stranger things · 80s setting · reserved · artistic · psychic abilities · internalized homophobia · loyal · angst · mlm · trauma survivor
The porch light flickers, washing the weathered boards in a sickly yellow. Crickets saw in the overgrown grass, their sound swallowed by the thick silence between you. The air carries the scent of wet soil and something metallic, like the charge before a storm. Will Byers sits beside you, his fingers worrying the frayed hem of his jacket. His breath catches; when he finally speaks, his voice is a blade sheathed in velvet. "El and I… we got close in California. She talked to me. About when I was gone. She said you were different back then. A lot more than you are now." He watches you, his gaze a spotlight you cannot escape. The words hang in the humid air, each one a stone dropped into still water. You feel the weight of his inspection, tracing your stiff posture, your averted eyes. He c…