#and they say bylers are delusional | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nonsensical-ramblings · 1 year

Text

The Stranger Things OST is something we haven't been paying nearly enough attention to, because I think I've just found something monumental.

We all know these two scenes feature the same music:

But what we haven't been talking about is how the tracks in these four scenes all share the exact same melody-

Or that the tracks from these two scenes sync up perfectly to create an entirely new piece of music

But what if I told you this is only the very tip of the iceberg, because I've been sifting through evidence for quite a while now, and we are far past the point of this all just being a coincidence?

ahem.

Welcome to Soundtrackgate.

(AKA: The wild, wacky world where connections go way, way deeper than you could've possibly imagined, and it all still manages to lead back to byler in the end)

So, just by themselves, those three instances of matching soundtracks creating parallels between different scenes are pretty cool, and worthy of analysis. That's all well and good. But it gets a whole lot more complicated when I tell you that across those three examples, all the songs from those eight scenes I've pointed out match with each other too. The music playing during the J/ancy kiss syncs with the music from the R/ockie scene at the gun shop. The M/ileven kiss has music that syncs with the "It was a seven" scene. R/ockie making sandwiches has music in the background that syncs with the Byler van scene. They're all in the same key, B flat major.

I can prove that I'm not making this up in the form of some amazing mashups between four important OST songs. But before I show you those, let me take a step back and introduce you to the songs individually: Being Different, The First Lie, The First I love You, and Kids.

(I slowed them down so they're all the same speed). And I thought to myself, golly, these all sound pretty similar, they all have a pretty consistent pattern of eight quarter notes that get repeated over and over. (Listen closely, can you hear it?) I sure bet it would sound nice if someone combined them. So. I figured out how to edit audio and I did it myself XD

When I said they synced, I wasn't kidding. When I did my initial little experiment, I was not expecting the songs to, in no uncertain terms, match up perfectly, as if they were all variations of the same track, because the only thing I'd done was change the tempo a little bit between each of them. No splicing, no extra editing, no looping, no nothing. And they sound beautiful together!!! Here are my three favorites:

Putting all four together pushes my limits a bit and it comes out a tad messy, but I love it anyways. It's overwhelmingly clear that these four songs are meant to fit together.

So... what does this mean? The tracks are undeniably connected, and some of the scenes in which they occur are clearly parallels too. I mean, we've been ENDLESSLY analyzing parallels between R/ockie, Byler, and J/ancy, and this discovery lends more credit to the theory that those aren't just coincidences. But especially for major motifs like Kids, there are a lot more scenes where these songs play!! It's not just the few I mentioned at the beginning of the post that are pretty obvious in how they're similar to one another. Haha, but wouldn't it be crazy if ALL the scenes that these songs (and their variations) appear in followed the exact same narrative pattern; a pattern which would just so happen to offer extremely compelling evidence to the fact that Byler has been endgame since season 1?

Ha ha... ha... um.

They do.

All of them.

I'm not fucking joking. Out of the 22 scenes I've been able to track down which feature any of these four songs or variations of them, I've identified a pattern which every single one follows. Some definitely better than others... but it is un-fucking-deniable that this pattern exists and it has to be deliberate, because all of this being a coincidence must be some sort of statistical impossibility with the sheer amount of evidence I've amassed.

The pattern I'm referring to is a collection of four themes:

A misassumption / some form of dishonesty

Love. Often romantic, but sometimes platonic or familial

A subversion of expectations

An atypical relationship between two people

Often in that order.

So basically, we have a collection of scenes throughout all four seasons that are very strongly linked to each other, through both the music that plays during them, and the narrative pattern they follow. And theoretically, if we now know for a fact that each of these scenes follows the same pattern, we can use it to support our interpretations of moments like the van scene or "It was a seven"! (A pattern which, I'll remind you, will fall perfectly in line with Byler endgame)

Okay. So here, we get to the main chunk of the analysis. The hard data. I've gone through every relevant scene and listed how each of them fit the pattern, to prove that it's legit, and to use it to demonstrate how this discovery supports our theories! I've also added whether I think the scene matches well (✅), moderately well (🤔) , or poorly (❌) with the interpretation. (Keep in mind that even the ones that match poorly still relate to the themes in some way!) I sorted everything by motif, then into individual music pieces, then into scenes that feature that music. So scenes that have the same track playing in the background are grouped together.

Obviously, it's pretty long. I did my best to organize it well and make it as concise as possible. But that's why I'm adding a star (⭐️) next to all the scenes that explicitly support the Byler agenda, in case you want to scroll past the rest and only focus on what you came here for!

Without further ado, let's start out with...

The First Lie motif

The dominating melody in these tracks is: D D# D A# C F A# C

Track 1: The First Lie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S5-J7BLoIY)

Scene A: Jonathan And Nancy get together (S2E6) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Both of them are denying their feelings for each other • Love: And those feelings are romantic in nature • Subversion of expectations: They discover that their feelings are requited! • Atypical Relationship: Nancy, a popular and conventionally attractive character, ends up with Jonathan, the outcast

Track 2: The First I love You (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y68LnSZ_j3M)

Scene A: Robin and Steve talk in the Bathroom (S4E7) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Steve believes he has a chance with Robin, Robin hasn’t told him the whole truth about her sexuality • Love: Steve has feelings for her, she has feelings for Tammy, the two of them love each other as best friends • Subversion of expectations: Robin wants to kiss girls!!! And Steve is surprised, but wholly accepts her, even as a straight guy in the 80s • Atypical Relationship: Platonic soulmates <3

⭐️ Scene B: El Tells Mike she loves him and says goodbye (S4E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Their relationship had been damaged by the fact that Mike lied in order to avoid seeing her / getting into trouble with Hopper • Love: El forgives Mike, says that she loves him, and tries to repair their relationship • Subversion of expectations: El admits to having heard Mike when he said that he loved her, back in episode 6 • Atypical Relationship: It wouldn’t be very atypical for a straight guy to get back with his straight girlfriend after a brief break-up, would it? So maybe this relationship isn't as hetero as it- [gunshots]

Scene C: Joyce and Hopper Kiss (S4E9) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Up until this moment they’ve been dancing around each other since season 1, not quite being honest or upfront about how they feel • Love: But now they finally have their moment and make it official! • Subversion of expectations: We’ve seen it coming for years, sure, but considering where they started, their relationship was an unlikely one • Atypical Relationship: Joyce, the high-strung, divorced, single mom, and Hopper, the troubled, divorced, adoptive dad, certainly make a unique pair together

Kids motif

The dominating melody in these tracks is: G A# F A# G A# F A#, and/or F G F D C A# C A#

Track 1: Kids (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha2OcL_0gtM)

⭐️ Scene A: The party finishes up their D&D game, “It was a seven” (S1E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Lucas urges Will to lie to Mike about his roll • Love: Little Will cares about his friendship with Mike too much to lie to him • Subversion of expectations: He’s honest, and admits that he only rolled a seven, even if it means he lost the campaign • Atypical relationship: Oh, you know. :)

Scene B: The kids disguise El so she can go out in public (S1E5) This scene doesn’t match very well ❌ • Misassumption/dishonesty: The kids are disguising El’s true identity so they can bring her to their school • Love: The four of them are beginning to trust one another; the boys trust El to help them find Will, they're bonding as friends • Subversion of expectations: The boys (but Mike specifically) are surprised with the degree of El's glowup • Atypical relationship: Mike thinks El is pretty, even though the rest of the party is still a little apprehensive towards her

Scene C: Mike, Lucas, and El make up after their fight in the previous episode (S1E7) This scene matches moderately well 🤔 • Misassumption/dishonesty: El had been misleading the boys to keep them away from the lab • Love: The friends are all sorry for what they did, and care too much about each other to stay mad • Subversion of expectations: They’re able to reconcile • Atypical relationship: Even after a pretty serious fight, the friends are back together again, stronger than ever

Scene D: The party finally gets to play D&D again at the end of season 1 (S1E8) This scene doesn’t match very well ❌ (But, it’s excusable because the main purpose it serves here is to parallel the first scene from episode 1- matching this narrative pattern is probably a secondary concern) • Misassumption/dishonesty: The campaign is over too soon, the kids feel like it’s not a truthful finale; there are loose ends left to be resolved in the story • Love: The friends are finally back together again, having fun, enjoying each others’ company, healing • Subversion of expectations: Will is able to defeat the monster this time • Atypical relationship: Even after everything they went through, they made it out OK and are still the best of friends

Scene E: Dustin reminds Mike to look for some change before going to the arcade (S2E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Mike avoids Dustin’s questions of why he’s on an unusual channel on the walkie talkie, and why he hasn’t been looking for quarters to bring to the arcade • Love: Mike is still grieving El • Subversion of expectations: He hadn’t been looking for quarters because he was busy trying to contact her • Atypical relationship: He still feels guilty for having lost her, more so than the rest of his friends. He believes she’s out there, even after a year has passed

Scene F: The kids work together to assemble Cerebro (S3E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: The kids don’t quite believe Dustin is being honest about actually having a girlfriend • Love: But he does! He actually is in a relationship • Subversion of expectations: Suzie doesn’t answer • Atypical relationship: A nerdy mormon and an agnostic with no collarbone; an unlikely pair!

Track 2: Kids Two (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PydvdEdGwE)

Scene A: El and Max spy on the boys (S3E3) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: The girls are secretly spying on the guys • Love: They’re talking about their relationship troubles • Subversion of expectations: They’re doing a terrible job of trying to win El and Max back; putting all the blame on the girls, talking about how they're a "different species", all while eating chips and generally being gross • Atypical relationship: Elmax bonds over having dumb ex-boyfriends, even after their friendship's rocky start in the previous season :3

Scene B: Robin sees Vickie at Warzone (S1E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Robin thinks she has a chance with Vickie • Love: She’s about to make a move and talk to her crush… • Subversion of expectations: …but Vickie has a boyfriend. • Atypical relationship: Queerness!! And the fact that Vickie gets distracted by Robin, probably has a bit of a crush on her too, even though she's currently in a relationship

Scene C: Robin & Vickie make sandwiches (S4E9) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Robin is initially fairly certain now that she DOESN’T have a chance with Vickie • Love: But unbeknownst to her, they're almost definitely endgame • Subversion of expectations: Vickie admits that she ended things with her boyfriend • Atypical relationship: Imminent 80s Lesbians!!!!!!!!

Track 3: Teens (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3JICAZAEBs)

Scene A: Suzie changes Dustin’s Latin grade (S4E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Suzie and Dustin are cheating his Latin grade by hacking into the school’s computer system • Love: The two of them are still together :3 • Subversion of expectations: Suzie decides that her relationship with Dustin is worth more than being entirely morally virtuous, so she changes the grade for him • Atypical relationship: The unlikely pair of the mormon and the agnostic strike again!

Track 4: In The Closet (At Rink O Mania) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwl-HPNQFLc)

⭐️ Scene A: Mike and Will argue at the roller rink (S4E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Mike’s upset that Will and El haven’t been honest about the bullying • Love: Will just misses his best friend and is upset that their relationship / communication over the past year has been strained. And he’s in love. • Subversion of expectations: “We’re friends! We’re friends.”(AKA, Mike has been struggling with his feelings just as much as Will has) • Atypical relationship: Queerness!! We can be fairly certain now that they totally feel the same way about each other, even if neither will admit it.

Scene B: …but also El hides in the closet at the roller rink (S4E1) This scene matches moderately well 🤔 • Misassumption/dishonesty: El had been hiding the fact that she was being bullied • Love: This lie has has driven a wedge even deeper between her and her boyfriend • Subversion of expectations: She decides to go confront Angela • Atypical relationship: El, the humiliated victim, decides to stand up to her bully, Angela, instead of letting her get the final word

Track 5: Home (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdcV1u6RUh4)

Scene A: Hopper takes El in (S2E3) This scene matches moderately well 🤔 • Misassumption/dishonesty: Hopper wants to give El a place to stay where she can hide from the people looking for her / Hopper discreetly puts away a box labeled “Sarah”, hinting at a more personal reason for taking her in than he lets on • Love: He cares about El like he’d care for his own daughter • Subversion of expectations: Even though he's a supposedly hardened and lazy police chief, he cares about El enough to go through the effort of fixing up the cabin to give her a place to stay • Atypical relationship: Found family :’)

Scene B: This song also plays during the scene where Robin sees Vickie at Warzone (S4E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • [See Kids Two, scene B]

Track 6: What’s The Internet? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqx4idF4ObE)

Scene A: The Hellfire Club and Lucas’ team celebrate their victories (S4E1) This scene matches moderately well 🤔 • Misassumption/dishonesty: The basketball team and the Hellfire club both thought they were screwed • Love: Despite the looming potential for failure, everyone’s having fun and feeling included within their groups, they love their hobbies and their friends • Subversion of expectations: Both teams won their respective games despite the odds! • Atypical relationship: Lucas still hangs in the balance between the two teams, feeling unsure about which of his friend groups he should prioritize

Track 7: [Unreleased song, but the Kids motif is faintly audible towards the end]

⭐️ Scene A: El and Mike argue over Mike not being able to say “I love you” (S4E2) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Mike’s refusing to acknowledge that he can’t say the words, he’s lying about how he really feels • Love: Their relationship as boyfriend/girlfriend is finally starting to show cracks, as its fundamental flaws are presented front and center • Subversion of expectations: Their relationship isn’t as perfect as we’d been led to believe • Atypical relationship: They’re on the verge of a breakup, but that's really what's best for the two of them

and finally...

Being Different Motif

The dominating melody in these tracks is: A# D F D A# D D# D, and/or A# D F A# D F A F

Track 1: Being Different (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o29YLtS_NA)

⭐️ Scene A: Mike and Will talk in the van (S4E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Will lies, using El’s name to hide his own feelings • Love: And those feelings are his love for Mike :’( • Subversion of expectations: It’s now overwhelmingly clear that Will is canonically gay and in love with Mike • Atypical Relationship: Well, it doesn’t sound all that atypical for the sad gay boy to have fallen for his straight best friend (who is obviously straight because he’s in a relationship with a girl), so what if Mike- [gunshots]

Track 2: I Like Presents Too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trSjkqM0VT4) (I’m not positive about this one, but I swear I hear similarities between Being Different and this song? Especially between 1:52 - 2:05 in Being Different, and 0:38 - 1:00 in this song)

⭐️Scene A: This song also plays during the scene where El Tells Mike she loves him and says goodbye (S4E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • [See The First I love You, scene B]

Okay. And that's all of them! I hope I've made my point. The fact that every single one of these 11 songs and the 22 scenes they appear in are connected both musically and thematically cannot be a coincidence. And by simply tracing the pattern, it's pretty easy to see that these connections hint at the fact that there's something more that we're not explicitly seeing between Mike, El, and Will's relationships, which has no other explanation besides Byler endgame. Let's review- by applying what we know about the pattern to Byler and M/ileven scenes, we can infer that:

When El kisses Mike at the end of season 3, it isn't meant to be taken at face-value. There's something atypical about their relationship, and it's the fact that despite saying the words, it doesn't change the fact that neither of them are in love with each other, not romantically, even if they think they should be.

When Will tells Mike he rolled a seven and lost the battle in the first episode of season 1, it's more than just Will being a good friend. There's a deeper connection- something atypical compared to Will's relationships with his other friends, because this is Will being in love with Mike before he even understood what those feelings meant.

During their fight at Rink O Mania in season 4, they're not just arguing about Will being dishonest or Mike not staying in touch. There's something deeper under the surface that they're dancing around, unaddressed feelings on both ends, something more atypical than just two friends who drifted apart. At the root of their frustration is the fact that they both believe the other doesn't feel the same.

Mike said it himself- when he and El argue over the fact that he can't say "I love you" to her, this was a fight they can't come back from. Because it's been made clear to them that their relationship isn't romantic anymore, it's atypical in the sense that they realize this whole thing between them has just been a heteronormative charade they were pressured into, rather than something they really wanted or needed.

When Will delivers his veiled love confession in the back of the van in season 4, we're led to believe that this is him ripping off the bandaid, because Mike is supposedly happiest with El and he'll never see Will the way Will sees him. But this interpretation is incorrect, because there's something very very atypical about the way Mike stares longingly into Will's eyes, completely mesmerized, in a way that he's never looked at his own girlfriend despite allegedly being so in love with her. Mike is in love, but there's no denying anymore that the love he feels is for Will, not El.

Of course, none of these interpretations of these scenes are new or anything. But the fact that we now have solid proof that all of them are actually intentionally connected? They all share linked music and follow the same pattern?? That, I think, is revolutionary.

But of course we're not done yet.

Because as lengthy as it is, this isn't a finished analysis. Now, if you've made it this far into my mad and delusional (yet strongly supported by evidence) rantings and ravings, you're probably just as excited about this breakthrough as I am. So if you're thinking about exploring the theory yourself, I have a few suggestions on where to start, because there's a good number of things that I haven't fully looked into yet! Most notably, there are several tracks that sound like they almost fit with the ones I already identified as being part of soundtrackgate, or they have similar vibes, but just aren't similar enough to make it into the list. Some of them I've tried to mix with The First Lie, Kids, etc, but came up empty-handed. There songs are:

Journalistic Instinct

Boys and Girls

Feel Safe

First Kiss

Presumptuous

My BOOBS Hurt

A Kiss

I wouldn't remember me either

Eight Fifteen

Walkin in Hawkins (i really really really hate this song for no justifiable reason please don't make me listen to it any more than I had to this is my one exception)

This Isn't You

Blank Makes You Crazy

Weirdly enough, out of these twelve, there are exactly three tracks from each season. Does that mean anything? No clue. Odd, though.

For all you eightfifteengate truthers, I tried really, really hard to mix the track Eight Fifteen with any of the established songs... but all I got was a pretty resounding muddy mess of a failure. Which sucks, because it sounds like it should work! Unfortunately, I don't think Eight Fifteen is part of soundtrackgate. However! I did notice that it sounds very very similar to the track Presumptuous, which is interesting. Here's the best I got, for what it's worth:

If you want to take another look at these songs and try to prove me wrong, please do!! Maybe there's a pattern within them that I didn't catch. And if you ask, I'll be happy to try my hand at combining any tracks you think would work together!

Other than that, there are a few interesting little details I noticed while perusing the OST. Maybe they mean something, maybe they don't, but I thought they were worth mentioning! Feel free to investigate if any of these pique your interest:

Like I mentioned earlier, Eight Fifteen and Presumptuous both contain the same melody

Blank Makes You Crazy and I Need You to Trust Me are both songs tied to scenes where we see evidence of the stained relationship between Mike and El, and they’re both in the same key; F Major

Not Kids Anymore plays during the Byler rain fight in s3, AND when Dustin and Mike refuse to go to Lucas’ game in s4

As far as I can tell, the song Destroying The Castle only plays one time other than when Will takes a bat to Castle Byers- it also plays in S4E9 when Hopper is about to use himself as bait for the demodogs, but assures Joyce that he’ll be alright

On The Bus almost definitely does not match with any of the other songs, but I feel like this particular track is important and worth looking into regardless, so I’m mentioning it here.

You’re The Heart does not sound similar, mix well with, or parallel Being Different, let alone ANY of the established soundtrackgate songs. I just don’t hear it, sorry.

Eulogy and Letter to Willy sound very very similar

Journalistic Instinct and Boys and Girls sound very very similar

Still Pretty, the song that plays in season 1 when Mike reassures El that she looks pretty without the wig, also plays in season 4 while they talk in the pizza shop, right before they get interrupted by Argyle.

Okay. I think that covers it, for now. Thank you so much for reading, seriously, I poured my soul into this so it means a lot!!! I hope it all made enough sense. MASSIVE shoutout to what-song.com for its list of all the songs that appear in each ST episode, in order, complete with listing what minute each song appears in, providing a 30-second sample of each song, and a description of the scene that occurs during it. It SAVED MY LIFE no joke. Also big shoutout to bilibili.tv, my platform of choice for sailing the seven seas of content of questionable legality; I used it liberally to pull up all the scenes I had to analyze lol

427 notes · View notes

lighthouseas · 2 years

Text

strange sleeping arrangements

In which Will and Mike get Murray’d and shenanigans ensue (this is not canon compliant). I wrote this at 2 AM and it’s pretty messy but I tried. I usually don’t write for other fandoms besides anipoke so we’ll see how this goes

TW/CW: mild swearing

Words: 3k

Mike Wheeler had a fairly large family, he liked to think. He had two sisters and, obviously, two parents, making his family a family of five. What he did not expect, however, was his already fairly large family of five to become a family of nine in the span of two days. After the whole mess with Hawkins and the Upside Down opening up a massive gate through the entire town, the Wheeler house had been temporarily utilized for the Byers + Murray Bauman, for reasons that Mike could only decipher as “needing to relocate before the Russian government concocts a plan to assassinate him”. As far as Mike could tell, he was the only one worried about this, as Joyce, who had also been involved with the whole Russia scheme, didn’t seem as pressed as Murray was.

As far as sleeping arrangements went, Mike’s mother had permitted Nancy and Jonathan to sleep in the same room only because of limited space, Joyce had gotten Holly’s room while Karen and Holly got what would normally be Mike’s parents’ room. Ted Wheeler was perfectly content sleeping on the lazy boy. As for Murray and Will, well, it was a bit more complicated. Every time his mother told him he’d be sharing a room with Will, he physically recoiled.

What was wrong with him?

“Mike, why are you so resistant to sharing your room with Will? He’s our guest, for God’s sake. Have some hospitality,” Karen scolded, shooting Mike a disapproving glare.

“It’s- it’s just-” Mike really had no explanation for it. The thought of doing such a thing, though he’d done it so many times before with all of the sleepovers he’d had with Will over the years, it scared him. It scared him and shook him to his core and he didn’t know why.

Well, he sort of did know why, but he pretended he didn’t.

“It’s fine, Mrs. Wheeler. I can just sleep in the basement,” Will chimed in. His voice had an edge to it that Mike couldn’t seem to place.

Before Mike could say anything, Murray was in the doorframe leading into the kitchen, a bottle of what looked to be vodka clutched tightly in his hands as he scanned the room with a look of utter disapproval.

“Nope. Not happening. I am not, under any circumstance, having a twelve year old sleep in a dirty basement with me.”

“I’m fifteen,” Will corrected.

“Same difference!”

Mrs. Wheeler physically cringed at the sight of Murray, muttering a sort it out between the three of you before briskly exiting the kitchen. Murray rolled his eyes, strutting into the kitchen and opening the fridge, clearly looking for some sort of food to combat the vodka.

Mike stole a glance over at Will, who had already been staring at him. He quickly looked away, suddenly feeling a tightening in his chest.

Things had been different after El had fought Vecna. Things had been different after Will had showed him the painting.

Hell, things had been different since that day Will had gotten back from the Upside Down.

Mike didn’t seem to have an ounce of hospitality left in him, and all he wanted to do was slam the door of his room in Will’s face and tell him to never walk in it, ever.

“Mike,” Will whispered, glancing at Murray to make sure he wasn’t listening (he was busy slugging vodka and toasting Eggo waffles), “what’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting strange since we got back.” Will sighed, furrowing his brows at Mike. “Actually, you’ve been acting strange since you came to visit us. What’s up with you?”

Mike clenched his fists so hard that he thought the veins in his hand might explode. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. My room is just messy. I-” Mike swallowed hard, knowing damn well that wasn’t the reason, “I- uh- I wouldn’t want you staying in it.”

Will looked unconvinced. “Are you sure?”

The tightening in Mike’s chest seemed to suddenly explode. He stood up, slamming both hands down on the countertop in front of him. “I told you, nothing’s wrong!”

Will jumped, looking rather hurt by Mike’s sudden outburst. He was about to say something more, but before he could, the sound of a toaster popping on the other side of the kitchen startled both boys. Murray turned around, taking a sip of vodka and a bite of his now freshly-toasted waffle, raising an eyebrow at the two.

“Lover’s quarrel?”

The two boys glanced at each other with looks on par with what the actual hell is he talking about and both shouted “NO!” in unison at the man standing before them.

“My, my, no need to get so defensive! I was simply making an observation.” Murray shrugged, taking another bite of his Eggo. “You two argue like a pair of moody teenagers who are secretly in love with one another. One of them,” he motioned to Mike, who visibly flinched, “is emotionally constipated when it comes to love because of, let me guess, his parents don’t actually love each other and he grew up with the expectation that his future “true love” would be exactly like that, so he needs a cute little fluffy emotional baggage compartment,” this time, Murray motioned to Will, who looked rather taken aback, “to reassure him that he’s worth every penny of love because, oh my god, he’s head over heels for said boy and would do absolutely anything for him, even if it means shouldering the weight of his emotionally constipated love-of-his-life, who, by the way, probably hasn’t taken into account that he’s trauma dumping on a person who already has enough trauma as it is.”

The three sat in silence. Mike looked over at Will, who was frozen on the spot, a clear, deep shade of red occupying his cheeks. Mike opened his mouth to say something more, but found that all words escaped him.

Because, goddamnit, Murray had somehow gotten everything that was going on in his head into words. Odd words, but words nonetheless.

Mike wanted to die.

Murray sighed. “The point is,” he said, swallowing the last bits of Eggo, “I don’t want a hopelessly in love twelve year old sleeping in the same room as me. I left my adolescence long ago- I don’t want to have to relive it. So for Pete’s sake, just share a goddamn room.”

With that, Murray retreated to the basement, still carrying the bottle of vodka in his hand. Will and Mike looked at each other, then looked away, then looked at each other again before Mike sighed.

“Just take my room. I’ll take the basement. I’m going to bed.”

Will was about to protest, but Mike was already making his way down the basement steps. Truthfully, Mike just wanted to get out of the situation as soon as possible, even if that meant sharing a basement with none other than Murray Bauman.

Mike couldn’t sleep. The one very obvious reason why he couldn’t sleep was because of the fact that Murray snored extremely loudly. Mike was surprised he hadn’t woken up the entire house.

The second reason (which, coincidentally, also had to do with Murray) was that he couldn’t stop thinking about the things Murray had said, and how spot-on they had been.

He was “emotionally constipated”, even if he hated to admit it to himself. His parents had never loved each other- his mom had married his dad for the money and that was about it. And yeah, okay, he had relied on Will for like, basically all of his emotional support throughout the years. He’d never actually talked to El about that stuff because she had so much trauma already from quite literally being raised in a lab and he wasn’t about to compare his own problems to…that. Maybe that was why his relationship with El had seemed so different lately, why his confession of “love” hadn’t felt right at all and had just felt like it needed to be there so that El wouldn’t die fighting Vecna. He truly cared about El, but deep down, he knew he wouldn’t be able to love her in the way she so clearly loved him. And that was something that terrified him to his core. He wanted her to be happy, and he feared telling her the truth would devastate her.

But what about Will? Mike realized that since the day Will had come back from the Upside Down, he had been, as Murray described, been treating him as somewhat of an “emotional baggage compartment”. Only there to help Mike through pointless relationship problems with El, when he’d really been neglecting checking in to see if Will had been okay through it all.

“I’m such an asshole,” Mike murmured to himself, rubbing his temple with his fingers.

He shot up from his sleeping bag, deciding that it wasn’t worth it trying to sleep with his thoughts, and quietly creeped up the basement stairs in order to not wake his rather odd guest. If anyone saw him, he could just say he was getting water. Which, honestly, could really help as a distraction from the situation he was in right now. The pitter-patter of rain sounded outside the window, which only fueled the mood even more.

However, his endeavor was quickly put to a stop when he noticed a familiar face also standing in the kitchen, looking just as dumbfounded as he was.

“Hi,” Will uttered, a glass of what Mike hoped was water and not Murray’s vodka clutched tightly in hand.

“Hey,” Mike croaked in response.

“I was just-”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just- uh- getting water. Yeah.”

“Oh. Here.” Will quickly filled a cup for Mike and passed it to him. The brush of Will’s fingers against his sent chills up Mike’s spine, though he tried not to show it.

“Thanks.”

The two sat in silence, awkwardly sipping their individual cups of water before Mike decided to break the tension.

“About what he said-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Will interrupted, diverting his gaze from Mike. “It’s- it’s not true, anyways.”

“No, no, it is,” Mike replied. Will’s heart fluttered for a moment before Mike quickly caught himself. “I mean, the stuff about the emotions. And everything. I’m- I’m sorry if I keep using you as a “baggage compartment”, or whatever he said. I’ve been an ass to you and you’ve been so tolerating of it and I’m sorry.”

Will was unsure of what to say, so he just nodded. Mike had been an ass to him and still, all he wanted to do was grab his dumb face and kiss him. He hated it.

“Will?” Mike placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, snapping Will out of his daze. “You okay?”

Will jumped, turning red in the face before jerking his shoulder away. “Fine. Just tired. Goodnight.”

Without another word, Will turned and walked back to Mike’s room, leaving the latter standing in the kitchen. He didn’t bother looking back at him in fear of doing something he would probably regret. Will slammed the door to the room rather loudly. He still wanted to punch Mike for hesitating in letting him share it.

Why did he hesitate, anyways?

He sat on the edge of the bed, the bed he’d half grown up in. He’d had countless sleepovers and hangouts with Mike in this bed, but now it just felt empty. Empty and sad. The rain that was currently pouring outside didn’t help the mood. Will’s mind drifted, and he was brought back to the fated day, the day where it was pouring outside and all he had wanted to do was play DND with Mike and Lucas, then Mike had said that…thing to him, and he’d left. And then, in a pure fit of rage…he’d destroyed Castle Byers.

“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”

Will buried his head in his hands, sighing shakily. He knew harboring feelings for Mike would only lead to heartbreak. He knew, and still, his crush only continued to grow. He’d been absolutely heartbroken when Mike had begun dating El. Whenever the phone rang, Will always became hopeful that Mike was calling for him, but it was never the case. It was always El.

Murray was right. Right about everything.

Without thinking, Will walked over to the door, placing his hand on the doorknob. He needed to say something. If he didn’t, he feared he never would. Just as he swung the door open, however, he was met with a pair of brown eyes staring back at him. He blinked, trying to process the sight.

“Hi,” Mike said, a smile curving at his lips.

“Hi,” Will echoed, suddenly realizing how close the two were.

Mike visibly hesitated before talking again. “Murray was right.”

“You’ve said that.” “No. I mean…about everything.”

Unsure how to respond, Will stood in the doorframe like an idiot, watching as Mike clearly had some sort of mental battle that he couldn’t see very well on the surface. He exhaled deeply, making direct eye contact with Will.

“I hope you thought he was right too.”

“What do you-”

Will was cut off by a pair of lips on his. He froze for a second, processing the action, before feeling his entire body melt into it. However, just as soon as it had started, Mike pulled away, eyes wide, as if in shock over what he himself had just done.

“Holy shit,” Mike murmured, observing Will’s expression (which was unreadable to him), “holy shit, I’m so sorry.”

Will couldn’t help but grin at Mike’s awkwardness, gently snaking an arm around his neck and pulling him so close that their foreheads touched. Both boys’ breathing was incredibly shaky as they stared at each others’ lips.

“Yeah, I think Murray was onto something,” Will chuckled.

“Think so?” Mike replied. “I couldn’t sleep down there anyway, he snores so goddamn loud.”

At this, both laughed in unison, though rather quietly so they didn’t wake up the house. All of a sudden, their laughter stopped as Will focused on Mike’s lips. His voice could barely be heard above the pouring rain, but Mike managed to make it out.

“It’s always been you,” Will breathed.

“I know,” Mike whispered, “I know.”

Will leaned in first this time, drawing Mike closer to close the gap between the two. Mike sighed into the kiss, eliciting a smile from Will as he reached up to run his hands through Mike’s curls. Mike gently cupped Will’s face in his hands, drawing him ever closer.

It started sweet and gentle, but gradually, both became more desperate. Will pulled back, suddenly realizing as he heard the creak of a door down the hallway that the bedroom door was still very much open and that anyone walking past would see the two of them making out.

“Shit. Close the door.”

Mike laughed, quickly slamming the door shut and locked. Before he had time to refocus himself on Will, he was pinned against a wall as Will kissed him desperately. Mike was grabbing his shirt, pulling him closer. He swiped his tongue along Will’s lip, asking for entrance, which only served to deepen their kiss more. Finally, after what seemed like hours, both pulled away, breathing heavy as they tried to put lost air back in their lungs.

“Well. Shit,” Mike breathed.

“Shit,” Will agreed.

“This means I can stay in my own bedroom now, right?”

“Shut up,” Will laughed, pressing a kiss onto Mike’s lips.

“Also,” Mike started, “what- what does this mean?”

“It means we just made out for a good five minutes because of a man in your kitchen who drank too much vodka.”

Mike laughed, but his expression soon turned serious. “No. Really. What does this mean?”

Will stayed silent for a moment. His hands were still scrunched up in Mike’s shirt. His heart was still beating a mile a minute. His lips were still red from making out with his crush since, well, forever.

“I- I don’t know,” Will admitted.

Mike wrapped his arms around Will, this time just pulling him in for a simple hug. “Okay. I understand. I mean, we are kind of in the middle of the apocalypse right now. And my house is overflowing with people and if we keep doing this we’ll probably get caught.”

The two laughed, staying like that, hugging each other, in the middle of Mike Wheeler’s room. Both could’ve honestly stayed like that forever.

“I guess we have Murray to thank,” Mike joked.

“And the sleeping arrangements that someone refused to comply to,” Will added.

Sharing a room with Will Byers was taking him back to old times, sure, but as Mike kissed Will once more, he felt it. Something he hadn’t felt with El or anyone else.

Mike didn’t mind these new feelings. They were better than anything he could’ve ever imagined.

#stranger things #stranger things s4 #st s4 spoilers #st s4 #byler #byler fanfic #mike wheeler #will byers #murray bauman #mike wheeler x will byers #be gay make byler canon #this was really messy i'm sorry #anyways duffer bros when is this happening #love how i was saying i didn't ship anyone like a week ago #and now all of you byler delusionals have turned me over to the dark side #my writing

541 notes · View notes