tarnishedmoon
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“You know, half the time when people at school are talking, I have no idea what they mean. And the other half, I do know, but I just–” El stopped, pressing her lips together. Her fingers brushed against a trophy on Max’s shelf, a small gold girl holding a skateboard above her head. “I haven’t done any of it.”
“You don’t have to do everything everyone else does.”
“But I want to!” El shot back, turning on her. “Don’t you get that? I want to.”
“Okay!” Max held her eyes for a moment. “So what do you want to do?”
Everything. That was the word that came to mind. She wanted to do everything she had missed out on. She wanted a life. But it was too late.
“I just… don’t want to feel like I’m a step behind everyone anymore,” El said, her voice small.
“Alright,” Max said, determined. "Let's do it then."
or,
It's the summer before their senior year of high school. And with the help of Max and a paper fortune teller, El's going to finally get to live her own life. And, in the process, she's going to fall in love. For real this time.
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Dear Will,
It hasn’t been that long since I last saw you, but I miss you.
I should be used to the feeling by now. I have been missing you my whole life.
I thought I’d grow out of it. That once the idea of object permanence settled in, and I got used to the idea of having a friend, that it would be easier to be apart from you.
But I was wrong.
Or,
Right when Mike realizes he likes Will and Will likes him back, he has to go back to his life in Indiana. They slowly work out what they mean to one another.
Series
- Part 3 of hold the sun
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hold you like soft water holds the sky by tarnishedmoon
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
20 Feb 2026
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Mike froze in place. Someone pumped into him, sending him a dirty look over their shoulder, but Mike couldn’t give less of a shit. He was too busy trying to remember how to breathe.
Then, Will’s eyes found him across the gate. And his face broke into a smile that was achingly familiar. And Mike was running.
He practically threw himself into Will’s arms, spinning them both with the momentum of it. It took a second for Will to catch up and start hugging him back. But eventually he did, steadying the both of them in place. Mike held on for too long, reacquainting himself to the presence of his best friend. Will pulled back first, reaching to pick up Mike’s duffle bag from where he’d abandoned it recklessly on the airport floor.
“Hi,” Mike said with a goofy grin.
“Hi,” Will said back, his face a little red.
--
Mike has finally started to accept what happened to El, and is ready to get his life back on track. Then he visits Will at NYU after months of not seeing each other, and is sent down another emotional spiral.
Series
- Part 2 of hold the sun
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Never play never have I ever with Will Byers by tarnishedmoon
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
13 Jan 2026
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One drunken night in college, Will decides to just say fuck it and be completely honest in a game of never have I ever.
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I'll turn in my lips and say goodbye by tarnishedmoon
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
12 Jan 2026
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Mike felt a solid hand pat his shoulder through the blanket. “Aw, man. Cheer up, yeah? Hangovers are what college is all about, right?”
Lucas didn’t get it. None of them got it. Mike would never feel better. He didn’t deserve to.
“I was going to break up with her,” Mike confessed to his pillowcase. Words he had sworn he would take to his grave, now trapped between skin and cotton.
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After graduation, everybody started to move on. Everybody but Mike. He has not been able to accept what happened to El. In large part because he is carrying around a secret about that day that he has not told anyone.
Set two years after the final battle, Mike is finally forced to confront his grief and start finding a way to move past it.
Series
- Part 1 of hold the sun
Recent series
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Recent bookmarks
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touch me with a kiss, feel me on your lips by jeaanmoreau
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
16 May 2026
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“Is it cause you used to have a crush on me?” Mike asked, abruptly.
“What!” It was Will’s turn to blush harder, giving him a glare reserved for Mike Wheeler and Mike Wheeler only. “No. God. That was ages ago. I’ve been past that for a long time.”
Mike motioned like he’d made his point. “See? So? It wouldn’t be weird.”
So, Mike likes guys. Fine, Will can live with that. Except now Mike's worried about having fallen behind and would really like some help practicing how to kiss a guy from his also-into-guys best friend. And Will is trying really, really hard to be a good mentor to him, so what is he going to do, say no?
Series
- Part 1 of heavenly
- Language:
- English
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- 149,082
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- 30/30
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Bookmarked by tarnishedmoon
17 May 2026
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When Max is sent away for a month for advanced out of state hospital treatment, Lucas is left with way too much time and way too many feelings. So when he notices the unresolved tension simmering between Will and Mike, he decides to do something about it. But before he can even process what that truly entails, he’s already knee deep in secrets, feelings, and “friendships” that are a lot more complicated than he signed up for.
OR: What starts as a distraction from missing Max turns into the most complicated plan of Lucas’s life as he shifts from helping Will get over Mike to setting them up together (because he’s the bestest, most supportive friend ever, obviously!)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 70,371
- Chapters:
- 16/16
- Comments:
- 1,160
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- 7,462
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- 1,756
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Bookmarked by tarnishedmoon
22 Mar 2026
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“How long have you even known?”
Jonathan’s mouth opened, closed, then opened again. “Known?”
Will’s sigh was sharp, frustrated. “You know what I’m talking about, Jonathan.”
Jonathan’s brows raised slightly. He wasn’t falling for Will’s games, and Will wasn’t falling for his.
And now they were really gonna talk about it.
“…Okay. Fair enough.” Jonathan exhaled. “You’re right. I might have an idea.”
Will’s attention snapped to him, surprised at the quick admission.
Jonathan lightly brushed Will’s watch that he knew matched Mike’s. “But I want you to say it, in case I’m wrong.”
The drive back to Hawkins we never saw pre-S4 epilogue, in which Jonathan and Will talk for realBookmarked by tarnishedmoon
19 Mar 2026
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palms and fingerprints are stained all red by sapphosfreckles
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
05 Dec 2025
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“I always knew you were…”
“What?”
“Magic.”
Jesus. Now it was Will’s turn to blush.
There are snowballs, and then there’s… that.
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After the fight at the MAC-Z, Will cleans the wound on Mike's cheek in the radio station bathroom.
Bookmarked by tarnishedmoon
18 Mar 2026
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“I want you to tell him why you're so upset," Vecna says, and Will swears he sees the curl of a smile in the webbed scars of his face. “I want to watch you lose him.”
(Or, Will is forced by Vecna to confess his feelings to Mike, with a slow burn aftermath. Alternate Season 5.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 87,597
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- 26/26
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- 1,886
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- 10,881
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- 2,612
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Bookmarked by tarnishedmoon
09 Mar 2026