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for any the last of us enjoyers, i just thought it was interesting how riley and ellie’s fight from the left behind dlc shares the same argument structure as mike and will’s. bonus points for how one takes place in a mall and the other takes place in a roller rink.

paired with this “crazy together” parallel and the duffers being a fan of the game, idk its a little sus

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finn being “excited to see” the van scene versus

making this face

after watching the monologue is so funny

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byler can't be unrequited

the fact that there has been no content makes it really easy to get doubtful about what we already know to be true. here is why byler being unrequited is almost impossible if the duffers are even a fraction as talented as we think they are.

we have ALREADY got the unrequited arc in stranger things. more than once!!!! dustin liked max and robin liked tammy thompson. reusing this storyline for will (albeit on a much grander, heartbreaking scale) would be extremely lazy and unfulfilling. if will were to move on from mike and have another boyfriend by the end of the series, that would literally just be a direct copy and paste of robin's (and dustin's?) arc.

how satisfying is it to mirror the only two queer characters storyline's almost 1:1?

the main argument we see of ignorant ga members: "it was the 80s, mike not liking will back is realistic and would help older queer people feel represented on screen."

sure... but robin's crush on tammy has already fulfilled that relatable storyline. the sheer impact of "i wanted her to look at me" and robin's coming out scene shouldn't be understated. personally, i was only a confused kid watching that scene for the first time, but in that moment, i felt understand in ways that i wasn't even aware of. i've heard similar experiences with young and older queer people (namely lesbians) while watching that scene. the heartbreak was real.

however, by season 4, robin conceded to the fact that, okay maybe tammy isn't that great.

meanwhile will is literally just beginning to understand how in love with mike he is. mike makes him feel better for being different. this isn't just someone that will saw in passing at school. he is not going to move on from mike after loving him for as long as we've known them, either. imagining will undergoing the level of devastation associated with unrequited feelings when he's this in love with mike feels cruel. advancing the supernatural plot or his "coming of age" arc would not be enough to justify the level of suffering he would face.

queer people felt robin's pain, but the straight ga is fine with putting will through the same thing on steroids. the way the duffers talk about will's character makes me confident that they would handle his story with more care than that.

the unrequited pattern we've seen in the show is:

dustin: likes max -> max likes someone else -> starts dating suzie

robin: likes tammy -> tammy likes someone else -> starts dating vickie (in s5)

is this really something we need to see a third time? wouldn't the right time to give will a neat and easy new love interest be when he moved to california?

the duffers want the characters to have their perfect endings, even if they are shocking.

after being targeted and heartbroken for pretty much the whole series, is being alone or with some random side character at the last minute will's perfect ending?

no. it's not.

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does anyone else think the writing next to el’s head looks like “WILL ______” ??

i thought it might be will the wise but i dont know why that would be between her and dustin? i cant also kinda see “hell” but idk

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While everyone is focusing on the “romance was not on his mind” part of this answer, I’m particularly interested in the way Finn said, “that relationship is his FIRST romantic feelings toward someone.” Mike has had one relationship in his entire life and as far as the audience knows, Eleven is the only person he’s had feelings for.

Finn saying the word “first” instead of something like “only” sounds like a subconscious slip. This may be because in season 5, we will see that, while Eleven might be the first, she certainly isn’t the last.

It’s also not lost on me that Finn refers to romantic feelings towards “someone” instead of “a girl.” In the audio for this answer, he says “Mike didn’t forsee him to be in a romantic relationship [with a lot of people] just because he was a nerdy kid.” The gender inclusive language is striking.

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for any the last of us enjoyers, i just thought it was interesting how riley and ellie’s fight from the left behind dlc shares the same argument structure as mike and will’s. bonus points for how one takes place in a mall and the other takes place in a roller rink.

paired with this “crazy together” parallel and the duffers being a fan of the game, idk its a little sus

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Case closed… the cropped chair next to Will has to be for Mike

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Mike somehow gets away with never commenting on any girl throughout the entire show, while Lucas and Dustin both have no problem freaking out over Jennifer Hayes, Princess Daphne, talking about how hot Phoebe Cates is, and being upset that girls don’t give them attention.

Meanwhile, Mike doesn’t talk about girls, and when he does it’s asking if they’re “cute,” while the other boys use “hot.”

This is often explained away by his relationship with El; he’s just a loyal and respectful young man. However, both Dustin and Lucas have an active girlfriend in a couple of these screenshots, and yet that doesn’t stop them from making the expected teenage-boy-esque remarks.

The only other boys who don’t make those types of comments? Will, the canonically gay character, and Mike.

Mike gets a lot of armor against speculation because of his relationship with El. When comparing his interest in girls to Lucas’ and Dustin’s though, there’s no arguing that he falls short.

I’m not arguing the gay vs bisexual point, but I do feel like this portion of his character is overlooked. If byler were to happen, this might be one of those things that the GA looks back on and thinks, “huh.”

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Accidentally byler on reddit lmfao what do you mean hormones make you in love with your best friend 😭 i can only imagine how they’ll cope when s5 releases

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Sound a little familiar, Mike?

I don’t think its a coincidence that season 4 made it clear that Mike felt like he was losing both El and Will.

In Will’s monologue, not only can Will project his feelings onto El’s, but Mike is also able to project himself onto “El.”

Mike was clearly depressed before visiting Lenora. El was telling him about this fantastic time she was having in high school and even included that Will liked someone. Meanwhile, Mike was at home being bullied.

Dustin made it clear that NO ONE was nice to him and Mike. I think Mike felt like he was losing Lucas to Basketball, El to her new friends, but especially Will, to the new life that he knew nothing about. So he began distancing himself, but Will was already pushing him away.

I think Mike related a lot to this statement, which is why he felt that him and El were on the same page. He feels like they’re finally getting somewhere because El was experiencing exactly what he was… only it wasn’t El, but Will. And he doesn’t connect that it’s Will he felt that way towards.

Mike is extremely oblivious and self-involved, but he doesn’t think through how he feels. When it comes to emotions, he has never been one to unpack them. The only semblance of vulnerability we’ve seen him express is with Will.

The big intrigue of byler/mileven to me is that it’s not so simple as “Mike never loved El.” Because he does, but he also loves Will and everything is about to get very very tangled in his head.

The van scene being what propels Mike into a newfound confidence in his relationship with El is the perfect set-up for season 5 because it was all a lie.

Will makes him feel secure, loved, and understand, and once he finally thinks about what he wants for once in his life, it will all start making sense for him.

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cornplate moment but the shadow of “boy” in surfer boy pizza subtlety running through the frame during the van scene is kind of funny

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I need to talk about mikes room

The poster above Mike’s bed is a WIZARD summoning a beast (a giant buff beast but hey) and I just think that’s interesting. Not to mention the similarities to Will’s painting

The facial structure is so similar and the wings and the claws…

Mike also has a poster for Conan the Barbarian which, as we know, features another buff guy. But I also think it’s interesting that Conan combines both sorcery (cleric) and sword (paladin) into his heroism.

His room features 2 pieces of Escher’s artwork in his room. Both of these drawings (Hand with Reflecting Sphere (1935) and Relativity (1953)) involve perspective and how our reality is often different than what we believe.

I don’t really know what point I’m trying to make here, but I think it’s peculiar to place these in Mike’s room, given that we know how much he cares about what others think of him. This could mean that he’s too wrapped up in himself and what’s in his head to notice the truth that’s in front of him.

His obsession with Hellfire, popularity, being the perfect boyfriend, and his “fake” California outfit only supports the fact that Mike’s head is probably a labyrinth of confusion, but he outwardly displays that everything is fine.

All of this paired with the “one way” sign pointing to the closet doesn’t really help his case

Might add onto this later, but I haven’t seen anyone discuss the last few drawings so I thought I’d share. Lots to think about

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I just think