#married byeler

[bodegacat-withboots]

The way Noah just wishes for Will’s happiness in every interview. For him to engage in his hobbies and his passion. I know he’ll fight the Duffer brothers for me.

[yourelosingains]

Will and Mike are currently committing husbandism as we speak

[mitokitsune]

Author: @koumitsu

Chapter 5:

"Are you going to say yes?" 

“Yes,” Mike says, then a heartbeat later: “Are you saying yes?”

“Of course,” Will says, clearly affronted by the accusation. “Did you think I was going to say no?” 

“Never"

 

@bylerbigbang

[whynotimtired]

The duffer brothers with their "oh we LOVE Anne with an E" asses, possibly one of the most frustrating slow burns in the world and then somehow making it worse by paralleling byler to Anne/Gilbert and then also literally hiring amybeth mcnulty miss anne with an e herself to play the other half of their lesbian ship which is ALSO paralleled to byler

[winged-wolf-dreamer]

Like... let's say Byeler doesn't happen and The Scottish Ship is endgame... that means Mike went from a sweet and caring boy who loved his friends to... someone who constantly blew off his friends and became an asshole once he got a girlfriend. Which is really in contrast to Lucas and Max.

So what would be the message there? If you get a girlfriend, you stop caring about your friends? What kind of message is that to young people.

But then, we do live in a society that thinks toxic, unequal relationships are normal and still makes fun of the nagging wife and shackled husband who, poor him, is married to said wife. So guess they had to make one of the main relationships like that.

[byliever]

Can I say how much I appreciate your family-centered married!byeler fics? As much as I love getting-together fics, there is a TRAGIC SHORTAGE of established byeler in this fandom. And having them be married with adopted kids?? With flashbacks to an alternate (hem hem *improved*) timeline? Chef's kiss. You're doing the lord's work, good vibes to you

Can I say how much I appreciate getting this?

Every time I'm reminded that there are real, living people out there that read and enjoy my stories, I get a little giddy. It's weird to me that people like things I created lol

Thanks for the good vibes! Sending some to you!

[serendipitous-magic]

Any HCs for older (30s/40s) / married byler? :)

Yes! And most of them are blatantly self-indulgent (don’t look too closely at Mike’s career path, I swear it’s not just me projecting), and I’m not even sorry. :) Let’s gooooo!

(Also, note: I took this in a very fluffy domestic direction, so sorry if anybody was really hoping for some NSFW HCs or wedding HCs or something like that - although I might be convinced to expand on that another time. ;) )

-As a young couple in their 20s they lived in a typical shitty apartment near where they went to college, but now as they’re getting more established and their careers are picking up, they’ve moved into something more similar to a townhouse / condominium in the city where they work. They don’t need an entire house, really, and besides, they’re usually not a huge fan of suburbia. If they did have a house, it would probably be one of those small-ish houses near the outskirts of the city - you know the type I mean. Lots of renovation expenses because it’s so old, but unique and cozy enough that it makes up for the hassle. I do tend to picture them in more of a townhouse/condo situation, though.

-Speaking of careers, they both got into something creative. Neither of them at all wanted to work in any type of office environment. Will fought tooth and nail to make a living with his art, which has made for some rough spots financially, but now that they’re getting through their 30s and into their 40s, it seems like it’s finally starting to even out and become more reliable as a source of income. He may do concept art for movie / TV / video game studios, he may do comic illustrations, he may do commissions, maybe a combination. 

-Mike, meanwhile, leaned into his passion for storytelling and his leadership skills - but I feel like Mike would wander in a couple different directions with that. Trying out this path, then this one - less of a cohesive, driven career path than Will’s, just trying things until he landed on something he really liked. Maybe he dabbled in computer engineering in college for a while (see: Mike’s nerdy mini-conversation with Bob about programming languages), decided that wasn’t quite for him, tried some creative writing classes, some film studies. Maybe he was a high school history or language arts teacher for a few years after college, what with his caring and nurturing instincts, his nerdiness, his leadership skills, his passion for stories (LotR, Star Wars, and D&D, anyone?), etc. But that probably wasn’t quite for him. Eventually, after having storytelling hobbies for most of his life, he starts integrating that into his career kind of on accident - and that’s when he hits on what he actually likes doing for a living. He consistently writes short stories on the side and submits them to magazines for publication. Maybe he uses something like commercial writing/directing as a stepping-stone, making heartfelt hit-you-in-the-feels and funny-memorable commercials for shitty instant coffee and cotton tee shirts, and that block on his resume is what gets him into The Business for real. From there it’s small-time TV  studios, sitting in a writers’ room hunched over cold coffee cups, chattering with a table full of other creatives about plot twists that will air on local stations. Or maybe he’s on set, wearing black jeans and a black tee that won’t reflect the light and mess up the shot, flipping through a clipboard of rumpled papers and hustling towards a fast-incoming deadline. Maybe he’s third-in-command on set, right-hand-man to the right-hand-man of the director. Continuity supervisor or art director. Or maybe he’s a practical effects guy, mixing up buckets of sludge or fake blood or figuring out a way to make a plastic-and-foam lobster puppet look alive. In any case, he’s doing something he really enjoys, and he’s steadily moving up in the ranks. Will swears he’s going to be directing blockbusters in Hollywood before they’re fifty; Mike always scoffs at that, laughing it off, but Will isn’t entirely joking.

-They have a medium-sized dog - something with a long snout and a long tail. Will counts himself as a dog person, but for a while there after the fall of ‘84, it was hard for either of them to be around big dogs without remembering the Demodogs. But it’s been decades, and somewhere in their late 30s (when they finally live somewhere with some form of backyard), they finally feel ready to get a puppy.

-Semi-regularly, they group-call the old Party and play D&D over the phone (much like The Adventure Zone). Sometimes one or both of them (Mike or Will) will be trying to do something else in the background at the same time - cooking dinner, working on a piece of art, etc. (Hey, they’re adults, they’re chronically short on time. Gotta multitask where they can.) This leads to occasional bouts of hilarity - like the time Mike almost knocked his entire laptop into a pot of spaghetti sauce because he was trying to DM and cook simultaneously. These over-the-phone D&D sessions are invariable merry and hilarious, cheering everyone up even after the worst of days. The Party is often spread out over the whole country - Mike and Will probably in one of the hubs of the storytelling industry (San Francisco or NYC), Dustin somewhere in the midwest doing scientific field work, Lucas still somewhere in or near Indiana, El and Max living in a new city every other year - but these phone calls bring them all together, and remind them of “simpler” times when they were kids in the Wheelers’ basement.

-Nancy is a highly successful journalist who travels a lot for her work, and whenever she and Mike / Will are in the same city, they make sure to meet up for coffee if not a day or two of old-times sibling shenanigans. Nancy has considered Will like a brother ever since they were teenagers, and that only strengthens as they grow older. But Mike, especially, reverts right back to a fifteen year old whenever his big sister is in town, throwing potato chips at her across the table and teasing her until she chases him with her soup spoon, and the whole time Will is just laughing with his face in his hands, pretending to be embarrassed but really just happy to see the two of them both happy.

-Similar situation with Jonathan. ^^^ He kept up his photography through the years, but like Mike, he’s wandered from career path to career path, just trying things out. (Whether he and Nancy are together depends on your own HCs, but be assured, whenever he’s in town he and Will are just as insufferable as Mike and Nancy.)

-It’s a long time before either (let alone both) of them feel ready to seriously consider kids. They both have a lot to work through after what they went through as kids themselves, and being a parent means being 100% there for someone else’s needs, often at the sacrifice of your own. Not to mention that with both of their creative-based careers, with not nearly as much financial stability as some of their peers, they’ve had some years where supporting just the two of them is a challenge. But eventually, they do get to the point where they start thinking about kids. I think they’d have at least one. Maybe they adopt, maybe they team up with El and Max (depending on how you HC the girls at that point) to do an in vitro deal, it depends.

-They visit Joyce and Hop (who are married) for Christmas. El and Max come home for the holidays, too. Joyce and Hop moved out of Hawkins together after all the kids moved away for college. Not too awfully far from Indiana, but far enough from Hawkins that they could leave the memories behind. Somewhere fairly rural, but not quite small-town. A large town or small-to-mid-size city, maybe, where they have a house with a big backyard and a big front yard and enough combined beds and couches to house all the “kids” over the holidays. 

-Ever since college, they go to Pride every year - most likely along with El and Max, if the four of them can arrange to meet up.

-Mike and Will still tease each other a lot and play-fight and they still tussle for the remote or the last fry, and they still have nerdy posters up in their living room, and they still trust each other more than anything else and they still geek out over their interests together and they still bicker and protect each other and love each other. So, really, not too much has changed since they were teenagers - they’re just in a better (read: much less homophobic) environment, working on their mental health, growing, healing from years-old traumas, doing what they love for a living (after decades of fighting tooth and nail to make it work), spending time with loved ones. Just living life. Taking new risks. Riding the ups and downs together. 

[stincorrect]

Will: *studying* Dustin: *sets a plant in front of him*  Dustin: This is from Mike.  Will: *looks at Dustin*  Will: *looks at the plant*  Will: *looks at Mike sitting two tables away*  Mike: Just wanted to say “aloe”!  Will: … Dustin: … Will: *looks back at Dustin* Yes, I’ll marry him.

[cipherthedisaster]

Married byeler it is 👀💞

[proud-losers]

Mileven and Byler outcome depictions in episode of All My Children

So, this is my first contribution to the Byler/Byeler tag. I was recently very inspired by @kaypeace21 to dig deeper into Stranger Things, since, after watching season 3 and noticing some things more strongly, I wanted to get much closer to the series than I previously was. I’m also quite new to using tumblr and sharing, so sorry in advance if I mess up something or someone’s already covered everything here! Or if I don’t exactly explain well enough what’s in my head.

There’s this moment in episode 2 of season 2 where El is watching television and one of the channels shows an episode of All My Children (and this episode would’ve been released around the time El is watching it, so that’s very good homework done by the Duffers). What I have is obvious where Mileven and Byler are concerned on the surface level, and after reading kaypeace’s content, but I think these are cool additions to what she talks about so here I go anyway:

The full scene goes as follows:

Alright, now to unpack.

The Duffers said they showed El watching Frankenstein (in this same episode) to depict how El feels like a monster, so why wouldn’t this episode of All My Children contain some sort of deeper significance? This one clip both describes and foreshadows what happens in season 3 between Mike and El and what will happen later between Mike and Will.

I did some research on the background of this All My Children episode’s context and realized the episode El is watching comes after Erica Kane, the woman in-scene, loses her husband in a tragic accident (in which he did not actually die, but this is irrelevant to the main points I’m drawing) and rather quickly gets involved with a man whose name happens to be Mike (same man in-scene). Erica and Mike get together quickly after Erica’s husband’s “death,” and Mike wants her to marry him very shortly after they meet—too quickly after and even during a tragic circumstance. It’s reminiscent of the way in which El gets together with Mike: quickly and born out of tragic circumstances. The word “impetuous,” is specifically highlighted in the scene. It means to be impulsive, rash, hasty: all perfect descriptors of how fast El and Mike supposedly ‘fell in love’ and get together.

It is also important to note that, with Mike’s proposal, the scene’s dialogue cuts off before Erica agrees. The audience isn’t allowed to hear it, which seems intentional. Perhaps because El will move away from her relationship with Mike. Because Mileven won’t be together in the end, just as Erica and Mike ultimately aren’t together in the end either.

When it comes to associating the two Mikes, it’s incredibly interesting that Erica not only says her Mike’s proposal is sudden but is also ‘not like him.’ Fans of All My Children say Mike professes his ‘undying love’ for Erica very shortly after their meeting; again, it’s too quick of a confession, and how can he already be so sure his love is so undying and true? Mike says he is this way—“wild and impetuous”—because Erica made him that way. Now, based on kaypeace’s posts regarding Mike Wheeler’s sexuality and not truly being in love with El but rather Will (example: https://kaypeace21.tumblr.com/post/186074563119/yeah-mike-is-in-denial-and-lying-about-being-in), Mike is with El because there is security with her. It is ‘not like him’ to be in this sort of [heterosexual] relationship in which he is only in it—impetuously so—because of El (highlighted gesture El makes to herself while saying “Me?”), or rather he is ‘this way’ because of the idea of her.

Segway to the highlighted line: “People are going to be aghast.” This line gives me two interpretations, likely going hand-in-hand. Mike and El being together in season 3 do cause a number of “aghast” reactions: Dustin calling it out as “bullshit,” Hopper not finding their relationship normal, Max not approving of the way El is treated, etc. People should be ‘loving it,’ the perceived normalcy of it from Mike’s perspective perhaps, but this relationship is ill-fitting. Even the kiss El initiates in the finale of season 3 shows a very obviously discomfited and confused Mike; he could be thinking ‘I should be loving it,’ and yet it would just not be like him to love it because he is not truly in love with El. There’s also the thought of the aghast reactions toward Byler when it comes about, because it will ‘stun the whole town [Hawkins]/the whole world [viewers perhaps?].’ What of the “they’re gonna love it” line then? The people who matter are going to love them.

There’s certainly more that can be expanded on here, though I think reading kaypeace’s stuff shows the expansions clearly already. Even without the background context, however, just the dialogue alone and the words El highlights points to her relationship with Mike + eventual Byler. I wouldn’t put it past the Duffers to have made this intentional with the background context regardless, since they went as far as to carefully select this particular episode that played in the fall of 1984. Of any other romantic soaps that could’ve played for El, why one with this sort of context that is relevant to El, Mike, and Will? It’s yet another thing in Stranger Things that consistently hints to what’s coming next with these characters, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.

[stuck-in-hawkins]

When He Left: Chapter 1 October 28th, 1993

Stranger Things Fanfic: Byeler

Rated: Teen and Up

Summary: Will looked back to see Mike at the gate, his forced smile starting to crumble. Will had managed to get the chance of a lifetime: a scholarship to an arts college in California. He would be there among the monster makers of the movie industry. He was pursuing his dream, but what was he giving up in exchange?

It has been four years since Will left Hawkins. Everybody went in their own separate directions. But it has been 10 years since the Gate opened and Will's nightmares are getting worse. So, the party reunites and old feelings ignite.

link to read on ao3

October 28th, 1993

Will felt the sunlight across his face and opened his eyes. The covers were insulating the heat from him and the man laying beside him. That thick mop of black hair, the curvature of his tan back. Will reached out and traced the muscles beneath.

Ishaan stirred. Will thought, “Don’t wake up, don’t wake up.” He laid perfectly still. But alas, the man turned over and looked at Will, still groggy but the blanket of sleep quickly wearing off.

Will spoke softly, “Sorry I woke you. I was just gonna make breakfast.”

The man looked away and mumbled, “I have to get to work.”

There it was. The shame. Ishaan was a flame that Will seemed to keep flying back to. He was exactly his type. Tall, beautiful, and incapable of committing to a relationship. They were drawn to each other.

Ishaan was still very much in the closet. But he would come to clubs. He loved that Will had this quiet, inviting exterior. He’d actually told him this. That Will was safe. He wasn’t “that” gay. That he could pass as straight.

Ishaan had no idea about Will’s occasional drag nights.

Ishaan grabbed his clothes quickly with a speed Will had become familiar with. Will had hoped he could open Ishaan’s eyes, and help him learn to love and accept himself for who he was. But when the morning light came, so did the shame. Will embodied all the things Ishaan didn’t want to face and he would put as much distance between him as he could.

Will put on his pj bottoms and walked down the hallway in time to see Ishaan throw on his jacket.

“Ishaan.”

Eye contact.

“Someday, I’d love to have breakfast with you.”

Will could see him try to swallow a lump in his throat.

“I’m sorry, Will.” He opened the door and walked out.

Will padded his way to the kitchen, and opened the fridge, looking at the eggs and bacon sitting inside. He felt deflated. He could feel a familiar tug, trying to pull him back to bed so that he could curl under the covers. But he knew that if he did that, he’d lose the day. And it seemed like a beautiful one to waste. He turned to the window and cranked the handle, opening them. The air was fresh and warmed from the sun.

Will brought out the eggs, bacon, toast, and butter. He’d remembered feeling the same way Ishaan had. He remembered when he first came to the city in college and kept his identity confined to the night. He used to have a similar elitism, trying to separate himself from gay men that seemed especially feminine, doing anything he could to distance himself from the stereotypes that plagued his sexuality. But going to group helped with that. He opened his mind to become more accepting. He even experimented in his identity and found freedom in the exploration.

He cracked the egg into a bowl. Ishaan hadn’t wanted to go to any of the groups Will recommended. He was in denial. He picked up another egg. He thought, 'You're just something he craves.'

Crack.

“Damnit.” He’d gotten eggshells in the mix. He picked them out. Will was beginning to realize that it would take a lot of soul searching for Ishaan to accept himself. Something Will couldn’t help him with. How long would it take? How many more mornings did he have to watch him run out the door?

Will turned on the stove and let the butter simmer while he whisked the eggs together. Dustin’s words rang in his head.

‘You deserve to be more than someone’s secret.’ Dustin didn’t mince words but he was right. And it just seemed like Will was always drawn to the type that didn’t want to come out.

He heard a door open. Dustin groggily walked in from the hallway. “You are a Godsend. Is that eggs I smell?”

Will smiled. “And bacon will be next.”

“Screw all these other guys. Marry me.”

“Pretty sure there are some terms and conditions you wouldn’t be up for there.”

“Forget them. I’ll do all the butt stuff. Just make me eggs every day.”

Will threw the dish towel at him.

Dustin got the grounds out and started making coffee. “Your man-friend still here?”

Will shook his head.

“That’s too bad. He’s missing out on an awesome breakfast.” He smiled, “And some great company.”

Will smirked. He loved living with Dustin.

___________________________

After breakfast Will got ready for work. It was Sunday and he knew he didn’t have to go in, but he needed a reason to get out of the flat. He didn’t want to sit alone, pining for Ishaan. Will could feel that it was ending. It was a transition that he’d done before. It felt all too familiar but still hurt.

The worst part was seeing them months later, out, proud, and in a relationship. He’d be happy for them, but then he’d wonder. Why hadn’t it been with him? Why wasn’t he enough? Why did it seem like they only changed after he left?

But then, again, he knew that wasn’t always true. There were guys that never came out. Like Hartford, who had a wife and kids that were completely unaware of his Friday escapades. Dating him, being his side piece, was a low point for Will.

And then of course…. There had also been Mike.

‘Nope,’ Will thought. He shut down that train of thought and brought out his sketchbook. He needed to distract himself with a project. Studio time helped with that. After all this time, he still had a weakness with Mike. He’d made his peace with pretty much every guy after. But with him, there was a tenderness that had never faded. And if he thought about Mike when he was like this, in the throes of rejection, he’d fall to pieces.

He grabbed his headphones out of his bag as the Metro carried him across town to his stop. These days, his Walkman turned mostly Sonic Youth albums. Today it was Dreamnation. He got off and headed to The WereHouse.

It was a prop house popular among the independent filmmakers and even the occasional large studio. It was owned by two brothers. One ran the historical prop store, located in another part of town. That shop was mostly a gallery of antiques from all different periods, some originals, some reproductions. That had been where Will had gotten his start, running around thrift stores, estate sales, and antique shops trying to find period correct pieces for their inventory.

But when his boss saw Will’s sketchbook, he got transferred to The WereHouse. The other brother’s creative dungeon of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror props and prosthetics. Will was living his dream, getting to make monsters for movies. Though… most of his work consisted of prop dummies that ended up being burned, buried, or otherwise mutilated. Some weeks were spent meticulously painting disembodied limbs, fingers, and heads. Occasionally larger more creative opportunities arose, like the one he was working on now.

The whole project was very hush hush. When studios put out work like this, they were looking for more than monsters: they were looking for talent. Will was pouring in extra hours because getting this deal would mean he’d be part of something big. It wouldn’t just be low cost props for independent filmmakers. They’d have the backing of a studio. It meant potentially being a part of the next blockbuster.

He could be responsible for the next Xenomorph. The idea was both terrifying and elating. As a result, he spent most of his days either drawing or sculpting with the occasional break to eat and sleep. But it took his mind off of the trials and failures of his love life.

He opened the door and nodded to Anderson, who manned the reception desk. He was currently nose deep in the novel, Dune.

Will walked through the vestibule, where some of the past projects were displayed and made his way through the giant room with shelves scraping the ceiling. One row consisted of nothing but body parts: From whole limbs and torsos to severed fingers and toes. On another row, there was a treasure trove of cursed objects: elvish daggers, cauldrons of all different sizes, stitched leather books, crystals of every color.

Will remembered how awestruck he was the first time he came here… well, honestly for the few months. Now, it was just a part of his life. He’d still get these moments of “I can’t believe I’m working my dream job.” But it had become his new norm. He wished the whole party could see it. Dustin had completely lost his shit when he saw it. But they were the only two of the party in Burbank.

Not for long, though. Lucas was nearly finished his last year in the Navy, and Dustin had been pulling every string he could to make sure Lucas got a position as an engineer at the company he worked for, AECOM. Max has been living with her dad on the coast the past few years. Despite being in the same state, she was still about five hours away. Once Lucas was back on shore, there was a chance of them getting back together and her moving closer. But she had that software job and it was more likely Lucas would move up to her.

Over the years, Will had tried to convince Mike to come over to the coast, to get out of Hawkins. Maybe if the rest of them were together, that would be enough to change his mind.

Will walked into the studio, a large space lined with workbenches and cork boards. Mannequins, busts, and chairs for prosthetics and monster makeup were scattered around the room. And the whole space smelled of curing latex, acrylic paint, and plasticine clay. He sat down at the spot reserved for him, that had pictures tacked up as inspiration, along with a multitude of sketches. And there on the bench was a little model, about a foot high, that he had been carving out and tweaking all week. This was the 3rd version.

The studio was looking to create a new kind of monster. Normally, the producer or director would give some parameters of guidelines. But this one was an open book, which meant it was an audition of sorts. Will looked at his board.

In truth, it wasn’t the monster that was terrifying. It was the world the writer built, the atmosphere the director created. The actors, who made the audience care about the characters on the screen. Even the best monster design could be undone with poor timing, shoddy lighting, or terrible acting. They were all vital components of the final product. Once the audience cared about the world, about the characters, they would become invested. Will’s mind began to ponder.

The scariest parts about everything he experienced was the fear of losing it all. Of never seeing his mom, brother, or friends again. Of being alone at the end. Nothing had been more terrifying than losing himself to the mind flayer. To feel his words and body being driven by another. The most terrifying monsters were the ones that you didn’t see. The ones that transformed characters you loved from human to monster.

Will took pictures of his miniature model as it was. He always did before destroying it. Then, he squished the sculpted figure, wedged the clay back into a ball. From there he began the shaping of a human figure. But he arched the back, as if the body was fighting against itself. Where the spine was, legs that were like spiders but out of bone emerged. The muscle tearing at itself, reattaching to the new limbs. The most frightening monster was the one you watched yourself become.

Art was cathartic. It was how he processed everything. It was what got him through the worst parts of college. It gave him power and strength. He had control over his nightmares now. He could create them and destroy them with his own two hands.

In so many ways, coming to California saved him. He learned methods to cope with his identity, with his trauma. He was in a new place where there were less things to trigger flashbacks. The fear didn’t rule his life like it once had. There were days he questioned whether it was all even real. But, lately, he could feel himself backsliding. His nightmares were getting more vivid. They were trying to claw their way into his life here. They held on tighter so that it was harder to wake up. Sometimes, he forgot them as soon as he woke up. He'd be in a cold sweat, the fear shaking him, and he couldn't remember a thing. He was relieved that Ishaan had stayed the night. Having someone beside him seemed to keep the nightmares at bay. This week, he dreamt about the Mind Flayer, about being trapped inside his own head. He remembered sending his friends the code to close the gate. He knew what it meant. He had been resigned to it. It was a cost he had been willing to pay to ensure that the Shadow Monster would be dead for good. He woke up in tears at how willing he had been to accept his death. He cried at all the things he would have lost and felt relief to be alive.

It was because his family managed to pull it from him. His party refused to leave him behind.

He sculpted the man’s pained face. He hoped that if this movie got made, that they’d save the man. That the characters would be as heroic as his friends had been. _____________________________________

Will got off the metro, exhausted, both mentally and physically. Eight hours in a chair, bent over his desk and sculpting, did a number on his back.

He was still listening to Sonic Youth so he didn’t hear the chatter as he reached his floor. He didn’t hear the laughter when he put the keys in the lock. He didn’t hear the voice of the man that used to make his stomach flutter. If he had, he would have prepared himself. He would have made sure to tuck his heart in his chest, instead of on his sleeve.

But alas, he opened the door unsuspecting and the sound he made betrayed himself. It held in it all the love he felt in seeing him again.

“Mike.”

[argylemikewheeler]

Fuck it byeler + someone like you by Adele but the script is flipped and mike’s Adele (will probably isnt marrying a girl either)

... We always talk about Will being heartbroken because he’s the one that moves away, but what if... Mike’s the one that thinks he’ll be fine. He’s the one that stayed in Hawkins, his life didn’t do a complete turnaround. He’s supposed to confess his feelings at the perfect moment and get the boy and all the love and happy feelings and then-- he’s too late. He hears through the grapevine that Will’s got a boyfriend and he’s found such a new life and happiness leaving Hawkins. Mike doesn’t think there’s anyone else like Will-- and doesn’t want to recognize he might’ve missed his only shot so he just shuts everyone out. But then, a couple years down the line... OH BABY it’s time to turn up out of the blue UN-IN-VI-TED. He misses the “summer haze”! He doesn’t want it to all be lost nostalgia! Oh he’s living the lyric “sometimes it hurts instead” like, every gd day, but he just can’t let it go, no matter how fruitless his announcement of feelings may be. Our boy gonna say it and he’s gonna mean it and he’s gonna be sad.

[mitokitsune]

Author: @koumitsu

Chapter 4:

"He plucks one of the flowers from Will's hands, tucking it gently behind Will's left ear.

In return, Will places the half-braided flowers atop Mike's head, giving him a soft smile. "There, now we match."

@bylerbigbang

[wackywriterwhowriteswhenever]

🌺💘🌷get to know you're mutuals! when you get this, it means someone wants to know more about you, so list 5 things about yourself you want your mutuals to know. it can be as simple as your age, or as complex as your biggest fear, as long as its something you're comfortable sharing. when you're done, send this to 10 people you want to know better🌷💘🌺

1. My birthday is March 18.

2. I have two younger sisters. 

3. My grandpa Rex was a player big time. He was heartthrob in the small town of Texas where he grew up and he was married three times and had 17 children. And, technically, he was still married to his second wife when he married my grandma in Vietnam (long story, but the short version is his second family all thought he was dead till he showed up in the late 70s with his new family)

4. I’ve been registered to vote since my 18th birthday and I participate in every election, both big and small.

5. I’m currently writing a Byeler one-shot that may get published this afternoon. It’s a story about Mike not wanting to work on his mother’s presidential reelection campaign, in part because his mother ran for president much earlier than he expected to, which has caused his own career plans to change. Luckily, he’s got Will there to support him.

[valley-cf-the-dclls]

Bruh omg I don’t want Stranger Things to end like at season 4, like, I don’t want another season, but, like, an epilogue where it takes place in the future...

... So I can see that good ol Domestic Byeler fluff, and Mike and Will are happily married and they have a Saint Bernard dog and two cats, but one of the cats is, like, really fat lol and they both make comics together, like, Will does the art and Mike writes the stories and they live in an apartment by the beach, probably in California and yeah basically.

[clericbyers]

How do you come up with ideas? Like I wanna write a super long romance fanfic But I'm bad at thinking up small stuff Big ideas I can do but small ideas? Nah Iike ik I want them to get married and stuff but the small stuff inbetween? Nah Like If I were to write a byeler fic I would feel strange having it be chapter 1: they meet Chapter 2: they start to date Chapter 3 they are engaged Chapter 4: marriage

A big idea is made up of smaller ideas. For example, say I wanna write a story exploring Mike’s PTSD/trauma in combination with Will having powers, which ended up becoming LTH for me, but before I got that fic planned out, I still had the large overarching ideas of Mike’s trauma and Will with powers (the latter of which you can probably see me addressing a lot in the fics I wrote before I centered on LTH bc Will with powers was the little idea for those stories even though in my mind, it could still be a big overarching concept). It’s why I like writing prompts so much because it forces me to focus on little ideas.

Also probably why some things that come up in LTH might sound familiar because I “tested” those ideas out in shorter stories.

This got kinda long so here’s a read more!

Big idea one: Mike and his trauma. That can be split into little ideas as so: what exactly is Mike’s trauma, how does his trauma manifest itself, what caused it, how does it affect other people, how does he recognize it (if he does), how can he heal from it, etc. I have a page in my notes app with these little ideas that are part of the big idea. Focusing on those little ideas, we can build a short story off it. For example, “part 3” of LTH focuses on the little idea of how Mike’s trauma manifests itself. “interlude ‘85” focuses on how Mike deals with it / how it affects other people. Later on, the other little ideas get more focus but they are all tied to the big idea of Mike and his trauma.

Big idea two: Will with powers. This can be split into little ideas as well. What are Will’s powers, how do they manifest, what have we already seen in canon that allows this idea to be an overarching one instead of a little idea, etc. I’ve played around with these little ideas a lot in various shorter stories, testing what Will’s powers could be (seen especially in the story about Hopper and the Byers family), how El would help him (if she can), doing research on D&D to figure out what potential powers he could have so it makes sense. Then, we build short stories off those ideas and that becomes the next part of the story.

So yeah. I used an example of LTH here because it’s public and established to be a long fic, plus I’ve explored some of the “little” ideas as you’ve put it already and I’m just expanding on them a little for this longer fic. That’s generally how I go about building ideas for longer stories, and why I was so excited about LTH because finally I felt I had a handle on these little ideas and had stumbled into an AU that could tackle those ideas.

Now, we’ll take that that to your longer romance story. Say we have those four large ideas as you’ve stated. Those are what I’ll refer to as arcs. Four arcs going as so:

1. They Meet

2. They Date

3. They Are Engaged

4. They Are Married

Each one of those is an arc in your story. Under “They Meet”, ask the little idea questions: how did they meet, why did they end up meeting in the first place, what about this meeting impacts them enough for the story to continue, how does their meet up affect anyone else in the story (if at all), etc. You can build chapters centered around some of those little ideas. For example, detailing how Mike didn’t want to go to some silly house party Lucas was throwing, “You always invite the same boring people, I’m not interested anymore,” but Mike goes anyway and runs into Will, who didn’t really wanna be there either. They hang out for a bit, drink a little, don’t really think much of it but afterwards Mike finds himself realizing he never did get that guy’s name, and thus starts the “what about this meeting impact them enough”. I’m always a fan of the strangers to friends to lovers trope so I feel that the first arc would focus on them becoming friends before realizing they like each other. So then, you have even more little questions: why are they friends, what about the other do they like, how they hang out, what do they have in common, what are their differences, is there any tension between them (if so, explain it, embed it in their interactions), etc.

Arc 2 then is when they start dating and again, ask little idea questions: why did they want to date, what do they like about each other romantically, how does Mike treat Will, what about dating makes Will nervous, etc. These questions would be based on the answers you provide in Arc 1 to keep the story connected. Each idea you wanna focus on becomes its own chapter. Chapters do not have to be super long! It can be like 2K words or 12K it doesn’t matter. Don’t tie yourself to length per chapter. If something can be expressed simply, then express it simply. I’d say allow some of your ideas to be more “angsty” so it’s more realistic. In Arc 1, maybe Will says something that rubs off on Mike wrong and they stop talking for a week before realizing that’s not a possibility, they’re far too close to lose each other (part of the “is there any tension between them” idea). Maybe in Arc 2, Mike accidentally skips a dinner date and they have an argument about it and everyone can tell they’re fighting but Max pulls Mike aside and gets him to apologize (part of the “how does Mike treat Will” idea).

Arc 3 then is when they’re engaged, ask the little idea questions, etc you get the point by now.

tl;dr a story in my mind at least is a series of connected overarching ideas that you ask questions about and then answer in the text. This applies for fiction and nonfiction! You have to ask those questions and then answer them to progress the story. How, why, when, where, and who are your best friends!

Sorry for the length but I hope that helped!