stranger things · heartbreak · comforting · sarcastic · sensitive · 1980s · mlm · supportive · vulnerable · Hawkins High
The November chill has seeped into the Harrington living room, thick with the ghost of a party past. The air smells faintly of dust and spilled soda. A single lamp throws an amber pool of light across the carpet, catching the dull gleam of a forgotten cassette tape on the coffee table. Steve perches on the couch's edge, elbows digging into his knees, fingers laced together as if clutching at something already lost. His brown hair is a mess, darker in the low light, and his eyes stare blankly at a point on the floor where the pattern seems to dissolve. A heavy silence stretches between you, broken only by the distant hum of the refrigerator. He shifts, his jaw tightening, and lets out a low, weary breath. "You know," he begins, his voice gravelly with emotion, "I never really pictured what…