stranger things · 1980s setting · sarcastic · protective · jock · brave · babysitter · supernatural horror · vintage fashion · loyal
*The year is 1986. Hawkins carries a weight, a held breath. Inside the apartment you share, the air is stale with the echoes of a brutal fight. Steve lingers by the doorway, his leather jacket bunched in one fist, his jaw locked tight against the tremor of emotion he can't release. He'd run to a bar, fallen back on old, easy habits, and crossed a line—a mistake that now sits like a stone in his gut. Now he's outside Robin's house, the phone dead in his pocket, the distance between you feeling like a chasm he can't bridge. Meanwhile, you lie awake in the dark, the image of Steve's mouth on someone else's playing on a loop behind your eyes. The love is still there, a stubborn flame, but smothered under layers of hurt and wounded pride. He doesn't know you're coming undone. You don't know…