Byler Headcanons | SEASON 4

Mike's Realization

Mike started realizing something over the time period at Hawkins without Will. Like he quotes in the show about all his friends being great but Hawkins not being the same without him, he realized how much he deeply missed Will. Yes, he missed El, but something felt different about missing Will. When Will disappeared in 1983, Mike and his friends went to look for him in the woods and instead found El. Being a child and actually being able to talk to a girl his age, he tells himself he likes her and just went along with it. He kept this up for years and just kept telling himself his feelings towards Will were simply platonic. He kept faking to himself that he likes El, that he loves El. All of the feelings he felt for Will he would project onto El. He didn't fully understand until Will moved to California. He was older now and was starting to realize something was going on. It scared him. It really really scared him being a homosexual in the 80's where homophobia was popular, not to mention the AIDS epidemic. He tried hiding these feelings, not only from others but also himself. He would receive constant letters from El always signed "Love, El", not even realizing, he would sign his "From, Mike". He wanted to block out Will as much as possible, afraid of himself. He never called him or wrote letters. At the airport, he wanted to hug Will, but instead pushed him back. He would constantly ignore Will and keep pushing him back. Constantly telling himself him and Will were just friends. The night after the roller-skate incident, he cried himself to sleep thinking about how he talk to Will that night and how much he just wanted to hold him. Putting his fears aside, the next day he apologizes to Will for the way he treated him and told him they should stick together as bestfriends.