stranger theories

⚠️ VERY IMPORTANT POST ⚠️

Hi guys, I usually don't make posts like this but since Halloween is coming around, I want to share an experience I've had to prevent this from happening to anyone else. You may see check your candy a lot on social media and thinks it's a funny joke, and I did too, until an experience I had a couple years back that I need to share to stop it from happening to anyone else. Basically, I got a pair of Twix for Halloween along with my many sweets when trick or treating, and after I ate it, I started to change a lot. All of a sudden, I was no longer interested in the opposite sex and I was really into my straight best friend. It was a very distressing experience. Anyways, recently I found the other Twix out of the pair and opened it up to find this:

So please, keep your kids and your family safe this Halloween and check your candy. Because maybe your Bounty isn't the only coconut (head) you'll find in your sweet stash this year.

Sometimes I'm happily going about my day and then I realize William Jacob Byers has been able to pull 3 girls when I've never pulled one.

Like Noah says, Will Byers is definitely 100% gay. He's meant to be gay from episode 1. This is quite a long analysis, as in several thousand of words long (not an exaggeration this took me two and a half hours), but I hope you like it and it's a good recap of Will's sexuality journey throughout the show for all those who already think Will is gay. And I'll talk about my thoughts for S5 a bit.

Just as a note before I begin analyzing the show: the Duffer brothers said that Will's sexuality would be clarified in Volume 2 and all that we saw in Volume 2 clearly was pointing to him being gay which I'll talk about later. They also said in a Collider interview that Will was speaking about himself through Eleven and that they used camera angles to show the duality of his speech. And they are the show's creators. Noah Schnapp said he's meant to be gay but he couldn't say so because of spoilers so if it was his interpretation why would he not be allowed to say it unless he's gay? But in this analysis, I'm going to try and prove to you why that's the case anyways without needing confirmation.

Right off the bat, we have the show's pitch/bible which describes Will as having sexual identity issues.

Now I've highlighted the things here relevant to his sexuality. I think the fact he has sexual identity issues is pretty self explanatory for how that applies to him being gay. It says he recently came to the realization he does not fit the 1980s definition of "normal" and considering this is the sentence after talking about his sexual identity issues, it's clear that's it about him realizing he's gay.

Other things of note is that it mentions he wasn't viewed as normal in the 1980s, a time where it was much less societally acceptable to be gay, and that normal is in quotation marks, showing he is normal but it just wasn't viewed as normal back then. It also says he is able to be himself uninhibited in fantasy, implying he can't be in real life, which I think could be a reference to him being closeted. Either way, this shows that he was planned to be gay from day one.

Now let's break it down season by season. In S1, we see that Will is bullied for seeming gay from the start of Episode 1 in which Joyce mentions his father called him slurs. He is repeatedly bullied for being gay throughout the series. Whilst being bullied for being gay doesn't make you gay, they're clearly planting the idea of Will's sexuality in our heads right from the start, especially relevant when you keep the pitch in mind.

Another thing of note is Will's conversation with Johnathan which was an allegory about being gay. Will's father didn't show up to take Will to the baseball and Johnathan points out he doesn't like baseball and that he shouldn't force himself to like things he doesn't like because people tell him he should, especially not his dad. Whilst this is about Will not liking sports, it can be read as Johnathan telling him that Will doesn't like things that "normal" boys like, but that's not a bad thing and that Will should just be himself. It's also important to remember that Will's dad is homophobic and that Will shouldn't force himself to like things his homophobic dad doesn't want him to like.

We also see a repetition of the word "normal" here. Johnathan says Will's dad is trying to force Will to like "normal things". We saw normal in reference to Will's sexuality earlier, so it's not too much of a stretch to say that this is about that too. Charlie Heaton also said at a conference that he knows Will is gay and that he wants to share that but can't and I get this is in reference to S4, but to me I view this conversation as Johnathan subtly telling Will that it's ok to be gay.

In terms of S2, we see less homophobic bullying. There are a few things to note though. When Will talks to Johnathan about feeling like he's a freak, Johnathan says that being "ordinary" is boring and that you'd rather be friends with someone like David Bowie (who was queer) than someone more dull (in this case Kenny Rogers). This is less clearly about sexuality than in S1 admittedly as it could be in reference to him feeling odd because of his Upside Down trauma, but I still think it's worth noting. Will also develops a close relationship with Mike and when he is mind flayed, Mike's voice is able to get through to him, showing he has a special bond with him.

Other things worth noting: the scene of Will at the Snow Ball. A girl comes up to Will and asks him to dance. Will starts to say no and looks at Mike instead of the girl. Mike indicates that Will should dance with the girl so he does. Ie he's liking something or rather someone because people tell him he should, not because he actually does. It said in a script that Will was looking at Mike whilst dancing but I don't know if this is a legitimate script based on this tweet. However it does mention that it's the season 4 scripts that aren't legitimate, not S2, so I'll post them here anyways.

Now onto S3. This is where Will's sexuality gets brought to the forefront a lot more. Will seems to be pretty jealous of Mike and Eleven's relationship and whilst it's partially about all of his friends having girlfriends, Mike clearly means something more. He was very excited to hear Dustin's girlfriend and he doesn't seem to have any issues with Lucas and Max being together. Will is being left out by everyone, not just Mike, which shows me that Will is interested in Mike. Will also looks quite pleased when Mike and Eleven break up.

This brings me to the iconic "it's not my fault you don't like girls" scene. I'm aware Mike's motivation in that scene may have been rooted in Will being immature, although that's not how Will took it. If you see the reaction on his face after Mike said that, it's much more personal than just that. It's also important to remember that Will has been bullied for his sexuality for years and now he feels as though his best friend has thrown him out of the closet before he ever got to fully accept he was in one.

Afterwards, Will looks at him and Mike and says "stupid" in reference to his own thoughts because Will knew deep down that he liked Mike but understands that it could never work out (not getting into if Byler is possible because this is about Will's POV). He rips up photos of him and Mike together. If this was a guy and a girl and one of them was insulted and started ripping up their photos whilst saying they were "stupid", it would be viewed as romantic, but I guess that's besides the point.

Will kind of falls into the background after this scene beyond the occasional neck tingle. I know there's other stuff you could mention, but I think with that I'm going to move on the season that solidified that Will is gay if the earlier seasons didn't do that as well.

At the start of S4, Will is acting weird and Eleven thinks this is because he has a crush. He's making a painting that he won't show Eleven so she thinks it must therefore be a romantic thing for a girl he likes. And yet Will brings the painting with him to the airport to give it to Mike. Also at the airport, Will looks overjoyed to see Mike and goes in for a hug with Mike which is not reciprocated leaving this sense of awkwardness. This could be platonic but remember that Eleven who isn't as socially observant thinks that this is because of a crush he has, ie a crush on Mike.

It is also mentioned that Will has a crush in his character description for this season, showing how they are very intentionally planting hints that Will Byers has a crush on Mike.

There are other things to note in this first episode. When a girl tries to hit on Will, Will is very clearly uncomfy with this action and he pulls his leg away and pulls a face, showing again that Will isn't interested in girls. This isn't about this specific girl too because it would be completely irrelevant to show that Will dislikes a random girl who is never brought up again, meaning it has to be there for a purpose. Will's hero this season is shown to be Alan Turing, a computer scientist who was also a gay man and persecuted for being so. He also has a poster for the song Boys Don't Cry and the lyrics seem to match up pretty well with him being unable to tell Mike his feelings and something I'll mention a bit later on.

This may seem random, but remember that every detail shown is most likely intentional. The poster isn't there to fill space, it's because the song has meaning to Will. I believe this is meant to refer to Will wanting to tell Mike his feelings but that he knows it's pointless and that Mike only cares about Eleven. If it wouldn't damage their relationship, Will would share his feelings to Mike which he clearly wants to do but is unable to because he doesn't want to lose his friendship with Mike but he's used to sharing things with Mike hence the van scene which I'll talk about in a minute. To reiterate, this post isn't about Mike, it's about Mike from Will's POV.

We see more of Will being jealous of Mike and Eleven in the scene at Rink-O-Mania. The theme of Rink-O-Mania in the sound track is called "In the closet" which whilst being a reference to Eleven crying in a closet could easily be about Will sadly watching as Mike skates away with his girlfriend. When Will and Mike fight, Mike says Eleven is his girlfriend and Will says what about us which compares him to Eleven in terms of his relationship with Mike which again could be platonic but the sheer amount of details challenge this.

Fast forwarding ahead because this is getting long, I'm going to talk about The Van Scene™. Remember that the Duffers said Will is talking through Eleven in this scene as you read the analysis, although I won't be referencing that as I'm trying to prove it with content in the show. Will decides that it's time to show Mike his painting. He says Eleven commissioned this painting but we know that's a lie because earlier Eleven said that Will would not show her the painting and that she thinks its romantic.

Why would Will lie about someone commissioning the painting, especially considering that person has romantic feelings? Because Will wants to tell Mike how he feels so he does it through Eleven. Will makes a speech about how Eleven feels about Mike but this is through the painting which again, Eleven did not commission. If it's not obvious enough, I'll change the pronoun from she to I and change Mike's feelings about her to Eleven just to make that clearer. Again, this is from Will's POV so don't come after me!

This is not about milkvan because it mentions being mean and pushing Mike away and Eleven was not pushing Mike away. She wanted to be closer to him which is quite the opposite. Anyways, after that speech Will smiles at Mike before turning away and crying into his hand because he didn't want Mike to see him crying. Why would Will be crying if this wasn't about Will knowing he'd just pushed Mike to Eleven whilst liking Mike himself. This brings me back to Boys Don't Cry, the song on Will's wall that I mentioned earlier.

I think that song could be referring to this moment. Will smiles at Mike whilst talking about Eleven because he's trying to hide his feelings and by crying into his hand, he is hiding the tears in his eyes. He tries to hide it because he doesn't want Mike to realize that he likes him because he's not "meant" to like Mike. The soundtrack in this scene is also of note as it is a blend of the songs "The First I Love You" and "The First Lie" because it is the first time Will has said his feelings to Mike out loud but he also lied about them by saying this was what Eleven felt like, meaning it was also the first lie he told Mike.

Finally for S4, we have the scene in Surfer Boy Pizza in which we have the final allegorical Will and Johnathan conversation to talk about. Johnathan noticed Will earlier and knows that Will was upset because he is in love with Mike and later on when Will is sadly staring at Mike being happy with Eleven, Johnathan takes the opportunity to tell him that if Will has anything he wants to tell him, Johnathan will be loving and supportive of him. The scene is meant to be Johnathan subtly telling Will it's ok to be gay, just like in S1. And I know I'm not meant to talk about actor confirmations, but this scene was confirmed to be about that by both Noah Schnapp and Charlie Heaton and they were directed to do it that way.

It's pretty clearly about Will's sexuality and lots of queer people with supportive people in their life can relate to someone telling them that if there's anything they want to share then it'll be expected. Will bursts into tears and hugs Johnathan. If this was about anything else, why would Will be so moved by it? Will feels deeply ashamed of his sexuality, referring to himself as a mistake for not being "normal", so he's very impacted by Johnathan letting him know that whatever he has to share, it's ok with him.

All of this to me shows that Wil Byers has been intended to be gay since Season 1. In terms of S5, I think that Will is going to come out based off of all this proof and since it's the last season and Will is clearly meant to be gay, it's going to happen now. I think we'll either get a quiet scene with a family member, especially Johnathan or a more explosive one with Mike where Will yells "because I love you" and then there's dead silence afterwards. Or both. Either way, I think Will's sexuality has been very well written and I have faith that the scene will be good, especially considering how much I loved Robin's coming out scene.

Hope this helps to convince your friends that Will is canonically gay. Don't know if this is what you wanted, but thanks for the ask anyways!

"People just assume Will is gay based on stereotypes"

Ah yes, how dare people assume Will is gay based on the notoriously problematic stereotype that gay men like guys but not girls /s

Yes, exactly! Queer people have existed forever and it's so weird that people act like there could only be one gay person in a show with quite a large ensemble cast. Is it really that hard to believe that Will or Mike or someone else could potentially like the same sex?

Not to mention, it doesn't matter if it's not realistic. The show's not being made in 1986, it's being made in 2022. Queer rep harms nobody but it can help people doubting themselves a lot. The show isn't bad or unrealistic just because you allow queer people to not be constantly miserable.

Plus, a D&D monster in a parallel universe killing people whilst being fought by some teenagers (who took down a Russian base) and a psychic child isn't exactly peak realism either 💀

Ok sure, here's some Byler with friends and family

So those are my headcanons of Byler with other people. Thanks for the ask (:

Mike Wheeler analysis

Ok so I thought about how I'm going to do a Mike character analysis, so I'm going to break down his character season by season in chronological order. I'll be talking about his traits in general alongside his relationships with Will and Eleven. This post is not the 'definitive' Mike Wheeler, just my interpretation of him and his character. You guys can feel free to disagree! Also just a warning: this post is very long. Seriously, it's the longest post I've ever written.

Season 1

From the beginning, Mike is shown to be the closest thing the group has to be a leader as they all gather at his house and he's the dungeon master. Him being dungeon master shows that he is imaginative and creative which is reminiscent of Will. Him and Will have more in common that the rest of the group and it's clear that Will is very comfortable around him as he tells him that the demogorgon got him. At the beginning of the series, we see him and his friends getting bullied. Mike and the rest of the group don't seem to fight back against this. The first episode ends with Mike meeting Eleven in the forest.

You can see Mike is a caring person as he immediately takes in Eleven and is more friendly towards her than his other friends. He gives her shelter and food and tries to come up with a plan. This is when we start to see Mike's protective instincts kicking in. Mike knows that he's in danger keeping El but he doesn't care as he's brave and wants her to be safe. After finding out Eleven may be able to help them find Will, he teams up with her. He's very headstrong and refuses to be told he's incorrect as he is being protective of Will.

As a parallel to him earlier in the season not standing up for himself, Mike immediately calls out the bullies when he feels that they are insulting Will. This isn't a 'defending a dead child's reputation' thing because at this point, Mike doesn't think Will is dead. He clearly cares a lot about him and is angry at the homophobic bullies, leading to him knocking him over and humiliating him. Mike defends his friends yet again when he jumps off of a cliff to stop the bullies from hurting Dustin. Mike will do the right thing for people he cares about and he's clearly a great friend.

At the end of the season, Mike kisses Eleven. I don't really view this as romantic. Eleven had the vocabulary of a two year old and had literally no idea what was going on most of the time. Mike and her never really had any romantic moments together before Mike kissed her. She was pretty much the only girl Mike was close to and I think that he thought his platonic feelings and protectiveness which he felt for all of his friends was romantic because she was a girl. In reality, they're just good friends.

Season 2

At the start of Season 2, Mike was struggling with the loss of Eleven. Even though I don't ship them, he did really care for her and losing a friend like that is a lot to handle. However, like we saw with Will, Mike refused to believe she was gone when everyone else accepted it.

Mike is still very caring and protective over Will. They clearly have the closest relationship out of the group. For example, when Will is going into therapy Mike notices that he seems quiet but Lucas says he's always quiet. This shows that Mike notices and understands Will in a way that his other friends do not. When Will is having visions, Mike is the one who notices and comforts him.

After a particularly bad episode, Will and Mike go and hang out in his basement. Will shares his feelings with Mike because he feels as though Mike is the only one who can understand him. Mike admits to Will that he thinks he's going crazy too. This is an important moment for Mike. Mike is tough, brave and protective but is rarely emotionally vulnerable. He and Will are able to open up to each other in a way that he can't be with his other friends. After Will gets possessed, Mike immediately comes to his side as a result of his protective and caring instincts. Mike was the only one of Will's friends to stay with Will all of the time, even pausing his attempts to reach Eleven after 353 days in order to be by his side.

Speaking of Mike's relationship with Will, when Will seems to have fully succumbed to the possession, we see Mike again letting down his guard and being more emotionally vulnerable with Will. He tells Will the story of how they first met and says it's the best thing of his life. As I said earlier, Mike is usually pretty guarded so it shows how much he cares about Will above other people.

Eleven returns and Mike is angry at Hopper for hiding her. This is understandable, but not nessecarily romantic like a lot of people make it out to be. This is very fitting with Mike's protective and caring nature that we've seen towards his friends. Of course you'd be angry after losing someone you cared about. When they went to the Snow Ball together, they shared a kiss which, again, could very easily be him confusing platonic feelings for romantic ones. Mike is not in touch with his emotions and is guarded, so he probably doesn't fully understand or think about the reasons why he likes Eleven beyond a pretty girl interacting with him. Now onto season 3.

Season 3

Season 3 is more of the same with Mike. He is constantly with Eleven, abandoning his other friends and Will to be with her. We see that he still is observant about Will and cares about him a lot as he notices Will is acting weirdly at the cinema in a way that his other friends don't. He also stares at his lips for some reason. Will and Mike are more distant due to Mike's obsession with Eleven, but you can see through scenes like the one mentioned that he still cares a lot for Will and has a deeper emotional connection with him.

Mike and Eleven make out a lot, to the dismay of Hopper. Hopper gets Mike to stop obsessing over Eleven and instead of opening up (like he does with Will), Mike uses lies in order for Eleven not to break up with him. He doesn't really understand what he's meant to do in a relationship beyond just smooching unlike Lucas and Max who have a sort of cycle they go through. He follows Lucas' advice which doesn't work, leading to a break up.

They're both inexperienced and their relationship seems very movie puppy love-esque and it never really evolves beyond that. After they break up, Mike doesn't seem to want to be with her for her personality or his love for her. He just wants to be able to say he has a relationship. It's all very superficial and it feels like they only date each other because they feel like they should rather than because actual romantic feelings.

Even when Mike confesses he loves her, it's because he doesn't want her to die which could very easily be a platonic thing. And then when they try to talk about it, Mike cannot open up and will go around a lot of stuff to avoid saying the word 'love'. When Eleven says I love you too and kisses him, he looks very blank in comparison to him looking overjoyed after talking to Will, the only person Mike opens up to in the show.

This season I think that Mike is vaguely realising that he doesn't love Eleven (or girls). They just seem to be together for convenience and not because he actually loves her. We see more of Mike being overprotective and caring towards her but as I've established, he's like that to all of his friends. He just assumed it was romantic because she was a girl and that's how it should be. The only person he's truly comfortable and himself around is Will but this season, he's a lot more guarded and rude towards him. This could be because Mike doesn't want to think about his feelings towards Will and instead is just obsessing over the one girl who shows him attention.

Season 4 Volume 1

Because season 4 is not finished yet, I'm going to keep this shorter. Mike is now in high school and is trying to find his place but like before, he's still doing stuff because he should and not because he wants to. Eddie says Mike used to dress like whatever his mother chose him, but he's still trying to emulate a style of someone he's not; Eddie. He's wearing his Hellfire Club t-shirt and he's growing his hair out to look like him. I think this might be a little crush of his as he clearly looks up to and admires Eddie in a manner we've not seen with Mike before. I think by this point, Mike knows deep down that he's gay and is trying to ignore it and act like someone else to avoid confronting it.

When Mike goes to California, he seems kind of uninterested in everything. He's distant from Will, not affectionate with Eleven and he can't open up to anyone. Eleven and him fight because Mike is unable to say that he loves her. Their relationship is falling apart. Mike feels like he should say he loves her just to make her happy but he can't. He says this when he opens up to Will yet again, the only person he can be vulnerable with. Later on in the season, Will speaks to Mike about how it's scary to open up (because he's gay) and this really gets to Mike. Mike is unable to be open and vulnerable and I think that through Will he's able to connect with himself emotionally and realize things about himself.

Conclusion

Mike is brave, protective, headstrong and moral. He cares deeply about his friends but seems to confuse platonic feelings for romance. The reason Mike and Eleven's love never evolved because it was never love for Mike. He dated her out of obligation and never was able to open up to her. He clearly has a close relationship with Will and he is the only person he can be himself around because he is gay and has romantic feelings for him.

This post was super long and is definitely not the definitive Mike, just my interpretation of him. If you view Mike as bi or in love with Eleven, that's fine, but this is just how I personally think Mike is written (and it seems to fit with his characterization throughout the series). This isn't one of my theory posts in which I say what I think is going to happen, it's my personal interpretation of a character and his arc throughout the show.

Thanks for the ask, anon.

Ok, here's some more Byler headcanons:

So yeah, those are some more headcanons. Thanks for the ask (:

I'll go through these one by one and try to add comments where it's useful.

Will created the Upside Down - I've spoken about this one before, so I'll just link the post here.

Will has powers - I think this one could go either way. Will survived in the Upside Down for a week so it's highly possible that he gained something from that. Another experience that could give him powers was being mind flayed. We've already seen that Will has true sight and has been affected by that so he could have powers. I spoke about this before, but it looks like the last episode of Volume 2 is going to be Dream Warriors inspired (I'll tag here). This means that Will could develop super powers within his mind palace or a trance, or could somehow piggyback into Eleven's Vecna trance.

Will was just in the wrong place at the wrong time - yes and no. I think that Will was unlucky to have been chosen (I don't really like 'chosen one' things) but I think he was specifically selected. It really seems as though Vecna was stalking Will in the first episode. The door unlocks exactly like how Eleven does it, Mike's TV malfunctions like Creel's radio and the TVs before Patrick and Chrissy die, Mike's light flickers (which is way outside of the demogorgon's hunting range) and the light brightens instead of flashing when Will is captured. Not to mention, Will wasn't immediately killed and he sung a meaningful song to himself (which repels Vecna). I think Vecna/the mind flayer did select Will as a link to the 'normal' world as he was not only connected to both universes but also brought the demodog and the mind flayer into Hawkins. This makes me believe that he was unlucky, but it was a targeted attack on Will.

Will saves everyone in Volume 2 - I think Will will be involved in saving Hawkins in Volume 2. My theory is that the younger kids go into trances on purpose in order for Eleven to attack Vecna within his mind meanwhile Robin, Steve and Nancy go to attack him in real life (Dustin and Eddie distract away demobats). I could see Will putting himself into a trance due to the fact that Noah Schnapp was harnessed up for no reason that we've seen so far. I'm slightly considered this could be used to out him and his feelings towards Mike, although the painting which is yet to be revealed gives me hope. However, Will could definitely be more involved than just putting himself at risk. Noah Schnapp wore an outfit to the roller rink which we've not seen him in yet and Eleven will be in that trance. Whilst this could be a negative memory for Will, maybe Will somehow slips into Eleven's trance and helps her through it. Maybe he even develops powers like in Dream Warriors. I think the second part of the theory is less likely, but I think it's super interesting anyways.

Will becomes the villain - I don't think this will happen. It wouldn't make sense for the character and would come way out of left field. I don't have too much to say about this one.

Will is going to die - another one I've spoken about (I'll link it here), but no I don't think he's going to die. In S5 we're going to learn more about the Upside Down and I think Will is going to be needed for that. He's also been through so much that it would just be cruel and weird for them to kill him off. Also, comments about Will having a supernatural story line have me hoping that he will survive so we can explore that more.

Thanks for the ask, hope this helped (:

Firstly thank you! Secondly, yes I do:

Those are some of my headcanons! I can come up with more if anyone is interested. Thanks for the ask, anon (:

I love how the Duffers claim that they don't want to say too much whilst telling us Will has an emotional character reveal in reference to his sexuality and coming out.

That is the saddest thought but I'm not too worried about Will dying in S4. Will has nearly died on several occasions so I think he's kind of safe for the moment as his death might be a bit obvious. He's also just gone through so much and it would feel odd for that to just be for nothing.

Moreover, Will's probably going to have to be alive for S5 (hey that rhymed). Will is very linked to the Upside Down and it's origins. He has true sight. The Upside Down is frozen on the day he went missing. He also interacted with monsters who many theorise could've actually been Vecna (the door unlocking, him singing his favourite song). They kind of have to keep him alive at least until season 5 because it means it would be easier for them to explore these origins and how Will is linked to the Upside Down.

In terms of him talking about Byler, I don't think it's a distraction. It's getting more and more obvious so it's on a lot of people's minds. This means he's getting asked about it a lot so he's talking about it a lot. He talked about how he shipped it before on request and now he's get requested to talk about it a lot. I don't think there's a grand conspiracy to it so please don't worry about Will.

Thanks for the ask, anon. I hope this helped reassure you (:

For context, this ask is about my post on how Noah Schnapp and Millie Bobby Brown said it's up to interpretation if Will is gay or growing up slowly in which they claimed to represent children who don't know their identity and also say Will's identity won't be addressed (or at least it sounds that way). I really disagree with this and I'll link the post here.

On the point about Dustin, I think I understand what you're getting at. You're saying that the show needs to address things about the character, whether it's a medical condition or sexuality. I'd like to further this comparison by saying it's like if the creative team repeatedly showed Dustin/Gaten's condition in the show and then never mentioned it. Then when they were asked about it, they said that it's up to interpretation and actually represents people who don't know what their condition is. Whilst people's medical confusion is something that should be represented, this character pretty obviously has one specific condition and represents that experience to a lot of viewers.

This is a bit like them saying Will not having a label represents confused kids; if you write a gay character and never mention it but continue to bait it, you aren't representing confused kids. It's just erasure and baiting at that point. I don't know if that makes any sense. I personally don't have cleidocranial dysplasia, so feel free to let me know if I messed that up in any way.

And with your point about a Byler kiss, for me at this point, I just need them to mention their relationship. Before I was worried about if Will's feelings were requited or unrequited, but right now what I want is them to just say Will has feelings for Mike. I'm so desperate for just some mentions of Will's sexuality at this point. I never even considered that he wouldn't be gay, instead just immature. And whilst the audience takeaway is that he is gay, I don't know why they don't just have him say it. It's so obvious and all they're doing is denying Will's pretty obvious feelings for Mike. Netflix doesn't get to caption a photo of Will third wheeling Mil3ven with a boys kissing emoji and then say you can choose if he's gay or just needs to grow up and like girls. I'm so desperate at this point, I never even considered they could screw things up this badly. Who knows, maybe it's just hiding some information because of spoilers considering everyone else in the cast thinks Will is gay.

Thanks for the ask anon (:

What (gay) Will Byers means to me

Several years ago, I decided to give Stranger Things a try. Season 3 had just came out and I heard about Robin (and how she was gay). At that point in time, I was trying to watch pretty much every show with a lesbian character in it so this made me pretty excited. But whilst Robin was meaningful to me, the one character I felt truly represented by was Will Byers.

Now a quick disclaimer: I'm a lesbian born in the 2000s and have not been to an alternate dimension at any point so obviously I'm not going to relate to everything Will goes through.

Okay now onto my post. This is going to be more of a personal/vent post so it feels only natural to start it off with an unnecessarily long storytime. When I was in my early teens, I realized that I really liked girls at pretty much the exact same time my female friends realized that they really liked guys. Worst of all, I had a crush on my most boy-obsessed friend. Suddenly all my friend group would talk about is their boyfriends or their crushes or whichever celebrity they thought was cute. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this, but I was surrounded by this overwhelming hype for guys and I felt none of it. I came to the dawning realization that I wasn't ever going to like boys like they did and it was rough; I felt incredibly isolated but I couldn't talk to anyone about it to them because I was afraid to tell people that I was gay. In the end, I left my close friend group over this because every time I hung out with them I felt either bored or miserable. I went through all of this around the time I watched Stranger Things and I think you can see where this is going.

When I watched Will in Season 3 I didn't see a kid who was just immature, I saw myself for one of the first times. Everything felt so real and relatable, from the jealousy over your friend's partner to the thought that maybe that jealousy came from a non-platonic place. To me, Will was clearly gay (for Mike) and going through the same things I'd struggled with. I felt very seen and ever since then, Will Byers has been one of my 'emotional support' characters and watching him really helped me feel a bit less isolated and alone, even if he wasn't real. This is why I care that Will is gay; to say that he felt all of these weird, confusing and authentic feelings because he just needed to grow up and become straight would just be such a slap in the face and to have the character I grew such an attachment to just be going through a childish phase would be heartbreaking to me and to (I believe) many other queer fans of Stranger Things.

Before I finish this post, I'd like to tell another quick story. A couple of months ago, I rewatched Stranger Things with my parents and when we got to the 'it's not my fault you don't like girls' scene, my mother turned to me and said 'that's just like you, but with guys'. At the time I thought to myself that this comment was very funny as I am still not out to my parents but later on it kept on coming back to me. Both me and my mother were able to understand why having boy-crazy best friends was difficult for me and whilst she didn't magically realize I was gay at that exact moment, I do think it made her understand what I've been going through a bit more.

This made me realize that characters like Will are more than being just representation; they help others empathise with an experience that they'll never have to go through. But most importantly, they make people who have realized they don't like the opposite gender or people who have feelings for their friend that they are not alone.

Realising you don't like the opposite gender at the same time everyone around you discovers they do is tough. Having a queer crush can be scary. But characters like Will Byers can help people going through this kind of thing feel a lot less isolated. It certainly had that affect on me. And whilst I still have these issues, I know that Will Byers is always there to remind me that I'll get through this. ❤️

Also, Byler rights!