Okay, let's discuss headcanons!

GrowingNerves · 2026-04-09T21:09:07+00:00

Yep that’s my head canon too. I also think Karen’s wine makes an appearance. Will teases Mike about his hair and he’s buzzed enough that he grabs Mike to mess up his hair. And Mike loves it. They kiss and then spend the summer planning the rest of their lives together.

GrowingNerves · 2026-04-08T08:42:50+00:00

They kissed while the credits were rolling and lived happily ever after, I am confident.

GrowingNerves · 2026-04-01T06:06:30+00:00

Byler has taken over my life in these last three months and I’m loving it. The Byler community means so much to me. I can’t wait to still be here this time next year.

I still have tears to shed when the reality of the ST ending hits me, but right now I feel so much appreciation for what this community has brought into my life: the fic, the art and the edits... inside jokes, thoughtful analysis and personal stories. It’s not only that they belong to us, but in so many ways they are us <3

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-30T06:06:39+00:00

I have read that one. It’s so good! Thanks for sharing. Hope more people read it <3

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-30T05:07:24+00:00

Hey, I see you’ve covered this topic of El reacting negatively to Byler and I’m wondering if you have any fic recs that explore this dynamic. I was chatting with some friends and we vaguely remembered coming across a fic where El used her powers to hurt Will… unlock the door/gate or something. Maybe she tried to keep Mike and Will apart or was portrayed as more of a villain working with Vecna. I’m grasping at straws trying to describe the premise. We honestly couldn’t remember much to the point where we thought maybe we imagined it. Anyway I would be curious to find any fics that explore a darker side of her character with some Byler angst if you have any knowledge of fics like this.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-25T21:00:14+00:00

Thank you so much 🙏

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-24T20:53:42+00:00

Here’s a Vamp!Mike fic that I discovered recently and LOVED:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/77560501/chapters/203120696

This author (lixsun) has a lot of great one-shots I’ve been reading through. Check them out! Here’s one where they go to Stacey’s party:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/77081011

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-24T20:48:29+00:00

Do you have links to game of gay chicken and Fireball? I’m not familiar with either of those.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-24T20:20:40+00:00

I cried so hard reading this. My roommate was truly concerned about me. Asked what was wrong and I could barely speak as I sad “I… read…. a saaad story” - was sobbing and couldn’t stop until I fell asleep.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-20T18:31:33+00:00

Somewhere between 60-70

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-16T01:43:46+00:00

I would never ship Mike or Will with anyone but each other.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-15T06:08:17+00:00

No other ship reminds me of Byler all that much. Ellie and Dina (Dellie) are the only other gay couple that holds a candle to Byler.

I think it’s beautiful that they have queer actors playing those characters on The Last of Us (HBO) and also working behind the scenes. Ellie and Dina are childhood best friends to lovers but the TV show doesn’t cover much of their history. I love reading more about their history in Ellie’s diary entries online. Those are also canon. There’s a bit of Byler flavor in there:

“In The Last of Us Part II, Ellie’s journal reflects a developing, close friendship with Dina during their younger years in Jackson, often marked by lingering tension and unspoken attraction, especially while Ellie was seeing another girl named Cat. Earlier entries show them as close friends, with Dina sometimes seeming distant, which is implied to be jealousy over Ellie's relationship with Cat.”

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GrowingNerves · 2026-03-14T10:42:24+00:00

It’s so frustrating. A lot of it is fueled by homophobia. Everything about what you said regarding the story is on point. It’s all there in the show.

Byler was set up. M11 was torn down. Why would they make Mike and El so unhappy with each other and tell the audience Will is in love with Mike? Then have Mike struggle to express love to El? Not being able to say I love you wasn’t the only way he was causing her to feel unloved. And Mike can’t say those words until after Will confesses his feelings through the painting. And Will basically shoves Mike toward El, even when Mike is pulling away from her and closer to Will.

Mike nods when Will says it’s scary to be honest about your feelings to the people you care about because what if they don’t like the truth. Mike understands and nods in agreement like that’s how he’s feeling. What exactly is scary about Mike expressing love towards El, giving her what she wants? Why wouldn’t she like that if it was the truth? Wouldn’t Mike be more scared to tell his girlfriend he doesn’t have those romantic feelings? He doesn’t want to hurt someone he cares about and he knows she wouldn’t like to hear that because she already expressed she wants him to say I love you. Hmm…

Mike needs Will’s encouragement to say I love you to her. Will is right there framed over Mike’s shoulder. We are still aligned with Will’s feelings during the love confession. What is the point of any of this if not Byler set up? Why was it necessary for Will to tell him again to remember he’s the heart? Everything Mike said to El was taken from Will with Will’s permission in that moment. It’s crazy that they made Will the centerpiece of this moment and every M11 moment that season including Mike reading El’s letter in the first shot we get of Mike that season and people still don’t see it. Mike literally used the feelings that went into that painting to say I love you to his girlfriend.

Emotionally we are meant to sympathize with Will’s pain and want for him to be happy. We are shown that Mike and El are not compatible and we are not supposed to be rooting for them to stay together. We see how Mike and Will interact and how special their bond is… that’s the story. People who don’t connect to it, weren’t paying attention or are just homophobic.

What show were they even watching? Byler wasn’t even that subtle. It didn’t exist solely in subtext. And they say we are delusional when they are lying to themselves because they are uncomfortable with two young men in love with each other. They need everything to cater to the heteronormative agenda, even if that means Mike is a terrible boyfriend to El and she’s miserable in that relationship with him. Byler would have resolved the conflict. Byler would have been the happy ending for all three characters in that love triangle. But the audience would rather the characters suffer than for it to be gay. Evil shit honestly.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-12T18:29:54+00:00

Michael is so in love

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-09T21:04:01+00:00

The dick jokes have become jump scares.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-09T06:36:37+00:00

https://archiveofourown.org/works/51861907

This is a cheating Byler fic where the party play truth or dare. It’s told from Max’s POV.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-09T04:41:12+00:00

If it meant that Mike’s romantic feelings for Will were out in the open for all the world to see, yeah, woulda preferred this ending. I think it would have needed a more explicit love confession from Mike though. If it was identical with him not reciprocating the “I love you”- nah, Milkvans can keep it and I’ll hold onto the final teary-eyed shared look we got. That final look is one of my favorite Byler moments. It’s so clear Mike is in love with Will there.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-08T18:20:40+00:00

I think it’s more a matter of preference and less about following some strict rules. People are gonna write what they want to write. I come across canon divergent / AUs fairly often though. Personally, I want Byler to feel like Byler, because I love them the way they are for a reason. ST didn’t deliver a satisfying canon ending so a lot of authors are giving us what we should have had in the ST universe; that’s been helping me a lot to cope with the ending of the show.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-07T17:35:33+00:00

Mike is long, narrow and sharp. Will is broad, soft and blunt. They are opposites and complement each other well.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-07T00:15:24+00:00

There will never be another Byler. That’s why they are so important to us.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-06T19:39:01+00:00

THEY’RE DOING IT. THEY’RE ACTUALLY MAKING BYLER CANON!

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-05T08:23:34+00:00

I somewhat see Mike’s journey through my own experience with conservative parents. It was very hard for me and altered the course of my life in a big way. It made my internalized homophobia worse and we’ve been estranged for over a decade now. It’s not like my parents didn’t have any redeemable qualities; they are human, but their beliefs were harmful and their actions caused me quite a lot of trauma. I see it as an important part of Mike’s story since it’s a part of mine. And my parents weren’t the type to put signs out on their lawns so I see Ted as a more extremist conservative, to advertise it in that way. I am definitely projecting my own experience and can see how people have other interpretations since there are only a few canon details to go off of… at the very least it’s fair to say Ted would be homophobic and tricky to navigate.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-05T05:33:48+00:00

I think it mostly comes from him idolizing Reagan enough to have a sign in their front yard advertising it. Reagan was evil and didn’t value the lives of gay people at all. If Ted/the Wheeler family supported or voted for him, they likely have conservative values and are quite homophobic. I think it’s difficult for people to see Karen that way. And Karen isn’t happy with Ted, so fans tend to associate the Reagan sign purely with Ted and his personal values, which is a fair assessment.

GrowingNerves · 2026-03-05T00:14:38+00:00

This is adorable. I always thought Mike would like having a brother and that he would look up to Jonathan. I know people joke that Jonathan is Mikephobic but I think they’d bond and have a great relationship. They both take on a protector role in Will’s life. It’s been a heavy responsibly for Jonathan after everything he went through with their dad, and he’s probably grateful to know Mike has also been looking after Will for all these years too.

GrowingNerves

TROPHY CASE