Conformity Gate
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Summary
For the first time in four years, Will Byers is free. The grip the upside-down had on him has been relinquished, and he and his friends can live out the few months of childhood they have left.
But nothing is quite right: Lucas is but a shell of a person, Dustin has forgotten his girlfriend of two years, and Mike? Mike Wheeler, the heart of the group, has been a ghost of who he was for a long, long time.
And it's not just his old party: Robin, Jonathan, Hopper, Nancy, even his Mom, the same woman who would not rest till she found the truth all those years ago, glaze over their final battle like it was nothing.
A final fight that was too easy, a flickering reality of a town, a heart withering and rotting with grief in his basement. Just like that, Will begins to question just who won that last fight and how exactly he helped Vecna one last time.
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The walls of the room are too tall, and Will looks around wondering if he’s out of his mind. Mike tracks his gaze, “Oh yeah, I see it too.” Will's shoulders get tight, and the room starts to feel unsafe. “Can I sleep in your bed tonight?”
Alternatively: CONFORMITY GATE! The party won and the upside-down was detonated. Though still, Mike can't seem to trust the world around him. Nothing seems real, and everyone is acting off. Thankfully, Will notices it too.
Title is from Hero's by David Bowie
Series
- Part 1 of Byler
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He hated that he couldn’t get absolutely humiliated by Max at the arcade, and that Lucas couldn’t make fun of him forever afterwards. Hated that he couldn’t have long debates about physics with Dustin. Hated not having his party.
He hated not having El.
...He hated not having Will.Or
Mike grows up to be what he always despised, and admittance comes to him much too late.
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If the epilogue was actually vecna and mike was living out his worst fear his friends leaving him behind, loosing will and slowly turning into his dad.
I hate the stranger things ending and i love conformity gate so im attempting to write a fic about it.
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you have to learn how to die (if you want to be alive) by worlds__collided
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
06 Jan 2026
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He checks no one is looking over his shoulder. But they never are. Nobody ever comes down here.
It’s like the rest of the world doesn’t even exist when he’s here.
Mike focuses back on the page, trying to ignore the creeping anxiety, the hairs standing on the back of his neck.
Dear Will.
or,
Mike is trapped in a nightmare disguised as a dream.
Will goes in after him.
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can i try again? (and again, and again) by strawberrysunrise2
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
05 Jan 2026
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mike wheeler is graduating high school. his friends are beside him, his life is ahead of him, but nothing feels right. he can't seem to ignore his best friend's eyes, he can't stop himself from looking like his father, and everything is empty. dull. it's grief, maybe, or something he can't name.
he decides to do something about it.or, a conformitygate fic centered on byler.
the title is (sorta) from pink in the night by mitski. this is updated irregularly, but probably mostly on weekends. the chapter count is not set in stone, but should be about right. crossposted to wattpad, but i prioritize ao3.
thank you for reading :)- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 1,209
- Chapters:
- 1/16
- Hits:
- 6
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Will Byers gains consciousness after a long, disastrous and failed fight with Vecna. He wakes up in the tunnels, and six feet away from him, stands nobody other than Mike Wheeler. His eyes are rolled back into his head, and his feet are slowly lifting off the ground.
OR
Mike Wheeler gets possessed by Vecna, Will tries to snap him out of it, and confessions slip. -
yeah, i guess the end is here by songsandstardust (astraea_7)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
05 Jan 2026
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“Jonathan and Nancy are the first to die.”
…
{the final chapter in more ways than one.} -
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Vecna is defeated and Hawkins is back to normal. Right? Well Mike is missing, Eleven could be alive, Will is having strange nightmares, and there could be an even darker presence decending upon Hawkins. A conformity gate fic with plot twists.
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I Was Writing A Scene That Reminded Me of Something You Said and Now I Don't Know How To Find You by MarvelousPeterParker
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
06 Jan 2026
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In the middle of writing his second novel, Mike reaches a scene that forces him in a deep pit of writers block. Down on his luck, with nothing keeping him uplifted anymore, he seeks out the person of his inspiration: Will Byers. Problem is, he hasn't seen him in years.
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Conformity gate is the theory that the finale of Stranger Things is a vision Vecna is showing Mike and the ''real finale'' with release January 7th 2026. Evidence to support it is things changing during scenes, characters doing Henry's pose and the end creits song is Heroes by David Bowie, which only plays it the show when there's a lie eg. when Will's fake body is found and Hopper dying. I don't believe in this theory but if it were true. I think it would go like this.
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Mike has been possessed by Vecna, and he's escaped. But what he doesn't know is that he never needed music. He needed Will.
Mike's bedroom has been destroyed, so he has to room with Will in the basement. Arguments occur, certain paintings are mentioned,
and when an argument before a trip to the Upside Down leaves Will and Mike on a no-talking basis, Mike tries his best to salvage their friendship.OR
Mike and Will have an argument about the painting, right before their final trip to the Upside Down to destroy Vecna once and for all.
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As Mike walked through the kitchen to the table where his friends sat being served by his mother, Mike felt his eyes drift to the back wall of the room, and it was only took a moment for his feet stop in the middle of the kitchen.
There was no window.
For Mike’s entire life, there had been a window on that back wall. Placed centre with a frame either side of it and a curtain in whatever style his mother chose for the season covering it, a window has always been on that wall. Mike rarely ever took notice of it, as it was a feature of the house that was unimportant to him, but he had always known it was there.
Only now, it was gone.
- “Did you really think it would be that easy to find and stop me, Michael? I’m closer than you think. Writing this story was never under your control. You just gave me the blueprint.”
- What if it was just all an illusion? Where do we go from there?
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Every thing has been perfect since they faced Vecna, in fact almost too perfect, almost like a dream… But while everyone one is living their best life Mike Wheeler start noticing that something feels off, and that he has to get out of this place… or what even is this place.
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Their tears are filling up their glasses by Blutmondlilie
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
06 Jan 2026
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Sunday breakfast at the Wheeler house feels almost normal.
Sure, Mike is still a bit tired, sure there is that weird tingle again, but...
If you survive the end of the world, you earn all the right to forget, don’t you?
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It’s The End Of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by PitchBitch
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016), R.E.M. (Band)
07 Jan 2026
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I almost laugh.
At how easy it is. He doesn’t even think to wear a blindfold or stuff his ears. It’s like I’m right there with them, inside the truck.
My perfect spy.
🕖🕰🕚
Seven o'clock, walkie hour, don't fall off of radio tower
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock them in uniforms, demo burning, bloodletting
Every motive escalate, demodog incinerate
Light a candle, light an explosive, step up, step up
Watch your back crack, crack, uh oh
This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I declineSeries
- Part 1 of Conformity Gate
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 711
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Kudos:
- 8
- Hits:
- 43
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This Must be the Place (Conformity Gate) by TheMVPingler
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016), Stranger Things - Fandom
07 Jan 2026
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Summary
My version of the "Conformity Gate" speculations, told from the perspectives of Will and Henry. Eventual Henry/Will forbidden smut and romance, stay tuned and thanks for reading!
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Everything. Everything! ("I'm a hypocrite, Will!") by chelliebeans
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
10 Jan 2026
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Summary
Will realises they're all stuck in Vecna's illusion and immediately tells Mike. Together, they go on a journey through their shared memories on their way to freedom.
(Post ST5 Vol. 3)
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- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 4,348
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Kudos:
- 2
- Hits:
- 423
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Summary
Graduation comes, summer ends. They all leave. No one calls much. He doesn’t hear from his parents most weeks. Holly is too old to love her brother anymore, but she waves at him when he sees her wandering downtown with the rest of the twelve. When the others do call, they talk about their new friends and experiences, something different each ring. Their stories, he can’t keep straight.
His own story never changes. He doesn’t know the names of the other students in his classes. Forgets his roommate's name more often than not. No one knows his name, either. It’s the gray malaise of adulthood.
or, the storyteller deserves a better ending
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“Mike, we can’t just spend the rest of your life in your basement playing DND. Isn’t that what you said?” God, /he/ did this to Will. His smile is forced through tears, and it’s bitter. Heartbreaking, even, if Mike had any heart left to break. Mike knows what Will is remembering. Those words, that rain.
“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”
It’s not my fault.
You don’t like girls.- - - - -
“This isn’t like one of your campaigns, you don’t get to write the ending.”
Mike DID write his own ending, but it sucked, so I decided to redo itIn which I decide to let my imagination run with the conformitygate info I’ve seen
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This Must be the Place (Conformity Gate) by TheMVPingler
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016), Stranger Things - Fandom
07 Jan 2026
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Summary
My version of the "Conformity Gate" speculations, told from the perspectives of Will and Henry. Eventual Henry/Will forbidden smut and romance, stay tuned and thanks for reading!