Will knelt down beside his bed. He already had a bag packed underneath with everything he needed. A change of clothes, a sketchbook, a pack of smokes—
Shit. Don't I need food? Water? First aid? If anyone should know this stuff, it should be me.
Will snatched the bag from under his bed and stood, where he met the eyes of someone in his doorway.
"Mike."
Will's best friend, or so that's what they called themselves, held a firm stance. It was one that read to Will as determined, with a small tinge of worry. Will hated that, when others worried about him.
"You're going back there, aren't you."
Will threw his backpack over his shoulders. "You aren't going to talk me out of this."
"I'm not. I'm going with you."
It was then when Will finally noticed the bag on Mike's back.
"No."
"Will—"
"You've never been there before. I have."
"You'll show me the ropes then."
"No, I won't. Mike—"
"The worst day of my life was the day that I thought you died."
The air in Will's room grew tight. Mike stared intensely into Will.
"When they pulled your body out of the quarry," Mike continued, gripping the straps of his bag tightly, "well, not your body, but I remember how I felt. I cried the entire way home. It felt like I was dying."
Will swallowed hard. He knew the lab put a fake body in the quarry. He knew that Mike and the others had seen it. But he never heard this part of the story.
"So I'm sorry but I'm not just going to stand here and watch you go back there not knowing when I'm going to see you again."
There was a strong pounding in Will's chest. Dammit.
Will sighed. "Do you have a cover?"
"I told my mom that I was staying at your house for a while. You?"
"I told mom that my dad asked me to stay with him."
The two of them shared a quick chuckle. Like that'll keep out Karen Wheeler and Joyce Byers away from their boys.
"Then we better not waste any time."
Will nodded in firm agreement. "Let's go."
Happy Byler day! This is a small scene that I've had in my head for a while that I wanted to write out <3
104 notes
·
View notes
07/07/2023: Happy Byler Day!
In celebration, here’s a countdown list of my top 7 Byler details/moments!
7. Eggs and syrup (s1e1 and s3e1)
This detail is pretty easily overlooked, especially considering that it’s present for only two blinks throughout the show, but it’s one of my favorites. In fact, this detail was one of the first Byler facts that got me to ship Byler. The representation of the unconventional breakfast pairing for the show’s quote-unquote unconventional relationship pairing is just too perfect. I love this silent emphasis of their queerness together.
6. At it again (s3e5)
I don’t have a proper title for this moment, haha, but I can quote this scene from memory and just. Have to say it along with Byler. Every single time I rewatch 😭. The drama. The shouted whispers. Mike’s idiocy. Will’s sass. It’s glorious. It’s beautiful. And, best of all, it hurts way less than the rain scene, which is a win for me. Also, I love how these two fought really badly literally a day ago, but then they come around to arguing like a true married couple again because they can’t help but gravitate to one other.
5. “Crazy together” (s2e2)
Ah, the Byler staple. Now, this scene got me to put Byler on my radar when I first watched the show, so I have to give it a top 7 spot, for sure. Also, just, this scene is so tender and sweet. What a lovely way to show how sometimes the best relationships are made through sharing the worst times in your life. It really does help to have someone to confide in through awful situations, and this scene heartwarmingly highlights that. Additionally, their youth and innocence taking on this trauma together is what gets me every single time. Byler are so strong for each other, and it shines so brightly, here. It’s plain endearing.
4. The heart-to-heart apology (s4e4)
This scene is literally the pinnacle of Byler’s unspoken love, and the flirtation is off the charts. It’s just so, so lovely, and the atmosphere is simply wonderful and fit to make you forget you’re watching a thriller show. The flirting itself is all that I need to spotlight for this scene, and truly, I don’t have to say anything about it, do I? This moment just speaks for itself.
3. The shed scene (s2e8)
When making this list, I was torn between 3 and 4, but I ended up putting the shed scene at the top 3 because Mike’s speech here absolutely wrecked me the first time I watched it. The tears, the transparency, the traction despite Will being unable to utter a word in reply. I also just made a kinda long-winded grammatical analysis on the phrase above: “it was the best thing I’ve ever done” and how soft and adorable it is to say, and I cannot describe how close to tears I was, too, when watching this scene, like Will was. How often do you hear your best friend pleading for your life by talking about how you changed theirs? This moment is so sweet.
This moment is also somewhat unprompted, drawn from the rawest recollection of Mike’s mind, coupled with the desperation, it brings out how truly important this moment is for Mike. And the fact that this speech seems to prompt Will’s Morse code tapping makes it all the better for us to know that Mike’s message was very likely received. This scene is simply so tender. It is Mike and Will in their most exposed forms all season long, maybe even ever, for Mike (because I think that the van scene might be Will’s, but let’s not worry about that right now, this is a happy post 🙈).
2. “Not possible.” (s3e8)
I wish I was exaggerating when I say that Mike’s little smile in this scene changed my brain forever. Well, maybe I don’t care that I wasn’t exaggerating, actually. This scene is unapologetically adorable. It’s not as flirtatious as the s4e4 heart-to-heart apology, not as lengthy as the “crazy together” scene, not as clearly pivotal as the s1 opener, but it’s chock full of implicit love.
I love how Mike and Will communicate through dnd, particularly how they talk about the game differently apart from other Party members, and that’s the kicker that I love about this scene. Usually, Mike especially as we’ve seen throughout seasons 1-3, dnd is referenced with a sense of leadership about the Upside Down, used as a tool for knowledge with others. But between Mike and Will, here? They use it as a tool for their relationship, which is such a wonderful contrast to show how much Mike and Will mean to each other. And what’s more, Mike brings up this analogy, first, singling out Will and how special he is to Mike.
“What if you join another party?” It’s a simple question, and at face value, it sounds like, ‘what if you find another friend group without me? What if you move on?’ Which I think it is asking, but it’s also, ‘what if you move on from me?’ And Will’s quick and faithful reply, “not possible” is all we need to hear to know that Will is going to carry Mike’s love with him no matter what. Topped with cute glances each other’s way and a quickly leaving Will to let the emotion wordlessly simmer, this tiny flirt holds my heart.
1. The season-episode parallels
If this detail looks familiar, it’s because I’ve talked about this one before. And, yeah, looking at it a lot more over the past year, I gotta say that it’s my favorite thing about Byler.
It is such an interesting detail, and basically, it’s the way that the episodes of s1e1, s2e2, s3e3, and s4e4 all have pertinent Byler moments, arguably the most important Byler moments per season that kickstart a lot of the show, and every single scene has so many little details that they share. Mike on the left, Will on the right. Will’s honesty, Mike’s unawareness. The clothing. The alternating lighting. It’s been my favorite parallel to talk about on all platforms I’m active on, and so I crown this one as my winner. It’s such a loaded parallel, and it’s everything in my niche that I love to talk about as it covers so much of the show and Byler, from the bigger details of how it affects the show down to the smaller details of lighting, clothing, and coloring.
And also, this parallel inspired me to make my TikTok account and dedicate it to Byler. Then one thing led to another, and so this detail is kinda the reason why I’m here on Tumblr, too. So I owe it a lot, haha.
The season-episode parallel reminds me that I’m not alone or ‘looking into it too much,’ and even if this is all a coincidence, it’s a damn good one.
Thanks for reading, and Happy Byler Day, again! Now, go forth and enjoy more posts!
131 notes
·
View notes