Archive of Our Own

Recent works

• Not Him by maximum_colors

  Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016), The Turning (2020)  

  • Not Rated
  • Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
  • M/M
  • Complete Work

  06 Feb 2026

  Tags

  • Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
  • Will Byers/Miles Fairchild
  • Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
  • Will Byers
  • Mike Wheeler
  • Miles Fairchild
  • Dustin Henderson
  • Lucas Sinclair
  • Maxine "Max" Mayfield
  • Eleven | Jane Hopper
  • Nancy Wheeler
  • Jonathan Byers
  • Steve Harrington
  • Wheeler Family (Stranger Things)
  • Byers Family (Stranger Things)
  • Multiverse
  • Stranger Things 3
  • The turning 2020
  • Mike and Miles are cousins
  • Hurt/Comfort
  • Stranger Things Season 3: Time Gap

  Summary

  By the time Will realized something was missing, it was already too late.

  The change came quietly—the Party drifting, the laughter fading, the spaces growing wider. Yet to Will, the past still felt close. Like yesterday. Like it could all be fixed if he just reached out.

  So Will stayed. Holding on. Hoping. Believing.

  Until someone stepped into the space he didn’t even know was empty.

  Language:

  English

  Words:

  46,814

  Chapters:

  19/19

  Comments:

  303

  Kudos:

  1,065

  Bookmarks:

  174

  Hits:

  12,336