#lborealis

So I’m very lame and have only recently realized this was in my inbox! I’m so sorry! It’s such a good question.

Responses are AO3 only because that’s where I read & write. Responses are Stranger Things/Mileven only because that’s what I read & write. So:

I love and follow everything by the brilliant thottiedottie. These fics include Cold War, Manic Pixel Dream Girl, Milk & Honey, and the legendary A Private Education. She’s my absolute favorite writer on AO3 and her fics are freaking brilliant. Incredibly well written, great character arcs, challenging (in a good way) material.

I’m reading Snurvel’s fic Missing, which is a realistic take on post-season 3 canon El. The author presents beautiful insights into what it means to be a foster child and how El’s lab background would realistically impact her future. If you get tired of AUs where El basically acts like she’s Millie Bobby Brown, this is the fic for you.

Disneyprincess315 has written a series of beautiful Mileven one-shots called You Are Not Alone. I can’t even. Tears ahoy! Love this work.

The Jump by Lborealis is wonderful - a Mileven AU that actually turns out to be much closer to canon than you would have guessed. So much fun and the author is a gifted writer (seriously, I doubt Lborealis needs any props from me, everyone in the fandom knows/loves her work).

Stranger Trek by ItsThatGuy. The Stranger Things gang as the crew of the USS Enterprise (er... USS Hawkins), with Mike as Picard. Twenty-six episodes (chapters). The take on El and Mileven is lovely. So well imagined and the Mileven is very innocent and sweet.

Well I do now! (Thank you so much for asking me to do this!) 

The LBorealis Stranger Things FanFic Master List 

Multi-Chapter fics

Full Circle : Completed. Read on A03 and FF.net  Synopsis: At 16, Mike and El were torn from each other as El went into hiding from a resurgence of Brenner's project. Seven years later, Mike had finally moved on. But a chance occurrence on a New York City train throws them together again at the best and worst possible moment, completely changing their trajectories.

The Jump: Work in Progress. Read on A03 and FF.net Synopsis: Wherein El Hopper, secret telekinetic skydiving instructor meets Mike Wheeler, a terrified 25th birthday boy on his first skydiving jump. 

As It Should Have Been: Work in Progress. Read on A03 and FF.net Synopsis: Mike Wheeler was certain that his entire life had been pushed in the wrong direction. Wrong college. Wrong state. Wrong future. Yet, through the presence of an unexpected pair of people, he's about to be proven completely wrong. A Mileven College AU. 

Many The Miles: Work in progress. Read on AO3 and FF.net. Synopsis: Mike Wheeler's and El Hopper's trips to Europe could not have been any more different, but they still found themselves in the very same space: lonely, dejected, and ready to go home. Yet, in a ridiculous twist of fate, all of that is about to change. A Mileven Meetcute based on the real life headline: "Airline Mistakenly Books Strangers in Same Room With Single Bed"

Canon-Based One Shots (Listed chronologically as related to the show) 

Come What May: Read on A03 and FF.net Synopsis: El's thoughts as she rides home from Chicago to save the boy who saved her. 

Morning Light: Read on A03 and FF.net Synopsis: The first few minutes of the morning after El closed the gate. Mileven. 

El’s First Christmas: Read on Tumblr. 

The Yearbook: Read on Tumblr. Synopsis: How “M+11″ on Mike’s yearbook came to be. 

Growing Pains: Read on A03 and FF.net. Synopsis: It's the opening night of the Fourth of July carnival and everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for our newly minted giraffe-height Mike Wheeler. How will El react to such a wastoid like him on her first night out on the town in two months?

Whatever Floats Your Boat: Read on A03 and FF.net. Synopsis: Sometimes words are too big to handle, even for Mike Wheeler, the boy who has a million. A summery lakeside Mileven bit-o-fluff.

All The Things Left Unsaid: Read on A03 and FF.net. Synopsis: A Jopper first kiss in the hot summer of 1985 (Whoa something other than Mileven for once!) 

Fear Is Love’s Dark Sister: Read on A03 and FF.net Synopsis: After so many months of having her back in his life, Mike reflects on what El deserves. A ficlet highlighting what leads to an important moment in S3 E6. 

I Love You, Too: Read on A03 and FF.net Synopsis: Mike had spent months being strong for El through her grief. Yet, in that final fateful moment she uttered the only words that could take away his strength. A Mike meta from the epilogue of ST3

ST AU and Crossover One Shots

This is a fic that I go back to time and time again, honestly. The idea of Jim flirting with Joyce but she doesn’t notice is one of my favorite tropes - not because she’s stupid or anything, mind you. The woman is anxious, she’s worrying constantly, and I like to think that sometimes she doesn’t have the time or inclination to question Hopper and what he does. She just kind of trusts him blindly.

Sometimes the past won't stay in the past, no matter how much we want it to. Sometimes it follows us within our very bodies. Sometimes it grows a life of its own.