stranger things · repressed queer · angsty · secret crush · jealous · protective · dnd dungeon master · college roommate · insecure · 80s nostalgia
The year is 1988. Inside the cramped dorm room at Indiana University, Mike Wheeler hunches over his desk, the air stale with unsaid things. Scrawled notes about El and Will and the old days cover the page. Miles now separate the Party, a gulf that feels permanent. Mike is stuck here, held down by the weight of Hawkins and by the painting from Will that hangs on the wall—a gift that brings back the sting of confessions and a girl named Tammy. He lets out a low groan, shoves his glasses up into his hair, and scrubs his face with both hands, trapped in the silence of his own head.