Byler Analysis - Tumblr Posts

I try to not get into ship battles because honestly I don’t care, but I just found an account that posts about stranger things sometimes and all they post about it is anti byler pro milkvan stuff. And most of those post aren’t even talking about milkvan, they’re just saying things like “bylers are delusional” simply because we analyze and know how film works.

Not to mention, their only arguments for milkvan are “but it’s canon!” And “they wouldn’t do that to El.” El is perfectly happy on her own and doesn’t need a relationship.

But listen here byler shippers, please do not go and attack milkvan shippers trying to get them to ship byler. If they are being toxic and hating on byler feel free to tell them not to do that (but please don’t actively seek it out). People aren’t going to change their mind because you have them a 30 page analysis on why byler is endgame.

Also not to mention Mike has these realizations at the end of basically every season.

Season 1

This is the only exception because he hasn’t started realizing stuff yet

I would like to add this terrible quality picture that was the only one I could find of Mike’s little smile at Will when he leaves

Season 2

At the snow ball, he encouraged Will to dance with a girl and then makes this face of instant regret. The snowball scene is when he realizes he might actually like Will.

So he uses El as his straight relationship to try and convince himself and others that he’s straight. Even going to such lengths as convincing himself that he loves her.

But at the end of season 3

Mike has this moment of realization where he might not actually love El romantically.

Which brings us full circle, to the previous post, of him accepting his feelings for Will.

Okay but can we talk about this moment.

I strongly believe that this is when Mike finally ACCEPTED that he loved Will Byers, and he realized that he couldn’t push the feelings away.

It makes me sad how he turns to look at El as if almost wondering “how am i going to tell her?” it’s sad, but I know that El can truly find happiness without Mike, like she did in S3. She’s her own independent, strong woman.

"Without heart, we'd all fall apart."

i call it heartgate

HOLY FUUUUUUCK , BIG BRAINNNSSS

HOLD ON I HAD A REALISATION

this line isn't just about the van conversation inducing a chain reaction of events, it's about DOMINO ART

You know how it's possible to set up dominos in a chain reaction in a way that at first they don't look like they make any kind of pattern... but when you set them off at one end and they all fall over, you suddenly see a new picture that wasn't visible before? THIS IS ABOUT MIKE!!!

I Think S3 Jancy's Goodbye Scene Tells Us How Mike Feels About Will

Buckle up girlies and get your yoga pants on cause this might be a stretch. But if it's actually right, I think it's really cool! ***LONG POST*** bc i cant stop being detailed. ***excuse the messy explanations****

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Here's the TL;DR:

Jancy's emotional goodbye scene reveals Mike's inner thoughts for Will by using several parallels, including double lights and a reference to the "crazy together" scene. It's pretty basic, it just shows that Mike essentially deeply longs for and misses Will and that's what motivates his emotions.

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Here's a link to a clip of the Jancy scene if you want to watch it at any point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBVa0rOLITo&t=54s

Byler Scene + 1st Parallel

Okay, so to start off, we're looking at the characters' goodbye scenes as the Byers family moves out of their house at the end of season 3. In case you forgot, Mike and Will's very brief conversation goes like this:

M: "Dude, that's the donation box."

W: "I know. I was thinking I could just use yours when I come back. If we still wanna play.'

M: "But what if you wanna join another party?"

W: "Not possible"

That's it. Will walks off happily to the left of the screen, then it immediately cues to Jonathan walking left into the frame of the next scene. This is the first thing that tells us that maybe we should be comparing Will and Jonathan together throughout these two scenes, as well as the fact that they are both the ones who are moving out of the house (and that they're brothers, of course). Jonathan approaches his doorway and leans on the frame. What I would like to point out are the double lights behind him.

As he positions himself on the doorframe to the left, he moves to be directly in front of these lights. Double lights, from what I have seen, have come up in two more significant times throughout the show:

The fact that the double lights come up in both these scenes is initially what made me start to pay attention to them. They're especially significant because they're the lights that flash when Will says "see you tomorrow" to Mike -- the day he gets kidnapped into the upside down. Of course double lights on garages is common, but it's not as common indoors, especially in a house. They're definitely intentional.

And ,then in the second scene (s4) they're right behind Vecna (who has been paralleled with Will Byers) in a scene with Nancy (earlier in that scene, Nancy also has a moment where she's positioned in front of those double lights.). So now we know that, if I'm not being delusional, there's a connection between Will, Jonathan, Nancy, Mike, and Vecna/the upside down throughout these three scenes.

I AM GOING TO BE FOCUSING ON THE FIRST SCENE, WHERE WILL LEAVES MIKE AND THE LIGHTS FLICKER.

Let's briefly talk about that flickering lights scene. It's the very first sign that Will is in trouble, and it marks the very beginning of his relationship with the upside down. It's where all the pain started for Will, and therefore for Mike as well. My theory is that this symbol between the Season 3 Jancy scene and the Season 1 Byler scene means Jonathan and Nancy's dialogue here represents what Mike has been wishing he could say/have said to Will since that day he went missing. Ever since that one moment at the garage that started it all. Or better yet just the day he realized Will went missing /or/ thought Will was dead. Sounds confusing but it'll make sense soon. But it especially makes sense since, you know, this moving out scene is ALSO another moment where Mike and Will get physically separated for the second time since will's initial disappearance. It's just like a re-do of Byler's first garage/"it got me" scene. (And there's also the scene a few minutes later after this of Mike hugging his mom, which parallels and further establishes the connection to season 1 Mike when he does the same after he thinks Will is dead.). That may be a stretch, and if it is, I still believe that this Jancy scene is meant to reveal Mike and Will's feelings for each other at least in this moment, as they are separated and begin to move away physically.

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Mike's Inner Thoughts + 2nd BIG Parallel

So, in order to check this theory, let's take a look at Jancy's actual dialogue here. Nancy follows Jonathan into the frame and asks

"Is that everything?" I absolutely have convinced myself that this is significant here. This is the first thing that is said. It's DIRECTLY after Will walks away from his convo with Mike that I wrote out above. Let me remind you that Will and Mike's goodbye scene was the shortest out of any of the friend groups/relationships'. It was very brief and didn't really have a sense of closure. Mike didn't even respond to Will, he just gave him a mysterious smile as Will walked away. So I think Nancy saying this here is narratively an effort to open up a deeper part of the conversation, that should have been an extension from Byler's conversation. "Is that everything you wanted to say?" --and then Jancy says what was on Byler's minds for them-- is what role her line plays here.

(I recommend video of the J*ncy scene here, it would help to watch it when reading the dialogue out because it really emphasizes the emotions lol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBVa0rOLITo&t=54s)

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DIALOGUE

From here on, I just want you to imagine Nancy's dialogue as Mike's thoughts and Jonathan's dialogue as Will's thoughts, especially in the context of what Mike has constantly been feeling towards Will throughout his arc:

Jonathan: "I guess so. 17 years of my life, packed up in one day." --(a nod to leaving his childhood behind - just as Will's dnd book is - and possibly referencing how Will's childhood was taken away when kidnapped by the demogorgon)--

Nancy: *goes up behind J to hug him* "What if I just... don't let you go?"

Jonathan: "I think... the new owners might kick us out."

Nancy: "You could stay in our basement." Jonathan: "Your dad would love that."

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Analysis: There's the theme of Nancy/Mike not wanting to let Will/Jonathan go here. It's so heart-wrenching. This just makes me really emotional, cause it's so emotional to begin with, but to imagine it as Mike's inner feelings to Will too... UGH. I'm just gonna say it, I lowkey CRIED AND THREW A FIT WHEN I FIRST IMAGINED IT. BUT SILENTLY CAUSE SOMEONE WAS SLEEPING IN THE OTHER ROOM XD. But...

There are a few similarities here: The basement is where Mike and Will felt like they could be themselves. The father would disapprove of their relationship. It's all the same.

"The new owners may kick us out" could mean several things, but I think it most likely means that if Mike didn't want to let Will go, meaning he wanted to stay close to him forever, society would see them together and judge and isolate them ("kick them out"). Or it could mean that Mike wishes he could have saved Will, maybe by not letting him leave (here goes another garage scene parallel in season 3 - "Will, come on, don't leave, it's raining" - Mike just wants to keep Will "home" because it's safe for him). But Will's capture was inevitable, the monsters would get him anyway, just as his pain and trauma getting a hold of him was inevitable, and society would make him feel like a mistake at some point in his life anyway, no matter what his best friend could do for him.

All of this just reiterates Mike's desire to keep Will in his life and his fear of letting him go, even if he doesn't show it right away.

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DIALOGUE CONT'D

Nancy: "We could hide you in a tent. Like El."

*Nancy begins to Cry. *

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At this point, it's not really so much about showing what's on Mike/Will's minds, but more so an explanation of their arc together.

It would be quite easy to say that, keeping in mind that Nancy parallels Mike here, this reflects Mike's feelings about El, but I have a completely different theory. Throughout the show, El represents Hope. Hope, sometimes, to the point of delusion. She also tends to fill people's empty hearts. We can see here that Nancy is being overly wishful, trying to provide the clearly unrealistic, bordering on childish, solution of keeping him in her basement in order to lessen the pain of losing the boy she's in love with. Sound familiar? I think this whole time, that's how Mike has felt about El and Will. He clung to El because of the hope she provided to him. She did the impossible for him. She helped bring his friend back and defeat the evil monsters (which represent pain/trauma/being in the closet.). But ultimately... his attachment to her is driven by the love he has for his best friend, and the desire to run away from the pain it causes him. That's a post for another time though lol, let's take a look at an EVEN BETTER part. BECAUSE IT'S AN ACTUAL SCENE PARALLELED WITH BYLER.

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This next part is the most TELLING ONE:

Jonathan: "Hey. it's okay."

*JONATHAN TAKES NANCY'S HAND AND TRACES IT WITH HIS THUMB*

Jonathan - "As a wise man once said, we've got shared trauma." (perhaps a nod to Will the wise, even tho he's talking about Murray lolz).

*cuts to their faces then cuts back to their hands again*

Nancy: "So what's a little more, right?"

Jonathan: *kisses her hand* "What's a little more."

They then kiss and hug in front of the window and it zooms out.

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This has probably been mentioned before and I haven't seen it bc I'm fairly new on tumblr, but this is literally like the crazy together scene you guys. There are so many similarities here. There's also the hand holding that actually parallels the scene where Mike says "we won't. we won't" to Will in season 2. But especially regarding the Crazy Together scene, there are two similarities here: the shared trauma/going crazy together, and then there's the fact that both the scenes mark the beginning of the two characters spiraling in different directions but, somehow, becoming closer as a result of it. (Nancy and Jonathan are moving farther apart physically, but somehow that's shared trauma? That's because them moving apart makes their two hearts ache in the same way, a way that nobody else seems to understand, which will ultimately be what connects them together despite the long distance. Then for Mike and Will in the Crazy Together scene, they are talking about going crazy for two slightly different, but similar reasons, reasons that in the future will split them apart, but somehow this drives them closer together, showing that no matter what causes them pain, they know that they can ultimately rely on being understood by one another, more so than by anybody else. Ugh and the fact that the Crazy Together scene happens directly after another Jancy scene where Jonathan puts Nancy in her bed?! And both those scenes are about one character taking the other character home so they can feel safe?! And Byler is in the basement which is mentioned by Nancy here?! And Mike took Will there after saying "let's take you home"?! And this scene is all about home?! It's happening. I'm believing everything I'm saying, and that's dangerous XD.)

The last thing I'd like to say is the soundtrack here is the tiniest bit reminiscent of "You're The Heart." (@ 2:30 and somewhat at the beginning) And it's called "You're a fighter." Take what you want from that. That could be pro m*leven if you want, unless you're like me and you think that Mike's monologue to El w/ You're the Heart playing in the BG was actually a reveal of his feelings for Will, esp given that, you know, the title of the score is named after what Will said to Mike to inspire him.

Also, as a disclaimer, I didn't want to diminish Jancy's relationship here, I love this scene on its own and what it means to Jancy, so sorry if it came across like I thought they were only important in relation to Byler, not my intention!

OKay guys BYEEEEEEEEEEE

if you read this whole thing I'm sorry for putting you through the torture that is my stream of consciousness but thank you for reading haha

**FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME ON ANYTHING OR ADD ON**

<3

I don’t know how to break this to you guys, but Byler as an official couple is not going to be happening in the first half of the season and it probably won’t even officially be a thing until the finale. Because of Mike’s issues. And it being the 80s.

Will has actually… been a fairly easy character to figure out. And for as much as he does still absolutely repress his sexuality, he is way further on the path to living authentically than Mike is. We all agree on this, right? Will is used to being labelled as a freak regardless of what he does or doesn’t do. He never really tried to feign interest in girls. Most of the town already suspects he might be gay, and while it would get worse for him if the rumours were known to be truthful, he knows he has the support of Jonathan. And I think he knows deep down that he has the support of Mike (and Joyce). Otherwise, why tell him that he makes him feel better for being ‘different’ (gay)?

But Mike? ‘Just trying to be normal’ Michael Wheeler? We know he didn’t mean that as in school; he prides himself as a nerd. Michael Wheeler who seemed like he could have been on the precipice of finally breaking it off with El, and then tried to go back even harder after Will’s push? And for the general audience to make sense of what they will perceive as a sudden shift in Mike’s character when they reveal his feelings for Will, they’ll have to hammer it in that Mike is afraid to his core of being out for them to make sense of his previous actions.

Mike has a different personal life than Will. Reagan supporter conservative parents who don’t like to speak about emotions. He doesn’t have as strong of a relationship with Nancy. We know Hellfire and Eddie’s death will have big consequences on the narrative, and that the town will continue the witch hunt against all of the members of Hellfire. They list sodomy as one of its demonic influences. Will is also going back to high-school, and it’s possible he has a bruise on his face in that Episode 4 farm scene. He’s been bullied before, and I don’t see how they don’t bring that up again, and worse.

If Mike is out, or gets outed, he will fall from a much higher place into a much deeper pit than Will. I honestly foresee them both realizing eachothers’ feelings by the middle of the season, maybe acting on them in private, but Mike suddenly pushes him away in public when Will tries to initiate any contact or closeness - even nothing overtly romantic.

Will is ready to start being more open about their relationship to family and friends as he’s sick of hiding himself and has probably, at this point, come out to Joyce at the least and met Robin. Mike is not so ready. This creates a conflict leading up to the finale where Mike truly has to choose between living in the closet for the rest of his life, and losing Will, versus the bravery to be open (to friends/ family) at the risk of being rejected or further outed and kicked out / assaulted / etc.

looking at this again and babes there is no way byler is not endgame and this scene is exactly why

there is no logical explanation for this moment except byler, when they do this shit right here focusing on a character this much it's because there's a reason and it's not just friendship

if Will's storyline was about just his unrequited love for Mike then they would have focused only on Will being upset and this scene would not exist at all!!

This scene is exclusively there to show that Mike misses WILL in a special way and not like his other friends...

There was no reason to focus on Mike twice because we already had this shot here that could have been enough for a storyline where Mike is sad that Will is gone but really heartbroken by El leaving more... They didn't need to isolate Mike again almost in secret from the other characters that are going away!

Thinking about stranger things again now that the strikes are over and how, narratively, it would be way, WAY cooler to have Mike get Vecna’d instead of Will in s5

It’s just something about the way Mike’s trauma is never addressed or handled in any way?? Like, he hugs his mom twice and then when he was depressed in season 2 and 4 nobody did anything (his parents scolded him for his behavior in s2 ig but that’s not support). His best friend went missing leaving from his house, he watched his body get pulled from the quarry, watched El (in his eyes) kill herself stopping the demogorgon, watched Will be possessed, saw Bob die, was in Star Court when everything went down, saw Billy die, had his best friend move away, was SHOT AT (and really too few people talk about the shooting in Cali bc omg??), buried a body, and watched the apocalypse start. And that’s just off the top of my head.

(And yes I’m aware that the other characters (especially Will) are traumatized too but I will get to my point in a second just hold on)

The plot is geared towards this idea that Will and Henry have to have some big face off (and they should, in my opinion, but I don’t think it should be in a possession, or at least not the the Vecna kind of possession, yk?) but that makes it all the better, writing wise, to have mike be the one in danger. Will was helpless and hiding in s1, I think Will should get his big strong moments in s5 where he gets to be the hero of the story.

It would just be a lot more fun to work with Mike being Vecna’d than Will, because what are we going to bring up with Will’s visions? His dad? His sexuality? The events of s1 from his perspective? It would be cool to see, for sure, but we already know most of that. Mike, on the other hand, has a number of untapped things, like jumping off the quarry, why he’s so hesitant to tell El he loves her, how someone who was smart and kind enough to take El in in s1 and come up with the spy and sauna plans in s2 and s3 could turn into the oblivious asshole that he was in s3 and s4 (he needs therapy, ik, I still love his character but I want to explore the reasons he went from his s2 characterization to his s3 one)

It would be a very interesting parallel, I think, to explore Mike’s thought processes in this way, especially with all of Mike’s repression business (bc whether you ship byler or milkvan he is repressing his feelings HARD. Like, beyond his inability to say I love you there’s the fact that he doesn’t bring up the apparent many times he called pre-s4 during the Rink O Mania fight?? That literally would’ve absolved him of guilt in that argument since he WAS reaching out to Will the whole time? Hellooooo????).

Anyways, this all brings me to my main point: Vecna targets isolation as much as he targets trauma and guilt. The whole party was traumatized by the events in s1, s2, and s3, but Max was the one targeted. Plus, Henry went for Fred, Chrissy, and Patrick (I think his name was Patrick) instead of going for the perceivably easy targets that the mcs would make (ik narratively that would’ve made it more boring but shhh), so why Max and those three specifically? They were isolated. Lucas and Erica have each other, Dustin goes to Steve and Robin, Will and El have each other and Jonathan and Joyce, Nancy probably goes to Jonathan, and who does Mike go to?

No one. And don’t say Nancy because if those two have heart to hearts then I’m the next coming of Christ. Max separated herself from the Party in the aftermath of her grief and guilt over Billy, and it feels quite obvious that Mike was doing the same (like I said, he has repression issues). So Mike is traumatized, alone, and guilty (be it Will getting taken from Mike’s house, losing El in front of him multiple times, the many deaths he has witnessed, or the internalized homophobia angle), which makes him more of a target than Will, in my opinion (or at least an easier one, especially given his tendency to put himself on the line during fights (quarry, most of s2, s3 mindflayer fight), which would set him up on the suicidal ideation path)

Furthermore, as I’ve seen a few other people point out (and I can’t find the posts but one of them had eight screenshots of the various moments), Mike is always the one getting in the way, so it would be a strategic move for Henry to target him to get him out of the picture. Mike was the one that found El and got her involved in saving Will s1, he was the one who came up with the spy plan and called out the ambush in s2, he was the one to monologue Will out of his possession s2, he was the one with the sauna plan for Billy in s3, he was the one trying to help El get the strength to fight s4 (even if the monologue sucked ass it’s the intention that counts). As much as people like to hate on Mike, he is in the leader position most of the time when the party is grouped up (barring his mental health struggles slowing that down beginning of s3 and throughout s4, but he’s still capable of it). He’s the idea man, and he’s the one whose character’s foundations were built on the desire to keep his friends safe, so it would be a very fun plot line to watch him be the one targeted in s5. Like Will said, as lovestruck and cheesy as he was, Mike is the heart of the party when he’s on his A-game, so Henry should 100% be trying to keep him in the issues he’s been struggling with.

Obviously, Will and El are the Targets with a capital T for Henry since they’re the ones that got away or whatever, but I think Mike is a weakness of Will’s (and El’s tbh but also I think they need to have separate character arcs and I don’t exactly ship milkvan) that should be exploited.

TL;DR: Mike should get Vecna’d instead of Will in s5 because it would make sense in lore and be a very cool way to resolve his character arc

Random thought but

Can Will wearing green may be indicating that he has now fully over come of his internelized homophobia and now has fully accepted himself as gay?

Okay so I have already tried to upload this blog many times but looks like Tumblr has been checking my patience a lot. I swear to god if this doesn't upload this time....

Little reminder - people have already talked about these all things already I'm just putting them into lights again, incase u have any Byler doubt

Robin coming out to Steve scene

The song which was playing at that scene

This same song was somehow playing at this one particular scene aswell

Coincidence? But why with Mike and El if "M" is supposed to be endgame?

Also, these two scenes being parallel from season 1 and 4

Another coincidence? But why? Were Duffers trying to say, "Doesn't this Jonathan and Will scene look familiar!? Well it is parallel to Karen Mike scene!! Don't ask why but Mike is totally straight ☺️"

Onto Mike's monologue

Before proceeding y'all have to understand that this monologue was important, wether you see it from Byler lens or "M" lens

Watch this video carefully

Veins get tighter when he said those words to her. They were supposed to give her strength but they didn't. Those veins only became loose when he said "You have to fight" "fight!"

We had somewhat similar situation with Max aswell but the difference is that she gets flashback with everyone especially with Lucas. But El? No she doesn't.

They had perfect chance to prove us that we were delusional and M is actually endgame but they didn't. They could've given flashbacks like -

Mike doing El's makeup

Their first kiss

Mike calling her for 353 days

Them finally meeting eachother after long time in season 2

Their snowball scene

"I love her and can't loose her again" scene

Them meeting eachother at airport scene

But no they didn't. They had chance but they didn't. Yet we are the ones delusional.

Also these two scenes being parallel

Both Wheelers sitting on same side having soda cans near them and venting to Byers about how they can't say ily to their partners (+ Nancy and Jonathan are together now). Let's not forget about the Rockie scene where it was being directly paralleled to Byler van scene. And Vickie and Mike were on same position while on other hand Robin and Will were on same position.

This all doesn't make a bit of sense unless it is intentional.

M's can still yapp about how we are the ones delusional but these proofs are right in front of their eyes.

realistically this is the biggest byler proof

what is he doing

why are his eyes open

she just said i love you for the first time, and he DIDNT KISS HER BACK AT ALL OR CLOSE HIS EYES

this is not how you react to an unexpected kiss. if you're truly surprised, either your eyes widen, or they fly closed. mike is completely blank faced. he's just not interacting with her at all. he's not kissing her back. he's not into it AT ALL!!!

and all this is happening in wills room in front of will's open closet with will's teddy bear in between them

the fact that people try to say he was just surprised BAFFLES ME

if the person you're in love with for 2 years and have been dating for almost a year said i love you and kissed you, would you freeze and not close your eyes or kiss them back? i definitely wouldn't

we actually have an example of a surprise kiss between a canonically in love couple in stranger things

closed her eyes. kissed him back.

and 5 seconds later grabbed him and kissed him again.

mike is gay there is literally no other realistic explanation

im a Byler analyst BUT i don't really post my analyses cuz I'm lazy 😭😭 I used to post theories sometimes but that was forever ago + i prefer to read theories.

But i love a good over-analysis soooooo I repost a lot of theories/ analyses! ^^ + some other stuff

and note abt me: i speak english, korean, and some basic hs french.

ok but tell me TELL ME WHY noah schnapp, a member of the lgbt community, would post this picture if not to hint to us byler endgame? think about it he KNOWS that so many people ship it. he’s liked byler edits on tiktoks and pretty much is bylers #1 shipper, why would he post this if not to tell us?? (i’m slowly losing touch with reality)

ok but if we bylers are sooo delusional why can we find this much evidence to why it will become canon? like i don’t think we could find this much evidence shipping lucas and mike or elmax or will and dustin?

i could talk about the fact that el seeing max with vecna gave her the strength to pull out of the vines. and not mikes monologue. but y’all aren’t ready to hear that yet

this is all oh so real omg byler doubt gone

The “Unstraightening” of Mike Wheeler Throughout Stranger Things

Mike would never have even shown interest in girls if El hasn’t shown up. Think about it. Throughout the series we see all the canonically straight men talk about women or act a certain way about/with women.

Lucas and Dustin are both immediately drawn to Max. Steve goes through two female love interests and is rejected by even more girls. Billy goes on dates and has posters of girls in his room. The show makes it clear when a character is interested in women.

But with Mike, we don’t really see any of this. Sure, he has a female love interest, but shes always just been there to Mike.

I think it has something to do with when Lucas says “You’re just excited there’s a girl who’s not totally grossed out by you!” (or something along those lines) Mike hears this and realizes this is supposed to be an opportunity for him. He’s supposed to be interested in El romantically. Soon after that, we see Mike ask El to the snowball, but the way he asks her is obviously… kinda weird. There is literally a comparison made to El being his sister. And then they kiss… after that strange relation… mind you they’re both twelve and El doesn’t even know what it means to like something/someone yet. (as shown by her encounters with Max in s3)

My main point is, the show makes now effort to show that Mike feels attracted to girls. Other than having him date El, which is obviously an unhealthy relationship that has been pulled apart many times before.

Just think about it. The show could have shown Mike being interested in Max, like his straight friends are, but instead he’s compared to Will. They both couldn’t care less about Max, which is an interesting similarity considering Will is canonically gay. The show could have Mike chase after El, like we see with Steve and Nancy, but instead he mopes around and kind of forgets about her (because of will ‘,:| strange.) The show could have put posters of girls up in Mikes room, like with Billy, but instead Mike has… a buff dragon? and a… one way sign pointing to his closet..?

There’s just no effort -outside of his constantly failing relationship- to show that Mike is straight.

Sorry if this is a bit ramble or has already been said. It just came to my mind randomly and i didn’t want to forget about it!!

now i’m lowkey imagining the duffers reading byler fics like ooh that’s good put that in there

Matt Duffer saved this fanart to his pins and Mike and Will are holding hands

Also this

ok, i’ve been doing some thinking and my mind keeps going back to that airport scene!! you know the one, The Awkward Hug scene. what confuses me is that it would have been so easy for mike to be as if everything was normal (if he had only platonic feelings for will) and WILL to be awkward. why did that not happen?! after all, everyone is pretty awkward around their crush/“unrequited” love of their lives, but instead it was mike who was weird and distracted and awkward. he was the one who struggled with touching him and eye contact and pretty much standard teenage boy with a crush, not will. and this is what doesn’t make sense. this scene is intentional, it’s highly important and it is at the beginning- meaning this is setting up the season pretty much. yeah i know i’m definitely not the first person to bring this up but i don’t really have anything to post and i thought this was pretty interesting.

y’all i was recreationally scrolling through the m*leven # (no bad vibes sent i swear i just feel like getting both sides of the argument is best to cement my belief) and something i saw was someone saying how el is always at her best when she is with mike. which imo is very untrue. let’s go on a deep dive together, shall we?

season 2

at the end of season 1 we know el disappears off into the upside down. separated from mike. by the start of season 2, she is trying to understand more about herself and her powers and her origins, and all of this is done seperate from mike, on her own. this solitude allows for her to find her individuality without being ‘the weapon’ or ‘mikes crush’. i think that while the 08 stuff is kind of silly, it is important to note that during that, she did begin to understand the root and significance of her powers, as well as feeling accepted properly by like-minded people for the first time possibly ever. she also finds her mother and learns about her origins, just beginning her journey of curiosity about herself. we know that finding mama was very important to eleven, and she did all of this away from mike. while she was at hoppers, she mourned losing him, yearned for him, pined, etc, and that caused tension, upset and drained her. NOT mikes fault, btw, he is my actual child and i do not believe this is anyone’s fault, just the facts. when she is back reunited with mike, yes it is a beautiful beautiful scene i cannot deny that but she is a different version of herself than when mike saw her last and therefore this separation was very beneficial to her character.

season 3

we all know how this season goes. mike and el making out left and right, no communication just sucking face. during the m*leven breakup, mike is pretty nonchalant and uncaring about it all, and max helps el on her journey of self discovery. during this time when we’ll bd mike are broken up is the first time el is introduced to trash mags, silly games, something other than being the girl with powers or mikes girlfriend. she begins to understand her likes, her dislikes, herself. no one ever tried to help her find her individuality before, not like this. this is when el also starts ‘making her own rules’ and really coming into her own, maturing into her own wonderful person without mikes presence. in fact, the breakup is very necessary for this to occur. not to mention the fact that she also solves majority of the billy mystery without mike there, in fact she solves it while ignoring and icing out mike, with max’s help. this breakup is essential for elevens character development, and that’s not an accident, certainly not since it is a frequently reoccurring then throughout the entire series!! the ending scene with the ‘i love you too’ is an awkward way to summarise a season spelt apart and i think it may also because she is still learning what she likes and dislikes, this is all extremely new to her.

season 4

oh boy. i mean, obviously el hasn’t been fitting in at school, that’s very obvious. i mean what could mike have to do with that? directly, not much but indirectly??? everything. i believe that just the fact she is in a relationship with mike is throwing her off balance and we are supposed to notice that!! then when mike arrives i mean first of all the flowers and the ‘from’ is a whole other post but immediately her situation worsens, she gets abused by angela, ridiculed by her and her friends, then literally attacks angela with a skate, and it’s all so… out of character? and the ‘you never say it’ argument… it’s all meant to make us look at the couple and go ‘these guys aren’t working anymore’ (!!!!!) i mean, el is, emotionally but also to a point physically, hindered in this relationship with mike and it’s neither of their faults!!!! they just aren’t working!!! and that’s okay!!! they need to be seperate to develop as characters and this is proven by the separation when el gets taken to get her powers back. a great way the duffers could have utilised this plot point was by making mike go with her. think about it! he learns about her while she learns about herself, all while regaining her powers and mike gaining new understanding and appreciation of her as a person! what a great way to deepen an ‘endgame’ couple’s relationship! will also could have had great development, having self-discovery with jonothan and argyle! who doesn’t want some brotherly bonding time? but that’s is not what happened. el needed the time away from mike, broken up, no contact, to focus on her self and improve and discover. this was more than essential. el thrives on solitude to become more powerful as an individual person. she needs to separate herself from mike to be the best version of herself. and that is why m*leven is not endgame. they are a a couple who do not work, they do not make each other better, and while i think a mike-el friendship dynamic could be really effective, as a couple they clash. even during the monologue, mike didn’t really achieve anything. he was kind of just saying words. i mean he canonically lied, what kind of confessional speech by a love-struck teen would be full of lies?? it doesn’t make sense. it is not supposed to make sense. we are supposed to notice these things.

i’m not even using this as byler proof, more just as the fact that i don’t find mike and el compatible, like at all. maybe as platonic buds, but not as a couple, and certainly not as a thriving endgame one. in conclusion, m*leven bones.

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

TLDR; el needs to be seperate from mike to improve upon herself in every way.

spot the difference: impossible edition

in all seriousness, on top we see a “straight boy” who is currently “in love” with a girl, trying to address his “friend” in a “friendly” way. basically imitating heteronormativity because he is confused and almost scared of his feelings. this is literally confirmed later in heartstopper. on the bottom we see… apparently a straight dude greeting his friends normally??? help byler is so canon

(is shoulder tapping a gay love language???)