chapter eleven

the village

november thirteenth, 1984

"Dusty?" asked Mrs. Henderson, knocking on Dustin's bedroom door.

"Yeah?" he asked sleepily, rolling over on his bed and sitting up.

"We're out of eggs so I have to go run down to the store to grab some. Feel free to make yourself breakfast though, just can't use eggs." said his mom, peeking around the door. Dustin grinned and gave her a thumbs up. His mom blew him a kiss before walking out and closing the door behind her. Dustin collapsed back into bed and looked over at his clock, which informed him that it was eight in the morning. He groaned and rolled over again, before a rumbling in his stomach forced him to get up and head to the kitchen. However, he never made it to the kitchen because halfway there he glanced out of the window and what he saw made him forget all about breakfast.

"Lucas, Lucas, Lucas, Lucas." said a voice coming from Lucas' bedside table. The boy in question tried ignoring the sound by burying his head under his pillow but was unsuccessful,

"What?!" he said finally, grabbing the Supercom.

"Oh thank god! You're the only one who will pick up." said Dustin.

"Yeah, well, no shit sherlock, it's eight in the morning!"

"YeAh, weLl," said Dustin, mocking Lucas, "It's actually kind of important."

"Fine. What happened?"

"So, I was going to make breakfast, when I look out of my window and see my yard is filled with holes-"

"Holes?"

"Shut up and let me finish. Yes, holes. So obviously, I go out and investigate. But, when I stuck my hand in the hole-" Lucas really had to try to not respond to that, "-the dirt was slimy."

"So it was wet?" asked Lucas.

"No, slimy."

"Okay, I get it, it was slimy. Should I come over?"

"Yes." said Dustin, now back in his bedroom.

"K, I'll be there in a few minutes. Over." said Lucas, putting down the supercom and jumping out of bed, going to put clothes on and tell his parents where he was going. By the time he made it to his friends house, Dustin was pacing the floor of his kitchen, chewing anxiously on a piece of toast.

"Oh! You're here." he said, dropping his toast on to a plate and going to meet Lucas at the door.

"Dude, why are you so worked up about this? It was probably a dog or something." said Lucas, following Dustin as he went to open his back door.

"You didn't touch this dirt though. It was wet in a way that dirt shouldn't be. It felt slimy and alive." said Dustin, pausing at the door.

"So you're saying…"

"It's from the Upside Down."

As soon as Jonathan's car was out of view, Will walked up to Daniel's front door and knocked. He heard a scuffling behind the door before it swung open, the smiling face of his boyfriend behind it.

"Hi!" said Daniel. "I wasn't expecting you."

"As if I wouldn't come by and see you on your birthday." scoffed Will. "happy birthday, by the way." he said with a soft laugh. Daniel grinned,

"Thanks. Want to come in?"

"Well, actually, I came to give you your gift. But, I can't give it to you now. You have to come with me first." said Will.

"Oo, sounds mysterious. Where are we going?" asked Daniel.

"That's a surprise."

"I'll go ask my dad. Wait right there."

Ten minutes later, the two of them were sat face to face, in their flower field.

"So, what's the gift?" asked Daniel, playfully.

"A portrait done by me!" said Will, taking out a sketchpad and various pencils from the bag he had brought along.

"Oh, you're kidding. Surly I don't deserve such a gift."

"Pfft, I'd beg to differ." said Will, admiring Daniel's face as he began to sketch out a rough shape.

"Hmm, fine. I'll take it. But only under one condition."

"Oh? What's your condition?" asked Will, a smile on his face.

"That you sign it. So I always know who made it."

"Yeah, I think I can do that." said Will, his smile widening.

november fourteenth, 1984

Will was practically dozing off at this point. It was english class. Monday. And he was ready to go home. He perked up immediately when he felt a piece of paper nudging at his elbow.

Btw, I really love my birthday present. - Daniel

Will smiled. Daniel had told him just about a million times how much he loved his present. He went to respond when an argument caught his attention. Their teacher was currently scolding a group of populars in the front row for laughing during her lesson.

"It was nothing, Mrs. Gilbert!" one girl giggled.

"Who was it for?" Mrs. Gilbert asked, holding up a white piece of paper. On the paper, was a neatly written letter but one word stood out. It was 'gay' underlined at least three times. Will felt all the blood drain from his face and turned to Daniel, his face also white as a sheet. One of the other girls, still giggling, turned around and pointed at the two boys in question.

"I saw them kiss in a corner the other day." said the girl shaking her head, a few giggles still slipping past her lips. "It was so wrong, mrs. Gilbert. I had half a mind to go tell the principal right then in there."

"So instead of reporting it you just write gossip-y letters to your friends?" asked Mrs. Gilbert, crumpling the note in her hand, "All three of you go to the office now."

"Us too?" asked Daniel.

"Yes, obviously." she said, annoyed.

"For doing what? Kissing a boy?" asked Daniel, standing up and crossing his arms. "I bet if it had been a girl I was kissing I wouldn't be going to the office for it." he said angrily, storming out of the room. Will and the giggling girl left after him, a lot more quietly then Daniel.

"Your parents will be here soon. But considering that this is the second time this month you've had to come to my office I'd expect to be suspended for at least a week." said Ms. Anderson, leaning back into her chair.

"And me?" piped up the girl.

"You're free to go with a warning, Ms. Green. Just don't pass notes in class and try to pay attention." she said passively, waving a hand. The girl left and the door snapped shut behind her, leaving a deafening silence in its wake.

It didn't last long, for both Joyce and Tom arrived only a few minutes after the girl, both confused.

"So, I'm sure you both know why you've been called?" said Ms. Anderson, a lot more bitterly than she had when talking to the young girl.

"Not really, no." said Tom, a little angrily.

"Well, supposedly, your sons were seen kissing a few days ago in the hall." she said, her hands clasped tightly together in her lap.

"Is it true?" asked Joyce. Will, on the verge of tears, nodded.

"Yeah. And what's so wrong about it? Just because I'm minding my own business, loving who I want, I upset you-" he gestured to Ms. Anderson, "Because we're gay? As if it affects your life at all." said Daniel, angrily.

"It's gross, that's why." said Tom, arms crossed.

"They're teenagers, can't you just let them live?" asked Joyce, also angry, but for different reasons than Tom.

"They're just setting themselves up for failure. I mean, no one's going to hire them, and marriage? As if gay marriage will ever be legal." said Ms. Anderson, scoffing.

"And who's to say it won't be legal?" asked Daniel sitting on the edge of his seat. "And as for the jobs, there have been quite a few openly gay politicians. But maybe you're a little too close-minded to even acknowledge their existence."

"How dare-" began their principal, appalled at Daniels reply.

"I'm not gay." said Will, interrupting her. It was the first thing he'd said and everyone turned to look at him. Daniel raised an eyebrow and went to respond but Ms. Anderson spoke before he could,

"It doesn't matter. The point is, you kissed on school grounds and I'm suspending you for the rest of the week. Please just go home now, I can't bear to continue this conversation." she said, waving them all out of the room.

"You said you weren't gay in the office," said Joyce, once she and Will were in the car on the way home, "What did you mean?"

"I'm not. I like boys and girls." he said, his voice wavering a little.

"So you're bisexual?" she asked gently. Will shrugged,

"I guess. But I've decided not to label myself. People value labels so much more over personalities so I've decided to let it go. I'm neither gay, nor straight, or bi. I'll fall in love with whoever, boy or girl, and that'll be that, no biggie." he said, fiddling with the zipper on his backpack. He felt slightly robbed. He was the one who was supposed to decide when he wanted to come out to his mom, not Ms. Anderson or stupid Jessica Green.

"But why didn't you tell me you were dating Daniel?" asked his mom, after mulling over what he had just said.

"I'm not sure. I guess I was afraid that-that you wouldn't- love me as much or something. I don't know, it was stupid." he said quickly, tears coming to his eyes again.

"I could never love you any less, no matter who you loved." said Joyce, glancing over at him. Will, now so choked up he couldn't respond, simply nodded and smiled. He looked out the window and tried to take some deep breaths to calm down and let his mind wander to how Daniel was faring.

"I hope you know you're grounded." said Tom, his hands holding tightly on the steering wheel.

"Yeah." said Daniel, his body tense as he awaited what his dad would say next.

"And I'm not letting you out with Will alone for a long time. So don't even think that you'll be going out with him alone for at least the next month."

"Mhm." said Daniel, in the same tone of voice as before.

"I know you don't choose to be the way you are but it's still despicable and not the life I'd like for you. I'll be taking you to the church to see what they can sort out, I'm sure they'll be able to fix it." said his dad, still not daring to look at his son.

"Things are changing for gay people, dad. Soon we'll have marriage equality and everything, I'm sure of it." said Daniel, daring to speak up for the first time on the car ride. He daren't bring up the fact that no amount of praying or anything else could get rid of his sexuality.

"Well, I certainly hope not. I don't want you to have a bad life, son, but I just can't get behind marriage equality." he said, shaking his head.

"Joyce? Is that you?" asked Hopper, picking up the phone.

"Oh, finally. I was worried that if Flo picked up again she'd just hang up on me." said Joyce. It was later that night and she had waited for as long as she could to call Hopper.

"Is something wrong?"

"Uh, not really, but I was just wondering if you could come over? Something happened and I really need to talk about it with someone." she said, her arms crossed as she paced in front of the telephone, listening for both Hopper's response and trying to listen out for Will, wanting to make sure he wasn't crying in his room or anything.

"Yeah sure. This is perfect timing actually, I have something I wanted to show you." he said.

"Oh, great." said Joyce. Hopper could tell she was distracted so after they said their goodbyes he left the office, briefly telling Flo where he was going in case of an emergency. He swung by his house to grab El's birth certificate. He considered grabbing a pair of pyjamas but remembered that he already had a pair over there so he forgot about it, grabbing only the certificate and jumping back into his car.

When he arrived at the Byers' home, he found Joyce sitting inside on the couch, waiting for him.

"Oh! There you are." she said, as soon as he walked in. She then, a little uncharacteristically, stood up and went to envelop him in a long hug.

"Oh, hello." he said, a little taken aback. "I know you have something you want to tell me and I want you to tell me about it but I wanted to show you this first." he said, pulling away and grabbing the certificate from his pocket. Joyce took it from him and read it over with wide eyes,

"When did you-"

"I arranged it when we were at the lab but only got around to picking it up yesterday." he said. That spiraled into another conversation which lasted hours.

It was only around ten pm, when they were both in bed, that Joyce finally got to bring about Will.

"Will is dating Daniel." she said, softly, breaking the silence and cutting into the inky darkness.

"Oh." said Hopper. "How do you feel about it?"

"I don't know." she sighed. "I mean, obviously I'm going to be supportive of him no matter what but it hurts to know that he's being treated the way he is. Especially on top of everything else."

"He'll get through it though. He's stronger than anyone might think."

"You're right." said Joyce, after a few moments. She sighed again, "I just wish I could protect him from everything."

A few more moments of silence.

"I wish you were here every night." said Joyce, leaning into Hopper.

"I could be. If you wanted." he said.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder what the kids would think of you moving in." she said.

"I don't think they'd mind it much. We can always ask in the morning."

"Mm. Well I vote that you do move in." she said.

"I guess it's settled then." said Hopper with a quiet laugh.

"I guess it is." she said, reaching up to kiss him gently on the lips. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight. I love you."

song: the village by wrabel