simplememories

piper mclean



Recent works

Recent bookmarks

  1. Rec 22

    Tags
    Summary

    There stood Mike, frozen like a statue. In front of him, Will was bent over, digging through the fruit drawer of the refrigerator. After a moment, Will straightened up with a ripe peach in hand. Ted watched his son continue staring at the exact spot Will’s backside had just occupied, wearing an expression of pure, hopeless longing.

    Ted considered quietly backing out of the room.

    "For God's sake, Michael," He said, instead. "Either take something out or close the door. I'm not paying to refrigerate the whole neighborhood."

    Will turned around, blinking in mild confusion.

    Mike’s face bloomed bright red. The blush was quickly overtaken by a scowl. He slammed the refrigerator door hard enough to rattle every magnet on it. “I was getting something! Sorry it took more than two seconds-"

    “When exactly did your mother start storing the snacks in the back pockets of Will’s jeans?”

    “Oh my God.” Mike spun on his heel and stormed toward the stairs. “You are so-" The rest was lost to thundering footsteps and the inevitable slam of his bedroom door.

    Or, Ted realizes sometimes you need to be locked in the closet before coming out of it.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    3,461
    Chapters:
    1/1
    Comments:
    18
    Kudos:
    130
    Bookmarks:
    22
    Hits:
    426

    25 Jun 2026

  2. Rec *

    Tags
    Summary

    Palpatine’s voice rang out over the plaza, but Leia could hardly hear it over the ringing in her ears. How? When? Palpatine was dead—she was sure of it. Luke had been sure of it. So, how—

    But then, Leia realized as she looked up at his face on the screen, she had never seen Palpatine like this. The Emperor had forgone that dark cloak that shielded his face from view. Instead his visage was plain and unmarred. He looked…ordinary. He looked like a regular man. Old. Not feeble, persay, but…vulnerable. Yet strong and confident. If Leia didn’t know any better, she’d say he looked almost kind.

    But she did know better.

    And as Palpatine spoke, the lack of Imperial presence, the strangeness of this place, the words Vader had spoken before her brother had vanished—everything came together at once, understanding dawning on Leia in an instant.
    On the screen, Palpatine said, “With the Jedi behind us, we will defeat the Separatist Army once and for all, and bring peace to our Republic!”

    The crowd cheered, the applause ringing in Leia’s ears like a drumbeat.

    Vader had sent them to the past.

    ***

    Or, Luke and Leia are sent to the past to try and fix things.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    32,073
    Chapters:
    10/?
    Comments:
    281
    Kudos:
    1,186
    Bookmarks:
    365
    Hits:
    28,831

    24 Jun 2026

    Bookmarker's Notes

    i sense a star wars phase returning

  3. Rec 12

    Tags
    Summary

    Because Mike still reaches for him first. Still saves him the front seat; still seeks him out automatically in crowded hallways and noisy rooms. Still builds futures around them with casual certainty, like there’s no version of his life where Will isn’t standing directly beside him.

    This is just how Mike is. He always has been, really. Fiercely loyal and strangely intense and occasionally just impossible to understand. Will’s survived over a decade of friendship navigating the inconsistencies in Mike Wheeler’s behavior. He’s survived monsters and possession; the literal apocalypse.

    Surely he can survive this too.

    He just has to stop wanting more from it.

    That’s the real problem, Will reminds himself. Not Mike. Not Jane. Just him, still reading too much into every look and touch and half-finished sentence because some hopeless, pathetic part of him refuses to learn its lesson.

     

    [Or: The world doesn’t end, nobody dies in the final battle, and everyone has to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives anyway.]

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    20,465
    Chapters:
    4/9
    Comments:
    53
    Kudos:
    84
    Bookmarks:
    12
    Hits:
    1,011

    02 Jun 2026

    Bookmarker's Notes

    eating that multi pov up

  4. Rec 42

    Tags
    Summary

    Will watches as he passionately lip syncs to the song, grimacing as he begins to mime out riffing on an air guitar.

    "Hey, doesn't this song remind you of you? I mean," his eyes widen slightly with dismay as the man begins to try and serenade him in some sort of falsetto. "You're out of touch, I'm out of time-" his voice cracks as he sings screeches. "You get it? 'Cause you're like the boy outta time, you know becau-"

    "Yeah, I get it."

    Or,

    Will Byers vanishes on November 6th, 1983.
    The body of Will Byers is recovered on November 9th, 1983.
    Will Byers is not recovered from The Upside Down on November 12th, 1983.
    Inexplicably, Will Byers enters Hawkins again on October 12th, 1987.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    16,394
    Chapters:
    5/?
    Comments:
    34
    Kudos:
    132
    Bookmarks:
    42
    Hits:
    3,071

    03 May 2026

    Bookmarker's Notes

    sick! love the pov outsider as well

  5. Rec *

    Tags
    Summary

    Mike Wheeler is thirty years old, three years married, and incredibly unhappy. After an unexpected AOL Instant Messenger group chat with the Party, Mike reconnects with Will after several years and realizes that maybe his life doesn't have to be so bad.

    Or: A 2000s epistolary fic in which Mike falls in love with his childhood best friend and cheats on his wife.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    125,264
    Chapters:
    6/12
    Comments:
    1,749
    Kudos:
    4,237
    Bookmarks:
    1,222
    Hits:
    110,923

    08 May 2026

    Bookmarker's Tags:
    Bookmarker's Notes

    genuinely peak