#just noticed the ref in dustin's room so had to mention it.

[kaypeace21]

Dustin s2 easter egg- verifying Mileven isn’t in love :)

* (From s2) notice in dustin’s room he-man & Et next to each other (along with a ghost buster sign above them, and the ghostbusters-trap next to et). I’ve already talked about this in past posts to death. But this really just reinforces the mileven eastereggs I’ve already talked about -  and how they want you to make the connections  about mileven not being in love. They showed et next to he-man, so the next he-man ref would connect in a more obvious way to mileven.  Same with Et next to the ghost trap. In s1 el even watched he-man

-Erica in s2 makes he-man and barbie kiss: “Hey , They’re in love!”Lucas (livid- and standing right next to a rainbow forcing them apart): “No, actually,  they’re not. they’re not even from the same planet.”  Cue El and mike being compared to ET and Eliot -WHO AREN’T FROM THE SAME PLANET (by the Duffers in multiple interviews and in the pilot script-pic below ) .And Mike when dustin says El is like “a wizard” (like Will) Mike corrects Dustin and says “more like yoda” (another alien from a diff planet than Mike). Then there’s the  old euphemism of “girls come from Venus, and boys come from Mars”. So El telling mike he should ‘stick with his own species’ (aka boys). And the Duffers saying mileven isn’t in love cause they’re not from the same planet (aka the same gender) -is just them telling us Mike is gay so he can’t fall for El-who is a girl/diff species. They literally have Will say to Mike “welcome to my world” as a contrast. 

 The El/et refs are everywhere: the bike-scene, eggos vs reeses pieces, etc. The Duffers even discussed how they did the s1 makeover &  had  el dress like a ghost cause et did so in the movie - and then for the extra burn they made mike a ghost hunter/buster. 

- In contrast, They have Mike and Will parallel  Diane and Venkman. In ghost Busters, Mike -is Venkman- and Will -is Dana Barret- who Venkman flirts with shamelessly until she is possessed. Dana finds a demon-dog in her fridge, and hires the ghost busters. And right before Venkman goes on a date with her she is possessed by the big-bad, Zuul, and is transformed into the gate-keeper (who controls demo(n)-dogs). Venkman proceeded to try to talk to the real Dana , ignoring her possessed form and eventually realizes how serious her condition is, is forced to sedate her. Eventually with the help of his team, Venkman closes the gate to Zuul’s dimension, rescuing Dana in the process. And Venkman plants one on Dana before riding away in triumph. While, El is a ghost and Mike is a ghost hunter XD

-also el watching he-man and the romantic pairings being dissed. Is like how el watches all my children and pretends to be with Mike roy- and that pairing wasn't endgame either.

so yes... the Duffers set up that eateregg to show there mileven disses in full display. They’re so petty , I love them XD

*it’s unrelated but it’s like the s2 star wars ref also dissing mileven (they do it a lot).Mike in s1 writes a d&d story for Will inspired by star wars.  in ep one Will tells Mike “it was a 7, the demogorgan it got me.”At the end of the season Mike writes a whole story of him and his friends killing a 7 headed monster, and showing the decapitated head of the monster to king Tristan (Will). Similar to how at the hospital he tells Will to not worry cause “it’s dead now”. This is right after Will rolls a 14 (cause Mike and Will are 7s together). And Mike who is a fan of starwars has King Tristan give them medals after killing the monster. Cause he wants Will/king tristan (instead of Leia -a girl) to present him with medals and be his romantic love interest (and praise him for being a hero). Meanwhile- in s2 mileven is compared to luke/leia (the ‘trap’ ref). 2 characters who kissed before realizing they’re siblings . s1:  “will be like my brother?” /  “you can’t go with your sister (to the snowball) I mean you can but it’d be really weird.” *kisses her*. 

* the duffers in the youtube vid ‘Every Major Stranger Things Movie Reference Explained By the Duffer Brothers | WIRED’ explicitly stated in s2 El was ‘luke’ (pulling the train like Luke pulled the ship) along with how they wanted to dress her up as a ghost in s2 and in the dress /wig to call back to her being Et. It’s a good watch. I’d recommend checking it out.

[roninishere]

Frantic || one ||

(Gif is not mine)

WARNINGS: language, mentions of sexual content/ abuse, daddy issues, my horrible spelling/ grammer and word count being 4,341.

 Frantic 

||

    "Henderson and Connors to the mat!" The Wrestling coach blew the whistle motioning his hands for both wrestlers to step up onto the mats. Feeling the pairs of hitting hit the mat, the coach looked at his left at the tall lanky boy who bad this cocky grin on his lips at his opponent "I'm ready, are you ready sweetheart? Do you need to fix your hair?"

    Looking at his right, an unexpected wrestler gave him a nod before releasing a snarky comment "Oh, I was born ready, do you need a moment to find your balls? I'll wait."

    That one got all of teenagers in the stands snickering at such a silly comment. The parents either turned around or went out of their way to sending a judgement glare to Ms. Henderson who have the biggest smile on her face.

    "Oh come on, runs his mouth and she's about to shut him up. Just watch, you'll miss the show." Steve Harrington defended Raven Henderson, not understanding how this parents could be okay with such unnecessary misogynist comments, but she can't fire back with equal downgrading words without apparently putting the Henderson name under fire.

    Speaking of the Henderson's name, her eyes ghosted over the crowd catching the row of people that mattered, almost all but one. Mr. Henderson, no show again. That familiar burning fire inside flared up. Circling the male across from her, she kept her hands up open handed as she chewed gently on her mouth guard. He was already beat, she just wanted to play with her prey a bit. Deep breaths escaped her lips as she blinked quickly seeing if she was right about him making the first move.

    His mistake that he did; coming at her to take her down, she side stepped locking her arms from behind him and taking him to the mat appropriately, stomach first only to be met by an illegal elbow to her face breaking something.

    "Come on Ref! That's an illegal move!" Dustin yelled out knowing the ref wouldn't hear, but anger rose seeing the blood gushing out of his sisters nose.

     Max squeezed Lucas hand tightly worried when she saw Raven's broken nose knowing it wouldn't be called "he's not going to call it."

    The lanky boy got up throwing his hands up pre-celebrating like an idiot as the teenage girl sucked in a deep breath fighting against the throbbing pain on her face. "That's right! All about me!" Running his mouth more, she regained her bearings and rolled him up on the mat for enough time for her to pick up the victory.

   "Yeah! Take that you jackas-" Dustin was cut off when Steve placed his hand over his mouth, so no one would further scold the young boy and single mother.

   Rolling back onto her knees, she pushed herself up on her feet when the referee raised her arm high in the air as her other hand covered her nose. grasping the red liquid pouring into her hand. As she had her moment, she offered her hand to the lanky boy in sportsmanship, which was denied when he smacked her hand away "Don't fucking touch me bitch."

   "Come on man, you broke my nose. Just fucking shake my hand, and let's end this shit." Sticking her hand out, she sighed when he rejected it and bumped her shoulder hard being very immature.

   This wasn't the first time.

   Rolling her eyes, she grabbed a towel wiping away the blood that was unfortunately all over her.

   "You did so great honey, especially with holding back at the end. I'm proud of you, now, let me see your nose." The party along with with Steve formed a semi-circle around the girl who slowly dropped the towel from her face to reveal her nose nearly on the other side of her face; red, swollen, and obviously broken.

   Her little brothers face said it all; a bit of anger, disgust, but at the end, he lightly punched her arm "Hey, look at the bright side, you took it like a Champ and kicked his ass."

   "Yeah! Loved the joke in the beginning." Max input giving her friend a high-five as Lucas, Will, and Mike talked amongst themselves about the match.

   Jane, who was still quiet when it didn't come to just the Party, she was one of few words "You did good,"

   "Thank you Jane, thanks guys for coming," Feeling a familiar as in late unease nauseous feeling, she needed some air "I'm gunna go get changed and see the trainer real quick and we could take off to the Arcade?"

   Getting a whole lot of woos and 'heck/hell yeahs' she excused herself to quickly get ready.

  "We'll be in the parking lot by your car." Steve called getting a thumbs up.

||

   "It's definitely broken, I can break it back, put tape on it and give you some medicine?" Trainer asked stepping back grabbing some gloves awaiting her answer. Might as well get it back in place, she didn't want to deal with having to get surgery the longer she waited.

   "Break it back Doc." Her hands curled tightly on the sides of the table preparing herself listening to his count down. The snap back noise made her tear up and curse out loud, just relieved that was over. Tossing those painkillers in her mouth, she winced at pain when he applied the white strip tape on her nose with a satisfied hum at his end result.

   Tossing the gloves away, he leaned back on the counter "Good to go kid. If I starts hurting again, go ahead and go to the emergency room."

   "Alright, thanks doc." Her feet silver ankle boots clicked at the contact with the ground lifting her weight up carrying her to the parking out where her eyes quickly were captured by the many younger children and one seventeen year old.

   They all crowded around her jet black 1963 Corvette Stingray, excitement of their adventure to the arcade was echoed throughout the now pretty empty parking lot. Zipping up her black leather jacket over her Metallica t-shirt, her head perked up hearing an engine roar, shortly followed by a yell "Let's go shit bird!"

  "Let me talk to him Max," Raven walked past the group heading directly towards the blue camaro giving the teenage boy with the blonde mullet a wave. Reaching the passenger side of the car, she leaned her elbows on door sticking her head slightly inside the camaro "Billy."

  With a stick of cancer in his mouth, he turned towards her taking it out of his mouth blowing that smoke in her direction, practically in her face as that familiar nauseous feeling in her stomach causing her to turn away for a second with a cringe face. "Raven. Taking the little shitheads to the arcade again?"

  He noted her turn away narrowing his eyes as she slowly turned back nodding "That's the plan, mind if I keep Max? I'll drop her off after."

   "Keep the shitbird, she's a pain in my ass," His dreamy eyes were blocked off by his aviators "The fuck happened to your nose? I told you not to get in fights, going to ruin that pretty face."

   Letting out a snort she chuckled "Billy Hargrove concerned about someone other than himself? What about your reputation?" She said sarcastically getting a 'fuck you' from him "You already did sweetheart, nice to know you have a little bit of heart."

   "You're an asshole. Bringing the shitbird home by 8, yeah? And tell Harrington to not talk to her."

   The ongoing mystery between Steve Harrington and Billy Hargrove.

   "You know I don't know what kind of pissing contest you two are in, but you're invited to join us. Steve isn't as bad as you think," She offered adding a twist at the end "and I could help you with homework, come on."

   The offer was very tempting, he could keep an eye on Harrington and Lucas, especially Lucas, make her doesn't try anything with his step-sister. However; he couldn't stand being around the arcade, fucking nerds and losers. Fucking some Hawkins girl sounded better "Thanks doll, but I gotta screw some whore tonight. Besides, I'm not into that video game shit like you guys."

   "and he's back. Nice talk Billy see ya a-" Their conversation was cut off by a group of strangers, specifically four girls with two boys her same age group. "Hey bitch!"

   Letting out a soft groan, she glanced up at Billy with a grin "Please excuse me for second," She pushed herself up, standing up straight noticing the tall lanky boy she beat in the back of the group "Can I help you guys? You lost?'

   "So she does have a mouth on her, or he. Wait, I'm sorry are you a girl or a boy? I can't tell." The blonde tall girl in the front joked laughing with the others girls.

   Raven laughed along, fake loud laugh making the group stop before she put her poker face on "I'm a woman thank you very much. We done here?"

   "Whoa, are those your friends?" She pointed at the Party and Steve "just a bunch of boys? Wait what's with girls looking like boys? Oh and there's a ginger! Aren't you guys nearly extinct?" That comment caught Billy's attention, flicking his cigarette outside the window about to get out of his car when Raven put her hand up for him to stop. "and what's up with you two freaks?"

    Once they motioned towards Jane and Dustin, her hands balled up into fists pushing the blonde girl hard to where she fell on her ass "Take it back you blonde bimbo, or you're going to get a proper Hawkins welcome." Once silence filled the parking lot, Raven turned around to leave when she was shoved in the back snapping her resistance in half. She quickly turned around and her fist connected with the girls chin. The blonde hit the ground hard creating a lot of vulgar language around.

   "Dumb bitch." Billy couldn't help laugh seeing the blonde on the ground trying regain herself.

   Raven brushed back her short brown curly locks out of her face, and sighed softly helping the blonde up to her feet "How many fingers am I holding up?" hearing an answer of three fingers, Raven confirmed "You'll be fine, now, apologize." As a lot of sorry's left her mouth, Raven gave her back to the group crossing her arms in front of her chest "Get the fuck out of here."

   "Damn, what the heck has gotten into your sister?" Mike whispered to Dustin how struggled "I have no idea, but it's bad ass."

   Turning around, she felt an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, leading her to bend over nearly blowing chucks. "You alright Raven?"

   "I'm good, I'm starving. Let's get going." Going back to Billy's camaro, she rubbed out her throbbing pain knuckles "8?"

   Giving her a nod, "8, no later Doll," when she said bye and turned to leave, he called her "Hey! Nice right hook."

   "Bye Billy!" She walked towards her car, hips moving back and forth. With how tight they were now, she pulled them up not realizing how much it hugged her hips and ass.

   Billy whistled in her direction caught a glare from her "Damn, nice ass Henderson!"

   His grin grew when she flipped him off entering her car roaring her engine speeding off.

||

   "What are you doing champ?" Steve took a break from getting his ass kicked by preteens to join Raven at the booth, how was finishing up math homework.

   Peeling her eyes from the book, she showed him "Finally doing homework, and waiting for some food. I'm so hungry." She pouted as her Stomach was eating itself.

   "Again? Wait you've had to fast," He sat down before clearing his throat "so about what's happened lately, does it have to do with your dad hasn't come around?"

   Raven and Steve have been best friends since preschool, nothing more, and so they would notice a difference or attitude change, they called it out. Her mood swings have been all over the place, she could be home alone cooking happily. and then the next moment be crying uncontrollably.

   Mr. Henderson hasn't come around since 'Wills' funeral, not even Dustin's birthday party, or any of her wrestling matches. It angered her, a lot. How could you not show up for your children? Plus, from the looks of it, he wasn't going to show up for Thanksgiving, so what says he will for Christmas?

   Since her parents divorced, it impacted her, much more than Dustin; who had distractions with his friends which made it easier, it just made her more living when his face falls of disappointed when their mother informs them that dad isn't coming. She started to act out, be out all night, parties, getting into fights, big mouth to everyone with the exception of people she cares about.

   "He promised he would be there, and no show. I don't even how why I even try anymore. He cares more about the whore he's marrying than his own kids, than Dustin. He deserves better than a father who doesn't care." Closing her math book with her paper keeping it bookmarked.

   Daddy issues. Only really the whole town knows about it, it was a small town and news got around whether you wanted it too or not.

   "You know you don't need him there, you could do anything you want without him. It's his loss, we'll all be here. Family isn't always blood."

   This is popular douche Steve Harrington? "Motivation speech, gunna run for president?"

   "Maybe." He smiled as they continued small talk such as school, plans after high school, and upcoming party they should attend. Raven Henderson felt comfortable here, more than her own home, no petty drama, just a bunch of kids playing arcade games, and the nerdy talk during pizza that she could keep up with.

   The party, she loved the days that they would dress her up as a monster when younger and have her chase after them. Now, she has to explain to Steve what they're talking about.

   Glancing at the clock on the wall, it read 7:34 making her gathering everyone up. "Alright children, time to go, Steve; can you take Dustin, Will, and Mike home? I'll take Jane, Lucas, and Max."

   "Yes ma'am, see you tomorrow in Chem?"

   She followed behind the kids unlocking her car "See you in Chem!"

   Dropping off Jane first, she headed to Lucas's house allowing the little cute lovebirds small conversation in the backseat as Raven had Metallica playing loud enough where she wouldn't be ease-dropping. Feeling a little little headed, the window rolled down, her left arm hung out enjoying the cold breeze hit her face.

   "Bye Max, thanks for the ride Raven!" Waving off, Max crawled in the front seat buckling her seat belt with fifteen minutes until her curfew.

   As they sat at the red light, the seventeen year old started a discussion "How are things at home? Things getting better?"

   "A little, Billy's still an asshole, not so angry anymore. Neil is Neil, he makes it hard to want to be home." And here Raven was being a little baby about her family, Max's sounded so dysfunctional.

   Drive down the road, she had to ask "Neil hasn't hit.." Glancing over at Max, who shook her head quickly.

   "No, just Billy." Moving her eyes back on the road, she knew about Neil hitting Billy. It was pretty obvious; you're not an asshole without some reason even though some of the shit he's done is non-excusable, but it didn't take long for her connect the dots when he would come to school with bruises.

   Billy and Raven were friends, I guess you could say. They met when Billy was dropped off Max at the arcade and Raven waved at Max making Billy question Max. Introducing them, Raven knew Billy was trouble. Blonde mullet, dreamy fucking blue eyes, sexy as hell, and would be rounding up every girl at Hawkins in bed.

   Even her, hey, all it took was alcohol and dirty dancing for them to end up in a room in someone elses house to hook up. Instead of things being awkward and pretend to be strangers, they get along and even though she isn't him his circle of friends, there was something about her he liked. Maybe it had something to do with her consistency of getting in fights or smartass comments. Basically no fucks given.

   "Okay kiddo, tell your parents and Billy I said hello, and let me know if you need anything. I'll be here in a heartbeat."

   Giving her a side hug, she waited for Max to enter the home and drove off fast down the road going home.

||

   With Friday being her favorite day of the week, especially of gym class, Raven pulled down her shorts to cover her butt as she had a feeling of excitement run through her as their basketball game started. Both boys and girls gym class filled the gym with their separate basketball games; boys on break about to start the second game. The girls would have been two if the little girls weren't so busy putting on makeup and taking their slow ass time getting changed.

   "Bet boys?" Tommy bet as some of the popular pretty boys gathered around, their eyes glued on the girl.

   Billy sucked down some water as he followed their eyes. Raven wasn't your topical 1984 teenager; her heights stood at five foot seven, her eyes differentiated from multiple colors, that days held bright blue focused on the ball. Her curly dark brown hair fell about a couple inches above her shoulders hugging her strong wield chin that immediately identify she has a muscular features, and if you didn't notice that, it was her shoulders. In anything and everything she wore, her big wide built shoulders were scary for people around her. Made her look like a linebacker. Her arms were obviously bigger than the girls at Hawkins, even without flexing.

   Her near perfect posture popped out her average rack and show off her exposed abs that was incredible, she had her own six-pack! The school didn't have the size of girls shorts that could keep in her bubble butt and thighs without it tightly hugging them causing her to fumble with them constantly.

   "I'll take you up on that, ten bucks Raven destroys Molly." Making it official, Billy shouted "Don't mess up Henderson! I bet on you!"

   Shaking her head, she flashed her bright wide smile at him before the whistle blew, she awaiting for the offense to get on her side of the court. Once Carol came across her side, Raven stole the ball racing down the court with appropriate ball bounces with Molly now in her way. Faking that she was headed to the left, Raven bounced out to the right juking Molly who nearly broke her ankles as Raven easily jumped up and tossing it in with her fingertips brushing against the rim.

   "Pay up."

   Coming down on her feet, that stupid nauseous feeling came back, but stronger than ever making Raven to excuse herself quickly leaving the gym immediately rushing the nearest trashcan throwing up her breakfast. Again.

   Leaning her hip against the wall as her legs were weak, she wiped her mouth feeling light headed before it came back up.

   Excused to use the 'restroom', Billy eyes widened seeing the short haired girl hunched over the trashcan puking her, from the sounds of it, her guts out. He cursed at the smell as he approached her pinching his nose "Gross Henderson. This is why you bolt in gym?"

   Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she used the wall as support mumbling "yeah." When she took deep breaths searching for any students in the hallways, he noticed the tears of pain building up knowing something was really wrong.

   "You alright? You've been throwing up a lot lately. You dying Doll?"

   Leaning her head back on the wall, she shrugged as she also made the note that she's gain weight too. Thirty seconds passed before a light bulb went off in her head, freaking out when her eyes were on Billy's face and then glanced down at her stomach.

   About to open her mouth to explain, she heard laughter close and quickly pulled Billy into the boys restroom quickly checking if anyone was in there leaving Billy confused yet turned on, on her aggressiveness "In here Doll? You're so not what I thought you were."

   "No, we're not having sex Billy. I just can't say this with people around; and don't freak out, but I thought I'm pregnant."

   Wait, this is a sick joke right? "You're what?"

   "Billy, I think I'm pregnant. Think about it, I've been throwing up a lot in the last month, I barely fit in my clothes, my emotions are everywhere. I mean there's no other explanation right?" Her hands flew up running through her hair as she was freaking out more. She felt like she couldn't breathe. "I can't believe this is happening. I think I'm gunna be sick."

   Billy stood there shocked, processing all of this still watching her freak out more. Stressing out. A cigarette and bottle of any alcohol sounded great right now, but if she was.... This isn't just on her, takes two to make a baby, and he could hardly remember that night that's why he felt his stomach drop not remembering if they had or hadn't used protection.

   Snapping out of it, he watched her freak out before blurting out "Stop freaking out!Just breathe! Jesus Christ."

   Doing what she was told, taking deep breaths gathering her thoughts together, she had to be sure "Meet me at my house after you drop off Max?"

   "S-sure," He stuttered before his eyes casted over her as she began to peek out of the restroom for the coast cleared signalling him to follow her as she entered the hallway to head back to class.

   Keeping silent, he followed and stopped when she told him to "Wait a bit, and then come to class. See you later."

   "Raven!" He grabbed her arm spinning her around to face him before allowing his arm to drop to his side with awkward silence "Don't tell anyone about this?" He asked, if his father finds out, he's so dead.

   Yeah. She wasn't ready for that heat yet always. "Of course. Bye Billy."

||

   It's safe to say that neither teenager could concrete for the rest of the day, not understanding why they both didn't ditch. Billy had no smart ass comments for Max when he picked her up, but Metallica was blasting through not caring if he damaged his hearing.

   Raven fled off after the bell for the store, and found herself bumping into Joyce Byers "I'm so sorry Joyce, I'm all over the place and wasn't paying attention."

   "Don't worry about it, is everything okay? Do you need help with something?" Joyce was the only cashier at the moment, Raven would have to check out with her and seriously needed to help because she had no idea what the hell to do.

   Use your words, she told herself "I-I'm late Joyce."

   It immediately clicked for the mother of two, who quickly looked around the store to see if anyone was around, happy no one was yet with school out, she grabbed Raven's hand and brought her to the pregnancy tests getting her the best and accurate brands and checked her out before anyone familiar of the two caught them.

   "Here, directions on the back, take all of them in case, and if you need anything let me know okay sweetie? Good luck!"

   Rushing immediately home, she parked in the driveway running upstairs to her room, followed the directions, laying out all of the tests out on her bathroom counter, and paced waiting for that knock at the door.

   So when she finally heard the knock at the door, it was him. Running downstairs, she opened the door allowing him to enter. No eye contact, and no talking. He just silently went upstairs with her closing the door behind them. Taking a seat on the edge of her bed, his hands grew sweaty and his throat swelled up not able to talk.

   "Two minutes left, do you want to? Or me to?" When he didn't move a muscle, she took charged and when their two minutes were up, she slowly walked to the restroom her own hands sweaty as the results were in her sight. This was it, a moment that could forever define her for the rest of her life. Life changing moment here. Raven felt as her heart was going to beat straight out of her chest, she couldn't hear the sound of the birds anymore, or the sound of cars driving past her house. Just the sound of her speed heart rate. Seeing the tip of them blue, she bit her trembling lower lip slowly turning towards Billy "I'm so sorry Billy." Tears built up to the rim of her eyes, but she never allowed them to fall.

  She was going to be a mother, just as he's going to be a father.

  But what? Him? Her? A baby? They weren't even married or fucking together.

  "Billy?"

   His hand gripped his thighs tightly as everything was racing in his head. Once he heard her call his name, reality hit him back in the chest as he couldn't bring himself to look at the girl who equally screwed with him. Not wanting to deal with any of this, he shook his head shooting up to his feet unable to hear her pleads rushing out of the room.

   "I gotta go." So he left, leaving the soon to be mother alone, completely unsure of what to do next with this news.

||

|| two ||

Alright, here’s part one/ chapter one. I hope you guys like it, sorry if it sucks. Daisy Ridley is the faceclaim of Raven Henderson if you haven’t already noticed :) 

Love ya!

-Cammy

Tagline: @50-shades-of-boredom

[kaypeace21]

Crash-course for all the evidence of Will creating the mindflayer/upsidedown

* Honestly I’ve talked about this stuff in my did theories- where I explained how the upsidedown/mf/ the lab subjects/ and russians all connect back to Will creating them. But since so may people assume that Will got his powers from the upsidedown/mf rather than Will creating it all subconsciously (with his powers). Thought i’d do a short analysis of just that connection (without boggling it down with those other plot lines that are interconnected) . *So I’m not mentioning the lights -because it interconnects with the numbers/lab.I’m just going to list every example in short succession from every season for brevity’s sake (so it won’t be structured as eloquently as prior analyses). 

refresher of how Will influences the mf/upsidedown ...

S1) 

Will ( in s1e1) says to Dustin if he could have any comic it would be the xmen. Dustin later  says "do you think - el was born with her powers like the xmen? " Will plays a d&d game saying the demogorgan got him -so it does irl. Will writes stories where bad guys weakness are fire so the mf/ demogorgans are lit on fire in s1-3 (and it's their weakness). Will watches poltergeist so Will is forced to be the child character in that film- who was trapped in a alternative dimension and could only speak to their mother through tech. The demogrgan is said to resemble a shark by nancy-mathcing Will’s Jaws movie poster in his room. in s1 Mr clarke describes the vale of shadows (later the upsidedown) as being created by “necrotic” (’dead’-zombie boy) and “shadow” (shadow monster/mf) “magic”. In d&d the Vale of Shadows, is  as a lush valley hidden in the mountains that holds a sacred pool with the power to make dreams reality. In d&d the demogorgan is literally called the "deep father" in d&d Nancy also says the demogorgan is like a “lion” the meaning of the name Lonnie- is literally “lion”. We see it attack Will when using lonnie's gun (in lonnie's shed). And it knocks the bat out of Jonathan's hand too. (Baseball/hunting were taught by their dad lonnie). The demogorgan also hurts a deer- mirroring Jonathan's story about how Lonnie forced him to kill a rabbit and how this upset him as he was a fan of the rabbit character from the film bambi.. El when she first sees the demogorgan also sees it eating it’s own eggs-aka symbolically the father hurting his own children.  Will's password for cb is rhadagast a wizard who protects Wildlife (the opposite of Hunter-lonnie/the demogorgan). 

Duffers cited as inspo the silent hill videogames): And in s1 Hopper named dropped the character Alessa’s last name. “The bad guys faked Alessa’s death. Kaufmann prepared a substitute body of alessa;  and performed the fake autopsy (like Will) . Alessa had precognition (future/intuition-like will the wise is said to have in s3) and pyrokinesis (firepowers mentioned  Will the wise has in s1).  Alessa’s latent psychic abilities are triggered and she shrouds Silent Hill in fog and an altered reality to prevent her ab*sive parent’s schemes from advancing. Many of the drastic changes that befall the town in the game, such as the horrific creatures that come to inhabit it, are conjured from her imagination and delusions. “ 

Will also says in s1ep1 he wants xmen 134-about the dark phoenix saga. ‘dark phoenix’  - has pyrokinesis ( fire powers-like Will the wise). And the dark phoenix also  “was able to warp reality on a universal scale”. One of the phoenix’s host was even the god Thor (god of lightning-an element Will is associated with a lot in s2)

(in s1 Will also spit up a slug- in d&d putting a slug in a humanoid can create/turn that humanoid into a mf. foreshadowing Will being posessed/becoming the mf in s2. ).

S2)

 Will plays digdug (a videogame about underground tunnels) so the mf creates tunnels. Will's dog dies so demogogans become demo-dogs. He also watches Ghostbusters- where a character is possessed by the ‘gate keeper’ and can control demon dogs. So this happens to Will too -similar to s1 with poltergeist .In s1 , Hopper even mentions the book Cujo about a violent dog, who is replaced by a new dog named ‘Willie’ (to allude to this).In s1 we see  Mike holding a drawing of Will’s- where Will's wizard has lightning powers (coming from his hand). everytime Will uses tech in s1, the phones explode and lighting appears out of them- hopper makes a BBQ joke about the burned phones.later in s2 the mf has these same lightning abilities and the lab technician makes the same BBQ joke.Joyce even describes the tunnels of the mf/ that Will’s draws as “like lightning.”  We also see the russians eviserated by lightning next season too.

A lab tech calls Will a wizard-and they monitor his brain waves, record him on video, just like they did to El .(when the mf first appears at Will’s house- the lab techs even notice ). The drawing of the mf is next to a baseball (Lonnie ref) and Will says it was a drawing for a story he wrote. In s2 Nancy describes the mindflayer (but she’s actually describing Will).“So this thing is like a brain that’s controlling everything.”Because it’s not the mindflayers’ brain - it’s Will’s brain controlling everything. ( a “hive mind” aka the mf/WILL share a brain ). Owens in s2e1 (BEFORE the mf possession) says Will's ‘anniversary affect’ would make him remember “tra*matic memories” and “OPEN the neurological flood GATES” (aka Will’s neurological GATES are the gates between the real world and upsidedown - which are connected to the mf).  

 Owens in s2e1 (after mentioning the “gates”) even says Will's ‘anniversary affect’ /  “tr*umatic memories” would  cause temporary “personality changes”for Will (the later mf possession) . I mean... Owens wasn’t entirely wrong was he? Will even feels the back of his neck in s2 and says it has to do with “memories” ...and in s3 feeling the back of his neck meant Will was sensing  the mf. Similarly, before his possession-mr clarke  mentions phineus gage who after an accident had a “complete change to his personality” (and the shot pans to Will).

Nancy even calls the mind flayer the “mind-flamer”- hinting at it’s connection to Will the wise who has fire powers). And Dustin says the mf “takes over minds with it’s highly developed psyionic abilities “ And to “summon an undead army... cause the mindflayer loves brains ” ( and in s3 the mf creates a undead army by taking over people’s brains). Hopper  even says “So how do we kill this thing shoot it with fireballs ?” (which destroys the flesh-monster in s3) ”

S3) 

Will (the “zombie boy”) writes a story about juju zombies after watching a film about zombies at starcourt in s3 - then the mf creates a undead army -which was also foreshadowed in s2 (and similar to Will’s  s3 d&d story).  We also see Will wrote this d&d story in front of "the thing" poster. So the mf creates a flesh monster resembling the creature in that film too.  We also see someone get bit (el) like in Will's story and when his friends retcon his ending to be about “sacrificing themselves via explosion (Hopper).” Will just says “fine you win” (so it ends that way).Also, the shadow monster is now called the Mindflayer - and mimics the mf from d&d (both can control rats with their powers in the show/game).  

Will in s2-3 grabs the back of his neck and he attributed it to “memories”, “dreams”, and sensing the mf. Will created castle byers after his dad left and he grabs the bat in cb which was next to the Will the wise drawing (similar to how the baseball was next to the mf drawing in s2) and destroys cb with said bat . Then Will touches his neck and admits the mf has returned.  EVERY moment Will senses the mf can be loosely connected to Lonnie. Lonnie used to call him h*mophobic sl*rs so anytime he subconsciously thinks of his feelings towards Mike the mf appears-1st time it’s on one of their ‘movie dates’, 2nd time when Mike and El walk off together down the hill to make-out, 3rd time right after he smashed castle byers after Mike says “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls”, 4th time (after the fight with Mike) when Billy is yelling to open the door (a trigger) and confides in Mike, 5th time when Mike asks him to go away so he can talk to El in the hospital waiting area, and 6th time when Mike says he loves El. The 7th time is when Jonathan is fixing up a car -something Lonnie used to do.Lonnie fixes up cars as a hobby-showing his remodeled car to Jonathan in s1 . Will then senses the mf and grabs his neck-which he said are connected to old “memories”.  max and Mike are silent until Jonathan says  says “got it (the distributor)”. Then Mike screams for his older sibling. We also see in s1 Jonathan checked to see if Lonnie threw Will in his trunk- something the mf does to some of his victims in s3.

Dustin and susie sing “never ending story”- which is literally about a seemingly normal boy  named Sebastian with a bowl cut (from a single parent home) subconsciously making a fantasy world being invaded by a dark force (representing the loss of hope/dreams) that only his imagination powers can fix . “make believe i’m everywhere ... what you dream will be...Rhymes that keep their secrets Will unfold behind the clouds.And there upon a rainbow Is the answer to a never ending story” . Cough-Will’s rainbow ship he CREATED.Both times the  lyric plays  “Rhymes that keep their secrets WILL “ ( it pans to Will). 

The film also follows a false chosen one who everyone says is supposed to save fantasia- named Atreyu (el). Specifically, for that plotwist that Sebastian (Will) has to be the one to do so , not Atreyu (who sebastian subconsciously created). In the novel/film-Atreyu ( the child who was deemed the ‘chosen one) is knocked from Falkor’s back, and into the sea of possibilities. There he wakes on the shore of abandoned ruins. 

“There Gmork (The Mindflayer) reveals himself, having been lying in wait.And then latches his jaws onto Atreyu’s leg.”

-Before the duet, Susie tells dusin she’s reading “ a wizard of earthsea” and says ged is about to save his world. The book is about a boy-wizard  named Ged (Will) who casts a powerful spell, but the spell goes awry and instead he releases a shadow creature! The new Archmage, Gensher, describes the shadow as an ancient evil that wishes to possess Ged. But the ‘shadow’ turns out  to be a representation of the darkest aspects of his personality. And the only way for the world to be saved is for the 2 to merge and for Ged to accept himself . 

-Will says he’s a wizard ( writing on a music tape in s3 “will the wise-wizard mix’ and having his password for castle byers be ‘rhadaghast’- a lotr wizard). The way they describe d&d Wizards matches Will/mindflayer perfectly “Wizards are adepts and magicians who combine according to the type of their spells. Relying on the subtle weaves of magic that permeate the universe, wizards are able to create spells of explosive fire, sparking lightning, subtle deception, and gross mind control. Their magic summons monsters from other planes of existence, predicts the future, and turns defeated enemies into zombies. Their most powerful spells can transform one substance into another, summon meteors from the sky, and open portals to other worlds” (all these powers Will the wise/mf are implied to have)

- Stranger things d&d comic (published post s3) : Will creating a illusion army of monsters -as Will the wizard.

- stranger writers twitter reffed several movies which discuss artist/writer WILLiam Blake who helped make the art exhibit “worlds turned upsidedown” 

possible reason for the flayed eating  chemicals& fertilizer (in s3)

full link/credits here.  Lonnie’s gf has a biker shirt from Harley davidson- with the eagle logo and their saying “live to ride’. Which would imply lonnie is also in such biker circles. Harley davidson in the 80s had dr*g gangs too (primarily m*th).

 One reason m*th is so prevalent in rural areas is that it can be formulated, or “cooked,” by small producers and one of the ingredients is readily found on most farms – anhydrous AMMONIA fertilizer. Both farmers and chemical suppliers have experienced thefts of anhydrous particularly in the Midwest.“

WHICH REMINDS ME OF the FLAYED EATING FERTILIZER AND CHEMICALS IN S3 . Nancy even says farmers/chem suppliers  are having fertilizer stolen! And she later thinks flayed tom was on drugs- “A mysterious  case of the missing fertilizer- a Nancy Drew Mystery”. This is also in the same season one character (who looks a bit like Lonnie) is a biker is corrupting the town.

Will creating /basing the supernatural from suppressed memories -means it’s from a very young child’s perspective . young Will would equate people eating chemicals, ammonia fertilizer, and ammonia... to using those SAME chemicals to create m*th and then physically consuming them . Why we see mrs driscoll eating fertilizer & Billy drinking ammonia.

The reason the flayed started behaving differently is probably because in s2 Will was forcibly injected with a needle & woken up with ammonia by Hopper-jogging some of those old memories. 

EVEN Nancy’s proof Tom is on dr*gs is a symptom of m*th use or withdrawl from it-excessive sweating (like all the flayed in s2-3). M*th causes hyperthermia (body is at a higher temp than usual)-so they like it cold!!!!! Even clammy hands that she mentioned is a symptom of m*th use. in children it can even cause seizures- like Will :(

And when m*th is made via fertilizer it first is made into a highly corrosive liquid which is sometimes green-like the Russian lab.“six pounds of toxic waste is created for every pound of m*th manufactured. The waste is often dumped on farms, in rivers and and is harmful to the environment.” Like all the chemical leaks relating to Hawkins lab/mf that affected the crops in s2/this pic of water in s3.

m*th was even called ‘bathroom crank’-which is sketchy given the bathtub is what mf fears and how the sensory deprivation tank is also called a ‘tub’ by el . Becky even said Brenner would get terry high and throw her in the tank/tub.

It also does take some chemisty knowledge to COVERT various substances (including fertilizer and other chemicals) to make m*th- which reminds me of the kids saying they can convert one substance into another (when explaining why the possessed are eating chemicals)- they say they’re making a new chemical “in themselves”

other hints

Will’s b day is march 22 . Which is when “fire burns most brightly” and his ‘birthday number is number 7′ (”it was a 7 the demogorgan it got me′) . The number 7  is specifically associated with  “wisdom and psychic abilities”.  His b day even adds up to 7 (3+2+2).His horoscope is also influenced by the shadow god-ketu (who is also associated with wisdom and psychic abilities too). 

* There’s way more details/depth/ other st inspirations in my DID analyses -specifically pt 2. (where i discuss how the mf/upsidedown connects to the numbers/russians- and also specifially Will).But this is just a crash course about the flayed/upsideown/it’s creatures connect to Will.

People will dismiss all of this as just the Duffers liking to reference random things they like/ and foreshadow via d&d without any in universe reason.  but I really think that’s a disappointing explanation/outcome. Especially the predictable cliche theory that the mf is just experiment #1. Not only is it boring, cliche, and predictable af- but it doesn’t line up as well with the mental health themes mentioned in ever season.Will created everything via tr*uma cause of his dad- and overcomes this: is not only a “twist” that will make rewatching more enjoyable given all the hints- it’s more narratively sound given how much the series touches on themes such as overcoming tra*ma, mental health, and problematic fathers. The #1/ex experiment=mf theory doesn’t explain why they made the supernatural connect to Will in this way . And with such a boring cliche ending it would quickly be forgotten like other big sci-fi/fantasy shows that quickly lost relevancy after being popular: like heros, g.o.t, etc.One makes the show cliche another makes it remembered for decades (ex: jacob’s ladder).

[kaypeace21]

Byler hints in the background of s1-3

Honestly, this should just be called- ‘my autistic brain casually (and without even trying) notices shit in the background, but never mentioned it- because I thought it sounded too crazy to talk about’ XD. But the symbolism and Easter eggs give my byler-shipping heart so much life. So I thought, since you guys prob. didn’t notice it- I’ll mention it anyways.  So here goes.

Drawings/rainbows

There has been a theme in s3 about how Mike equates ‘falling for girls’ as a part of growing up, and his feelings for Will as something childish that he has to has to grow out of. 

- confessing to El : “A feeling … yeah, like, something… like OLD PEOPLE say it sometimes”.

- “And Will too. I was thinking we could all have new presents to play with and *scoffs* Sorry, that made me sound like a 7 year old... (apologizing to El)

- Mike getting in a fight with Will (after d&d), and saying they can’t be close anymore: 

Mike says, “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”, and then he tries to ½ apologize only to say, “I’m not trying to be a jerk. Ok? But We’re not kids anymore.” Explaining, this is just the way things are-boys fall in love with girls, get girlfriends, and this is just a part of growing up (heteronormativity).  He tells Will “I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? We were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?” And poor Will who is probably more aware of his feelings just responds. “Yeah, I guess I did. I really did.” And of course Mike immediately apologizes for being an “ asshole”, after this.

But here’s the thing! Mike actually does wish he didn’t have to grow up and that he could play games with Will (without girlfriends) for the rest of their lives. His room, in s3, SCREAMS that he’s trying to grow up/act straight... but he can’t let go of his feelings for Will. 

He literally takes down his old childhood poster from s1-2 for a more mature/adult poster. But on the same wall (where the old poster used to be) he hasn’t removed a single d&d drawing Will has given him. He’s pretending that he’s grown out of d&d when Lucas is around- because he’s emulating how (the straight) Lucas acted, all season. But Mike has it BAD (and is seriously pinning) for Will! Like, I love Will but his art at 11 years old isn’t so great to justify it still be on Mike’s wall at age 14.  He’s just that whipped (and literally can’t part with a single drawing Will has ever given him) XD

Like... it’s cannon that Mike caresses Will’s drawings 

He’s that ‘ dumbass blinded by love’ who thinks anything Will’s draws is a perfect- masterpiece. Mike could literally see Will draw scribbles and think it’s amazing! Like in s2 he just guides his hands through the scribbles he drew on the wall- no joke! XD

However, what’s interesting though is the one other things he took down from his wall. In S1 Mike (before he even met El)  has a heart sign, with a red heart being propelled by a rainbow. Yet in s3 , the season where he’s ‘obsessing’ about El- it mysteriously disappears. However, in the first ep of s3 when Mike is making-out with El we see a emergence of the heart being propelled by a rainbow (in El’s room) as a drawing. Probably signifying Mike participating in compulsory-heterosexuality and that no matter how hard he tries- he’s not straight!

So given the fact he can’t part with any of the pictures on the wall...you better believe Mike still has that giant binder filled with every drawing Will has given him . And he’s probably hidden it away , with the rainbow heart sign (because he knows it would look suspicious to have laying around). 

-Also, Mike literally has more rainbow symbolism than Will (and has had it through every season) XD

-the s2 ref being the most on the nose) Forbidden fruit + rainbow = queer forbidden romance. And during the 80s, that rainbow-apple poster in the AV Club was suspected to be in reference to Alan Turning (the gay ‘father of computers’).

Animal easter eggs that relate to byler and the upside down/supernatural-plot .

tigers- Mike keeps a tiger poster (which was right next to that rainbow-heart sign) in his basement through s1-3. In s1 we see Will also has a tiger drawing, which is later put on the wall (like a poster) in s2.  Sara Hopper (like Will ) had her death faked by the government (and had a tiger plushie in s1)- and Kali probably had something to do with it since in the prequel novel ‘suspicious minds’ had Kali talk non stop about her fav animal , tigers.  Theory  here. But again, Jancy is also connected to tigers as a romantic symbol (just like byler).

sharks- The Duffer brothers themselves said they based the s1 demorgorgan off of sharks, which Nancy even references in s1. Mike and Will have shark iconography in their room/basement. Will has a jaws poster shown in s1-2, and Mike has shark toys visible in s2. The shark (and bear) symbolism hint at the fact that Will created the upside down/demorgorgans/mind-flayer using his powers- theory here.

bears- Will since s1 has had bear symbolism around him. Bears symbolically represent  “wisdom” like ‘Will the wise’ and were associated with the demorgorgan/upside down in s1 and 2 as well . Max and Nancy compared demogorgans to bears- and Nancy and Jonathan used a bear-trap to capture a demorgorgan in s1 . 

But s3 made bears a romantic symbol- Mike was going to buy a golden teddy bear for El as a romantic gesture. The golden bear had a bowtie (it’s male). And the gray bear that Mike gives to her, was originally Will’s (as shown in s1 &2). This gray bear is coming right in between Mike and El (at the end of s3). They even kiss , while El presses the bear right in between them.  In conclusion these romantic bears represent Will. * I mean that whole awkward kiss (where Mike’s eyes are open and he doesn’t kiss back- happens in Will’s room, in front of Will’s open closet,  with Will’s bear smushed between them (pretty blatant foreshadowing).

dinosaurs- This one is probably a stretch but we see this boy has tons of dinosaurs (at least 6). He starts to info-dump on El about how much he loves them. But, she has no interest. And if the wtf look didn’t make this obvious.

She even gets up and walks away, ignoring his tangent about dinosaurs. 

She literally couldn’t care less about his interest in them. 

But in spite of this, we see Mike gave her Rory in s3 (since it’s in her bedroom). And in s2 we see him sadly look at Rory, with 2 other dinosaurs in frame. This, along with s1 implies he has a huge collection of various dinosaurs .But his collection is missing one of the most popular dinosaur species... the brachiosaurus (the long necked dinosaur).

And right after this scene in s2 scene, we go to Will’s room. And he has a huge brachiosaurus! This boy couldn’t even afford a halloween costume and had to have his hand-made by his mom... but he could afford this huge -fancy dinosaur replica? I bet Mike bragged about his dinosaur collection to Will (like he did with El). But Will being a nerd, was actually impressed. So Mike actually gave him his best/fav toy in his collection- kind of like what he did with Rory.

frogs- This is the most hilarious thing to me. I laughed for like 20 minutes on my rewatch. In s1 Will has a GIANT stuffed plushie of a frog next to his jaws poster and teddy bear. I’m dead! Will doesn’t even disagree with the “frog face“ insult. 

He’s just like ‘well, he’s my frog face’ . Time to snuggle with this frog that looks just like Mike . Will is so in love but also low key savage dragging Mike like that. I can only imagine Dustin and Lucas saying “nah, you don’t look like a frog”. And poor baby-Mike asking Will what he thinks, and Will not being able to lie, just saying “ Well... some people like frogs.”  XD

We also see that in s2 the frog is missing but the Jaws-poster, coin jar, and the bear (we later see El holding in s3) remain .Probably to indicate this is when Will started to subconsciously suppress his feelings for Mike. Although @theclericwill pointed out -that , instead, Mike may have used the frog-plushie as a pillow... for his frog-face XD

Throwing shade at Mileven/mileven shippers in s2 

In the Montauk pitch (later named Stranger things) they describe the Mike and El dynamic by saying “ If Mike is the Eliot of our show,Eleven is our Et.” (AKA they’re from different planets)

-In s2 , Erica  is forcing He-man and barbie to make out. Lucas angrily separates the two. And then this discussion happens.

Erica: “Hey , They’re in love!”

Lucas (livid- and standing right next to a rainbow): “No, actually,  they’re not. They don’t even exist on the same planet.”

Not to mention I doubt it was a coincident they had a (bratty) pre-pubescent girl be the proxy for most mileven shippers.Like not all mileven shippers are bad, but almost all the toxic ones (that the Duffers have to deal with) are tween girls. And to the Duffers, only a child could think 2 people are ‘in love’ after a week of knowing each other. Or that El could understand such things like romance- given the fact that her and Mike are from different planets (given how El has no experience with the outside world).Mike even says in s2,  he can’t hate Max because he ‘doesn’t know’ her (despite knowing her as long as he knew El). Meaning he doesn’t love El since he doesn’t know her. 

Plus, El told Mike, he treats her like ‘garbage’ and ‘a pet’ . And Finn after s1, said that the Duffers told him Mike thought of El as a puppy, and she is even compared to Dart (a demo-dog in s2). Mike asking Dustin, angrily “What, You have a bond? Just cause he likes nougat (eggos)?” Being a  blatant dig at people obsessing over this shallow aspect of their relationship.

Mileven was also compared to that  of family members. In s1, right before they kissed, she asks “will you be like my brother?” (while wearing Nancy’s dress). And Mike also referred to her as his ‘cousin’ . Not to mention, El loved ted’s laz-eboy chair (and Nancy said Karen and Ted “never loved each other” ). And right before Karen is about to cheat on Ted - she looks at him sleeping in the chair (and the lyrics are ‘I should have walked away’). 

It’s pretty hilarious, since so many people try to ‘no-homo’ byler by saying Mike thinks of Will as a brother/or family- yet, their relationship has never been directly compared to a sibling (unlike mileven).

People also seem to not realize Mike lied in s2 (just like he did in s3). He thought El was dead in s2. He told Max it “got her like it did bob” and then he made a spectacle in front of everyone saying “I never gave up on you”. Which was a blatant lie (since he just told Max a few minutes earlier, she was dead -_-). Mike simply blamed himself for her death (he said they needed her to save Will and even referred to her as a “weapon”). So when she died he felt the most responsible- and was hoping she was alive (and would answer his call) to alleviate his own guilt. Not because he loved her (that was an act). When he saw Will’s dead body, but heard his voice, he went on a rescue mission to save Will (from another dimension). But, Mike didn’t even bother going into the woods after seeing El outside his window (something he did for Will in ep 1, during a storm). And then in s3 Mike couldn’t even bother to call El and apologize- but ran to apologize to Will in the woods during a storm (bringing that whole parallel -full circle).

Plus, El told Mike, he treats her like ‘garbage’ and ‘a pet’ . And Finn after s1, said that the Duffers told him Mike thought of El as a puppy, and she is even compared to Dart (a demo-dog in s2). Mike asking Dustin, angrily “What, You have a bond? Just cause he likes nougat (eggos)?” A blatant dig at people obsessing over this shallow aspect of their relationship.

Bob and Mike parallels- the Rubik cube

Both are unathletic, smart, love comics, the only 2 to not treat Will ‘different’- and would do anything to protect their loved ones. And they also had crushes on Byers in childhood, and tried to give their Byers normalcy (despite them not being a ‘normal family’). They purposely display, and have Will -mirror Joyce- and Mike -mirror Bob- in multiple shots, throughout s2.

And both Mike and Bob are AV club leaders. Bob mentioned in one of the  earlier episodes  that he founded the Hawkins Middle AV club . And Mike later grabs Bob’s Rubik cube, and mentions this after his death (to solidify the connection- even if subconscious in our minds. He even proclaims after this “we can’t let him die in vain” . And this is when Mike makes the plan to help Will (before El shows up). 

gif credit: cath-avery, dailystrangerthings

[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.