I'm thinking of posting some snippets of what i write here sometimes. not because it's particularly good, but for exposure therapy, lol. so i can feel a little less anxious about being seen, I guess. it's okay if these are bad. it's just what I've been writing to keep up the habit.
also, i think it'll be good to keep a record of what I was writing at different points in time.
I'll just post these under the "read more" ✨
so
snippet of the day (not written today):
june 16, 26
snippet from a byler fic. context: Mike is looking at Will's art that's hung up on his walls, in his bedroom. catching up on what Will has been drawing lately, since they've been distant (but they've been getting closer again). this is after the battle against Vecna, but before the epilogue. Mike spent months basically dissociated trying to cope with everything that happened, and now that he's catching up with Will again for the past couple of weeks, he's been freaking the hell out because he has Feelings™ for him. so he's going through a whole personal journey.
Next up, after the sketches of the party, there was an actual painting. In fact, it occupied a premium space on the wall, being visible from all corners of the room, and from Will's bed too.
It was a blue sky, so very blue, with white clouds. Simple, you'd think, but Mike loved it. The clouds looked so fluffy, and even dreamy, in a way.
Though it was just a blue sky with clouds, it made Mike feel happy and... nostalgic. He could see himself right back on one of those days where he and Will played outside as kids, the wind on their faces. They'd make up stories, run, or lay down on the hill or in front of Castle Byers and just watch the sky.
And it was this sky. The sky of his childhood, so boundless, so open, that it made him feel free. Like he could finally breathe. As if there was nothing to fear, nothing he and Will couldn't get past. The world was a big place, and a beautiful place, and there was so much good in their future. Such a pretty blue… Mike felt lighter just looking at it.
He must have stayed there for a while. When he came to, Will was standing by his side with a smile, as if he'd been watching him.
"This one is so vivid…" He wondered if he was overthinking it, because it was indeed just a sky with clouds, probably the most basic thing to paint, but he really felt it. There was something real and deeply nostalgic about it.
But Will simply smiled wider. He seemed to be examining Mike's reaction.
"Do you wanna know what this one's called?" he asked.
"They have names?? That's so cool!"
"I don't usually name them, actually," Will replied. "They're mostly just sketches. But this one does. This one is special."
There it was. This one was special. "What is it?"
A cryptic smile. Like he knew a secret Mike didn't. Like Will was showing him something Mike was supposed to understand or recall, wanting to see if he would get it on his own. "It's called 'I miss clouds'. I painted it a while after we'd gotten back from Lenora. I think I actually started the sketch when we were still at your house, but I only finished it later."
"Oh." Mike felt that must mean something. Something about how Will felt. I miss clouds. Was that how he'd felt in Lenora? Had he missed the sky in Hawkins?
Mike never got to talk to him much about how those months had been for him… He'd wanted to, but he simply hadn't. After Will came back, Mike tried to stay away from him, and they had barely talked before the Byers moved out of his home again—it had been too late, even if Mike bitterly regretted it.
Now, he didn't know much about how Will's life had been going the past couple years, not as much he'd like to, not like they did before.
Mike hated himself for not talking to him. For not reaching out. For putting distance between them, for not being there. He'd been so stupid. He should have brushed all those confusing feelings aside like he was doing now, and taken the time he could have with Will then. Stupid, stupid.
And it had all started at that time: when the Byers moved out of Hawkins. Was this what the painting depicted? Was that what he was trying to say? That he'd missed Hawkins?
Had he missed their shared childhood as much as Mike did? The times they had before the Upside Down ever happened, when they were happy?
"Actually," Will added, "there's a second piece I've been meaning to make, as a continuation to that one. I just… haven't really decided if I should."
"That's so cool." Mike's eyes drifted back to the canvas when he realized he'd been spacing out. "Do show me if you make it! I… I really like this one."
Pausanias 10.26.1: About Creusa the story is told that the Mother of the Gods and Aphrodite rescued her from slavery among the Greeks, as she was, of course, the wife of Aeneas.
On the topic of Aeneas & Cybele – she helps save Aeneas' wife <3
