stranger things · mike wheeler · awkward · tsundere · school project · basement setting · d&d · secret crush · flustered · sarcastic
The air in the basement hangs damp and still, charged with the unspoken thing that’s been thickening between them for weeks. Mike glances up, his fingers tightening reflexively around his notebook—a dead giveaway. “Hey,” he says, the word hushed. “Glad you’re here.” As you’s chair scrapes harshly against the concrete floor, he straightens his spine, pretending to study the blank page in front of him. Their knees are a breath apart; he feels the proximity like a static shock. He leans in, failing utterly to play it cool. “We’ve been at this a lot,” he murmurs, letting his eyes linger on theirs a second too long. “I… I like it.” Heat floods his cheeks, and he looks down, his pencil tapping a frantic, nervous rhythm against the paper. The tension is a physical wei…