Sophie

(the series in which i post a byler headcanon, thought, scenario, etc. every day at 07:07 mountain)

Mike and Will start dating in the eighteen month time skip between seasons four and five (I don't make the rules).

However, things get rocky between them towards the end of summer '89. Of course, they both know that all relationships will have ups and downs, but they miss the way things were; they were in a honeymoon period of sorts for a while there. But they also know that everything will work out—they both love each other too much to let the other go anytime soon.

Well, turns out that that's easier said than done. Long story short, they break up right before Will is supposed to leave for college. It's super hard on both of them, but they agree that they'd find each other during, or after, college. They'll find their way back to each other, that much is true. They've fought before, and here we are.

Buttttttt...they fight again—a really bad fight this time—the day before Will is supposed to leave. They don't talk about this one immediately, they just spend a few hours apart, before Mike asks Will to come over and spend the night, one last time.

Of course, Will agrees, and they settle in Mike's bed, like they did almost every night this summer, almost every night all those years ago when Will was living here, and almost every night when they were little and each others only friends.

To each other, they were both the others escape from the real world and what grounded them in reality.

That night, Will doesn't sleep. He stays awake until a little after one in the morning. Finally, he sits up and changes into corduroy pants and a sweatshirt, balling his pajamas in his hand. He stares at Mike's sleeping form, his pale skin illuminated by the moonlight peaking in through the window. He sighs, then moves forward to run his fingers through Mike's dark curls. He plants a kiss on the corner of his eye, gentle so as not to wake him. Then he turns on his heal and climbs out of the window, closing it gently behind him. He makes his way to the ground and walks to his tightly packed car. He sits down and starts the engine, glancing briefly at all of his belongings in the backseat, before letting his gaze linger on the Wheeler's house. Then, he starts driving. He drives and drives, farther and farther away from the town where he grew up—the town that hated him. The town that contained all of his worst nightmares. But also the town where he met the love of his life.

He kept driving, refusing to look back. He could let himself have this. He could let himself get away.

He kept driving and eventually it started raining. And then it started raining harder. And then it started pouring so hard that he could barely see a few feet in front of him. He pulled over on the side of the road and gripped the steering wheel so tightly that the skin pulled at his white knuckles. He brought his forehead to the wheel and squeezed his eyes shut, his body wracking with sobs.

He didn't know how long he sat there for, the cold rain pelting his old car, tears falling down his face equally as fast and hard as the sky's tears fell.

The next morning, Mike Wheeler woke to a cold bed and the smell of rain.

(the series in which i post a byler headcanon, thought, scenario, etc. every day at 07:07 mountain)

Will and Mike have been secretly dating for almost three years by the time they graduate high school. Over time, it's gotten harder and harder for them to hide it, and eventually, the party starts noticing that they're acting super weird. They confront them about it, assuming that they're fighting, but Will and Mike think that they found out that they're dating and are not okay with it (of course they are, but ✨miscommunication✨)

Side note, everyone must read this fic. I had this ⬆️ idea a little while ago, posted about it, and everyone was like yeah this fic exists, and I was SO excited. It's so. good. I'm literally obsessed (evidently) And it'll help you understand this scenario better lol this is like an extension of this fic. you could say i'm writing fanfic for the fanfic

When Jonathan, Nancy, Robin, and Steve come back to Hawkins for the party's graduation, Jonathan finds out about Mike and Will almost immediately, and they're super relieved that he's so okay with it—even though Will knew that he'd be okay with it because of their heart-to-heart in season four, he was anxious because of Dustin, Lucas, Max, and El's recent actions.

Did I mention that in this scenario, Will's coming out scene didn't happen? Robin and Mike are the only people that he told, although Jonathan knew. Max knew about Mike as well, but never said anything.

Later, Will asks Mike if he can tell Robin about them, and he agrees.

Will tells Robin that he and Mike are together—she's ecstatic—and she tells him that she and Vickie told Jonathan and Nancy. Will is in turn very happy for her as well, and also happy that Nancy was also accepting, for Mike's sake.

Robin almost corners Mike in a room shortly after that, saying that she just wants to talk to him for a second. (He doesn't know if Will has told her yet.)

"Look, Mike," She almost whispers. "If...if you ever want to talk to Nancy about anything, you can." Mike's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "I'm just saying that...she loves you unconditionally, so if there's ever anything that you want to tell her, you shouldn't be afraid."

And Mike is too stunned to say anything to that, he barely mumbles out an "Okay..." under his breath before Robin leaves.

This leads to him really, really wanting to come out to Nancy. He tries several times, but backs out, scaring himself into a downward spiral more times than he'd like to admit.

Eventually, he stumbles into her room in the middle of the night, shaking her awake before falling to his knees, choking on his tears as he whispers "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" over and over again.

He tells her right then and there, just blurts it out. Her mouth falls open—she was beyond shocked, but in retrospect, she realizes she really should've seen that coming—but she recoveries quickly, pulling him into her bed with her. She holds him—even though he's over a full head taller than her now —until his shaking and sobs stop. They have a good conversation about it in the morning.

Somehow, Mike, Will, Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, Vickie, and Steve all end up in a room together and now they all know—about Byler and Rockie, but also that the rest of the party is apparently trying to break Mike and Will up.

Everyone is shocked and disappointed to say the least, but Steve was beyond furious. Jonathan had to stop him from marching out there and knocking some sense into those kids.

Eventually, he manages to sneak away to sit the four of them down. He's furious, but he tells himself that he has to have strategy.

"So," He starts, making eye contact with each of them, but holding it with Dustin. "This is just a hypothetical scenario, but how would you guys feel if I were to be gay?"

Lucas bites his lip, trying to hold back a laugh. Max's jaw drops and Dustin's eyes go wide.

"Are you?" Dustin asks incredulously.

Steve: "Well, no, but would it be a problem if I was?"

Max: "Of course not!"

Lucas: "Yeah, no, we don't give a shit."

El: "I am confused. What are we talking about?"

Dustin all but facepalms into El's shoulder, shaking from poorly contained laughter.

"Steve's telling us that he's gay." Max tells her.

"I'm not!" Steve says firmly.

None of them really know what's happening, but they can't make eye contact with each other without bursting out laughing just because of the look on Steve's face.

"What does that mean?" El asks.

Lucas, with the soberest face he can muster, answers: "It's when two boys—or two girls—love each other romantically. Like Max and I."

"Oh," El frowns. "Right, Will told me about this before. And some people...are not okay with it. Mouth-breathers."

"Correct," Max smiles at her.

"We," Dustin clarifies to both Steve and El. "Are, in fact, okay with it."

"Okay," Steve says slowly, confused. "...I'll be right back." He stands up rather abruptly, making his way back to wherever the others are.

"So," He announces, shutting the door behind him. All heads snap in his direction. "I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding."

"Steve!" Nancy scolds.

"You didn't talk to them about it, did you?" Will's eyes are wide.

"I'm telling you, there's absolutely no way they're homophobic." He reassures not only Will and Mike, but Robin and Vickie as well. "You guys need to go ask them what their dumbasses were talking about, because they just made it pretty clear that they don't give a fuck about all that stuff."

And after much more convincing, Mike and Will do go and talk with them. They find out that they're all very bad at, you know, using their words to fucking communicate, and the rest of the party apologizes profusely (with hugs) when they find out what Will and Mike thought they meant—and then, of course, there are lots of congratulations.

(the series in which i post a byler headcanon, thought, scenario, etc. every day at 07:07 mountain)

‼️ tw/cw for mildly graphic pictures of burns/bruises ‼️

Lightning strikes the Byers' house in the Upside Down while Will is trying to use the phone, and it travels through the wires in the house, including the one the phone is connected to, causing Will go deaf in his left ear.

Fast forward to fall of '86, the Byers are living with the Wheelers, it's cold—there may even be a power outage, who knows—and Will is horrified that Vecna and/or the Mindflayer are going to try to use the cold to get to him, again. Naturally, he's sleeping in Mike's bed.

At some point, Will gets injured. They don't know exactly what happened, but they know it had something to do with Vecna. On one of their supply runs, Will had collapsed, screaming in pain. The left side of his back and abdomen were covered in burns. This is how they find out that the connection between him and the Upside Down was never truly severed, and interdimensional demons can in fact cause him obscene amounts of pain at any given moment.

Now, Will has no choice but to sleep on his right side—any other position would cause the fabric of his shirt to rub against the burns. However, he hates sleeping on his right side, because that would mean pressing his only hearing ear against the pillow, sufficiently tuning out all noise. Anything can happen to you in the middle of the night if you can't hear anything.

But of course, Mike notices that Will isn't sleeping well—he's craning his neck to stare at ceiling while lying on his side, plus he's extra anxious in light of recent events. Mike asks what's wrong, and Will reluctantly tells him.

Mike can barely make out Will's features in the dark, but he's noticed the bags forming under his eyes, the way he zones out during the day more often, his shaky voice and cold skin.

"Go to sleep," Mike tells him. "I'm right here. I'll wake you up if I hear anything. I promise."

And for a long time, Will can only sleep comfortably if Mike is there, promising to be his ears. And Mike—who used to sleep like the dead growing up—started waking up at every little noise. Thankfully, a quick surveillance of his surroundings to confirm that they were safe (and a glance at Will's soft, sleepy face) was enough to soothe him back to sleep rather quickly.

yeah i think we should have a byler fic like that