mike accepting nikki is kinda an allegory to mike accepting his queerness
ok so I got invested in the whole nikki is a representation of mike's queerness idea and I went back to look at their scenes together. cool stuff honestly.
it starts with nikki saving will (=mike's love for will saving him in s1) and it looks like mike is glad to see nikki, he's friendly during their first encounter, because she just saved his best friend.
but later when she is introduced to the whole party, mike doesn't want her to get closer to them, he doesn't trust her, he thinks that she puts them in danger. what makes him back off here and let nikki in, is will's comment on nikki saving him again (season 2 anyone?)
nikki is associated with secrets a lot in the show, no comment.
what really clicked for me is that in this next scene mike strongly believes that nikki (=his queerness) has an ability to ruin everything if hopper (=somebody who might recognize his queerness) sees her.
and mike is arguing about it only and directly with will, because in the story it's will who is encouraging nikki to join the party (=will is the catalyst of mike's queerness showing up again and again).
this here just made me laugh ->
'come out, nikki!' says lucas of all people, who, as many believe, have clocked mike by s5.
and the best part of the whole show imo is the scene of mike talking to himself...
mike knows that will is brave, 'brave' is something that mike aspired to be, but is not there yet. and it's a secret, because the real reason for will's braveness is not that he survived UD, but because he accepted himself.
and mike can see that will is brave and that will for sure will accept mike's queerness as well, but mike keeps blowing him off. why?
because mike is scared of other people learning about his queerness (aka hopper learning about nikki) and what that might mean for him and his life (aka ruin everything)
buuuut it looks like mike already realizes that being brave (=come out) is the only way to be happy. he asks nikki to be brave and overcome her fear. we know about her that she is scared of getting close to people, that's why she's blowing will off. basically mike is encouraging nikki (=his queerness) to get closer to will. hellooooo
AND he talks himself into being brave and overcome his fears. in this show his fear doesn't allow him to let nikki in. in the metaphorical sense he's getting ready to overcome his fear and let his queerness in, get closer to it and accept it. wow
on a lighter note I loved this silly little moment of mike geeking over will together with nikki. it's funny to think about it knowing what she represents. because basically mike's behaving the same in s5 and we can imagine that in s5 he was geeking over will together with his queerness lol.
and last but not least in my tier list of this whole gay allegory... after resolving his conflict with nikki mike's doing something risky, something bad and truly naughty. he does that thing that will did earlier. and oh boy does he enjoy himself. he even admits that he always wanted to do this.
and doing this thing puts him on the 'dark' side with will and nikki lmao.
it also reminded me of the s3 scene with will saying "welcome to my world".
that's it from me. I mean I love this stuff, but please... just... nikki, hello, come out from the subtext! I want to see this all IN TEXT
