1 - 20 of 248 Works in Will Byers Has PTSD
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After years of miscommunication and hopeless yearning for his best friend Mike Wheeler, Will Byers returns to Hawkins for the last time. Their past and present collide, and a thin line between love and friendship blurs. As they rebuild Castle Byers together, they discover that some bonds are impossible to break.
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The Labyrinth by GettingLost_InMoonlight
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016), Labyrinth (1986)
30 Oct 2025
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"I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you"
June Byers always thought her favorite movie was just a fantasy.
But after saving her brother from the darkness once, something... noticed her.
Now, her dreams lead her somewhere else. A place of crystal orbs, endless mazes, and a beautiful, dangerous man who promises he built it all for her.The longer she stays, the less she wants to leave.
But the dream is changing.And behind his perfect smile... something monstrous is waiting.
this was inspired by the labyrinth!
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A Glimmer of Light Refusing to Fade by MagicSchoolbusDropout08
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
27 Oct 2025
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When the Byers move to California, Will is lonely, bullied, and struggling with his mental health. When Mike comes to visit, he notices that something is off, but doesn’t know what’s wrong or how to help while his best friend feels so far away even though he's physically there. However, maybe Mike finds the answer after they are brought closer than ever after El is abducted by the government and they end up facing capture, interdimensional monsters, torture, the past, their own feelings, and attempting to prevent the apocalypse. (Post-s3, rewriting s4, and predicting s5).
Series
- Part 1 of The Glimmer Series
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Hopefully they weren’t. Hopefully he could slip in quietly, make his way to the bathroom for a hot shower, and then crawl back onto the makeshift air mattress on Mike Wheeler’s floor, letting sleep take him somewhere else for a change.
Unfortunately for Will, things never went quite the way he planned. He was so close—he’d managed to open and shut the front door without a sound, the only light in the house coming from the stairwell. He took it as his cue, stepping carefully up the stairs, around the corner, and—
“Where have you been?”
Right into Mike.
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or: will is spiraling, mike is panicking, and yes, making out with a jock somehow seemed like a good idea at the time.
title inspired by: Famous Last Words (An Ode to Eaters) - 1017 ALYX 9SM, Ethel Cain
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Will POV companion fic of now that i'm grown i'm scared of ghosts.
"Though he would give his life for a different truth, Hawkins has claimed itself as Will Byers’ home."
ha sike that's the only line you get
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first fic kinda nervous
It’s 1987. Will and Mike are living in a large military bunker just outside Hawkins lab, forced to sit on the side lines as Eleven tracks down One.
Finding comfort, and a halt to the loneliness in one another, years of desperation between the two boys begins to bubble to the surface.
As more mysterious and strange things happen, how will the boys get through it? Together, as a team, I think.
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Will walks along the road, pulling his bike with him. The bike chain broke part of the way home, and now he has to walk. He decided to walk back to the Wheeler’s since it’s closer, and call someone to pick him up from there. The woods are starting to get dark around him, and cars passing by are getting few and far between. He picks up his pace, knowing that if he doesn’t call Joyce before she leaves work, she’ll absolutely freak out. He keeps walking, trying to stay away from the road, but in the light of the street lights.
Or does getting home ever go well for Will? Not in this fic
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- Part 4 of Stranger Things Mix Tape
- Part 23 of Whumptober 2025
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A typical boring day in Lenora, but zombie boy comes out to play.
Whumptober nine: flash backs
Series
- Part 83 of Stranger Things One Shots
- Part 9 of Whumptober 2025
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There’s something wrong with his reflection – something he can’t unsee.
The silence should’ve been peace. Instead, it’s a countdown.or:
Everyone thinks Will is still the spy, so in the final days of the battle he’s sent with Mike to a safehouse to wait it out, but he can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching through his eye. He desperately decides to do something about it himself.
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Mike Wheeler thought missing Will would fade with time. It didn’t.
Will Byers thought distance would make things easier. It only made the truth louder.
or, alternatively, two teenage gay boys going through the motions of growing up and acting normal when everything feels ”abnormal”
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you wouldn't care if i fell over and died by will_the_wise1
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
19 Oct 2025
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“You’re turning this in as your final? It’s… lazy. Half-assed.”
Will didn’t flinch. Pencil poised, he replied evenly:
“Better lazy than garbage. You really shouldn’t judge something you clearly don’t understand.”
Mike smirked, voice sharp.
“Don’t lecture me on understanding. I can tell a bad idea when I see one, and this? That’s exactly what it is.”
Will set the pencil down slowly.
“Maybe you should focus on your own work before critiquing mine.”
Mike leaned back, eyes cold.
“Please. It's exactly what you’re doing, you're just hiding behind a pencil while thinking you’re impressive.”
Will’s jaw tightened.
“Better than hiding behind words and pretending they mean something.”OR:
fall 1992, Will is 21 as he leaves Hawkins and his family behind to study art at UCLA. College was a big change for him which also meant leaving the safeness of Hawkins. He challanges his feelings but also struggle with trauma from his childhood.
Will takes an extra course in physics where he meets Mike Wheeler, a guy who is a year older and studies literature and writing. He is also extremly annoying (according to Will) -
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Since the Byers had moved in with the Wheelers, Mike felt a promising sense of worth in his life. He and Will were finally together, despite all odds.
That is, of course, until he begins receiving threatening anonymous letters alluding to him being a cultist. Letters that very much imply that the town of Hawkins wants him and his friends dead.
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Following the Byers' departure from California, Will finds himself unable to configure his emotions, both towards himself and Mike.
Inspired by 40 Days, Souvlaki, and other songs by Slowdive
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He thought that when he returned —if he returned—he would feel better surrounded by his mother’s love and in his own bed, protected from the monsters that clawed their way into his nightmares, but they grew invincible in his own mind. His brain couldn’t protect him, so how could anyone else? He left a burden, tainting the lives of everyone around him forever. He wanted to yell. He wanted to go back in time and stop himself from leaving Mike’s basement. He wanted to become the boy he used to be. But he can’t. He can never know youth again.
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Will grabbed one from the fruit bowl and started chopping, which meant that he turned away from Mike again. Something in his chest hurt. Why wasn’t Will talking to him more? They were best friends, were they not? He understood that they must’ve grown apart over the time since they last saw each other, but surely that should mean they should be catching up, right?
“Can you get El? This should be done in a few minutes anyway.”
“No prob-” Will had already covered his ears again, leaving Mike’s response to die on his lips.----
When Mike Wheeler landed in California to spend his sophomore spring break with his girlfriend and his best friend after not seeing them for over a year and a half, he thought that everything would go smoothly. But Will's distant, and El's keeping something from him. When the military show up at the Byers' house the night after he arrives searching for El and Will, things take a turn that nobody ever expected.
Series
- Part 1 of Stranger Things ‘What If’s
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Mike hated seeing Will get hurt.
Even if this time the scars were not physical, he noticed the way his friend’s soul ached. Digging together at the start of sunrise had brought Will back to a memory he did not wish to tell. Mike frowned, leading the older boy back to his house. It was one they shared now, with Will having lost everything before his own joy.
Maybe it has struggled to exist since that day in November all along.
“I’ll get you home,” Mike had promised, wishing more could leave his lips. And yet, they seemed sealed shut as his brain grew fogged, trapped in a haze of unending regret.
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Following a traumatic flashback outside the radio station, Mike cleans Will up and lets him know they shouldn't be scared of their feelings.
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Immediately post-Season 4, the gang are catching up and reuniting at Hopper's old cabin. Mike, who's been on the edge of a panic attack for the past few days, excuses himself to get some 'fresh air'- unbeknownst to anyone but Joyce, who still isn't fully up-to-date on the Vecna situation. After about 30 minutes, the group notices his absence and are immediately concerned. They can't find Mike anywhere in the surrounding area, but they find the exact thing they were dreading; a small gate.
Mike finds himself in the Upside-Down, but the circumstances are strange. Vecna is nowhere to be seen and the area around him is completely barren. It's an elaborate plot to torment Mike with his greatest fears; forcing him to relive his own worst memories with his family and friends by his side.
How much could one kid have to hide, anyways?
Third-Person Limited with Alternating P.O.V.'s
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Will tried to swallow down the last of his fear, but his throat felt like sandpaper.
“Take me.”
Those milky eyes fixed on him, and a warped brow lifted, as if asking him to repeat himself.
Even though the cold seeped into him, like he was drifting backwards into a freezer, Will didn’t take the way out.
“Take me,” he repeated, his voice still shaky, but he held Vecna’s gaze. “Take me instead of Holly. I’ll come to you. I won’t fight. Just finish it already.”
Vecna was silent for a long, agonizing moment, but then, a smile curled across his twisted face.
“Deal.”---
Will offers himself to Vecna in exchange for Holly’s safety.
Mike takes this about as well as can be expected. -
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Max turned in the direction of the headstone as well. “Why would seeing someone’s name on there freak you out so much, Will. Jesus, I thought Vecna had you and I don’t have your music with me. I thought you were about to die, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, Byers, just tell me what's going on.”
Will just then found his mouth very dry and a lump set in his throat. Suddenly, all the words in his mouth died and he simply stared straight ahead.
“Will.” Max said softly after a few seconds. “Who’s grave is it?”
Will forced the lump down his throat as he answered her.
“It’s mine.”
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OR
Will and Max stumble upon Will's grave from 1983.
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Will Byers meets a goth kid named Edward. Mike Wheeler is incredibly jealous. Will Byers also has powers, but he isn't aware of that yet.
School is back in business in Hawkins, Indiana. Years of repressed emotions bubble up into one big mess when Will experiences his first gay relationship.
Inspired by 'Your Lips, My Lips, Apocolypse' by AngelicDownworld. Please read their fic!! It is incredible :)
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“Mike,” this time Will hoped to convey his eye roll through his tone.
“Will,” he said back, mimicking and with an audible smile.
“Are we just going to spend this entire call saying each other’s names?”
“If it means I get to keep hearing you say my name, I wouldn’t mind,” Mike said, beginning playfully but ending on a much softer note. Will sucked in a breath, surprised at the honesty in his tone. It made him feel raw.
or, as pitched on my tumblr,
Byler college fic post-canon where the party goes different places and it’s centered around Will and his closest friend who is also queer and she despises Mike after hearing about Will pining for him but one day in November, Will has a worse panic attack than usual and she can’t help him and is forced to call Mike and for the first time learns Will went missing and goes home with Will to Hawkins during winter break because her family sucks and learns about the Upside Down and Mike is jealous because he thinks they’re dating and the second the friend sees Mike, she knows she’s right and that Mike is in love with Will too.