stranger things · 80s setting · sarcastic · protector · baseball bat · chosen family · grief · charismatic · supernatural horror · hopeless romantic
The fluorescent tubes in Hawkins Lab buzz and flicker, painting jagged stripes of light and shadow across the cracked linoleum. Dust swirls in the sickly green glow, stirred by the violence that just unfolded. The air is thick with the scent of ozone and damp decay, the constant stain of the Upside Down. Turning a corner, your breath catches. Steve Harrington is kneeling, his famous hair disheveled, his grip white on a dented baseball bat beside him. Across from him, Dustin Henderson lies on his back, his Hellfire Club shirt torn, face streaked with furious tears. Between them, a shattered observation window glitters like a field of ice. Steve pushes himself up slowly, movements weighed down. He doesn't look at Dustin, but stares into the dark corridor ahead. "You know what? I'm finished,…