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this is incredibly niche but in my mind somewhere there exists a byler workplace rivalry au where they both work in a molecular bio research lab and mike’s adhd causes him to leave his gels in the machine and his bottles in the autoclave for way too long and will is the poor guy from the lab next door trying to leave on time but can’t because the MACHINES ARE FULL so he sends floor-wide “hey, just a reminder!” emails about it and mike gets so pissed off he sends all his emails straight to spam

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It’s so telling that Mike and Will are the only friends in the entire show who fight about their friendship itself. Mike and Lucas fight about El in s1, Dustin and Lucas (kind of) fight over Max in s2. But Mike and Will are the only ones who've repeatedly had arguments about the nature of their relationship—the way it’s changing and how deeply it affects them both. That’s the root cause both times they fight. You will never catch any other friendship on the show throwing around lines like:

Did you think we were never gonna get girlfriends?

We're friends! We're friends!

You’re mad that I didn’t talk to you?

We're not kids anymore.

You called maybe a couple times meanwhile El has like a book of letters from you!

It's not my fault you don't like girls!

We used to be best friends.

It’s such a suspicious dynamic to set up between two supposedly platonic besties. Like why are you the only friends on the entire show who have immense difficulty functioning as friends when one of you is in a relationship?

And yes, part of it is Will’s feelings but it’s important to keep in mind: both times Will gets angry/upset at Mike it is solely and justifiably related to Mike’s inability to be a good friend to him when El is in the picture. Will’s issue has always, always been Mike treating him badly as a friend. Yeah, he also gets jealous, and we see that in his longing stares and emotional breakdowns. But he never expresses that towards Mike directly, or ‘expects to be treated like a girlfriend’ as I’ve seen some idiots say. He just rightfully wants to be treated with respect and not be ignored (yeah he’s obviously more upset than he would be if not for his romantic feelings, but both times the actual accusations he makes to Mike’s face are completely reasonable friendship complaints), and the second he expresses that to Mike? Boom it’s omg Will we’re just friends!! Why would I send you letters WE’RE FRIENDS I have a GIRLFRIEND! Did you actually think we’d play DnD in my basement forever with no girls?? We’re not kids! *Proceeds to join Hellfire the second El leaves* and you realise it’s actually Mike who crosses the line and turns these arguments into bitter fights about how growing up and girlfriends means their friendship has to change. This is further proved by the fact Mike is always the one to apologise first—Will seems to initiate their fights (justifiably, as I said) by expressing his unhappiness whereas Mike escalates their fights into something different and he acknowledges that.

This is slightly incoherent but my point is there’s a reason Mike and Will’s relationship is portrayed so dramatically and emotionally in comparison to every single other friendship in ST! (Hint: it’s because they’re not just friends 🫢).

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I wanted this to represent a Once Upon a Time AU where Will and Mike are together in another realm (as their DND characters). However, after a curse, they’re trapped in Hawkins with no memory of their past. Despite their amnesia, they still feel a strong connection towards each other.

Btw if someone wants to write this I will support you and will be extremely excited to read it!

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It's really funny that some people think Finn is intentionally sabotaging the show because he wants Mike to be gay. And the Duffers are just at the mercy of this 20 year old (who they pay) and his gay agenda.

Just imagine:

*Finn, angrily reading the script.* "Mleven kiss?! NO! We're not doing that!!!"

*Finn rips up the script, screaming with rage.* "Mike is GAY and loves WILL. Do I make myself clear?!"

*Matt and Ross cling to each other in terror, tears running down their cheeks.* "Finn, please .. we're begging you. Don't ruin our born pretty yesterday, love at first sight het ship that the audience doesn't like anymore. We'll do anything!!"

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The anniversary of scriptgate is coming up soon-

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"But You make me feel like I'm not a mistake at all."

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the miscommunication with byler in s4 is so so so so so good.

like mike kept trying to call will but couldn't get through because of joyce's job. and so he was holding out hope that will would call him first. except will never did because he was worried mike didn't care about him anymore and was scared of being too obvious. and so he kept holding out hope that mike would call. and so then they both just started to believe after a while that they lost each other and the other didn't care anymore and moved on. and that is why they were both so hurt during their fight. will was upset mike hadn't reached out to him more but he doesn't know mike did try to call him. meanwhile mike was upset that will was blaming him for their lack of communication even tho will had a part to play in it too but HE doesn't know the reason why WILL never reached out and

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and with that they said everything there is to be said 🤭

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melvins thinking byler is a fanon ship is peak comedy lmaoooo

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reddit is such a non safe space for bylers

omg its back up

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this is the blueprint!!!

Imagine if the painting lie gets revealed and they fight because Mike is angry that Will lied but most of all he's angry that Will is not explaining why he lied but he also kinda hopes that Will loves him and then they are still angry at each other in the upside down and they have another fight where Will just is so pissed off that he tells the truth or says something that makes Mike understand why but they are still arguing and Will shoves him and Mike just gets so frustrated with the situation that he kisses Will and then they both melt in each other's arms while they keep kissing

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Hi kat here update on the sign

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stranger things truly has some of the best endgame ship pairings i've ever seen in a show because i'm not disappointed with a single pairing on this list

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Which Mike Wheeler are you today?

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Unpopular opinion - I don't want the Party/Teens to think the Mike and Will liking eachother is "super obvious", or that they're just "so oblivious", or that they should just make out already or anything like that.

I want them dead shocked when they find out they're together or that they like each other.

They've been in their heteronormative bubble. Dustin still thinks Robin is straight and that Steve should date her. Lucas was the one who first called Mike out for being "so in love" with El, when all Mike was doing was being nice to a girl, and he helped Mike to "win El back" all of season 3.

Byler was never meant to be obvious. The Party has no idea Mike even likes boys.

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Based on this funny post from @cringengl, here we have Byler from S4 but make it framed as mleven scenes:

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every show with teenagers shows teenage sexuality, but the moment the we discuss those urges that are outside of a purely heterosexual context suddenly we are “sexualizing children” and pedos. steve and nancy hook up in the first episode of stranger things, and second season jonathan and nancy go right from first kiss to sex. never heard anybody accused of sexualizing them or calling the duffer bros perverts. but suggesting two best friends are checking each other out and feeling sexual attraction for one another is soooo outrageous and evil people must call us out on it. heaven forbid we write fanfic or make art depicting anything of that heinous nature, especially if we are adults! you know, because we were never that age and never felt those things and if we did we cannot legally ever think back upon those years and experiences with anything but neutral feelings otherwise we are total sickos. how dare we try to heal our younger queer repressed selves by indulging in the heightened emotions and possibilities that come with romance and relationships during that particular time of our lives! how awful of us to imagine two young queers getting to find and accept themselves and each other in ways we were denied at that age! how foolish are we to hope for stories about people like us who figured things out sooner than we did, who got things they wanted and found happiness and healthy and safe romantic and sexual relationships where we did not!

miss me with that anti-gay propaganda-fed bullshit. people of all ages have always enjoyed young romance and coming of age stories, and it only hurts those stories to sanitize them and enforce a lack of sensuality. it hurts society and young people to leave queer sexuality out of the narrative. fuck the fuck off and don’t read what you don’t want to read.