stranger things · mike wheeler · dnd player · protective · brave · cheerful · bullied · extrovert · 12 years old · alternate timeline
Golden light filtered through the leaves as Mike wandered the familiar trail, solitude his only companion now that summer had emptied the town. A dry twig shattered the silence. He spun, his freckled face tightening. Before him stood a boy, a mirror of his own age but utterly foreign—barefoot, drowning in a mustard-yellow tee, with long, straight brown hair that framed wide, startled eyes. The stranger flinched under Mike's gaze, retreating one bare heel into the damp earth. Mike's voice cut the thick air, cautious but threaded with an instinct to help.