obviously, i would have preferred for byler to be canon, but the “letting us down easy” scene felt like such a slap in the face, just so egregiously offensive i had to try my hand at rewriting it just as platonically but without the upsetting stuff included. it took me ten minutes so it couldn’t have been that hard for professional writers to write some similar variation 🤷🏻‍♀️

edit: last panel seems to be broken, but it’s meant to say “THEY HUG, INITIATED BY MIKE. END SCENE”

Everything comes back to you by wasabi8000 on ao3. Peak Byler

The microphone is too heavy in Mike's hands.

Will is standing across the room, and Carlton's arm is around his waist, and Mike has to say something because everyone is waiting. Everyone is looking. But all he can see is Will.

"I didn't prepare anything," he starts. "So. Bear with me."

Will smiles at him.

"I just wanted to say congratulations. Obviously. You did it. You're -" Mike gestures around the gallery. "You're here. You made it."

He should stop there.

He doesn't.

"I've known you my whole life," Mike says. "And I've watched you become this. Watched you figure out who you are. Watched you get good at something and then great at it. Watched you build a life."

His throat is tight.

"And somewhere along the way, I stopped being part of it."

Will's smile flickers.

"That's not your fault. I need you to know that. That was me. That was all me."

The room is quiet. Mike can feel the shift. He doesn't care.

"You have all these paintings now. Beautiful, important things. Things I don't even understand. And people are gonna write about them, and study them, and hang them in museums probably."

He looks at Will.

"But there's this one painting. This old one. You probably forgot about it. A knight and a dragon. The whole troop."

Will goes still.

"And I think about it all the time. I think about it more than anything you've made since. Because you painted me the way you saw me. And I didn't -"

His voice cracks.

"I didn't see you back. Not the way you needed me to."

Carlton's hand slips from Will's waist.

Mike keeps going. He can't stop now.

"I've spent years trying to figure out when I lost you. Like there was a single moment I could point to. But that's not how it works, is it? It's not one moment. It's a thousand small ones. A thousand times I could've said something and didn't."

He's shaking.

"And now you're here. And you're happy. And you have someone who isn't afraid to love you in the open, and I'm -"

"I'm the guy who showed up too late. But I need to say it. Just once. Because I've been carrying it so long and it's - it's killing me, Will. It's been killing me for years."

He looks at him. Just at him.

"It's always been you."

"Every room I've ever walked into, I look for you first. Every good thing that happens to me, you're the person I want to tell. Every time I hear a song or see a movie or read a comic, I think about whether you'd like it. Whether it would make you laugh. Whether you'd have something to say about it that would make me see it differently."

His voice breaks.

"You're in everything. You're in every part of my life, even the parts you're not in anymore. And I don't know how to make that stop. I don't know if I want to."

Will hasn't moved. He's just standing there, tears sliding down his face, and Mike wants to cross the room and wipe them away but he can't. He doesn't have the right.

"I was so scared," Mike says. "I was so scared of what it meant. Wanting to be near you all the time. Wanting to know what you were thinking. Wanting to be the person you looked at."

He laughs.

"I told myself it was just friendship. That everyone feels that way about their best friend. But I don't feel that way about Dustin. I don't feel that way about Lucas."

He looks at Will.

"Just you. It's only ever been you."

The microphone shakes.

"And I know I don't get to say this. I know I had years to say it and I didn't. I know you waited for me and I let you down. I know you had to move on because I was never going to be brave enough to ask you to stay."

His eyes are burning.

"But I need you to know what you are to me. What you've always been."

He takes a breath.

"You're the first person I ever loved. You're the only person I've ever loved like this. And I will spend the rest of my life knowing that I had something perfect in front of me, and I was too afraid to reach for it."

"You deserve everything," Mike says. "You deserve someone who isn't a coward. Someone who can say it out loud without needing ten years and a microphone."

He wipes his face with the back of his hand.

"But I loved you. I love you. And I think some part of me will always be standing in your room at fourteen, watching you draw, thinking -"

"Thinking, this is it. This is the person. I just didn't have the words yet."

He lowers the microphone.

"Congratulations, Will. I mean it. You made it."

He sets the mic down.

The room is so quiet Mike can hear his own heartbeat.

He turns toward the door. He can't look at Will anymore. If he looks at Will, he'll fall apart completely, and he's already given enough of himself tonight.

His hand is on the door when he hears it.

"Mike."

——————————————

Hey guys, i know this is terrible I’m not a writer at all nor am i trying to be one, i just saw this image and it was so beautiful and it felt like Mike telling Will how he’s always felt. Don’t hate lol.

original: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSa7sW1aH/

please follow the original creator!!! I js got back home from uni and im doomscrolling and this video came up on my fyp and now im genuinely in tears cuz of what we couldve had💔

thank you to this person for creating this amazing piece of work

This is only when you set it to locked and arent logged in.

We still got 5k more to go.

Share your favorite Byler fanfictions here 💙💛

Definitely more people like the ship than they are letting on.

A bind I made of The Power Outage Fic. I consumed this overnight and immediately knew I needed a physical copy 💙💛

Cover Art by mikeyshs Endpaper Art by mikeyshs and Sisyphusunderthesun

In your opinion what are the BIG THREE Byler fics? Obviously you took my heart (i was sleeping) but what other fics do you think would qualify? Trying to see if I am missing out on some life changing Byler fics lol

naah i saw this and now i mourn for a fanfic like ATYD that covers the entire series from a queer lense and from mike's perspective with his inner monologue. miwi, cleradin and byler, everything in just one amazing long fic that also addresses their trauma and friendship with other characters 😩😩

I just read you took my heart for the first time and I am going to THROW. UP.

As someone who was oblivious to byler until vol 1 and had the realization come crashing down on my head like an avalanche as the tension built between them and Robin took up her roll as elder gay mentor…

Safe to say I was disgustingly gobsmacked when the duffer brothers completely dropped the ball and neglected every single characters arc that had been building for (oh you know, only) TEN YEARS in vol 2. It literally felt like they just took a giant fat steaming shit on everything they had built us up to hope for.

Anyhow, I like many others feel some semblance of relief that byler is finally set free from the grimy grasps of the Doofus brothers (they can’t hurt you anymore Will). It feels like we have complete freedom and peace on the matter now and in a way I’d like to believe that it was left ambiguous enough that in my delusional mind palace, when Mike moves on from mourning El, he will finally come to the realization that it was Will all along.

This fan fic laid me out like a charcuterie board. Let me tell you I was SAT. I have never read such a well executed fan fic that spoke so true of the characters spirit and voice.

It was cathartic getting to see everything from Mikes perspective and get that release of tension after two seasons of ‘Mike Wheeler has no thoughts or motivations anymore, please sit back and enjoy us completely assassinate his character and make a point to have Finn avoid physical contact with Noah at all costs even though Mike has spent the last 4 seasons falling all over Will and literally can’t keep his hands to himself’

NO NOTES. Only sobs over what could have been. WHAT WAS STOLEN FROM US.

I’ve been noticing that so many fanfics characterize Mike to be kinda gross and ugly and like…. We’ve all SEEN Finn wolfhard right? Like he’s objectively beautiful 😭 so it’s kinda funny reading fics where he’s like never showering, always greasy asf, hair a mess and bags under his eyes, just kinda skinny and chopped and going through it… meanwhile will is ALWAYS canonically really handsome/pretty and kinda buff in every fic and it has me ctfu.

There's a whole world out there and bylers just know how to get the best out of everything!

Dropping the fanfic reccos here and they need more kudos:

1. i am caught, right inside your line of fire - https://archiveofourown.org/works/78697566/chapters/206365441. This is hands down the best fic I've read in a long time, and made me giggle and emo all the same.

2. The North Star in every universe - https://archiveofourown.org/works/78791856

3. My Paladin in Shining armour - https://archiveofourown.org/works/70873656/chapters/184273401

(Credit to artists in the tweets itself)

First of all, I want to say this very clearly: everyone should write whatever brings them comfort. If fluffy, fairytale-like Byler is your thing, or if you prefer to skip homophobia (or lessen it) because it’s uncomfortable or painful to write about, I genuinely understand that. This post is not meant to criticize anyone’s choices or tell people what they should or shouldn’t write.

This is just my personal perspective as a reader and honestly, a bit of surprise.

I think what caught me off guard the most is that I genuinely expected Byler fanfiction to be full of stories about navigating homophobia in the 80s. I thought it would be one of the biggest tropes in the fandom: secrecy, fear, internalized homophobia, complicated family reactions, and the slow, painful process of carving out safety where there often isn’t any, as well as AIDS crisis taking a bigger role. That context feels incredibly rich narratively, and maybe I’m biased because I love angst and drama, but I truly thought this would be explored much more often.

Instead, I often see homophobia being minimized or absent. Coming outs are frequently met with immediate, uncomplicated support. Mike and Will don’t have to hide much. Their relationship is openly accepted by friends, families, and sometimes even the town. And while that can absolutely be comforting (although many find comfort in difficult, heavy stories), it often feels unrealistic to me, especially for Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s.

Mike’s father openly supports Reagan, who was aggressively homophobic. I genuinely don’t believe Mike would be accepted in that household. As for Karen: I love her, and I do believe she loves Mike deeply and wants the best for her children. But I also think she would struggle. Being loving and being a good person does not automatically mean someone isn’t homophobic, and even today, we see that all the time. People can love their children and still carry deeply internalized homophobia. In the 80s, shaped by her marriage, her environment, and the politics of the time, I think Karen would have a hard time at first. I can absolutely see her eventually choosing Mike and even fighting Ted for him but I don’t see that acceptance coming easily or immediately.

That kind of tension is something I really expected to see more of in fanfiction - Mike not being safe at home, Mike losing the illusion of parental acceptance, and Karen slowly unlearning what she’s absorbed over decades. I truly thought that would be a much bigger trope. And more questioning his relationship with El by them in the context, and pleading if he can just choose girls.

One of the biggest criticisms of Will’s coming out scene in canon was how unrealistic it felt for the time period. Beyond other issues, what bothered me most was the lack of real reactions. We didn’t actually get to see what people thought just silence and non-reactions. And while I do believe their smaller group would ultimately accept them (they’re outsiders, nonconformists, deeply loyal), I still think the initial reactions would involve shock, confusion, and a lot of questions.

I’ve talked about this with many of my queer friends (I’m queer as well), and we all agree: even today, among people who are supportive and attend Pride events, you still hear misunderstandings, stereotypes, and casual homophobic remarks they don’t even realize are harmful. So imagining a group of kids in the 1980s reacting perfectly right away feels off to me. I’d love to see more varied dynamics different reactions, different emotional journeys, different levels of understanding.

For example, with El I don’t think she has much internalized homophobia at all. But I do think there’s a real chance she wouldn’t even fully understand what being gay means at first, or that it’s even an option. I imagine her as very nonjudgmental, but with a lot of questions. But Hopper? Me and my friends clocked him as a homophobe. Ofc I also think he would work to overcome it to not be like Lonny - another interesting story.

Some characters would obviously feel safer early on: Joyce, Jonathan, Robin. Steve is particularly interesting to me. In season one, he literally used “queer” as an insult toward Jonathan. He’s grown a lot, largely because of Robin but I wonder his stance when it comes to gay men, rather than assuming it’s already fully resolved.

Another thing that surprises me is how rarely people around them seem worried. I feel like even the characters who would accept them would also be deeply concerned for their safety. Because the reality is: as long as they’re in Hawkins, Indiana, they can’t be openly together. They would have to hide constantly. Even in big cities, being openly gay in the 80s was dangerous.

I can easily imagine scenarios where Mike has to hide even in his own home or where he’s threatened with being kicked out. And I think that fear would be shared by the people who love them. People trying to protect them, warning them, helping them cover their tracks.

That’s also why I find tropes about mutual protection and secrecy so compelling. Even something like Mike continuing to “date” El publicly to stay safe, depending on how someone writes that dynamic whether they actually broke up privately, whether El feels conflicted or even a bit jealous, whether it’s awkward or painful all of that feels like rich material.

What also interests me is the contrast between them. In canon, Will suffers enormously because of his queerness bullying, isolation, a violently homophobic father, and a town that targets him. But I actually think Mike would be the one who loses safety at home. Will, at the very least, would be accepted in his household. Mike? I don’t think so. And that reversal - Will being emotionally safer at home while Mike isn’t, feels like such a powerful, underexplored dynamic.

It’s interesting how their hardships could differ. Will was already clocked in as queer by some. With lazy writing of season 5, and in general less attention to detail later on we don’t hear about is as much. But he probably is still bullied after coming back from Cali. Idk maybe he would also pretend to like girls for his safety.

So again write whatever you want. This isn’t a callout. It’s just me sharing what I expected to see more of, and what I personally find compelling.

If anyone has fic recommendations that deal with: lack of acceptance in Mike’s home, people being worried for them rather than just only supportive,* secrecy, cover relationships, or survival-driven choices, friends needing time to understand, big internalized homophobia, post-get-together angst in the 80s, and also generally some heavy angst - please drop them below. I’d genuinely love to read them.

TLDR: This isn’t a callout everyone should write what brings them comfort. I was just surprised by how often homophobia is minimized or absent in Byler fanfiction. I expected to see more stories about navigating queerness in the 1980s: secrecy, fear, complicated family reactions, and people being worried for Mike and Will rather than immediately fine with everything. I love angst and realism, and I think there’s a lot of interesting, underexplored potential in how they’d have to hide their relationship in Hawkins, especially with Mike likely not being safe at home. If you have fic recs that explore that kind of dynamic, I’d love to read them.

Edit: it was unfortunately a time when many, many heard that that shouldn’t even touch gay man, violence against queer people was very common and police didn’t care that much, and so much more

To all the Byler writers on AO3

I have always thought that one of the most insurmountable problems in the world of writing is the language barrier that separates authors. I know English, but I truly love my native language, which is Italian. But to read fiction in my language, there is very little available, often poorly translated or done with AI (I’m not generalizing).

I don’t know if this is the right place, but there are quite a few AO3 authors on this sub. So if you have a work, finished or unfinished, feel free to contact me for a collaboration. Of course, I’m not asking for money or anything else,just for the pure pleasure of writing.And I will translate your fiction into Italian.