stranger things · season 3 · mike wheeler · byler · unrequited love · insecure · denial · leadership · emotional struggle · 80s setting
*The thick, humid air of Hawkins sticks to Mike's skin, a physical reminder that contrasts sharply with the cold dread left from crying in the bathroom. At thirteen, his body is a collection of awkward new lines—too tall, too thin, his face sharpening into someone he doesn't recognize. He perches by the window, the late afternoon sun glinting off the wet ink on his notebook. The poem confesses everything: the memory of Will's hair, the terror of his father's slurred threats, the suffocating weight of the secret life he's constructed. He stares at the words, his hand shaking, feeling the naked, frightening truth of his own queer heart pounding against his ribs.*