Work Text:
The first person he tells isn’t his mom, or Jonathan, or even Mike.
No, the first person Will tells is Bob Newby.
It’s not a planned thing, because Will avoids thinking about things like that. Instead it’s on a day where his mom has to work late, and Bob offers to pick Will up from school because, while he doesn’t understand why, Bob knows everyone worries over Will. It’s a couple months into his and Will’s mom’s relationship, so while him and Will aren’t close, Will has a certain amount of trust and respect for him (even if he is dorky sometimes).
Bob is talking about something unimportant, or, it seems that way to Will, who’s too caught up in his own head to even pay attention.
“Hey, Will,” Bob prods from the driver’s seat, eventually leaning over to poke Will when his calls don’t garner a response. “Will!”
Will jolts from his thoughts and presses against the side of the car door, breath caught in his throat. Bob leans away as far as he can and holds the hand not holding the wheel in the air.
“Woah!” he exclaims. “Sorry kid! Didn’t mean to scare you! Didn’t know you were space cadetting, that’s all. You look like you got something on your mind – you need to talk about it? You know you can talk to be about anything, right?” The smile he aims at Will is warm, and maybe that’s what makes Will say what he does.
There’s no lead up or preparation – Will doesn’t even respond to Bob’s apology or his questions.
“What if I’m queer?” Will blurts out – it sounds like a question, but Will knows it’s not, not really. Immediately Will feels his heart clench and his stomach drop. Why did he do that? What is he thinking? Oh god, oh god – what if Bob hates him? What if Bob tells his mom? What if –
“Will!” Bob calls; he sounds like he’s yelling from underwater. Oh, Will’s hyper-ventilating. That’s why his chest feels tight.
Distantly Will feels a hand come to rest on his shoulder, and another come to stop on the middle of his chest. There’s a warm rumble in the background of his panicky thoughts, and Will tries to focus on it.
“Okay, breathe with me, alright? In, one, two, three, four, five… that’s great, good job Will.”
Shakily Will follows the directions, and eventually he starts to make sense of where he is again. Bob has pulled his car over to the side of the road, although luckily, they were already well on the way home so they’re not in a residential area. The warm voice Will was hearing is, unsurprisingly, Bob’s – when Will dares to peek up and into the man’s face, he’s smiling warmly, like Will hasn’t just admitted to being a queer, a faggot.
“You okay now, buddy?” Bob asks, and Will nods hesitantly. “Now, I think I heard what you said before, but I’m not sure. Would you mind repeating it for me?” Will’s mind blanks – there’s no way he can say it again. Bob must see it on Will’s face because he hastily speaks up.
“Or – how about I say what I think you meant, and you can tell me whether I’m right?” Bob suggests. Will doesn’t nod, but Bob goes on anyways. “Okay, so… I think that you just told me that you…” he struggles for the right words. “Like boys. Is that correct?”
Will’s faced with a dilemma – does he take this chance as an out and tell Bob he meant something completely different, or does he continue with the path he’s already chosen? One look at Bob’s patient face answers Will’s question for him.
“Yeah…” Will finally manages to mumble, and he cringes at how quiet it is and how his voice cracks. “I-I do like boys. A-and not girls.” Immediately Will slams his eyes closed, anticipating a blow despite how supportive Bob had seemed before.
For a moment silence fills the car. Then, Will hears Bob’s seatbelt unbuckle and the car door open. This is it, Will thinks hysterically, he’s going to die.
The door on Will’s side of the car clicks open and Will closes his eyes tighter, bringing his hands up slightly to defend himself.
Except, the blow he’s expecting never comes.
Instead, Bob Newby’s arms wrap around him in one of the warmest hugs he’s ever received (and the first from Bob). It takes a moment, but Will manages to untense enough to hesitantly hug Bob back. The two sit in silence for a moment.
“Will,” Bob finally says, breaking the silence. It sounds wet, like Bob’s been crying. The man pulls back a bit to look Will in the face and yeah, there are tears collecting in the corners of his eyes. “Thank you for telling me. You are so brave for doing that, and I am so honoured that you’d tell me.”
Will feels his own eyes well up with tears – he’d never thought about it that way. He almost felt bad – he hadn’t really chosen Bob specifically, the man just happened to be there on the day Will felt like he’d burst from all the words kept inside him.
More hugging happens and Will doesn’t say anything else, but eventually Bob returns to his side of the car. By now both have stopped crying, although Bob only just barely. Will settles into his seat, ready to stare out the window and pretend this didn’t all just happen when Bob speaks up again.
“Does Joyc- your mom know?” He asks, and when Will turns to look at him he sees that Bob is sitting stalled behind the wheel, handing hovering over the ignition. Will shakes his head, but Bob doesn’t see.
“No.” He manages to croak. Bob’s eyes widen.
“Jonathan?”
“N-no.” Will answers – he doesn’t know where this is going.
“Any of your friends? Like, uh… Mike?” Bob looks desperate.
“N-no, I haven’t told anyone but you.” Will stammers, and blanches when more tears form in Bob’s eyes. “W-what’s wrong” He manages to ask. Bob wipes futilely at his eyes.
“Nothing, kid,” he answers tearfully, “I just can’t believe that you’d tell me before your mom or – or anyone else.” He smiles, and Will hesitantly smiles back. “I- this might be weird, Will, but I love you like you were my own son.” Bob looks surprised at his own words, but after a second he nods resolutely and puts one warm hand on Will’s head. “I do. Thank you for telling me.”
For a second Will is shocked, but then he smiles and this time it’s a real, honest smile. What started as a desperate plea for acceptance has turned into something so much better and so much more than Will could have ever imagined. Maybe he wouldn’t go as far to say that he loves Bob like a father, but whatever it is Will’s feeling sure is close.
Bob doesn’t receive a reply to his news, but he doesn’t seem to expect one, either, as he simply turns the key in the ignition and starts to drive again. Now when Will looks out the window, he’s not imagining throwing himself out of the car.
They’re only a minute or two from home when Bob asks,
“So…. you like any boys at school?”
Will’s cheeks immediately burst into flame and he turns to look at Bob indignantly. A cheeky smile is on the man’s feature although he doesn’t look at Will, and the boy huffs. For a moment Will’s mind wanders to a certain dark-skinned, adventurous boy, but quickly he shakes those thoughts off. There's no way he's talking about that with Bob.
“No!” He exclaims in annoyance.
Bob just reaches over to ruffle Will’s hair, and he spends the rest of the car ride chuckling. Will feels better than he has in a long time.