#Robin does the exact same when Steve gets home and tells her about Eddie

[libraryofgage]

SpiderPool Steddie Part One

So, this is definitely gonna have multiple parts lmao

It's been bouncing around my brain for a while like the Addams Family Steddie AU lol

Anyway, lemme know if you'd like to be tagged for future parts ^_^

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Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Girls is, at best, a dive bar. At worst, it's a cesspit in which the scummiest people in the city gather to bask in each other's scumminess. To Steve, however, it's the perfect place to collapse after a long patrol, splayed out like a starfish on the roof as the music playing inside vibrates the building itself.

Steve takes a deep breath, setting his bat down next to him before pushing his mask to the bridge of his nose. He then lies down on the roof, wishing not for the first time that the city's light pollution wasn't so bad. Seeing the stars and hunting for constellations would really help him ignore the cracked ribs screaming inside his chest and threatening to break if he even breathes wrong.

All things considered, though, it could be worse. Steve doesn't have any morning classes, Vecna didn't beat him up nearly as bad as he usually does during their fight earlier, and his accelerated healing means Steve will be able to breathe normally by morning. Robin would tell him he has a very low bar when it comes to judging how shitty his life currently is, but she isn't here, so her opinion doesn't matter. Dustin would tell him he should try not getting his ass whooped in the future. Thankfully, he also isn't here, making his opinion as meaningful as Robin's.

Steve closes his eyes, letting his shoulders relax and trying not to think about anything. It sort of works until his entire body suddenly tenses, every nerve on edge and goosebumps shooting across his arms. He shoots up, ignoring the harsh twinge in his ribs as he turns in a crouch and grabs his bat. Steve clenches his jaw, breathing harshly through his nose to keep from groaning in pain, and feels relieved he didn't completely remove his mask completely.

Over by the door leading to a staircase is a guy with ripped jeans, a worn-out shirt with "HELLFIRE CLUB" across the chest, a jean vest covered in patches and pins, and hair pulled back out of his face with a few wavy strands stubbornly escaping his hair tie. He's breathing a little heavily, his face flushed like he's just climbed a few flights of stairs. Actually, he probably has.

"Woah," the guy says, his voice soft enough that Steve would have missed it if not for the enhanced hearing. The guy clears his throat and holds up both hands, showing off a bottle of Jack Daniels in one and a bag with a grease-stained bottom in the other. "Uh, I come in peace. I didn't realize the rooftop was taken."

Steve has no clue what possesses him, but he forces himself to relax and set the bat down. "No, it's okay. I can head out," he says, staying seated despite his words. He's really hoping the guy will insist he doesn't need to; his ribs are still aching like a bitch.

Thankfully, the guy flashes a grin and slowly lowers his hands. "Nah, you're all good. Not every day I get to eat next to a hero. Want some fries?" he asks, walking over and sitting a good two feet away so there's plenty of room between them.

He tears open the bag to create an impromptu plate and puts it between them, the smell of greasy and undoubtedly delicious fries tempting enough that Steve picks up a smaller one and pops it into his mouth. "Thanks. Where are these from?" Steve asks, glancing over as the guy twists the cap of his bottle and takes a swig.

"A burger joint two streets down and one street over. On the corner."

Steve nods, making a mental note of the directions so he can get a burger before swinging home. He's got just enough in his pocket to afford one. "So, got a name?" Steve asks, figuring he's already eating the guy's fries and they're about to spend some time together on this roof. He should know the guy's name.

The guy's grin returns, and he sets the bottle down between them as well. It's tempting, but Steve doesn't trust his alcohol tolerance to hold up while his body is busy fixing his ribs. "Eddie. Do I get to know your name, too?"

Steve snorts and leans away slightly, putting a bit more distance between Eddie and his entirely too-grabbable mask. "Nice try," he says.

"Worth a shot," Eddie says, shrugging as he picks up a few fries. "So, Spider-Man, what brings you to Sister Margaret's? You enjoy the gay metal scene?"

"What's the difference between gay and regular metal?"

"Our hair is better," Eddie explains, dramatically flipping the few strands of hair escaping his tie.

Steve has to hold back a second snort, taking another fry and chewing on it before saying, "I like resting here after patrol. The whole building shakes with the music."

Eddie lights up, his eyes brightening and his back straightening some. "So, you're a fan of Corroded Coffin," he says, taking another swig of the Jack Daniels. It's only now that Steve realizes it's already a quarter of the way gone, and he wonders if Eddie's liver can handle that much alcohol all at once.

"Is that the name of the band?"

"Yep. They play here almost every night."

"I'm guessing you like them, too, then?"

Eddie hums, amusement dancing across his expression now, giving Steve the distinct feeling that there's some secret he simply isn't in on. "They're the best band I've ever heard. Their music is incredible. They really push the boundaries of the genre. And their lyrics? Amazingly layered with at least three meanings per line. I highly recommend actually coming in for a listen one of these days," Eddie says, leaning a little closer to Steve.

A beat of silence passes in which Steve holds Eddie's gaze. Or, he holds the gaze on his end; he's sure Eddie can't actually tell with the mask covering his eyes. "You're in the band," Steve says.

"Lead guitarist and singer, yes. I also write the songs."

"You're incredibly critical of yourself, really grounded in reality."

Eddie barks out a laugh. "I just happen to know my worth incredibly well."

"You have all the confidence of a mediocre white man on a job hunt."

Eddie gasps, placing a hand on his chest as he looks at Steve. "How dare you call me mediocre. I am revolutionary at worst and the second coming at best."

"You know the second coming involves, like, an apocalypse or something, right?"

"I'm Jewish, why would I bother with the fine details?" Well, Steve will give him that. "By the way," Eddie says, gesturing to Steve's bat as he continues, "do those nails actually see any use? Or are they just there to act as a threat?"

Steve looks down at his bat, considering it for a moment before carefully holding the middle and offering the handle to Eddie. Now that he's giving them a few moments of attention, he's realizing the nails embedded in the end are a little rusty and definitely need cleaning. "I try not to be deadly with it, but Vecna's got these lab-grown demon dogs and bats that always manage to break through my webs," Steve explains.

He watches as Eddie takes the bat, weighing it in his hands before shoving his palm into the nails. Steve jerks, a wordless shout escaping his throat as he launches himself over the fries and in front of Eddie. "Are you okay?!" he asks, grabbing Eddie's hand and shakily inspecting the nails sticking through it. Fuck, those are going to be a bitch to get out, and he'll probably have to swing Eddie to the hospital for a tetanus shot.

Being angry doesn't even register in his brain as Eddie laughs. "Don't worry about it, Spidey," he says, pulling his hand off the nails with a slight wince. He wiggles his fingers, letting Steve have a front-row seat to the injuries closing. "See, good as new."

And he's right. The injuries are good as new. In fact, there isn't even any scarring, and Steve almost rips his mask off to take a closer look but stops himself at the last minute. Instead, he grabs Eddie's hand and yanks it closer, turning it over to check his palm, too. "What the fuck?" he asks, looking up at Eddie, still gripping his hand tight.

"Super healing," Eddie explains. "Like, super duper. If I ever get decapitated, just hold my head to my neck, and I'll be right as rain."

"I'd rather not put that claim to the test," Steve says, frowning slightly as he runs his fingers over Eddie's palms, just to make sure the injuries aren't somehow hidden from sight.

"You know, I kissed the last guy who touched my palm like that," Eddie says, leaning in again with that grin.

Suddenly all Steve can think about is how Eddie's lips do look soft. And it has been a while since Steve actually kissed anyone. And he does think Eddie is funny. And he does find himself wondering if his smile will taste like the Jack Daniels and fries. And...and...

And Steve needs to go before he does anything he shouldn't be doing as Spider-Man.

He jerks back, dropping Eddie's hand like it burns, and ignores the ache in his ribs as he grabs his bat and stands. "I, uh, I need to get going. Thanks for the fries, Eddie," he says, hurrying over to the edge of the roof.

"Woah, just gonna eat and run on me, big boy?" Eddie asks, scrambling to his feet and over to where Steve is climbing onto the edge of the roof. "That's not very hero-like of you. You haven't even left me your name or number. How are you gonna pay me back $2.50 for the fries?"

"I had five," Steve says, turning to look at Eddie as he webs his bat to his back and pulls his mask down over his chin.

"The economy sucks, man."

Okay, he's got Steve there. Again. "Nice try, Eddie."

"Can you blame a guy? Your ass looks great in that spandex."

Steve is suddenly relieved his mask is back down, covering the furious blush spreading across his cheeks. He'd think it was just a joke, but the sincere and somewhat goofy smile tugging at Eddie's lips tells him it's more genuine than anything else. "Thanks," Steve says, giving Eddie a two-finger salute before taking a step back off the roof.

He shoots a web at the edge of the building, using the momentum to swing around the corner. His ribs are killing him with the movement, but he still manages to throw a, "See you later, Eds!" over his shoulder before he's completely out of earshot.

Later, Steve will wonder how Eddie got his super healing, if he's that flirtatious with every guy he meets on the roof of Sister Margaret's, and if he'll be there the next time Steve swings by. But that's for later. For now, he's just enjoying the breeze rushing over him and thinking about Eddie's eyes and his smile and his long fingers.

[laundrybiscuits]

(purify our misfit ways tag | AO3)

Sometimes Steve feels like he’s tripped into a parallel universe. One day he’d been on top of the world, Tommy and Carol by his side, backing whatever dumb idea he had; the next, he’d been wearing a stupid sailor hat, Robin and Eddie roasting him mercilessly. It’s like, there’s Hawkins, and there’s the Upside Down, and there’s Steve’s life which is now maybe sideways from all of that. Like, a third dimension. 

He thinks if this was a story, it would be kind of shitty. If he lays it all out, the facts of it, he used to have everything when he was sixteen and now he doesn’t. But really, when he thinks about it, the only thing he actually misses is how automatic everything was. It was so easy, being Steve Harrington. 

It just also sucked sometimes. 

He’d been bored and annoyed, pretty much all the time. He’d always felt on edge. Not angry, more…ready for things to go bad. Alert, like a guard dog, except the only thing he’d had to guard was himself. 

Nancy had felt like salvation. She hadn’t fit in with Tommy and Carol at all, and that’s what he’d loved about her. She pushed back, told him when he was being an ass or an idiot, and he’d loved her more than he knew a person could love another person. Even with the fights and all the monster shit, it had felt like his whole heart was just living inside her. Like when she was gone, there was an empty ache in his chest. It had been a good kind of ache, though, because he’d thought that her heart was inside him, too; he liked the idea of it echoing in her, too. And then it’d turned out—no, he’d been the only one walking around bleeding out. He doesn’t like to think about it too much.

He’d spent senior year trailing around after Nancy and Jonathan. He’d known it was pathetic. You don’t just spend all your time with your ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, what kind of loser does that? 

But there hadn’t been anything else he could think of to do, so that’s what had happened. Before, when he’d thought my friends he’d meant a crowd of people who wanted his attention. It had felt pretty good, being able to hand out approval like that. Telling jokes and knowing everyone in the room, everyone who mattered, would listen and laugh. 

And then suddenly he thinks my friends and means Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers eating lunch with him outside even when it gets too cold, talking about shit he doesn’t understand, and knowing he’s lucky to get that much. Hating it, kind of, but grateful anyway.

He guesses that once you face down a monster together, dumb shit like who’s dating who doesn’t really matter anymore. They hadn’t rubbed his face in it or anything, though he thinks Jonathan probably had the right. Still has the right. 

It stings like a skinned knee, but then summer comes and it’s so much worse. They’re suddenly busy with their fancy internships and he’s scrambling to get a job, any job, even a stupid job where he has to wear a stupid costume and sling stupid ice cream. Without Hawkins High holding them together like cling film between them and the rest of the world, the tentative friendship they’d built cracks wide open. Of course it was always going to break the way it did, with Nancy and Jonathan on one side, going places in life, and Steve on the other, not going anywhere. 

He tries so hard to find something, someone, anyone, but it’s like girls can smell the desperation coming off him. He’s never had to work so hard in his life to get absolutely nowhere. He’s Steve Harrington, charming motherfucker, nice enough to take home to your parents and mean enough to drive you crazy. He knows what he’s doing.

Except apparently he doesn’t anymore. Girls don’t react the way he’s used to, even though he uses the exact same lines, and it’s humiliating. It’s the stupid sailor outfit, he just knows it, but when he’s not at work it just feels way too pathetic to go hang out by himself at the mall. He spends his time running the trails behind his house, mostly. He watches TV. He even tries learning to cook, but it’s harder than he thought it’d be, so he gives up before too long. 

For a really long time, he doesn’t even register Robin Buckley as anything except a band geek who hates him. Yeah, he can appreciate that she’s kind of hot in a feral way, but she’s not his type at all. The chains, the mismatched nail polish, the way she makes fun of him and he can tell she means it. She’d told him once, “I’m the weirdest girl in Hawkins,” and she’d sounded like it was a badge of honor, something she was proud of. So: not his type, not even a little bit. 

But even though she’s kind of a dick to him, she helps him when it’s obvious he’s never even tried to read the employee handbook. She walks him through things even though he has to ask a few times because it’s complicated and he forgets. She makes fun of him for his hair and the way he strikes out with girls, but she never once makes fun of him for not getting into college, even though she’s probably going to Harvard or something when she graduates. 

And she’s one of the funniest people he’s ever met, in a savage kind of way. She reminds him of Tommy H. a little bit, though he knows better than to say that out loud. She doesn’t bother to pretend to like the customers, just serves them with a dead-eyed stare and bitches to Steve about the worst ones. Sometimes she does impressions and Steve laughs so hard his stomach hurts. 

So, she’s okay to be around. Doesn’t mean anything. Besides, it turns out that getting to know Robin means getting to know Eddie Munson, too. She mentions his name a lot, just little stuff dropped into conversation like oh yeah and then me and Eddie went down to the quarry or Eddie’s showing me how to play this song on the guitar. Steve thinks it’s pretty reasonable that he assumed Eddie was her boyfriend, right up until he’d actually met the guy and realized that she’d been talking about Eddie “the Freak” Munson the whole time.

Eddie is…different. Steve’s not sure how to feel about him for a really long time. Before, maybe even last year, he’d have written Eddie off as just another loser who couldn’t hack it with the popular kids and was mad about it. But Eddie comes back, and keeps coming back, and Steve can’t help wanting to know more about him even when Robin’s obviously annoyed at Steve’s questions. Just—Robin says they met in concert band, but are there even guitar parts in band? Steve would’ve paid a lot more attention if there were, probably. He can’t picture Eddie strumming some slick black guitar in front of all the tubas and whatever. And Steve’s pretty sure Eddie transferred in from another school because there were a lot of rumors about it in Steve’s freshman year; Robin’s got to know what that was all about, right?

It’s almost a relief when he realizes that even if they’re not actually dating right now, Robin has to have a crush on Eddie. It’s the only thing that makes sense. She gets all spiky and protective of him whenever Steve brings him up, plus she never flirts with Steve even a little bit, so it must be some kind of unrequited love thing. It’s kind of sweet, like a movie. Of course she won’t admit it, but once Steve figures it out, it all just makes sense. 

It must drive Robin crazy to be hanging around Eddie all the time. Eddie’s a larger-than-life guy, always trying to make people laugh, always with some new ideas that make slow afternoon shifts zip by. He’s not mean about it, though—not even mean like Robin is, even when he goes on one of his pissy little tirades about conformity or whatever. Steve can imagine what it must be like for Robin, having Eddie so close but not being allowed to curl into his side or lace their fingers together. It must ache. 

At first Eddie’s protective of Robin too, always staring at Steve suspiciously, but when it becomes clear that Steve’s not going to hit on Robin, Eddie loosens up a little bit. Whenever Eddie smiles directly at Steve, just Steve, it feels like winning something. 

It doesn’t take Eddie all that long to warm up to Steve, all things considered. It’s not too long before Steve starts feeling like yeah, okay, this could be a pretty good summer after all. Both Eddie and Robin are going back to school in the fall, so at least they’ll be in Hawkins, and maybe by then Steve can get them to start hanging out with him outside of Scoops Ahoy. It makes him feel a little pathetic to think about it too hard, so he doesn’t.

And then Dustin Henderson comes back from that nerd camp he’s been at all summer, talking about Russians, and it turns out Robin really doesn’t like Eddie like that at all, and everything Steve knows about how the world works is knocked off-kilter. Again.

It’s different afterwards, too. For the first time since all this shit started, Steve isn’t licking his wounds by himself in an empty house with all the lights on, falling asleep to M.A.S.H. reruns on the couch. He hadn’t even realized that Robin and Eddie had been holding him at arm’s length a little bit until suddenly they weren’t anymore. Suddenly they’re in Steve’s house more evenings than not. He’s a really shitty host because he can’t focus and he can’t offer them food or beer and he gets tired so easily, but for some reason they keep coming around anyway, bringing him groceries and bullying him into taking the pills that make him even worse at staying alert enough to talk to them. 

They’re his best friends, and he thinks—he hopes he’s theirs, too. He thinks even if it’s not completely the same as Tommy and Carol, or Nancy and Jonathan, it could be good. It could be better.

[munchabunch]

Burnin’ For You (9/?)

A/n: hello! This is chapter 9. By god it took us a long ass time to get here. Worst writers block of my life. If you’re reading this thank you! I’m incredibly proud of this chapter despite the fact it took me three months to write.

Special thanks to @literarypeachtea & @portaltothevoid for their help in editing and support.

Pairings: Eddie Munson x OFC!Penny Castillo

Platonic!Steve Harrington x OFC!Penny Castillo

Platonic!Robin Buckley x OFC!Penny Castillo

Warnings: blood, violence, cursing, grief

Word count: 5.5k (hooo boy)

Taglist: @portaltothevoid @madaboutmunson @plumxwrites @chaoticmunson @riffcrusader @literarypeachtea

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The brisk night air whipped across Penny’s blood-stained cheeks as fallen leaves crunched beneath the group’s footsteps. They had made their way back to the train tracks from the junkyard.

“You’re positive that was Dart?” Lucas asked Dustin as they traveled down the abandoned railroad.

“Yes. He had the exact same yellow pattern on his butt.” Dustin replied, exasperated.

“He was tiny two days ago.” Max interjected.

“Well, he’s molted three times already.” Dustin explained to the red-haired girl.

“Malted?” Steve questioned.

“Molted.” Penny corrected him, kindly.

“Shed his skin to make room for growth.” Dustin elaborated.

“Like hornworms.” Penny said, offering up an example.

“When’s he gonna molt again?” Max asked.

“It’s gotta be soon.” Dustin responded. “When he does, he’ll be fully grown, or close to it. And so will his friends.”

“Yeah, and he’s gonna eat a lot more than just cats.” Steve said, unaware of the issue he was about to cause Dustin. Penny smacked herself in the forehead, for as smart as she knew Steve could be, he didn’t think before he spoke sometimes.

”Wait, cats? Dart ate a cat?” Lucas asked, stopping abruptly. His tone betrayed his frustration. The group followed suit, standing on the tracks.

“No, what? No.” Dustin denied vehemently.

“What are you talking about? He ate Mews.” Steve added. He was completely oblivious to Dustin’s floundering.

“Mews? Who’s Mews?” Max asked Steve.

“It’s Dustin’s cat.” Steve answered, continuing to dig Dustin further into the hole that he’d started. Penny’s eyes grew wide.

“STEVE!” Penny whisper-shouted at him, elbowing him roughly.

“Ow!?” He looked at the girl indignantly, eyebrow quirked.

“I knew it! You kept him!” Lucas shouted angrily at his friend. Steve backed away slowly, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.

“No!” Dustin continued denying any inclination that he’d kept the baby demogorgon. “No. No. No I… No I… He missed me. He wanted to come home.” Dustin avoided his friend’s gaze as he admitted the truth. Instead, he looked at the ground, trying to hide the shame and sadness that crossed his face.

“Bullshit!” Lucas exclaimed.

“I didn’t know he was a demogorgon, okay?” Dustin met Lucas’ eyes, bristling at the accusation.

“Oh, so now you admit it?” Lucas questioned further.

“Boys, stop it!’ Penny warned. She shot them all a pointed glance, her face showing her exasperation.

“Yeah, guys, who cares? We have to go.” Max added, trying her best to diffuse the situation that was quickly growing out of hand.

“I care! You put the party in jeopardy! You broke the rule of law!” Lucas continued, eager to make his point heard.

“SO DID YOU!” Dustin shouted, enflamed.

“What?” Lucas asked, confused.

“You told a stranger the truth!” Dustin cried, pointing to Max with his flashlight in, briefly blinding her.

“Wha- A stranger?” Max scoffed, blinking the light out of her eyes, and clearly hurt by the statement.

“You wanted to tell her, too!” Lucas screeched.

“Yeah, but I didn’t, Lucas, okay?” Dustin yelled directly in Lucas’ face. Penny was about to step in and break them apart to prevent them saying anything else they would regret. But as she moved to step in between the sparring duo, she heard something. She stopped abruptly and glanced at Steve, who met her eyes with the same sense of urgency she felt.

“That was not my fault!” Penny heard Dustin shout before Steve cut in.

“Hey, guys.” He called out to them. But they continued arguing, ignoring Steve’s very valid concern.

“HEY, DIPSHITS!” Penny whispered at them, grabbing their arms and separating them. Her voice was firm but her grip gentle, garnering their attention just as a loud menacing growl sounded in the distance. Everyone immediately moved toward it, leaving the railroad tracks and Max forgotten.

“No, no, no. Hey, guys, why are you headed towards the sound?” Penny ignored Max’s question as she turned to grab her by the hand and pull her with them. Towards the sound wasn’t great, but being left out here alone was ultimately worse.

“Shit.” Max said, as she was dragged by the older girl. They made their way carefully through the patch of trees, and ended up at a lookout.

“I don't see him,” Dustin said. The group stared out at the expanse of darkness beneath them. Lucas pulled his binoculars up to his face and peered through them before landing on what he had been looking for.

“The lab. They were going back home.” He stated morosely.

“Mom.” Penny whispered.

Penny moved toward where she knew they could get down. She only stalled her gait when she felt a hand gently clamp around her wrist.

“Pen, we need a minute to think of something. I mean, we can’t just go in there guns a-blazing. Mainly because we don’t have any guns.” Steve said half-heartedly. Penny rounded on Steve, snatching her wrist from his grip.

“NO! My mom is in there, Steve! We don't have time to come up with some half-assed, cockamamie plan, okay? That’s my mom! She’s all I have left. And I can’t do it again, Steve. I WON’T!” Penny shouted. She’d feel bad later for being so harsh with him, but at the moment, she didn't care.

“Pen, if you go right now, you’ll get killed. And then what’s your mom gonna do? Just let us figure this out, okay?” Steve spoke softly to her. He’d seen what happened to Penny when her dad had died; he knew she was terrified in this moment.

“We talk and we walk. Together.” Dustin added in, lightly taking Penny’s hand in his own smaller one. The gesture didn’t assuage Penny’s fear, but her anger dissipated.

“Okay.” Penny adjusted the strap of her backpack, still holding Dustin’s hand. They traipsed through the trees, the distance between them and the lab growing smaller with each careful step they took.

“So what’s the plan?” Penny asked. Still frightened, her mind was playing every scenario out in her head.

“Well, while you’re pretty great with that machete, I don’t think we should go in there without more weaponry.” Steve said simply.

“Maybe Steve can beat up the guard and we can take his gun?” Max interjected helpfully.

“Steve against a guard with a gun? Sounds messy.” Dustin said.

“Yeah, no.” Steve added.

As they came up to a clearing, Penny could make out headlights.

“Hello? Who’s there? WHO’S THERE?” A voice called out to the group.

As the party came out of the woods into the clearing, Penny heard two voices shout in unison.

“Steve?” Nancy and Jonathan both said in disbelief.

“Nancy?” Steve questioned.

“Jonathan?” Penny asked.

“Penny?” Jonathan countered.

“DUSTIN!” Dustin shouted, wanting to feel included. A single look from Penny quieted him.

“What are you doing here?” Nancy asked Steve, confused.

“What are YOU doing here?” Steve fired back.

“We’re looking for Mike and Will.” Nancy responded indignantly.

“They’re not in there, are they?” Dustin asked, fear clouding his soft features.

“We’re not sure.” Nancy replied.

“Why?” Jonathan asked, confusion etched into his face.

As if to answer his question, a guttural screech tore through the quiet night from the direction of Hawkins Lab.

“What the hell is going on?” Nancy shouted in a volume that was comparable to the sound they’d all just heard.

“Well, we don’t know, but I’m willing to bet this has to do with the gate, or a gate.” Penny responded. Jonathan squinted at her as he took in her appearance. Her dark hair was painted even darker by the red blood caking it. Burgundy coated her face, from the tips of her eyelashes to her parted lips.

“Pen, why do you look like Carrie at the prom?” Jonathan waited for an answer he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“Demogorgon.” Penny shrugged.

“Oh, Pen, you’ve actually got a little…” Steve gently pulled a stray piece of demogorgon from her hair.

“Oh, thanks.” Penny said, somewhat sarcastically, but equally as glad that she didn’t have skin in her hair.

Nancy looked between the two of them, nostrils flared.

“Well, when was the last time you guys saw Mike or Will?” Nancy asked everyone, perturbed.

Everyone started speaking at once.

“We haven’t seen Will —“

“I haven’t seen him since —“

Nancy didn’t wait for an answer.

“The power’s back.” She said, loud enough for everyone to hear it over the chorus of voices.

The group immediately turned toward the looming building.

“The gate!” Jonathan shouted, as he began running towards it. Everyone fell in line behind him. Jonathan made it to the guard booth quickly and began frantically pushing the button to open the gate, to no avail.

“Let me try.” Dustin said, pushing Jonathan out of the way.

“Hang on —“ Jonathan began.

“Let me try, Jonathan!” Dustin shouted as he turned to press the same button Jonathan had been mashing. “Son of a bitch, you know what?”

Miraculously after about the millionth button push, the gate began to squeal, opening to the dark abyss that led to Hawkins Lab.

“Hey, I got it! I got it.” Dustin chuckled out.

Nancy and Jonathan ran to his car and got in quickly.

“You guys stay put. We'll come back for you!” He shouted out the window as they sped through the gate.

Penny walked over to Steve. She could tell he wasn’t in the happiest of moods.

“Hey.” She said, softly, not wanting to startle the young man.

“Hey.” He replied grimly.

“I’m sorry.” She blurted out, sincerely, but still not what she had planned to say.

“For what?” He asked.

“For blowing up at you back there. It was… pretty shitty of me. And… I’m sorry about Nancy.” She answered, struggling to find the right words to console the jock.

“Pen, I know you didn’t mean to do that. I know you’re just scared for your mom. And don’t worry about the “Nancy” of it all. I was a bad boyfriend, plain and simple. I can own up to that.” Steve tried his best to convey that Penny wasn’t at fault for her minor meltdown and tried to stop her from worrying about him, though the latter clearly had little effect. Her face fell blankly, unamused.

Penny opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Max.

“Guys.” She said, getting everyone’s attention, while running toward the grass. Penny turned to see headlights coming toward them.

“Look out!” Dustin said, moving out of the way of Jonathan’s incoming car, honking as it barreled down the dimly lit asphalt. Penny moved quickly pulling Lucas and Steve both to safety in the nick of time.

It careened by them, horn still blaring. Another car came up just behind it. Upon further inspection, Penny saw it was Chief Hopper’s police van. She let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

“Let’s go.” Hopper said, not leaving them any choice, not that anyone would decide to stay. Though, Penny would be lying if she said she hadn’t considered staying and looking for her mom.

“Come on, let’s go. Let’s go! Come on!” Steve said ushering the children into the back seat where Mike was sitting. Steve got in behind them and Penny was the last to hop in the car, taking the front seat next to Hopper.

“Okay, let’s go!” Steve shouted, smacking the door of the car.

“My mom?” She asked Hopper, dread in her eyes.

“She’s in her car behind us.” He answered her calmly.

Penny stuck her head out the window and turned back. She sobbed out a sigh of relief when she saw her mother was indeed in the car behind them.

She ducked back into the car and turned to Hopper.

“Thank you! Thank you.” She cried reaching to hug him before remembering he was driving and she was also covered in blood. She pulled back abruptly.

“Kid, do I wanna know why you’re covered in blood?”

“Uh, probably not, Chief. It’s not human though, so that's a good thing, right?” She chuckled at herself. Hopper looked at her blankly.

“That's a relief.” He replied sarcastically.

They made it swiftly to the Byers residence, Penny’s mom had turned down the street to their own home, having seen her daughter climb into Jim’s car. If there’s one thing Carolyn Castillo knew, she wouldn’t be able to pull her daughter away from doing the right thing.

They all shuffled into the home. Penny was last to walk in, she stopped in the doorway looking briefly at the disarray of papers that took over the once cozy space. She shut the door behind her and glanced toward the scene in front of her. Jonathan had placed Will on the couch gingerly, and was knelt down next to him, Nancy was stood behind him for support. The boy looked devastated. Hell, Penny was devastated, so she couldn’t even imagine what Jonathan was feeling at that moment. Will was unconscious, his face was gaunt, and his body looked impossibly small. The rise and fall of his chest was almost imperceptible. If one didn’t know any better, they’d think him dead.

Penny shook the thought from her head and looked around the house, taking in more of the scattered drawings as she walked toward the dining area. She shed her backpack and her blood covered leather jacket, placing them both on the floor by the kitchen table. She couldn’t help but notice how cold the usually warm house was.

“What the hell?” She finally muttered. Papers were littering every inch of the home, some completely colored black, others with lines of blue, and each of them connected to make an intricate pattern on every surface she could see.

“It’s the tunnels.” Mike told her. Penny caught on quickly. These must be connected to the one under Dustin’s house. She followed what she deemed bodies of water and the quarry. She found where Dustin’s house would be on the map and there, in a thick black line, was the tunnel that Dart escaped from.

“That’s how they’re traveling. That's why we couldn’t see them going to the lab. And that’s how Dart got out of the basement.” She told Steve, turning towards him. He was staring at Nancy and Jonathan. Penny placed her hand — coated in now-dried blood — on his shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. He looked at her with a grateful smile. With one last squeeze to his shoulder, Penny went to the spare room where she kept clothes from her nights of babysitting, grabbed a towel, and went to the bathroom. She knew Joyce wouldn't mind if she showered, especially given the fact that dried remnants of a dead demogorgon were caked onto her skin right now.

Penny turned on the water and shed her bloody clothes. Careful to stow her undergarments somewhere where they wouldn’t get any more carnage on them. As she stood under the scalding water, her mind wandered to El. She knew the girl would be able to help them in this situation by at least being able to provide them with a little backup. Though, if she was being honest with herself, she simply missed the young girl. Penny had grown attached to her after she and the boys found her in the woods last year. The party felt incomplete without her.

Penny remembered how El had clung to her last year. Being the only girl in the party at that time, Penny was best equipped to be there for El emotionally, though Mike had been there for her as much as he could. She remembered when they discovered she had powers, how she’d encouraged her to show the other boys. She remembered when El had cried in her arms. She remembered so much and yet it wasn’t enough. Penny missed her immensely. She knew El was alive. She could feel it, though she couldn’t explain how she knew. It felt like a tingling in her head. El was alive and she was strong.

Penny looked down at the crimson water pouring down the drain and shuddered. Her hair took several shampoos before the water ran clear, and then she conditioned it. Despite scrubbing every fleck of blood off her body, some stains remained. She sighed, turned the water off and stepped out. She dried herself off and towel-dried her hair before getting dressed in her spare clothing: a striped fitted t-shirt, high-waisted jeans, and a pair of low-top white Converse that she’d left there once by accident.

Penny emerged from the bathroom to find Hopper on the phone, his loud voice booming through the home.

“Hawkins Lab. Yes. The lab in Hawkins. There were creatures and they were killing people, Dr. Owens stayed back. Sam Owens. Dr. Sam Owens,” his voice growing impossibly louder. “I don’t know how many people are there. I don’t know how many people are left alive. I am the police! Chief Jim Hopper! Yes, the number that I gave you, yes. The 6767. I will be here.” He growled out, slamming the phone back on the hook.

“They didn’t believe you, did they?” Dustin said, matter-of-factly.

“We’ll see.” He responded.

“‘We’ll see’? We can’t just sit here while those things are loose!” Mike shouted, standing up. He was clearly frustrated. Penny placed a hand on his shoulder, trying her best to comfort her younger friend.

“We stay here, and we wait for help.” Hopper said lowly, effectively ending the conversation. As the police chief, his word was law, after all. He walked away, presumably to find Joyce, who had holed up in a room the moment they’d gotten there. She’d looked devastated and Penny could feel grief rolling off her in waves.

“This is bullshit.” Mike said, anger lacing his words.

“Mike, I know it’s bullshit, but we can’t beat them right now. I’m sorry, but we can’t.” Penny said her grip tightening on his shoulder as his anger flicked away revealing nothing but sadness.

Everyone looked downtrodden.

“Bob died.” Mike said, at last breaking the silence. At his words, Penny’s heart broke for Joyce. She remembered how kind Bob had always been when he came to pick up Joyce for their dates. How his eyes followed Joyce when she was running late getting ready, the love he had for her filling them to the brim. How he’d helped Penny herself once with a particularly hard math question, and how he didn’t care if he and Joyce were late for their date if it meant that Penny understood her homework. How he never had a bad thing to say. Then her mind drifted to Eddie. How could she ever protect him from this? From this new life that had been chosen for her? Hawkins was cursed; did that mean that everyone here was doomed to die? Could they change that? Could Eddie and Robin live full lives if they were stuck in Hawkins Hell? Life felt like it had been sucked out of the room at the magnitude of the situation in which they currently found themselves. Mike stood and walked out of Penny’s grip over to a block wrapped in rubber bands.

“Did you know Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?” He asked the group. Penny knew the boys were all in the AV Club with Mr. Clarke, having picked them up from school late a number of times.

“Really?” Lucas asked, eyebrows raised, eager to learn more.

“He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fundraiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?” From the tone in his voice, Penny could tell he was gearing up for something.

“Yeah.” Dustin and Lucas said simultaneously. Mike walked back towards the table, cube in hand, and placed it on the table.

“We can’t let him die in vain.” He said with slight vigor.

“Well, what do you wanna do, Mike?” Dustin asked. “The Chief and Penny are both right on this. We can’t stop those demodogs on our own.” He finished, simply.

“Demodogs?” Max asked.

“Demogorgon dogs.” Penny explained, the name had rattled around in her mind once or twice before.

“Demodogs. It’s like a compound. It’s like a play on words-“ Dustin continued explaining, ultimately getting cut off by Max aggressively saying, “Okay.”

“I mean when it was just Dart, maybe…” Dustin offered.

“But there’s an army now.” Lucas said.

“Precisely.” Dustin said.

“His army.” Mike said quietly, though everyone could hear him.

“What do you mean?” Steve asked from behind them.

“His army! Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army too!” Mike exclaimed, excitedly. He walked quickly toward Will’s room. Everyone scattered from the table and followed him. He pulled a sheet of paper off Will’s desk, showing it to the others.

“The shadow monster.” Penny and Dustin said together.

“It got Will that day on the field. The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him.” Mike explained with fervor, on the brink of tuning everyone into his revelation.

“And so this virus, it’s connecting him to the tunnels?” Max asked, beginning to understand what he was saying.

“To the tunnels, to the monsters, to the Upside Down, everything.” He confirmed.

“Right, woah, woah, slow down. Slow down.” Steve said, struggling to comprehend what this all meant.

“Okay, so, the shadow monster’s inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will.” Mike said, slowing it down a bit.

“And so does Dart.” Lucas added.

“Yeah it’s like what Mr. Clarke taught us — the hive mind.” Mike continued.

“The hive mind?” Steve asked, still not completely grasping the theory.

“It’s a collective consciousness. It’s a super-organism.” Dustin explained.

“And this is the thing that controls everything.” Mike gestured to the drawing in his hands.

“It’s the brain.” Penny said, having fully caught on to the concept.

“Like the mind flayer.” Dustin said. Lucas snapped his fingers, understanding immediately what he meant. Others were still lost.

“The what?” Steve, Penny, and Max said at once.

Dustin rushed out of the room with everyone hot on his heels. Penny smacked the door of the room Joyce and Hopper were in, jolting them to attention, as she ran toward the kitchen. Dustin pulled a Dungeons and Dragons book out of his knapsack. He flipped the pages with gusto until he finally reached the page he needed. He slammed the open book on the table as everyone gathered around it.

“The mind flayer.” Dustin said, pointing out a creature on the page.

“What the hell is that?” Hopper asked, having joined the party quickly after hearing the frantic bang on the door.

“It’s a monster from an unknown dimension. It’s so ancient that it doesn’t even know its true home. Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly developed psionic powers.” Dustin explained to everyone.

“Oh, my god, none of this is real. This is a kids’ game.” Hopper said exasperated.

“No, it’s a manual. And it’s not for kids.” Dustin said assuredly. “And unless you know something that we don’t, this is the best metaphor —”

“Analogy.” Lucas interrupted.

“Analogy? That’s what you’re worried about? Fine. Fine. An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is.” Dustin shouted.

“Okay, okay, so this mind flamer thing —“ Nancy began, before getting interrupted by Dustin correcting her.

“Flayer. Mind flayer.”

Nancy sighed at him. “What does it want?”

“To conquer. It believes it’s the master race.” Dustin told her. Steve stammered for an example.

“Like the- the Germans.” Steve said, seeing everyone meet him with a look.

“Uh, the Nazis?” Dustin asked him. Steve scrambled.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis.” His voice lost strength as he spoke.

“Uh… if the Nazis were from a different dimension, totally.” Dustin said, as Hopper ran a hand down his face. “Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself.” Dustin continued.

“It wants to spread and take over other dimensions,” added Mike.

“We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it.” Lucas furthered the discussion.

“That’s great. That’s great. That’s really great. Jesus!” Steve said nervously, turning away from the table pacing a bit.

“Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that’s controlling everything, then if we kill it…” Nancy began, beginning to understand where the boys were leading them.

“We kill everything it controls.” Mike said to his sister.

“We win.” Penny exclaimed.

“Theoretically.” Lucas said.

“Alright great. So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireballs or something?” Hopper asked, buying into what Dustin was trying his best to sell him. He took the book from Nancy to look at it.

“No, no, no fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army, uh, because… because zombies, you know, they don- they don’t have brains, and the mind flayer it… it… likes brains. It’s- It’s just a game.” Dustin stuttered out, losing steam in his argument.

“What the hell are we doing here?” Hopper said angrily, tossing the book back on the table.

“I thought we were waiting for your military back up.” Dustin countered, poking the bear. So that’s who he was on the phone with, Penny thought to herself.

“We are!” Hopper yelled, turning back to look at the boy.

“Even if they come, how are they gonna stop this? You can’t just shoot this with guns!” Mike’s voice got angrier by the second, and Penny could tell Hopper was losing his patience as his face grew more red with each passing second.

“You don’t know that! We don’t know anything!” Hopper argued.

“We know it’s already killed everybody in that lab!” Mike said, adding fuel to the fire.

“And we know the monsters are gonna molt again.” Lucas added.

“And we know that it’s only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town.” Dustin said.

“There’s already one under Dustin’s house and I wouldn't be surprised if there are more since these drawings were made.” Penny concluded the argument.

“They’re right,” a small voice said from behind them. Everyone turned around to Joyce’s tear-streaked, determined face. Hopper's face betrayed him in that moment. The second his features softened, Penny could tell that his resolve in sitting and waiting was starting to crumble.

“We have to kill it,” Joyce’s voice broke on almost every word she said, Penny could feel how overcome with sorrow she was. “I want to kill it.” She shook with newfound resolve.

Hopper stepped toward her fervently. “Me too. Me too, Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don’t exactly know what we’re dealing with here,” he told her softly, not wanting to add weight onto the heavy load she was already shouldering.

“No. But he does.” Penny declared, gesturing to the unconscious boy tucked-in snugly on the couch. Penny walked forward toward Will with resoluteness, Mike following close behind her.

“If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it’s Will. He’s connected to it. He’ll know its weakness.” She stated.

“I thought we couldn’t trust him anymore. That he’s a spy for the mind flayer now.” Max reminded the group.

“Yeah, but he can’t spy if he doesn’t know where he is.” Mike suggested. Despite the dire situation, Penny couldn’t help but admire the boy’s brilliance.

“The shed!” Jonathan proposed eagerly.

Mike sped off to the back door with Hopper following close after him, presumably to check out the shed.

Penny slid over to the phone on the wall and lifted it off the hook. She heard a cacophony of objections, but she turned around and said, “The Byers have call waiting and I’ll be quick about it. I don’t need my two best friends dying because they decided to take a late night stroll or something.” She turned back to the phone in her hand and dialed a number she knew by heart. The line trilled before the other side picked it up.

“Penny, please tell me this is you.” The voice on the other end said, full of hope.

“Mami. Oh, thank god you got out of there. I should’ve warned you it was happening again. I'm so sorry.” Penny whispered into the phone.

“Mija, todo está bien. I’m safe, and I’m not going anywhere. Okay?” Lynn reassured her daughter.

“Okay, Mami. Necesito un favor. I need you to call Robin and Eddie, and tell them not to go outside — I don’t know, make something up. You can find Eddie’s number in the phone book under Wayne Munson.” Penny told her mom. She would be damned if anything happened to the people she cared about.

“I’ll call Robin. But Eddie’s here right now, he stopped by to bring you something while I was making dinner, so I’m feeding him. Lo estoy protegiendo. No lo dejare salir p’afuera.” Lynn was protecting Eddie and wouldn’t let him go outside, much to Penny’s relief.

“Gracias, mami. Thank you so much. Please stay safe, the both of you.” Penny said into the receiver.

“You too, cariño. Ten cuidado. Te quiero.” Lynn said.

“I will be careful, don’t worry. I love you too.” Penny said before placing the phone back on the wall. Sometime during the call, Steve had walked up behind her. He tapped on her shoulder, getting her attention.

“We’re gonna be disguising the shed with whatever we can find.” He told her as he walked slowly, waiting for her to follow him.

“Oh, shit, okay, let’s go.” They began gathering stuff throughout the house, before hitting the motherlode in the garage. Tarps upon tarps. They began collecting them, and Steve broke the comfortable silence.

“So, uh, you’re friends with Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson, huh?” He said, a little warily. He’d never outrightly ever spoken to the guy, though he knew what Tommy and Carol said about him.

“Yes, I am, he’s one of my best friends, and don’t call him that.” Penny said in a tone that he knew meant business.

“Shit, sorry, my bad. I didn’t know you guys were so close.” Steve said, his curiousity piqued.

“He’s… sweet and he has a big heart. And he’s not some cult leader like those bozo friends of yours say he is. He’s good. Too good for this town.” Penny said with a lovelorn grin, though she hadn’t meant to look so lovesick.

“Oh. You like him, don't you?” Steve said with a smirk. Penny spluttered before conceding.

“Is it that obvious?” She said, sheepishness weaving through her features.

“It’s not NOT obvious.” Steve said, chuckling. “For what it’s worth, I’m willing to bet he likes you too. He’d be crazy not to, Pen.” Steve offered kindly, and Penny could tell he meant every word.

“Thanks, Steve.” She said, offering him a sincere smile.

“Uh, Steve. I know you said not to worry about the 'Nancy of it all,’ but can I worry about you?” Penny asked him, treading carefully over the broken eggshells that were Steve’s relationship.

“Why worry about me? I’m hunky-dory. I’m a-okay. I’m totally fine.” Steve said unconvincingly.

“You’re totally fine? Are you sure you’re not ‘totally’ lying? Come on, Steve. You know about my huge crush on Eddie Munson, it’s only fair.” Penny countered.

Steve sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, mussing up his once coiffed locks.

“No, you’re right. I’m not fine. I just. I was shitty, too. I should’ve listened to her about Barb. We should’ve told her parents. I just wish someone would choose me. Not even my parents do.” Steve’s voice broke off, waivering. Penny placed everything she was holding down on the ground and motioned for Steve to do the same. He was confused, but did it anyway. All at once, Penny engulfed him in a hug that he quickly reciprocated.

“Steve, there’s someone out there for you. I just know it,” Penny squeezed him impossibly tighter trying to convey everything she could into the embrace. “You, Steve Harrington, are a good person. No matter what Tommy or your parents or Robin or even Nancy says.” She gripped his shoulders, and looked into his eyes. “You are enough. You are kind. You are surprisingly great with those kids. And you are one of my favorite people. We just need to figure out how to get you to see that, too.”

Steve's eyes glossed over, brimming with unshed tears. This time Steve was the one to pull her into an embrace.

“You’re too good for this world, Castillo.” Steve said to her, as a single droplet fell from his face and raced down the girl’s arm, which only caused her to squeeze him tighter. She pulled back with a smile, and ran her hands down his arms.

“You bet your ass I am, Harrington. Now let’s go get this fucker outta Will.” Penny said, grasping his hands lightly one last time, before dropping them to retrieve the tarps she’d set down.

They both went outside to the shed with the tarps they’d gathered from the garage and began working in silence, stapling the large pieces of fabric along the walls to cover anything that Will might recognize. Nancy came in and immediately took the other side of the tarp that Penny was struggling to put up.

“Thanks,” Penny huffed out, a demogorgon she could take without breaking a sweat, but a tarp had her winded.

“Anytime, Penny.” Nancy said before continuing to speak, barely above a whisper. “Is- Is he okay?” She glanced over at Steve who was working diligently with his back toward the two girls, either unaware or ignoring the fact that Nancy was in the shed with them. At her words, Penny stopped and looked at her, eyebrows raised in disbelief and the rest of her face dripping in annoyance and sweat.

“I think you know that’s not my question to answer, Nance. Ask him yourself. But let’s be real here, would you be?” Penny whispered back, her words and tone harsher than she meant them to be.

Nancy looked at her, mouth agape at the tone that her former friend had taken with her, before deciding she ultimately deserved it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT. CHAPTER 9 AFTER THREE LONG MONTHS. if you’ve stuck around this long. Thank you! If you’re just getting into the story now, HI. I can’t guarantee I won’t have another writers block but I will not be allowing another three month hiatus to happen.

Thank you for reading ❤️

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[fineinkline]

Swing

Chapter Four: Only Angel

Lil detour from the main plot, oopsies. We'll get back on track soon folks! Maybe! Who knows! Thank you for all the likes! I really appreciate it! I haven't written fic for any fandom in a really long time so I know I'm a little rusty and it means a lot that you all are sticking by while I get back into a groove. Thank you! If you want to follow me on Ao3 my user is the same as it is here @fineinkline

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After an hour of convincing Robin and going over their relationship from the moment it started until now, she believed them. “I still don’t see why you didn’t just tell us,” she said, getting into Steve’s passenger seat after he offered to take her home, “Or tell me at least.” Steve rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time that evening as he buckled himself in and waited for Robin to do the same. He turns his head to watch Eddie get into his van and pull out of the driveway and down the street before putting his car in reverse and backing out. “It’s not that simple Robin. If we had just told everyone then it would be different.” Eddie could explain this part better. He could explain how telling everyone meant that there would be more expectations put on them and they just wanted to figure out themselves, together, as a couple before everyone else tried to figure out for them. “Different how? You know that the kids wouldn’t have a problem with it, Dustin would be thrilled that his “cool adult males” are practically his dads now! And you wouldn’t have to constantly be worried about looking ‘spilling the beans’! How can ‘different’ be bad?” She asks, throwing her hands up and turning in the passenger seat to look at him fully. “I don’t know how to explain it, Robs. I just wasn’t ready to tell everyone. If we told people then not only are we coming out about our relationship, but then that means I would have to come out too and- I don’t know- it’s just-” he was mumbling and stumbling through his words. God, Eddie was so much better at putting these thoughts and feelings into words and Steve couldn’t remember any of them right now. Robin stopped his stuttering by putting a gentle hand on his knee and giving it a quick squeeze before saying, “I get it. I’m sorry and I get it. I guess I’m just a little mad that my best friend is in his first homosexual relationship before I have even kissed a girl and he didn’t even tell me about it!” She chuckled lightly, but Steve knew that she wasn’t truly upset. “Sorry if I ever made it harder for both of you to tell me.” She said softly, leaning back in her seat probably starting to replay every interaction she’s had with the both of them since Eddie got out of the hospital. “It’s Nancy.” Steve blurts out. If they are telling Robin the truth tonight, might as well not leave anything out. “What is?” She asked, eyes darting around trying to connect invisible dots to make the conversation make sense again. “Nancy is making it harder for us to tell. It’s not like she’s doing it on purpose, I mean- I just don’t want her to think that I never actually loved her, because I did. I mean you know that,” Steve was rambling now, but Robin sat there and listened as Steve finally got this off his chest, “I just know she’ll find some way to make me feel stupid about the whole thing.” 

Steve knows that Nancy doesn’t try to make him feel dumb, but she does. It’s the way she tried to help him study and then would look at him funny if he didn’t know the answers to what she called “basic questions”. It’s the way she would edit his essays, covering his pages in red circles and crossed out sections with question marks in the margins. He knows she was only trying to help, but the way she spoke reminded him of how his dad spoke to him when he was in trouble or didn’t do something right. There had been a time when he loved Nancy for the way she was able to find little mistakes and fix them or research something until she found the exact answer she needed, but then she started doing that with him. Finding all his little mistakes and flaws and trying to fix them. Trying to pull answers out of him that he didn’t have. All he did was try to love her and for some reason that wasn’t enough for her. He’s come to terms with that now, he has truly moved past that phase of his life, but he still isn’t ready to face Nancy when it comes to this. 

When Steve got home he saw that Eddie’s van was pulled up again outside of his house and Eddie was leaned up by the front door smoking. As Steve pulled into the driveway, he saw Eddie drop his cigarette in the grass and stomp it out with the toe of his Reeboks. Steve didn’t think that they had made any plans for tonight and thought maybe Eddie forgot something at the house. It was late in the evening now and the only light on Eddie were the two lights by the front door. Steve took a moment to look at Eddie just standing there waiting for him to come home. His curls had frizzed up a little throughout the day and the way the light was hitting him made it look like there was a halo around his head. His checks looked flushed in the summer heat and Steve knew exactly where the freckles were sprinkled on his sun kissed cheeks. He was wearing a t-shirt from some band that Steve had never heard of, but he had cut off the sleeves and through the arm holes so you could see his sides. As he stood there, he shoved his hands in the pockets of tattered gray sweatpants and rocked back and forth on his heels, the smirk on his face growing by the second. Steve got out of the car and called out as he closed his door, “Back already? Did you forget something?” He had started walking across the lawn to the front door when Eddie started his little run to him, arms spread wide. The older boy knocked into him, arms wrapping around his waist and burying his face in Steve’s neck, taking in a deep breath. “Yeah, I did,” Eddie sighed happily. “What did you leave?” Steve asks, moving his arms to wrap around Eddie’s shoulders, one hand on the back of Eddie’s head as he buries his face in Eddie’s halo of hair. “You.” Eddie giggled it out and placed a kiss on Steve’s neck, swaying them from side to side. “Come on,” Steve said, pulling away from Eddie’s embrace to grab his hand and lead him back into the house, “Sleep at mine tonight? Or would you rather go back to yours?” Steve is already heading up the stairs to his room to start packing a bag. Ever since they started having these little sleepovers, they have always been at Eddie’s. Even before Eddie had a real mattress they would still stay in his room in a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor in the middle of the room. Even though he knew Eddie would always pick his place, Steve would offer up his house anyways. “I was actually thinking we could stay here tonight,” Eddie said shyly from the doorway to Steve’s room. Steve froze mid tossing a pair of jeans into his usual overnight bag, “I have my bag in my van,” he scratched the back of his neck and studied the carpet in his boyfriend’s room trying to look anywhere but in his eyes, “but if you wanna just go back to mine we can. Uncle Wayne has already left for his shift.” Before he could process what was happening, Steve was grabbing his waist and tossing him onto the bed. He made a surprised oof sound as he hit the mattress and Steve crawled his way up the bed to hover over Eddie. Once he had braced one hand on either side of Eddie’s head, he leaned in to start placing kisses all over Eddie’s cheeks, forehead, nose, jaw, eyelids until Eddie was wiggling under him and had descended into a fit of laughter. Steve finally leaned in and pressed their lips together and Eddie lifted his head a little to meet him halfway. As Eddie’s hands came up to Steve’s waist, he ran his tongue along Steve’s top lip as a way of asking for more. Steve gave him more, letting his teeth graze along Eddie’s bottom lip before giving it a gentle bite. “You taste like red pepper flakes.” Steve giggles into Eddie’s lips before pulling away to look at Eddie. His hair was splayed out around his head and the soft lamplight in the room gave him that hazy halo look again. 

Sometimes Steve wondered if Eddie was an angel who had come down to earth to save them all. He disguised himself as a gruff metalhead with a reputation for Satanism as a way to throw people off, but really he was on a mission to make sure Steve and Dustin and Robin and Lucas and the rest of the party made it out of all this Upside Down shit alive. There was a time earlier in the summer when Eddie had taken off his shirt in front of Steve so his bandages could be changed. His back was facing Steve and when he pulled the shirt over his head, the way the muscles in his back moved and flexed, Steve could’ve sworn he saw angel wings. And then there are times like tonight where Eddie’s hair catches the light just right and Steve can see his halo. It makes Steve wonder, if Eddie is an angel (and Steve firmly believes he is), then why would he ever choose to be with Steve? How is it that Steve Harrington, Keg King Steve, Steve whose love is bullshit, Steve who is bullshit, Steve who no one would ever believe is a good babysitter, how is it that he gets to have these moments with Eddie. Whatever the reason was and whatever god had sent Eddie to him, he was thankful for it. 

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Eddie asks, reaching up to push away hair that has fallen into Steve’s eyes. “You’re an angel.” Steve breathes out, eyes half-lidded like Eddie’s presence alone made him drunk. Eddie chuckles as Steve lowers himself to cover Eddie, his chin resting on his chest so he doesn’t have to stop staring at the angel under him. “You should see yourself. You look pretty angelic to me, sweetheart.” Both his hands have moved to play with Steve’s hair now, making sure to brush it back and out of face every once in a while. “No, you’re a real angel.” Steve’s eyes are getting heavier and heavier with every blink and the day he’s had is catching up with him. Here, with his angel’s hands in his hair and the view of his chocolate eyes and soft curls and a smile that always started on the left side of his mouth and grew to stretch across his face. He was happy to fall asleep in his angel’s arms, knowing he was there to take care of him. Eddie hums a little in response, “Then as an angel, I can’t let you go to sleep in jeans.” Eddie shifts onto his side, effectively moving Steve onto his side as well. As Steve begins the struggle of trying to wiggle out of his jeans without actually getting up, Eddie gives him a hand and pulls off his shoes and socks before finally tugging the jeans off his legs. Steve can hear the thunk of Eddie’s shoes hitting the floor as he kicks them off by the bed. He can feel Eddie trying to yank the blankets out from under Steve’s body and he lifts his hips and legs slightly to make it easier for him. When Eddie finally turns off the lamp and gets the covers on top of them, Steve pulls Eddie back into him, burying his face into his chest again and tangling their legs together. He starts to press lazy kisses into Eddie’s chest and neck as a thank you, “You’re my angel,” Steve mumbles, settling himself even further into the mattress as sleep overtakes him, “I love you, my angel.” He finally lets his eyes close for the night and tunes out the rest of the world knowing that he’s safe in Eddie’s arms. He is so content and peaceful that he doesn’t even seem to realize that that was the first time he had ever said I love you to Eddie and he wasn’t even awake to hear Eddie say it back.

[lesbianrobin]

The only real complaint I have is about Nancy and, well, as strong as she is shown to be, not only has she not progressed, because cutting your hair and getting a perm and shooting a gun is not indicative of progression, is her need to be in a relationship or the romantic center to some man. Season one can be excused with her not breaking up with Steve. Also, her cute moment at the end of the final episode with Jonathan can be excused. In the second season we see Steve trying, being uncomfortable at Barb’s with her parents but being there and supportive. We see he and Nancy have a cute two moments before the drunken bullshit confession. Arguably the biggest dick move he did was leave her at the party, though he assumed correctly that Jonathan would take her home. We don’t see whether or not he said anything to Jonathan, or am I not remembering. They had a fight. Steve did not break up with her. She cheats on him, and only seems regretful when they talk when they see each other again but allows him to take the entire blame as though he was the one who was wrong. His character then continued on to be in love with her and heartbroken with no catharsis, because had he known that she had cheated on him he would have been able to move on readily.

For all the Girlboss bullshit we are supposed to believe of her character, again cutting your hair and getting a perm and learning how to shoot does not make you a strong character, she still has an issue of not being connected or romantically paired with a male. Season four cemented this, in the third season how did she act around Steve? It wasn’t romantic and granted they were going through some things but in season four they are also going through some things that are a little bit more dangerous. And she has no problem with giving him the moon eyes, speaking softly to him and flirting as though to give him some sort of an indication that there is a chance now that Jonathan is out of the picture. Jonathan‘s return? She drops Steve like a hot potato. Again, he is in love with her and Robin and Eddie are pushing for him to make a move, he’s still in love with her because he doesn’t know that he did nothing wrong in their relationship and that Nancy cheated on him with someone who I will assume has become a good friend of his that he thinks he can trust. It just irks me because the writing for her is so abysmal. She is the exact same way she was in the previous season with a haircut and with a fascination for owning multiple guns. That’s it. She is still bratty, a know it all, rude, and a little bit self involved. I say self-involved because of what she said to Jonathan and her little Oliver twist metaphor towards him, being completely tone deaf to the fact that she comes from a middle-class family. Middle class family with two parents and a father that has a good job whereas Jonathan comes from a family the struggles. And she does not apologize for that either. I’m really hoping they let some new writers in the writing room for season five. Because Steve was able to develop, the kids were able to develop, the adult characters were able to develop and yet somehow our main teenage female has not developed at all, and from what I see is becoming increasingly I guess I could say the character that most people like to analyze and drag on because of her annoying personality. From the get go she was not incredibly likable, even to Barb she was a bitch. You don’t invite a friend to a party, a party where they tell you they don’t want to go to because they don’t like the people there. And then you throw them out because you wanna have sex. She told her and begged her to come and then told her, rudely, to leave because instead of her friends comfort her new boyfriend took priority. You see what I’m saying? And she has remained that way, I did like the fact that she wants to avenge Barb for what happened, but how much of it is because Barb was murdered and the monster did it and how much of it is Nancy trying to move on from the guilt in her part in it, or so she believes.

And I would love to see her growing up, and actually showing it in her admitting the things she did wrong because she realizes that she has to admit it to move on. Has she seen a vision of Barb the way that Max saw the vision of Billy? Apologizing to the vision of Barb and admitting that she had a part in that, because she had she respected Barb’s boundaries and not begged her and then tossed her aside for Steve, then Barb would not have died. She deserves her own catharsis and that way would be her owning up to her shit. Also, her breaking up with Jonathan. I have nothing against Jonathan, I don’t dislike his character, Nancy just deserves to be single. Growing up is realizing that you are more than the guy that you’re dating. And it seems she understands that but at the same time her bouncing back-and-forth between her ex and her current, cause she did she was flirting with Steve and giving him the Google eyes and then Jonathan shows up as she bounces back to him, shows how little they wanted her character to mature.

She has goals but she’s being weighed down by the writers insistent need to have her paired off for the sake of being paired off, I’m gonna assume that Jonathan is there a little self insert in the show, and that’s why. In all honesty it would be better if she went off to college single after everything was said and done because she was actually moving on from Hopkins as a whole. Not getting back together with Steve, because at this point I think it’s pretty obvious through all of his character development and personal growth that he’s too good for her. I really would love to see her admitting what she did and apologizing though, because I feel like that’s the only way he would move on from her and actually meet someone and give someone new a chance because he’s not chasing her. I’m just saying, I love what Nancy could be, I love the development she should have had because she’s falling back so hard, and ultimately I am annoyed by the chances the writers refused to take. The actress is brilliant, it’s not like she couldn’t do the progression it’s just that the writers have this thing where they want to keep her in a specific place. They are trying to convince the audience that she is progressive and strong character because she can shoot a gun, she’s not progressive, she was a strong character to begin with even before the gun.

Nancy is the most insufferable and annoying character because the writers refused to give her a personality, because it doesn’t feel like she has a personality or she only has a personality that compliments and clashes with whatever character she is in a scene with. It’s very annoying and I’m sure that the actress is probably sick and tired of that shit, specifically this season her flirting with Steve and Steve entertaining the thought of still being in love with her was an insult to both their characters. Nancy’s character should move forward not fall behind just because her boyfriend is in California and because they’re having problems. Because all it shows is that her character is willing to hurt other people. And for what? To feel good about herself and her self gratification in that? Seriously, had Steve’s character had an actual girlfriend this season she would’ve been nasty and mean and rude, remember how she spoke to Robin when she saw her the first time? The and who are you with a stink face as she jester towards her jealously? Because I remember that and I was really annoyed by it. This went on way too long but I’m right I think. The writers should be ashamed of themselves for taking a character that should’ve progressed with everyone else and holding her back and trying to tell people that because she has a gun in her hand that she’s progressive. Again, you are not progressive and you have not developed character development if you don’t change any part of your personality and you only cut your hair and wheeled a gun. That’s just my opinion.





goddamn