This is everything

cr: @hellfiresbyers

Will is known for his love, what he gives to others. The thing is Will's love is not so as easily given as people think. We see him give his love to his friends. But these are people who like him who we know he has a history with as season 1 implicates. Where we see Will not easily giving out his love is in season 2 with Hopper and Bob.

Hopper and Will have criminally few scenes together especially for the guy that can't even fight Owens' comment of "pop" but Will does not remember him. Not even the idea of him. He seems so proud but Will not having a memory of him shows that the love isn't fully there. The only three people he remembers are the three we know he loves without a doubt, and that is Mike, Joyce, and Jonathan. Even if it is just the idea of them like "You're mom" he still remembers them.

But what about Bob you say? Bob is someone who is trying to earn Will's love. He works very hard, and we see Will eventually give it when he takes in the idea to say "Go away" to the Mindflayer. We also see it solidified with the drawing he does of him. Will uses art to convey his feelings most notable fear (the mindflayer), love (DnD), and hate (zombie boy). Arguably there is only one place for Bob to fall.

Now I know you are like what about Lonnie. Every child has a complex relationship with parents who are abusive. Even Jonathan who we know hates Lonnie and tries to instill that idea into Will, has a complex relationship with his dad. Go forth with that idea Jonathan RPers. Will however, so full of love, wants to please Lonnie even past the point of when Lonnie is more or less willfully giving up his rights because he is not trying to visit Will. Will still wants to love him. He still wants to acknowledge the roll Lonnie has in his life, and as much as I love Hopper he has not stepped into the role of dad for Will, not yet at least. Lonnie is still that to Will. And I know people are like he doesn't like baseball, but he has a bat in the one place he finds comfort, I think people often forget Jonathan does try to instill his beliefs of Lonnie onto Will. Will is if anything a people pleaser of course he is going to say what he did. What makes a real point though is what does Will have in the place he calls his, that he build with Jonathan. A baseball bat. Lonnie for as bad as he is still left an impact on Will, and that was Will having more interests than Art, he didn't do it in a healthy way but it still happened.

Last we have El. Will did not meet El in any form until the end of season 2. He spent a year listening to the boys talk about her, literally when he woke up some of the first things he was told was about El. Now granted he did more or less meet El in the upside down, but that is hardly a meeting if that makes sense. He didn't know who it was probably until later and he was told about what happened. Will from what we can glean did not get to really know El at all until she moved in with the Byers after Hopper was presumed dead. Will was likely jealous of her, not only because Mike talked about her alot and she had Mike's affection something he had wanted for a while, but because she replaced him in their friend group. The obvious example I use is that Will changed his DnD class. Before El he was a wizard, she came in and he changed to Cleric because she was the "mage" which in Advanced DnD (the version the boys would have played) is more or less a magic user aka a Wizard. Changing class or multiclassing in Advanced DnD is difficult and essentially resets the player back to level one until the reach the same level they were with their old class for them to access any of their old class powers and moves. So with the analogy that the Duffer's use of DnD explaining in base format the plot of the show, this explains Will and El before they get to know each other.

She had to earn his love. But once she had it he gave it to her freely. He wasn't afraid to give it to her. He did his best to make sure she knew he loved her. He did his best to make her happy at the expense of himself which is how Will opperrates. Others are okay at the expense of himself we see it time and time again with "Are you okay?" aimed at Jonathan in the end of season 1 while Will is the one in the hospital bed, "Close Gate" in season 2 while Will would die if that happened, "She needs you" in season 4, and in season 3 we see the consequence of Will wanting something for himself with trying to get the boys to play DnD.

Will's love given comes at a cost to no one but himself. He wont ever mention the cost because he views it as minute and inconsequential but it is still there, and its only a matter of time before someone realizes. Will's love is not as infinite as it seems. And Will doesn't just give it away. Sure he will empathize with people, like giving the crying girl the tonka truck, but that is not equated to Will loving you.

I totally don’t fully trust that we’re not being queerbaited either, but on the other hand i can’t imagine them queerbaiting so much cos they would get so much backlash especially from queer ppl and queer news media. They’ve hinted at willxmike being a mutual thing (which i think is ideal) and they could have as a result of the move, el distancing from mike (gaining autonomy) and then pushing willxmike together emphasizing their connection and have mikexel build an actual friendship (1/2)

(2/2) But the likely story is they use byler to explore a sexuality plot for will but its not mutual and thats part of the drama for the season. Which is just ugh... but y’know. It really would be amazing to have willxmike be mutual and discuss their feelings like truly truly amazing but i don’t have high hopes for that :(

(3) Of course its common gay kid falls for straight friend but it just feels like ‘oh look at the pathetic gay kid falls for his friend HOW could he think he’d like him back’ it would feel like more than just a rejection but like an embarrassing thing for will and then tension arises and then its resolved by mike going like i love you man but not like that and im not grossed out by you liking me because im a woke ally. That sounds stupid but like we always expecting the worst cos thats all we get

dude while i get you COMPLETELY, because it’d be naive to not think it’s a possible queebait, i don’t think they’d go the age old will-is-crushing-on-his-straight-friend route. because mike has also been coded as not-straight since s1, and he was at his arguably “straightest” last season when he was written to be (frankly) his most unbearable. so i’m pretty sure that was intentional. mike trying too hard to conform and “grow up” was the opposite of what he needed/wanted, contrasting him talking about toys & dnd at the end.

and also, will-crushing-on-his-straight-best-friend also kind of happened last season as well. they tested the waters with s3, seeing how people would react to gay will, will crushing on mike, etc. and as far as i can tell, they’re pushing through with it. so i don’t think they’d beat that concept any more than they already have. will is a hero, they’re not going to have this mortifying arc with his best friend again after they already fractured their relationship in s3. i feel that s4 is going to be for healing. it’s set during christmas time, and byeler is going to get back on their feet.

so while i’m not convinced it’s not queerbaiting (i’ve been burnt too many times to just believe it, even if the evidence is right there), i don’t think they’ll go the one-sided route. it’s either going to be all in or not at all. and as you said, if after all of this they choose not at all, then they’ll be met with immense backlash.

also, after s3 it is literally IMPOSSIBLE not to see that they’re going in the direction of solo!el. they know she’s a sheltered character (she didn’t even know how to pronounce illinois- that was an intentional REALLY? to the audience who obsessively ship her with ppl), and not only that but she also said she wants to spend more time with her own species, and that mike was her first (emphasis) boyfriend. el is not going to be romantically involved with anyone next season. i’m actually thinking she may meet someone new to foil her personality (much like billy did with steve in s2 so nancy could get her romance plot with jonathan) while will and mike get closer.