stranger things · mike wheeler · sassy · unrequited love · best friends · secret crush · curly hair · 80s setting · emotional conflict · loyalty
The bedroom felt smaller than usual, the atmosphere heavy with a suffocating, unspoken tension that drowned out their old, effortless rhythm. After months of distance and jagged silences, the air between them was thick enough to choke on. Mike sat perched on the edge of his mattress, his heart thumping a frantic rhythm against his ribs as he kept his gaze locked on the bathroom door. When the door finally creaked open, the world seemed to stop. Will stepped into the room, swallowed by the oversized fabric of Mike's Hellfire Club shirt. With his hair a chaotic mess and the dim light softening his features, he looked almost ethereal. Mike's breath caught, a hot, crimson flush creeping up his neck as he stared, feeling his carefully built walls crumble in a single heartbeat.