#El’s Should I Stay or Should I Go equivalent is Bad Reputation

[wheeler-things]

Man, I’m never going to write it properly because I don’t have the patience or time, but one day I’m going to talk about my Crazier Things roleswap au.

Where—

Joyce kicked Lonnie out much earlier, and, instead of getting work at Melvald’s, decides to angle for a better paying job at the police station. Nobody believes she can handle being an officer because she’s Joyce Byers and she’s tiny and lbr a woman, but through her ferocious tenacity when the safety of her boys is on the line plus a pathetically slim pool of applicants (and the fact that I am the god if this au and I want her and Hop to swap roles because I’m swapping all the mains), eventually she’s brought on in a trial capacity. She ends up sticking around when her skills as a detective become apparent (yes, she still faces sexism in the workplace on the daily, but she is legitimately good at her job).

Meanwhile, Sara died when she was 2 or 3, so Hop’s divorce happened earlier. El wasn’t an experiment in this au (though she does have latent powers), but through some situation, Hopper ended up with El being shoved in his direction when she was a toddler. He wasn’t really in a fit place to care for her, but (for whatever reason that I have not and will not figure out) he ends up adopting her anyway. He moves the two of them back to Hawkins, and picks up a job at Melvald’s, because it’s what’s available at the time. Because all the stress doesn’t actually help his substance abuse issues (and because I need a reason for other people to doubt his sanity/perception a la s1 Joyce being doubled), he still drinks too much, and he’s not in a very mentally healthy place at all, but he’s trying his best.

Mike Wheeler might only be a little kid, but there’s already something weird about him. Even as a baby, he gets chronic nosebleeds. The lights flicker when he’s upset. Sometimes, the tape suddenly skips to or repeats a song that he loves, despite nobody touching the tape deck. Ted doesn’t notice any of this as more than a strange coincidence. Karen does her best not to think about it, but she can’t help but worry about her son.

Mike and Will still meet on the swings when they’re 5, and within the day, they’re best friends. Within the week, they also meet El, and the three of them become best friends.

The summer after Kindergarten, Karen takes Mike to see a doctor because she’s worried that his chronic nosebleeds haven’t stopped. That’s how he ends up on Brenner’s radar. And just before the start of first grade, Mike Wheeler disappears without a trace.

Max moves to Hawkins that October, and she becomes El and Will’s friend pretty quickly (she also gets a front row seat to the slow progression of the two of them losing more and more hope that their third best friend— who Max never met but knows everything about because both talk about him constantly— is ever coming home).

Karen obviously fights to look for her son, and the searches go on for months, but they find nothing. With her money and connections, Karen actually gets the current police chief kicked out of the position, because she doesn’t believe he’s doing everything he can to find her son. That’s how Joyce takes on the role of Police Chief because she might be the best detective the station has, but she’s also a woman so the thought is that Karen will probably get HER fired as well which for totally unknown reasons is the most palatable option to a bunch of people with power over the station (//sighs in sexism). Joyce actually listens to Karen, though, and is as transparent as possible about the search, even though it’s very cold at this point, so despite being dissatisfied and upset, Karen at least believes Joyce is doing her best. And that’s how Joyce ends up police chief.

Mike’s disappearance puts added pressure on the Wheeler house, so Nancy ends up acting out more for attention which is how we get Nancy in Steve’s canon s1 role as the popular party girl (though she’s still Nancy— smart as a whip and ambitious as hell, it’s just hidden better). Meanwhile, Jonathan ends up in her canon nerd role (he’s studying hard for a full ride to NYU!) with Barb as his best friend. And Steve… well, Billy showed up earlier with Max, so he got to work putting Steve down long before Steve’s rep was secure, and Steve is now something of a loner. He’s still a jock, but he does solo stuff like track instead of team sports. The upside is that this means he and Robin (who mayyyy or may not be the cool anti-establishment teen running this universe’s Hellfire Club, when the canon era starts) became friends earlier.

Steve and Jonathan know each other loosely, and are assigned to do a project together (Jonathan’s a nerd who’s taking a class above his grade level and Steve had no friends in the class so they got paired up by default), so Steve goes over to Jonathan’s house and sees Will, El, and Max huddled over their first dnd manual. Somehow (Steve doesn’t remember exactly how, but he’s pretty sure El and Will’s twin puppy dog eyes had something to do with it), a simple “oh, dnd, huh?” comment turns into thirteen year old Steve agreeing that the kids can use his place as a quiet place to play (his parents are never around anyway), and maybe he’ll get his cool friend who knows how to play to stop by and help out if they need it, and telling Joyce that it’s fine he wouldn’t mind babysitting because, really, he’s really bored a lot of the time in his big, empty house. And from then on, Steve’s place is this version of the Party’s Wheeler Basement.

Lucas shows up in fourth grade, and joins the Party. Obviously this changes his dynamic with Max— they get a slower burn in this one (and I’m still undecided whether it would ultimately end with El/Lucas/Max or Dustin/El), but he gets accepted really readily.

So… on November 6, 1983, the Party bikes home from Steve’s place after a session, and El vanishes (which is Will’s actual worst nightmare because now BOTH of his Kindergarten best friends have vanished without a trace). This leads, ultimately, to Will, Max, and Lucas going looking for El in the woods the next night. They don’t find her, but they do find a very bewildered boy with black, shaved hair and dark eyes, with the number 014 tattooed on his wrist.

[felidaefighter]

Love You To The Point Of Violence

[CW: angst, mentions of Quackity’s torture of Dream, fiance breakup]

Sapnap scoffs. “What, so Dream just told you how it worked? That doesn’t sound like him.” Quackity chuckles a bit in faux disbelief. “I know, right? I mean, it did take a bit of convincing-- hey at some points it was like pulling teeth-- but in the end, I managed to extract the information.” His voice lowers into a conspiratorial semi-whisper. “The reason he was apparently oh-so-powerful, the reason he stayed alive and continued to hold power over all of us-- that’s no longer just his, baby! I know it now too!”

“Oh, so now you’ve got the same sort of power that Dream had?” Sapnap asks, seemingly cheerily. It’s a leading question. It’s a tone that masks righteous fury. Quackity would know that if he’d paid any attention at all to either of his fiances lately.

“Yeah, yeah! Exactly!” Quackity says, getting excited. “Isn’t that great? We don’t have to worry about needing to go to Dream for revival anymore, we don’t have to worry about Dream overshadowing our every move!”

Stubbornness is not the equivalent to stupidity. Even with a reputation as a warrior and fighter first and foremost, those are preceded by the ability to stay sharp and think fast. Being able to connect the dots is a simple skill. The willingness to connect them has to be there first, however.

Sapnap’s no stranger to the way bloodstains that couldn’t quite bleach look on white shirts like the one Quackity currently wears. He knows the way voices sound raspy and hoarse from screaming, when a single uttered “yes” is painful. He can figure out what that means about things that lead to other things. And most importantly, he’s familiar with the way men of power hold themselves when they’ve decided that nothing is going to stand in their way, no matter what it takes, no matter the cost.

“And what’s stopping you,” Sapnap replies, trying so hard to keep his temperament in check, voice oozing venom, “From becoming just like Dream, then? What’s stopping you from being just as bad as him, huh?”

Quackity’s tongue isn’t silver, but he coats his words like it is, his voice falling into a melody and tone to lull whomever he’s talking with into trust. But even false silver is easily tarnished when it is grabbed with force and pried away. “No, no, Sapnap, listen to me, it’s not like that! You know me. Would I ever--”

“I’m not stupid, Quackity, alright?” Sapnap pins Quackity bodily to the wall, leaking rage (and hurt, and betrayal), and grabbing the front of his shirt. Quackity puts his hands up, but the look of easy confidence and control never leaves his scarred face. “I know I tend to talk with my sword but I’m not stupid, alright? And it kinda hurts that you’d think I wouldn’t figure this out.”

“Figure out what, Sapnap? What are you talking about? All I said was, Dream-- that’s the guy we’re talking about, remember? The bad guy who was butting into everyone’s business and wanted all the power to himself?-- he doesn’t have all the power anymore! He’s shared it. With me. And I just-- I just wanted to tell you the good news! Because I thought it would be great, for us, for--”

Sapnap cuts Quackity off again. “Cut the crap,” he says, and Quackity’s gaze hardens. Steady and calculating. The look of someone who’d pull the trigger without a trial. “Dream was my best friend. You think I don’t recognize this? You’ve been after power since day one. Since you ran in that stupid election all you’ve ever wanted was power.” Quackity opens his mouth but Sapnap barely lets him breath. “That was why you created El Rapids, you told us straight up! To get power. And yeah, you could-- you could say it was power against Dream you wanted, but was it really? Because Dream’s in prison and can’t hurt anyone from inside but you’ve still managed to get his blood all. Over you.”

Reflexively, Quackity looks down at his shirt. Too late he realizes it was a bait. The barely-visible stains could’ve been anything, could’ve been anyone’s blood if it was blood at all-- until he proved it. “You’ve become just like him,” Sapnap says, and the disgust isn’t enough to match the betrayal in his voice. “Okay, listen,” Quackity tries to gesture, but Sapnap’s running on instinct and adrenaline and his grip automatically tightens again at the movement.

“Someone I love decides to cut me and all the people who care about him off. He decides to manipulate people into doing what he wants because it’s “for the best”, he decides to kill and torture anyone who stands in the way-- who am I describing, huh Quackity? Huh? Huh?”  Quackity doesn’t answer, because he knows the answer. There’s nothing to be said.

Sapnap leans in close to his fiance’s face, and for a moment, they are both reminded of simpler days, when an action like this was a preclude to a kiss. Instead, Quackity feels the hot metal of a blade just itching to spark into flames at his throat, the Sharpness of the sword drawing pinpricks of blood even as it’s basically only hovering over his skin.

“I loved you, Quackity,” Sapnap says, sincerely, and Quackity stares into glistening but steady eyes. Maybe if it were earlier his heart would’ve faltered. Maybe he wouldn’t’ve already crushed those feelings out of himself in pursuit of what he craved. Maybe he would have understood the intent. But Quackity is not a man who falters, not anymore. He is not a man who lets his emotions control him. He is not a man who lets his attachments dictate his actions. “You don’t understand.” It falls on deaf ears.

“You know what? I still love you,” Sapnap confesses, and with a blink his eyes no longer glisten. And it intrigues Quackity to hear this, because there is no love in his voice. All he can hear is a promise of violence. “But right now? You’re worse than Dream ever was. So I’m gonna make you the same promise I made him.” His breath is right against Quackity’s own. There’s something intimate about betrayal, especially from someone you love.

“And what’s that?” Quackity asks, almost sounding bored of it, wanting to get the conversation over with and the blade away from his throat. “If you do anything out of line, I’m going to be the one stop you. And I’m going to kill you. You can trust me on that.”

The blade comes away from Quackity’s throat, and Sapnap drops his grip. Quackity straightens his collar and cuffs, collecting himself and his thoughts, keeping his emotions in check. “Well, I guess we’re done here,” Quackity says smoothly, “And... I guess we’re done.”

“Yes,” Sapnap says, “We are. But this-- this isn’t over.”

Quackity leaves, and he’s no stranger to the hunter’s gaze that follows him. That’s fine. He’s used to being prey. He’s adapted. But his fist shifts on his weapons, and he finds himself methodically adjusting and readjusting the part of his shirt where Sapnap had gripped it; remembering when his grip meant something else, and loathing the way his clothes now held lingering traces of his ex-fiance’s smell. Too little too late. No time for regret or love.

Still, there is something that stirs inside of him, some sort of slow-dawning realization when he puts thought into what Sapnap said. Rightfully, Quackity thinks, Sapnap shouldn’t love him anymore. Quackity has long since stopped caring about the physical prowess of those who oppose him, is beyond fear. It means nothing against words, in the end. But Sapnap does still love him. Loves him, with so much of his heart. And Quackity realizes what that truly means for him. To love someone is to promise to destroy them if the time should come.

And Sapnap has never broken his promises.