#THE PAINTING

[chirpsythismorning]

I swear this was a fever dream

[zooperspy]

“What painting?” The two words that are going to break Mike Wheelers brain

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[gayofthefae]

I just realized something so sweet and personal about Will's painting.

Their DnD characters don't look like that. We saw him draw them plenty in season 1. Will the Wise has a long beard and Mike's character I think has straight blond hair.

Will didn't just draw their characters per usual, he drew them as their characters. He's drawn Mike's knight character a hundred times. But he's never drawn Mike as a knight. He was understanding that Mike's character is a projection of who he aims to be, like all of them, so he drew MIke as the knight this time. For the first time.

That's what this smile is. Mike has played a hero for years. But he's never been one. He saw a dragon and probably expected his character, overjoyed with more of Will's familiar art, but instead, he was met with a glorious knight in shining armor with black, wavy hair. He was the hero this time. *(you can even see his facial expression change from happy excitement to this broad smile)

In season 1, Mike initiates the search party because of Will's heroics in DnD meaning that he would do it for them. He acknowledges that Will's actions in character are still his own. This is the same. This is Will saying "To play a hero, you have to be one yourself. And you are. I see through your character disguise. I see you. This is just the hero you've always been without the mask."

THAT is why it's different. THAT is why it's so much more personal than all the others, not just the heart, MIKE. THAT is why it hurts so bad (Will too but I'm referring to me/us).

I've said in a previous post that it wasn't about the heart, the heart was kind of for us, it was more-so about the heroism. And that's exactly what I standby. The heart isn't the only new thing about this painting. The hero has never actually been Mike before. And Will responded "Yes it has been. It always has been."

[dia-depeche]

The painting situation is probably going to be one of my favourite parts of st5. Not only because it’s byler, but seeing it finally play out and have Wills lie be revealed to Mike (and El) will be sooooo satisfying. I get so happy whenever I think of Mike confronting Will about it. And it’ll be funny to see El absolutely confused about what Mike means by “the painting” when he inevitably mentions it to her. Something else that I just love about the painting is how Mike was obviously more happy when he thought WILL was the one who made it for him (which he did) and his face clearly drops when Will lies and says that El asked him to make it for Mike. LIKE??? It’s such a beautiful gift too, Will truly put his heart into it. We can see this with the shot of Will painting it during the beginning when Mike is reading El’s letter (which he just completely scrunches up and gets rid of it like???? But that’s a topic for a different post) Will is just so focused on making it perfect, and it’s so heartwarming. If I don’t see the painting hung up somewhere in the Wheelers house along with the rest of Wills art that Mike keeps (bonus points if Will sees it hung up), I’m gonna be disappointed. At the end of the day, us bylers are WINNING

[retrokittytakeover]

Not but guys will would definitely call Mike sweetheart. like he basically already did.

[pinksmonkey]

I got him for Christmas and I love him so much! He's so cute holding Will's painting, and I love this outfit from season 4. ☺️

Byler is so real. This is literally Byler merch. XD

[tinitiny]

WHY ARE WE IN A ROOM?????

[byler-com]

“Will is painting a lot, but he won’t show me what he’s working on.”

It’s finally done !!

After 4 days of painting I finally have my own Byler Painting™

I love it so much it’s going up on my wall,

Everybody thank Will Byers for creating this masterpiece <3

[multifandom-gif]

HARVEY SPECTER & DONNA PAULSEN in SUITS, 6x12 “The Painting” ❤️

[your-stranger-halfblood-things]

Guys it's not gonna be "what painting?"

It's gonna be "oh, Mike, the painting was all Will, not me"

[chirpsythismorning]

Never getting over how accurate this meme was 😭

[lizbetlovesbyler]

Will saw Mike scrunch up Els (possibly last ever) letter to him and still thought milkvan could be saved

sweet boy

[phonopsyche]

what do you see in your dreams, ophelia alina ariane?

(process under the cut)

[gayofthefae]

Mike not being angry because Will lied about the painting but rather being angry that Will thought he did something good, that Will thought of it as a noble sacrifice instead of hurtful sabotage. And Mike being the one to make him confront his self-sabotaging and hesitancy to let himself be happy.