#byler patterns

[gayofthefae]

First watch of volume 2, I was full of anxiety.

Second watch, I noticed: Mike barely goes a single scene without mentioning Will. [and the extremely few exceptions it's because he has 0-2 lines]

MAC-Z scene: "he's a sorcerer! A real life, honest to god sorcerer!"

Helping Lucas up scene: "He more than just saw"

Walking through the tunnels scene: "He's more like a sorcerer than a wizard"

Joyce's plan scene: [his powers are] "innate, yes, thank you!"

Will using his powers scene: "come on, Will, come on" [when he's unconscious - this is like his only line in this scene overall]

Robin's trance theory scene: "Get to Max, I'll stay with Will"

El comes back scene: "He's just in here"

El looking for Will scene: "recharge your battery and we'll try [looking for Will] again"

Mike and El talk in the cabin scene: "This is our story. And it starts with getting Will back."

Mike in the hospital basement: "All you need to know is that this group saved Will when no one else could"

WSQK with Will: "Is everything okay[, Will]?"

It reminds me writing it down and looking back through it all like this of 2x4. The only episode of the season Mike is not with Will, but the one where every scene he has is about him, even the one about looking for D'art, his only line is "[Will]'ll be here [soon]". It's that, but for 3 episodes straight.

I remember now, free from the anxiety that retconned my initial perceptions. I remember every time this happened, I went "welp this is just some scene about something else" and then he'd go like "our happy ending, El.......and also WILL'S THERE BTW" "this is a great plan...like all our great plans WILL has been there for" it was always out of nowhere I loved it XD.

[gayofthefae]

Max told Lucas that she saw him waiting for her and that he was what saved her, not the music.

Will told Robin that her worlds helped him harness his powers.

Will told his mom that memories of her and his childhood helped him harness his powers.

Everyone who's thought of anything to save them has told them except...

Mike still doesn't know Will thought of him in 5x04.

[gayofthefae]

Sometimes I'm like "does the 'Will voice/face' really exist?" And then I see shit like this

These are the last second of one shot and the first second Mike is onscreen in the next. These are 5 seconds apart. And of what we see onscreen, we literally go immediately from one to the other the SECOND Will is upset.

He switches from "in public mode" to "Will mode" in an instant. Like the flip of a switch.

[gayofthefae]

Just made this post about how Mike visibly shuts down at any mention of queerness or attraction in season 1 because he isn't ready to handle it.

But it made me realize something kind of sweet about his later defensiveness.

This is him in season 1. Not ready. Would rather go numb than feel it.

This is him in season 3. Scared. Lashing out, uncontrollably defensive in protection of himself.......but he is feeling it.

And here's him in season 4. Beating around the bush, but bringing it up those conversations himself. Lashing out, but not as aggressively, and only when it gets too close. But he is feeling it. And he is feeling it willingly.

Sometimes things hurt more because you've become strong enough to handle the pain. You're letting it in.

Mike wasn't better in season 1. He was worse. He wasn't not defensive in that way because he was comfortable. It was because as soon as it was said, he wasn't there at all. Defensive is him being present. And the longer he is, the less defensive he gets, inch by inch.

It may be painful, and it may be hard, and it may scare him - a lot - and he may need to press hard stop sometimes.

But he is feeling it now. Every time he reacts, that's actually a sign that he's becoming more and more ready. He's getting further and further from numb. He's getting more in control. He's able to feel it now without collapsing in on himself.

He's able to hold it in his hands now without it burning him.

And maybe it's still scalding. And maybe it still stings.

But he's not on fire with it anymore.

[gayofthefae]

This post about how crazy together isn't romantic because it's a sweet scene but because they are shown before this point to act differently with each other when other people are around.

And now I'm thinking about the patterns of Mike's behavior with Will and El with witnesses vs without.

Byler with witnesses:

Without witnesses:

Elmike with witnesses:

Without witnesses:

(also it is really funny to see it laid out how little screentime Mike and Will are given anything but alone together and how little Mike and El are given alone together)

And many of these are immediate. Mike is grumpy with Will on Halloween then the crazy together scene is under an hour later. Mike is laughing with El skating and their fight is the next morning. The only change is that they're alone, more honest.

Mike and Will are not romantic in public. But they also aren't really platonic in private.

Mike and El are not platonic in public. But they also aren't really romantic in private.

On the occasions they are, she is treated as a witness too - with him being shown unhappy as soon as she's gone.

Both shift their behavior based on witnesses. But where Mike hides affection and romance from others, he performs it for others with El.

And shifting your behavior, secrets in general all tend to boil down to one thing: what you do in private is the truth. Public is the performance.

He's been happy alone with her before. But never romantically. Always joking or talking.

But tensing and hesitating when physical affection comes into play

And we know clearly what way Mike is happiest with Will. Seeming to maybe even subconsciously, given its consistency and immediacy, become more physically and verbally affectionate as soon they're alone.

But tensing and distancing when others walk in.

There's an element of the mask falling. This effort that we see him collapse out of in some cases when he's alone in his ideal state with them. Like the immediacy I referenced with his relaxation with Will, but the same is true of the contrast between his fake public smiles and real, relaxed smiles with El when they're alone platonically.

It's not that when he's in public with Will or El he necessarily seems tense, we don't actually even need that, and it's why it's harder to see outside of his perspective -

It's that as soon as he's not, he's visibly relieved.

You don't need to convince me you're tense as long as I see because suddenly way more relaxed. You don't need to convince me your happiness is fake as long as I see a much more convincing smile from you later. I'll fill it in.

We know two things here:

- What Mike wants others to perceive of him and Will is friendship, what he wants others to perceive of him and El is romance.

- Mike is visibly relieved and more relaxed as soon as he can stop these public performances.

It is an extremely consistent pattern. There is only really one condition under which we see Mike platonic with Will. One condition in which we see Mike romantic with El.

And it's for. others.

As soon as they're gone, he stops. This isn't for him. This isn't what he wants. It's only how he wants to be perceived, but that's his only remaining reason for doing it. No others bar him as soon as it's gone.

Mike is only romantic with El and not romantic with Will out of fear of public perceptions otherwise. That is what his behavior reflects.

[gayofthefae]

Coming back to the fact that the scene focused on how much Mike loves El is titled after how much Will loves Mike

He was barely in the scene. It was like 5 minutes of only Mike talking about only El and his love for her and strengthening her

And it was titled for Will. For Will's romantic feelings for Mike.

Mike told El he loved her. And the title of the song that played over that, 99% of the scene under that song being Mike telling El how much he loves her, was not "Mike loves El", but "Will loves Mike".

Mlvns complain about it like it's an accident, but it isn't. They literally gave away Mike and El's romance to Will.

We've counted before. Every single romantic moment, he's present. And sometimes, he's even its NAMESAKE.

Will owns their romance now and that's insane. They didn't just ween audiences off of Mike and El to get them attached to somebody else. They gave it away to the person.

And not just in terms of him having the power to keep them together or not, I'm talking about the AUDIENCE.

You can never again think of Mike and El without thinking of him. It belongs to him now. That's why Mlvns talk about us under every one of their completely Will-absent edits and posts but we seldom talk about them. Because one cannot talk about Mike and El without talking about Will. Because as of season 4, their romance belongs to him, that's insane. Mike and Will belong to themselves and each other. And Mike and El's friendship belongs to themselves and each other. But their romance belongs to Will.

He is always there. He is holding them together. He was provided the power to tear them apart. They are NAMED for him. It's like naming the ship between Mike x El "Will Byers".

"What's your favorite Mike and El moment?" "'You're the heart'" "Oh, the Mike and Will moment?" "NO, Mike's LOVE SPEECH TO EL"

they created a world where you have to correct it every time. Where the default for anything you say is to mean Will.

They essentially installed autocorrect to every time you say "I love Mike and El", go "did you mean 'Will'?"

"No, goddamnit, I said Mike and El WIll"

"Mike and El Will"

"M!leven Byler"

[gayofthefae]

This is all very simple let's go through it.

El spends time with Mike, right?

Well, some seasons, she more-so spends time with Hopper

Or Max

Or just alone

Mike spends time with El

But sometimes, he's more with Lucas

Or Dustin

They rotate. They rotate friends. Which friends they're spending the most time with. El more-so, being treated almost as a character without a love interest in that regard (because her ending is being treated, in a way, just as something always true yet to be revealed - "She is her own superhero" to quote Millie).

But to contrast, Mike does also have a consistent person in a way that El doesn't (her arc being about herself, therefore requiring the most variety of influences).

This is also consistent to specific other characters. Platonic ones, like El, not having this proves its presence.

Look who's together almost every season.

Look who's together every season

Look who's together almost every season

And would you look.....

who's together almost every season

Friendships rotate their screentime. Romances have consistent screentime.

It's very simple. Mike and El rotate screentime. And Mike has consistent screentime with somebody else: Will.

We've been over this concept a hundred times. It isn't about the definition of romance in life, it's about the definition of romance in the individual show by how they outline it. And the definitions are always very simple.

9-1-1 is another example. No, witnessing someone almost die and them witnessing you almost die is not 'inherently gay'. For some reason in that show they were like "and that will only happen with couples!" so now it's a romantic 'trope'.

If you create consistent patterns that are loyal to their conditions of romantic-or-not, that that is not 'inherently romantic'. These rules are based on the world-building, not the world.

[gayofthefae]

You know how I know Mike is queer?

These are the same person. Mike is an inherently caring, loving, and protective person. It's what Will called out in 4x08 and reminded us of with Mike's desire and practice in attempt to be a "hero" and be able to help the ones he loves.

But when El tells him she feels unloved by him, he doesn't comfort her. At all. He defends himself. He doesn't even say "yes I do". He says "I say it". Even when he's arguing that he loves her, he is defending himself, not comforting her. If he was comforting her he would have reacted to her crying at all. He doesn't. He just becomes increasingly desperate and escalates the tactics that are making her cry more.

Because the accusation is that important to him. Not many things could be so important to him that he would deprioritize her or taking care and protecting and comforting those he loves. He even does quite well at it at the start of the scene. We have PROOF that he is pretty stable these days with any sort of accusation or invalidation with how well he takes "you don't understand" and simply asks questions without any sort of offense. So he CAN take it. He takes it IN THIS CONVERSATION.

But when she says he doesn't love him, he stops the "they just don't know you". He stops the "don't say that about yourself, you're lovable," which is what this is really about for her. If he had said that even if he couldn't say it himself, it might have still helped a little bit: frame it as his own fault if he can't. But he couldn't do that. Instead, he went with how it reflected on HIM that he couldn't say it and defended himself AGAINST her. FOUGHT her on it.

There are few things that can make him fight a person. And they've all actually been pretty similar. They're all El:

"You're prioritizing El over Will"

"There is something off about your relationship with El"

"You're prioritizing El over [Will]"

"He's right that your and [El's] relationship wasn't a good one"

"Your and El's relationship wasn't a good one"

"You're prioritizing El over [Will]"

"You don't love [El]"

He is comforting. He is kind. He prioritizes others' comfort and safety consistently. He takes other accusations fairly lightly and focuses back onto the person making them and their emotions. And yet, what does he say in those instances and only those instances?

"SHUT. UP."

"You lying piece of shit. You're crazy!"

"It's not my fault you don't like girls!"

"He's just some crazy old man"

"You're conspiring against me!"

"We're friends! We're friends!"

"You're being ridiculous. What is this?"

People who say his character has gotten worse are stating it under the idea that he is always like this. The entire discovery so many people, including myself, had that he's queer was because we noticed that his outbursts were consistent. People think he's random and angry because they think the situations are random: Lucas, Hopper, Will, Max, El. But they're forgetting to note what each of those people questioned about him right before.

The biggest proof is that he doesn't ever talk like this outside of these situations. It's lighthearted debates and empathetic conversations.

Mike Wheeler is a kind person. If he said "You're being ridiculous. What is this?" it is not just because he's scared of vulnerability or commitment.