mj

First time meeting Andrew: "Andrew Minyard didn't look like much in person, blonde and five feet even."

“I don’t want to be your Tammy. I want to be your Mike.”

Will tell us "You called maybe a couple of time" leading us to believe that Mike didn't reach out at all to Will. Especially considering that Mike doesn't deny it. But he does throw back that Will could have tried to keep the contact going too. Yet people keep in mind that Mike didn't call nor write.

A few episodes later, we're being corrected on that assumption by Dustin, who states that Mike is actually trying to call the Byers, but just can't go through.

This frame insists that it's something that occured multiple times, through the months.

People also rightfully points out Will's letter to Mike a lot ("I miss clouds, I miss you") from the box set.

In it, Will regrets not having a way to remember their (dnd) adventures together. And we aren't made aware of any answer from Mike. But we are given a letter from Dustin to Will.

"Mike suggested we should put together a few things so you have something to look back on".

Mike may or may not have answered that letter directly, but we know he thought about it enough to act up on Will's regret, and bring in everybody, including Joyce and Jonathan. Maybe he didn't find it in him to answer directly, maybe he wanted to keep the secret of it until they had everything – I don't know, but clearly he did care about "whatever (he) had to say".

During rink-o-mania, Mike insists that Will's behavior sabotaged the whole day, because he was moping and not saying anything.

In season 2, Lucas note that Will is "always silent", and Mike insists that it's different, that Will's silence isn't the same – and he's right. Same goes on for this day too, Mike takes notice, he cares about Will silence, that others would have just noted to be his usual behavior. El is very busy dealing with bullies, but she also doesn't seem to notice Will's behavior as unusual.

Mike very much care about anything that Will has to say, or to not-say. And Will not being ok, is affecting Mike's mood too. And yes Mike isn't a good boyfriend to El, but maybe, he's also too absorbed by Will's mood, and his attempt at understanding it, to realize El needs help.

And mind you, Will knows she does because he has witnessed the harassment she goes through. But Mike has only been told lies, that he can't pierce through, and has to go ln through context clues. Nobody told him otherwise.

During the fight, Will finally lays out what has been going on, why he's being so quiet, and despite Mike not saying anything, immediately after, Mike's behavior change. He stops being awkward and distant and goes right back to apologizing, and speaking to Will with the utmost care and sincerity. Assuring Will that ultimately, they are a duo, and that nothing has been alright since he left.

May be reading too much into it, but it does feel like, after trying to reach Will, to understand where they are in their friendship, if Will still cares for him, still trusts him, he doesn't know how to act with Will at the airport. And their fight finally broke the dam of all the things unsaid between them, all the things he couldn't read just from Will's eyes. From the moment Will shows he still cares, Mike immediately reciprocates.

And this can also be tied to the painting. El tells Mike (in what's clearly a past / old letter thar he's reading again – why this one in particular?) that Will is painting, spending a lot of time on it even, and she believes it's for somebody, maybe a girl.

Something that, obviously, Will hasn't told him about, a secret he isn't privy of. Perhaps and most likely, a first in their relation.

Mike immediately questions Will about the painting at the airport, despite it being so clearly a piece of paper (a painting), and that he knows about it. But Will is feeling rejected by the hug and brushes it off. What is Mike supposed to do? Demand answers ? Call him out about it and mention what El told him privately? For what, with what justification when as far as he knows, it's not his business?

"Cool" and he doesn't look chill about it, even from afar.

I'm wondering, if after countless, fruitless attempts at calling your bestfriend, who didn't seem to call himself, you also learned that he was keeping a secret from you, for the first time : how would you react?

Would you feel confident facing them again? Not even doubt your friendship even a single second ? Not be somehow awkward? Maybe even hesitant to hug them?

And that suddenly, for the first time in your entire life, you can't tell what's going on with them. Can't decipher their gazes and their silence, except that they're unhappy, mopey, and they aren't confiding in you. Would it not drive you crazy? Would you not try to hide how hurt you are, even a little bit? To keep pride maybe, or spare your feelings?

Plus, the entirety of Will and Mike relation, orbits around two things, friends don't lie, and 'I didn't say it – you didn't have to'. Don't lie to me, and I will read your silence. I will decode what you can't say.

Which is also the root of every single problem that arises between them in s4 and s5.

Because they're so far from each other, Mike can't decrypt Will, and he misses on major elements of that narrative. Despite how much he tries to put the pieces together, there's only so much he can infere from it all. The fight finally let him understand what's going on, and so Mike adjusts his behavior.

But then Will does the unthinkable : he lies to Mike. And Mike would never doubt Will, because it's the rule, that Will and Mike don't lie to each other.

And he can doubt Eleven's words, because El lied to Mike (straight to his face), and Mike lied to El (s3), but never Will, Will wouldn't lie to Mike. What Will says, has to be the truth.

So when Will says El commissioned the painting? She lied in her letters about her friends, maybe she wanted to hint at the painting secretly, and lied about it too. Will is telling the truth.

Will tells Mike that whoever he was in love with, is just his Tammy and he has moved on? Will never lies – not to Mike, Will is telling the truth.

And even if he isn't – he clearly doesn't wish for Mike to reach out. But he does wish for their friendship, he said so, about how much it meant to him, to not lose his friends, how much their bond, not as friends but as best friends, mean to him. So Mike will reiterate they are best friends, that they won't ever lose that, no matter what. Mike follows exactly what Will says, always.

i can only add ten photos here, and this is about halfway through the list of the (reported) trans+ lives lost in the past 365 days (full list here)

every single person here was someone’s child. someone’s neighbour. someone’s sibling. someone’s friend. someone’s student. someone’s patient. someone’s regular customer. someone’s colleague.

here’s a list of statistics on how disproportionate the mental harm we face is

here’s the anti-trans legislation tracker 2025

here’s the amount of anti-trans bills proposed in the US in 2025

here’s what we currently know about the new ECHR guidance regarding trans people

here’s an article about JKR’s “women fund” charity, and the actions they plan to take against us

we are less than 1% of the world’s population.

we need the other 99% to Stand Up.

find your elected representative (UK)

donate to trans actual

donate to stonewall

donate to gendered intelligence

donate to lgbtq+ abuse support

donate to lgbtq+ migrant, POC and ethnic minorities support

GoFundMe’s gender affirming care homepage

"Authors artificially inflate comment counts by thanking people, I can't find anything with a real comment count to read." No they fucking are not, they're grateful for engagement.

"I can't read anything under 100k." That's the majority of fics you're ignoring, most novels aren't even that long.

"I don't have time to look for the incredibly rare diamond in the rough, so I won't read anything below a certain amount of kudos, comments, and hits." Those fics are popular because people gave them a chance and then snobs like you found them.

"I won't read anthing with a single typos." You made typos in that sentence, get off your high horse.

"One singular author didn't thank me for commenting, I'm never commenting on any fic again so I don't get burned." You're punishing people because someone didn't give you engagement they don't owe you that they might not have seen.

"This fic is three months old, it's so old, it doesn't matter if I comment or kudos, it's old." Fics do not have expiration dates, comment and kudos.

"Very observant," Andrew retorts, voice deadpan yet still letting Kevin know he thinks he's an idiot.

"Well, answer it."

"I'm driving," Andrew says, shoving the phone into Kevin's chest

Kevin scoffs, looking at the screen. He blinks in surprise and says, "It's Neil."

Andrew's rental car suddenly screeches to a halt. The car behind him narrowly avoids rear ending them, the driver honking as they speed by. Andrew ignores them, letting the car roll onto the side of the road, and yanks the phone out of Kevin's hand.

He flicks it open and says, "Neil?" Neil must fail to respond because Andrew repeats his name. He says it one more time before Kevin's hears a faint, "Come get me from the stadium."

Andrew hangs up, tossing the phone into Kevin's lap, and swings the car back onto the road so fast Kevin is plastered to the seat. He swears when Andrew yanks the wheel, doing an illegal u-turn on the freeway, and starts heading back towards town.

"What?" Kevin demands. "Is he okay?"

"Shut up," Andrew responds and speeds up.

"Andrew?!"

Andrew doesn’t say anything else, taking the exit going way too fast, and Kevin worries he's going to run the stop sigh. He doesn't, barely, but he also doesn't stop all the way either.

"You're gonna kill us!" Andrew may be a reckless driver but he rarely put anyone else in danger. Kevin worries that the Moriyamas showed up for Neil, an exploding bag of bird blood not enough for them. Or maybe his father had finally made a special trip to South Carolina. Kevin's hands start to sweat from nerves.

When they get back to campus, way faster than legally possible, they find Neil sitting by the curb looking physically unharmed. He has his head between his knees and he looks on the verge of passing out.

Kevin has been there; he understands.

"Do you want me...?" Andrew gets out, cutting Kevin off, and stomps over to Neil. "Okay," Kevin murmurs under his breath, feeling his pounding heart start to slow in his chest.

He's not stupid, he knows something is going on between Neil and Andrew. He worries what it'll do to their futures, but then he reminds himself Neil doesn't really have a future. Not anymore; not once he takes everything he has to the police. They'd be better off not acting on their developing feelings.

He shakes off the thought, knowing both are too stubborn to listen to his advice. He supposes they'll do whatever they want and deal with the consequences as they come.

Cause Neil can't do touch today because every time something touches his skin it hurts

And Andrew knows.

He knows when it takes neil 10 minutes to get dressed

when there are 8 outfits thrown on the floor

when Neil's wearing his old raggedy clothes that he hasn't worn in years

Andrew doesn't say anything

He doesn't have to

He notices when Neil doesn't kiss him good morning.

He notices that he sits a seat away from him

He keeps his mouth shut

No one touches Neil that day, not because Neil says anything