carli

she/her · bi · 21 years old · from spain

i’ve been writing here for a while now, and i think it’s about time i introduce myself a little.

i started watching Stranger Things in 2022. i didn’t really know what to expect, but i’d heard there was something between two boys… and there was. Byler found me without me even looking for it, and since then it hasn’t let go.

for a long time, i was kind of a ghost fan, reading and enjoying on my own without telling anyone. honestly, that had its charm.

then the final season teaser dropped. that day i felt something i couldn’t keep inside. i needed to talk about it, write about it, get it out. so i created this blog.

at first, i didn’t really want to use anything too personal — not my main account, not even my full name. so i went with carli (with an i), just a twist on my name that felt a bit more casual. and for the username, i quickly picked bylerspain, like “Byler Spain.” nothing too original, really. but then i noticed some people read it as byler’s pain, and honestly… maybe that’s exactly the vibe. that unintentional double meaning is now part of the whole thing (and yes, it’s in the bio too).

i like to write slowly, taking care with details, exploring what’s left unsaid, what lingers between the lines. for me, Byler isn’t just a ship — it’s a queer story that deserves to be told, a beautiful and meaningful story for those of us who see it.

sometimes i try to find new perspectives, things that haven’t been explored much yet, even if it’s tricky because the fandom is so big and so much has already been said.

this space is for me a place to share those thoughts, to give voice to those silences, to connect with others who feel the same.

i love when someone replies, shares an idea, or makes me rethink what i thought i knew. that interaction is what makes this corner grow and have meaning.

if you also stay living in that almost, in that unresolved tension, in that contained emotion, we’ll probably get along well.

because i only see two options here, and neither of them makes them look good.

the first one: it’s not true. it was considered at some point, and for whatever reason (pressure, fear, a change of direction, whatever), they backed out. because otherwise, the way they’ve written mike and will’s relationship across seasons simply doesn’t make sense.

if you want to tell a story about unrequited love, that’s fine. it exists, we’ve seen it a thousand times in fiction, and it works. but then why make it SO ambiguous? why write mike in a way that constantly leaves room for doubt? why all the scenes, the looks, the parallels, the narrative choices that never fully close the door?

that’s not “clearly one-sided love.” that’s deliberate ambiguity.

so no, i’m sorry, but this whole “it was never planned” version… i don’t buy it.

and then there’s the second option: that it is true. that they never intended to make it canon.

but then you’re basically admitting it was queerbaiting.

because you chose to play with that ambiguity. you built mike in a way that makes it feel like maybe yes, but you never confirm anything. you keep the audience in that constant “what if…?” limbo.

and why? because it brings in an audience. it pulls in people who get invested in that possibility, who analyze, who wait, who stay. but at the same time, you never commit, so you don’t “alienate” the more traditional audience either.

it’s literally playing both sides.

and honestly… i don’t know which is worse.

being told something now that doesn’t match what we’ve seen on screen,

or accepting that it does match, and that it means they’ve been consciously exploiting that ambiguity all along.

and it’s a bit bittersweet, because all the content is still beautiful but you never stop thinking about the fact that it didn’t become canon

and yet… it doesn’t disappear

people keep creating, we keep consuming, we keep finding new things where in theory there shouldn’t be anything left

and i don’t know, i think that says a lot about what byler was (and still is)

i guess it’s one of those stories that never really ends 💙💛

like, the endless analysis, the tiny details, the “this HAS to mean something” moments, the late-night spirals trying to connect mike and will’s story into something bigger. i miss the feeling of knowing there was more under the surface, even if we weren’t sure what exactly.

it wasn’t just a ship, it was a whole experience. a shared delusion? maybe. but also something that felt real in a way i can’t fully explain.

and yeah… i miss that.

What I truly missed was something more. I missed a conversation that went beyond that. Even if the idea of Mike not reciprocating was kept, I think they deserved to talk about it. We deserved to see them talk about it. It didn’t need to be an uncomfortable or overly dramatic scene, but it did need to be a proper conversation, one where it was openly acknowledged that what Will feels isn’t just a simple crush. Because it isn’t. It’s being in love. And that matters.

I think they missed the opportunity to create a beautiful, mature, honest scene where both of them could speak clearly, even if it was just to set boundaries, even if it was to keep things in a platonic space. A scene that could have offered emotional closure, that respected what their relationship had meant over so many seasons. Instead, they chose to avoid words, avoid definitions, avoid emotional consequences.

I understand that maybe they did it this way to keep things lighter, easier to digest, less uncomfortable for the audience. But throughout the entire season, it feels like this storyline was written by taking the easiest route possible. Avoiding important conversations. Avoiding uncomfortable moments. Avoiding the emotional depth that had always defined Mike and Will.