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1. This Small Town by iwillknowyou

   Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)  

   • Mature
   • Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
   • M/M
   • Work in Progress

   24 Aug 2026

   Tags

   • Graphic Depictions Of Violence
   • Major Character Death
   • Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
   • Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper
   • Jonathan Byers & Joyce Byers & Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper
   • Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler
   • Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair
   • Robin Buckley/Vickie Dunne
   • Will Byers
   • Mike Wheeler
   • Eleven | Jane Hopper
   • The Party (Stranger Things)
   • Jonathan Byers
   • Nancy Wheeler
   • Joyce Byers
   • Maxine "Max" Mayfield
   • Jim "Chief" Hopper
   • Lucas Sinclair
   • Dustin Henderson
   • Henry Creel | One | Vecna
   • POV Multiple
   • Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
   • Implied/Referenced Self-Harm
   • Internalized Homophobia
   • Canon-Typical Violence
   • Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
   • The sexual assault allegory is very strong
   • Psychological Horror
   • Hallucinations
   • Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers
   • Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler
   • Everyone Needs a Hug
   • Everyone is Bad at Feelings
   • Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
   • everyone is depressed as hell
   • Siblings Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper
   • my wondertwins mean the world to me
   • Good Sibling Jonathan Byers
   • max's mom is actually present
   • Mike Wheeler Has Internalized Homophobia
   • everyone commits crimes
   • Period Typical Bigotry
   • will byers and henry creel dynamic explored to the point of genuine discomfort
   • canon isn't even real
   • Heavy Angst
   • insane amounts of angst
   • like angst in an IV
   • I'm so sorry
   • Stranger Things 5 if it wasn't ai generated
   • Apocalyptic Hawkins (Stranger Things)
   • conformity gate kinda???
   • title is from a song I wrote lol
   • Satanic panic
   • Religious Imagery & Symbolism
   • Religious Fanaticism
   • no AI was used in the making of this fic
   • lowk dystopian that i have to say that
   • Fuck AI
   • Stranger Things 5 Rewrite
   • Suicide
   • Buried Alive
   • Depersonalization

   Summary

   okay here's the game plan: this fic is gonna bring back that creepy, quiet, secretive small-town vibe that's been missing since s3. i'm talking prejudice in plain sight and hate-crime-committing assholes going to church on sunday. i'm talking the swingset in the kid's playground swinging when no one's on it. i'm talking un-lobotomising mike wheeler. i'm talking 'children vanish, no one panics, all the neighbours know your name, children model on milk bottles, mothers plead into the rain'. i'm talking churchgate, conformitygate, satanic panic, 'you have bewitched me body and soul' but make it angstier. this is getting MESSY. I am not holding back okay shit is getting real

   Disclaimer: this is technically a prequel to the next fic in this series, but they can be read in any order it doesn’t really matter

   Series

   • Part 1 of Quiet Like A Rotting Corpse

   Language:

   English

   Words:

   41,047

   Chapters:

   3/?

   Comments:

   21

   Kudos:

   20

   Bookmarks:

   5

   Hits:

   387