#The kids are all freaking out because what do you mean Steve's a nerd?!

[starlightshadowsworld]

Something was off with Eddie.

Steve wasn't sure exactly what it was but the resident metal head was acting werid.

Well, weirder than usual.

He was squinting at Steve when Steve wasn't looking at him.

Like he had something in his eye.

And when Steve did look at him.

He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

He looked nervous and Eddie Munson wasn't supposed to be nervous.

It was freaking Steve out. But nothing short of the actual apocalypse would allow Steve to interrupt D&D.

The kids would probably kill him. "Something on your mind?" Asks Eddie soo after.

The kids finally, finally remembering their was food and had abandoned their game for a feast.

The other members of hellfire grumbled but noticeably didn't object.

While they were still warming up to Steve, no one could deny that the man could cook.

Speaking of, they'd been acting werid too.

Not as obvious as Eddie but they would sneak glances at him.

And whisper behind his back.

"How Max and Dustin are going to fight over who gets my car when they kill me."

Honestly always helped with Eddie.

"My bets on Red." Said Eddie, trying and failing to contain his laughter.

Steve nodded, taking a sip of his coke. "Didn't think you were one to muse on death." Eddie added, he had that look in his eye again. 

And it hadn't escaped Steve that the other wasn't addressing him by name.

"Oh you know, wondered what would happen if I interrupted your devil's and doormans game." Said Steve nonchalantly.

Eddie snorted "hmm yeah they probably would. And don't think I don't know you know what it's actually called."

Their was a teasing glint in his eyes, but their was something else.

Something Steve couldn't put his finger on.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." Shrugs Steve, trying to defuse the air. It was just them in the kitchen now, the kids happily eating with the rest of hellfire.

He wished Eddie would just join them.But Eddie had other plans. "No, no I think you do, Evie." Says Eddie, folding his arms and leaning against the door.

Steve knew it was probably just a joke.

Another nickname from the man who gave them out like free sweets.

Didn't stop his blood from running cold.

Fear to overtake his face just for a few seconds before Steve bottled it up.

But Eddie had seen it all.

It was all the proof he needed.

"You know, the kids were snooping about the other day. Nosy little buggers, found some old photo from middle school." The more he talked the slowly he was moving toward Steve.

Who was frozen in place.

"Told em, don't snoop around my shit but the werid thing is... Is that they didn't find it in my room. But that's impossible because the only other person who'd have that picture, moved away years ago." Eddie stopped walking, standing infront of Steve.

"At least, that's what I had thought." He added softly.

Steve opened his mouth, shut it, opened it and shut it again.

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't move.

Of all the things for Eddie to notice, Steve hadn't betted he'd ever notice that.

There was nothing to say.

What could he say to defend himself?

"Eddie I..."

"It's true isn't it?" 

... And that's when Steve noticed that Eddie wasn't angry.

Wasn't glaring at him, wasn't looking down at him like he would have looked at King Steve.

Eddie was...

Eddie was crying.

His eyes were all teary red rimmed and tears were spilling out onto his cheeks.

He didn't even make a move to hide them. Only looking at Steve with a pleading expression.

And any lie Steve may have thought about died on his tongue.

Steve looked down.

"Yeah... It's me."

Instantly he was pulled into a hug. A warm, loving hug. Steve couldn't remember the last time someone had held him like this before.

A stray tear escaped his eye.

"I'm so sorry." Steve blinked, looking up at Eddie, who was now the one who couldn't meet his gaze. "I should've known it was you. I should've known you wouldn't have just vanished into thin air and moved away... I should've known!"

Steve couldn't take that, this was his mess and Eddie shouldn't be blaming himself for it.

"You weren't supposed to."

Eddie went quiet at that.

Steve took a deep breath "my dad left us, my mum remarried. They were in town and he went through my stuff...

And I lost another fight so I had to change or they'd kick me out too. So I did move, I guess, I had to make sure no one would know.

I had to dissappear, I couldn't be that anymore I had to..."

Conform.

Lie.

Pretend.

Steve "Evie" Strauss had to vanish.

Steve "King Steve" Harrington had to take his place.

 "But I couldn't get rid of it...and I guess the kids found it." Steve added lamely.

He wanted to be mad but he couldn't.

All he felt now was dread.

He waited, waited for Eddie to let him go.

To storm out.

To yell.

To scream.

Because what Steve had done, was doing was unforgivable to someone like Eddie.

To someone who was so unapologetically himself that hurt Steve to watch.

To turn on your own....

Eddie did none of those things.

"I'm gonna kill em." Steve blinked, looking back at him and seeing fury on his face.

Fury that faded when Eddie saw Steve looking at him. Gently, almost hesitantly Eddie held Steve's hand in his.

Looking at him, with nothing but fondness. 

"And here I was thinking you couldn't be any more metal." He said with a smile, before frowning. "Can't believe all it took was for you to change your style for me to not see you." 

Steve leaned in to the touch.

"You're not mad?"

"Mad? Oh I'm pissed, I'm absolutely going to cash in on those murder charges and get your parents sent to hell."

It shouldn't be possible for someone to sound fond while talking about murder.

But that was Eddie for you.

Constantly breaking every presumption someone made.

"But for you, might be the second happiest day of my life."

Steve raised an eyebrow and Eddie grinned. "Sorry love but you can't surpass the day I got my sweetheart so easily."

Steve couldn't help it he laughed, all the anxiety fading away.

He always felt safe with Eddie, with them all.

He never thought coming second to a guitar would make his heart flutter.

"That's not how murder charges work."

"Ah you'll see, baby bat." Steve snorted "bet you didn't imagine the demobats back than."

Eddie grinned "nope but, it's fitting you know. Can't wait to tell the others..." He looked down, awkward "erm they've guessed but... They don't want to assume and be wrong."

"I don't want to tell them." Said Steve, clasping Eddie's hand in his. "I want to show them."

A smile wormed it's way onto Eddie's face. "Well, dont let me stop you."

Steve smirked "You not coming with me?" Eddie chuckled "as tempting as that may be, I can't wait for the grand reveal... But" he caressed Steve's cheek and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Either way my darling is right here."

And with that Eddie headed back inside.

And yet Steve never felt less alone.

Having to forget hellfire...Having to forget Eddie was the hardest thing he'd ever done.

And Steve had many things he'd rather forget.

But them...never.

His heart broke when he watched them look for him.

Knowing he was right there, not a touch of make up on his face or his product in his hair.

He'd grabbed his mothers hair spray in a rush and just guessed.

Steve had been content to look from the side lines.

Hiding a smile at Eddie's table speeches.

Watching the kids he'd grown to love, who reminded him of better times.

Steve hadn't made any other friends his age other than Robin.

She was the only one who knew, of course she did. She was half his soul afterall.

He had spilled after Eddie got blamed for Chrissy's murder.

Broke down into tears on Family Videos bathroom floor about his past.

That Eddie could die without him ever being able to tell him.

And yet Steve couldn't, he was too afraid.

It was easier for them to hate King Steve.

To hate the facade.

Because if they all knew who he truly was and hated him.

.... Steve didn't know what he'd do.

Robin walked into the kitchen, an I told you so look on he'd face.

"Well, heard your having a grand reveal."

Steve snorted but followed her up to his room. He remembered when the ugly plaid walls were full of posters.

The bits you could see he'd drew and painted on them.

Now it was like Steve himself, covered in something else.

And now, now it was time to lift that cover off.

He had kept as much as he could.

It had been hard at first but when the vists stopped so did the bedroom inspections.

Robin bustled about, grabbing the bits of pieces he'd scattered about.

Together they somehow mashed together an outfit.

It was something considering most of this stuff Steve hadn't touched since the beginning of high school.

But some stuff he'd made in between... When things got to rough it was nice to remember the past.

"And remember, you've got this. If anyone says anything I'll knock em out."

Steve wasn't sure Robin could knock anyone out but he knew better than to underestimate her.

They parted ways and Steve took a deep breath in. Looking at the assembled pieces, a smirk making it's way onto his face.

Oh this was perfect.

____________________

Eddie was into the game but not entirely.

He was bouncing a leg impatiently and looking at the door every so often that it was suspicious.

Robin was similarly nervous but she was also death glaring anyone who dared to question her why.

"Okay what's going on with you two?" Whispered Gareth, giving Eddie a pointed look.

Eddie grinned from ear to ear and pressed a finger to his lips.

Gareth was about to re-ask when heavy footsteps came down the hall.

Everyone paused and looked at the source.

No one was prepared for what they saw.

There was Steve except it didn't look like Steve at all... His usual perfect hair was all mussed up, teased with a comb in all directions.

He was wearing a cropped hellfire top but it wasn't one any of the kids had seen.

Because it was one of the originals.

He had a battle vest with "Harrington" cut out from his old old letterman jacket. It was decorated in safety pins and various badges.

One arm had a black fingerless glove. In the other was his infamous nail bat.

His nails were red, his lipstick was purple and was wearing eyeliner.

"Evie..." Whispered Gareth, slowly walking towards him.

"It's me."

That was all Gareth needed to run over and jump into his arms.

Steve dropped his bat and hugged him tightly.

"I thought...we thought..."

"I know... I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry..." Steve looked at the rest of hellfire who all looked similarly awe struck and emotional.

"My dad..." He didn't have to say more before the rest were hugging him close.

"I knew it! Knew you reminded me of him."

"God, Evie we've missed you so much."

Steve blinked, tears in his eyes. "How are none of you mad? I lied to you? I went to the darkside."

Gareth snorted, shaking his head with tears in his eyes.

"You could've been an actual serial killer and we'd still be happy to see you, dumbass."

Steve laughed, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"So... That photo was real... You're really, like them?" Asks Will, Steve nodded.

"Cool."

"See, told you. We all love our Steve but no one could replace Evie... And look at you, being the 2 coolest people on the room." Said Eddie, unable to take his eyes off Steve.

"And now we don't have to hear Eddie wax poetry about your eyes anymore." Says Jay.

Eddie flips him off but the rest sigh in relief.

"Or the soul crushing melodies about being torn apart by his love for the two of you." Says Gareth, dramatically holding his hand on his heart.

"Eat shit and die Gare."

"Eat shit and live." Countered Gareth with a grin.

Steve snorted, batting his eyelashes "aw come on I wanna hear all about it."

The original members of hellfire and Robin all laughed as Eddie went red.

"You will, believe me... We've got a lot of catching up to do." Says Eddie, pulling Steve close and kissing him.

Steve melted against him, resting his head on Eddie's shoulder with a smile.

"Get a room!"

"We're in one, get your own."

Steve rolled his eyes, idiots... He'd missed them.

Dustin who had been silent the whole time suddenly jumped up and yelled.

And what he did sent the rest of the party into outrage and everyone else into laughter.

"Wait... That means Steve knew about D&D the whole time?!"

[The party: Steve hiding that he was a secret metal head who knew hellfire and Eddie and in love with with Eddie 🤭

The party: Steve having known about D&D the whole time they knew him and never telling them 🤯😡!]

[dreamofbecoming]

ok fuck it context now on ao3

—

“I’m freaking out, man!”

“You’re what? Why? This is like, what you’ve been waiting for, isn’t it?”

“I mean, yeah, dude, but now it’s here, it’s happening, and tomorrow it’ll be done and I can’t take it back!”

“Do you want to take it back? Because I think that’s a terrible idea, but if it’s really what you want, I’ll sneak you out the back right now.”

Dustin deflates a little, slumping into the plush chair this weird little church greenroom was nice enough to provide. “No, I don’t want to leave. Of course I don’t.”

Steve puts his hands on Dustin’s shoulders, not massaging, just resting. He doesn’t want to smear too much of his scent onto him before the ceremony, but old habits die hard. Steve suspects he’s always going to want to scent the kids for comfort, even though they’re literally all grown and starting families of their own and don’t need their old omega babysitter anymore.

Case in point, Dustin’s wedding is meant to start in, oh, looks like about 25 minutes, so Steve has to smooth this crisis over double time.

“What’s really bothering you, Dust? You were over the moon yesterday, and the day before that, and every day since you and Susie proposed to each other. Hell, every day since you met! What’s going on now?”

There’s a pause, which is always unsettling coming from Dustin, who hasn’t shut up for more than twelve consecutive minutes in the decade plus Steve has known him, but then he sighs.

“She wants kids.”

Steve’s brow furrows. “And you…don’t?”

Dustin huffs, frustration rising in his scent. “It’s not that I don’t, it’s that I don’t know if it’s a good idea, you know?”

“And you guys haven’t talked about this before now? You’ve been together for like eleven years, dude!”

“We have, of course we have! I’m just thinking about the risks, Steve! I’m a beta, I can’t carry her pups, and pregnancies are dicey for alpha females! What if something happens?”

“First of all don’t call women females, it’s weird. Erica or Nance will definitely smack you for that, and you don’t need a black eye in your wedding photos.” Dustin nods, cringing a little.

“Second, pregnancy isn’t the only option, man, and also it’s her decision. If she wants to carry them, that’s a discussion you need to have with her, but you can’t just shut her down about it. She knew you were a beta when she decided to marry you. She picked you because she loves you, don’t go deciding for her she’s better off with someone else. And besides, if you decide it doesn’t feel right for both of you, you can talk about adoption, or surrogacy, or…I don’t know what all the options are, but I bet there’s tons! Hell, I’d carry for you guys, if you wanted.”

“You would?” Dustin’s eyes get big and shiny almost immediately, and shit, Steve’s gotta shut this down now. The groom can’t be going out there with red eyes and tear stains, Susie will murder Steve on principle.

But he can’t lie to Dustin. Swore he never would, not when it mattered. “Course I would, man, what’s family for? Aw hell, kid, don’t cry, your mate will run me over with her car if your photos are fucked up because of me.”

“I just- I can’t believe you’d do that for me! You don’t even know if I’ll be any good at it!”

Ah, so that’s what this is really about.

“Of course you’ll be good at it, Henderson. You’d be an incredible dad, any kid would be lucky to have you. I mean, your kids are gonna turn out to be nerd city, but that was always a given.”

Dustin gives him a bitchy little eye roll, which was of course Steve’s aim. He still smells anxious, though.

“How can you be sure, though? It’s not like I have any idea what a dad is supposed to be like, you know? It’s why I kept latching onto older male figures, no offense to you and Eddie.”

Little shit. “You should be so lucky, you little twerp.”

Dustin shoves him away, but he’s grinning now, and his scent is slowly returning to the lemon-bright joy that colors it so often Steve just associates it with Dustin’s base scent at this point, so he’ll take the win.

“You really wanna know how I know you’ll make a great dad, Dustybun?”

“Don’t fucking call me that, today’s supposed to be my day!”

“I’m your best man, I’ll call you whatever I want. Seriously though, I have a story for you.”

“A story, huh? I don’t know, Eddie’s more the storyteller in your relationship…”

“I’m gonna go out there and tell your bride to delay the ceremony because you shat your slacks and need new ones, you menace.”

“Okay, okay!” Dustin laughs. “Tell your story.”

“I was gonna put this in my speech later, but I think you need to hear it now, and honestly it might be more about me than you, and I don’t want to steal the spotlight or anything.”

“Not worried about that, but I’m intrigued.”

“You know how when you’re a kid, you learn how to pick out emotion scents by context clues, from like your family and stuff?”

Dustin lifts an unimpressed eyebrow. “Yes, Steve, I’m aware of one of the foundational tenets of our society, which we all personally experienced.”

“Almost fifteen years I’ve known you, and your attitude hasn’t improved one bit, you know that?”

Dustin waves imperiously for him to continue. Steve glares at him, but they really are running short on time.

“You ever know a kid who had like, a gap? Some feeling they had never run into before, so they didn’t know what the smell meant?” Dustin shakes his head, looking curious.

“There was this girl in my class when we were like, seven? Eight? Something like that. Anyway, she borrowed Tommy’s favorite eraser, one of those animal-shaped ones with the faces printed on? He loved that thing. The girl, Cassie, she broke it, by accident. Tommy lost his shit. I’d never seen him so angry. And like, you know how little kids emotions don’t really come through that strong? He smelled like, grown-up angry. Filled the whole room. Freaked the teacher out, too. Everyone’s backing the hell up out of Tommy’s way, even me. But Cassie was just confused. Because no adult in her life had ever been truly angry around her, so she hadn’t learned what it smelled like yet.”

Dustin is listening avidly, looking gratifyingly similar to how he does when Eddie DMs.

“Anyway, Tommy slapped her so hard it left a bruise, got his dumb ass suspended. But I just remember being so jealous, you know? Can you imagine? Eight years old and never knew what anger smelled like. Hell, at that point anger was just what home smelled like to me.”

Aw shit, now Dustin just smells sad.

“Do you remember when I drove you to the Snow Ball?”

Dustin’s got his thinking face on now, trying to figure out why Steve keeps jumping all over the place. Sue him, he’s no Eddie.

He nods anyway.

“Before you got out of the car, when I told you I’d come back to pick you up, you gave me this huge smile, and the car filled up with something I’d never smelled before. Not really, anyway. Maybe like, in passing, you know? Like in the hallway at school, but always faint and never towards me, so I never focused on it.”

Dustin’s eyebrows are totally scrunched up now, little genius brain whirring away. Goddamn brat never had any patience.

“I didn’t ask about it, because I wasn’t sure it was important, and also a little because I felt like enough of a caveman around you little rocket scientist dweebs I didn’t need you explaining feelings to me too, but I kept smelling it from you after that. And from El, and a little from Lucas and Max and even once from your mom, but it was just confusing, you know? I couldn’t figure out what was causing it, so I had no context clues to figure out what it meant.

“And then at Starcourt, after Robin and I went to go puke up those Russian drugs—”

“Ditched me and Erica who were very responsibly trying to wrangle you, you mean.”

“Tomato, tomahto, kid. Anyway, I told her I had a crush on her and she panicked and came out to me, so I switched to making fun of her crush so she would know I was okay with it, and suddenly there was that smell again. First time I ever smelled it coming from her. So after everything was done, I asked her.”

“Oh, so you’ll ask her, but not me? Hurtful, Steve.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Yeah, shithead, because Robbie already knew I was a moron, and she was never gonna want to go out with me, so I didn’t need to impress her. I could look stupid to Rob back then, but I still wanted you guys to think I was cool.”

“Steve, buddy, my brother, my best friend, my favorite jock please don’t tell Lucas I said that, we literally never thought you were cool.”

“Now who’s being hurtful?”

“Just the truth, Munson. I tell it like it is.”

“Ugh, whatever. The point is, I asked Bobbie what she felt for me in that bathroom, and she told me that’s when she realized she would love me forever. That we were going to be best friends.”

Dustin looks stricken.

“That’s what I was smelling all that time. Honey. That’s what I smelled in the car in the Hawkins Middle parking lot. You loved me. You were literally the first person in my whole life who ever did.”

“Steve—”

“This isn’t—look, I know it’s kind of sad and pathetic for kid Steve, but this isn’t about that. It’s not about me, okay? It’s about how my whole life turned around the day Dustin Henderson decided he loved me, because he never stopped. Not for a single second of the last thirteen years, and because you loved me then, I have a platonic soulmate and a horde of little siblings and a mate I adore and more friends than I can count on all my fingers and toes! You’re the one who encouraged me to go to cosmetology school, you’re the one who introduced me to Eddie, you’re the one who stood by me and let me crash on your mom’s couch when my parents kicked me out. My life is full of love, and joy, and purpose, and it all started with you, Dustin. I’m here because you loved me, and because once you started loving me you never stopped. I have smelled honey on you every single day since the 1984 Snow Ball, and that’s how I know you’ll be an incredible father. Because if you have all that love for a washed up ex-jock omega nobody had ever loved before? You’ll have all that and more times a million for any kid lucky enough to call you Dad.”

They’re both crying by now. Susie is gonna kill them for sure, but as Dustin buries himself in Steve’s arms like he’s still six inches shorter, Steve decides it doesn’t matter. This is worth it.

There’s a knock at the door, just in time it seems.

“Dingus, baby Dingus, you in there? T minus 5 minutes, boys, stick those feet in the oven if you gotta!”

“Yeah, Bobs, I hear you! We’ll be out in a sec, no cold feet in sight.”

“Roger that, bubba! I’ll inform the bride!” He can hear her racing off, probably dancing with pre-wedding excitement. For a cynical lesbian who has a new girlfriend every month and swears marriage is an archaic institution built on misogyny and omegaphobia, she sure does love weddings.

“You ready, kid?”

Dustin has taken the brief interlude as an opportunity to splash his face with water from the sink in the corner, so he doesn’t look like he’s been crying to into Steve’s shoulder, but Steve makes sure to straighten his tie and finger comb his curls back into place.

“Yeah, I think I’m ready.” He looks at Steve for a long moment, then throws his arms around him one last time. “I’m really glad you’re my brother, Steve.”

Steve squeezes him tighter for a moment, breathing in the familiar scent of lemon and cut grass and honey. Of family. Of love.

“Yeah, kid. Me too.”

[mjoffic]

red velvet cake - bf!eddie munson x fem!reader x brother!steve harrington

Summary: Your relationship continues to blossom with Eddie, however your older brother Steve isn’t the biggest fan and lines are tested

Warnings: swearing, smoking, tense situations, angst, fight fight fight, let me know if I miss anything!

Word count: 5.3k

a/n: Hey, all! Welcome to my first official post! If you enjoy, please like, reblog, etc! This was just a lil blurb, but I have other things in the works, so I’m hoping this goes well and I can continue to share with you all!

               “I need you and your big hair to calm down.”

           Your brother looked to you quickly from the bathroom mirror, his face scrunched up at your comment.  “My hair is not big.”

           “You say that and yet you’ve gone through your second can of hair spray this month,” you retorted, grabbing the can quickly in your hand.

           Steve snatched for it but you held it behind you, ceasing any attempt of him grabbing it.  He sighed with a comb still lodged in his brown tuffs and leaned back against the counter.  Another disagreement between the two of you.  Nothing was new seeing as that was the typical way a brother and sister relationship stemmed.  From the time you were born, only a short year after Steve, you were at each other’s throats constantly and could never come to an agreement on anything.  Steve would steal your favorite toy that day from the toybox, so you’d steal the TV remote and sit on it to his disdain when your parents allowed you both to pick the nightly movie after dinner.  You’d spread gossip in the middle school of your older brothers crush on Tammy Thompson (before the singing career), and somehow most girls still believed in cooties, so he’d steal your clothes from your locker before gym class was over.  Today’s topic of conversation once again revisited your current dating life and now you were stealing his most prized possession.  This was the never ending, vicious, and annoying cycle only those who had a sibling could understand at the end of the day.

           “I really don’t see what the big deal is,” you said, crossing your arms.  “Eddie and I have been seeing each other for almost a year now and you still refuse to hang out with him.”

           “Yeah, it’s Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson.  He runs that club Dustin and Mike are in, huge nerd, and he’s in a band that plays at the Hideout” he grumbled.  “Also, he’s way older than you.”

           “He’s twenty, Steve.  It’s not like I’m a kid anymore,” you replied.  “Also, he’s a senior.  I’m a senior.  And Hellfire is actually really cool if you’d take up the invites I’ve extended.”

           Steve shook his head, wagging his finger.  “No, no, you’re a senior.  This is his third time being a senior.”

           “And he’s gonna graduate!  He finally has a C in Mrs. O’Donnell’s!”

           “It’s still weird.  And just because you date him doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

           A groan escaped you and your arms dropped from their defensive position.  “But the least you could do is be civil with him.  I can’t bring him over because you make everything so uncomfortable, and now with Nancy’s party coming I’d just like the two of you to get along for once!”

           Steve looked to you after your minor outburst and his eyes traveled your face.  He couldn’t help but be a little annoyed by you but he hated that in a sense, you were right.  He’d only based his opinions on Eddie off of what he knew from when he went to Hawkins High and what he heard around town.  You’d always dealt with his on and off again flings that never worked out and continued to accept each one as they came through the door so why couldn’t he do the same for you?  It might be the older sibling in him screaming at him to watch out for his baby sister but you were getting older and dating was just naturally right behind.  The thought ran a chill down Steve’s spine.

           “Fine,” he sighed, standing straight.  “I’ll…  I’ll try. Just this once.  But I’m not going to the board game nights, though.”

           You squealed and the jump that came with it shocked your brother.  You could get past his comments this once.  “Thank you, thank you!  Oh, Steve, I could hug you!”  You made a face realizing what just came out of your mouth and you shook your head.  “But I won’t.  Gross.  Here’s your even grosser hairspray, I have to go call Eddie!”

           You shoved the can back in his hand and spun on your heels, now ready to face your boyfriend and his dislike for Steve.  Steve, however, felt a small smile creep up on his face at your antics.  His head snapped up at ‘hairspray’ and he groaned.

           “It’s not just hair spray!” he yelled after you, before looking to himself in the mirror.  “It’s Farrah Fawcett spray.”

                                            ●          ●          ●          ●

             Eddie had come to pick you up for your nightly drive together as soon as you had called, and you couldn’t help the excitement that buzzed in you.  He took note of this and turned down the head pounding sounds of Motley to focus in as soon as you had climbed in the passenger seat.  “What’s got you riled up, sweetheart?  Missed me that much?”

           You smirked, looking to the doe eyed boy. “You’re so full of it, Eds.”

           He tossed his hand to his heart, making those big eyes of his twinkle in the light of the dashboard.  “Only full of my love for you.”

           You couldn’t help the laugh that bustled out and Eddie soon joined in, his hand now grabbing yours in his.  He squeezed gently and you squeezed back, the cold of his rings sending goosebumps up your arm.  “Now come on, spill.  You sounded way too excited on the phone.”

You nodded.  “While yes, I definitely missed you, I talked to Steve today about Nancy’s party.”

           His hand lost a little grip to yours and you looked to him quickly, the smile on his face slowly disappearing and you frowned in response.  “Eddie, it was a good conversation.  He didn’t even say much in the negative category.”

           “Much?” Eddie scoffed.  “So I’m guessing we’re gonna talk about it.”

           “Well, yeah.  I mean, I would just really like you both to get along,” you shrugged.  

           Eddie made a face.

           “For one night.”

           An eyebrow raised as he looked at you.            “For me.”

           That was it.  Right there.  Eddie was caught.  How could he say no to you?  Your relationship had been nothing but perfect, and there was a happy balance of entertaining each others interests.  You’d attend Hellfire meetings with him and watch Corroded Coffin practice, he’d come to your piano recitals and help you finish your notes for book club.  You’d share musical interests with each other and watch every movie under the sun, and you’d both agree Sixteen Candles would never been an option.  His Uncle Wayne had taken an immense liking to you as soon as you and Eddie became friends, he’d even tag along to your piano recitals sometimes when work didn’t have him in a chokehold.  

           “I know you two have never really liked each other, but you’re my boyfriend, he’s my brother.  At the end of the day I don’t want to have to pick between the two of you, and Steve has agreed to set aside all of it for the party.  I just want you to be in the same boat.”

           “Is it just one night?” Eddie questioned, his eyes searching yours.

           “If I can get one night of civil between you two, I can die happy,” you smiled softly.  “And besides, it’ll be fun.  Everyone will be there, the kids, Nancy, Robin, Jonathon, and I’m making your favorite.”

           “Stop,” he gasped, the twinkle coming back and he grinned. “Please tell me it’s your red velvet cake.”

           “With the homemade icing,” you nodded, watching him throw the theatrics back on and he fanned himself.  “Mrs. Wheeler has been asking for the recipe since I made it at Holly’s birthday last year, figured the party would be a good time to make it.”

           “It’s always a good time for anything you cook,” Eddie praised, making you shift in your seat.  “Now I’m really looking forward to this party.”

           “Well,” you sighed, adjusting yourself in your seat and turning your full body towards him.  “I know something that might help the wait.”

           He noticed the change in your tone and his eyes didn’t lose the glimmer, just a different glimmer now displayed and he double checked the gear and threw it in park, having turned into the high school parking lot. “Oh?  Did you make something else for me?”

           “I brought only the best for you,” you smiled, leaning up and across the console separating you.  

           Eddie bit his lower lip and his hand grabbed lightly at your face.  “Show me, princess.”

           Immediately obliging, you pressed your lips to his and he quickly pulled you over the console, resting in his lap.  He seemed to take all of this better than Steve. Maybe the party would work out in your favor, hell, maybe they could even be friends by the end of it? Maybe?  Right?

                                           ●          ●          ●          ●

             “I think it’s nice you’re setting aside your differences for your sister,” Nancy said, pouring a bag of chips into a large serving bowl.  Robin and Steve were helping her with last minute food prep as they awaited everyone to arrive.  Pizza was already there, sodas were in the cooler, Robin even brought movies from Family Video and Steve dug out the old board games your parents had stored away.

           “It’s just for tonight,” Steve retorted, grabbing a Coke and quickly opening it.  He could feel his usual nerves heightened with the agreement between you and him. He’d never admit it, but having his little sister genuinely involved with someone was a huge thing for him (but also it being Eddie didn’t exactly please him either).  “I told her I’d try for tonight.”

           “Why don’t you, I dunno, try everyday?” Robin said, raising an eyebrow.  “You’re missing out on future brother in law bonding time.”

           Steve winced, groaning out and waved his hands. “No, no, no, don’t say that.  You don’t know that.”

           “Ah, but you don’t know either,” the short haired fiend quipped and shrugged.  “Also it wouldn’t kill you to maybe get to know Eddie and form your own opinion. He’s sat with us at lunch a few times, he’s not so bad.”

           Steve looked to Nancy, his face stressed.  “Can you believe this?”

           Nancy pursed her lips, finishing up last touches. “I don’t think it’s honestly a big deal.”

           “What?  You agree?” Steve said.  “You’ve seen Munson and-“

           “And,” Nancy interrupted.  “-nothing.  I don’t have an opinion on Eddie because I don’t know him that well.”

           Robin gestured in support, throwing her arms out in front of her.  “See?”

           “Well he doesn’t make the effort either,” Steve defended.  “So why should I?”

           “One of you has to, or you both have the chance of losing y/n,” Nancy responded, raising her eyebrow at him.  “It takes effort from both of you.”

           “But-“

           The sound of shouting and laughing came from the front room and Nancy looked at him once more.  “Behave.”

           Steve sighed as the kids piled in the kitchen, scurrying over each other and grabbing what their hands could before Nancy shooed them.  “We have more people coming, guys, come on!”

           Jonathon followed in, shouting after Will and Dustin as they brushed past him into the living room.  He smiled kindly to Steve and soon took to the tension that radiated from the older boy.  “You alright?”

           Steve nodded, taking a quick drink of his Coke. “Yeah, just being scolded by women. Again.”

           Jonathon laughed briefly before Steve spoke up once more.  “Is my sister here yet?”

           “Uh, I think her and Eddie weren’t too far down the road,” he replied.  “I passed them on the way here.”

“Good, good,” he nodded. “Great, wonderful, terrific.”

           Steve continued on a tangent of positive words and Jonathon glanced between the two girls, pointing to Steve with an eyebrow raised.  Nancy rolled her eyes and shook her head.  Robin shrugged, sipping exceptionally loud on her drink.  Jonathon made a face at both of them and could only anticipate what to expect going into tonights events.

           The same thought had been crossing Eddie’s mind all day. He knew that despite how he felt, he needed to try his best for you.  That meant setting aside how he felt about your brother, how Steve made him feel all those years in school, every single time Steve laid the ‘freak’ bit on thick – Eddie was preparing himself to leave it all at the door as soon as you arrived to the party.  He could only hope Steve was on the same page and tonight would move rather seamlessly.  If all went according to plan, maybe they could continue hating each other again bright and early tomorrow morning.

           “Whoa!” you yelped, almost bumping into Eddie who had stopped in front of you.  The cake in your hands was fragile cargo and you swerved, saving it from meeting it’s demise with the pavement.  “Jeez, Eds, if you want any of this cake I would appreciate if you kept both feet moving or a heads up would be greatly appreciated.”

           He turned abruptly and made a face, scratching the back of his head.  “Um, yeah, sorry, sweetheart.  Just lost in thought."

           You couldn’t help but smile softly at him.  His nerves were on full display and you knew Steve was most likely in the same boat.  You’d do whatever you could to ease both of the boys tensions, to prevent anything from escalating, and you hoped they both knew you were on their sides and not against them.  It would be beneficial not just for you but the group, too, if there was common ground and structure and not the constant state of tension so thick, of awkward conversations, of debating if it should be both Steve and Eddie invited or one or the other.  Not only was it hard for you, but your friends who were also in the same predicament you were with two of the group members holding it out for one another.

           “It’s gonna be fine, Eds,” you said as you stepped up the small step to the door.  “Deep breaths, like I taught you.”

           He snorted, pushing the door open for you.  “Aye, aye, captain.”

           The eye roll that followed had Eddie pinching at your hips, causing you to yelp and laugh, trying to escape the attack.  “Eddie, stop!  I have a cake in-“

           Your back met with a firm surface and you gasped, hands gripping the dish even tighter.  You wobbled slightly, your feet finding an uneven surface and hands gripped your arms to keep you from tripping even further.  The eyes of Steve looked back at yours when you glanced back and you sighed, standing straighter after regaining your footing.  “I almost dropped the cake, Steve.”

           “Maybe Eddie shouldn’t goof off as much, then,” he stated plainly, removing his hands and making eye contact with Eddie who had set his lips in a fine, tight line at the statement.

           “Come on, Steve,” Nancy quipped, stepping in the room. “He was just being a little silly, that’s all.  Y/n, Eddie, there’s food and drinks in the kitchen!  Come on, I’ll help you get that cake in a safer spot.”

           You smiled to Nancy, looking back at Eddie and raised an eyebrow.  He shook his head and held up his pack of cigarettes, slipping past the three of you and towards the back doors.  A frown soon replaced the former smile and you slipped pass Steve into the kitchen. Nancy gave him a stern look and hustled behind you.  This would be a long night.

                                         ●          ●          ●          ●

             Eddie had rejoined the festivities shortly after his two cigarettes, his nerves only escalating at Steve and his comment.  Right off the bat, he had thought, he just had to jump into an accusatory stance.  He bit his tongue in your defense, but how long could he keep that up?  Jonathon and him had gotten into conversation you had overheard, and watched quietly from a distance.  Nancy and Robin chitchatted next to you, and the kids were already causing Steve’s inner mother to kick in.  Lucas and Mike were tossing a ball back and forth in the living room, Dustin and Will had turned on their favorite radio station and were singing much off tune to Madonna (much to everyone’s surprised enjoyment, even Eddie who only ever consumed that of every heavy 80’s metal or hairband), and Max and El were currently in a contest of who could crush a soda can the fastest: Max against her forehead, or El with her actually head?  Steve was in the current stages of trying to prevent possible brain damage, to both.  Erica was continuously bugging you for a slice of cake, to which you turned her down everytime.

           “Nerd,” she’d grumble.

           “Don’t you agree?” Robin asked, bumping her hip into yours and you quickly looked to her, eyebrows raised.  You waited and she glanced to Nancy, then back.  “Have you really not been listening?  Babes, this is the impending doom of the possibility of not getting new band uniforms.”

           “Oh, no,” you breathed, the end of ‘no’ hitching slightly in question and you couldn’t help the giggle that followed when Robin groaned.  Nancy joined in the laughter and Robin threw her hands up in exasperation.  

           “Fine!  I’ll go complain to Steve!”

           “That might be good, actually,” you suggested, watching Steve stumble by with Dustin on his back and attempting to smack his hands away. “Looks like he could use the help.”

           “Dustin!  Dustin, Steve is not a piñata!” Robin hollered, following after them as you and Nancy watched in amusement.

           “So,” Nancy started in, refilling your cups and returning her gaze to the events taking place in the room next to you.  “They haven’t fought.”

           “Ssh!” you snapped quickly, looking to her.  “Nance, you’ll jinx it!  This is the most I’ve seen them not go at each other, even if they are just keeping to themselves.  It’s a start and I’d like to keep it that way.”

           “How long do you think it’ll keep up, though?” she asked honestly.  When you frowned at her question she set a hand on your arm.  “I want you happy, you’re my friend.  Knowing those two bone heads, though, I just worry they’ll drop the façade when you aren’t looking.”

           Your frown creased even further into your face.  “I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Nance.  It’s my brother and my boyfriend.  I love them both, but I don’t wanna lose either of them.”

           “I know,” Nancy sighed, before perking up.  “What if-“

           “Watch it!” Steve shouted, and all eyes directed into the living room.  

           Eddie dusted Dustin’s shoulders off, before looking to Steve.  “You almost crashed the kid into the bookshelf, man, you should be the one watchin’ it.”

           Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes.  “Like earlier when you nearly pummeled my sister into the ground?”

           “Goddammit, Nancy,” you mumbled before stepping up a ways. “Steve, it was-“

           His eyes cast to you and he scoffed.  “An accident?  Like anytime y’all horse around?”

           “Hey,” Eddie snapped, stepping up to your side. “I’ve never laid a hand on her like that.”

           “Like what?” Steve retorted.

           “You know exactly what you mean,” Eddie said.

           Jonathon stepped up now, followed by Dustin.  “Come on, guys, everyone just caught up in the moment.  Everyone’s good.”

           Steve shook his head.  “I’ll be good when he’s gone.”

           “Steve!” Nancy said, shaking her head.

           “Like hell!” Eddie laughed.  “I was invited!”

           You sat a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, looking to him. “Eddie, calm down.”

           “Fine!  Then I’ll go!” Steve said, and he looked to you.  “Come on, Y/N, we’re leaving.”

           Everyone stared, Robin trying to talk quietly to Steve who was having none of it.  Nancy looked to Jonathon with a worried expression and the kids clamored to the other side of the room, just watching.  You stared at your brother in disbelief and shook your head.  “Steve, we just all need a break, please!  Let’s just all breathe a second!”

           “We can breathe at home.”

           Steve stepped up and grabbed your arm, causing Eddie to grab the other.  You squeaked at the force of the two boys, looking to Nancy with wide eyes.  They had never escalated to protectiveness with you involving each other in the same moment, it had never gotten this heated before and the worry crept in the pit of your stomach, causing bile to slowly rise in the back of your throat.  You swallowed it down, the panic on your face evident and Nancy immediately jumped in.

           “Boys!” Nancy yelled, grabbing onto Steve and Jonathon grabbing Eddie.

           “Come on, guys, this is stupid,” Jonathon added and patted Eddie on his back.

           “She doesn’t wanna go,” Eddie snarled, staring Steve right in the face.

           “I’m her brother, older might I add, so what I say goes,” Steve responded, Nancy tugging on his belt loop.

           “Guys, please stop!” you cried, wiggling in their grips.  “You said you’d try!  Just break it up!”

           Dustin and Max came up, prying the older boys grips and Robin stepped up to pull you aside, her arm slipping around your shoulders. Eddie shook his head, chuckling to himself and turned away from Steve which caused Jonathon to loosen his grip. Nancy kept a petite finger interloped in Steve’s belt loop for safe keeping.  

           “Steve, why don’t we go outside for a minute?”  Nancy mumbled, tugging lightly.

           Steve broke his gaze on Eddie, wiping a hand down his face. He nodded slowly and turned towards her. “Yeah… yeah anything to get away from that freak.”

           The words slipped out without a second thought. Steve froze, as did everyone else, and eyes landed on Eddie.  The panic that set in was worse than the first time and you pulled away from Robin, going to Eddie immediately.  As soon as the words were out, Eddie’s shoulders tightened and his back went straight. Jonathon could see his face and he watched every emotion cross over it – shock, realization, anger, guilt, sadness, absolute rage.  Eddie couldn’t register who was near him and his hearing went into a high frequency pitch.  His eyes darkened and the only thing you felt was the shove, a rush of air, and your back hitting the counter of the island.  “Eddie, no!”

           Eddie swung first.  His fist connected quickly with Steve’s jaw and the elder boy stared stone cold at him as Steve stumbled to the ground.  

           “Shit,” Dustin muttered and everyone was quick in action.

           Steve jumped up from the ground, Will and Mike trying to hold him back while Jonathon and Dustin grabbed for Eddie.  Lucas moved Max and Erica out of the way and Robin and Nancy stepped up to your side.

           “Let me go!” Steve yelled.  “Let me go!”

           “Knock it off!” Mike snapped, stumbling at the tug Steve attempted away from the younger boys.

           “Come on!” Eddie cackled.  “Let pretty boy get a nice swing in!”

           “Don’t push it!” Jonathon snapped.

           “I’m slipping!” Dustin yelled, his palms clammy and his upper arm strength nonexistent in the pull Eddie had.

           “Eddie, Steve, stop!” you shouted.  “Stop right now!”

           “I’ll never understand what my sister sees in you!” Steve shouted, glaring.  “She could do so much better!”

           Eddie scoffed and licked his lips.  “Like I haven’t heard that before!  At least I can land a gal, you strike out on every chance you get!  So much for being the Hawkins King!”

           “Shut up!” you again yelled.  

           “Maybe you should listen to your girlfriend!  She’s clearly got the brains in this relationship!” Steve smirked.  “Third times a charm right?”

           “It’s no wonder she hates being at home!” Eddie started, and you froze.  “I wouldn’t want to be around someone as idiotic, full of themselves, and a kiss ass like you!”

           “Bullshit she doesn’t want to be at home!  It’s better than that trailer trash park you’re in! I’m surprised she hasn’t brought home bed bugs or lice!”

           “Ask her then!  You don’t even try to get to know her anyway, so what does it matter!”

           “I know my sister!”

           “Like hell!”

           Tears began to well in your eyes and you tried your best to swallow them down.  The adrenaline was suffocating, everyone getting their own taste of it.  Dustin’s grip slowly lost and Eddie pulled free the rest of the way, Steve finding his way out from Will and Mike.  Everyone started yelling all at once when the two got ahold of each other, causing mass chaos to ensue.  Fists flying, Eddie landed another blow to Steve’s eye – it would definitely be swollen in the next hour and shut completely by the end of the night.  Steve tumbled around with Eddie, landing two good blows into his ribs causing the metalhead to yell out – they weren’t broken but there would definitely be major bruising and tender for a while.  You attempted your own chance at pulling them apart, but the force of the two sent you stumbling and Nancy shouted, anger setting in for her at the two acting this way in her home.  “Knuckleheads, break it up or I’ll call Hopper!”

           The two continued their dance, nearly tumbling into the three of you and Steve slammed Eddie against the counter top.  Eddie flailed beneath him and Steve sent a blow to his jaw, causing Eddie to yelp in pain.  He glared up at Steve and reached around him for anything that would help him gain some traction.

           His hand landed in something mushy, his fingers feeling a heavy, thick, consistency on them but he went with it.  Eddie grabbed a fist full and landed a blow into Steve’s face, causing him to gasp and lose his hold.  Steve wiped his face, red crumbs and white icing coating his hand. He stared at it before looking up and it was on before you could stop them.  Steve grabbed his own fist full and the two went back to it, cake and icing flying in every which direction.  Food and drinks came with it and everyone yelled as soon, the entire party was coated in carbonation, crumbs of chips, and icing being flung every which direction.  Nancy tried to block herself, screaming out in anger.  Oh, how much trouble she was going to be in for this later.

           You felt the tears brimming, pushing, and soon tumbling over your waterline.  They were heavy, hot, and quickly cascading down your face.  Your chest heaved as you struggled to catch your breath and everything moved in slow motion in front of you.  The cake was destroyed, demolished, gone, as were any chances of your two favorite people reconciling and putting any differences behind them.  There went any chances of family dinners, trips, any chances of enjoying a Corroded Coffin show, any chances of a future that was healthy with either one.  You watched as they continued their antics, neither one of them sparing any glance to check on you, to see your reaction, for any sign or confirmation that you were okay.  In this moment, it was about Steve and Eddie.  It was always about Steve and Eddie.  Reflecting and looking back, even when it was you and only one of them, it turned around to discuss the other.

           Steve always wanted to know what Eddie was doing, who he was hanging out with, where you were going with him, if Eddie was trying to sell you weed, if you two were drinking.  Anything he could get dirt on for your parents.  Eddie always wanted to know what Steve was doing, if he was working, when he was working, and when he’d be home so he could plan exactly to come get you at the worst time just to annoy him.  It was little things, it was spiteful, and the two couldn’t leave high school behind.  Where did you even fit in to the equation?  At that point it’d be better for them to just date each other.

           Making your way to the now empty cake platter, a splash of Coke greeting you in the face on your trek, you grabbed the glass dish firmly in your hands.  The porcelain was completely clean, smooth, no crumbs of what had been.  This is what your life would be now; clean, smooth, no crumbs of what had been.  The surface, slipping back and forth in your hands, would not survive this fight either. Arms raising above your head, you could hear your pulse in your ears, not even the shout from Robin when she saw what you were doing, it was so loud.  Even when you screamed out in frustration, you couldn’t hear how actually loud you were, how it was almost deafening as the realization set over the situation in front of you.  Most everyone covered their ears with their hands, wide eyed and cowering back from what was to come.  With your screaming, you quickly brought the plate crashing down to the kitchen tile and shards of glass went flying.  The small pieces grazed your bare calves, probably not the best time to be wearing shorts.  Steve and Eddie were the two closest to the line of fire, both of them turning away and blocking their faces.  When the glass had calmed, that’s when your screaming did, and the deafening silence that followed felt louder.

           Everyone looked around, food and drink covering every surface in the kitchen and half of the living room.  The glass had spread from the bottom of your feet into the line of the living room, down the tile of the kitchen, and even some had managed to bounce to the countertop.  All eyes slowly landed on you, Eddie and Steve both finally taking in the mass destruction of what they had caused.  Tears continued to stream down your face, mixed with the icing slabbed on your cheek and the stain of Coke all along the collar and upper shoulders of your shirt. Eddie looked to your legs and saw the thin lines of blood from the shards, before meeting your face again.  Steve watched as your shoulders shook from the sobs held in, your face as red as the cake you had made.  

           Oh shit, the cake.

           “Oh, baby,” Eddie started.

           “Kiddo, I-“ Steve added at the same time.

           “No!” you sobbed.  The room grew quiet again.  All eyes were on you.  This was your time.

           “I-“ you started, taking a deep breath to try and align yourself.  “I didn’t want to lose- to lose either of you.  I wanted th-this to work.  Just once!”

           Guilt began creeping over the boys, disappointment settled in Steve’s bones as he knew he let you down, Eddie feeling his own tears start to grow at the state you were in.  They didn’t want this.

           “But now,” you chuckled, causing both boys to go rigid in fear.  “Now I realize you’re losing me.”

           You looked to each of them, a sob tight in your chest and you choked it back.  With shaking hands, you wiped the remaining food from your face, and brushed past the two of them and everyone else.  The sobs finally racked your chest as you quickly made your way out the door, slamming it shut behind you.  

           Steve and Eddie looked around before looking at each other.  They both were fucked up.  And they had fucked up.  Big time.

[hbyrde36]

Life is a Game (and True Love is a Trophy)

Chapter 2

Ch 1 ao3 link

*Eddie - 1986*

Dustin burst in the door without knocking. A habit Eddie had been trying to break him out of for years. One of these days he’d do it at the wrong time and see something he’ll wish he hadn’t. Maybe then he’d learn his lesson.

“So, don’t freak out but…”

“Ugh” Eddie groaned, pushing his face further into his pillow. “It’s never good when you start a sentence like that. At least let me get some coffee first.”

“Fine.” Dustin relented, stomping back out into the kitchen of the Munson trailer.

Ten minutes later and with coffee in hand, Eddie motioned for Dustin to continue with whatever nonsense he’d woken him up for this morning.

“I told the guys about Steve, about you knowing him.”

“Dustin!” Eddie shouted, incredulously.

“What? It’s not like it’s some big secret or something!”

“You didn’t know!”

“No, I didn't. But I should have realized, and I shouldn’t have said what I did the other night about him. That wasn’t cool. That’s why I told them, because I felt bad, and because I was thinking that maybe we could do a little investigation of our own?”

The kid meant well and it was sweet that he wanted to do something to make Eddie feel better, but what did he think he and a bunch of teenagers would be able to do about it?

Eddie shook his head. “I already told you man, his parents are loaded. I’m sure they left no stone unturned. What could we possibly do that they haven't already tried?”

Dustin’s face spread into a cocky grin. “For starters, Mike talked to Nancy. Did you know she dated Steve for a little while right around the time Will got lost in the woods?”

He had known that actually. In fact he vividly remembered catching the two of them in the boy’s bathroom that one time. He’d never thought about it in reference to Steve’s disappearance before though. The couple had broken up a few months before it happened.

“Yea, okay. So, they dated. What’s that got to do with anything?”

“I'm not sure if it does, but the police never even talked to her. Mike said she was willing to talk to us about him, if you want.”

Eddie couldn’t believe he was actually considering this, but it was hard to deny how intrigued he was to learn more about Steve. Even if it didn’t lead to any answers about what had happened to him.

“You know what? Fuck it. Let's do it.” Eddie declared, slamming his now empty cup down on the table for emphasis.

“Language! I am a child!.” Dustin gasped, in a dramatic impersonation of his mother.

“Shut it, nerd.”

“You literally play D&D with children! Who’s the nerd now?!”

-

Eddie had never really had a full conversation with Nancy. They said hi in passing, and whenever he came to the house to play with the boys of course, but that was the extent of it. Now he was supposed to sit here in the Wheeler’s basement, like it was any other day, and talk to her about her ex boyfriend. Awkward.

Or, maybe not. 

According to Dustin, Nancy knew all about their game, including how she, Steve, and many others were used as characters in it. She understood their curiosity. She herself had always thought that there was something suspicious about the whole thing. That maybe there was more going on in Hawkins than a single missing boy.

“Do you remember the day in the cafeteria, when Steve got into that screaming match with Tommy and Carol?”

Eddie shook his head. “No, but I heard it was brutal.” He’d skipped out early that day to meet up with Rick for more product. The whole school was buzzing about it the next day, he could have kicked himself for missing the show.

“It was. I was shocked. I had never seen him act like that. I know he and I hadn’t been together that long, so I could be wrong, but It seemed so out of character. I mean, everything he said was true, and those two probably deserved it, but the three of them had been best friends for years. He never stood up to them before, so why now? It felt like it came out of nowhere.” 

She paused, taking a breath and gathering her thoughts before continuing.

“I remember him looking at me, just before he stormed off when it was all over. He didn’t look mad, it was more like.. I don’t know, scared, maybe?”

Well, that was a little ominous. Eddie and the younger boys shared a look as Nancy got up from her seat on the couch and started pacing.

“He called me later that night and asked me to come over so we could talk. When I got there, he stepped out onto the porch instead of letting me come inside. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but looking back, it was a little odd. We sat on the steps and he said that he was sorry, but he couldn’t see me anymore. I asked him if there was someone else, but he said no. He just wanted to be single for a while and concentrate on other things. It was fine. I don’t think either of us were too upset about it. We hugged and said our goodbyes, and that was the last time I spoke to him.”

She stopped pacing, standing directly in front of Eddie as she finished her story.

“I still saw him around, of course, and heard about how he quit the school teams. Which seemed weird, because, what was this more important thing he was focusing on? Clearly it wasn’t sports. Then he started skipping school, so it wasn’t about his grades either. I started to wonder if maybe he had gotten into drugs or something.” 

Or, he could have just been lying to let you down easy, Eddie thought, but that wasn’t very kind. Instead he said, “If he was, he wasn't getting them from me.” 

Dustin gasped. “Wait, dude, are you really a drug dealer?”

Fuck. “Um. No?”

“You are! You’re totally a drug dealer!” Dustin said, bouncing in his seat and pointing a finger in Eddie’s face.

Eddie groaned. “Please stop yelling ‘drug dealer’ before Mike's parents hear you and kick me out!”

“Does that mean you smoke pot?” Lucas asked.

 “Can we smoke pot?” Mike added quickly, grinning.

“Absolutely not!” Eddie and Nancy shouted, simultaneously.

He turned to her, hands raised. “For the record, I don’t sell anymore. Not since my supplier went to jail.”

Dustin’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh shit, is Reefer Rick a real person?”

Nancy gave Eddie a hard look.

“What?! We all used people from our life in the game!” He said defensively. “Look, guys, I think we’re getting off track here.”

“Is there anything else weird you remember about Steve from before he disappeared?” Will asked Nancy, speaking for the first time. Eddie threw him a grateful smile.

“Not that I can think of.”

“What about his parents?” Lucas asked.

“I never met them, but he always said his dad was an asshole. The way he talked sometimes, it sounded like they weren’t around a lot.”

The image of it flashed in Eddie’s mind for a moment. Steve, all by himself in that big empty house of his. Haunting its hallways in the middle of the night. He shook his head roughly to clear it. 

Maybe it was silly to think of it that way. What teenage boy wouldn’t love having the house to himself? No one hassling you or telling you what to do. He couldn’t explain why, but somehow he didn’t think Steve liked being alone.

Eddie was startled when Nancy placed a hand on his arm. She looked at him, face pinched with concern. He realized suddenly that they were alone. He’d been so lost in thought that he didn’t realize the boys had left. She saw him looking around and explained.

“I sent the boys upstairs for lunch. It looked like you needed a minute.”

“Yea, sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.” He got up to collect his things, and headed towards the basement steps.

“It’s the time of year. I get it, I've been thinking about him a lot too.” She said, following him.

Eddie shook his head. It wasn’t the same, she was allowed to think about Steve. To miss him. What right did Eddie have? “That’s different. You dated the guy. We weren’t even friends.”

“You’re allowed to miss him, Eddie.”

“No, I'm not.”

“He thought you were brave, y’know.”

“What?” He stopped walking, but couldn’t bring himself to turn around to face her. 

“He told me once, the first time I sat with him for lunch. You had jumped up on your table, ranting and raving about whatever had bothered you that day.” She sounded amused at the memory. “Tommy and the others sneered and complained, but not Steve. He smiled as he watched you. He said, ‘sometimes I wish I could be brave like that. Just stop caring about what everyone else thinks and be free’.”

He finally looked back at her over his shoulder. She smiled at him kindly, it seemed genuine so he returned the gesture.

“Thanks, Wheeler.”

-

Eddie didn’t stay to join the boys for lunch, though he did make plans to meet up with them the next day. He needed some time alone to process what they’d learned so far. He did his best thinking in the van, so he drove around town aimlessly, blasting Metallica and trying to sort through it all. 

Eventually he made his way to Loch Nora, slowing when he reached Steve’s street. He’d never been inside the Harrington house, but he knew where it was. There was no car in the driveway, so he rolled to a stop in front of it. A ‘For Sale’ sign was stuck in the grass a few feet to the right of the mailbox.

He hadn’t realized Steve’s parents were selling the place. Good, Eddie thought. It would make his next task that much easier. He’d come up with a plan, of sorts, as he cruised around Hawkins. The first step? A good old fashioned breaking and entering.   

-

*Steve - 1983/1984*

Two days after finding Eleven out in the woods, Steve cut ties with all his friends. He made a big scene out of calling Tommy and Carol assholes in the middle of the cafeteria, to really drive the point home. He turned himself into a social pariah overnight, anything to keep people from wanting to get close to him.  

He let Nancy go. It was easy enough. He found that he wasn’t even all that upset about it, he knew she wouldn't be too sad either. He’d seen how she looked at Jonathan that day at school, when the news broke that Will was missing. They would get together before too long, he was sure of it.

He quit the swim team, basketball, and only continued going to school because dropping out would be too suspicious. He started skipping days a lot. 

-

Eleven, who he’d taken to calling El for short, needed her own space. He would have loved to decorate the guest room for her, would have let her paint the walls and everything. Unfortunately, his parents still came home on occasion, and it would be too hard to hide. Instead, they worked together to fix up a space for her in the attic. Even when they were home, his parents never went up there. 

He didn’t know anything about little girls, but neither did El, so they figured things out together. He set her up with a T.V. to keep her company when he was gone during the day. He gave her a bunch of catalogs to look through, and told her to take a marker and circle anything she liked. Clothes, bedding, curtains, toys, he bought it all. Perks of the Harrington name, and a credit card with a high spending limit.

By the time her attic room was done, she finally felt secure enough to sleep in her own bed. She felt safe in the knowledge that her new brother wouldn’t abandon her as she slept, or lock her inside. Sometimes though, he would wake up to find she’d come into his room in the middle of the night. Almost always when it rained.

They quickly became a little family, he and El. Steve didn’t have any siblings, hadn’t thought he even liked kids, and certainly never knew how much he wanted a little sister until she came along. He taught her what he knew about the world, and in return he learned the importance of patience and kindness.  Together, they discovered unconditional love. 

For a few wonderful months, life was good. There was a little hiccup in January of ‘84, when eleven accidentally knocked a vase off the counter in the kitchen. It was fine. She caught it with her mind before it hit the floor, then levitated it back upright on the counter. It was the first time she’d used her powers in front of Steve. Powers he had been completely unaware of.

He’d hyperventilated for a while, but once he recovered he explained to her that, ‘No sweetie, I didn’t know you could do that, but it’s fine. I promise. No, I'm not afraid of you. It’s just another part of you, and I love who you are.’

It was another turning point for them, a catalyst that compelled her to explain more about where she came from. What sort of things they did to her at the lab, and she finally told him all about Papa and the other children. 

Steve had never pushed her on any of it, happy to just keep her safe, and wait until she was ready to talk. Once she did? Well, he was fucking livid. It was all he could do not to go to the newspapers, or Chief Hopper, and blow the whole thing wide open. Hell, he would have found the place himself and burnt it to the ground if he didn’t know for a fact that there were other kids living inside. 

In the end, he did nothing. Too afraid that if he was caught, or worse, there would be no one who knew about El, or where she was. There would be no one to take care of her.

-

It was all his fault. He should have known better. It was his job to take care of her, and he had failed in that task spectacularly. It was spring break 1984, Easter Sunday. He’d just wanted to take her out to breakfast, something he could remember doing with his own parents for the holiday when he was young. Back when they at least pretended to give a shit about him. 

They were as safe about it as they could have been. He picked a small restaurant two towns over, where no one would recognize them. She looked so happy when she smiled at him over her massive stack of waffles.

He didn’t see it for what it was, when the two nondescript white work vans pulled into the parking lot of the diner. Movies had him envisioning a legion of fancy black town cars pulling up on him one day, a swarm of dark suits surrounding him, demanding to know where the girl was. He should have known that Papa would be a bit more subtle.

The bell above the main entrance door dinged as a new customer entered. El looked up reflexively at the sound and her eyes went wide. It was the only warning Steve had before a tall man with white hair and an impeccably tailored gray suit slid into the booth next to him.

“Hello, Eleven. You’re looking well.”

Steve watched as she curled in on herself. Turning back into the little girl he found in the woods right before his eyes. 

“Papa.” She gasped, bottom lip trembling.

The man turned to look at Steve. “I’m Dr. Brenner. Now, don’t go getting any big ideas, young man. I have people on every door to this place. You’ll never make it to that pretty car of yours in time, and I can assure you that if you try, they will not hesitate to... deal with the situation.”

Steve froze, not remotely prepared for this scenario. He didn’t know what to do and was scared of making a misstep. He wasn’t afraid for himself, he didn’t care what happened to him, but he was terrified for El, and the possibility of losing his sister forever. 

“Here’s what's going to happen.” Brenner continued. “Eleven is going to leave this place with me, right now. You, Mr. Harrington, yes I know all about you, are going to go back to your life and forget that any of this ever happened. If you so much as think about telling anyone what you’ve seen, we will know, and we will come for you.”

“I’m not going to just let you take her.” Steve protested, heart pounding.

“You don’t have a say in the matter.”

“If you take her then you’ll have to take me too!” Steve raised his voice a little too loudly, drawing the attention of the other diners. 

“That’s not an option.” Brenner hissed. “I have no need for someone like you”

Steve lowered his voice to a whisper, knowing that angering the man further wasn’t going to help. “I’m not leaving her. I’ll die first. You’ll have to kill me right here and now in front of all these people. Do you really want to make that big of a scene?”

Steve could tell the man was considering it. “Please.“ He begged. “I'm sure you can find some use for me. I’ll do anything.”

Brenner sighed. “Very well. You will both follow me outside. Leave your car keys on the table, Steven, you won’t be needing them.”

The man slid out of the booth, threw more cash than necessary on the table, and walked out the door.

Steve scrambled out of his seat at the same time El did, and they collided in a desperate embrace. She was shaking, crying. Steve ran his fingers through her short curls. 

“I'm sorry El, I'm so sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you here.”

She looked up at him, blinking through tears. “It’s not your fault, they would have found me eventually, one way or another.”

“I’ll get us out of this somehow, I promise.”

She took a small step away from him and shook her head. “No, Steve. You have to let him take me. Only me. You have a life, parents, a family.”

He shook his head, taking her small hand in his. “You are my family El. I’m not leaving you. We’re in this together. You and me, always.”

Chapter 3

@penny00dreadful @buckleybarnes @steddie-there @yeahhhh-suga @goinsteddie @brbsoulnomming @the-s-is-silent @paintsplatteredandimperfect @estrellami-1 @herebedragons404 @epiclazershark @iaminmultiplefandoms @adaed5 @mentallyundone @hardboiledleggs @hotshot9 @manda-panda-monium

[thestobingirlie]

Somewhat tangentially related to that other ask but I wish fandom would just acknowledge that Eddie is also bully in his own right and just because he's antagonist towards jocks doesn't mean they deserve it by virtue of being jocks (no matter how much fandom likes to pretend it's warranted because Eddie is bullied himself- this is nowhere near canon and I'd go so far as to say it goes against canon if we're basing it off of Eddie's own behavior) and beyond all that; like the other asker and yourself said Eddie isn't just antagonizing jocks! He openly scorns band kids, geeks and pretty much everyone that isn't his specific brand of nerd which is not about academics so much as nerdy interest like fantasy and "non-conformist" music.

I put that in quotations because Eddie is actually probably the one that buys into the whole high school hierarchy spiel more than any other character on the show; by setting himself up as such an anti-establishment non conformist (all within the high school setting mind you we see nothing to make me believe his ideals go beyond that setting and it makes sense to me considering he's a Peter Pan archetype stuck in a state of arrested development- but I digress) because he sets himself up in such a way that his entire persona is built off of the abject refusal to adhere to societal expectations he's by and large helping to perpetuate them. He's cosplaying this attitude more than living by it because the societal norms still very much dictate how he views himself and how he approaches others.

Ironically Steve is the real deal in this regard by shucking what others expect from him and living his own life the way he wants it divorced from the excepted norms he used to let dictate him as late as mid s3 while changing the things he didn't like about himself behaviorally while still retaining his core personality and interests without the need to revise himself fully.

But because he doesn't have an alt style or interests that go against the mainstream, fandom refuses to see him in this light. He also doesn't let his new friends change his own interests nor expect them to change theirs for him.

I guess this rant makes me sound like I don't like Eddie but I do! I think fandom Eddie is entirely separate from canon Eddie however, to the point where his only recognizable qualities are his interests and aesthetic. Fandom really seems to martyr him in that regard and fully drink his kool-aid which is hilarious because it's largely performative with no substance lmao (even the "woe is me hunt the freak huh 🥺" falls flat narratively when a whole ass dead girl was found in his home).

I think the duplicitous nature of his personality and his hypocrisy (while still fully being a good guy! If you ignore the whole uh selling hard core drugs to a 17/18 year old girl who clearly never did them before thing) I think it's this dual nature and slightly shady actions while still having a caring heart and good intentions is what makes him a good character and we don't get to see that hardly ever with the way a laaaarge portion of fandom worships at his freak alter.

god, beautifully written. i agree with every single point. honestly, you anons just know how to word exactly what i’m feeling.

yes! eddie pretends like he rejects societal ideals, but he just reinforces them to the next generation. he’s built his life on being the freak, he plays it up to get attention, and to rile up his classmates. i honestly think eddie won’t know who he is post high school. which is, like you said, ironically the way the fandom tries to portray steve. but we see that he’s much more secure in himself and his life than eddie. does he have everything figured out? of course not, he’s 18!! but he knows a hell of a lot more than eddie.

but because he isn’t a nerdy outcast, the fandom would have us believe that he actually hates his life and who he is, and secretly doesn’t want to be a jock. fanon steve is honestly way more like canon eddie than i think the fandom wants to admit.

(and yeah, chrissy is found dead in his home. people aren’t just witch hunting eddie for no reason lmao)

all this is what makes canon eddie an actual interesting character!!! and the fact he (and steve) are entirely stripped of these characteristics is one of the reasons that i just can’t vibe with the fandoms rendition of steddie.

[atmilliways]

Wrong On The Money (1-3)

parts 1, 2, & 3 of ?? | 888 words | Teen+

Blackmail fic on Ao3 | on tumblr

Summary:

Wayne is sick and they don't have the money for the treatment he needs. Eddie, desperate and spread thin between school, a part time job, and dealing, spots Steve outside of a gay club and opts for blackmail. Steve, who has heard about Wayne through Dustin... just sort of lets him.

I started writing this while Ao3 is down. Haven't quite finished it yet, but I've got 6.7k written so far, so I should be able to do daily posts for at least a while!

Now also posted on Ao3.

Quick note, if it helps anyone who might be hit too close to home by Wayne's serious but relatively brief health scare. First, he's going to be fine. I love Wayne, I wouldn't do that to him. Second, Dustin's mind goes straight to cancer when he hears that it's serious serious, but Wayne's illness is never specified. The only symptoms described are basically a cough and general weakness/fatigue.

1.

Dustin is really upset one day after school, the day he tells Steve about his dad. 

Steve had never asked, alright? It was family shit, and that kind of thing was. . . . Well, not sacred, he can’t even think that and keep a straight face, but definitely private. There could’ve been any number of reasons why Mr. Henderson wasn’t around. 

Turns out it was cancer.

And . . . it’s not insensitive to wonder, right? Steve doesn't know if it’s an anniversary or if someone’s been giving him shit at school about not having a dad or something. So, after a few bumbling questions about why this is upsetting him now, an explanation comes tumbling out.

The leader or president or whatever of the nerd club Dustin joined at the start of the year had to cancel their game this week. “Eddie never cancels, Steve,” Dustin insists, eyes red from crying and voice gone all squeaky. “And we were giving him shit about it, we all were, even the upperclassmen guys, and he. . . he j-just broke, Steve. Said his uncle is r-really sick, bad sick, and I know what that means. They don’t have the money for treatment. He’s Eddie’s only family, and he’s probably going t-to. . . .”

Steve regrets dropping Robin off at her house first today. She might not know what to say either, but at least they’d be in this together. “Dust, that’s. . . . That’s awful.”

Turns out he doesn’t have to say anything else, because Dustin thumps against him and bawls his eyes out. 

2.

“It was awful, Robs,” Steve says, rubbing a hand over his eyes as he talks into the phone. “I haven’t seen him like that since after Starcourt, when we had to tell him about Hop.”

Robin’s wince is audible in her reply. “Yeah, that's. . . . That’s pretty bad.”

“Yeah.” He heaves a sigh, hoping it’ll get some of the constricted feeling out of his chest. It doesn’t.

“Steve? Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” It’s just, he hates it. Hated it then and hates it now, because both times there’s no way for him to jump between Dustin and this thing. “Everything was starting to sort of feel okay again, and then suddenly there's Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson and his uncle, who I’ve never even seen in my life—”

“It’s not about the Munsons, Steve,” Robin says gently. “You and Dustin have that ‘you die I die’ thing. He’s like your kid brother who annoys the shit out of you, but you love him to death anyway. And right now he’s sad but you can’t do anything to help.”

Lifting his face from his hand, Steve looks around the room. He’s on the big comfortable couch in his big fucking house with too many rooms, all empty except for this one. His parents are never home, always away on business trips that got way more frequent after Barbara Holland disappeared from a party he’d hosted. They send money—not an allowance, not since he didn’t get into any of the colleges he’d applied to. But the utility bills are always paid up, and a gardener still comes around to do lawn maintenance every other week.

He wonders how the cost of maintaining a house they don’t live in compares to the cost of whatever kind of treatment Munson’s uncle needs.

Doesn’t let himself wonder if it would make a difference, but he knows that treatments don’t always work. It hadn’t, apparently, for Dustin’s dad.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees heavily. “I know.”

3.

The nice thing about being done with high school and working weekends at a shitty retail job is, Steve can do whatever he wants on some weekdays. As long as he doesn’t have a shift that starts before noon the next day, anyway. Which he doesn’t.

So, a few days after Dustin’s revelations, Steve drives up to the nearest outskirts of Indy. Eventually he ends up in one of those clubs that he and Robin have been researching how to find.

He tells himself that he’s scoping it out before he brings her, but he wants to get lost for a while. Empty his head out of things he can’t do a damn thing about—the Upside Down, the monsters, the Russians, the Munsons, the memories of Dustin crying and, just for funsies, of Nancy calling him bullshit. Because that’s always somewhere in the mix, these days.

Fill it back up with music and movement. Not with drinks, because he still has to get himself back to Hawkins in one piece.

He goes and he dances and he sweats. Sometimes guys dance with him, and Steve goes with it. Who cares? No one knows him here, it doesn’t mean anything.

Turns out, it does mean something after all. 

When Steve finally stumbles his way out of the club, he finds none other than Eddie Munson sitting on the hood of the Beemer he’s been buying off of his parents in installments. (Their idea. It’s a ‘pay for it or lose it’ kind of deal.) 

The buzzing under his sweat-tacky skin—satisfaction at successfully getting out of his head—fizzles out. He keeps walking and stops when he draws even with the car. 

Eddie Munson, looking tired and prickling with restless energy, and exhales a cloud of smoke and vapor into the chilly air. “Hey, man. What’s a nice boy like you doing in a place like this?”

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

A/N: I had to write this. I needed Nancy and Steve being parental as well as Steve being bitchy. Everyone's relationship is up in the air except for Robin and Joyce's. Joyce is clearly with Hopper. Robin is always with Vickie because people hate on Vickie for no reason. Anyways, love to all, no matter what you like. Unless you like Billy, then I'm judging you harshly.

Steve was already annoyed because his date backed out at the last minute, but now he was even more annoyed when he found out from Robin that they wouldn't be at Lucas's game. Just for one night, Lucas wasn't asking them to abandon the game completely but to take one night off. Don't they understand that this is what Lucas was afraid of? Not being able to be a jock and to be able to still be a nerd? Of losing his friends? One night wasn't an unreasonable thing to ask for. Sometimes, being a good friend means supporting them when they need it even if you don't like it or understand it, not all the time but sometimes. How do they expect Lucas to compromise for them when they need it if they never do it for him?

Steve was too in his own head to notice that someone else was striding towards the drama room. He arrived at the doors at the same time as Nancy. Their hands reached for the door handle. They stared at each other, and for a moment, Steve had forgotten what he was doing. Nancy looked so beautiful when she wasn't angry at him. Oh, she was angry. Was she angry at the same thing he was? Oh, right, Mike, Dustin, and Erica.

"You mad at the kids for abandoning and replacing Lucas, too?" Steve asked.

"Yes!" Nancy exclaimed.

"Well, let's do this together then, shall we?" Steve asked.

They opened the doors, causing them to bang loudly against the walls. Nancy and Steve stormed in, their hands on their hips.

"Hey, assholes!" Steve and Nancy exclaimed in unison.

They paused and looked at each other in surprise for a moment before turning back to them.

"Oh my God! They're together and they're both pissed!" Dustin shrieked.

"You're damn right we're pissed!" Steve yelled.

"Lucas asked for one night for you guys to be there to support him, and you couldn't give him that?" Nancy asked.

"It's not our fault Lucas went to the dark side!" Mike exclaimed.

"The dark side? So, all people who play basketball are Darth Vader?" Steve asked.

"You know Darth Vader?" Dustin asked.

"Of course, I do! I can be a little nerdy sometimes!" Steve exclaimed.

"He reads comic books, too!" Nancy yelled.

"What? Why didn't you say?!" Dustin asked.

"Whenever I try to join in on your conversations, you brush me off and scoff!" Steve yelled, and then his eyes went soft, as well as his voice. "Do you guys just think of me as a dumb jock who gives you free rides?"

"Nice mom guilt," Nancy whispered to him.

"Thanks," Steve whispered back.

"I mean, really, everything that Steve’s done for you. . .for Lucas, especially in Starcourt. He saved Dustin and Erica's life!" Nancy exclaimed. "And do you just think that all people who enjoy basketball are assholes?!"

"Nice dad guilt," Steve whispered.

"Thanks," Nancy whispered back.

"Hey, Mike, didn't you promise Will that you wouldn't join another party?" Steve asked, snapping his fingers at him.

"That's right, I mean, if D&D means so much to you, then why are you sitting here in another party?" Nancy asked.

Mike opened his mouth and closed it again, unable to find the answer. Dustin looked incredibly guilty. Good, Steve thought. Eddie scowled and stood up.

"Who gives a fuck about some stupid laundry basket game?" Eddie asked. "This is when we play. It's not our fault that Sinclair chose the wrong game."

"Lucas gives a fuck about that laundry basket game!" Steve snapped. "He wasn't asking for you to give up the game completely, he was asking for one fucking night so he that he wouldn't feel like a freak for enjoying both games! He wanted his friends to accept him for that and for someone who stood up on a fucking table to preach against forced conformity - yeah, Robin told me about that - here you are trying to force Lucas and his friends to only comform to D&D!"

Steve was pleased to see that Eddie looked like he had been slapped in the face.

"That's not - I mean - ," Eddie stuttered.

"Yeah, Robin was pretty much agreeing with you until you went after science and band," Steve said. "I mean, are you telling me that all of you have the same exact interests? Do you all like the same food? Do you all like the same music?"

"The problem isn't basketball. The problem is that every group has their assholes but they also have their good people, too," Nancy said, looking at Steve.

"And sometimes people can crossover into other groups," Steve said. "It happens."

"We didn't think Lucas actually enjoyed basketball," Dustin said.

"Yeah, he told us he wanted to stop being bullied," Mike said.

"Hm, and which group was he talking about?" Steve asked.

"What happens when one of your players gets sick?" Nancy asked.

"Well, yeah, we postpone then because it's a good excuse," Gareth said.

"A championship is a good excuse," Nancy replied. "But it's nice to know that you guys aren't completely heartless."

"Heartless?! We're not the ones beating the shit out of people because of what they like!" Eddie snapped.

"No, you're just letting them know that they're replaceable if they decide they need to explore other options," Steve said, and then he scoffed. "Can't believe I ever had a crush on you."

Eddie's eyes widened as the whole table gasped dramatically.

"You're fucking with me," Eddie said.

"No, I'm not," Steve said. "I like men and women. I know that liking more than one thing is a hard concept for you to grasp."

"That's not, I mean, you can like whatever you want, but liking basketball and D&D is different than that," Eddie frowned.

"I don't see how," Nancy said, shaking her head. "Do you guys play every day of the week?"

"Well, no," Eddie said.

"Well, if you don't play every day of the week, then it's not going to be the end of the world if you wait just one more day?!" Nancy asked.

"Okay, enough of this. I don't care if you guys come or not, but Dustin, Erica, and Mike, you guys are coming to the game to support your friend," Steve said clapping his hands.

"But - " Mike started to say.

"You heard your mother! I mean, your Steve! You heard Steve!" Nancy exclaimed, shaking her head again.

Mike and Dustin ducked their heads as they gathered their things. Erica held her head up high as she did the same thing.

"I didn't do anything wrong, they tricked me!" Erica exclaimed.

"Erica!" Nancy scolded.

As they were leaving with the kids, Steve overheard one of them - Frankie? - speak up.

"I wasn't ever going to say anything, but I, uh, kind of like watching basketball," Frankie said.

"Fine, fine! We'll go to the goddamn game," Eddie said.

It didn't take long for them to catch up with the group.

"Decided to join us assholes, huh?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, look, you were right, and Nancy was right. . .it's not going to be the end of the world if we wait one more day," Eddie said. "And of course, I know that Sinclair isn't going to turn out like those assholes especially if he has the support of his friends."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Steve said.

"Yeah, that's true. . . So, you have a crush on me?" Eddie asked.

"Had. As in past tense," Steve replied.

"Yeah, I suppose I deserve that," Eddie said. "I am curious to know if you are seeing anyone, though."

"I just tore you a new one," Steve said, looking at him in confusion.

"I know," Eddie grinned.

"Well, I'm kind of seeing someone," Steve said.

"Kind of?"

"It's on and off."

"Is he being intentionally vague?" Eddie asked Nancy.

"I can't say," she grinned.

"By the way, was I little too bitchy in there?" Steve asked Nancy.

"No, you were perfect. I know someone else who would have loved it like a certain someone did," Nancy said.

"Okay, you two aren't bad assholes, just annoyingly vague assholes," Eddie said, and they both giggled. "This is going to be a long game."

The game wasn't so bad as Eddie had thought it was going to be, especially when Chrissy jumped up and waved excitedly at the sight of him. He eventually got caught up with it when Lucas was sent in to play. He was glad he did come when he saw the pure joy on the young man's face when he saw almost everyone he cared about was there to cheer him on. When Lucas scored the winning shot, Eddie hugged Nancy and Steve both tightly. He needed to be reminded every once in a while that it's not just about him and what he likes. He started Hellfire to give lost sheep like Lucas a place to belong, and he almost ruined that because of a few bad eggs who happened to like basketball. Besides, people needed to know that just because you have different interests doesn't mean you have to be enemies.

"Thank you for making me come," Eddie told them. "I would have regretted it."

A week or so later. . .

"So, Nance, what were you saying about it not being the end of the world if I postponed the game for a day?" Eddie asked with a cheeky grin as he laid in his hospital bed.

"We stopped it before it could happen," Nancy rolled her eyes. "Do you regret going to Lucas's basketball game?"

Eddie grinned as he thought about the pure joy on Lucas's face.

"Nah!"

"Well, no one stayed dead, so there's that!" Chrissy grinned.

"Well, Hopper's still dead," Steve said.

"Oh, yeah," Chrissy frowned.

Suddenly, there came a knocking at Eddie's hospital room door. Robin got up to answer it.

"Steve, you were wrong. Hopper is very much alive!" Robin exclaimed. "Holy shit!"

Robin let Hopper and Joyce into the room. Moments later, Vickie skidded in behind them.

"Hey, guys, did you hear? Someone said they saw Chief Hopper wandering the hospital!" Vickie said and glanced at Hopper for a moment. "Hiya, Chief! Isn't that crazy, Robin? He's supposed to be dead, right?!"

"It takes her a moment," Robin said. "She gets there eventually."

"Oh my God! . . . Eddie, is that your mom?"

[love--t]

The Lonely Hearts Club

Are you lonely too?

Pairing: Punk!Wooyoung X Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff, Enemies to lovers, Battle of the bands, Slow burn

Warnings: red head wooyoung, mean wooyoung, swear words. Mention of ice cream.

Please tell me if I'm missing something

a/n: Please like and reblog, Feedback is highly appreciated, Thank you for reading :)

(Has not been proof read)

Track Two: Graveyard

You shook your head and sighed.

"you've got to be kidding me?" You questioned. Sana stood next to you. Big smile on her face, she just nodded at you.

"Battle of the bands. Someone has to beat We the kings this year" She stated, sipping at her milk shake, as she walked away from where you were observing the poster.

You scoffed. Following behind her.

"Right, and it's going to be me and this imaginary band"

She whipped around, making you bump into her.

"not just any band y/n '' she raised her eyebrow at you with a smirk playing on her face. "The band of the century".

"look i know you've had this fantasy of being in a band bu-"

You looked around and observed the stores in front of you as people came in and out.

"What do we need at the music store?" You questioned

"Song Mingi"

"Song Mingi? The nerd?" You said, shocked at the quiet boy she's suggesting

"The same Mingi that projectile vomited in front of everyone in 6th grade?"

Peeking from behind the guitars, staring at said boy as he helped a family buy a piano for their child.

"Yes, dear cousin, Song Mingi, the same one who graffitied on the teachers car for senior day"

You gasped, not believing a word that came out of her mouth.

"You mean fix on?"

She nodded.

"Trust me he's your guy, straight A's, strict korean parents have made him play cello since he was five years old, he's basically a prodigy" she threw her arm around you, her body weight against yours "but it wasn't till he heard John Entwistle from The Who play his solo on My generation did he change his mind and started to play bass behind there back"

You stared at her a bit creeped out at how she knew all this information.

"If his parents found out they'd probably kill him" Sana said, turning towards you.

"Now, how do you plan to get him into the band?"

"Me?" you Shouted a little too loud, making the girl shush you.

"Yes. You. Who else?"

You gaped at her like a goldfish out of water.

"This was your idea not mine"

"Yes but it's your band"

"My band? you were the one who suggested -"

Your fight was broken by a deep voice coughing, making you both look at him comically.

"Can I help you ladies?" Questioned the Tall boy.

"Well that didn't go so bad,did it?"

You glared at the girl from her seat across from yours. thinking back on the fool you made yourself in front of Mingi 

"He probably thinks i'm a freak"

"I don't think he minds, he's pretty cute, have i dated him before?"

You were too lost in your thoughts to respond to her, as she scrolled her phone, probably looking for the next member.

Having a bassist meant having a guitarist and that meant having a drummer as well.

You Gasped snapping up with a big smile on your face.

"We need to go to wendys!"

"Why are we at Wendys?" Sana questioned.

The sun had set, making the night chilly, as you both stared up at the neon sign of the fast food restaurant.

"Because, dear cousin, i know exactly who could be our guitarist"

You pulled the door open, the smell of fried food hitting you all at once and the sound of Steve vai shredding on the guitar landed on your ears.

You smiled to yourself, staring at your only other friend in this beat up town, frying burgers.

"Yunho!"

The giant looked up from his work giving you his big puppy eye smile.

"Y/n!" he eagerly said

Jeong Yunho. High school dropout. legendary guitar solos at underground shows. Doesn't know what to do with his life but seems to be happy where he is.

The boy jumped over the counter in a rush, bringing you in for a big hug.

"Do you want some ice cream?" the boy murmured, mushing his face into your hair.

The moment you met Yunho it was as if everything had fallen into place, you guys were soulmates, not the romantic type, but your brother/ sister type of love.

" Yes please with sprinkles on top" you beamed, relaxing at the counter as you watched the boy make your ice cream.

He cleared his throat.

"So what brings you here Tiny?" he questioned, broad back towards you

" Well me and-"

You looked around for the pink haired girl, as the sound of the door opening rang out.

"Sorry y/n Mina had called and said she had a fashi- on emergency" she sighed out, stopping in her tracks, her eyes glazing over with a dreamy look in them.

You turned to see your ice cream cone crushed in Yunho's big hands, ice cream dripping down onto the floor as he stared back the same dreamy haze in his soft eyes.

"H-Hi" He Stuttered out, whipping his free hand on his apron, pushing you slightly out of the way.

"Hello" Sana Said nervously, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, shaking hands with the boy, both gasping at the contact.

It was as if two magnets were drawing each other in, they could not take their eyes off of each other.

"umm guys?" you snapped , making them both stare at you, as you stared back eyebrows furrowed at what you had just witnessed.

"Are you okay?"

They let go of each other's hands, hearing yeses and a few shy giggles come from them.

"Umm, shall we sit down and talk?" you scratched at your head, not sure what to do.

Yunho and Sana sat down across from each other, Sana fluttering her eyelashes at the tall boy who stared back in awe, knuckles to his rosy cheeks.

"Getting to the point i need a guitarist to play in-"

"i'll do it" the boy answered, the love sick look on his face not leaving once.

"You will?"

"You will?".

Did you really just witness your cousin and your best friend fall in love with each other? and at first sight?

"Okay then" you said getting up from the booth.

"i'll wait for you outside, uhh Yunho Text me"

only a hum came from the duo making you roll your eyes at them.

Who needed love anyways when you had music

Right?

.

.

.

"Well"? You smirked, as the girl got into her car, a new aura surrounding her. She sighed with a big smile on her face turning the car on as she drove out of the empty parking lot.

Where is he? sana questioned

Yeosang, the boy's bored eyes stared back into hers through the glass of the concession stand.

"Out back like always" he muttered.

"What are we doing" you asked, hesitantly

As she pushed open the emergency door, letting you out first, She just smiled at you with mischief in her eyes.

"Getting you a drummer".

You heard the sounds of cheers and beers being cracked open, the parking lot to the town's cinema was a very famous hang out spot for those who enjoyed illegal activity and just as you expected everyone who was someone in this town was here.

A red haired boy pushed himself up onto one of the trash cans, letting his leather jacket hang around his elbows, showing off the different tattoos he had scattered on his arms, air guitaring to the song that played off the speaker.

You didn't need to look at the owner of that high pitched laugh to know exactly who it was.

The infamous Jung wooyoung.

The red haired male has always been very outgoing, not shying away from a challenge or the chance to make someone else laugh.

You stopped in your tracks, the thought of leaving Sana alone crossed your mind.

"What the hell are we doing here?" You whispered, harshly.

She knew very well you didn't like being near the type of crowd she's involved with but she just smirked at you, not expecting the next words to pierce you with hurt.

"Just because you and San stopped talking to Wooyoung doesn't mean I did"

and just like that she ran towards the redhead screaming his nickname for everyone to hear. The boy perked up at the mear call of his name, a gorgeous white pearly smile on his tanned skin as he twirled the girl around, picking her up off of the ground.

Rolling your eyes, you walked slowly towards the duo drying your sweaty palms on your skirt. Already knowing how this interaction is going to go.

"Well, well, well if it isn't my favorite girl"

You looked up at a split hair dyed boy, his small hand intertwined with a sharp eyed boy.

"Kim Hongjoong!" You beamed, relieved that at least you knew a face.

The world suddenly became a blur for the red head as he locked his cold brown eyes onto you. He could suddenly hear his heart pounding in his ears, his hands sweating and shaking from familiar feelings hitting him after all those years.

The boy scanned you, hiding his disbelief that it was really you, the years doing wonders to you. You weren't that child he used to make mud cakes with. Now, you are a woman.

He watched as Hongjoong hugged you, making him clench his fist, his anger bubbling up, preparing to burst at any moment. But Sana calling you over shook him out of his stupor.

"How about you love? How's this shitty town been treating you?" Hongjoong asked taking a drag of his cigarette

"Well i se-"

Sana called out to you, making everyone stare at you. Not liking the attention, you put your hood up to hide your blushing cheeks.

You bid your goodbyes to the two boys before you, Hongjoong telling you that he'll call you for future producing sessions.

You stared straight into Wooyoung's cold eyes as they stared back at you without emotion, as you made your way towards the excited female side.

"Wooyoung this is y-"

"I know who she is" he deadpanned, taking a cigarette out of his leather jacket

Sana hesitantly smiled, not expecting for the conversation to go this way, She just smiled at you and grabbed your arm, trying to comfort you.

"Well the reason I have brought you both here is because, we're entering battle of the bands and we need a drummer and-"

The boy lit the cigarette, not once taking his eyes off of you

"No"

His reaction didn't surprise you. Wooyoung stopped having any affection for you a long time ago, Sana whined and pouted at him.

You were annoyed at the situation that she had gotten you into.

"You're wasting your time Sana" you scoffed, not backing down. Your mother once taught you to stare down your enemies and that was what you were trying to do, but who are we kidding this Jung wooyoung scares you.

"If it isn't Miss goodie tooshoos " he chuckled "can you finally talk without stuttering?"

He taunted you by walking closer, making you take a little step back as he leaned down to your height, blowing the smoke of the cigarette he was smoking into your face, making you give a little cough as you waved your hand.

you bit down on your tongue.

"What?" He questioned tilting his head to the side, feigning innocence.

"Cat got your tongue?"

You clenched your fist at his words, the boy playing with your emotions

"Wooyoung don't be a prick" Sana Scolded, pushing him back from you.

"You haven't changed a bit" you retaliated

The last thing you expected was laughter to escape the males lips.

" Yeah?" He questioned, getting even closer to your face, staring down at your lips as he bit down on his.

“After years of friendship. That's how you greet an old friend?” he chuckled, turning his back towards you, about to walk away when your next words make hip stop in his tracks.

Maybe you should’ve just kept your mouth shut.

“You’re no friend of mine”

The boy sniffed, turning towards you with a cocky grin on his face, tongue poking at the inside of his cheek.

He once again leaned down towards you, now lips at your ear, as you tensed up from the closeness of the male.

"Well you're still that shy, nervous kid, who won't get anywhere because she doesn't know how to ask for what she wants y/n" he whispered eyes meeting yours.

"It looks like we both haven't changed."

You breath hitched at his words, he stood to his full height, taking one more puff of his cigarette, he dropped it right in front of you smashing it with his black combat boots.

You stared down at the asphalt, hands in tight fists, shaking at his words, as he walked away leaving Sana and you stunned at his attitude.

"I'm sor-"

"Don't" you snapped tears finally falling. "Sana just leave me alone please"

You wiped your tears with the back of his gray hoodie and made your way home.

That's not the Wooyoung you grew up with.

[mistysharks]

Continuation of my Cis!Swap Steddie thoughts (thank you for all the likes <3<3 )

Ok so the thing we (or at least I) love so much about Steve and Eddie are their dualities, right? Steve, with his fucking fantastic character arc and Eddie being a secret big softie In this verse, I think it goes a little like this Stevie falls in love. Instead of Nance, though, its Jonathan. Her reasoning for dating him, when Carol asks in that sneering way of hers, is simple. Hes hot. He does exactly what she tells him, and she likes being his muse or whatever. For his photos. The real reason is that he's kind to her, and Stevie doesn't know what to do with that. Jonathan does like her too, in his own way. He's not blind, he knows she's beautiful, and he's always had a thing for powerful women. and so, he tries his very best to ignore her mean streak. make excuses. They sleep together for the first time the same night that Will goes missing, same kind of party, same kind of tension, and Jonathan understandably goes a little crazy with guilt. The rest goes as you might remember, Jonathan and Nancy start to investigate, and Stevie doesn't mean to be distant, but also has no idea what to do. She's never known how to be the support, since nobody's ever done that for her. not really. The local cinema still ends up advertising Nancy the slut wheeler, and in the alley, its Nancy who gets called the slur. Nancy who starts the fight, though its a quick one. A clean break of Stevies nose, well deserved, well remembered. Her nose never quite heals right, a little crooked now, a constant reminder of the imperfections of the Queen of Hawkins High. Much later, when Jonathan finally calls bullshit, he does it sober, but it doesn't hurt any less. So, Stevie tries to be better. Taps into an older-sister attitude she never knew she had, and becomes the protector and best friend of a group of wild kids with way too much trauma for their age. When Dustin asks her how to talk to girls, she gives the same advice though - act like you don't care - Because it had always worked on her, after all. ---- Eddie makes friends by being ruthless, too. Fights tooth and nail to be "one of the boys" with the local nerds, pulls down their gatekeeping walls one by one by showing them that she's not just some girl. She's Eddie the freak Munson, and she's here to destroy whatever monster you throw her way, be it DND or the corridors of high school. With her leather jackets and spiked bracelets, people slowly get the message. Hellfire Club isn't her idea - but she worms herself into the group by being crass and a little stupid and most of all entertaining, pulling out all the stop she learned from drama class, and it works. And its great! She's finally found some role models that she actually cares to look up to, who welcome her in as well. With these guys, she can make tolkien references and goblin jokes and they don't just get it, they laugh.

Soon, they even forget that she's not one of the boys. In fact, they forget it so well that they start talking about girls, even when she's right there. And she doesn't hate it at first, cause yeah, there's definitely been some stirrings of trouble associated with pretty girls for her but she's not ready to have that thought yet only... She starts realizing that the nature of their talk, the way they joke? its... not kind. Its not that Eddie can't take a bit of swearing or crass talk or whatever, but its the way they talk about the girls, like they're not even people. Like they are either fantasies to leer at or bitches to scoff at and all she can think of is Chrissy Cunningham, who had smiled and told her she really liked the buzzcut. Who was the only one who had.

And if those really are the only options for a girl - hot or bitch, what the hell was she?

Part 3!

[tjmystic]

And another snippet that will eventually go into my Steddie fics.

(Under the cut for length):

He can’t believe he’s doing this. He cannot believe he’s doing this. This is a new low, even for him, he should just hang up and—

“Henderson residence, Claudia speaking!”

Steve rubs his fist against his eyes. “Heeeeeey, Mrs. Henderson!” he says, drawing on every ounce of charm he has and hoping he doesn’t sound drunk. “It’s—”

“Steve! How are you, sweetie? We missed you at Sunday dinner last week, you know you’re always welcome.”

“Thanks, ma’am. And sorry, I had some, uh… stuff. Come up.” He clears his throat. “Is Dustin around?”

“I think so. Just a moment.” He hears the staticky sound of her hand covering the receiver, but he’s done this before, he’s no stranger to Claudia Henderson’s voice. He manages to yank the phone from his ear just in time for her to scream, “Dusty, phone for you! It’s Steve!”

There’s some vague noise in the background, some slamming and stomping as Dustin probably puts away whatever dork project he’s working on at the moment. Steve usually finds himself smiling about that kind of shit, but not right now. Right now, all he can focus on is the pounding in his head, the way Dustin’s voice gets closer as he tells his mom thanks, the sound of him breathing heavily into the receiver.

That weight over his head gets heavier. He knows that sigh. It’s not the one where Dustin’s irritated and about to bitch about something, it’s the sigh he uses when he’s taking a deep breath because he’s about to launch into some nerd spiel. Which means he’s got two options: wait till the kid finishes, by which time he’ll have totally sobered up and definitely lost his nerve, or bite the freaking bullet.

As always, he does the stupid thing: he bites the freaking bullet.

“Dustin, I need to ask you some questions, and I need you to, like, not ask anything back or read too much into it. Okay?”

“Uh, not okay,” Dustin says, and Jesus Christ, Steve hates how he just chimes right in, like it’s normal for Steve to interrupt him before he can get the first word in. “Also, hi, Steve.”

Fuck, this kid’s attitude. “Hi, Dustin. Now, seriously, can I ask the goddamn question?”

“Technically, you did just ask a question.”

Steve groans and knocks his head into the wall. He should hang up. It’s not too late. He’ll just hang up, unplug the phone, and turn off the walkie so the kid can’t get ahold of him, and then he’ll say he was just drunk and talking out of his ass when Dustin comes over to investigate. It’s not like that last part’s a lie.

But he’s made it this far. And he’s gotta know.

No running, says a voice in his head. One that sounds like a weird combination of Eddie and his own younger self.

It doesn’t help at all. But he opens his mouth anyway.

“Dustin, I’m serious. And I really, really need you to not talk back.”

“‘Talking back’ is kiiiiiind of how a two-way conversation goes, Steve. And I can’t promise anything cause you still haven’t told me what any of this is about.”

“Can you just—pretend that you’re a decent person instead of an annoying little shit for once and try! Please, man! This is important!”

Fist clenched, he waits for the inevitable argument. He’s too tipsy to put up much of a fight, and he knows it. Dustin’s just gonna keep on and on and on like he always does, and Steve’s gonna cave, and then everything’s gonna be weird—

“Alright. What do you need to ask?”

Steve opens his mouth, then shuts it right back. Did… did Dustin just agree? Without arguing? Like, yeah, there was the initial thing, but that’s practically nothing for Dustin. This is… Steve doesn’t know how to… what—?

“Steve?”

Oh. Right. The kid’s still on the line.

He clears his throat, readjusts the phone.

“Yeah. Sorry. Still here. So, uh… you really like Suzie, right?”

“‘Like’ is an understatement, I adore her, I worship the very ground she—”

“Okay, got it. And—and before you met Suzie, you had a crush on Max, right?”

The answering groan is so loud Steve has to rip the phone from his ear again, suddenly reminded of just how much Dustin resembles his mom. “We’ve already gone over this, Steve, we don’t talk about that, it was a momentary lapse of—”

“Just answer the question!”

“Alright, yeah, fine, I had a little crush on Max for, like, a week! Happy now? And stop interrupting me!”

No, actually, he isn’t happy now. He keeps that part to himself, though. If it didn’t feel wildly irresponsible, he’d be throwing back scotch right now. Something about drinking in front of the kid, though, even over the phone, just feels… wrong.

“Yeah, sorry,” he sighs, rubbing at the wrinkle between his eyebrows. “So… so you definitely like girls. But, uh… you, like… you notice guys, right?”

Silence.

Steve swallows. “Not, like—like, all guys. Just, you know, some guys. Like, the ones who are attractive, or whatever.”

More silence.

“In—in movies, and stuff. Like that thing you guys weren’t supposed to see that I rented for you, the, uh—it—St. Elmo’s Fire, that’s the one! You ever just, like, stare at Rob Lowe in that scene where he’s got the saxophone, and the earring, and the—the tight shirt with his arms and—I mean, like—you know—Henderson?”

A door snaps shut. Steve’s stomach does a backflip. Or a front-flip. A stomach flip? Great, even in his head, he’s turning into Robin, it’s not enough that he has to do it out loud, too, this was such a stupid—

“Is this about Will?”

The phone drops from Steve’s hand. He thanks his quick reflexes for being able to catch it before it clatters to the ground. Granted, he fumbles it twice, but still.

Palms shaking, he pushes it back to his ear and hisses, “Will? What does this have to do with Will?”

“Nothing!” Dustin’s voice cracks on the second syllable, a sure tell that he’s lying. “Nothing at all, nope, who said anything about Will?”

“Uh, you did? Why—”

“So Rob Lowe! We were talking about Rob Lowe!”

[rybonucleic-ket]

queer coding: eddie munson - analysis (2.0)

---

Eddie's gay as fuck.

get comfy, we'll be here a while

hoping somebody actually reads because I spent a concerning amount of time on this :') I may be mentally unwell

PARALLEL

4x01 - Eddie and Chrissy's drug deal scene

now this scene is like, all of the material Edissy shippers use. but.

if you actually look at it

it parallels s3 Steve and Robin on the floor of the Russian base so fucking hard that you cannot tell me it wasn't intentional

like

~~~ 'how in the holy living fuck am I here with the King/Queen' ~~~

"I feel like I'm losing my mind right now, doing a drug deal with Chrissy Cunningham, the Queen of Hawkins High."

"I can't believe I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve 'the Hair' Harrington. It's just too trippy, man." [...] "The King of Hawkins High himself."

~~~ 'course you don't remember' ~~~

"Y'know, this isn't the first time we've, uh, hung out." [...] "I wouldn't remember me either, Chrissy!"

"Do you even remember me from that class?" [...] "Of course you don't."

~~~ 'but I do.' ~~~

"Middle school talent show. you were doing that thing, the thing you do. it was pretty cool."

Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you were always late."

LIKE

I'm so mad, Chrissy and Eddie could've been fruity besties like Rob n Steve

why the Suffer brothers gotta be like that

NON-CONFORMITY AND FRUITYNESS

4x01 - reasons for outcast

we're introduced to Eddie with him mocking the satanic panic surrounding D&D. the crack ass article reads:

"Studies have linked violent behavior to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even murder."

if you weren't aware, sodomy is a term used for various "crimes against nature", technically applying to any non reproductive sex, but largely referring to gay sex (I don't think anyone called straight people using condoms sodomy, like, ever) that stems from blatant religious homophobia. it comes from the story of Sodom, in the Bible, which actually was not about gay people at all. the term itself associates queerness with a lot of really bad shit with a high potential of triggering people, so you can look up the story of Sodom if you want to see the horrific extent to which religion has been twisted and weaponized.

now, D&D was primarily stigmatized in the eighties on the account of baseless, delusional satanic panic and the nerdiness of it, generally less about the game turning people gay.

but the fact that the article put "sodomy" in a "violent behavior" category next to human sacrifice and suicide, is an unfortunately accurate depiction of 80s homophobia. even so, considering that D&D making people gay was a less common delusion, it genuinely could've been left out by the Duffers. like, it's accurate, but not necessary to mention to catch the drift of the stigma around D&D. if it was one of the primary conspiracies, sure, but it wasn't. it was a conspiracy, but the fact that they included "sodomy" rather than any of the other less common conspiracies....hm.

anyway, anyway, back to Eddie. now, along with D&D, metal also had satanic panic delusions associated with it (and still does!). Eddie sits at a table full of D&D nerd metalheads, yet... he's Eddie 'the Freak' Munson. the freakiest of freaks. the most alienated of his friend group. which, I mean, makes it seem like there's another factor that makes him more of a freak in the eyes of Hawkins, Indiana. whatever could that be?

PARALLEL

Will Byers and Eddie Munson. if you look at it, they're bullied in very similar ways. s1 and s2, we're told and shown that the Party is seen as a group of outcasts, but Will is the capital F, most alienated, Freak. Will has been seen as different and condemned for being gay since he was a little kid. this observed queerness in Will is what makes him more outcast.

similarly, while in a group with the same interests he's condemned for, Eddie is THE Freak. the capital F, freakiest of freaks. as said before, looking at his friend group, there's not really an explanation unless Eddie has another factor people observe and condemn him for. considering he's got parallels with the only two confirmed gay characters in the series within the first episode he's introduced, it's very likely that factor is Eddie being gay.

RUNNING AWAY - QUEER SYMBOLISM AND WAYNE MUNSON

"There is no shame in running. Not today."

"When I see danger, I just turn heel and run. at least, that's what I've learned about myself."

"I didn't run away this time, right?"

Eddie talks a lot about running away from things that scare him. which, like, yeah love, who doesn't. but Eddie is so conscious of his tendency to run. mind you, almost every single character ran (or tried to) the first time they saw the upside down shit. honest to god, Eddie saw something incredibly horrifying, he didn't run away significantly more than anyone else, all things considered. he had to keep running or Jason was literally going to kill him. he was not exceptionally cowardly. why the hell is he so hung up on running away?

we know like, jack shit about Eddie's family. his dad might be in jail. his mom is never mentioned. all we know is his dad was a douche and he lives with his uncle. enter Wayne Munson!

4x02 - Wayne to Nancy, on Eddie

"My nephew, he may look dangerous," [...] "No matter what anyone says, and they will say things, believe you me. This wasn't Eddie." [...] "It's just...not in his nature."

4x05 - Wayne to Dustin, on Eddie

"I can't imagine we got anything to talk about. My nephew is innocent. He's still missing. I'll put up as many posters as I need until he's found."

Wayne is very well aware of the shit people talk about Eddie, and very adamant that he is a good person no matter what social expectations say of him. so, this is what we know about Eddie's family: his dad is a douche and Eddie no longer lives with him, and Wayne is cool and loves Eddie beyond what anyone else thinks of him, which is who Eddie lived with up until the witch hunt.

we obviously know very little about his family, and this is based on what very little we know, but. Eddie is insistent that he's cowardly for running. his father was an ass and he doesn't live with him anymore. Eddie lived with Wayne, who loves Eddie and gives zero fucks what society says about his nephew. it seems like Eddie lived with wayne for a while, but the amount of time he stayed with his uncle is unspecified. Wayne is persistently defensive of Eddie against those who think poorly of him.

so. this leads me to a few theories. a) Eddie's dad went to prison (Eddie discussed his dad being renowned for getting in trouble w Steve) and Eddie went to live with Wayne b) Eddie's old man said some nasty shit about him and Eddie ran away, living with the unanimously supportive Wayne.

both seem plausible, Eddie saying his dad taught him to steal cars as a kid, and Eddie being weirdly fixated on shame in running away, considering the vast majority of people would also run if they saw the shit he did, so running was genuinely not abnormal or cowardly.

if we take the second into account, I'd say whatever shit his dad did to make him run was probably homophobic. that's just a theory, though.

EDDIE AND NONCONFORMITY

as previously mentioned, Eddie is the capital F Freak of Hawkins high. while that treatment parallels Will, Eddie's response to it definitely doesn't. Will shrinks into himself in response to alienation, Eddie embraces his otherness like nobody else. Eddie is the most adamant supporter of rejecting the norm and bullshit social expectations.

4x01 - Eddie on conformity

"It's forced conformity. That's the real monster. That's what's KILLING THE KIDS!!"

what, pray tell, would cause such incredibly differing responses?

here's what I think. Will has like, a lot, a lot of fear of rejection. he tells Mike this explicitly. Will starts sobbing when Jonathan tells him he'll be there no matter what, which was absolutely Jonathan telling him he knew Will was gay and was supportive, I'm not gonna analyze the whole scene, but that was exactly what Will needed.

I am not, in any way, shape, or form, hating on Joyce or Jonathan, as a disclaimer. I would never. I do think that they didn't talk about Will being gay when they probably needed to. or say like, that's chill, we'd still love you if you were gay. some kind of explicit acceptance. understandably, that was for sure a difficult conversation to have in the eighties.

To contrast, Wayne, in 2/3 of his scenes, says Eddie is a good person regardless of any norms or opinions of others. such contrast between Will and Eddie's responses is because Eddie isn't really scared of rejection, and I think that stems from the extent to which Wayne voiced support.

FUN PART!!

drumroll...hanky code! hanky code is a signaling system used primarily by gay men that indicates sexual roles/preferences/kinks and so on. I think it's still in use today? but it was significantly more common in the 70s-90s. throughout season four, Eddie wore a black hanky in his back left pocket, which indicates domming in S&M. sure, it's possible it was a coincidence, but I doubt it. his hanky is consistently in his left pocket; so consistently, in fact, that in Max's trailer, he asks her for a bandana instead of using the one in his pocket. hmmm. but yeah I guess they could've accidentally made him gay and kinky. a freak of other sorts, if you will.

EDDIE AND STEVE

as much as I love steddie, this is not me saying they're canon. this is me showing you why Eddie was not demonstrating straight boy behavior.

so, the 80s had a much different culture around male friendship than we do today. platonically flirting with other guys was not a thing straight boys did. like sure, today all the jocks smack each other's asses and moan at each other, but that didn't happen in the 80s. not with straight guys. that was very strictly interpreted as gay. and homophobia was so potent then, straight guys would worry about seeming gay (fig. a: Jason's response to Erica implying he and Lucas were a thing) hence, a straight guy from the eighties would not voluntarily put his face inches away from that of a male friend while calling him "big boy".

[your-friendly-neighbourh00d-fag]

Asking 3, 4, 5, 6, and 17 for the stranger things ask game (Thats kind of a lot, sorry)

dont worry nons, i lovre doing these ask games :)

3- favourite scene in the entire series?

well that's hard. there are a. lot.

ok i'll do one as a viewer and one as a crazy insane totally un-normal cinematography nerd. as a viewer: holy fucking fuck fuck max's scene in dear billy. WHAT THE FUCKCKCJFJ. its cliche, i know, but the SONG, the LETTER, the LIGHTING, the DRAMATICS, thE FUCKIGN MEMORIES!?!@?1 MADWHEELER CAMEOO!:!>!>>!?@?!@/ IT S ITS SO FUCKING PERFECT AND I LOVE EVERYTHHIGN ABOUT IT. god its just. everything.

as a cinematography nerd and professional gay, THE FUCKING RAIN FIGHT. holy hell. where do i start. the dramatic lighting. the amazing fucking camera work. the car between them. the way we can feel will's absence after he leaves. the RAIN. mike wearing a yellow polo (pssst its will's colour pssst he's projecting) AND AND AND AND the colouring of the shot being blue because HE'S PROJECTING!!!! the way will tears up oh i want to hug him. the most iconic lines ever, confirmed gay will (if you have basic media literacy), and the way mike is jus. so distraguht. :((( (also compare it to mlvn break up its EMBARRASSING how much sadder it is lmaoooo)

4- saddest death for you?

well this one is hard. because does max count (i totally think she's coming back alive btw) im saying she counts. I CAN'T F-FEEL OR SEE ANYTHITGN. I DONT WANT TO DIE IM NOT READY. AFTER HER BEING FUCKING SUICIDAL AND ANXIOUS DISTANCING HERSELF FROM EVERYONE ALL SEASON AND HER CLUTCHING ON TO LUCAS SAYING SHE DOES WANT TO LIVE SHE DOES SHE DOESN'T WANT TO DIE SHE WANTS TO KEEP FIGHTING I- RHAHHHHHHHH. her arc is about finding the will to live and then they. fucking. killed her. (maybe). rahhghh.

max.

5. should eddie have died in s4 or should it have been steve?

eddie fulfilled his purpose. he absolutely should have died in s4 (as in, the options are eddie never existed and steve dies or what we got in the show, that bitch was not living till s5) and im happy with the choice. i think steve dying in season 5 is a much better choice, because we've bonded with him, we like him (despite his fans), and he means so much to the kids. it'll hit harder in s5. from a screenwriting perspective, i think steve dying in s5 is better than in s4.

but on the other hand, i dont think they should have emphasised dustin and eddie's relationship that much. it should have been like a 'he was innocent, he didn't deserve this' death and not a 'oh no my best friend/older brother figure' death. bc the second one is steve.

so yes, i like eddie dying in s4 as long as steve dies in s5

6. Death predictions in s5?

oh. haha. steve. he's a fucking goner. for sure. i think steve confesses his uNdYiNg LoVe to nance, dies, and then everyone freaks out bc 'omg st3ddie are in heaven together.'

i do think all of the kids are safe, re: will, mike, lucas, dustin, el and max. they have specifically said its ending happy, and any of the main party dying is not happy. that said im a little scared for dustin. just like. 1%. if you told me one of the kids was out, i think its him. but im pretty sure they're all good.

robins safe, #diversity, nance is safe #love triangle security, argyle might be in danger, but he kind of doesn't feel important enough to die (i love him but dude doesn't even have a last name ffs), if steve dies then jonathan is safe, but if steve lives, jon's in trouble,

i think both joyce and hop are safe, hop especially, they did not fake him out in s3, then have him be gone for alllll of s4 just to kill him off in s5. fucking pointless (i do wish he died in s3 though. im a hopper hater, fight me.)

vickie is also safe, #diversity and also she's too clueless, max is double super duper safe (because why save her from such a good and epic and sad death just to kill her later), i do think murray is in trouble, its been a good long game death and he (sadly) isn't that much of a fan fav. erica may be in a bit of hot water. she's a fan fav and her death would be hard on both viewers and characters

also im hoping dreaming and praying for lonnie to come back so jonathan can kill him with either his bare fucking hands or (and this one i like) a chainsaw. please. please. PLEASE GIVE JON A CHAINSAW IN SEASON 5 I BEG YOU DUFFERS.

so steve, murray, erica and (🤞) lonnie are the only ones i think im sure enough to predict are dying, in that order of likeliness.

17. What song is saving you from vecna?

oh. well. any mcr, obviously. but i do have loads. specifically:

cemetery drive because the sheer power of the funniest thing ever would get my ass in the air (mikey falling on the way down im so sorry but 😭😭😭 my fav video on youtube) /j

you know what they do to guys like us in prison but it has to be live and frank's vocals have to be boosted to high heaven

planetary (GO!), because i need to get up and go back. to safety (i think im funny :,)

DESTROYA. be serious a second.

and finally, kids from yesterday or wttbp would do the trick. this is probably my nmost serious answer, because the raspy vocals in either of those songs are enough to make me sob my eyes out and they are the anthem songs of the respective albums.

[mieczyhale]

Okay, lads, we’re venting here.

And maybe getting weirdly emotional and personal about it.

They finished watching episode 8 and the general consensus, aside from like.. one guy, is “i still don’t get why everybody loves him and no matter what he does in the finale i’m still not gonna get it”

Like okay first of all: he’s not for you. You don’t have to get him because he isn’t yours. He belongs to the queers and the freaks. Second of all: a character does not have to be “useful” or a genius or whatever the fuck to be a good character, to be a well loved character. What the fuck kind of take is that?? “He hasn’t done anything so why do people love him??” Excuse me?? He is RIGHT THERE being unapologetic-ally himself, his authentic goddamn self, despite a whole town being out for him basically because of it. He’s a dungeon master, a nerd, kinda snarky but goofy and caring, the guitarist for his own band. He’s a relatable character. He’s a realistic character. 

“All he does is run and hide” HE HAS PEOPLE HUNTING HIM??? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT HIM TO DO, STANIEL?? 

We meet him in the first episode and he’s loud and weird and tells it like it is: forced conformity IS what’s killing the kids, they ARE being unfairly treated because they play a fantasy game instead of playing sports or going to parties. He takes Hellfire seriously not only because he loves D&D but because that club is so clearly also a safe space for kids who don’t fit in. He didn’t know Mike, Dustin, and Lucas were into D&D when he approached them, but he knew they were nerds - he knew they weren’t going to force themselves to fit in like a lot of other kids do. “You were wearing a Weird Al t-shirt. Which i thought was brave.” Them being themselves without a second thought is all he needed to take them in. If anybody knows how fucking cruel the world is it’s Eddie

He just wanted to be himself, have fun, play music, finish his campaign, and graduate.

He tries to help Chrissy - in getting her the drugs she’s asking for, in going out of his way to make her laugh and make her feel safe, in trying his hardest to wake her up when something was clearly wrong.

And then he saw a girl die - horrifically and right in front of him, he learned that monsters and alternate dimensions are real, he now has a whole town hunting him - quite a few who want to kill him (Jason, the more he losses it especially. You don’t buy a gun because you wanna chat, Karen) 

Instead he ends up fighting inter-dimensional monsters, sacrificing himself for his friends because he wants to make sure they make it - make sure they save the world - and because he thinks poorly of himself for running away (even though running away is the reaction just about anyone would have to what he saw) He hates himself for something he shouldn’t so he plays hero, even knowing it could kill him, because dying a hero is better than running again i guess?? At least in his mind apparently right then. 

He distracted hundreds if not thousands of demobats with a goddamn Master of Puppets performance on top of his trailer in the Upside Down. Which was not only metal as fuck, it was also HEROIC as fuck. 

He distracted the bats. He tried to make sure Dustin couldn’t come back through the gate bc there’s no way Dustin was going to stay out of the Upside Down if he thought he could help. none of us were surprised right? We know Dustin. And so does Eddie. So he tried. Dustin, fortunately or unfortunately, is too stubborn to stop. But Eddie tried. He tried to keep Dustin safe. And then he tried to make sure everyone would be safe. Robin. Nancy. Steve. He wanted to make sure there was no risk of the bats fucking up their job, and that there was no chance of the bats finding their way into the right-side up (not sure if the duffer brothers thought of that but i mean if a tentacle can make its way through the gate to grab steve w h a t is stopping a demobat from coming through??)

Eddie is just a dude, out here living his life the way he wants to, he falls into a mess he NEVER could have expected or been prepared enough for, he does his best with the information he has and the heart he has and his ever-growing insecurity about the fucking running and he dies. Because he’s just a dude, who isn’t a genius, who hasn’t cracked Russian codes, who was faced with an evil bigger than the creature made of human corpses and - for the most part - is left to himself. To overthink and work himself up all while knowing like.. just about nothing. Like truly we see him get filled in on the bare minimum. 

And shit keeps happening and people are after him and these people are helping him and now they needs weapons and he wanted to be “better”. Because he thought Chrissy (and later Patrick) deserved better. Because his new friends deserved better. Because they believed him and helped him and they didn’t have to do shit - most people wouldn’t have done shit for him. But they did. And that means something to him. Because he might just be a dude, but he has a heart and he cares. Despite *gestures at everything* he. cares. 

He is loud yet soft in a world that has been unkind to him. Like.. Okay: consider a porcupine. Spiky and defensive. But that doesn’t mean they’re mean or horrible animals. They are just cute little guys, but they need a way to protect themselves from the things that would harm them. That’s Eddie. He looks the way he does because that’s how he wants to look, yes, but it’s also excellent armor. That and add in his loudness, the performative outwards personality. Not saying it’s not him, because it 100% is, but that’s not ALL he is. He’s got layers. Like an onion. Or Shrek. People only see Eddie the way he wants to be seen, and while it’s 100% genuine Eddie Munson, it’s turned up to 11 around people he doesn’t know or trust. And they will never see any other side to him. 

For all of that, he is relatable. He is what it’s like to be lgbtqa+, to be labeled a freak because you don’t know how to / don’t want to pretend to be someone else, to find your own armor to protect yourself in a way that gets you through the goddamn day without sacrificing who you are. He is what it’s like to find a small group like you, in a place you thought you were alone. He is what it’s like to have a small town whisper opinions and pass judgement on you when they don’t even know you. 

Being a bad student, maybe because you arent smart or maybe because you struggle or maybe because you just dont care, almost not graduating or actually not graduating. Having shitty parents, or at least one parent that’s shit. Being passionate about things that get you bullied. Being just.. a fucking mess.

If you people pulled your heads out of your asses and looked beyond “usefulness”, and beyond the surface level of the content you’re watching, /maybe/ you’d “get it”. 

If you used your brain to consider people who aren’t yourself, who don’t live like you, for a moment - /maybe/ it would occur to you that you don’t have to understand why people love him. You don’t have to get it, and you don’t have to love him yourself. Nobody gives a shit if you do or don’t. But you could - and should - stop being such an obnoxious fucking jackass about it.

Eddie deserves all of the love he gets from people who get him. 

Whether you agree or not.

End of.

[bettysupremacy]

Eddie x Henderson! Reader pt. 3

Could be read as a standalone methinks

Summary: When Dustin let’s it slip to Steve that their his sister is seeing Eddie Munson, Steve goes into protective mode.

Warnings: cursing, fem! Reader, insinuations to sex, Eddie being adorable, protective! Steve, no spoilers!

A/N: I’m sorry took so long, I’m in mourning over st. Also thank you @idiotonlegs because you gave me the idea for this whole chapter<3

4.5k words 🫶🏻

In the end, Dustin had only been able to save the Master of reality cassette. Whatever their devil spawn of a cat had done to her cherished Walkman had left it completely ruined.

She had sobbed when Dustin broke the news to her that night after the diner. He almost felt bad about telling her. He could see she had such a good time with Eddie. Well as much as he could see sitting at a different table them. “Grown up’s table and kiddie table” was Eddie’s excuse. Maybe he should’ve just gotten Steve to buy her the same one and then lied to her about it.

“I can ask Steve to buy you a new one,” he had suggested while rubbing her back “use his big brother spirit to our advantage.”

She shook her head adamantly “I don’t want him to know I broke this one.”

Yet, two weeks later, Dustin is in family video, bugging explaining to Steve what happened to their his sisters broken Walkman.

“-and then she came into the room to find Tew’s playing with-“

“I thought your cats name was Mews?”

“That was our old cat, Steve. So-“

Steve looks over his shoulder from where he’s typing to ask “Your cat Mews died, and you named the new cat Tew’s?”

Robin snorts “Did you name the new cat Tew’s because it’s the second cat?”

“What?”

“Like.. Two? Tew’s.”

“I don’t.. I don’t know? That’s not the point. She came into her room and the cat had ruined it.”

Steve’s already gone back to typing. “Yeah man, I’ll buy her a new one. You should’ve told me sooner. Then you wouldn’t have had needed to do all your nerd crap on it.”

“My nerd crap saved her Master of reality cassette.”

“Masters of what? Whatever man, I would’ve bought her another one of those too.”

Dustin rolls his eyes at how casual Steve is being about his money and shuffles so that his back his now leaning against the front desk. It’s a quiet day. Nobody in or out the whole time Dustin was bothering Steve and Robin.

Robin looks up from where she’s sorting tapes, “Do you still need something?”

“Robin.”

She turns her head to Steve confusedly “What?”, He only shakes his head.

Dustin turns back around, “Yeah, actually”

“What is it kid?”

“I have nothing to do today.”

Steve looks at him confusedly, “I have work. Didn’t you say something about seeing a movie with the freak-“

“Eddie.”

“-Eddie today?”

“He’s ditched me. again!”

“He’s probably got better things to do then hang out with a 15 year old on a Saturday. Isn’t he like twenty something?”

“My sister is not better then me.”

Steve’s head snaps up and Robin ditches the tapes to look back up at Dustin in fascination.

“He’s doing her? What the hell are you talking about?”

“No! God, I hope not? I just mean he’s ditched me all week to hang out with her. The drive in, on a school night, the Halloween fair, Arcade Palace. And then! Two nights ago he came in through my front door.”

Steve looks at him confusedly and Dustin sighs. “I thought he was here to hangout with me, because he’s been seriously neglecting me, but he just didn’t know which window was hers to break into!”

Robin laughs loudly at that, but its quickly swallowed up by Steve shrieking “They were alone in her room?”

Steve looks like he’s about to pop a vessel.

“They were studying for Mrs. Clicks test.”

Steve bristles, “They weren’t studying, Dustin.”

“I don’t know Steve,” Robin starts “Mrs. Clicks tests are really hard.”

Robins smart mouth earns her a swift kick behind the knees from Steve. She buckles, clutching onto the faux wood counter, and flips him the bird.

“Was there music playing, Dustin?” Robin continues to tease Steve.

“Just the loud ass screams of Ozzy Osborne and Blackie Lawless. I asked them to turn it down so many times but they wouldn’t listen and my mom wasn’t home to back me up-“

The rest of Dustin’s rant is muffled out to Steve’s ears. Steve is horrified. They were alone.. in her room.. with loud ass music playing.. while their mother wasn’t home?? He could be sick. What is that freaks intentions with her?

Robin takes one look at his face and bursts into cackles. She’s clutching her stomach with one hand and her mouth with the other. “This is so incriminating, Steve.”

Steve makes to kick her knees again but she swerves it quickly and his foot bounces off of the counter wall. Dustin watches in confusion as Robin starts laughing out louder and Steve cringes. Dustin doesn’t know if he’s cringing from the impact of the kick or how loud Robin is laughing in the quiet store.

Steve is standing on one foot, rubbing his hand over the injured foot “Whatever Robs, he better not be messing with her.” The threat doesn’t sound half as intimidating as he wanted it to sound.

But oh does Robin know what her and Eddie have been doing. She calls Robs every single time they get back from one of the many surprisingly cute dates Eddie planned. Or what her best friend called a “study date” two nights ago.

Her giggles must turn into something telling after Steve’s not so threatening threat, because when she calms herself down, Steve and Dustin are staring at her.

Did she do it again? “What?” she grabs her elbows insecurely “What?”

Steve has his arms crossed, leaning against the counter next to the computer, and Dustin his leaning over the counter squinting at her.

“What did she tell you?” Steve asks slowly.

“Why do you assume she told me anything?”

“Because shes your best friend.”

“What? No? Her best friend is Chrissy Cunnin-“

“Oh bull” Steve scoffs at the girl who he labels as his best friend.

She’s looking between the small, not-so-scary brother, and the taller, slightly scarier, chosen brother.

“Fine” she sighs. Although, she’s worried once she opens her mouth, she won’t be able to close it. That’s exactly what Steve wants though, isn’t it? “She’s called me after every one of their dates.”

Dustin shakes his head in shock “Dates?”

Steve ignores him and starts asking the important questions “What are his intentions with her?”

Robin laughs a startled laugh, “What’re you? A dad sitting at a dinner table with a shot gun-?”

The door chimes as a customer walks in, and Steve quickly turns into customer service, employee of the month Steve. “Hi, welcome to family video, is there anything you need help with- oh it’s you.”

His employee of the month personality is quickly ripped from him when he sees Max staring at him amused, slowly pulling her headphones off her ears.

“What d’you want?”

Max hasn’t read the energy of the room yet, “Wow, Steve, that’s so polite of you. Do you greet all your loyal customers like that? Or just your favorites? I bet Keith would love a review of his employees, do you guys have a paper form for that around here?”

“What do you want?” Steve repeats.

“Careful,” Robin warns “Steve’s cranky right now.”

“I am not cranky-“

“And Dustin too.”

Max comes up and leans against the counter, tinkering with the customer service bell, “I can tell. What’s your damage, Steve?”

Dustin answers the question meant for Steve, “My sister is seeing Eddie Munson and Robin knows inside details that we don’t.”

“Oh, so do I.” Max deadpans.

“What?” Steve and Dustin practically yell at the same time.

“My god. Can you work on volume control?” Robin cringes, plugging her fingers in her ears for dramatics, and walking to stand in the corner closer to Max.

“What do you know?” Steve asks quieter.

“Not much, I saw them thirty minutes ago, In the book store, and he introduced himself to me as her boyfriend.” She says this too nonchalantly Steve thinks. Dustin is about to have a conniption.

“They’re so cute aren’t they?” Robin tilts her head towards Max with a blinding smile on her face.

“Aren’t they?” Max lilts, “I mean she looked so pleasantly surprised when he used that word, which was so adorable. The way they smiled at each other too-“

“Yeah, yeah.” Steve cuts her off annoyed.

She scoffs at him and Robin waves a hand at her as if to silently tell Max to ignore him. All of them fall into a comfortable silence. Their minds running with the buzz of the same topic.

The silence is loudly broken by the sound of the door chime again. Max and Dustin don’t bother looking up, this isn’t their job. It’s Robin and Steve’s.

“Hi, welcome to family video, is there anything you need help with-“ Steve’s monologue is cut off at the same place it was minutes prior. Good thing Robin is such a good friend.

“With finding today? Our movie of the week is The Goonies.” Robin finishes for him. A sincere, highly amused, smile is plastered on her face. Compared the the fake customer service one that usually sweeps it.

Eddie is beaming, and everyone can tell it’s from something that happened prior to him opening the doors. Robins mandated monologue wasn’t that moving.

“Hey Robin!” His voice comes out too loud at first, not adjusted from the loud street. He looks like he’s about to say something else but his mouth stutters when he sees the way Steve is glaring at him.

Robin looks over confused, and hits Steve with the 16 Candles box in her hands when she sees the deep glare that he’s giving Eddie. Eddie quickly recovers, walking up to Dustin and ruffling his hair “Goonies huh? I’ve already got a movie picked out. Where’s the horror section?”

Robin points him to the horror section silently. He looks a little to her right, where Steve is standing, and he hesitates a nod before walking over. Robin hits Steve with 16 Candles two more times. “Ow! Robin! What is that for?”

“What the hell, dingus? Why are you glaring at that poor boy like that?”

“Glaring? I was not glaring.”

“You we’re glaring.” Max backs up Robin.

“See?” Robin gestures towards Max.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Eddie comes back over quickly, setting the box down on the counter and smiling up at Robin. The smile looks more forced when he sees the way Steve hasn’t changed his glare.

“The Shining? That’s a classic.” Robin tries to keep the conversation flowing while renting it for him.

“You got plans tonight?” Max chimes in, smiling a teasing smile at Dustin.

Eddie laughs at the girls, “Yes, I do have plans tonight, Red. Super hot date in fact.” He winks at her.

Dustin scoffs and walks off into the romance section. Quickly realizing what section he’s in and groaning loud enough to have Eddie and the girls in giggles.

Robin hands him the rented tape, “Hope you have fun.”

“Hope you have fun.” Steve mimics under his breath.

Eddie looks at Steve with furrowed brows. He needs to get out of here, “We will!”

Once he hears the jingle of Eddie opening and closing the door, Dustin comes back out.

“What was that?” It’s Robins turn to glare at the immature boys.

“What?” Dustin asks offended.

It’s silent as the four young adults look between each other. Max is the first to crack. “Whatever, see you guys later” she pulls her headphones up again “Bye Robin!”

“Bye Max!” Robin stands there with her hands on her hips, very Steve like for a second. “I can’t believe you two.” She walks into the employees only room.

“What’s gotten into her?” Steve asks Dustin.

“No idea.”

That night, when Eddie gets to the Henderson household, their mothers car isn’t there. Just like she said. Still, he parks a few houses away, just in case.

Sitting in his car, he realizes how nervous he is. He meant it when he said he was going to take her on a proper date, and he fulfilled that promise. He’s taken her to the drive in, to the Halloween fair, where he won her a oversized teddy bear, and then spent $4 to win the bears matching electric guitar plushie.

To Arcade Palace (so he could stand behind behind her and help her play skee-ball). He even came over two nights ago, at 9 o’clock at night, even though they had a test the next day, just to make out hang out with her for awhile. Though he had to tell Dustin they were studying when he came through the front door.

He moves the rear view mirror so he can see himself better. He didn’t think about how having the windows down would effect his hair. Once satisfied, he grabs the VHS and hops out, walking down to her house. She told him to just walk in, not to bother knocking because it’s unlocked, but he was still nervous. This wasn’t his home.

When he reaches her front door he stands there a couple seconds, anxiety knotting in his stomach. Holy shit he’s so nervous. He raises his hand to knock on the door, he’ll just tell her he forgot, but it opens before he can move to knock on it.

She glances at his hand in the air, and he swallows in embarrassment when she says “I thought I told you to just walk in?”

She’s wearing an oversized bright green and yellow shirt, and brown pajama shorts.

He suppresses a smile, “Camp Know Where? What’d you do? Raid Dustin’s closet?”

“Dustin got it for me from his camp last summer,” she grabs his arm and pulls him inside “It was some kind of genius camp. I don’t really know what they did there..”

She continues to chatter his ear off, pulling him into the kitchen. All he can do is smile fondly at her while she pulls down cups from the cabinet and opens the fridge, “-and so I had to get red vines instead of jujubes because Mr. Johnson said they were out. But I got sugar babies.” She looks at him expectantly “Do you want coke or lemonade? Or water, water is also an option.”

“Coke’ll do”

“Mkay, I’m having lemonade. And I’m mixing it with sweet tea, have you ever done that? It’s really good.”

“I’ll have that actually.”

“You don’t want coke?”

“I want what you’re having.”

She smiles at him, “Okay.”

He watches her carefully pour half lemonade into the cups, and then fill the rest up with sweet tea. She hands him his cup but let’s out an “oomph!” when he pulls her closer and presses a hard kiss to her mouth. Some of her drink sloshes over the rim of her cup. When he pulls back she looks dazed.

“What was that for?”

“Nothing. I just missed my Chatty Cathy.”

A shy smile replaces her shock, “We hung out all day.”

“So? Can’t I miss my girlfriend?” he tucks hair behind her ear. Girlfriend.

She shrugs his hand away from her and swerves around him, moving quickly towards her room. “You’re teasing me.”

There’s so much mock offense on his face that she almost feels bad, “I would never!”

“Yeah okay. Put the VHS in, Romeo.” She quips while slowly setting her drink on her nightstand.

“So bossy.”

“You like it.”

He sticks in The Shining and gets comfortable on her bed. She quickly moves into his arms and he scoffs “Look who needs me now.” down at her, but tightens his arms so she won’t try to leave. He’s quite content with laying like this with her for the rest of his life.

“You sure you’ve got everything, speedy?” Robin taunts Steve as he rushes through the employees only room, trying to grab all his stuff. He thought he grabbed it all earlier but when he made it to the car he forgot his keys, then his jacket, then his wallet.

“Yes,” Steve pants “I’ve got it all now.”

She watches as he books it out the door, into his car, where Dustin is waiting impatiently, and out of the parking lot. The goal is to make it to the store, before it closes, so he can buy her a new Walkman. But he’s sure if he gets there when they’re closing, he could just bribe the closing employee to let him buy something real quick.

Robin shakes her head, eyebrows scrunching when she feels something under her shoe. The glimmering of a gold key catches her eye and she busts out laughing. Steve is going to be so pissed when he realizes he dropped his house key. She’s gonna buy him a keychain, she decides, he’s got too much trust in loose keys.

He makes it to the store in time, Thank god, and grabs the same exact one he bought last time. On the way to check out, a rack of cassettes catches his eye. Hmm. He checks his watch and there’s exactly 5 minutes before the old man working the register kicks him out. That’s enough.

He scans his eyes over it, trying to see if there’s anything that he can remember her talking about. Bowie, Bush, Madonna, Queen. Queen!

He sets the stuff on the counter just in time. He’s breathing hard and he’s sure he looks a little crazy. He lightly pats his hair subconsciously. Did his Farrah Fawcett hold up?

The old man behind it looks at all his items slowly, and then back up at him. He shakes his head like he wants to say something, but doesn’t end up chewing Steve out, like he thought he would. He just doesn’t get paid enough.

Steve thanks the man for the bag and throws a $20 bill on the counter as a tip for serving him so late. He slams his car door a lot harder then he meant to, which has his eyes shut tight in cringe, but Dustin is urging him to start the car, so Steve drops the bag in Dustin’s lap and drives off. He’s begging Steve to go over the speed limit, but he’s just too responsible for that.

“Speed up, man! When are we trying to get there? Next year?”

“Cork it, Henderson. The speed limit is 45, so I’m going 45.”

A loud groan follows and Steve rolls his eyes. What is it with his kids and their attitudes?

It takes them a lot longer to get to their house then Dustin wanted, Steve too but he wouldn’t admit that, and though Dustin was whining and begging Steve to hurry the hell up, he doesn’t get out of the car when they pull up. He sits there silently and drops the bag back in Steve’s lap.

“What’re you waiting for?” Dustin asks confusedly.

“Um, what are you waiting for?”

“You think I’m going in there?”

“You aren’t?”

“No! My child eyes are too innocent.”

Dustin thinks that if you could hear eyes roll, that the eye roll Steve just gave him would be loud. Very loud.

“You’re gonna have to go in when I come back to the car anyways.”

“I’m spending the night at your place.”

Steve and Dustin are making direct eye contact, in complete silence, for what feels like minutes.

“No, you’re not.”

Steve hops out the car and nervously walks towards the front door. What if he sees something? He doesn’t wanna see that. What about his poor innocent eyes? Well.. maybe not that innocent.

He walks in without knocking, because they never lock their door, and stands there silently for a moment. He can’t hear anything. That’s good.

Farther he walks, past their couch, and into the hallway that Dustin and her room resides. When he makes it to her door it’s closed. Why is it closed? Her moms rule is that the door has to stay open. Even for him!

He can hear The Shining playing, and he can see the light of the tv under her door. Is her light off? Oh my god, he really doesn’t wanna see more then he needs to.

When he knocks he hears a yelp and thinks the worst. They were totally being devious in there! He knew it! That’s why the door was closed, that’s why the lights are off, that’s why-

There’s a loud teasing laugh, “Is the movie making you jumpy?”

“Shove it, Munson”

“I-“

Steve knocks again.

She whines. “What does Dustin need? Hold on, Dusty!”

Steve doesn’t bother yelling that it’s him, she’ll know when she opens the door.

There’s shuffling, a thump, a groan, and a giggle, then there’s the sound of the doorknob rattling. Was it locked? The door opens to a very shirtless, very mortified, Eddie Munson.

Immediately after Steve processes what he’s looking at, the door is abruptly slammed in his face. He stumbles backwards from the force and he can hear their hushed voices again.

“Why is Steve Harrington here?”

“What?”

“I know!”

“Where is my-“ the rest is muffled to Steve. Where’s her what? Oh my god. Where’s her what?

The door opens to her bright, out-of-breath, face. “Hey, Stevie.”

He looks behind her and sees Eddie awkwardly standing there, a lot less shirtless. He’s now wearing a bright green Camp Know Where shirt.

“Hey, I uh- I brought you something.” Jesus Christ.

She looks down at the bag in his hand, and tucks the hair that fell In front of her face behind her ear. She points to it, “That?”

He swallows and nods. This is so uncomfortable.

She tries to grab the bag from his hand, but he has to force himself to let it go, and she looks at him confused. When she walks into her room, to set the bag on her bed, he stays in the doorway. He doesn’t need to see more then he already has.

He’s making eye contact with anything besides Eddie, in the green shirt he could’ve sworn Dustin brought back from summer camp. However, his eyes snap to her when he hears a loud gasp.

“You got me a new Walkman?”

He nods, “Dustin told me yours broke.”

“And A Night at the Opera?”

“Dustin told me he saved Masters of.. he told me he saved it, but I figured a new cassette couldn’t hurt. Especially when I know how much you like Bohemian Rhapsody”

“I love it.” She smiles up at him, “I love it!”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!” She bounces over to hug him.

He ruffles her hair on instinct and smiles when he hears her muffled voice say “Not the hair!”. She’s too much like him.

“You’re welcome, kid.”

She pulls back, “Don’t call me that. I’m only a year younger then you.”

“Yeah, ok.” Suddenly, Steve remembers what he came here for. “Can you go into Dustin’s room and grab me his pajamas? He’s spending the night but he refuses to leave the car.”

“Why won’t he come in?”

“Something about.. his innocent eyes?” He teases.

He sees the embarrassment wash over her face. “Yeah, I can do that.” She glances to Eddie before walking out of the room, “I’ll be right back, baby.”

Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby. That’s all his mind can think. She just called me baby. His mind is running so fast, that he’s oblivious to Steve, in front of him, giving him what he could only describe as stern dad eyes.

In Dustin’s room, she is unaware of what she’s done to Eddie, rifling through Dustin’s drawers. There’s seriously nothing in here. All she’s come across is a stack of letters from Suzie, a couple of D&D figurines, and some socks thrown haphazardly in his drawers. Where does he keep is clothes? She looks down. Oh. That’s where.

She grabs a shirt and something that vaguely looks like pajama pants, shoving it into his backpack. It’s none of her business to see if they’re clean or not, and she doesn’t want to leave Eddie alone in a room with Steve for too long.

When she leaves his room she doesn’t see Steve in the doorway anymore. Oh no. She quickly opens the door. “What are you doing?”

They both look at her, “Nothing.” They say at the same time.

She holds a hand to Eddie, “No, what are you doing, Steve?”

“What are you blaming me for?”

“What did you say to him?” She turns towards Eddie, “What did he say to you?”

“Nothing! We were just talking.” Steve claps Eddie’s shoulder, “Right Eddie?”

He nods, “Right.”

“Oh no,” she shakes her head “you’re not about to big brother me out of a boyfriend. Out.”

“What? I have no clue what you are insinuating, but I am not impressed.”

She grabs his arm and starts to pull him out of her room. “Out, Stevie.”

He gives up with a big huff, letting her pull him through the hall and into the living room. “Isn’t the rule that the door needs to be open?”

She ignores him, shoving him out the front door and sticking Dustin’s backpack in his hands, “Don’t threaten my boyfriend.”

“I did nothing of the sort!”

“I know you.”

He’s halfway to his car now. “Not well enough, apparently.”

“Too well, actually.”

“Brat!” He shouts.

“Dolt!” She shouts back.

“I love you!”

“Thank you for the Walkman!”

He climbs in the car, drops Dustin’s backpack in his lap, and pulls off. “You can have the guest bedroom tonight.”

Dustin let’s out a silent cheer of “Yes!” and Steve shakes a smile off of his face.

She walks back into the house, locks the door, and moves towards her room again. When she gets back in there, he’s sitting on her bed, still looking a little dazed.

The laugh she lets out when she realizes he’s wearing her shirt gets him to smile too. “Oh, baby. You’re wearing my shirt.” She grabs his face and pushes his hair back, combing through it gently.

There it is again. And she still hasn’t noticed

She eyes him suspiciously. “What?”

“Hmm?”

“You look flustered.” Or maybe she has.

“S’nothing”

They lay down again. This time, she’s on her back and he’s got his head on her chest, arms circling her stomach.

“Are you sure, baby? You seem worked up. Do you have something you need to say, baby-?”

Shrieked giggles can be heard around the room as he sits up and starts to tickle her sides, “Is that funny?”

All she can do is shake her head no, the giggles bubbling past her lips makes it hard to speak. He smiles in satisfaction, and when he stops, she frowns up at him. He almost feels bad. Almost.

He leans down and kisses her slowly, to make up for it of course. He’s the one to pull back, smiling down at her, pushing some hair back, like she had done to him moments ago, and kissing her cheek and nose in adoration. He lays back down on her chest.

“M’sorry, I didn’t know you were so ticklish, baby.”

A sound of indignation leaves her lips at his teasing.

“I know!”

They lay in comfortable silence for a few moments, before she kisses the top of his head.

“He threatened you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“I knew it!”

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[softspaceboibrian]

Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy || Eddie Munson || Chapter 1

Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5 || Chapter 6 || Chapter 7 || Chapter 8 || Chapter 9

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Y/N Henderson || I used she/her pronouns, but there is no actual physical description, so the pronouns can be switched with whatever anyone wants or prefers!

Summary: Eddie needs help with an English assignment, and who better to ask help from than the best student in his class, Y/N Henderson?

Warnings: "fuck" is used a lot. fluff, a lot of pining and crushing. steve being a bit of a dick at one point, and Dustin not being able to keep things to himself. just bad writing, really.

Wc: 5397 (it's kinda long, I know... but I didn't know where to stop! sorry!)

A/N: this is my first ST fic ever. and actually the first time I wrote after some very long months of writer's block. hopefully, it's not too bad. I have a chapter 2 in mind already, if you guys liked this! please let me know (I would have to work on it next week, since I have an exam on Monday, ugh..). Also, the title will probably make more sense in the following chapter(s).

Eddie hated going to class. He didn’t completely hate high school because there he had some friends and the Hellfire Club. But attending classes was a whole other thing. And he hated it. Sitting still at a small desk, on a hard chair that made his back hurt, which always made him feel older than he was – and he was already older than any other kid there. Listening to teachers talk and ask stupid questions was hell incarnated to him. For example, when would he ever need to use trigonometry in his life? It wasn’t like he was going to become a space engineer or an architect. Given that that’s what you would use trig for. He definitely didn’t know and didn’t want to find out. Or, like, Shakespeare. That morning he found himself having to listen to his English teacher reading once again lines from Romeo and Juliet, as if they would need to know that “the window is the East, and Juliet’s the Sun” to get somewhere in life. If it were for him, they would spend every single English lesson reading Tolkien or King, and not that boring stuff that everyone calls classics. Shining. That’s a classic.

The only reason he ever really enjoyed English was Y/N Henderson. She sat in front of him in English and History, and they had PE together. Eddie hated every single one of those subjects, but her presence made them less terrible. Not that they were friends or anything. She’s Dustin Henderson’s older sister; she’s the smartest person in the entire school, hell, possibly in all of Hawkins. And he was just Eddie “the Freak” Munson. She wouldn’t want to be friends with him. Of course, she was the kindest person in school, and she always smiled at him whenever they crossed paths. But still, he was the school’s freak. And she deserved better than him. Yet, he couldn’t help himself but smile back, or get a little bit excited when he remembered they had class together. He would never, for the love of God, admit the feelings he felt for her. He was completely sure that, if he just ignored them, they would simply disappear. It wasn’t like a tested theory, but he was sure it worked like that. It had to work like that.

“Bullshit.” Eddie was pulled from his thoughts by a soft voice. He quickly looked round the classroom, only to notice Y/N shaking her head. “Pardon me, miss, but it’s all bullshit.” Eddie was not sure what he had missed, but was now all ears.

A blonde girl from the first row snapped around to look at Y/N. And if looks could kill, Eddie was sure Y/N would be well on her way to the hospital now. “Do you have something to say, nerd?” He never really understood on what basis people used nerd as a mean name. As if being a nerd was a bad thing. Also, being good at school doesn’t make you a nerd.

“Actually,” Y/N sat up straight. “Yes, I do have something to say.” Eddie always found Y/N’s will to speak her mind fascinating. She always said what she believed in. And she always tried not to hurt anyone’s feelings in the process. “I think it’s bullshit that you think- actually, that everyone thinks that Romeo and Juliet is the epitome of love. I mean, let’s be real, that story is unrealistic. I know that Shakespeare had to stick to time a certain time frame and everything, but who falls in love on sight, immediately decides to marry each other, and not even three days later kill themselves because of the stupid decisions they took? Because, in this regard, we have to remember that Friar Lawrence plays a major role in their dooming end, since he is the one that suggests the whole poison gimmick.” Eddie could not help but smile. He found amusing the hurt look on the blonde in the front row as Y/N dismantled her beliefs, or at least he thought, he wasn’t really paying attention before. “I mean, I get how appealing the trope of the star-crossed lovers is. Really, I do. But are you really telling me that Romeo and Juliet’s is a better love story than Beatrice and Benedick’s, or even Rosalind and Orlando’s? I would so love for someone to carve love poems for me into trees so that our growing love could forever live in nature.” Did they read about that in class? Eddie had no idea who those people were and was more than confused at that point, but still extremely intrigued.

“That’s not what I was saying!” The blonde replied, obviously offended that someone had told her that she was wrong.

“Then what were you saying? I’m open to clarifications.” Y/N smiled kindly, but it was obvious that the other one didn’t take it as so. Eddie looked at the girl, waiting to hear her answer. But then the bell rang and everyone started gathering their stuff. Lucky girl, saved by the bell, he thought. He would have loved a bit more drama, it always made classes more interesting.

As everyone was rushing out into the corridor, Eddie included, the teacher tried to get everyone’s attention one last time. “Please, remember that next week we are moving all the way to the gothic novel and that you have to prepare a 3-page essay on any book you want from that genre.” He stopped in his tracks, right in the middle of the entryway, and was pushed aside by two guys who wanted to get out. What? And essay? When did she say that? If it had been any other time of the school year, he would have not cared, but Eddie knew that, with spring break coming up, he had to start working seriously if he wanted to graduate that year. Fuck, he thought. I’m fucked. He quickly looked around the room, as if a miracle could just fall into his lap.

Y/N was still at her desk, struggling to close her ever so full pencil case. “Miss Henderson” the teacher walked over to Y/N’s desk. “I know you’re passionate about literature, but you cannot answer like that to your classmates.”

“I know, ma’am… it’s just, they don’t understand it. They don’t understand literature and why it is important.” Y/N sighed, fidgeting with her hands. “You know I try my best to stay calm, but sometimes I just… I just can’t.”

The teacher smiled kindly at her. “I understand. Don’t worry.” She walked back to the front of the class and started cleaning the blackboard, before turning once again towards the girl. “Just, try to avoid using bad words next time.”

Eddie was standing right outside of the classroom, still panicking over the assignment, when Y/N eventually walked into the corridor. And that’s when an idea came to his mind: if Y/N was actually so passionate about people knowing more about literature, then maybe she would be so kind to help him. Yes, that made perfect sense. She would do what she loved, and he would become one step closer toward graduation. Also, on an even brighter note, he would have to spend time with her, which never hurt. He shook his head, trying to shove that thought in the far back of his head.

He looked around, his eyes scanning the corridor until he found Y/N’s figure walking alone towards the cafeteria. He started walking, almost running, trying to catch up with her. “Y/N! Wait up!” He found himself calling out for her, something he never really thought he would do. But he did. When Y/N eventually realised she was being called, she stopped and turned around. However, at that point Eddie was walking so fast that he didn’t stop in time and completely ran into her. “Oh, Jesus, I’m so sorry!” He started apologising immediately.

“It’s okay! You didn’t hurt me” Y/N laughed, looking up at him. He had never realised how tall he was compared to her. “Did you have something to ask me?” He couldn’t believe how kind she was with him. Any other person wouldn’t even have stopped for him, they would have just flipped him the bird or exclaimed something along the lines of fuck off, freak, and went on their way. But, yet again, she wasn’t any other person.

“I, ehm… yes, actually. I…” Then and there, Eddie thought about turning around and running away. But that would have been too embarrassing. So, he just went for it. “I was wondering if you could, maybe, help me with the English assignment. You see, I’m not really the best at English, but I cannot flunk this class, so-”

“Of course!” Y/N cut him off, still smiling. “Just know that you are the one that is going to do all the work, I’m just going to help. I may be kind, and you may be cute, but I won’t let anyone take advantage of me, alright?”

Cute? Did she just call him cute? Was she for real? Did she really think that? And why did he feel like he was a middle-school boy talking for the first time with his crush? What was that feeling in his chest? Also, why did he feel warm on the face and ears? Was he blushing? Fuck, how embarrassing! But still, cute? Did she find him cute?

“Hey-oh!” Y/N waved her hand in front of Eddie’s face. “Earth to Munson. Are you still there? Are you having a stroke?” She said playfully, pinching his arm as in a further attempt to gain back his attention.

Eddie shook his head, and then nodded. “Yes, sorry. I just… I really expected you to say no, so…”

“Okay, so it has nothing to do with me calling you cute, right? Because I wouldn’t want it to be a problem.” She chuckled, and Eddie was completely taken aback.

Come one, dude. Concentrate. You cannot get lost in your head whenever she smiles at you, or she’s going to think you’re a creep. “It’s not going to be a problem, I promise.” He laughed, raising a hand to the back of his neck, a bit embarrassed. Definitely not a good first impression, Munson.

“Okay, so, I know you have Hellfire Club tonight, right?” She asked, and Eddie simply nodded in response. “You could come over to our house for dinner, which would mean I don’t have to drive back here to pick up my brother and I can get ahead with my assignment, because you would take him home. And then, after dinner, we can start talking a bit about what you’re going to work on.”

“Are you sure for dinner? Like, I don’t want to be a bother.”

Y/N put a hand on his arm and shook her head. “Not a bother, trust me. Plus, Dustin will be more than happy to have you over for dinner. He talks about you constantly, about your campaign and how cool you are. Like, really, if I didn’t know he was in a relationship with that Mormon girl, I would have sworn he was in love with you.” She laughed, and so did Eddie. “But really, if you want and can, come over for dinner.”

“I mean, it’s not like I have plans…” Eddie said under his breath. Or that many friends, for that matter.

“Then it’s decided!” Y/N smiled. “So, let’s recap: after school you have your D&D meeting, then you drive Dustin home, we have dinner, and after that we’re going to start working on your assignment. Sounds right?”

“Perfect!”

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

“You have actually invited Eddie “the Freak” Munson over to your house? You’re not joking!?” Like every other day, Steve had picked Y/N and Robin up after school to drive them home. But today he was complaining about what Y/N had just told them. “I’m telling you, he’s not good news!”

“Oh, come on, Steve! He’s nice!” She replied, throwing her hands in the air.

“How do you know that, uh?! His reputation precedes him! Everyone at Hawkins High knows about him and his dealing!” Steve kept moving his eyes between the road in front of him and the rear-view mirror to look at Y/N sitting in the back.

“Steve, calm down. Y/N is a grown-up woman. She can defend herself.” Robin tried to help her friend. “Plus, she’s a pretty good judge of character. I mean, she decided to be your friend when everyone else though you were a douchebag.”

“I still think he is a douchebag.” Y/N whispered, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Listen, it’s my life, and I make friends with whomever I want, okay? So, whether you like it or not, he’s going to come over to my place, he’s going to have dinner with my family, and then we’re going to work on our English assignment together.”

“Yeah, and it’s not like they’re going to fall in love!” Robin added and Steve raised his hands from the wheel for a couple of seconds, as in a sign of surrender. However, Y/N did not answer to that. Obviously, that wasn’t her plan, to fall in love with Eddie Munson. But she could not deny to herself the fact that she found him charming in his own way. Yes, fine, he wasn’t the conventional pretty boy her mom would want her to end up with, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t find him cute. Hell, cute was probably an understatement. She thought he was hot. Maybe it was the hair, or the leather jacket, but she couldn’t help herself, and whenever he walked by, she would just find herself smiling at him, deep down wishing he would stop and talk with her. Yes, her brother being part of his D&D party had its perks, because she then had to see him every time she went to pick up her brother from school. Also, having a few classes together was something. Not that he paid much attention, but that also meant he wouldn’t notice whenever she turned around to steal a glance. Fuck, she thought, I have to keep my feelings under control. She shook her head in an attempt to push away the thought of Eddie, and tried to make small talk with her two best friends, but her mind wasn’t of any help, and the image of Eddie looking down at her with his big, chocolate eyes in the corridor a few hours prior kept popping up, distracting her from whatever the other two were saying. I’m screwed.

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

When Y/N’s mom called her into the kitchen, it was about 7:30 in the evening. “Darling, please, help me set the table. Dusty and his friend are on their way home.” Said the woman, handing her the plates. Y/N fought very hard the urge to tell her mother that Eddie was also her friend and that he was going to be there for her and not Dustin. But instead, she simply took the plates from her and started placing them on the clothed, round table. She hummed to herself as she moved back and forth between the cabinets and the table, stealing, every once in a while, a piece of bread.

A few more minutes went by, when she finally heard the front door open and Dustin’s voice announce their arrival. Their mother quickly left the kitchen to go greet them, whereas Y/N stood frozen for a moment. She looked at her reflection in the small mirror hanging on the wall, and tried to fix her hair and her clothes – a simple t-shirt and a pair of loose jeans. Yes, she could have definitely changed into something a bit nicer, but there was no time now. So, she sighed and stepped into the front hallway, hiding a little behind her mother’s figure, as if hoping they would not pay that much attention to her. However, that didn’t last for long. “Y/N!” Eddie smiled, taking a step towards her, but then stopping. They both looked at each other for a few moments, unsure of what to do. Should she hug him like she does whenever Robin comes over? Or nod like she does with Dustin’s friends? A similar thought process was going on inside of Eddie’s mind too. When he first had taken the step towards her, his intent was to give her a kiss on the cheek, but he had immediately changed his mind, thinking that might have been too much. Afterall, it was the first time they were actually hanging out.

Luckily, Dustin stepped in and shouted. “Y/N/N! You would never believe how cool today was! Remember the villain I told you about, right? Vecna. The one we thought had died. Well, yes, I said we though because, plot twist, he was still alive!” She looked at her brother and smiled, wrapping her arms around him for a moment, before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Dusty, go wash your hands! It’s ready in here! You can tell her more about it as we eat.” Mrs. Henderson shouted from the kitchen, and Eddie could not believe how close the two siblings actually were. Like, yes, Dustin would always talk about her in the cafeteria, but he would have never thought they actually were that close. So close that she knew everything about his campaign, the one that himself, Eddie, had spent days preparing.

Dinner went on smoothly: the food was delicious and Dustin spent most of the time talking about Hellfire Club and the assignments he had to prepare for the following week. Eddie and Y/N would, every now and then, exchange a look or a smile, without saying a word. But both of them were fine with that. However, things changed a bit when Dustin turned to Eddie and exclaimed. “Dude, you should ask my sister to help you write some of the one shots for Hellfire! She’s a great writer!” Eddie turned to look Y/N, wanting to ask her more about that, but instead he found her with her head hanging low.

“Oh, yes! I never read anything of hers, but Dustin has read everything and loved every single bit, so I suppose that means she’s good.” Her mother added, obviously wanting to contribute to the conversation. However, Eddie couldn’t help but notice Y/N’s discomfort.

“Can we please talk about something else?” Y/N’s voice was soft, and her eyes never left the almost empty glass of water in front of her.

Dustin tried to gain back Eddie’s attention by exclaiming. “She writes a lot of fantasy, stuff with vampires and faes and all of that. I think you could use that in a stand-alone quest.”

“Dustin!” Her voice was now louder, and the girl was visibly upset, but the younger boy would not stop talking about that. “Dustin, stop! You know I don’t want you to talk about it!” Y/N got up from her seat, still not looking anyone in the eyes. She had her hands closed into tight fists as she walked towards the corridor.

“Come on, Y/N! Don’t be mad! I was just trying to-”

“I know, what you were trying to do, Dustin. And you know I don’t want you to do it. That is personal stuff and I don’t want you going around telling people about it.” Her voice was cold, but Eddie could ear it tremble slightly. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to my room.”

And with that, Y/N left the kitchen, leaving her tablemates speechless, with their eyes glued to where the girl was standing a few moments before. Mrs. Henderson sighed and tried to explain to Eddie that Y/N had always been very proud of her things, especially of the ones she made herself. She explained that ever since she was young, she had always been a very reserved girl, not sharing much with others, and that was the reason she found so surprising the friendship between her and her two best friends, Robin and Steve. She told Eddie about how hard on herself she was, how much she studied everyday wanting to get the best marks possible. She explained that she had no idea why she acted like that, since no one ever asked her to get straight As or to get into the best colleges. But as Y/N’s mother talked, Eddie couldn’t stay still. He wanted to make sure, he needed to make sure she was okay. So, as soon as they were excused from the table, he asked Dustin which room was hers and went straight to her. He walked down the corridor, the carpet softening his steps, and stopped in front of the last door. He knocked gently on the door, waiting for an answer. “Y/N…” He called, turning an ear to the door, trying to understand if she had moved at all. “Y/N, it’s me, Eddie. Ehm… can I- can I come in?” He stayed quiet for a moment, but still no answer. “I promise we will only talk of the English assignment or whatever you prefer. Promise.”

“Okay” A voice came from behind Eddie, making him jump.

He turned around and found Y/N laughing at him, a hand on her stomach, one in front of her face. “Damn, Henderson, I thought you were in your room!” He exclaimed, laughing a little himself.

“I was, but then I had to go to the bathroom.” She moved past him and opened the door to her room. “Come in” She smiled, standing aside to let him in.

The room that Eddie walked into was far from what he had imagined Y/N Henderson’s bedroom would have looked right. Not that he had spent that much time thinking about it, but he definitely did not expect the giant posters on the wall of David Bowie, Labyrinth, Queen, or the beautiful drawing of The Lord of the Rings. What he did expect to see, on the other hand, was the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall library. “Wow, Henderson. I must say, you’re not what I thought you were.”

Y/N sat on the edge of her bed; her arms crossed. “What did you think I was?” She asked, more curious than anything.

“I don’t know, actually. I thought you were going to have pictures of, I don’t know, Johnny Depp, John Cusack or some other heartthrob girls love. Definitely not them.” He walked over to the side of the bed and pointed to the Queen poster.

She got up from her seat and walked next to him. “Well, I do like Johnny Depp.” She smiled. “But he is my kind of guy, actually.” She tapped her finger on Brian May’s figure.

“Not Roger Taylor?” Eddie brought a hand to his mouth, as if to fake shock.

“He’s alright.” She raises her shoulder. “But you see, Brian is tall, has dark, long, curly hair, plays guitar. There’s nothing sexier than that to me.” She replied, eventually turning around and leaning against the wall. It wasn’t until she finally met his eyes that she realised what she had just said. She bit the inside of her cheek, quickly moving her eyes everywhere but on him. Fuck, fuck, fuck. So much for “try keeping your feelings under control”.

Eddie, on the other hand, couldn’t help the smile that lingered on his lips. He nodded, biting slightly his lower lips, trying to conceal the pleased look on his face, but it was too hard. I mean, I am tall, I have Brian May’s hair, and I do play guitar. Does this mean that I am sexy to her? He was very close to asking her, but decided not to, wanting to avoid making her feel frustrated or embarrassed. Afterall, it was very much possible that, even though he perfectly fit her description, she still did not like him like that. Hell, it could even be that she did not like him at all.

So, after a few moments of silence, he turned to the Lord of the Rings poster, studying it. “This is very beautiful.” He said, changing the topic to make her feel more comfortable.

She looked at the poster herself and smiled. “Oh, ehm… Dustin and his friends got it for me for my birthday last year. You see, I used to read it to Dustin before going to bed when we were younger. Actually, I read him The Hobbit, but still. After that, he started telling his friends about it and they all wanted to know more about it. So, when they were old enough, I got everyone a copy and put up a small book club for them. It only lasted a few months, until everyone was done reading the book, but I think it contributed to their passion for D&D.” She finally looked at him with the softest look anyone ever gave him, and he swore he could have melted right then and there.

“I wished someone read me Tolkien when I was younger.” Eddie murmured, going over to the bed and sitting there. “My parents, they… – he sighed – and my uncle… he was always out. So, I spent most of my evenings and nights alone. I still do. Unless I’m out for a deal…” Y/N sat next to him, so close that their legs were brushing, and if she leaned a little to the side, their shoulders would touch. But this time neither of them said or did anything. Eddie enjoyed the closeness, the warmth that came from her body, and a part of him wanted to reach for her hand, to hold it, to play with her fingers. Whereas Y/N realised only then that she actually knew nothing about him, about his parents, his family, if he had any siblings or cousins. “But I read Tolkien.” Eddie broke the silence. “I have a very old copy of The Hobbit back at my place. I think I found it at a yard sale a few years back. I could show it to you, if you want to.”

“I would actually love that” She smiled.

“But my favourite author is King. Man, I love his stuff. Shining was great, but I also liked Carrie and Pet Sematary.”

She never thought she would, on day, spend an evening with Eddie Munson, let alone talking about books. Still, she wished that evening would never end. “Well, if you’re into horror stuff, I think I have idea about what you should do your English assignment on.” Eddie had completely forgotten why he was there in the first place, and that sentence brought him back to reality. He looked her figure get off the bed and followed her to the bookshelf. She browsed it for a few moments, her fingers gently caressing the spines as she looked for the book she wanted. “Here it is.” She exclaimed, picking out a very thick book, with the spine completely cracked. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to read all of this.” She chuckled when she saw the fear in his eyes. “It’s called Night Pieces and it’s a collection of stories by Hoffmann. There is one in particular I love which is The Sandman.” Eddie carefully took the book in his hands and observe it. He obviously wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having to read something he knew nothing about, but he trusted Y/N, so he nodded. “I promise it’s good. If it’s not, then you can… I don’t know, force me to watch a horror movie.”

“I like the sound of that.” He laughed, laying on the bed, his back against the soft duvet that smelled of fresh laundry. “Do you think I could start reading it here? Or do you want me to go?” He looked at her, propping himself up on one elbow for a moment, wanting to look at her better.

She found herself thinking, please, stay for the whole night if you want. But instead, she simply nodded, grabbing her own book before lying next to him, this time leaving a bit more space between them. And they spent almost an entire hour like that, each reading their own book. Y/N could swear that she caught him staring at her a couple of times, but so could he. Eddie went on reading, eventually turning on his stomach, and in doing so he got closer to her. Y/N, however, kept staring at the words on the page in front of her, unable to concentrate enough to actually understand what she was supposed to read because of that closeness. A little voice inside of her kept telling her “Reach for him. Lean on his shoulder.” But she was too shy to even just move a little closer to him, let alone do any of that. And if they were characters in a story, to any omniscient reader, a situation such as this one would be extremely frustrating: the two of them, lying together, their arms or legs brushing against each other’s every now and then, both of them pining for the other, but neither of them realising their feelings were reciprocated.

Eventually, Dustin walked in on them, wanting to bid goodnight to his sister, but remained dumbfounded when he realised Eddie was still there. “I thought you had already left. It’s 10:30. On a school night.”

“Dustin, we’re old enough to stay up late if we want to, you know that?” She replied, getting up from her spot, immediately missing the warmth irradiated from his body.

Dustin looked at his sister, then the man laying her bed, and left without saying anything. “Yeah, maybe he’s right. It is kind of late, and you probably want to go to sleep.” Eddie didn’t really want to leave. On the contrary, he wanted to stay with her for as long as she let him.

And the same went for Y/N. But she nodded at him and put her book on the desk. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school, though, right?”

“Of course! Plus, I only have like 10 pages left to read, and I am completely enthralled. I really thought I wasn’t going to like this, but hell, was I wrong!” He smiled, putting the book in his backpack as slowly as possible, almost wanting to take everything out only to have to spend more time there putting everything back in. but he resisted the urge and put the backpack on his shoulder.

“So, no horror movie then?” She smiled, leading him out of her bedroom and down the corridor.

“Well, I mean… we could still watch a movie together some time… if you want, that is.” Eddie scratched the back of his neck, trying hard to play it cool. “It doesn’t even need to be a horror movie, really.”

Y/N stopped in front of the front entrance and turned towards him, smiling. “I would love that.” She opened the door for him and stood aside to let him through. She watched him walk down the driveway to his car, hoping he would turn around and come back to her. But he didn’t. He just got inside his car and started the engine. Fuck it, she thought, as she started running down the driveway too. “Eddie, wait!” She called for him. She jogged to his car and stopped for a few moments, before pushing herself on her tiptoe to reach his cheek and leave him a kiss there. Eddie was visibly caught by surprise, s much so that his cheeks started turning a soft shade of reddish pink, like they did that morning in the hallway at school. “Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

He smiled, gently placing a hand on her cheek, the cold metal of his rings sending shivers down her spine. “I won’t, princess.” He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

After that, he waited for her to go back inside her house to do anything. But as soon as the door closed, he started basically dancing inside the car, humming the “Oh, love… oh, lover boy!” verse from Good Old Fashion Lover Boy by Queen as that was the song that had been stuck in his head for the entire night. Hell, what a day!

A/N: if you read this, thank you very much! Please, feel free to like and comment! I'd love to get some feedback! <3

[xoxoavenger]

Marvel

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Avengers x Reader Masterlist

Falling Avenger Series

💛 - most popular (>250 notes)

💖 - must read (>500 notes)

🌻 - personal favorite

 Peter Parker 

*initials next to Peter Parker indicates who’s portrayal of Peter it is based on. No initial means it can be any*

Series: 

The Seven Day Date (T.H.)

Memories (T.H)

One-Shots: 

Gone (T.H.) -  Peter and Y/N decide to go to space with Tony during Infinity War.

Lovers (T.H.) - Peter and Y/N may be dating, but their alter egos definitely do not agree. Monster (Lovers Part 2) (T.H.) And Peace (Lovers Part 3) (T.H.)

Band Practice, Was It? (T.H.) - Peter and Y/N decide that band practice is a good enough cover to go make out.

Far From Home (T.H.) - Peter meets a girl in Europe, one who may help him get over and fall in love, The Plan (Far From Home Part 2) (T.H.)

Spider-Man (T.H.) - Peter Parker (Tom Holland) x Morales!Reader 🌻 Spider-Man Part 2 (T.H.) 🌻

Jealous  (T.H.) - Peter and Y/N are both interns at Stark Industries, but Peter seemed to be climbing the ranks faster than her, making her very, very jealous.

Blood (T.H.) - Peter and Y/N just became Avengers, and their first mission does not go to plan. 🌻 Reverse (Blood Part 2) (T.H.)

Comó Está Tu Hija (T.H.) - Peter gets assigned to help the new girl out, and their friendship slowly turns into something more.

The Perfect Team (T.H.) - Y/N and Peter are the perfect team… which translates to perfect imposter team in among us.

Hostage (T.H.) - Y/N is captured and tortured by Hydra, and when they send a video of her screaming, they freak. 🌻💖

The Dance (T.H.) - Y/N begs Peter to take her to her first ever high school dance.

Subtle (T.H.) - Peter is married to a secret agent… but none of the Avengers know that yet

Overprotective (T.H.) - Peter Parker and Y/N Banner are dating. But, Y/N’s overprotective family of Avengers doesn’t know, because, well, they would freak

I Still Love You (T.H.) - Peter and Y/N get into a massive fight, one that takes a toll on Y/N. 💖

Save Us (T.H.) - Peter and Y/N had a perfect life; they were happily married with the cutest baby ever. Thanos takes it all away from Peter with just the snap of his fingers. 💛

You’re Somebody Else (T.H.) - Peter thinks he has an idea to make everyone forget who Spider-Man is, but it blows up in their faces.

The Hair Salon (T.H.) - The Avengers are concerned at why Peter keeps leaving the Tower to get his hair cut. 💛

The Camera (drabble) (T.H.) - no summary due to length 🌻

Congratulations (T.H.) - Y/N is pregnant, but the Avengers think her and Peter are engaged. Both call for a congratulations, so the misconception only continues to grow. 💛

Ignore (T.H.) - Y/N makes a bet with MJ and Ned, but it ends up hurting Peter. 💛

Goddamn Peter Parker (T.H.) - Peter and Y/N clash on just about every topic. Just when they’re starting to get along, Peter goes a ruins it.

The Mission (T.H.) - Y/N was snapped away, and when she returns five years later, she’s shocked at how much Peter has changed. They don’t get along well, so when the mission they're put together on goes horribly wrong, the two have to band together in order to get through it. With their lives on the line, will they be able to stick it out for one another? Or will they be lost in time? (or Y/N and Peter go on the mission to return the stones instead of Steve)

Remember Me (T.H.) - When Y/N is the only one that remembers Peter, she helps him get his life back together - and he falls in love with her in the process.

Die Trying (T.H.) - The one thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying. 🌻

Welcome To New York (T.H.) - the lights are so bright but they never blind me

Since You’ve Been Gone (A.G.) - Peter loves Y/N, but his past is still with him. 💛

Glasses - Peter was always the scrawny kid - but Y/N didn’t mind. What is she to think now, however, when he’s no longer just a nerd?

Voice - Peter comes home beaten beyond repair, and it destroys Y/N. I Love You (Voice Part 2)

J.D. - Peter and Y/N have changed their schedules to fit each other’s. So what happen when a John Doe comes into the hospital during Y/N’s shift? And what happens when she recognizes the moles on John Doe? Miracle Dreams (J.D. Part 2)

Safe - When Y/N’s in danger, Spider-Man’s the only one that can make her feel safe.

Listen - A photo taken out of context creates a fight between Peter and Y/N. 🌻

Of Idiots and Misunderstandings - Peter and Y/N are both idiots who can’t deal with their feelings, but a misunderstanding is also a large factor in their current relationship.

Bucky Barnes (MCU)

Never Again - Bucky and Y/N have a lot of couples counseling that they should probably go to, but it may only take one session to dig up the truth. 🌻💛

Come Back Home - Bucky and Y/N are only married two days before Bucky’s sent out on a mission during what was supposed to be their honeymoon

You Are In Love - And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars And why I've spent my whole life tryin' to put it into words 'Cause you can hear in the silence You can feel it on the way home You can see it with the lights out You are in love, true love 🌻

Lost It All - Y/N had it all, if only for a couple hours.

Everything - Bucky turns into the Winter Solider on a mission, and Y/N stays with him after everything.

Steve Rogers (MCU)

Clean - There was nothing left to do When the butterflies turned to dust that covered my whole room

Sam Wilson (MCU)

Delirious - Y/N isn’t feeling well, and in her delirious state she lets a few things slip. 

Loki (MCU)

Control - Y/N’s the only one that can get Loki’s plan out. But he’s the only one that knows she still loves him

The Cell - After Loki tries to take over Midgaurd, Y/N also has to deal with his consequences.

Blank Space - I can make the bad guys good for a weekend So it's gonna be forever Or it's gonna go down in flames🌻

I’ll Always Find You - Loki finds Y/N at the TVA when he begins to time slip.

Jack Thompson (Agent Carter)

I Promise - When Y/N gets shot instead of Ana, Jack is the one to make the promises.

The Girl - Jack keeps his private life away from work. That is, until a rough night forces him to show his cards.

The Call - Jack was supposed to fly back to New York, but he never showed at the airport.

Mistletoe - Jack and Y/N hate each other, but having to pretend to be married for a mission could change it. 🌻

Made With Love - Y/N makes Jack’s birthday present with love.

Terrified - Y/N has new powers, and she thinks Jack is terrified by them.

Lost In the Lights - Jack and Y/N just keep running into each other🌻

 Charles Xavier (X-Men)

Challenge Succeeded, Love - After a small dispute, Y/N knows she has to make Charles regret talking to the girl at the bar.💛

Always Be There - Y/N is having a hard time with cramps, but luckily Charles is there to help. 🌻💛

Christmas Cookies - Y/N and Charles plan the perfect Christmas for the students. 💛

Come Through - Y/N’s never used her powers before, but what better time for them to come through than when Charles is in danger?💛

Days of Future Past - What if Charles had a wife in the 70s? And what if she was pregnant when Logan came to visit? 💖 Broken (Days of Future Past Part 2) - Y/N has been broken by Charles, and she can’t take it anymore.

Matt Murdock (MCU)

We Made It - What was a simple night turns unforgettable when Hell’s Kitchen experiences the Blip. 🌻💛

Always - When Y/N’s drink gets spiked on New Years Eve, Matt takes care of her.

Try Me - Y/N has powers that can heal any illness or wound through her cooking, which comes in handy when Matt gets hurt. Ask Me - Y/N makes Matt some food and helps him out after he gets in a fight.