#called it

You don't say??????

Summary:

Mel auctions off her virginity. Frank’s the high bidder. Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics.

we actually did it.

This is a pretty big moment, so please bear with me.

I know that a lot of you are probably expecting me to start out with some "never in my wildest dreams had i dreamt of this..." type of cliche overused introduction, but i cant and i wont because that would be a lie actually. in ALL of my wildest dreams, in every single one of my deepest desires and concealed emotions and longing and hope and patience, I absolutely DID dream of almost this EXACT SCENARIO coming true one day.

This isn't about a ship being endgame. This is about three very excruciating years that I had to come to terms with my own personal identity beginning with a Tammy Thompson of my own. I know, I know. None of you want to hear that name right now, because what does it matter? Byler is endgame! Why am I not talking about byler being endgame??

Please bear with me.

Three years ago, I met a Tammy of my own. And just like Robin, I had to suffer through months, (a year and almost a half actually,) of learning to live with a love that would never be returned. Because my Tammy was a straight, mildly homophobic christian who tried to convert me the second I came out as bisexual! Hell, I barely knew I was bisexual myself, and the reason that I had just found out that I did in fact like girls was trying to get me to come to church with her to learn the truth. She was straight as a non bendy ruler and I was hopelessly in love. That summer was the best of my life, but it was also the summer that I discovered Stranger Things. I was bored one day, scrolling Netflix, and I saw this show. The title stood out to me. I had seen it way too many times before. I remember a friend mentioning how good it was... maybe I should watch it? I mean, it IS insanely popular after all... screw it. I gave it a shot. And thank GOD I did, because I absolutely binged the SHIT out of this thing. Every episode left me wanting another, even though I was too late to the fandom and knew every spoiler. I couldn't put it down. Day after day after day, I became more and more and more invested. I never wanted it to end, and the second I finished season 4, I just rewatched it all over again!

Why, you may ask, did this show speak the loudest to me in one of the hardest times in my life?

Because of Will Byers.

Throughout watching this show, I wasn't seeing through the eyes of this little boy who had been possessed by the mind flayer. I was seeing it through the eyes of myself. Every single time he appeared on my screen, its like I was looking through a mirror. "crazy together" felt like the moments I had first met my Tammy. My reason for loving her. A promise that it was us against the world. "its not my fault you dont like girls!" was the internalized homophobia I had at the time just screaming at me through a screen. The rink-o-mania date was like I was back in that classroom, listening to my Tammy talk about her crush on that stupid blonde boy for the forth time that day. The fight felt like my worst fear playing out on screen. The van scene, however, was the MOST meaningful, eye-opening, heartbreaking moment of this entire journey though. Because as Will was indirectly confessing his love to this boy, suddenly, it wasnt about Will anymore. I was sitting in his place in that van. My Tammy was next to me, feeling like she wasn't good enough for the person she liked. And I was there, saying all the things I've always wanted to, all while she listens, not realizing that what I was saying wasn't really about that boy she liked- it was about me. The scene ends, and suddenly, I'm back in my room, tears streaming down my face, realizing that my story isnt something that I dreamed up in my head. It was real. It was real, and I KNEW it was real because this multi-million dollar netflix show about a gay boy in the 80s just showed me that my story was real.

and so for the next 2 and a half years, I waited.

I waited, and I waited, and I waited. I eventually accepted myself and moved forward from my Tammy on my own terms. Me and her are best friends now, and I couldn't be more lucky to have her as one. But the thing is, I still carry that shame and that guilt around from having that crush on her every single day, even though its been years since it happened.

I met my Mike in the meantime.

Well, I guess you couldn't really call her my "Mike", because we never really dated and it doesnt look like we will. But the reason I compare Will's CANON BOYFRIEND (holy shit) to this person is because what I felt for her was a little different then what i felt for my Tammy.

Loving this person made me tap into my own "powers" of sorts, because having had gone through that experience, being so close to them, getting to that point where we almost could have had something but didnt... that experience was so profound and so life changing that it permanently changed who I am as a person. Loving them made me feel more myself then I had ever felt in years, and the aftermath was even better. I have become a version of myself so much stronger, so more confident, so much more mature and happy and full of will to just live life to the absolute fullest... you could almost compare it to getting the powers that Will got in episode four.

Watching that scene in 4k on a thursday morning... it was the most meaningful representation I had ever felt since the van scene in 2023.

Volume two, however, was the volume that made me feel empty. Every single horrific, emotional moment allowed me to let go of the repressed emotion that I was holding in, but left me feeling horrible. The coming out scene left me feeling hollow for days until this incredible community brought me back to life. And the DAY before the finale came out?? I was filled with this kind of horrible hope where I felt like for the last time in my life, things might just POSSIBLY be alright.

And then they were.

Things were alright after all.

I just had to hold on a little longer.

This show has taught me that I deserve to find the kind of happiness that only exists in fairytales. You know, the kind where outcasts and freaks are horribly tortured by an interdimensional monster who almost destroys their world. I cannot even believe I am about to say this, but there has never and never will be another piece of media that makes me feel more seen and loved then this one did. You have delivered the message that I am WORTHY of having a loving, healthy, real relationship, because love is ALWAYS stronger than hate. Its not about Mike "suddenly" being gay or liking Will at the last possible second. It's that his finale was coming into his true self when it mattered the very most. The snowball became an avalanche, just like Robin said. We WERE hap-satisfied. I learned to never trust writers because they WILL ragebait you. I hope the great ragebait of 2025 goes down in HISTORY after volume two, because whatever that finale was?? it healed me more than ANYTHING ELSE this year.

okay, okay. i'll say it. I know you all want me to. WE WON. yes, we ACTUALLY WON! we held out hope long enough, and won so hard that even.... uhhh i dont know i was gonna say something funny. point is, byler endgame except its actually endgame this time.

thats a pretty fucking big accomplishment.