Mom and Will are visiting them, not for the first time since they went off to college of course but it's special nonetheless, and fun. El and Hopper were supposed to come too, but unfortunately El got sick and Hopper stayed behind with her. It's a shame they couldn't come, next time El comes out they'll make it extra fun for her, Nancy's already promised over the phone.

What makes this visit special to him is what he's got planned for Will. He knows his little brother struggles with growing up gay in Hawkins. Will knows he'll always be there for him, and that mom, El, Hopper, Nancy and his friends always will too, but even so it can of course feel very lonely, not knowing any other person who's gay, at least as far as Will knows.

So today he's taking Will to see some of the gay scene in New York. He whisked him away for "brotherly bonding" as he put it to Will and mom to keep a bit of surprise. He's not sure what Nancy and mom are up to meanwhile. When he presented his plan to Nancy she thought it was a great idea, when he apologized for sticking her with his mom she told him "don't be, your mom is awesome we're going to have fun!"

"So where are we going?" Will asks as they walk up from Christopher Street station.

"Just down the street, there's a really cool book shop my friend Robbie works at."

"Oh, cool."

"Yeah. Will, I thought I could show you some places that Hawkins definitely doesn't offer, you know."

"Oh!" Will's eyes widen a bit as he understands what he means. "Cool," he adds, again.


"What's this?"

She turns around to see what Joyce means. She finds her mother in law looking at her collection of polaroids up on the wall with a smile.

"Oh, that's my latest project. Since Jonathan's always behind the camera he's never in any pictures. So I got a polaroid camera to fix that."

"That's a great idea," Joyce smiles wider. "Love this one," she points to the one where she turned the camera on them just as she looped an arm around Jonathan's shoulders and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"That's the only way I can get him to pose for a picture," she smiles and shakes her head. "That's why everyone else is a candid. But it suits his whole philosophy of it saying more when you capture the right moment."

"These are all great. If you have any to spare I'd love some to take home…"

"Oh, sure, I know there's more around here somewhere I haven't put up yet. I'll find them later. So I was thinking, while the boys are out having fun I thought maybe we could-"

The phone ringing cuts her off, she excuses herself to answer while Joyce continues her little house inspection. Unlike her mom, who always finds a bunch of "home improvements" to "suggest" when she visits, Joyce is just curious to look around so it doesn't bother her.

"Hello?"

"Hey Nance! So you're coming out tonight, right?"

"Oh! Oh damn, I totally spaced that. Sorry, I can't, Jonathan's gay bar hopping with his little brother and I'm hanging with his mom."

"Oh, come on you've got to! It's Mandy's last night!"

"Sorry Julie but-"

"Why don't you just bring her? You always say she's awesome, it would be cool to meet her. Mandy would think so too."

"I don't know well… hm. Hang on a second," she tells Julie, because really, why not?

"Hey Joyce?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Um… do you want to go out with me and my friends tonight?"

"Really? I mean, if you don't mind having me with you, sure that sounds like fun!"

"Of course we don't mind," she answers before putting the receiver to her ear again. "Okay, she's in, so we'll see you guys later I guess?"

"Cool! Meet us at the bar, can't wait!"


The bookshop Jonathan takes him to is unlike anything he's seen before. There's rainbow colored flags on the shelves, posters advertising various gay causes, societies and clubs and everywhere he looks he sees books whose titles make their themes clear.

"Hey Robbie," Jonathan greets the guy working behind the counter.

"Jonathan, hey!" Robbie looks up and cheerily greets, and comes around the counter to give Jonathan a hug. "What's up with you, recovered from Shauna's party I see."

"Back at you," Jonathan grins. "This is my brother Will, he's visiting from Indiana," Jonathan introduces.

"Hi Will, nice to finally meet you, Jonathan talks about you," Robbie smiles at him and sticks out his hand.

"Nice to meet you," he greets and shakes Robbie's hand. Blushing slightly at the thought of Jonathan talking about him, and because Robbie is really handsome and keeps smiling at him.

"So how are you liking New York?"

"I love it. We don't exactly have places like these in Hawkins…"

"I can imagine. I'm from in the middle of nowhere Ohio myself, so believe me, I know how it can be. Let me show you what we've got here. Here's our coming out section, but you've already ripped that bandaid, right?"

"Uh, yeah I guess. I mean, to my family and friends…"

"Well who else needs to know? Good on you! Hey, over here's our art section. Who's your biggest influences? Jonathan and Nancy always goes on about how talented you are."

"I don't know… they exaggerate…"

"Wow you two are so much alike," Robbie smiles and looks between him and Jonathan. "Cute brunettes who are way too modest about your artistic talents," he explains.

They end up hanging in the shop with Robbie for a long time. He finds some cool comic books and other stuff, and Robbie insists on letting him use his employee discount to pay for it. Robbie and Jonathan start to make plans about meeting up later at a bar where apparently him being 17 won't be an issue.


They meet Nancy's friends at a bar. Julie and Mandy. Nancy explained on the way over that Julie is her best friend, someone she met first day at Columbia. Mandy is another close friend who is now going to study abroad for a year.

"Thanks for letting me come out with you girls," she tells them as they sit down in a booth.

"Of course!" Mandy answers.

"Yeah, it's so fun to finally meet you Mrs. Byers, I've heard a lot about you," Julie adds.

"Really?" She looks curiously to Nancy who just smiles and shrugs.

"Yeah! Nancy said you're like a one woman army!" Mandy exclaims.

"I don't know about that," she blushes.

"You pretty much are though," Nancy says.

"Sounds like it, we were talking about role models in class once and she told us about how you're hers," Julie says.

"I am?" She turns to Nancy, surprised. Now Nancy is the one blushing slightly.

"Yeah, I mean obviously you are," she shrugs. "You'd literally move the world for the ones you care about, you never take no for an answer, you don't take any bullshit from anyone. I'd like to be like that."

"Oh honey, like you're not already been all that for years?" She smiles at Nancy.

"God I wish I had a mother in law like you," Mandy sighs.

"You don't even have a boyfriend," Julie points out.

"You know what I mean!"

"But speaking of, Mrs. Byers what did you think when you found out Jonathan was dating Nancy?" Julie asks.

"Oh please, call me Joyce. But, I was thrilled! Obviously! You know, I've known her mother for… years, and when Jonathan and Nancy were little we tried to nudge them toward each other a bit, sometimes, especially after Will and Mike became such good friends. Nancy was always such a sweet girl."

"Jonathan was always nice, but so quiet. I remember mom tried to get me to play more with him but I just wanted to play with Barb then. Was kind of suspicious of boys, even if Jonathan was the only boy I knew that wasn't a loud butthole," Nancy smiles.

"So yeah, I was thrilled. I remember when you guys first told me you were seeing each other. It was right after… um," she catches herself, realizing that Julie and Mandy don't know… things. "Will was uh, really sick. It was really bad for a while," she explains to the girls.

"Yeah, Jonathan mentioned," Julie answers.

"Right. Nancy was really helpful then, she really um… helped us a lot. Especially Jonathan. I was too busy to really notice anything going on then besides Will. Then when things calmed down, and Jonathan came home one day and had Nancy with him and asked if she could stay for dinner… I was so surprised, but so happy!"

"Aw, that's so sweet," Julie and Mandy coo. Nancy smiles and gives her hand a squeeze.


The bar is certainly something. He's never seen so many hot guys in one place before. And people are out, comfortable, happy. They meet two other friends of Jonathan's, Carl and Pablo who are a couple. Robbie joins them later. It's kind of a surreal experience but in a great way to be here, surrounded with this. Back home he's never met someone like him. At least as far as he knows. But here he sees guys flirting, dancing, kissing. And Carl and Pablo act like a couple in much the same way as Jonathan and Nancy does which feels… aspirational. He can't help but dream that maybe it will be possible for him to be like that with a boy someday. Though right now he'd really just like to meet any boy, to dare to talk to someone. Maybe more.

Speaking of Jonathan, that's another weird but cool thing, to see his brother like this. Jonathan's always been the coolest person in the world to him. But back in Hawkins Jonathan often was lonely, in a similar but different way to him. Even more lonely in a way, since he at least had Mike, Lucas and Dustin, and later El and Max. Jonathan didn't really have any friends. He started to come out of his shell when he and Nancy got together. But seeing him now he's really… blossomed. Now he's got loads of friends and he's not shy at all about talking to people. He's really happy for his brother. And maybe he can be like that too, one day.

"So, Will, how are you getting on back in Hawkins then? Anyone you like?" Carl suddenly asks.

"Oh, no I don't know… there's not even anyone like… me, there."

"Oh, there definitely is honey. What is it they say, one in five people are gay? Or is it one in four?" Carl turns to Pablo and Robbie.

"I bet it'd be at least one in three at least if people were really honest with themselves," Pablo shrugs.

"True. Anyway, you're definitely not the only gay kid at your school for example. But I get how lonely it can feel."

"You should just come out here permanently! Guys would be lining up for you!" Pablo exclaims.

"Yeah, right."

"Honey, you're cute and artistic, what more do you think people want?" Carl tells him matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, see," Robbie cuts in, nodding to Jonathan who in the midst of getting them another round has apparently been caught up in conversation at the bar with a cute guy.

"Took your sweet time," Carl ribs Jonathan when he eventually returns to their table with beers.

"I thought I might have to go and pry you away now that Nancy isn't here to do it like last time," Robbie smirks.

"Hey! She didn't have to pry me away, I just couldn't find a way out of the conversation, the guy was so nice!"

"Of course he was nice, he was trying to get you to go home with him!"

"See Will, if Jonathan gets that attention, imagine how hot people would be for the even cuter and younger model?"

"Hey!" Jonathan calls out mock offended. "But yeah, true."


"Hey girl, can I buy you a drink?"

She flashes her hand to the guy and the wedding ring immediately makes him go away and try to find some other girl in the club to hit on.

"This is such a time saver," she marvels.

"Yeah. I do miss your old way of getting rid of guys trying to hit on you though," Julie smirks. Mandy nods in agreement enthusiastically, making her blush.

"Ooh, what way was that?" Joyce asks, intrigued.

Julie turns to Mandy, and they immediately delve into a role play of herself and Random Sleazy Guy.

"'sup girl, can I buy you a drink?"

"I have a gun."

Mandy ends the little scene by exaggeratedly acting like she's the guy backing away with a deer in headlights look. They all erupt in laughter.

"That must've been very effective," Joyce gets out between cackles.

"It was," she smiles.

"I still say you owe us for robbing us of an actual wedding though. Don't you agree Joyce?" Julie notes, referencing the fact that she and Jonathan decided to just elope last spring break and tie the knot at the court house just the two of them.

"Definitely!" Joyce agrees.

"Hey, we didn't want a big wedding," she defends.

"I know sweetheart."

"Still, we didn't even get to throw you a bachelorette party!" Julie continues.

Before she can respond another guy saddles up to them, right up next to Joyce.

"Excuse me but, you're gorgeous, can I buy you a drink?" He throws out, looking right at Joyce.

"Oh, that's very flattering but I'm married. He's chief of police in-," Joyce tries to deflect.

The guy's eyes go wide and in a split second he hightails it away from them. Once again they all dissolve into laughter.

"Oh my god that was the best thing I've ever seen," Julie wheezes out.

"Mrs. Byers please come to Paris with me," Mandy begs.

"I can't wait to tell Jonathan this," she breathlessly gets out.

"I feel bad, poor kid was so sweet, me of all people? With you three gorgeous girls at the table?"

"Come on Mrs. Byers you're a total fox!" Julie insists.

"Yeah, Mr. Hop better appreciate you, you could easily snag a 20 year old hot guy if you wanted to!" Mandy chimes in.

"Hopper," she corrects. "But yeah, you definitely could."

"You girls are sweet. But please call me Joyce."


When he comes out of the bathroom he sees Jonathan standing by a wall near the bar, looking at photos hanging up there and talking with a really cute guy.

"Will!" Jonathan calls out when he sees him and waves him over. "This is Sammy, he's the one who turned me onto Pet Shop Boys," he explains, referencing a cool band that's been on a lot of the latest mixtapes Jonathan has sent home to him.

"Oh, cool. Hi, I'm Will," he greets.

"Nice to meet you Will," Sammy smiles at him and takes his hand. That, and the way a strand of Sammy's dyed red hair falls over his left eye, makes him feel all fuzzy inside. "Sneaking underagers in now, are we, Jonathan?"

"Oh uh-" he feels caught out and tries to come up with an explanation, but Jonathan just shakes his head at Sammy and grins, and Sammy smiles too.

"Relax, I'm just playing," Sammy explains. "My uncle runs this place. I'm 18 now but I've been getting in here for years."

"Oh," he breathes a sigh of relief.

"You really lucked out in the uncle department," Jonathan remarks.

"Yeah well it's the least he could do, after all I'm the one who suggested he should get all of these to come play here," Sammy notes, gesturing to the photos on the wall showing different bands on stage in this very room.

"I took these," Jonathan explains.

"He's our semi-official photographer on retainer," Sammy adds.

"Wow, cool."

Jonathan has mentioned he's been photographing a lot of concerts in New York, he's seen some of the photos. But these are really cool.

"Maybe we could use an artist on retainer too, for posters and stuff. Jonathan has showed me some of your work, you're really talented," Sammy tells him, holding his gaze and giving his arm a little squeeze.

He's not quite sure how, but he's able to get out a mumbled, awkward response and Sammy just keeps smiling at him. Jonathan smiles, puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him he'll be right back.

So suddenly he finds himself alone with a really cute guy who seems genuinely nice and interested in talking to him. Through some sort of miracle he's able to keep the conversation going. It's not until Sammy asks if he can buy him a drink and starts leading him to the bar that he realizes it's been a while since Jonathan went away and hasn't been back yet. Well, he's having fun talking to Sammy so he'll stick with him.

Sammy's so much cooler than him, he's grown up right here in Greenwich Village, he's seen so many cool bands and seems to know a lot of stuff he hasn't a clue about. But for some reason in spite of that, and how uncool he himself is, Sammy is really interested in him, his art, his life. It's pretty wild.

He's not sure if it's 20 minutes later or an hour but soon he finds himself in a corner with Sammy, kissing him. He's kissing a really cute boy and it's amazing.


"God I haven't had this much fun in ages," she gushes as they tumble out of the club, Nancy with her arm around her while Julie's keeping the now slightly wobbly Mandy steady.

"Yeah this was great," Nancy agrees.

"God you two are such in law goals," Julie sighs.

"Why don't you all just come with me to Paris?" Mandy throws out the suggestion she's returned to again and again the longer the night's gone on. "We should all j-just go tonight!"

"Your flight is tomorrow," Nancy points out.

"Tomorrow then! We'll all go!"

"Right it's not like we have anything going on here or anyone we're kind of attached to…"

"Exactly! Wait… you're being… sapphic, aren't you?"

"Sarcastic," Julie corrects.

"What did I say?"

"Sapphic."

"Oh. Anyway, who cares, you can bring Jonathan! And you can bring Will and El and Mr. Popper! The more the merrier!"

"Hopper," Nancy corrects.

Mandy keeps up her drunken campaign trying to get them all to relocate to Paris with her all the way until they're outside the apartment building the sweet girl lives in.

"This was so much fun. Have a great time in Paris, sweetie," she tells Mandy as she hugs her goodbye.

"It was so fun, Mrs. Joyce! And you and Mr. Kotter has to come over for a romantic getaway!"

"Hopper!" Nancy, exasperated, corrects once again before pulling her friend in for a big goodbye hug of her own.

After they've said goodbye to Mandy, and later to Julie, she and Nancy make their way back to hers and Jonathan's apartment.

"I just love that you and Jonathan have such a nice life together here. I'm so happy for you. That you got out of Hawkins, together, and now you're just… going places. And having fun. It's so nice to see," she speaks honestly to Nancy.

"I couldn't do it without him. I love it here. Hawkins became so… depressing and suffocating. Here it's like… I feel alive."

"He couldn't do it without you either, I know. He's so happy here, with you. It's odd, we miss you so much in Hawkins but I'm so happy you're here instead. I keep thinking how I want the same for Will. On the one hand I want him to always be close to me… but at the same time I know he's destined for something so much bigger than Hawkins. He belongs in a place like this."

"Yeah, he does. Jonathan knows that too, that's why he wanted to take Will out tonight, to show him a world beyond Hawkins. I really hope Will moves here too, it would be so fun for us. And so good for him. He'd have so much fun. And of course we'd look after him."

"I know you would, that makes me feel better. Gosh, I wonder how their night was."


At the end of the night Sammy leaves him with a kiss, his phone number and a promise to see him again tomorrow before he goes back to Hawkins.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Jonathan asks him when they're walking down the sidewalk, making their way home.

"Yeah, so much fun! Thank you for this. This was… this was the best night of my life," he speaks honestly to his brother.

Jonathan stops in his tracks which makes him stop as well. Then Jonathan pulls him into a big hug.

"I'm glad. I've had so much fun hanging out with you tonight. I love you, Will."

"I love you too."

Jonathan keeps an arm slung around his shoulders the rest of the way back to the apartment. It feels really nice, to be out in New York, with his awesome brother, and a cute boy's phone number written on his arm.

When they reach the apartment building they see two familiar figures just about to enter it.

"Mom? Nancy?" He and Jonathan blurt out simultaneously.

"Hey, there you are!" Their mom turns around and greets with a big smile.

"Did you guys have fun tonight?" Nancy asks, smiling wide.

"Yeah, great time," Jonathan answers while reaching out and pulling Nancy into him, giving her a quick kiss. She tucks herself naturally into his side.

"It was so much fun," he adds, as if the perpetual smile on his face wouldn't be telling enough.

"What have you two been up to?" Jonathan asks Nancy.

"Oh, we went clubbing!" Their mom answers.

"What?!" Again he and Jonathan react in tandem.

"I forgot I promised Mandy and Julie I'd go out with them tonight, so all four of us went out. Your mom really knows how to party," Nancy grins.

"I haven't had this much fun in ages!" Their mom gushes.

He looks at Jonathan, who looks at him. They both shrug as they all start heading inside.

"What's that on your arm Will?" Nancy notices and points out, getting Joyce's attention. Before he can answer Nancy realizes. "Ooh, you got a boy's number?"

"Uh… um, kind of…"

"Honey! That's great," mom looks exuberant.

"He got Sammy's number," Jonathan lets spill.

"Sammy Brennan? Alright Will!" Nancy exclaims and holds her hand up for a high-five. "He's really cute," Nancy explains to his mom while the palm of his hand connects with hers.


"So Will looks like the happiest guy on the planet," Nancy notes to him as they've retreated to their bedroom after saying goodnight to his mother and brother.

"Yeah. It went exactly as I wanted it to go. He really had fun and I think it was eye opening for him, that it won't… he won't be stuck in Hawkins forever, that this can be a reality for him."

"That's great. By the way I know I've said this before and you get all mumbly and bashful like you do, but clearly you're the best big brother in the world, setting Will up with a cute boy like Sammy."

"Well, I just thought they'd both like the other. Guess I was right…"

"Of course you were. By the way, how many guys phone numbers did you get?" Nancy asks him with a smirk.

"Hey I didn't- tonight was about Will and I of course wouldn't-"

"Uh-huh," Nancy cuts him off and with a sly grin puts her hand in his pocket and with a triumphant smile pulls out five pieces of paper with scribbled down phone numbers guys left him. "So what's this then?"

"Ahem, well," he blushes and clears his throat. "I told them I was married, you know. But some wanted me to have it 'in case I change my mind'", he shakes his head, Nancy's smile widens. "That guy was bi, he and his boyfriend wanted to know if we swing," he notes at one number in particular as Nancy rifles through them.

"Oooh, well do we?" Nancy josses him.

"Hey now. By the way, thanks for taking mom out, she seems very happy."

"No need to thank me, it was my pleasure. Our pleasure, Mandy wanted to be adopted by her after a few hours."

"Shame I missed her last night," he answers.

"Yeah, but she understood, she said hi by the way. And invited us all to come with her to Paris."

"I see."

"Shame we can't right now. We could both get berets, it would be cute I think."

"I love French bread," he notes, easily falling into imagining a life in Paris with Nancy.

"By the way just so you know Hopper should step his game up. There's plenty of 20 year old guys in New York who'd love to get with your mom."

"What now?!"