slytherflower

ao3 writer | queer | multiple fandoms fics, analysis, and occasional silly https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherflower

[slytherflowerao3]

my fruity four projects 💘

“your honor, they’re queer!” i scream as i’m dragged away while everyone else insists i’m projecting onto the queer coding of these four characters

title: the duff

pairing:

Joanna Byers/Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler/Robin Buckley, Will Byers & Jane Hopper, Joanna Byers & Nancy Wheeler & Robin Buckley & Eddie Munson, Joyce Byers/Jim Hopper

rating: M

tags:

genderbent Jonathan Byers, modern au, high school, no supernatural elements, romantic teen comedy based on a movie with the same name, childhood friends to enemies to friends to lovers, wonder twins (willel), marijuana use

status: WIP

chapter count: 8/?

word count so far: 68k

summary:

“So your master plan is to let Steve Harrington turn you into a social butterfly?” Joanna Byers supposes so. God help her.

title: caught on film

pairing:

Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler/Robin Buckley

rating: M

tags:

canon rewrite of seasons 1&2 (so far…), character study, enemies to friends to lovers, miwi, boys in love, period typical homophobia and bullying, found family and healing, grief/mourning, queer themes, money and class angst, almost confessions, getting together, will they won’t they relationships

status: WIP

chapter count: 19/?

word count so far: 205k

summary:

Jonathan Byers has always known what he is—a freak. Hawkins High made sure he never forgot it. Between a missing brother, a mother unraveling, and the weight of keeping his family from collapsing, Jonathan doesn’t have time to think about himself, much less the way his eyes linger on Steve Harrington.

can’t thank you guys enough for all the support on these works!

[lavenderlatte222]

when you're being surveilled and trying to convince the homophobic villain you're just friends

[ourstarman]

This is Nymphadora Tonks to me

[youaremess]

imagine it’s your graduation day and you are so excited to hear the words of wisdom from really successful writers/directors but all they do is speak in code to 200 people on tumblr

[it-was-a-7]

just started rewatching st1 and realized something that feels important. if anyone has made a more detailed post about this pls link it so i can read!

but in the opening dnd scene there is an army of troglodytes. the party is relieved at first because they think that’s all there is. once they think they’re relatively safe, the demogorgan arrives.

i’m pretty sure i’ve seen people discuss this scene in general in relation to conformitygate, but here is something interesting that i haven’t seen before:

troglodytes, the creatures the party feels comfortable defeating without difficulty, live in caves. like henry’s cave. they also stink, like all the references to foul smells we’ve seen throughout the st universe.

vecna is the troglodyte that the party defeated easily, and the demogorgan is the even bigger bad yet to come (maybe brenner/the lab).

[chromatictapestryperditions]

[nightnut]

Radio that strong that it can reach California

(I wonder if New York is also a part of the UD here)

[greenfiend]

The Mysterious Heart

He can't say it... he can't even write it.

Except for two instances...

When he turns to look in Will's direction. If you re-watch this scene, he first looks forward towards Nancy/Jonathan then turns his head to the left... exactly where Will is standing... while he says "I can't lose her again".

When Will pushed him to do so while standing behind him and featured in the camera shot.

Each time he cannot say or write it, El is present but Will is missing. But every time he can say it, Will is right there beside him.

This isn't some re-used plot point that doesn't properly resolve. This is a major aspect of the story as a whole... that's why it keeps re-occurring.

His feelings and his heart is integral to the story as a whole. Without heart, it all falls apart.

Above is one of my favourite scenes through a metaphoric lens. Will feels "crazy" "nervous" and "the sky spins" for him; these are feelings of being in love and he's struggling with it. Lucas says he gets nervous too but "the sky doesn't spin" for him. He then asks Mike "it ever spin for you?" And, of course, Mike avoids directly answering the question. Unwilling to explicitly reveal his heart. However, he does immediately turn his complete attention towards Will.

But his feelings remain a mystery. He cannot say "I love you" ever again since ST4. He creates the motto "friends don't lie" while he continues to lie to his friends and himself. He builds a bomb that he truly never symbolically drops. He never becomes "Mike the Brave".

Even for viewers who deny Byler evidence feel like something is missing from ST5. They may not be able to pin point exactly why it felt so unsatisfying. But a major reason is Mike and his arc. Mike himself has been a mystery for nearly a decade now. A mystery with many clues and buildup but no reveal or resolution. The "X" was never solved, nor the missing puzzle piece found.

[acecreamsandwich]

Besides the fact that there is so much blue/red imagery in S5 alone, which I know some have pointed out on here already so I won't go through the wild amount of examples on here. It's in props that are paired together, costumes, set decorations, etc., sure, but, it's this that really gets me in episode 1 only 20 minutes in:

What do these lights look like?

And what happens to the lights when Steve and Jonhathan are on the radio tower?

Steve hits the cable box and it does this:

Lands on blue, and stays that way. That's the last we see of these two lights during the season.

What is the blue/red pill from the Matrix for those who don't know?

Blue: Illusion. Living in a fake fantasy-like world called the Matrix. Where everything seems happy and okay and you can be whoever you want to be, be as strong as you want, you can basically fly or have powers if you want to, as long as you believe that you can.

Red: Harsh reality. Living in the destroyed, apocalyptic world that you once called home, now in ruins.

Wtf was the last thing we saw before S4 ends? Oh right:

And in S5 we are greeted with this as the first shot of Hawkins:

then a "giant metal Band-aid"

that kids freaking play on

Literally none of Season 5 is real, or at least not what it seems to both the characters and the audience. I am so certain 😭

[pareiwheeler]

s3 will byers is sooo... like he is fourteen he is in love with his best friend he doesn't hate el but he wishes he did because maybe that would make it easier. he's "not gonna.... fall in love." he's left behind, he doesn't want to grow up. he doesn't understand why everyone else is in such a hurry to. he just wants to play dnd, he wants his friends to dress up with him. he feels "stupid, so stupid." he thinks its his fault everyone is changing, he doesn't want to blame himself. he hasn't seen his mom in days, and he doesn't know if he likes the space or hates it. his best friend is being mean. everyone is getting a girlfriend and he can't stop thinking about a boy. he is fourteen.

[slytherflowerao3]

it’s always funny to me when people in fandom act like there’s only one acceptable way to interpret a character.

and no, i’m obviously not talking about takes that are genuinely harmful or target real people or marginalized groups. i’m talking about people theorizing, analyzing, and sharing different readings of fictional characters, only for someone in the comments to go, “no! that’s not it!”

art is subjective for a reason. we all bring different experiences, perspectives, and biases to what we consume. if someone has a different interpretation than you, that doesn’t invalidate yours.

you don’t have to agree with every take you see, but acting like your interpretation is the only objectively correct one completely misses the point of engaging with art in the first place. don’t like it? scroll. disagree? discuss. but stop treating differing character interpretations like a moral failing.

[acecreamsandwich]

Is it weird to think that this scene:

And this scene:

Correlate with one another? 😭

[mikewakeup]

i really do think there might be something seriously wrong with the curse gate from the creel house.

i've been on a mission to prove that the MAC-Z gate isn't real. it makes absolutely zero sense because hopper went through the MAC-Z gate and jane went through a gate at the wheeler house but she still found him in the upside down. but there could be something up with it anyway.

we went from this ↓

to this. how? how did we get a perfectly upright portal on the side of the library? ↓

and then we ended up with this backstage-at-a-play looking shot ↓

in my theories, i could already be wrong. i don't know for sure if the curse gate that took out the side of the library was even from the creel house. but it all just seems so suspicious.

i made this map before the official story behind the legendary series book was released. but that map does confirm that the library would be facing west with the side entrance facing south towards melvald's general store. that is correct by what we see in the show. however, that map puts the trailer park, lovers lake and the "max gate" all on the east side of hawkins. something's wrong there.

and now with the creel house gate MISSING?? from the map? incredibly suspicious.

i've explained it a little better before. but basically, i don't think the gate that comes in from the north side of the library went up and over the corner of the building. from what i can tell, once the curse gates started spreading, they stayed on the ground. the gates took out buildings, but from what i can tell, none of those buildings got neat little upright portals on the sides. it definitely could've spread up the library, but i'm not sure about that. the MAC-Z gate mimics the mother gate and i think it's suspicious.

[gritstartar]

The memorial in front of the library is literally just Hawkins National Laboratory 😭

[slytherflowerao3]

just binged philosopher’s stone and noticed something that ruined me

in the great hall, when dumbledore is awarding points, he says “pure love” while talking about harry and then we immediately cut to draco (incredibly validating)

then, as dumbledore says “and outstanding courage,” the camera is still on draco

whether intentional or not, it feels like such beautiful foreshadowing: harry eventually saving draco, and draco’s own journey with courage. i don’t know if they meant it that way, but i love that it can be read that way

[slytherflowerao3]

just noticed i have a tendency in my stonathan fics to make steve give jonathan gifts through other love interests like nancy (x) and eddie (x). yeah. i’m petty like that.

[youaremess]

we were so fast to grill mike for his fantasy plan, to say that he lives in a fantasy, and that he needs to lock in and work through his coping mechanisms and start dealing with reality.

but what if he was right?

what if leaving hawkins is the key? in the world where hawkins is a simulation run by the lab or something actually the worst solution would be to face the monsters or fight vecna in a duel. it would be a much better solution to just flee and escape the simulation.

i take this as a hint that outside of the simulation they will all meet again. i really hope so because i don't see any other option of the ending to be satisfying if the "real" world doesn't have the party or their established relationships with each other

[lavenderlatte222]

With all of the chess imagery in ST, it's driving me nuts that this grid almost makes a chess board.

Chess boards are columns A-H and rows 1-8.

In ST, their grid is A-H and 1-6.

(more info about this map and grid in this post)

They're missing rows 7 and 8, where the black pieces are set up before the game starts.

This reminded me of the white chess pieces at the WSQK.

Maybe the missing rows mean that they're unaware of their opponent's pieces at play. Like the opposing side hasn't been revealed to the characters, or to us, yet.

[slytherflowerao3]

!!!!!