#MIKE LOVES HIS FRIENDS

[fabiiey]

I Can't Go On Without You

Summary: Max calls up Mike at three am, without any questions asked, Mike goes to her.

Tags: Max Mayfield & Mike Wheeler, Minor Character Death

Its on Ao3 too

“Mike?”

“Max? It’s three in the morning?”

“I know – its… its my mom. Can you come to the hospital please?”

“I’ll be there.”

He doesn’t care to be silent, shoving his shoes on and grabbing a sweater. He doesn’t think of Holly still awake or the fact that his mom had for sure heard him slamming things around as he swipes his keys off the kitchen counter. His walkie is in one hand, the open channel silent as he starts up the car and peels out his driveway loudly, waking up the sleeping neighborhood.

He looked at the time, the numbers 3:12 flashing at him. He easily drives down the empty streets, definitely breaking a few speeding laws as he approaches Hawkins General. He sees Max sitting outside, smoke curling around her in wispy clouds. He gets out, barely remembering to lock his car as he jogs towards her. She looks horrible. Her face is splotchy, bright red against her pale skin and her freckles seemed almost non-existent. She drops the cigarette, putting it out under her shoe before stepping forward and crashing into Mike’s chest.

He instinctively wraps his arms around her, one hand around her waist and the other pressing her head to his neck. He doesn’t know what’s wrong, he doesn't know why she’s at the hospital at three in the morning, but he’s here, holding her tightly as if he could put back all her broken pieces back together. She smells of smoke and cheap rose perfume and her hair feels tangled, the strands being held up by a dingy hair tie. She’s still in her Ralph’s Records uniform: A black bowling shirt with the store name embroidered on the right side of the shirt and her blue ripped jeans.

She pulls away first, her breath still ragged and quick. Her face is still red, and her eyes are bloodshot as she leads him inside, walking past the nurses mulling around the nursing station. He catches their worried looks as Max tightens her grip on his hand, tugging him into the elevator. She stands across from him, arms crossed and her face dejected. Its different from that night in ’85, when they had been standing outside Billy’s hospital room waiting for the doctors to confirm if he was alive or not.

He wasn’t, the Mindflayer destroyed his chest cavity, taking his lungs, heart, and any organs that had gotten in the way.

That was the last time Mike had seen Neil Hargrove, tear marks streaking down his face and Max had muttered something about Neil only crying because he hoped it was him that ended his son, not some measly mall fire. Still, Mike only felt the surface level of empathy for the horrible man with a rotten son.

Almost three years later, Mike feels like he’s still stuck in that moment, the only difference was that the Party wasn’t here. The Byers were still in California, far away from Hawkins as they can get without leaving the country. Dustin wasn’t even in Hawkins either, he was in Utah, spending his winter break with Suzie and Lucas was in Chicago with his parents, looking at some of the schools that had scouted him for the various sports he played.

“My mom got hit.” Max finally says, “A drunk driver drove her into a tree. The driver died on the way to the hospital and my mom, they said she won’t make it.” He pulls her close, hands almost shaking as the elevator finally opens. She pulls away, her shoulders squaring, and she steps out into the flurry of doctors running the floor. She waits and Mike waits with her, waits for the inevitable news that Susan Mayfield died on a cold December night in 1987 because someone decided to drive drunk.

Mike goes in at six thirty to make a promise, hoping to ease Susan Mayfield’s mind.

For the first time in years, Mike prays to a god he’s not sure exist and prays for an easy passing.

Max goes in at six-forty-seven to say goodbye and at seven am on December 19th, 1987, Susan Mayfield succumbs to her injuries.

At seven am, on that snowing morning, Max Mayfield is the last of her family.

At seven am, on that cloudy, cold morning, Max Mayfield becomes an orphan at the age of seventeen.

They leave the hospital almost at midday, Max has to fill out paperwork and she wants to sleep forever once they’re done.

Mike takes them home, sits in the car for a complete thirty minutes with her, takeout slowly cooling at her feet before she sighs heavily and grabs the bags. She heads to his room, whispering a ‘good afternoon’ to Mrs. Wheeler before disappearing up the stairs. Mike realizes suddenly how exhausted he is as his mom meets him in the hall, a worried look on her face. Her hair is brown again, just how it had been before everything went to shit, before his best friend went missing and they were fighting interdimensional monsters every week for the next four years.

He seeks her comfort just like he did when they pulled Will’s fake body out of the water and when the Byers left Hawkins, taking two pieces of him with them.

( He doesn’t mention the day him and El broke up over the phone four months after she moved away and he cried into her lap at fifteen years old)

“Susan is dead.” He whispers, “Can she stay here?”

And Karen Wheeler is a mother, she raised three good, smart kids. She feed the three boys that never left Mike’s side. She let them have free reign of the basement and let them stay as long as their parents let them. With a gentle nod of her head and a kiss to the side of his head along with a whispered promise that she’s always welcomed, does she let him go.

Mike finds Max in one of his shirts. It’s the Hellfire one, he had gotten an extra, paying Eddie an additional twenty dollars he won in a bet with Nancy for it. It was big, hanging off one of her shoulders exposing her collarbone. She was eating her fries, eyes distant as Mike entered his room quietly, the door clicking shut behind him. She doesn’t look at him as he takes his own food and eats it in silence next to her.

When they’re done, Mike closes the curtains as Max gets comfortable on the bed, claiming the side by the wall. The room is engulfed in darkness as Mike crosses his room, blindly gathering their trash and going to throw it away. He comes back a few minutes later, a cup of water in hand. He places it on his bedstand as he slips under the covers with Max. She easily fits herself into his side, her cold hands (they’re always cold and it makes him want to hold her closer, to warm her hands up in between his own) fisting his shirt.

It’s easy, familiar in a way they can’t explain. They’re two parts of a song, completing each other in a way no one but maybe Steve and Robin can relate to. He slides an arm around her waist, pulling her close and tugging the blankets over them. Her chest rattles against his side and its easy to press his lips to the top of her head.

When they wake up, he’ll sit her in between his legs and wrangle her hair out of her knotted ponytail and make her hair pretty with simple plaits he begged Nancy to teach him.

When they wake up, he’ll hold her as she cries.

When they wake up, he’ll promise to never leave her, that wherever she goes, he’ll follow and she’ll give him a watery laugh and ask if he’s planning to replace Lucas, because after everything, the two are still together.

But for now, the two sleep, embraced in the warmth they share. Mike’s humming lulls her to sleep as his hand gently rubs circles over the shirt she had made fun of him for wearing.

For now, on this wretched winter day, Max sleeps knowing that when she wakes up, Mike Wheeler will be there, holding her together as her world continues to shift and change.

#mike wheeler #max mayfield #they deserved so much #MIKE LOVES HIS FRIENDS #Mike and Max are each others Steve and Robin #Max truly loves Mike #Its angsty and sweet #stranger things #post season three #not exactly canon compliant #the other one sort of it

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF movie Mike meets Jeremy Fitzgerald

#myart #chloesimagination #comic #jeremy fitzgerald #michael afton #mike schmidt #fnaf #fnaf 2 #fnaf fanart #five nights at freddy's #FINALLY more of Jeremy!! #sorry it’s taken so long for more of this boy but he returns 🩵 #Mike doing a self burn here too #HE knows very well he doesn’t have friends so how Michael got one #(​Mike has one friend too and that’s Jeremiah) #Least Mike made Jeremy laugh- #Jeremy just got here and his homie already being out on blast #I love the idea of Jeremy and Michael actually being friends #like Michael is awful anti social monster and he’s buddies with the most chipper guy ever #it’s good bit I think it’ll be fun to explore that more! #I gotta draw Jeremy more after this #there’s sm to draw with him 💜💜 #I hope yall like him and his design!!

[grandwretch]

i so badly want one of those fic examinations of steve's relationship with joyce and hopper but solely through eddie's pov like hear me out

steve and eddie chat a lot in the upside down (and later in the hospital, when they learn hop is alive). steve has taken charge of filling eddie in on the rest of their of-age crew without the kids butting in. he never mentions his own parents, but he talks about the rest of the party's a lot, especially joyce and hopper. eddie knows what it's like to desperately want someone to be your parent and trying to hide it from his own childhood, when he would try to be cool about wayne dropping him off at his dad's house. steve obviously adores joyce and hopper, thinks the world of them and legitimately looks up to them.

eddie isn't sure what he expects from a cop who came back to life and the world's most determined housewife, but he's excited to meet them as someone steve loves.

cue eddie's horror when he realizes that neither of them really feel much for steve rather than annoyance and vague distrust. that joyce trusts will with eddie, an accused murderer, in a heartbeat and still hesitates to leave him with steve. that hopper brushes off every ounce of steve's hero worship and joy.

he tries to broach the topic with steve, gently, and is heartbroken when steve genuinely has no idea what he's talking about. and not because he's oblivious, but because steve thinks that's what he deserves. he thinks that's the parental love that someone who was an asshole in high school needs, because that's what would make him a good person. he needs people to call him out constantly, obviously, because why else would they keep doing it? why would nancy? at least they're here. at least they're not ignoring him. at least they're not forcing him into a box. they just want him to be better.

like, this is the man who thanked a girl for calling him bullshit and telling him she never loved him. he doesn't Know that's not how you're supposed to handle things. no one ever taught him that.

and now eddie's gotta figure out how he can teach steve how to be loved the right way without outing himself and his huge crush on his love-starved dork of a friend.

#shut up az #steddie #i just had the flash of eddie in a hospital bed staring up at hopper and the way he talks to steve in horror #like hopper saying something off the cuff about how he's not surprised there was so much collateral with steve in charge #and eddie thinking about steve always putting himself in harm's way #and the way steve got mauled by bats way before eddie did and then KEPT. GOING. but no one is mentioning that #no one is mentioning that steve was the first one of their group physically hurt by this. #and steve is just nodding like he agrees and eddie doesn't want to be rude bc these ppl are obviously Important to his friends #and then Mike comes in later and says something Mike-y and Eddie snaps at him #then he has to apologize because Mike is a stupid kid who loves Steve in his own way #and Eddie shouldn't blame him for the behavior of adults who should no better just because Mike is an easier target #anyway Eddie doesn't know how to have parents right either so he ropes Jeff and Lucas and Gareth and Robin into OP: Teach Steve Self-Worth

[fullsundiall]

a little mike wheeler character analysis

i don’t think mike cares about saving the world. he doesn’t want to fight this war. all he wants is for his friends and family to be safe and happy, for will not to suffer any longer, for el to finally find a home she can be secure in. if those things were possible without doing anything to help people outside his little circle, i don’t think he would want to help. for all that mike is loyal to a fault, he can be a little bit selfish. however, the only way for will to be okay again and el to finally feel okay is to fight this war and mike would do anything for the people he loves.

#mike wheeler #character analysis #stranger things #st5 speculation #byler #mileven #mike loves his friends #make mike a better friend 2k22 #if the duffers are only going to write mike as a boyfriend he better be the best damn boyfriend ever #if the duffers write mike’s love as his only trait you bet i’m taking it to the stream

[unfinishedslurs]

RIP Mike Wheeler’s heterosexuality

“Is being gay contagious?”

Steve stares at his phone groggily before putting it back against his ear. “…Mike?”

“Is it?”

“It’s three in the fuckin’ morning is what it is.” He rubs his nose, Mike’s words finally catching up to his brain. “Seriously, Mike? No it’s not fucking contagious, you’re not gonna get the gay disease or whatever from me. I promise you’ll keep liking girls.”

He’s a little hurt, even though he knows the question is innocent. They’ve been asking a lot of questions, like the inquisitive little assholes they are, but none of them had seemed like they weren’t okay with it. Until now.

“…that’s not what I meant,” Mike says. Steve realizes that his voice sounds shaky, even over the phone.

“Then what—“ he cuts himself off, realizing halfway through his bitching that there was only one reason Mike would call about this. “Oh.”

“Can you pick me up?”

“It’s three in the morning,” he repeats, even as he starts wondering where he left his keys. “Your mom…”

“Steve,” Mike pleads. “Please?”

He sighs. “I’m on my way.”

Mike is sitting on his doorstep when he pulls up, head in his hands. Steve doesn’t have to get out of the car, he stalks to the passenger door with all the vitriol of a boy with too many emotions to hold in, and wrenches the door open hard enough that Steve worries he’s going to break it.

“Watch it, noodle arms,” he says, trying to pretend this is normal. Maybe if he acts like it’s not well past midnight, Mike will relax.

It doesn’t work. Mike slumps in his seat, not bothering with the seatbelt. “Can you just drive?”

Steve drives. Doesn’t really know where they’re going, but it doesn’t matter. Just away seems to suffice.

He eventually pulls into a side road

“I’m scared to even touch another guy now! Because apparently hugging is gay when you’re older, and so is sleeping in the same bed, and telling your friends you love them, and…and I’m fucking scared all the time, ‘cause what if they’re right? How do they know? How can they tell by just fucking looking at me? It’s bullshit!”

“Shit, kid,” Steve says, heartbroken. “Shit. C’mere.”

He pulls him close, and Mike turns his face into the crook of his neck, shaking. His shirt collar starts to get damp.

“I don’t know what to do,” he cries. “I thought it was normal, I thought everyone was just…so scared all the time, and we just didn’t talk about it. But then you said that thing about being afraid and pushing it down, and I didn’t— I tried to ignore it. I tried so hard not to think about it, Steve, I swear I tried.”

“I know you did,” he says quietly. It hits him that he might be the only one who really gets it. Eddie gave up denying it long ago, deciding to evolve into something else for them to focus on. Robin’s a girl. Which doesn’t mean jack shit in most cases, because being a lesbian fucking sucks in a town like Hawkins, but girls aren’t as obsessive about it. Sometimes when they compare notes, Robin will just stare at him.

Mike shakes his head. “I don’t know what I did wrong,” he mumbles tearfully into his shoulder.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Steve says with a surprising amount of vehemence. He grabs Mike by his scrawny little shoulders, pulls him away so he can look directly into his bloodshot eyes. “Not a damn thing, do you hear me? There is nothing wrong with you, and anyone who tells you otherwise deserves a swift kick in the balls. Got it?”

Mike responds by bursting into loud, messy sobs.

Steve just keeps holding him, running a hand through his hair and soothing him gently, like he wishes someone had done for him or Robin or Eddie when they were young. Finally Mike pulls away, embarrassment starting to set in.

“Sorry,” he mutters.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Steve asks instead of a meaningless platitude he knows Mike wouldn’t accept.

Mike gives him a suspicious look. “I guess.”

“I’m scared too. All the time.”

“No you’re not,” Mike snorts. “You don’t need to make me feel better just because I’m a pussy.”

“I’m not joking,” he says. “Why do you think I dated girls? Why do you think I went through so many lengths to hide it? It’s fucking terrifying, man. But you know what makes it less scary?”

“Dating girls? Marrying a woman?”

“No.” He pokes Mike’s chest, right over his heart. “People. Friends who love and accept you. Friends who know what you’re going through, even.”

“Do you…” Mike chews his lip. “Do you think Nancy would be okay with it? With me?”

“Absolutely I do. She was okay with me, wasn’t she? And I was her boyfriend.”

“Yeah, but it’s different when it’s your family, right? Sometimes people don’t care if someone is… people don’t care until it affects them. Do you think Nancy is like that?”

He knows Nancy isn’t like that, but that's a talk they’re going to have to have themselves. “I really don’t,” he encourages. “I think she’d be really glad to know this part of you, actually. She loves you.”

“…I know,” he says, shifting uncomfortably. “I don’t… we made this dumb no secrets pact the first time the Upside-Down happened, I don’t know why. It’s stupid. But…I don’t want to keep secrets from her anymore.”

#stranger things fanfic #steve harrington #mike wheeler #lavender overload au #this is part of my finished fic where Steve and Robin get married #Mike can be read as gay or bi here #Mike and Steve is an underrated dynamic and I love them being friends #‘oh but mike hates steve-‘ WRONG. mike hates that he wants his sisters dumb idiot ex boyfriends approval #like don’t get me wrong I do think he hated Steve at one point #but after he protected them from Billy I think it went out the window #and now he begrudgingly thinks steve is cool. and HATES it #the funniest moment in all of stranger things is when Steve called Mike Nancy while concussed #and Mike gave him the most disgusted insulted face imaginable #i laughed so hard

[fluffyfangirl]

Byler Week Day 5 - Secret Identities

Dedicated to my dear sister @carobelli! Thank you for feeding me the most hilarious ideas to draw and never complaining when I send you drawing updates every half an hour or so 💖

#bylerweek2023 #Day 5 Secret Identities #Will Byers #Mike Wheeler #Byler #Miraculous Ladybug AU #because Mike as Chat Noir makes absolute sense in my head #and Will is a street artist and El as his twin is a designer #Plus blind Max as Mikes best friend ofc #I kinda fell in love with the AU and I already have some more sketches and even character sheets #i just won't post as much because my days off are over and today's my first day back work #FluffyFangirlArt

[morganbritton132]

David kinda hates that he has to interrupt the truly bizarre conversation Steve and Dustin are having about wiretapping and a ‘Cerebro’ but Career Day is about to officially start and-

Steve: David! Hey, have I intro- no, I introduced you guys already. How do you feel about older women?

Dustin: Oh my god, Steve, El and I are just friends! And anyways, she’s not going to want to date this literal child!

David, reluctantly: I’m twenty-four

Steve: I’m not asking for El. I’m asking for Susie since you won’t marry her either.

Dustin: What’s Susie going to do with a middle school teacher? She’d have a more intellectually stimulating conversation with a brick wall.

Steve: Dude, harsh. Apologize.

Dustin, unconvincing: Sorry

David: Uh, no problem? Steve, um. You wanted to know when… Well, your ex. He’s here.

Steve HE’S here???

#Nancy got a lead on a story she’s investigating and sent Mike in her place. #Mike: *in the background fighting for his life trying to get the poster Nancy made to stand up* #Steve is tired of Dustin’s on/off relationship with Susie and his serial dating #and would just like to see Dustin settle down with someone who loves him before he dies #And also he thinks El and Dustin are cute together and they’re the only single friends in the party so it makes sense #eddie munson tiktok saga #steve harrington #eddie munson

[c-is-for-circinate]

Someday I'm going to figure out how to properly shriek about Mike Wheeler growing into precisely the same kind of toxic masculinity Steve is stumblingly growing out of.

#Stranger Things #it's #'the only emotional focus or outlet a Man is allowed to have is his girlfriend' #and it's #trying to cope with being the very very Ordinary Guy surrounded by geniuses and marvels #and it's how you look at your gay best friend who you will never ever date #and how you admit to loving people and things #and whether you think you can be better #(and it's Hopper too #facing this same conversation from thirty years farther on #but y'all are not ready for THAT discussion yet) #anyway I continue to have a surprising and annoying number of feelings about Mike Wheeler

[strangesickness]

it miniseries (1990)

can we please talk about the way richie greets mike after nearly 30 years apart. they're friends for all of eternity.

#i needed to share this or i was going to die #richie will see his friends and be like “is anyone going to lovingly caress their face?” and not wait for an answer #i love how all the losers are just always in contact with each other in the miniseries #like they're friends!!! they want to be close to each other! its adorable #it 1990 #it miniseries #richie tozier #mike hanlon #posts afflicted with a strange sickness

[chirpsythismorning]

OH HEY IM SUPER EXCITED TO SEE MY GIRLFRIEND IN CALIFORNIA 😄

Probably deep down there’s some trauma there, but that doesn’t come out 😳

#stranger things #byler #mike wheeler let me in your brain #Mike when he lands in cali: 😄😄 #Finn: DEEP DOWN he’s miserable #Mike ‘I never really unpacked’ wheeler #he’s gonna be unpacking in s5 #this in combination with gatens: #'this season starts with mike going out to california to visit uh his friend will' #*smirks* #MIKE IS IN LOVE WITH WILL AND HES HIDING IT CONFIRMED #Finn: that doesn't come out-- #OH BUT IT WILL NEXT SEASON #MIKE IS COMING OUT NEXT SEASON

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Mine: I want to do cosplay again!

Fan: You should cosplay Fit

Mine: Yeah alright lmao

Other fan: It would be funny if Mike cosplayed Pac.

Mine:

#Imagine being Pactw opening up Twitch and seeing your best friend and his wife cosplaying your character and your character's boyfriend #this would be so chaotic. I love it #but I just know Mine is going to turn to Mike and be like ''give me a kiss!'' and Pac will just start screaming #i talk #qsmp talk #ish

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

The idea of Mike “gently rejecting” Will in S5 is such a silly concept to me. It truly would make zero sense from a narrative perspective or from a character arc perspective. That’s why many Mlvn diehards don’t even really believe it will happen. They believe the show will move on without ever really addressing the Mike-shaped elephant in the room. They believe Will’s happy ending will simply consist of his friends and family accepting him and giving him a hug, and that’s it. And maybe he’ll get an unnamed bf in the finale. (That is, unless the show makes Will a secret villain and kills him off. Then at least he’d be interesting).

Some even take Will’s words at facevalue, believing that El truly commissioned the painting or at least that the intense romantic feelings Will described really belong to her. Now that Mike has confessed his love, they believe that S5 will finally consist of happy Mlvn couple moments, so there won’t be any time for Mike and Will to be together even as friends to talk about any lingering feelings. And why would there be time, since it’s the apocalypse after all, and Will is just a plot device and isn’t really relevant to anything? The Duffers must be exaggerating his importance to S5. The Core 4 is Mike, El, Lucas, and Dustin. Will’s romantic desires are meaningless.

They have to believe all this, cause if they don’t, and they still want to believe in Mlvn endgame, they have to conclude that Will’s emotional desires will be central to the plot of S5, Will’s feelings are the glue that put Mlvn back together, the painting will come up again because El didn’t actually commission it, Mike and Will will be close enough in S5 to have meaningful heart-to-hearts, AND Mike is 100% straight and will…. gently reject Will and promise to always be good pals; he just sadly doesn’t swing that way?

Silliness, objectively.

Anyway, Byler endgame.

#byler #will byers #mike wheeler #stranger things #stranger things 5 #‘but sometimes unrequited love just happens! didn’t robin lovingly/gently reject steve?’ #okay but you see how that’s different right? #you see how a character we just met rejecting another character with a crush within the context of one season because they are a lesbian #is very different from a boy finally confessing his feelings to his childhood best friend #after 5 seasons of building up how special and distinct and different their bond is #and after devoting his entire arc in the penultimate season to making those feelings clear to the audience #without actually addressing it/directly having him confess in said season #only to finally confess his feelings (that he and most of the audience already believes are unrequited) #and get ‘gently rejected’ by that best friend who is straight and that’s all there is to it #you see how that’s completely different and makes no sense narratively right? #yes you do #that’s why you downplay will’s feelings #or you downplay will as a character #because that’s the only thing preventing your house of cards from crumbling

[dinitride-art]

“Mike wheeler’s armpit of a basement”

“I’ve seen Mike’s room look worse than this”

“I was being a total self pitying idiot”

“Why am I the bad guy”

“One day she’s going to realize that I’m just some random nerd”

“At least Lois Lane is an ace reporter for the Daily Planet”

“I’ve been bullied my whole life”

“Mike’s always whining about it”

“And yet you still have a C in Spanish”

“You can’t even write it Mike”

“You made it super clear that you’re not interested in anything I have to say”

“-and if I said that thing then maybe she’d want me there with her, wherever she is”

“The bad government dudes are after your super-girlfriend right? Right?! Okay, so, maybe the cops can help us find out where she is because they’re gonna kill her, man. And if they kill her, there gonna kill us!”

“Oh, no, no, no, no- it’s a shitty knock off, yeah”

“Who’s that twig with her?”

“That doesn’t mean he’s wrong. I mean, if that guy would’ve lived one more second- one more second- th- we could know where she is. Wh-why didn’t he just say the number? I-I should’ve explained myself, cuz then maybe, Eleven would’ve taken me with her and things would be different but I-I didn’t know what to say”

“And I feel like maybe I-I was worrying too much about El, and I don’t know, maybe I feel like I lost you or something”

“Y’know the last few days, I’ve had to think about the last talk we had. You know, before the cops and the whole word went to shit and everything? I- I guess- I just- I- I dunno- I guess I just wanted to- to say-”

“But… but what if after all of this is over… sh-she doesn’t need me anymore?”

“No I… it’s so stupid, given everything that’s going on. It’s just… I… I don’t know. I just”

“I, love you.”

Mike’s flopping on the floor like a miserable and suffocating fish out of water season. His friends make fun of him. Eddie made fun of his clothes. Karen told Dustin he’s welcome at the Wheeler’s anytime which implies that Mike isn’t really talking to his friends outside of school. Dustin and Mike didn’t know when Lucas’ basketball game was, which implies that they haven’t really been talking to Lucas a lot. Mike did call the Byers but wasn’t able to get through. El and Will are have been in Lenora for months and Mike hasn’t really been able to talk to either of them. El’s been lying to him in her letters and writing and signing letters is a reminder that he’s avoiding writing the word love. Everyone’s telling him that he’s doing something wrong. This kids going through it.

#Mike wheeler #byler #he’s got 0 self esteem #he’s been distancing himself from his friends #he’s got a history of depression/mental illness has a habit of striking back when you least expect it #he’s desperately trying to be normal #but he obviously doesn’t fit in with the freaks and losers like Dustin does #the only place he feels remotely alright being still isn’t right for him #he’s being confronted with not being able to tell el he loves her- and his sexuality #Will doesn’t call him #Nancy still doesn’t like him #and everytime I think about Mike in season four #I think about Will trying to knock some self confidence into him #and also Will looking concerned after Nancy made that comment about Mikes room #like that’s not normal for Mike. None of this is normal for Mike #and yet everyone’s just been like- yep. that’s Mike for you. #Will yelled at him once in episode two #and then picked up on Mike being moody and making comments to push people away #and not talking at breakfast. and then Will cut Mike a lot of slack after that #is Mike making good decisions? Hell no #but I think Will figured out that Mike is just struggling with everything. even if he doesn’t know what everything is. #Mike isn’t okay and that’s a problem because that’s the exact reason that everyone else got Vecna’d and yet they still can’t see it

[emblazons]

PANIC! AT THE AIRPORT (BY MIKE WHEELER)

Mike Wheeler in S04E02 - Vecna's Curse aka: In the Closet (at a lot more than rink-o-mania)

#byler #mike wheeler #the panic at the airport thing I put in some tags yesterday and made myself laugh so hard I made this solely to use it again lol #boy saw his best friend and IMMEDIATELY lost the facade of california cool lmao Michael I love you and also....pls get up 😂 #my son #byleredit #mikewheeleredit #stedit #strangerthingsedit #my gifs #dailystrangerthings #strangerthingscentral #tvstrangerthings #strangersource #tuserrae #usergabby #userelz #tuseremilia #usermissjessie #stranger things

[argayle]

willel are not the best friends fanon makes them out to be. they are siblings. will eats the last of the eggos and el has a meltdown on him. el steals will’s good paints and he refuses talk to her for three days. will is chilling in his room listening to music with the door closed? not anymore. el has barged in, stuck her tongue out at him, and left the door open. el hogs the tv. will hogs the bathroom. both complain until jonathan drives them to the shops. el might use her psychic powers to trip will’s bullies, but she also uses them to steal his blanket when they’re sitting together on the couch.

but mike and el? those two are best friends. Mike and El are the ones that sit on the floor by El’s bed, talking shit about the stupid people in their classes. Mike is the person who lets El play with his hair. Will? Wear nail polish? Never. But the makeover El gives Mike behind closed doors… it’s eye opening, to say the least. But that’s pretty much the extent of their “girly” activities. Mike complains whenever El pulls him out of the house to go on nature walks or slouches around the driveway while El naively attempts to entice him into a game of pickup. It never works, and they end up sitting in the grass, and Mike gets a sunburn.

#willel #byler #down with mike/el friendship erasure! #i’m a bi mike truther and i think the REASON mileven isn't working is ironically because mike loves el #but even though he loves her #he can't figure out what feels so off about their relationship. like he likes girls. and he loves el. so what's the problem? #the problem is that they're best friends but he's never seen boy-girl friendships and is trying to force himself into a role that is just #unnatural to their actual dynamic #basically i don’t buy the interpretation the mike was intentionally lying during his monologue #or that mike feel he doesn’t really know el because they jumped into a relationship so quickly #because there is LOVE there. it’s just not romantic. and he doesn’t want to hurt her. #he’s afraid that if he’s not the perfect boyfriend or if he hurts her with the truth then he will lose her forever #anyways just my thoughts

[bylertruther]

personally i think it's really sweet that there are a handful of moments across the show's lifespan where whenever Something Scary happens, mike's instinct is always to reach out to those near him. when max scares the party on halloween night, mike reaches his hands out for dustin and lucas's packs. when dart starts moving in his enclosure, he motions for will to move back and proceeds to protect him the entire rest of the time. when lucas gets billy off of him and starts moving back, mike immediately puts an arm around his shoulders and reels him in. when the mind flayer flesh monster breaks into the cabin, there's a split second moment when mike's arm is reaching back to will. when the lenora house gets shot up, we get to see mike hold will back twice, too. i just think it's such a sweet trait of his—he really is a protector, a knight in shining armor through and through. not just a paladin in some fantasy game, but in real life, too. :')

#I LOVE HIM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (MY TELEPATHY THROWS EVERYTHING ACROSS THE ROOM) #he could pull the sword from the stone he Is the heart he is a fighter BECAUSE he's a lover he would do anything for his friends i love him #mike #mine