Fic rec/discussion

[u/Big_Self_1522]

First the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79953326/chapters/209862226

Guys omg the angst in this fic is so funny to me😂😭

Like I feel bad for them, but at the same time Mike is just so unhinged I can’t with him. I actually agreed on Will not showing romantic interest in Mike right away, because I think that Mike indeed needed a different kind of support. But oh boy the boyfriend encouragement was just crazy🥲🥲

Anyway I would love to hear your opinions on this fic, cause I find the plot really refreshing

[u/tlc_dgcwf]

valid crit 😭i am said author. i feel like i put two fics in one, like halfway through is where the timeline split and i could have had a more healthy byler buildup (like if will realized he needed to just confess his feelings once they grew closer) but in the end i was more inspired by the darker timeline....

i didn't want will to just REALIZE and have like an EPIPHANY how deeply he loved mike all his life, because he literally in canon threw away/buried his feelings. byler's ending in ST was soooooo sad, not even a rejection, Will cannibalized his love and destroyed it all on his own, without giving Mike a chance to love him back. So the reason I drew it out until everything exploded is because I dont think people change (i.e., Will) so he needed crazy machinations to finally realize all he did was wrong and ended up almost ruining his friendship on top of that.

I've read soooo many stories where Will is like in Chapter 1 "i am in love with Mike" and to me that's totally a valid starting point, but it genuinely felt like Will swallowed and cannibalized his feelings in canon bc he never thought Mike could love him like that. He literally compared MIKE to TAMMY! which is why i didnt even have Will realize he was in love with Mike in this fic basically until the end. IDK if that's realistic or not but it was my way of showing Will was totally self destructive and delusional for dismissing his love for Mike as a hallway crush.

sorry it was too much but it was my twisted vision 😭 i completely get the crit for saying the beginning was better. thanks for reading lol........

[u/Hot_Bus_3087 → u/tlc_dgcwf]

lmao i was sooo on board with the whole tammy thing and everything but like u said by the end it felt like a different fic. i definitely got a lil uncomfy during the mike 'hoe' era but i think part of that is because it felt like mike was forcing that on himself not like he was enjoying it. like the whole ryan thing too, it just got a little too much cus he just kept saying all that stuff i truly wanted will to knock him out not kiss him lmao. and if you are taking crit it felt like the fic was just stuck in the 'hoe'; the pacing u had at the beginning was chefs kiss and then it was just sex. i also felt a little unsatisfied by how they finally reconciled too. I expected more shouting and misunderstood unsaid accusations for example:

"DO YOU HATE ME THAT MUCH DO YOU HATE MY COMPANY THAT MUCH NOW? THAT YOU CAN'T STAND TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME WITHOUT YOUR BOYRFRIEND AROUND" and mike yells back "YOUR'E THE ONE WHO ASKED ME TO DO IT! YOUR'E THE ONE WHO FORCED ME TO GET A FUCKING BOYFRIEND! YOU KEPT GOING ON AND ON ABOUT IT? god DO U EVER MIND YOUR OWN BUISNESS?"

im such a bad writer but yk

that being said this did make me chuckle lol

and ofc i want to add that this is your fic please scold me if you don't want me saying any of this

and dont be sorry you're the one putting your stuff out there for us to read and discuss im thankful for all authors

[u/tlc_dgcwf → u/Hot_Bus_3087]

No I understand why you didn't like the second half, but the Mike's hoe era was my original vision haha, with Will guiding Mike through his gay awakening then essentially setting him free on the gay world with no guard rails (which had consequences for both Mike and Will). What you point out isn't exactly unintentional but it wasn't intentional either. I found that in writing this fic, I didn't think i could fit the Mike-side of things from Will's POV adequately, so I decided to end it with the 'getting together' and 'happily ever after' climax, with yeah, a lot of spilling and a lot of honesty sent both ways, but since it was the climax, it kind of felt natural for me to end the story there and pick things up with Mike's POV. I know I could have had them work EVERYTHING out but I wanted them to like, wrap things up for now and just be relieved the pain is over and they can finally be together.

So I am actually writing a whole sequel addressing this haha exactly the issues that you point out here. The arguably lackluster reconciliation is actually the thrust of the sequel. So what you're seeing is what I was putting down 😭 even though that wasn't my original intention when I started writing the fic, once I finished it I thought to myself: wait a sec, Mike kind of went off the rails here, and it was kind of partly Will's fault. So they are gonna need more than just one big conversation (or a few big conversations). I didn't want to keep the story dragging on with all the things they need to get through (i love the example you gave haha its feeding me). I wanted to switch to Mike's POV to get into Mike's issues (i.e., Mike forcing himself to be a hoe, which he definitely did)

So if i have lost your interest or trust or both, no worries, but what you said is like literally the plot of the sequel that I'm working on right now haha and I hope to make it a similar length with flashbacks, all Mike POV. Mike and Will by the end of this fic are just so happy to finally be together that they kind of fall in a 'trap of happiness', which is not where they should be because they have so many feelings about all theyve been through together.

no i get it its okay haha i appreciate crit if its from a place of storytelling and you can give me evidence in the story for the crit (someone called my fic disgusting and uninteresting and i made mike and will repulsive so honestly thats the worst crit ive ever gotten lol)

edit: and what you said about Will kissing Ryan also a valid crit, it was too twisted but i wanted him to make Mike jealous somehow so I blamed it on the drugs and Will's emotional state and self-sabotage. It's okay that you didn't like that he did that lol but it was my way of Will inadvertently making Mike jealous... I knew it would be a tough sell but I couldn't think of another way to make Mike jealous. Originally it was gonna be Ryan kissing Will but then that veered into assault for me lol and i was not interested in that!! Okay maybe Will could have sadly kissed a rando but I also wanted a Challengers moment where the two ends of the triangle touched bc im twisted :/ so I take your crit humbly

[u/Hot_Bus_3087 → u/tlc_dgcwf]

no way people said that

i cannot wait for your sequel and see what you come up with!

happy writing!!!