#this is all one big cluster of speculation and wishful thinking but due to hsm 2 being present in s4…

[there-was-a-hole-here-itsgonenow]

We saw the HSM 2 Troy/Gabriella and Byler side-by-side last year.

And, due to being on a Disney-related trip with my brother and his girlfriend recently while HSM music blasted in the car (courtesy of his girlfriend), I thought back to the above and started thinking about what other potential HSM references would be great to get in s5.

Specifically from the third and final film soundtrack.

Just Wanna Be With You:

So the HSM 2 reference we got for s4 was Troy and Gabriella splitting up for a bit after some bad miscommunication (to sum it up simply). From HSM 3 we have “Just Wanna Be With You,” the couple’s concluding romantic song for the series. And it’s so, so sweet and what Mike and Will deserve to communicate to each other. But more than that, there’s so much of the song that just fits the dynamic they have had from the start! A dynamic that we on this tag know so well!

Read some of these lyrics and just envision Byler TwT:

“We're being pulled

A hundred different directions

But whatever happens

I know I've got you

You're on my mind

You're in my heart

It doesn't matter where we are

We'll be alright

Even if we're miles apart

All I wanna do

Is be with you, be with you

There's nothing we can't do

I just wanna be with you, only you

No matter where life takes us

Nothing can break us apart

You know it's true

I just wanna be with you”

…

“You know how life can be

It changes over night

It's sunny then raining

But it's alright

A friend like you

Always makes it easy

I know that you get me

Every time

Through every up

Through every down

You know I'll always be around

Through anything you can count on me”

I have… so many feelings about this song for Byler. Something I love is that Troy and Gabriella are in love with each other and the song establishes they are friends too. We all know that’s one of the best parts of Mike and Will’s relationship: their friendship!! Their friendship will be at the core of their romance! And just ‘understanding/getting each other and falling back on each other’ and being in each other’s minds and hearts… It’s everything they have but deserve more of too! In truly getting to be together as friends and more than friends!

Not to mention life changing overnight, ups and downs… but they have the ability to make things easier on each other (when subtracting miscommunication and societal norms getting in the way, Mike and Will are able to open up and lean on each other in ways they can’t with anyone else). And what is all Will wants to do? Play DnD with Mike in his basement for the rest of his life. He just wants to be with him 🥲

Also just… IMAGINE getting anything resembling sequences like this for s5 Byler:

(Fanfic balcony wishes)

(This is while they are singing “I just want to be with you”)

(And this lil scene involves playing around with paint; I can’t dEAL!! The vision is there and it’s so precious!!!)

In conclusion: more HSM Byler would be very welcomed!!!!

The Boys are Back:

This is me wanting to be spoiled with OG Party scenes. But seriously though!! This song works for the Party! The whole song is about Troy and Chad thinking back on their childhoods and reliving the pretend games they played as kids—like detectives, spies, and superheroes. We even get a flash of their younger selves!

You can spin some of the lyrics to meaningfully fit the context of the Party (but unlike playing pretend games as kids and teens, the Party’s DnD games keep manifesting into reality). Some of the best ones include:

“Take it back to the place when

You know it all began

We can be anything we wanna be

You can tell by the noise that

The boys are back again

Together making history”

&

“Here to change the world

To solve the mystery

Fight the battle

Save the girl…

No one can stop us now

We’re the ones that make the rules”

Of course they’re [now] all back in the same place everything began, Hawkins (more full circle relation). Changing the world in the way ‘classic’ heroes do: solving mysteries and fighting battles (both Vecna-related + Will’s painting), but also saving/helping save [Max]. I believe the victories in each example will come because the ‘rules’ (Vecna’s ways of order) are going to be flipped and fought against.

More to be said here but the above speaks for itself. Overall, the main thought is our boys are coming back together again and will make some history. The song is framed as confident and assured, as if a big bad will be overcome. I love the thought of this for the Party!

Scream:

And this one, I feel, fits Mike the most. In HSM 3, this song is about Troy feeling torn about what to do with his life after highschool: go with a basketball scholarship his father has always forced on him or a Juliard scholarship he didn’t apply for. He’s having an absolute mental breakdown trying figure out what he’ll do, a big emphasis being that he wants his own personal choice without feeling forced one way or another. Not to mention, worried about being separated from Gabriella as she got accepted to a college far away from either college option he’s being presented.

With lyrics like these, it’s not hard to associate them with Mike at all (too many feel so on-the-nose too):

“Voices in my head

Tell me they know best

Got me on the edge

They're pushin', pushin', they're pushin'

I know they've got a plan

But the ball's in my hands

This time is man-to-man

I'm drivin', fightin', inside of

A world that's upside down”

…

“I don't know where to go

What's the right team

I want my own thing

So bad I'm gonna scream

I can't chose, so confused

What's it all mean

I want my own dream

So bad I'm gonna scream!

I'm kicking down the walls

I gotta make them fall

Just break through them all

I'm punchin', crushin', I'm gonna

Fight to find myself

Me, and no one else

Which way, I can't tell

I'm searchin', searchin', can't find a

Way that I should turn

I should, to right or left, it

It's like nothing works

Without you”

(This next part is just… scarily beyond fitting)

“… the clock's running down,

Hear the crowd getting loud

I'm consumed by the sound!

Is it her?

Is it love?

Can the music ever be enough?”

Truly… do I even need to explain that? Any of this for ST context?? Mike not only trying to find himself but trying to fight for it… all this on-the-money Vecna and Vecna’d correlation… Not to mention the part about wanting his own ‘dream’—as if dreams already aren’t a huge theme in ST! There’s just so much in the realm of possibility with “Scream”!

Let me put emphasis on this scene too:

“A world that's upside down

It's spinning faster

What do I do now

Without you?”

If this were a reference for a Mike scene… god just think of the serious angst this could entail. Especially if Mike and Will got separated or during Mike’s Vecna’d scenario (playing upon his fear of losing Will all over again). In some version of the UD, physical or metaphorical, perhaps in a situation that has Mike trapped and stuck, yet he is mustering the power to fight back despite being overwhelmed! So, so many possibilities with what we know, especially with a focus on Mike’s mental health in mind.

I swear if I see anything resembling the above scene, lyrics, or anything from this sequence in s5 for Mike, I will lose what little mind I have left.

Troy is even wearing the number 14 on his jersey!!!!C’mon!! It’s right there all gift-wrapped for us!!!

#gimmie 7+7 all day long and forever #this is all one big cluster of speculation and wishful thinking but due to hsm 2 being present in s4… #I wouldn’t dismiss possibilities #just thoughts and feelings and I just think a lil more hsm for st and byler isn’t a bad idea AT ALL #byler #hsm byler #hsm stranger things #st5 hopes #st5 speculation