#i don't hate all milevens btw

[hawkins-batman]

Okay, so my usual content is Will Byers/Noah Schnapp centric, but I'm gonna take a minute to come to Mike Wheeler's defense, because a Mileven post I saw earlier REALLY reeked of homophobia and it bothered the fuck out of me.

Hi. I'm a gay dude. I had my first crush on a guy when I was 11ish. Maybe 12 - around the age of dear ol' Mike in Season 1. I didn't know WHY I found said boy pretty. I just knew that I couldn't stop looking at him and I did, in fact, find him pretty. I made this discovery about myself while living in a town of about 10,000 people in bumfuck Oklahoma. Not the best place to discover you were interested in the same sex.

Growing up in a VERY Christian conservative environment, I didn't realize what being "gay" was until I was 13 or 14 — about the time the preacher of the church my family made me go to just happened to mention that people who were gay were going to burn in Hell forever, which led me to VICIOUSLY suppress my sexuality all throughout high school. During that time, I had two girlfriends (they asked me out) because that's what I was told all men were supposed to do and because I was convinced doing so would get rid of these feelings I kept having towards other boys.

I realized at about the age of 17 that that wasn't happening. It wasn't going away, and went into a severe depressive episode, until, rather recently, when I moved away from home to attend school elsewhere, I did the work of deconstructing all the bad religion and politics my parents shoved down my throat, came out as gay, and have been living as an openly homosexual dude ever since.

So if you're a Mileven that's out there saying "Mike's not gay hahaha Will, you're not going to turn Mike gay, sorry gay boy hahaha" Fuck you. You were every person who made me feel like shit growing up and Mike Wheeler would hate you — whether he turns out to be gay narratively in Season 5 or not. And so would Eleven.

Yes, Mike Wheeler can still be gay. Or bi or pan, or whatever his character is written to be. He can still be gay and have dated Eleven. Dating a girl does not make you straight.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[laquiet]

So... I forced my friend into watching Stranger Things (pt. 1)

She's currently in season 2, probably episode 8, AND IT'S SO FUN, like... She has absolutly no idea about a n y t h i n g! About why some people seems to hate Mike (her favorite character so far, alongside with Will and El), and she doesn't even know who the hell is this Vecna guy, HOWEVER!!

I'm pretty sure she knows something is off with Mike and El as a couple, and she allowed me to translate some of her quotes, so I'm not missing any oportunity of sharing those gems:

1. Her opinion about Mileven

"It feels forced to me. Like, they [Mike and El] had one episode as friends and then the show started to hint they would be something more. I prefer something more like Lucas and Max,which developed over the season with him being the one at the Party who most wanted her with them and for her to know the truth."

SHE'S A LUMAX STAN, GUYS

Also,

2. Her reaction about the scene where Joyce, Jon and Mike are talking with possessed Will

When Joyce was talking about the drawing Will did when he was a child:

"A RAINBOW SHIP, HE DREW A RAINBOW SHIP!!!"

And when Mike was talking all about "You said yes, and it was the best thing I ever did":

"THOSE TWO ARE GOING TO BE THE CAUSE OF MY DEATH"

"I'm not ready to see what happens in season 3"

[Season 3... aka, the season which is... a little bit complicated for Mike stans--she is one of them btw]

TO SUM UP

She knows I know something about Mike, Will and El, and I know she knows something, too. But we won't tell each other...

Idk if you all Byler shippers won the show, but you definetely won her lol (and she doesn't even know it exists)

Oh, and she will be allowed to see my posts only after she gets to the end of s4, so this will be fun (i'm posting more of this, don't worry)

[milevenstancyendgame]

Mileven Star Wars Parallels

So I started this back in August, but for some reason I decided Halloween would be the perfect day to post this, lol. Others have pointed out the gender roles reversal for Mileven before, and here's my contribution.❤️

ST has lots of references to other fiction obviously, and lots of general Star Wars references. But since I'm a big fan of how Mike and Eleven break gender norms as a couple, I'd like to look at the SW references to Anakin and Padme in this post.

(And to get that out of the way - Anakin/Padme ended up being in a toxic relationship, but Mileven is not toxic.)

Of course Eleven's stretched out hand when she uses her powers is a general reference to Force wielders in Star Wars - the boys didn't compare her to Yoda for nothing! But her dark, menacing look resembles Anakin most.

S2 had a theme of Eleven using her anger to enhance her powers, as advised by Kali. All of that is a direct parallel to Anakin being advised by Palpatine/Darth Sidious to do the same.

In general, Kali's life devoted to revenge is reminiscent of the Sith (and being named after a Hindu goddess of destruction/war), who use pain and anger as a base for their Force wielding, and seek to take revenge on the Jedi (an institution that takes children with powers and raises them to be soldiers/weapons...hmm).

El listens to Kali's advice and remembers her words during the season's finale in which she closes the gate to stop the mindflayer, once again drawing on her hurt and anger. This scene brings us to the most overtly thematic and visual Anakin reference:

Both El and Anakin are dressed in black, got some rad eyeliner, and do the intense stare. Their surroundings express the theme of anger and pain, being all about red, black, and fire. Their faces are illuminated by red light.

Both are sweating; El has blood streaming down her face, Anakin tears. Both are shouting, being in extreme emotional states.

I was super excited about this when I first watched s2, because the theme of anger is so rarely explored for female characters - plus she looks fucking badass.🤬🌋😎

Of course there's also the more universal theme of "the chosen one/saviour" that the two characters have in common (gender non-conventional for El), as well as childhood abuse and being trained to be a weapon, leading to both having complex trauma, and others frequently trying to manipulate and exploit them.

Btw, ST makes the point that love makes El strongest, which breaks the SW dualism of Sith and Jedi (the Jedi's base for Force wielding is lack of emotion).

Now seeing that El has so many Anakin parallels going on, we can naturally wonder whether Mike has some parallels to Padme.

While I haven't noticed a direct reference (please let me know if I missed one!), both characters are defined by their strength in empathy and sense for justice (Mike takes El in and champions her throughout s1, for example, while Padme refuses to let her people suffer throughout ep. I, and she speaks for the voiceless in the senate).

Also, here's a cute little "You're cold (a symbol for being alone and unloved), let me give you a blanket (love)." parallel:

They are also both strong leaders, who hate to sit around and do nothing, while others are in danger (or to be told what to do by others).

Again, s2 gives us a good example:

Mike is told by Steve that they have to stay put, but he insists to go out and help Eleven. Likewise, in ep. II, Padme doesn't give a shit that Mace Windu just told Anakin and her to stay put, she insists to go out and help Obi-Wan.

Both have much more of these moments, of course. All of ep. I shows us Padme throwing herself into danger to help her people on Naboo, ep. II is just her being pissed, because she needs to go undercover due to assassination attempts (don't get me started on The Clone Wars), and Mike is always the first (and sometimes the only one) to rush to El's aid, or that of a friend.

They are both passionate, emotional, and compassionate; they constantly drive others to act for others, and inspire them.

Padme means "lotus", which is a Buddhist symbol for compassion; while Mike is termed "the heart".🪷🩷

Both are also the no-supernatural-power partner in their romantic relationship, often putting them into the role of the one who gets left behind/has to wait, and the supporter role.

Again, this is a very non-conventional role gender-wise for Mike, which I love (but just like Padme and other female love interests, he gets a lot of hate for it).

[pbnjloverman]

heyy, I saw your pinned post in which you were crying talking about byler doubt and I literally cried😭 (I'm a mileven fan) so I thought I'd write to you because you seem to be a really nice person 😭

(you don't have to read it if you don't want to dw)

when I watch st, I have no doubts about mileven, it's my favorite ship since I watched this series and what's more, it's my favorite ship in my entire life, I feel like my personality is built from a mix of mike and el's personalities + their relationship. There isn't a day when I don't think about them, come up with fake scenarios, don't look at their photos on Pinterest and think about how perfect they are, don't think about them while listening to music or watching movies, etc.

However, when I go on tumblr (most people probably know that this is a place where there is a significant preponderance of byler fans than mileven fans) and read byler theories several times, I have doubts about a ship that means the whole world to me and I literally wouldn't wish it on anyone.

apart from the arguments between Byler and Mileven fans about who is delulu, whose ship makes more sense and whose ship is toxic, etc. We all have something in common, we are people who found something deep in two fictional characters and the relationship between them, it's obvious that none of us want to find out that everything we imagined and believed in wasn't true, none of us wants to feel stupid for believing in something that didn't work out, no one wants to find themselves in a situation where it turns out that your favorite character is actually someone completely different. different than you thought.

lately I see more and more byler doubts (I don't know why 😭 did I miss something?) and it makes me sad when I see it because I know how important a seemingly stupid fictional ship can be to someone (someone like me for example 😭). I don't know if you will read this and if you will be interested in my opinion because I am a mileven soldier and it's as if I was playing on the opposite team, but I think that regardless of whether our favorite ship will be endgame or not, it was and will be something special for us, it made us spend many wonderful moments smiling, making edits, reading ff, etc. and I know that the ending of the series will be heartbreaking for all of us anyway so it's a shame to beat ourselves up twice 😭😭

well anyway thanks for ur time❤️❤️

I'm kinda scared about what will happen in ST5, byler doubt is killing And my friend who is a mileven is also in doubt. 😭😭

Btw you are the first mileven that talks me in good way, it's sad that almost every mileven that talks to me insults me, I feel so sorry that that kind of milevens are ruin the reputation of milevens shippers because there are milevens like you that are really sweet and don't deserve ppl hating on them because one brainless person decide to be mean

[wheeler-fan]

Hiii! Sorry if I sound weird or disrespectful in some way, I was curious if it’s a common experience for you as a mileven shipper to go on byler tag just to try to understand their point of view. Like you go “ahh byler shippers make no sense, I wonder what are their thoughts on that scene/dialogue/etc” and then read some theories to understand them better. For example I am a byler and anti-mileven which means I completely don’t get this ship so I sometimes scroll through mileven tag or blogs to see “what are you guys on” (w/o negative tone)😭basically learning more abt mileven. Cause sometimes I see anti-byler posts where author obvi doesn’t even know what there’re talking abt and same thing with some anti-mileven ones. In my country there’s a popular phrase “know your enemy in the face”, it basically means you can’t hate anything not knowing what it is and I actually think that’s really important, some ppl should take notes lol, sorry for yapping. I’m not texting you specifically bc I have a beef with you or anything, I actually love your blog cause your posts (even tho I disagree ofc) are valid. I’m sure you cook such wonderful meals for your community and honestly? Keep going!! (I’ll read your stuff too 😼)I tried to make this ask anonymous but can’t find the button on the tablet so you can come at me if you need😭

heyyy, good question but it depends

usually i just text random byler shippers (or friends that ship byler but I don't have much of them so if you're a byler shipper and we're moots it actually means that you're super cool 😭😭😭) and ask them about their point of view

tbh i don't spend much time on tumblr bc i hate to see what people are doing to my fav character here (mike) and also i kinda feel like byler on tumblr is like a new reddie fanfic version 💀 emo boy and a sensitive little baby🥰🥰 I'm sorry 😭

I read a lot of byler theories mainly because of Mike, and usually they don't make sense to me, but honestly I found theories that were really good even though I ship Mileven

tbh for me byler would make way more sense if not the fact that there's only one season left and mike doesn't even know that will isn't straight - actually will haven't done a coming out even to his mom yet😭😭 i just feel like there's not enough time for all of this sorry guys

but i get why people ship it and even if that doesn't make much sense to me- if u want to ship them u can like it's not that deep it's just a fictional ship, the only thing i ask for- don't talk shit about my ship to make yours more valid please

also, even if I'm reading byler theories for fun to talk about them later with my mileven moots I'm trying to keep it for myself, i don't want to talk shit about byler cuz i don't want people to do the same to my ship. Like i get that we share a character but we don't have to kill ourselves 😭 just focus on your own ship..

answering ur question: I'm not searching for an explanation on tumblr or sth bc the explanation will be like : mike and will wear green so byler endgame 😝

i just ask an actual byler on pv so i can understand something better which is actually funny cuz i can randomly text someone and be like: hey I'm a mileven shipper but i wanted to ask, can u explain the birthdaygate to me? and i will get a whole paragraph about it😭 (btw thanks to the random byler that explained it to me before ross posted will byers on ig)

[most-canon-non-canon-ship-poll]

literally hoping they break up in the last season

Why Mileven is shit - a submission-based essay, part 2/3

Mileven - a currently canon het ship from the Stranger Things fandom between Michael (Mike) Wheeler and Jane (Eleven) Ives/Hopper/Byers/IDK

they NEED to breakup (AGAIN) in the final season let's start w their character arcs rn. el was born in a lab and was raised VERY strict to be a weapon and shit. she escapes and now her whole arc is finding herself and being who she is separate to what people tell her she is. mike comes from a lowkey conservative family with parents who are married only to fit into the normal, not because they love each other. his arc, similar to his sisters' struggle in earlier seasons, is to not fall into conformity just because you feel like you should. both of these stories line up with the main moral of the show: be who you are even if it isn't "normal" ot whatever now how does mileven go against this? mike, and a bunch of ppl around el, in the earlier seasons keeps telling el what she should do/be. even in the later seasons we see mike refering to el as a "superhero" (which she doesn't like). neither of them feel free to be themselves around the other (shown by el lying to mike and mike being WAY out of character around el, etc). mike literally can't tell el he loves her while not under pressure. mileven sometimes parallels mike's parents' and sta.cy (a failed conformity relationship) and other bad relationships ANYWAYS it also reallyyyy pains will byers (who's been canonically in love with mike for like years, and mike's best friend) to see this. also, milevens keep harassing will/mike shippers on anon even months after the last season. like they have a hate discord server just for it. anyways i love mike and el but ohhh my god there is still SO much i haven't mentioned about how bad they are together (and how bad shippers often are, sometimes being violently homophobic and calling bylers delusional and shit)

OOOH IT FUCKING SUCKS THEY ARE SOOOOOO BAD FOR EACH OTHER JESUS THEY DON'T COMMUNICATE LIKE EVER THEY ARE BOTH CLEARLY IN IT BECAUSE OF THE EXPECTATION OF A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE THEY CAN'T CONFIDE IN EACH OTHER THEY DON'T SHARE ANY INTERESTS THEY'RE HAVING CONFLICT MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THANK *GOD* I AM UTTERLY CONVINCED THEY ARE HEADING FOR A CANONICAL PERMANENT BREAKUP. NOT TO MENTION THEY ARE BOTH GAY AS HELL TO ME. YOU SEEN THAT "THIS SHIP IS SO CANON AND IT'S A LESBIAN AND A GAY MAN" TWEET? YEAH. FUCK THIS STUPID FUCKING SHIP NOT TO MENTION THE SHIPPERS ARE FREQUENTLY OPENLY HOMOPHOBIC. UGHHHHHHH KILLING BITING (this is my fave btw)

they have no chemistry or buildup unlike the other st couples. they kissed season 1 right after she asked if he would be her brother. hes very obviously compensating for something. i think i gagged when they made out in season 3. speaking of. thats all they do. make out. they dont really have meaningful conversations. this also comes from the fact that when mike met her she was fresh out the lab that abused her for like 11 years. she was not socially ready to understand the bounds of a platonic relationship let alone a romantic one. anyway mileven break up s5 will happen i believe it. if nothing else. cross ur fingers gamers

the sheer homophobia and general toxicity that the fans of this ship create is absolutely insane when their perfect (read: mischaracterized) straight (read: homosexually-coded) couple is judged for having toxic or incompatible elements is insane. the only good romantic aspect between these two characters is in a cringefail "wow this really doesn't work at all" i-want-to-put-this-dynamic-under-a-microscope-and-study-it-because-it's-an-absolute-trainwreck" kind of way. el has been abused and cut off from society her whole life and at 12 years old she immediately gets together with this guy at whose earth shattered after his best friend went missing who then has surviors guilt after she almost does which is misconstrued as romantic rather than unhealthy obsession and trauma. and so on and so forth.. there's just so much wrong they lie to each other So Fucking Much despite truthfulness being very important to them and they ignore their friends to make out (which is filmed in a way that is meant to feel uncomfortable btw lmao) and el doesn't understand mike's trauma from bullying and he doesn't understand how she doesn't want to be built up into being a superhero etc etc. and it's just so increasingly bad I want to rub my temples just thinking about them. they're just so bad for each other and their relationship has done nothing but make them worse in general but for some reason their ship is viewed as fluffy or cute or whatever the hell. anyway mike is so heavily coded to be fucking gay and in love with his best friend (and el can be interpreted to be lesbian coded) and I just need to get them out of there amen

I'm gonna make a list bc the reasons are many: 1) their first casual interaction they get together but in the same conversation she asks him if she can be like a sister to him 2) all their "cute moments" are them making out in the 3rd season with still absolutely no chemistry 3) their only actual cute scene is them dancing at the snowball yet in the same scene they portray the same way two couples that are not romantic 4) mike becomes a terrible person when he's with eleven 5) eleven literally GOT OUT OF A LAB SHE WAS RAISED IN and this is the first guy she dated 6) she can't even say he's a good kisser 7) mike can't tell her that he loves her (bc he doesn't) and the only time he does he makes this whole ugly ass speech up about how she's his "superhero" even though she doesn't want to be seen only for her superpowers 8) in said speech, while listing the things that he loves about her, he only names her superpowers + he lies multiple times 9) EVEN AFTER SAID SPEECH she is still mad at him and won't talk to him (probably bc she saw right through his bs) 10) she spent a whole 6 months lying to him about all of her life 11) mike is clearly gay and is meant to be with his childhood best friend will 12) mike idolizes her and doesn't see her as an actual person 13) eleven needs to be her own person (ffs she just got out of a lab) 14) the ship sucks and even the authors and actors say so

they have NO chemistry. they kissed after one week of knowing each other when they were 12 and eleven didn't even know what a romantic relationship was at the time, given the fact that right before mike kisses her she says "will you be like my brother?". they spent the entirety of season 2 apart with mike calling el on his walkie and el watching romantic movies on the tv for a year (then will is in trouble and mike says 'fuck it' and goes full protective boyfriend mode but this isn't about byler so i digress) and start dating soon after they meet again even though they haven't had a SINGLE conversation and are barely friends. season 3 comes along and the writers do their utmost best to show us how incompatible they are. their makeout scenes are uncomfortable, they break up at the beginning of the season and neither one of them seems particularly bothered that their first relationship is over. in fact, the happiest we see el in the entire series is during the time they're broken up, when she gets close to max (who she actually has chemistry with, by the way) and finally experiences freedom, being a teenage girl and etc since mike had been "keeping her all to himself" for like, a year. aside from that, he doesn't go after her at all after she dumps his ass (literally) but when he and will have a fight, he bikes across town in the rain just to apologize, that boy is GAY. finally, the theme of season 4 is lies and once again, mike and el spend the season apart (once again, mike spends the season with WILL) and right before they part ways, they have a big fight about mike being unable to so much as WRITE "love, mike" on his letters to el, let alone say it, and he bullshits his way through it and refuses to say the actual reason until vol. 2, when he apparently "confesses" that he's afraid he'll lose her if he says it (okay, amigo, you're gonna lose your girlfriend who was literally begging you to say 'i love you' not even a week ago, aham, totally valid excuse). conclusion: they don't know each other and they don't act like themselves when they're together. mike hides his nerdy nature, el feels like she has to be the amazing superhero he's always viewed her as or else he'll lose interest and it just feels like they're both grasping at straws because this relationship has been dragged on for too long that they don't know how to break up permanently. they are afraid of losing each other, but not romantically, as mike was el's first semblance of family after escaping the lab and mike feels like it's his duty to protect and care for el. also, mike is gay. in other words, FREE THEM.

[im-dead-still]

i'm not even sure who i ship in stranger things anymore dammit.

Like... obviously not Mileven. I hate mileven and i always have. It's basically been based off of some crush mike had on eleven when she couldn't even talk.

And i don't think i ship byler. Like... it's cute and all... and i wouldn't be upset if it happened... but mike is being such a dipshit about everything i don't think it's realistic tbh and i don't think he's mature enough for a relationship.

Jancy is just becoming a total fucking disaster. Like what the actual fuck jonathan don't "slo mo break up" with the girl you've been in love with for so many fucking years.

And like.... stancy.... like.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. idfk.

And then Elmax.... i like, but i think if i wasn't so gay i wouldn't actually see it... i think they're honestly better off as friends. They're more of a comfort ship for me lol. Like not realistic but if i'm sad i'm going to watch the first few episodes of season three on repeat.

I have only three ships i am completely sure about, which is Jopper, Lumax, and whatever the hell vickie and robin's ship name is. (Also btw i'm not mentioning Dustin and Suzie in here at all because i don't think we know suzie as a character enough. But i mean they're cute so sure i ship it).

And also btw. Just like. I hate any ship to do with eddie. Like steddie is ok, but when it comes to people shipping chrissie and eddie. Like come on. It's like you're pulling couples out of thin air. Personally eddie gives me aroace vibes, but even disregarding that i just think that chrissie and eddie is disgusting. They would've been adorable friends if chrissie ever survived, and their interaction in the forest was like, the best thing ever and it helped you see eddie's soft side, but the fact that people saw romance in that is lost on me. Eddie and steve is more believable, but i still don't ship it.

Also i feel like i'm forgetting someone but idrc.

sorry about the long post. haven't ranted about stranger things in months and had a brief (compared to my other rants) coversation with @lukiverse earlier and now i can't stop ranting i'm sorry i'll go to sleep now.

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

i just wanna talk to someone abt this because i trust u and ppl on tumblr actually freak me out and scare me so…hear me out. im not at all opposed to byler and im not homophobic bc i dont particularly ship it as much as others. yes i do ship it some amount, but the only thing that worries me is homophobes. being a queer person in a homophobic family is reallt hard and u have to learn to grow with a fear of them hating u. im just afraid of how ppl will take it if byler is canon. again i am not against the ship. that being said i am a girl who simps over will byers and i adore the y/n x will dynamic they have. just wanted to tell someone bc a lot of ppl on this sight would call me homophobic and stuff over this

Aw honey... of course it's okay. And I'm sorry things have been like this. I totally get it. What's not okay is a fandom getting so protective over their ships they make people of afraid of not shipping something enough. (Long but necessary rant ahead. Sorry, but its worth it)

I'm gonna lose a lot of people here, and likely cause they don't want to read to the end to hear all I have to say, but here goes: I don't particularly ship Byler either. When most people hear this statement they immediately equate it with the statement "I don't think Will is gay and neither is Mike" (I feel like this is true for most queer ships, or just shipping culture in general?).... this could not be more wrong. For one, nobody ever immediately knows why someone ships something (and a lot of times, the person themselves don't understand/realize why they subconsciously pick to a specific pairing and cling to it so tightly) and while it's completely understandable to have become defensive, say, because you feel as though your own identity is under attack, it's so easy—natural even—for people to snap into survival mode and try to defend themselves. But as we've seen, this can, in the right circumstances, also feed the pre-existing cycle of offense and defense that is far too long and philosophical a discussion to dive into here and now.

No, for now I wanna just reiterate that just because someone admits to not being particularly hyper-enthused by a specific ship—yes, like Byler—doesn't mean they automatically hate it. I don't particularly campaign for Mileven either! I've been persuaded by both in the past, but I've never found myself at point where I'm making fan accounts surrounding the ship, pumping out content 24/7, and I certainly haven't felt compelled to bash anyone who ships the other. But ya know what? I will say, and I bet im not alone here, the more I encounter Mileven content/space OR Byler content/space, the more I'm driven away. Why? The fucking shipping wars.

Byler and Mileven shippers, hard-core super-shippers specifically speaking, are some of the most toxic fans I've ever encountered. Is it every one? No!! But most. Most. The most extreme ive heard/seen is horrific. I'm talking death threats, suicide baiting, doxing, constant harassment and just overall borderline cyberterrorism. It's fucking unacceptable. And the underlying theme here and why there's so much fear spreading throughout fandom spaces. Why someone felt the need to limit contact and come to someone they claimed to trust to anonymously admit they aren't frothing at the mouth for one of these aforementioned ships. (Thank u btw for feeling u could trust me) This is not okay!!! People have to see how wrong this is!!! Right?? Right?!

I have no idea how much people will respect all this considering the source: a 21 year old reader insert writer who dedicates most of her time to writing teenagers into the plot of stranger things with Will Byers as their love interest (yes, specifically fem presenting/ she/her pronoun users). So no, I wouldn't blame anyone for hearing me say the words "I'm not a big byler shipper" and assume it has anything to do with that. But I'd hope that anyone who knows me, or is at least willing to hear me out, will understand that I have stated many times (and likely will again cause im a ✨️repetitive bitch✨��) that when I was a teenager, I was going through the absolute worst years of my life. Like, it warmed me up the for 2020s, that's how bad it was for me. And the only thing that got me through (likely without falling into what I believe would have become some incredibly dangerous habits) was falling into a world I could completely disappear into and forget my own shitty world existed.

I found this series called The Maze Runner, fell absolutely in love with the books and the world and bought every copy I could get my hands on. And when that wasn't enough, I looked for every blogspace I could get my hands on. Enter tumblr. Not even five minutes into my new account and searching the maze runner tag do I find a short little story called an "x reader". I literally cried. I was so fucking alone cause, and I'll tell yall, in the span of 15 months, I put down my dog of 11 years, lost my great-grandmother, then my grandpa, then my great grandfather, and then my grandmother. I had reason to believe I would suddenly lose my best friend to depression, and then to top it off my parents got divorced. Granted things have definitely gotten brighter, but little 14 year old me was no where near a healthy state of mind, or body and stumbling across something that not only let me disappear from my collapsing world, but surrounded me in love and encouragement, no matter how corny or silly, by the characters I had fallen in love with was an indescribable experience. This. This is precisely why i write. If theres even a chance i can provide that for you, and God, in the 2020s of all time to be a teenager, than i want to. I want to pay it forward.

That being said, I'd also hope one would understand while things were on the mend, I wasn't fully recovered by the time stranger things came out and i decided to write for it. The grief and trauma was one thing but, another thing you guys might know about me if you've been following me for a while is in the past, I've struggled severely—and still do a great deal—with compulsory heterosexuality. And honestly, a little internalized homophobia I think. It's stuff I work on daily, and it's stuff, I'd be willing to bet, a lot more people deal with than you'd expect. It's for this reason, that I suspect hilariously enough, me a deeply closeted lesbian while planning an x (at the time fem!)reader rewrite for younger kids to escape into, was faced with the choice of a love interest and subconsciously chose one of the only semi-canonically gay male characters available. Yes, essentially, in my own comphet riddled brain, I subconsciously gave both the (fem)reader and Will Byers my own comphet.

But guess what? Characters evolve as the story evolves and that rings true for COSMIC. I wish I had stories back then that casually explored sexuality outside the confines of cisgender heterosexuality in a safe, fun, encouraging way. I also wish I had stories that led you down one story with one character only and suck you in only to change and evolve if needed to say, an opposite sex or nonbinary character as the new love interest and being able to do so cause the love interest was never THE PLOT in the first place. It certainly would have helped speed things along I think, and even if I wasn't its healthy to try things out/consider before saying, ya know I think this still feels right, I'm good! And that's okay!

I deeply deeply appreciate anyone who read this far. I completely understand how much i tend to blather and granted i didnt plan on going into the specifics of my childhood trauma but i felt it necessary info as to why on earth im preaching gay Will while i currently have a Will x fem!reader on my page (Again, dont worry. Im not about to disrespect/erase anything likely to come in s4, nor have is this is a sudden thing in COSMIC) and seemingly shitting on ships. Again, it's the over intense shippers, not the ships themselves and overall lack of byler content that failed to get my attention.

In conclusion, yes, I don't particularly ship Byler much like you dear nonnie, but anyone who automatically thinks that statement makes us homophobic really needs to take a step back and perhaps consider taking a break from public fandom space. If you as a byler OR mileven shipper feel confronted at every corner to a point you're jumping down others throats, you need to take a break from the internet. Draw your ship, write some fanfic if you still want to engage in fandom activities offline but take a break from the internet and prowling for any throat to jump down.

Blech. Rant over. I kinda accidentally combined it with the pre season 4 premiere disclaimer for Cosmic and how and why I have a will x reader with a fem reader copy and how that's going to be affected by s4 so that's prob why it's so long but I don't regret it. The point is, this is and always will be a safe space for fandom enjoyment and just hanging out and the last thing I want here is someone to be feel afraid or threatened in any way. I love you all so much and wish nothing but amazing things for you all. And thank you again, dear nonnie, for trusting me. It means a lot.

💕💕💕 - Yurtle

[demadogs]

i dont understand why you all hate mileven so much, they are very nice together they have always been for each other in every season and i dont see anything toxic between them. and why call eleven for 363 days if you don't really love her mike? making byler canon it would seem very forced to me,it would be a shook for the fandom. I'm not saying this to be rude and disrespectful btw

i dont hate m*leven and ive never said that i dont think mike cares about el. he does a lot, just not romantically. i really hope theyll be close friends after their relationship ends. i also never want anyone to think i hate el. i know thats not what you said but i just wanna put that out there. i love eleven so much.

the word toxic makes it seem like im trying to say their relationship is abusive or manipulative. obviously i can see that they do care for each other and its nothing like that. i think a better word for them would be unhealthy or forced. we first see how unhealthy m*leven is in s3, which is also the first time we see them as an actual couple. one thing that stood out to me that felt forced is the fact that all they did when they were alone together was kiss. we see cute moments of lucas and max like when they were at the hospital throwing candy in each others mouths and jancy chose to work together whearas all we see of mike and el is them making out. it seems like a better way to establish how emotionally close they are is them bonding over other activities. i know el was limited bc she couldnt go in public, but why didnt mike try to get her into dnd? or just literally watching a movie together. instead all they do is make out bc both of them think thats just what normal couples are supposed to do.

i think mike called her everyday bc he did care and miss her a lot but again, not romantically. i think it was easy for him to believe his feelings were romantic when el wasnt there with him. when we do see them as a couple in the following season theres no romance besides them making out and that insanely awkward kiss at the end of the season where mike didnt kiss her back, didnt react at all to her saying she loves him, and just looked confused when she walked away. why would he have that response to her saying she loves him and kissing him if it was intended to be a romantic moment?

there have been many clues to byler already but also i dont think itll feel forced at all just bc this next season is so damn long. its not like the second episode m*leven will break up and he’ll get together with will. there will be plenty of clues hinting at it that lead to them admitting their feelings for each other and it wont feel forced because of that slow progression.

idk if any of this will convince you and i dont really care tbh but those are my thoughts.

[willel]

I'm really not trying to start a ship war or discourse (and this isn't directed at you at all!) so don't answer this if you don't want to create waves but am I the only one that feels like most Willels are Will stans first and only use Willel (and by extension El) to fulfill an agenda whether that be a Will arc or even Byler?

I was just going though the Willel tag on here and a lot of it is just Bylers pulling El into situations to make them potentially being canon less messy and almost not caring about her feelings at all? For example: the idea of Will ending up alone and having to watch the boy he's in love with date his sister after everything he's been though is terrible writing and isn't fair but El breaking up with her first love (someone who, we are under the impression, she still loves) and then having to watch him go on to date her brother after everything she's been through is okay? It just seems odd? and it gets passed off like it's no big deal because "Willel are twins! and they love each other! and just want each other happy!" and yes!!! that's true but it feels like sometimes that's only used as an excuse and if El doesn't fulfill that, she'll be looked at as selfish and a bad sister (and the writing will be terrible) because they don't truly actually care about what she wants or gets, as long as Will is getting what he wants over her.

This isn't me saying you can't be a Willel and ship Byler or Mileven or even have a favorite of the two btw! I love Will but it's just an observation of mine. I kinda just wish this love triangle thing never happened.

Well, firstly, I think you should readjust your perspective. I don't ship Byler (or mileven). All my pals who I speak to in private don't really care about either ship either but we LOVE willel, the byers, El, Will, Jonathan, Joyce (and Hopper sometimes).

I know it's SO hard to wipe away bias or see through the fog, but I implore everyone to TRY. Try not to judge, allow yourself to understand the perspective of the other side even if you don't agree or genuinely do not care (like me with ST shipping). If you find yourself judging too much, take a step back and reevaluate.

I'm not just saying that to say it either, I have to tell myself this every day so that I don't gain a massive hate boner towards all the shippers when it's only a minority of shippers who are the problem people in this fandom. It's... VERY hard. But it's an effort I willingly make else I would've left a long time ago.

Refocusing on the subject matter at hand, yes, I am aware there are some shippers (bylers in this case) that lean in a little too much on El being the catalyst to make their ship happen, hence they may support willel by proxy and only pay attention to willel in service of their ship. They do exist.

But those kinds of people are a minority. I just left the twitter fandom, but you know what I saw a lot of?

I saw one group of fans insisting that El would crush Will under the soles of her boots for even DARING to look at HER man. How she would rip him to shreds, push him off a building, or break Will's neck for so much as looking in Mike's direction. How dare he have feelings for his bff who he's known for years. Will is a bad brother for flirting with his sister's boyfriend (which he didn't do) and trying to make a move while she was gone (again, he didn't do that). You don't like El if you don't ship mileven. You don't like El if you have willel in your name. You don't like El if you ship her brother with her boyfriend. You don't like El if you like Will. El and Mike should call Will slurs. Will is yucky because -insert slur-. Mike would never like a -slur-. Yada yada. (yes, these are things I have seen. these are reasons I block people. for my own sanity.)

When there was backlash against those kinds of people, you'd assume maybe there'd be a wave of hatred against El. Like in return, people could claim Will would break El's neck. He'd push her off a building. She's a bad sister for taking the guy he's had a crush on since he was a kid. Mike should dumb her. El should get her heart broken. Blah blah blah. (on the rare occasion I have seen these, which I can count on two hands, they get blocked too)

That's not what I saw as an unwillingly witness to the fandom ship wars.

The sentiment I saw most was, "You're really pitting Will and El against each other for Mike Wheeler?"

Mike slander, yeah, but THAT was the sentiment I saw amongst byler shippers and people who don't ship either pairing.

Yeah, I side eye the handful of shippers who might be using willel to support their ship, but I am MUCH more bothered and upset by the other side who decide to tear Will and El apart instead. If I were a mileven and actually cared about Will and El as siblings and individual characters, I wouldn't be ripping on them like I see WAY too often.

I would throw my own hat in the ring and start saying they they support MY ship. Will spent the entirety of season 4 trying to keep those two honest with each other and keep their relationship intact even though he was being third wheeled into oblivion. That's how much he cares about those two despite his own feelings. Why AREN'T mileven fans gushing over all that? A character that believes in that ship so much that he's pushing himself aside for them like? Well obviously, it's because the ship war has gotten to their heads and they can't see anything beyond it and only see Will as an obstacle. But anyway.

NOT SAYING I WANT THAT BTW. I would love it if both sides just... let Will and El be. Their individual characters do not revolve around Mike. The bond they have with each other has NOTHING to do with Mike either. In fact, I was really bothered that Mike had anything to say about how Will and El were interacting with each other. Imagine if Will criticized Mike for crapping on his own sister every other episode? He wouldn't, cause that's none of Will's business.

BUT ANYWAY

I am an "El discovers the lie about the painting" truther through and through. Not because I think El will break up with Mike and push Will and Mike together. I honestly have no idea wtf the writers are doing with that plot line and I don't care. I want El to figure out her dear brother is gay, she's the only Hopper-Byers left that doesn't know that yet.

I am a "El would never hurt her brother" truther. Like I said, don't know wtf is happening with the life triangle and I don't care. But I know for a fact El would not break Will's neck, push him off a cliff, or hurt him at all if she learned about his feelings. I think it'd be complicated for sure but El is not violent. She hurts the people who bring harm to her and her friends/family. I HATE when people depict her as a violently jealous girl. It's gross.

Do I think some shippers are placing too much responsibility on El to make byler work? Yes sometimes. In my opinion, El should have absolutely nothing to do with that ship. Not saying she'd hate it, but I think it's too much to have her bring them together. She is still just a teenage girl. It's unfortunate that the writing made Will spent so much time involved with mileven, but at the same time, that is within his character to do such a thing and it was sorta important to his own personal growth.

If you've been following my blog for a long time, you'd know I was someone hoping and praying this love triangle wouldn't happen. I was hoping in season 3 and season 4 they would introduce a new love interest for Will just like they have for every other character. All to prevent the fandom becoming like this and that I knew this road could lead to either Will or El ending up unhappy. The worst possible outcome has come.

But what's done is done.

To summarize, yes, there are some bylers who support willel because in turn, they believe El is a catalyst to their ship. But you'll find MOST Bylers don't believe that at all and that they love Willel entirely separately from their ship. There are Byler shippers that place Willel above their ship or have even dropped their ship in favor of Willel (because in their opinion, Mike makes things complicated/hurts them both. That's up to personal preference and their interpretation)

In turn, I think some mileven fans would benefit from the willel hype by not pushing forward this idea that "Will is stealing El's man" and other ridiculous things. Will has probably loved Mike since before any of them knew El existed. But that doesn't even matter. Will is not gonna make a move on Mike, he would never do that to his sister. Why insist that he did? Why insist that he will? He hasn't. He values El's happiness more than his own. Maybe you guys should lean into that more instead of spreading hatred towards Willel and Will. I just don't get it.

As a frustrated willel lover, my greatest desire is for people to... chill out. Don't generalize. Become consumed by the wonder twins vision, and leave your ships behind! (joking. mostly.)

(also, 'you' is not directed at you. English is fun.)

Hope that answers any questions.

[beepboop358]

Hello :)

You know I really don’t believe in byler being endgame ( I love byler btw it’s my fav ship ) because of mileven . I don’t like mileven but it just feels like they are endgame and that’s actually somehow sad because it’s like always the same thing : Main boy and main girl get together and they are endgame … that’s it

But what makes me even more sad is that the duffers have made so many byler moments that are too romantic to be just friendship . But I don’t think that they just make mileven break up and mike gay ( or bi or pan etc )after developing their relationship every season . I know there is a lot of evidence that they ( mike and will ) get together but what if we just interpret it wrong or something? Also I think the duffers know how many viewers they would lose if they make mileven break up and byler is way too good to be an actual ship :( 😂 I guess we just have to wait for season 4

( btw that’s no hate to you (or mileven shippers)I really love all of your blogs 💗)

Hey anon!

I don't think we will see the stereotypical boy and girl ending with mileven in Stranger Things. Stranger Things is strictly an ensemble cast, no one is the main girl or main boy. The fan base has kind of just decided that Mike and El are the "main characters", when that's not what the show says.

I did a longer post about why we don't have to worry about the writers pandering to heteronormativity with mileven that might give you a little reassurance that they won't make Mike & El end up together simply for the fact that they are a straight couple, people like their characters & expect them to get back together & stay together, etc. I don't think we are interpreting byler clues wrong. All of the byler evidence so far has been designed to be clues for byler, and they don't point to anything else. The Duffers, writers, set designers, costume designers, etc., everyone works together to create these details, and everyone is on the same page, it's just how productions work :) And if they don't work that way, you can very much tell because nothing on screen will be cohesive and no clear message will come across and everything will seem like an absolute mess LOL, which isn't the case with stranger things.

I think the Duffers are slightly frustrated with the fan response they got from Mileven in seasons 2 and 3. There are a lot of mileven disses EVERYWHERE in the show (especially in s2 and s3) & viewers seemed to ignore them entirely, but the Duffers just kept stating in interviews how Mileven was an obsessive first crush, etc. And as far as their development, there is barely any. They knew each other a week, then El was gone for a year, then she comes back for a few months, hiding in Hopper's cabin and then bam s3. They hardly know each other really.

I don't think they are worried about loosing viewers if they don't comply to what people what with mileven. They've been very clear about the fact that mileven is not the focus of the show. Besides, there are millions of people who watch ST, and hardcore mileven shippers are not the majority of those viewers. Most people who watch the show don't watch it FOR mileven, they watch it for other reasons. I've talked about ST with some of my older relatives/family friends, and with some of my friends as well and they don't seem to care at all what happens to Mileven's romantic relationship in the show, and most of the show's viewers are adults, who are not just watching the show for a relationship between 2 minors (if they were it would be incredibly creepy) Most people who watch the show ONLY for Mike & El are younger, and there are less viewers of that age range. And Mike & El already broke up, which people seem to ignore somehow?? They never officially got back together in s3, they're still broken up from what we've seen...

In conclusion, we're getting Byler <3 We just have to wait it out because they're playing the long game with them :) I agree with you that they are like a perfect ship!

Thanks for the ask! I hope you're well xx

[can-of-pringles]

ok so what do you think about byler, mileven, elmax, Lucas X max (I forgot their ship name lol), jopper, jancy, stancy, robin X Nancy, robin X chrissy, robin X Vickie, Steddie, eddissy and Billy X hell (btw I don't ship some of the ships I said, I'm just curious)

Stranger Things ships. Let's go!

Byler: 100% ship it and want it to be canon

Mileven: I've never been a fan but definitely disliked it after reading some analysis of it. It's toxic and they're better off as platonic soul mates.

Elmax: I like it! In fact, it's canon in my 001 and 011 AU. Though I don't think it'll ever be canon in the show.

Lucas x Max: It's cute and canon. Don't have much to say about it.

Jopper: Not a huge fan. They spent a majority of S3 fighting and yelling at each other (mostly Hopper let's be honest) and it feels pretty toxic IMO. I don't like Hopper.

Jancy: It's ok. I feel neutral about it.

Stancy: Don't like it at all. Clearly, they're better off as friends. I don't know why in S4 they tried hinting at it again??

Robin x Nancy: I like it! Though occasionally I do think Nancy is a bit rude to Robin :\

Robin x Chrissy: Didn't know this existed, hence why I don't have an opinion on it.

Robin x Vickie: It's.. ok. I'm glad they're giving Robin an actual love interest in the show. However, I'm worried Vickie won't get enough character development.

Steddie: OTP! YES I 100% SHIP IT!

Eddissy: Hate it. Doesn't help its case that it's literally a minor shipped with a legal adult :| I just saw them as besties.

Billy x Hell: I know this one is a joke (I assume) but yes.

[buckybxarnes]

I hate I hate soo much how they use Will's character

I really can't explain how much I hate that they use Will only as a prop for the other characters

I officially have lost all hope that they will give more protagonism to Will in season 5 the protagonism that he deserves

Will is the most useless character of this whole season and also of the 3rd and this makes me very angry, I know that not just because someone is your favorite character the show has to give them protagonism, I really understand it,  because sometimes it just can't happen either because of the character's history or just simply because it’s not a main character, but Will IS a main character his story carries too much weight for the duffers to ignore him the way they are doing it, that child was taken by a monster from another dimension he died in that dimension after being trapped for like a week, they rescue him ¡they revive him! and after they save him he spits out a slug that some monster put inside of him and also has this strange connection that makes him have a flashback from this giant black dust monster from another dimension aaaaand turns out that they are not flashback but are real and this monster can also see him, then this monster possesses him and leads many people to their deaths by falsely sending them to a place that is supposed to help defeat the giant monster thennn they take the monster out of him, and after all that trauma (which btw they never address it) it results that now he stays with this kind of sensor that he feels on his neck every time a monster is near which is completely useless.... .. I don't know what the duffer brothers wanted to achieve with this because until now that "sensor" or whatever it is has no use, I mean every time Will "feels" a monster close it has no use, every time that he "feels" makes no difference, it does not make the plot move, it is just confirming the obvious (like in Starcourt mall they show us that Will senses the giant monster on the roof of the mall but this is really useless because everyone else notices on their own). In season 3 Will literally could not have been in it and everything would have turned out exactly the same and now in this 4 season Will was only present to develop El’s and Mike's story, I mean almost all (and I really mean almost all) the scenes of Will this and in the 3rd season were shots of his face reacting to something and NOW they used Will's pure love to save Mike and El's relationship, I don't hate mileven I swear and this is not about byler but.... I can't understand the purpose of Will's painting if everything was going to redirect to another character, It makes me sick how they turned the whole painting thing that is supposed to be about Will's feelings into something about El and Mike, they massacred Will's whole story.

I hope Will turns evil in season 5 and kills everyone …… with the exception of Jonathan and Joyce (i'm joking but also I’m not joking)

P.S: this post probably has a lot of misspellings because I am writing this very fast and also because English is not my first language, but I hope you understood my point

[dimw1tted]

Disclaimer I don't hate mileven this is just an observation

Eleven is some what dependent on mike and her dependency is ultimately what killed max. She needs to learn to be independent. (Not blaming her btw)

In the scene where eleven was in Max's head and vecna had vines around elevens limbs eleven can't fight because she needs motivation from mike. She needs him to tell her that he loves her to give her motivation. Even after he says all of those things to her she still couldn't fight because what he was saying wasn't true and she knew that. If eleven didn't need to have mike say those things max wouldn't be dead.

I think she should break up with Mike and learn more abt her self.

Lmk if I need to clear something up

(Again I'm not blaming her for Max's death!! Im saying she needs to be independent)

[bonesgadh]

Stranger Things 4 spoilers under the cut:

I fucking knew Jamie Campbell Bower was 001 and that 001 was Vecna, not only because he is quite famous and they wouldn't bring him in for a non-important role, but because The Mind Flayer being 001 has been a pretty popular theory for years (okay, he is not The Mind Flayer, but from the moment fans saw Vecna they theorized he could be 001 as well).

I feel that you could guess most of the things that happened in the episodes if you paid close attention, which btw is not a bad thing. If you get your audience to successfully guess what is going to happen in the story it doesn't mean it was predictable, it means your story followed the most logical path. Kudos to the Duffers for resisting the temptation of SuBvErTiNg ExPeCtAtIoNs like D&D in Game of Thrones.

I felt so bad for my baby El being a victim of bullying. As someone who was bullied in school, those scenes made me wanna scream in anger.

I believe in Max, Dustin, Lucas, Steve, Robin & Nancy supremacy.

Joyce & Murray going to Russia to free Hopper was a pretty weak storyline IMO.

Vecna is such a sexy villain 👀

I can't believe the Duffers pulled a "somehow, Palpatine returned" with Brenner. They didn't even explain (at least not yet anyway) how he survived and that annoyed the fuck out of me.

Speaking of Brenner—was it just me or did at moments it seem as if they were trying to give him... some sort of... redemption arc?!

Mike, Will & Jonathan were basically glorified extras, and honestly? I didn't feel their absence at all. In fact, I was pretty shocked when my mom pointed out they were M.I.A in episode 7 and I hadn't noticed it. Don't hate me but I didn't miss them 🙈

Stancy renaissance is probably the most random thing to ever come out of Stranger Things. Tbh I don't really care because I never shipped them and I'm not a fan of Jancy either (I find Jonathan to be extremely boring).

I was legit scared Max was gonna die and I was so scared because I love Max with all my heart.

Lumax 😍

I'm Mileven trash but I found myself eagerly expecting Will to confess his feelings to Mike.

The Vecna plotline was so fucking scary but SO AWESOME AT THE SAME TIME. I was on the edge of my seat every time something happened.

The Creel flashback? Extremely well done 👌🏼

Also, the entire sequence of Vecna's introduction gave me the chills. I'm gonna have nightmares for days.

Not me thinking something was gonna happen to Steve and Nancy ending up being the one in danger.

I NEED MORE ERICA SINCLAIR.

That's pretty much it. I really liked these first 7 episodes, I feel it was really worth the wait. The episodes were longer and I'm so thankful for that, otherwise the season would have felt too crowded.

I NEED A TIME MACHINE THAT TAKES ME TO JULY 1st.

[theweirdosactingweird]

What the actual hell I haven't seen any posts like that but I can't swear Hopper would be the nicest sweetest dad for Eleven and there's NO WAY he would hate Mike. I mean PLEASE be knows what both of them have been through and he would definitely understand why they both want to see each other so much

No offense but Hopper didn’t barter with Dr Owens to let Eleven have one night out so she could go on the date with Mike she’d been looking forward to for a year for all of y'all to pretend Hopper is gonna be this super strict dad with ten billion rules and hates Mike passionately and is always doing his best to keep Mike away from El