The over masculinization of Mike wheeler and the over feminization of Will Byers just stems from the fact that a lot of people can’t stand that both are relatively gender-non conforming/androgynous in their own ways and these same people can’t stand their ship not having defined gender roles even when it’s queer but y’all aren’t ready for that conversation.

in school, mike would be the type to go "you're so far away :(" and pull will's seat closer to him if not for the fact that will is already the type to scoot his desk as close to mike's as he possibly can before even sitting in it #real

last post was vaguely ab 'buff byers' and androgynous mike. like will has to be dainty bc the costume designers tried to mask his muscles but mike's hair arc is meaningless in terms of any gender fuckery. we can't have fun with actual textual shit bc mike isn't allowed to be any more queer than will sexual. i think soft spoken and jacked will is actually interesting sorry idc if it's not how u want to interpret the character bc the art team tried to hide it. will trying to hide getting toned is cool actually. becoming the man his father always wished he would. thinking if he ever saw lonnie again maybe he's be proud of him and the little boy who tried so hard to get his father to love him might finally be happy. and it's still noticeable like intention is different from how it is received. in the st5 pmi they have a while bit ab "lucas and will started hitting the gym and forgot to invite mike". i think an actor bulking up and another actor sort of growing into this "pretty guy" vibe can be interesting aspects of character that i don't think they were shying away from as much as we want to pretend for our own interpretations of the cardboard cut out mold for the yaoi. esp bc gender fucked mike will always be interesting to me and maybe it's bc i'm personally gender fucked and fw has always been gender envy subject number one but like 12 year old mike did know how to do make up. knew where it was, knew what looked good and what didnt. growing their hair out once they get the model/go ahead... cutting it all off when said model for nonconformity dies and is scapegoated/villainized by the entire town :// and mike is the one heralding "hop said to lay low". and u chop off ur girl hair. okay! nothing burger rant to say a gay man exploring and perhaps reclaiming traditional ideas of masculinity that it is implied he has childhood trauma related to isn't bad and the low effort to hide physical aspects of an actor growing up isn't actually smth to take completely at face value and ignore in-text implications for and everyone needs to get way more transgender with stranger things. SEND POST!