#i love talking about byler and ts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

andiwriteordie · 1 year

Note

Andi I am so so so ... silly. Because I was literally sitting here like oh I wonder what Andi's top byler t.s. song would be.. I guess I'll never know.. :/

And then I realized i can just ask you 😭 so... What is your THE byler t.s. song?

local woman shocked that the difficult question she first asked is now being sent to her.

oh my dear, dear abby... this is a um. this is a wonderful question. and i'm not panicking at all as i suddenly cannot decide.

i feel like i'm about to cheat a little bit because um, well. the song i'm about to pick is a taylor swift feature? but she IS credited as one of the writers, so i'm going with two is better than one.

(italicized = will; bold = mike ; both)

I remember what you wore on the first day You came into my life and I thought, hey You know this could be something

ok, i love listening to this verse because it just. it reminds me of them meeting at kindergarten, and it reminds me of mike reflecting on that moment as the best thing he ever did. like obviously, neither of them knew how important this friendship would become to them when they first met, but i just love then the hindsight of the shed monologue scene and mike getting to explain how much that moment and will's friendship means to him

'Cause everything you do and words you say You know that it all takes my breath away And now I'm left with nothing

honestly, i feel like this section right here is just both of them, like they're both in love with each other, and we all know it. and i love thinking about how much they both like each other. i mean just... it's one thing to fall in love with each other, but just the way that mike and will have been in each other's lives for so long that they know each other's strengths and weaknesses and, and they still choose each other. and idk now i'm rambling and adding more to this than is necessary because it's literally just three lines but? i'm? so emotional about it? (like the differences between like... el who didn't like mike's silly singing or anything like that and didn't really seem to care about his interests? versus will who has grown up with mike, who shares so much in common with him, who makes mike feel like he can be himself? and vice versa? UGH).

also. "mike's breath catches" 🤝 "you know that it all takes my breath away"

So maybe it's true That I can't live without you And maybe two is better than one But there's so much time

To figure out the rest of my life And you've already got me coming undone

And I'm thinking two is better than one

this right here is why i picked this song. obviously, it's the title of the song, but to me, it reminds me so much of how byler is a team. i love that about them. first and foremost, they are friends, and then they are romantic partners. they work as equals and value each other as such, and you can see it in the way they interact! plus, like "maybe it's true that i can't live without you" stands out to me as so s1 coded, where mike is trying to find will and going to all these great lengths to get will back. but also, then it's s4 coded with will saying to mike that in his van confession that he needs mike and he always will!

ok also the time theme here? my brain isn't fully operational right now lol, but there's something there with the bigger stranger things time theme and especially how time is associated with mike (being late to everything in the first episodes), but also then growing up and leave their childhood behind is a theme... "there's so much time to figure out the rest of my life" feels like a full circle moment where mike realizes he doesn't have to give up his childhood and doesn't have to have it all figured out. he and will have each other, and that is what matters most.

I remember every look upon your face The way you roll your eyes, the way you taste You make it hard for breathing

i mean. i just. i feel like this is so will coded. will learning and memorizing the parts of mike he loves so much. how deeply and fully will knows mike. how will loves every part of mike—all the good and all the bad. and i swear to you, somewhere there is a "will's breath catches" line SOMEWHERE or maybe there will be in s5?

'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away I think of you and everything's okay I'm finally now believing

this right here, again reminds me of will. i think about how he talks in his van confession about how mike gives him the courage to keep fighting and to keep going. and i just think about how will has suffered through so much, how he's faced awful things, but how mike gives him the strength to keep going. mike, with how he loves and cares for will, reminds will that everything is going to be okay.

anyways, basically it's just the chorus repeated from here on out but one more thing:

There's so much time To figure out the rest of my life But I figured out when all that's said and done

Two is better than one

this is (obviously) almost a repeat of the other chorus, but i love the small lyric change to "i figured out when all that's said and done" because i think about byler at the end of all of this. they've been through years of hell together, and there were moments where they thought their friendship was falling apart. but at the end of all of it, after all the pain and the confusion and all the mistakes, they have each other.

honorable mentions include: crazier, seven (basic i know), evermore, and peace

#andi's asks #i love talking about byler and ts #so this was fun

13 notes · View notes

andiwriteordie · 1 year

Note

Okay I absolutely want to take turns and play a little ts st game so.. tag you're it.

(I am also obsessed with you, if that wasn't obvious)

THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE GAME YAY YAY YAY

i'm gonna go with one of my most favorite taylor swift songs (legit this has been in my top 3 songs on spotify since 2019 or 2020 lol): the archer. i constantly go back and forth between whether it feels more mike or will to me because it just... it feels so much like both of them.

(prepare yourself for a loooooooong analysis. bold = mike; italics = will; both)

Combat, I'm ready for combat

I say I don't want that, but what if I do?

Alright, breaking this down section by section, be prepared for a long post, my friend. I think about Mike so much with this lyric, simply because Mike has a more combative nature than Will does. He’s hot-headed, brash, and easily angered, and we see him escalate a lot of situations (not even just with Will) because of that. But it’s so interesting, because while Mike’s nature is to be more combative and feisty, I feel like this also then contradicts other parts of Mike’s personality. Mike wants to be needed. Mike wants to be loved. His biggest fear is losing people that he cares about. He fears being abandoned by the ones he loves so much. So, these two lines to me just capture that internal battle, especially in the context of Byler, where Mike jumps to these argumentative, harsh words with Will (see rain fight, see Rink-O-Mania fight), and yet, he doesn’t want that. We know he wants things to be normal with him and Will again, but he’s using his combative, argumentative mask to hide those true feelings.

'Cause cruelty wins in the movies

I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

Cruelty wins in the movies. Ouch. This just reminds me of how Mike is trying to put on a facade. He is trying to emulate what a traditional, masculine kind of guy is supposed to look like. Guys aren’t supposed to be sensitive. They’re not supposed to care as much, and they’re certainly not supposed to care about other guys that much, right? Mike wants to be like the men he sees on the screens and that he sees in real life too (see - how he tries to follow Lucas’s example of traditional masculinity). But then, we see again, this other side to Mike. Lettergate theory truthers rise up. Mike has so much he actually wants to say to Will. Words he’s too afraid to say out loud and that are lost on pages he’ll never send or hidden in the back of his mind, where nobody gets to see them. But he wants to say them. He really really does.

Easy they come, easy they go

I jump from the train, I ride off alone

I think I’m gonna talk about Mike’s side of the chorus first, then I’ll talk about Will’s side when the chorus comes back around. God, “easy they come, easy they go” KILLS ME. I just have the images of Mike standing outside of Will’s home as Will (and El) are driven away from him in both the S2 finale (when they’re going to save Will from the Mind Flayer and when El is going to close the gate) and when Will and El’s family move from Hawkins. People keep leaving Mike, and that’s his biggest fear. It’s not just Will and El either; it’s all of his friends. We see these fears spilling out when he’s angry at Lucas in S4 for the basketball thing.

I never grew up, it's getting so old

Help me hold onto you

This line is so freaking ironic to me, because Mike is just the opposite of that, right? He forces himself to try and grow up. He tries to push his childhood away in S3, and in doing so, he hurts Will and the rest of his friends too. He’s trying so hard to ignore all these confusing feelings and repress them, but in the end, it just hurts Mike more too. He feels like he has to grow up, but he doesn’t actually want to. That’s getting old, and Mike just wants to go back to when things were okay—back when he could still be close to Will, could hold on tight to Will, could do things that weren’t looked down on because they had the innocence of youth to hide behind. And so, I read these lyrics as almost like… Mike’s inner child quietly asking if he can go back to that, begging to return to how things used to be?

I've been the archer

I've been the prey

Who could ever leave me, darling?

But who could stay?

Again, going back to the theme of Mike’s fear of loss and abandonment. “I’ve been the archer” - Mike has hurt people with his harshness and the words he’s said. He’s hurt Will before. But God, don’t other people realize how much Mike has been hurt too? “Why am I the bad guy?” Mike literally asks Will, because God, doesn’t Will get that he’s hurt Mike too? That Will didn’t reach out and didn’t answer his calls? That Mike feels like he keeps getting left behind, that everyone else is moving on and moving forward, when he just feels stuck? When he keeps losing the people (the person) who means the most to him?

Dark side, I search for your dark side

But what if I'm alright, right, right, right here?

Alright, moving on to some Will lyrics now! I can interpret this a couple different ways… But when I think about these lines, I just imagine Will in the aftermath of S3 and before S4, hurting and thinking about Mike. Because Mike has been his best friend for years now, and Mike did hurt him. Mike said harsh words and cruel things to Will, and maybe there’s a part of Will that is angry and hurt. That wants to leave their friendship behind, because Mike did it first, right? For what was probably the first time, Mike showed Will his “dark side” which is so shocking to Will, who has only ever been able to see Mike’s light and his love.

But that’s the thing that Will gets to learn about love and friendship—that you don’t just sign up to love the goodness someone has. You sign up for the good, the bad, and the ugly. And yeah, he’s seen the bad parts of Mike, but he’s also seen so much good. The bad does not discount all the years of love and friendship he and Mike have shared with each other, and Will wants to return to that friendship. He misses Mike. He’s not planning on leaving anytime soon.

And I cut off my nose just to spite my face

Then I hate my reflection for years and years

Okay I couldn’t decide who I wanted to analyze this set of lyrics more for, so I decided to do both. God, I love these lines so much, because when you think about that phrase “I cut off my nose just to spite my face” and its meaning that, “Hey, I’m going to do something that’ll hurt somebody else, but surprise? It hurt me just as much too,” I just think it’s so Byler. I don’t think either of them intentionally try to hurt each other, but when they do hurt each other, they end up hurting themselves just as much.

So, with both of them, I think about that time between S3 and S4. How neither of them really reached out all that much. How many they didn’t quite know how to be around each other anymore. How a little bit of resentment built up in their hearts, even if they didn’t want it to. How there were probably moments when Mike called Will and got no response, so he decided to be a little stubborn and not try again—until it just hurt too much not to try and reach out. How there were probably moments when Will saw letters coming in from Mike to El and how he thought about his own letters to Mike that he stubbornly decided not to send, because Mike couldn’t reach out first. How both of them wanted to reach out, but how both of them were hurt that the other wasn’t initiating. God. They’re so stupid, and I love them!

I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost

The room is on fire, invisible smoke

And all of my heroes die all alone

WILL WILL WILL WILL WILL. Literally this section of lyrics is so Will coded, like? I can’t. I love this song so much, Abby. I love that it’s a discussion of anxiety/mental health issues and how that then affects the way we love people. Because now, with Will’s perspective, I just… I think about how much Will has gone through. How he’s suffered from PTSD and probably still struggles with nightmares, even years after his kidnapping and possession. How when we see him in S4, he’s still trying to hold onto his past and his friendship with Mike, because of how much stability and comfort Mike once brought him.

Rewinding a little bit because if I’m gonna talk about Will’s mental health, I’m gonna talk about S2 because I love S2 with my whole heart? Literally all of this just reminds me of Will’s struggle with adjusting after S1 and then how he was targeted by the Mind Flayer in S2. He knows he isn’t the same, and everyone keeps reminding him of that. “The room is on fire, invisible smoke” - just reminds me of Will seeing the Mind Flayer and feeling his presence, but being told by Owens that it’s probably just all in his head. “Invisible smoke” like he made it up… all in his mind. Not to mention, “All of my heroes die all alone” excuse me. Bob. Dying because of something that’s indirectly Will’s fault? Ouch.

Help me hold onto you

Look, this little line gets its own paragraph because I’m not done talking about S2/S4 parallels yet. Again, thinking about how in S2 Will was struggling so much with adjusting and with being stalked, and who was there for him? Mike. Mike was this steady, constant presence, and he was the one person who didn’t treat Will with kids gloves or like he was broken or different for what had happened. He gave Will the courage to keep fighting! So, now in S4, especially at the end, we just see that struggle of Will knowing his and Mike’s friendship isn’t what it used to be, but God, he’s back in Hawkins, and he can feel Vecna’s presence again, and when will this end? Is Will going to be alone in this, this time around? God, he hopes not, and maybe that’s part of why he’s trying so hard to stay close to Mike too. Mike is his best friend, but Mike is also the one who most helps Will keep fighting. And sure, Will “ripped the bandaid” off, but then sitting on the couch next to Mike and quietly telling him these things—that One is back, that he’s not going to stop, that they have to kill him? It all just reminds me of this simple, simple lyric, and how Will is trying to return to that S2 dynamic. “Help me hold onto you,” is what he feels, even though he knows he shouldn’t.

I've been the archer,

I've been the prey

Screaming, who could ever leave me, darling?

But who could stay?

I mean, come on. “I’ve been the archer” in the sense that Will has done things he regrets. He was used by the Mind Flayer/by One to hurt and to kill people. But then, at the same time, “I’ve been the prey” because Will was One’s first target. He was abused and had his autonomy and control ripped away from him. One used Will to then perpetuate more destruction and harm. And that’s terrifying to Will, especially knowing he can still feel One and still is connected to him. But then, it’s just so beautiful to me, because in all of that, who stays with Will? Mike does. And Will knows it. Through the worst parts of his life, Mike stayed. The year before that, Mike moved heaven and hell to try and find Will. So, now, as they’re moving into S5 and into the fight of their lives, it’s just that question of… will Mike stay with him this time? Can they go back to the people they were and the relationship they had?

(I see right through me, I see right through me)

'Cause they see right through me

They see right through me

They see right through

Can you see right through me?

They see right through

They see right through me

I see right through me

Obviously, a lot of repeated lyrics here, but I just like thinking about how both Mike and Will are hiding parts of themselves—their sexualities and their feelings for each other. For two people who have built a friendship on the idea that “friends don’t lie,” it’s heartbreaking that they now find themselves in a place where they have to keep secrets from each other. And I just imagine, as they stumble close to crossing that line, as the walls fall down ever so slightly, if they’re wondering if people can see through their lies. Surely, somebody sees through their lies—Jonathan did with Will’s van monologue. And Mike’s fear is someone seeing through his lie in the monologue he gave to El. Because they both are well aware that they lied in these moments; they can see through their own lies and I’m sure they regret it. So, is it only a matter of time before somebody else sees through the lie too?

All the king's horses, all the king's men

Couldn't put me together again

S2 Will right here. I think about Will, feeling lost and feeling different and feeling broken, after his experiences in the Upside Down. He’s always felt like a freak, but now, he can’t run away from it. And it’s getting worse. The doctors are trying, and he knows it. Owens is a nice enough man. But nothing is helping. Maybe Will can’t be fixed. Maybe he’ll always be different and always be the freak, and there’s no running away from that. And it sucks… but even in spite of all of that, he still has Mike. His best friend. And Mike’s not going anywhere.

'Cause all of my enemies started out friends

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch, whatever you do don’t think about both Mike and Will feeling like the other one hates them now or is disgusted by them in the aftermath of their S3 fight. Nope, no, don’t do that. Mike feels so guilty; he’s hurt Will and said things that he regrets. And now Will isn’t reaching out to him. Will already feels different because of his sexuality and feelings for Mike, and now, he feels like Mike must know and must look at him differently. They used to be best friends, but now, they can barely even call themselves friends.

[Help me hold onto you

I've been the archer

I've been the prey

Who could ever leave me, darling?

But who could stay?

(I see right through me, I see right through me)

Who could stay?

Who could stay?]

Lots of repeated lyrics, which I think I covered already. :)

You could stay

You

Combat, I'm ready for combat

And this… this right here. I love this. Because after all of this, after this song is a massive confession of anxiety and of the worst parts of yourself, after the vulnerability of asking the person you love to please stay, please don’t leave again, I interpret this as a bit of a hopeful ending. Who could stay? … You. You could stay. So with Byler, I view this as just that moment of understanding that I hope they’ll get in S5, where they realize in spite of everything that has happened, in spite of what they’ve said to each other and the mistakes they’ve made, in spite of the negative ways they view themselves… Mike is choosing to stay there for Will. And Will is choosing to stay there for Mike. They’re not planning on leaving each other’s sides. They will face whatever comes next together, as a team. Neither one of them is going anywhere. It’s Mike and Will, up against the world.

#andi's asks #byler #st x ts #byler swifties #abby i am so sorry for this #i wrote a whole small book #also i love this and i love you ok #ok bye now #andi and abby analyze #new tag!!!!

14 notes · View notes