Posting my Ultimate Byler Evidence/Analysis List here directly because it probably makes it more convenient and I should have done this a while ago. XD
There is so much proof for Byler being endgame in S5 of Stranger Things. They are so cute together, and so much in the show has been building up to their relationship. I just wanted to share some of my favourite Byler analyses, because they are so cool, detailed, and in-depth. I love reading about all the hints, symbolism, and subtext for Byler, it's amazing how much thought must have been put into all these things. Why go through all the effort of adding these details if they aren't actually going anywhere with them? Mike is so queercoded, and they are truly in love with each other.
🫥 Just gonna leave some good Byler analyses here 🤐
Most of the links go to written Tumblr posts, and a couple of them are Reddit posts. So it's a lot of reading. If you prefer watching videos over reading, I highlighted my Byler YouTube playlist in green so it's easy to find.
And apologies for any of the links that aren't working, I know some of the posts have been deleted now sadly, but there's no way I'm re-numbering all these so I'm just leaving them in. My fellow Bylers, please stop deleting your amazing posts. ;-;
So anyway, here is the list of some of my favourite Byler evidence/analyses of all time (not in any particular order):
1. Mike's Season 4 Monologue To El
2. Camera Roll Byler Proof Part 3
3. Mike's Monologue and Milkvan
4. Mostly Byler Post Index
5. Dawson's Creek Parallel
6. "My Experience With Stranger Things"
7. What Ollie Learned From Film School
8. Byler Music Analysis
9. Why Don't The Duffers Discuss This?
10. ST Theories Masterpost
11. If Byler Isn't Endgame Then Someone Screwed Up
12. Byler Crumbs From The Cast and Crew
13. Favourite Combination of Endgame Byler Proof
14. I Doubt Byler Then I Remember This
15. The Fact That We Have This Interview
16. You Know Your Ship is Endgame When
17. Mostly Byler Post Index 2
18. Losing Hope Of Byler Endgame?
19. Why I Think Byler is Endgame
20. So Many Thoughts on This
21. Mike's Wall Art
22. Painting Miscommunication Leading to Mike's Monologue Coded
23. Yes, That Scene Did Foreshadow Mike's Monologue as Disingenuous
24. Mike's Monologue Didn't Sit Right With Me
25. Blue And Yellow Pen
26. That Tweet Is So Sweet
27. Heart Eyes, Literally
28. "My Process of Realizing Byler is Real"
29. Looking at Will, Not El
30. High School Musical Parallel
31. Said It Before and I'll Say It Again
32. Delusional Milkdud?
33. ST Writers Twitter Analysis 1
34. ST Writers Twitter Analysis 2
35. For When You Are Doubting Byler
36. Is Mike Bi or Gay?
37. Fully Convinced
38. The Ultimate Byler Playlist (my Byler YouTube playlist)
39. 100% Confident
40. Mike in S4 and S2
41. Mike Is Angry With Himself
42. It's Been A Year, Mike
43. Rink-O-Mania Remodel
44. The Development Of Will And Mike's Relationship
45. Mike's Lies
46. El Was Holding So Much In
47. Flickergate + Lettergate
48. Did Mike Ever Like El Romantically?
49. Mike Is Stupid
50. Byler Won't Write Itself
51. What's The Alternative Explanation?
52. Comparing Mileven and Byler
53. It Was Always About Them
54. Mike Is Not Ok
55. He Has A Love Interest
56. Will's Happy Ending
57. Trying To Be Normal
58. It's Not That Milevens Are Homophobic
59. Byler Is Reality
60. A Proper Look At El's Shrine To Mike
61. Mileven Through The Seasons
62. Suspicious
63. I Can't Doubt Byler
64. D&D Soulmates
65. Let's Talk Phones
66. Not Delusional
67. What Do They Want?
68. The Main Character
69. Mike's Mental Health
70. So Close
71. This Look Confirms Byler Isn't One Sided
72. Mileven Is Bones
73. They Don't Care About Mileven?
74. The Airport Hug Will Always Be Famous
75. The Monologue Mystery, Why Did They Lose?
76. The Cabin Scene
77. Why Couldn't Mike Say It For 2 Seasons?
78. He Was Trying To Find Will
79. Mike The Surfer Boy
80. Mike Definitely Shows Attraction To Girls
81. The Cast Knows
82. Mileven Loses On All Fronts
83. The Bouquet
84. 53 Minutes And 5 Seconds
85. Pink Panther
86. El And Choice
87. Will's Spotify Playlist
88. He'll Come Crawling Back To You, Begging For Forgiveness
89. Mike's Character Arc Prediction
90. It's The Same Look
91. Will's Truly Happy Ending
92. That's The Same Look, Right?
93. You're The Heart
94. Mike And El's Relationship In S4 Was Really Weird
95. Fireworks Parallel
96. Mileven Has Been Built Up For 4 Seasons
97. Not Stupid: The Fate of Mileven and Byler
98. This Suddenly Makes So Much Sense
99. Metaphors In Filmmaking
And unfortunately Tumblr will only let me add 100 links per post, so when I've posted part 2 of this list, I'll link it here: Part 2
121 notes
·
View notes
There were a lot of things Mike hated in life.
The demogorgon, and how it had essentially destroyed his life.
Brenner, and the madhouse laboratory El had survived.
How each and every one of his friends now did something weird--were weird, because flashing lights or fireworks or some stupid tune a toy horse played dragged up memories that made their eyes flat and faces hollow.
Most of all though, Mike hated how much they relied on Steve.
There was no reason he should be the person to call when it started pouring and no one wanted to bike home from AV.
Steve wasn’t Nancy, or Jonathan, or a parent--he wasn’t even dating anyone related to any of the Party anymore so what excuse did he have to keep hanging around?
(Even if Jonathan was always working, and Nancy was always busy with some club or homework, and everyone’s parents all seemed to be in a race of who could get back to normal the fastest…)
They should at least try to get a hold of other people, instead of constantly going to Steve first.
“Why?” Dusitn had scoffed at him the last time this had happened, feeding quarters into a phone and staring at Mike like he was the one being unreasonable. “I’m not gonna waste money just to hear your sister tell us no again when we all know Steve will do it.”
Which was perhaps the most infuriating part of it all.
That Steve would do it.
Show up and help them, even if he bitched the whole time.
Hell, Steve Harrington knew more about Mike’s life offhand than Nancy did, and that made him want to punch a wall more days than it didn’t. Why the hell was Steve so involved?
It was stupid.
Weird, even! They weren’t friends, (even if Dustin and Max and El of all people said the opposite) he wasn’t being paid to babysit, (Mike had double checked; going round to ask Ma Henderson and Mrs. Sinclair, only to get an earful of how wonderful Steve was from both.) he had no reason to hang around!
It didn’t make sense that Steve could be harassed into picking them up from school.
Would take them to get ice cream, or hand over extra quarters for the arcade. He even gave out advice like some kind of--brother that Mike had never wanted.
Above all?
Mike hated that when he needed someone, the number he punched in on automatic was Steve’s.
“I need you to come get me.” He said into the receiver, mad at himself and the world, but mostly mad that beyond the normal amount of squawking Steve did, he shut up and came.
Drove up in his rich boy car, stepping out and herding Mike into it like the rain hadn’t already seeped into his bones.
“You wanna tell me why you snuck into a bar two towns over?” Steve asked, long after Mike had slung himself into the passenger seat, arms crossed defensively over his chest.
“No.”
One of Steve’s hands went right to his hair, running through it before adjusting the mess he’d just made.
It was a nervous habit, and Mike hated that he knew that too.
“Okay, well.” Steve’s hand fell back to the steering wheel, clenching tight around it. “Next time you want to do something dumb could you at least come talk to me about it beforehand?”
“What the hell would that do?” Mike bitched, staring firmly out of the window.
“Not waste my gas for starters.” Steve bitched right back. “But I dunno man, we could have taken some bats and gone and wailed on cars in the junkyard and talked or some shit, not--whatever this all was.”
‘This all’ was accompanied by a wave of his hand, indicating not just the bar Mike had been standing in front of, but his general sopping wet state.
“You’d actually go to the junkyard with me?” Mike challenged, doubtful.
Steve made a face. “Did you lose your hearing in there? I just said--.”
“Why?” Mike interrupted. “Why the fuck would you come out with me?”
Matching his entire aggressive tone, Steve said; “Because it’s better than trying to sneak into the one local gay bar when you’re barely fourteen, Michael.”
And that?
Steve being oddly aware of shit he really shouldn’t have?
Mike hated that too.
“You knew what the bar was?” He asked, his voice coming out much smaller than he intended.
“Everyone knows what that bar is, except it’s more of a biker bar than a gay bar.” Steve shot back--which did actually explain about ten different questions Mike had about the place. “Also, language you little shit.”
Under his breath, Steve continued in a muttered; “I swear I’m going to start carrying around soap.”
“You cuss more than we do.” Mike responded, and if his own voice was a little strangled as he fought back the sudden swell of tears, then that was between him and God.
He was not crying in front of Steve Harrington, he outright refused.
“The point I’m making is that there are way better bars to sneak into. That one’s not nearly as welcoming as people make it out to be, probably because they’re sick of all the rumors.”
Steve seemed to realize what he was implying because he quickly added; “Not that you should be sneaking into any bars at all!”
“You’re not my mom.” Mike’s voice turned wet as he lost his battle with his throat, voice cracking as he failed to choke the tears back.
“No shit Wheeler.” Steve said, and at least he was good enough not to call attention to Mike’s crying.
If he had, Mike was pretty sure he’d just up and die of embarrassment, right there.
“I don’t get why you care.” He muttered, angrily swiping at his eyes.
“I didn’t keep you alive this long just so you could die of something stupid.” Steve countered easily.
Which was kinda fair, if you thought about it.
Mike very much did not want to think about it.
Any of it.
Ever.
“Are you gonna tell my parents?” He asked after a painfully long moment.
Long enough that Steve had begun fiddling with the radio, trying to find a station as they drove back that wasn’t wailing country or gospel music.
“I’m not a narc, so no.”
“Not about the bar.”
Now Steve just looked confused.
Probably because he was, because he was without a doubt the stupidest almost adult Mike knew.
(Not that he could say that out loud--last time he had, Max had made one of her pissy faces and then El got mad because Max was, which led to a break up, which led to Mike having to beg his way back into his girlfriend’s good graces while explaining that he hadn’t meant it like that.
“How did you mean it then?” Max demanded, and Mike wasn’t sure how he managed to dodge that entire conversation but he had, on grounds that untangling his own emotions regarding stupid Steve made him want to pull his hair out and scream.)
“What about then?”
“You know. Don’t make me say it.” Mike absolutely didn’t plead, even if it did sort of, kind of, sound like pleading.
Steve flicked his eyes away from the road to give one long, weird look at Mike. The same one he gave Dustin when he went off on a rant about Cerebro or Lucas when he started discussing the stats of different D&D weapons.
Unlike those times, Steve’s face cleared.
“Oh.” He said, blinking, and Mike could practically see the light bulb flash above his head.
Then;
“Nah.”
Mike waited.
And waited.
And kept waiting as Steve went back to searching through radio channels, as if that was the end of the conversation.
It couldn't be the end of this conversation.
Not when this was the part that was eating Mike alive.
He didn’t know if this was Steve repressing it on purpose or if this was what he had to look forward to for the rest of his life if he kept trying to figure his own head out, but either way, he knew he had a choice to make.
To let the unspoken part of today die quietly. Go unsaid, and remain unsaid, for all eternity--or he could let it out.
Shove the “gay” part of “gay bar” in Steve’s stupid, jock face.
Make him acknowledge it, even if it got Mike kicked out of the car, and who cared if it did?
Steve wasn’t the person who should have picked him up anyway.
The anger climbed higher and higher in his chest, tears and rage combining until Mike spat it all out, furious.
“You’re not going to ask if I’m gay?”
Steve didn’t turn to face him, but Mike saw his eyebrow cocking anyway, given how he was currently glaring a hole in the side of the older teen’s head.
“Do you want me to?”
“No.” Mike bit out automatically. “Yes. I don’t know!”
Steve’s hand found its way back into his hair.
“Okay then.” Steve paused, clearly fishing for something to say.
Gleefully, Mike watched him struggle.
“Do you like guys?” He managed finally, looking like he was navigating a minefield more than just talking.
“I don’t know.” Mike stressed, sinking lower in his seat. “Why do you think I was at the bar? I was trying to figure it out!”
“Honestly I assumed this was some sort of stupid dare--but!” Steve held up a finger, before Mike could interrupt, “But let’s--shit, hold on, I had a speech for this but I kinda wasn’t expecting to use it this soon. Um.”
“You have a speech for me being gay?”
“Not for you.” Steve rolled his eyes. “For--in general! It was an in general, just in case speech!”
He rounded on Mike, for longer than the younger was comfortable with given Steve took his eyes off the road to do it. “Okay--you can like boobies, you can like, uh--not boobies, and that’s fine! It’s all totally fine!”
“You are not making it sound like it’s fine.” Mike said, feeling like he’d been taken out by hearing Steve say the word “boobies.”
Gross, gross, gross.
“Well it is.” Steve said, in a tone that felt like he was two seconds from adding in a smarmy ‘so there!’ at the end.
“But I’m dating El.” Mike whined, which really, was both the heart of the matter and the eye of the storm that had been growing in his head for months now. “I can’t be gay if I like her.”
“Don’t you guys break up and get together like four times a week?”
“No, that's Max and Lucas, El and I are stable.” Mike scoffed. “Or we--we were stable.”
Before he started to have thoughts about people that weren't his girlfriend.
Or women.
“Stable for being in middle school, sure.” Steve snorted. “You don’t just have to like one or the other you know. You can like dudes and chicks at the same time.”
Which Mike did not know, on account of being fourteen.
He did his absolute damndest not to show that realization, instead adding that to the list of reasons why he hated Steve Harrington too.
Steve shouldn't be the one teaching him about who you could like!
“The point is that who you end up loving isn’t a problem.” Steve finally looked back to the road. “Other people might be an issue, and those people we can punch in the face so long as the cops aren’t looking, which isn’t part of the speech so let’s not tell people I said that part, but whatever you do choose, there’s nothing wrong with you.”
Steve’s voice went firm, as he apparently recalled his speech or something close enough to it because his next words sounded a little rehearsed. “You have people who are here for you, no matter what. Okay?”
Oh God, Mike was crying again.
He wanted to punch Steve in his stupid face.
Wanted to hold onto the fury he'd built inside himself. Thrash around, throw himself out of the car, get away from the emotions that felt too big for his chest to contain.
Instead he felt it all break on Steve's acceptance. On word's he didn't know he needed to hear until they'd been spoken, and sniffed out a quiet; “Okay.”
Steve of course had to take it too far by reaching over and patting his knee, which they both regretted judging by how quickly Steve took his hand back and the face Mike made at his hand--but it…
It was appreciated, even amongst all Mike's rage.
Steve was appreciated.
Not that Mike would ever, on pain of death, tell him that.
Neither said a word for a while, Steve finally landing on a radio that was playing some Top 40 hit, Tears for Fears singing about ruling the world while Mike found himself trying to rebuild his own once again, tired of it having shattered so many times over.
At least he finally felt better, even if he refused to admit Steve was the reason for it.
He wasn’t quite done though.
There was a piece Steve had skipped over, that Mike felt was critically important, if only because it was partly the reason he was having thoughts about being gay in the first place.
He had to know if Steve saw it too.
That it wasn’t just him and his stupid head, making up things that weren’t there.
“Hey Steve?”
“Yeah?”
“Who was the speech for?”
Steve sighed.
“Rule one of the whole queer thing Wheeler, you don’t out other people.”
Like there were written rules or something.
(Maybe there were, it wasn't like Mike knew.)
“Was it Will?” Mike asked, and pretended like he didn’t desperately want the answer to be yes.
Steve didn’t say a thing, but the fact he nearly took the car off the road was a pretty solid answer in itself.
“We’re not playing guessing games about other people’s sexualites!” He yelped, hands gripping the steering wheel as Mike felt a wave of relief crash through him.
Will was--maybe, possibly, also--queer too.
Which didn’t make this any better but it--wasn’t the not preferred outcome, either.
(It wasn’t just Mike struggling alone, trying to figure out if his best friend wanted to be more than that, if El was breaking up with him and more and more because she wanted to be less than a girlfriend, if things were changing and he would have no one--)
“I’m not out here picking Will up from a gay bar dipshit, I’m picking you up, and this is your reminder that next time, you should just come talk to me!” Steve ranted.
Mike snorted.
He absolutely hated Steve Harrington, but--
“Fine.” He said, talking so low he could barely be heard. “I will.”
--maybe Mike did have someone in his corner after all.
Even if it was just Steve.
xXx
Bonus:
“Between you and me, that kid is gayer than a two dollar bill.”
“Wow Robin,” Steve teased, “Isn’t that like, a slur or whatever?”
He snickered when she rolled her eyes and threw a roll of stickers his way.
“I’m just saying. Did you see the way he was looking at you when you were showing off your stupid biceps?” Robin said, nudging her shoulder into Steve’s. “Will’s gonna have a rude awakening later if he hasn’t already.”
Steve nudged her back, but kept his gaze on the Party as they trooped their way from Family Video to the arcade next door, the realization that they now had connections for free rentals making them downright gleeful.
Will was the last one in, and Steve watched him hurry so as to not be left behind.
He didn’t like to worry about the dipshits, but Robin was just putting voice to a thought Steve knew he wasn’t the first person to have.
And if he noticed it, then it didn't exactly bode well as being kept a secret.
“Should we like…talk to him about that?” He asked after a long moment, turning to face Robin.
“Us?” She pointed at herself, before turning her finger on Steve. “Why us?”
“Well you’re into girls.” He gave her a pointed look, glad that the store was empty of everyone but them so he could actually voice all this. “And I’m fine with it.”
“Yeah I’m sure he wants to know you’re fine with it.” Robin taunted, but she had her thinking face on, eyes out to the middle distance. “I barely know him. You barely know him--he’s the quietest out of all your kids.”
“They’re not my kids.” Steve argued automatically. “They're like a weird cross between shitty siblings and that kid in your class who never leaves you alone.”
A fact Steve no longer took for granted, even if he made it sound like the worst thing ever.
“I just think it’d be nice if he knew that he had people in his corner, you know? Who supported him and shit.”
“Steve, you compared my crush to a muppet, that wasn’t supportive.” Robin countered, but it too was on automatic.
Softer she admitted; “You’re right though. If I had known other queer people, if I had known people would accept me...it would have made things a lot easier.”
A very long pause, in which both of them stewed for a moment, before Robin abruptly slapped her hand down on the table.
“Okay, you got me. We're doing it, and I'm making us a speech.”
“A speech?”
“Yes dingus, a speech. I know you, you’re terrible when you’re put on the spot with this kinda thing, and trust me with things like this the moment will be spontaneous.”
“It’s Will, how spontaneous can it be?” Steve challenged back. “Getting a dinner order out of him is a chore.”
“Stop whining and hand me that notepad. Im telling you its gonna happen when you least expect it and then you're gonna thank me later.”
“It better not happen without you.” Steve sighed, but passed the notepad over.
God the things he did for those stupid kids.
Bonus x2
Steve would later go on to use the speech on himself, in a gas station bathroom mirror, eyes wide and freaked out after Eddie Munson called him Big Boy in a van they stole, while Robin snickered behind him.
He would turn on her, snapping that she; “Help me with this dammit!”
In return she’d remind him that Tammy might sing like a muppet but Eddie was the guy who stepped on lunches while giving speeches at lunch and sticking his tongue out, and “Really Steve, I think I won best gay awakening, here.”
Which would promptly start an argument regarding how it wasn’t a competition, which would continue for another fifteen or so odd years before finding its way as a reference into both of their speeches as each other’s best man.
Nancy and Eddie wouldn’t get it at either wedding, but Mike would.
276 notes
·
View notes
Mike’s love for El being platonic, and not romantic, and realizing it over the course of season 3 reconciles nearly every contradiction with his behaviour.
He stands like a gay scarecrow as she kisses him in front of Will’s closet. That's him realizing that when he blurted out "I love her and I can't lose her again!" he meant it platonically. But her saying "ily too” WAS CLEARLY NOT PLATONIC, so now he’s left very confused (If he was simply shocked by the fact that she overheard him, he would’ve been surprised initially, and then kissed her back, and been all emotional and happy. But he wasnt.)
In fact he probably realized his heart fluttered when Will said “not possible” to him in the scene literally 1 minute prior, but NOT when his gf was attempting to make out with him? That’s clearly a problem! lol
This leads flawlessly into season 4.
Mike has apparently been refusing to even write the word 'love’ in his letters for 6 whole months. Why? Cause he didn't want them to look like love letters.
Meanwhile, he’s jealous of Will painting something for a girl. So he argues with Will about growing apart.
El argues with him about not saying ily. In the fight, he deflects romantic connotations with words like “care” and superhero idolization that he seems suuuper into this season.
He NODS when Will says “What if they don’t like the truth?”. That’s him thinking “Yeah, El won’t like the truth that I don't return her romantic feelings.”
In the van, he says their meeting was dumb luck and anyone could've been there for her that night. That’s hinting that he was just being a decent human. Not that it was a fated love at first sight meeting.
Then Will says, “You’re afraid of losing her”. And THAT is the true issue here.
This whole concept of ‘losing El’ (be it in relationship/daily life, or in death), is scary to Mike, because of what he went through seasons 1-2. At 12 years old, he saw another kid that he developed a bond with, die right in front of his freaking eyes. But they didn’t have a body or anything. So Mike kept getting signs and intuitive feelings that she was still alive. So he questioned his own sanity. For a WHOLE YEAR. Can you imagine how traumatic that is? And then for a kid that age?? That’s exactly why he develops an unhealthy codependency with her in Season 3. And we see it have a negative impact on the unity of the party, and on Will.
But a traumatic response doesn’t change the fact that Season 3 transitions us through the party’s puberty and growth into teenage hood.
And because of said puberty, Mike starts to realize what actual attraction towards someone is, or in this case… isnt.
Like if we think about the first two seasons, for a 12-13 year old living in that type of society, era, and a picture perfect white suburban American family, it would’ve been really really hard to figure it out back then! Like simply becoming very close friends with the opposite gender caused everyone (cough Nancy cough Lucas) to tell him that “ooooh you must like her”. So yeah, he thinks “I really must like her”. Because he does! He just can’t separate it from actual romantic attraction at that point due to age, and strong heteronormative standards, and no role models like Jonathan telling him “it’s okay to stray from the norm bro”. So of course he acts on it? That’s the NORM. He’s like, “You’re supposed to take a girl you like to the ball”, “We're supposed like girls now”, “This is what growing up means”, “This what old people do”. Like HELLO? Mike says stuff similar to that constantly. Dustin and Lucas do not. So yeah, it can be easily be read as heteronormativity. Not romantic attraction!
And so despite wanting to spend every day in the summer with El because of copious amounts of trauma from S1-2, he can’t continue believing its romantic attraction when his hormones say otherwise.
Like just look at their kissing scenes S3-4:
Seasons 3 starts with him pulling her hands OFF of him when kissing. He’s voluntarily kissing her instead of spending time with his friends, cause he thinks that’s what he’s supposed to do as he’s “not a kid anymore!”, yet he’s evidently not even enjoying it if he’s taking her hands off lol. Then by the end of the season he doesn’t even kiss back, and has his eyes wide open. Then six months later, when he’s way more self aware of his own feelings, this dude wears SUNGLASSES to the airport. We (and all the characters there) can’t even see his true expression when kissing her. And what’s more, he puts the bouquet of flowers between their bodies, to SEPARATE FASTER. When he could’ve very easily put that hand/arm around her, not between them (that's what he does with his other hand holding the bags).
And all of this: all this repression, the contradictions, the unsaid things... it all culminates to the monologue. Will told Mike in the van that El really needed him. And then Will reminds him of this again when El is in the piggyback, cause Will is annoying! (jokes lol). So of course, all rationality, all of Mike's realizations or progression, goes out the window. After all, he is THE HEART. He is needed by her. He can’t go through what he went through in season 1-2 again! It doesn’t matter if it’s not totally true. He needs to tell her what she wants to hear so she won’t DIE. The stakes are extremely high. So he delivers. He even takes all his knowledge of mediocre romance stories, and blurts out that it was love at first sight. It's silly to us the audience, cause if you actually go back and watch season 1 you can see that it's not even fucking true.
So why would he lie? Well because he doesn’t KNOW when he fell in love with El. Because he never fell in love with her. So yeah. It’s PLATONIC with a capital P.
(And to add a cherry on top, he gives his sister’s ring to her jfc)
2K notes
·
View notes