Chapter Text
Chapter One
The Freak
July 4, 1985
In the blink of an eye, everything changes.
In just one week, Mike Wheeler goes from visiting his girlfriend on a daily basis and getting to spend hours and hours with her to packing up moving boxes and helping her flee their town. He goes from sneaking into movies with his best friends on a weekly basis to watching his best friend pack up their entire childhood into boxes for donation, for keeping, and for trashing. And he goes from having the best summer of his whole life to dealing with the aftermath of one of Hawkins’ darkest weeks.
Everything changes far, far too quickly.
Somehow, they make it out of the Battle of Starcourt alive. Their only casualty is Billy, and while Mike is beyond grateful that Billy gave his life to save El, he can’t really say that he’s sad Billy died. (Though, he would never say this to Max.) Everyone in the Griswold family team and the Scoops Troop team survives the battle.
Then, the military shows up, and there, front and center, is Dr. Owens.
All of them are ushered out of the mall and to ambulances to take care of their various injuries. Mike sticks close to Nancy in the fray, finding comfort in his older sister’s presence. He’s exhausted beyond belief, and all he wants is to be able to go home. Oh, and he also wants the fucking Upside Down to leave them all the hell alone.
Everything inside Mike knows that they’ve just bought themselves more time. Isn’t that how it always goes? They manage to scrape by, just barely surviving, and then something happens. Something always happens. And Mike is sick and tired of it. All he wants is for the universe to give them all a break.
Of course, the exact opposite actually happens because Joyce and Murray climb back out of the Russian hellhole… without Hopper. The gate is closed, and the American soldiers have taken charge of containing the Russian base. But Hopper is dead, and it feels like the biggest blow of them all.
Mike watches as El all but collapses into Joyce’s arms, and the two of them sink to the ground of the mall parking lot, unable to do anything but cry. He wants to go to her… He probably should go to her. But then again, something tells Mike that the love El needs right now is not from him. No, right now, she needs the love of a parent, and who better to give that love than Joyce Byers?
The rest of the week is a blur after that night. The military makes up some bullshit story about a mall fire and how Hopper heroically saved dozens of lives that night. The people of Hawkins, as usual, eat it up. Mike wishes he could do the same. At this point, he thinks ignorance might actually be bliss. He wishes he could believe all the lies. He wishes none of them were mixed up in all of this, but they are. And it’s too late to change that now. These are the cards they’ve been dealt, and all they can do is try to make the most of it.
All Mike can do is try to make the most of it.
It works… until it doesn’t.
It works up until the phone rings, and Mike answers it, immediately hearing the all too familiar sound of his best friend crying. As if to add insult to injury, Will drops the worst bombshell of them all: he and his entire family (including El, whom Joyce has taken in) will be moving out of Hawkins within a week.
Mike will be losing Will and El in less than a week, and he feels like the rug has been pulled out from underneath him.
At Owens’ insistence, Joyce agrees to move out of Hawkins. It’s for the best and for everyone’s safety. The military knows too much about El and about Joyce’s involvement with stopping the Russians. There’s a big red target on the Byers’ backs, and they need to relocate. Owens has already set up everything for them; all they have to do is pack their things and leave.
So, that’s exactly what they do.
It’s the fastest turnaround Mike has ever seen, and everything changes faster than Mike can even keep up with. Seven days is not nearly long enough to say goodbye, especially since Owens has encouraged the Byers to wait approximately a year to a year and a half before contacting anyone from Hawkins. Mike will have no way to communicate with El or with Will for nearly two years .
He’s about to lose two of the most important people in his life, and Mike is devastated.
In the blink of an eye, a week passes, and the party gathers together one last time to see El and Will off. Tears are shed, and hugs are given. Then, it’s time for them to go, and Mike watches as El climbs into the UHaul with Joyce and Will climbs into the car with Jonathan. Both vehicles pull out of the Byers’ familiar old driveway, leaving Mike and the others still standing there and watching them.
A piece of his heart leaves Hawkins that day, and when Mike gets home that afternoon, all he can do is cry.
Life goes on after Will and El leave.
It’s… weird. Both Will and El have taken up so much time and so much space in Mike’s life that not having them around is just different. Quite honestly, Mike isn’t really sure what to do with himself, and he finds himself thinking about one or both of them practically every waking moment of the day.
It’s not fair that he has to be separated from El and from Will again. None of this is fair. Not Hopper’s death. Not the Upside Down’s attacks. Not the Byers’ move. Not Owens’ stupid no contact rule. None of this is fair, and Mike is angry—so, so angry that he’s not sure whether he wants to scream or cry or do both.
The rest of the summer goes on at a painfully slow pace—so slow that Mike is actually a little relieved when school starts again. He and all the other members of the party are in high school now, which is terrifying and intimidating. Middle school was bad enough, but based on what Mike knows about high school, he gets the feeling that it’s even worse.
And yeah, the first week of school basically proves that. The schoolwork is shit, of course, and the kids at school are fucking assholes. Mike has been bullied his entire life, so it’s nothing new, but being shoved into lockers or having slurs thrown at him still is never fun. The four of them try their best to stick together, but it just doesn’t feel the same. Nothing feels the same anymore, not without Will and El around.
Mike doesn’t feel the same anymore.
For a while, he just goes through the motions. He goes to school, talks to his friends when he needs to, and does what he can to just survive. It feels a lot like the year El had disappeared after fighting the Demogorgon, but this time, Mike doesn’t even have Will to rely on. It’s nothing against Max, Dustin, and Lucas, but Hawkins just… isn’t the same. Nothing’s the same anymore, and Mike just hates all of it. He hates high school, hates change, hates life right now. All of it is a load of bullshit.
It’s in the middle of October when things start to change… for the better.
“Well, well, well.” Mike glances up as an unfamiliar, older boy slides into the seat across from him. “What do we have here?”
Both Dustin and Lucas look at Mike, as if to ask, Do you know this guy?, and Mike just shrugs. The guy seems familiar, so he’s sure he’s seen him around before. But as for his name or why he might want to talk to the three of them? Mike has no clue.
“Um… hi?” Mike says lamely, giving him a confused look. “Do we know you?”
The curly-haired teenager just grins, leaning forward and putting his head on his hand. “The name’s Eddie Munson,” he introduces. “And you are Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, and Mike Wheeler, yeah?”
Dustin blinks, a confused look on his face. “Um… how do you know us?”
“I have my ways,” Eddie says offhandedly. “Doesn’t matter. I just like making a point of getting to know other freaks like me.”
Mike’s face turns warm, and he opens his mouth to say something in their defense. Lucas, however, beats them to it. “We-we’re not freaks,” he reassures, even though that’s definitely a lie.
“Right, right.” Eddie nods. “That explains why you’re sitting here alone with no other friends, right?”
Half of Mike wants to reach across the table and deck this guy in the face, but he’s never been much of a fighter. He imagines this Eddie guy would kick his ass, and then he’d never hear the end of it from Dustin. “Alright, so we’re freaks,” Mike says, glaring back at the older teenager. “Why the hell do you care?”
“Ooh, Wheeler’s got a bit of an attitude!” Eddie laughs, a bright grin on his face. “I like it. I do. It doesn’t go very well with the Gap clothes, but you’ve got potential, Wheeler. You all do.”
“Potential?” Dustin echoes, and he exchanges a confused look with Lucas and Mike.
“Potential,” Eddie confirms. “You see, I’m in charge of a little thing we like to call Hellfire Club.”
Hellfire Club,” Lucas says skeptically. “What… what is that?”
Eddie rolls his eyes. “I was getting there, Sinclair,” he scolds. “Hellfire’s a D&D club. There’s only a few of us in it—see, all of them sitting over there? We meet once a week on Fridays, right after school. And you boys seem like you’d be a good fit for the club. So, what do you say? You in?”
Eddie gives all of them an expectant look, and Mike blinks, staring back at the older teen. This is the first time since all of them started high school that anyone (besides Robin and Nancy) outside of the party has been relatively nice to them. And sure, Eddie may seem a bit… eccentric, but Mike has a good feeling about him. Plus, D&D? Yeah, sign them up.
“We’ll be there,” Mike blurts out before Dustin and Lucas can say anything else. When Eddie turns to him, a satisfied look on his face, Mike just grins. “We’ll be there.”
A slow smile spreads across Eddie’s face, and he stands up, looking the three of them over intently. “4 PM, Friday afternoon. The theater over on the north end of the building,” Eddie says. “Don’t be late.”
And with that, Eddie turns and walks away, leaving Dustin, Lucas, and Mike alone once more.
“Um… what the hell just happened?” Lucas asks, and both he and Dustin turn to Mike with wide eyes.
Mike glances in the direction of Eddie’s group—the Hellfire Club—and shrugs slightly. “I… think we just made our first new friend.”
Eddie Munson is the coolest fucking person ever, and Mike absolutely adores him.
Growing up, Mike has always, always wanted an older brother. It’s nothing against Nancy, of course, but having an older sister just isn’t the same as having an older brother. On more than one occasion, Mike has even admitted to Will how jealous he was of the other boy’s relationship with his older brother.
Now that they’re both older and have lived through a bunch of traumatic shit together, things are better now with Nancy. They still bitch at each other and have petty fights, but Nancy’s cool. She’s a badass protector now, and she is actually someone Mike feels like he can go to with the really difficult shit in life. But she’s still Nancy—still an older sister—and not quite what Mike needs in life.
Eddie, however?
Eddie’s the coolest fucking person ever.
For starters, he’s the Hellfire Club’s Dungeon Master, and holy shit, he’s far better than Mike could even dream about. In every carefully thought out campaign, Mike finds himself hanging onto Eddie’s every word and soaking up all he can from the older teen. Maybe once the party is all back together again, Mike can take some of what he’s learned from Eddie and use it in his own campaigns. He still has so much to learn, and Eddie’s more than happy to teach him.
More than that though, Eddie is just… so unapologetically himself. No matter how many people sneer at him and throw out insults when Eddie passes by in the hallway, Eddie remains true to himself—his eccentric, sarcastic, and nonconforming self. It’s like he has absolutely no filter and more confidence and charisma than anyone else Mike has met in his entire life. And yet at the same time, Eddie is actually very kind and compassionate, and he just has a way of making everyone in Hellfire feel at home.
Mike adores Eddie Munson. Mike wants to be Eddie Munson.
Lucas and Dustin both give him shit about it (as if Dustin doesn’t also try to emulate everything that his older brother figure does), and they’ve even gone as far as to give Mike the nickname “Mini Munson.” The other members of Hellfire, including Eddie, find it fucking hilarious. And sure, it bothers Mike a little bit at first, but when Eddie begins to subtly help Mike out by offering Mike clothes he’s grown out of (and rescuing Mike from his “mommy’s clothes from the goddamn Gap”) or helping Mike learn how to play that old dusty guitar in his closet, Mike begins to embrace the nickname with pride.
“Look who finally decided to show up!” Jeff calls as their fearless leader walks into the room, nearly twenty minutes late.
Eddie merely flips him the bird, and Gareth just snickers, kicking his feet up on the table. “Probably making out with that Aaron prick again,” he says with a smirk. “Or are you back to sleeping with that Dana girl?”
Oh yeah. That’s another thing about Eddie—he’s openly bisexual and damn proud of it. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but Eddie’s the first gay person that Mike has ever met. He’s grown up hearing his dad complaining on an almost consistent basis about how “those people are ruining America” and how being gay was simply wrong. Beyond that, Mike has witnessed Will experience more than his fair share of bullying and slurs centered around his sexuality.
Meeting Eddie provides an entirely new perspective, and the more and more Mike gets to know him, the more he realizes how wrong society is. Society just wants them to conform. To fit some stupid mold made up by the people in power, who don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves. Society teaches that people like Eddie and Mike and everyone else in Hellfire are wrong, for a variety of different reasons when in reality, there’s nothing wrong with any of them.
It’s forced conformity, as Eddie always says. That is what’s killing the kids. Being forced to act like someone they’re not and change to fit society’s expectations? It’s all a bunch of bullshit.
And so, more and more as he grows closer to Eddie and the other members of the Hellfire Club, Mike… begins to feel alright again. There’s still a hole in his heart put there by both El and Will’s absence, but meeting new people helps. Being part of a community again helps. It helps distract Mike, so he’s not constantly thinking about missing his friends.
Slowly but surely, things do get better, even when Max breaks up with Lucas and practically shuts Dustin and Mike out of her life. And yeah, it does suck when Lucas joins the basketball team and begins to drift away from them, but at the very least, Mike still has Dustin and Eddie and all the other members of the Hellfire Club.
Life isn’t perfect, but it’s okay. And Mike is just doing his best to survive.
Then, finally, in October of 1986, Owens’ no contact rule is lifted, and Mike gets his first letter from El and Will.
“Oh, hi, sweetie,” his mom greets as Mike walks into the kitchen after school. Mike just waves in response, and he opens the fridge, looking inside for a snack. “There’s a letter for you over on the counter from Will!”
Mike slams the fridge door shut, and he looks up, staring at his mom with wide eyes. “Will sent me a letter?”
“Mhm.” His mom nods, grabbing a little blue envelope from the encounter and handing it to him. “You haven’t heard from him in a while, haven’t you?”
“Uh huh,” Mike responds absently, staring down at the envelope in shock. Sure enough, Mike’s name and address are carefully written on the front of the envelope, along with Will’s own return address: 4819 Lonzo Way, Lenora Hills, California 93249.
California. Holy shit, Owens sent the Byers and El to California.
“Michael, do you mind peeling the potatoes for dinner?” His mom’s voice snaps Mike out of his shock, and Mike winces.
“In a minute,” he promises. “I, um… I’m going to go read this and respond back; I’ll be right back up!”
Without giving his mom a chance to respond, Mike runs downstairs to his basement and sits on the couch. His hands are shaking as he tears open the envelope, and his heart is pounding inside his chest.
God, why is he so nervous about this? It’s just Will. Even though the two of them haven’t spoken in over a year, it’s still Will, his best friend of ten years now. Mike has no reason to be nervous. If anything, he’s sure that Will is going to be the exact same Will he knows and loves, and now that the no contact rule has been broken, Mike can go back to sending letters and calling Will (and El) whenever he’s able to.
Things are finally starting to go back to normal, and Mike has never been more glad.
Mike takes a deep breath, and he pulls Will’s letter out of the envelope, carefully unfolding it. The letter is long—filling up nearly both sides of the rainbow patterned stationery—and sure enough, Will’s neat penmanship is marked all across the entirety of the letter. Mike can’t help but smile to himself, and he turns the letter over, his heart doing backflips in anticipation.
Dear Mike,
Today is Day 463, but I imagine it will probably be closer to Day 469 or 470 when you receive this letter. Will and I have not had much luck with the postal service recently, but we hope this letter reaches you!
It is so good to get to talk to you again. We have both missed you so much, and the past year has been different without you. Our family has settled into our new home in Lenora Hills, California, and we are all doing well. Lenora is so different from Hawkins. It’s warmer here, and it doesn’t snow. The leaves do not really change colors, and we don’t get the springtime flowers like Hawkins does. But Lenora is nice. It is not Hawkins, but it is still nice.
Mom and Jonathan are both doing well too! It was Mom’s idea to send you one letter at first, just to be safe. We think she is a bit nervous about finally contacting people from our old life again, so we figured we would do what we can to help. Other than that, she is doing well. She has gotten a new, amazing job, and she even gets to work from home! It is a lot better than the jobs she has had before, and she seems happy.
Jonathan is… doing alright too. He misses Nancy, just like we both miss you and our other friends. Right now, he is going to school at Lenora Community College with his funny friend, Argyle, who he smokes the weird-smelling plants with. Will says the plants are pot, which explains why Jonathan smells like our weird classmate, Matty. He likes to smoke too, just like Jonathan. (Don’t tell Nancy or your parents though. Jonathan has made us swear not to let anyone, especially Mom, know.)
As for me and Will? We’re doing alright! High school is hard, but we both enjoy it for the most part. Freshman year was difficult, especially not knowing anyone but each other. We really only had each other during that time, and it made being away from you (and the others) so much harder. But we are both glad that we had one another, and we’re glad we have gotten even closer!
Sophomore year has barely just begun, but I think it will be better than freshman year. Will and I have most classes together, but he is taking an art elective while I take a cooking class! I am learning how to make all kinds of recipes, and it is so much fun. Will is learning different ways to paint and draw and make art, and he loves it too. I think we are both finally adapting.
Dr. Owens says that we should be safe to begin contacting people from Hawkins again, but he has warned us to still be careful. To be safe, we will send letters under Will’s name, even if they are from me! We don’t want to risk anything. Owens also said that if there are no issues the rest of this year, we can even have people visit us here in Lenora! That means you could come to California and see us!
Maybe spring break could work. We have not had any problems since we moved here, so hopefully, everything will work out. I miss you so much, and I would love to see you again soon.
But that’s enough about us. How are you doing? How is Hawkins? How was your freshman year? And how are the others? We hope you all have been doing okay since we left. We miss you—all of you—so much!
Hopefully, we will get to see each other soon. But in the meantime, we can send letters and start calling each other again! You can send letters to the address Will put on the envelope, and our number is 661-082-0404. Mom does use the phone most of the time for her job, so we might not be able to answer all the time. But letters work too! Will wrote this one from both of us because his handwriting and spelling are better than mine, but we can send our own letters back and forth from here on out.
I hope you’re doing okay, Mike. Can’t wait to talk to you soon.
Love,
El and Will
There’s a lump in the back of Mike’s throat, and he doesn’t know why.
For the longest time, Mike just sits there, rereading the letter over and over again until he practically has it memorized. And each time he finishes the letter, it feels like there is a pit in his stomach that keeps growing larger and larger.
On the fourth time reading the letter, Mike realizes why.
It’s because despite the letter being in Will’s handwriting, there is hardly a single thing from Will in this entire letter. No, the entire letter sounds like it is from El, and Mike can easily replace every “we” in the letter with “I” instead. The letter is supposed to be from both El and Will, but in reality, it seems as though Will has not given any input whatsoever into the note.
The pit inside Mike’s stomach grows larger, and he swallows the lump in the back of his throat. None of this… makes any sense. Why would Will not want to talk to him? Why would Will not give any insights about his life beside the surface level updates provided by Eleven? Is he… mad at Mike or something? Is he trying to avoid Mike for some reason?
Suddenly, the fight from over a year ago comes back to the forefront of Mike’s mind. “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” he had said to Will in the heat of the moment. Could Will… still possibly be hurt by that fight? He and Mike hadn’t really gotten to talk about that day, thanks to the reappearance of the Mind Flayer and the Byers’ subsequent move to California. Could it be possible that Will is still angry with Mike?
Mike takes a shuddered breath, and he clenches his hand around the letter, crumpling it slightly. He’s probably just overthinking this. Of course, Will would let El take the lead on their first letter to him. El is Mike’s girlfriend , and Will is just being a good best friend. There’s nothing wrong, and Mike is most definitely just overthinking all of this.
Still, he can’t help but think that something is just off with this whole situation—with his whole friendship with Will.
That thought alone is enough to make Mike’s stomach turn.
Everything has changed, and Mike hates it.
There’s that stupid saying, right? One step forward, two steps back. Progress is made, but then a setback occurs that lands you in a position even worse than the one you started out in.
Mike sort of feels like his life has become that.
Because things have gotten better in so many different regards. He has a group of friends—the Hellfire Club—and feels close to people like Dustin and Eddie. He has his girlfriend back, and even though they can’t physically see each other until spring break, things with El are good again. Things have changed, and Mike has adapted.
But then on the other hand, things have just gotten worse .
Max, despite consistently being a pain in the ass of a friend, has all but disappeared from Mike’s life, and he finds himself missing her sarcastic quips and her no nonsense attitude. The dark side has basically kidnapped Lucas, and he spends most of his time hanging out with them asshole seniors on the basketball team. And Will? Mike doesn’t even know what’s going on with Will. They’ve spoken once since the no contact rule was lifted and have sent maybe three or four letters to each other. Every other phone call Mike has attempted has resulted in a busy line.
Three best friends, gone in a span of less than two years. Change sucks, and Mike hates it so fucking much.
Life goes on though. Before Mike knows it, Christmas break rolls around, and he spends his days writing up new campaign ideas to share with Eddie for Hellfire next semester. He’s been helping Eddie more and more with these campaigns, and if things keep going well and Eddie actually graduates this year, Mike thinks he’ll get to take over as Hellfire’s new Dungeon Master.
Still, practically every D&D campaign reminds Mike of his original party—Lucas and Dustin and Will (and eventually El and Max). He loves Hellfire and loves his new friends, but more often than not, Mike finds himself reminiscing on how things used to be, back before everyone drifted apart from each other… Back before Mike lost half of his friends and half of his heart.
(It sucks. It all really, really sucks.)
Christmas Eve is a rather boring affair. Nancy is home from school, and their mom makes the entire family sit down and watch some Christmas movies together. She bakes cookies too, and together with Nancy and Holly, they decorate cookies and set out a plate for Santa. Then, Mike’s mom tucks Holly into bed, and both she and Nancy go up to their respective rooms, while Mike retreats to the comfort of the basement.
It’s barely 11 o’clock, and while watching movies with his family, Mike had gotten some campaign ideas. He sits down at his desk and grabs his notebook, absently scribbling down his thoughts and making a mental note to himself to share this with Eddie in a few days. Eddie’s fucking insane and has it in his head to make a semester-long campaign for next spring. Mike’s not sure they’ll be able to pull it off, but damn, if they do… it’ll be fucking awesome.
Will would’ve loved Hellfire, Mike thinks in the back of his mind, and he glances up at some of Will’s old artwork on his wall. His heart clenches at the thought of his best friend, and Mike closes his eyes.
Fuck it, Mike thinks again, and he stands up, walking over to his phone. Without giving it another thought, Mike dials the Byers’ number and holds the phone to his ear. Surely, Mrs. Byers won’t be on the phone this late at night and on a holiday. Someone has to answer the phone.
Sure enough, after a few rings, a familiar voice says, “Hello?”
Mike just smiles. “Hey, Will,” he says softly, silently thanking the universe for his luck. “It’s um… it’s Mike.”
For a brief moment, there’s silence. Then, Will says, “Oh… hey, Mike! Did you want to talk to El?”
The words feel like a slap in the face, and Mike frowns. “Maybe later,” he says with a shrug. “What, I can’t call and talk to my best friend?”
Silence, again. “Of… of course, you can,” Will replies. He sounds a bit annoyed. Mike scowls even further. “Sorry. I just assumed—”
“It’s fine,” Mike cuts off, even though it really isn’t . “I just… figured we haven’t talked in a while. And I was planning a D&D campaign and thought of you, so… I thought I would call. If… if you’re busy, I can call later…”
“No, no, it’s okay,” Will reassures quickly. “I just wasn’t expecting you to call… that’s all. But, I, um… I’m not busy.”
“Cool.” Mike manages a weak smile, and he sits down against the wall, holding the phone close and trying to ignore the nervous feeling in his stomach. It’s just Will. It’s just Will. Yeah, maybe things have been awkward between them and Will has seemed off, but he’s still Will.
“Cool,” Will echoes, his voice soft. “Um… you said you were working on a campaign? How’s that going?”
Mike smiles again, and he fiddles with the phone cord absently. “Yeah, it’s this really cool campaign that Eddie is trying to work out for next semester,” he explains. “Eddie’s our Dungeon Master, and he’s the coolest person in the world. You would love him, Will. And I’ve just got a few ideas to give to him—”
Static crackles on the phone, and Mike hears Will curse under his breath. “Shit. Hey, um… I’m sorry, but our phone’s been acting so weird the last few days,” Will says, his voice sounding garbled. “Mom needs to call the phone company, but with Christmas and all, they’re not open. I… I don’t know if now’s a good time…”
“Oh.” Mike swallows the lump in his throat, trying to ignore the feeling of disappointment rising inside his chest. “Oh, yeah. No, that’s fine. Maybe… we can call later this week?”
“Yeah, that sounds great,” Will replies, and to Mike’s relief, he sounds genuine. “I can call you after the phone is fixed, if that’s okay?”
“That sounds great,” Mike says softly, and he closes his eyes, leaning his head against the wall. “I… I guess I’ll let you go then. Merry Christmas, Will. Say hi to everyone else for me.”
Once again, static crackles on the phone. “-erry… Christmas, Mike,” comes Will’s barely audible response. “Talk… you soon.”
Then, the line goes dead, and Mike sits there in silence, still holding the phone to his ear. The pit in his stomach has only grown larger, and he clenches his hand tightly around the phone, before throwing it to the side roughly.
None of this is fair. Absolutely none of it. Not the fact that the Byers and El have moved away from Hawkins. Not the fact that Lucas and Max are barely part of Mike’s life anymore. And not the fact that Will has apparently changed so much in the past year that he and Mike don’t even know how to have a conversation anymore.
Everything has changed so much, and everything is so different.
And Mike is just fucking tired of it.