JayRican3000
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Shake my earth, suck the air out, burn me down. by finncandrownmeandillsaythnx
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
15 Feb 2026
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Summary
It’s February 14th. Will has a thoughtful, hand-painted gift. Mike has a thesis deadline, a caffeine addiction, and a single can of chickpeas.
Facing the prospect of being the Worst Boyfriend in History, Mike decides there is only one viable option to keep Will from handing over that present: Distract him. Aggressively.
(Or: Mike invents a fake holiday to cover his tracks, things get messy in the kitchen, and eventually, the calendar stops mattering.)
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Bookmarked by JayRican3000
16 Feb 2026
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"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.
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Bookmarked by JayRican3000
16 Feb 2026
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In the midst of the frantic, rhythmic motion, a small shift in the air, pulled Will from the blinding focus of sensation. His head lolled back against the pillows, his eyes, hazy and dilated, snapping open.
That’s when he saw her. Vanessa. Standing in the sliver of the doorway.
He didn't gasp. He didn't stop Mike, didn't even slow the relentless, punishing rhythm. There was no room for surprise, not now, not after all this time. He just stared at her with the quiet, triumphant knowledge that had settled deep within him years ago. It was a look of profound, quiet acknowledgement—a confirmation of the ending he had always known was their inevitable destination.
In that gaze, Will was telling her that her story with Mike was over, that he had merely held the place for him until the time was right.
The problem with Mike Wheeler was not that he didn't know how to exist in halves, but that he refused to let Will Byers exist without him. In 1991, Will Byers is an art student at NYU, living for the 10:00 PM calls and the thick, ink-stained manuscripts Mike sends from Bloomington. He has resigned himself to being the moon to Mike’s sun.
Bookmarked by JayRican3000
13 Feb 2026
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The night of graduation after Mike's campaign, the party goes to Stacy's to celebrate. With liquid courage and buried feelings rising to the surface, Mike and Will finally cross the line and admit how they feel about each other. But when summer comes to an end and Will refuses to be kept a secret, the boys go their separate ways.
Years later, Will runs into Mike at a gay club in New York, forcing them to confront feelings neither of them truly left behind. Will has already tried to move on, but Mike is determined to win him back despite the hurt he caused.
There's just one problem: Will has a boyfriend.
or:
In which Mike and Will finally kiss and have to face their feelings. Mike struggles with internalized homophobia while Will struggles with being kept a secret, and the two split up at the end of the summer. Years later, they meet again, and they can't fight the want. Will has a boyfriend now—Mike doesn't care.
Bookmarked by JayRican3000
10 Feb 2026
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Another fucking dream about Will.
Mike presses the heels of his hands into his eyes until he sees stars.
Three years.
Three goddamn years since graduation, since separate colleges, since everything changed and nothing changed at all.
And still—every night—his traitor brain keeps building Will out of memory and longing until the wanting feels more solid than reality.
He lets his hands fall.
Stares at the ceiling.
Tries to breathe.
Fails.
Bookmarked by JayRican3000
10 Feb 2026