vertiginous
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Mike stares at the photo, whispering the words.
His name is Will Byers.
He has huge eyes, a gazillion moles, and a withering sense of humor.
He draws the best pictures.
He moved away when we were thirteen. His mother lives in Florida. He goes to school in Boston.
He is alive.
He was my best friend.
Mike remembers. They haven’t taken everything yet.Seven years ago, Will Byers went missing. After he reappeared, everyone—even his own family—started to forget him.
Now, it’s 1994, twenty-year-old Will is back, and it is happening again.
A mid-90s AU set in the Pacific Northwest, ft.: slowburn Byler, mixtapes, flannel, witchcraft, moody weather, Nirvana, and a spooky eldritch forest.
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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, FEATURING: wound cleaning, bed sharing, disco, Jealous!Mike, queer literary analysis, & the most horrifying eldritch specter of all (gay panic). Canon compliant through S5 Vol 1.
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“I hear you’re giving out love advice.”
“That’s the show,” Will croaks.
“Hm,” says Mike. “Well, maybe you can help me. There’s this person I—I’m interested in. A friend. A really good friend.”Or,
When Will is forced to sub in as the host for Steve’s cheesy dating advice show on the Squawk, he receives some interesting calls.
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bubble & squeak by vertiginous
Fandoms: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
25 Sep 2025
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Albus’s laugh exists to spite the poets. It's the simply best thing in the entire world, and Scorpius pities anyone who hasn't seen or heard it. Albus. Where is Albus? Why isn't Scorpius watching and/or listening to Albus laugh right at this very moment? Why would he not spend every minute of every day doing that? Scorpius spins, gets on tiptoe, jumps to see over the crowd.
Albus Albus Albus Albus Albus Albus —
Someone is tugging on his sleeve. Albus!
"I misplaced you!" Scorpius flings an arm around Albus. "You're far too small. Easy to lose. Should work on that."
"I'll put it on the agenda," Albus grumbles, ducking his head. Scorpius can hear the smile in his voice.
Or,
In his seventh year at Hogwarts, Scorpius Malfoy realizes he's in love with his best friend. He responds to this discovery by making friends with a group of imperiled Bowtruckles. And obsessing over his appearance. And yearning. But mostly the Bowtruckle thing.
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Mike is spending the last urgent summer days with Will in Hawkins. He’s also writing in college. Somehow, these two things are always happening at once.
Or, ‘Funny how there’s a face underneath my face.’
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- English
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Bookmarked by vertiginous
28 May 2026
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"Mike, come on," Will says, his smile still mid-bloom. "You don't think that's a little weird?"
"No," Mike says simply. "Why would that be weird?"
"Because I'm—" Will gestures vaguely to himself. "Gay. And you're…"
Will trails off, stopping himself, as if it just occurred to him that he could be wrong about the way he planned to answer that sentence. Mike isn't sure how he'd answer it either.
High, he thinks. Will is gay and I am high.
OR
The party does MDMA and Mike can't stop touching Will.
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Art School Confidential by cyclogenesis (addictedkitten)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
20 Feb 2026
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In which Mike moves to Indianapolis after his first semester of college, rents the apartment next door to Will, and gets a job as a nude model in Will’s life drawing class, and then Will has to deal with all of that. (This is an ongoing process.) Featuring a domesticity speedrun, life in a university district in the early 1990s, mutual care-taking behaviors, baffling vegetables, Mike wearing a shirt with a kitten on it, and The Cure haunting the narrative.
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In which Mike just doesn’t think it’s right that Will doesn’t get to experiment with a guy, but luckily Mike’s a guy, and a good friend, so. Featuring closet hookups, hickeys, really good cuddles in the midst of all the sexual experimentation, sneaking around, a canon-typical amount of boys crying, the Painting Lie!!!, conversations about feelings that don’t actually address any of the important feelings (until they do, and then ohh boy), and the happy ending that they goddamn deserved.
Takes place during the eighteen month time gap before they all graduate, then continues past the ending of the finale.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 19,892
- Chapters:
- 1/1
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- 252
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- 1,360
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Bookmarked by vertiginous
13 Jan 2026
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Bookmarker's Notes
will forever have a place on my byler mt rushmore
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Mike Wheeler has gotten very good at being careful.
He's less good at being honest.
[A slow-burn, post-finale future fic, mostly set 10 years after the events in Hawkins]
Bookmarked by vertiginous
07 May 2026
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Bookmarker's Notes
ELITE, EXTREMELY UNDER-HYPED SLOWBURN. RUN DON'T WALK (and once you get there, SAVOR) (unlike me who devoured the first 6 chapters in essentially one sitting whooops)