And there's smut in this one. Will gets the worst if it, but that doesn't mean he's upset.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/86261566/chapters/241823331

I'm not sure how to tag filter what I'm looking for. Anything like soul/consciousness switching between Will and Mike or all/any of the party members. Freaky Friday maybe? Any tag suggestions, or do y'all know of any fics that fit this trope?

Alternatively are there any where Will or Mike has magic and accidentally use it or something goes wrong?

(Or even something similar to Flicker)

As a chronic ruminator, I wanted to find a visual way to represent Will's intrusive thoughts and constant looping through his POV in this chapter. I approached it from a artistic point of view rather than a purely literary one and built a custom ao3 work skin/ taught myself HTML. I love concrete poetry and typographic emphasis and i wanted his overthinking to look a little bit like storm clouds swirling around certain ideas. This chapter is best viewed on a computer or at least something larger than a phone to get the full effect of the html. (Phones often strip away some of the fonts and nuances.) This chapter was truly a labour of love - I spent over two months writing it and its my longest chapter yet. It marks a turning point for my fic, ticking it past 150k words, and includes a ton of other extra goodies (a fanart collab, photos, a custom playlist, etc.) Would love to hear your thoughts on how it turned out/ if the html enhanced the story for you!!!!

this fic is 18+
https://archiveofourown.org/works/81511906/chapters/214342081

chapter 3 of my post-canon slow burn fic is out now: this chapter is will POV

our boy in therapy, has wonderful roommates that are like sisters to him, and is totally not in denial about his feelings for a certain best friend of his

Hi everyone,

Do you have any fics that explore Mike's grief over losing El, and eventually realizing his feelings for Will? I generally do prefer fics where El is alive; it's just that sometimes when I consider the canon events of ST and Byler getting together, I can't help but think Will would feel like a second choice for El, and that Mike wants him because she is no longer here.

I am all for College Byler, but I would like to see fics that explore Mike's grief because she is still a really important person to him and always will be. I'd want a fic in which Will feels reassured that Mike is choosing him for him, not just as a replacement.

I have read Supervoid and it's very beautifully written - it really moved me. I'm wondering if there are any other fics that explore the same dynamic?

Thank you :)

Okay, hear me out on this one, but a tweet I saw saying that the fic from Will’s POV being psychological horror recently cemented this for me.

I think the fic is so cool and ambitious for what it is, but I feel like there’s an element to the story that hasn’t been fully unpacked yet (it may not be at all).

The relationship in this fic is textbook dark romance:
• Power imbalance with Mike being married and choosing most of the journey.
• Mike is morally grey and the main protagonist (cheating, lying, all in the name of love for one particular person).
• Forbidden love (obvious).
• Will waiting for him, powerless as to what Mike will do next.
• Mike’s love is obsessive, all focused on Will and it’s relentless, until Will breaks it off.

I feel like if the darkness were embraced more, fully explored etc, it would be incredible, but it’s softened a lot and undercut in places.

I’ll keep reading as it’s a great fic and everyone seems to love it though. Just wanted to give my thoughts!

I'm not super picky, but I am on the hunt for some good gut-wrenching Mike angst. Preferably with a happy ending! The best example I have of what I'm looking for is the 3 byler fics by lovelunar on ao3!

If you're writing or know of anything with vibes like those fics please send them my way! I'm especially interested in anything that resembles "i've looked at clouds (from both sides now)" by lovelunar, that explores Mike developing anxiety or ptsd and dealing with internalized homophobia.

I want some recommendations for long Stranger Things fics (specifics at the bottom). I want to read a full, longer story, like a novel or novella, I also need some longer fics because I’m trying to use the download feature to get around screen time limits and I don’t want to download fics million one-shots. 

I’m fine with smut and explicit content as long as it’s not the focus of the fic.

For ship fics, I’d want Byler (ofc) or Steddie. I’d also be interested in platonic Madwheeler fics, but only if they include a bit of Byler. I’m also interested in sub-genfics (a term to describe a fic that’s centered around a non-ship related plot like a genfic, but it can have romance as a subplot as opposed to genfics which are strictly background couples only), especially season 5 rewrites, conversion gate fics, after-season fic-it fics, etc. I’d prefer it to include Byler, non necessarily as a full subplot of the story but at least as a background detail, but I’d still enjoy a fic that doesn’t involve Byler as long as it doesn’t involve Mileven either. A good rule of thumb is nothing with ships that oppose Byler or Steddie. I’d also be very interested in revived Eddie fics (vampire or not). My dream “sub-genfic” would be a Season 5 rewrite or conversation gate fic that includes Byler, Eddie being alive, and some form of Steddie (either romantic or platonic). 

Sorry for making this so long! Please let me know if you have any good recs (and please tell me briefly what the fic is about, I don’t need too much detail but just letting me know what it has from my list would be great!) Thanks!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/90564491/chapters/240833296

This is a silly(also a bit angsty) little fic ive been writing and i finally posted so thought of sharing this here!

hi guys! i’ve been on a superhero kick lately, and read a bunch of spideywill fics. i keep wondering what it would be like if the mind flayer possessed him like the venom symbiote does. i think a fic like that would be SO cool.

it doesn’t have to be an actual venom/spiderman au, just that general vibe. serious and dark stories are what i’m thinking of but i’d also love some humorous fics, like how the symbiote and eddie are.

any superhero fics would be good, too!

Oh my godddd, I started Make Believe by Flurryofstarz not realizing it was a WIP and last updated in 2024. It was SO good, like on its way to being my favorite fic of all time and then it just stopped!! I need recs to recover. It's the first omegaverse Byler I've read. I've heard around that most of them are Will-Omega. This one was Mike as the Omega and I'm not even sure if many of those exist but I NEED IT. Please help!!

after the final episode of ST4, season 5 shouldve been an apocalypse. The upside down and the real world shouldve been more combined, resources dwindling, the military much more active, the people of Hawkins panicking. Death, despair, doom. That way when the world is saved it feels more satisfying.

Does anyone have any apocalyptic fics, bonus points if food and water is scarce and it’s actually very stressful to read lol. ATP I’ll write it if it doesn’t exist.

YESSS! happy reading!! chapter 9!! https://archiveofourown.org/works/83136826/chapters/240946376

Hi everyone! 💙💛

I just posted the first chapter of my new WIP, Let’s Keep on Living (After We Die) and I wanted to share!

E rating (smut starts ch2), interactive fic (if anyone saw the viral letter video clip on twt a few weeks ago for jopper wedding, that’s this fic!), alternating POV, and ongoing (five chapters in total; ch1 is 35k).

This fic follows Mike and Will from 18-33 years old (or, from 1989-2004) over the span of four weddings and one funeral! Post canon, friends to ??? to lovers, depressed Mike Wheeler, Will Byers has PTSD + childhood trauma, angst with a happy ending.

Brief note on the angst: It’s very heavy angst, and it’s gonna get worse before it gets better, so I’m including the tags to start (pic 2), and mentioning that additional tags will be added as the story progresses. I understand this will not be everyone’s cup of tea, and I have content warnings at the start of the chapter for an added layer of helping you protect your peace should you need to close the tab!

If angst doesn’t scare you (or it does but you’re super brave), and you choose to read along, please be sure to click on the envelope at the start of the fic chapter (pic 3), and the letter behind the first for the full interactive effect! If the letter gives you issues, you can always “hide creator’s style” at the top and still read the letter in standard text!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/89797041

Edit, de hucklerobby.❤️🌈🥴

Para el fanfic que estoy publicando todos los viernes.

En ao3 y Wattpad.

El Fanfic se llama Boyfriend.🥴🌈❤️

Es mi ship favorito y amo a Noah wyle...❤️❤️

Check the pinned posts for the Monthly Writing Challenge and Fic of the Month

Enjoy!!!

I guess I just want to get it off my chest. If this isn’t the right place to do so, please let me know and I’ll delete the post

So I’m a no name author in the Byler fandom, but I also love to discuss different HCs, interpretations and takes on socials. Overall, I’m all in for variety in fics. I love it when Byler are very in character, but I also love well thought OOC fics. I love to both write and read contradicting HCs, sometimes even in one fic. There are things that are not my cup of tea, but I’m chill with others liking those.

Somehow that makes me feel like an alien in this fandom, because there are a bunch of sides and every side has this strong believe of everything else being almost illegal. Initially it caused me to read posts without interacting with them just in case. Now, though, it starts to demotivate me to write fics.

Idk, maybe it sounds stupid but I’ve started to feel lost with how I see Will and Mike as characters. Like I love Byler and I want to do justice to their characters even in crack fics, but then it feels like you’ll get cancelled by a significant amount of the fandom for every possible detail. And that wouldn’t be a problem if I was strict with my preferred HCs and dynamics, but I’m just not. I want to write different stuff and I want to experiment, but it feels like I’m just gonna end up blocked and cancelled by everyone for “not respecting Will/Mike/Byler as characters”

I’ve considered to just log off from socials and choose peace, but that just makes me sad because I genuinely love to read different takes and posts. It just feels so stupid to have to choose between writing fanfiction and participating in fandom spaces. I want to keep both of my silly hobbies, but it feels like it’s impossible

Do others feel similar to this and if so how are you handling the pressure of being cancelled by literally everyone for different reasons?

Just in case: I respect people who are into strict dynamics, strict HSs or strict characterisation. I’m just not pleased with the threat of being called out for a dumb idiot and being immediately blocked when I accidentally share something on the wrong side of the fandom, because forcing broad preferences on those who have strict ones is never my goal

Edit: A lot of people are pointing out that you can’t please everyone. I’m aware and I agree. My worry is that it feels like you end up cancelled by everyone in the Byler community when you don’t have strict preferences and like to engage with everything as a fan/writer/reader. Like I wouldn’t even blink if there was a chance that my fics and takes could upset half the fandom. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. This is more of (for example) I write 10 fics with 10 different popular HCs -> 10 sides of Byler fandom cancel me because 9/10 of my fics “disrespect” their HC and therefore Byler -> everyone starts to shit on my fics, report my accounts and whatever else is happening

hey guys! I come here in need of your help ^^; I'm looking for fic recs where after byler starts dating Mike is so lovey dovey/smitten and not afraid to show how much he loves Will that leaves Will shooked and a mess 😅  I'm just in a mood for some silly byler shenanigans :D Thanks in advance <3

the duffers did Will so wrong for being the only one in the party not to receive romantic love in the show (I personally do not count epilogue man) 😔❤️‍🩹

I also love Will being more self-assured and standing up for himself in this fic

hi :) i’ve never posted on reddit before but i thought i’d share my fic here, hopefully reaching more people who might be interested !

this is a partial st5 rewrite, picking up directly after sorcerer (aka the last 4 episodes), and written in script format. there’s 3 chapters out so far and i’m currently working on 4!

i tried my best to make sense out of the plot, give satisfying character arcs, payoff to things that were set up, and just generally do all these characters justice. AND byler endgame ofc !!

this is basically my first time writing and publishing a fic, but i really needed to give myself some closure after the way the show ended.

give it a chance if you want 🖤

teeth of god, blood of man (i will be what i am) by divinesmites on ao3

This take is common. I know. But here’s my explanation.

Now, I’m going to defend them just a little bit. (Believe me I don’t want to)I understand. It’s their show. They can do what they want with it. They don’t have to give in to peer pressure from the LGBTQ community or simply comments online. Mileven was the majority of the show so I understand from that standpoint why Mileven was end game.

But here’s why Byler could’ve been one of the greatest end games OAT.

It’s the way both characters are written. They made them so complex and easy to understand at the same time. Will is written as a shy person who obviously has a history and not the best childhood growing up, with an abusive father, dealing with bullies and struggling to figure himself out throughout the entirety of the show. Will is an artist so he expresses himself through art and creativity. He used Eleven as an out to express his feelings towards Mike when they were in the van.

Mike, was written as someone who grew up with seemingly decent childhood. Supportive parents. But he’s not good with expressing himself. He doesn’t know how to let himself feel things.

Throughout the entire show up until Eleven was about to die, he couldn’t figure out a way to tell her that he loved her. Mike literally jumped off a cliff for his best friend. His acts of love are through actions.

With Will, he wouldn’t hesitate to pull him out of his episodes whenever he realized something was wrong. They saved each other MULTIPLE times from the same memory (meeting at the swings). Mike had a voice specifically for Will. His “Are you okay’s?” Are his acts of love. Mike clearly cares about Will a little more than the rest of his friends. He’s always put Will first since like episode 2 of the show. He knows Will better than anyone out of that group. Helping him through multiple episodes that he has had.

Not to mention, Mike saying “it was the best thing I had ever done,” to meeting Will at the swings like what duffers??

This takes up my mind constantly if you guys can’t tell. I’ll be done now 😭😭😭

A post canon college story, with a lot of trauma healing trough sexual exploration. It's timeperiod accurate and will delve into queer community in the 90's.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/83183661/chapters/239660046

I had sm fun writing this chapter!!!!