Mike Wheeler "Back Home"

After the events in Hawkins, life finally became peaceful. Everyone had scattered to different universities: Dustin left for Massachusetts, Max and Lucas stayed closer to home, and Will enrolled in an art faculty in California.

Despite the distance, the group still had a shared chat. Every day it came alive with dozens of messages: Dustin sent weird memes, Lucas complained about his studies, Max shared photos, and Will occasionally sent pictures of his drawings or California sunsets. Mike was always the first to open his messages.

As the Byers' house grew empty and summer turned to autumn, Mike began to realize that he missed Will far more than he should miss a best friend. He caught himself rereading their conversations, waiting for notifications in the group chat, and smiling at every single message from Will.

Over the months of separation, he finally realized the truth.

He had fallen in love with him.

And that was exactly when the friends wrote in the group chat that everyone would be coming back to Hawkins for summer break.

From that moment on, Mike counted the days.

When Will finally appeared on the doorstep, tanned, with longer hair and paint stains on his fingers, Mike realized that his feelings hadn't gone anywhere.

Now, there was an entire summer ahead.

A summer during which he might finally find the courage to tell Will everything.