#NOTE the stobin is SO important in this

[florallylly]

at the request of absolutely nobody, i present my vaguely fleshed out steddie mummy au 

sources: i still own the mummy on vhs 

there’s a possibility that the whole story of hamunaptra could be tweaked a bit to fit the story of henry creel/vecna/one into imhotep’s story, but the actual nitty gritty doesn’t matter as much as the actual dynamics and relationships between stobin and eddie. the important part is that a man is cursed to be buried alive, immortal but destined to awaken only to take vengeance. 

fast forward and eddie munson ends up drafted into the military. (rick is apart of the french foreign legion stationed in egypt, and i’m not entirely sure how he manages it but eddie munson is apparently a colonel). things happen and eddie finds himself running away from the battlefield, only to stumble upon the ruins of hamunaptra. except they aren’t really ruins and hamunaptra is a myth. so he runs, but when he gets back to the city, alone and half dead, eddie finds that in his rush to leave, he’s grabbed some sort of puzzle box. 

at the same time, one robin buckley has dedicated her life to learning more about ancient egypt. her passion for languages led her down a rabbit hole, and she drags her brother steve to egypt with her for further study. 

robin is set up with a job at a small museum, working as an archivist. unfortunately, it’s a lot more tedious than she anticipated. it would be a lot better if she could work with steve, but forgetting his glasses at home nearly everyday isn’t super helpful when it comes to trying to sort books. 

so what is steve doing in egypt, you may ask? evie’s brother jonathan in the movie literally schlepped around egypt fucking around with his sister and figuring out his next get rich scheme. steve isn’t really the type to open up his own nightclub in shanghai (a la the mummy: tomb of the dragon emperor), but just like jonathan, steve happens to stumble across a cryptex containing a map of the lost city of hamunaptra. 

as an aside: i see steve doing the same minimum wage jobs he did in hawkins, just in egypt. i think it would be funny and makes so much more sense to me than him kind of skulking around for news of possible treasure. (bonus: the party in egypt, and dustin coming up to steve with a “brand new discovery” and it’s eddie’s puzzle box that he’s swiped. (THOUGH NOTE: evie and jonathan’s family is Rich. Rich Loaded. Rich Loaded British. So honestly, he doesn’t even have to work)

either way, when robin opens the cryptex and finds the map, she’s astonished. this is what she’s dreamed of her whole life—being an explorer and discovering lost civilizations. so she gets steve to find out where the puzzle box came from. his search leads them to the prison, where eddie munson is destined for execution. 

the two of them talk to eddie, and eddie tells robin he’s seen hamunaptra in person. he’s been there. he’s walked the same sand that pharaohs had and seen the ruins that no other have laid their hands on. but eddie refuses to tell them the location, but steve convinces (bribes) the warden to let him go. 

so the three of them set off to the city of the dead. 

the details of the trip would make this post way too long, but i’m thinking about dynamics rn… 

eddie is a little standoffish at first, sure that these rich kids won’t be able to handle themselves, and he’ll be stuck carting around two spoiled brats. and robin and steve don’t necessarily trust him. robin is wide eyed and blinded by eddie’s knowledge of hamunaptra, but steve keeps trying to keep her in check. 

at first, eddie thinks steve is cold to him because of some upstairs/downstairs prejudice or big brother protectiveness. and eddie flirts even harder with robin, delighted every time he sees a scowl on steve’s face. even if robin keeps rolling her eyes and ignoring him, he isn’t looking at her anyways. he’s too busy searching steve’s eyes for some spark of disapproval. he doesn’t see that though. he sees worry and concern and fear. and that’s when eddie starts warming up to them. 

[formosusiniquis]

I've decided the perfect Stobin au is a psych au/fusion. I don't know if I'll ever clear my plate enough to write it so let me share some world building highlights I dreamt of last night:

Steve, with his people reading skills and his ADHD brain that holds on to strange bits of information forever, accidentally convinces the Hawkins police force that he's psychic.

Robin plays his (thematic) straight man. Trading off antics and helping to fill in the gaps in Steve's knowledge base/memory

This only even happens because the temp agency placed Robin at a separate job from Steve, tragic, and he had too much time on his hands to get a crush on the local dinner guy

The local dinner guy who gets framed for a crime he didn't commit, and when Steve goes in just to provide a character witness he gets accused of being an accomplice. Somehow between this point and being released Steve convinces them he's psychic -- it's important to note even Steve is unclear on how this happens

When Robin finds out Steve has already decided they can solve this. And self employment is pretty much the only way to make sure they can work together forever and no one can separate them

Through the power of gossip, audacity, and actually doing some investigative work. Stobin do of course solve the crime

More general lore thoughts: this is an aged up au so that Steve wouldn't have to have a strained tough love relationship with his dad ala actual psych sure you could use Hopper in place of Henry but I think it's more fun to shove a newly graduated Dustin into just some kind of generic science lab. Who needs a dad for advice when you have six kids?

Every eligible lady in Hawkins is obsessed with Robin and her private eye drip, can an au that doesn't exist have a running gag?

Most crucially, regardless of any boy or girl crushes, this is an au about stobin getting into antics. Steve tapping in to his inner theater kid while Robin nods sagely in the back. Robin asking the most uncomfortable question a person has ever asked another human while Steve smiles and gaslights them into believing its acceptable. Steve and Robin paying themselves to hang out all day and yeah maybe along the way they solve a murder if they're up to it, who knows they've got a lot planned

[cranberrymoons]

winter games

prompt: sports (@steddieholidaydrabbles) word count: 605 rated: t tags: basketball, fluff, eddie enduring jock stobin ✊😔 notes: this one stands alone but is part of the future fic series!

welcome to Day 22 of the fic advent calendar – bite-sized fics posting every day during the month of december. enjoy!

Eddie has a type, and much to his eternal dismay, his type is jocks – with a heart of gold, though! That’s an important distinction. 

Anyway.

He’d been afraid that this would lead to him marrying into a Turkey Trot family, a bunch of evil sporty people in spandex who wake up at five in the morning on Thanksgiving day to run a 5K in the freezing cold before they’ll allow themselves a slice of pumpkin pie, but luckily for him, this hasn’t turned out to be the case.

Unluckily, he has instead found himself married to someone who takes basketball… so goddamn seriously. 

It’s actually kind of adorable, even if he doesn’t actually know or care what’s happening as he sits back on the couch with Steve’s feet in his lap while he and Robin yell at the screen. 

“I don’t know what the hell he thinks he’s doing,” Steve says as Eddie takes a swig of his beer and watches impassively at the tiny men in the red jerseys running back and forth on the court. “It’s like he’s never even seen a hoop before.”

“Seriously,” Robin says. She hands over her bag of chips when Steve makes a grab for it. She rips an anxious hand back through her hair where she’s curled in the big squashy armchair near the couch. “Pathetic.”

“They’re still winning though, aren’t they?” Eddie asks. They turn to him with twin exasperated looks, and Eddie widens his eyes. “Indiana. They’re winning.”

“That’s not the point,” Steve says as Robin nods along emphatically. “They should be winning by more.”

Eddie makes a face. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It doesn’t make sense to you,” Robin says. She rolls her eyes. “Just because –”

But they both devolve into outraged shouts at something that’s just happened in the game, and she doesn’t finish her thought. Steve gets so wound up that his feet shift in Eddie’s lap, heels digging into the tops of his thighs, and Eddie lets out a little grunt of pain. He squeezes Steve’s ankle to get him to move, and Steve gives him a distracted apology as he commiserates with Robin over what is apparently something worth being very upset over.

“Neither of you even went to this school,” he says under his breath, taking another swig of his drink. “Why do you even care?”

Robin glares at him. “How many ear-blasting rock shows have I sat through over the years?”

Eddie sighs. “A bunch.”

“An innumerable number,” she says, raising her eyebrows. “You can put up with one basketball game.”

Steve makes a face. “She kind of has a point.” He rubs a hand over Eddie’s arm where it rests against his legs. “Sorry. Go do a snack run or something if you’re bored. We’re not even to halftime yet.”

Eddie doesn’t need to be asked twice, not when there are several hours (?) of this in his immediate future. He shifts out from under Steve and collects a few empty plates before starting in the direction of the kitchen. 

“Bring more drinks!” Robin calls after him.

“And some of the Christmas cookies from earlier!” Steve adds, craning his neck around to be heard from his spot on the couch. 

Eddie just rolls his eyes, smiling to himself as he pulls open the fridge and stares into it, considering starting some type of cooking project just to keep himself out of the way of the two-person cheering squad in the living room. 

And – okay, so his type is jocks. Doesn’t mean he actually wants to be around them when they’re doing jock things.

[also on ao3]

[eskawrites]

I have seen a bit of discussion on the stobin codependency/the way fans talk abt their relationship and I wanted to know your opinion. I think you are one of the authors that always manages to write it best bc you show how dangerous it can be, the negative consequences of it and you don't reduce robin's character to steve's extension or their dynamic as the only thing ever.

You don't have to answer but I am curious abt your pov bc I really love the way you write the characters.

aw thank you anon! this is very kind and i will try to come up with a smart and thoughtful answer for you, although truth be told most of my thoughts on stobin are just me rambling in a word doc to myself until i have enough notes for a story lol

i guess the biggest thing for me is that, in fandom spaces (and i suppose in online spaces/younger communities in general maybe) codependency has come to mean a couple different things? there's codependent as in 'codependent besties, bonded pair, do not separate, they're platonic soulmates and their lives have been helplessly intertwined since time began' kind of thing, which is of course fun to see and read and write for characters. but there's also, like, the psychological concept of codependency, which often involves controlling behavior or enabling self-destruction like addiction and stuff (i should put a disclaimer here that i'm not by any means a psychological professional and all of this post is, of course, simply my perspective)

we all like viewing stobin as codependent besties because that's what they are in the show, and honestly who doesn't love a little trauma bonding? but the thing is, the line between codependent besties and actual, unhealthy codependent behavior can be really thin. i think it's interesting to write and read what happens when that line blurs and the dynamic shifts into something unhealthy (like in my celebrity fake dating au, where 'you're the only one who understands me' turns into 'i can't face life without you' turns into a very limited support system and simultaneous destructive spirals). however, i do think that online discussions and perspectives of steve and robin can sort of mimic that blurring of the line in some way, which then leads to fans viewing stobin's dynamic as the only thing ever, like you said. and honestly, if platonic stobin is the most important thing to you and it's all you ever want to write and talk about, then hey, you do you. have fun with it

as for not reducing robin to steve's extension, yeah. i think it's very often a combination of the above and the tendency for male characters get more attention both in canon and in fandom. i also click out of posts/fics/etc that do that. but then, i tend not to read anything that isn't centered on robin, nancy, or ronance in the first place lol. and to be completely fair, you could probably argue that i tend to reduce steve to robin's extension in my writing, because i am simply more interested in robin (and female characters in general), so that's what I end up prioritizing in my fic

[the-lark-ascending69]

How would Stobin happen in the Scoops Ahoy Ronance AU?

Answering this after a million years 😭

I imagine this AU to be kind of a Steve-Nancy role swap AU in which Nancy is with the Scoops troop while Steve is... with Jonathan. Solving mysteries. Now, I haven't watched s3 in years so I don't remember much about Nancy and Jonathan's plotline, other than Nancy was the driving force through most of it, but in this AU the timeline shifts a bit so that she gets fired, alongside Jonathan, way before the events we see in S3, so that by its start she already got a new job at Scoops Ahoy (which is humilliating to her, but she needs the money). She already did some work and by the time Jonathan realizes she was right all along, he's alone because 1) Nancy is incredibly mad at him and 2) she's too busy cracking Russian codes. Dustin is the one to pull him to the side when he tries to explain everything to her (she would have dropped the code immediately to go back to help him if that were the case) and tell him that, if there's one thing he learned at summer camp, is that when a girl is angry at you, it's best not to push her. He pats his shoulder and tells him "you know what? I got just the right man for your quest". The man in question is Steve.

Jonathan would not accept to work with Steve unless it was absolutely necessary.

Again, I don't remember much about that storyline, so I couldn't tell you exactly what happens, but I imagine it would be pretty funny, with Steve coming up with more and more idiotic ideas each time and Jonathan being pissed about it but unable to send him away because he still needs help. I imagine they wouldn't become close friends, but they'd find a way to get along just fine.

That means Robin doesn't meet Steve after much later, through Dustin, in fact. Since they're not friends, he doesn't get a job at Family Video, and is instead wandering around looking for jobs, not being hired, not doing anything with his life and being constantly roasted over it by Dustin, who's become pretty close with Robin lately and he swears she's perfect for him, dude, he should totally date her. Steve isn't so convinced - Robin? Talks non-stop Robin? Band nerd Robin famous for passing out in the middle of a theater audition in school in front of everyone because she got just a little bit passionate about a scene? (Rebel Robin is canon to ME!). Robin is weird. Steve doesn't date weird girls ("You dated Nancy" / "Yeah, 'cos Nancy isn't weird" / "Dude, she literally dressed as an elf princess for one of our campaigns. She's a nerd" / "Wait, Nancy plays that shit?" / "You have a lot to learn about women still, my friend").

But then he needs to work with Nancy and Nancy had a new best friend, and she is - let's face it - insanely hot. Like Steve is kinda left breathless, staring like an idiot when he first sees her - Weird Robin was attractive all along?? All Dustin has to say is "I told you" ("...yeah," says Steve).

So Steve makes it his new mission to ask Robin out. Nancy makes it her mission to stop anyone from talking to her Robin.

A few important notes about Nancy and Robin's friendship so far:

They're each other's first female friend in years.

Nancy has no problem at all with Robin liking girls, but Robin still feels a bit awkward about it. If Nancy were a boy it would be different but Robin really, really doesn't want to make her uncomfortable. She wants to be One Of The Girls for once.

Robin has a big crush on Vickie, but she won't tell Nancy despite Nancy's repeated attempts to talk about girls (she's trying to make Robin feel normal. Most girls like talking about boys, and she knows Robin is secretly a repressed romantic at heart who's just scared of showing emotion. A little push will help, right?).

Robin tries to act as "normal" as possible with Nancy, never bringing up anything that might remind Nancy that her new best friend is a lesbian. Nancy has no such concerns and will often ask Robin about girls she think she might find attractive.

Robin is almost physically holding herself back from seeing Nancy in a romantic light. She is NOT going to ruin this friendship.

Nancy thinks Robin is the most beautiful girl she's ever seen.

Nancy is incredibly protective of Robin.

Nancy feels a bit weird about the idea of Robin getting a girlfriend some day. She tells herself that, at first, she was just getting used to the idea of a girl having a girlfriend, then, that she just wanted to enjoy a friendship with a girl again without the involvement of boys or any romantic interest that might come between them, as a return to a more innocent time. She does want Robin to be happy, though, and would try to help her with girls if Robin allowed her to.

Steve finds all of his attempts to speak to Robin frustrated by Nancy intentionally interrupting him.

"She's not interested in you," she says.

"Did she tell you she didn't like me?" Steve asks.

"A couple of times, in fact. She did call you a douchbag."

"Maybe that's because she doesn't know me."

"Steve, believe me. She's not interested."

Every time Steve tries to speak or flirt with her, Nancy intervenes by either pulling Robin along with her, as if she were her right hand man, always by her side in every mission, or she'll begin talking to Steve, forcing him to direct his attention somewhere else.

Steve falls low. He falls very, very low, because his next step is to ask Dustin for help, which must be just the most embarrassing thing he's ever done, but jeez, Robin just has that effect on you, and Nancy is like a very mean guard dog with her, so he needs a distraction. Dustin will pretend to be interested in journalism, or girl stuff, or whatever Nancy likes, doesn't matter. Or he can just go annoy her for a few minutes so Steve gets a chance to talk to Robin alone.

Robin is not impressed. She knows what he's trying to do, but she decides she'll take the chance to bully Steve a little, just for fun. She replies with "wow" and "really?" to everything he says until he realizes she's being sarcastic. She makes fun of him for a while before making things clear to him: she's not interested.

"Why?" Steve asks.

"Because I have my eye on someone else," she says. "Besides, you're not my type."

"Really? So what's your type?"

"Well, for starters, I am drawn to profound souls and intelligent minds."

"Hey, I can be smart. I helped save the world like, two or three times."

"Given our current situation, I don't think that makes you all that special, Stevie boy."

He tries to get her to admit who this boy she likes is. He tries to guess, naming every guy their age he knows. Robin is mildly entertained and amused so she lets him provide free white noise while they walk through the woods. It helps her not get bored with all these fucking trees around them.

And then maybe they get separated. Maybe they're in the woods at night while running from the search party and from Jason, who is hunting them. Nancy, Eddie and Dustin are on one end, with Robin, Steve, Lucas and Max in the other. They'll reunite as soon as possible, but they can't stop now.

And maybe Robin realizes Steve is not that much of an asshole when she sees him comfort a terrified Max, or put himself on the line to protect Lucas. He cares about the kids more than he cares about himself. He talks to them, gives them directions, makes sure everyone stays together and safe and who would have guessed? Seems like Steve the hair Harrington has a sensitive side.

And he gets to see Robin is more than a pretty face when they do come face to face with Jason.

He's looking for Eddie, Lucas, and everyone he knows associates with them. Steve and Max would be good enough targets for him. He is only tangentially aware that Robin is friends with Nancy, Mike's sister, but she quickly turns that possible weak spot into a strength.

She tells him she's so terrified - her friend's brother might be involved in that horrible cult. That's what motivated her to join the search party. She doesn't want anyone else getting hurt (Robin spins lies like a spider spins webs). In fact, she overheard Mike say something once - Eddie was planning to leave Hawkins soon, maybe on that very same night, he could be on the road as they speak, which is why Robin found it so imperative to be with the search party tonight, to find Eddie before he leaves. Jason and his team rushes out of the woods and in direction to the nearest road, thinking themselves smarter than Robin.

They make it somewhere safe. Robin and Steve stay up to keep watch - they insist the kids have some sleep. Lucas and Max cuddle adorably, and Robin just wants to pinch their cheeks because they're so damn cute together. Steve keeps an eye on them while Robin watches out for the search party. They talk to keep each other awake - Steve tells her about how he became a mother of six, and Robin tells him how she became best friends with Nancy Wheeler, which isn't an easy feat, mind you (though she excludes the most personal details). She tells him she speaks four languages and is learning a fifth. Steve tells her he gives great hair advice (he asks her if she uses conditioner. She asks him if he rents his head out to the council on weekends to use as a speed bump). Steve laughs. He tells her he'll leave her alone - it's fine if she doesn't like him. Plus, he's probably not ready for a relationship anyway. He should focus on things other than pretty girls, like college, someday, maybe. Max is definitely his focus right now, keeping her alive and safe (as he's been doing ever since that first fight with Billy), and nothing else should matter. Robin respects that a lot, actually (she'd never thought she'd put the words "Steve" and "respect" together before). He still thinks she's cool as heck, though, and he'd love to be friends. Robin doesn't feel terrified this time, like she did when Nancy said the same thing eight months ago. She doesn't feel the need to tell him her darkest secrets. She just likes having someone pure of heart and dumb of ass to poke fun at. She can't believe she's becoming friends with Steve the hair Harrington. She wants to be real, actual friends, thogh, not friends-as-a-shortcut-into-her-pants friends. Steve laughs. "Real, actual friends," he agrees.

Nancy sees them exchanging jokes and laughing when they reunite, and she's surprised - finds it amusing - but also frels a strange pang of jealousy in her gut. She knows Robin couldn't let a boy come between them if she tried, and she's happy she's making more friends - she is! - she doesn't know where she's going with this. All she does is to embrace Robin tightly when they're together again, happy to have her partner back by her side. Steve eyes Nancy curiously. He's not the smartest, but he seems to notice something Robin doesn't, something not even Nancy sees, though he can't quite put his finger on what the strange thing is.

[stregoniconiconii]

Personally I don’t understand Steve or Robin centric fics that don’t at least have a throw away line about their friendship lol or fics where they’re close to someone else instead/never became really friends at all. Weird.

It’s still not quite as bad as those fics, where it’s focused one of their romantic relationships, usually steve’s, and the other is kinda just there to be the other’s “homophobic dog”, usually robin, and then not be mentioned again in the fic after that.

i can’t stand it it literally makes me so sad it’s like i’m reading about at most 3 quarters of steve or robin like it’s just sad. intellectually i understand that anything pre season 3 would have them at odds but it’s our duty to give them a harebrained scheme to bond over. a pre s3 steve centric au that doesn’t mention robin? fine i can grit my teeth and bear through it bc i know that they will meet and fall in platonic love but a robin centric fic set pre s3? she was still obsessed with steve like that’s literally canon why is she not even trying to light his precious hair on fire with her mind. unrealistic tbh

also i used to be able to stand fics that do the bare minimum throwaway line about their friendship but now i can’t like it’s literally too important for me now. it’s stobin centric or bust for me these days

i’m soooo sick of robin being treated as like an accessory or someone just to help another person in their sexuality discovery or their romantic prospects like it really makes me so sad bc she’s everything to me and she deserves so much more. when i see an authors note like and i brought robin in early too like they expect a pat on the back for it but it means nothing to me if robin isn’t actually doing anything like if she’s just there for some quips or lesbian decoration i have to hit the backspace i’m sorry

[stevethehairington]

💭📚for the fic writer ask game?

riaaa ty for the ask!!

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

honestly anything and everything does! i've pulled inspiration from just about everything you can think of - other shows/movies/books, posts i see, stories people tell me, something i hear someone say, things that have happened to me personally, poetry i read, songs i listen to, random objects i see out in the wild, things i'm feeling.

all i need is something that sends a spark into my brain and then i'm off.

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

ooh, okay i looove reccing fics and writers so this is a great one. however, i feel like most of the writers that i would normally rec are our friends or writers i know you've already heard of lol, sooooo i will give a couple of fics this time instead!

first up:

someone else's favorite song by @fastcardotmp3

i am currently about halfway through this one and it is absolutely gorgeous. a beautiful exploration of grief and friendship and love and what that all means when it gets tangled up and the edges start to blur. literally anything by dot is a masterpiece and this one is no exception to that!!

heed the ominous warning of talking heads by audacity_of_bluejays

this one was SO good omg. i know you're picky about your time travel lol so before you see that tag and go hm not gonna chance it, it's important that you know that it's not really time travel per se? it's more like steve gets transported to an alternate universe that exists because he made one decision instead of another at a previous point in time to show him how his life would be if he actually does that. and he has to like figure out how to get back to his own universe so he can make sure this one doesn't happen for him. it's a really good one and the platonic stobin in this one is also sososooo good, they are ride or die in any universe in any circumstance and that's so nice to see here.

your cosmic call sign by @nancywheeeler

okay i know i recced this one on the server already after i finished reading it but im reccing it again bc holy fuck it's so good and i love it so much. the vibes in this one are off the charts. it's got sci-fi, it's got bowie, it's got radio dj eddie, it's got a homemade documentary, it's got aliens, it's got everything. oh and the format of the fic is SO cool, like it's got radio show excerpts and newspaper article pieces and things like that interspersed through the actual story that add SO much and it's just so awesome and so creative. also the fact that super 8 (aka my favorite movie) is mentioned in the beginning authors note is just. an automatic win for this fic bc that movie is my favorite and it is so underrated and the fact that it was an inspiration for this fic is everything to me sdkfs.

hours and hours by @steddiesupportgroup

i read this one a while ago but it has been on my mind sooo much the past few days lol. it's a pwp lmfao, bc what is friendship if not reccing pwp's to each other right? but yeah it's got a lot going on but never in a way that makes it feel overwhelming as a reader, and it all melds together very well. it's heady, it's languid yet purposeful, it's passionate, it's fun, it's full of care. a very very good read!!

noise by @viagoh

i'm sure nico is probably tired of seeing my name pop up in their notifications but i cannot not gush about all of their stuff. their art is everything to me but this fic!! this fic is sooo good and sooo beautifully written!! a glimpse at steve and eddie's relationship and a brief exploration of steve's parents and what they meant to him. a trip down memory lane but in a way that's sort of bittersweet. tw for some memory loss but it's more of an allusion to it, like it's not quiiiiite happening yet but it's something that will happen later down the line. but yeah, the characterization in this one is just sooo spot on and i love the way that steve and eddie's dynamic was written here, it's so good.

fanfic writer ask game