byler #01 defender

we need to have a conversation.

ROBIN. IS. NOT. A. RELIABLE. BYLER. SOURCE.

I love her. I would die for her. She is my favorite lesbian barometer.

But she is NOT the gay oracle of truth when it comes to Mike Wheeler.

yes yes yes the Tammy Thompson conversation was about sexuality not about “Mike = Tammy Thompson.”

I’m aware. I have two brain cells.

BUT EVEN IF it was supposed to imply that… babes… ROBIN DOES NOT KNOW MIKE.

like she has known Will for 0.7 seconds and is only NOW beginning to understand him as a person.

and Mike?? mike wheeler?? she knows NOTHING about the history. NOTHING about the friendship. NOTHING about the pining and yearning and eyeballing and emotional spiraling. NOTHING about Mike’s entire “I’m totally straight except for one (1) specific boy” era.

and honestly the funniest part of that whole scene is that Will was the one initiating EVERYTHING.

which is adorable. and also brand-new.

like Byler has NEVER had that dynamic before.

Byler is historically:

Mike reaches out → Will cries about it → the audience dies → the cycle repeats.

but in THAT moment??

Will is being bold™. Will is being confident™. Will is being “I watched Robin pine after Vicky and now I’m feeling brave” coded.

and Mike is just standing there like a confused golden retriever who suddenly realized he has feelings again.

so when Robin clocks the moment and goes “oh, this is giving Tammy Thompson energy,” she’s not WRONG…

but she’s only seeing half the picture.

the actual Byler evidence — the REAL good stuff — is all Mike-coded:

the soft looks, the lingering touches, the “You are a real life Sorcerer” line delivery, the emotional monologue in his eyes every time Will breathes too close to him.

Robin didn’t see ANY of that.

what she saw was Will doing a little gay reach-out and Mike doing NOTHING because Mike was too busy dissociating into gay panic.

so yeah, OF COURSE she misinterpreted it.

she doesn’t know Mike’s side yet.

she hasn’t seen the “Mike stares at Will like he’s the last slice of cake” stuff.

she hasn’t met the version of Mike who basically said “I am obsessed with you” with his eyeballs for four seasons straight.

BUT SHE WILL.

and here’s the kicker:

now that Robin knows Will likes Mike?

she’s gonna be WATCHING.

like binoculars. like National Geographic. like Planet Earth: Gay Edition.

so the MINUTE Mike starts doing the romantic stuff he ALWAYS does — the stuff the audience has been screaming about for seven years — Robin is gonna be like,

“oh… oh no… this boy isn’t Tammy Thompson. THIS BOY IS VICKY.”

and that parallel??

that Vicky–Mike parallel??

they’ve been hiding Vicky AND hiding Mike’s feelings ON PURPOSE.

gatekeeping the lesbians. gatekeeping the gays.

Netflix said “no crumbs for you until the finale.”

and isn’t it weird — WEIRD — that Vicky hasn’t been involved in the supernatural plot AT ALL?

like girl hasn’t even sniffed a Demogorgon.

that’s DELIBERATE.

mark my words: something with Mike + Vicky will happen (NOT romantically chill) that makes Robin go

“oh HOLY SHIT these two match.”

and THEN she’s gonna retroactively realize she was wrong about Mike → aka Mike is Will-coded, not Tammy-coded.

call me crazy. call me delusional. call me Vecna’s favorite vessel.

but SOMETHING is cooking and it isn’t Eggos.

Mike = Vicky.

Will = Robin.

Byler = Endgame.

the math is mathing. the parallels are paralleling. the gay is gaying.

whoever annoys me will die

I am perfect