i'll believe in you until the very end guys

the concept of will byers hitting like. 24 or something and something small happening, breaking up with a boyfriend or being in counselling, & realising oh he's So fucking angry. SO angry. he's been so angry for so so long & never naming this feeling as anger because anger hurts people, lonnie hitting people he loved, and will's always been his mom's sweet boy, gentle will, sensitive will, he's allowed to be sad so he's been sad but he hasn't let himself be angry. and he's so, so angry, all the time now, it's like a dam broke - will who finds himself screaming into his pillow at the smallest inconvenience or for no reason at all sometimes, stubbing his toe and cursing up a fucking storm instead of biting his lip, seeing a photo of himself as a kid & instead of reflexively turning away he feels everything, waking up tasting blood from how he's been gritting his teeth in his sleep, thinking awful things about 'henry' and hoping he's rotting in hell and being tortured, feeling guilty about it, then angry at how he feels he should be guilty for that, ruining sketchbooks by drawing so furiously it rips through layers of pages. will finally letting himself feel it all, finally letting himself feel sorry for that tiny 12 year old version of him. a conversation with jonathan about how anger's just a feeling, not negative or positive in itself, that it's how you let it out that determines if it's a good or bad thing (both of them knowing that neither of them is very good at turning it outwards, not inwards). his anger levelling out the older he gets & the more he practices feeling it, noticing it, letting it be there and then watching it ebb back again. anyway.

ok hot take apparently but no jonathan doesn't hate mike. he might act like he does a bit, but it’s more complex than that. he's known mike since that kid was in kindergarten. he's seen how much mike loves will. but now he's also seeing how much will loves mike, and how much that hurts will. and it's not always mike's fault but he's oblivious and jonathan hates seeing his little brother in pain, and he just doesn't understand mike's shittiest actions, like recycling will's words in a speech to el, or letting will sit there and cry after pouring out his heart. so yeah, he'd be irritable with mike, knowing he used to be so good, and now he's this selfish, inconsiderate ass. he'd probably say exactly that to will, that he's got this kid on a pedestal, and will would be defensive but then admit jonathan's right. but if jonathan knew that mike's been struggling with the same thing his little brother has been, all alone and scared for years, everything would make sense. he'd would still be cautious about mike, sure, hold a little grudge and keep an eye on him, but he wouldn't actively be hostile anymore (he definitely was before, and will couldn’t tell if he wanted to shut it down or relish in it). just quietly reserving judgement, and mildly disapproving because mike may not have meant it, but he still hurt will, and jonathan lets will make his own decisions, it's not jonathan's place to tell him what to do... but will's always been too soft on mike, jonathan thinks. like he hung the stars in the sky. but when mike's behaviour totally changes once he and will are together, and he's back to being the kid jonathan knew... his worries mostly slide away. he might joke about it sometimes to mess with him though.

hopper wouldn't hate mike, either, if he saw him away from el and with will instead. because those are two different mikes, which is why joyce doesn't understand his issue with mike — she's thinking, seriously? him, a bad influence? mike wheeler, who she'd trust over anybody else with her boy? surely not. and hopper doesn't hate mike now, either. he finds the kid annoying and disrespectful, but grudgingly he admits he's just a kid, and he's messed up and scared, and hopper isn't the most equipped to deal with that so thank god it's not his job, but he's not actively hating on this literal child anymore, especially since the kid is a lot less obnoxious around his daughter than he used to be. so when will and mike get together, he might make some comments or jokes, be a bit gruff with him as usual, but eventually he finds he doesn't mind this version of mike. he makes will happy, and he's very respectful to joyce, and he bites his tongue around hopper now even when hop can tell he wants to say something snarky, and hop can't entirely blame him because he's biting his tongue too. so he accepts it.

Seeing bylers (twice today) who say they knew byler wouldn’t happen makes me question my sanity. Why didn’t I know? I’m thirty years old, that’s not my first rodeo, that’s not my first queerbait. Should I have known better?

I try to remind myself that we were never delusional, all set up was there, it is still there, you can’t ever delete it; and that Mike’s stare at Will’s wrist in the van is still there too. Why was I supposed not to see it when it was shown?

That’s not a question to people who doubted byler becoming canon (and good for them!). That’s me feeling lost, deceived and abandoned.

You know this trend about 2016 — I could say that it’s like me being there again, but sadly it’s not. Because all queerbait that happened to me before (since 2014) was seen by me, was chosen by me, I had zero illusions about it. It was way easier to go through it because there was no actual lie. And now — here I am, in big 2026, licking my wounds more than 2 weeks later after being thrown under the bus. Or after letting others to do that to me?

I believed in byler so strongly, it was insane. Does it make me gullible? Maybe. But for real, with that quality of the show that we had before (Leigh, thanks again), with Mike’s reciprocation shots that were intentionally put in the context, with all the shift of values happened in the past ten years in our society, I was convinced more than ever that they wouldn’t dare. I mean, I had even no question it! Not a single doubt! After I saw that they chose to shoot Mike’s glance at the wrist, endgame was a matter of time me. And in fact, we don't have to look far: if even actors believed in it, were rooting for byler, how can we question anyone who had even a bit of media literacy to follow the narrative?

And yet, in my nightmares I couldn’t see it coming this dirty. Truly, it is the worst queerbait I’ve ever experienced as it was 1) avoidable 2) unnecessary, 3) mocking till the very fucking end, but most importantly (I said this before, but that’s crucial): 4) it was not uncontrollable, it was a fucking choice! Made my people who had power to make or to not make it happen. And they chose to keep going with their disrespect till the very last shot.

The worst part about this queerbait is that it was not “fan service”, it was deception.

The difference is that the audience actually were led by the directors into a zone of trust: firstly, having been promised to be their target audience, and secondly, by the created narrative; so we just followed and — trusted. In 2014 (or 2016) we did not have it: we could have hope back then, but not trust! And this show made us trust them. Only for deceiving and disgustingly mocking us at the end.

We were never delusional, truly. This post is a post of mourning, anger and confusion, but I dare anyone to question byler subtext, and I’ll bury them with all the evidence provided by the show. At least this cannot be ever taken away from us.

anyways

mike sleepily nuzzling into will's warm neck and whispering "baby", will making mike coffee in the morning with latte art, will teaching mike how to do the laundry but also not fully explaining it every time bc he kinda likes having to explain it every time, sweet aftercare, mike coming home with a little puppy and will rolls his eyes and they bicker about it but ultimately it becomes their child, both falling asleep in front of the tv, sharing earbuds in the 2000s, mike driving will to work, driving him home, doing their taxes together with their reading glasses on, apologising with kisses <3 sillys

I believe

the unsent project does strange things to my soul

These sequence of shots is exactly why Mike and Will are not just friends. The fact that this scene could’ve been a group hug where they’re all sobbing over Will’s body being found but they just had to single out Mike. They really had to emphasise that he was the most torn up about Will’s body being found like this whilst making him say “All of you are my best friends!” in the same season. It’s the fact that no one even assumed that Mike and Will could be the closer of best friends. Dustin thinks that him and Lucas are the closest of best friends but Mike and Will? No one ever says anything about their weirdly close bond. Sometimes, that’s everything you need to know.

Recent reblogs of this old post are 100% correct:

(the last one is something I’ve thought about a lot. s1 and s2 lucas and dustin’s reactions to byler are interesting. never have they once acknowledged mike and will having a closer friendship but i like to think they can sense something but obviously they come from a small town in the 80s hence they haven’t made the connection. I think about them needing to call after mike in this scene and how that’s highlighted. I also think about in s2 when will has an episode during halloween and mike is all possessive, pushing dustin away and dustin genuinely is agitated by this and goes “mike!”. in s3 lucas is merely a bystander when will gets upset, mike is out there encouraging lucas that they should continue playing the game to appease will and dragging him to will’s house after the fight in the rain. in s4 dustin’s “mike won’t stop whining about joyce’s telemarketer job”. in st5 vol 1 i think about that moment where lucas reaches to comfort will after will stumbles near the tree but when mike looks at him, he pulls his hands away. lucas and dustin sense something for sure but yeah they have not made the connection yet. special friendship where they’re not the normal kind of best friends but yk they’re just mike and will. that’s how they’re like!).

Forever heartbroken by Mike making nerdy D&D references (his love language) to El the entirety of s5 and El not understanding (and feeling othered) and shutting it down and then making those same references with Will and Will understanding and playing into it (cause it's also his love language).

"you're the heart" and then it's a character who isn't allowed to do anything or feel anything or exist outside of the relationship he's unhappy in. and the only time that he actually embodies being the heart is when he has his totally platonic friend hyping him up . whatever whatever whatever

Saturday wait,

Sunday always comes too late,

but Friday never hesitate

has this been done before

Mike the storyteller writes El’s goodbye with her affirming he has done what he wishes he could do.

He wishes he could understand her.

He wishes he could see the real her.

He wishes he could love her the way she wanted to be loved.

She said I love you.

He didn’t say it back.

He couldn’t even write it.

two sets of friends; do you see the difference?

"s5 has s2 vibes" meant that byler has multiple romantic scenes but mike and jane kiss at the end

“i wish mike and will kissed”

how do you know they didn’t?