random will-centric headcanons: he knows how to make sugar cookies from scratch!

jonathan got the recipe from joyce. she worked a lot so he was the one that would always make them. will insisted on helping, but that always made such a big mess and produced such uneven cookies that jonathan eventually learned to let him help only by sprinkling the dyed sugar on top afterward, which was good enough for will lol.

it's a super simple recipe, so will learns it really quickly.

he and mike have made them a handful of times in the dead of night during sleepovers. they're trying their hardest to be quiet, shushing each other and giggling like the little rascals that they are. will insists that he take care of the flour despite mike telling him he can do it, which of course leads to will dropping or knocking over the sack and generally making a mess. mike tries to wipe some off of will's cheek and just makes it worse so will retaliates by booping some onto mike's nose and so on n so forth. they wrap themselves in blankets, huddled together on the couch afterward, and eat one-too-many before trudging off to bed. it gives them a tummy ache, but the giggles n sugar were worth it. mike takes some home after in a brown paper bag that will decorated for him.

will teaches el how to make them in lenora! it's in the beginning, when they're both grieving and trying to get to know each other, all while adjusting to a new environment. it's late, they have nothing to do, and el says she's craving something sweet. they have no waffles, will's pancakes are atrocious, and they already ate all the ice cream. thus, it's sugar cookie time. he writes down the ingredients and when they get to it, el takes to baking rather naturally. she's more precise than will is, more uniform and careful. they don't have anything to decorate or top them with, but he vows to mention something to mom for when she goes grocery shopping. they eat some together, thank each other for their company, and go to bed later that night feeling like something between them just changed for the better.

when he's older and living with mike, he finds himself making them sometimes when he feels especially homesick. he knows he could always call any of them and they'd pick up and talk his ear off, but sometimes... that just feels like too much. he knows that if his mom asks him how he is a second time, he'll just burst open and it'll all come pouring out. so.. he turns to the pantry and starts getting out the ingredients. he's better at this now. he likes making them into cool shapes. he could probably whip up some kind of icing to really decorate if he wanted to, but he just wants something sweet, warm, and soft to make him feel better. it doesn't have to be pretty—nothing in his life or about his home ever was—it just has to be made with love. mike comes home to their apartment smelling of sugar and vanilla and immediately knows why. he has one, then two, and eventually will has to put them away or else mike won't have any room left for dinner lmao. mike calls joyce later that evening for a quick chat and fills will in on the "hot goss" that is never actually hot (thank god).

will also learns to decorate and shape the cookies into whatever he feels like, mostly star wars characters / objects or whatever fits the season.

he becomes a more graceful baker as he gets older lol, but mike still watches him and the flour out of the corner of his eye 👀. (which will HATES because THAT WAS LITERALLY ONE TIMEEEEEE WE WERE TWELVE AND IT WAS DARK AND I WOULDN'T HAVE KNOCKED IT OVER IF YOU'D JUST GIVEN ME SPACEEEEEE) (to which mike goes hey. 🤨 bc he doesn't quite like the implication that he has always been this clingy thank u) (and ofc will just gives him the most unimpressed look Ever bc please be serious, michael. please be fucking serious rn)

arguing with redditors about how byler makes more sense than milkvan is like arguing with a brick wall you guys. it’s not even worth it. it’s more fun to clown them and to wait for the inevitable when they go to reddit to whine about the duffers pandering “the gays” when byler becomes canon. they don’t actually care about el mike or will as characters or their individual character arcs and what would be best for them. so many of those losers see themselves in mike because they think he’s the loser geek who “gets the girl” (literally, lucas, dustin and even jonathan are right there with much better examples) and fail to realize how shitty mikes treats el and vice versa and how awful mike and el’s romantic relationship with one another is and how mike literally cannot juggle forcing himself to be romantic with el and keep will as his friend. they literally show us this the entire fucking show. they don’t care about actually analyzing mike and why he acts the way he does, they’d rather assume he’s an asshole teenager (he’s not) than believe he’s going through a lot of inner turmoil and depression because he feels he can’t be himself, especially around el. they don’t wanna believe that will makes him feel special and that will is the only one he feels he can truly be himself around and open up to. every single sign points to byler but since mike is “straight” and “in a relationship with a girl” that automatically means byler can’t happen to them. cause you know, gay closeted ppl don’t exist even tho will byers and robin buckley are right in front of them but oh wait— 2 gay characters is enough representation and oh robin and vickie is enough representation too so will needs to have the more “realistic” outcome where he gets rejected and basically kills himself to save everyone cause guys men in the 80s never had good outcomes and el wants to be housewife and pop out mikes babies right after highschool cause that definitely makes sense 🤨🤨🤨