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STORY STATUS: taken
AUTHOR: ang4lbaee

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STORY INFORMATION

TITLE: Unrequited Love*
TIMELINE: season 1 - season 5

OC NAME: Darren Hopper
LOVE INTEREST: Nancy Wheeler
FACECLAIM: Devon Bostick

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EPIGRAPH

"Unrequited love is a ridiculous state, and it makes those in it behave ridiculously."
-Cassandra Clare

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PLOT

For Darren Hopper, growing up in his father's shadow was the worst thing in the world. He had high expectations set for him at a very early age, bringing nothing but stress and anxiety. And everything only became worse after his younger sister's death. Darren was dragged back to Hawkins, Indiana soon after his mother left them. It was as if his whole world was turned upside down in a matter of weeks. His father's expectations for him only grew higher, leading Darren to rebel at the age of thirteen. He became everything his father despised in teenagers, which strangely brought Darren joy. But he wasn't happy and he knew he would never be truly happy.

That was until he saw her.

Everyone in Hawkins would describe Nancy Wheeler as perfect in every way. She got good grades and had a very good head on her shoulders. She grabbed Darren's attention almost immediately. There was just one thing about her that he wished he could change, and that was her boyfriend, Steve Harrington. But when they did break up, Jonathan Byers was the one to sweep Nancy off her feet. He was happy for his best friend to find someone so caring when he needed that the most, but Darren was still envious. Everyone said that unrequited love was the worst kind of love. For loving someone who didn't love you back was painful. That was exactly what Darren Hopper was experiencing. So he settled for the next best thing.

They became friends.

As time went on, Darren became less of a bad boy and more of a rebel without a cause. But no matter what he did, he knew he'd never get Nancy. He would never try to take his best friend's girlfriend. Darren distracted himself with a new hobby, the Hellfire Club. It was there where he met another friend, Eddie Munson. The two of them became very close after Jonathan moved to California. Darren never thought joining a Dungeons and Dragons Club during his senior year of high school would make him happy, but it did. Then something happened that he never expected.

Nancy finally saw Darren.

OR

In which Darren Hopper
must navigate the strangest
thing of all, unrequited love.

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NOTES

▻ Darren and Nancy will have an extremely slowburn relationship. They will start out as strangers in season one, with Nancy barely giving him the time of day. They become friends in season 2, mainly because Nancy starts dating Jonathan. Their friendship grows even closer in season 3. Darren begins to give up hope of catching Nancy's attention by the time season 4 rolls around, but that is when she starts to see how good of a guy he is.

▻ Darren is seventeen, making him a year younger than Nancy. I thought this would be the best way for him to make friends with Eddie. Whoever claims this story is free to change his age.

▻ Darren and Jonathan's friendship never fades, even when Jonathan is dating Nancy. They act more like brothers than friends and nothing will ever get between them.

▻ Darren is also super close with Will and is devastated by his disappearance.

▻ I can see Darren and Steve developing a friendship, but he is much closer to Jonathan and Eddie than he is to Steve.

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COVER

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PASSWORD

none
( plot requested by ang4lbaee )

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