#been thinking a lot about mike wheeler..... thoughts to come.....

[demobatman]

finished a commission im allowed one (1) tumblr post (its this one)

[blue-blue-blooms]

A Little Crush   

Eddie Munson x Henderson!Reader

Part 1

Summary: In which Eddie develops a crush on the Henderson sister.

You weren't sure exactly when your life had gone to absolute shit. Was it when you found a strange, superpowered adolescent girl living in Mike Wheeler's basement? Was it when you walked in on a baby demogorgan eating your cat? Or was it when you were drugged by evil Russians operating under Starcourt Mall? You couldn't even remember a time when life was normal. If someone had told you that you would become best friends with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington and fight literal monsters from an alternate universe alongside Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan 'The Creep' Byers a few years ago, you would've laughed in their face. Now? You'd survived the most traumatising events of your life alongside these people. You were bonded for life.

The last few years had also made you closer with Dustin. You loved your baby brother and his weird friends, especially since you'd spent so much time babysitting them. But no amount of love could make you say yes to what they were asking of you.

"Please?" Dustin begged, following you down the hallway as you made your way to Ms. O'Connell's class.

"No! I have, like, three essays due this week, Dustin. I don't have the time to sub." You respond.

"It's only for tonight! Lucas can't make it and we really need a sub. We're nearly done with the campaign and Eddie will kill us if we make him reschedule!" Dustin pleads.

You were really happy that Dustin and Mike had found a safe space in high school. Lord knows those two idiots needed it. Freshmen year is probably the toughest of them all. You're new, scared, and lonely. You were really glad that they'd found friends, a place where they could be their nerdy selves and feel accepted. Hell, even you'd dabbled in their interests when you'd babysat them. DnD wasn't half bad, and not nearly as hard to undertand as you once thought. You'd spent many nights in Mike's basement playing with them. The first few times, you'd get your character killed in the first fifteen minutes. But after a while, you started making progress (even though you're convinced that the party was exceptionally lenient with you after you once burst into tears over getting killed off).

"I'll do your half of the chores for a week!" Dustin exclaims.

That makes you stop.

"A week?" You turn around to look at him, "Make it two weeks and I'll sub."

"Two? Are you insane!?" Dustin yells, making a few people lingering in the hallway turn and look at you both.

"Two or no deal, Dusty Buns," You tease, "And be quick, I'm late for my class."

"Fine!" Dustin says, "And stop calling me 'Dusty Buns'"

"Why? Is that nickname just for Suzy Poo?" You tease.

Dustin glowers at you as you walk off.

♡♡♡

"So, who's the DM?" You ask as you walk alongside Dustin and Mike.

"It's Eddie, Eddie Munson. He's a senior. Long hair, wears a hellfire T-Shirt, I talk about him constantly. God, do you ever listen to me?" Dustin claims exasperatedly.

"Oh! Eddie as in your new favorite older male best friend who Steve's weirdly jealous of?" You ask, "I've seen him around. Is he the one who jumps on lunch tables and yells a lot?"

"Yup." Mike responded, "He's a bit scary when he's revved up. Just warning you beforehand in case he comes off...a bit intimidating."

You nod.

"Hasn't he been held back, like, three times?" You ask.

Before either of the boys could answer, you reach the room. The first thing you see is the table where the game is set. There are three boys sat around, all with Hellfire T-Shirts on. Your eyes fleet from one to the other until finally landing on Eddie. You recognise him immediately from the amount of times you've seen him yelling in the cafeteria.

Dustin and Mike failed to mention how cute he was, you think.

His hair was long and wavy. He was wearing multiple rings. And he was covered in tattoos. You're pretty sure you saw a few bats peeking from under his sleeve.

"Who's this?" One of the guys asks, making all three turn around and look at you.

"This is Y/N! She's subbing for Lucas!" Mike says, the words spilling out fast and nervously.

Why the hell are they so jittery?

"Yeah, she's my sister! The one I mentioned a couple days ago." Dustin adds.

"Does she even know how to play DnD?" The other boy asks.

"Okay, excuse me, I wouldn't have come if I didn't know how to play," You finally speak, waving your hand a little to get their attention.

"So, this is your infamous sister?" Eddie finally speaks, his eyes landing on you, "You know, I thought he made you up. What's your class and level? Level One Elf?"

Elf? Is he mocking me?

"Are you mocking me?" You ask incredously.

"Is he mocking me?" you turn towards Dustin and Mike who immediately start gesticulating, probably asking you to shut up.

"My name is Aeren Sirenfall and I'm a level 14 chaotic good half-elf rogue. I will sneak behind any monster you throw my way and stab them in the back with my poison-soaked kukri. And I'll smile as I watch them die a slow...agonising...death." You say, your voice slow and hard as you glare at Eddie, "So, are we gonna play this stupid game or not?"

You're pretty sure you hear one of the boys mutter a 'she's terrifying' to Dustin.

You watch as Eddie's eyes slowly soften and a grin emerges on his face, "Welcome to Hellfire Club."

[smeddiemunson]

(part 1 here)

After they narrowly escape being fucked up by what Eddie had planned for them (a goblin ambush they were completely underprepared for), the Hellfire members took their sweet time in clearing up after themselves; an unspoken agreement between the older members to hang around long enough to see just how Eddie behaves around Steve.

Gareth didn’t think Dustin had figured it out. He just connected dots he doesn’t know are on the same playing board, Eddie’s mystery crush and Steve’s favourite song nothing more than a coincidence. Or at least Gareth hoped that’s how it’s playing out, he knew it took a lot, more than his posturing would ever imply, for Eddie to reveal his big secret to the band. He didn’t want Eddie to have to confront that again until he felt ready, even if it is just to some kids.

Jeff was kneeling on the floor, reaching under the table where he pretended to drop a bag of dice when Steve began to make his way down the stairs.

Over his shoulder he called out, “Thank you, Mrs Wheeler!”

Jeff didn’t see the way Eddie perked up just at the sound of his voice, but Gareth and Grant certainly did.

“Are you flirting with Mrs Wheeler again, Stevie?” Eddie teased, ignoring the way Mike retched and groaned about it being gross.

‘Stevie?’ Gareth mouthed to Grant, who just shrugged. Nicknames are a dime a dozen when Eddie decides he likes a person. Gareth had been Gare-Bear for as long as he’d known him, Jeff was Jeffy, and Grant got to be ad-Grant-age. Stevie was a bit different, Stevie was close, affectionate in a way that the nicknames that usually spilled from Eddie’s lips weren’t.

This was maybe worse than they thought.

The last crush Eddie had was there and gone almost in a blink of an eye. Connor from his home room who doodled stick figure drawings of their teachers to pass to Eddie every morning until the jocks got to him and Eddie was cast aside again. But for two precious weeks, Eddie was happy, nice, and didn’t freak when Grant snapped a guitar string that meant they couldn’t practise until he got his hands on a replacement.

This was wholly different. Steve didn’t even bat an eyelash at the affectionate tone, in fact, Gareth thought he saw a faint pinkness colour his cheeks; though he didn’t know if it was just the heat of the basement that did it.

“Convincing her you haven’t yet corrupted her children more like,” Steve laughed.

Jeff, who had now appeared from under the table, made a half aborted motion towards Mike that only Gareth and Grant could see from their side of the table. There was no question that Eddie had sunk his claws into Wheeler and the boy was fully corrupted. If they didn’t know better, they could’ve confused Mike for Eddie’s brother, the resemblance now so uncanny.

Eddie smiled. A real one that took up his whole face and made his eyes sparkle.

Definitely worse than they thought.

Steve turned to the kids. “Henderson, you’re with me. Byers you’re with Eddie. Sinclair, I trust you can walk next door without supervision?” He glanced at his watch while Lucas nodded as if this weren’t the first time he’d been questioned in such a way. “And we’ve got thirty minutes until curfew so get moving.”

The kids, naturally grumbled but they didn’t argue, which was yet another weird thing for the Corroded Coffin boys to experience. Those kids argued with everything.

“Oh hey, Ed, Argyle is getting in late Friday night so pool party at mine on Saturday. You in?” Steve dug his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, trying to act casual, as if he didn’t care about Eddie’s answer. But it was clear as day to Gareth, who didn’t even know him, that Steve really really cared.

Eddie’s face fell. “Sorry, band practice on Saturday. We’ve got a show coming up so…”

Gareth jumped in before he had to watch either of them start crying. “You can go after, Eddie. My mom’ll kill me if we spend all day in the garage anyway.”

Steve’s face lit up like it was Christmas morning.

Now Gareth couldn’t be certain, he wasn’t certain about anything in his life except for his love of Iron Maiden and the reality that he was never leaving Hawkins, but he was fairly sure Steve Harrington might just return Eddie’s feelings.

“Awesome! Hey, you guys should come too! It’s only gonna be a small thing: me, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan and his friend Argyle.”

“Um, thanks, but—“ Jeff cut off in his refusal with a groan as Gareth and Grant not so subtly dug their elbows into his stomach.

They were going to have to spend more time in the orbit of Eddie-and-Steve if Gareth was going to be able to figure out if feelings were a two way street. He wasn’t super excited about the prospect of spending all afternoon playing nice with rich kids, but he’d done worse things for the sake of making Eddie happy. He could do this as well.

“We’d love to!” Grant filled in a little too excitedly. Gareth shot him a look that hopefully conveyed his need to calm down.

“Where do you live?”

Steve smiled. “Teddy knows, he’s been enough times. Oh and you’re welcome to crash after, if you want. There’s enough space.”

“Teddy,” Gareth echoed. They all knew about Eddie’s mom’s nickname for him. Eddie’s dead mom’s nickname for him, and the way he never wanted a reminder.

Steve laughed. “Yeah because he’s just so cuddle-able!”

Eddie, through clenched teeth and a bright red blush, hissed. “Shut up.”

Oh and his eyes pleaded with Gareth to let it go, that they wouldn’t talk about it later.

Clue 5. Eddie was completely aware of how smitten he was.

“We’ll be there, Harrington,” Gareth said, the finality on the matter that Jeff would be arguing with him about later.

Steve smiled so wide it was almost blinding. He left with a squeeze to Eddie’s shoulder, hand lingering longer than necessary, and Dustin moaning about why the kids hadn’t been invited to a pool party.

There were two things Gareth knew for sure. One: Eddie wasn’t just crushing on Steve Harrington, he was well on his way to being in love with him. Two: Steve was either just the chillest guy alive (unlikely) or he returned Eddie’s feelings.

Either way, Gareth had some meddling to do.

(part 3)

[howtobecomeadragon]

Nancy and Jonathan eventually have a kid. Mike and Will have been together for years by now and haven't ever really thought about kids until now. But all of a sudden, Mike is an uncle. A very proud, enthusiastic, and fun uncle, as it turns out.

Will watches Mike with little baby Byers-Wheeler and a feeling crashes into him like a massive wave. Will watches Mike rock their nephew to sleep, use baby talk, and bring home baby clothes to gift to Nancy and Jonathan. Will notices that Mike picks out a lot of dinosaur and space themed clothing. Mike pulls out a few toys that he'd held onto all these years, the ones with sentimental value, and he brings them over to Nancy and Jonathan's, putting the toys in the baby's toy chest.

Mike starts to encourage Will to hold the baby more when they visit their siblings, begging Jonathan to take pictures with his camera. He keeps asking Will, "Isn't he cute? I remember when Holly was this small. He's adorable, isn’t he? Do you think he looks like me at all, with the Wheeler genes?" Will thinks to himself that Mike has never been more adorable.

One night in bed before he and Mike turn out the lights, about a month after Nancy had the baby, Will supposes it wouldn't hurt to just ask.

"Mike, do you want to look into having a kid together?"

Mike's answer comes out faster than his mouth seems to be able to form the words, like he'd been waiting hours or days or weeks for Will to ask: "Yes. Yeah, let's do that. I want to have a baby with you."

[wheelerpilled]

'forced conformity is killing the kids'

Mike Wheeler ST5 Theory/analysis

So we've all seen the new BTS of Finn Wolfhard on the set of Stranger Things dropped and OH MY GOD. THE DUALITY FROM LAST SEASON.

I have to TRY write about it ATLEAST...because wow I have a lot of potential thoughts, sorry it's once again unstructured, messy, and repetitive but stay with me please!!!!!!!!!!

I've seen ALOT of people happy we're getting s1-2 Mike hair back but guys .....it's not a good thing!!!!!!!!!! Mike is going THROUGH IT.

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In Season 4 it's acknowledged that Mike is finally coming into his own a bit, Eddie says he was wearing 'whatever his mom bought him' when he first came to highschool, but in episode 1 when we see him for the first time in S4, he's clearly been influenced by Eddie and has figured out what style he likes and what he's interested in, he's in a DND club, he's comfortable being known as an uncool nerd, he's growing his hair out (yes I DO believe it's because he idolised Eddie, I have more to say about that in a second)

basically: his hair and his outfits, aswell as pretty much the way he acts in Hawkins (NOT California- he goes back to pretending to be something else) in S4 represents the ideology non-conformity and his sense freedom in this new persona

he doesn't feel lost in highschool anymore, he's doing what he likes with his friends (DnD) and he's proudly wearing his hellfire shirt around school/Hawkins, basically, he's accepting that it's okay to enjoy 'different' things that aren't considered the norm, and it makes him happy, he feels comfortable!

_____________________________________________

But now in Season 5, from the pictures we've seen, it looks like he's fully reverted back into his shell, I guess I understand why tbh I don't blame him:

he comes back to Hawkins after everything and everyone believes he's in a satanic cult- townspeople probably treat him badly and Jason's team mates probably blame Eddie and the rest of hellfire for Jason's 'disappearance' (death). They directly connect him with all the horrible things that have happened to Hawkins as of late

...which is probably what the BTS of them walking towards Mike are about, they probably keep harassing him no matter how he acts and Mike just wants them to leave him alone, let's face it:

High school has probably gone full circle back to middle school for Mike and he's getting bullied/mistreated again. So he feels his only option is to remove himself from Hellfire and become 'normal'.

Hellfire might maybe even be blamed for the gates being opened. Last we heard, the townspeople were hunting down Eddie and the rest of hellfire, and the graffiti on Eddie's grave in the S5 pics shows that he's still very much hated.

Mike probably got harassed by multiple people who don't believe Eddie's dead, or believe Mike was in on it and are out looking for him, or think Hellfire contributed to some satanic ritual causing the 'earthquake' and thus Mike is also a target and it's dangerous for him.

So I think part of the style change and haircut is due to THAT, he doesn't wear his hellfire shirt anymore because he doesn't want any affiliation with the club.

As Finn Wolfhard has said in previous interviews 'mikes just trying to act as normal as possible' so by seperating himself from Eddie/Hellfire and becoming more conventionally 'normal' he won't be treated like an outcast.

He won't be assaulted, bullied, blamed, or worse if he conforms. He has a greater chance of everything becoming better/easier while living in Hawkins if he does this, he might have even given up DnD aswell- so yeah he's gonna be pretty MISERABLE in season 5

___________________________________________

Alot of people wanted to see his reaction to Eddie's death, I think we'll definitely be seeing the lingering after effects of it, and alot of Mike's arc will kick off because of the aftermath of the vilification of Hellfire.

Only few people know that Eddie died to try protect Hawkins, Eddie was a role model for Dustin and Mike, but they're grieving him in COMPLETELY different ways

Dustin decides to honour him by taking up a similar style and proudly wearing his hellfire shirt, and is also probably trying to sway the town's opinion on Eddie and prove him innocent.

....But Mike seemingly decides that he DOESNT want to end up like Eddie anymore: dead and hated, known as a satanic freak.

Someone he idolised is now deceased, he doesn't know how to properly handle that fact, it's intimidating that someone he looked up to do much could be so hated, and in turn has caused the reaction from Mike that is basically 'if my idol is treated as such a horrible outcast, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps, where would that leave me?' he's feeling lost and hopeless, especially with the state Hawkins is in, so he probably decides the best thing to do is just blend in. Be normal.

It probably scares him that even merely his interest in DnD and all these other factors immediately make him a target, as far as townspeople believe- Mike is one of the kids who was close with a brutal serial killer, they probably think he's just as 'messed up as Eddie the freak was' for staying friends with someone who'd do such horrible things

I think Mike just wants to hide as much as he can right now, he has ALOT on his plate and doesn't need the rest of the town out to get him.

so if anyone asks: he'll probably say things like 'I didn't really know Eddie! I would never join a cult like that, I didn't know!' or something to try seperate his name from the hellfire club.

Mike will end up picking protecting himself and hiding his true identity and values/traits rather then living exposed and vulnerable; yet true to what he actually believes is right....And that is the opposite of what Dustin is doing,

Dustin is a proud hellfire member and friend of Eddie, he's picking what he thinks is right over self-preservation from the town, he's still wearing his battered shirt, now HE'S the one growing his hair out, he still adores Eddie and misses him (so does Mike probably, but he feels he CANT outwardly publicly show support or stand up for him)

I do wonder if this will cause some sort of tension between Dustin and Mike, because Dustin is doing the opposite and becoming more like Eddie instead of distancing himself from the hellfire name, he might feel betrayed that Mike 'gave up' on Hellfire, and maybe accuse him of not even caring about Eddie or his death?? Idk!!!!!!!!!! I feel like Dustin will also be going through it this season 😭😭😭

_____________________________________________

I do also think Mike will try to be clinging alot to El this season (I mean, before they inevitably break up which I believe will probably happen kinda early on if it actually happens at all)

this is also because just the idea of having a girlfriend corresponds to his idea of conformity and being 'normal'. He just wants to be a normal guy, his life is nothing out for the ordinary, he's not interested in satanic things like dnd and hellfire, he's just a normal person. A normal person who is PROBABLY a target of Vecna in season 5 😓

I believe his arc for this season will be trying to breakout of these notions of conformity in exchange for things he actually likes and is interested in, we saw him sort of branching out in season 4, but I think THIS time it's happening for real, and he'll end up fully embracing his own views and interests after some sort of emotional arc-which will also probably be part of the M*lev*n break up (not censored because I'm against them/hate them I just don't wanna clog the tag for others 😭😭) OR set off by the breakup

Throughout season 1 he was told he liked El, or others assumed it, so I think he assumed it aswell, they just never broke up because El ALSO thinks having a boyfriend is normal and expected, and because Mike was the boy she was closest to she assumed it was romantic feelings (and he kissed her in S1 which probably contributed to her assuming they were romantic feelings)

Alot of the people around her are also in relationships, and she watched alot of TV with happy romantic couples so she thinks it's more normal to HAVE a boyfriend then to NOT have one, I think Mike and El kinda stayed together because they think they're SUPPOSED to by these social standards,

They obviously care about each other alot, and mistook it as reasons to just stay together, she wants to be a normal girl because only being a superhero isnt good for her, she needs to be 'Jane Hopper' and not '011'. I do think she definitely needs to be single for awhile and find herself, even if her and Mike are to be endgame, she NEEDS at least some time to gain some experiences outside of living her life as a superhero, (Mike also needs character development outside of being 'Els Boyfriend's)

Which is why it was vital that her time with max in S3 existed, so El could realise her value and that there is a life outside having a boyfriend- I think Mike needs a similar moment aswell, a wake-up call of sorts where he can take a step back and consider maybe rather than letting society dictate his actions, he makes decisions for what he wants for himself ('we make our own rules')

_____________________________________________

If m*lev*n is endgame then sure that's great for them, but I genuinely don't know what big character arc could be in store for Mike that doesn't involve a breakup and themes of non-conforming, it doesn't even have to involve Byler endgame at all (although I AM a byler truther)

I think Mike learning that it's okay to let go of that romantic relationship if he doesn't feel that way anymore is a big step for his character, or atleast taking a break so he can work on himself, anything along those lines of actual development on himself rather then on his relationship- El and Mike have been romantically paired from the start, he needs to learn that it's OKAY to breakup with someone if thats what he feels is right, (side note: I DO believe El would/will be the one to breakup with him 😭)

I don't think he realises that he'll be able to stay friends with El, it's not 'shes my girlfriend or else she'll hate me for breaking up with her. No other options'

he doesn't want to lose her because he cares about her but he can't find a way to balance that romantic relationship alongside his other friendships. So I think for his character to develop they have to breakup, even temporarily, but obviously that's only my opinion if M*lev*n is endgame then oh well, it's endgame, but I think they would be a really awesome platonic duo and I'd like their relationship alot more if it was that way

______________________________________________

I think later in the season he'll realise that living this way not actually what he wants, and he doesn't want to give up who he is, or pretend to be something he's not- because he IS a nerd who likes DnD, and he does support Eddie, he cared alot about him because he idolised him, and i think season 5 is about him learning that that's okay and he doesn't have to feel so much pressure to conform by societal standards, bro needs a better grief process, forced conformity GOT HIS ASS 😭😭😭

What I'm trying to say is: all of this, and his new look is a safety net of sorts, he's still pretending to be something he's not because he feels he HAS to, otherwise it's dangerous for him in Hawkins because of hellfires reputation, but he's also acting this way because of other factors that I haven't really thought through yet LMAO

I believe season 5 will probably be him accepting those things about himself and embracing it, maybe also undoing his emotional repression along the way, I guess I would describe it as coming of age and I think if it's handled well it could be really beautiful in a way

OH MY GOD I RAMBLED SO MUCH AND IT ISNT EVEN A SOLID THEORY JUST A COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS😭

Sorry that was long and repetitive but uhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah..........anyways Mike Wheeler ily keep ur head up king please don't die in S5‼️‼️ stay safe‼️‼️

[rainylana]

“Don’t you ever let me hear you say that again.”

Eddie Munson x reader

summary: you were not the kind to show weakness. you didn’t want to be babied, but you can’t help but show up to eddie’s with a messed up, bloody face.

warnings: physical abuse, alcohol use, swearing, depictions of blood and bruising, crying, soft eddie, fluff galore, vomiting.

a/n: i know this is sad, but i’ve had a bad couple of days so here we are lmao. also, i wanted to take the time to thank everyone for all the support i’ve gotten with my writing! i appreciate every kind comment, reblog and new follow i get! you’re all so welcome and loved here! feel free to send me asks and requests!

“You’re a fucking moron, Wheeler! You cost us this campaign!” You banged your fist on the table, leaning over as you shouted profanities.

“Me?” Mike scoffed. “How did I cause our downfall? You rolled a four! A four, y/n!”

Dnd nights with the hellfire club weren’t exactly family friendly, but you had to admit, they were fun as hell. The kids were annoying, especially Mike, but they did hold a special place in your heart. Eddie, your boyfriend, sat at the head of the table, giggling and bouncing as he watched you defend yourself against the table.

You and Eddie were known as one of the most chaotic, outgoingly rambunctious couples of all Hawkins High. You became best friends in middle school when you transferred from California, and started dating your sophomore year. It was rare for you two to be apart. You were always together. Whether it was at school, hellfire night or just out on the town, you were together.

“Children, children, children,” Eddie stood dramatically, waving his ringed hands. “Never forget that it’s not about loosing, it’s about how you lose. They’re is no shame in running.”

“Oh, shut it, Munson.” You rolled your eyes, causing everyone to laugh, including him. His pearly teeth shined in giggles as you fought your smirk, collapsing back into your throne like chair.

He stretched out his arm, grabbing you by the collar and pulling you close, placing a loud, smacking kiss against your lips. You both smirked as the kids cringed at your action. Eddie was terrible when it came to pda. The man had no shame, and never gave a shit who could see when he decided to man handle you, and hell, neither did you.

“Are you coming to my place tonight?” He pulled away, whispering amongst yourselves as everyone else loudly scooted out of their chairs.

“I want to,” You sighed, fixing the collar of his jean jacket. “But I’ve been gone all weekend. You know how dad is, he’ll worry.”

Eddie nodded, offering a small smile. “Sure. No worries. I’ll just miss you, is all.”

You smiled at your lover, knowing how lucky you were to have such an amazing person by your side. Hawkins treated him unfairly, because despite his status known as “The freak metalhead”, he won the national boyfriend award every year in your mind. He was thoughtful, considerate. He treated you like goddamn royalty, even. He was the most artistic, creative person you knew. You loved him with everything you had.

Your mother had died the summer before you left California, the reason why you had moved, and your dad had never been the same since. You loved him with all your heart, but sometimes, he scared you. You hated thinking that, because he was your dad, but the alcohol scared you. It had never gotten that bad before, though, and you believed he could keep things under control. When his evenings were tough, he needed a drink. And things, lately, had been especially tough.

His job wasn’t going very well, having been docked pay and hours. Money wasn’t a strong suit in your family, one of the many reasons why Hawkins high liked to pick on you too. A lot of the time, you practically lived with Eddie. You didn’t like sleeping at your house, and usually snuck out when your dad was passed out asleep.

Eddie knew your relationship with your father was strained, so he tried to be considerate as possible, offering his support in any way he could.

You helped him clean up everyone’s mess, putting away the game pieces and throwing away trash. You two always did it alone, because usually, things got a little heated. The kids knew better than to stay. “You want me to drive you home?” Eddie cleared his throat, pushing the last chair in. “Those brakes of yours make me nervous.”

You smiled as you turned, wiping your dirty hands together. “I’ll be okay. I’ll call you in the morning, k?”

He nodded as he watched you grab your bag, rolling his toothpick between his teeth. He gulped, feeling almost nervous about you leaving. But that was Eddie. He was always nervous for you to go home, because he knew how stressful the environment was for you. You chalked it all up with a brave face, pretended it didn’t get to you. He could read you, though. On mornings he picked you up for school, he could tell just by looking at you if the night had been difficult.

You walked over close to him, smirking at his sure sign of anxiety. He would always roll a stupid tooth pick. “Don’t worry about me, Ed’s. I’ll be fine. I’m sure he’s asleep by now.” You grabbed his chin, watching as his brown eyes bore into yours. “Now, are you going to kiss me goodnight, or what?”

He smirked softly, loosely wrapping his left arm around your neck, pulling you to his lips. You sighed into the kiss, his lips warm against your own, noses scrunching against each other’s. You placed your hand on his shoulder, fisting his jacket. You felt that familiar bulk of sadness build up in your chest, but you knew you had to fight it. You loved your dad, but you hated going home. You wanted to stay with Eddie, but you knew you had to go.

You pulled away from his lips, but only to bring your body his. You wrapped your arms warmly around his back, his scent buried into your chest. His arms wound tightly around yours, his head placed alongside yours. Hugs like these made him realize you were stalling to leave, he knew tonight would be difficult for you, but he long since gave up trying to convince you to move in with him actually. You were too stubborn, and liked to pretend everything was okay.

“You okay?” He mumbled, his hand moving softly at your lower back. You nodded against him, muttering a weak ‘yes’.”

You eventually pulled away, and you both smiled at each other. He gave your hand a squeeze, holding it until you walked away and broke the contact. He watched as you pushed open the basement door, and he sighed. Hopefully tonight would be okay.

•

Your breath punched it’s way out of your lungs so loudly, it created clouds in front of you. Your heart hammered so quickly, it barely made you capable of walking. Sobs cracked their way through your throat, making hoarse burns that caused you to wince. Your feet dragged along the ground, your hand holding your stomach to keep from throwing up.

The stale taste of iron filled your mouth, and though you weren’t aware of it, also dripped down your forehead. So, to some it up, no, the night had not gone well.

You weren’t even sure all of what had happened. He’d been asleep, your dad, just like you had suspected. You were nearly asleep, until you heard the loud crashing coming from downstairs. You kept telling yourself over and over to stay up stairs. Stay in bed. It’s not worth it. But you didn’t listen to yourself. You went, and you payed for it.

Your mind was in a total state of shock and disbelief, not being to handle nor process what had happened. You weren’t even able to defend yourself. It had happened so quickly, so suddenly that you barely had time to react, only your muffled screams and cries being heard. A part of you wondered if it was even your dad, maybe it was just someone who looked like him? You highly doubted it.

He had been completely hammered, as per usual, and when you tried to calm him down, your face was met with his fist, your ribs shoved into the side of a table, your throat marked with dark, purple fingerprints. Blood nearly coated your face, making you seem like an entirely different person. You were certain he was going to kill you, but it seemed like he was just bored with you.

He left you to lay there, sobbing and shaking like a traumatized animal. Eventually, you’d mustered up the strength to get up, and that led to now. You should have called the police or the nearest emergency room, but the only thing your mind screamed was Eddie. You tried so hard to keep the boy from worrying about you. You tried so hard to pretend your life wasn’t nearly falling apart.

But now, you didn’t know what to do. You were just wandering, and all you wanted was Eddie. You were in so much pain, your entire body ached and throbbed. It took nearly a half hour until you got to the trailer park, and you flinched as the loud dogs barked at your presence. You sobbed in relief at the sight of his trailer, happy to see his uncle wasn’t there. You loved him dearly, but the last thing you wanted was an audience.

Usually, you would have felt hesitant for his help. You never liked for him to see you cry, because you could see in his face how much it would affect him. Your pain caused his. But, you were running on adrenaline now, you weren’t crying anymore, only bloody and bruised. Eddie had no idea what was coming.

You didn’t bother to knock, and you used your shoulder to push open the door. “Eddie?” You tripped inside, voice cracking. “Eddie?”

You saw his bouncy, black curls first, the shine of his rings that flared in the orange tinted light of the kitchen. “Eddie.” You stumbled, sobbing dryly when you saw him.

“Y/n?” He rushed out at the weak sound of your voice. “Holy- oh, shit, what happened!” His face dropped completely, running to you and grasping your shoulders.

You opened your mouth to speak, but your throat filled with cotton. You shook your head, your eyes blurring together as he grabbed your face. “Y/n, talk to me! Talk to me! Who hurt you?”

It was starting to catch up to you, everything that had happened, and your mind seemed to go blank. Your vision blurred and it was harder to see, his words became harder to hear and make out. Your breathing slowed, and your head spun. You were finally in his presence, the only person in the world that you felt comfortable to let go around. So you did.

Your knees buckled and smacked against the floor, and the rough, burning pain of bile scorched it’s way out of your throat and onto the floor. Your chest heaved and hyperventilated, and you could barely hear Eddie beside you.

“Okay, it’s okay.” His voice nearly shook at how scared he was, holding your waist as he took in your form. The blood on you was cracked and dried into your skin, the bruised turning into a dark purple. He was trying his damnest to not loose his cool, but you weren’t complying with him.

You dry heaved one last time as you coughed, your senses coming back to. The pain in your ribs was too intense to be able to hide your tears, and you let out a painful, noisy sob as you tried to lift yourself up. “Y/n, please, what’s going on? You’re scaring me, talk to me! Who did-”

“Dad.” You sobbed, grabbing at his chest for support.

That was all it you needed to say, and you watched as the color from his face dropped, his brown eyes sinking as he took in your broken face. You looked down, breaking down in tears as you hiccuped. “I don’t- I don’t know w-what happened.” You shook. “Eddie, I don’t- I don’t understand, I can’t-”

“It’s okay, shh.” His face went back to that loving, passionate gleam that you fell in love with. He was fighting every instinct to go to your house and kill your father, to knock him on his ass and make him pay. He too, was in shock, because you looked terrible. But he couldn’t, because you needed him. You were freaking out, and he needed to clean you up.

“Shh, honey, it’s alright,” He reassured you, gathering your close so he could view your injuries. “Calm down, I- shit, y/n, tell me what hurts? Should we go to the hospital, I-”

“No!” You pulled away, standing up. “No, I can’t! Nobody can know a-about this! Dad- he, he didn’t mean it!” You flailed your hands, and he approached you slowly.

“Okay, okay, just-” He swallowed roughly, feeling powerless. “You need to sit down, baby. You’re bleeding, just..sit down, alright?”

He guided you sit down on the couch behind you, watching you like you were a wounded animal ready to pounce for it’s last fight. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He kissed your head softly, rushing into the bathroom and opening every drawer he found.

Your hands shook in your lap, and you felt the back of your head with your shaking hand. Blood stained your fingertips, and you let out a cry. One by one, sobs began pouring their way out of your throat. You hunched over, your cries sounding hoarse and nasally from the bruises on your throat.

Eddie crouched down below you, his eyes glancing up at you as you cried. He lifted your chin up, bringing a wet washcloth to your bloodied cheekbones. His other hand rested on your knee, and he tried his best to concentrate on cleaning you up. “It’s my fault.” You finally spoke, making him flinch with your sharp sob.

“What?” He narrowed his eyes, bringing the rag down.

“I shouldn’t-” You choked on your sob, grabbing at his wrist. “I shouldn’t have gotten up. I should of just- I should of j-just ignored it. I pushed him it’s m-my fault.” You cried.

His face hardened at your words, and he sat taller, grabbing your face. “Don’t you ever let me hear you say that again.” He shook his head.

“You listen to me and you listen good, this is not your fault, you hear me?” He lifted your chin, wiping away a stray tear. “This is not your fault, sweetheart.”

He stood, moving to sit beside you. He pulled you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you softly, careful not to hurt you. You cried into him, hiccuping into the material of his shirt. “I won’t let him hurt you again, I swear it.”

He held you throughout the night, taking care of you gently and lovingly. And he was right, because he’d never let him hurt you again.

[dinitride-art]

“I thought that if I tried hard enough- if I was going to fall in love with a girl it would be El.”

Lucas looks at Mike. He’s staring off into the distance. Blinking eyes and shuddering breathes. Lucas doesn’t know what to do.

So he lets him talk. It sounds like he’s needed to for a while.

“But it didn’t-,” Mike’s voice cracks and he looks at Lucas with a plea in his eyes. “It didn’t work.”

Oh.

“I- I’m-. I think- I’m,” Mike looks away again, and Lucas watches him try to force words through his lips that he really doesn’t have to.

Lucas has known Mike and Will for too long to not know what this is about.

Mike starts to tremble, tears battling their way out of his eyes, and Lucas hugs him. When they pull away, Lucas starts to talk.

“Mike, you’re my best friend… and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t notice some things.”

Mike looks at him with wide eyes, “what?”

Lucas smiles, “you and Will, man. You’ve always been different with Will.”

“Oh… You noticed that?”

“Hard not to… but I think I finally started to understand when you made me bike all the way across town in a rainstorm to apologize to him. When really, it was just you who was apologizing.”

Mike glares at Lucas.

“And thinking about it now, you’ve always been way too protective of him. And a lot nicer to him than you are to anyone else in the party,” Lucas is on a roll now, there are years worth memories finally starting to make sense. Mikes never going to live this one down.

“Hey, wait a minute-.”

“And it’s always been Mike and Will, and then the party. Because apparently you two are just a package deal and then there’s me and Dustin and Max and even El. Like that used to make me feel like you two thought you were better than us… but it makes more sense knowning that…”

“…That I’m in love with him?” Mike admits quietly.

“Yeah. Knowing that you’ve been in love with him this whole time, man-.”

“-wait I thought you were done-.”

“Nope, this will never be over. I have years worth of this shit man. Years.”

“Oh, fuck.”

Lucas laughs.

Mike’s tone changes from lighthearted back to how it was closer to the start of their conversation, “I didn’t expect this to go well. I just needed to tell someone because I kinda felt like I was going to die if I didn’t. So, thank you for not… I don’t even know.”

“Hey, I’m sorry that I made you think that this could’ve gone badly. I-,” Lucas stops, remembering things from years ago. And remembering the look on Mike’s face. “Shit, man, I’m sorry that I was such a dick to you about El.”

“It’s fine. I probably deserved it. It wasn’t I wasn’t being a dick to you too.”

“Still, Mike. This is different.”

“Yeah, it is. I am.”

“…do you think Will is too?”

Mike stares at him, “what? No? I don’t know? Probably not. Why?”

“Well, since you and El broke up. And you’ve been hopelessly in love with Will-“

“Hopelessly?”

“For years. Maybe, it’s time for operation H.E.A.R.T.”

“What the fuck is operation heart, Lucas.”

“Help exhausting asshole with relationship troubles.”

“This was a mistake actually- I’m leaving.”

Lucas laughs and Mike buries his head in his hands.

“But seriously though. Thank you,” Mike says.

“There is nothing to thank me for.”

And Lucas means it. Mike has been his best friend for years and he’s seen how this was tearing him apart. He didn’t understand what it was, but he does now.

And now he’s got a new goal. Get Mike Wheeler a boyfriend.

Because he’s known Will as long as he’s known Mike. And they’re both absolutely hopeless.

———

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk- I am a Mike comes out to Lucas first truther

[strangersteddierthings]

Bad News First, Eddie

Part One 🦇 Part Two🦇Part Three🦇FInal Part

Whew! I don’t think I’ve written this much in such a short amount of time ever in my life. The boys deserve a soft ending, I think. Enjoy!

-

It goes like this. While Eddie's been lost in his own mind, his body was living. Sort of.

Top secret government assisted living, kinda living. For a secret government hospital one would think the place would be fancier or something but it's just a regular looking hospital.

Eddie's in therapy, both for his body and mind.

He learns that the voice he heard when Eleven helped pull him from the depths of his mind was Mike Wheeler of all people, and he sounds different because he's nineteen and in college. Mike mocks him on graduating before Eddie. He regrets it when Eddie gets him into a headlock.

-

He gets to meet Eleven, outside of his mind. And he starts calling her El. Part of him can't stop thinking about Eleven as the entity he thought was going to lead him to the great beyond.

She is just a person. Sorta.

Dustin had told him there was a girl with superpowers and Eddie is glad she's real. Not that he thought Dustin would lie about this (actually, he might have thought Dustin was lying just to give him some weird version of a pep talk. Everything said before going through Watergate was suspect if he's honest).

-

When he's finally well enough to be able to leave, Doctor Owens tells him their plan.

They're gonna convince Wayne to fly to Tennessee. Eddie, El, and Mike Wheeler are gonna be flown there, too. There's a place for them to stay, to meet up with his uncle in private.

They'll stay there a month. Doctor Owens knows a doctor who can do Eddie's final evaluations before he can really go home.

That's the real kicker.

Hawkins fucking sucks. Small town, narrow views, non-conformity gets you called a Freak in the same way his Dad used to call him a fag. Like he said, fucking sucks.

But it's also the sanctuary he escaped to when he was eleven years old. It's the place where his uncle built a home for him.

So, back to Hawkins first. He can always go somewhere else later. Maybe a coastal city. See the ocean.

-

Eddie hasn't been afraid of a reaction from his uncle since that day in the hospital parking lot after he caught Eddie making out with another guy. He's got that same fear inside now, though, knowing that when El opens that door, he'll see the family he feels like he abandoned. It's not fair to himself to think that, his therapist would say, but he's allowed to have crazy thoughts right now. He's come back from being (not)dead and gets to see Wayne again for the first time. Knowing his feelings are justified doesn't make them fade, though, so he's not surprised his voice shakes when the door finally opens. “Hey Uncle Wayne.”

Wayne takes less than two seconds to reach Eddie, pulling him into a bone crushing hug. “I love you so much, you little bastard. Don’t you ever, ever do this to me again.”

It's all Eddie can do to remain upright and hug him back, clinging to his shirt like he's eleven years old again.

-

Wayne gives him an overview of what he's missed after the Upside Down came into their world (he heard that part from El and Mike, against the better wishes of Doctor Owens). Learns that Wayne and Steve live in Steve's childhood home because his parents just gifted it to him, apparently. That Wayne is only part time at the plant now due to an accident he had, and how that sparked his current living conditions.

Learns that Steve and Wayne became close because, unbelievably, Steve Harrington goes to his grave in the cemetery and cleans off graffiti on the regular.

Eddie feels a little hot under the collar because his brain reminds him of a fact he’d heard once; that the author of Frankenstein lost her virginity on her mother’s grave and a little voice in the back of his head whispers that it'd be hot for him to do the same thing with Steve on his own grave.

He has to scamper to the bathroom to scold himself in the mirror because he cannot be having these kinds of thoughts about Steve while talking to his uncle!

-

Wayne asks him, the night before their flight, “what’s something you want to do, once everything is settled and life starts to feel normal again?”

“I wanna go on a vacation. Like, a real, bona fide, family vacation.”

“Where you wanna go?”

“Think I’d like to see the ocean.”

Wayne smiles softly. “Alright. When you feel ready for it, we’ll go.”

-

“Just give him a chance, Eddie,” Wayne says randomly, as they wait to board their flight to Indianapolis.

“Give him a chance? As if I’d waste it,” Eddie feels breathless at just the thought. It's certainly not helping that stupid crush he's been harboring for years, knowing how Steve’s been treating his uncle. It was one thing to watch Steve defend Jeff that one time in high school; it's an entirely different ball game knowing he's watched over his uncle with care and devotion for years. “He took care of you when I couldn’t. He cares. I don’t think there’s a chance I wouldn’t give him.”

“How long have you had a thing for Steve?”

Eddie's brain screeches to a halt because he was didn't think anything he'd just said would give him away. He can't even think of a reply good enough to throw his uncle off his trail. “That’s not- why would you think- when have I ever!?”

“You think I wouldn’t know this about you?” Wayne chuckles.

No. No, Eddie thinks, of course you could take one look at me and know. His uncle had been able to know everything about him so effortlessly. But Eddie doesn't have to answer, so he won't. “So, we’ll be living with Steve Harrington? Will he… be okay with me being there?”

“Yeah. Steve and I had each other when we needed it. Now I need you, so Steve won’t mind at all," Wayne sounds so sure, so convinced, that Eddie is too.

Eddie smiles, pulling a strand of his hair to hide his face behind as he imagines getting to eat at the same dinner table as Steve fucking Harrington. He doesn't even mind that Wayne gives him a look at says 'you are being so obvious right now' because he is. He knows he is. He's allowed to be. Wayne's not going to mock him for his crush.

-

On the drive from Indianapolis to Hawkins, Wayne tells him the lie he told Steve. Apparently, Steve thinks Eddie's dad is coming to stay for a while. The mere thought of that sets Eddie on edge, even though he knows Wyatt Munson's still in prison. Will be for a long time, with the list of shit they got him for.

They roll into Hawkins shortly after, and while Eddie may have not been in Hawkins the last five years, and he's willing to admit that things might have changed things up since they did have to rebuild a lot of the town, he's certain that Steve's house is on the other side of it. “This isn’t the way to the Harrington house."

“Steve won’t be there. He comes here when he’s overwhelmed," Wayne says. It's still pretty jarring to hear Wayne talk about Steve like this. Like he knows him. Which, he does, obviously, because they've gotten to know each other.

Still mind blowing to think about.

“The cemetery?” is what comes out of his mouth, though.

Wayne knows what's he's really meaning to ask, though, because he shrugs and says, “we both come talk to you. Steve always starts with the bad news, you know. I think you should start with good news. Just this once." The car is slowing down, and Wayne is pointing out the front windshield, to a figure crouched down near a lone headstone. "Ah. See, there he is.”

Steve. He's too far away for Eddie to be sure sure but if anyone is still wearing bright polo shirts tucked into light wash jeans this far after leaving high school, it'd be Steve Harrington. Eddie's not even sure the car is fully stopped when he all but falls out of it.

He doesn't run to greet Steve, because that's a bit dramatic, but he's not too proud to admit he might be power walking. He slows down when he gets closer, coming to a full stop just close enough to hear Steve talking to his grave. Talking to him.

"Bad news, Eds. I'm too much of a coward to meet your old man. Afraid of what he'll sound like. Because I want him to sound like you so fucking bad it hurts. So instead of being home, I'm hiding here."

"Well, I've some bad news for you, too, Stevie. I got my voice from my mom," Eddie says, and almost instantly cringes because Wayne literally just told him to start with good news and he didn't. Eddie doesn't have much time to soak in his embarrassment, though, because Steve whips around so fast that Eddie's dizzy from the movement.

Steve looks older but it's in the way people who have seen more than their fair share of Hell look older, and less about actual aging. His eyes are wide and stunned. Eddie watches as his jaw moves but no words come out. He looks like he's seen a ghost which... ok, that's fair.

"Umm," Eddie says, a little worried he's broken him when Steve doesn't even seem to be blinking as he stares at Eddie. "Good news, Steve. I, uh, I lived. Kinda. El kinda pulled me back to the surface of my mind, or whatever, and Owens did a good job at patchin' up the goods here," he gestures to his whole body with a sweeping motion of his hand and wishes that a gate to the Upside Down would open beneath his feet and suck him back to Hell because could he be any more embarrassing?

"A-are you," he watches as Steve swallows and takes a deep breath. He's still not sure Steve has blinked yet. "real?"

"Yeah," Eddie nods, taking a few steps closer, "yeah, I'm real. I'm here and alive and real."

Steve launches himself forward then, meeting him halfway. It's so goddamn surreal be witness to how tenderly Steve actually reaches out to him, though, such a contrast to the flurry of movement he'd been just a second ago. Eddie stays still as Steve lifts shaking hands to cup his face with, pushing against his cheeks as if to test whether or not Eddie is solid. Those hands slide down, along his neck, across his shoulders, down his arms where Steve seems to need to pause and collect himself again, hands wrapped loosely around his arms just below his elbows while Steve shuts his eyes and a low, broken sound pulls itself from his throat before his eyes open again, wet with tears, and he releases Eddie just long enough to throw his arms around his neck and pull him into a hug almost as crushing as the one he shared with his uncle.

It's overwhelming in this moment. To see how much he means to Steve and not fully understand how he came to mean anything to him at all.

Doesn't stop him from wrapping his own arms around Steve's waist, though.

-

It goes like this.

He gets his own room at Harrington's house. Wayne has his own room, too. How strange it is, to not have his uncle sleeping the day away on the couch because the trailer had one room and he'd given it to Eddie.

They adjust to living together so seamlessly. Like they were always meant to be family.

They have dinner together. Real homecooked meals. Which isn't a novelty for Wayne and Steve anymore, but Eddie's memory ends five years ago, when his dinners consisted of microwavable meals or left over snacks from lunch. Wayne cooks on the days when Steve works, and Eddie helps. Gets to be taught how to cook.

For a while, Eddie is afraid to leave the house. Even knowing that Jason Carver bit the dust the same day he was supposed to also doesn’t help. He only goes places with Wayne and Steve, and even then, the double takes people send his way are enough to make him want to shrink into himself.

However, no one says anything to him. He's vaguely aware that everyone here lived through some sort of miniature apocalypse and maybe that's the kind of thing that has to happen to make a small town in Indiana change.

-

He and Steve dance around each other. He can feel it. There is something here, between them, that neither fully acknowledges.

He tries to talk to Wayne about it, but he won't give him much to go on.

"I won't be the one to say anything about what Steve thinks of you. That's gotta come from Steve. I will say this. He's waiting for you to bring it up first."

"Why does it have to be me?"

"He's had five years to gather his thoughts and emotions," Wayne levels him with a Look, "you gotta have the time to figure yourself out, too."

Well, fuck.

-

Steve waits until it's almost summer break for the kids (they’re not really kids anymore, though, but Eddie’s adjusting to that still) to ask if he's ready to face them. "It'll be a lot to handle," Steve says as he sits next to Eddie on their couch (their couch. He can't believe that's a truth in his life right now). "Eleven and Mike haven't told anyone yet, but they want to. It wasn't just Wayne and I that grieved for you."

"I know," Eddie says, "I know. I'm good. I'm alive and here and I want them to know about it."

Steve nods slowly, not fully focused on Eddie. Eddie's come to know that means he's thinking, so Eddie waits for him to speak. "Would you prefer to meet with everyone... one at a time?"

"What's the other option?"

"Well, I always host a barbeque when they all come back. Could tell everyone all at once. Like ripping off a Band-Aid."

Eddie crooks a smile because he's a bit mischievous and his mind instantly plays a scene where he walks into a backyard full of all the people he's come to care for, and who care for him, and he's trying to best to be casual about it in this fantasy. "Yeah. Let's do the barbeque thing."

-

"Bad news, Stevie," Eddie whispers as he leans against the wall next his closed door, trying not to hyperventilate. "I don't know if I can do this."

Steve reaches out and takes one of Eddie's hands in his own, linking their fingers like it's a casual thing they do all the time when it's most certainly not. "Good news, Eds. You don't have to. We didn't tell anyone you're here. You can stay in your room until they're gone, and we'll figure out another way to tell them."

Eddie squeezes his eyes shut and thinks he might be crushing all the bones in Steve's hand with how hard he's clenching it. "What if they're mad at me?"

Steve understands the real question Eddie is asking, the one he doesn't know how to phrase. "You were dead, Eds, and no one out in that yard is going to be 'mad' about any time they'd spent grieving over you. There's gonna be a lot of tears, man, like a lot. Maybe even some shouting. None of it done in anger."

"How're you sure?"

Steve lifts his unoccupied hand and cups Eddie's check. Steve’s eyes are watery and his voice is a bit choked, but he says, "because I was there. I saw them through their grief. Everyone in the backyard either loves you already, or they will."

It's so fucking intimate, how close they are, how tenderly Steve touches him. Wayne had said he'd need to take the first step, so he blames Wayne when he blurts out, "what about everyone in this room? They love me, too?"

Steve's eyes go wide in surprise before his whole face lights up in a way Eddie has never seen before. It makes Steve look younger, less haunted, and then Steve whispers, "of course I love you," like there is no other answer Steve could have given.

Eddie grabs a handful as Steve's polo shirt and pulls him close enough to kiss.

Butterflies and fireworks erupt within Eddie. Kissing Steve is so much better than he's ever let himself imagine. They're still holding hands and Steve's still got his other hand resting so softly on his cheek and Steve's lips are kinda chapped but fuck does the briefest touch of their lips together make Eddie lose all his breath.

It's not deep, or all consuming. There's not even an exchange of tongue. Steve kisses him softly, gently, pulls back to pepper little kisses all over Eddie's face that has him blushing more than he's ever done in his life, and Steve places one, two, three more kisses to his lips before pulling back to look at Eddie like he's the answer to every prayer Steve's ever had. It makes his knees weak.

"I think," Eddie pauses to lick his lips, "I think I'll be brave enough to do it if you're holding my hand."

"Just try and pry yourself away, Munson," Steve teases. "Whenever you're ready."

-

Steve was right about the tears and shouting. He was also right that no one is mad at him.

Dustin hugs him so hard they fall over in the yard and Eddie finds himself part of a dog pile that starts with crying that turns into laughter that leads back into crying, everyone grabbing at him and him grabbing back.

It's emotional. It's overwhelming. It's the best fucking day of Eddie Munson's life.

-

Doctor Owens reaches out towards the end of summer to let him know they're issuing him a new social security card. Eddie asks if he's allowed to change him name. Owens says yes.

-

"Bad news first, Eddie," Eddie says to himself as he kneels in front of his own headstone. "You've become so boring and normal, no one vandalizes your grave anymore. Good news, though. Means I can do it myself."

Before him is his headstone, a thick red line painted through his death date. Another more carefully applied line is struck through his middle name. Above it he's painted in block letters 'Wayne'.

"Eddie, come on! This road trip's gonna start without you," Steve calls from where he's leaning against the side of Wayne's pickup.

Eddie is satisfied with his work, so he abandons the paint and returns to the pickup. He slides across the bench seat, one leg pretzeled under himself to be out of the way of the gear shift. Steve follows in after, shutting the door and reaching for Eddie's hand automatically.

He's got Wayne to his left, Steve to his right, and the first family vacation he's ever taken in his life ahead of him.

Good news, Eddie Wayne Munson. Maybe everyday going forward can be the best fucking day of your life.

[eddiemunsonswhxre]

Hi could you do an angsty one shot where Eddie cheats on the reader? Or when the reader thinks he’s cheated and they argue? Whatever you feel like, thanks 😊

think this is my fav angst i've written so far, thanks for the request

infidelity / eddie munson

part two

cw: cheating/thoughts of cheating, cursing, overall just a lot of angst and tears

sometimes it's hard to know what you want.

--

eddie never meant to make meeting with chrissy cunningham a regular thing. but she was a really sweet girl who was struggling and eddie always had to be a savior. so when she kept asking to meet him during lunch out in the woods, he kept going. and eventually, he began asking her to meet him and before he knew it they were hanging out there most days of the week and hiding it from everyone. even you. 

at first you didn’t notice and frankly didn’t care. you weren’t obsessive over eddie because you were confident in his love for you. at least you thought you were. he kept disappearing though and he wouldn’t give you an answer. if he did he lied, which was stupid because he was so easy for you to read. it just didn’t make sense. so, you decided to skip fifth period and see just where he kept disappearing to during his lunch hour. lucas had admitted to you that he wasn’t at lunch much anymore, but was secretive of where he was going. the boys had all assumed he was meeting you. 

so there you were, stood behind the bleachers as you watched eddie stand near the entrance of the woods while looking around for someone expectantly. what you didn’t expect was to see chrissy cunningham running up to meet him. you didn’t freak out, you knew eddie was the only one in school who sold drugs and who were you to judge if people needed them or not? but then he held open his arms, engulfing the giggling blonde in a tight hug. you felt a sharp pain in your heart as you watched him guide her into the woods, arm slung across her shoulder as she wrapped one around his back.

you debated running after them and confronting them, but you were smarter than that. running up at them a screaming and crying mess would get you nowhere. you needed evidence. so, you acted as though nothing was wrong when eddie came up to you after school and gave you a kiss as he did everyday. but you couldn’t help but wonder if those lips had been against someone else’s. 

“so, uh, i think we need a date night. what do you say the movies? friday night? they’re replaying nightmare on elm street since the new one’s coming out in a month or so, i know you love that movie,” you ask with a smile. eddie’s smile falters and he gulps nervously. 

he scratches the back of his neck, hoping he doesn’t seem like he’s lying. “i’d love to, baby, but i’m supposed to hang out with gareth and the guys. saturday though?” he asks with a fake smile. you didn’t want him to know you had caught on.

you pulled away from him and nodded. “yeah, saturday, i’ll call you about times?” you say. he nods and smiles. “alright, i’m gonna head home,” you say, holding the strap of your bag tightly.

“you don’t want to come to hellfire?” he asked confused. you almost always came to watch. 

you shook your head no. “nah, i’m not feeling too good,” you shrugged.

eddie frowned. “oh, well, go rest and get better, okay? maybe i’ll stop by later,” he says stepping back up to you. “i love you, babe,” he says and it hurt so much more than it ever has. you couldn’t shake what you'd seen today, and how did you know he even meant it anymore? he pressed a kiss to your forehead and you nodded, turning and heading to your car as tears stung your eyes. 

it was currently wednesday, so you planned on interrogating one of eddie’s minions that wouldn’t crack if eddie were to question him. so that’s how you ended up at hard-headed mike wheeler’s house at 9 o’clock on a wednesday night. to say he was shocked to see you sitting on his bed in his dirty bedroom would be an understatement. “y/n?” he asks, looking back at nancy who just shrugged and went to her own room. 

“hey, mike,” you said hoarsely, not bothering to try and hide you’ve been crying. 

mike looks at you in confusion before slowly closing his door and dropping his bag. “not trying to be rude, but why are you here? in my bed… and crying?” he asks cautiously approaching you.

“just know if you tell anyone what we talk about in here i will chop your tiny dick off,” you say aggressively pointing at him.

“my dick isn’t- nevermind. yeah, i won’t tell anyone. to be honest, y/n you’re kind of scary,” he says, cautiously sitting on his own bed across from you. “now, can you please tell me what’s going on?” he asks.

you sigh, wiping a tear from your eye. “i think eddie’s cheating on me,” you spoke quietly.

mike’s jaw dropped. “no way,” he says causing you to give him a look. “i-i mean, he’s like obsessed with you, he talks about you like all the time. even refers to you as his princess, it’s kind of weird honestly…” mike continues. 

“but has it been the same recently? have you noticed a change in, i don’t know, the past month i think?” you ask, chewing on your nails.

mike thought back and he hated to say it, but he did. “y/n… do you really think he has the ability to cheat on you?” he asks, struggling to believe it.

“so you have noticed something,” you observe, feeling as though you may throw up. 

mike bit his lip and looked away. “he just, doesn’t talk as much about you. i just thought maybe since you’ve been together so long that he didn’t feel like he needed to? in the beginning he was worried about us hitting on you, on his bullshit about how we couldn’t look at you in the wrong way and so on but obviously we caught on quickly. he also misses lunch like a lot, we figured he was with you but lucas said that wasn’t it. i know he sells, but he doesn’t get that much business,” mike explains. a couple tears fall from your eyes and mike feels awkward but just looks down at his hands. 

“he’s been going to the woods behind the football field, with chrissy cunningham. i saw them today,” you said brokenly.

mike furrows his eyebrows. “chrissy cunningham? you’re sure, like, jason’s girlfriend?” he asks and you nod. “holy shit…” he mutters. 

“i asked him to hangout friday, they’re playing nightmare on elm and it’s like his favorite movie. but he said he’s hanging out with gareth. can you find out if that’s true? maybe ask what everyone’s doing and get back to me?” you ask. mike chewed on his lip as he thought. he didn’t want to betray eddie, but if he was cheating…

if eddie was like a male parental figure for the guys, you were definitely like a mother. you always gave the boys rides home if they needed it, you’d bought them pizza, and even tried helping them get girls. “yeah, i’ll ask tomorrow at lunch. it’s hot dog day, for some reason he thinks they’re amazing,” mike comments causing you to laugh. it was true, eddie for some reason loved those nasty ass hot dogs. 

so the next day at lunch, mike did just that. he was normally shit at being subtle, but luckily dustin first brought up the topic of weekend plans. almost everyone had answered except eddie. “so, eddie. what about you? doing anything tomorrow or the weekend?” he asked nonchalantly. eddie looked up, mike almost wanting to laugh at the fact his mouth was actually full of hot dog. 

after swallowing, he wipes his mouth and looks at him. “yeah, i’m going to see nightmare on elm street tomorrow night. you know they’re showing that shit?” he smiles, taking another bite. a pit forms in mike’s stomach. he wasn’t hanging out with gareth. 

“oh, cool. cool. you going with y/n, you both love that shit?” mike pushes and eddie gives him a nervous look. he looks at mike, his eyes flashing somewhere else in the cafeteria before he pulls himself back together. 

he nods, looking around the table. “uh, yeah. y/n and me are going,” eddie confirms. mike purses his lip, looking down to his tray as he thinks. telling you hurt, because he saw your eyes water before thanking him and leaving. so you made a plan, you were going to go to the movie and see if eddie was there. if he was with chrissy, you’d confront him at his house after. 

so that’s where you stood five minutes before the movie started. there were only doing one showing tonight, and knowing eddie he would’ve arrived here thirty minutes early. he always made you do that. you paid for a ticket and stood outside the door to the theater, trying to psych yourself up to go in there and see something that might break you inside.

you took a final deep breath and walked into the theater. you peaked around the corner of the wall separating the entrance from the seats and scanned up the crowd. you avoided looking at your seats first, scared of what you might find. you and eddie always sat in the same place, and when your eyes finally fell on it, you wanted to throw up. 

in his usual seat sat your boyfriend, and in yours was chrissy cunningham. he had his arm on the back of the chair, like he always did for you and they were laughing, eating popcorn from a bucket on chrissy’s lap. you turned around quickly, running out of the theater and back to your car. the second your door closed you broke down. all you felt was pain.

eddie was your everything. in a world where you had no one, you thought you would always have eddie. you spent months in your relationship finally getting comfortable with the fact that he actually wanted you after no one had. and now? pretty cheerleader, queen of hawkins high, chrissy cunningham had his attention. you cried in your car for about an hour, and when you could finally see straight you drove to his trailer and sat on the steps, waiting for him to come home. you just prayed chrissy wasn’t with him. that would break you more than anything. 

you sat impatiently, bouncing your leg until you heard the tell-tale sign of metallica coming from his van. soon, his headlights were blinding you until his engine cut. “baby?” he asked as his door opened, it quickly slamming shut as he walked quickly up to you. “baby, what are you doing here, it's getting cold?” he asks, standing in front of you. 

“how was your movie?” you asked in an empty voice and eddie felt his blood run cold. 

he looked around nervously before opening his mouth. “what do you mean? i-i was with gareth-”

“i saw you, eddie!” you yelled, looking up at him. “i was there! i knew you were acting weird and i find you with chrissy fucking cunningham?” you scoff, lowering your voice now that you had his attention. 

eddie was in shock. “i-i can explain,” he said and looked at you like he was genuinely in pain.

you raised your eyebrows, “then explain.” 

eddie opened his mouth, searching for words but he didn’t have any. he didn’t know how to explain what he’d been doing or what has been going through his head. “i love you,” he whispered desperately.

you scoffed in disbelief and stood up. “no, you don’t,” you sneer at him. 

eddie mouth goes dry. “i do, y/n, i love you,” he tries reassuring. you shake your head, lip quivering as you feel tears well up in your eyes once more.

“then why are you cheating on me?” you ask with a broken voice.

eddie grabs you by the arms to get you to look at him. “baby, i’m not cheating on you. me and chrissy, we- we’re just friends,” he says desperately. you shake your head, bringing your hands up to your face. 

“no,” you mumble. and eddie opens his mouth to respond. “you meet her three times a week. you hide in the fucking woods with her. you hug her like she’s- like you hug me. you lied to me, you took her to your favorite movie, and-and you put her in my seat!” you tell him, voice rising as you go as you try ripping away from his grip.

eddie shakes his head, eyes filling with tears. “no- babe, it’s not like that,” he cries, trying to grab you again. 

you cry as you shove him away. “then what’s it like? because you know i wouldn’t have cared if you and chrissy were just friends. but you lied and kept it all from me. you chose her over me, you’re treating her exactly how you treated me before you asked me out. you took her to see nightmare on elm street,” you say, emphasizing the title while staring deep into his eyes. 

“i thought she would like it, it’s nothing else!” he says.

you turn from him as you take a deep breath. “was that your first time hanging out with her, outside of school?” you ask.

“yes, baby, i just thought she’d-” he starts.

“you took her on the same first date you took me on. on that date, we had our first kiss. on that date, you asked me out. and now? it’s not even ours anymore,” you say, eddie’s heart dropping with every sentence. he totally forgot that was 'your movie.'

he shook his head and reached for your hands once again. “y/n, it’s still ours, it will always be ours,” he said, tears visibly falling. 

you let out a sob that broke eddie’s heart. “you kiss her?” you ask.

“no, no, baby, i didn't kiss her,” he says immediately and you know he’s honest. that takes the tiniest bit of hurt away from you. 

you take a deep breath before asking the next question. “but you like her?” you whisper. eddie shakes his head no but you notice the unsureness behind his eyes. “don’t lie,” you continue.

eddie runs a hand over his mouth and spins around, running his hands through his hair. “i don’t know,” he finally admits, scaring himself. you choke back a sob, feeling like everything in your life is a lie. “but, i do know that i love you,” eddie says, walking up to you. 

you shake your head once more, feeling your whole body become heavy with helplessness. you felt like you were gonna throw up. “don’t,” you say, feeling your mouth begin to salivate as you hold out your hand. “don’t say you love me if i’m not the only one,” you say and then gag.

“but it’s true, i’m in love with you, y/n, please believe me,” eddie begs trying to get closer to you. your hands fall to your knees as you heave and then suddenly you’re throwing up whatever you had eaten earlier. “woah, baby,” eddie said in a worried tone, immediately reaching forward to hold your hair and rub your back as you continued throwing up. once you are able to stop and stand, you push him off of you.

you wipe your mouth, more tears filling your eyes. “don’t call me that,” you say, stepping back away from him.

“y/n, please. everything can be fine. look i-i’ll stop talking to chrissy. that’s no problem, i’ll do anything,” he begs.

you close your eyes, your head was starting to hurt from all of this. “eddie, i can’t be with you when you have feelings for someone else,” you say.

eddie lets out a huff, trying to hold back a sob. “i don’t have feelings for her, i-i don’t think i do. i know that you’re who i want, i never questioned that,” he explains. 

“you still lied to me,” you say.

the sob leaves his lips. “i know and i’m sorry. i’m so sorry. but please, y/n, you are the only one i want. chrissy is nothing compared to you,” he says.

“i need to go home. i need to think. i need a break,” you say seriously, taking a deep breath. 

eddie starts to shake, his lip trembling. “what? a break? like… from us?” eddie croaks.

you nod and brush past him, walking to your car. “we’re done, eddie. go figure your shit out with chrissy,” you say, feeling completely numb as you do.

eddie runs after you, grabbing your arm and turning you to face him. “baby, please don’t do this. i do not want chrissy, you are it for me,” he emphasizes his words, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear. tears streaming down both your faces.

“if that’s true then a break won’t change that. i’m not changing my mind,” you say and eddie’s head falls forward as a sob rocks through his whole body.

he sniffles and hiccups before meeting your eyes again. “so this is it?” he asks in the most heartbroken voice you’d ever heard.

you look away from him, not wanting to cry more. “goodbye, eddie,” you whisper, waiting for him to take his hands from you.

eddie cries, leaning his head down to rest against yours. “i’m sorry i did this to us,” he whimpers, causing you to screw your eyes shut in pain. 

“eddie…” you trail, watching him look at you through his tear-filled brown eyes. “let me go,” you say quietly, watching him shut his eyes.

he shakes his head no, stroking your face with his thumb. “i can’t. i love you, i want to marry you, y/n. i can’t just let you go,” he sobs. everything he was saying was making you want to stay, but you knew it would be a mistake if you did.

“eddie, you have to. i need space, please,” you beg. eddie gave you a final, heart broken look before backing away slowly. “goodnight, eddie,” you say quietly and open your car door. 

“i love you,” he desperately tries once more as your car door closes. you pull out of his driveway and head home, tears clouding your vision as you go. eddie pulls at his hair and falls to his knees, sobbing at the fact that he just lost you. eddie was feeling more pain than he’d ever felt in his life, and he didn’t even know what to do with himself at this point. 

[astrobei]

for @quinnick: kiss prompt #4 - lips barely touching

The car is out of gas. Will is about ten seconds away from maybe-dying (again). Mike Wheeler has been abnormally quiet today.

At least of late, one of those things is more abnormal than the others. 

The car is always out of gas. Will doesn’t know when the last time they’d filled it up was, but he does know that it’s not his problem trying to figure it out. That’s Hopper’s deal. Or his mom’s, maybe. Or Nancy’s, or Jonathan’s, or–

Whatever! The point is that the car is out of gas, Mike and Will are stranded at the currently closed general store, and they’re probably about to die.

Again.

“Mike,” Will tries, for maybe the hundredth time. “It’s not your fault, okay, it could’ve happened to anyone–”

“Yeah,” Mike grumbles miserably, as they round the corner, from aisle four – cleaning supplies and household items – into aisle five – canned goods. Most of the shelves are empty, turned over. Mike picks up a can of pickled green beans, pulls a face, and puts it back on the shelf. “But it didn’t happen to anyone. It happened to me.”

Will takes a long, deep breath in through his nose. God forbid Mike Wheeler ever let anything go. “You didn’t know,” he huffs anyway. “It’s not your fault.” The store is dark, which is great for being able to roll your eyes without Mike seeing. Will’s flashlight sputters, briefly, the bright circle of light flickering in and out of view. He smacks it against his palm once, twice, and it steadies. “Seriously,” Will adds, as Mike slows to a stop in front of him. “Stop beating yourself up. So we have to wait for a ride. Big deal.”

Mike turns around to face him. His expression is mostly unreadable in the dark, but Will’s flashlight catches the edge of it – worried, a little guilty. “Yeah,” Mike says softly. “Except there are things everywhere and waiting for a ride is just– we’re sitting ducks here, okay,” Mike frowns. “I don’t like it. It feels like tempting fate.”

“Well, the simple fact of my existence feels like tempting fate sometimes,” Will jokes. It works, for a split second – Mike’s furrowed brows smooth out into something halfway amused, and he makes a noise that might be a laugh.

“Not funny,” Mike says anyway. His lips twitch.

“You laughed!” Will insists, smiling. His voice carries down through the hallway in a vibrant echo. “I know you did!”

“Shut up,” Mike whispers, looking away. “Would it kill you to keep your voice down?”

It might. Somewhere in the back of Will’s mind, he’s vaguely aware that they’re not safe here, out in the open, and that the whole point of them coming inside instead of waiting in the parking lot was to hunker down until Jonathan and Nancy could get another car here to pick them up. And also, preferably, get some gas.

Somewhere significantly closer in Will’s mind, though, is the knowledge that this is the most Mike has said – and the closest he’s come to laughing – since the car had stalled on the way from the cabin to the general store ten minutes ago, and Mike had just barely had time to pull into the abandoned parking lot before it had stopped altogether. He knows Mike doesn’t like this – being caught off-guard, out in the open. Even minute changes in the plan – which you’d think they’d all be more prepared for, considering the way things have been going lately – get Mike a little keyed up.

And the sorry, borderline pathetic part is this: despite it all, despite the ever-present threat of danger, and the impending sense of doom that’s been hanging over their heads for what seems like forever, Will feels vaguely pleased with himself anyway, seeing Mike hold back a smile instead of forcing one on his face.

So yeah, it might kill him, if he kept his voice down. That’s okay. Will thinks it would be worth it, sometimes – the danger and the doom and everything else – to hear Mike laugh.

God, what’s wrong with him? That’s embarrassing. That’s so embarrassing.

He shakes the thought off. “Whatever,” Will says instead, praying the cover of darkness is hiding the blush that’s rapidly rising to his cheeks. He angles  the flashlight away from them anyway, just in case, and Mike’s face falls back into silhouette. “You know I’m right. You’re doomed just by being here with me.”

Mike shakes his head. “You know I don’t think of you like that.”

Will frowns. “Like what?”

“Like– like a bad luck charm,” Mike waves his hands around. “Or whatever.”

“I didn’t say bad luck charm,” Will exclaims. “Ouch! Stop putting words into my mouth.”

Mike grins. “Would you rather have, uh,” he picks up the nearest can to him, something small and vaguely gray, “tinned sardines in your mouth? Tinned sardines in water? Oh, gross. Never mind, actually.”

“I would rather not,” Will decides, even though the shelves are so bare that they might have to suck it up and take home the tinned sardines in water after all. “Would you like some, uh. Tuna?”

“I guess we know why there’s so much fish,” Mike sighs, leaning heavily against an empty shelf. “Nobody wanted it.”

“You mean the ten people outside of our circle of friends that are still left in Hawkins? Yeah,” Will scoffs, then sets the can back down with a soft clink. “I guess not.”

Neither of them say anything for a moment. It’s quiet in the store, the room dark and lit faintly by Will’s flashlight and the display in the corner. It lights Mike up a faint blue, catches the edges of his jaw and where his hair is curling softly over the hood of his jacket. 

Will’s flashlight sputters again. 

When it comes back on this time, it’s more faint than it was before. It’s dark in here, Will realizes, a bit belatedly. Like, really dark.

He takes a deep breath and shuffles closer to Mike, just a little, like the shape of his body all leaned against the empty shelves is a grounding force. Mike gives him a look that Will can’t quite decipher in the dark.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Will breathes out. The proximity is helping, a little. “Just– waiting for our ride.”

Mike leans in a bit closer too, places an arm under Will’s elbow. It’s a light touch, nothing forceful, but the semblance of support is there. “You sure? You look a little pale.”

Sometimes, Will hates how well Mike knows him. He doesn’t get antsy in the same way Mike does in situations like these, but he’d be lying if he said they didn’t affect him at all. It should be expected by now, the automatic fight or flight. 

For some cruel reason, it still isn’t. “You can’t even see me,” he says, but lets himself lean into the touch anyway.

“I can see enough,” Mike says easily. “Do you want to sit down?”

Will shakes his head. The only thing worse than waiting out in the open is sitting out in the open. At least when you’re standing, you can run. “No. I’m fine.”

Will can’t see Mike either, but he’d be willing to bet real money – that he doesn’t have – that he can tell exactly what Mike’s expression looks like. The pause grows, swells and swells and swells, until Will is sure Mike is going to say something–

There’s a clattering outside.

Instantly, Mike’s hand tightens its grip on Will’s elbow. “Did you hear that?”

“Yes,” Will hisses, twisting around to try and see through the windows. “Of course I heard that, Mike.”

“Do you think that’s–”

“No idea,” Will whispers. With no small amount of reluctance, he tugs his arm out of Mike’s grip. He misses the warmth of it almost instantaneously, and the tugging in his stomach is only amplified by the way Mike automatically leans in behind him, places a hand on his back to replace the absent touch, like it was never gone at all. Will swallows, and flicks the flashlight off. “Now be quiet.”

“The windows are boarded up,” Mike says, decidedly not being quiet. Will wonders where the Mike Wheeler of fifteen minutes ago went – the one that was sulking and fidgeting in silence the whole way down the first aid aisle. “They’re boarded up, so nothing can get in. Right?”

“We got in,” Will points out, which Mike seems to realize at approximately the same second he does. It’s getting a little hard to think, with Mike so close to him.

Will really wishes Mike would pull his hand away.

“Right,” Mike whispers, breath ghosting gently over the back of Will’s neck. “Okay. That’s fine. That’s fine.”

Fine, Will thinks. That’s one word for it.

Another clattering. It’s closer this time.

Will freezes.

Jonathan and Nancy are probably about ten minutes out. Twenty if they had to go back to the Wheelers’ for the other car. So they’d probably be fine if they stuck it out here, because the chance of something happening across them now, in the brief period of time where they’re stuck without a ride, in a building equipped with close to nothing that could help, is small.

Small, but not nonexistent.

Will isn’t really feeling inclined to take that chance. “Come on,” he says, then spins on his heel, grabbing Mike’s hand and tugging him in the opposite direction. “Come with me.”

Mike follows easily, stumbling slightly with the sudden movement. “Wh– where are we going?”

“Just come on,” Will says, then tugs Mike around to the back of the store. He yanks open a door, and shoves him inside. “Get in.”

“Whoa,” Mike says, as Will tumbles in behind him. “Will, what–”

“Would it kill you to be quiet?”

“Sorry,” Mike says, then does, at last, fall silent.

Immediately, Will wishes he hadn’t said that. It’s dark in here – even darker than out in the front of the store – and the only noise is the faint hum of a generator, somewhere behind the walls. It’s grating and stilted. Will wonders when the last time it had been repaired was.

Plus, it’s really–

It’s really fucking dark in here.

Will lets out a long, slow exhale, and reaches out to feel for the wall beside him. His palm comes into contact with chipped paint and he follows the shape of it down, lowering himself onto the ground.

“Will?” Mike says, and Will is in half a mind to say that thing about being quiet again, but–

It’s dark. It’s really dark.

“Yeah,” he says, barely audible even to himself over the faint hum of the generator, and the louder hum – demanding, prominent, persistent – of his blood rushing through his ears. “I just– sitting. I’m sitting.”

There had at least been some light out in the front, but this storage closet might as well be a void. It smells vaguely of dust, something stale and unknown and probably untouched for who-knows-how-long. Will takes another deep breath in.

“Where?” Mike asks. “I don’t want to step on you.”

Will cracks a smile. “Here,” he says, and holds a hand up in the air. “Right here.”

There’s a quiet shuffling sound as Mike moves closer, and then Will feels fingertips brushing against his. Mike latches on immediately, gripping tighter onto his hand and sits down in front of him. 

Will still can’t see anything – he can’t see anything – but he can feel Mike’s presence like it’s a tangible thing.

Mike could let go of Will’s hand now. Now that he’s found him.

He doesn’t, though.

“Hey,” Mike says, then there’s another faint shuffling noise. “Where are we?”

“Storage closet.”

“Huh. How did you know it was here?”

Will cracks another smile, despite himself. “My mom worked here, remember? For, like, years.”

“Right,” Mike laughs, and then he’s moving closer, knees bumping against knees in the dark. “I forgot. It doesn’t feel like the same place.”

“Tell me about it,” Will sighs. He’s probably breathing in dust and debris and soot and all sorts of gross stuff, but he can’t find it in himself to care. He presses his knees against Mike’s a little harder, just because he can.

“I remember,” Mike starts, readjusting his grip on Will’s hand – fingers interlocked, a firmer grip – “she’d give me free candy from the front counter. Whenever I came in with my parents, I mean. My mom was so confused about why I kept asking to tag along to Melvald’s with her.”

“That’s not fair,” Will laughs. “She never let me have any candy.”

“You were a menace all hopped up on sugar,” Mike points out. “I knew how to behave myself.”

That’s a damn lie, and they both know it. “Liar,” Will says quietly, leaning his head back against the wall. “You’re such a liar.”

“Maybe so,” Mike hums. “But I’m still the one who got free candy, so–”

“Mike!” Will shoves lightly at his knee, and Mike’s answering laugh fills the small space instantaneously. It’s loud – too loud, because they’re supposed to be hiding, goddamnit – but the nagging little voice at the back of Will’s head is vanquished almost as quickly as it came. “Shut up.”

Mike, as always, ignores him. “Why don’t we turn on a light?”

“The fuse is probably blown,” Will responds. “If there’s even a light in this stupid closet.”

“I mean this, idiot,” Mike says, and then clicks the flashlight back on. The batteries must be dying, because it flickers to life weakly, steadying out into a dim yellow-white. “Obviously.”

“Don’t waste the batteries,” Will says at once, trying to grab for it. “Come on, Mike–”

“Jonathan and Nancy will be here any minute and then we can go put in new batteries,” Mike says, holding it easily out of reach. “No point sitting in the dark, right?”

“Mike,” Will tries to protest, but it’s useless. Mike’s made up his mind.

Slowly, and a little far away, Will realizes what Mike is trying to do. He’s not being subtle about it, but subtlety has never been Mike Wheeler’s strong suit. He’s always been exuberant, quick and spontaneous with his actions, and this is no different. Sitting up close, closer than would be strictly necessary in any other situation. Turning the light on, despite the dying batteries. Telling Will about coming here as a kid, all those years ago. Making him laugh. Diffusing the tension.

Jesus, and he’s still holding Will’s hand.

A wave of affection washes over him, sudden and overwhelming enough for Will to feel borderline nauseous.

This isn’t fair. This isn’t fair. Mike can’t just sit here and touch their knees together and hold Will’s hand, and–

“Look,” Mike is saying, and then he’s holding the flashlight under his chin and grinning. “Don’t I look freaky?”

In all honesty, Mike looks fucking hilarious. The direct light casts long shadows across the dips of his cheekbones, the shapes of his eyelashes distorting wildly as he blinks. “No,” Will snorts, rolling his eyes. “You look ridiculous.”

“Really?” Mike grins, in a way that means he knows just how ridiculous he looks. “Not even a little?” He waggles his eyebrows, and the resulting effect is so comical that Will can’t help the laugh that bursts out of him, sharp and sudden and real.

“Mike,” he chides, for the millionth time. “You’re going to kill the battery.”

Mike looks way too pleased with himself. “Worth it,” he says anyway, as he sets the flashlight down. It evens out the sharp angles of his face, now that it’s farther away, lights his cheeks and nose and eyes up into something softer, more open.

Something about the steadiness of Mike’s expression is brighter than any source of light. Suddenly, it’s too much. Suddenly, it’s blinding. 

God. He’s so screwed.  “For what?”

“Getting you to laugh,” Mike says, simple and easy, like he’s reciting times tables instead of proceeding to turn Will’s entire world upside down on its pathetic little axis.

Will feels his lungs stutter on his next inhale. He looks away. “Don’t do that.”

The gleeful expression falters on Mike’s face. “Don’t do what?”

“Don’t,” Will says, “don’t– you’re being so– so–”

Mike looks caught somewhere between confusion and amusement. “So what?”

“So,” Will tries again, and then Mike moves closer, and the difficulty of articulating a halfway decent sentence immediately increases tenfold. “So.”

“So,” Mike echoes, shifting so the side of his thigh is pressed up against the side of Will’s. He’s being slowly backed into the corner, but the thought isn’t terrifying like it might have been five minutes ago. Suddenly, Will is overwhelmed in a completely new way. “So what?”

“Nice to me,” Will gets out. “Stop being so nice to me.”

Mike pauses, then says, incredulously and half-laughing– “What? Why?”

Bad choice of words. “You heard me,” Will says anyway, because he’s nothing if not stubborn. “You’re being too nice.”

“I should hope so,” Mike says. “I mean, you’re my friend.”

Maybe Will is imagining it, but the sentence feels unfinished. Like there’s a second half to it that Mike is keeping for himself: You’re my friend – right?

The obvious answer here is that yes, Mike is his friend. But that answer feels unfinished too, like a lie by omission. Will tries to imagine it, doing these things with anyone else – what it would be like if Dustin was holding his hand, or if it were Lucas sitting next to him this close.

The conclusion he comes to, almost immediately, is that it would be weird.

It would be really fucking weird.

That feels like– something. An admission, maybe. Because the fact of the matter is that things with Mike have always been like this, and they’ve never been like this with anyone else, and Will doesn’t think they can be like this with anyone else without it being the most unsettling thing that’s ever happened to him.

The silence, he realizes, has gone on just a second too long.

“Yeah,” he blurts out at last. “Yeah. Obviously.”

Something settles over Mike’s face. “Will–”

“Forget I said anything,” Will backpedals, a little bit desperate. “Never mind. Be as nice to me as you want.”

Mike bites down on his lower lip. It looks like he’s holding back a smile. “As nice as I want?”

Oh, no.

“Sure,” Will tries. “Do your worst.”

Mike lets out a shaky exhale. He presses in further, leans in closer until their shoulders are almost touching. “How about this?”

“That’s not nice,” Will says weakly. “That’s just an invasion of personal space.”

“Seems pretty nice to me,” Mike mutters under his breath.

Will inhales sharply. “Mike.”

“What?”

“What are you– doing,” Will whispers, stumbling over his words, just slightly, as Mike places a hand on his arm.

Mike’s gaze does not waver. “Is this okay?”

Is it okay? Will thinks his brain might be halfway to leaking out through his ears. This is–

This is–

“Yeah,” he hears himself say. “Yeah. Great.”

“Okay,” Mike whispers. He’s so close now that Will could count all the freckles spattered across his nose, if he wanted to. He could, and the thought is dizzying, dizzying – suddenly, it’s not the claustrophobia that’s making him feel like this. It can’t be, because Mike is in front of him, and he’s so close that Will could just lean forward and–

He could just–

“Mike.” And maybe he’s a bit of a broken record, but he can’t come up with any words other than his name. He clutches at Mike’s knee and meets his gaze and prays – to whatever deity allowed him to get trapped in a storage closet with Mike Wheeler two inches away from his face – that Mike Wheeler will find the courage in him somewhere to close the fucking gap.

He doesn’t, though, which is a sign that the universe must be majorly fucking with him. Not yet, anyway. Not anywhere near as fast as Will needs it to be – if this is what he thinks it is, it’s nowhere near fast enough.

In actuality, what it is is excruciating – the way Will’s heart is beating so loud that he’s sure Mike can hear it, in the proximity. The slow circles Mike is tracing over his other hand – the hand that he’s still holding. He’s so close that Will can discern the warmth emanating off him, the familiar scent of soap, can feel Mike’s eyes trained steadily on his mouth, and yet–

Either Mike is actually moving at a speed of one nanosecond per minute, or time has slowed to a near-stop around them. Mike’s grip on his hand is agonizing, caustic in all the places where they’re touching, each slow circle of Mike’s thumb against his wrist driving him slowly and steadily out of his mind. Do it, Will thinks, like maybe if he thinks it loud enough, Mike will be able to hear him. Do it, do it, do it.

Mike’s lips touch his.

The world stops moving.

It must, anyway. Or maybe it’s just that Will doesn’t think he’s breathing anymore – he doesn’t know if he can find it in him to remember how. All he’s aware of is this: Mike’s hands on his arm, his wrist. Mike’s leg under his own palm, warm and steady and pressed up against him in a smooth, unyielding line. The pressure of the wall behind him, the strands of Mike’s hair brushing against his face, and Mike’s lips – gentle, gentle, gentle, and nowhere near enough.

It’s like Mike is waiting for something. Waiting for Will, maybe.

God, okay.

Fuck it, Will thinks, from somewhere far off in his own head. Fuck it. Fuck this. 

“Will,” Mike whispers, pulling back a precious few millimeters, and that’s it. That’s all Will can take.

Will lifts his hand off Mike’s leg, raises it to his wrist and tugs. Mike topples into him with a small gasp, Will falls backwards into the wall, and then they’re kissing.

God. Okay.

Mike steadies himself quickly, braces a hand on the wall behind them and leans in, firm and enthusiastic. His hand, Will notices, faintly and with no small amount of affection, is shaking. Just slightly. Will’s trapped between them again – Mike and the wall – but this time he can’t find it in himself to care even the slightest bit. As if there’s anywhere he’d want to go that wasn’t here, as if he’d want to be somewhere without Mike’s hand carding through his hair, or without his lips moving softly against Will’s own, or the noise he makes when Will presses forward, too fast, too eager, too betrayed by his own fluttering pulse – something like a laugh, trapped deep in his chest.

Suddenly, it’s not enough. It’s not enough. It’s–

“Mike? Will?”

Shit.

In a flash, Mike pulls away, wide-eyed and pink-cheeked and breathing like he’s just run a marathon.

Shit.

“Yeah,” Mike calls, voice cracking just slightly on the syllable. “We’re in here!”

Shit.

“So,” Will says, aiming for nonchalance. He fails immediately. His voice cracks too. Great. “That–”

Don’t freak out, he thinks. Please don’t freak out.

Mike, to his credit, is not freaking out.

“Yeah,” Mike says, voice a little high-pitched but surprisingly even. He clears his throat. “Um. Yeah. You were–”

“Yeah,” Will finishes, rather lamely. He’s grinning like an idiot. He doesn’t even need to look at himself to tell. His expression is mirrored, perfectly, flawlessly, brilliantly, on Mike’s own face.

The closet door gets thrown open, and there’s a blinding, sudden light– “What the fuck,” Mike exclaims, squinting and throwing a hand up in front of his eyes. “Nancy?”

Jonathan peers around her shoulder. “What were you guys doing in here?”

Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t–

Will can’t help it. He looks at Mike, and they immediately burst into laughter.

Shit.

[alcalystrasz]

Stranger Things 5 spoilers:

We're discussing theories.

So we knew that the first episode was called "The Crawl" because The Duffers posted a tweet with the script title. However, for the other ones... that's crazy.

So remember there are 8 episodes in total, and we possibly only have 6 of their titles. Let's try to understand them together.

EP1 - So, for The Crawl I personally don't have theories for it. I just thought maybe it was going to be about escaping from someplace, or to get to a place.

EP2 - The Episode 2 is the most intriguing, "The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler." It reminds me a lot of the first episode of season 1: "The Vanishing of Will Byers" so it may have a sort of link. So we know it's a Wheeler, but who. If we count the starts there are 5 of them, maybe it's a random number or maybe they did this on purpose so we can know the number of letters in the name. So, Karen has five letters, Holly has five letters too, Nancy also and Mike and Ted are excluded. So only the women could vanish. Between these 3 characters, we know one has been recast: Holly. So maybe, Holly will be the one to disappear, because in a previous spoiler/leak it has been said that Holly was going to be a target of Vecna, so far we thought it was fake but it could turn out to be true actually. So if it's indeed Holly who disappears, and it could make sense because Will vanished when he was 11 and she's going to be around 8, I have a question, will she also get some sort of powers just like Will in the end when we find her?

And now that I think about it, maybe "The Crawl" is Holly's to try to escape from Vecna but she ends up in the Upside Down anyway?

I think Holly is the most possible Wheeler to vanish. And it has been said many times that Holly can be linked to Vecna in some ways. Lots of fans said that Karen could be Henry's sister and Holly is his nephew. Maybe? He would kidnap her to put pressure on Karen, because we know the parents and especially Karen will play a bigger role this season...

EP3 - "The Turbow Trap" is probably something against Vecna, I don't have anything, except maybe it could be made by Dustin because he's a genius at making stuff (He made Cerebro).

EP4 - "Sorcerer." I don't know why but I feel like it's either Vecna, because he's a sort of sorcerer, or maybe it's Will. Remember that in DnD, Will plays a sort of wizard/cleric. I don't know what could happen but... maybe it's also something else. It is probably in this episode that Holly comes back because they could all try to confront this Sorcerer, so Vecna.

EP5 - "Shock Jock" makes me think of "Trick or Treat, freak" an episode of season 2. The episode's name is kinda similar, I don't know how to explain that. But it's a goofy title to something dramatic like in the Halloween one. Jock could be Joyce. It's a shock to Joyce? Maybe something could happen to Will?

EP6 - This episode has probably the weirdest title of them all. "Escape from Camazotz." So... Camazotz is a Bat, more precisely a God who's form is a bat. He's a creature with the head of a bat and the body of a human, really weird to put this in the show. It's from the religion of the Maya, he's associated to night, death and sacrifice. But that's in real life. In DnD, Camazotz is the "Demon Lord of Bats and Fire." He literally likes hunting the mortals in the darkness. Just like Vecna. And in the Upside Down we saw there are in fact Bats, demobats, but is Vecna controlling them? He can't be both Vecna and Camazotz at the same time. Maybe Vecna is just a puppet of this unknown dimension?

The second edition of DnD was introduced in 1974, and Vecna was introduced in this edition. Which explains why they used this name for Henry. But Camazotz wasn't, it's probably in the 3rd or 4th edition.

Who are we gonna see? Camazotz, from the Maya or Camazotz from DnD?

I have some theories.

The first one is, somebody's going to sacrifice themselves to save everyone else. As I said in my previous theories, I had the idea of Robin and/or Jonathan that sacrifices themselves. In this context, I don't think Robin's sacrifice would happen for this sort of thing. However Jonathan's could be. It could be a big twist for Will because I have this idea where he's going to be either stuck, or he's going to stay in the Upside Down in some ways, along with Mike. So this could be one of their conversations later, it could ruin Will so Mike would be there to comfort him.

The second one is, someone's going to get killed by Camazotz, which explains the word "escape" in the title. Maybe Robin, Jonathan, Max (if she isn't already dead) or one parent like Karen or Ted.

The actor of Ted answered a question in an interview. Someone asked something about him not being mentioned by Vecna when he showed Nancy that her whole family is going to die, and the actor simply answered: "Oh. You noticed?" With a wink.

So maybe Ted knows about Karen's link to Vecna. Maybe it isn't their story isn't like what Nancy said to Jonathan in season 1. The whole "Perfect" family is probably a lie.

This could actually explain why Vecna showed what's gonna happen to the Wheeler family, to Nancy. Because she's the one who got this "Perfect family" idea. We never saw Mike talk about it to anyone. So.... this is all a little blurry...

But I think, in this episode, there has to be 1 death. Most likely Robin, because she was only introduced in season 3 and she's a recent character, compared to the other ones who were here since season 1.

I have this theory, what if the end of ST5 is the beginning of ST1. What I mean is that, we go back to the beginning like how it was before everything happened even though it actually happened. It's like, everything ended and now we're back to how it was. So it means, only the 4 boys, Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Hopper and Joyce. Eleven wouldn't be, because she's one of the reasons it all started, and it would be such a good ending if she dies saving Hawkins. Barb doesn't count cause she'd dead. And every characters introduced later died so far: Billy, Max (half dead), Bob... Only Murray and Robin are left. Murray will def die that's for sure and Robin, for me, has to die too.

Now, I want to talk about BYLER.

Remember the episode 3 of season 3, with Will and Mike's fight under the rain? Guess who it was directed by:

Shawn Levy.

And who's going to direct episode 6 of ST5?

Shawn Levy.

He didn't only direct that, but he also directed the sauna episode. And what happens in the sauna episode?

Will: I can feel him....

Mike, looking at Will's lips: Max get away from the door...

So, if Shawn Levy direct the episode 6, we'll get byler. And was I thinking? Byler kiss episode 6, that was my theory. With 3 or 4 intimate moments between them before episode 6 and the kiss during this episode.

There is one director I didn't talk about, it's Frank Darabont. He's a director who made a lot of horror movies, and we know how Stanger Things can be disgusting sometimes. Right?

So if Frank directs 3 episodes, they're going to be very scary or atleast be special in a disgusting way, maybe? But it's definitely going to be horror for these episodes.

I think he'll probably direct episode 7, that'd make sense, maybe 8 too.

Anyway, that was it. Tell me what you guys think about these two spoilers/leaks. I hope the directing one is true. And the titles are still possibly to change in the future, but the episode 2 really caught me off guard. I bet it's gonna be Holly.

And by the way, I hope they can bring back Sarah, Hopper's daughter. The fact that her and Holly look alike, isn't a coincidence for me. Maybe Sarah is more important than we think she is.

[shieldofiron]

When I See You Smile

Also on Ao3

He can't pretend it doesn't hurt a little.

Dustin and Mike Wheeler chatter about it on Max's little radio, how Eddie and Steve are spending so much time together, and how Steve had come out to them very seriously as bi, and Eddie was gay so they were hoping...

And Billy's hopes, the tiny thread of hope that he'd been nourishing without realizing it, withered and died right there.

Because Munson is a dealer, and kinda loud and annoying. But Billy is a murderer. He still has nightmares about it, waking Max and Susan some nights. What kind of monster kills their own father, inter-dimensional parasite or not? And it wasn't like Billy had been some kind of catch before that.

Steve smiles when Billy comes by the store anyway. Like he's not a murderer, a puppet for an inter-dimensional being, but a person. They had the same taste in movies, and sometimes they would sit there just talking for hours. Steve had been nice after starcourt, and it had made the crush that Billy had secretly harbored in high school bloom into a full on infatuation.

One sided infatuation, apparently.

So it was real cute, actually. Munson and Ste-Harrington. He decided that it would be cute, and it wouldn't hurt any more. Hell, if Munson and Harrington started dating, maybe then...

He didn't know what maybe was, but he was trying to be positive about the whole thing.

And when he sees the van parked by the video store, he just turns right around.

"Racking up those late fees, huh," Steve says with a grin when he finally does bring them back.

"Got a lot on my mind," Billy mumbles in response, hurrying because he thought he saw the van pull into the lot. And he's fine with Steve dating whoever he wants, of course Steve can date whoever he wants.

Billy just doesn't have to be there while it happens.

"Wait, uh..." Steve ducks his head down, and his hair falls over his eyes in that adorable way that makes Billy want to brush it back behind his ear. "How'd you like Ladyhawke?"

Billy glances back over his shoulder, his heart racing when he sees Munson waltzing up, "Good. Gotta go, Steve."

"Wait-"

"You are never going to believe the news I have for you, big boy," Munson smacks the door open and Billy winces.

"See ya," Billy waves his tapes in the air and ducks out the door that's still swinging closed from Munson's dramatic entrance.

He can't see Steve's expression, and he doesn't want to see how Steve smiles for Munson. Billy bets it's real special, all dreamy and doe eyed. So he just ducks into the camero and speeds away over Max's protests.

"You forgot milk duds, dick," She hisses.

"I had to get out of the way," He hisses right back.

"Of what?"

"Budding romance," He says, half sarcastically, throwing his hand in the air dramatically.

Max doesn't say anything back, but she must know. After all how many times has she dragged him practically kicking and screaming when he and Steve got to talking about movies and then tv and then sports...

Billy's certainly not about to come out to a bunch of snot nosed brats. But Max knows. She's heard what his dad called him enough to know what he is.

And it's fine. If there was only three gay guys in town someone was bound to be the odd one out.

That night she totally sides with him for movie night and they watch This is Spinal Tap instead of Against All Odds. She and Susan do watch along obligingly, Susan even chuckling at the 1960s jokes.

That night he can't sleep, tossing and turning in his bed when he thinks about Harrington's smile and that lock of hair.

---

Munson must be able to tell something is up because after that he starts acting really squirrely when Billy's trying to meet up. Which sucks because he could really use the weed right now.

Heartbreak being a bitch and all.

He's waiting in his car for Max to check out the videos she wants when Steve comes barrelling out of the Family Video, headed straight for Billy.

Billy blows a plume of smoke out the window.

"Alright, Harrington?"

"No," Steve isn't smiling. He looks downright pissed. "I'm not alright. You got some kind of problem with me and Eddie, Billy?"

Billy sucks in a drag and squints at the back of the van parked right up front of the store.

"Problem with what?"

"You know what."

Billy shrugs, "Enlighten me."

Steve huffs, and then deflates, "Look, I know you're working on being better. I heard about you working on basketball with Lucas, and I think that's really... great. But... I..."

Billy waits. And waits.

"You what?"

"You really don't know?" Steve blinks at him, and a shot with those big brown eyes sinks another of cupid's arrows deep into Billy's heart. He pushes his aviators up his nose to hide his face.

"Know what?"

"I thought," Harrington's blushing, and it looks so cute with the green of his vest. "That you heard that I like... that I'm... bisexual. And that Eddie's... um... And you had a problem with it."

Billy snorts, though he doesn't mean to. And Harrington cocks his head to the side.

He doesn't have a problem with it. He has an ache, a pain deep in his chest that he knows there's no cure for. It hurts so bad it makes him a little angry, a little reckless.

"That would be pretty hypocritical of me," Billy says with a sharp little laugh, "Not that I'm you know... dating material. For any gender. In any sense of the word."

Harrington just looks down, "I don't know about that."

Billy huffs, "You don't need to flatter me. I'm no threat to your boyfriend. Though you can tell him I'm gonna actually need to score soon or I'm going to go mental. My stepmother's into wreath making. You know what a wreath can do to a guy's reputation?"

He wants Steve to laugh. He wants Steve to smile. Even if it's just for a corny joke. Even if it's just as friends. He'd officiate their wedding if Steve would just throw Billy a smile once in a while.

"Boyfriend?"

"Oh. I mean," Billy waves his hand in the air, "Pre-boyfriends. Fucking. Whatever it is you all are doing."

Steve's cheeks are really pink now, "We're not... I mean... I like someone else."

"Oh," Billy pushes his aviator's up, trying to school his expression into something calmer, less manically happy. "I'm sorry, I just assumed-"

"No, I... we just gotta stick together, right. L and G and B and T... all... together," Steve makes a weird sort of half sigh sound.

"Yeah," Billy doesn't know where Steve is going with this, "That's you and me. Two B's. Sticking together."

He's never said it out loud before. He always imagined it would be terrifying, but Steve's smile smooths over some of the panic in the pit of his stomach.

"So you're not... sticking together with anyone, exclusively?" Steve rocks on his heels.

Billy snorts, "No. Plenty of girls to be not so exclusive with, but... no."

"Do you... want to do that with me?"

Billy's heart stops still in his chest. He doesn't know what expression he's making but he knows that Steve is smiling. At him. His eyes are crinkled up at the corners, and he...

"I like you, Billy," Steve's hair flops down and it's so easy to brush it back behind his ear. "Thought you were finally gonna break my teeth in about it, so I thought I'd do it first."

And Billy can, so he does. And for the first time in what feels like weeks, Billy smiles back.

"I would never," Billy sucks in some courage with his next drag, so he can say in a dry whisper, "Your smile is the best part of my day."

[dontcallmeeds]

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 4

Eddie takes the piece of metal for the new piece and runs his torch along it. The flame flickers against the silver as he does, white hot.

But instead of bending it quite yet, he hammers down on it roughly before flicking the flame over it again. He bends it around the sizing device, still estimating Steve’s ring size to be just under his.

Once it’s shaped and melded together, he hammers it more, giving some of it a rougher edge.

The next part is tricker, the oxidation process.

Eddie is grateful his uncle stays out of his room and his business, he’s sure by now that the noises that aren’t just Iron Maiden or his own musical talents have caused confusion and intrigue.

He meant to tell his uncle about his jewelry, but honestly it made him nervous for people to see his work and know it was his. Like suddenly they’d change their minds and decide it was actually quite shit.

Especially the person he was giving most of his projects to.

Eddie takes out the clean plastic box from under his work station and puts a paper towel on the bottom, soaking in ammonia. He covers it with a plastic lid after the smell hits him and opens his tiny trailer bedroom window.

Realistically, he shouldn’t do this in the confined space, but he figures he’s inhaled enough bad shit; he’ll survive.

Eddie opens the box again to take a piece of tinfoil next and puts it in the middle of the box for the ring to sit on, then rolls the ring in the ammonia. He pours salt onto the ring, focusing on the spots he hammered more.

Placing it on the tinfoil, Eddie smiles to himself. This piece is going to be beautiful, but it’s also rougher than the last few pieces.

Steve would probably think his secret admirer, a woman no doubt, bought it from somewhere a little edgier. Eddie sighs at that thought, wishing he wasn’t such a coward. Wishing he could just tell him outright.

But it really wasn’t that simple.

As Eddie sketches out the final details of the ring, he hears the front door open, figuring Wayne might’ve come home on lunch. He had been doing that a lot lately, coming home from work to eat, to check up on Eddie.

But Eddie startles when he turns around to his own door swinging open, something his uncle would never do without knocking and waiting on an answer.

Mike Wheeler and Lucas Sinclair stand in his doorway, arguing something about their character sheets for the next campaign and apparently needing Eddie to be the tiebreaker.

Before he can hide the sketch or the box with the ring—

“What’s that?”

They ask it in unison with wide eyes and pinched noses, staring at the box containing his next secret gift to Steve.

“Nothing,” Eddie moves it aside with the sketchbook on top, trying to walk forward until they all go into the living room. He isn’t that lucky.

“It looks important,” Mike tries to look over his shoulder at the work station.

“Yeah, looks like a secret,” Lucas so helpfully chimes in, little shit.

“Can you guys drop it? What’s this about your—“

“We can stand here all day,” Lucas folds his arms with a smirk, nudging Mike’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m what Nancy likes to call ‘insufferable’,” Mike follows up, and Eddie has to stop himself from snorting at that.

“Fine! God, you guys are the worst and I’m starting to regret bringing you under my wing,” Eddie doesn’t, not once, but who is he if not dramatic, “you have to swear to secrecy of the highest level. It’s quite literally life or death.”

They exchange looks and then smile wide at Eddie, nodding in agreement with the terms. He takes a deep breath and starts.

“Eww, seriously? Steve? Like my sister’s ex, that Steve?!”

“For the millionth time, baby Wheeler, yes. Like your sister’s ex,” Eddie rubs his temples, having to literally repeat himself for the last twenty minutes.

The boys finally stop asking questions shortly after, at least about Steve.

“So how long does it sit like,” Lucas gestures vaguely to the now fully covered box, “that for?”

“About twenty four hours,” Eddie answers.

“So you make your own? All your rings and chains?” Mike asks, seemingly dropping his whole Steve grudge. For now.

“Yeah, have been since I was sixteen probably,” Eddie outstretches his hands and stares down at them himself.

“Cool,” is the last thing Mike adds before they seem to move on from the subject all together and ask about their character sheets once again finally.

The night becomes an ongoing argument, Eddie having to break them up multiple times. But he can’t help but feel a little relieved from being able to have people who know about his secret.

The teens leave late with promises to keep everything under wraps, they of course both want updates, even begging to come with to drop the next ring off. Eddie says he’ll think about it, but they’ll be louder than his clunky van so he’ll just tell him later he forgot.

The next afternoon, the ring is ready to pull out and he looks it over with pride. Taking fine grit sandpaper, he rubs over the piece and inspects it thoroughly to make sure it’s ready for final touches.

Taking a silver wire that he already prepped, Eddie takes jewelry pliers and wraps it around the thinnest piece of the ring. He fires over it and looks it over one last time.

It’s everything he wanted it to be, nothing else he’s given Steve has looked like this.

Smiling to himself, Eddie puts it in it’s box and writes the note to accompany it.

‘Stevie, something different.’

[runningmunson]

Together

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Female!Reader

Word Count: 1k

Summary: Mike lets it slip that you are pregnant to Eddie thinking he already knew. Eddie, in fact, did not know so he goes to confront you.

Warning: swearing, mentions of pregnancy, slight angst to fluff

Masterlist

“Eddie, why the hell didn't you tell us you were gonna be a dad?” was the first thing that came out of Mike’s mouth when he sat down at their table in the cafeteria. 

“I’m what now? This is a joke, right? Real funny guys.” Eddie dropped the pretzel he was holding. He looked around the table for a reaction, except no one was laughing. Maybe Mike was wrong. There is no way (Y/N) was pregnant; she would have told him right away. They never keep anything from each other, or so Eddie thought.

This was the last thing he wanted to hear. His day was already shit. He was late to class, failed a test, and tripped in the halls by Jason. Now he’s being told his girlfriend is pregnant and didn’t tell him.

“Oh shit, you don’t know? I thought she would have told you.” Mike said, regret seeping in for ever saying anything.

“And how exactly did you come across this knowledge that I was completely oblivious about?” Eddie asked with an incredulous look on his face, hands folded underneath his chin.  It suddenly felt hot in the room, sweat started to form at his brow line.

“Nancy let it slip to me the other day, said she was with her when she took the test. I figured you already knew and forgot to tell-“ Eddie didn’t let Mike finish, unable to hear any more. He quickly stood up from his seat, knocking his chair down. Eyes went to their table, other students expecting him to go on another one of his tirades. 

His heart was pounding, ears ringing. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, the walls seeming to close in on him. He spun around, hair flying wildly before he booked it out of the cafeteria. The shouts of Gareth and Dustin fell on deaf ears. Eddie was desperate to get fresh air. 

He made it out of the school and into his van. He peeled out of the parking lot, the tires making a terrible screeching noise. Eddie needed to clear his head. He drove around for hours before finding himself in your driveway as the sun was beginning to set.

You were drawn away from your spot on the couch when you heard frantic knocking at your front door. You reluctantly turned the tv off and got up to see Eddie waiting impatiently at the door. “Hey, Eddie. What are you doing here?”

“What? I’m not allowed to visit my sick girlfriend?” Eddie said with a slight bite to his words, pushing past you into the house. You were confused at his sudden shift in attitude from the previous day. You shut the door and walked to the couch where Eddie was already sitting.

You sat in a tense silence which wasn’t typical for Eddie, considering he always had something to say. Eddie sat there picking at his fingers and twisting his rings. He cleared his throat, “Care to share anything with me, (Y/N)?”

“Um, no?” Your heart rate started picking up. There is no way he could know. You pick up your water, trying to find something to do with your hands.

“Really now? Nothing at all? Not even the fact that you’re pregnant and have been hiding it from me?” Eddie spits out.

You almost choked on your drink, shrinking further in your seat, “What? I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Don’t bullshit me,” he stood up, pointing his finger at you. “I had to find out from Mike fucking Wheeler of all people.”

You looked down, avoiding his harsh gaze, “I was going to tell you.” And you were, you just weren’t ready yet. You knew Eddie wouldn’t leave, but that little voice in your head was saying otherwise. 

“Oh, were you? How long have you even fucking known?“  Eddie said, folding his arms. His head was cocked to the side with a condescending demeanor. He was mad at this point, jaw clenched and eyes glaring daggers at you. He wasn’t necessarily mad at you, but madder at the fact you felt like you couldn’t come to him and sought out comfort in someone else first. 

“3 weeks…” you mumbled, biting your lip.

Eddie thought he was hearing wrong at first. “Three- three weeks? And you didn’t think to tell me?”

“I was scared. It-” you try to defend your reasoning.

The second he heard you say you were scared, he thought the worst. Eddie didn’t let you finish, mouth moving a mile a minute, “Scared? Scared of what? Scared that I’ll be a shit dad just like my old man? Scared that I can’t even finish high school and am doing nothing with my life? Scared of having the label of carrying the freaks baby?”

“Eddie, that’s not fair. I never said that, and you know I would never think that about you either.” You stood up, taking a hesitant step toward him.

He took a deep breath pinching the bridge of his nose. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t come to me first.”

“I was scared that you would leave. I know it’s ridiculous for me to think that but you have big dreams, Eddie. Bigger than this town, bigger than yourself, bigger than me, and bigger than a baby. We will just hold you back, and I never want to do that to you.”

“(Y/N), are you serious right now? Don’t you know that you are my biggest dream? Yeah, I would love nothing more than to be a rockstar and tour the world. But you know what? I would also love nothing more than to settle down and raise a family with you. Prove to you, to everyone else, to myself that I can be a damn good dad. Sure it’s a little sooner than what I was planning, kinda wanted to marry you first. But that’s okay because when have I ever followed what society tells me is the right way to do things.” 

“I’m sorry Eddie, I'm so sorry.” You say, tears flowing freely.

Eddie pulls you into a tight hug, shushing you and placing a kiss on your hairline, “Don’t worry about it now, I got you. We are gonna raise this baby just like we do with everything else that has happened to us - together.”

And that’s exactly what you did.

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

@steddiemas Day 18 -  Classic Christmas Songs (The First Nöel)

pairing: steddie | word count: 1,924 | rated: G

It didn’t take too long after the song started for Eddie to want out.

He debated staying, just to listen to Steve sing along to it under his breath while he meticulously weaved strips of dough over a pie with what Eddie thinks is way too huge a mound of blueberries, but even that didn’t help.

Steve’s ‘everyone over for Christmas dinner before Christmas’ idea made Eddie skeptical at first, having literally everyone (the Hendersons, Mrs. Wheeler along with Nancy, Mike, and Holly, The Sinclairs, the Hopper-Byers clan, Gareth and Freak along with Jeff and his mom, the Buckleys (of course), and even he and Wayne) together under one roof seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.

But no.

Everyone got along great, the lot of them snacking on meats and cheeses, stolen candy and cookies that Steve had made over the last couple days, Wayne, Hop, and Claudia are fussing over two whole turkeys and a huge ham, and Joyce, Karen and Lucas are whipping up huge batches of side dishes.

And it doesn’t usually affect him this bad anymore, but that damned song paired with all of their huge chosen family together under one roof like this, warm, happy, healthy…he had to leave. 

He did not want to get emotional in front of them.

The sound of the door sliding on its track breaks Eddie’s reverie. It was longer than he thought it’d take for someone to come looking for him, but he suspects that it was done on purpose.

He doesn’t look back at who decided to grace him with their presence, but immediately knows who it is when a hat gets pushed down onto his head, just a bit too far down.

“You’re not catching a cold on my watch, Munson.”

Eddie pushes the fold of the knit cap off his eyes, “Wasn’t planning on it Steve-o.”

“Coulda fooled me. As if trying to withstand a whole winter in a leather jacket isn’t gonna give you a cold.”

A snort of a laugh escapes Eddie’s lips at Steve’s sarcastic tone. “I have, and no colds yet.”

“Uh huh. Sure.” Steve says, sitting down beside him.  “That’s why you borrowed my old puffer coat last time you were here, right?”

The lone poolside chair not packed away for the season wasn’t his first choice of seating, but it was the only one. Though Steve’s dry heat beside him is already a welcome balance to the cold metal and plastic of the chair.

Eddie’s lips twitch up into a brief smile, “I didn’t want to get mine all wet.”

They fall silent after that, and Eddie fishes his lighter and pack of Marlboro’s out of his pocket, pulling one out of the carton and lighting it up.

He offers one to Steve, but he waves him off.

“So.” Steve says after about half the cigarette was gone.

“So?”

“Are you alright, Eddie?”

He stays silent, debating whether or not to actually tell Steve what was wrong or just brush it off again.

“Was it something I–we said? Or did?” Eddie caught the slip, and decided he was going to tell him, but Steve continued on, “I know you’re not the biggest fan of Christmas anyway..”

“No, it’s not—” Eddie heaves a sigh, and even he can hear the exasperated relenting in it. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Steve. None of you did.”

He takes a drag and blows out a long stream of steamy breath and smoke. It hits him then, before he even speaks, that he’s being dramatic. Has been being dramatic. What a stupid thing to get emotional about.

“My middle name is Nöel. Like, fully, exactly how it’s supposed to be spelled for the holidays. The two dots over the O and everything. So it’s just me being dramatic; it gets annoying to hear all season.”

At first, Eddie thinks he’s gotten away with it, that Steve’s silence is just satisfied understanding, but just before he’s about to put himself back on the right way to go back inside, Steve speaks again.

“Where’d the name come from?”

Eddie finally looks over at him, taking in the comically mismatched pink My Little Pony scarf (Erica’s) and bright safety green beanie (Robin’s) he’d thrown on before coming out to the patio. “..Huh?”

Eloquent as ever, Munson.

“C’mon man.” Steve says, rolling his eyes fondly and nudging Eddie’s shoulder with his own. “You act like I don’t know you.”

Eddie’s “You don’t.” is automatic.

Steve just scoffs, “You disappeared without a word, man; normally you announce, with wildly different levels of dramatics each time, that you’re going to smoke, or you ‘gotta take a leak’. You didn’t do that this time so naturally that means this was more than just getting annoyed by a Christmas carol.”

Eddie blinks at him. Stunned by the proof that he, Eddie Munson, was one of the people Steve used his almost insane levels of observation on after all. Usually it’s wasted on the kids; Steve’s acute ability to hone in on exactly what each of the party needs at any given time—how Steve has encyclopedic knowledge on each of their favorite snacks, their preferred drinks, games, movies, which blankets they like to steal from the Harringtons’ nearly bottomless linen closet—almost always goes unappreciated. 

“I may not get a lot of things, but I do pay attention to the people I care about.” Steve continues on, voicing Eddie’s thoughts.

“You a mind reader now too, Harrington?”

Steve grins at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Nah man, I’m just a damn good babysitter.”

Eddie huffs out another laugh, “Sorry to tell ya this, but I don’t need to be babied or sat.”

He doesn’t say anything more, just waits for Eddie to continue.

“It was my mom.” Eddie finally concedes, “She gave me the name Nöel. So you kinda hit it on the head, there is more to it than just the song.

“Wayne says she chose it because she loved the season, that it was when she felt most at peace no matter what else was going on in her life.”

Steve is quiet beside him, just existing in the space while Eddie finishes off his cigarette.

“And that’s why I get so salty about Christmas. It’s not because she died around this time of year, which doesn’t help of course, it’s because she loved the holiday so much. I mean,” he snorts, “She named me after it after all. So this time of year always felt so wrong without her.”

He stubs the flame under his boot, scrubbing it into the concrete and promising himself he’ll come back for the butt later (he’ll forget). 

The younger man is silent for two more breaths.

“Eddie, I am so sorry..”

All he can do is shrug, “It’s fine Steve, I’m used to that song by now–well, I was.”

“What changed?”

Eddie lets out another steadying breath. “When I was little, down in Tennessee, it was worse because I was little. All the crafts and games and things they did with first and middle names in elementary school y’know?” He sees Steve nod out of the corner of his eye. “The kids down there would sing the damn song at me to make fun of me. After I came up here to live with Wayne it got better…kinda.

“The kids here didn’t know what my middle name was, and Wayne would switch the radio station if that godforsaken song would come on come December, but even then, every time it did come up…it was like a pointed little finger poked into the bruise left behind after mom died.” Eddie says, jabbing the air in front of him with his own finger in a harsh movement before letting his hand drop back down to his lap. “It was starting to get better, hearing my name like that.”

“How so?” Steve’s voice lilts into something eager, but just barely.

Eddie sucks in a deep breath and the cold, dry air burns his nose as he does.

“You.” he states, using all the breath he’d taken in on the one word. 

“Me?” Steve asks in disbelief.

“Ever since I found out that you also think November 1st means Christmas decorations need to be up.” Eddie nods, he wasn’t about to tell him about the soupy gut feeling he’d gotten when he heard Steve singing along to that stupid fuckin’ song. “Annoying, but it was the same when I was little.

“You should see the pictures,” he grins, continuing on, “A little Batman helping mom put up the tree because I didn’t want to take off my costume–even slept in it a couple times, waking up the next morning to hot chocolate, candy canes, and popcorn garlands.”

“That’s adorable.” Steve laughs, and Eddie laughs with him, his chest feeling miles looser than when he first came out here.

They’re silent for a bit, listening to the muffed yells of the kids coming from inside about who knows what.

“I’ll follow Wayne’s example,” Steve says eventually. “I’ll make sure to change the station, won’t sing it any—”

“Nah, no way man. You don’t have to do that. Like I said, it was getting better.”

“Still, I don’t want to make you upset.”

“Don’t worry about it Stevie,” he sniffs, looking over the empty pool, “I like when you sing it.” he admits before he can stop himself. 

Aw fuck.

“You do?”

 “I do.” 

What the fuck are you doing?!

“You do.” Steve states as if he doesn’t believe him.

Eddie nods silently, gulps around the nerves in his throat. “It’s stupid, but it’s like you’re singing about me rather than at me. It’s…nice.”

Steve falls quiet, so he turns to face him again; Steve’s eyes are wide, cheeks red from the cold and otherwise pale.

Shocked. And not in a good way.

“Just don’t tell any of the other jerks, ‘kay?” Eddie laughs, it comes out strained. “They’d definitely be singing it at me if they found out.”

Steve’s face thaws into something softer at that, his lips twitch like they want to smile. 

“Also, I hardly doubt Henderson’s got nearly as good a voice as you do.”

That finally melts him completely, “Henderson’s actually got some pipes on him.” he laughs softly and knocks his shoulder into Eddie’s. “You should hear his Madonna.”

“Yeah no. No thank you.” Eddie says as he stands, “C’mon Stevie, let’s go back in and eat. It’s time to eat already, right?” He offers him a hand.

Steve takes it and pulls himself up, “After you, Edward Nöel.” he does a sarcastic half-bow, waving Eddie forward.

Eddie scoffs at him, but starts toward the door nevertheless. “That’s not even what Eddie’s short for.”

“Aw, what?! What’s it short for?”

“Nuh uh, I already bared one part of my soul tonight.” (“Aw come on!”) Maybe I’ll tell you after we’ve been friends for another nine months or so.”

Steve laughs as they reach the sliding door. “Lookin’ forward to it, Eds.” 

Eddie’s about to slide it open when Steve suddenly stops him, grabbing his wrist.

“Wait–Eddie, before we go back inside, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Shoot.” he turns to face him properly.

Eddie watches Steve’s eyes flicker over his face. They hover somewhere below his nose before coming back up to lock onto his eyes.

“Can I kiss you?’

“C–can you kiss– What?! Why? When—”

Steve stops Eddie's spluttering when he tilts his head back to look above them.

God. Damn. Mistletoe.

yes, my first name is noelle. why do you ask? no, no, of course i didn't give eddie that middle name just to vent about that damn song... 😳😅

other parts! Pt. 1 (Day 1) | Pt. 2 (Day 2) | Pt. 3 (Day 5) | Pt. 4 (Day 6) | Pt. 5 (Day 7) | Pt. 6 (Day 11) | Pt. 7 (Day 13) | Pt. 8 (Day 18) [YOU ARE HERE] | Pt. 9 (Day 21) | Pt. 10 (Day 25) also on AO3! this year

[sp0o0kylights]

“Oh god it’s covered in hearts.” Gareth says, staring horrified at the stage that’s been set up in the cafeteria. Grant and Jeff stand next to him, eyeing the abomination of glitter, paper, and tinsel that’s been shaped into pink and red hearts with a microphone standing proud in the middle.

Several of Hawkin’s jocks are standing to the side, talking amongst themselves, but worse is the crowd of students accumulating in front of the stage.

“You don’t think they’re gonna serenade us for Valentine's Day, do you?” Jeff asks in a similar tone of horror.

Grant makes a disgusted face at the very thought.

“It’s about time they gave me my own mic!” Eddie cackles, slamming his hands down on Gareth and Jeff’s shoulders for leverage, jumping up for a better look (Grant smartly ducked away before his friend can crawl all over him too), “I’ve only been going on about the capitalistic horrors of Valentine's Day since middle school!”

They groan in unison..

Eddie’s got a look on his face that says he’s about to vault up on stage and do this year's rant in style; Gareth will be damned if he lets Eddie get detention on a Hellfire campaign night.

“Eddie, no.” Gareth warns, as his best friend tries to worm his way past them.

“Eddie, yes.” He grins, bolting forward even as multiple hands reach out to yank him back.

“Whatever they’re doing we do not want to get in the middle!” Jeff hisses in his ear as Grant reaches for his middle (already once tricked by grabbing Eddie’s jacket, which he simply shrugged out of). Gareth does his part, holding firmly onto one of Eddie’s hands. Eddie bravely tries to stagger forward, despite the efforts of what looks like some kind of mutant tangle of human limbs.

“Come here microphone, my beloved!” He pants, comically reaching his arms out towards the stage, before Grant promptly stops fooling around and hefts him into the air.

“Nooo--the people need to hear me!” Eddie wails, thrashing.

Gareth rolls his eyes and spots three familiar faces in doing so. Freezes so abruptly that the arm he was holding onto slips out of his grip, allowing Eddie to deploy a tickle attack.

The result is Grant almost throwing him to the floor, with Jeff forced to let go or fall.

Free to cause chaos, Eddie throws his hands in the air, grinning widely.

“Is that…the freshman, up there?” Gareth asks before his best friend can crow victory.

“I’m sure there’s many freshmen up there, buddy.” Grant says with false sincerity as he regains his breath.

“No, not--I mean our freshmen! Henderson, Wheeler, and Sinclair!” He points, and sure enough, on the side of the crowd opposite the jocks, there stood Hellfire’s youngest with their heads put together.

“Now just what are they up to, I wonder?” Eddie ponders aloud, before shrugging his jacket back in place and strutting forward.

Trading uneasy looks with each other, his friends follow.

xXx

“The auction isn’t kicking off until 6 pm.” Henderson says, as he carefully counts the individual bills in his hand. “We know that besides the basketball team and the cheerleading team, they’ve got like, the Mayor involved, and the fire department, which means--”

“A lot of people are going to be there.” Mike interrupts, arms crossed over his arms. “That’s what it means, Dustin. What’s the point if every girl there is going to be bidding on him?”

“Were you even listening, Mike? I just said there’s a bunch of other people they’re auctioning off!”

Wheeler Jr. pulls a face that nearly makes Eddie laugh (and thus give up the fact he was slowly sneaking up on them) before the kid shoots back, “We have five dollars total Dustin. I don’t think that’s going to be enough.”

“Not to buy a whole person.” Eddie says, voice dropping to imitate the current big bad in their D&D campaign, “But five dollars is a fair price for a body part I’d say…”

He trails off with a cackle as the three freshmen startle away from him like spooked horses. “Now what--or who--are you buying?”

“They’re gonna explain it here in a minute,” Dustin says after he recovers, waving at the girls in front of the stage with a hand. “But there’s some big charity fundraiser happening tonight. Right now they’re voting one guy from the basketball team and one girl from the cheerleading squad to represent the school, but they’re auctioning off a bunch of people.” Dustin explains, holding up his fistful of dollars with a wild grin.

“If you’re the highest bidder, you get to spend the day with the person you bid on.” Lucas adds, because Dustin skipped right over that part. “Since it’s Valentine's Day themed, they’re referring to them as “winning a date”.

Well that explained all the giggling cheerleaders.

Eddie raises an eyebrow, “I’d ask if this is Sinclair’s bail money, but as my last two years remind me, it’s only for juniors and seniors. Not--” He playfully slings an arm around Lucas’s shoulders, “--for the darkside’s newest recruits.”

The uncomfortable look Lucas gives him is almost enough to make Eddie feel bad, but it’s not his fault Lucas was tempted by the evils of highschool sportsball. He figures the kid will come to his senses soon enough, and considering how awful the jocks are, it won’t be too long before Sinclair is 100% a Hellfire club member again.

“Which begs the question.” Eddie continues, slinging an arm over Mike’s shoulder as well. “What are you scheming? I’d ask if you’re buying me a date, but,'' He gives an over-dramatic sigh,” alas, no one can survive the charms of Eddie the Banished.”

“Charm is one word for it.” Jeff says, as the rest of Hellfire finally catches up. Gareth and Grant roll their eyes as Mike and Lucas chuckle weakly at Eddie’s exaggerated pout.

He drops his arms from his little lamb’s shoulders, taking a step back and looking around at the growing crowd.

“Hush Jeff. Let’s see if ol’ Eddie can guess who our brethren here have their eyes on. I wonder if…” He trails off, dragging out the last word as he does so before a bright, teasing smile lights up his face. “Aha! I see one Miss Cunningham. Are we bidding on her for Sir Gareth?”

A sputtering noise erupts behind him, as Eddie turns with glee to watch Gareth practically choke on soda he’d just taken a sip of, Grant thumping him on the back.

“Eddie.” Gareth hisses, and somehow it sounds like a warning even if his voice has a slight wheeze to it.

“What?” Eddie says, full of faux innocence. “We all know the lengths you’ve gone to get her attention recently.”

Gareth’s gone bright red, a testament to the fact that he’s been mooning over Chrissy Cunningham since the day she complimented one of his drawings.

His over-the-top moaning of how to woo her away from Jason is a prospect Eddie tolerates only because he himself has gone through great lengths to impress men that will never once look his way, let alone consider him as a romantic option.

(And also because Gareth, as Eddie’s best friend and confidant, was well aware of Eddie’s own crush on one Steve Harrington.

Apparently, Hellfire’s members were just cursed to fall for jocks.)

“They want to bet on Steve.” Mike says with an eye roll, apparently done with this entire charade.

For two seconds Eddie thinks that he’s somehow spoken the part about Steve aloud and that Mike is somehow echoing his deepest, innermost thoughts but is saved from panicking further by Dustin adding;

“We’re gonna make him play a campaign with us.”

The kid’s grin makes his eyes sparkle, which is completely at odds with the way Eddie’s stomach plummets.

“He played D&D with my sister, Eddie.” Lucas says, feigning a hurt look. “My kid sister, but not me?”

“Harrington played D&D?” Gareth’s voice implies he doesn’t believe it, and honestly? Had it not been for the freshmen, he wouldn’t have believed anything that was said about Harrington. He was on the verge of tears with laughter when they told him that the almighty King Steve was their chauffeur. They had to be lying about how often they hung out with Steve to begin with, right? Because there was just no way.

Except they weren’t. They really, really, weren’t.

It only took a handful of times of watching Steve pick them up from Hellfire, and then seeing the entire extended group (including Sinclair’s on-again-off-again girlfriend and Robin Buckley of all people) bouncing around Harrington like over excited puppies all over town.

The arcade. Downtown Hawkins. The local milkshake diner and the stupid movie theater.

Literally.

Everywhere.

“You guys are going to bid on Steve Harrington and make him play D&D.” Jeff clarifies, and Eddie doesn’t blame him for doing that either.

It’s the stupidest thing he’s heard all day, and he spent the last hour and a half listening to Mr. Rulf yawn on about parallelograms.

“Yeah! You guys wanna pitch in and help?”

“Absolutely not.” Eddie sneers. He can’t help himself--this is against everything he’s ever stood for.

Stupid thoughts of stupid Steve going on a stupid date with him, aside.

“Yeah guys, I think we’re gonna eat outside today. If you wanna listen to…whatever,” Jeff casts his eyes towards the cheerleader that’s bounding up the steps of the stage, ponytail bouncing, “ then go right ahead.”

“Oh we don’t need to listen to this.” Dustin dismisses the entire thing with a wave of his hand, making Mike roll his eyes again.

Somewhere in his campaign notes there’s a joke written about Wheeler Jr’s eyes getting stuck like that. Eddie hadn’t planned on bringing it out tonight, but a part of him really wants to.

Maybe if he can talk the freshman out of their idiotic idea, he’ll reward himself and do it tonight anyways.

….Or he could still steal that microphone.

xXx Steve xXx

Steve has no idea how he got talked into this.

Actually, that’s a lie, he knows how it started: a phone call, his mother, and a sudden way for her to be in the spotlight for her yearly fifteen minutes of Hawkins fame. He just can’t recall why he agreed to it.

“It's an opportunity, Steven." She says, heels clicking against the department store tile.

An embarrassment is what it was, but Steve knew better than to tell his mother that.

"You should be honored that Wendy--that’s the head chair of the charity board, you remember her don't you? She used to attend your piano recitals--she asked for you personally." His mother expertly plucked a shirt from the rack, holding it up to the light.

"Those were your parties mom, not my piano recitals." Steve reminds her as she holds the shirt out to him. He took it, adding it to the stack he had in his hands.

The parties were the exact same kind of shit this as this “Valentine's Day Fundraiser” a way for rich people to celebrate themselves by making others uncomfortable.

Only instead of being forced to play piano so his mothers friends could wine and dine with the famous Harrington's, he was being hauled up in front of the entire town (or whoever was attending this stupid event) and auctioned off as a “date” to the highest bidder.

(“It’s for one day, Steven, don’t be so dramatic. Why is your generation entirely incapable of taking a joke and having fun?” His mother had said, when he tried to tell her he wasn’t comfortable with the idea.

Of course there was no answer that would please her; soon enough, Steve found himself dragged about town as his mother played dress up.)

"You'll be standing alongside the Mayor, the fire department, even that idiot, Mary Marie--"

She stops for a moment, eyeing a jacket with a critical eye.

Just as quickly she dismisses it with a hum, prowling on to the next section.

"--the point is that there will be plenty of candidates for the children to pick from, but you’ll be the only hero up there."

That same critical eye turns on him, appraising him like he was no more than a horse in her stable, adding up imperfections and dividing amongst his best qualities.

(Despite a lifetime of training, it still takes everything in him not to squirm.)

"Not to mention a Harrington.” She purrs, taking a step closer to run a manicured hand down the front of his shirt, smoothing away a stray crease. “Women will be throwing money to win a day with you."

Steve has to fight not to outright shudder.

"Which means you have to look your best. Now stop whining, we’re almost done.”

Steve doubts that, but it doesn’t matter; he never had a choice to begin with.

xXx

Four hours, one shower, and several rounds of his mother’s nagging and meticulous styling, ,Steve finds himself back in Hawkin’s High, staring at the gym.

His mother had long swept past him, having spotted some high school friends and gone over to lord her lifestyle and general wealth over them.

For a fundraiser, the charity board in charge had spared no expense in dressing the gym up. Red, pink and white balloons decorated the doorways and a large stage hauled to one end.

Tables with thick, white table cloth are artfully arranged about the floor, caterers swiftly moving between them.

This is probably the fanciest this gym has ever looked, and Steve wants to be anywhere but inside it.

“Oh--Steve.” A gentle voice says next to him, and Steve turns his head in surprise to see Chrissy Cunningham look nervously up at him. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Me neither honestly.” He tells her, watching the way that makes the younger woman smile. “But I’ve been volun-told to be auctioned off. What about yourself?”

Chrissy runs her hands down her dress, a modest if not beautiful blue halter dress , wincing as she snags a nail on it. “The school held a vote at lunch about who would represent the school tonight. All of the varsity cheerleaders and basketball players were involved.”

“I see.” Steve says, keeping his voice gentle and playful. There had always been a part of Chrissy that had reminded him of El. Someone who needed kind words in their life. “You got voted as tonight’s sacrifice, huh?”

Chrissy laughs at that, hand flying to cover her mouth. “I guess you could say that.” She says, and seems surprised at herself for it.

“Did Jason get picked too?” Steve asks. It would make sense if he was, the guy was the basketball Captain after all.

Chrissy nods, then chews on her lip. “Yes but--he’s not happy about it,”

Steve snorts and tries to cover it with a cough. “None of us are.”

“It’s more that I’m being auctioned off.”

Chrissy must catch the look on his face because she rushes to add; “You know, like any boyfriend would be! I know it’s just supposed to be a fun silly thing and they’re not really dates but…” She trails off, voice growing quieter at the end. “He worries.”

The word “worry” sounds like it means something else entirely.

Steve feels for her.

“Hey, if Jason’s an ass about it, let me know.” Steve says after a moment of shared silence. “You don’t deserve to deal with him being a kid about this shit.”

Chrissy blinks up at him at that, hand almost to her mouth as though she’d subconsciously raised them up to chew on her nails. “Thanks Steve. That’s nice of you.” She whispers it, and Steve nods and smiles at her.

“There you two are!” A woman says, rushing over with a clipboard. “Steve Harrington and Chrissy Cunningham, right? We’re gathering all the dates behind those doors.” She turns and points to the opposite end of the gym. “If you both would follow me please?”

Steve motions for Chrissy to go first, and moves to follow her when a flash of curls crushed down by a blur of white, blue and electric yellow catches his eye.

He turns automatically, seeking it out and sure enough, ducking down the hall is Henderson, Sinclair hot on his heels.

A familiar mixture of emotions lights up Steve’s spine, and he knows immediately he won’t be able to rest until he figures out what the gremlins are up to--because their Hellfire Club was supposedly canceled today on grounds that Munson had stolen a microphone, or some other crap.

“I’m really sorry, I’ll join you in a second!” Steve calls, before darting down the hall, after them.