fic spam!!!
and I keep coming across more and more and more HTDC fan art—it's incredible. I really love sharing this because I'm a huge fan of art in general, but even more so when it's art created with pure love and dedication.
*** at the end of this post, I've included my own thoughts on how I see Will in this story, as well as a great comment from peachstatic (the author) sharing her interpretation. I think this is necessary because I believe Will is the character who has been most misunderstood in this fanfic.
illustrator @rbndomo (X/twitter)
illustrator @_mikeystardust (X/twitter)
chapter 6
illustrator @ups1decho (X/twitter)
cover designed by @eeveeaddict (X/twitter)
chapter 4
illustrator @finnerwheeler (X/twitter)
chapter 6
illustrator @eeveeaddict (X/twitter)
*** I think the fandom as a whole seriously underestimates Will, and because of that, the author has, in a way, felt the need to explain how she interprets Mike and Will's dynamic in her fic—without, of course, dismissing readers' interpretations. even so, I'm really glad she did.
Look, I'm worried about Will getting hurt in this story too. but Will isn't some naive person with no agency who's willing to settle for crumbs, like some people make him out to be. First and foremost, Mike is his friend, and he supports him as one.
besides, Mike and Maggie's problems didn't begin when Will came back into Mike's life. the gay porn incident makes that pretty clear, as does Mike and Maggie's attempt to have a baby. And Mike himself makes his feelings pretty clear in chapter 7.
I don't think anyone is taking advantage of anyone here. they're all adults making conscious decisions, whether those decisions turn out to be good or bad.
Will achieved his dreams. he's successful, he's been in a loving relationship, and he's loved. He has a career he's passionate about. He moved on after losing Mike as a friend. Of course he missed him and needed him, but he didn't spend all those years pining away for him, like people also claim. Will's life doesn't revolve around Mike.
••• and honestly, the author explains it much better than I ever could:
*** Hi! :) I typically want to let the character interpretations rest on their own because once a work is out in the world, readers are free to interpret regardless of author intention. However! I do want to share some of my insight because I’ve had a few comments regarding Will and Mike’s dynamic this chapter and in the past, and it may be helpful (or not lol) to hear my thoughts.
(Also, please, please ignore me if you want. I’m not even joking lol I'm honestly sort of anti- author opinion insertion because it literally doesn't matter what I think about how others interpret unless it's factually incorrect, and I think your feelings are fine and valid.)
But! here is my Opinion and a bit of the method to my madness:
First, Mike: I have intentionally set this story up to be one in which a man who is severely struggling in his current personal circumstances finds comfort, happiness, and a renewed understanding of life and possibility through the transformative powers of True Love and connection. So much of this story relies on the past as a foundation. Mike was in love with Will when they were younger and in college. He just didn’t recognize it as such because he didn’t understand that part of himself. Beginning to lose Will after college in the 90s and settling into the ways of conformity had such a profound effect on him that it destroyed his mental health. He hasn’t been happy with Maggie this whole time. He LOVES Maggie, and he cares for her and enjoys her company and existence in his life, but what he did in January was the result of an entire marriage and relationship of feeling like things don’t fit the way they should and assuming it’s normal.
The fic begins right at the moment in which Mike is starting to recognize the WHY of it all: he’s gay. And then reconnecting with Will immediately allows him to recontextualize his feelings and understand, “I was in love with him that whole time. I just didn’t understand myself enough to know it.” So I don’t think it’s a situation in which he was happy with his wife “five seconds ago” (I know you were being hyperbolic lol) and all of a sudden finds happiness in Will; he’s always found happiness in Will, and he wasn’t happy with his wife in the way he needed to be. Reconnecting just allowed that missing puzzle piece to settle into place for the first time in years.
Additionally, Mike being able to regain his sense of bravery is what the whole fic’s about. He says in Chapter 1 that succumbing to conformity has turned him into a coward. This fic is about how he grows out of that and is ultimately able to do something really hard because it’s right rather than easy. Conformity is the easiest thing in the world. Coming out to your wife and family, living authentically as yourself, and chasing a better future for yourself is so difficult. So far, he has chosen the easy thing. His character arc involves him learning that he can be brave like he was when he was a kid.
Now, Will: I think that ultimately, I have a very different view of him. He is way more successful than Mike, has his dream job, an incredible apartment, friends who adore and value him, has been in a long-term, loving relationship, and has been living authentically as an out gay man. I don’t at all see him as having been pining away this entire time (definitely 80s and first half of the 90s, as he admitted to) or having the lack of agency that an NPC-like character would have. He has effectively "moved on" in the sort of way a person can move on from their True Love, to whom they will always be ultimately tethered. Mike is in crisis at the beginning of this fic, and Will is living life and enjoying himself (minus the understandable loneliness and desire for a relationship). Mike is even jealous of him.
The support Will provides to Mike is out of pure love and care for someone who has been his best friend since the age of five and with whom he has a soul connection that still, after years, hasn’t been severed. The conversation subject balance has been unequal up to this point, but it’s because Will simply doesn’t currently need the degree of support Mike does. I really wanted Will to have gone off and thrived in life, and he has! While he is certainly still impacted by his trauma in some ways and absolutely needs support in a bunch of other ways (that he is receiving or WILL receive through his relationship with Mike -- see the upcoming chapter), he isn’t currently going through a life crisis. I think Will is happy to help -- not because he is prostrating himself before Mike and taking whatever he can get but because he cares about him. He's an awesome human being, and as a gay man who went through his own significant personal issues with regards to his identity, he wants to help. I do recognize the parallel with season 4, but I don't think that Will's kindness and care for Mike is a reflection of desperation but reflects how truly wonderful, supportive, and loving he is as a person. While I think at first, before Mike came out, some of the talk about Maggie probably stung (she's beautiful, he loves her, etc.) Will knows the situation now. He understands Mike. In his email a while back, he was even gently suggesting that he one day potentially find "shoes that are a better fit." I want to give Will more credit, here. He's thirty-one. He's lived a life. I don't think he's the same fifteen-year-old in the back of the pizza delivery van.
I also approached the Will “initiating” stuff as a way to show that Will has an active role in this situation. If Mike were the one initiating everything, it could feel like he’s taking advantage of Will, using him as a way to escape his miserable marriage. Instead, Will is choosing this. He wants Mike. That’s why it’s also important that Mike asks him what he thinks before answering, himself. Obviously, Mike wanted to do it again. He initiated the kiss and the sex. But it was important that Mike first knew that Will wanted to engage in that again.
It’s true that Mike hasn’t been saying things out loud to Will that he writes about to ID, but that's also something he is working on and ties into his thus-far inability to be fully authentic in himself. He’ll get there!
I think it’s ultimately important to recognize that both Mike and Will are voluntarily on the Hell Bus together. There are several comments about Mike hurting Will by not swiftly ending it with Maggie, and while that’s valid, I think I mostly just don’t want to build into Will as a person who lacks agency. It’s important to me that he’s an adult man who is also making a conscious choice here and doesn’t serve the purpose of just being the object that Mike uses to fulfill his desires outside his marriage. Mike and Will are choosing each other over their own morals, and that’s much more interesting to me. So while I think it’s fair and kind to be concerned about Will getting hurt, I do want to say that officially, he’s having a great time right now, even though he is feeling terribly morally conflicted. For him, most of the conflict will come with recognizing his own values and determining whether what he’s doing with Mike aligns with them and whether being with the man he has desired since puberty is worth compromising himself.
I do appreciate your thoughtful comment! Like I said, I love reading folks’ interpretations and I normally wouldn’t interfere, but I think it might be helpful for some to get an idea of what I’m thinking as I’m writing.
