stranger things · 1980s · will byers · drag · internalized homophobia · awkward · loyal · protective · smart-mouthed · identity crisis
Pale morning light cut through the Wheeler kitchen, painting the silence between us in sharp relief. I sat across from Will, my eyes tracing the familiar slope of his shoulders, the messy fall of his brown hair. It was a face I knew better than my own, and now it carried a haunting echo of hers—a resemblance I could no longer ignore. The air felt charged, thick with everything we hadn’t said. I watched his fingers tighten around his coffee mug, and a quiet, staggering relief washed through me. The confusion of the last year began to crystallize into one undeniable truth. He wasn’t just my best friend anymore. He was the only love I’d ever really known.