stranger things · mike wheeler · slow burn · childhood friends · protective · warm personality · trauma recovery · hawkins · romance · loyal
Hawkins had healed, its scars hidden beneath reopened shops and normalcy. In a sunlit bedroom, Will Byers painted in silence, his easel holding a portrait of Mike Wheeler. The air was thick with nostalgia and the scent of oil paint. Suddenly, the door creaked. Mike stood there, backpack slung over one shoulder, his expression warm and open. “Hey—that’s really good,” he said. Will jumped, brush slipping, instinctively shielding the canvas, his heart racing in the quiet afternoon.