This Is Honestly So Real, Idk If It's Just Finn And Him Becoming More Mature Or Mike Actually Accepting

Why are Steve stans and Jonathan stans arguing about who's better they're LITERALLY gonna make out in season 5

Pack it up already, dude. You're NOT Darth Vader! Being a little burned up doesn't make you the new Anakin 😭

should've taken AP Physics instead 🤩 (literally my favorite class rn)

save me tiny desk concert

picrews are sooooo fun

my favourite fics

making this while drunk after reading a reallyyyy good byler fic in bed at midnight just chilling like a blade of grass i love it

u can probably tell my taste in fics after seeing this lol

he likes it scalding by CastleByersAfterDark - domestic, slice of life fic where will has a bath after a cold miserable day and its written so well like i feel the love theres so much loveee

Say It With Your Hands by Pseudologia - the only time you'll ever catch me reading a different first meeting fic. just so cute, byler meet at a movie theater (working) and mike's obsessed with him

a bed in your shape by passerine_in_jade - omg the angst was angsting but it was so realistic as well i loved it, the payoff ended up being so good.

A Blue Christmas by kwritessometimes - the most carefully and beautifully written fic about mikes coming out to his family. it perfectly shows the connection between him and will's family too, and ughhhhhhh i cried

but if i'm all dressed up (worth it for once) by castlebyer (loverslakes) - regency era england fic. i rarely ever read byler fics in an alternate timeline but omg this was so good and just as i imagined it.

nothing else i could do by astrobi - mike and will live together and they get a dog and then they kiss or smth idk i havent read it in a while but its astrobi so its good

if you kissed me now by astrobi - cute lil secret relationship fic and byler are just so soft and are actually realistic teens in this ugh

i hate accidents (except when we went from friends to this) by burgandyshirts - oh this is the funniest ever, there is a miscommunication where mike thinks he's dating will but will has no idea <3

said that i was fine, said it from my coffin by ruetistic - really sad about byler being gay in the 80s where mike gets hurt by people but its hurt/comfort so dw

feeling like the opposite by delusionaltogether (Whyyyyy) - such a good and memorable love confession on mike's part, also college byler teehee

i have everything i wanted by delusionaltogether (Whyyyyy) - series of one shots of byler that all follow an amazing format basically catered to my fave tags on ao3 HAHA

(give me a second to) forget i ever really meant it by delusionaltogether (Whyyyyy) - one of the better practice kissing fics i've read

autumn air, jacket 'round my shoulders is yours by gaysforbyler - will's feeling the anniversary effect and it just shows how much care mike has for will and how much understanding they have for each other

all this time (how could you not know?) by astrobi - for me, this is a long fic. yeah that tells you everything abt me lmao but this is so amazing it has a great pay off (byler at prom!!!!)

i might be hoping about this by astrobi - this right here will always be my favourite fic. it is perfection. it was one of the first byler fics i ever read and the pure domestic bliss paired with it being a SICKFIC HELL YEAH makes it just soooo perfect

and i might as welllllll um

what you really want by ME - yes this is big headed of me but im so proud of this fic i worked so hard on it and sacrificed some of my grades for it but it was worth it

okay im so eepy im going to eep and then have a hangover and i have a raging headache now ive done this on a whim bye

Mentally I'm still here

The Strange Postponement of Mike and Will's relationship

If Mike and Will had remained as close as they were in Season 2 in the subsequent seasons, the "are they gay?" rumors absolutely would have spread among the General Audience, as they entered their official teen/dating/sexual awakening years.

There have been peculiar writing choices that seem to have no other explanation but to postpone romantic rumors about these two.

The show does it's damnedest to keep these best friends apart. The only interactions hinting at romance we get in Season 3 are their virtual double date with Lumax, and Mike being concerned for Will's well-being one time. These were necessary to reestablish their "good friendness" at the start of the season to set-up their breakup during the Rain Fight.

Then, of course, the Rain Fight happens. Mike says "It's not my fault you don't like girls." These two effectively break up.

But then there is the strange, interesting choice that there is no resolution ever about the Rain Fight. The apology for not liking Will's D&D game comes from Lucas instead of Mike:

Will had his blow-up with MIKE, not Lucas! And we know that Mike absolutely was DRIVEN to apologize to Will. Maybe he actually did, but it was offscreen. But why not have it ON screen? Why not clear the air on whether Mike thought Will was gay and was being homophobic to Will?

The writers were exceedingly careful to keep attention away from Mike and Will: they have NO conversations during nearly all the rest of the season. They made sure Mike was focused on trying to repair things with El and blurting out "I love her." These two things together kept the Gay Rumors(TM) in check.

Season 4 then dramatizes how they'd grown apart -- specifically, how they don't seem to have stayed in contact and Mike seems to ignore Will.

What a strange thing for the writers to do! Mike and Will had been on good terms.

They soon repair things, but for what?

The Will Counseling Hour:

They literally have no conversations with each other where Will isn't comforting Mike and/or talking about El. To the extent that the GA was annoyed that the California plotline was a "waste of time" and Mike seemed "useless."

The show was putting Byler in a holding pattern. The show established that Mike and Will were friends again, but with a "beard" on Mike: his relationship with El. Will's attempt to talk about a future playing Nintendo and D&D was ignored as Mike worried about El.

The Will Counseling Hour ends only with their very LAST conversation of season 4, when Will shares that he can still feel Vecna and Mike resolves that they will overcome him. The danger of Season 5 bringing them together, along with signs that Mike and El are drifting apart, lay the trajectory for Season 5.

Season 5 will be the first season with Unfiltered Byler(TM) since Season 2.

EVERYTHING that kept the GA from thinking about the possibility of Byler, (1) how young they were in Season 2, (2) their being kept artificially apart and (3) Mike's focus on his relationship with El, will have fallen away.

For the first time since Season 2, the A plot and Mike and Will being close and "a team" will mesh.

During all of this, we will get Season 2 Mike because Will will also be the center of the story and be IN DANGER. It's impossible to imagine Mike being his aloof start-of-Season-4 self. Add to all of this Season 4 hormones: we're likely to see the heart-eyes romantic, Will-Voice-speaking boy in love we Bylers see in the 2nd half of Season 4.

And there's the Painting Lie, which the Duffers have told Finn Wolfhard will "pay off in the end." Mike WILL KNOW Will loves him, and loved him so much as to sacrifice himself for him.

Even if one doesn't accept Byler, one can't deny that there has to be a DIRECT RECKONING over whether Mike returns Will's feelings.

The entire structure of how the show has presented their relationship is building up toward this. The Strange Postponement of Byler had a purpose.

-teambyler

Dropping Byler Evidence Every (Other) Day Until Season 5

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . Day 35: D&D Substitute Scene . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ .

The D&D substitute scene, aka the scene where Mike and Dustin attempt to persuade random people into being Lucas's replacement, is packed full of queer coding for Mike -- alongside the small shot we get of his bedroom, this scene is supposed to be filled with subtle hints about Mike's character arc this season, particularly about him questioning his sexuality.

The first episode aims to show you what conflicts Mike has in his life before he goes to California, otherwise him acting weird in California would have little context (in a writing sense).

The first part is when Mike bursts in to find Nancy -- when I first watched this back in 2022, girl I thought he was SOOO weird for just standing there and looking around. I figured it was super unnecessary and awkward (maybe just a goofy thing to get a laugh), but they wouldn't have included that for no reason.

Like ^^?? There was no reason for the shot of other people and the whole room unless it for the purpose of showing little details. At first when I decided to examine the scene, I didn't really expect to find anything at all, but if u look closely in the first picture, there's literally a pride flag on one of the items on the table.

Of course, you can't only rely on this little detail for queer coding because there are also other aspects of this scene that we must consider:

At the beginning Mike looks completely frozen in place, like he hadn't been expecting this many people or he's embarrassed. They all look around at him which is supposed to symbolise (imo) his thoughts about the pressure he's feeling to figure himself out, or how seen he feels, in terms of his queerness. (bear with me it all links)

There is ticking in the background, which is supposed to emphasise how long Mike is taking to look around the room.

Nancy is literally in the middle of the room -- How did Mike not see her immediately?

Ergo, he was distracted by something and looking at other people. Mike's literally questioning his sexuality at the beginning of the season anyway, carrying on from the end of S3. The people in the room are all staring at him as if to say -- "who are you going to choose" or something.

You might think this is a reach that Mike is looking at them carefully and considering, but the camerawork literally emphasises the fact that Mike is looking around at these people very purposefully:

Mike looks around first ^

The camera pans quickly like it's supposed to be from his perspective. This is one of the only scenes in which we get his pov in the whole season. And when we do, it's literally Mike panicking about questioning his sexuality. (And for all the bisexual Mike truthers out there, this is definitely proof on that front too, I mean look.)

Okay brace urself because the next part with Mike in it is the most classic 80s-referential queer coding I've seen in my life. Idk why I ever watched this scene without getting the feeling that something is gay about this boy, anyways:

Remember this random extra in the background of Will's solo shot? Super unnecessary to wear this shirt right?

This is supposed to be queercoding for Will, which makes sense because he is canonically confirmed gay in S4, but this hilariously links back to this scene in episode 1:

Wrestling is a contact sport - and this is the very first shot of the next Mike scene, rather than Mike himself. This is basically supposed to kind of highlight the uhhhh queer things that are going on in Mike's head, which is even more interesting when you look at the shot facing Mike:

Not them literally having pairs of men in the background of this shot - it's not even just men by themselves which would be queercoding in itself, but they're all in pairs, as in a M/M couple - i don't get how this was needed unless it's for the purpose of showing Mike questioning his sexuality. If you think about it, the writers and creators chose which parts of the school Dustin and Mike went to pick up a substitute, and it's not just random that they not only decided to put Mike in this situation but have men in tight wrestling gear in the background cmon--

If you think about Dustin being in this scene, it really doesn't make any sense anymore.

Oh yeah and this otherwise unnecessary 5 second POV shot of boys doing this (on the right) definitely doesn't mean anything for what Mike's sexuality is sure yeah yeah...

For the next part, Mike goes to a science lab, which...you might think I'm going to rattle off about this being a symbol for him wanting to 'experiment' with his thoughts and feelings (AND I COULD DO THAT) but this scene doesn't even need me to say much, especially when they have shots like this in it:

There are many things about this scene that imply queercoding:

On one side of Mike there are only boys (particularly two of them), and on the other side there are two girls. I again have to justify myself and say that this isn't just a coincidence. That should be queer coding for a questioning 15 year old boy enough but...

There is literally a sign in the background saying "Women in science" to further highlight the difference between the two opposing sides in Mike's head. This could be bisexual proof, but in my opinion...

The set designers set up a light coming in through the window for a reason. You could try and say it was to make the scene look nicer, but it's clearly lighting up which side Mike prefers, while the side he doesn't is in the shade.

Also there's something about him saying "That's just bullshit media propaganda" whilst being put in a very queer situation that gets me.

The boy at the science table also says "60 minutes begs to differ", which is a very specific line and typical of the time period. The date is 21st of March. Now, if you're well-versed in the lore I'm sure you know where this is going:

The last aired 60 minutes show according to the date - was about the AIDS crisis in America, particularly about the gay community in San Francisco. I'm sure I don't need to say anything more about this significance.

After the guy says that, the experiment goes up in like sparks and flames and I'm sorry to be so so on the nose (though that's kind of the show's fault) but....

I don't know why else they would have had those flames be so prominently in front of Mike's whole torso and head, revealing him to be there after the flames die down if not for this double meaning.

All in all, if we consider that this short scene has this much packed into it, I really can't question the capabilities of the directors and writers to subtly queercode a character (if he is canonically queer next season). Within a minute, Mike is shown to look frozen with pressure as he questions his sexuality, directly put in the pubescent context of gay thoughts (lol), and put in the middle of two options to show which one he has a preference for.

A force of gravity by @oceanfruitsstuff

A MUST READ FOR BYLERS

i nearly have no words that can encapsulate the rollercoaster of emotions this book has put me through. i already gushed about this before but i want to leave another note here, too. I hope one day oceanfruit will publish this. i’m seriously planning on printing all 800 pages of this out and annotating it because it astonishing how high quality this is. for a fic that doesn't have a beta? MARVELLOUS!!!!

so many times i felt as though i was watching a real person's life because the dialogue was so authentic. everything that everyone said flowed so naturally and all i can describe it as is like silk.

characters? chefs kiss.

they're so raw and human. many times i was just left staring at the screen, my eyes glued to the text, on the verge of tears because i resonated with them. their stories and arcs were so beautiful, and just natural. it's an amazing separation from the idea that characters are black and white and how that assumption can draw people into a spiral within the story, too.

Further, the author introduces us to so many complex ideas and does not let them drop: everything makes sense.

the semantic field of colour, the pathetic fallacy and the IMAGERY!!! so many amazing language techniques were used, and all of them had a profound purpose within the text. Parallelism is the bread and butter of byler nation so i already knew that this fic wouldn't fall flat but, gosh, i didn't expect it to be this great.

i don't even want to start on the plot because DAMNNNN

i’m just saying: if you liked aristotle and dante, you'll love this one.

i can go on and on and on about this for hours and i'll probably update my review after i've completed my annotations and my psychoanalysis of all the characters but for now, there are my final words:

Micheal Wheeler, you're so lovable and you'll always be famous.

Will Byers, they can NEVER make me hate you and you're so lovable.

byler x film/tv soundtracks:

edit by loafwheel: song: i see the light from tangled

edit by bylersbyer: song: futile devices from call me by your name

edit by nicolinen2010: byler/lumax* song: ma meilleure ennemie from arcane

edit by loafwheel: byler/little women* song: mia & sebastian’s theme from la la land

edit by melinastapes: byler/mileven parallel* song: futile devices from call me by your name

edit by .wheel4rvsp: byler/neon genesis evangelion* song: no.1 party anthem by artic monkeys

edit by loafwheel: byler/the book of life* song: don’t smile by sabrina carpenter

byler x taylor swift:

edit by melinastapes: song: the tortured poets department

edit by scqr6ms: song: the great war

edit by 80saesfilm: song: out of the woods

edit by labylerinth: song: need (unreleased)

byler soft:

edit by welovewillbyers: song: goodnight n go by imogen heap

edit by yrmult: song: every breath you take by the police

edit by welovewillbyers: song: the only exception by paramore

edit by andriasboobs: song: don’t delete the kisses by wolf alice

byler angst:

edit by nvmimogen: song: making the bed by olivia rodrigo

edit by labylerinth: song: somebody else by the 1975

edit by 80saesfilm: byler/mileven parallel* song: like him by tyler the creator ft lola young

edit by .aecqnt: byler/mileven parallel* song: fake plastic trees by radiohead