ky ★⋆˚࿔

she/her | 18 | lesbian byler since 2020

[prongsiegirlie]

are we just not going to talk about the fact that the last letter El gives Mike doesn't say "Love, El" BUT INSTEAD it says "From, El" ?????????

This is huge foreshadowing, idk how i didn't see it earlier

[bylerise]

justifying my theory that this scene was going to be a mutual breakup, until it got cut off

[bylerise]

will was hinted at being gay since the very first episode, why though? because they just thought this? i don’t believe so, i believe something must have happened to assume this right? connecting this to how mikes dad says to him, “ see what happens”, after he went missing. or the “ our son with a girl?”

implying that maybe throughout their childhood years, they had been perceived CLOSER than most friendships. ( i know this has very much already been said )hints to why mike is the one always sticking up for will when the bully’s say remarks about him, i mean they really only say these remarks about will to mike. once eleven came along mike just never got this assumed from him anymore.

i believe in season 5, when there’s a flashback to when they were younger, it will be so queer coded to allow the viewers to understand mike in a better way. like think about it, it would be a perfect stunt. mike just suppressed these thoughts to fit the heteronormative expectations!!!! as much is wouldn’t want to have to do with homophobia, maybe with lonnie, i can see this as happening. especially since lonnie was at the season four table read too.

i know most of this probably has been said but the season 5 flashblack theory with them would just be perfect to the storyline, and i honestly believe it’s 100% gonna happen.

[clericscauldron]

I'm still at the restaurant

[byebyelurk-deactivated20260125]

If you ever have byler doubt I highly recommend getting into editing. It’s easy to convince yourself that Mike Wheeler is gay when you’re watching a frame by frame slow motion playback of him staring at Will’s lips.

[bylerise]

i was just editing, and i just can’t get over his face looking at will dancing with the girl at the dance. WHY would he be making this face?? while dustin was just staring at max as well? mikes face just says it ALL.

[miwiheroes]

"what if you join another party?" "not possible"

it's always been you ahh scene what the fuck

[leibylerx]

The color difference in this scene will always mean something to me. The WHOLE scene is blue and yellow and those colors are obviously enhanced. Which is on purpose. Also the way Mike is looking at Will AHH!!

[silverspirited]

Can’t wait to wake up in 2026 and see « 30 times Mike’s sexuality was hinted in Stranger Things » on my youtube feed.

[mylifedependsoncoffee]

who else has a brain that’s been consumed by stranger things and byler but lives surrounded by normal people who don’t give a shit about a nerdy show set in the 80’s with pining gay characters and emo bone crackling fleshy villains

[bylerise]

and now i have to go to college in 9 days 💔💔🥀

[higuysetc]

Okay I haven’t seen anyone actually talk about this scene from S1E2 as Byler evidence but I think it’s so telling and honestly insane

In this scene, El asks the boys what a “friend” is and they explain it to her. They tell her and it’s wholesome. Then Lucas performs a spit swear with Dustin and it’s funny. This conversation was just leading up to a funny bit between the two! Right?

Wrong. Oh my god, WRONG.

I was like actually kicking myself when I realised I missed this detail not just on the first watch but on the second as well.

(I should have put a trigger warning in earlier but I didn’t so I’m editing it in now- TW for: homophobia, attempted suicide, bullying, reference to the AIDS crisis)

“Friend?”

“Yeah, friend: Will?”

El doesn’t understand what a friend is so Lucas gives the example of Will.

“What… is friend?”

“Is she serious?”

Dustin shrugs

“Um… A friend is someone—”

“—Is someone that you’d do anything for”

Lucas specifically referred to Will in his example of a friend. When El asks him to expand on their bond, he struggles to elaborate and seems exasperated with her questions. Dustin isn’t much better. He doesn’t seem to care much for answering her and they both chalk it up to the weirdo being weird.

Before Lucas can even begin his clumsy explanation, Mike jumps in with

“—Is someone that you’d do anything for”

Which is. Wow. He says it so simply, so bluntly, so instantly and he looks overjoyed at the opportunity to talk about his loyalty to not just Will specifically but also the rest of his friends.

And, bless him, he’s literally bouncing on the spot when he says it. This scene is adorable but it’s also kind of heartbreaking, especially when you take into account when Mike tried to end his life at Sattler Quarry to save Dustin’s baby teeth.

He would literally do anything for his friends. This isn’t hyperbole, this is Mike being excited to show El, his new friend, that he’s loyal and protective. He’s not exaggerating when he’s saying he would do anything because friends don’t lie.

And the rest of his friends know this. When Mike is about to jump, Dustin begs him not to because he knows Mike and he knows just how important loyalty and being a protector to his friends is to him.

But the way he says this:

“Someone you would do anything for” It’s like he’s beaming with pride for his friends. He’s ecstatic at the idea of calling them his friends and being able to be there for them, to protect them, and is proud of them for just being themselves.

Obviously, this could include the entire party, especially with how it relates to Dustin and Mike ‘protecting him’ at Sattler Quarry.

But the fact that Dustin immediately follows this up with:

“You lend them your cool stuff like comic books and trading cards”

Okay so maybe we are still talking specifically about Will. In the first episode, Will and Dustin race and Will, the snarky little shit (affectionate), declares that Dustin owes him a comic. This is. This is a pretty blatant reference to Will and Dustin’s friendship.

What he says is also a lot tamer than Mike’s declaration of undying loyalty which reflects Dustin and Will’s friendship vs Mike and Will’s status as besties for the resties. Quite literally.

Besties for the resties.

We should also take into account the fact that Mike most likely didn’t just jump off the cliff only to save Dustin’s baby teeth after seeing the person he would do anything for’s limp body being pulled out of the water. He would do anything for them both.

But the fact that in some sick alternate universe Will Byers was found dead in the quarry and 12-year-old Mike’s body was found there days later should be enough evidence to be honest.

And if El hadn’t have found Mike and Dustin when she did, this would have been their reality. And Mike knew this was an almost certainty, unaware that he would be saved, and he jumped anyways.

And how does that look? In a conservative small town where no major crime ever happens, the adults spread rumours of a 12-year-old Will Byers being hate crimed for being gay after going missing instead of having any compassion towards him or his family because of this child’s supposed sexuality. His body is found not long after he goes missing and within days, the boy he was rumoured to be so close with jumps in after him and dies.

And let’s be honest, Will most likely didn’t get this much shit for his alleged queerness because he liked art or was quieter than most. He may have gotten picked on at school but for his parents to pick up on this? Lonnie was a bastard which is standard I guess. Common knowledge. Like the quarry meaning certain death thing. We knew that. Maybe he just gave him a hard time because he didn’t like baseball (Insert coded heart-to-heart with Jonathan and Will destroying Castle Byers with a baseball bat because he thought his feelings towards Mike were childish).

But for Joyce to bring this up to Hop instead of omitting both slurs and just leaving it at “he’s a sensitive kid” or just her most relentless “find him”s? For her to avoid the question when Hop asks whether or not Will is gay? Huh.

Most probably, he was really- suspiciously- close with a male friend. A male best friend. A little too close and a little too affectionate and for a little longer than is normal for boys to be so close with each other. Maybe this best friend even thinks that befriending Will was “the best thing he’s ever done”.

Mike was willing to die. That’s not fucking normal.

His best friend went missing and bear in mind Mike had little to no evidence that Will was alive at this point. He was presumed dead. Mike was 12 years old when he tried to kill himself. You can’t just chalk this up to trying to save Dustin’s baby teeth.

“You make that jump from this height, that water turns into cement. Hits you like a ton of bricks, break every damn bone in your body.” -Hopper

Mike understood that he was going to die. Outside the fact that it’s common sense and probably common knowledge in a small town, where he’s probably been warned by parents and teachers not to play too close to the quarry, it’s basic physics. He’s a physics nerd. He knew that he would die and he still went through with it.

The fact that they emphasise just how brutal Mike’s end would have been by having Hopper stand there and explain in graphic detail what would happen if someone fell over the edge? And then they send the point home further by having Mike weigh his options for a good while before making the decision to ignore Dustin’s pleas and ,I don’t know, any will that he has left to live? Is insane. No pun intended.

I don’t think I will ever get over the quarry scene. Mike jumps off to ‘save’ Dustin and possibly to join Will, out of love and out of loyalty, but also out of lonliness. Fucking insane. Especially with how that would have looked in a conservative town during the AIDS crisis, if El hadn’t interfered. And how Dustin must have felt after he begged Mike to stay alive for him and saw Mike actively ignore him and try to sacrifice himself to save him.

So yeah. Mike would do anything for them both, to a concerning degree.

But back to S1E2, El asked what a friend was. Lucas hesitated. Mike excitedly said some deep shit. Dustin followed up with something more lighthearted but still painful (lowkey imagining how he must’ve felt after failing to get Will home safe, and then later get Mike not to jump) and—

“—And they never break a promise”

Mike when I catch you Mike.

What promise could Mike be referencing here? Friends don’t lie, perhaps? Yes. That. That’s like the only option at this point, I fear.

And we’re back to Mike specifically describing his relationship with Will. How do I figure this? It’s established right off the bat.

S1E1- Will chucks the die somewhere and he rolls lower than thirteen. Lucas tells him it doesn’t count if Mike doesn’t see it. Lucas is willing to lie. Lucas is willing to break the promise. Mike is specifically referring to his relationship to Will here.

“It was a seven.”

“Huh?”

“The roll: it was a seven. The Demogorgon. It got me. See you tomorrow.”

Will dgaf about winning the campaign if it means lying to Mike. He would never break his promise. (Do not bring up the Season 4 painting right now istg this is pre-the-puberty-amplifying-internalised-homophobia-thing (and also I could go on a whole rant about what Will meant by “ripping of the band aid” there so lmk if you guys would be interested in that))

Immediately, within the first eight minutes of the first episode of the first season of Stranger Things, it is established that Mike and Will do not fucking lie to each other no matter what and they have a bond much stronger with each other than with the other two boys.

What did Will say again?

✅ The roll was a seven.

✅ The demogorgon got him.

❌ He will see Mike the next day.

Oh. Okay. That’s not like. Blatant foreshadowing or anything. This might be a reach but I feel like the fact that Will never lies to Mike but told him that he would see him tomorrow, then went missing, may have amplified Mike’s desire to find him faster or at least served as a way to communicate to the audience that Mike and Will hold their promises dearly and if Will says he’ll see Mike tomorrow, Mike will do everything in his power to see him as soon as possible and this is made further tragic by his attempt to join him at the bottom of the quarry.

Maybe a reach. I’m confident about everything else though so who gaf. Let a girl have fun.

“—Especially when there’s spit.”

“Spit?”

“A spit swear means—Puh—you never break your word. Its a bond”

Comic relief for all the devastated re-watchers, classic. This scene definitely wasn’t intended to be sad but I’m a sap, I fear. Plus the absurdity of Lucas’ spit swear and how seriously he talks about it contrasts how bubbly Mike is when he talks about promises when he is the one who holds loyalty so dearly that he is willing to give up his life for it.

Oh my god, I’ve just had a thunker of a thought. It’s. Oh my god. I’ve had a revelation. But it’s 5 am and I’ve been trying to put my thoughts into words for like a good couple of hours now so. It’s to do with the spit swear thing and how it relates to Mike’s asexual treatment of El until Will’s disappearance. Oh my god. Stay with me. It sounds like such a reach and it may well be but I genuinely unironically think I’m onto something here. Especially with how comedically Lucas’ bits are played out compared to Mike’s. Holy shit. Aaand it’s nearly 6 am. Well. I’ll edit this for basic grammar mistakes later, it's fine.

Okay, I’m gonna end this part here so just let me know if you guys want a part 2 and I’ll tag some lucky individuals in it maybe.

Also let me know if colour coding the characters’ names was too jarring or something? I feel like it helped me get through writing this monstrosity but low-key idk how the rest of everyone will feel sooo just lmk :)

Edit: Drafting up Part 2 rn if you want a tag then just reblog this post

[thetheoryisalie]

This scene was 100% going to be Mike breaking up with El and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Like there's no way he was going to confess his love for El but then needs Will's continuous support like 5 minutes later when he actually confesses his love and she's in actual danger.

And let's not forget about the other advice that Will also gave Mike during the van scene:

"And if she was going to lose you, I...I think she's rather just get it over with quick. Like ripping off a Band-Aid."

And then Mike literally takes the first opportunity to do just that.

In that pizza place is probably the first time he's been alone with El since their reunion, and El starts initiating an intimate conversation between the two, and Mike wants to explain himself and brings up their last fight, only to not get to say what he wanted because Argyle interrupts him, and then next thing he knows El's dying and needs his support and Will (unintentionally) pressures him into confessing his love to her to save her life.

Like that's actually so sad :((

Also: how he takes off the glasses covering his eyes right when El initiates the intimacy, like he's finally ready to be open with her.

I think most of us know this is reoccurring imagery with Mike, most notably the airport kiss scene (can't recall right now if there are any others)

(sorry about the bad picture btw, getting them to be even remotely in focus was a pain, it's such a short scene and that red guy walks right in front of them for like half of it lol)

The glasses cover up his eyes and therefor part of his expression, it symbolizes how he's hiding a part of his emotions from others and the audience.

But this imagery doesn't make any sense if he's just struggling with telling El he loves her.

Firstly, the fact that Mike loves El isn't supposed to be a secret at this point. Mike himself tells it to Nancy, Jonathan, Max, Lucas and Will (and thus also the audience) in S3 E6:

"because I love her and I can't lose her again."

And we, and Mike, know that El knows this and overheard him here, because she tells Mike "I love you, too." at the end of S3, right after she says all this:

"Mike?" - "Yeah?" - [sighs] "Remember that day... at the cabin, you were talking to Max?" - "Um... I don't think I follow." - "You talked about your-- your feelings, your heart." - "Oh. Oh, yeah, that. Man, that was so long ago. Um..."

"That was really heat of the moment stuff, and we were arguing and... I don't really remember... What did I say, exactly?" - "Mike..."

"I love you, too."

There is zero doubt what she's referring to here. She knows Mike loves her, sure maybe by season 4 she's doubting his former love confession, but then the feelings that Mike would be hiding are that he doesn't love her anymore. His love for her isn't a secret, everyone already knows/assumes so anyway, and Mike knows this.

So the only thing he could be hiding is that he doesn't love her anymore/doesn't love her the way that everyone is assuming he does.

And then he takes his glasses of when El initiates an intimate conversation the first chance they get after they reunite to take Will's advice to 'rip off the Band-Aid'

Also Also: El is the one who initially opens up the intimacy of the conversation, and tells Mike she missed him:

"I...missed you"

Mike then takes over the conversation, but I want to talk about how El looks very serious here.

At this point, they're basically broken up. Mike couldn't tell her he loved her, and in response she writes "from El" in her last letter to him before going with Dr. Owens. You can see it better when you actually watch the clip (at the top), but the way she hesitates to even say she missed him, and then briefly smiles but goes back to looking serious when he says he missed her too, doesn't exactly scream that she was going to tell Mike she does want to continue the relationship, nor does it feel like she was going to reciprocate if Mike did tell her he loved her.

And clearly she also had something to say to Mike, otherwise she wouldn't have opened up the conversation like that.

Also Also Also:

The way the love confession would have happened if Argyle hadn't interrupted also doesn't make much sense:

"You know, the last few days, I... I've had to think about the last talk we had. You know, before the cops and... the whole world went to shit? I... I guess I just... I dunno. I guess I just wanted to say that--"

I guess I just... I dunno. I guess I just wanted to say that I love you?

Please, what kind of love confession is that? And why did he have to think about that? He should already know that he loves her, he's already said it once before.

Unless that's not actually what he was going to say...

Bonus:

Both of them wearing something that reminds them of their most important person(s) on their wrist, El's bracelet Hopper gave her that used to be his daughter's, Mike's matching watch with the party:

They all wear these in every episode, only exception I caught was Lucas during the basketball game. Mike and Max are also the only ones wearing them on their right hand.

Lucas not wearing the watch when playing basketball -> This is when he's trying to be different the most, 'trying to distance himself from the party'/ become something different from who the party is (nerds)

Lucas and Max's watch both being round -> matching shapes to create harmony between the characters/Lumax

Max and Mike wearing the watch on their right hand, not the left like the rest -> both having something that they're working through that they're hiding/not being open about with the rest of the party/not 'matching' the rest of the party

Max also doesn't wear hers when in the hospital (obviously) -> completely removed from the party and unable to talk to them

Just some initial thoughts I had/things I noticed, feel free to analyze this deeper (please @ me if you do, I'd love to hear it!)

Bonus Bonus:

"But I have one more important question: do I look cool?" - [laughs] - "I feel like I look really cool. Are you giggling?" - [giggling] - "You're giggling because I look awesome. I can't see it but I know you're smiling because I look so good. Right?"

cute ElMike interaction when they're broken up, and it would almost be expected to be awkward

vs.

The only 'romantic' Mileven interaction we see after Mike's monologue. El is the one who initiates the side hug. Mike only pats her shoulder after she rests her head on his shoulder.

Plus:

Will actively giving them space to talk. We know there's more than enough space for 3 people on the back seat Mike and El are sitting on because we've seen them all sitting there, which means he's choosing not to to give them some privacy.

Yet they're barely talking?

"Did she... talk to you at all?" - "Not much... I mean, a little bit."

Also, Will would have definitely heard anything they would have said to each other (Jonathan hears Will talking about the painting to Mike just fine, and he was further away), so the only reason he's asking this here is to inform the audience that Mike and El aren't talking to each other. If they were talking to each other like normal, there would have been no need to tell this to us, since anyone would have assumed so anyway.

Bonus Bonus Bonus:

The pink and yellow upside-down pizza triangle that's right next to Mike in like every shot he's in in the Pizza Place scene:

yeah anyway...

Edit:

Also, something that just occurred to me: Literally why would they have this scene in the first place, just to have an actual love confession scene later in the same episode? (Both of these happen in S4 E9) There's no need to stall things. You could have just not had this scene in the first place, and replaced it with them helping Argyle make pizza or something to get Jonathan and Will in a private setting.

Like, if we go with the narrative that Mike was insecure about confessing his love to her, this doesn't tell us anything we don't already know. We know he feels insecure, and is afraid of El not needing him anymore from his conversations with Will in the van. We also already know assume he's in love with her.

This scene doesn't do anything instead of making us question what Mike was actually going to say. And there's no need for that if the answer was always just going to be that he's in love with El. You don't waste time on a scene that's is only there to stall a love confession, if the love confession is in the same episode anyway. Like, what are you stalling? The only thing this would do is make it so that the creators of the show have to cut other scenes. As if they have the time for any of that in a show like Stranger Things.

Actually, I lied. It also establishes that Mike and El do value each other ("I... missed you." - [exhales] "Yeah. Yeah, I missed you, too.") but this is completely redundant if they're just in love anyway. Like gee I sure hope the main romantic pairing of this show at the very least misses each other when they're apart. That kind of goes without saying if you're in a romantic relationship. There's no need to clarify that you miss each other. Unless that romantic relationship isn't doing so well...

[wineinfused-lipstick-deactivate]

BRO AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO JUST LEARNED ABOUT THE “blue meets yellow in the west” CLOCK POINTING TO 6:30 IN S3 PROMO VIDEO AND IN S4 MIKES PARENT SAYING “it’s a 6:30 flight” TO GO TO THE WEST? CALIFORNIA? I’m having my weekly epiphany someone lend me a paper bag to breathe in

[zombieboy83]

just remembered “I asked the duffers and they said it’ll pay off”

[kittykat940]

I'm still at the restaurant 😩

[bitofanupsidedowner]

friendly reminder mike's the one making it weird! will has absolutely zero intention to pursue mike romantically. he wants to be honest but he does not believe it's reciprocated. MIKE is the one seeing their interactions differently.

he makes it weird in season three by hyperfixating on his relationship to the point he's a shitty friend. he makes it weird by actively pushing will away. he makes it super weird with "it's not my fault you don't like girls." he is the first one to speak out loud about a version of their relationship where they have forever to do what they want, implying at the same time that the reason they can't is because he's obligated to grow up. he makes it weird by being so devastated when will admits he did want that, because mike wanted that, too.

he makes it weird by not writing letters. he makes it weird by not hugging will at the airport and getting jealous of the painting. he makes it weird by acting up at the rink, paying all his attention to will while pretending to ignore him. he makes it weird with "that's because she's my girlfriend, will!" and then doubles down on that weirdness with "we're friends! we're friends."

and it isn't just their friendship he makes weird, it's the entire dynamic of the party, it's his relationship with el, with hopper, with his parents to an extent, because he isn't acting like himself.

will, despite his canon romantic interest in mike, was not the one to choose to interpret their friendship through a romantic lens and that is so fucking fascinating. mike did that even though he's totally unaware of will's feelings.

mike is the one who cannot appropriately contextualize their relationship and struggles to behave appropriately. mike's the one who missed will so much he called and called and whined to dustin when will didn't pick up. mike's the one who refused to let dustin use the phone when will DID pick up.

mike did that shit bro idk what to tell u. he's the one who can't be normal despite that being his hidden goal the entire season.

[fatfatgaybitch]

Will hasn’t ever flirted first

Will hasn’t ever insinuated anything romantic

Will has never taken their arguments to a queer level

[victoriathewise]

this is one of my favorite posts ever its so funny

[gayofthefae]

Mike is ashamed to be queer and Will is ashamed to be happy and it explains their entire relationships with queerness and how they have very different relationships to it while still having the same end point their arcs will end at in season 5.

Mike is ashamed to be queer

But he is not ashamed to be happy

Will is not/as ashamed to be queer

But he is ashamed of being happy

And we can see it. Because what Mike consistently forces himself into when he retreats is this: "happy" straightness

But what Will forces himself into when he retreats is this: unhappy queerness

Mike is convincing himself he can be happy straight so he's forcing himself into heterosexuality in an attempt, Will is convincing himself he shouldn't be happy queer so he's forcing himself to grieve a happy ending he hasn't lost.

That Murray-Wheeler line "retreat to the safety of...name? name?" for Mike, we know works for El. But for Will, he retreats to the safety of pain. For many abuse survivors, it's comfortable - familiar. And they were taught because they deserve it, at least they have a right to it.

We don't see Mike cry as much about his queerness so far for this reason. Mike is forcing happiness into straightness. Will is forcing happiness out of queerness. But both are actually resisting the same amount. Both's base states are happiness in queerness, if they allow themselves it.

That's why their season 5 arc goals are the same, but their journeys are different - as they have been for the whole show. Mike needs to learn he has a right to be queer as the source of his happiness, Will needs to learn he has a right be happy as a result of his queerness.

This was just an analysis post but I also think that's what Vecna would use against him. We've covered before the idea of if Vecna went after Mike taunting him with the reminder that he is queer.

But with Will it's that he wants happiness. "How dare you be happy at the idea of taking something from El, how dare you take up space when your queerness already takes up too much, how dare you want more when you are already too much, your loved ones are burdened by how much they give to protect you, and now you want to take more?"