#byler ficlet ish

[howtobecomeadragon]

i wonder how it'll feel for will to pick out a house as an adult. if he'll wonder about escape routes. wondering if he wants a first floor bedroom to be able to escape out the window easily or if it'll make him feel too vulnerable to intruders. if he needs a back exit instead of just a front door bc ofc, what if something is coming in that front door, what if the lock is moving on its own again. can he feel safe with a shed in the backyard? he doesn't want to go in there, not even at the open house with mike by his side. is it silly if that’s a deal breaker? mike says they can tear it down but there's still a squirm of anxiety in will's gut. this house is drafty and too cold, that house has a fireplace with a poker that makes will touch the scar on his side through his shirt. this one doesn't have a bathtub and they need that just in case. this one has too much of an open layout and will remembers a wall being the only thing between him and mike and jonathan and a bullet from a gun.

but also. mike points out that that room in that one house has really good lighting for painting. there's a big enough yard to build a fort or a castle or a tree house, big enough for them, fun enough for kids. mike leans in and whispers in will's ear, "cozy basement, huh?" will has a shiver at that. this house doesn't have a fence and will states, "well, we need a fence for a dog." mike offers to build one if will really loves this house. one house has just enough bedrooms, for guests or for kids.

maybe it takes a while but maybe they'll eventually find one that's just right.

[light-lanterne]

whatever you do, please do not imagine fourteen-year-old will byers being left alone in his house in lenora for a day or perhaps just a few hours. maybe his mom and el are out buying stuff while jonathan hangs out with argyle, maybe he's a little sick and was forced to stay home on his own.

whatever it is, he's alone for a bit, he's done all his homework, there's nothing on tv to distract himself with, and he's not in the mood for painting at the moment.

so, bored as he is, he decides to look around in the many tomes of the encyclopaedia britannica that now clutter their house and, taking advantage of his solitude, he decides to read up on a term that scares him as much as it intrigues him because he wants to know what other people think of, well, him. he wants to know if it's just hawkins who are so hateful and prejudiced against people like him, or if it really is the whole world who see him like a mistake.

so, whatever you do, please don't imagine will looking up homosexuality, reading line after line of clever-sounding text that describes his inclinations as nothing but sexual and impure, a phase he should get over with soon lest he becomes target of social persecution, and which explains all the many theories of why he's like that and the measures that should've been taken to "fix him".

whatever you do, please don't imagine will reading the next excerpt and realising that his time for being "fixed" has passed, that his father's complaints were not exclusive to him, that most people share that opinion, and that the fact that so many people could see it must mean that he really fits all the mentioned stereotypes and therefore must also fit everything else the book was saying about "homosexuals" like him.

(hi. i got curious and consulted my 1994 version of the encyclopaedia britannica to see what will would've read on certain subjects (it's the same edition as the 1986 one). i can post the whole section on homosexuality if someone wants it, but it's incredibly uninformed and prejudiced and honestly quite icky (borderline triggering) to read so i wouldn't advise anyone checks it >.< and that's not even including the part on conversion therapy x.x)

[wibble-wobbegong]

How do u want the first byler kiss to be

ok i think i’ve answered this before so i decided to write out a little ficlet. practice writing before i start spamming mike stuff as his birthday comes up

———————————————————————

2:30. Ish.

Mike lowered his watch back down from his face, arm bouncing against the mattress as it landed. Being woken up again like this is not what he was hoping for when they’re meant to be saving the world tomorrow, but he gets up anyway. If Will is awake, then so is he.

The door is barely left open every time he does this, but it’s more than enough for Mike to stick his fingers through and open it wide. He tries to do it quietly, but his door always squeaked after a certain point which seems to change every time he opens it. A little twinge from the hinges is all he needs to hear before he stops and starts sliding through the gap he’s made, trying hard not to wake up the other party members sleeping on his floor. After El had decided she wanted to be with the party too, they’d taken out Mike’s bed frame and put four different beds right next to each other on his floor for them to pile on. Not ideal, but none of them are denying the comfort it brings. Even if it does make him feel like baby bird waiting to get kicked out of the nest.

When Will leaves like this, that nest immediately feels emptier. It’s a sensation so thick it manages to wake Mike in his sleep, every single time. Tonight is the fifth time he’s done this since (almost) the whole party moved in.

There’s always a gentle wind that calls Mike out to the garage when he starts to follow, beckoning him to step closer and into the darkness of the house. The electricity was shut down last year when they stopped trying to save Hawkins and simply dubbed it a no-man’s land, quarantining the town and everything in it. They’re just lucky that El and Will are owed a lot by the government, meaning they get shipments of the supplies they need to stay alive and fight. Electricity can’t come on trucks, though. Not unless a few AA batteries count.

The house is always dark at night. Before, his mom would leave the light over the sink on. The lights from Lucas’ house and the neighbors across the street would reflect on the windows. He’s gotten used to the colorless hours of dusk to dawn.

When he makes it down to the garage and there’s a light coming from the other side of the barely open door, he stops feeling like a bird and more like a moth. No longer clumsy and daunted as everything in him comes together to push him there. There’s a craving that runs through him so intensely he almost doesn’t want to go. This light is not something that deserves to be devoured and torn. It deserves to be held close by warm hands, ones that’ll set it free when it asks. Hands he doesn’t have.

“Mike?” He blinks a few times, trying to reorient himself. Maybe standing in the doorway and staring at Will is his natural state because he doesn’t remember closing the gap.

The light is in Will’s lap. Nothing more than a battery powered lamp. Just a stupid hunk of plastic.

“Hey. Are you okay?” His feet move fast as he rushes to fill the space by Will’s side. He stretches his legs out in front of himself, not sure what to do with them and a little jealous of Will’s ability to curl so perfectly into a criss-cross.

Will stays quiet for a few moments, just looking down at the lamp. It flickered once. Twice. Then, “Do you..,” a sigh, “Do you really think we can win tomorrow? I mean— we’ve tried so many times and it never works, Mike. He always comes back. What are the odds that anything we do tomorrow actually works?”

Looking up to meet Mike’s eyes, Mike can see how they’ve gone glossy and desperate for an answer. It seems as though the gravity of tomorrow is pulling him down— the corners of his mouth, his eyes, his shoulders and back. All of Will is being dragged towards the ground, and Mike won’t let it happen. He’s been given wings by his friends, by this light, and he can use them for good.

“Well, I don’t see any world where we don’t win. Even if tomorrow goes to shit, it doesn’t matter. We’ll win. The good guys always win.”

“But that’s just in stories, Mike. Real life… it isn’t nearly as nice as those stories. Happy endings aren’t that easy.”

“Do you know who you sound like right now?” Will quirks his brow at the switch of tone.

“Who?”

“Frodo. You sound scared that you’re not gonna make it because everything keeps getting harder. It’ll get harder,” Mike takes a small, quivering breath before placing his hands on Will’s face so he can catch those tears he know will start falling, “But I think Sam was right. People tell stories with happy endings for a reason. If we really had no shot at beating Vecna… I don’t think we ever would’ve gotten you back, Will. We got you back for a reason. You beat that possession for a reason. There is a reason that people always talk about good guys winning. Even when the villains are big and scary and cruel, they never win. They don’t have what we have.”

Will is quiet, watching him. He hasn’t taken Mike’s hands off his face yet, so Mike pushes a little further and brings their foreheads together so he can look into Will’s eyes and see nothing else. He doesn’t want to see anything else and he doesn’t need to.

“Vecna is alone. He’s been alone for a long time. Not us, though. We have your family and my family and the party. We have the party. Hell, we even have Argyle,” Will let’s out a little laugh at that one, “And you know what else? We have you. You’re the hero this time, Will. And the heroes always win.” Will lets out a watery laugh and shakes his head, jostling Mike’s grip on him, so he lowers his hands. Will grabs them.

“I don’t know where you pulled that from, but I think you’re wrong. You’re the hero, Mike. You made me into one.” That hits Mike in a little piece of his heart that hasn’t been touched in a long time. It’s raw and tender and it hurts a little, but adrenaline rushes through his veins and his hands start to shake in Will’s. Just the tiniest bit.

“Well, Sam and Frodo were both the heroes, weren’t they?”

“Yeah. I guess they were. Frodo wouldn’t have made it out without Sam.”

“Sam never would’ve been anyone important at all if it hadn’t been for Frodo.”

They look at each other a moment longer, and Mike starts to lean back and give Will space when Will uses their hands to tug him back. Mike laughs a little, and he hates how wet it comes out but god Will’s hands are so warm in his and everything inside of him feels so alive, beating with a newfound light to fly towards.

When Will reaches both of his hands up to cradle the bottom of his head and tilt it forward, everything freezes. The lips across his forehead, over his hair, make all that life from before feel like nothing more than a planet in a universe. Everything inside him grows tenfold, and then again for every second Will holds him close and keeps his lips against his forehead. He can barely feel them over the thickness of his bangs, and he can’t deny that craving that’s kicked back to life.

Will is gentle, and he is sweet, but he is also so much stronger than anything else Mike has ever known. He lets that craving take over when he grabs Will by the shoulders and tilts his head up to kiss him properly.

[viewmasterfeeling]

Hi, welcome! Here's a list of the fics I've written :]

My ask box is open for fic prompts! i mostly write byler ficlets, but i'd be open to writing general ST stuff (more focused on the group dynamic and the UD/powers) too :>

I love collabs! Please message me if you're interested in collabing! :]

here's my ao3 - i'll hopefully be adding my ficlets here soon!

My fics

Old fic masterlist - older fics from 2020; i feel that my writing has improved a lot :]

Ficlets

love keeps you safe - 893 words, fluff and angst, established byler post-show

going, gone - 135 words, angst

ask game prompts O byler +13 - things you said at the kitchen table (268 words) O elmax + 6 - things you said under the stars and in the grass (610 words) O byler + 15 - things you said with too many miles between us (422 words)

library - 447 words, fluff, mike works at the library and will loves his boyfriend no matter how annoying he may be

warm my heart - 480 words, established byler fluff, will pov

Pre-Volume 1 Speculation

california sunset - 485 words, byler scene in the pizza van :]

mike wheeler speaking - 289 words, mike monologue

hand-hold ficlet - 232 words, byler speculation

heroes - 187 words, takes place during cali road trip, a little byler angst, internal monologue

love, mike - 685 words, letter from mike, so much angst but also byler, EDIT: I changed it from ‘from’ to ‘love’ :]

paper truths - 310 words, angst, season 4-ish

byler argument - 167 words, season 4 speculation, mike finds out about el getting bullied and will and mike argue about it, UPDATE i lowkey predicted the roller rink argument scene 😭

Pre-Volume 2 Speculation

"Will the Wise" - 235 words, season 4 fic, eddie hears about mike's old friend will the wise

mike in hiding - 581 words, season 4 byler scene + mike gets vecna'd

not yet - 545 words, vol2 byler scene speculation, mike asks will about his "crush", and neither of them are ready to say what they really mean

byler vecna concept - NOT A FIC, but a volume 2 concept that i'm now obsessed with; i might end up writing it

clock chimes - 300 words, another vecna mike fic <3

you're the heart - 459 words, byler scene based on the leaked calendar and track thingy, painting reveal

Longer Fics (1k-3k words)

airport reunion, take 2 - 2.3k words, spring break of '87, the wheelers pick up the byers from the airport and mike has a huge crush on will, fluff and humor :>

Pre-Volume 1 Speculation

reawakening - 2k words, smalltown boy, also artist will and generally cute byler vibes :)

pouring (my heart out) - 1.7k words, angsty rain kiss, will has powers, mike pov :)

rocky roads with uncertain ends - 2.9k words, will and mike ignoring each other angst, angry confessions, roadtrip

Pre-Volume 2 Speculation

so i stayed in the darkness with you - 1.8k words, post-painting reveal and will-getting-vecna'd, byler first kiss in the moonlight <3

[howtobecomeadragon]

mike gets a shark's tooth necklace at the beach. he got it on a whim! it just seemed like something cheap to get as a souvenir. he's a little embarrassed about it, but whatever. it makes him feel kinda cool and beachy. like a surfer dude, like someone will might've seen in california.

mike gets home, and frankly, the more time that passes, the less mike is even sure if he likes it all that much. but when he first wears it in front of the party, it's suddenly obvious that will likes it... a lot. he keeps staring when mike has it on. it gets mike unbearably flustered.

when will finally kisses him, mike is overwhelmed by it all. it changes everything. will being so close makes mike's head spin, dizzy with the taste of will's tongue in his mouth. that night, so much of the kiss is a blur, but one thing that definitely sticks out in the forefront of mike's mind was how will hooked a couple fingers around the necklace and tugged on it gently as mike pressed his lips to will's.

mike keeps the shark's tooth necklace on for a very long time after the beach vacation. the others tease him for it but mike still catches will's eyes on his neck when he has it on. he's a little torn up about it when the clasp breaks, but will manages to cheer him up again. all it takes is a kiss.

mike gets another one the next summer though, a goofy smile on his face as he hands it to the cashier with a couple dollars to pay. it's a small price to pay for will's reaction.

[howtobecomeadragon]

Nancy and Jonathan eventually have a kid. Mike and Will have been together for years by now and haven't ever really thought about kids until now. But all of a sudden, Mike is an uncle. A very proud, enthusiastic, and fun uncle, as it turns out.

Will watches Mike with little baby Byers-Wheeler and a feeling crashes into him like a massive wave. Will watches Mike rock their nephew to sleep, use baby talk, and bring home baby clothes to gift to Nancy and Jonathan. Will notices that Mike picks out a lot of dinosaur and space themed clothing. Mike pulls out a few toys that he'd held onto all these years, the ones with sentimental value, and he brings them over to Nancy and Jonathan's, putting the toys in the baby's toy chest.

Mike starts to encourage Will to hold the baby more when they visit their siblings, begging Jonathan to take pictures with his camera. He keeps asking Will, "Isn't he cute? I remember when Holly was this small. He's adorable, isn’t he? Do you think he looks like me at all, with the Wheeler genes?" Will thinks to himself that Mike has never been more adorable.

One night in bed before he and Mike turn out the lights, about a month after Nancy had the baby, Will supposes it wouldn't hurt to just ask.

"Mike, do you want to look into having a kid together?"

Mike's answer comes out faster than his mouth seems to be able to form the words, like he'd been waiting hours or days or weeks for Will to ask: "Yes. Yeah, let's do that. I want to have a baby with you."

[light-lanterne]

Hi! Idk if you're into it, but can I request some Byler and vivisection please? Look it up if you don't know what it is, I get the feeling it's right up your alley

hello ! thanks for the ask ~! a lovely mutual (rori) has been sharing stuff about it here and there so i know what it is, don't worry :]

anyway, you'll forgive the uninspiring scenario and the massive departure from your prompt, but i'm a little dry on creativity these past couple days so this is the only thing i could come up with. i hope it's enough:

tw // abundant, vivid, semi-anatomically-correct descriptions of gore - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ☽ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a short offering @boycattj, @byelerss, @catboy-cabin, @cosmobrain00, @dark-quill, @conanssummerchild, @fenixashes, @fluffyfangirl, @foodiewithdahoodie, @holyvirgilscriptures, @hyperfixationcentralsvoid, @rotisseries, @wheelersboy, @yearninginblue.

s5 scenario where byler are trapped by themselves in the upside down. they are lost, tired, they've been fighting quite a lot and they just want to find somewhere safe to spend the night and recover a little bit of their strength.

luck, however, isn't on their side and they get mauled by a pack of demogorgons. they manage to outrun most of them via trickery and deception; they even manage to kill a couple.

but it's not enough and, just when they think they're finally safe, a lone beast follows their tracks and finds their hiding spot, attacking and ripping to shreds the belly of one of them before the other is able to do anything and neutralise the threat via bashing them in the head with a bat.

so, the demogorgon is dead and the one who killed it (could be either mike or will) takes a moment to recover his breath, then turns around and notices just how bad the other is doing so he rushes to his side. kneels by him. of course, he quickly realises the blood loss is almost too much and starts to crack under the pressure of what's happening, but he keeps trying and even manages to stop most of the bleeding with one hand...

...but then shock sets in and the heart stops, and the one still awake —who again, only has one hand available since they're still trying to stop the bleeding with the other— is forced to take a rather unorthodox approach towards saving the other's life.

if it's mike, it's because of his unyielding determination and stubborn resolution to not let vecna win after everything that's happened. if it's will, it's because of his love for mike and maybe because he's lost a little bit of sanity throughout the last few months of their struggle, with the constant nightmares and taunting vecna's been subjecting him to non-stop.

whoever it is, he's a little deranged over the situation and thus, he doesn't hesitate to stick his hand inside the tear —careful not to be too forceful in an effort to keep the guts intact—, then slides it under the sternum and pushes past the liver, stomach and diaphragm and reaches towards the heart, erratic spasms from the lungs a clear indicator of how quickly the other's condition is deteriorating and how urgent the situation is.

so he keeps going. and at first, the fingertips barely touch the muscle, the blood is slippery and makes it so the heart keeps moving further into the ribcage, and it's a rather awkward angle so he has to consistently rearrange the position of his hand. but then he figures it out, pushes a little bit deeper —closer—, and finally manages to get a firm hold onto the heart and squeezes.

gently, softly. he has no idea what he's doing but he's determined and he's already in so deep (literally) so he's not going to stop.

thus, he massages the heart and tries to make the blood flow from one chamber into the other —just like mr. clarke showed them in biology class—, then maybe even moves their position a little so he can attempt to give some rather-ineffective mouth-to-mouth, barely any air making it past the throat due to the atrocious angle, yet enough air entering the lungs to inflate them a little and pushing them closer to the hand that's still in there.

little by little, for several minutes, he keeps struggling to reanimate the heart and get it back in working order until, finally, the demogorgon's poor victim takes a deep, tortured breath and the heart beats a couple times on its own, its rhythm slow and uneven but at least it's there.

moreover, there are yells in the distance and they've been there for a while, but the boys were a little busy to notice and it is only now that they realise it's their party and thus, help is on the way and everything is going to be fine and it is! the others arrive promptly and help the unfortunate teenagers through their conundrum, then a few weeks go past and the upside down is out of their lives so everything should go back to normal soon.

and for the most part, that's exactly what happens. life is not quite what it used to be before the gates opened —much less before will was even taken—, but slowly, the anxiety and nightmares the entire party now suffers start decreasing as time goes by and it's probably only going to be a couple years before they can all feel a sense of peace and calm at long last.

but during the quiet nights, when they're completely alone in their bedrooms with nothing but their own thoughts as companions, mike and will keep thinking back to that moment. to when one of them had to do something so odd to save his life.

for the receiver, it's a little confusing since it's all a blur, the strange, phantom sensation of having a hand around his cardiac muscle somehow entwining with the endorphin rush produced by the delusional daydreams he was having at that moment, on the brink of death, when the pain of what his body was going through was no longer being registered in his tired brain, and thus, the pressure of a foreign object in his chest somehow being logged in his mind as something that felt nice.

for the giver, however, it's all much clearer. much more vivid. if he focusses enough, he can still feel the warmth of the blood and smooth innards against his palm, all over his skin and under his nails; the pressure of the viscera pushing against his fingers, the space tight and clearly not meant to house any more mass, yet squishy and malleable and able to make enough room for the slim hand; the blood inside the heart moving from one side to the other, the sensation not too different from that of playing around with a water balloon...

...the bizarre feeling of the lungs expanding and breathing in life at the very end, his hand suddenly trapped and unable to move by the increased volume, almost as if the inside of his loved one's body was trying to hold him and keep him there, unmoving for just a little bit longer, nestled between some of the most important organs in the entire human body (the very organs he'd just reanimated and essentially returned life to with his very breath and gentle force).

so he lays in bed, hand extended towards the ceiling, the light from outside his window illuminating his fingers, and he pictures how they looked back when he finally pulled out to give room for the others to finish saving the other's life.

he pictures his hand covered in crimson blood, the likes of which was too quick to get cold upon being in contact with the air, then sighs in melancholy as he chases after the memory of the wonderful heat and pressure he'll unfortunately never get to feel again.

- the end -

(now that this is done, i must ask,,, is vivisection a weird kink ? >.< not shaming in the slightest (and this isn't technically vivisection so it's not even right), but i was writing the last couple paragraphs when it hit me that not everyone is an aroace ex-med student like yours truly so i was just going with the vibes while it is entirely possible that anon had a different angle when sending their request x.x oh well, it's done. thanks for the ask, for reading, and for letting me write weird stuff !! have a lovely day / night ~)

[light-lanterne]

my brother's watching evangelion and i can barely remember the plot, but here's an idea:

cw // self-dehumanisation, light mentions of violence - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ☽ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - small offering, @boycattj, @byelerss, @catboy-cabin, @conanssummerchild, @cosmobrain00, @dark-quill, @fenixashes, @fluffyfangirl, @holyvirgilscriptures, @foodiewithdahoodie, @hyperfixationcentralsvoid, @ivytheenbyfae, @runninguplenorahills, @rotisseries, @saffirez, @willow-lark, @yearninginblue.

au where mike is a mech pilot who's long forgotten how to feel. who only knows how to kill and be part of the machine.

he obviously didn't start off this way, of course. as a child, he used to be vivacious and energetic; full of dreams and creative ideas he constantly shared with his friends. but then he grew older and the people around him pressured him into joining nerv and, because he isn't strong, fast, and no one would listen to the ideas of a complete newcomer, he somehow ended up piloting a mech unit, his determination and desire to prove he could be useful somehow rendering him an amazing pilot.

so he dedicated himself to it. volunteered to take on other pilots' shifts. spent far too much time in the machine for it to be healthy but it was the only way he could be helpful in humanity's struggle against the destructive angels. the only thing he was good at. little by little, he grew used to the many negative symptoms of being inside the biomechanic suit, and even came to think of them as normal. little by little, his brash and defiant personality mellowed out and soon, he became a husk of his former self, the only emotion he knows anymore being that of constant anxiety but not from having to get inside the mech.

from being away from it.

from having to rest in a home where nobody will talk to him anymore; from having to go to school and see the classmates who are now afraid of him; from being forced to spend time with "friends" who don't even address his mere presence unless it's to remind him of his place.

from having to walk amidst humans who only see him as a tool, just as easily breakable as he is replaceable.

and he is. replaceable, that is. he's a frail flesh being with a mind that could easily collapse if he's not careful, and whom the higher-ups would never hesitate to toss in the trash if they ever deemed him ineffective. whom the machine could simply go on without should he not be in perfect working order, ready to help it fulfil its duty.

that's why he must devote his entire self to his mech. that's why he mustn't think, talk or question orders and instead wait patiently for any and all indications. because he needs this. he needs to be good, follow the rules and fulfil his role; he needs to be a perfect engine part and work for the body he's become a part of as best as he can. he's eager, desperate to obey and serve this being for which he feels he was made for, and anything that distracts him from his only purpose is not worth any attention.

he's no longer human. he's only a cog.

and maybe he would question this conclusion he's come to if anyone told him he was wrong. if someone reminded him of his humanity and his life before nerv,,,

but everyone seems to agree with his assessment. in fact, everyone's been instructed to treat him as an object by nerv's higher ups, and everyone is happy to oblige and perpetuate mike's self-dehumanisation.

,,,everyone but the mech technician who's been tasked with helping mike and his mech recover after a bad encounter with an angel. who constantly pushes for conversations even if he never gets a reply, who learns to give him faux orders to get basic answers out of him, and who eventually figures out that the only time he can talk to mike (the only time mike's conditioned himself to allow himself to think) is when he's inside his mech.

the mech technician who is secretly an angel and whose plan to destroy nerv from within has taken a detour for he really wants to see what mike can do (for or against the angels) once he's taught it's okay for him to be human again.

- the end -

(in this au, brenner's the head of nerv, henry and willel were normal children who he turned into angels, and mike's the poor soul he's picked to see what happens if a human deludes themselves into seeing themselves exclusively as part of the mech (a process mike unwittingly began by himself and brenner merely picked up on and decided to exacerbate). oh, and of course, will's the angel who nearly took out mike~ )