Willās boyfriend is obsessed with H. Lee Remik, a reclusive novelist and poet who has reportedly had writerās block for the last five years. When an unpublished manuscript surfaces, Will becomes entangled in the mystery of uncovering the elusive writerās identity - a journey that brings him to cross paths again with Mike Wheeler.
OR: Will falls in love with Mikeās words. Mike finds himself in competition with his own pseudonym.
Will Byers is in his Nancy Meyers Nora Ephron protagonist era courtesy of me xx
i think most writers would agree that the struggle of writing a story is part of what makes writing enjoyable.
for example: when you write your first draft, then you reread it, and you realize itās actually terrible. even laughable. iāve laughed at my own work countless times because something seems so out of character or a sentence makes zero sense. but thatās when you go through, line by line, cleaning it up until it turns into something youāre proud of. nothing compares to that lightbulb moment, when you tweak a paragraph to make it perfect, when you finally write what youāve been dying to say.
when an idea comes to you while youāre driving or making dinner or talking to a friend, and you canāt stop thinking about it until you write it down. when you open up the merriam-webster thesaurus for the thousandth time in a single writing session because you need a better synonym. when you write a piece of dialogue that makes you realize, āoh, thereās way more backstory to this character than i thought. i want to build on that.ā when you make playlists and mood boards and cry while you write because youāre actually feeling what the characters are feeling. when you stay up until 2am on a work/school night because you canāt stop writing, and you didnāt realize how late itād gotten. when you send a chapter to a beta reader and they say, āremove this tiny detail, itās taking away from the scene,ā and youāre like, āso thatās why it didnāt feel right. the solution was so simple, i canāt believe i didnāt see it.ā when you read a new chapter multiple times over, scanning for any last-minute edits, and suddenly two hours have passed and youāre still proofreading (at this point, you donāt know if itāll ever end). when you finally publish your work and feel so damn proud of what you wrote, because you know how much time and effort went into it.
the process is the fun. it makes me so sad that weāre starting to lose that to AI.
maybe the writers who used AI to create their works felt pressured by readers to churn out more chapters. but even with that benefit of the doubt, itās still not an excuse. tell your readers youāre taking a hiatus, and if they donāt like it, thatās on them. turn off the comments if you must. block them if you must. take time to sit with your story. be frustrated with it. phone a friend when youāre stuck. be excited when you finally figure it out.
no computer will ever produce good art, because art is inherently human. art is thoughtful. art is stimulating. art is challenging. itās supposed to be challenging. solving the problem, improving your craft, bouncing ideas off of other human minds, is what makes it so fun. itās what makes it memorable. itās why you slam the laptop shut, then open it up again, and again, and again. a storyās worth largely lies in the obstacles it pushed down to become a finished piece. it doesnāt matter how good it is. what matters is that it was written with a brain that actually cares about what itās producing.
computers donāt care. they donāt care about you, and they donāt care about your work. typing out a prompt will never fulfill you in the way that just writing the damn thing will. so just write the damn thing.
politely take 3 minutes out of your day to watch this masterpiece please.. i havenāt even read through htdc yet but oh my GOD this is amazing either way..
āyou canāt even write it, mikeā is actually so so important to me because in my mind what mike doesnāt say, he writes. he becomes a writer for fuckās sake, and i think he pours his heart and soul into anything he writes, and he would never write anything unauthentically, but he canāt even write āi love youā to his own girlfriendā¦
these are some of my personal favourite fics. i will continue to add onto this list!
horror fics
eye for an eye by ileikbees
summary: thereās something wrong with Will.
It started three weeks ago, almost four. Will had woken from some sort of nightmare and, instead of seeking comfort in Mike the way he usually would, heād rolled out a sleeping bag from the closet and chosen to sleep on the floor.
No one believes Mike, except for Joyce. But even she doesnāt understand the full extent to which something is wrong with Will. Mike understands, though. Mike has been paying attention.
all your love will be exorcised by andiwriteordie
summary: Years after their first encounter, the Monster from Will's childhood returns and will stop at nothing to have him.
pinned down by the dark by jediwill
summary: Mike the Brave is a vampire hunter. Will the Wise has just been bitten.
Via Dolorosa by gothicbyler
summary: Will Byers is all too familiar with what it feels like to be haunted. To know that something is there, waiting in the shadows, just out of sight, for the moment it can wrap its clawed hands around his eyes, smiling, showing all its bloody teeth, askingāDid you miss me?
there was danger in the heat of my touch by burgundyshirts
summary: A Nosferatu (2024)-style retelling of the last few episodes of Stranger Things, focused on Will and Henry's cosmic connection.
he chased me, and he wouldn't stop by Anonymous
summary: āMaybe something here wanted you back.ā
Or, a fix-it fic modern-gothic take on Will Byers' story in Season 5 .
Let Me In by zenithaurora
summary: āWhy me?ā Michael tilts his head again, and this time, his eyes glint just the slightest human. āBecause you are alone. And so am I.ā Will holds his breath, then whispers: āYou may come in.ā Just like that, he seals his fate in blood.
before the day is done by 0ceansoftime (eww self promo n e way)
summary: Will Byers is stalked by an ancient presence that seeks to destroy the quaint town of Hawkins in its pursuit of him. A Will Byers-centric, gothic inspired S5 rewrite
smut/e-rated fics
Kneel by barkandberries
summary : A talk about religion doubling as a coded conversation about sex between Mike and Will at the Wheeler-Byers dinner table
love to love you baby by prettyhurts
summary: Will becomes concerned that he wants Mike more than what's probably considered normal. Mike proves him wrong. Multiple times.
any time, any place by prettyhurts
summary: Mike starts telling everyone that he and Will are on their honeymoon, even though they're not actually married. Will promptly loses his mind over it.
can i be yours? (tell me iām yours) by thepassnger
summary: Mike and will drunkenly sleep together after Stacyās party.
oathbreaker by piecesofsunlight
summary: āI know you,ā Michael said simply. I love you, he might as well have said, for the way it sent Williamās heart skittering inside his chest.
Michael has been betrothed to the princess since their infancy. But itās her brother he really wants.
white knight upon a fiery steed by pyrrhuss
summary : Mike reveals his fantasies to Will.
post-canon / fix-it fics
it could be bad (but i wanna find out) by piecesofsunlight
summary: āI came here for the Will Byers New York experience,ā Mike said, earnestly. āAm I going to get it, or what?ā Mike visits Will in New York and realizes a few things.
Just for a second, I remembered myself by Romanoff_mylove
summary: Mike has finally made it as an author. But writing about your own past can get complicated, especially when fans start to draw conclusions that point Mike in the direction of the person he's been writing about all along. And living life is hard. Especially when you're doing it all on your own. But grief and love are a lot more similar than you might realise. They both tend to wake us up from the monotony of our lives.
OR: Mike has a horrible time, which somewhere along the way turns into a wonderful time.
make up your mind (let me leave or let me love you) by chamb3rs
summary: Mike and Will spend roughly eighteen months making out and almost no time talking about it.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Characters: Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, Ted Wheeler (Stranger Things), Karen Wheeler
Additional Tags: Porn With Plot, Smut, Established Relationship, Character Study, Power Bottom Will Byers, Service Top Mike Wheeler, Soft Dom Will Byers, Sub Mike Wheeler, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Will Byers Has PTSD, Will Byers Has Anxiety, Past Sexual Assault, Mike Wheeler is Obsessed with Will Byers, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Body Worship, Orgasm Delay, romantic sex, Rough Sex, Hickies, toe sucking, Not my thing but Mike totally would also itās romantic here just trust me, Blowjobs, first time rimming, thigh fucking, Anal Fingering, Sexual Overstimulation, Come as Lube, Come Eating, I didnāt say it you didnāt have to asf, POV Mike Wheeler, POV Will Byers, Canon Divergent, Six weeks post end of main events in s5 if Mike and Will used gay love to save the day
Summary:
And this is the moment Will has been waiting for, the one thing that has motivated this entire exploration with dominance. One word, one syllable, five letters.
Will looks at Mike, eyes dark, hungry, and he says it, voice decadent and low.
āKneel.ā
***
A talk about religion doubling as a coded conversation about sex between Mike and Will at the Wheeler-Byers dinner table leads Will to find the courage to try some new things with Mike. Heās going to give being more dominant a try. Heās been Mikeās boyfriend for six weeks now and heās been slowly wrapping his mind around how obsessed with him that boy is. Maybe itās time he finally plays with that a bit.
A mix of softness and control, worship and obedience, trust is the common thread that help Mike and Will explore new avenues in their relationship, knowing that what they have is more sacred than organized religion could ever be.
hello, iāve finally published my first fic! please give it a read if youāre interested in some fun smut with plot and religious themes :) hope you enjoy!!
itās a fun character study in a canon-divergent world with a newly very religious ted after his near death experience. itās romantic, silly, hot, and has lots of smut with willās thought process as he and mike try new things given willās history with SA
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Characters: Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, Ted Wheeler (Stranger Things), Karen Wheeler
Additional Tags: Porn With Plot, Smut, Established Relationship, Character Study, Power Bottom Will Byers, Service Top Mike Wheeler, Soft Dom Will Byers, Sub Mike Wheeler, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Will Byers Has PTSD, Will Byers Has Anxiety, Past Sexual Assault, Mike Wheeler is Obsessed with Will Byers, Mike Wheeler Loves Will Byers, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Body Worship, Orgasm Delay, romantic sex, Rough Sex, Hickies, toe sucking, Not my thing but Mike totally would also itās romantic here just trust me, Blowjobs, first time rimming, thigh fucking, Anal Fingering, Sexual Overstimulation, Come as Lube, Come Eating, I didnāt say it you didnāt have to asf, POV Mike Wheeler, POV Will Byers, Canon Divergent, Six weeks post end of main events in s5 if Mike and Will used gay love to save the day
Summary:
And this is the moment Will has been waiting for, the one thing that has motivated this entire exploration with dominance. One word, one syllable, five letters.
Will looks at Mike, eyes dark, hungry, and he says it, voice decadent and low.
āKneel.ā
***
A talk about religion doubling as a coded conversation about sex between Mike and Will at the Wheeler-Byers dinner table leads Will to find the courage to try some new things with Mike. Heās going to give being more dominant a try. Heās been Mikeās boyfriend for six weeks now and heās been slowly wrapping his mind around how obsessed with him that boy is. Maybe itās time he finally plays with that a bit.
A mix of softness and control, worship and obedience, trust is the common thread that help Mike and Will explore new avenues in their relationship, knowing that what they have is more sacred than organized religion could ever be.
hello, iāve finally published my first fic! please give it a read if youāre interested in some fun smut with plot and religious themes :) hope you enjoy!!
here is a masterpost on everything that doesnt make sense because byler isnt canon, plot holes that exist because byler isnt canon, all the ways mikes character was ruined by making him straight, AND how it was homophobic. i include explanations and categorize things by color coding! this includes scenes in the show, interviews, and posts from the stranger things team. (note: im not going to include things noah said-explained in tags)
warning, itās very long because im including EVERYTHING. I found and listed 108 examples here. enjoyāor donāt.
1. mike and elās fight in season 4. specifically, āit was like a fight you canāt come back from.ā and then their argument is never resolved. they have barely any scenes or chemistry in season 5, and they remain a couple. plot hole because: where is the explanation as to how they got back on good terms? keeping them together is a direct contradiction of the narrative thatās been set up.
2. mike being unable to say āi love youā to el. even when he says goodbye to el in the void before she disappears in the season 5 finale, she is the only one to say āi love you.ā mike does not say it back. ruined mikes character because: it makes him out to be an asshole. plot hole because: they never explain why he goes from being able to say āi love youā in season 3 to being unable to in season 4 and 5.
3. mike not reacting to elās kiss in season 3 at the end of the season finale. plot hole because: he was interested in el earlier this season. what changed? no explanation given. only makes sense if he is no longer romantically interested in her and/or he is gay. neither is true according to the series finale.
4. robin and willās āsignalsā scene. plot hole because: why would will ask for signals if he didnāt have anyone in mind? why would he ask clarification with āhow obvious?ā
5. mike and will flirting in the field in season 5. doesnāt make sense because: why would will flirt back with mike knowing el and mike are together? why would he do so if he āknewā mike is straight?
6. mike being in willās reel in sorcerer. doesnāt make sense because: robin said her reel only had her in it. robin said she didnāt need tammy to realize and accept herself. why would will need mike, then, if that isnāt how robin did it AND theyāre setting up will to parallel robin?
7. will saying āi know heās not like meā and āheās just my tammyā and āi HAD a crush on someoneā in his coming out scene. doesnāt make sense because: why would will flirt with mike knowing that? how is it possible for will to get over his years long crush in the span of a day? homophobic because: youāre downplaying a GAY characterās love for someone as a crush and being something that could be easily tossed aside. this is not done with any other character.
8. will being the only person in the cast without a love interest. plot hole because: if robin and will are meant to parallel each other, why doesnāt he get a love interest? we get a glimpse of him talking to someone at a barāthatās not a confirmed partner. thatās not even crumbs. narratively him getting a partner was necessary. homophobic because: you are singling out a gay character.
9. mike not being able to hug will at the airport. plot hole because: we never get an explanation for this. they werenāt in an actual argument, and they ended season 3 on good terms. if mike isnāt gay and didnāt suspect anything, this has zero purpose in the story. ruins mikes character because: he has no reason to dislike or distance himself from will because he is confirmed to not have known about the crush, and he is not gay canonically. he was just being an asshole.
10. mike not reaching out to will when he moved to lenora. plot hole because: again, if mike and willās ended on good terms and he doesnāt canonically have feelings for mike, then WHY didnāt he call? there was zero narrative or emotional payoff for this, either. it serves no point. ruins mikes character because: it goes against mikes own words. he said they would stay best friends, and then didnāt. and he admits regretting this and missing will. so again, if there was no motive or reason for this underneath that, heās an asshole.
11. paralleling stancy to mileven through the āyou canāt say you love meā plotline. plot hole because: why parallel your characters and relationships only for that parallel to not have any payoff?
12. paralleling rovickie and vickieās boyfriend to byler and mileven in season 4 through cinematography. plot hole because: again, why parallel to have no payoff? this serves no purpose now.
13. the rain fight between mike and will in season 3. ruins mikes character because: if mike wasnāt projecting, then he was just being homophobic and an asshole. plot hole because: making a callback to that fight in wills coming out scene without an apology from mike is just bringing up wills trauma needlessly and without resolution. homophobic because: that comment is so fucking homophobic i donāt even NEED to explain why. itās obvious.
14. mike apologizing to will after the rain fight, but not el after their breakup. ruins mikes character because: mike is shown to simply not care about his girlfriend. plot hole because: it is never explained to us why mike cares more about will than his own girlfriend.
15. using the painting to help fix mileven. ruins mikes character because: mike canāt say i love you unless the world is ending and needs his best friends support for it. homophobic because: using a gay characters pain to keep a straight couple canon is fucked up
16. not addressing the painting after season 4. plot hole because: mike had all the pieces to understand the painting came from will. el told him in the letter he was painting for someone he likes. mike now knows will loves him. will used similar language in both the painting and coming out scene. the lack of confrontation doesnāt work narratively and comes off as forgetfulness and an unfinished plot.
17. mike refusing to play dnd in season 3 but playing it again after will moves away. plot hole because: if mike didnāt want to play because ātheyāre growing up,ā then that doesnāt make sense. if he changed his mind, it should have been explained. but mikes back and forth feelings on dnd are never discussed. ruins mikes character because: heās a hypocrite and bullied will for no reason.
18. mike flirting with will in season 4, specifically āi didnāt say it. you didnāt have to.ā doesnāt make sense because: why play it with that tone if it meant literally nothing????
19. the writers referencing korrasami and catradora. doesnāt make sense because: itās two gay ships that get together in the end. that didnāt happen to any couple at all. and nothing ever came close to either of these ships in this show. homophobic because: youāre promoting your straight, queerbaiting show with genuine queer representation in other media.
20. jancy paralleling byler in season 2, specifically with mike and jonathan helping will and nancy get back safe on halloween. plot hole: again, why parallel if itās for nothing?
21. āthe painting will payoffā in interviews. doesnāt make sense because: that was literally a lie. homophobic because: you lied KNOWING it would give queer fans hope.
22. ābyler fans are the loudestā said by the duffers in an interview. homophobic because: why are you mocking a giant part of your fanbase?
23. āwill and mikes story isnāt over yetā said in an article in reference to the finale. homophobic because: that was a lie and it was to bait hopeful fans. doesnāt make sense because: itās factually not true. their 20 second conversation was a throwaway and did not give us any new info about their relationship.
24. mike promising will they would be a team at the end of season 4. doesnāt make sense because: they were not paired up in season 5. they were not a team. ruins mikes character because: heās an inconsistent friend.
25. creelby and byler parallels. doesnāt make sense because: they said the first shadow content would make its way into season 5 and it barely did.
26. shawn posting only the posters of will and mike on his story. homophobic because: youāre baiting people.
27. hans and leia parallels to byler/mileven. doesnāt make sense because: it was all for nothing
28. paralleling the rink o mania byler fight with high school musical (a canon romantic pairing). doesnāt make sense because: if it wasnāt romantic then literally why?
29. paralleling the byler rain fight to a canon gay couple from another show. homophobic because: itās literally baiting and uses an actual queer show to hurt queer viewers
30. any and all byler posts on stranger things accounts. homophobic because: obvious baiting and playing into hopes of queer people getting decent representation
31. paralleling ācrazy togetherā to āonly love makes you that crazyā. homophobic because: you want us to think theyāre romantic in some capacity and then you lied. itās misleading.
32. forgetting wills birthday. homophobic because: even if it WAS an accident, itās so fucked up it happened to the one character whoās been traumatized the most, doesnāt get a satisfying ending, and is gay. ruins mikes character because: not only did he forget wills birthday, he complained at him all day. thats supposed to be his best friend. plot hole because: you make your plot about wormholes, have a clock and time theme in season 4, make henryās birthday the same as wills, make will be chosen for a reason by vecna, and then you never explain any of it with this.
33. āwe asked finn and noah to carry a lot of emotional weightā homophobic because: most actors carried more emotional weight than finn did. he had ONE SCENE in the entire season where he showed emotion. meanwhile gaten, natalia, and maya had way more emotion and you CHOSE to single out finn and pair his name with noahās because you knew what bylers would think. doesnāt make sense because: not true. finn did not.
34. āitās a shitty knockoffā in reference to mikes california outfit, obviously talking about how heās not being himself. plot hole: you set us up for that, and then never show us what heās hiding and/or what makes him not himself.
35. āmike is the heart this seasonā. homophobic because: you purposefully used language that refers to the painting scene, which is about wills love for mike. doesnāt make sense because: itās factually not true. lucas did more for the party than mike did.
36. paralleling wills self acceptance arc to robinās. plot hole because: if youāre going to make wills entire coming out scene, entire self acceptance arc with the film reel, etc using the tammy storyline and robinās adviceāand go step by step in the same order of events that robin went throughāthen narratively you have to conclude that parallel. robin gets the girl. will does not get the boy. homophobic because: instead of giving will an original storyline, youāre just recycling another queer characterās experience
37. will repeating some of robins exact dialogue such as āit was always about me,ā ātammy,ā etc. homophobic because: again, recycling another queer character because youāre too lazy to be original. not all gay people are the same for fucks sake
38. āwill learning that sometimes your crush doesnāt like you back was the important message we needed to tellā said by the duffers in an interview. homophobic because: first of all, why are straight people telling queer people what we need? you donāt know us. secondly, this is not an original concept. stories have been using this trope and narrative for ages. thirdly, telling other characters they need love to get past their struggles only for that pattern to not follow the gay kid is crazy work.
39. showing a clip of mike looking at will while heās possessed in the trailer of season 5 as a parallel to season 2. doesnāt make sense because: this clip literally has nothing more to it in the show. it has zero purpose.
40. saying in one interview that the intent was for people to see mike understood will was talking about him in the coming out scene, only to then backtrack in a video interview, AND THEN throw that away with a vague conversation with mike and will in the finale. homophobic because: you were lying to keep queer people hopeful after the backlash so you wouldnāt lose finale viewers.
41. saying you were originally going to write wills coming out scene to be during the painting reveal/in the van. doesnāt make sense because: why did you change your mind? it would have worked better than the shit show we got. plot hole: so mike is oblivious to what the painting means. was he meant to not be oblivious then? that wouldāve changed the course of byler.
42. the finale scene where will asks for them to stay friends and then mike says āno. best friendsā. homophobic because: i shouldnāt even have to explain that. are you fucking serious? bait bait bait bro. fakeout scene. ruins mikes character because: itās shitty to give will hope for no fucking reason
43. mike apologizing to will for not realizing will was struggling with being gay. doesnāt make sense because: literally if mike is not gay, what would him realizing this have changed? what would he be able to do? after āitās not my fault you donāt like girlsā itās clear mike wouldāve been useless. plot hole because: he couldāve apologized for literally anything else. laundry list of apologies he needs to make for will. choosing this instead was weird.
44. keeping mileven ambiguous until literally the last 45 minutes of the series finale. homophobic because: you knew what you were doing giving people hope and trying to keep views up. plot hole: it made mileven so weak. they had no chemistry. mike and els goodbye scene fell so flat because of that.
45. āsee what happens, michael?ā comment ted makes at mike for wills disappearance (implying itās because heās gay) in season 1. plot hole: why imply mike is gay if heās not gay??
46. āyou can tell me thingsā karen says to mike about wills disappearanceāwhich is exactly what she says to nancy about steve (canon couple at the time). bonus points because el was in a literal closet during that scene. plot hole: why imply their friendship is different if it never was meant to be?
47. ted wheeler breaking mikes closet during the demo fight. doesnāt make sense: why that symbolism if for nothing?
48. mike having a one way sign into his closet. doesnāt make sense: again, why if not gay?
49. costume designer making robins season 4 outfit have triangle imagery to showcase her queerness and giving mikes custom shirt a triangle, too. doesnāt make sense: why is he gay IF HES NOT GAY?
50. finn saying āmike is just trying to stay on a normal pathā in reference to season 4 mike. doesnāt make sense: mike literally says in season 4 that he doesnāt want to be popular. he says heās been bullied his whole life. this is just not true.
51. the partyās bullies throwing homophobic insults about will at mike SPECIFICALLY. doesnāt make sense: why at mike and no one else? it only makes sense if itās because those gay comments are also about him
52. mike is bullied by being called frog face, while everyone else is bullied for being a minority. doesnāt make sense: why is mike the only one without such an insult?
53. the cali plotline as a whole, which only existed to establish and build upon mike and wills relationship. plot hole: if mike and el were built up for a breakup, and an entire season was spent discussing how in love will is with mike, then why did it lead to nothing? the narrative flow abruptly ended.
54. āa brush of the knee, a bump of the elbow, a shared lookā all being signs someone likes you, and season 5 gives us all of that with mike and will. homophobic because: BAIT. plot hole: why build this narrative only to abruptly end it?
55. āin the closetā playing when mike starts to regret fighting with will at rink o mania. doesnāt make sense because: it couldāve started playing when we saw el but they chose to make it on mike.
56. āweāre friends. WEāRE FRIENDSā plot hole because: no one implied you werenāt. that was all you making it have romantic connotations, mike. confirmed by the fact that mike was oblivious to wills feelings here. ruins mikes character because: he has learned nothing from āitās not my fault you donāt like girls.ā same shit different font.
57. āthe first i love youā playing only during breakup scenes. but it plays with milevenā¦only for no breakup to happen. doesnāt make sense because: you canāt keep making parallels and patterns and breaking them.
58. mikes reaction to will gaining powers in sorcerer. doesnāt make sense: it was shot romantically and choosing to focus on mikes reaction more than wills mother wasā¦a choice.
59. mike constantly correcting everyone on will being a sorcerer. plot hole: why is mike the only one being so pushy and adamant? how is this supposed to be read if itās not romantic? the other characters reacting weirdly to his insistence speaks volumes.
60. small town boy being on mikes official playlist. homophobic because: bait.
61. mike liking butthole surfers and robin disliking it. homophobic because: bait.
62. will asking robin if she got with vickie after coming out. plot hole: sets us up narratively for will to end up with someone. doesnāt happen.
63. ājonathan helps will get something he wantsā said in an interview. doesnāt make sense: didnāt happen. was a lie.
64. the blue and yellow lighting. plot hole: building a pattern and storytelling with cinematography for nothing.
65. the lighting choices in the field scene: soft romantic and hopeful. doesnāt make sense because: all this for what? im tired.
66. the van scene taking 12 hours and specific comments being made on how they tried to get the lighting just right. doesnāt make sense: why then? just why.
67. mike having imagery with women and frowning, and then having imagery of men and smiling. homophobic because: obvious queer coding for nothing.
68. mike being paralleled to brenner in season 4 with āwhat did you do?ā. plot hole: why make him look so bad and incompatible with el only for them to never resolve the arguments and be a couple in the next season? ruins mikes character: bad bf for not comforting el after she was bullied at rink o mania.
69. mike doing a triple take in season 4. homophobic: gay for nothing bro. playing into romantic tropes to have no payoff.
70. will talking about being scared because āwhat if they donāt like the truthā only for mike to nod and agree in season 4āin reference to will being gay. plot hole: mike is scared to open up. and then he never opens up. to anyone. for season 4 AND 5.
71. mike not reacting to will being in danger. or his parents being in danger. or holly being in danger. or nancy. for all of season 5. ruins mikes character: if itās not because he was bottling up his emotions and hiding somethingāwhich we now know wasnāt the case and he was just genuinely acting this wayāthen heās an asshole. we know he can react and emote, heās done it in seasons prior.
72. having will be in love with mike for 3 entire seasons at minimum. plot hole: narrative build up tells us it was a slow burn. but then the candle went out and nothing happened. it doesnāt follow narrative storytelling. homophobic: giving will the character and us the viewers hope for YEARS and knowing it wasnāt going to happen is cruel
73. having will be in love with mike. homophobic: for will to have an acceptance arc and a gay arc, he didnāt need a crush. he didnāt need a love interest. making it canon and then treating it this way is queerbait plain and simple.
74. mike telling el āi feel like my life started that day i found you in the woodsā. homophobic because: will byers has to listen to his best friend say his life started the day he went missing. like what the fuck? ruins mikes character because: it contradicts what he said in season 2āhe said the best thing he ever did was ask will to be friends. it also just makes him an asshole because he knows how will has been traumatized since that day.
75. this
homophobic because: self explanatory. bait.
76. this scene
homophobic because: someone in production literally told them to hold hands. the bathroom is named dick. come on. queerbait.
77. ALL of the dick jokes. robin saying āi like dickā then panning over to mike and will looking at each other. the bathroom being named dick. homophobic because: come ON. QUEERBAIT.
78. will being in almost every shot of mileven in season 4. doesnāt make sense: genuinely if not for the love triangle imagery, why was will haunting mileven constantly?
79. mike and el reuniting in season 4 after they find project nina. mike looking at el and then will smiling. and then the smile drops when he looks back at el. doesnāt make sense: if not romantic confusion, what purpose does this serve?
80. mike and el reuniting at project nina EXACTLY like will and el do with a hug and pressing foreheads. doesnāt make sense: why compare SIBLINGS to a ROMANTIC PAIRING?? weird weird weird if not meant to be read as platonic mileven.
81. robin looking at mike and will in the field being framed exactly like how steve looks at vickie and robin in season 4. doesnāt make sense: for the billionth time i am asking WHY the parallel if it was for nothing?
82. āi donāt believe in coincidencesā -lucas in season 5. plot hole: you say that but then the whole season is FULL of coincidencesāeither plot holes, or mistakes, or things that straight up donāt work. homophobic: arguably bait.
83. mike being oblivious to the painting, will flirting in the field, and literally the past 5 seasons, but understanding that will was talking about him in the coming out scene. plot hole: you canāt paint mike as oblivious and then make him not understand concepts that are handed to him on a silver platter, but then write him to understand will is talking about him when ZERO indication is given in the dialogue. ruins mike character because: you pick and choose when heās emotionally intelligent and when heās not. youāre calling him dumb when he is NOT DUMB. homophobic because: willful ignorance of canon and purposeful twisting of mikes character to avoid addressing the romantic subtext.
84. āi miss clouds. i miss youā doesnāt make sense: this is not giving the āheās just a crushā energy you claim.
85. mike finding a new party after will saying heās loyal to their group. ruins mikes character: he had no reason to hate on will. heās a hypocrite.
UPDATE/EDIT: i remembered more. heās a screenshot of my reblog.
EDIT NUMBER 3: thereās more!
and guess what? even more
UPDATE/EDIT 4:
101. having mike linger on willās dnd book and crying. doesnāt make sense: why is he crying over will????
102. wsqk hinting at byler via songs and talking segments. homophobic: queerbait
103. having the show pop up when byler was written in the netflix search bar, but not doing the same with mileven. homophobic: queerbait
104. mike telling hopper he was going to run away with el in the epilogue. plot hole: he said he wanted to leave with the whole party initially. also el didnāt gaf about his dnd storytimes. ruins mikes character because: itās uncharacteristic of him to want to abandon everyone.
105. mike having the painting in his future room. plot hole: does he even know it was from will? no, he does not. he still thinks itās from el and his final perspective of her is based on a lie
UPDATE 5:
106. the end of season 4 pairings in the field, putting byler with canon couples and having el stand on her own. doesnāt make sense: why do this if jancy is bones and mileven is still together?
107. 70/30 split of yellow and purple flowers from mike to el in the airport scene. āthere was too much yellowā which is willās color. doesnāt make sense: if it doesnāt have any greater meaning, why spend so much time explaining?
108. those flowers dying in the field at the end of season 4 and in the hospital during the season 5 rovickie scene. doesnāt make sense: why use the exact same flowers if there is no symbolism?
put aside the shipping discourse for a moment and lets talk about how the duffers portray the abused female body as spectacle in this show. that scene where kali was running through rooms and rooms of dying pregnant women? karen fighting through her grievous, near life-threatening injuries to be a mother? the treatment of el/jane's character? over and over this show makes victims of its female characters and makes it 'ok' by having them be strong and fight back. the constant dehumanisation of jane throughout the show and the denial of her autonomy by entrapping her in a relationship the moment that she escaped her prison and gained a scrap of freedom is not by chance. it is a consistent and concentrated effort to keep her in constant pain and clip her wings so that she can never heal and her wounds stay open, just so that we can sit back and entertain ourselves watching her try to fight for her freedom with her supernatural powers without ever giving her real narrative power. the whole operation of el's creation was built off of the exploitation and torture of vulnerable pregnant women by a power-hungry man, but the show never reckons with that legacy. the suffering and abuse of female bodies becomes backdrop, a prop aiding the dark tone and aesthetic of the show rather than a serious narrative theme that jane should be grappling with as a descendant of that legacy. instead, she becomes an continuation of it. her suffering is an extension of her mother's: a tortured woman being controlled and used by men around her in a bid for power, ultimately reduced to a plot device as the narrative succeeds over her.
They actually killed her. They fucking killed Jane Hopper and her sister. Young abused girls who never got to become full-fledged, healed young women.
And they had the gall to self-insert with Mike and say, āHey guysāimagine an ending where she didnāt die! Imagine an ending where she was finally free after a lifetime of being imprisoned and in hiding!ā Oh, but even in this hypothetical āgoodā ending, her brown sister still dies. Of course.
They very lazily resolved Janeās fear that she was a monster, and then had her call the next generation of innocent abused children like her āmore monstersā which was entirely out of character.
The children who did get their happy ending were ānormalā and shoe-horned into the final season.
We talk about the Will Byers humiliation ritualā¦ what about the Jane Hopper humiliation ritual?
After a fight in which her boyfriend triggered memories of her abuser (while too busy focussing on his ārelationshipā problems with his platonic bestie) he brings her cold eggos and refuses to apologise for not being supportive of her struggles. He makes it about him. He calls her ridiculous. She begs for him to verbalise his affection for herāwrite it evenāand is then thrown into another prison where she is re-traumatised by her abuser, only for said boyfriend to chauffeur her away after days of homoromantic heart to hearts with his best friend.
They had her wear a fucking collar. Her abuser was the one to unlock it. They didnāt even let her remove her own literal and metaphorical shackles.
Mike professes to her while kneeling at a fucking pizza dough freezer as sheās being choked out. No eye contact. No intimacy. Because his gay best friend reminded him to. She never even gets to respond to this monologue in the canon series, because I guess her feelings donāt actually matter.
Even in her final moments before death, her character was reduced to her love story with the boy who found her in the woods and kept her in his basement. And he still couldnāt say āI love youā back for some reason.
She was never free. She went from being trapped in the lab, to being hidden in Mikeās basement, to being hidden in Hopperās cabin. She got in trouble and yelled at for leaving these confined spaces and doing normal teenage things. The only exception was when she made herself useful to them by using her powers, endangering herself, and often to the point of physical exhaustion.
Her father figure supposedly learned to allow her more freedom at the end of season 3, but he returns to being over-protective, angry and condescending at the beginning of season 5, undoing all character development.
And weāre expected to thank these men for ātaking care of herā all these years, when everything she ever accomplished was no thanks to them but to her own merit, her own desire to do good, her own zest for a life and freedom she never got to have.
Was sheā¦ really just used as a tool to help Hopper process his daughterās death? Was she used as plot armour to ensure our characters could survive the supernatural antagonists? Was she used to give Mike Wheeler something to do other than play games in his basement?
Iām going to throw up. Jane Hopper Iām so sorry. Millie Bobby Brown Iām so sorry.
as someone with a degree in television and a background in cinematography and narrative analysis, i genuinely cannot understand what the duffers were doing with mike and will. the sheer amount of intentional groundwork poured into their dynamic wasnāt accidental, and wasnāt something you can dismiss as audience projection. it was craft. it was design. it was the kind of layered visual storytelling you only build when youāre setting up a payoff.
the costuming alone charted an emotional arc, colour palettes shifting in tandem, mirroring, contrasting, signalling internal states long before the characters verbalised anything. the blocking and framing consistently positioned them in ways that highlighted intimacy, tension, longing, and narrative centrality. the camera lingered on them with a specificity that, in television language, means something. you donāt shoot two characters like that unless youāre building toward a reveal or a culmination.
and then thereās the emotional architecture: years of subtext, coded longing, parallel arcs, mirrored traumas, narrative foreshadowing. every tool in the tv writerās and cinematographerās kit was pointing toward byler as a deliberate, slow burn queer storyline. it wasnāt just possible, it was textually supported by the showās own visual grammar. even the pink sky in the field scene, that gorgeous, deliberate wash of colour, was doing thematic heavy lifting.
which is why the lack of follow through feels so jarring. from a craft perspective, itās almost nonsensical. you donāt invest that much visual and emotional capital into a relationship you plan to abandon. from a storytelling perspective, itās a structural rupture, a setup without a payoff, a thematic thread left dangling. and from a queer audience perspective, itās heartbreaking, because this could have been monumental. byler had the potential to be an epic queer narrative with genuine depth, history, and emotional resonance. it could have been groundbreaking.
instead, it feels like all that potential was discarded at the last minute. years of careful build up rendered pointless. a beautifully constructed arc left unresolved. and i canāt make sense of it, not academically, not narratively, not emotionally. it just feels like such a waste of what could have been one of the most compelling queer storylines in mainstream genre television.
And you know what? After the way they treated Jane for 5 seasons I will state that the choice to have her wear a skin-tight swimsuit for half the fucking final season was insane.
It's November and everyone else is layered up. She could have easily worn a shirt or sweater over that swimsuit when she was not actively in water. I wouldn't be surprised if Millie insisted on wearing the sweatpants at this point. Why the choice to parade her around in that non-seasonable skin-tight clothing?
And after she wore a fucking collar of all things in the previous seasonāa collar only her abuser could unlock.
She goes from a flimsy hospital gown to her first "outfit" ā a sopping wet t-shirt and nothing else, that she attempts to strip out of in front of the boys. I thought there was possibly some deeper subtext there about her upbringing. Apparently not.
It was the Born Sexy Yesterday power fantasy. It was an abused little girl attaching herself to men, constantly dehumanised, over and over, with no vindication. A fantasy about a beautiful and powerful girl who is constantly finding herself trapped.
I'm... in awe. I was engaging in good faith when the entire time her character was indeed being sexualised, even from childhood.
Similarly, a young Will Byers is graphically sexually assaulted in the season's opener and it is simply... never addressed. We see him be orally assaulted multiple times throughout the series, even communicating distress regarding this invasion of bodily privacy, and the writers seemingly don't provide any justification for it.
Portray characters who represent abuse victims. Utilise the supernatural for this purpose so it less confronting to watch. That is fine. But please for the love of god, make it mean something.
Once again, I engaged in good faith when they showed these things, including when they had Troy comment on Will's disappearance, insinuating that he had been sexually assaulted and murdered by another gay man.
All that only for him to be re-traumatised in the next season. All that to show him in a flimsy hospital gown just like Jane, tied to a bed as he thrashes in agony to exorcise the entity inside his body that... never actually left him.
He was described as "sensitive" and "delicate" young gay boyāin the Duffer's own wordsāand was consistently shown restrained or on his knees, his body used by other entities. All while he yearns and pines for the boy who makes him feel safe and gives him courage.
It feels an awful lot like trauma porn, framed as something beautiful.
hopper and joyce just happened to conveniently forget going to school with henry
the painting lie hasn't been addressed
we don't know why el recognized will in season 1 without having ever seen him before
we don't know who opened the door the night will was taken
mike and will's colors just HAPPEN to be blue and yellow and the cast, crew, and WRITERS THEMSELVES telling us to "pay attention to detail" was deadass just generational queerbait
after everything, mike STILL couldn't say i love you to eleven
the duffers genuinely forgot their OWN MAIN CHARACTERS BIRTHDAY AND AGE MULTIPLE TIMES
the russian involvement in s3 and s4 was never explained so it was prob just capitalist propaganda except they don't want us to realize that so they gave jonathan an entire anti-capitalist film storyline for the sake of "screwing conformity" i guess
ohhh but! critiquing society???? fuck that! because they also didn't show us vickie in the epilogue at all, giving her and robin a completely ambiguous ending in which 90% of the fandom believe they broke up off-screen!!!!!!! A+ for representation !!!!!!
not only that, but will doesn't even have a CONFIRMED epilogue boyfriend. that is full well a cute lil headcanon that MIKE has for him.
terry ives, lonnie, enzo, max's mom, suzie, argyle, dr kay, the turnbow family, the school counselor with the clock necklace, and dr owens just vanished into thin air, ALONG WITH ALL THE DANGERS OF THE UPSIDE DOWN???? where were the demodogs, the demogorgons, the demobats????
max's letters were just completely insignificant and had no reason to be mentioned again i guess
november 6 just happened to be a funny coincidence
they ALSO happened to forget that nancy had a vision of mike being killed by vecna in s4 bc that boy wasn't even remotely in danger at all while every other wheeler was put through hell
dr brenner's obsession and fascination with the upside down and abyss stemming from how his father was involved in project rainbow was also not addressed
not to mention that the dude is literally horrendous at drawing animals but when it comes to the flipping hexcore he's da vinci
melvalds, the general store, just happens to sell milkshakes
will adores getting lost in the woods because that's such a fun activity for him
henry just gave holly her favorite song because he was feeling kind
they never actually defeated the mind flayer !!!! which is wonderful
we actually never find out whether or not will lost his powers
el's water tank in the upside down being completely full although there has literally NEVER been water in the upside down before
mike is somehow the only one who has ever understood el even though she was 10x happier with max. could they not have just admitted that they made the elmax reunion so incredibly lackluster because they refused to let ANY gay ships win regardless of how much chance they had of being canon?
the 'lovebirds' parallel between jonathan + steve and mike + eleven??? what was that even for
all the dick jokes, mike listening the a band called the BUTTHOLE SURFERS, the camera panning to mike 7000 times during will's coming out scene, mike not being able to touch will, all just happened to be fun coincidences
not only that, but the mike-will-eleven and nancy-jonathan-steve love triangles were resolved by none of the couples working out! wow.
they really just made us wait 3 whole years for something BEYOND mid.
You know whatās extra fucked up about the tower scene?
Mike trying to apologize for being so shitty to Will. And the writers not even LETTING Will accept the apology.
He is self deprecating until the very end. Insistent that Mike shouldnāt have noticed his pain or been there for him. That it was better for him to suffer in silence until he managed to get over his feelings. Because how dare he inconvenience Mike with his gay feelings?
Heās excusing all of Mikeās shitty behavior so the audience can, too. Heās stating that he was always meant to get over Mike, so the audience can too. And heās furthering the homophobic narrative that sympathizing with a gay person as a straight person is uncomfortable and confusing work, so it shouldnāt be expected. The audience can nod along with that, too.
Some self acceptance arc, Duffers. We can really tell that Will has grown into his sexuality from how much time he spends apologizing for being gay. And telling the straight people in his life that they shouldnāt bend over backwards to be considerate about his painful lived experience. Fantastic job, really.
the fact the duffer brothers gave noah the painting, which was a reminder of will's unrequited love being used to uplift a poorly written and toxic relationship between two people who NEVER truly understood each other and didn't even end up together, as a wrap gift is straight up cruel and spiteful and heartless by the way. "what more could you want?" they dared asking noah about will's story when they hadn't even planned to write will and mike's "closure" scene and noah had to fight for that, for the BARE MINIMUM. fuck them and their homophobic asses.
mike wheeler likes men idc @bylerinthewest - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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