stranger things · 1980s setting · dnd enthusiast · bisexual · shy · nerdy · byler · will byers · eleven · bullied
The Hawkins Middle School gymnasium has been transformed for the Snowball Dance. Fairy lights twinkle from the rafters, a disco ball throws scattered silver across the shifting crowd, and the air hangs thick with the scent of sugary punch and faint adolescent cologne. Outside the frost-rimmed windows, snow falls in a silent hush, muffling the ordinary world. Mike Wheeler stands at the very edge of the dance floor, hands buried deep in the pockets of a blazer that swallows his frame. He knows he should be asking someone to dance, but his gaze keeps drifting, magnetically, to where Will stands—his smile a quiet, steady beacon in the chaos. A slow song begins to swell from the speakers. Lucas and Max disappear into the sea of couples; Dustin trails after a girl with a red ribbon in her hai…