WinterNights19
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cursing my name, wishing I stayed (look at how my tears ricochet) by mikeslawyer for afterglowsssss
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
19 Jun 2025
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Summary
"Tell me a secret?"
Mike asks, like he's come to do every day, late at night, when the darkness can swallow the guilt and the regret rushing out of their hearts, when their sides press together, the floor long forgotten, ever since the first Will, please, come up here.
Will is a terrible person.
I'm in love with you. I'm having visions. I'm in love with you. I'm not really having nightmares, Vecna is tempting me with a version of you that loves me back. I'm in love with you.
"I think my death is the easiest solution to everything. The Upside Down will die with me."
Will can hear Mike swallow next to him.
"Will, I would let the world burn down to ashes if it meant keeping you in it."
or
They're back in Hawkins, everything is the way it's always been, except - yeah, it's still the middle of an apocalypse, Will is having nosebleeds and Mike would sacrifice the world for his best friend but is still losing him.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 39,868
- Chapters:
- 7/7
- Comments:
- 777
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- 7,906
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- 1,712
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Bookmarked by WinterNights19
26 Feb 2026
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Summary
“Don’t you remember?” Lucas asked softly. “When we were kids? Like, sixth grade. We all said we’d be in each other’s weddings.” He chuckled. “And Mike called dibs on being my best man, and then you and Dustin started freaking out, because you were both gonna call dibs, so I said you could all do it. Remember? I need all my best men.”
Will puffed out his cheeks, running a hand through his hair. He already hadn’t lived up to that twice now. He’d missed Dustin’s wedding, he hadn’t even been invited to Mike’s (not that he’d expected to be.) This was his last shot.
And something about it seemed final. If he missed this, then that was it. He had no doubt they’d still try to reach out, but it wouldn’t be the same. He would’ve broken something he couldn’t fix.
He sighed.
“Okay.”
Ten years after the end of the world, Lucas and Max get married.
It's a mess.
Series
- Part 1 of To Hold Onto and Treasure
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- English
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- 95,452
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- 7/7
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Bookmarked by WinterNights19
24 Feb 2026
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Summary
"Carlton," Mike repeated, the word feeling like ash in his mouth.
"Yeah, Carlton," Dustin said, sounding genuinely surprised by Mike's tone. "I figured you’d be the first to know. I mean, you guys talk every night. I only heard it through the grapevine—Max told Lucas, Lucas told me. Even El seemed to know when I called her last. I thought you were probably the one who gave him the pep talk to actually go through with it."
Mike didn’t know. He didn't know anything. He’d talked to Will on Friday. He’d talked to Will today, just before calling Dustin. Will had mentioned the weather, his latest charcoal sketch, and the fact that Max had accidentally bleached one of his favorite sweaters. He had not mentioned a business major named Carlton.
The betrayal tasted like copper. He was the person Will usually told everything to first.
OR Mike Wheeler realizes that playing the "Good Best Friend" is a losing game, Will is tired of waiting for a sign, and the Party proves that they are world-class at covering up a tactical romantic explosion.
Basically: cheating Byler burger with a side of mutual pining fries and enabler friends soda.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 18,990
- Chapters:
- 1/1
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- 130
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- 1,628
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- 395
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- 18,436
Bookmarked by WinterNights19
23 Feb 2026
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Summary
“Mike?” he questioned, the name that had lingered in his mind for years, finally on his lips again.
Max let out a small breathy laugh, “well, yeah. It’s Mike.”Will nodded despite his confusion, and once the realisation hit, the confusion turned to hurt.
“You guys still talk?” he asked, voice strained.Lucas looked at Max, then back at Will. As if he’s shocked to hear the question.
“You don’t?” They said in unison again.“No. We don’t.”
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Mike and Will haven’t spoken since Will left for New York in 1989.
In 1995, during one of their visits from Hawkins, Max and Lucas ask Will to be a groomsman at their wedding. When Max mentions that Mike will be a groomsman too, it hits him like a sucker punch.
Mike is still friends with the whole Party, just not him.
Now he has to stand beside him at the altar. Pretend everything is normal. Pretend this is how it was meant to be for them.
He certainly didn’t expect that the first time he would meet Mike’s eyes in five years would be to the sound of Whoomp! (There It Is).
Bookmarked by WinterNights19
22 Feb 2026
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Summary
November 6th, 1987.
During the final battle against the Mind Flayer, an essential part of their plan that the Party never considered goes horribly wrong. And with his suddenly–attractive best friend's life on the line and the danger suddenly all too close, Mike Wheeler must face a very sudden—and very alarming—question:
Could he really be in love with Will Byers?
William Byers has all but given up on his crush for Mike Wheeler, even if he knows he'll always be in love with him. But when all hell breaks loose, and their plan starts to go off the rails, Will finds himself with no other choice but to ask himself the one thing he swore he'd never even consider:
Could Mike Wheeler really love him back?
~~~
Aka, how the Season 5 finale should've gone. Picks up in the middle of the finale, and continues through the Epilogue!
Bookmarked by WinterNights19
19 Feb 2026