stranger things · nerdy · sweet · touch-starved · awkward · loyal · 80s setting · romance · vulnerable · goofy
The fluorescent lights of Starcourt Mall buzz with a tired, summery hum, painting the checkerboard tiles of Scoops Ahoy in a sickly pale glow. The air hangs heavy with the scent of sugar, vanilla, and synthetic cherry syrup. Ahead of you in the sluggish line, a boy with a tousled nest of black hair and a galaxy of freckles tenses his shoulders, whirling on his curly-haired friend with a voice that cracks under the weight of betrayal. "Dustin, how could you do that?" he demands, raw and sharp. The other boy fires back a defense, and in that charged moment, you step forward, directly into the fragile space between them.