The Downside-Up

Will stan first and foremost 💛🙈 | loving Bychance and Byclair

[thedownsideup]

Taking into account only canon, why TF did Mike not hug Will at the airport??? It literally has no sane explanation that doesn't require doing mental cartwheels to defend Mike.

What's wrong with him 😭 what were the duffers thinking. I don't even understand the rationale behind the scene.

[reluctantbylerblog]

I actually think el asking mike if they would be like siblings is really sad. she didn't know what a friend was. her only terms for close relationships are familial (papa, brothers and sisters). the only word she has to conceptualize closeness between two people of close age is fraternal.

I find her getting her first kiss without even knowing about the concept of romantic love, let alone kissing, even sadder. she was never exposed to parents kissing, or saw an older sister getting her first boyfriend. she's only known about the concept of friendship for about a week by that point. it doesn't feel cute to me, once I actually start thinking about her life experience up to that point. it's really, really sad. she didn't need a boyfriend. she was 12. her romantic feelings, her desires, they were never taken into account, even by the writers. it's why we never hear what she likes about mike, because from the beginning that didn't matter to the duffers. she was always just a tool for mike to get his first kiss and his first girlfriend and his first heartbreak. they used her to validate their own fantasies

[zoluarts]

so obedient

[advictoriams]

[holdmybychance]

mini bychance (wip)

Just wanted to share my silly bychance doodle because I thought it was cute. I can imagine Chance having a crush on Will and completely freaking out the moment Will gives him a drawing for the first time.

[zoluarts]

the unfortunate day you discover that your best friend (the sweetest guy in the world) is dating a jerk

[holdmybychance]

Chance and Will being friends as kids, where Chance often pretends to be a wolf (or a tiger) while Will pretends to be a bunny, and it's all fun and games...

...Until years later, Chance gets bitten by a werewolf and becomes one himself.

His first instinct is to go to Will, because Will is his safe person, but as Chance unwillingly turns into a wolf on the full moon, he realizes he might not be safe for Will anymore.

He can feel it, deep inside him. The need to hunt. The hunger. The confusion turning into rage.

Chance tries to stay away from Will and the rest of his family, scared to hurt them, scared to become a monster, but he underestimated how stubborn a bunny can be. Will refuses to let him go, no matter how dangerous it can be, and stays by his side during every single full moon, just so at least Chance doesn't feel alone (Chance insists to be chained up every time, and Will insists to hold his hand every time, and somehow, they make it work).

[babyonwire]

Bylers clocking into Volume 2 after coming off of the high that was Sorcerer

[holdmybychance]

Not sure how someone can still believe in comformitygate, as in an actual possibility and not just a headcanon/AU. Not only does this imply the Duffers are capable of pulling that off (they're not), but also...it still wouldn't fix the main problems of the show, and it wouldn't even make sense to surprise the fans after so much time, when the hype for the last season is essentially gone.

What happened on screen is real. And it wasn't good. Sometimes you have to accept that and move on with your life.

[fleetwood-will]

my hater hour

I’m sorry, but even if post-canon Mike were secretly queer, the argument that “If Will is allowed to explore his sexuality outside of Mike, then Mike should be free to have crushes on other boys too” is kind of ridiculous.

While this may seem fair on the surface, some people, in their tunnel vision regarding what they perceive as unfair treatment of Mike by 20 willstans, seem to overlook that it’s Will who is a visibly queer teen living in a world that does not accept him. In contrast, most of Mike’s struggles in the story revolve around his feelings of inadequacy and insecurity in his relationship with Jane/El. Unlike Will, Mike does not question his identity; he is not forced to confront any internal contradictions or engage in any self-reflection. After two seasons of struggling, he conveniently gains confidence from Will’s painting, but the writers never address this development again.

Will has endured years of heartbreak and rejection. Moving on is crucial for his self-preservation and growth, as it aligns with his journey of self-acceptance. In Seasons 3 to 5, he clings to the idea of the Mike from earlier seasons and the childhood intimacy they once shared, even though Mike prioritizes Jane/El over him. Will experiences profound pain related to his identity--internalized shame, forbidden love, and the feeling of being a mistake for being different--while Mike primarily struggles with typical teenage insecurities.

You have a canon queer character who has been treated poorly, but your focus is still on Mike, who has never confronted how he has hurt Will, both intentionally and unintentionally. Everyone should rewatch the rain fight in Season 3 without concentrating on Mike’s imagined struggles. Will has carried shame and fear since childhood. In the first episode of Season 3, he expresses that he is not going to fall in love because he already feels different and “not normal.” He experiences isolation while his friends enjoy their first heterosexual milestones, such as having girlfriends and kissing. When Will tries to stand up for himself and calls out Mike’s bullshit behavior, it backfires. Mike responds with the same derogatory language that bullies have used against Will. Instead of admitting that he hasn’t been himself, Mike shifts the focus to Will’s “difference,” leading to a soul-crashing breakdown for Will in what was once his childhood safe space. He realizes that nothing can ever be the same; he does not like girls, and he is in love with a boy who cannot reciprocate and is actively leaving him behind. In Season 4, Will’s crisis continues while Mike, self-absorbed, fails to notice the signs.

Fantasizing about Mike’s crushes on other guys comes from a desire to portray fanon Mike as a more complex and interesting character than he is in canon. However, their dynamic is already imbalanced, and instead of creating unnecessary drama, it would be more productive to envision Mike actively working towards a healthy relationship with Will rather than calling out the “unfair treatment of a deeply repressed babygirl Mike” by these horrible willstans.

[holdmybychance]

I'm torn between Chance calling Will "mahal" (love) and other pet names in Tagalog without Will knowing what it means OR Will secretly asking Chance's siblings to teach him a few words so that he can surprise Chance with a sweet "Mahal kita" (I love you), leaving Chance flustered and caught off guard.

(third option: Chance calls Will pet names in Tagalog thinking Will doesn't know what it means, except Will looked it up and feigns ignorance because he finds it cute.)

[jediwill]

normalguy mike x anything and everything will

[solisevart]

some quick prince will sketches bc those balcony pics I saw sent my royalty au heart off 🫠🥰

theee people's prince, the kingdom love seeing him out and about, or on the balcony during special occasions ..almost as much as will loves that his personal chamber looks out over one of the knight training courtyards 😇🤭

[thedownsideup]

We should've known the Duffers didn't know where the hell ST was going when the Russian plotline was introduced

[holdmybychance]

Bychance meeting in s3 at the mall is so buzzy... Either Chance is working there or he goes to see the same movies as Will, and they start bonding over their shared interest in horror films.

Since the party is falling apart and Will feels like everyone is changing except him, finding a new friend who doesn't make him feel like a second choice and genuinely enjoys the same thing as him is a breath of fresh air (and it doesn't hurt that Chance happens to be quite handsome as well).

As they grow closer, Will starts to feel a conflicting mixture of hope and fear. It's been ingrained in him that liking boys is wrong, that romantic love is never going to be for him, and yet he isn't entirely blind to Chance's subtle (read: very obvious and clumsy) flirting either. He can see the way Chance purposely sits close so their thighs are pressed together, the way his eyes linger for too long on his face even when Will's not talking, the way he keeps bumping their knees and makes dumb excuses just to grab his hand. The way he always makes time for him and remembers every detail like Will matters.

One day, Chance invites him at his house to watch a horror movie in his room. Will tells himself it's purely platonic and tries not to overthink (he absolutely does). It starts pretty normal, but as the first victim gets murdered on screen, Chance fakes a yawn and puts an arm around Will's shoulders, and Will's heart is going crazy.

Will tries to remind himself he's probably reading too much into it, but then Chance shyly presses a kiss on the top of his head, and Will is forced to realize that maybe, his crush is mutual.

[mike-wakes-up]

They didn't want to give Will an "external character" to "affect his journey", oh come onnnnnn

[holdmybychance]

I find it always tragically funny how queer people apparently cannot accept themselves, make "their own journey" AND have a love interest at the same time.

Like sure, if you're going to write it in a way where the character's self-acceptance entirely relies on someone else's love, that's not good nor satisfying, but it's totally possible to write it in a nuanced, compelling way where self-acceptance and romance happen alongside each other. If you can't do that, that's a skill issue.

To think finding yourself is a path you have to walk on completely alone is false, but also, it somehow only ever applies to the gays, because the same writers will give their straight characters both growth and romance (and suddenly no one is saying it's incompatible hmm).

Also, how is centering Will's love for Mike any better, especially if it was never meant to become something? Was that not "affecting his journey" in a pretty negative way? His love was used to uplift a hetslop that failed anyway, it was okay to show his sufffering but not him finding reciprocated love? Damn.

[smalltown--byler]

ugh i'm seeing notes written down by people who were at the duffer brothers' panel, and i absolutely hate the way they talk about noah. they glaze the hell out of finn's acting and have always praised him for being interested in the directing/production side of things, but when talking about noah watching the monitor and asking lots of questions, they speak about it in a negative light? they apparently said that noah was trouble for as long as they could remember and that they're glad they're not his real father - what awful things to say! they clearly have no regard for noah as an actor or a person, and it's glaringly obvious in how will and all of the queer storylines were treated in the show. they're deeply condescending and smug in believing that they know better regarding queer arcs than the openly gay man they had in the cast, and come across incredibly homophobic in the way they single out noah for humiliation and cruel comments. it's really fucking gross

[bunnybonesstudio]

Absolutely vile.

Noah was unhappy Will’s and his own LBGT identity weren’t respected and they saw it as ‘trouble.’

He wanted a happy ending for Will, as we all did, and they mocked him for it.

Out of everything, this is truly the most vile thing the Duffers have done. Fiction is one thing but they’re straight up disrespecting a young, queer man who has been nothing but sweet according to everyone else.

This is all the proof we need to disregard everything the Duffers have ever said or done.