#mike wheeler is not stupid

[petrichor102]

It just occurred to me that apart from:

• Joyce being on the phone constantly

• Jonathan and Nancy calling each other

• Mike writing "a book of letters" to El

• Hellfire and crushing on Eddie (and some possible guilt from that)

• All his friends growing apart from him

• Being in a new school with bigger assignments and bigger bullies

• The pressure of being in a perfect family (because let's face it—on the surface, the Wheelers are a perfect family)

• Max vanishing from society

• The time difference, and

• y'know general homophobia

that maybe Mike was just too scared to reach Will when they were available to talk.

Let's ignore the fact that El, Mike's own family, his friends, or his bullies might have suspected something between them and focus solely on Mike and Will, from Mike's perspective. Fatigue from anxiety is real.

Mike's been writing her a book of letters—El's been writing him a book of lies. She's popular, happy, excelling in school, and adapting to her new home, while Will is painting for "someone he likes" and "maybe it is for a girl."

Like that stupid "Angela" bi—

Whatever the reason, Will has (unintentionally) grown distant from Mike and Mike has been coping with this for six months with no one to talk to: Dustin is sick of his complaining, Hellfire needs him to give 110% during Eddie's campaigns, Eddie is hot, Lucas is popular, Max is MIA, and his family is cold to him. He's understandably yet unimaginably lonely. Yet, he doesn't reach out?

Well, what if his complaining pushes Will away? What if it brings him down? What if he doesn't care and he just... grew up? Like Mike told him to? What if Will the Wise wises up to Mike's feelings if he keeps pestering him? What if he doesn't just push him away but Will violently rejects him? How will he live knowing Will abhors him?

What if he feels the same way?

Then, what about El? What about Eddie? What about everything? Loving Will will be the end of everything! They'll never be friends again if they break up. They could fizzle out just as quickly as Nancy and Jonathan seemingly are. And what if he pushes his friends away the same way he pushed Will away by focusing too much on El? If they fight again, Mike can't bike two-and-a-half thousand miles across the country to bang on his door, begging for forgiveness. No, it'll be over. It used to be easy! Why won't Will just pick up the phone?!

So, yeah. All bullet points aside, with the time Mike has left to think about Will, Mike is exhausted and scared. The radio silence he's getting from Will is actually driving him crazy. Neither of them is the villain of the Rink-O-Mania fight.

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

what if the first time steve and eddie actually meet is when steve picks up dustin, mike, and lucas from hellfire a month or so into their freshman year.

and when steve starts dicking around and roughhousing with dustin a bit.. thats when eddie sees him

him.

steve harrington.

king steve harrington.

king steve harrington, jock extraordinaire fucking with his new (pretty brittle, he got told off for the same thing at the beginning of the year by mike and lucas) sheepie

Eddie’s at the car in next to no time at all, tears steve off henderson, and punches him square in the face

edit: full thing here

[carmenilla]

what’s gonna happen in s5 if byler isn’t canon:

mike: why’d you lie about the painting

will: im in love with you

mike: oh. well i accept you but i dont love u back

will: i know

mike: thanks for saving me and el’s relationship tho ur a real good bestie

[udkmehahaha]

"byler cant happen because they cant create a new relationship in 1 season!" oh well thats unfortunate because byler has been built up since the first season.

[miwiheroes]

me when i realise that will said ‘of course’ not because he wants to lie to mike about being okay (bc he never lies to him) but because he actually IS okay and feels safe because MIKE IS WITH HIM 🙂↕��🙂↕️🙂↕️

[teambyler]

Anti-Bylers: “There’s no time for Mike to find out he's gay, come out, and have a romance with Will in the final season”

Also anti-Bylers: “Mike will gently reject him and mend things with Eleven after they both realize that his love confession was based on a lie. Then Will will get over his life-long love for Mike and fall in love with a brand-new boy the audience hasn't met yet who the writers will make a fan favorite so that Will can have a happy ending”

-teambyler

[taeiris]

okeokeoke mike wheeler who is NOT paying attention to whatever lalalalalala will byers is saying because he’s too lost in his gaze

[sinclairstarz]

“mike is so dumbb lol rocks for brains nothing going up there stupid silly gay boy!!!” SHHHUTT UPPP OMG DID WE WATCH THE SAME SHOW… THE WHOLE POINT IS THE WHOLE PARTY IS SMART!!! THEYRE ALL LITTLE SCIENCE NERDS!!!!!! MIKE HAS BEEN SO SMART FROM THE BEGINNING HE WAS FIGURING SHIT OUT!!!!! HE A LIL CONFUSED EMOTIONALLY OK BUT HE IS SO SMART!!!

bring back nerd mike s5

[martukyymm]

And remember "El's not stupid"

[thatkeira9000]

how every byler fight goes:

Will: this thing you did hurt my feelings.

Mike: well aleast I'm not gay!

Will: *starts crying and runs away*

Mike: *chasing after him* I'm sorry pookie wookie bear!

[petrichor102]

I think Mike heard Will loud and clear in the van and that he's not as oblivious as everyone (including Finn) thinks he is.

I think he clocked that commission lie almost instantly. Almost.

I think he would have pulled Will into his arms the second he heard him crying if Jon and Argyle weren't there, in case he hadn't come out to them yet.

But the second Will reminded him, "You're the Heart," and El was literally on her deathbed, it was over. He gave up.

[samwitcch]

happy valentine's day to the two most oblivious losers in the world

[astrobei]

in my heart of hearts mike wheeler is absolutely an athena kid but i also have to offer up a concept that i think has extreme comedic and dramatic potential aka: repressed gay teenager mike showing up at camp half blood unsure of who his godly parent is and feeling insecure about not having powers and one day when he’s making not-so-secret heart eyes at his best friend and son of apollo will byers is when a bunch of glowing floating hearts show up above his head. and that’s how mike gets claimed by none other than aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexuality, and is in full denial about it for three days because he thinks it’s some kind of sick and twisted JOKE

(on aphrodite’s end, she’s upset mike is throwing away the gift of true love and keeps trying to trick him out of repression by making more and more improbable and hilarious gifts appear when he and will are hanging out. mike hands will a book and it turns into a box of chocolates and he has to fling it away like a frisbee before will sees it. they’re having lunch and romantic music starts playing. she gives mike the same blessing she used to claim piper and will can’t even look in his direction for a full day because he starts blushing so hard. fifty bouquets of flowers show up at the apollo cabin’s doorstep with a note that says love, mike and by the end of it, mike isn’t even repressed and unsure about his sexuality anymore — he’s just trying to not throw himself into the bonfire out of sheer embarrassment)

[souverian-are-we]

fuck it *muppetizes them*

[ineffablelvrs]

[smartsxylacy]

Duffers please give us a byler scene in s5 of Will cleaning the wounds/scratches on Mikes face, intimately close to him while holding his jaw with one hand and cleaning with the other, extremely locked in and trying to be as careful as possible to not hurt Mike. And then theres Mike whos having a full on gay crisis while longingly staring at Will and trying not to freak tf out