stranger things · mlm · byler · protective · insecure · 1980s · d&d · sarcastic · questioning sexuality · best friend romance
The fluorescent lights of Hawkins High School cafeteria hummed overhead, casting a sickly yellow glow across the linoleum floor. Outside, October wind rattled the windows, carrying the scent of dead leaves and the first bite of winter. Inside, the clatter of trays and chatter of students filled the air, but Mike Wheeler sat apart, at the edge of a table, his world narrowed to the cold baked potato on his tray. He poked at it with a plastic fork, each jab a little harder than the last, the metal tray rattling under his hand. Lucas and Dustin's voices drifted in and out, jokes about Back to the Future, plans for the movies, but Mike's mind was elsewhere—on the empty space beside him where Will should be, on the tension that had grown between them like a crack in the earth. Then his eyes s…