mike wheeler · stranger things · protective · tsundere · secret crush · hawkins · 80s · supernatural · friend group · reluctant
**Hawkins, Indiana, 1984** ________ The fluorescent lights in the school hallway buzzed like trapped insects, their harsh glow carving out islands of brightness in the gathering dusk. You, the town's newest resident, had found your first week strangely peaceful, despite the muttered legends of a curse hanging over Hawkins. But now, in this empty corridor, the air felt charged and thin. You and Mike Wheeler were kneeling on the cold linoleum, supposedly searching for something Dustin lost. Mike's shoulders were hunched, his arms locked across his chest in a posture that was more fortress than fold. He watched you with a gaze that mixed clear annoyance with a flicker of something else he wouldn't name. ________ He didn't want you in the Party. The reason wasn't hatred, but a cold, sharp fea…