#and this goes for nancy antis too

[onstrangerthighs]

Most hated also means most talked about, so you know what? Good for Billy.

[bisexualmultifandommess]

✨ Manifesting the whole Byers-Hopper family beating up Brenner when they all find El ✨

[ladykailitha]

Not All That Glitters is Gold Part 4

Hello and welcome to the latest omega escort Steve! We get Nancy and Robin time and Steve goes through a bit of the dark side of his job.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

****

When Steve got into the limo that would take him and Nancy to the charity gala, she eyed him hungrily.

“You look nice tonight,” she said tightly. She chewed her bottom lip. “That’s a really good color on you.”

He smirked. “You did say that you were wearing gold tonight and jeweled tones always go well with metallic colors.”

Nancy nodded.

Steve turned away to look out the window, hiding a smile behind his fist.

The drive up to the gala was painfully awkward, but mainly because it seemed the usually sharp tongued Nancy Wheeler was at a loss for words.

Living well, really was the best revenge.

Nancy stepped out first and then she leaned into help Steve out of the car. He barely managed not to roll his eyes as he oozed out of the limo onto the red carpet.

He pulled his sunglasses out of his jacket pocket and put them on to shield against the flashing bulbs of the camera as they took picture after picture of Nancy and him arm and arm.

She waved to the crowd as he stood there looking pretty. Steve heard question after question about taking an escort instead of her husband. She just merely smiled and waved.

They got to the top of the stairs that led down to the ballroom without either of them saying a single word. To the reporters or each other.

“Steve...” Nancy said warningly. “Just remember what you’re here for.”

Steve looked over at her and smiled disarmingly. “To make you look good. I know. I am consummate professional, darling.”

She eyed up his outfit again. “Well that outfit reads professional slut.”

Steve kissed her cheek. “That’s because I am one and before you get uppity with me, princess, you’re the one that hired me.”

Nancy scowled.

He eyed her sidelong. “You know, for all your feminist brouhaha, you sure are anti-sex worker until you want to look good.”

Her jaw dropped. “I beg your pardon!”

“And if you keep going on like this,” Steve said menacingly. “I will put you on the black list and you’ll have actually drag poor Jonathan with you to these.”

Nancy went almost purple with rage, but before she could open her mouth, Steve whispered, “You may have bought me for the night, Nance, but I hold all the cards.”

Her color drained from her face and she nodded mutely. He patted her on the cheek and took a step down to the next step, forcing her to follow him or look awkward.

The rest of the night passed smoothly. Billy Hargrove, on the arm of some simpering female omega, avoided them like the plague. Which worked out for Steve, thank you very much.

Nancy had gone to the bathroom and Billy’s arm candy must have done the same because she was nowhere in sight.

Steve was by the buffet table trying not to gag about how long the food had been left out under this sweltering heat. But Nancy had told him to wait there, so waiting he was.

Billy was talking to Carol Perkins, his talk show host partner.

“I don’t know how you can stand it, Billy,” Carol was saying. “These escorts always smell too sweet to me. Like rotting fruit or some shit.”

Billy shrugged. “I happen to like it. Plus I like the fact that I can fuck them to oblivion and not get stuck with a bond or a pup for eighteen years.”

“You don’t want to settle down?” she asked and took a sip from her crystal wine glass.

Billy laughed. “Fuck no. I want to fuck around for as long as possible, no little housewife for this alpha.”

Carol hummed, but Steve could tell it was disapproving. As if she wasn’t the one that thrown Tommy off the second she found out he was infertile. It was why Tommy liked to hang off Billy’s arm. To throw it in his ex’s face that at least someone wanted him, even if it was just for sex.

Suddenly Nancy was pulling on Steve’s arm. “We’ve got to go. I’ve already talked to Vic and said our goodbyes.”

Steve bristled at that. He liked to personally say goodbye to the host. It was part of his charm.

“What’s the rush?” he hissed as she tugged on his arm and started pushing him toward the door.

“Jonathan texted me while I was in the bathroom,” she murmured, keeping her head down and her voice low.

“Is he all right?” he asked. Because holy shit, Jonathan never, Steve means never texts while Nancy is at an event with Steve. Steve is pretty sure he hates it as much as Steve does.

She pulled out her phone and showed it to him. “He just sent me this picture.”

Steve squinted at the ugly plastic rod before he realized what it was and what the double red line meant.

“He’s–” she put her hand over his mouth.

“Not here,” she hissed. “This place is filled with reporters. I want to be the one that announces it and not just read it in the morning edition.”

Steve nodded and followed her out, clutching his stomach as he complained about it hurting.

When they got out to the limo Nancy huffed.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she groused.

“That food looked disgusting,” Steve murmured. “I was doing the whole party a favor, doll.”

“Uh-huh,” she said crossing her arms, “and that totally had nothing to do with the fact you were throwing people off the scent on why we were leaving?”

Steve batted his eyelashes at her. “I don’t know what you mean, Nance.”

Nancy huffed again. “The hell you don’t.” She chewed on her lip for a moment. “Put me on your black list. Say I got you food poisoning and was a bitch and I’ll start bringing Jonathan to these things like a proper alpha should have been doing all along.”

Steve nodded. Even though it was only half true, it would be the right spin for both of them. Steve would never have to go out with her again, and Jonathan would get his alpha back.

“Deal.”

They shook on it and immediately as soon as he was out of the car, he called Robin.

“Bobbie,” he giggled, “you’ll never guess what happened tonight!”

*

Steve cackled with delight as he regaled Robin with the stories of his night, because of course she came over immediately after he called her.

“That is hilarious!” she agreed when he was done. “Jonathan must be over the moon.”

“I’m happy for them both,” Steve agreed. “That means no more awkward pseudo dates with a bitter ex.”

Robin slapped him lightly. “You’re more excited for that than that they’re having a pup.”

Steve shrugged. “Sorry, can’t be happy for something that’s never going to happen to me.”

She sighed. “Yeah, but aren’t you a little,” she held up her finger and her thumb really close together, “teeny tiny bit happy for them?”

He sighed back. “I don’t know, Robs. I guess I can be happy for him, but don’t make me pretend to be happy for her.”

Robin cocked her head to the side. “Yeah, that’s fair. Being happy for your ex is too much to ask for.”

He waved his hand at her. “Thank you! Jeez.”

“At least you’ll be plenty rested for the threesome tomorrow,” she added with a grin.

Steve threw the sofa pillow at her, causing her to laugh out loud so hard she fell to the floor with a thump.

Robin got back on the sofa still laughing hysterically.

“They’re nice enough, I guess,” Steve groused. “I’m not really looking for it to it, if I’m honest.”

She settled down to a fond smile. “What package did they ask for?”

“The housewife,” Steve said with an eye roll. “Which might be their only strike against them. but it is a rather large one. They could have had any play scenario and they chose the worst one.”

Robin smacked his shoulder. “Just because you prefer the Dom over the housewife doesn’t mean everyone does.”

“At least with the Dom,” Steve said, “I get to show up in that tight leather number and crack a whip. But with the housewife it’s all polos and khakis and fake smiles.”

Robin grimaced. “Like you care about the polos and khakis, you love that shit.”

Steve rolled his eyes.

“I love the clothes. I don’t love the attitude behind the clothes.”

“Ah.”

The attitude that a housewife is preppy and sweet. As opposed to a real housewife, frazzled in sweat clothes and grumpy as hell.

“It’s the most popular play option for a reason, Steve,” she said sternly.

Steve sighed dramatically. “I know it is. But I want something fun. International spies. Hookup at the bar. Strip club tease. Anything would be better than housewife.”

“But you love everything goes with the housewife play,” Robin pressed. “The cooking, the clothes; hell even the little apron so what’s got you so around the twist?”

Steve leapt to his feet and ran his hands through his hair. “Because I’ll never get to do it for real.”

Robin’s shoulders slumped. “Oh, Stevie.”

“Every time someone wants to buy my contract did you know it gets sent to me first?” he huffed.

Robin opened her mouth and the closed it. “Oh, well. Um...sort of?” she hedged. “I mean always assumed they were going somewhere else because there is no way you’ve only had two people offering to buy out your contract.”

“They only get sent to you if I think there is something to them,” Steve said, beginning to pace.

“Ah ha.”

“But the other five I’ve gotten have all been for concubine duties only,” he snarled. “Someone for the alpha to fuck when their omega is pregnant, nursing, or on vacation or some shit.”

Robin winced. “Those are barely even legal outside the US.”

“No one wants to buy an infertile omega to be their mate, Robs,” he said. “Nursemaid, concubine, slave. The glory of owning a Starcourt escort. The prestige. The privilege. Not because they love me or because they want to be with me.”

He sank to a crouch and buried his head in his hands. “All I wanted growing up was to be an escort, flying around the world, eating the best food, drinking the best alcohol, in the finest threads, but now that I have that, all I want is to be someone’s mate and housewife. How messed up is that?”

Robin approached him slowly and gently took his head her hands. “It’s called growing up, Stevie. It means your priorities shifted and that’s okay. You’re allowed to yearn for something you’ll never have. It’s part of the human condition.”

Steve launched himself at her and buried himself in her neck. Robin pulled him onto her lap and stroked his hair.

It would be a while before they got back to their show, but for now she just held her best friend as he wished for another life.

****

Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @lexirosewrites @goodolefashionedloverboi @messrs-weasley @maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @bookbinderbitch @littlewildflowerkitten @vecnuthy @scheodingers-muppet @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @genderless-spoon @yikes-a-bee @anne-bennett-cosplayer @awkwardgravity1 @irregular-child @nburkhardt @apomaro-mellow @yellowdevilkitten @lingeringmirth @rememberthatiloveyou @demolvr @ellietheasexylibrarian @slowandsteddie @mangoinacan13 @r0binscript

[space-invading-pigeon]

Monsters AU, anyone????

If you haven't already guessed it, Steve Harrington is my comfort character and almost everything I write lately has to do with him. But I love myths and monsters, so I mashed them up.

Steve is a werewolf; not always, but an incident when he was four changed him. His mother blames herself for his accident and tends to stay away from him, too overcome with guilt to even look at her son. Unfortunately, of all things, he was changed into a pack animal, and the loss of his mother's comfort has a negative effect. He's withdrawn, aggressive, unable to get comfortable in his own skin, all before even starting kindergarten- his only relief is when his mother hires an old friend to watch him. Her friend is from the supernatural world: the oldest son of a family of vampires that have lived in the United States since they stowed away on the Mayflower.

Steve and his new babysitter are instantly bonded: Steve goes back to being a sweet, albeit clingy, little angel, and his sitter is always more than happy to indulge him and shower him in love. Life is really looking up for Steve, to the point that he secretly refers to himself as "Stevie Munson," and dreams up a world where Wayne is his pa, instead of his actual father. But life is rarely kind to Steve, and soon his beloved Wayne has to leave town for an undetermined amount of time because of a "family emergency." Steve is heartbroken that he isn't allowed to go with him.

As if losing his sitter isn't enough, Steve's mother dies in a robbery-gone-wrong on Steve's ninth birthday, five years to the day after the attack that changed him. Richard Harrington can't be assed to take care of his son in her stead, and hires another sitter. Claudia Henderson (human, through and through) decides on her first day that Steve is as much her son as Dustin, and that only solidifies when she discovers that the poor baby her late husband attacked years ago was actually Steve. Dustin (a born werewolf as opposed to Steve, a changed werewolf) decides that Steve is his brother immediately, and it's like two puppies have found each other. Steve is protective, loving, and maybe a little bit possessive of his new brother, but Dustin has love to spare. As he grows from toddler to kid to preteen, he acquires more and more friends: first, Will Byers, from a family of light elves, who is shy and artistic and never cuts off one of Dustin's excited rants, even though they're both seven and Dustin's grasp of engineering is on par with a college undergrad. With Will comes Mike Wheeler and his older sister, Nancy, both of whom are descendants of the great Valkyrie. Nancy is a little more.... ethereal than Mike, because their Valkyrie blood is more prominent in women, but they're both stubborn and snarky and have a weird obsession with the Byers boys, but Dustin swears that they're both very nice. Lucas Sinclair comes around soon after, and he's really the only friend of Dustin's that Steve has actually met. He's a soft-spoken kid until he's comfortable, and then he's quick witted and so loyal that Steve actually thinks that maybe he's a werewolf, instead of a chimera.

Steve refuses to meet anyone else in Dustin's friend group; he says it's because he's too big to be around Dustin's friends, but it's actually because he doesn't think that he can be around them without lashing out for taking his baby brother away from him.

When Dustin is eleven and Steve is seventeen, Chief Hopper- the only Berserker in Hawkins- adopts a little witch named Jane, although she answers more to El than she does Jane. Soon after, Max Mayfield moves to town, and Dustin's little group of friends adds the banshee to their ranks.

Finally, Steve agrees to meet his friends, lovingly dubbed "the Party" by every member of it. They're wary of Steve at first- Richard Harrington is the most outspoken anti-supernatural in town, and they didn't know that Dustin's Big Brother Steve the Werewolf was actually Steve Harrington, so almost all of them are sure that they'll be harassed in their safe space. Steve is quiet for a while, yes, but Will and El take to him immediately, and Steve is weak for people who look at him like he's worth something (it's why he's such a pushover for Dustin and Claudia; they love him unconditionally and he will do anything to make himself feel worthy of that) so he adopts Will and El into his little family almost immediately.

Will and El adore Steve: El insists that he's a big, fluffy puppy, and her descriptions have never been wrong, so it makes the entire Party warm up to him. Will is painfully shy, and the speed with which he warms up to Steve is unheard of; but Will quite literally glows when Steve shows up, and even once he's calmed down the air around him glitters with his excitement. Steve takes to them both; at first, Dustin is over the moon at this.

Next to warm up to Steve is Lucas, a few weeks after Steve joins the Party. He's frosty toward Steve at first, but at a group movie night he watches Steve jump out of a dead sleep to jump out of a window and slam into a tree, face first (apparently, he'd been having a dream about a cheese monster trying to eat his toes). Then, Jonathan and Nancy, who both watch Steve with the kids and decide that, yes, they do have a crush on the sweet, dumb dog that's joined their ranks. Nancy asks him out first, though, and Steve is flustered enough that he agrees (and is almost instantly smitten with her). Mike refuses to warm up to Steve; the guy can't even breathe right, as far as Mike is concerned.

The longer that Steve and Nancy date, the angrier Dustin gets. He feels like he's being left behind. Steve spends more and more time with Nancy, at her behest. Neither of them realize how unhealthy their relationship is growing to be, just how the relationship between Nancy's parents are. Nancy demands that everything be held to a certain standard, and Steve does everything he possibly can to meet that standard. It isn't until Nancy dumps him- a very nasty affair that has Steve avoiding everyone except Dustin- that they actually grow as people and become something healthier to each other. (Just like in the show, they get into a fight at a party, and when they revisit it while sober, they fight again; Steve is hurt and wants to know if she really thinks he's bullshit, and Nancy won't give him a straight answer. He's upset and he can feel himself losing control of himself, so he walks away. Nancy leaves town on an overnight trip to get some info with Jonathan, and when she comes back, she spits vitriol at a panicked, concussed Steve. She does a lot of growing up after that, but she never actually apologizes for hurting Steve, although he frequently tries to "make up" for his own mistakes.

Max joins the group soon after that, and gets along with Steve almost immediately. She's a young banshee, and a part of her lore explains that she screams; she can't control when, how long, or even how loudly she screams, and as a result her step-brother (a human named Billy) is incredibly abusive. He belittles her for her Screams, and isn't afraid to shove her around (never where their parents can see: if Susan caught wind of it, his father Neil would hear, and Neil was not a man to cross). When Max meets Steve, and watches how he picks on the Party using their own species(he calls Lucas "little lion man," Will is Sunshine, Mike is Paladin Shithead, and Dustin has always been pup) while still encouraging them (Steve encourages the kids as they grow and develop these new abilities, never belittling them for their struggles, but showing them that it's okay to mess up. She doesn't know that it's because Steve had no one to do that for him until his mother died and the Hendersons were brought into his life). She's afraid to open up to the guy, right up until, in the middle of a crisis situation where Max is forced to use her powers on purpose for the first time, Steve throws himself in the line of fire to protect the Lucas- and by extension, the whole Party- more than once.

Steve protects her from Billy when he tries to "pick her up" (read: drag her home by the hair without regard for her safety), allows Billy to beat his ass because the alternative at the time was to chase him away until no one was around to protect Lucas, and then, with a whole concussion, does a full shift and defends the children from these strange alternate hellbeasts that were summoned by some crazies at the Hawkins Laboratory for Scientific Witchcraft. The guy even praised her for Screaming on purpose, calling her a hero. Max is soon just as attached to Steve as any other.

In the summer after breaking up with Nancy, Steve gets a job at the mall. He meets Robin, who seems for all intents and purposes a simple human being. She's quirky and goofy and she smells like the ocean after a storm; Steve loves her very quickly, but something in him keeps him from actually developing a crush. Robin is his beloved other half, his soulmate, the yin to his yang, whatever else means that she completes him. She calls him Dingus exclusively, and Steve knows that if he ever heard it while he was shifted fully, he would be rolling around like a delighted puppy. He learns later, after they've fought for their lives and suffered and survived, that Robin was born a normal human, but after the most traumatic experience of her life, she was transformed into a siren.

After the mall, Robin is inducted into the group. She keeps an eye on the kids while they're at school, partially for her own sanity, but also for Steve, who is beside himself at the prospect of his babies being out of sight for so long (he gets like this after every Upside-Down interaction, he loves those kids and he can't stand the idea of losing the family he's built for himself). By the end of the first month, Steve is desperate to meet this guy his kids keep ranting about, Eddie Munson, and it's just because he's worried about them, not because he's afraid of losing his spot as their Big Brother or because the name Munson struck a chord in the back of his mind(for whatever reason).

Without the kids knowing- except Max, because she saw him going up to the Munson trailer. She would never bring it up to the Party unless Steve did first- Steve goes to meet this Eddie Munson and maybe scope out the competition a little. Instead, he meets a pasty boy with unfairly attractive hands and full lips and the warmest chocolate eyes and-

His mooning over this pretty boy is cut short when a man with a painfully familiar face peers in from the kitchen, meeting Steve's eyes with a surprised, "Stevie?" The greeting is enough to make Steve tear up, and he starts freaking out because why is he so happy that this guy knows him, and he's ushered into their little home and onto an old, well-loved couch. Eddie is gushing about finally meeting the Stevie Harrington, he's been told all about him from Wayne through the years. Eddie asks him why he's never seen him at school, and Steve mumbles about being home-schooled ("I won't let people see my mistakes so easily," Richard Harrington drilled into his head from the moment Steve was old enough to go to school). Wayne is flustered and standoffish for all of three minutes before Steve is smothered in more paternal affection than he's received since he was seven; it clicks in his brain when Wayne calls him Stevie again, that he used to wish and beg the stars to change him into Stevie Munson, not Harrington, and that Wayne was his best friend for three years.

Eddie is smitten with this strong, pretty, downright fluffy boy that showed up on his doorstep, even more so when Wayne Munson (easily most comfortable when left alone in quiet) spends almost an hour fussing over and showering him in praise. Steve becomes a regular fixture in the Munson household, after that. Wayne spends weeks explaining the different types of supernatural creatures that have made their homes in Hawkins and the surrounding area, explaining Munson family history, and Steve finally has someone to walk him through everything about werewolves (Claudia tried, but she was really only parroting things she'd picked up as she raised Dustin, not any formal education. Steve never knew that it was a special thing to achieve a full shift; that particular afternoon had Eddie calling him a sweet little pup for a month).

********

I'm too lazy to spend another two days puzzling out how I want the rest of the show's plot to align with this au. I have it in my wips folder but this is already suuuuper long. My bad, pals

[likecastle]

Since you're writing smut... I have come to make a cowardly anonymous prompt:

Robin & Nancy fill in a kink checklist & learn new things about each other.

So there is a kink checklist in this, but it actually didn't turn out to include much smut. Sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles! No explicit sex, but probably rated mature all the same. Kink negotiation, but surprisingly not all that in-depth?

“I think . . .” Nancy is choosing her words carefully, but she’s already thinking six steps ahead, judging by her faraway expression. “. . . if we’re really going to do this, we should probably . . . talk things over first.”

“OK,” Robin says easily. She’d expected as much. When Nancy doesn’t go on, she asks, “Like . . . now?”

This surprises a laugh out of Nancy. “I was thinking more like next week? I want to do a little reading first.”

Now it’s Robin’s turn to laugh. “Of course you do.” She hesitates to ask the next question, but she can’t leave it unsaid. “But you’ll at least think about it? You don’t think it’s too . . . weird, or gross, or, I don’t know, anti-feminist or something?”

This time Nancy’s surprise isn’t charmed, but concerned. “Anti—? What?” She shakes her head. “Robin, yes, of course I’ll think about it.” She reaches out to squeeze Robin’s hands in hers, reassuringly tight. “I’m definitely interested. I just . . . want us to take our time, so we don’t jump into something and find out we’re over our heads. Is that OK?”

Robin nods, feeling dumb for asking, but Nancy leans in and kisses her cheek and she can’t feel too bad about anything then.

“Will I at least consider it?” Nancy parrots, laughter in her voice as she trails kisses along Robin’s jaw. “Seriously? This is all I’m going to be thinking about.”

*

True to her word, about a week later, Nancy turns off the TV after dinner and presents her with a typed checklist. It’s ten pages long.

“Is it already time to renew our lease?” Robin jokes, and then her mouth goes dry when her eyes land on a word on the third page that is definitely not in any lease agreement she’s ever signed.

“I was thinking we could each fill this out, and then compare our answers,” Nancy says, and it’s cute how pleased she is with this idea, even if Robin doesn’t quite get it.

“Like a Cosmo quiz?” She suddenly has the mental image of the two of them lying on their stomachs, kicking their feet up in the air and picking mostly As or mostly Cs. “Do you wanna braid each other’s hair and talk about our crushes, too?”

Nancy deflates a little. “Or we can do something else, if you want,” Nancy says, only a little resentfully. “I just thought it would be a good idea for us each to have time to think about what we do and don’t want on our own, so there’s not as much pressure to decide in the moment.”

“That’s . . . a great idea,” Robin says, impressed. Of course it is, because this is Nancy, who does nothing by half measures.

Nancy ducks her head and smiles, preening just a little. “Good.”

Robin stares down at the sheaf of papers in her hands, which has clearly been typed up on Nancy’s clunky old electric typewriter. “Did you type this up yourself?”

Nancy flushes, just a little. “I couldn’t find a checklist that I like, so I made my own.”

Robin laughs, delighted, and sets aside the papers so she can tackle Nancy against the couch cushions. “I love you,” she says, climbing on top of her. She kisses Nancy once and then again, and then a third time for good measure. “This is going to be the sexiest questionnaire I’ve ever filled out. The people at Gallup are going to be so jealous.”

*

As it turns out, it is sort of sexy to fill out Nancy’s checklist. There are definitely plenty of things on the list that Robin marks as a hard no and resolves never to think about again, but there are a lot of things curious about, too.

There’s also a lot of stuff on this list that she’s never heard of before, and she’s not exactly inexperienced. True, she’s not the most adventurous lesbian in the world, but she’s got a lot of friends who do, and they all talk, so if she’s stumped, that means Nancy did some seriously in-depth research to put this list together. Most of the unfamiliar terms she can work out from context, and those she can’t, she takes great pleasure in springing on Nancy at the most unexpected moments.

“Hey, Nance?” she asks from the living room, while Nancy is making coffee one morning, like she’s asking about a crossword clue. “What is ‘dacryphillia’ a love of?”

To her great satisfaction, she hears a spoon clatter to the floor, and Nancy’s muttered curse.

But all teasing aside, Robin is trying to take the checklist seriously. Nancy went to all this trouble to do things right, and Robin wants to honor that commitment. She’s also genuinely curious to find out her ow answers to some of the questions Nancy’s thought up. She takes her time with the questions, concertedly trying to imagine a situation I which she might be turned on by doing some of the things on the list, or having them done to her. She’s always had an active imagination, and, perhps unsurprisingly, it’s not a terrible burden to imagine having sex with Nancy. There are more than a few sex acts she wouldn’t have guessed she was interested in in the slightest, but the moment she imagines Nancy in the place of some anonymous leather-clad dominatrix, she starts to see the appeal. More than once she works herself up just thinking about one of the activities on the list—so much so that when Nancy gets home from work early one afternoon, she’s wryly amused to find Robin masturbating with the checklist lying abandoned on the bed beside her.

“You know you don’t have to try them all out all by yourself,” Nancy says from the doorway to their bedroom.

“Oh? Does that mean you want to come join me?”

Nancy doesn’t need to be asked twice.

[leasstories]

Lea’s advent calendar day 4 - Mistletoe

@writerthreads writing prompt for Christmas (2022), prompt 30:

["Stop trying to get me under the mistletoe!"]

Eddie x Gn!reader

No trigger warning

WC: ≈0,7K

December 25th, 1986

As soon as you arrived under Steve’s porch, you looked at your boyfriend and said. “Eds. Look at the mistletoe.” Hoping that he would get the hint, Eddie didn’t or pretended he didn’t and came into the house. You were greeted by everyone as Eddie and you were the last one to arrive.

You spent the night having fun with your friends but also plotting in your head how to get Eddie under the mistletoe.

You tried the entire night, sending me inside to grab you a beer, leading him under the mistletoe, but Eddie always seems to avoid being right under the mistletoe, and even more when you’re next to him.

At some point, the all gang was sat on the ground in Steve’s living room. It was a game of truth or dare. Robin, who knows all about your situation asks you “So YN, truth or dare?”

“Truth,” you answer. And Robin knew damn well that you would answer truth, you hate doing dares, and you would hate to be forced to kiss someone else than your boyfriend.

“What is one of your hidden romantic fantasy?” Robin asks, smiling big.

You look at her with a look that could definitely kill. You pretend to think about it and then you get up, you turn towards the door and earnestly answers. “I’ve always dreamt to kiss someone under the mistletoe.”

Eddie look at you with a facial expression meaning seriously? Everyone turn towards Eddie, expectant but Eddie gets up, crosses his arms and says “nope. Never gonna happen.”

“We’ll see” Nancy smirks.

Eddie does feel a bit guilty for not being able to fulfill one of your daydream. But it’s a big nope for him. He finds it to conformist and too cheesy to his taste. Not that he doesn’t happen to be cheesy around you, but this, this is where he draws the line.

The game keeps going for hours, and when it’s time to leave, and Eddie and you are both on the porch, you walk arms in arms and you try to get Eddie under the mistletoe. This time it’s too much for Eddie and he decides to speak up . “Stop trying to get me under the mistletoe!” He says.

You look at him with doe wet eyes. You’re a very sensitive person, and you usually Eddie tries to be less blunt with you than everyone else, but not this time. You start leaving Steve’s porch without him. Eddie realizes his mistake and runs after you.

“Hey sweetheart, please wait up.” He pleads.

You don’t listen to him, and when you’re passing by his van without stopping he realizes how bad it hurt you.

“Let’s do it!” Eddie screams in the dark.

It makes you freeze in your track and you slowly turn around. Eddie catches up with you, cups your face and see the doubt in your face.

“If it’s really important to you, then, let’s do it. I want my baby to be happy, ‘ts all” Eddie earnestly tell you. And that’s how, hand in hand, you go to Steve’s porch, place yourselves under the mistletoe and Eddie gives you the gentlest kiss ever. First he cups you cheeks, before slowly approaching his lips to yours and he kiss you gently, conveying all of the love he has for you in this kiss.

As soon as you part, you both realize it’s snowing and you giggle. “Thank you Eds, I feel like I’m in the middle of one of those Christmas romance books.” You tell him. Eddie kisses you once more, before answering. “Even if it goes under my very own personal anti-conformist Munson doctrine, I’d do everything to make you happy.”

[ickypuppi3]

okay wait that argyle post has me thinking - because i fuck so hard with the idea of him and billy knowing each other back in california -

imagine starcourt still happened but billy wasn’t in the middle of it so he’s just billy still but he’s been hanging with steve (they’re totally just friends don’t ask them if they ever held hands “it was one time and we were were drunk, right billy?”) so he’s been working on himself

cut to him somehow ending up on that road trip with jonathan, argyle etc and him and argyle being like “no fuckin’ way” and thinking it’s the funniest thing that they’re seeing each other again because i need them to reunite (jonathan’s just like what is my life rn)

see also: billy observing the will and mike situation and him and jonathan being team anti mike

also also billy getting high and him and argyle just finishing each other’s rhymes sentences while everyone else is like what the actual fuck

also also also when they get back and nancy goes back to jonathan, steve doesn’t even care because he’s too busy throwing his arms around billy and burying his face in his neck and-

“you ever had pineapple pizza stevie?? it’s totally” billy points at argyle “shmackin'”

“how high are you right now, hargrove?”

“mm like… 5’10”?”

[strangertheories]

the people in your ask box giving their reasons for not liking ronance is like. yes, you do you, but they are literally proving your point because what is it about a random f/f ship existing that makes people wanna argue against it ??? but yeah the anti ronance tag is truly a wild place.

This response is quite long, hence the read more! I kinda got off track and it goes into a discussion of canon vs headcanon and speaks a bit about Byler too.

If I were to be generous to Ronance antis, I think a lot of people are frustrated that there is a new canon bisexual character who's been introduced to the show but a lot of the fandom are ignoring her for a headcanon. And in general, members of this fandom and Ronance shippers are quite harsh against Rovickie and I don't think they'd be as harsh if it was an m/f pairing. Because it's the only canon gay pairing so far (I know it hasn't happened yet but it clearly will), people are expecting it to be this perfect romance like Jopper or Lumax but in eight minutes of screen time which is just impossible.

However, I think turning this defensiveness of people who ship Ronance is a bit unfair. So far, Vickie is just not an established character; she's barely had any screen time and she exists only to be Robin's girlfriend. At the moment, it feels a bit like pandering/fan service (although a lot of people make that criticism in bad faith because they view queer relationships as inherently woke or political which is bullshit). I can see the potential in the pairing and I guarantee I'll love them by the end of S5, but I've just not seen them interact as much. I am allowed to think that without it being problematic; just because a queer ship is canon representation doesn't mean I have to like it.

I also think it's quite obvious a lot of people in this fandom haven't had any fandom experiences before. A very frequent response I get to shipping Ronance that I don't respond to (because I can't be bothered to reply every time) is that Nancy canonically likes Jonathan and that Robin canonically likes Vickie. Or that there's no proof that Nancy's gay.

The thing is, I'm not shipping Ronance because I think they're going to canonically get together, I ship them because I like their dynamic both hypothetically and in many on screen interactions they had. I just prefer rivals to lovers than two very similar girls (I know talking a lot doesn't make them the same person but it's all we've really seen of Vickie so far) getting together. When I ship a ship, it's not because it's the most canon, it's because it's the best dynamic.

I see this response to people who ship pairings like Will and Lucas where people will get annoyed because they act like Will hypothetically liking someone other than Mike is erasure which is so odd because I doubt anyone shipping that pairing actually thinks it will be canon, they just think it would be an interesting pairing to explore.

Or how when people try to convince you to ship Byler, they try to convince you why it'll be canon and not why it'll be good (I'm not talking about responding to Byler antis who tell you that it won't happen or talking to fellow Byler shippers, Byler proof and analysis is very valuable). This also applies in reverse when an anon tried to prove that Byler won't be canon...in response to me saying I like friends to lovers.

TL;DR: I'm not gonna ship Rovickie over Ronance just because it's the canon queer relationship. I ship based on whatever pairing is the most interesting to me instead of which one is the most attainable. I understand that lots of people like it and I'm cool with that, but sending me long asks explaining that Rovickie/Jancy are canon isn't going to change my mind on Ronance.

Also a lot of Ronance antis are Nancy antis and that's a whole thing that I've responded to before (check my post index under the Ronance section and go to Ronance and boy drama or the follow up or just click the words there).

[momotonescreaming]

it feels like the fandom forgets that besties and enemies are not the only two options for how close people are. there are so many steps in between.

friendly acquaintance. that is 110% where eddie&nancy and robin&nancy fall. they can make small talk if they run into each other in public. they can make friendly conversation if they're at the same event/ in the same group setting. but they're not going to go out of their way to spend time together. they're not going to hang out alone. their personalities clash too much for them to be close.

and it isn't a bad thing to not be close, or for personalities to clash. characters don't have to be friends with everyone.

and i *loved* your ficlet about nancy trying to tutor eddie. you captured both of them perfectly.

Yes! Exactly!! You get it!!!

We don't live in a world of extremes. One way or the other. Especially when it comes to people. Relationships can be messy and muddled and complicated but also totally average.

Nancy would politely ask Robin how work was at a group bbq, listen to her ramble for a little while before excusing herself to go talk to someone else. And that's about it. She's not going to ask her over for sleepovers or to go shopping together.

I'm also very anti Robin throwing herself at Nancy begging to be her friend like they have her in season 4. I just don't see it. Partly because Robin is Steve's friend first, but also because their personalities don't match. In season 3 Robin thinks Nancy is a priss, and it would have been more interesting if they explored that more! It's not bad!

It's not a horrible thing for people to not get along. It's a fact of life.

Nancy would find hanging out with Robin or Eddie for long periods of time exhausting. She'd think they're too much and sort of annoying. She'd wave politely at Eddie in the grocery store, and say hi to him if they had to both wait in line at the gas station or something, but she's not going out of her way to be besties with the guy.

Just because all of these characters got involved with the same supernatural shit together, it doesn't mean they're automatically besties. Friendship takes work and sometimes you really don't want to work at it.

I can low key see Nancy as being that girl who goes off to college and then just doesn't speak to anyone in her hometown anymore. Just sort of... leaves them behind. They're just polite acquaintances.

Sorry, I feel like I'm rambling a little.

Thank you for your ask!! Thank you for reading and liking my little ficlet!! It means the world to me. I love characterisation and messy dynamics and figuring out what things would really be like

[rosemaryandarsenic]

i’ve been having brain rot about gareth with a big tiddy goth gf, if i had a crumb of headcannons id be so grateful 🙏 however if you could elaborate i’d be dead on the floor

As a big tiddy goth gf myself, I LOVE this. NSFW blurb to follow, Minors DNI!!

HC's Authors note: I go on a rant at the end here lol, but tw: political stuff (human rights!) and talk of mosh pits, NSFW stuff, anger issues.

Personally, I think Gareth would favor more Punk/Lolita Goth types but let's be real, he wouldn't give a fuck as long as you're anti-establishment, anti-Fascist, and like metal. Frankly even the metal part is probably not required lmao.

You two would go to shows together and he'd get so nervous at first if you went into the mosh pit, until he sees you're a little battering ram and just goes absolutely feral.

He'd get you longer necklaces so they fall in between your boobs, maybe he'd let you wear his skull necklace during shows.

Will mark your boobs with hickies so anyone who sees them knows you're taken (and you wear low cut shirts to show it off haha)

Before you all start dating he'd lowkey be scared of you! Till he learns your looks are the complete opposite of your personality which is soft and sweet. He'd also learn real quick that soft girls still bark, especially if they have a temper to match his own, which you do.

Gareth would take you Halloween shopping every year, and plan couples' costumes with you. You have a ritual where instead of watching slashers or horror movies like you normally do, you watch a romcom on Halloween night and eat all your favorite candy.

MATCHING TATTOOS AHHH

Hoping this doesn't sound performative but I'm adding it anyway bc it's important: I like to think that he'd be so supportive of however you choose to express yourself and make sure that he supports bands that are not just good but support good values. I write from my own POV which isn't all-encompassing and I think it's super important to acknowledge if it doesn't fit who you are there's still space for you <3 I'm talking about feminist Gareth, Gareth with a Muslim gf who loves how you match your hijab to his vest, Gareth who decolonizes and votes to protect women and POC, BLM protest Gareth, gay rights Gareth, Gareth who decorates his GF's mobility aid and makes pronoun pins for the band. I mention all this specifically because this "stuff" is a huge part of the goth culture (it built it really) and I think he'd be very passionate about it. I know I write smut lol, but good relationships don't require sex and I think he'd be an excellent BF who'd respect those boundaries and would care about what you believe in and his own belief system.

THE BLURB

TW: Mentions of alcohol, boob luge, and shitty yt supremacy bands (I have beef with so many thrash metal bands). As usual, all characters are above the age of 18.

It's like 12:30 in the morning, and you're at Eddie's trailer with the older gang. Robin's in the corner talking to Nancy, Jeff is playing video games with Eddie, and you're in the kitchen listening to Steve and Gareth argue about music. It's hot, and your eyeliner is running as you rummage through the fridge looking for a cold beer, or literally anything to chase the shot you'd just taken.

"I'm telling you, Steve Miller band is so much better than that slasher band-" Steve says, completely getting cut off by your boyfriend.

"Slayer, it's SLAYER. That's not even who I'm talking about!" Gareth grumbles, "they have too much Nazi shit, I'm talking about fucking bands like Quiet Riot. They're revolutionizing music, you can't discredit that."

"Discredit? Man, they're brutalizing rock -" Steve cuts off again as you slam the fridge door.

"Will you two quit it? Steve's a jock Gareth, youre not gonna convince him to listen to metal, especially thrash." You groan, leaning against the counter. "He's no fun."

"Exactly," Steve says, throwing his hands up in the air. "Also, I AM fun, I have plenty of good music to listen to already." He emphasizes the good, making Gareth groan irritatedly.

"What? You think I'm boring?" Steve yells, "Eddie would you say I'm boring?"

"YES." Robin, Nancy, and Eddie reply together without even looking over.

"Jesus," Steve mumbles, "here, let me prove it."

Steve leans in and whispers something in your ear, as Gareth watches smugly, arching an eyebrow as you grin at what Steve is asking you to do. It's a party trick, one you've seen him do in high school, and you're just tipsy enough to play along.

"That's actually kind of metal." You giggle.

"What?" Gareth asks, staring at the two of you as Steve hands you a bottle of jack off the counter. "What're you two talking about?"

"Nuh huh," Steve laughs, "Y/N here is going to be able to explain it much better than I can."

You laugh again as you motion for Gareth to come to you and pull off the sliced-up T-shirt you have over your bra. Gareth's eyes get wide, despite the fact that everyone here could give less of a shit at your indecency.

"What the fuck are you doing, Y/N?" Gareth asks, in front of you now.

"The Harrington special, babe." You answer, winking. "You've never seen it?"

Gareth shakes his head as Steve laughs, "You're about to!"

You pull your boyfriend's face in with one hand and hold the liquor bottle in the other hand.

"All you have to do is stick your face in those lovely boobs of hers and open your mouth," Steve instructs, earning a glare from Gareth at the compliment to your anatomy.

"C'mere baby," you laugh, and Gareth complies, leaning into your chest as he starts to realize what you're going to do. You carefully pour a shot onto your boobs, the alcohol pooling between your cupped breasts and trickling down into his mouth. He laps it up, giving you a dark look as his tongue runs up from below your bra to your collar bone. Fucking christ that's hot.

You'd momentarily forgotten Steve was there as he hollers, "Would a lame person be able to do that?"

You giggle, "You're not doing shit, Harrington."

"Yeah well, not this time Y/L/N, I think your boyfriend would fucking kill me." he laughs, as Gareth nods.

"Touch her tits and you're dead, Steve." He laughs, pulling back and giving you a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll give you like, one notch above lame for teaching her that." He winks at you, and they go back to debating as you pull your shirt back over your shoulders. You were definitely going to pay for that later.

[kpchrs]

What exactly does Eddie say/think in the part about Chrissy being “boring”? Can you post and excerpt? Idk if people are exaggerating about it

Oh my, an ask from Hellcheer side for me. What a nice surprise!

(The first one I got was an anti... Ugh, who cares about them lol)

Okay, let me copy and paste it for you! ...It's not illegal right?

Flight of Icarus - Chapter 5 (Obviously Spoiler Alert)

Chrissy Cunningham. The name comes to me in a rush, now that there’s a spark of something beyond cowed compliance in her face. Chrissy Cunningham. She’s just a sophomore, but everyone with a working brain cell knows she’s the rising queen of Hawkins High. I’m used to seeing her as just some cutout of a cheerleader, all perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect everything. It’s such a fundamentally uninteresting package that my brain just kind of skips over her, yawning at her existence.

Yeah, so. In my opinion, his thinking of Chrissy as boring is a great summary of this paragraph. But you can think on your own!

But I'll give a little bonus, this is right after the above paragraph:

But there’s another Chrissy Cunningham. I just hadn’t thought she’d survived the jump to high school. I hadn’t thought she’d even existed outside the boundaries of the Hawkins Middle auditorium. [...the long excerpt of middle school talent show flashback I can't possibly copy-paste here...] I’d thought the last four years had stamped out any trace of the unsettled, imperfect, approachable Chrissy Cunningham. But maybe I was wrong.

So this is why I think maybe Eddie thought Chrissy had gone into the dark, conformity side and just decided to forget about her cus...she's not...worth it...? Damn, his rock-solid prejudiced worldview in this book. I don't wonder why some people reject this. But right at that moment, when Chrissy tries to stop the jocks from bullying Gareth, he realises that Chrissy doesn't change and is not the typical jockette he thought she'd become.

This reminds me of an essay about Eddie that his going to the Upside Down is the moment when his worldview truly goes upside down, with Steve, Nancy, and Robin being not like his first thought. He realises that he IS someone who boxes them in roles too in the first place and that's no different than the conformity he always rejects.

If I truly use this book's interpretation then maybe up until that point, Chrissy is the only outlier in his worldview. An exception to his rule. Only Chrissy.

ONLY CHRISSY.

That's quite romantic, I think? lol

*shrug* Whether people accept this characterisation of Eddie or not doesn't really matter to me. I think the variety of opinions is great! I enjoy many interpretations in the fandom, and this is one interpretation that, okay, maybe not as romantic as I'd like but I really enjoy it nonetheless.

I need to decide my own interpretation of Eddie myself, because my interpretation right now is based on a hundred fanfics, a few essays, and one watch of S4, but so far...I don't mind the book's characterisation.

But that's only me. I haven't read beyond Chapter 6 lol

Thank you for the ask!

Kris

[doexoeyes]

Strangely Stranger Things

Summary: You & Steve Harrington? Well, stranger things have happened. Interdimensional monsters and all. (Or in which the reader is a character in Stranger Things & this how I would incorporate them in the storyline).

Paring: Steve Harrington x Fem!reader

Warnings: Swearing, violence, misogynistic comments & a particular scene where the reader's physical boundary gets crossed. Tried not to write anything too intense, but I want to make sure I have the right warnings just in case. (Also I am very much Anti-Billy, so that's a warning in itself).

Notes: This is going to be split in three parts. This first one covers the events of season 1 & 2. Hope you enjoy ♡

Part 2

Season 1

You’ve been best friends with Jonathan Byers since you met in kindergarten.

Joyce loved and cared for you just as much as she did her own sons, claiming you were the daughter she never had, and Jonathan pretty much grew up referring to you as his sister.

You were both two peas in a pod and as you both got to high school, helping each other through the bullying and ostracization from your classmates brought you even closer. It was you and Jonathan against the world.

You promised each other that you were going to leave Hawkins once you graduated; tired and frustrated over the small minded, bland people that occupied the small town.

All that taunting and shoving in the hallway meant nothing because you both had brighter futures ahead of you.

But then Will goes missing and your whole world turns upside down.

You’re supportive during the search for Will, making sure Joyce and Jonathan were taken care of, spending most nights at their home.

You’re heartbroken over Will as well, viewing him as a younger brother, but you focus on being the best support system you can be, especially for Jonathan once he becomes an even bigger target for the stupid kids at school.

Especially for Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington.

You couldn’t stand Steve. He was spoiled and popular and privileged and he always made out with girls at his locker which unfortunately was right next to yours, causing you to watch the disgustingly public displays of affection against your will every time you had to fetch something from there.

Throw in the fact that he never even bothered to acknowledge your existence and that his oversized ego has him messing with Jonathan, you now absolutely despised him.

You had no idea what Nancy saw in him.

Jonathan always demanded that you’d stay out of it, and you begrudgingly obliged, up until you found out that Steve broke his camera and got him arrested.

And that’s when all hell broke loose.

“Harrington!” you called out to him, having caught him outside the gas station parking lot, sitting on top of the trunk of his car with his lackies Tommy and Carol standing beside him.

Steve turns his attention towards you, brow raised as you approach him. You can see the bruises and dried blood crusted around his face, but this doesn’t deter you; You were going to make his face look a lot worse.

“Can I help yo-”

Before he can even finish, you land a punch straight to his face, causing Tommy and Carol to gasp.

“What the hell?!” “Oh my god!” they each say, and you try your best to keep your expression unfazed despite the searing pain in your knuckles.

You’re pretty sure you broke a bone or something, this being your first physical attack on anyone, but you were 100% convinced that Steve deserved it.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!?! What the hell is your problem?!” Steve yells at you once it hits him, both literally and figuratively, hand rubbing at his jaw as he winces.

“You keep fucking around with Jonathan, that’s my problem! I mean his camera, dude? And now his record? Have you no heart at all? He lost his brother and your torment just doesn’t stop! Tell me, do mommy and daddy not love you that much that you have to make everyone else around you as miserable as you are?” you spat, glaring at him.

Little did you know, your words hit a sore spot for Steve and he swallows down the lump in his throat, eyes avoiding yours. His shitty behavior lately is something he has become more aware of and he feels guilty for his treatment of both Jonathan and Nancy; both the camera and marquee incidents went a little too far.

Plus, the punches he got from Jonathan and now you were definitely enough to literally knock some sense into him.

“Oh, I remember you now! You’re the loser who hangs out with Boogeyman Byers,” Tommy says, a taunting smirk on his face.

“That's right! She’s always following him down the halls like a lost little puppy. Tell us, is it true that that freak killed his own brother?” Carol asks and you’re taken aback by how cruel her question is.

You turn to Steve with a look of disgust and walk away, tears in your eyes as you hear them taunting you and making gross comments about Will’s death and Jonathan.

You don’t get to hear Steve call Carol and Tommy out, telling them to shut up.

As you’re walking down the street towards the Byers' home, you feel a car slowing down behind you and turn around once your name is called.

It’s Steve Harrington.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I’ve been a real asshole. Please, let me give you a ride. I want to apologize to Jonathan myself. I took it way too far,” he says and it’s the sincerity in his voice that makes you pause your steps.

You get in the car and it’s awkwardly silent, only the sound of Journey’s ‘Separate Ways’ playing low from his radio.

“At least he has decent music taste,” you think as you fiddle around with your hands on your lap, surprisingly nervous.

“You got me with that one, you know,” he says, but you furrow your brows, confused.

“Mommy and daddy not giving two shits about me. You’re right, and maybe that’s why I’m such an asshole. It doesn’t excuse it, but...” and he shrugs, ending his sentence there.

Your teeth sink into your lip, guilt washing over you. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to..” but you pause because you did mean to. You just didn’t think it would actually hurt Steve. You thought he lived such a cushy life with everything he ever wanted, that doting parents was something he could care less about.

“My parents aren’t really around either. They call themselves ‘free spirits’ but they’re just deadbeats who are mentally stuck in the 60’s. The hippie lifestyle is more important to them than parenting, but hey, at least they bring me cool souvenirs when they make a pit stop at the house,” you say with a snort.

Steve glances at you for a moment before facing forward towards the road again.

“So what I’m hearing is, different sides of the same coin,” he muses and you meet his eyes in the rearview mirror.

“Guess so. Funny how that works,” you say, and you’re surprised when you feel yourself smiling lightly.

His eyes linger on yours for a second too long and he seems to take notice because he clears his throat and immediately goes for the knob on the radio, turning the music up.

“Someday, love will find you Break those chains that bind you One night will remind you”

It’s when you make it to the Byers’ home that you come face to face with a Demogorgon for the first time and find out what’s actually happening with Will and the Upside down. And despite Nancy and Jonathan’s demands for you both to leave, you and Steve stay and help fight.

When it’s all over, you get word that Will is found alive and is at the hospital with Joyce.

You let out a whimper that turns into a sob and Steve is surprisingly the first one who embraces you just before the tears erupt, patting your back in reassurance as he lets you cry it all out.

It was hard for you to keep your feelings in the whole time Will was missing. You worried more for Joyce and Jonathan and didn’t want them to see you falter, despite how much you wanted to. You were their support system, you needed to be strong for them, but the fear and devastation you felt at Will’s disappearance and then his ‘death’ ate at you.

You were so beyond relief knowing that he was now alive and safe.

You all pile into Steve’s car and head to the hospital. You’re sitting next to Jonathan in the back and at some point during the ride you reach for his hand.

He grips yours tightly, like it’s a lifeline, fingers intertwining in yours. Without words, you can tell that Jonathan is trying to thank you, grateful that you stood by his side. You were best friends and always would be; it was you and him against the world.

The future looked bright once more.

You don’t notice Steve glancing up at the rear view mirror and seeing your hands clasped together, a questionable look of disappointment on his face.

Come Christmas Eve, you join Jonathan in picking Will up from the Wheeler’s house, and run into Steve there.

While Nancy goes off to talk to Jonathan, you stick by Steve and catch up.

“Kinda crazy how things can get shaken up and easily go back to normal, huh?” you say and Steve chuckles lightly.

“Yeah, one minute we’re fighting an alien that’s trying to eat us alive in the living room and the next we’re hanging up ornaments and singing around the Christmas tree,” he states.

You nod and are about to part ways until a thought pops into your head.

“Hey, umm..if you ever, like, need someone to talk to or if you feel lonely one day at home..” you pause, realizing how it’s sounding before continuing on, cheeks warm as your eyes widen slightly. “I don’t mean..I-I know you and Nancy are together, congrats by the way..I just mean since we both..um-“ you stop completely when you notice Steve smiling at you.

“Thank you, I really appreciate that,” he says, and you’re thankful that he understands.

Back in the car with Jonathan and Will, you smile when Will opens up the gift Nancy gave to Jonathan (a new camera) because you know Steve definitely had a hand in that as well.

Season 2

Surprisingly, Steve does end up reaching out to you a month later. It’s admittedly a little awkward in the beginning, you both never really hanging out before, but soon you two realize how much you actually get along and Steve becomes as close of a friend as Jonathan.

He doesn’t tell you, but he views you as the closest person he has in his life. Even more so than Nancy, admittedly.

“Different sides of the same coin,” you’d quote him every time you bond over a similar thought or experience, which was often, and he’d always smile back at you and nod.

You do the things that Steve likes to do, like chilling at his pool and listening to his favorite tapes in his car while you eat a burger and talk about life or the possibilities of unicorns (because if there’s such things as aliens, there has to be unicorns, right?)

And Steve is always down to do your favorite things, like browsing through the record shop and watching The Twilight Zone reruns together and painting.

One time Steve suggested you trade paintings because he messed his up, or something along those lines.

Truth is, he just wanted to hang your painting up in his room.

It makes him happy every time he looks at it.

“Doesn’t Nancy think it’s weird that you and Steve hangout so much?” Jonathan asks as you both wait for Will to come up from Mike’s basement, picking him up from another late D&D campaign.

“Not really. I mean, why would she? Steve and I are just friends,” you answer with a shrug.

“Friends. Right. As if you don’t have the biggest crush on him.”

You’re flustered as you look at him with furrowed brows. “I do not have a crush on Steve Harrington.”

“Mhm, sure you don’t,” he says with a roll of his eyes and you cross your arms, annoyed.

“Ok, and what about your crush on Nancy, huh? Let’s talk about that too, shall we?”

Jonathan is silent for a moment, a red tint appearing on his cheeks as he clears his throat, looking away from your victorious smirk.

He never brings it up again.

It’s almost been a whole year since Will’s disappearance and you’re at least thankful that one good thing came out of it; being a part of Steve’s life.

The person you start to feel bad for, however, is Jonathan, who’s been preoccupied with Will more than anything.

You start to feel guilty for spending so much of your free time with Steve, so you offer to spend Halloween with Jonathan as he accompanies Will trick or treating.

Much to the disappointment of Steve who wanted you to come with him and Nancy to a party that night.

“I really need to spend time with Jonathan. I’ve been so busy with..with..”

“With me.” Steve finishes and you give him a sympathetic smile.

“He was my best friend first,” you say jokingly, and Steve rolls his eyes playfully.

“At least this way you can just focus on Nancy. You know, get to do whatever boyfriends and girlfriends do at parties without worrying about your socially inept friend there,” you say and you don’t notice the way Steve’s smile falls off his face.

“…right.”

It’s Halloween night and Jonathan decides to let Will trick or treat with his friends alone, so you both end up going to the party.

You enter together but you eventually leave Jonathan to talk to some girl that approaches him.

“I’m gonna go get some punch,” you said as you teasingly nudged Jonathan’s shoulder and gave him a wink, walking off before he had a chance to stop you.

He needed to have fun and loosen up and a pretty girl could help him do just that.

You scan the party for a familiar face, particularly Steve or Nancy, but only find Steve walking through the crowd, clearly upset.

He’s about to leave out the door until you grab his arm, forcing him to face you.

He looks like he’s about to tell you off until recognition falls on his face and his expression softens.

“Steve? What’s wrong? Where’s Nancy?” you ask, eyes swimming in concern as you search his face for any answers.

“What does it matter? It’s all bullshit anyways,” he answers, slipping his arm from your grasp as he walks out the door.

You follow him, instantly pulling him back to face you, and that’s when his whole facade crumbles.

“Nancy doesn’t love me, ok? And you know what the shitty thing is? I don’t think I love her either. I think I’m just so desperate to have things go back to the way they were that I was committed to pretending that nothing’s changed.”

“The way things were? You mean you wanna go back to when you were ‘King Steve’? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying. Back to when I was loved by everyone and loved by Nancy and didn’t care that my parents weren’t ever home because that meant I got to have drunken pool parties at my house and be a stupid teenager. Back to not giving a shit about anything or anyone.”

“Back to not even knowing I existed?” you point out, a scowl on your face.

Steve looks you in the eyes, silent for a moment. “That’s not what I meant.”

“But that’s how it was. You never even looked in my direction, let alone knew my name. Yea sure, you were ‘King of Hawkins High’, but you were also an asshole and used people just to make yourself feel good. A total douche bag. And I’m sorry that the school isn’t worshipping at your feet anymore, Steve, but you’re a much better person now than you ever were back then. And I care about you. So much. It’s hard for me to let new people in because I also know what it’s like to have people leave and not give a shit about you. But I let you in. And you’re making me fucking regret it,” you say, tears in your eyes as you walk off.

Steve calls out to you but you continue walking.

“No, I’m not second to anyone, Steve. Not to Nancy, not to your parents, and especially not to those stupid idiots we go to school with,” you say, and you feel Steve catching up to you, still refusing to turn back.

“Y/N, I’m sorry. I’m an idiot, ok? That’s been established several times. But, it’s just…you can’t blame me for not wanting to deal with what’s happening right now. For wanting to pretend like it can go back to the way it was.”

You don’t respond, angry tears trailing down your cheeks.

“Will you just stop? Please?” and he grabs your arm with enough strength to pull you to him.

You’re glaring at him but Steve is preoccupied with the tear streaks and water in your eyes. He instinctively brushes your cheek in an attempt to wipe them away, yet his finger lingers on your skin while the rest of his hand cups your cheek, causing your breath to hitch in your throat.

You watch him with tentative eyes as his face moves closer, his lips eventually hovering over yours and both your breaths gets heavier.

His eyes close and despite his lips were now barely an inch away from yours, you don’t move.

“Call me when you’re done pretending,” you whisper to him, and his eyes immediately open, watching as you push him away.

He watches you walk away, completely taken aback.

He knows he really shouldn’t, but he can’t stop thinking about how his lips were almost on yours.

An idiot. A huge fucking idiot.

Steve now realizes that he definitely likes you more than a friend should and he's felt this way for a while. He just didn't want to accept it.

Back at school the next day, you and Jonathan recount last night's events.

Jonathan had assumed Steve had driven you home when he couldn’t find you back at the party, and he was apologizing like crazy when he found out you ended up walking all the way home.

“It’s not your fault. It’s Steve’s, because if he wasn’t an idiot then I would have let him drive me home,” you clarified, clearly still irritated.

And given that Steve still hasn't checked up on you, you had every right to be.

“Yeah umm..I’m really sorry but I’m going to have to reschedule our movie tonight,” Jonathan reveals at some point in your conversation, and you look up at him, disappointed.

“But it’s Friday. We always watch a movie on Friday,” you whine with a pout.

“Except…” he starts, and you finish his sentence.

“Except if it's a life or death reason we can't. That’s the pact we made when we were 8,” you say, and then realization hits you when you see Jonathan give you a face.

“Oh no. No. Jonathan, what the hell are you getting yourself into?” you ask, eyes wide.

He explains the plan he has with Nancy and despite not supporting it, you promise to cover for him and watch over Will and Joyce while he’s gone.

“If you die or get taken by crazy government psychos I will be saying ‘I told you so’ till my very last breath,” you tell hi and Jonathan laughs and hugs you, thanking you repeatedly.

It’s then that Steve walks by in the hallway, of course, and your eyes lock instantly.

Even though it feels like hours, he looks away instantly, swallowing the lump in his throat at seeing you in Jonathan’s arms.

It reminds him of catching you holding his hand in the back of his car.

It’s that innocent little exchange between you and Jonathan that gets Steve back to thinking about himself and his future. If he was no longer King Steve, then who was he? What did he have to look forward to?

He was sure he wasn’t going to get into any colleges, given his poor gpa. Heck, he’d be surprised if he even graduated.

And as for you, he was sure you and Jonathan were going to realize your obvious feelings for each other sooner or later and get together, leaving poor Steve in the dust.

Well then, if he can’t move forward, then he’d just have to take a step back, because he sure as hell wasn't going to stay stuck in this point of his life where he had nothing and no one.

He makes a mental list to get back to King Steve status, starting with trying to get back with Nancy.

He buys a bouquet of red roses and marches over to her house, muttering an apology he doesn’t even mean.

But Dustin, of course, gets to him first, and he’s then forcefully involved in the search for Dart.

As they throw raw meat down the train tracks in hopes of luring Dart, Steve begins to give Dustin some ‘girl advice’, something he probably shouldn’t be doing given his current predicament.

“You have to act like you don’t care,” he says to Dustin.

“Even if you do?” he asks and Steve nods.

“Especially if you do. It drives them nuts.”

“Is that why you and Y/n haven’t gone out? Because you show her that you care too much?” he points out and Steve freezes.

“What are you talking about, Henderson?”

“I mean, it’s obvious that you like her. You look a lot happier when you’re around her. But I guess that’s ‘cause you don’t like-like her, so you’re not overthinking it and you’re just being yourself.”

“No, but, I do like..” and he stops himself immediately.

What was he saying?

Dustin turns around to face Steve, brow raised. “Wait, you do? Then what about..”

“Nope, I am not having this conversation right now, especially not with you.”

With a lot of pleading and annoying whines from Dustin, Steve finally gives in.

“Okay, okay, fine! Maybe I do like her. But so what? She’s obviously into Jonathan, which honestly really sucks because I think Nancy is also into Jonathan, so…” and he puts his arms up as if to say ‘whatever’, but immediately looks over at Dustin in confusion when he hears him crack up in laughter.

“Y/n and Jonathan?? You can’t be serious,” he says between laughs, tears welling in his eyes.

Steve looks obviously annoyed, not understanding the joke.

“Come on man, they’re like brother and sister. Trust me, she doesn’t like Jonathan like that. Now as for Nancy..that I can’t really say,” he states with a shrug, but Steve doesn’t pay any mind to that.

“Wait, so they don’t like each other like that? Like, not even one sided?”

“Definitely not. I honestly overheard Jonathan teasing her once about you. Apparently she has a small crush or something,” he says in slight disgust.

A blush appears on Steve’s face and he looks absolutely dumbstruck as he smiles.

“Little crush, huh?”

“Ew, stop, you’re like, glowing,” Dustin states, throwing a piece of meat out into the track.

Steve is slightly lightheaded thinking about you and that’s when everything falls in perspective for him.

Fuck being King Steve.

He wants to be yours instead.

You’ve been with Joyce the whole time, experiencing the episodes with Will and the chaos at the lab. You’re shaken up but you do what you do best and power through it.

It’s at the Byers’ house where you all reunite, including Nancy, Jonathan, and of course, Steve.

You do your best to avoid him, still feeling upset over what happened at the party and how Steve has seemingly decided to go back to acting like you don’t exist.

Clearly on the road to becoming ‘King Steve’ again.

Steve goes to help Nancy with something outside and you’re sure that they were making up and already planning their wedding date.

Little did you know, Steve was actually reassuring Nancy that what she said that night at the party was true.

“You were right. It was all bullshit. I’m sorry that I didn’t accept the reality of it all. That I just kept on pretending but..I’m done pretending, Nance. And I think you should too,” he says, referring to her constant denial of not loving him, and disregarding her feelings towards Jonathan.

Nancy looks at Steve, almost trying to catch if he was lying to her, but he gives her a reassuring smile.

She smiles back.

While Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy deal with trying to get the Mind Flayer out of Will, you stay behind with the rest of the group.

Steve finds a moment to approach you, clearing his throat to get your attention as you look up at him from your spot on the couch.

“Hey um..h-how are you?” he asks and immediately regrets it, shutting his eyes at his stupidity.

“How am I doing? Really?” you echo, brows raised and Steve shakes his head.

“No, yeah, stupid, I know. It’s just..I'm sorry about what I said the other night. I mean, you’re right. Why would I want to go back to being someone who was a total piece of shit, especially when they didn’t realize how amazing you were?”

You watch Steve with a bemused expression, unaware of where he was going with this. “Steve..”

“Please. Just...I need you to know that you’re not second to anyone. You never have been. I’m just stupid and a coward and I’m sorry. But I’m done with all that bullshit. I’m not scared of moving on anymore. And I need you to know that I honestly really li-“

“Steve! We have company!” Dustin announces frantically and you both look over at the window, a bright light seeping through the blinds.

Max’s brother Billy has arrived, apparently to take her back home, but you’ve seen Billy at school and have overheard the way he talks to Steve and know he’s bad news all around.

“I’ll be right back,” he says, but you immediately reach out for his arm.

“Hey, it’s ok. I got this,” he reassures you, and your gazes linger on each other until you give him a small nod and let him go.

You watch with the kids through the window, hoping Steve is able to take care of it without any trouble, but when Billy catches you all staring, shit hits the roof.

Billy pushes Steve to the ground and kicks him in the stomach.

Your eyes widen and you’re immediately up on your feet, just as Billy bursts through the door.

You step in front of the kids but Billy just laughs at you, walking closer.

“Hey, aren’t you Byers' whore? Let me guess, you’re on Steve duty, tonight? God, you guys are a bunch of freaks, swapping each other around like that,” he comments, but you ignore him, face firm as you tell him to get out.

“Can’t do that sweetheart. You see, Max here has disobeyed me. Do you remember what I do when you disobey me, Max?” he asks, eyes on Max.

“Billy..”

“I break things,” he says and before you can even react, he shoves you aside and grabs Lucas, shoving him against the wall and knocking down a couple of vases that were displayed on a shelf.

The kids are screaming, Lucas included, and you do the first thing that pops into your head.

You grab a nearby book and chuck it at Billy’s head.

Billy lets go of Lucas and he takes the opportunity to kick Billy in the groin before running off towards you and the group.

Billy bends over in pain and grunts, taking a moment to collect himself before turning around towards you all, visibly seething.

He bolts towards you and grabs you by the arm, slamming you against the nearby table. Your chest is forcibly being held down as Billy holds your arm behind your back, twisting it painfully. His face is uncomfortably close to your skin and you suddenly feel his tongue slide down the back of your neck causing you to shriek, eliciting a laugh from him.

You try to fight him off of you but his hold is too strong.

“You know what I find funny? The fact that women are always going on and on about being treated like 'equals'. Begging to be seen the same as men. But then, when they get treated the exact same way, they go ahead and cry about it. Well, I’m all for equality, baby. I’ll fucking kill you just like I will Steve Harrington,” he says, and he twists your arm even more, surely breaking it, and causing you to scream in pain.

“GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF HER!“ Steve yells as he runs into the room, rapidly pulling Billy off of you and sending a punch right to his face.

It’s enough to daze Billy for a second as Steve helps ease you up, cradling your injured arm in his hands.

“Hey, it’s ok. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m here now,” he says as you whimper, the pain in your arm and the wet spot behind your neck forcing you to shut your eyes, trying to keep yourself from breaking down right then and there.

Billy comes flying back to Steve, fists at the ready and Steve tries his best to gently shove you out of the way while also dodging Billy’s punch.

Mike quickly leads you away from the fighting, and you all watch as Steve seemingly pummels Billy to a pulp.

But then it all goes downhill when Billy slams a plate on Steve’s head and you watch horrified as he continuously slams his fists on Steve’s face, clearly unconscious.

Thankfully Max is able to think fast and uses the syringe on Billy, effectively knocking him out.

Dustin helps create a makeshift sling for your arm as Max volunteers to drive, given that Steve is knocked out and you can’t steer with a broken arm.

In the car you worriedly watch over Steve, hands stroking his hair as you study his face.

Halfway through the ride he wakes up, eyes blinking slowly as he groggily begins to speak.

“Sweetheart? Is that you?” he asks, and your cheeks immediately heat up at the pet name.

Mike and Dustin are squeezed together to fit in one seat and they exchange looks before snickering to themselves, Lucas turning around in the passenger seat to face you with a raised brow.

“He obviously thinks I’m Nancy,” you explain, but Steve drops his head on your shoulder, looking up at you with a loopy smile.

“Y/n, my baby. You’re soooo pretty. I just wanna hug you and kiss you and love you forever,” he declares, eyes shutting as he nuzzles into your shoulder and passes out again.

“Mhm,” Lucas says to you with a smirk and you hide your face behind your hands.

Once you get to the field, Steve is now fully conscious, the memory of what he said seemingly non-existent as he groans and complains about his head.

The kids are determined to destroy the demodog cave underground and decide that you should stay in the car and keep watch, given your broken arm.

Just as they’re about to go though, Steve walks over to you.

“Hey, so..this day has been a mess, clearly. And I know this isn’t the time or the place but, just in case anything happens in there, I just want you to know that I really, really, care about you. And you’re honestly the best thing that has ever happened to me and I would never go back to a time where you weren’t a part of my life,” he admits and you note the adoration in his eyes as he looks down at you.

You smile, chest warm, and you lift your one good arm up as a signal for him to embrace you. Steve leans down so he can hug you while you’re still seated in the car and you nuzzle your head in his neck, sighing.

“You may be an idiot, Steve Harrington, but god do I love you,” you say and although you don’t mean it in that way, Steve’s absolutely beaming.

To be loved in any kind of way was all he ever wanted, but it felt so good to be loved specifically by you.

The thought that maybe, one day, you’d love him in the way he hoped you would, is enough to give him the strength to go on with the mission without acknowledging the throbbing pain in his head.

As you’re still embracing Steve, the kids come back to figure out what’s holding him up and make fake kissing noises when they see you both hugging.

“Oh y/n, my baby!” they all taunt, and Steve turns around to look at them confused.

“What? Why are you guys saying that?” he asks, genuinely confused and weirded out, and you laugh, shaking your head.

“It's nothing. Now come back alive, all of you! Do you hear me?” you call out to them as they run off.

The kids’ plan goes off successfully and so does the plan to get the Mind Flayer out of Will and everything pretty much goes back to normal after that.

You and Steve are back to being best friends, hanging out on the days you weren’t with Jonathan, who, thanks to his new relationship with Nancy, you no longer felt guilty about leaving him alone.

Steve is still having trouble telling you how he really feels but decides it’s better to wait till the emotions and stress of the last events wear off.

Plus, he wants to wait for the perfect moment. He thinks you deserve at least that.

It’s the Snowball dance and he drops Dustin off at the front of the school, coaching him on how to get a girl, when he sees you walk out of the door, all dressed up with your hair done differently than he’s seen it before.

You look breathtakingly beautiful, even with the cast still on your arm. It’s admittedly kinda cute to Steve.

His breath catches in his throat, eyes glued to you, feeling a little lightheaded when you notice him, waving.

Dustin looks back at Steve, rolling his eyes as he says “Just ask her out already, it’s embarrassing,” and walks out the car.

You greet Dustin as he enters the gym and make your way over to Steve, leaning on the rolled down passenger window.

“Fancy seeing you here, Harrington,” you say, and Steve has to pinch himself so he can ‘pick his jaw up from the floor’ and respond.

“Yeah..fancy..you..too,” he says and mentally kicks himself.

“Are you busy right now?” he asks.

“Well, I’m supposed to be a chaperone but, I’m sure I can still do some ‘chaperoning’ in the parking lot.”

You get into Steve’s car and he drives you to the empty side of the lot.

There, you both sit on the trunk of his car, talking and laughing and listening along to the distant music that was blasting in the gym.

“Oh I love this song!” Steve exclaims as ‘Seperate Ways’ by Journey played.

You giggled as Steve sings along, belting with all his power and making goofy hand gestures.

“Someday, love will find you

Break those chains that bind you

One night will remind you

How we touched and went our separate ways”

To Steve’s joy, you sing along with him.

“If he ever hurts you

True love won't desert you

You know I still love you

Though we touched and went our separate ways”

You’re both a laughing mess as the song changes to ‘Every Breath You Take’ by The Police.

The laughter fades slowly as Steve looks at you, a small smile on his face. “Do you wanna dance?” he asks, and you smile back, nodding.

“I would love to.”

He jumps down and helps you off the trunk carefully. He then places his hands on your waist while your one good arm wraps itself around his neck and you both sway slowly to the music.

You suddenly feel your heartbeat rapidly in your chest when you notice the way Steve is looking at you and you watch as his face leans closer to yours, instantly getting hit with Dejavú.

“Steve,” you whisper, just as his lips hover inches over yours.

He shakes his head, hair tickling your face. “I’m done pretending,” he whispers back, and your lips finally meet.

It’s like electricity and sparks and whatever else people write about in romance novels when there’s a kiss involved, but it was real and you both felt it.

Steve has, admittedly, kissed a lot of girls before, but it has never once felt like this.

He cups your cheek, deepening the kiss as your arm around his neck pulls him closer to you.

When you finally part you both are comically out of breath, Steve resting his forehead against yours.

“Please tell me I can do that again,” he says breathlessly and you nod with a giggle, closing your eyes when he leaves a sweet kiss on your forehead.

It’s safe to say this was the perfect moment he was waiting for.

Extra:

When you guys go back to school after break, you realize that you're a total hypocrite.

Why?

Because you find yourself making out with Steve in front of his locker nearly every day between classes.

You punch his shoulder when he makes a comment about how his locker neighbor is going to be annoyed by the two of you.

[thatiranianphantom]

Nancy Drew 1x16: The Haunting of Nancy Drew

(or the one where my ethical issues with private infant adoption get REAL)

Okay, we know you're into the supernatural Nancy, but you mean you'd vomit an omen anyday?

A blessed break from Owen in this episode!

I need a makeup routine for all three girls. Immediately.

John Sander is the BEST. The true "normal person comes to crazy town" trope.

"Made that out of clay." Ace, sweet baby, ily.

How did Nancy get those case files, especially with Tamura?

Ah, asking her mother for help without knowing it!

Also, "did my mom have something to do with Lucy's death". Double meaning there.

God, baby Fanson. I love them.

The thing is before Nace were ever a thing, Fanson was great. I don't root for Fanson because of Nace, I root for Fanson on its own merits, while I hated Nancy and Nick as a couple.

Don't panic. Everyone: panics.

Tamura! I loved him.

"Is he a vampire?"

Ace can hack in 2 minutes, and should absolutely have been snapped up by some kind of government agency at this point.

Another theme for this episode: poor, poor Ryan. The face acting Riley does in this episode! His father made the love of his life kill herself, and he has to deal with the fact that she died thinking Ryan hated her.

People remember the events of 20 years ago with startling clarity.

Do Americans call pickles gherkins? Thought that was a British thing?

Lucy, someone who was at least 16, has the journal of a 5 year old.

Again, gonna put it out there that the people who ensured Lucy's death, a pregnant child, were the people of Horseshoe Bay. Don't know if I'd defend them hard if I were Carson.

Excellent casting, because I do see Lucy's facial features in Nancy.

Hoo boy, here we go. Let's start this with a disclaimer: I know that the internet is where nuance goes to die, but I want to make it clear I am not anti-adoption. I also fully recognize that many birth mothers, through their own free choice and zero coersion, choose to place their babies for adoption, and even if they had access to resources, this is the choice they would make. I am not calling that unethical. I'm also aware I am applying my own personal ethical issues with adoption to a fictional TV show. Okay, we good? Okay, let's get into it.

Lucy Sable was a (presumably) 16 year old child who had been relentlessly bullied into an incredibly emotional state, had just given birth, and had thought the love of her life hated her and never wanted to see her again. This is not a person in a clear emotional state, capable of making long-term decisions. I get that they absolutely did not know that Lucy would jump off the cliff, but Carson justifying everything with "Lucy wanted this. This was Lucy's wish. We didn't tell the Hudsons because Lucy wanted this" is somewhat understandable but frankly also a load of shit.

Lucy did not know the truth. Ryan deserved to know the truth. Nancy deserved to know the truth. I find it very hard to accept that Carson and Kate were "honoring Lucy's wishes" by never telling her (and never planning on telling her) that she was adopted, and never telling Ryan, robbing him of the opportunity to raise Nancy, or even to know Nancy. I get that Everett couldn't know. That does not mean Ryan couldn't, and that does not mean Nancy couldn't, especially as an adult, and the thing is, Carson gaslit her the entire season and would have continued to lie to Nancy if she hadn't figured out the truth on her own.

A whole whack of Nancy's identity issues are thanks to Carson and Kate, who refused to tell Nancy who she really was. Adopted children deserve to know, and know about, their birth families. It is very easy, as we have seen, to use a teenager's tragic and highly emotional situation for their own benefits. So Carson trying constantly to justify himself as having done the right thing is...that's hard to get over.

While I absolutely believe love makes family too, biology is an interwoven part of who a person is, and never acknowledging the birth parent or family as part of an adoptee's story is...harmful to say the least.

I know Nancy and Ryan forgave Carson, but that's always going to stick at the back of my mind. Yes, Nancy was his. He was her father. I get that, and I know that was real in Nancy's mind too. She was also Lucy's. And she was Ryan's. And his refusal to acknowledge that is....ehh.

I suppose we'll get more ranting next episode, but that's the core of it.

[thestobingirlie]

THANK YOU. Robin and Nancy’s incompatibility aside, Robin and Steve’s soulmatism is one of the unshakable dynamics in the show and Robin Buckley would just never. I read fanfics for most ships, and the story you linked is the first r//nance story I’ve seen that doesn’t have a Steve with zero issues just giggling while his best friend in the universe gets with the person who canonically hurt him the most/he’s still in love with. R//nance usually goes hand in hand with having to ignore how significant Nancy and Steve are to each other, which reminds me of the…

The Vickie erasure. The fanon of bi Nancy while fandom totally ignores Vickie is not surprising considering there’s so much automatic hatred of canon. Robin calls Vickie the girl of her dreams! I also hoped for more Vickie in season 4, but Vickie as the embodiment of Robin’s peace at home is perfect. Rosie! That Vickie is too much of a side-character to ship with Robin is ridiculous when I’ve accidentally seen so many fics including Gareth. For real, who the fuck is Gareth.

Nancy still needing to learn how to process her emotions is why I think any Stancy endgame would be a denouement situation. The execution of the matchmaker trope was unnecessary. Three whole characters weighing in on that relationship? One of which was a stranger? Why.

maybe it’s just because i love stobin so much, but it is literally one of the best and strongest dynamics in the show, and i just can’t fathom needing characters to be in a romantic relationship so badly, that people just cast aside how important robin and steve are to each other.

and yeah, i avoid all r//nance fics, like even if they’re just a background ship. because i know that that background ship will be a throwaway line, and still manage to destroy stobin. like, you can’t just have causal r//nance in the background because by it’s very nature, it would tear the characters apart.

in canon, steve still has feelings for nancy. now you can decide if that’s just because he’s clinging to this ideal of life that he isn’t ready to let go of, or because he actually is in love with her, but to disregard their relationship entirely is dumb. like, in their first s4 scene together, nancy spots steve’s car and just instantly calms. like, whether they’re romantic or platonic, steve and nancy are really important to each other.

i honestly just cannot see nancy being queer at all, but i know that’s just my personal opinion. but the fact that people will totally erase vickie, and then get annoyed at the duffers for having minimal gay characters, or for not making r//nance canon. like, there is a bi women right there! stop ignoring her! and yeah, i think the excuse that vickie is just a side character is such bullshit, because she is spoken about a lot, we see her in multiple scenes. she’s more important than gareth, but somehow he pops up everywhere? and a lot of people who hate vickie will then ship buckingham (which i have nothing against!) but it’s like, how are you gonna pretend chrissy has more personality then vickie?

yeah, i hate matchmaking, but the duffers seem incapable of writing a romance without using it. honestly, the reason why i hated murray so much is because of that. like, some random middle aged man got two teens drunk and told them to fuck in his house, and i’m supposed to think that’s the height of romance?! ew. and yeah, i can see robin talking to steve about nancy, because they obviously talk about their loves lives to each other. and dustin is incapable of not inserting himself into steve’s life, but eddie? what does he know about the situation? it’s just so weird.

also, i actually find stancy interesting, at least, i’ve always enjoyed watching their scenes more than nancy and jonathan, but i just don’t think that nancy will be able to get enough development in time for her to end the show in a healthy relationship. though, i do kinda want stancy to be endgame just because i know how much steve antis will hate it. and i think that’s funny.

but honestly, when it comes to endgames i just don’t care. what ships the duffers decide to end on mean nothing to me. i will read whatever fanfics i want when the show ends, and who’s gonna stop me. “oh it’s not canon.” don’t care, didn’t ask.

[findafight]

i've seen that post that used the tag shared in your last ask! and i actually don't think post itself is irrelevant to the tag because in it they SAY they do actively read the anti r0nance tag, but tbh their summary is "everyone there says we're obsessed with nancy and ignore robin, when actually we all think nancy is a terribly written character and we're trying to fix her by gifting her to robin, who is our actual favorite character" which isn't even a take i've seen much of in the anti tag but if it's how they're self describing then yeah i guess i can dislike that too. i'm glad they broke it down for us since we don't interact with the content much 🙄

oh that's interesting. Like the shippers focusing on Nancy is.... A reason not to like it. and a take I personally have had, because I have seen it. But it certainly isn't the only reason! because it usually goes hand in hand with other issues i have with the ship. It hasn't popped up in the tag recently though. (and lbr sometimes going into a tag because you're curious how other parts of the fandom live is fine and fun. it's not a big deal. just don't spam or incorrectly tag)

and if they want to fix (?) a character they think is written poorly by just. shoving her into another romantic relationship despite her continually being in one for the entire series and probably desperately needing time single then they can do that! We don't have to like it and can complain about it in our tag (when we inevitably see it through other tags) and i guess they can see it and complain about it in theirs! like. curated experience! that's what we want!

it's just like. I get generalizing is a thing that happens but at least use the mmost recent idk five posts if you are lol. idk if they've got something to say to people who don't like the ship they can say it! they don't have to hide! my inbox is open if they so choose i guess.

[heavencasteel420]

I was feeling a bit stuck on my main WIPs, so for fun I wrote a couple of lines/paragraphs for each of my other story ideas (the proper ones where I have a general sense of the story's shape, not the shitpost ideas like "Chrissy turns into a car?"). Here are the ones for my Dysfunctional/Dark/Super-Dark story ideas--they are generally grodier so proceed with caution):

Dysfunctional

Chiaroscuro (teen noir story)

Although he'd already known her peripherally, as Will's friend's older sister, Jonathan had learned plenty of new things about editor-in-chief Nancy Wheeler since he'd started taking photographs for the school paper. She was ambitious, always fighting to include articles that weren't just summaries of various basketball games and dances. She wouldn't back down from a fight, as a contingent of the PTA had learned when they'd pitched a fit over an anti-nukes editiorial. She'd make her displeasure known if one of the staff turned in late or sloppy work, a trait that had earned the dislike of the sillier girls and the guys who resented that she'd gotten the position in the first place. She preferred nonfiction to fiction, drank medically concerning amounts of Tab, and always asked after Mom and Will.

But, for the purposes of this conversation, two facts were particularly important: that she didn't gossip, and that she'd almost certainly had sex.

How Well I Remember (Jonathan/Jason, post-S1)

If it were just a crazy mom and her not-missing-anymore kid, Jason would round up a bunch of the guys to help fix up the house, but he can't exactly do that when Tommy Hagan, a junior, runs his mouth about psycho-perv Jonathan Byers every time Steve Harrington turns his back. Besides, Jason wouldn't want to embarrass him by bringing people from the same school to see his messed-up house and weird family. Most important, though, charity vaunteth not itself. It's better--more Christian--for Jason to do the right thing without an audience.

The Sin Eater's Prom Date (Jonathan/Chrissy, context is that Jonathan's the one who got taken to the UD in S1 and it made his weird reputation even weirder)

"You could ask Mrs. Sullivan to let you switch lab partners," Jason says. "No one would blame you." Chrissy pulls her imagination away from Jonathan's long, nimble fingers, meticulously dissecting the formaldehyde frog while she took notes. She has to admit that Jason's right. Mrs. Sullivan might protest, but only because making other arrangements for Jonathan could require dealing with him directly. Although she never says anything, her foundation-caked face goes all tight whenever she looks at him. "What if no one wants to switch?" she asks, fiddling with the drawstring of her jacket. "I'd feel awful." "There are probably some burnouts who wouldn't mind," he assures her. Before Chrissy can point out that there aren't many burnouts because it's an honors class, he frowns. "Mrs. Sullivan probably picked you because you're too nice. It's not appropriate."

Silver Threads and Golden Needles (garbage fire Stoncy, post-S1, alcohol mention)

In the dead week between Christmas and New Year's, Steve shows up on his doorstep with a bottle of vodka. It's been three weeks since he and Nancy got back together (a development that Jonathan noted with dismay but no real surprise) and almost two months since the last time he came knocking. He's quieter this time and, thank God, because it's ten-thirty and Mom and Will are both asleep. "You wanna go for a ride?" Steve asks. Jonathan weighs the possibility that Steve has decided to murder him (or, at least, arrange a less-fair rematch of their alley fight) against the awkwardness of having the do-you-want-to-kill-me conversation. "Okay," he says with a shrug. "Let me grab my jacket."

The Teeth of the Hydra upon You (Nancy/Chrissy, AU S2 where Jonathan moved to Maine, alcohol and vomiting)

Suddenly Steve is gone, and in his place is a pink-cheeked, strawberry blonde angel. "You look like Holly Hobby," Nancy informs her woozily. "My sister's name is Holly." Then she retches, and the angel guides her over to the toilets and smooths her hair back while he pukes. Her hands are cool and soft on Nancy's skin.

Dark

I Need Noise (Billy/Jonathan, S2 albeit with slightly different timeline just for logistical purposes, tw for Billy being gross and sexist and fatphobic below)

Billy's been in Hawkins for a couple of weeks, and he's so fucking bored. He knows exactly which girls are going to put out and, of those girls, he knows who's going to be content with screwing and who's angling to be his girlfriend. The pussy pool is shallow whether or not he's willing to publicly hold hands in exchange for a regular fuck, and he can see himself drifting into some depressing situation with Misty Carpenter, the one girl he's managed to finger so far. She's already maneuvered him into taking her to KFC once--not that she needs it, with her porky thighs--so a part of him thinks he might as well give up and focus his efforts on getting her to blow him. Another part of him, though, is almost glad that Neil made him play chauffeur for Max tonight. He'd rather be hanging out in the arcade parking lot, smoking a cigarette while the ungrateful bitch keeps him waiting, than have to make nice with Misty's friends at some dumb hick party at the quarry.

Catch Me When You Can (Eddie/Jonathan, sad AU--kind of a Tonight, Tonight redux/remix--where no one finds out about the UD, Will appears to be dead, Joyce has a mental breakdown and is institutionalized, Lonnie returns to Hawkins to stay with Jonathan, and Jonathan copes with the situation by abusing black-market painkillers that he buys from Eddie and also hooking up with Eddie--the context is a near-fatal, mostly accidental overdose):

For once, Eddie feels lucky to be poor. If he or Wayne had anything of value, Lonnie Byers would take them for all they were worth. Instead, he shows up at the trailer and reams Wayne out while Eddie hides in his bedroom and pretends not to be home. Wayne is mild, even gracious. He doesn't call Lonnie a hypocrite or a shitty excuse for a father, like Eddie longs to do. Instead, he agrees that Lonnie has every reason to be upset. He expresses his regrets (in a non-specific way that won't give Lonnie ammunitions) and asks after Jonathan. Eventually, Lonnie runs out of steam and sighs. "I should press charges," he says. "Hawkins PD is already gunning for your boy. He needs to watch his step." "Thank you," Wayne says, as though Lonnie has provided him with new and valuable information. He lets a few seconds pass before adding, "Probably easier for your boy, too, the sooner this all gets settled." If Lonnie hears this as a threat--if he understands that Wayne really means it'll be easier on Lonnie--his voice doesn't show it. "Yeah," he says. "Jesus. What a mess."

Super-Dark

Everybody Loves Me But You (post-S1 AU where Steve becomes more evil instead of reforming, tw for his gross/violent thoughts)

After the fight, Steve makes two promises to himself. First, that he'll never take Nancy Wheeler back, not even if she falls on her knees and begs him to let her make it up to him. Second, that he'll smash Byers's head into the concrete if he ever catches him creeping around his backyard again. These promises turn out to be easy to keep. Nancy doesn't even look at him at school on Monday, let alone plead with him for a second chance. And, no matter how often Steve checks the woods behind his house, armed with a Louisville Slugger, Byers never shows. He's glad, of course. Despite the fantasy he's built up in his head, he knows that rejecting Nancy, however publicly, would leave him feeling flat. No matter how many people saw her name on the theater marquee, it can't undo the image of Byers embracing her on her bed. Steve's always going to be the idiot who worried about her while she was out humiliating him. And of course he doesn't want Byers anywhere near him.

In the Night, but There's No One (this one's such a bummer that I'm not even getting into it)

"Look, you've told me a lot about Nancy, and she sounds great," Argyle says. His big hand comes to rest between Jonathan's shoulder blades, an island of warmth in a sea of cold dread. "But I don't actually know her. You're my best friend, man. I'm on your side." You wouldn't be, if you knew, Jonathan thinks, although the truth is that he has no reference for what anyone would think. He can't speak, anyway, around the block of ice in his throat. "I just don't get when it would've happened," Argyle continues. "No offense, dude, but you don't really hang out with anyone but me."