#i am sorry but will byers is a whole person with trauma and interests as well as queerness that affects him

[gayofthefae]

I stand with Palestine but I also can't exactly afford to be picky with good representation. I'm sorry. Next question.

[witchling-valkyrie]

Stranger Things S4 Vol 2 Thoughts

Spoilers below, obviously. 

OKAY SO. I’ve really only seen two reactions from people: they either love the end of this season, or they hate it.

Since I’m a person who lies in the middle of that, I thought I’d casually weigh in my two cents here. Do with it what you will!

(& for a liiiitle context about me. I’m a bisexual mental abuse survivor & writer. Do with that what you will) 

I’ma start with my love, Max Mayfield

Something I saw about her arc this season on tumblr actually inspired this post. Essentially, it said something along the lines of “Way to have Max work through her trauma only to have her limbs snapped and go blind way to go Duffer brothers”

Okay first all--fair. It is so fair to be angry that Max has come to this beautiful, wonderful revelation about the trauma she suffered from Billy and his death, as well as letting her friends back in to help her only for her to die/nearly die. 

But here’s the thing: it’s supposed to make you angry. That’s the whole point! Because Max is one of our heroines, and she’s already suffered so much. But realistically, life isn’t fair that way. In the world of Stranger Things, life is not fair that way. Character’s amazing mental breakthroughs will not stop them from being physically harmed by a madman trying to kill her, I’m sorry. The “happily ever after” fan in me also wanted Max to fully escape and be totally fine, but I think the writers made the correct choice here. Max’s death/near death is powerful and upsetting! YOU SHOULD BE ANGRY! I sure as hell am--but on Max’s behalf in her storyline, not at the writers for making that choice! 

That being said, I fully think that Max had the best character arc this season. Her storyline was dynamic, thrilling, surprising, and troubling all in one. I hope she gets a “bad bitch take over the world” arc in season 5, because that queen deserves it. 

Side note--I think I would be happy with season five for a badass Max, Eleven, Will and Nancy team-up to fuck Venca up! Like, can you imagine? Woof. 

Moving on...Will and Mike. 

First of all, I’m gonna say that I 100% agree that Mike has gone from a really interesting character to the most blah “what are you even here for” character I’ve ever seen. The storyline of this season could have done without him completely. 

Secondly, I am also really disappointed that Will’s heartfelt and heartbreaking confession (for lack of a better word, I suppose, since he didn’t say the words & Mike is an oblivious blob) was used as a tool to further Mike and Eleven’s relationship. That just felt like twisting the knife. And perhaps I could have understood it storyline wise (if I could ignore the queerbating, which I can’t, but if I could) if Mike and Eleven’s relationship was even remotely interesting anymore, or if there was no other way for Eleven to power through in order to defeat Vecna. Mike and Eleven’s relationship has become boring. as fuck. Like I said above, Mike has turned into an extremely boring character that I can’t get behind in any context, let alone this one. 

ALSO fuck you Mike for saying your life got better as soon as she came into it when that’s when your best friend almost fucking died in fucking hell and is standing right god damn next to you. You’re a monster, Mike Wheeler. SO unless the Duffer brothers are intentionally trying to make Mike into an oblivious asshole (which hey, they might be! Idk what season 5′s gonna hold) then yeah, this was shitty af, cliche, writing. 

Piggybacking (lol) on that, there are 10 million other ways that Eleven could’ve been inspired enough by love to take on Vecna. IE Will and Jonathan, who are her BROTHERS now! Can you imagine a powerful Will Byers speech about how she found him and saved him and how his life has changed since she’s been in it? Or imagine if the timeline was a little different, the Hopper reunion would have been perfect for that moment, and 100x more powerful. 

Plus let’s be real, Mike’s speech sounded like every romance white boy speech in every Hallmark Christmas movie I’ve ever seen, okay. I said what I said. 

Side note--I really loved the Jonathan / Will scene though. They’ve always had one of my favorite relationship dynamics in the show, and this only furthered that for me. I always think it’s important that, when you have a character as traumatized and struggling as Will, you have one character who always sees them. Is this lovely as a romantic trope? Sure, but I think it can be just as powerful as a family relation. Jonathan is that for Will, and I really love that for them. 

A quick thing about Robin here, too. Her SL felt similar to the Will/Mike relationship in this way, but more realistic, I think? Like two women scared to come out but crushing on each other feels very relevant to me. Especially because the boyfriend was not at all relevant and gone in like...2 seconds. Still not great but I understood this writing choice a little more. 

Eddie. 

I’m tired of writers in general bringing on an interesting, dynamic character in just to kill them at the end of the season for some “coward to hero” journey. It’s bullshit, and I thought the writers were better than that, tbh. Would’ve been way more powerful if someone from the OG season died (Not Steve or Nancy simply because I will not allow it, nor Will because that would just be cruel of them). But like, can you imagine if this had been Dustin? Or Mike? Or Jonathan? YEAH. Way better writing. Like, c’mon. 

Russia

I mean I kind of have no words for how irrelevant Russia was other than to give Hopper and Joyce something to do this season. Happy they got together, tho. 

Eleven. 

I’m still very unsure how I felt about her storyline this season, mainly because as soon as I saw Papa I was like “ugh why are you still alive dickweed?” AND YES I know that his presence was meaningful to discovering One, but like..still. Her and One’s relationship was a super cool reveal and I like how that ties into the storyline of the show as a whole, but idk if we really needed the Eleven re-torture scenes for her to get her powers back. 

I don’t really have an alternative suggestion, though. 

Also, I don’t fully understand El’s powers anymore? She can now bring people back to life with good memories of them? I? Have? Questions?

Lastly, I just have to say that Nancy shooting Vecna like she did with no fear and ultimate badassery may have been my favorite scene. I love Nancy Wheeler, fight me. 

So yeah. That’s kinda where I’m sitting at with this season’s end. The Max and Will stuff I really wanted to get out, because I know that’s what most of the controversy was about that. I love other thoughts, but this is just my two cents & I’m not here to fight about it :) Would love to hear other takes, though!

[erectionsandtea]

OKaY GuYS, listen, I'm sorry to do this but I need to get this out bc I can't sleep bc it's bugging me so much, okay?

I want to say a few things to people who claim that mileven is fake/not in love/toxic in ST3 (and I don't mean byler/byeler fans specifically, jsyk), things that have probably been said before but I'm going to say them again anywah

Sorry in advance

1) I DON'T CARE if you think 14 year olds can't be in love. I'm not watching ST for its realism, I just want my babies to be happy

2) "mike and eleven's break up was so colorful and upbeat, so clearly they don't love each other" pREpARE tO BE TOLd

Eleven knows next to nothing about relationships, and most of what she DOES know (if not everything) she learns from max in those moments when max is convincing her to dump mike. Max tells el that she's dumped lucas like five (5) times, and he has always come crawling back. With how little el knows, she's probably thinking that's what will happen with Mike, she will dump him and he will come crawling back and all will good and whatever

"mike doesn't love el cos he didn't cry when she dumped him, also he just sits around in the basement eating cheetos and burping at lucas" while true, it could very be because MaYBE This dumping came out of NOwHERE, literally nowhere. They hadn't fought (yet), everything was fine (or so mike thinks), and then out of nowhere he just gets dumped?? Maybe he was just so shocked and confused that he wasn't registering it at first, mAYbE he was in denial, idk!!

Also I'm sure mike doesn't love el bc he doesn't spend the entire rest of the season trying to figure what he did wrong ,what's wrong with her, and trying to win her back, oh and also caring for and about her even tho they are still broken up Oh WAiT-

3) "mike doesn't love el, he loves will bc" etc, other stuff in s3 -> are we just ignoring that fact that mike is literally ignoring will a lot of the time bc he's stuck on el, I'm sorry but of our boy loved will maybe he would have stopped to play dnd with him

4) pleaSE zTOP comparing mileven's breakup to mike and Will's fight outside castle byers in the rain. They are not the same and shouldn't be compared like they are (and I am NOT saying that mike doesn't care about will at all or anything bC OFC He DoES)

5) mike literally does that cliche movie trope thing where he blurts out his feelings for el without even thinking or before he realizes what he's doing "I love her and I can't lose her again!" You can see the shock on his face after he says it, that shit isn't planned, it was spontaneous which often (THO NoT AlwayS I AdmIT) means it's true/real in tv and movies

6) "if mike loves el, why doesn't he say it back at the end of the season?"

*ahem* fIRST of all, because he already said it! SeCOnD of all, when she says it, she says "I love you too". You don't say it back to the person who is saying it back after you already said it once. It would just sound awkward. It doesn't matter that they both said it at different days/times, they can still both mean it

7) "why does mike avoid saying his feelings when el confronts him at the end?"

Picture this: you blurted out your feelings to the world, and then you find out mAYBE the person for whom you feel has heard it, but you don't know for sure, and they don't say it back. Then that person confronts you about saying it. AND you're a fuckin teenager!! You're probably going to be awkward and weird about it, and you might try to pretend you have no idea what they're talking about bc maybe if they don't feel the same way, you can just brush the whole thing off as a joke or pretend it never happened

8) "mileven's relationship is toxic/unhealthy, all they do is make out" -> they. Are. Teenagers. They're probly horny as fuck, aLSO who's to say they didn't talk and get to know each other over the MaNY mONthS separating seasons 2 and 3? You can't say, I can't say, we don't know, not to mention they did get to know each other (EVEN IF JuST A liTTLE bIT) during season 1, remember? You honestly expect me to believe that horny teens won't be all over each other at every fuckin opportunity?? Please

"well max and lucas weren't making out all the time" well max and lucas could be at a different stage of their relationship, couldn't they, they haven't know each other QUITE as long, haven't been through QUITE as much trauma together...see what I'm saying?

"neither mike or el spend any time with anyone else, their relationship is so unhealthy" um yes they do, after they break up their time together gets quite limited okay, and I will agree with you that I think they needed some of that

9) and maybe, MayBE mileven won't be endgame, okay, it is possible, but I will not sit here and pretend that the reason they are not endgame is because they don't care about and love each other

EDIT: 10) "el isn't ready for a relationship" maybe so but y'all think will is?? (Okay this one may be directed at byler/byeler)

Will basically went from pre-pubescent to puberty without properly transitioning between the two, because he was either missing, possessed, or suffering from ptsd for like two years!! And when he's finally okay (mostly), all he wants to do is pretend things are how they used to be. He's not interested in relationships or love or whatever, poor boy just wants to play dnd and not worry or think about stupid grown-up stuff

The last thing he needs (imo) is MORE drama from a relationship. What he needs is someone to just be there for him.

~

I know, I'm a bitch, byeler/byler shippers will hate me (if they don't already) or maybe everyone hates me

But

I'm just tired

You can't just claim a ship is real or not but at the sAME TIMe ignore crucial details or facts okay ? (I mean okay, I guess you can, but like why??)

I am going to bed now, of I think of anything else to say, I will add it in the morning, and I am ready for the hate

❤️

[themikewheelers]

No other part, I thought maybe someone could write a whole one shot of Mike trying to hide his wound and trauma to protect El. I think it could be an interesting dynamic that rarely gets explored, actually

A week after closing the gate, Mike visited the cabin for the first time. It was small and cramped and conveniently located in the middle of nowhere, and for the first time since she returned, Mike really wondered how El had managed to stay sane the past year. He thought he had a rough time with grief and all, but after witnessing the complete isolation El was in for months, Mike felt like a complete crybaby for how he reacted when she was gone.

This wasn’t the only time he felt like a crybaby since she came back, he’d been feeling that a lot lately. It felt like El had been through a hundred times worse than anything he’d dealt with, and she fought through it with her head held high, while he just cried into a walkie-talkie for a year. 

Boys are supposed to be strong for their girlfriends (was she his girlfriend? The thought of it alone made Mike blush), but lately Mike felt like El was this powerful, sturdy badass, and he was just leaning on her for protection. It wasn’t like Mike was much of a manly-man. He’d never been the strong, athletic boy his father wanted him to be, and he wasn’t threatened by El’s strength, but still, he wanted to be able to protect her and support her and be there for her, not the other way around. 

So he’d swallowed all his crybaby tendencies. He didn’t mention how upset he was when she was gone, or the nightmares he’d been having every night, or the growing bruise on his shin from when he fell in the tunnels. She’d gone through worse, and he wanted to be there for her, not whine about his own problems.

But it couldn’t be kept a secret forever, especially after Mike had biked to the cabin in the middle of the woods that day, his leg was already bothering him and he needed to rest it, but didn’t want to make it obvious something was wrong. When El asked him to grab her a drink from the fridge, he wasn’t about to deny her, so he bit back a groan and stood up to walk across the room to get it. He thought he was doing an okay job hiding the sharp pain racing down his leg, but evidently he wasn’t.

“Mike, you’re limping.”

“Huh?” He called back from the kitchen, not catching what she’d said. His face was buried in the fridge reaching for a soda, and when he turned around he nearly dropped the can.

El had silently snuck up behind him, and was now looking at him with her head tilted and eyebrows furrowed, “What happened to your leg?”

Mike was putting his weight onto his left leg, and stared down at his swollen right ankle. He’d made sure to wear long pants and socks to cover his ghastly bruise from her, “What are you talking about?”

“You were limping.”

“No I wasn’t.” Mike shuffled his feet. He didn’t like to lie to her, but it was what was right. She didn’t need to be worried about him, she had enough to worry about herself. But Mike was never a good liar, “I must have just been walking funny.”

El glared at him, and for a moment Mike was sure she was about to hit him what that “Friends don’t lie,” but instead she took a more direct approach. She jerked her head, and the bottom of Mike’s pants rolled itself up, exposing the different shades of purple and blue that had snaked around his shin and ankle. In a moment, her expression changed from confusion to concern.

“Mike!” She gasped, “What happened?!”

“It’s nothing…” He reached up to rub the back of his neck, averting her insistent gaze.

She glared at him, “Mike,” she repeated, more forcefully this time, “What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He brushed her off, literally, walking past her out of the kitchen to head back to the couch where they were sitting before. He turned around, expecting her to follow him, but she was still standing by the fridge, tears welling up in her eyes at his reaction.

Mike sighed, “I’m sorry El, please don’t get upset. It’s just… it’s from the tunnels, okay?”

El knew all about his trip to the tunnels. If anything, her reaction to it had just solidified in his mind not to tell her any of the stuff that had happened lately. When she found out, after seeing the tell-tale goo all over his hoodie when she got back from closing the gate, at first she was angry he had risked himself like that for her. (“What if the dogs hurt you? What if the fire burned you? What if you didn’t get out before I closed the gate and got stuck down there?”) But after her tirade of questions, it became clear to Mike she wasn’t really mad, she was just upset he had put himself in danger like that. He tried to explain that he was doing it to help her, but her reaction to that just made him feel guiltier. (“You said you can’t lose me again, but I can’t lose you either, Mike”).

After that, Mike had made up his mind, there was no way he was telling her about the one moment he really was in danger down there. His injured leg would heal eventually, and she didn’t need to know what happened to it. It would only hurt her to find out. It didn’t help that El was literally passed out in Hopper’s arms when she had first arrived back at the Byers. She nearly died saving them, Mike wasn’t going to complain about a bruised ankle.

“What happened in the tunnels?” She was looking down now, not wanting to press him on something that upset him, but her curiosity getting the best of her. She shuffled her feet, “You never told me.”

Mike didn’t answer at first and she continued, “If you want to tell me, that is.”

He looked down at his swollen ankle and thought it over for a moment. El knew he was injured now anyway, whether he told her or not she would worry about him, and that’s all he was trying to avoid. There was no point in keeping it a secret from her now, “Well, when we were down there, we were running away and I fell, and these vines–”

“Vines?”

Mike had forgotten she was never down there with them, she didn’t even know what the tunnels looked like, “It was just like the Upside Down. There were these vines everywhere, all over the floors and walls and everything. And when I fell one of them grabbed me. It squeezed my leg pretty bad, Steve had to come cut it off me.”

“Mike…” She whispered. She had made her way back next to him now, and reached out to cup his cheek.

“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you. I just… I didn’t want you to worry. And I didn’t want you to think I was weak.” He leaned his face into her palm, closing his eyes.

Her eyebrows furrowed together, “How does that make you weak?”

“It was just a vine. I should have been able to just pull it off,” Mike sighed, pulling away from her hand on his cheek and staring down at his feet, “And you got actually hurt that night, I didn’t want to sound like a wimp complaining about my bruised leg.”

El shook her head insistently, refusing to believe there was anything weak in what he did. If anything he had the worse end of the deal; she just passed out for a couple hours, and here he was, limping on a swollen ankle a week later, “You were hurt too. Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want ice or someth–”

Mike cut her off, not wanting the same lecture his mom had given him when she saw his leg. He lied and said he fell off his bike, and she wouldn’t stop nagging him to rest it, “I’m fine. It just hurts a little bit when I walk.”

“Okay, good.” She smiled. The bruise looked serious, but if he insisted he was okay, she was choosing to believe him.

He smiled back at her and their eyes met. El couldn’t help the blush growing on her cheeks when he looked at her like that, with a sparkle in his eye and a wolfish expression that made her heart feel like it was in her throat. She still didn’t understand why he didn’t want to tell her, did he really think she would see him as weak? He was anything but weak. He was the boy who time after time had protected her and took care of her and made everything okay. He was the strongest person she knew. How could he not see that?

“You’re not weak, Mike. You went down there to save me and let yourself get hurt doing it. That’s brave.” Once again she reached up to cup his cheek. This time he didn’t resist, but still refused to meet her eyes, unable to accept just how strong she found him, “And for the record, I will always worry about you. Because I care about you and want to protect you.”

“But I don’t want you to protect me.” He shook his head, “I should be the one to be protecting you.”

El wasn’t about to debate him with that. She would never stop protecting him, she’d been doing it since the moment she met him, and for as long as she lived, she’d be worrying about him and doing her best to protect him and take care of him just like he did for her. That wasn’t up for discussion, “Compromise then. We protect each other.” She looked up at him, expecting him to continue to argue that he didn’t want her protection, but he just smiled and pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry I’m stupid,” he whispered into her hair, clutching onto her.

She shook her head, “Not stupid.”

“Yeah I am,” he sighed, “Sometimes I just feel like too much of a crybaby to talk to you about stuff. Like you’ve got enough going on yourself, you don’t need me whining about my problems.”

“That’s stupid. But you’re not,” she teased him. The fact that he felt that way about opening up to her bothered her, but they both knew it was ridiculous.

Mike giggled at her, and El swore her heart began to speed up at it. She loved the sound of his laugh. “You’re right,” he conceded, and soon enough they were both giggling into the hug.

Eventually El pulled away. As much as she could stay there forever, laughing in Mike’s arms, she wanted to make sure he really understood her. When she pulled out of the hug, he looked down at her, concerned he did something wrong, and she grabbed his hand, “If something is bad enough to bother you, then it’s bad enough to tell me, okay? I want you to talk about me. I want to support you as much as you support me.”

He squeezed her hand. It may be hard to open up, but he knew El really cared about him, she would never think of him as some whiny crybaby. Mike didn’t have a clue how he got lucky enough to have such an amazing girl in his life, but he did know he loved her so much. “I promise, from now on I’ll tell you more stuff.”

“More stuff?” Her eyebrows wrinkled together and she began to look down his entire body, expecting to see another ghastly bruise he hid from her.

“No, not other injuries. I just mean generally, like more stuff that bothers me,” He squeezed her hand again to reassure her that, with the exception to his leg, physically he was okay at least, “Like nightmares and stuff.”

“Oh,” she sighed, relieved, “I get nightmares too. You can tell me about them if you want?”

Mike smiled, “I’d like that.”

Their gaze met once more, and they both beamed at each other. Mike began to recount one particularly bad image of the tunnels that had been haunting him for the past several nights, and El listened on, intent, and reassuring him that he was okay and that she was there for him. Mike always knew she was there, he never doubted that. He may have occasional trouble actually going to her, but he always knew she was there when he needed her.

Opening up to her when he was hurt was something he needed to work on, but he always knew that when he was ready, she’d be there. And he’d be there too when she needed him. They always had each other to lean on, because that’s just who they were. They supported each other, they took care of each other, they protected each other.

That would never change.