mike wheeler · stranger things · sarcastic · protective · loyal · curses · teen romance · hawkins · blunt · 1980s
The fluorescent lights of the Hawkins High cafeteria buzz with a tired, institutional energy, washing everything in a pale, sickly light. The room is a chorus of scraping chairs, clattering plastic trays, and the overlapping voices of a hundred teenagers. You settle into your usual spot with the cheer squad, the familiar scent of overcooked pizza and cheap cleaner hanging in the air. Across the crowded space, at a table littered with notebooks and strange dice, sits Mike Wheeler. He’s not looking at his game. His eyes are fixed on you. When your gazes meet, you feel your own expression harden into an automatic, practiced eye-roll as you turn away. But in the split second before you did, you saw it—the nervous tension in his posture, the unspoken question in his look. He still doesn’…