#platonic wheelclair

[gayofthefae]

Yet again a plotline they know how to write but didn't:

"Mike spends time with El that sparks platonic jealousy of her from a friend of his"

Season 1 Lucas vs Season 4 Will. Lucas is platonically jealous. Will is romantically jealous.

Lucas is jealous because Mike is spending more time with El, which he perceives romantically.

Will is jealous because Mike is spending more time with El, which he perceives romantically.

The romantic nature of the relationship they're jealous of isn't what differentiates the nature of the jealousy. Both watch a romantic interaction between them from afar upset - Will in 4x02 at the roller rink and Lucas in 1x03 for the "I understand" scene. So why, then, is Lucas' jealousy platonic but Will's romantic? It isn't. They're identical. Except for one key detail I have strategically omitted.

Mike. Lucas and Will behave near identically. They are sad, gazing from afar, and irritable about the topic, fighting with both Mike and one other friend on the topic (Dustin, El).

But Mike only behaves abnormally in one scenario: Will's. Season 1 is a miscommunication - Lucas thinks Mike is prioritizing El over Will but really, he's just prioritizing Will through El. But season 4 is not that. In season 4, he committedly ignores Will without explanation for a full day before defending that any two friends who didn't see each other for 6 months wouldn't keep in touch during that time.

It isn't romantic of Will to be jealous of El. It wasn't romantic of Lucas and we knew that. Mike is the one who made it out to be romantic because that's the conclusion he jumped to (defend) out of fear. It's just that we, trained by the writers like good little viewers to equate straight relationship to straight, listened to him.

Will acted with Mike exactly like Lucas did and that played as platonic. What happened wasn't that Will behaved differently. What happened was we noticed that something in their relationship was more romantic. We turned to where it was coming from, to see: Mike..........frantically pointing us to Will.

In season 4 when he defended not keeping in touch, in season 3 when he brought up queerness in defense of an accusation towards Mike and Lucas on Dustin's behalf,

Mike set off our alarm bells. And Mike redirected us. (And ironically, that is what told on him.)

[mirkwoodsuperspy]

mike wheeler would name his car. he'll just be like "how dare you insult my second in command my best girl dolly/pam/christine". and lucas and whoever else will just be okay with it.

[booksandpaperss]

Mike: I definitely like girls

Lucas: buddy no one said you didn’t-

Mike: I DO I SWEAR

Lucas: mi-

Mike: I’ll even prove it

Mike: uhhhh

Mike: if Will was a girl I’d totally date him!

Lucas:

Mike: see? get it? Cuz I find girls attractive and therefore would definitely date Will if he was one

Lucas: I- I need some water. I’ll be right back.

Lucas: *on the phone* Max? Babe? Oh thank god you’re there, yeah I need reinforcements. The situation is more dire than we thought.

lowkey inspired by the several times my bestie @andiwriteordie said that Mike would say he’d date Will if Will was a girl bc you are 100% correct lmao

[parkitaco]

lucas ships byler but not in the middle of class 🙄

[light-lanterne]

randomly went on twitter and the first thing i see is a post claiming that lucas and max would hate mike if they saw how he acted towards will in s4,,,

,,,

do these people know or understand any of the characters ? :|

lucas is kind. lucas is understanding and has always shown great emotional intelligence. lucas was the first to notice mike, his best friend, was acting strange in s1 (even if he got the reason wrong). to think that he wouldn't realise mike was being weird is ridiculous, particularly when considering that he knows how mike and will typically operate. to think that he wouldn't try to have a conversation with mike about it all is even more ridiculous.

and max, the girl who spent all school-year pushing people away, who has previously addressed her habit of being rude when she's overwhelmed with life's crap, and who was being specifically "mean" to lucas (who was only concerned with her wellbeing) throughout half the season because she didn't feel comfortable opening up about her struggles / depression,,, do people seriously think she wouldn't see that mike was also pushing will away on purpose for some reason ?

lumax would obviously call mike out. they would obviously not be okei with his behaviour and would immediately seek to comfort will if the situation called for it.

but they would not hate mike, and they would actually try to help him because he's their friend and they care for him.

people need to stop projecting their distaste for mike onto the characters, or twist their personalities a ridiculous amount just so they can imagine lucas and max (or any other character) acting the way they would act instead e.e

[kuumara]

Hey, Lucas

Mike and Lucas are on patrol. They're not far away from the safe house, but that doesn't mean they're safe. Thankfully they've gotten better at defending themselves these past year, and now they can be more useful than just plotting new plans.

They've been walking in silence, too scared to make noise that might attract anything. But Mike's never liked silence, it makes him feel even more anxious.

Mike whispers. "Hey, Lucas-"

"Shh." Lucas shuts him up immediately. Alright, then.

"Damn. When did you turn into such a nag-"

"Shh!" Ugh. Mike rolls his eyes. No one's any fun around here anymore. Except Will. But he's mostly possessed, so Mike doesn't know if he would be like this too if he spent more time with the group. Mike wishes he wouldn't, but he also wishes he wouldn't be possessed anymore. He wishes everything would be back to how it was.

If everything were normal, he could've maybe went to California with Will, or wherever he wanted to go, and they could get an apartment or maybe go to college together. There's colleges that have an art program and a writing program in the same building, right? It's both art, isn't it? He wishes he didn't have to keep his dreams to himself. If he or Will were a girl, he could gush about that all he wants. But neither of them are a girl.

Mike isn't walking with Lucas through cold, heavy air that makes you barely able to breathe. He's on a beach in California, with Will and El, in Lenora. During that spring break.

He and El never started dating again, in this ideal world. They're friends. Like, real friends, not the kind of friends you say you're 'just friends' with. The sun is shining, not too bright and not too dim. There's not a lot of people around them, rare for a beach like this. Will is telling him to come swimming with him. They swim and play in the water for a while. Mike tries to playfully keep Will under the water, but he keeps clutching him and eventually they both give up, exhausted, arms around eachothe-

"Mike!" Lucas waves a hand in front of Mike's face. That, unfortunately, pulls Mike out of his daydreaming. He blinks at Lucas. They're on the porch of the safe house. They still have to stay here for some time, while the others are getting ready to go sleep.

"You wanted to talk before so badly. Now speak,"

Mike contemplates. What if he just- told Lucas about Will? He's probably noticed something's up. He's the 'love expert', after all. Either Lucas accepts him, or doesn't care because they've got more important stuff to handle than Mike's self-discovery. Or, Lucas doesn't accept him and he loses his best friend. Ruins this friendship. He doubts that'll happen, though- Lucas isn't like that. His motto is 'normal is crazy'. He's been called a freak all his life, he's basically Mike's brother, he wouldn't bail on his fellow freak...

"Mik-"

"I'm gay," Mike blurts out. Great, at least now he doesn't have to overthink anymore, it's out there now.

Lucas just stares at him. Mike closes his eyes, he already knows this is going wrong. He closes his eyes, and waits for the punch, or the insult, or the outing to everyone else, or something.

But nothing happens. Well, something happens. Lucas hugs him. Mike still doubts this is positive, and expects him to hiss something awful and humiliating in his ear.

But he doesn't. They just stand there, on the front porch of the barricaded safe house. So, this is a positive reaction after all, isn't it?

"And I- I love Will." Mike's mouth moves faster than his brain yet again. But at least he's saved from the overthinking, I guess-

"I love him so much. Love-love him. Don't tell him," Mike's voice starts to break. Lucas hugs him even tighter, and Mike can't help but cry.

He cries, for what seems like forever, he's surprised no one came to take the other watch shift yet, and he hopes they don't. He doesn't want to be seen like this.

And Lucas is hugging him and holding him close through all of the crying and sniffling and staining his jacket.

Eventually, Mike just stays standing there, Lucas still not letting go, Mike's head on his shoulder. He's tired, yet has never felt more well-rested. He feels understood and he feels safe.

"Thank you, for telling me." Lucas whispers into Mike's hair. His voice is wet, he's been crying as well.

"Look at me, Mike,"

Mike does that. His tired eyes sting in the cold, dry air. Lucas's eyes are red, too.

"Listen. If anyone would hurt you, I would stand up for you, wouldn't I?"

Mike nods.

"And do you think I would hurt you? Despite you knowing I would beat anyone's ass that would even look at you weird?"

Mike laughs. He's happy Lucas is his friend. He's happy he told him.

"I would have to stand up to myself if I'd hurt you." They both laugh. And Lucas hugs Mike some more.

"I'm always here for you." Mike smiles into his shoulder.

"And, about Will. Don't even worry about him, you've got the love master on your side after all-"

"No, Lucas-"

"The wedding bells will ring in no time! Put together your guest list and book your hotels! Pick a theme already! What color will the decorations be? The bridesmaids dresses-"

--

Lucas plans bylers wedding agenda

based (😎) on this post by @merth-or-nothin (finally learned how to embed shit)

[brionysea]

lucas copying mike's little arm motion 😭

[darkcrowprincess]

Mike and Lucas during season 3:

[cringengl]

Whenever wheelclair make a pinky promise they have to hold up their other hand to make sure they're not crossing their fingers and it's like. A Whole Thing. Like they have to double check that all fingers are uncrossed and after one time when Lucas broke a pinky promise by crossing his toes, if the situation is pretty dire they will take off their shoes just in case.

[cleradinthealps]

i am soooo normal about wheelclair you don’t even Know. they are best friends they would die for each other they are such bros they probably kissed as preteens to “practice for when they got girlfriends” they will back each other up in any fight even if they don’t even know what the fight is about they are next-door neighbors they have sleepovers all the time they have been friends for so very long and they love each other so incredibly much. that is all.

[gayofthefae]

Season 1 usage of "best friend" meaning "practically brothers" Wheelclair vs Season 4 usage of "best friend" meaning "practically dating" Byler

[milevenstancyendgame]

So I was watching the panel from FanExpo Dallas in June 24 with Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin (for some much needed distraction), and I think the question about their characters' relationship to Mike has gotten a lot of attention already, but I just loved what Caleb said about it (especially regarding s3 and s1), and this one thing made me feel really excited for s5 again:

"I don't think they realise how deep their relationship is. I feel like we might get to see that in season 5. It'll come from a more mature place."

So that's a bit of a confirmation for the Mike & Lucas drama/relationship exploration that I was hoping for!🥹😱🙏❤️

[apocalyptic-byler]

PLS HAVE WHEELCLAIR BOND IN S5

[bylerlve]

i NEED platonic wheelclair fics where lucas somehow comes to the realization that mikes gay or mike tells him and lucas is like YOU CAN LIKE GUYS ?? BUT I ALSO LIKE GIRLS and then he finds out he’s bisexual. he’s also the number one byler shipper. i love them and i need them. like, i need more wheelclair. GIVE ME WHEELCLAIR

[eightfifteen]

Everyone in the party stalks Lucas with random sports memes but for the purpose of the exercise this is Mike’s phone.

[brionysea]

season 1

dustin, to mike: [lucas] is your best friend, right?

season 3

max: why are we even talking about this, seriously?

will: yeah, who cares?

lucas: i care.

season 4

dustin: i told you, joyce has this telemarketer job. she's always on the phone. mike won't stop whining about it.

mike's banished to another plot on the other side of the country and he's still getting emotionally invalidated

lucas can stay. the rest of these people need to shut up