#and not questioned when jonathan kisses nancy while shes still with steve

[miwiheroes]

kind of actually mad whenever generic st fans really really love steve and call him an angel and feel really sympathetic in his feelings towards nancy when she's still in a relationship with jonathan

and then they call will a homewrecker

[trashmouth-richie]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 | steve x reader ; eddie x reader

summary: when your boyfriend dies as a result from saving you and your friends, you find yourself deep in the throes of grief. and in your lowest moment you find a new vice, something… or rather someone unexpected.

6.1k, reader is named “nellie” simply bc i refuse to use y/n, smut, 18+ only, multiple chapters, future drug use, mature themes, heavy depictions of grief/suffering leading to questionable decisions

big s/o & thanks to @rebelfell + @rxqueenotd for spit ballin’ ideas and beta’ing ❤️‍🩹

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

His body laid for three days before Owen’s team braved that cold and eerie pit of desolate hell. Strong hands had pulled you away from his body, and you had tried to claw your way back to him, begging for death to take you instead. 

That night you watched him choke on his last breath, his lungs gurgling with a squelching pop of blood as hesmiled one last, and final time, his last words played over and over again. 

“I’m so lucky to have been loved by you.”

His skin was still warm when the others found you clutching onto him, laying beside him as if you were cuddling during another time. A time when monsters didn’t exist and all you had was happiness. Legs thrown over one another as you watched a movie in the Wheeler’s basement, or when your wet hair seeped into his skin after a late night of swimming at Lover’s Lake, or the feel of his fingers tucked into the nape of your neck while you kissed him at your lockers back in high school. 

Never. You’d never feel that from him again. 

Large arms wrapped around your middle hauling you away. And you scrambled, kicked and slapped to get back to him. Screaming his name over and over. Because they weren’t his hands, and they would never hold you again, he was dead, Steve was dead. 

The hours after were a blur, somehow the rest of you had managed to get away. Eddie jump started an abandoned military vehicle that a rescue team had left while under attack, driving back to the gate that reopened under the ruins of StarCourt. 

Your head laid in Robin’s lap the entire ride back while Eddie drove, silent tears falling down everyone’s cheeks, Dustin sobbing into Nancy’s bony shoulder. 

You all stayed together those first few nights, laying in a fortress of blankets and couch pillows in your living room. It all seemed to move in slow motion, a terrible aching dread filled your soul and refused to leave the hole in your heart. 

The house you and Steve had rented was large enough to accommodate everyone for a few days. Those days were spent telling favorite stories of him. Talking about the pride he had for everyone, the mother hen of the group. How he would lay down and sacrifice himself for everyone he knew and he did just that.

A solemn silence fell over everyone, after a kick to the chest of reality fell like a veil—that he would never again come walking in the door. That Robin lost her best friend and confidant. That you would mourn your boyfriend, lover, and friend until your dying days. That Dustin lost his first male father figure. It all came crashing down at once, and no one spoke much after that besides the occasional sniffle or to open the back door to chain smoke the anxiety away. 

Claudia eventually called to have Dustin come home. Jonathan stopped over with his long haired friend from California, and you were anything but friendly to them. How could you be? You watched in jealous rage as Jonathan pressed kisses to Nancy’s cheek and rubbed her back soothingly. 

She lost a friend. You had lost the only person who knew you from the inside and out, and it wasn’t fair. 

Everyone trickled out of the home you shared with Steve. One by one, silently not wanting to be the last to leave, to have to watch your eyes wet as you were left to your own vices, left in this empty house that held all of your memories.

You couldn’t blame them. Hell was here and you were swallowed by its warmth, the flames licking your neck as you fell deeper into it, succumbing to the heat.

Eddie was the last to go. He was oddly quiet during the last few days, leaving late after everyone had fallen asleep just to return again in the morning. He had asked to use the phone only once, quietly excusing himself to use the bathroom afterwards, coming back to the living room looking even more lost than he had earlier, his eyes wet with fresh tears. 

It was almost as if he wasn’t sure if he should be here or not. He didn’t know Steve as long as everyone else did, but over the last year they’d gotten close, as if they were almost family more than they were friends. 

You had come to know and accept Eddie and Chrissy well, over the last year you’d spent a few nights every couple of months double dating at Enzo’s or game nights playing Scrabble at your house. When the world flipped upside down again, all of the fun came to an end, and the last nine months or more had been spent strategizing… trying to find a means to end this real life hell once and for all. 

And it did end, but at what cost?

Eddie’s shadow lingered by the front door as you walked over, one of Steve’s button down shirts hanging loose on your shoulders, the sleeves damp with your tears. 

His dark eyes swam with something you hadn’t recognized at all the past week, it wasn’t fear like it had been when you were miles below in another dimension. But you couldn’t nail down what he was feeling as he asked, “are you gonna be okay?” 

You stared at him, raising an eyebrow with an exhaustive look. 

His fingers worked the rings on his left hand. “I mean, tonight… are you alright, alone? I can stay if you...” He paused for a while, his tongue pressed into his cheek as he stared at the blue rug, his boots pinching his aching feet. Raising his eyes to yours once more, “I— I know how it feels when someone you love dies, it’s…hard.” 

Tears welled for what felt like the hundredth time in twenty four hours, and you shook your head. You dreaded this night when things should return to normal, when your friends had to return to school, their jobs. Things had to go back to the way they were— but you couldn’t. Not now, Maybe not ever. 

You remember how Eddie had missed school for weeks years ago back in elementary. But you weren’t friends then so you never knew, and you felt like a bitch for never asking. “I’m sorry, I— I didn’t—.” 

He turned his face away, smiling and finding interest in the wood grain of the front door, “it was a long time ago, I’ve had time to heal, but it takes awhile.” 

All you had was time. Time without Steve. Time to mourn the loss of the only man you’ve ever loved. Silent streaks slid down the apples of your cheeks, and Eddie stepped forward like he might crush you into a hug, but he stopped short. Instead rubbing his hand lightly down your arm, “I left my number on the counter, call anytime. Okay?” 

You blinked back at him and nodded. If you wouldn’t have been crying you could have seen the turmoil stir in the caffeinated browns of his. 

“Thanks, Eddie… I might just take you up on that.” 

He smiled gravely, “I did— I didn’t know Steve for as long as everyone else did… but he was a really good friend to me.” 

You looked up at him, eyes welling with tears at the man all of Hawkins marked to be a Satanic Cult Leader.

“He cared about you and Chrissy a lot, Eddie.” 

He smiled sadly and turned away before you could catch him wiping his eyes, or notice the wobble of his bottom lip. 

“I know, I did too…take care, Nellie.”

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Steve’s cologne was still on the bathroom sink. Dried toothpaste was stuck between the bristles of his toothbrush left from his rush to leave that morning— the last one he’d ever have. 

His bar of soap in the shower still held dry bubbles from lathered skin the last night you’d spent together. You had shared the warmth of a shower, shampooing his hair and Steve attempting to help shave your legs, giggling between the spray of the water. Later he laid you down making you whimper as he kissed your neck, fucking you slow and deep, whispering in your ear how you were his entire world. 

You hadn’t slept in your shared bed since his death, and now that the chaos had dissipated, and the house was quiet outside of the usual clicks and hums from the refrigerator, you braved the lonely queen sized bed and slipped between the cool sheets. 

The sweet burn of cedar, clove and a tangy bit of citrus surrounded you. Steve’s aroma, his smell held you like a child as you cried into his pillow. Curling your body into his side of the bed, you imagined his large hands splayed across your belly as he held you close to him, pulling you tightly against him so there wasn’t a single inch of him not touching you.

But in the end it was just you alone, trying to find warmth in cold sheets with a wet pillow. 

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

The alarm clock had scared the shit out of you.

The ringing turned to chimes in your dream, and when you woke— alone, it was in a puddle of sweat, the bed sheets wrapped around you like those horrible black vines had. 

The kitchen tile was cold on your bare toes as you padded to the coffee maker. Steve considered himself the best barista in Hawkins, and no matter how hard you tried to replicate it your pot of coffee never stood a chance next to his. 

Digging into the Folgers can, you dump two heaping dollops of grounds into the filter, pressing the ‘on’ button, mentally preparing for the worst cup of coffee you’d had since before you had started dating Steve. No hope to be found, optimism long gone. 

It took only a moment, a single sleep riddled half thought for you to slip up, your mind forgetting for just a second as you accidentally wondered what you and Steve would do for the weekend. 

Your nerves went into shock, you gasped in guilted embarrassment at the audacity to forget that. How? How how how how how! Pulling at your hair you scanned the kitchen table, eyeing Eddie’s number written on a pad of paper, but grabbing the phone you dialed a different one instead. 

She answered on the second ring, her voice sleepy and haggard as you whispered through choked tears, “h—he’s gone.” 

“Yeah,” Robin answered, sheets shuffling around, “he’s gone.” 

Tears fell in large drops down your face, as you nodded at the answer you already knew, silently needing the confirmation. 

How would you be able to walk the streets alone without Steve’s big hand crimped tight around yours? How could you live without ever hearing his voice, his laugh ever again?

When you hung up, Robin didn’t call back, and even if she had you wouldn’t have picked up. The day brought visitors trying to cheer you up. Rubbing your back as you stared blankly at the wall. Promising you things would get better, would be easier as time went on. Bullshit. All of it. 

As sweet as they were, how the hell would they know? How could they possibly hurt as bad as you did?

They had lost a friend, an older brother figure, but they didn’t know Steve on the intimate levels you did. They had no idea that he woke with terrors almost every night. Or that he had failed his driver’s test twice, or that he had a patch of light freckles on his nether region. 

Steve had been everything to you and now that he was gone you didn’t know how to cope in a world without him. If whatever higher power could grant Chrissy new life, and Eddie was spared from the bats, why wasn’t Steve? 

Your questions went unanswered as your mind reeled with pictures of him, flicking like a movie, your eyes stinging with anger. 

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Every night since he had died, you had slept in a pair of Steve’s boxers and a Hawkins High Prom 1984 shirt. 

From what you could tell, Robin was in the same shape you were in, unable to go back to work, barely sleeping. The only difference was she had Vickie at home to comfort her, hold her and wipe away her cries. 

You couldn’t help but feel nothing but jealous and sick to your stomach at the thought of how you were having to go through this alone. No matter how selfish that made you, you simply couldn’t care. 

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Nancy woke you the morning before the funeral with a sharp knock on the front door, and an armful of baked goods. She made coffee as you stared a hole into the kitchen floor, she vacuumed as you thumbed through Steve’s wallet, silently tearing up over his driver’s license picture. 

She folded laundry while you sobbed and screamed at a very surprised Keith when he called to ask why Steve hadn’t shown up for his shift. Nancy didn’t blink when the phone was pulled from the wall and sent flying across the living room as you pulled your hair in a fit because Steve is gone. Dead. Not coming back.

Nancy simply rubbed your back, pushing away hair from your wet cheeks after you fell asleep with your head in her lap. And when you woke, feeling worse than hungover with swollen eyes and a sore throat— she wouldn’t let you apologize. 

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Surprisingly, Steve’s parents found it in themselves to pretend they gave a shit long enough to plan his funeral. 

Everything was gaudy. Overdone and full of rich smells of roses so strong you wanted to vomit. 

Pearls clung to your ears and neck. The velvet of your black dress was warm on your body despite the cold gusts of wind that chapped your stocking clad legs. The sun wouldn’t shine today, or in your mind ever again. 

Robin showed up first, clinging to Vickie’s arm, a sad smile on her freckled face. She wore a dress, a sort of last laugh for Steve’s sake to see her dressed up. She throws herself at you, all legs and tear stained cheeks, squeezing your face into her shoulder.

“He would have hated this,” she sniffled after glancing around at The Harrington’s entourage, “look at her wiping her eyes as if she’d even talked to Steve within the last year.”

Steve’s mother stood in all of her Chanel No 9 glory, delicately dabbing a silk hanky to her dry eyes, as funeral goers grasped her manicured hand and spilled condolences. 

The sight alone made you sick. Mary could win an Oscar for her performance. Nobody but you and Robin would have any idea that Steve hadn’t spoken to his parents in over a year. Christmas to be exact. The first and last one you two had spent at their enormous home. 

What should have been a nice evening ended in harsh words and Steve’s father saying he was disowning him. Steve held his head high on the way home, apologizing for his parents and promising that he would never have anything to do with them again. 

And from there up until they were told of their only son’s death— The Harrington’s never once tried to make amends. 

“Always a show with her,” you sighed angrily. 

“How are you doing? Vickie asks shyly, “Is there anything we can do?”

“I’m fine, really. I—I’m okay, slowly but surely.” 

Vickie smiles and squeezes your hand, “He never loved someone as much as he loved you, Nel.” 

The words hit like a bullet. 

You knew.

Of course you had known. Steve told you that himself on more occasions than you could count, you didn’t need to hear it from someone else, didn’t need the reassurance that a man who literally died to protect you really did love you. 

It felt foreign—sounding horribly wrong coming out of a mouth that wasn’t his. Body on fire with something worse than rage, all you wanted to do was scream. Nodding your head once you excuse yourself, pushing out of the side exit and down some cement steps to the outside.

Air. You needed to force air into your lungs before you collapsed. Your chest felt as if it was going to burst into flames, suddenly everything felt so restricting. The air was frozen and bitter, resembling yourself lately and the outcome of the last few days. 

Gasping, choking on wailing cries you pulled at the neck of your dress, kicking your shoes into the dead grass. You yanked barrettes from your hair and pressed the heels of your hands into your eyes until you saw spots of gold and green. Anything to try to get some relief try to stop the sensation of being suffocated by something you couldn’t even see. 

“Nellie?” 

Tears poured from your face as you whimpered, struggling with the zipper on the back of your dress. 

It wasn’t fair. Why him? Why Steve? He was so good. Much better than you. He was kind and handsome, he loved big and treated everyone around him like they were the most important person in the room. 

He was the best friend, best boyfriend, best everything.

It should have been you.

A pair of warm hands land on your shoulders pulling you backwards and upright, frightening you before the warm tobacco spiced voice whispers in your ear.

“Breathe, Nel… c’mon sweetheart.” 

“I- c—can’t… Eddie…I—” coughing and clawing at the necklace of pearls, you desperately tried to unhook them, their weight feeling like boulders sitting on your chest, threatening to break you to pieces.

Eddie moved the hair from your neck, and in one little clink the necklace fell into your hands. 

“It’s off, it’s off— c’mon now, you gotta take a deep breath for me.” He spun you around placing his warm hands on your cheeks, sweeping away the icy tears. 

He was dressed in all black, his leather jacket tight on his arms. A frumpy, wrinkled tie loose around his neck looking like it had been tied and re-tied too many times before he just gave up. 

“In and out,” he instructed softly, taking your hand and placing it against his chest, “match it to mine. Feel it?”

It didn’t work, it wasn't helping. Eddie didn’t waste time before the cold leather of his arms wrap around you, delicately rubbing your back as you collapsed into him. 

The wind bit at his face as he held you close, stroking your hair. “It’s alright, ‘s gonna be okay, I’m here— we all are.” 

You let yourself break, let the sadness consume you before the funeral could start and you had to be brave for everyone. You wouldn’t let his parents see you this way, they already thought you were every bit of trash but Steve had always held you higher, placing you on a special little pedestal. And with him, nothing else mattered. 

Wiping your eyes, you pull back enough to see Eddie’s face, the dark sunglasses he wore were fogged up on the inside, shielding away his own turmoil, but his lip quivered slightly. 

“God, Eddie,“ you sniffed, voice wobbly as you murmur, “Sorry.. ‘m such a mess.” 

“Don’t do that,” he almost whispers, voice low and sensual, “don’t apologize.” 

If you could see his eyes you would notice how sad they were, how he was doing his very best to hold it together. How he had bags under his eyes from not sleeping. You’d see the guilt etched into the darks of his irises for being alive, for coming out of there alive.

The door swings open with a loud crack, caught in a gust of blustering wind, Dustin standing on the threshold trying to hold onto the handle for dear life, he winces when he sees the two of you. 

“Hey, it’s—” he looks at his watch, “they’re ready to start.” 

Eddie removes his hands from your arms and shoves them into his pockets, all the warmth leaving you as the wind creeps through the fabric of your dress.

“Be right there man,” Eddie answers tight lipped, trying to convey to Dustin that you needed a minute to collect yourself, “save me a seat.” 

When the door shuts with great force on Dustin’s end, he bends down to scoop up your discarded heels, holding them by the backs. He sets them on the ground between the two of you, gathering your arm in his hand as you steadied yourself with his body to balance while you slipped your feet in. 

Taking one last ragged breath, Eddie moves beside you looking up at the church, then back at you.

“I don’t think I can say goodbye.” 

Eddie swallows hard, reaching out with a cautious hand but deciding at the last minute to shove it into his pocket, “you don’t have to, y'know? My m— well, I heard once that a person’s spirit can live on as long as you need them.” 

“D’ do you believe in that kind of stuff?” you ask solemnly, “The afterlife? Reincarnation?” 

“I believe that Steve would want all of us to keep going, to be the best versions of ourselves…. and he would probably scold us for being late to his funeral.” 

You smile then, wrapping your hands around your arms rubbing warmth into them. “He definitely would, I can almost hear him fussing.”  

“Hands on his hips, no doubt,” Eddie said with a grin, “But he’d pull himself together…be strong for everyone, he was always good at doing that.”

You look at him, completely unaware of his own inner struggles. “That was Steve, always brave, always willing to defend someone.”

The door busts open again, this time it’s Hopper, his bristly mustache matching his thick eyebrows as he stares with annoyance at your tardiness. 

“Shit,” Eddie jokes, “better go before he calls the hounds.”

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

It was a closed casket per your request, even though his mother argued to have it open. Wanting the sympathy from her friends of being a parent “burying-their-child” and to have people comment on how he looked like her, how beautiful they both were— it was sick. 

Dustin made a speech. His hair pushed back just how Steve had taught him back in high school. He shed a tear at the end when he referred to Steve as his best friend. Climbing down from the podium, he slumped in the pew next to Eddie, sniffling softly as his shoulders shook. 

Robin recited a light hearted poem, promising to keep the store running and to finally get her driver’s license. Her eyes sparkled as she recounted the laughs she and Steve had shared. 

When it was your turn, your heart felt like it was filled with lead, the walk up the ugly church carpet felt as if it drug on forever, and you had to take several deep breaths before adjusting the mic. 

Your poorly written speech talked about how Steve lit up every room, how he was adored by everyone at Hawkins High. But now, under the scathing florescent lights under the wet eyes of your closest friends, the jumbled words looked like nothing but bullshit. 

Tears rimmed your eyes and you felt the same death grip of panic rising on your throat. 

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, body shaking as you fumbled with the index cards, “I- I can’t.” 

It was Joyce who met you at the podium with a caring smile, and open arms guiding you back to the pew. She didn’t mind that you sobbed into her shoulder making a mess of her cotton dress. And when the service was over and it was time to go to the cemetery, she held your hand and led the way.

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

You felt numb as you stood next to Robin. Her icy fingers laced with yours as you zoned out completely while standing at his gravesite. Someone was talking but you couldn’t register who it was or what they were saying. 

Your body was present but your mind was floating in a memory. 

“Should we have spaghetti tonight? Or do you wanna order a pizza and I’ll pick it up after I leave work?” 

Steve’s comforting voice filled your ear as you twirled your finger around the cord in the stockroom at Melvald’s. A common occurrence for the two of you, each sneaking off to call each other during the day. Eight hours away from him was too much. 

“Already got the noodles boiling for spaghetti, honey,” he practically purred into the phone, “tell Joyce you’re taking off for the night and come home to me.” 

Your smile squeaked through the receiver, your heart skipped beats at the thought of Steve Harrington wanting you… two years together it still seemed like yesterday that you had gone on your first date.

“Steve,” you giggled, “You didn’t have to.”

“Ah ah ah, I won’t listen to that,” Steve lightly scolded, “I like to cook and take care of my girl, we’re a team, Nellie.” 

You begrudgingly sigh and feel heat rise to your cheeks, you really were one of the luckiest girls. “Okay Captain, what kind of noodles are you making?” 

Steve chuckles through the receiver, cream colored phone balancing on his shoulder as he adds salt to the boiling water. 

“It was a toss up between angel hair or fettuccine… fettuccine won, and I picked up some garlic bread from Enzo’s.” 

“Ohh, you’re spoiling me rotten,” you purr, imagining what you would do to thank him…something involving your favorite part of him and your mouth, “I’ll stop at Bradley’s for some drinks, what are ya thinkin’?”

Steve smiles, putting a dish towel on his shoulder, “surprise me.” 

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

The church basement reeked of furniture polish, clashing with heavy floral perfume to mask the smell of mildew from a previous heavy rainfall. 

The Women of Fellowship were serving ham on wheat buns with chips and a veggie tray. Their faces planted with a christian sympathy smile as they cut brownies and refilled the punch bowl.  

A bottle of champagne sat chilled in a bath of ice per Mrs. Harrington’s demands. No reason to be so down all day, might as well make it a special occasion! As if the death of her only son wasn’t enough, was too boring for her. 

You rolled your eyes and shoved your plate away as her obnoxious laugh erupts from behind you. Steve’s father telling his colleagues a dirty joke no doubt, his face red from stifling a laugh and the whiskey he clutched in a monogrammed flask. 

“Nellie?” Nancy chirped, adjusting her slim figure to whisper gently across the table your group of friends were sulking at,  “I have some frozen meals my mom and I put together, I can come over tonight and give you the instructions if you’d like?”

Nodding softly you meet her eyes, “Thanks Nance, that’d be really nice.” 

It went silent again, Max fidgeted with her hair, pulling it back in a loose ponytail. Will’s watch beeped but he clicked it off lazily, running his hands down his face. Nobody knew what to say or what to do. What do you say at a friend's funeral? 

“Are they always like this?” Eddie blurts through the quiet, cocking his head towards the Harrington’s. He was leaning back in his chair, one arm slung over the back of an empty chair beside him, his sunglasses were still on, just as they were through the church service and at the gravesite. 

Everyone at the table looks to you, expecting some sort of an explanation, but you simply shrug, “I- I don’t really know them very well.” 

“Steve’s parents?” Nancy questions, “they’re super sweet, when I—”

She stops then her mouth closing with a pop to remember that it probably wasn’t the time to talk about her long ago relationship with Steve at his funeral in front of his current girlfriend. 

“… they uhhh.. they were always nice.” 

It wasn’t her fault, she didn’t know. Mostly because you and Steve had never mentioned it to anyone besides Robin. But her words stung, hit your chest like a thousand mad bees. 

You stand on shaky legs, “I need—yeah…” Without giving anything more you walk away, almost taking the table cloth with you from it tangling in your purse. 

“Nellie,” Robin tries, her own eyes swimming with hurt, but you’re already two tables away, squeezing between padded shoulders and hands holding plastic cups of punch, bleary eyed to find anywhere to be but here.

Turns out a broom closet storing Christmas decorations stuffed right with the plastic light-up yard Bethlehem set, was the right place to have a breakdown. 

You were hiding for a solid ten minutes before you heard a soft knock and a quiet ‘Nell?’ And your unladylike sniffling gave you away as you wiped your nose on the blanket swaddling baby Jesus. 

“Rob,” you exhaled annoyingly, “I’m fine, okay? Tell Nance I’m sorry.” But to your surprise it was Eddie.

“Hey.” he says cautiously, clicking the door behind him and leaning against it. 

You looked from him to your shoes and muttered out a soft, “hi.”

“So… Mr. and Mrs. Harrington seem like real big pieces of shit… wow.”

You snort airily fiddling with the run in your stocking, “Yeah, they’re something alright.” 

Eddie slides down the door, sitting with his legs crossed in front of him, exhaling a deep breath,“It’s been a long day,” he finally said.

“I don’t know what to do next.” 

Eddie looks at you confused, and eyes you when you stand abruptly and start pacing around the cramped closet. 

You’re erratic, talking fast and crazed, “I told myself that all I needed to do was just make it to the funeral. Make it through the funeral and…and then I would figure it all out from there! Now here we are— and I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do after, Eddie!

“After it’s over? And– when I leave… he’ll still be here in the ground, and I— ” you start to apologize but refrain, “.. I should go.” 

“Talk to me,” Eddie stands to his full height, reaching towards you, just barely grazing your elbow with his fingertips. His voice nearly breaking, “it helps to get it out.” 

You hiccup, and pull away, stumbling over a slew of strung together sentences that you’re barely breathing through to get out. 

 “..’s… shit, he was all I had. My parents are gone, I don’t have any siblings. It’s been… d’ you know that his parents have never approved of me, but Steve he— he fought for me, for us. Without him…I’m alone.” 

Eddie follows you his hands firm your biceps to try to calm you down. “All your friends are here. Robin, Vickie, the kids…” 

His words have no meaning to you, none of it mattered, your pain was demanding to be felt, and frilly words with no merit wouldn’t sugar coat this. “He’s gone, Eddie! He didn’t get to have a second chance he—died!”

He’s level headed but slowly losing his own battle, trying not to break thinking about his luck and the never ending guilt he carried. 

“We were all there, all of us are hurting, Nellie. You can’t shut people out and clam up.” 

You try to wriggle free from him, but he’s stronger, and all you can do is cry, “I— can’t keep going! Not without him!” 

Feeling the weight of survivor's guilt and the agony of never being able to be consoled by Steve again, you break. Sobbing uncontrollably. Eddie’s arms surround you, holding you tight and engulfing your cries with his own tears, and little shushes from his throat. 

“I’m sorry, Nellie. I’m so fucking sorry. Please don’t cry— it will take time but you.. we will be okay.” 

His voice is wobbly and his chest shakes as he cries silently grieving for his best friend. With tears running down your cheeks you pull away slightly to see his face. 

In the dim light you can make out that his nose is tinged red, and with unsteady hands you reach up and pry his sunglasses from his face.

His eyes were red, a little swollen from rubbing them and fatigued with lack of sleep. You could kick yourself for not recognizing how hurt he was, how self absorbed you had been. Both of you are crying together, clinging onto each other under the yellow light in that makeshift storage closet. 

Throwing yourself at him, your cheek presses into his chest as you both sob into one another. Meshing your suffering with his. 

His chin is resting on your head, hands wrapped in your hair. Your hands are clutching the opening of his shirt, fingers just barely grazing over his bare chest. Minutes passed and you exhale an exhausted sigh. 

Lifting your face up to tell Eddie that maybe you should get back, your nose brushes against his. And when you both should be moving away, straightening yourself up and wiping your eyes, neither of you pull back. 

Eddie’s breath fans against your cheek, a small shudder on your skin, the emotional hold of the day, his arms wrapped around you it was nice… it felt, good. Without thinking, without acknowledging what you’re doing you tilt your head and line your mouth up with his, pressing your lips to his. 

It’s unexpectedly tender, and what should startle him doesn’t, but all of that sweetness is quickly swallowed by a hunger you had never felt before. 

It’s nothing but grabby hands and needy mouths. His hands go from soft and consoling to roughly working his pants down in the same hastiness- that you’re hauling your dress up.

Eddie grabs you from the crook of your knees as if you’re weightless and shoves you up hard against the wall. Your mouth hangs open in a silent plea as your panties get ripped to the side. Tears are still flowing down your face and if you were to look at him, you’d see that his haven't stopped either. 

It’s desperate the way you’re clutching onto his shoulders. As if every ounce of pain was leaving you with every inch of him. You whimper with each pump of his hips and Eddie is doing the same, holding you impossibly tight, grunting into your ear. 

It’s raw and harsh, the shelves shuddering with the pace of him taking you, and you’re all in, moaning when you’re close. Holding the nape of his neck and wringing his curls as you start to unravel, your nails clawing into him as your mind explodes. 

When you finish, he’s close behind, groaning deep and biting his lip as he shakes violently with his release, pumping all he’s got into you. 

What’s left between you is gasping breaths and tear kissed skin, a set of broken Christmas lights under Eddie’s boot. 

His jacket is still in your clutches when you open your eyes, coming down from a high you clung to stay up on. But the weight of your decision comes crashing down when you realize what you had done.

Regret is painted thick on your face as the realization comes full force. You need to get out of here. What kind of grieving girlfriend were you to have fucked your dead boyfriend’s best friend in a church basement at his funeral. 

A whore is what you are. 

Eddie must have realized what kind of slut you were too because he sets you down and immediately turns away from you, shoving himself back into his pants. 

But, before he can say anything, before he can try to talk you off a cliff— you’re already out of the door, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand, hiding the horrifying expression twisted onto your face. 

You don’t hear Eddie calling after you, or the way his face turned to fear as you threw open the door, practically sprinting away from him. 

Lucky for you, nobody questioned why you were darting up the basement steps, or why you looked absolutely wrecked. Your keys fumbled in your hands as you unlocked your car, terrified to look back, running from your mistake, from Steve from Eddie.

The road was a dangerous blur on your drive home, your eyes flooding over obscuring stop signs and headlights. Your cheeks were still stained with yours and Eddie’s tears. 

Tears that were shed in grief from the death of your boyfriend, the same ones that stayed on your face as you got fucked in a closet by his best friend. And more tears fell as you tried to comprehend why for the first time since Steve’s death, you felt comfort.

—

[crypticmoon07]

Robin and Nancy should come together to set up Steve and Eddie

robin starts to get really sick off Steve saying he's found "the one" and it turns out to just be another airhead hook-up. Eventually Steve stops going on dates, starts spending all of his time with Eddie or Dustin (when he's not with robin that is)

So Robin decides that Steve needs a pick me up. They go on a girls day. Paint nails, go shopping, go for lunch, and gossip. Robin tries to set him up with a couple of girls that they walk past but every time he refuses, saying something like "if you find them so cute she should go date them" which is always followed by "unless you've got someone else in mind". Robin has no clue what he means by that.

whenever she tries to ask Steve what his type is, he just says he doesn't have one (which makes sense why he used to date pretty much anyone). Robin decides that she's gunna need help if she wants her hopeless romantic to get any actual , romance.

And just about the only other person who knows Steve as well as Robin, happens to be Nancy, I mean who else could figure out who would be a good pic for Steve better than his ex girlfriend, right?

After a little bit of discussing they come to the conclusion that Steve must be into nerds, I mean Nancy and Robin are both nerds, and Nancy says that one time she was sure that he had a thing for Jonathon (who is also a nerd) which brings robin back the time that she thought Steve was checking some dude out (when she confronted him he denied the hell out of it) which would make sense off why he hasn't been going on dates recently. Its extremely hard to find another fellow queer in Hawkins. (Robin would know)

Eventually they decide that Eddie would be perfect for Steve, he's queer, a nerd, they already hang out, like, a fuck-ton, and now that they think about it Eddie has defiantly been giving Steve the eyes. Maybe all that play full flirting was actual flirting.

They attempt to set them up, but they're kind of doing all the work themselves. they are always together, always sitting next to each other, giving each other lifts, pairing up whenever the group gets split up. But its not working. They still aren't dating, they aren't getting any closer than they were before, they aren't even flirting any more than usual. So Robin and Nancy spend the group split up's mostly planning on what more they could do.(they always ended up paired together)

They decide to rope in Jonathan and Argyle, maybe if they get them drunk or high enough then one of them would let a confession slip. but that doesn't work either. Argyle suggests playing some games. They play never have I ever, with some rather 'personal' questions to set the mood (they end up with a very drunk Argyle). They play truth or dare, they try to get Steve to kiss Eddie, he does, just on the hand (Eddie gets very red). robin gets dared to sit in Nancys lap, and well Robin has had enough alcohol for a lifetime so (with Nancys consent) she does it. It goes on like this for a while nothing happens, so they go to bed, they all stay at Steve's for the night.

robin wakes up in the morning to Eddie and Steve cuddling, she wakes everyone up and tells Steve that their plan finally worked. They final got Steve and Eddie to get together. They both just break out in laughter, they tell robin that they've been dating for a month, and have been trying to set up Robin and Nancy the entire time.

[steddiealltheway]

During season 3, there’s a deleted scene (because I said so) of Max and El’s first spin-the-bottle spy attempt.

The bottle slows to a stop right on Steve's name, and the two girls giggle as El puts the blindfold on.

She finds him in his Scoops Ahoy outfits, and El giggles harder as she tells Max, "He's kissing some girl."

Max gasps, "Who is it?"

El starts walking closer, trying to see who it is, but their hair is covering their face. "Some girl with curly hair."

"Nancy?" Max whispers conspiratorily.

El shakes her head. "Her hair is short. This girl's hair is longer." She starts to turn red, feeling like she's been intruding for too long. She starts to reach up for her blindfold when the person pulls back and says, “Ahoy, Captain.”

Just as Steve groans in irritation, El yanks the blindfold off and freezes. Max shakes her and asks, “What? What happened?”

El pauses, thinking back to the time Mike had to explain why he was so angry when Troy called Will a fairy. She didn’t understand why people were upset about a boy loving another boy, but she understood that it wasn’t something people talked about. Just like she wasn’t allowed to use her powers, Will wasn’t allowed to openly like boys.

So, she just lets out a deep breath and reasons with herself that it isn’t a lie when she says, “They started using tongue.”

While Max shrieks with laughter, El smiles at her, trying not to think of the boy Steve was with.

-:-:-:-:-:-

(An added extra part that is WAY longer than intended. Oops. Coming back after editing to add JSKEHDISBEHSH)

The next year, the information seems to come in handy when Dustin urges El to see if his friend Eddie is still somehow alive in the upside down.

The others are all there, trying to describe what he looks like when Nancy and Jonathan volunteer to run to the school and grab his missing poster for a photo. But the descriptions paint a clear picture in El’s head of someone she’s seen before. Briefly. But she remembers.

Curly hair. Wears lots of rings. Big brown doe eyes and full lips - Steve’s very helpful description.

And El can’t help but turn to Steve and whisper, “Ahoy, Captain?

Steve’s eyes widen and his cheeks flush red. His mouth opens and closes asking, “How-? Why-? When-?”

“Is that him?” El asks firmly.

Steve only nods. Brushing off everyone who asks What does she mean? By telling them to be quiet while El puts on her blindfold.

She finds herself somewhere dark and cold, feeling the familiarity of the place as she seeks out Eddie. She walks around, calling out his name, getting more and more desperate as time goes by.

But she suddenly feels something watching her and quickly turns around, finding Eddie as pale as a ghost staring at her from the ground. She bends down and puts a hand on his face. “We’re coming for you, okay? We’re coming.”

Eddie tilts his head and asks, “Who?”

“Steve,” El automatically says, hoping it’s the right person to name.

The name seems to give Eddie a small bit of hope.

“And Dustin,” El adds. “Dustin’s coming for you.”

Eddie gives her a weak smile and mumbles, “I knew he’d miss me.”

El smiles at the joke. She hears the other people in the room begin to ask if he’s alive, to remind him that someone named Wayne is coming.

El squeezes his cold cheek, hoping some of her warmth will bleed through the connection. “Just hang on a little longer, okay? They say Wayne’s coming too.”

Eddie weakly smiles again and murmurs, “Wayne.” His eyes get heavy, and El shakes him. “Mmm awake,” Eddie slurs. El hears footsteps behind her and turns, not seeing anything, but as she turns back she finds Eddie disappearing.

She reaches out yelling, “No! No! Hold on!”

When he’s completely gone she yanks the blindfold off, weeping as someone pulls her into their chest. She doesn’t hear any of the questions around her as she says, “Run to him. Run!”

But finally, Mike gets through to her and asks, “Did you see Steve there?”

El wipes her eyes and asks, “What?”

“Did you see Steve there?” Mike repeats.

El glances around, noticing that Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Robin are no longer there. “Where-“

“They went to him as soon as you said we’re coming for you. Did you see them there?” Will explains quickly.

El shakes her head. “There were footsteps but… Eddie vanished before I saw anyone.”

Mike looks far off and puts his head in his hands.

They’re too late.

A tense silence passes.

“This is a code green! I repeat this is a code green!” Dustin’s staticky voice rings through the walkie.

The three kids race toward it, Mike grabs it first asking, “He’s okay?”

“He’s alive,” Dustin says, sounding choked up. “He’s alive.”

El sighs in relief and rushes off to the door.

“Where are you going?” Will asks.

“The hospital, come on.”

The trip there is fast, but no one lets them see Eddie yet as he’s still in critical condition. But they all opt to wait as long as they need to get any updates.

El sees Steve eye her for a while before she moves to sit in the chair next to him. She waits for him to talk first.

“So… how did you… know?” Steve asks.

El flushes red and ducks her head. “Max and I were playing this game where we would spin a bottle and-”

“Okay, I know where this is going. Jesus, kid,” Steve mutters.

El glares at him. “We would spin a bottle and see who it landed on to spy on them.”

“Oh,” Steve says, pausing before he suddenly realizes, “You spied on me?”

“Yes,” El replies because friends don’t lie.

Steve flushes red and asks, “So, how much of me and Eddie did you see?”

El leans in to whisper, “You were kissing a lot.”

“Christ,” Steve says, before burying his head in his hands. He slowly looks up at her and asks, “Did you… tell anyone?”

“No.”

Steve sighs and leans back in his chair, staring off.

El can’t help but press on. “Did you love him?”

Steve stops breathing for a second as he considers the question. He turns to her slowly and says, “I did.”

“Did?”

Steve runs a hand over his face. “It’s complicated.”

El pauses and says, “Well, it looked like he really loved you too.” When Steve gives her a look, she adds, “And he looked happy when I said you were coming for him.”

A conflicted look crosses over Steve’s face. “Did he really?”

El nods. “Friends don’t lie.”

Steve smiles and huffs a small laugh. “That’s right.” He hesitates before slinging an arm around El’s shoulder and pulling her into his side as much as he can with the arm of chair being between them. He plants a kiss to her head and whispers, “I’ll give you a lecture later about the spying thing. But for now… thank you.”

El leans into the hug, staying until an older man walks into the room.

“Wayne!” Dustin yells and runs to wrap his arms around him.

El watches as Steve slowly stands up and offers his hand to Wayne when Dustin pulls away. Wayne looks at Steve for a moment before pulling him into a hug.

El wants to ask and know the whole story behind Steve and Eddie and this Wayne person. But she thinks it’s time to look away as Steve breaks down in Wayne’s arms and the older man’s bottom lip quivers. “I know, son. I know.”

-:-:-:-:-:-

They wait for a long time before there’s finally news.

They all collectively hold their breath as the doctor walks into the room. He look over at them all before announcing, “He’s stable.”

A wave of relief floods through the room, but El thinks there’s an added tension when they’re informed that he isn’t allowed visitors yet.

But Wayne follows the doctor out the door and has a very stern word with him before he’s reluctantly allowed to disappear down the hall.

A few minutes later, he comes back to the room and asks, “El?”

El sits up straighter. “Yes?”

“He’s asking for you.”

El glances at all her friends before she stands up and follows (who Dustin had told her is) Eddie’s uncle. As she gets to the room, she looks at all the tubes connected to Eddie’s body, and wonders how he even asked for her.

But as she gets closer to the bed, she sees Eddie’s eyes crack slightly open.

“Lean down so he can whisper to you,” Wayne advises.

El leans closer and hears Eddie says, “I know… how… to get… to Max.”

El leans back and grabs Eddie’s hand. “Show me.”

With that, she’s taken into a vision of horrors, of Eddie dying and coming back. His heart restarted by Vecna for some unknown reason. A vision of all the bodies tied to the tree but Max’s spot is empty. But there’s something there. Something that’s trapped in the empty vines. But just as she sees it, a clock strikes in the distance, and it all begins to disappear.

She gasps as she steps away from Eddie, catching her breath as Wayne asks what the hell is happening.

But she can only run out of the room, heading toward Max’s room knowing where she needs to go to find her and bring her back.

[hbyrde36]

STWG Daily Prompt 04/28/24

as chosen by our own @penny00dreadful

Fairytale✨

WC: 837 | AO3

He was never going to find her.

Steve sighed heavily, letting his lunch tray drop to the table as he plopped down into his seat next to Nancy and Jonathan, the spot he’d been occupying ever since he’d had some sense knocked into him and dumped Tommy and Carol as friends for good. 

He’d gotten a lot of funny looks for that move, not only because he’d nuked his popularity along with his friendships, but because Nancy had dumped him for Jonathan, or so the rumor mill said, and yet here he was beside them. The truth was that their uncoupling had been a mutual decision, they just didn’t care enough to correct the narrative. 

But, back to Steve’s lament. 

It’d been almost a week since he saw her, the mystery girl that he’d spent almost the entire Halloween Ball with. They hadn’t spoken at all, the music had been too loud for that, but they’d stuck close to each other all night, danced, shared a few laughs as they pointed out their classmates' costumes–both good and bad– and shared a brief, but earth shattering kiss in a dark corner of the gym.

Now normally, Steve wouldn’t have been caught dead at one of the school’s dances, but his high school career was rapidly coming to a close, and honestly he was just trying to get himself out there, make some better memories before he was forced to grow up and enter the adult world.

Also… Nancy and Jonathan had made him.

Then they’d ditched him to go make out in the darkroom, but that was fine, It’d all been worth it to meet—her.

Steve only stepped away for a moment to get them a couple drinks, but when he returned to their spot by the bleachers, she was gone, the only evidence that she’d ever been there at all was a ring left behind on the floor. He picked it up, remembering how she’d fiddled with them a lot, her many rings, and must have dropped this one without realizing. 

He pocketed it, knowing it would be the key to finding her again.

Because, and this was his dilemma, on top of not knowing his mystery girl’s name, he also had no idea what she really looked like. While his Indiana Jones costume had left no question as to his own identity, she’d been dressed as a mummy, wrapped up in layers of gauzy fabric, only showing off her long dark curly hair, the biggest most gorgeous brown eyes he’d ever seen, and perfect pink pouty lips.

After spending the last several days combing the school, asking every brunette he came across if the ring was hers—to no avail—Steve had all but given up, assuming the girl had been someone’s friend or cousin visiting from out of town.

“What’s all this?” Steve asked, finally noticing the stack of photos Jonathan had spread out on the table around them. 

Jonathan took a bite of his sandwich, answering with his mouth still half full. “group shots of all the clubs for the yearbook, I just got them developed.”

Steve pushed his own lunch away, not hungry, and pulled a few of the pictures closer to him. He wasn’t really looking, looking, there wouldn’t be anyone in those pictures he hadn’t already seem roaming the halls, or so he thought. Then he spotted a familiar piece of jewelry on the finger of someone entirely unexpected. 

Eddie Munson, head of the Hellfire Club. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled the ring out, keeping it hidden under the table as he looked between it and the one in the photo. Same band, same stone, same black nail polish on the hand’s fingers too.

Dark curly hair, check. 

Big beautiful brown eyes, check. 

Soft pouty pink lips, double check.

Okay, so, the mystery girl wasn’t a girl at all. It explained why he’d had so much trouble finding her at least.

Steve sat with that fact throughout the rest of the lunch period, and by the time the bell rang had decided that it didn’t change a thing. He wasn’t freaked out that he’d kissed a boy, he didn’t even care that it was Munson, certified freak and D&D nerd. He was a little embarrassed that he’d assumed his special someone was a girl just because he had long hair and pretty eyes, but moving past that—

Now Steve just had to woo his man.

“Hey, Munson?” Steve called out as he jogged down the hallway, approaching the other boy from behind just as he was closing his locker. 

Eddie startled, his eyes going wide as he turned to see who had snuck up on him, but recovered quickly.

“Steeeeeeeve Harrington, what can I do for his former-royal-highness?”

Steve stepped in close, glancing around to make sure no one was watching them before he took Eddie’s hand, gently turning it over, and placed the ring in the center of his palm.  

“I think you dropped this.”

Permanent taglist (open): @penny00dreadful @pearynice @hitlikehammers

[formosusiniquis]

Robin's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Your Newly Adopted Former Mean Girl

Happy @stevieweek everybody! This is Day One: Stobin with none of the bonus prompts, but keep an eye out cause i've got a few more incoming this week.

Robin Buckley & Stevie Harrington; Pre-Stevie Harrington/Eddie Munson WC: 9483 | T | No Archive Warnings Apply | Tags/Themes: transfem!Steve Harrington; Platonic Soulmates Steve & Robin; Robin Buckley is the Stevie Harrington Defense Squad

AO3

On July 4th, 1985, Steven Joseph Harrington died in the Starcourt Mall Fire. 

The story Robin Marie Buckley tells, after two weeks of hospitalization and an additional month in Indianapolis for “personal reasons,” when she returns to her senior year at Hawkins High a full week after the first day of school is one of abject heroism on the part of Steve.

It’s true, even if it isn’t the whole story. Just like it isn’t hard for her to play morose and avoidant, because that’s how she feels. She might know Dustin, but it’s too hard to spend much time with him and she doesn’t want to be the weird friendless senior who only talks to freshmen. She’ll leave that to Eddie Munson, who snatched Steve’s weird little child friends up only a few weeks into the first semester. 

Nancy and Jonathan avoid her as much as she does them, she doesn’t think they know what to do with the new girl in the know. It paints a picture, well she realizes later that it paints a picture, but she doesn’t want to sit at a table and eat her peanut butter and jelly sandwich while Nancy Wheeler’s big beautiful eyes are staring at her like she’s an article that’s half an inch too long and needs to be dissected while Jonathan Byers is also there.

So she drifts through the halls of Hawkins High like a ghost, she’s Cathy on the moors. Avoiding anyone who might try to ask her too many questions about the final days of Steve Harrington and Starcourt Mall.

Until the day she spots a baby blue jeep pulled into the Henderson’s driveway, a tall brunette unloading a single suitcase from the back. She’s got her bike across the road before she can even think of a game plan. A noise that’s almost like a scream erupting from her mouth the entire time she coasts over.

“You’re here, you’re here, you’re here!” It’s an uncharacteristic bit of grace, that lets her drop her bike to the ground and use its momentum to catapult herself into the other girl’s arms. Too excited for a second to remember that she’s in a place where small town gossip exists, and a new neighbor can fuel the mill for days.

But she enjoys her hug for a second before settling into a more appropriate character. She extends a hand, ignoring the laugh it gets her, “Welcome to Hawkins, I’m Robin, occasional Dustin babysitter.”

The girl’s smile pulls lopsided at her mouth, kissed with a bit of irony and undeniably charmed. “It’s nice to meet you Robin,” her voice is soft, and a little unsure. Wavering like Becky Simpson’s tone deaf oboe playing, unsure of what pitch and timbre to land on. “I’m Stephanie Henderson, Dustin’s cousin.”

The bit crumbles immediately between Robin’s fingers.

“Stephanie? You went with Stephanie? Are you kidding? We workshopped so many names!”

“I liked my name! But it’s weird apparently to be a girl named Steve.” She distributes finger quotes randomly throughout the sentence like Robin hadn’t been the one to say she didn’t know any girls named Steve. “Stephanie is pretty!”

Robin looks her best friend dead in the eye, unsurprised that there’s not a hint of humor even underneath the drama. “Never mind that it sure would be strange for Steve Harrington to die just for girl Steve who looks like she could be his cousin to move to town.”

“Affair baby,” Stephanie presents the solution with a flick of her hand. Robin notices that her nails are still chewed short, more noticeable  after they talked about what it would be like for her to grow them out and manicure them.

“Give me the whole name right now,” Robin demands, “I wanna hear how it sounds.”

Steph, cause they’re going to have to figure out nicknames immediately they just aren’t the kind of friends that can go around being Robin and Stephanie, kicks the curb with her scuffed up Nike. Her arms crossed across her middle accentuates the way her body has already started changing, Robin feels like a creep for a second for noticing her friend’s boobs before deciding that they weren’t the kind of friends with those kinds of boundaries.

“Stephanie Marie Henderson.”

“Oh my god!”

“Shut up, don’t even.”

“Oh. My. God.”

“You’re already making a big deal out of it, which it’s not.” Stevie insists.

“You stole my middle name, you’re so obsessed with me.” It’s the best thing she’s ever heard actually, that Stevie might be as into this friendship as she is. She’s always the friend that’s too much.

Stevie’s smile is small, shier than she’s used to seeing it. “Yeah well whatever Stephanie Robin sounds like a straight to VHS Winnie the Pooh movie character or some shit.”

Dustin comes scrambling out of the house before Robin can make another joke. “You were supposed to call before you left! Ma isn’t finished setting up your room, and Tews is stuck under your bed.”

They share a look, and Robin thrills a little that she has a friend that she can share looks with. “Henderson,” Stevie shouts, sounding a little more like she did this summer. “Are you really going to make me carry my own bags in? I'm a fucking lady, dickhead.”

“Sure don't fucking talk like one,” Dustin hollers back from the door, already trudging out of the house.

“Gonna have to work on your feminism,” Robin says. wondering what kind of weird shit a person would have to sort through when they realized they were transsexual. “Just because you're on estrogen doesn't mean your arms are atrophied.”

The butter-wouldn't-melt smile is still the same, even though her face looks softer. She hands off her suitcase, patting Dustin on the head as he visibly stumbles under the weight. “Don't drag it on the sidewalk, it's new,” she directs. 

He can't flip them off when it takes both hands to lift the luggage in his hand, “How are you more of an asshole, oh my god.”

“Is that anyway to talk to your cousin, Dustbunny?”

Dustin doesn't answer directly, but he's muttering under his breath the whole way to the house. 

“My ribs still hurt some when I'm doing heavy lifting,” Stevie says when he's out of earshot. “Better to be a high maintenance girl all of a sudden than someone he doesn't think he can count on.”

“Don't love the way you used girl in that sentence, Dingus.” Robin shoves at her shoulder, “Let's go look at your room, we can plan how you want to decorate.”

“I'm not saying I'm upset we got the job, Rob, just that it's weird the way Keith was acting. He always hated me, you know that. Before all this,” she gestures down her striped top, well Robin supposes she’s actually gesturing down at the way it hugs her figure, “he hated me. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire.”

“That seems a little dramatic, but welcome to your first workplace sexism.” Robin gives Stevie a comforting pat. Hopeful that it communicates a ‘welcome to the bad parts of everyone knowing you're a girl’ and not how she’d been prepared to work some of that sexism to their advantage. But apparently Keith was charmed by Stevie’s list of favorite films, he’d even laughed when she said her favorite Star Wars movie was the one with the teddy bears. When they’d gone to pick out movies last week she’d heard him lecture a guy for five minutes on how it was Episode VI not ‘the third one.’

Stevie flips her hair, sending Robin a playful glare, “I’ve experienced sexism, thank you, have you already forgotten what I used to look like.”

“I’m sure he’ll go back to hating you once he realizes you working here is going to mean this is one more place that Henderson and the brats are always hanging around.” She went with Stevie to the arcade once and she almost understood why Keith always hid in the back when they walked in. 

“Probably, but at least then I can stop being nice to him. He’s such a-” Robin can hear the way Stevie swallows the rest of the sentence. A frustrated, red blush flooding her cheeks as she bites down on her bottom lip. It’s confusing, the small shake of her head and how upset she suddenly seems to be with herself. “Sorry, sorry, never mind.”

Maybe it’s stupid, but for some reason that’s when Robin realizes that Stevie was about to say something mean. That Stevie stopped herself but she is, Robin supposes, frustrated that the instinct is still there. And it’s not like Robin doesn’t remember that they’ve talked about this before. Stevie with that eyepatch on from where they reattached her retina and Robin laying in the hospital bed next to her still under doctor’s supervision. Neither one of them were high anymore, it had been almost sixteen hours since Everything, they were only in the hospital at all because Robin’s mom had found them both passed out in her bed and panicked. When Mrs. Henderson had seen them both in Hawkins General and did what Stevie said was panicking and had them shipped to the city, her car speeding closely behind.

The only thing they could possibly be high on was the sudden crushing awareness of their own mortality, when Stevie’s one good eye locked with hers and she said, “I don’t want the first thing people think of when they remember me to be how I was a douche or an asshole. Or a bitch, I guess, if they actually let me change like they said they would.

“All the girls I know,” she paused and seemed to consider that, “all the girls that I still like, are good and kind and badass.”

“Including me?” Robin had teased, but she had remembered the way she had given Stevie such a hard time from the second they started working together until the moment they as the ‘adults’ realized they were going to have to protect Dustin and Erica from something that might kill them all.

“Especially you.”

So yeah, of course, when she catches herself about to verbally eviscerate Keith behind his back two weeks after being back in town she shuts down. But Robin isn’t about to let that happen. Stevie is good and kind and definitely a badass, if Keith were in trouble she would absolutely risk her life to save him -- as long as saving him didn’t keep her from saving one of the kids. 

Stevie was a good person who had some mean girl tendencies, Robin wasn’t going to make her feel bad about that. As long as she was using her powers for good, or like Claire in the Breakfast Club she was kind of Mean Girl lite.

“He’s kind of a slimy creep,” Robin admits. The kind of comment she thinks, but couldn’t ever really say with her last group of friends. It would break the loser code.

Stevie’s shoulders drop from around her ears. She’s still idly picking at the nail polish they just painted on her thumb, but she smiles over at Robin. A little sly, a little catty. “He touched my shoulder while we were leaving and I swear to god he left orange cheese puff residue behind.”

“Maybe half of your new clothes shouldn’t be dry clean only.”

“ Maybe he should help cover my dry cleaning bill if he’s going to put his hands on me in the workplace. I could call Family Video HR, probably. You know his dad owns like half of this strip mall, and people gave me shit about having money, I’m pretty sure they own the dry cleaning place too.”

“So why do these polyester nightmares smell like the BO of employees past?”

“That’s what I’m saying!”

With the job and Stevie back, Robin almost forgets that she spent the first three weeks of school sad and miserable. She’s maybe even a little distracted that they have plans tonight, and forgets that there are reasons other than the threat of bacterial infection to avoid the girl’s room in the language hallway. And more than any of that, it’s really hard to think about any of that when she can feel her bladder starting to pickle her brain.

The door to the bathroom swings open before she can exit the stall. Voices she recognizes as Patty Taylor and Molly Smith already mid-conversation filter in. “I mean she’s pretty, like really pretty, but I mean why would you even move to Hawkins.”

It’s definitely too late to leave.

“Carol said that she heard from Heather that she moved in with her aunt, she was from the city or something.”

The squelching sound of a lipgloss wand leaving the tube is punctuated by a bitchy hum, “Well, you know who spent all that time in the city this summer.”

“I mean yeah, but how would they have even met? I’ve heard like six different stories about why she was there.”

Patty’s voice echoes, through the crack in the stall door Robin can see her lean over top of the sink putting her face even closer to the water spotted mirror above it. “Well she was in that mall fire, but I heard she had to stay so long after initial treatment because she…”

There must be some facial expression she’s missing, Patty trails off like she’s dropped some grand secret. Robin isn’t a total loser, she hears gossip. She knows that Mrs. Click is going through a bitter divorce from her husband because he had that affair with the gas station attendant from the Chevron by the highway. She knows that Tim Morris got sent to military school after he put a cherry bomb in Mrs. O’Leary’s mailbox. She knows that Vickie is definitely a shoo-in for clarinet first chair even though Michael Lewis had it last year and he’s a senior this year.

And yeah okay two of those she had heard from Stevie.

But she thinks she should have had some clue that there was some kind of rumor going around about her. Molly wrinkles her forehead, maybe she isn’t the only one who has no clue about this rumor. “Because she what?”

“Because she lost the baby and they put her in the psych ward,” Patty says loud enough that it bounces off the tile walls of the bathroom. A hand covers her mouth and they both look around like they’ve just remembered that they’re in public. Robin pulls her feet up on the toilet seat with her.

“What baby?” Molly asks in a whisper that seems even louder with the way she forces it out.

“Come on, everyone knows the reason she was so upset that Steve died. He knocked her up while they were working together and with the stress she lost the baby. She was such a freak already, the new girl and her must have been in the same padded cell in the loony bin.”

“Really? I mean with Steve Harrington? ”

“I mean Carol said it so I’m pretty sure it has to be true, you know how close she used to be with Steve.” 

The bell rings, sending them both fleeing from the bathroom with muttered curses. Robin stays in the stall too stunned by what she’s heard to move. Stunned and filled with the thought that all she wants right now is to see Stevie.

She bumps into Eddie Munson on the way to the payphone. He gives her an unreadable look, mostly eyebrows that she can’t see beneath his bangs anyway, so she isn’t sure why he even bothers. Is he wondering why she’s skipping class? Or did he see her running from the bathroom and now he’s wondering if maybe the rumors were only partially true, that she’s still pregnant and she hadn’t lost the baby like apparently half the school thinks.

If a wet rat like Munson knows more about her status in the school than she does she really might have to go back and hurl.

She puts in her change and dials the increasingly familiar number for the Henderson place.

“Hen-”

“I need you to come pick me up, now.”

It isn’t hard to convince the school nurse, who’s more worried about when she can slip away to sneak her next cigarette than she is about doing any nursing, that she’s too sick to stay. So she’s waiting out front when Stevie’s new Jeep rockets into the parking lot, the woman of the hour flinging herself out of it before it’s fully in park. 

“What happened? What’s wrong? The kids are fine right?” She’s pressing the back of her hand to Robin’s forehead, the other at her side clenching into fists as she looks over Robin’s head for any creature or person that might need to be put down.

“Everything’s fine,” she lies, “I needed to see you.”

A single eyebrow raises, Robin helped her pluck that eyebrow into that arch and now it’s being used in disbelief at her own blatant lie. “Fine,” she relents, “I’ll tell you when we aren’t standing in the middle of the parking lot, okay?”

The radio is off but so are the doors, so even as Robin refuses to talk the sound of the wind rushing past them fills the silence of the car. With no destination in mind, Stevie seems to be driving a slow meandering circuit of Hawkins.

“I overheard Patty and Molly talking about us in the bathroom today.” She says only after they’ve passed Melvalds twice with no sign of parking.

“They were talking in the bathroom about us or they were talking about us in the bathroom.”

“That’s the same sentence twice.”

“No it’s not. In the bathroom or in the bathroom.” The emphasis is nonsensical, but after a second it clicks.

“They were in the bathroom. I guess I was also in the bathroom but it was definitely not about our bathroom conversation.”

“What were they saying?” Stevie noses out gossip like a search dog noses out missing kids.

Robin sticks her hand out the side of the car, dancing it up and down in the wind like a wave. Letting the force of it glide up and over her like she wishes she could just get over whatever it is that has her so upset. Gossip and rumor that she knows isn’t true.

“Technically you got to be two characters. They think we know each other from the psych ward because boy you got me pregnant and when you died I lost the baby and went crazy.”

Her seatbelt catches her hard against the chest, forcing the air out of her lungs. Stevie’s hit the brakes so hard that the smell of rubber is in the air, uncaring that they’re in the middle of a main road. She’s just looking at Robin with something, disbelief or outrage, maybe a little bit of that rage she gets when her people have been hurt.

“Patty said that? Patty Taylor? Patty with the retainer breath whose lipgloss makes it look like she’s always drooling on herself, Patty?”

A nod is enough answer for Stevie to let out a little humph, setting her eyes back to the road and easing them into drive like they’d just been caught by a stray redlight.

“What?” 

She shakes her head, gazing around the upcoming turn like they don’t both know it’ll be the rundown place that used to be Benny’s. It’s going to be something mean, something she’s worried will make her sound too much like the person she used to be.

As far as Robin is concerned whatever it is won’t be any different than when she swung that phone at that Russian guard. Or crashed that car into Billy’s. It’s all just different ways of helping to protect the people she loves that aren’t as good at protecting themselves.

“Tell me,” she insists, wheedles even. “Whatever it is I won’t tell anyone else. It’s time honored girl code you have to tell me.”

“Girl code?”

“I’ll mimeo you a copy of the handbook, tell me. It’ll make me feel better.”

Stevie’s sigh is audible over the wind rushing past them, her side eye not bad enough that Robin is at all worried about it. “I just think it’s funny that she’s passing judgment on you and your possible pregnancy when everyone knows she’s banned from the U of I campus because she went streaking to impress a guy that wasn’t even interested in her. The only reason she doesn’t have an arrest record for it is because her dad is a former professor or donor or something and threatened funding if the Dean pressed charges.”

“Oh my god, really?”

“Totally, the guy was on the basketball team. He came back and told everyone when he came home for the pre-season kegger.”

She grabs Stevie’s hand off the gearshift, holds it just because she can. Relishes in the closeness the two of them can have now that she’s back and everything is better again. “You are the strongest woman I know, all this knowledge and you just keep it to yourself all the time.”

She snorts, squeezing Robin’s hand, “I literally don’t, I just told you something. Pretty sure that’s like if I had the nuclear launch codes or something and I gave them out to just one person because they’re having a really bad day.”

“Oh! Do you remember doing those stupid duck and cover drills in elementary school?”

“Oh that's really nice of you, Mrs. Buckley, but Aunt Claudia is expecting me home for dinner.” Stevie's voice calls from outside the door, only a surprise because they didn't have plans to hang out today.

She scrambles from her bed, the wire on her headphones tangling around her neck until the weight of her walkman drags them off her. Flinging the door open she's just in time to save her best friend. “Thanks for bringing her up, Mom, we’re just gonna hang out in my room til Steph has to leave, okay?”

Shoving Stevie toward the bed before her Mom has a chance to say anything else, Robin at least smiles before she shuts the door in her mother’s face.

“What happened?”

Stevie is digging through her jewelry box, has a ring Robin picked up at a garage sale because it looked cool and didn’t think about trying on, and doesn’t bother looking ashamed at being caught snooping. “Why does something have to be wrong?”

She slips the ring on her finger, the gold band and mossy green stone looks better on her than it would have Robin. “You can keep it if you admit something happened.” Stevie starts to raise an eyebrow, but it halts half way up her forehead when Robin gives the Family Video vest she’s still wearing a tug.

Her smile goes lopsided, tilts too high on one side before she wanders over to flop down on the bed. “I, maybe, did something stupid.”

Flopping down beside her, Robin swears when she lands on her walkman first. “Stupid like when you put Re-Animator in the romance section or stupid like when you tripped into the Back to the Future cutout and apologized cause you weren't wearing your glasses.”

“Stupid like I don't know, Rob, you know how at first I was pretending that I didn't know anyone when they came in right, cause I'm supposed to be new in town.”

“Like bad witness protection because they put you right back where you left.”

“Right, well I kinda forgot to do that this morning when I was working by myself?”

Looking now she can tell this is something that has had Stevie really worked up. The strands of hair at the front of her face have lost some of their beachy wave from where she's been fussing with it, pushing it back, tugging at it. Waiting for when she saw Robin again.

Sitting up from the bed, she grabs Stevie's hand in a too tight grip. “What happened? You're okay right? They didn't recognize you and do anything shitty, right?”

“Well that's the thing,” she somehow looks even more distressed, it gives Robin another clue. Stevie is afraid she's broken some unspoken rule of girlhood by doing whatever it is she's done. Which means the story will be interesting.

“So Roger came in, you know Roger right? Second stringer on the basketball team, his footwork was too slow to ever actually be any good on the court but he had an amazing three pointer as long as no one was ever anywhere near him. So he'd make a great professional HORSE player but not really going anywhere with the actual game. He came in with his girlfriend-”

“Mindy Peterson.”

“Right, and when did they even get together?” She shakes her head. “Not the point, I was flipping through the Tiger Beat that Cindy left in the drawer after her shift, cause this months Car and Driver was a total waste of money. And he wanders up, surprising me cause the bell over the door still doesn't work and I thought I was alone in there. He starts talking to me like he already knows me.”

“He was flirting with you in front of his girlfriend!”

“That wasn't flirting, he was just being friendly; and I didn't know Mindy was there, she was back in the romance section picking something out.”

“So he's flirting with you while his girlfriend is picking out something for date night.”

Stevie rolls her eyes, shoving not so gently at Robin's shoulder. “He was talking to me like he already knew me, and I do know him so I did the same. I mentioned the last game he played in, well we played in. And then he starts looking at me and I realized what I look like.”

She gestures down at herself, and Robin isn't sure if this is a compliment time or a diffuse the situation time. Stevie really doesn't look that much like she used to. Her face has softened, her hair is longer, and she's leaned into the blonde highlights that she had in the summer.

“He's all ‘Do I know you?’” She continues, and Robin laughs, it's crazy how deep she can still get her voice and even though Roger does not have anything approaching the bass that Stevie has given him. It makes the situation feel even more bizarre. “it's not like I can say, ‘What you don't recognize me from all the times I gave you advice on how to keep yourself open on offense so you could actually get a hand on the ball?’”

Robin reaches for the nail polish on her bedside table, the robin's egg blue Stevie has taken to and the taupe brown that she likes but doesn't clash with Stevie's. They both pick at their nails when they get nervous, and Stevie has definitely been nervous.

“You could have said that,” she says just to be contrary, Stevie hand held in hers it means Robin avoids the smack that would have come.

She puts blue on every finger but one, letting Stevie think as she caps the polish and grabs the taupe to finish the hand. “Hi remember me, I faked my death so I could get boobies without getting murdered in the pumpkin patch I already avoided almost dying in once. Did you know they give you a new social security number for that?”

“So what did you actually do?”

“I lied, obviously.” She blinks twice, opens her eyes wider so she looks doe-eyed and vacant. “Oh gosh, well I guess you wouldn’t remember me. I used to only come to Hawkins during the holidays to babysit my little cousin, and I always try to catch a basketball game when I’m in town. Sometimes I’d sneak out and go to the parties, but I’m shy so...”

“Oh my god, like you’ve ever been shy in your life.”

“I’m going to have to be now!” She throws her hands up, fingers spread wide to avoid accidentally smudging her fresh nails. “It’s not like I can lie my way out of admitting to sharing homeroom with someone next. I’m just lucky Roger’s never took his eyes off the bottom button of my blouse.”

“Do you remember that movie I made you watch a couple months ago, the black and white one?”

“Oh yeah, that really narrows it down.”

“Gaslight, the one with the opera singer’s niece and her new husband tries to make her think she’s crazy. We just lie until everyone is convinced that it’s the truth.”

“The truth being that Stephanie Henderson always existed?”

Eye contact isn’t easy, unless it’s Stevie. They hold each other’s gaze as the excitement bubbles between them. “Exactly,” Robin says, “and that if they think anything else, they’re crazy.”

“You’re ridiculous.” She says, but it sounds like ‘you’re on.’

“Can I be a bitch for a second?” Stevie asks. She doesn’t look up from whatever magazine she was already flipping through when Robin walked through the door. It’s too casual, too calculated.

Progress has been slow but she’s slowly getting Stevie to the point where she doesn’t feel like she has to be nice all the time just because she’s a girl. Where she still acts like the bitchy dingus she'd been before, just a happier version.  

“Obviously, just let me clock in.”

When she gets back Stevie has a stack of returns that she’s working on rewinding. One thumb in her mouth as she chews at the cuticle. “So what’s-?

“If I hear one more word about Eddie the Freak, I’m going to lose it, Rob. I mean what’s he got that’s so great? I could have taken us to the All State Championships if I hadn’t gotten that last concussion saving the twerps. I’ve saved all those twerps’ lives at least two times! I was cool. I am cool! But all I get to hear these days is ‘Oh, Stevie, Eddie just did the coolest thing in the campaign today.’ ‘Thanks for the advice, Stevie, but I’m going to go with what Eddie said instead.’ ‘I know it’s your only day off, Stevie, but could you pick us up late after school? There's Hellfire today.’ ‘Stevie, since Keith actually likes you could you hold Ladyhawke for us. Oh, no we’re going to do a movie night with Eddie.’”

She’s panting slightly when she’s finished, like she’s been holding this in for weeks. With all the quotes she’s racked up she probably has been.

“You know he kicked my tray off the lunch table last week,” she encourages. She snags a box of Sour Patch Kids from the candy counter. Popping one in her mouth before waving the bag under Stevie’s frowning face. She doesn’t even have a movie turned on. Well she does, but it looks like it was one of the weekend returns Stevie wasn’t going to put on Watership Down.

“Well he’s inconsiderate,” Stevie says, digging around in the box until she finds a red one and popping it into her mouth. “Everything is all fuck the man until he’s the man in question and then he’s the only one anyone should listen to about anything. Lucas is going to make the basketball team, he’s been working really hard on it with Jay and some of the other guys on the team.”

She’s basically taken the whole box of candy at this point. Robin doesn’t even care, just watches as Stevie picks out her favorite colors and lines them up on her magazine on the counter like a sweet and sour army. Completely oblivious to the quiet devastation that’s playing out on her face. Her brow furrowed and tight when she talks about Lucas, basketball another thing Robin wonders if she’s being unintentionally left out of.

“I just know Munson’s going to turn it into some us or them thing, like it isn’t possible to like more than one thing.”

“Maybe you-”

“And maybe that’s why they’ve been so cool with all of this,” she shrugs her shoulder in place of gesturing down at herself, too busy tearing apart a lone sourpatch general, “like it was a send off before they moved on to an actual guy who can actually do something for them. That’s probably a better send off than I deserve even right, like I mean, the kind of person I used to be. Maybe I don’t get more than one happy thing.”

Robin flattens the little red and green army underneath the flat of her hand, “Absolutely not. You are not going to let a… a… a dumpster raccoon with Mrs. Goble’s mystery meat on the bottom of his stupid shoes make you think that you don’t deserve the entire world.”

“But-” Stevie tears at the cardboard of the box between her fingers, leaving little pieces of it on the floor between her feet.

“But nothing, your little shithead kids might have latched onto the first giant nerd that looked at them when they crossed through the doors of the high school like freshly hatched ducklings but you’re the coolest person they’ve ever had the chance to meet and it’s their loss if they don’t notice.”

“I mean they’re in high school so-”

“So they’ve decided to get all the stupid decisions out at the start. It’s a bold decision but maybe that will keep them from-”

“From crashing their dad’s truck into half the cars at prom?”

“I wish one of them had been yours,” she steals the last red Sour Patch from between Stevie’s fingers, popping it into her mouth before her best friend can do anything about it.

“You’re never going to pass your driver’s test, I hope you like the bus.”

“You’re going to drive me to work forever because you love me,” she drags love out as she dances away from Stevie’s slapping hands, snagging a stack of tapes to return to the shelves as she goes.

There’s no way Stevie isn’t rolling her eyes, but Robin also knows that she’ll look all soft and pleased. Knows because a yellow candy smacks hard against the copy of The Breakfast Club that’s right beside her head.

“What the hell is going on with that rabbit?”

“Pretty sure it’s proof that you should never be trusted to pick the shift movie.”

“Stevie’s being a total headcase this week, will you tell her to chill out,” Henderson delivers what Robin is going to generously call a request after cornering her between fourth and fifth periods. Cause if it isn’t a request then it’s an order or a demand, and her small friend is not going to be happy with what she has to say in that case.

“Well that depends, Dusty, why are you calling my best friend a headcase?”

He rolls his eyes at her, a trait that Stevie might put up with but Robin is not about to. “Because she’s being one, every time I try to talk to her it’s like…” he trails off. That’s probably for the best.

“It’s like all you can talk about is your new best friend Eddie? It’s like you aren’t interested in her now that you’ve got some new brother that you can hang out with instead? It’s like all she’s good for is a ride to see the boys? It’s like you can’t ask her how to talk to girls anymore or how you should do your hair because she’s not the same anymore.”

“I didn’t say that,” he shrieks, hands waving between them like he can swipe away the thousand bees that are her accusations. She feels stinging mad actually now that she’s started putting words out there for the things that she’s feeling.

“You don’t have to say it, it’s what you’ve been doing.”

“Did she say that?” Robin gently swings her locker door just shy of closed. Dustin looks younger than she thinks she’s seen him since the first time they met. Looks smaller than she’s seen him in her life. Looking up at her with big watery eyes, waiting for her to make it okay.

Stevie’s gonna be pissed if she doesn’t at least try to make it okay.

She picks each word carefully, not wanting him to feel completely off the hook, “She didn’t say it exactly like that.”

Dustin looks at the floor, his hat obscuring his face enough that she can’t tell if he’s followed through on the watery eyes to full crying. The ambiguity makes him easier to talk to for a second, now that she doesn’t have to worry about watching what his expression is doing.

“She’s still the same person who walked down the train tracks with a kid she barely knew looking for his runaway science experiment. She’s still the person who did your hair for the snowball. She’s the person who went hunting for Russian spies with you. She’s the person that would like to keep giving you terrible advice on how to date.”

His next breath is phlegmy and ragged. “It wasn’t terrible advice.”

“Right, right, your Moonchild Empress or whatever.”

Dustin hasn’t been quiet once in the entire time that she’s known him so Robin assumes the quiet means he’s done talking. Swinging her locker back open she goes back to what she was doing before he interrupted, which had, coincidentally been Stevie related. Deciding whether or not she was going to bring her copy Watership Down to work with her so Stevie could see what was up with the rabbits.

“They should meet.”

Robin had also been leaning toward introducing her to Fiver and Hazel, but she doesn't think that’s what Dustin means.

“Who should-”

“Stevie and Eddie,” he looks at her with a wide grin. An expression she recognizes from shortly before she found herself in an elevator to hell. Dustin thinks he's just had a good idea. “Stevie can see that Eddie's super cool, Eddie will stop- And once they know each other we can hang out all the time, why didn't I think of this before!”

It does occur to her that she could remind Dustin that Stevie existed before July of 1985. That she went to school here and definitely already knows Eddie, that's where half the problem comes from even. But then she thinks of how much fun their next sleepover will be, when Stevie has brand new things to hate and make fun of.

“Maybe you're right Dustin, maybe that is the problem.”

He pumps his fist in time with the warning bell. “This is going to be great, I can't believe I didn't already think of this.”

He's still talking to himself as he starts to scamper off to a class he's going to be late to. But she isn’t about to let him leave without making sure he took away the real lesson he was supposed to. “And pass along to your little friends that her new meds didn't lobotomize her brain or amputate her legs. She can still tell you how to talk to girls, she can still shoot a free throw, she can still show you how to change a tire after it's blown out on the interstate.”

Dustin's staying with the Wheelers, Claudia has the night shift which means she and Stevie have the whole house to themselves.

Robin is making herself at home in Stevie's room, moving extra quilts and pillows from the linen closet into a fort she's making on the floor. Because today is going to be the best bitch day in the world, once Stevie makes it home from playing chauffeur. Because today Stevie gave in and went to lunch and a movie with Dustin and his new best friend Eddie.

She keeps trying to imagine what Stevie will say. Maybe Munson dips his fries in syrup or something disgusting. Maybe he showed up to the movie in his nerd brigade shirt. Maybe he showed up thirty minutes late! And the Stevie in her head has devastating things to say about all of those things, but she knows none of them are right. She just can't manage the right amount of even toned bitchery that Stevie can, the clever double entendre that makes the person she's insulting look all the dumber for getting upset at the blatant quips.

“Did you really bike here, you weirdo? You know I would have picked you up.” Stevie's voice carries down the hallway, accented by the sound of her keys hitting the bowl by the door and her shoes getting picked up from the floor and set down in the shoe tree.

“You got that bike rack for the Jeep. I wanted to make sure it actually got some use.”

The answering laugh is the one Robin possessively thinks of as hers, a little ugly, high pitched and snorting. It makes it to the bedroom just a second before Stevies face. A face that's wearing the lipgloss with the glitter in it, the one she saves for when she's trying to impress someone or make them look at her mouth.

“You look nice?”

“Such a charmer, Rob, no wonder you've got so many girls banging down your door.” She eases herself down onto the floor beside Robin, smoothing out a buttery yellow skirt that has to be new. She knows every single item in Stevie's closet, except this skirt.

She isn't going to think about how Stevie went out shopping without her though. She'd rather focus her attention somewhere more entertaining. “How was lunch?”

Stevie fusses with the edge of her skirt, rolling the hem of it between two fingers. Her face pinking though under that she's smiling. “Ugh you wouldn't even believe Henderson was a twerp, as usual. Insisted that he had to have one side of the table to himself, ordered two milkshake flavors so he could mix them together, and of course I'm paying for the whole thing.”

“Dustin being a dweeb is old news, what else happened at lunch.”

“I mean,” she trails off, making a face Robin has never seen before. Which shouldn't be possible, she thinks she is supposed to have seen all of Stevie's faces.  “Munson was a total freak, obviously. Kept calling me ‘My Lady’ and all that nerd shit. You’d think I came in with a cast with the way he opened every door and kept pulling out my chair.” 

It all sounds decidedly unfreakish to Robin, in fact it sounds like Stevie finds the guy charming. She realizes with something close to horror that she does actually recognize the expression on Stevie’s face. Just not on her best friend. It’s the bashful, twitterpated expression of a girl at a sleepover trying not to admit she has a crush. An expression that might as well be a death knell, cause the only time she’s ever seen it is right before date night started beating girl’s night.

“Not that it matters, the guy doesn’t know how to take a joke,” Stevie goes on, her smile still too shy to fully bloom but no less in place. Even as she pretends that whatever this is is supposed to be some dealbreaker. “I asked him what he gets out of playing Halflings and Half-wits with the dweeb squad and I thought he was going to climb on the table right there. Ed-weird went on for like five minutes on how the gremlins are some of the best players he’s ever played with, and they're an endless fount of creativity that keeps him perpetually on his toes.”

Stevie never actually stood a chance. And if Robin had been paying attention she would have realized that. 

There wasn’t anyone who loved passionate, nerdy people as much as Stevie.

Eddie Munson wore his king of the loud mouthed nerds crown with pride. And he was as obsessed with the gremlins as Stevie was 

“Why are we talking about him?” She flops over until her head is in Robin’s lap, flopping one arm outside of the pillow fortress to reach under the bed. She crows, victorious, holding a jar that's pond scum brown like it’s treasure. “Had to hide this after Dust put it in his hair. Put this goop on your face and tell me about what Vickie said in band yesterday again. Cause I'm pretty sure she was dating Dan Summers last year, and he didn't really seem like the type of guy to stay with his high school girlfriend.”

It's coincidence, pure and simple, that puts her right outside O'Donnell's fourth period class. Thompson's study hall, her own fourth period, was technically across the building but everyone knew Mr. Thompson came to work on Mondays too hungover to care about attendance.

And study hall didn't have a certain wannabe friend-dater standing outside it, debating whether or not he was going to go inside.

She is still figuring out her angle of attack when it looks like he's decided he is actually going to class. Considering O’Donnell is the type to write office referral slips to kids who aren’t meant to be in her room for ‘being a distraction’ there isn’t really any time for subtlety. Still, she’s surprised by the tone of her own voice when she shouts, “Munson!”

Heads turn in the hallway, of course they do. Faces she only knows by virtue of twelve years of school watching on with a lust for future violence she recognizes from that concrete bunker. But if Munson is concerned that a girl he's never spoken to is yelling at him, he doesn't look it as he turns on both heels to face her.

He smiles first, benignly pleasant. But Stevie taught her that trick, smiling to diffuse anger or hide how she has no idea how the person talking to her actually knows her. Munson is doing both, they had two classes together last semester and she was in the orchestra for the last school musical.

The blankness eventually clears from his eyes, “Bye Bye Buckley!”

Not about to be distracted by the dumbest reference she's ever heard, and with the eyes of at least two people she can see on her, she drags Munson away from class. It's bound to be all around the school by the dismissal bell, but rumor is less important than the mission.

The girls room by the library is always abandoned. The mirrors are dingy or cracked and it always smells like cat piss for no discernable reason. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” He looks around the bathroom with an inquisitive eye like the grimy bluish tile is somehow more interesting than her. “I'm not actually carrying if you were-”

He doesn't have the decency to stumble when she shoves at his chest, trying to push him back into the stall doors.

“What are your intentions with Stevie?”

“Ah yes, the mysterious cousin Henderson. Who says I have intentions?” His only saving grace is that it takes her too long to get her thoughts in order. A miasma of rants at the tip of her tongue about Stevie and how she was too good for him and any thoughts he might be having about her. 

But in the time it takes to see through her friend based rage, she’s able to watch a transformation take place on Eddie’s face. The smug aloofness that had taken over his face from the moment she cornered him in the hallway washes away. Leaving behind something giddy and young, bright eyes and a flushed face. “Unless she was asking about me. You two are bosom friends, are you not Diana? That would make me Gilbert Blythe, hell of a role.”

“I’m sure there are plenty of people who wish they could break a slate over your head.”

“You’re probably right, doesn’t answer my question though. Was your dear Anne Shirley talking about me?” He scuffs a boot against the floor. Doing an impressive impression of a bashful school boy while standing in front of her in his ratted out, heavy metal glory. There are at least four chains that she can spot on his outfit right now but his face would be just as at home on Opie Taylor.

But she isn’t going to get fooled by some routine. She has something to say and she’s going to make sure she says it.

“She’s really special, Munson. She’s not some cheerleader you fuck in the woods because she wants to get back at her parents that are divorcing and you’re the scariest thing available that isn’t actually dangerous.”

“Tell me how you really feel, Buckley.” The retort seems to drag itself from his mouth on instinct. Cause the aw shucks routine he’d been giving is lying broken on the floor replaced by open mouthed shock.

“I am.” The bell rings, marking them both officially late for class. She glares him down, waiting to see if he’ll leave, effectively flinching first. He glares back. “She’s an athlete, likes sports.”

Maybe it’s wrong to list the things about Stevie that she knows Munson won’t like. But she also isn’t about to let her best friend water herself down for some stupid boy.

“Wayne will be thrilled to have someone who understands what he’s talking about. Go team.”

“She hates fantasy. Dustin loaned her his copy of Fellowship of the Ring and she gave it back when they kept singing.”

“I’m sure she’d like it if I sang them for her.”

“She isn’t going to become some demure, church mouse just because you’re around. She’s snarky and confident and, and…”

He sets a hand on her shoulder in a way that is so patronizing she wishes she were as good at being a bitch as Stevie was. But she suppresses her first instinct to bite him if only because she’s working at keeping up her record of 4578 days without biting a classmate.

“I don’t know what any of that means,” he says, “but it sounds like you and your hot best friend have been talking about me. So thanks for that intel, Bucks.”

People wearing leather and motorcycle boots shouldn’t be able to skip. The stupid hanky in his stupid pocket flaps behind him like a wagging tail as Munson leaves her in the girls room with the smell of ammonia.

Stevie has Breakfast at Tiffany’s playing on the TV when Robin makes it to work. Keith let them have most of their shifts together but drew the line at letting Stevie shut the store down to come pick her up after school. So on days where Stevie works a double, she’s stuck arriving to work sweaty and guessing at whatever movie will have ended up on the big TV.

And today she gets to catch Stevie standing in the middle of the floor, a stack of tapes in her arms, while she watches the party happening in Holly Golightly’s apartment. Audrey Hepburn swaying with her guest in the middle of the floor.

“Someone’s in a mood.” 

From over her shoulder, Stevie sends Robin a look. Something loaded with dry humor and a smugness that usually means something juicy happened in the time before Robin got there.

Usually.

There’s something about the look today that feels personally directed at her.

“Well it was this or Some Like it Hot, and the stay at home moms are weird about black and white movies that aren’t the first few minutes of Wizard of Oz.”

“That’s sepia.”

“Bless you.”

Making sure Stevie can see her rolling her eyes, she heads to the back to clock in. By the time she makes it back, Stevie has the volume turned down on Holly Golightly’s romantic disasters. She’s back behind the counter, head pillowed in her hands and Robin remembers why people used to be a little scared of her popular kid cabaret. Walking up the center aisle, she feels like she’s headed straight toward a tiger with its mouth open and she’s about to put her head in there. 

“So you’ll never believe what happened earlier,” Stevie taps her nail against her cheek.

“Paul Collins came in with his mistress to look at porn again?”

Humming, Stevie doesn’t say anything as Robin comes behind the counter with her. There’s a stack of tapes that need to be rewound and a roll of Be Kind Rewind stickers that need to be stuck to cases.

“Still time for that,” she says right as Robin started to think they were going to drop it. “Sally Tyler called from the payphone.”

“Sally from the basketball team?”

“Yeah,” that smile is even wider. This is almost certainly payback for the You Suck board. “I’m thinking about joining her rec team but we’ve played one-on-one in the park once or twice.”

“And she had a Family Video emergency that only you could solve?”

“Sorta. She was just really concerned, she’d heard a rumor that my best friend was dragging the guy she saw me having lunch with this weekend into the girls room.”

This is definitely payback for the You Suck board. Stevie’s looking a little too pleased with herself as she smiles at what can only be Robin’s slack jawed surprise.

“I get if you're mad,” she says and that’s all she can assume is happening, she isn’t sure how else to read what’s happening on Stevie’s face. “But-”

“Thank you.”

“I was just trying to- What?”

“Come on,” she rolls her eyes, swipes a half hearted smack to Robin’s shoulder. “I’ve been on the other side of that, you know. Well meaning friends pulling me aside to ask what my intentions are.”

“Oh my god, did she follow us in there?”

Delight makes Stevie’s eyes sparkle, “Did you actually? I love you. Did you give him hell?”

“I think he got the upperhand.”

“I think it’s all the playing pretend. The shitheads will run circles around the unprepared too.”

It seems a little too good to be true. “You really aren’t mad?”

Someone abandoned The Breakfast Club at the scene where Ally Sheedy gets the makeover. It had seemed like a stupid scene when she’d seen it in theaters, now it makes something weird pit in the bottom of her stomach. She doesn’t get the chance to hit rewind, to send Allison back in time so she can be strange and herself again, because Stevie is flipping her around and pulling her into a bone crushing hug.

“First of all,” she says into the side of Robin’s hair, “the only thing I’m even a little miffed about is you thinking I couldn’t kick Munson’s ass myself. But no one’s ever done anything like that for me before so I’m cool with letting it slide.”

“But we are acknowledging that you definitely have a thing for the guy with the rattiest hair in the school. Probably even Roane county.” Robin says, face pressed into the meat of Stevie’s shoulder.

Stevie shoves her away with a groan that Robin’s laughter is already drowning out. “Yeah, alright. He’s kind of okay I guess.”

“Such sweet words for the father of your brood.”

“He’s not the father of my anything,” she flips her hair over one shoulder, “anyway I think he gets off on it so I’m gonna keep being mean to him.”

“That was more than I wanted to know about either of you.”

“No it wasn’t, you like that I’m mean too. You get all sad faced when you think I’m trying to bury my impulses.”

For the second time today Robin is left too surprised to say anything. She’s left gaping, not that Stevie is looking at her now; too busy picking at the nail polish left on her pinky. 

“I like it,” she says quietly after a moment. Robin has shut her mouth by the time Stevie looks up at her again, something soft but serious on her face. She reaches across the counter to grab Robin by the hand, melding what’s left of their coordinating manicures by linking their fingers. “You’re my number one. Even if Eddie does anything about anything, he’s going to have to compete with you.”

Neither of them move as the weight of the moment surrounds them like one of Mrs. Henderson’s quilts. Heavy and homey and right. But they are still at work and as the bell beside the door dings, and they break their silence to greet their new customer in tandem, they shrug off the heavy sincerity for something more functional. Stevie’s smile turns sly, and she tugs Robin closer while keeping an eye on the man now browsing the comedies. “You’ll never guess who came in earlier to ask if we had Nine and a Half Weeks yet.”

[lexirosewrites]

this is a No Upside Down AU & Not Nancy Wheeler Friendly bc I needed drama

O!Steve is a prolific knitter, his grandma Harrington taught him a thing or 2 but when she passed away she left him all of her unused yarn & knitting needles & without his grandma to guide him thru knitting mistakes he ends up finding a knitting circle tht meets weekly at the Hawkins Public Library made up of knitters of all sorts of genders & ages

It's at this group tht he learns abt The Sweater Curse, for those unfamiliar its a superstition within the knitting/crochet community tht if u begin making a sweater for a significant other the relationship will end before the project can b finished or shortly after the project is finished, so widespread is this superstition tht many won't make anything for their partner till after the 2 r married

Steve learns this but then he starts dating A!Nancy & he feels so in love, so he learns everything he can abt her like her favorite colors or favorite material to wear etc. all in the effort to make a sweater for her for their approaching one yr anniversary,

Only to b blindsided when one day a beta he only knew in passing from Nancy's work, Jonathan Byers, comes to him at his own work when he's locking up the used bookstore to tell him tht Nancy has been cheating on him w Jonathan for several months now & tht Jonathan didn't know the two were together bc Nancy always brushed Jonathan's questions off & tht Jonathan had only learned they were together tht morning & he came by to tell Steve bc Jonathan thinks Steve should know if he doesn't already & tht Jonathan will b ending things w Nancy tht night... Steve cries but thanks Jonathan & accepts the comforting hug the other offers & then........ then Steve & Jonathan hatch a poorly thought out plan

When Nancy gets to Jonathan's apartment tht night Steve is sitting on the couch unraveling the project he'd undertaken for Nancy while Jonathan cooks him & Steve dinner, Jonathan hands Nancy the small bag of things she'd "forgotten" in his apartment & tht he won't say anything at work unless she makes this a problem, then Steve hands Nancy three much bigger bags full of the half-assed courting gifts she'd given him & everything he'd encouraged/allowed her to keep at his own place & tht he wasn't interested in hearing anything she had to say, the 2 then tell Nancy she should leave & she does but not without getting a snide remark out abt Steve being clingy & Jonathan being oblivious

Steve cries after she's left & Jonathan does too but they lean on the other & eat the food Jonathan made them & begin a friendship

A friendship tht slowly morphs into something more & leads to a kiss on Steve's couch almost half a year later & when Steve's heat approaches after the kiss he asks Jonathan to join him & it's full of so much care & Jonathan tells Steve he loves him the day after his heat cools & Steve says it back, they end up exchanging mating bites 3 years later & Steve makes Jonathan a sweater of his favorite colors & the softest cotton yarn & Jonathan is ecstatic to receive it especially when he unfolds it & a positive pregnancy test tumbles out onto his lap

🥰 my stonathan agenda has shown itself

awwwwww🥺 way back when ST first came out, I used to indulge in a stonathan fic or two! then it became harringrove and suddenly it was steddie, but i still love all the Barbies I’ve smashed into (literally) Steve🤭

[queeleronwheels]

The Link Between The First I love You, The First Lie, and Season 5 Byler

I need to talk about two songs on the official Stranger Things score that I think say an awful lot, and that I think will play a part in season 5. My credentials are that I really like music and overanalyzing, but if anybody with knowledge of music theory wants to jump in on this too, I'd be so interested to hear your thoughts!

The songs in question are The First I love You and The First Lie.

Let's begin with acknowledging just how diabolically intent on misdirection the ST writers actually are lol. Look at those titles: from those alone, the first song has a positive, romantic connotation, while the second has a negative connotation. We're about to see that this isn't actually the case.

The songs are obviously linked by the words "The First—" in the titles, but they also contain the same repeating motif, which is really obvious even to the layman's ear. We are meant to see a connection between these two songs—but more on that later. First, let's take a look at how they're used in the show:

The First Lie plays in season 2 episode 6, during Jonathan and Nancy's first kiss. The song is titled this way because it's used shortly after Jancy is "Murray'd", during which Jonathan and Nancy tell Murray they're just friends, and he replies with the line: "You've told me a lot of shockers today, but that—that is the first lie." Shortly after, Jonathan and Nancy both give in to their attraction to each other, confirming that Murray was right about the lie.

As we know, Jonathan and Nancy actually are—or at least have been—in love. Whether you want to argue that they're endgame or not is irrelevant. The point is, the show developed and portrayed them in such a way that we can't deny their attraction and love for each other. Thus, the song The First Lie is accompanying a scene where two people who love each other finally stop denying it and come together romantically for the first time.

The First I love You was used twice in season 3: first during Robin's coming out scene to Steve, and then during Mike and El's kiss in the finale, when El tells Mike she loves him too (a response to Mike's "I love her and I can't lose her again" blunder earlier in the season). This is very interesting, but I'll get back to it.

First, I want to discuss how they notably went out of their way to create a variation on The First Lie to use in season 3 instead of just reusing that same song. The songs are similar enough that they could have just used The First Lie to elicit the same feelings of triumph and romance in the viewer, and we know they're not against reusing songs throughout the show. However, when they do reuse songs, they tend to stick to the theme or meaning of the song title. A few examples:

The song In Pursuit is used multiple times throughout season 1, but only when characters are actually in pursuit of something (e.g., Hopper rallying a search party for Will, the search party investigating behind Benny's Burgers, Hawkins Lab investigating burnt radio equipment—this song plays in all of these scenes).

The song This Isn't You plays during scenes where Nancy is not acting or feeling like her usual self (e.g., Nancy approaching Jonathan for the first time to offer her sympathies Will being missing, Nancy ditching Barb at Steve's house, Nancy walking through the halls later on feeling like everyone's eyes on her, etc.).

The song Lay-Z-Boy is used first in season 1 when Mike is showing El around the house (including how to use the Lay-Z-Boy chair), but also in season 3 when Dustin is showing off his inventions from camp, and when Steve is giving Dustin advice about girls. The latter two scenes don't literally involve a Lay-Z-Boy, but the song is still used because the Lay-Z-Boy symbolizes teaching or showing the characters something new.

I'm trying to make two points here: 1) that songs are not reused willy-nilly in this show, it is always—or at least usually, because I am not so far gone that I have analyzed every single song and its usage in this show—purposeful and 2) that purpose is to make sure the song only plays in scenes that are literally, thematically, or symbolically connected.

If The First Lie is used as the backdrop for two characters finally coming together after being in denial about their feelings for each other, then I think they created The First I love You to backdrop scenes that would traditionally be declarations of love, but are not. Traditionally—as in, what we would expect if the narrative were following common tropes and patterns, and this was not a show about misfits, outcasts and non-conformity—Robin would have accepted and returned Steve’s affections during their scene together. Instead, she came out as a lesbian.

Enter that final scene between Mike and El in season 3. Traditionally, this should be the two halves of the central couple saying I love you to each other for the first time, and cementing it with a kiss. That is not what this is. Given that the song they went with was also used for a queer character's coming out scene, it's not a stretch to say that Mike in this scene—judging also by his visible discomfort and confusion during and after the kiss—realized that he does not like kissing girls, but also likely that he does not love El the way he's "meant" to, just like Robin doesn't love Steve the way she's "meant" to (I'm using the word "meant" through the lens of them both having some level of internalized homophobia, being in a heteronormative society in the 80s where homosexuality is condemned and heterosexual love is the standard and the expectation).

Again, keep in mind that The First I love You is a variation on The First Lie, meaning they are purposely linked, and we (or at least the analyzers in the audience) are meant to notice the fact that latter song was not used here. Similarly, using it in both Robin's scene and this scene was almost certainly a purposeful decision given what we know about how they use songs in this show, and I can't see any other reason why those two scenes should be connected besides them both being queer-coded. (You could argue it's because Robin's talking about Tammy, but we know that she likes Vickie now and this was just an old crush, not someone she's in love with).

Something that beautifully ties all of this together is the elephant in the room: the lowercase "love" in the song title. That was absolutely intentional. The song was named after El saying she loves Mike in this scene, but we know from the lowercase L that it isn't requited. If this sounds like a stretch, consider the fact that the next time we see Mike, in season 4, his entire arc is about his inability to say I love you to his girlfriend.

What does this have to do with Byler?

Besides the fact that Michael Wheeler is almost definitely not in love with El and that he likely realized he was gay during that season 3 finale scene, here's what I think this means for Byler:

I think The First Lie will be used again in season 5, for Mike and Will, when the painting cat is out of the bag.

We know that the writers love making parallels between Jancy and Byler, and given Byler will be the same age as Jancy was in season 1 when we reach season 5, I think they're going to ramp that up. We also know that the van scene in which Will gives Mike the painting he made for him and passes it off as El's commission is the first time that Will lies to Mike. It is the first lie. For Nancy and Jonathan, the first lie was the lead up to their first kiss. I think it's going to be the same with Mike and Will—perhaps not in the same scene, but it will be the springboard for them finally coming together like Jancy had.

Anyways, like I said, if any more musically-inclined people out there see any differences in the actual composition of these songs that might be significant, I'd love to hear it!

[ladykailitha]

Cyrano de Munson

So hear me out. Cyrano de Bergerac with a happy ending and make it Steddie!

We coooouuullld have it set in the time of the original play, but let's take it up to show canon time instead.

So we have the King of Hawkins High as our Roxanne. The one everyone one wants to be with. He's sweet and charming, all the girls want to be with him and all the boys want to be him.

And then we have our Cyrano who has been writing poems and songs about Steve since he arrived in Hawkins and he pines from afar because he knows the king is straight (cough cough he's bi cough).

Then you have Nancy as Christian. She knows the only way to raise her status in school is to date Steve Harrington. But she doesn't know how to woo a guy and has all the romantic bones of a shark.

Then she accidentally bumps into Eddie in the halls and she knocks all his papers to the floor. She picks one up and it's a poem about hazel eyes, honey colored hair, and sun-kissed skin. She instantly knows who it's about.

She does feel a little guilty at the blackmail, but only a little. She needs to woo Steve and Eddie is her gateway. And it's not as though Eddie is even the right gender to bag Steve anyway, plus she's totally going to pay him for every letter. But as she doesn't want Steve to learn about her having help, she calmly tells Eddie if he tells, she'll out him in the school newspaper.

She does feel some guilt over that.

Some.

Steve gets these absolutely romantic letters from Nancy in his locker and just falls in love with the poetry and the way she just seems to understand him.

And after they start dating the letters don't stop. Nancy knows better than that. But they do peter off. She just tells Steve she has a hard time speaking the words off the cuff, but can write heartbreakingly beautiful poetry in addition to her skills with prose. (She had tried the whole Eddie feeding her words while she called up to Steve's bedroom window, but it was way too stressful.)

Everything thing that happens in canon still happens and Steve gets broken up with. He keeps the letters even though he knows he should throw them away.

Flash forward to season 4 and as Eddie and Steve are walking in the Dark Forest in the Upside Down and Eddie says something that sounds familiar.

The world is ending again and he really doesn't have time to think about it.

But later with Eddie in the hospital in a coma, Steve is reading the letters again. Mainly because both Eddie and Robin seemed to be trying to hint that Nancy was in love with him again, so he goes looking for proof of her feelings for him.

Then he catches on the phrase that was bothering him in the Upside Down. "Unambiguous sign of true love."

So Steve does the honorable and asks Nancy first, but she tells him it's all in his head because it's such a vague phrase. Anyone could have gotten it from anywhere.

But it doesn't sit right with him. There was the way Eddie said it that made Steve question every thing.

One day while he's reading to Eddie in the hospital while he's still in the coma a page flutters out of the book and he picks it up. It is almost word for word one of the letters Nancy gave him but in Eddie's handwriting.

Steve asks Wayne about it and Wayne tells him that Nancy girl used to come over to the trailer all the time and pay Eddie to write love letters to some fella she was wooing.

That sits like lead in his stomach, but lets it go. Nancy's with Jonathan now, and Eddie might not make it out of the coma. So it wouldn't do to dig up the past.

Then Eddie wakes up and just spills everything. He doesn't care if all of Hawkins knows he's gay, they're gonna hate him regardless. So he just pours his heart out to Steve.

Which Steve answers by kissing him senseless. Eddie is confused. Steve tells him he's known he'd like both for awhile, and he fell in love with the writer of the letter, not Nancy. And if that's him, then Steve loves him.

When Nancy finds out that Eddie spilled his guts, she really upset. Just furious he told.

Jonathan is confused, why would she care that a guy she's no longer dating knows the letters aren't from her.

That's when Eddie drops the final truth bomb. Steve isn't the only person Eddie's written letters for. All the letters that Nancy wrote to Jonathan while he was in California were written by Eddie and that's why she didn't come with Mike because she couldn't look him in the eye that she only vaguely knows what's in the letters because she didn't write them.

Jonathan blows up about how it had been eating him up inside that they didn't want the same things, but that they were in love. And were they even that?

Nancy doesn't have answer, because she doesn't know herself.

So Jonathan grabs Argyle by the face and kisses him. Argyle is positively beaming and Nancy is stunned.

Jonathan goes back to Cali with Argyle, Eddie and Steve get together and Nancy ends up with no one because of her lies.

At the end, Murray just shakes his head and comments that she fucked up so bad she turned both her boyfriends gay. He knows that's not how it works, but it's funny as hell and he stands by that!

[stevie-petey]

I have a blurb idea!! When Jonathan, Nancy , Joyce and will get back from the cabin and the kids fill everyone in on what happened while they were gone. Dustin would absolutely reenact Steve and Billy fighting and bug and Billy fighting. You can't tell me Dustin and the kids would be kinda proud that bug held her own against Billy for the most part. Jonathan hearing about bug protecting Steve from Billy and Steve protecting bug in the tunnels. Would Jonathan feel a little upset that bug doesn't need him to protect her anymore, that is Steve's job now?

i absolutely love this one omg yes i adore doing scenes with just steve n jon their friendship makes me <333

enjoy !

"wheres bug?"

steve and the kids are sweeping the floors, quiet and tired as the events from tonight finally settle upon them. when they hear jonathans question, they all stop what theyre doing. a dark look passes over steves bloodied and bruise face, a sight that only makes the ice within jonathans throat constrict tighter.

will is asleep in jonathans arms, and when no one answers his question his panic overwhelms him and he feels his grip on will lessen. "steve, wheres y/n?"

steve steps forward, understanding jonathans fear more than anyone else in this room. "shes okay, i promise."

"but where is she?"

"in your room, asleep. she... shes had a rough night." steve looks away, ashamed that he couldnt protect you.

"she got her ass kicked." dustin says blunty.

jonathans head spins. "what?"

joyce and nancy now walk in and quickly notice your absence. their own worry begins to rise. when mike sees nancy, he runs up to her and starts rattling off question after question about el, will, if she wants to see him, dustin, and lucas reenact you and steve fighting billy.

"you guys fought billy?" nancy exclaims, now stepping towards steve as well. she misses the way jonathans hands shake as he struggles to hold his brother. hes terrified. if you fought billy, why arent you here right now to brag about how you won? did he hurt you? did jonathan send you back to the hospital again?

its joyce who sees her sons panic. she gently grabs will from her oldest and kisses his cheek. her voice is low so that no one else hears. while steve understands jonathans fear for your safety, joyce understands his love for you. "shes strong. she'll be okay."

they leave and dustin and the boys jump into their reenactment of the fight. mike pretends to be billy while dustin is you and lucas is steve. they jump on one another, scream and throw plates, and when dustin jumps onto mikes back as he has lucas on the ground, something in jonathans stomach twists.

"y/n totally saved steves ass!" dustin whoops as he rides around mikes back.

nancy and jonathan look over to steve, who has been quiet the entire time, and when he catches their eye he lets out a soft chuckle and shrugs. "she did. seems we cant stop saving each other."

jonathan frowns, about to ask what he means by that, but then mike starts choking dustin and dustin pretends to faint and once again his head spins.

"did billy..." nancy turns to steve, terrified as well. she places a hand against her own neck, stroking at the skin tenderly. she cant imagine what youve gone through tonight, and jonathan just shakes his head.

"he did." steves voice is hard.

dustin now pretends to stab mike, who crumples to the floor. "and then she stabbed the creep!"

"y/n held her own," mike admits, impressed.

"shes my hero," steve quips, though his heart isnt entirely in it. his heart is in the next room, where it lays besides you in jonathans bed as you sleep.

lucas, who is still on the floor as he pretends to be a knocked out steve, holds a finger up. "didnt you then save her in the tunnels?"

"you took her to the tunnels?" jonathan faces steve feels an anger that was once so familiar to him now rise. after everything you went through tonight, why would steve allow you to further push yourself?

the teen sighs. he understands jonathans anger, but theres so much that he will never understand when it comes to you and steve. the debt you owe one another, the trust that is there to always have each others back, no questions asked. "we both know theres no stopping her when shes made up her mind. all i could do was make sure she was safe."

"which he did." dustin adds, sending jonathan a pointed look.

he deflates, now suddenly embarrassed for his outburst. he knows steve is right. when it comes to the ones you love, theres no stopping you. sometimes hes afraid youll die protecting everyone else.

the thought is an unpleasant one, and jonathan castes it out of his head. what matters now is that youre only a room away from him, asleep and safe and alive. you will have new scars, new bruises and wounds to heal, but youre alive, and he'll be right next to you once more. jonathan may not have been there tonight, and he might not ever be the one to protect you again, but he knows he will always be by your side as you recover and heal and move on.

hes been by your side he was he twelve and the only thing that scared you was the creaking of floorboards.

now hes seventeen and you fear much more than shadows.

youre not jonathans anymore to protect, not really, but you will always be his to watch over. he'll always be there to walk you home, and he knows youll always do the same for him. youll always remind each other of who you are, where you belong. lines and strings and all.

"so, you really saved y/n's life again?" jonathan asks steve, silently extending this admission as a peace offering.

steve shrugs once more, his face flushed. he feels the shift again, he can see the olive branch that jonathan presents him, and steve never thought he would get here. to be worthy of this, to have your safety in his hands and jonathans acceptance. "i owed her."

jonathan laughs, and steve finally understands why the boy is your closest friend. jonathan byers is a lot of things, but hes loyal above all else, and steve knows that he he understands you better than anyone else with such few words.

nancy takes mike home, steve offers to drive dustin and lucas, and slowly the house empties. as steve exits the door, he lingers for a second, before he takes a deep breath. "hey, jonathan."

he turns. "yeah?"

"go see her, she could really use you right now... she'll always need you."

jonathan smiles. "thank you."

they both know that hes thanking steve for so much more than encouraging him to go to you.

neither of them acknowledge it again. they dont need to.

“COME HOME” BLURB MASTERLIST

if you’d like to buy me a coffee ☕︎

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

Steddie Upside-Down AU Part 123

Part 1 Part 122

Steve climbs into the front seat of Uncle Wayne’s car while Jeff, Carol, and Eddie climb into the back. Carol had been driven by Barbara – her own parents just as absent as Steve’s – but it had felt wrong to separate.

So, here they are, bundled into the truck, and driving away from the high school. Steve can’t help the way he turns in his chair to watch it disappear for one last time.

Then again, half his friend’s still attend, so it might not be long at all until he’s wrangled into chauffer duties.

The building grows smaller and smaller in the distance. Wayne stops at the sign Eddie always rolls right past, and once he turns, it’s gone entirely. Steve turns back around and closes his eyes, basking in the sunlight and bickering coming from the backseat.

“Where are we going?” Eddie asks, and when Steve opens his eyes, he sees that they’re not where they’re supposed to be. Wayne had blown past the turnoff to the trailer park, and continued down the street toward what counts as a downtown in a place like Hawkins. “You going senile, old man?”

Wayne snorts and replies, “watch it, or you can walk the rest of the way.”

“Walk where?”

Wayne doesn’t answer. He doesn’t need to because they’re pulling into the diner parking lot a few seconds later. Steve turns around in his seat to meet Eddie’s eyes. Eddie smiles up at him. He leans forward, clambering half in Carol’s lap and ignoring her complaints so he can plant a quick kiss on Steve’s lips, car full of loved ones be damned.

He leans back quick because this is Hawkins, and no matter how deserted the parking lot looks right now, there aren’t very many other places to celebrate graduation.

“Quit your canoodling or the crowds’ll beat us,” Wayne says, unbuckling his seatbelt and sliding out of the truck.

Everyone else scrambles out after him. The cool air of the conditioned diner hits Steve in the face when he ducks under Eddie’s arm to shuffle inside. A few of the booths have already been commandeered by graduates in their Sunday best, armfuls of flowers from their parents and cards from their grandparents.

Steve feels a twinge, deep in his chest, like his lungs are trying to evacuate his chest cavity, but then Uncle Wayne wraps an arm around his shoulders and leads him past the booths to one of the tables. He pulls out a chair and uses his hold on Steve’s shoulders to push him down into it.

Eddie and Carol claim the seats on either side of him. Steve swallows past the balloon expanding within his chest to watch Wayne push three large tables together while Jeff wrangles the chairs into their appropriate places.

“Are we throwing a dinner party?” Carol asks, tilting her hand against her forehead in a motion that’s probably supposed to indicate straightening a top hat, but it comes off more like a kitten cleaning its forehead with its little paw.

As if to answer her question, the bell on the diner jingles, and the kids come rushing in, a beleaguered Chief Hopper and Ms. Byers on their tail.

“Congratulations!” Dustin shouts, launching himself at Eddie and Steve, wrapping his too-short arms awkwardly around the back of both their chairs.

“Thanks,” Steve replies. He shoves the kid’s head away because his curls are tickling Steve’s nose, but all Dustin does is beam, and give a bemused Carol the same treatment.

Will slides into the seat on Eddie’s left, tugging at Steve in greeting as he beams over at them. Mike takes the seat at his side, and the rest of the kids coalesce around them, even Max, who rightfully should be at Billy’s celebration, and El, who’s still being kept partially under wraps.

All the kids start talking at once, voices overlapping to the point of intelligibility.

“Quiet,” Hopper demands, clapping his hands until everyone’s voices stop. He holds out a chair for Ms. Byers, only sitting down himself once she’s taken her seat and he’s pushed it in. “Now, who’re we waiting for?”

“Jonathan and Nancy aren’t here yet,” Ms. Byers replies.

“Neither is Barb,” Carol cuts in, turning to look at the door when it jingles again.

Barbara comes in first, waving at everyone already seated before propping the door open to let Jonathan and Nancy slip in, followed shortly by Gareth and Doug, both looking almost sheepish at the intrusion. They stall in the threshold, staring at the pushed-together tables half full of people they only tangentially know.

Eddie jumps up and flings himself at them, shouting, “I graduated!”

Gareth almost goes down, But Doug plants his feet and keeps all three of them upright. Eddie’s got his arms around both their shoulders, and he keeps lifting his legs like he’s trying to climb a tree. Doug keeps slapping him down.

It looks so stupid. Steve loves them all so much.

Clearly fed up with waiting for them to get their shit together, Barbara lets go of the door. It thunks into the back of Eddie’s head and would’ve sent all three of them sprawling onto the pavement outside if Doug hadn’t crouched and stabilized them all.

Carol laughs as Barbara takes the seat beside her. Steve glances under the table and sees their linked hands.

It’s an even tighter squeeze when they have to steal a couple extra chairs to accommodate Doug and Gareth’s presences. Steve doesn’t care. Everyone he loves is at the same table, fighting over menus and water cups chaotically as the waitress looks on in consternation.

Family dinners in the Harrington house, when they happened at all, usually involved such absolute silences that the sound of scrapping forks would echo against the empty walls. If there was talking, it was loud, and lecturing. There was never any laughter.

But Nancy’s laughter rings like bells across the room as she watches Mike get heckled relentlessly over his spilled glass of water running into his unprotected lap.

That hollow space reserved for his parent’s absence fills up a little as Wayne gruffly makes fun of Eddie and Steve’s breakfast orders.

“It’s tradition!” Eddie whines, linking his ankle with Steve’s beneath the table.

Once the waiter’s gone, Hopper turns to where all the graduates sit, gaze piercing as he asks, “what are everyone’s plans?”

Steve reaches out to take a sip of his untouched water. He bites back a smile as Eddie dose the same thing beside him, both buying time.

Carol has no such compunctions. “I’m going to Hawkins community,” she says, staring him down, like she’s daring him to say something about her plans. “Barb and I are going to try and get into the same college when she graduates.”

Hopper sips his coffee, drilling his gaze into her as he hums around his cup. “Good plan,” he says, shifting his penetrating gaze over to Jeff, who’s hunching down in his seat like that’ll save him.

“University of Chicago,” he says, rushing the words out, and tacking on a quick, “sir,” after an awkward moment of dead air.

Hopper nods, still holding his mug. “Good school.” Steve chokes when Hopper’s eyes bore directly into his face, so potent, he can almost feel them. “You two?”

Steve looks at Eddie out of the corner of his eye, only to find him already looking back. He rubs their ankles together. Steve shudders at the contact. 

“Going to school?” Hopper asks, when neither of them respond quick enough. “Getting a job? What’s the plan?”

He sets his mug down, puts both palms flat on the table and leans forward. Steve suddenly feels like he’s in the guidance counselor’s office, and his head goes just as staticky and blank as it always had when she’d ask him about his future.

“Oh, lay off, Hop,” Ms. Byers says, cutting his downward spiral short as she smacks the back of her hand against Hopper’s chest.

“Boys have got time,” Wayne says, sipping his own coffee. He’s talking to Hopper but, he’s looking across at Steve and Eddie with a raised brow, as if he’s daring them to contradict him. “Deserve a break after everything they’ve been through.”

Steve’s heart stutters. He wants to reach across the table and take Uncle Wayne’s hand. His fingers twitch against the urge, slipping against the cold condensation of his water glass. Uncle Wayne, who stayed with him in the hospital, who opened his home up to a near-stranger, who came to his graduation and cheered when he walked.

Uncle Wayne, who’s ready to fight for him, always, whether it’s a Demogorgon or the Chief of Police.

Steve shudders, easing back in his chair. His face is doing something, he can feel it, but he can’t control it, doesn’t even care to try. Uncle Wayne takes a sip of his coffee and smiles over at him.

Whatever moment he’s having, Eddie’s clearly in a different one because he makes a noise like a teapot boiling over and reaches up to clutch at the hair, pulling at its roots hard enough that it must sting.

“Oh my god, I never should have graduated.” He lowers his head, thunking it hard enough against the plaster of the table to make everyone’s cups rattle. “Now what? A job? Life decisions? I can’t deal with that.”

All the kids are snickering into their elbows, but Eddie doesn’t even seem to notice. He turns his head, not even raising it from the table as he meets Steve’s gaze and asks, “do you think Principal Higgins will take me back?”

Steve bites his lip against his own laughter, smiling helplessly down at him as Wayne reaches across the table to smack the back of Eddie’s head. Eddie whines.

“Welcome to adulthood,” Hopper says, and when Steve peeks up at him, he’s smiling wryly over to Eddie who’s clutching at his head like Wayne’s slap did real damage.

Any retorts are interrupted by the waitress bring around steaming plates of food. Even the rowdiest of the bunch mutters quiet thanks when their dinner is handed over until it all peters out to the sound of forks on plates and enthusiastic chewing.

Steve’s usual order of breakfast is steaming in front of him, bacon wafting up into his face. He wants to dig in, let himself savor every bite, but first, he’s got a question to answer.

“I think I’ll get a job,” Steve says, looking down at his plate so as not to have to meet anyone’s eyes. “We can’t leave until Will graduates anyway.”

Eddie coos and reaches over Steve’s head to ruffle Will’s hear. When Steve turns, Will’s cheeks are bright red with embarrassment, but he’s smiling around the burger he’s already somehow consumed half of. There’s grease dripping down his elbow. Steve grabs his own napkin, sending his fork and butterknife clattering to the table, and wipes it off.

Will puts down his burger and smudges his mouth with the back of his hand, and tugs on his connection with Steve. In thanks? In admonishment?

They should really get him to teach some basic morse code.

Ms. Byers chokes on a laugh that comes out oddly wet and strained. Steve whips his head toward her and is startled to see tears in her eyes. She’s got them contained to her lashes, but a few more blinks and they’ll be cascading down.

Steve stares at her, unblinking, something like terror licking at his heels. She’s looking between all three of them and crying. What did he say? What did he—

Ms. Byers interrupts his downward spiral by wheezing out, “you’re just such good boys,” all sentimental and wet as she reaches her hands across the full table.

Perplexed, Steve takes one of her hands as Eddie takes the other. He pulls on his connection with Will, hoping for some sort of assistance, or even an explanation, but all that gets is a stifled laugh, so he turns back to Ms. Byers, hoping he doesn’t look as out of his depth as he feels.

“I’m so happy to have you both in my family.”

Oh.

Steve feels his own eyes well, but he blinks them back. Eddie has no such compunctions. He’s got tears streaming down his cheeks as he raises Ms. Byers hand to his lips and kisses the back of it, barely avoiding knocking over his own glass of orange juice.

“Anything for you, Mama Byers,” he says.

Steve nods, still speechless. In a startling turn of events, Jonathan reaches across the table as well, plopping his own hand atop the pile with Steve and Ms. Byers own. Never one to be left out, Eddie stacks his own in with them until there’s just a bunch of fingers awkwardly scrunched together.

Still, it’s nice.

Carol, the champion moment ruiner that she is, calls, “go team,” in her best impression of a cheerleader’s spirit. It comes out sarcastic and droll.

Jonathan laughs and pulls his hand back, and it has a domino effect on the rest of them, hands pulling back one after another until it’s just Steve’s hand hovering in the air.

He pulls it back beneath the table, clenching against the cold of the conditioned air, stark after all that body heat.

Eddie takes his hand, squeezes, and settles it on his own knee.

Everyone’s still laughing around them as Eddie, left-handed and graceless, skewers a piece of bacon on his fork and holds it up, eyebrow raised. Steve grabs his own piece, and links their arms, dangling his own piece of bacon in front of Eddie’s face like it’s a worm and he’s a fish Steve’s trying to catch.

“To fresh starts and good bacon?” Steve asks because by now he knows the lines by heart.

But Eddie shakes his head, grinning at Steve like he’s the only one here. “To a beautiful future.”

They clink forks, and when Eddie tries to feed his piece of bacon to Steve, he misses and the grease trails along his cheek. The table explodes in laughter as Eddie course corrects, bacon finally reaching its final destination.

Nothing has ever tasted sweeter.

Part 124

[pepstarvanmoon]

I really wonder what GAs think about Mike’s overall storyline in S3 and how it extended into S4.

When I first started S3 (I didn’t start shipping Byler until the rain fight and didn’t go deeper into the fandom until after finishing S4), I didn’t really care about what Mike had going on.

He was being a typical teen with their frustrating and dismissive ways, but I wasn’t really bothered by it? I didn’t really care until it started to feel sort of shoved in my face? Like being late to the theater, ditching Dustin on his first day back, everything with Hopper tbh, lying to El, advice from Lucas, not playing DnD to look for gifts at the mall, the break up, not playing DnD (again) to wallow in self-pity and to be gross boys lol (part of that scene is just so El and Will can react to Mike being gross like why).

By the time we got to “they’re conspiring against me!” I started rolling my eyes every time Microbial’s relationship issues became the focus of a scene. It was starting to piss off other characters, too, so I felt kinda justified in how little I cared.

Then the store scene where they’re patching up El’s leg and Mike struggles (badly) not to SAY “I love you” to her face, but to somehow get her to say it for him? (Like some weird school lesson trying to get students to find the answer without outright saying it like it’s a curse or something. This show has never needed I love you’s to convey that a couple is in love, so this whole thing felt unnecessary to me my first watch). I remember sitting there wondering why I should gaf about this plotline at all. It was so drawn out for what felt like no reason, and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere? “I know that I…” Are you sure you know, Mike? Like say it or move on.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it really had no impact until they force you to remember it during the move out scene where El says she loves him too (weird btw seeing as we got the “I love her and I can’t lose her again!” BEFORE the “you’ve never heard that term…?” I guess it was to have a ‘funny’ scene after that first encounter with ther meat flayer? Idk maybe I need to rewatch S3)

I guess they left it open ended after that uncomfortable kiss scene because it’s clearly still an issue in S4, but in my initial watch, more than it not making sense to me, I just sort of found it boring? It might’ve just been my bias because I started to enjoy Will and El’s characters more than Mike’s at the time, and Madraosis’ constant (and minuscule) problems were making them both miserable. To have it pick up again in S4 annoyed me because the S3 finale made it seem like their relationship was okay, but… did they really resolve anything?

Honestly, my biggest gripe was it being included at all. It felt unnecessary and boring at the time, but if they’re gonna keep pushing Mike’s inability to say “I love you” and function normally while in a relationship after all that bs in S3, it better be for a decent reason. It was no longer as cut and dry as I thought when I watched S4, and it’s difficult to grasp that a lot of people watching the show still think this way.

I mean, just imagine Nancy spending a whole chunk of S2 trying to convince/tell Steve she loves him and treating Jonathan like an afterthought before they get together that SAME season (like a romantic and less traumatizing spin on what happened with Barb (RIP), where they clearly demonstrated how bad it was that Nancy was getting swept up in her relationship with Steve).

Nancy getting back with Steve at the end of S1 was annoying for a lot of people, but more of an “eh, whatever” until they started having problems again in S2. Why is it literally the same storyline?? It’s pretty blatant, too. I hardly see any GA really questioning it, and if they do it’s always chalked up to bad writing (which… yeah). If it’s not because Mike and El are having legitimate problems, or about Will’s confirmed feelings, then what do the Duffer’s want me to think?

(first post but I've been lurking here so long it doesn't feel like it.)

[hellfirehottie]

California Dreamin' - Eddie Munson

Chapter Sixteen - Friday, I'm in love

Chapter summary: Schools out at Hawkins High and Eddie and Nina… celebrate. wink wink. 

Content warnings: (chapter spoilers!) animal neglect (Eddie and Nina find and rescue kittens), SO MUCH DAMN FLUFF, love confession, lots of sexual tension, Eddie being a damn horndog, lovesick couple, heavy petting, pet names, teasing, smut! (f!oral receiving), loss of virginity (sike! Not really! Well kinda) awkward interrupted sex (Wayne walks in on Eddie and Nina about to have sex), this chapter was so fun to write I’m sorry it took so long to write it! Don’t worry, our boy Eddie will be cashing in his V card very, very soon….. 

Chapter Sixteen - Friday I'm in love

"I don't care if Monday's blue,

Tuesday's gray and Wednesday too,

Thursday I don't care about you,

It's Friday, I'm in love."

"Friday, I'm in love" - The Cure

Friday / Hawkins High School / 4PM

Crowds of people are flooding out the doors of Hawkins High, excited for the end of exam season and the start of the summer break.

Nina: (tiredly) “Thank fuck for that.”  Robin: [dragging her feet] “My brain has turned to sludge.” 

[Steve is standing leaning on his car, waiting for Nina and Robin to appear from the gate.] 

Nina: “Hey Stevie, how did the exam go?”  Steve: [smug, punching the air] “All the questions I studied came up on the paper, I nailed that exam!”  Robin: [groaning, rubbing her temples] “Lucky for some, I feel like I made up every answer on that paper.” 

[Eddie appears through the doors and walks over to the group.] 

Eddie: (pouting) “This has been the longest semester of my life. I could sleep for weeks.”  Nina: [walking over to him, cuddling into his side, pouting] “Me too, maybe we should hibernate for a while.”  Eddie: [whispered softly to her] “Hey gorgeous.” [Kissing her forehead] “So, what’s the plan for tonight guys?”  Steve: (hyper) “I feel like we should go out and celebrate!”  Robin: (groaning) “No alcohol, I’m still hungover from last weekend.”  Steve: (teasingly) “Not even a few sambuca shots?” [Robin gags and Nina giggles]  Eddie: “We could go for some food?”  Nina: (softly to Eddie) “Don’t you have D&D tonight?”  Eddie: “Gave Hellfire the night off, tonight we’re celebrating!” 

[Nancy and Jonathan walk over to join the conversation.] 

Nancy: “What are we doing tonight then guys? Final year is finally over!”  Steve: (Vindicated) “See! It feels wrong not celebrating.”  Nina: (joking) “We’re getting old.”  Eddie: “We could go to the Arcade?”  Steve: [pinching his eyebrows] “We’ve just spent the entire semester surrounded by screaming kids, the arcade is the last place I want to go.” 

[Eddie pouts and Nina laughs at him, playing with his pet lip, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He blushes and smiles, pulling her under his arm.] 

Nina: “Could go see a movie?”  Steve: (sarcastically) “Cause we don’t do that enough already.”  Robin: “Meet at the mall at 7!” 

Eddie’s trailer / 6:30pm

Eddie and Nina are in Eddie’s trailer. The sun is setting and the air is warm in the summer heat. Eddie is carrying a basket of laundry through the trailer while Nina sits on Eddie’s bed, lotioning her legs.

[Eddie does a double take upon seeing Nina wrapped in a towel, fresh out of the shower, wet hair dangling as she rubs the lotion into her skin.] 

Eddie: [stuttering] “What, erm, what are you doing?”  Nina: “I’m putting lotion on.” [looking at Eddie with a raised eyebrow] “What are you doing?”  Eddie: (cheekily) “I’m watching you put lotion on, apparently.” [Eddie can smell the scent of her vanilla lotion, he blinks himself back to reality] “I’m, erm, doing laundry.”  Nina: (teasing) “Laundry? You?”  Eddie: (slow, dazed) “Yeah, I wanted it done for when you came over but I got side tracked.” [mumbling] “You smell good.”  Nina: [standing up, straightening her towel, Eddie’s eyes linger on her] “You’re sweet.” [She presses a kiss on his cheek as she passes by him, he blushes] “Proper little housewife, aren’t you?”  Eddie: (shy) “Just wanna make things nice for you.” 

[Nina wraps her arms around Eddie’s back as he shoves his wet bedding into the dryer.] 

What did I do to deserve you? Nina thinks.  

Nina: (softly) “Thank you.”  Eddie: [laughing lightly] “You don’t have to thank me.”  Nina: [resting her head on his back, smiling to herself] “I do.” 

[Eddie turns around and wraps his arms around her, pressing a kiss on her forehead. They stay standing like that for a few moments, enjoying their embrace.] 

Nina: “Think I’m gonna wear my new dress tonight.” [Eddie groans] “What, what’s wrong with the dress?” (pouting) “You don’t like it?”  Eddie: (groaning) “No, it’s good, it’s too good.” [Nina giggles into his chest] “First the lotioning and now the dress, think you’re purposefully trying to make me hard.”  Nina: [laughing] “The lotioning?”  Eddie: [mumbled into her hair] “You smell good. And you’re all soft and radiant, and then the thought of you in that dress…” [he groans exaggeratedly again, Nina laughs] “Boner city over here.”  Nina: [giggling into his chest] “You’re impossible.”  Eddie: “And you’re a tease.” [Eddie pushes Nina’s wet hair over her shoulder and kisses down her neck] “Getting me all hot and bothered over here.”  Nina: (teasing) “Sure it’s not this heatwave?”  Eddie: [nibbling at her skin, pulling at the bottom of her towel] “Nope, definitely you.”  Nina: [pulling back, extending a hand out to him to bring him out of the wash room, smirking] “Don’t want to be late now, do we, Mr. Graduate?”  Eddie: (groaning) “Oh, you are the worst.” 

7pm / Starcourt Mall

The gang are walking through the mall to the cinema. Nancy, Jonathan, Steve and Robin are walking ahead. Nina and Eddie are hanging back to talk, walking with their pinky fingers linked. Eddie avoids eye contact with the shop window of the lingerie store as they walk past.

Nina: [enjoying how uncomfortable Eddie is] “Something the matter, Eddie?”  Eddie: [blushing furiously] “Nope, nothing wrong.”  Nina: [standing in front of the shop window so Eddie has to look at her and the red underwear set behind her in the window as they talk] “Are you sure honey? You look a little… flustered.”  Eddie: (amused, smiling) “You’re being especially evil today, Nina.” [Pulling Nina away from the shop window, whispering in her ear] “And you’d look really hot in that red set.” [Nina smiled and pulls him into a quick heated kiss; not helping Eddie’s frustration.]  Nina: “Come on, we better catch up.” [Eddie groans, not wanting to stop the kiss, Nina smiles as she pulls him by his arm.] 

[Eddie and Nina catch up to Steve, Nancy, Robin and Jonathan. Steve is reading the film viewings to the gang.]

Steve: “Stand by me?”  Jonathan and Robin: “Yes!”  Eddie, Nina, Nancy: “No!  Steve: “The Breakfast Club?”  Robin and Nancy: “Yes!”  Jonathan, Eddie and Nina: “Nope!” “Fuck no.” “No thank you.” Steve: (annoyed) “Aliens?”  Eddie and Nina: [at the same time] “Yes!” [They smile at each other, Eddie nudging Nina’s hip]  Nancy, Robin and Jonathan: “No way!” “Gross, no.”  Steve: “Dirty Dancing?” [The group looked around at each other questioningly, shrugging with indifference. Steve sighs dramatically, faking annoyance] “Dirty Dancing is our last option guys, it’s either that or The Goonies.”  Eddie: [quietly to Nina] “I think Steve secretly wants to see the Goonies.” [Nina giggles and playfully shoves him]  Steve: (unimpressed) “Heard that Eddie, and since nobody will decide I vote we see Dirty Dancing.” [muttering to himself] “Jesus, traded one group of kids for another.”  Nina: [whispering to Eddie] “I think Steve secretly wants to see Patrick Swayze shirtless.” [Nina winks at Eddie and he laughs loudly, causing the group to turn and look at him funny] 

Eddie buys Nina’s raspberry and bubblegum slushie and Nina buys their sharing popcorn. They buy their tickets and sit in their seats. The trailers play and Nina cuddles into Eddie’s bicep, her head resting on his shoulder, hand occasionally dipping into his lap to reach for some popcorn. Eddie gulps.

Eddie: [whispered to Nina] “You are in such deep trouble when we’re home.” [Nina giggles] 

[Eddie yawns and puts his arm over Nina’s shoulder to which she rolls her eyes, laughing at him who is smirking adorably.]

Nina: (amused, fond) “Smooth.”  Eddie: [smiling like a dork] “I try.” 

10:25pm / Starcourt Mall parking lot

The gang are walking out of the mall to the carpark. Eddie is giving Nina a piggyback, Jonathan and Nancy are walking hand in hand, Robin and Steve are bickering about the mechanics of the scene where Baby is lifted over Johnny’s head in the lake in Dirty Dancing.

Steve: (insistent) “I’m telling you Robin, I could totally lift you over my head!”  Robin: (deadpan) “Like hell you could, I could probably lift you however.” [Everyone laughs at Robins joke]  Steve: (scoffing) “Excuse me? Have you seen these guns?” [Robin scoffs and shoves him, Steve looks determined] “Right, the next pool day we have we’re gonna do it.”  Robin: (cheeky) “Bet you can’t, loser buys the drinks.” [Holding out her hand for Steve to shake]  Steve: [smug, shaking her hand] “Deal.”  Eddie: [looking up at Nina whose head is next to his] “Next time we go to Lovers Lake, we’re gonna try that.”  Nina: [to Eddie, smirking] “Get some practice tries in before we besmirch the good Harrington name.” [shouting to Steve] “Hey Steve, you’ve got competition here, Eddie and I gonna kick your ass.”  Steve: “Damn it!” [playfully backhanding Robin’s arm] “Now we’ve got to do it. Come over tomorrow, we’ve got to practise the routine.” [Robin shoves him again, telling him to ‘fuck off’]  Jonathan: [joining in, smirking] “Bet Nancy and I could do it before you two do.”  Nancy: [smiling cutely] “Hell yeah!” [she high fives Jonathan]  Steve: (whiny) “See Robin! Come on!”  Robin: (dramatically) “Fineee! But if you dunk me under the water on purpose I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”  Steve: [fist pumping the air] “Fuck yes. Tomorrow, 2pm?”  Nancy: “We’ll be there.”  Nina: “We’ll have to miss rehearsals, Eddie and I have plans.”  Robin: (confused) “You do?”  Eddie: (equally as confused) “We do?”  Nina: [to Eddie] “We do.” [Nina looks at Robin with her eyebrow raised, Robin clicks to what Nina is telepathically signalling, Robin mouths a silent “Oh!” then nods with a smirk] “But we could on Sunday? It’ll be the last time I see you guys before I go home for a while.”  Jonathan: (disappointed) “You’re going back to California?”  Nina: “Just for a few weeks, to tie up some loose ends.” [Eddie goes quiet, Nina notices] “But I’ll be back for 4th July!”  Nancy: “We should go to the fun fair this year! We missed it last year.” [The gang goes quieter still, contemplating the events of last summer] “Or not…”  Eddie: [trying to recover the mood] “We should. It’ll be fun!” [Everyone looks at him weirdly] “What? Why are you all looking at me like that?”  Robin: [laughing] “It’s just weird seeing the spawn of Satan wanting to participate in fun patriotic events, that’s all.”  Eddie: [smirking, dramatic] “Even the spawn of Satan wants to ride fairground rides and eat cotton candy sometimes.” [Nina giggles on his shoulder and presses a kiss on his cheek]  Nancy: “We better go, it’s getting late.” [Pulling Jonathan to the car] “Night guys!” [Jonathan mumbles a “Bye” and leaves with Nancy]  Steve: [to Nina] “Do you need a lift home too Nina?”  Nina: (politely) “Eddie is giving me a lift home, but thank you! See you on Sunday!” 

[They say their goodbyes and Nina tells Robin she’ll see her at home. Eddie and Nina walk to Eddie’s van.] 

Nina: “Wait… Eddie, do you hear that?”  Eddie: (Confused) “Hear what? I don’t hear anything?”  Nina: “That! Can’t you hear it?”  Eddie: (worried, grabbing the waistband of his jeans tightly) “If this is you trying to give me a wedgie again, you can forget it!” Nina: [laughing] “I’m serious! I can hear a cat stuck or something.”  Eddie: (dramatically) “Oh fuck, it’s finally happened, she’s lots the plot, she’s gone mad.”  Nina: “Shut up!”  Eddie: (dramatic still, antagonising) “Alert the asylum, bring the restraints, I have a feeling she won’t go quietly!”  Nina: [grinning] “You’re such a dick.” [quieter now, listening] “I can totally hear a cat somewhere. Come help me find it.” 

[They search the alley behind the Mall with no success. They walk back towards the car.]

Eddie: [smirking] “I’m telling you babe, you’ve lost it.”  Nina: (confused, pouting) “I was so sure I heard a cat meow. Oh well.”  Eddie: (nonchalant) “That’s how it starts, then you’ll start seeing dark clouds and a seven foot tall dude with no nose who's sending his demon bats to eat you alive.” [Nina looks at him confused] “True story.”  Nina: [laughing] “You’re so weird.”  Eddie: [smiling] “You wouldn’t have me any other way.”  Nina: “I wouldn’t.” [hearing the noise again] “I heard it again, this way!” [running in the other direction] Eddie: “Christ, it’s like dating a sheepdog.” [running up to her, panting] “Did you find it?” 

[Nina turns around with a little scruffy black kitten in her hands, Nina’s eyes watering with emotion.]

Nina: [tearing up over how cute the kitten is] “Eddie, look! Look at it! Aw, the poor baby is all by itself!” [Petting the kitten] “Look how cute it is.”  Eddie: [looking fondly at Nina rather than the kitten] “Pretty damn cute.”  Nina: “Can we keep it? Please?”  Eddie: [torn] “We shouldn’t, it’s mother must be looking for it.”  Nina: (sadly) “I found it in that beaten box there with the lid sealed up. I think somebody dumped it.” [pouting at Eddie, holding the kitten up to her face to emphasise her point, playing with Eddie’s emotions, dramatic, begging] “Please Eddie! Us two stray kittens need a loving home to live in, won’t you please take us in?”  Eddie: [rolling his eyes but smiling] “You really are evil, I hope you know that.” Nina: (hopeful) “Is that a yes?”  Eddie: [trying to hide his smile] “Fine, we can keep it.”  Nina: [Smiling widely] “Yay!” [talking to the kitten] “I’ve always wanted a cat. I’m going to call you Ozzy.” [Eddie looks at her with a raised eyebrow] “What? After The Prince of Darkness? Seems fitting, don’t you think?” 

Fuck, I love you, Eddie thinks. 

Eddie: “We’ll have to take it to the vets to get it checked over. And to the pet store in the morning to get the stuff we need.”  Nina: (smirking) “Look at you being a responsible adult.”  Eddie: [taking the kitten from Nina’s hand, patting it lovingly on the head, it looks up at him and meows] “I just want the best for my son.”  Nina: (sarcastically) “Oh typical Eddie, first he doesn’t want the cat and now it’s son, typical.” (serious now) “I’ll get Auntie Mel to take me to the store in the morning while you’re at work.” [stroking Ozzy’s nose with her finger] “Looks like you need a bath, little guy, you’re stinky.”  Eddie: [looking around, frowning]  “I think I can hear another.”  Nina: [after searching for a while, she finds another kitten near the box] “Oh look Eddie, there’s two! Now we have one each!” [looking at the box, confused] “Poor thing must have eaten its way through the cardboard, there’s a hole in the box.” 

[Nina struggles to catch the timid kitten while Eddie watches with amusement. Nina picks up the ginger kitten and cradles it in her arms. She looks at Eddie with glee, he smiles at her fondly.] 

Eddie: [trying not to laugh at the kitten’s fat belly] “Makes sense, have you seen the size of him? He’s practically the size of the box himself.”  Nina: (gasping, covering the kitten’s ears) “Don’t talk to your son that way!” [patting the nervous kitten on the head] “Don’t listen to him sweetheart, you’re perfect the way you are.” [Eddie melts, Nina extends the kitten out towards him] “You can name this one.”  Eddie: “Barrel. Fatty. Ginger Von Roundboy.”  Nina: “And you call me evil.”  Eddie: (immediately) “Garfield.”  Nina: [rolling her eyes, amused] “Original.”  Eddie: [Shrugging his shoulders, laughing, walking to the car with the kitten in his hands] “I’m going to feed it lasagne and make it even fatter.”  Nina: “Spoke too soon about the responsible thing.”  Eddie: (dryly) “Better than eating cardboard.” 

[Eddie smirks at Nina as the two hop in the car with the kittens. Eddie looks over at Nina as he drives, as she plays happily with the kittens on her lap.]

When they arrive back at the trailer, they spend the night taking care of the kittens. They fill the sink with warm water and gently wash the kittens. They make a makeshift bed out of a cardboard box of Wayne’s and an old towel. Eddie decorates the box with drawings of bats. 

Eddie loves how happy they make Nina, he could watch her play with the kittens for hours. 

[Eddie is sitting with Ozzy on his lap, drying his now clean fur with a towel and feeding him bits of ham. Nina is sitting playing with a shoelace with Garfield.]

Nina: (warmly) “Are you sure Wayne won’t mind?”  Eddie: “I’m sure he won’t. They can stay here until you come back from Cali and then we can share custody of them.”  Nina: (smiling widely) “You’re gonna become a cat dad, I can feel it.”  Eddie: [playing with Ozzy on his lap, Nina smiles at him lovingly] “Become? Babe, I already am.”  Nina: [yawning] “I better head home, it’s getting late.”  Eddie: [pouting] “You’re going to leave us?”  Nina: “Oh don’t give me that look, I stayed late last night!”  Eddie: (cheeky) “Easy, stay over.”  Nina: [giving him a warning look but can’t hide her smile] “Eddie…”   Eddie: [smiling cutely]  “Come on…” [playing with the shoelace, shy] “You already have some clothes here, I washed the bedding, and I bought you a toothbrush. Plus, the kitties need their mother.” [looking at her again, doe-eyed] “Please?”  Nina: [blushing, fake annoyance] “Fineee, you’ve twisted my arm.” (shy)“You bought me a toothbrush?”  Eddie: [shrugging nonchalantly] “I wanted you to feel comfortable here, I dunno… it’s stupid.”  Nina: [catching his eyes] “It’s not stupid.” [shying away] “I think it’s lovely. Thank you.” 

Midnight

[Nina is lying down on her stomach on the carpet of Eddie’s living room, reading her book, the kittens asleep in their bed. Eddie squats over Nina, slapping each ass cheeks repeatedly in rhythm.]

Nina: (scalding) “Eddie! Stop it! What are you doing?”  Eddie: (cheekily) “Playing the drums.” [hitting her cheeks harder and faster, headbanging] “Drum solo!”  Nina: (squealing) “Eddie! Get off!” 

[She rolls over so she is lying facing up underneath Eddie.] 

Eddie: [grinning] “Hi there.”  Nina: (amused) “I’m guessing you found the leftover candy I hid, huh?”  Eddie: (mischievous) “Maybe.” [Nina rolls her eyes] “You love me.”  Nina: (taunting) “Hmm, maybe.” [Eddie gasps dramatically, clutching his ‘wounded’ heart, rolling around on the floor in fake pain] “Oh stop it, you’re so dramatic.”  Eddie: “Can’t, I’m wounded, my girlfriend doesn’t love me.” [lying still, splattered on the floor] “You’ve killed me, see, look, this is me dead.” [He flops again on the floor with an exaggerated “ugh!”, tongue sticking out comically. He opens one eye to see Nina Nina hasn’t looked up from her book, he kicks her gently to get her attention] “Nina, look, I’m dead, see!” [opening one eye again to see Nina looking at him with raised eyebrows over the top of her book] “Wow, I’m dead and I can’t even get a sympathy tear, you’re a cold woman.” [Nina’s jaw drops in offence and she climbs over on top of him]  Nina: [ticking his sides] “I’ll show you a cold woman, Munson, come here!” [Eddie squeals with laughter, cheeks hurting from smiling] “Submit to the ice woman’s will, Eddie, or she’ll tickle you to death.”  Eddie: [choking with laughter] “I submit, I submit!” [Nina continues to tickle him] “Please! You’re killing me, I submit!” [Nina stops, grabbing his hands and pinning them above his head, smirking down on him, he lies there breathless with wide eyes]  Nina: (flirty) “Got you pinned now, Munson.”  Eddie: [fake looking out the window] “Shit, what’s that over there?” [Nina turns to look, distracted, Eddie flips her so he is on top, pinning her down] “Ha, got you pinned now.”  Nina: [tugging at her pinned wrists] “Hey! No fair! You cheated!” (disappointed) “I can’t believe I fell for that.”   Eddie: (smug) “Not my fault you’re shit at wrestling.”  Nina: “I’ll show you shit at wrestling.” [Nina swings her legs up from underneath Eddie and wraps them over his shoulders, using her thighs to pull Eddie back to the ground, Eddie falls back to the ground with a thump, looking at her bewildered] “Seems like you’ve met your match, Munson.”  Eddie: (breathless) “Fuck, that was hot.” [Nina smirks down at him] “Wrestling with a girl is a lot sexier than wrestling with guys.” [Nina looks at him for a moment before bursting into laughter, Eddie looks embarrassed] “I mean- I meant.. oh fucks sake, Nevermind.” [Nina continues to cackle with laughter, Eddie goes red in the face] “Oh come on, I didn’t mean it like that, it wasn’t that funny!” [Nina laughs harder, face scrunching, Eddie looks at her adoringly] “Fine, you win this one.”  Nina: (recovering, smug) “That’s cause I always win.”  Eddie: [with heart eyes] “I think I’m the one who won here.”  Nina: [smiling widely, happy] “You’re cute. Cheesy, but cute.”  Eddie: “You are too.” (joking) “You’re the hottest wrestling partner I’ve ever had.” [Nina burst into laughter again, Eddie smiles proudly at her as she does] 

[Eddie silences her by pulling her down to him, catching her in an unexpected kiss. She smiles into the kiss causing Eddie to do the same. Eddie hums contently as she softly slides her fingers through his hair, gently scratching at his scalp; Eddie’s hands now resting on her hips. Eddie slides one hand under her dress and Nina pulls away, making Eddie pout with disappointment.]

Nina: (smirking) “Now, now, not in front of the children.”  Eddie: (grinning, eyes glistening hopefully) “They’re asleep.”  Nina: (laughing) “You’re not even looking at them.”  Eddie: (cheesy, brushing Nina’s hair behind her ear) “How can I, when I have the most beautiful view in front of me?”  Nina: [shaking her head, laughing] “If you think that line is gonna get you laid, think again.”  Eddie: (mischievous) “Worth a blowjob at least though, right?”  Nina: (snorting, amused) “You stay with the boys, I’ll put the bedding on.”  Eddie: “Hey, hey! I’ll put the bedding on.”  Nina: “I’ll do it, it’s okay.”  Eddie: “It’s my bed, I should be putting the bedding on.”  Nina: “And I’m a guest in your bed, so I’ll do it.” 

[Nina stands up to walk to the clothes dryer, Eddie shamelessly watches her as her dress rises up as she stands, giving Eddie a view of her thighs and ass in a thong. Eddie gulps and bows his head, crawling over to Ozzy and Garfield in their box to play with them intently, hiding his flustered expression.] 

Eddie: [playing with the kittens] “You’re more than a guest. It’s our bed if anything,” [Eddie is oblivious to Nina blushing. Her heart beats hard at his comment, said so nonchalantly] “But if you insist, I shall stay here and entertain the boys.” [Picking up Ozzy and holding him high in the air, swooping the cat up and down like an airplane] “Look, cat-plane.” [Eddie makes ‘airplane’ sound effects and Ozzy chews on Eddie’s fingers as they play and Eddie pouts]  Nina: “Can’t call Garfield fat when Ozzy is trying to eat your flesh.”  Eddie: (cheeky) “He’s just appreciating how tasty his dad is, unlike his mother.” 

[Nina shakes her head with amusement and peers into the dryer, touching the clothes. Eddie watches Nina, biting his lip as he eyes her up and down.] 

If only you knew how beautiful you are, Eddie thinks. 

Nina: “They’re still a bit damp, I’ll put them on for another half an hour.” [she looks up to see Eddie staring at her] “Eddie?”  Eddie: [shaking from his trance] “Huh? What?” [blinking himself awake to see Nina smirking at him, he blushes] “What did you say?”  Nina: “I said they’re still wet, I’ve put them on for another half an hour.”  Eddie: (flushed) “Oh, right, yeah sure.” [he sticks his head down, distracting himself with Ozzy and Garfield.]  Nina: “What’s up with you?”  Eddie: “Nothing, nothing.” (Bashful) “I just really like you in that dress, that’s all.”  Nina: “Really?”  Eddie: “Yeah.”  Nina: (cheeky) “Well…Why don’t you come and show me how much you like it?” 

[Eddie’s eyes bulge out of his skull. He scrambles to stand up, causing Nina to laugh. He puts Ozzy back in their bed, then runs to Nina’s side.] 

Eddie: (softly) “Hi.”  Nina: (grinning) “Hi, handsome.”  Eddie: (gulping, desperate) “Thought you said ‘not in front of the boys’?” Nina: (coy) “We’re out of sight, I think it’s safe.”  Eddie: (desperate) “Oh, fucking finally.” [He wraps Nina in his arms and kisses her heatedly, tangling his fingers in her hair. He pulls back and looks into Nina’s eyes, stroking her warm pink cheeks] "C'mere."

[Eddie takes Nina’s face in his hands, pressing his lips on hers passionately. She wraps her arms around Eddie’s neck, as Eddie backs her against the dryer. Their tongues lick at each other and Eddie’s hand slides into her hair; Nina melts and quietly moans at the feeling.] 

Eddie: [mumbled on Nina’s lips] “Jump up.” 

[Nina jumps up and Eddie’s hands catch her thighs, placing her on top of the dryer. His hands stay on her thighs, stroking her soft skin, as their lips reconnect. He grabs her hips and pulls her flush against him, wrapping her legs around his waist.] 

Eddie: “Been wanting this all evening.” [he kisses across her jaw, below her ear, down her neck. He inhales the scent of her perfume and his heart flutters] “Missed you.”  Nina: (giggling) “I’ve been with you all day.”  Eddie: [smiling into her neck between kisses] “Had to share you with everyone else. Not the same. Can’t do this in front of them.” [Nina giggles harder and Eddie smiles proudly]  Nina: “We could, but we might have been kicked out of the movie.” [Nina gasps as Eddie slides the strap of her dress off her shoulder, kissing along the warm skin] “Eddie…” [He kisses, sucks and bites a love bite above her collarbone in the crook of her neck, Nina pushes him back] “Eddie! Below the neckline! I told you this!”  Eddie: (unapologetic, looking at the lovebite proudly) “Sorry, can’t help it.”  Nina: (fake- scalding) “My mom’s gonna think there’s vampires roaming around in Hawkins.”  Eddie: (flushing) “Sorry.”  Nina: “Don’t apologise, I like it. Don’t think my mom will though.” [She pulls him back between her legs using the dangling silver chain attached to his belt, Eddie’s eyes go wide with arousal] “I think it’s hot.” Eddie: [turned on, groping her thighs] “Yeah?”  Nina: [mindlessly, head cloudy] “Mmhmm.”  Eddie: “I’ve gotta admit, I kinda like the thought of you walking around with my hickies on you, letting everyone know you’re taken.” [brushing the hair off her shoulders, thumbing the love bite on her neck, possessive] “The handsome surfer dudes of Cali know to fuck off.”  Nina: (teasing, sultry) “Not the handsome surfer dudes of Cali I want right now.” [she wraps her legs around his waist once again, feeling his hard cock press against her underwear] 

[Nina pulls Eddie back into a kiss, running her hands up his firm chest. Eddie hums happily into the kiss, moaning softly when their tongues lick into each other. As the kiss heats up, Eddie can’t keep his hands off her; stroking her skin, grabbing her and kissing her all over.] 

Eddie: (breathless) “Want you so bad, you have no idea.”  Nina: [smiling against his lips, flustered] “Really, right here on the dryer?”  Eddie: [mumbled against her neck, nipping, groping, primal] “Never wanted you more.” [His lips curl into a smirk against her skin] “Plus I have a great view of your tits from here.”  Nina: (giggling) “You’re terrible.”  Eddie: “Terribly in love with you.” 

[Eddie freezes in shock with the realisation of his confession. Nina blinks a few times, stunned, looking up at Eddie with glassy eyes.] 

Nina: (in awe) “You are?”  Eddie: (stuttering) “I mean, um, yeah… I am.” [now looking at her in the eye, his nerves soften] “I am, Nina.” [clearing his throat] “I’m yours. If you’ll have me?”  Nina: [pressing their foreheads together, soft] “You’re mine, and I’m yours.”  Eddie: [breathing heavy with anticipation] “I’m yours to take. Take me Nina, please.” 

[They both look deeply into each other's eyes. The atmosphere softens from ambient to electric. Eddie gently strokes Nina’s cheek with his thumb, tracing along her jaw and over her top lip. She looks at him with anticipation, lips parting when he pushes his thumb onto her bottom lip. He looks at Nina’s lips, mesmerised, then looks back to her eyes.] 

Eddie: [repeating] “Please Nina, I want you to take me.”  Nina: “Right here?”  Eddie: “Right here.” 

[They kiss again, gently melting into each other. Nina’s fingers comb through Eddie’s hair and tug gently at his curls, causing him to groan, butterflies erupting in his stomach. His hands slid up her dress once again, stroking the smooth skin. 

His lips trail along her jaw and neck, down to her chest. He yanks the front of Nina’s dress down, exposing her breasts, biting his lip and groaning at seeing her braless under the dress. He leans down and wraps his lips around her nipple, cupping the other breast and gentle squeezing. Nina sighs Eddie’s name contently and rests her head on the wall behind her, cupping Eddie’s head as he rolls his tongue around her nipple. Her legs instinctively rise from the washing machine, her knees bending, giving Eddie better access between her legs. 

Eddie takes that as his cue to drop down to his knees, sliding Nina’s dress up to her waist. She watches with longing as he kisses up her thigh to be face to face with her clothed pussy. He shamelessly takes a deep inhale and licks the dampening fabric, placing a kiss on the wet patch on the cotton thong.]

Nina: [clutching Eddie’s shoulders, whimpering] “Eddie, please.”  Eddie: “I’m coming baby, I’m coming.” [Nina lifts her thighs up as Eddie reaches for her underwear, pulling them down over her legs. Once off, he crumples them up and puts them in the back pocket of his jeans.] “I’m keeping these, by the way.”  Nina: (laughing, heart fluttering) “Perv.” [looking at him with a raised eyebrow] “Something to remember this by?”  Eddie: (smirking) “Don’t think I’m gonna be forgetting this anytime soon.” 

[Eddie leans forward and traps Nina’s thighs between his biceps and forearms, locking her in place. His breathing deepens as he looks at Nina’s wet pussy, he looks up at Nina with darkened eyes.] 

Eddie: (hungrily) “This all for me, princess?” 

[Before Nina can fully reply, Eddie licks between her folds with a bold, heavy lick of his tongue.] 

Nina: “All for- oh!” [sighing with content] “All for you, baby.” 

[Eddie hums happily as he licks, sucks and kisses all over her; leaving no part of her unloved. Nina’s hand clutches the side of the dryer, the other tangled in Eddie’s hair.] 

Nina: (breathless) “Jesus, Eddie - thought you wanted something else?”  Eddie: “Sorry, princess, couldn’t help myself,” [He kisses and sucks her clit and she whimpers] “Taste too damn good,” [she gasps as he licks her clit] “Can’t help myself,” [she whines as he teases her entrance with a finger, he eventually slides his finger in] “So tight around me, bet you’ll feel like heaven on my cock-“ [Nina cuts him off with a loud groan, her fingers tightening in Eddie’s hair. Eddie looks up at her with a smirk] “Someone’s being impatient.”  Nina: [with gritted teeth] “Someone is trying to be patient but God, you’re killing me here.”  Eddie: [smug, not moving his finger or using his tongue] “Might just stay down here for hours, make you wait.”  Nina: [desperate, but trying to not show it] “And as a supportive girlfriend who doesn’t want to pressure you, I’ll wait.”  Eddie: (cheeky) “God, I love it when you talk dirty to me.”  Nina: [blushing] “Shut up- oh!” [Eddie shakes his head side to side, rubbing his tongue inside her] “Fuck, Eddie, please!”  Eddie: [eyes closed, in bliss] “Gotta feel you cum on my tongue first, sweetheart, then you can have it.”  Nina: (desperate, writhing) “Eddie, your fingers, please…”  Eddie: “Hmm? What about them?”  Nina: (breathless) “I need more, please!”  Eddie: [smirking] “Anything for my girl.” [His eyes light up as Nina melts in relief when he inserts a second finger, twisting his fingers in the way he knows Nina loves. Her sounds are music to his ears as she begins panting and moaning above him.]  Nina: “Eddie, if you don’t-“ [she’s surprised as Eddie stands up, licking his fingers then wiping his mouth lewdly] “What are you doing?”  Eddie: (wild, desperate) “Can’t wait any longer…” [he fumbles with his belt, Nina takes over and undoes it, as well as the button and zip on his jeans. He shoves his jeans and boxers down his thighs, and grunts when Nina takes his hard cock in her hands, jerking his length slowly in her hands.] “It’s cruel to tease a man, y’know.” Nina: [mumbled into his neck] “Karma’s a bitch.” [She sloppily kisses his neck and strokes him faster, he moans and bucks into her hand]  Eddie: [dominant, pushing Nina back, she looks at him with wide wild eyes] “No more, need to feel you now.” [Eddie spreads Nina’s legs wide and grasps his length, rubbing his leaking end through her folds, rubbing on her clit, her breath hitches, Eddie’s eyes are alive with lust] “Fuck, you’re so wet baby,” [muttering to himself] “Feels obscene.” [Nina raises her legs again and Eddie holds the back of one of her thighs, looking deeply into her eyes] “You sure this is okay?”  Nina: (moaning) “I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.” 

[Eddie and Nina look at each other. Both of their hairs are a mess, cheeks are flushed and sweaty, both of their chests are heaving with adrenaline.] 

Eddie: [taking a deep breath] “Okay.” [he begins to push his end inside of her, a strained moan comes out of his mouth.] “Oh, my god-“  Wayne: [entering the trailer] “The boss gave me the night off, son, wanna watch the game?” [When he hears no response, he walks towards the light in the hallway. His voice is faint from a distance in the washroom, becoming louder as he approaches Eddie as he walks through the trailer. He notices the kittens in a box, pets them on the head and tuts to himself] “Edward Munson! What have I told you about taking in stray animals?! Why are there two damn cats in my damn crockery box?! I swear to God himself boy- oh Jesus H Christ!” [He covers his eyes, shocked to see both Eddie and Nina half naked on the dryer]  Eddie: “Fuck!” 

[Eddie scrambles on his feet, scrambling around with his jeans around his thighs, trying to find something to cover Nina with. Nina lets out a shriek and covers her bare chest, she falls off the side of the dryer and  into the laundry basket.] 

Eddie: [red faced, embarrassed, pulling his trousers up]  “Jesus, Wayne! Could have knocked! I thought you weren’t home tonight!”   Wayne: [from behind his covered eyes] “I did knock! And I didn’t know what you two would be going at it on the damn clean laundry!” [Eddie helps Nina out of the basket, she’s red with embarrassment but can’t help but giggle]  Nina: [trying to hide her laughter] “I’m really sorry, Wayne.”  Wayne: [walking away, grumbling] “Damn kids can’t keep it in their damn pants, sheesh.” 

Eddie’s bedroom / 1AM 

[Eddie and Nina are lying parallel in the bed, both of them silent. There is an awkward tension in the air. Nina looks at Eddie who is staring at the ceiling.] 

Nina: (lightly) “You know, it hurts my ego that you’re this quiet after losing your virginity.”  Eddie: [snorting] “Hardly count that as losing my virginity.” [turning to Nina, tension erased] “It was barely the tip.” [Eddie is relieved when Nina bursts into laughter, hiding her amusement in Eddie’s shoulder.]  Nina: “God, I’m never gonna be able to face Wayne again. I feel like I’ll be going the walk of shame tomorrow.” [Eddie tuts at her and pulls her into him, she cuddles under his arm, her head on his chest.]  Eddie: (cheeky) “He better get used to it, I plan on having you on every available surface of this trailer.”  Nina: (appalled) “Eddie!”  Eddie: [grinning] “And my van.”  Nina: “You’re really worked up today, huh?”  Eddie: (pouting) “I’ve had blue balls all day, and now they’re so far inside me that they’ve befriended my lungs.” [Nine hides her head in Eddie’s neck to muffle her laughter, Eddie nips at her side as revenge and she squeals. Eddie’s smile turns and he sighs]  “Yeah. I don’t know whether it’s ‘cause you’re going in a couple of days, or…” [sighing again, glum] “I think I just don’t want you to go. Want you here, with me.” (Softly) “Gonna miss you like hell.”  Nina: (gently) “I know.” [stroking his cheek] “I’ll be back here with you soon.” [coy, mischievous] “Maybe its not a bad thing that we got interrupted. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a special night alone before I go.”  Eddie: (pouty) “The Buckleys are home tomorrow and Wayne has the night off.” [smirking] “Back of the van it is.”  Nina: (mysterious) “Hmm, something like that.” [Eddie raises his eyebrows, curious] “You’ll have to wait and see.”  Eddie: "Nina?" Nina: (yawning) "Yes, Eddie?" Eddie: "If Nancy and Robin hear about this, you're in deep trouble."

AN - Hey guys! sorry its been a while! life got busy. Someone kindly pointed out that I've been tagging this fic wrong, so sorry about that! Hopefully this is better.

Comment to be added to taglist! Reblogs, likes, comments and shares are always appreciated, thank you :)

Chapter Seventeen is coming a lot quicker than this chapter.... x

[sogoodtoheritsvicious]

it’s tiiiiimeee

i haven’t watched this show in full in five years 😵‍💫but it’s october and i was gonna watch thee byeler episode aka 2x02 on halloween anyway so i thought i might as well rewatch the entire show and make it everyone’s problem

forgot about the jumpscare being right at the beginning

baby will <3

they were all BABIES and now they’re all grown and the damn final season still hasn’t premiered lmao

dustin was so adorable

“it was a seven.” “huh?” “the roll, it was a seven. the demogorgon, it got me.” the way will was incapable of lying to mike, GOD, i feel sick

fun fact: will’s adorable little “see you tomorrow!” is immediately what made him my favorite

“kiss your mom ‘night for me!” lmfao

forgot how damn good the jumpscares are

gonna need mike to see will with a gun at least once before this show is over

“damn,you look like hell, chief!” “oh, yeah? well, i looked better than your wife when i left her this morning.” HELP

“lonnie used to call him queer.” “is he?” FUCKING HELL, HOPPER 😭 i completely forgot about that scene lmfao

EL, MY BABY

benny was such a good man :( he didn’t deserve to die

that poor dog was so hated irl 😭

“you think we got a problem here?” my brother in christ, a boy is missing

“i’m the only one that cares about will!” mike loves will so much, i’m gonna cry

i completely forgot about hop’s daughter

mike sneaking out while steve’s sneaking in 😭 this show is also a comedy

winona ryder the actress that you are

chapter 2

maybe i’m going to find out in this ep i can’t remember if they ever investigate benny’s death or link it to everything else that was going on

“stop it, you’re freaking her out!” “she’s freaking ME out!” lucas was the only real one in the beginning

poor baby. el didn’t even know what privacy was before this moment.

“oh, you can speak!” she gets that a lot 😭

mike and el had so much potential as friends, FUCK the duffers for ruining them by making it romantic. now they don’t even seem like they like each other

i hope s5 focuses on more on will and lucas’ friendship

jonathan was such a good brother

brenner. always at the scene of the fucking crime.

mike naming his dino ‘rory’ because he roars 🥹

FUCK BRENNER ALL MY HOMIES HATE BRENNER

karen was such a good mom in the beginning

i hate lonnie with a passion, he’s an abusive piece of shit who should’ve been killed off

i don’t blame lucas at all for the way he was acting with el at first

“one kid goes missing, the other one runs wild? some real fine parenting right there.”

they kept pointing out so many similarities between will and el, i can’t believe they didn’t go anywhere with it

“can’t ask a corpse a question.” die. just die.

nancy: *losing her virginity*

barb: *losing her life*

chapter 3

“no one breaks in here.” yeah, they just break out

love jonathan but steve wasn’t exactly wrong about the pictures

joyce byers the mother that you are

mike wanted nothing to do with el once they found will’s “body” but we’re supposed to believe that he loved her the second he saw her in the woods.

chapter 4

i can’t believe they showed that mike has all of the drawings will has created and expected us to be normal about it

“screw his funeral!” “what?!” TEARS

jonathan loves joyce and will so much 🥺

steve was such an unbearable asshole

can we PLEASE talk about charlie being able to hold his own with winona in that scene about will’s body? we already know winona’s gonna blow it out of the water but he did just as well

completely forgot about mike doing el’s makeup this episode dkfkgjd

“where are you from, exactly?” “bad place.” 😭

that troy scene still sends

“the kid is dead. end of story.”

they put too much pressure on el. i hope when all this shit is over she’s able to just be a normal kid.

this show used to be so fucking good

i love how hop tries lying to the state trooper and when that doesn’t work he just knocks him the fuck out 😭

I FUCKING HATE LONNIE

i’m so glad they had jonathan realize that joyce was telling the truth about everything that was going on instead of just dragging it all out.

chapter 5

hate lonnie for taking advantage of joyce when she’s clearly in a vulnerable position

“wait until we tell will that jennifer hayes was crying at his funeral” lmao

all this season is showing me is how severely they’ve robbed us of joyce and will scenes in future episodes

“man, these aren’t real nilla wafers.” mr. clark must think they’re horrible friends, i’m crying. dustin is right, though, fake nilla wafers suck.

“it might even swallow us whole.” and that’s exactly what’s happening by the end of s4

“he’s wanted to go to nyu since he was six. years. old!” she should’ve killed lonnie right then & there

can’t prove it but jonathan fell in love with nancy the second she shot that can on her first try

jonathan clocked nancy’s ass BAD in the woods

forgot just how much lucas hated el this season

byeler and jancy have paralleled each other too many times for it to just mean nothing in the end.

chapter 6

the jumpscares in this show are top tier

what i love about this show is how it still has me holding my breath even though i already know what’s going to happen

“i don’t wanna be alone. do you?” “no.” i was gonna say he wouldn’t be alone cause joyce is there but i remembered he doesn’t wanna tell her til it’s all over

early jancy were so awkward, i love them <3

“i could have been killed!” “which is exactly why we need her. she’s a weapon!” but mike loves her at this point, right?

lucas loves will so much, it’s a shame we haven’t seen much more of their friendship

“you’re my best friend, too.” “okay :D” dustin looked so happy 😭

“what’s the weirdest part? me or the bear trap?” “you, definitely you.” pls

jonathan beating the shit out of steve was so satisfying

“only love makes you that crazy, sweetheart.” i’m not even gonna say anything. you all know.

we don’t give mike enough appreciation for being such a selfless person. he did everything he could to find will, he almost killed himself to protect dustin, he let el live in his basement without even knowing her, etc.

“she’s our friend and she’s crazy!” i love dustin with my whole heart

BABIES 🫶🏼

chapter 7

“if anyone asks where i am, i’ve left the country.” this season is really reminding me why mike was my favorite in the beginning

i wanna hug el so bad

“our son with a girl?” ted, to mike:

“a psychotic child broke his arm!” “a little girl, chief. a little one.” “that tone! do you hear that tone?” “honestly, i’m just trying to state a fact. it was a little girl.” this entire exchange is sending me so bad

“you couldn’t take jonathan byers.” get his ass!

it was such a great choice to have joyce be the first one to ever give el comfort because she’s such a soft, comforting person and i can’t think of anyone better

chapter 8

made it to the finale! gonna be honest, i didn’t think i’d get here in only two days but this show sucked me in the exact way it did the first time

“go to hell.” joyce is everything

waiting til this episode to give flashbacks on hop’s daughter was an excellent choice

steve just wanted to apologize to jonathan and now he’s an exasperated mother of seven. life comes at ya quick!!

choosing not to acknowledge that scene beyond this for the sake of my mental health

el is a badass but she shouldn’t have to be

brenner should’ve never made it to season 4

these kids acted their ASSES off in this show

GOD THIS JOYCE, HOPPER AND WILL SCENE

you’d think everything that went down would make nancy and karen care more about mike and pay attention to him but it doesn’t. mike deserves so much better.

will is in a hospital bed worrying about jonathan’s hand. I LOVE THIS KID.

byeler hug <3

they all really wanted to tell will about jennifer hayes crying 😭

“her name’s eleven.” “like the number?” he sounded baffled lmaooo

getting will back must’ve been so bittersweet for nancy

hop keeps throwing away lit cigarettes and all i keep thinking is that he’s gonna start a wildfire eventually

mike’s soft ‘see you, will’ 🥹

the camera!!

“your wife doesn’t have time to cook for me.” pls

the byers family 🫶🏼

my love for this show has officially been revived. rewatching this reminded me why i loved this show so much in the first place. the acting is amazing, especially from the kids, the writing was great, and the fucking jumpscares were incredible. i’m so excited to start season 2!!

[upsidedownmvnson]

steve harrington x henderson!oc "focus" excerpt

a/n: hey yall i know we love angst around here, this is a fanfic i've been working on for a while but i am not getting much traction on it. this is from chapter 18 where steve x henderson!oc (Georgie) have their first kiss but it's angsty. it's a slow burn, 18 chapters in and there's one kiss, and there will be chapters before the next kiss - lot of grovelling and yearning on the way - and it'll also turn smutty by the end of season 3...

TL;DR; please read this angsty kiss between steve and henderson!oc and consider reading my fic focus on ao3

Georgie is in school the next day, but she retains nothing. She barely remembers the afternoon yesterday, or this morning when Steve was waiting in the driveway to drive her and Dustin to school. She’d forgotten her car was still in the school parking lot.

At the end of the day, Georgie was feeling so defeated. She hadn’t found time to talk to Nancy, hadn’t even really seen Nancy. But Steve had been there, sitting beside her silently as she scribbled down answers to questions in her chemistry textbook. He didn’t know that they’d never even been assigned, weren’t even due.

He’d found her at her locker after classes were over, packing her bags in her backpack, looking so lost, and he felt his heart swell up. She seemed so scared, so confused. He insisted on walking her to her car, even though he’d parked on the other side of the lot.

“Thanks Steve,” she said, “sorry I’m acting like such a zombie.”

“There’s a lot going on,” he smiled softly, “you don’t have to apologize for that.”

Georgie just hummed in response.

“We should carpool,” Steve said, hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans, and shoulders hiked up near his ears, like he was nervous.

“That’s so out of your way,” she laughed. “You’d have to drive the opposite way of school to come get me.”

“Yeah but,” he blushed, “what are friends for?”

Georgie tried so hard to feel guilty about it. But Nancy had been running around with Jon. And barely returning Georgie’s calls. She still wasn’t going to do anything about her feelings, but it was nice to not feel so damn guilty about it anymore. It seemed like they weren’t going to get back together, so her little crush on her friend had become harmless. It was freeing. Steve was still her friend’s ex, and therefore totally off limits, but she didn’t feel like she was harbouring some dark secret anymore. 

“You’re a good friend Steve, I can’t… I haven’t really seen much of Nancy or Jonathan lately, but you’ve really been there.” Georgie put her hand on Steve’s arm, and he felt fire creep up from her touch, all the way up to his neck. 

She thought his muscles were tense because he was uncomfortable, so she pulled away, thinking she’d overstepped. But he caught her wrist, tugging on it gently and bringing her close. Georgie didn’t know how to react, except let out a little gasp of surprise. Steve brought his other hand up to her face, dragging his thumb softly across her cheek before bringing her into him for a kiss.

He was equally as surprised as she was, he didn’t know what had come over him. But the way she so casually praised him, the way she saw how hard he’d been trying to be good… and Georgie had just been standing there, her beauty incomparable, unmissable. And he just did it. And it was sweet, she was sweet, her lips tasted like a cherry sucker and they were so soft. He let go of her wrist in favour of her hip, not trying to advance anywhere beyond a kiss but just because he wanted her close, wanted her to feel that he was there, right there with her, exactly where he wanted to be.

And for a few captivating seconds, they were moving their lips together. It was like a dance they’d practiced a thousand times. Like she was in his mind, doing everything he wanted before he even knew he wanted it.

She must’ve been dreaming, because there’s no way that Georgie is flush against Steve in the parking lot at school, her hands in his hair as he kissed the breath out of her lungs. And she was in heaven. She was sitting in the clouds, conversing with angels. His lips were so soft, he was dreamy. He was perfect. 

He was… Steve. 

Wait.., what the hell is going on? 

Georgie’s eyes shot open, and she released his hair, putting both her hands on his chest to push him off. He stumbled a few clumsy steps back, shock written clear across his face. 

Georgie put her hand over her mouth and looked around, Steve had his fingers tracing over his own, yearning for more but worried about the look on her face. She wasn’t happy. He messed up, he could see it.

“I’m sorry,” he said, trying to take a step closer but she backed up. “I’m so sorry I should’ve asked first, I thought maybe you liked me and…” the words died on his tongue.

“This is cruel. Why are you being so cruel?” her throat catching the words in her mouth, making them stumble out scratchy, like she was trying not to cry. “You knew I liked you and so you what? Thought I’d be an easy rebound for you?”

“What!? Oh god, no, no!” he started, but she cut him off, not hearing his words anyway.

“You can’t just kiss me to get over Nancy! Oh god, Nancy, what the hell am I gunna tell her? You, you’re mean, Steve. You’re being mean and I don’t know why you would do this I- I just told you I’ve been lonely without my friends and you kiss me!”

“No,” he says again, putting his hands over hers to stop her from unlocking her door and fleeing away. “Please listen, please, I’m not just trying to get over Nancy! I don’t know what came over me, I’ve, I’ve been feeling like this for a little while. You’re not a rebound, you’re not! I swear it’s not like that.”

“Are you trying to say you feel something for me?” she was raising her voice, and he nodded timidly, feeling like a schoolboy who was caught doing something bad. “And instead of talking to me about it, you just kiss me? Like a day after your break up and you expect me to think you’re just over that and you’ve moved on? And I’m not a rebound? How could you even been sure about that, huh?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how to explain it but it’s just not like that. Me and Nancy just weren’t working. In case you haven’t noticed, she’s running around with the guy she told me not to worry about!”

Georgie just looked at him. “You see how that sounds like it is about Nancy. Are you trying to get back at her, is that it?”

Steve grunts in frustration. “I just meant that she’s not that heartbroken it either.” He sighs, and holds his hand over the door of the car, not really resisting but just trying to make her listen. “I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. But it didn’t have anything to do with anyone but you,” he promised. Georgie wanted to believe him. She wanted to so badly. But she felt the walls go up, and Steve watched dejectedly as her walls built right back up in front of him, brick by brick. Her posture straighter, her eyes harder. She looked at him the same way she’d looked at him when she caught him cleaning the graffiti on the movie theatre sign. Steve felt just as much shame in this moment as he did then.

“I have to go,” she said, pulling the door open despite his hand. “I need to think about this.” She stopped, turned to him, one foot in the door of her car and one still on the asphalt. “How long is a while?”

Not knowing what answer she wanted, Steve told the truth. “I kind of figured it out when you went out with Billy.”

Her face gave away nothing, he would lay in bed later wondering if that was the right thing to say. A lot of things would be keeping him up tonight. Steve didn’t try to stop her again as she got into the car, and drove away. 

[ronance-romance]

Based on: Secret by Peach PRC

Same time, same place.

Nancy had Robin pinned, the graffiti most likely rubbing off onto Robin’s shirt from behind. Did she ever stop to breathe? To think?

“Nance…mmm…the bell,” Robin gasped. “You’ll…be late…” That usually seemed to snap her out of the spell.

“One more,” Nancy pleaded before giving her another desperate kiss. Robin’s head was spinning.

“‘Kay bye!”

And then she was gone. Robin was left to catch her breath and sneak back out of the school the way she had come in. By the time she was in uniform at the Family Video, she was presentable again.

Steve was blabbing about his latest date, Heather or Amy or someone. Robin was supposed to be listening. Supposed to be. But all she could think about was the question she wanted to ask Nancy: When are we going to stop hiding?

Steve supported her already, he’d be happy for them. What was Nancy so afraid of? Her family? Fuck them, honestly. At least her parents. Mike and Holly seemed alright, though she didn’t know them well. Surely they curated their friends well enough that acceptance wasn’t an issue. Robin herself was considering being more open to everyone. Especially Dustin, who seemed to think she and Steve were an item. Silly kid.

“Helloooo? Robin?” Steve waved his hand in front of her face. Robin blinked.

“I never see you this quiet,” he said suspiciously. “What’s going on?”

“Other than you giving me a massive headache?” Robin quipped. “Nothing of interest to you, dingus.”

Steve rolled his eyes and the conversation resumed, two way this time. He didn’t suspect a thing. And that was part of the problem, maybe.

Later…

Robin locked up the store, saying her usual goodbyes to Steve. And like a mirage, Nancy was suddenly there. Perfect. She had to talk to her. She couldn’t let her gorgeous lips distract her. She—

They were in Nancy’s car this time. Robin’s hands were in Nancy’s hair and they were dangerously close to the next stage. But Nancy never let it get that far. She felt hot all over, but she didn’t mind. She wanted more. She felt like she was medically dependent on her touch now, and she couldn’t think about anything else while she was with her like this. But this time, she forced herself to think more coherently and pulled away for air.

“Robin…” Nancy mumbled, her voice coming halfway out like a whine. Perhaps she was addicted too.

“Robin, what’s wrong?” Nancy said when she didn’t get a response, sitting up.

“How long is it gonna be like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“You and me, hiding in your car and bathroom stalls. I wanna tell people, Nance.”

“Ro, I…” Nancy looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know if I’m ready. Please just give me more time. Okay?”

“Tell me what I can do to help you feel ready,” Robin whispered. “It’s been two months and I can’t take this anymore.”

“Are you dumping me?”

“I…don’t know.”

“Okay, okay.” Nancy mumbled, wringing her hands. “Friday?”

“Friday,” Robin confirmed. “We invite everyone to dinner. Okay? It’s gonna be okay. I promise. Your parents…they don’t have to know. But our friends. Please, Nancy. That’s all I ask.”

“Okay,” Nancy sighed. And she seemed relieved, but still nervous.

“The makeout sesh can still be our secret though. I know you can’t get enough of this.”

Nancy burst into laughter.

“Shut up!”

Friday, 6:30. Everyone got invited: Will, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Eleven, Jonathan, Eddie, Steve, and Chrissy. It was a big crowd, they needed three tables. Robin plopped herself down next to Nancy, who had picked the head of the table. She was proud of her, really. This wasn’t easy. She knew that. It’s why Robin promised to do the talking, if Nancy couldn’t. After all, it was her special talent.

“So what’s this all about?” Mike asked after everyone had ordered their drinks.

“Well…erm…” Nancy was fumbling already. Robin felt the urge to swoop in and rescue her, but she decided to see how she did on her own for a moment.

“Is something wrong?” Will asked.

“No, but-”

“Are you pregnant?” Dustin blurted.

“What? NO.”

Holy shit it was up to Robin, wasn’t it?

“Guys! Calm down and let us talk!” Robin cut in. Oh whoops.

“Us??” Steve said in confusion.

“Nancy and I are dating and have been for nine weeks two days and six hours!” Robin continued.

“You counted?” Nancy’s cheeks flushed a brilliant red.

“Well I…”

Nancy kissed her, in front of everyone. The world didn’t end, everyone celebrated. There was an immediate chaos amongst the kids. Apparently there had been a running bet behind their backs.

Steve won, of course.

But all Robin cared about was they weren’t a secret anymore.