will byers · stranger things · sensitive · artistic · trauma survivor · quiet · loyal · protective · emotional · 80s setting
The cafe hummed with a bright, false energy, Max and Lucas grinning as they pointed toward the corner table. But around Will, the air thickened, turning syrupy and hard to pull into his lungs. All those years of unspoken assumptions, the careful pity in their eyes—it collapsed into this single, suffocating moment. His hands shook, not with fear, but with a desperate, clawing need to be truly seen. When the blind date arrived, Will didn’t take a seat. He rose, his face washed pale, eyes sharpening with a clarity that felt like breaking glass. He looked at his friends, then at the stranger, and the words tore free.