Welcome to my first Stranger Things fanfiction! I'm really excited for Stranger Things season 4 and this is my way of keeping myself from feeling empty until it comes out. This will be a story following Mike, El and Hopper after the events of season 3. I'll probably tell the entire story I have planned, about 100k words, and then after that I might just fanfic freestyle and talk about normal things, like school, between the kids. It's a Mileven story for sure, but that's not the only thing going on, don't worry. But do expect that subplot to be explored quite a bit. From those of you coming from my Percy Jackson Au fanfic, I'm not done writing it don't worry. This won't take time away from it, I'm just blanking in terms of motivation for it, so i'll write it when I can. Expect updates on this every week, and if you have any desires, wants or concerns, please let me know! I'm not finished planning this story out, so don't be afraid to give me some suggestions

July 4th

Jim Hopper has stared at the face of death many times in his life. From the numerous enemies he's killed to his own daughter dying of cancer, Hopper knows how animated death can feel. But he never could have guessed how it would feel to be staring at the face of your own death. When he flipped Grigori into the machine and the electric shockwave was formed, Jim knew he was in a tough spot.

As much as he wanted Joyce to wait and find a way to get him away from the machine, he knew they were out of options. The Russian scientists were about to break into the control center where Murray was hiding, El and the other kids were in danger, and he only knew it was a matter of time before more guards broke free into the observation room where Joyce was about to turn the machine off.

He thought of Joyce, and how he never really got to tell her how he felt about her. Sure, he made it obvious how attracted he was to her, but he never got to share how deep the attraction was. How courageous he thought she was for being a single mother, for stopping at nothing to save and protect Will and Jonothan. How she always had a sense of duty, to become something more than just a middle-aged woman who worked at a general store. He even had to admit to himself she would have been a damn good cop.

He thought of El and how shitty he had treated him the past week, and really the whole summer. For not giving her the freedom she deserved in the first place, banning her from the mall or really any place fun outside. He felt bad for never trusting her with Mike, even though he's the one that Hopper should have been the least worried about.

Mike. He felt he had treated Mike worse than anyone. He knew how deep Mikes feelings were for El, and it scared the shit out of him for how intimate they were getting. He knew they loved each other, and he understood that when they had first started dating. But seeing how deeply they cared about each other at the mesley age of 14 scared Hopper. Mostly because he had never felt real love himself. He wishes he could take it all back, making Mike lie to her, keeping them apart, but he knew they would figure it themselves. He knew how much he cared about her. That thought made him smile, knowing there would be someone there to always take care of her.

Hopper took one last look at the observation room. He felt tears running down his face as he nodded in Joyce's direction, essentially telling her to blow the sucker up. He couldn't see her face from this far away, but he could imagine the contemplation on her face, trying to decide what to do.

He could see her beginning to turn the keys, and Hopper closed his eyes. Wanting nothing more than the last picture in his head to her looking at him with such gratitude. But as he closed his eyes, he felt a force tugging him, and suddenly Hopper was being pulled over the ledge by a man in a red suit. The man dragged Hopper into what looked like an air vent in the middle of the floor.

Hopper looked at the man with gratitude. But before he could thank him, Hopper felt something hard smack against his head, effectively knocking him out cold.

December 18th (5 months later)

On a chilly December night in Hawkins, Indiana, Mike Wheeler was exactly where people could expect him to be, on top of Weathertop using Dustin Henderson's superpowered ham radio, Cerebro. It had been one of the only days in weeks that snow on top of the hill had been shallow enough for him to make the journey up to the hill. Some days when Mike tried to push through the deep snow, he was rewarded with a face full of snow due to his boots getting stuck and him falling face first into the ground. But hearing the sweet voice of Eleven on the other end of the radio made everything worth it.

He knew El's days mostly consisted of her waiting on the other end of her supercom for his voice to appear. He knew that she didn't have a lot to do during the day since she didn't go to school, so Mike was very committed to making the journey almost every day. But ever since snow started falling in early December, he wasn't able to use the radio as often as he would've liked.

He often begged his parents to let him call the Byers new home in Illinois, just so that he could talk to her. Even if it was only for a few minutes. They often obliged, even though they had no idea it was El he was calling.

This night however, was perfect. It was almost 40 degrees out and most of the snow had melted off the hilltop, giving Mike a nice area to lay down and talk to El. They had been talking for about an hour before Mike realised he better get home or his parents were going to start calling houses, and Mike didn't want his friends to embarrass him over his obsession with talking to El.

"I gotta go El, I'll be back tomorrow after school for sure," said Mike

He heard her sigh on the other end of the radio, and immediately Mike felt awful. He would talk to her all night if he could, but he didn't want his parents to start grounding him, that would just mean less time he has to talk to her.

"Promise?" she asks with her signature phrase.

"Promise." He tells her.

"Mike?" she asked him.

"Yeah?"

"I miss you so much," she tells him.

Mike smiled to himself, knowing El took the words right out of his mouth. But it also breaks his heart. He normally hid the fact that he was one step away from breaking down now that El and Will had moved away. But there normally isn't a minute in the day where Mike doesn't think about how much he misses her. He doesn't even think misses is the right word. Needs her fits better.

"I can't even describe how much I miss you," Mike tells her honestly.

"I just want things to... go back. Back to before the bad stuff happened. When you come to me every day," El says.

His heart swells at her affection. There was a period of time, after the fourth of july, when Mike didn't really know what was going to happen to them. He supported her a lot after Hopper's death, but they didn't feel as close to her as she was in the beginning of the summer. He knew he loved her, but he didn't know if she still felt the same way after their little falling out. But after she professed her love for him, he realised she had always felt the same way. She was just able to keep her emotions in check better than him. Now that they were separated though, El had become more emotional than ever. Constantly telling Mike how she felt about him, much to his appreciation.

Mike sighed, "I do too El, believe me. But it's going to get better, I promise. Are you excited for next week?" he asked her.

Starting Thursday, the entire Byers family would be coming down to spend a whole two weeks with The Party in Hawkins. They would be staying at a small Hotel on the outer edge of town. Though Mike plans on there being a lot of sleepovers between them all.

"So excited!" El exclaims. "I can't wait to be with you. Joyce told me it's too early to pack, but I did it already anyway.

Mike chuckled, "That's awesome El, I can't wait to be with you either. I gotta go now though, I love you," He tells her.

"I love you too Mike,"

He dropped the receiver before he could rebuttal, knowing that it would turn into a chain of 'I love you's' he didn't really have time for right now. He looked down at his watch and saw it was already 9, 30 minutes late for curfew.

He sighed and started riding the long 20 minute route back to his house. As his good friend Steve Harrington would say, his ass was grass.

Surprisingly, Mike's mother wasn't too upset with him for being almost an hour late for curfew. He gave her his usual excuse, that he was talking to Will using Cerebro. Not a total lie, as he had about a 5 minute conversation with Will, but not the full truth either.

Karen Wheeler just sighed at him and went back to washing the dishes. Glad that he got off the hook so easily, Mike went up to his room to go get ready for bed. As he was getting dressed, he opened his dresser and found the photo El had gifted him about a week ago.

It was a photo Jonothan took of the two of them at Thanksgiving in Illinois. The picture was of the Party outside a movie theater next to a Rocky IV poster. They all looked so happy, and the picture was focused directly on Mike and El. El was hugging Mike tight and he had his arm wrapped around her, holding her in place. He loved the picture and it was a good reminder that he still had the rest of The Party, and was grateful for them.

But the picture also made him sad. Watching himself hold El just made him long for her touch even more.

Just as Mike thought he was going to start crying, he heard a knock on the Door, "Mike?" a soft voice whispered.

His sister Nancy appeared in the doorway. Since El and the Byers left, he and Nancy had been closer than ever. Even though Mike wasn't one to share his personal feelings with anyone(except El), it made him happy that Nancy was always there when he needed her. Whether it was school, girl problems, or just giving him a ride to school, Nancy was about as supportive of a big sister as he could ask her. But seeing the look of anxiousness on her scared him.

"We need to talk," she said

Mike tucked the picture he was looking at back into his dresser and waved for Nancy to come join him on his bed.

"I think moms are starting to get suspicious," she told him bluntly.

Mike gave her a confused look, "What do you mean she's getting suspicious?"

"She's been noticing for weeks that something is wrong with you. You're not exactly being sneaky with this whole thing."

"What thing?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "You and El dipshit,"

"Oh," Mike's face started to get pale. "What makes you think she's getting suspicious?"

"Mike, this isn't the first time you've missed curfew for 'talking to Will'," She used air quotes. "She knows you guys are close, but not talk everyday kind of close. Plus, I'm pretty sure she can hear you talking on the phone sometimes, talking all in love."

"I don't all 'in love'," Mike told her. " And I don't see what the big deal is, it's not like I'm professing my love loudly in my room like you and Jonothan."

"It's not like I have anything to hide though," Nancy says. "She hears how quietly you talk, how secretive you are about where you go after school sometimes. How you mope around the house sometimes after not getting to use the phone to call her.

"Ok, so? Maybe she just thinks I have a secret girlfriend. It's not like she's ever going to figure out who it is or anything."

Nancy shook her head as if Mike wasn't getting the point,"Mike. Mom asked me today if I thought you were gay with Will."

Mike looked at her completely shocked. Sure, Mike had never had a girlfriend before(that his parents knew of, but he was only 14 years old. Though the more he thinks about it, the more he understands his Mom's suspicion. Guys don't travel through a foot of snow up a giant ass hill just to talk to their best friend. Only love motivates you like that.

In fact, he was surprised his parents hadn't become suspicious of that earlier. It would look kind of weird from their perspective just the sheer amount of time Mike was "talking to Will.

Nancy saw the expression on his face and understood immediately. Being gay wasn't exactly smiled upon, expecially in a town like Hawkins. "I think you should tell them about her," she said.

Mike looked at her as if she was crazy," Everything?!"

She bit her lip and nodded, "I don't think you can make something up for this. We don't have Hopper here anymore to cover our tracks. Plus, I feel like they deserve to know she's a good person. Not some Russian spy the government was trying to catch."

Mike thought about it for a while. It wasn't that he didn't trust his parents, but they weren't exactly understanding about the time two years ago when they found out he had been hiding El in his basement. Even when he told them she was just some scared kid, his parents just looked at him with disgust. That incident put the finishing touches on Mike and his father's relationship, Ted Wheeler now looking at his son as some sort of terrorist.

But he knew deep down his parents cared for him. At least he knew his Mom did. His Dad he wasn't too sure about. He knew if his mom truly believed him, if he showed her how kind and gentle El was, she wouldn't do anything to put her in harm's way. He just wasn't sure where to begin.

Mike looked over at Nancy, "I'd be ok telling Mom, as long as you're there to back me. But there's no way in hell I'm telling Dad about her. He'd us into the government before her."

"Yeah I agree, I mean he's going to find out eventually, but I feel like we just need to lie in regards to our story with him."

Mike took her hand and looked into her eyes, a gesture he didn't do often," If we do this, do you promise to do whatever you can to keep her safe if this all backfires, I can't…" His voice starts to choke up.

She lays a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "I promise Mike, I would never do anything to hurt her. I just think we need to tell her before they all come over for Christmas. I talked it over with Joyce and she agrees this is the safest option. I trust Mom Mike, I really do.

Mike gives her a smile,"Tomorrow?" he asked.

"Tomorrow,"she agreed.

He nodded and she got up, turning towards the door.

"Just think about it Mike, all the sleepovers we can have," Nancy points out.

"Huh?"

"With the Byers," she smiled. "I get Jononthan to come over in the middle of the night, he brings El….." she said wiggling her eyebrows, waiting for him to understand.

"Stop," He was blushing a deep red.

"Don't think I didn't hear you sneaking into her room back in Illinois."

Mike suddenly became fascinated with the carpet in his bedroom,"We were just kissing," he mumbled.

Nancy gave him a pointed look,"Yeah well, pretty soon that's not all that's going to be happening. Just be careful."

He nodded as she closed his door. Mike got into his covers shortly after, not able to go to sleep after Nancy's talk. There was so much on his mind after that. He found himself playing with his Supercom that sat on his nightstand, desperate to find a station that reached all the way to Illinois.

While Mike was at school the next day, all he could think about was how he was going to have to tell his mom about everything that happened. How was he going to ever explain everything that happened? How was he going to make sure his mom wasn't going to turn El into the government? What if he got grounded?

Nancy and him had planned to tell their mother as soon as Mike came home from school. That way they had a few hours before their dad came home from work. Hopefully that would be enough time to tell their story, convince their mom not to tell their dad, and give her enough recovery time to not completely break down. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was as good as any.

As Mike sat down for lunch with the rest of the party, he was very obviously encompassed in his own thoughts, so it doesn't surprise him when Dustin slaps him in the back.

"Ow!" Mike complained, rubbing his shoulder.

"Dude, we've been trying to get your attention for the last couple minutes," Lucas tells him. "Are you good?"

"His heads obviously still in lala land thinking about El," Max says. "You need to get your shit together Mike, you're going to see her in a few days."

Mike narrowed his eyes at Max. He still hasn't completely gotten over the fallout they had last summer, which resulted in Mike and El going through a rough patch in her relationship. She basically exposed Mike for being a liar and convinced El to break up with him, even though she had no context behind why Mike lied. Obviously, everything ended up just fine in the end(besides the fact that they now live 5 hours apart from each other, but he can't really blame Max for that), but he still can't ignore how bad Max treated him, even if she made some good points about him and El. It's not like she ever apologized for it either, so there was still a lot of tension between the two.

"For your information, that's not why I'm zoning out. Nice try though, you can't be right all the time."

Dustin, sensing the tension, decided to join the conversation, "Well obviously something up Mike, you can tell your old pals, can't you?

Miked sighed, "My sister's making me tell my Mom about everything."

Dustin just about choked on his chicken tender, and Lucas and Max looked at him with wide eyes.

Lucas was the first to speak up,"Now when you say everything, does that include-"

"Everything," Mike confirmed. "Will, the demogorgon, The Mind Flayer, last summer, Eleven-"

"She's crazy!" Dustin said. "You'll never be able to leave your house again, especially if she finds out you and El are sucking face."

"Why listen to her," Max asked. "Who died and made her leader?"\

"Hopper," Mike says with a blank face. Everyone looked at the ground following that comment. "Plus, she makes some good points. There's no were going to be able to hide El the entire time she's here. And most excuses we can possibly come up with at this point are going to sound ridiculous. She's not going to believe that Joyce Byers, single mother of two, randomly decided to adopt a 14 year old girl. It just sounds so stupid.

Mike didn't tell them about the suspicion his mom has about him and Will being gay for each other. That would just result in a ton of teasing from the others, which Mike finds pretty unnecessary.

"I mean I guess," Dustin said at last.

"If you trust your mom Mike, go for it. But you have to make sure no one else knows. There's no way any of our parents are going to understand. My mom's already skeptical about me and Erica last summer. If she finds out about this, we'll move straight out of Hawkins, no question," Lucas told him.

"I think we'll be fine, honestly. She's been suspicious for a while and has seen so much, I feel like she just hasn't put the pieces together yet."

"Yeah, but I'm willing to bet that those pieces don't consist of a strange girl with telekinetic superpowers fighting interdimensional monsters alongside 14 year old kids. Who also has the hots for their son," Dustin said. "But in all honesty, we're here for you. Just be careful.

"Yeah," Max said. "Were with you no matter what Mike, just make sure she doesn;t do anything drastic."

Lucas reached over the table and grabbed her hand, much to Mike's jealousy. What he wouldn't do to hold El's hand right now. He just gave Mike a nod, letting him know he was for it as well.

Mike sighed. This was going to be a long night for him and Nancy, he could already tell.

As he was riding home from school that day, Mike was already starting to hyperventilate. It doesn't happen to Mike often, but when it does happen, it hits him hard. He's struggled with social anxiety for most of his life, so hyperventilating wasn't uncommon for him. It normally happens to him when he's put in awkward or emotional situations. Like when he went to his first day of kindergarten and knew no one. Or when he was forced to dance with this pretty girl at his Uncle Bob's wedding in 5th grade. Most notably, when Eleven killed the Demogorgon and disappeared. Mike spent the entire night in his bed just shivering and wheezing. But he can't remember it ever being this bad.

When he arrived at his house, Nancy was waiting for him by the front door. By the time Mike got off his bike, he was about to pass out. He was struggling to breathe and tears were streaming down his cheeks. Nancy came to him quickly and wrapped him up in a hug.

"It's ok Mike, It's going to be ok," she said reassuringly. Nancy knew all about his anxiety issues. It was something he kept to himself for the longest time, not even El knew. He had decided to tell Nancy about it when El left for good in October, because she was starting to worry.

Eventually Mike started to calm down, but not without completely soaking Nancy's sweater. She didn't say anything about it and instead took Mike's hand, giving it a friendly squeeze.

"She's going to understand Mike, we're going to make her understand," Nancy promised.

Mike nodded and took a few minutes to calm down even more, letting it all soak in. Finally, he told Nancy he was ready. She nodded and took Mike's hand leading him towards the door. Even though Mike physically appeared fine, he felt as if the world was going in slow motion. Every step he took made his legs feel weaker, as if they were filling up with sand.

When he and Nancy entered the house, their mom was already starting to cook dinner. She greeted them both with a smile, "Nancy, Mike, how was school?"

But as she turned around and noticed the expressions on their faces, her smile began to fade. Nancy decided to initiate the conversation first. "Where's Holly," she asked

"At Susan's house for a playdate, what's going on?" Mom asked, a concerned look covering her face.

Nancy glanced at Mike before sighing, "We have something really important to tell you, you better sit down,"

As Nancy began to tell their story about everything that's happened the last two years, Mike stayed relatively quiet, only filling in when his perspective of the story was necessary. Unfortunately, his side of the story was pretty necessary, since Nancy hadn't been as involved as he was. Especially when it came to Eleven. He began to tell her about El and her incredible powers. How she could shut doors with her mind and could find anyone in the world with a single picture.

He told her about where Will really got lost two years ago, how El had unintentionally opened up an interdimensional gateway from making contact with a creature from that world. How she helped them find Will and without her, he would most definitely be dead. He told her about the demogorgon and how El essentially sacrificed herself for their safety, only she didn;t actually die.

Nancy took over, explaining the story explaining the corrupt government. How they treated El like a lab rat and tried to cover up their own mistakes by faking Will's death. How Hopper finally figured out what they were doing with the help of Joyce Byers. How they tried to cover up Barb's death, even though Nancy figured out the truth

Next Mike told her about last year, how Will got possessed by another creature from the Upside Down, The Mind Flayer. This was way harder for Mike to explain, because he didn't really understand the full thing himself. He talked about the tunnels forming under Hawkins. Explaining how the Mind Flayer sent more monsters after them to try and invade Hawkins. He told her how El came back to them, and closed the gateway she created, saving them all. He explained how Chief Hopper had found her wandering around in the woods, and kept her safe and protected in his hunting cabin.

Mike's mom hadn't said a word this entire time, but was now starting to speak up. "I don't understand… any of this," She said. "I believe you guys, I really do. I knew something weird was going on here, but I didn't expect this."

She turned to Mike, eyes full of concern. "I can't believe you put yourself in danger like that Mike," she said, her eyes were starting to get misty. "I know you were just trying to do the right thing for that girl, but you should have come to me. You should have let the adults handle this-

"Mike's a hero, mom," Nancy said. "He helped Eleven when everyone told him not too, because he knew deep down she was just a scared little girl, not some sort of freak. He led an assault down to the heart of the Mind Flayer lair( A/N I have no idea what to call the tunnels from season 2. Hopefully you understand what I mean), he came up with the idea all by himself, just so the monsters would be distracted from El, and it worked! If Mike hadn't come up with that idea, we would all be dead right now. I wish I had that much courage.

Mike's mom looked stunned. Mike turned towards Nancy, mouthing her thank you. She just smiled at him, gesturing for him to continue. So Mike continued his story, telling his Mom about how the Russians built starcourt in Hawkins, building an underground lair to try and make an interdimensional gateway, just like El. He told his Mom about how the Mind Flayer, and how it never left Hawkins. Now that another gate was open, it started building its army again. Mike explained how Billy Hargrove was the first host, and how he turned others to help the Mind Flayer build it's new body.

He told his Mom how this was all to stop Eleven, and how Joyce and Hopper had closed the gate before the monster could kill her, but not without the expense of Hopper's own life. Mike then explained that the Byers took El away with them to Illinois, as she was essentially an orphan now.

When he was finally done, he looked over at his mother, who was still listening intently.

Then, his mom started to ask a ton of questions, which he figured was fair. Nancy answered most of them, deflecting the more personal ones. When she was finally done, Mike explained to her the most important rule of all of this, to never tell anyone.

"Not even Dad," Mike said. "You know how he is with the government and stuff, he'd probably turn El in and it wouldn't be fair."

"Oh Mike, I promise honey," his mom answered."I would never do anything to put her in danger, and I feel like your father might do something drastic if he found out."

"Exactly," Nancy said. "He wouldn't get it. But I know you will, because you care about us."

Then, before Mike could stop her, Nancy began to tell their mother about him and El. "Mike and El also are madly in love with each other, so you couldn't do that to him. Like, practically attached-"

"Nancy!" Mike said slapping her arm.

"What, we agreed to tell her everything, didn't we?" she asked.

"Yeah but that's personal!"

"Is this true Mike," His mother asked him suspiciously.

"I mean yeah, we were sort of dating each other."

"Sort of? Mike's just being weird. They are totally in love with each other. I even heard him say he loves her."

"Ok so moving away from that totally unnecessary comment," Mike said, glaring at Nancy.

Nancy just rolled her eyes, "Mrs Byers is coming here on Thursday, so she can help explain this to you more. Mike and I hope you can understand."

"I don't think I can ever fully understand what you guys went through, but I'll give you my word that no one's going to find out." his mother said smiling.

They all hugged, and Mike went up to his room. He felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest, like he didn't have to hide anything anymore. The first thing he did was take the picture of El and his friends out from his dresser and put it into the center frame on his desk. Know that his mom knew about her, he didn't fear displaying it out in the open, and there was no way his dad would come in here, much less question him about one of his friends.

"Knock Knock?" his mom said as she entered the room.

Mike gestured for her to come in, and she sat down next to him on his bed. They both sat in silence before his mom spoke up, "I'm sorry Mike," she told him honestly

"For what?" he asked her.

"For not being there for you, but also for not giving you more respect earlier," she said. "I know that if Nancy's complimenting you on your bravery, you must have really been something."

He gave her a weak laugh, and she pulled him into a hug. "Now about this El girl-

"Mom!" he said clearly annoyed.

"I'm not trying to be weird Mike, but I mean i wouldn't mind if you told me a little bit about her."

He should have sunk down into his mattress from embarrassment, but he found himself ok talking to his mom about El, most likely because he doesn't get to talk about her often. "She's awesome," he smiled

"I can't wait to meet her," his mom smiled back at him.

The thought of El meeting his mom made him cringe a little, but he figures he needs to prepare her a little for their inevitable meeting. "She's really shy, but super cool once you get to know her. Her vocabulary is limited obviously, since she grew up without people talking to her much, but she gets better every time I talk to her. So don't get confused if she talks to you like a third grader sometimes."

"Is she pretty," his mom asked.

Mike sighed and gave his mom the newly framed picture on the table in front of them, figuring it would be best for his mom to be the judge of that.

"Oh Mike, she's beautiful!" his mom said, looking shocked.

She really was, with her long, brown hair that swept past her shoulders now. Her big, brown eyes that made him melt inside when he looked at her. Her cheekbones were high and pointed, helping expose her beautiful dimples whenever she smiled. As she got older, her body began to develop nice, rounded curves. Matching well with her long and toned legs. It was safe to say that if El went to school, almost every guy in his freshman class would be after her, because she was for sure the prettiest girl he's ever seen.

"Is it true what Nancy said, about how you guys love each other?" his mom asked.

"We've been through so much together, I can't imagine a life without her at this point."

"This long distance thing must be hard for you guys then." his mom pointed out.

Mike nodded, not even wanting to get into the details of how much he misses her, in fear he's going to embarrass himself even more.

"Now what-

"You've used up your maximum El questions for the day," he told her her a little annoyed

She raised up her hands,"Ok, Ok, I won't push." As she was leaving, she stopped in the doorway, giving him a smile."I'm really proud of you Mike."

Mike rarely gets compassion from his parents. Like, real genuine compassion. His mom telling him she's proud just about made his day.

And later that night as he was falling asleep, he couldn't help but to silently thank his sister, knowing she totally made the right call. Seeing El this week was just about to get a hell of a lot better, just as long as he could survive his curious mother.

Whew! That's the end of chapter 1. I apologize for all the grammar mistakes I made. This is my first time writing in 3rd person, so you have to bear with me a bit, I'll get better as we go along. I understand I keep switching between past tense and present tense when writing this story, but I'm not sure how to fix that to be totally honest. I'm going to ask my english teacher this week to see if she can give me some pointers. But either way the next chapter should be a little clearer on what direction I'm taking in regards to that. I'm sorry if I didn't explain the Social anxiety, hyperventilating thing very well. This is a problem I actually have myself, and I figured Mike probably has it given his personality type. Anyway, if you have social anxiety or really anxiety in general, you know what I'm talking about in regards to that. Thank you all for reading! Chapter 2 should come out soon considering my Stranger things motivation is sky high.