1 - 20 of 382 Works in Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Mike Wheeler Friendship
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Mike Wheeler can't stop staring at his best friend. Not only that, he can't stop finding opportunities to show physical affection. They have always been very close, but ever since Mike and El broke up, his friendship with Will blossomed.
Mike can finally admit to himself that he loves Will Byers, but it's difficult to hide his love when his best friend is so perfect and acts almost as if he likes him back. But no, they're just friends.
They're friends when Will comforts Mike about his breakup; they're friends when they sleep over after parties, cuddling; they're friends when the Party finds out that the head cheerleader has a crush on Will; and they're definitely friends when they get wasted and they make out. And no matter how much Mike wants to be more than friends, it will never happen. All he has is the memory of that night, of that kiss, which is more than Will can say.or Mike and Will are both messes with a crush on their best friend, but they both deny themselves happiness, even though they do everything to get close without it being weird.
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Max Mayfields diary entries from September 1985 to March 1986, maybe even beyond.
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now i know i can't lose (as long as you follow) by chatslexicon
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
18 Nov 2025
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There was still an opt-out, and Will could have people around him, and it would be fine, and if it wasn’t, Will honestly just didn’t care. This needed to end one way or another, and maybe Will was a part of that. He had resolved that a bit ago, and Mike knew that. He just… made Will stop talking about it whenever he tried to bring it up. Often with his lips, or his soft hands, or a tired mumble as he laid his head into his neck from behind when nobody else was around.
And, sometimes, he made Will stop talking with his anger. His frustration. His sadness. His ‘No, Will’s and ‘Please stop talking’s. Unfortunately, Will tended to fold to Mike Wheeler.
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Will Byers has had enough. Apparently, so has Mike Wheeler. They argue about it.
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In the spring of 1986, just two weeks after the Byers returned from California, Nancy sleeps with Robin Buckley.
As she is forced to deal with the fallout and reckon with what it all means, her brother goes through a crisis of his own. Slowly, they learn to open up to each other, to their loved ones, and most importantly, to themselves.
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Mike Wheeler was a Dungeon Master, not a player. He was a pretty cruddy Paladin, all things considered, so he preferred his time behind the board - watching, observing, taking notes. So many notes.
However, when everything in his life is pushing him to play the game, he has a hard time figuring out the rules of the campaign. Maybe the answers are in his old D&D notes? Or, if he's betting on his luck, they're not.
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Season 4 goes a bit differently. It goes a little like this: Mike and Max are both depressed. They can't talk to the rest of the party because half are in California, Dustin is clinging to Eddie like a koala, and Lucas has gone full jock. Somewhere along the way, they realize they have more in common than they imagined.
Or, Mike and Max falling in love during high school (and Season 4's Upside Down never happens).
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STRANGER THINGS CHAT FIC!!!!
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mik: sofia by clairo
dus: damn not even a hello..
mik: hello
dus: ohhKAYY then.
max: bruh stop choosing lovey songs im gonna hurl all over you micheal wheeler. I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE.
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Please don't leave me (I'll always need more) by willel_domination
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
13 Nov 2025
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“Did you know?” he asked at the last moment, voice cracked and warbly from crying. He hadn’t sounded that young in years.
She hesitated for one painstaking moment, and at last replied, “No, Mike.”
She almost closed the door, but stopped again.
“I am sorry,” she whispered, remorse staining her voice, and quietly closed the door behind her.
Three days after graduation, Will disappeared in the dead of night with nothing but a note left in his absence, and Mike's heart left with him.
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and if you asked me if i love him (i'd lie) by andiwriteordie
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
11 Nov 2025
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“Hi!” the girl, El, says brightly. “It’s good to see you! I didn’t know you were auditioning!”
“Oh,” Max stammers, “um, I—”
“I just convinced her to today,” Mike cuts in, flashing a smile at the girl his sister is very obviously crushing on. “Hi. I’m Mike.”
“El,” El replies, and she holds out her hand, smiling back at Mike. “Are you auditioning, too?”
“He definitely is,” Max interrupts, before Mike can say anything. There’s a smile on her face, but there’s venom behind it—directed solely at Mike. “Mike’s actually a really good singer. Trust me. I’m the one who has to listen when he puts on concerts in the shower.”
Or:
Against their better judgment, Mike and Max audition for the school musical to get closer with their respective crushes.
Series
- Part 19 of random hiatus fics
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ballbouncer69: i had a crush on will in '85
gayjesus: WHAT
anna: damn
elsa: i mean who didn't come on now
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Now that the party has reached high school, there has been a bit of a division between them.
It now comprises of:
An awkward nerd, a theatre kid, a competitive athlete, a nice cheerleader and a rebel 'delinquent'.
Will they be able to put all that behind, and focus on their troubled friendship? -
This Charming Man (Falling out of hatred) by Nathan_777
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
06 Nov 2025
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"It's the Autumn of 1987, and Will Byers is sitting in the room he shares with his best friend... friend?, Mike, as he traces the patterns in the wood that borders the window panes. Will always tends to find himself lost in thought, usually dark thoughts, ranging from flashbacks of the upside-down back in '83 to remembering the fight he and Mike had in the rain. 'That fight...' Joyce and Hopper decided to put Will under "lockdown" because they're probably afraid that Will is too fragile and is too easy a target for Vecna, well, not "probably" will knows that's the exact words they used. It's dangerous to have so much time put into just thinking. "If I had a time machine, I would have plugged my ears so I never would have to hear those words come from my once best friend's mouth. 'It's not my fault you don't like girls,'" Will thinks, "if I could just tell him the tru-""
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Will and Mike argue, then kiss about it (it's a long argument... sorry -im not sorry-) -
What We Are (The Feeling's Getting Stranger) by RoseByAnyOtherName17
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
05 Nov 2025
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Mike reels back like he’s been slapped. “You really think that I wouldn’t have cared if it was from you?” he asks, voice low, expression torn open. It’s not fair for him to look like Will is breaking his heart in two, not when Mike started it a long fucking time ago.
“It was obvious you wouldn’t have,” Will snarls. Hating himself for it.
Mike swallows hard, throat bobbing. His hands are still shaking; hell, all of him is shaking. “Then clearly you don’t know me at all anymore.”
“Yeah, I guess I don’t.”
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In which Mike finds out the truth about the painting, Will accuses him of not caring about him anymore, and Mike proves to Will just how much he does care with a bundle of letters all signed with love. Features whipped Mike Wheeler, confident Will Byers, and completely over it Max Mayfield, with special appearance by smug Lucas Sinclair.
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Max doesn't want to be alone and Mike won't make it a thing which starts a sort of routine for them.
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What if in “The Battle of Starcourt”, Eleven managed to escape through the elevator after Max was knocked out by Billy?
What if Mike didn’t?
What if the Mind Flayer (AKA Vecna) took an interest in him and decided to make him a part of the hivemind, knowing Eleven would most likely walk right into the trap trying to save him?
What if the only person who could bring him back from possession was Will Byers?
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Look Up and See Infinity (Keep My Feet On The Ground) by RoseByAnyOtherName17
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
20 Oct 2025
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It didn’t bother him, necessarily, that they had pretty much jumped right into what felt practically like marriage. After thirteen years of being best friends, and the last three of those living together, he supposed it wasn’t really that weird. But he hadn’t even taken Will on a date before they had stripped each other completely bare, emotions torn open and exposed, skin sliding against skin. And he didn’t regret it, even if they hadn’t had sex since then (because that’s what they’d done, right? Fumbling and inexperienced as it was, that’s what that had been), but Mike couldn’t shake the guilty thought that Will deserved better than that. Will deserved everything after the hell he’d been through, again and again, since he was twelve years old. Will deserved something normal, or as close as two boys could get to it.
“I deserve this,” Will told him, holding Mike close to his chest and absently playing with his hair. “I want this. I don’t need anything else.”
But damn it, Mike wanted to do something. It was important.
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Mike and Will go on their first date after defeating Vecna.
Series
- Part 6 of You're In My Head (And I'm In Yours)
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Stained Glass Eyes (Colorful Tears) by RoseByAnyOtherName17
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
09 Oct 2025
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For twenty-four hours, Max refused to say a word to anyone.
Six months. In six months, it felt like everything had changed, and at the same time, nothing had happened at all. Vecna was still in hiding, hurt and licking his wounds, only sending his monsters to keep Hawkins on its toes and remind them that the worst was to come. School had sort of resumed, but with so few students left in Hawkins, most everyone was studying at home on their own. Military had flooded the town, but the curfew wasn’t very strictly enforced, if at all.
And Max’s mom abandoned her without a second thought. Left her to die alone in a hospital, or to the mercy of Indiana’s foster care system, which was as good as a death sentence in Max’s former condition. If it weren’t for the Wheelers and Steve Harrington, there was no telling what would have happened to her.
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In which Max begins to figure out what life will be from here on out, featuring informal adoptive parents Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley, a devoted Lucas Sinclair, forever scientifically-inclined Dustin Henderson, and a subtly protective Mike Wheeler accompanied by endlessly entertained Will Byers.
Series
- Part 5 of You're In My Head (And I'm In Yours)
- Part 2 of In The Meantime
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Cuando cosas extrañas comienzan a suceder en el tranquilo y pequeño pueblo de Hawkins, un grupo de personas superdotadas y normales harán hasta lo imposible para arreglar todo... y una persona parece saber más de lo que deja mostrar.
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Un grupo de niños, adolescentes y adultos arreglan todo lo que al gobierno les parece imposible y Matthew Hopper es la única normalidad entre todos, o eso es lo que creen, hasta que es demasiado tarde.
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“Can I hug you?” he repeated, voice smaller now. He desperately hoped that Will would say yes.
He didn’t want to, but he held eye contact with Will for as long as it took Will to search his expression. For what, Mike didn’t know, but after a long moment, Will finally nodded. “Yeah, Mike, you can hug me.” And Mike didn’t hesitate to haul Will back to his feet so he could hug him properly, full-bodied and chest to chest.
“I’m so sorry, Will,” he murmured into Will’s hair. “I’m so sorry.”
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In which Mike and El decide to end their relationship in favor of being friends, he punches Troy Walsh, and finally allows himself to feel what he feels for Will while they work on patching up their friendship so that maybe, someday, he can be brave enough to ask for more - not necessarily in that order. A bit of a prequel to the first fic in the series, though they can be read as standalones.
Series
- Part 4 of You're In My Head (And I'm In Yours)
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Max stops showing up to class one day and Mike notices.