Discover Top Posts Tagged with #miwi?

my fave byler fics :)

sorted by wordcount and a lil head's up: this is pretty mike-centric bc he's my baby <3

sweet williams by scootaur

There’s a tickle in Mike’s throat and pain in his lungs. There’s been there for quite a while, so long that he’d already forgotten what it felt like without the petals clogging up his lungs. Mike watches Will, so unreadable, so unreachable. No one had told him that falling in love would hurt so much. It’s silly, he tells himself. Childish. Dumb. Foolish. First love, a deadly fate. (or: Mike develops Hanahaki.)

wc: 1,429 || rating: G || god, this was so bittersweet, the subtle emotions, the open ending, the feels... just everything. hanahaki is such a favorite of mine and this captured what i love about it the most.

the tense hits like a bullet by anonymous

“You’re quiet,” Nancy says. Mike shrugs up at her. Swallows around the thing in his chest and tries to not think about Will’s eyes, Will’s voice. If he doesn’t answer she’s going to be more suspicious and then keep poking at him, but Mike needs a second if he doesn’t want to vomit his feelings at her feet. “End of the world,” he says finally, shrugging again. “We’ve already got a plan, so- so what’s left to say?”

wc: 2,025 || ch: 1/1 || rating: T || light hanahaki, everything is a whirlwind, the emotions quick and sweet as you feel them. "i lied about it being just a crush, how could you ever be just anything?" im dead.

spinning on that dizzy edge by ghoulsanderson

“Dance if you’re real.” Mike begs him. Whispering as if they could be overheard. His heart drums in his chest, each beat like a clap of thunder, and his stomach rolls as if he’s on a rollercoaster. After a long, torturous moment, Will begins to sway again. His arms lower to Mike’s waist. They wrap around like ribbons around a gift, and his palms feel giant as they curl around his sides. Mike feels small again, but not in the same way he felt around his dad or Henry. He melts into Will's embrace as it swallows him up, encasing him like a shield. It’s just as Mike had pictured it years ago, when he’d watched Will dance with a girl and dreamed of switching their places. Or: Mike is trapped in the thrall of Vecna's curse, and only Will can save him.

wc: 4,362 || ch: 1/1 || rating: G || slow dancing in the recesses of mike's mind to the tunes of just like heaven. what more could you ask for?

if you don't love me, let me go by lions_lanternwood

Eighteen months after Vecna takes over Hawkins, Will gets possessed again. This time, though, he doesn't act like a spy -- he acts like a rabid dog. The group tries to kill Vecna, Mike tries to save his best friend, and Will tries to eat human flesh. aka, the cannibal Will fic that the people have been craving (pun intended) <3

wc: 4,869 || ch: 1/1 || rating: E || this is the kind of dark, twisted energy i wanted s5 to truly have, cannibal will + self-sacrificial mike? my bread and butter, my milk and cereal...

a long night by yousaidyes

The grip around his hands on the barrel and trigger tightens again as Will aims for the both of them, and fat droplets of tears spill out Mike’s eyes as another shot booms around the field, blowing apart the last of the bottles. The recoil is immense and jerks him back into Will. And the hot mouth pressed into his temple gasps the same time he does before – “I’ll do whatever it is you need me to do, Mike. No one’s gonna hurt you. Certainly not him.” It’s a feat to turn around then, only an inch away from those laden eyes, the green in them turned darker. Their joined arms lower together as the eyes watch him, waiting for Mike to say something, but Mike is breathless already and his head is a chaotic mess of don’t do it, don't do it, don’t do it as his own eyes betray him – and for a dense moment it's just them, Will staring at Mike staring at his mouth. It feels like a good time for the world to end right about now. Mike wants it to end. Because he knows if he stays where he is for another second – Mike bolts.

wc: 5,383 || ch: 1/1 || what beautiful prose... it had me sighing and gasping to myself as i read. btw did someone mention will byers with a gun and unresolved tension?

there is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin by s0ld_it

“So. The church?” Miike asked. “The church.” Will said firmly. The building radiated with a sort of holy innocence, looking almost untouched and definitely out of place in the Upside Down. Will jiggled the front door handle and groaned. “Locked.” He thought for a moment. “Stand back, Mike.” Mike did, watching Will back up a few feet. “What are you-” Will began in a running start before throwing the weight of his body against the door with a bang. The door swung open but Will kept his balance, wincing. “That was loud. And kind of stupid.” “Are you kidding me?” Mike stared at him in a sort of awe. “I’ve only ever seen people do that in movies. Holy shit. That was epic.” “Oh shut up.” Will blushed. “It was nothing.” As they made their way into the church, Will took off his jacket, slinging it over his shoulder and stretching out his arm. Mike watched the muscles in his back strain against his t-shirt, his biceps and lats bulge from the simple stretch. Mike swallowed, hard. “Hey, it’s not too bad in here.”

wc: 6,008 || ch: 1/1 || rating: T || churchgate and its inherent religious symbolism and guilt mmm, my favourite teatime snack... and might i mention mike getting vecna'd?

but at least i finally found it (love) by gaysforbyler

“So… how did you know you liked boys?” Mike randomly asks Will one afternoon. “How did I what?” Will swivels his head toward Mike, who’s looking back at him expectantly over the top of his comic book. He’s got on that thinking-face he does— the one that tells Will that Mike has definitely been staring at him for the past ten minutes minimum, trying to wrap his brain around some idea or another, like he’s working out a particularly difficult puzzle. “Like, what do you like about them? Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that,” he complains, and Will assumes he must be making a face somewhere between skeptical and bewildered. “We never talk about it. Why is it boys for you?” — Mike wants to know why Will likes boys— in a completely straight, heterosexual way. Aka Byler talking about boys for 7k words.

wc: 6,931 || ch: 1/1 || rating: T || THIS IS SO CUTE!!! the fluff, them both being jealous idiots like cmon guys how hard is it to guess that you might be in mutual love with each other.

smoke signals by delusionaltogether

mike in the aftermath of vecna trying to get ahold of himself

wc: 8,644 || ch: 1/1 || rating: G || mike's a fan of climbing things, it's a good thing will knows to go after him. this was so sweet and calming and then the end? chef's kiss, truly

show me yours, and i'll show you mine by lightsflicker

Suddenly, Mike is twelve, teetering on the edge of the quarry. Maybe tomorrow the paramedics will pull him from the same exact place they found Will's body. It’s a comforting thought, morbidly enough. To die for his friends. To be with Will again. or: Mike Wheeler has no good, horrible, very bad evening.

wc: 8,900 || ch: 1/1 || rating: T || vecna possessing mike, lettergate and resolving romantic tension?? sign me UP rn. might be a oneshot but this little thing means sm to me

they were all in love with dying by lizzen

Mike braces himself. “And if I’m your Tammy, or whatever that means–” He breathes in. And he finally says it. “If Vecna knows that you have feelings for me, or had feelings for me, or whatever,” Each word is deliberate and Mike feels terrible about each one. This is so fucking hard, pressing on a bruise. “I need to know.” he finishes. “If that’s something he could use.” Will is silent. Ashen. His words didn’t just land, it hit him. Straight and clean. “Goddamnit, Will, I’m scared,” Mike says. OR: Mike had to ask about this Tammy business because the target on his back is already too big. (And, bingo, he was right to ask.)

wc: 11, 345 || ch: 4/4 || rating: E || contains explicit content || MIKE IS NOT WILL'S TAMMY!!! this was written so good omg mike getting possessed will being rightfully Evil and Angry about it... sigh

like i am home again by pseudologia

This is the first girl who’s ever asked Mike out — something he had, in the not too distant past, been terrified would never happen. And Mike just stands there, feeling like his dining hall dinner is about to crawl back up his esophagus. Jeremy, Saint Jeremy, nudges him with an elbow. “He’s kind of private about it, but Mike actually has someone back home.” Mike turns his head to look at Jeremy, expecting a knowing smile or the hint of a wink. But Jeremy actually looks sincere, which makes Mike’s eyebrows sink down, almost to the top of his nose. “Will, right?” Jeremy supplies, forever trying to be helpful. “He’s at CalArts?”

wc: 12, 635 || ch: 4/4 || rating : T || assumed dating byler!! mike has a gay crisis over it lol and let's all give our blessings to mike's absolutely angelic roommate jeremy!!

the urge by anonymous

Presentations were impossible to predict but if there was anyone in the Party that were to break that rule it would be Will and Mike, almost certain to be an omega and an alpha. But as with anything in their lives, that’s not how it works out. When Mike finally presents it’s not as an alpha like everyone expects, but an omega, and Will follows suit, presenting as an alpha only a few months later. It’s shocking and unexpected, but to a boy who’s been in love with his best friend for years, it’s just about the best news he could hear. They’re complimentary in every way, alpha and omega, Will and Mike—and not even Will’s rising possessiveness can change that, even when the only thing that makes him feel better is scenting Mike so much he hardly smells like himself anymore. But it’s only a matter of time until Mike catches on to the fact that his need to scent him maybe isn’t all that platonic after all.

wc: 14,031 || ch: 1/1 || rating: E || CONTAINS HEAVY SEXUAL CONTENT || my fave dynamic sigh... oblivious will is so dear to me like. yes, my dear, just scent your best friend that you're in love with totally platonically and not even realise that you've been courting/claiming him publicly as yours lol

what's to become of us? by paisparker

For a long while, which Will felt too embarrassed to admit, part of the reason he left this secret unsaid was so he could cling on to the smallest scrap of possibility. A little imaginary corner of his mind and heart where he could pretend Mike might maybe, just maybe, one day feel something more. It was foolish, he knew this. But it had been his. And now? Now it was gone. They’ve survived the near end of the world. Now Will just has to survive telling Mike the truth. It seems a lot easier than it is.

wc: 15,450 || ch: 3/3 || rating: G || so soft, so sweet, so painful... i think this fic really just encapsulated them perfectly and double confessions?? the angst sandwiched between the fluff? the getting together?? this is a masterpiece of a fic

softer, harder, in between by hxllcatspangled

“So I stopped fighting. I stopped being scared of the connection. And then I just… I thought about what I had to protect. My mom. Jonathan.” Another pause. Will's voice drops even lower. “You.” Mike’s heart performed a slow, heavy roll in his chest. “…You thought about me?” Will looked at him like he’d asked if water was wet. A faint, almost sad smile appeared. “Of course I did.” What happens - and what Mike realizes - after Will's big moment.

wc: 16,126 || ch: 1/1 || rating: T || i just love fics talking abt the fact that will discovered his powers through his love for mike (mostly but u get it i think) especially considering it's canon compliant, mmm my canonically accurate blorbos delicious

dear will (your love is all i want) by hxllcatspangled

I think about finding you on the swings in the first grade. I think about the first time Jonathan showed us the DnD board game, and how excited you were to see all the magic stuff. How I kept giving you different characters to draw just to watch the way your eyes lit up. Was I in love with you then? I remember stealing a tape of The Thing from Nancy and watching it when we were ten. I remember being so scared, but you were fascinated. I stuck it out just to watch you gasp when MacReady blows up the station. I remember grabbing your hand when it happened, and you held on. Was I in love with you then? I remember the last words you said to me before you went missing. It was a seven. I remember when you came back, when I finally saw you again, and I thought my heart was going to stop. I swear to God, Will, it was like I could breathe again for the first time in days. Mike and Will get through Vecna, get through a million almost-confessions and even more death scares. Then, three months later, Will finds a box of unsent letters from freshman year under Mike's bed.

wc: 16,136 || ch: 2/2 || rating: T || i love when holly meddles in byler... lettergate!!! addressing mike's issues!!! ounces of yearning!!! what a perfect little fic

slave of a bitch by lynnaleer

Will was a devotee of all things unholy. Mike was a low-ranking demon, one of those assigned to deal specifically with lust. One day, after countless failures and a long streak of miserable attempts, Will decided to test his fortune again — and that’s when he appeared. The nightmare of his life. The difference between this little fiend and Will’s usual hallucinations was simple: hallucinations eventually fade. But with the utterly deranged Mike Wheeler… he had a contract.

wc: 16,234 || ch: 1/1 || rating: E || contains explicit sexual content and violence || light dddne? proceed with caution! did someone order demon mike with a dash of human-demon contracts and a side of codependency? here you go! enjoy your meal, dear reader :)

spinning on that dizzy edge by cyclamoon

“What?”, Will huffs, shaking his head in disbelief. “You know blue does not only equate sadness, right? It is one of the blatantly obvious meanings, sure, but it can also imply tranquility, loyalty, trust, peace, and—" Shut up, shut up, shut up, the voice in his head screams by now, but one cannot interrupt Will in the middle of one of his art rants. Impossible. No chance. “And with the vastness of the sky or sea, blue is also often associated with distance, longing, yearning, and— stuff.” “Distance”, Mike echoes, and only then does Will truly understand what he has just admitted into the air freely, completely unprovoked and voluntarily. “Longing. Yearning.” Obviously, this is the exact moment Robert Smith decides to sing about the fact that it is Friday, and that he is very much in love. Five times Mike distracts Will from his art assignments with his stupidly flirtatious ways, and one time Will actually needs his help to complete a coursework.

wc: 21,949 || ch: 6/6 || rating: T || this fic genuinely had me giggling and kicking my feet at it bc mutual pining!! oblivious boys!! and i just love to read abt will being obsessed with mike sigh it's a guilty pleasure

take a bow, you're the winner by denkies

"Okay, I know I totally suck for not helping move furniture--" Will starts, setting the bag on Mike's desk with his back turned to the bed. "--but I swear it was for good reasons. And I know you said you didn't want anything for your birthday, but it's been over a week, so it's not technically a birthday gift--" He turns around, pausing when he sees what Mike is holding. "Is that the painting I gave you?" "Why did you lie?" Mike asks, immediately. - Or: Mike Wheeler loses his best friend, breaks up with his girlfriend, comes out twice in one day, and starts rolling a snowball for an avalanche. Not necessarily in that order.

wc: 22,013 || ch: 1/1 || rating: T || paintinggate... mwftdydgate... castle byers being THE place where they get their shit together...

cottonmouth by lightsflicker

“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.

wc: 23,567 || ch: 1/1 || rating: E || whipped, sweet, pathetic, stupid greedy mike + shotgunning + confident idiot, cheating will? this fic made me fall in love

slip through the spaces in between by 0r1g1np01nt

He remembers, eyes squeezed shut against the swell of nausea and vertigo that claws through him, being not-quite-thirteen, and listening eagerly to Mr. Clarke explain the science behind dreams. “Dreams,” he’d said, “are often seen as these sacred experiences, something that has to have a deeper meaning. We have centuries of examples of dream interpretation, the art of examining commonalities between different dreams to find a single interpretation.” “The thing is,” he’d continued, “dreams are just your brain’s way of processing and regurgitating information; a fruit-salad of information, so-to-speak. Sure, it can mean something, but it’s more likely to be a random grab-bag of facts and feelings that you’ve come across in life.” A fruit-salad of information. Here, in the dark bathroom at a little past three in the morning, Mike breathes carefully, and tries to dissect where the supposed ingredients of his fucked-up dream salad actually came from. Or: Vecna is weak. Injured. He's still strong enough to hit the Party where it hurts.

wc: 25,324 || ch: 1/1 || rating: T || the way im not even lying when i said this fic had me in tears... it's a completely different take on mik getting vecna'd and the way it establishes mike's r/ships with everyone (and not just will) is so heart-aching. i wish i could inject this fic into my veins

if i stop laughing, all the blood will just start pouring out by cyclamoon

“You should go back to sleep”, Mike mutters, but Will’s eyes are already flying over his face, and he is probably taking in the embarrassing number of tears, and the sweaty hair sticking onto his forehead and— “You’re bleeding”, Will whispers, and then, as if the realization strikes just now as he says it out loud, his voice increases in volume, but shakes harder all the more, “Mike, there’s— there’s blood pouring from your mouth.” Mike would have been perfectly content with never exploring the depth of his repressed feelings, if it wasn't for the deadly flowers blooming in his lungs.

wc: 30,239 || ch: 5/5 || rating: T || my FAVOURITE hanahaki fic including my favourite ever lettergate, the way mike just decides to suffer in silence and the way this eventually gets resolved?? beautiful

we all have a hunger (tell me what you need) by papenathy

“Looks like I bit you.” Will tilts his head to get a better look. All Mike can do is stare at him. His fluffy hair at the front, clumped pieces at the back where he’d slid his fingers in a mere few minutes before. His pretty green eyes that look hazel or even brown in this light, the dark circles he gets when he drinks framing them like intricate paintings. A satisfied, bloody smile. Mike isn’t satisfied. He swallows thickly, choking down the words 'don’t you want more?' Or: Will dresses as a vampire for a college halloween party, but Mike thinks his costume isn’t bloody enough. Will lets him fix it. Mike goes into a crisis.

wc: 34,403 || ch: 3/3 || rating: T || vamp will + willing victim mike anyone? no, just me? how could that be! joke's aside, this fic is just written so beautifully, the tension is conveyed SO GOOD and u just know with a mike pov fic that youre for a ride with all those leaps in rationality when it comes to the one and only will byers... all the yearning....

okay so are the curtains blue for a reason or what (this is a metaphor) by sunflower_J

Now, someone walked into the room. A boy, awkwardly standing at the side of his bed, looking over him worriedly. His hair was brown and scruffy, and he had big baby doe eyes and a yellow-and-blue horizontally-striped shirt like a cartoon character. The window was lighting him up like he was important to Mike’s narrative. The curtains are blue, thought Mike, this boy is light. I love metaphors. Maybe he was high on the pain meds. Upon seeing him, Mike felt a great affection, a great peace. Plus, he had long eyelashes. Mike almost giggled to himself. He was definitely a little high. “Hi.” breathed Mike. “Hi.” he said, hesitating. “We’re friends?” Mike asked hopefully. Or: During the Party's final battle with Vecna, Mike is gravely injured and loses his memories. He wakes up in a hospital only remembering a handful of inconsequential little things, like how much he loves a boy who seems like light.

wc: 61,496 || ch: 4/4 || rating: T || when the amnesia removes all your internalised homophobia so u just fall in love with your male best friend (again)

i could be your lover (and you could be my heartache) by sunsetozier

Silence. Hungry, carnivorous—or maybe cavernous, vast and lined with teeth, ready to bite. The quiet before the storm, the gasped breath in before the heart stops. Tragedy tastes bitter. Blood tastes like pennies. Both are in the air, promises coating the tongue. Something bad is about to happen. From beneath the bed, something reaches out—a mass of darkness, a shapeless nothing—and it grabs Mike by the wrist, yanks him forward. Mike chokes on a yelp and flails his arm free, blood dripping from where the shadows grabbed him, like the touch of darkness has split him open. He tries to scramble away, unfolds his legs to kick himself back but only makes himself easier, more vulnerable. The unidentifiable mass encircles Mike's ankle, and he screams something agonized, terrified—and then it pulls Mike, clawing at the carpet with his bloodied fingers, under the bed. This time, the silence isn't hungry. It's satisfied. will starts entering the mindscape in his dreams on the same night that mike gets taken by vecna. this is probably the least confusing part of everything that happens after.

wc: 86, 830 || ch: 11/12 || rating: M || dark themes, violence || this is what i mean when i say i would like to see a mike vecna'd fic... lettergate i love you lettergate, and the journals, will entering mike's mindspace, THE ANGST. (ps. all's well that ends well)

#byler #stranger things #fic recs #ao3 #mike wheeler #will byers #miwi?