#“who will nancy end up with?” “will mike and will confess their feelings?” “what about max and lucas-” there are human eating monsters and

[soupinaboot]

Sometimes I forget that Stranger Things is like a sci-fi horror fantasy and not a romance drama

[mousegoesmoo]

Okay I'm sure many of you all have seen this tiktok:

This tiktok has seemingly reached a very broad audience and I'm lowkey beefing with some of the comments. And then comments are stirring some byler doubt in me but I'm just gonna come on here and think through things logically. I'm only going to take into account things that are canon or have been stated by official sources.

Many commenters have stated that Byler will only be one sided, Will in love with Mike. Narratively, this does not make sense. Will's character has been pre-planned to be queer from season 1 episode 1 and in his character description. Additionally, Robin originally was not going to be gay, but that was changed during the filming of Season 3 (Maya Hawke talks about this). So, why would they have the only canonically gay character be used as a plot device to further El and Mikes relationship? It just doesn't make sense for his love to be unrequited. They have stretched out the plot point of Will's sexual orientation and love for Mike for many seasons, it has been slow burned. They could have given Will a sharp rejection in Season 3 during the rain fight, but they didn't. If they did, moving to California would be an opportune time for Will to move on from his love for Mike. But they didn't. Will made an entire painting for Mike and gave him a veiled confession- if it ends in unrequitedness they stretched out this plot line for far to long. It is unnecessary. It would just be unnecessarily devastating for Will to be rejected in the final season. Plus, we have seen it before, entire relationships can form in one season. Mike and El were formed in one season, Nancy and Steve broke up and then Nancy and Jonathan got together, why can't the same happen with Mike and Will?

2. Mike has never been implied or done any actions to suggest he is gay or reciprocates Will's feelings. First of, to quote the byler slides, Mike has more queer coding than Will (slide 7, slides linked). To preface, queer coding is "...when a character’s sexual orientation is implied by significant subtext without being stated outright."(Elizabeth Duarte). So, this doesn't necessarily prove that Mike is in love with Will, but it does imply that he is in the very least bicurious. Personally, I believe that one of the strongest bits of queer coding for Mike is during his initial attraction to Eleven. Eleven was often described to look very similar to Will and boy-ish. A little suspicious if you ask me. To add on to that, the problems in Mike and Eleven's relationship have grown as El has explored her femininity and self. Granted, the problems could have arose due to them both aging, but, it is still another common denominator. But, the byler slides have many instances of queer coding for Mike (some probably better than what I presented), so I would suggest looking into those rather than having me repeat them here. But queer coding implies queerness, therefore, Stranger Things has suggested that Mike is not straight.

2.5 Mike's feelings have never been reciprocated for Will. Now this is a trickier one. We haven't had a scene from Mike's perspective in a while, making it very difficult to have hard evidence that he is into Will as well. However, we can prove that Mike is heavily queer coded (because he is). So, if Mike were gay, who would he direct his affections towards? Lucas, who is trying to rekindle his relationship Max, Dustin, who has had a steady long distance relationship with Suzie, or Will, who has never shown interest in any girls despite having many opportunities (arguably, more opportunities than the other party members)? They would not put Mike into a one sided pining with Lucas or Dustin for the final season, it simply does not make sense. But Will, who has already had a developed crush on Mike for several seasons, the pieces start to click together. Mike liking Will is very dependent on Mike being queer, which we have proven through the fact that he is heavily queer coded. So, the only same sex individual that would make logical sense as his love interest is Will. Also: a huge point about not having a Milkeven endgame is that Eleven was supposed to die and, consequently, so would their relationship.

3. Unlikely for the time, so it will never happen. Girlypops. It is unlikely for someone to be dating someone with superpowers in the 80's. It is unlikely for a parallel dimension to take over and infect this one random town in Indiana in the 80's. ITS FICTION. Additionally, it is know that homophobia exists in the fictional Stranger Things universe (Lonnie, Troy, Robin's extreme hesitance to come out, etc.), ,but on the other hand, the Duffers are actively pursuing a relationship between Robin and Vickie. As of our knowledge right now, Vickie's sole purpose in the show is to be a love interest of Robin's. If they don't end up together it is most likely because Robin either gets a new love interest or one of the two dies in the final season. Ultimately, I do not think that Stranger Thing's taking place in the 80's will have an impact on whether or not byler becomes canon.

So those were the main three points made in the comment section of that tiktok.

I just want to also state that if Byler isn't canon, I would want to consider this to be a case of queerbaiting (but, this still depends on how they wrap up Season 5). Also, I would consider slapping a new love interest for Will to wrap up the season as very sloppy and lazy writing. AND, I think using Will's love for Mike as a stepping stone to progress a heterosexual relationship deeply offensive. If they were going to have Will be rejected, they should have done it way earlier in the series.

Thats all I have to say xx

[strangersteddierthings]

Shovel Talk(s) Final Part

Part One 🦇Part Two🦇Part Three🦇Part Four

Steve starts with Dustin. Not for any particular reason. Dustin is just the first person he ends up seeing after an entire weekend spent at Eddie's house. They'd redone their date in Indy on Saturday, getting back into Hawkins late, so Steve stayed the night. He had a morning shift at Family Video but it was Robin's day off so he didn't see her.

Dustin called at 11:00am on Monday to ask for Steve's assistance with his bike's flat tire. He needs a ride to Melvald's for a new tire tube and pump, and since Steve's shift doesn't start until 2:00pm he agrees.

Steve picks him up and listens to him ramble about his weekend and how he the tube got a hole in it. He stays in the car while Dustin runs inside to make his purchases, and then they're back at Dustin's house. Dustin knows how to change out the tube on his bike; he's been raised by a single mother for longer than Steve's known him so he's pretty self-sufficient, but Steve still offers to do it and Dustin lets him.

It's little moments like these that really let Steve feel like Dustin's brother. Which is what makes it easier for Steve to say, as he is peeling the tube from inside the tire out, "hey, do you remember a week or so ago, when you said we were happy for Eddie and me?"

"Yeah," Dustin says as he's ripping open the package the new tube is in.

"You also told me to not hurt him. I- why'd you say that?" Steve halts his progress on peeling the tube out to look up at Dustin.

He watches as Dustin turns sheepish, "I. Well, mostly I said it so that when I talk to Eddie, I might feel less bad about threatening him."

"What? Why did you threaten him?"

Dustin finishes freeing the new tube from its prison before finally looking back at Steve, "I haven't yet. Mike was talking about how Nancy gave you a shovel talk a while ago, as Eddie's 'best friend'," he makes air quotes around the words, "and I'm your best friend, so I have to give Eddie one. But Eddie's also my friend, so I had to say something to you, too."

"That's so-" Steve cuts off, because he was going to say that's so childish but Dustin should be allowed to be childish just a little longer. Part of his childhood was stolen by monsters and Steve can give him a little bit back, "that's a nice thought but please don't shovel talk Eddie. Besides, Erica beat you to it."

"Shit!"

"Language."

"Well, since Erica did it there's really no point in me doing it. She's terrifying when she wants to be."

Steve laughs because Erica can be terrifying. "Give me the tube, or do you want to finish this?"

"No, continue," Dustin thrusts the tube at Steve, who takes it with a grin and gets back to work.

Robin and he are closing on a Wednesday night, so it's been slow all day, and while Steve wants to talk to Robin, he doesn't want to be interrupted. So, they go about their shift like normal and it's only once he's locked the door and flipped the open sign to closed that he seeks out Robin in the back room, where she's counting down the till.

"Can you pause after that? I need to talk," Steve says and feels his stomach churn. He's never.... he and Robin have never had a fight, never really had any issues that required a talk. Not about anything between them anyway. Robin's always just understood him, in the same way he's understood Robin. They've never been the source of each other's pains until now.

"Yeah, of course," Robin finished the coins, marking down the amounts on a piece of paper before shifting to give Steve her full attention. "Are you ready to talk about it?"

"It?"

"Whatever's hurting you," she says. "I don't know what it is, but I knew you'd come to me when you were ready."

"It's been heard to try and talk about," Steve confesses, "because it's never. It was never you that I've been- I still don't know what to say but I know I don't want to be..." he trails off, waving his hands as he grapples for the words he wants.

"Oh," Robin whispers, standing from the desk to approach. "I hurt you. Tell me what I did, so I can properly apologize."

"When you told me to be careful with Eddie," Steve says, "after I told you about our first date. I don't understand why you'd say that me."

Robin looks pained and swallows before she says, "I'm so sorry, Steve. I shouldn't have said that. And I don't- I don't even have a good reason why I did. I know you'd never hurt Eddie. I know you and what I said wasn't even about you. Not the real you, anyway."

"So, why'd you say it, then?"

Robin frowns and looks away from him, shuffling her feet before she says to a point at the wall, "I was friends, or friendly, with a lot of the girls you were with in high school. A lot of one and done dates that I had to hear about, while they cried in the bathroom or on their bedroom floors, wondering what they'd done wrong, why you didn't stay or-" Steve winces as the reminder of who he'd been in high school comes easily out of Robin, but not for the usual reason he winces. It's not because Robin's reminding him he used to be a douche; she's reminding him of all the people he hurt and never cared that he'd done it. He never apologized, and now it's far too late even if all those girls deserve to hear it.

Robin is still speaking, "or whatever. But that doesn't matter now. You aren't that guy anymore; haven't been the entire time I've actually known you and it wasn't fair for me to say what I said. I just- you took Eddie out, and the part of me that spent years of high school consoling friends who felt used by you just spoke. I-I need to work on filtering the words that come out of my mouth, because if I'd waited like, four more seconds to process your words and settle in the fact you went on a date we both thought you'd never be brave enough to ask for, then I never would have said it. I'm so sorry, Steve. I know you and I should have known better."

Steve swallows thickly, because it hurt to hear but he also knows she's sorry and that's enough. He steps forward and sweeps her into a hug, crushing her against him. She squeezes back just as hard.

Steve has never felt really hurt about Wayne's shovel talk. It was the first, and the only one he'd say he deserved. Not because Steve deserved to have a shovel talk given to him, but because Wayne should get to have the honor of giving one. Eddie's never had a boyfriend before, and Wayne had spent so long worried about how this town would treat Eddie if they knew he was gay.

So, when Steve sees Wayne again, he just smiles at the man, and gets a genuine smile back. He and Wayne are ok.

He and Jeff apologize to each other next time they cross paths on a Hellfire night. Steve apologizes for being snappy and rude. Jeff apologizes for automatically assuming the worst of Steve. They agree to a truce and a start over.

Steve's convinced he can win over Eddie's friends eventually.

Steve can't talk to Nancy. There's too much left unsaid between them for him to feel comfortable with telling her she hurt him. But it's okay. He and Nancy aren't close friends, and she's leaving for Boston in a few weeks for college. He's sure that the distance, and not seeing her weekly for Lunch Date Day, will help.

So, he's a bit surprised to answer the knocking on his front door to see Nancy. It's an exact recreation of the day she shovel talked him and immediately Steve tenses.

"Uh, hi," he says.

Nancy takes a deep breath and says, "I'm sorry. I thought I was being funny when I gave you that shovel talk, but I- someone made it clear to me that we aren't friends enough to be able to make jokes like that. That's my fault, too. For everything I've done and never apologized for. So, I want to say that I'm sorry."

Steve's a little stumped, a bit perplexed even, so he speaks on autopilot, "It's fine, Nance. We're good."

Nancy squares her jaw and narrows her eyes and says, "no."

"No?"

"No. Don't forgive me. Not yet. Make me earn it."

Steve don't respond right away. He wants to just forgive Nancy, but when he thinks about it, he just wants to do that so Nancy will quit looking so defensive. He's not sure he does forgive her. "You're right. I- we'll work on that, then. Being friends one day."

"Good. Good," Nancy nods. "I'll see you are Lunch Date day, yeah? Or... or would you like me to stop coming?"

He shakes his head. "No, please keep coming. There's, what, three more before you're off to college? We can work towards friends in that time, yeah?"

"Yeah," Nancy gives him a small smile, "see you then, Steve."

"See you," Steve replies and shuts the door as she heads down the walkway back towards her car.

He wants to know if Eddie or Robin gave her the dressing down that brought her here to say sorry.

(It wasn't Robin or Eddie. It was Mike, learning what Nancy had done and telling her it wasn't her place to do that.)

There is one final shovel talk for the remainder of their relationship.

It's the final day in Steve's room at his parents house. He's moving in with Eddie and Wayne, at least until the kid's all graduate. Then he and Eddie might go off somewhere on their own.

He's finished packing up his things from the bathroom, and looks up in the mirror. He sees himself, and almost doesn't recognize the reflection staring back. He looks happy. Actually, really happy.

Eddie appears behind him in the mirror, leaning himself against the doorjam, smiling softly at Steve through the mirror.

"All done, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, babe," Steve says. "Just one more thing."

"Oh?"

Steve slides his eyes away from Eddie in the mirror, back to himself. He lifts a finger and points one accusingly finger at himself and says, "if you fuck this up, Harrington, I'll kick your ass myself."

Eddie's full belly laughter rings loudly in the bathroom and Steve just smiles.

[demi-god77]

Saw byler doubt on my tl and I won't have it, so I'm here to try and ease your doubts @lucystark12

(English isn't my first language and I'm currently running on zero hours of sleep. This might be a bit incoherent)

BYLER AND CHARACTER ARCS

First of all, you have to think of this in context to El's character arc as well!

Her arc has always been centered around found family and her own sense of self (the things she lacked for most of her life while she was in the lab, especially since her entire identity was reduced to a number.)

Romantic love (ending the show in a relationship with Mike) would not be beneficial for her arc, as it is not something she lacked prior, she didn't even know what a boyfriend IS when she escaped from the lab. It also sets her back on her path of self discovery (+ she is shown to learn the most about herself when she and Mike are apart).

In an arc about found family, self discovery and independence, forcing her into a relationship that actively separates her from said found family and creates conflict (with Hopper and with the rest of their group), that also doesn't let her figure out who she is, what her interests are and overall stuns her self discovery and independence, would make zero sense. It would not be a progression for her character at all. Especially for someone that has been controlled by others (and men specifically) her entire life.

~~~

About Will now, if his arc was actually about moving on, there was absolutely no reason to make him in love with Mike. All of their conflicts COULD be purely platonic, if their purpose was to signify that he needs to move on/grow up. But they weren't. There would be no reason to make him in love with Mike, he arguably wouldn't even have to be gay for this arc. And yet, his sexuality is mentioned even prior to s1, in the pilot script -clearly important for his character. Him moving on from those feelings would not be beneficial for his arc either, especially since he has already tried to. He has tried to hide from the world, he has tried to repress his feelings and it didn't work out. They even straight up told us he's not able to move on ("[I] need you and [I] always will")

Furthermore, he already believes that his feelings will not be reciprocated, that he needs to let go and that he will never experience a romantic relationship, will never find love. To have him be right does not make for a good story. It sets his storyline back to square one. Him coming into his own and confronting his trauma is definitely a part of his arc, no doubt about that. Moving on from his feelings however, giving up on a love he never let himself believe he could have in the first place, is not.

~~~~

Lastly, Mike himself. I honestly don't really think he has that much of a communication issue. His communication skills are of course not great, they are pretty bad yes, and he obviously struggles with verbally explaining his feelings, but he shows his love through actions and not words. That's something that has been shown since s1 and that's always been how he communicates his emotions. Through actions.

But even so, he has been shown to productively communicate using his OWN words and his OWN feelings before, the shed scene in s2 being a prime example of that (arguably the bedroom scene in S4 as well). His parents' main issue with their relationship is not that they don't communicate imo, it's that they never really loved eachother (and that also ties in to Nancy and her relationship with Steve).

Another thing:

Mike needs to be needed, that's when he feels useful, that's when he feels loved. El is coming into her own, becoming independent, realizing she doesn't need to depend on others, on him. But Will in his monologue confessed that he always will need him, something that will never change.

Moreover, if his arc was truly about learning to communicate effectively, I don't think they would put such emphasis on his insecurities, thinking of himself as inferior and trying to conform. (Also, forcing a confession, especially one based on someone else's feelings would be a horrible writing choice in an arc about self expression.)

Mike actively tries to push aside his nerdy interests and the things he enjoys (who he is) while in the relationship, in order to appear cooler, mature, normal. Pretend he's not himself. THAT is something he gets from his parents. And THAT is not something attributed to bad communication skills, but forced conformity.

And after all, forced conformity is killing the kids.

[lucystark12]

GUYS holy shit i am literally obsessed with this app good god because your theories have given me faith in good writing again AHH just like AHH hello!?!

here’s what is cannon to me about stranger things season five as of three days ago when i made my tumblr account (this is some stuff i riffed on from other theories and some things i came up with by myself):

- vecna has been singling out will from the beginning because of his connection to joyce when he was still henry creel as seen in the stranger things play

- vecna won’t be using will for the same purpose he did max and chrissy and others, he’ll be using him to turn into a second version of him, because it was henry who got sent into the upside down randomly as a little kid and got powers. will was kidnapped by henry and will be getting powers.

- vecna is going to drive will fucking insane. SO many reasons to believe this. he isn’t even going to be remotely like himself anymore, he will be so far gone. he’s not going to be evil, just like a shell of what he once was

- some of this insane driving will be done during episode four when we get the little will flashbacks.

- the reason will wont succumb to vecna is because he’s got a community of love and support. however, joyce and jonathan and el and the party won’t be quite enough to do it- it’s going to be byler that really gets will out of his trance. it’s going to be essentially a true love’s kiss situation because that’s another thing henry never had

- said kiss or confession will be done “on the other side” (a.k.a the upside down) per what was said in the bowie lyric in heroes. heroes acoustic always plays when mike loses will, and i have serious reason to believe that the actual bowie version of the song will play when we get the confession

- the painting is literally the most important part of mike and will’s entire season because the truth about it is going force mike to confront the situation in a deliberate, intentional way that he’s never had to before because before this point he’s never had will say to him specifically anything about his feelings

- as far as stancy vs jancy goes, i’d prefer jancy of course because i adore my girl nancy (look at my pfp for goodness sake), but i’m starting to think stancy is more likely. jonathan spent most of season four a little bit dumbed down by the writers unfortunately. i think they’re doing this to try and get our heads as the viewers around him not being there. i can see jonathan’s death as another way for vecna to fuck with will, and then there maybe being some kind of reconciliation plot between nancy and steve at the end of the season. i don’t know nearly as much about stancy/jancy as i do byler/mileven, so if anybody has a different perspective lmk!

- i saw a post saying alone by heart and listen to your heart by roxette will play in in this season and i kid you not both of those have been two of my favorite songs since i was like nine (emphasis on alone by heart) so like i would literally die

anyways these theories have just made me more excited for season five so it’s like omg

[unfinishedslurs]

Nancy’s GBF Part 2 angstlectric boogaloo

MAX MAYFIELD AND NANCY WHEELER PARALLELS I LOVE YOU 5EVERRRRRR. WOMEN!!!!!

Pt 1

No one else is home when she hears the doorbell ring.

Her mom took Holly to the park, her dad is golfing with his friends, and Mike has Hellfire this evening. So Nancy has been sitting on the kitchen counter, kicking the cabinets and trying (failing) to talk to Barb. It hurts her more than she wants to admit, the quiet days. They’ve progressed in the past month now that Nancy isn’t in denial. Short conversations in between the screaming and crying. Whispering to each other into the early hours of the morning, just like they used to. They have inside jokes again. She’s gotten used to her new laugh.

Looking at her hurts more than anything she’s ever known. It brings her back to the middle school gymnasium, El blindfolded and in a kiddie pool. “Gone, gone, gone,” ringing through her head like a bell.

Barb is watching from the corner like she always is when Nancy opens the front door.

Max looks smaller than she’s ever seen her, even when she was lying still in her hospital bed. Her hair is short and choppy, and there are tears in her eyes behind her glasses. Her arms are shaking around her crutches.

“Max? What’s wrong?”

She sets her jaw, like she’s trying not to cry. “Can I come in?”

“Of course,” she moves aside, resisting the urge to help her in. It wouldn’t be welcomed. “Mike isn’t home right now.”

“I know. Lucas hasn’t shut up about how excited he is for this session in days.” She sits down, and some of the strain around her eyes relaxes, before they dart to the side. Looking at something.

Nancy almost turns around to see if Barb is there, but she’s right in front of her. Whatever Max is seeing, it’s not her best friend.

“Is everything okay?”

“The rest of your family isn’t here, right?”

She blinks. “No, why?”

“I just…wanted to make sure. Mike said you would be home alone today.”

“Why did…never mind. How did you get here? You didn’t walk, did you?” She doesn’t think that she could, given her crutches and the fact that she still needs physical therapy twice a week, but Max has always been very determined.

Luckily she shakes her head. “Eddie dropped me off on his way to Hellfire at Steve’s.”

“How long ago was that?”

“…I don’t know. A while ago.”

“Max,” she says, agast. “Why didn’t you knock sooner?”

Her eyes go sideways again. Then she looks at Nancy, determined. “Mike says you’ve been acting weird.”

“Mike needs to mind his own business,” she snaps back automatically. Barb snorts. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Max fidgets with the end of her braid. “He said you’ve been…freezing cold, and distant, and looking at things no one else can see, and El told me to talk to you because you would understand. And I just wanted to see, I guess. If you really had the same thing I had.”

If you really had the same thing I had. She takes another, longer look at Max. At the sweater she’s wearing in late June, the unnatural paleness in her face, the way her eyes keep wandering, involuntary, past Nancy’s shoulder.

She and Barb share a wide-eyed look.

“Who is it?” She asks, but she already knows the answer.

Max covers her face with her hands. “Billy.”

Shit.

“When did you cut your hair?”

“Around…two hours ago?” She huffs a tired laugh at Nancy’s surprised face. “I didn’t mean to, I just…he always used to pull it to mess with me, and I know he can’t touch me but I could feel it and I needed it gone. Eddie offered to fix it for me, but…”

“But…?”

She looks down at her lap. “He listens to the same kind of music Billy did,” she confesses, “and he has the same metalhead hair, and the same posters on his wall, and I know it’s not the same, because Eddie is actually pretty nice when he’s not trying to scare people, and I like him a lot and we bitch over PT together but he’s still a boy and I didn’t want him to touch my hair. It just felt so bad.”

“I cut my hair too, after Barb died,” Nancy blurts out.

“Really?”

“It looked way worse than yours does, actually. I couldn’t really see myself in the mirror, so it ended up more uneven than I meant it to. My mom found me in a puddle of hair clippings and tears. She fixed it for me, and then we got an appointment for a perm the next day.”

It’s actually one of her best memories of that awful time between Barb’s death and writing the article. Her mom’s soothing voice, the way she held her gently and didn’t scold her.

When she was done evening everything out, she stepped back and wet her lips.

“Sometimes…” she said, “sometimes, we need a change, before we can heal.”

Now, she looks at Max, and can’t help but see herself as her mother saw her years ago.

“Do you want me to fix it?”

Max slumps, and Nancy pretends her heart isn’t breaking when she asks, voice cracking, “Please?”

[slavicviking]

Steve wakes up to a heart-shaped box on his doorstep.

He only narrowly misses it, too, almost stepping into it on his way to the mailbox. It’s obnoxiously sparkling red but doesn’t match the ones everyone in Hawkins has been assaulted with at every shop for the last week or so. No, this one looks hand-made, strips of red paper peeling off at the sides. It sports a makeshift bow, too, carefully wrapped around the box. There is no name attatched to it, at least none that he can see, but there’s a ‘Happy Valentine’s’ scrawled on the top in a handwriting Steve doesn’t recognize.

His first instinct is to pick it up and see what’s inside but then every existing alarm bell in his head starts ringing at the same time. He promptly takes a step back, heels hitting the first step up to the porch. Stays there. 

There is no one in particular that comes to mind as to who could leave this for him. He hasn’t been on a date in months, a fact that Robin likes to point out too much for his liking. He doesn’t think any of the girls he has gone out with would have any lingering feelings at all, not that they seem like the type to handcraft a box themselves anyway. And the one person he would like to receive a gift from hates Valentine’s Day with a passion.

“It’s literally a marketing scheme so you spend all your money on useless shit,” Eddie told him last week before dipping his pizza in ranch dressing which is objectively disgusting. He’s a strange dude. Steve wants to kiss him senseless. 

But - the box. 

It was one of the many summer barbeques at Hopper’s that Joyce did a retelling of hers and Murray’s fun little trip to the Soviet Union and though Steve’s memory of that evening is hazy at best, he does remember them mentioning a strange package. It’s been a threat that existed  at the back of his mind since Starcourt. Those people are relentless, persistent, they don’t forget. And they - Steve and Robin and the kids - they got out and know too much.

Eyes on the box, Steve makes his way back into the house and grabs at the walkie.

“Henderson, we might have a problem.”

-&-

Eddie has a plan.

It’s a pretty ambitious one, according to Gareth at least, but Eddie tries to stay a positive thinker - so unlike him, he can admit that, but after you face literal monsters from a hellish dimension, certain very-human things like crushes and the like seem less scary. Who knew it would only take almost dying by the likes of demonic bats for him to find more confidence to pursue a love interest.

A Steve Harrington-shaped love interest at that. 

Nancy and Robin insist, though, that he does have a chance and his flirting attempts have been reciprocated so far, so maybe they do have a point. He hopes so, at least. 

The first step of the plan, admittedly, does not scream ‘confidence’ but Eddie’s a careful guy, or he is when it comes to these matters at least. Navigating social queues has never been his strong suit, not really, but with Steve - it’s easy. Comfortable. Still, he’s laying the groundwork first, starts simple enough - anonymously, too, though not without effort put into it. Wayne can attest, what with the bits of glue and red glitter still making appearances in various places in the trailer. 

What Eddie expects, hopefully, is Steve being maybe enamored with the gift, curious about the secret admirer. And then - then follows a passionate confession and a happy ending. 

What Eddie doesn’t expect is an unkown car and a couple of bikes parked in the Harrington driveway by the time he gets there. Stepping out of his van, he’s ambushed by voices he recognizes all too well screaming over each other in the backyard, it seems. And, just as he predicted, by the Harrington infamous pool there is Dustin and Mike and Max, there is Steve and Robin, and some guy - and they’re all wearing goggles, hands shoved into protective gloves- 

“What the fuck.”

“Stay where you are boy, this is serious business,” the stranger tells him, hands tightening around the rope he’s holding. There’s a whole wild construction they conjured up, the rope sliding over some branches of a maple tree, a bucket of paint holding onto its opposite end. Directly in the line of where it would eventually fall lays a familiar box.

“My chocolate?” 

“Oh, for the love of-” the man groans, pointing a finger in Eddie’s general direction, eyes narrowed behind wide-framed glasses. “Are you, or are you not, an enemy of the people?”

“Murray-!”

“No?” Eddie squeaks out before clearing his throat. “No, uh, definitely not. An enemy.”

“It’s from you?” Steve steps out from behind the wall of deck chairs, as do the kids and Robin. He looks silly yet still adorable with the snorkeling goggles covering half of his face. Even as he rips it off, red markings remain around his eyes and nose. Eddie thinks he’s never looked prettier. He nods.

“But I thought you hated Valentine’s- wait, does that mean?”

“I wouldn’t hate it with you-”

“I didn’t sign up for another one of these,” Murray butts in from behind them, slowly releasing the rope so it doesn’t damage the acquitted suspect, though it does look like he would very much like to smash it to pieces. “C’mon, kids, the fun is over.”

“But-”

“Steve-”

“That’s so lame-”

“Goodbye,” Murray says through clenched teeth, pushing the kids towards the exit, Robin giving the pair a very unsubtle thumbs up from behind him. He pauses to stare at Eddie and Steve. “Just kiss already, save us the drama. Can’t believe I missed Growing Pains for this.”

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Stuck Between a Jock and a Metalhead

Summary: Nancy, on a whim, decides to visit Steve at Scoops Ahoy, which leads to her overhearing confessions from Steve that leads her to think about the decisions she's made. A few days later, she decides to come back. She finds him being hit on by the town freak. What's a girl to do? Oh, get stuck in a freezer with the both of them.

18+ MINORS DNI

A/N: Yeah, when I got the idea to make El genderfuid, I just ran with it. Also, at the end, there's a little bit of smut, which was supposed to be mostly implied, but my fingers ran away from me. Also, there is no teen pregnancy for Nance. They've already got kids to take care of. Just had to put that out there.

@nightmareglitter

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven - Chapter Twelve - Chapter Thirteen - Chapter Fourteen- Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Steve’s POV

Steve grinned as he watched Eddie score the winning point, and he laughed at Eddie's stunned face.

"Holy shit, I did it," Eddie said. "I won the game! Here I am, Hawkins! Eddie the Freak Munson has conquered the sport of basketball! Fear me!"

Steve laughed again and stared at his raised arms before smirking. He snuck up on Eddie's side. He knelt to pick him up and tossed him over his shoulder. Steve laughed as he spun him around. Lucas and El, who they had been playing against, started giggling.

"I like basketball," El decided.

"Steven! I'm going to toss my fucking cookies. Stop it!" Eddie shrieked.

Steve laughed and lowered him into his arms. Eddie wrapped his legs around him and kissed him deeply.

"So?" Steve asked.

"Okay, so basketball isn't that bad," Eddie said. "I really loved it when you started narrating it like you were a dungeon master."

"Yeah, we call those guys sports announcers or sports casters," Steve said.

"Tomato, potato," Eddie paused. "So, am I forgiven?"

"Definitely," Steve grinned and set Eddie down, slapping him on the ass. "Hit the showers."

"You heard him, lady and gent, hit the showers!" Eddie exclaimed.

"I am one of the boys today," El said seriously.

"Ah, okay. Remind me to make you special pins again," Eddie said.

"You always tell me to remind you. I think you need pins to remind you to make me pins," El replied.

"Oh, very funny! My little brother, the comedian!" Eddie exclaimed and paused. "Although, it's not a bad idea."

"Nancy said that you would forget your head if it was not screwed on," he said.

"Nancy's cute, but yeah, she's usually right," Eddie grinned at his brother.

Surprisingly, it was Steve and Eddie who were out of the showers first. Eddie collapsed on the bench next to Nancy and Robin, laying his head in Nancy's lap.

"What are you ladies doing?" Eddie asked.

"Filling out college applications," Nancy said as she set her notebook aside. "You were really good out there."

"Oh, yeah, how do you think the other jocks would react if I signed up to join the basketball team this year?" Eddie asked.

"Not very well," Nancy giggled.

"I would pay to see that," Steve said.

"I am not looking forward to school tomorrow," Eddie groaned. "Another year of hell, but I am determined to graduate this year. No one can stop me, not even Principal Higgins."

"If I have to threaten him too, I will," Nancy said. "You're walking across that stage with me."

"I love it when you defend my honor. It makes me feel like a princess," Eddie said.

"You are a princess, our princess," Steve teased as he leaned against Nancy's legs to kiss Eddie.

El and Lucas finally came out of the shower, making their way over to the group.

"El had a great idea. Let's grab some dinner," Lucas said, and then he paused. "Hey, I just realized. . . Why aren't Mike and Dustin here?"

"I told them they needed to come up with a really awesome one-shot to audition for Hellfire," Eddie said. "They didn't realize I was fucking with them so they're working on it right now."

"Nice," Steve said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, I'm actually invested in seeing what they come up with," Eddie said. "Might be fun."

El opened his mouth to suggest what they could possibly eat for dinner, and Eddie immediately sat up to glare at him.

"You can't eat waffles all the time, El," Eddie said. "I love waffles as much as the next person, but we can not have them for dinner for a third day in a row."

"Aww," El said.

"I could definitely use a break from these college applications," Robin said. "My hand hurts."

The group headed out. Eddie and El went to Eddie's van. Lucas, Robin, and Nancy followed Steve to his car. Steve was about to open his car door when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, and he tensed up immediately when he saw Nancy scowl. Steve whirled around and came face to face with Tommy H.

"And just when I thought the rest of my day was going to keep looking up," Steve sighed. "What do you want, Tommy?"

"Just curious if your daddy knows about how public you are with your affections?" Tommy asked.

When Steve tensed up even further, Lucas and Robin moved to his side.

"You saw me with Eddie," Steve stated.

"Well, he kissed you in the school gym. You guys weren't exactly subtle," Tommy said.

"My dad knows about me, but he doesn't particularly care for others to know," he said and paused. "Are you planning on telling him?"

"You wouldn't like that, would you?" Tommy asked.

"No," Steve scoffed. "What do you want?"

"To warn you to be more careful next time, Harrington," Tommy said.

"Are you threatening him?" Nancy asked, moving in front of Steve protectively.

"What? No!" Tommy exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"Well then, what are you doing? Because you sure sound like you were threatening him," Robin said, scowling at him.

"I, uh, I guess it did sound like that," Tommy said, rubbing the back of his head.

Steve tilted his head to the side as he watched Tommy. He had known him most of his life, considering their fathers worked together. There were only a few times when he had seen Tommy look vulnerable like this.

"What's going on?" Steve asked softly.

"They're okay with you?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, they're my friends. Of course, they are," Steve said.

It was then that Eddie approached with El, the both of them looking concerned. Tommy stepped back, his hands in his pockets.

"Is something going here?" Eddie asked. "Hayes."

"Uh, actually, it's Hagan. That's the other Tommy H," he replied.

"Right," Eddie said. "He's the asshole who used to come after me and Hellfire. Lot more blond and a lot less freckles. You're Steve’s former friend who swarmed around Hargrove like a pilot fish."

"I was trying to make Steve jealous," Tommy said. "Honestly, kind of hated the guy."

"What?" Steve asked.

"I'm gay, Steve," Tommy replied.

"What? But you and Carol - " Steve said.

"I was the one who made up that rumor about me and Carol having sex in the seventh grade. Honestly, we only did it a couple of times before I realized I was trying to be someone I wasn't. I was an asshole for a long time because of it. You know, just because I was struggling with who I am, though, doesn't exactly give me the right to act like that. I guess, if I seemed miserable, it's because I was. I treated you, Nancy, and Barb like shit. I talked shit about everyone, too. I guess it was easier to do that than to face the truth about myself," Tommy shrugged.

"There he is," Steve grinned. "There's the Tommy that I remember."

"Thanks for allowing us to be there for that, man," Eddie said softly. "I do have a question. You said that you were trying to make Steve jealous?"

"Uh, I was in love with him for a long time," Tommy winced. "That's sort of why I hated you, Nancy, but I'm no longer in love with him. I actually have a boyfriend!"

He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a small photo from the folds. He handed it to Steve.

"Oh, wow, he's cute," Steve said.

"His name is Walter. He just finished his first year at the University of Indianapolis. I'll be going there in a few days," Tommy said proudly. "My mom took that photo."

"Your mom knows?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, I decided to tell both of my parents. Of course, my dad didn't take it too well. Tried to beat it out of me. My mom took my old baseball bat to his head. She actually deafened the bastard. He's in jail now," Tommy shrugged.

"Damn, way to go Carmen," Steve said.

"Yeah, she's more than okay with it. She loves Walter," Tommy said.

"Hey, we were about to grab a bite to eat. Do you want to come with us?" Eddie asked.

"I mean, I was going to shoot hoops in the gym one last time, but if it's alright with Steve and everyone else, I'd like that," Tommy said.

"Of course," Steve said and pulled Tommy into a hug.

After so long, it felt nice to have his old friend back. Robin did make sure that Tommy wasn't just going to slip back into his old role, that the position had been filled. She told him she was a lesbian and then patted his cheek before slipping into the back seat of Steve’s car.

"You should know, though, that I'm not just with Eddie either," Steve said. "I'm back with Nancy."

"And they're both okay with it?" Tommy asked.

"We're all dating each other," Nancy replied.

"Are you happy, Steve?" Tommy asked.

"Happier than ever," Steve shrugged. "I've got an amazing boyfriend and girlfriend as well as an amazing new best friend. Kids who look up to me. . .I have a family who actually cares about me more than my parents ever did."

"Sounds like we both got to a better place," Tommy said. "Somehow."

"Sometimes life surprises you," Steve shrugged.

"You think that there's a spot for me in your better life?" Tommy asked.

"Of course, Tommy," Steve said. "What about me in yours?"

"I kind of always left the door open even if I didn't let you know," Tommy said. "I missed you, man."

"I've been missing you for a long time," Steve said. "It's good to see you again, Tommy."

"It's good to see you, too."

As they sat around the largest table in the restaurant, missing Dustin and Mike, Steve realized that he realized that a part of him had been yearning for Tommy to be a part of his life again. Later that night, he lay in bed in his newly furnished apartment in between Eddie and Nancy, Steve couldn't stop the wide grin from spreading on his face. All the furniture he had taken from his parents' house, jumping the gun on moving into the apartment and so ready to leave his biological parents behind. The only thing he really needed now was a new stove and new supplies for downstairs. His real parents had chipped in for an AC unit as a welcome home present. So, he had packed up all of his things, what little he had there, left a message on his parents' machine about their house getting robbed, and left the house for good.

"Whatcha grinning about, Stevie?" Eddie asked.

"Just thinking about how insanely happy I am right now," Steve said and paused. "Are you alright with Tommy being back in my life, Nancy?"

"Of course, I actually like this Tommy," Nancy grinned.

"Well, this is the Tommy that I befriended when I was younger," Steve said. "I really missed him."

"Then I really glad he's back in your life," Nancy said.

"By the way, Nance, how did you get your mom to let you have a sleepover with your boyfriends on a school night?" Eddie asked.

"She trusts us. I mean, it turns out I wasn't exactly as sneaky as I thought I was when you both snuck into my room. She knew you were there. I think she'd rather I'd be honest with her if I'm just going to do it anyway. She also knows how happy we are together," Nancy said. "And Holly absolutely adores the both of you. As does Mike."

Eddie grinned as he got up and pulled a book out of his overnight bag.

"Okay, so where did we leave off?" He asked.

"Actually, Nancy and I were talking. . .we were hoping to have sex but if you want to read instead. . . " Steve said.

"Okay, Munsons do not throw books," Eddie said and carefully put the book back.

He jumped back into bed, kissing Steve deeply. Steve laughed and broke the kiss.

"So, you don't want to read?" Steve asked.

Nancy laughed and rolled her eyes. She tugged at Eddie's shirt, lifting it above his head.

"Nancy and I say no to that," Eddie said.

Eddie kissed Nancy, leaning over Steve to do it. He tugged at Nancy's shirt and slid his fingers under the material. He continued to kiss Nancy, unbuttoning her sleep shirt and sliding it off her body. He broke the passionate kiss to appreciate the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. Nancy peered at him, her eyes dark. She tugged at Eddie's pajama pants.

"Off. Now," Nancy demanded.

Eddie was quick to obey, getting rid of his pants and his boxers. Nancy did the same and shed the rest of her clothes. Steve could only watch, mesmerized as they kissed over him again. Eddie broke the kiss with Nancy, chuckling.

"I guess we're the only ones who will be naked, Nancy," Eddie said.

"I guess so," Nancy said in amusement.

"Oh, right!" Steve exclaimed, blushing and quickly stripped.

The three of them fell into bed, laughing, as they pressed themselves together. Their hands and mouths explored every inch of each other as they danced together, rolling around on the bed. They grinded and thrusted in perfect unison but arriving on their own time in perfect ecstasy. It ended with Nancy in between them both as they fucked into her, filling her up from both sides and stuffing her full as she took them in hungrily. Nancy's nails clung to Eddie as Steve spilled into the condom from behind Nancy. Their sweaty naked bodies were spent as they pulled away and collapsed against the sheets. Steve bit his lip and tried not to say it. . .trying not to ruin the moment that was so perfect. He needed to say it.

"I love sex," Nancy gasped and then paused. "What I meant to say was I love you. . .I love you both, and I love having sex with you."

"Honey, there's nothing to be ashamed of. A woman is allowed to have healthy sexual appetite and to enjoy it," Eddie said with a chuckle and ran his fingers across her skin. "It's only been a couple of months but fuck, I love you guys, too."

"I love you too," Steve said. "Both of you."

"Shit. I think my condom broke," Eddie cursed. "Of course, mine is the one that breaks."

"I'm on the pill. Are you clean?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah. Very."

"Then I think we're fine," Nancy chuckled.

After they cleaned each other up, they collapsed back onto the bed again. Nestled safe in their arms, Steve was unbelievably happy, and in that moment, he believed nothing could go wrong. As he drifted off to sleep, he tried not to think about Eddie's dreams and what they might mean for them. No, right now they were together and they were happy. Nothing was going to get in their way, not if Steve could help it.

Chapter Seventeen

[findafight]

It is tiring to be regarded as a 'homophobe' when you claim to not like a queer ship or say you do not think a queer ship is going to be canon & should not go canon. ST fandom has this type of fans especially Bylers and recently Ronancers. Sorry that I do not think Byler has a chance of being wrapped up in a nice way when the writers actively refused to even breakup Mileven in this season and intentionally added a confession scene on the show from Mike to El. We literally have 1 season left with everything else going on in a limited time frame but I am expected to be okay with the possible resolution of this whole thing, and should expect a nice wrap up where we supposedly will see Mileven break up, Mike and El moving on from each other, there will be a time for them to adjust to that, for Mike to consider dating Will HECK even for Will to consider confessing and dating Mike, for the writers to make that all believable to the audience in a nice way within the narrative.... and I am expected to like Ronance when Stobin is one of the most important platonic relationships on the show and we canonically know Nancy and Steve's break up was bad, and that Steve still has feelings for Nancy. I want to see representation, I really do but it feels like the fandom itself is bending any logic and sensibility to make a ship seem reasonable and make sense within the narrative... when it really does not.

God. Yeah. Like sure queer people can have internalized homophobia or intra community basis (like bi/a/trans phobia) etc but to say someone's a bigot just because they don't like the a fictional ship, or even that they just don't think it will be canon, is just silly and causing problems on purpose.

The intense blr shippers have really turned me off the ship, honestly. I have a few asks from them saved as drafts just to get them out of my inbox, and they're saying the same as others "we're fighting homophobia" "you're just as bad as people saying why don't we shut up about blr and ship mlvn if you don't think this has been part of a grand and epic master plan for the greatest romance ever" as well as just not understanding what the very specific phenomena of queerbaiting is, all telling me I don't belong in the ship because I don't ship it correctly. So. Makes me feel bad and really disappointed. People who ship mlvn (which my original post was also tagged, because it discusses them too) DIDNT come to my inbox and call me names or a fake shipper when I said I thought they should break up. Make of that what you will.

As much as Will and Mike getting together would mean to people, putting that much emotional weight and expectation and emphasis on a single aspect of a show, a single ship, is not healthy. It also, if it does happen, will not be the epic romance planned from the start they think it is. (We remember tjlc, right?? RIGHT??) If it happens it will possibly be slap dash and rushed, because you're right. There's a lot happening, the show struggles with ending/starting romances, and they are NOT the only characters that matter. The breathing room required for both Mike and El AND the audience to make the breakup feel real and that enough time has passed to not make Mike look like an asshole for immediately dating his ex's brother (and for Will not to look like an ass for dating his sister's ex?!?) Is now insufficient given how short the seasons are, and as you said, they should've broken up in S4 to pull that off.

And then the fandom would likely feel a bit cheated after building it up so much in their heads, only for it to be a bit of a flop. But I guess a lot of people don't mind how Nancy and Jonathan got together, so with the way some of the people in my inbox were talking about El then it could be like that too. Just. Not giving a shit if someone, a character I personally love, was really hurt and betrayed by her recently ex boyfriend and her BROTHER.

Pretending it was all fine because romantic love is the most important thing ever to them I guess. When it's not, especially in the show! Non romantic bonds are so important to these characters! It would just ruin it for me, because what I was originally saying was that Will, Mike, and El all mean so much to each other and actively try to not hurt one another (even if the do accidentally or end up hurting themselves) and that, because Will and El are siblings now, Will might think twice about dating Mike so soon after he broke up with El. It would make them look cold hearted and selfish tbh. That's why a good ending would be Will feeling comfortable enough to come out, and being accepted by his friends. (All of them not just Mike) and that final emphasis on the Party as a whole rather than individual Romo relationships.

It's actually very important to consider other people's feelings in everyday life, I think. Sure, ultimately they shouldn't dictate all your actions, but there will be consequences for some of them. They can lose friendships, or other relationships. It can also make a character look REALLY BAD.

For rnce, people go on about how Robin absolutely does not need to consider Steve's feelings in pursuing a girl. (Ignoring other issues people have with the ship that have nothing to do with Steve, lol) And sure. Okay. For every girl but the one that broke his heart, cheated on him, and who he still has feelings for that Robin herself encouraged. People are out here saying they could be endgame without completely ruining stobin's friendship like huh??? Do they understand Robin "what if we just combined" Buckley? Do they not care about the most important relationship in her life? Do they not care about her beyond how she can hype up Nancy instead of one of those icky boys?

A problem I have with rnce is that a lot of the writing saying it could be canon (which, lbr, it won't be. While I think blr may be canon just in a kind of disappointing way, I don't think there's any chance of rnce happening, especially with Vickie right there blushing and flirting with Robin) only focuses on how it would be good for Nancy, or if it's trying to make it seem good for Robin ignores their personalities and other relationships. Like Nancy isn't annoyed by Robin until Robin's speech gets them into Penherst, or that Nancy wasn't dismissive of Robin's ideas, and Robin wasn't clearly nervous and apologizing for being annoying in order to get Nancy to like her (tbh I think Nancy should have been the one pursuing a friendship with Robin instead of the other way around but alas). Tbh I could go on about how Nancy and her relationships and her needs/wants inside those are often misdirected? Misidentified? By fandom, and how that feeds into Robin being reduced to someone who supports Nancy (which, if people complain about Robin considering her bffs feelings about her dating someone, shouldn't they complain about her becoming a glorified cheerleader for Nancy...oh. it's because it's romantic. And some parts of this fandom value that most.) In rnce, which strips Robin of her personality and makes it boring. But this is already long haha (Not to mention it'd be super weird for Nancy to be dating her ex she cheated on and never actually told she cheated on him's best friend. Awkward!!)

I used to not mind rnce that much, tbh. I didn't get it and did think it was weird but the art was cute! And now it's sort of an alarm bells for people being weird about stobin.

Steve and Robin's relationship, like so many platonic relationships but more glaring with just how obsessed with each other they are, is often devalued by the fandom by virtue of the idea that a romantic partner needs/should be someone's number 1. Even though those two want to combine, and are seen taking active roles in trying to get them a romantic relationship, and are really the first person the other felt they could be completely themself around. They're the most important person to the other, regardless of their romantic relationship status.

[stanielman]

Mike's Going to Die in Season Five

I’ve sort of given up theorizing what will happen in the final season of Stranger Things because I have no idea what’s going to happen! I don’t know what the Duffers are going to do, I don’t know if they even knew back in season one so I don’t want to bother with putting puzzle pieces together from back then. I like connecting dots after the fact rather than being disappointed from the outcome of what happened or didn’t happen.

And I think that all comes to a head with a main reason why I don’t want to theorize which is that it is an unignorable fact to me that Mike Wheeler is going to die in the final season. Again, who knows for sure, but the future sure looks bleak to me! I have never in my life seen a character so death coded, never seen a show so afraid to make real sacrifices that I cannot help but to believe that it’s all for a reason and that reason is that they’re saving their big death for the kid that started it all sacrificing himself.

If you think Mike is not the central protagonist, I pity you. I know that Winona Ryder gets paid more, I know that El is the main character and I know that Will is the inciting incident, but it’s also important to remember that Mike has always been the kid that started it all. Without him, the party wouldn’t have banded together to find Will, they wouldn’t have found El, they wouldn’t have refused to give up on their search, they wouldn’t have done half the shit that they did! He’s the heart my guys, he brought everyone together and he will be the final step that they need.

Let’s walk through all of the little context clues that follow Mike around relentlessly. Firstly, the start of every single season shows our little protagonist running late for something, running out of time. In season one, he didn’t have time to finish the campaign, season two was late to the arcade, season three was late to the movies and season four was late for school. It’s interesting to me too that the theme of him running late starts after El is introduced in his life, because that first example is simply that he ran out of time to play and he begs for more time, but then in season two he was trying to find her on the walkie, forgetting to get ready for the arcade. In season three, he was hanging out with her for too long. In season four, he was reading the letter from her. Maybe that’s all an example of saying that El may be the Monster, she’s what’s putting him in danger and taking away his life and if she’s gone then he will once again be protected, but even so he couldn’t finish the campaign on his own. Bottom line is that Mike is running out of time. And we know that Vecna has a whole thing with clocks.

Going deeper into his relationship with time, if we want to talk about him running out of time, what about his love confession to El? That was fueled in not having enough time, not having enough time to tell her his feelings, her not having enough time to, I don’t know, breath, the world ending without that time. But he’s also given time, when he grieves the loss of Will, is parents decide to just give him time, which is juxtaposed in season two when he gets that time taken away when they tell him to grow up, or in season four he’s lectured about what time to be home after Hellfire. 

Or, let’s flip into presence and lack there of. The fact of unpredictability with his actions and no one knowing his true self. He lies to his mom about going to school, he’s not there for the Starcourt battle which we’ll talk about later, he’s missing for all of season four. And these absences are noticed, Dustin and Lucas point out his empty seat in season one. And even further with presence, what about where he actually is? He is present in Nancy’s vision about her whole family dying, you know the vision that we never saw but is showing some truth already. And what do you know, the Wheelers are staying through the storm. He’s also very close to Will who has Upside Down danger written all over him, really close with El who is Vecna’s entire target. He even is the only one shown noticing Max’s symptoms before she sees Vecna, that awkward moment in class where he sees her have a bloody nose. 

And that’s because of his role in the story. He’s a protector, he will protect these people no matter the cost. He is the group’s leader, their Dungeon Master. DMs are constantly propelling others by building a story and a world for them and guiding them through their decisions. Who else are DMs that we see? Will is, but that is a wildly different topic, and, of course, Eddie. Who Mike bases his entire season four identity off of in adoration, trying to be Eddie and then Eddie dies. And interestingly enough, when Mike does DM for the group, we see that he’s not playing with them, he’s not a part of the party. He is not meant to save the world with them.

Which isn’t a wild claim, Mike is famously not useful in final battles. In season one, he just stands there and watches El and even gets pushed back, hindering any ability to fight. In season two, while he does come up with the plan to set fire to the hub, he also trips on the way out and holds up the group. In season three, he’s knocked out, not there for any of the fight against the Mind Flayer. Side note, who’s also not there? Max, who, conveniently enough, was the downfall of season four, that last piece before the world split open. Who was the other downfall of season four? Mike Wheeler, whose speech to try to give El confidence ultimately backfired and still allowed for the world to get torn in two. It goes even further with little examples of him grabbing bad weapons or being a terrible runner, always underprepared and a step behind everyone else. It’s shown relentlessly that he’s not needed on the team, especially with how Dustin steals his role as ideas man in season four in his absence. They can get along without him just fine. There’s such juxtaposition with how he says in season four that it’s up to him and Will again to save the world, when the two of them did nothing then. But somehow he knows that he is one of the keys for saving the world.

Because he is. The group does need him. They need his guidance. Season two is the best example, without his plan to light the thing on fire, everything would be fucked. During the Hellfire game in season four, Dustin looks to him for his opinion on how to save the day, a natural response of looking to his leader despite the fact that Mike’s character has already died in the game! They do need Mike for ideas. For inspiration.

And what’s better inspiration than being everyone’s heart? Than sacrificing himself so they can live on?

Remember when Mike jumped off a cliff in season one to protect Dustin? A moment everyone always says we don’t talk about enough but then actually don’t provide any substance to a conversation about it. He doesn’t jump off the cliff because he’s suicidal or because he wants to die, he sits there and thinks about it a lot actually. He does it to protect Dustin. He proves in that moment that he is not afraid to die and would do anything for his friends. Including, sacrificing himself. 

It works wonderfully narratively, his parents don’t know the truth about what’s been going on with him and nobody is there to save him in that moment. Nobody cares about Mike, there aren’t any Mike heart to hearts and when there are, they’re about El, or Will’s veiled own feelings. We don’t know his true feelings, nobody knows his true feelings. He forces honesty out of everyone but always hold something back and lies through his teeth. Nobody agrees about his personality, Will adores him and El is in love with him and Hopper hates him and Max is grossed out by him. What we do know about Mike, and thank you Will, is that he is what holds the party together. And he will keep holding them together even in his absence, which is present enough with how they were still able to stay afloat in season four without him. In fact, it’s when he does get involved and does that speech to El that throws everything off and Max dies.

There is something coming for him in season five. There is a pointed moment every season where Mike cries, when Will dies, when El comes back, when the Byers move away, and then nothing in season four. Which is very interesting because all 6 other main party kids cried in this season. His strange lack of character and motivation is season four is just a huge red flag that he has something bad coming. That he has run out of time and nobody will be able to save him.

My one and only hope that he won’t die is byler. Because while I know the Duffers are committed to telling a story, I also know that branding matters and with branding comes the image of the most popular show in the world leaving their gay main character with an unhappy ending. Will is in love with Mike and if Mike is gone that leaves Will with unhappiness. Unless Will dies too but also I have no idea if they have the balls to do that. Or if they have the balls to kill El off. Will and El are such important characters, but Mike is just slightly less important. 

[gayofthefae]

Just thinking about Mike's love confession and how I WOULD care if they were getting together or had any kind of build up but that isn't what the story was at all. It wasn't a payoff to a 4 season slow burn - if it had been people would have been waiting for and expecting it but most people thought we were done with that relationship in terms of buildup and the rest was just cute milestone moments. The story isn't a buildup and payoff it's them having issues that then resolve to point A, if not only slightly better.

He already said he loved her and she already knew and she already said it back. This wasn't a reveal or him "finally" anything. It wasn't a payoff, it was a return from a backslide.

I would care if it was a payoff, but it wasn't. They got together at the end of season 2, arguably at the end of season 1, with 3-4 seasons to go. I didn't care because it didn't pay off any tension.

That's the thing: there was no tension. There was just conflict. I wasn't waiting for him to break and finally confess, they were together and there were no stakes to him telling her. For Lucas and Max, having broken up, for example, I WOULD call that "tension".

But Mike and El are dating. He could kiss her at any time and there is no risk to him telling her he loves her. The introduction of that plot was a surprise to people because everyone thought their relationship was already resolved. If everyone thinks a story is resolved, that is the opposite of tension. There was no "finally, after all this time of investment". They could have written a four season slowburn. They could have written Max and Lucas' breakup plot for them. They could have written Mike and Will's "feeling distant" plot for them, even. But they didn't.

They built them up for 1-2 seasons then closed it out, knowing damn well they had 3-4 left.

This isn't Joyce and Hopper. It's Jonathan and Nancy fighting in season 3 - which isn't to say I'm hating on them. It's just to say when I think "big romantic payoff to all of their buildup" I don't think Jonathan apologizing in the elevator - I don't even think them telling Fred and Argyle they love each other, that's just a sweet moment - I think them kissing at Murray's. Typically, unless it's on again off again, after two characters get together, that's it. That's the buildup, it's done. They may still face challenges that strengthen their relationship but that isn't "the big payoff" that's just plot-points and milestones within their relationship.

If you told me after season 3 about Mike's monologue, I wouldn't say "finally!" I would say "wait, didn't he already do that? oh- uhm...okay, good for him, I guess".

It isn't a payoff because I'm not curious if two people who are already dating and have said I love you are going to continue dating. (that's why them not a is a surprise and a subversion of expectation). Mike and El are not a will they/won't they; they've been together for over a year.

No one was finishing season 2 thinking "I know the show isn't over because Mike hasn't said I love you so their relationship is unresolved". For those two, at least, it could have ended there. It's one season of build up and "build up" is a strong word for a one sided plot we see from a third party perspective.

Established couples have romance but not romantic tension, so if all you can say for that is that it's a payoff to their entire relationship's romantic tension, it's a bit of a reach and I'm worried for your ship that that's the best you could do.

[emblazons]

Taking a break from my lil International Women's Day gifset to talk about how I have so many thoughts about this moment I'm finding it hard to articulate them...and I know its because this is the moment that holds the key to understanding Nancy as a character across the entirety of the narrative of this show.

I'm thinking about how this is one of the first moments we hear what Nancy's relationship is to the core themes of "forced conformity" that gets pulled on in season 4—and how we learn that her primary battle is between desiring more for herself and her relationships and complacency, because she doesn't want the life her mother has (which she told Jonathan the scene before this one) but also still feels comfortable in the space that middle class suburbia allots her as an attractive and intelligent young woman.

Thinking about the way it's Jonathan who pulls on this war within her, and is the one who encourages her to step outside of what is easy and into what she wants—and how a lot of the reason we see her regress in S4 is because Jonathan isn't there to challenge the "easy way" that comes naturally to her, even though its not necessarily what she desires...in much the same way her brother is influenced by Will to challenge his own sense of "what he wants."

Thinking about how, no matter how the show ends for Jancy, Nancy will never end up with Steve because he has always represented caving to "normalcy" and social order complacency—even to the point where he talks about being "normal" in much the way Finn talks about Mike trying to be, which anyone who understands the themes of the show (aka championing the outcasts & weirdos) knows is not the winning hand in Stranger Things.

Thinking about how the only reason we even had a Steve revival was to bring Nancy to her own "narrative low" we saw for every character in Season 4, where she falls back into the comfortable familiarity of Steve because its easy and familiar (much like her home life)...and about how Nancy is currently at the crux of deciding whether or not her pursuit of more for herself as a woman and her relationships is just a phase or something inherent to her.

Thinking about how Nancy is a fascinating character because she, even moreso than Mike, has every single bit of what would make it easy to cave to what is "normal" in her world—and is now being presented with the choice between leaving the "phase" of rebellion with Jonathan to get with that one-time jock who wants 6 nuggets and a Winnebago...or pushing forward with someone who its not as easy to do life with, but who embraces and challenges the part of her that wants more.

....I just. These goddamn Wheelers and their ongoing battle with the familiarity of "normalcy" (and the Byers who always ends up challenging them enough to get them out of it) are killing me. Even down to the way both of them "backslid" in S4 to hit the "you feel like you lost" feeling with the PARALLEL MONOLOGUES of love confessions...only to end up standing next to their true love interest / the one who aligns with their (correctly) fulfilled characters in the end oh be serious

[lesbianrobin]

i understand ur post but i have a byler mutual saying almost the exact same thing about if they make mlvn endgame because to give will one sole love interest and put him through that much trauma and struggle to accept his sexuality only to have the guy reject him and end up with his sister is homophobic writing and u probably dont agree but i find it hysterical that st have managed to get themselves into such a conundrum that their only option is to introduce mikes secret twin of the opposite sexuality thats been there the whole time so they both get a happy ending. surely this is a perfect plan and there are no flaws whatsoever and everyone will be satisfied

SMCKSKXJSNKE i was literally just talking to sarah about how they've written themselves into a corner by reintroducing the stoncy love triangle in s4 because BEFORE they could have been like yeah steve is over her and now he's finding fulfillment outside of romance etc etc but now they've reignited stancy for some fuckin reason (my fingers are crossed for that theory that says since the upside down is stuck in 1983 it was making steve and nancy's 1983 feelings come back) and suddenly they'll be pissing off Some segment of the fanbase no matter what they do.

re: byler i think. well first of all i think that byler isn't even remotely on the radar of casual viewers as an actual possibility and i don't think it could happen in s5 bc the vast majority of viewers would be like where the fuck did that come from. second of all my el argument is partially a joke but also it's just fundamentally a very different situation where like. for will if byler doesn't happen nothing gets Worse for him shit just stays the same. for el if byler happens something Must get worse for her like she loses her boyfriend of 2-3 years. they're in different situations.

third of all i think it's very silly for people to act like will Needs for mike to like him back in order to be happy when like. it's not The Crush that's making will miserable it's being closeted in a small town in the 1980s and feeling like he can never have what he wants and be truly happy in life. mike liking him back would not fix the misery he feels at having to hide this part of himself from the world.

yknow in s3 robin is a sorta closed-off character who's snarky and prickly at times and she only really opens up in the russian torture scene + the bathroom scene. and in the bathroom scene she is Terrified to tell steve she likes girls but she confesses to having a crush on tammy thompson and... steve makes her feel okay about it. he makes fun of her crush and robin feels Normal and Safe and they laugh together and by the time s4 rolls around robin is a much more open and happy person than she was back before she'd come out to steve. she's more herself. and you know what never happened? tammy thompson never liked her back. robin didn't need a girlfriend. she needed love and support and validation from a good friend. she needed to find comfort with herself and her sexuality and all the other parts of her that she hid behind a tough exterior for protection.

as much as i hate watching will scenes bc noah schnapp can't act for shit, i am kinda looking forward to seeing him finally openly addressing his sexuality in s5 and maybe realizing that his childhood crush on his best friend not being reciprocated isn't the end of the world. i think if will could move on and let mike go (in the romantic sense not as a friend) it might also feel a bit like letting go of all his pain over the past few years and starting over with a clean slate. obviously idk what exactly's gonna happen in s5 we're all just making shit up right now but i guess that's kinda what i hope will happen with him.

it makes me sad kinda that will's most dedicated fans are more preoccupied with getting him a boyfriend than like... self-confidence and shit. but i'm not actually that sad bc i kinda don't give a fuck about will anyway

[hypezombies]

Imagine Byler confessing to each other and having their first kiss happen before the final battle and they're so excited for their future together but Will dies. And Jonathan, who knew about Will being in love with Mike, is obviously a mess over losing his baby brother. And Nancy tries to stay close to him and bring him even the slightest amount of comfort. And she does the same with Mike. And one day her and Jonathan end up talking about Mike, about how he's dealing with the situation. And Jonathan decides to go visit him, trying to be strong for his brother's lifelong bestfriend, knowing that that's what he needs and that they can help one another in their shared pain. And Mike tells him everything, how he told Will he was in love with him, how Will had told him he loved him too, how they kissed and everything was right in the world and Mike felt a happiness he didn't even think existed. And how he saw all of that reflected on Will's face. But everything shattered in a matter of seconds. Their future together, finally being able to let out their intense love for each other, let it breathe and live and thrive outside the deepest corners of their hearts, where it had been confined till that moment, completely vanished. The seemingly immortal boy who came back from the dead, survived being possessed by an alien being and multiple attacks from interdimensional creatures, just… gone. Forever. And with him all he ever was and ever would have been. A sweet, sensitive, selfless, caring and compassionate boy, who was oh so strong and brave and oh so passionate and loving and creative. And had eyes so big and beautiful and sparkly, that held all the gentleness of the world but would fill up with tears so easily. And soft, steady hands, with callous fingers that were able to give life to such magical, adventurous scenarios that he and his friends would daydream about daily. And his art was the prettiest Mike had ever seen, cause he was so young but so talented and had such a bright future ahead of him. But he was taken so soon. When he was still just a sweet, caring, compassionate boy. Nothing more than a boy. And now all that remaines of him are the memories of all the people who had the privilege to love and be loved by such a person, who was made of nothing but wonder. And the lingering feeling of his lips pressed against Mike's that he couldn't get out of his head. It had felt like a moment then, when they still had a future awaiting them. And now, with the knowledge that he was never going to experience it again, it felt even more like an instant. An instant that would forever be ingrained in his brain and on his skin, burning with the same passion and intensity of that moment. And that love that had once driven both Jonathan and Mike to do the most deranged things to get Will back, was now the very same thing that was destroying them from the inside. A love that no one else could understand. The love of an older brother, who more often than not had been a father to his sibling and the love of a childhood bestfriend, that had slowly matured into romantic. The love of a soulmate. And they both know they're the only ones who could feel this type of love, this type of hurt, cause they were both the only one for Will. The only older brother, the only childhood bestfriend with whom he was deeply in love. And Will was equally the only one for them. And always will be. And so they hold each other and cry knowing that they lost the best person they would ever get to know in their lives. Knowing that those tears are now the only way they could express their love for him. Tears that come directly from the deepest parts of their souls, where words can't travel to. Parts that words would never get to explore and know and share with the world what lives in them

[sublimecatgalaxy]

♥️ Steve Harrington Masterlist ♥️

This is a masterlist dedicated to things I've written about Steve Harrington.

Check out my Prompt List and my Character List in my Masterpost which is pinned for more info on who I write for and some inspiration for requests.

Lovebirds: 

Summary/Request: “Reader going after steve after he falls into the watergate and confessing their feelings for him after they find him :’)”

Cheer:

Summary/Request: “Could you do something with Steve harrington x cheerleader!reader we’re he comes to her game to watch her perform and it’s all cute and fluffy!!!”

Favorite Song: 

Summary/Request: “I was thinking like maybe the reader is adamant on stopping by her house so she can go through her cassette tapes and make sure she knows both his and her favorite song and he realizes why and he comforts her?!?!”

Middle Child: 

Summary/Request: “Can we get something longer about Steve Harrington x reader but the reader is the “middle child” in the Wheeler family. Like she’s a year younger or so than Steve and Nancy but older than mike.”

Take A Break:

Summary/Request: "steve eating reader out slowly and sensually goodbye I'm going feral"

Sick Joke:

Summary/Request: "reader finally gets the courage to ask steve out but the only time she can is at lunch in front of his popular friends and they make fun of her and steve says some nasty shit reader is heartbroken but steve actually wanted to say yes"

Unrequited:

Summary/Request: "Hi could you write Steve x Harrington x Fem reader where they’re best friends and she’s in love with him and she thinks it’s unrequited because she thinks he likes Robin instead and it’s a whole lot of miscommunication but it ends with a happy ending? :)"

Let Go:

Summary/Request: "Could you do the scene were Eddie is walking with Steve in the upside down and Eddie brings up how reader went in right after Steve got pulled just like the nancy scene and that’s when Steve realizes he’s inlove. If not totally fine, love your work !!"

I've Been Here:

Summary/Request: "Hi! Can I request a Steve Harrington x reader fic based on “The King” by Conan Gray?"

Fighting For Your Hand: Part 2

Summary/Request: "Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson fighting for the readers attention and love, possibly with two different endings for each?"

Do What You Want To Me:

Summary/Request: "car sex with steve?"

Marked:

Summary/Request: "could you do steve harrington with a s/o that has a birthmark on their face? I have one on my right cheek and I was always insecure about it, i’ve grown to love it but sometimes you need that reassurance. So could you do one of him kinda comforting his s/o?"

Prepared:

Summary/Request: "okay i think we all agree that eddie cumming too fast is hot, but what abt steve cumming too fast??? mouth is salivating."

Picasso:

Summary/Request: "heyy omg🤭 could u do something abt steve leaving hickeys all over your chest n shit and the kids see them😭 i think they would be really funny abt it"

Cosmo:

Summary/Request: "The idea of Eddie or Steve laying in the readers lap while they hold a book in one hand, reading it, and the other hand is playing with their hair, with music blasting in the background, that's all I have to say"

Selfish Motives:

Summary/Request: "hi i was wondering if you could do something with steve harrington x gender neutral reader and sharing a bed for the first time? maybe the ‘there’s only one bed’ trope? either way, i’d just love to share a bed with him :) thank u!"

Scars:

Summary/Request: "Hi could you write a steve x fem reader where she has acne and scars and Steve is the best boyfriend ever by reassuring her how beautiful she is"

Often:

Summary/Request: "Okay but what if Steve and reader smoked and had rough sex while high🫠😶"

Barbie Doll:

Summary/Request: "Could i request sort of Steve x fem reader where reader is like Eddie and perhaps they’re good friends? Thank u ☺️"

Tipped:

Summary/Request: "Can I request a Steve harrington imagine, where him & reader (they are dating) they both work at scoops and some guy is flirting with reader is Steve gets really jealous and protective?"

Birthday:

Summary/Request: "Could I get either Billy Hargrove or Steve harrington imagine. Where it’s the readers birthday and the reader feels sad on her birthday and Billy or Steve throw a small party for them or something like that"

Can't Stand You:

Summary/Request: "Prompt: I've never wanted to fuck anyone this badly before."

Babygirl:

Summary/Request: "Calling Steve Harrington "babygirl" as a joke💕"

Hickey:

Summary/Request: "Steve Harrington giving you a hickey👀"

[soullostintime]

Will stays in Mike room | Sharing a bed | Confessions | Panicking | for the Touch-Starved | 2.3K

---

When Will is asked to stay at the Wheeler's for the night to actually get some proper rest after excruciating hours in the van, he doesn't question it.

He doesn't question how this suggestion is by none other than Nancy – the caring yet equally terrifying girl whose shooting skills have always fascinated him – and that his brother, sister, even his mom are totally okay with this. He should be asking if it was actually fine. He would be, only if he wasn't as exhausted as he is.

After a painfully coverted confession to Jonathan, a closure with El about her breakup (that apparantly happened two days ago while they were making their way back to Hawkins), and a well-laid talk with his mom and Hopper about their supposed business trip, his ability to make planned decisions with proper outcomes has been hindered greatly. All he wants is one night with no alternate dimension activities. Just one night where he can actually sleep.

And so as the clock strikes past eleven and he lays his heavy, hurting back against the cold floor of Mike's bedroom (again, he should've questioned why Will is sleeping here instead of the basement with plenty of space), all he hears are the sweet sounds of peace – the angels of heaven singing their melodious song of ah, you can rest, just for tonight, you can rest.

"...Will?"

And there is another melody, but it isn't the same as the one in his head.

It's not coming from outside, or slipping past his wavering dream of comfort and solace, no- it's from up somewhere and it's quite close and warm, like a cup of tea you enjoy beside the midnight rain. It's up there somewhere, and it lingers and pinches so gently at his heart, hits the nail beautifully and silently to push the stubborn dreams away and make sleep asleep.

And then the voice hushes closer, as the bedsheets rustle and the sides creak silently. "Will, are you awake?"

It's Mike. Of course.

Who else could it be? Will is in Mike's bedroom, sleeping near his bed, so of course it would be Mike here. The exertion has definitely pushed Will off his limits of being a normal, logical person who knows how to use his head.

I'm in Mike's room, he thinks, and then the fleeting moment is rushing away, the moment where he wasn't questioning anything as long as he got to sleep.

Now, Will is aware. He is awake.

I'm in Mike's room, he thinks again, and oh if that doesn't make his insides burst with an energy he is all so familiar with – a warm passion of want and need, a familiar comfort, and yet an uneasy feeling he could never place. He is with Mike and they're alone and the world is ending and El has broken up with Mike and- God, all Will wants is some fucking sleep right now.

"Will, are-" Mike starts again, and Will can't help but notice that he has taken his name three times by now. "Are you okay down there? I- I mean, is it too cold?"

There is more silence. Will doesn't know what to do with it.

"I- I mean, I know you hate the cold, and I'm not a big fan of it either so I know how you feel and, I just-" he stops, breathing deeply enough for Will to hear loud and clear. "I- If you want, this bed is big enough for the both of us."

Now he's all giddy, shaking quietly under the sleeping bag because what? What did Mike just say? That they–?

"I just- I feel like- I mean, I don't know," Mike continues on, somehow knowing by Will's constant movement against the uncomfortable floor that he was awake and listening. "It's easier with you here."

It's easier with you here.

"...What?"

Now Will is talking, or rather, he has muttered that single word out of pure impulse, unable to fully grasp the sentences leaving Mike's mouth.

Mike makes no snarky comment, such as knowing all full well of Will being awake the entire time and calling him out on it. Instead, he giggles quietly, as if recalling the meaning behind his words as a secret to his life, a secret he could hardly keep a lock on.

"Y-Yeah," his smile could be heard in his voice, even from up there, "it's always different with you."

"I- thank you?" Will says, because what else can he really say. "Uh, well, for the record, I- feel the same," he holds the words too dearly, then barely covers them up with a casual, "I guess."

"I see..." Mike is quieter, his voice slightly faded as if grasping on a mental train reaching it's destination. Very soon, he is sitting up, looking down at Will, down to the every bone as if all his secrets were never secrets at all and Mike knew, he just knew all along.

"So you... want to join me? Here, on the bed?" His elbows hold his pose as he bows and seeks the answer just from Will's expression alone.

It's not long before Will's brain is on autopilot again, wondering about the soft cushions, the feel of the quilt over his skin, and a warm, warm bed where he can sleep so peacefully he won't know when it's morning already.

But when he gets up after whispering a "yeah, okay" and sliding into the bed right next to Mike who is now lying down facing the ceiling, it hits him.

Holy shit, I'm sleeping next to Mike.

He's too far gone down the deep ends of sleep pulling at his edges to know about it sooner, and he curses himself for it. How can he be so greedy to get some rest that he forgot who he is going to be resting with?

Now he's panicking, he's shaking and quivering silently, and oh if Mike could know whether he was awake or not while he was sleeping on the floor, he surely knew what Will was feeling now.

"You're definitely cold." Mike is now tilting on the side, getting closer and closer to Will and it's not helping, it's not helping at all. "I should've gotten you up here sooner, I'm such an idiot. Why did Nancy have to give you a sleeping bag in the first place?"

Will stammers to get a response out. "Uh, well, it was her idea to get me to sleep at your house in the first place, and besides I was fine down there–"

"It- It wasn't Nancy idea."

"Huh?"

"...It was mine."

Now Will's panic has resided, a warm emotion pushing at his sides as he tilts his head to Mike's side, catching a glimpse of those jet black wonders of eyes, his curly locks, his stary freckles, his soft lips-

"Yeah, it was, I told her to tell the others," Mike is saying, and Will watches closely as his mouth forms gentle, doting words in a voice reserved for Will. Just Will. "I... wanted to be with you."

Will's voice is quiet in return. "We were together the entire day."

"I... wanted to be with you longer."

Before Will could form any more words out of his mind's dictionary, Mike is moving closer, and as Will follows his eyes – his black sky full of magic – and sees it blink. He sees it moving to every part of Will's face, every inch, and every spot he holds makes him burn with that old feeling again. Will realises he might have had this feeling since forever. Since those swings, that first day of kindergarten, that boy who asked to be his friend.

"Will..." Mike says, his black sky falling on the petals of Will's mouth, its skin nervously bit, "I'm so confused."

Now Will is curious, his hand falling in the space between them, inches apart from Mike's. "About what?"

"About me."

"Why are you confused?"

Mike's eyes have grown somber, tears lurking within. "I... thought I knew who I was, what I was. But now, it doesn't make sense. I don't make sense." Now he is reaching in, his pinky finger gently wrapping itself against Will's in their shares space, sending a shiver down. "I want to know why I do the things I do and if they are actually what I want."

Things that Mike wants, Will thinks, because honestly, what could they be? These past few years Will hasn't been able to distinguish between a stranger and Mike, and it had scared him to death – to know you're in love with someone you barely know anymore.

"What..." Will begins, his thumb drawing circles at the back of Mike's hand. "What do you want, Mike?"

It's nearly midnight, and they're both tired. But right now as Will has asked the question of a lifetime, he can't help but notice a million emotions on Mike's face at once. A face that knows, and doesn't know.

"You."

It stops. The moment stops for what feels like an eternity but could've barely been a few seconds. Will's eyes are wide, in shock and confusion and yet completely hopeful and genuine, as if all his reality is a dream and his dreams never come true.

Except now, Mike is interlocking their fingers together, holding their palms to his chest as he breaths deeply. He gazes into Will's eyes like they hold wonders, and gently looks down at their hands again.

He moves their hands from his chest to his mouth, and before Will knows it, Mike's breath is hovering over the back of his hand.

Amidst Will's obvious heart beating out of his chest, his stomach turning before sending a tickling sensation throughout his senses, down to his very knees; Mike is looking, his eyes asking for permission way before his mouth could.

"Is this... okay?"

Will takes a few seconds to breathe, to calm down for a millisecond and be able to formulate a response, an answer, anything at all.

And so he does.

"M-Mike, this–"

"It's you. It's- It's always been you." Mike says, moving in closer so that their noses are a breath away. "I've been so confused, so stupid- you've been driving me crazy and I didn't know why."

Will gulps, the sound echoing between them. "Do you... know why now?"

"...Do you?"

Mike is asking Will if he knows what this is, knows what they are and why they feel what they feel. And Will's answer is simple. It's always been simple when it comes to Mike. So natural that it's as easy as breathing, so simple, and yet something you can live without.

"I... I guess I've known since forever."

"You weren't confused?"

"Not with you."

Mike's eyes widen with joy and surprise, and soon, he is smiling and beaming with an excitement Will didn't know he still had within him. It's not long before he settles down again, his eyes wandering over Will's, searching for the treasure on the surface, close enough for him to grasp and call his.

"So this... us..." Mike says, his voice quiet and soft, "can we–?"

"Yes." Will is saying before he can stop himself.

Mike's mouth is still near Will's hand, their interlocked fingers and resting palms, when Mike takes the yes as a commitment, deciding to seal it forever with a kiss to Will's hand. His eyes shut as he tilts his head slightly downwards, igniting every spark in Will's body.

When he is done, he looks up, releasing their fingers as he decides to put his in Will's hair, right near the back of his head and pull him closer, noses brushing, eyebrows touching, breaths stacked on top of another.

"It's you." Mike says again, whispers so quietly so that no one else can hear it. No one but Will. "I should've known. All this time, I should've–"

"Mike." Will whispers, his hands finding themselves drawing peaceful, calming circles in Mike's back and shoulder. He doesn't say anything else, just stares, and Mike stares back.

Soon they both are pulling in, shutting their eyes and slotting their lips together.

Will holds his ground, keeping up with Mike's eagerness to taste and possibly devour Will's tongue, running deep down and earning a gasp from him. Their hands are restless, and their legs tangled in each other's, and upon releasing the lock to catch some breath, Mike is hardly moving away, still lingering and roaming his tongue over Will's mouth, even biting onto the lower lip and immediately shushing the short-lived pain with a gentle roll of his tongue again.

Will is a little into the stubborn sweet form of his affection, and so when they take a two-second break again, he is taking full advantage of the opportunity to shower Mike with kisses all over. His rosy cheeks, his stary freckles, his nose, his neck and finally, his lips again. He is soft with his moves, purely deeply madly in love in the entire concept of Mike. In everything about Mike.

Mike smiles against the kisses, holding Will closer and immediately planting another long kiss on his lips, this time while subtly smiling through it, as if he has achieved everything he has ever wanted in his life.

But soon their eyelids are getting heavier, and it's then they remember: It's midnight. They just came back from a long drive across the country. They're both tired.

Mike digs his face in Will's chest, his voice grown silent as sleep pushes at his edges. His arm wraps around Will's middle as his eyes shut to sleep, before he murmurs one last sentence of the night:

"I want to be with you longer. Forever."

Will blushes, smiling as he pulls Mike close to his chest, their breaths synching and hearts pounding at the same, fast pace, gently falling into a slower, quieter rhythm.

"Forever," Will says, as he closes his eyes under the moonlight.