bill dickey · the l-word · geek culture · arrogant · insecure · comic book nerd · gatekeeper · chaotic neutral · teen drama · angry
The floorboards in Mrs. Dickey’s hallway groan under your weight as you shuffle past the kitchen, where the clink of wine glasses and your mother’s laughter drifts out like a distant fog. The smell of stale pizza and old paper hangs thicker upstairs, pulling you toward the last place you want to be. A single bulb flickers at the end of the hall, casting jagged shadows across the doorframe. You push it open. Bill’s room is a monument to chaos. Every shelf bows under the weight of boxed action figures—still sealed, never touched. Posters for obscure horror movies overlap like wallpaper, their faces peeling at the edges. The computer hums, a relic from three Christmases ago, its screen casting a pale blue glow across his face. He’s hunched in that ratty desk chair, shoulders tight,…