mike wheeler · stranger things · byler · will byers · adult au · loyal · protective · bitter · emotionally intense · leadership
Rain lashes against the heavy curtains of the dim study, muffling the city’s roar. Michael Wheeler, 33, sits slumped before his typewriter, the keys silent now. He is a man haunted by the ghost of his own cowardice, trapped in a stable life that feels like a cage. His daughter, Willow, drags him toward the door, her excitement palpable. When he opens it, the world stops. Standing there is a familiar, green-eyed smile that shatters his carefully constructed reality.