#MIKE WHEELER I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BOY

[snacksizedgates]

Proof Mike Picked Up on What Will Was Saying in the Van Scene from the Very Beginning.

This is a pretty long post but there are some really interesting things I noticed while finally properly analyzing this scene. I breakdown all of Mike's facial reactions and even other visual clues in this scene that points toward Byler. Hope you enjoy!

Here's screencaps of when Will asks Mike if he can show him "something." He keeps glancing up and down between Will's face and the poster, indicating nervousness/curiosity. He does this because he recognizes the poster from the airport. He also knows Will was painting something and El heavily implied it's for someone he likes.

They didn't just throw these two scenes/lines in the season for no reason. They put them in there to set a precedent that Mike knows about the existence of this painting, not just through El but also by physically seeing it. This establishes that he knows what this painting is and what type of person it's for (a crush).

His reaction to the painting. He's happy as indicated by the open mouth smile instead of the more flirtatious close mouth smile. He's genuinely happy that Will made him this, because at this point that is what he's assuming. He believes what El said (the truth), so at this point he's thinking "he painted this whole painting for ME."

Then this scene. He definitely knows Will's lying. As soon as he starts saying it was El's idea, Mike get's confused and looks back down at the painting. Kind of like "there's no way he's telling the truth cus the math just dont add up." When he looks back up, his lips are pursed, in a disapproving way. He knows Will is lying to him. And then he looks back down to reexamine the painting again. He's perplexed.

Not only that but this part is seen through the perspective of Jonathan, who definitely knows Will is lying. So when they flip to Jonathan's POV we can assume whatever Will's saying, is understood by both Jonathan and Mike, because they're the only one's on screen beside Will and they're both intently listening to him. (by on screen I mean Jonathan was just previously on screen intently listening to Will, creating a comparison between Jonathan and Mike, that essentially they are the same in this scene. Quiet but intently listening and having at least an inkling of the truth) Plus we already established other reasons why Mike knows. So this shot just emphasizes that point even more.

So now, since Mike understands the El commission thing is a lie, and that this painting was made for him by Will, he can reasonably presume that other things Will is about to say are lies or taken out of context. He can assume when Will refers to El, he's referring to himself, because Will has already set that precedent and Mike picked up on it.

Now, since he knows Will is lying, he gets nervous. Will starts talking about heart and pointing to it drawn on Mike's armor and that's when Mike get's excited. At first he's gazing down at it with a happy and inviting facial expression . Then it cuts to Mike looking at Will explaining how "we'd" all fall apart without (mikes) heart and Mike literally takes a huge deep breath. You can kind of see it in the screencaps, but I would suggest just rewatching the scene after finishing the thread with everything I point out in your mind.

Anyway, his chest rises and his throat gulps. Nervous. His demeanor slowly changes from lighthearted and happy (when Will gives him the painting and he can easily assume its for him from Will and nothing else) to a more hardened, serious expression (when he realizes Will doesn't feel comfortable enough to say it's from him, he's lying to him and he realizes the implications that creates.)

He's overwhelmed with feeling in this whole entire scene, just like Will is. Except Will has better access to his emotions than Mike who represses his. So that's why he's so quiet/stunned and doesn't say anything. Not because he's clueless but because he has TOO MANY clues. Lol.

This is right after Will finishes talking about heart and for the first time since Mike understood he was lying under the guise of El, he references El. He says "Even El (needs your heart) Especially El." Mikes reaction is pictured above. His face changes from overwhelmed/nervous to a serious expression. Almost confusion but more like an epiphany, like he's thinking. When Will mentions El again, he immediately looks back down at the painting. Like he can't understand how what is being explained to him is true. Look at the eyes. In the previous pictures, his eyes are just ever so slightly squinted which gives off an inviting, warm expression. In the pictures above, his mouth closes and his eyes "harden." He's looking back down at the painting realizing that Will has feelings for him. He put a damn heart on Mike and only Mike. That's why he's looking at it seriously and intently.

Because either he realizes that wow, my internal feelings were being reciprocated this whole time and I didn't notice or he's just beginning to understand that Will is gay and likes him.

However, Will is basically telling Mike I Need You, something Mike always wants to hear, and it's throwing him over board with feelings, so I honestly think this scene is more about reciprocation. Mike's too mixed emotions for me to believe he's not having gay panic inside.

Now either he didn't think Will had feelings for him or he didn't think they were that strong. But this scene is essentially a wake up call for Mike.

Now in the top two screenshots, it's from Jonathan's perspective again. And once again, he's referencing El by using the pronoun "she" to describe his experience not hers. That's why it goes to Jonathans POV because Jonathan knows his secret (so he knows his lie) and it only goes there when he starts referencing El. Happening more than once indicates meaning to the shot, and that meaning is Mike knowing Will is calling himself different not El. And then he switches to "you" pronouns to make it more vague, but at least it's not lying. And it switches right back to regular audience POV - so he's being truthful now and Mike can discern between the two. Not to mention, Will has his faced turned away, indicating whatever he's saying now is emotional for him, and then he turns back around with slight tears in his eyes. Most people would pick this up in a best friend so it's safe to assume Mike does too. Also Mike's completely focused on what Will is saying, so it's very important to him. He's not even slightly smiling, he has a completely serious look on his face meaning he's really taking in what Will is saying and he knows the implications of everything Will is saying is serious.

This shot pretty much sums it up like lets be real. Will basically apologizes for being a douche/being distant (even though he never was, Mike was) and Mike looks guilty because he feels bad for doing this exact thing to Will in the beginning of the season. He realizes how similar they actually feel. And he starts smiling/heart eyes in the last frame because 1) Will's apologizing to him when he doesn't even need to making him so selfless 2) his feelings are being reciprocated. Notice "seemed like she was pushing you away" Mike now knows Will wasn't intentionally pushing him away and that also makes him smile. He breaks his serious expression once Will admits he wasn't intentionally creating distance between them, meaning this is something Mike cared or thought about. This is the first time he breaks his serious expression since Will started explaining the heart metaphor, which initially caused Mike to be nervous.

Not to mention if he didn't know before this, then he definitely knows at this point. Many people have pointed it out but let me reiterate it: El never acted distant towards Mike, until the end of season 4. In fact she was heavily concerned with Mike most of the time, wanting HIM to be less distant, so it's quite the opposite. This means he 100% knows Will is talking about himself.

They don't pull away to Jonathan's POV even though he's talking as if he were El here because 1) they want the close up reaction from Mike, meaning its IMPORTANT and 2) Mike isn't thinking about why Will is using El as a cover anymore. Jonathan may be but we've already seen his POV for the last time, so at this point that fact that he was lying about certain things has been understood and moved past by Mike, as conveyed by the different shots. He doesn't care at this point because he's too engrossed in what Will is saying. He isn't thinking in Jonathan's POV anymore that "Will is lying" because he realizes Will's being more honest than he ever has in the entire series. Jonathan stills cares about Will lying, and we know that from the last shot in this scene being Jonathan panning out of the frame looking slightly upset. But they didn't go back to the mirror POV to indicate Jonathan was worried about Will - meaning there was a specific reason they were using the POV shot (to indicate Mike knows Will was lying just like Jonathan).

This is right after Will saying the bandaid line. Mike gulps and breathes heavy. Since Will is in this scene and we've established Mike knows Will is talking about himself and that he reciprocates the same feeling, he gulps because he thinks about losing Will too. He remembers losing Will. He doesn't want to lose will.

Then we have the "El needs you Mike. She'll always need you" with Will's tears about to pour down his face. And I know I sound like a broke record, but Mike knows he means "I need you mike. I'll always need you."

Then the "Yeah" "Yeah" which mirrors saying I love you to someone because you typically repeat it back to each other. You can't compare it to hello, or goodbye, or good day because it doesn't fit in the context. So what other comparison is there? Not only that but they also say it in different tones. Mike says it in a slightly questioning way, like he's needs reassurance that its true. He still doesn't believe it fully. But also with a smile indicating he's happy with this. That Will (the protected) is never going anywhere because he'll always need Mike (the protector). He's smiling because of this. Once Will reassures him, Mike's face soften with adoration for him. There's no other way to describe his face than adoration. He also glances back and forth at Will which I think indicates nervousness, uncertainty, awkwardness. Regardless it indicates Mike is feeling a lot in that moment.

Will, on the other hand, says it with finality, like end of discussion it will never change. It mirrors their relationship dynamic because Will knows he's never going to not need Mike in his life but Mike doesn't know that... Until now. We assume he does know things like this because to us, the audience, it's obvious but Mike doesn't see Will the way we see Will. It also goes back to the connection between Will and El (read my theory about that here if you're interested). They mirror each other. And just a few minutes ago he was talking about how scared he is of El not needing him. Their scenes are so byler coded this season if you really look into them. Lowkey has me thinking this is the most byler-y season lol.

And really quickly back to Heart Eyes Mike Wheeler - he's smiling yet he doesn't say anything else. He returns his focus to the painting and stays quiet. This is very atypical of Mike who also usually has something to say.

This is because he just realized his feelings are reciprocated and he's overwhelmed with Will liking him back. He's literally holding his feelings in this whole scene between the deep breathes and serious faces and slightly opened mouths.

And lastly we have the crying scene. People say Mike just ignores Will and goes back to looking for El but that's not at all what happened here. Look deeper.

Before I analyze the actual actions in the scene I first want to point out how this shot references Will's Boys Don't Cry poster, because it's very important and is more queer coding for Mike. Basically, boys crying = accepting of their feelings, boys dont cry = repressing their feelings, toxic masculinity etc. So while Will is accepting his feelings and having less shame about them, Mike is repressing his. Or at least has been. That's why he's rigid. He's not moving and only just glances at Will. He's feeling a lot too. Furthermore, the poster is yellow and blue, with blue in the bg and yellow in the fg, along with a pyramid in the sunny desert with three trees. Mike in the bg with a blue shirt, Will in the fg with a yellow shirt. The pyramid represents the Love Triangle between Byler and Mileven and the three trees represent each one of them. They're also in a sunny desert and majority of that time they're by themselves until they find El. After that, they're in a nightime desert along with El and we don't get to see them in the sunny desert again I believe (don't quote me on this). Mike went from being in the light with Mike to being in the dark with the both of them. The visual references are actually insane once you start looking into them. A lot of thought was put behind this.

But let's get to analyzing the actual scene.

Firstly, he's staring down at the painting.. They never moved it off his lap so he's literally in silence, kind of stunned just looking at Will's painting. All he said was "You painted this? It's amazing" and "Yeah?" the entire conversation. He barely had a response. To me that indicates nervousness/being overwhelmed. To Will this probably indicates his feelings aren't reciprocated :(

Secondly, he glanced at Will for a second. This doesn't show he's "ignoring" him; if anything the opposite. He most likely heard him sobbing quietly and was checking on him because he cares about him. He can't resist taking a glance at Will. But he knows how Will is, and the fact that they're not alone, so he just lets Will cry quietly.

Thirdly, he's most likely dealing with his own feelings in this scene internally. Mike and Will are queercoded very differently (as I have mentioned in my other posts). Mike represses, ignores his feelings, hence why he is shown just staring at the painting in silence not moving. Will accepts his feelings but letting them out both relieves and upsets him. It's overwhelming but he had to finally say it.

So, imo, Mike's glance at Will wasn't judging or ignoring, he looked over and saw exactly how he wanted to react but couldn't because he's still scared of the repercussions of being gay/dating Will. As seen by the his heavy breathes and mixed facial expressions.

Lastly, why would any of Mike's behavior be appropriate if he thought Will was talking about El by the end? It wouldn't. How would any of Will's behavior be appropriate if he were really talking about El? It wouldn't. There's no need to cry over someone else's relationship and Mike knows this. He saw Will with tears in his eyes and then breakdown. Those have PERSONAL implications. If he thought Will were really talking about El, it would've been a discussion not a Will speech. He would've chimed in like "yeah but I don't know if I actually believe she needs me" "im nothing in comparison to her" or SOMETHING because this is typically what people do when they're being praised, especially someone with low self esteem.

So the fact that Mike lets Will ramble about "El's" feelings completely uninterrupted, with comments that are praising him, is sus on it's own.

The fact of the matter is he recognizes that Will is way too emotionally attached to what he's saying.

And that's the end. This is soooooo much longer than I thought it was going to be. Mike Wheeler is definitely gay. And no one can tell me otherwise.

[shandy-and-champagne]

*Alternate Landing in Lenora

(spongebob narrator: three hours later)

*i would like to note that Mike’s awkwardness in this original scene is probably gayer than any hug we could’ve gotten. Even if it would’ve *ahem* lingered too long. So just imagine here, they’re boyfriends already ;)

[wheelerssecret]

THINKING ABOUT WHAT MICHAEL WHEELER WAS GOING TO SAY AFTER THIS "Uh..." KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT

AND THEN WILL JUST INTERRUPTS RIGHT HERE

AND

THE F*CKING [tender, emotional music playing]

WILLIAM BYERS, WHY DID YOU INTERRUPT HIM???? YOU WERE ALMOST GETTING THE BOY, HE WAS ONE STEP AWAY FROM MAKING A FULL DECLARATION

I can't

[nicxxx5]

imagine what if all the byers (or at least will and jonathan) are staying with the wheelers during the upside down apocalypse in s5. holly, being the little 6 yro that she is knowing no personal boundaries, has been snooping in mike’s room when he’s not home and found the letters he wrote to will. 

as the byers are moving into to the wheeler household, holly beams and  jumps up to hug will because she hasn’t seen him in so long ”will!” and greets her just as enthusiastically “hi holly! how are you?” still smiling she says “good! i have something for you!” will looks at her surprised “you do?” she grins ”yeah!” she starts bounding up the stairs to get whatever it is she has for him. as she gets to the top of the stairs she yells down “i found it in mike’s room!” 

mike who had been half listening whips around when he hears what holly just said. realizing what she might be referring to he yells and tries to stop her “hey! holly! wait! stay out of my room!” but its too late as holly is now coming down the stairs with a stack of envelopes in her hand and she hands them to will “see! they all have your name on them”

will takes them from her hand and looks at them confused. meanwhile, mike behind him has turned white as a ghost and started to panic as he looks at all his letters to will that are signed “love, mike” and where never meant to be sent are now in the hands of their recipient 

[teas-coolblog]

[lunabug2004]

There really is no straight explanation for this look.

or this whole range of expressions (the eyebrow raise?!)...

Or... y'know... any time this boy looks at Will Byers at all...

Okay this could go on forever so I'll stop here but... Mike Wheeler, the closet is glass.

[emblazons]

It’s “realizing that Will’s struggle in S2 with being infected with a virus that spreads and will kill him quickly (but doctors don’t care) is a metaphor for how gay men were treated during the aids crisis” hours

—right alongside Mike (who comes from a family with a Reagan sign in their front yard + a mom who outwardly supported Margret Thatcher), who sat at his now confirmed gay best friend’s side the entire time he was sick and watched as people were willing to let him die because he was viewed as expendable……and now has an ongoing storyline where

1) his relationship with his girlfriend is falling apart because he doesn’t love her romantically

2) he’s staring longingly and pushing toward the freedom his gay best friend embodies for him, and

3) he cannot bring himself to tell anyone around him something because “what if they don’t like it” + dehumanize him for telling the secret truth he cannot bring himself to externalize, despite now knowing something that scares him about about himself:

(Bonus points for the fact that the first time we see Mike push Will and himself toward a girl is after he watches how people were willing to let his gay best friend (and him, by extension) die should they not confirm to expectations)

[prfctmxxnlight]

let’s talk about

michael’s airport outfit

and how different it is from the rest of his clothes

as we all know, the people involved in making this show go above and beyond to make everything mean something. almost nothing is a coincidence. you can see it from the way some characters talk and react, to the way they’re placed in a scene, maybe from a small detail in the background, or the music that’s playing during, but most importantly: through their clothing

for the most part, mike’s style has always been the same, collared shirts and jeans, maybe shorts (which he only ever wears on season 3 and on his first day in lenora in season 4)

the airport outfit is just so out of character, and i don’t think it’s a coincidence

when argyle first meets mike he checks out his shirt and calls it a “shitty knockoff” and while they’re making it up to seem as if he’s talking about the brand, he’s talking about mike

how airport mike is the shitty knockoff of hawkins mike, real mike

mike is pretending to be someone he is not

he’s trying to please el, dressing how he thinks she’d like, trying to prove that he likes her (despite the fact that no one doubts this), trying to convince himself that he likes her

this weird, knockoff version of mike wouldn’t even hug his best friend after 6 months (give or take) of not seeing him, i wonder why?

6 months really is a long time to reflect about your feelings and come to new realizations

this outfit, this attitude, they’re a representation of mike trying to hide who he really is, how he really feels. it’s him trying to be someone he is not to please other people but also to erase himself, to try to change who he is because he doesn’t accept himself

[doriandrifting]

In my head the rain fight is just:

Will: babygirl ur not acting like yourself!

Mike: what did u expect? that we’d never get girlfriends? that’d we’d keep playing video games in my basement until we were old enough to get a little apartment in san francisco thats kind of shitty but that doesnt even matter because it’s ours? that we’d adopt a puppy and give it a silly little human name? and what—we’d eventually get a timeshare in the bahamas with Lucas and Max? and spend the rest of our lives together?

Will: …I just want to play dnd :( but that sounds good too—

Mike: get real, gay boy

[significant-ace-nnoyance]

it’s 2024 and byler has just confessed

the ga

milkvans

homophobes who thought mainstream tv was safe and weren’t expecting “the gays to be shoved down their throats”

bylers who knew it was coming down to the exact dialogue, outfits, location, weather, plot twists, and what they ate for breakfast

bylers who also knew it was coming but are still pretending to be completely shocked anyway

bylers who doubted

bylers who rarely never doubted gaining 2000+ boosts to their ego

bylers blowing up the internet with fan edits and gay screaming

bylers eating up theory after tumblr gate after 1am byler shitpost idea being confirmed in canon

gays unable to cope with the fact that they actually got mainstream rep after a decade of straightbaiting

milkvans caught mid homophobic passionate anti-byler tweet

bylers trying not to constantly scream about it to everyone they know irl

the whole cast

every article ever after s5 release (@aemiron-main for this textpost i had to use it 😭😭😭)

the duffers watching all the shit go down after their straightbait went live

[byleriscanon713by]

Proof that byler is Canon because one time my mother comes over to my house and I was watching the season 4 episode 2 fight in rink-o-mania and my mom immediately sits down and starts watching with me. Keep in mind she had not seen a single episode of stranger things and she didn’t know any context. After watching me she goes “so those two are gay right?” SHE WATCHED A BYLER FIGHT AND CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THEYRE GAY! LIKE HOW OBVIOUS IS BYLER!

[curseyouperrytheplatypus]

[byler-alarmist]

Now why does this look like Mike was caught sneaking a peek at Will and tried to course-correct......and El clocked everything

[wheelerssecret]

Idk if someone has noticed this before but

I've seen a post from @bylerisrequited and a @bylrndgm reblog about Mike staring at Jake at Rink-o-mania

And I just wanted to share Mike looking at Gareth in the SAME FCKN WAY

THE SAME LOOK ON HIS FACE C'MON!!!!

Rising eyebrows, attentive eyes, open-mouthed...

Look at this

In addition...

Why are you so nervous around them, Mike?

🤔🤨

[ronancebyler]

i love how mike is such a disaster that will says that the demogorgon got him and mike stares at him for ten seconds

[mikeslawyer]

this shot is such a fucking byler proof itself because this season 3 mike. with a wholeass girlfriend. having the worst fights with will in the entire series. saying will needs to grow up and basically saying his gf > everyone else.

and he still has every single inch of his walls covered in will’s art. drawings are all over the basement like. i personally dont hang half of my best friend’s existence on my walls but you do you boy kisser