bylerrhugs

[bylerrhugs]

this must be the place

Fic by @vipertooths | Art by @djemsowhat

Teen | 36k words

A year after Vecna's defeat, things have finally returned to normal. Well, aside from the lingering nightmares. And the fact that Mike is in love with his best friend and it's getting increasingly harder to keep that to himself.

But it's all going to be fine. They're going to go to Steve's parent's heretofore undiscussed lakehouse, spend two weeks slow-roasting in the Indiana sun, and be normal teenagers for once. Really, the least they deserve at this point is a little summertime relaxation.

Warnings: underaged drinking

Read on Ao3 with embedded art

Read an excerpt below:

“What are you thinking about?”

Mike’s brain scrambles to find a suitable response. “Just that one-shot.” DnD was always a pretty safe topic to fall back on.

“Maybe I’ll make a new character. Will the Unwise. And whatever I’d normally do, I’ll just do the opposite.”

“You would drive Dustin and Lucas crazy.”

“Worth it. Can you, um, tilt your head back up? You moved.”

He’s tempted to feign ignorance to see if Will will cup his face again, but decides against it. He can be normal.

“Are you sure you want to spend so much time on this?” he asks lightly. “I was informed earlier that I am not a pretty subject.” When Will answers, he sounds nearly offended. “Says who?”

“Lucas. And then he denied me breakfast. They’re so mean to me when you’re not around.”

Will snorts. “I’m sure. Anyway, it hardly matters what Lucas thinks. I’m the one who’s drawing you.”

“So . . . what do you think then?” He tries to keep his voice casual so he doesn’t give away how much he suddenly needs to know the answer to the question.

“Are you asking me to call you pretty?”

Yes. “No. Just– I’m not asking you to, but if you had t–”

“You’re pretty.”

“Oh.” He can feel heat rising to his cheeks. Thankfully, he’s sitting in the summer sun, so it’s probably not noticeable. “Thanks.”

Will lets out another soft huff of laughter. “You’re welcome.”

Without stopping to think it over and give himself a chance to back out, he says, “You’re prettier.”

The sound of pencil scraping across paper stops. Was that too far?Maybe he’s being weird again. No, he definitely is. He keeps his eyes shut, scared about what look he’ll find on Will’s face if he opens them.

After what seems like a millennia, but is probably just ten seconds, the scritch scritch scritch starts up again. “We’ll agree to disagree.”

Mike breathes a silent sigh of relief. Not too weird then. “I guess I can do that.”

Continue reading on Ao3 >

[bylerrhugs]

This one really obvious lip glance Mike does at the roller rink WASNT RANDOM.

When Will admits that El’s been lying to him, Mike calls bs, and then Will NUDGES HIM. He does it when he says “no listen to me” but his hand is offscreen. It’s very subtle but I swear u can literally see Mike shake like Will grabbed his arm and shook it a bit to get his attention.

That’s what that look was, it wasnt a completely random lip glance from Mike, it was cause Will shook him. Mike was defensive at first, calling bs, but then Will touches him and suddenly the defense is down and he believes him. His tone of voice completely changes and everything.

Something something Will has a tendency to nudge Mike like that during all their arguments where they aren’t seeing eye to eye and Mike is getting defensive. Something something Mike has picked up on that and now takes that as a sign that Will is being serious and he needs to slow down and listen to him. Something something theyre such a good team even when theyre arguing.

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me when s5 comes out and it turns out the "will kisses mike's forehead while he's in the hospital" leak was actually real and we get another scene showing how much will loves mike, an actual affectionate kiss, while 99,9% of milkvans kisses are that's-what-we're-supposed-to-do-right? make outs with zero affection behind them

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me making up stories at Mike and will in my head

Now kiss

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snack theory.

Recently I’ve been getting notifications about a theory I posted a while ago, so now I'm making a proper post about it.

First of all:

1. Will and Mike might be going to Lovers lake next season.

There have been many occasions where water is present in something related to byler (like Will’s corpse being pulled out of the water, the rain fight, the claws poster, Mike’s shirt being ocean pacific, etc) and there have been theories that these two will end up going to Lovers Lake at some point in s5

Also apparently according to "Will Byers Secret Files", Castle Byers is next to Lovers Lake.

(credits of the picture: W1llByer2 on twitter)

Though apparently the official maps are very contradictory, so idk. But if this one is true, well, they could be going to castle byers and then to lovers lake?? or something like that.

2. There is/was(?) a gate in lovers lake.

And when Dustin is telling to the others about the possibility of this gate's existence, Robin says this:

The word “snacks” shows in Rink o mania between blue and yellow stripes

With Mike and Will in the shot.

And it also appears in the airport when they reunite.

So yeah, the gate in lovers lake is snack sized bc these two are going there lmaooo idk idk

It could be a coincidence I guess, but still a very funny one lol

[bylerrhugs]

The arrow on Mike's shirt indicates his romantic attention throughout s4

After El is arrested and leaves for the lab, Mike wears a shirt with a triangle over his heart that points toward his left. It points toward Will for much of the season.

Bylers point to the triangle as evidence of his love for Will. It points from Mike's HEART. Costume designer Amy Parris says they put triangles on Robin's shirt as an "easter egg" for LGBT+ representation (timestamp); no reason not to think they custom-made Mike's shirt for a similar reason. The origin of the triangle symbol is the Holocaust, when gay men were forced to wear a pink triangle over the left side of their chest -- the same spot on MIke's shirt.

To test this theory, I reviewed all of s4. (Some of this stuff won't be news to Byler Nation, but some will. Especially the last part!)

Here are all of Mike and Will's "heart-to-heart" scenes. Immediately when El departs, we see a softer, more sensitive Mike. Note that I include one where Mike is only wearing a white T-shirt, which made sense because he was shoveling in the hot desert. There the implied arrow is pointing toward Will; he is always to our left in every frame:

See the exception? Yes, it's EXACTLY the scene where Will is telling Mike that the painting is from El, where Mike is being misdirected away from Will by Will's own actions. This only strengthens the idea that the arrow is significant. Where the arrow's pointing seems to reflect Mike's own romantic attentions over the season. In fact, in the next scene after that conversation, Mike is consistently blocked so that his arrow points AWAY from Will (whereas before at Suzie's house it was more random). AND he is not blocked next to Will, in contrast to how they're almost always paired throughout the show's run:

The other times it's important to look at the blocking is when Mike, Will, and El are in the same scene while he's wearing the shirt. Here are their most significant scenes:

When Mike reunites with El, the arrow points away from Will and then towards El. Again, Will has just lied and attributed the painting to El. But that's the last time it unambiguously points toward her. The "piggyback plan" shot is VERY suggestive of a Byler ending: look at how the circle is around Mike and Will, with El outside it. The pizza scene is interesting: Mike is talking to El and the arrow in some shots points toward El, but in the physical space it is actually pointing toward WILL back in the kitchen. More scenes:

During the monologue while Mike's telling El he loves her, the arrow is conflicted, pointing toward Will but El is also in the middle of the shot. (They could've easily had them on El's other side for a reverse effect.) After that scene, we all know that El is hardly speaking to Mike. By now, the arrow is unambiguously pointing toward Will again. In Max's hospital room while his arm is around El, AGAIN it points toward Will. In Mike and Will's last heart-to-heart scene above, it points toward Will. And of course, in the final scene, not only does it point toward Will, but Mike chooses to stand with Will instead of walk forward with his girlfriend.

Here's another detail I think others haven't caught yet. It's from the van scene. We know that the arrow points away from Will throughout, reflecting how Will is pushing Mike away:

However, remember Jonathan looking at them through the rearview mirror? In THOSE shots, the positioning is what we're used to seeing! The arrow pointing toward Will is implied.

Plus, in the two shots through the mirror, Mike looks at Will, who is looking away. All these shots parallel each other and reflect their mutual misunderstanding: Boy A on the left looks at (and is interested in) the other, but Boy B on the right is looking away (and is uninterested, or so Boy A thinks!).

The way the scene is written, Jonathan represents the outside viewer who knows what is going on more than the two boys do. It has been pointed out that this scene is basically from Will's POV. It therefore makes sense that when we're in Will's space, the arrow points away because he doesn't believe Mike likes him back. But we, as outsiders looking in, see what's actually happening. In this perspective, Mike's eyes -- and heart -- are on Will!

-teambyler

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Still not over this

[bylerrhugs]

milevens :"Finn Wolfhard ships Mileven"

Also Finn : pushing Byler endgame !

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Mike Wheeler likes El. But he LOVES Will. I think he's always been in love with Will Byers. His head says El. But his heart wants Will.

[bylerrhugs]

sometimes it seems to me that this meme does not lose its relevance

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I think it’s so funny how ppl still deny Byler being a thing. Like as if the show didn’t deliberately set up a love triangle between Mike, El and Will. And like.. it’s not even just the existence of the love triangle but the context. They set up a love triangle while within the same season confirm that Will is gay and in love with Mike (and has been the whole show) BUT wait there’s more. They ALSO confirm that Mike can’t tell his CANONICAL GIRLFRIEND he loves her … for some mysterious reason LMFAO

and then it gets even funnier when ppl are like “byler is just PLATONICCCC” because… first of all, anyone who passed highschool freshman English class can follow this narrative and realize that byler is going to be endgame, but second of all, if it really were platonic then why is there a blatant romantic undertone to literally every single byler scene 😂

And you can tell there’s a romantic undertone really easily. Just replace Will with Lucas or Dustin and it becomes super obvious. The show goes out of its way to show the audience that Mike and Will’s relationship is different from the friendships Mike shares with his two other guy friends. Why?

I mean seriously, how funny would this be?

🤨🏳️‍🌈🫵🏻📸

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@ netflixlat confirmed byler shipper🤝

(on my edit on tiktok)

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My favorite trope ❤️

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Fuckenne Fuck

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This, is what I think is going to happen for BYLER in season 5:

1. They will get multiple heart-to-heart/intimate scenes together. As we already saw in season 4, they got 3 in total: the first on at Will's house, after El shmacked Angela's face, the second one on the car in the desert, after burying the Hero Unknown Agent Man's body, the third one in the van when Will opens to him. In season 3, we didn't get any, but in season 2 we had 2: the first one when Mike reassures Will about the Mind Flayer and they touch hands *so cute*, and the second one when Mike tells about the first time they met. So if we're being reasonable, it could be 4, I think we'll have 4 scenes in total.

Let me explain that... I see the first one being about Max and Lucas' mental state. It could be at the hospital, or at school, or at Mike's house. The second one could be some sort of fight. I remember one of the co-writers saying there will be an other rain fight. I don't really know if it will happen cause he confirmed it a long time ago but let's say it is. So an other rain fight, at Mike's house, but maybe this time it could hint Mike's sexuality instead of Will's like in S3. The third one could be where they try to reassure each other that it's okay they will win right after Vecna's back, more likely at Mike's house or someplace other. The fourth one could be in the Upside Down, because may I remember you that Mike never went in the Upside Down? That's what we call a first time, right Mike! So Mike and Will in the Upside Down could talk about everything they've been through and Mike could finally kiss Will and tell him how much he loves him.

For a final scene, a fifth but not really fifth, it could be when everything's over. They go to some sort of High School Ball to celebrate their final year and I see them finally breaking the "I'm scared" barrier and go in the middle of the dance floor and dance together like no one else is there with a Time After Time song playing on the background.

2. Their first kiss will be awkward from both their POV. What I mean is that when they kiss for like, what, 3 seconds, Will pushes Mike gently and Mike removes himself gently and they look at each other like they did something bad. Will stutters trying to say something but nothing comes out of his mouth. Mike could say something like "Oh, I'm sorry I- I didn't..." but Will could interrupt him like 'bitch wdym you're sorry' he could kiss him back but it is after the kiss Mike will admit he never liked El romantically. Buy yeah, awkward kiss, just like Rockie's one could be actually. Mostly cause they're older so it doubles the awkwardness.

3. Jonathan gets some hate towards Mike. I can literally imagine Jonathan always being mad, upset and distant towards Mike because he can't see his brother likes him. It'd be too funny I'm sorry ;-;

4. Will gets hurt by Vecna and Mike stays next to him at the hospital. It could be the opposite actually, Mike in the bed, but I prefer Will cause he's used to it now- I can see them being close and Mike being super worried but it doesn't count as a intimate scene because Jonathan, Joyce and Hopper are close.

5. Will shirtless makes Mike blush. Let me explain, LET ME. We saw in S5 BTS they swapped clothes for some stuff. Like, we saw Will has Mike's clothes on, logic, he left everything in California and they do the same cloth size (almost). So if we consider the fact that Mike lends his clothes to Will, we can totally imagine at one point Will, coming in Mike's room asking for a shirt because he doesn't have anymore. Mike brings him one and he says thanks, then he removes his clothes, his back facing Mike's face and he gets like flustrated it'd be HILARIOUSLY CUTE. He could stare through a mirror maybe, idk but that sounds nice right?

6. Mike will get hurt in the Upside Down. Of course he has to, he hasn't been hurt in the whole show, BRO'S FINE. So he gets hurt and Will of course would help him, they could rest a little and talk two times, one "normal" hinting a future kiss and the second time they kiss.

An upside down kiss. What a funny name. It isn't a Spider-Man kiss though (should be).

I think that's it, I'll reblog my post if I find anything else.

[bylerrhugs]

My mom is a byler shipper and she born in 1986 in march 22 that is so byler canon.

Byler its canon trust me bro my mom born when byler had a fight

[bylerrhugs]

I can't wait to be able to tell all my friends who don't believe in byler, "I told you so” after season five