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There are multiple things Mike notices about the scene in front of him.
Firstly, and probably most importantly: William Byers is dancing on a table.
Mike blinks hard. Once. Twice. The picture doesn’t change. There’s Will—His best friend since childhood; shy, awkward, nerdy Will. Only he doesn’t look like any of those things right now.
Or, Will gets white girl wasted and Mike freaks out about it.
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As Mike makes breakfast, he catches fragments of the broadcast. Since the beginning of the year, over 500 AIDS-related deaths have occurred in San Francisco as of June, and projections estimate nearly a thousand deaths by the end of the year. The anchor sounds altogether unaffected. Will doesn’t move from his spot on the couch.
“Do you want coffee?” Mike asks gently.
“Sure,” Will says, voice low.1991. The Castro, San Francisco, California. Mike Wheeler moves into Will Byers's apartment, comes of age, and falls in love.
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Just for a second, I remembered myself by Romanoff_mylove
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
28 Feb 2026
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Mike has finally made it as an author. But writing about your own past can get complicated, especially when fans start to draw conclusions that point Mike in the direction of the person he's been writing about all along.
And living life is hard. Especially when you're doing it all on your own. But grief and love are a lot more similar than you might realise. They both tend to wake us up from the monotony of our lives.
OR: Mike has a horrible time, which somewhere along the way turns into a wonderful time.
//Updates every few days, tags updated as the story goes on.//
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 89,591
- Chapters:
- 32/?
- Comments:
- 1,027
- Kudos:
- 1,463
- Bookmarks:
- 430
- Hits:
- 31,096
Bookmarked by simplememories
28 Feb 2026
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Something's been feeling weird lately (There's just something about you, baby) by willel_domination
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
27 Feb 2026
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Mike’s heart lurches into his throat, constricting his airway as he takes in his face. Because he knows that face. His eyes have wandered along that strong nose, those bunny teeth peeking out between parted lips, that mole beside his mouth. He’s catalogued every detail of that messy brown hair, those long eyelashes, and that pair of enchanting hazel eyes, over and over again, to the point where it burns behind his eyelids when he kisses his girlfriend.
“Holy shit,” the man breathes, gaping in shock, and for once in his life, Mike doesn’t need a trick to stop his loud mouth. For the first time, he’s truly struck dumb.
Because it’s him. Older, taller, and different, but it’s him.
The man standing in front of them, somehow, is Will.
Or,
18-year-old Will Byers gets sent back to July 1985, tries to help them out using some awesome superpowers and futuristic wisdom, and Mike does his best not to combust in the process.
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“And why come back when so many are leaving Hawkins?”
Will slowed without meaning to. The leaves under his shoes crackled. “I–”
What should he tell this stranger that wouldn’t reveal the fact that his sister had superpowers and might actually be the only key to save this entire town from a monstrous maniac?
“Well, everyone I know is here,” he murmured. “I couldn’t… just leave them.”
The man hummed softly, then he lifted his head to scan over the woods, a faint whistle came from his lips, before his gaze landed onto Will again.
“Maybe something here wanted you back.”
Or, a
fix-it ficmodern-gothic take on Will Byers' story in Season 5 .- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 144,956
- Chapters:
- 9/13
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 1,090
- Kudos:
- 3,763
- Bookmarks:
- 1,447
- Hits:
- 116,375
Bookmarked by simplememories
17 Feb 2026
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In the summer of 1989, the Byers family moves to Montauk, cutting short Mike and Will's last summer together before college. Certain he'll never see his friend again, Will confesses his love on their last night together, rocking Mike's world entirely. As the tear-filled goodbyes draw to a close, however, Mike is suddenly offered the unexpected opportunity to travel with the Byers family and help them move.
They have five days out of state together to address Will's confession, learn to communicate, and maybe, just maybe, say a few things they should have said all along.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 48,479
- Chapters:
- 6/6
- Comments:
- 248
- Kudos:
- 1,707
- Bookmarks:
- 653
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- 39,056
Bookmarked by simplememories
12 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
sooo coming-of-age it feels like a gut punch
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Twenty-two years after leaving, Will travels back to Hawkins to face his past. Only Mike now lives there, too.
Or, ‘He might as well have carved 'Mike' into his thigh. It would have been more honest.’
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 65,523
- Chapters:
- 15/15
- Comments:
- 1,601
- Kudos:
- 1,685
- Bookmarks:
- 644
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- 33,849
Bookmarked by simplememories
12 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
fuck man 😭😭 read this in one sitting for the past four hours (forgot to eat dinner) and just started pacing my room to gather my thoughts
written so beautifully, sm care put into these characters
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Mike’s weight is usually a comfortable pressure on his chest, not too heavy but just enough to mellow out the frantic buzzing that sometimes inhibits Will’s body on bad nights. He is, however, sharp. This usually proves to be an issue only when Will is trying to wake him from his dead-guy-adjacent sleep and jostles him enough to be poked by a knee or an elbow or a—
“Jesus Christ.”
—a shoulder.
Mike sleeps in. Will suffers.
Series
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Now that the entire party is settled around the table, deep into the Christmas-but-not-really-Christmas-themed campaign, Will is having second thoughts. He brings his head up from his character sheet to glance at Mike, who peers back at him from over the master’s screen.
Will doesn’t know entirely what the campaign entails, but he knows what happens at the end, regardless of the players' actions. They are hurtling towards the end concerningly quickly.
“Can I roll for stabbing Lucas?”
Will and Mike have been dating for two months, but haven't told the party yet. They decide to break the news in a very Will-and-Mike way: via D&D-campaign.
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To tell you is too scary (so I'll just say something else) by Mixtapeofmemories
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
10 Dec 2025
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Summary
Lucas reached for Max's hand, so Mike grabbed onto El's. Lucas called Max beautiful, so Mike dutifully repeated it. Lucas took Max on dates to the movies, so Mike… look, it wasn't his fault that Dustin was at camp, and El couldn't go places with a lot of people, and so he ended up sitting next to Will in the dark theatre.
It wasn't a big deal. In fact, it was so totally not a big deal, that Mike made up a list of rules to keep it that way.
Or- I realised that Halloween was only a few days before s5 v1, and thought it would be cute if that's when mwtfdydg happened
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“Okay!” Mike grinned, swinging his hand back and forth. “Then I have a crush on Will!”
____miwi decide to go to nancy to find out what a crush actually is.
Bookmarked by simplememories
10 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
miwi side of soup on the byler burger please!
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Summary
He sits at his desk and thinks to himself about the story he can never tell.
It isn't the story of the mage; that, perhaps, is the easiest story to tell. An acceptable one, a story of love and loss, of power and politics, of magic and monsters.
The stories he grew up on are the same stories he's doomed to tell now. Of supernatural entities and learned helplessness.
No, the story he can never tell is one he's never seen or read before. One that could never have a happy ending.
It goes like this:
Four boys playing a tabletop role-playing game in a basement. Loud, chaotic, wild. There is a distinct air of youth surrounding them. They are untouched by trauma and unharmed by life.
or
mike wheeler, grief, and the (love) story he cannot tell.
Bookmarked by simplememories
10 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
whole ass pile of tissues next to me. sigh
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Summary
Sir Michael tilted his head, squinting at Will. Without warning, his hand came to cup Will's cheek, turning his skin at least ten degrees warmer. "He looks like you," Sir Michael continued, "and he has your name. Your moles, too."
His thumb came down to brush the mole over Will's top lip. The touch felt soft, strangely reverent. "My— moles?"
Mike had the same sentiment, albeit with more displeasure. "His moles?"
Will makes a wish. Sir Michael the Brave comes to fulfill it, but Mike Wheeler makes his wish come true.
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Summary
In the summer of 1989, Will has two goals. Technically three.
- Find a job.
- Save up for college. See aforementioned goal #1.
- Get over Mike Wheeler.
It’s going badly.
Or: The summer after graduation, Will learns how to move on, and Mike learns how to live with change.
Bookmarked by simplememories
08 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
chap 1 thoughts:
already so compelling from the first scene (love the continued use of water-related symbolism). super super cinematic with the transition from 1984 to 1989 will. felt like that and the whole vibe of this story captures the feeling of the summer before college so well!
plus the way op writes the party's dynamics and banter is absolute perfection. madwheeler working at scoops ahoy? yes please!! dustin bothering the sinclairs' peace? good for him!! byler being byler? rip my heart out!!
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Summary
“So. Logical conclusion?” Dustin grinned down at him, pleased. “You’re in love with Mike and heartbroken that he and El made up. You’re welcome.”
Will sighed. “Dustin, I already knew I was in love with Mike.”
Will Byers is not avoiding his friends—he’s just busy.
Busy avoiding Mike Wheeler, busy lying about homework, and busy trying (and failing) to get over the boy he’s been in love with for years.
Unfortunately, Dustin Henderson has noticed. And he has a plan.
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Summary
Robin cracks the code how to unlock Will's special smile, and Mike is normal about it.
(Will and Robin infected with the sillies, through Mike's eyes. Spoilers up to e02s05)
Bookmarked by simplememories
05 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
in-between moments i wish we got on-screen :(
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Summary
“So he is just… in my life,” Mike said with disgust as he noticed how pathetic the weight on his chest felt. “In my house. Using my face. With Will.”
The cleric’s expression tightened. “Your friend.”
“My best friend,” Mike corrected too sharply. The moment the words left him, the flare of jealousy turned into embarrassment. He couldn’t remember when he grew to hate how he sounded when the subject was Will.
William’s gaze held steady. “Do you not want him there because you fear for your friend, or because you fear what your friend might feel?”
Mike’s mouth opened, then closed. The question hit too close to the thing he’d been circling for years without touching.OR: Mike wakes up in a paladin’s body, face-to-face with a cleric who looks exactly like Will, except this Will speaks in oaths and shows him a kind of affection he doesn’t feel he deserves.
Back home, someone else is wearing Mike’s skin, saying the things Mike has never dared to say out loud.
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the scar on your face matches mine inside by Demiwitchwoodwalker
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
05 Feb 2026
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Summary
“Mike?” Her hands shook as she pushed tentatively against the back of his shoulder, trying to jostle him just enough to pull him back out of unconsciousness, but he didn’t stir, not even an inch. A huge, deep gash ran across his face, a scarlet slash through his pale skin cutting jaggedly from just above his right eyebrow to the hollow of his left cheek. Blood trickled steadily from it, rolling down his face into his hair, catching on his nose, and bruises were already darkening along his skin underneath the growing pallor of his face. He looked– He looked like his life was draining from his face, looked like he was an inch from death even though she knew he couldn’t be. He was fine. He was– He had to be fine. “Mike! Mike, wake up!”
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In which, byler is already established in s3, Mike and Max are best friends that also bicker like they hate each other's guts, and Mike gets a little bit more hurt in the Battle of Starcourt Mall than in canon (because that boy deserved to get a scar from having his face slammed into a metal pipe).
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stay here for a while (tell me i'm better) by Miyula (deagachi)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
07 Feb 2026
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Summary
Without a doubt, he's looking at himself. An older version of himself. A version of himself so different, he's actually not sure if he'd have recognized his own self were it not for the person next to him — Will.
Mike's breath gets caught in his throat.
Will.
He's different. So different. But he's also still so clearly Will.
His hair is shaggy, grown out of the bowlcut he'd been rocking all the time that Mike has known him. The clothes he wears are different too, softer around the edges, brighter. His eyes are still so wide and green and earnest and the full stream of light behind him makes him look— More importantly he's— The older Will is— He just— He looks good—
The second his thoughts finally formulate Mike almost physically shakes his head to rid them. What the hell was that? What the hell was that?
In which older Mike and Will get sent to the roughest patch in their lives, and current Mike has to deal with what it causes him to feel on top of his already weird, raging emotions. Great.
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i am caught, right inside your line of fire by ethqreal
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
02 Feb 2026
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Summary
“Why are you touching him? You don’t own him.”
Will dropped his head into his hands. “Mike, oh my god—”
Paladin Mike’s jaw tightened. “I do not own him,” he said immediately. “He is—” He stopped, swallowing. His eyes went back to Will softening, and that softness made Mike hate him even more. He could recognize the look, and saw it mirrored in his own eyes countless times.
[...]
“He is the Light. By your oath, I am bound to him. My liege.” He bowed his head slightly toward Will, his mouth wrapped around the word like it was a prayer. “My cleric.” He said after, softer.
“Oh my god.” Will flushed, impossibly. “That is crazy. He is actually crazy."
Max, who had been standing with her arms crossed behind them, muttered, “Jesus Christ,” under her breath.
Mike Wheeler is going to explode, because there is an alternate, armoured version of him, following Will Byers around like he belonged to him.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 16,431
- Chapters:
- 2/2
- Comments:
- 521
- Kudos:
- 9,965
- Bookmarks:
- 2,067
- Hits:
- 104,202
Bookmarked by simplememories
02 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
drama queens the lot of them