There’s something about Eddie saying he’s a nester yet being completely incapable of doing such nesting with any of the women we’ve ever seen him with. Shannon was not only his wife, but Chris’ mother, and yet he didn’t feel ready to let her see their son once she came back… I’d even be willing to say he convinced himself into redoing his life with her because it made sense, and not because he was in love with her (again). Ana, however lovely she was, was also very clearly the product of Eddie putting Chris first. We see this when he has The Conversation with Buck: “Chris loves her”, “is that enough?” and soon we find out it isn’t. “We became a ready made family, and I’m not ready for that”. Finally we have Marisol, who he shoved inside his house only to kick out a few days later. But then… cut to Buck and Chris playing video games together, and doing some sort of scrapbook thing for Christmas, and visiting Santa, and going to the zoo. Cut to Buck picking Chris up from school, and being the first person Chris calls when Eddie breaks down (and goes to when he’s mad at his dad). Cut to homemade meals and difficult talks at any of their kitchens, and carrying each other physically and emotionally through the worse possible times. Cut to “there’s no one I trust with my son more than you,” and “this changes nothing between us.” Yeah,,, Eddie can’t nest with the women we’ve seen him with, because he already nested with Buck.
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RIP Mike Wheeler’s heterosexuality
“Is being gay contagious?”
Steve stares at his phone groggily before putting it back against his ear. “…Mike?”
“Is it?”
“It’s three in the fuckin’ morning is what it is.” He rubs his nose, Mike’s words finally catching up to his brain. “Seriously, Mike? No it’s not fucking contagious, you’re not gonna get the gay disease or whatever from me. I promise you’ll keep liking girls.”
He’s a little hurt, even though he knows the question is innocent. They’ve been asking a lot of questions, like the inquisitive little assholes they are, but none of them had seemed like they weren’t okay with it. Until now.
“…that’s not what I meant,” Mike says. Steve realizes that his voice sounds shaky, even over the phone.
“Then what—“ he cuts himself off, realizing halfway through his bitching that there was only one reason Mike would call about this. “Oh.”
“Can you pick me up?”
“It’s three in the morning,” he repeats, even as he starts wondering where he left his keys. “Your mom…”
“Steve,” Mike pleads. “Please?”
He sighs. “I’m on my way.”
Mike is sitting on his doorstep when he pulls up, head in his hands. Steve doesn’t have to get out of the car, he stalks to the passenger door with all the vitriol of a boy with too many emotions to hold in, and wrenches the door open hard enough that Steve worries he’s going to break it.
“Watch it, noodle arms,” he says, trying to pretend this is normal. Maybe if he acts like it’s not well past midnight, Mike will relax.
It doesn’t work. Mike slumps in his seat, not bothering with the seatbelt. “Can you just drive?”
Steve drives. Doesn’t really know where they’re going, but it doesn’t matter. Just away seems to suffice.
He eventually pulls into a side road
“I’m scared to even touch another guy now! Because apparently hugging is gay when you’re older, and so is sleeping in the same bed, and telling your friends you love them, and…and I’m fucking scared all the time, ‘cause what if they’re right? How do they know? How can they tell by just fucking looking at me? It’s bullshit!”
“Shit, kid,” Steve says, heartbroken. “Shit. C’mere.”
He pulls him close, and Mike turns his face into the crook of his neck, shaking. His shirt collar starts to get damp.
“I don’t know what to do,” he cries. “I thought it was normal, I thought everyone was just…so scared all the time, and we just didn’t talk about it. But then you said that thing about being afraid and pushing it down, and I didn’t— I tried to ignore it. I tried so hard not to think about it, Steve, I swear I tried.”
“I know you did,” he says quietly. It hits him that he might be the only one who really gets it. Eddie gave up denying it long ago, deciding to evolve into something else for them to focus on. Robin’s a girl. Which doesn’t mean jack shit in most cases, because being a lesbian fucking sucks in a town like Hawkins, but girls aren’t as obsessive about it. Sometimes when they compare notes, Robin will just stare at him.
Mike shakes his head. “I don’t know what I did wrong,” he mumbles tearfully into his shoulder.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Steve says with a surprising amount of vehemence. He grabs Mike by his scrawny little shoulders, pulls him away so he can look directly into his bloodshot eyes. “Not a damn thing, do you hear me? There is nothing wrong with you, and anyone who tells you otherwise deserves a swift kick in the balls. Got it?”
Mike responds by bursting into loud, messy sobs.
Steve just keeps holding him, running a hand through his hair and soothing him gently, like he wishes someone had done for him or Robin or Eddie when they were young. Finally Mike pulls away, embarrassment starting to set in.
“Sorry,” he mutters.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Steve asks instead of a meaningless platitude he knows Mike wouldn’t accept.
Mike gives him a suspicious look. “I guess.”
“I’m scared too. All the time.”
“No you’re not,” Mike snorts. “You don’t need to make me feel better just because I’m a pussy.”
“I’m not joking,” he says. “Why do you think I dated girls? Why do you think I went through so many lengths to hide it? It’s fucking terrifying, man. But you know what makes it less scary?”
“Dating girls? Marrying a woman?”
“No.” He pokes Mike’s chest, right over his heart. “People. Friends who love and accept you. Friends who know what you’re going through, even.”
“Do you…” Mike chews his lip. “Do you think Nancy would be okay with it? With me?”
“Absolutely I do. She was okay with me, wasn’t she? And I was her boyfriend.”
“Yeah, but it’s different when it’s your family, right? Sometimes people don’t care if someone is… people don’t care until it affects them. Do you think Nancy is like that?”
He knows Nancy isn’t like that, but that's a talk they’re going to have to have themselves. “I really don’t,” he encourages. “I think she’d be really glad to know this part of you, actually. She loves you.”
“…I know,” he says, shifting uncomfortably. “I don’t… we made this dumb no secrets pact the first time the Upside-Down happened, I don’t know why. It’s stupid. But…I don’t want to keep secrets from her anymore.”
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You know, Steve and Robin’s relationship must be fucking confusing for other people, since Steve is a flirt and they get along super well.
You would guess that with time people will get used to it and find it less confusing. I’d love it if it got the opposite of that.
Like, after the kids, especially Dustin, pester Steve too much he finally explodes and says «okay that’s it!» he turns to Robin «Buckley! You and me, date tonight, pick you up at 7.»
And Robin, immediately understanding what Steve has in mind, replies «oh Steve, I thought you’d never ask!»
The kids cheer and they’re happy for a while. Now, when asked, both Steve and Robin say that they’re dating.
Except that they act like always. They joke around, mess with each other, never kiss. They go on “dates” but they are no different from their usual hang out.
One day Dustin spots Steve at the movies with another girl and he’s fuming. He immediately tells Robin which chuckles and ruffles his hair «thank dude but don’t worry, I know about Steve’s hang out with this girl and I don’t mind!»
Another day, they’re all hanging out at Steve’s place and Eddie and Steve are sitting extremely close to one another, talking to Robin who’s all alone on the opposite couch.
Dustin scolds Steve for not sitting next to his girlfriend, which Eddie interject with “but Dusty-bun, I also need some Harrington love! Buckley can’t always have him for herself” making both Steve and Robin laugh too loudly, like there was something more Dustin wasn’t getting.
Eddie and Steve’ skinship gets worse with time.
“It’s like they’re testing Robin’s patience!” Dustin says to the rest of the Party.
One day he even tells Steve to put it to rest otherwise people might think he’s dating Eddie and not Robin.
Steve reassures Dustin that everything is fine.
A month later, Steve and Robin announce that they’re moving in together, and everyone is happy for this important step in their relationship.
What they don’t understand is why is Eddie also going with them and sharing a room with Steve.
“Don’t be absurd, I would never share a bed with my boyfriend before marriage! I am a woman of church” that’s the explanation given by Robin, who has gone to church a total of 5 times throughout her lifetime.
Finally it comes to a halt when the kids do a surprise visit to the trio and find Eddie and Steve in a compromising position on the living room’s couch.
They all stare quietly at each other until Steve breaks it.
«Uh, don’t worry! Robin doesn’t mind…?»
Then chaos ensures.
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