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Mike’s gotta be cursed.
It was fine. For the first time in ages, Mike’s life seemed to be on an upward trajectory instead of plummeting downwards. College had, in some way, fixed things. Fixed Mike. He didn’t even feel the need to dissect what exactly had made his early teenage years so horrifying.
But like a curse, it’s all come back.
aka mike figures out his sexuality in the worst way possible, but as always, will is there to help. in more ways than one.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 53,565
- Chapters:
- 6/6
- Comments:
- 157
- Kudos:
- 1,525
- Bookmarks:
- 382
- Hits:
- 25,009
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
10 Feb 2026
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Mike feels a little or a lot, never controlled and always one extreme or the other. It’s visible in the way he snaps at his friends when he gets too angry or too upset, and it’s audible in his relentless stutter that appears when there’s attention on him. It’s laced in the lies that he grinds out through his teeth, claiming that he’s fine, and it’s in the fight to appear as though he’s swimming gently through a body of water when in reality he can’t keep afloat.
His feelings are like waves, gentle or all consuming as they rise and fall with the tide, and nothing drowns him quite like Will Byers.
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mike falls apart one drunken night. will helps piece him back together.Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
07 Feb 2026
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"I live in your house, Mike," he said, crossing his arms defensively. "I thought you'd already have enough of me."
"I don't." Will jumped at Mike's voice, head whipping back around to face him. "Come on, Will! You talk to Holly more than you do me. You're always doing those— those ugly craft projects with her, and I didn't even know you liked crafts, and I didn't know you liked Holly more than me, either. I don't know anything about you."
Will blinked at him, mouth agape. "They're not ugly," he said, weakly.
"They are." Mike glared at Will harder. "See? I didn't know you lied now, either."
The Byers spend their first year with the Wheelers. Will learns how to handle Mike, and Mike learns how to handle change.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 19,617
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Comments:
- 148
- Kudos:
- 2,122
- Bookmarks:
- 484
- Hits:
- 28,228
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
07 Feb 2026
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love was the law and religion was taught by mugamuchyuu
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
20 Jan 2026
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“Oh, you weren’t aware?” Will clicks his tongue, his slow steps sounding menacing against the quiet surrounding them, “Guess you’re not much of a protector after all.”
Mike can’t do anything but stare. Think, Mike, he tells himself, think.
Will doesn’t waste any time as he flips through a Bible left on the pulpit. “And you call yourself my best friend,” he almost spits those words, and Mike tries not to feel hurt, “but that’s not entirely correct, either, am I right?”
What?
Will and Mike get sent out on a mission to a place that’s suspiciously guarded in Vecna’s mind, which is Hawkin’s Church. Mike has a general dislike for churches that he put aside in favor of accompanying Will.
When Will’s connection to Vecna spirals out of control, Mike is caught in the fallout, not only forced to confront the truth he’s been carrying with him for years but also try to get Will and himself out of there alive. The biggest issue is, Will is possessed and Mike isn’t leaving the church without him.
What begins as a desperate attempt to wake Will up, ends in Mike realizing he would rather face hell than lose Will again.
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
04 Feb 2026
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Mike Wheeler learned, in the long summer after the world did not end, that houses had habits.
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There's a painting in the corner of Mike's room, and a boy living in his basement. And he finally has the time to give to both.
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
03 Feb 2026
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The invisible shoulder nudges him, and Mike wishes he'd taken the piece of paper to read what Will would've actually said, and then misses, more generally, Will's voice. His spoken word. Which is unfair - Mike's lucky he gets even this much, the cool brush on his arm, the creaks of his weight on the floorboards, the gentle drum of his fingers. Reminders. Will, inasmuch as he can be, is here, even if it will never feel like enough.
Sometimes — he never tells anyone this — he shuts his eyes, tells himself that Will is alive, and sitting there, next to him, and the moment he tilted his head, they'd be face to face.
He doesn't like opening his eyes, after that.
Will is a ghost. Mike is haunted.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 20,593
- Chapters:
- 3/3
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 62
- Kudos:
- 731
- Bookmarks:
- 209
- Hits:
- 6,769
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
31 Jan 2026
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“Did I do something wrong?” Mike questions, mouth twisted in a frown, eyes less wide than they were a few moments ago, sleepiness gone. His arms stay at his sides, although his fingers fiddle with his sleeves. “What did I do wrong?”
Will frowns back. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Mike doesn’t look like he believes him. Will doesn’t blame him. “Then why do you keep leaving?”
The world ends, and then some. Mike and Will find each other again, amidst the debris and distance.
Series
- Part 1 of fix-its
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 21,203
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Comments:
- 741
- Kudos:
- 16,065
- Bookmarks:
- 3,763
- Hits:
- 232,810
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
31 Jan 2026
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“They pulled your body out of the quarry.”
It’s a story Mike’s sure Will’s heard many times, but it’s been watered down — rewritten, almost; masked by the exhilaration of the unknown, the riveting supernatural adventure that awaited them. Will doesn’t know the truth — not the full one, at least. The one fogged with cries, splinters in throats, You said he was alive! The air hangs differently now, four years later, and Mike thinks Will can sense it, because he lets out a strained, choked noise.
Death seems to follow him everywhere. It's only natural Mike breaks down about it, late at night, letting a few secrets slip in the process.
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
31 Jan 2026
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body on body (until i’m all gone) by surrender2thesound
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
27 Jun 2025
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“What? It’s a reasonable question! You’re acting like that’s impossible or something.”
“Because it kind of is, Mike.” Will scoffs, only half-humorous now. He pauses for a moment, then sighs, his smile wavering. “Lenora Hills is a big school, and I’m not exactly the most memorable person. There wasn’t anyone, like, lining up to date me.”
Mike blurts, “Well, that’s—that’s stupid.”
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On the way to Nevada, Mike and Will share a motel room. Things spiral from there.
Series
- Part 1 of look at me baby, dead in my eyes
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
28 Jan 2026
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a hundred thrown out speeches by andiwriteordie for livsmessydoodles
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
22 Mar 2023
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“I think we’re leaving soon!” comes Will’s response. He sounds closer now—like maybe he’s about to enter the room or something. “Did you find anything?”
Yes, Mike thinks, and his eyes flicker down to the old shoebox sitting in front of him.
LETTERS FROM MIKE, LETTERS FROM MIKE, LETTERS FROM MIKE, Will’s childhood handwriting screams back to him.
Or:
While in the Upside Down with the Party, Mike stumbles across an old box of letters to Will from... himself.
Series
- Part 3 of it was a seven
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
28 Jan 2026
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“Do you want to go somewhere?” Mike blurts out suddenly.
Will blinks, caught off guard, and he looks at his… his friend in confusion. “What?”
“Do you,” Mike repeats, his cheeks colored with a red flush, “do you want to go somewhere? Just… get out of the house. Neither of us can sleep, and… I don’t know. I feel all restless and stuff. I kinda want to get out of here.”
Or:
On Mike's first night in California, Will and Mike sneak out of the Byers' home and share a quiet moment together in a 7-Eleven parking lot.
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
28 Jan 2026
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“Just saying, if you’re taking another hit, you should share it with me,” Mike says, and Will slowly tilts his head, drinking in every word. “It just makes sense. Like, mathematically.”
Will’s reddened eyes narrow, bewildered. “Mathematically?”
“If there’s two hits left, we’d each only get one,” Mike explains. “But if we shotgunned, we’d both get two.” God, this is the best idea he’s had in ages. He should’ve stolen Will’s weed, like, months ago. “That’s like, bang for your buck. This is simple math, Will Byers. Keep up.”
In which it’s well past midnight in New York, Will can’t sleep, and Mike feels like they barely know each other anymore.
So, they get a little high. Mike is very normal about all of it.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 23,567
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Comments:
- 732
- Kudos:
- 9,981
- Bookmarks:
- 2,704
- Hits:
- 95,058
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
28 Jan 2026
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Will raises his eyebrows. “Is that why you came in here?” he repeats, looking back down at the blue flannel. “To ask me about the weather in Lenora?”
“Kind of,” Mike says, and then, “well no, not about the weather specifically. I just– I wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh.” And Will looks a lot more surprised at this, actually, than the idea that Mike might have just wanted to come to his room to make small talk about unseasonably frigid California winters. “Okay. What about?”
“Anything.” The response is embarrassingly immediate. “Everything. I don’t know. I missed you.”
Hawkins, 1986. The world is ending, there are too many people in Mike's house, and to top it all off, he and Will have some things to talk through.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 77,728
- Chapters:
- 4/4
- Comments:
- 545
- Kudos:
- 8,649
- Bookmarks:
- 2,487
- Hits:
- 181,189
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
24 Jan 2026
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Summary
sometimes people grow apart, and that's life. and sometimes they grow together again, and that's life, too.
- Words:
- 55,102
- Works:
- 3
- Bookmarks:
- 376
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
22 Jan 2026
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Mike opens his mouth, then closes it. Too many questions crowded in the back of his throat. What happened to you this week? What are you hiding? Why didn’t you call me? None of them make it out.
Lucas, steadier, breaks the silence.
“Whose car was that?”
It takes Will a moment to answer. He blinks at the wall behind Lucas like he’s trying to rewind something in his head.
“I borrowed it,” he says finally.
Lucas tilts his head. “Really? From who?”
When Will Byers arrives at the WSQK radio station in a vandalized car none of them recognize, the walls he’s built start to crack. What slips out is a secret he’s been hiding in plain sight.
Series
- Part 1 of Under Pressure
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 43,770
- Chapters:
- 5/5
- Comments:
- 406
- Kudos:
- 2,810
- Bookmarks:
- 624
- Hits:
- 45,863
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
21 Jan 2026
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the worst thing about being honest by quietforasecond
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
13 Aug 2022
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Will coughs violently when the lack of oxygen creates a ringing in his ears, and then he’s leaning forward and gagging. He fully expects to see a squirming veiny worm hit the sink like one had two years ago after his encounter with the Upside Down, but instead, he’s met with petals.
Will watches in more fascination than horror as they slowly float down to the sink.
Or the one where Mike keeps falling asleep, Will can’t stop hacking up flowers, and everyone is suddenly great at giving advice.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 20,199
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 87
- Kudos:
- 2,810
- Bookmarks:
- 562
- Hits:
- 26,755
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
20 Jan 2026
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“You’ve really never?” Will asks, finally pulling a box of matches out of his pocket, not the lighter Mike had been expecting. He tips the box of Marlboros out towards Mike again, and this time, he takes one, trying to pretend like the subtle weight of it is not as foreign in his hand as it feels. “Not even once?”
“No,” Mike says, trying to figure out whether he should be getting defensive or not. “Why? Is it that hard to believe?”
“I just figured, you know, it’s easier to bum a smoke off of somebody than it is to get your hands on some booze,” Will says thoughtfully. He tucks the cigarettes back into his pocket and plants both hands on the stack of hay behind him, taking a careful step onto the bale already resting by their feet — and then, when it holds his weight, he hoists himself up, legs swinging. “And you’ve done that, so.”
Will sneaks out for a smoke break. Mike decides to join him.
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
19 Jan 2026
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Mike hadn’t gone far一only a few paces away from the theater一but it gave him a better view of the sign. It was impossible to ignore when a simple peek took up his entire field of vision like a faulty video camera stuck on zoom.
Mike struggled to take a breath. The crowd had sucked up all of the oxygen and he was going to die.
...
The Wheeler name was once again the subject of hostile vandalism, but this time it wasn't Nancy's name on the sign.Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
18 Jan 2026
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And yet, here he was, unable to leave his couch as fatigue seeped into his bones, unable to sleep even when that was all he wanted. He wanted to escape his dorm room, the noises, the smells, the terribly oppressive heat on his chest, and worst of all, Theo fucking Raeken.
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
15 Jan 2026
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- Words:
- 536,480
- Works:
- 6
- Bookmarks:
- 1,254
Bookmarked by MermaidMarie
14 Jan 2026