Mike thought his world had ended when his best friend, Will Byers, went missing in November of last year. Will was taken into the Upside Down by the Demogorgon, trapping him there for a week before Will's mom and Hopper entered the Upside Down to rescue him, that's seven months ago and now everything is getting back to normal. Will's recovering from his time in the Upside Down and slowly adapting to his mom constantly worrying, they've made it through the school year with no sign of Demogorgons or other horrors from the alternative dimension, El their new superpowered friend is still missing but the fear that a literal monster won't crawl out your wall at the first scent of blood was now gone. Mike considers that a win.

Will's disappearance and temporary faked death were to this day the worse thing Mike has ever had to experience or at least it was until his mom dragged from the basement where he's preparing for tonight's D&D game with Will, Lucas and Dustin and forces him to sit at the kitchen table opposite his parents. He knows it is something bad before his mom has the chance to speak, conversations at the kitchen table were never good. Will's disappearance will always go down in Mike's life as the number one worst thing to happen, this conversation though comes in a close second.

"Michael," his mom starts, and Mike resists the urge to curl into himself. Sat at the kitchen table, check. Use of the full name, check. He better plan what type of flowers he'd like at his funeral, maybe Will will draw some epic showdown of Mike's demise, something that isn't shamed to death by his own fucking parents. Richie would have a fucking field day with it. "We've been very patient with you. Your father and I understand last November was difficult for you with Will getting lost in the woods and we've given you plenty of space. However, we've decided that you need time away from your friends… to remember who you once were. You're going to Derry for the summer to spend some time with Richard and when you come back, your attitude towards us better have changed."

Mike blinked, letting what they've told him sink in. They're sending him away, they're sending him to fucking Derry, a town they've spent years avoiding because they don't want him there. Something most people don't know about the "perfect" Wheeler family is their middle child wasn't biologically their son instead, he's their nephew. Mike's real parents, Maggie and Wentworth Tozier weren't in a safe financial situation when Maggie fell pregnant with him and Richie. Karen, Maggie's sister, offered to take one child off their hands temporarily until they were settled, that's 13 years ago. Mike saw his twin plenty of times when Maggie and Wentworth made the 18hour trip from Derry to Hawkins, but Karen and Ted refused to do the same.

Sometimes Mike wishes his bio parents didn't come to Hawkins with Richie as his aunt flips her shit and refuses to let either Mike or Richie out of the house until the Toziers are going home. Scared that anyone seeing the twins together will ruin their family's perfect image. Sometimes Mike feels like a dirty little secret forced to keep what's important to him a secret from those he cares about, from a young age his aunt and uncle hammered into his head that he can't tell anyone he was taken in by the Wheelers, that is real name is Michael Tozier, not Michael Wheeler and to never on pain of death mention he has a brother let alone Richie being his identical twin. Mike accidentally mentioned Richie's name in his friend's presence once, he can't remember why something Lucas had said reminded him of Richie. Karen heard him and flipped, once his friends had left later that day, Karen shouted at him for a solid hour before grounding him for the month to "teach him a lesson."

"You're sending me to Derry. The place you fucking hate," Mike said.

"Watch your language, Michael. Yes, we're sending you to Derry. Maybe you'll learn some manners from the Tozier boy," Ted snapped. He's never paid any attention to either Mike or Richie, from what Mike's worked out, he wasn't on board with raising someone else child, but only went along with it because Mike's a boy. Not that Mike lived up to any of Ted's expectations. Mike started laughing, his shoulders shaking violently at the thought anyone could learn any manners from Richie "Trashmouth" Tozier.

"Learn manners from Richie," Mike giggled. "Have you met Richie? Richie's idea of manners is Your Mom and dick jokes."

Ted just glared at him.

"I'll be driving you to the airport, you'll catch a flight, and they will get you from the airport," Karen said. Mike scoffed as he stood up, ignoring the sound of his chair clattering to the ground.

"This is bullshit! First, you stop me from ever going to Derry whenever I asked and now you can't wait to get rid of me!" Mike said before turning on his heel and storming out of the kitchen.

"I will not expect that kind of language in my house!" Ted shouted. Mike stopped, standing dead in the doorway before turning around, sticking both his middle fingers up at Ted. He didn't say anything after that, just stormed up to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.