Mike Kinnies, Since You Kin Mike You Must Have Some Sort Of Idea Whats Going On In His Brain, Right?

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

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.

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

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…..

“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