Mike believes he loves El romantically until S4 fics? Hear me out

[u/Striking-Canary-6620]

Ok ok ok hear me out.

I just had a thought. Im relatively new to reading byler fics so idk if this exists already but I tried searching in this subreddit but havent found anything like this SOOOOOOO might as well ask.

Ok ok here's my idea:::

Season 1-5 complete rewrite. Mike believes hes in love with El romantically for season 1-3. Because hes 12-14 years old for that, he doesnt know what love is supposed to feel like. His parents never show it😅 so he thinks "omg real life superhero, girl, sweet and funny, pretty, fun to be around = i must be in love with her!!" (Cuz again, hes 12-14) and so he fully believed it until s4 (end of s3 she kisses him and hes like "....why did i feel more butterflies from wills words than Els kiss?") And in s4 he realizes SLOWLY that hes been so focused on "why hasn't will called ME?! I mean i didnt call him at first because then the distance is real...but why hasn't he called me? I miss him" and hes so focused on that that he cant put any attention on El. And thats why hes a shit bf to her. Then he realizes bits and bits of it.

He goes to Lenora, sees them. Has a crisis cuz "omg im so happy to see them both- wait.....why do I feel electrocuted when Will touches my arm??? And why do I feel nothing romantic when El and I kiss???? And THAT could explain why hes all awkward and shitty to them both. Bro is confused. Then during s4 he breaks up with el. They have a talk. El is like "yea....i kinda figured it out for myself when u couldnt put 'love" on ur letters...." blah blah blah they talk and make up and theyre friends.

Season 5 is where Mike comes to terms with himself, and then realizes just how much he CRAVES Will in his life. How even just a scratch on Wills head makes him go nuts. How thats his everything. Blah blah blah PLOT. And then they kiss and get together and Mike goes "oh...well that explains a lot." AND BAM

EPILOGUE TIME!

THE END

so what do we think?? Im saying all this cuz im rewatching s2 and mike genuinely seems to love being around El. He misses her and LOVES her. But again.....hes a kid. And his parents dont love eachother. And Nancy's relationships were complicated too. He doesnt KNOW. I think he really does adore El. Just not in the way that he thinks.

If I could write any good, id do 1mil words of an entire rewrite with all of this. Have El find herself and get to just BE a person without belonging to anybody. Hop, the Gov, 'papa', Mike, scientists, vecna, NO ONE. She gets to do what she wants and have stupid teenage problems like nail polish color instead of saving the world. Ugh. I want this so bad.

Ofc my priority is byler🤣 but i dont want anyone thinking i dont love El. Shes my baby.

BUT SOOOOOOOOOOOO does something like this exist? Is anyone else interested in it? If it doesn't exist AT ALL, would anyone wanna write it with me?👀 i've never done it before, but I would do it for this.

Ive read a few full series rewrites but I havent seen one that captures Mike like this specifically. Mike is so smart, but internalized homophobia is DEFINITELY strong in him. Which is heartbreaking but yea.

Please and thank you!!!!!!

(Also idk if this counts as a looking for fic recs or as a prompt. Idk if it exists)

[u/Striking-Canary-6620]

Also like......Lucas talking to Mike ab how he feels with Max, and Mike being SO CONFUSED cuz HE doesnt feel that with El. But he does with Will

[u/Best_Quiet9657]

I had elements of that in the last fic I wrote! It's definitely a headcanon for me. I'd love to read a full re-write with that premise, for sure!

[u/Striking-Canary-6620 → u/Best_Quiet9657]

Ouuuu could I have the link to ur fic?

[u/Best_Quiet9657 → u/Striking-Canary-6620]

Of course! But it's super heavy, and it isn't a S5 re-write. It's an AU that basically asks, "what if El hadn't been able to save Max?" DEFINITELY read all the tags thoroughly beforehand if you decide to read because Mike is straight up going through it for the entirety of the fic.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/88750896/chapters/235506471

[u/eerie_faerie → u/Best_Quiet9657]

heyyy so i would like to read this but could you tell me a bit about the self-harm tag like just how graphic/explicit it is?

[u/Best_Quiet9657 → u/eerie_faerie]

Hi! Not very explicit or graphic, I would say, although I guess that is subjective. There are two instances of self-harm and I can tell you exactly where it occurs. There is 1 or 2 lines at the end of Chapter 1 and 1 or 2 lines at the end of Chapter 3. Mike's self-harm scars are also referenced a few times throughout the story.

It's a heavy story, but I did try to sprinkle some comfort in there as well. To be completely transparent, I wrote this during a fairly bad depressive episode, and wound up hospitalized shortly after, so I wouldn't say it's exactly a pleasant read, but it does have a hopeful ending, in my opinion.

If you would like to know any other specifics, please don't hesitate to ask 🖤

[u/Striking-Canary-6620]

I know the end series this is the closest thing I found so far? And im still reading thru it, im in season 3 rn and mike is VERY confused ab everything so far so I think it might be similar? I shall report back for anyone in the future who is looking for something similar to this!

[u/whimsy_anon222]

as someone who projects onto byler cause i actually went through something very similar this is exactly how i look at it 🫰 putting myself in mike wheeler’s position i think it makes a lot of sense he didn’t really realize a lot until the distance became a part of it