#mike and will 'can't just be friends' bc the duffers have made it clear that their relationship is special

[purpleshadow-star]

People saying "Why can't guys just be friends anymore???" about byler is hilarious to me because... why can't a girl and a guy just be friends? Why do they have to date each other? Why can't male and female leads of a show just be friends anymore?

[eclipsebyler]

Mike Wheeler and his love for D&D (ST Comics Thoughts + Long Analysis)

Note: The comics aren't written by the Duffer Bros themselves so we can't say they're fully canon. However, the D&D Issue comic is very canon to me. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it especially bcs it gave us a Mike POV and it's interesting that it makes so much sense for how he acts in the show. So, I made an unnecessarily dramatic analysis about it. Take it with a grain of salt.

—

Contrary to popular belief, Will Byers isn't the biggest nerd and lover of Dungeons & Dragons among the party. Mike Wheeler is.

In the comics, it's Mike (along with Lucas) who first discovered this fantasy board game in an isolated library. They excitedly talked about this with Will, who then shared their enthusiasm about the game and the three of them made it their goal to save up and trade books in exchange for the complete set of D&D. They met Dustin along the way because of it too, and the core four party was born.

(Look how cute they are. The party even helped in the final touches of Castle Byers in the comics.)

Among the four of them, it becomes clear that Mike is the most invested. He enjoyed being the Dungeon Master — learning about the game's mechanics and creating imaginative adventures for the party's campaigns (and we can see that in the show, too. It's the very first scene we get with the party being established as the dorky nerds: a game of D&D, and Mike as their enthusiastic DM. Mike even gets frustrated when Karen calls him up because their game got cut off.)

And considering how Mike's career goal is being a writer — it's easy to connect it with his love for world building in this game. A lot of his childhood traces back to his memories with the party and D&D. It's a comfort game to him.

However, that changes after the tragic night happened. After S1's Upside Down fiasco, he started harbouring negative feelings about it; worrying if it's still worth playing at all for numerous reasons.

For the party, especially for Mike — D&D isn't just a game. It became a way to navigate and decode the world around them.

Teamwork, bravery, and empathy are some of the values in-game that bled through the party's real life dynamics. It brought them closer together.

D&D empowered Mike to be a brave, courageous hero not just in game, but also in real life too. He became less scared and slowly learned to stand up to the bullies. To protect his friends in his own ways. To be the leader— someone who comes up with a plan and inspires the party into action. Just like he does as the Dungeon Master.

So for this same game that only held good memories to suddenly be replaced by the worst ones — ones that involve real supernatural monsters, his friends being put real danger, and an interdimensional world that turned their lives into a nightmare — it's easy to see why Mike starts despising it.

Most especially because the two week planned campaign of his, the one they played before Will bid him goodbye — it had all turned to reality.

The Demogorgon got Will. He vanished. He almost died. He lost his best friend.

And while they got Will back in their lives, a part of him died in the Upside Down. Mike knows and sees it, and it upsets him.

To some extent — Mike might have blamed himself for what happened. As the Dungeon Master who came up with the failed campaign that became a little too real; what if the next stories he writes lead to a traumatic real life experience again? What if he loses Will again? What if he wasn't really a good DM at all? What if they didn't play that night? What if he asked Will to stay? If only...

As much as Mike loves playing again, he feels like everyone doesn't want to anymore. This game isn't worth it, after everything that happened.

Because what is the point of playing adventures that spoke of bravery and heroes saving the day — when he couldn't do that in reality? It's stupid. Mike feels stupid.

And yet, he couldn't let go of it completely. If anything, these feelings pushed him to write a perfect next campaign for the party.

Maybe he just needed to fix their last failed session, to make things better. Maybe he could bring back the party together in their favorite game and lead them to victory. Somehow, he feels like the party's dynamics is at stake in this next game so he puts his all to it.

He hated how things were changing. He longed for things to be normal again.

He beat himself up over writing the best campaign story to the point Nancy had to check on him in the basement and tried to help him out despite not knowing about D&D. 

(One of my favorite moments in this issue. Nancy indulging Mike on his interests and comforting him? I need more of the Wheeler siblings in S5.)

What struck me the most was how much Mike cares about Will and how considerate he was in everything (even with his character in the game). He wanted Will the Wise to be the one to kill the monster and bring them victory. He needs him to win, unlike last time.

"He needs to be a hero, not a victim."

He wanted to create a special and perfect campaign for the party, but most especially for Will. This campaign is for Will.

Mike is scared of repeating the last failed campaign. He's scared of having to worry about their fantasy game turning into reality. He's scared of how everything changed after that night.

He wants to go back to the old times, before Will had gone missing. He wants the old, carefree and happy party back. He wants to have Will back.

“Dungeons & Dragons kept you guys together, Mike. Isn’t that worth celebrating?”

This game brought the party close together. But it’s also the same game that reminds Mike of bad memories: like his campaign that caused them to be separated to Will. He has mixed feelings about it.

Eventually, he finishes writing the campaign and plays it with the party. As a desired outcome, Will was able to kill the monster— the Thessalhydra, and wins this time.

It's the same campaign we saw the party playing at the end of S1. (And the last campaign we saw them playing as a party. The last we see of Mike as the Dungeon Master).

Their last D&D session was a special campaign he wrote especially for Will.

Considering all of Mike’s POV in the comics into the canon universe, it makes so much sense as to why he started drifting away and repressing his want to play it. Because just when things are getting back to normal again -- he loses Will again to the Upside Down in S2. To a creature that is reminiscent to one of D&D’s monsters again. The Mind Flayer.

He watched Will get haunted by the Upside Down and being stuck in two worlds. He watched him get possessed, slowly lose his memories and turn into a different person. He watched him thrash in pain and suffer to an almost death.  And add to that - El coming back, he finds out she’s still alive and he’d been lied to, only for her to leave again and Mike could only watch. 

He could only watch and hope that they are both still alive. And at the end of the day, Mike is still just a kid. It’s easy to feel hopeless, powerless, and for trauma and fear to consume him. It’s easy to see why his insecurity grows and for him to feel like he isn’t doing anything worthwhile for anyone.

And seeing as how Mike spent Season 3 focusing on his relationship with El instead, to impress the girl that has taken interest in him and doing the traditional heteronormative couple behaviors - it makes so much sense. This is Mike trying to grow up. Trying to do things differently rather than reverting back to the old habits like playing games -- especially a game that surrounds him with complicated feelings, no matter how much he loves it. Repressing his interests. 

“What did you think, really? We’re just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?” 

This is definitely him projecting. This is what he wants but he’s trying to let it go. Him dismissing Will’s campaign because it’s scary to play D&D with the party again, especially with Will. He’d lost Will two times already.

But clearly, he hasn’t let go of his love for D&D just yet. He reacts when Will donates his book. He worries that Will wants to join another party. And when the Byers-Hopper moved to Lenora, he joined a D&D club in S4: The Hellfire. He enjoys playing again - in a larger party, and with another skilled Dungeon Master. This is the first time we see him as one of the players, and not a DM. He’s slowly going back to his old habits, but not quite fully. He’s still trying to be normal. He still wants to seem like he’s growing up. 

And weirdly, he only shows this repressed side of him to El and Will. The two people he keeps losing and gaining back. But evidently we see him doing this with Will the most.

He has no problem being a nerd with Lucas and Dustin and Max. He has never really shown El this side of him.

But why Will? Who has known him since he was a kid, who knows and accepts this side of him and yet he refuses to play with him again. Because of his trauma, probably. Or there's something more to it.

“We could just play D&D and Nintendo for the rest of our lives.”

“Yeah. Totally.”

The way Mike responds to this is as if he’s dismissing it. As if it’s an idea he didn’t want to do. And yet the next moment, we see his face lighting up with a huge smile when Will gives him a painting - a D&D painting - an imagery of his character in the game and Will telling him that he’s exactly just that in real life too. Everyone needs him. He’s their leader. He’s the heart. It’s Mike being reminded of who he truly is - of who he’s trying to repress within himself, and Will is telling him -- he is loved and worth it for just exactly who he is. And that means the world to Mike.

It's clear how much this speech meant to him because it's what pushes him to say I love you to El. (That godforsaken monologue which there's so much to unpack from. That's for another conversation.)

—

In conclusion to this long analysis of Mike Wheeler from both comics and the show — D&D is a big part of the party's lives but most especially Mike Wheeler's. And his mixed feelings about it mostly centers on one person: Will. The night Will vanished was the night everything went to hell, the night of Mike's campaign that turned to a hellish reality.

D&D reminds him of what he gained and what he lost time and time again. D&D reminds him of what he hates and what he loves. D&D reminds him of who he is and who he wants to be.

Mike Wheeler is a huge nerd. He badly wants to repress it for several reasons but he'll always fall back to where he's always meant to be. One day, he would be able to play games for the rest of his life without having to worry about losing someone again.

One day, he's going to truly have Will back in his life and he would stay with him, and then home will be the same again.

[maddy-ferguson]

Ik you don't like ambigulous sexuality Mike so I would like to know, do you think canonically Mike will be explicitly gay? I don't even mean like saying the word gay I mean even just explaining that he didn't like El romantically. Bc I'm confident in endgame Byler but I find a lot of gay Mike theories far fetched in the sense that it makes sense but I don't really believe they'd do that in canon and I don't think it's what the Duffers intended (like the Phoebe Cates scene). I think that if they wanted to do explicitly gay Mike then they dragged on the Melvin storyline for way too long for it to make sense to anyone who isn't spending time analyzing Mike's behavior because so much gay mike proof is so subtle unlike general Byler proof which a lot of the GA has picked up on.

I know the show certainly shouldn't cater to the GA, but it should still be understandable to the audience even if they haven't spent hours analyzing, and I think by now they've passed the point where they could convincingly show that Mike never liked El romantically in the first place.

I know I sound like I'm repeating a lot of Byler anti talking points so sorry if I sound like a Byler anti, I promise I'm not. I just really don't understand how they would do gay Mike and would like to hear what you think.

this is from a week ago and i've talked about it again since but i was so flattered that you a) knew i don't like ambiguous sexuality mike and b) wanted to ask this to me. <3 and don't preemptively apologize omg i love you

i honestly feel like the main thing is an unhappy mlvn breakup. think this. in spirit. i am sorry to every platonic elmike enjoyer i think they could've had a relatively fun onscreen dynamic post-breakup had the s3 breakup been final i really do but this is a post-season 4 world. failed monologue and all that. only one season left. i need it to be clear somehow someway that this relationship hurt el and that their relationship was bad from the get-go. no idea how realistic this is btw but i feel like they can't afford to have them break up off-screen or to have it be vague à la season 2 stncy because it's their quote unquote main couple lol.

i feel like making it apparent that the relationship was bad for both of them would be ideal. and specifically el not being all mature all oh it's okay because i don't love you either would be good i think. we would've had that had the monologue not happened but we're past that now. i don't think they'll be on bad terms by the end of the show they're not gonna hate each other or anything but i don't see them being instant best friends after breaking up AT ALL

and yeah i agree that a lot of gay mike proof is only proof in the sense that it's in there and some of it is inconsequential. but that could also be said of some byler proof lol, like no one in the ga is thinking oh look blue met yellow in the west they're color-coded!!

i don't think they dragged mlvn on for too long and i can't for the life of me word it in a way that makes sense so i'm gonna link this post (inluding the tags from my mutual who reblogged it) :) i hate mlvn, hate with a capital h but i think them staying together this long (it's only been like a year and three months in the show which is kind of crazy) makes sense for them for multiple in-universe reasons (mike being the one who introduced the concept of romance to el, el only getting back together with mike after hopper died, i can think of about a thousand reasons for mike), but for us as viewers, yeah idk, obviously ending the season 4 with them being broken up for good would've made it easier for the ga to accept the possibility of byler being endgame and of mike being gay but it would've also been very obvious so i can see why they didn't do it. they still need people to tune in and also we needed to feel like we lost at the end of season 4 and that includes me and the other...27k tumblr bylers at the time

when you look at the facts i don't think gay mike would seem far-fetched to the average non-homophobic viewer: mike takes in a girl. kisses her after being told by everyone that he must like her, after telling her that his sister would be her sister and that and after 8 episodes of her being repeatedly mistaken for a boy and for will specifically. doesn't see her for a year, spends a season glued to will's side, kisses her again at the snow ball. pushes will away in season 3, inadvertently calls him out for being gay and for not growing up. starts having problems with his gf as soon as said gf starts to look like a girl and learns that she can have preferences of her own. lies to gf and gets broken up with, is very obnoxious about it all season. indirectly tells will he actually doesn't want to grow up and wants to keep playing with him at the end of the season. goes back to playing dnd as soon as s4 begins, which goes to show that he actually didn't mean what he said about wanting to grow up last season (either that or he's a hypocrite and hates will specifically. lol). acts weird with will again. focuses on his gf WHO LITERALLY LOOKS LIKE WILL IN A DRESS for the day. gets lied to by his gf and is then left behind by her, isn't as obnoxious about it but also keeps talking about his relationship without ever mentioning why they fought so he never has to explain why exactly he couldn't say That thing. to his boy best friend who he keeps having emotional talks with. doesn't say the thing until he gets told that he's the heart and all that by said boy best friend and still struggles to tell gf that he loves her. end of the world

i really think most of them are just not thinking about it. i remember asking my friend how likely byler being endgame was to her in august and she was like i...had never considered the possibility of el and mike not ending up together. then i talked her ear off for 60 minutes and she was like okayy i can see it maybe And she was sad for mike. so!

i think no matter how it goes we're gonna get an interview confirming it because they had to do it FOR WILL because people couldn't possibly imagine that the character who'd been called gay for the first time in the first twenty minutes of the show could actually be written to be gay

but maybe he'll tell us he's gay himself lol who knows

[violetti-spaghetti]

you know what? I'm sick and tired of seeing Mike mistreated like this. I'm gonna explain it very briefly: this is obviously a sh1tty situation. for everyone. Mike is super insecure about himself, let's not lie, he's just waiting for El to realize he's just some ordinary boring guy and he made it clear – don't want to go Freud about it, but you saw Ted, right? I think Mike is afraid of turning into him. and right now the only thing he's sure about is that he's terribly in love with El. can we blame him?

on the other side there is Will, who's been gay for like ten years (metaphorically, feels like ten years to me) and now, with all his friends having crushes for girls and being in a relationship he feels so different (a word that's been used often in this season) and needs to get it out of his system, but at the same time he's so scared to. I mean, it's the 80s, isn't it? and I'm not even talking about the shit he's been through, mostly alone, during the last three seasons. I mean, he's allowed to be a little stressed out, isn't he?

right now Mike and Will are in two very different places. I can't blame neither of them for feeling what they feel and I certainly can't charge Will's unhappiness on Mike's happiness and vice versa. the two things are not connected. I just hope that in s5 the support network that ripped in s3 will be fixed and that Will will soon feel safe enough to open up and realize that he's still loved. I think that he just needs some reassurance bc this is what he's most afraid of: being abandoned, misunderstood, left out. but to be understood you have to speak loud and clear, even if it's scary – you get it, @Duffers??? stop dancing around the fact that the guy is G A Y

yeah btw once Will has finally come to terms with who he is he'll find someone who's gonna love him and cherish him like he deserves– or just do the things that teens do with their crush idc. I'm sure about it, I know it bc I'm his mother