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chirpsythismorning · 2 years

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It would appear I am indeed one of the very few optimistic (delusional?) Bylers left.

Not saying that if you feel hopeless and need to move on, that you can't. A lot of you have been through this before with other shows. Again and again. You’re tired and fed-up and you have every right to be.

Technically, Season 5 won't be out for another 2+ years anyways, which means the best thing for everyone regardless is to get whatever we need off our chests now and then to just go on a hiatus for the foreseeable future.

When it comes to how I feel about Vol. 2, there were definitely at least a few good moments. If this season has anything going for it, it’s the emotional value. This is without a doubt the most I’ve cried ever while watching the show. One scene in particular that had me on the floor was the scene with Will and El reuniting and hugging. And of course the scene with Will and Mike in the van (DAMN YOU NOAH SCHNAPP FOR MAKING ME SOB SO HARD ALL DAY THAT I GOT A MIGRAINE!)

But yes, I am a Byler. So you could say I was a bit disappointed in that department.

And yet still, I think my take on the later part of season 4 is much different from the majority.

Because personally, I don’t think that what played out in Vol. 2 means that Byler is dead. If anything, I believe it to be more endgame than I did before (well, at least in comparison to pre-s4. There’s no denying pre-Vol. 2 confidence levels remain unmatched. Truly the best era for the Byler fandom to date).

I think my main issue is, like so many of us on here, I thought it was guaranteed we would get to see Mike become aware of Will’s feelings.

Alas, we did not.

And to be totally clear, without this revelation, Byler can’t go anywhere.

Neither forwards, nor technically backwards.

This means the baiting game is not over. Which as bad as it sounds, is why I’m still so optimistic…

Now, if they had made Will’s feelings obvious to Mike, or even the fact that Will is gay as being obvious to Mike, but STILL had Mike behave the way he did in Vol. 2, now THAT would have sucked. It would have been canon rejection on Mike’s end.

But we didn’t even get rejection from Mike.

Instead, we got Will coming off as a hardcore M*leven shipper in Mike's eyes, all while the audience was getting the exact opposite interpretation of this situation; that Will is helplessly in love with Mike.

Will is able to voice the extent of his love, albeit through advice to Mike about his own situation with El, in a way that no one else on the show has been able to. Most of the other characters need a bunch of bystanders to make them realize their feelings and push them in that direction. But Will, he doesn’t need someone holding his hand along the way, telling him what the right thing to do or say is. His love isn’t something he needs to really think about in order to understand it. It just is.

(Which is SO fucking ironic when you think about how Mike always needs help with figuring out his feelings for El and even sounds like he’s reading off a script when he’s trying to explain himself to her. Whereas with Will, s2 monologue teas, it’s the most natural thing Mike’s ever done. Unscripted, straight from the heart… And both Vol. 1-2 continued to drive home this concept, so maybe jot that down..)

It’s just that, unfortunately, in Will’s eyes, Mike will never return this love, which means his only option is to let Mike go. If supporting Mike and El’s relationship means putting himself dead last in every respect, so that his best friend and his sister can be happy, Will is going to do just that.

But as far as Mike knows, Will holds no romantic feelings for him. I mean after all, Will is guiding Mike literally every step of the way to confessing his love to El, and that doesn't sound like the behavior of someone who’s in love with you, now does it?

So why would Mike, throw everything on the line, including the survival of their family and friends in Hawkins by not simply just telling his gf he loves her? All while El is right there loving him and needing his love to fight (presumably), with Will beside him literally rooting for him to do just that? This is very obviously the only option in Mike’s eyes.

Which is ironic, because in a way, I think that Mike has truly never seen him and Will as an option, just like Will, but for an entirely different reason.

Mike views his feelings for Will as childish, something he will grow out of, or at least should have by now.

“We’re not kids anymore. What did you think, really? That we were never going to get girlfriends? That we were just going to sit in my basement and play games for the rest of our lives?”

If Mike can’t love El, then how can he possibly love any women? She’s special. She’s a superhero. He HAS to love her, right? It’s the best option he could ever possibly have. Well, at least considering…

But what happens when suddenly, he comes to the realization that him and Will ARE an option? And that the only thing ever stopping them was himself and his inability to just be honest with everyone and himself?

I think the truth is, there’s a reason that they’re holding off on this revelation for Mike.

It will be a catalyst. It will change everything.

Now, how exactly do you think Mike is going to react to this? The fact that Will was in love with him this whole time and he had no idea?

Honestly, I think he’s going to react horribly, but not for the reason everyone assumes.

Because I would argue that, if Mike was going to react badly with disgust or even just let Will down nicely to confirm it’s indeed unrequited, then the Duffer’s would have just given this revelation up by now. But they haven’t.

Once Mike finds out that Will is (probably always will be) in love with him, and that instead of telling him, Will used his love to help Mike get closer to El, even when Mike himself was having doubts over and over? That Will went as far as to lie about the painting he worked so hard on for Mike in order to rekindle their dying friendship, to instead insinuate it was commission from El, to give Mike that final push he needed to even have the courage to tell El he loved her? That all the moments like this that they shared as of late, was really just Will talking about himself? That the only reason he was able to tell El he loved her in the first place, was because he was so moved by Will’s love for him??

This is going to break Mike.

And let’s be real here, two episodes would not have done this revelation justice.

So now, just knowing the direction they went for Vol. 2, as well as coming to terms with it, I have reached the conclusion that, despite how bleak things seem now, ‘maybe all of this is happening for a reason’ (s2 Mike Wheeler, we miss u).

Which brings me to the other most important piece of the puzzle, which is that, arguably, El needs to be the one who ends things once and for all.

The general audience has been given the impression El is head over heels in love with Mike, and so of course they were rooting for Mike to get on with it and just tell her he loved her.

But that’s the interesting part. He finally did tell her, but her reaction in the aftermath was not something a lot of fans expected.

It seems that she’s distancing herself from Mike, a fact that Will acknowledges to Mike later at Hopper’s cabin, with Mike genuinely confused because he thought he did the one thing he had to do.

He told her he loved her. Which makes everything alright now, right?

But maybe it doesn’t.

Maybe the reminder we got, of that speech from Max to El, about how she didn’t need Mike or Hopper or ANY man to know her worth, was foreshadowing for what honestly needs to happen in order for El to really process and realize her own true feelings about Mike.

Because, although I do believe El genuinely thought she loved Mike, is it possible that Mike was not only having doubts about saying it because of the reasons he argued, or even because of some repressed feelings for Will, but also because El hadn’t given him what he needed to truly believe she loved him.

Mike, like a lot of people, doesn’t need to hear “I love you” to believe that someone loves him.

“I didn’t say it.”

“You didn’t have to.”

He wants something more meaningful, or more specifically, something along the lines of the speech Will gave to him in the van.

Will’s confession disguised as El’s, was what Mike needed to finally say I love you to El...

Something I think we also got caught up in, is this idea that the Duffer’s were just going to drop M*leven and throw in Byler, with everything else going on, while they still have a whole ass season to promote for another 3+ years, and to their mostly 80’s loving homophobic audience. If Byler is going to happen, it’s going to be the definition of slow-burn and endgame. That’s literally the only way.

This puzzle is complex, which sucks if you want all the answers now, because we’re just not going to get them. If they give up all their moves, then what is the point of telling the story at all?

Other pieces of the puzzle include things that arguably still need to happen before Byler can, even regardless of the constraints they have as show-runners who run the biggest show on Netflix’s dying platform.

Things like Will and El’s love for each other as brother and sister. Considering all the fans that said Will hates El because he didn’t stand up to her bullies or that he’s a home-wrecker who just wants to get with her boyfriend, is why I do think they needed to debunk these insinuations within the narrative. And boy oh boy did they deliver on that front. Will is the most selfless son of a bitch on the planet, who loves his best friend and his sister so much. They made that very clear. And you can see that despite a few homophobes here and there, the general audience's reaction to Will in Vol 2 is sympathy and to Mike it's confusion and betrayal...

Hmm, making El realize she doesn't even love Mike, after making Will's unrequited feelings for Mike more clear, after making Mike behave like an IDIOT this entire time juggling these two relationships, only for him to become aware of whats going on, and to clearly be in love with Will?

Sounds like a good way to set up Byler to an audience that might not have humored it before...

And like I said, with how important I do think it was for this to happen in order for them to go the Byler route, is why I don’t necessarily see this approach as a bad thing. We even got the Will and El hug in 4x08, which maybe it’s just because Noah and Millie are so close, but I would easily rank that on my top most well-earned moments in the whole show.

We NEEDED that. Especially in terms of what is likely to come in season 5 with Byler endgame...

Also, yes the Will angst sucked and it's just trauma porn at this point. I’m not going to deny that fully. I agree with pretty much all of the criticism in regards to how they chose to do certain things when they didn't necessarily have to, but I also simultaneously am able to understand that it again, maybe this is all happening for a reason. If they are indeed going to have Will play a big role in the final season, than them forgetting his birthday, Mike being oblivious and all this other shit he's been through combined, sets up a really arc for him next season, not even necessarily a villain one, but all of this pain has the potential to lead to a happy ending. And I'm being full serious.

Like we have Finn Wolfhard saying the ending of Stranger Things will be like the ending of Schitt’s Creek??? That it will end at it's highest point. The last episode of Schitt’s Creek is literally a happily ever after gay wedding, there's no other way to interpret that…

We also know that a lot of ideas for the last seasons were planned from the beginning, with David Harbour saying that he knew the ending way back in s2 and that it's beautiful and has been the intended plan all along. That there's easter eggs that will have us going 'WOW this is what we've been watching the whole time'? That it's wonderful?

If you’re the level of Byler truther that believes they were somewhat planned all along from the beginning, then you would also know that if they plan a happy ending for Mike and Will, then they would have no problem killing us this painfully in the beginning of the end, because they know we’ll be the ones cheering on by the actual end, and it'll be the homophobes who are pissed and stuck with this result forever as endgame.

I’m just saying, don’t be surprised when s5 gets closer and we actually see them promoting Byler… like a lot. And we actually start getting in canon hints at scenes with El herself even trying to get them together.

Groveling Mike Wheeler era?

Will finding a potential new love interest and Mike pining/jealous?

Come ONNN! You guys are way more delusional than you’re giving yourselves credit for and I urge you to join me!!!

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purpleshadow-star · 2 years

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I want a moment in season 5 where it's the whole cast/party vs Vecna. It's a stand-off. Will is somehow in the front of his own group, facing Vecna. And Vecna tears into all of his deepest insecurities to try and convince him to leave his friends and join him.

Saying things like the year after you left us, everyone treated you like you would break. No one believed you were strong enough to stand on your own. And last summer everyone refused to play your game with you. They said it was childish, at least until you left. Once you were gone, they joined a new group. What do you think was the problem that summer? The game, or you? And your friends abandoned you as soon as someone better came along. They ignored you all summer, they didn't care to reach you after you left. I've seen in your mind. I know no one cared when you were gone. Eleven got letters and phone calls, what did you get? And they will never accept you for who you are. He will never want you the way you want him. They will continue to treat you like a burden, only caring about you when you can help them and when they feel obligated to save you. You will never receive from them the same amount of love and care that you give.

The rest of the party would be held back somehow, yelling at him that it's not true, we love you Will, don't listen to him, we're sorry, we care, but Vecna's voice drowns them out.

Join me, Will Byers, he'd say. And we can make them pay. We can show them that you are not weak. That you deserve their respect. We can shape this world into a place where people like us are not cast aside. They don't deserve you. You deserve better. With me, you will have respect. We can reshape this world into something better, together. Join me.

And Will, he'd hesitate. Just for a second. He considers it because, well, it's true. He's sick of being treated with kid gloves. He's sick of being perceived as weak and someone to be saved. He's tired of being ignored and cast aside. He knows that the party probably won't accept him once they learn the truth about him. He does deserve better, and he knows it. He gives his friends and family so much love and care, and gets barely even half of it in return. Mostly just from his family.

Will would look back at his friends for a second, everyone near or in tears, yelling at him, trying to reassure him, and only think of the times they were awful to him. Ignoring him all summer, the fight in the rain that lead to the destruction of Castle Byers, the lack of communication when he left despite his best efforts to keep in touch.

Vecna would say then, they are simply trying to make sure they keep your loyalty. They know how dangerous you could be. They say these kind words and apologies now, but they would go right back to ignoring and underestimating you if they got out of here alive.

And just like that, Will snaps out of it. He would turn back to Vecna and tell him I know that I deserve better. I don't get nearly the same amout of love back as I give out, and sure I get frustrated sometimes over how they treat me, but they're still my family. They've saved me again and again and now it's my turn to save them. They might not really love me, but I love them, and I refuse to help you kill them and countless other innocent people. We might both be mad at the world and we might both have been treated like crap, but the difference between you and me is that I have people I love, people I want to protect. You've never loved anything.

Cue an epic showdown against Vecna and after, many tearful apologies to Will for how he's been treated over the years since he was first taken into the Upside Down.

I want the other characters to feel the consequences of their actions. To actually be unsure, for a second, whether or not their actions drove their friend to the dark side. I want the to feel the anguish.

I just think that would be neat.

#I love the idea of Will almost giving up but ultimately chosing to do the right thing #will byers #vecna #strangerthings #stranger things 5 #stranger things 5?

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freckledjoes · 4 months

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Bruh... Dustin becoming a mini-Eddie with the hair, clothes, rings. The grave. Edward Munson "now at peace" as fucking if and for it to be vandalized too idk man just no just leave me here I don't want it

#stranger things spoilers #stranger things #stranger things 5 #dustin henderson #eddie munson

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hiddenbarinapocketdimension · 1 month

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Happy Birthday Will Byers!

#stranger things #byler #fanart #my art #will byers #byler fanart #stranger things 5 #st5 #return of the IKEA pencil

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byerswheeler · 1 month

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no one talk to me he’s all grown up

#my son!!!#the jackets #birthdaygate #byler #will byers #byler tumblr #stranger things #stranger things 5

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mokurono · 6 months

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hey byler tumblr/st tumblr !!!!!!!!!!

i, in fact, finished this before stranger things day ended (okay i finished it like 5 min before it ended)!!! ANYWAY. i saw this tweet and i just HAD TO draw it. so heres my version of how i see this scenario happening! hope you like it <3 (haha funny i drew byler art back to back)

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taeiris · 2 months

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the queer yearning squad

tender, emotional music plays…. and then-

prints, stickers and posters already up in my inprnt!!! shop here

close ups⬇️

#wills going thru it #they were having a moment #i love my little gay ppl #i cant wait to see them interact!!!!#byler #st5 spoilers #< target audience #stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #byler fanart #stranger things fanart #will byers fanart #mike wheeler fanart #robin buckley #robin buckley fanart #stranger things 5 #fanart #irisart!!!

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livsmessydoodles · 2 months

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pining loser support group

inspired by this other piece of mine!

#stranger things #byerley #IM THE CEO OF THIS FRIENDSHIP!!! IDC!!!#robin buckley #will byers #stranger things art #stranger things 4 #stranger things 5 #st4 #st5 #byler #rovickie #rockie #st #livsmessydoodlez #livsmessydoodles #vickie stranger things #vickie st

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thai-09 · 1 month

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#will byers #fanart #will byers fanart #byler #stranger things #st 5 #birthday boy🎉🎉#I can already feel that my sketchbook is going to be full of Will fanart

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steddieasitgoes · 4 months

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Time to go fight the Duffer Brothers

#like wtf you mean he’s not going to be in it?!#argyle #stranger things #stranger things season 5 #stranger things spoilers #tagging just in case

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ellie-the-plant · 1 month

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we are so back.

#this took four and a half hours of blood sweat and tears but it was so worth it #your honour they are my everything #dustin henderson #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #will byers #stranger things 5 #stranger things fanart #stranger things #byler #my art

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stranger-chichka · 3 months

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The jackets, HELLO????? I already can smell the parallel

@greenfiend already wrote a while ago how that scene from s1 may foreshadow Mike coming out to El and I think that’s maybe it! Or they’re having a heart-to-heart after just to clear things up/open up about Will

I mean, look at him!!! It’s the same Mike who feels understood and accepted for who he is

#byler #platonic elmike #stranger things #mike wheeler #el hopper #st5 #stranger things 5 speculation #stranger things parallels

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elya-doodles · 2 months

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Flash Warning!

The demogorgon… it got meh.

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steddieas-shegoes · 4 months

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When Eddie is introduced to Jonathan, they both give each other a look that says “if you say anything, you’re dead” and naturally, Nancy clocks it immediately.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” they said at the same time, only growing the suspicion.

“Seriously? Do you know each other already?”

“No!”

“Yes, but-“

They glare at each other, but Eddie speaks up again.

“He bought from me a couple times. No big deal.”

Nancy looks between them, shakes her head. “There’s something else going on. But we’ve got bigger problems.”

And they did.

For months, their problems seemed to get worse by the day. It was a great distraction.

But honestly, anytime Eddie spent more time with Jonathan, it got harder not to say how they actually knew each other: a make out session in a bathroom at a party when Jonathan was yearning for Nancy.

He told Steve eventually, had to with the way he kept finding ways to avoid being around Jonathan and Steve got suspicious.

“If he said something to you about us, I’ll take care of it. He doesn’t get to say shit about what makes us happy.”

And Eddie couldn’t have Steve lose another fight, so he told him.

“So wait. You and Jonathan…”

“Made out. Yes.”

“Like…with tongue?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I remember tongue being involved.”

“And hands?”

“They were there too.”

Steve puts his hands on his hips, lifts one to wipe over his face, then settles it back on his hip. “And you liked it?”

“Considering at the time my options were Jonathan or the girl in Hellfire who insisted I wasn’t gay because I looked at her during campaigns, yeah. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve been through.”

Steve huffed. “Yeah, but like. Compared to me-“

“Oh my god.”

“What?!”

“I cannot believe you’re jealous of Jonathan Byers. Again.”

“I’m not! I’ve never-“

Eddie raised his brows. “Never? Not once?”

“That was different!”

“That was worse.”

“I dunno, finding out your boyfriend has made out with the only other guy in Hawkins who’d be up for it is arguably worse.”

Steve pouted for hours. Eddie let him.

It was cute, alright?

And when he got over it, they made out for hours in his bed.

Steve, of course, was the one who told Nancy.

In his defense, he was very high, and Nancy had been pushing him all night, from the moment she caught wind that he might know how they knew each other.

Eddie went inside to grab them all water, and she pounced.

By the time Eddie got back, Steve was half asleep and Nancy was smirking at Eddie.

“You could’ve just said.”

“He’s never getting high for free again.”

“He’s your boyfriend.”

“He’s back to being a paying customer, too.”

Nancy laughed, startling Steve into opening his eyes. He smiled up at Eddie, no clue he’d just given up one of their secrets.

“Hi, baby. You know Nancy didn’t know about you and Jonathan?”

Eddie glanced over to see Nancy rolling on her side, laughing hysterically.

“Yeah. I’m sure that was on purpose. How about we get you to bed, superstar?”

He managed to get Steve onto the couch, where he immediately passed out.

Nancy hugged him, kissed his cheek, like she always did before leaving.

“It’s not a big deal, you know. He’s mentioned that he isn’t only into women. We’ve talked a lot about the Argyle situation.” She walked towards the door. “Steve will get over the jealousy eventually. It’s not like Jonathan wouldn’t have made out with him if he could have.”

She left before Eddie could respond.

Eddie suddenly understood exactly what Steve was feeling.

“Not gonna happen,” he mumbled to himself before joining Steve on the couch and pulling him close.

#eddie munson #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #steddie #stranger things #sorry but it’s a very funny thought to me that Eddie and Jonathan made out once and Steve gets jealous #and it’s way way worse than any jealousy he had over Nancy #it’s also absolutely hilarious to think of Eddie getting illogically jealous in return #it’s just a silly brain worm #it took up 10 minutes of my day so now it can take up 5 of yours

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