#Eddie and Lucas friendship

[sleepyeye17]

This Machine Kills Dragons

Eddie and Max are friends. Lumax. Eddie is alive, and is a big brother figure. Max is blind. 

Words: 1,517

Eddie and Lucas walked back from the store, carrying bags of groceries for themselves and for Max’s mom. Max had been awake for about a month now, but her mom was as depressed as ever. Hopper was talking about taking her to the local AA meetings.

Lucas took out his earplugs as they left the busy main boulevard.

“How’s your tinnitus?” Eddie asked. Lucas had been struggling with ringing in his ears since the fight with Jason.

“It’s getting better,” Lucas said. “I have a fan going at night, which helps, and I wear earplugs if I know I’ll be somewhere loud, like the grocery store or the main street. The doctors are saying it will mostly go away with time.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

“Me too. It would suck if I was deaf and Max was blind. We’d have to figure out something new.”

“You guys could make it work. You could do morse code with tapping. That would be awesome.”

“Yeah. Or like, shaping letters on her hand. I could do that.”

“How’s it going with you and Max right now anyways?” Eddie asked. "You've been quiet about her lately. Which is unusual."

Lucas shrugged.

“I dunno. I still love her, but...”

Lucas kicked a rock. Eddie grimaced and hissed between his teeth.

“Don’t let her hear that tone. That sounds bad.”

“I know. It is bad. It wouldn’t be so bad if she would just talk to me. But there’s not much to talk about. She’s just in bed all day. So I go and I read to her, or I tell her about my day, but I want to hear about her . And right now, there’s not much for her to tell me. She says she isn’t bored, she’s just tired. But I don’t know.”

Eddie thought about this.

“You know, there was a point when I was a kid, when I stopped talking.”

“ You ?”

“I know, I know, now I never shut the fuck up. But this was a long time ago. I was little.”

“Okay.”

“That’s when my mom got me my first guitar. I was probably around ten. Things were bad at home. We had just moved to Hawkins. By playing guitar, I was able to, you know. Express things.”

“But Max doesn’t play guitar.”

Eddie grinned.

“Not yet.”

Max could feel the sun hot on her face. She wanted to call a nurse to close the curtains, but it was too much work. Everything was too much work. Pressing the button was too much work. Talking was too much work.

Her legs were still in casts, but her arms were in removable splints and slings. She’d thought that would make her feel better, but what could she do with her arms anyways? Draw? She was blind. All she could do now was press play on the Walkman, and she didn’t like the feeling of the headphones on her ears, cutting her off from her most valuable sense. Sometimes she did play her music out loud, but usually that was also just too much work.

There was a tap at the door, and all of Max's senses sprung into high alert. She bolted upright like a Jack-in-the-box.

“Hey, it’s cool, it’s just Eddie.”

She relaxed into wariness.

“Hi Eddie.”

Her voice was still hoarse from Vecna's chokehold.

“You hot? It feels hot in here.”

“Yeah.”

She heard the curtains being pulled and she was immediately more comfortable.

“I brought you something,” Eddie said. Max liked that Eddie never asked how she was feeling. He knew how she was feeling. Eddie had been released from the lab soon after she’d woken up from her coma, but he still came in once a week for his checkups, and he always stopped by to visit her when he did.

There was a hollow thunk, and Max jumped at the unexpected noise.

“Sorry,” Eddie said. “It’s a guitar. I brought you a guitar.”

Max leaned forward, curious.

“They let you bring Sweetheart into the hospital?”

Eddie chuckled.

“No. Besides, Sweetheart isn’t the kind of girl you learn on. This is an acoustic. It was my first, and I think it’s more your size.”

“I’m not that small,” Max argued.

“I know. I just have crazy noodle arms.”

Max smiled.

“Lucas told me that you get bored,” Eddie said. Max looked confused.

“He told you that? I didn’t tell him that. I don’t get bored.”

“Really? I used to get bored when I was recovering. I was just sitting here all day.”

“I don’t get bored. There’s stuff for me to do. They have someone teaching me braille. And physical therapy.”

“Lucas didn’t tell me about the braille.”

“No. I don’t really talk to him about that stuff.”

“Why not?”

“Because I haven’t actually been able to do anything. I still can’t tell an A from a K in braille, and all I do in physical therapy is bend my arms and lift quarter pound weights. I don’t have anything to say to him. I don’t do anything. What can I do? I get frustrated, because I want to tell him things, and, I dunno, entertain him, or whatever. He comes here all the time, and I just have nothing to say.”

“Well, after today you won’t have to say anything. Because you can play guitar instead.”

Max nodded.

“I’d like that.”

“How are your arms today?”

“Good. I can take off my splints.”

“You sure? We can start with just listening.”

Eddie had already talked to the physical therapist, who had approved short guitar lessons. Max was actually supposed to remove her splints more often than she did, and the PT was hoping that learning guitar might help her stay motivated in her stretching. But Eddie knew that Max would never agree to something just because it was good for her.

“I can do it.” She pulled the velcro splints off her arms. She was getting good at that.

“You ready?” he asked. “Can I put her in your lap?”

Max nodded, and she felt something large and cool bumping her thigh. She reached out, her hands running over the smooth curve of the wood. It was large, and her hands painted its shape as they traveled.

“Can I sit on your bed to show you?” Eddie asked.

“Okay.”

The bed dipped and Max scooted over to make room for him. Leather pressed against her arm.

“My mom gave me this guitar,” Eddie said. “She taught me how to play. It has words painted on it. Can you feel them?”

Max ran her fingers over the wood, and felt the texture change of thick dry paint.

“What does it say?”

“It says ‘this machine kills dragons.’”

“What does that mean?”

“In the 40s, the musician Woody Guthrie had ‘this machine kills fascists’ painted on his guitar. My mom was a big fan of his. And she liked fairytales. She couldn’t read or write very well, but she copied the words down and was really proud of them.”

“She sounds cool.”

“She was. She was a lot like you.”

“Blind?”

“No. Angry.” He didn’t give her time to consider this. “I’m going to move your hand. Is that okay?”

“Yeah.”

His hand came around hers. His hands were calloused, like Billy’s had been. He was similar to Billy in a lot of ways: impulsive, rebellious, and haunted by past abuse. But Eddie hadn’t let the abuse harden him. Sometimes Max wondered if Billy might have become more like Eddie if he’d lived long enough. She hoped so.

Eddie moved her hand to the neck of the guitar, over the strings.

“Just get to know her for now,” he said. “You should meet her naturally. You can’t see her, so learning is going to be different. I did a few practice sessions blindfolded, just to get the feeling of it.”

Max ran a fingernail over the fat E string, making it rasp.

“That’s called the fat E,” Eddie said. “The smallest string is called the high E.”

Eddie moved her hand over each string.

“It goes E, A, D, G, B, E,” he said.

“Why can’t they just be A B C D E F?” Max asked.

“Because musicians don’t know how to spell,” Eddie said. “You can remember it this way. Eddie—“ He plucked the low E . “-Ate-“ A . “-Dynamite-“ D . “-Good-“ G . “-Bye-“ B . “Eddie.” E .

Max grinned.

“Eddie ate dynamite, goodbye Eddie,” she repeated.

“It tasted terrible,” Eddie said.

Max laughed. It was an actual laugh, not just the fake giggles she attempted when the doctor made lame jokes.

“How about… Eddie And Demobats… Got Bad Ending.”

“Eddie And Dustin Give Badass Energy.”

“Eddie’s A Dinosaur. Go to Bed Early.”

“I’m not that old!” Eddie protested

“Eddie ate drugs. Got big eyes.”

“That’s a good one. You ready for the next lesson?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, this is called the nut. Hey! No laughing! That’s actually what it’s called!”

Lucas stood in the doorway to Max's room and watched her laugh. It was a rusty sound, and sounded painful, but it was there. It was music.

[rbinsgf]

Turn the other cheek, and I take it on the chin /Part 2/

Part 1

The sky was blue, two and two made four and Eddie was a coward.

Those were the irrefutable truth of the world. Eddie used to call his behavior "self-preservation" when he ran away from cops and angry jocks mob, or when he skipped a class he couldn’t understand, or when he ran away after witnessing one of the most traumatizing death in the history of mankind.

But as he saw Robin Buckley angrily stomping down his stairs and into his basement, he couldn’t qualify his next course of actions of anything but cowardice.

He had known day more glorious but as he shielded himself from the furious woman with a, for once, quite Mike Wheeler, he couldn’t care less about his image in front of his club.

Hypocritical right ? Yeah that’s another truth Eddie was very well aware about himself but who would dare look him in the eye and spit that fact in his face ?

Robin Buckley actually, as she did not hesitate to shove Mike out of the way and grab Eddie by the collar of his worn out Hellfire shirt, bringing him dangerously close to her angry red face, and shoving him against the wall.

"You, Edward Theodore Munson, are the biggest hypocrite I’ve ever seen. How dare you force those big monologues on conformity and "Hawkins’ monster" on us on top of those poor cafeteria tables, only to turn around and do exactly what you so loudly claim to be against ?"

Eddie was petrified, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from hers. The basement was as quiet as ever, everyone seemed to hold their breath, too scared they might remind Robin of their presence.

"Steve changed, actually no, he didn’t change. He just had the courage to show his true self, he stripped away from the role that was forced on him by his parents, friends, everyone in this shitty town and by you too. He would and has put his life on the line so many times for every single one of you," She said the last part louder, slightly tilting her head to the side towards a specific side of the table but never moving her rage filled gaze from Eddie’s wide eyes. "He trusted you Eddie, he confided in you and what did you do ? You humiliated him by using his vulnerability against him. I hope you’re happy your pathetic little audience appreciated the spectacle." A protest formed itself on Jeff’s lips but was quickly shut off by a quick glare and an honest to god growl from Robin.

"You know what truly breaks my heart Eddie ? Steve still defended you and he doesn’t even blame you ! Do with that information what you want but I hope it makes you feel so bad you won’t be able to look yourself in any type of reflection for as long as possible."

She slowly stepped away from him, releasing her grip on his shirt and making a show of dusting him off,

"If you want to know what I think of this shit show Eddie. You don’t deserve him." She turned around, facing the kids, "and you guys are a bunch of ungrateful brats who don’t deserve Steve and all that he does for you."

She only looked at the older Hellfire members with disgust before turning back to Eddie. The man in question was looking at the ground, his head hanging guiltily and shoulder hunched.

Robin stepped back into his space, her mouth close to his ear, and let out her final strike in a quite sigh,

"And to think that man saved your life.."

With that, she left as she came, the front door banging loudly behind her.

That last sentence she had whispered in his ear sent a glacial chill down Eddie’s spine. It stabbed through his chest in plain and shameful guilt. Eddie sat heavily on his throne. A throne that Steve had spent two weeks making since the basketball team had burned his old one when he was on the run. He lost himself in a spiral of shame and regrets, cringing at himself as he pictured how it all went down earlier and how, even after noticing Steve leaving, they’d kept that same behavior. Laughing at the expense of the poor man like hyenas. One by one, the older members left quietly. The kids stayed a little longer, sitting in silence before all leaving in a quiet agreement. Eddie only registered Dustin telling him they will be using the phone to call for a drive home. A drive home that, for the first time since the boys had joined Hellfire, wouldn’t be Steve.

Eddie had fucked up, that much was very clear. He also knew why he said all those horrible things, he craved the validation and admiration of his sheepies and hellfire friends.

The only way he had found to maintain those was to do what he had always done.

To the detriment of his friends, Eddie was a hypocrite, selfish and coward man. Eddie saw an opportunity to remind his club of who he was, Eddie "the Freak" Munson, natural nemesis of the jocks.

Robin’s words kept circling in his mind viciously.

The sheer fury that emanated of her trembling frame was enough for Eddie to imagine how bad his words must’ve affected Steve.

He knew those exact words would hurt him and he still said them.

He also knew Steve, through and through now, and with that came the knowledge of what Steve might be thinking about himself right now.

Because his sweet, kind and good Steve, didn’t even blame him one bit. Eddie’s words had definitely hit a very tender spot in Steve’s myriad of insecurities and self doubts.

The man was probably descending full speed through the worst of his self deprecating thoughts right now.

Eddie wished the bats had eaten him alive as the thought of Steve believing Eddie saw him for who he was not.

Eddie would rather Vecna came back as a zombie than Steve Harrington taking his stupid, stupid words at heart and believing them.

If Eddie was going to do one last thing, it was to make sure that Steve knew he wasn’t seen as anything but the painfully good man he truly was.

Resignation filled his mind and he pushed himself up from the throne, walked out of the basement and took the keys of his van before stepping, in the soon to be dark, street.

Eddie was going to see Steve, apologize but most importantly beg the man to not take Eddie’s words for one of the universe’s truth.

It’ll be the last thing he’ll do if Robin Buckley didn’t kill him before for daring to stand in the same vicinity as her friend.

———————————————

Here’s part 2 !! And Eddie’s pov yay !! I’m so grateful for your response to the first part as it’s also a response to me getting back to writing and it motivates me so much guys !!!

Next part will be up in a few days since I’m going back to college full time but I’ll do my best to update this little fic as soon as possible !

I tried to tag everyone who asked for it and hope it all worked ?

Love y’all gang ! 🫶🏼🧡

Tag list : @liketheocean @cameheretoread @doubleb11 @m-owo-n @moonage-daydreaming @shitnshit @throwbackthrowaway @a-huge-nerdy-nerd @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @zerokrox-blog @summer1066 @thesuninyaface @i-less-three-than-you @gamerdano @ineffablecolors @warriorwerewolfheart @tinysuits @cr0w-culture @thatonepotatochild @classicwho @lololol-1234 @what-is-life-but-an-empty-void @victor-thee-corvid @little-gae-shit @livelaughlexa @a-little-unsteady @stevie-crow @val-from-lawrence

[night-eyes1]

[formosusiniquis]

“There's a goblin, crouched over a large stone table. He's got long greasy hair that probably hasn't ever been washed and his clothes are ripped and ugly. He smells like pipe smoke and mutters to himself as you approach.”

Steve sighs and bravely stops himself from beating his head repeatedly against the table, “Erica.”

“What?” she’s even less affected by his chiding when she’s behind her DM screen, and she wasn’t that affected to begin with. “I'm just describing the character.”

“I'm sorry I said it was adorable, okay! Is that what you want to hear?”

Robin abandons her dice tower to glare at him, “Dingus, what'd you do?”

“Opened his big mouth when he shouldn't have.” A true if mostly inaccurate description of what happened, but he should have known better than to try to speak when Erica actually opened up a little.

“Dude, you know when you annoy Erica the rest of us suffer.” Now Dustin is whining, as if Steve weren’t being punished enough.

“I don't see how anyone is suffering,” but him. Steve definitely feels like he is suffering .

Robin leans in close and whispers, “You'll tell me later?” It’s a Robin whisper though, and it doesn’t go unheard by their temperamental pre-teen DM.

“The goblin is oblivious to the party too busy fooling around with poorly painted figurines-”

“That's out of line.” He’s got his dad voice out now, this was supposed to be a fun session and now he’s parenting.

“That's where you're gonna draw it?” She actually seems surprised by that, eyebrow arched at the idea that she found Steve’s line in the sand.

“Nobody has insulted the things you've worked on.”

“Fine, he's fooling around with his perfectly fine figurines, but he won't shut up about changed princes.”

He can feel it click for Robin, she shoves him almost off of the Sinclair’s overstuffed couch. He won’t look at her, he doesn’t want to look at her stupid I’m gonna mock you face. “Stephan!”

“I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings,” he apologizes, “I really do think it's cute.” But he’s not ready to grovel yet.

“Can dish it out but you can't take it, Harrington.” he rubs a hand down his face, pushing the impending headache this whole thing is causing back into his brain as best he can, and when he looks back up he sees an eleven year old.

“I wasn't dishing anything,” he says, remembering how awful and uncomfortable it was to be eleven. To have crushes and feelings that you didn’t know what to do about, and how much worse it was to not have anyone to help you figure them all out.

“Promise,” her lip doesn’t wobble and her tone doesn’t shake because she’s Erica Sinclair future president of the world, but the youth and the nerves are there all the same.

“Promise.”

“Fine, don't ever try to talk to me about this again.”

“Again, I was agreeing with you.” Because he’s still him and she’s still her and if he let it go too easily there would be just as much hell to pay. “I was saying you have good taste.”

“Stop, I have seen where your current tastes are. Don't align me with you.”

“Fine, fine. Are you going to be nicer?”

“I guess. As you walk into the cave you pass through a powerful illusion, you see that the goblin is really an average looking human man who probably washes his hair at least sometimes.” It’s really the best he could hope for, he figures.

“Wait, is this Eddie?” Dustin’s shrieking as he finally catches up with the interpersonal drama happening at the table is liable to send them back to the start.

“No, and he's not average looking.” He’s not sure who that comment is meant for. Erica for suggesting it or Dustin for finally catching up because of it.

“Mind your business,” Erica shoots back, just as done with the conversation as Steve is, “or your spell components are gonna get harder to find. And he’s not exactly anything to write home about.”

“Can we get back to it,” Robin interrupts, the true love of his life and the jealous hoarder of all opportunities to bully him about his love life, “I was promised a fight for my new dagger and I will use it on this gremlin man who seems like he needs to expand his music tastes if I have to.”

“Robin!” She deserves to get her punches in, he guesses, and if it’s his turn to get mocked by the Scoops Troop at least it’s not happening on a bathroom floor.

[swanqueenelmaxshadowhunters]

elmax/ronance au where Max works at the summer camp and El goes there with her friends (it's her first time there, but the boys go every year and Max and Mike don't get along like in the show and it just intensifies when Max meets Mike's girlfriend, not that she will do anything about it tho)

Robin, Steve and Eddie have also worked there for some time and know the boys well.

Nancy volunteers every year to help the monitors because she knows they are becoming fewer and fewer people (she swears it has nothing to do with Robin, but we know that's a lie)

Max can't stand watching Nancy and Robin dance around each other any longer and decides to give them a little push. Dustin, Lucas and El decide to help and this brings Max and El closer than they could have imagined, making El realize that there is more to life than stupid boys.

I would write, but I honestly don't have the time or energy for that right now, so if anyone wants to use this plot, feel free.

I would love to read this as long as elmax remains the main couple, followed by ronance because god knows we don't have enough fanfics with elmax as the main couple

[ghosttotheparty]

has anyone written anything where everything is the same but steve has beef w eddie bc he saw hellfire coming out of the school the night of lucas’s basketball game

[m-owo-n]

In nearly everything, its accepted that Steve is the mom and then Eddie comes along and the joke expands to him being the dad.

But because of this post I can’t help but think about pre season 4 Jonathan being called dad by the kids.

It doesn’t start until after season 2 and it’s all kinds of awkward. Jonathan got together with Nancy while she and Steve were still kind of together? But the kids don’t really know that.

What they know, is that Jonathan has always been there for them. He’s captures the good times with his camera. He’s indulged in conversations he might not understand with them just to see them smile.

What they know, is that Steve is there for them now too. Sure he’s supposedly the king of Hawkins high, but he’s so uptight? He’s analytical about rules and cleanliness that people wouldn’t expect.

And the joke begins, of course, by Max sarcastically calling Steve “mom”.

“If Steve’s the mom, Jonathan is kinda like the dad right?”

Steve’s face goes through a series of emotions and settles on disgruntled when he hears that.

Will thinks it’s weird, that’s his brother, Jonathan, he’s been a prominent feature around his friends for years! And suddenly they’re all calling him dad?

Proximity and trauma of course brings them together and Jonathan and Steve lean into the joke.

“Steve can I do this?”

“I don’t know did you ask your father”

“Jonathan your kids are menaces”

“Oh they’re only my kids when they’re menaces?”

“Yes”

Eddie is a little intimidated by this dynamic when he does come around post season 4. And intrigued. Like how is this guy just ok with this pseudo family roleplay with the guy his ex cheated on him with? Is there actually something there?

When Steve and Eddie do start dating and the gang find them making out in the kitchen they don’t expect their reaction.

“We have a stepdad!” Lucas cries

“I kinda thought of Robin as the stepdad.” Max says conversationally. “Eddie is like, the pool boy mom is hooking up with on the side.”

“Pool boy?!”

[hyperfixationgoddess]

I have this head cannon, y'see and I can't really talk about it in real life, so now it's tumblr's problem. Yaaaaay.

Okay, here it is. This is an a/b/o au. The upside down has its own scent, right? And it scents COLD. And only a select few in Hawkins know that scent. Of course, Steve Harrington is one of them. That day in the field, in s2, when the Mind Flayer was taking over Will, what if the high school gym was close enough to that field that everyone could smell it? That overwhelming scent of dark, cold, evil. Steve is the only one who recognizes it .

He'd never run so fast in all his life.

Steve is the first on the scene, sees Will just standing there, his own pup scent overwhelmed by cold. Steve has always run hot, and he learned a long time ago, due to absent parents, how to scent warmth.

He goes up to Will, and just hugs him, scents warm, because it makes sense, right? The upside down was making it cold, so Steve had to warm him up. When the rest of the crew find them, Steve is just holding Will close, scenting warm, and encouraging him to fight off the upside down.

"it's okay, Will, you're doing great, you're so strong, pup, you can do it, you're so strong, stronger than anything that place can throw at you, come on, kiddo, you got this..." Etc., Etc.

When the others arrive, he tells them to scent warm like he is, cause it'll help pull Will out of this dark place. They all end up in this big group hug: Steve, Will, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Joyce. Then, when the basketball team shows up looking for Steve, he just looks at Hargrove, and is like, you're basically a human furnace, get over here and help us get this pup warm.

Fyi, Steve is obviously an omega, and Billy is an alpha, so who is he to refuse.

Finally, Will wakes up mind flayer-free, and he just clings to Steve while sobbing. He accidentally calls Steve mama, which just makes him melt, and then Steve and Joyce and the kids, including Max, take Will home and just gives him all the love he deserves. The next day, Steve takes all the kids to meet the Hawkins High Dungeon Master, Eddie Munson, to help Will feel better

And that, my friends, is how Steve adopts all of the kids in this au. Of course, D'art is still around, so that's how Steve bonds with Dustin specifically. Dustin and Will are his favorites. Billy just kind of fell for Steve after seeing his mama bear side, as did Eddie, because I am a sucker for Harringroveson.

[sickbromeo]

you know i always kinda thought the duffers weren’t the best at writing character relationships like specially sibling relationships and friendships or just didn’t seem to care about them as much and i was 100% right in thinking that.

[shinebrightlikeanarwhal]

Mike: you cannot definitively prove Eddie is dating Harrington.

Will:

Erica:

Max:

Lucas: I genuinely want to hit you in the throat.

Will: you can’t possibly be that homophobic that you’re blind.

Mike in fear: I’m NOT homophobic

Dustin: WELL YOURE SOMETHING PHOBIC THEY ARE LITERALLY MAKING OUT IN EDDIES VAN RIGHT NOW

Billy just trying to nap: Wheeler… how is both of your sisters smart yet you are a complete fucking idiot.

Will: it’s homophobia, I’m telling you.

Mike in tears: IM N O T WILL PLS

[metalboiimunson]

Summer Nights in Hawkins Moodboard

“tonight will be a memory all of us will cherish in the morning”

like/follow/reblog for more

[mon-mothmas-collar]

remember when the central theme of the show was friendship…yeah

[lady-celeste25]

What I wanna see from V. 2:

*Cali Crew shows up*

Lucas: Wait a gd minute.

Mike: What?

Max: aren’t you guys missing someone??? Someone like really important???

Argyle and Jonathan, stoned: h u h ? ?

Dustin: EL EL!! YOU DUMBASSES WHERE THE HELL IS EL?????

Will: Bro my sister got kidnapped. That’s the reason we’re here for we want to make sure ya’ll are safe cause El’s out becoming a superhero again!

Steve: w…………… what?

Eddie, whispering to Robin: Who’s El?

Robin, whispering back: cool girl with powers

Max: AND YOU GUYS AREN’T GOING TO GET HER?!

Will: She’s really okay- You know El! She knows what she’s doing-

Max: FUCK YOU ALL *steals Steve’s keys* I’M GOING TO GO GET EL!!!!!!!

Nancy: MAX COME HERE NO-

Meanwhile:

El, going through her trauma again: lol

[echoing-oursong]

First off I love Eddie and Dustin’s friendship. However I can’t help but think how interesting their friendship would be if it wasn’t a copy and paste of Steve and Dustin’s friendship. A lot of people have been making parallels to it and I love it but at the same time get a little bit annoyed that the writers choose this decision. Because here’s the thing is that fundamentally the friendships are completely different and it could have added so much depth to the characters. First off while Steve wasn’t friends with the kids and Dustin in the first season: he still knew about the shit that was going on. While he was at the end of it and doesn’t completely understand their trauma: Steve would have asked questions and would get answers cuz otherwise how would he know that Barb was dead and how she died? So Dustin who is searching for help and for people who know what’s happening goes to the wheelers in hopes of finding mike or Nancy. Once he is not able to do this and sees one of the people who knows about the ud and demogorgon he attaches himself at Steve’s hip. Dustin takes Steve’s flowers out of his hand cuz Dustin is just like that and is the only way to get Steve’s attention. And Dustin does know what Steve did because he asks if Steve still has the bat. Their friendship begins of convince but quickly becomes just pure friendship and wanting to do something nice for someone. They last only one day until Steve gives Dustin advice (although it’s shitty advice) and tells him a secret that Steve has in order to just cheer him up in the first place. Dustin’s begrudgingly acceptance of Steve being the only one he can reach in a crisis turns to awe and wonder at Steve. He thinks Steve is cool but still knows that he’s a dork. As he is very quickly able to laugh at the hair advice he gets but also able to get away with things that Steve finds annoying. While Steve does make a few threats, Dustin also knows that Steve wouldn’t actually go through with them. Also Steve doesn’t berate dustin for being upset. And while he does look out of his comfort zone being vulnerable with a kid he just meet, Steve goes out of his way too help Dustin emotionally instead of just focusing on the task at hand. He also worries about how Dustin feels even after the whole ud mess is done with. Steve and Dustin have a mutual understanding of their friendship. And they are allowed to be themselves around one another. Even the side of Dustin that sometimes annoys the Party or when sometimes it seems like the Party takes him for granted.

However eddie and Dustin’s friendship doesn’t start off like that at all. Eddie has no idea about the trauma that Dustin and the rest of them have been through. He is disconnected from them at this point because he isn’t able to fully understand Dustin. But an interesting thing is that he is able to understand Dustin. Only a part of Dustin however. He is able to understand the DnD player of Dustin and is able to connect with him and the Party in the fact that they are freaks. And that they get bullied. But that’s as far as it goes and even then he isn’t able to understand them at all. Dustin and Mike and Lucas have a complicated past with dnd. Even though it isn’t shown on screen it is still there. They name the monsters that they fight after dnd characters so they have something bad tying into dnd. They choose not to focus too much on this part which is interesting but another analysis for another time. So eddie does not understand their bad memories with this at all. He doesn’t understand why they play dnd, he just knows that they play it. Also another interesting thing about their friendship is that Dustin feels like he owes something to Eddie. He brings up to Max and other people multiple times, “He was the only one who was nice to me/us.” This is mentioned multiple times and it is even part of the reason why he doesn’t believe Max and why he searches for Eddie in the first place. While he also does it out of the kindness that he has, there’s something there that dustin believes he owes Eddie something. Another interesting thing is that Eddie shows Dustin and Mike and Lucas who is the boss in a way. When Dustin and Mike ask Eddie about changing the DnD game so Lucas could be at his basketball game and they could also go. Eddie says ‘no,’ pretty hard and then make Dustin and Mike get one new member to play. Eddie does this because of the way he views basketball players. Not once does eddie even feel guilty about it. He makes Lucas choose a side when he didn’t even say anything directly to Lucas. And he doesn’t allow Dustin and Mike to support their friends. Instead Eddie sort of guilt trips them. Showing that there is an imbalance in their friendship. Unlike Steve and Dustin’s friendship where there is this mutual understanding of each other.

There are so many things that I pointed out why these friendships are different. But now I will also explain why making Eddie and Dustin’s friendship incredibly similar to steve and Dustin’s friendship actually hinders the character’s growth and narrative. Steve and Dustin is a friendship that is important and shows growth because these people are different from each other. But they meet each other in the middle and are able to grow from their friendship. Dustin is a nerd who loves to play dnd and Steve loves sports. But they also both admire each other for their differences. Dustin admires Steve because of his strength in sports. Dustin legit started admiring Steve when he put himself in arms way carrying a bat and swinging it around defending dustin and his friends. Steve also admires dustin for his brains. Although he makes jokes about Dustin’s tones and tells him about humility, it’s very obvious that he does admire Dustin for being incredibly smart. While Steve and Dustin have similar personalities their common interests separates them but they’re able to ‘meet in the middle’ so to say about their differences. However, Eddie and Dustin’s friendship has them having a common ground of playing dnd. Their common interest align but that’s where it ends. Their personalities are not similar and they aren’t willing to meet in the middle. Maybe when Eddie gets involved with the ud does it change. But before that it’s very obvious that the two are not on the same page at all. Eddie looks down on Dustin and Mike while they look up to him. Which there is another interesting thing: is that Eddie does not know about the ud or any of their trauma. So their friendship is also clouded with a lie even if they can’t tell anyone and Eddie would think that they were crazy. Eddie is Dustin’s and even mike and Lucas and Max’s way of having a friendship that is outside of their group. How interesting would it be to see that they’re not able to form full friendships in society because their trauma is holding them back?!? It would also be so interesting in narrative form because they are constantly surrounding by people who do know what they’re going through. In cannon while they do interact with other people, it’s not significant and doesn’t have the main characters who are traumatized act differently in season 4 in Hawkins. Eddie and Dustin’s friendship would have so many layers of this was done. Even Eddie’s relationship with max and Lucas and Mike would being out so many layers. And show that they aren’t just being bullied because of them being freaks/losers but also because the way they act is different from anyone else because of their trauma. It would also show how they really are only able to truly trust each other and it would also show that the main character’s friendships are something that is very different from the way their hometown/society friendships.

[truessences]

Y'all gonna make me go grey... I already have some but I'ma be fully grey at my young age of 30 lol. Anyway, I just saw a post talking about Mike and Dustin being shit friends to Lucas in Stranger Things 4 because they didn't go to his game... listen... Lucas has a right to be upset they didn't come. He has a right to feel sad and betrayed. Even more so when he saw Erica come out with them and they're celebrating... but Mike and Dustin were also in a tough spot. Two things can be right at the same time.

Mike and Dustin have been going to his games, that was clear to me, they said that he'd been riding the bench. How were they to know he would actually play and score the winning basket? But what they DID know is that Eddie had been planning this Vecna's Curse campaign for weeks and that this was something their club has been leading up to.

Mike and Dustin DID ask Eddie to postpone the campaign and he refused. They would be shit friends if they didn't ask at all. But, Lucas could have asked Eddie himself, or he could have gone with Mike and Dustin to ask him. Lucas is part of Hellfire too. I don't remember if they said how many meetings he'd miss before this day (if at all) but if Mike and Dustin didn't go to the campaign, they would have been letting down their team too. Eddie wasn't necessarily mean but I can imagine him being upset and potentially causing a scene if Mike and Dustin didn't show. That's also rude to Eddie and the other boys.

This is where human relationships get complicated and nothing is black and white. People have choices they make and someone is going to feel some kind of way about it. That's just life. We're all going to make decisions for ourselves that other people aren't going to like, whether that is creating boundaries, choosing something you want to do instead of what others want. The best thing to do afterward is to talk about it so everyone can be on the same page, apologize for hurting any feelings (not for your choice unless it was maliciously made) and move on.

Mike and Dustin choosing to find a sub and still do the campaign doesn't make them shit friends to Lucas. Y'all really want Mike to be the worst person ever like all the time, he can't make ANY mistakes (though I don't think this is a mistake) and Dustin is shit too? Y'all are really wild for villifying these teenagers for making tough human decisions.

[evil-ontheinside]

Ok but I just imagined (bc of this post) the dice scene where Mike tries to convince the wrestling guy to join Hellfire but in a byler different meetings au

Mike, Dustin and Lucas (bc I refuse to have them fight in this) are sent to look for a sub for the game and Mike stumbles over Will when asking the art people. Mike gets so excited about the twenty sides and Will can only look at this cute, nerdy guy in front of him and nod before he even understands what's going on

Will joins hellfire for the next session (as well as Erica!) and he isn't impressed by Eddie's low key bullying but decides to stay for the cute guy and his really nice friends