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The Byers officially move in two days after he and El break up.
And maybe, historically, Mike is not actually very good at friends.
(He is so, so, so fucked.)
or; vignettes from those 18 months in the Wheeler household (otherwise known as Mike What The Fuck Did You Do Gate)
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
11 Jan 2026
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something so magic about you (don't you agree?) by teacats
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
03 Dec 2025
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Now, in the silent aftermath of the massacre, it’s already hard to believe that Will did what he just did. He can’t imagine that anything about this development is good news to Joyce, who has been fighting tooth and nail to keep Will uninvolved since they were thirteen years old. No such luck. The Upside Down clings to Will like a moth drawn to a light, tugging and lapping at his heels with whispers of the impossible. Born to be steeped in magic. Mike could have warned Joyce years ago. Will Byers isn’t the kind of person that can ever be fully walked away from.
[or, following the events at the MAC-Z, Mike and Will have some things to discuss.]
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
11 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
They really felt like best friends here (and more), loved it
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something about you (it's like an addiction). by lixsun
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
13 Dec 2025
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The juice container nearly slips from Mike’s hands the moment the truth hits him hard and cold, like a bucket of ice straight to the spine, the hairs on the back of his neck rising unpleasantly. He’s remembering Will.
Not the kitchen Will, not the real-life Will in front of him, but the Will from his dream. Which means it wasn’t an actual nightmare. Not even close.
“Are you okay?” Will asks softly, suddenly right beside him at the fridge.
or; Mike wakes up from a dream he can’t fully remember. At first it feels like a nightmare, but soon hands, whispers, and kisses start to flicker through his mind and suddenly, Mike realizes he might be completely, hopelessly into his best friend Will.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
10 Jan 2026
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In a Normal Life, I Want To by hurricanelilies (porridgemilk)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
11 Dec 2025
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Sometimes, even this close, always in the same space, Mike feels like there’s a want inside him that aches so much, like Will is somehow going to drift away if he doesn’t reach out and latch onto him. He’s clingy, he’s gross, and the world has already ended and somehow pieced itself back together.
Maybe Mike deserves to be clingy and gross and a little, a lot, in love.
--
Or, Mike and Will have their first kiss during the end of the world. Kissing a second time, when everything is finally back to normal, takes a lot more courage.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
10 Jan 2026
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Summary
Mike, Will, and El, as Will's powers, as well as he and Mike's relationship, develop post-"Sorcerer"
- Words:
- 12,949
- Works:
- 3
- Bookmarks:
- 7
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
10 Jan 2026
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“I’m about to do something really shitty,” Will said. “But I think we might die today. And I guess I’d rather live with you hating me than die without you knowing exactly what I am.”
Or, Mike Wheeler gets kissed, lives, and tries his hand at a happy ending.
Series
- Part 1 of Come On, Pilgrim
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
10 Jan 2026
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Summary
During the mac-z battle against the demogorgons and Vecna, Will Byers unlocks powers, saving three people close to him, one of which is Mike Wheeler.
He barely has time to celebrate, because the one power he still didn't unlock is to get over Mike, who has been acting a little bit too much like Will, and Will is in love with Mike, so what does he do with that information?
He ignores it, until he can't.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
10 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
“Close your eyes.” Mike demanded.
“Close my eyes? Why would I–”
“Please.”
That was all Will needed to hear. Thoroughly confused, eyebrows furrowed and biting his lip, he sighed and closed his eyes. It didn’t really change a lot, since it was dark anyway. But still, losing Mike from his vision was never a pleasant experience.
“Are they closed?” Mike murmured, voice suddenly sounding a lot closer than Will remembered. He could stop himself from flinching just in time. “Y– yeah.” He stuttered, not being able to hide that he was caught off guard. “What are you–”
Will was interrupted by a pair of hands touching the sides of his head. His breath caught in his throat, or maybe it was his heart escaping from his ribcage. Either way, he could not breathe. A gentle stroke against his cheekbone and fingers burying themselves in his hair sent Will into overdrive. Reflexively, he wanted to rip himself away from Mike’s grip. That’s how he always survived, coped.
But he was frozen in place. There was no way Mike couldn’t feel how hot his face was. Especially since his own fingers were cooling against his skin, now slightly brushing away his fringe hiding his forehead.
Will wanted to open his eyes. He needed to see how Mike was looking at him, desperate to know what this was supposed to mean. But he didn’t want to betray his trust.
There was no time left to decide anyway, because one second Will had never thought he’d ever have Mike’s lips anywhere near his skin, and the next he knew exactly how they felt.
It was a tender touch on his forehead. Mike’s lips are soft, he found out that night.
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“It was the hottest thing I think I've ever seen,” Mike says, and when Will whips his head over, he’s nodding sagely. Like this is extremely important information.
“What,” Will chokes.
For a moment, Mike just keeps nodding. Lucas calls Almost ready! over the din of panic and Will tries to steady his breathing. He doesn’t know how he’d ended up being the one they trust with the stitches, but he gets their reasoning. Steady artists hands, they’d all said, even Mike, wincing while draining half the bottle. Then: I trust you.
“It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” Mike repeats, like Will simply hadn’t heard him. “When you, like,” Mike dramatically wipes his nose with his good arm, eyes flashing dark. He misses, a little, and Will grabs his hand to bring it gently back down, but he gets the picture.
OR
Mike is severely injured in the Upside Down. He admits some things to Will, drunk out of his mind. They talk about it.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
10 Jan 2026
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You took me by the hand (today was a fairytale) by psychotic_fangirl369
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
06 Dec 2025
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Mike hadn’t meant to hold Will’s hand. It was an accident. Honest.
A stupid one. A completely innocent, absolutely-not-premeditated accident. At least… mostly.
Because sure, Mike thought about it. A lot. More than a normal person should probably think about their best friend’s hands. He was fully aware it was weird. Mildly concerning. Possibly diagnosable.
But he couldn’t help it.
💕💕💕💕
Mike Wheeler accidentally starts holding Will Byers’ hand. Then it stops being an accident.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
10 Jan 2026
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Summary
Will takes a moment, hands clenched into fists at his sides, to rest his head against the grain of the wood and close his eyes. Here, with the solid weight of the door to ground him, he evaluates the facts: the war is over, Vecna dead and gone for good this time. Max is awake, reunited with Lucas and El at last, who both rushed to return to their places at her bedside the moment they knew. The rest of his family is upstairs, the rest of his friends alongside them, alive and mostly well and rejoicing in the fact that a years-long nightmare has finally reached its conclusion. It’s a night for togetherness, for celebrating hard-earned victories, for finally looking ahead instead of back over their shoulders.
It’s also a night where Will almost killed Mike.
In the midst of their final stand against Vecna, a possessed Will nearly strangles Mike to death. In the basement bathroom of the Wheeler's house after their victory, Mike and Will confront the aftermath.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
09 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
“…Okay,” he agrees.
“Cool,” Mike says, shoulders relaxing – he clearly expected Will to put up more of a fight. “Thank you,” he adds, a little stilted, and then– “I’ll go grab the first aid kit.” Despite his words, Mike hesitates for a moment, brow furrowing again as he looks at Will, still holding his face in his hands. Will recognizes that look, has seen it a million and one times: pure determination, that Mike-branded conviction when he sets his mind to something. Will isn’t sure what, exactly, Mike has set his mind to, until it becomes very apparent what exactly Mike has set his mind to, because suddenly he’s darting forward and his lips are meeting Will’s uninjured cheek in a gentle, close-mouthed kiss. “Be right back.”
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Summary
Mike Wheeler spends years trying to be “normal.”
Normal son, normal friend, normal boyfriend, normal boy.But growing up with Will Byers — through disappearances, monsters, trauma, high school, and finally college — makes “normal” feel less and less like something he actually wants.
This is the long, messy, painfully slow journey of Mike figuring himself out, losing himself, finding himself again, and realizing that the only thing that ever made sense — the only thing that ever felt right — was Will.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 149,769
- Chapters:
- 31/31
- Comments:
- 583
- Kudos:
- 974
- Bookmarks:
- 239
- Hits:
- 22,734
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
09 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Bookmarking this at chapter 18 because they're in college now and being in Mike's head for 70,000 words was doing a number on me. This was painfully glacial but like... to the point to where now I'm just impatient and pissed at Mike and can tell that its going to be miserable for ages yet and theres a whole half a fic left. But the alternative season 5 at the start was too good not to bookmark
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Actually sike, I read it all and it was all amazing and worth the pain for their end point. It got way less painful after chapter 18. Softer
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He knows that’s what they will think — that it's shock. That it’s about Max, about the news, about everything they’ve just been through.
But it isn’t.
He shakes his head. His voice comes out hoarse.
“No,” he says. “It’s not that. We can’t do that to you, Will. That thing El did with Max… it’s not— it’s not an option.”Will freezes, his hand still resting on Mike’s shoulder. For a moment he doesn’t seem to understand, and then it hits him — Mike can see it in his face: the confusion fading away, turning into something else. Recognition. And then— tenderness?
Will’s expression is soft, his lips parting like he wants to say something but nothing comes out. He nods instead. The generator hums again, a low electric heartbeat filling the silence. El coughs weakly from across the room. Hopper murmurs to her, not looking their way anymore.
And Mike just stands there, dizzy and cold, the taste of salt still on his tongue.
Outside, far off, the sirens start again — another alert, another breach. The sound rolls through the night, fading in and out with the wind.
Mike stays where he is, the echo of it vibrating through the metal walls, through his bones.
Max is alive.
And he knows, with a certainty that terrifies him, that if saving Will means losing him like that — he’ll burn everything down before he lets that happen
---
His brain goes completely blank. His hands freeze, hanging uselessly at his sides, like he has no idea where arms usually go.
Will doesn’t notice. He goes on — something about the frame, about the brass plate — but Mike hears none of it over the violent ringing in his ears.
Because Will—
Will is still talking into his neck, every brush of his lips warm and a little too wet, sending something sharp and electric down Mike’s spine, straight into his crotch. And the way Will breathed out his name against his skin — soft, accidental, dangerously intimate — hits Mike so hard his stomach flips, heat and despair tangling so violently he can’t tell where one ends and the other begins.
It’s like his body just realized it’s been starving for this without telling him first.
Like some buried wire finally sparked — wrong place, wrong moment, wrong person — and now everything inside him is misfiring in one horrifying, perfect burst.
Then Will’s hands pull him even closer, and their hips press. Mike’s dick twitches. His stomach lurches.
His whole body ignites — only to break into cold sweat a heartbeat later.
Fuck—
He jerks back. Too fast. Too desperate.
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Summary
Until this moment, Mike hadn’t realized that he was falling for Will Byers. He had known he was on the mountain; could see the snow, could feel the ground rumble beneath his feet; but he still hadn’t been expecting it, the avalanche, a furious white blinding all he could see.
Or, like the rest of us, Mike is making some discoveries after Season 5, Episode 4.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
08 Jan 2026
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Summary
“Well, Mike seems to think it matters,” Robin mutters. “You should see how he’s staring at us. At you.”
Will shouldn’t look. He really shouldn’t. It’ll only make things worse. But the second she says it, his body moves without asking him first.
He turns toward where he saw Mike last.
El’s still talking, animated, but Mike’s eyes aren’t on her at all. They’re locked on him. Dark, unreadable, jaw clenched. It sends something white-hot and dizzying through Will’s chest.
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Every time Mike and El break up, Mike acts like him and Will are dating, and Will doesn't know how much longer his heart can handle it.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
08 Jan 2026
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Mike has a nightmare and asks Will to tell him a secret, a nice one, to keep his mind off it.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 39,683
- Chapters:
- 26/26
- Comments:
- 363
- Kudos:
- 1,178
- Bookmarks:
- 169
- Hits:
- 18,129
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
08 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
“What…” Will swallows the lump in his throat. “What is it that you…want from…me?”
(I can’t be reading this wrong. Please, Mike, tell me what you want.)
What Will wants has always been there, and it’s burning his throat, scorching his skin with shame. It’s under his nails and on his tongue and in his heart.
What Will wants has been tearing him apart his whole life, and he just needs Mike to tell him he wants it to.
“I…” Mike licks his lips. “I…I want to…to kiss you,” he admits quietly, but he doesn’t need to be loud, all that matters is that he said it. “That’s my secret.”
Will’s heart stops.
Mike wants to kiss him.
Mike Wheeler wants to kiss him.
Mike Wheeler wants to kiss him, and he’s looking at Will like he’s the center of the universe, like he’s the sun.
And this…this has to be a dream. It…it can’t be real life, it can’t be. So there’s only one way to test if it is, so Will throws all caution to the wind.
“And I want you to,” he whispers back. “That’s...my secret, okay?"
Then, like Will’s “okay” is Mike’s trained release word, his lips are crashing into Will’s.
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Won’t You Ever Know (I’m In Love With You)? by AttentionDealer (Nearell)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
26 Nov 2025
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Summary
“Guys, Mike’s not like me, he just can’t name characters.” They both give him a pointed look, clearly not believing a word. “I’m serious, every character is a reference to someone we know.”
“Are they now?” Dustin raises an eyebrow at him.
“Yes!” Will is perhaps a bit exasperated, “Stephen and Jay are clearly Steve and Robin, and James is Hopper,” at the blank look they give him, he clarifies, “his first name is Jim.”
This somehow only makes Lucas seem more unimpressed, “okay, but you do see how that’s more suspicious right?”
“What? That Mike can’t come up with names?”
“No,” Lucas shakes his head and clasps Will in the shoulder, “that the first name Mike thought to cannibalize when coming up with a boyfriend for you was his own”.The party grows closer after Will moves in with the Wheelers, picking up D&D again. It all goes well until Mike introduces a new character, Sir. Gabriel Whepler, whose sole purpose seems to be flirting with Will.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 25,860
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Comments:
- 146
- Kudos:
- 1,748
- Bookmarks:
- 501
- Hits:
- 19,999
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
08 Jan 2026
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In a desperate, last-ditch flail of an effort to salvage the situation, Mike grabbed Will’s arm.
The silence veered from heavy to charged. All of Mike’s attention surged into his hand. He felt like the entirety of his consciousness was suddenly located in the place where his skin touched Will’s.
What the fuck, thought Mike for the second time in ten minutes.
Or,
After first using his powers, Will falls unconscious—and stays that way. Refusing to leave Will's side, Mike reflects on the last year and a half while he waits for Will to wake up.aka mikewhatthefuckdidyoudogate. Canon compliant through S5 Vol 1.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 35,841
- Chapters:
- 10/10
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 423
- Kudos:
- 1,278
- Bookmarks:
- 352
- Hits:
- 16,493
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
07 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Omg this was amazinngggg. So fuckin good
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To steady himself, Mike took a hold of Will’s upper arm. Terrible idea. They both stared at Mike’s hand.
“Mike,” said Will. It wasn’t a question anymore.
Will was so close, and Mike wanted—
He wanted—
The thing almost had him in its clutches. It clawed its way up his throat. This had happened before, at that party, when they were in the lake. Only Mike was sober this time. He doubted he’d ever been more alert in his life.
And he couldn’t face this thing without alcohol to sand down the sharp edges. He was fucking terrified. Not safe, chanted his pounding heart. Not safe, not safe, not safe. Which didn’t make sense, because Will was the concept of safety itself, but the thing wasn’t Will. It had to do with Will—though Mike was occasionally slow on the uptake, he wasn’t that much of an idiot—but it wasn’t Will.
Will wasn’t the problem. The problem lived inside of Mike.
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He pulls on that thread and finds that actually, he wants to do more than kiss Will. A lot more. Very badly.
Mike wants to kiss Will. (He wants to have sex with Will?) (He wants to have sex with Will.) (He wants to have sex with Will!)
And he wants to be with Will for the rest of his life.
He also wants to crawl inside Will and hide from all of this, preferably forever.
It takes less than an hour for Mike to think his way into a conclusion. He’s left sweat-drenched and shivering, with a full-on migraine. Worst of all, he feels like an open wound, like all of a sudden, his heart is living outside of his body.
His heart is lying across from him, on El’s bed.
Mike remembers, earlier that night, when the medics pulled Will out of his sight. He felt like he forgot to do something important, but he hadn’t known what that important thing was.
He knows now. He forgot to tell Will Byers that he’s in love with him.
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Will angles his head until their noses are touching. All the blood cascades from Mike’s brain. His skull feels like it’s full of helium. Will’s breath skates along the fine hairs above Mike’s lip and it might be the most erotic thing Mike has ever experienced. It seems impossible that he ever believed he wasn’t completely gone for this boy.
“What if this sucks?” whispers Will. “The… kissing. And all the rest. What if we hate it? You’re going to have to take back everything you just said.”
“I’m not concerned about that,” says Mike, leaning in.
“Why not?”
“Just a hunch,” says Mike against Will’s lips, and then he’s kissing him in earnest.
Mike knows immediately that he was right not to worry. Kissing Will is like nothing else. The zing of it courses through his body. He hasn’t slept in two days, but he’s so awake. Will’s hand flies back to his jaw, encouraging him to tilt his head just so, and the kiss topples from sweet and electric into intense and a little bit desperate. Will’s lips slide against his, and Mike didn’t think it was possible to yearn for someone when you already have them, and yet…
He backs Will into the tunnel wall and presses their bodies flush together. It’s not close enough. He wants to embed himself into Will. He wants Will to zip into him and wear him around. Which, okay, that’s not a normal want—it is in fact a very weird want—but Mike cannot be held responsible for his thoughts, not when Will is biting into his lower lip then soothing it with his tongue.
One of Mike’s hands digs through Will’s layers of clothing until he can slide up Will’s bare back, the other gripping a hip to hold him in place. Will, for his part, seems to be right where he wants to be. His fingers are playing with the short hairs on the back of Mike’s neck, and his other hand is splayed across Mike’s clavicle and his heart, and he’s licking into Mike’s mouth, because Will has a tongue, and Mike feels like he might actually die. He hopes he doesn’t, mostly because that would mean he’d have to stop kissing Will.
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Summary
Approximately four hours ago, Will had snapped, fear and anger clouding his mind when he saw the people he loved in danger. Approximately four hours ago, Will had let the darkness in him seep out for all to see, obliterating the monsters who threatened to hurt his friends. To hurt Mike.
Approximately four hours ago, Will had nearly lost him. He hadn’t quite come to terms with that yet.
AKA Mike being a nerd while Will spirals and overthinks things for over 6000 words straight
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
07 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Will’s head swam for a moment at the sudden movement, not to mention the feeling of Mike’s hands holding his. “Mike, what—”
“Will the Wise,” Mike interjected, still holding his hands. Will swallowed whatever he had wanted to say, eyes widening. In Mike’s eyes, he could see the reflections of the Squawk’s warm lighting, creating little fires that flickered against his irises. He held his breath, unsure what he was meant to do.
He just about lost it when Mike sank down to rest on one knee, hands still cradling his as he looked up at him. Will’s heart was practically hammering out of his chest.
“I, Mike the Brave, pledge myself to you. I vow to stand by your side, to lend you my sword, and to never make you face a fight alone. I vow to catch you when you fall and to shield you from harm in any way I can. I vow to bring you courage.”
Mike peered up at him through his eyelashes, a warm smile on his face. Will’s brain was short circuiting.
Sometimes at the Squawk, when a signal comes in too strong, it overloads the whole system.
“This is the oath that binds me,” Mike finished, his voice barely more than a whisper. And, like it was an afterthought, he pressed his lips to Will’s hands.
The kiss was chaste, soft but firm. Will couldn’t remember how to breathe. He was fairly certain that he’d be less flustered if Mike had just kissed him on the mouth. He knew his face was likely bright red, warmth coursing through his cheeks. This is fine, this is normal, he tried to remind himself. This is just Mike. Stupid, chivalrous, beautiful Mike
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Summary
“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.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
07 Jan 2026
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He’d stared at Will without really seeing him, so caught up in his own thoughts—a constant, monotonous beat of oh my God, I’m alive. Oh my God, Will has powers. Oh my God, he saved me.
And then—
Oh my God, he’s beautiful.
The thought had stopped him short, had landed with a soft and devastating clarity.
Beautiful.
That single word had broken something open within him, something he’d spent years reinforcing with lock and chain and prayer and denial.
After Will saves Mike from the demogorgon at the MAC-Z, Mike finally lets himself acknowledge a truth he's been running from for years:
He is in love with Will Byers.
Now all Mike has to do is come to terms with that truth—especially when Joyce sees it too.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
07 Jan 2026
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Summary
Will's injured after a Demogorgon attack, and Mike insists on patching him up. It should be simple—clean the wound, wrap the bandage, done. But Mike's hands keep lingering, and the air between them feels heavier with every touch. They've been walking this line for months, finding excuses to be close without ever crossing it. Maybe it's time to stop pretending.
Bookmarked by thewoodwork
07 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
“I should…” Mike trailed off, nervously licking his lips, and Will watched the movement of his tongue, hypnotized. “I should finish.”
“Yes,” Will agreed, his voice low, rough, carrying something hungry, as if it wasn’t entirely his own. “You should.”
But neither of them moved. Neither could. They were frozen in that moment, suspended in something that had been building between them for months — since the first time Will realized that the way he looked at Mike might not be the same as how he looked at other boys. Since the first time he caught Mike staring at him and saw something in his eyes that made his heart race.
They sat there, suspended in that moment, so close that Will could feel Mike’s heartbeat — or maybe it was his own; he couldn’t tell them apart, not when everything inside him pulsed with the same wild rhythm.
“Mike,” Will finally whispered, and saying his name like that — soft, intimate, in the space between their mouths — made something in the air snap.
“Yeah?”
Will drew a shaky breath. This was the edge, the point of no return. But they were already so close — they’d already crossed it a dozen times in a dozen little moments they pretended didn’t matter.
Maybe it was time to stop pretending.
“If you don’t kiss me now,” Will said, surprising even himself with his boldness, his honesty, “I think I’ll lose my mind.”
Mike made a strange sound — somewhere between a laugh and a sob, between relief and despair — and then closed the final inches between them.