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William Byers is 14. It is December 1985. Ronald Reagan is President of the United States and homophobia is rampant in Hawkins, Indiana. Hawkins is not a safe place to be questioning your sexuality.
Snowflakes fall outside his window as the young boy toys with the hem of his pyjama shirt, anxiously debating whether he should tell his older brother Jonathan about his conflicting thoughts as of late. Recently, boys at his middle school have been teasing him, calling him names like “fairy” and “fag”, and if Will is being honest with himself, those names might not be all that far from the truth.
He’s never really been attracted to girls all that much. He’s had what feels like a crush on one of his best friends for a while now. An avid artist, Will has found himself drawing more and more portraits of “pretty boys”, with long, soft eyelashes, and puckered lips that just look so kissable, and- wait. Why is he thinking about boys this way?
He knows he shouldn’t. He knows his father will be outraged, disown him even, but maybe his mother will be more forgiving. He thinks that Jonathan at least might understand, even if he’s not all that accepting. He debates back and forth in his head before sighing loudly and laying back down onto his bed.
Pulling on his dressing gown, he exits his room and lumbers down the hallway towards his brother’s room. Knocking on the door, he swallows his fear in one big gulp as he waits for the door to swing open.
“Will?” his brother asks, concerned. “What’s up bud?” Will walks into Jonathan’s room and collapses in a tired heap on his bed.
“I think I’m gay.”
A silence. Jonathan moves to sit next to his brother, placing a hand on the younger boy’s head.
“You sure?”
“No.”
“Right,” Jonathan pauses, “okay.” He contemplates what to say next for a while before pressing on. “What-” he pauses again, trying to get the right wording- “what made you come to this conclusion?”
“Boys,” Will sighs quietly, so quietly in fact that he feels the need to repeat himself: “Boys.” Jonathan chuckles, and moves a strand of hair out of his eye.
“Yes, well, I figured that.” Will’s hope grows as he hears his brother make light of the situation – he could swear that his heart grew three times. “But like,” another pause, “what made you realise?”
“I just- I never-” Will sighs again, struggling to find the right words. “I never really liked girls, I guess?”
Jonathan is accepting. You could say it went to plan.
When Will comes out to his mother, it’s a little bumpy.
“Mom?” He says one morning in the kitchen, a few days after that wintry night when he told Jonathan.
“Yes sweetie?”
“I’m gay.” Joyce chokes on her coffee.
“You- you’re- you’re what?” She stutters, partially in disbelief, and partially because she didn’t quite hear him.
“I’m gay, mom.”
Will notices that silence seems to be a recurring theme in his coming out. Joyce notices the crestfallen look on her son’s face in response to her reaction and leaves her chair to give him a hug.
His mom smells of coffee and slightly burnt hair. He savours the embrace.
“That’s okay sweetie. Whatever you need, I’m here.”
Coming out to his dad is a completely different story. Mainly in that he doesn’t get to come out at all. Rather, his dad comes out for him.
“What’s this I hear about you being a fag?” His dad asks, rather aggressively, when Will is over for a visit. Will looks away “Ain’t no son of mine’s gonna be a fairy fag, ya hear me?” He grabs Will’s face to look at him. “You hear me?”
“Y-yes dad,” Will gets out.
“Now get out of my fucking car!” Yet another pause, as Lonnie continues driving. “I said get out of my fucking car!”
Lonnie pulls up on the side of the road, Will opens the passenger door, and his dad shoves him out of the car, throwing his backpack through the window after him, leaving him to walk home. Just his luck, it starts raining on the way.
The first of his friends to figure it out is Max. One day, just as the winter is drawing to a close, she approaches him and asks why he’s been so secretive recently.
“Have I?” Will asks, genuinely confused. “I didn’t realise, sorry.”
“Will, are you gay?” She questions. He freezes in his stride, eyes wide like a stunned mullet.
“Wh- what?”
“I knew it!” Max says, almost as if she was celebrating a victory. Then her mood suddenly changes, as she realises that maybe that’s not the best way to react to a friend coming out. “You know, I’m here for you, right?” Her voice softens, “You can tell me anything.”
The next to find out is Dustin.
“Don’t you think Ella in science is hot?” Dustin asks Will as they’re planning their next Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
“No, not really.” Will responds absentmindedly, as he draws up an idea for a new monster for the party to fight.
“Well then who do you think is hot?” Dustin pushes, “It’s totally Louise from English, I knew it!”
“I’m gay, Dustin, I don’t like girls.” Will says sharply, before realising what he said.
The recurring silence returns.
“Oh.”
Mike, Lucas, and El all find out at the same time – when Will finally feels ready to come out to them. It takes some time, but one summer day in the arcade, before they start their sophomore year at Hawkins High, he suddenly finds the courage to tell them.
“Guys, I’m gay.”
Mike and Lucas look at each other and then back at Will, repeating the process a few times as they put the pieces together. Lucas sighs in realisation. El is confused.
“What’s gay?” She asks, rather loudly. Max and Dustin whip their heads around to see if anyone was listening, and Mike makes a shushing noise.
“It’s when a boy likes other boys instead of girls, El.” Mike tells her in a hushed tone. “A lot of people think gay people are bad, so we have to keep our voices down, okay?”
“But I don’t see the problem?”
Will pulls her into a hug.
“I don’t either, El,” Will says into her shoulder, smiling lightly, “I don’t either.”
Max joins the embrace, and, in a matter of seconds, the entire party is hugging each other. Just as friends should.