#to actually answer steve's question: robin stole it

[robindium]

Steve, looking through his clothes: Has anyone seen my top?

Max: Eddie's in the kitchen.

[chxrrysangel]

Drinking Games

Pairing| Eddie Munson x reader

Warnings | friends to lovers, fluff, mentions of alcohol/drunkeness, love confessions, it’s really cute ok

Author’s note | this is the first thing I’ve published in like 5 months so…gentle please. Also this 100% came to me in a maladaptive daydream…lmao

Sitting around the circle, your body buzzed with excitement and the mixed drinks you had tonight. Robin sat not more than three feet away, acting as the self-appointed dealer. The game of the night had long been forgotten by name, but the rules were rather simple: answer the question or drink. One could hardly mess up something so simple but your friends were always eager to conquer the impossible.

Secrets and juicy tidbits were revealed throughout the night, each of your friends making the hard choices to spill their guts—not that you minded. Eventually, your turn game around again and Robin’s eyes glistened with intrigue. Anxiety lodged itself in your throat, fearful of what horror lies on the card in her hand. She always had this look when up to something, her lips curling up into a frighteningly devious smirk like she knew something you didn’t. She turned towards you, your name dripping off her tongue with a noticeable air of mischief.

“Would you consider the person across from you in the circle to be attractive?” Your heartbeat sounded noisily in your ears, a cold sweat finding its way onto your hot skin. You had no reason to question who was across from you, already knowing the answer.

Eddie.

Edward Munson, your friend—dare you say best friend— who stole your heart the second you met. The two of you became fast friends, quickly falling into an agreeable routine at school. Once graduated, you stayed just as close if not closer. The chemistry between you was undeniable, but you were always “just friends.” Even when you started a little too long at him from across the room or burned with jealousy when he flirted with people at the local bar, he was just your friend. And it killed you.

Tentatively, you lifted your gaze from off the rugged carpet towards the metalhead across from you. Eddie looked at you innocently, not wanting to push you to answer. He was so kind that it was unnerving, how could you not like him? For years, he carried this reputation of a mean rugged guy who’d pulverize anyone who made eye contact. But, he truly was the exact opposite. Eddie could hardly hurt a fly, actually running in the opposite directions of them. The next few seconds were spent deliberating over your response to the challenge.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to say it?

“Yes.” Eddie’s gaze locked with yours as you spoke, his expression nearly unreadable if it weren’t for the hint of surprise in his doe eyes. Robin was satisfied with your answer, choosing to move on to the next person.

At some point during the game, Steve tapped out, choosing to play dealer with Robin. Everything was going smoothly, almost too smoothly. You had opted for water about 20 mins ago, sobering up a little bit. When the circle moved onto Eddie again, Steve picked up a card this time. The ex-jock couldn’t even pretend to hide his smile at the words, excitement clear on his features.

“Eddie, is there any person in this circle that you’d consider kissing.”

You didn’t mean to do it, but the hopeful high schooler buried deep in you couldn’t help but look at him in this moment. His chocolate brown eyes flicked across each person in the circle before landing on you, locking eyes comfortably. His gaze held for just a few beats, almost unclockable to an outsider.

“Yes.” Just as quickly as his gaze landed on you, it moved back over to Steve for approval. The boy leaned in, some other plan brewing in his mind.

“Follow up question. Will you disclose who they are?”

Again Eddie's eyes met yours for a few seconds longer than normal, unwavering in his decision. In any other headspace, you'd be inclined to brush it off and make excuses. But in this moment, your usual instincts felt almost elementary.

“I don't think I have to.”

The rest of the game passed on normally, your mind just barely present enough to answer the questions or take a shot during your turn. Eddie barely spared another glance in your direction, at least that you noticed.

~~~~~

You said your goodbyes to everyone, planning your thankfully short walk back to your place. Safety keychain in hand, you snuggled into your coat and headed out. Between the crunching of your sneakers on the gravel walkway and the howling wind, you could hardly make out the sound of someone shouting a bit ways behind you. You would’ve ignored it altogether if it weren’t for the yelling getting louder, testifying that it wasn’t in your imagination.

A certain curly-haired metalhead made his way towards you, smile bright in the otherwise barely lit street. Even drunk out of his mind, Eddie was gorgeous -- something you almost hated about him. He didn't even try to be hot, he just was.

“Hey. Mind if I -um, walk with you? We live close together anyways.” Not trusting yourself to speak, you moved over on the sidewalk to allot space. The walk home was largely silent, much too in your own head to say much. Eddie made no attempt to stir conversation, which you were grateful for. His usually chatty self was nowhere to be found.

As soon as the sight of your apartment building came into view, you thanked heaven and earth for saving you from this anxiety. You could pretend the night didn’t happen and move on with your life.

“Hey, sweets I’ve uh got a question.” Eddie cleared his throat, which did very little to hide the nerves in his tone. Hesitant, you chewed on your lip for a moment. Eddie’s gaze flickered down to your mouth for a moment, before quickly shooting back up to your eyes.

“Shoot.” The metalhead averted his gaze, something rather atypical for such an extroverted guy. His voice got quiet as well, like he didn’t trust himself to speak. It was endearing.

“Did you mean what you said tonight? About…finding me attractive?” His voice was hopeful, at least that’s what’s it sounded like. But you had to have imagined that.

“Yeah… I did. I have eyes Eddie. We may be friends, but I know handsome when I see it Eds.” Your voice was hesitant, but more honest than you've ever been.

The barely audible comment of “yeah friends.” could be heard from his lips, like he was whispering it to himself. It dawned upon you that the two of you were crossing the line in this moment.

“Eddie, I also have a question.” You had to be brave in this moment, knowing you might never get another chance again for this kind of honesty. His head perked up, curls bouncing and falling into the mess you loved so much around his features. With his full attention, it was now your turn to be nervous.

“Did you mean what you said tonight?” Even in the dimness of the overhead streetlight, Eddie’s entire face burned red with embarrassment. He chuckled in disbelief, shifting his weight with each foot.

“Full disclosure, I was kind of hoping you forgot about that…I was so bold and I don’t know why. But uh yeah I did mean it.” His head dropped into his hands, filled with embarrassment and shame.

With the last few words, something shifted in that moment. Eddie was no longer your goofy, lovable best friend that you secretly pined over. He wasn’t the guy who Robin and Steve damn near had to kill somebody to get you to admit that you liked. He was just a guy, one who admitted not even 2 hours ago that he’d kiss you if given the chance. And he knew that.

With one brave step towards one another, you could feel the heat radiating off his body. Maybe it was the alcohol or just his proximity, but your head felt light.

“Eddie,” you whisper.

“Yeah?” His lips ghost over yours, brushing in a way that makes you feel pathetically needy.

“Can we make good on that wish?”

He hums in response, cradling your face in his hands as he gently presses his lips to yours. He doesn’t rush, savoring the taste of you as if he’d forget. You quickly find harmony in your movements, both hungry with desire but desperate to make the moment last as long as possible. He whimpers in your mouth, needing more than one could give on a public street.

It’s only when your lungs begin to burn with lack of oxygen that you break away. You make no move to back away, encased on his arms like two puzzle pieces fitting together.

“So…”

Your awkwardness breaks the silence, the two of you making eye contact before falling into a much needed laughter fit.

“We’re gonna have to talk about this tomorrow, for sure. Perhaps over breakfast?.” His beloved goofy smile is on display, the signature one you couldn’t make to say no to.

“Are you asking me out on a date Munson?”

“Not yet. But soon. Definitely soon.”

You say goodnight, making headway towards your apartment door before you’re suddenly pulled back. Sandalwood and vanilla engulf your senses, Eddie stopping you from going to sleep. Without warning, he places his hand on the side of your neck and kisses you once more. This one was rather short, but equally sweet.

“Just wanted one for the road.” He winks, bowing like an idiot before walking into the night towards his own place. You smile to yourself as you walk the building’s empty hallways—giddy, lovesick, and still a bit drunk.

[asbealthgn]

wrote this goofy thing as an expansion of this post

It’s very surprising when the door to Eddie’s trailer opens and Eddie is standing there with flowers.

It’s even more surprising when he says, “Happy one month!” with a big grin.

Steve looks back and forth between Eddie and the flowers—wildflowers by the look of them, probably picked around the edges of the trailer park. “Uh, one month of what?”

Eddie gives him an uncertain smile like he’s not sure if Steve’s being serious or not. “Of our relationship,” he says, the last syllable tilting up almost like a question.

Huh. Kind of weird, but at the start of summer Steve and Robin had an ice cream party to celebrate the year anniversary of when they started at Scoops together. So it’s not like this is completely unheard of. Except—

“You and I have been friends for longer than a month,” Steve says, “It’s been like—” he tries to count the months since spring break in his head “—at least four? Unless you don’t count when you were unconscious in the hospital, but that was only a couple weeks, so—”

“I mean one month of our relationship,” Eddie says, putting emphasis on the word. And now his eyebrows are drawn together. Face concerned. And Steve is clearly missing something here.

Did something significant happen a month ago? Some moment where they moved from friends to best friends or something? It was probably about a month or so ago the first time Steve spent the night at Eddie’s trailer, but that wasn’t a huge deal. Steve has spent the night at the Byers’ house before and it’s not like he and Jonathan are breaking out the balloons to commemorate it. 

Steve feels guilty, because clearly there’s something that Eddie thinks he should know that he doesn’t. He doesn’t like this nervous look on Eddie’s face. Steve tries to think like Nancy, tries to put the clues together. But he’s not Nancy. So he’s lost. 

“I’m sorry, dude,” Steve says, “I don’t get what you mean.”

Eddie deflates.

“I know we haven’t necessarily defined it.” His voice is wavering, eyes getting watery. Shit shit shit, what did Steve do? This is so completely out of nowhere and Steve doesn’t know how to fix it. “But I didn’t realize it was actually that insignificant to you.”

Steve shoots his arm out to stop Eddie from closing the door on him. He needs to figure out what’s going on so he can make it right, and that’s not gonna happen if Eddie shuts him out. “Eds, seriously, you’re gonna have to fill me in,” he says, “‘Cause I honestly don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Seriously?” Eddie asks, anger over taking the sadness in his voice, “You’re gonna act like you don’t know?”

“I don’t!” Steve nearly shouts, desperate. “Please, man, I’m not trying to piss you off here. Whatever it is, I wanna make it right. You just have to tell me what you mean.”

“You and I,” Eddie says. Looking at him like it should be obvious. When it’s so, so not. It makes Steve want to scream. “We’re—I thought we were together.”

“Together? Like…together how?”

Steve doesn’t think he’s ever seen Eddie look this pissed off. “Use your goddamned brain, Harrington,” he spits, “Like together.”

Oh. Okay. That’s…something. It’s not that Steve would necessarily be opposed, or even that he hasn’t thought of it. It’s just not true. They’re not together. And he’s not sure why Eddie thinks they are. Yeah, they’re close, but it’s not like they’re closer than Steve and Robin. It’s not like they’re closer than Steve was to Tommy back in the day. He and Eddie haven’t done anything that feels outside the realm of friendship to him. And he definitely didn’t realize that Eddie saw it any differently.

“Um,” Steve says, aware that he’s standing like an idiot on Eddie’s doorstep and needs to answer. “Why?”

“Oh my God,” Eddie says, making as if to close the door again. Steve barely catches it in time. It makes Eddie glare at him. “There’s no way you’re being serious,” he says.

Keeping one hand on the door, Steve throws up the other one in a gesture he stole from Robin. “I really am,” he says, “You know what the kids say. I’m an idiot. You really have to lay things out for me.”

That at least makes Eddie soften a few degrees. “You’re not an idiot, Steve,” he says, “You’re just—oblivious, apparently.”

“Yeah, that too.”

Eddie sighs. “Just come in. We can talk about it.” He steps back and lets Steve come inside. The flowers are still clutched in Eddie’s hand, starting to wilt. Eddie sets them on the table before joining Steve on the couch. 

“A month ago is when you stayed over for the first time,” Eddie says. Steve nods. “And you kissed me.” Steve nods again. Eddie lifts his eyebrows significantly. “You’re not seeing the connection?”

Steve shrugs. “I mean, I guess there’s other ways you could construe that,” he says, “But I thought it was, like, a friend kiss. A goodnight kiss.”

“A friend kiss,” Eddie says flatly. “You kiss a lot of your friends?”

“Sure,” Steve says, “Well, Robin prefers forehead kisses and Jonathan’s more of a hug guy, but I used to kiss Tommy and Carol all the time.”

Disbelief is the main emotion on Eddie’s face. And a whole lot of other ones that Steve can’t quite parse out. “So—everything we’ve done,” Eddie says, slowly, like he’s trying to come to terms with it. “It’s all just…been normal friend shit to you?”

Steve thinks back over the last month, trying to think if anything stands out in his head as non-platonic. Maybe there’s been a time or two when he was kissing Eddie or cuddling up to him in bed or sitting on his lap during D&D where Steve’s felt a sort of stirring deep in his belly. But he figured that was one-sided. His body’s reaction to whatever was happening and not a manifestation of, like, feelings or something. After all, the same thing used to happen with Tommy when they’d do similar stuff. And clearly they were just friends.

After a full twenty seconds of Steve not answering, Eddie drops his head in his hands. “Holy shit,” he mutters. Then he lifts his head. “This—you—the other day. You slept over. We made out. You—you took my fucking shirt off, Steve.”

Yeah, that did happen. And Steve doesn’t have a great explanation for it. “I don’t know,” he says, “It was the heat of the moment or whatever.”

“The heat of the moment,” Eddie repeats, and Steve can’t tell if he’s on the verge of tears or the verge of laughing. Eddie puts his arm on the back of the couch and leans toward Steve. “Can you honestly say that you’re not attracted to me at all?”

Annoyingly, Steve can feel his face start to heat. “I never said that,” he mutters.

For the first time, Eddie looks triumphant. “So you are attracted to me?”

“Yeah, man,” Steve says, squirming uncomfortably. Of course he’s attracted to Eddie. What’s not to be attracted to? He’s smart, funny, hot, good with the kids, good on the guitar, good at kissing. Helped save the world. “You’re, like, it for me. I definitely think about you that way. I just didn’t think you thought about me that way.”

Eddie laughs, the sound containing more disbelief than humor, but still overall a good thing. “I can’t believe the guy who’s been sharing my bed for the past month didn’t think I was into him.”

“Hey, you’re not the only person whose bed I’ve shared.” Shit, that was a bad way to put it. “Platonically.”

Shaking his head, Eddie laughs again. “Clearly, your idea of platonic does not line up with mine,” he says. “But you mean it? You’re into me?”

“Yeah, Eds,” Steve says, “I’m into you.”

“So, does that mean you’d want to be my boyfriend?”

“Apparently I already have been for the past month,” Steve says, grinning.

Eddie grins back. “Doesn’t count if you didn’t know.”

“Then we can count from today,” Steve says, “Starting now, I’m your boyfriend.”

He hasn’t finished saying the last word before Eddie is surging forward and taking Steve’s face in his hands. He shifts onto Steve’s lap, kissing him deeply. 

And it doesn’t feel platonic at all.

[xiaq]

AO3 Pt. 1 Pt. 2

Pt. 3 I combined the prompts: Outsider POV, Steve Harrington is an Idiot (affectionate), Everyone is Queer Because I Said So, and @c0olness's hyper-specific Wayne's Boyfriend Owns a Gay Bar in Indianapolis and Introduces Steve to a Drag Queen. :)

Angel Reyes has loved Wayne Munson about as long as he’s loved himself. The timing is not coincidental.

Which is why he’s willing to wait for him, even when Angel’s patience is worn thin like the shirt he stole from Wayne three years ago and wears like a prayer to bed.

Some nights, when Wayne calls at the end of his shift and Angel is wiping down his own bar at closing, he’s tempted to say: we might not have much time left—shouldn’t we spend what we do have together?

But he doesn’t.

Because he already knows the answer.

Because the same reason he fell in love with Wayne is the reason Wayne won’t move to Indy. The man is loyal to a fault and when he gives himself to people he gives all of himself and there’s no force in the world that would convince Wayne to leave Hawkins if he thought Eddie still needed him there. Because Wayne loves Angel. But Wayne loved Eddie first. And Angel can hardly begrudge him of that.

So he repeats a well-worn mantra, only slightly comforting: not today, but someday. And he hangs up the phone and he checks the calendar and he looks forward to the time he is allowed. If there’s one thing he learned over the years, it’s that he can’t get greedy when he already has a good thing.

Wayne is worth the quiet agony of patience.

So when he’s locking up for the night and the phone rings, he expects the conversation to take a familiar path. 

“Evening, handsome,” he says, canting his hip against the counter. “You tell him yet?”

It’s been his standard greeting for close to a year. Why the man won’t just tell his gay nephew that he is, conveniently, also gay, is beyond Angel. But then, listening has always been Wayne’s strong suit. Talking, not so much.

“Well,” Wayne says. And that’s new.

“Well?”

“I did, actually. After I walked in on him and Steve kissin’ last night—“

“Finally!” Angel crows. The saga of Eddie and Steve and their will-they-won’t-they relationship had quickly surpassed even his favorite telenovela’s dramatic storylines. The pretty jock with hidden depths and the nerdy metalhead falling in love? Hospital vigils? Protracted pining while sharing a bed? Impeccable. 

“They’re together now,” Wayne finishes.

“Darling,” Angel says, not for the first time, “I’d like to remind you that you are not paying per word for this call.”

Wayne huffs at him, also not for the first time.

“Steve didn’t know liking both boys and girls meant he was bisexual. He thought there was some sort of…threshold he needed to pass to be queer enough to date a man. I suppose Robin set him straight––or, not so straight as the case may be––” he chuckles a little at his own joke, “And he came over to declare his love as soon as his shift ended.”

Angel takes a moment to digest that. “...Maybe they use Eddie as the sperm donor if they want kids,”  he suggests.

“Ease up, it’s not like they teach this shit in school. Bet I’d been a lot more confused too if I had the luxury of liking both.”

“Alright, I won’t pick on your future son-in-law, promise.”

“ Speaking of school,” Wayne says, sidestepping his implication. “Eddie got his diploma in the mail yesterday.”

“You going to do something to celebrate?”

“Actually, we thought we’d take a trip to Indy this weekend.”

Angel twists the phone’s cord around his finger. “…you’re supposed to come next weekend.”

“So you’d have to see me two weeks in a row, if you can bear it.”

“A trial, to be sure. When you say…” he pauses, trying to figure out how to clarify without breaking his own heart. “When you come this weekend. Would you want us—would you want me. To meet them?”

He closes his eyes and bangs a fist against his forehead because that is not the safe way to ask that question. 

“It'd be pretty weird if they didn’t meet the person hosting them.”

“Oh, I see. You’re just using me for my five star accommodations,” he says, because he’s apparently determined to dig his own grave.

“No. Wayne says, “those are nice. But mostly I just want to introduce them to my boyfriend.”

“Ah.”

“And saying shit like that makes me think you’re trying to compete with Steve in the stupid Olympics.”

Angel makes an outraged noise but Wayne talks over him which is unique enough an occurrence that Angel lets him get away with it.

“See,” Wayne says. “The boys have decided they don’t want to stay in Hawkins long-term. They figure they’ll stay another year. Save some money. Make sure the kids are settled. And then Eddie’s set on New York or California and I think Steve’s just set on Eddie, wherever he is. I thought we could at least make a case for Indy, though. ‘Cause if Eddie isn’t staying in Hawkins, I’ve got no reason to.”

“Ah,” Angel says again. “And you don’t have any interest in New York or California?”

“I sure don’t,” Wayne says levelly.

“Well,” he clears his throat. “I’ll mop the floors and clean the windows. Give them the best showing I can. Should we plan to take them to one of the…heavier… music venues? I can probably have Frank cover for me, I’d just need to ask him now.”

“Nah. I figure I’ll help you out Saturday night and let them explore on their own. Eddie’s already making a list of options. But Friday is drag night at your place, right?”

“It is.”

“We should start them with that, I think.”

Angel grins. “Their debut in queer society shall be heralded by Dolly Parton and glitter.”

“Mm.” 

Angel is familiar enough with Wayne’s thoughtful noises to know that he’s smiling.

“Enough about my boys,” Wayne says. “Tell me about your day.”

Angel does.

When Angel hangs up ten minutes later, for once, he’s grinning. He thinks, as usual, not today but someday. Only ‘someday’ suddenly feels tangible in a way it never has before.

***

Eddie Munson is exactly what Angel expected him to be when he comes tumbling out the driver’s side door of the van parked half on Angel’s driveway and half on his lawn. Angel has been hearing about him through the rosy lens of Wayne’s affection for close to five years and as a result, Angel loves him immediately upon first sight. 

Then again, he’d be difficult not to love. Eddie is a bright, frenetic, presence, all hair and chains and affected airs, who shares Wayne's smile, though he dispenses smiles much more freely than his uncle. He is unashamedly himself as he shakes Angel’s hand, tells his uncle he approves, and then asks for a tour of the house.

Steve Harrington is somehow simultaneously exactly and nothing like Angel expected.

Exactly, because he looks the part: a cropped Hawkins Varsity Basketball sweatshirt, tiny athletic shorts, and the well-built frame of someone who regularly works out. His hair is verging on ridiculous. His face is…well-suited to the body, he’ll say.

But the kid also has a hyper-awareness to him, a quick-eyed, assessing, vigilant posture, that Angel has only ever seen in war vets twice the kid’s age. He puts his back to a room’s farthest corner. He keeps doorways in sight. And he constantly, constantly, orbits Eddie like the world's most unsubtle protective detail. 

There are also the scars. Terrible, still-healing, scars. On one exposed thigh, the side of his neck, and his right forearm. On the slice of skin between his waistband and the frayed cut-off hem of his sweater. He wears them unapologetically, with the composure of someone who is neither proud nor embarrassed by them.  

Angel suspects, only a few minutes into their first meeting, that Eddie may have similar scars beneath his torn jeans and bleach-speckled band shirt. One of his arms has some sort of medical sleeve on it—the pale fabric covered in black bleed-fuzzy Sharpie drawings of bats. Angel considers the mangled half-moon-shaped lines decorating Steve’s thigh. Unless earthquakes have suddenly developed teeth, Wayne has clearly been editing his stories. 

But despite their significant aesthetic differences, the two boys are well-suited, if painfully young and unpracticed in the art of subtlety. They touch each other constantly; unthinkingly. Hands. Hips. Shoulders. Elbows. And the way they look at each other—well. They’ll need to work on that if they don’t want to accumulate more scars. Granted, they hardly have to hide their relationship in the sanctuary of his home, but he gets the feeling they don’t know how to be any other way with each other. 

It’s both sweet and more than a little heartbreaking.

“So,” he says, “ I need to get back to the bar before the opening act at 8. It’s drag night.”

“Robin is going to be furious she didn’t come,” Steve says.

“We’ll bring her next time,” Eddie says. 

They go.

***

Angel’s bar is called Innuendo. 

He can’t take credit for the name, but he can take credit for the atmosphere. It’d been a dark, sticky, hole-in-the-wall when he started working there at 21. When he’d bought it from the former owner a decade later, he’d cleaned it up, regulated the jukebox hours, and started live music, drag, and deejay nights. A few years after that, in 1984, when the mayor issued a proclamation declaring the new city policy to no longer discriminate against queers, he’d taken the boards down from all the windows. 

It’s still dark in the back where the stage and dance floor are tucked away, but the front windows with a clear view of the street are big and unashamed. He keeps the windows clean.

There’s a copy of the proclamation framed above them, along with pictures of Angel and noteworthy patrons of the establishment over the years: Wakefield Poole; Tom Higgins; Bayard Rustin; Freddie Mercury, and Jim Hutton. 

A lot has changed in the last two decades that he’s worked there, but some things, like the old oak-wood bar where all the pictures were taken, stay the same.

He brings Wayne and the boys in through the back to scattered shouts of hello from regulars. He and Wayne slide behind the bar to start helping Frank, and the boys sit on stools with wide eyes.

It’s nice, to see the place from their perspective. The magic of it is never lost on him, but sometimes he does forget exactly how magic it is: a bar that looks like most other bars but where men look and touch and kiss without concern, where there’s art and magazines and conversations that wouldn’t be permitted by common society a scant few feet outside the door.

After fifteen minutes, they get brave enough to explore—admiring the posters on the opposite wall: Bijou and Boys in the Sand; Passing Strangers, Forbidden Letters, and A Night at the Adonis.

They play a round of darts near the front windows, the boards covered in shitty black-and-white copies of Anita Bryant’s face.

They sit at a table near the stage when the show starts. They pull their chairs together. They hold hands on the tabletop. They laugh and shout and sing along and kiss when invited.

After, when they’re back at the bar, flushed with alcohol and the subtle worldview shift that Angel remembers well from his first visit to a gay bar, a few of the queens come over to introduce themselves. Leslie, currently in her Cher era, steps up to the bar, accepts her drink from Wayne with a wink, and gives Steve a clear once-over.

“Aren't you out a little late for a school night, baby?" she says in her customary baritone.

“Uh, no ma’am. I graduated last year. Sorry. Sir?”

"Sugar, do I look like a ‘sir’ to you?"

“Take it easy on him, Les,” Angel calls. “He’s new.”

“No kidding.” She purses her lips at him. “Ma’am is fine unless you meet me on the street. But here I’d prefer ‘honey. Or ‘darling.”

Steve swallows. “I promised I’d reserve pet names for my boyfriend. So. I’ll stick with Ma’am.”

“Well aren’t you a charmer. And where is this boyfriend?”

“Hi,” Eddie says.

She gives him an equally critical once-over.

“Do you know what that color bandana means in that pocket?”

Eddie glances down at his back left pocket; at the black bandana hanging against his thigh.

“Ah...that I’m into S&M but that I like to be the  submission one? Like the one getting tied up?”

“You what?” Steve says.

Angel notices that Wayne has made a hasty exit to the bathroom, which is probably for the best.

“Oh my sweet summer child,” Leslie says, “it means the opposite on that side, so maybe switch pockets.” She considers Steve’s pink face. “And also maybe talk to your boyfriend. The whole point of flagging is to find someone to meet your needs and you've got a pretty one right here who seems like he’s awfully willing.”

Steve pulls the bandana out of Eddie’s pocket and, using his teeth, tidily rips it into two. He tucks one half in Eddie’s right back pocket. He tucks the other in his left. He crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow like he's expecting Eddie to argue. Eddie does not argue. Eddie doesn't do much of anything except stare at him with wide, hungry eyes.

“Well,” Leslie says, sounding pleased, “My work here is done. Honestly, kids these days.”

She gives Steve a little pat on the shoulder as she pushes back into the crowd. “I’d dance while you have the chance, boys. Life is short and sometimes so is love. Capitalize on that shit!”

“Do you want to dance?” Steve asks.

Eddie is still watching Leslie with a bemused smile. “I don’t know how to dance to this music.”

“Well I won’t know how to dance to yours tomorrow, but I’m planning to let you show me.”

“Fair enough, King Steve." Eddie affects a curtsy, offering Steve his hand. “I suppose I can allow you to take me for a turn about the dance floor, good sir.”

Steve bows low over Eddie’s hand, pressing his lips to his knuckles, looking up at him with a grin. “An honor,” he says solemnly, and then drags Eddie, laughing, into the throng of moving bodies.

***

The next morning, Angel wakes up early for no reason he can determine. He’s not good at sitting idle, and he doesn’t want his fidgeting to wake Wayne, so he elects to take his book to the garden. Only, as he slips into the hall, careful with the door behind him, he can hear the quiet, indistinct lull of voices in the kitchen.

Angel moves down the hall on sock feet, avoiding the creaky bit of flooring where the original foundation meets the master addition he added four years back. 

The boys have opened the double doors to the patio and Steve is leaning against the jam on one side, coffee cup in hand, looking out at the garden. He’s shirtless, wearing only the shorts from the day before. Warm, tree-diluted, sunrise rays cast him in sepia, making the scars that traverse his flank to his thigh look less gruesome and more artistic. Poetic. He knows more than one photographer who would kill for a shot like this. Something about the coexistence of beauty and pain. Something about a commentary on perceptions of strength; the allure of imperfection resulting from battles survived.

Eddie joins Steve, sliding under his open arm like a habit, dragging a hand down Steve’s side to cup the puckered line of recently-stitched skin at Steve’s hip. 

Eddie is also shirtless—wearing jeans and a riot of bed head that Steve presses his face into, murmuring something low and clearly funny by the stifled laughter it produces. 

Angel wasn't wrong with his initial assumption: Eddie’s back is littered with shallow scars as well, but he also has a fair amount of tattoos, which makes the other marks less incongruous. There’s something about Steve’s otherwise flawless skin and sculpted muscles that make his injuries feel more visceral.

Or, at least, that’s what he thinks until Steve suddenly looks behind him, like he has a preternatural awareness that he’s being watched.

“Oh,” he says, “Good morning.”

Both boys turn to face him. 

And Angel realizes that Steve’s injuries pale in comparison to Eddie’s.

Because Eddie’s chest and belly is a brutal mess of scar tissue.

It looks like something tried to gut him.

It looks like whatever it was probably succeeded.

He knows he’s staring but he can’t seem to stop himself until Steve slides a proprietary hand over the worst of it, spread fingers against what has to still be an agony of healing skin.

He meets Angel's eyes and all but dares him to say anything.

“I think,” Angel says, turning abruptly to enter the kitchen, “the occasion calls for french toast. Thoughts?”

“The occasion?” Eddie asks.

His hand covers Steve’s and presses, not a dismissal but an invitation to linger. 

“Your diploma,” Angel says, “Steve’s first time making a fool of himself in front of a drag queen. Whatever excuse is sufficient for the making of said french toast.”

“See, we’re sort of trying out this new thing lately,” Eddie murmurs, looking at Steve, “where we don’t need excuses for things that make us happy.”

“No guilt in our pleasures,” Steve agrees, voice soft, expression reverent. He tucks an errant curl behind Eddie’s ear.

Angel resists the urge to sigh at them. Instead, he toasts them with a carton of eggs. “French toast for the pleasure of french toast, then. You two go sit on the bench in the garden. The sun should be hitting it right about now and that is surely a pleasurable experience. I’ll let you know when breakfast is ready.”

Steve meets his eyes again, this time less challenging, more thankful. 

His hand slides from Eddie’s belly to the small of his back, pushing him out onto the patio.

“That sounds nice,” he says.

And they go.

When Wayne shuffles out to join Angel at the stove ten minutes later, the bread is sizzling in the skillet. 

They take their time washing the egg bowl and whisk in the sink, elbow to elbow, two men sharing space for a one-man job.

They lean into each other, considering Eddie and Steve, similarly leaned into each other, on the bench under the oak tree outside.

“You think I should talk to them?” Wayne murmurs. “About the way they look at each other. And touch each other. And how they need to cut that shit out if they’re in public?”

“Probably,” Angel sighs. “But not today.”

“No,” Wayne agrees after a moment of silence. He presses a kiss to Angel’s temple. “Not today.”

Pt. 4 (Will's POV)

[lemon-boy-stan]

"INTERCEPTION"

summary: you and your boyfriend steve have an interesting phonecall. just while you're about to hang up, your older brother jonathan uses one of the other phones in the house to call nancy and finds out about your relationship with steve. genre: fluff, suggestive. warnings: sexual references, swearing, overprotective older brother jonathan? pairing: steve harrington x byers!reader. an: i basically stole this from that episode in s3 where mike's like, "mum, get off the phone!" lol. also, yn is the middle child but a year younger than steve and jonathan.

A small smile stretched across your face as Steve chuckled softly into the receiver, "oh, baby. You're going to regret saying that tomorrow." and you shrugged, imagining Steve's reaction. "Oh, I don't know, Stevie. I might kind of enjoy it." Steve blew heavily into the phone, "don't be a fucking brat, Y/N. You know what happens -"

"Y/N?" you shrieked loudly, slamming the phone back down on the wall. "JONATHAN!" you yelled up the stairs, "what the fuck are you doing? GET OFF THE PHONE!" Jonathan's footsteps thundered down the stairs and he leaned against the wall, "Actually, the real question is, what are you doing?"

The words stumbled out of your mouth, "I'm. I was talking to Robin." and Jonathan crossed his arms, "oh yeah? Then why did Robin say not to be a fucking brat?" shit. You shuffled your feet, "um. Robin and I are dating. I like dicks and boobies. Get over it."

Jonathan blinked, unsure if you were being serious. "Well, okay. But then why did Robin sound like a guy? Why did Robin sound like Steve Harrington?" and there were two choices to make. 

You could tell your brother about Steve, and about how you’d been dating for two years. Or, you could run to Steve’s house, and never have to tell Jonathan. There was no way he was going to follow you. You liked the second solution better.

You paced around Steve’s bedroom, in front of the wall with a collage that consisted solely of photos of the both of you. “And then,” you swore loudly, “and then I said I was talking to Robin.” 

And Steve chortled loudly from the bed. You glared at him, “that’s not the worst part! And it’s not funny!” Steve sat up, his eyes widened. “What do you mean, that’s not the worst part?” 

You breathed through your nose. “The worst part,” you sat down on the bed next to him even though you weren’t looking at him, not him in the moment, but the collage of photos in the wall, “is that I told him, I told Jonathan, I like dicks and boobies.” Steve snorted loudly. You shook your head, “but that’s not it. You know what he said after?” 

Steve shook his head, “no. How am I supposed to know? I wasn’t there.” and you groaned loudly, “it’s a rhetorical question, Harrington! You’re not supposed to answer.” Steve opened his mouth like he understood. You rolled your eyes. “Anyway, so he said, okay. But why does Robin sound like a guy? Why does she sound like Steve Harrington?” 

Steve’s mouth dropped open again, this time in horror. “I know!” you shoved your head into his arm, “we’re so fucked!” you groaned loudly into the sleeve of his shirt, but Steve shook his head, lifting your head up so you could look at him. “No,” he spoke determinedly, “no, we’re not, okay? Look, I know Jonathan and I have our differences.” you snorted at this disbelievingly. “Steve, he hates you.”

Steve shrugged, “yeah, I get that. But you’re his sister. He loves you. He’ll be understanding and supportive.” you groaned in dismay, “no he’s not. He’s gonna beat you up again.” shaking your head furiously. “He’s gonna beat you up, and I’m never going to be able to see you again.”

“Hey,” Steve placed his thumb on the bottom of your chin, “hey, Y/N. Hey. That’s not gonna happen, okay? I promise. Hey, it’s gonna be okay. We’re still gonna keep seeing each other, okay? I don’t care what he says. I love you. It’s okay, I love you.”

You melted into Steve’s kiss, calm as soon as his lips touched yours. You sighed shakily, “yeah. It’s gonna be okay.” kissing him this time, “it’s gonna be okay. I love you. It’s gonna be okay.” Steve grinned, pulling you close to him again, “it’s always gonna be okay, baby -”

“HARRINGTON!” you jumped and shrieked loudly, “Steve! You didn’t lock the front door?” and Steve threw his arms up in the air, “I swear I locked it!” You glared at him, “obviously not!” Steve threw his head up, “I’m sorry! I swear I thought I locked it -” but Steve didn’t get to finish. “Harrington! Get off my sister!”

You flew behind Steve. “I’m not here!” you shouted shrilly, “go away!” Jonathan stood at the front of the room, tolling his eyes. “Y/N, come on. We’re going home.” you shook your head and spoke even though you were pretending you weren’t there, “don’t wanna go home. Wanna stay with Stevie.”

Jonathan crossed his arms, “really, Y/N? Stevie? That’s what you’re calling this douchebag? The guy who broke your camera?” it was your camera, and Jonathan was borrowing it.

“Well, you were taking creepy pictures of Nance on it.” you mumbled softly into the back Steve’s sweater. “And anyway,” you said before Jonathan could say anything, “that was a year ago. Get over it. Steve’s my boyfriend, so, you’re just gonna have to deal with it.”

“No he’s not!” Jonathan rose his voice, “he’s not, Y/N, he’s just trying to use you!” you scowled and looked up from Steve’s sweater to glare at your older brother, “no he’s not! I love him!” then you went back to hiding behind Steve, quiet. You couldn’t be bothered to get up.

Jonathan laughed, “are you serious? He doesn’t love you, Y/N.” and your human shield got up, “YES I DO!” roaring the words loudly, you scrambled into the bed and under the covers. “I do love her, you insufferable -”

“Like how you loved Nancy?” Jonathan was breathing through his nose and you jumped up from the bed, standing just a little bit behind Steve, crossing your arms. “that’s not fair! Nancy was the one who left Steve. But I’m not! You can’t make me leave him, Jonathan. I love him.” the tears started to form in your eyes. What if you never got to see Steve again? You won’t be able to if you don’t leave now.

Steve hastily turned to look at you and swore loudly. “Fuck you, Jonathan! You’re making her cry. Stop stressing her out.” you shook your head, “no, it’s okay. I’m fine. It’s okay. I’ll just go home, it’s okay.” your lip was trembling. 

“Y/N, I’m trying to keep you safe,” Jonathan spoke quietly. Steve pulled you into his arms, glaring at him. “No, you’re not! You’re just trying to keep us from dating because you don’t like me! She’s not a little kid anymore, Jonathan! She’s eighteen and I love her!”

You sniffed softly into Steve, “I love you too.” and Jonathan dropped his hands by his sides, “you really love her?” Steve’s arms were still around you, “yes! I really do love her. You don’t have to worry about her.” Jonathan thought for a moment, “okay. Okay. Don’t cry anymore, Y/N. It’s okay.” you sniffed again and Steve pressed his lips on the top of your head and there was silence. 

“But if you hurt my sister I will beat your ass into next week.” Steve grinned, “understandable.”

>> stranger things masterlist << requests are open!

>> navigation <<

[bmodiwrites]

dressing up for a mini photoshoot for a steddie ficlet

Yay, I was hoping someone was going to stop by with this one. Thank you, friend! I 100% stole the date trend that's going around for this - here's hoping it works!

On a random Saturday afternoon, Eddie and Steve were aimlessly driving around Hawkins. It'd become a bit of a tradition, listening to music and smoking a joint. Eddie still didn't like being in his trailer and when Steve was home in his big, empty house, all the kids liked to crowd in and join the party. It didn't matter much when things first started to calm down from the Upside Down business, being with everyone felt nice, calming even. Now that he and Steve were dating, though, Eddie craved alone time like nicotine from a cigarette.

And that was the thing about being with Steve - it was addicting. There were lots of things that Eddie got out of their relationship but quality time, time where Steve gave him all of his attention, those were the best moments Eddie had in his days. They were fleeting, though; between Steve working a job and Eddie finishing off the school year, navigating stolen moments together was difficult. Which was why it felt like such a rush when the stars aligned and Steve Harrington was his and only his for hours at a time.

Maybe that was a good thing, though - the desire to always have more time made Eddie cling to the small seconds that existed in the rush of the world turning and time ticking by faster and faster.

So, Saturday date days became a thing. Robin took the busiest shift of the week on her own and Steve got a little bit of freedom. All the kids knew not to fuck with them, even Wayne didn't expect to see Eddie around much on that first half of the weekend. It was their time, a special day just for them, and Eddie always enjoyed it thoroughly.

Never mind the fact that Steve was incredibly talented at coming up with things to do. Sometimes he'd pack a picnic or drive them into the bigger city thirty minutes away to see a movie the Hawkins' theater hadn't gotten yet. And while Eddie loved those in-between moments, he couldn't deny that being shown the town was pretty damn great, too.

All of the rumors about Steve's prowess as a boyfriend were 100% true - what the others got wrong in their time with Steve was letting him go. Eddie didn't have to question Steve's loyalty to him, nor did he really struggle with how Steve felt about him. How could he when all of Eddie's wants, likes, and secret little fantasies seemed to be known by a boy he'd really only just met?

After another joint and a stop at the diner for grilled cheese and milkshakes, Eddie was surprised to see Steve driving towards the town's good will. Despite knowing how great of a guy Steve actually was, Eddie still found it hard to believe that a rich kid like Steve recognized that secondhand stores existed. Though, a few of his pieces did look like they might've been vintage. Either way, a small ball of shock stuck in his belly as they pulled into the relatively empty parking lot.

"What are we doing here?" Eddie asked, turning in the passenger seat to look over at Steve. His boyfriend had wide eyes and an adorable little smile on his face.

"Do you trust me?" Steve answered back. He reached across the cupholders dividing them to squeeze Eddie's hand. "I have a crazy idea and I think you might really enjoy it. Just - trust me."

Eddie didn't have a sound argument against that, so he nodded and gave Steve's hand a tight squeeze back. It would've been nice to continue the gesture once they got out of the car, but Eddie settled for bumping his shoulder against Steve's, instead. They shared enough space simply walking together that PDA wasn't necessary (no matter how much Eddie craved it).

Like the parking lot predicted, the store was pretty empty. There were rows and rows of clothes and knick knacks Eddie had unashamedly gotten lost in a time or two over the years. All of the best cosplay ideas came from the manic scoping out of great pieces and diamonds in the rough. No one knew about the hobby, but Eddie was an excellent sewist. He'd been an in the fringes nerd for a long time - not making his own costumes just wasn't done.

Trying to play it cool in the unique clothing Wonderland, Eddie was excitedly surprised to have Steve grab his wrist and steer him towards the men's clothes. "I found a Polaroid and a bunch of film, so I thought we might blindly pick an outfit and have a little photoshoot. What do you say?" Steve's hazel eyes were alight and happy, the boy obviously so proud of his idea. And it was a good one - one that Eddie could hardly say no to.

"That sounds like a lot of fun, actually. Show me how it's done, pretty boy," Eddie replied, grinning widely.

Steve explained to him that Eddie was to cover his eyes and walk down the clothing rack with his arm out until told to stop. Whatever his hand was touching was the thing they were getting and Eddie had to wear. They each did that down the shirt, jacket, pants, shoes, and accessories aisle. It was fun and exhilarating, like playing musical chairs seconds before the music stopped. While some of their picks were goofy and outlandish, Eddie couldn't wait to see what each of their outfits looked like put together.

Glad that Steve forced him to try everything on, Eddie laughed at the image he made in the mirror. He managed to do himself a pretty decent solid with the jacket he picked, which made the bell bottom pants and platform boots at least go together. With the hat he randomly picked, Eddie could've easily passed as a 70's club crawler. Thankfully, Steve's get up wasn't much better.

They wore the clothes out of the store, laughing at each other the entire walk back to the car. Steve's Village People hat made Eddie want to wrap Steve up in leather - he had a feeling that Harrington would look pretty decent in some ass-less chaps.

Eddie was quick to push that thought out of his brain by cranking up the dial on the radio. Ever the amazing boyfriend, Steve had taken to keeping a few Eddie-approved tapes in his car. From the way Steve was singing along to the music, Eddie figured they had Steve's seal of approval, too. Who could really dislike Dio, anyway?

So caught up in enjoying himself, Eddie didn't realize where they were until the car stopped again. The grassy meadow on the far side of Hawkins had always been a place Eddie enjoyed. No matter the season, the hill looked pretty and serene. With summer well on its way, wild flowers and dandelions and long grass swayed in the wind like a choreographed dance. It was perplexing to think that Steve enjoyed the peace there, too.

"Are you ready for this?" Steve questioned as he turned to grab his Polaroid from the back seat.

It'd just been sitting there innocently, as if Steve knew Eddie would blindly trust him and not even think to take in his surroundings. Despite wanting to be peeved with himself, Eddie enjoyed the fact that Steve could surprise him. Even more so that Eddie wanted to be surprised.

Grinning at the thought, Eddie nodded at Steve in lieu of a verbal answer and anxiously climbed out of the car. It'd been a while since Eddie had a camera trained on him and he was suddenly nervous. Though Steve's never ending caring wiped that away pretty quickly. "I'll go first," Steve said, handing Eddie the camera.

For a while, Eddie guided Steve to spots around the hill while putting him in the silliest poses. He didn't bother shaking out the photos that fell as he worked. Half the fun was going back to relive the moments, anyway.

Eddie forgot about his own nerves by the time the second flat of film was gone and Steve was grabbing for the camera. Before Eddie could sprint off and start his own modeling career, Steve wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pressed a kiss to his cheek. There was a snick of the camera a second later.

"I have no idea what kind of face I was making in that," Eddie sassily commented. He turned to give Steve an actual kiss then, smirking all the while. "My turn, sweetheart."

It was so much fun to roll around on the grass and find flat surfaces to step down onto with his outlandish boots. Eddie had no idea how much he was going to enjoy Steve's idea until they were in the thick of it, but he did - he loved every single minute of it. Steve made him feel alive in a way that Eddie hadn't experienced before. Like, before meeting Dustin and getting roped into all of that strange business, Eddie was only half awake, only half alive, even.

Picking up the pictures was entertainment on its own. Eddie tried hard not to laugh at the obscene faces he made in some of the pictures, but wasn't successful. He looked so happy. If Eddie didn't laugh about it, he'd probably weep crocodile tears of joy and overwhelm.

Steve stuffed the prints into Eddie's hands a little while later. "Keep them safe, will you?" And though the question was casual, Eddie understood the words behind it, too. Steve's care was tangible and expressive. He enjoyed making sure Eddie got what he wanted and always had what he needed. The other boy didn't need to see the pictures to relive the memory.

Eddie liked the touchable stuff. His cork board at home was filled with movie tickets and flyers from all of their different dates. He liked to look up and see small reminders of his time with Steve - they were like living memories that Eddie would probably keep forever. Their silly photos, those were just a couple extra cherries on the top.

He didn't notice until later that the snap of Steve kissing him on the cheek was missing. Eddie fiddled through all of the photos over and over again, looking for it to no avail. There were thoughts about leaving it behind or in Steve's car, but the other boy had been careful about handing all the pictures over. They were in a neat stack when Eddie took them from Steve. He toiled over whether to say something to his boyfriend, but Eddie finally shrugged it off. There were more than enough glamor shots of Steve to fill Eddie's empty wall space.

Eddie almost forgot about that picture, even. He got to get a glance of Steve in that cute leather hat each time Eddie got up from bed or walked back into his room. Even without that picture, the whole day was engrained in his memory. Eddie was certain he'd carry around those amazing hours spent together for the rest of his life. There was a weird feeling in the back of his head that said Eddie now had a story to tell their grandkids. Though, that was getting ahead of himself.

Getting into Steve's car a few weeks later to snag the kids, Eddie pulled down the sun visor and stopped in his tracks. There it was, that missing Polaroid. Steve had it delicately taped over the little mirror. In it, Eddie's face was lit up with his lips stretched wide in a blissfully happy smile. Steve's cheeks were red and that dumb hat he wore was skewed on his head from pulling Eddie close. They looked like they were in love and Steve's 'me + Eddie <3' written in his terrible chicken scratch further drove that fact home. No wonder Steve didn't want to give it up.

With a soft smile, Eddie reached up to press his fingers against that little drawn on heart. The best things in life were the little things and Steve, he innocently reminded Eddie of them time and time again.

Romantic Date Idea Prompts

[rainbowmess823]

Happy new year's eve bitches, enjoy.

----

Robin: *silently doodling on her shoes on the counter of Family Video*

Dustin: *Bursts in with a frown* YOU!

Robin: *looks up confused* me?

Dustin: *Marches up to her* YOU!

Robin: ...Ok you need to actually say more words for me to understand.

Dustin: El said you got your scar from a fight club you joined but then Will said you got it by mugging a mugger who tried to mug you.

Robin: Mhm.

Dustin: But you said you got it from fist fighting a bear!

Robin: I did.

Dustin: THATS NOT ALL! Max said you got it bcos you fell from a cliff, Mike thinks you're a gang member, Lucas and Erica said you ran away and became a lion tamer.

Robin: Yes, I did say those. What's your point here??

Dustin: HOW DID YOU GET YOUR SCAR?!

Robin: Wrestled a Crocodile.

Dustin: I DONT BELIEVE YOU!

Robin: *smirks* you sound like your mom.

Dustin: *confused noises* Mom asked you too???

Robin: No, not Claudia. Steve.

Dustin: *offended noises and storms out*

---

Mike: Did she tell you how?

Dustin: I walked in there with questions and I left confused, insulted, and without answers.

Lucas: So we're all wrong?

Max: You should've never sent in Dustin.

Dustin: *sighs* I'd be insulted if it wasn't true.

---

Max: *Walks in hours later* Rooooob.

Robin: Hey there, Red. Did you need something?

Max: The scar you have, you didn't get it falling of a cliff?

Robin: *chuckles* Kid, if you knew everything I did...well that's too long of a story to tell.

Max: What if I agree to mess with everyone?

Robin: No dice.

Max: What if I, specifically, mess with wheeler and Dustin?

Robin: *smirks* Now you got yourself a deal.

---

Max: *Walks up to Steve and Dustin with a grin* Hey, did Robin ever tell you guys about the time she stole a police's badge?

Dustin: *error screen*

Steve: I'm sorry, what?

Max: Yeah! Apparently she nicked the badge then used it to get free shit for like a whole day.

Steve: No, no, no! Robin is not a criminal or a felon, she is a clumsy lovable genius and I refuse to believe that she is a criminal who has not only stabbed a cop but stole a cop's badge to do shit. Nope. Nuh-uh. No sir.

Max: *smirks* I mean you can ask her about her scar on her side, that's how she got it.

Steve: *tears up* NO SHE DOESNT HAVE MORE SCARS NO.

----

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 8

Taglist: @gay-little-bitch @gay-stranger-things

[lesbianlovelanguage]

The Mummy AU: Billy as Rick, Steve as Evie, Robin as Jonathan

Hi nonny!!! Thank you so much for this prompt! It gave me an excuse to watch The Mummy again, which is never a bad thing to do heheh

So this is only one scene (also one of my favorite scenes) but I could easily be persuaded to write more! Like them actually on the boat, or literally any scene. 

----

“Step on over the threshold, and welcome to Cairo Prison, my humble home,” the old warden called out over his shoulder as he led a pair of siblings, Robin and Steve, into the courtyard. 

“I thought you said you got it from a dig in Thebes,” Steve whispered angrily at Robin. 

“Well, found at a dig in Thebes, taken out of a theive’s pockets, it’s all the same don’t you think?” Robin answered, looking up and batting her eyelashes, as if Steve had ever believed her to be an innocent and naive girl. 

“You lied to me,” he pouted.

“Yes, well, I lie to everyone, what would make you so special?”

“I’m your brother?”

“And that only makes it easier to trick you,” she retorted.

“I still can’t believe you stole it from a drunk at the tavern down the road.”

“Yes well, technically it’s called pickpocketing, but you’re right and he might be really angry, so maybe we should just be-“ she tried to turn around a leave, but all that got her was a snort and a dirty glare from the warden, who had led them across the bustling courtyard over to a cell in the middle of the block. 

“Now, what exactly is this man in prison for,” Steve asked the warden, or rather demanded of him, as his tone left no room for ignorance. 

“Well, this I do not know,” he replied. “When I heard you were coming, I asked Billy that myself.”

“And what did he say?” Steve prompted.

“He was just looking for a good time.” Before Steve or Robin could ask any further questions, the door at the back of the cell burst open and two muscular guards pushed out a beast of a man, who was dressed in ratty clothes and thick shackles around his wrists. His hair was a mess of blond curls that reached his shoulders and looked as if they hadn’t seen a comb in months, and he had dirt covering him in random patches from head to toe. 

The two guards threw him against the front bars closest to the awaiting trio, and when he hit the metal, he gripped on and bared his teeth before sliding down to his knees.

“This is the man you stole from?” Steve whispered to his sister.

“Yes, exactly, so why don’t we just go ba-”

“Who are you?” The man in question interrupted, “and who’s the fella?” 

Robin began to stutter, trying to spin some story about being missionaries before pushing Steve forward and introducing him.

“This is my brother, Stevie. And your name is, uh, Billy, correct?” 

“How do you do?” Steve muttered, trying not to completely forget his manners.

“Yeah. Well… I’m sure he’s not a total loss,” the prisoner said as he looked Steve up and down. Now, Steve was no stranger to others looking down on him, especially after he chose to live a more domestic and ‘feminine’ lifestyle, but the absolute nerve of a person in shackles to judge him?

“I beg your pardon?” He said as he took a step closer to the cell bars. Shouting from the guards behind them broke the tension, and Steve took a deep breath. “We’ve, uh. We’ve found your puzzle box?” Steve said, unsure of what to call the strange hexagonal box Robin had picked up from Billy. “We’ve come to ask you about it.”

Billy shook his head quickly. “No.” 

Steve felt his face fall as he repeated back, “No?”

“Yeah, no. You came to ask me about Hamunaptra,” he said with a surprising amount of surety. Steve and Robin both looked first at each other and then at the guards to make sure no one had overheard, but the guards seemed more interested in something happening across the yard to pay them any attention.

“How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?” Steve asked, stepping even closer to the bars.

Billy gave him a flat look. “Because that’s where I was when I found it. I was there.” 

Robin pushed past Steve to get up in Billy’s face. “And how do we know that’s not a load of pig’s swallow?” With Robin’s closer proximity though, a flash of recognition crossed Billy’s face and he pointed at her.

“Do I know you?” Robin sputtered, trying to deny the fact that she had been the one to seduce and steal from him. She didn’t get very far before he reached through the bars and tugged on Robin’s hair hard enough for her to hit the bars. She hit the floor, and one of the guard’s batons hit him across the shoulders. Steve glanced at his sister, checking for any actual damage, before stepping over her and kneeling down in front of him. 

“You were actually at Hamunaptra?” Billy smiled, a feral thing that was all teeth, as he nodded.

“Yeah, I was there.” 

“You swear?”

“Yeah, I was there. Seti’s place,” he pulled back and began to wave his hands around, “The City of The Dead.” His tone was mocking, but Steve could only feel excitement bubble up.

“What did you find? What did you see?” 

Billy gave him a blank stare, and then blinked. “I found sand. I saw death.” 

“Could you, could you tell me how to get there?” He simply blinked at him again, and then the warden started yelling in rapid arabic. At the reminder that they weren’t alone, Steve leaned even closer. “I mean, could you tell me the exact location?” 

Billy smirked and leaned forward. “You want to know?” Steve nodded. “Yes.”

“You really want to know?” They both leaned closer, Steve not wanting to miss a single word.

“Yes.” But instead of telling him where the lost, ancient city was, Billy pushed his hand through the bars and gripped the back of Steve’s head tightly. He pushed him forward and kissed him, full force, a harsh and violent kiss unlike any woman Steve had ever kissed. It was as thrilling as it was mortifying, and that little seed of excitement and lust made him push against the man.

“Then get me the hell out of here,” he whispered harshly before the two guards lifted him up by the shoulders and dragged him out of the cell. Steve sat there dazed for a moment, and then looked up at the warden who had led them over to the cell.

“Where are they taking him?” 

“To be hanged.”

The Hanging 

It had seemed that hanging someone was an exciting event in Cairo Prison, as Steve and Robin witnessed hundreds of other prisoners fill the cells surrounding the courtyard and begin to hoot and holler, as if they had been at a sporting event instead of a hanging. 

Steve tried to suppress a shudder when he laid eyes upon the gallows sat deadcenter of the courtyard, rope swaying in the light breeze. He left Robin down below and followed the warden up to a small balcony overlooking the gallows. He turned and looked him up and down.

“No visitors allowed.” 

“I am an Englishman,” Steve said, attempting to pull out his haughtiest tone, as if being English meant anything here. The warden shrugged and sat down in one of the two chairs. Steve made his way over to the other chair as Billy was brought out. They made brief eye contact before Steve turned towards the warden.

“I will give you one hundred pounds to spare his life.” The warden blinked at him, and then began to chuckle.

“I would pay one hundred pounds just to see him hang.” 

“Two hundred pounds,” Steve countered, feeling a little desperate. The warden continued to chuckle as he turned forward.

“Proceed!” He shouted across the courtyard. This sent the prisoners who were sat watching into another frenzy of screaming, banging on the bars and trying to spit on Billy. 

“Three hundred pounds,” Steve tried again, shouting over the commotion.

The warden ignores him, waving a hand to the hangman. 

Steve heard the man as if in a dream asking Billy if he had any last requests, and Billy gave some smart remark. 

“Five hundred pounds!” Steve tried one final time. The warden turns and gives him a lecherous smile.

“And what else? Saw you kissing the man down there, fairy like you would be interesting.” Steve’s eyes widened as he registered exactly what the warden had been implying, before scoffing and turning away. The warden’s face twisted in anger at the rejection and he quickly gestured for the hangman to proceed. Steve could do nothing as he watched the trapdoor beneath Billy swing open and the rope drop before jerking taught. 

Steve looked away, so he didn’t realize exactly what had happened until he heard the warden cry out.

“His neck did not break! Now we watch him strangle to death!” Steve whipped his head around and watched as Billy struggled and flailed at the bottom of the rope. This was even worse than watching him hang, Steve thought. Realization dawned on him then, exactly what would make the warden stop.

Steve leaned over and whispered in the warden’s ear, “He knows the location of Hamunaptra.” The warden spun around from where he had been watching Billy suffocating and squinted at Steve.

“You lie,” he said.

Steve gasped. “I would never!” 

“Are you saying this filthy, godless son of a pig knows where to find The City of The Dead? Truly?” The warden asked, still staring intently at Steve, searching for any sign of deceit. 

“Yes, and if you cut him down, we will give you… ten percent of the treasures found.” 

“Fifty percent,” the warden bargained. 

“Twenty.”

“Fourty.”

“Thirty.”

“Twenty-five,” the warden said, and before he realized what he had done, Steve was nodding and shaking the man’s hand. 

“Twenty-five it is.” The warden grimaced, but slowly turned around and began to yell in Arabic down to the hangman. A scimitar slashed through the rope, and Billy fell to the ground, gagging and gasping for air. They briefly made eye contact once again, and Steve saw the first glimpse of genuine emotion flash across Billy’s face. Gratitude and relief. 

The Next Morning

The next day saw Steve and Robin standing on the pier, waiting for Billy to arrive so they could begin their journey to Hamunaptra.

“Do you really think he’ll show up?” Steve asked, trying to ignore his nerves.

“Undoubtedly,” Robin said. “I know his type, and while he may be an asshole, his word is his word.” 

“Personally, I think he’s more than an asshole. He’s filthy, rude, and a complete scoundrel! I don’t like him one bit,” Steve huffed, crossing his arms. Robin gave a knowing smirk and then leaned in close to her brother.

“You’re just mad because he kissed you, and you don’t know if it was real or fake.” Steve whipped around, ready to sock his sister, punching a lady be damned, when instead he laid eyes on Billy.

Except, it wasn’t the same Billy they had seen just the day before. Gone was the beast of a man with unkempt hair and a scraggly beard. Instead, Steve was faced with a well-dressed man, who’s hair had been cut to frame his face and show off his stunning blue eyes. 

Steve was speechless.

[lacrymosadiesilla]

OKAY OKAY RONANCE THREE WORDS: soulmate, fire, and dark. i live using those in my fics djdjjsjdj.

Ahhhh finally did this, sorry it took me so long!! I had my wisdom teeth out on Friday and the world has just kinda been a painful blur since adfdfsafd

That being said, please know that this isn’t my best work, especially near the end. Thank you so much for the request, I’m sorry I didn’t exactly do it justice!

Words: 1473

Synopsis: Robin, Nancy, and Steve have a conversation about soulmates while having a bonfire at Nancy’s house.

Darkness lay like a blanket over the sky, dappled by starlight and decorated by a bright full moon. Looking up from the Wheeler’s back yard, however, the lovely heavens would be obscured by a layer of smoke. Following the gray trail, it led to a small fire built in a pit, three chairs pulled around it. In each chair sat a teen, slumped to various degrees as they drank beer from cans and passed around a bag of chips. They weren’t talking, each separately enveloped in their own thoughts as they stared, entranced, into the flames.It was Nancy who finally broke the silence, one of her thoughts managing to escape her lips before she could think to stop it. “Do you guys believe in soulmates?”Steve looked up from his semi-buzzed stupor, cocking an eyebrow. “If you’re thinking about Byers, you’d better stop that,” he warned. “No one’s allowed to be sad tonight.”Nancy shook her head. “I’m not,” she argued lightly. And it was true; Her ex-boyfriend hadn’t even crossed her mind until that moment. Since the Byers family had moved away, she’d had little contact with him. At first she had been sad, losing someone who had meant so much to her, and maybe she was still a little sad, but the hurt was a lot less intense since she had started hanging out with Steve and his new friend, Robin. “It’s just a random question,” she said after a second. “You guys don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”“Well, you haven’t given enough information to answer the question in the first place,” Robin chimed in. “What’s your definition of ‘soulmate’?”Shifting slightly in her seat, Nancy let her gaze fall onto Robin. She had barely known that she existed until she had come into Steve’s life, but now she was one of her only remaining friends. After Barb’s death, she had fallen out of contact with most of the people she had spent time with before. She just couldn’t relate to them anymore. But Steve and Robin, they knew about everything that had happened, and even if they didn’t talk about it, they could see through the same lens that she did.“I don’t know,” she admitted finally. “Let’s say… a soulmate is someone that you’re supposed to spend the rest of your life with. It’s like, decided by the universe or something.”“Does it have to be like a 'love at first sight’ type deal?” Steve inquired, sitting forward a little bit. Apparently, he had decided to participate in the conversation, now that the other two were getting into it.Nancy shook her head. “No,” she said decisively. “You can know your soulmate for a long time without knowing that you’re meant for each other. That’s what I think, anyways.”“Well then, yeah,” Robin said, nodding. “If that’s what a soulmate is, then I definitely believe in soulmates. It’d be pretty pessimistic not to.”Nancy liked that answer. She nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think so, too.”Steve nodded, too, then glanced through the flames at Nancy. “Why do you bring it up?” he asked.“I don’t know,” she replied, shrugging. “It’s just an interesting topic, I guess.” She paused for a second, thinking. “I don’t think Jonathan was my soulmate,” she said after a moment. “I know I loved him, but I don’t think we were bound by the universe or anything like that.”“I thought you weren’t thinking about him,” Steve chided.Nancy shrugged. “You brought him up,” she reminded him. “Besides, it’s not like I’m moping. I just said that he wasn’t my soulmate. So maybe it’s a good thing that things didn’t work out. I might have spent the rest of my life with him if he hadn’t moved away, and that could have kept me from meeting the person I was really supposed to be with. He and I didn’t really hang out with anyone but each other while we were together.”Robin wrinkled her nose a bit. “That doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship,” she said. She hadn’t gotten the chance to really get to know Jonathan before he moved, so her only opinions of him were formed by what she heard Nancy or Steve say.Glancing at her, Nancy shrugged again. “Maybe not,” she agreed. “He’s great, but we were pretty reliant on each other.”Steve cut in. “Do you think you’ve met your soulmate?” he asked, perhaps a little too meaningfully.“Like I said, I think you can meet your soulmate without even knowing,” Nancy replied. “So maybe.” She paused, then cracked a tight-lipped smile. “But I know it’s not you, Steve. We tried that already, it was bullshit, remember?”Steve feigned a cringe at the word 'bullshit’, but he was smiling. They were well past that moment, it only came up in jokes at that point. Robin chuckled lowly, having already been filled in on what they were talking about.Nancy sat back a bit as the trio lapsed back into silence. The truth was, she did have a reason for bringing up the soulmate question. Maybe Steve wasn’t her soulmate, but that person may have been in attendance that night. She stole a sneaky glance at Robin. It had taken her far too long to realize how she felt about the girl, mostly because she had been too caught up on Jonathan when they first met, and partially because she hadn’t realized that she could feel that way about a girl. But now that they had become closer, it was clear that there was something between them. At least, there was on Nancy’s end. She didn’t know how Robin felt. At that thought, she lifted her beer to her lips and took a long gulp.Perhaps too long a gulp, because when she tipped the empty can back down, she found that her companions were staring at her. “You good, Wheeler?” Robin asked, cocking an eyebrow.“Yeah,” Nancy replied awkwardly. “Just thirsty. I’m gonna go in and grab some water.” Slowly, she rose from her seat and made her way to the back door. The beer had gone to her head, and her path wavered slightly, but she easily made it. In the kitchen, she took a cup from the cabinet and filled it with tap water, then drank it down thirstily. She refilled it, repeating this a few more times. When she turned to go back outside, she was startled to see Robin standing behind her.“Oh, hey,” she said, taking a little step back to add a little distance between them. As she did, however, Robin took a step forward to maintain closeness. “Did you need water, too?”Robin shook her head, looking about as uncomfortable as Nancy felt. “No, uh… Steve said I should talk to you.”Nancy blinked slowly. “About what?” she asked innocently. “I swear I’m not, like, down or anything, I don’t need to be talked up.”“Nah, nothing like that,” Robin said. “Listen, it’s probably stupid, but…”“But?”“He - uh - he thinks you like me? Because you brought up soulmates or whatever, and you were staring at me the whole time, and-”Had she been staring? Shit, she hadn’t even noticed. “Oh,” she replied lamely. “Sorry about that.”Robin raised an eyebrow. “Why are you sorry?” she asked, tipping her head. “It’s not, like, a bad thing.”“It’s not?”Letting out a breath, Robin leaned against the counter beside them. “No, it’s not,” she replied quietly. “I don’t know, Wheeler. Maybe the reason I realized that you were staring is because… I was kinda… staring back?”Nancy wasn’t dumb, she knew what that meant. Her eyes widened a bit as her gaze fixed on the woman in front of her. “Oh,” she said again, her voice catching in her throat. “So…”Robin pursed her lips together in a half-smile. “…Yeah.”Silent for a long while, Nancy studied her face. Part of her wanted to lean in and kiss her right then, but… “I’m kinda drunk,” she declared, almost apologetically.Unable to stop herself, Robin let out a little laugh, shaking her head. “You really can’t handle your beer, huh?” she teased. “That’s okay. We’ll - uh - talk about it tomorrow when you’re sober, I guess?” She stopped for a second, then gently put a hand on Nancy’s shoulder, guiding her back towards the door. “Come on, Steve’ll get the wrong idea if we don’t get back out there.”Nancy hesitated, not really caring what idea Steve got, wrong or right, but eventually gave in and let herself be led back outside. She didn’t bring up soulmates or anything of the sort for the rest of the night, but she caught herself staring at Robin anyways. Only this time, she was actually aware that the other girl was staring back.

[intothestarkerverse]

Time of Our Lives (Part Nine)

Based on a prompt from @geekymarvel  

Peter is tasked with an important mission that requires him to go back in time.   Finding himself at a gala for Stark industries in the 1990’s, he comes face to face with a young and incorrigible Tony Stark who considers Peter’s attempts to deny his advances a challenge.  Now, dogged by a horny young CEO who won’t take no for an answer, Peter’s task has become much more difficult….

(STORY CONTAINS ENDGAME SPOILERS)

Read on AO3

At first, Tony did not interrupt.  He wanted to commit every detail to memory, determined to learn where his future self had made mistakes and thereby avoid them completely.  He sat in stoic silence as Peter described everything he knew about Tony Stark’s life leading up to his capture by the Ten Rings and torture in Afghanistan.  It was a little sobering to hear Peter describing a lifestyle that was not entirely dissimilar to the one he’d been living right up to the gala where he’d first encountered Peter.  For some reason, he didn’t feel the same level of pride he used to feel at the use of the word ‘playboy’, and though Peter didn’t actually call him a jerk…because the kid would never, Tony got the distinct impression that everyone else in his life would probably choose that word first.

 Tony’s expression grew grim, darker and darker by degrees as Peter described his capture, his injury, and the operation performed by Yinsen to save him.  He found himself absently running a hand over his breast bone, flinching at the thought of the cavity that peter was describing, the small arc reactor.  Brow furrowed, leaning forward across the bed with a new intensity, he drank up the description of that first suit.  He had to bite back a grin at the thought and remind himself that he needed to hear the rest of his future before he ran off to the lab to try to duplicate the armor Peter was describing.  

It was good, really, that Peter had been such a huge fan of Tony Stark since he was a child.  He knew much more about Tony’s life than the average person from the 21st Century would have.  It made that familiar flare of jealousy flash through him, clenching his heart and making his throat feel obstructed.  He had to remind himself that the Old Man had just been training wheels to get him ready for the real deal.  He had pure, unadulterated Tony Stark now.  He didn’t need the old, watered down version anymore.

The betrayal of Obadiah Stane hit Tony like a physical blow, leaving him breathless and pale and clasping his hands into fists in his lap.  Sure, maybe Tony had depended on him just a little too much when it came to Stark Industries…apparently if he was going to be helping with the day to day operations all the way into the 21st century.  It was everything Tony could do not to immediately have the man removed from Stark Industries and detained for whatever crime he could prove and any he could frame him for…because he was guilty.  If not now, he would be soon enough.  At the moment, though, he wanted to hear more about his future than he wanted to put a stop to Stane.  For now.

The interruptions began with the birth of Iron Man.  Tony began to ask questions about the suit, about the heavy metal poisoning, about the Old Man’s escapades, his upgrades, and his enemies.  He was annoyed at the reappearance of Captain America.  “Oh, God, really?  That guy didn’t die, after all?  Too bad dear old dad bit the big one before he got to see Steve Rogers back from the dead.  He had such a hard-on for that guy.  I personally don’t see it.”

“Oh yeah, you’d never go for a super-powered goody-two-shoes on a mission to save the world, huh?”  Peter’s sarcasm was laced with a fair amount of self awareness that made the whole thing amusingly ironic.

Tony just scowled back at him.  “Please, Captain America is boring, and you, Beautiful, are anything but.  Now, back to the bedtime story, you little brat.”

The Avengers and the Battle of New York drew more interruptions.  Tony was a bit confused at the mention of Norse Gods and Incredible Hulks and, “21st Century Robin Hood sounds very counter-productive.  You really telling me he didn’t die on the first mission cause…that’s the most surprising thing you’ve told me so far.”

“Mr. Barton is pretty cool, Tony.  I mean…I don’t get the bow and arrow thing either, but it works for him.  And he’s got a sword now, which is also cool…”

“I don’t know if a sword is an evolution or a devolution, honestly.”

The wormhole drew a long sigh from Tony’s lips.  He pressed his fingers hard against his closed eyes and shook his head slowly.  “So, the Old Man…He just…I mean I get it.  I really didn’t know I had a latent Messiah complex, but I get it.  But that…that’s not where he died, huh?  Cause I didn’t hear any mention of you in that story.  Which means the Messiah Complex is an ongoing thing.  I blame Howard and the Captain America lectures.  I put no stock in psychology, but if I did…yeah, totally Howard’s fault.”

Peter just shook his head grimly and plunged on.  Extremis perked Tony’s interest more than it appeared Peter liked.  The kid seemed to be trying his damnedest to gloss over it…though those efforts were in vain.  Tony would be revisiting that particular piece of technology at some point very soon.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”  Tony’s exasperation was palpable.  “You’re telling me he blew up all of the Iron Man suits for the girl?  Seriously?”

“He loved Ms. Potts.”

“Well, if Ms. Potts loved him she’d have accepted that the Iron Man thing was important to him.”

“It’s not like it lasted long, Mr. Stark rebuilt them…”

“Good.”

Ultron drew a string of curses, all of them directed at his older self.  “I mean, sure, the concept sounds valid enough…but clearly the Old Man had forgotten all of the Asimov he’d devoured as a kid.  Basic Science Fiction folly, right there.”  Old Age was going to make him stupid.  Well, not stupid.  No matter what, no iteration of Tony Stark could or would ever be stupid…but he could definitely lose a few IQ points.

The Accords and ‘Civil War’ had Tony once more sitting in silence.  “Okay, it’s not that I don’t get it.  Cause I do.  If it were you…I’d do the same damn thing he did for the Winter Soldier guy…but…pretending that it was about the Accords and the world government so he could get the other goody-goody’s on his side…that’s the kind of self-righteous idiocy I honestly expect from that guy.  That they were all too stupid to see through it is really disappointing, honestly.  I hate that he’s every bit as holier than though as I always thought he was.  Ugh.  To fracture the Avengers just so he can save his friend…that’s so selfish that even I’m calling bullshit and you know it has to be bad, then right?  Why does the world think this guy is so awesome, again?  Ugh.  I’ve never even met him and I hate him.”

“He’s not that bad…”

“No, he’s worse.  Keep going, though.”

He sat up a little straighter when Peter entered the story.  Lips twitching in a smile at their first meeting, at the account of the battle on the tarmac.  “Ha!  You stole Captain America’s shield?  Kid, if I didn’t already love you…I’d sure as shit love you now.  The only thing I regret from the last six months is not seeing you kick more ass.  Honestly, Sweetheart, you’re a fucking bad ass and I find it so damn sexy.  When all of this is said and done, I’m going to figure out that Old Man’s armor and we’re going to have some fun making this world a safer place…cause I have got to watch you work.”

Peter turned a dozen shades of crimson, but his smile was very pleased.  “I’d like that.”

But first, they had to continue with the future history lesson.  Tony’s good humor was forgotten as Peter continued to tell his tale.  He gave the kid credit, though, he didn’t mince any words in the telling.

“So you had an entire fucking building dropped on you and fought some whack job on a moving plane in a pair of sweats because the Old Man was teaching you a lesson?  About what?  Responsibility?  That’s a riot.  You’re the most responsible person I’ve ever met.  Maybe if he didn’t have his head up his ass, ignoring your calls, sending you to middle management…Peter, seriously, the future is fucked.  I am not going to become this guy.  I don’t even think I like him.”

“I don’t think Mr. Stark liked himself very much, either, to be honest…so that actually…kind of makes sense.  But, you know, you’re not being fair to him.  He made a lot of mistakes, but he did a lot of things right, too.  Having a building dropped on me sucked, but it taught me a lot.  It was a lesson I needed to learn, honestly.”

“If you say so…”

“I do.  I do say so.”

They had to take a break before Peter delved into their trip to space and battle on Titan.  Tony poured him a glass of scotch that he sipped in silence whenever the story became too much for him.  Tony didn’t say a word at all until Peter haltingly described what it was like to vanish. Tony could do absolutely nothing to keep the tears from falling.  The idea of losing Peter was the worst thing he could think of, and though he didn’t much care for the Old Man or his methods…he knew that some part of him clearly cared for the kid.  Watching him vanish…that had to be soul shattering.  “The future is fucked, Peter, because I’m not letting any of this happen to you.  None of it.”  The promises were spoken through gritted teeth, a vein in his throat bulging at the sheer intensity of his determination.

Peter just gave a sad smile, “Too late.  Already happened.  Even if we change the future…I don’t think you can get rid of my memories, Tony.  Besides, if it hadn’t been me than it would have been someone else…maybe someone with kids or something.  I didn’t…I didn’t miss a lot when I was blipped out of existence.  May and MJ and Ned, they all blipped too.  Other people…they probably missed a lot,or they would have.  I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t want to stay if it meant someone else had to go in my place.”

“God, kid, forget too good for me, you’re too fucking good for this world.”  God, he loved the way Peter blushed when he got the compliment just right…

It was Peter’s turn to cry as he recounted what happened to the Old Man in the five years that Peter missed, about his marriage to Ms. Potts and his daughter, about the invention of time travel and the hunt for the stones, about Peter’s return and the final battle against Thanos.  “I’ve never…talked about this with anyone.  May tried to get me to…and Happy…but I just…they wouldn’t understand.”

By the end, Peter was on Tony’s lap, tucked against his chest, head resting on his shoulder as he cried and Tony whispered soothing words in his ear.  “It’s okay, Baby.  You can cry if you want to.  Long as you want to.  Cry.  Scream.  Whatever makes you feel better.  I got you.”  

“Still think I’m a bad ass?”  Peter’s voice was stuffy and muffled against his chest, but Tony heard him clearly enough.

“You’re the toughest, bravest, most amazing person, Peter.  So good.  Best person I’ve ever known.  Dad always thought Steve Rogers was the best a man could be, but that was because he never met you.  Steve Rogers volunteered for everything that was done to him.  He signed up for it.  You?  You had it thrust on you, accepted all of this responsibility that should have never been put on you…and you just carried it.  Gracefully.  You’re the definition of the word hero, Peter Parker.”

Peter let out a muffled laugh that turned into a sob that devolved into him clinging to Tony like his life depended on it.

Gently stroking a hand through the boy’s curls, Tony continued to whisper into his hair.  “The Old Man needed to be tortured and almost killed to want to become Iron Man, but all I needed to do was meet you.  You understand that, Beautiful?  The future, my future, is going to be better because you’re in it.  You’re the missing piece.  My missing piece.  Honestly, I feel sorry for the Old Man.  He had to go through his entire life never knowing what it felt like to be whole…”

—

Work continued on the Nullifier.  Tony was right, for once they did appear to be making headway.  After two more months of intense work. Two months of Tony secretly trying to compose a plan to keep the two of them together despite whatever these Stones might do to rip them apart.  Two months of Tony sketching plans for that armor whenever he thought Peter wasn’t paying close attention to him.  Two months of them savoring every moment together as they both secretly believed that it might be their last.  When the final simulations came back successful, there was nothing to do but stand in front of the computer and let the realization soak in.

“So that’s it.  We…fixed it.”

Tony gave the boy a sidelong glance, noting that he had not even attempted to hide his disappointment about that.  “Guess so.”

“So…it’s probably over, then.  Tonight…he’ll probably come and he’ll…take me away.”  Peter had his arms wrapped around his stomach, his tone grim, his face pale.  The sight was like a dagger to Tony’s heart.

“Hey,”  He turned around, tugging Peter closer and embracing him tightly.  “What did I tell you, Beautiful?”

“You’re gonna fight…”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course, but…”

“Nope,”  He tilted Peter’s head up for a kiss.  “If you trust me, then trust me.”

“Do you…do you have a plan?”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“So, no, you don’t.”

Tony just chuckled, “Baby, my plan is to stay with you, okay?  Don’t know how I’m going to do that yet, but I will.  When opportunity presents itself, I will.  We just fixed a machine that should have never worked, Kid.  We did something I thought was impossible six months ago.  Next to that…defying all of space and time to be together is going to be a cake walk.  Promise.”

But that night, when the two men were finally able to drift off to sleep, it was not Peter who found himself face to face with Tony Stark and the Infinity Stones.  

Not Peter at all.

There was no mistaking him.  It was like looking in a mirror.  An older, but no less attractive reflection of his own face staring back at him.  With a grimace of righteous fury, Tony charged the distance between them and threw a mean right hook directly into the other man’s face.  Too bad it was a dream and he wasn’t real, because there was nothing Tony wanted to see more than a black eye on that old, handsome face.

“What kind of sadomasochistic bullshit is this, Old Man?  Was this your plan all along?  You put the kid right in my fucking path.  Line of sight.  I couldn’t miss him, even if I wanted to.  And you knew!  You knew he had a thing for you all those years, you knew I wouldn’t be able to fucking resist that beautiful, perfect boy.  You determined to finally get to fuck the kid one way or another?  Was that plan?  Well guess what?  You monumentally fucked up…which, given your history is par for the fucking course with you, isn’t it?  Cause I love that kid.  I didn’t want to.  I tried not to.  But I love him.  For Peter…to keep him, I’d do anything.  I will do anything.  You and your fucking magical stones don’t have to give me a happy ending with him because I’m going to fucking take it myself and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Are you done?”  God, was it possible to hate even the sound of your own voice?  Tony scowled at the older man, at the sarcasm and the irreverence in his tone.

“You’re a piece of shit, Old Man.”

“Yes, I am.”

“I hate you.”

“Self hatred is nothing new to us, Kid.  You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Except I won’t, because I’m never becoming you.”

“We’ll see.”  The Old Man crossed his arms, eyebrow cocked, waiting in the silence.  When Tony didn’t venture to fill it with anymore bile, he continued.  “The Nullifier is done, so now we need to use it.  Peter can’t do that alone.  It’s too dangerous.  He’s going to need back up.”  As Tony inhaled, the Old Man held up a hand to silence him.  “Let me finish.  He needs back up, and while I know you think you can be that back up…you can’t.  You’re not Iron Man, yet.  You’re not Earth’s Greatest Defender, yet.  You haven’t fought aliens, yet, and me…I’ve done all of those things.  I am all of those things.  So, you’re going to let me hijack your body for a field trip to the Heart of the Universe.  That way, the Nullifier can be activated, the universe can be saved, and Peter doesn’t have to die in the process.  Everyone wins.”

“Like hell!  I’ve seen how possession works, Old Man, and I’m not letting you anywhere near me…”

“Than Peter is going to die.”

“What…”

A simple shrug of the shoulders and Tony was exercising a conscious effort not to slug him again.  “He does this alone and he dies.  Simple as that.  No way he can do this and come out the other side unless he has me at his back.  You can’t use the armor yet.  You don’t know how any of it works and REM is not enough time to teach you.”

“I can…”

“You can’t.  Believe me.  You can’t.  So what’s it going to be, Kid?  We’re running short on time here.”

Tony stood in silence, mind spinning.  His options did appear to be severely limited, but it was possible…however unlikely, that this was his chance to do the very thing he’d promised Peter he’d do.  Outsmarting his older self seemed incredibly unlikely, and from the look in the older man’s eye, there was already a great deal of suspicion between the two of them.  Wouldn’t a shrink have a hay day with that?  Maybe Tony had more issues than he thought he did?  Soft science or not, a therapist might not be a bad thing if he wanted to avoid becoming just like the Old Man in a few decades…  “All right, but I have two conditions.  No negotiations.  I want to remain fully aware and sentient to everything happening around us, complete access to you and what you’re thinking,…and I want a manual override.  Just one.  So that if at any point I feel like you’re doing something that could get us fucking killed, cause let’s face it…you’re really good at that, than I get to take over and exercise self preservation.”

The Old Man narrowed one eye.  “Don’t do something stupid, Kid.  You were never meant to meet him.  I gave you a gift…”

“You get to keep gifts.”

“Well, you don’t get to keep Peter.  He has a life.  He has a future.  Neither one of those involve us.  I’ll give you your awareness and your one manual override, but it won’t do any good.  When this is all said and done, you’re going to end up exactly where you belong and that’s not with Peter Parker.  You’re right, I did fuck up, I didn’t expect you to fall for him.  I thought you were too much of a self-obsessed asshole.  My mistake.  But Peter is going to back to 2023 and he’s going to become a hell of a hero without us.  Either one of us.  Keeping him with you in 1992 is not an option.  People need him…and in the future, you need to die.  It’s literally the only way there is a future.  It’s you against me.  You against the Stones.  You against the Universe.  This is one battle you’re going to lose, Kid.”

“We’ll see.  I’m not giving up just because you tell me to, Old Man.  I’m Tony Fucking Stark, and nobody tells me what I can and cannot do…not even Tony Fucking Stark.”  Because the Old Man had given him an idea.  Without knowing it, midst his self-righteous sass, he had given Tony the answer to the problem.  He’d been looking at things all wrong.  The Old Man was right about a lot of things, and that just meant Tony was looking at this the wrong way.  With a new outlook on the equation, the answer didn’t seem quite as hopeless.  What was it Peter had said to his parents, something about things only being impossible when you stop believing their possible.  

He knew what he had to do now.

He just had to figure out how the hell to do it.

—

Peter stirred in the bed, frowning in his sleep as his hands slipped across the silk sheets in search of the body he was now so used to finding himself tucked alongside in the morning.  When he encountered nothing but cold, empty bed, he forced his eyes open and peered around the room blearily.  When he spotted the figure in the chair beside the window, his frown only deepened and he pushed himself into a half-seated position, now fully awake.  “Tony?”

“Morning, Kid.”

Peter felt a chill prickle down his spine and he instinctively reached to pull the sheet up higher on his chest.  “Mr. Stark?”  There was no hiding the wariness in his tone.

“Gotta say, Underoos, I much prefer the last greeting to this one.”

“Lot’s happened since then.”  Peter’s gaze shifted to the floor beside the bed and he reached out to scoop up Tony’s shirt where it had been haphazardly discarded the night before in the throes of passion.  He felt better once he’d slipped it on.  A pair of boxers were scavenged from the floor as well and after contorting a little under the sheets, he no longer felt completely vulnerable in his mentor’s presence.  “How are you doing this?  How are you in Tony’s body?  What are you…what are you planning?”

“Baby Stark and I came to an agreement.  You need my help to finish this.  Neither one of us want you dead, and since you can’t do it without me…here we are.”  He made a half-hearted gesture to body he now inhabited.  Peter still looked pensive, regarding the man with more than his fair share of mistrust.  

“What…what are we going to do now?”

“Deliver the Nullifier to the Heart of Universe and reconstitute the Stones before the universe ends.”

“Wouldn’t you be better off with someone who’s good at space stuff like Starlord..”

“That guy’s a jackass.”

“Yeah, but he knows space ships and space and aliens…”

“You’re the only one I trust, Kid.  It’s you, or no one.”

Peter could no longer say the same.  He let out his breath in a little huff and nodded slowly.  “Okay…so…why can’t I do this alone?”

“The Heart of the Universe is a dangerous place.  It’s where the Infinity Stones were created, where life and the universe began.”

“The Big Bang?”

Mr. Stark nodded solemnly.  “We don’t do this just the right way…the energy from the Stones manages to pierce the Heart of the Universe and what we get is the opposite of the Big Bang.  Universe is over.”

Peter grimaced, “Than why are we using the Nullifier there…”

“Because the energy is almost there…and the space station is the best place to work from…”

“Space station…”

“The Heart of the Universe was discovered thousands of years ago by a race of aliens who called themselves the Celestial Order.  They constructed an entire civilization around it’s containment field and spent the last several millenia trying to harness it’s power so that they could force peace upon the universe and dispose of chaos once and for all.  They never succeeded in breaching the containment field…which is good for us, because they could have done some serious damage to the universe if they had.”

“Peace doesn’t sound so bad.”

Mr. Stark could only give a wry chuckle.  “It never stops at peace, Pete.  People always have good intentions, but they always end up giving in to selfish desires…”

“Kinda like you?”

“What did you just say to me, Kid?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, it’s just that…there had to be a better way.  Putting me here with him…you had to know how I felt about you.  You had to know how I’d feel about him.  I just…it’s not fair, is it?  Because now I have to decide and, Mr. Stark, I have decided.  Hard as it is.  I’m staying here.  With Tony.”

“Like Hell you are.  What about May and Ned, hmm?  How are they going to feel if you don’t come home?”

“I’ll come home.  I mean, I won’t be dead in 2023, will I?  I’d just be…well, I’d be a lot older, but I wouldn’t be dead.”  Peter had given this a lot of serious thought.  He knew what he wanted and he didn’t intend to take no for an answer…

“And the future?  If you’re here with him through all of that the future is fucked.”

“The future is already messed up, Mr. Stark.  Tony’s already so much different than you…”

“Is that so?  You really think you can change me that much, Peter?”  His laughter was actually bitter now.  “And what about Morgan?”

That had Peter lapsing into uncomfortable silence.  “I…I don’t know…”  He’d tried very hard not to think about her, because he couldn’t bear the thought of her not existing and for her to exist…

“You’re going back where you belong, Peter.  Back to the future.  Whether you like it or not.  You don’t get a say in this.  It isn’t a choice you get to make.  You don’t belong here.  You don’t get to be in his life because you were never supposed to be…”

“Than why did you put me here?  What good is it going to do to put me back when Tony has already changed?”

“Because Baby Stark won’t have changed, Peter.  Not when everything is said and done.  As soon as the Stones are reconfigured, as soon as they’ve been properly hidden, they’re going to enact a latent protocol I put into place to make sure the future remains unaffected.  The Tony Stark of 1992 is going to have his memory wiped, him and anyone else you had contact with that could alter the course of the future.  To Baby Stark, the last six months will have been a blur of sex and drugs and nothing else.  When he meets you recruiting for Germany, he’ll have no memory of ever seeing you before.  Jarvis, Fury, Happy…no memories of you that could alter the future.  It’s like you were never here at all.”

Peter felt as if he had been punched in the gut.  He struggled to catch his breath, bracing his elbows against his knees and resting his head in his hands.  He didn’t even realize he was crying until he felt a hand on his shoulder.  Jerking away from the touch, he shot an angry glare at the man.  “You don’t get to touch me.  Not looking like that.  Not after what you said you’re going to do.”

“I fuck things up, Kid, that’s what I do.”

“You know, I never really believed that until now.”

[thepowerofwritting]

Crazy Train

Pairing: platonic!Steve and Robin 

Word Count: 936

A/N: Hi! I got brave enough to do one of these! I had the idea and I felt like it needed to be shared with the world because I! love! this friendship! I also want to clarify that I DO NOT SHIP THEM and I apologize if I accidentally tag them like that. I’m new at this. Also, none of the Stranger Things characters or settings are mine, neither is the song or the gif. Leave something on my messy blog if you like it!

With the summer months coming to a close, Family Video in Hawkins, Indiana was getting rather dull. The August heat seemed to get worse by the minute, but it seemed the town wanted to enjoy the last month of the summer. This, however, was not the case for Steve and Robin. Both were determined to keep their jobs after “The Battle of Starcourt”, and they both wanted to save enough money for other options in their young lives (community college or otherwise). 

Steve decided to start taking earlier shifts to accommodate his “parental” role in a group of children's lives since it actually began to pay from time to time. Naturally, Robin followed suit. It’s something she isn’t terribly fond of since she hated waking up in the morning when she was in high school, but Steve had made sure to get a coffee pot just for her. 

Robin also suggested getting a radio for the store to fill up the quiet lapses in their shifts. Steve jumped at the idea since he was tired of Robin playing the same movies on the background of one T.V. while they restocked and waited for customers. 

The radio wasn’t much, but it picked up a few local stations that Robin deemed worthy of listening to. It was an annoying shade of blue that Robin found absolutely hilarious, and naturally, Steve did too. The pair even gave it a pet name, (It was Carl). A college radio station from Purdue was in range, and that’s what was played every morning ever since. 

One morning, Steve just began opening when Robin walked in with a face worse than usual. Steve stole a glance at her and immediately continued sweeping. He gets a little scared when she gets like this. 

“I already started some coffee for you, if you want some,” he said with his back to her. 

“благодарю вас,” she said back, hardly audible. Robin spoke Russian to Steve sometimes as a joke, but it's one he enjoys. 

Steve puts the broom away and makes his way to the front of the clerk desk. He leans on it and asks “What’s up with you, Sleeping Beauty?” He suppresses a grin. 

Robin turns with a The Apartment mug in her hands, raising it to drink while rolling her eyes. She stops and answers

 “I couldn’t sleep last night, dingus, thanks for noticing”. She continues to drink. Steve smiles at the word “dingus” and continues to pry. 

“Why is that?”

“Well, just the whole ‘questioning how I’m gonna spend the rest of my life’ kinda thing, and I stayed up ‘till four in the morning doing it.”  Steve’s face begins to show concern. He sighs and says 

“Well, we’ve barely started our ‘options’ research, and we obviously have a ton more time to do it”. He backs off of the desk and displays the empty store. Steve almost trips in the process, and Robin laughs to herself. She sighs and then says

“Let’s open first because I need the money before I can make a plan to get out of here.”  

“Agreed,” Steve said. 

Robin reaches for “Carl”’s power button behind the desk and they both begin to work. Steve restocking shelves and Robin resetting the registers for the day. The radio statics and then picks up the favorite radio station, and the host's voice becomes more audible. 

As the radio finally reaches an audible state, Steve immediately smiles to himself. 

ALL ABOARD! 

HAHAHAHAHA 

The one thing Steve and his dad could bond on was rock music, and that’s all he listened to when he was younger than Dustin. He was surprised that no one remembered that phase of his life once he got to high school. Steve started to tap his fingers to the beat when the guitar came in. He even mouthed the lyrics when they came on. 

Crazy, but that's how it goes

Millions of people living as foes

Maybe it's not too late

To learn how to love and forget how to hate

Steve continued to nod his head and began to sing as he made is way to the other side of the store near Robin, grabbing more things to stock the shelves with.

Mental wounds not healing

Life's a bitter shame

Robin was already jumping around and air guitaring. She noticed Steve and they started singing to each other. 

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

Steve grabs a pen and starts to sing. Robin laughs and continues to shred her air guitar.

I've listened to preachers, I've listened to fools

I've watched all the dropouts who make their own rules

One person conditioned to rule and control

The media sells it and you live the role

Steve reaches for the volume knob and turns it to max volume. Robin smiles as they both continue to sing and dance (quite terribly) around the still empty store. The pair continue until the song ends, smiles from ear to ear. The host of the radio show begins to talk again, and the two stop and catch their breaths. 

“You don’t strike me as an Osbourne fan, Harrington,” Robin says, still slightly out of breath. Steve, with his hands on his knees, looks up and smiles. 

“Oh, Buckley, you don’t know me at all.”

“Well, we definitely need to do this more often, cause now I’m ready to sell the hell out of some movies.”

Steve laughs. 

“Let’s maybe save that for the customers, shall we?”

Robin simply rolls her eyes and grabs her coffee mug. 

[ugly-and-angry]

Em is here and we’re going to answer questions!

***We’re in the same room, so “you is the other person”

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?

  Em- You?

  Ayden-You!

2. Are you outgoing or shy?

  Em- Shy, typically.

  Ayden- Outgoing! A people pleaser, according to you.

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?

  Em- Catrina

  Ayden- It would be you if weren’t in the same room. I’m gonna say my family.

4. Are you easy to get along with?

  Em- I’d like to think so.

  Ayden- I think so! (Almost to a fault, says Em)

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you?

  Em- As in you? Yes. 

  Ayden- Absolutely.

6. What kind of people are you attracted to?

  Em- Weirdos. 

  Ayden- :(

  Em- Goofy. Nerds. Smart people. 

  Ayden- :) Ditto

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- Absolutely

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

  Em- You

  Ayden- You.

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

  Em- Sometimes.

  Ayden- It really depends on who. I’m pretty much comfortable with everyone except, like, my mom.

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

  Em- You or Tori {mutual friend} but I’m fairly certain it was you. 

  Ayden- You or Jess/Amy

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

  Em- “Cuuute” to Tori

  Ayden- “Did you take it?” To our group chat.

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

  Em- Apartment by Young the Giant, Don’t Forget Me from Smash, Perm by      Bruno Mars, Hotel California by Eagles, House of the Rising Sun by The  Animals

  Ayden- In The Real Early Morning by Jacob Collier, In My Life by The Beatles, Heart’s Content by Brandi Carlyle, Africa by Toto, The Book of Love by Peter Gabriel

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?

  Em- Yes, but only certain people.

  Ayden- Only when it’s you.

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

  Em- Yes.

  Ayden- No.

15. What good thing happened this summer?

  Em- I met this weirdo

  Ayden- We started dating!!!! :D

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

  Em- Yes.

  Ayden- Absolutely not!

17. Do you think there is life on other planets?

  Em- Yup.

  Ayden- There has to be, right?

18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

  Em- Nope.

  Ayden- Same.

19. Do you like bubble baths?

  Em- No.

  Ayden- Really? Yes!

20. Do you like your neighbors?

  Em- Yes.

  Ayden- No they are very loud.

21. What are you bad habits?

  Em- Talking over people, giving people unwarranted advice, snoring.

  Ayden- Biting my nails and cutting people off when I’m excited.

22. Where would you like to travel?

  Em- Anywhere

  Ayden- Australia

23. Do you have trust issues?

  Em- Yyyyup

  Ayden- Only because I trust too fast and too easily. 

24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

  Em- Going to bed

  Ayden- Same.

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?

  Em- Legs and back. Mostly my back. 

  Ayden- My belly

26. What do you do when you wake up?

  Em- Text you good morning

  Ayden- Same

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?

  Em- Darker

  Ayden- I’m alright with my skin

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

  Em- You

  Ayden- You and the squad

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?  

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- Same

30. Do you ever want to get married? 

  Em- Yup.

  Ayden- Yes!

31. Is your hair long enough for a pony tail?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- No

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?

  Em- Oh my god. Pass?

  Ayden- I would get too self conscience. 

33. Spell your name with your chin.

  Em- ytdyjb

  Ayden- QAYXEN hey that was pretty close!

  Em- Proud of you.

34. Do you play sports? What sports?

  Em- Yup. Softball.

  Ayden- I play ultimate frisbee but I would never say that in public.

35. Would you rather live without TV or music?

  Em- TV

  Ayden- TV

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

  Em- No, I don’t think I have.

  Ayden- Of course

37. What do you say during awkward silences?

  Em- Ask them something about themselves.

  Ayden- “What are your thoughts on plums?”

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

  Em- Goofy, fun to talk to, not too serious, genuine, not judgmental, fun to be   around no matter what.

  Ayden- Fun, relaxed, positive, energetic. 

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?

  Em- Target, Khols, Walmart (Don’t tell my mom)

  Ayden- In which to shop* don’t end your sentences with a preposition. But Target. 

40. What do you want to do after high school?

  Em- go to college and cry a lot. Surprise, it actually happened. 

  Ayden- It looks like we took accidentally took a quiz for the wrong age bracket.

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?’

  Em- No

  Ayden- Depends on what they did. So no.

42. If you’re being extremely quiet what does it mean?

  Em- Couldn’t tell you.

  Ayden- Usually I’m dissociating. Em says  I get that way when I’m very, very drunk. 

43. Do you smile at strangers?

  Em- Yep.

  Ayden- Uh huh

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?

  Em- Bottom of the ocean

  Ayden- This is the hardest question yet. I guess Outer Space

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

  Em- The idea of going back to bed.

  Ayden- The need to pee.

46. What are you paranoid about?

  Em- Ooh boy. Being lonely, being constantly listened to, being followed, not being prepared.

  Ayden- That everyone I know and love only tolerates me. 

47. Have you ever been high?

  Em- No

  Ayden- Yes

48. Have you ever been drunk?

  Em- No

  Ayden- Yes. 

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

  Em- Not recently

  Ayden- Not really

50. What was the color of the last hoodie you wore?

  Em- Gray

  Ayden- Gray

51. Ever wished you were someone else?

  Em- Yes.

  Ayden- Yeah

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?

  Em- Physical appearance 

  Ayden- How loud I can become

53. Favorite makeup brand?

  Em- Mermaid brand. Too bad it’s $100

  Ayden- Not a clue

54. Favourite store?

  Em- Target

  Ayden- We already answered this one.

55. Favourite blog?

  Em- I dunno

  Ayden- pics that make you go hmm

56. Favourite colour?

  Em- Green. Emerald green, not that dumb lime shit.

  Ayden- Pink

57. Favourite food?

  Em- Artichokes

  Ayden- Mozzerella sticks 

58. Last thing you ate?

  Em- Green pea crisps

  Ayden- A handful of shredded mozerella cheese like an animal.

59. First thing you ate this morning?

  Em- Eggs

  Ayden- Eggs

60. Ever won a competition? For what?

  Em- Yes. Jazz vocalist. And saxophone.

  Ayden- Yeah for theatre things in high school. Also the group i directed in college won the sing off which was amazing.

61. Been suspended/expelled? 

  Em- I’ve been suspended.

  Ayden- Same.

62. Been arrested? For what?

  Em- No

  Ayden- No

63. Ever been in love?

  Em- Yees

  Ayden- Yeah!

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss?

  Em- No. Thanks.

  Ayden- It was in her grandma’s basement. I had to duck because the ceiling was too low. 

65. Are you hungry right now?

  Em- No

  Ayden- Starving.

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?

  Em- I do not have tumblr friends?

  Ayden- All of my tumblr friends are my real friends!

67. Facebook or Twitter?

  Em- Facebook

  Ayden- Twitter

68. Twitter or Tumblr?

  Em- Tumblr

  Ayden- I think they are very different mediums. 

69. Are you watching tv right now?

  Em- No

  Ayden- No

70. Names of your bestfriends?

  Em- Tori and Ayden

  Ayden- Em and Jess and Amy and Hayley and Alex!

71. Craving something? What?

  Em- Yes. Black cherry ice cream.

  Ayden- Yes. Mozz sticks.

72. What colour are your towels?

  Em- Black

  Ayden- Pink

72. How many pillows do you sleep with?

  Em- 8

  Ayden- Too many, probably.

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

  Em- Yeah

  Ayden- No

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

  Em- I have no idea. 

  Ayden- 3. Exactly. 

75. Favourite animal?

  Em- Octopus and Gorilla. 

  Ayden- Turtles.

76. What colour is your underwear?

  Em- Right now? Pink floral

  Ayden- Gray and red

77. Chocolate or Vanilla?

  Em- Vanilla

  Ayden- Vanilla

78. Favourite ice cream flavour?

  Em- Pistachio

  Ayden- Cherry Cheesecake

79. What colour shirt are you wearing?

  Em- Black and white stripes

  Ayden- Black

80. What colour pants?

  Em- Black

  Ayden- Denim

81. Favourite tv show?

  Em- Black Mirror

  Ayden- Scrubs

82. Favourite movie?

  Em- Big Fish

  Ayden- Pokemon the First Movie

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?

  Em- Mean Girls

  Ayden- What a stupid question. Of course Mean Girls.

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?

  Em- 21 Jump Street

  Ayden- Mean Girls

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls?

  Em- The boy who goes “She doesn’t even go here!”

  Ayden- Same

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo?

  Em- Dory

  Ayden- The turtle

87. First person you talked to today?

  Em- You

  Ayden- You

88. Last person you talked to today?

  Em- You, still? I don’t know what this question is asking me.

  Ayden- This question has a weird tense problem. 

89. Name a person you hate?

  Em- Donnie T

  Ayden- Donald J. Trump

90. Name a person you love?’

  Em- Barack Obama. Also you, but mostly Barack Obama.

  Ayden- Our lord and savior, Guy Fieri

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?

  Em- Can’t say there is.

  Ayden- Not really.

92. In a fight with someone?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- I only hit someone once and it was when I was in 4th grade and he stole my yu gi oh card and I cried about it immediately after.

93. How many sweatpants do you have?

  Em- One

  Ayden- None

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?

  Em- 4

  Ayden- Lots

95. Last movie you watched?

  Em- The Prestige 

  Ayden- The Prestige

96. Favourite actress?

  Em- Tinay Fey

  Ayden- Same

97. Favourite actor?

  Em- Robin Williams

  Ayden- Robin Williams

98. Do you tan a lot?

  Em- No? Like go out to tan? No.

  Ayden- I get really dark in summer, but once again I don’t know what the question is asking. :(

99. Have any pets?

  Em- a dog and 2 cats and a hamster

  Ayden- A fish named Steve

100. How are you feeling?

  Em- Fine

  Ayden- Pretty good!

101. Do you type fast?

  Em- Mmhmm

  Ayden- Yeah, I type decently quick.

102. Do you regret anything from your past?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- Of course

103. Can you spell well?

  Em- No

  Ayden- I like to think I’m an ok speller.

104. Do you miss anyone from your past?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- Yup.

105. Ever been to a bonfire party?

  Em- Mmhmm

  Ayden- Yes! 

106. Ever broken someone’s heart?

  Em- They said I did, but I don’t think so.

  Ayden- Probably

107. Have you ever been on a horse?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- These are a lot of yes/no questions.

108. What should you be doing?

  Em- Homework, probably.

  Ayden- Agreed.

109. Is something irritating you right now?

  Em- Nope

  Ayden- Not that I can think of.

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?

  Em- Uh... yeah, I guess.

  Ayden- Probably

111. Do you have trust issues?

  Em- Yup

  Ayden- We already answered this exact question!

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of?

  Em- You

  Ayden- You

113. What was your childhood nickname?

  Em- Grace

  Ayden- Bug

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- Yep

115. Do you play the Wii?

  Em- Not anymore

  Ayden- I dooooooo.

116. Are you listening to music right now?

  Em- No

  Ayden- No

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup?

  Em- Mmhmm

  Ayden- Not particularly 

118. Do you like Chinese food?

  Em- Mmhmm

  Ayden- Yup!!

119. Favourite book?

  Em- Frankenstein 

  Ayden- Of Mice and Men

120. Are you afraid of the dark?

  Em- No

  Ayden- Not really.

121. Are you mean?

  Em- Not intentionally... 

  Ayden- I do my best not to be.

122. Is cheating ever okay?

  Em- No.

  Ayden- No.

123. Can you keep white shoes clean?

  Em- No.

  Ayden- Absolutely not.

124. Do you believe in love at first sight?

  Em- No.

  Ayden- Nah.

125. Do you believe in true love?

  Em- Yep!

  Ayden- Uh huh

126. Are you currently bored?

  Em- Nope

  Ayden- No

127. What makes you happy?

  Em- You, music, golf with the boys

  Ayden- You, cheesecake, Christmas, Pokemon, 

128. Would you change your name?

  Em- Probably not

  Ayden- Nah

129. What your zodiac sign?

  Em- Sagittarius 

  Ayden- Taurus 

130. Do you like subway?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- Yeah!

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

  Em- Talk to them about it

  Ayden- Have a conversation about it.

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

  Em- We already did this one

  Ayden- uh huh

133. Favourite lyrics right now?

  Em- “So when you see someone’s hurt, and you need a hand, don’t forget me.”

  Ayden-”They told Rudolph he couldn’t pull sleighs! They told Pluto that it wasn’t a planet! But it keeps on spinning in its same old way, on and on, every day.”

134. Can you count to one million?

  Em- *does ‘what?’ hands*

  Ayden- huh

135. Dumbest lie you ever told?

  Em- I lied about my height for no reason once. 

  Ayden- One time I told someone my eyes were hazel. They’re green. 

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed?

  Em- Ajar

  Ayden- Who sleeps with the door open?! 

137. How tall are you?

  Em- 5′6″ for real

  Ayden- 6′2″

138. Curly or Straight hair?

  Em- Curly 

  Ayden- Straight

139. Brunette or Blonde?

  Em- Wait is it what I prefer or what I am? Because I have red hair...

  Ayden- Brunette

140. Summer or Winter?

  Em- Summer

  Ayden- Winter

141. Night or Day?

  Em- Night

  Ayden- Day

142. Favourite month?

  Em- October

  Ayden- December

143. Are you a vegetarian?

  Em- Almost, since I started dating you.

  Ayden- Yes!!

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate?

  Em- Milk

  Ayden- Dark

145. Tea or Coffee?

  Em- Tea

  Ayden- Coffee

146. Was today a good day?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- Today was a great day

147. Mars or Snickers?

  Em- I don’t eat chocolate...

  Ayden- I’ve never had a Mars Bar. 

148. What’s your favourite quote?

  Em- “There’s not need to make a perfectly happy horse into an utterly miserable man.”

 Ayden- “Not even all the water in the entire ocean can sink a ship, but only if that water does not get inside.”

149. Do you believe in ghosts?

  Em- Yes

  Ayden- Nope.

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page?

  Em- “Your essence can not be downloaded, because your essence (which the company did not believe existed as a separate entity) gets spirited off to heaven.” From Sum by David Eagleman

  Ayden- “Pietro Balossino had stopped trying to penetrate his son’s obscure universe long ago.” From The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano

[ramajmedia]

Best Reaction Memes To Stranger Things Season Three | ScreenRant

Binging the third season of Stranger Things left fans with all the feels and lots of unanswered questions. Some people found themselves ruining their Fourth of July weekend with that finale, which kicked everyone in the gut before leaving them just a ray of home a few moments later.

RELATED: Stranger Things: Top 5 Sibling Pairs (And Top 5 Friend Pairs)

While the Duffer Brothers and Netflix have always ended Stranger Things with an ominous preview of what's to come, they certainly haven't left fans dangling with a cliffhanger like this one. Naturally fans made plenty of memes to sum up their reactions to this intolerable cruelty and the jaw-dropping season itself.

10 We See His Face

Missing Iron Man after Avengers: Endgame after months of clues that it would be Tony's last appearance in the MCU is one thing, but none of us were prepared for losing Alexei in Stranger Things season three after falling for the scientist just a few episodes prior. It was Barb and Bob all over again,

It was especially painful for Murray, who may have found his first friend in the snarky Russian, and DeviantArt user THECLOUD96 demonstrated these feels with a painful parallel between Spider-Man missing Stark. It's a meme that gets you in two ways, since it's kind of funny but also true. Poor Alexei.

9 Tempted By Pennywise

Pennywise memes are often hilarious, and this one of the clown promising the third season of Stranger Things in the sewer is definitely a funny one. There is ZERO hesitation to get down into that sewer to watch the season, even though certain doom looms near. Viewers know to expect one of our beloved characters to bite the dust, and in this case, we said goodbye to three. Maybe.

RELATED: Stranger Things: 10 Best Team-Ups, Ranked

This No Guilt Fangirl meme works so well because it not only demonstrates how willing we all are to endure the pain and suffering of the show we love so much, but also the actual parallels between the show and Stephen King's It, of which there are many.

8 Justice for Billy

At the beginning of season three, Billy would have been the one character nobody would have mind seeing flayed after the events of the previous season. A racist, violent jerk would be much easier to see bite the dust than any of our beloved characters, yet somehow Billy managed to worm his way into our hearts.

Between flashbacks of his painful past revealed by Eleven, Max's own complicated feelings toward her stepbrother ranging from fear to loyalty and Billy's own final moments spent attempting to protect his stepsister and her friends, he got the Justice for Billy following this meme made by LynBattersby calls for.

7 Only In 2019

Sure, Stranger Things season 3 takes place in the 1980s, but in 2019 people decided to storm Area 51 for answers, using social media to organize the bizarre action. While many were left wondering why so many people weren't as passionate about storming an issue that would actually matter, others couldn't help but apply it to Stranger Things.

RELATED: 10 Things People Missed In Stranger Things 3

This Mind Flayer meme is so funny because it's timely and suggests what the people who wanted answers might have found had they been granted the access they so desired. What if it hadn't been aliens they discovered, but creatures from the Upside Down, as A_MarieMemes speculates here?

6 Will The Wise, Playing D&D Forever

Fans ached for Will Byers this season. Even though he wasn't being controlled by the Mind Flayer or whisked away into the Upside Down this season, he was left out while all of his buddies got girlfriends. In this meme by @matt_jones46, Will's feelings of being left out are sadly captured.

According to the Duffer Brothers' original pitch and some clues within the series, Will is likely gay, and Mike even makes a cruel comment about it in the third season. He and Lucas also make it clear that they'd rather be making out with girls rather than playing Dungeons and Dragons, which Will hopes they will continue to play together. Hopefully Will meets an interesting boy in his new town in season four.

5 Batman And Robin

One of the best things to emerge from season three of Stranger Things was the dynamic duo that was Steve and Robin. Not only did Robin bring some much-needed LGBT representation to the show, but she is a cool, fun new character who is smart and matches Steve in snark. She's the best friend he never knew he needed, from the time the Russians drugged them both to the time he needed her in order to get a new job.

RELATED: Stranger Things: 10 Things We Want To See From Season 4

Fans love to speculate about what season four will have in store for "Batman and Robin," and this meme helps us celebrate these awesome friends, complete with Steve's demogorgon-fighting bat, which he may need just yet.

4 The Stranger Things Boys Steal Things

One of the best memes of the summer features the major boys of Stranger Things and what they're known to steal. None of these characters have merchandise-swiping identifiers; instead, they are known to steal people, from your girl, which Jonathan did during the second season, to your kids, which is a joke about Steve, the world's best (or worst) babysitter.

Billy's now known as Mr. Steal Your Wife, given that he likes to seduce cougars, but the surprise of the season was Alexei, who stole fans hearts before he was offed, a theme that the Duffer Brothers seem to enjoy torturing viewers with each season.

3 Three Inches

Hopper needs the door open THREE INCHES, as @weeniememe reminds us. It's another take on a hilarious popular meme, this time on the Drake reaction meme, that really gets the point across. Hop's not asking for much when Eleven and Mike hang out, so when his three-inch rule isn't respected, the chief of police sees red.

RELATED: Stranger Things: The 10 Worst Decisions Hopper Ever Made

Of course, Hopper's not nearly as mellow as he looks in this meme, and his actual reaction to Mike while taking the teenager home was an example of how much an adult can overreact and mishandle a teaching moment. Once again, had he listened to Joyce, he wouldn't have driven a wedge between himself and his daughter.

2 The American?

All of us were Hawkeye (Ronan) in this post-credits moment of Stranger Things, as this meme demonstrates. The American? What American? While the Duffer Brothers may very well be serving us a red herring, and many fans believe it could be Dr. Brenner in the Russian cell, Hopper's body was never seen, which means that hope really isn't lost. That just makes the wait for season four all the harder to endure.

If we've all grieved Hopper for nothing, the Duffers are heart-crushing sadists. If Hopper is alive and we have to wait to find out, they're heart-crushing sadists. They really can't win at this point, but neither can we after that finale.

1 The Magnets. Have Lost. Their Magnetism

Joyce Byers always seems to be fixed on something. During the first season, it was Christmas lights. In the second season of the show, it was her son's well-being after his ordeal, and in the third, it was the magnets. If only people listened to Joyce, so much heartache could have been avoided.

In this image, @maurauders_ita hilariously uses one of the Internet's favorite memes regarding explanations and throws in an emphatic Joyce against a disbelieving Hopper. Perhaps Hop would have gotten his date, had a different ending and be living happily ever after with Joyce and their family had he taken her seriously.

NEXT: Stranger Things: 10 Most Heartbreaking Scenes, Ranked

source https://screenrant.com/best-reaction-memes-stranger-things-season-three/