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When reading fanfic keep in mind that for professional literature: 

Short story: under 7,500

Novelette: between 7,500 and 17,500

Novella: between 17,500 and 40,000

Novel: over 40,000

Fics over 40k are literally a novel written and shared for free.  If you have written a 40k+ fic, you have literally written a novel.

lucas sinclair is who i will always turn to when i start to doubt byler

let me explain…

i would just like you guys to watch this (credit to @/hawkedited on tiktok for this edit!)

this video PERFECTLY displays what mikes relationship is like with lucas. in season 1, dustin says that lucas is mike’s best friend, and he’s right! ofc all three are mike’s best friends, but lucas gets a lot of screentime showcasing what his friendship with mike is like in season 3

we also see some great scenes of will and lucas’s friendship, and honestly it’s similar in a lot of ways. lucas sinclair is the BLUEPRINT for what a normal best friendship is like for both mike and will. (dustin as well, but we just don’t get as many scenes with him interacting with the rest of the party past s1)

they are very sarcastic with each other, and it’s easy to talk to lucas about the most ridiculously boyish topics because he is what both mike and will see as heteronormativity. it’s easy for them to be friends with lucas, because they are truly best friends

but with mike and will, although they are best friends, their friendship is a direct contrast to being friends with lucas. that sarcasm and bickering is nowhere to be seen in byler, because that’s the point! we’re supposed to understand that will and mikes relationship is special. it’s not a normal friendship, and their feelings are deeper than anything platonic.

the way mike speaks to will in soft tones, almost reverent? thats not normal for mike. he doesn’t talk to anyone else like that. so why is will so different? we know it’s not because he “can’t handle sarcasm” because he’s got his own brand of sass, and he and lucas are often being sarcastic and joking with each other in s3.

it’s just the way mike treats will. he truly cares for will on a deeper level than friendship

The pizza van plot is almost funny if you pretend that Byler was fighting off a mild contact high on and off for four days because of Argyle constantly hot boxing the van. Will fantasizing about robbing casinos up and down the Las Vegas Strip? Mike’s head so full and yet so empty vibes during the confession? Will gay panicking while Mike’s like, “Wow, Will painted this for me!! El asked him too? Totally not weird or suspicious that El knows nothing about DnD. Omg, does this mean there’s no girl?” Babygirl, that’s just purple palm tree delight.

Alexa play some things never change from the frozen 2 soundtrack

He's such a bitch.

It's literally such a small thing but...

So, you know how all through s4, Dustin is the one in Hawkins really figuring out what's happening and also, like, coming up with a bunch of the plans? And the whole time he's so snippy and snarky about it, when the people around him (in particular the older teens) don't understand what he's talking about? And the older teens, especially Steve and Eddie are annoyed by his "ego"?

I was rewatching Eddie's campaign scene in s4e1 earlier today for my earlier post and there's that moment when they're all huddled up to discuss what to do about Vecna, and Mike's 0'd out along with everyone else except Dustin and Erica, and nobody knows what to do, and Dustin turns to Mike, like it's the most natural thing in the world, and asks for his opinion. And waits for Mike to consider. And seems much more confident in his own decision to keep fighting after Mike talks about the risks but tells him that the choice is up to him.

Like. I just think there's something really interesting about the fact that Dustin trusts, wants, and asks for Mike's opinion, specifically. Even just in D&D. I don't know.

Thinking about Mike and Dustin meeting up at the end of s3 and Dustin earnestly telling Mike they could have really used him down there, and Mike saying that they could have used Dustin up with the Mind Flayer.

Thinking about how this little gesture in the middle of a D&D game shows how much trust Dustin has in Mike's abilities as a leader and strategist. Thinking about how Dustin doesn't turn to anyone else that way/that naturally (as far as I can remember) all through s4. How things went sideways and Mike was unreachable AGAIN, this time halfway across the country.

Like? Honestly no wonder Dustin's attitude was the way it was this season? Poor kid was trying to be himself and Mike-- both the scientist and the strategist all at the same time-- for everyone else. That's exhausting.

idk I'm just very suddenly having a lot of feelings about Mike and Dustin's friendship.

Finn’s Playlist: “Let Her Go” by Mac DeMarco

Tell her that you love her / If you really love her

But if your heart just ain't sure / Let her know

Growing by the hour / Love just like a flower

But when the flower dies, you've got to say goodbye / Let her go

Tell her that you'll be there / If you'll really be there

Separation's supposed to make the heart grow fond / But it don't

So tell her that you love her/ If you really love her

But if your heart just ain't sure / Let her go

Or you can keep her, it's okay / It's up to you

Make your own choice / Whatever you gotta do

Mike is like a tomato yk most ppl think is a vegetable but its actually a fruit

Show some love for The First Heart-to-Heart!

It’s such an unusual scene, the start of so many new things: the plan to find El, the road trip, the reconciliation between Mike and Will.

Let’s dive in!

Narratively, we jump from the argument between Mike and Will at Rink O Mania to El’s arrest. In the van on the way home, Mike only had eyes for Will, rather than scowling at El too. Can you guess which situation was grating on him more? 

Post-arrest, the boys clamour together to create a game plan to try and save El. Their worries no longer really concern the events of Rink O Mania, which is understandable, but a theme of Mike’s storyline in s4 (and arguably all characters throughout the show) is dealing with personal issues amidst supernatural terror - therefore, we can assume that the events of that day have not been entirely forgotten despite the new and present danger.

The boys are discussing in Jonathan’s room, and it’s been going on a while; long enough that they need a drink. Well, Jonathan anyway - he only brings one coke back lmao. Jonathan is an observant, sympathetic king, so there’s no way he didn’t ask if the lads wanted a bevvy too. They didn’t. Jonathan only has to get one coke. We’ll come back to this later.

Keep reading

this goes out to anyone who thinks byler is only supported on will’s side and will isn’t made just as perfectly for mike, look at them! bedroom scene x van scene parallels

Mike and Will - Relationship Analysis (How they talk to each other)

There’s something about the way Mike and Will talk to each other. Sure, we can say that Mike has a ‘Will voice’ and while he does, Mike’s ‘Will voice’ is a spool of thread used in a very complex tapestry that shows Mike and Will’s relationship. Mike speaks softly to Will, unlike how he speaks to most people. His tone changes from witty and defensive, to kind and vulnerable. There is more than care and love in his voice; there is an equal partnership. Mike is giving Will a safe person, but he’s also trusting Will to be safe as well. The voice Mike has for Will tells us a lot about their relationship. It displays the vulnerability, care and trust in their relationship.

But there’s so much more.

Mike and Will get mad at each other. They do. In ways they never would with anyone else. When they fight it can’t be easily resolved. It’s not the same as Lucas not trusting El, or Max becoming a member of the party, or El lying to Mike in California. It’s Mike and Will, and they’re a partnership. When Max and Mike were at odds about whether or not they should be friends, they were on two distinctly different sides. They argued independently from the other person. Mike and Max’s arguments were not affected by their relationship to each other.

Lucas and Mike do have a strong relationship, and when they fought it was still different than Mike and Will. There was still a separation between Mike’s argument in favour of El, and Lucas’ argument against her. They got mad at each other. Lucas left Dustin, El, and Mike for a bit. It was a very different situation than Max and Mike, who didn’t know each other very well. Still, it’s set apart from Mike and Will.

Mike and Will fight with vulnerability. It’s deeply ingrained into their relationship, and unlike with Lucas or Max, Mike can’t defend himself without his words holding weight as they drop- and neither can Will.

Will argues far more subtly than Mike does-unless he’s arguing with Mike. When Will and Jonathan talk about being a freak is a good thing, Will is arguing with him. He’s not yelling, but he does take up a defensive position. He asks Jonathan, “is that why you don’t have any friends?” as a way of pushing back. Similarly, with El at the airport, he asks, “friends? What friends?” They’re arguing about El lying to Mike. However, Will lying to Mike is very different than El lying to Mike, because of the trust in their relationship. Mike doesn’t get angry at El for lying to him like Will thought he would. He talks to her, and then he gets defensive- like he did with Max and Lucas- about the letters. They have two different sides that don’t affect each other’s positions as they’re arguing.

Mike and Will constantly affect each other’s arguments.

When Max joins them trick or treating, Mike asks Will about it. They aren’t fighting really, they’re having a somewhat accusatory conversation. Mike says, “you should have checked with me first”because they’re a partnership. They are conscious of the fact that their decisions affect one another. They’re arguing because there was a lapse in communication. But Will doesn’t do what Max would do, or what Lucas would, or what El would. He says, “[I didn’t think it would’ve mattered]” and by saying it like that, he gives Mike permission to continue this conversation as a discussion. Will didn’t think that it mattered, and that’s exactly what he told Mike. Will didn’t think that this decision affected Mike, and Mike is telling him that it is. And Will is letting him talk.

Their arguments are not two novels they’re reading from. It’s a single notebook with two pens. They’re not arguing for the sake of arguing- they’re trying to find a solution.

The rain fight still operates within those bounds. While it’s far more charged, and has more damning implications- from both sides- they’re still writing on the same page.

Unlike Will and Jonathan talking about being freaks, or Lucas and Mike fighting about El, the rain fight doesn’t have two conflicting positions on an issue. It has a problem that needs to be fixed, with no clear stance stated from Mike or Will. The conflict has to do with Mike pushing Will and the things he has been told he can’t like anymore away, and Will resisting that. Another added layer is that Mike is dating El, and consistently has been choosing her over the rest of his friends. Including Will. Mike and Will are closer than the rest of their friends. For Mike to put someone above Will, is a threat to the trust in their relationship. It’s why Mike was angry that Will didn’t tell him about Max. And it’s why Will is angry that Mike is choosing El over him.

Statements and questions have different meanings. When Mike states, “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” there is no room for discussion. He’s defending himself, like Will does with Jonathan and El- latching onto them not having friends. This is not normal for them. Will’s shock and Mike’s immediate regret tells us that. Which is why Mike follows it up with a question, “did you think that we’d never get girlfriends?… for the rest of our lives?” He’s putting them back into discussion mode. But Will ignores it. He says, “yeah. I guess I really did” and leaves. Mike says, “you can’t leave it’s raining” because this isn’t how they talk about things.

But it is how they talk about things when they’re not being honest with each other.

This fight is still distinctly Mike and Will. When Mike tells Max, “because you're annoying” there isn’t the same regret that there is when he hurts Will. It’s different because Mike and Will have different expectations for each other. Will isn’t Max, the new person who’s trying to be in the party who Mike doesn’t trust. Will is the person Mike trusts the most. The reason they’re fighting in the first place is because Mike’s been pulling away from Will and putting the importance of their relationship into question.

But that’s not an option for either of them.

There’s too much vulnerability in their relationship to disregard it in any way. It’s why they fight the way they do. They don’t want to hurt each other. It’s not allowed. Hurting each other would mean a fracture in their trust, which would mean the possibility of losing each other, which means they lose a very important relationship. Neither of them can afford to lose that relationship.

They need each other because what they’ve decided on isn’t just a friendship. It’s an equal partnership between two people, built to sustain trust and emotional vulnerability.

After six months of little to no communication, Mike and Will’s relationship is very strained. It doesn’t help that they’re both keeping things from each other and they know it. At Rink O’ Mania Will is the one to ask, “[is that why you’re mad, because I didn’t talk to you?]” and he’s letting the fight turn into a discussion. Mike brushes him off and walks away. And he doesn’t talk to Will for a lot of the next day- or at least doesn’t talk to him at all at breakfast.

Instead, Mike talks to El. And they fight. They fight in the way that they are throwing statements and accusations around without leaving room for explanations. There isn’t a discussion happening. Mike attempts to start one, but El is the one to brush him off, and everything falls apart. Mike and El don’t fight like Mike and Will. They don’t have the same stakes.

Which is why Mike apologizes to Will the way he does. It’s honest, and vulnerable, and Mike is giving Will what he refused to at Rink O’ Mania. Will wanted to talk, and Mike walked away. Now Mike is answering Will’s questions, and reassuring both of them of the stability of their relationship. Those reassurances continue on from that point. They’re vague. Will says, “but what if they don’t like the truth” to Mike and they’re on the same page. But more so than that, this conversation was reassuring the presence of emotional vulnerability within their relationship- building back the trust they have in each other.

In the van scene, Mike reaches out to Will. He’s trusting him with his thoughts and emotions, and Will answers him exactly how he needs to. Mike’s admitting that his relationship with El is unbalanced, and Will is telling him why. What Mike wants to have with El, he already has with Will. Mike and Will’s relationship is inreplicable. So the way that Will answers Mike, under the guise of El, is answering to not only Mike, but to the reality of Mike and El’s relationship.

Mike and Will talk to each other differently than they talk to anyone else, or fight with anyone else, or reach out to anyone else- because their relationship is different than any other relationship they have.

The Will voice exists because Mike and Will’s relationship exists in a constant state of vulnerability and trust. They are gentle with each other because they need to be.

If they aren’t, they’ll lose a lot more than a friendship. They’ll lose each other. And who they have decided they are to each other is a team. Co-leaders of the party. They’re partners. They need each other because that’s how they’ve built their relationship.

They chose who they are to each other. And they continue to chose it. Mike started with asking Will to be his friend. Will said yes. With every discussion and apology and vulnerable moment, they are choosing each other.

Losing each other isn’t an option anymore. They haven’t allowed it to be one. Mike lost Will once in the quarry, twice upon being possessed, and the third time when he moved to California. Will lost Mike when El arrived at the Snow Ball, and when Mike and El started dating, and when the Byers left everything behind. When all that happened, Mike and Will started to crumble. Troy told Mike to jump off a cliff and he did, Will destroyed Castle Byers, Mike broke when Will was possessed and could’ve died.

Mike and Will both weren’t doing well after the Byers and El moved. Mike told Will that, “Hawkins, it’s not the same without you.”

They didn’t build their relationship to break. Or to become less meaningful over time. Or to stop being exactly what it is.

They built it to last for the rest of their lives.

mike coming out to dustin while off on a mission in s5

they’ve been walking around for about an hour now, making casual conversation and commentary on the invalding aspects of the upside down into their world when dustin decides to ask.

“so i’ve been meaning to ask, what’s up with you and el?” dustin asks as he carefully steps over a vine. 

“huh?” mike turns around to look at him, a confused expression on his face in response to the question that to him came out of no where. “what are you talking about?”

“well you guys are barley talking to each other let alone in the same room anymore. honestly it’s been nice to not turn around to you guys making out every five seconds but likewise it’s a little off putting the space between the two of you” dustin comments as they continue on. 

“oh,” mike says “i mean that’s probably because we broke up.” 

dustin stops and looks up at him with a clear expression of shock on his face “what?!? when!?!” “uh, since a little after the rest of us got back from lenora?” mike offers, getting a little uncomfortable by how surprised dustin is. 

dustin looks at him with utmost sympathy “aw man dude that sucks, i’m so sorry.” mike shakes his head “nah it’s fine. it’s for the best i think actually.” dustin sputters “”for the best”?! man what are you talking about? you guys were completely wrapped up in each other just last summer, how could you even say that?”

“dustin-”

Keep reading

holy shit look at this beautiful editing I’M TREMBLING, this byeler fanvid is making me cry like a BINCH (credits at the end of the video)

Byler vs. Queerbaiting

Honestly I’m still kind of in disbelief that we saw pretty blatantly romantic scenes between two male main characters in one of the most popular TV shows in the world.

Like, it blows my mind that we got moments like this in the actual show.

Stranger Things Season 4 (2022)

But I’m not exaggerating when I say that the romance building between Mike and Will is something I’ve never seen before.

Cause let’s be real: can you name any huge film/TV franchise that has ever paired two main characters together in a queer relationship?

Like, imagine if Harry Potter had paired Ron and Harry together in the end. Or if Finn and Poe had actually gotten to kiss in the new Star Wars trilogy. It’s just… not something that happens outside of media that is specifically queer-themed, like Heartstopper. Think of Warner Bros. cutting gay dialogue in Fantastic Beasts 3 or the new Black Panther showing a 5-second forehead kiss between two female side characters and marketing that as some kind of amazing queer rep. It’s rough out there for queer representation in media, and even more so for queer characters in huge franchises.

After being promised queer rep in Star Wars, I blinked and almost missed this gay kiss in The Rise of Skywalker that was almost certainly cut for international releases.

But I feel it in my bones that Stranger Things is doing something different with its queer storyline. Here’s why.

Will is confirmed gay and in love with Mike. I repeat: Will is a canonically gay main character in love with another main character in one of the biggest shows in the world. And we have a whole season left to explore this love. This goes way beyond the “Dumbledore was actually gay all along” brand of representation. Also, when has this ever happened before with other famous “queerbait” pairings? Johnl*ck? D*stiel? Kl*nce? Where one half of the couple was confirmed in love with the other? And they were in the middle of an unresolved love triangle?

Homophobia has always been villainized. Lonnie, Troy, Billy’s dad. All horrible bullies painted in a negative light who also happen to be homophobic. So in a show where homophobia specifically has been villainized multiple times since season 1, is a queer main couple really off the table? When the writers clearly care about queer issues way more than just inserting a vague gay reference or gay joke (something that still happens WAY too often in mainstream media)?

Will and Mike have already shared many tender moments together onscreen. Think of “it was the best thing I’ve ever done” or “crazy together” or the “cool, cool” heart to heart or that gay ass van scene. The show doesn’t shy away from putting these two alone in a scene together. Sorry, but to me Stranger Things is already worlds ahead of other huge franchises even when it comes to portraying positive male friendships onscreen. A gay kiss really doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch.

Queer characters and their storylines are treated with respect. Robin was given a whole coming out scene that’s one of my favourites of all time. She was also given a whole ass love interest in season 4 when they easily could’ve left her storyline alone after coming out. Will was given a tender moment where his brother affirmed his love and support for him, no matter what. And Will’s love for Mike is treated dead serious and not as a punchline. I know this should be like the bare minimum for queer characters, but for a huge franchise? Again, I’m racking my brain thinking of the last time I saw these kinds of scenes in like Game of Thrones or any Star Wars media and I got nothing.

This isn’t just about shipping and subtext—the narrative and cinematography support Byler. So I watch The Witcher on Netflix and picked up on a lot of gay vibes between Geralt and Jaskier, but I also recognized that Yennefer was Geralt’s love interest and the subtext probably wasn’t gonna lead to anything. And that’s fine! But Byler? Yeah, we’re way past the point of subtext. Mike canonically makes Will feel like he’s not a mistake. Will’s feelings made Mike light up and feel validated and special and important in a way his girlfriend was never shown to make him feel. You would have to be insane as a writer to not have these two end up together. And I trust the writers! And as for the cinematography, see the gifs in this post.

Do I think Mike and Will’s love story is going to be perfect representation? Of course not. I have issues with how Will’s coming out was delayed until the last seasons. I’m also guessing the love story in season 5 is gonna be a little clumsy and cheesy, tbh. But who fucking cares! This is mainstream queer rep and I’m totally here for it.

Mike is a tool // theory

@booksandpaperss convinced me that Vecna purposefully started his plan only when Mike was out of town. But it’s not because Mike is a threat! It’s because Mike is a tool! The thing that matters isn’t that Mike left Hawkins. The things that matters is that Mike went to California!!!!

“When blue meets yellow in the west” -> the code doesn’t emphasize Mike leaving Hawkins, it emphasizes Mike visiting Will in California!!!! Vecna wants to reach Will but he can’t because Will is too far away! So he starts his attacks shortly before Mike leaves for California because he knew when they’d find out about the killings, Mike and Will would want to go back to Hawkins to help their friends!! Mike would take Will with him on his way back to Hawkins!! It was never about Mike leaving Hawkins!! It was about Mike bringing Will back!!

Vecna has his trance-mind-search-thing where he looks for people just like Professor X when he uses Cerebro in the X-Men! He can’t reach Will with it but he can reach Mike!! So he knew Mike would leave for California for spring break! And he knows what Mike feels for Will! And he also knows what Will feels for Mike because Will has been in love with him since way before he moved away!!! When Vecna was still able to reach him!

Vecna knows how important Mike is so he purposefully doesn’t kill him…….because you should never kill your hostages!!

Vecna knows that when he holds Mike hostage {in s5}, he can blackmail Will and it will work! Will will offer to hand himself in under the condition that Vecna lets Mike go!! And that is what Vecna wants!! He wants Will to join him! And he uses Mike as a tool to get what he wants!

Mike is the key to getting Will to join Vecna…..

one particular mileven argument i’ve been seeing around lately is that we can’t just compare byler and mileven because obviously friendships and romantic relationships are different and you can overall trust your best friend more than your girlfriend...which is all fine and dandy if they hadn’t written their storylines in season 4 the way they did but unfortunately, you have to look at the larger context.

at this point will isn’t just mike’s best friend, he’s in love with him, so that puts him into the role of a potential love interest. at surface level, maybe all of their heart to hearts and intimate conversations in season 4 were just about will being a good friend to mike. but as soon as they canonized will’s feelings for him, it wasn’t just about friendship anymore and they’ve gone beyond platonic territory. in a fictional show where writers have a purpose for every plot point and narrative, you have to look into what message they intend to relay to the audience. why would they make mike spend the entire season having intimate conversations with his gay best friend who happens to be in love with him and emphasize how he’s more open and vulnerable with will? why show how much will understands and comforts mike better than anyone else? why develop and show the depth of byler’s relationship and put a lot of care into their connection while at the same time, showing the cracks in mileven’s relationship and making mike spend the rest of the season away from el?

the thing is, you have to understand writing and narrative devices. when there’s two love interests in a love triangle and the writers are working to develop and resolve the plot between these characters, it’s important for them to show the contrast between the two love interests and their relationship with the person in the middle of the triangle, so that the audience can understand which relationship dynamic works better. they have to establish enough development and foundation for who they choose to make the person in the middle end up with.

and is it pure coincidence that they’ve been making both byler and mileven have one major fight each for two seasons straight while mike and will’s fights are always in relation to mileven? well, if you compare them, then it’s obvious what they’re trying to convey.

these scenes are framed the way they are to show the contrast between the impact and the outcome of byler fighting vs mileven fighting and how mike handles conflict with will vs with el. the mileven breakup, which is comedic and bright, ends with mike looking confused and annoyed more than anything while making no effort to go after el and needing constant push from lucas just to talk to her. the byler rain fight, which is serious and gloomy, ends with mike looking absolutely remorseful and heartbroken and shouting for will to not leave. he instinctively bikes across town in the pouring rain just to apologize to will. in season 4, mike enters both el and will’s rooms with the intention to resolve his conflicts with them. his attempts to fix things with el end in a massive fight instead because they weren’t on the same page and failed to understand each other. his attempts to fix things with will were successful because they understood each other and were on the same page.

so...its safe to say that you’re meant to watch byler scenes in the context of mike being set up to get together with the most compatible romantic partner for him, and vice versa. besides, most of the reason and basis for romantic relationships in media comes from the characters’ dynamic when they were still friends. heck, they did the same thing with jancy in seasons 1-2. nancy was the most emotionally vulnerable and soft with jonathan than with steve, even though they were just friends. jonathan was the one who took care of nancy when steve wasn’t there for her and he got her to open up about her inner turmoils, and that’s how people knew she was better off with jonathan. so if people who watched season 2 compared nancy’s relationship with jonathan vs her relationship with steve to prove how jancy works better, were they just going to get shut down because “obviously jancy was a friendship and stancy was a romantic relationship and they aren’t the same”? do you now realize how stupid it sounds? because somehow it’s easier for people to infer that jonathan was being contrasted with steve as a better love interest for nancy, but they can’t apply the same logic with will and him being a potential love interest for mike.

is it so crazy to think that the writers intended to show how much will is the right person for mike because mike is the most comfortable being emotionally open with him, and will obviously knows exactly how to reassure him with his insecurities and fears and knows his core self more than anyone else? is it so crazy to think that will is obviously being contrasted to el as the better love interest for mike because he listened to his inner turmoils and was there for him in a way el wasn’t shown to be? because let’s be real here, we get virtually zero scenes of mike opening up to el the way he does with will and receiving comfort from her the way he does with will again, most of the scenes where we see mike feeling the most reassured and validated and loved was with will. the van scene was the most obvious instance of this contrast because mike literally just expressed how he felt useless and inferior in his relationship with el, but will made him feel the exact opposite by emphasizing how important he was and calling him the heart. none of those sentiments came directly from el, they were all will’s. no matter how much will tries to attribute his feelings to someone else, mike was still getting that unconditional love and appreciation only from him.

and again, this isn’t to diminish el as a character or paint her as the bad guy for not being there for mike as much as will was, it’s to point out the choices the writers decided to make with these character’s arcs, why they decided not to allocate scenes for mike to actually get reassurance and comfort from his gf instead of constantly only getting it from his best friend. why they chose to separate them for the entire season, why the only conversation they had afterwards was interrupted before they could actually have a meaningful and serious talk. you could argue that el was busy having her own self discovery journey and obviously couldn’t be physically present for mike, but their scene together in surfer boy pizza should’ve been enough proof that they had every opportunity to just insert a scene of mike and el having an actual heart to heart, and yet they still cut it short and decided to do away with it anyways. that’s just how things were written in season 4, and it’s becoming undeniably obvious that byler is being written as the relationship with a stronger connection, understanding and trust between both parties.

A really strong telling Byler moment from S1 that people don’t pay enough attention

Or

“Mike has feelings for Will and it was stated in a more obvious way, but somehow it went unnoticed”

After rewatching ST a few times, there was one scene that particularly grabbed my attention. After they find out Will’s fake body and Mike goes home and is grieving, El shows him that Will is still alive. She is able to find him through the walkie-talkie. Mike lightens hearing Will, and now hope is back.

Now, I want you all to the understand the importance of this moment. Mike never for once doubted it was Will. Never. He doesn’t believe it’s a prank, he believes it is real. That’s Will. And the audience may think in this moment: “well, obviously, he just heard him. Right?” But when Mike goes to Dustin and Lucas and shares this information, look at what happens.

(Gifs by the amazing @will80sbyers)

They doubt. Even after hearing him. They are Will’s best friends too, they miss him so much and care so much for him, but the walkie moment is not enough for them to know Will is alive! In their logic heads, THAT ISN’T PROOF.

Notice how they question Mike, and he doesn’t answer “it sounded like him”, “well, he was actually singing before so I know it’s him”. No. He doesn’t have a clear answer for why he knows Will is alive. He stops the logical arguments.

The only other person on the show who knows Will is alive despite not having proofs is Joyce, Will’s mother. Not even Jonathan. Not even Jonathan, his brother that loves him so much.

And you know why? Because this is a trope reserved to lovers and parents. And now comes the part where I tell you all a little story:

When I was a little kid watching Cast Away in the movie theater, I remember very clearly the scene where the wife of the main character still believes he is alive, even though nobody believes in her. And I remember questioning my mom later, and my mom said: “when you love someone so much, you just know. That’s totally possible”. And I kept wondering what it would be like to love someone so much that you can feel them from so very far… But anyway! Just to prove this is a trope used for lovers, here’s the excerpt from the movie:

You totally cannot say Mike loves Will as a brother because even his own brother doubted Will was alive. Mike jumped on believing Will was alive to the faintest of proof. And Mike Wheeler is not blood related to Will. He is not his brother. Which leads us to the only possible conclusion - he knows Will is alive just by knowing because he loves him very deeply and in the only other way possible for this: romantically.

This is one of the BIGGEST, if not the biggest, “Mike Wheeler IS IN LOVE with Will Byers” hint from season 1.

There.

Byler endgame.

Shit no wait no shit wait shit waiiiit????

Are you telling me that the ‘it was a seven’ in season one was setting up SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING the origins of “friends don’t lie” and why it’s such a huge deal to Will to not lie to Mike even if it works against him? So they actually set up the van scene in that exact moment??! Except in the van scene he lies for Mike even though it STILL works against him. To show how important Mike is to him. That it’s never actually been about lying or not lying. It’s about Mike.

Actually Mike. Friends do lie. When they’re in love with you.

Ohdjsjxhrb

That is all.

Mike Wheeler Apologist Mode: activated

Did someone say breakfast analysis? 

Like Mike and Will’s conversation at Rink O Mania, this breakfast time sequence is full of paths untravelled. The conversation between Mike and El could have gone so many ways, and initially I instinctually sided with Mike. But actually, neither of them are ‘right’, and it’s a testament to the duffers’ commitment to writing realistic coming of age tales that rarely is a character solely in the wrong. 

Miscommunication is the first thing introduced in s4, to humorous effect. It’s such an important part of relationships, and it’s a difficult thing for many people to get right, usually due to personal reasons rather than because they don’t work as a unit. I never understood the films where couples shouted at each other or threw plates and hairdryers - I’m looking at you, The Parent Trap (1998). Forever an iconic film - and that soundtrack negates any criticism tbh - but where was the respect and understanding? Wouldn’t you try to understand or even listen to the person you love, even if you disagreed with them? 

Well, Mike does try to do this. He tries. 

The whole sequence is so interesting - let’s start back at the breakfast table with Will. 

This is a beautiful but bleak scene visually - it’s very dark, but we have the bright pop of yellow orange juice contrasting the blue in both of their shirts. Blue x yellow is everywhere as always. And if you pay attention to the mike x will chronological timeline as a whole, you’ll notice that many moments between them are dark-lit or shadowed in some way, even when its not dictated by the plot. They are trying to tell us something by making us feel a certain way. (Over the course of s4, the lighting in mike x will scenes becomes drastically beamier, more dream-like and romantic. It’s really not subtle at all if you watch their timeline chronologically, but there’s so much other plot that you don’t notice it amongst the other stories at first).  

We don’t see what went down the night before this breakfast - we don’t know where Mike slept, or if there was a spare room, etc. It doesn’t seem important at the moment, but it is: the groundwork has not been laid for us to know exactly how bad the situation is. Jonathan makes light work of their ‘moping’, and clearly thinks they should both buck up and go see a movie. 

Jonathan’s blasé attitude combined with Will’s more sombre one confuses the audience: who are we meant to sympathise with here? Was Jonathan too high to see how bad it got at Rink O Mania? Did he even come inside, or just pick them up outside and only get hearsay of what went down? Is Mike justified in being afraid of El, or is it really not a big deal like Argyle said? Perhaps we aren’t supposed to know. It’s all about character perspectives. There is no right answer. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about the gravity of situation. 

So the events have already been downplayed by Jonathan. Later, Will says to the police that it was an accident - is this a lie they have all agreed on? Is Jonathan in on the lie? He tells the police cuffs aren’t necessary. 

Will’s point of view at the breakfast table is one of still orbiting the action.

Keep reading

I could be totally wrong but I just noticed something about will’s drawing- those fireballs weren’t done with a green crayon/pencil crayon. Those fireballs were made by layering yellow over blue (byler colours), you can still see the blue on the bottom. this also means that will could have made yellow fireballs, which is way closer to actual fire colour, but the green ones were an intentional choice by production.

byler endgame confirmed by will’s cabbage fireballs LMAO

“Not Hopper, not Mike, you.” (long post)

i’m probably the last person to realize this, but i HAVE to talk about it. get ready for elmax despair. 

so, el gets a makeover in every season. 

season 1: mike dresses el up and puts makeup on her

she started out with no sense of self. she was wearing her hospital gown, then the the benny burger’s shirt, then mikes clothes, and then she gets her iconic wig and dress.

season 2: kali gives el her iconic bitchin’ makeover

while living with hopper, el was wearing hand-me-downs and probably anything he could find for her in general. then el goes off with kali and kali tries to get her to join their little group, but el declines and decides to go home

season 3: max takes el shopping and encourages her to find the style she likes

el was once again wearing hopper’s hand-me-downs. then max gives her advice about mike and tells her she needs to find what she likes. 

“How do I know…what I like?”

“You just try things on. Until you find something that feels like you.”

“Like…me?”

“Yeah. Not Hopper, not Mike, you.”

(i’d like to remind you that that quote plays during the flashback sequence in s4 when el is reviving max)

s4: when el is taken for the nina project, they once again strip her of her identity. they shave her hair and take her clothes, she only wears her hospital gown and the plain clothes they give her.

the clothes el wears at the beginning of s4 aren’t like how she dressed in s3, but i’m not gonna go right out and say she stopped being herself. i think the stylists wanted to show the byers’ influence on her via her hair and clothes, since they seem to be hand me downs and such. but that doesn’t mean el doesn’t dress how she likes. but, this could be representative of el’s separation from max, who is the one who brought el into herself. el didn’t have hopper, mike, or max to influence her. and the big makeover is what happens when el is reunited with brenner. it’s fr heartbreaking to see them take el’s individuality that she’d been developing for years at this point since her escape from the lab. 

in season 1, el starts out in her hospital gown. that is not her whatsoever. she’d been derived of any sense of self her entire life. mike makes el feel pretty, and el’s confidence dips when her wig gets messed up. mike assured her she was still pretty, but i for one don’t think el feeling dependent on a change entirely orchestrated by mike is very romantic. (not coming for mike, this isn’t about the characters as people it’s about the narrative). i’d also like to point out that the dress mike gave her was nancy’s. so el really wasn’t being herself. 

in season 2, there really isn’t room for hopper to take el out and find whatever she likes, but still, how el was dressing and styling herself wasn’t her, it was hopper. kali had good intentions, but that still wasn’t el. kali was pretty much dressing el up and pushing her into what she thought el needed. el looked badass as hell, but that was kali, not el. 

in season 3, max is the first person to guide el into confidence and style on her own terms. she doesn’t bust out the hand me downs and the makeup, she encourages el to find what she likes. literally, for the first time in el’s life, someone want her to find a sense of self and individuality. it’s so beautiful and one of the reasons why el’s relationship with max is so key to the plot. 

in season 4, obviously, el’s identity was forcibly torn from her again. it’s heartbreaking. 

my point here is that throughout el’s makeovers, max is the first person to encourage her to be herself. max doesn’t give el clothes or do her makeup, she takes el to the mall and tells her to try a bunch of stuff on until she finds something that feels like her. (the fucking sweetest thing i’ve ever seen). 

el losing max isn’t just heartbreaking because they’re best friends, it’s because max was truly the first person to give el freedom of expression. el has been dependent on someone every season up until s3. first mike, then hopper, and then she blossoms into her own person unlike we’ve ever seen before. and it’s all thanks to max. 

in s5, i think we’re going to see el have yet another makeover, but it’ll be done entirely by herself. max taught her how to find herself in s5, but max isn’t available right now. but now el knows what to do, she knows how to find what she likes. 

im annoying so of course i’m going to find a way to make this about byler. 

i’m going to make a big post about this, but for now i’ll summarize:

el and mike are not going to be an endgame couple. el is not going to end the show in a relationship. that is not what her arc will be about, and it’s never been what her arcs are about. her endgame is going to lie more with found-family and her best friend, max. what i’ve talked about in this post proves that even further. i know i talked about hopper not giving el a sense of self, but el’s conflict over individuality was never keyed in on hopper like it was mike. hopper is her dad, they’ve had piles of development and it overshadows his influence on her style unlike mike. 

as of s3, mike and el have only really known each other for like…8 months. they knew each other for a week, then didn’t see each other for a year, then immediately jumped into a relationship. we literally didn’t see them on screen together until the last episode of s2. there really isn’t that strong of a reason to like their relationship if you look at it for what it is. like i said, this isn’t an attack on mike, but his effect on her in s1 didn’t encourage her individuality. and that wouldn’t be as of a big deal if el’s entire plot in s3 was finding herself. 

(meanwhile mike makes will feel like he isn’t a mistake for being who he is and their entire thing is basically being themselves together no matter what anyone else thinks. they grew up together and love each other for exactly who they are. and when mike tried to be someone else, it formed a rift between them)

in conclusion, el is not going to end the show in a relationship where there’s more stuff like this on their record than cute/well written things. thats not to say i don’t like mike and el’s relationship, i do. mike taking her in is fucking adorable. he took care of her and gave her the name el, he introduced her to eggos, and lots of other things. i adore them as best friends with a very special bond who love each other, not as a romantic couple. there’s a reason why every single season, el’s arc is about discovering herself and mike’s is about will. 

to put it in perspective:

jancy’s arcs every season aren’t necessarily all about each other, but their storylines are intertwined. they’re a team. and while they’re working as a team, their romantic arcs develop. same thing with joyce and hopper. same thing with lucas and max. this is not the case with el and mike after s1. el and mike don’t see each other until the last episode of s2. el’s arc in s2 is about finding her mom and kali, not mike. mike’s arc in s2 is about being will’s boyfriend being there for will and working through the mind flayer issues with him. el’s arc in s3 is about finding herself with max. she and max also work out the billy/heather mystery together and their friendship develops more with it. (meanwhile mike and will were having dramatic boyfriend fights in the rain and mike was outside will’s house with a boombox). el’s arc in s4 was about getting her powers back and finding out the truth about her past. mike’s was about WHAT? not being able to say i love you to his girlfriend and fixing his relationship with WHO? will byers. he and will were a team in s4, and their relationship arc developed with it. 

YOU PEOPLE IN DENIAL NEED TO OPEN YOUR EYES TO WHAT THE WRITERS HAVE CREATED

MILEVEN IS BONES . THEY’VE ALWAYS BEEN BONES

BYLER IS ENDGAME

in conclusion: el’s relationship with max is a thousand times more appealing and well written than mileven, and it’s on purpose. because el’s endgame won’t be about mike or a romantic relationship, it’s going to be about her family and max, the only person who ever enabled el to be herself. 

max and el have one of the best relationships on the show and i swear to god if max doesn’t fucking wake up and go on that movie date and have a sleepover with el i swear to christ i am going to end my fucking shit 

it’s been a year, mike. (MAJOR BYLER REVELATION INCOMING—MUST READ)

mike and will constantly saying “a year” or “all year” when talking about the time since the move when it’s only been six months keeps me up at night

i saw people talking about how they say a year when it was only 6 months because they’re idiots in love and are being dramatic. as cute as that is, i didn’t really buy it until RIGHT NOW. i just saw it as a cute headcanon, but now i see that the writers could be enabling you to make this realization by use of subtext.

allow me to explain

^ these are the three times they say it

at first i thought the writers may have just used year because that’s less confusing for the audience because 1 year time jumps have been used before in stranger things and are super popular in books/movies/tv shows. BUT, it clicked for me that that doesn’t make sense. the timeline in stranger things has always been acknowledged. throughout s1 we hear the amount of time will has been missing several times (as far as i remember). in s2, mike counted the days el had been gone. he called her every night for 353 days. when el and hopper argue in s2, el uses specific numbers to tell us how long she’s really been with him. in s3 hopper specifically says ‘6 long months’ when talking about how long he’s been dealing with mike (lol). that’s the same amount of time between s3 & s4, yet mike and will don’t say 6 months, they say year. there’s a date at the start of every season. and in s4, el says this in her letter to mike. 

185 days = 6 months (almost on the dot)

the writers have specifically told us how long it’s been since they moved, down to the amount of days. and it’s 6 months, not a year. this makes it very hard for me to write off mike and will saying ‘year’ as just the writers slipping up. also in el’s letter, she says this:

this is INSANE. 

mike and will are saying the wrong amount of time. the writers aren’t stupid, they know how much time has passed since season 3. THEY WROTE IT. i’m a writer as well, and i know how much time is passing between what im writing because I CREATED IT. IT CAME FROM MY BRAIN. and like i said, the stranger things writers have proven to be very keen on dates and time. all of this happening in the same season is not a slip up, its on purpose. stranger things 4 had a 30 million dollar budget PER EPISODE. do the math–that’s 270 MILLION DOLLARS. and yes, i know they supposedly forgot will’s birthday, but that’s different. his birthday is a date that was mentioned one time and served no purpose aside from creating emotional tension in that one scene. none of their birthdays are important to the plot, hell, will’s is the only one mentioned in the show and it wasn’t even on his birthday. one date that was mentioned one time and never brought up again is NOT the same as continuous attention given to timelines/time jumps over the course of all four seasons. and some fans theorize that they’re lying about forgetting his birthday anyway. either way, its not the same.  

so….the writers want us to know that emotions can make time speed up or slow down….and that el’s week has felt very fast because of her emotions….and then show us mike and will SPECIFICALLY deviating from the timeline established in the SECOND LINE OF EPISODE ONE “yeah, but you knew she was having problems for months and didn’t tell me.” “its been six months, mike.”, or “it’s been months, mike.” or not even including that line at all, or “the past couple months have been weird” would’ve worked and stayed in check with the timeline we’ve already established. but when writing those scenes, they chose to say year. which is flat out wrong and way off from the actual time they’ve been apart. 

and what did el say makes time speed up or slow down? emotions? oh, okay got it 

the first two times mike and will say it’s been a year are in the same scene: the rink o mania fight. emotions are high. they’re in a pretty serious fight. its not about something dumb, it’s about their ten year friendship and how they’ve grown apart. their friendship is VERY important to both of them. (remember when mike said asking will to be his friend is the best thing he’s ever done?) the third time it’s said is when mike is opening up to will in episode 4. it’s a very emotional scene. mike is being honest and vulnerable with his feelings. in this conversation he apologizes and admits that will didn’t deserve how mike had been treating him, which mike never does to anyone else. he admits his relationship with will is different and home isn’t the same without him, and that he feels like he lost will and wants to be best friends again. 

and the obvious: emotions making time speed up or slow down doesn’t just apply to in the heat of the moment occasions. (in theory) mike and will are in love. the six months they’ve been separated felt like a year to them because of their emotions, just like el said in the letter. and mind you, will is canonically in love with mike, yet they’re both acting the same way about this. it’s not just will. it makes sense for six months to feel like a year to will because of his emotions, because he is in love with mike, right? well, mike feels the exact same way. this isnt even about the characters as people. narratively speaking, mike and will both doing this doesn’t make sense if it’s unrequited. one way writers show how characters aren’t on the same page about something, a relationship for instance, is whether they’re on the same emotional page about different plot points. something major and emotional happens to all the characters—now we watch how they react to it. and i don’t mean small disagreements & such, characters are allowed to feel differently about things. i mainly mean when whatever happened is painful and important to one or more of the characters. for example, steve and nancy. steve and nancy didn’t feel the same about barb, barb’s parents, and everything that happened in general. steve wanted to keep on like nothing happened while nancy was literally eaten up with grief, guilt, and trauma. jonathan was the one who was on the same page as her and made her feel better about carrying that baggage around all the time. they understood each other. and who was nancy in love with? jonathan. narratively, that makes perfect sense and even further sways the audience into understanding they’re in love.

so…what? the emotions that made mike and will’s six months apart feel like a year to them is….friendship? not a fucking chance. mike and el are a couple, and according to mileven fans, they’re the main couple of the show who are in love and are going to be an endgame couple. why save this incredibly romantic coded trope for will and mike, the best platonic bros? idk, you tell me. and the fact that the line about emotions came from someone in the love triangle?? and it was said to someone else in the love triangle?? not a coincidence.

edit: someone reblogged and pointed out how el said 185 in her letter to mike that we SEE him reading. there is no reason for him not to know how long it’s been. so either he isn’t paying attention to a damn thing el says in her letters or he is just extremely in love with will

another edit: i keep seeing reblogs of people saying they’re probably referring to the time since mike and el started dating, which i used to think too. but the context when mike and will say a year makes it hard for me to believe.

“but you knew she was having trouble for like a year and you didn’t tell me”

here mike is specifically talking about el’s bullying problem which has only been going on since the byers have been gone and she enrolled in school. what he’s talking about is something very strictly related to the time since they moved, and it’s been six months, not a year.

“you called maybe a couple times. it’s been a year, mike. meanwhile el has like a book of letters from you.”

will is again, very specifically talking about something that strictly happened between the time since the byers left and the start of s4. he’s saying how crazy it is that it’s been a whole year and mike has barely called. but it hasn’t been a year, it’s only been six months.

“the last year has been weird, you know? and you know, max and lucas and dustin, they’re great, they’re great, it’s just..it’s hawkins it’s not the same without you. and i feel like maybe i was worrying too much about el…i don’t know maybe i feel like i lost you or something.”

this one i will cut some slack, i think he could be talking about literally the last year, as in since the beginning of 1985. but immediately after he starts saying how home hasn’t been the same without will (and separates his relationship with will as being different than his relationship with max dustin and lucas and even el), something specific to the time since they byers have been gone, six months, not a year:

in conclusion: mike and will referring to their time apart as a year when it’s only been six months is not a mishap on the writer’s part. they go out of their way to make sure you know exactly how much time has passed, down to the number of days, and they put this much attention on time in every season. and in the same season mike and will do this, there is a line in the SECOND LINE OF THE OPENING SCENE OF THE SEASON about emotions making time go by faster or slower.

byler is going to be a s5 surprise, but its not coming out of nowhere. there’s piles of subtext in every single season—enough that when you look back, it all makes sense. small details like this aren’t outlandish because this is without a doubt the length writers will go to keep something hidden, and in byler’s case and many other tv show plots case, to keep something a surprise. and for christ’s sake, WATCH THE SHOW! the amount of attention to even the TINIEST details in stranger things is insane. they put so much thought into everything—not just ships, and not just byler. idk how many times the writers are going to have to say details matter and that there are no coincidences until people believe them. 

anyways, byler is endgame. thanks for reading :) 

This suddenly makes so much sense!

After reading wibble-wobbegong’s theory that Mike completely understood that Will was talking about himself in the van, I’m having divine revelations!

Do you want to go on a journey with me? Let’s begin!

Do you think Mike understands the extent of the true romantic meaning of Will’s confession YET?

YET?

I don’t think so. That will only happen when Will decides to tell him, because that information is Will’s alone to impart. 

But here’s an idea: Mike almost certainly interprets it as Will using El as a cover, because subconsciously, he wishes Will felt the same as he does. 

How do we know this? 

Because Mike used El as a cover in much the same way at Rink O Mania.  

Thus, Mike registered Will’s love as a reflection of his own, not as a standalone confession, which is why Mike does not shy away from the emotions in the moment in the way many viewers think he will do when he explicitly discovers the intensity of Will’s feelings.

Mike receives Will’s confession with relief; he views it as an acceptance, an allowance, of his own feelings. 

Look again at his expressions…

It looks like disbelief at Will’s forwardness (he visibly leans back and takes a breath):

followed by surprise:

then restrained excitement and relief:

Followed by amazement, admiration and, arguably, lovesickness. At the very least, he looks dreamy and fuzzy-warm here:

This is very in-character; Mike has always been amazed by Will’s strength, and that admiration is expressed through the attention he pays to Will, as well as his devotion to rescuing and caring for him - despite stereotypes and role models he’s had such as his dad, who seems mostly ineffective. 

It is a long-established core personality trait that Mike follows his heart despite what others may think. This is a powerful cornerstone of a personality for someone so young, and highly unlikely to disappear into adulthood. Integrity and instinct will always be a key part of the way Mike moves through the world. 

I also think an aspect of Mike’s hesitance with Will comes from respect. Mike always wants to give him space, never condescends him, and perhaps is reluctant to put their friendship on the line by suggesting that any of his previous behaviour, when Will simply needed a good friend, had romantic undertones.

Anyway, Mike in the van. 

Let’s now re-contextualise all other s4 scenes through the lens of wibble’s reading of the van scene, with a completely-aware Mike… 

At Rink O Mania, Will saw right through Mike’s attempts to use El as a cover, as Wibble said. It’s so subtle and quick that we barely notice it, because this conversation is so full of traviamentos: paths untaken. Let’s run a few scenarios.

The actual script:

Will: Not there?

Mike: No. Why didn’t you tell me she was having trouble?

Will: I didn’t know they were going to be here, Mike!

Mike: Yeah but you knew she was having trouble for like a year and didn’t tell me. 

Will: I didn’t know she was lying to you!

Mike: So that’s why you decided to be a douche to her all day?

Will: I wasn’t being a douche!

Mike: You WERE! You were, you were rolling your eyes, you were moping, you were barely talking, you basically sabotaged the whole day!

Will: Well she was lying to you, Mike! Straight to your face ever since you got here! 

It could have gone like this:

Will: Not there?

Mike: No. Why didn’t you tell me she was having trouble?

Will: I thought you already knew!

This would cut to the chase and suggest, rightly, that it wasn’t Will’s place to do so. Instead, the dialogue implies that Mike expects Will to inform him, consult him, communicate with him on important matters. This is a brilliant piece of subtle character work, and is also backed up by this trick or treating scene in s2, which is so comically married couple-ish that we have to laugh. 

I’m sorry Michael, he should have checked with you? Yes, Mike is the de facto leader of the party, but this doesn’t only imply that; it also implies that Will has been making deputy-leader decisions on behalf of Mike, which I find hilariously adorable. I mean, when did Will even approve of Max joining them? She literally just jumped out of a bush at them 15 minutes ago. 

We’ll return to this halloween moment later on. 

Back to the Rink O Mania fight. 

Will chose to explicitly say to Mike that he didn’t know El was lying to him. Here, Will acts as a delayed stand-in for the audience, a Greek-chorus-too-late. He highlights that El is LYING to Mike. We realise that the humorous contrast of the Cali opening sequence, where what El described in her letter to Mike contrasted with what we saw on the screen, was not just lighthearted humour and innocence, but also a precursor to a major theme of their storyline this season and the show overall: lies. 

Let’s try another Rink O Mania fight scenario. 

Will: Not there?

Mike: No. Why didn’t you tell me she was having trouble?

Will: I didn’t know they were going to be here, Mike!

Mike: Yeah but you knew she was having trouble for like a year and didn’t tell me. 

Will: Why is it my place to do that?

What would Mike say to this? Would Will ever even dare say this to Mike, when their previously established relationship has always been about close communication? If we look back at that trick or treat moment, we can see that immediately after Mike walks off, Will’s face drops. The moment means more to him than simply who joins them for Halloween. We know this because Mike’s grumpiness, combined with the masked trick or treaters coming along and scaring Will, become enough of a trigger to push him into the Upside Down. 

Will is so taken aback that he literally falls to the floor, and lands in the Upside Down, the place of his trauma. Fear and emotional conflict precede his movement into this horrorscape. Fear is a trigger. Will literally fell to the ground here. I don’t think we discuss this enough. We also don’t discuss that the above shot is in slow motion, when he blinks and readjusts to where he is. 

Wibble-wobbegong also did another great post on Will and transdimensionality here 

But back to Rink O Mania…

Will: Not there?

Mike: No. Why didn’t you tell me she was having trouble?

Will: I didn’t know they were going to be here, Mike!

Mike: Yeah but you knew she was having trouble for like a year and didn’t tell me. 

Will: Well I didn’t know she was lying to you!

Mike: So that’s why you decided to be a douche to her all day?

THIS. This is the crutch that Will saw right through. What Mike meant was ‘being a douche to me.’ Hell, Mike’s cover - unlike Will’s in the van - lasts all of ten seconds: the next thing Mike says is that Will sabotaged the whole day, and he clearly means for HIM not just for El. 

Then, Will literally calls him out:

‘What about us?’

Oh boy. Just look at Mike’s face at this sheer BOLDNESS and AUDACITY. 

Will elaborates. 

‘What, you’re mad that I didn’t talk to you?’

Can you even IMAGINE being bold enough to confront someone you’re friends with like this, let alone the person you’re in LOVE with? The cojones on this boy! Will is PAST CARING about what might happen. He brought a fucking painting to the airport. This boy is on a mission. It’s only later, following Mike’s super-confusing signals, that Will falters. At first, he tries and tries; he comforts Mike about El, which is extreme character growth compared to s3 where he thrilled in their split, and then he brings the painting on their road trip. 

It’s clear in s4 that Mike and El’s aren’t the only conversations that have started to feel more serious, more adult. Will is trying to be sensitive to Mike’s apparent wants rather than his own here; he is hyper-aware of Mike, and paying attention to his every move. 

And like Greta Gerwig said in Lady Bird (2017), ‘don’t you think those are the same thing? Love and attention?’

Sound familiar? 

‘You WERE! You were rolling your eyes, you were moping, you were barely talking, you basically sabotaged the whole day!’

So… after Will calls Mike out at Rink O Mania, we now know that he sees through Mike to an extent. And the conversation continues to quick-fire, showing that not only are these two comfortable enough with each other to bicker candidly, but that these issues are on the tip of their tongue. Sure, they’re miscommunicating, but they’re not stuttering. 

Mike doesn’t elaborate on why he didn’t call Will, because Will fires in quickly about the letters, catching Mike off guard:

Hey Mike, why don’t you put some jam on your eyelids and invite your brows down for tea?

Instead of explaining that he did try to call Will, Mike’s brain rushes to establish that letters are for El because she’s his girlfriend. I love this line, because it doesn’t have a relation to anything except to show that Mike is more concerned with maintaining a status quo - letters are for girlfriends. What happened to logic over emotion, Mike?

The Rink O Mania fight intensifies when Will asks 

‘…and us?’

Now, I’ve seen a lot of people say that Will was being completely innocent here, like he was during the rain fight in s3. But I disagree on both counts. The implication is BOTH platonic and romantic, both times. In s3, Will had just called El a stupid girl and said Mike was ruining their friendship. Will was lamenting his lost childhood, AND lashing out about Mike’s romantic prospects. The implication was both romantic and platonic.

The same goes here. Even if Will wanted to ask the status of his and Mike’s friendship, even if it was solely platonic, it would NOT be phrased like this. Imagine speaking to a close friend you had a crush on about the status of your friendship since they’d become romantically unavailable. If you wanted to be subtle, you would NOT speak about the two of you in the same breath as them and their new partner, because such a comparison has way too many romantic implications. 

We know Will is aware of context and human behaviour from his perceptivity about how Mike was acting at the rink: ‘you’re mad I didn’t talk to you?’ Will KNOWS the implications of comparing his and Mike’s relationship, whatever shape that takes, to Mike and El’s. He simply no longer gives a fuck about not being honest with Mike. He respects Mike too much to not tell him how he feels. He’s been pushing Mike away all year, but it hurts too much, and now he wants Mike to know, even if it yields nothing. This has been Will’s conflict in s4 and beyond: tell Mike and ruin our friendship, or keep ripping off the bandaid and being in pain? Will expects pain either way. At least, this way, he can be true to Mike. You can see all of this conflict in Will’s eyes when he’s painting right at the start of s4. Those eyes speak volumes. 

Will was planning on opening up fully to Mike when they meet again in California. This is the only explanation for his wanting to give Mike the painting, because what else was he hoping? That Mike would ditch El for him? No way. That’s not Will Byers. 

Right - on from Rink O Mania. Now we’re at the Byers house. 

After El leaves, Mike is worrying her note in his hand. The three boys have clearly been discussing what to do: they are in Jonathan’s room. Why would they be there unless Jonathan had just been with them before going to get a drink? This also makes Jonathan’s return to the doorway less creepy (but it will forever be hilarious)

I enjoy that Jonathan appreciates a good landscape painting. 

Anyway, before Jonathan returns, Mike does something we have NEVER SEEN HIM DO. He flirts. This blew my mind when I first saw it.

I mean, the moment is SERIOUS. They’re discussing El’s disappearance and Hawkins’ fate. Will is being attentive, mature, listening to Mike. Mike doesn’t see his internal conflict, because Will is an excellent hider. 

But then, after Will mentions being saved - which is a vulnerable admission of gratitude for his friends - Mike proceeds to SMIRK. Michael Wheeler decides to change the entire tone of this exchange. He directs the conversation into new waters. He is choosing to establish a new shape for the friendship between him and Will. This is groundbreaking - we can tell by the stunned look on Will’s face before he plays along with the joke. There is literal warmth and relief in the air, and it’s made all the better by the duality of the mood: is it reaffirmed friendship? Is it lighthearted solidarity in the face of danger? Is it romance? 

Is it all three??

We, the audience, don’t know yet. But we can feel. 

Next up, we see Mike come to Will’s room after packing. 

Mike bursts right in.

Did Mike knock? Who knows. Clearly he views Will intimately enough to burst in on him. They’re in a hurry I guess. But what if Will was changing? Mike then closes the door. Lol, Jonathan - not this time!

’I never really unpacked.’

Real subtle, Duffers. Sowing the seeds for a potential Vecna-ing. Brilliant stuff.

Mike then proceeds, again, to flirt with Will. It’s subtle because the friendship between these two has always been intimate and gentle. But then Will gets flustered, and it’s like a reiteration of what Mike did in Jonathan’s room. It’s Mike who changes the tone. Mike is out here making moves. You could say he is fresh out of fucks - his girlfriend has just been arrested and taken away to an undisclosed location, and boy is out here dressed like a citizen of Toy Town flirting with his oldest friend. Or maybe it’s a subconscious almost-surfacing of complex feelings that have long been simmering away underneath. 

Has Will ever met this Mike before? He doesn’t seem to know how to handle it.

Also notice Will’s elevator eyes and turn away. The tone change is being set for the audience, and it was set in motion by Mike - both in the narrative, and for us as viewers. We then see Mike take a deep breath and shake himself out of something. We see him physically refocus. 

The tone has been set. This is romantic. You can feel the electricity. They can feel the electricity. And the question the audience has been asking since Mike’s wtf hug at the airport - have we seen Mike and Will like this before? Is this new? - is answered when we suddenly remember that YES, we’ve seen this before. Only, we didn’t fully register it then:

and

Now let’s move on to the deserty-beautiful episode 5… The Nina Project!

I love episode 5 Will and Mike.

They’re in a new place, out under the sky, on the road, with new people - we get to see Will’s sand-themed ensemble in all it’s checkered glory, and Mike and Argyle are strangers whose interactions so far have been fraught and odd, and now they’re stuck in a van together. It’s a recipe for brilliant comedy. But Mike and Will still find a way to continue this newfound Thing that is budding between them. 

Remember, we are re-contextualising all Byler scenes through the prism of Mike understanding Will’s true meaning during the van confession. 

THE GRAVE DIGGING SCENE.  They are digging a grave, and still distracted by this electricity between them. This will never not be giggle-worthy. 

Of course, Will was concerned for him, but we can see the moment change and hear the music come in. Mike was lost in thought, but his demeanor also changes when he locks eyes with Will. He gets flustered. This is a straight fact. Undertones that may have existed in their relationship are visibly becoming overtones.

Let’s say, for conjecture’s sake, that Mike was uncomfortable because he suspected Will likes him. The same Mike who was just FLIRTING WITH WILL, you mean? If so, then the following scene, the intimate car-top heart to heart, wouldn’t be possible. Mike would instead have been avoiding Will at all costs. 

Instead, they are immediately sat on top of a car together, having an emotionally open conversation. There is even a connecting piece of dialogue, Will’s voiceover to Mike re: Argyle, which also functions as a connector, implying Will’s inner voice to himself regarding Mike. 

‘You can’t let him get to you.’ 

Oh, Willeth. He already has. 

BUT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT MIKE’S POV HERE! 

On the cartop, we get the sense that Mike has a nagging, unresolved conflict inside him, and he needs to talk to Will about it. Mike is also coming to terms with this new, mature, attentive Will. Perhaps he expected Will to demand more information, what do you mean, what should you have said to her Mike? as he might have done in s3. We get a hint of this later, when Mike concedes that worrying about his romantic relationship with El seems petty considering their situation. Mike is pre-empting being shot down. He feels like a burden. 

But this new Will is soft and attentive, like in s2, way before Mike had any hope. He shows no signs of jealousy. 

NEXT, the phone booth under the desert sky. 

In many Byler moments, their rescue mission overrides their emotion, which is how most characters in ST function. Yet, the undercurrent is always there. In the phone scene, this manifests through Mike and Will touching hands: Mike clutches the phone at an intimate proximity to Will’s face, and Will places both hands on the phone to steady it, one covering Mike’s. 

If this was platonic, Mike would be the one acting oddly, not Will. Mike should have removed his hand. And he does, in the next instance, when he hands the phone to Jonathan! They even show us this direct contrast to underline it, within the space of one scene! 

We hit Suzie’s house, which is its own thing deserving of analysis, and then it’s the van scene. Keep in mind that we are conjecturing that Mike fully understands what Will is saying here.

Mike is thrilled to hear Will finally talk about how he feels, after spending all s4 doing anything but. The van speech is the most Will has said to Mike in almost a year. 

When Mike was mad at Will for not talking, it was because he wanted to hear about Will’s year in California, he wanted to hear about his life, because he cares about him and what he is going through. He wants his friend back too. He is paying full attention to Will. 

So to hear Will suddenly spew all these feelings in the van… 

well, Mike knows that using someone as a cover for your feelings is possible, because he did it! 

A few days ago no less! But more than that, Will uses the very same person that Mike did as a cover: El. And El isn’t just a friend. She’s Mike’s girlfriend. As we established when Will compared El and Mike’s relationship to his and Mike’s friendship at Rink O Mania, bringing someone romantic into a platonic comparison has romantic implications. 

On top of this, Mike has been hyper-attentive to Will all season, noticing every eye roll and grumble. The idea that he would not recognise the meaning behind Will looking him straight in the face and outrightly crying is absurd. Further evidence: Mike has spent three seasons of this show being a master clue finder, decoder and mystery-solver. 

That’s not to say his head isn’t still riddled with rocks. He is a science guy: logic not emotion. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t affected by emotion, or driven by it against his will. He is a human. Mike’s entire arc and conflict in s4 is based upon the fact that he is a person of logic who is now being overtaken by emotions. In other words, he is coming of age. 

So what does it mean if Mike knows Will is talking about himself in the van? 

Without the Dear Billy scenes, where Mike pushes his and Will’s relationship into flirty territory, we could be less sure of his desires regarding Will. It’s the 80s, there’s much to fear, there are so many complications, not least the technicalities regarding Will and El now being brother and sister. But Mike was so confident in his behaviour in those flirty scenes. He is certain, now more than ever, of Will’s importance in his life - and this overrides any doubt. Mike has experienced life without Will every season. He will now choose to never let that happen again. 

There are so many instances when mike carelessly and explicitly defies societal expectations to follow his heart regarding Will: 

Taking Will home at halloween, not caring what the others might think of his controlling behaviour

Rocking up at the Byers’ when Will was out of school in s2 and telling Joyce that he knows about the shadow monster

Being at the hospital when it’s strictly family there with Will. 

What would change now, when things in their lives are getting more serious in every way? 

So we are now post-van scene, and Mike has had his feelings reciprocated. Will’s confession was in code, but that doesn’t matter - because it’s the same code Mike has been using. 

Mike is content. He is amazed, in admiration and in awe, feeling relief, love, joy. He looks at the painting, stunned. I also believe that regardless of whether you believe Mike heard Will cry or not, it was narratively more important in that moment to show the audience just how devastated Will was than anything else. We the audience are 100% with Will right now, in every way. 

This is also a beautiful shot in cinematic storytelling that has been done so many times, and it gives a romantic, timeless quality to Will’s storyline, establishing him as one of the most empathetic heroes in the show. If anyone ever forgot about Will Byers in s3, they never will again. 

After this, Mike is dealing with a hell of a lot: 

The Cali gang saves El. Mike rushes to her, they hug, they part and we see Will in the middle of the shot. Mike then looks to Will with an ambiguous expression. It’s vague, except for the love triangle imagery. Not only would this be an obvious love triangle if they were all friends, but El and Will are now related in the show. Therefore, it HAS to be Will and Mike. 

But whose POV is this? 

We already know Will loves Mike. Cinematic storytelling has been telling us so all season, and it’s culminated in the van scene. Will has in all likelihood accepted that he has done what he set out to do: tell Mike how he felt, without any hope or expectation beyond being honest. 

But we’re still being bombarded with love triangle imagery. More so than ever. So whose POV is this??

MIKE’S. 

In the pizza place there is more glasses-on fuckery, more avoidance and procrastination before Argyle interrupts.  

Then, the doozy of cinematic misdirection: the I LOVE YOU SCENE. 

I won’t be speaking about lighting and cinematography too much here - please see this post by apatheticlexicographer for a truly brilliant look at the way lights matter in Stranger Things - but in the I Love You scene, it’s not even subtle. Imagine being a filmmaker and putting Will’s head floating behind Mike when he tells El he loves her, while lights flash and everyone is bathed in a death light that illuminates nothing. It’s horrific. I felt dread when I watched this. Storytelling is about creating subconscious feeling in an audience member by showing them pictures and music that, when placed in order, resonate with them and mean something. Cinematography means photography, and photography means drawing with light itself. If you don’t think the feelings you get when seeing the way something is lit are important, then just go outside on a rainy day and see how you feel compared to a sunny one. 

But lighting aside, Mike looks pained before telling El he loves her. This is a guy who just realised his friend feels the same way he does. 

They spent the entire of Mike and Will’s s4 arcs showing us, the audience, that whatever these two feel for each other, it is the same. El, bless her, was just in the middle of the maelstrom - and not even physically. From El’s point of view, she knows none of this. What does she know? She was in the cupboard at Rink O Mania. She was in her bedroom crying or working on the cabin diorama. She was in freaking jail and then at NINA. 

And now she’s with them both, and there’s a painting in Mike’s bag, and they’re showing us this:

And they’re showing how she can piggyback into someone’s mind. It looks like they’re saying LOOK! SHE’S IN MAX’S MIND, MAYBE SHE SEES WHAT’S GOING ON WITH MIKE AND WILL TOO!

But they’re not.

They’re saying this instead:

YOU KNOW THAT PIGGYBACKING INTO MAX’S MIND IS A RIFF ON WHAT WE’VE BEEN DOING ALL SEASON WITH WILL AND MIKE, RIGHT?

Byler isn’t a story device for what’s going on supernaturally. Byler is THE story. The supernatural shit IS the metaphor for Byler. 

Everything else is subtext. Not the other way around. Honey, it’s been there all along. 

And the ending?

That awkward and unnecessary pan from Will to Mike in the van?

That moment where El ignores Mike in the cabin and slams the door?

That OBVIOUS AF line up at the end? 

I mean, look at this shot without byler goggles on. It’s just so stylised. What happened to the subtlety of season 1, where it was just a beat-down old cop and a couple of precocious kids? No longer. This is hardcore, badass epicness. They are GOING FOR IT MAN. 

I want to conclude with a thought experiment, a celebration of the flood of articles and features that will be incoming in 2024. I saw a post on here about those trashy titles that will deride byler, but imagine the beautiful editorials? The black and white photoshoots, the Esquire and Vanity Fair spreads when this sci-fi mystery show is revealed to have been one big declaration of love between two boys. The whole world will be analysing to the moon and back, rewatching, articles everywhere will be like

TWO BOYS FALLING IN LOVE? STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED

and

THE STORY BEHIND THE MOST ROMANTIC TV SHOW OF THE YEAR: How a beloved sci-fi mystery became an icon of LGBT storytelling 

and 

STRANGER THINGS: AN EMOTIONAL, UNIVERSAL STORY ABOUT FIRST LOVE

and 

STAND BY ME - how eighties kids finally got the gay love story they deserved 

and 

A COMPLICATED AFFAIR … THE DUFFER BROS ON THE TEN YEAR JOURNEY BEHIND STRANGER THINGS 

and let me tell you, it will be GLORIOUS. 

Mike kinnies, since you kin Mike you must have some sort of idea what’s going on in his brain, right? If so, please tell me, I’ve been trying to write a fic from Mikes pov for weeks and I am nowhere. I do not understand what is happening in that boys head. Send help