#el hopper platonic

[imfinereallyy]

El being wholesome with Steve. El being wholesome with Steve. The weird sibling duo we didn’t know we needed. I need more of it. I might do it….no I’ve done enough of them…

Okay, okay. But just picture this:

The kids trying to embarrass Steve all the time with photos and stories to Eddie, but El ruins it every.single.time. because she is so unbelievably wholesome when it comes to Steve.

Here is everyone pulling out scoops photos (which Eddie actually loves thank you very much) and sharing stories about his failed dates. Dustin tells Eddie specifically about the time he was teaching Lucas basketball and Lucas threw the ball too hard at the backboard and hit Steve in the face.

So they are all poking fun at Steve in his and Robin’s apartment (because in every universe these platonic soulmates live together) and there is just El who randomly chimes in:

“Steve took me to this thing called a ren faire once. It was very fun. We both looked really pretty.”

Eddie absolutely melts at the story and gushes over the photos she has.

And everyone gets quiet every time, because no one wants to criticize El, but one time Max gently goes, “You know that’s like….nice right? We’re making fun of him.”

Everyone one expects her to being embarrassed or confused but instead she simple says.

“I know. I don’t like it. Steve’s nice.”

And she embarrasses everyone, except Robin and Eddie who are the only ones Steve never gets upset with when they make fun of him. They all mumble out apologies, and Steve turns to Dustin and goes:

“This is why she gets a special section in the freezer. All different flavors of eggos.”

El’s eyes get wide. “Even the blueberry ones?”

Steve gives her hair a tousle, “Especially the blueberry ones.”

[kennahjune]

Thinking of Steddie Soulmates where you feel every pain your soulmate feels.

Thinking of little Steve feeling every backhand and punch from Eddie’s dad.

Thinking of little Eddie feeling Steve break his arm and the pain being so much worse because his parents refuse to take him to the hospital until the school gets involved.

Thinking of Eddie finally moving in with Wayne and sure, the paternal beating are done, but now he’s just a small town Freak that’s constantly targeted.

Thinking of Eddie and Steve in their Sophomore/Freshman years respectively, not knowing who the other is outside of rumors and (unknowingly) their shared pain.

Thinking of Eddie finally escaping pain, the bullying turning to mainly verbal shit.

Only to be thrust right back into pain because his soulmates a walking hazard.

Thinking of Eddie having no idea what’s going on when he suddenly feels like one giant bruise after Steve’s beat up by Jonathan. Eddie watching Steve fall from grace in his Junior year and not connecting the dots.

Billy coming along and smashing a fucking plate over Steve’s head while Eddie’s peacefully sleeping. Eddie jolting awake with a shout because /holy fucking shit ow—/

Neither of them connecting the dots.

Then Steve graduates, and Eddie’s held back. And the pain subsides for a bit.

And then fuck all happens in Starcourt and Eddie literally feels like he’s dying and Jesus H. Christ is his soulmate /ok/??? Like they are getting seriously fucked up.

And then that recedes and it ok for a while— Eddie will still get killer pains that seem to circulate in his chest and head, but that’s to be expected with whatever tf his poor soulmate is going through year after year.

And then the fuckery of March 1986 happens and Chrissy Cunningham is dead in his trailer— his home— and he’s wanted for fucking murder and hiding in Rick’s dingy ass boat house—

And then he’s shoving none other than Steve Harrington up against a wall with a broken bottle helps to his throat. Eddie’s so piped on adrenaline he barely feels the sting in his back, but he does feel the zing of pressure on his throat and ok /ow—/

And he’s staring at Steve Harrington, who looks kinda terrified and so pretty and Eddie’s holding a bottle to his throat and is that Dustin?—

And—

And holy shit.

Eddie’s eyes widen at the same time as Steve’s and the realization hits them both at once.

[stranger-chichka]

The jackets, HELLO????? I already can smell the parallel

@greenfiend already wrote a while ago how that scene from s1 may foreshadow Mike coming out to El and I think that’s maybe it! Or they’re having a heart-to-heart after just to clear things up/open up about Will

I mean, look at him!!! It’s the same Mike who feels understood and accepted for who he is

[blueandyellow7]

byler shippers who also love el wya????

[sparklyworm]

I just need everyone to know Netflix themselves posted this on YouTube about Mieven 💀

[teambyler]

El's arc of "pleading with the wrong people" in s4 (Byler analysis)

There's a pattern in season 4. El's learning the difficult lesson that you can't always rely on other people to be what you want them to be:

There was no point in pleading with Angela to prop up her lie to Mike. There was no point in appealing to Vecna's humanity. There was no point in hoping that Mike would be a boyfriend who'd make her feel loved.

El had huge issues of feeling worthless and like "a monster" in s4. With such a low opinion of herself, she kept looking to others to solve problems she needed to take on her own.

That's why Mike's "love confession" -- after she had confronted Dr. Brenner for being the real monster -- was so against her ACTUAL arc in s4. She had confronted the source of her self-loathing, her abuser (Dr. Brenner). She was learning to love herself instead of pleading for love and kindness from others.

There was no happy-couple resolution for El and Mike after the "confession," because she now had a different view of what she wanted from her relationship with Mike, if she still wanted one at all:

She's focused on how she failed to stop Vecna, and she's not really opening up to Mike or seeing him as a partner in helping her process that. In retrospect, since they became official she's never really involved him in the biggest issues in her life, except to paper over them (start of s4) or to be in conflict with him (how to use her powers in s3).

To Mike, El doesn't seem to NEED him the same way she did before (exactly what Mike had feared). She's moved on to other matters.

She is in a different place now. And so are Mike and Will:

-teambyler

[bylertruth3r]

the Duffers called Mike and El their E.T and Elliot (which are platonic friends) and the dead flowers El picked up at the end of s4 were the same flowers Mike gave her at the airport, dead flowers represent a dead relationship, hopefully after the break up they'll be able to communicate more and to actually get to know each other and rhat they'll be actual friends, Mike does love El but he loves her platonically even though he's been tryng to force himself into loving her romantically but he can't because he's gay and in love with Will

[vampirade]

"we're going to be okay, mike."

[clericxhood777]

No, bc the relationship between Will and El in season 4 was anything, but romantic

They went from this

To fucking siblings in six MONTHS

People, who ship them, romantically, get help

[bibylers]

UGH you do not understand how much I need for this scene:

To be paralleled with this scene:

“Mike, friends tell the truth”

+ SAME JACKET COLORSSSS

ALSO for the s5 elmike scene to be paralleled with this scene:

“Joey, I care about you so much, you’ve been such a good friend to me which is why I can’t stand the thought of losing you.”

+ THIS SCENE IS ALREADY PARALLELED IN S4 WHEN MIKE CANT SAY “I love you” TO EL AAAAAAAAAAA

[ineffablelvrs]

[mystuffynose]

Okay but what if in the ST5 trailer there is a shot of Mike telling someone that “we would be better off as friends”

We would all go insane

[shreya11111]

“max was a bad influence on el”

wrong ❌

“mike doesn’t deserve will”

wrong ❌

“will hates el”

wrong ❌

“mike doesn’t care about el”

wrong ❌

[cringengl]

[gayofthefae]

The sad thing about the Mike and El parallels in season 4 is that it's because they're both having their hearts broken at the same time.

El's is being broken by Mike. Because Mike's is being broken by Will.

They're in this together, in a way - as friends. Both getting their hearts broken at the same time. It's a rite of passage, isn't it? That's what Fifteen by Taylor Swift is about, isn't it?

"Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday but I realized some bigger dreams of mine. And [Mike] gave everything [he] had to a boy who changed his mind. And we both cried. 'Cause when you're 15 and somebody tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them."

And there's something so soul crushingly beautiful in how platonically in sync they are by being so romantically out of sync. El and Mike are having their hearts broken at the same time. Like best friends. But El's boyfriend is having his heart broken by someone else. It should never have been in anyone else's hands to begin with.

He's breaking her heart by getting his heart broken.

So of course it culminates in the worst kind of solidarity within that.

In another universe, they would have cried together over the boys who broke their hearts, and I know that.

I wish they were friends in every universe.

[paladibun]

mike’s favorite people