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maybe this is a crazy thought but in my opinion i’ve never seen mike as someone who has trouble expressing his feelings.

i feel like the main people that say this are melvins who say that the reason mike cant say i love you to el or that they get in fights all the time is because he’s someone that has trouble expressing his feelings. but i don’t see many bylers saying that.

i feel like this is cause mike doesn’t know how to express himself around el. when he’s with will he seems pretty good at telling him what’s going on in his head. he’s also that way with the party. he doesn’t really hesitate to tell them how he feels about a situation or how close they are.

just because mike gets awkward with his words doesn’t mean he has trouble expressing himself. he tells people what he wants them to hear and makes sure they understand what he’s saying even if it’s not in a typical way.

however when he’s around el it’s like he can never truly express himself, as if he’s walking in a tightrope. he’s always trying to find the right words to make sure things go a certain way rather than just saying what he wants to say despite the outcome, and it makes him look extremely awkward and out of place. like after their arguments it seems his apologies are always delivered as if he’s reading from a poorly written script. he’s trying tell el what she wants to hear but it doesn’t necessarily line up with what he actually believes, so it causes him to not be able to express his feelings properly.

when he’s with will he has no problem rambling on until he gets the words across that he wants to because he knows everything he’s saying is coming from the heart. mike doesn’t seem awkward in these situations because he’s freely expressing how he feels.

and outside of will, mike has never had problems making it known how he feels to others. for example he easily expresses anger towards his mom, el, and the party when it came to will’s disappearance; he openly cried to his mom when he thought will was dead; when dustin said that lucas was mike’s best friend and he couldn’t have two, mike said that dustin was his best friend anyways. in my eyes mike is a pretty blunt guy.

so to me mike isn’t someone that has a hard time expressing his feelings, i just think he gets that way when he’s with el, or basically in situations where he feels like he can’t be himself.

I wish you a very merry gay pining

okay it's juneteenth just now i saw someone on pinterest talking about it anyways happy juneteenth to everyone who celebrates it from your beautiful byler community.

I love you so much. So, so much.

the fact that unsuccessful queer relationships, unrequited queer love, and sad/dead queer characters are so normalized in media that general audiences automatically assume that will is either gonna get his heartbroken by mike, literally die even though he’s the main reason behind the whole series, or even if mike did like him they would never get together because the duffers would never break up melvin…DESPITE the fact that cinematically none of those options make sense and if they were a wlm pairing people would have little doubts that they’d actually get together.

something i find really weird and invalidating is when a gay ship like byler starts becoming popular or there’s a possibility of it being canon, people start arguing and saying things like “mike shown no sign that he’s gay/bi throughout the entire show, this ship wouldn’t make sense”

like… what?

why do queer people always need to “prove” that they’re queer or “make it obvious” for you to think their sexuality is valid but straight people can just exist and you automatically assume everyone is straight by default? why do you need mike to show signs of being gay/bi in order to “believe” his sexuality? are you kidding me?

even will, who was literally written as gay and is the most gay coded character in the show that has shown NO interest in girls, is being called “straight” by some people, because they can’t believe he’s gay unless he “proves” to them that he’s gay and it’s canon. do they realise how weird they sound? why does he have to prove he’s gay but you can automatically assume he’s straight even though he’s shown NO signs of being straight? why do gay people always have to prove their sexuality but straight people don’t?

do people also realise that many queer kids take a very long time to discover themselves and it’s not going to be “obvious” from the start and some people may identity with one label at one point but then change it later on as they discover themselves, but that does NOT make them any less valid. they’re valid no matter what. these things aren’t easy for everyone and it can take a very long time to fully discover and understand who you are and that’s okay!!

mike has clearly been struggling with his own identity and forced conforming; you can literally see the way he changes whenever el is around and how he acts like someone he’s not. HIS OWN FRIENDS have called him out for it so many times!! true love and getting into a relationship doesn’t make you change THAT much. mike is forcing himself to be someone he’s not and it’s not fair for him, el and everyone around them. it’s not healthy. i don’t know how people don’t understand this. also just look at the way he acted around will in season 4. there’s no other explanation for that except for the fact he has repressed feelings for him

anyways like i said, mike shouldn’t need to “prove” anything to anyone. he’s been in ONE relationship with a girl, the only girl that’s shown attraction to him in fact, and he’s never shown attraction to any other girls either. ted even said “our son with a girl?” and was so surprised about it. he obviously wasn’t specifically talking about mike’s preferences or anything but it just shows that none of the boys interacted with girls at all so it’s a shock to them. they probably wouldn’t have even approached girls at all but then they met el and she gave mike attention and we know the rest. being in one relationship doesn’t mean mike is straight and it’s very weird to say “byler makes no sense because mike hasn’t shown signs of being gay” like are you stupid

i have the biggest crush on finn dawg especially THIS SEASON finn whew

Will’s season 4 look is actually growing on me. He and Mike both look very attractive. I don’t care about people who say they look “gross” or “cringey”.

the duffer brothers have to make byler canon because if they don't then I have to issue an apology post to voltron fans and the day I'm not willing to make fun of voltron is the day I leave this earth

time to rewatch the running up that hill scene and cry as i have done every single day since volume one

this “will deserves better than mike” thing is so annoying to me because y’all are treating mike like he’s not a kid that gets to make mistakes.

yeah he’s hurt will a few times, but each time he’s gone to him and genuinely apologized, not leaving the situation as it is. will knows what he wants and if that’s mike then that’s who he deserves!

mike is a kid learning about his feelings and finally discovering who he is as a person. yeah some of that has reflected on will and his other friends but don’t act like that wasn’t you at some point. we’ve all made mistakes at the expense of us figuring out who we are and yet a lot of us still have the relationships we do now despite those mistakes because we learned to grow and we made sure we fixed those mistakes.

give mike some breathing room…he’s a freaking highschool freshman and y’all are acting like he’s a grown man. mike is aware that what he does to will isn’t right all the time which is why he always goes out of his way to apologize. it may not seem like enough to you, but i’m terms of mike’s character it’s something he doesn’t do with anyone else but will.

mike was one of the people that stood by will at any cost even when others didn’t and you say will doesn’t deserve him. he defended him against bullies even when he wasn’t there, he believed he was alive when the rest of the party didn’t, he stayed up waiting for will to wake up in the hospital, he slept next to his hospital bed, he told will how important meeting him was when he was being possessed in an attempt to save him, he was willing to jump off a cliff when he thought will wasn’t coming back, he argued with his parents and the chief when they told him to not look for will but he did anyway, he made will feel safe by reassuring him that they wouldn’t let the mf take him again, he protected will whenever he was having his episodes, he biked to his house in the rain to apologize for a fight they had, he was willing to go to the upside to help him, could go on.

mike has made some mistakes yeah, but those mistakes will never get rid of how much he cares for will and how much love and adoration he has for him. mike is the one will loves because in his eyes he’s one of the most important people in the world to him that stood by his side during his darkest moments. so don’t say will deserves better than mike just because you don’t like him.

and it’s okay to dislike mike that’s your business, but saying he’s a jerk, asshole, etc. that doesn’t care about his friends shows that you’ve never payed attention to his character.

turned the mike wheeler is getting vecna'd agenda into a 2 minute video because that is how i roll

personally i don’t think the duffers want us to ship stancy. the general audience can clearly tell that they aren’t meant for each other and that them getting back together makes no sense so why would they push for their relationship?

nancy is having relationship problems with jonathan and is clearly using steve as a rebound for a very brief moment. and why would nancy get back together with the guy that made her feel guilty about barb dying?? i don’t think nancy will make any advances nor accept steve’s in the future because she’s more levelheaded than that. it took jonathan being across the country for her to acknowledge steve again so i don’t think she’d suddenly be with him again.

as for steve it’s clear he’s been trying to find a girlfriend and hasn’t been successful. nancy is someone he’s already had an intimate relationship with so it’s easy for him to rekindle these feelings and he’s hoping she’s feels the same way. i highly doubt he’s still in love with nancy. and as soon as she got with jonathan he backed off and went on dates and sorta tried to get with robin before discovering she was gay.

they’re just convenient for one another at this point and life or death situations can bring anyone closer in the heat of them moment. i think the duffers are trying to show this so we can see some obvious growth from their characters later on.

im very likely in the minority here, but like personally, i honestly don’t believe mike would go thru the same amount of gay angst other characters might go thru, even despite the 80s setting. the boy was ready to jump of a literal cliff for his friend, he’s already been bullied his whole life for being “different” and he fully leans into BEING different once he gets to high school. he constantly tries to shout his parents down, he full on tells government officials he will lie to them, he OPENLY calls ppl out for things (regardless if he’s right, wrong, misinformed, misguided, whatever). i truly dont think he cares about other people’s opinions or views and thats a hard Fact™ in my opinion

what i think mike is afraid of most is LOSING people. and he oscillates wildly between pushing them away and holding them close because he can’t seem to figure out which is less painful: not caring as much so it doesnt matter when theyre gone (which is obviously a self-told lie) or having them taken away from you repeatedly, and maybe in the end even, permentantly.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HEARTBREAKING THE DUFFEL BROS BETTER SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN

i kinda talked about this once very briefly in this here

but most people think that when it’s said v2 contains “will’s saddest moment” they think it has to do with him getting vecna’d.

however, i think it could be another hint to mike getting vecna’d.

will ofc has more trauma than anyone, let alone anyone his age should have and he’s had to deal with it on multiple occasions. first lonnie, then being bullied at school, then being taken to the upside down, being possessed, the list goes on. and i would say will handles himself pretty well despite having gone through all of that and more. i don’t think will’s saddest moment would be him getting vecna’d because he’s already stood at death’s doorstep before, he’s been dealing with ptsd his entire life and i think one of the reasons he holds himself to well is because he doesn’t hide who he is or how he feels. yeah he may not tell everyone everything, but he doesn’t hide that he’s anxious, that he’s scared, he isn’t even hiding the fact that he’s gay and in love with mike. vecna feeds on people who hide their insecurities and hide their trauma, which is smth will doesn’t really do.

now we already know mike is hiding his feelings for will, that he like boys, and that he is in loveless unromantic relationship with el (when i say loveless i mean lacking romantic love). he’s the perfect target for vecna. which leads me to my main point.

what if will’s saddest moment isn’t himself getting vecna’d but mike getting vecna’d.

will is always at the receiving end when it comes to suffering and it’s always others being devastated for him that he’s the one going through so much pain. yet will has never seen mike ever TRULY be in danger. he’s never experienced what mike has had to go through so many times: seeing your best friend on the verge of death (or thinking he’s actually dead). mike has seen will suffer so often and everytime he does it’s evident that it takes a extreme emotional toll on him.

will seeing mike getting vecna’d and realizing that his best friend, the boy he’s in love with, might actually die and will never come back would be shattering for him. maybe before this will confessed and never got to hear what mike had to say, maybe he never got the chance to confess yet, maybe he never got to give mike his painting. will breaks realizing that that might be the last time he would ever talk to mike again.

he finally understands what mike has gone through since the day he went missing. he understands the pain that comes from thinking the person you care about the most may not be with you anymore.

and in my opinion that would be will’s saddest moment because imagine thinking that one of the people that made your trauma worth living through is going to die right in front of your eyes.

this is so fucking cool

Stranger Things 4 as an 90's anime (video), art by me 🖌️

Help he’s so cute

how stupid does one have to be to think that just because people weren’t saying they were queer in the 80s automatically means there weren’t any queer people in the 80s

hold on…is it true that the last v2 eps are gonna be a week apart…like ep 8 releases on july 1 then ep 9 releases on july 8…

there’s something i noticed in this specific scene maybe i’m crazy

“i was worrying too much about el”

“i feel i lost you”

i feel like these specific pieces of dialogue showcase truly just how much mike wheeler really was up in his own head.

when mike goes to cali things are awkward between him and will while things seem relatively normal between him and el. mike was ignoring will because he was conflicted in his own head about his feelings for him, which lead him to overcompensating in his relationship with el.

it’s clear that mike was paying attention to will and possibly felt the distance that grew between them. i think he didn’t realize that he himself was the one that created this distance hence why the fight at the roller rink was so crucial to their development.

mike felt like he lost will because they weren’t as close as they once were, but mike never realized that will felt like he lost him too. mike was so focused on his own emotions that when will told him that he felt like he was losing his best friend, smth clicked in mike’s mind (after getting defensive ofc because that’s typically his initial reaction to be called out) that will was suffering just as much as he was.

this is what leads to their convo in will’s room. he tells will what was going on in his mind, probably without all the little details, to show that he never forgot about will. he’s reassuring will that he didn’t lose him and that he’s still here, that he’s sorry that he was the one that caused them to grow apart. he admits to being too worried about el and basically being up in his own head.

he tells will what he wants to hear not just because it’s smth will wants to hear, but because it’s smth he himself wants to hear too. and i think because of this mike will be more open about his feelings with will because he’s finally starting to see and understand the consequences his inner conflicts have on his relationships. and if one of those consequences include losing will as a friend, best friend, whatever he is to him, then that’s not a risk mike is willing to take.

thinking about how steve is clearly suppressing his bisexuality because he tells nancy that he would date robin but he can’t for reasons which is odd in itself cause he’s known for a while now that robin is gay yet he still talks about how he’d try being with her which shows how he’s desperate to find a GIRL to be with (probably why he’s trying to go back to nancy), but if he really wanted to get back with nancy he wouldn’t tell her he’d date robin which makes me think he’s really doing everything he can to find a girlfriend to fill a void not considering that he could try for a boyfriend (*cough* eddie) instead.

when robin came out to steve, he said “but she’s a girl” when robin was talking about her crush, like he literally didn’t even know that was an option.

this is why my brain has convinced me that bi steve harrington 100% possible bc now he realizes that dating someone of the same gender is a possibility.

mike was clearly in deep thought. he was really thinking about something. and while he was thinking about it...he turned to stare at will. HE WAS THINKING ABOUT WILL (and el too) and then he panicked when he saw that will was already looking at him. he acted like he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.

i would understand him thinking about el since well...you know. but WHY was he also thinking about will?? 🤨

Gaten 🤝 us