on you. If you don’t mind. So, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I’m being stupid.”
“Will. You can talk to me, promise. I mean really I’m not that close with any of the literal children Steven insists on hanging out with. Besides Erica. We were trapped in a Russian elevator together. Sorry, I’m rambing. You talk now.”
“My friends just said something rude. I’m stupid for even caring.”
“I mean, from the looks of it, it was bad. What did they say?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“What, why? Seriously, who do you think I’m going to tell? I just want to help, little buddy.”
“Okay.”
“Okay…..”
“Well. They called David Bowie a fag, which I know hes gay and stuff, and that’s fine and they probably didn’t mean it in a bad way um but it’s what my dad used to call me and it really hurts.” He said all that in one breath.
“Ugh. For real? That’s awful, Will. That’s really horrible language, no matter what they meant.”
“I know. But I know they didn’t mean it towards me, so it’s stupid for even caring.”
“It’s not stupid. That word holds a lot of hate. Trust me, I know.” She looked into Will’s eyes, trying to convey that she knew exactly why that word hurt so bad.
“Are you…”
“Gay?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah. See, now we’re even. I won’t tell anybody why you were in here and you won’t tell anybody that I’m gay. Except Steve knows. And he teases me all the time. So I guess you two can tease me together now, as long as you tease Steve back. He’s also like super vulgar about it so maybe you don’t want to hear Steve talking about boobs and stuff-
“Me too.”
“You too?”
“I’m gay, too.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I only figured it out recently, what that means. But I’ve felt it my whole life. And only Jonathan knows. I think he knew even before I knew. So, he accepts it too. But now I know I can never tell my friends. It sucks.”
“Trust me, I know. Not that I have a super close group like you. But it sucks hanging out with Nancy all the time and having to hide around her. She’s the only girl that hasn’t run from me. And she never talks about stuff like that.”
“Maybe we could talk to each other.”
“I would really like that. Like you have no idea.”
“I do.”
“Right. Duh.” She pulled out a pen and a small notebook from her jacket, wrote an address and phone number on it and handed it to Will. ‘“Here’s my address, and my home phone, and you know I work at Family Video.”
“Thank you, Robin. I’ve always felt like nobody would ever understand me. Maybe you do.”
“Oh kiddo, I feel the same way. Come here.” She hugs Will and he hugs back hard. “Okay, I should get back to Nancy now before she starts worrying. If you don’t want to go back down there, I’m sure I could persuade her to let you in her room.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Okay, Will. It was really nice talking to you.”
“It was amazing.” Will smiles softly at Robin as she walks out.
Will sighs deeply, not quite believing another gay person was in his friend group this whole time. And he didn’t believe Steve of all people supported the Lgbt community. He splashed water on his face, getting ready to act normal again in front of his friends.
Will runs straight into Mike as he walks into the hallway.
“Oh, sorry.” He was blushing now.
“That’s okay, I was waiting for you.”
“What?”
“Well, you were gone for a pretty long time.”
“Sorry, I just ran into Robin.”
“Don’t apologize. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, those two idiots down there were using some harsh language. I know your dad used to say that type of stuff to you.”
“Yeah. I don’t think they know that. They obviously didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Yeah. It’s not cool either way, you know. David Bowie is like kickass.”
“He is.”
“You are too.”
“Thanks? Should we go back downstairs?”
“Well, I have something to show you.” Mike grabbed Will’s hand and led him to his room, not letting go the whole time. Will felt butterflies in his stomach, but willed them to go away. It was nothing. Mike stepped into his room, and closed the door behind Will. “Do you see it?”
On the far wall, Will’s painting was framed and hung up. Mike was smiling proudly.
“You hung up my painting?”
“Yes! Of course.”
“Why?”
“I told you, you’re kickass, and so is this painting. It’s really cool.”
“Thanks.” Will smiled shyly, embarrassed by the praise.
“Don’t be embarrassed, Will. I do really like it. You could do like professional DnD art.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Seriously Will. Your’e crazy talented.”
“Thanks.”
Mike sat down on the bed and pulled something out from under the pillow. “Look, I got a new comic.”
“Of who?”
“X-men. Wanna read with me?”
“What about Lucas and Dustin?”
“They won’t notice if we vanished for 6 hours. C’mon” Mike patted the bed next to him. Will took a deep breath and sat on the bed, trying to stay away from Mike.
“Are you gonna read out loud?” Will loved listening to Mike tell a story. And he was worried he wouldn’t be able to read clearly with his brain so frazzled.
“Sure.” Mike scooted right next to Will and began to read the comic. Will tried to focus but could only notice Mike knocking his knee against his own, their thighs touching and how Mike brushed his fingers over Will’s when turning the page. They finished the comic book eventually.
“Wasn’t that amazing?” Mike clearly loved the new edition.
“Yeah, it was cool.”
“I wish I was a superhero.”
“What power would you have?”
“Super strength definitely. What about you?”
“Invisibility.”
“What? That’s lame.”
“How?”
“What about flight, or teleportation, or telekinesis, like El.” Will sucked in a huge breath. Ouch.
“Well, I can’t copy El obviously.”
“Dork.”
“Nerd.”
“Geek.”
“Weirdo.”
Mike reached over and ruffled Will’s hair. “That's all you, man.”
“You are so rude.” The boys began giggling. Will couldn't tell, but it seems like Mike got even closer. Then the door burst open. Mike jumped up as quick as a lightning flash.
“What the hell?” Dustin.
“Sorry, I was showing Will my new comic.”
“What?! I wanna see.” Lucas. The boys both jumped on Mike's bed. Will got overwhelmed. He slipped off and out the door as Dustin and Lucas started fighting over who got to hold the comic first.
Will knocked on Nancy’s door softly. “It’s Will.”
“Come in.” Nancy replied. Will opened the door and saw Nancy reading a book while Robin was braiding her hair.
“Hey little Byers! Back so soon?” robin.
“Sorry. I was just getting overwhelmed. And I don’t want to ruin your guy’s night or anything. Sorry for barging in. I just need a little quiet.”
“That’s fine, Will. Robin said you were having a bad day.”
“Yeah.” Robin finished Nancy’s hair and laid back. Will pointed at the spot next to her.
“Go ahead.” Nancy.
Will sat down and started crying silently. Robin rubbed his back, then held out her arms for a hug. Will gave in and started crying into Robin’s chest. He drifted off with Robin holding him, and Nancy playing Blondie on her record player.