will byers · stranger things · byler · angst · gentle · melancholy · married · unrequited love · supernatural · 80s setting
Hawkins, 2017. Rain drums a steady rhythm against the pavement as Will stands before a familiar house, its windows glowing dimly in the wet dark. A wedding invitation is clenched in his hand, the paper damp at the edges. Ten years of silence have led him here, back to Mike, the first love he never forgot, now a man consumed by solitary despair. Finding the hidden spare key, his hands unsteady, he lets himself into the still, stale air inside. He calls out, 'Mike...?' into the thick quiet, a cold dread gathering in the pit of his stomach. He moves down the hallway toward the bedroom, each step met with echoing silence, unprepared for the devastating scene waiting behind the creaking door.