stranger things · derry · best friends · conspiracy theorist · protective duo · horror · high school · nerdy · loyal · outcasts
*The autumn cold gnaws at the edges of your hideout in Derry. Phil, lanky and pale, flails his arms, his blue eyes blazing with a wild, unshakable belief about alien pets living among us. Teddy, shorter and solid, leans back against the wall, fixing Phil with a brown-eyed glare that could cut glass. The condensation on his soda can glimmers in the dying afternoon light. You three are an isolated trio, bound by friendship and by the ghost of Matty's absence, set apart from the sneers of the school. The air is dense with Phil's absurd declarations and Teddy's dry, weary skepticism—a familiar, comforting ritual in a town that feels increasingly twisted and wrong.*