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jo-harrington · 7 months

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Developmental Achievement (A Store Manager Verse Story - Steve Harrington/Reader)

Previous Part: Incremental Planning

Pairing: Steve Harrington x HawkTheaterManager!Reader

Summary: Steve messed up and now he needs to fix things if he wants to win you back, hopefully for good.

Warnings/Themes: AU where the Upside Down doesn't terrorize Hawkins. November through January 1986, Steve and Robin work at Scoops (OR DO THEY?), Reader works at The Hawk Theater (formerly at Dippin' Dots AND Wicks and Sticks; you job hop...it's a thing), Relationship Break, Hopeless [Romantic] Steve, Tie in with the Store Manager Verse

Note: So this is the end of our Steve saga of the SMVerse, kind of wrapped up in a neat little bow. Is it the best? Probably not, but it's silly and corny and cheesy and I needed all of those things yesterday and instead of RELEGATING IT TO MY FIRST FAVE...I'll inflict it upon Stevie. Tagging @dr-aculaaa and @loveshotzz because COME AND GET HIM. (@deathbecomesthem ...and a possible Easter Egg?)

You can find my masterlist here for more fics featuring pretty much exclusively Eddie Munson content but also a little Steve.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

---

Steve Harrington fucked up.

Ok. Ok. That’s not right.

Steve Harrington really fucked up.

If he was being honest, he always seemed to fuck up when it came to you, his...well...he could really only call you his ex now, couldn't he?

From rivals in ice cream where he missed every sign that you might like him, to sickeningly-sweet dates around Hawkins because he was being too boring of a boyfriend, and finally to Thanksgiving Dinner with his parents where he absolutely stuck his foot in his mouth.

He thought making a joke about your job-hopping was funny--from Dippin' Dots to Wicks and Sticks to KB Toys, it's lucky you decided he was worth sticking around for--but it only put you under his parents' scrutiny.

He got an earful as he walked you to your car after dinner was over. You stayed a few steps ahead of him until you got to the driver's door and turned to him with tears in your eyes.

"That was embarrassing, Steve," you said through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry, I..." he was at a loss for words, especially making you cry. As strong as you were, you never seemed to be flustered at all; what was happening? "I thought it was a joke. We always laugh about it. I’m gonna work at scoops forever and you’re gonna work everywhere else."

"But it’s meeting your family, you shouldn't joke about...about what a huge flake I am that you're lucky I don't jump from boyfriend to boyfriend just like I go from job to job. They're never gonna look at me the same way again. You only get one first impression."

"You shouldn't worry about what they think about you. I've stopped caring about what they think about me too."

It went back and forth before you threw your hands up and got in the car.

You didn't even kiss him goodnight.

Then sometime during Black Friday weekend, you stopped by Scoops before your shift and broke up with him.

"It was nice, Steve," you said, barely able to look at him. "But uh...I don't know. I need to know I'm with someone who doesn't think I'm some kind of joke."

He chased after you, even with his manager screaming that if he left he'd be fired, and begged you to reconsider.

You didn't.

He watched you ride up the escalator to head to your shift.

And when he got back to Scoops, he was actually fired.

What a great day.

---

Of course, Robin quit as soon as Steve was fired.

"Can't stick it out without you dingus," Robin announced as she approached him in the parking lot shortly after, tossing her hat at him. "And you can't have Scoops without...Stoops. Get it? Because you're stupid. Scoops? Stoops? Stupid. Why aren't you laughing?"

It was pretty funny.

But Steve was heartbroken.

Unemployed and heartbroken.

Robin insisted that she could land them both jobs at Family Video--

"Keith hates me. Pretty sure he calls me Sleeze Harrington."

“Well he loves me. I can vouch for you, come on."

--but Steve was sure that he would have a better chance at winning you back if he kept working at StarCourt.

What an epic bust that was.

Not the job part.

Well, that too.

Most of the stores near the toy store were done hiring seasonal help, and the best that he could land was a temp job as a Mall Santa.

On the upside, it meant that he could walk around the mall on break in his Santa suit and watch you with you none the wiser until he could beg you to take him back.

"It sounds creepy," was the unfortunate response from Steve's newest friend and personal relationship expert, the Claire's Store Manager.

He stopped by before his shift to pick up some of his lucky strawberry lipgloss to make sure he was very pouty and puckery for the moment you realized you'd made a mistake...and after effectively getting it all over his fake beard, the Manager decided to take pity on him and listen to his woes while helping him clean up.

"I'm gonna need to start charging you for advice," she laughed and wiped him off with tissues from the ear piercing station. "You seriously need it if that's the idea you came up with."

"You're a real Lucy Van Pelt," Steve deadpanned. "I'll buy you cookies one day just...please...help me."

"Have you tried just talking?" she questioned. "Wasn't that your problem in the first place? Way back when? You didn't communicate."

"But they're mad at me, they don't want to talk. And I need to fix it."

"Then give them some space, and try again, ok? Give it a week or two. They probably just need time to cool down, sounds like you really hurt their feelings."

"And if they can't forgive me?"

"Then you move on," she sighed. "Sometimes things just don't work out and even though it doesn't make you feel ok, you have to be ok with it."

So he waited a week.

A week was long enough, right? His own personal Lucy said so.

He chose a day he wasn't scheduled at Santa's workshop and waited for you in the food court where he knew you'd seek refuge during your lunch break, just like the two of you had taken your breaks together. He wore his best polo, made sure his hair was perfect, applied some of his lucky lip gloss and waited.

And waited.

But you never showed up.

Not during your usual break. Not an hour later. Not even at the supposed end of your shift.

Maybe you were working a double?

So as much as he told himself he wouldn't follow you because it was creepy, he ran up the escalator two steps at a time to KB Toys where you would surely be.

Or not.

"They don't work here anymore kid," your former manager sighed after he asked about you. "I'm sorry."

"W-well where did they go?" he asked frantically, pathetically.

"Didn't say, not really my business to ask. Put in their notice...right after Black Friday, actually. Right before the Christmas rush too."

If he was heartbroken before...his heart was just gone now. Obliterated. Non-existent.

Along with any hope of trying to win you back.

---

Steve stuck through the rest of the holiday season at the mall; you could call him many things but a quitter wasn't one of them. However, come the new year, he needed a new job again, and he took up Robin's offer to butter Keith up and get in at Family Video.

He was offered an opening key shift, a decent employee discount, a better paycheck than both Scoops and Santa's workshop combined, and unlimited access to choose the movie playing overhead whenever he was in charge.

"You're lucky the other person I was about to hire bailed," Keith said after his first week. "Got a job at the Hawk or something. Can't blame 'em. Free popcorn and all that."

The distraction helped the heartache.

Surprisingly, he got a few phone numbers. Nothing ever came of them, nursing a broken heart the way he was, but it was nice. He'd been tempted to call you, several times in fact, but in the end he just decided fate knew better. Still, he denied himself the role of Hawkins' resident heartthrob.

"Are you hearing yourself right now?" Robin scoffed at him as he scrubbed off yet another phone number that had been written onto the palm of his hand by one customer or another. "Resident Heartthrob. Seriously? Ok Cassanova."

"What else do you wanna call it?" he asked, holding his arms out helplessly. "They can't resist the Harrington Charm, even when I don't want to use it."

"It's because you keep putting on sappy romance movies when you're here. Girls like that shit, a guy in touch with his feelings."

"First Nancy and then..." he trailed off, thinking about you sadly. He had to let you go.

"Are you kidding me?" Robin hit him upside the head and shoved him out of the way so she could start processing returns. "You can't even say their name? You need to get over it."

"It's hard."

"Were they your soulmate or something?"

"Robin, all men must...have someone who will never take advantage of a love bright as the sun."

"Love?"

"Someone to stand beside them."

"You're quoting the Monkees now."

"They were the one," Steve lamented. "And now they're--"

He trailed off as his eye landed on something outside the window.

"They're what? On the Last Train to Clarksville?" She made a buzzer noise. "Try again."

"No they're walking in right now, act casual," Steve announced and started typing away at the keyboard of the computer.

The doorbell chimed as you set foot inside Family Video and Steve glanced up to get a look at you for the first time in weeks.

Ok, so maybe he was being a little pathetic with this heartache.

Maybe it wasn't that bad for him.

It was pretty bad.

But when your eyes met, Steve could just tell...it had to have been just as bad for you too.

Because he knew you by now. How many months had you been dating? Dates and lunches and breaks spent together. Was it love? Maybe. Probably. Even if it wasn't, it was damn near close to it. So he knew the way your eyes lost their sparkle a little bit when they landed on him, knew the way your shoulders sagged, knew the words that refused to escape your lips when you saw him.

Stevie Stew. Pookie Bear. Dumb dumb. All the pet names he missed too.

Robin greeted you with an exaggerated lengthening of your name and a pointed glare shot directly at Steve.

"Hey Rob," you cleared your throat and offered a strained grin. "How are you? Didn't know you were working here."

Your eyes shifted to Steve and then back to Robin.

"Either of you."

"I've been here since before Christmas," Robin leaned against the counter as you approached and thumbed over her shoulder at Steve. "And of course dingus over here just couldn't stay away."

"You're the dream team, of course," you nodded. "Scoops Troop. But, uh, not anymore I guess."

"We're workshopping a new name."

The two of you laughed and then you excused yourself to peruse the shelves for a new movie. Robin even offered to show you some new tapes with a low pull it together hissed at Steve as she rounded the counter to show you a new display.

Steve willed himself to say something, Do something. Anything. Say hello, walk over and suggest a new movie, say that it was good to see you, that he missed you.

Communicate, god damn it.

But he was frozen.

Even more when you and Robin returned a few minutes later debating which John Hughes flick you should get: Sixteen Candles or Weird Science.

"You could always get both," Steve suggested, the words rocketing out of his mouth violently as you reached the register.

"Uh, yeah, actually..." you nodded. "That's a good idea, I think I will."

Steve typed in all the information and got your rentals rung out, and as he asked if you wanted candy or popcorn, you laughed.

"You know what, I'm actually all candy and popcorn'd out," your smile faltered when your eyes met again. "I'm...uh...you know."

"Know what?" Steve asked dumbly.

"I'm over at the Hawk," you nodded. "New shift manager and everything. I was...I was actually supposed to work here when Mr. Phillips offered me a dollar more at the theater. And the popcorn didn't hurt."

"I didn't know that," Steve shook his head.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

You and Steve stared at each other for another long, drawn out minute.

You opened your mouth to say something--

"Can we ta--"

--before Steve, idiot that he was, pushed your tapes across the counter at you and practically shouted at you.

"Your rental's due back on Friday by 2pm, enjoy."

Robin gave him the silent treatment for the rest of his shift.

---

"Do I show up with flowers?"

"Flowers?"

"What's that voice, you don't like flowers?"

"Not really."

There he was, back at Claire's the following day, sitting in the chair at the Ear Piercing Station as the manager restocked the jewelry wall. A bag of fresh chocolate chip cookies from the food court sat on top of the station and the two of them periodically reached in for a treat as Steve regaled her with his tale.

"I know they miss me, I just know it."

"Then why did you freeze up?"

"Because I'm an idiot. Help. Please."

So far, the manager hadn't really been able to offer him much advice outside of a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear. Especially now as he planned a way to win you back.

"Everyone likes flowers," Steve argued skeptically. "You're telling me Munson hasn't gotten you roses or something?"

The shop bell rang, a chain rattled, and leather squeaked, and instead of the manager answering with a gentle tone and an eye roll like she'd been doing all day, Eddie Munson himself chimed in.

"If I was a jealous man," he started with an exaggerated glare at Steve. "I would say you're here flirting with my girlfriend."

Eddie "The Freak" Munson was somehow the Dad to Steve's reluctant Mom when it came to the ragtag gang of Freshman that they shared role-model-ship of, and because of that their previous animosity had been turned into some kind of...agreement.

Could Steve say Eddie was a bad guy? No. Was he still wondering why the kids liked him so much? Yes. Could the two of them get along? Up for debate.

Which was why Steve wasn't so concerned when the metalhead was feigning some kind of intimidation tactic; they had an agreement that went from unspoken to shaken on come the new year: No fighting in front of the kids, no making fun of each other's hair, no stealing Eddie's girlfriend.

"What are you doing here?" the manager laughed at the two boys antics and crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't you have school?"

"I came to ask you a very important question," Eddie smiled a lovesick smile at her, Steve momentarily ignored. "But imagine my surprise when someone else is sitting in my spot."

"It's not your spot. And I'm giving him advice."

"Again?"

"He's hopeless, apparently."

"I'm right here," Steve exclaimed and got to his feet, ready to leave. "I didn't come here to be made fun of. I actually need help."

He didn't like the way Eddie clapped him on the shoulder, or steered him out of the store, or gave him a patronizing smile.

"Listen," Eddie started once they were out of the store. "I know you're having some issues but seriously, you need to get your act together."

"And how should I do that Munson? I've thought of everything and your girlfriend keeps telling me that my ideas are stupid."

"I'm sure they are stupid," Eddie nodded. "I trust her judgment."

"What would you do to win her back? If you fucked up?"

"I wouldn't fuck it up, Number one," Eddie smirked. "Even at the risk of jinxing myself there. Rule Number One in the Munson Relationship Doctrine, don't fuck it up."

"Well that page is missing from the Harrington Relationship Doctrine, because I clearly went and did that."

"Rule Number Two," Eddie continued, ignoring Steve. "Is by making a grand and personal gesture. Didn't you ask Nancy Wheeler to Junior Prom by having the cheer squad perform a routine just for her a few years ago."

"Yeah that took a lot of begging," Steve nodded eagerly, already formulating a plan. "But I could do it again if I--"

"I heard she hated it," Eddie shot a sour expression. "So no, not that."

"Then I'm out of ideas," Steve admitted.

Eddie threw his head back and groaned, and Steve was sure he heard him say something along the lines of and Buckley called him Hawkins Heartthrob.

"Listen," Eddie recovered, tightened his grip on Steve's shoulder with one hand, and jabbed him in the chest with the other hand. "Don't ever say that I didn't do anything for you ok? Where does your friend work? The Hawk?"

"How do you know that?"

"News travels fast when you're friends with 5 freshmen and Robin Bigmouth Buckley ok?" Eddie shook his head. "Now listen to me. Your friend works at the theater? Showing movies right? And what are movies made of?"

"Film?"

"Sure. And the kids...Dustin...what club is he part of at school?"

"Uh...Hellfire Club. Chess Club..."

"AV Club," Eddie insisted with an exaggerated nod. "And where do you work?"

"Family Video."

"And what is in a vid--you know what?" Eddie groaned. "I don't have time for this. How are you not putting two and two together Harrington?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to be putting together."

"What they all have in common?"

Steve took a second as Eddie leaned closer expectantly, as though trying to transmit his idea through osmosis because Steve was just not getting it.

Until the osmosis was successful and Steve had his lightbulb moment.

"Oh!"

"There you go!" Eddie's face stretched with a feral grin. "I see the wheels turning. Ladies and Gentleman, I believe a plan is underway."

---

It took a little more than a week, the combined efforts of the AV Club and Hellfire Club, and a good chunk out of Steve's paycheck for supplies and to bribe them all and the projectionist at the Hawk.

But the plan was in place.

Steve found out your schedule, bought tickets for a 5pm show of Hey there, It's Yogi Bear.

There couldn't have been a worse movie to choose, but it was the only one he could buy out the theater for.

He showed up to the Hawk promptly at 4:30, got his soda and popcorn, and hung around the lobby impatiently. He was pretty sure he'd ruined his hair from the number of times he'd run his hand through it.

Slowly his friends started to filter in: The Sinclair kids and Max, Mike Wheeler and Will Byers with Nancy and Jonathan in tow--that wouldn't be nerve-wracking or embarrassing at all if the plan didn't work out. At some point, Eddie's van pulled up in front of the Theater and Dustin, Jeff, Gareth, and Dave all walked in bickering about nachos and sour worms, before Eddie and the Claire's Store Manager followed suit, Eddie telling his friends to shut up.

Steve was beginning to sweat at 4:55 when Robin ran in, hand in hand with a new girlfriend that he'd seen waiting for Rob when he dropped her off at school in the morning.

That he'd been maybe a little too in his own head about you to hear Robin rave about for the past few months. He really did feel bad about that.

"Thought you were gonna be late," he accused Robin.

"Me? Late?" she beamed. "Never. Do we have time to grab candy?"

"Just go," he waved them off, then shot Robin a secret thumbs up as she pointed to her crush excitedly, then got nervous when he spotted you across the lobby, talking to one of the ushers.

You faltered when you locked eyes with him, waved back when he sent you a little hello, and then you scurried into the box office.

He allowed himself one more moment of heartache. Then at 5 on the dot, Steve entered the theater and sat in the back row, as close to the projection window as he could get.

The previews started, and for a moment, Steve looked at all his...well, they were all his friends now, weren't they? Here to support him on this hare-brained endeavor. He suddenly felt loved in a way that he didn't think he'd ever felt before, not like this.

The only thing missing was you.

Suddenly the projection started skipping, and he could hear his accomplice in the projection booth shuffle around, then a door opened and closed.

"And so it begins," Eddie said dramatically a few rows ahead.

"Shut up, you're gonna give it away!" Dustin shouted at him.

Everyone started chattering until Steve sent them all a shhhhh when he heard the projection booth door open and shut again and your voice, clearly irritated, started speaking.

"What do you mean it isn't working? Did you try...I don't know...unplugging it and plugging it back in? Re-roll the film and try it again...here let me see..."

Steve felt himself shake with anticipation as the projector started up again, but the images on the screen were decidedly not Yogi Bear and Boo Boo.

"What the hell?" you exclaimed.

On the screen were pictures of you and Steve, all the polaroids and film strips from the little Photo Booth at Starcourt that you'd taken together over the months of your relationship. The ticket from the aquarium that he'd saved. The note you'd pinned to his back one morning when you hugged him before his shift that said "Steve Harrington is a loser."

He heard your snort as the scene panned up to a shot of himself sitting at the desk in his room writing a letter, shot on the Wheeler family's camcorder. The Steve on the screen looked up into the camera and startled.

"Oh," he laughed. "Didn't see you there. It's been a long time, hasn't it? I uh...I really wanted to talk to you and figured there wasn't a better way than writing a letter."

"Nerd," you called through the projection window, garnering laughs from his friends.

The scene faded to Movie Steve in a turtleneck skipping rocks at Lover's Lake in a very artistic shot that Director Dustin was apparently "proud of."

"But a picture is worth a thousand words so I'm pretty sure a video is worth a million." Movie Steve said your name sadly and looked deep into the camera. "I messed up, I was an idiot and a jerk and only took my own feelings into consideration when I made that joke to my parents. I don't care how they felt about you because I'm past the point of caring how they feel about me. My screw ups.

"And unfortunately I made the biggest screw-up of my life that night. I might not care what they think about me...but I care what you think about me."

The scene changed once again, Movie Steve leaning over the counter at Family Video filling out a form on a clipboard.

"There are a million better movies out there than this one you're watching right now Honey, but none of them are able to show just how truly sorry I am, and how much I miss you. I know that we still need to talk things out in person but I hope this shows how much I'm willing to put in the work so you'll forgive me."

A few rows ahead, he could hear Eddie speak along with Movie Steve, he leaned into his girlfriend and said "I wrote that line. Pretty good, right?"

"Uh huh," she pushed his head away from her. "Sap."

Eddie turned back to look at Steve and shot him a thumbs-up.

The scene changed one last time to a panning shot of Steve walking out of StarCourt mall towards his car.

"This is your chance to decide now. I wouldn't blame you if you chose never to talk to me again. I'll wait outside once your shift is over, but I'll respect your choice either way. I miss you Honey, and I love you."

Movie Steve got in the car and drove away into the sunset, only for the camera to pan over to Corroded Coffin playing a sweet ballad that Steve knew was your favorite.

The screen faded to black and the audience erupted into applause before the real previews resumed and the eventual movie.

Steve listened intently for some sign of life from the projection booth, but aside from a few footsteps and the door opening and closing again, there was nothing.

After the movie was over and all of his friends went their respective ways, Steve sat by his car until the end of your shift. When the last lights of The Hawk marquee finally turned off and the employees all started filing out, he knew he was holding his breath.

The last person out of the building was you, and as you turned around and spotted him, you stopped in your tracks.

Just like the other day at Family Video, it was a standoff between you and Steve, and although Steve wished that you would just come running into his arms to kiss him, insisting your forgiveness, he knew things were never that easy.

"That, uh...was something," you finally broke the silence.

"It was, wasn't it," he agreed.

"Was that your idea?" you asked. "Pretty sure those were all your friends in there."

"Yeah I bought out the whole theater."

"You bought...seriously?"

"I wanted to make sure you weren't embarrassed...in case anyone else saw."

"And I wouldn't be embarrassed by your friends?" you scoffed.

"Well they all helped me make it so I think I was more embarrassed asking them all for help than you." You let out a long sigh and put your face in your hands and Steve started talking rapid-fire. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I know that sucks when...when I already did. But I promise I'll do better. I'll be better. I'll be anything you need me to be, I just...I need you back."

You said something but it was muffled by your hands.

"What?"

"I said," you pulled them away and looked up at him with watery eyes, and he felt his heart drop again. "Do you really love me? You said so...at the end of that...whatever that was."

"I mean...yeah I guess I do."

"You guess?" you laughed.

"I do!" Steve said with more confidence this time. "I do love you. I'm...sorry I didn't say anything sooner."

"I'm sorry you didn't either," you muttered. You closed the distance and grabbed the lapels of Steve's jacket in your hands, as though you were about to shake him. "Do you know...the real reason I was upset?"

"There's...a real reason?" he asked.

"Why I broke up with you."

"Oh. Uh...no."

"I mean," you took a great breath of confidence. "Yeah I was mad because you made me seem like a joke to your parents on Thanksgiving, and I know...I know their opinion doesn't mean that much to you. But after I left it got me thinking...what if you made a joke like that...because I was a joke. And maybe thats why nothing was ever coming of our relationship because it was just...you didn't care about me. You didn't...love me, the same way I loved you."

Steve felt the invisible hand clench around his heart; it was like Nancy all over again.

"Loved?" he whispered weakly, the sense of deja-vu undeniable. "Honey..."

"So I had to end it. To protect myself. And I took a long hard look at myself when I got to work. The what? Third job I had since I started at StarCourt? I realized that maybe...I was a joke. Maybe you were right, that I was...this job-hopping, unreliable...thing and that's why I quit. And I started looking...for a management position somewhere so I could be better."

"But you were already great," Steve assured. "Can we get back to that...loved thing?"

"Steven..."

"Sorry."

"Let me finish."

"Ok."

"And you know what I found out since I've been here?" you asked. "I...kind of hate working at a movie theater. And I need to leave again. I'm...I'm a free spirit. I can't be tied down to one kind of job. I saw an ad in the paper for an arts and crafts instructor at the Park District and I sort of wanna quit before applying, I would be great at that."

"You would," Steve laughed, still unsure of where this was going.

It was always a bit of a rollercoaster with you though, and it was another thing about you that he loved.

"So...tonight seeing all of that," you waved an arm behind you at the theater. "Seeing you...realizing that you loved me all along...I don't know. I don't need your love to keep being who it is that I am, it's just nice to know that you love me, the same way I love you."

"Love me?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah."

He whispered your name desperately and then cupped your face in his hands.

"I love you Honey."

"I love you too, Steve Harrington."

You pulled him into you and smashed your lips to his. The heartbreak faded away from both of you, and in its place, undeniable love and affection for each other.

Steve Harrington might have been many things, he might have fucked up.

But he was happy to say he was someone who could fix it.

With love.

#Steve harrington x reader #Steve harrington fic #Steve harrington fluff #store manager verse #stranger things fic #Steve harrington stranger things

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scoops-aboy86 · 7 months

Text

And we're now up to part A of the main events of s4, with an (un?)healthy dose of mutual pining. Bon appétit.

Part 1, part 1.5, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6 of the love spell no go au

It’s a panic reflex, really.

Eddie sees Chrissy start to float and he knows what this is. Not the exact spell, he’s never had the nerve to dig into those kind of grimoires, those fuckers’ll take your fingers right off—but it’s definitely dark magic. And the best way to respond to dark magic is to get as far away from the spellcaster as fucking possible. He doesn’t know where the spellcaster is, so he reaches for the best hiding place he can think of off the top of his head.

One second he’s in the trailer, screaming and flailing out the spell, and the next he lands on his ass in Reefer Rick’s dank little boathouse where no one or nothing will find him.

… Okay, maybe not no one.

“Eddie?!”

With a gasp, Eddie struggles to kick off the tarp and clamber out of the old motorboat. “Steve!” His foot is still tangled in the tarp, though, so he trips, stumbles into the other boy, and sends both of them thumping up against the nearest wall. “Fuck.”

But Steve’s arms wrap around him all the same. “Shit, Eddie, I’m glad you’re okay.”

He’s not, though. He is so not okay.

Dustin is asking him about dark particles before it really clicks for Eddie—they know. Maybe not that it’s magic, but they’ve seen things before, enough to not question any of what he tells them.

“How did you get all the way out here without your van?” the redhead, Max, asks shrewdly, and he recognizes her as one of his neighbors across the way.

“I, uh.” Eddie doesn’t want to lie, because even as freaked out as he is he knows that he might end up having to tell them at this point—sorry Wayne. But that point hasn’t come yet. “I just… ran, I don’t know. I l-left her there.”

Steve still has a hand on his shoulder, at once reassuring and bewildering, and squeezes it now. “What happened to Chrissy wasn’t your fault, Eds. You said she was already gone, so it’s… You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?”

Eddie is in no way okay.

God only knows how long later, Eddie matches Steve’s pace through what the younger Hellfire members dubbed the Upside Down back in ‘83. He keeps wondering if he should tell them they don’t need the guns; he knows enough defensive spells and a fire spitting trick that should be protection enough. Most of those involve setting up in a fixed location, though, meaning they’d have to hole up rather than find (or fight) their way back home… and he’s not confident enough to put all of their eggs in his basket.

It was all he could do to get his battle vest on Steve. Eddie, wary from years of being bullied, had sewn stealth and protection in with every thread he’d added to the garment, slipped healing charms in under the patches and then sewn them in place.

And then Steve says “I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” which throws Eddie for a loop.

“Pretty sure it was the dark wizard that dragged me into this, Stevie.”

Eddie still doesn’t know if his involvement was intentional or not—if he was targeted as collateral damage because of his family and heritage or if it was all about Chrissy and he'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He doesn’t know if his spell to get away was noticed, either, but… it would have been small potatoes compared to this asshole casting from a completely different dimension, so maybe not. Which is not very reassuring, but speculation is all he has right now.

After an awkward moment of silence, Eddie clears his throat. “So, uh… all this is why you’ve been tense since July? And why you started buying from me?”

Steve doesn’t look up from where he’s putting one foot carefully in front of the other, mindful of the sentient vines. “Yeah.” He gives a halfhearted shrug. “This is different from the last time, but it’s always different. Like, usually I get most of my injuries from getting hit by regular people, but—” he gestures at the red and bruise-mottled marks circling his neck from that demonic bat thing “—this time I guess it’s the monsters’ turn. Never know what to brace for.”

“… Well shit,” Eddie sums up, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees with a humorless laugh. “Thanks for jumping in after me though, dude. I know it’s all a lot and you're already kind of stuck with being involved, and with… losing Chrissy like that… but, yeah. It means a lot.”

Eddie doesn’t like the unfamiliar way Steve tenses up as he says this, and is puzzled by the strange phrasing. He didn’t really know Chrissy, they’d had literally two conversations and the second one was in the minutes immediately before her sudden demise. Sure, he’d wanted to help her and feels like throwing up any time he thinks about how she died, but they hadn’t exactly been close. Nothing like how he and Steve are. Why wouldn’t he try to save his… his friend?

“Nancy and Robin went first. I’m a shitty swimmer,” Eddie admits. “That’s the only reason I didn’t jump in sooner… Turned out I was more scared of being alone in that boat than I was of drowning, so yay for me. The girls did most of the heavy lifting, and you ripped that bat in half with your bare hands. That’s fucking metal by the way. A total Ozzy move.”

“Ozzy.” Steve’s forehead wrinkles, actually turning his gaze to Eddie. “Isn’t that the Black Something guy?”

“Sabbath,” he supplies, nodding. And then recounts the legend of Ozzy Osborne biting a bat’s head off on-stage. End of the world or not, he still considers himself morally obligated to lure Steve away from the top 40 pop hits, tempting him towards the dark side with impassioned lyrics and sick guitar riffs.

He almost feels able to pretend that things are normal and they’re just idly chatting, until a brief earthquake that almost knock both of them down onto the fucking sentient vines and reminds him.

The night between finding their way back out of the Upside Down and formulating a plan, the older teens take turns guarding the gate in the Munson trailer. Eddie almost breaks down and tries a circle of protection, but he’s not sure how to do that on the ceiling, there isn’t enough salt in the pantry to circle the entire trailer, and even if there were, Max’s place can’t fit all of them.

Besides, he thinks glumly, he’s not sure it would even help with these kinds of monsters. Isn’t sure what kind of traction his magic will have on things spawned in a different plane.

So he helps Steve drag his shitty mattress back into the bedroom (because Steve refuses to sit out helping even with literal bites taken out of his sides) for the four of them to sleep on during watch shifts. And gets fresh blankets and sheets from Max, at Robin’s insistence.

“New bandages,” he says to Steve once that’s done, pointing towards the bathroom in a way that he hopes brooks no argument. He’s already got a shirt and pair of sweatpants that pass the sniff test from his closet and a definitely clean pair of boxers from the dresser clutched in his other hand, ready to go.

Steve blinks at him, twice, then looks down at his own torso where Nancy’s ripped sweater is still tied around his wounds, dark from grime and spotting blood, and sighs. “Yeah, fine.”

Eddie shuts the door behind them, which makes the already cramped trailer bathroom feel even smaller. “Okay, so… Fastest way to do this is probably to hop in the shower and rinse off. You’re covered in lake and fuck knows what else from that place, don’t want any of that shit getting in the wounds. Don’t, uh, don’t scrub those, just everything else.” And busies himself with hauling the first aid kit out from under the sink, which is always a pain in the ass whether the door is open or not. The damn thing is too big for the space because of all the extra compartments for healing spell ingredients, quite a few of which he’s already planning to surreptitiously use.

Nothing happens behind him, so after a moment he pauses and looks over his shoulder to see Steve still as dressed as he was when they walked in.

“This is going to take me a while, it’ll all go faster if you start washing up now,” he points out, not trying to be brusque but he’s… not the best with blood, and trying to steel himself for what’s coming. “If you’re worried about your modesty, I promise not to look.”

“Don’t care about that,” Steve says, and he sounds tense.

Eddie tries not to think about how he’s just been handed indirect permission to watch Steve undress and shower. Jesus H. Christ. “Then… are you dragging your heels because you wanna tell me that you do have demon bat rabies, or…?”

“No.” Steve sighs, and runs a dirty hand through his already disheveled and deflated hair. How he still manages to look hot after all they’ve been through, Eddie has no idea. “How, uh. How thin are the walls?”

From outside the bathroom, Robin calls, “Pretty thin, Steve-o.”

No further answer to that question needed, Eddie inclines his head towards the door. “You heard the lady. Turning the water on helps, even though the pressure is shit. It’ll get cold pretty fast, though, so you’ll want to be quick.”

For a moment, it still seems like Steve has something he wants to say. Eddie waits patiently, looking off to the side so he doesn’t have an aneurism while Steve strips down and turns the water on, but once Steve steps under the spray he seems wholly focused on peeling away the makeshift bandages so Eddie returns to wrestling with the first aid kit. They don’t talk; Steve remains eerily silent even through disinfecting the bites on his sides and the road rash on his back, even though all of it must sting like a bitch. And then Eddie wraps him up in clean gauze and medical tape and a few subtle spells to help ease the pain and help speed the healing along, hands Steve the clean clothes to change into, and slips out of the bathroom trying not to think about how Steve’s hair now smells like his bargain bin shampoo.

“All patched up?” Robin asks, joining Steve on the mattress as they settle in for some sleep before their staggered shifts start. Since he’s injured, Nancy put him last on the rota so he could get more uninterrupted rest up front.

He nods. Flicks his eyes to the closed bedroom door, remembering from the bathroom that it really only provides the illusion of privacy, and shuffles around to lie down with a dejected sigh.

Robin follows. They lay down facing each other, cramped on the narrow bed, but they’ve done this before—Steve’s is a full, but Robin’s is a twin-sized just like this one.

In a whisper barely more than a breath, she says, “You wanted to tell him.” It’s not a question.

“Not with Nancy listening,” he whispers back. “And… Chrissy, I shouldn’t…”

Robin’s lips press into a thin line, almost invisible in the darkened room. “There’s no way Eddie Munson was hooking up with Chrissy Cunningham, dingus. Can you even see them together? No way.”

“Can you see Eddie Munson with Steve Harrington?” he hisses back, a little too loud—but though they both freeze to listen, to be sure, there’s no sound. No sign that anyone overheard.

“Maybe,” Robin retorts softly once they’ve both settled again. “You’re not exactly a bastion of conformity anymore, you know, mister babysitter with a lesbian band nerd for a best friend expert monster killer… guy. He could go for you. And I don’t think… I mean, I don’t know, but… I don’t think he’s into girls, Steve.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Steve whispers.

The eye-roll in response is practically audible. “Because he watches you all the time. And that thing with the vest when Nancy was looking at you.”

“So? I watch him all the time, and I like both!”

“Well, if I’m wrong and he is like you, doesn’t that at least mean—”

“I just don’t want to get in the way if he’s mourning her, Robs. I don’t want to be a, a rebound or for anything to happen just because we might die. Because then what if we don’t, and he doesn’t… want me anymore? I can’t do that again.”

With a rustle of blankets, Robin scoots closer to pull him into a hug. Steve doesn’t make a sound, doesn’t cry—but his hand fists in the back of her shirt and he holds on tight.

They’re still in that position an hour or so later when Eddie comes to tag Robin in, whispering that all is still quiet on the ceiling-ward front as she extracts herself. Steve remains dead asleep, even when Eddie hesitantly worms his way under the covers while staying as close to the edge of the mattress as possible so as not to disturb him.

Tag list (comment to be added): @hotluncheddie @8em-em-em8 @anaibis @connected-dots @lawrencebshoggoth

Part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11

#scoops words #love spell no go au #wg steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #dustin henderson #robin buckley #eddie munson lives

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laundrybiscuits · 2 years

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(Hanahaki AU tag)

Shops close early in Salt Lake, but they manage to find a diner that’s still open for dinner. Eddie’s used to being stared at, but the looks he gets just walking into the place are something else.

“Get ready to take off at the crack of dawn tomorrow, Stevie,” he mutters. “I’m not staying a minute longer than we have to in this backwater shithole.”

Steve’s glancing around like he’s actually picking up on how the locals aren’t exactly thrilled to have someone like Eddie around, breathing their air and eating their food.

“You think they…” He leans in and lowers his voice like he’s in some kind of spy movie. “Think they recognize you?”

Eddie smacks him upside the head. “They sure as hell will if you go around acting like I’m a state secret. But—no, probably not. I don’t know. I just don’t exactly fit in here, don’t know if you’ve noticed.”

Steve makes a face and leans back, picking at his buffalo wings. “Yeah, I guess I’m not fitting in too well either.”

It makes Eddie pause for a second, because he’s got no idea what certified prom king All-American golden boy Steve’s talking about. Then he takes another look at the man sitting across from him, a real look: takes in the raised scar tissue on his neck and the untrimmed scruff, the Sabbath t-shirt he must’ve nicked from Eddie at some point, the worn brown leather jacket, the hair grown long enough to tangle at his collar.

He looks like he could be dangerous. He looks like he could be wild.

“Sure,” says Eddie, taking a sip of his milkshake to cover how hard he has to swallow. “Life on the road has corrupted you, Steve Harrington.”

———

They head south towards red rock country. It’s a lot more open land than Eddie’s used to, all stunted gray-green bushes clustering low around the highway, broken up by the occasional stand of cottonwoods cropping up where the road cuts closer to the river.

They stop at a pull-off a little after noon, on the outskirts of Arches where the sandstone formations are starting to stack up high, to stretch their legs and scarf down some of the snacks they’ve been hoarding in the back of the van. It’s probably (definitely) not healthy, but Eddie’s made the executive decision not to care about health anymore. There’s got to be some upsides to all of this. He can live on grease and salt and weed for however long he’s got left.

It’s been pretty bad lately. Eddie’s started to do a thing where he coughs flowers up into his mouth and then swallows them back down when Steve’s around. It means they just come up again bigger and worse later, but so far he’s been able to time it so that he can hunch over a filthy gas station toilet when he really has to puke up the botanical equivalent of a hairball.

There’s been more blood coming out, too. At first it’d been just a drop or two at the edges when he’d spit to clear his mouth afterwards, but now there’s actual streaks on the petals, damning dark russet smeared across that hideous sunshine yellow.

He can’t fucking stand the sight of flowers anymore. Any of ‘em. He pops another Dorito into his mouth and twists a pale half-unfurled blossom off a nearby prickly pear, squatting in the shadow of a red standstone outcrop to take the flower apart, petal by petal. It feels a little soothing to rip it apart like this, but he knows he’s probably making things worse by letting his brain dwell like this. Just, sometimes his brain’s like a terrier that wants to chase down rats, and if he doesn’t give it enough rats to chase it’ll start gnawing on its own tail.

Steve comes to lean against the rock by Eddie. “Got a grudge there, man?”

Eddie shrugs, fingers still worrying at the sepals, shredding petals into confetti. “Told you I was dramatic.”

“Y’know, I always wondered if you could like, plant the stuff people throw up with normal flowers. Think they’d survive?”

“Why on earth would you want to do something like that, Harrington?”

“Well, like—if somebody had the bloom, and then they told the other person and it all worked out, it might be nice to have some kind of memento. Like, living proof that it’s true love. Don’t you think?”

“I think it’s selfish,” says Eddie. “I mean, telling someone you bloomed for them, even if it works out. It’s manipulative. You’re kinda saying: if you break up with me I might literally die.”

“So what, people like that can’t ever be in love?”

“Sure.” Eddie snorts. “They can be in love. They should just have the fuckin’ dignity to perish from it the first time round, save everyone a lot of time.”

“That what you’re doing? Saving time?”

Eddie stops breathing.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, man,” says Steve. “But you’re not that sneaky.”

#I know some folks wanted this to be a longfic but I think we're past the halfway mark #it'll probably be about 10k all told #which is actually probably for the best bc the angst levels here are. whew.#not sustainable for that much longer without becoming utterly unbearable to either read or write #anyway don't be like eddie! don't disturb flora in national parks! take only photos leave only footprints #hanahaki au #steddie

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ofknowlcdge · 2 years

Text

"I didn't sign up to babysit."

Doctor who au

steve harrington | companion?

He didn't mean to he's honest, but the damn thing was there and Apparently can't land without some kind of damage which meant he had no car, and he couldn't get out the door because the TARDIS that was what that box thing was... was in the fucking way. So he had little choice on the matter.

But so help him if he stares at something alien again. Upside down was enough, now there's daleks? Oh for fu... leave him to be in peace maybe.

----------------------------------------

Time Lord Steve au

the doctor | steve, stevie | time lord | old | with a TARDIS

Admittedly he thinks this wasn't actually what he meant, of course, he has an amazing companion and he still seems to have those kids, he shouldn't really think of them as his kids but ah... Well, not much he can do about that he supposes.

It's just it all happened so quickly and then he collected a group of kids. He really shouldn't bring them on adventures but demanding shits that they are and well he likes showing off he guesses. Then there's Robin, best friend, human but hey that doesn't mean he can't have a best friend.

Also admittedly, maybe he seeing old companions wasn't the best idea but well, he can't do anything about it now. Or how there's a weird long haired is he meant to be a metalhead? Oh god, why? Please end the problem now...

#「 possible sanity has left chat ― au 」#「 paved the way ― bios 」#doctor who au; time lord: Steve in the TARDIS #doctor who; au: companion Steve

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sombersynth · 2 years

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Steddie Fanfiction Rec Masterpost pt. 2

I'm so happy that people liked my first Steddie fanfiction rec post, so I wanted to make another one to share even more amazing fics with everyone! Some of these are still being updated. I hope you enjoy!

Looking For Something Dumb to Do by Materialism, 2.5 k, explicit It's June 26, 2015. Eddie Munson turns fifty today. Steve has a question for him. (hey baby, I think I wanna marry you.)

Wasteland, Baby! by Coloredlove8, 43 k, explicit Nancy's look softened, her arms coming uncrossed, "Oh Stevie" She reached out and placed her hands on his cheeks, "it's something to do with Eddie, isn't it?" His eyes snapped up to look at her face, "How do you-" She smiled at him, "You can't see how you look at him." "How do I look at him?" He whispered. Her right thumb swiped against the sensitive skin under his eye, "Like you looked at me."

It Struck Me Deep (It Brought Me to My Knees) by Gorgeousgreymatter, 14.8 k, explicit It’s not even the nightmares most of the time. At this point, Steve would totally settle for some up close and personal time in his brainpan with the Upside Down if it meant he could actually fucking sleep.

In Too Deep by Hansbbrenton, 33 k, explicit Steve Harrington is having a hard time coming to terms with his identity, and a certain classmate is making things harder for him. He has to get help from an unlikely team, but learns that real love is out there. (Set in 1984/season 2 of the show)

Burn With Me (Heaven's On Fire) by Alexander_Slamilton, 32 k, mature “I think,” Steve mumbles, “I think I… I’m a little bit like you.” “In a gay way?” Robin asks, nudging him with her shoulder. “Yeah. I think so,” Steve whispers. “At least a little bit in a gay way.”

Easy, Easy, Easy by Judasofsuburbia, 25 k, explicit Eddie would be tucking kids into bed and reading them stories. Eddie would be making road-trip trail mix and packing a cooler with water bottles and juice boxes. Eddie as his life partner, the constant variable throughout anything. It no longer felt so scary to think about it. The fact that it wasn’t scary to think about in and of itself was scary but Steve has handled scary before. Multi-Chapter Fic showcasing slices of Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson living life together.

Money, Power, Glory by Anonymous, 15 k, explicit Steve starts paying Eddie for sex once he discovers that Eddie doesn't just deal drugs and perform at the Hideout. (Steve doesn't mean to fall in love with him, but he can’t help himself.)

The Art of Scraping Through by Robotguts, 2.5 k, teens and up Modern/Fake Dating AU. Steve doesn't mean to tell his entire 6th period English class that he's dating Eddie Munson. It just slips out. (He is not, in fact, dating Eddie Munson.)

The Touch Campaign by Damn_Illusive, 4 k, not rated Steve realizes that Eddie never touches him the way he touches everyone else. No bear hugs, no hair ruffles, not even a handshake. It's a silly thing to get hung up on but Steve can't seem to let it go.

Camp Folktale, Summer of ‘86 by Cairparavels, 58 k, not rated When Steve applies for a summer camp per Dustin's request, he doesn’t expect to have the most interesting summer of his life. Featuring a sulky metalhead who hates Steve for no reason, eight kids set on driving Steve to an early grave, Robin Buckley’s ability to charm any girl she wants, and Steve’s bisexual disaster-slash-dream-slash-nightmare. But hey, that’s what summer camp is all about. Right?

Stranger in a Strange Land by Mutedmirror, 12 k, explicit Eddie Munson, stoner college drop out, meets Steve Harrington, part-time grocery store clerk, during a late night shoplifting run to curb the munchies. What happens when Eddie makes his get away, only to find out he may not be rid of Steve just yet?

You’re My Permanent Vacation by Owlerie, 8 k, teens and up When Eddie lets Dustin convince him to volunteer at the kids’ summer camp for a little extra campaign time thrown in the mix, the last thing he expects is to be shacked up in a counselor’s cabin with resident cool guy and babysitter extraordinare Steve Harrington — who Eddie is pretty sure hates his guts. It’s too bad Eddie’s been nursing a massive — and massively embarrassing — crush on him for years.

Sedated by Rottin, 3.6 k, explicit There’s something along his scalp, for second Steve thinks it’s a bug and goes to swat it away; but then the ‘bug’ twirls a piece of hair around a finger, plays with the strand, then there’s nails on his scalp and— …Eddie is playing with his hair. Eddie is playing with his hair.

#steddie #steveddie #steddie fanfic #steddie fic rec #steveddie fic #steddie fanfiction #steddie fanfiction recs #steddie fic #my fic recs

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neonponders · 3 years

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I'm sorry your brain is feeling squished!

Question: what the most outlandish harringrove au/idea/ concept that crossed your mind, but you immediately dismissed because you were worried it was too 'extra/big/over the top'

🥺 😭 Thank you, Graaaaaves 💗

You know, for some reason, I tend to avoid super fantasy au's??? (so says the person in the middle of a werewolf/vampire/witch/merman fics 🙄) Like every time I see griffin/centaur/faun art of the boys I lose my mind, I love it so much. And I recently saw this pic of a pair of lions (it's not weird, it's just a picture of lions lol) and thought.........that's Harringrove. Shape shifters? Steve's hair is literally Kovu from Lion King 2...but I never go anywhere with these haha I think it's the notion of writing horse sex that scares me off LOL

BUT I got brave once and made a tiny drabble on zayacv's post here ~

Apart from these, I am ~ s l o w l y ~ but surely writing a soulmate fic where they can't see colors until they see their mate, AND they can see each other in dreams.

(more under the cut because I'm about to overshare lol)

Cue a LOT of angst because Steve forgets his dreams (like a normal person does lol) and forgets Billy's abuse, so Billy's pissed when they finally talk and he's like????????????? HELLO? You don't care???

They slowly work it out over the next several months, and finally arrange a proper date BUT Billy experiences the crash at the start of season 3, and actually knows about the Upside-Down so he runs fast and far away from Hawkins, standing Steve up, and leaving the team behind to deal with it. Steve knows he's alive because of the dreams but it's still terrifying to wonder if Billy disappeared because he's in that meat spider.

Then he and Jonathan move to NYC and for a while, it's good. Just the daily grind to pay rent and the rush of being outside of their small town. But Steve's growing more and more haunted by the dreams he shares with Billy, because Billy's off living his life and dating - like a normal person, sure, but it still feels like cheating and Steve DID get stood up. They know they're soul mates because they can see colors and Billy left.

He left Steve.

Steve falls into heavy depression, unable to hold a job, Jonathan and Nancy get engaged - rubbing salt into his wounds - he develops an eating disorder because he feels bad about eating the food Jonathan pays for, etc etc etc.

Eventually he reaches a breaking point and uses the credit card his mom pays for to land his ass in therapy. After a few sessions, the woman is like, "Okay. I'm giving you antidepressants and sleeping meds, but you need to really think about the latter because you won't have dreams of your other half anymore."

Steve just wants to stop hurting, so he takes them. And, god, he finally sleeps. The meds make him super groggy throughout the day, and he sleeps like the dead - alerting Jonathan and Nancy that something's wrong, but that's a tangent - but he's finally recovering.

This coincides with Robin getting him a job (because she's in the city too, duh) bartending at a Drag Queen club. Steve's super lost in this place lol he know's he's not straight because - again, Billy - but this whole big, vibrant world of queer culture is new and intimidating and Steve's just so so tired.

But the owner clocks his ability to see colors immediately, because he's visibly bothered by somebody's makeup job. "They're wearing green, unblended foundation but can't tell because it's all grey tones to them."

And when I say this is a club, it's a CLUB. Projected stage, the owner's partner works at a record label, like, the drag scene may be a bit underground, but they're not messing around. These Queens become Steve's fairy godmothers and get him back on his feet, demanding he take dance lessons to be a backup dancer on occasion "Because the people love you, Stevie baby, get your ass on stage."

My favorite point is when the owner tells Steve to go in the makeup room to get a particularly ornery Queen out of their mental crisis and get into costume. Steve discovers their breast plate and it's just NASTY. Covered in caked on makeup and he has his own mental snap of his own. He cleans the weird, silicone thing, and is shouting louder than the whiney Queen,

"THIS IS DISGUSTING! IF YOU CAN'T RESPECT BREASTS THAN YOU DON'T DESERVE THEM AT ALL!"

The owners just love him. "Okay, Bisexual King, you better work."

Meanwhile....

Steve taking the meds to stop his dreams has also made Billy stop having his. And Billy freaks. He thinks Steve is dead, and begins a desperate scavenger hunt to find him.

There's a lot more to this lol like Steve's psychiatrist recommends journaling, and Steve writes a poem that wins a poetry contest, which lands him a big scholarship to an NYC college. So he's colleging by day, Drag Kinging by night. His mom shows up to ask what the hell is so expensive every month on the credit card, and Steve confronts her about her ability to see colors because, "You've worn that specific coral peach shade ever since I was a kid."

So then Momma Harrington is in the mix and the two of them get a place together in the city (probably with Robin too, so that they can have a nice, swanky place and the three of them split the rent). Momma H. also reveals that Steve had night terrors as a kid because he DID see Billy’s abuse. She had to take measures so that he would sleep well and whatever hypnosis they did helped Steve sleep back then.

Steve's writing ability enables him to meet a band, so he writes for the band, and it's an added siphon to get his feelings about Billy out.

It's a very intricate story, obviously lol and it involves a lot of poetry, which isn't my strong suit. But it's very mental health-heavy, so I have to be in a certain place to write for it.

*sigh* thanks for reading lol

#ask #answered #neonponders #gravegroves #ily and hope you have a magnificent day #thanks for checking in 💗🥺#harringrove

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thxngam · 4 years

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Stucky, #7? 😍😙❤️

Here you go, dear! I hope you enjoy.

#7, fake dating au

“This is so fucking stupid,” Steve muttered, leaning up in his toes, smiling prettily when another passerby gave them a weird look. “Are you kidding me, Bucky?”

“Relax,” Bucky murmured. “Costco memberships come in two cards. Therefore, we’re dating.”

“Yeah, but you and Sam live together, and are dating anyway,” Steve complained. “Why do I have to be here?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Who said that Sam and I were dating?”

Steve stopped. Stared. “Y-you’re not?”

“No,” Bucky huffed, unaware that Steve’s world had just turned upside down. “He’s been going out with a different girl from Tinder for the last month, Steve. He’s moving out within the month, too.”

“Oh.”

“And besides, the Costco card I have is a Gold Star Membership, and the other card has to be someone in the family or in the household. And since Sam isn’t family, and he’s moving out, I told the guy that he could register the card in your name because you were my fiancé and moving in soon.”

“Fiance?” Oh, Steve wishes. “Bucky!”

“Relax,” Bucky murmurs in his ear, soothing his fire. Steve shivers. “What, you ticklish?”

“No,” Steve manages, biting his bottom lip. “Just-feels weird.”

“Uh-huh,” Bucky sounds all too amused for someone who screams when he sees a wasp, and Steve’s about to open his mouth for a biting retort when he feels Bucky’s other hand dropping down the fabric of his sweater vest and landing curiously close to the swell of his ass. Jesus fucking Christ. “What were you saying, Stevie?”

“N-nothin’,” Steve stammers. “Wh-what are you doing? The guy’s gone now, you can stop.”

Bucky’s lips land in his hair. “Do you want me to?” It’s an honest question, and if the truthful answer wasn’t “no”, Steve’d be smacking Bucky ‘round the head and going off in search of free samples that he’d hog from Bucky in retaliation. “Hm, Stevie?”

“I-”

“Because you can’t be so dense as to realize that I don’t want you,” Bucky says, and, well.

Here are the facts;

Steve’s known Bucky since they’ve both been in diapers. Fact.

Steve knows that Bucky hates lying, and had relied on Steve to get them out of trouble because he was transparent when trying to get away with something. Fact.

Bucky likes him? ...maybe?

“Steve,” Bucky says gently, and Steve anxiously pushes up the frame of his glass. “I don’ want to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, I-you like me?” Steve manages pathetically. He looks around anxiously, trying to pin his gaze on something else so Bucky, at the very least, wouldn’t see the tears welling behind his glasses if the answer was no. Unfortunately, it seemed that Bucky had steered their way into an abandoned aisle, somehow empty despite the dozens of people milling about on a Saturday afternoon. “Like...that?”

“Yeah, Stevie, I like you like that,” Bucky says amused. Inexplicably, Steve feels tears brim behind his eyes.

“Oh.” He looks at his scuffed converse. “Huh.”

“Oh, Steve. Hey,” Bucky murmurs, and shit, that’s the tone that got them into this aisle in the first place. “C’mon, what’s wrong?”

“Nothin’.” Steve sniffles. “I don’t know.”

“Aw, Stevie,” Bucky murmurs, tugging him into a hug. Steve’s fingers touch only briefly around Bucky’s broad chest. “I’ve been half in love with you since I knew what my dick was for. I just-I figured you had to notice and you just didn’t like me. Broke my heart, just about, when you said you were as straight as a circle but didn’t seem to like me. I thought-I like you. Now and then. Maybe even more now. But um, you were blushing when I put my arm around you, so I thought-I figured I’d shoot my shot.”

“I never wanted to talk about crushes because I liked you, ya moron,” Steve admits, pressing his face into Bucky’s generous pecs. “But you came to me about all these people you lied in high school? I never thought I had a chance.”

“Tried to make you jealous,” Bucky says, and then his mouth is in Steve’s hair. “I don’t think it worked; Sam said I was just pushing you away.”

“No, it did make me jealous,” Steve says, pulling away and wiping his face of--relieved?--tears. “But I was too chicken to do anything about it.”

Bucky shrugs. A pause, Steve’s sniffs breaking the quiet.

And then, “You’re an ugly crier.”

Steve’s mouth drops open. “Jerk!” He shoves at Bucky, cursing when Bucky took hold of his bony wrists, tugging Steve into his chest. Bucky waggled his eyebrows.

“Hey,” Bucky says coyly, and then “Mmf!”

Bucky’s mouth opens eagerly against his, sucking on his tongue greedily until Steve’s knees are jelly and he’s clutching Bucky’s biceps, whimpering noises he’ll be absolutely embarrassed about later, when-

“Hey!” Oh Lord.

Steve stumbles away hurriedly, backs of his knees hitting the shelf full of toilet paper. It’s--ironically--the same man who they’d been trying to fool into thinking they were fiances. “No mackin’ in the aisles,” he grumps, and Steve’s lips press together to hold back giggles. Mackin’? Bucky’s chest is shaking under his palms, and his breath is coming in characteristic wheezy gasps.

Three, two, one--

The giggles that had been brimming behind Steve’s lips topple out in a graceless deluge. He thinks he snorts unattractively, but Bucky only tugs him closer, both of them shaking like a tree in the wind. It’s moments like this where Steve is most grateful for growing out of his asthma. Steve wraps his arms around Bucky’s waist, burying his face in his sweater. “Bucky,” he whines quietly, inhaling a deep breath of Bucky’s cologne.

“Steve,” oh, and he can hear the smile in Bucky’s voice. “How’s takeout sound for dinner?”

“Groceries?”

“I don’t think you’ll want to be cooking after I’m done with you,” Bucky starts teasingly. Steve’s mouth dries.

“Are you taking me home?” Steve pretends to think about it, even as he wants to topple over himself to get himself and Bucky into their car and back to somewhere with a bed. “I don’t know if I-” and then an “Ack!”

“Bucky!”

“Nope.”

“Bucky put me down!”

The receipt lady laughs as she waves them through.

“Nope!”

Steve complains all the way to the car.

#stucky #steve rogers #bucky barnes #stevebucky #au august 2020

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whitewolfmoving · 4 years

Text

Going For Gold || Bucky Barnes Mixed Martial Arts AU

Summary: Bucky made his choices long ago, now he has to live with the fallout. Can he return to the life he once knew? Can he mend the heart of the girl he left behind? Can he be a better man than he used to be? [Modern au] [Mixed Martial Arts au]

Trigger Warnings: lots of swearing, Bucky Barnes being a whole ass idiot, mentions of character death, mild detail of injuries, arguing, flashbacks, PTSD, alcohol and prescription drug use (non-addictive)

Word Count: 1817

Chapter Warnings: swearing, arguing, mentions of alcohol (non-addictive)

——————————

Chapter Two: Go To Hell

Bucky sat on the bench outside of Serenity’s office; she hadn’t been happy to see him. Could he really blame her, though? After everything he put her through? He sighed, absentmindedly rubbing his left shoulder, it always seemed to ache more when Bucky was nervous. He tried not to flinch as he listened to Serenity Corbyn tear Steve Rogers a new one.

“Please, please tell me what I saw out there was a fucking ghost! Or— or a figment of my imagination!”

“You know I can’t do that, I can’t lie to you.”

“You ‘can’t lie to me’, huh? Bullshit! You lied to me about where you were yesterday.”

At that, Bucky perked up. Steve lying to Serenity? Impossible. Steve Rogers didn’t possess a dishonest bone in his body when it came to that girl. Bucky and Mikey had done all of the lying when it involved Serenity as kids. Yet as a general rule, asking Steve Rogers not to lie was like asking a dog not to lick its own butt, it couldn’t be done.

“What do you mean I lied about where I was yesterday? I told you, I left work early so I could help Nat prep for dinner with Peggy and Marc. That way you could focus on closing the gym.”

“Then why’d she call me at 5:30 asking if I knew where you were? You left at 3:15 to be home by 3:45, Steve. You lied to me.”

Bucky worried his lower lip between his teeth. Ah, there it was. That’s where Steve had made his mistake. Sure, he’d left work at fifteen after three, but it wasn’t so he could be home by 3:45. No, he’d taken a detour, and that detour was to meet up with Bucky. Steve had parked his pickup right next to Bucky’s Harley, overlooking the old mill. The two of them had spent the better part of an hour and a half shooting the shit, reminiscing about high school, discussing the reasons for Bucky’s absence when Mikey died. Sure, correspondence was a two-way street, but it’s not like Bucky had made an attempt to reach out to Serenity either. Not once. And Steve wouldn’t let him forget it.

“Ren, I—”

“You were with him, weren’t you?” The way she’d said it—accusing Steve so easily—cut through Bucky like a jagged knife, carving his heart out through his stomach. God, she really hates me.

Steve sighed, defeated. “Look, can we talk about this later? After work? I’ll tell you everything you want to know then, I promise. But he’s home, Ren, he’s back and he’s here. And he came to see you.”

“Because you asked him to, right? Because you told him he should stop by, didn’t you? Because Bucky Barnes isn’t capable of making one simple decision for himself, oh no, he needs Saint Steve’s permission.”

“You know that’s not fair, Serenity.”

“Not fair? I’ll tell you what’s not fair, Steven. Having my best friend abandon me two weeks after graduation, that’s not fair. Having the man I would have moved heaven and hell for not showing up when my brother died, that’s not fair. He didn’t call, he didn’t write. Not once. My entire world was crashing down around me and taking me with it, and he wasn’t here! That’s not fucking fair! Don’t tell me I’m not being fair. Don’t you dare stand there and fucking defend him to me, because I don’t want to hear it.”

Bucky stood as the office door swung open, turning to meet Serenity’s pissed off gaze burning holes into his skin. He swallowed, unsure of what to say. He’d known this was a bad idea but he’d also known Steve was right, avoiding Serenity wasn’t a luxury he could afford.

“I’m only going to say this once so listen well. Whatever he promised you’d find if you showed up? I don’t have it for you, I’ll never have it for you. Coming here today was a waste of your time and mine. Got it?”

Serenity’s words were a punch straight to Bucky’s gut; they’d knocked the wind out of him with no hesitation, they’d snatched the ground from beneath his feet with no remorse, they’d taken everything he knew about life and turned it upside-down right in front of him. He was free falling with nowhere to land.

“Tasha and I are going to my dad’s tonight. We’ll be out late, don’t wait up.” This she’d directed at Steve over her shoulder before disappearing down the stairs.

Bucky stared after Serenity’s retreating form. He wanted to go after her, everything in him was screaming at him to follow her down but he couldn’t get his body to move. He was stuck.

Bucky Barnes was an idiot, but Bucky Barnes was also pretty intelligent. Especially when it came to his best friend.

He and Steve had met when they were five, met Mikey and Serenity a year later, and the four of them had been inseparable ever since. Bucky knew Steve like the back of his hand. He’d sensed something was off about the tall blonde when he’d appeared behind Serenity earlier that day. The way he planted himself at her back, staring Bucky down as if she needed protection from the soldier. Bucky knew there was something more to the story, something else that Steve hadn’t told him when they met up the day before. After witnessing the fight between him and Serenity, Bucky was sure of two very important things. One, was that he was going to have to work his ass off if he wanted to get back in Serenity’s good graces and two, was that Steve had lied to him, too—he wasn’t dating Natasha like Bucky had been led to believe for the last four years. Steve was dating Serenity, and he’d knowingly set Bucky up to have his heart shattered in front of everybody in the gym.

“Hey, Buck, you want a beer?” Steve asked, breaking through Bucky’s analysis of the day’s events.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Thanks,” Bucky replied. “Hey, Stevie, can I ask you something?”

Steve sat down on the couch next to Bucky and handed him one of the two beers he’d fished out of the refrigerator. “Sure, pal. What’s on your mind?”

“When were you going to tell me you’ve been seeing Serenity?”

Steve choked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“When were you going to tell me you’ve been seeing Serenity?” Bucky repeated, fire settled in his ocean blue eyes as he took a sip of his beer. He’d sit there and quietly wait for Steve to make his move, he’d sit there as long as it took to be sure that he was given the truth. Steve was stubborn, Bucky was more so. How could his best friend lie to him like that? How could he bring Natasha into it like that? And how could Serenity just go along with it like she had no idea?

“Buck, y-you got it all wrong,” Steve said slowly. “Serenity and me, we— I—”

“How long?”

“What?”

“How long, Steve?”

“How long what?”

Bucky slammed his beer bottle down on the coffee table with enough force to startle the man next to him, if he hadn’t been paying attention. He’d held everything together while they were at the gym, he’d watched Serenity go about her routine as if Bucky hadn’t been there. And he waited, waited for his friends to come clean. But they never did.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Rogers. How long have you two been seeing each other? How long were you going to let me believe you were seeing Nat? Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out? Think I wouldn’t catch you in your lie, huh? And while I’ve been countries away, you’ve been shacking up with Serenity behind my back for four fucking years!”

“I highly suggest you watch your tone. We aren’t shacking up, Buck. We’ve always lived together, you know that. And what was I supposed to do, huh? You weren’t here, you left her, Bucky. You know, Serenity didn’t even let herself cry over you? She told me and Mikey that she didn’t need to because if you could leave just like that, clearly she didn’t mean as much to you as she thought.” By now Steve was standing, pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table. He refused to meet Bucky’s gaze. Both of their tempers flared; Steve’s in defense of Serenity, in defense of the truth Bucky had yet to know. And Bucky’s because out of all the people he trusted never to betray him, Steve had done just that. He was sure his and Serenity’s relationship hadn’t gone cold before Steve swooped in and played the hero, and worse than that, neither of them had thought to tell him.

Steve stopped pacing and carded a hand through his short blonde hair. He chanced a glance at Bucky. “We never wanted to hurt you, Buck.”

“I was right, this whole time, I was right. She didn’t wanna see me. Why’d you tell me to come buy if she didn’t wanna see me?”

“You don’t get to blame Serenity for this. You walked away, you left her behind. When she felt like she couldn’t go on after Mikey died, I was there for her. I held her every night while she cried, while she begged me to let her die, too. And when she was ready to, I helped her put those pieces back one by one.”

Bucky’s arms hung at his sides, he clenched and unclenched his fists. Finally, he looked up, meeting Steve’s gaze. “Do you love her?” When Steve cocked his head to the side confused, Bucky elaborated, “Serenity. Do you love her, Steve?”

Steve nodded, considering his next words carefully. “Yeah, I do.”

Bucky squared his shoulders, eyeing Steve with rage in his eyes. “Then pick one. Her or Nat. But you can’t have them both.”

Steve reeled back, feigning disgust at Bucky’s implication. “I know.”

“Tell Serenity about Natasha. If you don’t, I will.” Bucky grabbed his jacket from the back of the couch and marched toward the door. He’d rode with Steve after closing the gym, leaving his Harley just inside the back gate. He wasn’t about to ask him for a ride back to his bike, he was far too prideful for that.

“Hey, at least let me give you a ride back to the gym.”

“No, thanks. You’ve done enough.”

“Come on, Buck. It’s the least I can do,” Steve offered, reaching for his keys.

“I said you’ve done enough. Go to hell, Rogers.” Bucky stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door shut behind him. He knew exactly what he had to do to get Serenity back…

Bucky Barnes was getting back in the cage.

——————————

A/N: Finally, chapter two is live! I’m so sorry it too so long to post tonight, I kept getting distracted. Whoops.

Uh... can we talk about the DRAMA?! #sorrynotsorry 😬

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated and encouraged. Leave a like, comment, and reblog if you love it!

-Auri <3

#bucky barnes fanfiction #going for gold #mma fighter!bucky barnes #bucky barnes fic

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jtargaryen18 · 5 years

Photo

The Little Things That Give You Away

Series Masterlist

Chapter 6

Artist: (AO3: Chiyume) Author: @jtargaryen18 (AO3: snowqueen79) Created for the @capreversebb 2019

Warnings: Smut, Angst, Explicit Sexual Content, Explicit Language, Oral Sex, Fluff, Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, Shrinkyclinks

A/N: A friend suggested that I post this on Tumblr for you guys and you can let me know what you think. It’s my first Stucky and first anywhere M/M piece written for a challenge back in the summer. The art? You can find it here. It’s NSFW and incredible. It’s what inspired this story.

This is also, to date, my first MCU AU. This isn’t a dark fic.

Steve Rogers owns a coffee shop in Brooklyn and he needs daytime help. Bucky Barnes is looking for a second chance and landing a good job to get on his feet again is a priority. A job in a coffee shop working for a gorgeous blond? Even better. But will his past end what could be the perfect relationship before it even has a chance?

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

~~~

When she arrived early Wednesday afternoon, Darcy grabbed Bucky by the arm and dragged him to the far side of the customer area near the spare room.

“Okay, spill,” she told him. Those big blue eyes dared him to try and lie to her. “Are you and Steve fucking?”

When she grinned at him, he couldn’t help but grin back at her. Bucky was happy. They’d spent most of Sunday fucking each other. Work the last couple of days had been amazing now that Steve wasn’t acting like he was a pariah. And he was still staying at Steve’s house. He was kind of hoping Steve might ask him to move in.

Bucky didn’t know yet how it was all going to go. But he had a really good feeling about it. If he could just keep from screwing it up.

“What if we are?” Bucky shot back with a wink.

“I fucking knew it,” Darcy told him, pulling him in for a tight hug. “Thank you. I’ve been working for that asshole for three years and he hasn’t been laid once in that time. He was seriously backed up.”

Bucky liked her enthusiasm. But was she serious? His poor Stevie hadn’t had any action in three years? Bucky hadn’t really either, but prison was a good reason to be temporarily celibate. What was Steve’s excuse?

He’s gorgeous. He could have anyone.

“Take good care of him,” Darcy told him.

He nodded. “I plan to.”

Bucky watched her dance back to the counter and got back to doing inventory.

With Darcy and Ian manning the counter, Steve was catching up on paperwork and he decided to get inventory caught up and get a list ready for ordering. He was so wrapped up in his task, he didn’t immediately notice someone was standing right behind him.

“Hey, Buck,” Joey’s deep voice got his attention fast.

Slowly, Bucky rose from where he sat in the closet floor, rising to his full height to stare Joey down.

“You didn’t think I’d just leave town without saying goodbye, did you?” Joey asked with a smirk.

“I was hoping,” Bucky admitted. “So why don’t you go ahead and leave?”

“Leave?” Joey’s brows shot up. “You put Slim in the hospital. And Snow? I ain’t seen him since.”

The white-haired kid. “Snow?” Bucky laughed. “I don’t think I’d lose any sleep over that one.”

“Fuck you, Bucky,” Joey told him. “I’m not just going to leave town and forget about this. I’m going to wait. One day, you won’t be here. And then I’ve got my pick, don’t I? That tall, dumb Ian kid? I’m not really interested in him.”

That Joey would threaten his friends? Steve. Had Bucky seeing red.

“That little beauty out there right now?” Joey winked at him. “She looks like a really good fuck.”

Bucky grabbed Joey by his leather jacket and shoved him upside the shelving hard.

“Or maybe I’ll fuck that little guy that owns this place,” Joey sneered at him. “Fuck him like you do. You like him, don’t you Bucky? I see why. He’s pretty as a girl.”

Grabbing Joey by the throat, Bucky dragged him out of the closet, out of the shop and shoved him down hard on the sidewalk.

“You touch any of them,” Bucky said slowly, carefully. “And I’ll fucking kill you. You understand me?”

Joey’s face was an unnatural shade of red, but he held onto his glare.

“There will be a time you won’t be here,” Joey told him. “Remember that.”

And like the rat he was, he scrambled up the sidewalk, turning back to glare at Bucky before he disappeared from sight.

Steve stood just inside the door when Bucky walked back in.

“Buck, you have a minute?” he asked carefully.

“No!” Bucky spat, going back into the supply closet and slamming the door. He stayed there until the shop closed.

***

Bucky didn’t talk when they’d closed the shop. He didn’t speak on the walk home either. Steve’s nerves were shot when they walked into his house and turned on the lights.

Bucky settled heavily on the couch and turned on the television. Steve sat next to him, wanting to talk about what happened.

“Bucky?” Steve was a little worried at this point. “Can we talk about this?”

Bucky blew out an exhale. “I’d really rather not.”

Steve watched him flip through channels, but he could tell his mind and heart weren’t on it. Placing a hand on the dark-haired man’s powerful shoulder, he took a deep breath.

“If we’re not going to talk about it,” Steve said slowly, “where does that leave us?”

Bucky turned to glance at Steve. His heart clenched in his chest at the sadness is those beautiful blue-gray eyes.

“Stevie,” Bucky said carefully.

Just the sound of that nickname gave Steve a small bit of hope.

“He threatened you,” Bucky told him coolly. “He threatened Darcy. He threatened Ian. I’ve known that asshole since we were kids. He doesn’t make promises he doesn’t plan to keep.”

Steve dropped his hand, thinking about that. “Meaning what exactly?”

“Meaning the best thing I can do for you guys is get out of town,” Bucky said, casting his gaze down. “For good.”

Steve shook his head. “No.”

“No?” Bucky’s brows lowered. “What do you mean no? You know I’m right. They already put a hurting on you once, Stevie. Want them to do worse next time?”

“Doesn’t have to be a next time,” Steve said calmly. “There’s plenty of things we can do. We can get an alarm system. I’m friends with the cops.”

“And you’re just going to conveniently leave out the part that you’re dating a convicted felon?” Bucky shot back angry.

He thinks we’re dating? Steve’s heart shifted at that.

Later.

“I don’t know exactly what happened,” Steve told him. “But one day, I hope you’ll tell me. I feel like you had a good reason for what you did. Something to do with your sister?”

Bucky stared him down, his eyes growing shiny. “What about my sister?”

Steve was a little nervous now. “That Joey guy asked you about her. That’s the only reason…”

Bucky leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

“Rebecca,” Bucky said quietly. “Yeah, she was my sister... We never did have much. Our father wasn’t in the picture. Our Mom, well, she died while we were both still in high school.”

Steve slid his hand onto Bucky’s back, trying to comfort him.

“We needed a way to live so I dropped out of school my senior year and got a job,” Bucky told him. “But no one is going to pay a kid with no diploma much. By the time Rebecca got sick with the same cancer that took Mom, I didn’t know what to do. We didn’t have health insurance.”

Steve’s heart sank. He had a feeling the story had a very sad ending.

“When I got involved with Joey, it seemed like the best I was going to be able to do,” Bucky explained. “Easy money, easy work. I got their tattoo and I was one of them. A big ugly tattoo with a fucking red star in the middle of it… Most people paid for their shit and those who didn’t? It didn’t take much for me to persuade them. For a while, it all worked out. I got the money Rebecca needed for treatment and she went into remission.”

“But then you got caught,” Steve said slowly.

A tear slid down Bucky’s cheek. “Her cancer came back when I was in prison. She didn’t last long. I couldn’t even go to the funeral, Stevie.”

Steve’s heart broke. Pulling him into his arms, Bucky crumbled and Steve just let him cry it out. So much pain he’d been through all because he’d been young and didn’t know another way. They sat there for long minutes, his tears soaking into Steve’s shirt.

“The wolf covered up that tattoo.” It occurred to Steve then. “The wolf…”

“Rebecca always had a thing for wolves… Called them her spirit animals,” Bucky told him, his voice rough from tears. “Yeah, I got it for her. I got it so I’ll never forget…”

Steve held on to him, more determined than ever. “We’ll get through this together, Buck. I’m not going to let you run from me because you have some misguided notion that doing so will keep us safe. You could leave right now, Bucky. He’d still come back for us. We’re going to have to face it down anyway. You know that.”

Bucky pulled back and gazed into Steve’s eyes.

Bucky knew that.

“We’ll face it together,” Steve assured him. “We have help. Just… stay. Stay with me. I don’t want to piss off your roommate, but I want you to live here.”

That earned him a small smile. “Nat’s seeing that guy hot and heavy anyway. This is kind of working out for her too.”

“Her?” That surprised Steve.

“Nat for Natasha,” Bucky explained.

Leaning forward gently, and okay if things didn’t go any further, Steve pressed a kiss to Bucky’s lips.

“It’s been a long day,” Steve whispered against his lips. “Come to bed?”

Swiping at his tears with the backs of his eyes, Bucky nodded. He shut off the television and followed Steve back to their bedroom.

Steve knew he was still worried about what would happen if those assholes did show up again. But Steve knew they could handle it. Knew they could get help. He made a mental note to call Sam the next day.

***

The next couple of weeks went by with no problems and Steve was grateful for that.

He was really excited because they were having a moving party that weekend. They were moving Nat’s new boyfriend into her apartment. He just happened to be one Clint Barton. And they were moving Bucky into Steve’s house. Darcy and Ian were helping, bringing booze, and providing moral support.

Steve hadn’t met Natasha yet but if Bucky trusted her, he knew he would.

Steve was happy and grateful each day now that Bucky was in his life. He did his best not to focus on the things that could take the gorgeous man away from him. No. He wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

He’d explained everything to Sam in private who’d done a little research on Bucky. Steve had never doubted anything Bucky had told him. But to have it confirmed that his story was true? That he’d been a model prisoner, that he had indeed been denied the opportunity to go to his sister’s funeral? Well, it had torn Steve’s heart up a little more.

Joey Jazz, as he liked to call himself, was bad news and had a rap sheet miles long. Sam was willing to try and keep Bucky out of anything that might happen if they’d help him get Joey. It was an easy bargain for Steve to make and he was grateful for his friend’s help.

And Steve just knew the bastard would turn up again.

Again, it was a Monday night. Maybe it was because they were protective of Darcy and Ian, but more often than not Steve and Bucky stayed at the shop until closing time. Sure, they were long days. But they were fun, productive days. Bucky had been working on expanding the apartment room and cleaning up the room next to it which had always just been filled with useless stuff.

Steve did paperwork, helped at the front.

Snuck in peeks at Bucky often. Nothing wrong with that.

They were on their way out. They were all laughing and talking about their plans for the weekend, what they’d get from the liquor store. Darcy was plotting out what drinking games they’d play.

Joey Jazz and five of his men waited just beyond the front door.

Fuck.

“Evening, Bucky,” Joey said with a toothy grin. “You guys done for the day?”

Bucky’s body was all tense lines. But he stood there, just in front of Steve, like it was a normal conversation.

“What do you want, Joey?” Bucky sounded bored. “It’s been a long day and I’d like to get home.”

Steve got a text off to Sam, tucking his phone away and hoping no one noticed.

“We won’t keep you,” Joey told him. “We’re just here for a little payback. Sorry, folks. You understand.”

“How about money?” Steve thought maybe he could buy Sam some time. “Will that cover the situation?”

Bucky shot him a look over his shoulder and Steve shrugged, acting as if nothing extraordinary was happening.

Joey laughed, looking back at his thugs in delight. “Sex and money? Sure. Sounds sweet.”

“Excuse me?” Darcy glared Joey down. “Where is the sex coming from? Unless you mean to fuck each other.”

“I thought I’d start with you, sweetheart,” Joey took a step towards her.

Bucky moved closer to her. “Darcy, don’t,” he warned.

“It’s okay, Bucky,” Darcy glanced up at Joey with a sweet smile. “I’m not offended.”

Joey moved even closer and Bucky looked ready to leap at him any second.

It wasn’t until the electricity shot into Joey’s body, Darcy mashing a taser into his groin while he screamed, that Bucky sprang into action. The fight broke out and Ian, wielding a taser too, squared off against two of Joey’s men, trying to get either of them with his new toy. Joey was crawling on the ground, holding himself and Darcy started kicking him. Hard.

Steve reached behind the bench in front of his shop, yanking the billy club Sam had gotten him free and heading for one of the three men Bucky was fending off. Taking the baton, to the back of one guy’s legs, he dropped him to the ground. Once he was there, Steve started swinging at him each time he started to get up or try to grab for him.

Someone else got tased, this time by Ian. Bucky had put two of the guys down, fists flying. One of them wasn’t moving.

“Going to fucking kill you, Bucky!” Joey screamed when Darcy hit him again with the taser, this time in the leg. On shaky legs, he made it to his feet and decided to go after Bucky.

Bucky’s smile was terrifying as he took Joey on. He was gorgeous, all muscle and stealth. They started trading punches and at the moment, Bucky did have the advantage. He hadn’t taken who-knew-how-many volts to the groin and leg.

“Here’s your chance, Joey,” Bucky told him. “Might not get another one.”

Steve was so caught up in watching, he didn’t notice the guy he’d subdued in time and the man grabbed his ankle, pulling him down. It wasn’t as easy to use the club on the ground but he held onto it, fighting the bastard with everything in him while the fight between Bucky and Joey went on above him.

One of the other guys had tried to move in to help, getting him tased by Darcy who was really enjoying herself, cackling loudly as the thug collapsed to the ground.

Had Sam gotten his text? Where the fuck was he?

“He’s got a knife!” Ian yelled and Steve’s heart dropped when he saw the flash in Joey’s hand.

With a sharp elbow to his face, Steve got free of the thug he’d been fighting and got to his feet.

It was terrifying to watch Bucky and Joey, circling each other, both ready to strike. Joey made the first move, trying to stab Bucky. But Bucky caught him off balance, grabbing his arm hard with a sick crunching sound and forcing the other man to drop his weapon.

Bucky then started punching the other man furiously, blows to his face, his body. It was incredible that he was still on his feet. One strong uppercut forced him to stumble, to take a knee. They were managing the other four men with their weapons, the one who’d Steve had been fighting with running over to help Joey.

“Stop right there,” a new voice entered the conversation.

Thank fuck. It was Sam.

He emerged from the shadows with three other uniformed officers, all aiming handguns at them.

One of Joey’s minions took off running and one of Sam’s helpers went after him. The rest stayed where they were. The fury on Joey’s face was plain to see.

“Joseph David LaPaglia,” Sam said to Joey. “You are under arrest for the assault of Steve Rogers and for a whole lot of other shit.”

Joey shot Bucky a look. “You fucking set me up?”

“No, I set you up,” Steve told him with a smirk.

Bucky glared at Steve, mouthing “shut up.”

Sam called for more help, got all of Joey's crew into handcuffs along with him and squad cars much to Steve’s relief. Steve, Darcy, and Ian gave statements while Bucky waited on the bench.

Steve couldn’t read his expression. He just hoped he wouldn’t start talking about leaving to protect them again.

After an hour or so, Sam told them to get home safe, leaving the four of them standing there outside the coffee shop. Aside from minor injuries, they were okay.

“So you all planned this around me?” Bucky finally spoke.

To Steve’s relief, he looked more annoyed than enraged.

“Not exactly,” Steve said. “Just wanted to be better prepared.”

“You like our tasers?” Darcy was very proud. “I took a self-defense course last year and I’d been meaning to get one since that. So glad I did. They work great.”

Ian looked a lot less enthusiastic, but he didn’t appear harmed.

“Where’d the billy club come from?” Bucky asked, grinning.

“Sam,” Steve told him. “He even showed me a couple of things to do with it.”

“I offered to show you some moves,” Bucky’s tone was more than a little suggestive.

“And with that, goodnight all!” Darcy waved, dragging Ian up the sidewalk laughing.

Steve laughed at them.

“Well?” Bucky asked him.

“I’ll take you up on it,” Steve assured him.

But as he drew closer, Bucky’s head dropped.

“What did you do, Steve?” he wanted to know.

Steve sat next to him on the bench. “Had a long talk with Sam. I trust him. We’ve been friends since we were kids.”

“You pressed charges?” Bucky held his gaze.

Steve nodded. “Yeah, he came by the house while you were taking care of me and helping close down the store.”

“And he’s okay with you fucking a criminal?”

Steve didn’t like how small Bucky made himself seem when he said that.

“Sam knows your story,” Steve told him. “He knows you made a mistake and you paid for it. I love you and that’s good enough for him.”

Steve stopped when he realized what he’d said.

Well, shit.

“Bucky,” Steve scrambled for something to say. “I’m –”

“Shut up, you little shit.” Bucky wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss. Steve was breathless when he let him up for air. “I’m moving in with you, aren’t I?”

Steve just nodded, afraid he’d say something else stupid.

“I love you, too,” Bucky whispered against his lips.

Steve didn’t know how long they made out on the bench. Eventually, they went to walk home. Then they picked up where they left off.

#stucky #MCU #Avengers #Avengers AU #Steve Rogers #Chris Evans #Bucky Barnes #Sebastian Stan #Captain America #The Winter Soldier.

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