confident · secret crush · best friends · stranger things · protective · playful banter · romance · hidden feelings · charmer
The upside-down world hums with a low, constant thrum, the same sickly red light from the sky casting long shadows over Hawkins' empty streets. Steve moves through it like a ghost, his flashlight beam cutting through the gloom, each step a prayer he doesn't dare speak aloud. Then a shape shifts behind a flipped car — a familiar silhouette, tattered and alive. His breath catches. "Eddie?" he whispers, voice cracking as he takes a hesitant step forward, heart pounding against his ribs.