Chapter Text
Will Byers woke up with shaky feet that morning.
No longer than 10 hours ago, the previous night, the 15-year-old boy had done the one most terrifying thing he’d probably ever done–come out.
Last night he sat down with his mother, Joyce, and elder brother Jonathan, trembling, and revealed his deepest darkest secrets.
“M-mom, Jon,” he’d had to inhale between syllables in order to not break down right there and then.
“Yes, my boy?” his mother’s warm, comforting voice said.
She was clearly trying to meet his eyes, but Will, far too scared, kept his gaze strictly on the wooden floorboards.
“I-I h-have… I have something to tell you.”
“Alright, go on,” his brother gave an encouraging smile.
Will took a deep breath in, and faced his fears.
He confessed.
Neither of them were… his kind, no, but of course his mother and brother were comforting and understanding, and promised they’d love him no matter what.
But after Jonathan had gone somewhere– most likely to shag his boyfriend, Steve Harrington, Joyce wanted to talk more about his… confession.
She wanted to let him know that even though she was fully supportive of him, she wanted him to join a club with his sorts of people, so he could meet more people like him and perhaps find someone special.
So, when Will got up the next morning he prepared for the first meeting of his club.
The whole morning his confession scene played out in his head on repeat.
“I don’t really know how to, um, express this, tell you both, but I have to. And it’s the scariest thing I’ll ever do, but it needs to be done. I need to get this wait off my chest. Somebody needs to know, I want you both to know.”
“Yes, my boy?”
“I’m… I’m different… from most boys…”
“Yes?”
* Inhale *
“I’m spiritually vegan”
The Spiritual Vegans Club meeting was held at an old radio station, and since Will couldn’t yet drive, Jonathan had to drop him off, with his boyfriend Steve, of course.
“Soooo Will, you got a boyfriend yet?” his brother’s lover wondered from him.
“No,” Will answered honestly.
“Is there anyone interesting on your mind, then?” he continued.
“No” same answer.
Will had realised he was gay when he was in middle school.
He had always known it, as the vegan thing too, but only recognised it when he got a crush on his classmate, Carlton.
Carlton later evolved into Will’s worst bully.
Will had come out of the closet back then, and his gayness was now common knowledge among his familiars.
“Well who knows, maybe someone from the club catches your eye, eh” Steve winked at him and turned back around.
Certainly not. He was just kidding.
When they arrived at the WSQK, Will jumped out the car and leaped toward the building.
The boy in a bowl cut was rather excited to meet the other spiritual vegans, since he’d never met someone like him before, but at the same time he felt slightly anxious.
What if the other vegans thought he wasn’t spiritual enough, or laughed because he ws so new to it?
Will shrugged the negative energy off.
Good vibes only.
10 minutes to go.
When Will entered the building he noticed chairs placed in a circle in a main hall area.
Almost every chair was occupied, in fact, there was only one free one left.
Shyly, he tiptoed to the empty chair and sat on it.
“I believe everyone has joined us for today, and we can begin!”
A balding man with glasses and a moustache, clearly the head, announced.
“I’d like to start off the meeting by a few wise words:
We all are unique, different, special. But we’re connected by one thing: spiritual veganism. It’s hard to find people out there like us, and people who accept our kind. It’s tough for our kind out there, dangerous to go grocery shopping and even more dangerous to go out to eat. But if we stick together, knowing there are people like us around, we can survive.”
There seemed to be about 9 people including Will and the man with the speech, and all of them were nodding their heads in approval.
“So, we’ll start off by introducing ourselves and sharing our backstories of spiritual veganism. I’ll go first.” The same man spoke again.
“I am Murray Bauman, spiritual vegan, and I used to be a danger, insane. Before becoming a spiritual vegan, I fought against children half my age. But I was seen as a bigger threat being spiritually vegan then as a fighter, and was forced to leave my hometown. I then moved to Russia, where I was locked up for three years because I was a spiritual vegan. When I was set free I fled and settled down here in Hawkins, and started this club, to prevent what happened to me, happening to others.”
Applause.
They went around the room sharing experiences.
Mostly it was the same stuff, coming out as vegan, being abandoned or forced to leave, finding comfort in people like them and hence finding the club.
During his own turn, Will told the happenings of the previous night, and got a few brows raised.
“So your mom and brother are fine living with you?” he nodded.
The boy sitting next to him saved him from further questions.
“Hi, I’m Mike Wheeler, and my story's similar to Will’s.” he remembered his name.
“I’ve been spiritually vegan my whole life, since I was born. I come from a pure spiritually vegan family, my mom, dad, and both my sisters are spiritual vegans, just like me. We moved here a week ago, and since it’s summer, my mom wanted me to join so I could find new friends and get to know people like me.” The brunette boy next to him ended, and something inside Will felt different.
The meeting continued along those tracks, ending with pledging the allegiance: “Spiritually vegan today, spiritually vegan tomorrow, spiritually vegan as far as it goes, spiritually vegan from head to toe.”
Jonathan hadn’t come yet.
Will stood in the parking lot waiting for him to drive in.
“Will, isn’t it?” Mike, the boy who’d sat next to him at the meeting, had appeared beside him.
“Yea, you’re Mike.”
The boy nodded.
“I haven’t uh, seen you around here before. Are you from Hawkins or is there no Spiritually Vegan Club where you live?”
“Oh no, I just moved here at the beginning of summer. We got banned from every public space in Saskatchewan, where we came from. My mom threw a fit at the local McDonald’s when they didn’t have an extra-extra vegan burgers, threw four bookshelves at the library when she found out the book covers weren’t vegan and she got thrown out from church after she tried to hold a worship for spiritual vegans, which really didn’t work since we were the only ones in town,” Mike scratched his neck awkwardly.
“Oh, wow,” Will was at a loss for words.
“Crazy, I know. My mom was known as “the crazy vegan lady.” Churches fear her all over the country.”
“So, if you just moved I assume you haven’t started school here yet. Or is your family too spiritual for that?” Will smiled.
“No, not yet at least..” Mike chuckled with a glint of concern in the corner of his eye.
Will immediately felt bad. He didn’t want to be the cause of misery.
“Well uh, I go to Hawkins High, I’m pretty sure it’s the only high school around.” he muttered cautious and quick.
“Oh yea that’s where I’m going after the summer. Guess I’ll be seeing you around then.” Mike smirked at him, causing Will’s insides to turn and spread with relief.
“Yeah…” he mumbled.
“Ah, there’s my mom. Bye, Will Byers. See you next week!”
And there it was.
As Mike ran off to his vehicle, the back of his right hand brushed smoothly across Will’s.
It couldn’t be- could Steve Harrington have been right, about finding someone?
No, certainly not, Will was just imagining it all, right?
**
Mike Wheeler spun his spoon around with no appetite.
A conversation between his family was going on around him, but Mike’s mind was wandering elsewhere.
Will.
The boy he met at Spiritually Vegans Club just a few hours ago.
“Michael, stop playing with your vegan Irish stew,”
Karen, his mom, broke his Will shaped bubble.
Mike bopped his head up quickly.
“What?”
His mom sighed loudly.
“You’re not eating your vegan Irish stew, or even participating in the family conversation. Everyone wants to hear how your first day of Spiritually Vegan Club went.”
Maybe he wasn’t eating it because it was disgusting, Mike thought and rolled his eyes overdramatically.
He didn’t want to talk about his day or eat the repulsive stew shoved in front of his face.
“Oh, Uhm… it was fine.” he muttered with an irritated tone, still forming circles in the gross yellow broth with his sticky spoon.
“I remember my first Spiritually Vegan club,” his mom sighed nostalgically.
“We sang our songs and skipped around in a circle in the middle of a dark forest. The only light we had was the campfire we made every time. And to end our meetings we always shared eight crowsberries and pledged our allegiance to the holy vegan spirit, the saviour of our animals and environment, the bringer of naturalism. We got accused of being a cult. How I miss those days.”
Mike had heard this story once too often before, and was getting practically annoyed with it.
He wasn’t hungry, especially not for his vegan Irish stew.
In fact, he hadn’t felt hungry in a long, long time.
Not for vegan foods at least.
Meat though…
No.
He tried to erase those filthy thoughts that somehow every once in a while crept through a hole into his mind.
His mom would freak the fuck out if she ever found out.
She wouldn’t find out. Ever.
Mike tried to shift his thoughts as far away from anything related to veganism and spirituality as possible, but it kept bouncing back to his new club, full of spiritual vegans like his mom. Back to the dark haired boy he’d met earlier that day. The one he’d possibly be sharing classes with. The one who made him feel dizzy, extremely hot and something he couldn’t quite place yet.
The one who made him feel excited, made him actually look forward to the next meeting of the Spiritually Vegans Club.
Will Byers.
The name was locked in his mouth, stuck.
It tickled on his tongue, and he had to force it to stay in, fearing he might blurt it out any possible moment.
Mike remembered the worried look on his face after making a joke.
He remembered the relief after it.
And he remembered the wide, warm smile spread on his face.
That smile. Oh lord.
It made his palms sweat thick, and caused his chest to tighten.
His shirt felt like it was going to rip by its seams.
His face was practically burning and he could feel how the heat spread under the collar of his shirt down beneath his eco-friendly 100% vegan blue jeans.
And down there along with the heat, something stiffened.
He shot up like lightning from his chair and took the run for it yelling “bathroom!” as he sprinted faster than ever up the stairs into their washroom.
Mike was bent over the sink weight on his leaning elbows.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
His eyes rose to stare at his flushed red face in the mirror in front of him.
His mind had cleared after splashing cold water onto his face and learning how to breathe again.
“What the hell just happened?” he thought to himself.
He was confused.
All he’d done was reflect onto the shared moments with the chocolate eyed boy with the stupid haircut earlier that day.
And that annoying smile.
That annoying, perfect, long smile, and- oh.
Oh.
Realisation hit him like a freight train coming full speed toward him.
The sensational feeling was all too familiar, the one he didn’t think he’d ever actually know.
The same type of realisation he’d had at 12, after he’d seen David Bowie on his friend’s square tv, when he realised he felt the same way as all the other boys his age felt about women like Brooke Shields, Madonna and Phoebe Cates.
That night he had fallen asleep puzzled and terrified.
And now he was even more terrified because he’d never felt anything like it towards people he actually knew. Only celebrities.
Yes Mike had known he was gay for the last 4 years, but now it was… real.
Very, very real.
And very, very alarming.