#in mike's world only will could make him do for love what el could not do...

[chirpsythismorning]

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What You Won't Do For Love by Bobby Caldwell

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[byers-bowlcut]

I've seen people say El likes the IDEA of having a boyfriend more than she actually likes her own boyfriend, and jfc it's so true 😭 Like it's all over the show:

Season 1

She's initially attached to Mike because he's the first person to give her shelter, food, genuine human care and just,, not calling CPS immediately. Her feelings for him was born from trauma and dependency in season 1. And throughout the rest of the 3 seasons, we don't see it grow past that.

Also I think it's noticeable in S1 that:

She was uninterested when Mike tried to share his hobbies with her

She also did not seem to mind AT ALL when she questioned if Mike could be her brother. He voice is neutral and curious here, not the least bit repulsed by the thought of being siblings with Mike, like girl does not care 😭

Season 2

This season has zero onscreen moments of Mike and El actually getting to know each other further. They were separated nearly the whole season.

What we DO see:

El's attachment and dependency on Mike that was developed from S1

We also find out how El spent a year of her life watching melodramatic romance films. Many other middle schoolers might identify that relationships in real life don't work like those films. But El is fresh out of lab life, she's literally learning the world through this TV, and has now become obsessed with the IDEA of having a boyfriend/relationship just like that.

Season 3

Again, no onscreen moments of El showing interest in who Mike is as a person.

The very first scene we see of them, she's trying to get him to stop singing along to the song they're listening to. She seems to like kissing Mike. But isn't shown enjoying anything actually characteristic about him, like sharing interests with him such as music.

Hopper indicates that they don't do anything meaningful together either. We see here that before hanging out with Max, El had little sense of her own style, her hobbies, her interests- meaning spending time with Mike for months probably didn't involve many talking points did it?

Also in season 3, El dumps Mike with ZERO hesitation. Then she has the time of her life with Max. The most acknowledgment we get that she's oh so heartbroken is a small frown to Max that her and Mike aren't on best terms. And even that doesn't seem so paramount cause 1 episode later she totally dismisses Mike after he explains how Hopper threatened him. She just tells him maybe Hopper was right 😭😭

It's literally ONLY once she starts becoming in danger that she starts clinging onto him again. I feel like we've seen this film before hm.

Like where are any signs that she likes Mike as an individual, and is falling for who he really is, rather than simply being attached due to trauma, and liking the concept of doing romantic things (ie: kissing, dancing at the ball, etc.)

Season 4

This is the season it becomes the MOST OBVIOUS: El loves the concept of a happy relationship and being loved, but not really loving Mike for who he is. And bringing in Will's feelings just emphasizes this point.

To start, El continues doing all these relationship-y things that she did in the start of S3. She has Mike's name and pictures plastered all over her room. She makes a "Mike box" with his pictures decorated all over it. But the thing is: this is all sort of a façade at this point. We know she's BEEN unhappy with him for months ("From Mike! From Mike! From Mike!"). But with all these items, she's basically trying to convince herself that she's in this happy, fantasy, movie-like relationship, like she probably watched in hopper's cabin in season 2.

And then, there's the sheer difference between her and WILL in their feelings for Mike. We see it right off the bat when Mike comes to the airport: Will and El both have plans to give Mike something.

Will plans to give him a painting he worked extremely hard on. The painting is a connection of what they BOTH love: DnD, and it includes their friends who also play the game. It's very personal and immediately touches Mike. What's more is, the painting illustrates the exact qualities about Mike that Will loves: his leadership, his bravery, his guidance. This painting literally spells out to us that Will truly loves Mike for WHO HE IS.

Meanwhile, El plans on giving Mike a fun reunion date. She has the whole day planned out. And immediately: we see that what she wants to do doesn't actually takes Mike's interests and personality into consideration. You can see and hear the strain in his voice when he talks about "burritos for breakfast" 😬

You can see how he's not that relaxed at rinkomania, and nervous about skating, saying he's clumsy. He probably would've much preferred movies and playing a board game, over skating. But El has her own ideas. When she brings Mike to rinkomania, she tries to act really cool about it. She wants to impress him, wants to seem like she fits in and belongs.

Her present was never actually ABOUT Mike, and about loving Mike that she would plan this huge date for him. Her present was about her desperately wanting to have this cool date like every other normal teen girl might, with a normal boyfriend, and make it seem like they have a happy perfect relationship.

And then finally we reach their S4 fight. I find it extremely interesting how Hopper's cabin is framed in the background during their whole fight. It's almost like an indication that her desperate need to be loved by Mike stems from her trying to cope with losing Hopper and the hole left by him, that clearly did not exist when she happily dumped Mike in S3.

In their fight, when the topic of bullying comes up, Mike says he understands her, but El is quick to say he doesn't. She thinks Mike doesn't understand her, but this is just as much her not understanding HIM as well.

She doesn't get the extent of Mike's insecurities (definitely partially a result of bullying), something that Mike later divulges to WILL and not her. If the writers wanted to show us how much El understands Mike and loves him for who he is, her and Mike would work through his insecurities in their rs together, NOT through a middle man.

Overall it's pretty striking that we've never once heard El actually compliment Mike, or articulate, or even show what exactly she loves about him through four whole seasons. I mean...

Attachment to him due to trauma or grief =/= loving him for who he is.

Wanting to BE loved =/= loving him for who he is.

So really in terms of a relationship, what El ACTUALLY wants is the concept/idea of a regular boyfriend, and a happy easy relationship, all in an attempt to feel normal. And that's why we see them fall apart the way they do in season 4, and why Will is currently so involved. Because Will DOES see and love Mike for exactly who he is.

[shieldofiron]

Steve who’s convinced that Billy is straight. I mean convinced. He was the only lunatic in the world who would start liking a girl more after she waved a gun in his face… And it turned out that after Billy apologized to Lucas, Steve was next on the list. And he was having some kinds of feelings about it.

Goes through all seven levels of hell because he’s had guy crushes before sure, but it’s never been like this. Not when Billy’s apologizing in the parking lot, spitting fire with a black eye that Steve doesn’t remember putting there. Not when Steve finally stutters out the explanation he came up with Hopper when they all got back, and Billy had cracked, patting a hand on Steve’s shoulder. That shoulder felt warm for the rest of the day.

And then he saw Billy leaning over Aimee Parkinson and his whole body turned to ice for a second. It was probably just a break up thing. Like his feelings were just acting up. After all Steve still likes girls. Still got interested… but then sometimes he would think about that warm shoulder, about hands that never had scrapes on them. Billy just had really nice hands, ok?

He was able to ride that explanation for another few months, hands shaking when they made contact in gym or when he handed him a beer those infrequent nights when he’d go on a drive and find Billy’s car out by the quarry. Just getting over Nancy still, the feelings spilling over. And sometimes guys get man crushes when they want to be friends. Right?

It’s only that day at Starcourt when he sees Billy drive his car into Mrs Wheeler’s station wagon to try to stop her from hitting Nancy that it hits him. This shit isn’t going away. Not that there’s much time to think of it. Between the fireworks and Steve’s throbbing head there was Billy. Billy hustling El away when Mrs Wheeler dragged her to the monster and promptly melted into it, absorbed. Billy, who was the first person to hug Mike Wheeler after, telling him it was going to be ok, that his mom loved him, Billy knew she did.

Between late nights at the hospital, and waking up to one of those nice hands laid over his. They were friends. And it was a level of hell as of yet unimagined.

Friends, as it turned out, got jobs together. Fucking Keith loved Billy. Thought he was a laugh riot because Billy could quote some stupid British movie from memory. Because Billy was a nerd, underneath all the swagger and the unbuttoned shirts. And even that made Steve’s knees weak.

Eventually Robin clues him in. Gives him a word. Turns out liking guys and girls and basically whoever he likes is not the singular suffering of one Steven Alessandro Harrington. And it’s nice to have the word for it, even if he can’t do jack about it.

And then one night they’re shooting the shit after a late shift. Billy’s got his shirt off and his family video vest on, because he’s a demon from the fifth dimension. And Steve’s got extra cologne on because they’re hanging out. And they’re talking about how El wants her powers back and… Billy starts crying.

He starts babbling about Mrs Wheeler, how it’s Billy’s fault, all of it. Because she was driving out on that road to meet him.

Steve turns to ice again. Because he knew Billy was straight but… this…

But Billy keeps crying. Talking about his dad, how his dad always wants him to be a man. That he had to lie he had a date tonight just to be here. And how Billy thought if a rumor started with the moms in town it would finally get back to his dad, and his dad would believe it and lay off him. Believe that Billy is straight.

Steve lays a hand on Billy’s shoulder. And it burns, burns like hell. What did Billy always say. Looks like there’s some fire in him after all?

“What if you weren’t lying to your dad?”

Sniffles. Wiping tears away from blue eyes with his own hands.

“Whad’ya mean, Harrington.”

“This could be a date.”

Billy doesn’t move away. Those hands curl into Steve’s vest collar as their lips meet. Billy makes a noise, a sweet heavenly noise.

“You can call me Stephanie,” Steve whispers when they finally pull apart for a second. “If that makes you feel better.”

Billy snorts. “I could never want a girl like this. Sorry, I’ve only had my eye on one guy in town. Maybe you’ve heard of King Steve?”

Steve runs his hands up Billy’s shoulders, tangles in his hair, slotting their knees together. Billy can be very convincing.

[nicxxx5]

mike coming out to dustin while off on a mission in s5

they’ve been walking around for about an hour now, making casual conversation and commentary on the invalding aspects of the upside down into their world when dustin decides to ask.

“so i’ve been meaning to ask, what’s up with you and el?” dustin asks as he carefully steps over a vine. 

“huh?” mike turns around to look at him, a confused expression on his face in response to the question that to him came out of no where. “what are you talking about?”

“well you guys are barley talking to each other let alone in the same room anymore. honestly it’s been nice to not turn around to you guys making out every five seconds but likewise it’s a little off putting the space between the two of you” dustin comments as they continue on. 

“oh,” mike says “i mean that’s probably because we broke up.” 

dustin stops and looks up at him with a clear expression of shock on his face “what?!? when!?!” “uh, since a little after the rest of us got back from lenora?” mike offers, getting a little uncomfortable by how surprised dustin is. 

dustin looks at him with utmost sympathy “aw man dude that sucks, i’m so sorry.” mike shakes his head “nah it’s fine. it’s for the best i think actually.” dustin sputters “”for the best”?! man what are you talking about? you guys were completely wrapped up in each other just last summer, how could you even say that?”

“dustin-”

dustin continues rambling “i mean you guys were so focused on each other that you ended up ditching us constantly! which was just as annoying as it was sweet by the way.”

“dustin-”

“i mean! hell i thought you guys would be together forever considering when you yelled at us that you loved her that one time-”

mike turns around and snaps “well you’re wrong dustin!”

dustin stops short and looks at mike, eyes wide in shock and taken aback from his outburst. mike deflates a bit after seeing the reaction from one of his bestfriends. he sighs looking down at the ground. “you’re wrong. el and i aren’t gonna be together forever. and i don’t love her like that. hell i’m not even sure i ever actually liked her like that.”

“what? but you guys were together like all the time. and kissing all the time. will even said that you told her you loved her when she was fighting vecna?” dustin replies even more confused

mike sighs again “yeah, i did do all those things, because i thought that’s what i was supposed to do. what all guys are supposed to do with their girlfriends. and especially in that moment in the pizza cooler, i was so afraid that if i didn’t say what el wanted me to say, that she would have died. but...” mike pauses and looks up at the sky, almost like he’s contemplating something. “none of those things i did were because i liked her romantically.”

the two of them keep walking but dustin keeps staring at mike, occasionally looking down at his feet to watch where he steps, because some things still aren’t making sense to him. “okay, but like dude, i don’t get it? when she left with the byers, you were so mopey and miserable. i mean we could hardly get you to leave you basement, like, ever. and other times all you would do is complain about joyce’s telemarketer job because you couldn’t get through the phonelines every time you tired to call them. i thought that was all from you missing your girlfriend?”

mike sighs again, but this time it’s shaky. he looks nervous as he turns a concerning combination of both pale and flushed. without turning to look at dustin he replies. “yeah, i mean i was miserable. but...el...she wasn’t the only one who left hawkins. i mean, she left with the byers remember?”

dustin’s face still looks confused, even as he’s looking down to watch where he steps. “yeah i remember but what does that have to do with- oh, oh right will. i mean we all missed will dude, you’re not the only one.”

“dustin.” “what?” mike still hasn’t turned around to look at him, his head’s hanging low. finally he does turn around and his face is pale and eyes glassy, dustin’s never seen him look this nervous and scared before. he looks at dustin and his voice is shaky “please don’t make me say it.”

with the same puzzled look on his face dustin goes “say what? mike, i really don’t get...” suddenly every thing in dustin’s brain clicks. his eyes go wide as he finally, finally puts the pieces together. he whispers “holy shit”

mike looks away and that’s pretty much all dustin needs to confirm what he was thinking. “holy shit”

“dustin-”

“oh my god dude. holy shit”

mike sighs, trying to keep his breath as even as he can “look if you want to head back now i can finish this on my own, but please-”

dustin looks at him like he just said he was gonna go and put one of the demodogs on a leash “what?! dude no! are you insane? i just can’t believe i never fucking noticed!”

mike now looks confused “huh?”

“dude it makes so much sense now!” dustin looks at him like he just gave him the simplest answer to the word’s most complicated question “i mean it explains everything! ever since we were kids! how you were so protective of him, how you always spoke to him in that voice-”

“dustin-”

“i mean you were so defensive when it came to him, i mean you wouldn’t even let us within five feet of him that one night on halloween-”

“dustin-”

“oh my god! it also explains why you never shut up about him during hellfire- EDDIE! HOLY SHIT YOU HAD A CRUSH ON EDDIE TOO DIDN’T YOU!”

“DUSTIN!” mike has now turned beat red from all the revelations his friend is now deciding to share out into the open. dustin calms down from all his sudden realizations “sorry, man i really just can’t believe i never noticed.” and mike looks at him a little shyly “and you don’t care?” 

dustin once again looks at him like he just offered to invite the next Demogorgon them come across over for tea “what? no man” he becomes serious “you’re still one of my best friends. and besides we’ve been through way too much shit for me to care about your obvious crush on will, WHICH I CAN’T BELIEVE I MISSED-”

“dustin!” mike’s laughing now, relieved that he’s finally admitted this to one of his bestfriends and he doesn’t hate him or find him gross or disgusting, although still somewhat embarrassed by his friend’s comment towards his crush

dustin chuckles too “sorry. man, i can’t believe how oblivious i was. steve would be so disappointed in me. don’t tell him about this too by the way. i don’t need him giving me shit about not picking up on people’s feelings when he still won’t tell me why him and robin wouldn’t work out! i was so sure about those two!”

mike gives dustin a knowing look and shakes his head as he laughs and pats him on the shoulder “don’t worry dustin, i’m sure you’ll figure it out sooner or later.” and continues off in the direct they were headed. dustin stays rooted in his spot as he stares after him slightly confused. after a minute he runs after him.

“hey wait what do you mean by that? mike? MIKE?”

[deathbecomesthem]

Cat and Mouse | 1.8K

Eddie Munson x Preacher's Daughter!Reader

*This was a fic I wrote ages ago, and left orphaned. It was a Wheeler!Reader fic. I'm going to consider rewriting it as a more vague reader for inclusivity.

Warnings: Some suggestive language and ideas. Future chapters, if I continue this story, have lots of disturbing ideas about religious subjugation of women and girls.

Cat meets mouse when you see him. All rough edges and open hostility, but you see through it to his soft and sticky center. He is a treat that you want to bite into. A feast for your eyes. You know how to do this thing. How to make him weak in the knees with only a soft blink and tilt of your pretty neck. You brush a finger down, down to your collarbone, as if to brush away a stray hair, showing him where you want his lips to wander. This one will be easy; you think as you watch his glassy eyes follow your fingers.

This game is more than fun for you. It is necessary. It is life giving. It affirms your value in the world. To have a man at your mercy is powerful; you crave it just as you crave the feeling of flesh on flesh. Mouth on neck. Cock in hand. Fingers in your heat with pleasure vibrating down your spine to the tips of your fingers and toes. You know how to please yourself, of course, but to make a man come undone before you is bliss.

                                                                                   **                                                                       

“Who is that?” Eddie can’t take his eyes from you, head leaned close to Steve’s ear so no one could overhear. He knows what you’re doing, it’s so obvious. In his mind, you might as well take your top off and throw your bra in his face.

“That is Nancy’s cousin. She’s hot, right? She’s also the sweetest person I’ve ever met. The kids love her.” Eddie blinks and tries to see it, any possible resemblance to Nancy or Mike. He can’t make it happen. He tries to think of this girl, this succubus, as a sweetheart that everyone loves. Can Steve not see that you’re playing with him?

“Uh, Steve, are you getting any vibes coming this way from her?” Steve cranes his neck to look back at Eddie in bewilderment. Apparently not is the thought that passes Eddie’s brain before Steve can form the words to reply.

“Uh, no man. No vibes.” His concern turns into frustration after he notices the hunger Eddie has in his eyes while he looks at you. “Listen, don’t. She’s an absolute saintl. Her dad is a minister, she teaches Sunday school for god’s sake. Just don’t even think about it.” With that, Steve heads across the room to pull you away from Nancy and lead you, protectively, outside to sit by the pool with Dustin and Will.

                                                                                   **

Angel my ass. Eddie is the most perceptive person in the party. Sure, he has an impossibly hard time understanding certain social niceties, but he can read body language. He picks up on miniscule facial expressions that give away what a person is really thinking when they’re saying they’re fine, it’s all good, how about that weather, did you catch the sportsball game last night. He knows he’s not wrong about this. Steve, on the other hand, could be as dumb as a rock when it came to those subtleties.

Eddie sidles up next to Nancy and Robin as smoothly as possible, hoping to steer the conversation with delicacy. “Hey, beautiful ladies, how are we doing this gorgeous summer afternoon?” His giant grin is met with dramatic eye rolls from both girls. Delicacy failed.

“Laying it on pretty thick today, Munson.” Nancy wraps her arm around Eddie’s midsection in a gentle squeeze while Robin moves on to join Will and El in the next room. Nancy and Eddie had become thick as thieves in recent months to the absolute bafflement of the rest of the group. Opposites on the surface, yes, but just below the two were kindred spirits. Neither were likely to miss a trick.

“So, I see we have a guest in our midst today.” His eyebrows are raised with his signature grin still plastered on his goofy face. Nancy huffs a laugh and nods, knowingly.

“I see. Yes, she's my cousin. Kinda sorta. Her dad and my mom grew up together in the same church, closer than family. She’s truly, my best friend in the world.” Her eyebrows are quirked back to mirror his and a pinch of warning between. “Were you hoping to join the Bible study she leads on Friday nights?”

His sniggers are what finally breaks Nancy’s serious demeanor. A friendly smack lands on his shoulder. “Listen, Stevie tells me she’s a little innocent angel, but I swear the look she was giving me… It’s like she was eye fu-“ Nancy’s hands are in Eddie’s face to shut him up.

“Nope, don’t tell me.” The annoyed look on Nancy’s face makes Eddie’s guilt rear up. This was not something he should be talking to her about; he’s realized far too late. “Here is what I’ll tell you. Only this, and you never say anything like that to me ever again.” Her finger is pointed directly at Eddie’s nose and there is a flash of warning in her eyes. Eddie nods in assent and waves his hand for her to continue.

“She is the kindest person I know. Generous to a fault. She’s great with kids.” Eddie’s eyes are rolling. Steve has already said all of this to him. “Steve is clueless, like pretty much everyone else. Her parents are super strict, as you can imagine. But, no, she’s not as pristine as they think.”

Nancy can see Eddie gearing up for another question, and Nancy’s hands fly to her ears. “Nope, no more. Figure it out on your own. She’s just a girl, talk to her.” Nancy makes her way to the patio doors and turns back with one last piece of advice, “For gods sake, don’t listen to Steve about anything related to girls. He’s a hammer looking for any nail to pound and doesn’t understand nuance.”

She leaves Eddie giggling to himself and feeling at least a little relieved that he wasn’t imagining things. That angel had clocked him as soon as he walked in the door. The game seemed like it might be fun. And, also, a really stupid thing for him to try to play.

                                                                                   **

The sun reflected off the pool so brightly, you could feel your skin beginning to burn. The first to succumb to the heat were El and Robin with the younger boys following shortly behind. Sweaty clothes are in piles around the pool, everyone seemed to have the same idea to wear their bathing suits to Steve’s. You and Nancy packed suits in a backpack that sat inside the house. A drip of sweat started moving down your nose, and you relented.

“Nance, I’m going to get changed. I can’t sit out here like this anymore.” You leave Steve and Nancy to whatever petty argument they were having at the moment. It isn’t until you’re opening the door to the kitchen that you realize you haven’t seen that hot guy, Eddie, since Steve had whisked you away from your flirtation earlier. That won’t do.

Rounding the corner to the front of the house, you smell it. Naughty boy, you think as you spot him sneaking in the front door. As if a deer in headlights, he freezes, and relaxes when he realizes it’s not one of the younger kids, but you.

“Well, hello there. We haven’t met yet, have we?” Eddie’s eyes are twinkling at you. Pretty man, you think. He pushes himself away from the side of the house, and he starts to move towards you. He’s stalking, that’s the word, stalking, his way into your space as he gives a dramatic bow. On his way back up, he is slowly taking in your form, with no attempt to hide what he’s doing.

You offer your name and your hand and are greeted with a gentle kiss along your knuckles. Oh, this was going to be fun. “I’ve heard so much about you.” Your eyes have gone big, and you flutter your lashes, “Although, I guess most of it can’t be true or Aunt Karen would never let her kids near you.”

The Cheshire Cat had nothing on the grin Eddie was giving you. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe I’ve got her fooled.” Up close, this boy was beautiful. His eyes are chestnut pools rimmed red from the pot smoke that still clings to his skin. The wrinkles at the edges of his smile speak to you about his humor.

“I doubt that very much.” You’re slinking past him on your toes, face turned up towards his own. Your backpack is behind him. With a hand on his arm, you bend down, allowing your Eddie an excellent view of your posterior. “There it is. Are you going to swim with us, Eddie?”

“Uh,” Eddie clears his throat, “I didn’t bring a suit. I’m not much of a swimmer.” There is a slight flush starting at the apple of his cheeks while you stare him down with your doe eyes. You give him an exaggerated frown.

“Oh, Eddie, how sad.” Sitting on the couch, you rustle through the bag to find your suit. *zip* not in that pocket, *zip* not there either, one last *zip* with no luck and you turn your gaze back on the curly haired boy that’s still watching your every movement. “I must have forgotten my suit.” With a big sigh, you add, “If only someone would be willing to run me back to Aunt Karen’s house to get it.”

“Hmm, that’s too bad. Maybe you should go ask Nancy to take you back.” Eddie’s head is tilted at you with a little pout. There was no way he didn’t know what you were doing, but he wasn’t biting. Fine, be that way.

“I don’t want to ruin her fun; her suit is right here.” You hold up her pink suit to emphasize your point. “You’re not planning on swimming; would you be willing to give me a ride?” Eddie can barely contain himself with the looks you’re throwing his way, but this was not a game he would give in to that easily.

“Oh, I don’t know, Angel, I bet your Daddy wouldn’t be too thrilled to hear about you taking a ride with me. Maybe you should just hang out with me in the loungers and while the others swim.” You’re considering your next move, thinking about making him take the bait. You can see how close he is to relenting when the back door swings open with a dramatic clang.

With a scowl on her face, Nancy approaches you with a hand outstretched. “There you are. I was looking for my suit. It’s hotter than hell out there.” She rummages through the bag, pulling out a black and white polka suit in triumph. “Come on, let’s get changed.” She says, nodding in the direction of your pink suit.

A chuckle from Eddie rang through the room, “Cute suit, Angel. Can’t wait to see you in it.” With a wink, he’s heading through the house while your cheeks burn.

[twoelectrichearts]

The way that Mike talks about El screams idolization to me. Do I think he loves her? Yes. I do think he cares about her. Do I think he’s IN love with her. No. If he actually was in love with her, I feel like he’d talk about traits and qualities of hers that he loves that are beyond just her powers. Like how Jonathan and Nancy explained why they love each other. They were actual meaningful traits and qualities. I don’t know what Mike loves about El beyond her powers.

This is literally the first thing that comes out of his mouth regarding El last season. Like, yes, that’s an amazing thing that she did, Mike. Can you also mention something else, though? What else do you like about her? What else do you admire about her?

It’s clear that Mike struggles with low self esteem and doesn’t view himself in a positive light. He doesn’t see his own self worth. To Mike, he’s unimportant. He’s a nobody. He’s nothing except a nerd, a loser, a freak who’s been bullied his entire life. He has El on this extremely high pedestal and feels like he can’t measure up to how incredible and amazing she is, because she’s a superhero. That’s what he continues to focus on. It’s not El’s fault that he feels this way either. She’s never talked about how amazing she is because she has powers. She’s never made it seem like she’s above anyone or better than anyone due to her powers. If anything, she’s talked about how she feels like a monster because she’s different. She feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere. She even voices that to Mike.

El cries to Mike, doubting that he loves her anymore because he never says it. He can’t even write it. And what does Mike tell her in response to that? Does he tell her that he loves her? It’d be the perfect time to say it if he does. She’s crying and could use some clarity and reassurance. But no, he doesn’t tell her that he loves her. Instead he tells her this. And of course brings up how she’s a superhero…

Even when he finally voices that he loves her, it falls flat to me and feels off. As the audience, we know that Mike’s initial reaction to finding El in the woods was not love at first sight. He wanted to get her back to wherever she came from and continue to search for Will. So yeah, that’s not true. Maybe he forgot what he was genuinely feeling in that moment? It’s either that or he’s knowingly lying to her. And then when he explains why he loves her… when we finally get to hear the reasons why…

BAM! Again… it all circles back to her being a superhero. He loves her for exactly who she is… a superhero who can fly and move mountains and… yeah… the momentum died when Mike brought up that. El’s reaction to that didn’t look positive either. I just felt so awkward and uncomfortable and confused watching this monologue. Seeing Will’s reaction and having him in frame didn’t help at all. Let’s not forget he basically had to push Mike to not stop and continue talking to El by reminding him that he was the heart. Why’d they choose to do that? All it did was make my heart break even more for Will. Especially after watching him give Mike the meaningful painting he made for him and the beautiful monologue where he disguised his feelings as El’s.

If they wanted me to root for M*leven, they could’ve easily had El say this to Mike. El loves Mike, right? She says that she loves him. I don’t exactly know why though. She’s never voiced why to Mike or to anyone else. I can’t solely blame Mike as the reason why I don’t ship M*leven when I don’t know why El is in love with Mike either. This could’ve been why, but no, the writers chose to not only make Will in love with Mike, but that he feels better for being different and loving him. All his life he was made to believe that he was a mistake for being different, but Mike makes him feel the complete opposite. He also mentions how El (he) is always going to need him. He says this to Mike, someone who wants and needs to be needed. You know what Will said meant the absolute world to Mike. It was exactly the kind of thing he needed to hear. How the hell do you top this?? Why would they choose to do this? Why make Will in love with Mike? Why make him have this type of love for Mike? The type of love Mike needs and wants? Why not have El feel this way about Mike and say this to him instead of Will? Throughout season 4 Mike and El just seemed to make each other feel bad and insecure pretty much the entire time. Not on purpose or knowingly, though. I don’t believe that they want or mean to make each other feel that way. They’re just not good for each other relationship wise. At least not from what I’ve seen so far. I have no idea how they’re gonna turn it around in the final season. Also, they’re just gonna throw away Will’s love for Mike? They used Will’s love for Mike to fix M*leven’s relationship then? And Will gets what? Nothing? No love for the gay character who’s unconditionally in love with his best friend? He should just be happy that his friends and family accept him for who he is? Because we know they will. That’s not going to be shocking. What would be shocking is if they didn’t. I don’t think that’s the type of twist the writers would want to do. That’d be beyond horrible. So yes, Will should just be happy and thankful that his family and friends don’t hate him for being gay. He doesn’t need love like everyone else. We don’t need to see the only gay character experience love and a relationship. Or maybe we will with some random, last second, half assed love interest. Oooo yay! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[emblazons]

I said I was gonna so a whole long post about the monologue after my rewatch so: having watched the whole Vecna monologue v Mike monologue that happens in the Piggyback in full for the first time in actual months…god damn. Just.

There is no way to understand what’s happening with El (and her relationship with Mike) during the monologue without looking at Vecna's monologue that comes right before it. There just isn’t, and if you try you’re 100% going to miss critical context for why things happen the way they do both in mlvn’s relationship and on screen.

First off: after what Vecna says to her, El is fully in self-defeat (and self-loathing) mode. She’d just learned that every single attempt of hers to do "right" with the knowledge she had at the time had actually been useful to the person destroying her world—

—and despite trying so hard to overcome her sense of destructiveness about things like scaring Mike and hitting Angela by going to “learn who she is” at Nina, it turned out that even the moments she perceived as her “heroic” ones (like closing the gate and stopping the mindflayer monster in S3) were actually tools useful to Vecna…just like her Piggybacking in to save Max.

El is literally hearing that even her best attempts at being “good” were used for evil, which makes her an accomplice to Vecna even if she didn’t mean to be—

—which we're shown, as El remembers all the moments she thought she was "helping" only to be told each one of those was her having her powers used by Henry/Vecna.

If that wasn't enough, we literally watched as El paralleled herself directly to the person whose powers are now being used to destroy the world, even as we (the audience) know most of what is happening is just Vecna do what he does best by tapping into her deepest core fears.

Vecna adds insult to injury here by making it clear that he once "wanted her by his side" in the first place (aka the powers she's been trying to use for good cannot be divorced from bad things)—

—and from this second onward (in El's perception at least) there is no way for her powers to be used correctly even when she wants to be helpful—which is why she “gives up,” lets the vine loop around her neck in the first place, and stares unmoving and crying at Max.

Basically: What Vecna says steals even the little resolve she gained back at Nina…which is why she stops fighting entirely.

Now, all of this is an extremely fair reason to feel defeated and dejected about trying to fight (on top of traumatizing af for El)—

—the problem is (like everything else wrong in their relationship) Mike once again has no sense of El’s internal state because she doesn’t and has not historically shared it (or can’t in this case), and therefore can only answer what he externally perceives her state to be—which he guesses, based on their last argument, has to do with him not being able to say he loves her.

The disjointedness between what is really happening with El and what Mike wrongly perceives the issue to be is why we see El not only look repeatedly displeased by his confession—

—but why the only thing she can think of in relation to Mike positively is his initial rescue, when he takes her to a space where her powers are neutral / unknown (and not the force for evil even her best attempts at using them just became in her mind).

That dissonance is also why she doesn’t fight until he starts saying she need to get over herself and save someone else…which is why she looks at Max and decides to fight anyway.

In truth, Mike could have glossed over the entirety of the “I love you," "not I'm scared of you but I’m afraid of losing you” part and just said “I believe you can do anything, but right you need to fight” and gotten the same result, given that what needed to be addressed was her self-loathing, not Mike’s (lack of) romantic affections.

Basically: even if they weren’t on the precipice of a breakup, Mike’s love wasn’t going to make up for the fact that El has basically just learned that what Brenner said was true—she wasn’t ready, not even physically, but mentally…because she was not prepared to learn that even her best attempts at saving the world were actually helping Henry build to the end of it.

Combine that with the fact that she ends up losing Max despite trying to fight with Mike's encouragement...on top of the fact that all of her relationship with Mike was rooted in her wanting to feel "normal" (aka what Vecna just shot out the window permanently)?

...no amount of "I love you's" from a boy as insecure as Mike (who she keeps at emotional distance) is was going to help that, especially given that Mike was directly mirroring what Brenner (who she literally cannot stand atp) said to her trying to encourage her.

All of this...we haven't even touched on anything happening on Mike's side or how her powers (that he so admires her for) are now officially "evil" in El's mind, never mind every other aspect of their incompatibility? ☠️

—I know I'm gonna move from this post on to how what Brenner said to her about "facing the good and the bad / humans are rarely so simple" is actually how El's arc has to be resolved in the end, but.

For now I'm at 30 images and anything more would get convoluted easy, so I'll just leave us (and my million mile an hour thoughts) here.

[mikeslawyer]

I need your help, are you still Mike defender?

I keep having debates with milevens and people who don't believe in byler in a stranger things discord, I do well arguing my point that byler is real until they pull out the "Mike was so mean to Will in season 3 and 4. Will deserves better." And then I don't know what to say 😭 I don't believe that Will deserves better but I can't articulate why?? Can you give me some good points that I could possibly use to argue against the claim?

Thank you, love your posts, btw💕

yeah, absolutely, mike’s lawyer til i die! i’m pretty sure i’ve had someone ask this before and i made a list but here!!

first of all, mike wasn’t necessarily mean, he was defensive, those are two different things. he wasn’t trying to be mean, he just wanted to protect his feelings and be normal, as finn said himself and just fit in, which ended up hurting will in the process but mike didn’t specifically want that to happen! to add to this point, most of those things wouldn’t have hurt will, if will wasn’t in love with mike, which mike doesn’t know.

second of all, even when he snapped at will or just made will sad, he’d always come back practically begging on his knees to be forgiven, it’s happened time after time after time. after the rain fight, after roller rink, every time. and the thing is, it’s only when it’s will. mike couldn’t give two fucks about apologising to almost anyone else - remember when el ‘dumped his ass’? he was spending his day in his basement, practically unbothered. but he rode his bike halfway across the town in pouring rain, because will was mad at him.

lastly, the ‘will deserves better’ is the stupidest argument i’ve ever heard, because there is no better!!!!! mike is his first friend, his best friend, somebody will has been in love with for years, someone who understands him and who will, no matter what anyone says, is still the most important person to. mike reflectively defended will with his own body during the shoot out, not even thinking about it, just getting in front of him. mike is will’s world, his heart and making will be in love with mike for literal years just for mike to end up not loving him back, making will get over someone so important to him and go get ‘a better boyfriend’ would be, very simply, cruel.

i’m glad u like my blog x

[pinkeoni]

El's Superhero/Monster Dichotomy

El's monster conflict starts in season one, when she blames herself for the gate opening and for Will's disappearance.

This conflict seems to be "resolved" when she kills the actual monster, the demogorgon, making herself a hero and not a monster. This is even suggested earlier by Mike, who innocently tells El that she isn't the monster because she saved him.

Although this "resolve" is actually quite tragic. She proves herself to be a hero which does offer a conclusion to this conflict within this season, but she sacrifices everything for this.

This conflict comes back in full for El in season four. She no longer has her powers, and she's in a new environment where she's alienated and bullied. On top of everything, her boyfriend can't even say "I love you" to her. It's not a stretch to say that she feels monstrous.

This is only reaffirmed for El after her incident with Angela. Now, obviously this wasn't a good thing for her to do, but El also completely disregards all of the pain that Angela made her feel, perceiving herself as this violent monster who attacks innocent girls unprovoked. We know this is what she's thinking when she says as much to the cops.

I don’t think El wanted to kill Angela, which is why she says “I don’t know,” but she’s unsure because she’s unable to trust her own judgement. At this point she sees herself as a killing machine, so she must have wanted to kill Angela, even if that goes against her true reasoning.

Now, of course we the audience know that El isn't the monster, and everyone close to her knows this as well. But what matters isn't how others perceive her, it matters how El perceives herself.

Her argument with Mike doesn't absolve any of her feelings either, which is of no fault to either Mike nor El. El was too in her head and it wasn't something anyone could talk her out of, and she also wasn't aware of Mike's own internal conflict which was informing all of his responses. Mike can't say "I love you" to El because of his own issues, but to El, he can't say "I love you" because she is an unlovable monster.

Mike really means well when he says "You're a superhero," but it makes things much worse in El's mind. Instead, it creates an unreasonable expectation—

El believes that if she can't save the world, then she must be a monster. She doesn't allow herself to be neither— a human being.

NINA doesn't do much to alleviate El's dichotomous thinking, if anything it only encourages it. She only shifts the monster label on to someone else, that being Papa, and since she wasn't responsible for the massacre like she, and even the audience was led to initially believe, she's able to cleanly reclaim her superhero status. She was the one who defeated the perpetrator, in a moment that visually echoes the end of season one. She's the hero again!

She marches into her battle with Henry with a new sense of high confidence. And she loses.

This isn't El's fault, but she blames herself for Max's condition anyway. Will points out that Max wouldn't even be alive if not for El, but it doesn't matter for her.

To El, getting her powers back doesn't make her a superhero. And if she's not a superhero, well, then she must be the one who destroyed the world.

The resolve of El's conflict wasn't to get her powers back, she just believed that it would fix her problems. But the core conflict is still there— her black and white way of thinking.

So what does this mean moving forward?

Ironically, I think that El can actually learn something from Henry:

I don't think that El's arc in the coming season is going to be about becoming the hero again, but rather unlearning this train of thought. The world isn't made of monsters and superheroes, the world is made up of human beings who all make choices, her being one of them. She isn't responsible for the decisions of others, and it isn't her responsibility to take care of the mess that others create. She's a brave girl who decided to use her powers to try and save her friends, and her failure doesn't make her guilty for the fallout.

I wouldn't be surprised if El pushes herself to be the superhero who saves the world once again, although, the show has already revealed to us what happens when she does— it destroys her.

[solaneceae]

how to (not) deal with asymmetry

a tazercraft oneshot. Years ago, an experiment gone wrong melded two souls together. One has learned to grow alone, the other still has some catching up to do. read on ao3

“Mikey,” he gasps, choking on the scent of smoke and static. “Mikey, cadê vo—” the rest of his words die, in a hacking cough that makes him taste metal at the back of his throat.

It hurts. God, everything hurts, and his brain feels like it’s splitting into dozens and dozens of little bloody shreds. He’s pretty sure he’s bleeding too — glass shards strewn about all over the cold tile floor of the lab, red stains — but the physical pain is nothing compared to the feeling of his deepest Self splintering like sandstone during an earthquake. He grits his teeth, hard enough to crack them — the alarms blare, loud and red and shrill, stabbing through his ears and directly into his unravelling brain.

Dói. Dói. Ajuda. Cadê o Mike? “Não,” he chokes out, despair swelling up disgustingly within him as he spots his best friend, his partner in crime, laying motionless against the gutted remains of their latest machine. “Não não não,” his arms pull him forward through glass and smeared blood (his? Mike’s?), to him, to reach him. Every fiber of his being is burning, thoughts getting fuzzy and muddled, unravelling at the seams. All that’s left is help, Mike, Mike, no, no. “Moço,” Pac sobs as cold fingers press against the younger man’s neck, sinks into despair when he feels nothing. “Não— por favor, ele não. Ele não…”

This was supposed to help. Mike— he said the machine could help with his leg, to control the prosthetic better. It was supposed to be his greatest achievement yet. But it was killing them instead, a parasitic chain reaction eating at their souls as the Labs burned down around them.

Mike just wanted to help. Help him. And now his friend is— “Mikey,” Pac gasps, because Mike’s jugular has granted a pulse — weak, slow and uneven, but a pulse. Still alive. Pushing through the pain, the oldest member of Tazercraft paws at his friend’s chest desperately, grabs his red-stained lab coat to pull his unconscious body away from the smoking machine, away from the flames. “Tâ tudo bem moço,” he wheezes out, fuck, it hurts. “Tâ tudo bem.”

He hears a high-pitched beep — then a soft shhhhh, and then water starts raining down on them. The fire system. “Caralho,” Oh, so now it kicks in. Now they’ll just die of having their souls shredded instead of burning alive, how delightful. Pac could laugh, if only there was anything funny about it all. A particularly vicious wave of white-hot pain washes over him, and Pac whimpers, pulling Mike tight against him. He’s burning, but Mike is cold, so cold. His face is lax, getting paler by the second, blood steadily trickly out of his nose — and from the sticky feeling and metal tang inside his mouth, Pac doubts he’s looking much better. “Disculpe, Mikey,” he utters as the world fades into grey sludge, static filling his ears and seeping into his vision. He’s fading, and fast. “Disculpe.”

What’s he apologising for the most? Not being able to save them, uselessly lying on the floor? Not being smart enough to figure his leg out?

Being stupid enough to lose it in the first place, for trusting a known murderer over his oldest friend? “Acorde,” he pleads, pressing Mike’s forehead against his. Cold. “Acorde, por favor— olhe pra mim, moço…” He can’t die like this. Can’t leave like this, without Mike knowing how sorry he is, how much he loves him, his best friend, his partner, his—

his other half

Mike’s eyes

his other half

Mike’s eyes are green

open

his other half

green

his world is green

grass and trees and toxic waste

pulling him in

his world is blue

Mike?

blue lips

Pac’s face, pale and slack, tears running down

blue lips, blue hoodie

Pac?

blue pie-shaped eyes among the golden sclera

pulling him in

Pequi?

Mikey?

  As the outside world melts away, two mangled souls reach out and find each other. Spin, spin, spin like two neutron stars trapped in an infernal cosmic dance.

Mike?

Pac?

você?

eu?

Nós

  They brush against one another. Barely a touch, barely anything, but the sheer force of the pull-longing-need makes them cry out in something like pain.

Pac!

Mike!

  He-they? Don’t understand. But maybe they do. Pac feels Mike, Mike feels Pac, close, yet not close enough. They are dying, they will die right there, if they don’t—

Do what? What? What is this?

  moço

moço

ajuda

sei, sei

tem medo, tem medo—

não, não

fique, fique

não me abandona agora

They collide. And it’s agony, and it’s ecstasy, and they might be screaming, or maybe they’re both already dead and this is just their last shred of consciousness stretching out into delirium. It’s a cacophony of voices, their voice (voices?) so loud, so loud, and it’s memories of their childhood and their many crimes and heists, of rage and laughter and nights spent huddled together in a thin mattress meant for one. Then under cold rain. Then surrounded by cold metal bars, sharp teeth and claws prowling just outside, distrust, regret, pain and blood and loss, Jv, Guaxi… Of vast expanses of grass under sunlight, freedom, catharsis and revenge and love, and love, and love, searing and all-encompassing and painful.

Pac and Mike scream as their shredded souls cauterize — pieces of themselves sealing the cracks and hollows in each other. It hurts, maybe worse than soul damage does even, but they want it to hurt. Because it means they’re still alive. It hurts, and it’s loud, too much too much too much—

Their entire Selves burn, together. Until it gets so overwhelming that their brains decides that alright, that’s enough, and unplug everything.

Things get muddy from that point on — their memories from that time would stay but a confusing blur in the future. But they do know that they wake sometime later, soaked and cold and not quite right. Mike? Pac? Yes. They blink, and everything still hurts, cuts all over him— them? “Pac,” he calls out, voice shot and throat like sandpaper, but… isn’t that him? Why is he… they…

Bleary eyes open. He sees blue. Blinks, and everything changes. He feels heavy, too heavy. Moço? I’m… here. No. Pac, that you? No, I’m… we…

A hand pushes against the tile, a body grunts and winces. Everything is wet, stupid sprinklers. He-They see Pac, curled up on the floor, cuts all over his arms. Pac sees, himself. That. That’s not right? They blink, and it’s like being in two places at once, two pairs of mismatched eyes meeting, a feedback loop. One of Pac’s eyes is green, one of Mike’s is blue. “Mikey,” Mike’s mouth lets out a whimper, and the voice, the accent… “Pequi?” Pac’s mouth responds in kind, scratchy, barely a mouse’s squeak.

A blink. The feeling of drifting, of losing time. And then Pac feels a little more like himself, Mike’s hands are cupping his face, and he leans into the touch. His eyes are green, green, green. What did we do? he hears his partner’s voice, even though his mouth isn’t moving at all. Meu deus, what did I…

Hurts, Pac’s voice rings through whatever space is forming between both their minds, chaotic and loud and God heir heads hurt so bad. Scared. My leg…

Mike’s eyes fall onto the prosthetic, bent out of shape and barley holding on to Pac’s stump. Colorful swears burst across Pac’s counciousness, and he presses his palms against his ears in an attempt to muffle it all out. It doesn’t. Stop! Stop! Can’t, too loud, can’t—

He feels something reach out and pull him in — something familiar, something good. He reaches back, feels himself drifting again. Gasps as he (Pac, he’s Pac now, but also never stopped being him?) finds himself staring down at his own body once more, and he almost falls over because leg, leg, he has a leg there, but it’s not his? “Imma be sick,” he hiccups, dizzy and nauseous all of a sudden. Pac (no, Pac is— him. That’s Mike, those eyes are green, it looks so weird) grunts something undecipherable from the floor he now lays on, piloting Pac’s body like an ill-fitting suit. “I hit my head on the machine,” Mike-in-Pac, and his words are slurred, like he’s struggling to use that foreign mouth, that unfamiliar tongue. “Concussion.” Mike picks himself off the floor, slowly, hissing as every move pulls at the cuts on his arms. “Shit—” he almost slips on stray glass, struggles to find balance. “Our leg’s busted. Fuck.”

Pac-in-Mike stares, unable to muster coherent thoughts. His skull is throbbing, and he has two fleshy legs. Mike’s body doesn’t respond like his does, wider, shorter, glasses lost somewhere around the wreckage of their failed experiment. And goddamn, he knew Mike’s eyesight was awful, but fuck. He blinks, drifts, and trades fuzzy mind and vision for a tangible pain in his arms and a phantom one in his missing leg. He hears Mike (Mike-in-Mike, he’s back again) vomit near him, and decides that they need to get out.

He’s not sure how they make it all the way to the medbay — time feels wonky, sluggish one second and then too fast the next, and they almost fall several times because they keep finding themselves piloting the other’s body, or both at the same time somehow. One blink, and it’s Mike hopping his way down the corridor, a hand on the wall and his own body slumped against his-Pac’s side. Another blink, and the frontier between them gets fuzzy, individual thoughts merging together into grey mush as they, struggle to coordinate two sets of arms and legs as a single unit.

They lose time, too — now they’re clumsily wiping off blood, pouring disinfectant on cuts that might or might not be his-theirs, long fingers sewing up a cut at the back of a head. Pink hair, that’s— that’s Mike’s. Don’t move. I’m not. Stop. I’m sorry.

White gauze is haphazardly wrapped around injuries because you’re so bad at first aid. Shut up. Do it better. I am. We are. Then the madbay is plunged into darkness and they’re both curled around one another, a knee digging into a gut, a face pressed against a clavicle. Not sure which is whose. Stay. Yes. I’m here. We’re here.

Touch is so weird — only half-tethered to their own bodies, consciousness in near perfect osmosis, every touch felt twice over. One pulls the other closer, neither can tell which one, and their shared mindscape lights up with warmth and hello, hi, it’s me, it’s you, me, you, us. And it’s still raw, still painful, still loud. But darkness beckons them anyway, exhaustion and hurt deeping deep in their bones. They don’t know whose eyes close first, and it doesn’t matter. Their thoughts scatter like dust in the wind, heavy, sticky sleep pulling them down, down, down.

Pac and Mike do not die that day. TazerCraft sleeps, now more than the sum of its parts, two half-souls melting together in a mess of shared memories and half-formed dreams. After a while, the sun rises and shines through the blinds of the medbay. 

They do not wake. It crosses the sky and sets, and still, they do not wake. It will take yet another day before one of them even stirs, lips chapped and dry from dehydration, eyelids cracking open with great struggle to reveal shades of blue and green. And they are raw, tender in a way they do not understand and filled with echoes of thoughts that won’t shut up, stop, not yet settled, not yet stable.

Pac and Mike, Mike and Pac. Together. 

 ***

Pac never did well with change. (Well, neither of them really, but Pac was worse about it.) Having to move out of a Lab to escape the authorities was never a good time ; Mike liked his tea to be made a certain way, liked his things organised a certain way ; Pac feared the unknown that came with change, almost as much as he revelled in the chaos it brought. They were a walking contradiction, masters of their craft, creation optimisation addicts that somehow connected to the entity of Chaos and disorder instead of the logical choice that was Knowledge.

They had experienced plenty of change. But they, themselves, hadn’t changed that much since their first meeting. Grown, come into themselves yes — but they had woven their souls and fates together, and stayed as they were because they were content that way.

The island has changed that, too. Things are… different. Pac is different. Because Pac has changed, despite himself, while Mike was gone. He doesn’t know how to feel about it just yet. He wonders if Mike minds that he did. It’s a little harder to know what his other is thinking these days, walls that they had no need for before shielding little pieces of themselves. Secrets to keep, even from each other. Pac has accepted that, he’s the one with the most out of the two of them — a promise to keep, for someone else, a promise of danger and grave consequences if aired out. But he can still feel some bitterness on Mike’s end.

Pac has grown. He struggled, broke, gave in to sickly-sweet mind-honey and chemical bliss. He fell in love, slowly. He confronted his own personal demon in the person of Cell, relapsed and crazed, and he killed him. Only to be hunted and killed all over again on that wretched island. And all of this, he did alone.

Oh, he had his friends, and he had Fit of course. But Mike hadn’t been there, his presence at the back of his mind imperceptible as he slumbered away in the Ordo’s medbay for all those months. And despite himself, Pac had gotten… used, to that. To Mike not being there.

Pac has changed. Mike has not, frozen in time by kelp-induced sleep. But that’s okay.

Pequi, Pequi. Moço. You’re so in love it makes you look stupid.

Pac huffs through his nose at Mike’s interruption, spinning the block he was about to place in his palm. Your face is stupid, he sends back, and feels Mike laugh at the back of his brain — a hum-buzz, familiar and more welcome than he’d like to admit. He smiles as their wavelengths sync up oh-so perfectly, letting himself drift through their shared mindscape until he fades into their greater Self, one, together. TazerCraft, one soul, one mind, all-encompassing love.

Then they separate again, physical sensations trickling back in slowly. Pac blinks, disoriented for a second, before the weight on his nose and lower center of gravity makes him whine in protest. “Mikey! Warn me before you do that!”

Now my face is your face, his other half sing-songs through their bond, stretching Pac’s body like a cat in a sunbeam. Oooh, strong. Been working out, moço? Need to impress someone? Maybe the one you’re building this thing for?

“Choke on a sandpaper dick, Mike.” 

On it.

Pac mumbles something, feeling his (Mike’s) face heat up. He wishes he could hide his face in his own hoodie, because Mike’s shirt just won’t cut it. Come on, it’s been too long, his other half croons from all the way over at the Labs, cracking his (Pac’s) neck with a smirk that would look odd to an outsider, on that face. Pac huffs, pushes green-fading-into-pink hair out of his eyes to look around the place he has found himself in. “...Why were you in some random cave?”

Needed the quiet. And more gold.

“Mmh.” Mike’s body feels a little strange to move around with, after so much time — like a suit he hasn’t worn in a while. Tight in a few places, not sitting quite right in others. So much happened while Mike was in his coma, and Pac knows he’s done some growing as a person — maybe that’s why. 

“Don’t worry too much,” Mike hums as he keeps placing blocks around the island Pac picked for his little love nest (blergh. Sure he’s happy for him, but he could do without Pac’s constant mental swooning over motherfucking FitMC from 2B2T.), picking up on his worries. “You are still Tazer. I am still Craft.”

Feels all rusty.

“It will get better. Let’s stay like this for a bit, yes? I can finish the base layers for you.”

Thanks.

“Would be faster with a machine though.”

“You’d take twice the time just to build the machine,” Pac rolls Mike’s eyes, digging his way out of the cave and pocketing coal and gold on the way. Mike’s pickaxe is shit. “Sometimes it’s just faster a la mano, you know?”

Pfff. Spoilsport.

“Nerd.”

Bitch.

Pac laughs, light and airy as he breaks to the surface, sunlight hitting in face and momentarily blinding him. Mike hums and pulls him in for a meld, and Pac lets him because he’s missed this.

There’s still a slight stutter to it — like lag but not quite, their shared mindscape rough from disuse after months of radio silence. But they both get into the flow despite it, curling around one another and letting the boundaries between what is Pac and what is Mike blur into almost nothing. Hi, hi, longing and joy and gentle hovering over the new scars in Pac’s psyche as well as on his body. moço, moço. you’re here, i’m here, hello. One of them might be crying, out there or maybe both are ; but it’s most likely Pac. The feeling of arms hugging them tightly, and is it self-soothing if you’re sharing your body with another person while you do it? Hello, you, me, I love me, love you, love us. Hello. Can we join? Yes.

The warp of teleport, barely phasing their osmosis. Two halves, one stumbling to the other half-laughing-half mumbling in mangled Portuguese, embracing, a head nestling in the crook of a neck. One of them gets a kiss on the forehead, or maybe they both do somehow.

Touch gets weird when they’re like this — only half-tethered to their own physical vessels, consciousnesses in near perfect osmosis. Every touch is felt twice over, a feedback loop. They spin, laugh at something one of them thought, and their shared mindscape lights up with warmth and hello, hi, it’s me, it’s you, me, you, us. “You’re ridiculous,” Mike’s body says, blue and green swirling in half-lidded, vacant eyes. “I missed you. Missed us. Yes.”

“A half missed this more. The other was in a coma, it didn’t miss like this one did,” Pac’s body purrs, sitting and basking in sunlight, head tilted to the side. Blue and green staring at the sky without really seeing it. “No. You’re supposed to say ‘me too’, asshole. I did. You did.”  Thoughts spin around endlessly, echoing between query and response in a pattern that only they can decipher. Pequi, Pequi. Mikey. No, I promise. Always? Yes. He won’t, it’s okay. No, I didn’t forget. Can we? Okay.

Then Pac traps Mike in an aggressive noogie, snapping them back into themselves as the shorter man hisses out insults and bats at the other’s face. The build does not progress a lot that day.

[therainscene]

hey again! i just saw the new henry and holly pics and... well...as i commented on one post of them:

i wonder if this could be nancy's storyline even moreso than mike's? looking after holly AND mike, who is preoccupied with will as well? also, has anyone considered that vecna may just be an inside-the-UD avatar for henry, who stills exists in the real world as a human (in the form we see above?) why would he only be living in the UD as this odd spidery man? we only saw him being sent there in one memory fragment, and his transformation into the monster was also him as vecna describing things to nancy IN HER MIND. so if vecna can appear in people's minds, maybe he is only a mind-version of henry, who still exists as a real dude roaming free.

oh god i can imagine rewatching the whole series and seeing a man cropping up in the background of everything looking just like henry in those new pics! with the hat etc. he looks older there too, so it matches the timelines

Always lovely to see you, scrunchie <3

These new leaks [pics under the cut, spoilers for S5] certainly raise a lot of interesting questions, though I'm not entirely sure what to make of them right now.

We don't know for sure that this is Holly -- they've recast her if so -- but loose blonde pigtails are her signature hairstyle and the girly dungarees would fit S5's costuming theme of S1 callbacks, so Holly's definitely a strong candidate for this character.

And even ignoring other, less solid leaks that suggest Vecna might be targeting her next season (the alleged "The Vanishing of [BLANK] Wheeler" episode title; Ted's actor mentioning that his character is going to come through for Holly) -- I do think there are already hints in the canon that there's some sort of connection between Henry and Holly.

Hint #1: I've often seen folks use this moment with Holly and the lights as evidence that Will could have powers:

The lamps light up far too quickly for Will to have realistically affected them via the wave-your-hands-in-the-golden-aura method Nancy discovered in S4, and the circular motion of the lights parallels a training exercise from the lab.

...But if this was Will, then how did he know Holly was there? He knew when Joyce was there because she spoke to him, but Holly doesn't talk. And why would he want to get the attentions of a toddler anyway when there are two adults in the house?

It makes sense that powers were being used here... but who says it was Will using them?

Hint #2: According to the source, this latest leak was snapped at the Creel house, which is next door to a playground. We've never seen Henry at the playground. But we have seen his sister, with her little blonde pigtails, playing there.

Something I've always found interesting about this shot of Alice is that as she stands up in horror at the sight of the mutilated rabbit, the camera tilts up so that she's brilliantly washed out by the sun:

Light is an important symbol in Stranger Things, so I never really knew what to make of this... but now I've seen these leaks I think it's veeeerrrry interesting that Alice and Holly have both been associated with light and childish innocence and rabbits via a single shot.

So that's Holly. As for Henry...

I think your theory is really interesting -- my first thought on seeing these leaks was that Henry probably looks human because he's appearing to this girl in a vision, but I definitely think it's worth exploring other possibilities, because there's something weird going on with regards to Henry's banishment to Dimension X -- how did he end up in there looking so intact when we saw El completely disintegrate him into ash?

It's giving time shenanigans, in my opinion. These leaks are certainly giving time vibes too -- why is Henry dressed like he's from the 50s while speaking to a girl who looks like she's from the 80s?

So, the Wheelers and their S5 arcs--

@conflictofthemind has an excellent theory about how whatever happens to Holly is likely to precipitate an arc in which the Wheeler family come together and overcome their conformist ways once and for all; and @pinkeoni has a scathing take-down of the idea S5 is going to rehash S1's family-and-friends-coming-together-to-rescue-a-missing-child concept. Both are good takes worth reading, I think.

Personally, I'm not sure what the hell is going on with this apparent connection between Holly and Henry -- but I do think the parallels between the Wheelers and the Creels as family units are the thing to focus on here, and I suspect time travel is probably going to be a big part of what ties it all together.

And, well. There's only one character other than Henry who is associated with interdimensional time shenanigans--

--the light--

--and calling Wheelers out on their harmful conformity.

[stardust-moth]

Don't mind me, just resurrecting my blog from beyond the grave for the sole purpose of ranting about Mileven

ST fans and Mileven/Mike-antis really be out here missing the entire fucking point of this conversation??? "Mike is lying/gaslighting/in denial! Clearly he doesn't really love her!" (First of all, ya'll literally don't know what gaslighting is, but that's a conversation for another post) No, actually-- it's not about how Mike feels, or even about how he expresses it. It's about how Eleven has PTSD.

Her life in the lab with Brenner essentially taught her that love is conditional, particularly about her abilities. She only received praise or affection if she impressed Papa with her powers; she was shunned and punished if she refused or couldn't do it.

We see this mentality carry over into her life after the lab as well-- if she fails, she feels immense guilt.

Often she pushes herself past her limits, insisting she can do it; because in her mind, if she can't, then she's no longer worthy of love.

Now that her psychic abilities are gone, her whole world has turned into this huge mess of doubt. Throw in the fact that Hopper is gone, they've moved to a new town away from all of her existing support systems aside from Joyce (who is apparently busy all the time), she's struggling to gain acceptance among new peers and is being bullied... She is clinging onto her relationship with Mike like it's the last thing she has, even resorting to lying to him in order to make it look like she's doing well; because Mike can't know that she's failing to fit in! She is so terrified of losing love, and all this doubt has her so convinced that she already has.

On Mike's end, however, all he can see from her letters to him is that she seems to be thriving, even enjoying her life away from him.

He expressed in later scenes that he has his own doubts and insecurities about this, that maybe there's something or someone out there better suited for her, more worthy of her love. This likely contributed to why he avoided the "L" word in his letters.

His own trauma from repeatedly losing her-- and being helpless to stop it-- comes into play, as well; if he allows himself to open up his heart and admit how much he loves her, it'll hurt so, so much if/when he loses her again. At the same time, I'm sure he's terrified of saying the wrong thing that may push her away.

It's also worth noting that Mike is generally not the best at verbally expressing himself-- he repeats himself, makes defensive outbursts without thinking, and awkwardly trips over his words. Mike's love language is his actions, in kind unspoken gestures, in quiet understanding and reassurance. Things that do not carry over well through letters alone, especially if he has no idea that she is in need of reassuring words. He couldn't see that she has been hurting this whole time. He's likely upset towards her for lying to him because he feels like he should have been there for her.

I've personally been there before-- it's hard to explain the mix of frustration and helplessness you feel when you realize a loved one has been suffering without your knowledge, when you feel like it should have been your responsibility to support them and you failed to, even though it's not your fault for not knowing. This entire situation/argument is something I've gone through with my partner; it is so realistic for a relationship involving someone with trauma like this, and it's a very mature thing for these kids to be handling (and Mike actually handled that conversation beautifully, if they wanted them to have an actual fight fight it could have been so much worse). I don't see it at all as an indication of a falling out between Mike and El. This was a necessary hurdle that they both need to work through, it's an indication that their relationship will strengthen from it.

[dailyreverie]

The wedding party

@flufftober - Day 2 Family, Friends, Loved Ones

Pairing: Steve Harrington x fem. reader

Word count: 755

CW: Alcohol consumption, everyone is drunk.

Flufftober masterlist

When Steve looked around the room, he couldn’t believe how lucky he was. He’s drunk enough to laugh even when he didn’t hear the joke since he was too busy looking at the faces of the people that surrounded him, but not so drunk that he'd forget this precious moment when he woke up the next day. He’s sure he’s never been happier, or that he will ever be as much.

The mid-priced champagne that had your usual crew drunk on the floor of your tiny living room matched the shine of the ring he so carefully slid on your finger a week ago; it shined from where your hand rested on his thigh, making his eyes get constantly lost in it. It was the reason everyone was there, telling stories of how Steve had been head over heels for you from day one. He didn’t care, they could laugh all they wanted, he had finally got his girl after all.

Before your modest gathering, there had been an evening of greeting relatives and hugging people both of you hadn’t seen in ages: aunts, uncles and cousins from both your families that you had to invite to the party, after all, Steve's parents had graciously offered their house for the official engagement celebration, for the grand, showy affair. However, both of you had secretly longed for an intimate gathering afterward with the only people in the world you truly wanted to celebrate with.

“It’s obviously Robin who’s gonna be the maid of honor,” Max confirmed to a conversation that Steve had not been paying attention to before, only then catching the way the girl’s words were slurring. “I’m happy to just be invited, honestly.”

“Well, yes, Robin will be my maid of honor, but you’re insane if you think you and El are not gonna be one of my bridesmaids, whether you like it or not young lady.” Your statement made Max’s eyes shine, her tough demeanor crumbling by such a simple act of your pure adoration for her. Robin’s pride didn’t go unnoticed by either Steve or you, as she raised her glass to you and you responded to the gesture with your own.

“Okay but who’s going to be your best man, Harrington?” Dustin interrupts the sweet moment, his tone more urgent than expected.

“You gotta be careful with the Harrington now, she’s gonna be Harrington too now soon.” Steve nudged his shoulder with yours, his future wife, and the sweet words made a high-pitched chorus of “aww” ‘s  from Robin, Max, Will, and El. At the same time, though you noticed the less-than-impressed expressions on the faces of your other guests.

“Cut the crap, Steve.” Lucas chimes in.

“Yeah, who’s it gonna be?” Mike adds. Steve grunts, and you try to reassure him with a squeeze to his leg.

“Do we really have to do this right now? You’re all drunk.” Your fiancée tries to calm them down, but their state only heightened their emotions.

“Yes, we have to do this right now! They already did it!” Dustin speaks again, referring to the bridal party that was so peacefully put together in a matter of seconds. “What’s it gonna take? You want me to fight them?”

Eddie, who was pretty much just happy to be there, opens his eyes in shock and turns to look at him. “I’m not gonna fight anyone for the position, it was already mine.” With a huff Steve covered his face, he really should have seen it coming.

The younger men stood up with wounded expressions, spiraling into a debate filled with accusations of "How dare you?" and "What's wrong with you?". Their bickering mixed with the girlish giggles from you and your future bridesmaids, which made the evening much more amusing.

“What a family we’ve chosen, huh?” You whispered close to his ear, giving a kiss to his cheek right after, Both of you shared a laugh as you watched the spectacle unfold.

“And we’re the only ones to blame” He joked back. You wrapped your arms around his waist, nestling comfortably against him as you found yourself in his warm embrace, taking it all in. As their fight kept going, Steve suddenly realized that they were arguing over who knew him better and who loved him more.

"I wouldn't change it for the world," he admitted.

"Neither would I," you replied, placing another sweet kiss on his cheek. All with the occasional chaos, you treasured this chosen family with every beat of your now-combined hearts.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Thanks for reading! Please reblog and comment if you enjoyed it!

[thestobingirlie]

future st characters’ jobs (and why)

kids:

dustin — middle school science teacher. i think he’d want to take after mr. clarke, and he’s the one that parrots his phrases more than the other kids, so i just feel like it fits. i think he’d enjoy teaching others.

lucas — nasa scientist. he has pictures of astronauts in his room, and that’s my excuse, because he just has the vibes, okay? he rides his bike to work, and he has a little “go green” sticker on the family car.

max — guidance counsellor/child therapist/social worker. something along those lines. i think she’d want to help kids that come from her kind of situation. she knows what it’s like, and she knows how they can isolate themselves, and i think she’d want to help.

mike — i think he’d go to college, get a degree, and then get a job that has nothing to do with lol. i see people having mike as a writer a lot, but i guess i just don’t see it. idk. some people are just gonna end up working in an office, and that’s okay lmao

will — artist will seems popular, and i can kinda see him as a comic book artist or something. but i also could see art as maybe something that’s more of a hobby, and it’s not his, like, career. i think about will the least of all the kids, sadly, so. i got nothing lol.

el — i think she works a lot of odd jobs. she wants to explore, and she wants to learn about the world. she dedicates herself to making jam, and she has chickens. there’s still a lot she doesn’t know, and i just don’t know if she’d settle down in one single career. actually i could kinda see her working at a museum for a bit. like a museum tour guide. she gets to have fun and learn! being cut off from the world for so long, i’d think she’d enjoy being surrounded by it.

erica — politician. she likes lying to people and commanding rooms lmao. i don’t think she’d be, like, president, but more just a small town mayor or something.

teens:

nancy — private investigator. i know that people think she’ll stick with journalist for the rest of her life, but i think she’d start to chafe against the control, and she’d want to do her own work and help people. she’s going through her murray era. but she’s less of a freak lmao

steve — stay at home dad <3 no but seriously, there’s a lot i could see with steve, but little league coach steve is very special to me. he gets to do something sporty, and work with kids

robin — i think she (and steve) work a lot of different jobs, and really jump around and have fun with it, and explore what they want to do. in the end, i think robin would enjoy a job where she can travel, and put all her language skills to good use.

jonathan — photographer. it’s the obvious one, but i think he’d enjoy freelance photography. he’d get to travel a little, and have some space from his family lmao.

argyle — i want to include argyle. but we really know nothing about him 💔 maybe a botanist or something lmao

vickie — i know she’s only a side character, but i don’t care <3 i’ll always be in love with truck girl vickie, so her as a mechanic is fun to me.

[byler-alarmist]

So I know we collectively hate time reset/dimension wipe theories about S5, but.....maybe it does need to happen?

Assuming the last couple seasons of ST weren't some elaborate manifestation by Mike to deal with the trauma of losing Will, there are some problems that seem like they can't be fixed without some kind of a reset.

El. Just El in general. Owens was able to give her a fresh start, a new name and a chance at being "normal", However, too many people know about her telekinetic abilities and the ability to open and close gates to the Upside Down. I think she would be in danger of being kidnapped and studied/used as a weapon forever. She can't just kill off/destroy the entire U.S. government (if only), so her file will probably be available for years and even if not, enough people know about her existence that bad actors could target her.

Now that the UD is merging with the RU, will it be contained to Hawkins? Will it spread throughout the country? The world? Even if it is all a hive mind, if they killed Vecna and somehow closed all the gates (it exhausts El to even close one) , would those spores or whatever still be floating around and infecting things in the RU? How could they ever get rid of all of it or ensure that it was all contained in the UD?

As long as both the UD and El exist, even if Vecna is defeated, scientists/governments will always track her because trhey will want to know more about/study/find lucrative applications for the UD. They would still want to use El or use her to find their own way to open gates.

If all this is true and Will/El/the Party need to destroy the UD to make sure no one ever crosses over again, is that really fair? Even if Vecna harnessed the dark particles and created dangerous monsters out for blood, it is hinted that the UD is not inherently malicious. Sure, the Party want to kill Vecna, but if he's gone and the creatures are just minding their own business, would they be fine with destroying it?

And even if they wanted to, could they? How? If it turns out we're right about Will having powers, how would he use them to destroy the Upside Down? I highly doubt his powers would be like El's or involve gates. If he had some kind of creation powers, would he just recreate the UD with glowy light particles and make it beautiful? But even if he did this, wouldn't scientists still want to find a way inside to study it with El"s gate-opening powers?

On the other hand if he (or someone else) has some kind of time powers,, when would they reset it back to? Or what would they go back in time to change? Is there something out of space and time that doesn't belong? (Somehow I am reminded of El saying she doesn't belong anywhere).

If Will or someone else wiped out the dimension that contains the UD (or banished it to another dimension), MKUltra would still have been doing their telekinetic children experiments, right? And if they went back in time, how far back would they have had to go? Back before Henry was taken to Brenner? Would El have been created at all if her mother wasn't part of the MKultra experiments?

Bonus thoughts about a reset: we know how much the Duffers love The Neverending Story. Spoilers for Neverending Story after the cut:

At the end of the Neverending Story movie, Fantasia (the world of fantasies and dreams a bowlcut kid has been reading about in his book) is destroyed by the manifestation of emptiness that is the Nothing. Bastian ({the bowlcut kid) realizes he has the power to make Fantasia (the world of his fantasies) anything he dreams.

After he takes ownership of his role as master of this reality (by giving rhe Childlike Empress a new name 🤔), the entire world of Fantasia is wiped out and it's just Bastian and the Empress together in a black void. All that remains is one grain of sand (a glowing particle, if you will).

The Empress hands the particle to Bastian and tells him his wishes will recreate Fantasia. He recreates it the way he imagined it, and notably brings back all the people who died as a result of the Nothing.

Even more tellingly, he exclaims:

"It's like the Nothing never was!!"

👀👀👀👀

[timetobeaghost]

I would love Mike Wheeler if he was straight, I would love him if he was bi and I would possibly choose that option if it was up to me, but that boy is just so gay, I swear on Dustin's mom!

Let's look at the evidence:

does not want be romantically touched by his gf, who is a cute girl that he really likes. Removing her hands, why?

is not into kissing said gf

can't even imply that he loves her; later is pushed to declare his love to save her and has to force it out under obvious physical pain in a uncomfortable looking scene involving his male love interest.

shows zero romantic or sexual interest in any other girl, woman or feminine character. He even shows demonstrative disinterest as with computer game princess Daphne, Lucas and Dustin fight over, or Max, Lucas and Dustin fight over. There is literally no example of him showing interest that I could bring up.

uses the Star Wars medal ceremony in a story, replacing Princess Leia (who Han flirted with when receiving the medal) with King Tristan....

In a show in which a character makes a whole ass thing out of Mike's sister hanging a poster of Tom Cruise and how that proves what she's into... He has a practically naked Arnold Schwarzenegger above his bed. LMAO Also has some other muscle creature poster. Only sign of femininity in his room is that woman crouching below Conan there. You are not going to tell me she is somehow the point, are you?

Saw someone describe Mike's behavior in the cafeteria as "casually simping for Eddie" and I think that is perfect. We shouldn't forget that involved giggling when Eddie throws food at him, swooning at Eddie during his whole speech and - when Eddie is besides him and touches him - pushing his chest out and basically starting to flirt.

Oh and a then there is all the locking eyes with Will after some soft voiced flirtation and forgetting the world around them, again and again.

Escalating in the most glaced over "kiss me" face I probably ever saw an actor do

On the other hand he said El looked pretty after dressing her up and doing her make up when he was 12... Wait... Is this really a counter argument?

Come on now, be serious.

((Just stole these gifs and pics from everywhere, sry, credit to the makers!! Point out if it's you!))