here are some friendly reminders incase you had byler doubt
the duffers are not bad writers
the duffers have never written an unrequited love trope that spanned past one season
the blocking of the final shot of s4
the duffers didn't need to make will in love with mike to write an effective arc about his sexuality
mike and el's relationship is at a standstill
mike needs to be needed, and will always will need mike
el needs/wants independence, which clashes with my previous point
mike and will spend most of their time with each other this season
noah said something 'finally goes right' for will this season
finn said that mike's cluelessness in the van scene will 'pay off'
it took 12 hours to film the van scene (a 3 minute scene), meanwhile the duffers told finn to add whatever he wanted to mike's monologue, and the majority of it was improvised
the duffers could very easily come out and deny any possibility of byler happening, but they won't
whenever the cast is asked about mike and wills relationship in season 5, they stumble around the question, claiming they are trying to avoid spoilers
noah is a gay man, and therefore, likely understands how much queerbaiting sucks, and would most likely not participate in queerbating
homophobic comments about will in season 1 were always directed towards to mike
el did not understand what a romantic relationship was in the 1st season when mike kissed her, and therefore, the relationship is not stable or healthy
during mike and will's fight in rink o mania, the song playing in the background is quite literally called in the closet
the duffers are extremely detailed, and it is extremely unlikely that any tiny details pointed out as 'byler proof' are just coincidences
the outfit that mike shows up in at the airport is said to be 'a shitty knockoff' basically calling cali mike a shitty knockoff of the real mike (ty argyle)
the objective romantic tension of mike and will's scenes. ex: crazy together, i didn't say it/you didn't have to, 'we will' in s4 epilogue
mike constantly looking at wills lips (which is definitely intentional, unless finn has a crush on noah, lmao)
mike being able to hug dustin perfectly normal during eddies campaign in 4x01, but suddenly becoming awkward about hugging will the literal next day
mike straight up lied in his monologue when he told el that he loved her from the moment he saw her. in reality, mike wanted to send her to penhurst (a literal mental institution), and was truly only concerned about finding will
when will went missing, mike immediately went out looking for him, and continued looking for him after receiving proof he wasn't dead. yet, after literally seeing el after she had supposedly 'died' all he did was try and call her for like 3 minutes every night
mike's character is generally considered to be very likable in s1 and s2 when he's not in a relationship with el, but 'insufferable' in s3 and s4 when he is in a relationship with el
after being el says 'i love you too' to mike in s3 epilogue, he does not reciprocate, keeps his eyes open, and ends the scene looking disgusted and confused
in s3, after el broke up with mike, max says that mike is going to be running to her, begging her to take him back, implying this is how you're supposed to deal with a fight in a romantic context. however, mike does not do this. instead, he makes lays around in his basement and makes misogynistic comments about women. however, after he gets into a fight with will, he bikes across town in a thunder storm just to apologize to will.
"our son with a girl?" -ted wheeler
in his book, dustin states that el and mike never seemed to have anything to talk about with each other. in contrast, will states "talking to you is always easy" in his letter to mike
while talking about mike and wills relationship, noah said "you could never really tell if it was something romantic or just a really special friendship" meaning that you are supposed to question the closeness of mike and will's relationship
giving will a bf/love interest that is not mike in s5 would simply be lazy writing
mike rejecting will would not give any purpose to the plotline of will being in love with mike
no characters in the show actually like m*leven
while talking about lucas and max's relationship, caleb said "it's not like mike and eleven, it's real"
in s4, m*leven is paralleled to st*ncy, while byler is paralleled to jancy
might add to this later if i remember anything else
literally all this for fucking nothing
