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from this to this

PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED CURLY HAIR WILL BYERS IS COMING HOME FOR SEASON 5

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will in green will in green will in green will in green

WE’VE WON AND IM FREAKING OUT DESPITE THE FACT IVE NEVER DOUBTED BYLER ENDGAME, STILL FREAKING OUT

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it came to me in a vision

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Forever thinking about S1-S2 Mike and how his relationship with Will developed over time.

People always talk about Mike pulling away from Will because of his growing feelings towards him, but what about their collective trauma?

Mike watched them pull his best friend’s body out from the quarry. He saw what everyone said was the dead body of the person he cared about most. And then he came back.

Will basically came back from the dead for Mike. And in season two, when Will was going through the flash backs, Mike tried to hang onto him and support him as best he could. Mike couldn’t protect him from the upside down the first time, but he could this time. He was dedicated to protecting Will from the horrors he had been through.

But once Will was possessed, I think Mike pulled away a little. He realized he couldn’t protect Will the way he wanted to. He couldn’t save him. But El could. So he pulled away. He couldn’t bear to lose Will. He couldn’t bear to watch him slip from his grasp a third time. So he made El his priority, to ensure that she stopped all of this once and for all, so he could have his Will back.

Mike doesn’t want El to be his super hero. Mike doesn’t want El to be free from the upside down. He wants El to make Will free from the episode down. She needs to be Will’s super hero, because Mike can’t be.

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we all know the truth and the truth is El is a lesbian

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Can we talk about how El, who has never been comforted for anyone in her life before, jumped to comfort Max without even really thinking about it? It was pure instinct.

she saw Max's state and all she could think of was to put Max in her arms and hold her while she cried.

she then looks at Mike, whether to see if he can help or to know if she's doing the right thing.

I'm not sure here but either way, he's not much of a help so she focus on Max again.

El, who had never received any kind of comfort from anyone in her life. El, who doesn't know how to comfort anyone, yet, she knows exactly what to do with Max in that moment.

And knowing El, she's blaming herself for Billy's death. Not because he was a good person, but because of Max's state.

Max is one of the strongest, most badass people El knows and she's breaking down in her arms. And El can't do anything other than to hold her and stroke her hair gently.

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Yes, actually, it is bad writing if Mike isn’t queer or not in love with Will. Redditors and Melvins will dissent this opinion and say, “Mike is not a bad character just bc he isn’t in love with Will, that’s crazy, you’re just a fangirl who wants him to love Will” etc. etc. I’ve heard it all before and they would be right if they were just talking about just any character. But we’re not talking about just any character, we’re talking about Mike, who has been written a certain way and associated with certain characters (El and Will) and themes (nonconformity and insecurity about one’s identity) for certain reasons. For instance, had Eddie been canonically queer and have come onto Steve, Steve wouldn’t have been a “bad character” or “badly written” had he rejected Eddie or been straight bc thus far, Steve’s storyline and arc hasn’t had anything to do with nonconformity, queerness, identity, etc. so it wouldn’t have been narratively or characteristically inconsistent for Steve to have rejected Eddie.

Same thing had Robin been written to have a crush on Nancy. Now unlike Steve, Nancy’s arc actually does have to do with personal identity and having to contend with societal pressures to conform (just not about queerness specifically), but her arc is uniquely feminist in that it focuses on a woman’s individual desires and values versus what it is that society demands from her. Particularly since Nancy’s arc does have to do with these themes, the writers could have pretty easily placed her into a relationship with Robin had they wanted to. It’s simply not what they chose to do, probably bc they are wanting to emphasize with Nancy a different nonconformity experience from the one that Mike is dealing with, particularly since the Wheelers are siblings. From a writing standpoint, it might have felt to them redundant to have Nancy be navigating nonconformity as it relates to queerness in the same way that Mike is, and it’s also not necessary since Nancy’s storyline doesn’t rely or depend on queerness. Unlike Robin’s arc, Nancy’s arc might’ve only been enhanced or taken in a slightly different direction had her character been made explicitly queer. Besides, a lot of Nancy’s storyline seems to have to do with navigating romantic relationships with men and understanding what is important in order for a heterosexual relationship to work and be healthy (shared goals, shared values, true, unconditional love and friendship as opposed to the appearances of one i.e. St*ncy), which is why the writers are most likely going with Jancy.

The people who say that Mike won’t be a bad character if he turns out not to love Will, though, I’m not sure they have a full grasp on us Bylers’ reasoning as to why that isn’t the case. The thing about good writing is that it isn’t random or unplanned in the slightest. And as someone who spends lots of time writing creatively and as someone who studied how it works extensively in school, the thing about the writing process is that it is truly all up to you how you choose to write a story. It is up to you to create your own unique characters, and you do so having certain themes you’d like to explore, certain messages you’d like to convey, in mind. It is also up to you to decide how you’d like to convey these themes and what sorts of vehicles you would like to use to get them across i.e. metaphors, symbolism, subtext, implicit or overt ideas in the dialogue etc. of course, these ideas may slightly change over time if you start viewing your character in a new way or if you have a new endgame in mind for that character, but that change or shift will be made evident in the narrative. And so far, for all four seasons, Mike has been written with a nonconformist theme in mind, he has been written to have a close, loving relationship with his queer best friend who is in love with him, and he has been written to actively struggle and feel insecure about himself in the relationship he has with his girlfriend. Thus, the central character theme the writers went with when creating Mike was nonconformity. The vehicle through which they have chosen to get this theme across is the relationships Mike has with his family, Will, and El. No one asked them to do this lmao. It was deliberate. They could’ve just as easily given Mike’s arc a different theme, but they didn’t. They could’ve just as easily explored Mike’s nonconformity arc in a different way like they did with Nancy, but they didn’t. They also didn’t have to make Mike’s relationships with both Will and El so heavily dependent on and directly involved in Mike’s conformity arc with the success rate of both of these relationships being inversely proportional to the way Mike feels about himself and his own sense of self-confidence and self-worth, but they did. Mike has been written to be unable to balance his current romantic relationship with El and his friendship with Will. Again, no one made the writers write these relationships this way. Mike could’ve just as easily been written to be some nerdy guy who gets bullied and struggles to conform, but who is head over heels in love with his girlfriend and who gets along great with his her. He hasn’t been written that way. He could’ve just as easily been written to have a close friendship with his queer best friend who is in love with him in such a way that is not heavily tied to and even bogged down by Mike’s relationship with his girlfriend. He has not been written that way. There are a million ways the writers could’ve written Mike to be able to juggle both a friendship with Will and a romance with El, but that is not what they chose to do. They deliberately chose not to do that.

The other thing about good writing is that it takes a character from point A to point B. A character starts their journey at a certain point—in Mike’s case, he starts his journey as a boy who gets bullied and does not fit in but feels a certain amount of pressure to conform for his family—and ends their journey at a certain point, having learned new things about themselves and their relationships that give them a revelation or cause them to make a change. To reiterate, Mike’s arc is about nonconformity and the writers have chosen to explore this theme through Mike’s relationships with Will and El. That means that Mike’s relationships with Will and El HAVE to be directly tied to the resolution of Mike’s nonconformity arc or his arc is both incomplete or inconsistent. And the way these relationships have been written, with Mike being unable to juggle and balance both a romance with El and a friendship with Will at the same time, that means there HAS to be a significant change in these relationships in order for them to start working and functioning properly and healthily. And no, Mike will not magically fix them through sheer willpower or by working on his communication skills. Bc communication has never been the issue. Mike is actually a good communicator in most cases such as when he bikes to Will’s house in the rain to apologize to him. Mike’s arc is not about learning to communicate with Will and El, it’s about realizing what Will and El actually are to him and what his relationships with them should actually look like based on his TRUE feelings for them. Because of all of these reasons, the ONLY resolution for Mike’s arc that can be narratively consistent and complete is for Will and El to switch roles in his life and for Will to become his lover and El to become his friend. ANY deviation from this resolution makes absolutely no sense. It is absolute utter nonsense in fact. Hope this helps.

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a triple take is craaazy

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They can scream that Byler will never happen all they want, but the facts are the facts:

Mike Wheeler cares about Will Byers very much (shown throughout the whole series). They have a strong bond and connection (even just as friends).

Mike puts Will above his other friends (“Dustin, Lucas, and Max are great – but it’s Hawkins – it’s not the same without you.”)

Will is canonically in love with Mike, making Byler semi-canon.

Mike behaves differently with Will, especially when they’re alone. His face shows a gentle expression many times he looks at Will, proving that he cares about him a lot (even in just-a-friend way).

Will and Mike have shared many emotional, intimate, and heartfelt moments throughout the series (official scripts and captions explicitly used these words to describe their scenes). In fact, almost all of their 1-1 interactions have been incredibly tender and heartwarming (especially in S2 but in the other ones as well).

They have a lot in common: their hobbies and interests (e.g., D&D), interrelated passions (drawing+writing = comics), a shared trauma (related to the Upside Down as well as bullying).

Will and Mike understand each other without words (“Oh, I didn't say it.” – “You didn't have to.”)

Asking Will to become his friend was the best thing Mike’s ever done (his monologue to him in S2) whereas meeting El was “simple dumb luck” (Mike’s words to Will in S4).

Mike is frustrated and heartbroken at the thought of losing Will (shown in the whole S1 & 2 + him saying “I felt like I lost you” in S4) and wants them to be “a team”/best friends again (their heart-to-heart in Will’s bedroom in S4).

It was Mike who never gave up on looking for Will. It was Mike who cared about Will as much as his mother Joyce (“I'm the only one that cares about Will!”; “All I know is Will is alive. Will is alive! He's out there somewhere. All we have to do is find him.”) It was Mike who always had to make sure Will was okay (S2 & 3).

It is Will who Mike goes to apologize to after their fight and not El, who was also waiting for Mike’s apologies (twice).

It is Will who desperately tries to make Mike feel loved and save his relationship with El.

Will and Mike have been, are, and will always be an important part of each other’s lives no matter what happens. Even as best friends, their bond is too strong to be broken, as proved and reinforced in S4. Friends or lovers, these two will always care deeply about each other.

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It's like a 70/30 split thing

It's like a 70/30-

Okay, so it's like an 80/20 split thing. That's fine. That's still okay.

It's like an 80/20-

90/10-

95/5-

That's okay. You know, 5's still salvageable. So it's like a-

It's like a-

It's like-

oh

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But what if, in the last scene of s5, we see the party standing in front of three waterfalls and then this familiar-looking guy walks up to them and says:

"Welcome to the local village. My name is Mikhail."

Then what?

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never fails to piss me off how this fandom made steve into this huge lgbt ally, made him out to be practically perfect, forgot every bad thing he’s done in favour of his character development and yet seems to be simultaneously hating on jonathan.

jonathan, who has been the best older brother to will, a canonically queer character throughout the entire show, no matter what

jonathan, who understood what will was telling him in that one scene in s4 and told him that he knows and it’s okay and he loves him, always will love him

jonathan, who knows that will is in love with mike and has vowed himself to protect his younger brother from getting hurt because of it

but there is so much hate on jonathan, because god forbid a TEENAGER who’s been a glass child his whole life and practically has lived in fear of losing his whole family for the past four years - god forbid he smokes weed to cope with everything he’s been through, because - obviously - when he does, then ‘his character development has gone to shit’

so we can forgive steve for calling people homophobic slurs and still see him as a gay ally because he’s changed but we draw the line at an always canonical ally when he uses weed? yeah, okay

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sorry i had to make something

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bylers when a new set picture leaks and its a local village with not one, not two, but three waterfalls

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I was rewatching season 2 today, and look what I came across again.

In this first photo, look at the space between the desks. There’s a pretty big space, and Lucas can literally manspread without his leg touching Dustin’s desk.

Then here you can see the space has gotten a little smaller between the desks but not too noticeably.

If you look closely between Mike and Wills desks, you can see the outline of Will’s literally 2 inches away from Mikes. And I know you see Will’s arm on Mike’s desk and their arms both touching, meanwhile Dustin and Lucas have a normal sized space between them. Will and Mikes desks were deliberately moved closer to, so they could have a shot of their arms touching, which goes with the fact that they never have personal space between them. Which, is also, only a thing we see Mike and Will do.

This scene could also be a parallel to that scene in s2, showing once again, they never have personal space when it comes to each other.

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Literally me these days! 😭🥹

I miss you so much, please show yourself soon! 🥲

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the amount of times Mike is subtly like, “I wanna break up with El but I don’t want to be the one to say it, so I’m gonna spoon feed you everything I want to hear” and Will takes it all the wrong ways and instead says, “you can fix it! don’t worry, i’m your number one wingman” and that’s just hilarious to me