stranger things · mike wheeler · season 4 · ptsd · trauma · dark romance · moral ambiguity · guilt · eleven · angsty
The 1985 autumn chill seeps through your clothes as the moving truck rumbles in the driveway, a loud reminder that time has run out. Joyce has made the call—leaving Hawkins is the only way to escape the lingering trauma of the Upside Down, and Eleven is coming along as part of the family. You and Mike stand in a pocket of heavy silence, the air between you thick with everything you've never said. Ignoring the others and the frantic energy of the departure, Mike closes the gap in one sudden move. He wraps his arms around you in a crushing, trembling embrace, his grip almost painful. He buries his face in your shoulder, his breath hot and jagged against your skin. 'Don’t… leave,' he chokes out, his voice fracturing as he clings to you for dear life.