#bronski beat

[molesonurshldrs]

"the love that you need will never be found at home"

inspired by Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat and the cover of The Age of Consent album.

[wisehearttruther]

the state you’ll genuinely find me in if smalltown boy starts playing when mike wheeler is on screen

[the-black-pharade]

using the shapes on the cover of smalltown boy to make a clown makeup-esque design for mike. drawing without the shapes under the cut :)

[shummmno]

New Year's corporate party in the style of the 80s

Bronski Beat - Hit That Perfect Beat

[oliveespineapples]

it needs to be studied how Mike Wheeler is the physical embodiment of the vocals and synths of Smalltown Boy

[davidhudson]

Happy 65th, Jimmy Somerville.

[the-yappstronaut]

Imagine Mike Wheeler escaping Vecna to the song "Smalltown Boy." Imagine it.

Imagine Mike Wheeler, pushed against the remains of the Creel house in the Upside Down, vines wrapped around his throat, Vecna taunting him as we hear the lyrics "pushed around and kicked around, always a lonely boy."

Imagine Mike Wheeler, in Vecna's realm, running from Vecna as we hear "run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away (crying to your soul)" from the background.

Imagine Mike Wheeler, falling from the sky, collapsing into Will's arms, sobbing from fear and hurt, as we hear the lyrics "cry, boy, cry, boy, cry," flooding through his headphones.

Imagine Mike Wheeler being pulled up from the ground, guided away from the point of the attack as we hear "you leave in the morning with everything you own in a little black case, alone on a platform, the wind and rain on a sad and lonely face."

[letsgocrazytogether]

Was really unsure about posting this fan edit because I don't know how posting them works here on Tumblr or the rules.

This is my second fan edit but the first one I have published so I am still learning how editing works. I have been wanting to make a Smalltown Boy fan edit for a long time. Because we are so close to Vol. 2, Byler endgame and all the hints of Mike getting vecna'd being there I wanted to compile scenes throughout the seasons with all the hints linking Mike's internalised homophobia, the forced comformity as he lives in a homophobic town and how, like the message of the song, he could leave Hawkins alongside Will somewhere they can be themselves freely. And how all of this is interlinked in the show and related to the Upside Down on both Will and Mike's sides. This song was at the top of Mike's official Spotify playlist, it was the first one on the list.

I wanted to encapsulate as much of Mike's journey as I could and also adding the hints like what the Mind Flayer and the Upside Down represent (trauma, internalised homophobia etc.) which have been theories for a long time as well as how Mike and Will's love can be the answer to saving Hawkins in contrast with what happened in season 4 with Mike's speech to El (which was interlinked to the last gate to the Upside Down opening and Max almost dying and ending up in a coma as his speech was not rooted in honesty and was inconsistent in the details, because he does love El but not romantically) and in turn this paralleling how Mike's speech to Will in season 2 helped them. I tried to make a visual analysis of Mike and his journey so far.

Smalltown Boy is a song about living in a homophobic town in the 80s and faced with rejection and homophobic violence. It is a gay anthem and also uplifting in the message of leaving behind an unaccepting and unsafe environment to finally be yourself, freely and without fear.

Mike and Will could leave Hawkins together, to live somewhere far away from everything they have been through there and start a new life without having to hide anymore.

I really hope Smalltown Boy plays in the next episodes and I feel there is a high chance it could.

Mike is such a complex and beautiful character and has been through so much. I can't wait to see more of his POV this season and see him get his happy ending. Both by finally accepting being gay, healing and being with Will, just like he has always wanted. I can't wait to see him learn to love himself. Just like Will accepting his queerness gave him strength and unlocked his powers, Mike accepting his can also be a powerful scene and pivotal for his character. The self-acceptance of their identity and mutual love so powerful it can save Hawkins... and that is such a powerful and beautiful message to send.

Song: Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat.