#elmike speculations

[gayofthefae]

What if El confronts Mike about Will and he lies again and that's why they survive the time jump until it comes up again

[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

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

Will Byers on his way to stand in the middle of the background in every romantically coded scene of Mike and El like his life depends on it

[butterflysonnets]

yes i'm rooting for m*leven breakup because byler is neat but mostly? i'm rooting for m*leven breakup for the sake of el and mike.

to me, their romance was always a puppy love born out of a combination of social pressures, naïve curiosity, and a lack of true understanding regarding intimacy and romantic love and what it really is. it was real in that they do truly, deeply care about each other and they are close friends, maybe even shared an attraction, but a maturing romance is so much more than that. they've grown up and out of being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that's okay! i think television/film needs to show more often that most of us don't have definite "soulmates" or first childhood loves that we spend our whole lives with. it doesn't mean these relationships meant nothing and didn't impact us, it just means they've run their course and that something else is in the cards, and this is part of life!

i've always felt el was at her best and most confident self when broken up with mike, discovering who she was and what she liked alongside another girl her age instead of just relying on mike for mentorship on how to live in the real world. she deserves more of an opportunity to find herself, her autonomy, and her independence, and to love who she is, and she's made it clear she's felt insecure in the relationship with mike because she isn't being loved and understood the way she wants, needs, and deserves from someone who is her partner.

also, it's okay if mike doesn't love her in "the way he should". he is not obligated to love her romantically and stay in a relationship with her just because she's a girl, because she "needed someone", or because he cares about her a lot. he shouldn't be pressured into a romance if it's not truly coming from his heart. he deserves freedom to find out and honour who he is, too, instead of just staying in his non-functional first relationship — one he got into as a child, essentially — and defining himself that way because it's what's expected when a boy and a girl are close. he loves her in some way, yes, but it's okay if he doesn't feel comfortable or secure being her boyfriend anymore, for whatever reason that is. he's felt insecure too, and that's valid and it matters.

they are their own people and are steadily growing and changing every day. they need time to figure out who those people are, and it's become clear (at least in my opinion) that those people aren't meant to be a couple at this stage.

they deserve freedom. they deserve to grow up and be authentic to themselves and not feel like they need to lie for the sake of a relationship. they deserve to move on from this version of their relationship that isn't making them happy and rekindle the best part of their bond: their strong, beautiful friendship. they don't have to be a couple if it doesn't make them stronger and better and happier people.

i think it would be healthy and wonderful for a show, especially one consumed frequently by young adults, to show a relationship starting, progressing, and ending on good terms in this way. sometimes things don't work out, and that is okay.

[sunflowerbyler]

I could honestly see Mike coming out to El because she was never taught hate in that regard. She’s someone who wouldn’t hate him for it. She didn’t know what fairy meant when Troy called Will that but she knew it upset Mike so she protected him. Just El kicking homophobes asses in S5 please.

[radagasttt]

i used to be such a creelers denier but day by day i come around to it more and more. thinking about mike being related to henry and el being "related" to him. all the lab kids having henrys blood injected in them, mike having creel blood, the elmike sibling parallels.... idk

[lordystrange]

ST redditors want Mike and El to have some shared mission in s5, just the two of them.

And I’m not opposed to it.

What if they were just about to close the gates, after getting all the dangerous creatures that crawled into Hawkins back there. And then something pulled Will in right before the gates closed. And the lab people/army refused to open it because they are sure Will could not be alive anymore even seconds after going in there with all those creatures and it wouldn’t be worth it.

And we get all the emotional reactions from the characters and the camera focuses on Mike the most and he takes it the hardest. And he refuses to believe Will is gone (same as in s1). And one night he sneaks into El’s room and asks her to come open the gates and find Will. And that’s the shared mission. El and Mike go into the UD together to find Will, and during their quest they are finally forced to talk for real and we find out what’s going on in Mike’s head.

And then they find Will and we finally get a proper byler hug (and ofc willel hug too) and later, once they’ve had time to confess their feelings, we’ll get a kiss, maybe two.

Yeah, I’m not opposed to that at all. 😏

[upsidedownlurker]

My first draft of the elmike lip-sync leak! This is my little baby draft so it's gonna change a lot. Feel free to add your ideas in the comments. :D

[galecstatic]

no but i so love the idea of mike coming out to el. it won't matter how they're gonna execute it but thinking about it makes me feel good and excited for mike finally embracing who he really is and el being there to understand and love him even more for his honesty and vulnerability. it's gonna speak volumes for real.

[stranger-detective]

I think the theory that those BTS picks of Mike and El are his coming out is a good one.

It would feel odd for their breakup to be after the timeskip, so I think it makes a lot of sense!

[lunabug2004]

I’m kinda over these lip-reading theories. I do think the theories and speculations are fun but I don’t think they should cause craziness on either side (mileven or byler) because we are not going to know for sure until the show comes out. I just keep seeing people arguing about which ones are more accurate, and the new AI one is making things worse. We’re not gonna get any takes that aren’t biased (except maybe Nina’s but even then idk it’s still just gonna be a theory), and idc how reliable this person’s AI is, it is still posted by a person who has their own opinions and biases, I’m sorry but I won’t believe anything til the show comes out.

[gayofthefae]

Just imagined Mike and El doing a pinky swear and now I’m screaming inside. (El initiated it and Max taught her about it btw)

[strangertheories]

Me explaining that the point of Mike's love confession not being enough to defeat Vecna was not because Mike doesn't love her (he does, beyond romance) but because it challenges El's idea that the power of friendship and being good is enough to win and plays into her monster/hero dichotomy because before she felt like a monster because Mike didn't love her but she still didn't defeat Vecna after he told her he did and now she feels like she has been proven a monster because Mike's confession didn't work and this is why she avoids him, partially because she feels ashamed but also because she doesn't want to rely just on the power of his love anymore and because she wants to keep him safe and this is going to culminate in an argument where Mike is confused why El avoids him when she viewed him as "the heart" and he finds out that Eleven didn't commission the painting and/or they break up pre time skip:

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

I am really looking forward to the conversation Mike and El will have during or post-breakup and when Mike explains to her the feelings he has for Will, because I feel like this will be the only indicator we get of Mike's sexuality. He's probably not going to come out with it that he's gay or bi, but I think we should be able to surmise what his sexuality is based on the reasoning he gives El for why he can't be with her.

I feel like the biggest indicator we'll get is whether Mike tells El they can't work together because she is a girl or because he realizes that they're no longer compatible now that they're older. Like, he could say, "I do love you, but I think I've been mistaking the love I have for you for romance instead of friendship," or he could say, "I really *did* love you, but now that we're older, I think we work better as friends." I feel like it will really hinge on whether he admits to having loved El or not.

Low key, I think it's also very possible that Mike will remain unlabeled and that all we'll know from him is that he realizes he's been in love with Will for a long time. I can high key see him saying, "I don't know what it means or when exactly it happened, but I love Will and I know I'm supposed to be with him."

[chrisginny]

ok everyone out. from now on the only people allowed to decipher the elmike scene is the bad lip readings youtube channel

[byler-alarmist]

On my first go at rhe lip reading, I thought he said, "Do we have to be more than friends/does it have to be more than friends?"