#dynamic: mike/argyle

[samgelina-jolie]

[strawberrybyers]

the airport scene really is a cinematic masterpiece

we have argyle and jonathan high as hell

willel excited to see their boo

then this doofus shows up only to have his girlfriend immediately be disappointed by “from: mike”, have a totally “heterosexual” interaction with his best friend, then gets clocked by a guy he doesn’t know for wearing a knock-off

i love every moment of it because in just these 2 minutes you find out everything you need to know about the dynamic between mike, el, and will. this is the first half of the catalyst that takes down mikeven, shows mike’s struggle with his sexuality, and the love will has for mike. it’s chef’s kiss fr i couldn’t have asked for a better scene 🤌

[gayofthefae]

Mike and Will KNOW what they have is gay. Know how I know? They NEVER do that shit in public.

Mike and Will as whatever tf they are:

Mike and Will as normal best friends in public:

Don't get me wrong, they slip up sometimes. (See: "he's here" "Max get away from the door" and then forgetting about Jonathan and Argyle in the van scene, as well as in the shed but that situation was higher stakes so it's fine) But I've pointed out before that their dynamic like that is only ever alone together.

It's from being bullied about it, naturally, I'm just saying...Mike is thinking "if anyone saw this, they would think-" whenever he's alone with Will and it isn't just shown in the way he gets defensive.

[bebx]

Which Stranger Things characters have this dynamic?

(Sound on, poll below)

[lexirosewrites]

Part 4 of ?

Party dynamics r as follows: A!Hopper, B!Joyce, A!Nancy, B!Jonathan, O!Steve, A!Robin, A!Argyle, B!Eleven, A!Mike, O!Will, B!Dustin, A!Lucas, O!Max, & A!Eddie... B!Murray is present somewhere in Hawkins probably doing his best to clue the cool parents in on what's been happening since 1983 but who knows

...

Everyone was talking all at once, asking questions at the same time, and Hopper felt like his ears were ringing. He is the oldest alpha in their little makeshift pack. Therefore he is The Alpha of their pack. Jim Hopper took in the pandemonium around him and promptly stepped outside whilst everyone else devolved into arguments & demands for El to now find Robin, Nancy quickly joined him.

Steve was the oldest of three omegas in the pack & after the events in '84 he'd become The Omega of their pack. More than tht, Steve was a kid Jim had known for nearly over a decade. He was a son to Hopper in the ways tht mattered. He didn't blame Robin for her reaction or her foiled attempt to rip at him w her own alpha fangs, no. He hadn't even tried commanding her back. Because he would've done the same if he could, because he blamed himself just as much.

She'd calmed down once Dustin shoved a yellow sweatshirt over her head, one tht belonged to Steve. Then after a half hr of silently watching them all theorize then plan uselessly she'd stepped outside & Hopper had given her space. But now Robin is gone.

Lucas joined them.

"She's been gone awhile." The older alpha spoke aloud while the younger two scented the air.

"Her scent is faint, you're right." Nancy conceded after a moment, but Lucas kept his nose up. The injury caused by Jason Carver making his sense of smell just a touch duller while his nose healed.

"I think I can pick up on a vague direction." The youngest alpha supplied to their stilted conversation before pointing. At this Nancy suddenly chirped as the light of a deduction entered her eyes.

"She's trying to track Steve." The eldest of the 3 alphas said before Nancy could.

"Robin was wearing Steve's favorite sweatshirt, Steve's scent has got to b practically baked into it." Nancy deduced.

"There would've been no better item to use as a tracking token." Lucas chirped before grimacing as he said. "Aside from used underwear but almost all of Steve's laundry is intermingled w Robin's & the parts of the nest he said he was going to wash."

"Robin's laundry might b the key words there kid. Get Will & Dustin going thru Steve's laundry baskets looking for at least 4 items tht smell strongly of either of them. Get Mike & tht Argyle guy out here." Hopper started planning aloud, because now there was a target they might b able to hit. Nancy & Lucas nodded seemingly already thinking along the same lines. Hopper said it aloud anyway.

"We're gonna try to follow Robin's example, we're gonna track them."

MEANWHILE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF A GATE...

Robin climbed thru the gate slightly weary from her run & how the membrane did not break like other gates would. Instead it felt like she walked through a raging waterfall, like she was upright on land yet water pounded away around her & on her. When she stepped thru completely she stumbled, caught her breath as best she could, & startled at the environment around her.

Because this was not the upside down they had left behind when their plan partially succeeded. There was a breeze & no dark motes tht reminded her of spores, even the smell was slightly different. The barren trees now had buds of little leaves everywhere she looked. There was no roiling constant thunder storm overhead but a bright full moon tht burned red.

Behind her she heard a breaking of wood & turned to see the gate closing. She'd have to figure out how to get out again but tht came after she found Steve.

The alpha took a deep inhale of the scrap of fabric in her hand then of the sweat shirt she was wearing. Her sweat from running had started to mingle w Steve's scent but baked apples still dominated her cloves & cedar.

Robin closed her eyes to focus. Then soon took off again, much more cautiously, into the changed upside down.

MEANWHILE AT A CABIN IN THE SAME DIMENSION...

Steve watched w bated breath as the creature's throat swallowed & clicked a few times before it spoke in a halting voice ragged w disuse.

"Me... Eddie... Alpha to... Steve"

The omega chirped in joy & heedless of claws or fangs or wings pulled Eddie, HIS Eddie, into the nest & his embrace. His alpha was always gentle w him though & Eddie caught himself before he could tumble his full weight onto Steve. The changed alpha rolled to Steve's side tht was most exposed to the rooms open door. Eddie crooned then nosed along Steve's jaw till he found his gland. A deep inhale then the alpha both relaxed & tensed his muscles as if ready to move at a moments notice.

"Can you smell it Eddie? I'm-- I'm pregnant with our puppy." Steve teared up w joy & sadness. He held his Alpha closer & guided his hand to his stomach as the omega started to purr.

"Puppy... our... puppy" Eddie began purring in return. A loud rumbling sound not unlike the engine in his uncles van.

"Yes, our puppy." Steve chirped as a tear escaped.

"One... of six" his Alpha smiled around the fangs protruding from his mouth, apparently Eddie might have limited speech but he was still able to tease. Steve laughed & pulled Eddie further up the nest so he could have a turn scenting at the alphas neck.

Roasted cardamom seed & cedar filled his senses. At last, Steve felt the weariness of what the doctor's diagnosed as chronic rejection sickness begin to fade.

There were many questions to ask & it seemed Eddie was limited in his answers. Steve decided to not care at the moment because he was in a nest being held by his Alpha again. Quickly Steve felt himself sink into a sleep he already knew would actually ease his exhaustion.

[Now there shall b an intermission I think! As much as this could turn into a full on fic (which it might do not despair) I am kind of currently treating slick sunday as a sort of rough draft outlet 😅 Part 5 next week! It shall b the intermission in the form of flashback 🤭 till next time!]

one of six!!!👏👏👏

[mike-wheel]

its just more proof to me that mike and el didnt have a single scene together in season 4 that will wasnt apart of (with the exception of their fight scene but like we all know how that went)

Its been a hot sec since ive done a rewatch so correct me if im wrong but...

Mike and El reunite -> immediate trouble "from mike" is introduced-> shifts to awkward dynamic between Mike and Will

The whole rinkomania "date" with focus on Will being upset -> El gets bullied but what does mike end up focusing on? -> will's behavior and having a fight with him

Reunion (again) in the desert and whos in the shot? WILL. And who does Mike seem to look conflictingly between? WILL and El

Pizza talk -> interrupted by argyle AND then shown from Wills perspective, centering the relationship around him again.

EVEN THE I LOVE YOU SCENE! Will is in shot so many times.

Weve talked about this so much it just truly blows my mind because people are right. This is NOT how you write unrequited love stories. You dont center and shove the person who's supposed to be rejected in almost every moment and shot. This buildup is much too sad and tragic for an already traumatized character to end THIS badly. They are endgame or the duffers HATE will byers which we definitely know is NOT the case

[l393ndjean]

What I Need in St5 (That isn't ship related)

I need Will to save El from something. I need Will to not be a damsel in distress and El to not be a superhero. Not for the whole season or anything, but like, he saves her from a demogorgon by thinking outside the box. Will isn't violent and subverting their current roles by making him violent doesn't sit right with me. This would prove that yes, Will does care for El, and vice versa, which some people are still skeptical about fsr.

More of Robin and Nancy being best friends. And, address Nancy's trauma of losing Barb and how that affects her friendship with Robin. I want to see Nancy being protective of Robin, never wanting to let her out of her sight. And I need Robin to remind her that hey, despite it all, they're still young. They're teenagers. I need Robin to remind Nancy that she can still have fun, and that it's not her fault that Barb died. (Also I need them to solve the mystery together, their detective dynamic is so great.)

I need Vickie to befriend Jonathan. I need to know more about her as a person, not just as Robin's crush. If Argyle's not gonna be around this season I need Jonathan to have a friend, who he isn't linked to in a weird way (Steve is his girlfriend's ex and his ex bully and as much as I wanna see them interact and form a friendship, I also need him to befriend Vickie.) Jonathan's character development into making friends with her could also be quite interesting. He's never really interacted with anyone his age other than Nancy. (I love his dynamic with Argyle, but I also really need to see him with a... less high person.)

The party interacting, as a whole. Combining their knowledge to solve problems, arguing over stupid shit and getting to be teenagers for once. I need my nerdy little boys to be together for once, they're always separated. When they're together they're unstoppable.

El interacting with Lucas! Oh my gods, since season one we've scarcely seen them in the same room! I need to see them bonding over their grief, and working together on where Max's consciousness is. I need them to bond over high school and feeling like they have to be someone else to fit in. (We're getting this for sure, but I need this more than oxygen.)

I need Mike to be leading THE PLAN! When Mike leads the plan, they win. S1, they saved Will, S2 they saved Will and closed the gate. Both times Mike was heavily involved in forming the plan. In S3 Mike's Sauna Test worked, it confirmed that Billy was flayed. And his physics moment. But in S4? They lost. Why? Because Mike wasn't involved in the plan!

I have way more but that's enough for one night, lol.

[curiositydoorunlocked]

Perception, Heteronormativity, and My Parents

They’re all wild, y’all.

Some context: over the holidays I convinced my parents to catch up on Stranger Things. They watched and enjoyed the first three seasons back in 2019ish, but never got around to seeing S4 when it premiered in 2022.

Anyway, we just got to the van/veiled confession scene in 4x08. Here’s what they had to say about it, in short:

My mother: this doesn’t feel like a normal conversation for 14-year-old boys.

My father, jokingly: No, I had conversations like this with my friends all the time.

They noticed something was up. They noticed something off, different, special about Mike and Will’s dynamic. And yet they chalked it up to weird writing instead of a deliberate characterization choice. (After all, we don’t see Lucas and Dustin having these strangely intimate conversations, even though they spend much of the season together. Ditto with Steve and anyone male, ditto with Jonathan and Argyle. So it seems the writers do understand “typical” teenage boy friend behavior.)

Another comment my mother made, earlier on in our watch: I guess they had to do it for the plot, but I really miss seeing Mike and Eleven together. I wish they were more of a team.

So close, yet so far. Incredible.

[atmilliways]

(Directly inspired by Eddie and Jeff’s friendship dynamic in this, which is much lighter and sweeter than what’s about to follow.)

What if a fic where all the Upside Down shit happens and Eddie lives, and Steve actually seems to be interested in him which is insane… but Chrissy died. Eddie and Jeff bonded over their nerd-on-jock crushes for all of high school, he can’t just get his guy when Jeff’s crush is dead.

So, with much angst and pining, Eddie withdraws. He stops flirting with Steve or responding to him much at all, just one-word answers to questions until Steve gives up on asking. (Which takes a while, the hot stubborn bastard.) And then it hurts too much to hang out with the entire group, because Steve is always there on the outskirts, watching him like a kicked puppy. He still sees Nancy regularly (because she’s even more stubborn than Steve) and by extension Jonathan and Argyle, but Robin drifts off, siding with Steve.

The kids are divided: Mike sticks by Eddie, Lucas and Erica stick by Steve, Will and El try to remain neutral because they never really knew Eddie to begin with but obviously lean more team Steve, and Max is just pissed at both of them for being idiots. Dustin tries to be there for both of them, but it’s such an obvious strain that Eddie starts pulling back from him too, telling himself he’s giving the kid a break. (Part of it, too, is that Dustin can’t help talking about his favorite people and doesn’t always catch himself in time to avoid giving Eddie anecdotal updates about Steve. He tells himself that by absenting himself, he’s sparing Steve from the same thing.)

Eddie is miserable, but he can’t admit why any more than he can break the NDAs and risk the government taking it all back—his pardon, his diploma, the brick and mortar house, the money that means Wayne doesn’t have to work himself to the bone anymore or worry about Eddie having to deal to help make ends meet.

And Jeff isn’t stupid. He notices, and he can guess why, and a few vague references to Harrington that make Eddie’s face do this awful, awful thing only confirms it.

It takes a long time, but Jeff manages to convince Eddie that he has his blessing. And then it’s another month of wallowing and calling Nancy at inappropriate hours to freak out about how much he’s ruined everything—but she seems to think he still has a chance with Steve.

So eventually, Eddie walks up to Steve’s front door in his best jeans, clutching a bouquet of sunflowers and trying not to sweat through his shirt even though it’s spring again and still nippy out, hoping against hope that his high school crush will let him inside.

[steddiebbang]

Glory Days |  Explicit  |  80k

Author: Malikat22

Artist: @ghostdeb

Beta Reader: Revenge_Unicorn and CoffeeCatsJA

[Link to fic & art]  |  [Link to playlist]

Pairings: Eddie Munson / Steve Harrington

Characters: Eddie Munson, Steve Harrigton, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley, Jim “Chief” Hopper, Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield, Dustin Henderson, Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Billy Hargrove, Jonathan Byers, Argyle, Corroded Coffin, Wayne Munson

Tags: Modern au, No Upside Down, Omegaverse, Alpha Eddie Munson, Secret Omega Steve Harrington, Reporter Munson, Second Baseman Harrington, Baseball au, Paparazzi, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Love On The Road, Alcohol Consumption, Misunderstandings, Angst with a Happy Ending, Alpha/Omega Dynamics, Omega Discrimination in Sports, Scenting, Intersex Omegas, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Masturbation, Dry Humping, blow jobs, come eating, Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex, These Boys Vers, Knotting, Biting, breeding kink, Rejection Sickness, Coming Out, Bonding, Found Family, Eddie Munson is Bad at Feelings

Trigger Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

↳ Keep reading below for a summary!

Disgraced music reporter Eddie Munson liked to party a little too hard and took his responsibilities a little too loosely, until his editor decided to reassign him to the one place where he wouldn’t have any fun – the sports beat. That’s how the self-proclaimed freak landed himself a job following around second baseman Steve Harrington and his up and coming team, the Indiana Mindflayers.

Eddie soon learns that, in a world where alphas are king and secrets could cost you everything, where your every move is judged and a bad day on the field doesn’t just hurt you, it hurts your whole team, where a hero and a freak could have more in common than either of them ever imagined, nothing is quite what it seems.

An alpha/baseball/omega fic!

[liminalgayhorror]

Do you have st headcanons?

Ofc my friend

Basically canon:

- Eddie is gay

- Mike was having flashbacks to the last time Will had biked home from his garage after the rain fight which was why he was so panicked trying to find him and apologize

- Will straight up hated El before they became siblings (there is no hate like Will Byers hate. It makes sense they made him get over that off camera)

- Mike had a crush on Eddie

- Karen and Ted are Bad parents. Mike and Nancy and Holly would not have the relationship they do if they had healthy family dynamics. Also they’re republicans so why are we sitting here defending them? Karen maybe but Ted???

- lucas and Dustin have NO CLUE about byler and it would take A LOT for them to clock it but that’s because Will and Mike have Always been Like That. They were too young to clock it when it started and it’s too normal now for them to clock it. (Not to say I don’t think lucas could notice it, he’s just gonna need some sort of nudge)

- Joyce was in a bad place when she had Jonathan and ended up projecting a lot of stuff onto him which led to a belief that she “doesn’t get him” which ended up in her giving herself permission to do a lot of bad parenting shit with him without realizing that’s what she’s doing. Jonathan will have to speak a LOT in therapy about how seeing her be a much better parent for Will fucked him up.

Could be canon:

- madwheeler having a stobin level friendship

- wills first crush was lucas

- Barb had a crush on Nancy

- el is a trans woman (ok lowkey this could not be canon but she is SO coded that way im counting it)

- Jonathan argyle qpr

- lumax is bi4bi

- elmike being BEST FRIENDS after they break up

- max hated mike in between s3&4 bc he was still in touch with el and she wasn’t

- will only fell for mike after seeing everything he did for him in s2 and as soon as he realized it it was all promptly ripped away from him in s3 (ppl who don’t understand will in s3 need to remember he JUST had s2 Mike)

- Mike accidentally called Will “el” once and it fucked will up bad. If only he knew Mike has always accidentally called el “Will”. Like it happens often. If they ever really hung out around other ppl they would find it extremely odd.

Not at all canon but I love:

-bigender/genderfluid Mike (I love any transfem Mike but especially if she can be a woman as well as a man)

- Nancy is a lesbian, Jonathan is nonbinary

- I’ve fallen for the Murray x Alexei propaganda. And I’ve helped create the Owens x Bob propaganda.

- Steddie now LISTEN there is NOTHING in canon that makes me want to ship these two but the fics are unmatched and I love the way it changes the dynamics of the whole group. There are so many ships that are great in theory but totally fuck up all other relationships, steddie is horrible in theory but does something beautiful to all the other relationships

- fics that make the bad parents of the show so much worse and the good parents so much better

- all the main characters in the show each having distinct individual relationships with each other and being a super tight knit found family

[samgelina-jolie]

[emily-mooon]

Jonathan for the Character asks

Hello Dearie!!!!

I had a feeling you would send in blorbo :]

How do I feel about him?

ALL TIME FAVOURITE CHARACTER. He is the guy, he is an icon, he is my special blorb I like to chuck my music opinions on (cause we have the same taste). Ok but in all seriousness, his character complexities have captivated me and I will internally hiss at anyone who hates him

Who do I ship him with?

I mainly ship him with Nancy but I also really like Stonathan and Photocheer. Stonathan I like in a more toxic shoujo manga way but Nancy and Chrissy get to have the ‘oh so soft, oh so sad’ dynamic. Any of his romantic pairings (outside of a certain and hopefully OBVIOUS few) I love and adore and will dig for fics when I have the chance

My favourite Platonic ships for him

I love his friendship with Argyle. That’s his first real friend outside of Nancy and I will miss them so much during the s5 angst. I of course love the Byers family dynamic they tug at my heartstrings. I am very hopeful I get some Jonathan and Robin friendship crumbs in S5 cause they would 100% yap to each other about music and obscure weird French avant garde movies. it won’t happen but hey a girl can dream!

My unpopular opinions about him

None that aren’t unpopular within Jonathan fan circles but more so with his haters or. I am tired of Camera Scene™️ posts that all recycle the same argument what feels like 1000 times over. He apologized for what he and that’s all that matters (not to mention there is NOTHING in subtextual canon that says he’s a pervert). Im

Another thing is the whole Jonathan hates Mike “joke”. I am tired of seeing that characterization and really wish people would stop making it apart of his character. He doesn’t hate Mike and he never has cause he knows how much Mike cares about Will.

One thing I wish would happen/ wish had happened in canon

I just wish they’d do more with him. He’s been sidelined for far too long. Also Charlie is an amazing actor and they are seriously underutilizing him (look at how good his performance is in s1 it’s INCREDIBLE!!!!!). I do hope they do more with him in s5 and that he has a satisfying end to his character arc. I won’t expect it to be perfect but I hope it’s at least something that isn’t like killing him off or using him to benefit stncy or some shit like it

Thank you Dearie for sending the blorb in!!!!

[thebylertheory]

What’s the most compelling byler evidence?

As much as I love the pieces of evidence like blue and yellow and costume design and whatnot, I think the most compelling piece of evidence is just how their story has been written. That is the only evidence you should really NEED to see that Byler is real and then the other pieces of evidence should just be the icing on top. But the way their dynamic is written is the FOUNDATION and I think some people forget that because they get so wrapped up in smaller pieces of evidence.

The Duffers don't write a dynamic between purely platonic besties this way and we know this because Mike and Will's dynamic is nothing like Mike and Lucas' or Will and Dustin's. It's also nothing like Dustin and Lucas' or Jonathan and Argyle's relationship. We have seen how they write friendships between two boys before. But that is not how they have written Byler. Byler has always been written with more similarities to the canon ships in the show than the purely PLATONIC friendships in the show. And I find it so interesting that some people can't see that and they need someone to spell it out for them and walk them through it. But I guess that's the sad reality of living in a society plagued by heteronormativity.

So yeah, I think all the evidence you really need is just how their story and dynamic has been set up. It's clearly got romantic undertones the first 3 seasons and then it's BLATANTLY romantic in season 4. Anyone who can't see that at this point is just a fool.

[careful-wish]

I know that Eddie had to die bc plot reasons yada yada

But they could have done that in season 5. We had so many deaths deaths in 4 (tho Max did end up living). The stakes are higher in season 5 and having a beloved character die halfway through would have had such an emotional impact

But also Eddie and Argyle not being included in season 5 with the other older kids feel like a joke, especially Argyle.

Nancy is the only one of the older teens (now young adults) to have a real close friendship with someone (Barb). Could probably argue Eddie too bc of Gareth, Jeff, and that other guy in Hellfire but they're younger than him so Idk how long they've been friends or how close they actually are.

In s4, though it's through super unlikely circumstances, Eddie does develop friendships with Steve, Nancy, and Robin. Probably, he already has had some interaction with Robin and Jonathan in the past due to the fact all three were considered weirdos or freaks (Jonathan was The School Freak(tm)) but he had no interaction with Jonathan this season.

Jonathan after being apart from Nancy for a few months then meets Argyle and they become pretty close mates, weed aside. Jonathan finally has someone he can talk to and open up to, and you can tell Argyle genuinely does care for Jonathan and is a LITERAL ride-or-die for him.

Why, WHY did they take Eddie and Argyle away? Yeah, we get the monster-hunting trio back in s5 along with Robin and Vickie in the group, but why'd they take Argyle away? He is also wanted by the government and knows everything. We're just going back to Jonathan having no friends, Nancy really having to confront what happened to Barb, and only Steve having a best mate? Why does Steve get to keep his best friend and Jonathan doesn't?

Also, the group would have been a little bigger than the Party but the dynamics and just absolute chaos would have been amazing.

Steve realising he is absolutely outnumbered by nerds and that he is not the leader, that role goes to Nancy and her babygurl Jonathan.

Vickie being introduced in a group that has several very loud ppl (Steve, Argyle, Robin), joins them immediately and Jonathan goes insane bc the four chatter like kookaburras at three am.

Nancy insisting they need to be discreet and Argyle explaining that while yeah, having an all black van would be cool but bad guys have those too and they would blend in better with a pizza van bc "Who would question the pizza man, Wheeler?"

Eddie secretly having tons of respect for Jonathan and nearly falls over himself trying to make up for the fact he tried to push another guy at Jonathan's girlfriend. Also develops similar respect for Nancy and feels guilty after seeing how happy Nancy is with Jonathan, and also realising it was never his, Robin, Steve, or anyone else's decision what Nancy does or who she wants to be with, it's all her.

Vickie learning about everything but still not knowing the kids very well and fellow newcomer Argyle is like "Idk about the others but Little Byers and Wheelie-boy are good, and of course our amazing super-powered little friend"

Steve discreetly being a terrible wingman for Robin without accidentally outing her. She comes out to Nancy first, then Argyle on accident after they have a weed sesh ("You're good, Batman's sidekick, boobies are great"), and of course ends up with Vickie.

Mike being the one of the Party Vickie ends up bonding with the most, mainly so they can make fun of Steve together but also other reasons

Anyway, we were robbed of these seven chaos nerds being a group together.

And if Eddie were to die halfway through, the turmoil. Dies similar to s4, Dustin is there, but it not only affects Dustin and Hellfire, but the other six he'd started becoming close with.

[brionysea]

mike wheeler's catchphrase ("are you okay?") usually gets a "yes". el and will said yes until it got so bad that they would just start explaining what's wrong, or he would figure it out. mike wasn't present to ask max, but the season 4 stock answer was typically "i'm fine," and even if they were together, mike was so burnt out from ignoring his own mental health that he needed help too (hi will), and i doubt max would have let him keep trying to neglect himself in order to baby her. they've both played the caretaker role before (even sharing it once el got hurt), so they're by definition equals.

mike seemed to get recharged near the end of season 4 by will, el, argyle, karen, and hopper, showing that they care about him (jonathan was also watching over him the whole time, as nancy pointed out at the end, but there wasn't a distinctive Moment to illustrate it because they were both obviously more focused on will). one of mike's final scenes of the season, with will, was him slipping back into a role that's reminiscent of their season 2 dynamic, so mike might be able to get back to asking the classic question again in season 5. and if he asks dustin, the answer will be "no" for the first time. dustin doesn't have the patience for that evasive bullshit.

the obvious blank space is lucas. mike's dustin-ordained best friend who challenged mike in season 1, went against his leader/dictatorship to welcome max into the party in season 2, was constantly guiding and helping mike in season 3, and spent season 4 questioning and figuring out why max was cursed. lucas is increasingly being (and to a certain point has always been) the one to come up with alternative plans when the current one is in need of correction, usually due to a lack of care towards the people it involves; so far, that's will, el, and max. if you count his plan to postpone the hellfire campaign for his basketball game, it includes himself, too.

similarly to dustin, i could see mike finally having the opportunity to ask lucas if he's okay in season 5, but that's not really the vibe i'm getting. they don't seem like they'd need or use the words to communicate that sentiment, for a start, and their whole dynamic is also predicated on lucas not quite getting mike, whether he's supporting whatever he's doing or not. if anyone's gonna turn the tables on mike, put a stop to the lack of care being extended towards him, and be the ultimate deciding factor in fixing the root issue he's spent so long ignoring, it's lucas.