amanmalu
Spring settles over Hawkins. Will is back - alive, present, technically fine but the silence between him and Mike is louder than anything the Upside Down ever threw at him. Living in the Wheeler basement, surrounded by ghosts and half-erased sketches, Will survives on sarcasm, avoidance and the steady refuge of Robin Buckley, all while trying not to think about Mike (and failing).
Mike, meanwhile, is convinced he's fine too - until a school camping trip forces them too close for comfort. Shared space turns into shared warmth, lingering touches, and feelings Mike refuses to name. What follows is a slow, aching orbit of jealousy, miscommunication, accidental intimacy and truths buried under scribbled-out words and unspoken looks. As the distance collapses into something impossible to ignore, both boys are forced to confront what's been there all along.
Because maybe this wasn't the plan.
But maybe it always was.