paladin_mike
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"Listen," Will stalled outside the front door. "I have to tell you something."
"Are you okay?" Dustin immediately asked.
"Did Mike bring a girlfriend?" Jane wondered, eyes wide with curiosity.
"No, he brought a child," Will stated, voice falling flat.
//
Or, Summer of 1995: The big reunion. Will is recently single. Mike brings his child. Everyone asks the same question: Who did Mike Wheeler have a baby with, and how did Will Byers miss the memo that Mike is gay?
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Six months after Hawkin splits open, the schools reopen. Under Robin's mentorship, Will begins sporadically hosting radio shows.
He's trying to send someone a message. Little does he know, someone might be listening.
Or, 5 times Will Byers hosts a show at the Squawk and 1 time Mike Wheelers hosts a show
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The week Mike returned from California, he learned how to shoot a gun. He failed. Of course, he failed.
Since the end of the world began, Will was on a mission. He was failing miserably at it.
While protecting their friends and hunting down Vecna, Mike Wheeler and Will Byers are faced with the truth—the truth they're both desperate to ignore. But little do they know, they might run out of time... For a clock just chimed behind Mike's head, and Will keeps getting nosebleeds. Both tormented by Vecna, the pair needs to find a way to save their friends and family—for the end of the world is closer to them than they think.
Or, a rewrite of season 5 with a dose of trauma and a hefty amount of fear. Will has powers. Mike is targeted by Vecna. Everything goes to shit.
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"It's your first day," Karen tells him. "This is exciting! You'll make so many friends."
"You think so?" Mike asks nervously, his wide eyes staring at her.
"Absolutely."
Karen Wheeler doesn't condone lying to her children, but she believes white lies can be considered harmless. They won't remember, anyways. But if Karen was telling the truth to her son, she'd have to admit how she's actually desperately nervous about his compatibility with his classmates.
After school, when Mike is rambling about his new best friend, Karen decides that if Will Byers makes her son this happy, she'll do everything in her power to make sure they stay friends forever.
Or, Will and Mike's relationship through the eyes of their friends and family (plus their own). Will is nonspeaking autistic, and Mike is also autistic. Neurodivergent friendly fic with them falling in love!
// title from Coming Home by beabadoobee
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Season 4 goes a bit differently. It goes a little like this: Mike and Max are both depressed. They can't talk to the rest of the party because half are in California, Dustin is clinging to Eddie like a koala, and Lucas has gone full jock. Somewhere along the way, they realize they have more in common than they imagined.
Or, Mike and Max falling in love during high school (and Season 4's Upside Down never happens).
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At twenty-two, Mike’s life is far better than he ever thought it would be. He graduated from The University of Chicago in May, after getting his diploma in English, and his entire future being at his fingertips (something he always thought he would be terrified of) feels almost exhilarating.
He loves his apartment back in Chicago and it’s horrible winters, he loves his shitty car that’s dented to hell and back. He loves sitting at his typewriter as novel ideas flow from his fingertips. He loves that he finally did it, he escaped Hawkins. It’s something he’s proud of even four years later, because he left and grew into himself and didn’t become his goddamn father like he was always terrified he would. He loves that he healed enough to willingly return to his godawful hometown for his sister’s wedding.
More than anything else, he is completely and utterly in love with Will Byers.
And that is something his best friend can never, ever know.
OR: the party returns to hawkins for jonathan and nancy's wedding in 1993, and mike is sick of pining after his best friend from a distance
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After the devastating “earthquake” leaves Hawkins quarantined, Will and Mike find themselves under the same roof… but farther apart than ever.
As tension builds, both are forced to face what’s been left unsaid.
“I didn’t ask for this.”
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“What if… What if you didn’t say it?”
Mike frowns. “I already don’t say it. That’s kind of the whole problem.”
“No. I mean, what if you didn’t have to say it,” Will explains, “You know how we both learned Morse Code back in fifth grade after Mrs. Jenkins sat us on opposite sides of the classroom?”
“Yeah but that would take forever to tap out in Morse Code,” Mike says, scrunching his nose.
“Then you can just shorten it. Just three taps. Like this.” Will leans forward, patting Mike’s knee three times before pulling back again with a bright smile. “See? Quick and easy and, more importantly, no awkward words required.”
Or: Mike Wheeler learns all the alternative ways one can say I love you
Bookmarked by paladin_mike
21 Apr 2026
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As light shines through the hospital room window, illuminating Robert’s whole countenance in something celestial, Ted looks down at his baby brother with a singular thought in mind.
You’re gonna be my best friend.
Ted finds his light, loses it, then finds it again.
OR: Ted Wheeler gets it all wrong, then he gets it right.
Series
- Part 3 of on the way home
Bookmarked by paladin_mike
21 Apr 2026
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“No, there— don’t make this weird, dude!"
“Stop that!” Will shrieks, floodgates bursting open. “Stop calling me dude, or man, or— just—”
“What should I call you?” Mike’s tone becomes sharper. “Honey? Sweetheart? Baby?”
Will shrinks a little into himself.
“God, Will— can you just be normal? Just be normal.”
Will tries unendingly to figure things out. Someone makes it especially hard for him.
OR: Will Byers spends his life navigating the blurry lines between friendship and something more.
Series
- Part 2 of on the way home
- Language:
- English
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Bookmarked by paladin_mike
20 Apr 2026