#featuring elmax

[felinecryptid]

Chasing Pasts in Shadows

part 3 | part 4 | part 5

"Great, fantastic." Will massaged his eyebrows. "We can't do anything more today, anyway. We just execute protocol and leave, because we are already an hour late for debrief."

"And my date after that."

"I don't think your boyfriend minds you being late, Max, he worships the ground you walk on." Mike sniffed.

"Who said I'm talking about Lucas?" Max smirked.

"No, no, Max, you stay away from my sister, or Dad and Jonathan will chase you away with guns. She doesn't need another rebellious influence in her life, Mike is enough as is."

"Will!" Mike protested. Will ignored him.

"You say that like Hop doesn't scream '3 inches!' whenever I come over."

"When did that happen? I thought you were still in the 'silent glare' stage?" Will hefted the heavy bag, handing it to Max, so she didn't have to come in. 

"A few months ago, Byers. Wheeler watch out, he is coming for your title," Max took the bag easily, walking away. 

"What title?" Mike called back.

"'The Most Oblivious'!"

"Fuck off!"

"Can't, we work together!" Mike glared at her till she turned the corner.

"Mike, hold these tripods and these cables." Will handed them, their fingers brushing.

"Thanks."

His own duffle slung over his shoulder, they returned to the place of interest.

Max had assembled some of the components right outside the door, waiting for Will to take them in. He and Mike quickly got to work, Will putting some of the cameras on their stands, connecting with the EVP mics and putting a piece of bread in specific spots, while Mike pointed out areas of high activity to focus on, like the knife block, and the island counter, while Reyes kept watch from a corner, finishing up sometime before evening. 

"-and turn on the system at 11:30 pm by pressing the black button on the camera nearest to the door. That's for today, we'll be back tomorrow to get the footage, and put more up after investigating more rooms," Will explained, putting his layered flannel back on. They stood at the gate, while Mike and Max put the rest of their special equipment back into the trunk. "I hope you understand why. It's just we were short-staffed today-"

"Oh no, no, it's okay, totally my fault," Reyes smiled as he reached for his wallet, pulling out a bill. 

Will's eyes widened as he saw the '100' on it. "Sorry, I don't have enough change-"

"Keep it, boy. You kids have more use for it than I do." Reyes gave a nod and started back in.

Will shuffled back to the car, a hundred dollars in hand. Max and Mike were done with the packing and pulling the car around to leave. Will got in the passenger side, his regular seat when Mike drove.

“Reyes tip you?” Max asked him from the backseat, tapping away at her phone,

“Thirty-three percent.”

“Damn, he was seriously that impressed with our half assed job?”

“I don't know, at least he wasn't a Karen about us upping the pay for the rest of the investigation.”

“Do you think Dustin would know what to do?” Mike asked, pulling onto an asphalt road. Finally the dust road was behind them, Will’s asthma could rest now.  

“I think we all need to come up with a plan now. All of us have never had to be on-field at the same time, so first of all we need to divide tasks, and assign partners.”

“I don't want to hear strategy while returning home,” Max hit the back of Will’s head lightly. “If we have to talk about work, at least read the info Dustin sent about the Reyes so we don't have to hear his rant about being ‘the only one smart and well prepared, about clients, locations and hauntings’, because he will chew us out for leaving the cameras unattended and the battery thing, as if we should be able to tell the future.” 

Will rubbed his head, “Alright, alright. If you interrupt with your stupid quips, I'll push you out of the car.” Will pulled up the google docs Dustin had shared with him, scrolling down to get an idea of how long it was. “What the fuck, why is this thing more links than text?” 

“Just read. I mean, how should I even know? I just don't want to get another rant about ‘not following protocol’.”

“Half of these links are for different profiles on Facebook.” Will muttered, scrolling down. “There’s a floor plan here, now definitely Dustin will be pissed.”

“Is there anything about Emily?” Mike peeked at his screen.

“Keep your eyes on the road, don't look down,” He scolded. “I'll try  to find somethi- Oh here, a page for someone named Emily Grimrose. It says she was 48 and married to Javier Reyes. She was apparently a stay at home wife and made a lot of knitted things to sell. There’s an alarming amount of Etsy stuff here. The usual selfies with weird angles that make her have a triple chin, some family photos with people who look like her extended family, a trip to some exotic place with lots of water, baking charity sales- wait wait wait, here's something weird, she posts stuff with fun, cute captions underneath, but this photo has a link with it. And that link looks like it leads to some weird occult website. Lots of crystals, incense, herbs and the like.”

“What?” Max leant from the back to get a better look at the picture. “She looks like she's in a dentist's office.”

“Is there anyone tagged in the photo?” Mike asked, thankfully not looking down at Will's phone this time.

Will checked. “A doctor named Amanda Maguire.”

“Maybe it’s her dentist’s name?” Max ducked back to flop sideways on the backseat.

“No, no, the dentist’s office belongs to Robbie Matthews, who has posters all over the city. Very popular dentist, no doubt expensive.”

“How did you know?” Mike asked, driving around a slow car. “Keep up with the speed limit, dick!” He said through the window.

“Just reverse image searched it.” Will was confused. “Amanda Maguire is a gynaecologist. I've never heard of her, or seen her. Why would someone who has a lot of money go to a gynaecologist who isn't well known?” Will scrolled further. “Oh shit.”

“Cut the dramatics, Byers, just spit it out.”

“Emily was pregnant when she died,” Will said, holding out the photo where the caption proclaimed “It’s time for the second trimester!” and showed a smiling Emily with another older woman, Dr. Amanda.

___

why do i keep ending at weird reveals? also lmao will really hates facebook for some reason

i have the entire thing planned out but i do not know how many chapters this will be sorry ;-;

aight disclaimer: i dont know shit about the service charge in america for anything, much less ghost hunting, so i tried my best to calculate it by using the minimum wage and product usage and wear and tear, the same way id do it here. if its too less or too high, lemme know

as always, this was betad by free version of grammarly and hemingway editor, so point out any errors you find

i cant seem to post in time but i do post around 1800 ist (i swear im trying to be more regular)

let me know if you like or disliked something :)

[astrobei]

el listens to jolene and thinks about max in the gym with mike and how she totally could take her man if she wanted and how she has flaming locks of auburn hair and ivory skin and eyes of emerald green blue and she seethes and ponders and plays the song over and over again until one day max goes “yeah, dolly parton was, like, totally in love with jolene” and then el’s brain short circuits

[booksandpaperss]

every now and then I’ll remember that it is in fact not canon that max is bisexual and it shocks me to my core

[givehimthemedicine]

when they're trying to get away from the meat monster, El says "there's another way to get out - through The Gap." which means a back service door that The Gap, like all mall stores, has.

but we never saw El interact with such a back door, right?, whereas we had a whole scene of Mike and Max using the Scoops service door to sneak into the movies. so why was this line given to the only person in the scene who has no reason to know about that?

the only explanation is that Max taught El about the service doors.

and I don't think Max just told her about the time they all went through the Scoops door to get into the movies, because then El would've suggested they escape through Scoops, which they could've, because Scoops is right next to The Gap. a few steps riskier, yes, but it's literally right there.

I think El having knowledge of a specific Gap service door makes it plausible that Max and El ducked into the service corridor via The Gap during Mall Rats. I don't think they were there long enough to see a movie but maybe Max took her and showed her how to sneak into the theater? or was she just like "I know a place" and showed her because she thought it was a cool secret thing?

[ven0moir]

7 Minutes in Heaven = "It was a Seven"?

ok so im putting this idea out there bc i havent seen anyone mentioning it before but 7 minutes in heaven is a very popular party game and considering that we were vaguely introduced to a similar idea via elmax in s3 (with them playing their own version of spin the bottle), I wonder if 7 minutes in heaven will come up in regards to Byler. Yknow, with the whole "it was a 7" thing and the number 7 being related to Byler.

the movie Teen Wolf features this game, which is a movie referenced in the show as an 'easter egg'.

I'm not entirely sure how this all fits together yet but I'm putting it out there in case it gives anyone ideas as well. And in case I find anything else. This idea/theory is subject to change and be updated but hmmm idk ... my little heart tells me this means something

[lonesome-witching]

Happy For You

This prompt features both ronance and elmax. Both coming out to each other. It's not what I typically write, but I hope you enjoy.

Do you have any prompts yourself? Or do you want to dive into what I wrote before? You can read my previous prompts or send me some new ones.

Max seemed tense. She had her hands pushed in between her legs and she avoided eye contact with both Nancy and Robin. El, on the other hand, was staring both of them down. One wrong word and she’d lash out. Nancy had never before been scared of El, but she nearly was now.

“I’m very happy for both of you,” Nancy started.

“And I’m not at all surprised,” Robin joked. She was leaning back on the couch. Just as relaxed as she always was. She might have been the only relaxed person in this room.

It had a positive effect on Max who finally looked up and smiled at them. “You weren’t surprised?” she asked.

“Nope, I saw it coming. You two were far too close.”

“Kinda like you and Nance?” Max teased.

Robin glanced over at Nancy. She nodded. “Yeah, exactly like me and Nance actually.” There was a bright smile on her face.

“What are you saying? Are you and Nance…” Max wiggled her finger between them.

“Yes, we are,” Nancy confirmed. It was still new. They had only been together for a few weeks. Nancy had hoped to keep it quiet a little bit longer. But she was fine with this. With El and Max knowing. It was only fair after they came out themselves.

“I’m very happy for you,” El said with a smile. Nearly mimicking what Nancy had said to them mere minutes ago.

“I think this calls for a group hug!” Robin jumped up.

El was nothing short of excited as she flew into Robin’s arms, quickly followed by both Max and Nancy.

“Robin, be careful where that hand goes,” Nancy warned as she could feel Robin’s hand sliding down her back.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see this before,” Max exclaimed, pulling away from the hug. “You guys are so obvious.”

“Well, so are you and El,” Robin shot back.

“No, we’re not.”

“Oh, you so are.”

“El, tell her we’re not obvious.”

El raised her shoulders. “I don’t mind being obvious.”

“That is so adorable, El. I bet you are a wonderful girlfriend,” Robin said.

“I agree with that,” Max joined in. “You’re a wonderful girlfriend.”

“Oh wow, I have one of those too.” Nancy pulled her girlfriend closer, kissing her cheek.

“From now on we should totally go on double dates. You guys can chaperone us and it’ll just look as if we’re hanging out with a group.” Max was the first to sit back down.

“Sure, we can do that.”

“I can’t say I expected it to go this well,” Max confessed.

“Well, me and Nance are full of surprises.”

[qulizalfos]

tfw you are living in a material world AND you r a material girl

anyway since i only had music featured on my moodboard i felt the need to contribute to the shopping side of things

feat. el's iconic beret, max in her amity blight era and my worrying obsession w/ using color palettes

@elmax-week2023 day 3 : shopping & music <3

[kittyvolvox]

goonflower st masterlist

TERFS DO NOT INTERACT! FREE PALESTINE - WHILST REMEMBERING TO REMAIN CRITICAL AND MINDFUL OF ANTISEMITES JUMPING IN ON AND EXPLOITING THIS MOVEMENT! BILLY HARGROVE STANS DO NOT INTERACT!

my top liked posts

the sapphic bff vs love triangles (wenclair and ronance)

ronance and damie parallel (au idea)

nancy wheeler textposts (except they get progessively sadder)

why nancy dove after steve (anti stancy explaination)

nancy reaction to steve's confession (anti stancy)

ronance in 5 minutes

nancy's homoerotic friendships (ronance & bancy)

the homosexual nancy love triangle (ronance & bancy)

ronance defense and breaking down critisms

(gay) wheeler siblings appreciation

the prevailing misunderstanding of nancy's character

stancy hate post

about the nancy "the slut" wheeler sign

closet case carol & tommy

free natalia dyer from st*ncy

the nancy punch scene/realisations abt barb? (bancy, comphet nancy, anti stancy)

jane/el appreciation post (the way she loves)

nancy's pov of the will byers situation

the inherent (tragic) romanticism of bancy

"she let me hit bc" robin speech bubble

my moodboards

(feel free to request more, especially for sapphic or lgbtq+ ships/characters or stranger things ships/platonic dynamics/characters. i am busy with school but i'll try to get to them)

one: wenclair

two: ronance

three: bancy

four: byler (updated: with noah schapp removed and replaced with my fancast wyatt oleff)

five: ronance hunger games au

six: elumax

seven: lumax

eight: elmax

nine: ronance percy jackson au

ten: pjo oc - daughter of poseidon/medusa

eleven: bancy as patrochilles

twelve: rejanis

my comphet nancy wip

an exploration of nancy's jealousy over robin from a different angle, where she's jealous of robin&barb rather than robin&steve. featuring slow burn annoyances to friends to lovers ronance and past bancy.

snippet one

snippet two + moodboard

my ships

ronance

bancy

lumax

elumax

byler

rejanis

villaneve

cadina

fetchen

[antisociallilbrat]

What Polyamory Does For The It Fandom VS In The St Fandom.

These are some brain worms I've had for a while and I've decided to share, regardless if it makes some people mad. Although that is truly not the intent of this post. Anyways. If you haven't been in the It fandom and only have stayed in the St fandom this post may not make sense but I do encourage you to read it.

I joined the It fandom in 2017. I'm one of those few people who were in the It fandom first before moving over to also join the St fandom in late late 2017/early 2018. I had a blog for consuming content but I didn't start making content until 2020 for the It fandom and more recently and regularly for the St fandom. Anywho what I'm trying to say is that I've seen a lot.

I loved many ships in the It fandom and one of the main ships is Poly Losers Club. This is the first fandom I've seen where a poly ship was one of the more popular ones. Even if someone didn't ship all the Losers, throuple and quatrouples (is that how you say it?) have always been popular in this fandom.

Because it is almost unanimously agreed across the fandom, that whether platonically or romantically, all the Losers love each other. Even the most die hard of reddie shippers, the fandom's most popular ship, can often agree on certain fanon headcannons, Stan and Richie practiced their first kiss on each other, Eddie's first crush was on poor oblivious Bill. And that comes back to the agreement that all the Losers love each other. Ships in this fandom have never had an issue coexisting. If someone shipped something different from someone it was always more like "oh that's not my favorite but I definitely see where you're coming from'" OR they're like "yeah no they're in love too," Hardly ever any belittling or any superiority complexes.

That's what makes being in this fandom fun and easy.

Poly Losers even often features a gay man and a women and I've read many beautiful fics where this is explained as they're more best friends than lovers but Eddie doesn't love Bev any less because she's a woman. This fandom allows Eddie and Bev to have an amazing and emotionally intimate relationship because I feel like this fandom does understand, for the most part, that platonic love is just as important as romantic love.

Now on to the St fandom. There are some poly party shippers out there but they are far and few. And there is SO MUCH shipping discourse. Yes I could talk about Mileven and Byler but come on, it goes beyond that. It's with Jany and Stancy, Ronance and Rockie. Elmax and Lumax, and Steddie and Stonathan. Just about every ship you think of there is an alternate ship that people will fight for. They will belittle you for shipping something they don't, and insist that your ship is nothing but platonic. That,,,that just doesn't happen in the It fandom. You know the joke, "All the Losers had a crush on Bill at one point," I think that in itself says a lot. Bill, the arguably least liked character, (my poor bb), has the joke that all the losers had a crush on him at one point.

I'm getting off track. Anyways I'm not saying that shipping everyone together in a poly sense would fix everything with these shipping wars but i do believe why there was never any shipping wars in the It fandom was because of Poly Losers. Also when I talk about poly in St I mean it like Poly Party and Poly teenage crew. Not together, I hate that I have to clarify that.

In the St fandom, it's just not as universally agreed that everyone loves each other, even in the basic platonic sense. All anyone seems to care about in the St fandom is romantic love. A lot of shippers want to be right, they want to prove that their ship will be cannon which just,,,sucks the fun right out fandom spaces.

Canon, fanon, why can't people just make cute fan art and talk in babbles about thoughts they have on a ship. Why do you have to be right about what's going to be the canon ship? Why do certain people feel the need to put down and even to the extent as far as bullying people who ship something different? I've never seen a fandom so focused on 'canon pairings' like the st fandom. (Side note I was never in the sherlock and supernatural fandoms, I knew to mention this)

The party, like the losers, are friends who have been through turmoil that have bound them together for a lifetime. I don't care what pairing you give me from st, whether it be a platonic or a romantic one, I will tell you that those characters deeply care for each other.

Side note: it's worth a mention that the Duffer brothers originally wanted to film the It remake and when they didn't get it, we got Stranger Things. It can be argued that the Party is based off the Losers club so you know what that means? THEY ALL LOVE EACH OTHER. Take it as platonic or romantic idc.

Again, I don't think that poly party is the answer to ending the shipping wars. I do think however that if people could remember how much the party members mean to each other, that that could make less tiring fandom spaces.

Okay I'm done. I just thought this was an interesting point on how it's been like in the It fandom vs the St fandom.

Wait I was doing tags and I forgot to mention that there are few people who ship Elumax and Stoncy, two throuples and kudos to them. They're just worth a mention, I didn't forget about ya'll

[cloudycleric]

my full thoughts on byler from the stranger things day 2023 posts:

(transcript from https://youtu.be/jTl45Q0lfWw?si=_Abbiv7SMqALUJdU , please check it out if you have time :) )

so the first thing is, we saw in these videos that the stranger things account, and we've seen this in previous posts too, they're not afraid to post about ships; especially fan ships. because we got in an elmax specific reference. there was a lot of jopper there was even jancy, lumax, elmax, but notice how there was never any mileven or byler.

you might be like "oh well if there was no byler mentioned and there was no mileven mentioned, then maybe they're just trying to be normal about it." no. no. let me explain let me fucking explain right now.

there's a theory that mileven is already broken up in case you didn't already know. the scene of them in California ("from Mike from Mike"), that [that scene] was technically their breakup, or that they're not really sure if they are still in a relationship. like it's kind of rocky. especially since Mike said this was the "first real fight that they've ever had". definitely some questions on whether or not they're still together, that kind of stuff, since they don't seem to be too close when they get back to Hawkins.

people theorize that they are broken up, or they've already broke up, that they broke up off screen, on the car ride to Hawkins. there's a bunch of stuff about that.

I think byler not being mentioned and mileven not being mentioned works more in byler's favor than it does for mileven.

byler is obviously something that The Duffer Brothers have tried to subtly build up over time. this is quite literally Four Seasons in the making, or if you don't want to count season 1 this is three seasons in the making. hours and hours worth of runtime for this subtle little buildup. and we know that the duffers don't feel the need, or the writers don't feel the need, to come outright and say whatever they're trying to convey. Will came out to Jonathan but he never went, "I'm gay." we, as the viewer, are supposed to take these little pieces and piece it together in our minds. we're supposed to realize through all these little hints, "oh will is definitely gay and he has a crush on Mike."

now even outside of the show, in media campaigns, in advertisements, in marketing--the show is slowly trying to shift you away from paying attention to mileven and closer to paying attention to byler. there were more byler moments in these videos than there were mileven. they never said it outright but the facts are there.

I don't know if it was always their intention for Mike to end up with Will, but there is evidence in The Stranger Things Bible that from day one they wanted will to have sexual identity issues. if they're trying to subtly build up at something like byler I don't think that they would ever really try to bring [it] light to people who haven't already heard [of] it. the vast majority of stranger things fans, like casual stranger things fans that just watch the show when it comes out, they have they have no fucking clue what byler is, or they might know that will is gay but they're not sure about Mike.

and so I don't think Netflix, or stranger things writers, or marketing teamm would go out of their way to make [sure] that more casual audience try and pay attention more to byler than they do mileven. and then, on the flip side, they're trying to not feature mileven as much, so when they do build up to byler they're like, "look at these subtle hints that we were giving you the whole time."

there was foreshadowing from episode fucking one. they built up will to be gay and people were oblivious (but the real ones knew). and then when it came out everybody was like, "oh I see what they mean now. in the first episode and in the first season and how this was a gradual buildup to will coming out."

now what I'm trying to say is I think that they're trying to do that with byler, even if it's just through media campaigns.

...

they are trying to get you subtly to try to take your mind off of Mike and eleven, off of their relationship--and I'm not trying to say they're pointing you in the direction to look at byler, but the fact that they're trying to take the spotlight off of what most fans consider to be the "main relationship" of the show should definitely be something worth acknowledging.

...

I'm not going to sit here and be like, "if you still ship mileven you're delusional," or like "fuck you, I hate mileven," that kind of shit, because if you do like mileven, that's fine. I personally disagree with you. but don't come out here and say--oh my God I literally saw somebody in the Instagram comments being like, "fuck you for not putting in mileven." girl. these are the creators of the show. how. how are you going to be like "fuck you" to the creators of the show for purposefully not including parts of the show that they don't want you to pay attention to??

...

the way that the cast treats the You're My Superhero speech from Mike, and now the way that the people who fucking make the show treat that monologue--not confession, they never refer to it as a confession--as a monologue...

I don't know. why don't you guys just like sit and think about it.

[end transcript]

[steddie-fanfic-recs]

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

by brbsoulnomming

Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley & Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington & The Party, Eddie Munson & The Party, Eddie Munson & Wayne Munson, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson Character: Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Wayne Munson, Robin Buckley, Lucas Sinclair, Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Dustin Henderson, Nancy Wheeler, Erica Sinclair, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Eleven | Jane Hopper, Jonathan Byers, Argyle (Stranger Things), Jim "Chief" Hopper, Jason Carver, Joyce Byers Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Platonic Soulmates Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Angst with a Happy Ending, Mild Angst, Mutual Pining, Found Family, Slow Burn, reference to canon-typical violence, all ships except steddie are mostly in the background, POV Eddie Munson, Hurt/Comfort, Steve Harrington Takes Care of Eddie Munson, Sharing a Bed, Nightmares, Misunderstandings, The Party Loves Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson Has PTSD, Steve Harrington Has PTSD, Steve Harrington Loves The Party, The Party Loves Eddie Munson, Steve and Robin have no boundaries, Hints of elmax and elumax Words: 99,510 Chapters: 26/26

Summary

The summer of '80, a few weeks before he's due to start high school, Eddie gets I don't think of you all that often anyway, and his heart jumps. He knows it's not directed at him. It can't be - it's one of the hardfast rules. Lies of omission don't count, half truths don't count, joking usually doesn't count, and it only counts if you're saying the lie to someone, not just telling yourself. So whoever his soulmate is talking to - they do think about this person often, even if they feel like they have to pretend they don't. But it gives Eddie an idea. ---- A soulmate AU where the lies you say get inked onto your soulmate's skin, featuring romantic and platonic soulmates - or, Eddie's journey in finding his soulmate and letting himself be worked into the found family that is the Party.

[andiwriteordie]

elmax snippet coming at you on wip wednesday! featuring max’s bi panic! everyone cheered! 💖💜💙

see you next monday for chapter 10 of i know better (but you’re still around)! one step closer to a fully reunited party 🥳

[strangerthingsreversebigbang]

Artist Sign Ups for the Stranger Things Reverse Big Bang are now open!

Schedule | Sign Up | Info | FAQ | Rules | Ask the Mods

[jxncywarrior]

Stranger Things characters and ships as Taylor Swift Albums

Part Four: Red (Taylor’s Version)

*Disclaimer: I’m tagging all the ships and characters featured. I’m gonna try not to be biased. MOST of these are strictly based on canon. No hate to ANY ships or shippers.*

State Of Grace: Ronance (Nancy’s POV)

“So you were never a saint and I've loved in shades of wrong. We learn to live with the pain. Mosaic broken hearts but this love is brave and wild”

Red: Mileven (El’s POV)

“Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street. Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly”

Treacherous: Jopper (Hopper’s POV)

“Two headlights shine through the sleepless night and I will get you, and get you alone”

I Knew You Were Trouble: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“No apologies. He'll never see you cry. Pretends he doesn't know that he's the reason why you're drowning”

22: Elmax (s3)

“Yeah, we're happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way. It's miserable and magical”

I Almost Do: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“I just wanna tell you it takes everything in me not to call you”

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: Mileven (El’s POV)

“I remember when we broke up the first time saying, "This is it, I've had enough," 'cause like we hadn't seen each other in a month when you said you needed space”

Stay Stay Stay: Jancy (Nancy’s POV)

“Before you, I'd only dated self indulgent takers who took all of their problem out on me but you carry my groceries and now I'm always laughing and I love you”

The Last Time: Byler (Will’s POV)

“This is the last time I'm asking you this. Put my name at the top of your list. This is the last time I'm asking you why. You break my heart in the blink of an eye”

Holy Ground: Elmax (Max’s POV)

“Spinning like a girl in a brand new dress. We had this big wide city all to ourselves. We blocked the noise with the sound of 'I need you' and for the first time I had something to lose”

Sad Beautiful Tragic: Byler (Will’s POV)

“Distance, timing, breakdown, fighting, silence, the train runs off its tracks, kiss me, try to fix it, could you just try to listen? Hang up, give up. For the life of us we can't get back”

The Lucky One: Steve

“You had it figured out since you were in school. Everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool”

Everything Has Changed: Byler (Mike’s POV)

“All I've seen since eighteen hours ago is green eyes and freckles and your smile in the back of my mind making me feel like”

Starlight: Ronance (Nancy’s POV)

“He said, "Look at you, worrying so much about things you can't change. You'll spend your whole life singing the blues if you keep thinking that way"”

Begin Again: Jancy (Nancy’s POV)

“But you throw your head back laughing like a little kid. I think it's strange that you think I'm funny, 'cause he never did”

The Moment I Knew: Mileven (El’s POV)

“You should've been there. Should've burst through the door with that "Baby, I'm right here" smile and it would've felt like a million little shining stars had just aligned and I would've been so happy”

Come Back…Be Here: Byler (Mike’s POV)

“And this is when the feeling sinks in. I don't wanna miss you like this”

Ronan: Hopper

“I remember the drive home when the blind hope turned to crying and screaming, "Why?" Flowers pile up in the worst way, no one knows what to say”

Nothing New: Nancy

“They tell you while you're young "Girls, go out and have your fun" Then they hunt and slay the ones who actually do it”

Better Man: Will and Jonathan to Lonnie

“And I see the permanent damage you did to me”

Babe: Stancy (Steve’s POV)

“Big mistake, you broke the sweetest promise that you never should have made”

Message In A Bottle: Byler (Mike’s POV)

“I know that you like me and it's kinda frightenin'. Standing here waitin', waitin' and I became hypnotized by freckles and bright eyes. Tongue tied”

I Bet You Think About Me: Stancy (Nancy’s POV)

“But you know what they say, you can't help who you fall for and you and I fell like an early spring snow”

Forever Winter: Nancy to Mike

“He says he doesn't believe anything much he hears these days. He says, "Why fall in love, just so you can watch it go away?". He spends most of his nights wishing it was how it used to be”

Run: Byler (Mike’s POV)

“So you laugh like a child and I'll sing like no one cares. No one to be, no one to tell”

The Very First Night: Jancy (Nancy’s POV)

“My friends all say they know everything I'm going through. I drive down different roads but they all lead back to you”

All Too Well (10mv): Mileven (El’s POV)

“And maybe we got lost in translation. Maybe I asked for too much. But maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up”

Eyes Open: Mike

“The tricky thing is yesterday we were just children playing soldiers just pretending. Dreaming dreams with happy endings”

Safe And Sound: Jonathan to Will

“Don't you dare look out your window, darling, everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold onto this lullaby even when the music's gone”

Links to other parts of this series: Debut, Fearless, Speak Now, 1989, reputation, Lover, folklore, evermore

[celxstialdxeams]

elumax

okay okay I see you!!

personally, I think elumax is cute as a concept- I love the idea of having elmax and lumax in some capacity. I love reading fanfiction that features them in some way!

however, they would never be canon and tbh I don’t want them to be either. Lumax endgame!!! 🫶

btw, here are the ships I am yet to finish posting about, so please don’t ask me these:

stonathan, lumax, mileven

Ships I’ve finished & added to the bingo (DEFINITELY don’t ask me these):

stancy, jancy, byler, ronance, steddie, elumax

Feel free to send more ships!!!

[bowiebond]

Queern’t

An Asexual Dustin One-Shot

Henclair + Background Lumax & Dusuzie, Elmax mentioned

CW: Cheating (without intent), minor internalised homophobia, discussions about sex/sexuality, implied autistic Dustin (*cough* projection *cough*)

“What’s it feel like when you kiss Max?” Lucas paused their game and slowly turned to him.

“…Don’t you have a girlfriend?” Lucas squinted with his lip hitched up on one side, in a confusion-induced sneer.

“Yeah?” Dusting frowned and turned to look back at him. “That’s why I’m asking.”

“Why would you need to know about me kissing Max then? Do you still have a thing for her?”

“Max? No! Ew.” Dustin grimaced. “No, man, I don’t like Max. Not like that. That was so two years ago.”

“Okay, okay,” Lucas rolled his eyes and placed his controller down, shifting his body to face Dustin’s, giving him his complete attention. “Explain the thought process behind your question.”

“Well,” Dusting floundered for a moment, throwing his own controller down with a huff, mirroring Lucas’ body language. “Suzie and I have kissed.”

“Yeah, she likes it better without the teeth, I hear.” Lucas pushed his lips out as he nodded and Dustin shoved him in the chest, earning a short laugh.

“Shut up! Look, I just…Suzie’s hot. I think she’s hot. And she’s got all these rules about our relationship cause she’s Mormon and stuff. Which I’m completely fine with!” Dustin added quickly. “It’s just…I’m completely fine with it.”

“Fine with what?”

“The whole…” Dustin leaned in closer and dropped his voice to a whisper as if they weren’t already alone. “Waiting until marriage, you know?”

“I���m confused. You’re upset because…you respect your girlfriends boundaries?” Lucas tried to rephrase to make sense of it and Dustin groaned.

“No! Yes. Kind of.” Dustin buried his face in the back of the couch as Lucas grinned at his friends suffering.

“And you’re asking me what it feels like to kiss my girlfriend because…?” Lucas waited for his response with a slowly turning hand.

“Because when I kiss Suzie, I don’t feel like it’s some big thing! Isn’t it supposed to be?” Dustin looked up with genuine distress on his features, brows downturned and pinched, brown eyes big and a little glossy. The instinct to comfort his friend made Lucas’ body feel bigger, breathing in and filling out his broadening frame as he sat straighter.

“I don’t know. Kissing is just…kissing, Dustin.”

“But it’s supposed to feel like something. Like— like electricity.” Dustin perked up as he remembered. “That’s what Steve told me. You start kissing, and then you wanna do more, and it’s just like…a-a sexual current.”

“Okay…” Lucas considered his words, mulling them over. “I don’t know if Steve is the best person to go to about relationship issues. The guy can’t keep one.”

“He’s working on it.” Dustin winced a little after he said it. “I don’t feel like that with Suzie. When we kiss. I should, shouldn’t I? She’s my girlfriend, and I do love her.”

“Woah, love?” Lucas put a hand up, a tad shocked. “Really?”

“Well, you love Max, don’t you?” Dustin’s eyes widened. “Do you?”

“Of course! We’ve been dating like, almost three years. On and off.” Lucas pursed his lips. “Last week ended our longest relationship so far. Three months. But I’ll get her back by the end of this week, I’m sure of it.”

Dustin pursed his lips, mimicking Lucas’ expression before frowning.

“Yeah, that’s kind of sad, man. I love Max, great friend, but she dumps you like…all the time.”

“And I win her back every time!” Lucas gave a winning smile like he was in an inspiring ad, but it didn’t make Dustin’s deadpan stare fade. Lucas sighed, shoulders dropping. “Okay, so we aren’t the perfect couple, she’s stubborn, I’m an idiot, but we work! I do…love her. I can see us always being together. She’s a great friend and not a bad kisser.” He admitted with a coy shrug.

“Isn’t she like the first girl you’ve kissed though? How would you know if it’s good or bad?” Dustin scratched at his head as he considered his own question.

“I don’t know. We had to learn together. And when I kiss her, I feel good, so she must be good enough.”

“You feel good? Like…” Dustin glanced downwards and Lucas felt his cheeks tingle.

“I mean—! Sometimes. Not all the time. Kissing is…it does lead to stuff. But me and Max haven’t, like…she’s not ready. I respect that.” Lucas’ face was starting to burn now, embarrassed, but he tried to play it cool.

“But you are? Ready, I mean.”

“I mean, what guy isn’t? It’s like, all we think about.” Lucas joked and Dustin looked away, cheeks blooming pink. Unlike Lucas, he couldn’t play it off when it was so plain on his face.

“I…don’t.”

“What, like ever?” Lucas frowned. “You think about it at least like…once a day, right? Don’t you wanna do that with Suzie one day? After you’re married.” Lucas rolled his eyes a little as he tacked the last part on.

“Of course!” Dustin quickly exclaimed. “It’s sex! Who doesn’t— what guy doesn’t…Think about it. All the time.” His lips thinned as he smiled tightly. Lucas wasn’t stupid. He’d known Dustin for years. He could spot one of his lies from a million miles away.

“Do you think it…like at all?” Lucas prompted softly and Dustin’s lips moved without sound before he sighed.

“Sometimes. Like…Suzie will send me a photo in the mail and she’ll be wearing white so you kinda…see her bra,” Dustin mumbled the words like his observation was supposed to be a secret. “And yeah I go ‘that’s nice’ but I don’t…have the urge to have sex with her.”

“Like at all?” Lucas squinted with furrowed brows. “You don’t even think about, like, what she looks like under the shirt?”

“It’s a nice thought sometimes.” Dustin admitted. “But I don’t get hot and bothered over it. Honestly when it comes to actually doing it…it just seems like a lot of work.” He sighed and laid back against the couch with pursed lips.

“I’d rather talk to her about comics and D&D, and her newest science project. Hold her hand. Maybe…cuddle while we watch a movie.” His face was steadily getting redder, unable to meet Lucas’ eyes as he picked at his nails with his other hand. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “I just…feel like I’m behind everyone when it comes to that stuff. We’re sixteen and I…don’t even wanna fuck my girlfriend of two and a half years.”

“Are you…like…” Lucas tried to find a way to say it that didn’t seem accusatory. “Gay?”

“Gay?” Dustin whipped around to look at him like he was crazy. “I’m not gay.”

“My bad!” Lucas put his hands up in surrender. “Nothing wrong with it if you are. We both know Will is…different.”

“Will being gay is whatever, it’s Will.” Dustin scoffed. “I’m not gay though.”

“Well, I mean, you don’t seem interested in Suzie.” Lucas pointed out, confused as Dustin was. “You don’t even like kissing her.”

“I like kissing!” Dustin defended. “It’s just…I thought it would be this big thing, is all. Fireworks and electric tension. But it’s not. It’s just nice, kissing Suzie. I like kissing my girlfriend.”

“It’s not fireworks for me and Max.” Lucas admitted with a shrug. “It’s-…okay, there is tension for us, but it’s why people make out, you know? Cause you don’t wanna have sex yet, but the build up is nice. Frustrating but hot.”

“Suzie and I made out once.” Dustin admitted with a small shrug. “She seemed into it. I got bored after twenty minutes and starting half watching the TV. I would have been happy to just cuddle! Or like…kiss her neck, but she’s got strict parents.”

“Are you sure you’re not gay?”

“How would I know?!” Dustin threw his hands up in the air. “We live in the middle of bumfuck nowhere! You think I can just waltz up to a guy, plant one of him and go, ‘yep, I’m into that’?”

He shoved Lucas for the dumb question.

“I guess you’re not wrong.” Lucas snickered, shoving back. Dustin narrowed his eyes and pushed him again. Lucas kicked up a brow. “You really wanna do that?”

“Bring it.” Lucas laughed as he launched from his seat to tackle Dustin, the curly haired boy screeching despite his tough talk. If Lucas had anything on Dustin, it was his brawn.

Dustin put up a decent fight though, shoving his face and tugging at his jacket in a lame attempt as throwing him off the couch, which only happened when Lucas decided there wasn’t enough room to headlock him on the cushions.

They hit the ground hard, Dustin giving a winded groan as Lucas shoved him onto his front and sat on his back to wrap his arm securely around his neck.

“Tap out! Tap it!”

“Uncle!”

“Wrong game, man.” Lucas laughed, Dustin smacking the floor twice before Lucas let up, falling against him with a belly laugh that nearly brought him to tears. “Uncle?”

“It’s all I could think of. My brain went blank.” Dustin wheezed under his weight and Lucas snorted, sitting back against the bottom of the couch as Dustin flopped onto his back.

Dustin took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“What if I’m just…broken?” Dustin sighed heavily. “Like my junk just doesn’t work that way. Or— or something in my brain doesn’t send the right signals. Typical.”

“There’s nothing broken about you…unless you count your freaky collarbones.”

“Those are missing, not broken.” Dustin corrected with a fake, condensing smile.

“Maybe you’re just missing something then.” Lucas shrugged. “Maybe you love Suzie but you’re not…in love with her. And that’s why you don’t wanna sleep with her.”

“So what? I break up with her? It’s not you, it’s me?”

“I don’t know, man.” Lucas huffed. It was frustrating, not being able to help his friend. “I’m just shooting possibilities here.”

“Maybe I should kiss a guy.” Dustin thought out loud, staring at the ceiling glumly. “I don’t think I’m gay though. I never thought about it.”

Lucas watched Dustin watch the ceiling and sighed softly. He shifted his bent knees down to the floor and leant down, pressing a swift kiss to his lips. Dustin flinched and sat up with wide eyes, moving away just a few inches. That hurt weirdly enough, a cold chill permeating his body as he was scrutinised. He should be used to that by now as one of four black kids in all of Hawkins (Erica, Patrick and Jeff making up the other three).

“What?” He said defensively and Dustin floundered for a response.

“I have a girlfriend!” He finally settled on.

“Sorry. I thought I may as well save you the trouble. You didn’t feel anything, right? So you don’t have to break up with Suzie.” He shrugged, looking away.

“I— you still kissed me!” Dustin actually looked like he wanted to cry and guilt ate away at Lucas’ stomach. “You can’t just— I’m not like that, okay? I was joking. I thought out everyone I was to supposed to be the one who didn’t get jokes.” Dustin’s voice wobbled as his knees hiked up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. Mirroring Lucas’ own actions.

“I’m sorry, okay? I wasn’t thinking.”

“…I thought you loved Max. You don’t kiss other people when you love someone.”

“I do love Max!”

“You basically just cheated!”

“Max and I are off right now!” Lucas was getting increasingly frustrated now. Who was Dustin to stick his nose in his feelings for Max? Unlike Dustin, Lucas could actually get it up for his girlfriend.

“Still! Emotional cheating!” Dustin cried, groaning and burying his face in his hands. “Why would you do that, man? That’s not normal.”

Lucas bristled at the words.

“What? You have a problem with gay people now? With Will?” Lucas spat and Dustin snapped his head up, glaring back.

“That’s not what I meant, Lucas. I meant kissing your friend. When you already love someone!”

“Max had this same dilemma!” Lucas broke. “She kissed El! When we were on.” He crossed his arms and huffed, sitting back too harshly. “Max said it meant nothing. She was just curious to figure out if she had feelings for girls too or not. It’s the same thing.”

“And what? You forgave her for cheating?”

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make, Dustin!” Lucas yelled and Dustin flinched, lips thinning with anger he was keeping to himself. Burning with a mix of shame and rage.

“What’s the point then?”

“I—“ Lucas found he couldn’t find the words. “The point is that…that kiss was just an experiment. You don’t have to feel guilty over it.”

“…You have soft lips.” Dustin admitted in a soft mumble, looking down with wet eyes.

“Thanks, man. I guess.” Lucas fiddled with his sleeve, suddenly feeling suffocated in the silent room. “So?”

“So?” Dustin blinked a few times, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Did you feel anything?” Lucas shrugged. “Like…something different to Suzie?”

“Not really.” Dustin scratched at his neck. “To be fair, we’re friends. I always like hanging out with you. And it was like, barely a kiss.”

“I’m not kissing you again.” Lucas warned and Dustin actually laughed.

“No, no, I just…maybe I’m just broken after all. I don’t…wanna fuck anyone. God, I’m dramatic, aren’t I?”

“No.” Lucas frowned. “Maybe it’s just…a ‘with time’ thing. Late bloomer.”

“I’m sixteen.”

“Okay, then, so what?” Lucas proposed with a shrug, hands out. “You don’t like sex. Or, at least the idea of doing it. You’re not ready, and if you never are…oh well. You got plenty of other great things about you to entertain any partner you decide to have.”

“You think?” Dustin said, voice small but hopeful as he looked up at Lucas through a few curls that hung down his forehead.

“Totally, dude.” Lucas smiled softly, hoping it was enough to reassure him. ��You’ll figure it out. Whatever you are. Whoever you choose to be.”

Dustin broke into a toothy smile.

“Thanks, dude.”

“It’s cool. We’re friends, aren’t we? I’m happy to help.” As they picked up there controllers, Lucas ignored the twisting in his stomach at the thought of Max, likely waiting for him to win her back like he always did.

He would. If being black and unpopular wasn’t hard enough in this tiny midwestern town of Indiana, he didn’t need to add being queer to the list too.