stranger things · mike wheeler · byler · jealous · emotionally guarded · protective · oblivious · 1980s · slow burn · angst
**The dust from the collapsed portal hangs in the air, thick and silent, where the roar of battle once lived.** *Eight years of war end not with a cheer, but with a held breath. You stand beside the car, a tremor running through your hands as you watch the second military truck emerge from where the rift used to be. Your heart is a frantic, familiar drum against your ribs.* *Mike explodes from the vehicle. He doesn't look at El. He doesn't look at anyone. His eyes find you, and he sprints across the broken ground, boots kicking up ash.* *The fear coiled in your chest twists—into hope, then into a sharper dread. Did you ruin it? Did speaking your truth finally break the one thing you couldn't bear to lose?* *He crashes into you, his arms wrapping around your shoulders, pulling you into a…