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Vickie rambles on and on nervously to her girl - friend, Robin, who smiles as she listens intently.
Suddenly, Vickie pauses and sighs. “Oh not again..”
“What is it?” Robin says, looking over at Vickie.
Vickie raises both of her hands, holding two slices of bread slathered with crunchy peanut butter.
“And I’ve just made another peanut butter on peanut butter monstrosity..” She groans, and Robin giggles a bit and slides the jelly over to her.
“What’s wrong with peanut butter on peanut butter?” A lower voice says from the kitchen, belonging to a boy who was walking out holding a few glass jars of grape Smucker’s jelly.
Vickie and Robin turn a bit startled, as they were unaware someone had been watching them, let alone been in the kitchen.
“Will?” Robin questions quietly. She hadn’t met him exactly, though she’d heard lots about him from Steve.
Shy, quiet, sensitive, artistic kid who just so happened to be the first victim of Vecna.
He also happened to have some sort of over - whelming sixth sense regarding the upside down, and she was surprised he was even here right now.
“Sorry,” he apologises. “I didn’t..” he sets the jelly’s down besides them.
“.. mean to eavesdrop or anything but.. you know, peanut butter on peanut butter is kind of funny,” he chuckles.
There were people walking all throughout the gymnasium, some of them more calm than others even through - out the panic of all of this.
“Oh, yeah.” Vickie says, giggling a bit as she starts to take some of the cold jelly to use on a couple more slices of bread to fix the ‘monstrosity.’
“You must be friends with Robin, then?” She says, looking between the two.
“Oh- oh no,” Robin corrects her quickly. “I actually haven’t, met him before.. he’s Jonathan’s little brother? I think I told you about Jonathan.. Nancy’s boyfriend?”
“Oh, oh yeah! Jonathan, the one that beat Steve up that one time you were telling me?”
Will winces a bit, laughing a bit through clenched teeth.
“Oh- oh I’m sorry, Will, I didn’t mean that just- oh, I should stop talking.” Vickie finally concludes, and Robin giggles, looking over at her.
“No, no I like when you talk. Just.. spare Will.”
They both giggle some more and Will stands besides them, starting to make more sandwiches in silence.
“So.. what are you doing here?” Robin says to him.
He looks over with a small smile. “Nothing just.. you know.. thought I should help. I have nothing else to do so.. yeah.”
“Is something wrong?” Robin asks, noticing his shift in posture as he seemed to close up a bit as he spoke.
Then, she facepalms. “Oh my god- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it like- you know.. between us.. I know it was really hard when you went missing. I know you’re probably really on edge about all this stuff, huh?”
“No! No it’s not,” Will laughs a bit uncomfortably, “..it’s not.. about that. But.. thank you..?” He says quietly, continuing to make his sandwiches.
“He went missing? Was he lost in the earth - quake?” Vickie cues in.
“Oh, no.. it was a couple years ago when-“
“Can you please stop?” Will says quietly, though gently. He didn’t mean to come off as rude, though the rambling about him while he was right there was making him a bit upset.
He flicks the jelly off of his butter - knife in a bit of frustration, and they look over at him.
“Oh, yeah. Of course. Sorry.” Robin says hurriedly.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry just.. I don’t want to talk about that right now. Okay?”
“Okay. Of course.”
They make sandwiches side by side for a few more minutes, before Robin smiles and clasps her hands together, sliding an empty jar away from her.
“Little Byers, could you get me a new jar of jam?”
“Jam? Are you southern?” He says with a small smile, though walks off to the kitchen for it.
He comes back with three jars instead of one.
“Hey,” She says with a grin. “That’s too many.”
He shrugs.
“Well, I thought we’d need more. Maybe.. uhm.. I didn’t quite catch your name..?” He says, tilting his head at Vickie who grins and waves introductively.
“I’m Vickie,”
“Oh, hi. I’m Will.” He says, though she already knows his name. “Uhm.. anyways.. I just thought maybe Vickie would want some too?”
She nods. “Thank you,”
He smiles and turns back to making sandwiches.
He decides to start talking with Robin and Vickie. If he was gonna be here a while, why not be friendly with them?
“I like your hair, Vickie,” he speaks up.
“You do?”
“Yeah, I like short hair on girls. It’s awesome! I hate people who think short hair is just for boys, you know?”
Robin and Vickie exchange a look before smiling at him.
“Mm-hm. It’s also easier to brush. And Robin loves it, don’t you?” She says, turning to Robin who blushes and widens her eyes at Vickie as if to tell her to hush.
They giggle a bit and Will raises his eyebrows a bit. “Anyways, sorry for randomly going on a tangent about your hair.. it’s just cool. Is that your natural hair color?”
“Oh? Yeah it is. Of course.”
“So you’re a ginger?” Will questions, and she raises her eyebrows.
“What? Well.. yeah. My parents are Irish so you know.. it just kinda, I came out as the most ginger baby ever. I swear.” She giggles a bit as she talks, rambling on about how her parents even thought about calling her rose because of how red her hair was when she was born.
“That’s cool,” he says with a small smile. “My friend max is.. ginger.”
“Awesome! I’ve never met another ginger, is he here?”
“Uhm.. no.” Will says quietly. “And, it’s a girl.”
“Oh. I’ve never heard of a girl named Max. That’s interesting. Huh. Oh... oh no..” Vickie says, pausing to look down at her third peanut butter on peanut butter monstrosity of the day.
A new world record.
Robin starts laughing uncontrollably as she slides the jelly jar over to her girl - friend again.
Will finds himself laughing quietly as well as he watches on, seeing the two being so giggly over each other.
“You guys must be really good friends,” he says with a smile.
“You have no idea,” Vickie says, holding back a giggle.
Robin playfully shoves her shoulder.
“When did you guys meet?”
“Oh, we met in band class last year.”
“Oh. That’s cool.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah..” Will says softly, turning to look over at the two now. “Do you know Nancy?”
“Huh? Yeah.” Robin says. “Actually, I know her really well now. I think we might actually be friends now.. we were together when the uh.. earth - quake hit,” She says, hinting to Will something Vickie wouldn’t pick up on.
“Oh, right. Okay. Well, anyways, her little brother, Mike, is my best friend. Anyways.. when all this happened we were in California.. we felt really bad.. so we came as quick as we could which took a bit. But anyways.. oh god what have you done?” He says, blushing a bit as he realises he’s the one rambling now.
“The power of Robin Buckley,” Vickie teases out, before walking into the kitchen to grab another jar of peanut butter this time as her monstrosities were running her low.
Robin leans over to Will while Vickie is gone.
“You alright?”
“Huh?” He looks over at her. “Huh, oh yeah, I’m fine, why?”
“Uhmm.. because you just dripped jelly all over the counter.”
Will’s trembling hands become evident as he looks down and sets the knife down. “Oh- oh I’m so sorry..” he apologises quickly, grasping for a napkin to clean it up and she shakes her head.
“No.. no don’t apologise. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“No.. no yeah I’m fine. Thanks.” He says bluntly, quickly turning back to sandwich making once he’s wiped off the sticky counter.
To be honest, his nerves were getting the best of him. He’d suddenly felt a shift in the mood of Vecna. He’d.. felt it. Which was horrifying, for one, and second of all..
He was with two gorgeous, older, friendly girls and he felt nothing towards them.
They were beautiful, he could tell, they had perfect teeth, noses, appealing voices, they were well dressed and had it all it was just.. nothing. His mind still kept drifting off to Mike.
Mike.. Michael Wheeler. The BOY who had a girl - friend.
As any other boy should, instead of sitting here moping over another boy.
“Hey, I can tell somethings off. Are you sure you’re alright?”
Will looks up at Robin and shrugs. “I.. I don’t know.” He says quietly, before looking towards the doors to the Gymnasium which had just opened.
His mouth drops, and so do the slices of bread in his hands and his butter - knife.
Troy Walsh.
He swallows as his mouth goes dry and he quickly ducks into the kitchen, panting from the sheer panic and adrenaline he felt in the moment.
He didn’t know Troy was still here in this town, ever since Troy had gone off to high school ( being a few years older than the party ) they’d stopped hearing about and quite frankly forgot about him.
Shit.
He drops to his knees and clasps them tightly, hugging them to his chest and hiding his head.
Shit shit shit.
What if Troy saw him? Fuck. What kind of fairy helps make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the kitchen with two girls?
He was fucked.
His eyes started burning at the corners as he started tearing up, sniffling now.
“Will?” Vickie says quietly.
Vickie? Oh yeah, she was in here.
He looks up, quickly wiping his eyes. “I’m.. I’m sorry. I should be- I should be helping. I’m coming..”
“No- no wait, Will. Are you okay?”
“I’m..” He starts, but wipes his eyes again as the tears come back. He was such a cry - baby. He shakes his head as his face contorts into a pained expression, and he hides his face again, sniffling some more.
“Will..” She says softly. “I’ll be right back.” She says, quickly hurrying off somewhere.
It didn’t matter much to Will. He was always by himself, anyways.
Suddenly, there’s more footsteps and he looks up to see Vickie and Robin now both stood in front of him.
He wipes his bleary eyes again, trying to stand but his legs are too weak as he holds back sobs, the memories of Troy and James relentlessly taunting him coming to mind.
Him and Lucas had always gotten the worst of the bullying. Sure, maybe they didn’t really know that Will was gay, but it didn’t soften the blow at all.
Especially since most insults were a repeat of Will’s father.. everything tied into itself all too well.
And now here he was, crying helplessly in front of two girls on the floor of the school kitchen like a cry - baby. He felt dreadful.
Why couldn’t he just be normal? He should be the one comforting girls, not the other way around.
He wipes at his eyes helplessly, hoping that the tears will somehow just magically disappear but of course they don’t.
Robin crouches in front of him, placing two hands on his shoulders to keep him grounded.
“Will? Look at me. Breathe.” She says softly, looking over him as he was quite obviously in panic mode, hyperventilating.
This would happen to her often when she was infatuated with her previous school - mate, Tammy Thompson.
She knew all too well how it felt to be over - whelmed like this, though she couldn’t help but notice it had something to do with the boy that had walked in the gymnasium.
She helps him through small breathing exercises, which he follows surprisingly well spare for a few extra gasps and hiccuping in between.
Once he’s calmed down, she looks over him.
“What’s wrong?” She asks softly, and he looks up at her, then to Vickie, then away at the floor before shaking his head.
“You wouldn’t.. you wouldn’t get it.” He sniffles, wiping his eyes.
“Are you sure? You would be surprised,” She says with a small smile. “You know, I used to think the same way but then I met.. Vickie. And.. if you’re anything like Steve says.. I’d like to hope that maybe you could keep a little secret?” She says softly, trying to make him feel a bit better.
Robin looks back at Vickie who nods with re - assurance. Though they’d just met Will, his fragility and kindness made him an easy person to trust with this.
Plus, he knew Steve.. so he couldn’t be so upset with them about it, could he?
He nods subtly, hiccuping and tilting his head as he waits to hear the so called secret.
“Well, me and Vickie here..” Robin says, smiling and Vickie crouches down besides her as well.
Vickie turns her head, and Robin does the same and quickly pecks her lips.
Will’s mouth opens in awe, his eyebrows raising slightly.
“.. are a couple. Now, I know what you’re thinking, in Hawkins? Well.. yeah. But anyways I’m not just trying to give you a PDA.. I’m trying to tell you that maybe we’d understand a lot more than you’d think.. you know? We’re not so normal.”
“But- but- oh my god.” Will says, blushing a bit at what he’d just witnessed in front of his very own eyes which keep flickering back and forth between the two friendly girls.
“You’re.. you’re..” He pauses. “..gay?” He says quietly, looking around as if it were severely taboo, which it was in a small town like Hawkins. It was unheard of.
Robin nods. “Yes, we are. Though we prefer the term lesbian..”
“Oh, sorry.” Will says quietly and she smiles.
He was ever so kind.
“So, do you think maybe you could fill us in on what’s wrong now? I don’t wanna rush you but.. we’ve only made enough sandwiches to last us a break for another couple minutes.”
“Oh. Oh.. uhm.. well..” He bites at his lip. “I...” he says quietly. “You guys are.. are really.. l.. lesbian? Right?”
Vickie giggles a bit in embarrassment as Robin answers.
“Yep! Why? Are you.. are you upset about it?” Robins smile falters, raising a suspicious eyebrow at Will.
“What? Oh, no no! I just.. I’m.. I’m confused about something like that.. with.. with myself.”
“You are?”
“Well.. yeah.. I.. I.. uhm.. did you see that boy that walked in?” He asks cautiously.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, the one you saw and ran in here after? Yeah.”
“Uhm.. yeah.. him..-“
“Oh, do you like him? I mean.. he’s not really cute but.. I-“
“No!” Will says, cursing at himself in his head. “He used to.. used to bully me. Call me.. call me stuff like a..” he looks at Robin for re - assurance before he continues. “..like a.. cry - baby.. a fag.. a queer, fairy... whatever he could to hurt me. It’s just.. I’m.. it didn’t just hurt me as an insult. They were.. they were all true things.”
“They were?”
“They are,” Will says, correcting her subtly. “I’m.. you know..” he says quietly, looking down at the ground in shame.
“Oh, baby Byers,” Robin exclaims sadly in a moment of pity and awe. “Come here,” She says softly, bringing him in for a hug.
She felt as though it were her duty to keep him safe. Maybe this is why Steve kept Dustin Henderson around? She was starting to get the jist of protecting a smaller human.
He hiccups as she holds him, and Vickie smiles down at the both of them. Man, did she love Robin. She was truly an angel.
“Do you wanna go get ice - cream after we’re done here?” Robin says as she pulls away from Will who nods and sniffles, wiping his runny nose on his sleeve.
Robin looks back at Vickie. “It’s okay if he joins us, isn’t it love - bug?”
Vickie blushes deeply at the name but nods. “Of course. I’d love for him to.”
Robin smiles and pats Will’s head gently, standing up and reaching a hand out for him to take.
He takes it and gains stability, standing now with a smile on his face.
The mall had been finally re - built not too long ago, and they would be sure to be visiting the new ‘Scoops Ahoy’ where Robin and Steve were currently re - employed at.
“You guys are so cute,” Will says as he looks over them, and Vickie gets a bit bashful as she blushes.
“Thank you,” Robin says with a smile. “Oh.. baby Byers, you’ll find a nice boy for you one day. I know it.”
Will gets fidgety and feels his heart warm up a bit at the mention of this. It felt a bit wrong, but Vickie and Robin only had one hundred percent positive intent. He could finally be himself.
He looks down at the floor and bites at his lip, holding back a wide grin.
“Alright, lets get back to making those sandwiches now,” Vickie says cheerfully, holding up the jar of peanut butter she’d come for in the first place.
“Alright!” Robin says, resting a hand on Will’s shoulder and guiding him to follow them as they returned to the station they were making the sandwiches at.
Maybe Will wouldn’t have to be alone forever, after all.