#Dustin is *pacifies like he’s never had to share*

[truessences]

Mike Wheeler IS the Heart (part 2)

I had to split this into two parts because it was getting long but in this essay I will explain why I think Mike Wheeler is the heart of the party.

Part One Here

I do agree that Will's perspective of Mike will obviously influence the things he says, feels and thinks about Mike and that's including his "heart of the group" speech but I genuinely believe it past Will's perspective. I wouldn't even be writing this if people weren't calling Mike all kinds of rude names: Wet Sock, Wet Blanket, he's NOT the heart, he's the worst lol like I can't.

When I hear someone say "the heart of the group", what I think that means is someone who is depended on, someone who holds the group together, who may be the leader, who will do whatever they can to protect those they love. They aren't perfect and if anything, they may take their mistakes or things they couldn't succeed in doing the hardest. They are the ones that the others will look to in hard times or for answers and/or support. Maybe they make the final decisions or they're the ones who make the plans. 

Mike (The Paladin)- Mike IS the heart of the party, as well as the leader.

I think this is shown in every season in various ways. In the introduction, we see him being the Dungeon Master, just as we do at the end, which indicates his role in the group of being the leader. Even when he tries to appeal to his mom to let them continue playing, Lucas and Dustin tell Will not to worry about his bad roll because Mike didn’t see it. Mike watches as his friends ride away on their bikes, to at least make sure they start their journey safely. He meets Eleven and immediately wants to help her, he goes right into caregiver mode, develops a clear crush on her, but that doesn’t change his mission of finding and saving Will, he just now has another person who could be in trouble. When he finds out she recognized Will AND has powers, instead of trying to “send her back to where she came from”, he welcomes her into their party and shows her a love she’s never experienced before, kindness- without expecting anything back from her. He’s also more willing to accept the things that Eleven tells him, he’s the most open-minded of the group. All throughout S1, he’s trying to accommodate everyone. Even though he and Lucas argue a lot about Eleven, he continuously tries to pacify Lucas’ concerns by telling him that she can help them and he wasn’t wrong.

Mike also doesn’t hesitate.

This is shown when he was prepared and DID jump off the cliff to save Dustin, he yelled at Eleven for hurting Lucas, he confronted Troy and his friend for laughing at Will’s memorial at the school. He reassures Dustin that he is also his best friend, there isn’t a hierarchy in his friendships. He told the bad men that they would have kill him to get to Eleven and he never stopped fighting when they were being held back. Eleven called for him. While Mike tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve, he also doesn’t talk about them as much as he’s prepared to take in others emotions and concerns. Even talking about them is difficult, this is shown when Nancy asks him if he likes Eleven, whenever Lucas or Dustin would accuse him of liking her, and when he tries to tell Eleven about his feelings and the SnowBall dance. 

He has a hard time (this is a character trait) expressing himself sometimes. Being a creative writer, or a creative thinker doesn’t mean that the personal stuff is easy to share… As someone who is a creative writer, my emotions are internal and I don’t always share what I’m feeling but I’m the one that people do that with.

In season 2, Mike is depressed after seeing Eleven disappear before his eyes and he’s acting out but while doing that, he’s still attentive to his friends, especially Will, since Mike can tell that he is still being affected due to his time in the Upside Down. People like to use him doing this as this was when he was at best… So Mike was at his best when he’s supporting Will? Got it.

But no one cares that Mike was going through it, to see this kid, who is a good natured kid, acting out and NO ONE is trying to get to the root of it but here he is, giving all of himself to his friend who is also suffering. He needs someone to lean on but remains the person that others can lean on. He does share with Will a little bit and tells him they can go crazy together, meaning that Will is dealing with his issues of his "hallucinations" and Mike is dealing with sensing, missing and thinking he's seeing Eleven... they can go crazy together. That's all.

But he’s sidelined in this season because he’s playing emotional support. Remember when Will was possessed and Mike realized that he was tricking them to get those soldiers killed and without hesitation he tried to warn them? Remember how Mike covered his ears as his friend screamed that he was lying? Then in the shed sequence, which is one of my favorite sequences, he tearfully tells Will that meeting him was important to him, “the best thing I ever did”? Trying to find Will in the darkness, here is this 12-13 year old kid, trying to save his friend from the darkness while also fumbling through his own. THEN even after having a breakdown when he finds out that Hopper kept Eleven a secret (after that adorable reunion scene), he still is willing to fight the demodogs, it was his plan to lure the demodogs away from the lab so Hopper and Eleven could get to the gate. 

Finally, FINALLY, he gets the thing he's wanted... to dance with Eleven at the Snow Ball.

In Season 3, sure, Mike and Eleven spent a lot of time together, but I don’t think they’re wrong for wanting to. They’ve cared for each other for a while but they couldn’t be together in S2 because Hopper didn’t allow Eleven to talk to Mike in S2, so he didn’t even know she was okay. But now they’re together and they’re happy. Yeah sure, he was a little ass to Hopper but Hopper wasn’t helping the situation. He’s so yelly. Then instead of actually being an adult and talking to these teenagers, he threatens Mike, who then lies to Eleven and is mentally beating himself up about it the entire season, and MIKE is the bad guy? When he hurts Will’s feelings, he immediately apologizes even though Will doesn’t apologize for calling Eleven a “stupid girl that Mike swaps spit with”. Mike chases after Will in the pouring rain to apologize for not taking his campaign seriously. He even noticed when Will reacted to feeling the Mind Flayer again at the beginning. Mike was the only one to tell Max to get away from the window after HIS plan worked to see if Billy was indeed possessed. He was the ONLY one who tried to help Eleven when Billy was attacking them. Even though they were broken up, he was still there for her to hold on to.

In the cabin, he was rightfully angry at the others for carelessly pushing Eleven to use her powers and potentially overexerting herself, he tells her she doesn’t have to do this, he tells Max that she’s being careless, but no one is on his side. The only person on his side this season is Lucas.

Mike accidentally confesses his love for Eleven while simultaneously trying to make a case for the others not to just USE her. When Eleven is attacked in the cabin, once again he acts without hesitation and he’s always the one she lands on. He’s got her. During the battle of Starcourt Mall, he is literally by Eleven and Max’s side the entire time. Billy attacks Max, Mike immediately charges at him, no hesitation.

Let’s not act like Mike was out of character in this season because he wasn’t all up in Will’s business every 5 minutes. I was glad for that actually. But this seems to be the reason why people are like “S3 Mike is the worst!” But he’s literally the same character, he’s just changing and growing up, making mistakes and choices like everyone else. He’s a round character! Hey may not get all the attention I think he should but that doesn’t make him the worst. 

In season 4, Mike is in high school, his girlfriend and one of his best friends has moved away. He goe to California to visit Eleven and The Byers, but while there, he finds out that Eleven has been lying to him, trying to make him not worry about her, Will and Mike’s friendship seems to have drifted. Eleven feels unloved because Mike has a hard time SAYING it but he does it with acts of service, by bringing her the flowers she missed in her favorite colors while also WEARING her favorite colors. Without hesitation, he tells her that he says it. He even tells her without hesitation that he doesn't believe that she’s a monster, those people don’t know her like he does. When she gets arrested, he’s right there at the window, trying to get her to look at him, trying to reassure her that she’ll be okay, that he’s going to get her out. When she’s being taken away again, this boy senses the car with her in it (something that’s been shown many times), and chases after her without hesitation. When Owens sends his people, Mike is more worried about the ones in Hawkins, his family, and wants them to protect them, not the California crew. He and Will have a talk and he tells him that he didn’t mean to be distant, but having their group split up, having both Will and Eleven gone, it was weird. A nice small moment for Mike to share his feelings and for someone to listen to him. There are a couple of other times where we see Mike’s emotions clearly on his face but he quickly schools into a brave face when he notices he’s being watched. He’s trying to be strong. 

So since this is already long and the van scene has had a ton of great pieces written about it, ( I can give my thoughts on it another time), but all I will say is this… just because Mike didn’t say anything to Will while he was crying doesn’t mean he ignored him. Mike who has been pretty attuned to all of his friends, I think has a good idea of how they are.

In the past, when Will was hiding, people didn’t notice something was wrong. Like it’s been said, Will is good at hiding and he was intentionally hiding his sobbing from Mike, his fucking head was turned, he tried not to make any noise and covered his mouth. Mike probably didn’t realize he was crying and even if he did realize he was crying, Will looked like he was trying to hide it… what was Mike going to do? “Hey.. why Will are you crying??” out loud in front of Jonathan and Argyle? I bet you that if they were at the Byers house, Will would have went into another room, or his own bedroom to cry so no one would see it. If Will wasn’t trying to hide it, then he wouldn’t have turned away, he would have just cried. He’s done it plenty of times in front of Mike. NOT to mention, he probably didn't understand why Will would be emotional because as far as Mike knows, Will was talking about Eleven not her and himself. Why would he know that? BUT ALSO, Will just gave Mike a pep talk, one that he needed to help reassure Mike as he’s done for literally everyone else who needed reassuring. So maybe,  just maybe even though my heart breaks for Will, it’s not him that Mike HAS to be thinking about at that moment.

When Mike finds Eleven, after spotting her in the desert, he breaks when he gets to her. He’s been strong up to this point, dependable, he suggested going to see Suzie, he was the one reading the map… Now he can break. Only to go right back into being strong again, making sure Eleven has what she needs for her bath. Then of course his confession, no matter how cheesy, it meant something to Eleven and gave her the extra push she needed. 

Mike is the paladin, what are they? Knights. What do knights do? They protect those around them. They are sometimes the ones in the front, leading the rest of the army, helping without hesitation. Even though Eleven is the one with the powers and ultimately leads the charge, Mike is right there with her, leading the others as the paladin, supporting the hero. And even though Eleven is the one with the power, she still turns to Mike for help and he does without hesitation.

Mike may not make all the choices that YOU think are right at that moment, but I think he does a damn good job for a teenager. He does not hesitate. He’s been supportive and strong of everyone that we hardly got to ever see him talk to anyone about what he’s feeling, he’s just expected to be on 100 all the time for everyone else. ESPECIALLY Will, since people seem to think that he’s a precious baby who needs to be coddled.

It’s not fair to Mike that so much is expected of him and he has to act like he has it all together…  but because it is and he doesn’t… that’s what makes him the heart of the party. The others will look to him when they need to and he has found a way to support them, without hesitation. I think that is the epitome of being the heart of the party. He's the emotional center, the one that everyone can turn to and lean on and he's always there when he's needed the most.

It's long but I had a lot to get out. This can go hand in hand when people also say that Mike is useless which is also untrue. So... yeah... tldr... Will is the eyes. Dustin is the brain. Lucas is the arms/strength. Max is the legs. Eleven is the literal power. Mike is the heart.

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things cast #Mike Wheeler #Finn Wolfhard #pro mike wheeler #mike wheeler defense squad #mike wheeler is the heart #Lucas Sinclair #Eleven Hopper #Will Byers #Max Mayfield #Dustin Henderson #mileven

[neuropteran]

love that all of the og party have different family positions and you can see it in them clearly. lucas is the oldest child, mike is a middle child, will is the baby, dustin is an only child. and i love that the girls also bring a different family dynamic too; max has step family & el is in the shadow of a dead “sibling”.

#this post has no point I was just thinking about it #child death in tags tw #I’m watching broken on Netflix and up I’m to the cheap furniture episode #and when that woman talks about how every year they have to keep rotating the same few photos of the kid I’m like #I haven’t watched further bc I had no idea it was so common furniture fell on children and killed them #when she was talking about having to pull the dresser up I had to stop #that doesn’t have much linkage either I just #el rlly has to live in Sara’s shadow #and also when mike & Lucas argue you can SEE the big brother vs middle child in them #Lucas *pacifies condescendingly* mike *goes absolutely feral at being big brothered* #Dustin is *pacifies like he’s never had to share* #dot post #st chatter

[scarlet-star-witch]

Masterlist

** Indicates Smut

The Mandalorian:

Fade Into You ** (Multi-part):

Din has spent a year grieving the love of his life. While he thinks he has lost her forever, she lingers in the darkness, her mind twisted and manipulated, with no memory of him or the love they shared (Mandalorian/OC)

Oneshots:

First Meeting

Din Falling in Love

Iella Falling in Love

The Injury

His Name

First Time**

The Ball

The First I Love You

The Fight

The Wedding

The Wedding Night **

Daryl Dixon:

Leather & Lace ** (Multi-part):

The last thing Daryl Dixon expected to find on the farm was love. No matter how hard he tries, the eldest farmer's daughter would not leave his mind. Both survivors of abuse, unwilling to let themselves fall too hard. A relationship with a Dixon is never easy, especially not during the apocalypse

The Suicide Squad:

Rick Flag

Rebellion **

A relationship between a colonel and a criminal wasn’t an easy secret to keep

Empty Promises

He promised his wife and daughter a safe return at each mission, but this time, he worried it would finally become a lie

Family Reunion (Part 2 to Empty Promises) The Suicide Squad finally meet Rick’s secret Family

Robert DuBois - Bloodsport

Fuck It I Love You

He ignored her out of guilt, but no matter how hard he tried, his feelings for her weren’t going anywhere, especially when they have to team up for a mission

Marvel:

Moon Knight

Soothing Touch

Just a little piece of fluff about touch starved Steven Grant

Find My Way Back To You

Steven has questions for Marc when a woman in pain makes his way into his dreams

Euphoria:

Fez

Since I’ve been loving you **  Part 2**  Part 3   Part 4**   Part 5**

The story of how Fez fell in love with his ray of sunshine

The Instagram Picture

Fez doesn’t like what he sees on his girlfriend’s Instagram 

Oblivious

Fez doesn’t realize when he’s being hit on, but his girlfriend does

Two Hours **

Fezco goes down on his girlfriend for two hours

The Gunshot

Fezco is a mess after someone uses his weak spot against him

The (Over)Protective Pair

The brothers are weary of Faye’s friendship with their Sunshine

Stranger Things:

Steve Harrington

The Story of Us

How Steve fell in love with his best friend and found the love he deserved

Code Red**

Dustin has the worst timing and stumbles on a secret relationship

Make a mess out of me**

Steve makes his girlfriend squirt for the first time

Eddie Munson

The End of the Nightmare

Eddie waked up in the hospital after fighting in the upside down

The Domestic Life (Part 2 to The End of the Nightmare)

Eddie’s happiness through the years with the love of his life

Interruptions**

Eddie can’t get a moment alone with his girlfriend

Squid Game:

Kang Sae-byeok

My love, I’d do anything for you

Sae-byeok leaves behind more than her brother after the games end

Seong Gi-hun

Tell me when you hear my heart stop

High school sweethearts are reunited at the games, unaware of how both of their lives have unraveled in their separation

Hwang Jun-ho

His Sanctuary **

Jun-ho returns home to his wife, unaware of the unexpected visitor she had received in his absence

The Salesman

Papi Pacify **

It was never just a one-night stand for him and he’s determined to keep her in his life

#the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #the mandalorian smut #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon smut #daryl dixon #rick flag x reader #Rick Flag #robert dubois x reader #Robert Dubois #bloodsport x reader #marvel imagines #steve rogers x reader #thor x reader #bucky barnes x reader #squid game x reader #hwang jun ho x reader #gi hun x reader #sae-byeok x reader #the salesman x reader #the salesman smut #fezco x reader #euphoria fanfiction #euphoria #Moon Knight #moon knight fanfiction #steven grant x reader #marc spector x reader #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction