miamc

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if u agree that Jonathan is infinitely a better character than steve and think steve should die instead of him please i beg of u hmu lets be moots

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casually saw this scrolling on sarah’s (ross duffers wife & head of hair and makeup for stranger things) new post (which was mike getting his hair fixed for s4).

(blocked original askers name out for their privacy, dunno if they wanna be plastered all over my tumblr lmao.)

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN HELLO.

hairgate truthers are yall still here or…

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god please, if you can hear us, make byler canon and bless us with an earth shattering, history making gay kiss, please, im begging

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if i die before s5 which one of you is going to tell me what happens via ouija board

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the face of a man who loves his girlfiend

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good news byler nation i apparently do not have cancer 👍

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istg it frustrates me sm when i see people confidently believing in something that can only happen if byler's endgame or canonised but then not.....being totally confident in their endgame in the first place

"I definitely think milkvan will break up but I don't think Mike is gay or loves Will." right.... would be an interesting story choice

"I definitely think Mike will be gay but I don't think he loves Will" why tf would they do that--

"I think Mike loves Will and is gay but like- Byler .... nah not believable" im ripping my hair out

"I definitely think the painting lie will get revealed but that doesn't mean Byler will be endgame" are u okay

genuinely ur so close. this isn't real life, everything has a narrative and an arc. all you need is to put the pieces together just like that ! PLEASE

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when he calls her eleven…

Another confession:

The way Mike talks to/about El icks me out so bad.

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hi hi! i recently made a revolt if one of your posts and id love to share it on tiktok only with your permission ofc because ur the op :) no pressure to say yes, i completely understand wanting your posts to stay only on tumblr. here's the post

https://www.tumblr.com/miwi-daisy/790369027782492160/right-if-byler-was-going-to-be-unreciprocated

my tiktok @ is in my pinned post :) i delete all hate comments so my account is positive space

ofc you can share my post!! thank you for asking

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Thinking about how Mike wasn't just told to like El then he liked her. No. There's a third event that happens between them that we skip over so often but is vital and Mike's crush might not have even happened without it.

Mike is being teased about El, yes. But he actually doesn't even get the chance to respond, let alone have his following actions be influenced by only that. Because before he can even react, look who's here:

Stakes.

This scene isn't about El. This scene plays out in one, very simple way.

Lucas: you like El.

Mike: I don't.

Troy: Let me remind you what will happen if you don't.

Just like the ily speech, Lucas is Will, but that's not all it took. It didn't just take the suggestion of something. It took the STAKES. It took threat. He was told to do something then he turned to see just what would happen to him if he didn't do it. The romantic trope is feigned: realize your feelings once someone points out that someone could be romantic. Steve has the same with Robin in season 3. But one thing here is different.

Before he has a chance to respond (to ensure we don't know what would have happened), he is given incentive to lie.

It isn't just suggestibility. "Huh, maybe I should like her. I guess I will." It's fear. It's "you need to hide, like right fucking now, and there's a hiding spot right there." Yeah. You run to the hiding spot and you do not fucking come out ever.

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i’m not homophobic but i hate gay people they’re pointless and ruin everything

and then the whole point of the series is to represent and stand up for the outcasts and marginalized communities... but whatever you say!

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yesss that is so transgressive and brave. max is the best man at the wedding and lucas is the flower girl, subverting gender norms. one of stancy’s little nuggets is named after jonathan to commemorate his sacrifice and will is never mentioned again

mileven marriage proposal will bones stancy six little nuggets canon jonathan bones vecna is defeated by the power of mikes heterosexuality conformity wins 🙏

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mike frantically carrying an unconscious will out of the military base after he uses his powers for the first time and everyone watches in horror like if you agree

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mileven marriage proposal will bones stancy six little nuggets canon jonathan bones vecna is defeated by the power of mikes heterosexuality conformity wins 🙏

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if byler wasn’t endgame then will would have never regained hope that mike might like him back after he destroyed castle byers in s3. i don’t think we would have gotten that smile that lasted a little too long in the “what if you want to join another party scene?”. i don’t think we would have gotten the painting, or at least not same way we did. i don’t think we would have gotten the romantic coded conversations in will’s bedroom. or the stares. or any of it. like why did the romantic scenes continue after will destroyed castle byers… and yes i do think that will still had some hope that mike might like him back even in s4. the bedroom scene has undeniable romantic tones and it ends with will shoving the painting back in his backpack. its not just will pining for mike, it’s a mutual romantic tension, one that will allows himself to fall into. so yeah i do think that will thought there was a sliver of possibility that mike might like him back. i believe that the painting carried both platonic and romantic implications and will was very aware of that fact. so if mike was acting gay enough that will still believed that he might like him back after he said “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls”…. then idk what to tell you

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to be loved is to be seen

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Anyone who tells me that the bedroom interaction between Mike and Will is platonic are literally dead wrong. And anyone who tells me that this interaction literally sets up a Chekhov's Gun that is a romance between them is also dead wrong.

The writers made it romantic in so so so many ways, obviously with the looks, the tears in their eyes, Mike's words, the music in the bg, but the way they cemented that it was romantic and technically taboo (bc remember, gay in the 80s folks) is through this interruption:

Okay so the interruption trope is common way to introduce romantic tension right? We know this - but for me it's the speed in which they do it that indicates they kind of...knew it was romantic. At this point in time, Mike thinks that he's broken up with El, he says that the fight was something you can't come back from, he says that him thinking about their break up made him a "self-pitying idiot", he says that he was worrying too much about El, he thinks that they're going back to Hawkins at this point, before the active shooters came in and reminded Mike of his duty. And Will sort of knows it too. This interaction gives him the confidence to bring the painting with him on the way back to Hawkins. The painting that he later used to give a coded love confession. If none of the stuff with El being in danger happened, and they just went back to Hawkins, the narrative implies that Will would have confessed his love using the painting (without lying) because of Mike talking to him in this scene. AKA..........

The viewer is also supposed to be confident that he would reciprocate. The interruption trope comes into play here massively, because it implies that something would have happened had the shooters not arrived and raised the stakes. If somebody thinks this is platonic, they're a little blind, because um well - if the directors wanted it to be platonic, they wouldn't have made the two of them look so shocked and panicked almost. Like come on.

If they don't get together in the next season, well... this scene making Will's confidence in his feelings being reciprocated so clear, and making it clear that Mike doesn't actually mind that, won't make much sense to me. The reason for Mike's later hesitation and refusal to look at Will in a romantic manner (see: triple take in the desert after Argyle presses him about his gf dying) was not present in this scene.

We see what could happen in the future if he finally lets go of the belief that he needs to save El with a love confession. Why would the writers show us this glimpse if they're just not going to go through with it?