#will byers is dead fic

[stellariumcircus]

will byers is dead | byler au fic | chapter 3

“So, you gonna tell me who this Will guy is?”     Mike let his head fall back. Smoke leaked out one side of his mouth, and Eddie waved it away dismissively above him. “What?”     Eddie sank next to him, various chains and studs rattling, and he plucked the cigarette from Mike’s hand. Mike watched the white end of it disappear between Eddie’s lips. “You heard me, Wheeler. Will. The guys say you’re real torn up about him.”     Mike shrugged and put his eyes where they belonged; on the ground between his feet. “He’s my best friend.”     Eddie made a noise of acknowledgement through an exhale of smoke.     “He moved away,” Mike explained. “Two years ago.”     “Moved away, huh?” His tone was knowing, or at least it thought it was knowing. Eddie didn’t know shit about this. No one did. “He ever visit?”

read will byers is dead chapter 3 on ao3 word count: 8k status: in progress / biweekly updates synopsis: will byers drowned in 1983 after leaving his best friend's house. his mysterious death is mourned by his friends and family - all except for one person. his best friend, mike wheeler, refuses to believe in will's death. his belief is proven justified when he receives a call from will weeks after his supposed death. but will is not alive. his calls come from beyond the other side. will's miraculous calls become a daily occurrence for mike and mike alone. over the years, they attempt to grow up together even from their otherworldly distance. all is well for the first few years, but mike soon struggles to cope with the loss.

note:

hi friends!!! i'm back to writing fics since my union is currently striking, so i thought i'd repost my current fic, will byers is dead, now that i'm actively updating again!

this fic is truly my baby at the moment, so i would love if you read it and gave me your thoughts!

as i close in on the last few chapters of it, i'm also happy to take suggestions on what to write next.

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

"Uh, you can start with these," Eddie said, handing Steve a few of his CDs. "There's Dio, Ozzy, and Iron Maiden."

Steve took them gratefully. "Thanks. The kids tell me Wham! won't cut it for the car."

Eddie smiled. "Yeah, no." He turned back to his CD rack. "I also have less metal and more punk, but I feel like the kids wouldn't like that. But like, uh, Dead Kennedys and The Queers. Also Sex Pistols, but they're kinda basic. And I know Baby Byers is familiar with The Clash, so..." he laughed awkwardly, realizing he was rambling.

Steve was listening with interest. He would never admit it, but he liked hearing Eddie talk. "I think these three are good," he said finally, holding up the CDs. "Thanks again."

"Yeah no problem," Eddie walked him to the door.

Steve walked down the grass before Eddie called out to him, "A Different Corner! It's a good song!"

Steve turned around, looking confused and Eddie chuckled awkwardly, scratching his head. "Uh, Wham!-?"

Steve nodded in understanding. "I dunno, I'd say pretty basic," he said, copying Eddie's earlier words and he continued to walk back with a smile on his face, leaving Eddie standing by the door of the trailer.

"Bastard," Eddie muttered, closing the door, smiling wide.

[harringroveera]

Principal Higgins: You don’t mean that—

Jim: She does

[thornywords]

TLOU x BYLER

The scene where Ellie and Riley ride the magical ponies in circles while giggling and crushing on each other, but I made it byler.

[emily-mooon]

Noticed there wasn’t a ton of photocheer fanart and I wanted to change that (which why isn’t there more these two dorks are so cute together!!!!)

[fastcardotmp3]

It’s 2002 and Jonathan Byers is back home again in Indiana. It’s 2002 and Steve Harrington hasn’t found a love worth fighting for since the one he lost to the Upside Down in 1986. It’s 2002 and they’ve almost found each other.  stonathan // rated T // 3 chapters // 15K total

read on ao3 // snippet under the cut:

“So you and Argyle, huh? Whatever happened there?” Steve questions bluntly around the lip of his bottle. “I would’ve thought he’d come with you if you were moving for the gig and all.” 

Jonathan makes a face, not sheepish or ashamed, but just a face, and then he breathes out a breath which is almost a laugh. 

Steve is coming to realize that Jonathan is a man of almosts. It’s like everything he does isn’t quite on the nose enough to be considered concise or black-and-white in its existence. He’s on the precipice of vulnerability with every breath he takes while just as much keeping one foot in his own little armored pocket of safety at all times. 

It’s kind of infuriating. 

It kind of feels nice just to recognize it at all. 

“Yeah, uh,” Jonathan clears his throat, leaning back on both elbows now and watching the roiling mass of people in the bar instead of Steve, “that didn’t quite work out.” 

Steve’s eyebrows hop high up towards his hairline. 

“For real?” he balks. “I figured you two were sorta locked in by this point.” 

“You figured, huh?” Jonathan looks at him, just out of the corner of his eye. Almost. 

“Oh, forgive me for being curious, man,” Steve deadpans, and earns a quirk of the lips from Jonathan in response. 

A roll of the eyes and a genuine snort of amusement. 

“We tried opening the relationship,” he shrugs, “he discovered he liked being open and I discovered I’m… not great at, uh, sharing.” 

Steve can’t help himself but laugh. Not maliciously, or at least not intending to be, but just because it will never fail to shock him just how well he gets Jonathan Byers sometimes. For all of their differences, every once in a while the guy will just say something that Steve has never been able to put into words but has felt his entire life to be true. 

“Better man than me for even trying,” he says through his laughter, leaning a forearm onto the bar and letting it hold his listing weight. He can hear the bubble of Robin’s laughter over the music from somewhere on the dance floor, an easing thing to the beat of his heart and making it so he doesn’t need to look to check on her. 

He can stay just like this, watching the deft and practiced way Jonathan holds his bottle by the neck between long fingers, and then getting called out within an inch of his life by the calm and deadpanned tone behind, “oh wow, you a little bit possessive? Never knew that about you, Harrington.” 

[thefourchimes]

Revenant Slayers

aka the all of us are dead au

“So what? Are we zombie slayers now or something?”

“I don’t know…I think that’s a bit too on the nose…”

“How about revenant slayers then?”

“Don’t encourage the—nevermind. Guess we have jobs now.”

or

Nancy just wanted to know what to do next.

Jonathan just wanted to help his family.

Robin just wanted to understand what’s going on.

Steve just wanted to make things right.

Too bad a zombie apocalypse decided to crash and burn those plans to the ground with them in it.

But maybe, just maybe…they’ll figure it all out along the way.

[morganski-19]

WIP Wednesday

snippet of my halloween byler fic (originally for day 1 of bylerween but I don't have enough time to write for all seven days, so I'll just be posting this one)

Mike remembers the first time he went over to Will’s house. They were seven and Nancy was having friends over, so he couldn’t invite over Will. So instead, he went over to Will’s. His house felt weird, but that was probably just because he wasn’t there a lot. It wasn’t until later that night he figured out why. 

Late at night is when the secrets of the house are whispered through the walls. It’s when parents have whisper arguments that turn into screaming matches. It’s when your best friend in the whole world covers his ears, squeezing his eyes shut hoping to escape it to the noise. It’s when big brothers turn on the music so loud you forget what’s going on around you, even if it’s just for a little bit. 

Ever since that night, Mike didn’t stay over at Will’s that much. Instead, he begged his mom to have a sleepover with Will in the basement. Promising to clean it up the day before and after. Do a few extra chores and take out the garbage every week. Anything to get Will out of that house, just for one night. 

They were seven, but that didn’t mean Mike couldn’t understand that houses could be haunted by something other than ghosts. He saw it in the way Will acted when his dad left their family behind. Words that cut deeper than they should, actions that made him jump. Will was perfectly safe except for the ghosts that were left behind.

[perexcri]

sweetheart, you’re so cruel

Will Byers was raised to have the only correct opinions on music ever, actually, and he’s proud to show this off in the music review section of his university's queer student artists’ collective’s relatively popular zine, zine of the times. He actually really enjoys this position–that is, until the president of the zine informs him that he has to review his least favorite band on this earth: The Fellowship of the Ring.

At least his incredibly attractive neighbor in his U.S. history class is gonna go with him on the assignment, right?

Or: A music snob and the frontman of his most-hated local band walk into a bar for a date. It’s either the beginning of a really good joke or a really shitty love story.

part 1/4 of my music snob/frontman enemies to lovers fic is here! i know the discourse has been discoursing, but i hope people enjoy it nevertheless because it’s been a blast to write :]

[stellariumcircus]

will byers is dead | byler au fic | chapter 2

    If Mike Wheeler could see the Snow Ball through his friends’ eyes, it would have been beautiful.    The hanging sign with the dance's namesake would have glittered like a thousand jewels. The silver streamers would have been like the trails of light that a shooting star leaves behind. The music would have actually been music instead of grating noise in his ears.     But he didn’t have his friends’ eyes. Mike only had his own, and all that saw in the dressed up gymnasium was what it lacked.

read will byers is dead chapter 2 on ao3 word count: 8k status: in progress / biweekly updates synopsis: will byers drowned in 1983 after leaving his best friend's house. his mysterious death is mourned by his friends and family - all except for one person. his best friend, mike wheeler, refuses to believe in will's death. his belief is proven justified when he receives a call from will weeks after his supposed death. but will is not alive. his calls come from beyond the other side. will's miraculous calls become a daily occurrence for mike and mike alone. over the years, they attempt to grow up together even from their otherworldly distance. all is well for the first few years, but mike soon struggles to cope with the loss.



note:

hi friends!!! i'm back to writing fics since my union is currently striking, so i thought i'd repost my current fic, will byers is dead, now that i'm actively updating again!

this fic is truly my baby at the moment, so i would love if you read it and gave me your thoughts!

as i close in on the last few chapters of it, i'm also happy to take suggestions on what to write next.

[strangerwheelerthings]

Unpopular Opinion:

Jonathan, Nancy, Robin, and Steve should be the Fruity Four.

[lighthouseas]

chapter 12 of the strawberries are dying, my byler 1930s au, is now up!

It was Sunday, and Will had made the rather controversial decision to skip church.

He did have an actual excuse—he hadn’t been feeling very well as of late, and he figured going to church—a place he absolutely despised—would only make him feel worse. So he’d made up the excuse, somehow convinced his mother and siblings that he wasn’t going to keel over and die in their absence, and they’d left without him.

Unfortunately for him, however, he wasn’t the only one who had managed to get out of Sunday worship.

[morganee]

Byler Week 2023 - Day 5: Secret Identities

“Are you free tonight?” Will blinks and gapes a few times. “What?” “I’m going out with my sister and her best friend tonight. We’re going to a pub.” Mike moves forward, and Will’s breath hitches. “You could join us. It…could be fun.” or Mike follows his sister to England to write articles about the celebration of the Silver Jubilee. There, under the pale British sun, he meets Will.

title: a sad beautiful (tragic) love affair chapters: 1 of 4 word count: 14,450 link: chapter one - I was enchanted to meet you on ao3

[bigboysteveharrington]

I got distracted working on part of a chapter later than the one I still need to finish and post and

Mike: Everyone’s afraid of Hopper, right?

Will, whose previous father figure was Lonnie and whose first memory of Hopper is him carrying him out of the Upside Down: 🤨

[etchedstars]

will wants cuddles but receives struggles? no he gets both

[heavencasteel420]

There’s kind of a weird thing going on with Jonathan, both in the show and in fandom, where:

(a) he does something fairly innocuous or even actively good away from his family and/or Nancy (bringing down the lab in S2, hanging out with Nancy early in S3, not hanging out with Nancy immediately after their S3 fight, smoking weed and hanging out with Argyle in S4); and

(b) he feels bad about it when shit hits the fan and sometimes another character is annoyed with him as well; but

(c) the situation is never such that he should have known shit was going to hit the fan; and

(c) the consequences of his “not being there” are really unclear or dubious. In S2, he leaves Will in the care of their actual mother and legal guardian, who handles the situation with the help of other adults. Early in S3, Will is put out by everyone (including Jonathan and Nancy) pairing off heterosexually, but I don’t think we’re supposed to think it’s wrong and selfish for any one character to have a girlfriend or boyfriend, any more than Will is selfish for hanging out with his friends instead of his family; rather, Will is justifiably unhappy because he is shut out of that experience due to society’s homophobia (also Mike and to a lesser extent Lucas are rude about his game). Later in S3, Nancy decides to visit the hospital to figure shit out and calls Jonathan only when she realizes that UD nonsense is afoot, and he shows up immediately. S4 is the only time that his (emotional) absence has consequences (i.e., Will seems to feel like he can’t talk to him because he’s high), but, even then, that’s not all on Jonathan. Will wasn’t talking to Joyce or his friends, either, because his problems felt too awful and insurmountable. He wasn’t talking to Jonathan when he was sober (which he is all the time, once Joyce leaves for Alaska).

Given all of this information, I personally think the message should be “Jonathan feels an inappropriate amount of responsibility that he categorically cannot handle as a teenager, and his attempts to do it anyway backfire and reduce his capacity even further (sacrificing his future to stay with his family physically makes him so unhappy that he’s driven to check out emotionally).” With a little bit of “Will’s life is really hard and scary, and he’s used to Jonathan constantly being there and taking care of things, so any change in that is highly unsettling even if it’s just pretty normal teenage behavior, plus he knows that Jonathan will never actually get mad at him so it’s safe to lash out.”

But other people will seriously go, “wow, I’m so glad Jonathan is a good older brother again and has redeemed himself for *checks notes* having a girlfriend and one other friend and smoking weed.”