¡O Drakon!

It Takes and It Takes, (or one of the many love letters they never sent)

“Love doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it takes, and it takes, and it takes…”

Steve,

Here’s guessin’ you didn’t get my last letter, you asshole. It’s probably rottin’ away in Brooklyn, waiting for your grubby hands to tear it open. Guess you won’t read it ‘til you get home, which is alright with me, as long as you make it back there at the end of all this. 

What are you doing out here Steve? What the fuck are you doing out here? God, it’s just like you, always sticking your nose into some kinda mess you shouldn’t be knowin’ about in the first place. You’ve really got no business being out here. This war was supposed to be my burden to bear. You saved my ass though. Again. Guess I can’t be mad about that. Can’t be mad about the fact that you’re all big and healthy and pretty now, either. Not that you weren’t pretty before, you know I think you were. 

I’m not sure I know how to word this next part, but I’ll try for you, Steve.

You remember those kids in grade school? They used to call you somethin’ that would really boil your blood, probably would even to this day. Saint Steve. You know, I think that scruffy kid named Johnny Somethin-Or-Other gave you your first black eye when you shoved at him for callin’ you that. Saint Steve, Saint Steve… Jesus, I can hear it ringing in my ears to this day.

I’ll tell you what, it’s true. About you bein’ a Saint and all. But those kids didn’t know the half of it. Sure, they got the part where you were blue eyed and blonde and innocent lookin’ right. They knew you were selfless– always standing up for the girls in the schoolyard, and for whatever else you thought you should. But they didn’t know the rest.

See, none of them had ever been saved by you. That’s what saints do, right? Do good in their lives, helpin’ people, savin’ people’s souls? Well I ain’t got a soul. Not anymore. Maybe I never did. But you know what, you saved me regardless. Every goddamned day of my life Steve, Jesus. It was never me savin’ you, even though everyone saw it that way. Even when you were skinny and we were dirt poor, when I left for this fuckin’ place, and you sent me drawings –and I swear Steve, the paper smelled like you– you were savin’ me then. And now when you’re all big and famous and probably rich, you threw yourself into this fucking war, and here I am, alive because of you. I would say alive and well. But I don’t know about that last part. I think I’m fucked up in the head after what they did to me. 

You know what’s scarier though, is the thought that maybe I was fucked up in the head way before Zola had me put on that damn table, but that’s another story entirely.

What I’m trying to say, Steve, is I know I should be mad at you for comin’ out here and for how they remade you into somethin’ shiny and new. I know I should be mad, but the truth is, I’m not. It’s so selfish it almost makes me sick, but I want you here. Not really, not at risk, and not to experience all the shit I’ve been going through, but God, Jesus, and Mary, I want you by my side. I don’t know if you felt it too, but my heart hadn’t stopped achin’ since the day I shipped out. It didn’t stop ‘til I got my hands back on you again. I got my light back, and for the first time in a long time, my head feels clear. Saint Steve, Saint Steve, savin’ my immortal soul once again.

I’m no good, Steve. I’ve been paving my way to hell since the day I came into this world. My soul is black, it’s cold as ice. I’ve just been keepin’ myself warm from the light that shines outta your ass, I guess. 

I don’t think I’ll ever understand what happened with the universe when it let a man like me love a man like you. 

All I know Steve– and I’ll be damned if it isn’t the one thing I can keep straight these days– is that if you’re a Saint, then by God, I’m your Sinner.

By God Steve, I’m Yours.

Let’s compile a list of questions I need the writers and Duffers to answer immediately if Byler isn’t established as canon by the end of the finale:

Why did they sabotage mileven in s3 and s4 to establish the byler side of the canonical love triangle?

Why was Mike unable to tell his canonical girlfriend he loved her, or even write it?

Why did Mike not kiss El back at the end of s3?

Why did he not say he loved her when she said it then?

Why were his eyes wide open?

Why was he in Will’s bedroom in front of Will’s open closet with the light on?

Better yet why did they queercode Mike at all?

Why is it that every time girls are mentioned, Mike makes disgusted expressions?

Why did Mike pull El’s hands off him when they were making out at the start of s3?

Why was Finn Wolfhard constantly staring at Noah, his coworker’s, lips every time they had scenes together from s2-s4?

Why did Mike look directly at Will’s ass in the bedroom scene in s4 and then bite his lip?

Why did Mike not say he loved El in their bedroom fight scene in s4 when she was sobbing and begging for him to say it?

Why did Mike’s monologue to El result in Max dying and the start of the end of the world?

Why did Mike lie in the monologue as the show very clearly proves?

Why was Mike’s monologue to Will in the shed in s2 in comparison successful in saving the day?

Why were Mike and Will written to have a tonally special relationship unlike the other boys?

Why was Will even made to be in love with Mike at all? He could have been gay without this addition as it serves nothing to the plot if unrequited and also fundamentally changes Mike and Will’s bond forever and in a negative way if not reciprocated, so why do it?

Why did you torture Will Byers, your only gay male character, for 5 seasons and then add unrequited love on top of it?

Why did you make Mike insecure by being with El but then make him feel loved and needed via Will’s words and feelings?

Why was Will forced into the mileven relationship?

Why was Will forced to play Bob the builder to repair a relationship he isn’t involved in?

Why do Mike and El never bond over anything or simply enjoy each others company/only makeout and argue in s3?

Why is Mike constantly paralleled to the controlling male figures in El’s life?

Why do all of the characters actively hate Mike and El’s romantic relationship except for Will?

Why was Will used as a plot device to save mileven? Is a gay character this meaningless to you? Do you believe they are only good for propping up straight couples?

Why did the show focus so much on Will’s misery and write mileven to be disliked for it?

Why have Mike and El barely spoken since the monologue?

Why were you ambiguous about mileven all of s5?

Why was Mike in Will’s film reel?

Why was Mike crucial to Will activating his powers?

Why couldn’t Mike hug Will at the airport?

Why did Mike say “we’re friends” twice to Will in s4 when Will didn’t imply they were ever more than friends?

Why did Mike say “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” to Will when the argument had nothing to do with Will’s sexuality?

Why did you make Mike seem like a homophobe toward his best friend since kindergarten when in season 1, Mike defended Will against homophobes?

Why did you refuse to show us Mike’s pov for 3 whole seasons in a row?

Why did Mike’s personality suddenly change between s2 and s3 when dealing with Will?

Why did Mike say “we’re a team” to Will in s4 the same way Hopper said to Joyce that they made a good team?

Better yet, why were you constantly paralleling byler with canon couples in the show?

Why did you drag out an unrequited love story for 5 whole seasons?

Why didn’t you end Will’s supposed “crush” on Mike in the same season it was textualised, like you did for Dustin, Steve, etc?

Why did you bait your LGBTQ fans into believing byler could happen by refusing to answer a strict yes or no years before the end of the show when you absolutely could have?

Why did you make Mike a terrible boyfriend to El if we’re meant to ship them?

Why did you give every other character a love interest and the ability to experience reciprocal love at one point or another EXCEPT for your only gay male character?

Why did you make Will believe he would never experience romantic love and then PROVE that belief true?!

Why did you not introduce another male character in s3 or s4 and then make him Will’s future boyfriend?

Why did you make Will suddenly hopeful in s5 that Mike might love him back when in s4 he had no hope with NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHY HE WOULD BELIEVE THAT?

Why did you make Robin say that “the snowball became an avalanche” and then do nothing with that?

Why did Robin tell Will specific “signals” to look for to tell of someone wants to date you that Mike then does on screen?

Why can Mike not juggle both a romantic relationship with El and a friendship with Will?

Why are you homophobic assholes?

Even if it makes WAY MORE SENSE for her narratively. She’s the one who said Mike was her “FIRST boyfriend “.

She’s the one who was making out with Mike the whole summer but in that same season asked Max “how do I know what I like?”

Something she should have learned before dating anyone . And max says in response to not let the men in her life (like Mike) dictate what she likes or chooses . Because “there’s more to life than stupid boys”. Maybe El , a week after getting out of the lab , and learning what a friend was, shouldn't have been kissed and asked out on a date? Right before the 1st kiss she even asked Mike if ‘he’d be her brother’ and asked if they'd go 'as friends' to the snowball. And Mike couldn't even explain how friends/siblings/romantic partners are different before he kissed her.

After Mike kissed her and asked her out, they were then seperated. After this she watched soap operas all day, where the main character rushes into a relationship with a character named Mike Roy: Maybe El (romanticized) what her relationship with Mike wheeler could be like in the future because of this.

ps they weren't endgame in the soap. El was maybe never in love with Mike but the idea of him. (Because she had platonic/familial love for him) and subconsciously wanted to be a normal girl. In s4, she felt like the relationship not working and Mike not saying he loved her , was her fault. Because (in s4) she felt like she “didn’t belong anywhere” and had no friends (in Cali) and struggled to assimilate to a normal life .

She lied to Mike in s4 to keep up the facade of being “normal” cause that’s what she wanted (to be normal and accepted). She wanted to fit-in and belong (and have a boyfriend) like a 'normal girl' .Mike may have represented conformity to El-just like El represented it for Mike. Down to the gendered (color coded outfits).

It shows that people do recognise that Will’s arc is centred around romance in a way that El’s never was.

Will not finding romantic love = bad = because he’s wanted that for so long.

El not finding romantic love = fine = because she had Mike and she’s never shown interest like Will has.

In itself, that depicts how difficult their arcs are and how important romantic love is to each of their characters. They just struggle to make the connection that the romantic love in question is all in relation to Mike. Therefore, let’s rephrase that.

Will not ending up with Mike = bad = because he’s wanted that for so long.

El not ending up with Mike = fine = because she’s never shown interest in him like Will has even when she had him.

BYLER IS CANON