#I feel like I want to go back to s1 with Dustin saying Lucas was Mikes best friend and how he was jealous in s1

[you-were-alone-too]

the aftermath of eddie's death & what it means for mike's arc in season 5

someone may have already posted a similar theory before, so i apologize if i'm super late to this, but i've had this theory in mind ever since the s5 set pictures of dustin and mike were dropped, and i've been wanting to make a post about it ever since. basically, we're going to take a look at eddie's respective relationships with dustin and mike and how his death will affect them both, but especially mike in s5.

in s4, the show made it super clear that eddie had a close relationship with the boys in the party, more specifically mike and dustin (since lucas is on a quest to be popular and joined the basketball team, we can guess this prevented them from being as close). although we don't get to see much of eddie's relationship with mike, his friendship with dustin is heavily established throughout the entirety of the season. while both mike and dustin value eddie for being a cooler, older high school boy that embraces their shared interests despite the fact that it makes him an outcast, the impact of these relationships, and ultimately, his death, will affect them in completely different ways.

while both mike and dustin value eddie's commitment to embracing his true self/interests, the difference in the impact of their respective relationships is that mike struggles with the fact that he's different whereas dustin is more comfortable in his own identity.

a great example of this is when eddie talks about how he remembers the first time that he met dustin and mike; he says dustin was wearing a weird al t-shirt, which he "thought was brave," while mike was wearing "whatever his mommy bought him from the goddamn gap". not to mention mike trying to "dress cool" when he visits el in california, being afraid of seeming childish by playing d&d and liking christmas presents, not to mention:

so what does this have to do with their arcs in s5, particularly mike's?

eddie's character represents one of the show's core themes: non-conformity. right before eddie dies, he makes dustin promise to never change. and when dustin tells wayne that he was with eddie when the earthquake hit, the main thing he emphasizes is that eddie never changed even as he was dying.

one of the first scenes that gaten filmed for s5 shows him wearing his hellfire club t-shirt, which is now faded and full of holes, and his hair is also grown out even longer (possibly to resemble eddie's hair, like mike in s4). in the picture of the party members' hands on top of each other, we can also see he's wearing (presumably) one of eddie's rings.

as for mike, one of the first pictures we see of him on set for s5 shows him with a haircut and outfit that nearly resembles his appearance in s1. after the beginning of s4 showed mike growing out his hair (which was confirmed to be inspired by eddie), playing d&d again, and saying he doesn't want to be popular, we now see him in s5 conforming back to how he used to dress. how his parents want him to look. normal.

in the aftermath of eddie's death, it's clear that as a symbol of non-conformity and self-acceptance, his death has impacted dustin and mike in completely different ways.

for dustin, he sees eddie's untimely death as a legacy he must continue. a vow he made to eddie in his dying breath to never change. and now, he's sticking to his word by embracing all that eddie did and stood for in life, almost as if he's trying to physically emulate eddie to become that symbol for himself and others.

as for mike, he's lost without that symbol. he saw eddie as a symbol of hope, safety, and bravery, a person that made him feel like it's okay to be different, to stand out, to not conform with what society wants him to be. without eddie, he's on the opposite trajectory; now that eddie's gone, that reassurance and safety he felt about standing out is gone too, and now he's regressing into the person that he thinks everyone expects him to be.

it's not that shocking since as soon as he's away from eddie in s4, he goes back to trying to fit in around el. but what's even more interesting is that mike seems to become himself again once it's just him and will in s4; although will carries himself in a much more subtle way than eddie, will also inspires mike to feel confident in himself, to feel like he can be different.

but before there was eddie as a symbol of non-conformity, there was jonathan byers. from the get-go in season 1, we see jonathan encouraging will to be himself, such as telling him "you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed to." then we see mike get a similar, louder version of this encouragement in the form of eddie. both mike and will have role models that encourage them to be different. both mike and will feel like they can be themselves around each other in a way they can't with anyone else because they're the same kind of different. "i saw you on the swings, and you were alone too" "maybe i feel like i lost you or something" "hawkins, it's not the same with you." "you make [me] feel like [i'm] not a mistake at all, like [i'm] better for being different" "we'll go crazy together, right?"

even though will does make mike feel like it's okay to be himself, it's not enough to fully pull him out of his shell. eddie had that power as an older male role model that mike could look up to and admire. someone that could give him a look into the future and show him that being different on the outside isn't all that bad. but then, not only does eddie die, but even in death, he's still viewed as satanic and monstrous because he was openly different.

now in s5, mike is going to have to come to grips with eddie's death and the loss he associates with that. how he thinks that eddie being dead is proof that standing out is dangerous, that it's wrong, that it's sinful. he has a lot of fear to work through, but in the end, he's going to get there, and will is going to be there at his side the entire time, reminding him that they make each other feel like they're better for being different, so it must not be so bad after all.

[longtallglasses]

some miwi headcanons just bc ! older ones

i see young mike as kind of loud and not realizing how loud (and annoying) his yelling near people is (ie karen yelling in s1 “mike let’s go!” “COMING!!!”) however he quickly learns not to yell around will, adopting his softer voice for him BUT

in school he’s constantly calling over to will “will come here” “will sit next to me” “will! over here! look at this!” trying to get his attention “will, will, hey will…” other kids are like dude shut up… so many kids know will’s name who’ve never seen him, and mike’s thought of as that kid who’s always calling out for his friend.

i’m an avid rock collector!mike enjoyer. on the playground, in the forest, at the park, at the lake. he’s picking up all the cool ones, storing them away for very important scientific reasons like “this one’s shiny in A Different way!” he sets aside his favorites to show and give to will, very much in the style of a cat bringing a dead rodent to their owner, like “got something special just for you :) a Very Cool Rock :)” will loves how much mike enjoys it and is very excited to receive them, feeling quite special.

will loves stuffed animals (i mean we been knew) when he was younger they all had names and backstories, interpersonal drama and storylines he played out. two stuffed cats he definitely thought of as him and mike subconsciously, as they were best friends. he would act out little dramatic scenes of them running away from some oppressive kingdom, going on an adventure and meeting new friends along the way. … and he may have made them kiss a few times …

obviously small will loved drawing, but i don’t think he was always confident in his skill. after people tell him he’s good he gets caught up in trying to be really good, and gets frustrated when he can’t do something the way he wants. hence crumpled up attempts in the trash mike fishes out. there’s a spell of time where he gives up for a bit and jonathan asks why he hasn’t seen him drawing lately, and will says he doesn’t think he can get any better, it’s too hard. jonathan tells him it doesn’t matter if it’s perfect, he should just draw to make himself happy “draw for the campaigns, your friends think it’s so cool” so will keeps at it focusing on drawing what he thinks him and his friends will appreciate

while watching scary movies in the basement mike and will always held hands under blankets. it started when they were younger and they first got permission to watch a scary movie, they didn’t want to admit they might be getting too scared. during a big jump their hands reached out on instinct and too caught up in the movie they didn’t let go. when it was over they didn’t talk about it, but then it just kept happening every time they got scared. which led to holding hands when upset outside of watching movies. they never really discussed it, it just felt like their little secret thing.

all the boys were nice to holly but will was the only friend who actually liked seeking her out to play w them. (fascinated by a little sister unlike lucas and only-child dustin) mike and will would play games with her sometimes, will thinking she was really cute, and mike thinking it was cute will really liked her. cue karen thinking will is the best influence on her son

i have such a strong image of kindergarten miwi right after they become friends making mud pies together every recess. their teacher scolds them the first few times having to scrub their hands when they come back in. it gets so bad when the recess monitor sees them heading for the dirt they’re yelling “Michael! William! don’t even think about it!” they think it’s so funny to rile them up, they start spreading mud on each others arms “will you need more than that!” they only try to eat it a few times, it does taste really gross. after they’re banned from the dirt, they move to the sand box, it’s only a bit cleaner.

[milevenstancyendgame]

In Defense Of Mike

Sometimes antis inspire you to write meta - I don't know why, but today I feel like going through these Mike accusations that someone left on my Eleven post, lol:

No one talks shit about my boy Mike on my post.😎

-"And not to make this about shipping because El is her own person and should be discussed outside of ships, BUT" - goes on long ass shipping discourse.

You nailed it right there, buddy.😂

-"Mike babies her throughout their relationship":

I think it's so funny that those who are on the fence shouting about El needing to break up with Mike, to be independent, are doing exactly what they accuse Mike of doing (gaslight much?). You're willfully ignoring her love for Mike, which is canonical, projecting your own dislike of him onto her, like you know what's best for her. You're babying her.

So when does he baby her? I can't think of any time, but since you also said that he's protective and "El wants to be trusted and supported", I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're talking about SOME scenes between El and Mike in s3.

I think it's funny that antis wave Mike's protectiveness over El in s3 as though it was some big red flag.

Like, ya'll act as though he wanted to lock her up in the cabin. Oh wait, that was Hopper in s2, actually. I don't see you hating on Hopper though, even though he's an adult.

Mike is worried and traumatised from losing El several times before. Yes, he doesn't know how to deal with this, but like you keep saying, El is her own person and should be respected as such.

So what does El do? She shows that she doesn't like it, and in an intimate moment away from the over-the-top comedy of s3, she tells him "I need you to trust me".

And how does Mike react? Did you actually watch that? Because it doesn't sound like it. He ACCEPTS what she says IMMEDIATELY, even gives Max an acknowledging glance, and backs off, letting her do her thing.

Like this right there. That's growth.

And that's him doing exactly what you say El needs - that's trusting, supportive, and letting her decide for herself. Which, by the way, he has been doing the whole time and continues to do.

He apologies to her and shows that he has been self-reflecting, and is overly hard on himself. He's aware that he was jealous and that he doesn't know how to deal with his strong love for El.

That's healthy and wholesome, and also huge for a 14-year old emotionally neglected boy, who has no blueprint for a healthy romantic relationship.

But no, you don't want to see this. Nor anything else, apparently. Just literally this ONE DAY on which he was overwhelmed and worrying about El. And you interpret that as "babies her throughout their relationship". That is…wild.

-"Mike puts El on a pedestal" & "Mike never compliments El's personality" :

Wow, this feels like the most unjust accusation of all. You interpret him thinking and telling her she's a superhero as putting her on a pedestal?

First of all, how can you do that, when you just said that he babies her throughout.😆 It almost seems like your various views about him are incompatible...maybe because they're not founded on reality...👀

He's the one who constantly reminds everyone else that El is not a machine, that she has limits, that she has human needs...seriously, have you watched the show? S1? When everyone saw her as a problem or a weirdo or a traitor or a monster or a criminal or a science experiment....and he was the one who treated her for what she was - a scared, friendless child in danger. An equal. A friend.

How come you're not hating on Dustin and Lucas? Maybe you're able to see how they changed? Or Max, because she's in awe of El in s2 and in s3 is 100%ly confident that she will be able to defeat the monster on her own? Maybe you're able to see that she had a normal reaction to finding out about someone's super powers and that she simply was mistaken? Or Steve, because he refers to her as "this girl with superpowers that we usually rely on"? Maybe you're able to see that this didn't reflect any dehumanising on his part?

Oh, but Mike is different of course.🙄

Mike never treats El as anything else but his equal. If he actually put her on a pedestal, he'd constantly be like: "Oh, but I'm sure El can fix it!" for every problem they have, and he'd be disappointed and shocked to witness her humanity - her flaws, her needs, her imperfections.

Well, he doesn't. On the contrary, he tries to provide for her every need, reminding others of them, is worried about her overexerting herself (which you hated on a moment ago, but now strangely seem to have forgotten), and never pushes her to fight for them. He's also always the one who wants to provide a back-up for her, to not let her fight alone or do everything for them (like in the caves in s2, or in s3 when they try to overturn the car in the mall).

Okay, and my personal favourite: "He also does this with Dustin and Will" So I'm guessing you're referring to Mike telling Dustin in s1 that his cleidocranial dysplasia is like a superpower, after being bullied; and in s2, when he tells Will he's like a super-spy now. And of course telling El that she's a superhero.

And you think this is bad????????

😳

Sorry, I just....HOW? He's literally reassuring Dustin that he not only accepts him as he is, but that his difference is cool, he compares him to the coolest people they know and admire, the super heroes from comics. He's trying to cheer him up after he got humiliated for being different. I mean...I guess if he had given him a hug, you would have found a way to interpret that as bad.😬

And the same with Will - he sees that his friend is barely keeping it together, he's rightly panicking, because he's possessed by an interdimensional monster, but Mike finds a way to distract him, invite his mind to see things in a different way that actually EMPOWERS him, reassuring him that they won't let the monster spy back, and again, this is bad, because?

Or do you mean it's only bad when he does it with El?😂 Because it's the same thing. He's trying to reassure her that she's not a monster, that he loves her.

And once again - when she shows in s4 that she doesn't like something he's doing (not saying "I love you"), he accepts that, he feels bad, and tries to give her exactly what she asked for at the next opportunity!

Apparently you didn't see that either.

And "he never compliments her personality". How many hoops do you want him to jump through?🤣

Mike shows that he loves and respects El all the time, he doesn't need to say "You have an awesome personality." for El to feel that. And she never expressed any need for that. Does Hopper compliment Joyce's personality to her face? Did Joyce do that for Hopper? Did Nancy do that for Steve or Jonathan or vice versa? Did Max say that to Lucas? I guess Lucas is the only one who really loves his partner, because he did that once.🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Oh, and of course, the whole monologue at the end of s4 doesn't count, because. "I love you on your good days, I love you on your bad days, I love you without your powers, I love you with your powers...I love you exactly for who you are."

That's somehow not valid, hm?

Mike can't win in your eyes, because you don't want him to. This is called scapegoating, btw.

Lastly, it's strange that you have a reference to him in your username, when you clearly think he's so horrible and accuse him of all this...together with a reference to Will...hmm...how mysterious....🙄🙄🙄 Almost like you had double standards for a certain agenda.🤔

*Drops mic*

[chirpsythismorning]

There isn't much discourse about how Mike went from saying that El was a weapon in s1, even encouraging the others to use El's powers when she was still recuperating after finding Will in the void, to then in s3 accusing the others of being reckless with her powers, saying she's risking her life for no reason.

Now, I want to make clear that I'm not bashing Mike here, this has less to do with what he's doing being right or wrong. What this is about is how Mike went from doing something himself, to calling out other people for doing it, without acknowledging that fact and why the writers chose to frame it all this way.

You might think it's insignificant, but these two following scenes are clearly being paralleled to each other. And so the fact that Mike himself is acknowledging this as something to be critical of, makes me wonder what exactly is going on in his mind...

I want to preface this scene from s1 by saying that Mike is giving very off vibes here. I know that I certainly viewed this scene as romantic the first time I saw it, but since rewatching it recently, I was getting completely different vibes.

They literally make a point to focus on Mike being distracted, on the verge of impatience. Then, the way El reacts upon Mike getting up abruptly, gives this feeling of uncertainty about Mike's consideration for her in this moment, as she's clearly not what's on the top of his mind right now. And it just makes you wonder, are we truly supposed to be feeling peak romance rn?

I never realized how out of place this scene was until now (or is it...). It's just such an odd choice to have El resting her head on Mike's shoulder for comfort, only for Mike to cut it short with him being distracted, and with Dustin and El looking awkwardly at Mike like "Okay?...", then followed by a scene where he's trying to convince the others to use El's powers to help.

Here we have s1 Mike displaying behavior that s3 Mike was calling out the others for displaying:

Here we have Lucas, who was very, very critical of El being dangerous ALL of s1, and yet now in complete contrast to that, he is showing more consideration and common sense for El's well being than Mike, the supposed love (at first sight) interest ...

'That's the most important thing, remember?'

A question, followed by Mike just standing there in silence, like he's only just now really thinking about El being safe as their main priority... This is something that combined with everything else unfolding over the course of this season and the seasons after, that makes Mike's behavior a whole lot easier to understand.

I'll have to make several other posts about this, because there are a lot of aspects to it, but for now I'm just going to focus on these two parallels.

Here we have what happens in s3, with Mike being critical of the others doing something he himself literally did in s1:

In fact, how careless all of you are.

THIS. When Mike makes it a big deal to call out everyone for doing something he himself has already done, he's outright admitting that it's something that he believes is wrong, and by not even slightly acknowledging his role in doing something similar in the past, it's very likely that he feels guilty about it.

This was probably his way of trying to make it right, by standing up for El in a way that he didn't before because he was treating her like some superhero and not a real person back then.

It's just that the word love slipped out, in the heat of the moment. And El, upon overhearing this, is seeing this development of Mike herself, with s1 Mike going from, yes being more kind and considerate than the other 2 boys in the beginning, but still sort of expecting stuff from her without her being able to verbally agree to it, to now having developed and changed to saying that one of his big priorities is her safety.

El is taking this as being evidence he went from not loving her, to loving her. Another reason why it's pretty obvious El didn't believe Mike's monologue, bc she herself witnessed Mike develop his apparent romantic feelings for her over time, and so him saying it was love at first sight, was probably the catalyst that made it abundantly clear to her that he wasn't being truthful, bc she knows it's not the truth. She's not stupid.

Again this isn't about Mike doing this back then or even the others doing it now as being bad vs. good, this is about the writers going about it this way, sending a message that Mike feels guilt, enough to try to make things right, but is apparently not ready to unpack the actual guilt that is beneath the surface which lead him to this point.

And then there's this scene, which... it's actually terrifying how obvious it is they instructed Sadie and Caleb to lean out of that shot with Will and Mike reacting to El entering the room... Like... It's SOO obvious when you watch it now what they're trying to hint at without saying it.

Not only are they hinting at Will's feelings, because that is part of it, they're also hinting at Mike's internal struggle. Will is always on the back of his mind whether he's willing to address it or not. And all while that is happening, he is feeling unaddressed guilt about how he treated El when they first met and spent that one week together helping her run away from the bad guys while also looking for Will, something Mike viewed as being worthy of El using her powers...

I'll have to make the other posts regarding this soon, because it all starts to click what's going on with Mike when you look at all of these things together.

While Mike is just a kid like pretty much everyone else in this story, and while he didn't mean any harm by asking El to help them find Will (none of them did), I think that's kind of the whole point?

I think that he got lucky superman landed on his doorstep, who just so happened to be in danger herself, giving him his own purpose to help her too, with her needing him as well, and so it became a situation where they both needed each other.

But because El could literally not speak, it's not like she could really voice her feelings about things they were doing, beyond yes and no. She had Lucas sort of being critical of her, with Mike encouraging El to do things that would make the others see her as being worthy of sticking around so they can find Will. It goes without saying she felt obligated to do these things, even if they didn't outright tell her she had to or else. We literally see almost all of these scenes with her doing stuff for the others being instantly juxtaposed with scenes of Brenner doing the same. It's not the same scale of severity, but it is an acknowledgment that although she is outside of the lab, she still feels like her powers are what define her and it's all people want from her.

I think what it comes down to, is that in that moment when she is sacrificing herself to the demogorgan at the end of s1, we are seeing in real time Mike realizing what he and the other's have been asking of her this whole time, without outright asking her.

And you can literally see the retaliation and devastation hit him all at once. The instant regret, where he's backtracking and El stops him from even trying.

'Goodbye Mike' singles him out, because while he was the one out of the three that showed her the most kindness from the start, he was also the one who at the end of it all, was still expecting her to risk her life for them...

And that just makes it hit so much harder when you think about how that made Mike feel in that moment.

And then in s2 how that impacts Mike and his journey going forward.

His breakdown at the end of s2 upon her return.

His behavior in s3-4, in relation to him juggling his relationship with Will and El, now that they are both in his life at the same time.

It all starts to make sense.

I won't go too much into it because those other posts are bound to be long with a bunch of pictures too!

But on that note, there's at least one thing Mike isn't acknowledging, and it's literally what led up to the unintentional love confession that then led us to 10 more episodes of miscommunication because of it...

It's going to be important for him to address this guilt for him to fulfill his arc and to also close off his expectations that he has to have a romantic relationship with El in order to keep her in his life at all.

The audience themselves seeing this and being forced to face it is also going to make it a lot easier for them understand why Mike did what he did, not only because he's a queer kid in the 80's who has every reason to doubt and repress, but also because he understandably feels sort of indebted to El after everything.

It's more complex than him just falling out of love with her and falling in love with Will because of XYZ.

I think there is a lot of guilt and shame and trauma connected to their meeting and the events that followed. And addressing that is going to give a lot of closure to the ending of the story and also the beginning.

[starbylers]

Mike’s lack of personal journey in a Mlvn reading of the show: why so many people complain about Mike’s character

Something just occurred to me…I actually would challenge any Mlvn to tell me about a character motivation/internal conflict of Mike’s that does not revolve around El. What struggles does Mike as a person deal with throughout the series? When trying to build an effective, realistic, well-rounded character you can’t have their biggest fear be ‘loosing this particular person’ as Mlvns love to claim is Mike’s. As a writer you have to understand your character’s deepest desires and what drives them at their core, they cannot be purely motivated by an external force. A character such as that will feel hollow, boring and difficult to connect with. This is basic character development stuff.

Examples (simplified to get the point across):

For the whole show, El struggles with finding her place in a world where she feels fundamentally different

For most of the show, Will struggles with his sexuality and feeling like a ‘mistake’

Dustin in s2 deals with his self-esteem and understanding that he is good enough even if he doesn’t have a girl’s approval

Lucas in s4 wrestles with a desire to be popular and to ‘fit in’ which we see him overcome

Max in s4 deals with depression and the process of wishing to no longer be here to realising she actually wants to live

But…what about Mike? A brief Mlvn interpretation of everything he does through the show and why he does it:

S1: he saves and looks after El because he fell in love with her. He also looks for his friend Will.

S2: he is heartbroken because El is not with him anymore, and then madly in love again once she’s back.

S3: he has ups and downs with El because teen relationships are just like that, and then they get back together because they’re truly in love. He’s also too in love with his girlfriend to care about his old interests.

S4: he fights with El because all couples fight, and then rescues her from Nina while taking friendly advice from Will. Finally he confesses his love, which he didn’t do before because he’s terrified to lose her oh and he’s not good at feelings (but they won’t digger any deeper into that last one 🤐).

Like…yeah they acknowledge Mike also helps with the supernatural stuff, he’s smart and observant. He generally takes charge of the group and looks out for his friends, and (at least in earlier seasons) he’s the leader. But those are character traits. Everyone has them. (Max is sarcastic and kinda scary when she needs to be, Dustin can be cocky but is highly intelligent, Lucas is very headstrong and follows his own judgement, Will is sensitive and empathetic). I’m talking about character conflicts/journeys. Can they tell us what journey Mike has gone on as his own person???

And this, this is why lots and lots of people complain that Mike’s character revolves around El (especially since they started dating). This is why people say Mike is the Duffer’s self-insert and is just meant to be a blank slate relatable character. This is why Mlvns characterise him as El’s obsessed loser boyfriend. Because if you view the show through a Mlvn lens then yeah, Mike looks utterly two-dimensional with no drive other than screeching El El El when she’s in danger (sorry it had to be said).

The problem is when you try to dig into what Mike’s deeper motivations could possibly be, it gets very bad for Mlvn very fast:

‘Mike is scared to lose El because he’s worried she won’t need him’

Let’s detach El from that and figure out the root of this problem, what is really going on with Mike here (we already know but just for the sake of my point), because he is a character in his own right and this was a large focus of his story last season.

What do we know? Mike expressed feelings of worthlessness (‘I’m just some random nerd...’) and feelings of inferiority (…‘who got lucky superman landed on his doorstep’) in his relationship. He acknowledges that his and El’s relationship was fundamentally built on her just needing someone. Also, throughout the series we see Mike has a strong desire to help and serve and save those close to him, it’s who he is.

Mike is so clearly driven by a need to feel needed and fears being an unimportant nobody. He doesn’t think he’s special or useful next to El and it hurts him, his self-esteem is very, very low. But Mlvns never acknowledge that, because that would require admitting that a) Will’s words in the van showed he recognises & loves the Mike as the brave and inspiring leader he wants to be, and in doing so soothed Mike’s personal insecurities (because those do exist, and the talk wasn’t just ‘relationship advice’) and b) Mlvn’s relationship makes Mike feel shitty.

Another example:

Common Mlvn interpretation: ‘Mike was spending all his time with El in s3 because he’s in love with her and he is growing out of childish games’

What do we know? (1) Mike didn’t truly loose interest in DnD, he just neglected his interests when he got into a relationship, super healthy (2) He tries to act cool around El (‘Sorry that made me sound like a 7 year old’ / feigning disinterest in Dustin’s inventions) (3) When arguing with Will, Mike frames him getting a girlfriend as being the inevitable progression of life, the opposing choice from ‘sitting in his basement playing games’…but then he joins Hellfire in s4…as soon as El leaves. He didn’t truly believe anything he was saying to Will, he just can’t juggle being himself and having a gf simultaneously 😬.

Mike’s internal conflict here is clearly feeling like he has to grow up, and has to suppress his true identity in the name of achieving that. (And this continues somewhat into s4 with the fake, not-at-all-his-style Cali outfit in El’s fav colours). But again, understanding that requires understanding that Mlvn as a couple is not a safe space for Mike to be himself, and what Mlvns characterise as a normal teenage ups and downs is actually indicative of an unhealthy relationship.

Basically what I’m saying is it makes so, so much sense why Mike is one of the most disliked characters among the GA (aside from like the actual villains) and why he always ends up on those stupid lists. People are sick of him existing just to be El’s love interest. And that is not true in the slightest, but when you aren’t looking deeper than Mlvn…yeah it does look pretty bad, and I understand where they’re coming from. And as much as we say El is the one who Mlvns are obsessed with making everything about her boyfriend, the real victim of this treatment from them is Mike. Even his heart-to-hearts with Will are actually Mike thinking about El, apparently.

This is another reason why I’m so sure about Byler because Mike is essentially the original main character (aside from El I guess). I’m sorry but there’s no way he is the only one the writers managed to mess up this badly when they are capable of adding deeper personal development to characters who are much less central to the story. Even Finn himself said we’ve not been as personal with Mike recently but s5 will remedy that and people will be happy with his journey. The day Mlvns and GA are forced to look deeper at Mike’s personal internal conflict outside of how it relates to El is the day I will know peace 🙏🏽

[alcalystrasz]

Here's the list of all my theories about Stranger Things 5 (not in order):

-Robin dies -> either to sacrifice herself (for Vickie or Steve) or she gets killed by Vecna.

-Max dies -> she doesn't wake up of her coma (episode 6 or 7, preferably after Robin's death).

=> After everyone starts to lose hope, they all get the courage to read her letters and they get determined to avenge her and the other deaths (even from previous seasons, such as Barbara for Nancy).

-Jonathan dies -> by saving Nancy or Will.

=> causes an emotional damage to Will, losing his big brother, the only one who knew about who he was.

-Mike and Eleven break up because Mike wants them to be just friends.

-Mike finally tells Will he's in love with him (episode 6 or 7, preferably after Max's death).

-Mike and Will go in the Upside Down (no reason in my mind right now, except it could be to find something).

=> They find Eddie alive (not dead because or the following reason: it's impossible to get killed in the Upside Down if you're not killed by Vecna himself -> Barb was killed by Vecna in the Upside Down since we see her in the pool she died, trapped like Chrissy, Vecna's mother etc. This could explain why Vecna didn't die when Nancy, Steve and Robin tried in S4). ((This theory is the least possible one in my mind, just so you know)) => he really dies though in the end.

Then, mostly everyone becomes a target of Vecna. Here's the list and the causes (why are they a target) and the characters that saves them (in order):

-Dustin is a target -> cause: Eddie's death, as he feels guilt for letting him go back in the Upside Down without him -> Steve or Lucas saves him because of their strong friendship.

-Lucas is a target -> cause: He feels guilt for not saving Max before Vecna takes her -> Max (if she doesn't die) or Erica saves him.

*Robin dies at this moment before the others gets targeted*

-Steve is a target -> cause: He feels guilt because he couldn't save Robin from the hands of Vecna -> Nancy saves him.

-Nancy is a target -> cause: She feels guilt because of Barbara and Steve being a target, but mostly of Barb -> Jonathan saves her by dying = she feels a second guilt and Steve feels guilt too.

*Jonathan dies at this moment*

-Will is a target -> cause: Vecna shows him his old memories (with his mom, Jonathan, Mike and the Party), but mostly bad memories to show him how his life is miserable. He asks Will to join him but refuses -> The music "Should I Stay or Should I Go" gets a door to open (just like Max when "Running up That Hill" started), and Mike's voice gets Will to escape Vecna's lair. He crushes his left eye before escaping (foreshadowing from Eddie during the DnD campaign in S4).

-Mike is a target (endgame, mostly end of episode 7 or beginning of episode 8) -> El saves him by fighting with Vecna but she still doesn't kill him. She gets hurt because he got stronger.

Now, the most crazy theory:

-Everyone finds a plan: Time travel.

=> They think, if the time in the Upside Down stopped the day Will got into the U.D, maybe he's the key of the U.D. Why? Maybe Vecna gave him this "power" because they're alike (sensitive, lonely, and good drawer). So they think if Will goes back inside, they can come back to the day he got kidnapped by Vecna and kill him when he was less strong.

And the Endgame theories (so episode 8 or end of episode 7):

-The Party finally gets back together and are going to be the leaders of the last episode.

-Eleven saves Hawkins by killing Vecna.

=> Parallel with the first season: Eleven gets Vecna on the wall, being ready to kill him but before that, she turns her head to Mike or the Party and says "Goodbye" one last time just like in the final of season 1. She then kills Vecna inside of the U.D creating a sort of supernova (because she erases him like the Demogorgon in s1, but since she did that outside of the U.D and she teleported them in it, and this time she's inside, this world can't support it and it makes a sort of supernova). This causes the U.D to get closed forever and Eleven dies, closing the possibility of interacting with the U.D from the real world.

That's it!! Tell me what you guys think about this, it's the main theories in big lines, some things a more precise obviously.

[thestrangestthing89]

This is an add on to my post about how something happened with Mike and Will when they were younger. I said this a bit in the replies but I've been thinking about it more and it makes a lot of sense.

I think Mike has told Will he loves him before and it's part of the reason why he's struggling so much to say it to El. There is a lot going on in the scene in season 3 when he blurts it out. We have seen Mike in the past say things he doesn't mean when he feels defensive and/or scared (It's not my fault you don't like girls). He's fighting with Max here and getting upset about the girls spying on him when he says he loves El. Right after he says it he is immediately confused and he looks back a Will a few quick times. Not only that but Jonathan immediately looks at Will and Will looks down and avoids eye contact. When Lucas tells El they are having a family discussion, Nancy and Will look at each other. I wouldn't be surprised if Nancy and Jonathan both have always known something is going on with them. I always took Nancy's comment in S1 about Mike liking El to be her also being oblivious like Lucas and Dustin and making assumptions. But maybe she was just trying to figure out what was going on with Mike. She does assume he was being weird because of Will. It's also possible she didn't mean "like" to mean he was crushing but just like her as a person. Mike takes it to mean he has a crush because everyone else has been assuming as much.

There is a lot going on here that to me suggests Mike was not only immediately regretting what he said but that he never thought about his feelings for El before. He surprised himself when he said this and he can't bring himself to say it again. When he tries to explain his feelings in the supermarket he fumbles and can't say the words. This scene reminds me of the conversation they have in S1 when Mike is trying to explain the Snow Ball to her. He can't explain himself well when he's not being honest. In both situations he is doing something he doesn't want to do and he's doing it because everyone else thinks he has feelings for her. He's doing what he thinks people expect him to do but he can't say it. He accidentally said it about her once and he can't say it on purpose. The way he avoids the word "love" here is interesting. He can't bring himself to say it even though he just had. He spends the next several months avoiding the word in letters to the point where it is noticeable to El. When she confronts him he still can't say it. Not only that, but Mike brings up his fight with El to Will several times but he doesn't actually tell him what they fought about. It's like he's prompting Will to ask. It seems like Mike wants to tell him that he couldn't tell El he loves her. He wants to talk about this with him. But Will is in self-preservation mode and isn't asking.

When he actually does say the words to her it's because he's put into a position where he has to say something and he doesn't know what else to say (again blurting things out he doesn't mean when he is scared). For most of the scene Will shown behind Mike - he's in the back of Mike's mind. I don't think Will's reactions here are simply to show that Will loves Mike but also Mike's true feelings as well. I think Mike has only ever said this to Will and those feelings are only for Will and it's part of the reason why he distances himself from El so much.

[will80sbyers]

Brenner said this about Will and Henry

meaning Henry was afraid of being isolated and treated as a joke by the people around him because he was different too, like Will, even if in a different way than Will... he can go inside his mind and manipulate him way better because they both are afraid of being rejected for who they are

Instead in the game it's said that he can't possess Mike, Lucas and Dustin because they had less trauma at the time even if they had some fears like Will, it doesn't work because Vecna doesn't understand how to relate to them as he did with Will's mind and also they said that meeting Eleven made them feel optimistic like they can fight back even these big scary things because they have this "superhero" on their side and did it once before, Will wasn't there to see El at work in S1

So the things they are scared of in the game for me are all real things that plague them but Vecna can't "relate enough" and they have a more positive idea (?) of life than Will has, they are more optimistic basically

Mike being afraid that he lost El forever and will never find her again ( we see how he was missing her a great deal after season 1 and losing her left him heartbroken )

Lucas being afraid that he's always going to be judged for the colour of his skin first and he's never going to achieve something great if he keeps hanging out with "the nerds" (clearly all the trauma from racism and the bullying)

and Dustin being afraid his best friends don't think of him with the same care as he thinks of them (we saw how in S1 he thought that Mike didn't think of him as a best friend and in S3 he thought they forgot about him coming back from camp)

All of these are real fears they have after S1 and I feel that these are only getting stronger with the years going by and plus they are adding other fears to the mix that are heavier and deeper than these ones and those are the fears Vecna needs to find out to attack them in season 5

But we saw how Lucas's fear of always being looked as different in season 4 transformed in him saying he doesn't want to be "normal" anymore and I feel like his only real fear now is not being able to help Max maybe

Dustin will be obviously tortured about Eddie and how he was put before anything else for one of his friends to the point he gave his own life to save Dustin's life (like Mike tried to do in S1 btw) so Dustin's fear is sort of changed to the feeling of guilt I think

Mike's fear of losing Eleven is also born from his general fear of not being needed and losing all of the people he loves, and I also think he has the same fear as Will about being rejected for who he is, only I think he thinks it's because he's not cool enough at the moment... and he will discover he is different too but I think he's gonna be more ok with it than Will is

obviously homophobia has a weight on his mind too, he will want in part to repress it

but the main thing for Mike is that the dynamics of his relationships changing scare the shit out him because he doesn't want to lose any of them...

I think his need to repress his feelings for Will is born from this fear of change more than fear of being seen as gay/queer

Because change means things can end up being different... (Himself included😏😏😏😏)

and his relationships can shift one way or another

Will could want to go on without him in life and leave the Party to join a different one where he has new friends and even a girlfriend that he makes art for instead of making it for Mike

El can think he's just a random nerd and not want him in her life ever again if they are not in a relationship and she doesn't need him as a support, in his mind she's only with him because he found her and helped her not because she wants him

Lucas could join the basketball team and decide he doesn't want to be in the Party anymore and leave Mike too

Dustin is always growing closer to people like Steve and this could mean he's gonna leave too at one point

Mike wants to keep the status quo not because it's what he actually wants in his life...

but because he thinks that if things change they can change for the worst and he could lose ALL of them.

He's afraid of things changing to the point he wants things to be stuck in time and for the clock to turn back to when his friends needed him too and his connection to all of his friends was stable and it seemed like he could never lose them for one reason or another... He needs all of his friends so much and he somehow started to think that now they don't need him at all

[teambyler]

"Byler Endgame, One Episode at a Time" - s5e1

Plot beats and scenes leading to a Byler endgame, one episode at a time, for Season 5 of Stranger Things. (This is just for fun! I have no insider knowledge!)

Also see Part 0, where I explain what I think a Byler Endgame has to address.

s5e1

Since we’re going back to s1 themes, a shadowy U.S. government organization is involved. It wants to contain and study the hellscape in Hawkins. People are ordered out of parts of Hawkins. The Byers don’t have a home in Hawkins. Joyce stays at Hopper’s, with Jonathan too probably (Ted wouldn’t let Nancy’s boyfriend sleep in the house. He’s perfectly fine with “Mike’s friend Will” though!)

When Will arrives, he asks to stay in Mike’s basement. Mike says it’s cold and uncomfortable and he doesn’t have to. Will says he’s fine, he prefers a quiet place to do art, he likes that it’s where they played D&D... “We get to play D&D again, yes?” “Of course!” Mike insists on putting a bed in there, etc. Will is fine with the couch. The whole time Will is trying to be cool, trying to get over loving his straight best friend.

Will walks into Mike’s room, to see that Mike has framed the D&D painting and is hanging it on the wall. Mike: “This is a really nice present you gave.” Will’s in shock… does he know? It becomes clear Mike just thinks Will and El talked about what to put in a gift they were both to give Mike, while things were still good between him and El. “It’s too bad things went south so quickly…” Mike shares that he and El aren’t seeing each other. Will looks at the painting, thoughts racing… Mike says he doesn’t know what’s going on with El because after the pizza shop he thought they were official again, but she’s still being cold toward him.

Will sleeps on the basement couch, remembering their "Crazy together" conversation. He cries quietly.

After coaxing Lucas who’s spending time at the hospital with Max, the Hellfire Club play D&D in Mike’s basement. Dustin is the dungeon master. It’s a very feel-good, “the party is back together” scene. Will’s so happy to be playing D&D with Mike and is sitting next to him. In the game, Will risks his life to cast prismatic spray and save the group. The spell fails. In the game, Mike risks his life to protect Will. Will is blushing and it feels kinda romantic.

“A PLOT” SHENANIGANS. Will is rubbing his neck a lot and this is a Will-focused season. (There’s a million ways the A plot can go down so I won’t even try!)

School was disrupted by the events of s4. Bullies with nothing better to do target the Hellfire Club members, blaming them for recent events. Bully #1 lost a loved one when the hellfire opened. The party has to split up to get away from them. Bully #1 corners Will and says he hopes he gets AIDS. Will is terrified and once he’s alone starts crying.

Jonathan senses Will is really down. He invites Robin over. She arrives and kisses Vickie goodbye in front of Will. Will is shocked. Jonathan leaves the room, and Robin and Will connect. Will asks what it’s like to come out. Robin says some people shunned her, but others like Steve and Jonathan didn’t. She found out who her real friends were: “I got to have friends who love me for being me.” Will cry-smiles and thinks about this. Robin says to tell the people you trust the most.

Joyce and El are at Hopper’s cabin. Will looks like he's ready to tell both of them. But he waits for El to step out. Will sits down next to mom and comes out to her. Will: “Do you still love me?” She goes into Mama Bear mode: “Of course I do!” She hugs him. She's heartbroken to think Will didn't know how she'd answer. “Look at me Will. I’ve GONE TO HELL AND BACK FOR YOU WILL. I’ll do it again! I will always, ALWAYS love you.” They have a big ugly-cry hug.

FOLLOW ME for the next part of “Byler Endgame, One Episode at a Time”!

Part 0 (what a Byler endgame needs to address) Next episode

-teambyler

[do-u-know-this-autisticcharacter]

Do You Know This (non-canon) autistic Character?

Propaganda:

This Tumblr post. Which says (if you can't see it)

"why mike wheeler is autistic

these are some of my thoughts on why i think mike wheeler is autistic. 

he has narrow special interests (dnd, science, writing)

he only has a couple of friends, also with the same interests as him (it is common that autistic people have a difficult time making friends)

he hates change (he didn’t like the addition of max into the group without being made aware of it first, instead of using highschool as an opportunity to be someone else like lucas did he went back to doing things that brought him comfort like dnd, he’s always the first to notice when something is off with will (him missing/being possessed))

he is very logical (dustin and lucas ask why they can’t just let his mom deal with el when they find her in s1 and mike reasons that they’ll get caught for sneaking out so they have to handle it themselves, he rationalizes most of the plans in the party (in s3 when lucas says they win if they get the mindflayer out of billy mike reminds him that they wont because it didn’t work with will, jonathan thinks he’s ridiculous for wanting to go to suzie for help in s4 but mike reasons that she is the smartest person they know)) he also doesn’t budge much on his thoughts when it comes to this

he has a difficult time with his emotions (he mixed up romantic and platonic feelings with el, he also didn’t know how to properly confront her about this when he realized), he becomes overly emotional often (when he realized hopper knew el was alive the whole time and he got angry and broke down)

he is a people pleaser (he cares a lot for his friends, especially will and el, which is why in s4 he kept pretending he was in love with el because it’s what he thought she wanted, and why he hid how will leaving affected him because he didn’t want to make their friendship awkward with his newly realized feelings)

he’s not bound to societies standards (to a degree) (why he continues to play dnd even though he gets made fun of and why the upside down wasn’t a difficult concept for him to grasp because to him it made sense easily) 

he misses sarcasm (s4 at suzie’s house)

he misses double meanings to things (his conversations with lucas in s3 about el, he took most of what he said literally)

he is very blunt (often he is quick to tell things how it is even if someone gets upset with him)"

[strangerfigs]

maybe this is an unpopular opinion but you are just as valid of byler shipper if you have doubt or full on do not think they are gonna happen like i guess just shout out to all my bylers who are doubters because i truly as mike wheeler once said, don’t know what’s going to happen next, but i think it would be better if we were a team. anyway. like idk. i just am so unsure if they are gonna happen or not ?? like the subtext speaks volumes but i feel like they intentionally write it as it going either way. or many ways. ??? like even in the season 1, dustin saying that lucas is mike’s BEST friend makes me wonder if the duffers really didn’t see the potential of byler until later?? esp because they said they wrote mike as a very typical straight charqcter at first but then they met finn and changed his character. idk. ig i also just wonder about the party dynamics before will went missing because we really don’t actually know much about it. like did things change after will went missing because it’s evident and so clear that mike’s closest friend is will in every season after season 1 even when they are fighting and even when he is spending a lot of time with lucas. it’s just very very clear there is a bond there that is either outside of the party or closer than the party and it’s literally verbalized by mike himself in season 4 when he tells will that the others are great but it’s not the same without him. if it just wasn’t the same without him then he would just say that part but it’s clear since he mentions the others that he ranks will higher than them which is just funny because mike literally tells dystin that they are all his best friends and makes a point out of it so it’s just very funny but it really does make me wonder if it used to be like that but then mike sort of realized in s2 that will is his best friend whether that be from what happened or just like realization but just from mikes little monologue it’s also sort of implied that will is his BEST friend as that is the BEST decision he has ever made so. interesting. but yeah it just really makes me wonder the purpose of that scene with Dustin where he tells him that when the rest of the show past s1 clearly depicts will (and eleven) as the central points in mike’s plot lines and idk, maybe s3 was mike trying to return to his previous dynamic with will (pre- will being taken) but it’s no longer that dynamic anymore? and in doing so, mike kind of ruins their “new” dynamic a bit (not really but also kind of) but there is also no going back to their previous dynamic. so then in s4, mike is pretty sure that dynamic is ruined. I mean they never really made up in season 3. will brushes it off and they focus on the more important issues at hand. but it still happened, and while they have that scene at the end, where will tells him he isn’t going to join another party, I feel like that honestly just repairs the “party” dynamic esp because Will told Mike “you’re ruining the party” and Mike spent a majority of the first half of the season treating Will the same as Dustin and/or Lucas, categorizing them in the same “best friend” title, forcing that dynamic back into place even though, obviously, Will and Mike grew closer in s2, or at least their bond solidified, but Mike is just kind of pretending that didn’t happen? so s3 ends with will basically confirming that the party is still in tact and mike didn’t ruin it and will still wanted to be a part of it regardless of him moving, mike ruining it, him and Lucas being assholes, and mike being even a bigger asshole. but I think that the fight they had was more of a will/mike fight then it was actually about the party. it’s separate than the party dynamic and it’s more about their special bond which is why Mike runs up after him and Lucas stays in the basement, but it does result in Mike and Will having an entirely different fight of their own, which is both a stand alone fight because Mike says some fucked up shit, and Will insults his gf and says he is ruining the party. like Lucas isn’t even aware of all this!!!

(I ran out of text block). Lucas thinks that they were just a holes and they were but are apologizing for mocking him, so anyway, yeah: I just am getting at how this sort of refers again to the closer bond/additional dynamic that will and mike have which i’m not even fully convinced dustin and lucas are even aware exists? even though it so obviously does but a lot of mike and will’s most intimate moments, or moments that it’s clear they have a deeper connection, happen while they are alone. and I think Mike because he has this “you are all my best friend” mentality I think also feels guilty in s3 for having favored will or having a deeper bond with him than dustin or lucas. i think he is trying to balance it all and have it all and mike can only have one person outside of the party that he is especially close with at a time and he can barely keep that up but it’s why in s3 he feels so miserably because it’s the party, will, and el that he is trying to balance out. he therefore tries to just group will in with the party but their relationship/friendship has evolved past that so it sort of just collapses in on itself, and while the other party members are annoyed with Mike, it hits will even harder because yes, he loves him, but also because they did develop that strong bond that went deeper than the party, and now it just didn’t even exist

I think it’s safe to say that I’m totally just rambling at this point but I think it’s interesting to have s4 because it really does feel like in s3, they broke apart completely, and by the end of the season; Will was back in the party and that dynamic was healed but that wasn’t the only dynamic/bond they shared, and it really feels like in season 4, that bond is healed and restored, and mike admits to it, and WANTS it back, and admits to feeling like he lost will (due to worrying too much about el which honestly has so many meanings - worrying about her being happy, worrying about making her happy, worrying about being the perfect boyfriend so she doesn’t break up with him because he feels like he has has a mask on in the sense that he said one day she is just gonna realize he is a nerd like he has just been putting on this act and it’s so interesting and it’s so obvious too in all the season 3 scenes as well that he is just doing or saying whatever she wants to hear in so many of their scenes like that bike scene where they were just together and he is riding to the movie theater like she literally says ‘I wish you were still here right now’ and he says ‘yeah me too’ but he could have stayed like he is going to the movies and I know it’s just a small lie and like he would be a douche if he didn’t agree but it’s just such an interesting thing to include by the duffers because he isn’t going home, he could still be with her but he goes to his friends to see a movie. but I think it says a lot regarding the genuineness and sincerity of mikes words vs his actions like it is such a huge juxtaposition to create this scene idk).

anyways back to s4. s4 restores their special bond. mike is the most direct he has ever been regarding his closeness to will compared to the other members of the party. i think mike may have realized it when will left ? or at least realized he couldn’t shove will in with the rest of the party once he left, but i do feel like mike thinks he ruined it last summer with will because they barely make up as party best friends let alone best friend best friends outside of the group dynamic/bestie #1 so it sort of feels like mike just assumes he fucked that up, and he didn’t realize that Will would still want/wanted to be BEST friends with him until that roller rink scene (which is supposed to be what they are anyways because of what Mike told Dustin but I think it’s just another testament to the fact that Mike’s bond with Will is deeper and separate from the rest of the party.) I think especially too with Will not really speaking to him that whole day he didn’t really think that Will cared that much about their friendship (like to Mike, shouldn’t Will be happy that he is here? shouldn’t he be spending that time talking to him?) so I do think Mike is surprised when Will asks what about us because he didn’t realize this feeling was reciprocated because to him, really, in his little mike perspective, they had a huge fight where Will said he was ruining the party, and then when Mike tried to resolve things, Will didn’t seem interested in doing so… so (and I also think this is why Mike is so surprised that Will doesn’t plan to join another party but I do really think this was putting a bandaid on a very damaging rupture of their’s) and I think that is why he is also projecting in the sense that Mike knows that he is guilty of the rupture which caused them to drift to start with so him asking why he is always the bad guy is out of defense and guilt that this is how their friendship was now, but also a little bitterness as well because will wasn’t receptive to Mike trying to patch things up with him, and also the fact that Will was again blaming him for their friendship being the way it was when Will didn’t reach out either and how was Mike supposed to even know if Will wanted him to seeing as how things ended last summer? But also I think it’s clear that Mike tried calling more often than Will thought. Also - I think because Mike is into this idea of justice among the party and everyone being his bestie, and this is totally a hc, but he probably replicated Dustin and Lucas in regards to how often they reached out to Will and the means of how they did which wasn’t letters. Plus, Mike was pretty depressed so ! I’m sure it was hard to do anything.

All this to say, I think their friendship is lovely and beautiful and special, and while I do think that Mike has feelings for Will, I also hope (and have hope) for s5 that the st writers will honor their close bond and friendship because it is different and it is beautiful and I think that s4 really healed byler’s friendship 🙏like even when they are back with eleven, there is an obvious closeness between them that sort of proves that they are healed in that aspect which I just think is beautiful because I love their friendship so much and if the duffers aren’t going to give us Byler then I pray to god that they at least honor their beautiful and close friendship because god dammit it’s amazing. !!!!!

anyways, it is just fun to analyze their friendship because the ship is literally childhood friends to lovers which is my cup of tea, but I just feel like their friendship needs to be super strong in the 5th season and I feel at least very confident in that? which is good and nice. I will still be heart broken if byler doesn’t happen and i do have my doubts and i hope they do happen but if the duffers can at least honor their beautiful friendship then i think I’ll be okay in the end ??

but anyways. that’s some thoughts of mine

[robinbuckleysfringe]

There's No Place Like Hawkins

pairings: steve harrington x oc, steve harrington x henderson!oc

warnings: nothing beyond anything that happens within the canon of the show, slow burn?? they don't get together for a while

word length: 5k

Chapter Two (episodes: S1.Ep2)

prev. chapter | next chapter | series masterlist

The Weirdo On Maple Street

After running into the small girl in the woods, the group had collectively decided to bring her back with them to the Wheeler’s house, where they were now all gathered together in the basement. The boys and Catherine stood by the coffee table in front of the couch, staring at the mysterious girl, who in turn stared up at them in fear. “Is there a number we can call for your parents?” Mike asked the girl, breaking the silence between the group.

"Where's your hair?" Dustin questioned her, confused as to why her hair was buzzed. "Do you have cancer?"

Catherine hit his arm. "You can't just ask people that, dude." She scolded, pulling the blanket closer around her shoulders.

"Did you run away?" Lucas queried.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Mike spoke again.

“Is that blood?” Lucas inquired, pointing at the stain on her shirt that was poking out from under the coat she had borrowed from Mike.

"Stop it! You're freaking her out!" The Wheeler boy exclaimed.

"She's freaking me out!" Lucas retorted.

"Shut up! All of you!" Catherine pushed them away from the frightened girl. "You're all scaring her." Cat knelt down in front of her. "Hey, sweetie." She smiled softly at the girl. "My name's Catherine, or you can call me Cat for short." She received a small smile from the girl in response. "Now, I know you're scared. But we aren't going to hurt you. We just want to help you. Okay?" The girl nodded slightly, beginning to feel like she could trust the older girl. "Now, I bet you're cold." Catherine turned to Mike. "Do you have any spare clothes." 

Mike nodded his head, moving to grab a spare jumper and a pair of sweatpants from the basket of clean laundry. He handed them to Cat, the older girl passing them gently to the quiet girl sat in front of her. "Here you go, sweetie. These will keep you warm. You wanna go put them on?" The older girl slowly reached out a hand to which the younger girl hesitantly took.

Catherine stood up from her kneeling position on the floor, gently pulling the younger girl with her. The quiet girl took off the jacket she had borrowed and followed the older girl to the bathroom. "You can get changed in here, okay?" The girl frowned, slightly confused. "It's called privacy, okay?" Catherine went to close the door but was suddenly stopped as the small girl grabbed the door. "You don't want me to close the door?" The girl let out a quiet 'no' and Catherine heard one of the boys say, 'so she can speak' from behind her. "Okay. Well, how about I close it, just not all the way so it's still technically open?" Catherine said, her actions mimicking her words. "Is that better, sweetie?"

"Yes." The younger girl gave her a small smile.

Catherine returned the smile. "I'll just be outside if you need me." She turned back to the boys just as Dustin exclaimed, "this is mental!"

"At least she can talk." Mike pointed out.

"She said 'no' and 'yes'." Lucas interjected. "Your three-year old sister says more."

"Guys. Shut up. She's scared. She's not gonna want to talk to some strangers who found her in the woods." Cat told them, picking up a spare towel from the basket of clean laundry. She wrapped it around the ends of her hair, attempting to dry it.

"There's something seriously wrong with her." Lucas said to them, ignoring Catherine who just sighed and hoped that the girl wasn't listening to the boys' conversation. "Like, wrong in the head." Lucas pointed to his own head to make it clear to others what he meant. "I bet she escaped from Pennhurst."

"From where?" Mike asked.

"The nuthouse in Kerley County." Lucas explained.

"You got a lot of family there?" Dustin joked as Cat rolled her eyes.

"Bite me." Lucas snapped. "Seriously though, think about it."

"Think about what, Sinclair?" Catherine asked from where she stood leaning against the stairs, arms folded across her chest.

"That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."

"She's not crazy. You're just being rude." Cat snapped at him, running her fingers through her damp hair.

Lucas ignored her words. "She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho."

"Like Michael Myers." Dustin interjected.

"Exactly!" Lucas agreed, pointing a finger at the boy. "We should've never brought her here."

"So, you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?" Mike asked.

Catherine stepped closer to the boys. "It's probably safer for her to be here than it is for her to be alone out there." She argued at them, waving her arms around in frustration.

"We went to find Will, not another problem."

"I think we should tell your mom." Dustin said to Mike.

"I second that." Lucas agreed as they all turned to Cat to see what she thought they should do.

“You know I’m gonna tell you that at least one of you should tell a parent. That way we can make sure that this poor girl is safe.” Cat spoke with a sigh. “But I know you guys too well to know you’re not gonna take my advice.”

“Lucas, that’s crazy!” Mike exclaimed, turning towards his friend.

"How is that crazy?" Lucas argued.

"’Cause, we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?"

Catherine started at the new information. “Excuse me?!” She turned sharply towards them, pushing herself off the wall where she had been leaning. She took in a deep breath, trying to not yell at the boys. They had been reckless, yes. But they were only trying to help find their best friend. Catherine had to remind herself of that.

The boys looked at her sheepishly, knowing the older girl was not impressed. “I cannot believe you kids!” She exclaimed, finding herself at a loss for words. “I know that you’re trying to help. I get it. But you can’t put your own lives at risk.” She reached down, picking up her backpack and slinging it onto her back. “I swear to God, if I you kids do anything like this again, I will personally ground you myself. Got it?” Cat asked, looking at each of the three boys.

“We just wanna find Will.” Dustin told her, his voice quiet.

Cat’s face fell as she looked at her brother. “I know. I know. Just… Just maybe talk to me first. Okay?” She paused, eyes flickering over to where the young girl stood just behind the bathroom door. “I’m gonna go home, I’ve got a test in the morning I still haven’t studied for. Dusty, make sure you call before you come home, and I’ll meet you.” He nodded his head, watching as Cat left through the basement door.

***

The next morning Catherine had cycled to school on her bike, not wanting to bother Jonathan by asking for a lift. She walked down the halls of Hawkins' High School next to Barb who was reading Nancy's flashcards aloud to help them prepare for their upcoming test. Cat huffed out a frustrated sigh as she rushed to catch up with her friends, knowing full well she was going to fail the test. Being out with her younger brother and his friends as they looked for Will had left her with no time to go through her science notes. It didn’t help that once she was home, she had laid awake all night worrying about the safety of the younger boy.

"When alpha particles go through gold foil, they become..." Barb prompted, reading off one of the revision cards

Catherine shrugged. "I honestly can’t remember.” She answered honestly.

"They become unoccupied space." Nancy spoke, answering correctly.

Barb nodded her head and began to read the next card. "A molecule that can-" She was cut off by Steve Harrington snatching the cards out of her hands, his two friends Tommy and Carol right behind him.

"Hey!" Nancy called out to him, reaching her hands out in attempt to retrieve the revision notes.

"I don't know. I think you've studied enough, Nance." He replied, shrugging his shoulders as he flicked through the cards.

“Well, I haven’t, Harrington. So, give them back.” Cat snapped, moving to grab the cards from the boy’s hands. As she did so, Tommy stepped forward and shoved her away, Cat tripping over her feet and stumbling backwards into Nancy and Barb.

"Steve-" Nancy tried, helping her friend stabilise her footing.

“I’m telling you, you know, you got this.” Steve spoke, shaking his head slightly at her. “You too Henderson, you doubt yourself too much.”

Cat scoffed at him, taken aback by the words coming out of his mouth. To go from not talking to her properly in years, to giving her something that could almost pass as a compliment caught her off guard. “Thanks.” She mumbled, making sure to roll her eyes.

“Now, on to more important matter.” Cat raised an eyebrow at Steve, wondering what he could deem so important to interrupt their mini studying session. "My dad has left town on a conference and my mom's gone with him, 'cause, you know, she doesn't trust him."

"Good call." Tommy interjected with a laugh. Cat couldn’t help but roll her eyes again. She was desperate to step away from the conversation, but Steve still had hold of the revision notes and she didn’t want to leave without either of her friends.

"So, are you in?" Steve asked, looking only at Nancy.

"In for what?" She asked, not quite understanding what the others were getting at.

"No parents? Big house?" Carol vaguely explained.

"A party?" Nancy guessed.

"Ding, ding, ding!" Carol said as Tommy laughed.

"It's Tuesday." Nancy pointed out.

"It's Tuesday!" Tommy mocked her and Cat had to stop herself from punching the boy in the face, as the others laughed.

"Come on" Steve said, lightly tapping her arm. "It'll be low key. It'll just be us." He tried to convince his girlfriend to come along to his party. "What do you say? Are you in or are you out?"

"Um..." Nancy trailed off, unsure of her answer.

"Oh, God. Look." Carol said, looking past Cat at someone at the end of the hall. The group turned around to see Jonathan hanging a missing poster on the noticeboard.

"Oh, God, that's depressing." Catherine rolled her eyes at Steve, not believing how he could be so rude. Barb grabbed her arm, stopping her in case she decided to punch Steve in his pretty face.

"Should we say something?" Nancy asked the group.

"I don't think he speaks." Carol told her, disgust laced in her voice.

"How much you want to bet he killed him?" Tommy laughed.

Barb looked down at her friend to see her seething with anger. "Don't." She whispered softly, sensing that her friend was going to cause a fight. Cat shook her head in anger, handing her books to Barb.

"What's wrong with you Henderson?" Tommy asked her. "You got something wrong with you or something?"

"Yeah. You." She stepped forward, ignoring Barb's warnings and punched Tommy in the face. She continued to punch the boy while she yelled at him. "You don't think for once that maybe, just maybe, what you say isn't at all funny and that maybe you're just a complete asshole." She stopped punching him for a second, having him pinned up against the wall. She was breathing heavily, not believing that she had just stood up to the guy that had endlessly bullied her for years.

Tommy laughed in her face. "Wow, you're psycho. You're an absolute psycho." Cat pulled back her fist, ready to punch him again, when a hand wrapped around her waist pulling her away from the boy. Her mind barely registered that it was Steve Harrington who was the one to wrap an arm around her and pull her away from the boy everyone was certain she was going to end up killing.

Still seething with anger, Cat shook herself out of Steve’s grip and grabbed her books back from Barb. Storming away from the group, she held up her middle finger over shoulder in Tommy’s direction. “Get fucked, Tommy!” She shouted, passing by Nancy and Jonathan who were having their own small conversation in front of the notice board.

Steve couldn’t help but stare at his ex-best friend as she walked away, shocked at how much she’d changed since the last time they properly spoken. “You’re invited to my party too, Henderson.” He called after her without thinking.

“Dude, what?” Tommy hit his arm. “You’re inviting that psycho freak?”

“She’s Nancy’s friend. She’d probably be there anyway, man.” Steve answered, covering up the real reason he’d invited the girl. The truth was that until now, he hadn’t realised how he’d missed having her around. And now that he was going out with Nancy, one of Cat’s best friends, there was more opportunity to try and get her back into his life.

Cat shook her head at his words, turning the corner into the next corridor. The bell rang, signalling that she would be late to her chemistry test, but she’d rather be late than walk alongside next to Carol and Tommy. Besides, she needed the longer route to clear her head.

***

That evening, Cat found herself back at the Wheeler’s house where Nancy had dragged her to get ready for Steve’s party. Before she could even step foot into Nancy’s room, she was pulled away by her brother while the boys muttered something about D&D and babysitting. Catherine shrugged her shoulders in her friend’s direction, not understanding what the kids wanted. “Tell you what, I’ll give Barb another ring.” Nancy told her. “See if she’ll be up to driving us to the… the special assembly.” She chose her words carefully, not wanting to reveal their true plans for the evening in front of her younger brother. Cat nodded her head, unable to get out a verbal response before Mike hurried the group into his room, making sure to close the door.

"Are you out of your mind?" Lucas blurted out, the group turning to face the sight of the small girl from the previous evening sitting cross-legged on Mike’s bed.

"Just listen to me." Mike replied, trying to keep his friend calm.

"You are out of your mind!" Lucas responded, clearly irritated. Cat sent a comforting smile at the girl who sent the older girl a quick but small smile in response. She wanted the girl to be able to feel safe as it was obvious how scared she was.

"She knows about Will." Mike's statement caused Cat to whip her head in his direction, her eyes widening.

“Excuse me?”

"What do you mean she knows about Will?" Dustin asked, turning his gaze from the girl to Mike.

Mike went over to the table near the door, picking up a picture of all four of the boys with their science fair trophy. He held it up in front of the others so they could see it clearly. "She pointed at him, at his picture." He explained to them. "She knew he was missing. I could tell."

"You could tell?" Lucas questioned, not quite believing his friend.

"Just think about it." Mike began. "Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where Will disappeared?"

Cat raised an eyebrow, glancing over at the quiet girl. Was it a coincidence? She still wasn’t sure why she was a part of all this.

"That is weird." Dustin agreed as he and Lucas shared a look.

"And she said that bad people are after her."

Cat's eyes widened again. "No wonder she's terrified if she's got bad people after her." She took a seat on Mike's bed next to the girl and gently rubbed her back, but not before checking that the young girl was okay with the physical contact.

"I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will." Mike explained to them. Catherine shook her head slightly, trying to push down the guilt she had for not cycling Will home. "I think she knows what happened to him." Mike added.

"Then why doesn't she tell us?" Lucas asked, his arms crossed over his chest. They were silent for a moment as they all looked at the girl sat next to Catherine. Lucas took a few steps forward until he was right in front of her. "Do you know where he is?" Lucas snapped, clearly frightening the girl, who moved closer into Cat’s side. The boy suddenly grabbed her shoulders loudly repeating his question. Catherine let out a gasp, prying Lucas's hands off of the young girl. She stood up and pulled Lucas a few step away from the girl and scolded him for scaring the frightened girl. As she did this, Mike yelled at Lucas to stop, stating that he was scaring the girl.

"She should be scared!" He yelled back as Cat walked back over to the girl and slowly pulled her in for a hug, trying to not scare her any more than she already was. "If you know where he is, tell us!" The young girl stared up at Lucas from over Cat's shoulder.

Cat, who was knelt in front of the young girl turned to Lucas. "She's not going to tell you anything if you're scaring her. I thought you were smart, Sinclair." Cat scoffed, turning back to the young girl. The young girl sat in silence, wrapping her arms around Cat's neck.

Lucas walked back over to Mike and Dustin. "This is nuts. We have to take her to your mom."

"No!" Mike responded, his voice just as loud and defensive as Lucas'. "Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger." Cat raised her eyebrows yet again at the mention of what appeared to be the young girl’s name.

"What kind of danger?" Dustin asked as Lucas questioned, "Her name is Eleven?"

"El for short."

"Mike," Cat turned her body away from Eleven for a moment, worry lacing her words. "You said telling anyone else would put us in danger. What kind of danger?"

"Danger danger." Mike snapped and Cat ran her spare hand through her hair. It wasn't a very helpful answer. Mike moved his hands to Dustin's forehead, his fingers imitating a gun before moving his hand towards Lucas, who slapped the boy's arm away.

"No, no, no!" Lucas yelled as Catherine's face contorted into one of worry. She cared deeply for the kids and would do anything to keep them safe. "We're going back to plan A. We're telling your mom." The boy made his way to the door as Cat stood up from where she had been kneeling on the floor. As he opened the door it closed. He did this a couple of times, each time he opened the door it shut, leaving the boys and Catherine confused as to what was going on. They watched as the door locked itself. All three boys turned to Eleven and Cat turned to the girl too, her eyes glancing down at the blood leaking from the girl's nose.

Eleven stood up from the bed, moving to stand next to Cat as she simply told the boys, "No."

***

The two girls sat round at the dinner table, as did the boys. Cat was sat in between Nancy and Mike as Dustin sat at the end of the table between Mike and Lucas who was next to Mr. Wheeler. Mrs. Wheeler was sat next to him with little Holly between her and Nancy. The group were quiet as they played around with the food on their plates. Karen noticed that the children and two teens had barely touched their food. "Something wrong with the meatloaf?" She asked.

Cat looked up at the lady and smiled politely. "No, no. It's lovely Mrs. Wheeler. I'm just not that hungry." She had eaten very little of her food, having barely eaten a quarter of the food that sat in front of her. Normally she had a healthy appetite, but her guilt over Will’s disappearance had begun to affect it. She couldn’t eat as much as normal.

"Oh, no, I had two bologna sandwiches for lunch." Dustin told Karen Wheeler. "I don't know why."

Lucas let out a small chuckle. "Me, too."

"It's delicious, Mom." Nancy smiled at her.

"Thank you, sweetie." Karen smiled at her eldest daughter.

"So, there's this... special assembly thing tonight..." Nancy began. "For Will at the school field. Barb's driving."

"Why am I just hearing about this?" Karen asked her.

Nancy's eyes widened. "I thought you knew."

"I told you, I don't want you out after dark until Will is found."

"I know, I know, but it'd be super weird if I'm not there, but Catherine is." Nancy told her mother. "I mean, everyone's going." Karen looked over at Catherine to see if what Nancy was saying was true as Cat just nodded her head silently.

Karen let out a sigh. "Just... be back by 10:00." Karen told her, not liking the idea of her daughter going out late with everything that was going on. Nancy nodded going back to her meatloaf. "Why don't you and Cat take the boys too?" Mrs. Wheeler suggested to the two teens.

At that all three boys looked up from their plates as they collectively disagreed. Karen had a confused look on her face as the two teens stared sharply at the boys. "Don't you think you should be there?" Karen asked them. "For Will?"

Mike suddenly choked on the glass of milk he was drinking, and Cat shot him a weird look from across the table. Karen went to look at where Mike's eyes were staring when Dustin banged his hands on the table causing the older woman to jump in her seat, letting out a gasp at the sudden noise. Cat looked past both Nancy and Mrs. Wheeler to see Eleven walking down the stairs, everything clicking inside her head. The boys were creating a diversion so El wasn’t discovered.

"Sorry." Dustin apologised. "Spasm."

Holly started whimpering in her high chair and Karen let out a small 'oh' turning to attend to her youngest child. "It's okay, Holly. It's just a loud noise."

***

After getting changed into what Nancy deemed as more appropriate party clothing, hidden under their jackets so that Karen wouldn’t sus out their real plan for the evening, they found themselves in Barbara’s car driving down the road towards Steve’s house. Barb, of course, was in the driver’s seat with Nancy next to her in the passenger seat. Cat sat behind them, gaze fixed on the passing trees as she fiddled with the hem of her ‘Bon Jovi’ t-shirt. Truth be told, she didn’t want to be spending her evening at Steve’s and surrounded by people she wasn’t fond of, even if it meant Steve was putting in the effort to talk to her now. She’d rather be using her evening to help look for Will with the rest of the town.

"Barbara, pull over." Nancy's voice grabbed Cat's attention and she pulled her gaze away from the window, now directing it instead to the two girls sat in front of her.

"What?" Barb asked her, confused.

"Pull over!"

Barb pulled the car over as Nancy had said. "What are we doing here?" The redhead asked. "His house is three blocks away."

"We can't park in the driveway." Nancy stated, as if the information was obvious.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, the neighbours might see." Nancy responded.

"So?" Cat asked her, furrowing her eyebrows as she leaned forward in her seat. "I'm not walking three blocks. Do I need to remind you that it's dark out? It’s not exactly safe right now.”

"This is so stupid." Barb spoke, nodding her head in agreement with Catherine. "I'm just gonna drop you two off."

"Calm down, Barb. Come on." Nancy reached into her bag, putting away the lipstick she had just put on. "You promised that you'd go. You're coming." Catherine rolled her eyes at her friend. "We're gonna have a great time."

"Okay, sure." Cat mumbled sarcastically.

"He just wants to get in your pants." Barb argued. And as much as Cat didn't want to think about that being true, she nodded her head in agreement, because it was true. This was Steve Harrington of all people. Of course, that was the reason as to why he'd invited Nancy over when his parents were away.

Nancy chuckled. "No, he doesn't."

"Nance... seriously." Barb tried. "He invited you to his house. His parents aren't home." Nancy simply just looked at her, not believing what her friend was saying. "Come on, you are not this stupid."

"Tommy H. and Carol are gonna be there." Nancy said as if that meant anything.

"Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade." Barb pointed out, shaking her head. "It'll probably just be, like, a big orgy." The three girls in the car chuckled at Barb’s statement.

"Gross." Nancy shook her head, undoing her seatbelt.

"I'm serious!"

"All right, well..." Nancy started pulling her jumper off over her head. "You and Cat can be like, my guardians. All right?" Cat sighed. She did not want to be responsible for another person her age. She could deal with being responsible for the boys but having to look out for Nancy? She wasn't sure she'd enjoy that. And it definitely wouldn’t make the evening fun, not that she was expecting it to be if she had to hang out with Tommy and Carol. "Make sure I don't get drunk and do anything stupid."  Nancy added, taking out another top from her bag and placing it on her lap.

"I'm not a goody-toe shoes, Nance." Cat pointed out. "How can I make sure you don't do something stupid when I'm likely to have a drink or two? And I definitely need one after the week we’re having.”

"Is that a new bra?" Barb questioned, glancing at Nancy as she pulled on her new top.

"No." Nancy denied, face flushing slightly as she lied.

***

The three girls walked up to the massive doors that marked the entrance to the house of Steve Harrington. Cat slid her hands in the pockets of her jeans to stop them from twitching due to her nerves. She hadn't visited the Harrington household in quite a few years, though she could still remember the layout of the building. Music could be heard from inside the house, although it was too faint for Catherine to be able to make out what it specifically was. Nancy and Cat stood either side of Barb as the former girl reached forward to ring the bell. They waited for about a minute or two before the big red doors swung open, revealing Steve Harrington himself.

The boy smiled at the girls and stood with one hand holding onto the door and the other on his hip. "Hello, ladies."

Cat smiled politely at Steve as he glanced over each of the girls, eyes landing on Cat’s shirt. “Loving the top, Henderson.” He grinned.

“Thanks.” She mumbled, face flushing at the attention he was giving her. It felt strange, having Steve talk to her as if he hadn’t ditched their friendship two years prior. Steve stepped to the side, allowing the girls to enter his house.

They walked through to the pool, greeted by the sight of Tommy trying to throw Carol into the water. The girl was shrieking, and Cat couldn’t help but cringe at the sound. The three newcomers to the party sat down on chairs around the pool, Cat sitting in the one next to Barb. The girl watched as Steve sliced a can of beer open and started drinking from it. Cat looked over at Barb, the two sharing an unimpressed look at the boy’s actions. Steve exhaled, sitting down in the chair next to Nancy who asked, "Is that supposed to impress me?"

Steve placed a cigarette between his lips, and Cat sighed as she realised, she’d left her own packet back at home. They were good for easing her nerves, and if there was ever a time, she needed to calm them, it was now. "You're not?" Steve asked, shrugging his shoulders at Nancy.

"You are a cliché, you do realize that?" Nancy told her boyfriend.

"You are a cliché." Steve responded, lighting his cigarette. "What with your... your grades and your band practice."

Nancy laughed, "I'm so not in band."

"Okay, party girl. Why don't you just, uh, show us how it's done, then?" Steve handed her a can of beer and a pocket knife to slice it open with. Both of her friends rolled their eyes and while Nancy was chugging the drink, Cat leaned over the girl's seat and snatched both a cigarette and the lighter from the table next to where Steve had been sat. Her hands were shaking a tad as she brought the object to her mouth and lit it, burning her hand slightly in the process. She let out a small wince, throwing the lighter back onto the table as she took a drag of the cigarette. As she breathed out a cloud of smoke, her nerves beginning to calm down little by little, she watched on as Nancy finished the drink with a laugh, chucking the empty can onto the ground at her feet.

"Barb, you wanna try?" Nancy asked the redhead, who sat in her chair looking and feeling bored.

She raised her eyebrows at the girl. "What? No." Nancy walked over and grabbed a can from beside Cat. "No, I don't want to. Thanks."

"Come on." Nancy spoke, trying to persuade her friend to try.

"Yeah..." Steve also tried to convince Barbara. "Come on. Yeah."

"Nance, I don't want to." Barb told her friend firmly.

"It's fun! Just give it a-"

Barb cut her off. "Nance..." She trailed off as Nancy handed her the beer.

"Just... Just give it a shot."

Barbara took the can from Nancy. Cat sighed, letting some more smoke pour out her mouth. "You don't have to if you don't want to." She told her best friend, irritated at Nancy for trying to force their friend into doing something she clearly didn't want to do.

"No, it's okay." Barb held Cat's arm for a moment, trying to reassure the worried girl that she'd be fine, before standing up from her seat. She held the can in her left hand, bringing the knife down. However, her hand slipped and instead of the knife piercing a hole in the beer can, it sliced a fairly deep cut down her thumb. Catherine stood up immediately, throwing her cigarette on the ground and stomping it out, before grabbing the beer can and knife from her friend and throwing them onto the chair behind her. She pulled Barb's hand closer to her so she could inspect the wound, making sure it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

"Gnarly." Tommy commented with a snicker. Cat ignored him, pulling her flannel sleeve over her hand and pressing it to her friend's wound.

"Are you okay?" Nancy asked, taking a few steps towards the two girls. Cat lifted her flannel from the wound, wiping the blood from her friend's hand with her sleeve. "Barb, you're bleeding."

"No shit, Nancy." Cat snapped, annoyed at her for peer pressuring Barb. She was here to forget her problems, not have more thrown at her.

"I'm fine." Barb insisted before turning to Steve. "Where's your bathroom?"

Steve stood up from his seat, pointing towards his house. "Oh, it's... It's, uh, down past the kitchen, to the left."

"Okay. Thanks." Barb told him, turning away from the group and heading inside. Cat quickly followed after her, worried.

"Hey, hey. Barb?" She placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do... do you want me to come with you?" The redhead shook her head and continued to the bathroom, leaving the shorter brown haired girl alone in the hallway, feeling horrible for what happened. She walked back outside, stealing another cigarette from the packet on the table and grabbed the lighter, lighting it. Her hand was still hurting from where she burnt it slightly, but she didn't have the energy to care.

Shoving one hand in her pocket, the other one held the cigarette while she took a drag. Turning away from the group, she let the cloud of smoke escape her lips as she began making her back towards the house.

"Oi, Henderson!" Steve called out, grabbing the girl's attention. "Where are you going?"

Cat glanced over her shoulder as she reached the garden door, placing Steve’s lighter on the side table. “Home.” She shouted back to him, shutting the door just as Tommy loudly called her a collection of awful names for leaving the party early, and without even having a drink.

She sat on the front door step for a while, waiting for Barb to finish up in the bathroom. But when the girl didn’t appear after several minutes, Cat decided she was better off walking home, though not before stealing a couple of bottles of booze from Steve’s kitchen.

[heavencasteel420]

I was feeling a bit stuck on my main WIPs, so for fun I wrote a couple of lines/paragraphs for each of my other story ideas (the proper ones where I have a general sense of the story's shape, not the shitpost ideas like "Chrissy turns into a car?"). Here are the ones for my Cute/Normal story ideas:

Long

Nancy Wheeler Can't Win (no UD AU, Nancy-centric)

Sometimes, Nancy thought her life would be easier if she were dating Jason Carver instead. Not better, necessarily. She didn't like Jason nearly as much as Steve; he was kind of pompous and, although he technically looked way more like Tom Cruise, she couldn't imagine ever finding him as sexy as she did Steve. She couldn't help but notice, though, that Chrissy Cunningham didn't have to be one person on Saturday night and another on Monday morning.

Life During Wartime (companion to above, centers on Will and Jonathan)

"I can't believe I'll be the last one to get girlfriend," Mike lamented as he and Will biked home from school. It was a perfect September afternoon, neither too hot nor too cold, and the first leaves were turning yellow. "First Lucas and Max, then Dustin and Suzie, now you and Megan. I'm going to die a virgin."

"We could all still die virgins," Will pointed out. "I don't think Lucas and Max are doing it yet, and Megan and I definitely aren't. And we're not even sure if Suzie is real."

Horse Girl (Stoncy, summer 1985)

The thing about being an asshole, Steve thought, as he listlessly scooped butter pecan ice cream for a couple of sixty-something ladies, was that it took a long time to catch up with you. For instance: the thing he'd spray-painted on the theater marquee about Nancy almost two years ago. Sitting on the hood of his car outside the 7-11, he'd resigned himself to her shunning him forever. He'd even gone to apologize to Jonathan first so he could put off seeing the cold disgust on her face. Then, one month later, she'd taken him back, accepting his apology as a matter of course. Maybe that should've been his first clue that something was wrong.

It's All a State of Mind (AU where Hopper-Byers siblings are psychic carnies/confidence artists in the 1930s)

"Heather likes you," El pointed out a few days later, after they'd settled in. They were in the dining tent, digging into some beef stew. "You could get close to her."

"Keep eating and forget what Murray said," Jonathan told her, although he couldn't summon any harshness to back it up. This was the best meal that he or the kids had eaten in months. "Heather puts up with me. She doesn't want to get close to anyone, either."

Heather Holloway was an aerialist, a pert dark-haired girl who'd joined the circus to get away from a home in some ways worse than the one that Lonnie had provided him and Will. She was friendly to Jonathan, but that was probably because he'd shown no interest in getting inside her drawers.

"So you admit it," Will said smugly. "We wouldn't mind if you got married, you know. So long as we liked her.

From the High to the Low to the End of the Show (S1 AU where the teens are in their late twenties)

"Doesn't it piss you off?" Fred asked her. "That he can just waltz in and get a job because he's 'so talented,' when the rest of us had to work hard and do it the right way?" "Eyes on your own paper, Fred," Nancy said, in a chipper tone that she knew would annoy him. She agreed with him, to a point; she never would have been hired at the Hawkins Post if she'd gone to night school instead of IU. At the same time, she'd heard the other guys say that she'd only gotten the job out of pity. Fred wasn't one of them, but she was running on three hours of sleep an half a bagel, so she didn't feel like being nice. "Why would Holloway care about college? Byers has something he wants and he's willing to pay for it."

Medium

Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day (pre-S4 Jancy breakup, probably no Vecna, eventual Jargyle)

"I'm sure you'll work it out," Mom says. She smiles at him anxiously, and he knows what he should do. He should mumble agreement, accept this bit of comfort. Pay her back with white lies of his own: that the distance isn't really a problem, that she didn't kind of screw him over by moving them all across the country. That there's no reason to worry about him, because he's going to figure things out with Nancy and somehow make Emerson happen. "Yeah?" he asks instead. "What if I don't? What if this is it?" It doesn't come out as a plea for reassurance, either. That would be humiliating, maybe even futile, but at least everyone would understand what he was doing. Instead, it comes out as a challenge.

Let the Broken Hearts Stand (companion to above, Nancy's first year at college, eventual Nancy/Carol)

"Look, I was friends with Steve for, like, ten years before he ditched me and Tommy," Carol says, taking a drag off her cigarette, "but he was definitely the bigger asshole in your relationship." Nancy laughs, startled. Carol grins uncertainly, then offers her the cigarette. She accepts. "Like, whatever, you're a totally embarrassing drunk, and you didn't have the balls to dump him until you were sure you had Byers eating out of your pussy, but--" "Jesus Christ, Carol," Nancy said, turning bright red, but Carol waved her off. "Fine. Va-gi-na. Lady garden. Cavern of feminine wonders. Whatever Emily Post says to call it." Carol cackled as Nancy struggled to look disapproving. "My point is, he was also a fucking prick."

How Will You Make It on Your Own? (Stonathan no UD college AU, the context is Jonathan and Samantha have broken up):

Because all the theater freaks were shunning him, Jonathan sat with Barb and Nancy at lunch. "You'll get back together," Barb said glumly. It was unclear whether she was trying to reassure him but was too stressed out about Mathletes to manage a cheerful tone, or if she was predicting an outcome she disapproved of. "You'll ignore her, she'll call and sort of say sorry, and, because she apologized first, you'll fall all over yourself saying that it's all your fault, and that she's right that you should both move to New York City and live in a condemned building and wear garbage bags instead of clothes." Well. That answered his question. "I don't think that's going to happen," he said, contemplating the peanut butter cracker he'd spent the last half hour eating. "It feels different this time."

Oh, I'm Bound to Go (companion to Drive All Night)

Will wasn't sure who figured it out first, him or Mom. When the money first started coming in--so much money, enough for Mom's medicine and Will's new shoes and more food than he could ever remember having--he asked why they couldn't just live with Jonathan in the city. Surely Indianapolis had enough piecework and odd jobs for the two of them. "He's living in a boarding house, sweetheart," she said, keeping her eyes on the chicken she was cleaning instead of his face. "There's no room for us." Maybe she'd known it was a lie all along. But Will understood Jonathan better than anyone, knew how his lies looked and sounded. On paper, he couldn't hear the too-bright home or watch him disappear behind his eyes, but the wrongness came through all the same.

Short

I Know It Breaks Your Heart (Tommy-centric, mostly future fic)

Tommy didn't need anyone to think that he was smart except for Carol, who understood without explanation that he didn't have to act like a nerd or a circus freak to prove that he was clever. It just felt shitty, sometimes, that Steve clearly thought of him as a dumbass. Steve, who had no bullshit meter and maintained a B-minus average with more effort than he liked to admit. It was annoying, but, more than that, it struck Tommy as greedy. Steve was taller, more handsome, more impressive on the court and field. He put people at ease. He could've let Tommy have something.

Raised on Promises (El's life in California, gen)

No matter what Joyce says, and no matter how nice Will and Jonathan are about it, El still feels embarrassed by the toys. Jonathan doesn't play with anything, except sometimes for the hacky sack Argyle gave him; he just listens to tapes and smokes. And maybe that's because he's almost grown up, but Will is her age and he gave away all his D&D stuff to Erica before they moved. He does art now, which isn't playing. Grown-ups do art, too, sometimes even as a job. The girls at school don't play with toys, either. They have fun like she and Max did last summer: dressing up and messing around with makeup and hanging out at the mall. Only the girls here aren't as nice, and Max isn't here to show her how to act her age. So she finds herself building little towns out of blocks and shuffling around a bunch of plastic dolls.

The P is for Perfection (and You Know That We Are Freaks) (Joyce doesn't move the family to California and El becomes a cheerleader)

"I heard she was raised in a cult," Amanda whispered to Chrissy, as the freshman girls lined up. "Chief Hopper knocked up some hippie and only found out when she died a couple years ago. And then he left her with Joyce Byers when he died. Not really an improvement, if you ask me." "Shush," Chrissy said. She was already getting a headache and the yelling hadn't even started. "You don't want the other girls to hear." Amanda muttered that it was common knowledge, but Chrissy tuned her out and studied Jane Hopper. She was on the tall side, with a lean and strong-looking frame. No flyer, but she could be a backspot or a base. She had curly brown hair pulled back in a scrunchy and a pretty, guileless face. She was dressed okay, in a baggy light purple sweatshirt and white leggings, but there was an air of offness about her.

[pholiabanna]

what's on your s5 wishlist? the silly, goofy things!!!

I'M SO SORRY FOR ANSWERING THIS SO LATE finals were killing me and I wanted to wait and write a good answer to this.

First of all I'm really excited for the 4 og boys to be together again, because we haven't had one full season of them being in the same storyline yet, which I think is criminal. I really think putting them back together will bring back the season 1 feel that made everyone love this show, and I can't wait!

I'm also so excited about learning more about the upside down. The ships and characters are awesome to analyze, but I love the supernatural part and knowing that we're gonna learn what the Upside Down actually is, and why it's stuck on the day Will went missing, among other things, makes me impatient because I need to know rn.

Now I know those weren't really goofy things but I needed to put them because they are a must for me. Moving on to the silly things:

If the season takes place in 1987, the Duffers have the chance to do the funniest thing ever and include a rickroll in a creative way. C'mon, it has to happen

A lot of people are advocating for byler to get murray'd, Erica's or Jonathan'd, but I actually want them to get Argyle'd. I imagine a scene going like: Mike and Will talk about El and Mike's breakup and the camera switches to Argyle smoking a joint in the background, while he says "Whoa Wheeler you were dating supergirl? And I was here thinking you were with mini Byers this whole time, dude, that's not cool man, that's so not cool!"

I need more Erica and Lucas sibling bickering moments, they're the best

I know this won't happen, but imagine Mike's sexuality is revealed through a conversation about movies where he reveals he finds Fast Times boring af and he "doesn't understand the appeal every man sees in that movie". I mean, at this point Fast Times has become the Duffer's favorite sexuality metaphor

I know Max probably won't wake up early on, but I'd kill to get more Elmax scenes where they just bond like normal teenage girls again. Max already taught El how to stand up for herself and how to know what she actually likes, but I think it'd be so cool to see her find out what her hobbies are. I'd love to see a scene where Max just teaches El how to skate, and El keeps trying to cheat with her powers but Max tells her that's not fair.

I need Lucas and Max to go on that movie date as well, I don't care if it's impractical

Also even though I don't really care about Dustin/Suzie because they aren't a very focused on relationship, I think it'd be cute if there was a scene where they reunite in person

More Joyce, Jonathan and Will scenes together please!!!

They need to go around town riding bikes again, bring back the whole s1 vibe

Please let us see Mr. Clarke's pov, mans probably so confused every time he helped his students the town was destroyed. Also, they can't win without him and that's a fact

Troy has to show up again, only so that they beat him up and this time El breaks his leg

Alternatively, Lonnie comes back and Jonathan beats him up (with the help of Will maybe)

Nancy notices Jonathan's tendency to interrupt byler moments and puts a leash on him

I need a new iconic song tied to another iconic scene I can obsess over. Something that can top even the Running up that hill scene

Someone needs to acknowledge the fact that they are straight up calling 001 Vecna as in one of the Dnd characters, when actually he's just some guy named Henry who would probably be so confused as to why they're calling him Vecna

These are all I could come up with but I'm sure deep in my mind there's many more things I wish for and if the Duffers deliver even one of them I'll be satisfied!

[freckledjoes]

how do u think st5 will end? i think eleven will sacrifice herself for will, before he dies, probably mike dies?? her powers would be strong enough to sacrifice and save hawkins. nancy stays single and travels away for a job/collage or something, steve gets himself a girlfriend, finally. please. he wants to be the stay at home mom with his kids. nancy clearly didn’t look like she wants that life cause she doesn’t, i really don’t understand why he’s still stuck on her even after so many years after their breakup, it’s silly. max wakes up. jopper will get married!! pls i need that to come true.. dustin survives vecna’s curse, idk will nancy get possessed too? and who’s the new lady that’s been introduced as a new character?? steve’s mom maybe?? or the mayoress of hawkins?? i want all the town to help the main group but still i don’t want it to be the second avengers endgame pls… omg could vecna possibly use his victims against our main characters? alsoo, i don’t want the ending scene where nancy and steve are in the car saying we’ve seen stranger things, it’s too corny for my liking pls no… and i like the time travel thing idea.. (going back in time so vecna would turned on his dark side.. this would be really easy way out, tho i hope it won’t happen lol?).. i’d really want eddie returning as a vampire, not really like coming from the dead, that would ruin everything probably (even tho i’d wanted it in heartbeat) buuut yk what i mean right? something like billy came back in max’s visions so eddie would come like this to dustin’s visions. the worst possible ending, is blood bath, there’s been a lot demand for a body count. i feel like modern audiences are more into stuff like game of thrones, walking dead.. stuff like that… killing characters casually. i’m not saying i don’t want a character or three dying tho! i’d be happy if they’d killed off two or three of the main characters finally, they always kill a new character that the audience like and then the audience is always mad. why is that?? we’ve already lost bob and eddie. should it be that way?? i’m really scared steve is going to die bc he was supposed to die in s1, if he does die i’m gonna riot against their stupid writing (that brings me getting stancy back together again). pls get him a girlfriend, a happy life he dreams about and don’t let him hang up on nancy anymore, he deserves better.. he’s changed.. also it needs to stay to the 80s show vibes and has the happy ending as well.. what do you think?? what are your thoughts? :D

I had to write down all your thoughts as bullet points so I could acknowledge them in my reply lmao. Loving this elaborate thought blurb! Alright, so I do think there will be some sacrificing going on, I'd see either Will or El doing it for Mike. Part of me thinks one of those two might die, but on the other hand I don't see them doing it. Why? 'Cause it would fuck up Jopper. And they spent a lot of time on Jopper. Hopper can't lose another kid and we've seen how Joyce handled Will's missing. Not saying this is logical, but it's what I think anyway. Maybe an almost death. Like one of them going in knowing they will probably die and saying goodbye- maybe, and then surviving. I feel like Max might get a more important role than we anticipate. Something about her showing up for El at the moment she needs her the most. Like in the mind thing. I'm worried for Lucas, that poor boy is suffering. :( Assuming Jopper survives - which I do think they will - I wouldn't be surprised if we get a Jopper wedding as a way of a corny happy ending. I don't expect anything mindblowing if I'm very honest, the fan theories have been so good that I fear disappointment for most of us lol. And well, considering many things - I also don't really care if it flops. I'll just enjoy seeing some of my sweet characters one last time before their actors go off into bigger and better projects. <3 Anyway, back to it. If they bring back Eddie, it's definitely gonna give us more pain than gain. He'll hurt Dustin, bet. As wonderful as the Kas ideas are, I don't see it happening considering what I mentioned in the previous paragraph. It's too good. I either see him show up in a Vecna vision or some kind of undead army thing. Both will suck. Imagine Dustin, who is literally embodying Eddie right now, is face to face with his dead friend. Yikers. Idk about the new lady, I'm honestly bored out of my ass that they added a new character for the last season. "Here's a new character to care about - or not - but they're gonna die once you get attached!" - so yeah, not many thoughts there. It'll be too brief. I don't see the town doing anything other than vandalize Eddie's grave and somehow find a way to blame the goddamn earthquake on him honestly. Steve and Nancy... fingers crossed it doesn't happen. For me anyway! For those that ship them, good luck getting it your way~ But yeah, I don't see the appeal, but I do feel how they're pushing it onto us hard. It wouldn't surprise me if Steve dies trying to protect Nancy and that we'll get a stupid nugget speech similar to Eddie's sheep speech. I really need that all to not happen. But don't wanna get too deep into ships, I just don't think that outcome would be sensible for either character. That said, Steve getting a partner (an unknown character) would be nice, but if I'm really honest I'd much rather they all leave it open to our interpretation. If we're getting a cliche ending of some future thing, just throw me the Jopper wedding or Steve and Robin (platonically) moving out of Hawkins together, away from that hellhole. This has become a mix of what I think might happen vs what I want to happen I guess, but these are my thoughts! And anyway, no matter what happens, we will always have a 1000+ fixit fics :)