Like, I've read Sixth Wheels and the Mike AITA fic. I'm looking for fics that are that level of funny. Where Max and Mike constantly try to outwit each other, where everyone ragebaits Mike, where Mike is a hilarious loser, where Will is a clever brat who tortures Mike, where even Will can't resist getting one over on Mike, where Will has cute but embarrassing moments, etc.Gimme it all.
But if I had to see this, so do you, lovelies. I'm sorry.
This is the cutest thing ever. I love Miwi so much. Baby Byler is adorable
But, if i had to see it, then so do you, lovelies. I'm sorry
So I just came from another post that ended up mentioning some phrases that bother people in Byler fanfic.
So, I want to learn more. What are some stereotypes/tropes/common themes/phrases you DON'T like to see in Byler fics?
Here are a few of mine:
-Mike being a confident sex god and being smug in the bedroom. No. Just no. Awkward Mike, always.
-The Party always taking Will's side any time there is conflict with Byler, and no one being there for Mike. Like, in fics Max and Lucas always let Will stay with them or something and always take Will's side without even hearing Mike's side of the story, and won't let Mike see Will. Sometimes Dustin and El will be in on it too. Like, they're both your friends?
-Will going away to college and immediately coming home two or three months later for Thanksgiving or Christmas with a SERIOUS boyfriend who is OBSESSED with him. And the Party except for Mike immediately falls in love with him too. Like, can he acclimate to his new city and find himself for a bit and make friends first?!
-Will falling for the first guy who shows any interest in him. Guy turns out to be a dud at best and the Party tells him he can do better but he refuses to break up with the guy because he insists that this is his one and only shot at love even though he moved to wherever to meet many people like him.
-Will dating someone who is abusive or doesn't treat him well so that Mike can rescue him and present as the obvious choice. Mike should have to do the work to actually be better and Will should choose him because of the man Mike has become, not because the other option sucks or because of how long he's known Mike.
-Overly freaky Byler where Mike is anazing and naturally dominant and Will is a closet freak and immediately comfortable with everything. Like, let those absolute nerds have awkward clumsy sex and then go into best friend mode and laugh about it.
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About Will's ending... This is exactly why. None of the three main characters got a truly happy ending. One just got worse than the other two. But just because El's ending was the worst, that doesn't make every other ending great just because it was better than hers.
Mike's ending is sad, El's is diabolical and Will's is just disappointing with a "here, damn"/TV show equivalent of a shutup ring on top of it.
Everything else is Mike's future projections is a reasonable assumption anyway because, like the post says, we've seen it in the show. Dustin needed and wanted a male figure to look up to, he had Steve and Eddie. Max needed to find her place in a new city; she found El and Lucas and the rest of the party. Lucas needed and wanted to fit in; he found his place with Max. This is all within the show.
Will's whole thing was wanting true romantic love, and it was never the shows intentions to give him that. He never found love throughout the show and the closest we get to that is some imagined date in Mike's head, in a city far away from the people that already love him. That's not love; that's not a happy ending for him based on his character's Point A. He's not doing art. He's not shown in a loving relationship in the show or at the end. He's just...given the crumbs of a friend imagining him on a date one day. It's not a happy ending, it just is less crappy than Mike's and not sad like El's. It's disappointing at best.
I think people are still somewhat uncomfortable with gay relationships on tv and that's why they think the epilogue imagined date should satisfy people/be enough. It didn't have to be Mike. It could have been any new character, as long as it was well developed within the show. I'll never buy that they decided to have a character suffer for 5 seasons and not give him a second of relief and happiness for any other reason than fear that some people would stop watching if they showed a gay main character in a real love story.
And it's just as bad for Mike and El. Mike wanted to be needed and he didn't get that Point A played out. He couldn't protect El from being so much a victim of abuse that she felt age had no choice but to kill herself (not his fault) and his best friend didn't need him to get through his journey of accepting being gay. He never truly got to feel needed. El wanted a normal life and never got it.
And now that I think of it, most of the endings weren't that great/happy. They just weren't tragic. Lucas doesn't get to overcome racism and stop needing to fit in, he just gets to be with Max and his story is centered on her. Max doesn't get to overcome depression on her own and through her own arc; she's forced to face it by Vecna.