#'NOT HOPPER. NOT MIKE. YOU.' 'THERE'S MORE TO LIFE THAN STUPID BOYS.'

[heartsgettingwiser62]

The show expresses El's and Will's main arc and desires through their art in s4.

On the one hand, we have Will, who creates a painting for Mike that portrays them and the party together again, as their dnd characters. Of course, it displays Will's desire of belonging again in that friend group, of having what was taken away from him last summer. But, after all, the main focus of the painting is Mike. Because 1, the painting is for Mike after all, and 2, Will himself is telling where his priorities are, by painting a heart on top of him. Mike's the heart, his heart.

On the other hand, with her art (the figures she makes), El portrays Hopper and his cabin, the first place she actually considered a home. This creation is, in a way, for Hopper. Since she obviously can't give it to him directly, it's a tribute to his sacrifice, therefore, it's made for him. That's where her priorities lie: family.

Will's arc, his biggest hopes and desires, are primarily about love, just how he expresses in his art. El's arc, her biggest hopes and desires, are primarily about family, just how she expresses in her art.

So, narratively, who would make more sense to end up in a relationship? The one whose focus is love and belonging (being who he loves one of the reasons he feels as if he doesn't belong) or the one whose focus is family and finding herself?

[teambyler]

Everything after Mike's monologue shows that El has moved on from Mike

After the climactic events of season 4 including Mike's monologue, we have ZERO scenes between El and Mike talking about what happened. And we're never explicitly shown what she's thinking: we have to pick it up through clues.

Here are ALL the significant things El does afterward that give us any clue of what she thinks about their relationship.

Mike tells El to "wake up," and then El says (while looking at Max) "No... You're not going... No." The first "no" can also be a direct response to Mike. She is choosing not to go back to Mike and to help Max:

Of course, she wants to save Max's life. But her "no" becomes more significant when we see her thoughts while saving Max. She remembers her s3 friendship with Max, where she found herself happier dumping Mike and becoming independent. Max told her about ANOTHER female superhero Wonder Woman, said "Not Hopper, not Mike, YOU... There's more to life than stupid boys... Against the rules? We make our own rules":

We then time jump to 2 days later. Mike and El are sitting next to each other in the van, but they don't interact.

When they visit Max at the hospital, El puts her head on Mike's shoulder and he puts his arm around her. This is the ONLY expression of closeness we see between them after the monologue. Even here, both of El's arms hang at her sides:

But in this and later scenes we see Mike having more interactions with Will than with El. When Lucas says the doctors thought it was a "miracle" Max came back to life, Will and Mike have the same thought -- that El saved her -- but they look immediately at each other first instead of El. El, meanwhile, hadn't shared that Max almost died (and what she had done to save her) with Mike. She doesn't look at him. (Thanks to @romainlettusdinnerparty for pointing this out)

While cleaning Hopper's cabin, El tellingly closes the door after entering her old room, immediately after glancing at Mike and Will together. (There is no reason to close a door when you're cleaning a musty old house!) We find out that she has barely been talking to Mike:

Finally, the last scene. The three of them walk out onto the field side by side. Mike and Will stop at the same time. El walks forward ahead of the other two. Mike doesn't follow his girlfriend and stays by Will:

Since this is the very last scene and there's no dialogue, it's fair to say that what we're seeing visually will foreshadow events in the next season. She is walking ahead into the rotting part of the field (the Upside Down?). And she is moving away from Mike, and Mike is choosing to stay with Will. Mike and Will aren't holding hands, but they're BREATHING IN SYNC.

To drive things home, she sees the EXACT same kind of flowers that Mike picked for El and gave her at the airport, the yellow and purple flowers:

... But now they're wilted... a very on-your-nose symbol of their relationship. She holds on to the wilted flower while looking at the devastation in Hawkins. This reflects and foreshadows her personal journey:

The only other reading of these final images is that she will defend what is good -- Hawkins -- from Vecna. But the chosen symbol is too associated with Mike's bouquet. It can't be her protecting their relationship from Vecna. It has never been threatened by external threats. (In fact, facing shared danger from the "bad men," etc. brought them together.) Their relationship has corroded from within.

The absence of ANY scene between Mike and El post-monologue is startling. We get MANY scenes in the epilogue where we see how the main characters now relate to each other. El and Will hug Dustin, we see that Robin and Vickie might enter a relationship, heck we even see how Mike and Hopper regard each other. But for Mileven, where THE arc this season has been "Will Mike say he loves El?" we get no resolution!

Instead, we get implications and symbols. And everything makes clear that Mike and Will have grown closer, while Mike and El have grown more distant.

This, AFTER Mike said what El told her he needed to say for their relationship to work out! If anything, it made El MORE distant. As if El realized that isn't what she wants after all... unlike early in s4, El is now hardly relating to Mike whatsoever.

Mileven is a sinking ship. But that doesn't mean Mike and El must end up unhappy.

-teambyler

[patheticmull3rr]

Teory📔📘; When Blue Meets Yellow In The West

I have been replaying the Third Season for a few days now, and the most iconic phrase within it; "when blue and yellow meet in the west" has made me very curious.

In ST these tones are used to symbolize how couples (both in a friendly and loving context) begin to know or "find" such tones we find in scenes such as

The photos of Eleven and Max;

and on the tiles of the bathrooms where Steve and Robin were;

Just as these tones are found in different scenes used in contexts with couples that were previously presented to us. But what matters here is that this phrase is present in moments prior to which two specific characters are about to share important moments between them.

And ow this symbolizes personal growth for both people.

In the case of Eleven and Max, Max makes Eleven learn that her individual life is much more than what Hopper or Mike tell her, and that there are more better things in the world than "stupid boys."

Teaches her to be herself, and at the same time Max becomes Eleven's first best friend, which is important for both of them even later in the S4. Max provokes in Eleven a feeling of independence and empowerment.

Which she later uses to end her relationship with Mike after he lied to her (I'll talk about that specific scene in another blog).

Also!!: I would like to honor the detail that Max has the green during this specific scene that shows Eleven the Wonder Woman comics, which in simpler words symbolizes the fact that Max already has the blue and yellow in she

Moving on to the Robin and Steve scene, specifically Robin is a character that is used to be related to Steve for the same reason as Eleven and Max.

Of course, each scene is different, but if we realize, in both contexts they have a similar problem, which is love problems.

In the bathroom scene where Robin and Steve talk, Steve begins to give Robin some hints that show that he is romantically attracted to her.

She ends up rejecting him by coming out to him as a lesbian woman, but even so she does not act offended by this, but rather a friendship arises directly between them. something that Steve also needs, realizing that there is more to the world than just wanting to get a girlfriend, and that he still has a lot of internal development ahead of him.

(I will also analyze this scene in another blog)

Taking into account the scenes that we have just rescued where yellow and blue are predominant in both couples, yellow and blue are not as such couple tones, as in the case of Mike and Eleven.

Something that is even somewhat difficult to find using these shades while the two are together, not counting the covers, and also the moments like this one that I have marked.

Taking the fact that explains that in the context of "when yellow meets blue in the west" symbolizing that they are important colors that are taken for important moments and where there is an individual advancement in both people being united.

Why then does the original couple, who are supposed to have yellow and blue predominating in them, not move forward together?

The answer is simple: They do not advance in the way that is expected when being together.

Let's take for example a dialogue that was supposed to be important for both of them, the scene in which they were trying to heal Eleven's injured leg after training against the MindFlayer.

During this scene we are presented with Mike trying to talk to Eleven, as Lucas had repeatedly told him earlier in the episodes after she finished him off.

We can see that during these dialogues, Mike tries to talk to Eleven more directly about how he feels about her, the simple act of apologizing, telling her that he was an idiot for lying to her, or perhaps a simple "I love you, forgive me for not telling you the truth" but while he tries he only manages to stumble over his words and confuse Eleven, not knowing what he was referring to, not understanding Mike's hints in his words and the way in which he himself was trying to tell them.

And can even take into account that before telling him something important he is interrupted by the walkie talkie.

So why didn't Mike just try to tell Eleven directly what he had screamed moments before she got hurt?

It's simple, both had already found their yellow and blue moments before, both realized different things, which later causes their development to begin to fall behind, because they both (specially Eleven) don't need that.

and that's why in this scene, after talking to Eleven about being in contact with her, he acts so confused after she brings up what he had said earlier, and Mike just says he doesn't remember.

That is why when she kisses him and tells him that she loves him, he acts confused, his simple gestures are as if he did not expect that to happen, because he was thinking of saying something very different to Eleven during the failed dialogue they had.

But now, let's see about the yellow one that Mike found when Eleven was not with him.

In which he even had the green with him during that specific scene that I would like to discuss.

Taking into account this specific scene we can realize that it is the complete opposite of how he is expected to behave with Mike, when Eleven tells him that they broke up, Mike does nothing but get upset and go home being angry as hell. same way, but when he has this argument with Will during the pressure of the moment, he simply makes the decision to go after him, knock on his door until he gets tired and tell him that he had been a complete idiot, that he wanted to talk things over with him and without letting him to shout his name and knock on his door.

At the same time, we can take into account that both scenes are totally different, in the scene where Eleven ends up with Mike, there is a big sun, a lot of people, a relaxed atmosphere, but when Mike argues with Will, everything becomes sad, there is no sun, it's raining.

And both end up with emotions twice as strong as they were before.

We can take this as the fact that Eleven had already found her blue, and she felt complete because of it, she didn't need Mike. But in Mike's case everything got even sadder because he still didn't get his yellow, and he felt like he was losing him.

In the case of Robin and Steve, they did not have yellow and blue in their clothes, but there was in their surroundings. I would like to use it in this context to show that although we already gave a more psychological meaning to yellow and blue, the phrase, taken literally can represents a sunset.

and we not only see this in the scene we took, but also in the scene from the season before this one, "crazy together."

and in another scene later, the scene after the fourth season ended

Specifically, I use this because it is an allegory to what I am trying to communicate with this, they are both sitting together, and the sun is touching them both.

At the same time, if I remember correctly, several of the most important scenes in the context of Mike and Will have been after "yellow and blue meet."

I know what you may be wondering, if I'm using the phrase for a more friendly context when putting friendly couples, why specifically Mike and Will don't I put them there too?.

It's simple, because they have already passed that phase, and their relationship has been growing over time, in a more personal and even deeper way even if they were not together, and because the phrase is not only used for friendly couples.

and, no, yellow and blue does not represent Mike and Eleven's relationship, because we can see that after several important moments during Eleven's individual development, she stops using yellow or blue, even during season four she begins to use the blue.

They make it clear to us that Eleven does not need a yellow or a blue to be able to move forward, because if the previous development she had with Max left her.

Is that she can be her own blue and yellow, even another different tone or the one that she wants to use.

For that same reason during the scene where Mike and Will meet after fighting, Mike wears green, hoping that Will could see that he would be both shades for both of them, but, at the end of the day, they would end up completely matching each other.

That's the same reason why, in previous seasons and even episodes within that season, they both continue to use them individually, and have so many important moments together.

Thanks so much for reading. 💛💙

[will80sbyers]

There is more to life than stupid boys.

Stop waiting for the train.

It's her choice.

I hope she's doing that, coming into her own.

I am not the monster.

Not Hopper, not Mike, you.

[strangeswift]

I've said this before, but for those who constantly hate on S3, I just want to recap a few things that happened in S3.

El and Max become friends

Beginning of El's independence arc

"There's more to life than stupid boys"

Max standing up to Mike on El's behalf regarding who should decide her limits

Nancy’s sexism plotline and Nancy going off on her own and being a badass. Also Nancy and Karen's heart to heart.

For better or worse, Karen demonstrating she's not happy in her loveless marriage.

Joyce being determined and independent as always. Not allowing Hopper to tell her she's imagining things.

Erica becomes an important character.

Robin is introduced. A very smart and again independent LESBIAN character.

In conclusion, S3 is a lot more female centric than the previous seasons. So to the S3 haters I have one question.

Why do you hate women? 🤨

...kidding but. You're pretentious as fuck so. L

[greenfiend]

i think the parallels between mike and brenner are meant to highlight the contrast between their intentions. like mike is doing this out of love and care and determination whereas brenner is acting out of vengeance and a need to control. i just don’t think the purpose of those parallels is to say mike is just like brenner. if anything it’s saying brenner is acting like a child, not considering the safety of another child. mike is not a bad person for acting that way in s1. he’s 12 years old and he just wants his friend back. i think it’s really cool we can find all these parallels but what do you think is the intent of them? what do you think the duffers are trying to tell the audience, what are they trying to draw our attention towards?

Noooo Mike is definitely not just like Brenner, anon! Their intentions are very different as you said. But the way their dynamics with El are comparable… both using her in a way? Housing her… and reaping the benefits of her powers. This does not mean that Mike is a bad person though… it’s more complicated than that. Like you said, he is just a child and he’s trying to get his friend back. He actually cares for her too and feels incredibly guilty when she “died”. That guilt is still present too imo.

As for the writer’s intentions… I think it’s for multiple reasons!

One reason I think is for foreshadowing. I think this scene will parallel Mike and El’s breakup. It’s not gonna be pretty (at first anyway). I mean, we already know that Mike and El are not currently in good terms with each other… they aren’t talking. Mike was lying to El in his speech and he knows it… and El knows it too. She was there. She’s not stupid, and Mike broke a major promise: “friends don’t lie”.

Another reason is Mike’s guilt. This is likely going to be a way for Vecna to target him. I don’t think we talk about the potential of Vecna!El hitting at Mike’s insecurities. Do I think El would accuse Mike in the same severity as she accused Brenner? Probably not. She does care for him too. But… Vecna!El? Oooooh boy. That’ll be intense. (I’d love to see it).

But finally it’s about El’s independence too! “Not Hopper… not Mike… YOU!” This poor girl has been controlled by men her entire life. Brenner… Hopper… Mike. Even though Hopper and Mike have good intentions, she is still… in a way… controlled by them. Brenner’s control is obvious. Hopper is a strict parent who wouldn’t let her leave the house (for her own safety I know but still…), and Mike kind of pushed her into a relationship (though he also felt pushed too to be far.) She’s only had brief moments where she could explore herself and her own identity, like with Max. She needs to be freed! She needs time to explore what she wants in life without the influence of others.

[campbyler]

acswy ch04 update

hi! you might have seen this coming, but chapter 4 is getting pushed back to being posted tomorrow, august 5th, due to Life Life-ing and wanting to make sure that this update lives up to the same quality we've been bringing you for the past 3 chapters! we apologize for the inconvenience and any disappointment this may bring, but we promise, it will be worth the wait <3

to tide you over, please enjoy the following extended snippet from chapter 4, beneath the cut:

As the name implies, the Isolation Cabin sits, isolated, at the very top of the trail all of the other cabins are grouped off of, right at the edge of Camp Whiteman property. Most of this area is taken up by woods, towering pines of various shapes and sizes keeping a watchful eye over all of them – save for the small ropes course tucked in behind the girls’ cabins, the rest of the area remains untouched. Even the trail itself practically stops, spreading out into a clearing that they sometimes use for recreational activities, when pressed for space.

If you know where to look, though – and Mike has made knowing where to look his business – there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sign indicating the start the small path leading to the Isolation Cabin, identical to all of the other informational markers throughout the campground. A chain connects the two trees bracketing the entrance to the walkway, a small wooden notice hanging from the center that reads, in ominous, capital letters: DO NOT ENTER.

Mike has never particularly cared about it before now, only ever acknowledging that the area existed when one of his campers inevitably let curiosity get the best of them and started wandering places they shouldn’t be. He’s tapped a finger against that sign more times than he can count, watched the chain shake with the movement and the sign swing back and forth and his campers’ eyes go big as he wiggled his fingers at them and made spooky noises to get them to scurry away and steer clear. 

Now, he has to stop himself from rolling his eyes as Hopper pushes past where Will has paused, pouting, and moves to unclip the chain blocking the way. The links jingle together as he smiles at them, all too cheerily, and says, “Lead the way, boys.” 

Mike tries to catch Will’s eye, because if there’s one thing they can always agree on, it’s a shared, unspoken, is this guy serious? – but Will still won’t look at him, breezing past Hopper, once again, before he has a chance to even finish his sentence. Mike sends his is this guy serious? look to Hopper instead, who smiles brightly at him and shakes the chain pointedly, all clinks of metal and clattering of wood and an unspoken response of get going, Wheeler. 

Things are truly bleak, Mike thinks, if he’s getting along with Will’s dad better than he’s getting along with Will himself. Still, neither of them indulged his is this guy serious? look, so he does roll his eyes, thank you very much, and starts up the trail after Will, more acquainted than ever with the back of his stupid, dumb head. The sound of the chain clicking back into place follows soon after, but Mike doesn’t look back, feeling petulant and slighted. 

It’s really not a long walk to get to the cabin – two, maybe three minutes at most – but it feels like it is, by virtue of the path narrowing out, of woodchips giving way to earthy, forest floor. The foliage has started to thicken, shrouding them from the setting sun, and the silence feels like a fourth member of their party, awkward and palpable as they make their way up the trail. It’s not long before the trees start to part enough to offer a glimpse of their destination: the Isolation Cabin, in all of its isolated, lonely glory.

Mike hasn’t ever actually been up here, since he never had any reason to before now, and he’s almost disappointed, as they come up on the clearing in front of the cabin’s steps. Part of him expected something straight out of a horror movie – all dilapidated, breaking shingles, broken windows, a wrought iron fence, maybe a bat or two – and is disappointed to find it’s – a cabin, just like every other cabin they left behind on their way up here. It is a little worse for wear – the tone of the wood a little more desaturated, the bushes lining the porch overgrown, the dust clouding the windows visible, even from here – but it’s just a cabin, at the end of the day. A manifestation of punishment, where happy children and their dreams of a perfect summer go to die, but no more menacing than the Blue Cabin is right now, with how pissed Mitchell is at him. 

He’s always taken those overactive imagination comments on his grade school report cards as a compliment, but now it’s left him feeling a little disappointed. 

“Alright,” Hopper says from behind them, and both Mike and Will whip around to face him, duffels flying with the momentum and knocking into each other. This earns him a certified Will Byers Glare, which warrants a certified Mike Wheeler Dramatic, Theatrical Eye Roll, which causes an Act Now! Once In A Lifetime Opportunity! bucket drop from Hopper, and the sound of it hitting the forest floor and its contents clanging inside cause them both to snap their heads back to where Hopper is looking at them, somehow both amused and completely and utterly done with their shit at the same time. “Welcome to the Isolation Cabin.”

[threewaywithdelusion]

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts complaining about mom Steve and I have thoughts.

Like, I agree with a lot of it. Honestly, fictional parents confuse me sometimes (especially when people write them stricter than canon), even when they aren’t teenage boys. Like Hopper? Absolutely cares about his kids dating. El is going to be fighting to bring Mike over for the rest of her life. They’re going to be 20-something with Hopper still trying to stick them in separate rooms. Even once they get married, Hopper’s gonna grumble about them getting to share a bed. (He’ll be more careful not to overstep with Joyce’s boys, especially Jonathan since he’s older, but Will is definitely going to get a speech about being the man in the relationship and treating your girlfriend with respect (and then a later, much more confused speech about treating your boyfriend with respect)).

Joyce? That woman has been through way too much shit to give a shit. Jonathan wants Nancy to sleep over? Done. Will’s gay? Not a problem, here are some condoms. El’s sneaking Mike through the window so Hopper won’t see? Joyce walks by and casually says “the back door is unlocked, you might want to try that instead.”

Sorry, I got sidetracked. The point is Steve. If he was gonna be like anyone’s parents, it would be my parents (“you’re doing nerd stuff alone at home on a Friday night? Don’t you have friends? Go to a party!”). But barring that, he’s definitely the older brother, even if they call him mom.

He doesn’t care if they swear! El says “frick” or “gosh darn” in front of him one time because she heard it somewhere and he sits her down and teaches her proper swear words so she won’t get teased in school. He rents the kids r-rated movies and then lies to their parents faces when they have nightmares. He hears them say something anatomically impossible about sex and ends up giving them a sex talk. He chaperones their parties because he’s cooler than an adult but still old enough to make sure no one’s drinking themselves to death, and then ends up cleaning puke out of the shower. He kisses his co-chaperone at the party (you can pick your favorite Steve love interest) and all the freshmen squeal and stare and he has to go hide upstairs.

He’s in his pjs in bed and gets a frantic walkie-talkie call from Dustin that they have to go to the store RIGHT NOW because he wants to buy something and the sale ends at midnight. Steve says no a million times but gets bribed into it when Dustin promises to watch a basketball game with him in exchange for the ride. (My little sister did this to me. She wanted to go to TARGET to buy SHEETS. She was a weird child).

Steve’s the one they call when they need something but can’t go to their parents. He buys them booze and condoms and fake IDs, all of which come with lectures on being safe and a million threats on how he’ll kill them if they act stupid. He picks them up from parties when they’ve overdone it. He bails them out of jail (Dustin or El would absolutely get themselves arrested somehow) and doesn’t tell their parents but brings it up every chance he gets for the rest of forever.

Yeah, they call him mom. They’re trying to annoy him, because that’s what little siblings do. And Steve is definitely their big brother.

[andiwriteordie]

congrats on 1,500! ✨

For the prompt: how about something on Joyce's feelings on established (new or not) Byler? Just how she feels finally being able to see her boy happy (and with the boy who has been his side since forever)~

ahhh thank you so so much!!! ❤️

oh i love love love this prompt so much! here you go!

no matter how long it takes 

Will is late to breakfast, and absolutely no one is surprised.

“Do they think that we do not know?” El asks curiously, her mouth stuffed full of Eggo waffles. The food in her daughter’s mouth makes it a little difficult for Joyce to understand what she’s saying, but she gets the basic gist.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, kid,” Hop scolds, nudging their daughter’s shoulder. “Jesus, who raised you?”

El just makes a face back at him, and Joyce shakes her head, taking a sip of water. “I don’t think they know that we know,” she chuckles. “Jonathan didn’t, back when he and Nancy did the same thing.”

Her eldest kid groans, giving her an exasperated look. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Sweetheart, you came downstairs with lipstick on your cheek,” Joyce says with a smirk. “And you still had poor Nancy climb out the window. How stupid do you think I am?”

Jonathan just rolls his eyes, and he picks up a slice of bacon, munching on it absently. “I tried telling Will that you somehow know everything,” he remarks. “So, maybe he knows that we know.”

Hopper hums, taking a sip of his coffee and looking back up. “Nope,” he says, and he shakes his head. “I heard Mike scrambling to hide when I woke the two of them up.”

“Idiots,” El deadpans. “And what happened to the three inch rule?”

“Don’t worry,” Hop reassures. “I’m just biding my time. It’s fun to see Wheeler sweat a little bit.”

“You’re evil,” Joyce deadpans, shoving her husband’s shoulder lightly. Hopper just gives her a crooked little grin, and Joyce shakes her head, glancing back towards the staircase. 

It’s funny how much their lives have changed in the past several months. Honestly, Joyce’s life has been a rollercoaster of change since that fateful day back in 1983 when her boy was kidnapped, and she’s only just now starting to feel a semblance of normalcy return to their lives. It’s… nice. It’s really, really nice.

Because all of them are happy. She and Jim have been married for a couple months now. The wedding was a small affair—just a nice courthouse wedding in Indy with a reception for their little group of Upside Down survivors. Jonathan and Nancy are still together and planning to go off to the East Coast this coming fall for college. El is happy too—single for now, though Joyce thinks there might be something between her daughter, Max, and Lucas. She still needs to find out more about that, but either way, as long as El is happy, Joyce is too.

And then there’s Will.

Her boy is happier than he has been in years, and God, it brings such a warmth and a joy to Joyce’s heart. She still remembers sitting with Will back at their old home—the one haunted by harsh words and beatings from Lonnie, the one scarred by monsters tearing through their walls and separated the two of them, the one torn apart by horrors that threatened to consume her youngest son. She remembers a warm summer day in particular when Jonathan had stumbled downstairs, his tie crooked and his face marked with Nancy Wheeler’s lipstick.

She remembers Will’s words that day.

“I’m not… gonna fall in love.”

Joyce hadn’t said it back then, but she’d known. She knows her kids, and even though Will hadn’t been ready to tell her yet, Joyce had already known the truth.

“I’m not… gonna fall in love,” her sweet, quiet son had said, when he already was.

A lot has changed since that day, and thank God for that. It’d take Joyce forever to explain how much things have changed, but she thinks one of her most favorite changes is the shift in Will’s demeanor from a sad, resigned belief that love wasn’t for people like him to a happy, silly, and lovesick attitude that follows him around all the time.

Will is happy, and he’s in love with his best friend, Mike Wheeler.

And to Joyce’s delight, Mike Wheeler is just as happy, and he’s just as in love with Joyce’s boy.

So, when Will stumbles downstairs, wearing a hoodie that Joyce knows doesn’t belong to him, with his hair ruffled like someone’s been running their hands through it, and his cheeks flushed bright red, she can’t help but smile. Her family holds back their snickers as Will takes his seat at the table, and Joyce just smiles at her son.

“Morning, baby,” she greets, and Will looks up, meeting her eyes. 

“Morning, Mom,” he says, a small smile on his face. “Sorry, I… uh… I overslept.”

“Mhm.” Joyce nods, and she gestures to the plate of food sitting in the middle of the table. “Well, there’s still plenty left to eat if you’re hungry.”

She pauses, glancing at the front door and considering her options for a moment. 

And well… it’s not fair to only tease Jonathan, right?

“There’s enough for Mike too,” Joyce adds with a grin, and she fights her laughter as Will nearly chokes on the piece of toast he’d started to eat. “You know… if you wanna run outside and catch him before he leaves.”

Her boy’s face gets bright red, and beside him, both El and Jonathan snicker, nudging him teasingly. “Mom,” Will starts to say, and Joyce just raises an eyebrow. 

Will deflates, and he covers his face with his hands, clearly embarrassed. “You’re sure it’s okay?”

“Oh, just go get your boyfriend, kid,” Hopper chuckles, and he gives Will an amused look. “We all know he’s probably climbing out the window and running away as we speak.”

As Will groans again, Joyce just laughs, smiling at her son. “Hop’s right,” she agrees. “Come on. Mike’s part of the family. Now go catch him before he leaves!”

Will lowers his hands, and for a brief moment, he looks up at Joyce, meeting her eyes. There’s something in his eyes that warms Joyce’s heart—a tentative yet hopeful and relieved look. 

For a moment, Joyce remembers the fourteen year-old who once sat next to her at the kitchen table, pouring syrup all over his eggs. She remembers how her boy had barely been able to meet her eyes, how quiet and dejected he’d sounded that day, and how badly she wanted to fix this for him.

A lot has changed since then, and Joyce thinks Will knows it too.

An understanding passes between the two of them, and Will just smiles. “Thanks, Mom,” he whispers.

Then, as quickly as he can, Will hurries to the door, running outside in hopes of catching up to his boyfriend, and Joyce just smiles.

A lot has changed over the past several years.

And for the first time in a long, long time, Joyce and her family are happy.

[atmilliways]

“Do you know the rules?” for the question prompts!

(from this list)

Stepping outside my comfort zone to post part one of something that I haven't finished yet, because I could not for the life of me decide between doing this as a pre-ship thing, a "this is the oh moment" thing, or a "they've already been in each other's pants" thing. So I'm writing all of them.

Anyway, here it is. 1276 words so far.

~

Twister, Part 1

“Do you know the rules?”

Steve stares at Dustin and knows, knows he’s taking too long to answer if Dustin is being serious. But . . . is he being serious? Really?

Even though Steve wants to give the kid more credit than that, the way Dustin is staring at him over the top of the spinner board suggests that he is one hundred percent asking him this question.

“Dude,” Steve sighs. “It’s fucking Twister.”

Dustin raises his eyebrows in classic Dustin fashion. (Eddie, watching the standoff from the side, pretends to scratch his nose for cover while discretely mouthing to Steve, ‘Tone.’ Steve tamps down the impulse to smirk in agreement.) “Soooo, you’re saying—”

“Yes, Henderson, I know the damn rules. Hands and feet go on specific colors, first person to wipe out loses. Toddlers can play this, man.”

No one else seems to be paying much attention, still preoccupied with barbeque spread over on the patio—slow eaters, all of ‘em. The burgers and chips and soda will run out sooner or later though. Steve would prefer this heckling to be over by the time any other players straggle over to their patch of shaded lawn.

“Do you need a refresher on left and right?” Dustin asks, and Steve tips his head back to stare at the sky outside of Joyce and Hopper’s new house in despair. “Because the other day—”

Eddie snorts, and now he’s scratching the other side of his nose, no doubt mouthing encouragement to Dustin. Traitor.

“The other day,” Steve snaps, “I missed that turn because you waited until the last possible second to tell me you wanted to go to Mike’s instead of Will’s! And I took the next turn instead, it barely added half a minute to the meter.”

“Meter?” Dustin frowns, perplexed. (Score one for team Harrington! . . . Against a lot, but Steve will take it.) “What meter?”

“Like in a taxi, egghead. I’m going to send away for one and start charging you a fare every time I give you a ride if you don’t cool it with this shit.”

Eddie lets out an honest to god guffaw, and now it’s Dustin‘s turn to look betrayed. Pretty dramatic of him, in Steve’s opinion, but they get through the rest of the game’s minimal setup without much more sniping. When they’re done Dustin yells at his friends to come play, then lets out a frustrated huff and heads towards the patio when no one gets up.

Steve and Eddie both survey the mat and its colorful dots with a sense of accomplishment, minuscule as it is. Well—minuscule for Steve. His bites have pretty much healed up. Eddie still has a ways to go, deeper holes in his skin and muscles to knit slowly up into knots of scar tissue. Sometimes, if he moves too quick or for too long, Steve catches him wincing when he thinks no one’s looking.

“You playing?” Steve asks, somewhere between curious and concerned.

There’s a flash in Eddie’s eyes as he glances over that Steve doesn’t know how to read. If he had to guess, he’d say that the guy doesn’t want to be babied, which. Understandable. But the look makes Steve’s skin prickle oddly, like. . . . Well, he doesn’t know, but like something. (There’s a reason the Henderson vs Harrington board, which thankfully doesn’t literally exist, is showing about a million to one. Steve tries not to think about it much.)

“What, and miss a game that even toddlers can play?” Eddie smirks, putting his hands on his hips in a perfect mirror of Steve—who hadn’t even realized he’s doing that, shit. “Not on your life, Big Boy.”

The words are still echoing in Steve’s head several rounds of the stupid game later when he puts his right foot on blue. Eddie, with his right hand and foot on yellow and blue respectively, left foot camped out over on red, is hovering smack dab over his lap.

One slip and, Jesus fucking Christ, Munson will be able to weigh in on that big boy thing for sure, and Steve just doesn’t feel ready for that. Not while Mike Wheeler is making the noodliest human bridge right next to them, both feet on green and both hands on red. They shouldn’t have put Will in charge of the spinner for this round, because it's the rest of them that keep getting all the weird pretzel positions.

“Robin, right foot on blue,” Will calls.

With a groan, Robin moves her foot to the nearest blue circle—right under Steve. “If your ass touches my foot, Harrington, I swear to god,” she mutters under her breath.

“If my ass touches your foot, your gnarly toenails are going to jab me through my shorts,” Steve grumbles back. Because what the hell, it’s not like he talked her into this! She’d agreed to play all on her own.

“Now now, children,” Eddie says. (Is it Steve, or does his voice sound strained?) “Robin’s toenails are lovely, and so is Stevie’s ass. Let’s not any of us be Debbie Downers here.”

“Eddie,” Will calls next, and the spinner whirs. “Right hand green.”

There’s a pause, then Eddie lets out a heavy breath and starts inching that hand back. His fingers crab-walk over the plastic mat. “Some—Someone tell me when I hit it. Can’t see back there.”

And Steve. . . . Steve can see it, alright. In slow motion, almost as though he knows exactly what’s coming a second before it actually happens. Eddie is almost there when he starts trying to switch from crouched forward over his feet like a gargoyle to leaning back on that hand into a full backward arch. Except he doesn’t quite make it, buckling halfway to the equilibrium point, and goes down like a brick.

He lands exactly the way Steve had worried about, forcing an undignified sound from Steve’s lungs as he drops onto Robin’s foot, who yelps and falls over.

“Did I win?” Mike asks, peering upside down at them from amidst his dangling hair. “Hey, I won!”

“My elbow,” Robin groans from half on the mat, half eating grass.

“Off,” Steve wheezes, shoving at Eddie and trying to uncross his eyes.

Eddie rolls away with a groan of his own, arms wrapped around his middle. “Sorry dude. Slipped. Ow.”

Steve—who did get jabbed in the ass by his best friend’s big toenail, thankyouverymuch, in addition to now very much wanting an ice pack to shove down the front of his shorts—doesn’t bother to call bullshit. He knows what happened, Eddie knows what happened. . . . Eddie probably knows that he knows, and that’s enough.

So he ignores Mike’s victory dance (if you could call it that, the kid has no grace whatsoever). He stays on his back, staring up at the gently shifting leaves of the tree hanging over them, and nudges Eddie gingerly in the back with his knee. “Y’okay?”

Will is already helping Robin to her feet. In the background, Steve can hear Joyce directing someone to bring ice. And Argyle saying something about purple palm trees.

“Yeah,” Eddie pants. He cranes his head around to look at Steve with an apologetic smile that still, somehow, makes Steve’s skin prickle. Weird. “Yeah, I’m good,” he says, sounding more recovered. “You?”

Steve lets his eyes fall closed. “I may not be able to have children now, but I’ll live.”

He smirks when he hears Eddie’s snort of surprised laughter. When Eddie, sheepish, tries to apologize again, Steve is already prepared. "No, you’re right, that was like something out of the fucking Three Stooges.”

It’s fine. He needs ice, some aspirin, and no more Twister ever, and he'll be fine.

-

Part 2

[bylertruther]

y'all are gonna hate me for this one but i think it's worth nothing that eleven levels up and develops more as a person whenever she breaks up with mike, and how the vines were tightening around her as he was giving his speech and roping them back into a romantic relationship/context (not his fault btw no mike slander here + it's complicated), but when she's reviving max the source that she pulls her power, focus, and resolve from are memories where max is reminding her to be her OWN person, that she doesn't need anyone else, and she is more than enough as she is with "not hopper. not mike. you." and "there's more to life than stupid boys."

she performs a miracle by believing in herself and the one and first ever person that ever taught her to do so. the girl who viewed her not as a superhero that happens to be a girl, but a girl that happens to be a superhero, too. the girl who encouraged her to grow and change and put herself first. that's who and what give her the courage to fight on.

like literally how much more clear do they need to make it that her romantic relationship with him is holding her back? just look at seasons three and four as well as how the flashback they used for mike's speech was of her in the woods which is undoubtedly a nod to the fact that he doesn't see her as she is now and is stuck in the past while she desperately wants to move forward.

i just. !!!!! i'm sorry but Be Serious Please we can admit this and be real about it. it's okay. it does not make either of them a terrible awful character okay We Can Say It! It's Okay! and i focused on el's perspective here, but the show makes it exceedingly clear that they are not compatible in this way at all and that this relationship is something that makes them both feel worse about themselves in serious ways. they don't have a strong foundation between them to fall back on and they won't be able to move forward and fix things between them until they forge one. everything is shit because at the end of the day they don't feel secure or comfortable with each other in a way that actually matters.

[luvsersi]

prologue

heyy! I know I talked about releasing this a long while ago and now it’s finally here ahaha. I’m not sure if I’m gonna continue this, so lmk if you think I should!

steve harrington x fem!hopper!adopted!reader

characters: steve harrington, jim hopper, eleven hopper and (y/n) hopper.

warnings: none in this

word count: 897

In Jim Hoppers eyes, his daughters could do no wrong. He couldn’t bear getting mad at them.

Jim Hopper was also a very protective father. When he had lost Sarah, and his wife had left him, he promised himself that he’d protect his other daughters with his life. He also spoiled them rotten.

You’d think they would be stuck up girls, who threw tantrums whenever they didn’t get what they wanted. However, they were quite the opposite. They were kind, helpful, smart and very beautiful. Which unfortunately for Jim, attracted lots of boys.

His youngest daughter Eleven, was currently having a “thing” with Mike Wheeler. What a little prick. They were clinging to each other all of the time and it made him want to barf.

Hopper knew, that whenever that damn door was closed, they were making out. Which is also exactly why he made that stupid three inch rule.

His oldest daughters current relationship state was a bit different. She had boys chasing after her all of the time, but she’d never been in a relationship that lasted more than two months.

Little did she know that every time she had brought a boyfriend home to eat dinner, Hopper threatened them not to come near (y/n) again since he of course, didn’t think they were good enough for her.

He had considered doing the same with El when she first started dating Mike, but he had figured that since they were young, their relationship wouldn’t last more than a few months.

He was wrong.

Hopper deeply regretted that he hadn’t scared Mike away earlier, and unfortunately Mike would not budge if he tried as late as now.

He was also horrified that (y/n) would find out about his little shenanigans. He just couldn’t bear seeing some boy take her away from him. She was still his little girl. And she definitely wouldn’t be, if she found out he was chasing her boyfriends away.

(y/n) had never really suspected anything even though she was a bright girl. She’d just figured that they ran off because they weren’t ready for a relationship, or that they weren’t actually into her.

However she did think it was kind of weird that they just completely ignored her afterwards. Not even a call to let her know that they weren’t interested.

Let’s just say those were some of the perks of being the chiefs daughter.

💌 taglist

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@dia3577 @melodicheauxxo @task-maker @xtom-darling-x17 @loveless03 @affalls14universe @awkwardbisexuall @missamericasposts @dottirose @midnightflare

[freckledjoes]

how do u think st5 will end? i think eleven will sacrifice herself for will, before he dies, probably mike dies?? her powers would be strong enough to sacrifice and save hawkins. nancy stays single and travels away for a job/collage or something, steve gets himself a girlfriend, finally. please. he wants to be the stay at home mom with his kids. nancy clearly didn’t look like she wants that life cause she doesn’t, i really don’t understand why he’s still stuck on her even after so many years after their breakup, it’s silly. max wakes up. jopper will get married!! pls i need that to come true.. dustin survives vecna’s curse, idk will nancy get possessed too? and who’s the new lady that’s been introduced as a new character?? steve’s mom maybe?? or the mayoress of hawkins?? i want all the town to help the main group but still i don’t want it to be the second avengers endgame pls… omg could vecna possibly use his victims against our main characters? alsoo, i don’t want the ending scene where nancy and steve are in the car saying we’ve seen stranger things, it’s too corny for my liking pls no… and i like the time travel thing idea.. (going back in time so vecna would turned on his dark side.. this would be really easy way out, tho i hope it won’t happen lol?).. i’d really want eddie returning as a vampire, not really like coming from the dead, that would ruin everything probably (even tho i’d wanted it in heartbeat) buuut yk what i mean right? something like billy came back in max’s visions so eddie would come like this to dustin’s visions. the worst possible ending, is blood bath, there’s been a lot demand for a body count. i feel like modern audiences are more into stuff like game of thrones, walking dead.. stuff like that… killing characters casually. i’m not saying i don’t want a character or three dying tho! i’d be happy if they’d killed off two or three of the main characters finally, they always kill a new character that the audience like and then the audience is always mad. why is that?? we’ve already lost bob and eddie. should it be that way?? i’m really scared steve is going to die bc he was supposed to die in s1, if he does die i’m gonna riot against their stupid writing (that brings me getting stancy back together again). pls get him a girlfriend, a happy life he dreams about and don’t let him hang up on nancy anymore, he deserves better.. he’s changed.. also it needs to stay to the 80s show vibes and has the happy ending as well.. what do you think?? what are your thoughts? :D

I had to write down all your thoughts as bullet points so I could acknowledge them in my reply lmao. Loving this elaborate thought blurb! Alright, so I do think there will be some sacrificing going on, I'd see either Will or El doing it for Mike. Part of me thinks one of those two might die, but on the other hand I don't see them doing it. Why? 'Cause it would fuck up Jopper. And they spent a lot of time on Jopper. Hopper can't lose another kid and we've seen how Joyce handled Will's missing. Not saying this is logical, but it's what I think anyway. Maybe an almost death. Like one of them going in knowing they will probably die and saying goodbye- maybe, and then surviving. I feel like Max might get a more important role than we anticipate. Something about her showing up for El at the moment she needs her the most. Like in the mind thing. I'm worried for Lucas, that poor boy is suffering. :( Assuming Jopper survives - which I do think they will - I wouldn't be surprised if we get a Jopper wedding as a way of a corny happy ending. I don't expect anything mindblowing if I'm very honest, the fan theories have been so good that I fear disappointment for most of us lol. And well, considering many things - I also don't really care if it flops. I'll just enjoy seeing some of my sweet characters one last time before their actors go off into bigger and better projects. <3 Anyway, back to it. If they bring back Eddie, it's definitely gonna give us more pain than gain. He'll hurt Dustin, bet. As wonderful as the Kas ideas are, I don't see it happening considering what I mentioned in the previous paragraph. It's too good. I either see him show up in a Vecna vision or some kind of undead army thing. Both will suck. Imagine Dustin, who is literally embodying Eddie right now, is face to face with his dead friend. Yikers. Idk about the new lady, I'm honestly bored out of my ass that they added a new character for the last season. "Here's a new character to care about - or not - but they're gonna die once you get attached!" - so yeah, not many thoughts there. It'll be too brief. I don't see the town doing anything other than vandalize Eddie's grave and somehow find a way to blame the goddamn earthquake on him honestly. Steve and Nancy... fingers crossed it doesn't happen. For me anyway! For those that ship them, good luck getting it your way~ But yeah, I don't see the appeal, but I do feel how they're pushing it onto us hard. It wouldn't surprise me if Steve dies trying to protect Nancy and that we'll get a stupid nugget speech similar to Eddie's sheep speech. I really need that all to not happen. But don't wanna get too deep into ships, I just don't think that outcome would be sensible for either character. That said, Steve getting a partner (an unknown character) would be nice, but if I'm really honest I'd much rather they all leave it open to our interpretation. If we're getting a cliche ending of some future thing, just throw me the Jopper wedding or Steve and Robin (platonically) moving out of Hawkins together, away from that hellhole. This has become a mix of what I think might happen vs what I want to happen I guess, but these are my thoughts! And anyway, no matter what happens, we will always have a 1000+ fixit fics :)

[gayofthefae]

It's the fact that after Mike tells El he loves her, she thinks about "Not Hopper. Not Mike. You" and "there's more to life than stupid boys"

[emblazons]

I've always thought that the reason why Mlvns hold onto the monologue so much on a surface level is because once you actually analyze it (and the aftermath of it) it becomes clear that they are not compatible and will break up.

They also tend to ignore ''Not Hopper, not Mike. You'' and ''There is more to life than stupid boys.'' lines that El reminded herself while restarting Max's heart. And the show consistently shows us that El's arc is more tied to Max at this point, and seeking and receiving a sense of herself and finding herself / independence, which was prominently highlighted in S3, especially with her relationship with Max / versus her breakup with Mike. Which is why most Mlvns disliked Max in the first place. Well new flash..... the narrative already told us where her arc is leading towards.

Real af, honestly. Tbh, even if you told me with 100% surety there wasn’t a chance in hell or the next place that Byler was happening in canon, I would still have an absurd amount of confidence that it still meant the end of mlvn and the big three just ending up single lol ☠️

There’s just…there’s so much mess going on there that it lowkey wouldn’t even matter if Will wasn’t ever in love with Mike—even if he was (in an alternate universe) straight and in love with a girl in Lenora, it would still mean Will spent the entire season listening to Mike want their friendship again more than to reconcile with his gf…and we haven’t even talked about El’s own feelings on the matter. We’ve got familial + villain parallels and just plain dislike going on in El’s head for Mike, on top of him feeling wildly insecure in the relationship she’s trying to play at with him…and people think they’re still on the path toward closeness/romance? At fourteen, no less?

Honestly, I think the shock potential of Mike having mutual feelings for Will distracts people and gives them space to insult romantic!byler (they’re still besties regardless) because otherwise they’d have to face the fact that Mike and El are at a point where their end is as inevitable as Steve and Nancy’s was in S2 (if not even more)—aka they would have broken up over the Barb / playing pretend thing even WITHOUT Jonathan being there, just like Mike and El are sitting at the end of their romance even without Will.

Even if the ending was “El and Mike break up choose to be the youth the really are and lean into their same-sex friendships with people who share their interests instead of romance at 15,” I would have accepted it—it’s just not what’s being written (at least on Mike’s side). The fact that people miss it and bitch about it because they’re too busy being homophobic is kind of tragically hilarious though, I can’t lie. 😭

Thanks for the ask!

[ectonurites]

mike and el for the ship thingy

hehe i assumed at least one person was gonna ask about this one.

so. i have so many thoughts about them. they FASCINATE me.

i know a lot of people who like byler subscribe to the 'this never should have happened and is an evil scourge on the world of stranger things' POV which is super not how I feel about it. like, don't get me wrong, i absolutely do not want them to be together by the end of the show, [to quote something i said to @faeriesfloss in a fb chat a few weeks ago: "miss Eleven Hopper is ending that show single or so help me god. like she did NOT re-hear max’s voice saying ‘theres more to life than stupid boys’ while tearfully reviving her for her to end up WITH the stupid boy"] BUT

i think their relationship playing out as this thing that wasn't based on actual romantic attraction but rather a messy combination of outside factors (societal pressures/'Mike's initial kindness towards El being misconstrued as romantic by multiple people bc heteronormativity', guilt over the circumstances around El's 'death' at the end of s1/the general fear of losing people you care about, El's longing for a normal life because of the situation she was forced to grow up in and projecting her limited movies-and-tv-based ideal of a relationship onto Mike, etc) is a really compelling and interesting storyline. But just... it's something destined to crash and burn as the characters get to the points in their respective arcs where they can recognize that they're incompatible romantically, and can recognize what was really going on.

And like, Mike in s4 trying to claim it was a 'love at first sight' situation during his monologue to her is a big part of what cements to me that it truly never was romantic from his POV, because we watched season one! We literally saw how things went when they found her in the rain, and that wasn't it (and the writers have said they don't believe in love at first sight, and the show outright parodies the concept with Argyle/Eden). If he had actually felt romantic attraction to her at some point, he would have been able to say the actual moment he started feeling it, instead of pulling something we know isn't true out of nowhere.

In general, it's sort of similar to what I was talking about irt Stancy—where I think that the relationship being this option/path that the characters are presented with that they get to realize doesn't actually fit for them and what they truly want/need out of life (so they get to choose something different for themselves) is like... an interesting part of creating conflict for them, for telling a meaningful story about self-discovery/breaking away from just what's expected.

So like, I absolutely don't ship it, I don't want them to end up together, but I DO consider it as a plot element that intrigues me.

[Send me a ship and I'll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it]