#ku blarghs

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honestly the funniest thing ST could do is if ted wheeler thought mike was dating will all along. and like, just didn't care. like usual. no, actually the funniest thing would be is if he were the one to say the title drop in reference to this. karen would ask him if he was ok about mike and will dating or if he was mad or whatever, and:

"eh. stranger things have happened in this town." then he'd just go back to watching his tv.

the end

#ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler #i cannot fully claim this idea. my brother inspired it

[sennqu]

the way Will joked about El's powers as a way to get rich in Vegas in S4 and the way Max encouraged El to use her powers to explode an orange julius in S3. Truly the only two people El's age who see her beyond her "superhero" status. To them she's just a girl with powers. powers capable of hijinks.

#ku blarghs #strangely blogging #elmax #willel

[sennqu]

ok i am ready to be spicy. so i made this post the other day (or yesterday what is time) without tags: (with some slight word changes)

"oh, I get it now. I think I understand a big reason why the "Mike is in love with Will but just doesn't want to admit it because he has internalized homophobia" is such a popular fandom opinion. Because then Mike's behavior becomes "obviously" romantic since this take assumes that he's aware of his behavior.

The take that he's "simply oblivious, simply doesn't know his feelings are actually romantic in nature", which -- in my opinion -- is much more heavily supported by the text, is... actually kind of scary to consider from a "wanting the ship to be canon" perspective. Because it's pretty much close to saying that his feelings are actually just platonic after all because that's what Mike thinks they are."

So, I have been thinking very hard on this for a while because I do think that this is why there is a sort of...friction? anxiety? in the general vibes of the fandom with regards to how byler can even work out in S5 after the events of S4.

In my opinion, I think that the second take -- Mike is oblivious -- actually lends itself well to the prospect of official, no ways around it endgame byler better than the first one does.

Because imagine it: Mike doesn't have to suffer through thinking he's wrong or he's a mistake or that he's not conforming to society's standards before coming to terms with his feelings. He just has to realize he's in love with his best friend, and that his best friend is in love with him. Mike is going to be the out, loud, and proud person of this relationship. He just has to figure his shit out.

First, what do we know about Mike so far and what can we take away from it? and why is it not "internalized homophobia"?

The biggest evidence for me against the "internalized homophobia" take is in S1 when Will was being called names by Troy and friend. Mike physically retaliated. He didn't look ashamed; he looked angry. Because they were insulting his missing best friend right in front of him. He was not internalizing these slurs. What he was doing was defending Will, who was the target of this hate. He prioritized defending Will, who wasn't even there, over cowing to displays of homophobia.

What about that "It's not my fault you don't like girls" line? Surely that means he's repressed and internalizing some shit? Yeah, and maybe he was just talking faster than his mind could think? Mike ends up clarifying this line and gives away the actual thing that's holding him back: heteronormative thinking. He talks about getting girlfriends as part of growing up as a young man. He says this like a neutral piece of information.

Let's talk about Mike's fears. So far, all of Mike’s insecurities are about being needed, being useful. It's not conforming to society. It's not fitting the mold. If he feared that then he'd have done what Lucas did and joined a popular group. But what did he do? He leaned into his DnD hobby and even started dressing differently, growing his hair out too. S4 Mike is not afraid to be an outcast.

What he does fear most is people leaving him behind. That's what he says about/to El, and that's practically what he says to Will as his excuse for being weird at the airport. The knock-off outfit, the flowers. That wasn't him trying to be straight so he wouldn't be outed as gay or in love with his best friend or whatever. That was his attempt at saving his relationship because he does love El and he doesn't want to lose her too. But they are incompatible. He doesn't realize he doesn't love her romantically but he does love her. That's why he's struggling. Because he can't differentiate between the two.

Lastly, he says to Will: "I feel like I lost you". Which means he felt like he already lost Will. Loving someone and losing them is something Mike never wants to happen again because it already happened once, twice, three times before with Will. Once when Will vanished, the second time when Will got possessed, and the third time when Will moved away. Mike's issue isn't about loving Will and fearing he's gay; it's about losing Will again.

The bolded part is the one I want to highlight because it's the most important piece of the puzzle imo. I am willing to bet that not wanting to lose Will again is going to be a huge part of Mike’s arc in S5 and is going to lead to him finally realizing his feelings. I honestly don't think Will's confession is going to figure into things at all until Mike's realized his feelings. Because the audience has to see Mike fall in love with Will before he figures out Will loves him back. The audience should not be made to think that Mike only falls in love with Will because Will's in love with him.

But how will Mike realize exactly the difference between his love for Will and his love for El if he's this goddamn oblivious? How will the process even start? El has to break up with him. No other way around it. El has to tell him straight up that she does not believe he is in love with her. Only then can Mike be free to even think about what romantic love actually means to him. I imagine this is where he and Nancy will actually get to talk about something substantial again, when he asks her what being in love means. and that will further get the ball rolling. And I believe however his arc plays out, we will get to see Mike and Will definitively end up together.

Because Mike loves Will so much. He isn't quite aware of what this love is yet but he has it in abundance. That is why he was the only one apart from Joyce who pushed for finding Will initially; that is why he is always the first to apologize when he and Will fight; that is why the best thing he's ever done was ask Will to be his friend; that is why he lashed out at Will at the roller rink; that is why he was so over the moon about Will's painting and Will's words in the van that he ironically didn't even see Will crying; that is why he only said his monologue after Will practically told him to.

Will is and continues to be Mike's most important person. Once Mike realizes he's in love with Will and the feeling is mutual? Homophobia can go suck a tail pipe because how dare this concept make the love of his life feel like a mistake? Mike is going to kiss Will as soon he realizes because he is not going to let anyone make him wait a minute longer before kissing the boy of his dreams.

sneaky edit: the underlined parts are links to other analyses i've done before regarding Mike's behavior. Analyses over the airport/roller rink scene, him being oblivious, his love for El, etc!

#this is.... very long #absolutely the longest post i have ever written #it's not as concise or as pinpointed as i wanted it to be #but that's fine. I'm laying it all out there #ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler #this is a great starting off point for my planned predictions post too #and as is the norm for my posts... links abound... #also i know i am very confidence and 100% hope personified in this post #because i am. i am confident. not about the specifics. but i am 100% they are going to kiss #you guys can be worried about it being canon it's ok. i have enough confidence and hope for all of us lmao

[sennqu]

just thought of it rn so it's still vague but i am IN LOVE with the idea that el will be able to defeat henry once and for all with the power of love, like literally. you know how henry implies he's using other people's trauma and despair to strengthen his own powers? you see where i'm going with this??

if el can tap into the love of every person she's ever made a connection with... the love her family has for her and her for them, the love between her and her friends, the love her friends have for other people... AND if el can tap into the love mike and will have for each other (because in this scenario i'm imagining byler is already reciprocated)... literally el can use the power of gay love to save the world. how awesome would that be?

#ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler #willel #elmax #and all the other relationships!!! platonic romantic familial agape everything !! #love IS going to save the world! #ronance #jopper #jancy #lumax #like literally all the positive human connections in the show!! #i'm!! #THIS IS WHERE THE BTTF REFERENCE COMES BACK BABY

[sennqu]

i think what escapes a lot of attention is that Mike, the character, doesn't know what he looks like when he looks at Will. For all he knows, he's just been looking at Will the same way he has been for most his life.

He's not aware of the soft voice he adopts when he talks to Will. He doesn't notice how much his own eyes light up when Will gives him a new piece of art. He doesn't realize that maybe sometimes his eye line strays to Will's lips. It's natural and unconscious motion.

#firmly in the camp of mike being unaware he's in love with will #because he's been in love with will before he even knew what being in love was 'supposed' to feel #ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler

[sennqu]

Idk I just really believe Mike was completely oblivious to Will's feelings the whole of S4. And oblivious to his own of course.

Not hugging Will at the airport can be both due to Mike feeling like he and Will drifted apart (they did only have infrequent calls in the time between) and subconsciously feeling that hugging Will would be...different, somehow. But the first thought is probably the more pressing issue for Mike. I love this child but he's clearly not very good at introspection.

I haven't seen this take in the way I'll be presenting it I don't think. But I'll try to break it down from Mike's perspective:

When Mike came to California it's likely he really didn't know where he and Will stood as friends. Were they still friends? Mike is used to Will being in Hawkins. He pretty much said so when they made up. They've spent most of their lives -- almost 10 years in the 15 they've been alive -- in each other's company.

Will told him it was "not possible" for Will to find another party then he goes to Cali and only talks to Mike in the 6 months apart "maybe a couple times". Then Mike learns a day before he leaves that apparently Will has been painting something Will intends to give to a stranger when in the series, the only person he was gifting his art to was Mike. Mike arrives at the airport, already confused about the state of his friendship with Will that it feels odd to hug Will back even when Will looks happy to see him. He asks about the cardboard tube Will brought along and when Will says that it's "just a painting (he's) been working on", it signals to Mike that, yes, Will's artwork isn't going to be their special best friend thing anymore. That's ok. it's fine. it's "cool." Maybe Mike's gut was right and they aren't best friends anymore either.

So Mike tries pouring all his energy and attention to his girlfriend because that's what a boyfriend is supposed to do and at least El writes him letters. But he can't help but notice the sour mood Will has been in all day. He tries ignoring it because again he's supposed to be focused on his girlfriend. But then it all goes to shit when El is getting bullied at the roller rink and apparently Will knew about the bullies all along.

First, Will doesn't try reaching out to him. Then Will is painting something for someone who isn't Mike. Then Will is grouchy all day for no discernible reason. Then Will apparently didn't even try to tell Mike (he's supposed to tell Mike everything because they were supposed to be best friends) about El's problems.

Then Will has the gall to tell him that he, Michael Wheeler, didn't even care about anything Will had to say? When Mike has been noticing Will rolling his eyes all day? It isn't Mike's obligation to ask why his estranged friend is acting like an asshole the first day he arrives for vacation. Will was supposed to tell him. He used to tell Mike everything. Then Will brings up the lack of contact and it makes Mike even more frustrated. Why is this suddenly all his fault?

When Will asks, "what about us?" it legitimately surprises Mike for a second because at this point he wasn't even sure Will cared about their relationship at all.

"We're friends. We're friends." We're friends (not best friends) and I have a girlfriend who actually keeps in touch with me.

"We used to be best friends." Then why wasn't Will reaching out more?

"Why am I the bad guy?"

--

From Mike's perspective, Will was the one who pulled away. But then Will asked "What about us?" "And us?" and it gave Mike the hope that maybe Will did care. Maybe Will was hurting just as much as he was. And so he apologizes to Will two days later and takes the blame for everything because maybe it was his fault all along.

#yeah i've become part of the mike wheeler defense squad with this block of text #i really didn't know how to end this post but it's already too long #maybe i'll make a part 2 #ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler

[sennqu]

Guide to Successfully Received Byler Endgame (kinda)

Things I think the writers wanted to avoid doing in S4:

Make it seem like Will was coming onto his taken best friend - Success! (a painful one....)

Make it seem like Mike would break up with El - Success! (no one likes it when the person with the other love interest is the one to break things off)

Make it seem like El's happiness is dependent on her relationship with Mike - Success...? (mostly. remains to be fully seen in text)

Things I think the writers wanted to accomplish in S4:

Make viewers root for Will's happiness - Success!

Make viewers open to El kicking Mike to the curb - Success!

Make viewers wonder wtf is going on with Mike (and his relationships) - Success!

Make viewers see Mike try his hardest at making his relationship work and still fail - Somewhat Success (remains to be fully seen)

Things that I think the writers want to avoid doing in S5:

Make it seem like Mike is replacing El with Will

Make it seem like Mike falls in love with Will only because Will is in love with him

Make it seem like El is not over Mike romantically

Things I think the writers want to do in S5:

Show that it has always been Will for Mike

Show that El and Mike work better as friends

Show that El and Will's sibling bond stands up to a romantic triangle. (maybe this is why S4 is lacking so much WillEl moments. they're saving it for S5)

#ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler #maybe there's some stuff i'm forgetting or haven't thought of yet #but so far this is what i'm working with as my foundation of sorts

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i just fucking hate how that one tweet seems to be managing to successfully upend one man's credibility without any actual proof?? isn't anyone else also horrified by this??

the fact that it's the strangerwriters twitter doesn't mean shit without any proof of a real copy of the script to compare against the accused fakes.

#ku blarghs #like honestly this is legitimately frightening me a bit #what kind of hellscape are we living in that just a mere less than 240 characters have the power to destroy you #byler #ST v 8flix

[sennqu]

like, actually the most meta reason i can argue for why mike is just oblivious about his romantic feelings for will is because the general audience is oblivious too. mike and the GA are meant to realize together. because mike is the audience surrogate protagonist.

and like that's one of the reasons why people even believe in miIeven endgame, isn't it? because he's the boy protagonist and she's the girl protagonist. just heteronormativity at its finest.

#ku blarghs #strangely blogging #stranger things #mike wheeler #byler #once again. a disclaimer: it's a capital i not a lower case L for the m ship

[sennqu]

Mike's Cali Storyline Retrospective

"And I feel like maybe I was worrying too much about El, and I don't know, maybe I feel like I lost you or something."

foreshadowing for Mike's arc in S4

a.k.a I think Byler Tumblr has been interpreting Mike's actions so completely wrong in Vol. 1 and that is why we were blindsided by his monologue and I'm going to explain exactly how

a.a.k.a Mike isn't suffering from "internalized homophobia". What he is suffering from is a simple case of "warm of heart, but dumb of ass"

Alright. I think!! I have enough pieces to finally explain why Mike's monologue makes sense, why it is the natural culmination of his arc, and what this exposes about how he truly thinks and feels. (spoiler alert: he's not in love with El; he just thinks he is)

This post is going to include a Lot of Links. Mostly because this analysis has been a piecemeal work in the making as I stumble into epiphanies about our favorite puzzle box Michael Wheeler. The Links are going to be Underlined like so: This link for example links to how I think Mike felt about Will before leaving for Cali. Summary: Because El wrote a lot and Will called so little, Mike thought that if he felt like he missed his best friend more than his girlfriend, it's just because they had less contact.

Second, I am going to have to link you to my separate Mike analysis post concerning his behavior in the airport and the roller rink. It's very long but worth the read imo. I worked very hard on it. but if tl;dr: Mike was worrying that Will pulled away from him but believes his worries are founded on platonic grounds. (spoiler alert: it isn't)

Now, onto the main part of what Byler Tumblr got wrong: the junkyard heart to heart.

I believe that Mike wasn't -- at least not consciously -- thinking of himself (edit: himself and Will) during this conversation as a lot of byler shippers were interpreting. He was thinking of El and came away from this heart to heart believing that she sincerely wanted to get her powers back.

You remember how his and El's fight ended? He told her she was a superhero and El told him, "not anymore." Then El gets intercepted by Owen's team and decides to go to the Nina Base alone. She then writes Mike, "I am going to become a superhero again. From El".

Mike has been worrying about El's words since their fight and came away with the wrong conclusion.

He thinks that El wants to be a superhero. To Mike, El wasn't sad he couldn't say ILY to her as a regular girl. El was sad that Mike couldn't say ILY because she thought that deep inside Mike thought she was a monster. And because Mike loves El the Superhero, this makes perfect sense to him and explains away all of El's behavior.

And you know what? Mike could have very well been right about this take before El went to Nina Base. But El came out of her journey understanding that superheros and monsters are myths. She came out of her journey knowing she wasn't a superhero (or a monster). What she was was a girl who happened to have powers and a huge amount responsibility she didn't ask for but needed to claim anyway. Because she had to.

But Mike has no way of knowing that or even begin understanding that. That is why his anxieties in the van were about just being that lame nerd who found Superman on his doorstep. That is why his monologue is so centered on El's superheroism because that is what he believes she was asking from him.

quick edit: it's also highly likely that the truth Mike didn't want to tell El was that he was afraid she wasn't going to need him anymore

He believes that the thing he couldn't explain to her was that he did love her (as a superhero) but that it made him feel unnecessary and unneeded. that if El just truly realized she was a superhero, she wouldn't need him anymore. Will's words in the van got through to Mike because he wanted to think that maybe El needed him around after all (spoiler alert: she does not, not in the way he thinks) (sidenote: after the van scene, i'm pretty sure Mike now thinks that the painting Will brought to the airport was supposed to be a surprise gift from El (and Will) that they were going to give to him at the roller rink before all the chaos. He probably thinks now that Will was just trying to keep it a secret)

Mike's monologue is the natural conclusion of what he was going through in his arc. And El's arc was learning that, essentially, what Mike and she believed about herself was wrong.

Mike ends S4 not knowing he isn't loving El the way she needs to be loved. El ends S4 realizing this too. That is why she isn't talking to him in the timeskip; that is why she is standing alone. That is why I believe she is going to break up with him in S5.

And why is this a good thing for byler? I'm glad you asked! Here is another link to a post where I posit that Mike's obliviousness to Will's feelings is a good thing and is why I think this means definite endgame Byler is on the horizon.

#ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler #i ended up basing my Cali write up on Mike because tbh the fandom is p much on the same page with Will and El #it's just Mike who is giving us a hard time lmao #now to work on my S4 Sucks Because The Series Wants Mike and El to Break Up in S5 write up.....

[sennqu]

OK. The quarry scene. here are the reasons why it's the perfect scene to truly hammer in byler as endgame couple that has been planned as such from the very start of the show.

1. it's so easy to bring back logistically. they have the necessary scenes. they have the scene where will's fake body is being pulled out. they have the scene with mike looking down. like, literally they just have to show both scenes in succession to make the connection for the audience.

2. it's from the first season. absolutely nobody can argue it as a forced development for mike because it was a scene that was literally in the very beginning of the series.

3. the emotional stakes. mike was willing to die. he was willing to die after losing will. he was willing to die in the same place will did.

4. to continue from 3! mike had hope before this scene! he had hope that he could still find will. but then the party lost el. this hammers it home that what el meant most to mike was a chance to find will. el is the superhero who saved his best friend. el is the superhero who saved mike from falling to his own death so he could be reunited with will.

we are all about finding subtext and clues and hints and symbolism from anything and everything to prove byler could be canon but the quarry scene is The Most Important of them all. It is the moment that if brought to text recontextualizes everything Mike does in the series.

edit: clarification for the quarry scene. explanation of the subtext

#again. i am not even pretending to be normal about how much this scene means to me #how much it means to byler #ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler #i had a moment to recollect so here it is. a nicer write up #tw suicide ideation in fiction

[sennqu]

entertaining the idea that S5 opens with Will having a near brush with danger and/or death either in the first or second episode and Mike absolutely freaking the fuck out over this. THEN we get the timeskip. and we see Mike over the course of at least half the season still completely rattled and overprotective and possibly even a little bit possessive without really making it clear to the audience why he's acting the way he is (as per usual). Maybe he's trying to be Will's best friend and protector like he was in S1 and S2? Or maybe...?

#ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler #maybe this is one of the scenarios i'll try to flesh out more #i actually really like this idea. possibly one of the more likely ways they'll go about mike's arc if byler is endgame #mike's entire relationship with will in the series is tinged with the fear of losing him so it's vital to touch on it imo

[sennqu]

Alright! Here we go: The Five Tenets of Mike Wheeler

a.k.a my personal foundations when I analyze our favorite conundrum

He wants to be special.

examples: when Mike says Dustin's lack of collarbones make him akin to a superhero in S1, when Mike tells Will he's like a superspy in S2. He loves pointing out what makes his people special because that's something he values.

possible origin: i mean, look at his upbringing. As averagely middle-class American as it can be.

follow through: this is why he plays DnD. this is why he gets together with El. El's biggest draw to Mike is her superpowers, the fact that she's a girl just gives us the reason why he believes his love is romantic

He wants to be needed

examples: S1 and S2 Mike displays this best.

fall-out: He despairs when he thinks he can't even be the Lois Lane to El's Superman.

follow-through: How happy he becomes when Will says El -- actually Will -- will always need him.

Love = Loss

example: "I love her and I can't lose her again!"

Possible origin: Will vanishing in S1.

Count the many times he has lost Will and El throughout the series

Follow-through: his inability to say ILY. His actual monologue. Him being weird to Will at the start of S4.

Belief that he is in the right

Example: His refusal to apologize to Lucas in S1. His contempt for authority.

Follow-through: Dilly-dallying about apologizing to El in S3. Mike "You're being ridiculous!" Wheeler, Mike "It's not my fault you don't like girls!" Wheeler

Will is his highest priority

Example: Mike in S1 and S2. Mike apologizing to Will first in S3 and S4

Follow through: Mike believing Will's words over El's in S4 (re: painting scene). This is why he believes Will when Will says El commissioned the painting and all those other things.

Link to my S4 Mike Retrospective a.k.a how I got to these tenets at all

#honestly there may be more than five but i got tired and this was supposed to be just a fun exercise lmao #ku blarghs #strangely blogging #mike wheeler #byler #i love how progressively shorter each of my points got. noticeably losing steam lmao

[sennqu]

So i think I must have broken my brain yesterday thinking too much about byler and the concept of "love at first sight" S4 seemed to be throwing at us with the Cali plot (Argyle and Eden, Mike and El).

First things first: I don't think Will is going to have powers. Not ones he hasn't shown before in the series at least. By which I mean: shadow walking, true sight, i.e his psychic connection to the Mind Flayer / Henry. Additionally, I think his "sensitivity" to the Upside Down means he's a compatible conduit and a natural "buff" to people who have powers that relate to the UD. but that doesn't really relate to the rest of this post ok alright let's get to it

As I linked above, my theory is that the Upside Down is a snapshot of Hawkins on November 6, 1983 because Henry willed it to be as a recreation of the day he "fell in love at first sight" with Will Byers.

Not in the romantic way I hope but in the way that Henry finally saw someone who was so like him that he didn't feel alone anymore. Behind the veil of his dramatic villain monologues, I think the one trait that speaks to the truth of Henry's humanity is his loneliness. He reached out to El in the lab as a way to manipulate her, yes, but he also did it because he saw himself in her. Just as a point of comparison: as children, Mike approached Will on the swingsets because he saw that Will -- like him -- was also alone.

When Henry arrived in the Upside Down, it didn't look anything like Hawkins or anything that could connect to Hawkins. Remember, he fell into the Upside Down from its sky when conceivably, if the place was linked to Hawkins from the start, he wouldn't have fallen so far or fallen at all from where he was in the Rightside Up.

Now, S4 has shown us that Henry shaped the Mind Flayer and that Henry has the power of illusion in the Rightside Up and in his red mindscape. We also know that it was love that enabled El to overpower Henry when she threw him to the Upside Down in 1979.

So, essentially, what I'm saying is... Henry felt so much happiness and love when he first saw Will that, like with El in 1979, it gave his powers such a boost that he was able to shape the Upside Down into a recreation of Hawkins on November 6, 1983 or at least create such a strong illusion of such. It also, alongside El opening the gate a second time, finally cemented the link between Hawkins and the Upside Down. and for an additional layer of mirroring, Henry's highest point -- his happiest memory -- is arguably Will's lowest and unhappiest.

Alongside this theory, which I also talked about in the linked post where I was losing my mind, is the speculation that everything Henry was doing in S4 was to get Will to come back to Hawkins. Some of these theories are based on Will having powers, some based on the psychic connection Will and the Mind Flayer (now Henry) have, but all founded on the fact that Will survived the Upside Down and was found in the library (the center the gates converged at) seemingly being kept on life support or at least being used for something that made his survival necessary. Plus, also how in S2 the Mind Flayer/Henry possessed him but didn't want to kill him, and in S3 where he didn't seem to be a target either.

So if Henry did enact his plan as a way to get Will to come back to Hawkins, why did he only do so at that point in time?

As I empathically emphasized in my linked post, I know this is ridiculous... but. sigh. copy pasting the relevant parts from my reblog because I truly don't want to spare any more thought into this:

We know for a fact that Henry can see into the minds of Hawkins residents and picks the ones with trauma to target. But what if he also uses it like a security camera to spy on important people or people connected to them? What if he picked up on the fact that Mike was going to Cali for a week to visit El.. and Will?

Henry waited until Mike was just about to leave to start enacting his plan. Why didn't he do it earlier? In my extremely humble, extremely ridiculous bordering on crackfic opinion... it's because Henry knew Mike Wheeler would never let Will go back to Hawkins if Mike knew exactly what was going on. So Henry had to wait. He knew El would try to stop him. And he knew that Mike with Will in tow will try to help and go back to Hawkins. And in the one week it'll take them to get there, Henry will be ready to welcome Will back home.

#the way this is making sense to me....... end me #ku blarghs #strangely blogging #stranger things #stranger things season 4 #byler #will byers #mike wheeler #henry creel #stranger things theory #bizarre love triangle redux

[sennqu]

really into the idea that El finds out the truth about the painting and Will's feelings for Mike before Mike does. Like she talks to Will about it, and agrees to keep it a secret from Mike. El isn't a stranger to lying to Mike so this is easy. She doesn't quite fully understand why Will doesn't want to tell Mike but she respects the decision because she understands the underlying feeling.

Solves the problem of El and Will's possible rivalry and shows their sibling bond. And when Mike inevitably kisses Will, El is just going to be happy for both of them

#ku blarghs #strangely blogging #willel #byler #this isn't a prediction. but i do really like the idea

[sennqu]

regarding Mike, i think...

the way Mike feels about El isn't so much,

"i should be in love with her because she's my path to normal."

but simply it's more like,

"she's a girl and i love her. so that must mean i'm in love with her"

and it's making him confused why he's still struggling. why his monologue doesn't sound sincere. he loves her, doesn't he? and he doesn't want to lose her. that should mean he's in love with her. that should mean something. i don't think he's struggling with internalized homophobia, because again i don't think he's aware he's even in love with Will. he's just caught in the grasp of heteronormativity.

honestly i think this is why Mike and Max aren't shown to get along often. Max and El are the only two girls in his age group he interacts with. and he likes Max fine (probably) but he doesn't love her. But he does love El. and because El is the first girl he's ever loved, he thinks that must mean it's romantic.

#mike is so fascinating. especially when you analyze him from a queer perspective #ku blarghs #strangely blogging #byler