Dropping Byler Evidence Every (Other) Day Until Season 5

the stonathan fandom is dying. reblog if you’re a real stoner

WHO IS IT 😭

please duffers just release the trailer there can't be more to hide

Oh god how come those twitter pages haven't been terminated yet lmao

St as out of context Danny Gonzalez clips

(this is so unbelievably niche lmao)

I LOVE BYLER ANALYSIS

Dropping Byler Evidence Every (Other) Day Until Season 5

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Day 25: Mike's Mind was on Will . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

So after a full day of us bylers getting bombarded with asks from this one crashing-out mileven anon DAHSDGKASD I am going to drop this piece of evidence from the final post in the Airport Scene saga :)))

So during the beginning of Season 4 we see that Mike is not being himself which is super strange, and we are angry that he's ignoring Will during the airport scene and the Rink o Mania scene. We think that while Mike and El are 'cute' (eh, they're literally lying to each other but whatever) Will is sad. Then, we find out that Mike was thinking about Will. The whole time.

Mike had noticed that Will was mad at him the whole day, Mike was disappointed that Will had been ignoring him in Rink o Mania and being upset, sure, but there are other times that he is sad at Will ignoring him.

The first is when Mike finds out that the painting must not be for him because Will acts so stand-offish about it. The most notable time however.... is the scene with Mike, El and Will walking through the airport while El is talking about her plans. Mike seems so absent from the conversation, looking around and thinking about something else. He glances at Will a total of:

6 Times

Watch this clip to see it all:

Before I argue about this with people in the asks (ugh) I wanna say that these glances are not accidents. Can you imagine being Finn in this scene and accidentally TURNING HIS HEAD in the same place a total of 6 times??? This is not an easy accident to make. He is extremely good at micro-facial expressions, and this is one of those instances.

This scene is supposed to be subtle and quick, so it makes sense why you would not pick up on it straight away. You are only supposed to pick up on it when you know the information later (that Mike picked up on everything Will did that day).

First off we need to establish that Mike is already feeling nervous about meeting Will because he knows from El's letter that Will could be making a painting for a girl. He hasn't been able to reach Will for months, and it gets confirmed later that Mike was acting so standoffish because he was afraid to lose Will. We see Mike's nerves in the way he asks about the painting -- "what's that?"

Mike is now even more nervous because he gets those worries confirmed when Will doesn't elaborate on the painting even when Mike lets him.

So now that we have established that: I will be talking about every instance he looks at Will during the video above and what it all means -

1. "Wha-- really?"

Will glances at Mike at the same time that he glances. Mike then realises that Will is also glancing at him and they quickly AVERT THEIR GAZES at the same time. This action of 'oop almost got found out' makes Mike also get interrupted in the middle of his word. The way he says "really" as well is high-pitched and nervous after what just happened.

2. "Yeah no I trust you"

Honestly these are so hard to take screenshots of, because you really need to watch it to get the full effect so make sure to just rewatch the part in the video above pls <3

Again, not sure why Mike actually glances at Will in this moment other than just to check on his reaction, showing that he's being so careful with what he's saying and doing around him.

3. "Rink o Mania..."

Another super subtle one, but again it still furthers the argument that Mike was caring about Will's reactions to everything that El is saying more than anything. Maybe he just wants him to get in on the conversation or he's worried that Will's being so quiet -- his mind is still on acting normal though.

4. "Okay, are your friends gonna meet us there?"

This one is the one that inspired me to make this post in the first place. It is perfect.

First of all, El was never insinuating that her friends were going to be there. Mike had never been told by El in a previous letter that they were going to meet up with some friends. SO WHY DOES HE EVEN MENTION FRIENDS??? Obviously, he knows that she has made friends but in the letters, he's heard that Will maybe has as well.

RIGHT AS HE SAYS FRIENDS -- he looks at Will. This is no accidental head turn. This is the directors and writers trying to show you that while Mike may seem to be asking about El here (because he's asking about her friends), he's actually got his mind on Will's friends. The reason he asks is because he wants to confirm or deny the worry that he has about it.

This is literally rehashed later when Mike gets angry at Will ignoring him. He does all of thESE THINGS BECAUSE HE WAS SCARED OF LOSING HIM <3 which he says in the bedroom.

5. After "Friends? What friends?"

This one makes sense because Will's just spoken, although it is a little ambiguous whether Mike is looking at him in this frame above. Watch the video if u really wanna know ig. He's probably just looking for what this means as it's the first thing Will says the whole time.

6. After "Angela?"

It's odd how Mike clearly gets a little weirded out by what Will says here but it's pretty much clear that he has no clue that El has any bad blood with Angela. This is clear from later on, when he completely denies that El has been lying to him, and ignores that El gets taken away by Angela and everyone.

There must be another reason for his strange reaction that clearly catches him off guard. He asked the previous question about friends because he wants to put his worry to rest. BUT He now just found out that Will does have friends (or so he thinks, ofc), which is specifically a girl. El talks about a girl in relation to Will in her letter.

Again, I'm rehashing this point: It gets confirmed that Mike thought he had lost Will. So it totally makes sense why he would be caught off guard here.

THEN EL SAYS:

"I want this day... to be about me and you!"

Perfection. This is supposed to be ironic. Because clearly, Mike is not all thinking about her. He has been glancing at Will the whole scene and El saying this is the best little kicker to end it. Mike barely notices something off with El, he notices everything that Will's doing, nervous about his reactions.

Perfect ending to that scene lmao

the effect heteronormativity has on how watchers view byler keeps me up at night so i wrote out their story but took out names & instead used “boy” and “girl” 

read this and tell me it’s not romantic:

boy asks girl to be friends on the first day of kindergarten.

boy has girls artwork all over his walls. boy has a binder full of girls drawings.

girl goes missing in 7th grade and boy does everything in his power to find her.

when girl is found and is recovering in the hospital boy is the only one not sleeping while waiting for her to wake up and when she does wake up he runs to her room and lays his head on her chest.

a year later when girl is struggling with ptsd, boy is always there for her. when she leaves school early to go to the doctor, he stares longingly and sadly at her empty desk. he notices when she’s quiet, even though she’s always quiet. when she has a flashback on halloween he puts an arm around her and takes her back to his house safely and talks about what she’s going through. when she’s going through something extremely scary he sleeps on her floor so she won’t have to be alone. when she goes back to the hospital, boy sleeps in a chair next to her bed. when girl is possessed and loses her memory, she only remembers her mom and boy. later on, boy starts crying and says asking her to be his friend on the first day of kindergarten is the best thing he’s ever done.

when boy gets a girlfriend, girl and boy start having problems for the first time in their relationship. after 6 months, boy and girl get in a fight over boy ruining their friend group by spending all of his time with his girlfriend, and girl leaves his house. boy bikes across town in the rain to her house and bangs on her door screaming apologies and begging her to come out so they can talk.

when girl is packing to move away, she assures boy she won’t move on from him and their friend group and he reacts like this:

then boy’s girlfriend, who is moving away with girl’s family too, says she loves him and kisses him and he reacts like this:

when boy is leaving girls house after she’s gone, he looks back at her house sadly and bikes away. he goes home to his mom and this happens:

6 months later when boy goes to visit his girlfriend and girl across the country, boy is awkward to girl and won’t hug her, even though it had never been weird for them to hug before. he just pats her on the shoulder.

boy, girl, and boy’s girlfriend go to a roller rink where girl feels ignored and like a third wheel. boy’s girlfriend gets publicly bullied and runs away. while boy and girl are looking for her boy gets angry at girl for moping, not talking, and rolling her eyes because she “sabotaged the whole day”, even though it seemed like he was ignoring her.

their argument goes like this:

girl: well what about us?

boy: *stops walking and turns around* what?

girl: you’re mad that i didn’t talk to you? you’ve made it clear you’re not interested in anything i have to say

boy: that’s just not true.

girl: you called maybe a couple of times, it’s been a year. meanwhile [girlfriend] has a book of letters from you.

boy: that’s because she’s my girlfriend!

girl: and us?

boy: we’re friends! we’re. friends.

girl: well we used to be best friends!

boy: …well maybe you should’ve reached out more, i don’t know, but why is this on me? why am i the bad guy?

later on, boy comes in girls room and thanks her for knocking some sense into him because he was being a total self pitying idiot. when he starts to talk about the last few days, girl says she deserved it and boy assures her she didn’t deserve anything he did to her. boy says their friends back home are great, but it’s not the same without girl. and maybe he was worrying too much about his girlfriend and lost girl. boy says he wants them to go back to being best friends.

also during this trip, boy’s girlfriend gets upset with him because he’s never said “i love you” to her. he signed all of his letters with “from, boy”, and he still doesn’t say it even when she’s crying and practically begging him to.

boy talks to girl about how he’s afraid his girlfriend doesn’t need him anymore and feels inferior to her.

girl gives boy a painting she made for him and confesses her love for him, but uses his girlfriends name to cover it up, so boy thinks this is actually his girlfriend’s feelings. she says she’s afraid of losing him and will always need him, and that he is the heart of their group and everything would fall apart without him.

after this, boy is able to say “i love you” to his girlfriend, but they are distant after it and his girlfriend doesn’t talk to him much.

finally finished and posted my fic from this post and this post you guys!!!!

aka the one with college byler and will paints on mike bc i say so <3

also has a fun convo about mike's insecurities about his appearance and i literally loved writing this so much i had so much fun, being that it might be last fic for a while (university)

EDIT: I had to change the link because the fic was on the wrong date and AHHHHHHHHH yeah its fine now tho

the lovely people who asked to be mentioned: @smartsxylacy @mangocheezits @zombiecleric @opheliasinthenightsky @rigatonirules @tvlikesgirls @cokey-lol @bylersboy @bylerpainting @bylstarz @penguinchick07 @withlove-mike @stellazulii @avassfilms @queernconfusedaf @danmeicoffeecat @hilsonamore @rainebasillovesbyler @thedamfrenchfries @lesbian-mike-wheeler @starleette @krakoansam @xplreli @robintheoriedbyler @mossmarauders

and the shame was on the other side or something

Frogs are known as symbols for emotional healing and cleansing in some cultures.

How appropriate is that?

Made with this picrew