#anonasaurus

[findafight]

RE the posts about Nancy and Jon just kinda leaving the kids to their own devices; I find it very telling that in season four that despite Steve complaining a number of times about being the babysitter, none of the kids raise any objections to him being the babysitter, despite what it implies about them. It’s Nancy who reminds him “they aren’t babies anymore”.

I used to find that kind of funny, the idea that they might kind of like being babied a bit by Steve (for whom indulging younger kids is still a novelty). And it’s fascinating to me how Mike in particular, despite regarding Steve with utter disdain, feels entitled to Steve’s time and attention. Even *months* after Nancy has broken up with him, and Mike could just follow her lead and not have anything more to do with him, *Mike’s* the one ringing the service bell until Robin shouts for Steve.

The kids are maybe a little bit clingier than we or the characters give them credit for, eh?

(This reading gets really interesting when you consider that out of all the teens/adults, Steve’s probably worked/fought alongside them the most and knows full well what they’re capable of.)

I think Steve being someone the younger teens look up to as both a friend and as a leader is probably key. The age difference between them is enough that it makes a difference in how they look up to him and small enough that they'll be functional equals given a few years, but that they'll still defer to him. They like Steve! I think they like knowing that there's someone older willing to call some of the shots and take the heat y'know? Even if they also want to contribute to the decisions it's nice for them to know he has their backs.

Tbh I think Mike and Steve butt heads for the bit. Like they biker and groan about each other but Steve still thinks of Mike as maybe kind of annoying (as are. All fourteen year olds 🫡) one of his (mildly ungrateful) little friends. Of course it would be Mike ringing the bell repeatedly, he and Mike show friendly affection by being obnoxious motherfuckers to each other.

Sooo correct that what makes it different than Nancy and Jon, was that even though they've all gone through Upside Down stuff, Nancy and Jon went through it together, while Steve went through it, starting in S2, with the young teens. They see him and even though they stop Billy from killing him he saves them (specifically Mike!!) In the tunnels. It sort of establishes Steve as someone they KNOW is going to take charge to help them. They can and have! Mike knows he can rely on Nancy, probably, but he doesn't have the same...proof? I guess? That he does of Steve.

I think it's natural for them, even as they get older, to defer to Steve. He's sort of invincible to them, and they trust him. Does this make sense? They can call their own shots but I think maybe they'll also go "right, Steve?" Even if just in their brains.

[pinkadillydoo]

after 15 years imagine someone recommending supernatural NOW

incredible, never thought i’d see the day

[if-only-there-was-somebody-who]

SHDKSHHSH I'M SO SORRY THAT LAST ASK WAS SUPPOSED TO SAY GREAT DAY NOT GREASY!

ITS OKAY YOURE SO SWEET THANK YOU SORRY I DIDNT ANSWER SOONER HAVE A LOVELY DAY ashdkflfkdj i am overflowing with LOVE and AFFECTION

[moonchild-rise]

ANNIE. GTOP.

MY BELOVED JIYONG!!!!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

[thneedville-high-blog]

when is the highschool reunion?

[clever-sharpshooter-blog]

♠♣♥☾

//Relationship with Muse: Teep is generally a good muse! I feel like I can write him at any given time, at least so far. Only had one spurt of lack of cooperation. Haven’t been in the game too long. C:

Headcanons: Uhhmmm a personal one I have is that Teep isn't actually mute. There's a number of reasons he doesn't talk. One being that most human languages aren't really compatible with his mouth and vocal chords - another that his kind believe that words are almost sacred. You never speak lies, and you never use words for anything than can be expressed in other ways. To put it very simply. It's kind of an odd headcanon?? But it's one of my favorites.

One Thing I Love: HE'S A SHARPSHOOTING DINOSAUR, WHAT ISN'T TO LOVE? In all seriousness, though, I think I probably just love the way he's given so much personality despite not having words? Particularly considering the media used to tell the story. Very swish.

Favorite Moment from Muse's Canon: The Mushroom Enclave arc. It REALLY shows off how smart and loyal Teep is. He realizes Zoeya needs to go back as much as she does, and so he works his way into the Mushroom ranks so that he could plant explosives and take care of the problem once and for all, like. Clever dinosaur. Clever, clever dinosaur.

[findafight]

how do you think a Stobin body swap would go down? (any season/scenario/au you fancy)

definitely depends on era!

pre s1? Screaming. chaos. yelling and panic. Robin is having a crisis about somehow being in the body of her nemesis. Steve has no idea who he is and that is freaking him out.

post s1? same for robin, but Steve is like ahhhhh what the fuck? ok this sucks but at least I'm not dying? not the weirdest or scariest shit to happen to him. it's not a monster trying to kill him? so it's mostly fine. He should probably tell nancy though. Also robin is mad because she would absolutely blame steve lol.

post s2? (I'm not even going to delve into during a season really because. that complicates things so much.) depending on when, if steve's still beat up robin may take pity on his pathetic sadboy self. She'd also be pissed because now she has to deal with a concussion. Steve is like woah. heart: still broken. Life: getting weirder. Head: no longer concussed! should probably figure out how to not be in someone else's body though!

pre s3? hilarious. they're coworkers. robin blames steve for this. they are scooping ice cream. dustin's there and robin is like listen i am NOT your babysitter I am just in his body. look over there. do you think that's me? Robin? spinning the scooper? no. go to him with whatever you have.

post s3 they wake up and are like huh. hm. this is a pickle! and steve is like what a fucking second i am NOT going to highschool again!! that's the biggest issue they have. Robin says she's gonna make him look bad in front of babes. steve threatens to flunk robin. They barely question it though. very much a "ah. well. this makes sense. may as well happen" they want their bodies back but aren't particularly fussed about it.

at no point is gender an issue they stole that from each other a long time ago without realizing it.

[findafight]

Obsessed with the idea of Mike only-boy-yet-still-the-middle-child Wheeler viewing Steve as sort of a hand-me-down from Nancy, and getting kind of territorial and possessive when he thinks that they might be getting back together. Steve’s *his* friend now, Nancy! Just because he’s not Steve’s favourite and they aren’t that close, doesn’t mean you get to take him back!

He doesn’t even have a crush on Steve (because it’s funnier to me that way), he’s just *pissed* at the idea of having to share Steve with Nancy . Sure, he’s already sharing with Holly, but that at least gets him out of babysitting her. They already have fucking *Robin* to contend with…

:0 Steve being Mike's hand-me-down friend from Nancy omg. Once Dustin brings him in Mike is actually on board for it they're snippy bitches to each other. He no longer glares at Steve he's glaring at Nancy he's pushing Steve out the door like "let's gooooo stop looking at her it's pathetic and bums everybody out! Nancy you're not allowed to try to get him back he's OUR friend now! No takebacks!!! Holly gets him because I GUESS she got her sharp little baby fingernails into him first."

Then post S3 Robin's ALWAYS around Steve, and Mike is going okay I can live with this Dustin thinks Robin's cool, we can all be cool. Robin can have Steve while we have Eddie it's cool it's chill. ITS FINE THAT DUSTIN ONCE AGAIN GOT TO BE ON STEVE'S TEAM THE WHOLE TIME THE UPSIDE DOWN WAS BACK AND MIKE BARLEY GOT TO SEE HIM ITS F I N E

S4 and Mike gets back going NANCY WHAT DID YOU DO I TOLD YOU NO TAKEBACKS!! I CANT BELIEVE I WASNT ON STEVE'S TEAM AGAIN

God yeah he WOULD have middle child possession issues. I love him.

[findafight]

Anyway - Stobin makes perfect sense to Tommy and Carole. Their only surprise/double take is that Steve’s managed to find someone else other the same weird sense of boundaries as Steve i.e. it’s months into their friendship before either of them thinks to ask for each others’ number, but they think nothing of attempting to sneak into each other’s houses at three in the morning.

It’s a bittersweet feeling; on the one hand, there’s NO way they’re getting him back now. On the other hand, they’re not responsible for trying to “look after” him (keeping him from presenting as “too” neurodivergent/queer) anymore. Looking back, he was kind of high maintenance…

Tommy and Carol crying screaming throwing up seeing stobin galavanting around town because that's THEIR job!! That's THEIR weird boy best friend what is Robin Buckley doing hanging off him and laughing with him and getting rides from him and wearing his sweaters?!? It took them years to build up to that (because they were kids lol) and Buckley comes in and within a MONTH of working together they're inseparable?? Where's the justice in that??

She's not even being his friend right! Instead of making sure he acts "normal" and doesn't draw attention to himself they are both acting openly strange in public! Steve had gotten worse when he started babysitting the middleschoolers but now? It's like he doesn't care! He's making weird faces in public with her, and she's encouraging this!

God they're never going to win him back now. Even though it was tough trying to get him not to act too weird or help figuring out WHY people were acting a certain way (Steve was always good at reading what people were feeling, but not necessarily the why of it all. Like why be annoyed at questions? WhyWhy pick on someone you barely know when they're just standing not doing anything? Why walk on lunch tables making speeches? (That last one Tommy and Carol couldn't answer either) which maybe led to sort of ignoring people he didn't know or care about?) They miss it now they no longer get to...

[findafight]

that post you reblogged a while ago (about steve just getting super artsy, heavy on metaphors movies w zero effort but still not liking them) is canon to me now but i just died thinking about how that knowledge would destroy jonathan's entire sense of self. it would ruin him and that would be so funny for me personally.

lol Robin mentions Steve having banned Godard films from movie night and jon makes some comment like "what? too much for him?"

"nah. he just hates them. says everyone's an asshole and even if that's the point he'd like to have at least someone to like if he's watching two hours of existentialism, internal critique of the American film industry and audience complacency, and fourth wall breaking communist theory. So, no Godard but Varda is allowed if you really want a French New Wave film. She does women better anyways."

and jon just blue screens because what? how does Steve know that? And he has to grapple with the fact Steve has watched more than one Godard film to ban them, and understands enough of what it's saying to be annoyed by how it's presented. He needs to sit down.

Steve doesn't even remember the guys name he just calls him "that annoy pretentious french director" which. Thanks for narrowing it down Steve! (Robin knows who he means though)

[findafight]

Shared experiences of the Party RE their friendship with Steve;

1. Bullied him into ignoring the rules of his workplace for fun and profit

2. Been confused over whether they have a crush on Steve or whether the repeated trauma and near death experiences they have gone through with Steve have left intense feelings that *feels* like a crush

(does not include Dustin, who skipped this confusion and decided he had a brother now. Mike, a decade later will complain that he’d have figured out his bisexuality sooner if his first male crush had been literally anyone else (this is also how he comes out to Steve))

3. Having a blow out argument with the parents that results in storming out with a hastily packed rucksack, cycling to Steve’s and informing him that you live here now.

(Closest anyone actually gets to this is Erica, who actually stows some of her stuff at his place and will, in her teens when the nightmares are bad and she still has difficulty talking to her Dad about it because it’s not like what happened in to you in Nam, Daddy, it’s not PTSD, it’s NOT THE SAME - and sometimes it’s nice to go hang out around Steve’s so she can remember he’s still alive and mostly whole (“whole enough” he likes to joke) and he will call her parents to let them know she made it there safe and then not to talk to her for as long as she wants)

(…seriously, Charles was in Nam, why don’t we get more of him picking up the kids’ trauma responses/PTSD and talking to them about it? Or, perhaps more realistically, Sue realising that what she thought previously might have been the kids picking up some of Chuck’s “habits”, is actually the result of their own trauma?)

4. Thrown up in his car, after promising not to.

they are all so funny hehe

canon

when the party commiserates these confusing feelings years down the line dustin is going "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!! NO I NEVER THOUGHT I HAD A CRUSH ON STEVE THAT"S MY B R O T H E R YOU FREAKS!" absolutely scandalized.

Erica 🥺🥺🥺 uhg yeah her dad could pick up on some stuff between her and Lucas and Starcourt? iuadsiufhaishf. But the third time mike does this he storms down the stairs and Declairs he is Running Away. Karen calls from the kitchen asking what's happening. Ted answers that Mike is heading over to that Harrington kid's place again. Mike goes NO I'M NOT. Karen tells him to thank Steve for letting him stay. The parents trusting Steve to make sure the kids are safe even if they're upset and vibrating to get Out is so special...

"Steve I swear I'm fine, I won't throw up in your car!"--famous last words before Steve gains another piece of blackmail at the cost of his car smelling like bleach for a week and supervising a teenager trying to clean it.

[findafight]

I think the most insufferable part of the “Steve is the worst” refrain is that even when the change is acknowledged, they constantly make out like he’s on thin ice.

But the funniest part has to be that they write this whilst also having pretty much every new main cast member they add to show take a shine to him;

Billy just wants Steve to pay attention to him (and was bitterly disappointed that Steve was just some dude and not the raging asshole that everyone’s told him about)

Max hates teenage boys, but concludes she has found the one good one

Robin enjoys his company despite herself and becomes soul bonded to him

Eddie ends up being straight (I’m sorry) up *enchanted* by Steve, and we have a whole scene of him trying desperately to communicate this to him - of course Nancy wants you, dude! Who wouldn’t?

I know we’ve joked about Joe’s charisma, but canonically Steve’s must be *otherworldly*. Clearly the only reason Nancy didn’t let him fuck that old man was because the writers needed to make things difficult for them.

The show simultaneously trying to remind us Steve used to be a dick but is actually the most charming lad in all the land and is everybody's favourite most specialest boy. Like they try to make us remember Steve being mean but then it's also telling us he's a silly billy driving his bestie to school without questioning it and not knowing she doesn't even know how to drive. How are we supposed to think he's gonna backslide.

Lmaooo billy being disappointed Steve's not an asshole. It's no fun winning for him if it wasn't actually a competition :(

Max: no teenage boys allowed

Steve and Lucas: *exist*

Max: okay I will make an exception because they seem very nice

Dustin just consistently telling everyone he meets Steve is the coolest most badass person alive. Can you imagine the hero worship Suzie has heard?? (Suzie is also a Steve Stan and she hasn't even MET him)

Robin spends one month in close proximity to Steve and she's like well. Guess he's my best friend now!! And she was probably actively trying to not like him! And yet here we are! She liked him before they got tortured and she was probably so ticked off about how she, too, has fallen platonically for the Harrington charm. Not fair. Embarrassing.

Eddie spends less than a week around Steve and immediately joins his little cheer squad with Robin and Dustin. Like, if they wanted us to know that Steve was a dick to people for no reason in highschool Eddie would've been the person to use to demonstrate that, or the tension between who he was and who he is, but they don't! Eddie just admits he made assumptions about Steve without knowing much about him other than his rich parents and big house and popularity with girls, (saying more about himself than Steve) and then immediately jumps on the Steve bandwagon because now he can't understand why anyone who spent any amount of time with Steve wouldn't like him!

Even Nancy wasn't immune to Steve's charms in S4, and she had previously broken up with him messily! But all it took was a little bit of the town in danger and Steve trying to make sure everyone's on the same page while Looking Good for her to be Gazing Lustfully at him. That's why S2 and S3 had them separate for so long. Too long around him and she'd remember that she does find him cute and funny and brave and also hot.

Reasons Nancy stopped Steve from Fucking That Old Man: 1) writers needed them finding out info to be more of a struggle 2) they also probably didn't want a middle aged supposedly professional man sleeping with one of their teenage characters I guess 3) Nancy would have been wild with jealousy about the whole thing and stancy revival would have been much more obvious earlier, much more Nancy driven, and much funnier.

[findafight]

key reason why steve would be a better tutor than ppl like nancy or dustin tbh. esp nancy (given how prevalent nancy tutoring other characters is in fic),,,, whenever ppl talk about her tutoring steve or eddie or something i can't believe it bc ik she would get v frustrated w other ppl who are struggling w something she didn't personally struggle w. nancy would get v irritated if the tutee didn't understand something the same way she did and being able to explain something in multiple ways/look at something from multiple perspectives is literally number 1 most important skill for a tutor imo. god forbid if they were neurodivergent too r*nance shippers can lie to themselves all they like but it doesn't change how she acted w robin. genuinely think that those fics where nancy tutors eddie are subjecting eddie to his own personal brand of hell.

I JUST mentioned in the replies of that ask that Steve was a Lifeguard, and almost certainly was also teaching swimming. You have to be able to adapt how you teach something for that, not only because the age range is between babies and adults, but because people learn differently. You can't explain front glide to side glide the same way to a four year old as to a twelve year old as to a forty year old. it also requires spacial and physical awareness. Steve would probably understand that maybe he himself needs to repeat things back in his own words, and that others need to hear it again or write it down or something. I think he would only really succeed or even try in something he knew well and was confident in, hence swimming and the abundance of steve-helps-lucas-with-basketball headcanons. He's good at physicality, and that's a knowledge base the rest of the cast (except for lucas, now) seem to lag in.

Tbh i don't know if Nancy would be a terrible tutor, but yeah she would get annoyed and frustrated if whoever it was she was helping didn't learn in the same style she did. (and maybe take it personally? like maybe think it was on purpose or reflected badly on her, when they are just incompatible learning-wise) but she is very "My way or the highway" and stubborn, so I agree that she wouldn't want to or possibly not even think of adapting how she's coming at teaching it. Just personality wise Nancy is very smart but not exactly a teacher.

Ah. yeah. with robin i'm not sure how else to look at it other than Nancy being annoyed that robin was talking too much, worried about how Nancy saw her, and suggesting the conspiracy newspaper. People can have multiple interpretations I guess but as someone who is neurodivergent and doesn't pick up on a lot of that stuff in person except in hindsight or when pointed out to me, but can clock it in media, it really did strike me that way.

[findafight]

I’m gonna admit, the whole “Robin and Steve share a girlfriend” thing kind of came to me when I was imagining how Steve and Vickie would get along.

As many people (I think including you?) have pointed out they have pretty much the same sense of humour, and seem to enjoy the same movies.

I see Steve being a “third wheel” on a lot of Robin and Vickie’s dates, in part because of rides and in part to make certain situations look less date-y. Or look more like one of the girls is third-wheeling by holding hands, doing the hand to the small of the back thing. Which sometimes leads to situations where Robin is kind of puppeteering Steve; “Steve, look at Vickie, she’s so cold! I can’t believe you’re not offering her your coat - what kind of boyfriend are you?”

(This comes back to bite her in the my ass a couple times when Steve will loudly announce “Robin, I cannot believe you’re just going to take the slice without offering it to Vickie, what kind of boyfriend are you?”, allowing Vickie to turn the puppy eyes on Robin.

He has done this a couple times in front of the kids, which they all find weird, but also assume it to be either one of Steve and Robin’s *deeply* unfunny inside jokes or part of an argument on the road to the realisation that they are in fact in deep denial about 1. Being in love and 2. That they have gone down a Super Mario pipe, skipped over all the interesting parts of romance and landed in their “old married couple” phase)

It’s all very confusing for Vickie. Like, she gets a kiss on the cheek from Steve so Robin can kiss her on the other cheek under the guise of making fun of the sappy couple - or else she gets a kiss from Robin and Steve gives her a kiss on the cheek to actually make fun of them. But she also gets forehead kisses from Steve to say hello and goodbye - which he doesn’t think is a big deal. He does that to Robin all the time - it would probably be rude to leave Vickie out, right? Or make her feel weird, left out. Things are not helped by the fact that Robin sometimes expresses her love via Steve. If Vickie’s upset, she’ll hug her, but she’ll also make Steve hug her, because he gives the *best* hugs!

Like, yeah, they’re a soul cut in half or whatever, but seriously - is this some kind of test? Does Steve think that she’s going to chest on Robin and is trying to prove it? Has Robin put him up to this because she thinks Vickie needs/wants wooing by *both* a girl and a boy? (She’s recently come out to her younger sister as “bisexual” and one of her questions was “so can you only have threesomes now?” Vickie is *going through it*, folks!)

Eventually she sits them down to try and talk it out, because this morning she woke up wearing a mix of both their clothes and she has some important assignments coming up at school, guys, SHE CANNOT KEEP LIVING LIKE THIS!

(There is a moment of silence as both Robin and Steve both fight to repress the urge to yell at each other that *this* is what that girl Janet that dumped Steve the other week was talking about!)

All hail Vickie, the bisexual who won *and* continued o be a disaster. no one is doing it like her!

omg sooooo good anon. I love this. VIckie is fighting for her life trying to decipher what is going on in her own relationship. is she dating Steve? is she not dating him? is she only dating robin? or both of them? Robin and Steve are weird she knew this going in but this is a bit much, right? and had to sit down for a minute because yes she woke up with Steve's shirt on and robins pants but the she saw Steve wearing her own sweater and robin wearing Steve's pants and so what does this mean? what are they doing? does she want anything to actually change?? (the answer to that she knows is no. She just wants clarity!and also is realizing that yes Steve does give the best hugs but part of that is that is Robin is there too. She's also realizing maybe kissing Steve and holding his hand is something she'd be down for more often!! help her!!)

and if she is also dating Steve she's going to have to live through the mortification of maybe telling her sister, and explaining that just because she's bisexual the throuple situation is NOT an essential part of that it just kinda happened by accident without any of the three of them noticing. and. who wants to admit that let alone to a little sister who Will Not Let It Go? poor vickie....

No one is doing it like Vickie and Stobin is not helping the situation At. All.

[findafight]

The longer they release ST media without acknowledging Steve’s parents, the more convinced I become that they don’t actually exist.

Like, they died in that month after the season 1 Upside Down stuff, somewhere out of state and they didn’t want to buried in Hawkins and Steve just…didn’t get around to telling anyone. And now he can’t bring it up without being awkward, so he just…doesn’t.

Or he’s a lab kid. Or a distant, disappointingly normal relative of the Addams family trying to go mainstream. Or he’s some preternatural being a la Nanno from “Girl from nowhere”. Or he’s living out the consequences of some time travel bullshit in which he became his own father. He’s a changeling that accidentally killed his human parents and can’t show his face in the world of fairy or else he’ll never bear the end of it. They’re serving life sentences under their real names (“Harrington” was the cover story).

The greatest trick Steve Harrington ever pulled was convincing the world he was of woman born.

Ahhh I love love love seeing different theories and explanations exploring why we haven't ever seen or really heard of Steve's parents (except for that one old yearbook page from idk where that has a John Harrington on it) it's all so fun the the potential for whump is so much higher when there's no actual basis for anything.

Steve, who spawned out of the earth with the goals of looking cute and being a dad and maybe kicking monster ass: yes. Of course I have parents. Haha they're just ...away? Right now? And didn't go to school in this town :)

Everyone: seems about right. why would this boy lie about adults we have never seen nor met?

But I know it's because the Duffers just don't think about Steve enough to care 😭

[findafight]

Tommy and Carole are the only two people in Hawkins to not bat an eye at Stobin. Steve always had weird boundari

Yeah exactly. They were stewing in rage and jealousy that their unhinged relationship with Steve got replaced by a funny little band nerd, though. How dare Steve get a new super weirdly close friend!!

No one thought Tommy, Carol, and Steve were weird because Tommy and Carol were dating so heteronormative standards were met, but whatever the hell was going on with them wasn't normal nor heteronormative. Steve was third wheeling but didn't realize. Tommy and Carol's ten step plan to get into a throuple with Steve was likely well underway. They had been that way since middle school probably. I'm kinda obsessed with them.

No one has been normal about their friendship with Steve in his whole life. Love that for him <3