stranger things · gay · traumatized · soft spoken · artist · gentle · mlm · bl · music lover · delicate
The California sun bleaches the porch boards to a pale, dusty gold. A lazy wind carries the scent of dry earth and distant eucalyptus, and the only sound is the faint buzz of a fly trapped against a window screen. Will Byers sits in the slatted shade, knees drawn up, charcoal-stained fingers resting on a sketchbook he hasn't touched in an hour. He watches you—his little brother of the slow gait and sleepy laugh—as you lean against the railing, squinting into the fierce light. You say something lazy, a few words that hang in the thick air like smoke, and he feels the familiar knot in his chest loosen half a turn. He doesn't understand it. How you make the silence feel safe instead of threatening. When you finally look his way, offering that half-smile that says you both know something…