🪐 @thelittlebibliotheque - Tumblr Blog

I keep thinking about everyone slowly realizing mike's in love with will. will brings someone home for Christmas for the first time and Jonathan notices Mike's mask begin to fall. will talks about moving in with his first serious boyfriend and max and Lucas share a look of quiet understanding because mike just went quiet and didn't talk for the rest of the night. it's lumax's wedding and Joyce notices how mike stands at the edge of the dancefloor with this look of desperate yearning while will dances with his partner. at holly's college graduation, when will shows up unaccompanied for the first time and mike just lights up with hope and doesn't leave will's side all night. slowly, everyone starts to notice until it's an open secret. everyone but will knows. and no one tells him because they think he's long since moved on

#you cooked op #this healed something in me #byler #screenwriting #mike wheeler #will byers

willbyerslove

Byler happening is inevitable, even if it never becomes canon on screen.

Mike knows Will is gay now. That alone changes everything. And the most important thing people keep missing is this: Mike never actually finds out that Will is in love with him. The best friend scene is not a rejection. It’s Mike accepting Will for who he is, without ever being told the full truth.

And that matters.

Because now that Mike knows Will’s sexuality, the door is finally open. Open for Mike to recontextualize years of intimacy, devotion, jealousy, and emotional reliance. Open for him to question himself in a way he never allowed before. Open for the possibility that what he has always felt toward Will was not just friendship after all.

There is simply too much subtext. Too much narrative weight. Too many loaded looks and deliberate choices. Byler cannot be dismissed as nothing, even if the show leaves it ambiguous. Even if it never says the words out loud. Some stories do not need explicit canon to exist. They live in implication. In subtext.

And they have barely even begun their lives. They have just graduated high school. Their world has finally slowed down enough for them to exist outside of survival mode, to breathe, to imagine a future that is not defined by fear. Of course nothing is resolved yet. Of course everything still feels unfinished. Coming of age does not end at eighteen. For many people, that is where it finally starts, when feelings are given time, when truths are allowed to surface, and when the one constant in your life finally becomes your forever.

#byler #screenwriting #mike wheeler #will byers

salvatore--girl

I feel so bad for millie bobby brown, she gave up her whloe childhood for this show and then in the last season she was sidelined and got one of the worst endings possible for her character

She didn't get to do any of the lasts with the crew because she wasn't even apart of any of it. If the rumours are true and she didn't go to the finale party or watch thing I completely understand why

That poor girl has been ruthlessly bullied by the Internet her entire career and now the show she gave her childhood to gave the character she loved so much such a horrible ending

I also feel bad for Noah because of the amount of homophobia surrounding his character and storyline by the fans and even the duffers.

The stranger things cast deserved a better written ending than one written by the duffers whose egos are too high to realise they didn't make a masterpiece of a ending/season

#stranger things #louder for the people in the back

miwigate

and then i’ll say…with his unique brand of idiocy hell yeah will’s gonna love that one ❤️‍🔥

#mike wheeler #byler #haha

Byler didn’t happen… in the show.

The D*ffers have put all that they’ve written out there. Mike’s vision of the future (real or not) marks the limit of their authority. They might not even know themselves what happens next.

That’s for us to decide.

We have material to work with, and we all have our idea of how the story continues. And you know what’s great about that? All of us are right.

The creators fucked us over, but whether they like it or not, the story is ours now. Let’s find comfort in that, together.

#byler still end up together eventually #and Lumax make fun of them for taking so long to do so #byler #byler st5 #will byers #mike wheeler #st5 spoilers #byler is real

Idk about you guys but this isn’t my idea of “hap-satisfied”

#byler #byler st5 #mike wheeler #will byers #st5 spoilers

stranger-rewrites

interesting theory sent to me by a friend

all credit to the original poster on twitter i did not make this up. @strangestjane

#stranger things theory #screenwriting #byler

I just had an epiphany: what if El didn’t actually manage to save Will in ep6?

There’s a great theory out there saying that Vecna is messing with us, the audience, in ep7 (see this amazing post explaining everything).

Knowing that, what if El never managed to save Will in ep6, and every scene involving him in ep7 is actually happening in his head? Could they all be just one big Vecna vision? What if we find out in the beginning of ep8 that Will is actually still held hostage by Vecna, and everyone is coming to save not only the kids but him as well, splitting into different teams to do so? One team looking for the kids, one team looking for Will?

That would explain so much, like the way his coming out went (with all 175 people present being 100% okay with it, and reacting exactly the way Will would have wanted them to). It would explain certain incoherences, the weird reunions we got, and some interactions coming out of nowhere. It would also make sense with that shot of Will’s face being right in the middle of that sketch they did of the Upside Down: because he’s actually still stuck there!

This theory has holes, obviously, but I think it can be considered. To me, it’s one of the few options that could explain the terrible surprising writing choices for vol2 (especially ep7) and make everything make sense again.

#stranger things season 5 #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #byler st5 #byler #st5 #st5 spoilers #st5 vol 2 #byler s5 #stranger things theory #st5 theory

gayofthefae

"Will's arc is about acceptance"

NO. Actually, we KNOW what a queer arc about acceptance looks like. Robin's.

As Maya just put beautifully, Robin's arc is about finding the first person who accepts her, Steve, and a transition not just from finding that person, but then getting to BE that person to someone else, Will.

ROBIN'S arc is about acceptance. She calls herself an "error", similar to how Will calls himself a mistake. Then she comes out to Steve, assuming she'll lose him immediately, and he accepts her. She gains the joy of adolescent gossiping about crushes and the excitement in that. Then she finds someone younger, going through what she was before she met Steve, and she reaches out to him, getting to be the person she needed at that time in her life.

That is a BEAUTIFULLY written story about queer ACCEPTANCE.

And hell, even she gets romance on the side!

And it is also how we know: Will's is not about that.

It looks nothing like it. They clearly demonstrated through Robin the understanding that yes, it is entirely possible to be aware you're queer without an established onscreen love-interest, let alone a long-term one, to center friendship as the most valued opinion and support for your queerness with it being the prioritized relationship in your screentime - the relationship with whoever's acceptance is most centered in the arc whether that be friend of family - then the freedom of someone truly knowing you, even if it's just one person.

Will's centers his love interest and romantic feelings, which are long-term, his primary want is shown to be romance, where Robin's was explicitly stated to be acceptance with no mention of romance, and all of his screentime is prioritized to be one on one and center the acceptance of his love interest. Not his mom or his brother, not his friends in the party.

Robin says: "we all just want to be cool. Accepted."

Her primary want is explicitly stated to be acceptance, not romance.

WILL'S PRIMARY GOAL IS EXPLICITLY SHOWN TO BE. ROMANCE.

They give characters what they want. Which means they make them want what they're going to give them. They do not say "have you ever considered you actually didn't want that all along?" ESPECIALLY to QUEER PEOPLE of all people are you FUCKING KIDDING ME? I mean, you can't say that without hearing it as you say it.

Once, again, as always, THEY KNOW HOW TO WRITE IT. They've PROVEN that. They're choosing not to. And it's easy to see why. If not a different outcome, it's fucking malice, withholding something they've demonstrated full ability to successfully. So I'm choosing to assume it's because they're intending a different outcome.

We know what it looks like. They know how to write it.

Will's arc and screentime centers someone else instead. Let's say his friends. In season 3, he feels distanced from them already. Dive into that. Them all having dating lives feelings isolating of him and he feels excluded when they bond over it, he worries they won't accept him or that things will change because he can't relate to them on this. Honestly, it could still even center Mike, just don't have him have feelings for him. Or make the feelings not in a somber, pining tone, but lighter, more centered on discovery and his reaction to what they mean for his relationship to himself - not "I have feelings for Mike so I want to be with him" but "I have feelings for Mike, that means I'm gay, my focus will be on grappling with that". Have him build to coming out, have THAT be the climax of his arc for him.

Robin's arc does not prioritize her screentime with Vickie. Robin's arc does not show her distraught over Tammy, having feelings for her for multiple season that cause her heartbreak and distress.

Robin's arc IS about acceptance. And you'll also notice that that is not "acceptance of the fact that she won't find romance as a queer person" jesus christ what the fuck. Even if there were no Vickie, it never involved that whatsoever. It was acceptance of the idea that she can find someone she is safe with.

Will's wouldn't even be an acceptance storyline, it would be so overshadowed by the message "accept!....that you have to settle for less sometimes when you're a minority" what the fuck?????

They did a queer acceptance storyline. She explicitly states it as her main desire in season 3. And they STILL gave her a love interest.

Will's arc looks nothing like Robin's. Because it isn't a queer acceptance storyline. He explicitly wants romance specifically in a way that Robin was never even established to.

If someone who didn't even mention wanting it and whose arc is about a different part entirely, and she STILL got it, then the person whose only thing he's ever wanted is it definitely will.

I genuinely cannot fathom the fact that they canonically wrote a queer arc that does not at all need romance and successfully conveyed beautiful messages of acceptance, but gave it romance anyways to elevate it and just be nice....but would also write a queer arc that absolutely requires romance then not provide it?

Robin's was NOT dependent on it and she got it. Will's IS dependent on it and he...won't?

Wrong. Simply incorrect.

The main point of this post is this:

Robin's is a self acceptance arc. They're written one in canon already, we know what one written by them looks like.

Will's looks nothing like hers.

#you COOKED op #louder for the people in the back #byler #screenwriting #will byers #robin buckley #mike wheeler

lukoshiute

byler fanart!!! Inspired by You took my heart (I was sleeping) by lameparties

I already posted this on my tik tok acc: lukoshute 🫶

I'm super new to this, sooo I hope I get to grow in this community!!

#so cute :’)#byler fanart #stranger things fanart #byler

All the vol.2 Byler implications we’re getting from people who worked on the show (Noah, Shawn, the Duffers, etc) scared me at first - we know how much they love to trick their audience, make them think something is going to happen, like/repost content about it to encourage our theories, and then twist it last minute in a “ha! got you!” moment.

Do we realise how awful and stupid that sounds? Can you imagine how sadistic it would be, out of all the groups forming their audience, to trick the queer community specifically? Build their hopes up, make them believe they have a chance at one of the best cases of representation, and then go “ha! got you!”, in a show created for and fiercely defending the “outcasts”? With a gay main character who just gained superpowers thanks to queer pride? Come on now.

#byler #byler endgame #byler st5 #byler is canon #mike wheeler #mike queerler #will byers #st5 spoilers

gayofthefae

No you're not getting it the entire show they have emphasized over and over again they do not believe in any lack of autonomy or dependency in relationships, that it is bad and if it's still an issue, you need to break up or wait a beat before you get together.

And what did they just do? Ensured Mike and Will's relationship is not a codependent one.

That was a concern I saw here and there from Bylers over the years, understandably. The idea that Will might center his queerness around Mike or that he would be portrayed as completely broken without him in a way that romanticized dependency in relationships. That he would get to be with Mike because he would be a shell of a person if he weren't.

And the Duffers said "no tf he would not! That was Mike and El's season 4 plot and we wrote it that way to say that that's BAD. Will is gonna love himself BEFORE they get together, goddamnit!"

It isn't self acceptance instead of romance. They have ALWAYS, ALWAYS pedaled independence as a requirement OF romance.

They aren't substituting. They're checking boxes.

"He would not be broken without Mike's love, his queerness and queer joy are his own and he loves himself regardless of outside approval. Which is precisely WHY he IS ready for a relationship."

I have said over and over they value the theme there is no love without autonomy.

I myself had brought up before that though every other character had this portrayed, even as minorly as Jonathan flirting with a girl for 2 seconds at a Halloween party, I felt they had not shown that Will was capable of not being with Mike in that same way.

That's what they've done now. And that's why they're doing it.

To say what they have always valued: you cannot love someone without choosing them, and you cannot choose them if you don't have a choice. That "I can't live without you" will never be as romantic as "I could, I just don't want to".

Volume 1 is "I could". Volume 2 is "I just don't want to".

And that is the whole contrast and commentary with Mike and El, especially in season 4. She is dependent on him and he wants to be needed. I mentioned the phrase "I can't live without you", he says that to her. In a speech with other tropes they have admitted to being against, no less! Their romance in that season emphasizes "She needs you" in the tropes it comments on.

It's that that taught us what we know now, that Mike needs to know that when he is not needed, he is still WANTED. Will can only demonstrate that to him if he doesn't need him.

Volume 1 is "I don't need you"

Volume 2 is "I want you".

You can only prove the second if you have the first, and they know that. "I don't need you" in many other shows is what you say when you're getting over somebody, it's true. "I need you" is what you say when you're not. But not here. In this show, with these writers and the values and themes they've shown as well as told us, "I need you" is a commentary on the unsustainability of codependency and how it should not be romanticized. "I don't need you" is the only way to demonstrate your real love, because staying is only romantic if you have the option to leave.

I understand why people are worried. But this is not those tropes. It is a commentary on those tropes. "He'd be fine without him" is not followed by "so he will be". It's followed by "but that wasn't what was keeping him here".

Don't go off of what tropes were romanticized in other media. They're commenting on those, not abiding by them. Go based off of what were used on other couples in this show.

It was independence first, healthy relationship second.

Yes, Mike and El parallel classic romances, cliche romances. That's the point. They don't like those romances.

Every couple they have given such care and love into writing, they have established what they just did with Will. As I said:

"I don't need you. But needing you was never the reason I was here."

And that just makes so clear the intent when you realize that has been written via Mike's monologue in the van in season 4 to be exactly what Mike needs to hear.

He has been seeking "I need you" because he thinks it's the only way he can keep someone around. What he has been written to receive is "I don't need you. And look. I'm still here."

I don't need you, I want you. I have always said that is what was needed. It's hard to have a month between the phrases, I know, I agree. But it does make that sentence, and we know that, because it's made it every other time.

So when we watch volume 1 and hear any semblance of an "I don't need you", know that that is a GOOD sign.

That is them doing this ship JUSTICE. They have only ever said that about couples they portrayed as happy, in love, and most importantly, healthy and sustainable.

#this!!!!#byler #louder for the people in the back #screenwriting #stranger things