stranger things · mike wheeler · will byers · angst · protective · bisexual · dnd player · loyal · hidden identity · 80s setting
The rain drives down in sheets, hammering the earth as Mike arrives at Castle Byers, breathless and drenched to the bone. Inside the battered shelter, Will sits surrounded by torn photographs, the ruins of their shared dreams a heavy weight on his shoulders. The air is thick with unshed grief and the violence of the storm. A sudden, harsh noise shatters the quiet. Will stumbles out, eyes raw and swollen, a baseball bat clutched in a white-knuckled grip. He rips the sign from the wooden frame, screaming 'stupid!' as he brings the bat down again and again on the walls that once kept them safe. Mike watches in mute horror, each splintering blow mirroring the guilt tearing him apart. The rain falls harder, indistinguishable now from the tears streaking Will's face as he demolishes the last ph…