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runninguplenorahills · 2 years

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Mike not understanding that Will was talking about himself in the van scene is actually an impossible scenario because the concept on it’s own doesn’t make any sense for those two characters!!!

We know from season 2 that Mike immediately picks up on changes in Will’s behavior even when they’re really minor! Will is being quiet and while others brush it off as Will always being quiet, Mike recognizes the difference between Will’s usual quiet and his unusual quiet and he also picks up on every single one of his expressions at rink-o-mania in s4! Mike is observant of Will’s demeanor, he knows when it differs from how Will usually behaves and he is able to recognize his emotions! Will has also never lied to Mike before and so I doubt he could pull it off unnoticed! Mike is incredibly good at reading Will and together with the fact that he also knows El’s side of it all, there isn’t a single chance that Mike did not realize that Will was talking about himself in the van scene!!

And the whole van scene also makes so much more sense if you look at it from the perspective that Mike understood that Will was talking about himself:

1: Mike’s expression falls when Will says that El commissioned the painting

-> Some people say that Mike’s expression falls because he would’ve liked it better if the painting really came from Will but I don’t think that’s the truth. I think his expression falls because it immediately doesn’t make sense to him that El commissioned the painting!! He’s confused by that statement right away because Mike knows that El isn’t interested in his nerdy side!! Mike just expressed his insecurities about El always dismissing his nerdy interests [one day she’s gonna find out that I’m just some random nerd…] so why would he all of a sudden believe Will that El asked him to make a painting about dnd of all things??? Right, he wouldn’t! Mike is confused as to why Will claims that the painting is from El even though it’s painfully clear that it isn’t. So he waits for where Will is going with the conversation to make more sense of it.

2: Mike’s facial expressions throughout the whole scene

-> He looks so tender and in love and he hangs on every word Will says! He looks at Will when Will isn’t looking, he has little sparkly tears in his eyes and he’s genuinely and gently smiling. There’s so much gulping and staring and it’s just all so tender and intimate. And the intimacy was obviously between Mike and Will!! This was not about El! We as an audience know that and Mike knows that too! It wasn’t about El for him either! Mike contributed a lot to the intimacy between him and Will in this scene so this clearly was about Will for Mike! He just simply wouldn’t have been so involved and mesmerized if he thought Will was really talking about someone else. Someone who isn’t even present. And they simply wouldn’t have created such an intimate atmosphere around these two characters in this scene if this wasn’t strictly about the two of them, for both of them!

3: Mike asking for confirmation

-> Mike asks Will for confirmation: “yeah?” But when Will had told him earlier that “of course she’ll always need you, Mike.” He said “I keep telling that to myself but… I don’t believe it.” Meaning that Mike literally doesn’t believe that El needs him and why would that just suddenly change in the span of like 5 minutes? Why would Mike all of a sudden believe every word Will says about El after he just dismissed Will’s statement that El needs him?? It just doesn’t make sense. And that’s because Mike doesn’t ask Will for confirmation that this is really how El feels, Mike asks Will for confirmation that this is really how he feels. And when Will says “yes” that’s a moment of genuine happiness for Mike.

4: Why Mike didn’t comfort Will

-> @willthecleric has suggested before that Mike’s misunderstanding in this scene wasn’t about him not understanding that Will was talking about himself. It was about Mike not understanding why Will used El as a cover up!!! Mike essentially misunderstood Will’s intentions. Will was using El’s name because he recognized that what he felt for Mike was what Mike needed to hear, but he thought that it wouldn’t mean anything to Mike if it came from him! He pushed Mike closer to El. Him using El’s name was an attempt to “rip off the band aid” but Mike didn’t understand that!! For Will the van scene was the death of any chances for him and Mike, but for Mike it was the confirmation that they have a chance together! And so as @/willthecleric also pointed out, Mike thought Will was using a cover up because they weren’t alone! There were more people in the van than just the two of them so Mike thought Will was just being cautious! Will used a safe way to confess his love to Mike! Of course Mike realized that Will cried! Mike looked back at Will because he wanted to comfort him! But as he thought Will’s major priority was to be cautious, Mike was being cautious too and didn’t initiate any physical contact to not expose themselves.

The reunion scene with El also starts to make more sense now:

1: No kiss

-> The reunion was the first time Mike and El saw each other again after the van scene, so if Mike actually believed that Will was talking about El, which gave him the biggest confidence boost for his relationship…..don’t you think he would’ve kissed her upon reuniting? Don’t you think the reunion would’ve had more of a romantic undertone? Don’t you think that Mike would’ve told El right on the spot that he loves her so much and is happy that she’s safe again? I mean, it would’ve been the perfect thing to do in that emotional moment! But he didn’t. Mike didn’t kiss her or told her that he loves her. There were no romantic undertones whatsoever and the scene was more platonic: Mike rushes towards El-El is happy that he’s there-he tells her that he’s really here-they touch foreheads. It’s pretty obviously paralleled to El’s reunion with Hopper so it’s all strictly platonic behavior. This scene was Mike and El reuniting as friends! Because that’s what El has always been to him, a friend! And after the van scene Mike realizes that he doesn’t have to act like he’s in love with El. He can be happy without pretending to be straight and so he’s not pretending anymore!

2: the focus

-> If the van scene had actually pushed Mike and El closer together romantically, the focus of the reunion certainly would’ve been on them! But it wasn’t! The focus of the reunion was clearly on El and Will! They prioritized the familial connection in this scene which was used as a contrast to El and Brenner! Brenner told El that she’s his family but then there is Will [and Jonathan] who is shown to actually be El’s family!!! A part of the reunion was to show that Brenner was being manipulative by telling El that she’s his family because we clearly see those people who went above and beyond to get El safe! That’s her true family! And Mike is included in that!!

The talk at surfer boy pizza:

-> Neither El nor Mike have been initiating anything romantic because Mike knows now that he doesn’t need to anymore and El knows she doesn’t want to anymore. They just need to tell each other that. And that’s what both of them were about to do at surfer boy pizza since that was the first time they were alone since the reunion [and the van scene]. Will’s confession of love gave Mike the courage to finally approach the breakup with El. Unfortunately Argyle interrupts Mike and El before they can break up with each other and the story takes a turn.

The monologue:

-> El is fighting for her life and needs encouragement though Mike is totally overwhelmed. He doesn’t know that El doesn’t love him romantically either so since he wasn’t able to break up with her beforehand he thinks El needs the encouragement a boyfriend would give her! But he can’t. He doesn’t want to lie to her and that’s why he struggles to start talking. But then Will encourages him…..and from then on everything goes down hill! Will references their talk in the van: “Mike! Don’t stop, you’re the heart! Remember that! You’re the heart!“ and “you’re the heart” was the crucial part and core of it all! It all lead back to Will thinking Mike is the heart but now Will tells Mike to encourage El because he’s the heart to her. And all of a sudden the whole world comes crashing down on Mike because he “realizes” that he has totally misunderstood Will in the van. But instead of actually realizing Will’s true intention behind using El as a cover up, Mike thinks Will was actually genuinely talking about El! Mike “realizes” that for Will it was all about El and not about himself at all. And so Mike forces himself back into pretending. It doesn’t work as well as before though because having had a glimpse of what could’ve been impedes his ability to mask all of his emotions. Will’s selflessness broke Mike’s heart and Mike’s monologue broke Will’s. The monologue was a step in the wrong direction.

What becomes of the painting?

-> Well, it all gets a little complicated. At first Mike understood that the only lie was Will saying that it all comes from El. So Mike knew it’s how Will feels and that he loves him. But then Will pushed him to tell El that he loves her and now Mike is distraught. So now from Mike’s perspective Will didn’t lie at all because Will said it was how El feels and that’s the truth. So that’s our standpoint at the end of s4. But when Mike talks with El and breaks up with her in s5, he’ll realize that it’s not actually what El feels, but he’s is too distraught too let himself think again that it is what Will feels, so Mike will think that Will lied about everything! And so I honestly believe that the thing that will hurt Mike the most when the lie about the painting comes out, is that Will had no other choice but to lie to comfort him, because there isn’t a real life example of someone who actually needs him… because nobody does.

The whole conflict with the painting essentially feeds into Mike’s fear of being himself but also into his insecurity of being useless/worthless which makes Mike an incredibly easy target for Vecna….

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