#also. like. Mike doesn’t think of himself as El’s dad | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blushweddinggowns · 9 months

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It had started as a rough few weeks. A rough few weeks that turned into a rough few months. It was weird, because in all honesty when it came to social standings, Will was doing a lot better here than he ever did in Hawkins. There were no Zombie Boy stories following him here, and he even managed to get a few girls to have a crush on him. He…still wasn’t quite clear how that worked out and he really wasn’t a fan of it. But they were also the only people he could talk to at school. He was way too paranoid of getting close to any guys. God forbid he got another crush on a friend, having none of them just seemed like the better course of action.

It didn’t help that Mike had basically stopped acknowledging that he existed after they moved. He didn’t write to him, he didn’t call him, and it felt like the only time he heard his voice was when he politely asked for El over the phone. And it hurt. It hurt a lot. Especially when he still put in so much effort to get ahold of El all the time. He’d resent her for it if he could, but the only one who was having a worse time than him with the move was her. Maybe Mike was a shitty friend to him, but at least she had someone to talk to.

But whatever. Lucas and Dustin cared, and so did Eddie and Steve. And when Jonathan wasn’t busy being high as hell, he had him too. Even Max called him more often than Mike did. Even when she was just trying to get ahold of El she’d take the time to ask him how he was, a courtesy that his best friend from freaking kindergarten couldn’t even offer anymore.

So maybe Will didn’t have many friends in California yet, but he didn’t feel very lonely.

Just a little heartbroken.

But he could get past it. Especially when some of his favorite people were only one phone call away. Sometimes it made him feel a little guilty, that Steve and Eddie were his go to for talking about his problems. Especially since Jonathan was always trying to get him to open up. Even when he was zoinked out of his gourd he never failed to ask Will how his day was. Though…he did have a hard time following the plot when Will told him.

But that didn’t change the fact that Jonathan always wanted to help. But what could Will say? I’m depressed because I’m in love with my best friend who doesn’t care about me? And oh yeah, I’m gay? Yeah, no. That wasn’t going to happen. If Jonathan of all people hated him for that…he’s not sure he could recover. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t think about it.

It was kind of pathetic, but he’d fantasize about it sometimes. Coming out to his family, everyone smiling and saying they’d love him anyway, no matter what. And if he was being honest with himself, it was technically possible, right? His brother had never said a bad word about Steve and Eddie. His mom never failed to shut the homophobic crap down when his crappy sperm donor had still been around. But it was different when it was your own kid, right? Will wasn’t quite sure. But he did know that he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

So he called who he always did when he had a problem. It only took a few rings before someone was picking up, Steve’s familiar voice on the other end, “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me,” Will sighed, flopping face first into his bed, the phone pressed to his ear.

He could hear the smile in Steve’s voice, “Hey kiddo, what’s up?”

God, he was such a dad. Will wouldn’t be shocked if he started wearing socks with sandals by the time he hit twenty-three. He went straight to the point, “Do you think that living happily ever after is like a real thing? For people like us?”

Steve laughed, “It better fucking be after all the shit we’ve seen.”

“I don’t mean the Upside Down stuff,” Will sighed, “I mean like…y’know. The gay.”

Steve snorted, “The gay? I’m going to have to tell Eddie that one.”

Will rolled his eyes at the redundant statement. He had learned a long time ago that telling Steve something meant telling Eddie something, and vice versa. He sighed a tiny smile on his face, “Oh what, like he’s not already next to you listening in?”

“...touché.”

Will laughed, turning over to stare at the ceiling, “I’m serious though. Like…is it even possible? It’s not like everyone gets to magically find their soulmate at eight.”

“Is that such a bad thing though?” Steve asked, “Because no offense dude but honestly? I think you could do a lot better than Mike-”

“Be nice,” Will interrupted, torn between being defensive for Mike’s sake and amused at Steve never failing to find a way to come at him.

“I will when he starts being nice to me.”

“Well that’s just not going to happen,” Will laughed, “I’m starting to think Eddie’s right to call you a brat.”

Steve gasped, loud and scandalized. He’d been hanging out with Robin too much, “Me?! Never!”

Will could barely hear it over the receiver, but he could hear Eddie’s faint voice coming through, Yes he is!

And it was making him laugh even harder. Will missed this, so much. He missed having a place where he could just say whatever he wanted, with no worries. Even now he was looking over his shoulder, anxious at the chance that his mom or a sibling could come bursting in at any moment to catch him in the act of being comfortable. It was a confusing and weird feeling, and probably a little unfair to assume they’d prefer him to be sad and quiet over happy and queer. But he still did.

But for now he was safe. And he might as well take the chance to speak on all the things he couldn’t with anyone else, “But what if I don’t want to do better than Mike? Like…it’s stupid but do you think that um, I would ever have a chance?”

The answer was a strong no, but sometimes Will just needed a reality check from someone else’s mouth.

Steve sighed, “I think the odds are pretty low bud. All jokes aside, even if he was playing for our team, I’m not sure if he’s the type who could even accept it. Y’know?”

Will did know, unfortunately. And if he’d never met Eddie and Steve there was a solid chance he’d be that guy. The truth stung a bit, but it was necessary, “I know, I know. But…do you think he would accept me? If he ever found out?”

“He fucking better. Otherwise I’ll-”

Will heard a shuffle on the other end, paired with something that sounded suspiciously like whining before he heard Eddie’s voice, “Will? You there? Sorry about that. I had to take the phone away before he started talking about beating up a child.”

Will grinned, happy to hear Eddie’s voice, “You made the right call. Do you think they’ll ever get along?”

“Not in this lifetime,” Eddie sighed, “And I know Mike’s not perfect, but if he’s okay with us why wouldn’t he be with you?”

“But it’s different when it’s a friend, isn’t it?” Will asked, “I’m not even sure if my mom would accept it, let alone him.”

“Well first of all, you don’t have to tell anyone shit, okay? But I can promise you that Joyce would be fine with it. And so would Jonathan for that matter. And I don’t even know if El is aware of what homophobia even is.”

It all sounded a lot more believable out of Eddie’s mouth than what was going on in his own head. But still… “What if they don’t though? What if I tell them and they kick me out or something? Or make me go to therapy?”

“Okay, on the off, off chance that you tell them and Joyce suddenly became a monster overnight, we’ll go to plan B. Steve and I will drive up there to kidnap you and you can live in Indy with us.”

Will grinned. He could live with that, “Can’t we just make that Plan A?”

“No, because your family loves you, as they should by the way. And this won’t bother them, I swear. Plus, telling them on your own terms is a lot less awkward than getting caught in the act.”

Will didn’t even want to know what Eddie was alluding to with that one. Poor Wayne, “But what if we’re wrong?”

He wanted to believe him, he really did, but stranger things had happened outside of gay people being disowned.

“Will, listen to me,” Eddie said, his voice confident enough to make Will perk up, “I swear on Steve’s life, okay? There is no way in hell anyone in that house is gonna reject you for this.”

Will blinked, a little shocked at just how much faith he had in his family. More than he did, “Really?”

“Really. Trust me on this man, you’re going to be fine.”

They hung up pretty soon after that, mostly because El started knocking on his door for the phone. The conversation made him feel a bit better, but also…nervous. Could he really tell them? Would it all just work out? Just like that? Will wasn’t so sure.

He decided against doing it right away despite Eddie’s own confidence. But he did start to drop a few feelers. He started with Jonathan, waiting until he was high enough for him to forget the conversation if it didn’t go well. And that wasn’t a long wait.

He found him and his new friend sprawled out in his room, Fast Times playing in the background as they both stared into space. Though Will wasn’t quite sure he could count what Argyle was doing as staring. He’s eyes were barely open, and Will was 90 percent sure he was passed out. But that was good for him, now was as good a time as any.

Jonathan smiled at him as he wandered in, his words kind but slurring, “Hey! What’s up? You never come in here. You wanna watch something or…?”

Will shook his head, his heart aching a little at the way it made his brother frown. Maybe he really had been neglecting him, too caught up in his own head to spend time with the closest thing he had to a Dad.

It made him feel a little bad, but that wasn’t what he was here for, “No thanks. I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure!” Jonathan said, way too excited at the prospect of a simple question, but maybe that was the weed, “What’s up?”

Will shrugged, casually leaning against the door. Or at least he hoped it looked casual, because his heart was beating a mile per minute, “Steve said that his and Eddie’s anniversary is coming up soon. Do you think I should send them something?”

Jonathan tilted his head up to look at him, his eyes bloodshot with a tiny smile on his face, “That’s like…so nice dude. You’re always so nice. How are you so nice?”

“You don’t think it’s weird?” Will pressed, hope fluttering in his chest, “To be, y’know, celebrating them like that?”

Jonathan shook his head, “Nah man. It’s like…romance. Y’know? It’s sweet.”

“Yeah dude, gay guys are cool,” Argyle agreed out of nowhere, his eyes still closed, “Good for Stu and Eggie. Gay people got like, the best hair.”

Will didn’t really know what to do with that one. But Jonathan was impressed. He jerked his head back to stare at Argyle, his voice in awe, “How’d you know he had good hair? I never told you he had good hair.”

“I bet they both have good hair,” Argyle sighed, “They alway do.”

“Are you like, psychic?” Jonathan asked, like that made any sense at all.

“Shit, you think I could be?”

Will watched as the two of them started to debate the idea, his brow raised. God, weed sure was a hell of a drug. He left them to it after that, deciding to slowly back out of the room. But he was going to chalk it up as a positive.

preview for the next chapter (kind of) of this fic

#steddie #stranger things #will byers #steddie fic #steddie ficlet #steve harrington #eddie munson #the universe trapped in your skin #she's coming along #so fucking slowly #but she's coming #just a little preivew to prove she still exists

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strangersteddierthings · 1 year

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Bad News First, Eddie

Part One 🦇 Part Two🦇Part Three🦇FInal Part

Whew! I don’t think I’ve written this much in such a short amount of time ever in my life. The boys deserve a soft ending, I think. Enjoy!

It goes like this. While Eddie's been lost in his own mind, his body was living. Sort of.

Top secret government assisted living, kinda living. For a secret government hospital one would think the place would be fancier or something but it's just a regular looking hospital.

Eddie's in therapy, both for his body and mind.

He learns that the voice he heard when Eleven helped pull him from the depths of his mind was Mike Wheeler of all people, and he sounds different because he's nineteen and in college. Mike mocks him on graduating before Eddie. He regrets it when Eddie gets him into a headlock.

He gets to meet Eleven, outside of his mind. And he starts calling her El. Part of him can't stop thinking about Eleven as the entity he thought was going to lead him to the great beyond.

She is just a person. Sorta.

Dustin had told him there was a girl with superpowers and Eddie is glad she's real. Not that he thought Dustin would lie about this (actually, he might have thought Dustin was lying just to give him some weird version of a pep talk. Everything said before going through Watergate was suspect if he's honest).

When he's finally well enough to be able to leave, Doctor Owens tells him their plan.

They're gonna convince Wayne to fly to Tennessee. Eddie, El, and Mike Wheeler are gonna be flown there, too. There's a place for them to stay, to meet up with his uncle in private.

They'll stay there a month. Doctor Owens knows a doctor who can do Eddie's final evaluations before he can really go home.

That's the real kicker.

Hawkins fucking sucks. Small town, narrow views, non-conformity gets you called a Freak in the same way his Dad used to call him a fag. Like he said, fucking sucks.

But it's also the sanctuary he escaped to when he was eleven years old. It's the place where his uncle built a home for him.

So, back to Hawkins first. He can always go somewhere else later. Maybe a coastal city. See the ocean.

Eddie hasn't been afraid of a reaction from his uncle since that day in the hospital parking lot after he caught Eddie making out with another guy. He's got that same fear inside now, though, knowing that when El opens that door, he'll see the family he feels like he abandoned. It's not fair to himself to think that, his therapist would say, but he's allowed to have crazy thoughts right now. He's come back from being (not)dead and gets to see Wayne again for the first time. Knowing his feelings are justified doesn't make them fade, though, so he's not surprised his voice shakes when the door finally opens. “Hey Uncle Wayne.”

Wayne takes less than two seconds to reach Eddie, pulling him into a bone crushing hug. “I love you so much, you little bastard. Don’t you ever, ever do this to me again.”

It's all Eddie can do to remain upright and hug him back, clinging to his shirt like he's eleven years old again.

Wayne gives him an overview of what he's missed after the Upside Down came into their world (he heard that part from El and Mike, against the better wishes of Doctor Owens). Learns that Wayne and Steve live in Steve's childhood home because his parents just gifted it to him, apparently. That Wayne is only part time at the plant now due to an accident he had, and how that sparked his current living conditions.

Learns that Steve and Wayne became close because, unbelievably, Steve Harrington goes to his grave in the cemetery and cleans off graffiti on the regular.

Eddie feels a little hot under the collar because his brain reminds him of a fact he’d heard once; that the author of Frankenstein lost her virginity on her mother’s grave and a little voice in the back of his head whispers that it'd be hot for him to do the same thing with Steve on his own grave.

He has to scamper to the bathroom to scold himself in the mirror because he cannot be having these kinds of thoughts about Steve while talking to his uncle!

Wayne asks him, the night before their flight, “what’s something you want to do, once everything is settled and life starts to feel normal again?”

“I wanna go on a vacation. Like, a real, bona fide, family vacation.”

“Where you wanna go?”

“Think I’d like to see the ocean.”

Wayne smiles softly. “Alright. When you feel ready for it, we’ll go.”

“Just give him a chance, Eddie,” Wayne says randomly, as they wait to board their flight to Indianapolis.

“Give him a chance? As if I’d waste it,” Eddie feels breathless at just the thought. It's certainly not helping that stupid crush he's been harboring for years, knowing how Steve’s been treating his uncle. It was one thing to watch Steve defend Jeff that one time in high school; it's an entirely different ball game knowing he's watched over his uncle with care and devotion for years. “He took care of you when I couldn’t. He cares. I don’t think there’s a chance I wouldn’t give him.”

“How long have you had a thing for Steve?”

Eddie's brain screeches to a halt because he was didn't think anything he'd just said would give him away. He can't even think of a reply good enough to throw his uncle off his trail. “That’s not- why would you think- when have I ever!?”

“You think I wouldn’t know this about you?” Wayne chuckles.

No. No, Eddie thinks, of course you could take one look at me and know. His uncle had been able to know everything about him so effortlessly. But Eddie doesn't have to answer, so he won't. “So, we’ll be living with Steve Harrington? Will he… be okay with me being there?”

“Yeah. Steve and I had each other when we needed it. Now I need you, so Steve won’t mind at all," Wayne sounds so sure, so convinced, that Eddie is too.

Eddie smiles, pulling a strand of his hair to hide his face behind as he imagines getting to eat at the same dinner table as Steve fucking Harrington. He doesn't even mind that Wayne gives him a look at says 'you are being so obvious right now' because he is. He knows he is. He's allowed to be. Wayne's not going to mock him for his crush.

On the drive from Indianapolis to Hawkins, Wayne tells him the lie he told Steve. Apparently, Steve thinks Eddie's dad is coming to stay for a while. The mere thought of that sets Eddie on edge, even though he knows Wyatt Munson's still in prison. Will be for a long time, with the list of shit they got him for.

They roll into Hawkins shortly after, and while Eddie may have not been in Hawkins the last five years, and he's willing to admit that things might have changed things up since they did have to rebuild a lot of the town, he's certain that Steve's house is on the other side of it. “This isn’t the way to the Harrington house."

“Steve won’t be there. He comes here when he’s overwhelmed," Wayne says. It's still pretty jarring to hear Wayne talk about Steve like this. Like he knows him. Which, he does, obviously, because they've gotten to know each other.

Still mind blowing to think about.

“The cemetery?” is what comes out of his mouth, though.

Wayne knows what's he's really meaning to ask, though, because he shrugs and says, “we both come talk to you. Steve always starts with the bad news, you know. I think you should start with good news. Just this once." The car is slowing down, and Wayne is pointing out the front windshield, to a figure crouched down near a lone headstone. "Ah. See, there he is.”

Steve. He's too far away for Eddie to be sure sure but if anyone is still wearing bright polo shirts tucked into light wash jeans this far after leaving high school, it'd be Steve Harrington. Eddie's not even sure the car is fully stopped when he all but falls out of it.

He doesn't run to greet Steve, because that's a bit dramatic, but he's not too proud to admit he might be power walking. He slows down when he gets closer, coming to a full stop just close enough to hear Steve talking to his grave. Talking to him.

"Bad news, Eds. I'm too much of a coward to meet your old man. Afraid of what he'll sound like. Because I want him to sound like you so fucking bad it hurts. So instead of being home, I'm hiding here."

"Well, I've some bad news for you, too, Stevie. I got my voice from my mom," Eddie says, and almost instantly cringes because Wayne literally just told him to start with good news and he didn't. Eddie doesn't have much time to soak in his embarrassment, though, because Steve whips around so fast that Eddie's dizzy from the movement.

Steve looks older but it's in the way people who have seen more than their fair share of Hell look older, and less about actual aging. His eyes are wide and stunned. Eddie watches as his jaw moves but no words come out. He looks like he's seen a ghost which... ok, that's fair.

"Umm," Eddie says, a little worried he's broken him when Steve doesn't even seem to be blinking as he stares at Eddie. "Good news, Steve. I, uh, I lived. Kinda. El kinda pulled me back to the surface of my mind, or whatever, and Owens did a good job at patchin' up the goods here," he gestures to his whole body with a sweeping motion of his hand and wishes that a gate to the Upside Down would open beneath his feet and suck him back to Hell because could he be any more embarrassing?

"A-are you," he watches as Steve swallows and takes a deep breath. He's still not sure Steve has blinked yet. "real?"

"Yeah," Eddie nods, taking a few steps closer, "yeah, I'm real. I'm here and alive and real."

Steve launches himself forward then, meeting him halfway. It's so goddamn surreal be witness to how tenderly Steve actually reaches out to him, though, such a contrast to the flurry of movement he'd been just a second ago. Eddie stays still as Steve lifts shaking hands to cup his face with, pushing against his cheeks as if to test whether or not Eddie is solid. Those hands slide down, along his neck, across his shoulders, down his arms where Steve seems to need to pause and collect himself again, hands wrapped loosely around his arms just below his elbows while Steve shuts his eyes and a low, broken sound pulls itself from his throat before his eyes open again, wet with tears, and he releases Eddie just long enough to throw his arms around his neck and pull him into a hug almost as crushing as the one he shared with his uncle.

It's overwhelming in this moment. To see how much he means to Steve and not fully understand how he came to mean anything to him at all.

Doesn't stop him from wrapping his own arms around Steve's waist, though.

It goes like this.

He gets his own room at Harrington's house. Wayne has his own room, too. How strange it is, to not have his uncle sleeping the day away on the couch because the trailer had one room and he'd given it to Eddie.

They adjust to living together so seamlessly. Like they were always meant to be family.

They have dinner together. Real homecooked meals. Which isn't a novelty for Wayne and Steve anymore, but Eddie's memory ends five years ago, when his dinners consisted of microwavable meals or left over snacks from lunch. Wayne cooks on the days when Steve works, and Eddie helps. Gets to be taught how to cook.

For a while, Eddie is afraid to leave the house. Even knowing that Jason Carver bit the dust the same day he was supposed to also doesn’t help. He only goes places with Wayne and Steve, and even then, the double takes people send his way are enough to make him want to shrink into himself.

However, no one says anything to him. He's vaguely aware that everyone here lived through some sort of miniature apocalypse and maybe that's the kind of thing that has to happen to make a small town in Indiana change.

He and Steve dance around each other. He can feel it. There is something here, between them, that neither fully acknowledges.

He tries to talk to Wayne about it, but he won't give him much to go on.

"I won't be the one to say anything about what Steve thinks of you. That's gotta come from Steve. I will say this. He's waiting for you to bring it up first."

"Why does it have to be me?"

"He's had five years to gather his thoughts and emotions," Wayne levels him with a Look, "you gotta have the time to figure yourself out, too."

Well, fuck.

Steve waits until it's almost summer break for the kids (they’re not really kids anymore, though, but Eddie’s adjusting to that still) to ask if he's ready to face them. "It'll be a lot to handle," Steve says as he sits next to Eddie on their couch (their couch. He can't believe that's a truth in his life right now). "Eleven and Mike haven't told anyone yet, but they want to. It wasn't just Wayne and I that grieved for you."

"I know," Eddie says, "I know. I'm good. I'm alive and here and I want them to know about it."

Steve nods slowly, not fully focused on Eddie. Eddie's come to know that means he's thinking, so Eddie waits for him to speak. "Would you prefer to meet with everyone... one at a time?"

"What's the other option?"

"Well, I always host a barbeque when they all come back. Could tell everyone all at once. Like ripping off a Band-Aid."

Eddie crooks a smile because he's a bit mischievous and his mind instantly plays a scene where he walks into a backyard full of all the people he's come to care for, and who care for him, and he's trying to best to be casual about it in this fantasy. "Yeah. Let's do the barbeque thing."

"Bad news, Stevie," Eddie whispers as he leans against the wall next his closed door, trying not to hyperventilate. "I don't know if I can do this."

Steve reaches out and takes one of Eddie's hands in his own, linking their fingers like it's a casual thing they do all the time when it's most certainly not. "Good news, Eds. You don't have to. We didn't tell anyone you're here. You can stay in your room until they're gone, and we'll figure out another way to tell them."

Eddie squeezes his eyes shut and thinks he might be crushing all the bones in Steve's hand with how hard he's clenching it. "What if they're mad at me?"

Steve understands the real question Eddie is asking, the one he doesn't know how to phrase. "You were dead, Eds, and no one out in that yard is going to be 'mad' about any time they'd spent grieving over you. There's gonna be a lot of tears, man, like a lot. Maybe even some shouting. None of it done in anger."

"How're you sure?"

Steve lifts his unoccupied hand and cups Eddie's check. Steve’s eyes are watery and his voice is a bit choked, but he says, "because I was there. I saw them through their grief. Everyone in the backyard either loves you already, or they will."

It's so fucking intimate, how close they are, how tenderly Steve touches him. Wayne had said he'd need to take the first step, so he blames Wayne when he blurts out, "what about everyone in this room? They love me, too?"

Steve's eyes go wide in surprise before his whole face lights up in a way Eddie has never seen before. It makes Steve look younger, less haunted, and then Steve whispers, "of course I love you," like there is no other answer Steve could have given.

Eddie grabs a handful as Steve's polo shirt and pulls him close enough to kiss.

Butterflies and fireworks erupt within Eddie. Kissing Steve is so much better than he's ever let himself imagine. They're still holding hands and Steve's still got his other hand resting so softly on his cheek and Steve's lips are kinda chapped but fuck does the briefest touch of their lips together make Eddie lose all his breath.

It's not deep, or all consuming. There's not even an exchange of tongue. Steve kisses him softly, gently, pulls back to pepper little kisses all over Eddie's face that has him blushing more than he's ever done in his life, and Steve places one, two, three more kisses to his lips before pulling back to look at Eddie like he's the answer to every prayer Steve's ever had. It makes his knees weak.

"I think," Eddie pauses to lick his lips, "I think I'll be brave enough to do it if you're holding my hand."

"Just try and pry yourself away, Munson," Steve teases. "Whenever you're ready."

Steve was right about the tears and shouting. He was also right that no one is mad at him.

Dustin hugs him so hard they fall over in the yard and Eddie finds himself part of a dog pile that starts with crying that turns into laughter that leads back into crying, everyone grabbing at him and him grabbing back.

It's emotional. It's overwhelming. It's the best fucking day of Eddie Munson's life.

Doctor Owens reaches out towards the end of summer to let him know they're issuing him a new social security card. Eddie asks if he's allowed to change him name. Owens says yes.

"Bad news first, Eddie," Eddie says to himself as he kneels in front of his own headstone. "You've become so boring and normal, no one vandalizes your grave anymore. Good news, though. Means I can do it myself."

Before him is his headstone, a thick red line painted through his death date. Another more carefully applied line is struck through his middle name. Above it he's painted in block letters 'Wayne'.

"Eddie, come on! This road trip's gonna start without you," Steve calls from where he's leaning against the side of Wayne's pickup.

Eddie is satisfied with his work, so he abandons the paint and returns to the pickup. He slides across the bench seat, one leg pretzeled under himself to be out of the way of the gear shift. Steve follows in after, shutting the door and reaching for Eddie's hand automatically.

He's got Wayne to his left, Steve to his right, and the first family vacation he's ever taken in his life ahead of him.

Good news, Eddie Wayne Munson. Maybe everyday going forward can be the best fucking day of your life.

#steddie #my fic #bad news first eddie #its complete!!!#thank you for all the wonderful comments #i tried to tag everone so im sorry if i missed you!

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emblazons · 1 year

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—woke up from literal sleep to write down the thoughts that clicked for me after I made this post about the Mike/Hopper hug last night, so. Here's the expansion of all of that lmao.

people always talk about the way Mike looked conflicted when El kisses him in S3, on top of the way he seemed fine with them breaking up until she initiated the relationship again (because of the absence of Hopper). I think this is 100% true, and it’s also the start of Mike’s spiral about protecting her we see through S4.

Mike’s “care” in lieu of "love" for El (and lack of ability to tell her he loves he romantically) is directly correlated to Hopper telling him to BE CAREFUL re: El right before he died. Almost as though Mike didn’t even have space to think of El as a true romantic partner— he was too busy trying to hold up the end of her missing “dad," and why he didn't know what to do when she started talking about how she didn't belong (because he's fourteen and not capable of filling the shoes of her father lmao).

the reason why Mike said “I was worried too much about El” is because he was—he was worried in a way suited for a father, not a boyfriend (thank you @emily-tumbles-on for that tag lol).

It’s also why he was so willing to let El go back to Owens—it’s a trusted (-ish) adult figure who could help El in a way his 14 year old self could not. It’s also why he immediately seems okay with letting her go once she says she wants to + throwing away her letter, right up until he realizes where El went is dangerous again, which meant he has to restart the protector-in-Hop’s place worry (which he doesn’t want, but feels powerless to step away from in his paladin-oath-responsibility mind).

When Mike & Will get into it at Rink O Mania over Will not telling Mike what was going on, Will interprets it as romantic attachment when it’s really giving “worried parent” not boyfriend.

That entire “you should have told me” also DIRECTLY REFLECTS the way Mike sees Will as his actual partner and equal no matter the time or distance (like in S2)—and expects him to help shoulder leadership responsibilities the way romantic/life partners would by helping him look after his charge (El).

The whole painting is confusing af for Mike because he does not see El as his partner or lover, but his responsibility in Hop’s absence—and Will, in his projection, is conflating his romantic love for Mike into the familial one between Mike & El. That's also why Mike feels so insecure about not being responsible enough (!!!) and why he looks dejected the way a parent would when you tell them you want do something they used to think was fun before having a kid when Will says “we could just play DnD and Nintendo for the rest of our lives.”

The van scene takes on a whole new meaning when you think about how the second Will made it about El, it forced Mike into a mental conundrum because he felt loved as himself at first…only to have it thrown back in with this wildly inappropriate parental responsibility he has for El because of Hop’s loss. (I watched the van scene again with this in mind and...lmao. Mike's expressions make absolute sense once you keep this conflation / confusion in mind)!

Yet another reason Mike and Jonathan need to have another conversation is because both of them have been suffering from a severe parentification—Jonathan for Will, and Mike for Eleven.

Hopper returning leaves space for both of them to move back into age-appropriate selfishness/relationships (aka think about their own wants and needs with Nancy and Will for a change) because Joyce doesn’t need Jonathan to fill the “man of the house” space, Will is going to “come of age” and have Mike, and El is gonna have her dad.

....all that to say these (and probably a million more things) become WAY clearer when you realize Mike is carrying the burden of Hopper's absence not as a boyfriend, but as 14 year old boy filling a parent space...which makes me really glad Hop didn't really die in S3 all of a sudden lmao. And also...Duffers. FREE MIKE WHEELER 2025

#anti mlvn #byler #jim hopper #mike wheeler #will byers #jonathan byers #LET HOPPER BE HOP INSTEAD OF MIKE 2025 #and also for jonathan!#free the byler duos to love as they please instead of being over responsible! lmao #my st commentary #stranger things #parentified mike

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starbylers · 1 year

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Here’s 7 of my favourite Byler proofs just from season 4. Pretty sure we all know these but just a refresher if anyone is feeling doubtful <3

Camera focusing on men wrestling when in Mike’s POV

There is no other explanation for this shot: Mike was watching the boys. Hinting at his sexuality is the only reasoning here that has actual narrative purpose.

Symbolism in the final scene

The dying Mlvn flowers vs the blooming flowers edited between Mike and Will.

El walking away from the love triangle framing, alone. Mike and Will centred as a pair between the other endgame couples. This is not an accident, the way everyone is positioned in twos is incredibly staged and deliberate.

Mike’s bedroom walls

The shirtless male dragon on a literal rainbow poster (this one is so obvious I have to laugh). Other characters have pictures of the gender they’re shown to be attracted to on their walls, why is it any different for Mike? And of course the one way sign. Set design is a professional career, these things were not thrown in at random. A character’s room is supposed to give us insight into who they are and their story.

The narrative. The most basic but strong evidence that exists.

El lying to Mike for months. Mike avoiding touching Will and pretending not to look at him in the airport, after finding out he likes a girl. Mike and El fighting and Mike using gaslighting language and shifting blame. El leaving Mike behind with ‘from El’. Their relationship is on the rocks. Will and Mike having multiple interrupted heart to hearts. Borderline flirting and definite gazing into each other’s eyes in the Dear Billy talk. Mike feeling insecure and inferior in his relationship. Will’s secret love confession making Mike feel happy and better about himself. That same confession encouraging Mike to give the monologue. The monologue being completely impersonal and containing at least one 100% confirmed lie (love at first sight). El fails to achieve her goal (save Max) despite Mike’s words. El having no response to Mike’s long-awaited ‘I love you’ when it’s been days.

Suzie’s house foreshadowing episode 9

Mike & Suzie’s dad both hit by the arrow (to show he represents Mike)

‘It looked genuine’ do I need to say more?

Also this foreshadowing is backed up by one of Suzie’s sibling’s lines ‘too much salt’ (aka reference to the salt bath).

The Suzie’s house sequence has absolutely no purpose to the plot. It exists for parallel purposes.

Fruit on pizza metaphor interrupting Mike’s alleged ‘I love you’ attempt

Mike: ‘That’s blasphemous! Putting fruit on pizza?’

Argyle: ‘Try before you deny.’ El: ‘It’s good!’

I think this metaphor is pretty self-explanatory. (Trying the ‘fruit’ = exploring his sexuality, Mike thinks it’s wrong, specifically using the word ‘blasphemous’ (which in simple terms is defined as ‘to disrespect God or religion’, and we know Mike grew up in a homophobic small town in the 80s). There are more detailed explanations of this elsewhere on Tumblr, this is just a mini summary).

Also, Argyle calling Mike Romeo (reference to a doomed relationship).

Again, this scene had absolutely no purpose plotwise or character-wise (at least explicitly). It was pure symbolism.

‘Straight doesn’t make sense’ map joke

Mike: ‘Straight, straight, straight…right on the money, as I said.’

Jonathan: ‘It just doesn’t make sense.’

Yet again, no plot or character purpose for this dialogue, or at least not for wording it this way. This was clearly a joke alluding to Mike’s sexuality (and him possibly being in denial), similar to the telemarketing joke in s3 (‘El? Sorry, not interested’).

#byler #these things are only scratching the surface of all the evidence but just wanted to ease people’s minds :)#we are getting our endgame guys

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alexthefunniest · 3 months

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Funniest mileven arguments to why byler won’t be endgame

I’m sorry if there’s any grammar errors or mistakes, I wrote this angrily at 2 am when I couldn’t sleep.

1. “Its the 80’s”- as if there isn’t any movies that have happy queer endings that were made/set in the 80’s, yall are just lazy and don’t want to actually do any research.

2. “It’s a Netflix original”- ok? And? Like we literally get a new mlm/queer show on Netflix every year, byler is a mlm relationship which Netflix has a lot of, young royals, heartstopper??? Are you guys ok?

3. “Cuz it’s too popular” - we already have over two queer confirmed characters in stranger things, the show that’s about fighting forced conformity ?? The show that focuses on nerds, losers and people that don’t ‘fit in’ ? And y’all find it so hard to see ur two main characters being gay? Read the room respectfully.

4. “It’s one sided” - if it was one sided they would make Mike tell Will he doesn’t like him in s3 and give Will a new love interest in s4 (it has been confirmed that there will be no new characters in s5 and that the producers want every character to have their ‘perfect ending’) Will believed he was a mistake and thought he wouldn’t fall in love, because he is queer so he most definitely will have a queer love interest and it will be Mike.

5. “Mike is in love with el”- is he tho? He never actually said he loved her to her face without the world and her life depending on it, he’s been pressured to say it twice and when she told him she loves him back the man didn’t look happy but conflicted.

6. “Mileven endgame” - it’s really not, the amount of symbolism that points to their downfall (such as everyone calling them the ‘star crossed lovers’ which are basically lovers deemed to fail, and more) is HUGE, they have too many familial parallels it’s insane, why parallel the it couple with family themes and relationships? Another problem I have with this it’s the fact that it’s very rare for the first ‘original’ pairings to stay together till the end of the show (like with Bob and Joyce or Steve and Nancy)

7. “Byler wouldn’t make sense to the plot”- watch the show again, just because somethings more subtle, doesn’t mean it’s not there, y’all will always say that about queer relationships but whenever u guys see a straight relationship in these subtle moments you jump into conclusions that they might end up together, it’s called being a hypocrite.

8. “Mike isn’t gay” - it’s what he’s been telling himself too, the guy was obviously made fun of and called slurs like Will, everyone already thought and knew their relationship was ‘special’ and everyone suspected something, that’s why Mikes own dad was surprised and said “our son, with a girl?” Also your so called straight Mike has a room filled with pictures and posters of buff men, he’s never shown any interest in girls or women (except el who’s been said, looked like a boy in s1) not to mention the first song on his official Spotify playlist being “small town boy” (yk the song about a young gay man running away from his homophobic small town??).

9. Mikes love confession- if u call that a love confession I wouldn’t wanna date u brother, he was pushed to say ily by Will, the same Will that was in the frame of Mike lying when he said that his life “started” when he found El in the woods, which was obviously a lie because Mike called El a weapon and said he’ll “send her back to pennhurst or wherever she comes from” after they found her, also if the love confession was honest why would El be still upset with Mike and not talk to him after??

10. “El wasn’t upset at Mike but was sad about Max” - me when I’m in denial, she wasn’t sad about Max until she found the coke bottle underneath her bed, then we get the flashbacks of her and Max having fun in s3, she wasn’t thinking abt Max before that, its called common sense and logical thinking skills.

11. “There would be no time for byler to develop in s5” - it might seem crazy what I’m about to say, they were literally childhood best friends and it’s been confirmed that Will had a crush on Mike since s1, they literally started to build their romantic relationship MORE in s4, with all the ‘[emotional, tender music playing]’ and parallels between byler and jancy, also even if they haven’t started to build their relationship up in a romantic way in s4, y’all remember how in less than a season Jonathan and Nancy slept together or how Max and Lucas got together in a spawn of a season (mind u they met in the same season). Byler knows each other since little kids and always had potential y’all are just in denial.

12. “Why make Mike queer” - why not? Do y’all actually believe that one of the main characters plot line is just about getting with the girl at the end? Even if it was (which lets be so fr now) why would Mike get with El from the first season (they kissed in s1 and basically u can count that as they’re together wtv) if that was his main goal as a character? Well written shows have something called a “character development” which the producers of st love apparently, so why make Mike just a bland character that just gets with the main girl character, and why have El date the first guy she ever met, I just think it would be very shallow.

That’s all, this was written in a silly way cuz it’s basically me talking to myself, it’s okay if u ship mileven I just really don’t like disrespectful fans that yell at bylers and call the ship disgusting, I don’t care about what who ships as long as we all just have fun and not yell at each other 🫶🏻

#byler #byler endgame #byler nation #byler is real

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steddieas-shegoes · 1 year

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I just had this idea and I had to share it with someone, okay?

Steve seeing himself in Mike and how much of an asshole the twerp is turning into. Sees him trying to be a good boyfriend to El before she dumps him, like going all in but to Steve it looks like he's overcompensating. Overcompensating playing straight boy doting boyfriend because his father has tore into him about the disgusting f-words and how they're going to hell. Steve knows because Steve's been there, part of the reason he was such a jerk was because he thought he was broken and damaged because he liked boys just as much (if not more) as he does girls. So he tried playing hyper macho jock boy but then...

Then Nancy and "bullshit", then meeting his gremlins, his kids. Then getting parents in Hopper and Claudia Henderson, then meeting Robin and finding that there's a word for him and that he isn't alone. Then...then meeting Eddie and actually letting him fall for a boy when before he stubbed it out.

For the first time Steve is surrounded by love and support for who he is (Claudia just held him close and told him he was perfect just the way he is, that his heart was made to love freely and she won't stop him being happy. Hop just gave him a squeeze and told him spots he could sneak around to if he wanted to take a boy for proper dates, because of course the former police chief know gay friendly businesses, his future step son is gay and his two other boys aren't all that straight either) so he feels the need to help a boy before he puts himself through what Steve did.

So Steve takes Mike aside and just talks to him, tells him that he isn't broken and it's okay to like both. Steve likes both and he's very happy with his boyfriend.

Just Steve being a bi mentor to Mike because he had to figure it out himself and he doesn't want that pain on anyone.

Eddie calls him a bleeding heart with the proudest and softest look in his eyes.

(It takes weeks but Steve sees Mike and Will with pinkies linked and lovesick smiles watching the other talk, Mike with a relaxation to his body of someone comfortable in their skin finally. Steve almost cries in happiness for his boys)

Okay you win you’ve made me cry more today than I’ve made me cry today and that is impressive

But seriously, this is beautiful and canon because I said so and I took over when the Duffers screwed up.

To add to this: I think Mike probably started realizing stuff when he met Eddie. Sure, he idolized him, but he reached a point where he did the classic “do I wanna be him or do I wanna be with him?” And that just caused him to be WORSE.

And naturally, Steve notices. But it takes him actually being comfortable with himself, with Eddie, with everyone knowing for him to be able to do anything.

It takes Will crying on his shoulder about how he can’t keep watching Mike and El and he loves them both but doesn’t know what to do to like being around them.

So Steve intervenes, talks to Mike, makes it sound like a casual talk about himself. Talks to him the way he wishes his own dad had.

When he finally sees Will and Mike together, he’s proud of Mike, but he’s also proud of himself.

He’s proud that he grew up enough to be himself. He’s even more proud that he grew up enough to help Mike grow up before he made the same mistakes he did.

Thank you so much for this please write this 🥹

#anon aks #headcanon #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #mike wheeler

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romainlettusdinnerparty · 4 months

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in honor of me starting my 2947829184th glee rewatch i wanted to post a light analysis of finn hudson vs mike wheeler that i was reminded i wrote down in a time i was (sadly) much more convinced of a byler endgame than i am now,, cuz i kinda had a point

here she is:

i would love for someone to do an analysis of byler vs kurt hummel and finn hudson (would like to interject here to say someone should definitely do this and do it better with like actually siting stuff) like how a show (also explicitly about outsiders) purposefully creates an unrequited gay man to straight dynamic and how entirely different that is from how stranger things sets up mike and wills dynamic.

i mean they’re completely different shows and glee is a satire so it might be hard to compare them 1 to 1 because glee doesn’t tend to give that much weight to any relationship in its like first twoish seasons but i think its a good example for how it would be so easy to just make mike so obviously straight and not at all into will (it wouldn’t even have to be about el, with finn its not about quin or rachel, its just that hes not into men and is into women) and they’re choosing not to, they are choosing to lean into that dynamic and (this is important for this comparison) NOT in a brotherly way, not in a familial way, their relationship is never once compared to that (mike and el’s is but thats not entirely relevant here). In glee kurt liking finn is much more about his identity than it is about a romantic relationship with finn, they explore their relationship in depth in seasons 1 and 2 (and never again we dont have to talk about it yes i am bitter) but it is never not once implied that kurt’s feelings could be reciprocated, no lingering shots on finn’s face while hes watching kurt, nothing flirty, finn shuts him down multiple times, finn knows kurt likes him, its not used as a big reveal because that is NOT WHAT IS PLOT RELEVANT!!

what is relevant is kurt coming out to his dad and kurt’s overall identity and learning to stick up for himself and finn helping him do that in a BROTHERLY way (by the end of season 2 their parents are married and they are literal step brothers, there is no way to misconstrue their relationship) if wills feelings for mike were not reciprocated or at least impactful on their relationship there is no reason to make the audience anticipate mikes reaction to them, to save them for a reveal with an incredibly plot relevant lie that has to be uncovered, this has to alter their relationship in some way and literally what purpose would it serve if it was just a rejection?? why would you wait to reveal that if its only purpose is then essentially will’s identity? if the point of season 4 was to build back up mike and wills friendship, why not use that is something they have to overcome in the beginning of that season? why save it as a reveal? the actors have harped on the fact that mike doesn’t know about wills feelings so when they are rebuilding their friendship this is at least not a factor for him. (back to glee) when finn and kurt were building their relationship as brothers and friends, kurt’s romantic feelings were acknowledged as something they had to work through, they were not saved as a big aha moment because they wouldn’t have changed things. bottom line is that the reveal of wills feelings will change the nature of mike and wills relationship and there is no reason (besides like a villain origin story? thats all i can think of. cuz his arch isn’t about figuring out he doesn’t need romance or that he has the love of his family and boys arent important, he doesn’t have romance and the entirety of seasons 1 and 2 were about how much his family love him and the whole boys are stupid thing is for el) for that shift to be in the form of a rejection

#stranger things #byler #stranger things 5 #byler analysis #stranger things analysis #byler endgame #byler is canon #mike wheeler #will byers #finn hudson #kurt hummel #glee #glee analysis #byler tumblr #byler theory #mine

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forestmossling · 22 days

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okay, so. i have a lot of complicated feelings about this fic.

first of all, mike wheeler pov?? in this economy??? the thing about me is that i Do Not like mike wheeler. not in a way that i actually hate him, think he’s horrible and disgusting and doesn’t have a right to exist, but just in general he rubs me the wrong way. he’s just so obviously a work in progress in canon and the progress is not going very well. and he’s so twisted up about literally everything, half the time he doesn’t know what he’s doing or doesn’t care to stop and actually think about what he’s doing. he’s so deeply realistic, to the point of being uncomfortable. i want to say i can’t relate to him in any way and that’s why i’m kinda iffy about him, but the truth is that if i wasn’t so afraid of examining it i would probably find a concerning amount of similarities between us, and they won’t be the good ones, so i just vaguely dislike him to avoid looking at this any closer. that’s how i feel about both wheelers, really.

so i started reading it ready to spring out any moment, but ultimately, i stayed. and the first thing i thought was “okay, i now see that i will never ever be able to ship mileven because i literally cannot imagine them being together as adults. this just feels so wrong” (and thankfully, the author seems to think the same way). but then we got the steddie family and OH MY GOD. i love this. i looooooove this. i love them.

i generally admire any well-written ocs, but the ones by @keycarabiner just capture my soul in a very specific way. and all the kids are just so perfect and real i want to meet all of them and just stare at them like they’re really cool bugs (except maybe not because i don’t actually like bugs, but you get me). i don’t even know what else to say about their family because it’s just so them i can’t really put it into words. like yeah, we all talk big time about steve having a bunch of kids in the future and being an amazing dad, but here it’s actually written, clear and visible and vaguely canon-adjacent, something the actual steve harrington without any convoluted aus would have been able to have. and that just makes me feel an overwhelming amount of very painful, beautiful things.

(and i’m not trying to take the spotlight off eddie with this, because it’s just as much of a his family as steve’s, and it’s his dream too (at least in fanon), but we only get steve openly talking about wanting a family like this so it’s explored a lot more, and i did read quite a few of fics like this, but i’ve never seen anything like the steddie family in this)

it actually physically hurt me to read about mike and el reuniting with steddie after ten years, about them trying to find some hesitant footing on uneven ground with people they barely know anymore while still knowing them more than anyone else outside of the ragtag upside down crew can imagine.

(also, that silent tension between mike and will without mike even realizing what exactly was going on was soooo well-written it felt like a knife twisting in my chest)

but it also felt so real and healing to see them reconnect. and especially to see mike finally getting on track to figuring himself out. like. i can’t even express how freeing it was to read mike and el’s conversation in the end. because i wasn’t feeling uncomfortable reading this fic because there’s something wrong with it, but because that’s what mike was feeling like all throughout the story. and i went through that cathartic relief of not exactly finding a direction, but more like stopping to hold on so tightly onto the wrong one, right alongside him. and that was just really great.

i guess the character from stranger things that i don’t like the most does remind me of myself quite a lot. that probably says a lot more about me than i would like to admit.

anyway, this fic rewired, scrambled and melted my brain into a very confused soup that started gaining self-awareness, so, yeah. i don’t even know if i’m really recommending it or just using it as an excuse to ramble, but shit that can wreck your head about yourself like that is one in a billion, so probably go check this out. i promise i’m not as enthusiastic about this fic by @keycarabiner as i am about their other ones because it makes me realize weird things about myself i prefer to ignore, not because it’s not amazing, wonderful and absolutely soul-reviving.

#mike wheeler #platonic mileven #eleven stranger things #ambiguous byler #steddie #STEDDIE MY BELOVED #steddie and their huge ass secret family #brb i’m just realizing me and my older sister are literally mike and nancy and i don’t like it #or more like #we are what mike and nancy could become if they had more emotional intelligence #domestic steddie #steddie fic rec #steddie fic #fic rec #stranger things fic #ao3 #if you thought i wasn’t serious about this now being a keycarabiner’s fan page i’m just gonna keep proving you wrong

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chickenskins101 · 4 months

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mike wheeler

okay so with all these set photos coming out and these arguments between byler, and mileven, i think it’s time we start focusing on MIKE WHEELER.

people think that he is some b!tchy dude who is mean to his friends but people always forget that he has trauma too. but see, his trauma isn’t exactly from the upsidedown itself like wills, els or max. his comes from everyday struggles and i am here to speak my truth about that.

let’s not forget how heartbroken that kid was when his BEST friend will disappeared. I mean we’ve all seen that one scene where dustin and lucas are arguing and he’s in the middle look so depressed. for a whole week, he’s looking for will. this guy tried to 💀 himself. yeah yeah he did it for dustin, and im sure that’s part of it but for his teeth? they were baby teeth too. but he lost el, had a big fight with lucas, his best friend is still missing, and is living on one ounce of hope that will is alive after seeing his “dead” body dragged out of the water.

he grows a connection with el, then loses el. on the positive side, he did get his best friend back, but that doesn’t change the trauma we went through. but how can he express that trauma? i mean, his best friend is suffering from bullying and the side effects of coming back to life all year. how pathetic would it look to him if he started going, “when you went missing, i went through hell.” not to mention he couldn’t talk abt that to his mom or sister because barb didn’t come back. nancy has to deal with losing her best friend. at least mike got his back. that’s all that is going through his mind.

when el comes back, he can’t talk about the depression he went through after knowing what it felt like to lose will, and then to lose el for a whole year. she’s got all this trauma from the upsidedown and the lab. once again, he would look stupid if he started talking about his depression.

then his best friend and girlfriend move away to the other side of the country. cleary that destroyed him. i mean he prob thought that he would have will and el his whole life. will, who he has known for like what a decadeish? is gone. can he mourn, be sad, tell his friends that his two favourite people gone is killing jim from the inside? no! and why? because max just watched her step brother die. (i’m not a big fan of that arc cause he was literally so abusive). anyways max is going through it, thinking about what she could’ve done, isolating herself from lucas and the party. he once again probably would feel selfish if he were to mention that in front of his friends.

eddie was his friend too. cleary, he looked up to him in some shape or form. but he knows that dustin was closer AND had to watch him die. mike, wasn’t there for yet. he’s probably going through it too, knowing that someone he cared for is gone. does he even know that eddies dead yet? (pre s5 time skip). but dustin had to watch him die so it feels like him mourning would be more pathetic cause at least he wasn’t there. he can’t be as sad as everyone else when max his in the hospital bc he isn’t close enough like everyone else. that’s one of his best friends girlfriend, he has if way worse.

people forget that will and el weren’t the only ones bullied!! (dustin and lucas are also forgotten, that’s a post for later!). he was bullied his whole life too. he almost died because he was bullied. bullying, especially at a young age will affect you. i’m not excusing any of his fights he’s had with el or will, but apart of trauma and not getting help for it, means you are going to act as what you hate the most.

even the unrelated upsidedown stuff makes him look pathetic. his dad is there physically, but not emotionally. that would put a toll on anyone, having a dad that is never trying to bond or connect with you. but can he say anything about that? wills dad abuses him, dustin doesn’t have one and max had hers replaced with an abusive stepfather.

his whole life, he felt like his trauma want important enough because everyone has it worse than him. i am not shaming any other characters for their trauma, their traumas are just as important. what im trying to prove is that he isn’t some butthole teenager. he is a teenager who feels alone and keeps his feelings hidden until they explode.

plus, if you are a byler fan or a queer mike truther, you can add on to the fact that he probably hates himself for being some different weird losers who wants to be with his best friend, a man. that probably breaks all rules he grew up with.

add all these things tgt, and you get a very emotionally drained teenager who needs help.

(all the kids need therapy, srsly, why is max the only one in therapy. each kid has gone through sm, im not dissing them or ignoring their trauma, everyone’s trauma is equally important and ill make another post about each character in the future).

i really hope they talk about his trauma and depression, this dude has gone through and yet feels like it’s not important enough.

#mike wheeler #byler #mileven #stranger things #st5 production #stranger things 5

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groovinrightalong · 9 months

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Do u have any trans masc Max Mayfield headcanons?

I haven’t thought much about it but now I have so MANY thoughts!

-Max hasn’t had a lot of positive relationships with the men in his life, so it takes a long while for the “hm I don’t feel quite right” to click. He doesn’t feel super comfortable as a girl, but he looks at his step-dad and Billy and is like “well I don’t want to be anything like that, so this has to be okay.”

-He definitely knows more about gender/sexuality stuff than the others because of growing up in California. So he’s thought a lot about it over the years, but just kept coming to the conclusion that he’s a tomboy (again, no positive relationships with men.)

-It’s actually because of Lucas (and the rest of the Party, by extension) that he really starts to get more comfortable with the idea. Because Lucas is sweet, and he’s gentle, and so unlike any of the other men he’s been around. Lucas is the first person that kind of cracks his view on gender roles and what exactly defines a man.

-He butts heads with Mike a lot at first just because of how insistent Mike is about him being a girl, how he’s different and unwelcome because of it, but (if this is also transmasc Mike) they realize they’re actually really similar and grow closer because of it, or (if this isn’t transmasc Mike) Max realizes that it isn’t the “girl” thing that bothers him, it’s the fear of replacing El.

-If it’s both transmasc Max and transmasc Mike, Mike comes out WAY earlier than he would’ve on his own.

-The boys are all really supportive when he comes out (which would probably be around the season 3 era). They don’t really get it at first, but he’s their friend, and they’ve always been very vocal about how they’d kill for a friend if needed. And really, seeing Max as a boy isn’t all that different from what they were doing already, so it’s an easy adjustment.

-In a similar fashion to Max teaching El about being a girl in the show, the guys take him out on a “boys only” night. It isn’t really any different than their usual hangouts- they go to the movies, play video games, eat way too much junk food, but the boys only title makes Max feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

-He comes out to Billy while he’s dying. He didn’t ever really plan on doing it at all, but his step-brother is dying in his arms and he needs to get it off his chest before it’s too late. Billy is a lot of the reason it took so long for him to feel comfortable as himself, and he thinks Billy knows that once it’s out in the air. Unfortunately, Billy’s dead before he can really give much of a reaction, just a weak little “I’m sorry.” And that’s nowhere near enough to make up for everything.

-He comes out to his family that night in a screaming match with his step-dad. Neil is an asshole about it, but it doesn’t really matter because the whole argument starts because he’s gonna leave them. Susan is incredibly supportive, and she turns around and kicks Neil out even though she’d been begging him to stay moments before. Gives Max one of those big, therapeutic hugs where Max just sobs into her shirt.

-Max cuts his hair off after Billy’s death. He’s never had a problem with his hair, he actually likes it long, but he’s messed up over everything that happened. He leans a lot more into the stereotypes he hated as a kid, acts rougher and more stand-offish. He breaks up with Lucas, stops hanging out with the rest of his friends. He feels awful, because this is the first time in his life that he’s only surrounded by people that support and love him, but he feels like he doesn’t deserve it.

-(Vecna has a field day with all that)

-Post canon, he does grow his hair back out again. Lucas dramatically informs him that men with long hair are hot (bi king), to which Max shoots back that that would mean Mike was hot. Lucas gives Mike a quick once over and is like I mean, yeah.

-Lucas likes to greet people and go hi, yes, this is my boyfriend Max. He’s so cool. He pretty much single-handedly saved Hawkins that one time. And Max stands there with his face bright red in his hands like oh my god shut up

-Lumax and Byler double dates with an obnoxious amount of homo, striking fear into the hearts of conservative smalltown Indiana

YES I love this sorry for making it angst near the end but yes yes transmasc Max I love him💞

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runninguplenorahills · 2 years

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Mike is going have a heart-to-heart with Hopper in s5 Theory with a capital “T”

At the end of season 4 we have this very minor Mike/Hopper bonding moment which is honestly pretty cool considering the fact that they didn’t really leave on good terms in s3. It emphasized that the “hatred” towards each other was a short lived phase and not anything serious or overly concerning. Their interaction set the path for their relationship to be better in s5 than it was in s3!

Hopper:“you grew”

Mike:“you shrunk”

This is their dialogue in this scene and it immediately shows us that both of them are past what had happened the summer before, while still keeping that dynamic they’ve got going on with Mike having the freedom to be snarky and not overly cautious around Hop. They also hug afterwards which indicates that Mike is comfortable around him.

“You grew” is of course not only about Mike’s hight! It’s a comment on Mike having made progress in growing up, and that he’s more mature than he was last summer. This was their very first interaction since last summer though! They have not seen each other in 8 months and so Hop doesn’t actually have any evidence for the second meaning of “you grew”………yet!

I think this scene was foreshadowing the fact that Mike and Hopper will actually fully mend their relationship in s5 by having an impactful scene together! And I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be a heart-to-heart and variation of a coming out scene!

Why do I think that?

At the end of season 3, right after that very awkward kiss between Mike and El, El goes to Joyce and they talk about the speech Hop wrote, and Joyce says:

“It’s the speech Hop wrote for you and Mike” – “you know. The heart-to-heart” – “he never talked to you didn’t he?”

The speech was for El and Mike! They were all supposed to have a heart–to–heart together but as we know, that didn’t work out at all.

Could this also mean that Hop will have a heart-to-heart with El and not Mike? Well, yeah. But I honestly don’t think it does! Hopper wanted to teach them an important lesson with his speech. The message behind his words was the important thing and by reading the letter El got that message! It might’ve not been in person but El already received that heart-to-heart that she was supposed to get. Mike didn’t.

Hopper’s speech/letter:

“I know this is a difficult conversation but I care about you both very much and I know that you care about each other very much […]”

Hop cares very much about both of them! YES, Hopper is El’s dad and YES, he’s going to be biased in a lot of different situations, siding with his daughter, but he also cares very much about Mike! So when Hop finds out about Mike and El’s current situation, I don’t think he will be an asshole to Mike again!! He said he cares very much about him but he has yet to show that he really does! And if he’s just an asshole to him again in s5 then he’s contradicting himself, their scene in s4 would be totally misleading and it would just be bad writing which is why I’m actually certain that Hop will even try and be there for Mike if he sees that he’s in distress over something!!!

This whole sentence also feels like it could foreshadow a heart-to-heart with Mike and Hop because the way it is phrased can totally be applied to Mike and El’s current situation!

“[…]a difficult conversation[…]” -> a heart-to-heart with Mike and Hopper would definitely be a difficult conversation because the main topic is a sensitive one, Mike already struggles with opening up and talking about his feelings, the suggestion of a breakup is difficult and the situation is just overall complicated!

“[…]but I care about you both very much and I know that you care about each other very much[…]” -> anyone who cares about Mike and El sees that they’re both not happy and that this is not working so the conversation is very much needed because Mike sorting out his feelings and a breakup is the best for the both of them!

“I care about you both very much” , “you care about each other very much” -> those two fragments are almost identical in sentence structure and wording which is usually done when trying to emphasize a connection between two separate things! So I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that Mike and El care about each other in a similar way that Hop cares about both of them: platonically!! Which reminds me of “Care. But you don’t love me anymore?” It’s almost like Hop will suspect that Mike doesn’t love El but cares about her endlessly nonetheless! And because Mike cares about her so much he should break up with her because that’s the best for her as well!!

“So we can build an environment where we all feel comfortable, trusted and open to sharing our feelings”

Mike is so clearly included in this!! Hop doesn’t only want El to feel comfortable and trusted enough to be open to sharing her feelings with him, he wants for Mike to feel and do the same!!! Can y’all imagine what kind of cement block would’ve come crashing down on Mike if he had heard Hopper say this to him during s3?? A person representative of a father figure (not to mike but narratively) actively trying to arrange things in a way that makes Mike feel comfortable to talk about his feelings??? Mike is in desperate need of that heart-to-heart!!

I feel like this sentence is also very telling that it all rather leads to a Mike/Hopper heart-to-heart than to a El/Hopper heart-to-heart in s5 because while El does have internal struggles, her main struggles are external and she doesn’t seem too have a deeply rooted inner conflict that impedes her relationships with others. Mike on the other hand has exactly that! Mike has this internal conflict that leads to him constantly repressing his feelings which he’s shown to also not be comfortable talking about. Which makes me think of “I never really… unpacked.” The fact that Mike has never actually talked about his feelings is such a significant problem and as of right now it’s one of the things that stand at the forefront of his character!! Mike’s character arc can not be satisfyingly concluded without him talking about his feelings which means it’s inevitably coming in s5!! And Hopper’s letter kinda seems to tease that exact moment!

“[…]changing. And I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change. So I think maybe that’s why I came in here. To try and maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were.”

This is the part of Hopper’s speech that directly resonates with Mike which is emphasized by the camera being on him all throughout! Mike has realized something about himself that inevitably will bring a lot of change along with it and that’s what he’s afraid of! He doesn’t want things to change so he represses his feelings in order to not have to face the change that would come with embracing them!! He’s so scared of things to change for the worse that he pretends that things are exactly like how they were before he had that realization!

That’s just not how life works. It’s moving. Always moving wether you like it or not. And yeah, sometimes that’s painful. Sometimes it’s sad. And sometimes, it’s surprising. Happy.”

And this is the part of Hop’s speech that plays directly after the camera pans away from Mike! This is something Mike does not consider! Even less at the end of s4!! But it is most certainly something Mike would’ve needed to hear! That things can change for the better!!

The last sentence is also emphasized on. It feels like a big reveal before Hopper sums up his speech, which is why I believe that that’s where it’s headed. This is a piece of wisdom Hopper gives Mike! Mike will take it and life will be surprising. Happy. Change for the better!

There’s also actually a rainbow in the shot when Hop says “and sometimes, it’s surprising” and Mike coming out as gay would definitely be a “surprising” thing for the GA! [not for us though haha] And it will result in happiness 🌈

As I said in the beginning, Mike and Hopper’s little bonding moment at the end of s4 really set the path for their relationship to be better than it had been and I truly honestly think that a heart-to-heart/coming out is the only way to achieve that due to their very aggressive talk in the car in s3!! That was the furthest from what Hopper had intended to do so I think it would be really satisfying to have Hopper actually give that heart-to-heart which he had planned all along!!! Their relationship also really deserves a redemption from that car talk!

We also have to consider that Hopper was also in the shed when Mike opened up to save Will in s2 so Hop even suspecting something isn’t totally far fetched! A heart-to-heart would also open up the possibility for an insanely fantastic parallel/call back to Mike and Hopper’s scene at the end of s2:

Hopper:“it’s okay”

Mike:“No! Nothing about this is okay!”

-> There’s of course a big chance that this won’t happen!! But I honestly would love to see Mike coming out to Hopper!!! Something about it just feels so right and it makes sense too, so why not?

#i’ve been thinking about this for some time now and i honestly truly need this to happen in s5!#and that parallel/call back to s2 would literally have me on my knees bawling like a bitch!!#CAN Y’ALL IMAGINE!?!?!???!!#it would be so gooooood #stranger things theory #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #byler #byler is endgame #byler theory #byler thoughts #st5 theory #st5 speculation #st3 #byler endgame #byler tumblr #gay mike wheeler

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octopusoptimusprime · 1 year

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mike wheeler & queercoding

aka why i believe the show has been setting him up as gay (rather than bi)

repeated disinterest in women

over the course of the show, mike has been presented as having a lack of (or exclusively performative) level of interest in women

when dustin describes suzie as ‘hotter than pheobe cates’ lucas exclaims in shock/interest, while mike rolls his eyes and seems thoroughly bored/annoyed by the conversation

the s1 scene where they dress el up and mike says ‘pretty’, but he doesn’t seem very invested in it - he could just be echoing el’s words from earlier when she sees the picture of nancy

not showing any interest in girls/dating until lucas and dustin did - feeling pressured to keep up?

his anxiety over being ‘left behind’ in a sense is shown when he argues with lucas in 0401 over lucas wanting to be popular

obviously the opposite of this is his relationship with will, where he clearly views will as the most important person in his life, but also considers himself as caring more than everyone else in will’s life - ‘i’m the only one that cares about will!’ + literally every wheelclair argument in s1

mike & homophobia

there are a few homophobic interactions/characters within the show, & while most of them are directed at will, mike always seems to have the most personal response

take troy’s comment about will in s1 - where lucas and dustin look afraid/slightly uncomfortable, mike looks downright tearful. this is understandable if he’s protecting his best friend, but makes even more sense when considering that it applies to him

while i don’t think there’s any scenes of b*lly being overtly homophobic (correct me if i’m wrong), i think he’s worth mentioning as arguably the most bigoted character in the show, & when he gets flayed in s3, a previously at odds madwheeler bond over their common dislike for him

i might be reaching here, as obviously everyone disliked him (he was flayed), i just think it’s a plausible explanation considering the comments he made about lucas, so i don’t think it's much of a reach to assume this included homophobia (of course, b*lly’s dad did call him the f-slur, so…)

relationship with el

i’ve talked about this before in my autistic mike post, so go read that one if you want more info on this specifically, but essentially i don’t believe mike likes el romantically (or ever did)

the scene where they ‘get together’ in s1 is rushed, awkward, and uncomfortable - we’re not meant to enjoy it. he was trying to ask her to move in with him, whilst implying they’d be like siblings, and then he kisses her straight after? we’re 100% meant to feel weird about this

especially considering this scene comes shortly after mike’s talks with both lucas and nancy, because they assume he has a crush on el - showing he was feeling outside pressure to reconsider their relationship and/or recontextualise it as romantic (when he clearly thought of them as sibling-like)

following on from this the consistent posing of elmike as a familial dynamic is meant to show that THAT is actually a better descriptor of their relationship - & meant to show the GA that their relationship is not romantic

the fact that the season where they spend the most time together (s3) they do. absolutely nothing but make out. something which is immediately picked up on by jopper and lumax (good, healthy ships that milkvan is often posed against) shows neither el nor mike know what they’re ‘meant’ to be doing/they’re both only participating in this to keep up appearances

they seem to like each other less and less as the seasons go on - of course in s1 at the beginning mike is only using her to get to will (otherwise he would’ve given her to his mum like he originally planned) and el latches onto him as the first person (apart from benny rip </3) she forms a connection with outside of the lab, then in s2 el is barely there, and s3 … we talked about that travesty of a relationship situation. only making out or fighting. yeah. then we get s4, they’re actively lying to each other about the most mundane things, having arguments/disagreements constantly, and do not support one another at all. i do think they have great promise as a friendship, but i think that’ll take a while because they literally don’t know each other - shown both in s3 (mike has NO idea about anything she likes when trying to buy her a gift) and in s4 (the monologue. he has virtually nothing to say about her as a person other than the fact that she has powers) this is also the first feature he brings up about her in most situations (his and dustin’s whose-girlfriend-is-the-best fight, the milkvan ILY fight)

i also think he’s holding on so tightly to a relationship that’s clearly failing because he doesn’t want to lose the stability/excuse he has in el. ie if he's in a relationship with a girl, no one will accuse him of being gay (& he doesn’t have to really face it himself? even though he knows already)

and then there’s the obvious one - he can’t be around el and will at the same time because he views them in similar ways - el as the girlfriend-but-not-really and will as the friend-but-almost-more. they’re both in that in between category, which is why mike clashes a lot with the people in his life (specifically el & will) over this

mike is emotionally cheating on el with will. he doesn’t (& never once has) turned to el for comfort, or chased her down in the rain after a fight. he’s at most looked vaguely inconvenienced by their arguments. will on the other hand is ALL of these. mike finds comfort and advice in will, especially concerning his relationship, and is significantly more impacted when will is upset with him rather than el

to this point, mike has shouted at both el and will (i’m thinking of rink o’ mania and rain fight here specifically), but after ro’m he was passive-aggressive and annoyed with el (for interrupting his fight with will? because he’s blaming her for the fact that he’s using her to replace will?) whereas after the rain fight like i said before he literally drags lucas to the byers’ house in the rain desperately to apologise

imagery/parallels

milkvan are consistently paralleled to st*ncy, aka a couple the show has made VERY clear are toxic & unhealthy. conversely byler are then paralleled to jancy, lumax, etc - the healthy, likely endgame ships

everyone’s aware of the robin/vickie/vickie’s boyfriend and mike/el/will parallel, and i know in this example will is in the same position as robin, but mike is paralleled to robin more often. even down to the composition of rockie shots vs byler shots, mike is always in robin’s position - the observer, wishing for a relationship with the other person who they believe is disinterested (vickie’s boyfriend, will’s very not real ‘painting girl’). the best one here, though, is in music. the song that plays in the scene when robin comes out to steve (‘being different’) is also the song that plays when el kisses mike at the end of s3. and both times it start off soft and then pick up when the kiss happens/robin comes out

this follows on to my next point: set decor especially re closets. that end of s3 kiss happens in front of an open closet (in a room with yellow walls), and mike has a ‘one way’ sign pointing into his closet in his s4 bedroom (which has a yellow shirt visible). i think this is pretty obvious imagery, closets and will’s colour present in ‘milkvan moments’ - in s3 obviously there’s the uncomfortable kiss, and in s4 he’s reading el’s letter - show he’s using his relationship with el as a way to hide, and his true thoughts/feelings are about will hence the presence of his colour in their scenes. also in the s3 scene he keeps his eyes open and looks visibly uncomfortable with the situation, and in s4 el is blatantly lying to him, all presenting a very flawed/untruthful relationship

this is kind of a minor one but all the posters in mike’s room are of extremely buff men - not a woman in sight lmfao

also in s4 it’s been said mike is trying to emulate eddie in his outfits, but i also believe he was being encouraged by eddie to be more himself. since (via handkerchief coding, joe quinn’s very homosexual acting, and general context clues) i believe eddie is also gay, i think mike being somewhat influenced by eddie to be more authentic is why s4 is the first season we see him really allow himself his feelings towards will. even to openly check him out in front of other people and to flirt with him

el, mike, and will as a trio are often staged as a three, with mike in the middle (classically obvious love triangle set up) but also ST adores love triangles. like. adores them. steve/nancy/jonathan, dustin/max/lucas, hopper/joyce/bob. and every single time, person A realises they don’t reciprocate (or not as much) person B’s feelings, and form a deeper more emotional connection to person C. also what love triangle ever has ever been resolved by person A staying with their original love interest??

finally, the lighting/framing of byler shots. now i know very little about filmmaking, so if you’re interested in this in depth i suggest you check out @dinitride-art ‘s excellent series of analysis posts. I do just want to point out that mike POV shots (over his shoulder) when he’s looking at will are often filled with light, will is framed beautifully, and overall they’re the most stunning shots

———

okay that’s all for now! i really enjoyed writing a long mike post again lol

btw i’d just like to say - the reason i don’t believe mike is bi is because i think it would invalidate both his and el’s storylines. the reason milkvan don’t work as a couple is because they’re not compatible in that way and also they don’t like each other romantically (or at least mike doesn’t). if he did like her, and was just deliberately inconsiderate/emotionally cheating/etc, that would just make him a mean character, and make byler endgame less satisfying if the milkvan breakup is presented as will’s fault and not the fault of mike just. not liking el like that. ofc the way they treat each other still isn’t okay, but like i said before i think without that romantic pressure, they’d have a great relationship as friends. :)

#gay mike wheeler #milkvan is bones #stranger things #byler #byler proof #mike wheeler is gay canon #mike wheeler #st s4 #mike wheeler i know what you are #byler nation

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notebooknonbinary · 1 year

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Byler Week, Day 2: 80s Movies (Peggy Sue Got Married, 1986)

(technically a sequel to this. All you need to know is that Mike and Will can read each other's minds--and they know that they like each other.)

Mike and Will are back in the Upside Down—in Hopper’s cabin. This time, at least, they’re not alone. Outside, Joyce and Hopper are keeping watch so they can get some sleep. Unfortunately, neither one of them can. So they’re just laying beside each other, listening to the faint murmuring of the couple outside.

“Mom and I made up last week,” Mike finally murmurs into the quiet air. He sees Will immediately turn to face him. “Yeah? How did that go?”

“She apologized for putting all the secret keeping on me—aparently Nance really reamed her on that after the fight.”

“Well, good. You deserved to be apologized to.”

Mike hides his smile in the crook of his elbow, wondering if Will can feel how giddy Mike gets when Will defends him. (The answer, he suspects, is yes.)

“Thanks,” he whispers. “Then we watched a movie that came out recently? Honestly, it was kind of stupid—Peggy Sue Was Married? Or something like that—but me and Mom both kind of hated it, so we made fun of it together.” Will snaps his fingers. “Peggy Sue Got Married? El and I watched that one, I liked it until she got back with the cheating husband at the end—”

“—that's why Mom thought it was stupid. I guess she saw that’s where it was going and felt it would have ended better if Peggy decided to go through with the divorce.” Mike is silent for a long moment. He picks at the hangnail on his thumb. “Then she started crying and said that she’s been daydreaming about divorcing my dad.” “Oh, Mike…” “She said she’s held out for our sakes, and honestly I almost picked a fight with her about it. I wish they would divorce.”

Will reaches out and grabs Mike’s hand. “Maybe my Mom can talk to her about it after this is all done with.”

"Maybe."

Mike laces their fingers together, and leans over to press the briefest of kisses to their interlocked fingers.

They’re on the precipice of being in a relationship—having confessed and kissed, and accidentally formed a powers-bond—but unwilling to take that final step of calling each other boyfriends.

If Mike were to lose Will…

He thinks back to the night after Will’s fake body was discovered (easy with Vecna’s recent reminder), those few hours where Mike had well and truly believed Will to be dead. And the hours afterwards where he’d remained terrified of Will slipping through his fingers forever.

He tightens his grip on Will’s hand, scooching just a bit closer to him. Will obligingly curls nearer to him, twinning their free hands together.

They fall asleep like this.

When Mike wakes up, it’s to the kind of crusty eyes he associates with late night crying sessions. He feels off and tired and like there’s too much stuff crowding his brain. He sits up, finding himself in his basement—but it’s also wrong.

It’s not the basement of the past year (messy with so many of his family friends living in it), but nor is it the basement in the Upside Down, cold and damp, but free of Vines.

It’s the basement of four years ago. Warm, filled with toys and Will’s drawings.

When he looks at his hands, they’re tiny and scuffed from falling off his bike last night.

Wait, no, not last night. Four years ago.

Right?

He looks to the corner to see a tiny version of El, awake and fiddling with his old Walkie-Talkie, though nothing but static is coming through. No tiny voice singing. No Will.

Worry turns to painful anxiety and fear.

No no no please no. If, somehow, the following three years were just a dream thought up by a desperate twelve year old wishing that his favorite person were still alive…Mike doesn’t know if he’ll be able to survive that. Not Will, please not Will. A hiccuping sob escapes his chest.

He’s almost certain this isn’t another one of Vecna’s tricks, because things haven’t gone funky and weird like last time. But, he’d almost rather that it is Vecna, just so he can be certain that Will is coming to get him. That Will is still…

He lets out another painful quiet cry, curling in on himself. He hears El take a breath at the noise, but he ignores her.

Then, finally, Will’s mental voice breaks through the silent screaming in his mind. I’m here Mike.

Mike lets out another sob, this time of relief. Are you safe?

He’s hit with a second hand wave of exasperated fondness. As safe as I can be. I don’t think Henry knows we’re here.

Mike sits back and scrubs the tears from his eyes. How are we here?

Some sort of powers thing? Will guesses. Time travel is new. We didn’t even do it like Marty McFly, we had to pull a Peggy Sue.

Mike bites back a laugh. It seems topical, considering their previous conversation. No Delorean for us, I guess.

Now that he’s aware of what’s going on, his mind has untangled a little bit. Somehow Mike can feel the presence of their younger selves, sat at the back of their minds and aware. His younger self has done the mental equivalent of curling around the younger Will like a feral cat, hissing when Mike prods their way, but otherwise calmer than he would expect them to be.

But then, Mike at this age would and did suspend a lot of disbelief in his crusade to get Will back. So older selves from the future probably isn’t too much of a reach.

Speaking of getting Will back, today is the day Joyce made brief contact with Will. If I can shepard the Party to your house, Mike wonders. Do you think we’d be able to get you out early?

A pause.

Yes please.

When I eventually get around to posting this on Ao3 it'll be longer--it's not quite finished, and Mike keeps going off into tangents about found families lolol. But i think this is a good stopping point :)

#bylerweek2023 #Day 2: 80s Movies #byler #mike wheeler #will byers #peggy sue got married aka the movie that popularized one of my fav time travel tropes--even tho the movie itself is kind of stupid imo #and tbh fic's only tangentally related to my choice of movie in that they mental time travel and Talk Shit about said movie #also this could technically fall under soulmates day but for that day i'm just gonna post a chapter of All the Time in the World lololol #i have Not gone to bed yet. My body hurts and i was writing. gonna try and nap for a few hours until the watch party lol

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wakeupthemembersofbylernation · 2 years

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There are so many things wrong with this post, I don’t even know where to begin.

“It’s like you actively want him to be a terrible person… it’s like you actually think Will is petty enough to be jealous about Mike’s love confession to El”

This is such a strange thing to say because what are they even attacking here? They’re not attacking the concept of canon reciprocated Byler; they’re attacking the literal text of the show- Will being in love with Mike- and twisting it so that it’s somehow “petty” for Will to be a real human being- a real human teenage boy, mind you- with genuine feelings. Is he supposed to feel no emotion at all? Loving Mike and feeling heartbroken doesn’t make him a terrible person? What are they even saying? And to call it “petty” when Will did nothing but show how selfless he was all season? When Will is the one who repeatedly pushed Mike Huckabee together and encouraged Mike to keep monologuing even as it dug his own romantic grave and visibly killed him inside? You don’t have to ship Byler if you don’t want to- it will still be endgame tho, lmao- but why can’t everyone unite on feeling empathetic and compassionate towards Will and the impossible situation he finds himself in? Why is there such a Mad Libs instinct to downplay Will’s CANON feelings for his lifelong best friend?

“… when it literally saved her life.”

It literally didn’t? I’m not saying it played NO role in the battle at all- that’s a separate debate- but I guarantee you the thing that gave El the strength to fight on was NOT Mike finally saying I Love You in an incoherent monologue where he said nothing specific about her, repeatedly emphasized her superpowers, and also talked about the Benny’s Burgers T-Shirt that almost swallowed her whole when they met. If any aspect of Mike’s monologue inspired her, it was the “Fight! Fight!” portion as she looked to her best friend Max and gained courage to continue fighting for her. Her true love. Not Mike’s “love confession,” motivated by Will’s painting, which they didn’t even talk about after. This isn’t a Disney movie. The cosmic Midleven love didn’t save the world. The gates opened. Max fell into a coma. The heroes lost. Hawkins fell.

“You think Will is such a bad person that his sister is dying and he’s thinking “gosh, I wish Mike loved me instead”?

Will contains multitudes. He can both deeply love his sister and want her to live, which is why he’s pushing Mike to continue monologuing, while also wishing Mike loved him instead. Which again, is a CANON, central aspect of Will’s character, not something Bylers are just making up just to ship two characters together. Of course, Will wishes Mike loved him. Will Byers adores Mike Wheeler, AND he adores him enough to attempt to rip the bandaid off so that your rapidly sinking ship can see one more day and his bestie can be happy even though he’s clearly not. That was like the entire point of their S4 storyline and why Will was so emotional every time Mike talked to him.

“According to your theories, [Mike] has been stringing Will’s sister along for over a year while actually being in love with someone else”

According to what theories? That’s such a weird oversimplification and exaggeration of Byler theories. It’s a straw man argument. No one, not even those who place Mike the furthest possible point on the Kinsey scale, believes that “stringing Will’s sister along for over a year” is an accurate description of what Mike has been doing. Do they have no compassion for the complexity of the situation that a queer Mike would find himself in: the possible internalized homophobia, the definite confusion, the likely terror and uncertainty, the guilt and self-hatred, the butterflies that probably feel like pterodactyls? The two people he’s closest to abruptly move away across the country- his lifelong best friend who he might feel something more for and the girl with superpowers he’s literally dating and trauma-bonded to and whose dad just died?

“If Will got together with that theoretical Mike that would make him an asshole”

Good thing you’re right, in a roundabout way. That theoretical Mike doesn’t exist and is based on a strawman you made up. Mike literally can’t be “stringing El along” since neither Will nor El have been present in Hawkins. But even if they had been, and even if he had consciously chosen to lie to El about his feelings, and even if Mike has made mistakes- which he obviously has: he’s fourteen and a human being - it still wouldn’t make him an “asshole.” He’s just a scared and confused queer kid trying desperately to stay normal, trying desperately to stay afloat. Somehow our theories make Mike seem like an asshole to you, but Mike being rude and weird to Will for no reason (not even being able to hug him!), Mike not being able to tell his girlfriend he loves her and openly gaslighting her about it, and Mike crumpling up romantic letters from El with no explanation all make him perfectly valid???

“This is specifically about the “canon Byler trutherism crowd” that insists Byler is gonna happen in season 5.”

Well, I mean, of course there are Byler enjoyers out there who don’t believe it’ll be canon or who lost faith after volume II and never regained it (we welcome back all prodigal children at any time), but yeah… one of the central aspects of our ship especially following season 4’s pretty transparent Byler plotline is the belief that it will be canon, not because of any arbitrary or “delusional” reason but literally because the narrative is setting it up and televising it. But you got me, I guess?

“Mike just suddenly ditches El and gets with Will”

Strawman. Stop it, you know no one is arguing that’s what will happen. We believe there’s a nuanced and beautiful storyline being set up. And most of us believe El will break up with Mike first. But regardless, there’s nothing sudden about Byler in season 5 when Mike has always looked like he wants to risk it all and kiss Will.

“This is only directed at the one’s I’ve seen bashing I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! constantly and harassing Mulan II blogs and just overall bad fandom etiquette.”

Says the ship that constantly sends out insane, unhinged homophobic asks and openly trash talks Will, wishing death on him and calling him slurs? You won’t catch any misogynistic anti-El asks sliding into your DMs. Look- I’m not denying there are toxic Bylers out there. No fandom is composed of saints. But when you survey where the vast majority of the “bad fandom etiquette” comes from, it’s pretty lopsided lmao.

#byler #will byers #mike wheeler #stranger things 4

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greatunironic · 2 years

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The slowburn, getting-together storyline between Eddie and Steve gets angsty (it's what we love to see!) but aside from that, I love how in this universe we get to see Steve happy - he's got a whole new big family who loves and supports him (and keeps trying to nudge him in he right direction romantically despite everything). I wonder what the family dynamics are like, aka how the family views Steve post final battle - Jonathan, Will and El (and by extension, Mike) become siblings because he essentially (or officially?) gets adopted into the Hoppers-Byers clan, where he gets a new mom and dad in Joyce and Hop too (Side note - so in love w El and Steve's relationship here). Max is obviously a little sister (another favourite dynamic) - I'm also assuming that Steve's the only one she traveled for to tell him about the wedding in person and waited to do so because she cares about his thoughts the most? Dustin and Lucas are brothers too - Lucas tells him as much at the wedding + Robin still very much gives platonic soulmate, I-know-you-the-best energy. We get so many stories that are dark and angsty, it's just really nice to see one against the backdrop of a big, supportive found family. I'm also such a sap for stories that champion important platonic relationships as much as romantic ones!

thank you!! i love a romance, but i totally agree: platonic relationships are just as important, if not more important, and we need to tell more stories about them!!

also for this rest:

you can blame jim hopper on this one. in my opinion, in any universe, jim takes one look at steve and is just like (dj khaled voice) another one. it happens slowly, for him, reluctantly. he learns about him in the fall of ‘83 — it’s hard not to clock that fucked up eye on the one kid in the hospital room that doesn’t have parents present, jim’s a very observant man with (previously) little to occupy his time — but he doesn’t like involve himself with steve until the next fucked up adventure they all go on.

and then it’s ‘84 and he’s half-dead on joyce’s sofa and he’s mumbling about how his parents are in germany on business and don’t call they won’t come back, and also he’s not wild about hospitals plus it’ll just upset them, make them look bad, and jim’s like what the absolute fuck. so he takes this kid home for a lot of reasons, some of them the way he protected the other kids, some of them eleven’s big eyes when she hears the mumbles, none of them how this boy is the same age as sarah should’ve been —

steve spends a week in jim’s cabin, healing. and he’s sweet with el and patient and listens as she haltingly talks, nods along and doesn’t push, just waits, watches cartoons with her and laughs at the same jokes, and even if the kid is like “oh it’s just because we’re on the same emotional intelligence level” — yeah, get out of here with that shit, kid, thinks jim. boy’s got a heart on him that’s got nothing to do with his daddy, and jim just lets him come and go as he pleases after that, bringing groceries and making them all dinner and letting el help him with his homework and jim just — decides not to look to closely at it.

so that’s how it starts. to paraphrase a line from another story i’m working on (not remarkable verse) about these two: this kid that jim didn’t want but got, this kid who quietly made space for himself in the heart that jim burnt out — well, jim always did want a son.

(in the summer of ‘86, it’s easier for jim to acknowledge that space, to pry it open wide and let the rest of them in and drag his emotionally stunted children with anxiety disorders along with him. the byers are his step kids, and nancy’s an in-law, and jim supposes max’s is his too since she’s steve’s and lucas is an in-law too, and wheeler ugh fine, and christ okay there’s henderson too, his mom is doing a great job but it takes a village, right? and then that buckley girl is along for the ride, she’s basically handcuffed to steve so there’s another one, and he’s not sure what the deal is with the kid from california but fuck it he might as well parent this one. and munson, well, wayne clearly needs all the help he can get there.)

(with six you get egg roll, he thinks; even though the math on that doesn’t quite check out, the sentiment remains and jim’s gonna need a bigger house.)

#asks or whatever #stranger things #most remarkable thing

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