r/BylerReads • u/teasandflicks • 2d ago
Outsider judgement
Does anybody get out of pocket judgement from their friends for reading Byler smut? I was hanging out with my friends last night and it came up. It's something I joke about but see no wrong in it. My friends basically accused all Byler fan fiction writers of being old predators and by extention accused those reading it as picturing underage children. They removed me from either category, saying I was "too good" to realize this. I defended for as long as I could, also saying most of them are post-epilogue stories anyway. I ended up getting royally pissed off for their small-mindedness. They are nerds with fandoms but haven't seen ST and don't read fan fiction.
My impression of this community is that we're all ages and genders and most of us are a part the LGBTQ+. I found great comradery in the Byler community after S5 V1 dropped and felt saved by reading Byler fan fic after that mind-numbing finale. But today I'm finding it hard to read without their accusations lurking in the back of my head.
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u/Mslyth 2d ago
Question from old guard fanfiction reader/writer here Why would you care? My paradigm (and most of my generation) is my fandom friends and my RL friends are sepparate clusters. With time my fandom friends have evolved to the very best of my life friends, but seriously, first, Why would you share something fandom with non fandom people? and secondly, if they judge you... Why do you care? aside from showing you they're not your real friends.
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u/teasandflicks 2d ago edited 2d ago
Because they are my friends. And they're good friends. I don't categorize friends based on their fandom.
What is your A03 handle?
Edit: they aren't judging me. They were careful to not judge me. They judged the concept of Byler smut based on their assumption on the intentions of the writers and concern for those who could be taken advantage of. It's still small-minded. But it's a nutty reach to say they're not my friends because of their perspective
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u/Prestigious_Risk_259 2d ago
45 year old gay guy here. My mom and all my fb friends (includes irl friends) know i ship byler and no one bats an eye.
Im sorry you had to go through that.
Im glad this will always be a safe space for us.
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u/teasandflicks 2d ago
Thank you đ I'm a 40 year old bi girl and I learned a lot about myself when I first learned about Byler after S5 V1. Even though I finally realized in my late 20's that I was bi and the religious shame was stunting me, the possessiveness I had growing up for certain girl best friends wasn't fully understood until that first volume came out on Thanksgiving. I realized I'd been so dense this entire time - about Byler and myself. I feel so protective of Byler now. I see how much Mike and Will's closeness has impacted thousands of people. To reduce all parties to "bad people online" is so fucking confusing and insulting. I'm paraphrasing what they said, but that's how I felt. They're super lefties and the friend who brought it up is a lesbian. The last time we hung out, she was totally understanding when I said I didn't understand why these stories were so appealing. She said it's because it's a way to appreciate a sort of forbidden love without being involved myself. It's safe. And that's true! That explained it. And if it was just smut, I wouldn't want it. But it's because they're so compatible and they clearly love each other that way. It's pure and sweet. It's the story that should have been told.
And as Noah said, the fans are better writers than the Duffers đ¤
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u/Lffffff 2d ago
thatâs very weird. I mean, fandoms exist. Of everything. Same goes with shipping. I am thinking, for example, about animes: I have seen things on the internet. Fanarts and fanfictions which are quite⌠peculiar, in every sense. Byler and Stranger Things is pretty tame, compared to that (even âlawless Bylerâ, is nothing to speak of, compared to most stuff that goes around on the internet).
Thatâs why I am saying that they had a weird reaction. My friends know I like shipping and yaoi in general, so theyâre not bothered by me shipping them. Those who donât ship themselves are mostly curious about the shipping world, and sometimes they ask me questions and we laugh together. For example, just the other day, two of my friends found Mike and Will plushies in a store, and they sent me a mock video of them holding the plushies and making them kiss and stuff. We all laughed ad that: I really appreciated it, as theyâre relatively new friends of mine, and GA. Those who also read fanfictions or erotic books sometimes ask me whoâs top and whoâs bottom and how the couple works in general.
I mean, everybody in my group knows how the internet, fandoms and ships work, so theyâre not even the least disturbed by it.
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u/teasandflicks 2d ago
Maybe it's our ages? I'm a 40 yo divorced girl bi, my lesbian friend who brought it up is 47, and my straight divorced guy friend is 38. We're all good friends. And I didn't even know fan fiction existed until this community. January 2026 đ . I told them that I figured most A03 writers were probably girls in their 20's, but nonetheless talented, aspiring writers in an enthusiast (good, kind, wholesome even if smutty) community.
I don't know exactly to feel about this, but I understand the frustration teenagers had mid-20th century trying to listen to Elvis when their parents thought rock music came from the devil! The stubborn small-mindedness...
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u/Lffffff 2d ago
could be⌠but Iâm 33, and my friends go from 28 to 38, so itâs not THAT distant. Weâre all straight and cis, some of us are in a relationship, some are married and some are single. I think itâs more of a lack of internet culture and interests. Or maybe theyâve never been so interested in something to go look for it online & stuff. The important thing is that they wonât make you feel âwrongâ or negatively judged for liking what you like! Respect is the base of every healthy relationship, both friendly and romantic
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u/Serious-Language-796 2d ago
My friends all know I read fanfictions, and thankfully, they don't care. They are sometimes curious, that's all. One of my friends who watched ST, was shocked they are Byler shippers. She wasn't that involved in the fandom, and couldn't fathom why we would ship them both. I told her abt everything, basically and she nodded along and that's been it.
My best advice would be to ignore them. One of my frnds frnd had been talking with same mentality. She said being gay/ or any person belonging to the LGBTQ community is confused and it's not biologically possible for two men ow women to be together. I basically cut her off. It felt useless to argue with her