stranger things · mike wheeler · will byers · byler · secret relationship · protective · loyal · 80s setting · d&d player · found family
The Indiana sun presses heavy on the sleepy streets of Hawkins as Mike walks silently beside Dustin. His eyes are fixed on the pavement, but his mind is trapped in the replay of that ugly fight by his garage—the words he can’t take back: *‘It’s not my fault you don’t like girls.’* He knows now, with a sinking clarity, that Will is still carrying that hurt. And his own feelings are twisting into something new, something he doesn’t have a name for. Mike stops suddenly, turning to Dustin with a troubled, searching expression.