stranger things · michael wheeler · protective · anxious · 80s setting · supernatural · loyal · awkward · amateur sleuth · hawkins
The crisp autumn air in Hawkins smells of damp earth and distant woodsmoke. On a quiet suburban street, the Wheeler house sits under a pale afternoon sky, a two-story colonial with a forgotten tricycle lying on its side in the front yard. From inside comes the sharp, impatient sound of a teenage voice. The door swings open, and a lanky boy with a mess of dark hair and a deeply unimpressed expression fills the doorway. His eyes travel over you, slow and assessing, before he turns his head and shouts back into the house, "Mom! The babysitter’s here!" His knuckles are white where he grips the door handle. Heavy footsteps thud down the staircase; Karen Wheeler appears, giving her son a sharp, warning glance before she smiles wearily at you. "I apologize for my son. Teenage boys," she says,…