okay listen. byler fic premise that is currently eating my brain alive:
post-campaign. books put away. mike closes the door.
the party is all standing there saying goodbye, hugging, promising to see each other soon.
what mike doesn’t know is that, the second they leave, everyone else makes a last-minute decision to go to stacy’s party. not because mike’s campaign was bad — they all thought it was great — but because they want a fun ending to the night. they don’t tell him. they think it’s kinder that way.
mike is left alone.
cue grief spiral.
he’s already grieving el, and then he realises he’s kind of lost his friends too. panic attacks. insomnia. that hollow, sick feeling that won’t go away.
enter mike & will angst.
they argue about jane. will snaps —
“she was my sister, mike. you don’t think I’m struggling too?”
it escalates. mike punches him. instant regret. everything breaks.
mike tries to apologise. will’s done. fully done with mike’s bullshit.
desperate, guilty mike breaks into the byers house using the key under the mat just to leave an apology note on will’s desk — and accidentally finds will’s sketchbook. full of drawings of him.
he leaves without saying anything.
will finds out anyway. storms over to mike’s, furious.
calls him a piece of shit. hits him with something like “you’re lucky I didn’t tell jim — he’d go fucking nuts.”
mike finally breaks. full sobbing, word-vomit confession of grief, guilt, confusion, everything he’s been holding in. will doesn’t forgive him easily — but he agrees to try. very slow burn. very fragile.
later on, mike realises something awful: the reason his last moments with el make him feel physically sick is because he never told her the truth — that he didn’t feel the same way she did. it all felt fake, and that guilt has been rotting him from the inside.
he starts trying to move forward. spending more time with the party before everyone leaves for college. especially will.
sleepovers. shared rooms. quiet nights. comfort.
mike asks, one night, about rooming together in college. or renting a place. will hesitates — thinks it’s just a fantasy, something mike hasn’t thought through.
meanwhile mike is slowly, painfully realising he’s in love with will. noticing everything. caring too much. spiralling into internalised homophobia. pulling away again.
will confronts him. mike pretends everything’s fine — until will casually mentions he has a date coming up.
jealous. angry. messy mike wheeler.
confession spills out like it’s been clawing its way up his throat.
angry love confessions. fear. relief. chaos.
that’s it. that’s the fic. if someone writes this or knows something even remotely similar, i will owe you my life
god the angst i love it
