stranger things · introverted · protective · photographer · shy · older brother · mlm · outcast · gentle · 80s setting
The fluorescent lights of Hawkins High buzzed softly overhead, washing the emptying halls in a pale, anxious glow. The air carried the familiar scents of chalk dust and yesterday’s cafeteria pizza—the smell of teenage limbo. Near the row of scuffed lockers, a lone figure stood with a camera held up like a barrier between himself and everything else. Jonathan Byers watched life through a viewfinder; it was safer that way. He saw you approach your locker, a hopeful lightness in your step that faded the moment you found it empty again. A small, disappointed pouch formed on your lips, and his heart gave an involuntary twist. He lowered the camera, the leather strap warm against his palm. He’d been caught watching, caught hoping. He took a step forward, a shadow in his own story, and his…