#mike wheeler deserves a hug

[watchmenanon]

Imo this is the face of someone screaming "Please don't make me do this. I don't want to do this but I don't want to disappoint you either. I don't want to lose you if I disappoint you, so I'll do it. I'll be the heart if that's what you want me to do, I'll play the part and give her what she wants even if I have to lie and sacrifice myself"

[titaniumspiness]

Call me crazy but I think I just realized why Mike was so weird when seeing Will at the airport. (Ft my friend on discord)

Last time he saw Will he was shorter, soft faced and overall cute

Yknow pretty boy vibes

But after a single year

Will has changed

And he's not cute anymore

Oh no no no no

He is buff, tall, confident and chisel faced

And that takes Mike extremely off guard. Everything is so different. How does he hug him, does he compliment his appearance, does he make a joke about his height? And he doesn't know the answer so he takes time to take those thoughts into mind.

And then realizing how awkward the hug was;

he makes small talk, only making it more awkward.

(By the way as someone who is one of the tallest in my friend group, hugging a friend who used to be way shorter than you takes a while to get used to. That hug that Mike gave Will is extremely relatable lmao)

[lighthouseas]

i feel like people tend to forget that mike, el, and dustin are 14 (mike is almost 15) and max, lucas, and will are 15. they’re all still just kids.  literally mike is a freshman in high school being pressured to say i love you to a girlfriend he doesn’t love, while also struggling with feelings he doesn’t know how to deal with for his best friend since kindergarten (who is a boy). will and mike are literal TEENAGERS burying a body in the middle of a desert.  dustin, 14, had to watch his older brother figure die in his arms while in an unfamiliar, terrifying alternate dimension.  el had to be subject to reliving her trauma AT 14 and then fight vecna like nothing happened.  lucas had to watch max’s bones snap (and max had to have HER bones snap) at 15.  will is gay in the 80s, in love with his best friend, and canonically feels like a mistake AT 15.

i think we all just needed to be reminded of that.

[cluelessbees]

Mike's Anxiety in Season 2

OKAY, I really wanted to explore/discuss Mike's anxiety in season 2. Specifically around losing Will. Because the show really focuses a lot on Joyce's anxiety but rarely does it touch on Mike's (even tho its clearly hinted at).

You can see throughout the season that Mike is really protective over Will. Whenever Will gets a vision and Mike snaps him out of it. He always hugs him the exact same way. Like outside the arcade and on halloween.

It's the same huge. I don't thing it's just a sign of comfort. I feel like its also Mike's way to coping. He's ensuring himself like I got him. He's here. He's holding him close because he's afraid of letting go and losing him again.

And if you think about it. It really makes sense because Mike was one of the last people to see Will. He disappeared after leaving Mike's house. There is a sense of guilt from that. And if you remember the next day of school, he was the only party member who felt something off about not seeing Will.

Everyone else brushed it off and so he did too. And he went about his day as normal, only to find out his gut feeling was right and that Will was gone. And that stuck with him. He was right and he ignored his gut. And in season 2 you sort of get a parallel to that moment when Will goes to the doctors.

The same thing happens where Mike has a bad feeling and Lucas just tries to reassure him its nothing/downplay it. But this time Mike doesn't ignore the feeling. It sticks.

Because he knows that the last time he ignored it, he was wrong.

Along with all this you also see how much more Mike panics compared to everyone else when Will is sort of unaccounted for.

Like when he finds him in Halloween he's FRANTICALLY asking if Will was okay. He even mentioned how he couldn't find him and that scared him. He was terrified that something happened to Will again. Same thing happens when Mike notices Will wasn't there when they were looking for dart. You can see the rush of panic flood through him. He is terrified.

Like– you can't tell me that in those moments he wasn't experiencing flashbacks to when Will disappeared.

And the next day at school, when Will didn't show up . We see Mike notice and we see how much it affects him. And, unlike season 1, the first chance he gets he calls their home.

And when no one answer, he plans to immediately head to their house the second school is over.

And he doesn't just ask nicely/quietly. he keeps pushing to see Will.

Is Will here? Is he okay? Those were the first thoughts that came to his mind. He wasn't even listening to what Joyce was saying. He just needed to see Will and make sure he isn't hurt (You can literally see him try and peer through the door).

I don't know it's just so sad to see how scared Mike is of losing Will! Like the events of season 1 really affected him mentally and I just really wanted to explore it more in depth.

[kennahjune]

Fuck the Trauma Bond

A Lucas and the Party version of this

…

Lucas was bouncing the ball on the pavement of the basketball court at the playground. It was surrounded by high chain-link fences and the hoops on either end were worn and rusted and the pavement itself was cracked worse than the Upside Down ground.

He had never looked happier.

Dustin and Will looked on from where they sat at the top of the slide on the playground. Lucas was tossing the ball around with a couple of other kids from school that neither of them knew.

But Lucas knew them, and that was all that mattered, apparently.

Max, El and Mike were a little farther back from Lucas, past the lame excuse of a basketball court and in the street, where Max was showing Mike how to skateboard while El loitered and watched.

It was absolutely sweltering. Ranging from 92 degrees to the Devils fucking asscrack, in Dustin totally correct opinion.

He was bored out of his mind but didn’t mind watching Lucas bounce the ball. He looked happier bouncing an orange sphere than he did playing DnD, which unsettled Dustin in a way that made him lightheaded.

“Hey, Will.”

Will hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t look up from his sketchpad.

“Does Lucas look happier?”

Will looked at Dustin with a raised eyebrow before focusing in on Lucas.

“Huh. I mean sure.” He shrugged. “But it’s cause it’s basketball. Lucas really likes basketball. And if he really likes it then why not be happy while doing it?”

Dustin flipped the thought a few times in his head.

It wasn’t that he was mad about Lucas playing basketball. He got over that a while ago after Lucas and Mike had a full-blown argument/mental breakdown that included Mike’s abandonment issues and Lucas’ FOMO (fear of missing out).

But Dustin also wasn’t outright vocally supportive. He didn’t go to the games, he didn’t hang around for Lucas’ practices. He would (probably), but even after Eddie’s name was cleared and he was painted a hero but the government goons, Mike and himself were still targeted heavily in school alongside the rest of Hellfire.

“I don’t really see the appeal, I guess.” He told Will, instead of voicing his inner thoughts.

Will shrugged. “You don’t have to. It’s Lucas’ interest. But simply showing you’re willing to listen to him about said interest can go a lot farther than you’d think.”

“Are you saying I don’t listen to him?”

“I’m saying you guys dismiss him.”

“Dismiss him?” Dustin watched Lucas more intently.

Will hummed. “Literally yesterday. He was talking about his encounter with Steve and how they’d made a really cool new play and you guys all so obviously tuned him out that when he stopped you guys just kept nodding because you hadn’t noticed.”

Huh.

That was really shitty.

“Did we really?”

“Yep.”

“Damn.”

“Damn indeed, Dusty-buns.”

Mike, Max and El joined them a couple minutes later.

“What’re you nerds talking about?” Max asked, sitting at the bottom of the slide with El while Mike climbed up to sit behind the boys and lean on Will’s back.

“How we’re apparently really shitty friends,” answered Dustin with his chin in his hand. He was still watching Lucas. One of the guys playing— a curly blond kid a head shorter than Lucas— pulled him into a weird hug thing where they slapped each other’s backs and immediately went back to playing.

“What?” asked Mike, muffled from where his head was shoved into Will’s shoulder.

“Lucas likes basketball.” Dustin confirmed.

Mike and Max looked at him.

“Yeah? We know that, Henderson.” Max snarked.

“And we know nothing about anything including him and basketball.”

They both seemed to pause.

“What do you mean?”

“Will says we’ve been dismissing him every time he brings it up.”

They both looked at Will, Mike peeling himself off of his back to do so.

Will shrugged and harshly erased something on his paper. “You do.”

“Which is why it’s stopping now.” Declared Dustin.

Mike blinked at him owlishly. “Um, dude? We can’t really go to him games or practices. You know we’ll both get mauled,” he muttered quietly.

The other three looked between Mike and Dustin.

“You’re both having problems still?” Will asked, looking stricken.

“I thought Jason dying would mean they’d fuck off.” Muttered Max.

Mike scoffed. “Just cause Carver’s dead doesn’t mean shit. They still think Eddie’s the Devil and that we’re his fucking worshipers or whatever. They chased me all the way to the back of the school on Wednesday.”

Will winced and Max glowered. Dustin felt the slide shake a little.

“El, relax. It’s not that bad.” Dustin watched El’s gaze soften slightly and the slide stopped rumbling. She looked at him sadly. They’d all heard about the bullying in Cali at some point. Dustin smiled back but it didn’t reach his eyes.

He turned back to address the whole group.

“Sure we can’t go to every game, but maybe we can get Steve to go with us to some. You guys know he wouldn’t let anything happen. And besides— Steve likes sports to.”

That struck a thought in his mind: how many times had he dismissed Steve?

He pushed it back for now.

“And even without going to games—“ he pressed on, “—we can still try and listen to him more.”

Mike and Max nodded slowly. Dustin takes it they hadn’t realized they hadn’t been listening before.

“And speaking of,” Will said, placing his sketch pad and pencils into his bag. “Here comes the man of the hour.”

Sure enough, Lucas was walking backward to them while waving to the guys who were leaving the park altogether. They were all waving back and laughing.

“Hey, guys!” Lucas jogged up to the slide.

“Hey, stalker,” Max greeted cheekily when Lucas bent to give her a kiss.

“Hi, Lucas!” El cheerily added. “Did you have fun?”

Lucas smiled. “Yeah! Daniel— the dude who was wearing the red hoodie like a damn maniac— was stupid fast and really cool! He showed me how he pushes off his feet for speed and when I—… never mind.” He tried for a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes.

Dustin frowned.

“Why’d you stop? Keep going, dimwit. When you what?” Mike prompted.

Dustin snickered when Will slapped his arm lightly.

Lucas looked stricken for a split second before his face broke out in a grin.

“Well—“

And the rest is history.

.

Bonus:

When the first game came up, only 3 months later, Steve took the whole Party— older teens included.

They took Eddie’s van, the kids piled in the back while the teens took the actual seats.

When they got to school it was hectic chaos of Steve taking a headcount and leading everyone in. They struggled to find seats where their whole group would fit and in the end they sat on the bottom line of the bleachers with half of the them on the floor.

It was actually fun, much to Dustin’s and Mike’s surprise. Even if the looks shot at them and Eddie from some of the players were downright hostile.

Steve went with them every time they got up to do anything. No one left without someone else there— so Mike wasn’t alone when Adrian Gonzales tried to corner him by the concessions. And Dustin wasn’t in as much trouble when Treyton Klink pulled him by the shirt into the bathrooms.

So yeah— it wasn’t the best. But that was ok, because the hug Lucas gave them afterwards was worth it. Dustin would go through hell (again) to get another hug like that.

Mike looked about ready to agree with the flush that now littered his face and shoulders.

Will laughed at him and poked fun at him about the blush the entire ride home. Max and Lucas himself eventually played in with it as well, only worsening the blush and making the teasing better.

Lucas was over the moon for the rest of the night.

They slept over at Casa Harrington (as the Party so lovingly called it), piling blankets and pillows and dragged mattresses and discarded cushions on the living room floor while Lucas went on and on and on with Steve for what felt like forever.

Dustin wouldn’t have it any other way.

Especially with the matching smiles on their faces.

Dustin’s never seen them so happy, and he caught Eddie staring at Steve the same way Max was staring at Lucas, so Dustin figured he agreed.

He’d endured literal hell for his friends; what’s so wrong about one interest?

Dustin’s dreams were filled with buzzers and cheering and scoreboards. But that was a problem to complain about tomorrow.

[taylorswiftshipsbyler]

mike wheeler is such a loser. like you cannot tell me that this boy is not a loser.

because HE IS. but I love him for it. he is literally just a loser in love.

[satellitebyers]

[lunabug2004]

Why the Troy and Angela Situations Should Not Be Compared (+ Why Mike's Reaction Is Valid)

One of the things that gets my blood boiling as a Mike defender is when people try to compare the bullying/El's reaction to said bullying between the Troy and Angela scenes. They are not the same thing, not even close! Yes, they're both cases of bullying, but two very different levels of extreme.

Yes, I understand that words can hurt just as much, if not more, than a physical weapon, and Mike understands this too, that's why he tries to connect with El the morning after. But in the real world, one without monsters or powers, the one they believe they're living in at the time, violence is almost never the answer, it only makes things worse, as it did. Mike also understand this. Now, yes, it took him a minute to figure out that El didn't quite understand this yet, but he works to fix his mistakes as soon as he does.

Now, let's look at season 1's incident. Troy is threatening to cut Dustin with a knife if Mike doesn't jump off the quarry cliff. Two lives are in immediate and direct danger in this situation. El, literally at the last second, saves Mike as he's falling, so that's one problem fixed and one less life at stake. By this time, yes, Troy has moved away from Dustin, but he is still holding the knife! And then he aggressively steps towards El, threatening her with it, so she snaps his arm and makes him drop it. This is self defense, as well as defending her friends from a dangerous situation.

In season 4, Angela publicly humiliates El. Yes, it's awful, and yes, she deserves the smack that she gets for it, but it's nowhere near as bad as what Troy was doing. Angela isn't putting any lives in immediate danger, she's not brandishing a weapon! Legally, El smacking Angela is assault, because at the point of the roller-scate-smack, the ordeal is done with, and there was no physical harm done. I'd like to add that I'm aware of El falling, and that she may have been hurt, but technically no one touched her, so it still isn't technically self-defense (I may be wrong here, pls correct me if so). This is a very unfortunate situation, and I feel terrible for El, as should everyone, but I'm a firm believer that when it comes to bullies, you shouldn't fight fire with fire, and Mike seems to carry this belief as well, as he repeatedly tells the boys to just ignore their bullies in s1. @foodiewithdahoodie has an old post (can't find it irl, but it's stuck in my brain) in which they say El treats Angela, a normal girl who is not a serious threat, with the same extreme hostility she shows the UD monsters, and I completely agree with this. El is flawed, and Mike's not a bad person for reacting to those flaws, that just happen to include unnecessary violence, the way a normal person would.

Anyways, what I'm getting at here is that these two situations are completely different (again, Troy has a literal weapon, two peoples' lives were being actively threatened!) and Mike's reaction in both circumstances were completely valid! In season one, he was seconds away from death, and so when El saved him and made the threat go away, he was eternally grateful for her defense. In season 4, he tries so hard to get to her when he realizes what's going on despite having just found out she'd been lying to him for months, and he was even completely on El's side, trying to find and comfort her, until she hit Angela, then he believed she went too far (she did), so he made that known. He's never been one to sugarcoat when he disagrees with certain behaviors, and he doesn't start here, he tells it like it is: Angela doesn't look fine. It also is just a lot to process, so it doesn't surprise me that it takes an overnight thought-session for him to figure out where he went wrong, and again, he tries to make it up to her! To connect with her, bringing down some of his walls in the process! She just disregards his experiences, then brings up him not saying ILY, so he gets defensive and puts back up his walls, and they never get to continue this conversation! (This is an analysis for another day in and of itself tbh)

To reiterate, it just irks me when people compare these scenes to try and make Mike out to be a bad person, when they are nowhere near the same situation! His reactions being different makes total sense, esp when adding the shock-factor of it all! I'll stop talking now cuz this could go on forever and I lowkey feel like I'm just repeating myself now.

Pls tell me your thoughts on this!

[bylerisrequited]

guys someone pointed out that the painting was probably an early birthday present for mike because will thought he wouldn't see mike on his bday 😭

also they pointed out that will said it was from el instead because he didn't want to draw attention to mike forgetting his birthday ...

[beaulesbian]

WILL BYERS + HUGS IN S4

bonus - one awkward hug that needs to be fixed in s5, or else Mike Wheeler

[maxmayfieldghostwrotethis]

[titaniumspiness]

You ever think about the fact that Mike broke down when hitting Hopper, only to repeat the word 'Liar'? And the whole Friends don't lie trope was made by him? Cause there has to be a reason for the pain of someone lying to him or even him lying as a whole. How he couldn't stand lying to El, How he became distant with her as soon as he found out about her lying? What lie was told to Mike to make him despise liars? There has to be more in Mike's story because all signs show to deep rooted trauma. I need more Suffer brothers pleaseee.

[hothammies]

2 days until st4: the airport hug that we deserve

[strawberrybyers]

sorry but i’m still here. the way will was so excited to see mike and you can tell by the way his hand grabs the backpack that he was ready to embrace mike with so much enthusiasm. like he was ready to hug him and never let go 🥺

[shandy-and-champagne]

Because they’re going to live.

[THEY’RE IN LOVE.]

[abisbookshelf]

him >> everyone