#while non shippers seem to be content with believing they're fumbling the cali storyline and mike's character in general

[sennqu]

just noticed the disconnect that sometimes happens when it comes to analyses from the ST subreddit. if it's related to the lore, they can and will look at the more subtle things and clues...when it comes to ships though, they're more likely to take things at face value. e.g. theorizing whether it was vecna that took will by comparing the monster silhouette in S1 and other discrepancies between S1 and S4 vs. believing that mike's S4 storyline is just building up to him saying "i love you" (god this is such a boring hypothetical storyline)

but ngl though, their comments really give me a lot of insight on how non-byler shippers view the Cali plot and how much of an out ST still has at this point in time (pre-V2) to commiting mutual byler into canon.

most upvoted opinions on mike's weird behavior this season:

"finn's acting badly", (lmao)

"cali plot is badly scripted",

"mike and will have just drifted away because of time and distance",

"mike is subconsciously picking up on and is weirded out by will's crush on him because mike is straight straight straight". (from people who don't know finn said that mike is unaware of will's feelings. w/c tbf was also me before i went into the byler tags because i don't really watch/read cast interviews. this is probably also a commonly held opinion by people who only watch the show)

i do like that they're noticing just how cruel it would be for will to have his feelings unrequited. now please connect the dots and see how a storyline where will never gets a "win" would be a horrible one.

i think that once will has a more connected role to the lore again, byler will look like an actual option to most viewers. because he'll be an actual protagonist again and people will want to root for him and his happiness.

as for what'll it take for people to see mike's feelings... tbh what we only really have right now is subtext. i do think that mike's behavior is because he's realizing he's in love with will and not el, but there isn't anything more overt to really confirm it as of yet. we'll have to wait for V2. and even then, it'll probably be something that can still be run through the straight lens if people try hard enough.