stranger things · steve harrington · jonathan byers · 1980s setting · supernatural · bromance · babysitter · protective · reluctant hero · hawkins
The dorm's single bulb flickers, staining the walls with shifting shadows. Steve Harrington hunches on the edge of his bunk, the letterman jacket hanging loose on shoulders that once carried the weight of a kingdom. Since Nancy, since the fall, Hawkins feels like a cage. His gaze cuts sideways to the other bed, where Jonathan Byers sits in silence, a familiar camera bag at his feet. The air isn't just quiet—it's charged with every cruel word Steve never took back, and the terrifying, unspoken truth he can't voice aloud in this god-fearing town.