Will Has Powers Fic List (pt 1?)

The girly girl to transmasc pipeline is genuinely kinda real

The reason why Milkvans always say Mike and El have been "built up" for FOUR SEASONS or they've "been together" for FOUR SEASONS is because they can't defend them in Season 4.

Because judging by the MOST RECENT SEASON, Byler is on the rise and Milkvan is in decline.

-teambyler

KEEP YAPPING PLEASE YOU'RE SO LINGUISTICALLY INCLINED

Yapped a bunch then went on the Byler tag and was somehow surprised when I saw my posts there

About the Byler scene that changed it all

The van scene is by no means my favorite Byler scene because it hurts. A lot. But at the same time, the power that it holds cannot match anything else between Mike and Will for me.

We’ve seen years of Mike worrying about Will from the very first “that’s weird. I don’t see him.” To the “it was the best thing I’ve ever done.” From “it’s not my fault” to “I’m sorry” to “maybe you should have reached out more” to “friends. Best friends,” Mike is sincere. Over. And over. And over again. He loves out in the open for all to see, yes, even in his mistakes, but that’s what makes him human. That’s what makes him who he is. He’s sarcastic and quick and irritable, but oh, when he’s leading, inspiring, and guiding?

Will plays an important role in Stranger Things wherein we rarely get to see his heart. But no, of course we do. He’s the one everyone fought for since season 1, so of course he’s known to us. But that’s just it, everyone else fights for him. They say that proof of good character is if other people recognize it in you, and Will has been the center of that treatment from the very start. Sure, he’s also seen in very negative lights, being made fun of even when he’s assumed dead, but I don’t care about the people who don’t know him. I care about the people who do. And those who do search for him until he’s found. Never give up even when it seems theoretically impossible. Protect him, family and friends alike.

And those things may just be givens in most loving relationships, so let’s take it a step further. What do people say about him? In season 1, Mike asserts that Will risked his character’s life for The Party - an imaginary compromise - and Lucas immediately understands the signal to go out and save him, taking even a fictitious virtue and ascribing it so meaningfully to Will that it’s worth fighting for him in real danger. Then in season 2, Joyce recounts about Will giving a little girl his own toy truck simply because she was sad. In season 3, when Will is explaining what he thinks happened to the Mind Flayer and why it inexplicably seemed to return, Mike is at his defense, saying he’s right without a doubt. Will is trustworthy, and the rest follow. Then in season 4 in arguably one of the sweetest scenes in the whole show, Will and Jonathan are on the verge of tears, and when Will says that he’ll always be there for Jonathan, Jonathan says that he knows he will be. Will is selfless, venerable, caring and wise in a sweet mixture, and when he loves, people know it.

For everything. Everything except his love for Mike. His love for Mike is something that cannot be easily digested or explained. Looking back at that Will and Jonathan scene by the tub before the mind fight, this is something that takes a step into the part of his heart that no one readily sees or pays attention to. If it is, again, it’s pushed in ridicule, covered in insensitive names, not celebrated. It’s something that makes him cry, something that he can’t even say out loud. Jonathan was the one to recognize that things were complicated for his brother and he reached out, knowing that it was hurting Will.

But despite the pain. Despite all of the shame that comes with being who he is, he lets his love out in a big reveal, the most anticipated hint all season long in season 4. And who does he reveal his heart to? Mike. He both risks it all in front of the very person of his affection and gives everything up for him, including his own love.

But be not despaired, because love is not a finite resource.

I know that this scene hurts on so many levels, especially because of what Will says about himself, but look at how Mike sees Will. I don’t think that I even need to put evidence here, but it’s just so tender and important to realize that this is not a hopeless scene.

This is the one who’s on the other end of Will’s message. This kind of attention is not going to become, ‘oh, hey, Will, I’m sorry, but I can’t accept what you said because you lied to me about who it’s from.’ If Mike does say this, he’s a liar. Look at him. He’s seeing Will plenty without a guise on his end. This is Mike falling in love with what Will is offering him.

And given everything that we know about Mike who stops at nothing to protect the ones he loves and Will who would give himself up for the ones he loves, both loving to the point of sacrifice, hand in hand, how can you come away from this scene saying that Mike would easily reject Will? That Mike won’t listen to Will and consider both of their own affections? That they won’t find an understanding? That forgiveness is foreign to them?

Will has given Mike the power to decide to buy the lie or realize it. And in a show that revolves around “friends don’t lie” and uncovering hidden truths, I doubt that Mike is going to simply buy it.

And from there, how beautiful would it be for Mike to openly accept him? To give the boy who thought he lost it all the chance to be loved in a way that makes him feel not different in a world that hates him? And how much more sweet would it be for Will to forever make Mike feel special, unceasingly, without the need to lie? To let him know how adored he is and how he doesn’t have to fight his heart anymore over a romance of obligation rather than bliss?

Byler is endgame. We’re almost there. It just makes sense.

Happy Byler Day. 💙💛

I LOVE BYLER ANALYSIS

Dropping Byler Evidence Every (Other) Day Until Season 5

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Day 25: Mike's Mind was on Will . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

So after a full day of us bylers getting bombarded with asks from this one crashing-out mileven anon DAHSDGKASD I am going to drop this piece of evidence from the final post in the Airport Scene saga :)))

So during the beginning of Season 4 we see that Mike is not being himself which is super strange, and we are angry that he's ignoring Will during the airport scene and the Rink o Mania scene. We think that while Mike and El are 'cute' (eh, they're literally lying to each other but whatever) Will is sad. Then, we find out that Mike was thinking about Will. The whole time.

Mike had noticed that Will was mad at him the whole day, Mike was disappointed that Will had been ignoring him in Rink o Mania and being upset, sure, but there are other times that he is sad at Will ignoring him.

The first is when Mike finds out that the painting must not be for him because Will acts so stand-offish about it. The most notable time however.... is the scene with Mike, El and Will walking through the airport while El is talking about her plans. Mike seems so absent from the conversation, looking around and thinking about something else. He glances at Will a total of:

6 Times

Watch this clip to see it all:

Before I argue about this with people in the asks (ugh) I wanna say that these glances are not accidents. Can you imagine being Finn in this scene and accidentally TURNING HIS HEAD in the same place a total of 6 times??? This is not an easy accident to make. He is extremely good at micro-facial expressions, and this is one of those instances.

This scene is supposed to be subtle and quick, so it makes sense why you would not pick up on it straight away. You are only supposed to pick up on it when you know the information later (that Mike picked up on everything Will did that day).

First off we need to establish that Mike is already feeling nervous about meeting Will because he knows from El's letter that Will could be making a painting for a girl. He hasn't been able to reach Will for months, and it gets confirmed later that Mike was acting so standoffish because he was afraid to lose Will. We see Mike's nerves in the way he asks about the painting -- "what's that?"

Mike is now even more nervous because he gets those worries confirmed when Will doesn't elaborate on the painting even when Mike lets him.

So now that we have established that: I will be talking about every instance he looks at Will during the video above and what it all means -

1. "Wha-- really?"

Will glances at Mike at the same time that he glances. Mike then realises that Will is also glancing at him and they quickly AVERT THEIR GAZES at the same time. This action of 'oop almost got found out' makes Mike also get interrupted in the middle of his word. The way he says "really" as well is high-pitched and nervous after what just happened.

2. "Yeah no I trust you"

Honestly these are so hard to take screenshots of, because you really need to watch it to get the full effect so make sure to just rewatch the part in the video above pls <3

Again, not sure why Mike actually glances at Will in this moment other than just to check on his reaction, showing that he's being so careful with what he's saying and doing around him.

3. "Rink o Mania..."

Another super subtle one, but again it still furthers the argument that Mike was caring about Will's reactions to everything that El is saying more than anything. Maybe he just wants him to get in on the conversation or he's worried that Will's being so quiet -- his mind is still on acting normal though.

4. "Okay, are your friends gonna meet us there?"

This one is the one that inspired me to make this post in the first place. It is perfect.

First of all, El was never insinuating that her friends were going to be there. Mike had never been told by El in a previous letter that they were going to meet up with some friends. SO WHY DOES HE EVEN MENTION FRIENDS??? Obviously, he knows that she has made friends but in the letters, he's heard that Will maybe has as well.

RIGHT AS HE SAYS FRIENDS -- he looks at Will. This is no accidental head turn. This is the directors and writers trying to show you that while Mike may seem to be asking about El here (because he's asking about her friends), he's actually got his mind on Will's friends. The reason he asks is because he wants to confirm or deny the worry that he has about it.

This is literally rehashed later when Mike gets angry at Will ignoring him. He does all of thESE THINGS BECAUSE HE WAS SCARED OF LOSING HIM <3 which he says in the bedroom.

5. After "Friends? What friends?"

This one makes sense because Will's just spoken, although it is a little ambiguous whether Mike is looking at him in this frame above. Watch the video if u really wanna know ig. He's probably just looking for what this means as it's the first thing Will says the whole time.

6. After "Angela?"

It's odd how Mike clearly gets a little weirded out by what Will says here but it's pretty much clear that he has no clue that El has any bad blood with Angela. This is clear from later on, when he completely denies that El has been lying to him, and ignores that El gets taken away by Angela and everyone.

There must be another reason for his strange reaction that clearly catches him off guard. He asked the previous question about friends because he wants to put his worry to rest. BUT He now just found out that Will does have friends (or so he thinks, ofc), which is specifically a girl. El talks about a girl in relation to Will in her letter.

Again, I'm rehashing this point: It gets confirmed that Mike thought he had lost Will. So it totally makes sense why he would be caught off guard here.

THEN EL SAYS:

"I want this day... to be about me and you!"

Perfection. This is supposed to be ironic. Because clearly, Mike is not all thinking about her. He has been glancing at Will the whole scene and El saying this is the best little kicker to end it. Mike barely notices something off with El, he notices everything that Will's doing, nervous about his reactions.

Perfect ending to that scene lmao

My professor and I had an in depth conversation on public education today.

As someone whose had bad experiences with people significantly older than me, it's refreshing and eye opening interacting with someone respectful and knowledgeable without being degrading.

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.

If you have any love for Code Geass, even if you don't read fanfiction, read this.

guys please tell me i’m not the only one that thinks Anya Mouthwashing looks eerily like S4 Mike Wheeler. i feel like im losing my mind

like…tell me these aren’t the same fucking picture

even though mike was scared, he walked up to will on the swings and asked him if he wanted to be his friend. and will said yes. that's the best thing mike's ever done and he did it scared. and with will.

something something mike may be scared but if he has will then things will be okay something something that's how he'll accept himself something something byler endgame