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sade-alicious · 2 years ago

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summer reading list except byler edition (all AO3) - im still reading new fics btw so there’ll be updates on this post (updated 10/22)

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a dream always the same

Mike learns more about himself in four months than he has in fourteen years and comes to realise that he's fallen in love with his best friend.

A four part historically accurate coming of age story set between July and October 1985.

this one is my number one, its set between the battle of starcourt and when the byers move away, its from mikes pov and not short of amazingly written, it includes all of the canon events in the show towards the end of the s3 finale but manages to tie them in really well, absolutely read this

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over a bridge of time

Hawkins isn't the same without Will. So Mike goes to visit him in Chicago.

Set during Thanksgiving in November 1985.

this is a sequel to adats, same thing goes for this work, but be warned, this is the second (but not last) completed work in a series, so its gonna end on a cliffhanger/unresolved problems like the first fic

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the red envelope

Will writes a letter to Mike, confessing everything. Unknowingly and stupidly, he lets Mike take the envelope home, forgetting just the amount of secrets inside. At the end of the letter he tells Mike to meet him at Castle Byers Saturday at two, to tell him yes or no. Because of course Will had to ask for Mike to be his boyfriend at the end of the letter. So now Will has two choices, somehow get the letter back, or wait at Castle Byers praying for a miracle?

this one is good, it has an interesting concept and was “will they or wont they?” for me. u can read the sequel, but i really dont like because 1. smut (ew, but dont worry only the sequel has it) 2. it follows a will byers has powers trope, and i dont care for it

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touch like velvet

It was easy for Will Byers to fall in love with Mike Wheeler.

The trouble came when he had to pretend it wasn't real.

this one is an au of will and mike not meeting until they’re 17, there is no upside down and el isnt a lab experiment but instead a normal person. will still has the rest of the party, but its sort of split in two. will, lucas, and dustin are all bsfs, and el and max are gfs who are coworkers/friends with mike. this one i truly recommend so so much. its a lengthy slowburn, but it is unfinished and updates slow

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im tearing you asunder

The world ends, and then some. Mike and Will find each other again, amidst the debris and distance.

someone made AMAZING fanart based off of this which ill link here. but anyways this ones really nice, mike isnt an asshole and actually treats will like a friend. its a lead off of the s4 finale and ive been obsessed with those fanfics rn. (if you have any recs please comment them🙏)

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kiss it better

Mike and Will, through the years and in between the lines of friendship and something more.

i LOVE young mike and will and this one has plenty. it has byler scenarios over the course of their friendship from 5 to 18 which shows their relationship evolving the years. its a great concept in it of itself. but yeah, please read this one

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let me lead

this one just has a snippet of the fic so ill try to explain. basically this is a lead off of s4, so pretty much everyone thinks this is their last night alive, and to which mike says “screw it” and invites will over and confronts him about some things

so for my opinion, they wrote it in a scenario like, if i dont say what i think/feel now…when will i? which is great because it helps move things along quickly, so its not exactly a slowburn but they write everything in just under 6k words from el breaking up with mike, to an angsty fight, to byler confessing in a way that doesnt feel rushed

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pictures of you

Will is the last one left at Mike's house after a day playing DnD.

Mike brings out an old box, full of memories of their past.

ugh this one is short but its so good. it does a lot in under 3k words and is a great byler first kiss scenario

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a game of truths

Mike and Will play a game of truths.

this one is amazing, like the rest of the fanfics ive listed. its one of the more byler centric ones. most of it is just mike and will talking and having their moments. its really cute (esp with young mike and will) and does byler justice without writing two long paragraphs of them just making out.

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8/14/22

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where is my mind?

On November 6th, 1985, Will Byers crashed his bicycle while riding home from the Wheeler household, damaging his head and waking up two days later with no recollection of who he was.

Plagued with the absence of his memories and a dark haired boy who refuses to tell Will his name, all Will Byers has to do is remember. That's the hard part.

this is by the same author that wrote “touch like velvet” and they’re a GENIUS. this one like the other fic, its an au aside from the upside down where will just suffers from memory loss instead of getting kidnapped and everything, but its really cute because its like no matter what will and mike still love each other

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static re-connection

A miles-apart, oblivious mutual pining, emotional summer vacation disaster-fest starring Mike, Will, and one incredibly unreliable radio connection.

miscommunication trope at its FINEST. once the angst started it hurt, the confession is great and we get plenty of mike and nancy sibling moments👍

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i never find out ‘til i’m head over heels

Wherein Mike believes he’s being obvious, Will doesn’t know what he believes, and the pair of them could use a lesson or two in effective communication. Somehow all of this has both nothing and everything to do with five years' worth of school dances.

this ones great but also kind of funny because will’s being the oblivious one instead of mike. its light angst btw so u dont have to worry abt your heart being ripped out of your chest.

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10/13/22

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head over heels

On their way to Hawkins, the group decides to stay at a motel for the night.

Mike and Will get a moment alone to talk.

i was praying for more byler scenes in volume 2 whether be at a gas station, motel, or literally anywhere else so this fanfic gave us what we deserved, but yea its really cute def recommend !!

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undertow

Will has never had his first kiss. Mike is happy to lend a hand

as you can tell its gonna be a mike teaching will how to kiss and those are always cute even tho ive only read two successful versions of this scenario. also madwheeler🫶🫶 its really fluffy and cute at the end so this was also a good 3am read

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force of gravity

Will loved ordinary things, an uneventful existence was something he craved. Sadly, when Mike Wheeler walks into his life, Will’s easy going path snaps right in half. A passion he could never imagine overtaking his whole being.

It was too bad their friend groups hated each other and his sister had a huge crush on the musician. Off limits.

Fantastic.

you already KNOW i had to include this one, its too good not too. and you probably already heard of this if not read it bc its like the most popular fanfic among the byler ship/fandom (it might as well be a fandom at this point) right now. but yea the amount of times when i thought they were gonna have a normal conversation but then start argueing is INSANE. hella angst. fluff if you look past the bucket loads of angst and just GO READ IT IF YOU HAVENT

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10/22/22

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to hell and back again

After Mike unwittingly stumbles into a series of interpersonal bombshells, he immediately sets out to find Will so he can find out what, exactly, that painting meant, and why Will lied about it. Unfortunately, Mike is obsessively obstinate and relentless to a fault, and he'll go to the literal ends of the earth to get the answers he needs.

Or: Mike and Will's Apocalypse Romcom Spectacular

this one is actually super underrated and i havent seen many people talking abt it, and the author has been updating the fic recently too. but ANYWAYS im on chapter 11 rn and its really giving apocalypse byler, what we’ve ALL been praying for for season 5🙏 but other than that its really good so far but OML MIKE NEEDS TO GET HIS PRIORITIES STRAIGHT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THINGS GOOD HE IS SO DOWN BAD ITS LAUGHABLE

#byler fic #byler fic rec #byler

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eclipsebyler · 2 years ago

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You ever think about how both El and Mike in S4 (or maybe throughout all seasons) are both dealing with self-insecurities? Their issues are incomparable of course, but there are a few similarities.

Both of them are scared and are struggling to be themselves.

With El, she was worried that she was a monster. With or without her powers, she felt that way. She especially had a difficult time when she lost it because at least she could save people and be a superhero to everyone when she did. She felt like she had to do something, to prove something, just so she could be worthy. She depended her self worth on what the important figures of her life think of her. She was insecure and hesitant with herself, it's clear in the way she's influenced by other people and how she lied about her real situation in Lenora. She is struggling.

With Mike, he was worried that he was just this "random nerd" who didn't have any good traits to be proud of. He was scared that El (or anyone) might not need him at all. He's scared of losing people time and time again, and him not being able to do anything to protect and save them. He always tried hard to be a different person than who he truly was, tried hard to impress someone, and depended his self worth on the opinion of important figures of his life. He's also struggling.

Both of their arcs have been intertwined since the beginning, and we could see these two characters trying to find that validation with each other the most— in their relationship. And time and time again, we'd see them not get that— and it was mostly evident in S4.

El thought Mike saw her as a monster that needs to be feared. Mike thought El saw him as just a random nerd who isn't needed. They make each other insecure about themselves. They didn't get the reassurance that they need with each other: they're loved just the way they are.

They're similar in those little ways and yet there's also a clear difference— while El was trying to find her self identity, Mike was trying to repress his.

And their individual arcs seem to be resolved by different people, or rather, a different person.

For El— we've seen her grow throughout the seasons with the help of many people. The party (yes, that still includes Mike. Pre-relationship, they had great dynamics aka platonic Elmike). Hopper. Kali and the group. Her mother and aunt. The Byers. And her memories getting back in the lab had helped her stand up for herself and realize her worth. But in the end, one person had really helped her see that it's okay for her to be just the way she is: Max.

"Not Hopper, not Mike. You." This specific line from Max had made such an impact on El and this was focused on by the end of Vol 2. Max had befriended her without conditions, and hung out with her and respected her choices. I think that's what El appreciated with Max the most: she gave her freedom and choice because that's the normal thing to do. Max made her feel normal. She's the first person that didn't try to tell her what to do, nor to hide her and be overprotective of her. She can do anything she wants, she can be anyone she wants to be: and Max supports her. In a few days, El has learned so many things about herself and she finds that she loves it and it's all thanks to Max's help.

And like El, Mike also has a few people who have helped him be comfortable in his own skin but one person essentially sticks out and helps resolve his arc in S4: Will. "Without you, the heart, we'd all fall apart." In one painting, in one speech, Will had easily eased Mike's worries about his insecurities. And although Will was veiling his confession with El's name, it doesn't change the fact it's his words. It's his feelings. And what I love most about his speech is that he doesn't only focus on El (himself), he also tells Mike that the party needs him as a whole: essentially saying everyone loves him for just the way he is. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone. He's always loved and needed without conditions. Will always intended to give the painting to Mike as a gift, to make him feel loved and appreciated— not as a confession for his love. Will's love for him is so selfless, beautiful, and pure.

El and Mike's arcs have been intertwined with each other, have been dealing with a few similar insecurities, and yet — it's not with each other that they find their needed reassurance. They don't grow as better people in their relationship. No, instead, they learn that with other people.

For El, it's with Max. And for Mike, it's with Will. And I think that already says a lot with which relationships S5 would focus on and which relationships would make more sense for the story's conclusion.

#el hopper #mike wheeler #mlvn analysis #byler #elmax

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flaringgoosebumps · 2 years ago

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Interesting that the entire party (including older kids) was separate emotionally in some way and maybe that assisted Vecna in some ways👀

Will was unreachable by Mike who tried the hardest to contact him in any situation, which to me, means no one else would've been able to contact him no matter how hard they tried either.

Mike, although present and with Dustin, and seems to be behaving as close to the Mike we've known, he's miserable. It's especially shown after the D&D win, when everyone is celebrating he's alone and upset in the sidelines.

Lucas joining the basketball team in attempts to be perceived in a better light by their peers was a choice he made on his own that somehow neither Mike nor Dustin seemed to support. Yeah, they tried to get Eddie to reschedule the campaign but they didn't do much else to be there for Lucas when he literally asked them to.

Dustin had already been separating from the group for a while, to no fault of his own, he and Mike got closer again but obviously it isn't the same.

We see that because of her grief, Max has alienated herself from anyone.

El lied to Mike about her time in California? Who else did she lie to? The only person who knew the real truth was Will and even though the wonder twins were arguably close emotionally, there was still distance since Will didn't know she was lying to Mike and El thought Will was "acting weird" and didn't know what the painting was, who it was for, and why. El literally stated that she doesn't belong anywhere, which means she is distant from everyone and everything.

Johnathan said himself that he's been distant from Will, the most important person to him, which means he's distant from everyone (aside from Argyle), it shows that he's emotionally distant from Nancy because he is planning on slow motion breaking up with her because he knows he couldn't choose Nancy over his family.

Nancy, never been close with anyone within the party except Johnathon and Steve. Distant from Steve for obvious reasons. Was distant from Johnathon herself, enough to where a classmate noticed and questioned it to the point where she got a bit defensive.

Dustin and Steve (even though in character) arguably distant because Steve wouldn't fill in for the campaign (man nearly dies for him but won't play a game?!?)

The only two that seem to be solid were Robin and Steve. If you look at their friendship in comparison to everyone else's at the first of the season, it shows that everyone has grown distant from one another. Except them. Some of the moments Robin and Steve shared at the front of season 4, everyone else has shared in previous seasons. Especially, the nod from across the room about Tammy Thompson (bestfriendism 🤗) and any kind of intimate talks about their personal life. Both of which seems to be lost among everyone else until they have to team up to help eachother.

I feel like Vecna depended on this type of distance between everyone in order to act upon his plan, because it has shown that when they were all close emotionally, they figured out what was going on quick enough to be able to put a stop to it entirely.

That's part of why they almost beat him, too and maybe part of how they'll end up beating him.

Will, Johnathan and Mike become very protective and worried about El when she gets arrested. Which was opposite to what they had shown moments earlier, especially Mike. Mike and Will reforming their bond immediately. Will having faith that El is the only way to stop or contain anything. Will expressing that the party has always been more helpful than the goverment. Johnathan wanting to go to Hawkins to warn or help who they could. Johnathan knowing he could depend on Argyle to take him and his siblings anywhere.

Erica's loyalty to the people she's been around, her filling in for the campaign on no notice, we've seen she has a group of friends all her own so her doing this at all probably caused her to cancel something. Unquestionably covering for Lucas when he disappears for days. Standing up for Eddie when the town tries to turn against him.

Max knowing she could go to Dustin after not being able to find Nancy, Dustin knowing he could go to Stobin, all of them knowing they could go to Nancy. Nancy already having theories herself after her curiosity leads her to talk to Wayne. Nancy and Robin forming an emotional connection that didn't exist before. Lucas's undying loyalty to Dustin and the party. Lucas making sure Max knew this entire time that he notices her slipping away, reminding her that he just wants to be there, that he is there and refusing to not be there no matter how hard she pushes him away. All of them bonding over finding out the truth, keeping Eddie safe, eachother protected, helping them figure out that Max was in danger in time to even try to figure out how to help her.

Steve worrying about Max to check on her in time to be able to get Lucas and Dustin beside him trying to wake her up, Steve instructing Dustin to radio for help. Dustin frantically on the radio trying to get Nancy and Robin to try to help save her. Lucas always paying attention to her to even know what song stood any chance of helping her. Their cries of agony to reach her piercing through Vecna's trance, a portal existing for Max that didn't exist for anyone else.

It's not just Max's happy memories that saved her the first time she was in Vecna's trance, it's knowing that the people in her memories still love her and would/are trying everything they can to save her, even though she wouldn't let them before. That's what gave her the strength to fight back against Vecna and to run.

Vecna appears to need his victims to be helpless and hopeless. That's why he selected who he did.

Chrissy, alienated from everyone in her life because she feels she has to put on a facade. Her mother bullying her into developing an eating disorder, her dad sitting quietly as it happens. A boyfriend that appears to care for her deeply but doesn't notice when something is bothering her. Holding her up to this pedestal that her mother's abuse made her build for herself. Turning to a kid she barely knew for drugs in order to escape everything. Confiding in him vaguely but not enough to really form anything that could've helped her. Even during her funeral, it shows Jason looking at her mother with sympathy rather than the rage one would feel if he knew how her mother had actually treated her.

Fred, merely just a friend of Nancy, if that. Easily separated from her and it takes awhile for her to even notice. No one seeming to even question his whereabouts until he's already dead.

Patrick, who had been abused at home, no one caring enough to question it or try to be there for him about it. The team being only a team when it was time to play the game or support Jason but no one supporting anyone otherwise. Even when they were looking for Eddie, they made fun of Patrick for thinking the "cult" did something to him rather than try to talk to him about it.

And Max, who in her grief, was cutting any emotional ties she had with anyone at all. Refusing to speak to anyone that could even be there for her in the smallest ways. Her step dad disappearing, her mom drowning herself in alcohol.

They seem carefully chosen because of how they seemingly had no one they felt they could go to about anything and nothing to give them hope that they could even try.

I think that's why anyone reforming emotional bonds and trust in eachother started to and will end up defeating Vecna.

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proud-mama-joyce · 3 years ago

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Takeaways on Mike and El, from Finn and Millie’s recent comments

There’s been a bit of a slump recently on the Byler tag, mainly revolving around the recent interviews. I wanted to delve into the details of their statements to show why I don’t see this all as bad news.

Below, I’ve described my interpretations of Finn and Millie’s comments. It’s subjective, but it’s my attempt to piece together their intent while considering the context, their word choices, and their patterns of expression.

First up: the Collider interview https://collider.com/stranger-things-season-4-millie-bobby-brown-finn-wolfhard-interview/

In the transcript excerpts, I’ve attempted to show the spoken words as accurately as possible, assuming that ellipses (…) don’t reflect editorial omissions. I’ve adjusted the punctuation to reflect mazes (filler or repeated words such as “like”) and removed words that were added editorially in brackets.

Finn: Well, it’s one of those things that (it just)—it’s impossible. And it’s with anyone, it’s with having a mom or dad or anyone. They’re there. It’s like air or anything, it’s just like they’re a part of your life. You can’t just pretend it never happened.

My read on his meaning: It’s impossible for the distance factor to lead to a permanent rift in the relationship between Mike and El, because of how integrated it’s become into Mike’s life. Drifting apart permanently wouldn’t happen, because their lives are as tied together as parents and children.

There’s an effort there that Mike and Eleven, because they’re so in love, and they love each other so much, and they’ve gone through so much together that it’s (like)>

Also in an incredible way and also a deeply sad way because they haven’t had anyone else to (like)>

That’s what’s so beautiful about>

It’s that they don’t have normal life and this is the way that it is for them and that’s what makes it so special.

(I’ve added some different punctuation here to highlight where it sounds like Finn has abandoned a sentence to move on to another one. I think the second “like” is used as a filler word, in context, but it would be clearer if we had audio. Based on his sentence fragments, it seems like the idea he’s reaching for is stated in the last sentence above, which is why I’ve bolded it for emphasis.)

My read: Mike and El have a mutual understanding that the distance doesn’t mean that they’ll be out of each other’s lives for good. They both find some reassurance in that understanding, because each feels that they “don’t have normal life” as a source of support. They find some normalcy through their relationship, especially because they love each other and have shared difficult experiences. So they resign themselves to the distance without worrying that the other person will stop caring, which is “incredible” and “beautiful.” But at the same time, it’s “deeply sad” that they rely on each other this way, because they haven’t had anyone else to…(experience “normal life” with? Reach out to? Share their feelings with? It has something to do with “normal life” since that’s where he’s headed in his completed thought.)

But it’s like super…I can’t imagine long distance in the ‘80s. I could not imagine.

My read: Despite the above, their relationship feels “super _____” (Finn’s unfinished thought, whatever it is, leads to him reflecting on how hard a relationship would be when it’s only through letters and phone (or radio) calls. Incomplete? Sporadic? Difficult? Unfulfilling compared to real life? It’s open to interpretation, but it’s something negative since he’s starting that thought with a contradiction (“But…”) to his statement that it’s “special,” and he’s thinking of the challenges involved.)

Millie: I think it was like, “See you when I see you.”

Finn: Yeah, it must have been…Exactly. “Here’s a bracelet.” Yeah. Exactly. This is a different thing, and they’re bonded, so yeah. I think they’re pretty indebted to each other.”

My read: Mike and El both know that they won’t drift apart permanently, so they don’t feel the need to rely on token gifts as external reminders.

Millie: Yeah. It’s like they’re married and there’s no option of divorce. So it’s like, it’s inevitable. They’ll always be together. And you get to see some real relationship issues that they both have to face this season, which I think is really funny, and it’s very comedic, but it’s also very real and it’s very—

Finn: Yeah. Absolutely. And tender. Yeah. It’ll be great.

My read: As described earlier, Mike and El consider each other to be permanent fixtures in their lives, to the point that no conflict feels like a make-or-break decision about whether they’ll still maintain a bond. And yet, there will be some more tension that reflects realistic relationship demands. (The “comedic” description makes me think it may involve some misunderstandings, but the “tender” description makes me think they’ll resolve disagreements on friendly terms.)

Then from today’s SFX interview, we have:

I’ve transcribed the text below with no alterations.

What’s happening with Eleven and Mike’s relationship?

Finn: Well…I don’t know. These characters are growing and it’s like having a piece of you that you can’t really get off of you. [Laughs] It’s like a leech that you have to fucking peel off! [Laughs] No! Mike is a part of Eleven, Eleven is a part of Mike, like they are one, kind of. They’re kind of long-distance right now. But they always come back to each other. It doesn’t matter how long they’re apart.

Millie: Eleven and Max formed this very strong female friendship. Max introduced her to standing up for herself and recognizing Mike’s faults, and you get to see that more this season, as well as how she kind of has to be more firm with him. But ultimately, we’re looking forward. Her excitement is more toward Mike visiting her for spring break. And that whole storyline is pretty incredible. I can’t wait for you guys to watch it. So their relationship has advanced, just like our ages have advanced… (she shifts to talk more about the acting experience)

I’ll summarize my thoughts on these comments in combination with the Collider interview. My takeaways are:

Mike and El each understand that they value the other. They can take it for granted that they’ll still be in each other’s lives, despite any conflicts and distance.

Finn feels that Mike’s reliance on their relationship is strong, but it’s tied up with Mike’s feeling of being “indebted” due to past experiences and his need for normalcy. He may see it as an obligation or even a nuisance at times, even if he also has a firm belief that they’ll stick around for each other.

Millie feels their relationship is maturing, and she associates this thought with El’s need to call out Mike for his faults and become more independent.

They’ll resolve conflicts amicably, still feeling like they share a bond.

So far, none of this sounds like it MUST be romantic. (And I would keep in mind that we’ve been conditioned by a lot of media to doubt that exes can be close friends.) If we’re looking at it as if it’s an open question whether their statements are about a platonic or romantic relationship (which I think we have reason to), it looks like a toss-up to me. But—their viewers already believe they have a romantic relationship, so the ambiguity could very well be intentional if they’re moving in a new direction.

The above points honestly remind me of many sibling relationships.

And if they were going to be moving in a platonic direction, they’d probably experience some “real relationship issues” soon, no? Plus, we know they’re not going to re-hash the same conflicts, or that would be terrible writing. What do the writers have up their sleeves?

I’m trying to make an honest assessment here, so I have to acknowledge that one line that does stick out as romantic-coded from all of these comments is Finn’s “they’re so in love.” But, since we have a wider context to wonder if Mike really has romantic feelings for El, it’s worth considering how else that could be interpreted. Three possibilities come to mind other than taking it at face value:

He really means that they love each other romantically, but was trying to stay consistent with viewer perception pre-Season 4 to avoid spoilers;

He’s speaking from Mike and El’s character perspectives (and they believe that it’s romantic at this point);

His subsequent follow-up of “and they love each other so much” is an attempt to clarify his statement (it’s redundant but non-romantic, and it’s followed by multiple sentence fragments that suggest some difficulty conveying his main idea).

Interpretations of that line aside, then, could they be going for a sibling dynamic with Mike and El? That’s what I’m getting from all of this.

I’ve said before that I don’t think spoiler-avoidant interviews are definitive on their own. At the same time, I don’t think Finn and Millie would intentionally lie about where the show is going. Taking this all in context—and we do have a LOT of other context to consider, remember—these interviews haven’t dampened my spirits. I haven’t even gone into Noah’s comments, which were enlightening on their own by emphasizing our upcoming love triangle. Let’s see what the Duffers write!

#byler #byler tumblr

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yurtletheturtlehenderson · 3 years ago

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COSMIC - S1:E2; Chapter Two, The Weirdo On Maple Street - [Pt. 2]

A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series

𝘠/𝘯, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯.

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

Lucas, Dustin and I take our seats once we get to class.

"Oh, that can't be good." I sigh, gesturing to Mike's empty seat.

"Yeah, he's never this late," Dustin added.

"I'm telling you, his stupid plan failed," Lucas stated.

"I thought you liked his plan?"

"Yeah, but obviously it's stupid, or he'd be here."

"If his mom found out a girl spent the night—" Dustin began.

"He's in deep shit right about now."

Dustin shifted in his seat, and leaned forward, whispering loud enough for us to hear. "Hey, what if she slept naked?"

"Ugh!" My face screws into a sour, disgusted look aimed at my brother, unintentionally speaking at the same time as Lucas. "Why would she do that, Dustin?"

"Oh, my God, she didn't."

"Oh, if Mrs. Wheeler tells our parents..."

The thought of Mom finding out was enough to elicit an anxious groan from me, and I let my forehead fall against desk where I buried my face.

"No way. Mike would never rat us out."

I hesitantly looked up, making eye contact with Lucas. He gave me a reassuring smile, knowing I worry easily.

"I don't know." Dustin said warily.

"All that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on what really matters, finding Will." I frown at his specific choice of words for El, thinking back on how scared she seemed last night. I desperately want to say something, but decided against it, not wanting to get in a fight. Fighting won't get us any closer to finding Will.

|| 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

Mike Wheeler rides his bike down the small slope of grass towards his front yard. When El refused to let Mike's mom know she was there, Mike had no choice but to resort to plan b. He had led his mom to believe that he had ridden to school when in reality he had stopped around the corner until both his parents were gone.

When he got to the driveway, he dismounted his bike and led it into the garage, however something caught his eye. He stared in awe as the once withered and frankly the most miserable looking plant he had ever seen in his life, was now a beautiful lush green and stood as tall his knees. 'How had Y/n done it?'

It took a solid moment for Mike to gather his thoughts and focus on the task at hand. He parked his bike and made his way inside.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"You want anything to drink?" Mike decided to take advantage of the empty house so that he could show El around. "We have OJ, skim milk... What else? Um, we have..."

Mike trailed off when he saw that El was more fascinated with the things in his living room, mostly his TV set.

"Oh, this is my living room. It's mostly just for watching TV."

El lightly traced her fingers around the frame of the TV as she examined it.

"Nice, right? It's a 22-inch.

That's, like, ten times bigger than Dustin's."

El turned her head and said quietly.

"Y/n."

"Well, yeah of course. Y/n too."

"Y/n. Brother?" She asked, making sure she remembered correctly.

"Yeah!" Mike smiled, then lightly shrugged. "Well, technically adopted. But yeah, they're still brothers."

El's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Ad-adopted?"

"Yeah, um, it means that he came from different parents. Mrs. Henderson adopted him because his parents were unable to take care of him. It's funny actually, Y/n is from Hawkins. Or at least that's where they found him. They didn't used to live in Hawkins; I don't know much about it cause Dustin was so young he doesn't remember any of it, but I think him and his mom were visiting family here and they just... found him, I think? I'm pretty sure that's why they moved here, or something."

El seemed to understand as she thought about it. She then turned to look at the all the pictures on top of the fireplace. She slowly walks to the fireplace and steps up onto the brick platform. She gazes at all the family photos. Particularly, the photo beside the one of Mike; of a smiling girl, a little older than herself, with long brown hair and a pink sweater.

She smiles longingly and speaks in a soft voice. "Pretty."

"I guess." Mike's face is contorted in confusion and a little in disgust.

"That's my sister Nancy. And that's baby Holly." He said as she moved to the slightly larger photo of a young baby. She then moved along to a photo with Mike, Nancy, and Holly, along with two other people she didn't recognize.

"And those are my parents. What are your parents like?" As usual, El says nothing and she steps down from the fireplace and walks up to a large green chair.

"Do they live close?" Mike continued. He notices El run her hand along the top of the plush green chair. "That's our La-Z-Boy. It's where my dad sleeps. You can try it if you want." He offers. El looked up at him, intrigued. "Yeah." He assured her, with a warm smile on his face. She cautiously sits down as Mike kneels down beside the chair. "It's fun!"

She looked to Mike, wondering what he is up to.

"Just trust me, okay?" She gives a quick nod, and braces herself, not knowing what to expect. She is taken aback by the sudden collapse of the chair, she is now laying down and the chair is rocking back and forth. She lets out a gasp, and then a nervous chuckle.

"See? Fun, right?"

With one hand on the back of the chair, and the other on the front, he brings the chair back into its default position. "Now you try."

With a small smile on her face, and feeling more confident she leans over the side and pulls the handle, letting her entire body go flying backward into a slow rock. Mike and El both look at each other and laugh gleefully.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

Some random rock song on the radio that Jonathan barely recognized came to an end as Jonathan Byers drove to his dad's house. His eyes darted to the radio unit in his car for a moment as his heart fell when the familiar sound of "Should I Stay or Should I Go" rang throughout the car.

- 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -

"Darlin', you got to let me know"

Jonathan is sat on the edge of the bed next to his younger brother Will. The two of them are in Will's room, bobbing their heads along to 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' by The Clash.

"Should I stay or should I go?"

"You like it?" Jonathan had to raise his voice so he could be heard over the loud song. Will looks to his older brother and grins.

"Yeah, it's cool!"

"All right, you can keep the mix if you want."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. All the best stuff's on there. Joy Division, Bowie, Television, The Smith's... It'll totally change your life."

"Yeah, totally," Will says with a smile. However, the smile is quick to leave when the two boys hear their mother yelling on the phone.

"Where the hell are you, Lonnie?"

Will slowly turns his head to the door, listening to his mother yell at his absent father.

"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it." Jonathan mimics his brother's actions and looks to the door. Finally, he gets up and walks towards the door.

"This is ridiculous! I'm so sick of your excuses.

"One day is fine and next is black"

Before Jonathan sits down, he lowers the volume on the stereo.

"He's not coming, is he?"

"Do you even like baseball?" Jonathan asks softly.

"No, but... I don't know." He shrugs sadly. "It's fun to go with him sometimes."

"Come on. Has he ever done anything with you that you actually like? You know, like the arcade or something?"

Will shrugs his shoulders weakly. "I don't know."

"No, all right? He hasn't. He's trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn't like things because people tell you you're supposed to. Okay?"

Will only looks down at his feet sadly.

"Especially not him."

Will silently nods his head in understanding.

Jonathan decided to change the subject.

"But you like The Clash? For real?"

Will nods his head eagerly with a smile. "For real. Definitely."

"So... is Y/n a fan of The Clash?" Jonathan asks, genuinely curious.

A faint blush dusts Will's cheeks as he looks down at his hands. "Um, yeah, I think so."

"Maybe you should show this to him. I bet he'll like it."

"Maybe. You think?"

"Yeah, from what I know, he has great taste. He's pretty cool."

A loving smile spreads across Will's face. "Yeah, he is pretty cool."

There's a small pause filled only with the now dulled melody of drums and guitar drifting through the air. They had talked about it before, but only vaguely, never fully addressing it and it dawned on Jonathan that there was probably still loads of fear for Will because of it. He looks down at his brother who he loved more than anything and sent him an encouraging, honest smile.

"Will, you guys are best friends. You two are just too close to ruin the friendship. Why don't you think about asking him to the arcade or something? Just the two of you, maybe come back here for some mac and cheese or something if that'd make you feel safer, and you could " he shrugs. "let him know how you feel?"

Will looked up at his brother, shocked. But his body was flushed with relief, he could feel the air in the room hitting his sweaty and clammey skin giving him chills. Not quite knowing how to handle his brothers reaction, his eyes simply fall to his hands where they fidgeting in his lap.

"But what if that does ruin the friendship? What if he doesn't feel the same way, and decides to stop hanging out with me. Or if someone finds out- I just- I just can't. I'm not ready."

"That's okay. All I'm saying is, he is way too nice to be the kind of person who would do that. And you are way too important to him. And hey, if you ever do feel ready, or you guys do go out in the future..." Jonathan trails off, sensing the awkwardness creep up. He chuckles and looks back to his brother.

"All I'm trying to say is, I'm here for you. Always."

Will smiles gratefully and Jonathan leans forward to the volume back up.

"Should I stay or should I go? So you gotta let me know, should I stay or should I go?"

- 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -

#you'll float queue #stranger things #will byers x reader #reader insert #will byers #dustin henderson #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #cosmic #m!cosmic #el hopper #eleven #y/n henderson #stranger things x male!reader #stranger things x reader #will byers x male!reader #the weirdo on maple street

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lesbianrobin · 3 years ago

Note

What do you think are the good and bad aspects of each season of ST?

ok 1. thank u for this question omg and 2. this answer may or may not be a mess, but either way it’s long (almost 7k words lmao) bc i’m insane, which is why it’s under a cut. it’s still by no means an exhaustive list but these are the things that just kinda came to mind.

also i realize you asked “good and bad” and i wrote this whole post as “strengths and weaknesses” which um. is not Exactly what you asked. but close enough <3 i also ended up including a lot of au ideas ksjdckmn bc like i personally hate when people say a certain plot or whatever was bad without suggesting anything that could have improved it yknow so whenever possible i tried to provide Some idea for fixing the issues i had with the show!!

season 1

strengths (this is probably gonna be the longest section but that’s because a lot of these strengths also apply to s2/s3 by default)

nostalgia and authenticity

this one’s pretty simple, but i think that season one did a good job of blending classic eighties media homages (such as the many many e.t./el parallels) with explicit pop culture references (such as mike’s yoda impression, mentions of the x-men, etc) to create a show that’s essentially dripping in early eighties nostalgia without it feeling too forced. before st, i think the most popular depiction of the eighties in mainstream media was that overly exaggerated neon scrunchie aesthetic from the mid to late eighties, and it was usually done in a comedic sense first and foremost. st took a different approach, instead focusing on the early eighties, a time that’s often ignored in favor of going either Full Seventies or Full Eighties, and i think that this choice likely resonated with adults who lived through the eighties and hadn’t yet seen something that felt quite so accurate to their own adolescence. a lot of young people who watched st were totally unfamiliar with this period of time, unfamiliar with books/movies like “stand by me” that st borrows from heavily, and i think st lent more seriousness to the eighties than most young people had experienced so far, and this was refreshing and interesting!

the use of dnd in the show is also quite genius in a way i’m not sure i can articulate?? it isn’t something Everyone would have played at the time, but it’s something that existed within a different context back in the eighties than it does today, and it really lent a sort of authenticity to the naming of the show’s sci-fi elements. like, of course these kids would name parallel dimensions and monsters and superpowers after these similar things in their favorite game! it just feels so real and it grounds st in our reality moreso than you might expect from the typical sci-fi or horror universe.

utilization of existing tropes

almost every single character in st clearly originates from some popular trope. the plot itself is riddled with classic eighties movie tropes. almost every single element of stranger things can be clearly traced back to some iconic eighties film or just to, like, overused horror/sci-fi/mystery/coming-of-age movie tropes in general. this might sound like a bad thing, but it really works in st’s favor! starting off with familiar tropes gives st the ability to easily create a lot of complexity and make a big impact by selectively deviating from those familiar, comfortable tropes!! while el’s whole plot, hopper’s character, etc, are all examples of this in action, i think the steve/nancy/jonathan plot is the greatest example. even from the start, the fact that good girl barb dies while nancy is off having sex with her asshole boyfriend is an incredibly thorough inversion of the most well-known horror movie trope in the book. how often do girls in horror movies have sex for the first time, walk home alone in the dark of night, and live to tell the tale? nancy and jonathan’s dynamic at first glance is a sort of classic “good girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks, discovers he’s actually got a heart of gold” thing, but instead of following this well-trodden path, st diverged. nancy is brash, impulsive, and at times downright insensitive. jonathan is angry, bitter, and actually a bit of a creep at first. while they have the capacity to emotionally connect and support one another, they can also bring out each other’s darker side, which is not what we’ve come to expect from that initial tropey dynamic.

in addition, steve, the popular rich asshole boyfriend, is actually... a human being! unlike the cartoonishly evil jocks that we’ve come to expect (especially from eighties movies), steve has complexity. despite his initial immaturity and selfishness, he’s also kind to barb, he backs off when nancy says no, he’s gentle and sweet when they sleep together, his first big Dick Move of the season is in defense of nancy, he realizes the error of his ways after the fight and does what he can to fix it, he’s worried about nancy when he sees that she’s hurt at jonathan’s house, and to top it all off, he ends up saving both nancy and jonathan’s lives when he could have just walked away, and the three of them all work together to fight the demogorgon. like... steve began as the most stereotypical character of all time, and by the end of the season, he had one of the most compelling and unique arcs among the whole cast!

finally, at the very end of the season, instead of dumping steve for jonathan as expected, nancy ends up getting back together with steve, and they’re both on friendly terms with jonathan. i realize that i just kinda. summarized s1. but my POINT is that i don’t think the dynamics between the monster hunting trio would be nearly as fun and interesting had the characters of nancy, steve, and jonathan not been set up to follow certain paths that we already had charted in our own heads. like, within the first couple episodes of s1, it’s pretty obvious that nancy and steve are gonna break up, nancy will get with jonathan, and steve will either die or go full evil or just never be seen again. like, duh! you’ve seen this story a million times! you know that’s how it’s gonna go! so, when the story DOESN’T go that way, the impact of each character’s arc and the relationship dynamics become stronger due to their unexpected complexity and authenticity.

distinct plotlines separated by age group

this one’s rather obvious, but the way that the adults in s1 were essentially in a conspiracy thriller while the teens were in a horror flick and the kids were in a sci fi power-of-friendship story and all three converged at the end... wow. brilliant showstopping etc. not only was it just really well done and unique, it also gave stranger things near-universal appeal. like, there’s genuinely something for pretty much everyone in season one!

casting

obviously this applies to every season sorta by default, but when i think about what made season one So successful, i always think about the cast, and not just winona ryder. yes, she’s absolutely amazing in the show and it’s very doubtful that st would be as big as it is today without her name being attached to it from the start!! however, i think the greatest determining factor in st’s success is the casting of the kids, particularly millie bobby brown. like... el is just absolutely incredible. she’s amazing. this has all been said many times before so i won’t harp on it, but millie and the other kids are all So talented and charismatic and i think their casting has been instrumental to the show’s success.

strong visuals

the way that multicolored christmas lights which have been around for decades are now kinda like. a Stranger Things thing. jesus christ. those lights are probably the biggest stroke of stylistic genius on the show.

atmosphere and setting

this is probably like. the least important one here for me sdjncdsc because i think s2 and s3 both had like Even Better atmospheres and shit but s1 was good too and it laid the groundwork!! i know a lot of people would have preferred st be set somewhere more Spooky with lots of fog or giant forests or whatnot, and while i do enjoy thinking about alternate st settings and how they might alter the vibe, i think hawkins indiana was a good choice. as the duffers have said, placing stranger things in a fictional town allows them more flexibility than if they’d gone with their original plan of using montauk, new york. besides that, i think the plainness and like... flatness... of small-town indiana just Works. like, the fact that hawkins is never really scary on the surface is a big part of the horror in the lab’s actions and their impact. hawkins isn’t somewhere that people just disappear all the time. it isn’t somewhere known for strange occurrences (prior to s1, that is). it isn’t somewhere shrouded in mist and secrecy. hawkins on its surface seems like the sort of place with no secrets and nothing to fear, and that’s the point! the lab is out in the open! it’s right there! everything is so close to the surface, yet so far out of the public eye, and i think that really works.

the byers family’s whole deal (specifically the joyce/jonathan dynamic)

this is going here bc i miss it so bad in s2 and s3. i’m not one of those people who believe The Byers Are The Whole Point of the show, because st is and always has been an ensemble, and el, hopper, and the wheelers are just as instrumental to the plot as the byers, but ANYWAY, i do think the byers were one of the most interesting aspects of s1. joyce’s difficulties with supporting her sons as a poor and (implied mentally ill) single mother, jonathan’s stress as a result of having to earn money, care for his brother, and keep the house in order when his mother is unable to do so, and the resulting tension between them when will’s disappearance and supposed “death” brings the situation to a tipping point? holy shit! it’s so good! that argument after they see will’s “body” is just incredible and gut-wrenching. their relationship feels so real and messy and i think it’s just... good. also winona ryder REALLY acted her heart out and she carried a lot of s1 which i think people often forget to mention so i’m saying it here.

weaknesses

pacing/timing

ok so pacing is probably going to go in each season’s weaknesses, to be honest, because i think they all had a blend of some good and some bad pacing. good pacing is invisible pacing, though, so i probably won’t be putting it in any of the strengths sections and will only be focusing on it in the weaknesses. i’m also probably not going to talk about weird day/night cycle things, just because i don’t want to get nitpicky on timelines because that would require going back and rewatching things to double check timing which i don’t wanna do at the moment lmao. anyway, when i think of bad pacing in season one, i primarily think of two things: nancy’s little trip into the upside down and subsequent sleepover with jonathan, and the sort of staggered nature of the climax in the final episode. the latter is simple so i’ll explain it first: while i understand that each group’s respective climax is like part of a chain reaction and that’s why each big moment happens separately and at different times, i think that st is strongest when the whole group is together, and i think that makes the stakes feel higher too, so i’m not In Love with the way s1 separated everyone and gave each group their own climax.

okay, now on to the nancy/upside down thing! idk if i’ve ever talked about it before, but i think the worst decision made in s1 by far is the inclusion of nancy’s brief trip into the upside down, wherein she dives headfirst into another dimension with absolutely no backup, watches the demogorgon chow down, freaks out and runs around for a minute, and then leaves. like... what the fuck? even putting aside what an idiotic decision this was (because i do think nancy’s tendency to rush into things headfirst is an intentional and consistent character trait), it just kind of destroys any remaining suspense surrounding the demogorgon and the upside down, and it accomplishes basically nothing besides scaring nancy enough to have jonathan sleep over, which is lame. i will break it down.

like, first of all, nancy just getting to waltz in and out of the upside down and get a good, long look at the demogorgon makes the entire thing far less mysterious, and by extension far less scary. like... before this scene, we the audience haven’t got a good look at the demogorgon. we’ve seen its silhouette briefly and we’ve seen a blurry picture of it, but nothing more, and i think that is far more effective at building fear than this jaunt nancy goes on which gives us a full view of the thing and makes it into less of a horrifying nightmare and into more of a humanoid animal. like, maybe this is just me, but i found the demogorgon far less intimidating after that scene than before. it also lets nancy and jonathan know For Sure that they’re right without providing any crucial information that they need to fight the demogorgon (aka it’s unnecessary to the plot), which removes a very compelling story element (the faith nancy and jonathan need to have in order to keep going against a vague and poorly understood enemy, the doubt they might have about each other and their own sanity, the possibility that they might be wrong, the trust they need to have in each other) a bit earlier in the plot than i believe is ideal. at the end of episode 5, nancy goes into the upside down and jonathan doesn’t know where she is and it’s intense!!! you’re thinking like, oh fuck, not only is nancy missing and fighting for her life now too, jonathan might be implicated in her disappearance!! some people already think he’s the one who killed will and people know that he took creepy pictures of barb and nancy before they both disappeared, maybe this is gonna cause some serious problems for him!! maybe nancy will find will in the upside down and she’ll help him survive!! fuck, maybe she’ll actually die!! this is huge!! and then episode 6 starts and they’re immediately like oh nevermind jonathan found the tree and got nancy out and she’s fine. my point with all of this is that nancy entering the upside down could have done A Lot in the grand scheme of the plot, but all it did was just... get jonathan to sleep over so he and nancy could have some awkward romance moments and steve could see them together and pick a fight. which could have honestly happened at Any point while nancy and jonathan were working together to hunt down the demogorgon, without ruining the demogorgon’s and the upside down’s mystique. so yeah <3

weird behavior and dumbass decisions that make no sense (aka the whole camera thing)

gonna go off about the teen plot again sorry but: why was nancy so unbothered and quick to forgive jonathan for taking those pictures? girl what the fuck are you doing? why wasn’t that a bigger deal? why was jonathan’s motivation for doing it so weak and why did they just kind of forget about the whole thing? why did nancy TRACK HIM DOWN AT THE FUNERAL HOME while he was PICKING OUT HIS BABY BROTHER’S CASKET to be like hey can you tell me what’s in this creepshot you took? it’s insane. it’s so insane. i mean i think the funeral home thing is hilarious and i don’t mind it being in the show necessarily but like my point here is that i think a lot of character decisions in s1 just kind of.. happened because they Needed to happen for the plot. like, they wrote this plot that required jonathan to be secretly taking pictures of the party and required him and nancy to work together after seeing something odd in the pictures, but they didn’t like... really consider what that event would mean for their characterization and relationship. the whole thing was sort of just dropped with minimal discussion and i think it did both nancy and jonathan’s characters a disservice and was really mishandled.

lighting and saturation/color grading

i am literally begging horror/sci-fi shows to let me see shit. i GET IT okay i understand that when you’re doing cgi effects it helps to keep the lights down and i’m not mad at any of the lighting in the demogorgon/upside down scenes!! i’m really not i think the demogorgon scenes in s1 all look sick!! but like... dude. the colors. where are they. why does everyone look like a vampire. i know blah blah this was probably an intentional stylistic choice intended to mimic film at the time blah blah but dude a lot of old movies are very colorful!! please just let people have color in their faces so everyone doesn’t look like a sheet of paper!!! also i’m white and not a professional lighting designer so yknow grain of salt but i think lucas was kinda poorly served by the lighting sometimes in s1. not Hugely so, not to the degree that i’ve seen poc be poorly served by lighting in other shows, but there were some times where it felt kinda like the lighting setup was just not designed with darker skin in mind.

horror

i just personally don’t find s1 very scary like... ever. i don’t think they were really Trying to be extremely scary yknow so i’m not counting this as a big deal, but i do think that each season has improved on the horror aspects. i think s1′s horror lies more in the mystery and the unknown than in what’s seen onscreen, and as i’ve said already, i think s1 kind of fumbled that suspense ball.

season 2

strengths

the possession plot

i’ll warn u rn this whole s2 strengths section is probably gonna be really short bc idk like. how much there is to really say i feel like it’s all so self-explanatory skjncmn. anyway yeah the possession plot!! eerie as fuck, and noah OWNED. so did winona tbh and finn and sean etc but like. noah. wow! i think the possession plot helped the show maintain a good amount of tension and suspense throughout the season, and a lot of scenes with possessed!will are flatout disturbing to watch. in a good way. i think the mindflayer and will’s possession were far more genuinely frightening than s1′s demogorgon, and it provided a new layer of depth and intrigue to the antagonist besides just “bad monster want eat people.”

tone and aesthetics

halloween season... literally halloween season. halloween season. that is all.

actually i will elaborate a bit and just say that i think s2 did a good job of having the sort of foreboding vibe that s1 was often going for, but without the annoying darkness and desaturation. so points for that.

also st2 is like one of the best Autumn pieces of media ever like it just. like steve and dustin on those train tracks with the fallen leaves all around them.... god. god the vibes are unparalleled. all of the halloween stuff also really contributes to the nostalgia st runs on yknow it makes you think about childhood and trick-or-treating and you kind of get transported like damn... i remember going to the rich neighborhoods to score the good candy..... idk i just think the whole thing is incredibly effective.

“babysitter” steve

by sending nancy and jonathan off together, the show created a problem: what to do with steve? this problem pushed them to create the unconventional and unexpected duo of steve and dustin, and the world is so much brighter for it. seriously though we all know steve and dustin are great i don’t need to argue that point. all i’ll add is that i think allowing steve to grow in this way, serving as a mentor figure and becoming genuine friends with someone so unexpected, really took the originality of his character to the next level. no longer content just to defy his archetype, in s2 steve begins branching out in ways that never would have been considered in s1, creating an incredibly complex and interesting person from the sort of character that most shows would have simply written out or killed off for convenience’s sake. and it works and steve and dustin are such a joy to watch and i love them. <3

the lucas/max plot

so first of all max mayfield is the most perfect baby girl on god’s green earth and idk what i would do without her but anyway. i think lumax is the best romantic relationship in the show and not just because they’re the only ones with like an age-appropriate approach to the whole thing. it’s also because their relationship accomplishes more than just putting the two of them in a relationship!! lucas and max spending time together motivates billy to do his evil shit, providing more conflict in the narrative, and it also helps establish max as part of the group in a relatively natural way while giving both her and lucas a great subplot. lucas (and dustin) has a crush on the new girl, they start spending some time together, and lucas ends up needing to decide whether he’ll keep the secret of the upside down and lose her, or risk both of their lives by telling her the truth. that’s a pretty big, character-defining decision that he gets to make!! max has to choose whether to trust this boy she barely knows and endanger herself, or to walk away and stay safe, yet another great character-defining choice that also contributes to the sense we get as an audience of max as somebody who’s incredibly lonely and desperate for love and connection. this post is way too long already and i have a ton more to say so i’ll stop now but yeah i think lumax really Works in the show without ever distracting or detracting from the overall plot and narrative in the way that some other ships (coughjancycough) often do.

balance between the normal and abnormal

s2 i think did a pretty solid job of melding daily life with more fantastical sci-fi horror elements. i enjoyed seeing so much of the kids at school in the first few episodes!! you really get a strong sense of where they’re at in life, what their daily lives are like, and you get a sort of gradual shift into madness that makes everything feel more grounded than i think it would if they had just leapt straight into the horror shit, yknow?

the el and hopper dynamic

go back and rewatch s2 and tell me that’s not one of the most moving portrayals of parenthood and trauma and growing up that you’ve ever seen. you can’t. or well you can but i won’t listen. i really can’t imagine stranger things without el and hopper’s relationship, and it’s my absolute favorite part of s2. their whole dynamic is so beautiful and complex, and gives them each amazing personal arcs in addition! the black hole scene is literally one of the show’s greatest moments of all time. any given scene between the two of them in s2 is just guaranteed to be heartwarming as well as heartbreaking, and i think that makes for an incredible show.

weaknesses

flashbacks

okay this applies to Every season they All have too many flashbacks but in s2 specifically... please stop showing me shit from season one. i watched it. i know what happened. you don’t need to spoon feed everything to me!! flashbacks can be a really helpful way of delivering information to an audience, but st has a bad habit of not only being kinda demeaning in how often they flash back to shit that the audience already knows, but they also have a bad habit of using flashbacks almost as a crutch to avoid having to deliver information subtly and naturally.

you know i gotta say it... the lost sister

this is so sad. the lost sister really is like a great concept for an st episode, and i’m not mad about the idea of st taking a break from the normal action to focus on one story for a full episode, but the execution of it was just dreadful. kali and her crew feel very over-the-top and stereotypical, and its placement in the season totally kills the tension and excitement that was built in “the spy.”

i think the lost sister honestly could have gone over far better, even with the stereotypical fake-feeling gang kali has, if they had just swapped it with “the spy” like... ok, the end of episode five has el setting off to find kali and will collapsing on the ground seizing. right? imagine if, instead of immediately following will to the lab, we’d followed el. we don’t know what’s happening with will, but it’s a very simple cliffhanger that leaves us on edge without making us feel cheated by the show cutting away. we follow el on her little journey, everything happens much the same as canon, and then at the end, el sees hopper in scrubs. she sees mike, screaming, sees that they’re both in danger. holy shit!!! what the fuck!!! what’s happened since we left will seizing on the ground??? we feel el’s fear and confusion. she decides to go home. and then... boom. “the lost sister” is over. now, we rewind, right back to will seizing on the ground, and “the spy” commences. we learn how they got into the danger that el saw in the end of “the lost sister,” and we sit on the edge of our seats all through “the spy” and “the mind flayer,” KNOWING that el is on her way back to save them but not knowing when she’ll arrive!! idk i don’t think that would have necessarily saved lost sister but i think it may have alleviated some of the issues that i and many others have with it, timing-wise.

the nancy/jonathan sidequest

once again, the idea of nancy going off on her own little mission to find justice for barb after s1 is like. amazing. genuinely i love that plot for her and i can’t imagine anything better for her to have focused on in s2. unfortunately though i think her and jonathan’s little trip to see murray was just kind of... lame. the whole thing just felt like an excuse to get the two of them alone together, yknow? which is fine i guess people contrive all sorts of situations to get characters alone together for romance reasons but in this case i think it just really doesn’t work for me because of what it’s juxtaposed with. like, will is POSSESSED, and jonathan is just off on a mini road trip and sleeping with his bestie, and jonathan never seems to communicate to joyce/will that he left town, and joyce never like... thinks to tell him that will is like sick and fucked up and they’re looking at him in the lab??? like it’s so weird i know joyce always forgets about jonathan when shit’s happening with will but jfc you’d think at some point in that like... 72-ish-hour period where jonathan was out of town she would have thought about him. like at least once. maybe i’m forgetting something and she mentioned him sometime and i missed it but even still, i hate the juxtaposition of nancy and jonathan just like cheers-ing at murray’s place and sleeping together and whatnot while everyone else is dealing with possession or trying to hunt down dart yknow? it feels really boring in comparison and i think it could have been done far better. like it was SO insanely easy for them to get into the lab and get an admission of guilt and escape with it!! i think it might have been a lot more engaging if maybe someone from the lab tailed them to murray’s place and they had to like lose the tail and race to get the recording out to as many news outlets as possible before they got caught, or something like that. the tension in their plotline is completely resolved in episode four!! episodes five and six are just them screwing around and addressing envelopes. while there were a lot of strong ideas in this plotline (i really enjoy nancy going out of her way to get justice, and the fact that they have to water down the story to make it believable), i just think the focus on nancy and jonathan getting together hindered it a lot without adding a ton to the plot or their individual characters.

season 3

strengths

starcourt mall as a setting

while i don’t think the mall was utilized quite to its full potential (something i could make a separate post about if anyone’s interested), i do think that starcourt was a genius addition to the series. i’ve said this before, but building a new mall is a literal Perfect in-universe justification for a significant leap forward in fashion and aesthetics, and it provides a great location for characters to just... be characters. idk how else to articulate this i just think that the mall is a great setting to let people interact with each other and to bring people together who may not have been otherwise (i.e. scoops troop). not to mention how sick it was to see the mall get wrecked toward the end kdjncdkm like they were able to do so much more with the mall in terms of like The Finale than they could with just the byers house or the cabin or the school or even the lab. i love all the back tunnels they run through it’s such a fun like acknowledgement of how this glitzy eighties mall is just a real place where employees get shipments and take out the trash and shit idk it’s all about the perfect facade and what’s hidden what’s underneath what’s hiding in plain sight etc etc i’m just saying words now. anyway.

willingness to experiment and go against expectations

gay robin. neon aesthetics. giant fucking meat monster. i know some people hate both the neon and the meat monster but i personally think they were kind of amazing and like. yknow regardless of personal tastes i think it’s impossible to deny that s3 had a lot of incredible visuals, and they’re all visuals that just wouldn’t have been possible if the show were too afraid to stray from its s1 aesthetic. robin being canonically gay (and her resulting friendship with steve) and the season’s striking visuals are two things that most everyone (besides like homophobes skjncdknm) can agree were great, right? and they were both departures from where the show began and what we all expected!! so yeah i think while some of the experimentation in s3 wasn’t ideal it was also that experimentation that allowed for some of the season’s strongest elements to come about.

the hospital sequence (and the season’s action/horror scenes in general)

this one is fairly self-explanatory. while they may have underutilized the “body snatching” element of the season, the hospital sequence with nancy and jonathan fighting off their possessed bosses did an amazing job of building tension and creating a genuine sense of really intense and personal danger.

in general i think that s3 melded action and horror rather well, particularly in the sauna test, the hospital, and when the mindflayer busts through the roof of hop’s cabin. horror can come from many things, and in this case, st elicited horror largely from the feeling of helplessness, and it was really effective for me personally. i think it worked better for me than s1′s brand of horror because it doesn’t rely so much on a lack of knowledge or a sense of suspense that inevitable disappears upon a second viewing.

the body horror we got in s3 was also really fun! that’s it i just think all the blood and guts and slime were fun and i would like more of them. once again, the impacts of body horror are less dependent upon the viewer being in the dark or unsure as to what’s happening, and as such i think it tends to be a little more effective at eliciting reaction in the long term.

timing and mechanics of the battle of starcourt/finale

i think the battle of starcourt is just fucking awesome, and beyond that personal opinion, i think it’s the most high-stakes and intense finale of all three seasons, and this is for two main reasons! 1. el is out of commission, and 2. (almost) everyone is in the same cental location. this means that (almost) everyone is in danger all at once, and they are all working together at the same time to fight the same threat. s1/s2 have their groups more fragmented for the finales, and while i understand why in each case and i wouldn’t call either season’s finale necessarily weak, i do think the centralized nature of the s3 finale just Works on another level. in s1 and s2, large segments of the cast are already perfectly safe by the time el dispatches the primary threat. in s3, however, everybody save for dustin and erica is still in danger up until the last moment, and el is seemingly (you can def debate how much power she still had in her when she peeked into billy’s mind and whether the memory broke the mindflayer’s hold on him or if she was actually controlling him to some degree) completely vulnerable. this increases the tension and raises the stakes, making the finale a real crescendo to fortissimo as opposed to a series of little mezzo forte moments. i hope everyone reading this knows music idk how else to phrase that my brain is stupid.

emphasis on friendship and adolescence (but in a different way than s1/2)

this is definitely a controversial one but i think that s3 really did like... show a side of friendship that had been more or less unexplored thus far in the show. el and max were amazing, and i think it’s really nice that we got an opportunity to see the kids have some growing pains as well as see them support each other through Normal Adolescent Stuff like boyfriends and breakups instead of just like. death and trauma. this is maybe just a personal preference, but i think it can be really enlightening and provide a lot of depth when you get to see how characters respond to normal everyday conflict and not just how they respond to giant world-ending conflict!! letting el use her powers for goofy teenage shit like spying on boys and messing with mean girls at the mall is not only fun for her and the audience, but it also really emphasizes just how much those powers are a part of el, making it that much more devastating when she loses them at the end of the season.

weaknesses

tonal dissonance

so this is like. obvious. but it must still be said! i won’t go on and on about it since we all know this so i’ll try to like talk about it from an angle people don’t usually? anyway. it seems to me like they were maybe a little worried about s3 being too dark. while the choice to really lean into humor was definitely driven by the sorts of eighties teen films from which s3 drew inspiration (like fast times at ridgemont high), i think it was also done in an attempt to alleviate the more troubling implications of some events in the season, particularly the russian bunker plot. like, yeah, st can be incredibly dark, but if they’d played the whole “children being stuck inside of a foreign military base, tied up, tortured, and drugged” thing completely straight without the humorous elements that exist in canon, it had the potential to be like... disturbing on a new level. steve and robin don’t have powers like el yknow their kidnapping/torture doesn’t have any sci-fi elements to sorta soften the blow. they’re just innocent teenagers being brutalized and traumatized by grown men. so anyway yeah i think maybe the writers were concerned about this storyline coming off as too dark and they wanted it to be a little more whimsical but they ended up pushing way too hard in that direction and creating extreme dissonance at times. this goes for joyce/hopper/murray/alexei too, but to a lesser extent. i think the ridiculousness in that group felt a lot more like... realistic. but still.

newspaper plot

once again i feel like i don’t even need to say this skjdncmn we all know it was insane how the show basically ended up delivering the message “while misogyny is a serious problem poverty and classism are not” and i’ve said it on this blog a million times so i don’t need to repeat myself. i’ll focus on another weak point of this plot: the fact that it completely separates nancy and jonathan from everyone else. once again, the show’s preoccupation with j/ancy held them back! like... can you imagine a version of s3 where nancy and jonathan both worked in the mall? i have a lot of ideas about this possible au and like how the plot could play out differently if they worked in the mall but first of all it’s just more realistic, second of all it further utilizes the mall as a central setting, and third of all, it would bring everyone together. as it is in canon, nancy and jonathan were unnecessarily isolated from the rest of the group, and this isolation was detrimental to both of their characters. like, they only ever get to interact with each other! if they’d gotten summer jobs in the mall, they could have had more interactions with the kids/steve/robin, and they absolutely still could have had a similar argument! maybe in this case, nancy notices the rat thing (or something else odd) herself when taking out the trash behind the mall, and she wants jonathan to ditch work with her to check it out bc she thinks it may be related to the lab. jonathan doesn’t want to ditch work because he needs his job, nancy argues that they’re working shitty mall jobs anyway and who cares if they get fired, and we get more or less the same thing as s3 without the cartoonishly over-the-top misogyny. i mean honestly i think the rat shit could have been cut entirely it didn’t rly... accomplish much of anything. in my opinion. like imagine s3 without the rat plot you literally would not be missing anything except it would be more surprising when the dudes melted into goo at the hospital. so yeah i think it would have been better if nancy and jonathan had jobs at the mall, weren’t isolated from everybody else, and were maybe absorbed into the party’s plot or the scoops troop’s plot from very early on, allowing them to interact with more characters and have a less... dumb.... plot. like god splitting up nancy and jonathan between the party/scoops troop would have been So Much better i just. sdkjcnksdmn anyway yeah.

briefness of group reunion/separation of groups

remember in s2 at the beginning of “the gate,” where mike and hopper had a confrontation and max and el met for the first time and el hugged everyone and steve and nancy had their sad little moment together outside... where’s that energy? obviously the s2 reunion wasn’t that long either, but it made space for some significant emotional moments to take place. s3′s reunion had some hopper/el/mike resolution, but besides that... there was nothing, really. i just think that the whole group getting together in s3 was SO exciting and powerful the way they did it (with both the scoops troop and the adults having their own Big Moment reconnecting with team griswold family), but the emotional potential was more or less squandered.

i also think in s3 at times they were really stretching to keep everybody separated even though it made no sense. and like... in s1 the separation worked bc nobody else knew that (x group) was experiencing weird shit too, and beyond that, each group (as i mentioned in the s1 section) was sort of operating within their own genre and bringing something unique to the season. they’ve stopped doing that though! now, the groups aren’t separate bc each plot is tonally/structurally different, the groups are just separate bc... they need to be, because it’s a big ensemble cast and you can’t just have them all be together for a whole season or it would be way too difficult to coordinate things and keep the show dynamic. all this is to say that i’m excited for s4 because the location differences make it so there’s a Reason for each plot to be separate at the beginning, and i think that’ll work better.

general ridiculousness

i dont mean like i think it’s bad that they made jokes this is just me lumping in all the dumb shit like hopper not worrying about el and not wanting to check on the kids, him and joyce bickering long after they both know they and their children are in danger, max seemingly forgetting that billy is a racist abuser, etc etc. i think many of these are just a symptom of the show 1. trying desperately to keep the groups split up a certain way even though it may not make any sense, and 2. trying to fit into a certain genre/trope mold when their actual characters are more complex than the tropes they’re imitating. this is so fucking long already i am not gonna elaborate further rn but i trust u all know what i mean.

soooo... yeah, that’s about all! i mean it’s not all there are definitely many more things i could talk about and i know i focused sorta disproportionately on the teens which is my bad :/ but i’m done for now. thank you for asking, and apologies for the delay in responding!! i’m sure some people reading (if anyone read this far) will disagree with some of what i’ve said and that’s alright like i’m not The Authority on st or anything i’m just trying to talk about like my own thoughts yknow? so yeah luv u all i hope someone enjoyed reading this!!

#asks #em talks #lesbianrobin.canon #stranger things #if u actually read all this i love u and im sorry #these r just my opinions!! and im sure i misremembered some shit my brain is swiss cheese #i did my best tho

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hawkinsschoolcounselor · 5 years ago

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“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”: How one line sparked a pointless debate

Oh, this one line. It really should have cleared everything up. Those who picked up on hints at Will being written as gay saw it as a reassurance. Others saw it as a sign that Will is developmentally behind his friends and just isn’t ready for romance yet. The biggest flaw in this feud is in seeing these two as mutually exclusive options. There is no reason that Will can’t be both gay and not ready for dating.

On the matter of Will’s sexual orientation, there have been many hints throughout each season of Stranger Things thus far. In Season 1, Will is mentioned as having been bullied by both his father and peers for perceived homosexuality. Joyce says that Lonnie would call him “queer” or “fag”, and this is also what Troy and James would try and use to bully him at school. Troy and James using this is particularly meaningful since they just as easily, if not more easily, targeted Will for being poor or small. The writers made it a point that this was what Will gets bullied for.

His relationships with Joyce and Jonathan also support the idea that Will may be different, even if they don’t necessarily know how. The love and support that viewers get to witness from Will’s family is conspicuous should it turn out to be insignificant. Jonathan tries to reassure Will that there’s nothing wrong with being different or weird. He explicitly tells him that he doesn’t need to like something just because he is supposed to. Joyce provides unconditional love and support for Will’s “less masculine” interests. In an effort to break through Will’s possession, she recalls Will drawing a spaceship. She specifically mentions it being a “rainbow ship” and how proud she was of him. These are little things that, when considered in a vacuum, others could say people are reading too deeply into. It gets a bit harder to dismiss, however, when combined with other evidence.

Will’s relationship with Mike continues to reinforce the idea that Will may be gay. Beyond the fact that their friendship is shown as being somewhat deeper than that of the rest of the party, there are also specific moments that show that Will may see Mike as something more than a friend. At the Snowball, Will resists dancing with a girl who asks him to dance, and he looks over to Mike as he begins to stammer out a refusal. While it may not have come across as explicitly on screen, the script also mentions that while Will is dancing with the girl his eyes are fixed on Mike.

Season 3 brings some new evidence as well. Will watches his friends gain girlfriends, and it is clear he doesn’t see the appeal. His mother suggests that he will one day, to which he replies “I’m...not gonna fall in love.” It’s not a childish reaction of disgust. Instead, it comes across more like annoyance and resignation, as if he’d thought about it before and didn’t like the answer. In addition, he reacts to Mike’s relationship in a way that is unique. All three of his friends have girlfriends, but only Mike’s evokes disgust in Will. Lucas regularly banters and bickers with Max, and Dustin absolutely gushes over Suzie, but Will appears unfazed by them. The suggestion is that Will is jealous.

Will’s fight with Mike is framed as analogous to Mike’s fight and breakup with El. This is where the title quote comes from. Will accuses Mike of “ruining everything” by spending his time making out with “a stupid girl.” This prompts Mike to angrily reply that it’s not his fault Will doesn’t like girls. Will is rendered speechless despite his previous anger, and Mike immediately seems to regret it. It’s a very well-crafted scene, that somehow retains a degree of ambiguity despite the implication that Will simply “doesn’t like girls.” This and the other pieces of evidence are circumstantial in real-life, but this is a TV show, and one that is meticulously written and shot.

On the other hand, Will is also depicted as being somewhat less mature than his friends. Being portrayed by a younger actor compared to the others, Will is smaller than his peers. He also lacks much of the sass or attitude that is often seen in boys his age. Season 3 also goes to great lengths to dress him in simpler, boyish outfits compared to the more mature, style-conscious choices of the others. He has an almost fanatical desire to play D&D, and is very amused by Dustin’s gadgets. These are some of the main reasons people think he just hasn’t matured to the point of wanting a girlfriend.

The problem with this approach is that it assumes eventual heterosexuality from Will. It is very possible that Will has not reached the point of wanting romantic relationships, but evidence suggests that when he does he may not be interested in girls. It may also be that his lack of a desire in romance may instead be a desire to avoid romance.

If Will is indeed a young man grappling with homosexual desires, he would no doubt be terrified. Given the time period and the bullying he’s received, this would be an undesirable outcome. Accepting these desires could lead to isolation, violence, and even death. It would be admitting that everything people have said about him was right all along. It would mean his dad would never love him. It would mean he would be better off not growing up, never falling in love.

Will didn’t need to worry about a girlfriend as a kid. It was completely acceptable for him to spend all of his time with his friends. With Mike. For Will, growing up could mean all of that changing. It could mean facing his feeling for Mike. It could mean losing Mike to a girl. It could mean no more trips to the arcade, no more movies, no more late-night D&D sessions. It would mean everything changing, and it’s easy to see why Will would want nothing to change. It’s not so much that Will isn’t ready to grow up as it is he is refusing to.

Will potentially being homosexual and not wanting to grow up are not issues in opposition to each other. In fact, the former is, at least in part, the trigger for the latter.

#stranger things #will byers #gay will byers #byler #byeler

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urdearestmom · 4 years ago

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brain damage

i’m back again y’all and just wrote this piece... a bit of a scene study from that scene in 3x06. basically what i wish mike had said

also the middle part is mostly conjecture but some of it is bits that you can hear in the actual scene if you strain your ears and ignore nancy and jonathan talking over it

also DISCLAIMER i do not hate max!! i really like her actually but she was really pissing me off with this whole bit because she just does not have any basis for understanding mileven's relationship and so her advice doesn't always directly apply. she had good intentions but BRUH. anyways i could go on a whole rant about max vs mike in season 3 but i'm not gonna do that right now lmao

It’s pretty silent in here, El thinks. It always is, but tonight it’s… strange. Almost as though it’s empty. Why can’t she find them? She’s been sitting in her room for the last half hour trying to locate any of the flayed and although she can’t see it, she knows there’s a growing mountain of bloody tissues next to her on the floor. She’s starting to think that she might need to give herself a break for a little bit.

Her friends are in the living room waiting for her, and she knows they’re all anxious to find out what she might see. So far, absolutely nothing. The only thing that happens is that every so often she hears a bit of a voice. It’s just there, tickling the edges of her consciousness, and she could tune into it if she wanted to… but she’s already identified it by the cadence of the noise as Mike’s voice, and she’d said she wouldn’t spy on him. She’d done it once and he was clearly upset by it. Although they aren’t really back to how they were before, El misses him more than she lets on, and she doesn’t want to make things worse by spying again.

Outside, Mike is getting close to yelling. He sincerely hopes El can’t hear him because he is once again fighting with her new best friend.

“It can’t be good for her to be in there for this long,” he exclaims, pacing in front of her door.

“Mike, you need to relax,” says Max, looking disdainfully at him.

“What if she gets brain damage or something?!”

“Oh shit,” interrupts Lucas, looking between them. “Is that like, a real thing?”

Max scoffs. “No, it’s not. He made it up. Mike doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about,” she adds, raising her eyebrows defiantly as if daring him to refute her.

“Oh, and you do?! ” He retorts. Her facial expression alone is pissing him off. It’s so self-righteous, as if she knows anything at all about him or how he thinks and feels.

“No,” she says quickly. “But I think El does. See, that’s the difference between you and me. You think you know everything!”

“I don’t know everything,” he fires back. His hands are balled into fists and he’s starting to shake. “But I know her.”

Max snorts. “You’re just mad she wants to be her own person. You can’t deal with other people not doing what you tell them to.”

“What do you think this is, Russia? I’m not some dictator, okay? I’m just trying to protect El!” He says angrily. This is getting more and more ridiculous by the second. Max doesn’t know the first thing about what he can or can’t deal with and acting like she does is striking his last nerve. Mike can feel the familiar boil of rage deep within him coming to a rise.

��The only person who knows anything about El’s powers is El,” says Max, with an air of finality.

Mike crosses his arms in an attempt to get himself in control of his emotions. “So if that’s true, what makes you think you have any more of a say than I do?”

She splutters for a moment and it’s so satisfying that Mike almost smirks, but it drops quickly when Max rises from her seat and stalks over to him.

“I don’t,” she seethes, poking him forcefully in the chest. “But she does, and you need to back off .”

“I’m not even on! ” He yells, throwing his arms up and pushing her away. He realizes his statement doesn’t actually make any sense but… whatever. At this point, it’s not like it matters. “She won’t listen to me! Because you put ideas in her head! You know she absorbs every new thing people tell her and you pressured her into dumping me!”

There it is. It’s out. It’s what he’s been thinking since it happened. He knew he’d messed up big-time by lying to El, but he never would have expected her to dump him over it. And the look on Max’s face as she stood by and watched had said everything he needed to know.

Max’s face is turning an alarming shade of pink and Mike thinks that he probably matches her. “I didn’t pressure her into anything, she decided! What is your problem with letting El decide things for herself?!”

“I don’t have a problem! At least I didn’t before you inserted yourself where you didn’t need to be!”

“All I did was give her choices!”

Mike takes a deep breath to retaliate, but then lets it go and turns away. “You don’t understand. Just- fucking leave me alone.”

Lucas is still staring at them; Mike can feel his friend’s eyes on his back. Why isn’t he agreeing? He was there when El- he knows what she can push herself to.

Max makes an angry noise. “Fine! It’s not my fault you can’t be wrong!” She walks toward Nancy and Jonathan and Mike follows, preparing to convince everyone else that this is a stupid idea. “Okay, can you guys settle an argument for us?”

Nancy looks hard at them, her eyes searching Mike quickly before flicking back to the girl next to him.

“Who do you think should decide El’s limits… Mike, or Eleven?”

He sees red. “The way that you framed that is such bullshit. ” Why is he the villain here?!

Her braids whip around her face as she turns to him. “It’s not bullshit, Mike, this is your whole problem! And it’s also precisely the reason why she dumped your ass!”

“El dumped you?” Nancy asks incredulously.

Mike throws his arms up again. “Yeah, because she’s conspiring against me! She’s corrupting her!”

“N- enlightening her!” Max throws back. “The fact is, she’s not yours. She’s her own person, fully capable of making her own decisions.”

“She’s risking her life for no reason!” He shouts.

“No reason?” Says Nancy. “Mike, the flayed are out there doing god knows what-”

“Killing, flaying,” interjects Lucas.

“Transforming into monsters,” adds Will.

Mike glares at them. Not helping.

“And El’s not stupid,” Nancy continues, shaking her head. “She knows her abilities better than any of us.”

“Exactly, thank you,” Max says victoriously. Mike closes his eyes. He cannot believe this is how this is going.

“And she is her own person-”

“Exactly!”

“With her own free will-”

“Exactly! El has saved the world twice and Mike still doesn’t trust her-”

At that he has to interrupt. There’s no way he’s letting Max flip this around. “You wanna talk about trust, really? After you made Eleven spy on us?!”

Max looks down, giving herself away.

Lucas stands up behind him. “Wait, what?”

Mike whirls to face him. “Oh, she didn’t tell you this?” He says sarcastically.

“No!”

“Your girlfriend used El’s powers to spy on us ,” he spits.

“No, no, no,” Max interjects. “I did not make her, it was her idea. And why are we even talking about this, seriously?”

“Yeah,” says Will. “Who cares?”

And now Mike’s annoyed at Will too. Will has no idea what is going on in Mike’s head and he’s not ever going to understand why he feels the way he does. Just the same as the rest of the Party will never really relate to Will’s struggles because they weren’t there, Will wasn’t there for theirs either. He didn’t see what she did-

“I care!” Says Lucas, and finally Mike is glad someone seems to be on his side. Thank God for small blessings.

“Yeah, I guess girlfriends don’t lie, they spy,” he says, turning back to Max at the last moment so she can truly see his ire.

“We were just joking around,” she defends.

“Would it have been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something?” He asks.

She wrinkles her nose. “You weren’t!”

“But what if I was?!”

“Then gross!”

“Seriously, Mike?” Interrupts Nancy, and all of a sudden this has become like one of those moments where he just wants to strangle her for talking before he’s done. She does it all the fucking time and like, he guesses it’s probably part of being siblings but it leaves him fuming more often than not.

“I’m just trying to demonstrate how careless Max is with Eleven’s powers,” he says carefully. This is where he needs to get his point across. He desperately needs someone to understand that he’s not trying to be controlling or police what El does or doesn’t do, he’s just trying to save her from herself. He couldn’t do it the first time, but by God if he isn’t going to try now.

“Have any of you noticed Lucas is the only one not disagreeing with me?” He asks.

Max huffs. “Lucas doesn’t have anything to do with this. This is your prob-”

“Lucas has everything to do with this!” He roars. Mike has absolutely had it up to here with her and turns on her a final time, shaking again. “You weren’t there, Max! None of you were. Except Lucas. You don’t know what she’ll do..” His voice trembles.

Lucas seems to understand what he’s getting at and lays a hand on his shoulder. Mike flashes him a grateful look. He still has a hard time thinking about that night, much less talking about it. “She vaporized herself in front of us. I tried to stop her and she did it anyway.”

The room is silent now, the only sound being the TV static from El’s bedroom where she’s still holed up. Mike takes a breath.

“It’s not that I think El doesn’t know her limits,” he says. “I just know that she doesn’t care about them. She’ll die overexerting herself before she lets something hurt one of us.”

He looks up at everyone, Jonathan and Will looking oddly similarly out of place and Nancy with her eyes trained on his face as she listens. Max isn’t looking at him. Good , he thinks. Maybe that made her feel guilty.

“How would you feel if you knew firsthand El didn’t care about dying to save her friends, huh? Wouldn’t you be worried about her?” He directs this at Max specifically, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “You guys are treating her like some kind of machine, and she’s not a machine. I still have nightmares about that day all the time.”

The room stays silent, almost as though everyone is holding a breath and waiting for him to start yelling again, but he’s not going to. He doesn’t have any energy left to expound on this topic. If Max wants to keep making him the bad guy, then whatever. He has more important things to worry about.

“I just-” He starts and stops, wondering if this is the right thing to say. “I don’t want her to die looking for the flayed when they’ve obviously vanished off the face of the Earth, so we can we please just come up with another plan because I love her and I can’t lose her again.”

Now it’s almost as though all the air has actually been sucked out of the room. Maybe this wasn’t the right time to reveal the depth of his feelings, but Mike really didn’t know what else he could say that could possibly make them understand his position. Lucas’ hand on his shoulder squeezes for a quick second and then lightly taps him as Lucas moves his arm back.

Nancy shakes her head. “I get that you don’t want her to hurt herself, Mike, but she’s already in there. There’s not much else we can do.”

“What’s going on?”

Everyone whips around to face El coming out of her bedroom doorway. Holy shit, did she hear what he said? Holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit-

“Nothing. Nothing!” He says quickly.

“Just… family discussion,” adds Lucas from behind him. Mike can feel the smirk in his voice without even having to look at him.

“Oh,” says El, and suddenly Mike really wants to hug her. But this isn’t the time. He looks away.

“I found him,” she continues.

“Found… who?” Nancy asks.

“Billy.”

#stranger things #stranger things 3 #stranger things fanfiction #urdearestmom #brain damage #reimagined #3x06 #mileven #mike wheeler

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femmeharringrove · 5 years ago

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Another summer, another fight. It scared them to find demogorgons roaming the forests of Hawkins again, the immediate concern being that another gate was open somewhere, but instead of a gate they found a nest; they'd been breeding in this dimension. There are unknowns here, of course. How long were they nesting? How many escaped the fight? How many escaped Hawkins before they even knew the nest was there?

But unknowns can wait. The battle is over, things are okay for now. Steve's destination isn't the Byers' home, not this time, but he's got a car full of chatty teenagers to drop off so he drives on autopilot. The kids won't make anything of his silence until much later, they hardly notice it now. But Steve can't talk, can hardly focus on anything but the eternal trip to the familiar home filled with warmth and relief and family, his family. The kids clamber out and Dustin hesitates, asks Steve if he's coming in.

He's not, he can't, but he smiles his most reassuring grin, runs a fond hand over the teen's curls, and promises to be inside in a minute. Dustin smiles back and nods before scampering inside. Steve watches with a sad sort of relief; his kids are safe, his loved ones are alive. Most of them are, anyway. They survive this time, and so he calls it a success.

Steve looks down at his bloodied jacket and groans softly. He's not making it this time, and he's okay with it.

The Beemer moves out of the driveway silently and he finds the strength to reach the quarry before the car turns off. He should go home, but his mother won't appreciate if he drips blood on her carpets. The quarry is his safe space, these trees know his secrets well. This is where he used to come with Billy long ago, when those ocean eyes and bright smile were still around. This is where their friendship blossomed over beer cans and rolled joints, where Billy trusted him with the truth about Neil and where Steve trusted him with his whole heart. They made love here, hidden away in their cars, they danced to old cassettes and talked about running away to California and making a life for themselves. This is where Steve came after Starcourt, face bruised and ribs broken and heart shattered. He grieved here, healed here, learned to move on here. It's almost fitting that he choose to die here, too. Bittersweet, he thinks.

He turns the car off and thinks about Dustin, about his kids. They'll be finishing high school soon. Dustin's already got an acceptance letter from some big tech school out in California, and Will's gotten a hefty scholarship to a New York arts school. Max is going to law school, she told him not very long ago, and he knows she's going to make one hell of a lawyer. Lucas and Mike are going to North Carolina, and El isn't quite ready to leave the nest yet, but when she does, when Hop lets her go, Steve knows she'll do something amazing. He wishes desperately he could be there to see it, but he's fading fast; the flow of blood from the gruesome series of bites along his torso is slow, but it's adding up. He hopes they don't grieve too hard, that they don't miss him too badly. Especially Dustin.

Dustin, his favorite child. His best friend. Claudia's told him several times even she saw him as an extension of their family, the older brother and mentor her Dusty always needed. The kid's loud, obnoxious at times, but Steve loves him fiercely and he hopes, really hopes that the kid knows that. He's got a letter in his desk for Henderson, for each of his kids, for everyone in his life, wrote them in an emotional haze after Starcourt nearly four years ago when he almost died in a Russian base. There's even a letter for Billy, a farewell to the love of his life. Steve hopes the kids get those letters so that they can at least have that closure, that form of goodbye. That's what those letters are, really. Three nights after the mall he wrote them just in case he died without the chance to say goodbye. Those letters hold everything he's ever wanted to say but never felt able to.

When they're found, Steve wonders what his parents will think. He wonders if his mother will cry, if his father will feel remorse for his absence. It hurts that he's dying without the chance to heal their broken relationship, and in his dark car he finds himself aching for his mother's hug, his father's hand stroking his hair. He wants to tell them that he loves them, in spite of everything. He wants to say sorry, he's sorry he wasn't the child they wanted him to be. But most of all, he just wants their company.

He knows Joyce will cry, thinks Hopper might too. Nancy and Robin are going to cry, there's no doubt in his mind. Steve hopes they don't feel guilt over this, that they don't blame themselves. Because it's not their fault, no matter what they may tell themselves. Robin's going to take this hard, he's abandoning his partner in crime. He hopes she finds another, that she gets to run off to Nashville and get her music gig going. He hopes she finds a girl who loves her goofy ways as much as he does. He hopes Nancy chases her dreams, that she catches them, that she and Jonathan live a happy life together. He hopes everyone lives a happy life after this. He hopes they move on.

"It's gonna take a while, Pretty Boy." Steve opens his eyes (when did he close them?) and slowly rolls his head to the side, stares at Billy in the passenger seat. Billy looks youthful and happy, his skin tanned and freckled and free of the Mind Flayer's scars. He's holding Steve's goodbye letter. Steve blinks once, twice, smiles faintly.

"I've missed you, dumbass," he grumbles, and Billy laughs easily. The sound is floaty and musical.

"Ditto, Stevie." He smiles fondly, and for a second Steve feels like they're teenagers again, sharing their affection in the safe confines of the quarry. Steve can forget the grave reality of the situation. He smiles back, reaches out to poke Billy's warm cheek, and slid his gaze lazily back out towards the lake.

"Is it scary?"

"Not really." Billy shakes his head. "Not when you know what's coming." Steve nods in acknowledgement.

"Can I do anything to stop it?" he asks. The blonde shakes his head again, his smile soft and sad.

"Nah. Sorry, Babydoll, but your time's running out." Steve takes a shuddering breath, nods again. Billy's hand seeks his out, squeezes gently. "Hey, look at me." He waits until Steve obliges, unfocused eyes settling on him. "You did good, Steve. You did real good."

"I don't want to leave them," he whispers, and he's starting to tear up now, the gravity of the situation setting in. "Who's gonna look after them, Bill? I can't - I can't just leave them." Billy leans in as Steve's voice wobbles, his calloused hand wiping the brunette's tears away while he hushes him softly.

"They're going to be okay," he soothes. "Trust me. You've done everything you can, you've done your job. You've been the best damn babysitter this world's ever seen." Billy's arms wrap around him comfortingly. "You've taken such good care of them, now it's time for you to rest." Steve sniffles as he leans into his boyfriend's arms, closing his eyes again.

"You think so?" he manages to ask.

"I know so." A hand runs gently over Steve's wild hair. "I worried about that too, was real worried about you and Max. But look at you." Billy shifts, tilts Steve's head and gets the dying man to look at him again. "You went off to police school or whatever they call it, you became a cop." And Steve had, he'd been a cop for two years. It was the right choice in his mind, even if his parents weren't keen on the idea. Hopper was proud of him, though, and everyone else supported him the whole way through. Judging from the look in Billy's eyes, the blonde is proud of him too. "You've helped those little shitbirds through high school, you've given Buckley a real friend, you've been there for Wheeler and her boy toy which is really impressive, sweetheart, because they drive me nuts." Steve snorts softly, a faint smile on his face, and Billy chuckles before pressing on. "You brought a little sunshine to everyone's life, Steve, and that's amazing. You've left your mark on them all forever. Those kids? They're never going to forget you. None of them will. And it won't be easy for them, losing you, but you moved on after me, didn't you? They're going to keep going. But I promise, they won't forget Steve Harrington." Billy's voice is so confident and soft, Steve can't help but believe him. He worries for his little family still, but he believes the other man. They're going to be okay, somehow. He doesn't have to worry anymore.

So instead, he presses closer to Billy, ignores the dull pain in his body, and smiles.

"Now what?" he asks. Billy hums low in his throat as he cards thick fingers through Steve's hair.

"Now, we move to California," he chuckles. "Right by the beach, baby. We'll watch the sum set over the ocean every night, adopt a couple of dogs or some shit. It'll be good." Steve hums softly.

"Sounds good," he agrees. He's silent for a little while after that. Steve's body feels numb, but that doesn't startle him. "Hey, Bill?"

"Yes, Bambi?"

"I thought you were supposed to feel cold when you die." Steve blinks hazy and slow, a soft smile on his face. "But I just feel really warm." Billy squeezes him gently.

"Warm is good, Pretty Boy," he murmurs. "It's over, Steve, close your eyes. You can rest now." The brunette nods, almost closes his eyes, but stops.

"You'll stay?" he asks.

"I'll stay," Billy promises. "Sleep, Sunshine. I'll be here when you wake up." Satisfied by that answer and too tired to keep his heavy eyelids open, Steve closes his eyes, smiles softly, and falls asleep.

It's Hopper who finds him just past dawn, after spending much of the night searching for the young cop. He has to sit down, can't move for a few minutes after the discovery. Dustin screams when they get to the hospital, crumples on the floor and begs Hopper to bring his best friend back. Max outright faints at the news and spends the day clinging to El, who can't stop crying longer than five minutes. Robin begs them to tell her it's a joke and rages for a few minutes before dissolving into tears herself. Steve's parents get the call in their Tokyo hotel room just before going out for the night; his mother trembles so hard she can't even try to stand. If his father feels anything at the news, he's good at hiding it. They come home to arrange the funeral and are faced with several teenagers waiting for them, Dustin yells at them until Hopper steps in. His mother looks at his lifeless face and whispers an apology he can't hear.

Steve Harrington is laid to rest next to his old high school rival, and an old nail-studded bat is left at the headstone. Nancy gives a tear-jerking eulogy at his funeral, and Dustin barely gets through a smaller speech about his big brother. Max writes a speech, but ultimately is only able to tell the small crowd that Steve was the brightest ray of sun in her darkest time. His parents allegedly were "too emotional" to speak about their son, and no one questions it. Joyce speaks, though, about this heartbreakingly sweet boy she came to love as her own, and Hopper says he would have been proud to have the kid as his son.

His letters are found and are handed out that night, and Max leaves his letter for Billy by the other's headstone unread. They all cry through the words scrawled out in that familiar handwriting, his assurances of love and pride for them all, and promises that they would get through this. Sitting at the quarry that same night, sharing laughter and tears and memories of the man, they decide that maybe, even if they can't see it now, Steve's right. They'll try and get through this. It's hard navigating a storm when the sun's been lost, but they're going to try.

#steebie writes #steve harrington #harringrove #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #i have finally decided this was good enough to post here we go

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will80sbyers · 2 years ago

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hi! what do you think is the strongest piece of evidence for bi mike??

(hope ur having a good day/night <3)

Heyyy ☺️

I feel like the Vickie and Robin parallel made it clear enough because they wrote that in the script purposefully to parallel byler completely, I also feel like from how Mike talks about his relationship with El and how much he's worried about it it wouldn't make sense for him to be lying all the time and for the writers to not even focus on that visually in a clear way, they have to bring all the audience on this journey, for now visually they have presented Mike to be honest in my opinion... and really it's a combination of so many things and writing choices, it's not only one thing that makes me think that...

I can't pick one because it's the whole context of the show in the narrative & outside in the making that makes me think that Mike is more likely to be bi/queer!

like, I think from how they filmed the first 3 seasons it's clear from how Finn acts and how the story is presented that Mike and El were meant to be taken seriously as a real couple (just a puppy love couple but still real) and his crush on her it's shown on screen multiple times through the seasons, personally I can't ignore that or the fact that milkvan has been paralleled to other ships that are romantic... because if I do that then I can't believe in byler either, because it makes all their moments in question not proof if it's not valid for both of the ships... I can't ignore one and take the other as proof at the same time

and it wouldn't make much sense as a director to film that in that way and even advertise the ship online as a real ship... from a marketing point of view that's a really bad idea if you want people to follow your other works after this

I also think that they used the parallels between milkvan and byler to show that the two relationships have the same level of possibility but just end in different ways with byler endgame, I don't know how you can explain using parallelels for the two couples if Mike and El were not in a real relationship textually, it's only confusing visually and to me just doesn't make sense... I feel like Mike being bi makes the narrative play smoother and clearer in general!

as always this is only my opinion, no hate to who has different ones!!

Hope you're having a great day/night too!! 💕

#byler #will byers #mike wheeler #ask #bi mike wheeler

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mrs-evadne-cake · 4 years ago

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Regarding the criticism that Hopper has been getting post S3, how much of the backlash do you think is justified and how much do you think is unnecessary? Because to me, in some aspects i can understand why he would have such a knee jerk angry or grumpy reaction in certain situations, like when it comes to dealing with the boy dating his daughter, or when his crush stood him up, but i didnt like how they amplified his anger to the point where it becomes his default reaction to everything.

There was a thing I saw on here a while back that said something along the lines of ‘You know something went wrong when you don’t get mad at a character for their behavior, you get mad at the writers’ and that’s sort of been how I felt about S3 Hopper.

I think very little that he does is out of character in a vacuum- if you just gave me one sentence write ups of everything he does in the Season like, ‘becomes needlessly aggressive to Mike because of El’ or, ‘doesn’t believe Joyce thinking the Upside Down is Back because of magnets’, or ‘is ridiculously mean to the world’s most adorable Russian Defector’ or ‘almost chops a man’s finger off with a cigar cutter’ I think I would have been a little...taken aback... by some of the choices but I wouldn’t go ‘That’s absolutely ridiculous, he’d never act like that’ (with one significant exception, but we’ll get to that later) because Hopper is and has always been a man at war with himself when it comes to good vs. bad emotional impulses and one with anger issues, and with a presumably cold-turkey pre-10am barbiturate habit in his rear view mirror and much LESS under control drinking problem.

The problem for me- going along with what you said- became how MUCH there was of it and how cartoonishly over the top it was most of the time (I’m aware this was an active choice during production- this does not impact if I think it was a GOOD choice). I think that if they had - focused- his anger a little more instead of just turning every scene he was in into a chore watching of Hopper YELLING at someone I’d have less of a problem. If I wanted to spend my time watching a middle-aged prick getting stupidly aggro at literally everyone around him for no real reason I’d just go to family holidays.

Now, where it gets really in the weeds for me where I would lean heavily toward justified rather than ‘in-character actions, badly handled’ is that his characterization- even within the context of only S3- starts to become inconsistent to feed his anger.

Lemme explain.

So lets assume we as an audience can accept that Hopper is being Needlessly Shitty to Mike and El because he’s being protective of El and has established anger issues- so far so good. We have cause, we have effect, it’s in character, not a fan of execution but hey, I don’t have to love it all. We think that he’s so resistant to Joyce and her Magnets because he really wants the entire thing to be over so badly that he’s willing to ignore and aggressively reject her (admittedly) shaky theory just validate his own hope that El and the rest of them are safe. We can draw a through line for the character very adequately explaining (but not excusing) why he’s acting out. And then we get to Murray's and, as usual when the show takes me to Murray’s, it ruins any goodwill I had. What possible excuse is there- given what we’ve accepted about his actions and motivations up to this point, what the season has been telling us about the character, and what we know the character knows about the *sigh*... Evil Russians definitely starting shit in the town with his telekinetic super-weapon of an adopted daughter in it who he wouldn’t even let out of the house for a year just to be safe- to give Joyce shit about BEING WORRIED ABOUT THE KIDS.

Him putting her down because the kids (these fucking kids) were obviously, definitely fine (in the town he knows has *sigh*... evil Russians trying to open a gate in it) is so absurdly, blatantly contrarian that it wrecks everything. I can accept ‘Hopper is acting out because he is very stressed in the first half of the season about his daughter being in any kind of danger, from boys, monsters or the world in general but when the plot goes ‘Your daughter is absolutely, totally is in very obvious danger’ and his reaction suddenly becomes ‘GOD, stop being so hysterical Joyce I’m sure it’s FINE’- The character is now broken- he’s internally inconsistent and is serving the writers needs instead of the writers serving the character.

It’s a trivially easy fix- just flip his motivation to Needing to Get Back To El ASAP- hell, it’s EXCELLENT motivation to be a raging asshole to everyone that gets in his way or slows him down- but as written it makes it clear that the actual motivation is ‘be shitty to Joyce because we want to be like Romancing the Stone or Moonlighting’.

This is where I feel like the backlash was VERY justified.

Thanks for the ask- this one was really interesting.

#stranger things #long post #jim hopper #asks

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clericbyers · 5 years ago

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I have been thinking about the exchange between Will and Mike at the end of ST3 and in particular their word choice. In artistic media, whatever is articulated is there with purpose. It’s not coincidence (an old example is that if a gun is mentioned in text to be on a wall to a reader, then the reader expects the gun to be important in some manner, whether it is for metaphoric narrative or is literally used because it was explicitly pointed out in the narrative). In terms of cinematic media, the published take was used instead of other versions for whatever reason the director(s) decided, so everything has intent. (Finn even said in a Hollywood Reporter interview that the Duffers shot “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls,” with different phrasing, adding “yet” in one take that ended up unused. So, there’s definitely attention payed to what exactly is being said between Will and Mike.)

That being said, I wanna focus a lot on Mike’s, “Yeah, but what if you want to join another party?” and Will’s, “Not possible.” Before this exchange, Will donates his D&D manuals. He’s not taking it with him despite spending a good while three months back trying to regroup the Party through it. He states that he’ll use Mike’s set, if “we still wanna play”. Here he puts the ball in Mike’s court while acknowledging that they both might grow up and grow out of the interest but Mike holds the means to pursue D&D again. Mike says, “Yeah, but,” and it’s simple acknowledgement neither here nor there because he had something more important to say, something that unnerves him enough to let his gaze wander. He seems a little unsure and he pauses before continuing on, gathering his thoughts. He doesn’t make eye contact with Will until he says, “What if you want to join another party?”

[x]

Now party had two meanings in ST: party as in D&D in general and the Party (which I’ll capitalize) which is the best friend circle of Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin. Max and El join later but those four are the Party when it comes to D&D. Mike’s question is loaded. He asks if Will wants to play D&D with other people, he asks if Will wants to find a new friend group to replace the Party. He paints it as a hypothetical, a possibility for Will to pursue if he wants to, not when he plans to. Mike doesn’t say, “Yeah, but you can still find another party while you’re gone.” That is giving explicit permission for Will to move on, it’s what he already expects in a way but doesn’t want. He doesn’t say, “Yeah, but you might want to find a new party.” That paints the Party (and in turn himself) as old and something of the past, which Mike is battling with himself in terms of what it means to grow up.

Mike is asking about this loaded hypothetical situation. “What if,” hypothetically, “you wanna join another party?” ‘Another party’ implies in addition to the Party, an alternate of sorts. It’s not necessarily a replacement, just an addition. He’s offering the possibility because much like what Mike did when El joined the Party, the addition can very well become a replacement. Consider it ironic I suppose, but he doesn’t want Will to replace him.

Will’s response though...his response kills me dead. Will didn’t say, “Impossible.” He said, “Not possible.” There’s a difference between impossible and not possible. Impossible means it can’t occur, it cannot exist. It’s simply not able to be done no matter what. Every single possible event in the world can occur and this one thing simply cannot be done. It’s very finite and, well, pretty extreme and intense. ‘Not possible’ though? It’s technically the same meaning but context and delivery matters. ‘Not possible’ is so much more freeing in terms of interpretation than impossible.

[x]

For example, “It’s impossible to give you a ride,” vs “It’s not possible to give you a ride.” The former phrase implies defeat. It’s literally never going to happen for whatever reason. Maybe the car is full already or you have too much luggage that can’t fit. The bounds of the real world inhibit you from the car ride. It’s frankly just not gonna happen. The latter phrase though infers that there are other circumstances that means this simply isn’t possible. Giving you a ride isn’t in the list of possibilities at the moment. Maybe the car has an extra seat but there’s a dog you’re allergic to in it. It’s not impossible for you to ride in the car—there’s a free seat—but it’s not a possible option for you if you don’t want to have an allergic reaction.

In the context of Will’s reply, impossible would mean that Will can’t ever find another party. That’s frankly false; he could probably find another party, which Mike hypothetically thinks may happen given his question. Will knows this, he could find more people to play D&D with, it’s not impossible to join another party. But he looks down at the box between them—a box full of old toys to donate and move on from, a symbol itself of growing up—and then shakes his head with a soft smile. It’s technically possible to join another party—he has that choice—but in actuality, it’s not possible for him. It’s not possible for Will to replace the Party. It’s not possible for Will to replace Mike. Those cards aren’t in his hand despite them being in the deck.

Will is saying so much just with those two words, reassuring Mike that even though they have growing up in front of and between them (literally in terms of the donation box that’s only there because he’s moving away), the one thing that won’t change is how he feels, and his relation to Mike. That change is not possible. He will always love Mike.

And then Mike smiles.

[x]

Mike smiling with Will isn’t new, but the thing to note here is how he smiles. It’s not just a simple grin. He’s shy, he’s soft, he’s careful, he’s cautious. Mike being cautious about showing affection to Will? That’s new. He’s always been the first to reach out with Will, always caring and checking in, reaching out physically and emotionally. Throughout ST3, he’s shutting Will out and throwing that in his face and when he does that, Mike’s not cautious (as usual), but in ST3 it’s to the negative extreme of brashness.

Now though, Mike is questioning. He even called Will ‘dude’ earlier, trying to get a handle on his relationship with Will. Will is a boy, he’s a dude, he’s Mike’s male friend, right? He could have said “Woah, Will,” or “Whoa, Byers,” or even just, “Whoa,” but saying dude? Why would he ever have to do that, especially if he was still with El? Why is he reinforcing the fact that Will is “dude”? There’s all sorts of interpretations to be had on that but I wanna focus on Mike’s behavior afterwards. As stated before, Mike’s eyes wander when he gets a little unnerved, he worries if Will might forget about him, he’s nervous. Why would Mike be nervous about this? If he’s confident in his friendship with Will, there shouldn’t be any question about it even with the move. Yet, he questions being replaced, questions where he stands, questions what they are.

In response to Mike’s smile, Will smirks.

[x]

It’s a direct contrast to Mike. Will’s not shy, soft, or cautious. He knows what he said, what he implied (at least for himself if Mike doesn’t). He’s blatantly flirty. He’s figured out where he is and what he wants. He showed Mike the level playing field (“I’ll just use yours when I come back. I mean, if we still wanna play.”) and he’s kinda like, “I’ll see you when you get there.” There being acknowledging his feelings. I think it’s also Will noting maybe that Mike likes him, too, compared to three months prior when Mike basically broke his heart and Will proceeded to breakdown over it. Here, Will sees Mike’s shy smile, he sees his nervousness. Will has successfully put his heart out on the line (again) and this time Mike didn’t stomp on it. Mike is pleased to have it, and he’s careful about it. This is something new, them both noting that there’s something different between them. Now, it’s up to Mike to shoot his shot if he wants to.

(And later, when Mike mentions Will in his conversation with El, he gets excited about playing games again when El and Will come back to visit, excited about taking that shot (given games and D&D is Mike and Will’s metaphoric narrative about their friendship while growing up), and then backtracks. He says he sounds like he’s 7. At 7, Mike’s best friends were Will and Lucas. (There’s no explicit age stated when Lucas befriended the two but I assume it to be maybe like a year after Mike and Will became friends.) Mike basically said he sounds like a kid again, naive about many things yet deeply caring toward his friends and well, not dating anyone. In Mike’s character profile in the concept bible, he plays D&D to escape from the fact that he doesn’t have a girlfriend. D&D came out in 1979, which is when Mike is 8 (or 7 depending on his birthday). He wants to restart that D&D obsession, noting that D&D is a metaphor for Will and Mike’s relationship. He wants to return to this closeness from being kids, where it didn’t really matter what the affection meant. But he also knows that he’s 14 and growing up. This isn’t something he should want yet he says it right in front of El, his supposed girlfriend, the one he claims to love yet can’t tell her himself and then can’t return the statement or the kiss after she confesses too. He says it after the exchange with Will, where D&D turned from the game used to maintain the friendship into the game where they can take go further if Mike is ready for it.)

tl;dr Mike likes Will, too and Will gave him a second chance to try again if he’s done being a clown and wants to own up to his feelings.

[ first two gifs by ilu-3000 and last two by cath-avery, as credited above ]

#byler #byeler #mike wheeler #will byers #byler meta #long post #i didn't include any 'comphet mike' theories to this #though you are welcome to infer that bc i do as well to a degree #anyway its just basically that mike is struggling to accept his feelings #but will is willing to give him a second chance to try once mike figures out what's up with himself #and when will returns its up to mike to decide where to go from there #otp: palaric

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theem0fangirl · 5 years ago

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The new girl in Hawkins (Mike Wheeler x OC)

POV: It’s a sunny day in Hawkins Indiana, a normal school day for many. Jupiter is the new girl in Hawkins and today she’s starting her first day in Hawkins high school.

“Jupiter“ her aunt called out “Jupiter, wake your ass up!“. Jupiter groaned against her pillows, she clearly didn't want to wake up and go to school. “If you don’t wake your ass up in five minutes I will come in here and whoop it“ By that warning she woke up faster than lightning “Alright, alright, i’m up. Jeez“ she mumbled.

“First day of going to hell as a junior“

She made her way with a zombie walk, up to her bathroom. She lived in a rather wealthy family with her aunt Cici in a place in Indiana where a lot of people couldn't afford to live.

“PUT DOWN THAT RACKET, JUPITER!“ aunt Cici yelled.

Jupiter groaned, her music wasn't even THAT loud. She had placed a record from band Guns n’ roses, her favorite album appetite for destruction.

She wore a long sleeved striped shirt, over it a black nirvana shirt, black fishnets, black skirt with too many chains on them, boots with platforms, choker with necklace, rubber bracelets, metal rings, etc.

Jupiter wasn't much of a makeup girl, like any other day, today she wore mascara, filled in her eyebrows, eyeliner on her eyes and a nude shade of brown matte lipstick on her lips.

She grabbed her backpack and walked down the set of fifteen stairs that led down to the living area, took a left and arrived at the kitchen where her aunt as making breakfast.

“Well, well, someone is trying to make a good impression for their first day of school“ her aunt chuckled. Her aunt wasn't that big of a fan of her choice in style or music but still loved her regardless.

Her aunt placed a plate of pancakes drizzled with Nutella and tiny slices of strawberries. Her aunt makes her natural smoothies everyday. Today’s smoothie was mango and papaya.

“Are you sure that you want to do this?“ her aunt asked, she was driving Jupiter down to the school which was only fifteen minutes away “I can always contract tutors and have you study at home. I just don’t want you getting in trouble, JuJu“. JuJu was the nickname her mother gave her, she swore to never use it again. “I’ll be fine, okay?. I’m seventeen years old, aunt Cici, I should be doing things that normal teenagers do“.

Normal was understatement. Jupiter was far from normal.

“Oh, and remember that you’re walking back home from school“ they waited behind the long line of cars that dropped their kids in front of the school. “I love you, JuJu“ Jupiter rolled her eyes “Love you too“ she said dryly before hopping out of the car.

She made her way inside the school, the intoxicating smell of overbearing jocks saying weird words and stuck up bitches was too much for Jupiter. Even the chattering was too loud for her liking.

“Hello there!“ a rather cheerful girl greeted Jupiter “You must be the new girl, right?“

“Is it that obvious?“ the cheerful girl nodded “Really obvious. You were all that everyone was talking about for the past week. We never had a rich girl from New york come here to live in Indiana!“

Jupiter was starting to get really annoyed by this cheerful girl.

“Leave her alone, Jenna. Your overwhelming positivism is making her want to punch your face“ a random red head girl intervened, Jenna, the cheerful one wore a disgust looking face before she walked away. “Thanks for saving me“ the red haired girl smiled “No worries. Jenna is just, overwhelming to say the least. You must be the new girl, I’m Max“ she extends her hand “Jupiter“, Jupiter gladly shakes Max’s hand.

“Jupiter?, huh, never heard anyone with that name. Come with me I’ll show you to your classroom“.

Max seems to be nice, Jupiter thought. Turns out that Max and Jupiter took the same classes at the same time. Jupiter mentally sighed, she was grateful to have someone to hang out with the rest of the day.

“For the love of God, Mike, get over it!“ Lucas was tired of hearing Mike mope over his failed relationship with El/Jane. “It has literally been almost two years since you guys broke up and you’re still moping over her?“. Mike had broken with Jane Hopper almost two years ago, due to the distance and everything they couldn't keep up with each other and decided it was best to end everything.

“How can i NOT mope, Lucas?. El was my girlfriend and she was the best girlfriend i ever had!“

“And the only girlfriend you ever had“ Dustin numbled.

“Come on Mike, you’re sixteen years old, almost seventeen, i think it’s time that you moved on just like El did“ Lucas had a point, Mike did need to move on and forget everything about El.

“How about her!“ Lucas pointed to Jenna. Mike scrunched up his face “Too happy“. Lucas and Dustin both tried searching for a girl to match Mike’s liking but all of them were just not like El.

Lucas groaned and gave up. “Wait” Dustin kept punching Luca’s and Mikes arms “What about her?” he pointed towards Jupiters direction, she was walking next to Max who was buying lunch. “Who’s that?” Mike asked “I have no idea”.

Mike stared at Jupiter for a while, He took notice how wildly different she was from everyone, it wasn’t that hard to notice. When everyone was wearing cardigans, pink makeup and glossy shoes, she was wearing shiny chains, black makeup and boots with platforms.

It did peak Mikes interest the way that she looked.

“Mike?“ Lucas called out “Mike!“ he snapped his fingers in front of Mikes face. Mike snapped away from his daze, he noticed that Jupiter was sitting across him, he couldn’t help but bite his nails in embarrassment.

Jupiter quietly chuckled “It’s okay, i seem to be getting those a lot today. But who can blame them?, i stick out like a soar thumb”.

Jupiter stared at her lunch which consisted of doritos and chocolate chip cookies. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to go buy a soda from the machine”. When she stood up to go buy the soda she couldn't help shaking the feeling that someone was staring at her ass.

“Do you need help?“ Jupiter turned around to see a rather tall jock looming over her small figure “Not really. I just came to get a soda“ she wanted him to go away but the jock was persistent “I’m Caleb“, “Jupiter“ the jock stood confused “Like the planet?“ Jupiter nodded her head, she bent down to grab her soda.

“Listen, can you do me a favor?“ Caleb nodded “Tell your overbearing dickbrained friends to stop staring at my ass before i kick them in the balls“

Jupiter sat back down on the table with Max and the boys.

“What was Caleb doing talking to you?“ Jupiter rolled her eyes “I have no idea but his smallbrained friends were staring at my ass. I gave him a little message to send his friends“

“Which is?“

“If they kept staring at my ass I would kick their balls“

Dustin and Lucas almost busted out laughing. “You are quite the daredevil new girl, what’s your name?“ Lucas asked “Jupiter. My name is Jupiter“.

Mike liked the sound of her name. It was unique.

“I’m Dustin and this guy over here in Lucas and mister stares a lot is Mike“

Oh, so he’s the guy that was staring at me when i was getting my lunch with Max, she thought.

“Well it’s very nice to meet you all“ she started to munch on her doritos as Lucas and Dustin chattered something about going to the arcade.

“So, Jupiter, what brings you to Hawkins?“ Mike decided to break the silence between him and Jupiter. “Uh, personal problems. My parents got divorced, neither of them wanted to keep me so my dad sent me away with my aunt in New york.“

Lies.

Jupiter didn't want to exactly tell him the real truth of why she was Hawkins, it was too dark.

“So, if you lived in New york why did you come here?. New York is far more better than Indiana“

“My aunt wanted a fresh start. You see, she’s a physician and back in New york she wasn’t liking the environment much, people kept belittling her work“ Jupiter returned her gaze to the chocolate chip cookies in front of her “I must’ve already bored you to death“ Mike aggressively shook his head “No, no, not at all. It feels nice having someone to talk to that never lived in Hawkins“.

Jupiter offered him one of her cookies to which he happily took one. When Mike took a bite of the cookie he closed his eyes to soak in the savory taste of the drizzling chocolate.

“Woah, did you make these?“ Jupiter nodded her head “I like to bake when I’m bored“.

Mike and Jupiter got to talking about their favorite type of music.

“No way, you like nirvana?“ Jupiter scoffed and pointed at her shirt “I like any type of indie and rock band. As long as i hear a good guitar riff, you have me sold“ they both burst into small giggles. Mike was captivated by the bright smile that Jupiter had.

“Hey Jupiter“ Max called out “Me and Lucas were thinking about walking back to our homes, we thought that maybe you’d like to join us?“

“I would love to. Where do you guys live?, I live in Rosecherry road“

Dustin and Lucas stopped chattering, Max had widened her eyes and Mike almost choked on his food.

“You live in Rosecherry road?“ Max said it as if it was impossible for people to live there “Only the most richest of people live down that road“

Jupiter hated the word ‘rich‘, she didn't like to be called that word.

“Can you guys please, not call me that name?, It’s uncomfortable“

Neither of them questioned why it was uncomfortable for her to be called rich but they let it slide.

By the end of the day Jupiter was outside the school gates waiting for Max and Lucas since they promised to walk with her to their homes.

They never came.

She rolled her eyes and started to walk out the doors.

“Jupiter!“ Mike shouted from the humongous crowd in front of him.

Jupiter turned to see a running Mike heading towards her.

“Wanna go get-“ Mike was trying to finish his sentence through his labored breaths “Ice cream?“ was all that he could manage to say.

“I would love to“ Jupiter’s heart did small leaps.

“Then come on new girl, we can’t miss the bus that goes to the mall“

Jupiter could tell that she was going to enjoy her time with Mike.

#finn wolfhard #finn imagine #finn wolfhard imagine #stranger things #stranger things imagine

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st-fandom-imagines · 5 years ago

Text

Halloween Surprise

Little nonny, thank you so much for this request, I had a lot of fun writing it and I feel like I could totally seeing something like this happening! I'm sorry it got so long, anyway I hope you like it and I hope I made your vision come to life. The prompt list is here if you need it to send requests!! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ Request- anonymous asked: You’re so great at writing!!! Can you do Steve x Reader 23, 30, 41, 68. I know it’s a lot but I thought they all fit the idea well but don’t worry if you can’t fit them all!! I’m picturing a Halloween party for the kids and Steve lost a bet to Robin so he has to actually dress up (maybe Dracula or Frankenstein some classic nerdy monster) and he’s screwed because Robin also invited his new crush to the party. (Female Reader is sweet and girly, you can pick her costume!) 23- “I immediately regret this decision.” 30- “Is that blood?” 41- “I’m not drunk enough for this.” 68- “This isn’t what it looks like.” ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ *Steve’s Point Of View* “I bet you can’t ask (Y/N) out next time you talk to her.” Robin dared me as as watched (Y/N) put the returned movies back on the shelf, putting them all in the correct spots. “Okay, you’re on. What’s the wager?” I asked Robin, believing in myself that I could ask the girl that I have been slowly falling for ever since she set foot into Family Video. “You win, I’ll find out if she likes you or not, that way you can talk to her with no fear of rejection.” Robin promised making me sigh knowing that if that was the pay off then the downside would be horrible. “You loose and I get to pick what your costume is for the Halloween party.” She smirked making me scoff, that was it? If I loose than a couple of kids get to see me dressed like a dork for a night? “Deal.” I confirmed, Robin and I shaking on it, just before (Y/N) walked over to us with an empty box. “So what’s next?” She smiled, looking at Robin for her next task and I just studied her, her smile, how sweet she was even to the rude people that came in here, a trait that I wish I had. “We were actually just talking about what our plans for the weekend, what are you up to this weekend (Y/N), got a hot date?” Robin asked making (Y/N) shake her head back and forth with a slight blush on her cheeks. “No, nothing like that. I think I’m just going to stay home, maybe watch a movie on Halloween. What about you guys?” She asked, her eyes locking with mine, making me clear my throat and ran a hand through my hair. “Yeah, hum, just gunna, uh, hand out candy…and well read?” I hated my answer as soon as it came out of my mouth, read? Really Harrington, idiot. I mentally punched myself as (Y/N) nodded with surprised eyebrows. “Didn’t know that you read, at least not unless you had to, good to know.” She smiled, trying to make my dumb answer have a reason behind it, god why does she make me so nervous? “I actually need some help with putting together some new displays, and I wanted to run something by you anyway, follow me?” Robin asked (Y/N) making her nod and shoot me a small smile and wave as she followed Robin to the back room. I threw my head back in defeat, as Robin walked backwards and mouthed “loser” to me with a big smile on her face. Wow I really messed that one up, now I can only wonder what costume Robin had in store for me. ** “I immediately regret this decision!” I yelled as I stood in my bathroom, Robin waiting for me in my room, to come out in costume. The kids asked me to hold a Halloween party for them seeing as they thought they were too old for Trick or Treating and I couldn’t say no, not after what we all went through this summer and last Halloween. Robin showed up to the party as a Russian soldier, a inside joke with the group, and as I dug deeper in this box for my costume I couldn’t help but groan at each piece that I was pulling out. Fake teeth, fake blood, a giant cape, hair gel?! Oh I was going to kill her. “Hair gel, Robin?! You want me to kill my hair as well as my Halloween?” I asked her through the door as I began getting dressed into my costume. “Dracula is classic, a ladies man, and he has an awesome cape. I went easy on you, dingus, just change and stop complaining, you lost.” She ranted making me nod even though she couldn’t see me, all I had to say was thank god (Y/N) wasn’t going to see me. ** I was finishing putting out the snacks for the kids, putting some drinks in the fridge for Robin and I as the doorbell rang. “Oh, I’ll get it! I invited someone, I hope you guys don’t mind.” Robin jumped up from the couch, telling all the kids, making me look up out of pure confusion. All the kids were here, Nancy and Jonathan were on a date so it wouldn’t be them and all the kids parents were happy that they were out of their hair for a night. Besides, Robin was only friends with me and (Y/N)… shit, (Y/N). As the door opened, I saw (Y/N) walk in, El and Max running over to her to hug her, Dustin looking back at me, knowing about my crush on (Y/N). She was dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a movie I use to watch a lot as kid. She looked amazing, her hair in two braids, her blue and white checkerboard dress, her ruby red heels, she even brought her family dog in a little basket, it’s like she walked right out of the movie. I turned around and put my forehead on the fridge. “I’m not drunk enough for this.” I mumbled, opening a beer, taking swig before Dustin walked over to me in his Marty McFly costume from Back to the Future. “You are so screwed.” He commented making me look down at him. “Yeah, no shit. If (Y/N) didn’t like me before Dracula, she certainly won’t like me now.” I grunted taking another sip of my beer. Robin set me up, she knew I would take the bet if she left out one detail of (Y/N) coming to the party. I just sighed as I looked at (Y/N) with all the kids, hugging each of them, letting the girls play with the puppy while she complimented the boys costumes. She looked up between talking to Lucas and Mike, locking eyes with mine. “Shit, go back over there.” I pushed Dustin back towards the living room, as (Y/N) walked my way, her heels clicking on the tile. “Nice costume, Dustin. I love that movie.” She smiled making Dustin nod his head towards me. “So does Steve, he helped me with the costume.” He proudly stated, making me smile at him trying to earn me some cool points back. Her smile lit up a room, her personality making me weak the knees. She wasn’t like every other girl, I wanted to keep her safe, to hold her, to have conversations with her, deep ones, I wanted to know everything about her. “Is that blood?” (Y/N) panicked once she reached me, and I both nodded and shook my head no at the same time. “It’s fake blood, so yes, it’s blood but it’s not real.” I explained making her nod and let out a breath. She looked me up and down before smiling at me, making my heart race. “Dracula, huh?” She perked making me nod while taking another sip of my beer. She was about to say something else but I cut her off. “I think the kids wanted to watch a movie, maybe order some pizza, want to help me pick the movie? They always fight on what to watch so I just end up picking.” I offered making her nod with a big smile, more than eager to help me. That was the first time I didn’t sound like a complete idiot while talking to her, maybe this beer was helping me, or maybe Robin planned this all along. ** (Y/N) and I ended up picking E.T., a movie that wasn’t going to freak the kids out but was still entertaining enough that they would get bored. As (Y/N) and I sat next to each other on the couch, I couldn’t help but graze my hand against hers, it was taking every thing that I had not to intertwine our fingers. The doorbell rang, startling us all, (Y/N) getting up from the couch to get the door. “El want to help me?” She asked the girl sitting in front of her, El and (Y/N)’s relationship was a lot like mine and Dustin’s and that just made me fall for her more seeing how she was with her. Once El thanked the pizza guy and they carried it all inside, I saw Robin follow the pair into the kitchen, my curiosity peaked at the trio I got up from the couch to see if they needed any help. *(Y/N)’s Point Of View* When Robin asked if I wanted to go to Steve's Halloween party, I was hesitant at first. I liked Steve, a lot but he didn't seem to like me too much which is his choice, but I didn't want to make things awkward. Robin assured me that Steve wanted me to come so I agreed, not having set plans for that night anyway. I used a costume that my mom had made and wore when I was younger while I dressed up as the good witch, I remembered how much I loved her costume and thought it would fit me, perfect enough, it did. The whole day, I was excited, excited to see Steve and all the kids in costumes, excited to have a fun Halloween. When I got to the house, the kids all welcomed me with warm smiles and hugs, Max and El especially. Steve was quiet, a little distant but what's new with him? I thought him asking me help him pick a movie was a good start but the whole time while we were watching, he didn't do or say anything. So when the pizza got there I knew I could get away from the confusing mess that this party was. I asked El to help me because she was my little side kick, my partner in crime and Robin must have followed us into the kitchen. "He didn't want me here, Robin. He has barely said two words to me." I whispered, not wanting anyone to hear what I was saying. El held my hand as she saw me begin to tear up. "Friends don't lie." El said looking at Robin making me cock an eyebrow, what was she talking about, what was Robin lying about? "Okay before you freak out, Steve and I made a bet that if he could ask you out, I would find out if you liked him or not, if he couldn't then I got to pick his Halloween costume, I just didn't tell him that I invited you to the party because I know if I did he just would have spazzed out more. This isn't what it looks like, he likes you, he just doesn't know how to talk to you without being a puddle of a human being" Robin confessed making Steve clear his throat from the doorway, making me turn around to dry my tears, hoping that he didn't see them. "Talk to him." El said before letting go of my hand and walking out of the kitchen, taking Robin with her. I took a breath before turning around to see Steve leaning against the door frame. I didn't say anything, I just started to plate some of the pizza for the kids. When I went to grab another slice, I felt Steve's hand on mine and I looked up, our eyes meeting. "Why were you crying?" He asked softly making me shrug and sniffle. "Robin asked me here under false pretenses." I responded and he just sighed, taking the pizza out of my other hand and turning me towards him. "I do want you here, I just didn't want you to see me dressed like this. I was excited to see you walk through that door, looking beautiful like always, I just didn't know you were coming, let alone that you came because you thought I liked you, which I do, I just- you make me nervous, you are smart and sweet and the prettiest girl I have ever seen and you deserve better than me." Steve poured his heart taking me by surprise. I couldn't help but laugh at the situation, he scoffed as I laughed, and I started shaking my head, trying to make him understand that I wasn't laughing at him. "I'm sorry, I just- we both like each other but we were both too scared to say anything but when we did, you are dressed Dracula." I giggled out causing Steve roll his eyes and taking his fake fangs out, making him look a lot more like himself. "I love your smile, your laugh, everything about you." He swore, cupping the side of my face, making me smile even harder. "Just shut up and kiss me, Steve." I wished and he smiled before connecting our lips at my request, this was certainly not the Halloween I was expecting.

#stranger things #stranger things season 3 #stranger things season 2 #stranger things season 1 #robin stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington imagines #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff #dustin henderson #eleven #mike wheeler #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #will byers #stranger things imagine

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