#mike wheeler is a dumbass

[ostriches-because-i-said-so]

Me when "watch as Mike Wheeler speedruns a sexuality crisis" is canon: :) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!11111

[scapegods]

he ran out of canvases

[teambyler]

OF COURSE Mike knew that Will made the painting. He would've instantly recognized Will's art style.

Yet STILL he asked:

"Did you paint this?"

Because for SO LONG Mike had refused to let himself believe that Will liked him. And here was proof that the "someone he likes" Will was secretly making a painting for, was HIM.

Look closely: there are TEARS in his eyes.

He couldn't believe it! ("Pinch me, am I dreaming?")

(And sadly, his disbelief is also why he accepted what Will said afterward.)

-teambyler

[muduus]

so, the trio that s5 revolves around are supposed to be...

a girl with superpowers who just wants to be loved the way she loves, who wants her identity to be more than just about her superpowers, who wants to feel normal and not like a monster (*cough* "yOURE MY SUPERHERO" *cough* mike wheeler u stupid)

a boy who loves with his whole heart but gets only a morsel of it in return, when actually, the object of his affections is just going through good ol' internalized homophobia. because of this, he sacrifices his own feelings so his best friend can just get his act together and treat his step-sister the way she deserves, when in fact that'll probably never happen.

and lastly, a major dumbass with internalized homophobia who can't stop looking at his "best friend's" lips but when it comes to hugging him, he's total trash. also doesn't give his "girlfriend" the love she deserves. there's way more layers to this man than initially visible, but he's not just Will's best friend or El's boyfriend. he's a total fruit with his own nerdy personality.

hawkins, meet your saviors. are you guys cooked? probably. let's hope these guys get their act together otherwise we all die 🥰

[pepstarvanmoon]

Someone please get El out of there

Is it not obvious what this is? Do you really not know what you should be doing? SAY THE DAMN WORDS.

Why do you think she’s doubting you? Can you really not tell?

Mike, sweetheart, your relationship balancing skills are a terror to your friends, family, and romantic partners.

This is why people found Midleven cuter in S1/2, because the day you made it official marked the beginning of El’s doubts in your feelings for her.

You cannot seem to grasp that El is your friend AND your girlfriend, and somehow treating El like a girlfriend equates to treating her like shit.

You cannot make this up. El needs WORDS because Mike’s ACTIONS actively make her feel unloved. She does not feel it, so she wants some kind of verbal/written affirmation because of how emotionally distant Mike feels.

(someone talented please edit Elmike to Hamilton’s Burn or send an existing edit my way, thank you ♡)

His actions do not align to her expectations of love, not that it’s a good idea to let TV define romance for you, but you’re allowed to want/expect certain things in a relationship, and El isn’t getting that.

And let’s not act like Mike isn’t good at making people feel loved/cared for. Will is in love with him for a reason. El loves him for a reason.

(It was difficult to pick scenes for this because I’ve read arguments for how these aren’t really romantic at all, but from 12/13-year old, “fresh out the lab” Eleven, it’s as romantic as romance gets imo)

El has been trying to convince herself that their relationship is better than it is, because once she admits to herself that it’s not working, what does she do?

Her day-to-day life isn’t that great. Sure, she has her new family in the Byers, but her dad recently passed away and she’s being bullied at school. She has no friends outside of Will, and while I’m sure their relationship is great (wasn’t explored that much tbh), he can’t keep her from feeling isolated, and his own trauma with bullying keeps him from standing up for her.

One good, unchanging thing she has is her relationship with Mike. He’s the one who took her in and housed her, he taught her what it meant to be a friend, and… I’m having a bit of trouble here lol. I was going to say:

Never used her for her powers (not true lol)

When she was burnt out, he never expected more from her (not true LOL)

Never treated her differently for her powers (for this one, he found her awesome in an awestruck way rather than a Brenner “I’m gonna exploit this” way, but when he thought she lied about Will/hurt Lucas he was on her ass lmao)

My girl has those ‘first love’ blinders on. I keep having to ask myself what she sees in him besides ‘first person to accept me + we kissed’ like besides the latter, Dustin was right there. A lot of the parts of Mike I enjoy don’t reveal themselves around El outside S1 (barely S2). He’s shown as caring and protective, but he’s like that for all of his friends?? Especially when they’re in danger so idk what’s different. I’d have to peruse the milkvan tag to get a hint, but I’ll probably get a better idea watching Sleeping Beauty.

I’m a firm believer that Mike kept it ambiguous because he didn’t want to admit what the real problem was to Will.

“I couldn’t tell El that I love her.” - simple as that. Must be something about Will that has him holding his tongue because after S3 I doubt he’d have that much trouble telling Lucas.

Are you embarrassed? If you thought it wasn’t that serious you wouldn’t have told Will that it was something you “can’t come back from”. Is love serious to you, Mike? Because you can’t love El in the way she wants, do you think you’re incapable of it? Do you feel wrong? Do you not want Will to know?

Hit a little too close to home, huh.

(and let’s not get into the "team, friends, best friends" scene they had together like what was the point in having them make contact a SECOND time.

They already established a connection between them. Mike could’ve asked to be a team after the "guess it's gonna be up to us again," and Will could’ve taken the painting offscreen (the focus shot of Will grabbing the painting gets me so bad like WHY), but instead they wanted them to blush and giggle over each other AGAIN before they got to the van.

Make it make non-Byler sense I'm begging.)

You’d think that’d be good enough, but Mike still feels conflicted and has to make it Will’s problem (actually, Will kinda made it his problem. The way they shot the triple take makes it seem like Will dragged Mike away for another talk because of how spacey he was being. Who knows.)

Tf do you mean you didn’t know what to say? “Maybe if I said that thing” so you DO know? It’s painfully cut and dry if you take emotions out of it. El wants Mike to say that he loves her, so to fix this, to come back from that fight, Mike has to say he loves her.

Why is it such an internal battle for him? If I were to take it at face value, I’d chalk it up to what he said in the van scene.

So your solution is to push your relationship to a point that has El crying and throwing all the loveless letters you sent to the floor? To tell her that she’s incredible and a superhero and that she should know how you feel about her because, despite the tears streaming down her face and her DIRECTLY asking you if you still love her, she must know how amazing she is too?

NEWSFLASH, Queerler! She’s learning just how much she doesn’t need you right now, so I guess it’s time to face your fears!

This isn’t what I meant, but go off ig (don’t, actually, this is awful for everyone involved).

No way you expect El to buy this. You’ve expressed this fear of "losing El" to Will, I’ll give you that, but nothing you’ve done IN FRONT OF EL has conveyed this. Your letters weren’t helping, and you being there in person only made it worse.

Eagerly awaiting the day Michael Wheeler stops lying.

Well, I guess he doesn’t lie ALL the time.

[miwiheroes]

"the purpose of the california plotline was to show how upset will is over his love for mike being unrequited"

wots all this then

[strunoedd]

Whaaaaat is he doing

[blueandyellow7]

the problem with mike wheeler is that I can never truly tell if he's got several complex thoughts swarming his brain constantly or if it's just darkness and wii music up there

[donkey-art]

thinking about how mike wheeler went to wherever they sell cards and SEARCHED to find one that says “i like you”

the dedication goes further than words with this man

[thewisewill80sbyers]

STRANGER THINGS 3 || Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum {3x06}

[shadowyyyidk]

why does billie look so much like airport mike here huh??

[ostriches-because-i-said-so]

Mike Wheeler everybody

[txxty]

mike trying to write like a million letters to will between s3 and s4 but he keeps signing off with "love mike" on every single one like hes writing to his girlfriend and not his (male) best friend

[bylerismyeverything]

Mike in season 4 is literally “I’m begging for you to take my hand wreck my plans that my man” and Will is “show me the places where the others gave you scars”

Mike is always complaining about his relationship with El to Will to see if maybe Will will try to convince him out of it because secretly Mike wants to be with him. But all Will does is help him strengthen his relationship with no regard for his own feelings and Mike just thinks that Will doesn’t like him back.

*adds willow to my byler playlist*

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

"Sir William of the Byers residence," Mike greeted, taking the other boy's hand in his own, "will you accompany me to the winter dance?"

Will leaned into Mike's touch and smiled. "Of course, Sir Michael of the Wheeler residence. Invitation accepted."

[groovinrightalong]

Classic Mike Wheeler L

The boys are fightinggg