You talk about when Mike got caught looking at Will in the desert. I talk about when he didn't.
This is before Will started talking, he was just gesturing in reaction while Jonathan and Argyle were talking one on one. But I'm rewatching the scene thinking about Mike and there is a lot of time between the inciting moment of Argyle saying they're gonna kill El and the triple take at the end of this scene. He had a full soliloquy alone, that triple take was not an immediate reaction and I think we forget that. He had been sitting with himself in silence, tuning them out for 0:56 seconds before that triple take. He isn't listening to them. He's thinking. And while he's thinking, he looks over at Will 0:12 seconds before we see him do it up close.
As I say, he's surprised he got caught because he usually doesn't. He wasn't expecting Will to be looking at him because he wasn't when he tried 10 seconds prior.
Will Byers doesn't hate himself, he is just deeply traumatized but he is slowly healing with the love of his new family and finally getting over Mike.
Mike Wheeler hates himself quite a bit, he knows he's gay and knows that there's a possibility that Will loves him, but after Will encouraged him to say 'I love you' to El, he thinks he has really little chances with him.
Mike tells Will how he feels after collecting enough data from Will's reactions and actions and also to not get possessed by Vecna (the group has to tell each other their secrets so that they have less possibilities of getting possessed ). Will starts crying. Byler kiss.
I wanna explain a whole ass Lumax theory that I have in my head, but I'll leave that for later.
I love how both the Byler fights were basically “something’s off about you, Mike, what’s your deal?” “you’re not my boyfriend, so don’t call me out!”
Because Mike is always the one pointing out relationships. Mike’s the one highlighting that they’re not romantic. It’s on Mike’s mind. And that’s canon. And people insist that Mike is straight?