#I LOVE WILL BUT SOME PEOPLE WILL MAKE BYLER ENTIRELY ABOUT HIM BECAUSE HE’S A LESS FLAWED CHARACTER | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wakeupthemembersofbylernation · 2 years

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One of the reasons I believe a lot of people are so aggressively threatened, freaked out, and even offended by the concept of a gay or bi Mike is because then they’d have to face the fact that queer people are just people. Which, duh. Of course, they are! But Mike Wheeler, at least in the first season (and sorta the second season), is THE main character. He’s THE guy.

It’s what turned Finn Wolfhard into a heartthrob and fast-tracked him to starring roles in movies like It and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. For people who grew up loving 80s childhood adventure movies, on which the Duffers based their show, Mike Wheeler is Elliot from E.T. He’s Mikey from The Goonies. He’s Marty from Back to the Future. He’s Luke from A New Hope. In other words, he’s the kind of young sci-fi hero every boy dreamed of becoming. I mean, who wouldn’t want to find out that magic/the supernatural is real, go on an insane, life-changing adventure with their friends, stand up to bad guys, and fall in love with a girl with superpowers in the span of a week?!

Other than being nerdy/into D&D (which is honestly not that far from being a theatre kid, tbh)/hj, kinda melodramatic, and somewhat unathletic (affectionate), there’s nothing about Mike Wheeler that radiates gayness on the surface. Plus, he’s the protagonist! In Season 1 we experience most new things through his eyes. That makes him the audience surrogate character, so how can the audience surrogate character be (gasps) GAY?! That’s OBviously impossible. He’s just a guy. He’s just a dude. He’s just a person. He’s just the boy next door.

And if queer people are just people, then that means ANYONE could potentially be queer. Even your younger sister. Even your best friend, who has no stereotypically gay traits, plays football, and has a girlfriend. Even your children (gasps). Even you (am I gay quizzes? were born from fears like this). That’s terrifying for people who expect the world, and the media they consume, to be black-and-white.

People like boxes. They like things that are safe. Every time general audiences are introduced to a new character they fully assume the character is straight, even if they aren’t shown to have any interest in girls (like Will) unless they are an obvious stereotype, say the words, “I’m gay,” or explicitly make out with a boy (even then, some people will still try to claim they’re confused or simply “struggling with their sexuality”).

Kevin Keller from Riverdale. Kurt Hummel from Glee. Patrick in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (as much as I love that movie). Carlos in HSMTMTS. These are all characters that are Gay™️. They are almost always the comic relief sidekick, or the gay bestie for the main female character, or some variation of common tropes. Audiences (even homophobic ones) are increasingly used to seeing these types of characters on their screen, but a gay Mike Wheeler would be a different type of character entirely.

“Mike being gay or bi would just be OUT OF NOWHERE and would be bad writing done just for woke points.” Okay. Aside from the fact that it would simply NOT be out of nowhere (gestures wildly at the Byler Proof Slides), let’s unpack the phrase “out of nowhere” for a second. Why is something only considered “out of nowhere” when it’s gay and never when it’s straight? Was it out of nowhere for Dustin to find a girlfriend while at camp? Is the resurrection of Stancy out of nowhere? And to the people who are still somehow convinced that Will Byers isn’t gay, just “maturing slower than his friends,” I guarantee you they wouldn’t call it “out of nowhere” for Will to suddenly have a female love interest, even though it clearly would be. They would encourage it, even if it was someone especially ridiculous like El, who is literally his sister, or Max, with whom he’s had almost no on-screen conversations. This is why you see people on TikTok and YouTube who genuinely believe Will’s painting is for the random girl he danced with at Snowball. Talk about out of nowhere!

“But Mike just isn’t gay. Don’t be delusional. Don’t be unrealistic. He is straight. He has only been shown to like El and has one of the most extreme cases of romantic tunnel vision in fiction I’ve ever seen.” Okay, let’s push aside the constant lip stares, the romantically charged conversations with his best friend, the fact that he can’t say or even write, “I love you” to his girlfriend, the ways the Duffers have consistently framed the Will/Mike/El dynamic with love triangle imagery and drawn our attention to this for the entire show, and more (gestures wildly at the Byler proof slides once more!!) for one second.

The emphasis on “just isn’t” betrays them and their underlying perspectives. Let’s be clear. You can say Robin just isn’t straight because she’s been explicitly confirmed in show and out of show to be lesbian and into girls. You can say Will just isn’t straight because his sexuality has been all but confirmed as well. But you can’t say Mike “just isn’t” gay if the only concrete “proof” you have for this is his (turbulent) relationship with Eleven. Keep in mind. Without Vecna, we don’t have access to the innermost thoughts of any of the characters. All we have to go by is their actions, their words, and the intentional ways the Duffers have coded their characters. Ultimately, people who say this are saying that Mike Wheeler “just isn’t gay” because he doesn’t fit their pre-conceived, ignorant, myopic notions of what a gay person is. Mike “just can’t be” gay in these people’s minds because he hasn’t done any gay “actions,” whatever that even means (that’s why they believe Will- sweet, innocent Will- is a predator/homewrecker because they associate gayness with freakish deviance and see it as something inherently sexual, whereas if Will were a girl with the exact same feelings towards Mike, they’d never in a trillion years see it this way).

In both real life and in fiction, despite all the progress we’ve made as a society, straight is something you’re allowed to just be, by default, regardless of whether you’re dating someone. Gay is something you have to PROVE or “fall into,” and even then it’s treated with incredible suspicion (this is why people who ship Stobin believe Steve can “fix” Robin and make her into boys). Bisexuality is tragically either erased altogether, treated as a joke/a phase, or completely misunderstood (I heard someone say Mike could never be bi because he’d never date Will and El at the same time - what?! That’s not how bisexuality works). And comphet is something entirely baffling to straight audiences. You might as well be saying 2+2 equals armadillo.

They’d rather believe that he’s just become an asshole, or that Finn Wolfhard has suddenly become a bad actor. Because accepting that Mike Wheeler isn’t straight means accepting that he can be the cool, brave, valiant, kind, caring protagonist of seasons 1 and 2, AND also be madly in love with his best friend. That feels like a bait-and-switch to some people because they don’t see queer people as “normal,” even if they claim they aren’t homophobic. They see queer people as “the other,” as something alien. [Insert Visibly Stereotypical Character Here] can be gay, not MY Mike Wheeler. He’s straight. STRAIGHT. He’s madly in love with El. He and Will are just friends. JUST friends. Sound like someone?

That’s one of the reasons that Byler will be such powerful, meaningful, representation (aside from just being the only logical explanation for Mike’s weird actions). Byler becoming canon will give hope and provide a voice for the millions of LGBTQ+ kids out there who don’t fit a stereotype or society’s pre-conceived notions but who just happen to not be straight. Mike Wheeler will join Nick Nelson as one of the best LGBTQ+ teens EVER on screen. It will be a cultural reset. And it will hopefully open people’s minds to the beautiful tapestry of humanity. A love story so pure, so beautiful, and so overwhelming that the boy who tried so hard to be “normal” and to deny his feelings for his best friend and the boy who survived bullies, a week in a hellish alternate dimension, and a possession that took over his mind and body had no choice but to go crazy together.

#byler #mike wheeler i know what you are #byler endgame #i think mikes a bit fruity #will byers #mike wheeler isn't straight #byler rights #noah schnapp #finn wolfhard #I hope these words age like fine wine on Friday and not like milk

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runninguplenorahills · 1 year

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I just wanted to remind everyone that no matter how much better Lenora objectively was for Will than Hawkins, he was not happy there!

Will might’ve not been bullied in Lenora but he had no friends either which was not a deliberate decision btw. I see a lot of people claiming that Will could’ve made friends if he wanted to but didn’t because he rather spent time with El and I just don’t think that’s the case. Will is not an extroverted person who makes the first step when it comes to making new friends. He’s introverted in general and shy when he’s surrounded by people he doesn’t know so making friends is a struggle for him in general and has nothing to do with him sticking with El in Lenora. And while we don’t know anything specific about if Dustin and Lucas sent letters or called Will, we do know that Mike did not. Furthermore it’s canon that Jonathan wasn’t really there for Will during the time spent in Lenora either and while it is never specifically said it is heavily and obviously implied, it’s shown, that Will was in utmost need of his brother’s help and support! And El did not replace Jonathan in that aspect! Jonathan being distant from Will does not and did not equal Will and El becoming close on the level that Will and Jonathan are. I know I talk about this a lot (that willel isn’t as close in canon) but I just had to say it again because to me it seems really clear that a lot of people think that Jonathan not being there for Will somehow led to Will and El sticking together. Like it’s them against the world while that was never the case ever! Will did not once seek comfort in El because Will didn’t simply need a sibling, he needed Jonathan. Jonathan and Will have a close and deep bond and it’s unique because Jonathan isn’t just fulfilling the role of a sibling for Will. So Jonathan cannot just be replaced by another sibling or anyone at all. Point is, when Will realized Jonathan was being distant he started bottling up everything he wanted to talk about. He did not talk to El instead because quite frankly, they don’t have that kind of relationship (El also didn’t tell Will about her and Mike’s problems and the lying).

So Will had no friends in Lenora, he almost lost all connection to his closest friend whom he’s also in love with and his big brother whom he could always count on for support wasn’t really there for him either. Mike and Jonathan are literally the two people Will always knew he could trust with anything because he knew they’d understand in one way or another. But then neither of them was there for him anymore for reasons unknown to Will which lead him to feel as though he can’t talk to either of them anymore. He wanted to talk to them! Desperately! But he just couldn’t. And all of a sudden Will was all alone. Lenora wasn’t fresh and happy and so much better than Hawkins. Lenora was lonely.

Did Lenora allow more room for personal development due to the lack of the upside down and bullying/rumors? Of course it did. Will’s willingness to make and present a project about Alan Turing is hinting at some positive development. In that aspect Lenora was better for Will than Hawkins but in every other aspect it wasn’t, simply because Will was on his own.

The fact that Will felt lost and alone in Lenora is also important for byler’s love story btw. Will telling Mike that he felt lost without him throughout the months he’s spent in Lenora is so significant because it’s a reply to Mike telling Will: “It’s Hawkins. It’s not the same without you.” Mike has called Hawkins his home throughout his entire life but once Will wasn’t there anymore the feeling of being at home left as well. And Will could move anywhere with his family but if Mike’s not there he feels lost nonetheless. The place where they feel like they belong is not a place at all, it’s the state of being together. Will feels found with Mike and Mike feels at home with Will. Mike makes Will feel better for being different and Will makes Mike feel like he’s not alone. Hawkins, Lenora, that doesn’t matter because it’s not about the place!

Will not being happy in Lenora without Mike is exactly as important as Mike not being happy in Hawkins without Will. Erasing that creates a different narrative, destroys the story they’re trying to tell. Simply because people are making it seem like Will can do just fine without Mike while Mike loses his mind without Will which is just not the case. The whole of s4 showed us that Will is not happy without Mike and that he needs him! Will literally tells Mike that he’d fall apart without him and still there are people that try to depict Will as having a good time in Lenora without Mike. Feeding into Mike’s insecurities and undermining Will’s love for Mike! And this is honestly something that makes my blood boil! People who constantly feel the need to undermine Will’s feelings for Mike are completely missing the point.

And this is kinda a different topic but I’ve seen this trend where people headcanon Will to have been on a sports team in Lenora and I just think that these people are once again missing a point that’s been made in the show. Will not being into sports serves a purpose in the telling of his story, It’s a story telling device. And while I do of course know that the focus is on baseball specifically, baseball seems to stand as a symbol for sports in general which then again are a symbol for conforming to society. Being into sports is what society thinks you should be into as a boy. “You shouldn’t like things just because people tell you you’re supposed to” is what Jonathan tells Will in s1 in regards to Will going to baseball games with Lonnie. Will does not like baseball = Will does not like sports = Will does not conform to societal standards. And Lonnie dragging him to the baseball/sports games is him trying to force Will to conform to societal standards. And Basketball was this big symbol of forced conformity in s4. Therefore being into sports and joining a team in Lenora totally defeats the purpose of a rather important story telling device in canon and therefore just isn’t compatible with the character. I’m of course well aware that Will wore a letterman jacket in the stranger things experience clips but owning a letterman jacket doesn’t automatically equal being on a sports team. It was a popular fashion item in the 80’s just like it is today. And I think it’s more likely that Will wore the jacket because he liked the jacket and not because he’s on a sports team because, again, that’d be missing the point. And as I said, the Alan Turing project hints at positive development while Will joining a sports team would hint at negative development so it simply doesn’t make sense for Will to have been on a sports team in Lenora.

#byler #time for lenora’s opinion #will byers #mike wheeler #stranger things

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emblazons · 1 year

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—so @magentamee reblogged this ask from me and like the little overthinker I am, I realized a few things.

A lot of people here have talked about the way the ending of each season foreshadows something that goes on in the next one / has clues as to the feelings and directions the characters are headed in—which we all certainly know is true of the voiceover of Hopper’s letter to end S3. Looking at this shot specifically, though—

—aka when a sentiment + phrasing Hopper says mirrors both Mike’s ongoing actions with El in S4 (“my life started that way we found you in the woods” mirroring all the Mike/Hopper emotional conflations I’ve already pointed out), we get some very interesting subtext & unruly amount of foreshadowing.

Here, we have El holding onto Mike for dear life, while Mike is half holding her and half holding Lucas/Dustin…the two other members of the party who are strictly platonic in his mind, foreshadowing her moving 100% into a platonic space (“care” v “love”), while she still tries to cling to the emotional connection of the romantic, which is interesting enough foreshadowing on its own—

—but even more than that, we have Will set apart from that wholly platonic group, while Mike and Will are the only ones whose faces you can see…with Will in the light and Mike in shadow, the exact same way we repeatedly see reflected in the cinematography even more dramatically throughout all of S4.

That single S3 shot mirrors the way (as several people have pointed out) Will is also the “focus” of the supposedly romantic moment between Mike and El because the sentiment is built on Will’s painting—

—where Mike is again in shadow because we have Mike’s romantic disconnect on display while we as an audience have (once again) have the structure of the show ask us to to focus on Mike & Will, even as it’s supposedly El who he’s ‘attached to.’

Basically—that scene was S4 Mike in a nutshell.

A Mike who is being clung to by El because she is missing her dad, but who has moved her into a platonic attachment in his heart of hearts

A Mike who will reflect the same sentiments as Hopper in his attempts to assuage El’s loss

A Mike holding El up (but us not seeing her face) reflecting the entire sentiment of him giving the monologue without her offering a response

A Mike who we are starting to see the truth in again, but who is “in shadow” because he is being dishonest about himself and his feelings

The shift of focus from “the group” (aka the whole party being in the shot) to Byler alone (Mike and Will being the only faces you can see)

Will being “illuminated” and the “light” that Mike follows when he is in shadow (whole or partial), for better or worse (aka Mike feeling affirmed by Will, but Will’s dishonesty causing problems)

….on top of the fact that (if my suspicions are correct) the light/shadow thing also reflects their own sense of accepting their queerness/feelings for one another.

Basically…I really do love it when something that lasts 2 whole seconds that I happened to look up because one phrase repeated itself actually holds a lot of information that only makes sense in recontextualized retrospect…just like everything else in this lil show lmaooooo

#basically: I love it when I win #lmao thanks for bringing that post back to mind bre!#byler #anti mlvn #mike wheeler #will byers #el hopper #parentified mike #my st commentary #stranger things

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apatheticlexicographer · 11 months

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i'm about to get mauled ALIVE for saying this but here goes:

i think m'leven's relationship should be based on a mutually requited crush. both the implications it would have on their personal development as characters and the message it would send to the audience would be substantially more impactful, healthy, and progressive than if they only dated out of obligation. in fact, the thematic message of their relationship SIMPLY DOESN'T MAKE SENSE without a foundation of genuine romantic attraction.

still with me??? okay, good.

when shows deal with romance they tend to fall into the categories of either having pretty much every character shipped with every other character at some point, or of having the endgame ships be the most obviously pushed from the start. byler has definitely been built up from the start, but the majority of the show's audience didn't consider it as an option for canon until s4, when they started making it blatant. hell, a lot of people didn't even realize WILL was queer until s3 (again, when the show started to place heavy emphasis on it), and even then a lot of people thought he might be ace rather than gay.

mike and el, on the other hand, were practically the show's flagship couple for the first 2 seasons at least. it wasn't until s3 that their popularity started to dip and their relationship began to receive a lot more criticism. which makes sense, considering they hadn't actually been IN said relationship in the previous seasons. they had a couple of romantic interactions, sure, but we didn't see how they would interact *as a couple*. people obviously couldn't predict how their dynamic would actually pan out!!! that isn't to say that the negative aspects of their relationship were a bait-and switch, though: red flags were visible since at least s2, but they were far from being the focal point and a lot of shippers interpreted them as being cute (like el's jealousy over max).

having a show acknowledge the fact that the first person you get a crush on (because correct me if i'm wrong, but i'm pretty sure they're canonically each other's first crush???) isn't necessarily your ~soulmate~ is a great thing. even better when they go a step further, and play with the concept!!! the text of stranger things doesn't actually push m'leven as a paragon of romantic love. if you listen to what the other characters say about their (romantic) relationship, their opinions are entirely neutral/negative???

lucas teases mike about his crush in s1, but calls him hopeless in s3. hopper is out of line with how agressively he acts about their relationship, but the resolution of that character arc for him is about him acknowledging that he's been overbearing and accepting that he needs to let el grow up, and NOT some hammy realization that "what they have is true love, i was wrong to interfere!!!" max thinks their clinginess is sweet at first in s3, but she isn't very close with either of them. once she and el start to bond AND SHE LEARNS THAT EL HAS NO EXPERIENCE WITH ROMANTIC ATTRACTION OUTSIDE OF MIKE she encourages el to assert her own self-worth and dump him. [which... actually mirrors the progression of opinions in a lot of audience members??? 🤔🤔]

and those are just a few examples!!! i won't go on an exhaustive list, because honestly we'd be here all day.

furthermore, m'leven's steady downward trajectory is not the only instance of the show basically dunking on the trite expectation that a character's first love interest is automatically their happily-ever-after, AND the recurring motif that any relationships a character explores before their endgame ship are wrong because the alternate love interest is Bad.

dustin has his first crush (onscreen, anyway) on max in s2, but ends the season happy despite his sadness over rejection and later gets together with a girl who's basically his perfect match. in s3, robin confides to steve about how she was so far gone for tammy that she would cry into her pillow. in s4 she's able to laugh over just how bad her singing is without denying it, and is tentatively flirting with vickie. joyce was genuinely really happy with bob, but after having time to heal from the tragedy of what happened to him she's ready to move on with hopper.

again, not an exhaustive list. why??? because outside of m'leven, the only relationships where the characters ARE each other's first love interest are: lumax, whose entire arc together is about growing up as a couple (you know, the exact arc m'leven shippers pin on mike and el, as if it would make sense for 2 couples to have the same format and message...); stancy, which is only one prong of Love Triangle Hell and the controversy around it speaks for itself; and TED AND KAREN. WHO ARE POINTED OUT EXPLICITLY BY THE TEXT OF THE SHOW IN S1 NO LESS, TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF A WORST TIMELINE FUTURE THAT CHARACTERS DO NOT WANT TO REPEAT.

but if you're reading this, you already know all of that.

the point i'm trying to make is that stranger things shows a consistent palette of themes across all the relationships it portrays. i've obviously been going over the romantic ones, but this applies at least as much to the plationic bonds as well. those themes are of GROWING AND MATURING, of SHIFTING DYNAMICS, and of BECOMING SECURE IN YOUR PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.

i'm sorry but to present a pair of characters with apparent mutual feelings; to elaborate on how dysfunctional their relationship is; and to ultimately reveal to the audience that actually they were both just confused, they never had feelings for one another in the first place and that's why their relationship didn't work out; sends an extremely mediocre message, to put it nicely. all the characters learn from that lived experience is "don't date people you don't have feelings for, and if you were unsure about how real those feelings were... get good???" meanwhile, all the audience learns from that VIEWED experience is "if the relationship doesn't work, it's because the people involved don't like each other enough." if byler goes on to be canon and is immediately much healthier, that only enforces that shitty message. in that situation the only reason THEIR relationship works while mike and el's didn't is that they actually have feelings for one another!!!

from a show which has explored complex arcs and messages with *LITERALLY EVERY OTHER RELATIONSHIP* they touch on, this would be beyond disappointing. particularly as the central message for the arc of 2 of the mainest main characters in the whole show!!!

on the other hand, to present a pair of young characters at the start of the show and flag them as having an obvious mutual crush; to allow them to explore that crush as a serious prospect; to have them realize that their relationship is dysfunctional; and to have them move on as friends; sends???

a great???

fucking???

message???

they both get to progress and move on as more enriched people than they would have been without their time in a relationship, and that is fucking wonderful.

el has a deeper understanding of romantic interactions based on actual lived experience and not just TV shows. she's able to develop into her fledgeling sense of identity more securely with the knowledge that relationships can change, and that's okay. not everything has to be forever.

mike understands how to process and manage his own feelings much better, and is equipped with a firsthand understanding of how a relationship can become emotionally dysfunctional without proper communication, making him ready to enter a new, healthier relationship. he has displayed the same overprotective behaviours towards will as he has to el, but he's begun to learn how to manage them so that he doesn't stifle his partner. after previously failing to communicate his feelings to both el and will in s3 when he fought with them, he's been making a deliberate point of doing so in s4. this didn't work with el when he tried to open up about his own experience with bullying, but it DID work with will when he admitted to his failings in balancing relationships.

are either of them finished in their personal arcs??? no, of course not!!! they're not even fifteen!!! but they have both grown as people, not in spite of their romantic relationship, but BECAUSE of it. you don't change as you grow up, so much as you start to understand yourself better. but self-discovery and subsequent self-acceptance CANNOT come without self-explaration.

it's okay to try things out, and it's okay if they don't end up being right for you.

meanwhile, the broader message about relationships that this imparts on the audience is an extremely important one. one which gets overlooked continually by storytellers in every industry. one which the show itself has brushed on, but not explored in depth.

one which fandom, in particular, likes to ignore.

ATTRACTION ≠ COMPATIBILITY

(...and that's okay!!!)

#hahaha i'm gonna get so much hate over this #preparing to lose a few followers tbh ToT i know a few of my moots and followers are Adamant gay mike truthers #jsyk i don't even dislike or necessarily disagree with gay mike???#taps the *sexuality is a spectrum* sign #he can ID as gay AND he can have a crush on a girl. get kinsey scale'd #i mean i'm an unlabelled mike truther bht i'm favourable to either bi or gay interpretations #also!!! as an aro person who had crushes on guys and girls as a kid #i get legitimately very pissed off by just how adamantly ppl base their opinion on whether mike is gay or bi #in whether or not he had a 'real' crush on a girl at age twelve #i just don't say it bc i'm not usually in a controversial mood #anyways labels are social constructs. not in a sarcastic way that is LITERALLY WHAT THEY ARE. TEXTBOOK DEFINITION #have a nice day <333 #(all this is ofc assuming that anybody still reads long meta posts which is doubtful tbh 💀💀)#byler #mike wheeler #el hopper #anti mileven #mike wheeler analysis #el hopper analysis #byler analysis #byler theory #byler meta #stranger things #stranger things thoughts #stranger things theory #stranger things analysis #stranger things meta

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v-i-r-i-d-i-a-n · 3 months

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byler prompt: flirting god will and blushing mess mike accidentally switch roles momentarily but once mike realizes what he said and will seizes the opportunity to reciprocate, the roles go right back to normal, except it was just enough to get them to realize their feelings weren't as one sided as they thought.

TY SO MYCH FOR THE ASK WHOEVER YOU ARE

THIS IS SUPER SUPER ROUGH BECAUSE I HAVE NOT WRITTEN IN AGES AND WAS LITERALLY WORD VOMITING SO THIS IS TECHNICALLY A DRAFT SO IM SORRY IF IT DOESNT LIVE UP TO UR EXPECTATIONS

William Byers never used to be this…forward, maybe it was living in Cali, maybe it was because Jane and Mike had broken up, maybe it was Vecna finally being dead, the upside down no longer plaguing him with every movement he’d take, and with everything being over and done with, that creepy crawling feeling was gone and he could breath normally, and with that he finally got the confidence to actually speak like a normal person to his best friend.

Well, maybe more than just a “normal person” but hey, seeing Mike get a bit flustered at his senseless flirting was always a plus, even if it didn’t mean anything in the end.

He’d always known how to get people riled up, in California he’d use the tactic to throw people off when they’d be rude to him or Jane. Throw a comment out there to make them stop in their tracks, blubbering like a fish out of water. It was amusing when it was them. But god with Mike it was different, cus he actually meant the words coming out of his mouth, and loved the flush that would spread over his best friends cheeks as he stared at Will with those wide eyes, looking vaguely like he’d had his first thought in a week, like he’d suddenly gained consciousness. His jaw would drop slightly his lips pursing in that way that made Will want so desperately to kiss him.

…..

He was awful.

He shouldn’t be using Mike like that, but he couldn’t stop himself, flirting with him was fun and easy and everything love should be. So he smiled and quipped and made little gestures and said his full name in that way that. It had gotten to the point he’d take almost every opportunity he could.

Hawkins was awful in the summer, any long fabrics or hair sticking to your skin uncomfortably, too cold in winter and too hot in summer. Too wet in Spring, too dry in Fall.

Ah the Midwest.

He was pulling at his pants as the party sat around him at their lunch table, chatting away about something or another. Mike sat at his side, way closer than he had too, almost the entire bench free to his right, but it’d been like that recently, and. Will definitely wasn’t complaining, he usually liked the contact, Mikes legs and side pressed against his in a way that made his cheeks flare.

“Jane, remind mom we gotta go summer clothes shopping.” He groaned dramatically, pushing Mike’s side. “Mike I know we both love you being in my personal space but please.” He whined, pouting at the boy.

“H-huh?” Mike’s eyes widened, his lips parting, “o-oh yeah of course yeah sorry-“ he stuttered over his words, shimmying away from Will, just enough so that they were no longer touching.

Max snickered in that knowing way of hers, despite her impaired vision, she seemed to read them like an open book. See right through them and the game they were playing. She looked…? between them for a moment. Will suddenly had a very bad feeling.

“Do any of you guys remember those short shorts Will would wear in middle school?” She said, fitting her chin onto her palm. “You should get some of those again,” she suggested.

“The ones from the mall?” Will pulled a face, his lips pursing in not exactly disgust but something close enough. Moving his gaze to Max as she nodded, a knowing look in her eyes.

Traitor.

Lucas made a wolf-whistle sound, “yeah man you looked good in those! I remember girls used to be practically tripping over themselves when you walked by,” he teased. Dustin snickered along with them.

All of them. Traitors.

“It was not like that.” Will huffed, glaring at Max despite the fact she couldn’t see it, she smiled at him widely, mischievous and playful.

Sometimes Will wondered if she was faking being blind.

Mike made a little sound, tilting his head to the side as he shrugged, absentmindedly moving his food around on his plate. “I meannn, a lot of people did stare at you,” he said, almost teasing as he smiled to his friend, “you looked good in them.” He added.

Will’s attention was almost immediately on him, as it so often was, leaning his head to the side, returning the teasing nature, “Micheal Wheeler,” he said playfully, teasing and light with his words. He loved the way Mikes lips twitched up at the use of his name. One of the easiest ways to flirt with Mike Wheeler. “Did you just so happen to be one of the people staring at lil ole me?” He asked innocently, fluttering his eyelashes at him, simply searching for a reaction.

Instead of stuttering or blushing like Will had expected, Mike merely looked up, as if recalling the events of that summer. He straightened his posture so that their height difference was more notable. Forcing Will to look up if he wanted to look at his face, which he did, of course.

“Would it be so bad if I was?” He asked, looking back down at Will with a deceivingly neutral expression, his voice sounding light and contemplative in a way. “I did say you looked good in them, didn’t I? It’s obvious people would stare.”

For once, it was Wills turn to blink rapidly, a blush spreading over his cheeks his lips openinghe breathed in the sentiment. Unsure what to make of it, was Mike calling him attractive? It felt like it. Warmth pooled in his stomach and spread throughout his body, all the way down his arms to his fingers and toes.

All he could do for a few long moments was stare, but with the way Mike was looking at him, expectantly, as if waiting for an answer to a question Will had to take a moment to recall. Mike eyes flitted down to the bottom half of his face, letting out a little huffy breath through his lips, impatience.

Right, right, Will needed to respond. “I guess I wouldn’t mind.” He finally said, so quiet he’d be surprised if Mike even heard it. His voice felt fleeting in his throat, like he was scared he’d break whatever bubble was around them if he was too loud, too obnoxious.

Mikes soft contemplative look quickly turned to fluster once more, as if his words and the implication of them finally caught up to him. And they both seemed to notice they’d been staring at each other for too long for it to be considered normal.

Mike quickly looked away from him, his Adam’s apple bobbing as the boy gulped, his cheeks still flushed. Will watched him for a moment, the implication of Mike finding his attractive in short shorts kept turning in his head. He looked away then too, trying to focus back in on the conversation their friends had continued without them.

Max huffed loudly at something Lucas said. “We all know Will doesn’t give any of the girls who are into him the time of day.” She said. “He’s too focused on…other things.” Her non-existent stare looked between him and Mike, before shrugging, “like his grades, and college.”

Will was gonna murder her.

#stranger things #will byers #byler #mike wheeler #byler fanfic #THIS IS REALLY ROUGH BUT ITS TECHNICALLY A DRAFT #HAVE FUN IG PLEASE SEND ME MORE ASKS IF Y’ALL WANT MORE STUFF #max mayfield #ultimate byler shipper #she’s the true leader of the byler nation

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luciusgerard · 2 years

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How to tell if someone is going to have the absolute worst Stranger Things takes:

If any of the things on this list apply to a user on any social media site (particularly Tumblr, Twitter, or TikTok) or a person IRL, chances are they're not worth engaging with because their opinions and theories regarding the show will be hot garbage.

This is just my opinion by the way, if you disagree you may continue on your merry way and continue having crappy opinions. That said, let's begin.

1. They stan this bitch.

Now, don't get me wrong. When I say this, I don't mean people who like Billy as a character because of what he adds to the show. I'm talking about people who have allowed themselves to become so obsessed that they make excuses for his abusive and racist actions. A place of understanding is not a place of justification. I'm also talking about the people who ship him with Steve (or anyone), believe he and Eddie would be friends, hate Max because she "insulted" their "baby," and the people who shit on Eddie and the Steddie ship as a whole because they view Eddie as some kind of carbon copy of Billy. You know who you are, and you suck.

2. They hate Robin or Lucas.

Neither of these characters have done anything wrong. I've never seen anyone justify their dislike of Robin for a non-ableist or non-homophobic reason (because they don't exist), and Lucas, one of two Black main characters in the show, gets criticised so harshly and so often compared to White characters who have done inarguably worse things. Y'all don't realise how damn quick you are to antagonise a Black boy in situations where he's behaving in entirely reasonable and rational manners, like when he was "mean to El" in season one when he's doing what the majority of people in his situation would do, meanwhile I hardly ever see people calling Mike out for being so needlessly rude to Max in season two. Case in point: If you hate on Robin or Lucas, your opinion is trash.

3. They're strongly against Byler and its shippers.

I honestly don't care whether you personally ship Byler or not, you can't deny that people who are 100% against even the idea of Byler are at least a little homophobic (well, technically you could, but you'd be wrong).

"Mike is straight!"

Has that been confirmed? Did Mike tell you that? Did the Duffer Brothers tell you that? No? Exactly. Besides, even if it were outright confirmed that Mike is only into girls, why is it so difficult for you to let people enjoy things that aren't causing you or anyone else any direct or indirect harm? God, please just make some friends.

"But Mike has only ever shown interest in girls!"

Tell me you have little to no media literacy skills without telling me you have little to no media literacy skills. Seriously, babe, that's not even remotely true. I can guarantee that if Will and/or Eddie were women, people like you would be all over the Byler ship and the Mike-having-a-crush-on-Eddie headcanon.

"Mike and El are in love, didn't you hear his monologue?"

See the first sentence of my last point and shut up.

4. They unironically refer to Will as "the gay one" or a variation of it.

This one is more specifically talking to the allocishets: Why is it that for three seasons Will Byers got to be referred to by his name like every other character, but season four comes out (no pun intended) and all of a sudden he's being reduced to his sexual orientation? Answer quickly.

Anyway, I'm done ranting. If you have anything to add, comment or reblog. Have a good day, people these points don't apply to.

#stranger things #stranger things fandom #stranger things opinions #byler #anti billy hargrove #anti harringrove #anti mungrove #steddie #robin buckley #lucas sinclair #steve harrington #eddie munson #anti mileven #will byers #mike wheeler #max mayfield

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chirpsythismorning · 2 years

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Noah promoting Byler was very likely something he was TOLD to do... so let's talk about it.

I see a lot of people hating on Noah, Finn and the Netflix accounts in general for hyping up Byler.

Noah especially has gone out of his way to say he ships it, but I don't see anyone talking about what has always been so obvious to me.

The reality is, Noah would not say a word about Byler, at all, if it was something he knew was not going anywhere. In fact, if that was truly the case, I think he would be prohibited from it.

With how bad queer-baiting is, I think the Duffer's definitely would have protected him from getting backlash for it, by telling him to avoid humoring Byler at all costs.

Instead, we see Noah not only acknowledging Byler and saying he ships it (numerous times), but also liking/commenting on Byler related posts, even going as far as to steer questions towards Byler in a positive light, as if he's trying to convince us that this is something more of us should open our minds to.

And this just REAKS of the Duffer's trying to warm people up to Byler, and with the only person that can do it at the moment.

Since Will is now canonically in love with Mike, this means that the actor playing him, saying he ships it outright, doesn't exactly qualify as a spoiler.

Now, Finn or Netflix being outright about it, would be a major no no, because it would be a spoiler for the character who plays Mike to say he ships Byler (his stuttering response to Byler happening is still iconic), as well as for the official accounts to throw out M*leven entirely and throw in Byler fully. The show is still technically in limbo with this love triangle. Which is why we see Finn and the Netflix accounts putting an effort to promote both M*leven and occasionally Byler, because although they still want to keep things a surprise for the most part, they definitely have an obligation to start giving at least some hints.

(I think it's also funny that David Harbour has a record for just sort of saying whatever he wants when it comes to spoilers. Like the whole "he likes someone else in the group" moment was definitely not planned and everyones reaction was visibly just shock because they all know they're not allowed to talk about this, but because it's David whose taking the lead they all just follow along with him amused.)

Otherwise, besides the main key-players, it's still something they probably want to keep under-wraps until season 5 is right around the corner. They are indeed stuck in limbo right now.

Just thinking realistically in terms of them preparing for endgame in season 5, it makes sense that they started to kick things off in season 4, in a way that's still really impartial, because as time goes on, the shift to Byler will be a lot easier than if they just went from nothing to everything all at once.

This is why it also makes sense for them to still promote M*leven, seeing as there may only be a little time left for them to do so.

But when we start getting official updates and bts and leaks and then eventually promo for season 5, I think it's very likely Will and Mike are going to be heavily associated with each other just as much in promo, if not more, than they were in season 4. And let's be honest, they were promoted A LOT together (there isn't a m*leven poster/billboard for s4 that I know of...).

With all the backlash they've got for queer-baiting, them going all in with Byler again would be a good indication to me that they are indeed going that route and we can start clowning indefinitely.

#byler #stranger things #byler season 4 #byler proof #byler evidence #byler st4 #mike wheeler #will byers #mike x will #will x mike

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gayofthefae · 3 months

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No bc it's the fact that I WASN'T that invested in Byler during vol 1 actually I got invested in between volumes so really the entire time I wasn't like "ooh another clue!" I started believing they were gonna be endgame - to the extent that I assumed it was the intention to be obvious and I was just behind only to find out that people didn't think it was as obvious as the St*ncy flirting was and was baffled - I literally was passively confident so I wasn't like noting down the proof at all I was super focused on Lucas and Max tbh and Byler was also cute, right?

So what I'm saying is that I realized in 4x02 then had no reaction basically, except empathy, of course, but no surprise, when Mike couldn't tell El he loved her even though they had not yet had issues when I started believing in Byler and I did not bat my eye when Mike talked to and looked at Will like that or all the other moments we've found obvious.

I am one of the many shippers that joined in season 4 after it BECAME obvious and then was like "you guys didn't see it??" I saw it and then analyzed how we got there for fun is what I think many antis don't understand. I didn't need the details to know. It was obvious to me, I just like to nerd out on filmography.

So point being it was always obvious. I never even thought of anything up until after the ily speech as "proof", or rather after volume 1 when I saw that there were apparently doubters I had to defend against, because I didn't NEED proof.

I went "Oooh he can't tell El he loves her I woonder why" in the same way I went "Oooh Max called Lucas' name in the upside down and her memories were a lot of him". Like I could have been wrong about them getting back together, technically, but it's the natural prediction one makes based on context. Byler was the natural prediction I made based on context. Just like L*max getting back together. Just like J*pper getting together. Could I have been wrong? Yes. Was I? No.

I just- I cannot emphasize enough how passively confident I was in Byler before logging on. I am now actively confident and with loads of proof, but honestly I feel like the biggest comfort and best argument to people who aren't invested like that is that once I realized - realized, not "believed" - that Mike would reciprocate Will's feelings, I forgot about it as a concern, relaxed, and just watched the show like anything else. If they got together I wouldn't have been like "told you!" because I didn't think anyone would miss it beyond the point I did any more than they would miss the other canon couple predictions I brought up - some people would, sure, but that many? Jesus.

Really, volume 2 just revealed to me that it was supposed to be more of a twist in season 5. It subverted my expectations of the Duffers' intentions for audience perception, not my expectations for the plot. I thought that everyone misinterpreted what they were obviously telling us but volume 2 revealed to me that I suppose we were purposefully divided. Doesn't change the outcome. The only surprise was the delivery.

Two times I had the thought "why are they doing this?" in the season. When Mike and Will fought in the roller rink and when Mike told El he loved her. Guess which plot became heavily backed up the more new episodes I watched and guess which one contradicted.

#stranger things #byler #first watch

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thranduel · 2 years

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something i find really weird and invalidating is when a gay ship like byler starts becoming popular or there’s a possibility of it being canon, people start arguing and saying things like “mike has shown no sign that he’s gay/bi throughout the entire show, this ship wouldn’t make sense”

like… what?

why do queer people always need to “prove” that they’re queer or “make it obvious” for you to think their sexuality is valid but straight people can just exist and you automatically assume everyone is straight by default? why do you need mike to show signs of being gay/bi in order to “believe” his sexuality? are you kidding me?

even will, who was literally written as gay and is the most gay coded character in the show that has shown NO interest in girls, is being called “straight” by some people, because they can’t believe he’s gay unless he “proves” to them that he’s gay and it’s canon. do they realise how weird they sound? why does he have to prove he’s gay but you can automatically assume he’s straight even though he’s shown NO signs of being straight? why do gay people always have to prove their sexuality but straight people don’t?

do people also realise that many queer kids take a very long time to discover themselves and it’s not going to be “obvious” from the start and some people may identity with one label at one point but then change it later on as they discover themselves, but that does NOT make them any less valid. they’re valid no matter what. these things aren’t easy for everyone and it can take a very long time to fully discover and understand who you are and that’s okay!!

mike has clearly been struggling with his own identity and forced conforming; you can literally see the way he changes whenever el is around and how he acts like someone he’s not. HIS OWN FRIENDS have called him out for it so many times!! true love and getting into a relationship doesn’t make you change THAT much. mike is forcing himself to be someone he’s not and it’s not fair for him, el and everyone around them. it’s not healthy. i don’t know how people don’t understand this. also just look at the way he acted around will in season 4. there’s no other explanation for that except for the fact he has repressed feelings for him

anyways like i said, mike shouldn’t need to “prove” anything to anyone. he’s been in ONE relationship with a girl, the only girl that’s shown attraction to him in fact, and he’s never shown attraction to any other girls either. ted even said “our son with a girl?” and was so surprised about it. he obviously wasn’t specifically talking about mike’s preferences or anything but it just shows that none of the boys interacted with girls at all so it’s a shock to them. they probably wouldn’t have even approached girls at all but then they met el and she gave mike attention and we know the rest. being in one relationship doesn’t mean mike is straight and it’s very weird to say “byler makes no sense because mike hasn’t shown signs of being gay” like are you stupid

#byler

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mikeslawyer · 7 months

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I read your entire answer and everything you said I knew you were gonna say, this is what you guys always say and it’s getting tiring. Look like I said I’m not a byler lover I’m indifferent to it, but I absolutely stand with Will doing better and he definitely can I say that with my full chest. They are both young and both do have choices it’s not be all and end all. Will does hate himself for being gay he’s accepted it but he’s trying to “rip the bandaid” off with mike. He knows he couldn’t say anything to him cause it’s the 80s he knows about people like Alan Turing and stuff but he’s still living in a scary timeline where’s he’s scared to be out and show any inclination he likes men. That is exactly why I said his coming of age could be him finding community and/or a person he could fall in love with in time. Your looking at his character with a big byler lense while I’m seeing him outside of the ship, which you clearly have a problem doing.

it’s okay to take off those byler lenses and see that not everything has to be mike for will and vice versa. Just like the same argument we make for el her happiness at this young age, and everything she’s gone thru doesn’t have to be fixed with mike loving her. Same goes for Will his happiness doesn’t have to be mike loving him back, when he could explore his sexuality with other people. There’s no problem with that and I’m frankly insulted that some bylers think like this, but that’s what shippers do I guess.

i do see will outside of the ship. frankly, i’m tired of overexplaining myself but also to add - will has been in love with mike for years. it’s not a crush, it won’t go away. i see will as an individual and i, objectively, think that mike is the best person for him because he understands him without words. they fit. you have a different opinion, i get it, but don’t come into byler asks saying shit like this.

i think, for will as an individual, mike is the perfect match for will and i will not stand by “he can do better”. stop trying to pick a fight, have a nice day x

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bylerismyeverything · 6 months

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This is gonna be complicated but I need you to stay with me

Ok so I’m pretty sure we all know about the byler color theory. But I want to add something to it, while we know that Mike and Will have the colors blue and yellow assigned to them I think it expends beyond just them. I think they’re not the only ones wearing certain colors as easter eggs. While I’m sure a lot of you saw "ketchup and mustard" I would still like to remind you.

In this picture we clearly saw El as red and Max is also yellow, same as Will.

While the fact that Max and Will have the same color might be another easter egg it’s irrelevant to the theory I wanna talk about rn.

I know many people will be like "they just wore it in one scene that doesn’t mean anything" but the thing is, they didn’t.

I know this seems like a stretch but in these pictures they were bonding and becoming really close which would explain the swapped colors or the combination of both colors.

Now to my theory: I think everyone color of clothing in this show always represent something and here are examples.

Here you can see Mike and Will each wearing their own color. Although Will’s shirt has some blue in it to represent his feeling for Mike.

Here is a slightly more complicated one. Mike is wearing a purple shirt that shirt represents him and eleven, because blue and red make purple. Mike is reuniting with his girlfriend after a while of not seeing her and he’s looking forward to spend quality time with her. Now here’s where it gets tricky Mike is wearing a yellow shirt too that yellow shirt represents Will and their connection. Mike missed Will and while he himself wouldn’t admit it, just like he barely talked to Will while being away, his subconscious speaks for him like when he got mad at Will for the way he acted, and Will didn’t see it as anything weird he just continued to argue, but Mike was paying attention to Will that entire day. "You were rolling your eyes, you were moping, you were barely talking. You basically sabotaged the whole day." This shows just how Mike was caring and noticing Will even if it wasn’t his first priority to make sure Will was ok he still cared a lot. And Mike’s clothes in this scene weren’t the only ones speaking volumes. Will’s clothes for example are blue, Mike’s color which represents his feelings for him, and how much he wanted to spend the day with him since he had just arrived. El’s dress has blue, red and purple stripes. For her and Mike.

In this photo both Mike and Eleven are wearing blue shirts. This is Mike’s color which means Mike was acting like his usual self. He was just being Mike. While El wanted to spend all her time with him.

And this is why I made this post. Mike’s shirt is obviously mostly blue with yellow stripes in it and red stripes that are almost unnoticeable. This is also why I filmed my laptop because the red stripes weren’t showing in any picture I found of mike with this shirt. This shirt represents Mike, as blue with the shirt being mostly his color. And there are red stripes in there that are barely showing which I think represent and his faded and almost nonexistent feeling for El. And the bright yellow stripes say that while his feeling for El are almost not there his feeling for Will are growing and are stronger than ever. This is the scene where Mike is unable to tell El the words "I love you" and the reason is he doesn’t. Because this was the 3rd and last time Mike ever wore red. The other two times were also combined with both yellow and blue.

I hope you understood at least some of what I’m trying to say, thanks😘

#byler #stranger things #byler is canon #byler is endgame #byler is real #byler is requited #byler color theory

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hauntedpearl · 8 months

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okay so here's the thing. i do genuinely think that queerbaiting as a word has lost all sense in today's social landscape, because like. people will look at canonically queer characters and cry queerbaiting just because they don't have like. a partner or something. (or talk about real people queerbaiting which is jusy. not going there. not touching that with a ten foot pole. pls stop.) which is not what it's about. largely, queerbaiting has always been more of a marketing thing than a story-thing. like it's not just where they're writing "canonically" non-queer characters in queer-adjacent scenarios, altho that does happen, but it's also about. writing characters in explicitly queer scenarios but not acknowledging the queerness with an INTENT TO KEEP THE QUEER AUDIENCES INVESTED, while not giving them what they're invested in.

and like. it's not easy to categorise media as queerbait without taking into account the social scenario surrounding the release of said media. like Star Trek is absolutely NOT queerbait. it's queercoding! (while I haven't watched the show myself, I've talked about it enough with my friends to gather as much.) at some point it is the writers trying to slip as much queerness in heavily censored media as they can without getting like. cancelled. which is not them baiting you. it's just them telling a story. and stranger things is not queerbait, because will is gay. whether or not he and Mike have a thing is just. that's a whole different thing. he's explicitly canonically gay. I don't care enough about the show to dissect the coding with Mike but what will experiences as a young kid coming to terms with his sexuality, and him falling for his best friend, and struggling to articulate his feelings, trying to reach out to his brother and failing...these are all just lived experiences of so many queer people. that's not baiting by any means. i mean you can say they're "byler baiting" bc maybe they are idk (I'm sorry I'm just. picking popular media to all about but I don't personally engage enough w it I'm so sorry) like they're kids yk but like. that's not queerbait!!!

and this brings me to supernatural which is probably the only show where I will call it queerbait just because I sense SUCH a, for the lack of a better word, sinister air around the whole destiel thing that it makes me want to put my head in an oven. There's just something INSANE about this show. I do think there were writers who wanted to genuinely give us a queer love story in some way and slipped in as much as they could within the bounds of censorship. and I do think there was so much accidental queercoding because many cooks in the kitchen resulted in this scenario where dean's performance is so very see-through and entirely breaks down even if some of those cooks intended for whatever dean does to be taken at face value. and then there's these episodes where you know those fuckers wanted you to keep watching bc you thought they were gonna make destiel real but they weren't gonna do that they were literally laughing at you they were throwing rocks at you and you still STOOD THERE TAKING IT because you COULD NOT be crazy like you are WATCHING THIS SHIT LIVE. AND YOU KNOW YOU'RE RIGHT.

it's like this. after despair. after s15. hell even after s12. (market research. oh god the market research.) i think a lot of the audience will probably be like. well. this is not queerbait anymore. and they'd probably be right because like. market research!!! and widower arc!!! and tombstone!!!! and domestic family shit in s14!!! the trap!! despair!! this is all just very much a love story. beats of a soap opera romantic drama even. but then you HAVE to consider the way they'd ridicule audience members for bringing up destiel being canon at cons. you have to consider them doing this for almost a year after the show ended even. and then it's like. well what was that about.

see I'm not very smart or articulate so I don't know if I'm conveying my thoughts properly here but what I'm trying to say is. queerbaiting is not about the story. it's never been about the story. it's about corporations trying to lasso in a new demographic without having to do the work to actually earn their attention in full.

like if you asked me if supernatural was canonically a queer show in terms of what was written i would say that it was complicated. because they do toe the line a lot..but there are many arcs which only make sense completely if you turn the rainbow beam on them. so TO ME it's a queer show but if anyone says it isn't I would not talk to them but I also wouldn't be able to refute them completely and that's the catch.

but like. if you asked me if it was queerbait, I would also say yes. because like. the people who forced the queer storylines to toe the line (the network execs I'm talking about the network execs only) wanted to reap the advantages of being an explicitly queer show while not doing anything to rescind the censorship that could make it one very easily.

AND LIKR.. THAT'S MY PERSPECTIVE ANYWAY. IDK ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING. SO WHATEVER.

#i might turn off rbs on this. but yeah #i got this reply on one of my tags a few days ago where someone got super mad that i called spn queerbait snd like. I don't. I DON'T LIKE #ONLINE DISCOURSE SO I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING #by yeah #anyway my thoughts my two cents feel free to disagree w me it's fine #it's just a perspective #doe is talking again #queerbait discourse

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pinksmonkey · 8 months

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sorry to hear about your friend. :( some people are very set in stone as far as their view of the show, and there’s not a whole lot we can do about that.

i will say, though — people can change their minds!

in mid-july of 2022, just a few weeks after volume 2 came out, my brother and i got into an argument about mike and his “love confession.” i argued he does love el, but not romantically, and he argued that he loves her romantically. he also said that mike’s been wanting to tell her this for years, but he’s “socially awkward.” we agreed to disagree and that was the end of that.

an entire year later (so this was just a couple months ago!), we ended up getting into a conversation about stranger things. i implied that i thought mike and will were interested in each other, and he…completely agreed with me?

he went as far as to say stuff like “mike never liked el in That way, he just thinks she makes him look cool” and “i’m a guy and i don’t fight with my friends the way they do” and how, looking back on it, will giving him the painting and that arc should’ve been enough for him to know it was a mutual situation.

after our 2022 conversation, i was sure to never talk about byler with him. i don’t even think i brought it up initially once i found out he was a m.leven shipper, because i didn’t want to be ridiculed or called delusional.

i’m not sure when he came to these conclusions, but somehow his mind had completely changed on its own (and no, he isn’t a part of the fandom online). when i asked him about now thinking byler is reciprocated and will happen, he just said he “knows how to follow a pattern.”

it’s possible that people in your life will come around! even if they don’t, others are seeing the vision, and i really do believe we’ll be seeing our boys be happy together by the conclusion of season 5. :)

Wow, that's awesome! Thank you so much for sharing that story!

And yeah, Mike loves El, but Idk if he ever truly loved her romantically, at least no where near to the same level that he's been shown to love Will.

Thanks for giving me some hope. Not that I really need my friend to change his mind, but it'll make it easier for him when season 5 comes out and Byler ends up happening. XD

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