Gentlemen, our benefactor on this Christmas Eve
Whose integrity is only matched by talent, I believe
A new member of the Alphabet City avant-garde
Angel Dumott Schunard
and it feels good to be known so well / i can't hide from you like i hide from myself / i remember who i am when i'm with you / your love is tough, your love is tried and true blue
something something mike wheeler is so used to being brushed off and ignored by his own family that he learns to make his feelings loud and obnoxious around most people because it’s better to be ignored when you’re being annoying on purpose than to be ignored when you’re being vulnerable on accident. he learns to roll his eyes and be slow to trust and be critical of newcomers because his friends are his people— his most trusted, his tried and true ride or dies, but after you make it into his circle he will die for you. he scowls and he glares and he tries so hard to be somebody he’s not because he thinks things will be easier for him that way, because he’s been bullied his whole life. he’s a little abrasive but he softens around his best friend, who can get him to open up without even saying a word. he likes syrup on his eggs and cheesy pop music. he’s the paladin, he’s a fighter, he’s a source of good. he’s will’s light in the darkness and he finds that same light in will too. he’s surprised every time a parental figure hugs him. he’s seen his best friends die and come back and die again. he spent a year searching for a purpose and he found it in will byers. he feels like nobody needs him, but all he wants is to be needed. to be wanted. he feels like he’s drifting apart from his people, until will reels him in, tethers him, and says hey, remember when you said asking me to be your friend was the best thing you ever did? well being your friend gives me the courage to fight on.
Tickle trope that I think that should be mentioned more: Lees who have a stronger accent when being tickled, who will try to form a coherent sentence only to give up and giggle and plea in other language, who start to mix more and more of their words with English the more it tickles and the more they laugh. The delight in their face when the ler say a tease in their native language and keep whispering it to them over and over again, knowing their reaction will be much stronger and that it will get them out of guard everytime. Or even better! Asking the lee to say what are the best teases and t-words in their language and please can you explain it again? I didn't catch it quite right in the first time and then train the pronunciation over and over together until the ler can say it perfectly, ya know?