#and i dont even mean it from a byler perspective in this case

[autistic-mike-wheeler]

you know one thing i find extremely telling about the whole 'melvin can't say ily' thing is that neither do any of the other couples - but that doesnt really matter to them. like take lumax for example - they've never said they love each other, or said it to anyone else, and they've also broken up 6 (??) times over the course of the show. but anyone who watched season 4 came away knowing they do love each other. another example of this is jancy; i don't think they've ever explicitly said they love each other either, but they don't have to. because with both of these couples, you can visibly see it because they show it in their actions, in the way they look at each other, and the way they're constantly motivated by each other.

and so, for massachusetts institute of technology to not only not have all the above implications (they're separated every season, never have those romantic looks, their actions are almost always motivated by something else) but also have their most significant relationship plotline be that mike cant say he loves her, and that (despite them being the only couple who got an explicit love confession w mikes monologue) el also believes he doesn't love her, is very telling. because with lumax and jancy and jopper, you don't have this debate; it is taken as objective fact that (at one point or another) they love each other, because its obvious, and they dont have to spell it out to get people to realize. but moonlight on the river? whether you ship byler or not, there's still none of that objectivity. you literally don't know how they feel for each other, even though we know that if the duffers wanted to make it clear, they could and would've. and i just think it's very interesting the route they decided to take with it instead, especially in comparison with all the other romantic couples on the show rn.