#byler endgame ofc!

[bookofwambs]

byler/mileven/willel challengers au

mike wheeler, new champion tennis player, has all eyes on him, especially the iconic hopper-byers twin sibling duo of tennis. what starts off as a friendship in a competitive world, the three slowly find themselves caught up in a complicated romance filled with jealousy, petty, anger but most importantly love. and just like a sports game, there’s a winner and a loser to the prize that’s mike wheeler.

during his peak, mike has to chose between the two things he loves most, will or tennis, after their relationship was leaked to the press. a gay tennis player? is that even allowed?

and while the two boys have to figure out whether love really does conquer all, the best female tennis player since billy jean king, jane hopper suffers from a traumatic accident on the court and causes her to enter early retirement as a tennis player.

with the press suffocating our star crossed lovers, will decides to retire as well, knowing he rather be true to himself than play some measly game. while mike, finds comfort in the arms of jane, the girl who’s been waiting for his attention ever since he invited her and will back to his hotel room that one summer night. and with her help, works to fix his reputation—to be the greatest, most sought out tennis player in the world.

after 5 years worth of losing streaks, mike wheeler enters the court for a challenger event planned by jane. his opponent? will byers.

[crxzytogether]

And I’m supposed to believe their poses/positions have no relevance and mean nothing- right ok…

Yeah I’ll believe that, just like how I believe the music and costumes and light and set designs mean nothing too mhm

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

I know people tend to think that Dustin, Lucas, Max, El and some of the other characters will have a difficult time wrapping their heads around Byler because of the time period, but I kind of think it will be like a lightbulb moment for them where they're like "Ohhhh so *that's* why." I mean, maybe it should be difficult for Jonathan and Joyce to wrap their heads around it too because of the time period, but it clearly isn't. They recognize the love that Mike and Will have for each other and most likely see it as being "different" from what other people experience, but no less beautiful or valid.

I can see the other party members having a similar reaction. They will be open to and accepting of the idea that Mike and Will belong together, not because they haven't been influenced by the negative stereotypes they've been taught to associate queerness with, but because they've all had a firsthand look at what Mike and Will's relationship is really all about. Like in s2 when Will was having visions in his now memories, the party saw the way that Mike snapped him out of it, wrapped an arm around him, and took him home. Lucas saw Mike's devotion towards apologizing to Will and making things right with him in s3. Like, they have seen and probably subconsciously understand that Mike and Will love each other: they just don't have the tools to recognize what the relationship is yet. But as soon as they realize what it is, I don't think they'll struggle to accept it at all and will probably actually be the boys' biggest supporters and defenders.

That's the dynamic the party has had from the beginning. Dustin and Lucas aren't homophobic---they were fine being friends with and defending the "gay kid" even if it meant getting bullied or harassed. The party is a group of disadvantaged kids whether because of queerness, race, disability or poverty, and they all love and accept each other not just in light of their disadvantages but in part BECAUSE of their disadvantages. I think a beautiful part of Byler will be that the party will accept Mike and Will with open arms, and Dustin and Lucas particularly won't be weird about it all since they've seen this love growing and flourishing since the BEGINNING. I hope we get scenes of the four boys together where Mike and Will are unabashedly a couple but the group's friendship dynamic hasn't changed at all other than maybe growing stronger because of it. Lucas and Dustin will totally take up for Byler and defend them because they essentially always have.

[bangtanthoughts]

el: *is upset with mike*

mike: tf she want me to do?? women these days....

will: *is upset with mike*

mike: omg no will please bbg take me back i realize i was wrong you're right i'll change for the better for you sweetie pie please take me back

well.

[manon-herself]

Sorry I’m in my byler era again BUT I just realized he's holding a can of 7up !

Ok I explain : he is holding a GREEN can with the number 7 on it…

[galecstatic]

wdym there's a casting call for young will, mike, and jonathan wdym only young mike will have lines in the potential flashback wdym we're finally gonna witness mike's pov in the flashback wdym the prospect of young jonathan witnessing how byler started is happening wdym they're about to dive into the roots of byler wdym mini byler flashbacks wdym the potential flashback is the swingset wdym byler might be real

[conflictofthemind]

Byler and the ‘Right There All Along’ / ‘Overlooked Love Interest’ Trope

One of the biggest criticisms from anyone who’s not on the Byler train is that a Byler endgame would ‘come out of nowhere’ and be completely illogical. I’ve seen a lot of people argue that it would be bad writing and since Mike hasn’t shown any (immediately obvious and textual) romantic interest in Will, it’s unbelievable that he would ever be interested in him.

Except that like. This is a romance trope. A very common one even found in classic novels. Maybe even an amalgamation of a few. Jane Austen the mother of romance even wrote about it multiple times; in Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth doesn’t fall in love with Mr. Darcy until after he confesses / proposes and she rejects him. In Mansfield Park, Edmund is completely oblivious to the protagonist’s feelings for him and doesn’t fall for her until the very end of the novel. In Emma, the protagonist realizes her feelings for her family friend Mr. Knightley (who she also thinks loves somebody else) in the final act of the novel as well. These are classic, critically acclaimed and academically studied novels.

It’s also a very common trope in combination with Childhood Friends, because the positioning of someone as a close friend for years makes it harder to consider a change in the dynamic unless it’s presented very obviously to you.

The “Love Revelation Epiphany’, which is incredibly similar, is where a character doesn’t develop or realize feelings until they find out that the other character is interested in them. It’s usually played to be tragically unrequited until this particular twist is revealed. In my opinion, this is one of the most likely ways Byler will come to fruition.

The only reason that this seems out of left field while countless other stories have played with similar tropes is 1) homophobia (a lot of the audience never allowed themselves to consider even the possibility of Mike reciprocating) and 2) the fact that Stranger Things has been dragged out for much longer than any kind of movie or book, and most shows. People have simply gotten used to the current status quo.

Looking at story crafting and writing theory points so heavily towards Byler. I’m going to make a follow up to this post, likely tomorrow, explaining why in a character development and story sense it necessitates Will being ‘greedy’, and fighting for and getting what he desires.

[cleradinscloset]

and if mike says "it's always been you, will" in s5?? it's over for me

[dezidestiny]

i always see people talking about how mike doesn’t really know how to show love correctly because of how he was raised but i haven’t seen people talk about that with will.

mike struggles to show love and say things like i love you because he grew up with parents who didn’t really love each other.

will grew up with parents who constantly fought, it’s not that huge of stretch to say that’s changed the ways he perceives love. he started both of the byler fights and i really believe this is why. he’s always seen people fighting and calling it love.

just something i was thinking about, they are just two kids who have no idea how to love :(

[willthezombieboy]

i think about byler at least 25 times per day

i really need them to be canon or a social life cuz i think im gonna go insane

[significant-ace-nnoyance]

lucas and dustin would dance together to draw suspicion away from byler btw. argue with the wall

[webyler]

I still can’t believe there are some of yall still doubt if byler are endgame/canon! 🫤🫳

[weepywhalewatcher]

Suspiciously yellow and blue themed kandi coming soon

[hawkinsunderground]

honestly after watching the ai waterfalls thing, I lowkey feel like Mike is talking about max and trying to motivate el, maybe using a few dnd references??? like one of those scenes where they describe the villain and the fight ahead using dnd terms hinting at what's gonna come next

[unsurebazookacore]

Another day another crisis remembering the score that plays over Mike’s monologue is named “You’re The Heart”

Like yes Mike’s entire schpeel to El was there ofc, but WILL

[monodive]

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