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“Hey, Mike?” Will asked. “Why now?”
Mike was silent for a long time, so long Will thought he wasn’t going to answer at all. “I just… I don’t know. How can I move on if I don’t know for sure? I can’t stop thinking that if she is out there, if I was right, and I don’t even try to find her, then maybe I really didn’t deserve her.”
A year after graduation, Mike decides to start a search for El and asks Will to come with him. Their friendship hasn't been the same since Will came out and Eleven disappeared, so Will agrees, kicking off a complicated journey that brings them back together. Will is in college, trying to move on, and Mike is idling in Hawkins, torn between his past with El and his confusing feelings for Will. As the search brings them closer than either ever imagined, Will and Mike grapple with first loves, moving on, and growing up together.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 137,389
- Chapters:
- 17/17
- Comments:
- 145
- Kudos:
- 343
- Bookmarks:
- 138
- Hits:
- 11,460
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
29 Jun 2026
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Will doesn’t know how long this lasts for, just that when he finally stops weightlessly crashing into his own memories, it’s because he’s crushed the coffee cup in his hand, and scalding hot water splatters across his chest and lap.
At least, it feels scalding.
Because He likes it cold.
Will can’t do anything but stare at nothing, sweat dripping down his back. The feeling passes – there’s nothing tugging at him anymore. But he remains utterly frozen.
Turns out, there really is nowhere to run. No airplane that can take you high enough.
Stupid. So stupid.
OR
It’s been 5 years since the Upside Down was destroyed, and with it, the Mind Flayer and his creatures. Will is running from the past; Mike can’t seem to move on from it. Lucas and Max are navigating what it might mean to be in it for life, and Dustin… well, he just misses the action. But it looks like he’s about to get what he wants, because the Mind Flayer wasn’t a singular entity, and some stories don’t end when they’re supposed to.
(THIS WORK IS NOT ABANDONED SHMG)
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
05 May 2026
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The Rook by vader_incarnate
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn, Star Wars Legends: Dark Empire (Comics), Star Wars Legends: New Jedi Order Series - Various Authors
07 Mar 2026
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Summary
He fell, and the galaxy kept turning.
Fifteen years after his fall, Luke Skywalker tends his gardens in a Force-null prison on Myrkr: isolated, monitored, and mostly forgotten by the galaxy he once tried to save.
Then Mara Jade shows up dying from a Vong bioweapon, and suddenly the Republic might have a use for a caged Sith Lord after all.
The question is whether Luke Skywalker can be trusted to save the galaxy – or if letting him out will just give them a different kind of apocalypse.
"When have impossible tasks ever stopped me before?"
Or: I present for your enjoyment: "what if the NR took Dark Empire seriously," combined with "what if the Vong War but you ignore all of the EU after Dark Empire," plus "what if dark-ish! Luke during the NJO." If that sounds fun, you are my people.
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
02 May 2026
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“How was I supposed to know that something wasn't right here?”
It's December 1999. The world holds its breath for the new millennium, and the survivors of Hawkins have spent the last twelve years lying to themselves.
Mike hides in fiction. Will hides in art. The rest hide in marriages, careers, and the false security of conformity. But when a mysterious child knocks on Mike's door with a diary and the Hive Mind violently reawakens inside Will, the illusion shatters.
Eleven's sacrifice didn't buy them peace. It only bought Vecna the time he needed.
The miracle of 1987 was remission. Now, the disease is back.
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
22 Apr 2026
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But it wasn’t a monster that came out of the trees. It was a person. A boy.
Mike froze.
Then he was spotted, and the boy stopped in his tracks; with skillful movements, he quickly slung the rifle off his shoulder and pointed it at Mike’s chest. Mike raised his hands while trying to keep most of his weight on his left leg.
“Whoa. Hey,” Mike said, his eyes wide as he stared at the tip of the rifle. “Just hold on. I’m not—I’m not going to hurt you.”
Or: A crawl gone wrong left Mike stranded in the Upside Down. Hurt and alone, Mike stumbles upon someone everyone told him was dead.
Will Byers was never found Au
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 154,503
- Chapters:
- 23/23
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 4,428
- Kudos:
- 12,431
- Bookmarks:
- 2,749
- Hits:
- 359,968
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
20 Apr 2026
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Five years after the Upside-Down is destroyed, Will's powers return in violent and spectacular fashion. A fugitive from both the law and a secret government agency, Will must reunite with a friend he thought he lost and unravel the mystery of his powers, both new and old, before a true monster is unleashed upon the world.
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
17 Mar 2026
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Twenty-two years after leaving, Will travels back to Hawkins to face his past. Only Mike now lives there, too.
Or, ‘He might as well have carved 'Mike' into his thigh. It would have been more honest.’
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 65,525
- Chapters:
- 15/15
- Comments:
- 2,486
- Kudos:
- 2,687
- Bookmarks:
- 998
- Hits:
- 57,205
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
11 Mar 2026
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Strange things were always happening in Hawkins, Indiana. Kidnappings, murders, disappearances . . . the 80s classics. But this time is different. This time, homes are melting into the ground, ash is falling like snow, and soldiers roam every street, hunting for something they can't name. This time, mothers swear they saw men with flowery heads eating out of trash cans at night and fathers go to work in hazmat suits.
This time, the lightning between thunderclouds is red.
Strange things were always happening in Hawkins, Indiana.
But there are stranger things, still.
***
In which I attempt to right the wrongs of Stranger Things Season 5 in the true sci-fi horror spirit of previous seasons.
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
09 Feb 2026
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After years of waiting for Mike to see him, Will decides to stop waiting.
OR
The party goes to Stacey Albright’s after lasagna, and that night turns the summer of ’89 into something Will never expected.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 136,476
- Chapters:
- 7/?
- Comments:
- 591
- Kudos:
- 2,743
- Bookmarks:
- 489
- Hits:
- 55,633
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
03 Feb 2026
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Summary
Will raised an eyebrow at his friend's antics, then dropped his eyes to where he knew Dustin had reached a hand out towards him.
“This summer, we stick together. You and me, Byers.”
Will grinned, taking Dustin’s hand and shaking it. “You and me, Henderson.”
A rewrite of S3:
The night Dustin gets back from Camp Knowhere, he brings the Party up to the highest point in Hawkins to set up Cerebro. He thought that his friends would be excited to have him back-- even if it wasn't the most entertaining to sit on a hill and talk into a radio with no response, he thought they would at least wait for him before going home. He thought it was going to be the best summer ever.
Instead, he finds himself and the one friend that didn't leave him, Will Byers, intercepting a weird Russian transmission.
And, well... if he couldn't have the best summer ever, at least he and Will would have an eventful one.
Series
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 56,530
- Chapters:
- 8/8
- Collections:
- 4
- Comments:
- 473
- Kudos:
- 4,344
- Bookmarks:
- 1,011
- Hits:
- 66,648
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
01 Feb 2026
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Will never thought his life would play out like a film. He was just the background noise, the extra on set. He never expected to be the kind of person movies make the main character. The kind of person who gets swept up in a story to be told.
Then Mike showed up, and the scenes started feeling like they were his.
~
or: Will Byers moves to Hawkins from California, gets an after-school job at the video rental store, and meets Mike Wheeler — who, it turns out, might be checking out more than just movies.
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
30 Jan 2026
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Please don't leave me (I'll always need more) by willel_domination
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
04 Apr 2026
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Summary
“Did you know?” he asked at the last moment, voice cracked and warbly from crying. He hadn’t sounded that young in years.
She hesitated for one painstaking moment, and at last replied, “No, Mike.”
She almost closed the door, but stopped again.
“I am sorry,” she whispered, remorse staining her voice, and quietly closed the door behind her.
Three days after graduation, Will disappeared in the dead of night with nothing but a note left in his absence, and Mike's heart left with him.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 108,994
- Chapters:
- 13/13
- Comments:
- 280
- Kudos:
- 956
- Bookmarks:
- 248
- Hits:
- 20,382
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
29 Jan 2026
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Summary
The voice came out a bit snarky, in a way that was far too recognizable. “Well, not your landlord, clearly.”
Will could have dropped the phone. “Mike?”
Mike’s voice on the other line hesitated this time. “Yeah. It’s me.”
OR:
The year is 1994. The gates to the Upside Down closed nearly seven years ago. Jane Byers-Hopper sacrificed herself seven years ago. Will Byers is a jaded and overworked painter living in New York City, and has not been in Hawkins since graduation, back in ‘89.
That was, until, he receives a call from an old friend about fulfilling a promise made back in 1987; to finish their D&D campaign that they'd started in the midst of the war. Seven years of night terrors begin to bleed into his own reality as he returns home, and Will is forced to face the music that he has been running from for as long as he can remember.
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
29 Jan 2026
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the time problem (maybe this time we'll get it right) by GodsFavoriteUser
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
19 Jan 2026
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Summary
They were finally free. The sky had returned to its natural blue, the ground closed up, and the fog of black smoke no longer hung over Hawkins. Mike had to keep reminding himself of that fact. Everything was perfect.
Maybe too perfect.
OR
Post season 5 fix-it, where everyone was Vecna'ed and the world did "end," and now they have to figure out how to get back home. But the way to get home might suck more than if they were to stay in the messed up, distorted version of Hawkins. At least for Mike.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 69,861
- Chapters:
- 10/10
- Comments:
- 341
- Kudos:
- 1,013
- Bookmarks:
- 336
- Hits:
- 16,803
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
25 Jan 2026
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Summary
After proclaiming himself an Atheist one night at the dinner table, Mike's parents exile him to an Evangelical Summer Camp for one last summer before college.
But this year is different. On top of rejecting his faith, he can't stop thinking about the mysterious boy working as a caretaker.
COMPLETE
Series
- Part 1 of Indiana Summer
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 67,469
- Chapters:
- 12/12
- Comments:
- 287
- Kudos:
- 903
- Bookmarks:
- 335
- Hits:
- 29,456
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
16 Jan 2026
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Summary
"Chance bit the inside of his lip. Truthfully, part of him believed Jason’s Hellfire theory was a desperate story fueled by the grief of losing Chrissy, but the more Chance watched Hawkins fall apart, literally, the more he felt his old logic snap into place. Maybe Jason had been right, the town had a wound and something crawled out of it, something that hid in plain sight. Chance didn’t believe in revenge, the Bible says justice belonged to God or the law. But, if there really was an evil in this town, wouldn’t it be just as evil to do nothing about it? To let it happen?"
OR
After losing two of his friends in the Hawkins “earthquake,” Chance joins a church grief group that believes Will Byers is the vessel for Satan. To prove them wrong, Chance agrees to befriend Will, but the closer he gets, the more the lines between faith, fear, obsession and love start to blur.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 109,882
- Chapters:
- 8/8
- Comments:
- 843
- Kudos:
- 4,647
- Bookmarks:
- 986
- Hits:
- 107,716
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
10 Nov 2025
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Summary
The Upside-Down seeps further into Hawkins day by day. Some changes are good: Max wakes up.
Some changes are bad: Mike realises he's been lied to.
Will is faced with a decision, and no matter what he chooses, everyone else will face the consequences.
Series
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
09 Nov 2025
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Cross my heart, won't tell no other by willel_domination
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
13 Jun 2026
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Summary
“I won’t tell him,” she says softly. “Any of them. About any of it.”
Will looks up with surprise. “Why?” he asks.
Nancy just gives a tight smile, but in her eyes, something deeper brews. “You keep my secret, and I’ll keep yours,” she responds.
Will doesn’t really understand much about Nancy Wheeler at all. But Will’s happy to be her secret keeper, so he nods.
OR,
At the end of the world, makeshift living arrangements push the unexpected together, and a new Byers-Wheeler alliance forms.
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
31 Oct 2025
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i’ve never done this before, can you help me out? by Anonymous
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
18 May 2024
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Summary
Mike’s wanted to do something like this for awhile. Excited, and expecting to get his dick wet in a way he’s always fantasized, however falling for this guy with the pretty eyes laying out on the bed… he wasn’t expecting that.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 74,312
- Chapters:
- 17/17
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 135
- Kudos:
- 614
- Bookmarks:
- 122
- Hits:
- 24,874
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
02 Sep 2025
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Summary
On November 6, 1983, Will Byers vanished. On November 12, he was rescued by the wrong people.
Sometimes he wondered if he’d have been better off staying in the Upside Down.
A Season 1 AU in which Will is not saved, he is simply taken from one hell to another. At Hawkins Lab, his new prison, he endures unthinkable torture and develops skills he never could have imagined. With every day that passes, he finds himself wondering if he will ever be rescued. Back at home, his friends and family continue the search. But after years pass and still no news, their hope is dwindling. Only a fool would keep holding out.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 102,941
- Chapters:
- 32/32
- Comments:
- 419
- Kudos:
- 916
- Bookmarks:
- 199
- Hits:
- 22,872
Bookmarked by ToTryAgain
06 Dec 2024