timblriche

[timblriche]

thank you <3 it'd be so tender and cathartic after that airport half-hug abomination and I'm also just dying for the writers to make the platonic-to-romantic shift/twist to the GA as juicy and tension-filled as possible! mike's initial "rejection" would be a red herring (and validate the GA while devastating the bylers for like 30 seconds), only for them to be like PSYCH 30 seconds later so it'd be such a good way to stretch the twist out just a little longer (and also very characteristic of mike to wait until the very last second, since we know he's always late and all lolol)

How Will and Mike's first kiss could be directed to mirror their platonic-romantic tension and culminate in a romantic plot twist and "gotcha!" moment for the GA. Also, the narrative weight of hugs for Mike...

hear me out… it'd be a fantastic directing choice to maximize mike and will's platonic-romantic tension while preserving the 'mike likes will back' twist for the GA until the very last second by centering it around an intense platonic hug. (skip to the end if you just wanna read my rendition of their first kiss!)

like if instead of suddenly kissing, if during a big emotional moment they shared a super intense but innocent & initially platonic hug that lingered and grew until slowly morphing into a kiss, shocking the GA. a real hug is also what mike and will need so badly; even that is something mike denied himself in the airport scene bc he was already repressing how badly he wanted to hold will. so starting their first kiss with an intimate hug wouldn't just be romantic payoff, it would show how blurred the line between platonic and romantic feelings can be for mike and will. it'd be emotional catharsis, character resolution, and the moment mike finally stops running from the truth: starting with a simple hug (it'd validate mike's fear that a mere hug from will is the gateway drug to dangerous uncharted gay territory which would be kind of hilarious lmao). iirc the last time they shared a real hug was at the end of S3 when will moved and we got that scene of mike looking sadly and longingly at the car driving away, then the byers house, and then the shot of him devastated while getting a hug from his mom just like he did in S1 when he thought will died. and then we get that ridiculous ass half-hug at the airport in S4. so my point is, hugs carry a surprising amount of visual narrative weight when it comes to mike, the intensity of his feelings for will, and the blurred line between platonic and romantic.

let me set the scene... something crazy just happened, maybe one of them narrowly escaped certain death, maybe one just risked their own life to save the other, maybe one just did something super heroic to save everyone, OR maybe it's not even life or death but will just confessed his feelings after mike confronts him about the painting lie... and mike, in his shock at the sudden revelation, jumps to showing acceptance for will's sexuality but doesn't verbally reciprocate bc he's still figuring things out internally. it's at this point where will has already accepted that mike doesn't return his feelings, so he just accepts and values mike's platonic acceptance via a big platonic hug without expecting anything romantic, and the GA is like aww look at these besties being besties, they're the bestest of friends! of course mike doesn't reciprocate, he's just there to show will acceptance! platonically!

they're wrapped up in each other's arms with their heads tucked into each other's shoulders, feeling so much relief and closeness and maybe they're out of breath and tearful if they just escaped something life-or-death, and mike lifts his head a bit to whisper something into will's ear (e.g. "I thought I lost you") and he feels overwhelmed by all the platonic love he has for will... but wait... is it? platonic? why does the newfound knowledge of will's feelings for him stir something in his heart? why does this closeness he's been avoiding for so long feel so right and more importantly why does mike want more of it? and their faces slowly inch up each other's necks and get closer and closer together [tender, emotional music playing] and the GA's starting to panic a little bit and now their cheeks are pressed up and they're breathing heavily and their eyes close (bc the momentum is unstoppable now, and all that’s left is to close their eyes and hold their breath and brace for the inevitable) and the corners of their mouths touch and they linger until slowly but surely succumbing to the pull of each other's gravity and GOTCHA! slowly falling into a kiss…………………. bro someone give me a director's chair on that set pleeeease

I took some inspo from willhelm and simon in young royals (willhelm faces a super similar internal crisis as mike):

[timblriche]

will's POV:

mike's POV:

all I can think of is

[timblriche]

How Will and Mike's first kiss could be directed to mirror their platonic-romantic tension and culminate in a romantic plot twist and "gotcha!" moment for the GA. Also, the narrative weight of hugs for Mike...

hear me out… it'd be a fantastic directing choice to maximize mike and will's platonic-romantic tension while preserving the 'mike likes will back' twist for the GA until the very last second by centering it around an intense platonic hug. (skip to the end if you just wanna read my rendition of their first kiss!)

like if instead of suddenly kissing, if during a big emotional moment they shared a super intense but innocent & initially platonic hug that lingered and grew until slowly morphing into a kiss, shocking the GA. a real hug is also what mike and will need so badly; even that is something mike denied himself in the airport scene bc he was already repressing how badly he wanted to hold will. so starting their first kiss with an intimate hug wouldn't just be romantic payoff, it would show how blurred the line between platonic and romantic feelings can be for mike and will. it'd be emotional catharsis, character resolution, and the moment mike finally stops running from the truth: starting with a simple hug (it'd validate mike's fear that a mere hug from will is the gateway drug to dangerous uncharted gay territory which would be kind of hilarious lmao). iirc the last time they shared a real hug was at the end of S3 when will moved and we got that scene of mike looking sadly and longingly at the car driving away, then the byers house, and then the shot of him devastated while getting a hug from his mom just like he did in S1 when he thought will died. and then we get that ridiculous ass half-hug at the airport in S4. so my point is, hugs carry a surprising amount of visual narrative weight when it comes to mike, the intensity of his feelings for will, and the blurred line between platonic and romantic.

let me set the scene... something crazy just happened, maybe one of them narrowly escaped certain death, maybe one just risked their own life to save the other, maybe one just did something super heroic to save everyone, OR maybe it's not even life or death but will just confessed his feelings after mike confronts him about the painting lie... and mike, in his shock at the sudden revelation, jumps to showing acceptance for will's sexuality but doesn't verbally reciprocate bc he's still figuring things out internally. it's at this point where will has already accepted that mike doesn't return his feelings, so he just accepts and values mike's platonic acceptance via a big platonic hug without expecting anything romantic, and the GA is like aww look at these besties being besties, they're the bestest of friends! of course mike doesn't reciprocate, he's just there to show will acceptance! platonically!

they're wrapped up in each other's arms with their heads tucked into each other's shoulders, feeling so much relief and closeness and maybe they're out of breath and tearful if they just escaped something life-or-death, and mike lifts his head a bit to whisper something into will's ear (e.g. "I thought I lost you") and he feels overwhelmed by all the platonic love he has for will... but wait... is it? platonic? why does the newfound knowledge of will's feelings for him stir something in his heart? why does this closeness he's been avoiding for so long feel so right and more importantly why does mike want more of it? and their faces slowly inch up each other's necks and get closer and closer together [tender, emotional music playing] and the GA's starting to panic a little bit and now their cheeks are pressed up and they're breathing heavily and the tension is unbearable and their eyes close (bc the momentum is unstoppable now, and all that’s left is to close their eyes and hold their breath and brace for the inevitable) and the corners of their mouths touch and they linger until slowly but surely succumbing to the pull of each other's gravity and GOTCHA! slowly falling into a kiss…………………. bro someone give me a director's chair on that set pleeeease

I took some inspo from willhelm and simon in young royals (willhelm faces a super similar internal crisis as mike):

[timblriche]

Hear me out...

I think the reason some people are nervous about Byler not happening in S5—that the Duffers cater to the majority-straight GA and thus they wouldn't write something the GA wouldn’t anticipate—is actually exactly why they would want to write that twist that Will's love for Mike is requited. It'd reframe Mike and Will's already-intense relationship into a perfect romantic slow burn full of dramatic revelations and emotional payoff. The Duffers loooove that shit. They literally wouldn’t be able to RESIST delivering something that’s both that juicy and also perfectly set up. It would make waves and they know it. Plus, it was their final season, so they had nothing to lose bc renewal pressure didn't infringe on their creative freedom like it would've for every season prior. It makes sense they'd wanna wait til S5 to pull off this kind of twist.

That twist would also completely re-contextualize Mike’s out of character weirdo behavior in seasons 3 and 4 that the GA pretty much unanimously clocked and hated even if they didn't clock the queer subtext driving it. It would totally redeem the Duffers’ alleged 'bad writing' of later-season Mike by making it clear that those writing choices for him were actually part of a very carefully and intentionally crafted character arc that was confusing and red flaggy at the time but makes total sense in hindsight.

They wouldn't want it to be obvious to the GA at all, bc then it wouldn't be a good twist, they'd wanna be moving in silence... However, they'd still want all the clues and breadcrumbs (aka queer subtext lmao) to check out and hold up upon a series rewatch. Which totally would, given how intentionally all of that groundwork has been laid across 4 seasons (look no further than the thousands upon thousands of intelligent, logical, well-researched, in-depth write-ups and videos analyzing it all! it's not just a random ship, there's a significant amount of genuinely compelling evidence). The twist is only obvious to queer viewers bc they can watch the show without missing these gay af breadcrumbs that go over most of the GA's heads bc they're still blinded by their heteronormativity goggles. In other words, GA doesn't have Gay True Sight so they won't see this twist coming till Mike literally kisses Will on the mouth, but it takes a LOT less than that for a GA to immediately suspect a romance plot-line between two straight characters (something the Duffers already subverted with Robin and Steve in S3). The Duffers get to write the easiest fucking plot twist ever purely thanks to heteronormativity lol.

And anyway that’s exactly what makes it such an effective twist: not that it comes out of nowhere, but that it feels like a revelation only in hindsight bc the groundwork had already been laid. Here's an interview quote from Ross Duffer about writing good plot twists that convinced me Byler was planned to be a very intentional twist for the GA:

Interviewer: That was quite a twist, by the way. How hard was it to pull off?

Ross Duffer: Doing a twist is nerve wracking because just to … We talked about it a lot in the writer’s room and the best twists are ones that you go, “Oh, I should have seen that coming.” As opposed to the twists that go, “Oh, well that just came out of nowhere.” So, “Oh, I missed these clues along the way.” But you get nervous when you’re writing it because you go, “Well, to me it seems obvious that Henry, as a young child, doesn’t die. Why does he not die from Vecna?” And you’re just hoping that those little breadcrumbs that you’re leaving along the way aren’t so obvious that everyone starts to guess it.

some of my favorite byler moments that erase my doubt + a random thing thats make me question byler endgame

i wanted to come on here and share some of my favorite byler moments that make really all my doubt go away about them being endgame. i also want to share something that somewhat makes me doubt byler endgame, just to hear yalls thoughts on it.

3 moments that take away my byler endgame doubt:

☆mikes inability to hug will at the airport☆

this scene screams “i’ve thought way too much about how i feel about my best friend and i don’t wanna make it even more weird.” we’ve seen mike be affectionate with will before (especially in s2), and even with dustin in s4. so why couldn’t he just give will a real hug? will literally has his arms out. he’s ready. and mike just… gives him that awkward one-armed back pat? some people say “maybe mike knows will likes him and doesn’t want to lead him on.” okay, but mike doesn’t know will is gay. he doesn’t. and if he was worried about leading him on, then why is he being so soft and flirty in both bedroom scenes later? it doesn’t add up. the hug hesitation makes way more sense if mike’s trying to suppress feelings he doesn’t fully understand or isn’t ready to admit.

☆“you never say it” vs. “you didn’t have to” ☆

yeah, obviously. this was what convinced me personally to start shipping byler. because what clearer of a parallel do you need? watching mike and el’s fight scene vs. mike and wills bedroom scene is just pure perfection. we clearly see that mike struggles with affirming el’s needs, because he isn’t verbally able to say what she needs him to say. they struggle with communication in that way. in mike and wills scene, we honestly see the complete opposite. even without will saying anything to mike about how he was acting, mike still understood and didn’t even need him to say anything. there’s a mutual understanding between the two of them that el and mike don’t have. you all know this, idk why im explaining this lmao.

☆mikes reaction to el kissing him in season 3 finale☆

this one hit me hard. so let’s break this down: the girl he’s supposedly been obsessed with all summer kisses him, tells him she loves him too, and his reaction is… to keep his eyes wide open during the kiss and say nothing back? even though he knows she’s about to move across the country? and then when she walks away, the look on his face is just… not what you’d expect from someone who's finally “gotten the girl.” it’s not happy. it’s confused. and it’s not just the kiss, the whole final montage feels off. mike’s standing in front of a closet when she kisses him. el is literally holding will’s bear while they kiss. symbolically, it’s like will is between them. it doesn’t feel triumphant or romantic — it feels heavy and unresolved.

and now here’s a minor thing that kind of makes me doubt sometimes:

☆the duffer brothers having to cater to the GA. ☆

i 100% believe byler should be canon- and honestly, it would be queerbaiting if it doesn’t happen. but i have to admit, a lot of the GA don’t pick up on the subtle queer coding around mike wheeler’s character. i’m saying this from a somewhat biased perspective, based on what my own family and peers (who are very much part of the GA) have said about how they interpreted season 4. most of them picked up on the fact that will is in love with mike, and that he lied about the painting- which, great! that part wasn’t exactly subtle. but when it comes to mike, most of them interpreted his love confession to el as totally sincere, and a big turning point in their relationship. a lot of them say stuff like, “it’s sweet that will loves mike, but mike’s never shown interest back, so it wouldn’t make sense for byler to happen in season 5.” now obviously, we don’t agree with that- we’ve seen the deeper queer coding in mike’s behavior, his hesitations, his repression, the emotional weight of his moments with will. but the GA tends to take things at face value, and i can unfortunately see the duffer brothers trying to cater to them by going for an ending that feels “safe” or “clear” to the widest audience possible. and that would honestly really suck. i don’t want to believe they’d do that, but at the same time, i wouldn’t be shocked if they did.

[timblriche]

can someone be a devil's advocate for me rn pls and tell me what the straight explanation is for: mike being initially happy to reunite with el and then his expression suddenly becoming soooo pained and confused ONLY after spotting will and turning his gaze between him and el FOUR times? all while will and el both look so sincerely happy throughout the whole reunion?

genuinely asking because I can't come up with any simple explanation for this intentional camera shot and acting direction for Finn that doesn't have to do with mike having suppressed feelings for will that are taking his attention away from happily reuniting with his girlfriend. what's the reason??

you can see the wheels turning in his little gay head

his brain is saying “will looks so beautiful right now, oh right el, el’s my girlfriend, what’s wrong with me?”