And if I said that Lucas clocking byler is more than just the meme and has actually been intended from the start? walk with me, walk with me, sinclairgate is real just walk with me
We know that Lucas is a big part of Mileven getting together in season 1 because of the teasing he tosses towards Mike, unintentionally compelling him to romantically love El. Blah blah, compulsory heterosexuality, y’all know the drill. Lucas implanted the idea that Mike should romantically love El into Mike's head, and Mike went with it to seem “as normal as possible”
Plus, all the other instances in season 1 where his character contrasts Mike's -- yes that's seen with their views of El but it's also seen in the belief that Will is alive or not. Like in this scene when they drag his body out of the lake:
Or the scene where Mike is showing Lucas and Dustin how El can tune into Will using the radio. Lucas says that it's the baby monitor next door, and Mike says:
Etc etc. Lucas is also present in both the main S1 homophobic bullying scenes where Mike is indirectly called gay (Dustin is also present but this is mostly just important because it confirms Lucas knows about the rumors surrounding Will's sexuality)
Point being, Lucas is well aware of how protective Mike is of Will. I don't think he projected Mileven onto Mike because he genuinely thought Mike and El loved each other, but because he was conforming to heteronormativity in his own way (plus, his feelings surrounding El in general during season 1 were negative and he probably just wanted to tease Mike about something). Throughout the rest of the series, his assumption is challenged.
Let's move into a section I've delightfully named “moments of Lucas Sinclair coming this close to clocking Byler in Stranger Things”
Ghostbusters parallel with Venkman and Dana
We all know this scene -- Mike and (conveniently) Lucas both accidentally dress as Venkman and Mike gets mad about it. I think we should also all know how this parallels Byler, with Mike being Venkman and Will being Venkman's love interest, Dana, who's possessed by a similar mindflayer creature (I've never seen ghostbusters, apologies if this explanation is crap).
You know who would also know that parallel? Lucas.
I mean, come on. The whole point of this scene is how much the core four are super nerdy compared to everyone else at their middle school and you're telling me that Lucas isn't able to connect the dots and realize who's who in this “Only one of us can be Venkman!” scenario? If Bylers can do it, I'm sure Lucas can as well.
2. Sauna / lingerie scenes
Again pretty infamous scenes so I won't go in and explain all of it, but just the contrast between the two has got to be clear.
When Lucas said “I think I just threw up in my mouth” at the old man sauna, note that neither Will nor Mike said anything back. What's a normal, heterosexual response to such a comment? “Yeah, dude, gross.” Not silence. Also take in Mike and Will's petrified expressions, compared to Lucas' more curious one.
Lucas isn't stupid, and I ultimately don't think their reactions went over his head. Maybe in the moment he thought it was just odd, but later on the why it seemed off definitely became clearer to him.
3. Rain fight!
Lucas serves less purpose narratively in these scenes, but it's really his presence that's important. He sees El break up with Mike and he sees how Mike treats Will. He encourages it in some cases, like when he and Mike are both being sarcastic during Will's post-breakup campaign, but he also sees how quickly Mike tries to fix it directly after.
While he isn't present for the rain right, he does see who Mike decides to go apologizing to afterwards. What's Lucas thinking about in this scene? Maybe, “Why isn't Mike saying sorry to his girlfriend, who he should care more about if their relationship is really that big a deal?”
4. Hospital parallels
It drives me insane how very clearly this parallels the Byler hospital scenes in season two. If Lucas stays by Max's side even in uncertain death no one bats an eye, if Mike does the same with Will it's the end of the world.
I can't help but think. Wouldn't Lucas make this connection, too? I don't know about y’all but I tend to associate similar events a lot in my mind. Especially since we know that Will is occasionally with Lucas in the hospital visiting Max, it could quite possibly have been on his mind.
“Hey...didn't Mike do this exact same thing with Will when we were younger? I guess this is how that felt.” Again, he might not know for certain at this point of the two's relationship, but it's building up that steady third wheel-y vibes.
It also is so fucking funny to me just how many times they position Lucas between / beside Byler in season 5:
He is ALSO there for the whole dick conversation??? Hello?? He witnesses byler glance at each other when robin says she likes dick???
Anyways, now we're in volume one and we're starting to wrap things up. We get this scene where Lucas interrupts Mike and El's “deep and emotional” conversation and refers to them as lovebirds. Hence comes the Mileven look of utter love and admiration for being clocked as lovers!
This situation reminds me so much of the initial Mileven teasing scene in season 1 where Lucas was teasing Mike about loving El so much he should “marry her”.
Lucas is teasing Mike here again, but with about five years worth of experience with mileven. At this point he should know that they don't communicate well. He’s also likely got the pieces of Byler forming in his head, even
If you ask me, what tips it over the edge for him is their reactions to being called lovebirds. He already suspected their dysfunction (and possible breakup?), as well as Byler's increasing tension, and that's why he said it -- as a test. That is the final snowball, then this:
This is the avalanche needed for Lucas to finally realize that two of his best friends are in love with each other. This is where every subtle little scene with Will and Mike finally click for him -- he’s realizing that wait, maybe there’s a reason Mike wanted to be Venkman so bad, or why he stayed by Will’s side in that hospital bed for so long, or why they both had that look on their faces when they were in the lingerie store that one time.
I think since Lucas is the one who started the idea of Mileven, due to his “why don’t you marry her?” scene in season 1, he's gonna need to be the one who ends it once and for all. Lucas being the second one to clock them also feels important for Mike’s acceptance of Byler, because a lot of his "straightness" has been modeled off Lucas -- like in season one, as I’ve explained, but Mike also seeks guidance from Lucas so much in season 3 when dealing with their girl struggles. And then, I could talk for hours about Lumax parallels. Ultimately if Lucas, the pinnacle of straightness and the main one out of the core four in a healthy straight relationship, senses something is up, then something is definitely up and Mike will have no choice but to listen.
Maybe the funniest evidence for all of this? Lucas LITERALLY breaking the fourth wall to say this:
Yes I know it’s not about Byler. Yes it’s still funny. Bro’s seen too many “coincidences” in those past 18 months living next door to Mike...looking at you mwtfdydgate........
In conclusion, he's watching them and has been watching them from season 1 -- he's only just put everything together now.
lucas fucking sinclair, everybody ^