BackwoodsJupiter
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Summary
There’s still a part of Will that yearns for more. He finds himself ceding precious mental real estate to thoughts that seem too big for any one thinker. They aren’t dark, exactly, but they are… big. It’s not a particularly sophisticated word, but it’s the one that feels right. And it makes sense, in a way. Humans have countless words for countless things, but it’s the simple ones that we reach for whenever the object of our attention seems intent on evading comprehension.
Or: Will and Mike build a life together in the shadow of things not seen, caught between the mundane and the cosmic. The old world is dying, and a new one struggles to be born. This is the time of monsters.
Series
- Part 2 of Nature and Supernature
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This is an appendix to Crooked Timber, not a work of fiction. It doesn’t continue, expand upon, or explain the story in any way. You 100% don’t need to read it. It was previously posted as a thirteenth “chapter” at the end of Crooked Timber, but I think it makes more sense as a standalone work in the series.
I took it down for a while because I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but I’ve been persuaded to bring it back. Enjoy!
Series
- Part 3 of Nature and Supernature
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Maybe Will decides that enough is enough, and lets Mike go. Maybe whatever persists between them dies slowly of benign neglect, until all that remains is shared trauma and dead memories that don’t mean what they once did. Or maybe he just never hears Mike’s voice again. He shudders.
But what if it's not too late?
Too late for what?
What do you do when the world fails to end? If you’re Will Byers, you build a life. If you’re Mike Wheeler, you build a tomb.
It’s been a decade since El disappeared, Mike is still trapped in his own head, and no one knows how to talk about it. Then, Mike does something impulsive, and sets in motion a chain of events that will cause Will to question everything he believes - including about himself.
Or: A story about grief, love, fate, freedom, and the things that hide in the dark (and maybe the light, too). This starts slow, but bear with me; I promise it doesn't go where you're expecting!
Series
- Part 1 of Nature and Supernature
Recent series
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- Words:
- 187,391
- Works:
- 3
- Bookmarks:
- 5
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It’s been three years since Vecna’s defeat. Will has moved on. Gotten a boyfriend & is waiting on an acceptance letter from NYU to get into art school.
Mike, suffering from the loss of Eleven, is dealing with grief in totally, healthy, normal ways. By shutting himself out, from everyone, except Will.
But, he doesn’t tell Will anything. Will just knows. Because he’s Will. These two boys navigate their past traumas together drawing them closer then ever before.
Will’s boyfriend isn’t typically the jealous type, but when he figures out there a huge secret between them that he doesn’t know, he starts to wonder. Leaving a triangle of unknowns. Which we all know, never ends well. For anyone.
Bookmarked by BackwoodsJupiter
08 Jul 2026
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Summary
Will smiled back, soft and sweet, like he always was. It was, all in all, the same smile Mike had grown up knowing as well as his own reflection. It was Will's teeth peeking through the slight pull of his chapped lips, and Will's skin wrinkling near his eyes. Mike would know Will's smile anywhere.
Only, that wasn't his smile.
Because that wasn't Will.
"Follow me?" Will asked, and one yellow ray of sunlight punctured the fog, illuminating the tufts of his mud-spattered hair like a halo. It was fitting. If the rest of the town thought Will was the devil, he'd always been an angel to Mike.
And for the life of him, Mike couldn’t remember what it was he’d been so worried about just a second ago.
"Yeah," he answered, treading behind Will and headed for the woods. "Always."
It's the summer of 1987, the town is under lockdown, the people are panicking and praying, and they've pinpointed Will as the one to blame for it all. In fact, nearly everyone seems a little afraid of Will these days, except for Mike.
(Or: Following a desperate ritual to cast the devil out of Hawkins, Will starts acting strangely. Mike starts having dreams.)
Bookmarked by BackwoodsJupiter
01 Jul 2026
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In which Mike follows Will to New York University for completely normal and emotionally healthy reasons, and then they try drinking together for the first time and Mike realizes pretty quickly that there were other latent feelings involved in his decision. Featuring truly Gen X levels of casual alcohol use, cranky hours at the Met, laundry in a haunted basement, a Psychedelic Furs concert, the gang reuniting for a party at Jonathan’s apartment, one scary incident reflecting the grittier realities of late 80s NYC, love confessions obviously, and rather a lot of hickeys. (And they were roommates!)
Bookmarked by BackwoodsJupiter
29 Jun 2026
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Summary
It’s September 1989, baby.
Mike Wheeler and Will Byers finally leave Hawkins for NYU: Will for art, Mike for biology on a pre-med track he swears is a “compromise.”
New York was supposed to be a fresh start. Instead it turns their “friends—no, thanks—best friends” truce into something impossible to ignore.
—Set during the AIDS crisis.
Because you don’t get to be queer in New York in 1989 without it in the room.
But they’re going to be okay. Promise.Comments are always appreciated!
Bookmarked by BackwoodsJupiter
29 Jun 2026
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Summary
“Hey, Mike?” Will asked. “Why now?”
Mike was silent for a long time, so long Will thought he wasn’t going to answer at all. “I just… I don’t know. How can I move on if I don’t know for sure? I can’t stop thinking that if she is out there, if I was right, and I don’t even try to find her, then maybe I really didn’t deserve her.”
A year after graduation, Mike decides to start a search for El and asks Will to come with him. Their friendship hasn't been the same since Will came out and Eleven disappeared, so Will agrees, kicking off a complicated journey that brings them back together. Will is in college, trying to move on, and Mike is idling in Hawkins, torn between his past with El and his confusing feelings for Will. As the search brings them closer than either ever imagined, Will and Mike grapple with first loves, moving on, and growing up together.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 137,389
- Chapters:
- 17/17
- Comments:
- 148
- Kudos:
- 349
- Bookmarks:
- 140
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- 11,663
Bookmarked by BackwoodsJupiter
18 Jun 2026