#they were all equally friends

[chirpsythismorning]

Some of the evidence supporting Mike not being in love with El is brutal. No, but seriously.

In s3, when El's leg is injured, instead of Mike putting his arm around her waist, allowing him to take some of the weight off her injured leg, he puts his arm around her shoulder, basically having the exact opposite affect of taking the weight off of her, instead just adding more weight for her to have to carry.

Now, I’m not coming at Mike here, I’m actually coming at the writers, because this choice here has everything to do with them using this gesture to signal Mike’s lack of feelings for El, even at the expense of realism.

I say this bc any person with common sense, including Finn and everyone around him and Millie filming these shots, would've known it looked unnatural for Mike to be adding more weight onto El as opposed to taking some off of her.

This means that what Mike did here, Finn was directed to do, and therefore it was for a specific reason.

And we know they could have easily made the opposite choice, because they show us Max AND Lucas doing it.

See how putting an arm around El's waist looks so much more natural? Because homegirl is injured and clearly needs help taking weight off her leg to qualm some of the pain she's experiencing there, which is why Max and Lucas are shown here doing it the correct way.

And so, why can't Mike do the same? Why are the writers making a point to show Mike being incapable of simply taking some weight off of El, instead doing the exact opposite?

I don't think it's as deep as Mike not being able to do something intimate, and that's bc, again we see Max and Lucas doing it.

I honestly think what they're trying to convey with this choice here, is that Mike thinks he's helping El, when he is in fact doing the opposite despite his best efforts. The implications of that and how that sort of aligns with their romantic relationship and what it leads to at the end of s3, going into s4, is pretty spot on.

I do think Mike thinks he's doing the right thing by being with El instead of voicing any doubts at the end of s3, because he is under the assumption that she is in love with him. I do think he believes he is indebted to her and that this is the least he can do after everything they've been through together, which has mostly been riddled with romantic pressures and so continuing that instead of disputing it seems like the only option anyways. Not to mention, he does care for her deeply, so it's not hard to imagine that he's a teenage boy confusing deep care for love (he literally tells us this is his problem when he can only say care and not love to El's face... but that's a whole other conversation).

Still, when it's all said and done, Mike's not actually doing El any favors by being with her romantically, if that is not what he truly wants.

Because that's the sad truth about all of this, which is that you would never want someone to be with you just because you want them. If you knew that they truly couldn't have those feelings for you, you'd want to know, right? You don't deserve someone just because you have deep feelings for them. And I think there's so many layers to this idea, bc many people are capable of not giving Byler a chance bc they truly believe Mike could never return Will's feelings. Will also feels this way atp, so though it hurts, he rips the band aid off, because he would never want Mike to be with him just out of pity or something. No one would want that. And so it all really comes down to who Mike truly loves romantically and wants to be with. And the right thing to do, even if it hurts someone, is to be honest, because being with them just bc you think that will make them happy is never going to be enough if you aren't truly feeling it, or worse, feel it for someone else.

We see how Mike's inability to be honest with El at the end of s3, leads to a season of Mike feeling deeply insecure and undeserving of the love El has to offer him, and even though he does try, he always comes up short. Despite Mike putting up this front that they are the perfect couple, the details are telling us something is off. And it gives him away.

Another example that I think is very similar to this loaded gesture from Mike to El in s3, is the scene in s4 when they hug in the airport.

Common sense ppl, picture this: You're reuniting with your long distance girlfriend. Then suddenly, she runs up to you, with her arms wide open, and instead of opening your arms wide to embrace her properly, you take the bouquet of flowers you brought her as a gift, and shove them against your chest just as she approaches to hug you, effectively squishing the present you got for her (a pretty delicate present at that) for no reason other than to... what exactly?

Like?? El isn't even squishing the present Mike, she's trying to hug you, dude! Your gf is trying to hug you properly and you threw the gift you got for her in between you so you could throw in a careful! x3??

Again, this has less to do with Mike's thoughts and reasoning behind this gesture in a literal sense, and more to do with the simple fact that this is a narrative choice! Mike is not a real person! There are real people sitting down and writing this and actors are having to do multiple takes to act it out. What feels natural for a situation is going to be what is often chosen 9 times out of 10, because of realism and wanting the audience to see stuff happening that is believable. That 1 time though, when it's not being done the way it would usually be, is usually because there's a specific reason for it.!

So the question really is, not why is Mike doing this, but why are the writers having Mike do this, and what message are they trying to convey about Mike's feelings based on his behavior, in these moments where he's just not capable of committing to El genuinely, one way or another?

[imthursdaysyme]

Arthur and Gwen at a sports game

[bloomingsalma]

i think one of the most disappointing things is to see that your childhood friends have grown up to represent the kind of people you're disappointed in

[brittlebutch]

finding a character that grates against your nerves and eventually thinking, well, that's not fair, you haven't done anything; why do i dislike you? and then you dwell on this for a while and discover 'oh! you are like me when i was younger' and decide well, i'll simply learn how to love the both of you. power in this.

[sn0wp1anets]

just saw someone saying that in canon sirius wasnt mean to peter we have lost the plot

[welcometogrouchland]

Also what if I said the show taking time to show that Luz and Hunter aren't unhealthily dependent on one another post time skip the way they were in thanks to them (but still close seen in Luz's patches on her clothes or Hunter taking time off work to go to Luz's bday) actually plays in to the cycle of sibling betrayal motif w/ the Clawthornes and Wittebanes????

[mikesbasementbeets]

just here to say again that gay people can and very often do experience “crushes” on people of different genders, particularly when they’re young and don’t understand the difference between romantic and platonic love, and that doesn’t make them any less gay

stranger things has done a fucking phenomenal job of displaying this through mike wheeler, whose entire romantic arc has been about discovering what that difference is, specifically through his two major relationships, will and el. he mistakes the platonic feelings for romantic ones and the romantic feelings for platonic ones before (VERY gradually imo) realizing that he’s had them mixed up the entire time

[flammedoudoune]

Random interactions I've had in the past couple of days in Japan:

-old naked lady at the sento who did her best to explain to 3 confused french tourists who had never been to a public bathhouse how to proceed, despite us barely speaking any japanese, and her barely speaking any english. She also gave us sweets afterwards. She was lovely.

-middle aged man who stopped us in the street to tell us we were beautiful. He then said "I am crazy", smiled, gave us a thumbs up, and left.

-brazilian tourist who started talking to me in the bus and told me I should go visit Himeji.

-old japanese man who started talking to me in the train station and told me I should go visit Himeji.

[lunaticpsyker08]

A happy Doom bringer with his friends

bonus! doom swimwear concepts -> kinda suggestive...

[thedreadvampy]

hey uh no offence but when a famous person cheats on their spouse it always sits kind of weird with me when people treat it as if they were just caught doing sex crimes or something. like infidelity is often received as being as or more severe than sexual assault or harassment or domestic violence.

like don't get me wrong AT ALL. cheating on your partner is an extremely shitty and cruel thing to do in most situations. but it's also. a very interpersonal thing. like are you justified for despising someone for cheating ON YOU? yeah for sure. but this is not your marriage is not your partner and you're not the one hurt.

and maybe that's a lack of imagination on my part. but idk cheating feels so much more personal than most Cancelable Offences. bc like for real it's not your marriage, it's a complex issue, and it's not an act of direct violence. different people will cheat for different reasons and different people will respond to being cheated on differently.

(and also sometimes it's not even cheating bc can we look at the vitriol leveled at Jada Pinkett-Smith for 'infidelity' when she and her husband were in a consensual non-monogamy situation by all accounts?)

cheating on your partner is a shitty thing to do but it doesn't, imo, indicate that you're a Danger To Those Around You like for example sexual harassment does. you did a lot of harm to your partner and they will need support and friendship through that. but to people outside this relationship and who don't know you personally like. how is this their business???

[franeridan]

I understand why everyone who read dunmeshi instantly shipped marci and falin but tbh the fact that it's just treated as canon by the fandom cuts on a lot of interesting analysis that could be done on their relationship outside of the romantic reading, which is kind of a shame

[thenwethrowitonthefire]

Shout-out to everyone who survived a "fun" easter with the family

[eternallydreaminggf]

do we think i will get to have two best friends again

[miroana]

Roque au Fabii | the Poet of Deimos

[ganonfan1995]

Sinbad was such a weird film tho, like they wanted to adapt it but basically adapted Damon and Pythias instead, before deciding it was going to be this comedic love triangle...so like it has absolutely nothing in common to the source material askdjfh but also it does fuck hard b/c bisexual love triangle. <3 <3 <3

[widevibratobitch]

my god. skinny people really just have like. No Idea huh just absolutely not a single clue lmao it's almost funny to watch fr but then id lie if i said i wouldn't fucking kill to be able to be that ignorant