#this is more Mike getting 'lucas-ed' than byler but still

[bluebugjay]

WAIT if season 5 is going to follow some of the dynamics of season 1 what if byler don't get Murray-ed but they get Lucas-ed??

In season 1 Lucas is the one to call out Mike for being 'blind because he likes that a girl's not grossed out by him', he's the one to break off from the group to save Will on his own no matter what the others say. It makes sense that he'd be the one to push Mike in that direction again (also the fact Lucas has been the one who has tried to help Mike in his relationship with El the most throughout the seasons so he'd know how none of it came naturally to Mike)

Not to mention in season 5 we're probably going to have Max in a coma for a while with Lucas depressed over it. It would work so perfectly that Lucas snaps after hearing Mike talk about his rocky relationship with El and maybe a bit about Will and just yells at Mike that he's being childish with his emotions because Lucas himself is mourning his real relationship when Mike is still hung up over his pretend one. Also a parallel about how Mike acted when Will was gone in season 1 to how Lucas acts whilst Max is 'gone' in season 5 would also work so well.

[luckybyler]

I know Noah's coming out isn't supposed to be about Byler, but I will take the liberty to make a comparison re: coming out.

Noah just came out now in 2023, at the age of 18 and in college, after spending his late childhood and teenhood playing a gay character (which means his family and manager(s) were fine with it), when he's rich and famous, living in progressive cities, surrounded by plenty of LGBTQ people (real and fictional), and still described himself as being scared in the closet. Judging by many reactions from the public, as well as the general situation in many parts of the U.S. and the world, it's safe to say that, while he found widespread support from his fans and those close to him, his fears are founded and his coming out is relevant today.

Now imagine how hard and scary it would be for 15-year-old Will to come out of the closet in a small town in Indiana in the '80s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, with no sex ed or positive LGBT role models to speak of (for him or anyone else), in an environment where he was bullied by his peers at school and by his own dad for even seeming gay before he was old enough to experience sexual attraction, where homosexuality is seen as satanic and wrong, and where, upon his disappearance, him being the victim of a hate crime at the age of 12 was the first reasonable hypothesis. What can we expect from his situation?

Having a grand coming out scene and having people be all "yeah we know!" and exchanging $5 bills from their bets while many others come out as well would be wildly unrealistic. Even merely having him come out voluntarily without the influence of a substance or extraordinary circumstances, or without being yanked out of the closet (for example, by Vecna), before having left Hawkins, would be pushing it by a lot. Will will be terrified to confess to Mike (and vice versa), and they both are probably terrified by the prospect of anyone else knowing, even if they are their friends and they're good people. And with the AIDS issue, things get more complicated.

Having all the non-villain characters be some flavor of supportive or at least non-homophobic (still worried for them tho) might be realistic and doable because this story is about outcasts facing supernatural horrors and knowing truths that regular people ignore. Their minds are probably more open and their bonds stronger, in part thanks to trauma. What's having your male friends be in love with each other when you just faced real-life Satan? What is NOT realistic is that they're familiar enough with anything other than heteronormativity. This means that 1. they (especially the younger ones) wouldn't know how to spot the signs of homosexuality other than stereotypes, let alone see when someone is in love with someone else of the same sex, or when two people of the same sex are in love with one another; and 2. when they see something like two boys or two girls making out or having public displays of affection, it will shock them. If, for example, Dustin or Lucas sees Will and Mike kissing, it will form a core memory. They'll remember when and where they were when they saw it. They'll have lots of questions or assumptions, some of them insensitive (for example, "who's the man and who's the woman in the relationship?").

If I were to predict Will's coming out, barring Vecna or something else forcing him out of the closet, I'd say by the end of the show he and Mike will be explicitly out to each other after some emotionally charged scene (and Byler will be canon), and to Jonathan, Joyce, and Karen. And that "coming out" might just be like the scene between Jonathan and WIll in season 4. I'd say El finds out about Mike's feelings for Will and that causes her breakup with Mike, and there will be an implied understanding with Hopper (who tells El to not mention a word of it to anyone), Nancy and Ted (Holly's just a child). Maybe Murray will sense it or find out by himself. Mike and Will will leave town in the end, and the rest of the Party, as well as Steve and Robin (yes, Robin) and the rest of the town, will be none the wiser. It will probably be implied that they will find over the years because they're their friends and not dumb, but not by the time the show ends. I say Robin can tell that Will is gay, but she doesn't necessarily know about Mike, let alone their relationship, and/or she'll suspect but choose to not dig further.

Obviously, the Duffers can do whatever they want with their narrative, they can make Will come out and have everyone throw him a coming out party while the entire town sings Kumbaya together. I'm just talking about what would be realistic and faithful to the time period (since that's what they have been trying to do).

[parkitaco]

I posted 5,662 times in 2022

That's 3,152 more posts than 2021!

860 posts created (15%)

4,802 posts reblogged (85%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@octobergrae

@yearning-and-arson

@spidy-nugget

@upside-down-theater-kid

@sprnklersplashes

I tagged 2,016 of my posts in 2022

#stranger things - 653 posts

#byler - 447 posts

#our flag means death - 196 posts

#ofmd - 107 posts

#mike wheeler - 78 posts

#will byers - 74 posts

#stranger things spoilers - 66 posts

#mean girls musical - 60 posts

#mean girls broadway - 59 posts

#mike wheeler i know what you are - 52 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#and everyone’s like parker is this a new thing or just a different facet of an only thing bc you’ve already exhausted our attention w that

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

“bylers are delusional” and yet we’re still having way more fun than you

428 notes - Posted August 3, 2022

#4

i think max and murray would get along for the sole reason that they would both see right through mike wheeler’s bullshit

443 notes - Posted August 4, 2022

#3

hc that whenever mike walks into a room w the party in it he’ll go “hey guys… hey will,” like specifically acknowledging him while generalizing everyone else. he’s done this forever even in s3 and will doesn’t even notice it until suddenly he Does and he asks lucas about it and lucas is like “wdym he always does that,” and will just kinda. short circuits

824 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

#2

dustin is one more interaction away from permanently ending ted wheeler and i love that for him

1,388 notes - Posted August 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

another thing about the ofmd kiss scene!! when stede asks “what makes ed happy?” he is genuinely asking. so many different characters or even just a different actor would have played that line flirtatiously, but rhys darby doesn’t. every time i watch the scene i expect him to lean in a little or do something that indicates he’s sort of joking, but he doesn’t, because he’s not. we find out later that at this point he’s not aware of the fact that he’s in love, and consequently probably doesn’t know that ed is too. so he’s not fishing for anything or hoping for the answer that ed ultimately gives, he just genuinely wants to know what makes ed happy, and the implication there is that he wants to know how HE can make ed happy. and the answer is that he already is, and it catches him so off guard that it makes the scene 100 times more romantic that it would have if he was TRYING to be romantic

5,101 notes - Posted May 4, 2022

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