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oceanic-sunsets · 7 months

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Mike around El and his very obvious Not-Crush

I want to start this off with a disclaimer: I interpret Mike as gay, so this analysis and the points I’ll bring up were written with this in mind. Now, let’s begin!

Since my first watch, I always thought it was kind of weird-funny how Mike never showed any kind of shyness towards El, unlike the other boys, who the audience and characters in-universe never think of as having a crush on El.

So they know El is a girl pretty early on, so when she first goes home with Mike and he lends her dry clothes, everyone freaks out when she tries to change right there in front of them. Pretty normal reaction for anyone, especially 12 year old boys! So, even in the middle of their freak out, Mike remains as the most well composed of the boys.

He doesn’t turn around, instead, is quick to stop her, even reaching out towards her arms, and explain she should change in the bathroom, because, well, privacy.

He even guides El towards the bathroom door, and we know that he tries to close it but El stops him. So, he understands, she’s still scared, and again, explains she can keep it mostly closed, leaving a small gap open so she feels safer.

And then Mike goes to talk with Lucas and Dustin, who are still freaking out and talking about how she’s crazy, Lucas remarks “She tried to get naked” and Dustin makes the same hand gesture three times to really drive his point across.

And Mike? remains calm, really, his head is elsewhere, not stuck on the fact that a random, weird girl tried to change her clothes in front of them. Instead, his gears are turning, he’s already coming up with a plan so they can stay out of trouble, so she can be safe, and they can keep looking for Will: El has to stay the night, which Dustin finds insane.

So, I first interpreted these kind of scenes as Mike being the more mature one of the boys. He NEVER goes “but she’s a girl!” the other characters are the ones who keep pointing that out to him. But really, Mike just treats her like a human being (and then he discovers she has superpowers).

And really, it’s funny how fascinating they keep finding this, but not surprising. Again, this is a normal reaction! that’s why I thought Mike was just the logical, more mature one. But that’s not really why: he just never made a distinction or a big fuss to separate THEM, boys, and El, a GIRL, until later on when people kept bringing that up. For Mike, El was just another kid just like them, he shows her his house, his TV, his toys, and has no issue getting close and just treating her like another friend.

There’s another reason that points to the Duffers being aware of what they’re trying to do. It’s subtle if you’re not looking for it, and really, it just flies under most people’s radars, including our own!

So we all know this scene, right?

The first instance of Mike being directly told he has to have a crush on her, because… he is nice to her, and she’s a girl. So, clearly. And then the bullies arrive, call Will homophobic slurs and Mike gets hurt, we know how that one goes. But you know the scene that plays directly before this one?

It’s Nancy. They’re making fun of her/shaming her because she hooked up with Steve, and we know how this plot goes too: the girl is slut-shamed and the boy is praised/admired for “getting” her. Nancy is worried because she left Barb alone and the next thing she knows, her friend is missing too. And she doesn’t feel guilty just because she dismissed Barb, she feels shame, and the kind of comment she’s receiving just adds to the guilt.

And all this? it’s part of heteronormativity too, and all its social standards of what’s expected of people based on their gender and sexuality. Nancy? A slut for hooking up with Steve. Will? probably killed for being gay! The boys? get bullied just as Lucas is hugging Mike, even if it’s part of a joke. Mike? must like El, because he is a boy who is nice to her, and she’s a girl! See where I’m going?

Next scene I’m going to talk about is this one:

And… It’s a great scene, really. But nothing about it is romantic. The boys help El dress up, and Mike even does her makeup and doesn’t mind! and, I’m sorry, but what 12 year old with a crush is NOT nervous to be that close? he’s just 100% concentrated in what he’s doing.

And then El comes out, full makeover, and Mike’s reaction is just very sweet and genuine. Dustin hesitates: “She looks…” and Mike immediately goes “pretty”. Now, some people interpret this scene as Mike finally Realizing El is Actually a Girl. I both agree and disagree.

I agree because that’s how it probably goes for Mike, just now in the sense most people expect. We should keep in mind the previous scenes: Mike is now aware of what other people think/what is expected of him. So he goes “pretty”, and oh, no, she’s a Girl, I can’t say that! they’re going to think I have a crush on her! “...pretty good” saved it:) but wait. That just makes it look even more like a crush! So maybe it is a crush, right? So, I think of this scene as the moment of Mike deciding that yeah, it must be a crush, making now a distinction between “friend” and “girl”.

Other people have mentioned how particular this choice is: why would they have Mike next to El in the mirror? in the same scene where she’s presenting herself as Actually a Girl for the first time, wearing a pink dress, next to Mike, a Boy, who is even wearing blue! I don’t even think this analysis classifies as far-fetched for the same reason I mentioned earlier: the themes of the show are clear since the beginning, and plots like Nancy’s, Will’s, and later on El’s (and Max's) support that. Mike’s, however? it comes across as subtle (because really, it’s not), but it’s always been there, and the way the Wheelers are portrayed as a family confirms that too.

I don’t think he consciously makes the choice to pretend, more like it makes sense for him too, and the future events of the show just keep reinforcing this idea: she’s a girl with superpowers, who saves him and his friends many times, and people keep telling him he likes her! why wouldn’t he like her? And then there’s also survivor’s guilt but uhh… Let’s not go there, that’s another whole analysis.

It’s now time to talk about my least favorite topic: mlvn’s kisses. They have never been portrayed as genuinely romantic to me, even if I did think the snowball one was sweet when I first watched it. But that’s the thing: it’s cute, I guess, but it’s just there like a point you have to mark as done in a checklist. Entirely different to Lucas’ and Max’s scenes: Lucas hesitates when he asks Max to dance, and he’s clearly nervous, exhaling before asking, and their kiss is awkwardly endearing, genuine, and realistic for their age unlike anything in Mike and El’s relationship and… The beginning of s3 is proof of that. It’s almost like they’re kissing to prove a point: El is older now, and Mike is her boyfriend, they kiss like in the soap operas! (for Hopper’s and the audience’s dismay) and for Mike, well, El is his girlfriend, that’s what he’s supposed to do, right? (as he takes her hands off him).

Going back to the snowball, Mike plays the “date” role too perfectly. He does exactly what he should: he tells El she looks beautiful and asks her to dance, again, no hesitance. They dance and he kisses her… You guessed it, no hesitance. You could argue that it’s because it’s not their first thing, but the thing is… That one was a mess. It was out of nowhere, after talking about being family, as if Mike suddenly thought “yeah I think I should do this” and went for it. And… Did El even know what a kiss was?

Anyway, back to s3. They break up and all that, supernatural shit happens and oh! Mike tells a whole room of people that he loves El! how can that not be proof that he at least has a crush? well. Because Mike is not lying, just as he wasn’t lying when he called her pretty. He does love her, wants her to be safe because she’s his friend, and feels responsible for her safety (for many reasons). The thing is… Mike is aware of the Implications of the word.

He is being honest. He’s also confusing his feelings for romantic ones, just like he has since mid-s1. What’s the difference between the “ily” plot in s3 and in s4, then? wouldn’t that just be a repeat of the same?

No. This is a point of debate and I know we have different opinions on “When Did Mike Realize”, but for me, the contrast between this plot in s3 vs s4 is that s3 Mike is unaware, while in S4 he’s IS aware Throughout s3 (and before) he genuinely thinks his feelings are romantic. Until THIS happens

…and suddenly he’s confused, thinking it makes no sense. I choose to interpret it this way because it’s supported by the S3 script, which portrays Mike as confused and wondering what is wrong with him. This would’ve been a great moment to portray Mike as endearingly nervous/shy: they’ve been broken up and it seems like no one had said anything that hinted at a romantic relationship during that time. If Mike had romantic feelings for El, he should’ve been thrilled, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t close his eyes, doesn’t even smile. But it’s not disgust, it’s confusion. He’s starting to question things. To what degree? we do not know.

We can, however, infer from the events of S4 that he knows something.

The airport scene is as sad as it is funny, because this is probably the first instance in the whole show that we see Mike Wheeler acting nervous-shy in the way you would in front of a crush:

(Exhibit A)

(Exhibit B)

ok, Mike, Will didn’t imply otherwise? are you trying to convince him or yourself?

(Exhibit C)

(Exhibit D)

This whole conversation is so insane because everyone is so focused noticing Will’s crush that they miss Mike’s behavior? Mike, who during this conversation hesitates a lot, chooses his words carefully, exhales, you can see him swallow and just. He looks more nervous here than in the entirety of ALL his scenes with El on the show.

I could keep going on about s4, really, because there’s a lot to unpack there. But this is getting too long!

#byler #mike wheeler #will byers #anti mileven #gay mike wheeler #st analysis #stranger things #mike wheeler i know what you are #i spent way too long on this analysis please give it a like/rb if you read it or talk to me about your opinion #always happy to discuss about gay mike wheeler

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pinkeoni · 7 months

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...but what was Will really saying in the van?

This a post a year after the fact, when post people have already said what needs to be said, but you know what!! This is my blog and I can say whatever I want.

Will talking about himself and using El as a guise is pretty obvious. The handful of people who say that it really was from El are few and far between. El doesn't gaf about DnD, she's not even in the painting, and she even told Mike herself that she didn't know what Will was making.

Whether or not Mike actually believed Will's lie is something that I'm personally on the fence about, but I'm not talking about him today! There are plenty of great Mike posts about this if you want a Mike analysis.

The cinematography supports this as well. At the start of the scene, Will is established on the left side of the frame, and Mike is on the right. When Will tells Mike that El commissioned the painting, we get a shot of the mirror where they swap places.

The switching of frame placement suggests that something is off, and mirrors in film can be used to show deception. The shot supports the idea that Will is not being fully truthful, which is backed up by what we already know. Each mirror shot is also prompted by a shot of Jonathan, suggesting that this is always from his point of view. We also know that he was able to see through Will's lie, so that supports this idea.

But we don't get the entire monologue from this angle, because really Will isn't entirely lying, he's just lying about whose feelings it really is.

It's no secret that the painting is an expression of Will's love for his friends, but also his romantic feelings for Mike. The positioning of the painting itself as a phallus (take a shot every time I've said "phallus" in a recent analysis) displays this in the visual language of the show along with the written one.

I think that gender and the use of pronouns is important here. Will states the entire monologue using "she" and "her" and places El in the place of himself. So what he's essentially saying "My sexuality is a wonderful thing that can bring both of us joy, but only if comes from a girl." In context Mike seems specifically anxious about El so Will is reassuring him from that angle, but it also stands that Will doesn't see his sexuality and feelings as good enough to cure an ailing Mike.

There was scriptgate and the infamous "I hate who I am" line which everyone remembers where they were for, but when the scripts were said to be fake, this line seemed to no longer hold any weight within the fandom and was widely disregarded. He loves himself, actually!

But legitimacy of the script aside, does this line still ring true? Even if it were real, a unspoken internal dialogue in an action line doesn't matter unless the show actually expresses it. So do they?

After all Will said it himself, "you make [me] feel like [I'm] not a mistake at all. Like [I'm] better for being different." So that must be how he feels, right? And yet—

—he doesn't really look like someone proud of his sexuality, does he?

I find the idea that Will doesn't suffer from any internalized homophobia rather absurd. It's definitely informed by external homophobia, but it would be different if Will fought back, but instead we see time and time again Will turning his pain inward. "Zombie Boy" leads to "It just makes me feel like more of a freak." and "It's not my fault you don't like girls" leads to the destruction of Castle Byers. I know that that line is informed by Mike's internal projection and might not be intended to be homophobic, although the statement still is homophobic despite intent. If Will knows he is gay and just heard that from his friend, of course he's going to take it that way. We see a little bit of Will standing up for himself, although this usually results in Will apologizing or not accepting apologies from others even when he deserves it. The bedroom scene in Dear Billy is a big step forward because not only does Mike apologize and assert that Will wasn't in the wrong, but Will actually listens.

It is true that Will accepts that he is gay and doesn't seem to fight it, although as others have pointed out, this doesn't necessarily mean that Will is necessarily proud of who he is. The van scene is just another example of Will taking that external pain and forcing it inward. There is likely to be consequences resulting from his lie that affects all three of them, but Will has decided to go a route that (he believes) will benefit Mike and El and only cause himself pain.

Look at this way. Let's say that Will hadn't lied about the painting being from El, that he was totally honest about the painting coming from him, but Mike didn't understand it as a romantic gesture. Not only would this not really make sense, and require Mike to be a level of oblivious on an absurd level, but it would also communicate something completely different. The new meaning would be this: Will is proud of his sexuality and able to take ownership of it, and the trouble comes from Mike not understanding. The conflict is now completely external.

I've seen debate on whether or not Mike really did understand what Will was saying although I think that's beside the point. If Mike did understand that Will was talking about himself, then this was not communicated to Will. The above scenario leads the conflict to be solely relieved by Mike finally understanding, and while there is surely to still be an external conflict between Will and Mike, Will's conflict of sexuality remains to be internal. Even if Mike did tell Will that he knew it was from him, this wouldn't necessarily solve Will's problem. The remedy to Will's internal conflict can only come from himself, by being able to proudly put his name to his painting.

#will byers #byler #stranger things #my analysis #btw— i hope none of my commentary regarding mike and mike analyses comes off as a jab. thats not my intention at all #im not saying not to look at mike or analyze mike #im just saying that this particular analysis is will focused #and other very talented analysts have made their own posts about mike in the van that you should check out if you wanna hear more about tha #perspective

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silverliing · 9 months

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Mike’s wall art

I love seeing analysis about ST set design because it really spells out so much of the story without verbally telling you, and ive seen much discussion abt the details of mike’s room in s4 (that one way sign haunts me btw). buuut there are two pieces of visible wall art that I don’t really see get talked about on here (that i’ve read) and I just have a few things to say about them and what i think they might be telling us about Mike’s character and upcoming journey (hint: going into the UD)(hint: making plans and leading the party)(hint: byler)

so idk if this has been pointed out or if it’s common knowledge atp but the two pieces circled above are lithographs by artist MC Escher; Hand with Reflective Sphere (left)

and Relativity (right)

(a lil hard to see in this screenshot i’m sorry😢)

The artwork is beautiful as you can see (canon Mike Wheeler has great taste in art). Escher was most known for his intricate “impossible constructions” which are optical illusions of paradoxical space, he was also the inventor of the impossible cube:

this is some pretty cool nerdy, mathy stuff that I’d expect mike would be into, but looking at it from the context of his character and the direction of where the story is headed, there were 3 immediate possible readings that popped into my head which point toward 3 different (yet coexisting) directions:

He likes the art — It’s true, this art taps into Mike’s interests. Valid but boring. zzzz. snooze. You could argue that these posters should be taken at face value, but I just feel like in a show like ST —where the main cast knows of and is in various ways affected by an evil alternate dimension— having a character with wall art that references perspective/dimensional anomalies doesn’t really tell us much about his specific character or story. We’ve known that the ST set designers use a character’s space to show us who they are as people, these two artworks need to tell us something about Mike and his journey. And maybe Mike’s sensibilities about the world at large are shifting into nihilism with everything that’s happened in hawkins and the art reflects an absurdist outlook of future (teenage stuff, growing up, etc. etc.)

It foreshadows Mike’s s5 arc — I love this one. Mike is one of the few in the main cast who haven’t been in the upside down proper, so this art could reference not only that he’ll go into the UD in s5 but also that there could be dimensional anomalies involved in his travel or journey there. Perhaps this is how they’ll be able to find Max— by bending the laws of physics and using the mechanics of dimensional travel against itself, perhaps to open new doors or travel in different directions (hint: time travel 😏). And i think the reason this art is in Mike’s wall is bc it will be Mike who formulates the plan to find Max and retrieve her with the help of El and Will’s new powers 😏 (g*d knows i want to see leader Mike make a come back)(and Will with powers).

Will Byers — we know Mike and Will are tied together by the narrative and so I think these artworks could be directly pointing to Will with big red arrows. This point is corroborated by simply analyzing the formal qualities of the artwork, both individually and as a set. Hand with Reflective Sphere is about optics and perspective, about seeing, but also about the flattening of space. Relativity is about space, dimension, and paradox, but also about impossible perspective/vantage point. When read together the objective reading of them is about sight and space and paradox, about how the flattening of space helps us see something new and impossible. While Mike hasn’t experienced the dimensional travel into the UD proper, many of those closest to him atp had; El, Will, Nancy… but the reason i think these two posters remind him of Will specifically is because out of everyone else who has been in the UD, only Will experiences the feeling of being stuck there and of seeing into both dimensions at once; the stuck view-master, true sight. Mike associates these things combined (dimensional travel and dimensional sight/perception) with Will.

Also, Mike is a nerdy guy, he seems interested in this kind of stuff for the fun of it so he could’ve had sciency charts that reference the subject of visible light and paradoxes the way Suzie does, but instead he has not one but two fine-art pieces by a pretty big graphic artist that reference the subject of sight and space. Also, Idk what it is about the fact that it’s fine-art and not movie/game/dnd art that makes me also associate it with Will— the self-proclaimed visual artist of the show. The words are all jumbled up in my head rn but; artist. sight. all-encompassing. dimension. paradox. new perspective. -> -> -> -> Will Byers (is this a hint to wills powers??) etc. etc. etc. you get it

Secret 4th option (ties into #2)

Mike gets Vecnaed and this forces him into extensive self-reflection and the labyrinthian trials of finding himself and mastering his fears(maybe he’s already begun his self-searching and that’s why we see this art at the beginning of s4). cue cool musical montage of Mike navigating his own memories and mind-scape to find the answer that will make everything make sense while also hiding from vecna and buying the party time to find a way to end him.

#i just have thoughts #i love this art but what does it meannn #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #st analysis #byler #st5 speculation #will byers has powers #will byers has true sight #st #i just have thoughts ok?#stranger things analysis #stranger thing 5

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aurorabyler · 2 years

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Flashbacks in Stranger Things: When, Why, and How They Are Used (Long Analysis)

sit back and relax everyone. this is gonna be my longest post yet.

disclaimer before anyone proceeds--i have not tagged this post with any relationships other than byler so if you do not like this pairing please just scroll past this post! i never cross tag because i truly want a safe fandom space for everyone. this is just my analysis of the show and my own brainrot.

I’ve thought about the usage of flashbacks in Stranger Things a lot over the past few weeks. I saw a post by user @girlskth on Twitter (HUGE shoutout to them for this very eye-opening post, please go check it out their tweet and give them all the love!!), who mentioned the contrast between Max’s scene in Dear Billy (running up that hill → from Vecna), versus El being trapped by the vines in 4x09. First: we need to talk about flashbacks as they have been used throughout film and TV history as a key literary device. Here are some articles that I found that explain why flashbacks can be so important to understanding characters:

This quote is vital:

"Flashbacks are really a function of character, not story…the visual image we’re seeing is what the character is thinking and feeling at that present moment…it illuminates a character’s point of view.”

Flashbacks are never pointlessly placed. There is always an intent behind reverting back to the old material to demonstrate something about the character’s current mindset.

These two scenes are clearly parallels (complete credits to @girlskth for bringing this up), as both Max and El are encountering the same situation–being trapped in Vecna’s lair and hearing a monologue from him. The scenes are not only plot parallels but visual ones.

However, there is one thing lacking in this parallel, and @girlskth brilliantly points out what it is—their emotional connection. Max relies on flashbacks of her happiest memories to free herself from Vecna’s trance and come back to reality. There are MANY flashbacks of her platonic relationships (her friendship with El being the most significant), and her romantic relationship with Lucas, which is ultimately what gives her enough time to run away from Vecna.

Now, going into El’s scene, I as a viewer was EXPECTING that they would show flashbacks of El’s happy memories with Mike during his monologue. This is coming from someone who does not ship these two characters together at all.

I like them as friends, and I was still waiting for them to show us moments from their kiss at the snowball, from Mike giving Eleven the name “El,” from Mike calling her for 353 days in season 2, from Mike saying “No, El, you’re not the monster–you saved me,” from El saying she loves him at the end of season 3…but nothing.

Absolutely no flashbacks were shown apart from the scene of the boys finding El in the woods. This is extremely odd for a couple who has supposedly been the centrepiece of Stranger Things for four seasons, or, in the words of people who ship these characters, have been “built up for four seasons.” But no. Nothing.

This is an INSANE contrast to Max’s Dear Billy scene, which went out of its way to show her history with all of these characters over the 3 seasons her character has been in the show.

The concept of “show, don’t tell,” is critical in understanding this parallel. Take Max’s relationships that are highlighted when she is in Vecna’s trance: these flashbacks all occur because she knows they will give her strength. She is never verbally prompted to think about these memories because she has confidence they will help her fight in her darkest moment. Here’s some more information on show don’t tell and how it is used in media:

If we apply Max's unconcious logic to El’s scene in Vecna’s lair, being able to pull from her happy memories with Mike should have been something that came relatively naturally to her. Except, this didn’t happen. What did happen? El’s memories with Max DID come naturally, and those memories ultimately saved Max’s life.

Zero Flashbacks to Mike/El's Past Seasons' Dynamic

While waiting for volume two, even as someone who likes this pairing platonically, I was excited to see flashbacks to season 1 Mike/Eleven once they reunited at the Nina Project. I’ll always be nostalgic for seasons 1 and 2 and I wanted to see some of their friendship dynamics from those seasons come back. I was literally expecting there to be some sort of “still pretty?” flashback, or some other cut back to season one. Again, I am saying all of this entirely as someone who 100% believes in a byler endgame for this show. I was still very surprised by this, and it is clearly intentional on the writer’s part.

Some would argue that the lack of flashbacks is due to the varying perspectives in Mike’s monologue scene. We see Mike’s, Will’s, El’s, and Jonathan’s POVs switching between each other in this scene. When peeling back the layers, we learned that Mike's monologue utilizes the miscommunication trope in a big way. Let’s analyze:

Mike is under the impression, because of Will, that “these past few months she (El) has been so lost without you…You make her feel like she’s not a mistake at all–like she’s better for being different. And that gives her the courage to fight on.” —Will, 4x09

First and foremost: Mike’s monologue would not have happened without Will’s veiled confession in the van. He believes Will’s feelings are El’s, and it is these feelings that make him think that what he says is what El needs to hear.

Mike is TOLD (not sure if he entirely believes it especially after the final scene in the cabin when El walks away from him, but we’ll have to wait for more scripts to see the truth), that El has been “lost” without him and that she “needs” him to be able to fight.

This is what he is TOLD by Will about El, and this is not true, as NOWHERE during any of El’s scenes at school in California, or once Mike comes to visit, or during her time at the Nina Project, or during her battles with the military + Vecna does El EVER give the impression that she somehow needs Mike in her life to keep fighting, or that he gives her courage. In fact, given all of the parallels El draws between Mike's "what did you do?" and Brenner's "what have you done?" I would say what Mike gives her is the opposite of courage.

El keeps fighting because she has come into herself and she is powerful and strong, not because she needs Mike there to help her. And Mike, prior to Will’s confession, knows this is the truth, as seen by the line in the official script that was cut out from the show:

If El truly needed Mike to “fight on,” as Will implies with his own feelings, I believe that more flashbacks would have been utilized, regardless of the multiple perspectives in the scene, to show how Mike has supposedly helped El “fight” in the past. But none of this was shown BECAUSE El’s battles have always been about her personal arc and growth. In the past seasons, El has never relied on or needed Mike to help her fight–he has been misled because of Will’s veiled confession.

Perhaps the best example of El’s battles being about her own growth is in the 2x09 scene where she closes the gate: you'll see here that all the flashbacks she has during this critical battle have to do with her personal growth and past trauma. The same is true of her fight with the Demogorgon in season 1, of learning from Kali in season 2, of fighting Billy and the Mind Flayer in season 3--her relationship with Mike is not critical to any of these battles. It is her friendships and familial love that motivates her as well as her own coming of age.

The miscommunication about El "needing" Mike to be able to "fight" explains a lot of things, including, at least to an extent why Mike VISIBLY HESITATED when saying “I love you” for the first time in his monologue. There are obviously other reasons to this that have been analyzed by many other people, but I feel this miscommunication is critical.

This is something that has really been annoying me ever since season 4 came out: the whole plotline about Mike not being able to say he loves El should be extremely clear to audiences about what it implies. I love romance and I KNOW that the Duffers can write amazing love stories (Lumax, Jancy, Jopper…).

Lucas and Max never once say they love each other but it is clear to audiences–they SHOW it in their own ways.

True love is shown, not told–especially in media.

That is how the most popular romantic pairings are so believable to audiences. Showing, not telling your love for someone, makes it feel real. And boom: ever since season 3 and ESPECIALLY after season 4, there have been hundreds of thousands of people saying that Mike/El's dynamic seems "off" somehow.

My point here is that if you love someone unconditionally, if you are truly, deeply in love with them, you would not hesitate for a moment to say that you love them, especially if they practically beg you to say it while crying about that very fact. You would also not call them “ridiculous” after they start crying and then you proceed to deflect blame about a situation you caused onto other people.

Love is powerful. To me, it’s one of the most powerful things that exists in this world. And I believe that the writers of this show feel the same way: Love Conquers All. I’ll insert one of my favourite quotes from Avatar: The Last Airbender to display how I feel about this topic:

"You have indeed felt a great loss. But love is a form of energy, and it swirls all around us. The air nomads' love for you has not left this world. It is still inside of your heart, and is reborn in the form of new love." -Guru Pathik, Avatar: The Last Airbender

Real, romantic love is never something that should be questioned at critical moments. Let me emphasize: I do not question that Mike platonically loves El. He clearly loves her a great amount as shown by what he has gone through with her over the course of the show, just as he loves Lucas, Dustin, Max, Nancy, etc.

Millie literally said in an interview for ST4 that “Mike is not loving Eleven the way she wants to be loved.” This situation for El is honestly extremely heartbreaking because she truly deserves so much better than what she’s been given. El is one of my favourite characters and I love her dearly, and seeing her suffer because of this relationship as well as the bullying at school hits very close to home for me. She deserves so much happiness and I hope she gets to have endless amounts of it by the end of season 5.

How else have flashbacks been used in Stranger Things?

The article I cited earlier holds true to the Stranger Things writer’s perspective on flashbacks. Remember: "flashbacks are really a function of character, not story…the visual image we’re seeing is what the character is thinking and feeling at that present moment…it illuminates a character’s point of view.” Utilizing flashbacks as a literary device in this manner has been seen multiple times in the show at key character moments.

Will and Joyce

This flashback is key to showing Joyce's relationship with her son and how much she loves him. It holds true to the article in that it SHOWS that while searching for Will, she thinks back to the time they spent together in Castle Byers.

Jonathan and Will

Jonathan's relationship with Will is key to season one and remains one of the most beautiful parts of Stranger Things. This flashback, just like the ones with Max and Joyce, happens naturally. Jonathan associates The Clash with Will and can't help thinking back to their happy memories together once he hears the song play. This simple scene shows the depth of their relationship.

Hopper and Sarah

In my opinion, this is by far the most effective use of flashback Stranger Things has used to date. When I watched season 1 in 2016, this was the scene that made me cry my eyes out. I still think about it to this day as the catalyst that started my long-running love for this show. While trying to revive Will, Hopper is reminded of his daughter Sarah's struggle with cancer which led to her death. This flashback is a perfect representation of Hopper's development.

Hopper's arc in seasons 1 and 2 was one of my favourite things to watch: he starts as someone cold and isolated who drowns himself in drugs and alcohol to cope with his past trauma. Eventually, he learns to love again in all sorts of ways once Joyce comes back into his life. Hopper's drive to find Will and his love for Joyce inadvertently led him to El, and as he says in season 3:

"For so long, I'd been stuck in one place...And then, I left some Eggos out in the woods, and you came into my life. And for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again." -Hopper's Letter, 3x03

In summary: flashbacks are used with intent and to SHOW the audience a character's internal struggles and thoughts. Stranger Things follows the textbook way to use flashbacks effectively, and has clearly been selective for a reason when it comes to which moments they choose to remind us of, as well as when, how, and why these moments are used. They have juxtaposed two very similar scenes and how the characters have escaped from the series' antagonist, Vecna, using these flashbacks/memories to their advantage. The final battle between El and Vecna was driven by El's love for Max. Mike was under the impression that what he said was what El needed to hear because it was veiled in Will's feelings. While these ideas have been widely discussed, showing how flashbacks have been effectively used throughout the show and comparing them to their usage (or lack thereof) in season 4 gives us excellent insights into El's headspace, as well as what the future holds for these characters. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this analysis so I really hope you enjoyed it! Please give it a reblog if you can and leave your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to know your interpretation :) Thank you so much for reading! <3

#byler #byler endgame #stranger things #stranger things theory #st4 #stranger things season 4 #vecna #running up that hill #mike wheeler #will byers #byler tumblr #mike wheeler x will byers #byler nation #001 #001 stranger things #stranger things meta #byler meta #theory

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queerxqueen · 2 years

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unpacking the 4x08 van scene script

[The Full Van Scene]

Alrighty, let's break down all the bits and pieces we've got!

First we get this bit about Will wanting to play D and D and Nintendo for the rest of their lives. We then see him immediately catch himself with Uh... and when Mike is unexcited, it's described as "awkward, like embarrassingly so."

Then we get Will's internal, self-deprecating "What are you, like 12-years-old still dude?"

This is 1000% from Will's POV still, not Mike - I don't know why people think otherwise, but this is Will, being hard on himself for being childish, thinking that that is why Mike is not engaging when clearly his head is somewhere else.

This is probably the most interesting bit to me: Will senses the change in vibe; although oblivious to the actual motive behind the change.

Once again we get confirmation that we are only seeing from Will's perspective and that Mike's actions are meant to be a mystery to us. The vibe changes, not because Mike is judging him for wanting to play D&D, not even because Mike is worried about El as Will suspects next--but for some other reason unknown to Will and, at this point, the audience.

Then Mike tentatively goes into his talk about El not needing him. I think it's interesting they used the word "contemplatively" when he first talks about it. It makes it seem like this has been on his mind for a while, like there's in fact a lot on his mind regarding El not needing him.

This is really interesting too--"We've been over this before." Because... have they really? They've talked a bit about El previously, on the car after burying Hero Secret Agent Man, and in Will's room when they talk in 4x04, and Will offered comfort in regards to El. But they certainly haven't quite been over this before. If anything, it's interesting that Will feels that they have. Does Will feel like their conversations are going in circles when it comes to talking about Eleven?

Then Mike launches into his little tangent and Will--doesn't quite get it. He tries to understand but doesn't, not at first, with this awkward encounter, Mike apologizing, before Will shows that he does "get it" with the line: You're scared of losing her.

They lock eyes. A BEAT. I love when scripts specify they lock eyes, because it's so rarely necessary to do so that when they do, I can't help but think of the implications. The writers at this moment are trying to show the understanding passing between them.

I don't need to break down Mike's response: It's stunning. "His face can light up a room." Y'all, consider how down Mike was not two seconds ago, thinking he's worthless, talking down on himself. One look at Will's art, and his face can light up a room.

Will patiently waiting for approval and then being overwhelmed with relief--this is superbly acted by Noah, because that's exactly what we read his facial expressions as to begin with.

Then, of course, the moment he realizes or decides to lie: Act cool. No! Don't look at him. Focus on your words.

I love the line, no! Don't look at him! Like looking Mike in the eye right then, seeing his face--lighting up the van with his happiness over the painting--would make Will want to tell the truth instead of his lie.

This is also the only moment that Jonathan's POV is written into the script where he watches through the rearview mirror--and it happens right as Will tells his first lie, as if to signify that he's lying, to show us once again that Will is our unreliable narrator.

Will "nudges closer" just as he begins to explain the painting, showing how he is taking that first step, being brave, inching closer to the truth.

Then--

I think it's so interesting that it draws emphasis on "Mike turns his attention to Will" just after the first mention of "heart." As if somehow this word draws his attention in a way that's notable. I talked about this particular line having an impact on Mike in my microexpression analysis where again, the word heart seems to take Mike aback, and I think we're seeing that here as well, subtly, with the way it draws our eyes to Mike's attention.

We also get "Will retreats. His body follows." Which neatly contrasts the earlier "Will angles to Mike and nudges closer." Just as before he was being brave, taking a step, now--in turning the conversation back to El--he is doing the opposite. Taking a step back. Retreating, body and soul.

Skipping over the "being different" and "I hate who I am" because it's already been analyzed to death since yesterday and also it's too immensely painful...

Will launches into his El monologue and we get---now it's Mike who doesn't get it. And jesus christ, someone please help these poor boys communicate. Will is saying all these things that don't quite match up to El's actions, and he's clearly getting emotional, but Mike just doesn't get it. He doesn't understand what Will is really saying, doesn't understand that he's talking in code.

Last, I want to mention something that could be significant - the version of the script sent out to donors is missing the line "Thanks, I needed that," which was the only line from Mike's perspective in the preview of the script that 8flix posted on Twitter. Why was this line cut from the donor scripts? What other lines might have been cut, and why?

I actually asked 8flix Nick about this and will let you know if/when he updates, because it's a pretty big inconsistency in my opinion.

That's all for now. More analysis incoming, I'm sure. <3

#byler script #st4 scripts #byler #byler analysis #mine #1k+

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ironstrange1991 · 5 months

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Forbidden (Part 7): That Was A First

+18 Smut

Pairing: Doctor!Strange x Fem!Reader

Synopsis: The night with Stephen at the Sanctum Sanctorum takes a somewhat interesting turn

Word Count: 5,6k

Warnings: Dry humping, cuming in pants (and panties)

A/N: This was such a fun to write and I really hope you guys like it. It isn't much but be patient with our reader, she is learning ;)

SERIES MASTERLIST

Ultraviolet played softly through the TV speakers as you and Stephen were sprawled out on the couch in the living room of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

The night that seemed to be a real failure, took a completely different turn when he rescued you from one of the terrible parties at Mike's house and now you were lost between kisses, confessions and giggles.

"So..." He pressed when he noticed that you were too quiet while listening to the song.

You smile broadly. "It's hard to be impartial in my analysis when you said you think of me when you listen to this song."

He chuckled, placing a small kiss on your cheek and moving his lips down your chin and then back up, practically nuzzling his face onto yours. The touch of the goatee making your body tingle. He bit your earlobe and whispered to the lyrics of the song to tease you.

"Baby, baby, baby, light my way."

His baritone was so sexy in that context that it made your entire body shake.

"Okay, I think I like it... very much." You responded, cupping his face and pulling him back to your lips. Again and again. You just knew that you would never be tired of kissing those lips.

He hummed with satisfaction, his arms that were around your waist pulled you closer and you fit your leg between his, easily getting used to that new proximity.

When you broke the kiss you found yourself tracing the small bruises on his face. You didn't like that, it was inconceivable for you that someone or something would want to hurt such a pretty face.

"Are you going to tell me how you got hurt?"

He sighed. "I had a meeting with two former Kamar Tag students who ended up taking the wrong path and they didn’t make things easy for me. My mission was to bring them back or..."

He didn't finish the sentence, but you understood. You weren't naive, Stephen's job was to protect the world, but not all people could be saved, especially not when they became a danger to other people. Tony had already explained that to you.

"Maybe it's better if I don't talk about my work..." Stephen started to say, but you interrupted him.

"No, please. You can tell me anything. I'm not a child, Stephen. I understand how the world works.

He smiled and closed his eyes when he felt your fingers on his face again.

"I just hate seeing you hurt. Especially those cheekbones." You placed a small kiss on his wound and watched as he moved his fingers in a complicated gesture and a golden light emanated from them. He brought the light to his face and like magic the bruises closed and then disappeared as if they had never been there.

"Better now?" He smiled widely, probably noticing your surprised and delighted expression.

"This was so incredible!" You gasped.

"You haven't seen anything yet, sweetheart." He giggled holding your face in both hands and kissing your lips softly.

"Then show me. I want to see you do magic."

"I prefer the term spells." He corrected you and you rolled your eyes.

"It's the same thing."

"We'll have plenty of time for that. I promise. And eventually I can use a spell or two on you." He teased, pulling you back to his lips and you surrendered with a hum, letting him control the kiss.

You couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but a part of you liked the idea. Dating a sorcerer was pretty sexy, actually.

Stephen pushed his hips against you so you could feel his hard on and although it was all new, you didn't flinch this time, on the contrary, you let out a little moan in his lips that made him tangle his fingers in your hair and deepen the kiss, turning it into a clash of angry tongues and teeth.

He was the one who pulled away gently and then admitted it, "Fuck, sweetheart, look what you do to me." Then he grabbed your hand and brought it to his hip. You palmed his erection, slightly surprised at how massively large he seemed even confined within those tight jeans.

He sighed satisfied with the touch, staring at you as if he wanted to analyze your reaction.

You opened your mouth and closed it again, biting the inside of your cheek instead of saying what was on your mind.

"What is it?" He asked and you hid your face in the crook of his neck inhaling deeply, delighting in his scent.

"No no, sweetheart, let's make a deal. From now on you're going to tell me whatever's on your mind. Okay? You can trust me."

"I don't know..."

"Y/n...please."

You groaned in surrender. "I was just going to say that you just feel so..."

"Big?" He teased with a cocky smile.

You nodded, hiding your face in him again. "I mean, how is this supposed to fit..."

"It won't be a problem, love, you were made to take me inside you. You'll see."

Stephen couldn't believe you were there in his arms after he spent so long pining over you believing he could never have you. It was even more unbelievable when he realized that he would be your first. There were so many things he wanted to show you, so many ways to achieve pleasure. He was dying to finally have you, but he was mature enough to understand that he would have to have a little patience. He would have to take it slow, testing the water and seeing how far you would let him go.

Stephen had been without sex for almost six months and it was making it harder for him to hold himself together, being there alone with you in his arms and although he was mature enough to control himself, a part of him was willing to tease you a little and that was precisely what he did when he grabbed the fabric of your dress and lifted it up a little revealing your thighs to him.

"You know, America bought a certain magazine and I ended up seeing some pretty compromising photos of you."

You smiled proudly, but didn't say anything.

"Imagine my surprise when I discovered that you have a tattoo here." He said, finally laying eyes on the intricate bouquet of flowers that you had tattooed on your right thigh and that outlined it getting dangerously close to your crotch. He traced the outlines of the design with his trembling fingers, moving up your dress enough to get a peek at your panties. They were pink and lacy, and his cock pulsed inside his pants.

"Did you like it?" You asked innocently and Stephen swallowed thickly.

"Oh, I loved it." He responded mischievously and then turned his attention back to the actual drawing. "But I'm curious, why tattoo here?"

"Looks good in a bikini." You responded with a playful smile on your lips.

"Hum, I guess I need to see that."

"You'll have to take me to the beach."

"Oh, it's definitely in my plans now."

You smiled broadly already contemplating the idea of seeing Stephen in trunks.

"So, you liked the photos?"

"I loved them, sweetheart, but I don't like the idea of other men looking at you.

"Hum, jealous?"

He smirked. "Perhaps a bit, but I definitely loved the photos."

You hummed happily watching him trace the flower petals gently with his fingers.

"Does it hurt?" He asked, genuinely curious. Stephen never thought about getting tattooed. Not because of the pain, he was used to feeling pain, but because he didn't think it suited him. It was totally the opposite with you. He loved each one of your tattoos.

"Tattooing?"

"Yeah."

You thought for a second as if you were choosing the best way to explain.

"It hurts a little, not a lot. But it depends on the place too. This one was pretty painful. But I have a good resistance to tattoo pain. It's quite different with piercings, though."

"I heard that some people even like the pain." He pointed out and you grimaced.

"Definitely not me. I am a crybaby when it comes to pain."

He smirked, pulling down your dress again and covering the tattoo completely. "I'll be very gentle, then."

You felt your cheeks getting hot again. He was so cocky and sweet and dirty all at the same time. He was passionate and you couldn't resist him, you could feel yourself literally melting for him, totally aware of the wetness in your panties and you had never felt that way for any man.

Suddenly you felt a little bold.

"There's one you haven't seen yet." You told him knowing it would make him interested and at the same time trying to hide how much his comment messed with you. "No one has seen it yet."

He smirked kissing you "I'm afraid to ask where it is, sweetheart."

You chuckled, turning onto your stomach and crossing your feet, swaying your legs cutely in the air.

"Why don't you search for it, then?" You suggested giving him a sweet wink.

He chuckled in disbelief but gave in to curiosity and sat down.

"Is not here." He said tickling your feet and making you giggle. His hands ran down your legs and you closed your eyes feeling the heat and gentle tremor of his hands running up your thighs.

"It's not on your legs, nor on your thighs. Perhaps..."

You bit your bottom lip when his hands went under your dress. That was without a doubt the most erotic thing you had ever done. - Forget the shitty handjob.

"Can I?" Stephen asked, a little unsure of what he was doing, but when you hummed positively, he felt impelled to continue. He lifted the delicate fabric of your dress and was treated to the sight of your cute little round ass adorned by the lace of your pink panties. Your skin was so delicate that all Stephen could think about was how beautiful it would look with his red handprint on it. But instead, he caressed your cheeks, feeling his cock throbbing again in his pants.

"Definitely not here."

He continued lifting the dress until he finally found it, in your lower back, above the waistband of your panties. Just one word written in delicate cursive: sweetheart.

Stephen couldn't contain the little groan that escaped his lips. He was speechless, one part of his brain went into short circuit and the other was trying to understand if that was on purpose or not, but you answered his silent question almost immediately.

"I made it after the night you called me like this for the first time. I didn't tell anyone and I know it was a bad idea, but I like it. I like it even more now."

Stephen traced the letters with his fingers and without holding back he leaned to kiss the tattoo lingeringly, watching your skin prickle with the touch and to his surprise you pressed your thighs together and moaned. An unmistakable sweet little moan.

Stephen was determined to play nice, but you had just made everything very difficult for him. He could barely think straight. All his blood seemed to immediately descend into his dick.

"You always wanted to be my sweetheart, didn't you?" His voice sounded almost shaky coming from behind you and you couldn't deny the truth in his words.

"Yes."

Stephen moved his lips up your back, biting your skin over the thin fabric of your dress. He was practically on top of you and even though he was holding most of his weight in his arms, you could feel it and it felt so good.

When he brushed aside your hair and ran his lips down the back of your neck, your entire body trembled and you gasped, delighting in the feeling of his beard on your skin.

"Feels good, uh?" He teased and you responded with a shaky uhum.

He chuckled, pleased to see your reaction to his touch, and brought his lips to your ear. He licked and nibbled it and then spoke in his baritone voice. "I'm not going to take your virginity tonight, but that doesn't mean we can't play a little."

You barely realized you were holding your breath until it escaped your mouth in slow puffs.

He pressed his hard on against you, grinding himself in your ass and it felt so good. For the first time in your life, you craved the intrusion. You wanted him inside you.

"That is if you want it, of course." He whispered in your other ear, nibbling on your earlobe. "I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to, Y/n. Never. But you'll have to tell me."

You hummed trying to find your voice. "I want to."

"Good girl." He cooed letting out a satisfied hum and got off of you and laid down by your side again.

"Then lay down here on top of me." He instructed cupping your cheek and kissing you softly.

Your cheeks were hot, but your entire body was hot now. The arousal between your legs so obvious that even you could smell it.

You moved to do as he asked, but he corrected you. “Hike up your dress.”

You overcame your shyness and knelt down next to him and did as he asked, but before you could straddle him, he flicked his fingers and his jeans and shirt were replaced by a pair of sweatpants and a tee.

"How did you do that?" You gasped.

"Lots of practice." He responded grabbing your hand and pulling you on top of him.

"I like your panties. Does the bra match them?"

You just nodded, unable to say anything.

"Hum, would you let me see it?" He asked, lifting his hips up to make you feel his erection on your core. The sensation made his entire body shake.

"I don't know, Stephen. What if someone shows up and sees us?"

He shook his head confidently, "Wong and America will be spending the night at the Kamar Taj. They're most likely sleeping right now."

You thought for a moment and then confirmed with him "We are not having sex tonight."

Stephen shook his head and smirked watching you take off your dress and throw it on the floor and then he devoured you with his eyes. All matching in pink lace, all for him. Your breasts were small, but they were beautiful. His cock pulsed beneath you.

"There are many ways to have sex, sweetheart and not all of them involve penetration. I'll show you."

He held your waist with one hand and the other he took between you and grabbed his cock through the fabric of his pants positioning it the way he wanted and then he opened his arms for you. "Come here."

You surrendered to his request and let yourself be enveloped by his strong arms. Your legs on either side of his waist, straddling him and when you dropped the weight of your body on top of him, the contact of his erection on your covered core made you both gasp at the sensation.

You could feel how hard he was and he could feel the moisture seeping through the fabric of your panties and making him wet.

Stephen was so proud to be responsible for making you wet like that. All the surprise and sudden fear of discovering that you were a virgin was replaced by satisfaction and uncontrollable desire. Knowing you were so innocent sparked something in him and only his conscience was holding him back. However, he felt his control slipping away with each passing second.

He cupped your cheeks with both hands and kissed you hard and then moved his lips down your chin, nibbling lightly until he reached your neck. He kissed, bit and sucked the skin pulling a hum from your throat and without you realizing you started to grind yourself in his erection and Stephen felt as if an electric current had passed through his body.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Stephen teased moving his hands to your ass cheeks and forcing you back and forth and without any shame he moaned.

"Shit, it definitely feels good for me."

You couldn't believe what you were doing. Your cheeks were so hot they felt like they were on fire, your entire body was shaking and you couldn't respond because you seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

Still, your body seemed to have a mind of its own and before you knew it you were moving alone on top of him, completely surrendered to the desire that took over you.

"Oh my god, Stephen... what are we doing?"

He smirked and bit your chin "We are having fun, sweetheart. Tell me, does it feel good?"

You moaned, increasing the pace of your hips on top of him, his hard cock providing you with delicious friction on your covered clit.

You cupped his face between your hands and pulled him for a desperate kiss, your tongue entered his mouth and clashed with his in a battle of pure lust. Stephen hummed in your mouth, positively surprised by your change in behavior resulting from your arousal state.

"Feels so good... Oh Stephen..." You whimpered, letting yourself be carried away by the moment and he wrapped his arms around your waist, keeping you impossibly close to him.

"You can hide your face in me if it helps you feel more comfortable." He said. "Just keep moving, sweetheart. Don't stop."

You did exactly as he suggested, hiding your face in the crook of his neck, letting your body guide you through all the sensations, inhaling Stephen's scent into your lungs and feeling the familiar knot tightening in your stomach. It was embarrassing, but your walls clenched around nothing.

"Stephen..."

His name. Stephen lost count of how many times he found himself fantasizing about you moaning his name like that. It was so beautiful. The sweet noises you made were so beautiful.

He hummed thrusting up to increase the sensation and you could feel his dick throbbing beneath you and somehow you knew he was as close as you were.

"It's okay, sweetheart, don't hold back, let go for me. Pretend you're alone in your room doing whatever you do when you think of me." He whispered in your ear.

Stephen knew you were holding back, shyness getting in your way, preventing you from reaching your sweet release, but when you followed his advice, he felt your movements getting faster, your sweet pussy rubbing against his dick faster and harder and so quickly he understood that you had finished, he also felt himself cumming.

Your heart was pounding in your ears. Your eyes were closed, but you could see flashes of light in the darkness as your entire body seemed to convulse on top of Stephen's. You moaned loudly and your moan was followed by Stephen's groan and you felt his body trembling beneath yours and then a strange wetness wetted between your legs. It took you a few seconds to understand what it was and when you did you felt your entire face burning. You thought it was ridiculous that you were still capable of blushing after what you had done, but Stephen thought it was adorable.

He stroked your hair and you finally found the courage to look at him and when you did there was a wide smile on his lips and his eyes had a sparkle that you had never seen before. He caressed your cheeks and before saying anything, he gently pulled you to his lips and kissed you softly. When he broke the kiss you opened your mouth, but closed it again not knowing what to say and ended up nuzzling your face in his. Like a cat. You just wanted to be so fucking close to him. Never ever to be apart again.

"You okay?" He asked, sounding just as unsure as you were. Your entire body was shaking, but you nodded and he held you in his arms.

"Sweetheart, you can talk to me."

You cleared your throat. "I don't know what to say. I've never done this before. I don't know what people talk about after they do it."

Stephen smiled. "We can talk about anything. You can start by telling me what's on your mind right now." He suggested.

"I love you." You ran to say before you lost your courage and Stephen smiled again. A smile you hadn't seen before. A little surprised, a little incredulous, but extremely satisfied.

"It's what's on my mind right now, but at the same time it feels like it's all over my body. I've never felt like this before."

"It's your hormones. Oxytocin to be precise. I’m feeling it too. It's always special when you do it with someone you love. And we barely did anything, sweetheart."

You cupped his face "Do you? Love me?"

He sighed, holding your chin between his index finger and thumb. "Yes I do. I've fought my feelings for so long, Y/n. You have no idea how good it feels to finally be able to feel them."

You nodded. "Actually I do. I loved you from the first moment I saw you and I waited five years for Tony to bring you back to me. Still, I never thought I could have you. I thought I would always have to love you from afar."

Stephen held your face between his shaking hands. "I'm here now. We're together, sweetheart."

You felt your eyes getting wet with tears, so many feelings building up in your chest, your stomach was feeling weird, but you fought against it, afraid that Stephen might find it childish to see you crying.

"I still can't believe what we just did." You said hiding your face in him.

"Hey, none of that! No more shyness. I want you to tell me, did you like it? Because, I think it was pretty obvious that I liked it."

You gave a small giggle. You were well aware of the mess between your legs. "I liked it. It was really good. I've never... well, you know."

"What?" He insisted.

"I've never cum with someone before. It's always been a solo experience."

He smirked, "I don't know if we can classify it as solo if I was on your mind the whole time." He teased.

He was so cocky, even at that moment. But you liked it.

"I never thought it could be done like this." You confessed and Stephen chuckled, stroking your back absently.

"Men can be creative when they want to have sex. And there are many ways to do it. I'll show you. To be honest, I'm pretty excited about the idea of being your first. Being the one who will show you all the good stuff."

You smiled to yourself, feeling your body slowly relax. Your heartbeat returning to normal.

"I thought if you knew I was a virgin, you would get scared and run away."

He shook his head. "I was scared, really, but I didn't think about running away from you. Quite the opposite."

You smiled and pulled him back to your lips and Stephen sighed contently, feeling all his worries melt away as he realized that you were okay with what you’ve done.

He knew he hadn't planned it, but in his defense, seeing that tattoo on you did things to him.

Either way he was more than pleased with the way the night turned out. There were definitely a few months of pent-up sexual frustration inside him and his hands helped to a certain extent, but he needed something more. And as much as dry humping seemed like a teenager thing to him, he couldn't deny that he loved the experience. However, the resulting mess left him feeling wet and sticky and definitely in need of a shower.

He caressed your face gently.

"I need to clean up now, sweetheart. I made quite a mess in my pants."

You agreed, dismounting and sat down next to him, looking a little unsure of what to do next.

Stephen stood up and allowed himself to actually look at you dressed only in a set of pink lingerie, your panties wet with your fluids and his. Your hair was all messed up, your lips were swollen from all the kisses and the skin around your mouth was burned by his beard. You looked beautiful and most importantly, you were his. He was still trying to get used to the idea.

He reached out to you. "Come on. I'll give you a change of clean clothes. You can't keep those dirty panties."

You looked at him a little shyly, but you let yourself be pulled. Stephen grabbed your dress and the two of you slowly walked up the stairs.

Stephen's room was bigger than the room you slept in the night he saved you at the night club. His bed was huge, a four poster bed.

You barely noticed that you had stopped in the middle of the room to stare at the bed or that he had left you to your thoughts and walked away when he returned with a tee and a boxer brief and handed them to you.

"You can use the bathroom. Make yourself at home. I'm going to take a shower in the next room. I'll be back in a minute."

You nodded, watching him grab a change of clothes and leave the room.

Stephen didn't know what to expect from the rest of the night, but it was already after 3 am when he went down to the Sanctum lounge to turn off the TV, which was now playing some random music that he didn't recognize. He picked up the bottle of wine and the glasses and took them to the kitchen and then picked up your jacket and boots and went back to his room.

You were sitting in one of the armchairs next to the fireplace. His tee was big enough to cover your thighs and you had braided your hair now. The little makeup you were wearing seemed to disappear. He had never seen you so natural, so simple and yet so beautiful. Stephen was still reluctant to understand how you could bewitch him like that. He never felt that way about any woman.

"I used your toothbrush. I hope you don't mind." You informed with a shy smile.

"Not at all." He responded closing the bedroom door and placing your boots on the floor next to the bed and hanging your jacket on the free armchair next to you.

"I don't know what I should do now. Should I leave?" You said being one hundred percent sincere. You had never had that level of intimacy with anyone, you didn't know how things worked and looking at Stephen dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt was giving you an air of domesticity that was achingly passionate and inviting.

Stephen shook his head, "No. I mean, I can take you home if you want. In fact, I can open a portal to your room right now, but... I don't want you to leave."

You smiled shaking your head "I don't want to go either. I don't want to be away from you."

He reached out to you, "Then stay with me. Tomorrow morning I'll take you to your room, if you want."

You pretended to think for a moment, but the truth was that you agreed to the idea immediately.

"Don't think too much. We did nothing wrong." Stephen reaffirmed. "It was actually really good and you are still a virgin as I promised." He smirked. "Spend the night with me. I won't try anything else, I promise."

You sighed, holding his hand and letting yourself be dragged to the bed.

"Smart girls would say it's not smart to go to bed with the guy you like on the first date." You teased as you crawled under the comforter and made yourself comfortable on the pillows. Stephen's scent was permeating them and that was definitely your favorite scent now.

"Practically speaking, we can't even say this was a date. At least not a traditional one." He responded and to your surprise he took off his shirt before lying down next to you and you had to swallow your saliva when you saw him half naked for the first time.

"We… drank wine and danced... It's...very traditional for me." You struggled to finish the thought. Of course you knew that Stephen had a well-defined physique. Just by looking at him you could already deduce that, and you could also feel his muscles under his shirt, but actually seeing them was something else entirely. You were practically drooling and you doubted he didn't notice the way you were devouring him with your eyes, but he didn't say anything, just crawled under the comforter with you. You felt your body becoming tense at the new situation, but Stephen had a way of making everything better just by smiling at you.

"Remember I mentioned before about using a spell or two on you?" He said touching your neck. "I guess I'll have to do it now if we don't want Pepper to see this."

You touched the spot where he was touching and your skin felt slightly sore.

"Did you leave a hickey on me?" You asked incredulously. You had just brushed your teeth in front of the mirror. How did you not see that?

He smirked, "In my defense, you didn't make things easy for me when you made me feel so good."

You chuckled, "So now it's my fault?"

"For being cute and delicious? Yes."

Before you could think of how to respond to that, he moved his fingers and orange light emanated from his hand.

You flinched a little. "Will it hurt?" You asked and he shook his head.

"No, but you will feel a strange sensation. May I?"

You nodded and he brought his hand closer, letting his magic touch you. It was warm and ticklish, but it wasn't a bad feeling. In fact, you even liked it.

"And it's done." He reported and just as it came, the orange light disappeared.

"This is super cool." You said "Can you show me more?"

He smiled. Sometimes you reminded him of America. So young and excited about everything. But Stephen shook his head, dismissing the thought and berating himself. He definitely needed to stop comparing you to America now.

"I will, but not tonight. I think you've had too many new experiences for one night."

You sighed in frustration, rolling your eyes. "Now you're talking like you're my dad."

"Well, I'm old enough to be, aren't I?"

"Okay. Whatever."

You lifted your head and adjusted the pillows trying to get comfortable. Stephen adjusted himself, turning to his side and took your hand in his, your fingers intertwining.

"We need to talk about something important." He said, blue eyes fixed on you.

"What?"

"Birth control. I assume you're not on anything."

"I didn't need to be...until now."

Stephen nodded, reaching his other hand to touch your cheek. "It's okay. You're right. You had no reason to use anything if you weren't sexually active, but now we need to think about it and I don't want you to think for even a second that you need to figure it all out on your own."

You nodded. "You're a doctor. You can prescribe something for me."

He smirked. "For your head, certainly. Or if you're having some trouble with your nerves. I'm a neurosurgeon, sweetheart. But what I can actually do is refer an old co-worker to you. She works in a hospital not too far from here. You can talk to her and choose the best method for you."

You nodded and Stephen leaned to kiss your lips softly and then sighed. "And I'm going to get tested for STDs. Even though it's been almost six months since I've had sex, I want to be sure."

You looked at him, looking surprised.

"What is it?"

But you just shook your head and bit your bottom lip.

"Tell me."

"It's just... being who you are and because of your appearance... I didn't think you'd go this long without..."

He nodded. "All my sexual relations over the last few years have been one-night stands, sweetheart. And to be quite honest, being in love with you, no woman has seemed like a good enough substitute."

"That's sweet." You smiled realizing you were tracing his goatee with your index finger and giving a long yawn.

"I like your goatee. I think I have a thing for men with nice facial hair"

Stephen kissed your hand sweetly and caressed your cheek.

"And I love you." He completed. "But I'll let you sleep now, sweetheart. We can talk more in the morning."

"Hum, okay. Good night." You answered with your eyes already closed.

"Good night."

Reblog please! Leave a comment if you liked it. Interact! I will love to read all of your comments and opinions. It inspires me to keep writing ;)

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heartwisemage · 2 years

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for any of the believers or people who are interested in that one “the show wrote the way to finish wills arc is to be with mike and els arc is to have a loving family” analysis then i have food for you 🤭

we all know the iconic and cinematographically beautiful ending scene

but lets focus on our two main characters, will and el. before any of them walk into the field the both of them have a personal finale scene of their own

for El,

she finds out her dad is indeed alive, she never stopped believing. you see her rush over to her family (hop, joyce, will, jon) we know she’s never gotten a glimpse of an actual family, due to the lab. papa wasnt a healthy father figure to her nor was her “siblings” and her mom was not mentally there when she saw her for the first time.

here she finds something that she’s been missing since she was a kid. so no, she doesn’t need a romantic relationship and its not important to her at all at this point of time, she has all the love she needs right here.

for Will,

listen, he’s been independent all his life. he’s been getting platonic love from his family all throughout the seasons. so why expand the storyline further when he, supposedly, has all the love he needs?

this is his personal ending scene

(btw if you want me to make a post about how beautiful the cinematography is in this scene pls tell me because i will rant.)

basically he talks about how he can feel vecna now that he’s in hawkins, he’s getting all these memories about what hes done to him throughout the show

mike is right there beside him. reassuring him. that they’ll defeat him together.

so, summary, their ending scenes for season 4 foreshadowed their own FINAL ending. also before el reunited with her dad she was grieving over max and remembering the memories, i think her arc this season will mostly be connected to max. she will probably do everything in her power to bring her back, and her finale is that shes in a loving family. for will, his arc this season is defeating vecna as said in his whole speech, and his finale will be ending up with mike.

idk just makes sense!

also can i talk about how connected will and el are its like theyre the 2 main characters and like they already have eachothers ending and its so ?!?!? its liek they switcj and its so cool and likekeeee seaosn 1 el, no will seaosn 2 will, no el DO U KNOW WHAT INMEAN I LOVE WILLEL SO MUCH MY HEARTBHURTS

#byler #will byers #el hopper #independent el #willel

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nowmemoriees · 2 years

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MIKE WON'T STOP WHINING ABOUT IT

- analysis using ST4 E1 and Eleven's letter

In episode 8, when El sees the Hawkins group trying to call to Lenora, we hear Dustin saying this: "I told you, Joyce has this new telemarketer job. She's always on the phone, Mike won't stop whining about it."

This single phrase says A LOT about how things were going before the spring break (and how they'll go after that)

So, returning to Episode 1, we can see Mike reading El's letter the day before he travelled to Cali. (makes sense, because El wrote and sent it just a few days before the spring break, and Mike probably received it days later).

He received A LOT of new information here. After that, we see him in a bad mood. (At first, he was also in a hurry, but after that, his face didn't change at school.) Did you read something you didn't like, Michael?

I mean, wasn't he supposed to be happy?

Then, Dustin and Mike knew that Lucas wouldn't be able to participate in the DnD campaign that night, so they had to find a replacement for him.

Mike and Dustin spent that whole day together.

At some point, Mike talked to Dustin about the letter. (How would Dustin know about Joyce's new job otherwise?) And they definitely talked about Will.

But Dustin doesn't know everything. He just knows what Mike wanted him to know.

Probably, when they were looking for a replacement for Lucas, one of them mentioned something like It would be easier if Will was here. (which also makes sense, because when Max was drawing her visions, Dustin could not understand the drawings, so he said "God, we need Will!". He always thinks about him)

That's when Mike told him about Joyce's new job, which El mentioned in her most recent letter. (Now I know why Will didn't pick up the phone. Now I understand)

But Mike also knew about this secret painting Will was working on for someone he liked. (But he didn't even call me back, so he probably doesn't care. He just forgot about me, about us. He's more interested in another person now). We don't know if he told Dustin about this. (personally, I don't think so)

But if he did, things are going to get TASTY, because Dustin never forgets.

Then, the next day, Mike arrived at California, acting like a 100% different "cool" person (even when he spent the whole previous day thinking about DnD, come on, be serious, Michael)

He doesn't hug Will back, however, he dares to ask Will about the painting he was holding. Will barely says something about it, he was upset. (Oh, so the painting is a secret and it's not for me. Cool)

Then they go to the Rink O' Mania. Will feels so miserable. Like a third wheel.

El gets bullied by Angela and her friends, and Mike reproaches Will why he didn't tell him about those problems. Will gets angry (How am I supposed to tell you if we barely talked?)

Mike complains about Will sabotaging the day, because he was moping and rolling his eyes. (My gf was getting bullied but I was paying more attention you and your terrible mood. I don't know what's happening to you, so talk to me goddamnit)

Will reproaches Mike about him never calling. He also mentions that El has a book of letters from him.

He thinks Mike doesn't care anymore about him.(That's just not true!). Mike thinks the same too, because will never called back. (Why am I the bad guy?)

Only Mike and Dustin (and probably Lucas) knew at that moment how many times Mike tried to call Will. But he won't mention it. Let's just find El.

(Oh, so he wanted me to call him. He did miss me)

Miscommunication trope in its maximum splendor.

Chaotic day.

The following day, Mike talks to Will and they make up. He apologizes and opens up. (Last year has been weird without you. I felt like I lost you or something. Hawkins is not the same without you. = I miss you, I need you.)

This enlightens Will. His hopes raise up and he takes the painting, thinking about taking that risk. (We know he ended up using the painting to save Mil3ven's relationship, but he lied)

(I knew the mf painting was for me. It had to be)

Then we come back to Dustin. He told the entire group what El told Mike in her letter.

"I told you, Joyce has this telemarketer job"

He had already mentioned it before.

"She's always on the phone. Mike won't stop whining about it."

Now everyone even EL knows that Mike tried to call so many times. Everyone except Will.

Argyle would say the dominoes are going to fall.

This little conversation gave us so many hints about Mike's behavior at the beggining of season 4 and probably about some things that may happen on s5.

- Mike and Dustin talked about Will before he travelled to California.

- Dustin knows how many times Mike tried to call and how upset he was.

- Lucas also knows how Mike behaves when it comes to Will (ex: after the rain fight)

- Everyone in the group know that Mike tried to call to Lenora before.

- Dustin may know about Will painting for someone he likes if Mike mentioned it.

We thought about Mike finding out about Will's lie, but we didn't talk enough about this huge possibility of Will finding out about Mike's calls.

Better, what if they both find out!

#byler #stranger things #st4 #byler is real #will byers #byler s4 #will x mike #byler tumblr #theories analysis

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allhappyandgay · 1 year

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Did El spy on Mike and Will in the van?

I know people theorize that El spied on mike and will while they were separated and that she overhears them all the time, but I haven’t seen a ton of actual reasoning other than her having the power to do so. this might actually tie that theory together! it’s still just a theory, but I think I’ve put together how El knows about mike and will and that it will be a big part of how byler comes to be in s5.

while watching some analysis on the scene where El is drawing the stick figures on the window (possibly showing that she is aware or has thought about mike and wills feelings for each other), it got me thinking.

so.

at the surfer boy pizza when El and mike are joking at the table, El suddenly changes the tone of the conversation. she takes mike’s hands almost like she’s bracing him—this is going to be a difficult conversation. she begins with

“I missed you.”

now if you remember this scene you know she wasn’t just saying “I missed you so much mike! Im so glad we’re together again!” she said it as a serious statement, like she was leading to something else before mike started talking.

what if she was going to say that she missed mike while she was at NINA, so she went into her mindscape void place to see if they were okay and while she was checking on them she spied on mike and will in the van? (I can’t think of any other scenes that would give her any ideas so we’ll go with the van/painting scene)

my overarching reason for this is the way El acts around mike after they reunite.

first off, they don’t kiss.

I think there are multiple reasons they don’t kiss but to stay on topic I think El has already broken them up in her head.

aside from their relationship status being mostly undetermined at this point, maybe another reason she didn’t kiss him and instead had almost the exact same reunion with will is because she had already entertained, or even accepted, the idea of mike and will having feelings for each other after having already spied on them.

this way, El knows the real reason mike doesn’t love her, which is why she isn’t upset at him anymore (until after the monologue). I will come back to this later.

El looks at mike a certain way at the pizza place (the only alone time they have between reuniting and mikes monologue), almost like she’s seeing him in a new light, with a loving, compassionate look on her face. this leads right into the ‘almost break-up’ as people like to call it.

she already had the idea of mike and will in her head before she decided to confront mike about it, hence the stick figure drawing on the window. that was her telling us that she knew, before she was going to tell mike as well.

notice how she approached the conversation with such an empathetic and caring demeanor in contrast to her ignoring him and will after the monologue. this is because she was going to confront him about whatever she saw between him and will in the van, have a mutual break up, and become closer platonically.

and this is exactly why she starts with “I missed you”, she’s giving him some background—as she knows mike hates being spied on—before dropping the ‘I know what you are’ bomb on him.

but that didn’t happen, did it?

instead, mike seemingly begins taking it in the opposite direction (from El’s perspective) and the moment builds up for him to finally tell her he loves her.

of course this is right before argyle slams pizza in between them (god damn fucking interruption trope) so we really don’t know whether mike was going to confess his love or, too, suggest they break up. either way I do believe El expected he was going to say I love you which still helps my case, because, well, look at her face!!

yes this is her realizing what mike is about to say. doesn’t look too pleased does she? she looks apprehensive, and almost scared. she no longer wants mike to tell her he loves her.

then BAM! in comes argyle with the pineapple pizza. this brings me to my next point:

argyle and el have an understanding.

this genius analysis by @dinitride-art suggests argyle and El both have the same idea about mike and will. I highly suggest reading it because it goes in depth about the lighting and shots which i’m not going to do. so let’s just say argyle knows.

this would explain why both El and argyle are trying to get mike to eat the pizza after he calls it “blasphemous”. they both say “try before you deny”; they both know.

(we have now been given 2 pieces of visual evidence that El knows about mike and will: the stick figure drawing on the window, and her feeding him the gay pizza)

now. with the idea fresh in your brain that El was planning on breaking up with mike, i’d like to plant yet another idea in there.

mike was not going to say he loves El.

I could be totally wrong, but let’s assume mike was going to come out/break up with El too before they got interrupted. this is because at this point, based on the van scene with will, mike believes will reciprocates his feelings. he has hope.

so El and mike are both thinking the same thing, they were going to mutually break up. then they get interrupted and we skip to the bath where el gets tied up by vecna.

this is where everything goes to shit.

will encourages mike to say what he does to el, crushing all of mikes hope that will loved him back, resulting in mikes lie filled speech to El. the monologue obviously didn’t work for several reasons, and El is fully aware that mike is lying to her.

after the monologue, El ignores mike and will for the most part, probably upset that mike lied to her again about something so meaningful like love. she wasn’t mad at him before the monologue because she realized the reason mike couldn’t say I love you was because he is gay and struggling in the closet.

but now it’s different. now she has been lied to even further, with the knowledge that he can’t love her in that way. she probably feels used and angry, especially since his monologue hindered her ability to help max sooner.

now for a summary!

because I am already confusing myself with all this lol

at the beginning of s4, El is upset that mike won’t say he loves her, but she doesn’t know why he can’t. El goes to NINA and gets her powers back, and then tries to find the cali crew through the void because she misses them. El ends up spying on mike and will during the van/painting scene. El now has an idea that mike and will love each other, and that that is why he can’t say I love you (she is not mad about this, quite the contrary). El and the cali crew reunite, figure out a plan and prepare. El takes the opportunity to confront mike about what she saw, her reasoning being that she missed him, and that is why she spied and ended up seeing him and mike. she is planning to tell him that she accepts him and they will mutually break up. mike starts talking before she can say anything other than “I missed you”, resulting in the audience taking it as a romantic gesture or just a statement and nothing else (which it was not, it was her opening for the break up). mike starts building up to say something, which El thinks is ‘I love you’, which she does not want because she now knows the truth. they get interrupted by argyle with gay pizza, and el and argyle try to get mike to try it, implying they both would be supportive of mike being gay. then we skip to El being choked by the vines, will tells mike he’s the heart and not to stop, making mike realize he misinterpreted wills love confession (he didn’t, there’s a whole lot of miscommunication happening). mike then says what he thinks El wants to hear, which is that he loves her. but El knows that he doesn’t so his monologue does not help her, instead it distracts and hurts her. she’s able to help max only when mike tells her to fight. when El wakes up and they drive to hawkins El doesn’t speak to mike or will because she has now been lied to further after she already knew the truth.

I imagine in s5, when mike and el inevitably confront each other again to see where they stand, that El will tell him what she was going to at the surfer boy pizza. which is that she knows about him and will. we will probably be shown a flash back of her seeing the van scene in the void, which is when the audience will also find out. this way they can finally break up, mike has the start of a support system, and a deeper understanding and connection between mike and El will be necessary for both of their arcs next season. this will also kickstart byler because when El tells mike that she had nothing to do with the painting after seeing will lie about it, mike will finally be secure in knowing will reciprocates his feelings after going back and forth all of s4.

to close this up, *inhales* I AM SO EXCITED FOR PLATONIC ELMIKE!!!!!!!!

july 2022 Edit: changed my mind since I posted this but it hasn’t disappeared yet n most ppl rb the original so I just wanted to say, the way the whole painting fiasco will go down in st5 is not gonna be all rainbows and sparkles, I do hope mike and el will be able support each other and they won’t like leave each other’s lives ofc but by platonic elmike I meant broken-up-mlvn lol not gay besties. also taking into consideration the very real possibility of them being cousins… anywho mike is repressed af still and he won’t be able to just,,, lay it all out on the table and explain. there was nothing in s4 that indicated he is ready to get all that out yet except maybe the baby step that was holding wills shoulder and not being stirred up one bit by el stonewalling. plus, yknow, all the talk abt telling the truth even if its scary. as for el she has alllll of next season to figure her shit out too, she made bigger steps in s4 toward her arc than mike I think but she’s not there yet.

#byler #byler endgame #byler analysis #byler canon #byler is requited #byler s5 #byler nation #byler proof #byler season 4 #anti mileven #platonic elmike #mileven is bones

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howtobecomeadragon · 2 years

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Everyone likes presents. The show does focus a lot on them and I'm trying to figure out if there's a bigger meaning here. I don't think there's any new info here to uncover, but thought presents was a good focus for an analysis 🤷

Will absolutely loves presents, to the point of asking Jonathon, with no hesitation, if he can open JONATHAN'S present from his crush (I'll give Will a pass, he just survived the Upside Down but this is hilarious behavior on Will's part). At home, he's shaking presents before Christmas, he's guessing what the presents are. He's very very very into presents at the end of s1. Unfortunately I don't think we see him get another present yet (YET) so far in the show. With all of the s4 March 22nd drama about Will's birthday, it almost looked like the birthday boy didn't get any presents, but supposedly the Duffer Brothers forgot.

Next we see Mike's absolute bafoonery in s3, trying to get El an "I'm sorry" present for lying. It's the thought that counts, right? Not really when Lucas is doing all the thinking here. Will in that third picture is me giving Mike the side eye in this season. Will knows what a good present is and he knows that this isn't the right attitude to have going into shopping for a present.

He tells El he was trying to get her a present but has nothing to show for it. Big swing and a miss. "We couldn't find anything that suited you." We see the boys looking at a jewelry store, where Mike finds the $300 teddy bear pin, perfume, and lingerie. This is classic "I don't know anything about my girlfriend, let me just look for a present that any boy could get any girl" behavior. After seeing each other every single day for 6 months (according to Hopper) Mike doesn't have much of anything to show for it. He only had $3.50, which equals about $9.64 according to an inflation calculator. Not a lot, but enough to get something. El's favorite snack, a cute hair tie, a cheap bracelet, a comic, a toy, just something. Or he could've made something homemade, but it was shown very clearly that he wasn't going to put time or thought into that, when he can hardly admit he did anything wrong. In my opinion, he would've been better off not even telling her about his failed attempt to get her something, it's just more disappointment piled on. He's not thinking about her feelings though, he just wants credit for putting the work in (*cough even though Lucas was the one that did all the work cough*).

At the end of s3, we get the iconic "I like presents" scene. I've seen a lot of analysis about how Mike felt more comfortable talking about liking something childish, opening presents, because he just reconnected with Will about wanting to play DnD, but then doesn't feel comfortable being himself about liking these things he considers childish around El. But focusing more on the idea of presents here and the text of what was said: Mike likes presents, but El has never given him a present. El likes presents, but Mike failed at getting her a present. Maybe Mike is thinking about how much he likes playing with his toys on Christmas and how if he's with El on Christmas, he might be too ashamed to enjoy them. Just last season, just 8 months ago, Mike was so hesitant to throw away toys at his parents' request. And in s1, he showed El his toys and she walked away from him. He won't enjoy his presents if they spend Christmas together.

In s4, we see Mike bring El an actual present this time! However, he brings her Hawkins flowers right after he read in her letter that she doesn't even miss Hawkins flowers anymore. So the flowers aren't on the mark and the note definitely isn't. Again, he probably would've been better off not bothering, the present brought more pain than getting off the plane empty handed would have. He's showing that he doesn't understand her enough to get the right present, to the point of ignoring/missing what she's saying to him in her letters.

And of course later on, we see that every letter Mike wrote El, each one a present in a way, was really a knife to the heart with every "from, Mike" and then later we see yellow Hawkins flowers wilted and dead. Mike's presents to El bring pain and disappointment.

We know that Mike loves the presents he gets from Will: drawings and the painting. Mike likes presents, we know this from the s3 finale, and he also loves Will's art. He keeps those presents and has for years. He displays the presents in his basement and bedroom, years after he gets them. Contrasted with El's letters, which are presents in a way, not being seen anywhere in the house.

But when he thinks that the painting, the present, is from El, he's not as pleased. I think that's the only physical present "El" ever got for Mike other than her letters, and for a guy that likes presents, he's not pleased to think this one is from his girlfriend. So in a way, when Mike thinks he gets a present from El, he's disappointed and confused.

El and Mike both say that they like presents, but their presents to each other are never the right gift, never evoke the intended emotion, and are never given with good intentions or thought put into them.

A colossal bummer is, of course, the fact that Will hasn't gotten a present from Mike on screen, as far as I remember. We don't know if a present from Mike to Will would be as awful as his presents to El, but all evidence points to the fact that it wouldn't.

Basically, I want to put Mike in a mall with $3.50 and see what he would walk out with for Will.

#byler #mike wheeler #will byers

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mars-is-me7 · 10 months

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man, i have so many thoughts about qfoolish. he's just a silly little goofy guy but then when you peel away the first layer that you see of him and realize that he's rather a complex character. I feel like he's such a different type of character than what is usually shown. (and honestly, it's something that brings me a lot of comfort as i relate quite heavily to his very laid back nature that people will sometimes take as being unserious or even uncaring) Warning, this gets long (like 2.2k long to be exact) lol and i ramble a lot- also, disclaimer for my own sanity: this is an analysis of the characters! i adore any of the creatures mentioned here so please don't take any of this as a negative view on them! :D

Foolish's motivations are just very different than what typically motivates a character forward and in some sense it's really easy to skew what you think about him. As in, it's really easy to misinterpret his character i think. He express himself in a different way than i think most people are used to. He laughs in serious situations and is constantly just joking around. I think this causes people to think he cant/wont ever be serious, but the thing is that he's perfectly capable of being serious when he needs to be. For example, if he thinks that he and Leo are going into a serious situation, then he tells her to put her armor on. Really, just anything involving Leo he makes sure to be serious if the situation calls for it. Or like, fighting in dungeons only if he deems it dangerous enough to take seriously. but like, if he doesn't think a situation calls for it, then he just continues to be his goofy self. And sometimes when the situation calls for it, he is just in between those two points in a way that others aren't. He's just not afraid to joke around even when the situation seems dire (cellbit's kidnapping and rescue comes to mind. like, he played such a large role with his symmetry wand, but despite all the serious moments going on,, he was still just a goofy guy).

And one thing about him being so silly all the time is that even the other members on the island sometimes get a misconstrued picture of what they think foolish's goal and wants are. I think in some sense it's true to say that what motivates his wants is what the value of something he perceives is. For example, the sunbird he only wanted because of how cool it sounded and how rare it was. The cloud he wants because its something unique and useful. He wants Cucurucho's friendship because that's something no one else has and Cucurucho has access to items and is powerful.

But these wants aren't the most necessarily the most important things to him. Their something he has interest in, yes, but they're not more important than say his friends and family. Which, i feel like some people might not recognize about him. After all, he is constantly talking about wanting a cloud or how he'd have no issue in killing Bad (and holy shit is landduo and their relation something i could go on about for a whole more hour cuz there's so much there)

Because one vital thing that's so *so* important to recognize is that Foolish is very possibly one of the most loyal people on the island. And despite all of his flaws, he would never really want to truly hurt those he cares about. He is loyal to the people he cares about to an absurd amount. I think it's very clear to see his devotion for Vegetta and his adoration for Leo, but his loyalty also applies to his friends on the island. He would never *intentionally* want to harm anyone he cares about. I don't think some people understand that Mr. Mustard fell under that category as someone he cared about. The entire reason Cucurucho was able to lure him into accepting the mission It gave him is because it brought Mr. Mustard's name into the mix. It told Foolish that Pac and Mike were the ones responsible, and with nothing better to do, Foolish set out to complete this task.

To talk more about the recent events with him arresting Tazercraft: he would never truly want to harm or hurt them. However, when you're looking at the grand scheme of how things went down, he was manipulated and really had no other choice. Sure, he seemed to enjoy arresting them at first, but the thing is I don't think he really processed or even thought about how this action would be received by others. To him, arresting Pac and Mike sounded like enough fun, and it was coming from Cucurucho (who he's wanting to be friends with for actual months now, and Cucurucho literally called him friend in the book it handed to him) and being arrested sounded like something he'd enjoy. Again, like something *he'd* enjoy and that he therefore thought Pac and Mike would enjoy.

You have to realize, Foolish doesn't have the same perspective on these serious situations as some others do. And the thing is that he judges how others react based on how he would react to them. So, in that sense, he views being kidnapped/arrested as a good and fun thing! he even said today on stream, "apparently when you arrest someone, others won't find it funny". it might have just been one line, but in my eyes this gives a really clear insight into his character. To him, arresting Pac and Mike was only a positive thing because it would help him find his friend and it could be a fun event for them. His friend that he was told, by cucurucho, that had disappeared because of Pac and Mike. Foolish doesn't hold any ill intent, but that doesn't necessarily come across in others view of him. Although it might not be clear, he cares about Pac and Mike. Today he even expressed worries about them and said that he still considers them his friends (even though he's aware that they might not share those feelings about him anymore). He doesn't know about their past traumas, to him this was just a fun little event that would be fun for both them and him. When first accepting Cucurucho's mission to him, I'd say he doesn't realize the consequences his actions would have. That by arresting Pac and Mike, it'd leave the other members of the server doubting him and mistrusting him. That others would be angry at him for something that he hadn't realized the gravity of.

(just random thing i want to say here: honestly, if Foolish had any malicious intent towards Tazercraft, he could have easily made their arrest go unnoticed for at least a few days. just think about it: if he had said that the surprise he had was just for the two of them. if Jaiden hadn't accompanied them as a witness. people wouldn't of known then what happened to them, but the thing is that he wasn't thinking in this way because he would never seriously want to harm them. he even wanted Jaiden there as a witness)

I think he realized the backlash of his actions in the Favela when everyone seemed to swarm him and then when he got interrogated. In which, he never really lied. All things considered, Foolish is a rather honest guy. I'd even say that he almost never lies. Like, if he's trying to hide the truth about something, he often times will find a way to skirt around the question without lying. Like, just looking at the mess that was the interrogation yesterday (/lh) you can see that he doesn't ever actually lie. He just blabbers a bunch of nonsense and skirts around the issue without ever revealing anything. The issue arises when you look at the lie he did tell.

for those that don't know, Foolish gave Jaiden a rundown of what happened before arresting Tazercraft. and in this he tells her that Cucurucho gave him the option to either 'arrest Pac and Mike' or to 'kill Richarlyson'. Not even going to lie, when he said this is took me (and i think all of stream) off guard. because Foolish practically never lies in that way and so blatantly. because this was just 100% untrue. However, it makes sense why he did it. At that point, he realized that people were going to keep badgering him on why he arrested Pac and Mike, but at the same time he knew they wouldn't take him telling the truth seriously. He may care about Mr. Mustard but the truth is that the other members don't hold those same thoughts towards most the Capybaras in general. Like, just look at Fit's interaction with him today. Foolish literally reiterated the truth of why he did it over and over again, but Fit didn't believe him even slightly. Foolish didn't lie once about his motivations and yet he was just not believed.

I think he realized at some point soon after arresting Pac and Mike that people weren't going to trust the truth. Not from his mouth at least. So he lied to Jaiden because it's a lie that people will easily understand. it's a choice they'd stop questioning him about. Again, he doesn't do this out of malicious intent but because it's something easier for people to understand and relate to. It's something they're not going to hound him about, not like they will when he tells them the truth. This lie is more easily digestible for the island members and it also brings Foolish less stress if they take this and believe it. Everyone is willing to make sacrifices in order to protect the eggs. And he had to of realized that Jaiden was going to tell other people. The islanders almost always spread these types of details to each other, that's just how it goes. Telling this lie to her in secret makes it all that more believable when she goes and tells some of the others about it later cuz it's something Foolish told her in confidentiality. To the other members, it paints foolish only in a good light. Of course he wouldn't have actually wanted to arrest Pac and Mike, he did it to protect Richas! and that's all it takes to stop them from getting angry at him. All things considered, it's a smart move to pull. Although, I do have to wonder how this will come to bite foolish in the butt. Because i can only imagine that it will be revealed eventually, some way or another.

From what i understood, Cellbit immediately dropped his anger on Foolish once he was told it was to protect Richarlyson. When Jaiden tells him this information he doesn't even thing to consider that Foolish could have lied. After all, why reason would anyone have to lie about that? In my mind, i can only imagine that the lie will protect him for now and in the short term, but once revealed that it's a lie, i think there will be some repercussions against Foolish for sure. Like, even Jaiden doesn't know that he's lied. Jaiden, whom he's been telling everything about. Jaiden who is only one (aside from Leo) who now knows of Foolish's secret detective role. Jaiden, whose the one he's told almost the entire truth to.

An interesting thing to note though, is that I think Foolish's decision to lie to Jaiden was still rather spontaneous. like, it's not something he thought too much about. it's a fib that makes his life a little bit easier (a little bit less lonely) and right now it doesn't seem to hold any repercussions. the interesting thing, though, is that he hasn't repeated the lie at any point in time. and like, he also hasn't done any lying to reinforce the lie he's told. it'd be so easy to paint a story that he's being blackmailed, but he just *doesn't* even though it's a lie he's made himself.

Foolish, all in all, is someone that just acts or speaks before really thinking too much about what he's doing. About the possible side affects of his actions. He just *does* them.

I think it also plays in very well with the idea that he's lived for thousands of years. the things that affect the typical mortal just don't phase him in the same way, not when he's viewing everything as an adventure or an element that is fun. i think that also taking into consideration that he's lived for such a long time, it's rather surprising how easy he is to manipulate. Because that is what Cucucrucho is doing, when looking at the whole picture. cucurucho holds a lot of power and we all know that it easily could have arrested Pac and Mike without the intervention of Foolish. So why make him do it anyways?

Well we don't know that for sure, but we can make some guesses. To sow distrust between the members. To see how far Foolish was actually able and willing to go for the Federation. To place blame on someone aside from itself. All possibilities.

Regardless, Foolish has played right into their hands. He's a silly guy that's gotten himself into a serious situation. One in which he might end up having to navigate alone because even though he has Jaiden he's still lied to her, and even though he has Leo, he would never want to put his daughter into harms way. He said something at the end of the stream about how this might just end up being a lonely road he's taking and i couldn't agree more.

Anyways, that's all i got for tonight as it's late and idk what im getting at here, i just think Foolish is really neat and wanted to attempt to put that into words. :D

#qsmp #mars rambles #foolish gamers #qsmp rambles #does this make any sense? im not sure #but i needed to write something because the foolish brainrot is real #character study #also this is just my thoughts so far and they might not be the most eloquent so sorry #also! i would love to hear if anyone else has any other ideas and interpretations of things :D #theres more i wanted to add but i could only write so fast unfortunately so i forgot some things i mightve been thinking #im really excited to see where the storyline takes foolish #and to see if he ends up digging his own grave :D

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stranger-theory · 3 months

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Song & Scene Analysis, Lumax vs Byler

I've also posted this on the Byler Subreddit, so if you see it there, hi, that's me!

I’m sure you’re aware of song importance in Stranger Things, with the Duffer Brothers saying sometimes it takes weeks to pick a song that conveys the exact message they’re trying to portray. I’ve seen quite a bit of theories around what songs mean what, but there’s one specific song that caught my attention.

There’s a scene in season two, episode six where Lucas and Max speak on top of a bus in the junkyard. It’s a lovely scene in which Max explains her behavior to Lucas, and apologizes for some stuff she wasn’t proud of. She says she’s sorry for acting like a jerk, and doesn’t ever want to be like that, but she feels overwhelmed with her home life and takes it out on people she doesn’t mean to. She then expresses that she likes California, and sometimes wants to go home, but having Lucas there with her for comfort makes her feel better. Max makes a call back to their “Stalker” joke, with a shared laugh. This emotional scene is then cut off by the sighting of a demodog, and a tense scene plays.

Now you know the base of the conversation, let me tell you about a similar scene I see as a parallel. Season four, episode four bedroom talk. This scene is between Mike and Will, where Mike apologizes to Will. In his apology he says he’s sorry for acting like a jerk, but everything with El was just so overwhelming, and he doesn’t want Will to feel like their argument was personal. Mike explains to Will that he likes it in Hawkins, but since Will moved to California, Hawkins feels different. He misses Will. They share a “Cool” with each other and sit in silence while smiling, but are cut off by the doorbell as Jack’s men come searching for El.

These scenes may not feel as similar as I'm insisting with just this information, but there’s a very key portion to this parallel: Music.

I’m going to go through these scenes at the same time to help you understand where I’m coming from. At the current moments in time for these scenes, Lucas/Will have a like Max/Mike, but don’t know how to confront them about it. Max/Mike both apologize to Lucas/Will for hurting them when they didn’t mean to. Max/Mike say the reason they acted like this was because they felt overwhelmed with their lives at the moment. Max/Mike say that they like California/Hawkins, but without Lucas/Will, it wouldn’t be the same. Max/Mike make a callback to “Stalker/Cool”. Almost directly after these heartfelt talks, they’re interrupted with the intense Demodog/Goverment scenes. The same song plays in these scenes to further imply that we’re supposed to view them the same way. The camera slowly zooms closer on their reactions to help the audience understand better, and help it feel more intimate.

These are things you basically can’t deny, as I’m just stating the facts of these scenes. From all of these similarities and comparisons, we can also further suspect other aspects of these scenes. Something we’re allowed to assume is that, like Max, Mike also has feelings for Will. If the original scene including this song is meant to be interpreted as romantic, then why would the second be any different? If the original scene is meant to be read as a “romantic” and “intimate” apology, then why would the second scene suddenly be a purely platonic interaction? If they’d wanted us as an audience to think otherwise, then they would have chosen a different way to portray this scene.

I thank you greatly for listening to me rant about why this scene drove me crazy. I’ve been looking forward to posting this the moment I got tumblr, but with my very on fire Spongebob looking brain, I never remembered. I’d love love looooove to hear your thoughts and add ons to this, ESPECIALLY corrections if i’ve somehow misinterpreted something. I wouldn't want to spread misinformation. Have a good morning, afternoon, or night, folks.

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tsugarubecker · 2 years

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El and Choice

Byler/platonic Elmax/platonic Elmike analysis below the cut (extensive)! You ready for 🤯? 🔻🔺

How much of El’s life has really been choice? I’d argue not a lot of it. In the above scene with Brenner, Brenner even mentions Henry manipulating El. Probably most of us watching that scene thought “wow, pot calling the kettle black much?”

But it’s not just those two. Most of El’s life has been other people making choices for her. It is the times when she takes control into her own hands and makes her own choices when she is at her most authentic and most powerful, as seen above. (Other examples include when she escaped the lab, ran away to meet her mom, left Kali to go rescue her friends, chose to go get her powers back, chose to stay with Brenner, etc. Moments of growth for El are often linked to moments of choice!)

I want to call attention to choice as it relates to El and her relationships - and additionally, as it relates to Mike and his relationships, too.

I made a diagram! 🤪 Sorry, I had a lot of coffee today lol. This diagram isn’t perfect and there are some errors in it (for example, I strongly believe that platonic Elmike is very important to this whole story but I didn’t represent that well in the diagram…. oops) but do you get the idea/my intention at least?? 😅 Take your time looking at it, it’s a bit convoluted. Feel free to come have another look after you’ve read on.

Throughout especially seasons 3 and 4, we see a couple triangles involving El and Mike. In season 3, we see the El / Mike / Max triangle almost as prominently featured, I would argue, as we see the El / Mike / Will triangle. But, the former is a platonic triangle. The latter is a romantic love triangle.

In S3, Mike and Max are constantly shown visually as a triangle with El, constantly pitted against each other, and constantly shown as the two “options” for El. Who will she agree with? Who will she side with? Which of these two will she prioritize?

Same in S3 in regards to Mike needing to choose between El and Will. Y’all probably don’t need me to extrapolate on this one (think of their “breakup” scenes being contrasted visually with lighting and mood, etc).

Then in season 4 this theme continues. Most of volume 1 is focused on the El / Mike / Will love triangle, right? But in volume 2, especially right at the end (as we go into season 5) we begin to see a big focus again put on the platonic triangle between El / Mike / Max. I don’t think I need to explain the love triangle, but I do want to talk a bit about the end of volume 2 and the resurgence of the El / Mike / Max platonic triangle.

We get a parallel between S2 and S4. In S2, El goes into the void, sees Mike in danger, and leaves her “jedi training”. In S4 she goes into the void, sees Max in danger, and leaves her “jedi training.” Mike and Max are being put back into a triangle.

As soon as the Pizza Gang rescues El she immediately says they need to go to Hawkins to rescue their friends (Max). When that plan doesn’t work she figures out a way to save Max from Nevada.

El then spends the rest of volume 2 fighting to save Max. It’s all about Max after this!

S4 V2 even ends with El not really talking much with Mike, going into her bedroom and thinking about Max. The end of V2 is very platonic Elmax-centric. El is beginning to truly prioritize her friendship with Max over her romantic relationship with Mike. She is beginning to make her choice about what she wants - and it’s based on what feels more real and authentic to her.

Others have written a million hours of analyses about Byler - check my pinned post for some excellent examples of those analyses - so I won’t get into that in too much detail here. Suffice it to say, I believe that Mike is also beginning to lean into what feels more real and authentic in his love triangle - and that’s his relationship with Will.

If they both lean into authenticity, El’s narrative arc leads towards Max and platonic (friend/family) love. Mike’s leads towards Will and real romantic love. Both of their arcs necessitate acceptance of self - and learning to believe that their inner moral compass is not wrong, it is good and right.

Right now Mike and El need each other to affirm for one another that they are not monsters. El has believed for years that deep down she might be evil. Mike is gay and closeted - he also believes that deep down he is morally wrong. Their arcs revolve around discovering that they are not monsters - and truly believing it, on their own, without relying on each other to prove it 🤯!

So. What does this have to do with choice? I’m glad you asked!

El chose Max. Mike chose Will. El and Mike did not choose each other.

El and Mike did not choose each other.

El chose Max. Mike chose Will.

El chose the person who trusts her to self-determine. Mike chose the person who believes he is The Heart. They both chose to put someone in their life who can help them see that they are not monsters. Who can love them for who they really are, as they are.

Season 5, I am confident, will center on El finding a way to save Max - and maybe on Mike finding a way to save Will. In any case, I strongly expect to see El leaning into the person she feels the most authentic with - and same with Mike. I expect - or maybe hope - to see their narrative arcs come to a satisfying close as they each choose to trust in their own inherent goodness.

Something something forced conformity (choice being taken away) that’s what killing the kids

Thanks for reading!! 🤪😅😁

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holyvirgilscriptures · 10 months

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"food as a love language"? ideas have been in the back of my mind for weeks about that...

prompt: food as a love language (please send me prompts on ask so i can write some byler and break out of my writer's block!)

note: this honestly turned out to just be a small ficlet about mike's relationship with food itself, so i hope that's okay! as such, there will be a reference to mike's possible ed, which there is a good analysis for here. again, hope you enjoy! ;3

...

“Mike, come on. Breakfast is ready.”

Carefully, Mike lifts his head from underneath his warm covers. Truthfully, he wished he could have been buried beneath the coziness forever. Instead, he is greeted by the face of his older sister, Nancy. Her eyebrows are furrowed as she stares at him.

Mike has always hated when Nancy looks at him that way. She’s always had this glimmer in her eye, this intense driving force. It makes him feel like she’s peeling back his skin, and staring directly at his core. It’s unsettling. He hates it. Which is exactly why he buries himself under his covers again.

Even under the duvet, he can hear Nancy’s piercing sigh, and then — the sharp rap of her knuckles on his door frame.

“What?” he groans out.

“Hurry up, Mike. Mom’s getting impatient.” He can already imagine Nancy’s sarcastic eye-roll, and he rolls his eyes as well.

“Five more minutes!”

“You think I’m gonna buy that? You’re just gonna sleep again. Get up, come on. You’re the only one who’s not eating.”

“You’re not eating, either,” Mike points out, just to be difficult.

Nancy sighs again, and Mike can hear the irritation building in her voice. “Yeah, because Mom told me to fetch you. Now will you please just hurry up!”

“Yeah, okay! Okay!” he shouts back at her. “Let me just get dressed!”

Nancy grunts, and Mike can definitely tell she’s rolling her eyes again. But he hears her footsteps lighten as she leaves him be, and finally he can let out a deep breath and just… relax.

Inhale. Exhale. The air is trapped underneath his heavy weighted blanket, and he feels his curls sticking to his forehead from sweat. A brief, morbid thought passes his mind, if he could potentially suffocate, whether it be from the heat or from the lack of oxygen.

Inhale. Exhale. One, two, three beats pass. Then, he huffs and pulls the covers off his face. The blankets tumble uselessly to his bedroom floor.

Mike slowly sits up, and glances at his closet. Shirts, shorts, and pants are piled up haphazardly on the shelves or on the racks. Mike can fold them properly if he wants, thank you very much. He just… doesn’t feel like it.

He strips off his tank top and immediately feels self-conscious. His eyes dart around his room, as if an invisible thing were watching and judging him. He quickly grabs the first thing in his closet and slips it on. He looks down and almost laughs. Figures. It’s the Hellfire shirt.

Instead of putting on any bottoms, he decides to lie back down on his bed. He stares at the ceiling, tracing patterns on its flat, empty surface. He thinks about school — going to Hellfire, going to classes, doing his homework. In English class, they’ve been very particular about the history of words and how they are built together. Breakfast. Typically, breaking the fast of the previous night, when you sleep after dinner. He figures that you’re supposed to be hungry after fasting. Funny, because he doesn’t feel hungry at all, right now. It’s almost a rare feeling for him. It’s been too long since he felt hungry.

Mike’s contemplation is broken by another sharp sound against his door frame. He jolts up and almost strains his neck to find the source of the noise.

“Seriously, Mike?” It’s Nancy again. Mike swears her hair gets even poofier when she gets more and more irritated. “You haven’t even put on any pants yet? Come on!”

“I’m coming, already, see?” Mike hisses back, pulling up some discarded shorts that are within reach. The annoyance on Nancy’s face is rubbing off on him too, and as the siblings walk over the dining table, they both look ready to blow a fuse.

“There you are, Michael,” Karen Wheeler says, looking up from where she is feeding Holly. “What took you so long?”

“We’re all already done here,” Ted Wheeler says nonchalantly. It speaks volumes, the way he’s rifling his newspaper while his clean plate is arranged neatly in front of him. “If you expected us to wait for you while you were too busy teenage angsting — don’t.”

“I didn’t expect that,” Mike mutters. He sits in his chair, where his mother has already doled out a generous serving of eggs onto his plate. Mike swallows as he begins pushing the food around with his fork. It creates a greeting sound — metal on the rim of porcelain.

“Mike, what are you doing?” Karen asks, leveling him with a sharp look. “Don’t play with your food.”

“Playing with food is bad,” Holly says with all the wiseness of a little kid — like she herself hadn’t been slinging food around the table weeks back. But then again, maybe that’s just a testament to everything. Holly’s a child. Mike’s fourteen — he should know better.

He swallows again. He should always know better.

“The economy’s in rough shape, Michael,” Ted tells him, not taking his eyes off his newspaper. The face of Reagan on the front page looms at Mike as he’s looking at his eggs. “Don’t put our money to waste.”

Mike swallows again, and nods his head — even though he knows his father won’t see his answer. He twirls the eggs around his fork a little more, before he finally just sets the utensil down on the plate.

Breakfast used to be the sign of a good day ahead of him. A marker, of sorts. When he was little, he would practically inhale his food as fast as he could, to the point that his parents would scold him and tell him not to bite off more than he can chew. But it didn’t matter. What mattered was that once breakfast was finally over, that’s when he could get to the good part of the day. The not-breakfast part. He’d sling on his backpack and run to get his bike, and he’d race down the streets like a master speedster. He could go to the arcade, or school, or the library, or Castle Byers…

Almost imperceptibly, Mike shakes his head.

The point is, he had something to look forward to after breakfast. The company of his friends. The Party. Dustin. Lucas. Will. Breakfast was just the gateway to a fun day, something he had to get out of the way so he could see all his friends, and they could spend all their time together. Just like they used to.

Mike takes in a shuddery breath.

But now, things are different. Well, Dustin is still here, so he’ll give him that. And Max, as prickly as she is — they’ve bonded, somehow, like two cactuses in close proximity. But Hellfire’s not a thing today — it’s Saturday, school is closed. Lucas is busy now, with his basketball team and friends and training that sometimes even takes up the weekends. And El… and Will…

The time difference from Hawkins to Lenora isn’t that much, is it? Are they eating breakfast now, too? Have they already finished? Are they… are they having fun now, in Lenora? Mike pictures El with the friends she talks about in her letters, laughing and sharing news. Mike thinks of Will, and whether or not he has made a friend there, too. Someone who plays D&D, someone he can go to the arcade with, someone he can bask together with under the golden California sun…

Mike shakes his head again, snapping him out of the discouraging thoughts of tan skin and sweet smiles. He feels flushed, and he knows nobody at this table cares to watch him, but he still feels like he needs to do… something. Anything. So without thought, he picks up the syrup at the table and squeezes it all over his eggs. Hopefully that will make everything more appetizing.

Just as he sets down the syrup bottle, Nancy walks by again, an air of importance around her. She’s going somewhere, probably. Nancy has always been a busy bee.

As Nancy fusses with her things, she glances back at the table, and her eyes catch on Mike’s syrupy eggs. Her lips twist into a disgusted scowl. “That’s so gross, Mike,” she scoffs, before whirling away back to her room.

Mike watches as she walks off. Then he stares at his food, as if it could hold all the answers he seeks to the questions he doesn’t even know. Then he sighs and slumps down in his chair, ignoring the disapproving glance of his mother.

Yeah, it’s been too long since he actually felt hungry.

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #virgil.writes #byler ficlet #written byler #byler fic

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