byler is actually reciprocated. its just that on the tower mike was thinking that will liked lucas and telling him that it was okay and he wouldn’t stop being friends with him and that it wasn’t ruining the party.
and all the while he was thinking back on his whole childhood and imagining what it could’ve been like if will liked him back, even if mike knew that would never happen. mike was imagining what could’ve happened if he learned earlier that he wasn’t inherently wrong.
















