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Will Byers Analysis - Between S3 & 4

Something I always think about, is how Will probably didn't even know Mike and El were back together at the end of season 3.

When they had last spoke, part of Will probably thought Mike was talking about something else, which is understandable bc both him and Mike were speaking in code, whether they realized it or not (I didn’t say it/You didn’t have to).

At the very least, Will thought things could go back to how they used to between them; friends (best friends).

When the Byers arrived to Cali, I imagine within the first day, or within the first few days after they settled, it was most likely Jonathan who made the move to phone the Wheelers to talk to Nancy.

Then maybe Will decided he would call Mike once the phone was free or even asked Jonathan to have Nancy just hand the phone to Mike so they could catch up too.

But once Mike got on the phone, something was off. He sounded kind of distant and awkward and it left Will feeling confused.

Maybe Will tried to chock it up as them just needing to get used to living far away from each other, since this distance thing was indeed new for them. They'd been friends for the last decade and hadn't experienced being apart for longer than a week (the week of his disappearance). So, it was bound to be a little weird, for a little while. Right?

But honestly, just thinking about their fight in s3 and the events leading up to it, I wouldn't blame Will for being slightly worried.

Before the rain fight, Will was putting almost all of the time and effort into their relationship. He was fighting for it and Mike was leaving him behind. And that really hurt Will.

And that's what's honestly so incredible about Will's arc in s4, because he's not putting himself through that again.

Yes, he's growing up and he's matured, but he's also come to accept that, based on Mike's actions as of recent (despite what he might have sensed from Mike over the years), those romantic feelings he has for him will NEVER be reciprocated. If he's lucky, Mike will still want to be his friend, and he would be relieved to stay in his life in that way if it's something Mike still wants.

(Which also makes the GA's argument about how they think Will's arc in s5 is going to be about him accepting that Mike will never love him back, fall flat??? Because, Will's already realized that, sis. S4 ending the way it did was in part to make as clear as possible to Will (the unreliable narrator) that Mike cannot love him that way... And so why the hell would s5 confirm that for a second (3) time now? Where is the shock? Where is the value? What is satisfying about that? And why do that, while also holding off on Mike finding out about Will's feelings until the very end? Like... just let that simmer for a second and think about what that actually means in terms of the story going in a satisfying direction that also manages to surprise you... there is literally nothing satisfying about proving Will 'I'm not gonna fall in love' Byers, right...)

So, after about a week since they last spoke on the phone since arriving, a bunch of letters come in the mail: one for Jonathan, four for El, and three for Will (you can probably guess who from the party didn't send a letter to Will...).

And it's as if Will's worst fears are being (re)realized.

In his casual letter exchanges between the party, he talks about DnD and a new art class he's taking with Dustin, joining the basketball team with Lucas and how everything she'd told him about California was right with Max. Super casual catching up with some of his best friends. And yet still, nothing from Mike, arguably his best friend.

And so Will is understandably devastated.

He doesn't understand. Or maybe he does, he just didn't want to believe it.

And so, how Will chose to go about his contact with Mike over the next 'year' makes sense to me (and I support him fully tbh).

I think Will's arc in s4 is beautiful because he has some of the best development of anyone on the entire show. He's not the gay kid being used as a plot device for a heterosexual couple (stay tuned for s5). If anything, we're seeing this character who tried his best to mend his friendship with his best friend (also secret first love) after Mike presumably rejected him (ITS NOT MY FAULT YOU DON'T LIKE GIRLS!), and so, Will is not going to put himself through that again.

He's not going to let himself have hope that there could ever be something more between them, even if he thought so many times before there were moments or signs that Mike could feel the same (BC MIKE DID!!). He has already accepted it's not possible.

He's not going to 'stand in the way' anymore. If Mike wants to be with El, he's going to support them, even if it hurts him and his own feelings.

It's tragic, but it feels so in character for Will and his qualities as a person.

I know a lot of bylers argue that both Mike and Will were in the wrong when it came to them both not staying in touch, and I do agree, completely actually. Especially knowing Mike tried to call Will. HE TRIED. So it's not like he didn't. The miscommunication trope is doing it's magic. We just have to accept that.

And so, fittingly, when confronted, Mike doesn't tell Will he called (a lot). He lets Will think that he barely called and deflects and pushes it back on Will. But then almost instantly, he regrets it. Because it's in this moment he's only now realizing that Will did want to talk and missed him and is quite literally confused why they're not best friends any more. And suddenly it's all clicking. He knows deep down Will has every reason to be insecure, to not reach out to Mike after what happened last summer. It's just that he also thought Will had every right to move on because why wouldn't he, what's so great about Mike? Will could have anyone? Mike was so distracted by his own insecurities that Will had inevitably moved on, while also trying to hide his feelings, that he didn't realize Will actually did miss him. They've both got it all wrong.

As of now, we don’t know for sure if Will called at all, and so me assuming he called first, is just that, an assumption. But I’m giving Will the benefit of the doubt here. (It's also likely the Byers would have called the Wheeler's first because they know their number by heart most likely, while the Wheelers would've had to wait to get their new number).

Based on the story presented though (Will's unreliable narrator POV), he had a lot more reason to doubt Mike wanted anything to do with him. Will literally spent all of s3 fighting for their friendship, even if it meant coming off as slightly clingy and annoying and ‘childish’. And look how that turned out?

What else was Will to do in this situation? Just repeat all of his behavior in s4?

Was he just supposed to call Mike first, write him letters first, even though Mike was showing repeat signs of wanting to distance himself from him again?

And so, Will waits. He waits for Mike to make the next move, just in case his insecurities are right and that Mike doesn't want them to be best friends like they used to be.

One evening, about a month since the move, the phone rings and Will answers it. It's Mike.

Will is obviously surprised and thrilled. They talk for a bit, and yeah it's awkward. But still, it gives Will hope.

Now, it's still not enough to give Will the confidence to reach out first, fearing he'll come off too strong and scare Mike away again, and so he continues to give Mike space. But that doesn't stop this gesture from giving Will the inspiration to try one more thing, one last ditch effort to save their friendship; he's going to make Mike a painting.

So, all while watching El receive a new letter in the mail every few weeks or so, with him and Mike talking once (or if he's lucky maybe twice) a month over the phone, Will spends his time working on the painting, knowing that Mike used to appreciate his drawings when their friendship was at its strongest. And so, maybe this will be the thing that finally fixes things for them once and for all?

All too soon, it's Spring break and they're at the airport waiting for Mike to land.

In the months leading up to their reunion, Will made sure no one saw the painting he was working on, least of all El. Not even because he was scared she might figure out his feelings, but because he wanted it to be a surprise. We also know Will presumably had no problem with the others seeing the painting eventually because he literally brought it to the airport for Mike to open in front of all of them? And so... to him this was clearly an attempt at platonic reconciliation, even despite Will having romantic feelings for Mike. What he wanted was their friendship back.

But suddenly, Mike is standing before him and Will is so excited he can't hold back anymore. I mean, he's been holding back for MONTHS and he just wants to hug his best friend.

But then Mike is being awkward again, almost like he doesn't want to even touch Will at all, contrasting greatly from the last time they hugged during their goodbye only just a year ago (6 months they're so dramatic, i swear).

All this does is prove to Will that, despite them apparently ending on good terms, it seems Mike is just repeating last summer all over again.

Understandably, Will jumps to this conclusion fairly quickly, as his insecurities are being proven right in real time. Mike doesn't want the friendship they used to have. He doesn't want to hug, doesn't want to write to him, barely even called despite writing El a book worth of letters. He wants to talk to and focus on his girlfriend and Will is just an afterthought now.

There's no way he's gonna want this? A painting? Not a chance in hell.

So when Mike points to it and asks him about it nervously, Will panics and brushes it off.

How could he be so naive. Mike is making it SUPER clear he doesn't care about him, not like he used to. And still he's holding onto some misguided hope that maybe there's still a chance for them to be best friends.

How could he be so stupid.

i love the variation in the sibling relationships in stranger things.

will and jonathan byers, of course. i think at first, a lot of what we see in their relationship is desperation and panic and guilt, but in the end, that’s an expression of how deep their bond is, right? their relationship is on display a lot—mostly because of the plot, sure, but it’s also pretty evident that love and affection are really vocal and prominent in the byers household.

there’s mike and nancy (and holly). it’s interesting—all of them spend a lot of time away from each other. they’re separated by the story more often than not, so we as the audience tend to see them as characters defined by the people around them (the party for mike, jonathan and steve for nancy) rather than as siblings. both mike and nancy are defined more by their romantic interests than their family, which also speaks to their more distant relationship with their parents, i think. but some pieces still shine through—like when mike gets asked about dates with nancy, which he immediately shuts down even if it’s to their benefit.

the sinclairs… i think a good phrase for it is performative antagonism. they speak to the sibling relationship where you’ve never said a kind word to your sibling in your life, but you’d still follow them into hell regardless of the insults you’re throwing along the way. they’re also the only pair where the one in the younger group of characters (lucas) is the older sibling, and i think that shows in their dynamic too.

max and billy are… complicated, and i think they’d be the first to say that too. there’s so much resentment. so much hatred and abuse and learned behavior, and yet in their moments of vulnerability—billy in the sauna and max’s vecna-induced nightmare visions—they still think about each other. maybe those thoughts aren’t positive even a little bit of the time, but they were two strangers forced into something called ‘family’, and i think they both tried in different ways, in their own ways. too little too late, maybe, but that’s the point of the tragedy of it all.

and last but not least: steve and dustin. family of choice. found family. brothers by a different mother. whatever you want to call it, that’s them. unconditional trust but still willing to call you out on your bullshit. how could i NOT include them.

What if she had gone with Mike? Taken the initiative, surprised him for once? Found out what was going on to make him so distant and fuzzy over the long-distance telephone line.Would it have been better? Worse? Would there have been another girl? Another life he’d built filled with friends and activities; no time left for Nancy Wheeler?—brilliant. Do you think Nancy didn’t see Jonathan in California for these reasons? She did tell Robin she was scared of him meeting someone new.

I think it's definitely among the reasons. She said it aloud, after all, and that dialogue wasn't a throwaway and it wasn't a one-off.

Argyle alludes to Jonathan being not unnoticed by the Lenora girls too, in the woodshop conversation where he tells Jonathan to give his right hand a rest and enjoy himself. So there's clearly been some interest. And I think while Jonathan is likely oblivious to that, Nancy is very much not. She's in love with Jonathan, and she's attracted to Jonathan, and she's smart enough to know that if she thinks he's hot, other girls do too.

I think chief among the reasons Nancy didn't go to California (aside from the fact that had she gone to CA or Jonathan to Hawkins it would have destroyed, plot-wise, the entire season - Joyce can't go to Russia if Jonathan isn't there to watch the kids, Will and Mike wouldn't be able to rescue Eleven in any capacity or figure out how to get back to Indiana, and if Nancy wasn't in Hawkins that entire group would have been screwwwwwwed because I don't care what stans say, no, Steve absolutely could not have been in charge of that group, he would have never figured out what was going on or how to stop it) is stubbornness. She wanted Jonathan to come to her.

Nancy has always had an ego and she's always been somewhat arrogant. Literally since S1E1 she's been convinced she's right, even when she's wrong, and she's been stubborn as all hell. That's both a very good thing and sometimes a very bad thing because she's a person with flaws and shortcomings. I think at the beginning of S4, with the loneliness and difficulty of Jonathan being gone, we see that ego in full swing. Look how she treats the school paper staff, her comments about going through managing editors, her attitude toward Fred (and Robin, and Steve in the beginning).

I think not going to visit Jonathan when he says he's not coming to Hawkins (despite the fact that she could definitely more easily afford it, like, plane tickets were EXPENSIVE in the 80s) is largely a manifestation of that stubbornness. He won't give in and neither will she. But I also think she must be feeling insecure in her relationship with Jonathan. He's been pulling away from her - she admits it, he admits it, he goes into depth about it with Argyle - and she can sense it and she's not sure how to fix it. Long distance is hard and it was even harder when all you had was phone calls and letters to bridge literally 2,000-some miles. How could she not? She loves him, after all.

My Byler theories/predictions for S4

Since s4 is already confirmed to not be the last season, I don’t think Byler will officially get together in s4. I do think that we are definitely going to get a large amount of Byler’s development in s4 though, we just aren’t at the finish line yet. Since Byler has been being developed all through each of the seasons, I think the writers are playing the long game with Mike and Will. I really appreciate a queer romance that is so well developped, especially in something so popular! I think the season will end on a note where it’s understood what Mike has been struggling with, It’s made known that Will is gay, and that Mike has feelings for Will, and Will has feelings for Mike.

My predictions/theories for Byler in s4:

Mike might be acting a little off at school and Dustin is going to notice his odd behavior and ask what’s up

I think Mike will be getting in trouble at school and at home (based on whenever he doesn’t have Will/El around he does stupid things - like graffitti the bathroom wall, plagiarize essays, curse at adults, etc.) I don’t know if Mike knows about Eddie dealing drugs, but he might and he might get drugs from Eddie and do them to cope with everything he is struggling with. His parents might ground him for doing drugs, and forbid him from going to visit the Byers, and then we could get our runaway smalltown boy montage! LOL

Lonnie might come to visit the Byers in California for Will’s birthday. He will probably show up because he thinks they have money now, or he wants to sue Starcourt like he wanted to sue the quarry in s1. Mike will also be there visiting for Will’s birthday. Lonnie will mock Will and make fun of him like he always did, but he will also hate Mike. Lonnie will definitely notice Will and Mike’s dynamics and he will definitely comment about it. He might even call them homophobic slurs like we know he used to do with Will when he was younger. Lonnie will probably make Will cry and Mike upset. Lonnie might possibly “out” him and Mike before they are out and confirm it themselves. Some of the movies on the stranger writers twitter for s4 also hint at this, as well as having the baseball references. There are also hints to Will’s birthday throughout the show: The rainbow happy birthday mug seen in the crazy together scene, the “sorry i forgot your birthday card” in Will’s room from Lonnie, and Joyce’s speech in the shed discussing Will’s 8th birthday and his “rainbow ship”. Jonathan also mentions how Lonnie made him kill a rabbit on his 10th birthday and he cried for a week after, just more hints that if Lonnie shows up for Will’s bday, it’s gonna be bad.

Mike might get Will a watch for his birthday. This would reference the clocks being central to the s4 plot, and “not wanting things to change/turning back the clock” in Hopper’s letter

Will is being homophobically bullied at his new school again, possibly references to Will having HIV/AIDS because the height of the epidemic was in the 80’s and it was very stigmatized

Mike will call Will more than he will call El. Will might be slightly surprised by this, El’s frequent calling will annoy Mike and he might turn off his walkie talkie. (basically the reverse of what Mike said would happen in the s3 ending mileven scene)

Mike and Will will be in the same location for most of the season, like s2. They will not leave each other’s sides for the majority of the time they are together.

S4 Group Predictions:

- El, Will, Mike trio together with Jonathan and Argyle. (we will get some obvious tension between El, Will, and Mike, and Mike will hate Argyle at first)

- Robin, Steve, Erica, Max, Dustin, Lucas, Vickie, Eddie, Nancy

- Joyce, Murray, etc?

- Hopper and the other Russians (Dimitri, etc)

The rift between Mike and El will continue to grow.

When Mike comes to visit, she will notice he seems much more interested in Will.

El will ask why the bullies call Will those things (queer/fairy/gay/homo, probably f slurs too), what it means and if he really is “a queer”.

I don’t know if Will is going to come out to El. They have never interacted before, and I doubt Will trusts her or really likes her much mainly, because of Mike. Unless they get super close during the time not portrayed on screen between s3 and s4, or by being all each other has in California, I don’t know if  he will come out to El. I could see this going either way depending on how their friendship develops. I definitely do not think Will is going to tell El he likes Mike, even if he does confide in her he is gay. I think she will find out eventually but in some other way, probably just from Mike’s behavior towards Will.

El will eventually realize she doesn’t actually love Mike and let go of the ‘romance’ aspect of their bond, but still highly value him as a friend.

Mike might be called homophobic slurs at school as well. Mike will definitely be teased (regardless of his sexuality) because he is in the hellfire club and since satanic panic is sweeping the town, people look at D&D as if it is a satanic game, and he will be teased because of that.

Based on the leaked bts pics, I have a theory a cheerleader, or someone else, might show interest in Mike.  Mike will not reciprocate and she will call him out for it asking why he doesn't like her because “any other guy at this school would” or something like that, maybe even ask “what are you gay or something”. It would certainly be good for Mike’s narrative but idk if it will happen.

Will may confide in Jonathan about his feelings for Mike and the things the bullies say to him at school. Jonathan will be supportive of Will, as will Joyce. I think he will also try to protect Will from Lonnie and they will both defend Will to Lonnie.

I think we need a scene of Mike with his Mom telling him to follow his heart, like who you like, etc. because life is too short to waste it being miserable or something like that. This could be inspired by Mike’s parents seperating, but idk. This could also encourage Mike to initiate more romantic things with Will.

I would love to get a scene of Will confronting Mike for “Joining another party”, after Will said he wouldn’t.

Will and Mike need to discuss what was said in their fight.

I think since Mike's been holding in a lot of turmoil and struggling with his sexuality for so long we might get a small breakdown scene from him, of him telling Will he’s really sorry for how he treated him last summer, and for all the things he said to Will. Mike will profusely apologize and also hint at how he’s confused and been dealing with a lot.

I think Mike will be the first one to break down and confess he has feelings for Will and has been struggling with coming to terms with his sexuality.

Once Will has confirmation Mike is also struggling with his sexuality, Will might come out to him. I would love for him to reference the fight being like “You were right. I don’t like girls.” (from @itsonlystrange ‘s 4x07 byler script it’s so good!) I don't know if Will will confess he likes Mike to his face or not. I don't think it's likely given how shy Will is and how afraid he is of Mike not reciprocating, but who knows.

Mike may initiate a kiss between him and Will - towards the end of the season probably (eyewitness parallel - explained in my byler proof google slides)

I think Mike and Will might write letters to each other, with some love-y connotations. There is a lot of evidence for this in the canon comics of them writing notes to each other, and that cryptic tweet from stranger writers twitter with a blocked out message and the date Will went missing saying it wasn’t about a couple or hopper. Maybe byler related? This tweet may not be a letter but it might be. The most popular theories are that the message is to Will, “love mike”, which I love. https://twitter.com/strangerwriters/status/1184945905973153792?lang=en

Will has a new haircut (bts pics) and Mike will gush over it. Maybe some gay-panicking too hopefully

I think El will be either physically or at least emotionally distant the entire season from the other kids (again following the pattern of even and odd seasons) El needs some personal development this season, since she didn’t get any in s3.

El might confront Mike and ask if he is gay and if he likes Will, which could be El’s motivation to go off on a journey of her own to learn more about her own life. I don’t think it will be a huge fight, but El might make some references to him always lying to her. I think Mike might just kind of try to talk his way out of it at first, but he will eventually break. This might be a two part discussion and Mike doesn’t admit she is right until later. I don’t think it makes sense for El to be heartbroken (explained in my byler proof slides), just slightly annoyed. This is based off of the movie Tootsie which they borrowed the “gift” idea from in s3 already. In the movie, the girlfriend then after receiving the gift asks “Michael” if he is gay.

I really think eventually El will realize it’s okay because she doesn’t love him romantically either, and once she realizes that her own personal development can really begin.

I think we will see a noticeable change in Mike’s demeanor. I think Mike will mainly just be trying to hide that he is gay now. He joined the hellfire club so we know he’s playing d&d again meaning he is reverting back to his true self, not the weird act he put on in s3 trying to be straight and change himself. He is still struggling, but he knows he likes Will. Regardless that doesn’t mean he is going to be super clear about how he feels. He is going to be extremely afraid of opening up and then getting hurt by Will. He will probably do some of his usual ‘lead Will on and then shut it down’ thing. And I really want Will to call him out on this. This could also lead to Mike breaking down in front of Will and confessing. I think we are going to get a lot of 'Mike gay panicking' moments, he's going to be extremely afraid of being found out/suspected.

Byler things I really want to happen that we may get because they would have narrative significance:

I really want flashbacks to those 3 months of summer between the starcourt explosion and the Byers moving, of moments between Mike and Will when they hang out alone together, with some obvious romantic tension. Like where they are super playful and almost kiss, or they are kind of touchy, or something in the realm of that. I think we need a flashback of something that explains Will’s flirty nature at the very end of s3 with Mike, because he doesn't normally act like that. I want noticeable “is something going on with them?” vibes. This could also happen during the thanksgiving/christmas flashbacks.

I hope we get flashbacks of Mike going to the Byers for Thanksgiving, and the Byers coming back to Hawkins for Christmas. Preferably of some Mike and Will moments that hint at Mike’s confusion or how he feels “so alone” without Will, maybe with some “crazy together” references too! I’d also love some tension between the 3 of them, maybe this is when El starts to get suspicious of Mike liking Will.

Hopefully we get some shots of Mike biking past the byers old house and going to look at castle byers and reminiscing.

I’d love to get a flashback of Mike the day the Byers moved away, of him crying or being upset, alone in his room/basement while looking at Will’s drawings or pictures of Will and him together. Mainly to confirm for people that Mike was upset about Will moving, not as much El.

This one does not seem super probable, but it is a very popular theory. Idk if it’s possible because of location logistics, but if they spend enough time together, I’d love for Mike to get to know Robin better, and Will too. Maybe once everyone comes together at the end of the season, she will notice their dynamics and could help guide and inspire them to be themselves. Hey maybe thats for s5 :) But I do think it’s a possibility that Mike may work at the video store with Steve and Robin, and she will pick up on Mike’s behavior and understand, whether she communicates that to him or not.

I feel like a lot of people seem to forget the Mike is the wheelers only son. Meaning he has different expectations than Nancy has and that Holly will have.

Example:

Nancy was always expected (By Ted, at least) to marry in to a good family of her own. Take someone else’s last name.

However with Mike, and with men in general and heteronormativity and toxic masculinity, men are the ones that are supposed to “carry on the family legacy.”

Mike isn’t supposed to marry into a family, a young lady is supposed to marry into THEIR family. The WHEELER family. For a young lady to take THE WHEELER last name.

Nancy was expected to be the house keeper. The cook. The house wife. She bares the children, takes them to school, while her husband is off at work. Following the pattern of Karen and Ted.

However Mike isnt expected to do that. He’s supposed to find a woman that marries into their family. She bares the children while he’s at work.

I do think Karen noticed early on that their son isn’t what 80’s society deemed as normal, not even from a sexuality stand point.

We don’t know much about Ted, but we do know that he is wealthy. He makes “6 figures” (or more) in the words of Jonathan. He was probably in some sort of sport. Most likely popular. Very much similar to Steve.

And well, Mike isn’t.... any of those things.

He isn’t athletic... like at all. Which in the 80’s , was very looked down upon. He isn’t popular, and he’s a “nerd.”

While Ted probably had girls swooning over him 24/7, Mike doesn’t have that. I’m sure Karen noticed very early on that he wasn’t going to continue the Wheeler family in the most conventional way possible. He wasn’t going to get prom king. He wasn’t going to work at an insurance firm, marry a Kathy or a Susan or a Tina and settle down working a 9-5. And that doesn’t even involve his sexuality.

But most importantly, I’m sure Ted noticed that.

There’s often a lot of focus on Will’s relationship with his father (which albeit, is much more front and center.) and how Lonnie often tried to “man up” Will. (I’m not invalidating that in any way.) However, it isn’t very out of character that Ted had very similar concerns and expectations. Definitely on a different scale, but he had them.

No, I don’t think Ted has ever “abused” any of his kids. However I do think he reinforced his expectations in... unhealthy ways. Especially on Mike.

Nancy was (in season 1, but still is.) the “perfect daughter.” She was on the cheer squad. She was pretty, popular (to an extent at some point), good grades, likable, she was doing everything her family wanted her to. She dated the most popular guy in school, and even in season 3, while she is dating Jonathan, she still seems to be doing pretty well. And although she is definitely more independant now, and isn’t following the structure her parents have set up for her (letting the man do the discovering and hunting and all of that, while she sits back as the damsel in distress.) it doesn’t seem like her parents are “disappointed” in her,, or worried about her future. Unlike Mike.

Very early on, I assume, Mike definitely wasn’t the “star son” Ted was looking for. Not the extroverted popular guy, the one who all girls swooned over. I’m sure Ted complained about this and to Karen, and expressed his concerns on why their son wasn’t fulfilling the expectations they set up for him. Instead of star football flayer, he’s a nerd. Instead of a ladies man, he’s well.. not a ladies man. I believe Ted set up these expectations at a very young age. And reinforced them, not in the best ways. He probably tried to in force “manly” stereotypes onto Mike. Maybe even tried to get him into a sport. We see in season 2 that he is forcing mike to “grow up” by giving away some of his toys, because in Ted’s mind, growing up means Mike could finally “man up” which then snowballs in season 3 to Mike feeling like he has to “grow up” so he can “man up” so he won’t be so childish. So he can finally fulfill his parents expectations. So he won’t be such an out cast (which we now know backfires, as he’s in the Hellfire club and will probably be under a lot of scrutiny.)

Mike is aware of these expectations, which only affect his personality and attitude further. I’m sure Ted had ridiculed him on not being athletic enough... failing PE. Not having a girlfriend. Not being very talkative, and when he is talkative having an attitude. Lashing out. Not being popular. Playing board games inside all day instead of going out and playing soccer. And this only affects Mike’s insecurities more.

Mike is insecure that he will never be able to fulfill his parents desires. That he will never be the star football player and valedictorian that all the parents think is phenomenal. And even though Mike hates to admit it, he relies on people, especially his father, for validation. His father very obviously didn’t and doesn’t give him enough love, and his mother, while definitely being more open and caring, can be distant. His family doesn’t give him much attention, which is why he lashes out. He needs attention, and if he can’t get it from his parents, maybe he can get it from other people. Or even worse, he does things, graffitiing the bathroom stall, cussing out people, stealing from Nancy, to get a rise out of his parents. So maybe his parents will notice him, pay attention to him. Ground him, take away his Atari. He may act like he hates it on the outside, but he subconsciously does it on purpose. So he can feel something again. So he can feel recognized. Mike possesses self destructive behavior because of his parents. Because at school, people don’t pay attention to him. At home, people don’t pay attention to him. He’s lost. He’s alone.

And in ways, Mike thinks he’s a failure.

This is where the party comes in.

I think a lot of people seem to round up Mike being against Max joining the party is because he doesn’t want someone to “replace El.” However, while that may be the case, I don’t think that’s all of it.

The reason he didn’t want Max to join the party is because, they are the exact. Same. Type. Of. Person.

Mike was projecting his personal insecurities onto Max because they are so similar. He seems himself in Max. And because he refuses to talk about his own personal problems he will be seen as “more of a freak” he takes them out on Max and ridicules Max for things that he actually ridicules himself for. And also, on a different note. Mike was scared. Scared he’d be replaced. Because his whole life that’s how he was treated. Ted seems to only give out love and praise when it fits his expectations. And when Mike doesn’t reach those expectations, Mike feels like a failure because he is told he is.

Mike is scared of being replaced or abandoned by the Party because he already has been by the rest of his school and his own father.

So Mike was upset that Dustin and Lucas found Max so entertaining, because he was afraid Max would take up his spot in the party. Because although he hates to admit it, she was awesome. Way more awesome than he could ever be. And he saw how cool she was. He felt threatened. Threatened that Dustin and Lucas, and probably Will too, would ditch him for Max.

Max radiates “leader” energy. She has the ability to take charge of a situation when she needs to. She’s cunning. Sarcastic. She can be slick, and doesn’t usually take no for an answer. She’s intimidating.

Mike felt threatened because, well, he is the leader of the party. And he didn’t want this girl to come in and take a hold of that. Because the party is literally all he has. He may act like he has this big ego or whatever, but this is all he has. He’s an out cast. And he needs validation from the party. He likes being a leader, because this is the only setting where he can be one. He isn’t popular, yet the people in the party look up to him. And he likes that attention, the attention that his parents didn’t give him. While Karen and Ted were busy paying attention to Nancy, he was alone. He had no nobody. He still sort of has nobody. But the party is his comfort. It’s his validation, the validation he needs from Ted but doesn’t get. He saw Max’s potentional and was afraid he’d be kicked to the curb. His attitude towards her in season 2 wasn’t because he wanted to be a jerk. It was a defense mechanism.

And the thing is, they really are so similar.

Both have fairly absent fathers. Both are sarcastic. Both are leaders. Both are witty. They are both pretty smart (in different fields.) They are quick thinkers and are both able to take charge of a situation. The reason Mike “hates” Max is because he hates himself. Max is so similar to Mike which makes her an easy target for projection. He both envies her yet holds resentment towards her at the same time.

So Mike’s hatred of Max is because of a few things:

A coping mechanism and fear of being left behind and kicked out of the party because she is the much “cooler” version of him.

And a projection of his true feelings of himself on to her because they are so similar .

Mike has abandonment issues and unhealthy coping mechanisms. But even worse, he has high expectations that he can only meet in unhealthy and unhappy ways.

Mike believes that in order to become a “man” he needs to grow up. That’s something his father taught him. Mike believes that in order to become a “man” he must find a young lady to settle down with. He must settle in life. Work a 9-5. Have a wife that bares children.

Which is why it utterly shocks and scares mike that he can’t even fulfill that expectation either.

When Mike first realizes his feelings for Will, I don’t think he fully acknowledges it. I don’t think he wants himself to. Because he is fully aware that in his fathers eyes he is a failure. And even to himself, he sees himself as a failure. So it upsets him that the one thing, the ONE thing, that he thought he could do to make his parents happy, the one thing that would dig himself out of this hole, the one thing that would make Ted “proud” of him, being straight, isn’t possible for him. It scares him. He’s already messed up this far. He isn’t athletic, popular, talkative. Why can’t he just have this one thing? This one sense of normalcy?

So he pushes it away. I think he’s had these feelings for Will for a long time. In season one, he definitely had them, but didn’t realize or acknowledge them. In season two I definitely think he realized something was up, but just didn’t wanna believe it.

I do think he cares about El, and loves her platonically. However I also think that after he accessed that his feelings towards Will weren’t totally “bromantic.” , he began overcompensating. He pushed Will away in fear that if he connected with Will even more he’d act on his feelings. Now I don’t think he’s fully acknowledged his feelings yet, all I think is that he knew something was up and tried to stop it from flourishing. He was still under the impression that this was a “phase.” That all he has to do is “grow up.” Because he equates straight love with growing up and settling down. His feelings for Will are “childish.” He attempts (and fails) to act like an “adult” or a “man” by saying misogynistic things against El, (like the usual 80’s man would), by regularly using slang like “Man” or “Dude” against Will, which was a first. And calls himself a “7 year old” when he reverts back to talking about getting new toys for Christmas. This boy is reallyyyy trying to push his straight agenda here.

Then, after about 10 months of trying to push this “straight agenda”, by constantly reminding the party that he is in a STRAIGHT RELATIONSHIP. By acting all lovey dovey in front of the party yet never showing that alleged affection to El on screen. (Saying he loved el, came off as if he was trying to impress the party, or further prove he is “straight”, yet not being able to say it back to her. Acting like he’s all in love and crazy for el when he runs off the weather top in s3 e1, yet just going through the motions of making out with El and even taking her hands off of him behind closed doors.) Point is, he barks more than he bites.

Remember how I said this boy needs a lot of validation to function? Yeah well this is where that comes in.

He needs validation that people believe he’s in a straight relationship. He constantly reminds the party that he is and almost seems like he’s really trying to push it. He’s overcompensating. Because he NEEDS people to believe that he’s in a straight relationship so that he believes it himself. Because in his head, if people believe he is then, he is. Nobody knows what they don’t know. They never have to find out about his attraction to guys if he doesn’t show it. And in the beginning it’s paying off well. The party really believes it. But then he messes up big time and it all crumbles down. Very curious if Lucas ever realized how quickly Mike went off in the rain to fetch Will when he couldn’t even call El by phone.

But as I said, after 10 months of this “facade”, El says she loves him back, something he either actually forgot about or lied about forgetting, and kisses him. And then he stands there, and it turns out, all that work, all that time he spent, lying to himself and to the party, didn’t work. He realized that this isn’t just a phase. It’s real. He can’t just overcompensate for this. He cant just pray it away.

Mike, early on, developed an insecurity of not having a girlfriend because of the bullies at school and his father. No girl ever paid attention to him. He was sidelined, and the only people that even really knew his name were the members of the party. He saw how Will got bullied. And he was bullied for similar things too. He saw the aids epidemic spread infront of his eyes. He saw how homosexuals were treated. He didn’t want that to be him. Because he had already failed his parents and their expectations (Atleast in his eyes.) He already failed the kids at school and is seen as a nerd or outcast, why couldn’t he just have one thing that would make him “normal” . Being straight was essentially Mike’s only opportunity to be “normal”, to not be seen as such an outcast, and now that opportunity is taken away from him because well, he isnt straight.

So then El came in and to El, Mike was this warrior. To El, Mike was this strong, charming, fearless ‘man.’ And Mike knew that wasn’t true. He knows he’s just a small town kid that’s a total nerd and a total joke to the kids at school, but El didnt and doesn’t know that. With El, he’s allowed to be something he’s not. And that made Mike happy. Someone gave him attention. Someone didn’t actually think of him as a “failure.” All the girls at school found him repulsive. He had already assumed he’d have to settle for a trophy wife. But El came into the picture and allowed him to appear normal for once.

I do think Mike loves El platonically, but I also think that he subconsciously liked her for his own personal benefits. Lucas said it the best. He liked her because she’s the first girl that isn’t grossed out by him.

He cares about El a lot, that’s undeniable, but he also thought that in El, he saw a chance to be normal. To impress his father who already assumed he was a lost cause. El was his gateway to being straight.

TLDR:

So what I encourage you all to realize is:

Being gay In the 80’s is hard as it is, but mike’s personal complexes and his parents expectations make it extra hard. He feels even more like a failure. Because out of everything, he isn’t straight. He isn’t athletic, popular, isn’t well liked, and he’s disappointed his father, when all he’s ever wanted was to impress his father, and now he knows he never really will be able to.

Mike’s journey in season 4 deserves to be about self acceptance. About learning to love yourself. Mike relies heavily on other people’s validation and attention. So when he isn’t given that attention he lashes out. Mike feels unloved and like a failure. He needs to be the leader of the party because he feels like that’s the only form of leadership he’ll ever have. He likes that in the parties eyes and in el’s eyes, he’s on this pedestal, because in his mind that’s the only pedestal he’ll ever stand on. Mike is full of self esteem issues, anxiety, ptsd, and most likely depression. He deserves to be uncondiontially loved by someone. But most of all, he deserves to love himself and become comfortable with the fact that A. A nerd and shouldn’t be ashamed of his nerdy hobbies and B. He isn’t straight and that’s okay! He needs to learn to accept his sexuality. Season 4 is the deciding season. I believe we will see him go through a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of realizations. But the end of season 3 was very telling as to where his arc is headed.

Mike’s reliability on validation and need for attention leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms. He’s been keeping up this fake agenda of “being straight” and shoving it in his friends faces in order to convince himself that he IS straight and that these feelings for Will are just a matter of “being a child” and needing to “grow up” , which backfires. His father has implemented a lot of these insecurities into his head. He wants to grow up faster than the rest of the party because growing up means finally being a man, which would in turn, impress his father. And impressing his father means he’d be loved by his father. And being loved by his father means getting attention from his father. The attention he has never received. Ted has affected Mike in more ways than most people notice. That needs to be addressed. I hope to see Mike come to terms with who he is. The fact that he’s a nerd, the fact that he is a “freak” and that’s okay, and the fact that he’s not straight, which is also okay.

Mike isn’t a bad character. He is misunderstood and really really just needs a hug.

SUPER SORRY FOR LONG POST. PLEASE REBLOG AS THIS NEEDED TO BE SAID. GOOD NIGHT YALL <3

Stranger Things 4 Analysis and Theory

I don’t know if anyone else has done posts on this stuff yet (it’s really likely, but i’d not want to take the credit if i’m not the only one who’s thought of this)

I know @kaypeace21 has made tons of posts on the s4 movies from Video Store Friday, and many others have theories and analyses, but back in July I took it upon myself to research more into the very last few scenes of s3. Specifically the three months later time stamp, where Steve and Robin are in search for a new job.

My main focus was the four movies that they mentioned for Keith at the counter. “Animal House”, “The Hidden Fortress”, “Children Of Paradise”, and “The Apartment”.

(reminder that if you read this, it could be spoilers for the final cut of the actual show if i end up being correct about some of this, so read at your own risk)

My first theory, which I’ve already discussed in a separate reblog, is about The Hellfire Club. But i’ll say it here too.

Basically,

(sorry for the sucky quality)

Animal House is about two awkward freshmen going into college and joining a fraternity of rejects. It matches Mike, Dustin and the Hellfire Club perfectly! Personally, my lowkey theory is that they’re going to have to go though an entirety of initiation activities (possibly drugs too, if what we’ve heard is correct) and Lucas and Max will be in their own storylines up until the supernatural threat brings them back together again. This could be wayy off, but still its my idea.

As for Max and Lucas...

I’m not sure about the entirety of the plot of this movie, but the last line sounds a lot like something that would happen between Lumax. Lucas is a basketball jock now, I think that’s crystal clear now seeing from the Pep Rally poster, and how he’s always been the one in the group to be able to mask his nerdy side. For Dustin and Mike, I know it’s much harder for them. Anyways, Max, I’m pretty positive by now, is going to be extremely distant and defensive from everyone just like she was in the beginning of s2, since she just had a big change happening in her life. It’s the same now, except with the grief and loss of Billy. My guess, from the hints of this movie and other stuff, is that Lucas is going to come face to face with his reputation as a popular kid, and his love for Max. Like the summary says, he must decide between the advancement of his career or the girl that he loves. Real hard hitting stuff.

Onto the next one. MIKE WHEELER. (or will byers)

I watched an analysis video on this movie, because I haven’t seen it yet, but again the very last line is what I’d like to focus on.

My. Jaw. Dropped.

I’ve read many analyses of Mike Wheeler being gay (courtesy of @kaypeace21 @hawkinsschoolcounselor and MANY others), but I dunno, I was always just so skeptical no matter how much it made sense. But when I saw this WHAT THE HELL?!?’);/&? It’s stupid of me to not have believed it sooner, but I hope this is the movie that foreshadows Mike’s storyline this season. I’m assuming Mike will have to “prove his expertise in battle”, or perhaps prove he can go through with all of the initiation shit for The Hellfire Club, while hiding his growing revelation that he might be gay/bisexual.

BUT a possibly more likely scenario would be that this movie connects with Will Byers’ storyline this season instead. Perhaps the hardships of a new school and a new town has Will shaken up, and he also has his sexuality awakening that he has to hide from new people. I say that it’s more likely for him, because Will has always been more heavily queer-coded (not exactly heavier, but just extremely much more apparent and obvious opposed to Mikes queercoded subtext that we really had to dig for).

I also didn’t mention this in my reblog from earlier, but I want to address my opinions on the apparent cheerleader that meets Mike and befriends one another. One of my friends on twitter said Chrissy (her name, or so we think lmao) might be a key component to Mike being able to discover and come to terms with his sexuality. But then again, a different friend of mine thinks that the amount of content were getting is oddly suspicious, and that the Duffers are feeding us all the wrong information to lead us to all the wrong conclusions. But, at this point, why not both. At the moment, everyone thinks that Chrissy is Mikes new love interest, but what if she really isn’t, and they’re pulling a Robin on us (i call it a robin because it was technically straight-baiting in s3 LMFAO). I’m not saying that she might be a lesbian (although 👀 it says on her character info that she’s 18 (robins got some game to work with now ahaha)) but it could be a straight-bait up until she helps Mike realize his sexuality (i would have said realizes his love for Will😍😍 but recently ive been trying not to input byler into everything i fucking say, so theres how that’s going). Anyways. Last movie!

Now, I’m currently not super concrete on this one to be completely honest. I have a few in mind...

Okay, so don’t attack me, but this could possibly be a mileven storyline. It sort of fits. They have an undeniable connection, but “their fortunes shift considerably and they’re pushed apart” aka the misfortune of the mindflayer and hawkins not being safe for them leads them to moving away and literally being pushed apart. I don’t know about the pursuing other relationships, but we still have no idea what’s going on with El Hopper tbh, i havent a single clue what’s going to be happening with her storyline atm. But either way, that could be it.

ORRRR the MUCH more likely scenario, Jancy :)

Bloggers on here have already predicted that they wouldn’t be endgame, and I was only slightly skeptical because although their relationship was built on shared trauma, a very unstable foundation to have for a ship tbh, i still hung onto the fact that they cared for eachother a lot :,( But the entirety of their season 3 bickering and this summary kind of sealed the deal.

Just like Mike and El, Nancy and Jonathan have been pushed apart aswell. It was already seen in season three that they’d be better of leading separate lives, aka Jonathan was doing fine at the internship, whereas Nancy could have been somewhere better for herself. I doubt they broke up at the end of season 3, but there’s bound to be new relationships for them seperately. It sucks bc I love Jancy, but s3 showed how badly they snap at one another when there isn’t a life threatening event at hand. Jopper on the other hand, I thought their bickering was adorable, but i’m getting off track, sorry lmfaoo.

Once again, I probably am not the first to talk about these, but jsyk if you steal this from me specifically i will track you down and end you. I’ve been speculating about these things since April and July, which is pretty weak tbh, but that was when i had nothing better to do LMFAO. i hope i got at least something right, but i haven’t seen many of the video store friday’s movies, which sucks bc those could really help. But whatever.

(i wrote this really late at night, and it’s poorly edited bc my eyesight sucks lmfao, but i hope you get what i mean)

And that’s it! I hope you like it, or had some sort of impact from it idk, just sharing my thoughts tbh. Anygays, if you have any questions/added ideas/thoughts of any kind, my inbox is always here, you can private message me, and comment if you want!! i love y’all sm lmfao, so excited for the upcoming content were about to get soon, byee!

The Reason Jopper, Jancy, and Mileven are NOT incest

I’ve seen this a lot on the Internet recently and it’s starting to get on my nerves that people don’t understand how basic familial relationships work. I don’t care if anyone reads this, I need to get it off my chest.

Let me explain something first in case people are confused:

Siblings: When both parents are the same, blood related

Half-siblings: When one parent is the same, half-blood related

Step-siblings: When one parent marries another parent, that parent’s child becomes this, not blood related

This post is going to involve the Byers Family (Joyce, Jonathan, and Will), the Hopper family (Jim and Eleven) and the Wheeler family (Karen, Ted, Nancy, Mike, and Holly) because those are the families these ships deal with.

First, I’m going to start by using an example from my own life to prove that’s it’s not weird for siblings to marry siblings (it sounds weird but I’ll elaborate)

My aunt (my dad’s sister) has two daughters, Marissa and Laura.

There’s another family who has many kids, two of them being two men named Mickey and John (they are brothers).

Marissa married Mickey (and have perfectly healthy children) and Laura married John (their kids are fine too)

Marissa and Laura are siblings and Mickey and John are siblings. This isn’t weird, it’s just two siblings are both married to people who are also siblings

(This is a little confusing but I tried to explain it the best I could, and I didn’t use real names, but I used names to make it less confusing)

You’re probably wondering, what does this have to do with Stranger Things. I’m getting there. This was my example that it’s not super weird for siblings to both get married to two people who are also siblings. It happens in the real world quite often.

Now, I’m not implying that Jopper, Jancy, or Mileven will get married, I’m just explaining why it wouldn’t be incest if all three of them were to get married, which people can’t seem to grasp (people also drag Byler into this too, but I’m mostly gonna focus on the three ships, but Byler works the same way)

So each ship consists of two people.

Jopper: Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers

Jancy: Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler

Mileven: Mike Wheeler and Eleven (Jane Hopper)

Joyce Byers has two biological sons, Jonathan and Will. Hopper has one adopted daughter, Eleven. Nancy and Mike are siblings, belonging to Karen and Ted Wheeler.

I’m gonna start with Jopper. If Jopper were to get married, familial relationships would change. Joyce would gain Eleven as a step-daughter. Hopper would gain Will and Jonathan as step-sons. Eleven would be the step-sister to Jonathan and Will, and Jonathan and Will would be Eleven’s step-brothers. Hopper would become Jonathan and Will’s step-dad and Joyce would be Eleven’s step-mom. Not weird, right? Good. Notice how Mike and Nancy both don’t have any place in this because the Wheelers are a completely different family.

Now, I will do Jancy because they are the next oldest (my personal favorite couple from the show). Nancy and the Hopper’s or the Byers’ are not related in any way. If they were to get married, no familial relationships would change except Nancy would gain in-laws. This relationship includes a Wheeler and a member of the Byers-Hopper clan.

Now, Mileven. This is where it gets complicated. It also includes a Wheeler and a member of the Byers-Hopper clan. It’s not incest if they get married (Byler is the exact same way because Will is in the Byers-Hopper clan too) Mike is Nancy’s brother and Eleven is Jonathan’s step-sister. It’s not weird at all. It’s just like the example I gave above, it’s just two people who happen to be siblings get married to two individual people who also happen to be siblings. It would just make their kids double cousins.

And by the way, even though marrying your step-brother or step-sister or someone not blood related but still related is morally wrong, the only way the children turn out “deformed” is if the couple is closely blood related like siblings or cousins. Usually non-blood related or distant family have children who turn out fine, it’s just morally wrong in society.

I hope this wasn’t confusing, I’m just tired of seeing people that say Jancy can’t be a thing in order for Mileven and Jopper to be a thing. Y’all don’t understand basic family relationships then or what? All three couples can be happy and not have any issues with anything. Stop saying this people it’s starting to get on my nerves that people don’t understand basic family relationships!

TL; DR: Jopper getting married would make Eleven and Jonathan siblings. For Jancy and Mileven to both happen, it’s not weird, it’s just two siblings getting married (per say) to two individual people who also happen to be siblings. Educate yourselves people. Please.

Kids Getting Older (Sriracha, Part 30.)

Description: A problematic college student gets the worst summer job of the ‘83 - Jim Hopper, the Chief of police in your hometown will have you as his secretary since his old lady Flo has two months lasting holiday. It was agreed so Hopper could keep you far away from all the trouble.

Part Summary: Since you realized that Eleven is getting older and more distant from both you and Jim, you just seem to finally realize how quickly kids grow... And that maybe the kids are not just kids anymore.

A/N: I love this weird family dynamic so much. It is really relaxing to just write a... Normal family dynamic. But that is going to end with the next part. Stay tuned!

Word count: 1.7 K

Tagging: @nemodoren @creedslove @missdictatorme

Master list: H E R E

Christmas holiday spent like a family? The Christmas of 1984 were the best Christmas you had lived through. You spent Christmas Eve in the house of your parents, cooking the dinner with El and mom, and Aiden's girlfriend - you couldn't believe she is real - while you let the boys talk about stuff and drink some Whiskey. Even Aiden got some - just a little, though.

The other day, when you opened all the presents you found under the tree, you left for Joyce's - and holy moly, that house was living. Both Wheelers were there, both Byers boys came along, there were Dustin, Lucas, and Max, even Steve came by. Joyce had a big heart and her house was big enough to take in so many people.

You forced both Hopper and Eleven to pose on a photo with you, having Jonathan taking the picture of you. Each of you had the most disgusting Christmas sweater, just because Aiden bought and gave you these bad boys - Hopper's was too tight, Eleven's too big and your, no matter the size, was just disgusting. After that, kids took their new toys and went to play outside while the adults, along with Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan, remained in the house and had a cup of the special Christmas hot chocolate from Mrs. Byers herself.

Then, each of the kids got dressed up and went out for a snowball fight, snowman building and some sledding in the forest behind the house. And bet Hopper’s best shirt that you made him go too. Soon enough, you were there with all the teenagers while he stuck some snow under your jacket, hearing you laugh and scream out loud, having Will and Mike in total terror when you jumped around, trying to get the snow out. In the end, you formed a strong alliance with Eleven and Max, giving the boys exactly what they deserved, winning the fight completely. Then, to calm down, you proceeded to make some angels in the snow while Hop went back inside.

As the year progressed, Eleven started to have a few sleepovers here and there - sometimes, she stayed at Karen’s when boys had a movie or game nights, sometimes you had Max over for dinner. And let me say, since she was living with an asshat like Billy, her older brother, she loved spending time at your place. Especially when Hop had to stay at the station.

When talking about Hop, that man was experimenting. And you didn't know if you liked what you had at home or if you're afraid of what’s he going to come up with next. First came the mustache. Okay, he liked Magnum P.I., you could understand. Then, he put on a bit weight - he appeared taller and more like a bear than ever before. You didn't mind that at all actually because at least, you knew that he's happy with you. And... After that... The wardrobe and cologne experiments came by. Sometimes he pulled out such an outfit that you dragged him to the restaurant’s bathroom to kiss the living fuck out of him and to have a quickie on the bathroom.

Yet, sometimes, he wasn’t looking his best. At those mornings, you stood there, watched him with gritted teeth and walked around with your eyebrows raised. You tried to tell him gently that these maybe aren't working for him the way he would like to and that maybe, you could visit Starcourt with him to pick something else. But Jim was Jim and completely ignored your opinion when it came to fashion.

Starcourt. One of the best Bloomington-Hawkins inventions ever. You loved that place - from the big cinema to a variety of shops it had. Sometimes, when you knew that El won't be misbehaving after, you took there with you so she could choose some new clothes, sometimes you bought her an ice-cream, other times you just walked around the place and talked about boys and stuff. Especially about Mike.

Oh, you remembered the day when the three-inch rule came to your house. You were just watching a movie, curled under Hopper’s arms, being caught up in the chase. That was when a sudden burst of Eleven’s laughter could be heard, making Hop alarmed in a second. You tried to calm him down around this couple - it was the first love and it sure as hell was an intense one. You knew that these two were having make-out sessions behind the closed door... But were you two, you and Hop, any different when you met? No. You were kissing the living hell out of each other when any occasion came by, even after you moved back with him again, and since you were both adults, you even fucked every time and on every place, you got the chance to fuck on.

You were just like them - even at that time. But Jim was able to see incredible differences between you and him and Michael, as he called him, and Jane. He wasnt giving them any actual space, so there was no wonder, why Mike thought that Hopper is an old, insane bastard. You and Mike got along since you were normal when put in his words, and let them close the door. You built bridges of trust between you, Mike and Eleven and as long as you trusted them that they won't do anything insane, you let them have their time.

"Okay. That's it. That's it." - Hopper muttered out and got up, walking to the door. You tried to stop him from basically storming into the room, but it was too late. - "This door won't be closed as long as I'm in the house, do you both understand? Three inches at a minimum." - Jim told them with a pretty damn scary face as he showed them how to do it. When he got a nod from both Mike and Eleven, he left them be, still checking the door.

"You're too paranoid, Jim, I'm telling you." - You whispered once he sat down next to you again, cuddling you closer again. - "They're just kids." - You smiled and kissed his cheek, concentrating on the movie again. But Hopper was still very cautious about these two - his eyes were turning into their direction all the time, he was checking what they were doing until the very moment when Mike had to leave.

Over time, when Hopper had enough of constantly opening the door and checking on these two, you let the gang wonder around Hawkins with El, taking hikes in the woods and around the city. Sometimes they went to chill at the old sawmill near the town, but the all-time favorite was the hill about five miles from the city. They hanged there most of the time when spring and weather came.

You also did your best to spend time with Hopper, sometimes taking him for dinner at your favorite Spanish restaurant, sometimes you went for a walk too. But your favorite thing to do was still just hanging out with him at El. Of course, your mom made you visit them at least once a week. She wasnt too good at handling having both her children gone - both of them for college. Even Aiden had a girlfriend and sometimes, you just all went to their household to grill something and to chat. You loved Lena and you couldn't believe that she’s real. Your small bro was manning up rather quickly.

It was so weird since you could say when he and Steve ran naked around the swimming pool and where did he fell from his bike, telling Lena everything in the process, embarrassing the living shit out of Aiden. Naturally, she was first rather surprised about you dating such an older man, but as the time passed by, she got used to that tough guy and his douche jokes.

And Eleven had to say that she had everything she had ever dreamt of in the lab - parents, a family, a boyfriend, and friends. She even wasnt tugged in as a little girl anymore, she was going to bed on her will, with you kissing her whole face with laughter, hugging her tight every time. Her life couldn't be better. She especially loved when you and Jim didn't know she's watching and you put the gramophone on in the night, quietly, usually playing Sam Cooke or Ben E. King to dance in the living room. Jim was always making you laugh, he spun you around, whispered something to your ear, making you biting your lip as you smacked his shoulder - but for Eleven it was of sing that she can count on you.

But then, summer came by. You hadn't got any idea of why it was so weird. Eleven asked you if she can stay at Max’s on the fourth of July and even if you thought you’d celebrate it together, you let her have her time. You didn't have any idea of what was going on when Hopper suddenly disappeared without letting behind any message. Nobody gave you a clue that there are Russians set loose in and under Hawkins and that there is a fucking D&D monster who was possessing people with the help of Max’s brother himself.

On day two of loneliness, that was the fourth of July precisely, you had enough - you left to your moms and stayed there, waiting for anything. A call, a sign, for one of them showing up. But there was nothing. So you left for the shift that day - and that was where everything was set in motion without anyone of you normal people knowing.

Random Season 4 Wishes

Here is a random list of things I want to see in season 4 in no particular order. Some of these are more like predictions than wishes, but at this point, any prediction made is just a wish. 

A break from all out romance. The romance wasn’t really handled all that great last season. Other than the looming monster danger, it was the forefront of season 3. I would like a return to a season 1/season 2 formula where while there is still romance, it is never the focus. Stranger Things excels with subtle tender moments and meaningful physical contact. 

Character growth over character drama. Another issue season 3 had is too much conflict between character. Hardly any of it really contributed to character growth. The only character growth to be seen is Mike being a little less clingy and El being a little more independent. Nothing else noticeably changed, not on screen. Conflict is important... but it should be pushing our character forward, not locking them in place. 

Recapture the importance of family. Our cast has been divided in two. The Byers + El are somewhere new while the others stayed behind in Hawkins. This leaves an excellent opportunity to revisit old threads long forgotten. I would love to see Nancy and Mike actually interacting. Not just one conversation or exchanging a glance. Full out brother and sister duo. I feel similarly about Jonathan with his own family. I would like to see a plot where all the Byers + El are in it together. 

Return of Kali. Kali, I feel, is a very important piece of El. While season 3 would have us forget her influence of El, I hope next season doesn’t completely ignore her presence. It would be interesting if Kali’s prediction comes true, that no matter where she hides or who she’s with, “they” will never let her live in peace or have a normal life. Not because I want harm to come to El, but because I don’t for a second believe the government is done with her or the other experimented children.

Proper strategist Michael Wheeler and proper action man Lucas Sinclair. I would like to see the return of the strategist Mike who always seems to have a plan and can get everyone on the same page. In season 3, he was fumbling around distracted. I feel normally, Mike would have set a trap for the Mind Flayer or would’ve formulated a proper plan to escape the mall or the cabin. In Lucas’s case, they did ok with him in season 3 actually, but it was really out of character for him to freeze up while El was being choked out. I want to see a more forward athletic Lucas. 

Will to make new friends. In season 3, we saw at least 2 of the 4 boys interests changing drastically and the other was all too eager to go off and hang around new people. Given Will’s situation (new town, new house, new school, distant old friends), I’d like to see Will gain some new friendships. That’s not to say he’d drop the old ones. They’re the OG after all. But, before all the drama of next season picks up, it would be nice to see Will being happy and acknowledged by new friends.

US Government becoming a threat again. Personally, I did not enjoy the Russian plot. Everything seemed like a joke. When the US government were the bad guys, everything felt more dangerous and dire. You never knew who was listening. Who was watching. What would happen if they found El or if they would hurt the boys and their families. Next season, I feel they could make the Russians feel like as much of a threat as the US government if both governments are clashing and in a race to the bottom. By that, I mean the government should become a major foe again racing against the Russian government to do bad things. Open a gate? Control a demogorgon? Allow the Mind Flayer in again? Both these governments should screw up equally. 

A slow return of El’s powers. I want El to get her powers back, but I want it to be a slow daunting process. It’s like she starts back at square one. She can move and pick up small things, but even that has taken her months. She’s stuck between being seemingly normal with no powers, but also missing the power she once had. 

Casual power training. As we know, Will is really into comics. El might be too since Max introduced her to them. A classic of comics is the super hero training to regain their strength or to become stronger. It would be really interesting if Will contributed to El slowly regaining her powers by setting up obstacles and challenges just for her. Maybe on the weekends, he designs a building and she must use wooden blocks/legos to make it with her powers. Or, build a house of cards. A game of darts using powers only. A game of catch. (I was going to say Jenga, but it looks like that didn’t get released in the US until 1987) Anything Will can creatively come up with that he thinks will help her regain her strength. (whether it does or not is up for debate) It’s mostly casual fun. Some bonding opportunities. Who doesn’t enjoy training the hero/super hero? (basically, it’s roleplay) 

Will’s power expanded. I am writing a proper theory page on Will’s/the Byers’s powers, but let me explain exactly what I mean here. It’s clear Will has powers, but they severely limited them in season 3. Examples:

Instead of only sensing the Mind Flayer when it’s nearby, he should be able to close his eyes, concentrate, and locate the center of activity

Will should have great insight into the Mind Flayer’s intentions even if it’s just honest guesses on what the Mind Flayer wants and what he’s trying to do (like in season 2)

Will’s danger senses should happen immediately, not delayed like we saw in the hospital or in the mall. He should be able to tell the Mind Flayer is coming for them from miles away or even across dimensions.

Will should retain true sight, the ability to see into the Upside Down. A dangerous ability to be sure, but can be useful if we’re going to have gates popping in and out around the world like what’s been implied.

Karen possibly discovering the truth. Honestly, Season 1 Karen is such a good mom. And in season 3, that discussion with Nancy was superb and beautiful. I would love for Karen to learn a little more what her two eldest kids have been up to. If not that, I’d like for her to at least give more guidance to her kids. I’d like for Nancy and Mike to vaguely come to her for advice and she’d grant it, no questions asked. (ok, Karen used to be very nosy so maybe she does ask questions, but takes a step back and respects their privacy)

Joyce to be believed right away. I honestly do not understand why people doubt Joyce, you know? She’s been right 3 years in a row now (Nancy too). I swear if anyone questions her intuition next season, she should give them her classic Joyce sneer until they realize how silly they’re being. In order of “alarm bells”, I think it will go like Will >> El >> Joyce >> Jonathan in quick succession. All 4 family members should be very sensitive to weird things as this point. 

Jonathan gets a plot. I want to see things from Jonathan’s perspective again. After season 1, we’ve barely gotten anything. I want to see Jonathan putting forth plans or leading the charge, at least for a little while. There is a great opportunity for this next season since he’s the man of the house about to graduate from high school if he hasn’t already. (*sobs remembering Will is taller than him now, officially). Heck, if we want to switch around the order of “alarm bells”, maybe Jonathan becomes alert of something wrong before Joyce does this time. 

Less product placement. In season 1/season 2, there was product placement, but that was because they were really setting the scene. It was 1983. This is what products used to be like. This is what was popular at the time. But season 3? They cranked that dial up 2000% when they didn’t need to. It really made it feel less serious and set in reality. Don’t dare use Lucas to spit out a damned Coke ad ever again. 

Genuine friendship moments. I’ve mentioned this earlier, but with less romantic drama and stuff, I’d like to see genuine friendships return. The El and Max friendship was great and all, but it’s really a shame it was so heavily focused on Mike. I hope in the future, these two girls are able to share screentime without the boys being mentioned or thought about. Same with the guys, it would be nice if they could hang out like before without splitting off into pairs or focusing entirely on their romantic lives. They don’t really feel like a friend group anymore, just a group of double dates (hence why I’d like for Will to make friends outside the original group.)

Proper use of the supernatural. Season 3 was weak when it came to the Mind Flesher imo. They had this whole idea of the Flayed who seemed to be totally normal (and sweaty) just walking around town living their lives until a flip was switched. Whyyyyy in the world weren’t they used to try to get at our cast? The only time they did it was in the hospital, but we saw dozens and dozens of people who could’ve served the same purpose except it could happen anywhere. Maybe there were other ‘patients’ in the waiting room that also turned on the kids that they had to fight off? Maybe strange people came to all their houses trying to find them or break in? They could’ve gone full creepy like season 1/2 but they didn’t. I’d like to see them fully use the horror aspects next season. 

That’s what I got off the top of my head. 

Let Me Touch Your Fire (Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader) Chapter Eleven

MASTERLIST

The car ride was silent except for the music playing in the radio. Your whole body was trembling with lots of emotions, but you stayed focused, looking at Steve's determined look every now and then.

You focused on the road ahead, planning different strategies in your head so you knew what to do in case anything happened. You could see the blinking lights of the mall and you sucked a breath in.

Nancy was pointing her gun towards a car, the driver was ready to run them over at any second, you heart rate quickened as Steve drove faster. You closed your eyes tightly waiting for the impact. The impact came and you gasp feeling an arm over your chest trying to protect you from any harm.

Steve was quick, he unfastened his seat belt and then turned to you doing the same. Shock freezes you up completely, staring at him as he said something you could not hear. He grabbed your face and repeated "Are you okay?" he sounded distant, but you still managed to hear what he said, you nodded, and he let your face go. You finally came back to your senses, the both of you painting loudly. Steve was looking at you and you smiled lightly to tell him you were fine.

A snarl made you look away, you gasped standing from your seat looking towards the mall, Steve doing the same "Holy shit" some creature was on the roof and it roared while walking closer to the edge. A car appeared next to you and you quickly jumped out of the car to get inside the other. As soon as Steve got inside Jonathan drove away as fast as the car could go, the creature running right behind it.

You tried to catch your breath while looking out the window, a panic attack already taking over your body. Steve sensed it and grabbed your hand trying to calm you down while running his thumb through your shaking hand.

Your brother's and a girl ‘voice distracted you from the monster behind, Steve and you looked at each other "Suzie" you said in unison as the conversation continued.

"Do you know Planck's constant?  Dustin's voice sounded urgent and you frowned, aching for the answer.

"Do you know the Earth orbits the sun?" Suzie answered and you gripped Steve's hand tighter, there was no time for that right now damn it! you thought.

Dustin snickered before answering, "Okay, so I know it starts with two sixes, and then a... what was it?"

"Okay, let me just be clear on this." she started "I haven't heard from you in a week, and now you want a mathematical equation that you should know so you can... save the world?"

"Suzie-poo, I promise, I will make it up to as soon as possible"

"You can make it up to me now"

You knew time was running out, fear clear on your face as Suzie answered. You were nervous.

"What?"

"I want to hear it"

"Not right now" Dustin answered quickly.

"Yes, now, Dusty-bun"

Fuck, what was so important that Suzie was demanding to hear?

"Suzie-poo, this is urgent"

Yes, it is.

"Yes, yes, you're saving the world, I heard you the first time, but Ged is also saving Earth sea and he's about to confront the shadow, so this is Suzie, signing off"

Your eyes widened.

"Wait, wait, wait! Okay. Okay. Okay"

Your heart was about to burst out of your throat when suddenly...

"Turn around"

"Look at what you see" Dustin was singing.

"In her face"

"The mirror of your dreams"

Steve looked at you and whispered "What the fuck" your eyebrows were furrowed, and you looked at the others inside the car.

"Make believe I'm everywhere" Suzie joined and you felt more relieved knowing she did not sign off,

"Given in the light"

"Written on the pages is" You would have laughed at this, but you were so amazed you couldn't.

"The answer to a never-ending story"

"Reach the stars"

"Fly a fantasy"

"Dream a dream"

"And what you see will be" you could just picture Joyce, Hopper and Murray listening to this.

"Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds" You smiled, the kids' faces were priceless, and honestly it was a little funny, Dustin and Suzie singing while you were inside a car running away from a monster.

"And there upon the rainbow is"

"The answer to a never-ending story"

"Story"

They finished the song and the answer finally came "Planck's constant is 6.62607004"

Your smiled widened at this "You just saved the world" Dustin exclaimed.

"Gosh, I miss you, Dusty-bun"

"And I miss you more, Suzie-poo"

"I miss you more, multiplied by all the stars in our galaxy"

"No, I miss-"

The line went off and everyone sighed in relief. A breathy laughed escaped your lips and Steve looked at you with a small smile on his lips. The creatures screeched and turned around.

"It's turning around" Steve informed the others.

"What?" Nancy said looking at you, "It's turning around!" Steve repeated.

"Maybe we wore it out" Lucas said.

"I don't think so. Hold on" Jonathan turned the car around and drove back towards the mall.

You closed your eyes and tried to form a plan, you really had no idea what you were getting into, all you knew was that you had to protect everyone in the party, no matter what. Steve's voice broke your train of thoughts and you opened your eyes again.

"Hey" his brown eyes looking deeply into yours "It's going to be okay" You just nodded, not knowing what to say.

When Jonathan stopped, everyone quickly ran out of the car and inside the mall taking your positions. Everyone had a basket full of fireworks. Steve and you ran with yours and turned one of them on throwing it at the mind flayer.

"Flay this you ugly piece of shit" you heard Lucas not so far from you. The mind flayer screeched as the fireworks exploded around him. He turned away from Eleven and moved around as the whole team fired at him.

"Hey, asshole! Over here!" Steve grunted throwing another firework at it. It hit the mind flayer on its mouth.

"We don't have much time!" Steve screamed.

"Hurry! Close it now!" Dustin's voice filled your eyes and you closed your eyes, you lip quivered and you turned around running away from Steve as fast as you could. You knew there was nothing else to do and you were almost out of fireworks, you had to save El no matter what.

"Y/n!" Steve called you but you ignored him as you ran at full speed towards Eleven, the fireworks turning into background noise as you focused on calming yourself, ready to fight whatever crossed your path.

Your body was moving at incredible speed thanks to the adrenaline, you jumped a few steps and heard mike's voice somewhere, but you kept going.

You stopped as soon as you spotted El, a man was on top of her and he seemed to be in pain, struggling with whatever force had control over him. A few tears fell down your face at the scene, for some reason you could feel it too. You observed the man, he seemed to be your age, but he looked completely wrecked, your heart sank more.

He looked towards the mind flayer and stood up, the mind flayer snarled and your legs responded, running towards them, everything around seemed to move in slow motion as you reached them, you grunted as you pushed the teen out of you way. now you were face to face with the mind flayer.

The mind flayer attacked, and you managed to grab it before it reached El, you screamed and closed your eyes, fighting with everything you had, the Mind Flayer attacked again, hitting your shoulder. You yelled in pain, your thought was clouded by Dustin and you kept still, trying to push it away, blocking the pain away. The mind flayer strike again, hitting your side, you hissed again but never letting it go. The mind flayer pulled you up, the feeling of the floor soon lost as you gasped. You saw one of his limbs positioning again ready to strike, you closed your eyes ready for the blow. Suddenly, the mind flayer dropped you, the fall making you lose your breath.

It snarled and moved around in pain and you tried to keep your eyes open as it fell to the ground lifeless, you spotted Steve on the second floor and you tried to move as rapid footsteps approached you. Laying on you back, you saw Mike run towards El and Max quickly running with the man, which you heard her call him Billy. You smiled weakly, glad they were safe.

Tiredness was taking over your body and it was getting harder to breath, your eyes were closing, El's screams for helping to die down. Hands gripped your head and your eyes shot open again, your eyes met Steve's.

"Is it over?" you asked, Steve gulped down a sod and you coughed blood.

"Yes, now, hold on, Hopper is almost back, and ambulance is coming, please don't close your eyes" he pleaded, the rest of the party gathered around you "I'm tired Steve, I want to sleep" you said eyes almost close.

"Dustin is coming!" Your eyes opened again.

Dustin you thought and smiled.

"Tell him I love him, and that" you coughed again "I'm sorry" you grunted in pain and closed your eyes.

"Come Y/N, just a little longer"

The paramedics ran inside, moving Steve aside and placing you on an emergency stretcher. They took you out and everyone walked behind them.

As they got you inside the ambulance you saw everyone hugging their loved ones, you sighed in relief as you saw Dustin, Robin and Erica run towards Steve.

"Where's my sister?" Dustin asked Steve as dread filled his voice when he saw Steve looked towards the ambulance. He ran towards it and stepped inside.

"You can't be here" the paramedic said "I'm her brother" they nodded and closed the door.

"Hey" you opened your eyes and smiled weakly "Dustin, I'm sorry" you cried, gasping for air.

"Don't be, save your breath for later"

"I wish I had been there for you, watch you grow"

"That was not your fault and you know it"

You grabbed his hand, "Everything is going to be okay" you closed your eyes, Dustin's panicked voice fading away.

Halloween Surprise

Little nonny, thank you so much for this request, I had a lot of fun writing it and I feel like I could totally seeing something like this happening! I'm sorry it got so long, anyway I hope you like it and I hope I made your vision come to life. The prompt list is here if you need it to send requests!! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ Request- anonymous asked: You’re so great at writing!!! Can you do Steve x Reader 23, 30, 41, 68. I know it’s a lot but I thought they all fit the idea well but don’t worry if you can’t fit them all!! I’m picturing a Halloween party for the kids and Steve lost a bet to Robin so he has to actually dress up (maybe Dracula or Frankenstein some classic nerdy monster) and he’s screwed because Robin also invited his new crush to the party. (Female Reader is sweet and girly, you can pick her costume!) 23- “I immediately regret this decision.” 30- “Is that blood?” 41- “I’m not drunk enough for this.” 68- “This isn’t what it looks like.” ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ *Steve’s Point Of View* “I bet you can’t ask (Y/N) out next time you talk to her.” Robin dared me as as watched (Y/N) put the returned movies back on the shelf, putting them all in the correct spots. “Okay, you’re on. What’s the wager?” I asked Robin, believing in myself that I could ask the girl that I have been slowly falling for ever since she set foot into Family Video. “You win, I’ll find out if she likes you or not, that way you can talk to her with no fear of rejection.” Robin promised making me sigh knowing that if that was the pay off then the downside would be horrible. “You loose and I get to pick what your costume is for the Halloween party.” She smirked making me scoff, that was it? If I loose than a couple of kids get to see me dressed like a dork for a night? “Deal.” I confirmed, Robin and I shaking on it, just before (Y/N) walked over to us with an empty box. “So what’s next?” She smiled, looking at Robin for her next task and I just studied her, her smile, how sweet she was even to the rude people that came in here, a trait that I wish I had. “We were actually just talking about what our plans for the weekend, what are you up to this weekend (Y/N), got a hot date?” Robin asked making (Y/N) shake her head back and forth with a slight blush on her cheeks. “No, nothing like that. I think I’m just going to stay home, maybe watch a movie on Halloween. What about you guys?” She asked, her eyes locking with mine, making me clear my throat and ran a hand through my hair. “Yeah, hum, just gunna, uh, hand out candy…and well read?” I hated my answer as soon as it came out of my mouth, read? Really Harrington, idiot. I mentally punched myself as (Y/N) nodded with surprised eyebrows. “Didn’t know that you read, at least not unless you had to, good to know.” She smiled, trying to make my dumb answer have a reason behind it, god why does she make me so nervous? “I actually need some help with putting together some new displays, and I wanted to run something by you anyway, follow me?” Robin asked (Y/N) making her nod and shoot me a small smile and wave as she followed Robin to the back room. I threw my head back in defeat, as Robin walked backwards and mouthed “loser” to me with a big smile on her face. Wow I really messed that one up, now I can only wonder what costume Robin had in store for me. ** “I immediately regret this decision!” I yelled as I stood in my bathroom, Robin waiting for me in my room, to come out in costume. The kids asked me to hold a Halloween party for them seeing as they thought they were too old for Trick or Treating and I couldn’t say no, not after what we all went through this summer and last Halloween. Robin showed up to the party as a Russian soldier, a inside joke with the group, and as I dug deeper in this box for my costume I couldn’t help but groan at each piece that I was pulling out. Fake teeth, fake blood, a giant cape, hair gel?! Oh I was going to kill her. “Hair gel, Robin?! You want me to kill my hair as well as my Halloween?” I asked her through the door as I began getting dressed into my costume. “Dracula is classic, a ladies man, and he has an awesome cape. I went easy on you, dingus, just change and stop complaining, you lost.” She ranted making me nod even though she couldn’t see me, all I had to say was thank god (Y/N) wasn’t going to see me. ** I was finishing putting out the snacks for the kids, putting some drinks in the fridge for Robin and I as the doorbell rang. “Oh, I’ll get it! I invited someone, I hope you guys don’t mind.” Robin jumped up from the couch, telling all the kids, making me look up out of pure confusion. All the kids were here, Nancy and Jonathan were on a date so it wouldn’t be them and all the kids parents were happy that they were out of their hair for a night. Besides, Robin was only friends with me and (Y/N)… shit, (Y/N). As the door opened, I saw (Y/N) walk in, El and Max running over to her to hug her, Dustin looking back at me, knowing about my crush on (Y/N). She was dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a movie I use to watch a lot as kid. She looked amazing, her hair in two braids, her blue and white checkerboard dress, her ruby red heels, she even brought her family dog in a little basket, it’s like she walked right out of the movie. I turned around and put my forehead on the fridge. “I’m not drunk enough for this.” I mumbled, opening a beer, taking swig before Dustin walked over to me in his Marty McFly costume from Back to the Future. “You are so screwed.” He commented making me look down at him. “Yeah, no shit. If (Y/N) didn’t like me before Dracula, she certainly won’t like me now.” I grunted taking another sip of my beer. Robin set me up, she knew I would take the bet if she left out one detail of (Y/N) coming to the party. I just sighed as I looked at (Y/N) with all the kids, hugging each of them, letting the girls play with the puppy while she complimented the boys costumes. She looked up between talking to Lucas and Mike, locking eyes with mine. “Shit, go back over there.” I pushed Dustin back towards the living room, as (Y/N) walked my way, her heels clicking on the tile. “Nice costume, Dustin. I love that movie.” She smiled making Dustin nod his head towards me. “So does Steve, he helped me with the costume.” He proudly stated, making me smile at him trying to earn me some cool points back. Her smile lit up a room, her personality making me weak the knees. She wasn’t like every other girl, I wanted to keep her safe, to hold her, to have conversations with her, deep ones, I wanted to know everything about her. “Is that blood?” (Y/N) panicked once she reached me, and I both nodded and shook my head no at the same time. “It’s fake blood, so yes, it’s blood but it’s not real.” I explained making her nod and let out a breath. She looked me up and down before smiling at me, making my heart race. “Dracula, huh?” She perked making me nod while taking another sip of my beer. She was about to say something else but I cut her off. “I think the kids wanted to watch a movie, maybe order some pizza, want to help me pick the movie? They always fight on what to watch so I just end up picking.” I offered making her nod with a big smile, more than eager to help me. That was the first time I didn’t sound like a complete idiot while talking to her, maybe this beer was helping me, or maybe Robin planned this all along. ** (Y/N) and I ended up picking E.T., a movie that wasn’t going to freak the kids out but was still entertaining enough that they would get bored. As (Y/N) and I sat next to each other on the couch, I couldn’t help but graze my hand against hers, it was taking every thing that I had not to intertwine our fingers. The doorbell rang, startling us all, (Y/N) getting up from the couch to get the door. “El want to help me?” She asked the girl sitting in front of her, El and (Y/N)’s relationship was a lot like mine and Dustin’s and that just made me fall for her more seeing how she was with her. Once El thanked the pizza guy and they carried it all inside, I saw Robin follow the pair into the kitchen, my curiosity peaked at the trio I got up from the couch to see if they needed any help. *(Y/N)’s Point Of View* When Robin asked if I wanted to go to Steve's Halloween party, I was hesitant at first. I liked Steve, a lot but he didn't seem to like me too much which is his choice, but I didn't want to make things awkward. Robin assured me that Steve wanted me to come so I agreed, not having set plans for that night anyway. I used a costume that my mom had made and wore when I was younger while I dressed up as the good witch, I remembered how much I loved her costume and thought it would fit me, perfect enough, it did. The whole day, I was excited, excited to see Steve and all the kids in costumes, excited to have a fun Halloween. When I got to the house, the kids all welcomed me with warm smiles and hugs, Max and El especially. Steve was quiet, a little distant but what's new with him? I thought him asking me help him pick a movie was a good start but the whole time while we were watching, he didn't do or say anything. So when the pizza got there I knew I could get away from the confusing mess that this party was. I asked El to help me because she was my little side kick, my partner in crime and Robin must have followed us into the kitchen. "He didn't want me here, Robin. He has barely said two words to me." I whispered, not wanting anyone to hear what I was saying. El held my hand as she saw me begin to tear up. "Friends don't lie." El said looking at Robin making me cock an eyebrow, what was she talking about, what was Robin lying about? "Okay before you freak out, Steve and I made a bet that if he could ask you out, I would find out if you liked him or not, if he couldn't then I got to pick his Halloween costume, I just didn't tell him that I invited you to the party because I know if I did he just would have spazzed out more. This isn't what it looks like, he likes you, he just doesn't know how to talk to you without being a puddle of a human being" Robin confessed making Steve clear his throat from the doorway, making me turn around to dry my tears, hoping that he didn't see them. "Talk to him." El said before letting go of my hand and walking out of the kitchen, taking Robin with her. I took a breath before turning around to see Steve leaning against the door frame. I didn't say anything, I just started to plate some of the pizza for the kids. When I went to grab another slice, I felt Steve's hand on mine and I looked up, our eyes meeting. "Why were you crying?" He asked softly making me shrug and sniffle. "Robin asked me here under false pretenses." I responded and he just sighed, taking the pizza out of my other hand and turning me towards him. "I do want you here, I just didn't want you to see me dressed like this. I was excited to see you walk through that door, looking beautiful like always, I just didn't know you were coming, let alone that you came because you thought I liked you, which I do, I just- you make me nervous, you are smart and sweet and the prettiest girl I have ever seen and you deserve better than me." Steve poured his heart taking me by surprise. I couldn't help but laugh at the situation, he scoffed as I laughed, and I started shaking my head, trying to make him understand that I wasn't laughing at him. "I'm sorry, I just- we both like each other but we were both too scared to say anything but when we did, you are dressed Dracula." I giggled out causing Steve roll his eyes and taking his fake fangs out, making him look a lot more like himself. "I love your smile, your laugh, everything about you." He swore, cupping the side of my face, making me smile even harder. "Just shut up and kiss me, Steve." I wished and he smiled before connecting our lips at my request, this was certainly not the Halloween I was expecting.

learning to heal (interlude: thanksgiving ‘85)

excerpt: Mike hummed as he squeezed his arms tighter around Will and let loose a wavering breath against the top of his head. Will memorized every second of this moment as best he could, the comforting sound of Mike’s breathing, the warmth oozing from his skin, the difference in height between them that still left Will short enough to tuck his head in under Mike’s chin if he dared. He didn’t want this moment to ever end, but of course it did.

length: 12.1K words

POV: Will Byers

Read in full on AO3

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tag list: @vaugency, @lifeinvirtualreality, @princestanley, @lgbtqbyers, @smhbyler, @ticomat, @lightswriting, @lithhiums, @lullabyers, @byers-remorse, @cstlebyrs, @lomlbyers, @babybyuns, @mavencslore​ ♡

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“Will!” Joyce called from the front of the house. Will looked up from his drawings and turned toward the clock, perking when he noticed the time.

“I’ll be right there!”

The young boy scrambled for his jacket and some shoes, yanking his bedroom door open as he raced to the front door where his mom stood. Excitement bubbled in his chest even though it had only been a month since the move. School was weird—new kid stress wasn’t fun in any manner—and he and El were still struggling with how to fit together as housemates and siblings. It was weird having a sister, let alone having a sister with supernatural powers, though those powers had yet to return.

Will twisted the door handle and stepped out onto the porch, holding a hand over his eyes to block the sun shining above. His eyes grew used to the light and he turned toward the driveway where a familiar car was parked. He couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his lips and he ran toward the car as he heard the door click open.

“Mike!” Will shouted, laughing when the other kid quickly whipped around to find where the voice came from.

Mike didn’t look too different, it was only a month after all, but he also looked a little different than Will recalled. Will didn’t think a month apart would make him start forgetting details about Mike’s face—the benefit to his crush, which still made him a little flustered to think about, was that he watched Mike so much that he had the boy’s face memorized—but Mike seemed off. More in shadows, less in light. His hair seemed more black than brown even under the sunlight and the typical chocolate brown eyes Will sketched out in the privacy of his room looked darker than usual. More coffee brown than chocolate, which was fine, food analogies aside, but it wasn’t Mike’s eye color.

“Dude,” Mike started and Will still couldn’t understand why Mike had started referring to him using ‘dude’ or ‘bro’, “I made it like I said I would.”

Will knew his smile was getting wider but he couldn’t care to stop it. “Just in time, too. Well, I mean it’s the 25th so there was buffer room but I’m glad you’re here now.”

“Me too,” chuckled Mike as he brushed a loose strand of hair from his eyes. Will unconsciously followed the motion of the other boy’s fingers, mentally caught in a loop of affection for how beautiful and strong those very hands were, and turned pink at the edges when Mike noticed and cocked his head to the side with a question. “You good?”

“Me? Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mike, please, you just got here. I should be asking you how things are doing back home.”

The other boy huffed and broke eye contact to stare off toward the street. “Things are going.” He turned back to Will with bright eyes and a smile but Will knew Mike. He knew this boy better than he probably knew himself and Will knew the smile and excitement was honest but not real. “Enough about Hawkins, though; tell me about your new life out here!”

Will opened his mouth to reply but a squeal from behind him turned both him and Mike toward the front door and Will’s heard plummeted. He tried, he really tried not to hold anything against El for liking Mike, but jealousy had Will in it’s snare and wouldn’t let go. He stepped aside to allow El to run toward Mike, who brightened and held out his arms to take her in a hug with joyous laughter.

Will bit at his bottom lip. He wished he could do that, run up to Mike and spin in his arms, drop to his feet and pull him down by the collar of his shirt for a kiss. The fantastical nature of it all made Will a little dizzy whenever the want penetrated his deeply rooted denial of the reality of the situation ever occurring. Even if he tried to tell Mike that it was okay to like him, that it was okay for whatever was happening between them to happen, Will wasn’t sure he really believed anything would change. The evidence was in plain sight right in front of him—Mike wanted El that way, not Will—and he needed to get over it already. Get over Mike.

“But what if you want to join another party?”

“Not possible.”

Yeah, he thought to himself as Mike pulled from the hug and gripped El’s hand in his own, not possible.

“Will,” Mike called with a more genuine smile than before, “you wanna head inside and show me your new room?”

“Oh sure,” he said with a shrug, “but maybe you wanna check out El’s first?”

Mike was confused. “What for?”

“You two are,” Will crossed his two fingers together in lieu of stating the fact the two were a couple aloud. “I don’t mind really.”

Mike waved a passing hand. “Nancy and El can entertain themselves with Jonathan; I wanna see how much different your room looks.”

“Oh. Alright then.”

Will was silent as the trio made it inside, trying his best to ignore Mike and El’s whispering behind him. By the time he got to his room, only Mike was trailing behind him and he was eerily silent for being the one the Party would always pester about shutting up. There was some sort of tension now, equally unpalatable and unfamiliar, and Will didn’t know what to do about it. He thought they had made up before he moved away, he thought they were close again, closer maybe, but at least not so distant for there to be unspeakable tension.

The door to his room creaked as he opened it and though a large part of him wanted to look back and watch Mike’s face as he peeped inside, Will kept his eyes facing forward and approached his bed. Mike didn’t make a sound as he followed him and the silence was starting to be more suffocating, especially when the other boy shut the door behind him. What was he supposed to say? Why were his palms getting sweaty? Why couldn’t he look at Mike?

“This room is pretty nice,” started Mike with a small shrug. It brought Will’s eyes up from the floor to Mike’s face and when they made eye contact, Mike looked away first with a cough. “It suits you.”

“I should hope so,” Will replied quietly. This wasn’t like Mike. This wasn’t like Will either. Whatever happened between their goodbyes and Mike’s arrival changed something and Will didn’t like it. “Are you...are you okay?”

“Me?” Mike whipped around to face Will from where he was inspecting a Beatles poster. His eyes were wide with surprise and then melted into soft laughter. “I’m fine, Will. Really. Don’t worry about me now.”

“You’re just really quiet.”

Mike shook his head with a huff. “Nah, just don’t know what to say anymore. It’s weird, right?” The taller boy turned back to the poster and rubbed at the back of his neck. “We used to see each other every day and talk for hours despite that but we spend a month apart and I don’t know where to begin.”

“Too much to talk about?”

“Not enough.”

“You know you can tell me anything. Even mundane shit, I really don’t care. I just like hearing you talk. I miss that.”

Will blushed once the words were out of his mouth and he quickly turned away from Mike toward his desk where his drawings were splayed out all over the surface. The drawings that were, in particular, sketches of Mike. Oh shit. He turned back to Mike and hoped he hadn’t followed his line of sight, but Mike was still staring up at the poster. His cheeks were pink though and that made Will curious.

“I miss that, too,” was his slow response. Mike tilted his head just enough for Will to get a good profile view of him and, Will’s heart leapt in his throat. Mike was unfairly gorgeous and Will wasn’t immune to his charms in any manner. “El and I are...we’re not together.”

Will tried not to sound excited; it wasn’t as if he had a chance either way. “Like for good?”

“I don’t know. I hope not. Things have just been really weird with us lately.”

“It looked like you two were together when you hugged.”

Mike shrugged. “It’s always great to see the people you care about again after a long time. I couldn’t not hug her.”

But you didn’t hug me.

“No, I didn’t.” Will sputtered as he realized he said that last thought aloud. Mike turned fully to face him and raised a bit of a smug eyebrow.  “Do you want a hug, too? Wanna run and jump for it? Pirouette, too?”

Will knew Mike didn’t know, Mike couldn’t know, but he hated how the other boy was unknowingly playing with him like this. “I’m fine,” he snorted back and if he sounded a little hurt with it, no one needed to know. “I don’t need a hug to affirm our friendship.”

“Well, that’s good for you but I think I do, so if you don’t mind,” Mike motioned for Will to stand up and then opened his arms wide. “Hug me, Will.”

This was strange. This was very strange and Will’s heart was beating so fast he thought he might pass out. Mike wasn’t one to shy away from physical affection but since he was with El, he had stopped being so proactive about it in general. Will still got the occasional hand to his arm in comfort, and sometimes they still sat pretty close together, but this? Opening his arms with a gentle smile and demanding a hug so blatantly without question? This was too much to handle.

Will fell into the hug anyway because he was weak-hearted and Mike was warm, familiar, homely, beautiful, everything Will wanted but couldn’t have in a single human being. If he couldn’t have Mike the way he wished for, he would definitely take advantage of whatever Mike was willing to offer him. Consider himself spoiled given Mike usually gave Will everything—everything but his heart apparently—but it was a type of spoiling he realized he missed most of all.

Mike hummed as he squeezed his arms tighter around Will and let loose a wavering breath against the top of his head. Will memorized every second of this moment as best he could, the comforting sound of Mike’s breathing, the warmth oozing from his skin, the difference in height between them that still left Will short enough to tuck his head in under Mike’s chin if he dared. He didn’t want this moment to ever end, but of course it did.

Will turned to hide his face so Mike couldn’t see his eyes, couldn’t read whatever emotion plastered itself onto his face. He only turned around when he heard Mike take in a shaky breath, worry taking over his mind as he watched Mike’s shoulders sink with a shuddering sigh.

“Mike,” he started hesitantly, “it’s okay if you’re not okay.”

“I’m fine,” he spat back, glaring at Will as he crossed his arms. His eyes were rimmed with tears and it broke Will’s heart to see his friend so hurt and unwilling to open up about it. “I’m perfectly fine.”

Will frowned. “Do you need another hug?”

“I, uh,” Mike laughed and shook his head. “Our friendship has been reaffirmed in full. We’re good.”

“Okay.” Will plopped onto his bed and kicked his legs through the air. “Do you know where you’re staying over while you’re in town?”

“I think my mom got a motel but I don’t mind staying overnight here since we’re only up here for, like, three days.” The lanky boy turned as he inspected the poster covered walls of the room. “You wouldn’t mind if I stayed over in your room, would you?”

“It’s not a problem.” Will sent his friend a soft smile. “I’ll get my spare sleeping bag from the closet; you can take my bed and I’ll take the floor.”

“No, no, I’m the guest invading your privacy in your room. The floor is mine.”

Will snorted. “We are not about to fight over who takes the floor.”

“Of course not because I’m taking the floor.” Mike motioned to the ground near Will’s bed and clasped his hands together. “In fact, where is your frog plush? I’ll use it as a pillow so you don’t have to grab a new one for me.”

Will blinked a few times. “I, uh, it’s on the dresser.” He motioned toward it and then frowned. “It’s not very comfortable though. You know it’s really not a bother to get another pillow. You should at least be comfortable if you’re gonna be sleeping on the floor.”

“Don’t worry about it; it’s not worth the hassle. I’m here for three days, right?” Mike walked toward the door with a smile. “I’ll get my bags and tell my mom I’m staying over. See you in a bit.”

Will nodded but watched Mike leave with confusion in his gaze. He couldn’t put a finger on it, but Mike’s entire energy was so jittery. It was like he couldn’t settle on a single emotion and kept bouncing between excitement and this more maudlin aura that made Will’s heart clench a little desperately. He wondered if it was because Mike was still sad about him and El not quite being together. Will didn’t know what was going on between them; he never eavesdropped on their conversations and El didn’t talk much to him about her and Mike, but he had most definitely thought they got back together and were trying to be a long distance couple.

He sighed and grabbed the sleeping bag and a pillow despite Mike’s request for the froggie plush. He organized the papers on his desk so his doodles were hidden deep in a stack under the recent landscapes he’d been practicing recently. He wanted to be able to sketch the scenery he saw out here, the way the trees bend in the wind, the way the sun bleeds yellow into the blue of the sky and blends purple and orange out of it. After the move, Will bought new art supplies since many of his old ones were tossed out for the sake of compaction for moving. He wasn’t too upset about it, the new copic markers and graphite pencils in his collection taught him new ways to practice shading and line art. Will could spend hours on a single portrait, watching the way his pencil danced across the page in shy spurts shading the shadows that played against the curvature of bodies and sporadic yet oddly intentional messiness found in nature.

Art was the way Will could express himself the most and he took that seriously while struggling to fit into a new town. Usually he turned to D&D but El wasn’t interested in creating a character and D&D really wasn’t the same without listening to Mike narrate a campaign with his wild onomatopoeias and exaggeratedly elaborate prose. A sigh took Will’s chest and he released it gently with a hand passing over the top sketch of the first sunset he ever saw from the porch of this house.

Loud yelling tore Will from his thoughts and he rushed toward his door to open it and find Mike and El arguing in the front doorway as Mike held his overnight bag in hand. Mike looked way more haggard, more tense and extremely irritated by whatever El was saying. She had anger blazing in her eyes and was gesticulating wildly as she spoke. It was odd to see from someone who controlled her motions deliberately after years of being trained to do so. El’s emotions were always leaning toward the extremes, Will had quickly learned when sibling irritation took to the air and he and El sat on opposite ends of the couch pretending the other didn’t exist.

“What did you expect from me?” Mike asked belligerently. “I’m here for three days, El. You can manage.”

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make and you know it.” El snarled as she stepped into his space. “You need to decide.”

“I already did and just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean I’m changing it.” Mike barked before stepping back. “I’m dropping my shit off; when you’re done with this,” he waved toward El and she scoffed with a roll of the eyes, “I’ll be back to talk.”

With that final word, Mike stormed down the hallway past Will and haphazardly tossed his bag into the room. He didn’t give Will a single glance when he popped out the room and brushed his way by to head back outside. El stood by the front door watching him and then twitched her hand subconsciously when the door slammed shut behind him. Will didn’t know what to say and he most definitely did not want to intervene in on a spat between his friend and his not-girlfriend, but he didn’t like seeing either person upset.

“You okay?” He asked as he made his way to her side. She gave him a glance and then glared toward the door.

“Mike is being an asshole.”

“He does that sometimes.” El laughed and turned to fully face Will. He smiled and stuffed his hands in his pocket with a hum. “You wanna talk about it? Get it off your chest.”

El bit at her bottom lip. “He is...he is confused. I can tell but he won’t say and now he is avoiding me. Does he not trust me anymore?”

“No, he does. Trust you that is. Sometimes people can’t say what’s on their mind.” Will looked back at the door and felt a tightening in his chest. “It’s not because we don’t trust anyone, it’s mostly because we don’t trust ourselves.”

“That is,” she scrunched her nose as she scrounged for a word and her eyes went downcast once she settled on one, “sad.”

Will smiled self-deprecatingly. “Yeah. It kinda is. But don’t worry about it, Mike’ll come around. He always does.”

“Yes, he does,” she said dreamily and Will felt jealousy rise in his chest again and make him feel a little sick. “Do you want to watch a movie tonight?”

“All three of us?”

El nodded with a light smile Will was happy to see on her face. “Jonathan and Nancy too if she wants.” The girl turned toward the window where the aforementioned two were standing chatting together. “Nancy looks pretty today.”

Will raised an eyebrow as he followed her gaze. Nancy had sort of been a big sister presence in his life while being so close to Mike growing up. He never really saw her as pretty, but he could admit that she was kind-hearted and sweet and was always there for Will when he needed it, even if she was gruffer with Mike. Not seeing Nancy as pretty wasn’t saying much anyway since Will’s attraction toward girls was non-existent.

He shuddered at that thought and then gave El a nudge with his shoulder. “You can go on and ask them to join us. I’ll find a movie and talk to Mike.”

Continue on AO3

Right-Side Up AU, Part Three: It’s the End of the World {AO3} {tumblr} {Part One} {Part Two}

Chapter Fourteen → The Sauna Test

“He seems normal.” Max said. 

They’d hidden themselves behind a parked car, and they were using some binoculars to spy on Billy, who recently had started his shift. They didn’t honestly know when his shift was, so they’d had to wait in awkward silence for quite some time. 

“Normal?” El glanced over at her. “How many times have you seen him with a shirt on?” 

Indeed, Billy was seated underneath an umbrella, wearing some sort of robe and slurping from a slushie cup. Not his usual look. 

“Okay, I’ll admit, it’s a little odd.” Max shrugged. 

“It’s super odd.” El shot back. “He was in a tub of ice, the Mind Flayer likes it cold.” 

Mike bit his lip, considering. “Do we have the list of everything we’ll need?” 

“Yeah.” El nodded. “You and me are gonna go get half the supplies from the storage closet- we’re gonna have to break in, cause there’s a lock, so you’re gonna do that with your powers- if you’re okay with that.” Mike nodded. “Max, you and Lucas get the rest from the back shed, the one with all the rakes and shit. Should be unlocked, unless the pool staff suddenly gives a shit. They might have chains of some kind to lock up the fence, we’re gonna definitely need those.” 

Max hesitantly nodded, and then Lucas said, “Should we split up?” 

“We’ll get everything together, and we should have it ready by the time the pool closes.” El said. She gestured her head and said, “Let’s move out.” 

Lucas waved his hand, letting more light slide into the shed. He looked around, grabbing a staff. “This should be wide enough to block the door.” he said. “What do you think?” 

“Uh, yeah.” Max nodded, walking into the shed and running her hand over the wall. “Sounds good.” 

Lucas took a deep breath, then slowly put the rod down and turned. “Max, you’re not happy.” 

“Did you expect me to be?” she sighed. She paused, still staring at the wall, and then she turned to Lucas, crossing her arms. “Look, even if he wasn’t my stepbrother, and he was just some asshole, this is a… a dick move. I know what it’s like to get exercised, I know what it’s like to be on fire, to feel so hot you think you’re gonna explode… and that’s without the Mind Flayer inside you, trying to take control, screaming, trying to kill…” she shook her head. “And we’re just… doing it. And it’s like nobody even cares. El knows what it’s like because she was there when I was screaming and thrashing and I- I nearly killed her, and she doesn’t care- nobody cares-” 

“I care.” Lucas said quietly. He walked over and grabbed her hands. “I care, I’m sorry. We just… don’t want-” 

“Want the Mind Flayer running around Hawkins.” Max finished. “I know.” 

“And I know he scares you.” Lucas noticed Max glance away, and he said, “I… know what it’s like when someone you’re supposed to love scares you.” 

She bit her lip. “No offense, Lucas, but it’s not like Billy was experimenting on me.” 

“But he hurt you.” 

It wasn’t just him. “But he’s still- I’ve lived with him since I was six. And it’s not all bad. I think he cares, in his own fucked up way.” 

“He was threatening you.” Lucas said. “I saw that.” 

The image of Billy behind the fence flashed in Max’s mind, and then the image of when he saw Lucas. Max narrowed her eyes and said, “He was threatening you, too.” 

“I can take care of myself.” 

“And so can I.” Max said. She slowly released Lucas’s hands, a determination settling on her face. She turned, and then walked to a shelf, pulling down the chains El had guessed would be there. She weighed them in her hands, thinking of thrashing against the ropes binding her to the chair, screaming and flashing the lights… 

“These’ll work.” 

Mike picked up the mannequin, smiling. “You know, when I first saw these, I freaked out.” 

El smiled, looking over the cleaning supplies also in the shed; she didn’t think they’d need these. “I bet.” 

“They were in a store window and I thought they were people are first.” he recalled. “But really weird-looking. Then I saw they didn’t move and realized they were fake people.” He giggled, and bounced the mannequin in his arms. Then, after a second, he tossed it into the air and stepped back, waving his hands and watching it float around. “I bet I can make it look like it’s walking! That’ll really freak Billy out!” 

El flinched a little. “Uh… maybe not?” 

Mike paused, letting the mannequin drop to the floor. “What?” 

She sighed, picking up the figure. “Listen… yesterday, when you kept using your powers, and you went into the Void, and… and Heather disappeared and you came out of that…” she shivered. “Listen, Mike, it was scary. I… I think you might be using your powers too much. Like, what if she’d pulled you down with her?” 

Mike blinked at her, confused. “That didn’t happen.” 

“But it could have. What would we have done if you got possessed or lost or hurt?” 

“I could fight. I am fighting.” 

“Mike, you’re not listening to me!” 

He narrowed his eyes, as if trying to figure out if she was insulting him or not. “I’m just trying to protect you! Protect everyone!” 

“But we can protect you, too!” 

“No, you can’t! Not like I can!” 

“We’re your friends, Mike! I’m your girlfriend! Nancy’s your sister and Ms Byers is basically your Mom-” 

“I don’t have a Mom!” Mike shouted, and El jumped back. “She had another baby and forgot about me! And it doesn’t matter because I don’t care! I don’t care!” 

“Mike-” 

“I closed the Gate and that didn’t work, but I can do it again! I will do it again!” 

“You could have died the first time! You could die again!” 

“Well, it’s not like it’ll matter!” 

Both Mike and El completely froze over. 

There was a long silence, as they just stared at each other, El with horror in her eyes, Mike with instant regret. 

“Mike…” El said quietly. “You don’t think you matter?” 

Mike shut his eyes, and then said, “We should set up.” 

“Mike, wait-” 

Mike opened the door, shaking slightly. El reached out, grabbing his arm. “Mike, I’m sorry. I- I’m just worried about you. I don’t want you getting hurt. You do matter, Mike. You matter to me, and to the boys, and Nancy and Ms Byers and- and everyone. Mike, we need to talk about this-” 

“We can talk,” Mike shrugged his hand out of El’s, and started down the path, “When the Mind Flayer is dead.” 

They finally got everything ready as the pool closed. Thankfully, Billy was the last one there; their plan, if he hadn’t been, would’ve been to pretend there was an emergency and everyone needed to leave, but El was glad they didn’t have to do that, as none of them could think of anything really plausible. The children waited, with two walkie-talkies, one in case they needed to call the adults for backup, one for the plan. El sighed, glancing around the group. Max was gripping tight to Lucas’s hand, glaring at the ground, while Lucas looked up, preparing to mess with the lights if need be. Mike was gripping their second walkie-talkie as if it was his lifeblood. Slowly, El put a hand on his shoulder and said, “If you’re ready, let’s go.” 

He nodded, and waved his hand, letting the pool door swing open and shut. 

They heard a distant call of Billy’s disinterested voice. “Pool’s closed.” 

Mike flicked his head, and the door shut again. 

“Hey!” They heard a locker slam, and then a much more frightening shout. “Did you hear me?” 

At the sound, Max started to shake, and she slid back. El, startled, ran to her and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. Lucas and Mike started, too, but before they could move, they heard Billy slam on the door, from a few locker halls away. “Pool is closed!” 

Mike shut his eyes and waved his hand a few more times, slamming a door or two. Then Lucas threw out his palm, and the lights went off in the hall Billy was in; they could see the bulbs immediately fizz out, as if they’d never been lit. Max buried her head in El’s shoulder, as Mike grabbed the walkie-talkie, shut his eyes, and called, “Billy…” 

There didn’t seem to be a response, so after a moment, Mike called again. “Billy!” 

“Who’s there!” came a taunting reply. Max reached out and dragged Lucas to join her and El in the hug, as they heard another door slam. Mike paused, and then laughed into the walkie-talkie- that had been their plan, they had to keep going… 

“Billy! Billy!” he laughed some more. “Billy! Come and find me!” 

They heard a dark voice, a bit too close for comfort. “I find you, it is your funeral.” 

Mike leaned back so that El could pull him into the hug, but he continued laughing, as if nothing mattered. He was good at hiding his emotions, he’d been trained for this. “Come and get me! Come on!” 

At that, he waved his hand, and let a locker room door open and shut. Billy would be heading that way, so he’d see it. He’d know. 

They heard Billy burst through, and Mike tried again. “Billy!” he laughed. 

They heard a low, “Got you.” And then a dark, loud laugh that sent chills down their spines, Billy’s hands clapping together with glee. 

Max shook some more, and angered, Mike hit the button and said, “Come and get me you piece of shit!” 

The sauna door flung open. 

Billy stared inside, at the mannequin, dressed in a lifeguard shirt and set up to look as if it was a person standing inside. Billy was frozen a moment, and then he stomped forwards, grabbing the mannequin and lifting it up, hitting the ceiling. 

“Hey.” 

Billy looked down at the shirt pocket, where the other walkie-talkie was stored. 

“Behind you.” 

Billy turned, just in time to see Mike standing in the doorway. He dropped the walkie-talkie and said, “Hi.” 

Then he simply moved his head up in a nod, and Billy flew into the wall, crashing against it with a thud. He hit it so hard that part of the wall paint crumbled, shards of yellow falling to the floor with him. 

“Now!” came El’s yell, and the other kids rushed in, Max in the back. Mike waved his hand, watching the door shut right as Billy leapt up, yelling with fury. Lucas shoved a rod against the door handle, and Max knelt down, wrapping the chains as fast as she could. As soon as she got it locked, the children leapt back, standing behind Mike, who wiped his nose on his sleeve and stared over at the window to the sauna. 

Billy was pounding against the door, screaming. The chains shook, but the door did not budge. After a moment or two, he stopped pushing, and instead looked through the window at the gathered children. His eyes passed from El, who was giving him a dark glare, to Mike, an anger flitting across Billy’s face as he spotted the boy. He then looked to Lucas, eyes widening in a slow realization, and then he turned to look to Max. 

Max stood at the edge, breathing slow, her eyes hardening as she looked at her stepbrother behind the glass. Billy, however, smiled very slowly, and said, “Max.” 

Max stared right back at him, and then said, “Do it.” 

Without hesitation, El raced towards the side of the sauna, grabbing the temperature dial and turning it all the way up. 

It was a slow build, the heat rising in the sauna. But as it grew, Billy started to pound on the door. “Max! Max! Let me out of here!” 

The children stood together, staring. Lucas grabbed Max’s hand for some form of comfort, and El backed up beside Mike, no remorse in her eyes as she watched ahead. 

Billy pounded again, and demanded, “Let me out!” 

Max kept staring, breathing slow, trying not to react, not to feel bad, not to let him see her pity him. 

He looked through, his breath slowing, and he said, “You kids. You think this is funny?” 

Mike and Lucas glanced to each other, both having the same concern on their faces. 

“You think this is some kind of sick prank, huh?” 

El watched him, cocking her head slightly to the side, an anger almost matching his flowing through her. 

At that look, Billy spat on to the glass, shouting, “You little shits think this is funny?” 

El slowly looked to Max, trying to shoot her an encouraging, it’ll be fine look. Max matched her look with a blank stare. 

“Let me out of here! Let me go!” 

He hit the door, and it trembled. The children jumped, and Mike pushed the others back instinctively. 

“Open the door! Open the goddamn door!” 

He let out a scream, and then fell down, dropping out of sight of the window. El looked to the thermometer on the wall, and announced, “We’re at 220. That’s as high as it’ll go.” 

She backed up a bit more, as Mike watched the door. They could hear what sounded like sick laughter from behind it, and Lucas muttered, “What do we do if it’s the Mind Flayer?” 

“Kill it.” Mike muttered. 

“And if it’s Billy?” 

Nobody said anything. Slowly, Max stepped closer to the door, listening closer to the laughter. It didn’t sound right. 

“It’s not my fault…” 

Her heart plummeted to the floor. He wasn’t laughing. He was crying. 

She stepped forwards again, ignoring El and Lucas calling for her to stop. 

“It’s not my fault… it’s not my fault, Max, I promise…” 

Max raced forwards, peering through the window, and starting to shake again when she saw Billy. He was curled up against the bench, sweating and sobbing as the heat rose. He looked… weak. 

“It’s not my fault…” 

He looked up, and Max slowly said, “What’s not your fault, Billy?” 

He sat up, still crying, his hair pressed against his face, stuck by the sweat and tears. He pressed his hands together, and his voice dropped to a whimper. “I’ve done things, Max. B-bad things, but I didn’t mean to!” 

Max could hear the others approach behind her, but she kept her eyes on her stepbrother in the sauna. 

Then Billy leaned forwards and said, “He made me do it.” 

A dark thought clouded Max’s mind, one reminding her of the dark that had been there before. No. “Who made you do it?” she asked, knowing the answer. 

He shook again, and then gasped, as if he was forcing the words out of his mouth, “Kinda looks like a shadow.” 

El reached out and grabbed Mike’s arm. Lucas stepped forwards, also grabbing Mike’s hand, but reaching out to try and grab Max, who was just a bit farther away. She didn’t turn. 

“Like a big shadow. Please, Max…” 

Max took a deep breath, pushing back memories of screaming against ropes, of being held back in a hospital bed… “What did he make you do?” 

“It’s not my fault, okay! Max, please…” He collapsed against the bench, grabbing onto the wood with one hand as he trembled. 

Another memory pushed itself to Max’s head- it wasn’t my fault, Dad. It wasn’t my fault. 

“Please, believe me, Max, it’s not my fault… I tried to stop him, okay Max, please…” 

Max felt tears spring to her eyes. Over the last two years, she thought she’d never cry because of Billy again. But here she was, watching him sweat in the heat and cling to the bench, and he begged, “Please believe me, Max, please believe me…” 

More tears slid down her face, and Max pressed her palm to the glass, almost as if she could reach out and touch her stepbrother’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay.” she vowed. “Billy, it’s gonna be okay. I know it’s hard, but-” 

He was gasping something, falling more against the bench, and Max failed to see him reach underneath it. 

“It’s gonna be okay, we want to help you… We want to help you, okay? You just have to talk to us-” 

And then she felt that feeling again. That dark swirling, the anticipation of a drop. The call that the shadow was awake. 

No, no… 

“Max?” El noticed her apprehension. 

Max shrugged her off, and said, “I believe you, Billy, we can fix this together, okay? I need you trust me.” 

“Max.” now Lucas spoke. She hadn’t realized she’d been shaking. “Max, get away from the door.” 

Just then, Max felt a terrible lurch, and she leapt away just as Billy threw himself at the door, a shard from the wall crumbling in his hands. He burst through the window, and Max screamed as glass shattered around her. Mike pushed the others back, and Max trembled and retreated, tears starting to stream even more. 

Billy let out a roar, his head and arm barely reaching through the window, the shard still in his hand. “Let me out you bitch!” he shouted, his voice contorted with rage. “Let me out! I’ll fucking gut you!” 

He dropped the shard and slung his hand down, knocking at the pole that held the door. Lucas immediately raced forwards, leaping in front of Max, and he shut his eyes, letting just a tiny bit of darkness spread around him. One shard formed of the light around him, and shot right at Billy’s head. Billy stumbled back, screaming with the heat, and Lucas dragged Max behind the group. Mike reached forwards, lifting some shards of broken glass with his mind as Max started to sob, but just then, the lights fizzed out. Lucas jumped forwards to wave them on, but then the lights flickered on of their own accord- and then off again. 

The lights started to flicker faster, and El grabbed onto Mike and Lucas, dragging them back even farther from the door. They could hear some kind of retching from inside the sauna, but their eyes were now on the lights. Max shook and said, through her tears, “He’s angry. He’s mad that we found him…” 

They heard another roar, and could see some kind of shadow behind the window of the sauna. And then Billy turned and hit against the door again, and they could see flashes- black against his skin, in his eyes, around his face. Black that they recognized. Max whimpered as Mike pushed them back farther, lifting shards with his mind, as Billy continued to throw himself against the door. The chains shook under the pressure, almost breaking. 

“He can’t break those, can he?” El muttered. 

“No…” Max shook her head. 

“Stay back.” Mike said, and he lifted the shards of glass, pushing them into a defensive wall in front of them. 

The door pounded more, the chains creaking and groaning. “We need it to be hotter…” Max muttered. “It needs to get out of him before-” 

The door burst open as the chains flew away, and Billy fell to the ground. The children screamed, and Mike froze a moment, as if wondering whether or not to attack. However, as Billy stood, they saw that they were right; black shot up his arms, surrounding his skin and darkening his face. 

The Mind Flayer had, indeed, found a new host. 

He met eyes with Mike, who glared back at him. There was a recognition in that black, and Mike knew that the Mind Flayer remembered him. Knew who he was. Remembered the Gate. 

And was pissed. 

Mike shouted and threw his hand, and the glass shards dove into Billy. Max screamed, and then screamed again when the Billy shouted and threw his hand to rip the shards out, as if they didn’t affect him at all. Mike turned to the edge of the gym room, spotting a weight, and quickly waved his hand to lift it, throwing it at Billy to hold him against the wall. El gasped, and Mike grunted as Billy pushed against the weight. Mike shut his eyes, holding back tears of frustration, as he let the weight dig into the wall, trying to hold back the angry host. Billy’s arms darkened as he pushed the weight, and Mike started to breathe slowly, struggling much more than he thought he would. 

“Billy, just stop!” Max screamed, once again starting to cry. “Stop fighting!” 

Billy did not. 

With a scream, Billy pushed forwards more, the weight pulling away from him. Mike stumbled back, a pain spreading through his body, and exhaustion causing him to collapse, just as the weight flew off from the wall, and Billy forced it away, barely missing Mike’s head as it clattered. El pulled Lucas and Max out of the way, and then screamed as Billy leapt forwards, grabbing Mike’s hair and using it to yank him up onto his knees. He turned, staring straight at Max, and then put another hand on Mike’s neck. 

“No!” Lucas started forwards, but Max yanked him back as Billy stood. Lucas, shaking, tried to close his eyes, trying to darken and make shards, but Mike’s shouts kept him much too distracted. 

Mike’s screams, however, were cut off as Billy lifted him into the air, without looking like he was giving an inch of effort. Mike started hitting and kicking, shouting as best he could while being unable to breathe. He managed to gasp out a “No!” but Billy just lifted him higher, and Mike felt his nosebleed fall down his face as he struggled to breathe again. Billy just stared at him with cold, dark, dead eyes. 

And then there was a scream, and Billy fell. 

Freed, Mike toppled to the ground, gasping and struggling on the floor, feeling his hands scramble against the cold tile, trying to find something to pull himself up. He turned his head up just in time to see El standing over Billy on the ground, holding the pipe in her hands, spitting fire. 

“Go to hell, you piece of shit!” 

She lifted the pipe, trying to bring it down again, but Billy whipped around, grabbing it and yanking it out of El’s hands. Mike tried to get up, but he still was barely breathing, shaking, his arms feeling weak… 

El stepped back, and Billy stood up, tossing the pipe away. He stepped forwards, as El retreated a bit, her face suddenly dropping as she realized how much shit she was in. 

“Go!” Lucas ran in front of El, throwing an arm in front of her and then throwing another out, finally summoning a shield. Billy stood outside of it, looking blankly, and then he slowly turned towards Max, who was running for the pipe. 

“No!” El yelled, and Lucas’s face fell in terror. 

Billy turned, stepping to Max, who looked over, her eyes falling on him. “Billy, fight it!” she pled, still trying to run back for the weapon. “And you piece of Mind Flayer shit- you can’t have me, you can’t have my stepbrother, and you can’t-” 

She slipped and fell, crashing to the ground, and as Lucas dropped the shield to try to run to her, Billy stepped over her, his eyes lost in the shadow. 

And just as he threw out his hand, he froze. 

And then he was lifted into the air, shock clearly showing as he dropped his mouth open. 

Max, El and Lucas turned, to see that Mike had crawled into a kneeling position, and had both his hands out, blood now streaming down from his face, as he lifted Billy into the air. He started to scream, just as Billy shouted, trying to fight against the telekinetic energy that was holding him in the air. 

Mike stumbled to his feet, still holding his arms out and still shouting, watching Billy start flying up. Max stumbled away and ran to Lucas and El, grabbing their arms, as Mike circled around Billy and watching as he turned, as if held on a string. Mike managed to make his way over to stand before the others, grunting and gasping with his focus entirely on the possessed teenager in front of him. Billy was staring at him, coated in sweat and tears and starting to spit. He shouted, and then Mike let out the loudest scream the others had ever heard from him. 

Mike pushed, and Billy was sent flying, crashing through the brick wall of the pool building. He fell into the grass with a burst of smoke and falling material, and with that, Mike collapsed. 

Lucas and Max leapt back in shock, staring at the wall, but El reached forwards, managing to grab the exhausted Mike as he fell. They both dropped, sliding against the wall, and as they fell against the floor, El wrapped her arms around him, dragging him closer to her, and he reached back and grabbed her face, sobs starting to burst from him. He shook, his strength completely sapped, and he cried against her as he trembled under the flashing lights. El started to cry as well, clinging to him, leaning against him even as blood and tears covered his face. 

Slowly, Max and Lucas looked to Mike, wanting to hug him, too, but their eyes both flickered to the wall. They walked over, looking through, to see a figure racing away into the night. 

They stared for only a moment, before they turned and ran back to El and Mike.

It’s late and I feel like talking about ST characters trauma

I feel like most people only focus on Will’s or El’s (which both are very valid ! ) but I think we both need to remember that:

1: characters exist outside of their trauma. If you believe that all a single character is is their trauma, and that they deserve no further character depth, you’re psycho

And 2: all characters in this fking show are traumatized. All. Of. Them. At this rate, I think Lucas is the most unscathed mentally, yet he ALSO has so much trauma! Which nobody ever talks about!

I love Will and El, however I feel like other characters (especially the females) deserve more expansion on the sh!t they’ve been through.

I WANT TO ALSO SAY:

This isn’t me narrowing down characters with the “most trauma” as I simply cannot put every character in this post and go on a full analysis rn as its 4:00 am. And also, trauma isn’t a competition. I am sick of people saying “so and so is more traumatized than so and so.” Or “so and so is the most/less traumatized.”

All trauma is valid.

People will trauma of any kind know that it doesn’t matter if someone lost 2 legs and half their brain, but you only broke your foot. That’s still gonna be painful! Mentally and physically! It isn’t a race. I don’t want to see ANY of that anymore. It’s disgusting and undermining other characters traumas to benefit others. All characters trauma is V A L I D. It all is! There is no “well so and so is the most traumatized so the others don’t get to complain.” NO! NO NO NO! That’s not how it works! This isn’t a game!! And don’t ever feel bad about not having gone through as much as your friend, your trauma is yours and all experiences are valid.

ALSO REMINDER: characters exist outside of their trauma and ab*se and I know that! This isn’t me belittling or shrinking down people to only a component to their trauma. It’s me pointing out their trauma rather than having their trauma he their whole character. I just think we need more people to talk about other ST characters, especially right now.

Now, without further a do:

MAX:

Max’s dad left fairly early on from what we’ve seen, however she still had some contact with him for at least a few more years as she seems to remember him and miss him quite a lot. We don’t know much about Mr. Mayfield, but we do know Max mises him a great deal. We also know that she has most likely witnessed a lot of physical and verbal ab*se from her stepfather. It’s never stated if Max is a handle to this ab*se either, but she’s definitely witnessed it. Which is why I believe she pushes people away, she’s afraid to get latched on. Because If she does she’ll start to care, and then they’ll just leave like almost everyone else, like her old friends and her father. She puts up walls and feign strength and a somewhat high ego to keep up the hallucination that she doesn’t care about what others think, when she really does. Not to mention she literally witnessed Billy die right before her eyes. Do you know how traumatizing that is? She’s also seen multiple others die aswell, making it worse. Now with Billy gone, Max will most likely be the center of Neil’s ab*se, and Will distance herself from everyone, and will probably spiral into a severe depression. She acts all tough on the outside when in reality she just wants to be loved and accepted, by her friends and family. She gets critiqued quite a lot, especially for being a girl, and you can tell she definitely has gotten the short end of the stick most her life.

KALI:

Do I even need to explain this one? She was literally ABDUCTED AS A CHILD, then adopted, then her adoptive family DITCHED HER, she was forced to see others get hurt or to hurt others for experiments, she’s seen multiple people d!e, and she feels like the only way for life to get better is by k!lling people. Although she’ll never show it, she feels so alone in the world. With no real family, and only her friends, she has nobody to turn to. Kali was so hated upon, which in a way, I understand. I don’t entirely agree with her morally but I do see where her intentions lay and I don’t think she’s as bad as a person as everyone says she is. She’s just a broken girl that deserves to be loved. And she’s so distant from love because she’s afraid of getting hurt. But she deserves happiness, and I wish the Duffers would allow her that happiness, too.

JOYCE:

Nobody EVER talks about Joyce’s trauma as much as they talk about Will’s or El’s (which I’m not invalidating either of theirs I’m just pointing out Joyce’s)

Joyce is said to deal with frequent panic attacks and anxiety. She was verbally and probably physically ab*see by her husband leaving her with severe trust issues. For awhile the whole town thought she was crazy, and we’ve seen her be treated like an outcast. She doesn’t fit in. Back in the 80’s, single moms were looke down upon. Will is constantly referred to as “Lonnie’s Boy”, because that’s what people see him as, even when Lonnie ditched Will and hurt him more than Joyce ever could. Joyce works/worked multiple jobs, and had to keep up her family of two boys. It got so bad even Jonathan had to get one or two jobs just to keep a roof over their heads.

Joyce really deserves happiness. She’s always alert now and her anxiety has only gotten worse. She’s constantly looking for things that aren’t there and although she may have been right about the magnets, it’s worrying that she saw a pattern there, anyways. Her life has given her the short end of the stick multiple times. She’s seen multiple people d!e, her son get possessed, her son get exorcised and be in so much pain, the love of her life (Bob) die right in front of her, the other love of her life (Hopper) die right infront of her, she’s been losing herself since season one, and knowing it’ll only get worse in season 4 scares me so much. She deserves to settle down and find a happy family. She deserves love and support and therapy. And she deserves support system that will listen to her and be there for her. Joyce is so strong in so many ways, she has always percerviered through the thick and thin, and life has ever gone in her direction yet she stays there, for her boys, and doesn’t give up. She is so kind and loyal, she took El under her wing, she was there countless nights when Lonnie was screaming, protecting Will. She was there, staying up all night to make sure Will went to bed safely. She worked two jobs and has tried to get enough money for Jonathan to go to college, and yet life has never given her anything back. This woman has been through hell, she deserves to be loved with no consequences. She deserves to be happy without it backfiring. Joyce is such a dimensional character. She’s had her ups and downs, and she’s somehow always found ways to keep on pushing forward past where most people would break. THATS Queen shit

NANCY:

Now, it looks like Nancy had a fairly peaceful upbringing. While I don’t think she has as much trauma as Mike, I feel like a lot of people over look her and her existence and immediately write her off as “selfish” or a “brat”. And while I do agree that she does have some selfish or self centered moments, she’s always grown from those. Character development, people!

Nancy, the oldest of 3, definitely got the most love from her mother. I don’t think her home life has ever been bad. Although Karen and Ted aren’t the perfect happy couple, they don’t seem to fight much, and they seem pretty peaceful. So I don’t think Nancy’s home life is bad necessarily, and from the outside it could almost be described as “perfect”.

However, there is so much beneath that.

Nancy was stuck in a loveless relationship for about a year. She did the best she could at school to fit in or “be popular”. She wanted to stay with Steve because that seemed like the most logical option. He was popular, rich, he’d be the perfect guy to settle down with. But her heart was telling her to go else where. Jonathan was poor, unpopular, and isn’t necessarily the perfect guy to settle down with financially. Her parents put pressure on her to be the perfect housewife (more so her dad, I don’t think karen did as much.) so when Nancy falls for someone the exact opposite of what she should be going for, she’s in denial. She’s torn between the two. She had a perfect life ahead of her. Great friends, popularity, a loving boyfriend, but she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to settle down and living a boring life just like her parents.

Besides all that, she’s been pulled into an alternate dimension, she’s seen multiple people d!e, she’s nearly been k!led MULTIPLE times. She’s had to k!ll people for her own safety. She’s had to watch her boyfriends brother get excorcised, and also stab her boyfriends brother with a flaming hot rod. She’s had to live with the guilt of Barbara, her best friend, dying while she was sleeping with Steve. She feels so much guilt, survivors guilt, for not doing anything that night. She’s had to live with the fact that her bestfriend since she was little passed on right outside where Nancy was, and Nancy could’ve done something about it, which is the worse part. She’s been harassed by misogynistic coworkers for the fact that she’s a female, lowering her self esteem. And it seems that whenever she does something good in the world it always backfires. She feels like an outcast even though she has so many “friends”, or so it seems. She has the perfect house at the end of a culdesac. What can she possibly be sad over? Her life seems seamless. Yet there is a lot buried under there. She seems like she’s in denial over a lot of things, and constantly in a stage of grief. Nancy deserves to not feel ridiculed. She deserves to be a winner, and to prove those misogynistic @ssholes wrong. She shouldn’t have to fit this cookie cutter ideal. She’s a badass. She’s experienced way more than I feel like most people realize, and has been put in the center of absolute insanity yet still was able to come out of it intact. She deserves to live the life she wants to live, without Survivors Guilt, without the feeling of being an outcast, without low self esteem. Nancy is such a strong young woman in more ways than one, and I feel like so many people hate on her solely because she isn’t doing what most of these girl next door characters usually do. She subverted her own trope. And most people are angry that she isn’t this cookie cutter girl the way she’s “supposed to be”. She gets overlooked, and most people prefer the men of the cast, over her. And yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion, however I’ve seen people hate on Nancy for stupid misogynistic things, which isn’t a valid reason to dislike a character. And most people assume she’s just a spoiled, self obsorbed, ditzie girl, but she really is just someone trapped inside a box trying to get out. Nancy is a baddie. She’s always defended her friends. She’s always defended her brother, and has fought interdimensonal demons before. SHE IS SUCH A BADASS! She learned how to use a gun at the age of 16, despite most woman in the 80’s not even slowing themselves to touch a gun. She grew independent and learned to work for herself and not for others. She cracked a major story at the Hawkins Post, and even when people didn’t believe her, she still pursued it, and was right! She doesn’t give up, and people should be looking up to her and aspiring to be her. She literally beat up someone with a fire hydrant while playing a game of Marco Polo. Why does nobody talk about that! She will kick your ass into the next dimension. THATS Queen shit.

That’s all for now. I will touch back up on this later with some more characters traumas (probably Mike’s, Dustin’s, Lucas’s, and more.) but this is it for now. I really think we should pay more attention to the woman in the ST cast and their characters. A lot of focus is usually on the boys, which is understandable, but I wanted to point out how strong all these girls are and how much I admire them. I love Will and el as well, but I’ve already made several posts talking about them and how badass they are, lol. I wanted to shine light on more people that usually don’t take the spotlight very often. I’ll be back with more, later! As I said above, I’ll totally touch on some more people’s trauma as well, as there’s a lot beneath the surface I feel like most people don’t pay attention to.

SORRY FOR SUPER LONG POST

PS: I began writing that at 4:44am, then fell asleep. It’s 11:45 am now.

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment against President Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Soon, the U.S. House will almost certainly vote to pass those two articles. And then things move to the U.S. Senate, where things seem just as inevitable: The GOP-led Senate will block Trump’s removal.

But it’s worth explaining exactly why we think the Senate won’t vote to remove Trump. So let’s break down the vote among all 100 senators — we expect a mostly party-line vote, but there are actually a number of different incentives at work beneath the surface. (Remember that a two-thirds majority — at least 67 votes — is needed to remove Trump.)

Let’s start with the Democrats.

Almost certain to vote for removal: 44 Democrats

Trump’s removal is supported by a plurality of Americans (48 percent) and more than 80 percent of Democrats. So if you’re the typical Democratic senator, who represents a blue-leaning state, the safe and obvious vote is for Trump’s removal. And that’s without even considering the strong evidence that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate the Bidens in exchange for a White House meeting and military aid.

It’s hard for me to see even Democrats who like to emphasize their bipartisanship — Chris Coons of Delaware, for example — or those up for reelection in 2020 in blue-tinged swing states — Gary Peters of Michigan, Tina Smith of Minnesota — voting against impeachment. Impeachment is popular enough among Democratic voters that any Democratic senator in a state that’s not solidly red would have serious electoral problems voting against it.

Swing votes based on centrism: 2 Democrats

There are two Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who are not up for re-election in 2020 but who might still vote against removal.

Sinema, who was elected last November, is known to be fairly centrist and comfortable bucking her party. She was one of only three Democrats who backed the confirmation of William Barr to be attorney general, for example. Manchin is friendly with Trump and voted for Barr and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The West Virginian has taken the same position as the Trump White House on key votes about 31 percent of the time in the current Congress, making him the chamber’s most Trump-aligned Democrat. Sinema is No. 2, backing the president’s position 21 percent of the time.

In terms of partisan lean,1 Arizona leans red, and West Virginia is super conservative. But I doubt electoral considerations matter that much to either Manchin nor Sinema — they aren’t up for reelection until 2024, when Trump’s impeachment will likely be a distant memory.

So I would bet that both Manchin and Sinema vote against Trump’s removal, preserving their brands as separate from the broader Democratic Party.

Swing vote based on electoral considerations: 1 Democrat

Like Manchin and Sinema, Doug Jones of Alabama also voted for Barr. Unlike Manchin and Sinema, Jones is up for re-election in 2020. My read on Jones is that he’s not that personally centrist; instead, he seems to be trying to figure out how to stay in his seat in pro-Trump Alabama. Jones has taken Trump’s position on 18 percent of Senate votes in the current Congress, making him the third-most Trump-aligned Democrat, after Manchin and Sinema. But relative to Alabama’s politics, Jones ranks behind only Jon Tester of Montana in bucking his state’s pro-Trump preferences.

My starting assumption is that Jones will vote against Trump’s removal, hoping that the vote helps his re-election bid. But he could also decide that Trump’s behavior is too extreme to condone and back removal — electoral consequences be damned. Or perhaps Jones votes for Trump’s removal both because he opposes the president’s conduct but also because the Alabama Democrat sees little chance of winning reelection anyway and is basically auditioning for a spot in the next Democratic president’s cabinet. (In 2016, presidential and U.S. Senate voting were highly correlated — no U.S. Senate candidate won in a state where his or her party’s presidential nominee lost. It’s hard to imagine the Democratic presidential nominee winning in Alabama in 2020, so Jones seems like an underdog.)

So that’s at least 44 votes for removal just among Democrats, and as many as 47. The removal of Trump would need another 20-23 votes. Those would have to come from among the chamber’s 53 Republicans, which means removal is 20 to 23 votes short.

At least right now, I don’t think any Republican is likely to vote for Trump’s removal. My guess is that lots of Republicans privately disapprove of Trump’s Ukraine moves. But GOP senators face significant pressure not to publically break with Trump if they want to maintain their standing within the party and not annoy GOP voters who they need to win primaries and general elections.

Still, there are some gradations among the likely no’s. Let’s go through the GOP blocs, from the most likely to the least likely to vote for Trump’s removal.

Trump-skeptical, limited electoral considerations: 2 Republicans

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah are among the most Trump-skeptical Republicans in Congress, with the Utah senator, in particular, occasionally bashing the president very sharply. Neither has too much to worry about electorally — Murkowski isn’t up for re-election until 2022, and Romney not until 2024. Trump isn’t super popular in Utah, and the state’s Republicans knew they were supporting someone who was not particularly pro-Trump when they nominated Romney in 2018. Murkowski lost a GOP primary in 2010 and then won the general election as a write-in candidate, so she probably isn’t that afraid of breaking with the party, either.

That said, only 8 percent of Republican voters support impeachment. Chiding some of Trump’s more outlandish comments is one thing; supporting the removal of a president with such strong support within your party is something else.

Trump-skeptical, significant electoral considerations: 2 Republicans

Cory Gardner of Colorado and Susan Collins of Maine are both up for reelection in 2020 in Democratic-leaning states. Both have a history of breaking with Trump. They were part of a group of Republicans who publicly said they would not vote for Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election, for example. And Collins, in particular, has remained fairly critical of the president since he came into office. So there are some reasons to think that both could support the president’s removal.

That said, there was some evidence that Republican congressional candidates who broke with Trump in 2016 did worse than those who remained supportive of him, in part because those candidates lost some support from Trump-aligned voters. Perhaps Collins and Gardner would gain support from more centrist, Romney-Clinton voters if they backed Trump’s removal, making up for any losses among conservatives. But that’s a risky bet. Both need Republican voters in the general election.

Also, voting for removal has the potential to result in an organized campaign to defeat Collins or Gardner in their respective GOP primaries. The deadlines to file for the Senate in Colorado and Maine are in mid-March. That’s not a ton of time for a challenger to ramp up a campaign, since the Senate is likely to vote on impeachment sometime in January. But I think it would be fairly easy for even an obscure Republican to find support among GOP activists and donors if he or she were running against a GOP incumbent who had voted for Trump’s removal. And in Maine, there is a very prominent, pro-Trump Republican maywho I think would challenge Collins the moment she voted for Trump’s removal, ex-Gov. Paul LePage.

In short, for Collins and Gardner, the safest electoral route is to oppose removal.

Trump-skeptical, huge electoral considerations: 1 Republican

Ben Sasse of Nebraska was among Trump’s most vocal GOP critics during the president’s first two years in office. But as Sasse’s 2020 re-election bid has neared, the Nebraska senator has changed course — not quite embracing Trump but not going out of his way to emphasize their disagreements either. Not coincidentally, Sasse already has a primary challenger arguing that he is too anti-Trump.

If Sasse voted to remove Trump, I think he would be defeated in Nebraska’s May 12 primary. So I don’t think his vote is in much in question.

Pro-Trump, retiring (no electoral pressure): 4 Republicans

This group includes Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Pat Roberts of Kansas.2

If Trump was truly in danger of being removed, you’d expect to see the first signs of it in this group. I think Alexander, in particular, would be a part of any such movement. He’s conservative on policy, but more of an old-school-style Republican (think Bob Dole) in terms of temperament. He’s not particularly close to the president.

Similarly, Burr, Enzi and Roberts have no particular loyalty to Trump and no political reason to be wary of supporting his removal. That said, all four are long-time, loyal party members. It’s just really hard to see them breaking with the party’s president on this kind of vote.

Pro-Trump, with significant electoral considerations: 4 Republicans

This group of Republicans — John Cornyn of Texas, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Martha McSally of Arizona, Thom Tillis of North Carolina — has a lot in common with the previous group (neither particularly anti-Trump nor especially pro-Trump), except they’re all up for reelection in 2020 in relatively swingy states. In other words, this is a bit of a complicated vote for them.

The safest course — and the one I would expect all four to take — is to oppose Trump’s removal, therefore preventing a major primary challenge and ensuring Republican voters in their states are strongly behind them for the 2020 general election. That said, for all four, voting against Trump’s removal ties their political prospects even closer to the president’s. If 2020 is an anti-Trump wave year, I think it’s possible that Democrats win Senate seats in Arizona, Iowa, North Carolina and/or Texas — the same Senate-presidential vote alignment that is likely to doom Jones in Alabama would also doom some of these members.

But let’s pause here for a moment. Imagine that everyone in the groups listed so far voted for impeachment. (Again, I don’t think that’s at all likely, but let’s just pretend.) That would still give removal “just” 60 votes — seven short of the required number. That makes this next group of Republicans essentially the deciders in the impeachment process.

Pro-Trump but looking at the polls: 32 Republicans

This is a big group; I’d include: John Barrasso of Wyoming, Roy Blunt of Missouri, John Boozman of Arkansas, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Ted Cruz of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Josh Hawley of Missouri, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rob Portman of Ohio, Jim Risch of Idaho, Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, John Thune of South Dakota, Todd Young of Indiana, Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

And at first glance, you not might think these members should be in the same group. After all, Graham has been one of Trump’s strongest defenders amid the Ukraine scandal, while some of these senators — Lee and Paul in particular — have fairly low Trump scores and occasionally break with the president on policy. But what ties all these senators together is that they are generally Republicans who rose to power pre-Trump. That means they are probably more interested in preserving the GOP and their own electoral standing than defending Trump himself. And none of them are up for reelection in 2020 in swing states, so they are probably looking more at the broader landscape for Republicans than their own reelection prospects.

I don’t see them breaking with Trump unless it’s very politically expedient. Let’s say, at some point, 75 percent of Americans support Trump’s removal, including 35 or 40 percent of Republicans. This is the bloc of Republicans that I think would go to the White House and urge Trump to step down. They would be the most potent messengers in such a situation — they rarely attack Trump and so can’t be written off as “Never-Trumpers,” as the president’s allies have cast Romney. More importantly, if this group broke with Trump, there would be the numbers to actually remove him from office. (Again, though, that all seems very unlikely right now.)

Always Trumpers: 8 Republicans

These Republicans — Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia3 and Rick Scott of Florida — either rose to power post-Trump or are closely allied with the president on immigration issues in particular (Cotton and Perdue). I don’t think they will ever, ever break with the president. If Trump’s political standing worsens, Loeffler and Perdue would be making a somewhat risky move in sticking by him because they represent swingy Georgia (and both are on the ballot in 2020), but I still don’t see any circumstances in which they break with the president. Or, put slightly more cautiously, this group of Republicans would be Trump’s last defenders.

There are a lot of competing incentives at work in the Senate regarding impeachment. The way it all shakes out, however, is that the removal vote is at about 56-44 in Trump’s favor. That could, of course, change based on additional evidence emerging, public opinion shifting and Republican senators changing their minds. But right now, it’s just hard to see the Senate trial of Trump taking place with any real chance that 67 senators will support removing him from office.