#byler shippers are you mentally okay?

[immabreaksmth]

swear every time i open this god forsaken app im greeted with 24 different essays about the same two nerds with huge ass words ive never seen or heard before like damn if i could write essays like yall i wouldnt be failing school

[lievebeer]

All the hate noah schnapp received is still just so disgusting. He has been a kid most of his life and you people deem his as the devil and as if he is unredeemable just for some stickers and him saying he doesn't want jews to die and saying he wants peace for israel and palestine. There are so many awful people and you are attacking him? A lot of byler shippers joined the hate and made his life a living hell. And they are still in the fandom. If you are so "moral", why are you still in the fandom? Maybe stop supporting "zionists" then, right? Because you are "SUCH A GOOD PERSON!!!" You say will is a cutie patootie, but you also send death threats to his actor and making him miserable and maybe even possibly suicidal. Don't you think that is really fucking weird? Or are you people that mentally ill and that dumb to not understand that? Leave the fandom or take some responsibility for your disgusting behaviour!

I just want to enjoy shipping byler. But the hate against noah schnapp is just not okay, i can't ignore it, shipping byler is not the same anymore. And it's so dissapointing to see byler shippers who i thought were nice people joining the hate. You really think hating on an actor who has been a kid most of his life will save palestinians? You fucking dumbasses.

I can't stand this cancel culture and the fact people who participate in it think they are good people.

bye.

[digestionsack]

Thought Bubble

Okay, I’ll be honest. When I was a casual viewer (pre S4), I had absolutely no emotional investment in any of the characters, plot lines or relationships in ST. I thought Milkvan was super cute in S1-2 and then S3 came along and I got bored of them really quick (I may have mentioned that I’m definitely the kind of person who likes “mutual pining and pre-relationship angst” and not “established relationship” as much). Lumax was casually on my radar but I still wasn’t that invested. And then S4 came along and completely flipped the script on me—for Byler and Lumax especially. I gained SO much respect for Lucas this season in regards to his relationship with Max this season. I wasn’t about that whole “cheesy teenage relationship” thing in S3 (not necessarily hating on that, I know a lot of people find it cute, but it’s just not my thing). And if I’m being honest, I really didn’t like the whole “Stalking for Love” trope they pulled in S2. But when S4 came along and it was revealed that Max had broken up with Lucas and he could tell that something was wrong and wanted her to open up to him but was STILL respecting her boundaries…I was like, “damn okay, I kind of love them together now.” The fact that they weren’t even dating and yet so much of S4 still emphasized their love for each other is so beautiful, truly. Lucas being good to Max and there for her even when they aren’t together (the book “Lucas on the Line” which I loved also emphasize how their relationship is more than just romantic; they are also best friends, which I think really comes out this season) and Max reaching out to Lucas in the ways that she can, even when she is struggling with her mental health.

So I guess I really don’t understand why people are at all worried about Max or Lucas dying in S5. Do not waste your energy worrying about that, my friends, because it simply won’t happen. Besides the fact that S4 was largely dedicated to saving Max and having her escape Vecna the first time only to die the second time would just be a huge letdown…I mean, come on. You do not build up a love as beautiful as Lumax for an entire season (plus their history) only to give them a sad ending—or at least anything short of emotionally satisfying. That’s not how Stranger Things works, especially as a show that has central themes of love.

And so adding onto that, I genuinely can’t understand why some people are so adamant that Will’s love for Mike will be left unrequited. Because, like Lumax, the writers have spent an entire season (plus their history) building this up. They wouldn’t spend a whole season beautifully building up Byler’s and Lumax’s relationships and throwing them challenges only for there to be no payoff. Like, how is that satisfying? How would Max dying in that coma and Lucas being heartbroken be satisfying? How would a rejection (even an amicable one) from Mike’s end be satisfying? Even when I was a casual viewer and didn’t believe that Mike would reciprocate Will’s feelings, the idea of a rejection put a sour taste in my mouth.

So why do people say that Byler can’t happen? Will’s feelings aren’t just a crush. It’s love. Will loves Mike and is always there for him, even if he assumes that Mike is pulling away and could never love him back. Lucas loves Max and is always there for her, even if her PTSD is making it hard for her to express how much she also loves him. S4 Byler is shown from the perspective of Will and for me, I saw S4 Lumax mostly from the perspective of Lucas. The love is built up in the same way. Take a look at all the Lumax/Byler parallels and try to tell me they aren’t being built up in the same way. 4 seasons of buildup with no payoff? Again, that’s not how this works.

*Note: As much as I would like to tag this Lumax to show my appreciation, support, and love for the ship, I do have a lot of Byler content in this post, and I have noticed that many Lumax shippers have become annoyed with Bylers clogging up their tag (especially with the release of “Lucas on the Line”). So out of respect, I will not tag. But to all the Lumax shippers seeing this: LUMAX ENDGAME FOREVER! (I also ship Elumax both so cute)❤️*

[cluelessbees]

El and Mike — An Analysis (Part 1)

**I'm just going to put a quick warning. Yes, I am a Byler shipper. This post won't focus on Byler but will have references to it. This is merely my analysis on both characters and their relationship. If you don't agree you can scroll. This is all just my interpretation~~**

(Also these are all things people probably have said before but I'm just going off what I've noticed from my last rewatch).

This is split into several parts because I have a lot to say. At first I was going to break it down into El, Mike and then them together– but I'm writing out El's one and it's super long so I'm dividing it further.

Okay to begin,

El's Perspective:

Her Toxic/Abusive Past (And its Effects):

Throughout the seasons, we kind of see that El (when she was younger) didn't have a very strong understanding of what healthy relationship was.

In season 4, we can see through flashbacks that her 'siblings' were bullies. They essentially parallel Angela in how they target El. Not only that, but they're taught to compete. They are not each other's support but rather each other's enemy. We also see how Papa – her designated father figure – is super toxic and manipulative. He sees her as an experiment, and only praises her when she passes tests. Her mother was taken from her, and later shocked into a catatonic state.

This is my inner psych major coming out– but family dynamics are super important to how we grow up. When we're super young, we can't self-regulate our emotions– so we need the help of our family. They work as a support system. You lean on them, until you are old enough and comfortable enough to try and rely on yourself. Because, if you fail, you know you have your support system to lean on again.

One example would be if you wanted to go to a new city. You would probably be super scared (especially if you've never been outside your own town). You would, however, feel 100% better going if you knew your parents wouldn't judge you if you needed to comeback, but rather comfort and support you. That support helps- just knowing they're there for comfort if you mess up is enough.

There's a bunch of studies on this. Anyways-

El doesn't have that.

Her father figure when she was young would pit her against her siblings. He would punish her for disobeying (for going against what he wanted). There was no way she could be herself or try and understand herself in that space.

And this bleeds into her relationships with other people.

In Season 1, we see Mike take the role of her caretaker. He's the one housing her and caring for her. Problem is? He's a child. So he doesn't have the mental capacity or emotional intelligence to sorta care for her or become an attachment figure for her. He lashes out a lot– understandably so. Both him and El are valid in this situation.

But still, we can see it in how she reacts to Mike's outbursts towards her. She gets scared. She's worried she did something wrong. She was supposed to help them, and because she failed, she's worried she'll get punished (similar to how Papa would punish her). She keeps saying she's a monster and constantly overexerts herself to help them (and to not mess up).

It doesn't help that Mike, while yes he does care for her, is using her to try and find Will. Yes, Dustin and Lucas too. But Mike's the one is whose taking care of her. When he thinks Will died, he gets mad at her. When she accidentally hurts Lucas, he gets mad at her. Again, completely understandable. But it doesn't help that he's her only support system. It means more when he lashes out because he's taking care of her.

He's her family. She literally assumes he would be her brother if she moved in with the Wheelers because that's how she sees him– in a familial way.

What I'm getting at is, in season 1, we see how El's super toxic family dynamics sorta transfer onto Mike.

In Season 2, Hopper becomes her father figure- and in turn, becomes her caregiver. And, this season, we see a lot of times in which her and Hopper argue.

Why? What changed between season 1 and 2?

Well, she learned her worth. Yes, Mike wasn't the perfect support family, but him, Dustin, and Lucas all fought for her. They embraced her. They made her feel happy. She has something to fight for in a sense. She wants to see her friends again.

That's not the only reason though. She's also fighting and lashing out because she doesn't know how to self-regulate her emotions. She doesn't know how to cope with how she feels– so she lashes out. It's a childish thing, but she doesn't know anything else. She didn't get the opportunity to learn how to understand her emotions.

Back to the arguments.

Obviously, Hopper is also in the wrong in those scenes. They're both lashing out, getting angry, and saying things (or do things) that they know will hurt the other. But, the key difference is in the resolution. In the end, we see Hopper being vulnerable with El– sort of explaining how he feels the way he does and apologise about it. We don't see this from El.

And obviously, Hopper is the grown up so of course he should 100% be the one to apologise, but my point is– we don't really see El have a moment of understanding why she reacted the way she did. She doesn't reflect on her feelings because she doesn't know how. If anything, seeing Hopper reflect was probably her first encounter. Sorry to her at that point was literally just a way to not get punished. To avoid it. Now, it's something more. It's remorse. It's love. It's care. It's a way to show someone that you're sorry for hurting them and that they did nothing wrong.

Like damn, that was her first time experiencing that.

(We'll talk about the important Hopper-Byers family dynamic later).

In season 3, we see her learn and explore friendships and romantic relationships. Up until this point, El has only ever understood (and experienced) family love, the kind of love where someone is taking care of you (food, shelter, protection, etc.). She has only ever seen romance through the lens of film. And, whilst yes she experienced friendship with Mike, Lucas and Dustin, season 3 is the first time she experienced friendship with another girl.

Yes, there's a difference. Yes, it matters. (I'll explain why later.)

But anyways, here we see that lack of emotional understanding come back. El doesn't know how to communicate with Mike the way the other couples communicate (Mike too– but I'll talk about Mike and their relationship later). With El specifically, it's because she doesn't know how. She has to learn how relationships work through Max. She doesn't have an understanding of romantic relationships at all.

This is mainly because– what did she have to base it off of? She's never had parents in a romantic relationship. So, she couldn't see it through that. She isn't allowed to go out that much, so she only gets glimpses of Lucas and Max. She only really has romantic movies (which we know aren't accurate).

Why does she make out with Mike? Because thats what they do in movies. Why does she say I love you back? Because that's what they do in movies. (I'm always jumping ahead of myself- I'll explain this more I promise).

Hence why she just dumps Mike- because Max told her to. She doesn't know how this works, she's just learning. She hasn't gotten an opportunity to learn so she's exploring. She's trying new things because why not? How else would she learn?

We are seeing how having that emotional support allows El to feel more comfortable trying things out. She has Hopper, and now she has Max. She also has Mike– who we see support her more when she's being a superhero.

Point is, she isn't in the same stage as everyone else. She's still learning and exploring. She doesn't fully grasp what it means to be in a romantic relationship.

What's crazy is, again, we see her learn and witness emotional vulnerability and intimacy through Hopper and his letter. He opens up to her and explains his fears. He shows why he feels a certain why. He shows her what it means to open up- to communicate.

In season 4 though, things change.

First, El doesn't have Hopper anymore– or Max. She is in a new place– away from home. She's still grieving, she's being bullied, and she lost her safety net.

But she's also exploring herself more. She's understanding things better. She's trying to mix and match clothes to see what works– what screams El- who is El?

She's being thrown into the real world. She can't have nicer clothes because the Byers can't afford it– so she has hand-me-downs. She's in high school now so she has to face bullies and grades. She doesn't have the complete innocence – or more the naivety – she used to have.

Here, she's beginning to understand herself more in a personal level. And I feel it's here where we see her trauma come back. Yes, she has the support of the Byers– but she still dealing with a lot of changes and its hard (Not to mentions the Byers also are going through some shit). Not to mention she's experiencing the same things (aka bullying) that she did when she was in the lab.

So she reverts. Her insecurities come back. She feels like a monster again. She needs more reassurance because she can't self-soothe– she never learned how to.

When she fights with Mike– we can see her try to communicate, but she doesn't do it perfectly. She said it as a deflection when Mike tries to confront her about another issue. She becomes defensive and accusatory. Why? Because she's still learning how to be mature.

She's learning how everything works. She still has to learn how to self-regulate and how to communicate her feelings. And her being in a relationship– and trying to work on that and herself– it's just super difficult.

----

Okay, I'll probably post the second part right after this. I'll link it on this post when I do. It'll explore sorta El and her relationships a bit more in detail. Hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading my rambles!

Also sorry for any grammar and spelling issues.

(Part 2)

[itsonlystrange]

Can we please stop invalidating Bylers or Milevens. This ship war has gone on for too long. We each have our own side of tumblr/twitter/Instagram and nobody is asking for either to go on the other side. Some people WILLINGLY go onto Mileven tumblr or twitter just to get mad at Milevens who are minding their business and some people WILLINGLY go onto byler tumblr/twitter to comment hate and then get mad abt it when THEY DID THIS TO THEMSELVES.

Mileven and Byler are some peoples comfort ships. And so invalidating either when nobody knows what’s going to happen in the actual show is just rude. We won’t know until season four, and whatever happens, we have to remember to be respectful about it. I don’t want to see any Milevens calling Bylers delusional or any Bylers making fun of Milevens bc their ship wasn’t end game.

BOTH SHIPS ARE GREAT!

And you have to admit, both Mileven and Byler have had some amazing moments. It’s not like either don’t have any potential

As someone who used to ship Mileven for two years straight, I see the potential they had. And even though I don’t ship them anymore and will probably be disappointed if they are end game, I won’t go around having a hissy fit and you shouldn’t either.

Mike and Eleven have had some soft and cute moments, whether you ship it or not, they have. Mike and Will have had some soft and cute moments, whether you like it or not, they have.

Mike loves both of them, whether that be platonic or romantically. He loves them. And he’d probably die for either of them. So can we PLEASE stop pretending that Mike doesn’t care about El, or that he doesn’t care about Will. Stop pretending like when Mike visits the Byers he’s only going to spend time with El. And stop pretending that if Byler were to happen Mike would forget about El’s existence.

I believe that no matter what happens, Mike will continue to love and respect both of them. He will always and I mean ALWAYS care about Eleven and Will. That’s a fact. He is a caring person.

So no matter what happens, we have to respect the duffers choice.

And I’m not saying we can’t have an opinion! We totally can! We are allowed to critique this type of media! That’s okay!

However saying “byler will never be canon you’re delusional. Go get help and go to a mental institution because you are stupid.” That is NOT an opinion. You’re invalidating someone’s comfort ship.

And saying “Mileven is horrible and Mike hates el and el hates mike and they dont care about eachother.” That’s NOT an opinion. That’s invalidating someone’s comfort ship.

So regardless of what happens, (because they BOTH have a great change at being end game ships) we must remember that the directors have had this planned for awhile! So it’s not like they’re pulling it out of their asses if they make Mileven or Byler end game. It would have been made to be from the start.

You don’t have to agree with how Mileven or Byler is presented. You don’t have to ship either. You don’t have to find them cute. You don’t have to do any of that. But you DO have to respect it and it’s shippers.

And admit it, Mike is a total softie with both El and Will. And I know that whatever happens it’ll be good. And even if I personally wouldn’t enjoy an end game Mileven, I would NEVER go out of my way to invalidate that. And even though I WOULD enjoy an endgame byler, I would FEEL for the Milevens because- imagine having your comfort ship not end up to be canon! That shit hurts! And same for if Byler isn’t canon!

I hope that all shippers can see from everyone’s point of view (unless you ship minorxadult, or anything disgusting like that.)

And I hope all Milevens and Bylers can learn to respect eachother.

And PLEASE for the LOVE OF GOD, I know that if Byler becomes canon we’re gonna wanna get cocky, and I know the same goes for if Mileven is end game, but please don’t go around saying “I told you so!” It’s never fun and it just makes people feel worse. People are ALLOWED to have faith in something. They’re ALLOWED to enjoy a ship.

And FRIENDLY REMINDER:

Statements like “Byler is endgame” or “Mileven is end game” shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Even I, who always says Byler will be end game, have no idea what will happen in season four. So we can dream all we want but it’s all up to the duffers.

SO PLEASE: let shippers have faith in their ship. Mileven and Byler are pretty vibey and I try to respect it as much as I can.

AND ALSO:

To anyone who has seen my previous Byler vs Mileven posts, I want you to know that although I do have my own opinions on Byler and Mileven- I never want you to stop shipping what you want! And I will always respect whatever you choose to ship (aslong as it’s legal and appropriate) this is just a fictional show! None of its real! And I hope you all know that I love Mileven shippers with my heart, even if I don’t love the ship. And I think both are awesome!

LETS ALL BE RESPECTFUL <3 it’s not that hard! Unless you are a toxic shipper, I will respect whatever you choose to ship. (Again, unless it’s inappropriate, but that goes without saying.)

And whatever becomes end game, I hope we can respect the brothers choice. Because at the end of the day, none of us know for sure what’s going to happen. And so we should just keep our heads up and respect everyone’s side of the fandom. And we need to stop getting so pressed when someone says they don’t ship something that you happen to. Not everyone will share your opinions. And as long as that person isn’t invalidating anything or hating on you, then you should respect them too!

Sorry, anyways. I went on a rant there.

TLDR; ship what you want and respect all shippers please! Even if you don’t ship it personally, you HAVE to respect a ships existence and when it comes to byler and Mileven, you gotta admit that both of them have a good shot at being end game ships. Whatever happens, I’ll always respect Mileven shippers and the ship itself even if I don’t like the ship personally. And If it is end game, then congrats! I love all shippers (as long as it’s appropriate) and I hope you do too!

PS: I’m tagging this In the Mileven tag but if anyone is bothered by that I will take it out!

[kaypeace21]

why is there so much denial of Will being gay?? Like, nothing Will has done has shown him to be anytging but possibly gay. Like, nobody thinks he'z gay because he's a nerd that doesn't have a girlfriend!! We think he's gay because of all the fucking subtext!!!!

There are a few reasons for this, and they’re all (for the most part) rooted in homophobia. 1) There are those who (may or may not) notice the subtext, but ignore it with the excuse of “he’s too young; stop sexualizing him!”. All while shipping lumax, and mileven. Whether they want to admit it or not, this is homophobic! They view (subconscious or otherwise) being queer as inherently sexual, dirty, and adult. And that only straight relationships can be pure and innocent and based on compatible personalities. Straight kids can have innocent crushes (but in their eyes) queer kids can’t- they may not even exist, to them. 

 2) There are some mileven shippers (who whether they want to admit it) hate Will, because the possibility he has powers or is gay- threatens their precious het ship. Because a lot of them don’t see El as her own person (just a part of their ship) or a vessel for being a badass with powers. They don’t appreciate her for the nuanced character she is.  They either get angry at the idea of Will being gay or having powers, or are only happy with him being queer if he’s sad and in an unrequited one-sided love/ or is single forever. Or they’ll say “why don’t you just ship him with someone else… like Dustin?” Ignoring the fact Dustin hasn’t been queer coded like Mike (or had romantically coded scenes with Will), or that people ship byler for Will and Mike, not cause it’s simply m/m. I mean, can you imagine byler shippers saying ‘Just ship El with Dustin, it’s a guy and girl… it’s practically the same thing”? No, of course not! It shows their bias- and how they feel privileged and entitled to their straight ship even though there are millions of similar ships in media to choose from- unlike queer ships which are far and few in between. However, we’re supposed to be the ones who pick another option- and are told our ships are ‘all the same’. Whether they are aware of this bias, they consider queer ships a joke, and all the same.

3) Those who relate to Will and his struggles,  hate the idea of relating to a queer character. There is a reason why shows like ‘Will &Grace’ in the 90s were popular, but even today the second a character who people assumed was straight is revealed as lgbt+ viewers get angry! It’s because they feel ‘tricked’ into liking, relating and empathizing with a character that they would otherwise have immediately put in a ‘box’ and  distanced themselves from . Whether they are aware of it or not, they would immediately attribute stereotypes to them and never try to empathize with them, because ‘they’re gay, and ‘how can I relate to that’? They don’t want to relate to them (because subconscious or otherwise) they think being gay is bad or just too foreign.They don’t see queer people as full-fledged people. They’re just gay- nothing more.

Which is why when they angrily say “he’s just afraid to grow up, HE’S NOT GAY!”  They are essentially saying a gay, abused kid, who has ptsd, and was violated by the MF (and was also hinted m**ested by Lonnie too) can’t be afraid to grow up, since he lost his childhood. Only straight people have these type of human-fears and characterizations!

Forget the fact, that Will also wouldn’t want to grow up- because than he’d have to acknowledge his sexuality (at a time where all you heard about gay men was they were evil , mentally ill, going to hell and dying of aids as a punishment by god). Not to mention Will’s ptsd and the fact he lost 2 years of his childhood on top of that.He even says “I’m not … going to fall in love” (not convincingly) , right after the movie date with Mike.

4) They’re so used to straight media, and everyone being presumed straight and having media catered to them (the straight audience)- That they’ll ignore or miss every hint there is a queer character. 

So what are the hints of Will being gay (or at least- some other lgbt identity.

Called many homophobic slurs  since s1 ( specifically ”queer, fag, fairy, and gay”) by his dad and bullies. Jonathan in s1 tells Will to “not like things just because people tell you you’re supposed to, especially not him” ( ‘him’ referring to their dad). Is positioned behind a rainbow apple poster in the av room (ref. to Alan Turning the gay creator of computers), dances with a girl with a rainbow hair-clip, has rainbow bandaids, has his mom says she’s ”so proud” (lgbt+ pride ref) of the rainbow ship he drew . When Will disparages himself as a “freak”, Jonathan asks Will, who would you rather be friends with-  David Bowie (who was openly bi since the 70s) or Kenny Rogers? Will says Bowie, and Jonathan agrees saying “see, it’s no contest”. In the pitch to netflix the Duffers described Will as having “sexual identity issues”. In the leaked s2 snowball script it says “he’s not looking at the cute girl- but Mike.”

All of s2 directly paralleled ‘romantic s1 mileven scenes’ to ‘supposedly platonic byler scenes’. No joke, they had identical scenes, with almost identical framing and dialogue, but it’s all dismissed as friendship (even though the scenes are identical).Byler was also  paralleled to Jancy, Stancy, Jopper, bob/joyce and others. . You can headcannon Will as whatever you want, but like it or not- Will is queer and m/m! We could debate his exact queer sexual identity , but Will was never written and will never be written to be ‘straight’! Stay mad!

If Will was Wilma, the majority of the fandom would be byler shippers. Think about it! Mike having byler scenes that are identical to s1 mileven scenes, and then additional unique byler scenes. Mike staying by Wilma’s side 24 hours a day for several days (not even changing clothes), carrying her out of the hospital, grabbing her hand (with a zoom in shot),constantly asking her if she’s okay at least 5-7 times, putting his arm around her twice, being the only one who could tell something was off with her (and it wasn’t her normal type of quiet). Calling and running all the way to her house and banging on the door to check on her, desperate. Proclaiming “i’m the only one who cares about Wilma!” Watching her sleep cause he’s so worried, that shed scene reminiscing about how they first met in perfect detail, saying “I asked, I asked if you wanted to be my friend. You said yes, you said yes. It was the best thing I’ve ever done. (like a marriage proposal)”  The “crazy together” scene. Them being close since they were 5 vs the girl he knew for a week (but is somehow in love with?). If the witness said about El in s1 , “ same height… it could be the Byers girl”, instead of ‘boy’ (pointing out the resemblance). Mike getting into fights and getting upset (almost crying) about the bullies insulting Wilma. Mike having a whole binder of her drawings and caressing one of the drawings, after he thinks she died.  Being the only one of her friends to stay awake at the hospital, waiting for her to wake up- so he can see her and hug her first. Almost everyone would be team byler if Will was a girl- they probably would of started shipping it the second Wilma stared at him and was the only one who didn’t lie to him, in the first ep! Another parallel to El! 

And again think about s3 if Will was a girl.They paralleled the (comedic) mileven breakup vs (the sad/serious) byler breakup. Then Mike just complained and burped on the couch vs apologizing to Willma multiple times/even going into a storm to apologize a 2nd time (and to ‘talk’). Willma having a breakdown over the fight vs El laughing and high five-ing Max after.The shed vs the pool shed scene- “best thing I’ve ever done” vs “you’re the most important thing in the world to me”, “blank makes you crazy’ (as El stares confused) vs “crazy together’ (where Wilma says ‘yeah, crazy together). Mike going on ‘movie dates with Willma all the time’ right after making out with El. The last mileven kiss where Mike has his eyes open the whole time, doesn’t kiss back, and says he doesn’t remember saying “I love her” to El (and doesn’t say ‘I love you’ back). Right after having a talk with Wilma about playing games when she comes back (the crux of their fight). Mike getting excited that he’ll be able to visit El and Wilma on Thanksgiving and them visiting him on Christmas (those are holidays where family usually introduces their S.O.) Having the last scene of Mike,  be him looking back at Wilma’s house, and have that whole monologue in that scene be about “feelings changing”, and then he goes to hug his mom like the s1 byler scene where he thought Wilma was dead. And that’s not even all the scenes- and every time byler won by a landslide. If Will was a girl, it would be obvious writing on the wall, that Mike would eventually choose Wilma over El by the end of the series.

But since they are 2 boys, we’re delusional, because queer kids don’t exist … apparently.