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It doesn’t matter how much you think you hate Mike because Max hates him more

byler are the most stereotypical gossipy gays btw idec. they ARE that married couple in their 40s that pretends to cut grass when the neighbors fight outside. 1990s nyc byler live on the 5th floor across from a straight couple that always fights and will makes himself tea and walks past the window to peek at them while stirring it, and gives mike all the gossip. mike works at a publishing firm but his coworkers are all in some fucked up love square and every day when he comes home, will says "hi mike :)" and mike drops his bag and goes "okay SO." they are the couple that gossips about straight people's dysfunctional relationships and heavily judges them but then goes "oh but i love them ofc" "yeah ofc....." AHSHKDHKSD

oh my god he is

ao3 is down somebody hold mike wheeler's hand and tell him everything will be okay

"max would have said i love you back" "will would have said I love you back" "dustin would have said I love you back" I'm holding you all by the shoulders when I say this but, literally everyone else, fucking everybody, would have said I love you back. mike not saying I love you back is as good as him coming out as gay because he's the only one who would 1) see the words as inherently romantic, and therefore 2) experienced them as a lie. kissing her was already a lie by omission, he didn't want to outright lie to her in her final moments too