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Mike is ashamed to be queer and Will is ashamed to be happy and it explains their entire relationships with queerness and how they have very different relationships to it while still having the same end point their arcs will end at in season 5.

Mike is ashamed to be queer

But he is not ashamed to be happy

Will is not/as ashamed to be queer

But he is ashamed of being happy

And we can see it. Because what Mike consistently forces himself into when he retreats is this: "happy" straightness

But what Will forces himself into when he retreats is this: unhappy queerness

Mike is convincing himself he can be happy straight so he's forcing himself into heterosexuality in an attempt, Will is convincing himself he shouldn't be happy queer so he's forcing himself to grieve a happy ending he hasn't lost.

That Murray-Wheeler line "retreat to the safety of...name? name?" for Mike, we know works for El. But for Will, he retreats to the safety of pain. For many abuse survivors, it's comfortable - familiar. And they were taught because they deserve it, at least they have a right to it.

We don't see Mike cry as much about his queerness so far for this reason. Mike is forcing happiness into straightness. Will is forcing happiness out of queerness. But both are actually resisting the same amount. Both's base states are happiness in queerness, if they allow themselves it.

That's why their season 5 arc goals are the same, but their journeys are different - as they have been for the whole show. Mike needs to learn he has a right to be queer as the source of his happiness, Will needs to learn he has a right be happy as a result of his queerness.

This was just an analysis post but I also think that's what Vecna would use against him. We've covered before the idea of if Vecna went after Mike taunting him with the reminder that he is queer.

But with Will it's that he wants happiness. "How dare you be happy at the idea of taking something from El, how dare you take up space when your queerness already takes up too much, how dare you want more when you are already too much, your loved ones are burdened by how much they give to protect you, and now you want to take more?"

#byler analysis #will byers #trauma representation #stranger things #byler #mike wheeler #will byers analysis #mike analysis #byler arc #queerness

ok so i just have to get this out here

this moment on mikes face in this scene actually destroys me. it rips me to SHREDS when i re-watch this.

he just looks disappointed in a way like he knows. like he already knows.

what sucks so much here is before he dissolves into ‘classic mike wheeler defensive mode’ to avoid the subject/point of the conversation— you can see mikes raw expression right here, right before that.

in these few seconds of facial expression, it’s so clear how mike is not mad at El, but is disappointed and frustrated with himself for making El feel this way. at least to me, it’s almost obvious his expression here reads self-deprecative. we see him look away almost as if to curse frustration more toward himself than anything. his frustration also reads as knowing, like he predicted the possibility of this specific issue arising— like he’s thought about this, like he knew it was an issue before it came up, perhaps because it was an internal issue for him already.

call me insane for this interpretation if you’d like—but i love finn’s ability to act through his expressions and this is one of those golden moments to me where he captured something so raw and real with his acting ability. (i am convinced finn and noah and honestly the whole acting cast thought byler was going to happen in the last season.)

but seriously this momentary expression from mike is so important to me every time i re-watch. it’s like seeing his walls go down for a split second moment to internally curse himself for not being able to prevent or do anything about an issue he already saw coming and knew would probably come up at some point, before returning back to defensive mode in an attempt to cover for himself and act like he doesn’t even have any idea what El is so upset about (because he doesn’t even want to address the issue himself). he looks so sad, disappointed, angry, and confused with himself all in this one second long moment. it also appears he’s either mouthing the word “from” in self-mock-frustration or was mouthing a guilty-as-charged-looking “fuck.” here because he saw this coming already.

for me, and how i read the show, mike and will are canon soulmates, but something got messed with along the making of the show, so it didn’t end up explicitly canon. with that said— do understand im just enjoying my creativity and ability to interpret things how i want to— and to me mike reads (and has always read) as a young teen struggling with copious amounts of internalized homophobia (he reminds me of me!) in a very heteronormative society on top of his trauma with the supernatural.

anyway yeah, when you read this specific scene this way, it tugs on the heart strings for sure. especially as a jane hopper and mike wheeler fan because to watch them both struggle with their own emotions and feelings only to be unintentionally/unknowingly hurting each other in the process is so so painful💔🫩

Oooh, just a heads up. Mother is back in the kitchen cooking up a new Mike analysis. I'mma boutta rock y'alls world.

So we know what Vampires represent, right?

They made mike even more queer coded by trying to shut down byler haha

#byler #stranger things #literally mike wheeler #mike wheeler #byler endgame #stranger things 5 #mike wheeler is gay #vampire mike wheeler #mike analysis #st5 finale

s4 mike going for the half-hug in the airport and realizing that will changed his detergent, his shampoo, and started wearing a different deodorant. he isnt close enough to be able to smell the scent of wills skin so to him its just proof everything is different and all the change he feared is happening. will was never going to be stagnant like he selfishly hoped, and now hes growing and changing without mike

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #mike x will #will byers #mike queerler #byler fanfic #byler angst #stranger thing season 4 #stranger thing s4 #st4 #bi mike wheeler #byler endgame #byeler #mike analysis #mike centric byler #byler headcanon

mike’s face right before he promises to take el to the snowball

mike’s face before telling el he loves her

he’s hesitant both times because he knows the impact those words will have and he knows he can’t take them back but he thinks el needs them in order to pull through and survive. mike and el’s relationship has been falling apart before it even started because of mike not truly wanting to dedicate himself to her romantically

#byler #anti mileven #mike analysis

not to be too real but since we're talking about it... we always talk about will feeling lonely which is fair, but... it is such an Ugly, isolating, and genuinely heart-wrenching feeling to be the odd one out in your family, and to watch them treat others who aren't related to you the way you wish they would treat you, to watch them perform their familial roles with them and not you.

nancy's the only person in his family that mike could talk to, the only person that has the same trauma and would understand, and yet... he can't. they don't ever talk unless it's to be snippy and bite. nancy spends more time caring about max and will than she does mike, her own little brother.

holly is too young for him to bond with like that. she's just barely a kid, one that still needs to be cared for.

his mom tries her best, but he doesn't feel comfortable being vulnerable with her. considering the fact that she did everything "right" according to society's standards and married their dad of all people, i doubt he feels comfortable showing her who he really is. he lets her hug him when he's at his lowest, but we don't see them actually connecting.

his dad is just some ghost that haunts his house. he doesn't care about mike or think highly of him at all. the only times we've seen him pay mike any attention are when he belittles his interests, mocks him, punishes him, or shuts him down by telling him to listen to his mother. the only support he gets from him is financial in nature.

meanwhile, everyone else has a family they can turn to. dustin, despite lying to his mother to keep her out of his shenanigans, seems to have a decent relationship with her. even if he doesn't, he still has steve and robin. lucas is shown to have a healthy relationship with his parents and erica. will and el have their family.

max's situation is different, but she has the backing of the party; people that love her and actively try to help her and pull her back into the world of the living. she isn't thrust into a leadership role that doesn't allow for vulnerability. she has nancy who is willing to fight monsters for her, el who literally performed a miracle for her, and lucas who has stood by her since the beginning.

and mike... well. he has will back now, sure, but... things have been different between them for a long time now, even if they're both trying their best to be how they were before. and before then, will obviously was in california, not returning his calls or reaching out, making mike feel like he'd lost him for good.

so... all that being said, it's not that surprising that mike is the way he is: riddled with abandonment issues, wanting to be needed, immediately apologizing whenever he dares to open up, inclined to give others the protection and comfort no one's ever given him, prone to jealousy and possessiveness, unable to be completely and wholly honest about what troubles him, not exactly the most open to new people, and someone with appallingly low self-esteem.

you know how they say people that are drowning don't always look like they're drowning? that's mike.

#mike #mine #wheeler #mike analysis #byler #i can't think abt him for longer than two seconds bc then i make myself sad lol <3 #will's story is fucked up but at least he has people that love him and help him and SEE him and that he feels comfortable being his #true self with. but mike? :/ sigh.#mike just bottles it up and overcompensates / gets his mind off of it by caring for someone else.#like in the van scene when he's opening up to will and then immediately tries to deflect bc he thinks it's not important.#like... mike... you ARE important. you're feelings aren't stupid. you aren't some worthless loser with nothing to offer people.#the way that he talks about himself and the lack of support he has in his life is like ... actually so fucking sad lmao!#bc he spent all that time with el and sent her all those letters and yet they never actually got to know each other. it wasn't anything of #value. it was just company. and he had will but things started changing and mike felt like will was pulling away from him. then they both #moved across the country and he tried to call will all those times but couldn't reach him. and then will never reached out first so he just #straight up felt like he'd lost will. and the remaining party members are great but like mike says they aren't will. so he was just alone.#bites my own hand bites my own hand bites my own hand bites—

God, this scene tells me a lot about how mike is feeling. Mikes micro expressions from el to will, is so??? Mike seems to have some conflict going on but we don’t exactly know what it is yet, which i 100% think is going to be addressed in s5. All of the looks, heart eyes and speeches are all going to add up to mike being a gay man. I know that Will isn’t going to be used for his queerness to help a straight relationship. This will ruin all three characters arcs, it would not make sense and it would also be harmful to the queer community:(

Mikes arc: this is based off my interpretation of mike and what i think his conflict and how he’s going to end up in s5. His conflicts are his queerness and his internalized homophobia that causes him to push everyone away while also watering himself down to the standards of “normal” mike is actually a gay man who loves to play dnd with his friends, he also loves star wars and writing :) but his father makes fun of him a lot, he was bullied in middle school, and he is associated with the “occultists”(dnd group💀) at school, he’s pretty much been outcasted his whole life for being different, so of course the poor boy is gonna have internalized homophobia and he going to repress who he actually is to impress el and to seem straight. He even pretended to not gaf about dnd but immediately after s3 he joins a dnd group, clearly he’s pretending to be someone he is not. At the airport he’s wearing his silly little outfit, and argyle points out that it’s a shitty knockoff, which is a double meaning. The clothes are knockoffs of ocean pacific and mike is a knockoff of himself. He was pretending the entire day. So his conflict is pretending he’s normal. Even though he stated in the first episode(with his gay montage) that he doesn’t want to be normal but then he turns around and does this? Interesting.

Mike and eleven: why i think mike and el won’t be endgame, mike won’t have his arc of being himself again and he’s gonna repeat the same thing his parents did(nuclear family) which is boring as hell and also ew? Why are we romanticizing this possibility?? Mike changed for el, mike changed to impress el. He also feels inferior to el and he’s said “i love you” twice to her for the past?? 4(?) years(I don’t remember I don’t pay attention to milkvan) mikes arc would be useless if he was just pushed into this other than, accepting himself and being who he was in s1 and s2 where he didn’t feel the need to pretend.

Mike and will: will, doesn’t pretend to be someone he is not. He’s still in the closet but he’s still himself. He doesn’t want to pretend to be anything else whilst mike is pretending. Mike needs will to fulfill his interests and accept who he is. They need each other to be themselves and they need each other in general because they love each other. If mike ends up with will, we will see our beloved s2 mike. And we will see a more interesting version of mike than mike with el.

Mikes s5 ending: none of us know but one thing i do know is that he’s gonna have his gay little moments, and i want it to be NOTICEABLE. I want people to be like “ohhh, okay that makes sense” LMAO YK?? Also byler kiss!! I’ll take anything, as long as they kiss and confess to each other. I don’t think theyll pull a reddie or all of us bylers are going to riot💀 so i want mike and will alive, they deserve a happy ending.

Also in s5 i want mike to be with another queer character where they open up, like robin orr vickie(?🤨) or maybe even just a conversation with will. OR SUPPORT, ANYTHING FOR THE POOR BOY😭😭 el could be like “mike, ik what you are” and it would work. Please, he needs comfort 😢

(Im in class and my teacher has been showing us monkey photos for like 30 minutes, so um😭???)