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Derry, Maine, is not known for it’s queer solidarity. LGBTQ+ related crimes go largely unchecked, and it’s been that way for a very long time. Back in the eighties, however, Dr. Wentworth Tozier and his wife, Maggie were well known amongst the queer community for being the town’s safe haven, a refuge where the door was always open.
Maggie and Wentworth Tozier wouldn’t call themselves perfect, but residents in their small town had no problem. Ever since they’d first started seeing each other, they’d been showered with praise. They were Perfect.
The problem with an entire population thinking very highly of you, however, is that when you stop striving for Perfect and start striving for Happy, they notice. If you went to a zoo, and found penguins in the lion enclosure, you would undoubtedly be upset. Perhaps you would turn to the family next to you and make a flippant, anti-penguin remark, and they’d chuckle and agree, and you would all go your separate ways. But it isn’t as though the penguins realize they were in the wrong exhibit. They didn’t make the sign, and blaming a penguin for not being a lion is not going to change much anyhow.
Wentworth and Maggie Tozier were penguins, and the citizens of Derry had built a lion’s den around them.
And when your family is under a spotlight, you lay low. When the town would fall still, whispers carried. But the Toziers still have their beliefs. Most of them revolved around protecting their son, because Richie was, and always would be, the number one reason for every uphill battle the Tozier’s fought, no matter how quietly. His parents gave silent support in a loud and hateful town.
***
One day, when he was five or six, Richie came home very, very upset. A distraught Eddie had told him Sonia said her son wasn’t allowed to play with 'dirty little flamers’ anymore. Before Went and Maggie could process that, Richie flung himself at his father, desperately trying to grab Went’s cigarettes from his coat pocket while insisting that there must’ve been a misunderstanding of some sort.
"I didn’t ever played wi’ matches wi’ Eddie, not ever,” he sobbed as Maggie scooped him up onto her lap and rubbed the small of his back. “Mrs. Kas... Kaspr.. Kasp-rak must’a seen Daddy smoking somewheres an’, an’ that’s why she said tha’, ‘cos, ‘cos...” Richie’s protests slowed into sleepy, shuddering deep breaths as he wore himself out, but Maggie and Went exchanged worried glances as they carried him upstairs to put down for a well needed nap.
The Tozier’s were painfully aware of Richie’s... flamboyancy, but the blatant bigotry from Sonia startled them out of their bubble. The next morning, Maggie sent Wentworth down to speak with Sonia, and despite his grievances, he did manage to arrange a play-date — as well as a discounted checkup. On his way back, he decided to make an impromptu visit to two of his... “confirmed bachelor” friends who lived out of town. They were incredibly gracious hosts, and all the women in Derry had speculated on why they’d yet to find wives.
None of their guesses had even come close.
Coincidentally, Maggie called up one of her “widowed” friends, who brought along her equally windowed “housemate” of seven years, and that was the day both Went and Maggie separately found out about the rainbow flag, a movement that had begun two years after Richie was born.
Rainbows started showing up in their home the following weeks, specifically whenever Eddie would visit.
His gifts were wrapped with rainbow paper.
The colourful pinstripes on Went’s old pajama shirt that Eddie wore when Sonia packed flannels in the middle of June.
Maggie’s bright and floppy beach hat that Richie said made Eddie look like the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, which wasn’t true, but Eddie did seem to ask to borrow it more often after that.
But nearly seven years later, when learning about the AIDS epidemic seemed to rattle Eddie more than the rest of their group, Maggie decided to fight a little louder. Completely silent support simply wasn’t enough anymore.
The boys - Richie, Stanley, Bill, and Eddie - had built a magnificent fort in the basement, and were spending the whole night down there, Mom, so we’re gonna need popcorn, and more blankets, and the TV, and every tape we own, especially Ghostbusters, and...
Eddie was the last one to go downstairs, and the only one to brush his teeth. “Goodnight, Mrs. Tozier,” he whisper-shouted across the kitchen, standing at the basement door.
“Maggie is fine, lovey,” she reminded him, grabbing a small brown paper bag from the kitchen table before getting up. “Here, I got you a little something.”
His brows crinkled. “Why, it’s not my birthday for another, like, six months. Wait,” his lips moved silently as he counted on his fingers. “Four months. Still.”
“I just saw them and thought of you,” she said simply, and he took it, tucking it under his arm, the paper crinkling softly. Maggie pressed a kiss to his forehead and wrapped him in a hug, all too aware that she probably wasn’t being a very cool mom but couldn’t quite bring herself to care. “You’re always welcome here, lovey. You know how much Went and I enjoy having you.”
Maggie released him and nearly laughed out loud at his flushed face, giving him another kiss before shooing him down the stairs.
Upstairs, Went was already in bed, his glasses halfway down his nose, and whatever novel he’d been reading was laying open on his chest. The pages made a wispy sort of sound with each steady rise and fall of his breath, and Maggie slipped as quietly as she could into their bed, leaning over to grab the bookmark for her husband, when something wrapped itself around her torso and she nearly fell out of bed.
“Went!” she squealed as he buried his face into her side and pulled her closer to him.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said, “I know you were trying to do something nice for me, but I had to, it was just so easy…”
“You didn’t have to do anything,” she complained, but didn’t stop him when he wrapped one of his large hands around the back of her neck, tugged her down and kissed her. She slid down under the covers and giggled like a schoolgirl when Wentworth used his other hand to grab her hips and move her on top of him.
“The boys are two floors down,” he said against her lips, fingers tracing swirls and stars along the seams of her nightgown, waiting for her to give the okay before they went any further.
“I know,” Maggie kissed his nose before she got up, smiling at his almost-silent sigh of disappointment, and crossed the room to lock their door. She turned back to face Wentworth, who’s eyebrows had shot up to the ceiling before he wiggled them suggestively. Laughing, she ran back and practically dove back into bed.
They may have seemed not-quite-Perfect, or too loud, or too quiet for their little town, but that night they were Perfect, too loud, and too quiet all at once.
***
The next morning, Maggie made the boys eggs, bacon and hash browns. Wentworth, who had already set the table for when the boys finally staggered upstairs, was reading the paper, his whole face still glowing from the night before, and Maggie couldn’t help but tell herself over and over again you did that. He’s smiling like that because of you.
Eddie was the first one up, dressed with his bag packed even though he wouldn’t have to go for another three hours. Maggie had heard him creep up the squeaky stairs, knowing he was trying to be quiet to let his friends sleep, and her heart swelled.
“Hiya, kiddo, how’d ya sleep?” Went asked him, and Maggie, back turned, checked the hash browns in the oven. Nearly done.
“Morning, Mr. Tozier. Good, thank you.” Eddie responded. Maggie wiped her hands on her apron and turned around to greet him.
“Good morning, Eddie, what time did…” she trailed off as she saw what he was wearing, a pale blue polo and the red shorts she had given him, the ones with the little rainbow flag on the side. She met his eyes, and he fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “They look great, lovey. I’m glad they fit.”
“Yeah, me too, I like them a lot.” He was about to go, likely to the living room to read like he always did before the boys got up, but stopped. Eddie seemed to debate something with himself before giving in and walking over to Maggie and hugging her. She stopped, a little surprised, but wrapped her arms around him tightly just the same. She made eye contact with Wentworth, who looked puzzled, and she jerked her head to the flag, almost-but-not-quite tapping it with her index finger. He nodded and smiled at her.
“I love you,” he mouthed, and she mouthed it back.
Maggie’s attention was brought back to Eddie when he got on his tiptoes and whispered “thank you, Maggie,” into her hair. She felt her eyes well up and she pressed a hard kiss onto the top of his head before letting him go, ignoring the deep crimson blush spreading across his face. Went gave him a fist bump as he passed, and Eddie smiled like he was on cloud nine.
Silent support in a loud and hateful town.
But silent support can go a long, long way.