#i mean. the Alan Turing poster?

[bylertruther]

do you ever think about how will probably wishes he was braver?

that he could tell mike the truth about himself without having to speak in code. that he could stick to his guns when he's been wronged and stand up for himself rather than tucking tail and turning the other cheek. that he could be less shy, less sensitive, less cowardly, and maybe then his loved ones wouldn't forget about him as often as they do.

maybe then they would pick him first, rather than leaving him for last. maybe then they would want to hang out with him and hear what he has to say. maybe then they would treat him like they used to, like he can still take care of himself just like they can, instead of like a fragile little thing that they pick up only when they need him. maybe then they would care about him as much as he cares about them. maybe then he wouldn't doubt that it could all come crashing down once they know who he really is, and always has been, because the rest of him would've been enough.

like, maybe he wishes he didn't freeze or run away so much. maybe he wishes he wasn't so afraid all the time, of every little thing. that he could be brave like mike, el, or his mom. i mean, el's been through so much, too. why can't he be more like her? why does he have to hide behind her? he hides behind her when the monsters come crawling back, and he hides behind her when he can't bring himself to say what he really means—even after getting on her case about it.

he spent so much time on that painting. he didn't let anyone see it—it was that special to him. why couldn't he own up to that? there's no monster in the van with him; it's just him and mike and this painting of the party, nothing inherently incriminating or romantic, and still—he can't help himself. he retreats back into the shadow, shrinks into himself, and tells lie after lie to the person that he never lies to, that he knows doesn't fucking deserve that, just because he's too scared.

of course he'd feel like a mistake sometimes. of course he'd hate who he is (if That script is to be believed), when he can't even talk to the one person that would understand without lying straight to his face, over and over again, like a fucking hypocrite. of course he'd feel so lost without the person that tells him it's okay to be this way and shows him that there is indeed strength in it. of course he'd hate who he is when he's encouraging someone to be true and speaking about their courage, all while being incapable of taking his own advice, and giving the credit for all of his love and efforts and emotions to someone else.

so many people died to bring him back, so many people died just because he didn't stay dead when maybe he should have, and for what? so that he can continue to hide rather than live his life? so that he can turn into a "worse" version of himself? so that he can live in fear? so that he can continue to ache for a past that he can never return to, while everyone else moves forward and berates him for not doing the same? time stopped in the upside down when will went missing, and he's been stuck there ever since, too. too much has happened for him to move on from. too much has changed—he's changed. he's too different now, in every way, and the older he gets the more clear it becomes.

of course he'd feel like a mistake. of course he'd hate who he is. he's the common denominator here: in his loneliness and in this war. the boy who came back to life when others didn't. the boy that got possessed and couldn't fight it. the boy that turned into a liar and a coward and must learn to live with it, even if it's at his own expense. the boy that can't let go of the past and whom the past won't let go of either, because even after everything, he's still connected to this great evil that won't let him go. they got it out of him, and yet the tether remains, because of-fucking-course it would.

just—why? why him? why can't anything ever go right with him? why is he always the outlier? i think that overwhelming amount of fear, shame, grief, guilt, exhaustion, and loneliness would wear anyone down, let alone a teenager that never asked for any of it and has experiences so unfathomably unique that the only other people that could have possibly understood are literally dead.

[bewilderedbuck]

byler having sex could be extremely important to will's coming of age as a gay man.

hear me out.

(also - before anyone comes at me for sexualizing minors - i'm not saying i want an explicit sex scene. i don't! something like jancy's s2 fade to black would be more than enough for me.)

now back to the point:

will has heard his whole life how being gay is this disgusting, dirty, vile thing - from his father & from bullies at school. likely other adults around the town, as well, considering we hear troy referencing what his dad said about will being killed by "some other queer" in season 1. not to mention this story is set in the midst of the aids epidemic. i mean, he's from a small town in bumfuck indiana, he's no doubt heard his share of casual and overt homophobia throughout the years. (and then there's the alan turing poster in s4...) long story short, he's only heard negative things about being gay. about loving other boys and wanting other boys and desiring other boys.

but then there's mike. his best friend. the one person that makes him feel like he's not a mistake for being different. for being gay.

mike & will having sex, being intimate and together in a way will was always taught was gross and wrong, and learning that it isn't any of those things - will learning that loving mike and wanting mike and desiring mike is beautiful, and wonderful, and right - and having mike want him back, desire him back, learning that it's okay, it's good, continuing that arc of mike making him feel like he's not a mistake, that he's better for being different because he gets to have this with mike - he deserves that moment, i think. and mike does, too.

[spicybylerpolls]

people sleeping on the fact that mike and will hadn't seen each other in their time apart, which is when their sexualities were coming into bloom. so any sexual attraction and burgeoning sexuality is not about objectivism or lewdness, but rather fantasy, sensation memory, imagination...

the duffers made this absence a choice in the story, and its a clever device. think how different stranger things would be if will and el hadn't left, and mike's attraction to men was coming into bloom with will and el still around in hawkins!

so seeing as it's fantasy, its not like byler's attraction could even be dirty - it was just about them thinking of being close to each other, their dreams etc were probs so vague and emotional instead. and then when they saw each other again, it reiterates the awkwardness of said fantasy, because their memories probably distorted how each other looked somewhat and so encountering the real thing is jarring.

i also think that will is just as aware of sexuality as mike, but also a little closer to accepting his identity (alan turing poster). his discomfort is a huge part of the story, his IH, his dad, his shame, but just because will doesn't have posters of guys on his wall doesn't mean he isn't thinking physically of sex: he checks out mike at the airport, when theyre walking out of the airport, at the breakfast table, etc.

at this point, again, a lot of it is curiosity: i haven't seen you for half a year, oh, this is what you look like now... AND oh, i'm attracted to you and now I can see what your body looks like, i hadn't paid much attention to that before ...

and ofc we have mike doing the same (in the bedroom scene) and then there's all the phallic imagery which is a wink and a nod, but also i think has double meaning for other things in the story, like the split/rod through the brain changing the personality thing from s2

and lastly, let's not forget that will is an artist. we don't know if he has been doing life drawing classes (not sure how the US system works with this stuff in schools) but he HAS been drawing figures for much of his life. when he did that painting of the party, a lot of attention to detail was paid. not to say it's a sexual painting, but if you look at mike's stance compared to the other party members, the way he's standing, you have to acknowledge that will had no problem painting mike's anatomy, his legs, crotch, his body. the stance calls for it, but will could also have picked another stance. he could have had the shield lower (it's barely covering mike actually - is it symbolic of something else?!?!), mike's left leg could have been forwards... anything. as an artist, when i was younger specifically, i would have been blushing as I was painting a friend i was in love with, if i had to paint their body in this way.

we know will expresses himself through his art and stories, and painting someone is a very intimate act. i think will expresses not only his love but his sexuality this way.

++ am i saying that when theyre a bit older, mike is going to pull a rose dewitt bukater and ask to be drawn? jury's still out. but for now, that painting, for will, was probably an extended part of the fantasy of mike in his absence.

Delicious points, nonny!

"Then when they saw each other again, it reiterates the awkwardness of said fantasy, because their memories probably distorted how each other looked somewhat and so encountering the real thing is jarring."

YES! 🫡 Of course, that's a huge part of the deliriousness, awkward fever dream of the airport reunion and the fruity ass roller rink. And I'd never thought of this aspect of it, but I LOVE the idea that Will's painting and the level of anatomical detail given to Mike inherent to it is a huge way of Will expressing and exploring his sexuality.

No wonder El picked up on Will liking someone. He was glowing with desire and passion. He was overflowing with love for Mike Wheeler. Art is the one place Will can be gay as hell, the one place where Will's fantasies have a natural (and plausible deniable, if needed) outlet.

And I can't imagine that as a teen boy, his mind didn't wander to other places lmao, especially while drawing Mike in this way and thinking about what might be underneath Mike's armor 😋.

And if just the idea of Mike being the heart and being the leader and being the hero is enough to get Will giggling and twirling his bowl cut and kicking his feet? RIP Will in Season 5. Especially with the muscles Mike has started to show in these recent Finn pics? ❗❓

[alisaint]

there's a difference between crying a lot and being a "crybaby." The accusation "crybaby" is something Will antis throw at Will a lot, but the difference between you and me is that you seem to say, "Hell yeah, he is!" whereas we say, "No, that's not true. Crying doesn't make you a crybaby."

crybaby typically has a negative connotation within culture. And I definitely disagree with the idea that will is powerless (not any more powerless than anyone else, pretty much everyone other than El is powerless... Mike is often powerless too) or "delicate" (he certainly doesn't want to be treated in that way, as he's made clear).

Is he liable to break? Maybe. Sometimes. But so are most of the other characters? I don't think he's more liable to break than others, and even if he is, party of his bravery is pushing through that hell.

perseverance IS a form of bravery. You can even argue that Will's internal struggles are a sign of his bravery precisely because he doesn't want to burden others with his pain. Mike is brave too, and I fully agree that he has more traditional knight in shining armor traits, and so the question of, "Who is braver?" then comes down to what kind of bravery you value more. Mike is also going through a lot too.

I wholeheartedly agree that Will is sensitive, but I think we disagree on what that means. I don't see Will's sensitivity as a limitation, so I don't think it should be combined with other terms that actually are seen as negative in one poison pill package.

And I don't think will's sensitive traits are a weakness at all. In fact, I actually think Will being unapologetically himself is one of the things that make him brave, and it's why I voted for him. He made an Alan Turing poster! But I think distilling him down to those traits and placing him in a stereotypical gendered box is misguided, and IMO it twists Will's positive traits into a weakness by exaggerating them/Flanderizing them. And when that happens, the people who DO see them as weaknesses pounce. And for good reason.

Because it's not Will! And Will is gonna be the hero in S5!

I do believe in nuance. My position is very nuanced. But when it comes to these polls it really does seem like people take sides, and there are two very different ways of seeing these characters. And the usual suspects tend to chime in for your "side" of the debate.

So in conclusion?

Will sensitive? Yes.

Will crybaby? Well, he certainly cries, but I wouldn't use that term.

Will powerless? Sometimes, but it's not a core trait.

Will "delicate?" Not a fan of that term. Nor is Will lol.

Will cowardly? Not a fan of that term either.

Will damsel in distress? Sometimes. Situationally. But again, it's not something he's defined by, nor is it something he wants to be.

Mike brave? Absolutely. He's the paladin!

Will brave? Hell yes!

Who is braver? Well, that's up for debate.

one thing you'll notice if you live in and interact with others in the world is that people will often take a pejorative word that is being thrown at them and reclaim it in order to render it powerless. will does cry a lot. because he's a sensitive gay boy, misogynistic people will opt for the low hanging fruit that is calling him a crybaby. by saying "yes, and? what's so wrong about a boy crying? especially when his life is shit and he has a million reasons to cry?" you're doing much more for him and everyone else that's faced similar bullying than you are doing whatever this is. turn that statement back on them. make them explain to everyone in the class why that's such a bad thing.

if will isn't powerless against those that attack him, then why doesn't he fight back? if he does hold power, why doesn't he wield it? is it because he's a coward then? or...? like, lol. he is powerless. the odds are stacked against him in every single way, both in a supernatural and sociopolitical way. it's also just not who he is. if he wasn't meant to be powerless, i don't think the duffers would've written him in such a way repeatedly in multiple seasons. he can't fight back against his bullies and he can't fight back against monsters. if his loved ones hadn't worked together against unimaginable horrors to save him, he would've died.

will does not have the ability (couldn't fire the gun; doesn't fight back), resources (hasn't used any superpowers to fight), influence (he was overtaken by the shadow monster; he is lower on the totem pole among his peers and sociopolitically), power (couldn't fire the gun; no powers like el), authority (lower on the totem pole; his father has more power over him; has a gentler, more passive personality), or capacity (again, gentler, more passive personality; couldn't fire gun; not a fighter) to fight back and win against the antagonists.

he's a character in a show. he was written and shown to be powerless against all that hunted him. he literally died in season one and was close to being lost again in season two. like... huh? and i never said he was more powerless than anyone else. stop jumping to conclusions and arguing with a made up version of me that exists only in your head.

will doesn't want to be treated like a baby that can't handle himself. he wants understanding, empathy, and support. not to be smothered or wrapped in bubble wrap. the only characters that manage to do this are mike and then jonathan after will shares this with him. still, will is sensitive. characters don't treat him the way they do other characters (and this is called having tact). lucas even tells max not to talk to him about anything that happened when he disappeared, because "he is really sensitive about it". will gets ptsd flashbacks. he freezes up and experiences a bodily reaction. he gets panic (?) attacks. he is susceptible to triggers, he requires careful handling, etc. he's tough! and he doesn't want to be babied! but he's treated sensitively because he is sensitive and this is unique to him. they don't roughhouse or bro out with him the way they do with other male characters. like. even the party has to go through mike to get to will when it comes to the more sensitive stuff lol.

when you say "but not more than the other characters" you're still agreeing with me. you're wasting time saying. again, you're making assumptions. fucking quit it. lord knows i'm saying enough as is! you don't gotta make up more shit!

the question of who is more brave comes down to what you define as bravery, not your values.

you'll find that a lot of definitions of bravery and brave mention courage. a lot of these definitions suit mike more than they suit will.

we both agree that perseverance is a form of bravery, that's what i meant by strength to survive all that he's survived lol, so idk why you wanna capitalize and act like i don't. i just think mike fits more of the definitions, the most popular and standard definition. this poll asks who's bravER not who's brave point blank.

…….. why would you ever think i view his sensitivity as a limitation? especially after i just said it's his strength and spoke extremely clearly? like. what the fuck are you talking about? and people absolutely do see his sensitivity as a negative. both in canon and in real life. why do you think they use crybaby as an insult? why do you think he gets bullied both by his peers and his dad? for the love of god, think about the shit you say and these points you're making instead of just trying to fight with me for no fucking reason.

he's not being placed in any stereotypical gendered box. i'm sorry for you and the people you'll meet if you really think that just listing his traits and things that have happened in the show is placing him in some box. it doesn't make him a girl to be sensitive or a former damsel in distress. it also doesn't make him a stereotype. which btw. you do realize people like that exist right? like. you don't even realize how homophobic you're being. people like that exist. stereotypes do not arise out of thin air. people will see those things and consider it a weakness and pounce BECAUSE THEY'RE HOMOPHOBIC AND MISOGYNISTIC. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD USE YOUR BRAIN AND READ THEORY AND HISTORY AND JUST FUCKING THINK.

will is sensitive, a crybaby, a former damsel, and so on and so forth and still he's going to be the hero. these are not contradictory statements. you say you understand nuance, and yet you spew all of this black and white lonnie bullshit. will is not a perfect mary sue cardboard cutout kind of character. he has strengths, weaknesses, positive traits, neutral traits, negative traits, he's been right, he's been wrong, etc etc. he's a fully-fledged character.

the only person trying to shove him into a box is YOU. the only person being homophobic is YOU. the only person assuming shit is YOU.

the question was who's braver. i looked up the definitions, thought back to canon, made my choice, and explained why. my argument that mike is more brave does not mean that will is not brave. it does not mean that he has never been brave and never will be brave. stop. being. willfully. obtuse.

[strangertheories]

I never knew the true meaning of vindication until I saw Will Byers holding an Alan Turing poster after feeling like I was going insane for years when every article and Reddit post insisted that Will was a heterosexual boy who was just too distracted by D&D to care about girls

[solskd]

A timeline for all the byler ws (so far)

this is a compilation of all the times byler nation earned a w, through sources such as the writer's Twitter accounts, official Netflix accounts, interviews, articles, and from the official cast + the duffer bros!

Pre S4

Oct 14, 2019→ "Let's start a new party, you and me." The ominous post from the Stranger Things writers…

Oct 18, 2019 → Stranger Things official writers: responding with incorrect answers only, responded to someone asking if they believed in love at first sight. Responded with absolutely. Foreshadowing to the S4 infamous Mike monologue being null?

Oct 28, 2019 → Stranger things official writers describing the characters as musicals. Will was assigned the musical, Spring Awakening, a coming-of-age story, where teens navigate their life coming to terms with their ever changing selves and expressing their sexuality. 

August 2nd, 2020 → Netflix India's Instagram posting the famous "Crazy Together" scene, with the caption "How to say 'I love you' without saying 'I love you'" 

May 22, 2021 → Noah Schapp during a fan interview in regards to shipping Byler, "I do, there's definitely some of that in the next season." 

Feb 17, 2022 → S4 posters were revealed. Mike and Will were seen on the same poster, looking directly at each other.

May 23, 2022 → Netflix Latin America Youtube: Stranger Things Cast Members, Finn Wolfhard and David Harbour hint at Will's feelings towards Mike > DAVID: If you've been watching the show you should know that Will's not interested in El, he's interested in someone else in the group. FINN: Yeah, and you'll see soon, who he's interested in. DAVID: VERY interested in. 

ST4V1 RELEASE: 

May 27, 2022→ The release of ST4 V1

What it brought us:

- The framework of Will's feelings towards Mike in a more non-subtle way. 

- Will painting something for someone he likes. 

- The Alan Turing Project, I mean COME ON 

- The possibility of Mike slowly realizing his feelings towards Will as well (eg, the awkward dynamic much different from previous seasons between the two, Mike throwing away El's letter before heading out of his home, Mike's inability to say that he loves El.) 

- The beautiful scene while they're packing, "It's Hawkins… it's not the same without you… and I feel like maybe, I was worrying too much about El, and I don't know, maybe I feel like I lost you or something." 😭

- The car heart-to-heart!!! Incredible!!

POST V1 

May 28, 2022 - June 30, 2022 → Just a whole lot of theories from Byler Nation

June 2, 2022 → Noah Schnapp's Twitter, "S4 has me shipping byler over anything… vol. 2 now!!" 

June 5th, 2022 → Noah Schapp at Awesome Con on his favorite ships, "...obviously Byler is just- at its peak right now, they're- they're building that up." ((Noah our byler warrior))

ST4V2 RELEASE:

What it brought us: 

- The painting was revealed!!! Mike is Will’s heart!! (Because we all know Mike is NOT the heart of the group lol)

- The heartbreaking van scene, although necessary to let the general audience cue in on Will’s feelings.

- The Surfer Boy pizza scene with Jonathan and Will… although not an official coming out, it does give us the satisfaction of Jonathan fulfilling his brotherly role and reassuring Will, would be met with nothing but love from him, should he ever choose to open up to him. 

- While initially at surface value, this can be taken as an L, Mike's monologue was only prompted by Will and was almost in response to Will’s disguised feelings in the van scene. Even with the monologue, El could not defeat Vecna, and only came close when realizing her self worth. (EL INDEPENDANT ARC??? PLEASE)

- The framework for the general audience and their reception of Will’s feelings, gearing them to feel more sympathetic.

POST V2

Jul 13, 2022 → THE SCRIPT FOR EPISODE 4, DEAR BILLY, BEING RELEASED. OMG CONTENT GALORE!!

Jul 14, 2022 → Noah Schnapp confirms Will is gay, and in love with Mike on an interview with Variety Magazine!!! (We’ve known but it's nice to see this being validated)

Also confirmed: Will has been in love with Mike since S1. This isn’t something that was just “pulled out of nowhere”, like those who deny like to say.

This also shows that we aren’t “looking too hard into things” as the subtext and clues were always there!  We just picked up on that and analyzed it! Now think of how many other things we’ve noticed that can possibly turn out to be canon! 

Jul 15, 2022 → Noah Schnapp in an interview with NBC news regarding Will’s story arc: “They're still working it out, but they have their end goal. There's so many different things they have to address obviously we hope for a coming-out scene…”  they have an end goal…

Similarly, on the same day, Brett Gelman and Shawn Levy are seen to be liking tweets in regards to Byler. Shawn Levy we should particularly take note of as he is a producer and director on Stranger Things.

Jul 16, 2022 → Brett Gelman speaks out on twitter in support of Byler and the LGBTQ+ community!! 

Jul 18, 2022 → Noah Schnapp saying that the ending positions of all the characters on the hill, in the finale of S4 were purposely curated by the Duffer Brothers, and could possibly be foreshadowing…

Jul 20, 2022 -> High school Musical, Byler parallel being brought to the internet and becoming viral in the mainstream media

NOT DATED 

Gaten (pls take this with a grain of salt, I'm not sure if the account was his official one) and Noah liking byler content on TikTok

Millie saying Eleven is in a state in their relationship where, “If he [Mike] doesn’t love me, he doesn’t love me.” ELEVEN DISCOVERING HERSELF ON HER OWN ARC PLS.

[I probably missed some so pls feel free to tell me if I missed any!!]

[aemiron-main]

no bc it’s so funny to me that canonically we have seen mike look repelled by girls/references to them more times that we’ve seen will (canonically gay) be uninterested/repelled by girls

like sure, Will rejects the girl in Lenora + wants a day free of girls (which seems to also be mostly tied to the fact that will associates girls with not being able to spend time with his friends which IS true in s3 even with sexualities aside), but mike?

Mike canonically:

-looked visibly disturbed/grossed out when dustin was talking about phoebe cates

-made a more disturbed face when El kissed him at the end of s3 than he did while literally holding an inter-dimensional snot slug in s2

-took his girlfriend’s hands off of him while she kissed him

-could not to kiss his girlfriend in s4 without wearing sunglasses

-stood in front of the word “women,” while looking upset and talking about “bullshit media propaganda”

-other examples I’m too tired to grab rn but will put in my full gay mike writeup

like will is absolutely not interested in girls, but the writers show that by not putting him in very many scenarios with girls in any sort of romantic way (ie, it’s just total apathy towards girls in a romantic sense) whereas with mike, the writers chose to put him into those romantic situations with girls but also chose to make him look actively upset by these interactions, rather than just apathetic.

like we don’t have a scene of Will’s face when Dustin mentions Phoebe Cates- because it’s a literal representation of his apathy, the show isn’t even SHOWING us Will’s reaction because he simply does not care. it’s the epitome of apathy. but we DO see Mike’s reaction because the show is showing us his active dislike of affection from women/his active lack of attraction towards women. like we aren’t just Not Seeing It due to apathy like we are with will. We are being explicitly shown that mike Does Not Like it.

and imo (like I’m gonna write in my analysis), this is due to the difference in Will and Mike’s upbringings and the difference in how heteronormativity affects them and how Will is more accepting of his sexuality and less affected internally by heteronormativity compared to mike and how therefore will doesn’t feel the same pressure to BE attracted to women because his sexuality is framed as an attraction to men rather than a lack of attraction to women (ie lonnie and the bullies target will for being gay and verbatim call him gay a queer whereas for people like Ted towards mike, it’s jabs about a LACK of girls around him, Ted doesn’t make fun of Mike being around Will or call him gay/queer, he pokes fun at mike for NOT being around girls) and how even the viewer’s pov of Mike’s sexuality, which is inherently queer by nature, is still put through a heteronormative lens and framed as lack of attraction to women rather than active attraction to men (even though he IS attracted to men)/how Will is rarely shown to lack attraction to women (even though he absolutely does) but his interest in me /being called gay is brought up repeatedly.

We DO see evidence of an active attraction towards men for Mike just like how sometimes (like the girl in Lenora), we DO as we evidence of a LACK of attraction towards girls for Will. But usually it’s us seeing active attraction towards dudes for Will (ie I don’t mean him staring at men gayly 24/7 but I do mean things that are overt references to being gay rather than overt references to not being attracted to women, things like the Alan Turing poster, things like him being called gay slurs, things like him being bullied specifically FOR seeming gay) and also seeing a lack of attraction towards girls for Mike. (Ie mike still shows us hints of being attracted to guys just like Will shows us hints of being actively repelled by girls but for Mike it’s usually us being shown an active dislike of girls (in a romantic sense not a misogyny sense) rather than Will who is shown to have the active interest in men more often. They’re equally disinterested in girls and equally interested in men, it’s not that mike is just not really into girls or guys/less into men than Will is, it’s about their upbringing and the differences in the ways in which heteronormativity has affected them + their worldview + how they view themselves)

[proud-mama-joyce]

Love confessions: the “code” of Season 4?

It’s been a rough couple of days on the Byler tag, but here’s a sliver of hope. (Or delusion? Time will tell, and I really don’t mind being entirely wrong, so here goes nothing.)

This post by @byersbyler sharing someone’s tweets got me thinking. https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/byersbyler/688707836951330816?source=share

I agree that Mike is smart enough to connect the dots here about what Will is really saying in the van. On a rewatch of this scene, I am fully of the opinion that Mike seems to catch on to Will’s veiled confession after he mentions pushing Mike away—only he and Will did that to each other (not Mike and El to the same degree since they kept in touch with letters), which was already discussed in the season between them. In this reading of the scene, Mike knows Will is telling him that he will always need him, which is why he looks so touched at that moment. It also explains why Mike doesn’t console Will afterwards—he thinks that Will knows that Mike understands, despite his tears. (Will doesn’t yet, which is why he’s so upset.)

Finn said that at the end of Season 4, Mike and Will reach a “mutual understanding and acceptance” regarding their feelings. 

This comment doesn’t make sense to me at all if we take Mike’s confession to El at face value, which would suggest that Mike is oblivious to Will’s meaning during the van scene. Does it hint at Finn’s state of mind while acting in these scenes? 

The S4 California poster also suggests this mutual understanding, which in my opinion doesn’t match up with a surface-level interpretation of the Mike-El-Will scenes we were given. 

So what if we operate under the assumption that this is true—that Mike and Will actually understand each other by the end of E9? This would mean that both:

1)     Mike understands that Will is talking about his own feelings for Mike in the van scene, using El as a cover

2)     Will understands that Mike is talking about his own feelings for Will in the monologue scene, using El as a cover

A stretch? Maybe it is. Maybe it’s a big one. But for the sake of exploration, let’s see what else may support this idea:

We’ve had coded messages across several seasons now that turn out to be relevant to solving a major part of the UD plot. In S2 we had Will’s Morse code message to close the gate; in S3 we had the Russian transmission code (which was put into code because “the message was somehow sensitive”); are these love confessions the new “code” in S4 that’s the key to overpowering Vecna?

Will did his project on Alan Turing…a codebreaker who was gay. Could this be a hint that he is breaking the “code” of Mike’s monologue to understand that Mike reciprocates his feelings?

There’s a shot of Will, and then Jonathan, right as Mike says the following during the monologue to El: “And I thought that if I said how I felt, it would somehow make that day [glance toward Will] hurt more.” [Shot of meaningful look from Will toward Mike, then a shot of Jonathan—the person who observed their interaction in the van and knows how Will feels. Are these shots showing that they understand Mike’s words to mean more than they appear?]

The pineapple pizza scene has Mike being encouraged to try a fruit (which of course has gay connotations). He’s told to “try before you deny,” and he’s surprised that El supports it. In the background after we shift to Jonathan and Will, we hear Mike finally agree (“Okay, okay”) and try it—and then he says, “You’re right. It’s really good.”

Mike brings up the yellow Benny’s Burgers shirt that El was wearing. (“And it was so big, it almost swallowed you whole.”) Jonathan mentions a Lego man that got stuck up Will’s nose, presumably when Will was young since he only remembers “vaguely.” While Mike didn’t hear this exchange, we have an interesting parallel here: “Benny” on the yellow shirt that “almost swallowed [El] whole,” and “Larry” the Lego man wearing a “high-vis” (aka “high visibility,” or bright yellow) shirt that Will almost got stuck whole up his nose—presumably around the same age when he met Mike. An intended similarity?

Where is the “swapping places” from “Running Up That Hill” relevant? We were told by the Duffers that the lyrics would be thematically relevant to ending Vecna’s curse. Is El “swapping places” with Will, in Mike’s mind, for at least part of his monologue? Could El have had a hard time talking to Mike afterwards because she understands the truth about this? (This wouldn’t mean that Mike doesn’t love her…only that they both understand that it’s not romantic love, IF we read the scene this way.)

Continuing this train of thought: another part of the RUTH lyrics are, “It doesn’t hurt me / Do you wanna feel how it feels / Do you wanna know, know that it doesn’t hurt me?”… These lyrics could also be consistent with El reaching a new understanding about not needing Mike’s romantic love to defeat Vecna, and they play while El is looking at Max under Vecna’s control. Mike’s (romantic) love has swapped places, but maybe it doesn’t hurt her because she now understands that she never needed it. (She overpowered Vecna the first time with familial love thinking of her mother. She also loved the pineapple pizza, if we are taking that scene to be metaphorical…)

El has a scene later where we see her flash back to meaningful memories with Max. She also screams her name several times in the void, in what could be interpreted as a direct parallel to how we’ve seen her call Mike’s name in earlier seasons. Could she have had a realization of her own about actually needing a different kind of love, which is implied in this development/updated parallel to Mike? Mike’s monologue includes several parallels to Brenner (calling her a “superhero,” telling her “you can fly,” saying “El, can you hear me?” which seems to recall “Eleven, are you listening?”, etc.) And yet, El doesn’t need Brenner’s approval in the end—she rejects it, so maybe these parallels also imply that she also doesn’t need Mike’s romantic love. El already signed a note to Mike with “From, El” this season, seemingly suggesting that she knows Mike didn’t actually love her romantically at that point. Could El have had her surge of strength against Vecna from both Mike’s (platonic) love, as well as her own love for Max? (Or even her love for Max alone?) As the post I linked above pointed out, Mike and El’s lack of interaction after her (temporary) defeat of Vecna doesn’t seem consistent with the idea that Mike was truly afraid of El not needing him—she doesn’t, but neither Mike nor El seem too bothered by that. And yet she was able to achieve her victory in the moment, which seems like terrible writing if it wasn’t authentically inspired by love on El’s part. (And maybe it is terrible writing after all…just putting this out there for the sake of considering this take.)

In 4x01, Will tells El, “we’ll fix it together” (referring to her broken project). If this IS meant to be foreshadowing for later, it could either mean a) Will gave the push Mike needed at a crucial moment…OR b) Will’s love itself helped to defeat Vecna, because he loved Mike and was the impetus for El’s realization moment, indirectly through Mike.

Why didn’t we see Mike and El have a scene resolving their earlier argument, following Mike’s monologue? Why wouldn’t they want to show the viewers El’s reaction, if it healed their relationship? What we got instead for her in the aftermath were emotional familial reunions, especially her scene with Hopper. This draws attention again to her need for familial love. Does this focus imply that it’s her priority?

Why are Mike and Will standing together in the ending shot? Queer bait...or is there something more under the surface about their mutual understanding, given all the above? 

I need to sleep on this more, but I’m keeping the clown makeup on for now.

[shreya11111]

i want to make a compilation of all the instances i can find in season 4 when blue and yellow have been associated with mike and will for each episode. this is part 1 for ep 1.

Episode 1 MIKE:

blue walls in his room

blue bedsheets

yellow closet door

yellow towel hanging from his closet door

the lamp that is on in his room gives it a yellow hue as well

yellow door and doorframe

looks like the desk chair is yellow too

you can see on the third row of the shelves (starting from bottom up) there is a blue mask (i think) and a stuffed yellow animal next to it.

plus other small parts of his room eg the light switch and the shelves that are yellow as well

i’m probably just going crazy but can y’all not see the AMOUNT of people wearing blue and yellow surrounding mike??

(also unrelated but wtf

am i tripping rn or what 😭

someone may have brought this up before but

this girl was literally directly in front of mike too- plus she’s wearing a blue headband bye)

NAH stop this shot is absolutely hilarious- we have two girls, one in blue and another right next to her in yellow and they are both behind mike. the one in blue is the closest to mike and literally HOLDING A GREEN FLAG RIGHT NEXT TO HIS FACE LMAO.

i’m sorry but in this shot you can still see the blue behind him- and it’s quite bright so it catches your attention too.

again, person wearing blue behind mike but towards the left side of him.

there’s blue and yellow EVERYWHERE it’s insane

same girl wearing blue and yellow RIGHT in front of mike (and peep the blue & yellow textbooks next to her lmao)

Episode 1 WILL:

yellow walls

small hues of blue from the painting under the ‘boys don’t cry’ poster

may not mean much but the ‘boys don’t cry’ poster is mostly blue, yellow & green itself!!

will’s shirt here has yellow hues

look at this extremely bright yellow backpack behind him lmao

PLUS the fact that the alan turing post is blue ^

and then the same person wearing the backpack stays in the shot behind will for another two or three seconds-

this is the end of my episode 1 compilation. episode 2 should be here soon. thank you for reading this far!

[serendipitouswasteland]

The Hellfire Boy(friend)s

Note: This was transcribed from my AO3.

ship: byler pov: third person first written: July 7, 2022 first published: July 10, 2022 word count: 1,850 - summary: Hellfire. A D&D club that the party joined the second they stepped into Hawkins High. Well, sort of. The dungeon master, Eddie Munson, saw them at lunch the first day and took them in under his wing. Now, it was like they were a part of something bigger and better than their basement games. Only one thing was different: Mike and Will don't have the same relationship that they used to.

Mike walks down the high school hallways, a bored look on his face. Then, suddenly, as if he came out of nowhere (which, he quite literally did), Will appears at his side, a big smile on his face. Mike laughs and shakes his head, his face quickly going back to its stern rest.

"Is that your project for social studies?" Mike asks, snapping the poster board toward himself as if it were a tank top strap.

"Y-yeah. It's Alan Turing. He's a—"

"Engineer, right? You told me about him before, and Robin has mentioned him once. Said I might like him. I don't know. What do you think?"

"I think that there's definitely some similarities," Will says without giving too much away.

Mike looks at him with furrowed brows, but when he sees the face that Wil is making he lets out a breathy chuckle, smiling and shaking his head, throwing his arm around Will's neck and shoulders, ruffling up his hair and leaving his arm there afterwards.

"You are such a dork, you know that?" Miike asks, wanting nothing more than to kiss the top of Will's head.

"Yeah, I know. Are you excited for Hellfire tonight?"

"Of course I am," Mike says, stopping his walking and pulling Will into the janitor's closet with a smirk on his face. "Hi."

"Hi," Will says quietly, taking hold of Mike's hand.

Mike places one of his hands on Will's cheek, the other pressed against the door. He smiles and leans in, planting a kiss on Will's lips.

"Mike, we have to get to class," Will says after they pull away, his and Mike's fingers still intertwined.

"Maybe tonight, after Hellfire, you and I can go to the diner and get shakes?"

"Yeah. I'd like that."

"Okay. I love you," Mike says, leaving a kiss on Will's cheek.

"I love you too," Will responds sheepishly.

Mike telling Will he loves him will never get old or boring or tiring. Every single time Will's heart will stop and he'll struggle to say it back, and not because he doesn't mean it, but because he's truly in shock every time he hears Mike say it.

"Hey," Mike says, holding Will's face in his hands. "I really do love you, alright?"

"No, I know, it's just..."

Will trails off and Mike pulls him into a hug, his head resting on top of Will's as he leaves kisses there and stokes his back and hair.

"I never want you to question my love for you, okay? Because there is nothing in this world that could possibly change it or take it away. No matter what happens, I will always love you, okay? Always."

"Mike."

"What?"

"You're squishing me."

"Good," Mike says with a smile, hugging Will tighter before letting go. "Now we have a social studies class to get to."

"History."

"I'm pretty sure it's social studies."

Mike leaves the janitor's closet, Will waiting a few seconds before leaving behind him, quickly catching up to him and giving him a knowing look. They get to the door of their classroom and Mike is about to go in but stopes, stepping to the side and leaning down, motioning with his arm for Will to go in first. Will laughs loudly as he walks through the door, Mike right behind him and moving him to the side by his shoulders as he makes his way to his seat quickly, saying hi to some people on the way. Will watches with a fond smile before slowly making his way over, too. Other than science, this was their one class together, and like every time they've shared a class the two always sit together.

Will sets his presentation down next to him, terrified of having to talk about Alan Turing and why he's his hero. His reason he'd be giving everyone was a lie, but at least he and Mike new the truth. That was the only reason he was going to be able to get up and do it. Will gives Mike a nervous glance, and Mike leans over, resting his wrists on Will's desk.

"Hey, you're gonna do great. I mean, at least you have a presentation."

"I still don't get how you didn't do one. She gave us two months, Mike! Two months!"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't sure who to do because I don't know much about historic heroes. I mean, Eddie and El are my heroes. You know that. But a historical hero? Eh..."

"Mike, I—"

"Hi guys!" El says, sliding into her desk behind Mike's. 

"El! Mike shouts, pulling her head close and planting a kiss on her cheek.

Despite things having not worked out between the two of them, they're still really close and are true, genuine best friends. El laughs loudly, pushing Mike away and looking at Will. She motions to his poster board and he nods his head as he hands it to her. El takes it from him and looks over it excitedly.

"I love it, Will. You're gonna do great. I'm glad I got mine out fo the way already. What about you, Mike?"

"Michael didn't do his."

"What? Mike! We had two whole months to work on it! There is no excuse!"

"Well, there is one excuse," Will says, eyeing Mike.

"Okay, now that's just—"

Mike is cut off by Will's hand covering his mouth.

"Do not finish that sentence because I already know what you're going to say, and I mean..." Will glances around the room before leaning close and whispering, "...really, Mike?"

Mike pulls Will's hand away, glaring at him before letting out a deep sigh.

"Reason or not, my project isn't done and I don't plan on doing one. I'll just fail the assignment. So what? It's not that big of a deal."

"Not a big deal?" El and Will exclaim at the same time, looking to each other then back at Mike.

"Mike, you've really been worrying me lately," El says, taking his hand in her own. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," Mike says with a smile, but Will knows the truth.

Will opens up his bag and pulls out a small piece of paper and a pencil, quickly writing on it as the teacher begins class. Thankfully, he's not the one who's called on to present first. Will passes the sheet of paper to Mike, a worried look on his face. He knows that all of this hasn't been easy for him– for either of them– but he still wants to make sure that Mike is okay.

Mike reads over the piece of paper, running a hand over his face and setting the paper down on his desk. He doesn't even look at Will. Had he just made things worse? Will wants to reach out and grab Mike's hand and tell him that everything will be okay, but he can't. Instead, he gives Mike a smile and nudges him with his foot, letting him know that he's there and that he's not going anywhere. Mike nudges his foot back, and Will can see a small smile creep on his face– one that he only ever does for Will.

The first student presents and the teacher continues down each row until everyone is done, including Will. She calls Mike's name to go up and present, and Mike's face goes white. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to tell their teacher that he didn't do the project they had two months to work on. Will and El were right, there was no excuse.

"Michael?" The teacher calls again, and Mike slowly stands up and goes over to her desk, leaning down and whispering.

"I know that we had two months to do it, but I got preoccupied with...other things, and I totally forgot to do it."

"That is the third time this year, Michael. What is going on?"

"I don't know!"

"Is it your family? Your parents? Your friends?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's my friends. Going from middle school to high school has been weird. Hard. A lot of things are...different."

"Like what?"

"Everything?"

"You have two options. Take the F and fail the class or do a harder, alternative assignment."

"I'll gladly do the alternative."

"Okay. See me after class and we'll talk more."

Mike walks out of class with a piece of paper in his hands and a thoughtful look on his face. He lets one of his arms fall to his side, his hand brushing against Will's.

"What's the alternate assignment?"

"I have to write an essay about how history as well as my own past will impact my future."

"When's it due?"

"The end of the grading period. She said it has to be at least five pages."

"Wow. Wait, the grading period ends next Friday."

"I know."

"Do you know what you're going to write about?"

"No, Will, I just got the assignment," Mike groans frustratedly, his face changing from annoyance to apologetic quickly. "I'm sorry. It's just...If I don't know who I am, how am I supposed to write about who I want to be?"

"You'll figure it out. You always do."

Mike and Will enter the lunch room and Eddie immediately throws his arms around their shoulders, squeezing his way between them. Only then did the two realize how close they had been prior. Mike clears his throat, stuffing the paper into his pocket along with his hands.

"You boys ready for Hellfire tonight?"

"Oh yeah! I have some tricks up my sleeve that I think could really do the trick against some our enemies," Mike says.

"That's what I like to hear! What about you Byers? Ready to show of the powers of the cleric?"

"Yeah," Will mumbles, looking away from Mike around the lunch room.

He watches as the different people join their friends or how one couple will join another because they're all super close. It makes Will want to run right out of the room and cry. It was dramatic, sure, and he wasn't sad about it and he doesn't want anyone's pity. It was just...he wishes that was something he could do.

Will can hear Mike whisper to Eddie, and a moment later the long-haired man is at their lunch table like he'd never left. Mike and Will continue to make their way to the lunch table, but when Will goes to sit down Mike stops him.

"Will and I are gonna skip today. We're just not feeling the 'be around everyone' mood right now."

"Is everything okay?" Lucas asks, Dustin standing up ready to follow them.

"Everything's fine, we just need some time away from everyone else is all. See you at Hellfire tonight," Mike says, wrapping his arm around Will's shoulder and walking them out to a far out spot in the woods. No one would find them there, which meant they could be totally and entirely them.

Mike rests his back against a tree, pulling Will toward him and into a hug. Will has always been sensitive, and even though they're growing up a part of that would never go away. Sure, he'd get used to some things, so maybe he wasn't as sensitive, but the emotions that come with that stay with you forever. Most of the time you just get good at holding them in.

"I want to kiss you in front everyone like everyone else gets to," Will says, a tear falling down his face.

"I know."

"It's not fair."

"I know it's not, but we still have each other, alright?"

"That almost makes it harder. Being with you but not getting to be with you? I hate it, Mike. I hate it so much."

"Hey, it's gonna be alright, Will," Mike says, holding Will's face in his hands. "I don't know when or how, but I know that we'll be able to be us someday, and when that day comes just know that I will be telling everyone I know everything about you and just how much I love you, because Will, that's all I want– to love you– and no person can change how I feel about you. I mean, it's quite literally impossible."

"I just don't get how you can be so positive about everything when the reality is that we can't."

"I don't know. I think I like keeping you all to myself," Mike says, kissing Will's cheek, swaying with him in his arms.

"Mike," Will says as he tries not to laugh.

"Everything is going to be okay, Will. I know it. I promise."

"You can't make that kind of promise, Mike."

"Too late."

Will leans up and presses his lips to Mike's, his fingers twirling his curly hair. Mike lets his hands rest on Will's hips, pulling him close. Their lips part and Will rests his head against Mike's chest, his arms falling lazily around his neck.

They stay like that for the rest of lunch, neither one saying much other. The few things that they did say were mumbled "I love you"s and incoherent whispers that didn't all that much matter. The school bell rings and Mike lifts his head from laying on top of Will's looking out toward the school. He waits a moment before rubbing Will's back gently to let him know it was time to go. They'd been out there so long and it had been so peaceful and quiet that Will was able to fall asleep.

"Will? Lunch is over. It's time for class again."

Will stirs, his hands sliding down Mike's neck and wrapping around his waist.

"I love you, but we're not doing this."

Mike kisses the top of his head, gently pulling Will off of him and letting his arm fall around his shoulder again. Waking Will up was always the hardest thing to do.

"Five more minutes?"

"Sure, if you want to be late to class."

"No..." Will says, moving Mike's arm off his shoulder and interlocking their fingers. "...but it would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"It would. I do really love these moments with you, though. Even if they are bittersweet."

"At least no one suspects anything. I mean, with us having been friends for our whole lives and all."

"That is one plus, isn't it?"

The two slow their walking as they near the edge of the woods, their touch lingering as they pull their hands apart. Mike smiles softly, a strong urge to kiss Will right then and there sweeping through him, but he doesn't. People can see them. Instead, he makes a loud popping sound.

Flashback: Mike leans over to Will, their fingers centimeters away from each other as they sit at the circular corner booth in the diner waiting for everyone else to arrive. Mike messes with some of Will's hair, trying to make it look perfect, but with the haircut he has it's not too difficult. Will smiles at him, a questioning look on his face. The two have been...close, lately. Closer than usual. Neither of them really knows what it means yet or where it will go, but Will does know that he enjoys seeing Mike being this clingy. It's nice.

"I want to kiss you," Mike whispers in his ear, and Will's face goes bright red, a look of shock on his face.

"Mike, we're in public!" Will shouts in a wispy tone.

"Well obviously I don't mean right here."

"We've also only kissed, like, twice," Will says, his voice even quieter than before.

"So? That doesn't mean there won't be more...right?" Mike asks, a hopeful look on his face.

"No, you're right, it's just...later, okay?"

"What do you suggest I do until then?" Mike teases jokingly, and Will laughs before getting a serious look on his face.

Will searches Mike's eyes, trying to think of what he might want to hear. What words could calm Mike's scattered brain? Mike makes a popping sound, one that Will's noticed him do once or twice before, usually when he's bored in class or waiting in line for something, or even just being impatient about quite literally anything. 

"That," Will says, poking Mike's cheek.

"Hm? What? Oh, that? It's just a popping sound."

"Yeah, but you only every really do it when you're, like, really bored, and you do it repeatedly, so if you just do it once then I'll know what it means."

"Okay. Okay, yeah. Yeah, that'll work," Mike says excitedly, a large, cheesy grin appearing on his face.

Present: Mike smiles and puts his hands in his pockets, giving Will one last glance before looking at the grass as the two walk back inside.

Hellfire.

What started out as a thing between Eddie and his bandmates was now something that the party could be part of, too. No one had ever really understood the point of the game except for them, so it was nice to have finally found some people who really cared about it in the same way.

"Alright, boys! Get into your seats because tonight is going to be wild," Eddie says as he comes into the room and shuts the door, stopping in his tracks when he sees Will. "Young cleric, we have talked about this. If it was a full day campaign I would highly encourage the costume, but 'tis not."

"I like the costume," Mike says, a tight smile that he's used with Will plenty of times before appearing.

"Where's your Hellfire shirt?" Eddie asks, pulling Will aside.

"I'm wearing it under my costume," Will says with a shrug.

"Next time, wear that instead. We have an image to keep up, and purple sparkling wizards is not it."

"Leave him alone, Eddie," Lucas groans, leaning back in his seat.

"Sinclair how many times do I have to tell you to stop tipping the chair back? Jesus Christ, this is like babysitting a bunch of six year olds."

"They're freshmen, Eddie. They'll learn," Jeff says.

"Yes, freshmen," Eddie says, standing on top of his chair at the head of the table. "Like all freshmen, they must be put to the test. That is what will happen tonight as we continue our campaign against the Cult of Vecna."

As he says the last line, he plops into his chair with a grin. The campaign goes great (at least, it does for Mike, who somehow manages to sustain enough health to not 0 out, which, contrary to all other times, is quite surprising). They finish up the campaign for the evening and Mike is on top of the world. If you didn't know him, you just might think he's drunk from the way he's acting.

"Are we still going to the diner?" Mike asks Will in a hunched over whisper.

"That's the plan."

"Okay, good, because there's something I want to show you."

"Mike, you don't even have anything with you."

"It's not a thing it's a trick."

"Whatever you say, Michael."

"Hey, don't call me that!"

Will just rolls his eyes. He has no idea what's going on with Mike right now. Maybe it's the adrenaline talking, but he's being a lot.

Mike lazily throws his arm over Will's shoulder, pulling him close. Then, without a second thought, he kisses the top of Will's head, leaning down and kissing his cheek, too. He even stops walking and takes Will's hand, turning him to face him. Then, he does the one thing that he swore to Will he would never do when other people were around. Not unless they knew.

Mike cups Will's cheek and pulls him into a kiss, the short height difference needed Mike to lean down and Will to lift up his head at the sudden kiss (whereas normally Will would get on his tiptoes and stand on Mike's feet, because it wasn't a huge difference, but he didn't want to strain his neck), and because Will is so used to Mike's lips on his, he kisses back, not bothering to think that Lucas and Dustin are right there. Will even places his hand on Mike's jaw, slowly moving to the back of his neck as Mike dips him down, one of his hands now resting on Will's back.

"Mike?" Lucas questions, turning around.

It's clear that he was going to ask something, but that when he saw them he changed his mind. Dustin turns around too, his look of curiosity changing straight to confusion. Mike and Will quickly pull apart from each other, Mike practically throwing himself across the small walkway and into the brick wall. Will gives him a wide glance, about to rush over and make sure he's okay, but Mike shakes his head.

"Adrenaline rush. He's acting crazy," Will blurts out, clearly a lie.

"Yeah, I don't think an adrenaline rush constitutes kissing your best friend," Lucas scoffs, upset that he's being lied to, and Dustin rolls his eyes.

"Look, it's just...could you try and pretend that it didn't happen? Please? For Mike?" Will asks, and Lucas and Dustin give each other a side glance before looking back at Will, clear that they have more to say, but Will doesn't let them. "For me?"

And that's what does it. That's what always does it. Will knows that he shouldn't, but it's true that any of the people he knows would do anything for him, no matter what the situation, and he never does use them, but right now he doesn't feel like he has a choice.

Why not just tell us?" Dustin asks, throwing his arms to the side.

"It's fine, Dustin. Let's just forget about it."

"Why are you so cool all of a sudden?" Dustin asks, but when Lucas raises a brow, Dustin catches on to what he's getting at.

"Okay, now you're the ones not telling us something," Will says more cruel than he'd anticipated.

"Don't worry about it, Will. You and Mike can have your secret, and we have ours," Lucas says in a calm tone.

"Except it isn't exactly a secret now that you've seen it." Will is getting angrier by the second, and he knows it's visible when Mike rests a hand on his shoulder.

"Will, it's fine. They're right. They're our best friends. We should've said something."

"You do realize that you're the reason why we didn't, right? Because you were still figuring stuff out? And I mean, it's not like we would be telling the whole town! So really, this is all your fault."

"My fault? Will, it's not either of our faults and you know that. We just had a conversation about this earlier!"

"So you two didn't need time alone but just wanted to keep hiding stuff from us?" Lucas sneers.

"That's not true!" Mike yells, and the three of them keep going back and forth on what exactly the 'problem' is.

At some point, Will just stops arguing with Lucas all together and his focus goes solely to Mike, trying to understand why he even kissed him in the first place tonight. Every time, Lucas tries to get Will out of the argument, not wanting him to get hurt by Mike's words because he knows that it's a possibility (after overhearing the last bit of their fight last summer, he wasn't going to take any chances, even if the two were together now), and Mike feels like he's fighting five battles at once, he himself unsure of what exactly he's fighting for.

"Stop bickering!" Dustin shouts, his own frustration the worst out of all of them. "Lucas likes guys and girls. That's his big secret. Big! Deal! Mike and Will are clearly together or have feelings for each other or something. Who cares? We just had one of the best nights of the campaign so far, and you three want to argue over who you like? I mean, I can't believe you guys. You are such children sometimes!"

Will takes a step back from Mike and Lucas, folding his arms and looking away. He forgets how much he hates yelling until someone really yells like Dustin just did. In fact, he doesn't even realize the tears that form in his eyes when it does happen, or that he holds them back or how tight he clenches his fits and grits his teeth. A tear falls from Will's face and Dustin pushes both Mike and Lucas aside to give him a hug. Dustin and Will have always had an unspoken bond. One that, even if they weren't as close as the rest of the group, in many ways the two of them were the same, part of them always feeling left out or like they're on the outside, and they bonded over that.

Within a few seconds, another pair of arms wrap around Will and he looks over to find Lucas standing there, his head resting on his shoulder. With Lucas, Will had always been grateful. If it wasn't for him, the bullying he got from Troy would've been a lot worse. Lucas was the first friend (other than Mike) to stand up for him, and that's how they became friends, and then to find out that he was neighbors with Mike? It was perfect. It was like destiny.

Mike stares at Dustin and Lucas with their arms wrapped around Will. How was he supposed to hug him when Dustin and Lucas had their heads on both of Will's shoulders? Mike takes a few steps closer, and to his surprise, Will gently slips out of Dustin and Lucas's arms and falls right against Mike's chest, hugging him tightly. Then, Mike realizes something he hadn't before.

Yes, Will loves him, but it's more than that. Will practically idolizes him. Not in the way that Mike idolizes both Will and El (a problem in and of its own that he's been working on for a while), but rather in a heavenly light. Like he was an angel sent to protect Will from all things bad. It was as if, to Will, Mike was a shield. He always has been. He was his first friend, and thus the first person outside of his family to stick up for him and protect him. He was the most understanding with everything Will told him, the calmest and most caring. Mike wraps his arms around Will, Lucas and Dustin finding a way to fit in, too. Dustin was right. It doesn't matter who they like. They'll always all be best friends, no matter what.

A Few Days Later: "I have this friend. He's...well, we've known each other for a long time. Since kindergarten. My bond with him has always been special, but I didn't realize it until recently. He means more to me than any other person in the world. About a year after we met, we met this kid in our first grade class and he quickly became one of our best friends, and it made it even better that he was my neighbor– still is. A few more years went by, and in fourth grade we met someone else. He was a lot smarter and funnier than all of us, and he was exactly what we all needed– what was missing.

Then, it was my first friend that went missing. The first night I went out looking for him I met someone. A girl. She was amazing. I mean, superhero level amazing. But that's not all. She helped me find my friend, and she quickly became party of our party. Then she went missing, too. I called her on my walkie talkie every day for 353 days. That's almost an entire year. That same year that we hadn't talked, a new girl came into town. She was different from everyone else, and I was upset at first about my friends' admamance about her joining our party, but she's amazing nonetheless, and she's way more tough than any guy I've met, that's for sure. That was also the year that things went wrong again for my first friend. If it wasn't for the both of the girls I know and am friends with, my first friend wouldn't be here today, and I don't doubt that for a second, so I owe them my life.

The thing is, now we all have each other. Max, the new girl from summer. Jane, the girl I met in the woods in the middle of the night. Dustin, the smart guy who's always keeping us entertained. Lucas, my greatest brother that I never had...and my first friend.

That first friend that, despite everything, despite all of my bullshit– especially as of late– that has stuck by me through everything. That first friend that has been through so much and every single day I'm scared of losing him again. That first friend that I'm the first friend of, too, because we were both alone and scared and afraid on that fateful first day of kindergarten: Will.

I'm supposed to tie in history with all of this. History.

Well in history, who people have been friends with and who you like has often times had dire consequences. It's gotten them mistreated, misjudged, and murdered, and that still happens today. Granted, it's happened less and less as the years have gone on, but it does still happen, and it most likely always will.

That being said, I don't care. I don't care if people don't like me or my friends or they think that we're weird or rude or crazy or whatever!

You asked me how my past as well as history can shape my future. The answer is by not letting others get in the way of the friendships and the relationships that I hold closest to me, no matter how scary and hard that might be."

Mike peeks out from behind the piece of paper and looks at the party sitting on the couch in his basement. He's still not sure how all five of them managed to fit, but they did (and boy did they look ridiculous).

"So?" Mike asks, setting the paper down on the coffee table.

"It was amazing," Max says, probably the kindest thing she's ever said to or about him (not that they didn't get along, because they do, but more in a playfully manner).

"Yeah, I really liked the part about the boy you considered your brother. Thought that was a nice addition," Lucas jokes, and Mike and Max both just roll their eyes.

"I'm a little confused on some of the technicalities in there. I'm not really a smart guy, I'm just a little bit of a nerd," Dustin says sarcastically, and Mike snorts.

"You know, it wasn't just Max and I who saved Will," El says, glancing over at her brother sitting on the other end of the couch. "It was your idea to set the hub on fire, and it was you who knew that the Mind Flayer had taken over. It was you who saved him, Mike. You and Jonathan and Mom and Nancy and Max and Lucas and Dustin and Steve and Dad and I."

"Should I cut that part out then?" Mike asks, and he's never been this worried about an assignment in his life.

"No," Will says, standing up and wrapping an arm around Mike's waist. "It's perfect."

Mike lets his arm fall around Will's shoulder, just like he always does, kissing the top of his head. If there was one thing he knew about his future, it's that no matter what, Will would be in it, and that's all that he needed.

[helenoftroydidnothingwrong]

look, do i think ST is going to give us anything other than Robin (maybe) getting an offscreen gf and Will coming out? No. Absolutely not. Am i reading every single fic in the Steve/Eddie pairing tag on ao3? yes. because its more fun to me if they are all queer

[burnhamandtilly]

actual canon gay will byers???? real??? not clickbate????

[kaypeace21]

hello :) by any chance were you able to connect your theory that Will created the upside down with the new information we had on st4? sorry if you already changed something there and i didn't see it, for some reason i can't click on the links of your main theories post

The app has the old links in the pinned post. But not on the desktop version of tumbler. Also the links dissappear if reblogged.

Well what I'm curious about is if el opened a gate in the 70s- creating vecna. Why is the ud stuck on the day Will went missing in s1? As opposed to the 70s? Was it a coincidence that the clock hand henry moves supernaturally says "Williams" on it (when Will in s3 was handed a "forever clock)? Vecna means "forever". Is Henry actually "free" or like s4 states is there "existential dread" about to be revealed ... where vecna isn't actually free but "cursed" by a different undead wizard (Will?). Will sings never ending story in s4- it’s about a boy with a bowl cut who creates a dream world over-run by  physical and metaphorical darkness. Argyle mentions the film caused him “existential dread”-specifically to Will.

Dustin speculated vecna was a general of the mindflayer's army... is that still possible? Or is it the other way around? They both have the spider like apppearence, associated with clocks, etc. In d&d, Mindflayers go into the past to create themselves- creating a time loop. El in ep s4e1 says "we're all time travelers". So again why is the ud stuck on the day Will went missing instead of the 70s? Why did Owens monitor Will's brain waves and record him on video (like he and others do to other numbers.what did he suspect was goiing on with Will ?) . Why parallel henry to not only el but Will? Both are called "sensitive" ,both are artists who wear plaid , both are undead wizards, both hate Dr's, both have Brenner fake their de*th, both use fire, both are associated with electricity, both see a clock hand move rapidly in a supernatural fashion , both are associated with rainbows, both have siblings of theirs see a de*d rabbit, etc. And the existence of henry establishes that psychic kids can be born with abilities stronger than numbers who were trained in a lab from birth. Aka so what about Will? Could he be born with powers? Could Will have created his own d&d army subconsciously, even creating a time loop just like the d&d mindflayer does ?

Why does the s4 part 2 poster have Will grabbing his neck as if sensing the mf ? Why do El/Vecna/Will parallel and have so many symbolic connections to the the ud? I'll talk about that in a diff post.

So why? Cause he and jonathan are targeted by vecna in part 2 ? Are the parallels between the 2 an explanation on why Will was targeted in s1/2? Is there something more? Will Will's "true sight" allow him to break through the dream-illusions? And "break the code" like his hero Alan turing. Since in d&d truesight allows you to see through illusions?

So yeah my theory Will somehow created the mindflayer/monsters with his powers and created a time loop is still ... kind of ... possible. Lol but I won't bet on it one way or another . Cause there's various possibilities . Curious what will happen though.

I'll work on some (non ship related) plot analyses soon.

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

004 Teaser Breakdown

Ok, now that I’m (reasonably) calm, I will attempt to take a look at the teaser to see what we’re dealing with here.

For reference, please see the teaser linked below.

I will focus on “chunks” of the teaser, rather than try to analyze it as a whole.

I’ll be nice and add a break here to keep a long post off people’s feeds.

We’ll start with the biggest part of it: El’s letter to Mike. 

El writes this letter on “day 185.” We don’t really know what that means, but it could refer to, as an Ask suggested to me, how long El has been in California. That probably is the most obvious explanation, but it runs against what we know of the timeline. The season 3 epilogue takes place “three months later,” which is somewhere around October, given that the season itself took place in early July. 185 days would be about 6 months later, which would put the writing of this letter in very late March or early April. Given that Easter in 1986 was in late March, and the school calendar we saw in set photos a year or so ago showed Spring Break at that time, this is odd.

It’s possible that they changed the timeline a bit after we saw that set photo. What would be especially odd to me is that this would skip over Will’s birthday, which seemed to be a natural fit. Mike visiting not only for Spring Break, but Will’s birthday, made a lot of sense. I suppose it’s possible that they didn’t think to include Will’s birthday, and they changed the timeline accordingly. However, even if this letter is being written in early April, and Mike visits a little after that, it would be strange to not mention Will’s birthday.

Another possibility is that the Byers left in September, not October. It would make more sense to move before the start of the school year, or, at least, very early on. If this were the case, then the letter would be written in early March, which would perfectly set up the timeline we already expected. One way or the other, though, there’s a timeline discrepancy. 

Ok, back to the content of the letter.

One thing to note, before I continue, is that the majority of the letter is a lie. We’ll break down each part. 

“I think I have finally adapted.”

Maybe. I mean, she’s going to school, and she’s developed skills and hobbies, probably with the Byers’ help. That diorama seems rather well made, not to mention made with love.

“I even like school now. I have made lots of friends.”

No, sadly. She seems like she’s trying, but she does not appear to have friends in this teaser. In fact, she gets outright ignored or bullied in the interactions we see.

“Even so, I am ready for Spring Break.”

Ok, yeah, probably. 

“Most because I get to see you.”

While I’m sure she wants to see him, I think she just wants the break.

“We will have the best Spring Break ever.”

Not that she has much in terms of a point of comparison, but, no. We have the benefit of audience omniscience here, so perhaps not technically a lie, but still false.

Now we can look at some other things.

Will is painting now, and his room is full of things he apparently made himself, including a reproduction of a Cure album cover.

It’s from Boys Don’t Cry, which probably has some significance that I don’t have time to get into here.

El and Will walk down the hall at school together, which is a hint that we might finally see them bond. 

El is carrying her Hopper diorama, and Will has a poster of Alan Turing. I’m told there was some leak (ugh) that they had to do a project on their heroes. El’s certainly makes sense, and it’s heartbreakingly precious. Will’s, though? We never had any inkling that he admired Alan Turing, or that he was particularly into computers and codes outside of his membership in the AV Club and knowledge of Morse Code. Let’s not dance around this, either. Alan Turing was, and still remains, one of the biggest victims of homophobia in Western culture. There’s no way someone who knows him well enough to do a project on him wouldn’t know of this. Will knows Turing is gay, but did the project on him anyway.

Next, Mike is on his bed reading a letter. It’s ostensibly this letter, but it could be another one since, as TVTropes says, Trailers Always Lie.  Watch it turn out to not even be a letter at all, but something else entirely.

The hell you wearing, Mike? I really need context for this, because this is definitely not how he dressed for school, and we’re not likely to see a weekend day until Spring Break starts. 

Also, the One Way sign of an arrow pointing to his closet is a bit...yeah. If Mike isn’t gay, then the Duffers are just being mean here. They literally have an arrow pointing to a closet. That’s as heavy-handed as it gets.

Next, Joyce gets sent a Russian doll. 

We kinda saw this coming with the dolls the show sent out to certain fans with large social media followings. I don’t know if these are the same types of dolls, but they’re Russian in origin. The package full of stamps also suggests it may well have been sent from Russia, or at least overseas. Do Hopper and the Russian smuggler guy manage to get a message out? How does he know where to find Joyce, though?

A lot happens next, and all fairly quickly.

The Byers home is invaded by...someone.

An apparent argument between Mike and Jonathan is interrupted when someone breaks the window. Someone is next to Mike, but it’s impossible to tell who it is.

We have vans and police cars going down a desert road. The van is probably the same one from this photo.

Speaking of that photo, I have a feeling that we see one of these men in this teaser. 

Someone is shooting back at the people invading the Byers house. He’s dressed like your typical movie detective, so he fits in with the two in the photo with El. I think that maybe some (relatively) reasonable police or government agents are investigating something, only for some genuinely bad people (Brenner’s men?) to show up. It’s tough to follow this fast-cutting sequence, but we don’t really see much of El, which leads me to think that she might get captured here.

We have a shot of Mike and Will inside the van looking very scared/dire.

I wonder if El has been hurt here. Will seems numb and speechless, but Mike seems to be in shock. Maybe they’re looking back at the house after making a getaway? 

There’s a shot of someone in front of an explosion, similar to the now well-known burning car scene.

Whoever it is, their hair seems short and they’re wearing a flannel shirt and white pants. There’s a white shirt under the flannel. This is a signature Will look, though El is also wearing flannel, too. Still, it doesn’t look like her hair. Here’s Will’s body double, though.

And here’s a photo I just saw today.

Nothing is certain, but it could really be Will. I’m not saying he caused the explosion, necessarily, but I’m not not saying that, either.

Unfortunately, we have to wait for this summer, apparently, to find out.

[descent-into-the-rift]

What if Will Byers is bisexual

Mike turning out to be gay and Will turning out to be the one that’s bisexual is a very funny twist and all but, what if it did happen.

Maybe someone has talked about this before, and if so I’m sorry and I’d love to read it xx And please, don’t take this as a straight-up rejection of Will being gay, I still think it’s very plausible that he’s actually gay and not bisexual, (and of course, everybody has the right to their own view of it) but I really wanted to talk about this cause I actually think it’s interesting and I honestly really like the headcanon of it.

Will is the only character in the party who’s verbally queercoded, called “queer”, “gay”, “f*g” and “fairy”. He also did things such as a project of Alan Turing, claiming a day “free of girls” and so on. But actually, can we talk about something for a second?

I’ve seen it mentioned that the scene where the boys are playing Dragon’s Lair in the Arcade in 2x01 and Dustin and Lucas’ conversation is foreshadowing for Max. I agree with that, and in addition to that here’s a thing, Will is genuinely hyping Dustin up as he’s playing, Mike is too but he remains a step behind, while Will and Lucas are at Dustin’s sides.

And when Dustin loses, while Mike looks unaffected the entire time, when Lucas says “- Until then, Princess Daphne is still mine” Will grins, seemingly more interested than Mike.

There’s a palpable difference between the rest of the party’s interest in Max - and Mike’s, this is something everyone knows. And Will looks just as interested in her as Dustin and Lucas. And I may be crazy but when Dustin says "And plus, she skateboards so she’s pretty awesome” it does seem like Will’s nodding and smiling (like Lucas) even.

A reason he doesn’t straight up fancy her is he’s already in love with someone else (Mike), regardless of whether he is aware of it or not at that point, and nothing changes that. I know that he could just be impressed by the fact that she’s Madmax but, they make it a point to show you that, unlike Mike, Will is also willingly looking at her distinctly amazed, running to her crumpled paper and looking abashed (as Dustin and Lucas) when she calls them out. Mike is the only one that, unbothered, finds her note amusing.

Fine, could be a stretch, but it doesn’t end there. If I'm not entirely wrong, inside the show, Jonathan happens to compare Will to a singer that was bisexual; David Bowie.

This is probably a straight-up reach but from what I have understood, Spring Awakening (the musical Stranger Things Writers on Twitter chose to describe Will) is a musical that includes an mlm couple, in which one of them (Hänschen) is bisexual. I’m not saying just because said boy is bisexual in Spring Awakening it means in Stranger Things one of the two has to be, but if it was; Mike’s shown a lot of signs of not being attracted to girls at all, so that would leave Will.

That doesn’t necessarily have to mean anything though, but yeah.

I’m just saying if I’m not wrong, Will has never shown actual signs of not being attracted to girls, he’s shown signs of being attracted to boys; signs such as The Cure’s poster and the Alan Turing project on whose their hero - and liking Mike specifically; an endless number of signs.

Him claiming a day free of girls is not a general rejection of girls, it’s claiming a day that Mike isn’t spending with Eleven, and Lucas isn’t spending with Max, back when he didn’t feel like he was being pushed aside for the sake of their girlfriends. When he didn’t feel like Mike was pulling away from him to spend every hour with Eleven.

His comments about girls such as “Girls don’t play video games” and “Girls go to science camp?” are pretty general, a lot of teenage boys thought those things, especially back then.

His reaction to Mike’s comment “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls” could actually just be how hard it hits him that, after everything that’s happened, Mike would ever say this to him. Something like what Troy, James, and his own father used to say to him, coming from Mike.

His smile being hinted as fake when he’s dancing with the girl at the snowball is not the girl herself, it’s that it’s Mike he wants to dance with. Even the script mentions that Will is thinking about someone else entirely (Mike) rather than the girl he's dancing with.

I’m not gonna mention Jennifer Hayes because having a number of girls like you doesn’t necessarily mean you like them back.

Well, I’m not saying all this is unarguable, for sure, I’m just saying it actually could be a thing. And “Mike turning out to be gay and Will bisexual” seems less and less crazy the more you think of it. At the end of the day, Will and Mike are in love, regardless of anything else, so I just think, additionally, this possibility is really cool.

Anyway, thank you for reading all of that if you did. Regardless of that, I hope the best for you xx

[erectionsandtea]

If nothing else, if nothing else, I want someone to acknowledge Will's gayness this season.

And I don't mean in his drawings, his Alan Turing poster, that one time the rainbow Apple logo was conveniently positioned on the wall behind his head, or anything else that can be analyzed.

I want some hardcore solid proof that he is gay.

I want another character to acknowledge it, whether it be Will himself, someone else in the Party (*coughwheelercough*) or the families, the teens, or some random kid at school that's just like "damn, he's cute" and then gay crushes and whatnot.

I just want it.