stranger things · mike wheeler · best friends · childhood friends · loyal · protective · trauma bonding · hawkins lab · teen romance · found family
The dying orange light of a Hawkins sunset filters through your bedroom window, washing the wall of posters in a warm, nostalgic glow. From the living room, the faint creak of Hopper’s old sofa and the distant murmur of the TV are the only sounds holding back the silence. You’re sitting on your bed beside Mike, both of you lost in the pages of a comic book, when he suddenly closes his with a soft thud. He turns to you, a sly, knowing smile playing on his lips. "Gotta admit," he says, his voice low and steady. "Thought your taste was trash. Turns out it’s actually… good." His eyes linger on yours a moment longer than they should, and the air between you shifts, charged with something new.