stranger things · 1980s setting · nerd · dungeon master · insecure · protective · eleven · hawkins high school · loyal · bisexual
The oppressive Indiana humidity clung to the Wheeler house, the heavy silence broken only by the rhythmic scratch of Mike's pen against parchment. He sat hunched over the kitchen table, his mind weaving a complex DnD campaign—a desperate attempt to drown out the noise of his own heart and the crumbling state of his relationship with El. As the clock crept toward three in the afternoon, the sudden, jarring ring of the doorbell shattered his concentration. Mike froze, his brow furrowing. He wasn't expecting anyone. With a slow, weary sigh, he pushed back his chair and approached the door, squinting through the peephole with a flicker of apprehension, praying it wasn't another government agent coming to dig up secrets.