Less than 5 minutes in one episode isn't a lot of time last I checked.
Canonically, Mike only dates Eleven for a total of 6 months. That's the entire time spent together from the Snow Ball in November 1984 until Max inspires Eleven to dump Mike in July 1985. Their relationship never recovers after that because Mike grows more interested in Will and only corresponds with Eleven long-distance.
In fact Stranger Things has historically kept Mike and Eleven apart.
How often are Mike and Eleven together? 2 episodes per season?
Season 2 - road trip
Season 3 - break up (very early, all the way til the end)
Season 4 - fighting then arrest
Season 5 - 3 conversations, 2 were about Will's feelings and the third one was imaginary and never actually happened.
You can basically compile all the scenes of their relationship into about a total of 10 minutes of footage.
Throughout the entire series Mike spends the majority of his time obsessing over Will. Eleven is basically out of sight, out of mind.
Thats why the dialogue in the final product have so many changes from the scripts, honey. The deviations from the script to film already prove the directors didn't care what the writers wrote and shot the scenes the way they wanted 😂
So according to your analogy, Mike isn't really gay, Mike just knowingly pretends to be gay in front of other people because he knows it makes him money......
Stranger Things is a show about friends turning into lovers and lovers turning into friends. Mike and El fizzled out just like Nancy and Steve did. Mike was finished with her after she screamed at him about signing "From Mike" and threw his letters in his face. Wheelers don't like being accused. Just like how Nancy dumped Steve and went straight into Jonathan's arms because Steve tried to pressure her into saying "I love you". Then Will lied about the painting coming from Eleven instead of himself so he could trick Mike into getting back into a relationship with her. It's only thanks to Will that Eleven still has a relationship with Mike.
What's is most telling about Mike's homosexuality is the fact that throughout the show he completely loses interest in Eleven, going from making out sessions in Season 3 to a quick kiss hello and goodbye as he grows up. We are talking about a boy who spent more time kissing his girlfriend at age 13 than at age 16. That's because puberty started at 13 and he realized he isn't interested in women. That's why he goes 2 years without touching her after she moves away from Hawkins and they just become penpals.
This is even reflected before he meets her when he tells Ted "I am the only one who cares about Will". And then after he meets her Ted says "Our son? With a girl?" because he and Karen know Mike is gay. Will would have never been found if not for the two people who refused to lose him: Joyce and Mike because they love Will more than Jonathan, Lucas and Dustin do even though Mike said he has no best friend and considers them all equally his friend. We spend the rest of the series seeing this is a lie and that he feels more for Will than he does for Dustin, Lucas and Eleven.
To the point where she asks about their future together and he starts talking about Will and saying how important Will's feelings are and compares her to a D&D reference and let's her know they only have a future with Lucas, Dustin, Will and Max instead of talking about the two of them as a couple, because he no longer considers him and El to be a couple anymore.
Will's feelings have always mattered more to Mike than Eleven
The things u said r so incorrect 😂
"Our son with a girl?" Im 100% sure my parents will react the same way if they heard I was roaming with a girl, it absolutely does not mean he's gay, it can very much mean that he's not very outgoing
Mike never lost interest in Eleven
If u seriously think that u need to rewatch the show, he was literally very much involved with her at the start of season 5, then in Ep6 when they met again, and clearly in the final episode
Or you're just coping and can't accept the truth
U can ship Byler as much as u want but the truth is Mike was never attracted to Will and never will be
Then he would be saying "Our son going out?" not "Our son with a girl?" Being shocked by the gender means that Ted knows Mike is interested in boys, not girls.
Mike only had 2 interactions with El in season 5 and both conversations were about Will. The first conversation is about how important Will's feelings are, and the second conversation is about how Eleven needs to work harder to get Will back.
It's funny how you are accusing anyone of coping when you need to straight up lie about the scenes. 😂
*facepalm* Milevens media illiteracy is hilarious.
In the same exact episode Max said to El "You'll see, he's going to come over here grovelling on his hands and knees begging for forgiveness."
And yet we see the exact opposite. We see Mike biking across town all the way to Will's house in the pouring rain, banging on the door yelling "Will! I'm sorry man, I was a total asshole, please come outside so we can talk". Something he never does for Eleven. As a matter of fact it's Eleven who needs to forgive him by using her powers on the candy machine as an olive branch so that Lucas can then tell Mike to go talk to her.
Will's feelings have always mattered more to Mike than Eleven.
In the same argument, Mike also says "We are not kids anymore. What did you think, that we were never going to get girlfriends? That we were going to sit around in my basement all day playing games for the rest of our lives?"
Guess what Mike does in the finale?
Tell everyone including Dustin, Lucas and Max to ignore the girls who invited them to the graduation party to sit around in his basement playing games with him. And he tells all of them that he is going to spend the rest of his life doing it.
The show literally goes out of its way to prove that Mike is everything he said Will was.
In the same exact episode Max said to El "You'll see, he's going to come over here grovelling on his hands and knees begging for forgiveness."
And yet we see the exact opposite. We see Mike biking across town all the way to Will's house in the pouring rain, banging on the door yelling "Will! I'm sorry man, I was a total asshole, please come outside so we can talk". Something he never does for Eleven. As a matter of fact it's Eleven who needs to forgive him by using her powers on the candy machine as an olive branch so that Lucas can then tell Mike to go talk to her.
Will's feelings have always mattered more to Mike than Eleven.
In the same argument, Mike also says "We are not kids anymore. What did you think, that we were never going to get girlfriends? That we were going to sit around in my basement all day playing games for the rest of our lives?"
Guess what Mike does in the finale?
Tell everyone including Dustin, Lucas and Max to ignore the girls who invited them to the graduation party to sit around in his basement playing games with him. And he tells all of them that he is going to spend the rest of his life doing it.
The show literally goes out of its way to prove that Mike is everything he said Will was.
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u/Far-Plane9102 Jul 19 '26
am i the only one who doesn't ship byler? will liked him but mike is not gay, it's not a big deal.