the duffers were so desperate for their self insert to have a superhero girlfriend that they don’t even care that this relationship is what ruined mike’s character. like actually. mike wheeler was ruined because they decided to do this. the moment they officially started dating, his entire character changed and he treated everyone like garbage, especially will, and most viewers started hating mike. in s4 he was also reduced to her boyfriend and his plot was basically just all about needing to say he loves her. he barely got to be his own individual person or have his own storyline. and then in the end? they make el disappear and leave mike miserable and depressed to the point where he can barely function. how healthy. like we’ve always said, forcing them into a relationship so fast and making two traumatise 12 year olds kiss after 6 days of knowing each other resulted in extreme emotional attachment and too much dependency. and mike saying “i don’t know how to live without you” as a 15 year old who was panicking and trying to save her wasn’t romantic either. it’s depressing. everything about it is concerning and depressing. we always said this relationship isn’t healthy. they don’t even understand each other and barely know how to comfort each other. mike never got emotional support at all. in s4 that was WILL who made him feel loved and have him strength, but will lied and pretended it was all from el. it all feels like one big joke and a huge slap in the face because they purposefully made it so that we can truly see who understands each other best (mike and will) and they even made it semi-canon, but because it’s a queer ship, it got absolutely nothing. we got absolutely nothing. just baited for so many years. but that doesn’t matter to them. they only care about their straight self insert ship