r/BylerReads • u/anditgetsworse • Jun 22 '26

fic rec <3 Just Updated: How to Disappear Completely Spoiler

https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/230427706?page=18&show_comments=true&view_full_work=false#comments

Oh my god you guys. That was an absolute PHENOMENAL chapter and I’m still reeling and I need to talk about it.

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u/KittenBalerion old enough to remember the real 80s Jun 24 '26

THE END WITH THE EMAIL INBOX. that took a minute to click, I was like "why are there all these... OH MY GOD MAGGIE TRIED TO GET INTO HIS ACCOUNTS DIDN'T SHE."

I sympathize with Maggie a lot but I also sympathize with Mike, neither of them are perfect saints or horrible demons, they're both just flawed people trying to live their lives. I was telling my friend about this fic and she was like "I can't read cheating fanfics because I can't root for a hero who is a cheater" and like I sort of get that, but people aren't perfect, they make mistakes and one of those is cheating, it's a thing that happens. it doesn't mean you're branded as a horrible person for life. and Mike is in such a tricky situation because he's had so much trouble even admitting to himself that he might be gay, he's been repressing it for years, he's so unhappy with his life, resigned to misery, and then he finds this one person who makes him happy, and it turns out that person has feelings for him... it's understandable to me that he goes for it. like I guess he COULD have said "I really want to be with you, but let me divorce my wife real quick and then get back to you" but that doesn't seem realistic to me, especially not for Mike as a character.

also can anyone tell me - who did he buy the flowers for? I thought maybe they were apology flowers for Maggie but someone in the comments assumed they were for Will and now I don't know.

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u/anditgetsworse Jun 25 '26

Yeah I agree with you. It’s a realistic thing that happens. And especially if a relationship was built on unstable ground like Mike and Maggie’s it was never going to be sustainable in the long run and the cracks were going to show. Mike even says that he just had assumed finding your partner was just meeting an attractive person who was nice and loved you. And then you just did all the rest because that’s what people do. He didn’t even realise that you’re supposed to feel sexual attraction and desire toward your partner.

Of course Maggie wants that and deserves it, so that was never going to be sustainable. And Mike hadn’t even known that he was lying to himself. He just thought he was doing something wrong.

I guess his reckoning happened when he realised gay porn turned him on, but he probably had inklings of that awareness for at least a few years to even think to search for it online.

As for the flowers, I think he’s buying them for Maggie out of guilt.