#when we’re all obsessing over byler next year

[thesapphicsoldier]

Ik we’re all gonna be focused on byler next season (trust me I will too) but I am also very excited for rovickie! I really hope they take the time to flesh them out and everything, since they barely got any screen time in s4. I hope they become a very popular sapphic ship and have everyone writing fanfics about them <3

[teambyler]

"Byler Endgame, One Episode at a Time" - s5e3

Plot beats and scenes leading to a Byler endgame, one episode at a time, for Season 5 of Stranger Things. (This is just for fun! I have no insider knowledge!)

Also see Part 0, where I explain what I think a Byler Endgame has to address. Link to the previous episode.

s5e3

TIME JUMP. It’s September and school’s about to start.

Will and El are extra close this summer, and the group plays D&D when it can. Robin helps him like himself more, and gets him to her hairstylist (“You think this just accidentally looks great and messy?”).Will’s artist instincts kick in, he starts to get a new wardrobe.

Wavy-haired Will starts the new school year, with a new look and more confident. Girls hit on Will. Dustin and Lucas egg him on. Will has eye contact with a BOY. The girlfriend of Bully #1 is into Will, and Bully #1 notices. Will tells Mike he’s getting all this attention. Mike snaps and says to focus on the A plot.

“A PLOT” DEVELOPMENTS. Danger escalates against Will (Will’s welfare is the focus this season just like in s1 and s2).

The boy and Will eye each other again. Will walks up to him and strikes a conversation. The boy looks immediately excited and then reserved. Will asks if he likes D&D, the arcade, etc. They agree to go to the arcade afterschool, and they both give flirty smiles. The boy is actually Bully #1’s circle, who notices and starts heading over. Will sees him. “Actually I have something, maybe some other time?” He leaves. Bully #1 confronts the other boy. “What the hell was that?” Zoom into the boy, who looks scared to say what actually just happened…

After school the next day, Mike and Will are about to leave the school grounds. The bullies confront Will. Bully #1: “Hey I hear you were asking him out on a date? Can we all go?” Mike tells them to back off, and he prods Mike hard in the chest. Will immediately pushes Bully #1 back. They tackle Will and start to pummel Will badly while calling him gay slurs, and Mike jumps in to defend him and he gets punched in the face. Mike immediately starts yelling for help. El arrives and uses her powers in front of people in the school. This backs the bullies off but makes the bullies surer than ever that they’re into satanic stuff.

The party arrives and bandages their wounds. Mike puts his arm around Will’s shoulder and they go home. His dad Ted overhears them in the basement. Mike: “Stupid mouth breathers. Are you sure you’re okay, Will?” “The pain’s okay. I’ll get over it. “I’m not talking about that… The mean things they called you.” Will: “I’m… alright? I mean, it’s not like I haven’t heard it before.” Will falls asleep and Mike leaves the basement. Ted sees Mike’s black eye and freaks out. “What just happened!? What the hell is going on here!?” “Shouldn’t you be asking if we’re okay?” “What were you and Will doing?” Mike looks at his dad, “None of your damn business.” Mike storms to his room and slams the door.

The next morning, Will wakes up in the basement, and Mike is there by his side reading a D&D book. Will thanks Mike for always being there. Mike shakes his head: “I didn’t do much for you yesterday.” “You couldn’t have. You did the right thing, getting help.” Will meant always being there when he was possessed, just always being there. Mike puts his hand on Will’s shoulder: “I’m your friend. Of course I’ll be there.” “There was a time I wasn’t so sure… like that summer? With the mind flayer?” Mike thinks wistfully about that time. “Yeah, I was with El... Sorry, I was just – I was distracted. You could say I was kind of obsessed (they laugh). But hey, time heals all wounds eh?” Mike gives Will an assuring pat, taking care to avoid a place that hurts. There’s a pause as Will tries to gather the courage … “Ya know, Mike. The things they were calling me?” “The mouth breathers?” “Yeah. They’re... not wrong.” Will looks at Mike significantly.

Mike takes a moment to process. “… So you’re gay?” Will nods. A pause… Mike notices Will’s fear and says, “That’s cool… REALLY cool.” He says there’s nothing wrong with being gay, of course he stands by Will. The whole party has been bullied, of course we stand by you Will. Will starts to tear up. He sits up, “So nothing’s changed?” Mike puts his hands on Will’s shoulders and looks him in the eye. “Nothing will ever change between us.” Will wants to hug him and hesitates. Mike gives him a CLOSE, FULL-CONTACT, INTIMATE HUG. Will: “We’re still friends?… “Of course.” Mike pulls away and looks at him. “Best friends. Nothing’s ever gonna change that, okay?”

Mike tells him to stay here while he checks on breakfast. He walks upstairs. In the basement, Will is crying. He looks at the painting with Mike the Paladin on the wall, and smiles through tears.

FOLLOW ME for the next part of “Byler Endgame, One Episode at a Time”!

Part 0 (what a Byler endgame needs to address) Previous episode Next episode

-teambyler

[chirpsythismorning]

Fixations in fandom are valid.

Yes they can be unhealthy, just like too much of anything in life can be unhealthy.

But just like in life, you can’t control other ppl and force them like/unlike things bc of your own preferences and fixations.

What bothers me so much about the whole ‘all bylers care about is byler argument’ is that while… yes. Who tf cares?

The whole point of the ‘will they’ ‘won’t they’ trope is that it’s known for engaging viewers more than most storylines are able to, and it also tends to keep fans engaged for long periods of time. And it’s because they’re literally designed to keep you guessing and anticipating what comes next.

If romance isn’t your thing, fine. If gay ppl on your screen isn’t your thing, whatever. It is what it is. It’s not like we want to spend our time fixating on the stuff you like either.

Regardless of whether or not you ship byler, that still doesn’t mean you have to be insufferably incapable from analyzing their scenes and the show in general whatsoever?

Like the subreddit literally deletes/blocks posts that mention Will and Mike romantically at all, with the sole argument that there’s already similar posts to it.

But like be fr there are hundreds upon THOUSANDS of posts humoring the same old theories and shit takes, and yet they have no problem letting those constantly circulate on a regular basis.

But when it comes to byler, one post is enough! Two? Three? More than three?? Oh no. Now that just won’t do! This is too much we’re tired of talking about this! Can we talk about something else? ANYTHING else.

Idc if there have been 100 byler posts inquired on that sub over the last year, bc I can guarantee you, x that by 100 and that’s how many times ppl in that tag have posted stuff like ‘hot take but I hate Erica.’

Believe it or not, a majority of the ppl on there run-off of one brain cell and said brain cell is not the least bit impressive. Most of the time all they have is tired ignorant takes that only require ppl with basic critical thinking skills to unpack as crap right from the jump.

Seriously those mods are awful and the way they dictate what does and doesn’t stay posted on the sub is a fucking joke.

Idc if you like byler or not. If you’re so convinced it’s all reaching, actually look at the all evidence instead of censoring it followed by calling us delusional.

Bc while we may be annoying for obsessing over anything and everything, y’all are the ones not even willing to look at any of it. And as a result you’re soon gonna find out you misinterpreted everything because of your bitterness. Bc you were too close-minded to look behind the curtain at all.

[kaypeace21]

Byler hints in the background of s1-3

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

Drawings/rainbows

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Throwing shade at Mileven/mileven shippers in s2 

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

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

Erica: “Hey , They’re in love!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bob and Mike parallels- the Rubik cube

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

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

gif credit: cath-avery, dailystrangerthings