☆ 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬 ☆

"𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈?"

[clericscauldron]

I was rewatching the ep "trick or treat, freak" and caught a parallel I haven't seen anyone bring up yet. here we see both nancy and will in vulnerable states being brought to safety by their significant others (jonathan & mike)

in nancys case, she was inebriated and couldn't get home herself, hence she needed someone to rely on. when steve stormed out, jonathan realized something was wrong and took charge to help nancy get home safely. as we all know, these two ended up being the healthier, more likely to be endgame couple.

similarly, in wills case, mike likely hears him scream his name and starts searching for him. he finds will in a state of vulnerability and takes the most initiative to bring him to a place of comfort—that place being his own home. if this isn't symbolic enough, we then see them confiding in each other about their fears which leads to the iconic "crazy together" scene, which is perceived as a sub-textual revelation of them being in love.

It's interesting to me how their actions parallel each other and occur in the same episode—back to back. its almost as if it was done intentionally.

-clericscauldron

[aemiron-main]

kept awake by the fact that mike didn’t even TRY and hit the water when he stepped off the cliff at the quarry. like he didn’t even try. he just stepped off the edge. he didn’t even leap or run. he just stood there and finally stepped off, as if he’d been on the edge for awhile, both literally/physically and metaphorically/mentally.

like what was it that Powell and Callahan said about Joyce in season 1? Yknow, the only other person alongside Mike who believed Will was still alive and therefore they’re paralleled to eachother in that way and likely other ways? Oh right, they said:

“Joyce? About one step from falling off the edge.”

“She’s been a few steps for awhile now, hasn’t she?”

Just like Mike. Mike literally at the quarry was one step away from falling off the edge (he STEPPED OFF, FELL OFF, he didn’t jump, just like how Joyce has been a “few steps” from “falling off” the edge), but stood there for a fair while/walked up to it and was literally “a few steps away for awhile” from it. this applies not only physically to Mike but also mentally/emotionally. It took so little to make Mike step off the edge because mentally he’d already been on that edge for awhile, already been a “few steps from the edge.”

like do we really think this specific wording related to Joyce’s grief and depression is just coincidental in how it aligns exactly with Mike’s actions? That they chose to write those lines in that specific way for fun? That they chose to have Mike STEP off the edge instead of jump off because they were in a silly goofy mood? Do you think that they connected Mike’s actions to Joyce’s grief over Will via that quote and then ALSO had mike step off at the EXACT same spot where Will was though to have died all accidentally?? Because the duffers tripped and dropped that subtext in there? NO! It’s deeper than Dustin’s baby teeth for Mike, deeper than the bullies. It’s about grief and loss and depression and Mike’s self-sacrificing but also self-loathing nature and his difficulty with processing loss and strange tendency to both catastrophize AND be good in a crisis. (hint: he’s probably so good in crises BECAUSE of how his brain catastrophizes and goes to the worst case scenario, because it means that he’s more ready for that worst case scenario. but it also leads to him being READY to do ‘worst case scenario’ things like stepping off of a cliff to his death.)

Michael “‘See? Physics!’ in s3” Wheeler very likely knew that he wouldn’t hit the water with the way he ‘jumped’ (key point: he didn’t jump, he stepped off) He Knew. It was never just about the baby teeth.

[lisbeth-kk]

In the middle of nowhere

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50459287

John asks Sherlock why he's brought him to this very secluded place. Sherlock's answer makes John emotional but also quite aroused.

I missed the first prompt in the September challenge, moonlight, by @onesmallfamily so I decided to give you all a bonus story. Thank you all for the loving support and comments during this journey. You're the best!

@totallysilvergirl @keirgreeneyes @calaisreno @phoenix27884 @a-victorian-girl @safedistancefrombeingsmart @gregorovitchworld @peanitbear @helloliriels @topsyturvy-turtely

[queen-of-hawkins-highler]

Mike and Will would totally be each other's muses. Once they get together, it will take everything in Will not to pull out his sketchpad and start drawing Mike's beautiful profile while they're just sitting on the couch watching TV. He'll create the most emotive, expressive works of art, drawing inspiration from his love for Mike and all of the beautiful human experiences and emotions that Mike makes him feel. "The heart" painting is truly just the beginning and their apartment will be decked out in Will's pictures, which will not just be literal pictures of Mike, but pictures of other people, their friends and family, and nature, and abstractions, and cities, and fantasy worlds and characters that the two of them made up together, and real life moments, and creations that only he could come up with because these are all of the things that Mike makes him feel: the human experience and the thrill of being alive.

And of course, Mike has an entire lifetime of memories and experiences shared with Will to draw from for his writing projects, which are sometimes fantasy stories based on their DND campaigns and other times superhero stories that Will illustrates into comics. But as they get older, he digs a little deeper into his own unique perspective and what him and Will have gone through together, and he writes some pieces that draw from real life. Not stories that have a sad ending though. Stories of healing from childhood trauma, of learning to be true to yourself despite outside pressure, and of finding your soulmate and the person you're supposed to be with against all odds. Once enough time goes by and it becomes socially acceptable to do so, he may even write stories about the queer experience or growing up queer in the 80s. Maybe even a story about two young boys falling in love, drawing heavily from his and Will's own love story. And of course he'll use his skills and natural abilities to write Will no shortage of incredibly romantic and personalized love letters! He may even dabble in poetry from time to time, because Will just brings it right out of him.

[noodles-and-tea]

Could you draw Richie? I miss him

Yowza

[krakoansam]

❤️

[boryapavlikovskys]

[itsacleanmachine]

Will's storyline about his sexuality distracts the audience from Mike's behavior.

Mike's sexuality arc being hidden from the audience isn't really news to anyone here, but what got me thinking is the means the show uses to ensure it's not easily noticed. Of course, Mike having a girlfriend during the show helps a lot to maintain the idea that he is straight, but another reason they use to make it less obvious is Will. It's contradictory to say this, because it's from realizing that he has feelings for Will that we started to notice that Mike is not actually straight. But the thing is, when Mike's behavior gets too suspicious, there must be someone else to take the blame and the attention away from it, and that's why they use the knowledge that Will is gay to do just that. Here are some points I can make about this:

1- Will's introduction is very quick to send a little question inside your head that goes on during the ENTIRE duration of the show: Is Will gay? The possibility of Will being gay is established right at the beginning of the show, mentioned by his own mother and even more interesting, the actual question is voiced by Hopper. It's like the show is paralleling the audience to Hopper at this moment, we just knew about this kid, we know something bad happened to him, but by the moment Joyce mentions anything about the possibility of him being gay, people just have to stop and ask, is he? And isn't that a question that goes on for a long time here? While Will is going through so much, the audience still takes time to ask themselves that. With so little information we have about this boy at this point, they needed to establish THIS as one of the first things about him. They wanted the audience to have that in mind during the show, to keep thinking about it from time to time, to view everything that is about to happen with and around him with this one question in their heads. And that changes everything.

2- Now something I've thought was weird for a long time now is how, after the confirmation that Will is gay, they said there were hints about it since season 1. Okay, there were hints, obviously, but since we're talking about how Will's feelings were noticeable, even though we never really saw anything too obvious about it coming from him in the beginning, then what can we say about Mike's behavior then? On the surface, Will behaves perfectly platonically around Mike in seasons 1 and 2. He treats him differently from the other boys in small ways, like telling him about the roll instead of lying about it and telling him not to tell the others about his visions. Meanwhile, we have an ENTIRE season of Mike being right there by Will's side. He was there by choice, he went to Will's house and stayed with him until the end. He is the one initiating touch between them, he was the one who talked about going crazy together, he was the one making that monologue in the shed. We can see that Will feels differently about Mike because all of those things MIKE does work. He is able to pull Will out of visions and out of the mind flayer control enough for Will to break free in the end, but it doesn't change the fact that it all came from Mike. So why is Will's behavior noticeable when Mike is the one acting like that? Why is Will questioned about his reactions, but nobody questions Mike's actions towards him?

3- The rain fight. Will never brings up his feelings for Mike here. He brings up their friendship, what he is asking Mike is to be a better friend, but weirdly, it ended up being more about sexuality than about friendship, didn't it? While Will is talking about their friendship Mike is the one bringing up something else. In the rain fight the tone of the conversation changes when Mike says "it's not my fault you don't like girls". Will had just mentioned how Mike was running the party, he mentioned Dustin being gone, he never said anything about himself specifically. When Will mentioned El, Mike brought up Will's lack of attraction to girls and he made it seem like Will wanted to spend their entire lives playing games together even though Will never mentioned that. Mike is the one changing the tone of the fight to something too weird to be platonic, but the fault of that lands on Will. The audience still have that question in mind and they're not paying attention to what Mike is doing, they're trying to figure if Will is gay or not. If he is gay then that's his fault that this fight came to this point, because he is jealous, even though he never mentioned anything that could be interpreted as nothing more than platonic in Mike's POV.

4- The rink-o-mania fight. Oh boy, now this one is even MORE obvious on how blind we get to Mike's behavior, because again, from Mike's point of view, a guy that is "straight and very much in love with his girlfriend" and has no idea that Will is gay, Will just asked him about "us" and THAT for MIKE means something not platonic. The immediate equation in Mike's head from "us" = romantic is just proof of how much HE was thinking about it. Seriously, how defensive can you get about your friendship being ONLY a friendship until it starts to look suspicious? From the moment he says "that's because she is my girlfriend, Will" until Will clarifies that he was talking about their friendship, Mike is thinking that Will just decided to talk about something romantic about them in public even though that would be an insane thing to do, but that's how much this thought has been in his mind. But the audience is already in the mindset to question only Will's actions. If someone tells you to look for something specifically, you will find it much easier than if they didn't tell you what it is that you're looking for. From S1 to now, the show has been directing the public audience to Will, so we don't pay attention to Mike.

This goes beyond camera work, it also extends to storylines and how you must conceal something from the audience to elicit a reaction later. If you tell your audience in the first episode to look for something in this one character, they're going to look for it while your other character acts even more suspiciously about it.

6- The best comparison I can make about this here is using the "twist villains." It's not necessary to have another character as a distraction, but it happens often. We have this one character that we're TOLD is evil, so we look at him and expect him to do something evil. When something bad happens, we blame him immediately. Sometimes there's a character that has been there all along, acting as the good guy, but then is revealed to be the actual villain. Sometimes we have two villains, but one of them we were not expecting because we were told by the story to pay attention to someone else.

7- I have an example from the GA audience on how this happens. The exact thing they thought was going to happen with Mike and El happened with Mike and Will, but they still only came to the conclusion that it was awkward because of WILL. Even though Will was not acting weird at all. El said in her letter that Will was acting weird, but the only one we see doing that is Mike, yet the blame goes on to Will. This happens because by knowing Will is gay, your attention is directed to his behavior only, just like the show intended.

btw this video is funny af

Anyway, I think I've clarified enough here. But to make a conclusion to all of this is that while Mike's actions are saying something about himself, we were not really meant to pay attention to it because the question that has been asked in the beginning of the show was still right there in our heads waiting for an answer. The audience has an answer now. Now we have space for another question that was asked in S4: How is Mike going to react to Will being in love with him? S5 is the last season, and it's going to make sure to answer that one. Spoiler: This is everything Mike wants to hear :)

[aemiron-main]

staring at how mike’s hand gestures during the s4 wrestlers’ scene were familiar to me but we never see any of the wheelers do any sort of similar gesture. i thought it was just a mike thing at first but that didn’t explain why it was so familiar. and then i realized. 

he picked it up from mr. clarke.

even the head tilt. and it makes sense that mike would pick up more mannerisms from mr clarke than someone like ted because mike’s canonically had more positive interactions with mr clarke on screen than he’s had with ted. 

[lunabug2004]

Guys whatever you do don’t think about the fact that Mike Wheeler gets no comfort while watching his best friend get taken over by a literal monster and then be in excruciating pain because of this monster, only to be lost to this monster in front of his own very eyes. Don’t think about the fact that despite being the only (aware) child in the situation, none of the adults around him ever try to check up on him or support him through this.

Then when Bob dies he’s the one providing comfort to Joyce when they run, he’s the one comforting and supporting the others by coming up with plans.

The only comfort he gets isn’t until the beginning of episode 9, when everything isn’t even over yet, and it’s too late. He’s already lost his trust in Hopper now. He kept El from him for almost a year, letting him soak in his own depression and self-guilt. He may stay by Hop after he comforts him because that’s what he is craving, it’s what he needs, but we’re back to disrespectful Mike in the next season bc obv it was too much for Mike to forgive Hop.

In season 1, we see a kid with his heart on his sleeve. He knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to tell people this, even when his own family is putting him down for it. But in s3, we see a kid who represses his emotions as far down as they’ll go, full of self-hatred, never opening up to anyone.

I believe this change is mainly due to these facts: 1) he was depressed for a whole year and no one ever picked up on it, again, no one comforted him, esp not his family. He probably thought he was being stupid, we already know he thought he was crazy. 2) at this point, he had been repeatedly shut down when voicing his thoughts (Lucas shutting down his worries about Will, Dustin yelling at him when he was grieving for Bob, Hopper immediately getting mad when he was voicing his frustrations), and he probably doesn’t think there’s any point to it anymore. No one ever listens to him anyways. And then 3) the complete lack of comfort he is (not) given throughout seeing Will, his best friend, suffer and being completely unable to help him. That is, until he’s forced to listen to his screams as he’s convincing the others to put Will to sleep.

So yeah… don’t think about that guys :)

[prfctmxxnlight]

let’s talk about

michael’s airport outfit

and how different it is from the rest of his clothes

as we all know, the people involved in making this show go above and beyond to make everything mean something. almost nothing is a coincidence. you can see it from the way some characters talk and react, to the way they’re placed in a scene, maybe from a small detail in the background, or the music that’s playing during, but most importantly: through their clothing

for the most part, mike’s style has always been the same, collared shirts and jeans, maybe shorts (which he only ever wears on season 3 and on his first day in lenora in season 4)

the airport outfit is just so out of character, and i don’t think it’s a coincidence

when argyle first meets mike he checks out his shirt and calls it a “shitty knockoff” and while they’re making it up to seem as if he’s talking about the brand, he’s talking about mike

how airport mike is the shitty knockoff of hawkins mike, real mike

mike is pretending to be someone he is not

he’s trying to please el, dressing how he thinks she’d like, trying to prove that he likes her (despite the fact that no one doubts this), trying to convince himself that he likes her

this weird, knockoff version of mike wouldn’t even hug his best friend after 6 months (give or take) of not seeing him, i wonder why?

6 months really is a long time to reflect about your feelings and come to new realizations

this outfit, this attitude, they’re a representation of mike trying to hide who he really is, how he really feels. it’s him trying to be someone he is not to please other people but also to erase himself, to try to change who he is because he doesn’t accept himself

[cluelessbees]

Mike's Anxiety in Season 2

OKAY, I really wanted to explore/discuss Mike's anxiety in season 2. Specifically around losing Will. Because the show really focuses a lot on Joyce's anxiety but rarely does it touch on Mike's (even tho its clearly hinted at).

You can see throughout the season that Mike is really protective over Will. Whenever Will gets a vision and Mike snaps him out of it. He always hugs him the exact same way. Like outside the arcade and on halloween.

It's the same huge. I don't thing it's just a sign of comfort. I feel like its also Mike's way to coping. He's ensuring himself like I got him. He's here. He's holding him close because he's afraid of letting go and losing him again.

And if you think about it. It really makes sense because Mike was one of the last people to see Will. He disappeared after leaving Mike's house. There is a sense of guilt from that. And if you remember the next day of school, he was the only party member who felt something off about not seeing Will.

Everyone else brushed it off and so he did too. And he went about his day as normal, only to find out his gut feeling was right and that Will was gone. And that stuck with him. He was right and he ignored his gut. And in season 2 you sort of get a parallel to that moment when Will goes to the doctors.

The same thing happens where Mike has a bad feeling and Lucas just tries to reassure him its nothing/downplay it. But this time Mike doesn't ignore the feeling. It sticks.

Because he knows that the last time he ignored it, he was wrong.

Along with all this you also see how much more Mike panics compared to everyone else when Will is sort of unaccounted for.

Like when he finds him in Halloween he's FRANTICALLY asking if Will was okay. He even mentioned how he couldn't find him and that scared him. He was terrified that something happened to Will again. Same thing happens when Mike notices Will wasn't there when they were looking for dart. You can see the rush of panic flood through him. He is terrified.

Like– you can't tell me that in those moments he wasn't experiencing flashbacks to when Will disappeared.

And the next day at school, when Will didn't show up . We see Mike notice and we see how much it affects him. And, unlike season 1, the first chance he gets he calls their home.

And when no one answer, he plans to immediately head to their house the second school is over.

And he doesn't just ask nicely/quietly. he keeps pushing to see Will.

Is Will here? Is he okay? Those were the first thoughts that came to his mind. He wasn't even listening to what Joyce was saying. He just needed to see Will and make sure he isn't hurt (You can literally see him try and peer through the door).

I don't know it's just so sad to see how scared Mike is of losing Will! Like the events of season 1 really affected him mentally and I just really wanted to explore it more in depth.

[strangeronance]

WHERE DID THE TIME GO IT'S STARTING TO FLY

[miwiheroes]

If Mike clocked Will in the van scene, then this expression is him being like "but why? why are you making me do this?" :((((((((( okay thx

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

The way that this shot is basically a role reversal of them at the Snow Ball.

Keep pushing each other towards girls. It's really working out for you both.

[kaypeace21]

El is NOT ‘in love’ with Mike

Mileven-shippers be bugging - apparently I’m  ‘misogynisitc’ to think Mike Wheeler is gay, cause I’m not taking into consideration how ‘in love’ El is and am therefore enjoying her suffering (despite the fact I’ve said multiple times I don’t think El is in love with him either). So I’m just doing a rebuttal. Not going to even mention the milevens who lap-up the ‘Will is gay and pinning over straight-Mike for the rest of his life’-narrative. But,besides all the s4 movies having the long distance couple break up and admit in at least 4-6 movies that they both knew all along “it would never work out” and that they never loved each other. And El’s character even being happy for byler .The show hints at the fact (pretty heavily) El isn’t ‘in love’ with Mike. But is simply confused (given her lack of proper socialization). I’ve mentioned it before but just some obvious points people like to ignore…

For some inexplicable reason…We’re supposed to believe in s1 a traumatized girl (with no proper socialization with adults or peers) who doesn’t even know what a friend is -  is supposed to know the nuances of romantic, platonic, and familial love (or just the distinctions between physical attraction, crushes ,or romantic love)? Really?!

-  in s1 El knew Mike for 4 days, but we’re supposed to believe they ‘fell in love at first sight’? Even when the official ST-twitter ‘st writers’ said they don’t believe in ‘love at first sight’.

- El is mixing up familial love with romantic love.  Before he asks her out , El asks in regards to the status of their relationship “will you be like my brother?” And she is confused and upset when Mike says “no”- and proceeds to ask , “Why?” their relationship would be different than siblings. And Mike says “I don’t know, I guess it’s not.” 

Then Mike accidentally implies the only difference between friends/siblings/ gfs is that you kiss them. Mike pretty much says it’s different simply for the fact that it would be weird to go to a dance with someone who is like a sister - then kisses her.  

And then In s2, Mike tries to emulate his ‘non jealous’ friend,  Dustin, who is happy for lumax (despite his own romantic feelings). So Mike tries to act like Dustin, and  forces Will to dance with a girl (who’s wearing a rainbow hair clip). And right after this we see Dustin look sad about Max/Lucas dancing and Mike (next to Dustin) look sadly at Will/girl dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. As they switch between these 2 shots to emphasize their sadness/jealousy. 

Then they both sit down (mirroring each other) on the verge of tears before Nancy and El show up to comfort them and distract them.  As El once again (presumably) wears Nancy dress.

The parallels continue as Nancy (who has no romantic feelings for Dustin but more of a sibling-esque bond) teaches him how to dance, similar to how Mike teaches El to do the same. Indicating it’s not romantic for either pairings (despite the kiss). Mike :” you don’t go to dances with your sister?/ no?/ i mean you can but it’d be really weird.”

*In s2 they even make a direct parallel to Luke &Leia (who were siblings who had a weird romantic relationship/kiss before realizing they were related). Mike (as Leia) saying “it’s a trap” to El (Luke). 

And Leia (Mike) eventually gets with Han (Will) the one she had the real romantic tension with all along, and who she tried to make jealous by using Luke (El). Specifically, by kissing Luke (El) in front of Han (Will). Doing this by kissing El at the dance where Will could see.

They’re also compared to cousins.

And most damming is how Mike/El is compared to mileven. Cause El is confusing familial love for Mike with romantic.

* In s1 Lucas even compares El to Mike’s sister Holly, while the decoration of a heart being propelled by a rainbow hangs above him. Which echos what happened in s2 as well.In s2 , Erica  forces He-man and barbie to make out. And Lucas angrily separates the two. And then this discussion happens.

Erica: “Hey , They’re in love!”Lucas (livid- and standing right next to a rainbow): “No, actually,  they’re not. They don’t even exist on the same planet.”

Cue El and mike being compared to ET and Eliot (by the Duffers in multiple interviews and in the pilot script, shown above ) .  And  El watching he-man in s1- while Dustin in s2 has he-man and et next to eachother to show they were in fact  Lucas was talking about mileven.  Mike even calls El “yoda” in s1. We also see El compared to ET on multiple occasions in s1 (the bike scene, reese’s pieces vs eggos, et/el both having a the barbie like makeover and dressing as a ghost etc).  And then there’s the  old euphemism of “girls come from Venus, and boys come from Mars”. So El telling mike he should ‘stick with his own species’ (aka boys). And the Duffers saying mileven isn’t in love cause they’re not from the same planet  -is just them telling us , Mike is gay  and El doesn’t love him either. Will even says to Mike “welcome to my world”. In s3 we see Mike’s gotten rid of the sign that has a heart being propelled by a rainbow (symbolizing how he’s trying to hide/get rid of his feelings for Will) . But in El’s room while mileven makes-out we see a drawing of a heart being propelled by a rainbow (similar to the sign in s1 )- emphasizing the fact that no matter how much he makes out with El, and tries to hide the truth… he’s still gay. Like Max said in her rebuttal to El’s comment of “friends don’t lie”. “Yeah, but boyfriends lie ALL THE TIME”. Cause the relationship on Mike’s end was always a farce.

- And before their first kiss ,  after asking if she’d be like his sis, she asks  if he’s asking her to the snow ball as “a friend?” And he says “it’s different”. But  El again asks “how?”. And Mike (similar to El’s sibling question) once again can’t explain the difference of how friends and romantic partners are different to her, before they kiss. And just a few days earlier she asked the gang “what is friend?”. Yet we’re supposed to believe she knows she has a crush on Mike? 

El constantly says in reference to Mike “friends don’t lie” (even in s3). Her instincts are telling her she doesn’t have romantic feelings for him … which is why in a span of 3 minutes she says she thinks of him as both a “brother” and a “friend” when he tries to make it romantic in s1.

This whole ‘romantic confession’ of Mike’s in s1,  echos his ‘love confession’ in s3. With Mike making it romantic and El once again not understanding his words or reciprocating her understanding of ‘feeling like she’s in love with him’.

Mike, before his love confession, apologizes for everything BUT LYING (the thing that broke them up in the first place). Aka because the love confession itself, was yet another lie Mike was telling. Which is why he never says “I love you” (to her face) but instead says *blank/it* instead of “love” .Saying “It makes you crazy…blank makes you crazy.

In s1 Flo says  “ only love makes you  crazy and that damn stupid”. Re-contextualizing  the “crazy together” scene between Mike and Will as romantic (since  Mike & Flo both equate love to making you ‘crazy’ ) .

When Mike tries to confess his “love” to El , he says “Well , they do say it makes you crazy”… much to El’s confusion as  she says “what makes you crazy”? But when Mike asks Will, “We’ll go crazy together, right? Will immediately responds back “yeah, crazy together.”As they smile at each other.

Then there’s the fact that in s2 El’s new catchphrase was “not stupid”.She even says this line right before going to visit Mike. Right before Mike says he loves El, Nancy even comments that “El’s not stupid”. And in s3 El says “there’s more to life than STUPID boys.”And in s3 during the byler fight, Mike says “El’s not stupid.”  As opposed to Will who right after this, runs to castle byers, looks at the Halloween pic where they both said they’d go ‘crazy together’, and cries and calls himself “stupid” (4x). 

(x)(x)

The show says El is neither stupid nor crazy for Mike, meaning she DOES NOT (romantically) LOVE MIKE! The only one who is “crazy” and “stupid” for Mike is Will. Therefore, Will is the only one in love with Mike! . She even ignored his confession for 3 months and lied about hearing it- that doesn’t scream ‘in love’ .

- El mimicks Erica Kane and pretends to be with a fictional Mike Roy, while watching ‘all my children’ (Mike and Erica aren’t endgame btw) . Which parallels mileven to Karen/ Billy. Before she meets him she’s reading a romance book that has a guy that resembles Billy on the cover. The Duffers even mentioned they changed the cover to show the resemblance between Billy and the fictional book character. And we see Karen reading the sequel in s3 before Billy appears. Both El and Karen don’t/didn’t love Mike or Billy- they just projected onto them fictional characters they were infatuated with. She knew Mike for 4 days- saw a rushed romance on tv with a character named Mike- and simply wanted to emulate it with the only Mike she knew.

-She latched on to Mike more than the others since he was the first boy her age who took care of her. If Dustin did everything Mike did, she would of assumed she was in love with him too! El through her limited knowledge (given to her by Mike) essentially assumes boyfriends (who you are in love with) are boys who you think of as “friends, cousins, or brothers” who you kiss. Since Mike accidentally implied that feelings for  brothers/ friends are the same as  romantic crushes (in s1 saying about the difference “I don’t know I guess there isn’t”, and she is later taught while in isolation that kissing=romantic love (by soap operas). And then projects Mike roy (who she’s actually crushing on) onto our Mike wheeler. And then she proceeds to mimic what she sees on screen. Similar to how she copies Max’s words in s3. El says “I love you too”, cause (similar to mimicking Max and soap operas) she assumes mimicking him is what she’s supposed to do! Not cause she’s actually in love with him! 

(X)

Not to mention the episode of the soap opera episode she’s mimicking is about a women and a man (named Michael) who rush into a relationship despite barely knowing each other, because of traumatic circumstances . And who are not endgame! She’s mimicking the female character who (has romantic feelings for a guy named Mike). Just like Mike projects Will on to El. El does the same projecting qualities of soap-opera Mike Roy onto our Mike Wheeler.

 - For El’s entire life she has known only 4 boys and 1 girl her age (her dating options are pathetically puny). She knew 4 boys for less then then a week, then immediately jumped into dating the first one who kissed her (and the only one who visited her for her 6 months in isolation at the cabin…interacting with her only romantic option, Mike).She’s never had a normal social-life  like most kids who interact with a large number of  boys and girls. So she could never see if what she had for Mike was romantic (or more than a simple crush) cause she has nothing to compare it to. 

In s3 

- Dustin compares stancy to Mileven stating it’s “bullshit”. And in s1 mileven is compared to Karen/Ted, as El sits and enjoys Ted’s laz-eboy chair. Similar to how Steve and Ted both eat chicken as their female partners storm away upset, and both men do nothing to help. Nancy states the only reason Karen and Ted got married was because they were young and that getting together was the more ‘socially acceptable/logical choice’ and saying “I don’t think my parents ever loved each other.” John says Nancy was repeating her mom’s mistakes by getting with the jock (Steve) , similar to how her mom got with a wealthy man (Ted). And now Mike is repeating Nancy and Karen’s mistakes getting with a girl cause it’s the logical choice (instead of being with the boy he loves).It’s mutual though (just like the Wheeler parents, mileven never loved each other).

-  In s3 El even says “How do I know what I like?” In reference to clothes and Max says she has to figure that out on her own without letting Mike or Hopper influence her. Associating mileven with El’s lack of understanding of knowing what she likes. This poor girl doesn’t even know how to interpret what objects she likes but we’re supposed to believe , before this she knew with certainty she liked Mike romantically?! 

Later Max even asks her “Is Mike a good kisser?” And she similarly answers “I don’t know, he’s my first boyfriend”. While staring at a pic of the karate-kid ( right after she dumped Mike).  Implying subconsciously she’s thinking of other boys , who are not Mike in the future. Which is actually very similar to the soap opera character who went on to have many marriages after being “in love with” Michael. Plus, despite making out with him everyday for 6 months straight- she doesn’t feel strongly , and is neutral/confused about how kissing him makes her feel (similar to clothes).

This is also in direct opposition to Will, who said he expected him and Mike to never get girlfriends and spend the rest of their lives together, and who later cries while looking at a picture of Mike. Unlike El who is happy and swooning over a pic of a random male celeb. They even have El (after breaking up with Mike) happily read comics books with Max, while Will (right before his breaks down) throws his comic on the floor, frustrated he can’t get his mind off of his fight with Mike.

- Also if she’s ‘so in love with him’ as people claim, her  laughing right after breaking up with him and having a party with Max makes little to no sense. And if you say she simply ‘doesn’t understand how breakups work’… you’re just proving my point that she’s too naive and not emotionally-mature enough to be in a romantic-relationship in the first place.  The breakup between Mileven was comedic, while Byler’s fight was serious, cause byler’s fight is more important to the writers .Mike’s drastically different expressions after the fight. The dramatic framing in the rain vs the casual comedic after-math at the mall. One fight being in front of a crowd, while byler’s fight was something private and just between them. El smiling vs Will’s heartbreak. It just highlights once again Will loves Mike, and El doesn’t!

- After Mike says to  El (in the pool shed) she’s “the most important thing in the world “, to him. She ignores his proclamation, and agrees with Hopper that they’re spending too much time together, and tells him they both need to  spend time with their own species. Which is contrasted with Mike’s confession in the Byers-shed (in s2) where Mike says, asking Will to be his friend was the ‘best thing he’s ever done’ . And those words were what helped break Will from his possession.

The framing of this mileven scene was not cinematic or heartfelt, and neither was the delivery from Mike.We as the audience are supposed to take his words as seriously as El- aka , not at all. Because the scene and his words were meant to feel empty.  He’s not crying, trying to reach her with proclamations of his genuine feelings. There’s no narrative importance to this scene (unlike byler’s). And there’s no dramatic music, framing, lighting or shot composition (and the pool-scene was also incredibly short).

Then, juxtapose this to the MUCH longer byler scene. A literal single tear falls down Mike’s cheek, as he recounts the first day they met. This whole monologue is only of tight shots of just their faces (their bodies aren’t shown like in the pool shed scene). This is a personal moment between them and them alone- and the fact we zoom in on their faces (expresses this to be important emotionally) . And when we see Will’s reaction to Mike saying “it was the best thing I’ve ever done”. We just see Will’s face only- no music is playing and all we hear is  Will’s whimpers and Mike crying in the background. They even have an added layer to this because earlier in the season Will assumes John only hangs out with him because he has no friends. But then Mike (despite all the hardships with the demogorgan and Mindflayer) still tells Will that asking him to be his friend was still the best thing he’s ever done. And those words are  what helps Will begin to break from his possession .

-When Max makes fun of how Mike talks to much, El agrees and laughs. And similarly when Max says Mike is wrong and it isn’t just “a break” El once again chuckles.  This is not the behavior of someone who’s deeply in love with a person.

Canonically El isn’t even into Mike’s real personality traits or his interests. Not only making fun of how he talks too much, but walking away and ignoring him when he excitedly talked about dinosaurs or makes jokes with the cpr dummy. She’s not into ‘nerds’. She only swooned for him in s3 when he was acting like a ‘bad-boy’ who was disrespectful to Hopper and his friends. Probably, because that’s what the tv has conditioned her to like. 

-Robin who had feelings for a girl also points out that Steve “didn’t even like her” despite all the attention Tammy gave him (similar to Mike with El).  Tammy is a someone who sucks at singing but does it all the time (COUGH insert mike’s singing in s3 as  El cuts him off as a parallel XD) .  And Robin annoyed also call’s Steve’s  hair “stupid”  like how Will called El “stupid”.  Implying similar to Steve who didn’t like Tammy (who his gay friend was crushing on) … EL doesn’t like Mike (Who Will is in love with).

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[strangeronance]

does it ever drive you crazy...?

[taylorsfolkmoredress]

cannot stop thinking about lance sweets being polite and sweet until you tease him too much one day and he just snaps and goes feral, like rip your clothes on accident feral. i need that lmao

[meowiziack]

i get more and more obsessed with him by the millisecond i am not well

someone plrase help