He whispers it the first time, when there’s a lull in conversation and everyone’s mouths are full. “I’m gay.”
His mother, Karen, is the first to swallow and blinks rapidly. “What did you say, dear?”
The table stays silent, even though the rest of its occupants have finished whatever food they had been working on. Mike glances to his older sister, his lifeline in all this, and squares his shoulders, pointedly avoiding his father’s gaze.
“I said, I’m gay.”
“I think we’re all happy to have everyone home at the same time for once. Can you pass the potatoes?” Karen brushes his statement off, choosing to interpret his wording in an older context. To his right, Nancy stills and questions Mike without words. ‘Does he really want to do this? Does he want to correct the misunderstanding or just let it go and try again later?’
He can’t stand to wait longer though, that’s the problem. It took so long to figure out for himself and maybe Nancy is comfortable living a lie. He can’t. He won’t.
“That’s not what I meant, Mom.” He tries to work up the courage to say the words again but his mother’s eyes go wide at his serious tone. Nancy has set down her fork and knife, and grabbed Mike’s hand in a rare show of support and affection. He is taking a step for the both of them, even if she isn’t there yet. “Mom, I- I like Will.”
“We all like Will, sweetheart. Now pass the potatoes, please.” Karen schools her features, dropping the perfect mother facade back into place. The only hint she may have understood is the forceful way she stabs her chicken breast as she cuts off another piece.
Mike almost gives up. His mother isn’t going to get it, he’s not sure why he is trying; his father hasn’t even looked up from his food or made any indication he had heard Mike at all. “No, I mean I like Will. Like I like El. I mean-”
“Dammit, Mike, PASS THE POTATOES!” His mother’s face is bunched up and red, her utensils gripped so tightly in her hands that her knuckles are turning white. On instinct, Mike scrambles to grab the bowl of potatoes tucked to his left and sets them down beside Karen’s plate. The two Wheeler girls are both stock-still and staring at their own plates, Holly in fear because she doesn’t understand why her mother is so angry. Nancy, because she does.
Karen scoops a helping of the starchy vegetable onto her prized Corelle dishware, something she touted as the ‘best investment she’s made in a long time’. As she sets the serving spoon back into the bowl, she inhales deeply and closes her eyes.
Mike thinks she should have passed out from how long she holds that breath. Seconds that feel like hours tick by agonizingly on the cuckoo clock that hangs behind Mike, the click click click of the swinging pendulum emphasizing every moment the silence holds at the table.
“Go to your room.”
She says this without opening her eyes, without emotion, dead flat.
“But Mom, I- Please can we talk about this? I just-” He doesn’t know why he’s trying to prolong a conversation his mother clearly wants no part of, but he needs to know she understands. He needs to know that she got the message, he’s so tired of hiding.
“I said, go to your room, Michael. Now.” Karen repeats through gritted teeth.
Mike doesn’t move a muscle to get up, instead turning to his father. “Dad!”
Ted says nothing, no acknowledgement that he has heard his son, and gathers his dishes. With an exhale through his nose, he leaves the table without warning, plate in hand, and disappears. Karen’s pursed lips and grinding jaw are making Mike start to realize he might rather be in his room after all. Before she can yell again, he’s out of his own seat, leaving his dishes at the table and dashing up the stairs with barely restrained tears.
The Wheeler adults have a loud ‘discussion’ in the living room that night, the words are muffled from Mike’s prone position on the bed in his room, but he knows it’s about him. He can’t tell what his mother is saying, it’s not good no matter what; his father’s voice is just one boom after another. Mike can also hear Nancy as she goes down the hall past his room with Holly in tow, taking the little girl to her big sister’s domain to have an impromptu ‘girls night’ as a distraction from the fighting. Nancy doesn’t stop to check on Mike though; he’s not okay and she knows there’s not much she can do about it.
An hour later, Mike has his headphones on and The Clash cranked up as high as it goes when he feels a small vibration. He removes his face from where it was buried in a pillow and stares at his ceiling, letting the emptiness he’d been feeling since dinner take over completely. He can’t even make himself care if the vibration was human or otherwise. His apathy slides his eyes shut and he lets the music flood his head, lets it wash out all his thoughts.
Between songs, he hears a pounding on his bedroom door and feels the vibration again.
“Mike! Open up!”
Ted Wheeler rarely yells, at least at his children, so the irate tone jamming through the wood door startles his only son into action. Mike slips off his headphones and takes the three steps to the door, opening cautiously.
In the hall, Ted is red all over, and with the vibrating his body is doing, Mike isn’t sure how he’s not constantly shaking the house. The older male’s hands are full, one carries Mike’s suitcase, the other has an envelope. He looks at Mike for the first time since sitting down to dinner, and when he does, Mike wishes he hadn’t.
His father looks like a cartoon bull who has missed the matador over and over, and now isn’t going to settle for anything less than a kill. “Pack your things.”
Mike’s suitcase is tossed onto his floor, the latch popping open on contact and the top flipping wide. A brief vision enters Mike’s mind of his father stuffing him in the suitcase along with his clothes and it sends a shutter down his spine.
“Wha- What do you mean? What things? Where are we going?” Mike’s feet are rooted to the ground, sure that if he moves, the bull will charge.
“We’re not going anywhere, you are. I have contacted Father Edward and he sent me the information for a reform camp. Now pack your things, they are expecting you tonight.” Ted’s words sound like English, but Mike’s brain isn’t processing them. ‘Reform Camp? What the fuck does that mean?’ His father grabs hold of his shoulders, the envelope crumpling against the fabric of Mike’s t-shirt, and forcibly turns the boy around to face the interior of the bedroom. “Don’t make me tell you again, now PACK!”
The low-level panic that has been building during this time boils over, and Mike begins to breath quicker, realization dawning on him at what kind of ‘reform’ camp it was. He’d read articles about those places when he was doing research at the library, trying to find a way to fix himself. From what he found, they are run by terrible people who do terrible things to kids, all in the name of ‘fixing’ something he has been learning to accept isn’t actually changeable.
“No! I’m not going to one of those camps!” He attempts to close the door, however Ted’s foot stops it, still in his work loafer and solid as a rock. The older man’s face is nearly purple.
“Oh, you’re GOING! You either go to reform camp or you GET THE HELL OUT! NO SON OF MINE IS GOING TO BE A FA-” Ted begins, slamming his hand on the door to force it open again, startling Mike backwards a few steps.
“HEY!” A firm feminine voice cuts through and Mike has never been so glad for his sister’s need to insert herself in other’s business. She comes barrelling down the hall, practically sliding in between the two Wheeler men and crosses her arms in a move that is so resemblant of their mother that Ted leans away a moment. Their father softens in the face of his first-born and he returns to his previous red color, the anger coming down.
“This doesn’t concern you, Nancy. Go on back to your room.” He tries to reach out to her, but she moves closer to her brother, the scowl on her features deepening.
“The hell it doesn’t. You’re trying to send him away for something he can’t change, something that doesn’t need fixing!” Nancy in this moment is no longer six inches shorter than Mike; in his eyes, she’s the towering older sister of his childhood that would knock him over for being annoying and beat the crap out of anyone else who did the same. They may have their disagreements and maybe they’ve been drifting apart as they have gotten older, but having her defending him now gives him a little hope that he might not be totally screwed.
“Get out of the way, Nancy. No child of mine is going to be like that and live under MY ROOF!” Ted roars, the purplish hue returning.
Nancy doesn’t cower, doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even blink. Instead, she straightens up and looks him dead in the eye. “Then I guess I’ll be leaving with Mike.”
“Excuse ME?” The sputter that escapes the large man’s mouth might have been comical in a different situation. Mike is just as shocked as their father, both rendering identical, with gaping mouths and limp arms. Ted shakes his balding head back and forth, as if trying to clear water from his ears.
“It’s simple really. You’re making Mike leave because he likes boys, right?” The question is rhetorical, though both men nod. “Well, Robin isn’t just my friend. She’s much more than that.”
Ted takes a few moments to process this new information and Mike thinks Nancy will have to be a little more explicit, when movement behind their father catches his eye. Karen Wheeler is at the top of the stairs with a laundry basket full of clean, folded clothes, eyes red-rimmed and wide. Mike knows Nancy hasn’t seen her yet, but is frozen in place, willing his body to stop his sister before she says anything more.
“You know that apartment I’ve been looking at? That one bedroom? That’s for me and Robin.”
Three things happen in the span of the next few seconds. As Ted lunges forward to grab or hit one of the kids (no one knew for sure which), Karen drops the laundry basket and clothes tumble out, unfolding themselves and getting trampled under her feet as she dashes forward to put her body between her kids and the man she’d spent the better part of two decades on.
The third thing that happens is Mike regaining control of his arms, pulling Nancy backwards into his room and just out of reach of the fiasco that is their parents.
“What the HELL, TED.” As intimidating as Nancy Wheeler can be, Karen Wheeler can turn a gorgon to stone when she gets fired up enough. Her husband retracts his hands, balling them into fists at his sides.
“What is it with the damn women in this house that makes them think they can tell me what to do? This is my house, I pay the bills, I make the rules! And no child of mine is going to be a faggot or dyke. I want them BOTH OUT NOW!”
As her daughter did before her, Karen Wheeler stands solid in the face of an angry man with at least half a foot of height on her. Her chin grinds back and forth, her kids can see she is winding up for a takedown and Mike is only 60% sure it will be directed at his dad. Karen laughs under her breath, her hair swaying back and forth just a little.
“You know Ted, it’s so funny you bringing up who pays the bills.” She had a sickly sweet tone to her voice that matched the deadly smile on her face. “I can’t help but point out that, actually, you don’t, do you? What bills do you think you are paying with your golf winnings?”
Ted’s slowly fading professional golf career has been something of a fight-starter between the adult Wheelers as of late, but Mike didn’t know how bad it was. His father’s hands open and push forward, grasping at thin air for words. “I- I- My winnings pay for lots of things! They pay for-”
“The only thing your winnings pay for is new clubs and your drinking problem. I’ve been paying the bills for years now, so let’s get one thing clear,” Karen Wheeler raises the notorious mom-finger and pokes her husband hard in the chest. “My children are not going anywhere. They have done nothing to warrant being kicked out. You on the other hand, I suggest you pack a bag. I’m sure one of your golf buddies has room on his couch for you.”
Ted lets her push him back, his brows furrowing and face hard. There are words behind his lips, but he thinks better of saying anything else and storms off towards the master bedroom.
The moment the door slams behind him, the three remaining Wheelers deflate. Nancy removes her arm from Mike's grasp and eases over to where their mother is leaning on the doorframe, head tipping to the side.
"Mom?" Mike ventures, following Nancy closely. Karen sighs and whirls around, a forced smile paints her face.
"How about we all go get ice cream? You two head on down, I'll grab Holly." It is a thinly veiled excuse to leave the house and no one objects to the blatant disregard for the usual school night limits.
As Nancy and Mike get to the bottom of the staircase, they can hear their father banging around in the master, cursing and pacing. Mike grabs her shoulder, not sure how to thank her.
"Nancy, I- You- you didn't have to-"
"It's fine. It was going to happen sooner or later." She gazes out the window by the front door and fidgets. "I was tired of hiding anyway."
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So that bit where Steve rips I to Murray about outing his loved ones and pushing Nancy to cheat on him...
Have you considered (yes, I just realized it was part of the initial ask, but I've been dwelling on this for years, man): Not only does Joyce find out that Jonathan helped Nancy cheat on the boyfriend he DEFINITELY knew about, but she also just found out about the photos through Steve's upstairs bedroom window. Photos that could not ever be claimed as accidental. Now, Joyce has been holding a bit of a grudge against Steve since he broke her boy's camera. Jonathan only told her that Steve Harrington got pissed off and busted it, not why. And then Steve went and fought with Jon and her son got arrested while that rich boy got off scott free. That just reinforced her grudge, especially considering the stress she was already under at the time. But then she finds out it wasn't just Steve being a bitchy popular jock, but that her boy was also being a creepy dick. And she recalls that Steve not only apologized for breaking his camera, but that he replaced it, too.
Enjoy! Also @zerokrox-blog hope this answers your prompt :)
Jonathan’s been scared of his mom before, for good reasons: when he was seven and broke a vase after she’d told him to stop running in the house, at eleven when he lied about his grades, at fifteen when he snuck out for the first (and only) time.
Every time she gets really mad at him, she gets quiet.
She’s been silent for a solid ten minutes. The only words she’d spoken had been to Murray, to tell him to leave. She’d been quiet then, too, then just stayed silent.
“So here’s what I thought the story was,” she starts, and Jonathan wants to dig a hole to China and bury himself. “I thought Nancy and Steve had broken up, then you and she had gotten together. I thought he broke your camera because he got mad at you for who-knows-what. I thought he fought you, antagonized you, until you couldn’t hold back anymore. I thought I knew you. I thought I knew the son, the man, I raised, would never sleep with a taken woman. Would never hide in the bushes and take pictures of someone else’s property or body. And to think she’d been half-naked…” Joyce shakes her head, leans back in her chair. Considers the knife still clutched in her hand and very carefully places it down next to her plate. “To think that I thought he’d been acting like Lonnie. Worse than Lonnie, even, which maybe wasn’t a fair comparison for a teenager, but I thought I knew my son.” She shakes her head again, stands, picks up her plate and silverware. Doesn’t look at Jonathan when she says, “I was partially right. Someone was acting like Lonnie. It just wasn’t who I’d originally thought. And to think I held onto a grudge against him for years.” She purses her lips, steps back from the table. Whispers the next line. “You need to think very, very carefully about your next move. I don’t know if Steve’s forgiven you. If I were him, I don’t know that I would.” She steps back again. “While you think about it… well. Forgive me if I need some time to think about it too. After all, you also lied to me.” She tilts her head in thought. “If memory serves, he replaced the camera he smashed. I feel that bears remembering when you think about what to do.” With that, she turns and makes her way to the kitchen.
And Jonathan? He feels about as small as a gnat. Even smaller. Nancy’s trembling next to him, hand over her mouth, and he’s not sure he should reach out. He’s not sure she’d want him to; not sure he wants to. He does, though, grazes the back of her hand with a fingertip. She chokes, looking at him with wide, tear-filled eyes, and he helps her up, helps her out the front door and into his car, gets in and starts driving without thinking about it first.
He realizes most of the way there that he was driving to the Wheelers’. Walks inside with Nancy when they get there, all the way up to her room. Silent.
“We need to talk,” Nancy says, and Jonathan nods even as he feels like the rug’s been yanked out from under his feet.
Fighting monsters was easy compared to this.
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