#literally mike wheeler

[lit3rally-m1ke-whlr]

chapter one is out, so here’s some concept art I did of willow and Michelle! It’s not great but I tried my best, I do really like designing their characters though!

you can now read it at the link above!

[paladinsbrainrot]

can november come any quicker .

[ickyalienxx]

[mikethebrave]

PROTECTOR MIKE KNIGHT MIKE PALADIN MIKE MIKE WITH A SWORD FANS NEVER LOSE!!! REAL MIKE KNOWERS AND UNDERSTANDERS KNOW HE GOT THAT DOG IN HIM!!!!!! PROTECTING THE WOMEN THE CHILDREN AND HIS MAN I KNOW THAT'S RIGHT

[lit3rally-m1ke-whlr]

need this

20 notes and i’ll buy

[bylertruthr]

i love how we’ve all collectively agreed that his name is Byler Lawyer 😭💕

[bonskidin64]

The development of a break up?

[mikeslawyer]

[bmissyb]

El was made to look like Will 

Let’s build a case!!!

1. The Duffer Brothers confirmed it themselves

In Stranger Things: World Turned Upside Down (the official BTS companion book), Ross Duffer says:

“We wanted Eleven to feel out of place in the world, so we dressed her in clothes from Will’s closet, gave her his haircut, and made her look as much like him as possible.”

That is a direct quote. She was styled, intentionally, to evoke Will. Not just for narrative coincidence, not by accident but on purpose.

Why? Because…

2. It’s part of the show's emotional setup.

El appears in Chapter One; the day after Will goes missing.

Mike is devastated, disoriented, desperate to find his best friend.

And who shows up? A quiet, trembling kid in an oversized t-shirt, with short hair like Will’s haircut (it was planned to be a the same bowlcut but that was changed last minute), wearing his old clothes, who can’t speak, but clings to Mike like he’s her safety net.

This isn’t subtle. El’s entire visual and emotional presence was crafted to echo Will. The Duffers wanted Mike (and the audience) to feel that connection instantly. To blur the line between grief and attachment.

3. Her S1 Costuming Literally Uses Will’s Clothes.

I think everyone knows that the costuming team intentionally dresses El in Will’s style of clothing. The only time in S1 where this isn’t the case is when Mike makes her wear Nancy’s dress, trying to make her conform to the norm in order to keep her safe… weird. Also, in S1, Will and El’s colour palette are the same.

Even her body language mirrors Will’s: hands close to her chest, soft-spoken, wide-eyed.

These are not generic kid traits. They are Will’s traits.

4. Narratively, it mirrors Mike’s repression.

Mike falls for El not after she speaks or becomes "El," but when she comforts him. When she lets him feel safe. When she replaces Will’s absence.

He names her “El” the same way he used to name Will’s characters. It’s a continuation of the emotional bond he had with Will—but repackaged in a way he can express and others will accept.

5. And what happens when El stops looking like Will?

As El grows into her own identity (new haircut, her own clothes, her own voice) Mike’s confusion increases.

By Season 3 and especially 4, he’s struggling to express his feelings for her. He lies to her face. He says he loves her only when she’s begging for it. In a moment of desperation whilst surrounded by people who have a predisposition about his priorities and his role within the party as ‘Mike the brave.’

You can think about it as a PR stunt.

Compare that to how he talks to Will: unguarded. Emotional. Honest, even when he’s flailing.

6. Visual language backs this up.

- El’s intro is coded as a stand-in: standing in the rain, alone, scared—just like Will’s disappearance scene.  

- The lighting, framing, and even score in scenes with Mike and El early on are eerily similar to shots of Mike and Will in flashbacks.  

- Season 4 leans even harder: Mike stares at Will, not El, in emotionally intense scenes. El and Mike feel visually distanced—while Will and Mike are often framed together in softness, light, and eye contact.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN???:

The Duffers explicitly designed El to look like Will.  

Mike formed his bond with El because she reminded him of Will.  

That visual and emotional substitution becomes unstable when El starts being her own person. 

Thus, Mike is left to confront the false perception he’s had of her (and Will by proxy)

The disguise is gone. Now he has to figure out who he was really seeing.

[faguettism]

Despite what most seems to believe, Duffer brothers would never queerbait.

They are, however, straightbaiting GA at the moment which is something i love to see.

[lunabug2004]

The double/hidden meaning of this:

still sends me.

🤨🤨🤨

Mike Wheeler we know what you are.

[lit3rally-m1ke-whlr]

dreaming of you

for my lesbyler BIAC AU! Chapter 3 is by far going to be the most interesting to write! 💗

some closeups!

[paladinsbrainrot]

byler as jackieshauna in my yellowjackets au 🐝 🐅 details under the cut!

their history:

mike and will have been childhood best friends since they were five. they've gone through everything together — the good, the bad, and the ugly. they get each other on a level that no one else does, which is a blessing, but also — sometimes — a curse.

mike's always been very insecure of himself, self-conscious of his looks, talents, skills, and confidence. will's everything that mike wishes he was: good-looking, popular, team captain, kind, out. mike truly cares about will, but he's always held a hidden resentment against him. he's jealous of the fact that will's so outwardly himself, proudly feigning the confidence that mike lacks.

while will would never actually admit this to himself, he's always had a sort of mini-crush on mike. it's easy to fall in love when your best friend takes care of you so well. it's 1996, and while the world's not exactly the kindest, he's happy to find himself out as gay to a supportive and incredibly loving family.

mike starts dating el hopper, the brightest and most popular girl in school, in the spring semester of freshman year. in some ways, he hopes that by dating her, he'll gain some newfound confidence. instead, it brings heaps of self-doubt and pessimism as the two find themselves breaking up and getting back together more times than they can count.

frustrated after one of he and el's many break-ups, mike finds himself in will's car one afternoon after soccer practice. will attempts to cheer mike up by boasting about mike's own achievements and kind-hearted personality, saying how the right girl won't be able to pass him up like that. it's then when mike kisses him, straight out of the blue, and will can't help but reciprocate.

pre-crash:

mike treats will and el as their own separate entities, people who he can't mix on any occasion. he spends most of his days kissing el to at least assume some normalcy, and to prove to his parents that he's the respectable boy they've made him out to be. when he's with el, he convinces himself he and will are nothing but childhood best friends, and that there's nothing going on between them. in his downtime, when practice runs late and el's already reported home for curfew, he kisses will like his life depends on it.

mike's worst fear comes true during senior year when will and el tell him their parents are getting married, meaning the two will become step-siblings. it's then when will decides to call it quits. he can't keep doing this with mike if el's going to be his sister in less than a year. no matter how much they enjoy their late-night make-out sessions, it's not fair to her.

mike agrees, albeit reluctantly. there's something about will that el can't give him. it's an apt hunger, running deep through his veins. mike and will spend the rest of the year as friends, with at least two feet of distance between the two of them. but mike would be lying if he said he didn't think of will whenever he kissed el, imagined his lips instead of hers, his hands in his hair. he's now not only jealous of will's confidence, but the fact that he can be proudly gay without an ounce of shame for it.

when the tigers make it to nationals, they all attend the celebration party. mike offers to drive el and will home, who are both clearly wasted. after mike drives el home for her early curfew, he's suddenly overcome with a hunger he's never felt before. mike is instantly compelled to pull over. despite vowing to never do this again, mike can't help the part of him that's starved of will's presence, that wants a final taste of will before he's forbidden. he explains this in due time to will, who, to mike's surprise, can't resist the urge. they share what they think will be their last kiss the day before nationals in the back of mike wheeler's rover.

post-crash:

when flight 2525 crashes in the middle of the canadian wilderness, mike finds himself in a strange position. on one hand, he's stranded in the middle of nowhere with no parents or peers to judge him, with complete, unabashed freedom. on the other, he's stranded with will and el in the same, sequestered space, and he's not sure he's able to handle the two of them at once. it's only a matter of time before el finds out, and mike can't resist the deepest desires of his heart now that he's got will all to himself....

I could not resist the urge to mash two of my favourite shows together so here's what I have come up with! I am planning to draw most of the other characters and write their backstories and plot in this au as well, so keep your eyes peeled for when I eventually get to that. I convinced myself that I would write a fic for this au but ultimately could not as I am not confident enough in my writing abilities as of yet plus it would be an absolutely insane and lengthy project that I'm not sure I'm up for/would finish. I've decided to commit to drawing everyone instead and writing up small drabbles of how I think they would interact in this world so... there's that! I will obviously not be writing the entire au, but I do have LOTS of ideas for what could happen, so please feel free to send an ask if you have any questions ! :)

keep in mind this is just how I would personally go about the characters if they were put in this universe. mike obviously takes inspiration from shauna, and will obviously takes inspiration from jackie, but don't think that their entire story will be exclusively taken from these characters. will is much more similar to shauna than jackie personality wise, and likewise with mike and jackie, but narratively he and jackie both serve the same functions. do take this with a grain of salt as I also had to mesh their canon personalities with the respective character roles they're taking on so... I hope I did it well!

additionally, I just want to put it on the record that jackie and shauna are extremely complex characters, who are not wholly good or bad. in order for mike and will to reflect jackie and shauna's relationship dynamic, I wanted to incorporate the cheating plot. I know cheating is a very taboo topic in the stranger things fandom because in canon mike and will would never do such a thing, however, in this au, mike and will are not going to the 'saint-like' figures we often see them portrayed as in this fandom. they're not wholly bad, but they have flaws, which make them and jackieshauna super interesting characters. I also just really wanted to explore a kind of toxic relationship with byler because It's just interesting to me okay!!!! Idk!!!! don't send the pitchforks after me.

so yes... if we are comparing will's function in the narrative to jackie's he does have to die unfortunately. but I also have lotttsss of new ideas about how will gets to this point and how mike chooses to deal with it after 👀

[bitofanupsidedowner]

when milkvans exclude will from the core four i become evil it's literally unforgivable to me.

you are delusional in your fear. you are so afraid of his beautiful wonderful aura that you are being intentionally obtuse. will is literally the first member of the party. mike met will before anyone. then lucas. then dustin. there would be no party without will. they fall apart when he leaves.

[samwitcch]

"a fact so true, so loud, that he can’t believe he’d been able to hear anything else before now."  (fic by @campbyler)

[teambyler]

Finn: "I guess I ship Mileven"

Also Finn:

(EDIT: It wasn't just from watching himself. In this video when talking about a scene of Mike with Will he said "I'm excited to see it" At timestamp =D The whole video shows Finn seems to really prefer Byler over Mileven lol!)

-teambyler