Youneedsomevitaminme - Sarah

I know some people think we're reading too much into the show, but there's one recurring theme that pops up over and over again, and I'm not sure why it keeps being dismissed by anti-Bylers.

Like the other three kids, Mike is a nerd. He likes D&D. He likes science. He likes fantasy. He has nerdy interests. That is who he is. And when he's with El, he feels the need to hide the fact that he has these interests, and pretend to be someone that he is not.

Season one shows us Mike's authentic self. In later seasons, we are shown time and again that he denies what he likes because of his insecurities relating to how El will perceive him:

Early on in season one, Mike is shown as being very excited by the AV Club radio. When he's with El in season three, he pretends that he isn't interested in what Dustin makes at Science Camp.

Mike attempts to make conversation with El shortly after meeting her by showing her his toys. She glares at him and walks away from him mid-sentence. As a result, when he lets slip to her how excited he will be when he gets new toys for Christmas, he backtracks and pretends that he thinks what he said is immature.

The boys obviously spend a lot of their time playing D&D. Our first shot of them occurs during a 10 hour D&D campaign. Once Mike starts dating El, he stops wanting to play. More importantly, as soon as El moves away, Mike starts playing D&D again. This interest is so important to him that he joined the D&D club at school, despite the fact that the other members were being made fun of for participating in the game.

I don't understand how anyone could look at that and say "Oh yes, the Duffers are trying to send us the powerful message that you should give up all of your interests when you start dating someone. Instead of finding someone who likes similar things, you should pretend to be someone you're not so you can impress a person that you probably aren't compatible with anyway."

who needs a therapist when you have kokobot, am i right?

ok hear me out: a Wordletok™️ Marauders au

Remus = Michael

Sirius = Savannah

(you can switch them around; i myself have been going back and forth trying to decide which is which but i’m too lazy to change it now. but yk how there’s the running joke that Michael and Sav are dating and how Cam always encourages it? that would so happen with Sirius and Remus while James plays along. except they do end up secretly dating but before they got together they would both secretly watch ship edits of them while twirling their hair and kicking their feet)

James = Cam (you cannot convince me otherwise)

Peter = Kenny (omg I love Kenny so much)

Regulus (or Lily but i’m a Jegulus kind of gal) = Bella (Cam’s gf)

(JUST MMMMMMMM the fandom knows about him and James because he’s sometimes all James can talk about and they all find it adorable.)

Lily (or Mary) = Bryn

(Peter would 100% be the most welcoming and make the most videos with her when she first meets them just like Kenny does. Lily and Peter would just sit their happily playing Cowordle eating popcorn while watching the drama unfold between Sirius and Remus. idk but i think their friendship would be so cute)

And the others will be there as well there’s just not enough existing people to replace

someone pls write this or i will write it myself and for the sake of society, we can’t let that happen

PLS IM BEGGING YOU IVE THOUGHT TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS NOW FOR IT TO NOT EXIST

God bless Brad Bakshi. God bless Danny Pudi getting to be all sexy and mischievous. God bless.