#im honestly not sure which one is the dustin/lucas ship name

[thatskindagaytho]

dustin: happy birthday lucas! i hope this will BEE the best birthday ever

lucas,holding present at arms length: did you guys get me bees

max: of course not! i just hope this present gives you a BUZZ 

lucas, putting gift down and backing away: you got me bees

[ask-theparty]

Mod Jason: Hello! I’m creating this in the drafts so that the rest of the mods can contribute too! :D I’ll be speaking in bold when other mods might be on the same post, so that you know it’s me. Otherwise I’ll just have the thing marking me as Jason at the end!

Essentially, this post will be covering any specific details about the AU. First off, ships. Obviously this will be a Byler blog. I think we also do Elmax and Henclair? Also, I think we do either Jancy or Stoncy?

Next, on to sexuality HCs. I think that everyone in this AU will be cis, like in the show, unless any of my fellow mods have any transcanons? Essentially:

Will Byers: Gay. Unless y’all other mods subscribe to the gay/ace WIll HC, which is very pog.

Mike Wheeler: Personally, I interpret him as gay, though if the other mods want him to be bi in this AU, that’s also pog. 

Max Mayfield (god it’s been so long since I watched the show I had to google her last name): Either bi or lesbean. 

Eleven Hopper: Bi or lesbean.

Dustin Henderson: Bi/gay

Lucas Sinclair: Bi/gay

I am very indecisive except when it comes to Byler. 

We also have pining!will, oblivious!mike, and everyone else being knew.

Anything else y’all need to add?

Mod Dishtowel: Hi y’all! My deal is the same as Jason’s cept I write in italics not bold, and I’ll mark my indivual posts with Dishtowel. For the ships, I’m pretty sure we do Byler (duh), Elmax, Henclair, and maybe Stoncy if you guys want? I don’t really have too much of an opinion on the ships with the older teens. I have a hc that Max's pronouns are she/they (there’s me projecting lol) but we don’t have to do that if you guys don’t want to. 

For sexuality hc, I kinda differ from Jason. Here’s my take on it:

Will: Gay

Mike: Gay/bi (im cool either way)

Max: Lesbian

El: Bi/Lesbian (again, cool either way)

Dustin: Pan

Lucas: Bi/Gay/Pan (cool every way)

I’m honestly cool with a lot of different variants of it. This is a modern AU on account of Youtube, ya know, not being a thing in the 80s. Go ahead and add stuff if you need to my fellow mods!

Ooh, she/they Max is pog. Maybe we could also have he/they Will (watch me project) (This would be like, ‘They/them is great, but He/Him is better’ kind of he/they. Again, projection). 

Curse @thatadhdfeel for making pog one of my stimmy words. Therefore, any souls who choose to follow us (or that one person who already follows us, jfc how’d you get here so fest), I hope y’all are cool with pog, y’all, and swearing.

So fest, Jason? So FEST? (kidding)

yee yee its ya boi, finn, i will be doing small talk (get it) lol anyway i think this'll just be a byler/henclair/elmax yt au thingyyyy. i use they/them pronouns so doNT MISGENDER ME PEASANTS. *ahem* anyways here are my hcs.

will byers: homoromantic, ace, he/him

mike wheeler: bi bi bi, he/they ftm

eleven hopper: lesbean, they/them

max mayfield: i put the bi in bitch, she/her

dustin henderson: pansexual, he/they

lucas sinclair: omnisexual?, he/him

okay thats literally it lmaoo

I’m cool with pretty much all of what Finn said

Also how are you so funny?

because i am humour itself

Interesting. Jason we just need your opinion on this, I like Finn’s hcs

I personally like the HC that Mike is gay but oblivious, but I can work with bi mike. Gay ace Will, however, is superior to everything, and I adore this.

So, to conclude, the sexuality/gender hcs written in the tiny text (or small talk as Finn put it) is what’s happening in this AU. Bascially no one The Party is straight, they run a youtube channel that was originally just them playing DnD and is now a bunch of other shit alongside the DnD, Will has a huge crush on Mike and everyone knows but Mike, they have an incredible fan base which Max is very much secretly part of, and I think that’s it! Anyone wanna add anything? 

That looks good! If Finn agrees, they can post it!

[blackstarising]

stranger things 2 thoughts under the cut:

okay, this season was good, so everything after this is just going to be details but the season overall was good. any roasting is meant to be more of a light grill or even a light toast, if you will

first of all, can they just mail noah schnapp his emmy early? because that boy literally did the Most™. honestly, i don’t believe i’ve ever seen a child actor come full force the way he did. seeing will suffer onscreen was incredibly heartbreaking and noah definitely brought that depth to his role.

the soundtrack, the bush and mandale signs, the arcades, the clothing, the houses, all 80s, all wonderful.

i think the duffer brothers are trying to actually kill me bc not only do we get hopper but we got hopper in flannel doing dad thing and i am left here very thirsty and very distressed rip i brought this on myself

tbh i forgot that hopper even had a daughter until the fifth episode, because everything he was doing looked so natural

and i know there’s some Discourse brewing about jane (i’m going to call her jane consistently from now on, she deserves to be called by her real name) and hopper’s relationship, especially their fight mid-season, so i’ll throw my proverbial hat into the Discourse Ring

i’m not going to excuse hopper, actually, and i’ll even confess that as a binch with anxiety who hates yelling, i had to turn down the volume of my computer and read the subtitles at one point because it really messes with me

definitely, threatening to turn jane back over to the authorities was wrong, and a new low. but i also saw that it was very much anger born of worry. like, parents get angry, and he had a reason to, because you could see that he was watching his daughter willingly put herself in danger, and it’s not like she’s unaware of the consequences

that being said, i don’t blame jane for leaving. you could see she was starting to match the whole experience to her time in the lab with papa and the fact that she was counting the days. damn

so in the end, they both acted shitty, but they both owned up to that and apologized. and i think david and millie did a really good job in really portraying a realistic father-daughter relationship. it’s not always cute, fluffy, one-shot, material, it’s messy and screamy and painful sometimes.

but ohmygoodness their relationship hurts so good the bedtime stories the waffles the halloween candy sorry i need a mome-

max!!!!!! i!!!! love!!!!! max!!!!!! ever since i learned what internalized misogyny was, i’ve been a bit wary of tomboy characters. but max didn’t play into those stereotypes at all, which is super refreshing. she was very content to be who she was, but she didn’t need to denigrate other girls to do so!!!!!! and it’s just good!!!!!!! 

(also the fact that the boys didn’t question that max beat their high score. also good, also pure, beautiful, beautiful)

[suddenly wearing a mourning veil] okay we need to talk about bob. right now.

i was one of the people who was suspicious of him (not because of shipping reasons, but the show makes you a little on edge, you know?) so i definitely squinted at everything he did but like he was so sweet and supportive of joyce and the boys and he didn’t like overstep his bounds but the way he tried to encourage will was so sweet and and and he’s just working at radio shack and he checks in on joyce to eat lunch with her and make out in the supply closet [hyperventilates a little] and and and the slow dancing in his halloween costume and he knows BASIC [is practically sobbing at this point] and he loves the byers and he died so that they could be happy and he’s a superherO AND I WOULD DIE FOR HIM AND SEAN ASTIN HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO MEEE-

also when he’s talking about how he grew out of getting bullied and “I get to date Joyce Byers!” i get so close to tearing up every time you have no idea

i love how we get development for the rest of the party’s families, and barb’s families too. especially lucas’ sister, a gem, an icon™

and just!!!! lucas!!!!!! i really love how he’s the straight man of the group, but you can tell he’s matured over the year that’s past (also that voice drop, i see you caleb)

and lucas and max is now the only relevant ship on this show im sorry i dont make the rules

dustin is so sweet and big hearted and i really loved seeing more of his depth. tbh i may or may not have started projecting a little especially at the last ep when no one would dance with him!!!! but it’s so hard when you’re so loving and no one returns it in the way you’d want it to!!!! and the fact that he was even willing to love and protect a demon from another dimension dustin please don’t let the world rob you of your sweetness

i was crying about noah earlier but finn also basically killed it this season. you could tell that mike was Depressed with a Capital D and even though he didn’t get as much screen time as he did last season, every scene he did have was Quality,

especially the scene when he was talking about how he and will became friends and those TEARS FINN JUST DRIVE TO MY HOUSE AND STAB ME MYSELF

i really loved watching jane grow and come into her own this season! you can tell that she’s very aware of her power, but there’s that internal struggle about how to use it, which made the final battle that much more poignant.

terry’s backstory was immensely heartbreaking, i don’t have much left to say about it

i really did love kali, though! the detour from hawkins was a bit unexpected, but i love that world building aspect and im really intrigued about kali’s backstory and also her...front story? damn i hope she’s in season three because there’s so much more tea left.

and like....what about 1-7, 9, 10? are they still alive [insert eyes emoji here]

i’m going to be Agressively Heterosexual and agree that billy is pretty™ but at the same time i’m super worried that he’s going to be woobified because he is abusive, and i’m 95% sure he’s racist. so yeah i really hope that doesn’t happen but it probably will [sips wine tiredly]

STEVEN, MY MANS. the development that started last season really paid off here! tbh even i felt hurt when he asked nancy “you don’t love me?” like this binch has got feelings! and he’s not perfect but he’s a lot more genuine than i gave him credit for and the fact that he babysits kids and calls them shitheads but also lets himself get his ass beat for them. oh steve, keep growing but never change.

okay, nitpick and potential unpopular opinion, but i kind of hated the jancy development in this season

because there really wasn’t any, i don’t know, and this is really shitty of me for all my campaigning last year, but it just felt very cheap and superficial

like nancy and steve break up very early in the season, conveniently

and then when they’re at conspiracy guy’s house it just felt too explicit, too heavy handed and cliche, like Conspiracy Guy is basically spelling out their relationship to the audience

and then they do the thing where they just....have sex, and maybe it’s because i’m wearing my grey-ace hat, but like, honestly, two characters having sex doesn’t mean shit, anymore, okay?

its mostly because of hookup culture imo

so jonathan and nancy have sex, but there’s no confession of feelings or anything, so it just feels like a cheap way to show the audience THEY’RE TOGETHER NOW ARE YOU HAPPY

and then they don’t really interact as much in that context for the rest of the season, so it’s left kind of ambiguous

and i understand that it’s a 9 episode season and this is more of a C plot, but i think i would have rather had a slow burn throughout the 9 episodes [cough] like last season [cough] with a more affectionate moment at the end than just break up, nancy’s free, SEX, done

it’s not a very emotionally gratifying narrative as it is

second nitpick: tbh the final battle of this season felt a little too note for note to the final battle of the first season, and it felt repetitive at times, so i admit i kind of lost interest in the middle of episode 9

i really thought the “watering the story down” to get JusticeForBarb™ was really clever 

and just....joyce. i’ll never get over joyce. i have no complaints, she’s a mom who punches back and she’s tenacious and good hearted and amazing and she raised two amazing boys 

i don’t know i need a nap