yukstergm

[yukstergm]

This isn't necessarily a post about byler, just a random thought of mine I had after the teaser. There is definitely going to be a mileven breakup this season, and whether or not this results in byler being endgame or not doesn't matter.

Not only does this scene here not look like a tender, romantic scene (see the look on Mike's face and the bittersweet expression on El's), but they set this breakup up last season.

We can all agree that Mike's "love confession" last season was diddly darn bullshit, right? Mike lies to El about "falling in love with you the way we found you in the woods" when a quick rewatch will show that he planned to get rid of her IMMEDIATELY after finding her. We know he's lying, and so does El. Notice how it wasn't Mike's speech that gave her the strength to fight Vecna — it was seeing Max, her best friend, in danger. Let's also not ignore the fact that Will was the one who had to force Mike to tell El that she loved him.

(Side note: given Will's track record of using El as a means to tell Mike that he loves him, this further retracts from the "confession.")

It's mentioned in the s4 epilogue that El has been ignoring Mike. This suggests further relationship issues in s5, which is weird considering Mike JUST confessed his love to her like El wanted. This should have been the rekindling of their relationship, their bridge back to one another, but they're still having problems. This is because El knows that he is lying. I don't see a point in dragging this arc out to the final season if it isn't going to end in the two of them breaking up.

Let's not forget that mileven inherently does not work. Aside from the pining in s1 and the fact that they hardly interacted in s2, they have had problems ever since their relationship truly started. After El began discovering herself in s3 and became less of a blank slate hanging on Mike's every word, the two began arguing and having problems consistently. The "cute mileven moments" most people remember only happened when the two were practically strangers or just friends (see s1 and the "blank makes you crazy" scene from s3). In an actual relationship where they're both their own people, they simply do not work.

Mike's season 4 arc was that he couldn't tell El that he loved her. Given this confession is insincere, this leaves his arc unfinished... unless. Unless (another dramatic pause), he never loved El in that way. Mike and Eleven love each other platonically and are better off as friends, and I guarantee their relationship arc this season is discovering and coming to terms with that.