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1. Public Bookmark 22

   the longer the burn, the sweeter that you smell by cosmicmiwi

   Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)  

   • Teen And Up Audiences
   • No Archive Warnings Apply
   • M/M
   • Work in Progress

   01 Feb 2026

   Tags

   • No Archive Warnings Apply
   • Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
   • Mike Wheeler
   • Will Byers
   • Lucas Sinclair
   • Dustin Henderson
   • Maxine "Max" Mayfield
   • Eleven | Jane Hopper
   • Nancy Wheeler
   • Steve Harrington
   • Jonathan Byers
   • Robin Buckley
   • Karen Wheeler
   • Joyce Byers
   • Jim "Chief" Hopper
   • POV Will Byers
   • POV Mike Wheeler
   • Love Confessions
   • Slow Burn
   • Inspired by a Conan Gray Song
   • Song: This Song (Conan Gray)
   • Song: Vodka Cranberry (Conan Gray)
   • Song: Caramel (Conan Gray)
   • Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler
   • Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers
   • byler
   • Happy Ending
   • Conflict
   • Dialogue Heavy
   • Internalized Homophobia
   • First Kiss
   • Not Actually Unrequited Love
   • switching POVs
   • paintinggate
   • Lowkey Birthdaygate but not really but they just didn’t forget again
   • Will Byers can drive a car
   • Mike Wheeler is Bad at Feelings
   • Song: Elton’s Song (Elton John)
   • Underage Drinking
   • no beta reader we’re rawdogging this

   Summary

   “There never was–”
   “There never was what?”
   “A girl.”

   Will, newly sixteen and quietly in love, is convinced that whatever changed between them after the van confession must remain unspoken. Mike, freshly broken up and emotionally adrift, feels something shifting too, but has no language for it yet.

   or

   A three-act slow burn inspired by Conan Gray's Wishbone Trilogy

   (Except that it does have a happy ending)

   Language:

   English

   Words:

   17,947

   Chapters:

   5/7

   Comments:

   18

   Kudos:

   44

   Bookmarks:

   22

   Hits:

   1,850

   Bookmarked by starzsis

   06 Apr 2026