#he could have watched nancy and steve make out with jealous longing but actually he leaves at the speed of light

[itspileofgoodthings]

A Jonathan Byers Meta

I’ve been thinking so much about Jonathan Byers and I have some thoughts (again). (Feel free to reblog if you want but please be nice if you do so!) Jonathan is a person whose core trait, one of them at least, is that he responds so strongly to context and specifically to the kind of context he understands and wants, a trait of many oldest siblings I think. And in that context he can be so many things he is not necessarily in every area of his life. So much of that forward moving momentum he has in the first couple episodes of the show where he’s doing so much so powerfully is caused by it being a context he understands and has chosen to embrace and live out to the fullest- the context of him being the most responsible/capable member of the family. He loves Joyce and Will; he hates Lonny and is going to keep him away from his family at all costs; he considers himself the one in charge. And there is a softness and strength to that that feels absolutely luminous, that feels like nothing can shake it. And so as the show goes on and the lens widens to include more characters and perspectives it feels like Jonathan loses power/feels a little lost/drifts out of the center of the story. And for a long time I considered that a failure of the writers. They paid attention to him at the beginning, I thought, but then dropped him and that wasn’t his fault. But I rewatched Stranger things (seasons 1 and 2) this past spring and actually the thing I saw that surprised me is it makes sense on a character level that he loses that central ground and power so to speak because he is put into a context he no longer really understands or just as importantly doesn’t really want to be in. And yeah I’m talking about his dynamic with Nancy. His dynamic with Nancy in those first few seasons confused me the most and for the longest time because it began so powerfully and then felt like it veered off course. I loved it so much, shipped it so completely, and then lost interest as the show goes. And again I blamed that on the writers (in a way I still kind of do because they’re clumsy but more on that in a minute.) But I think there’s more going on on a character level.

The first beats of Nancy and Jonathan’s story feel so powerful because it’s actually part of that same context of compelling power in which we first meet Jonathan (and if you’re me fall in love with him fast). Will is missing and Nancy steps in to not exactly his place in Jonathan’s family but the position he occupied--and that’s because a) she is trying to solve a problem that is connected with Will’s disappearance, b) she needs help while doing so. Jonathan responds to that context effortlessly and powerfully. He joins forces with her and without any question or hesitation takes care of her physically when she’s in danger. It’s surprising and it’s moving and it feels at first like just an extension of that quiet competence and force of personality we witnessed in the first couple episodes but this time in a romantic context. But actually, it still isn’t romantic with him. It isn’t for him for a long time. Basically until the writers force his hand. And that’s because ---and this SHOCKED me when I rewatched the first two seasons a month ago, almost to the point of anger and quitting the show forever--the show never actually succeeds in establishing that he likes Nancy as a person! It’s clear that the writers intend the audience to pick up on that subtext (or I think it’s clear that that’s what they want) but they bungle it badly if so. The actual basic cues that would tell us Jonathan has a crush on Nancy and have us buy it as a believable emotional experience are missing. There isn’t a scene or even a moment where in any way Jonathan expresses any kind of romantic interest in Nancy at the beginning of the show. It’s not part of the establishing his character. His reasons for taking pictures at the party are muddled from the perspective the show is trying to force and it doesn’t work because all Jonathan has done is be vaguely polite to Nancy at school, caught her eye (quite frankly ACCIDENTALLY that one time), and disappeared down the hallway at the speed of light every time she turns around. She was far more intrigued than he was. The show gives us that moment with tears in his eyes where we’re supposed to believe (I think?????) that he’s so upset she’s with Steve but it’s incongruous and feels so weird and jarring you kind of have to throw it out. Because the show hasn’t done any work of telling us why that would be the case at all. No pining gaze! No mention! No conversation! The conversation they have in the hallway doesn’t communicate longing on his part, only a desire to be away from the cool kids. There isn’t even a time where someone else teases him about his crush on Nancy, the easiest way to introduce the fact of one character liking another. It’s not much of a stretch to believe that he hasn’t really thought about Nancy romantically at all. In fact it’s honestly a stretch to think he does. And there other reasons for his being there that make more sense--though I do think it’s bungled from a writing perspective. He misses Will, he’s out looking for Will, photography is his passion (lol), he doesn’t like the cool kids, he stumbles on their party “eh might as well take a picture and be the cool outside observer that he is.”

And because the writers didn’t give us a clear and unambiguous liking of Nancy from Jonathan as a starting point everything that comes after between them, even romantically or romantically-adjacent in that first season, hits differently once you watch it patiently and closely. It becomes clear that all of Jonathan’s care-taking of her is response not to her as a person he is romantically interested in, but response to context, to being the responsible one, the helper. He gets out her sleeping bag and puts it on the floor because he’s really not thinking with any part of his brain about how he’s in the room of the girl he likes. Because he’s not! He’s there as a larger part of the context the show established for him in the first couple episodes--his family, his role as caretaker. And of course that doesn’t mean that Jonathan couldn’t fall in love with her later just because the story never actually established that he liked her romantically when it thinks it does. Of course that could come later, come OUT of their interactions. but .... it doesn’t. It never really comes through. The most powerful part of their story together is the first part because it’s the only time in their relationship where Jonathan is moving with that characteristic firm decision making and competence. He’s very powerful when he’s saving her life. But everything else feels flat. And part of that is because he’s not a person who changes easily or very much at all. There are things about him that feel powerful and real and RIGHT and then there are things that just feel like him doing what the writers want him to do and those aren’t the same. Everything having to do with Nancy romantically feels like the second thing, like something the writers are making them do. The show even has to use Murray to get their romance actually jump-started because these aren’t really characters electrically drawn together. And so some of the stuff he says, the romantic stuff--it’s easy to handwave. And/or to find other reasons. And no this doesn’t have anything to do with shipping bias, though my shipping has been influenced by paying close attention to his behavior and actions. Because despite the power of Charlie Heaton in a gray sweater backlit by the red light of the darkroom with his hair falling over his face, nothing about it hits the way a Jonathan emotion should hit. And it should hit! The right stuff does! He’s brilliantly and truthfully acted and he’s layered and the right Jonathan moments SING. He’s not really a talker, not fundamentally, he doesn’t show his heart that way but in actions and only some of his actions with Nancy, the ones that really are just part of the context he’s comfortable with, really ring true. The point that I’m trying to get at is that when you look at those first few episodes really closely, emotionally there are only really three things that are actually--in character and in truth-- established about Jonathan’s heart. 

They are. One- he loves Will. Will is his person, his world, the center. The one he’s always going to protect first, think about first. Will tells us he doesn’t have friends and Jonathan protests it but that probably came from somewhere. His favorite person in the WORLD is Will. The context of Will’s disappearance highlights that so clearly of course but I think we’d see it even without that. The second thing is that he loves Joyce but he doesn’t particularly trust her judgment, considering himself more of an authority on what this family needs than she does. This establishes a distinguishing quality in him, a pickiness and choosiness and prickliness that is essential. He won’t love blindly and he certainly won’t let just anyone in. (When he says he doesn’t like people we should maybe perhaps believe him and not pass him off as a secret softie.) Joyce is part of his inner circle (I love their relationship a lot actually) but he is not uncritical even of her. This is someone who likes to keep people out because this is someone who doesn’t have endless patience for people and the way they do things. He wants things HIS WAY. His way is domestic and so is the context- he’s frying an egg and it feels so homey and good you want to say he’s a softie and a cinnamon roll- but it comes out of a character who knows what he wants. And the third thing, hilariously enough, is that he hates Steve! Somehow the Duffer brothers DO establish this in a far more convincing way than they establish him liking Nancy. He tells Nancy “he doesn’t like most people” and this is true but Steve is a little bit of an exception in a worse way, as the leader of the popular kids. He’s the figurehead for all that Jonathan dislikes and despises and wants to keep out of his inner circle. The fight that Jonathan and Nancy have in the woods feels far more about his disdain for the cool kids than it does about him really liking her and wanting to rescue her from that. The nerd lecturing the girl who wants to be cool and telling her she’s better than that is a stupid trope and one far less romantic than it thinks it is but because the show has established, intentionally or not, that Jonathan doesn’t really care about Nancy romantically all that comes through in a truthful way is that he doesn’t like popular kids. That emotion, that dislike and almost disdain that lives at Jonathan’s core, is expressed far more authentically than any warmth towards Nancy and it’s so telling that it’s that dislike that collides with the other strongest feeling of his life, loving Will, and leads him to half-killing Steve in the street. The warmest Jonathan ever acts towards Nancy is the warmth of context and the warmth of Will (in his absence) and when those reasons fall away you’re left with something curiously cold. And Jonathan, when he loves, is not a cold person. He’s not a chill person. And so watching him do things like give Will Nancy’s gift to him (a hilarious moment), make Nancy leave out the window (actually very dark and strange considering that Joyce knows they’re sleeping together), literally forget Nancy exists when Will comes back and it’s him and Joyce and Will again, ---you can try to tell yourself that that’s just how he loves. But it isn’t. Because we know his warmth in his hatred and in his loves. And for Nancy it really is just kind of “ehhh.” It’s indifference. 

tl,dr; the show thinks that it’s telling a convincing love triangle for sure. But because they don’t establish liking Nancy as a person as part of his character early enough and because he isn’t a character whose fundamental traits change or change easily they don’t actually build a convincing enough romance. It’s because Jonathan is a person who responds to context, even the wrong one, and because Nancy has her own journey and insecurities to work through (a different meta) they stay together for a long time. But it isn’t satisfying and it doesn’t work because it doesn’t actually strike deep enough in Jonathan’s heart. It’s not a context he really wants at his core. If he falls in love it’ll have to be with someone he wants to allow right into the very center of his life and heart and right now he’s not interested in anyone being in that place except his family. And so because he’s kind of stuck in this situation (of his own choosing, I’m not absolving him of that) because Jonathan likes routine and to keep doing the same things and is not self-motivated in the most powerful way to be able to get out of this romance—-he drifts to the edges and stops really doing anything interesting at all. He starts doing pot, won’t go visit Nancy on her spring break etc. He’s not really the boyfriend he could be in any way because I think fundamentally he doesn’t want to be. And the show may put other words in his mouth about this, I kNOW that the show doesn’t completely agree with everything I’ve written here. But it seems to me the only true way to read him in light of what he actually does and how different it is when he’s acting with his whole heart and when he’s not. 

[eiightysixbaby]

under the mistletoe

modern!eddie munson x fem!reader (college au)

2.6k

summary: a holiday party, a sweet gift exchange, and an even sweeter kiss

cw: mentions of alcohol, v brief mentions of weed smoking, fluff

“If Steve and Chrissy kiss one more time under that mistletoe, I’m gonna barf,” Eddie mumbles around his glass of eggnog.

“Oh, come on, I think it’s sweet,” Robin says, elbowing him in the side. “Stop being such a downer.”

You look in the direction of the couple under scrutiny, watching as Chrissy perches herself on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on Steve’s waiting mouth. It is sweet, sickeningly so, if you’re honest. Maybe that’s where Eddie’s coming from…

“I’m not being a downer, I just don’t think we should all have to be subjected to them sucking face every five minutes,” Eddie sneers at her, huffing when she rolls her eyes at him.

“You’re just jealous you’re not getting any, Munson,” Robin sing-songs, walking away to refill her drink.

This was your first time experiencing one of Steve’s Christmas parties. Last year, you spent the holiday miserably sick in your and Robin’s shared apartment. You’d met the group during your first year of college, making fast friends and fitting right in with them. Robin and Eddie knew Steve from their shared hometown growing up, and they’d told you countless stories of all of the parties he used to throw in high school.

You’re just thankful that now, the parties are a little more scaled-back. A lot less drinking-till-you-puke and a lot more quality time with people you actually care about.

“So, you having fun at your first official Harrington holiday party?” Eddie asks you, looking casually over at you with his deep brown eyes.

“Yeah,” you smile. “It’s fun. I needed this after all the stress from finals. And it beats having the flu like last year,” you grimace, heart skipping a beat when Eddie laughs.

“Okay, you got me. Watching Steve and Chrissy make out might be bad, but it’s not as bad as the flu.”

You giggle, feeling your cheeks heat when he doesn’t take his eyes off of you. You’d be a filthy liar if you said you didn’t have a thing for Eddie. The moment you met him he’d captured your full attention, with his boisterous personality and his pretty eyes. His wild curly hair and his stellar smile. Everything about him had you giddy like a teenager, but you hadn’t voiced this to anyone — too scared that your feelings would disrupt, well, everything.

Plus, Eddie definitely didn’t like you like that. You’ve heard some of his hookup stories, he wouldn’t want to settle down and start a relationship with you. You’re just a friend to him, and that’s fine.

But with the way he’s looking at you right now, you could almost be convinced otherwise…

The little moment is gone before it really even started, Nancy coming over to the two of you and hurrying you into the living room to do the gift exchange. You’d decided to do a Secret Santa, drawing names and keeping your chosen person a secret until it was time for the unwrapping.

Much to your excitement, you’d pulled Eddie’s name. You’d debated over what to get him for as long as you could get away with before you finally came up with the perfect idea. Now that it’s almost time for him to open it, you find yourself getting nervous to see his reaction.

Everyone sits in a circle in the living room, taking up all of the furniture as well as the floor. You take one end of the sofa, and Eddie claims the chair closest to you. You watch as Nancy places all of the wrapped boxes and sparkly gift bags in the center of the group, trying not to think too hard about the fact that Eddie chose to sit by you.

“So, whose name did you get?” he leans over and whispers to you, those big doe eyes full of mischief.

“Well what fun would it be to spoil it now?” you counter, smiling at him as he rolls his eyes and sighs exaggeratedly.

Your attention is brought back to the group as Steve offers to go first, picking up his gift and handing it over to Jonathan. Jonathan shyly accepts it, smiling as he tears the tissue paper out of the bag to reveal its contents. He pulls out a few cassette tapes of his favorite artists, as well as a new strap for his camera.

“Dude, these are awesome!” he says, and you watch as Steve smiles proudly. “Thank you so much,” the shaggy-headed boy continues, leaning over to accept Steve’s fist bump.

“No problem, man. I know you were complaining about your current camera strap getting all worn. The cassettes were an obvious choice,” Steve jokes.

The room is full of smiles and laughs as the gift-giving continues. Jonathan gives his gift to Chrissy, Chrissy had drawn your name and gives hers to you — a beautiful charm bracelet and a cozy blanket you’d seen at the mall not long ago and wanted terribly.

That means you’re up next. Your hands feel clammy and nervous butterflies flutter in your stomach as you grab your gifts from the floor. Angling yourself in Eddie’s direction, you hand him the presents with a timid smile.

“For me!?” he asks, holding a hand up to his heart. “How’d I get so lucky?”

You feel your face flush, unable to maintain eye contact as your jitters get the best of you. You just hope he likes it. You hope it’s not too much.

Eddie’s careful hands unwrap the first present of the two, tossing the wrapping paper to the floor. The small box is exposed, and you feel like you might pass out as he takes the lid off. His jaw drops open, his head snapping up to look at you and then look back down at the contents of the container once more.

“What is it!?” Nancy asks, craning her neck from her seat to try and catch a glimpse.

“Custom guitar picks. For Corroded Coffin,” Eddie says, in awe as he just stares at them.

The picks were a red and black marbled pattern, with CC printed onto them on one side, and an image of a bat flying on the opposite side. You know how important his band is to him, how often he stays up till the asscrack of dawn practicing guitar, and so it felt like the perfect thing to get.

You wait with baited-breath as he continues looking them over, picking them up and marveling at them as if they aren’t just pieces of plastic at the end of the day.

“These are…. I don’t even know what to say. These are so fucking sweet,” he says, meeting your eyes.

“Don’t forget to open the second one,” you say, trying to bite back a smile.

He just smiles, shaking his head as he goes to pick up the second present. Reaching carefully inside of the big, sparkly red bag, he pulls out a vinyl record. Not just any record, though. It’s a copy of Master of Puppets, signed by every member of Metallica. Eddie’s favorite band. You’d scoured the internet for a legitimate and somewhat-affordable copy, completely scoring on this one. A good chunk of the money you’d made from your campus job went towards it, but it was more than worth it.

“No fucking way!” he shouts when he clocks the signatures scrawled out in marker. He flips the record around to show the room, everyone erupting in a chorus of “holy shit!” and “oh my god”.

He’s out of his seat in an instant, encouraging you to stand with him. He squeezes you in an impossibly tight hug, his arms so secure around you.

“I can’t fucking believe you,” he says, right against your ear. He pulls back a little, looking you right in the eyes. “Thank you so fucking much. What the hell,” he laughs, his teeth fully on display and the dimples coming out in his cheeks.

“Damn. She’s the best gift giver of us all. I think we might as well just call off Secret Santa for next year, no one’s topping that,” Steve says, getting a nod from Robin.

Eddie still hasn’t fully let you go, and it’s only when you become excruciatingly aware of all of the eyes on you that you pull away from his touch.

“Okay. So, Eddie, you’re next?” you say shakily, trying to gain your composure back. The boy stares at you just a second too long for you not to overthink it, before he’s nodding along.

“Yeah, alright,” he says, reaching for his gift.

The remainder of the gifts are exchanged rather quickly, but you really couldn’t tell anyone what they were if you’d had a gun to your head. All you could think about was the way Eddie hugged you. The look in his eyes when he opened both gifts. His eyes watching you intently from that moment on.

You want to buy him gifts like that all of the time, want to make him smile like that all of the time.

Chrissy and Steve cozy up on the loveseat, wrapped in each other as Christmas music plays softly. Jonathan and Argyle sit by the window, smoking from the new bowl the latter had been gifted by Robin. (That was the only gift you’d actually paid attention to as it was given, because Argyle literally cried). Eddie was relaxing in his chair, sipping another glass of spiked nog.

Robin and Nancy had pulled you into the kitchen as soon as they could, talking in whispers.

“Okay, so what was that? You got Eddie, like, the best gift ever.” Robin says, her eyes bulging at the end of the sentence.

“Yeah, I mean, that record had to have cost a fortune. And the custom picks!?” Nancy prods.

“Can I not just get my friend a nice gift?” you counter, your hand rubbing the back of your neck.

“Something’s up. I always know when something’s up,” Nancy says, her small mouth pursing in thought.

She’s right. She always knows. You don’t stand a chance lying to them — especially not both of them, together.

“Okay, fine! So maybe I have a little thing for Eddie…” you say. “But he definitely doesn’t like me like that! I just… wanted to get him something nice. It made me feel good,” you add, quick to defend yourself.

“I knew it!” Robin says, a little too loud, Nancy and you hurrying to shush her. “I knew it,” she says again, whispering this time.

“Just pleeaaase don’t tell him, okay? I don’t need this getting out—”

“Okay, babe, have you ever considered that he might like you too?” Robin interrupts, and Nancy nods.

“I— I don’t know! He doesn’t seem like the type to want a relationship, and… I don’t know!” you stumble, realizing you aren’t sure if you have a valid reason to confidently claim that he doesn’t like you.

The truth is, you just don’t know. And the unknown is terrifying.

“Why don’t you ask him out?” Nancy asks. “You know Eddie’s a sweetheart. I’m sure he’d love to go on a date with you,” she says, and you chew on your lip in indecision.

“I don’t know, you guys…” you mumble, nervously playing with your hair.

“Just, think about it?” Robin asks, just as the curly-headed man in question strolls leisurely into the kitchen.

“What are we thinking about?” he noses his way into the conversation, grabbing a few cookies off of a tray.

“Uh, nothing important,” you lie, giving him the most convincingly casual smile you can muster.

He bites into his cookie, leaning casually against the table. His dark eyes don’t leave you. Bringing an icing-covered finger to his mouth, he sucks the sugary substance off, making you flustered for the millionth time tonight.

Think about it, Robin said. You’re definitely thinking about it.

“Hey, um, could I talk to you alone, for a sec?” he asks you, bringing you back to earth.

“Oh! Y-yeah, sure,” you say, following him out of the kitchen. You chance a quick glance back at the girls, both of whom give you a thumbs up and an encouraging nod.

Eddie rounds the corner from the kitchen, standing in the entryway to the apartment. You’re just out of earshot of anyone else, and you’re nervous for what he’s about to say. You lean against the wall, his taller frame almost caging you in.

“Listen. I just want you to know how much I appreciate the gifts you got me. You didn’t have to do that,” he says sincerely. “No one’s ever gotten me a gift that nice before, besides for when Wayne got me my guitar,” he says, laughing lightly. “I just… thank you. I can’t thank you enough, actually.”

“I wanted to do it. You don’t even need to thank me. I’m just glad you like them, and you don’t think it’s too much,” you admit, glancing down at your feet.

“They’re perfect,” he says earnestly, getting you to look back up at him. “You’re… perfect," he breathes, saying it like it's a sigh of relief. Like it’s long overdue.

His eyes are so soft and sincere, his lips plump and pink as his tongue pokes out to wet them. His cheeks are tinged with the slightest bit of red, either from nerves or from the alcohol. You find yourself lost in him, your lips parting slightly as you both stand in silence.

Something above his head catches your attention, after a moment, and you look further up. You laugh in spite of yourself, making him look up, too.

Right above both of you, hanging from the arch in the ceiling, is mistletoe. The same mistletoe Eddie had been complaining about earlier. He starts laughing too, and then the both of you are stood there giggling like schoolchildren at the situation you find yourselves in.

When he’s regained composure, and your belly-laughs have subsided to a shy smile, you meet his eyes again. He steps ever-so-slightly closer to you, regarding you carefully down the bridge of his nose. There’s a playful look on his face, and one of his hands reaches out to gently rest on your waist.

“Since we’re here… should we..?” he starts, inching even closer.

“Yeah, we should,” you murmur, pushing up on your toes to meet him as he starts leaning down.

Your eyes flutter shut, your noses brushing together before your lips barely graze his. His warm breath fans your face, and then his lips are pressed fully on yours. You’re drinking him in, letting your mouths move softly together as you press your body against his. He smells like cinnamon and spice, tastes like the liquor from his drink, and you can’t get enough.

He’s pulling away too soon, reaching his hands up to cup your face. You never want him to let go, never want to go back to the reality you were living in before you’d kissed him, and the look on his face tells you he might be feeling the same.

“Wow,” Steve says from his spot on the couch, reminding both you and Eddie that you aren’t the only ones here.

“Awww you guys are so cute!” Chrissy coos, making you bite your lip in slight embarrassment.

Nancy and Robin high-five nonchalantly, before looking at you with huge smiles. Eddie’s arm wraps around you, pulling you into his side. You feel like a million bucks with him so close to you.

“You guys mind if we get out of here?” he says to the room. “I think we have a lot to catch up on,” he adds, glancing down at you with a wink.

You’d never been so happy to leave a party in your life. And maybe you didn’t even make it out of the parking lot of Steve’s complex before Eddie’s hands were all over you, but that’s your business.

[steddiealltheway]

The final steddie (and ronance) brain rot of the day (maybe)

For some reason, Eddie and Robin are convinced that Steve and Nancy are still in love with each other.

And the thing is, he and Nancy have talked about it and agreed that they got over their feelings for each other long ago. Sure, they still love each other and always probably will, but it’s completely platonic. But for some reason, Eddie and Robin will not hear them out.

So much so, that they’ve got them cornered while they all are hanging out in Eddie’s trailer. It’s like they purposely picked somewhere they could literally corner them with no room to escape.

“Now, Nancy, you’re going to watch as I interact with Steve and see how jealous it makes you,” Robin says as she approaches Steve.

Steve cringes as Robin gets in his face and twirls her short hair obnoxiously. “Hi, Steve-”

“Nope!” Steve says and backs as far away as he can. Once upon a time, he would’ve loved if Robin had approached him like that, but now they are strictly platonic soulmates and Steve’s feelings for her are long gone.

“Agreed,” Robin says while also cringing. “But Nancy, didn’t you feel a bit jealous?”

Steve turns to Nancy who he thinks is going to say no and move on. But she has a confused look on her face as she stares at Robin. “Uhh… yes actually,” Nancy admits.

Steve feels a bit of nausea, but then he notices the way she’s looking at Robin. And he knows that look. No way…

Eddie points at Nancy and announces, “Exactly! Now, Steve, you’re going to watch as Nancy and I interact. If… Nancy is fine with that.”

Nancy just nods her head slowly as if she’s still in shock. But then Eddie quickly approaches her and brushes a strand of hair out of her face, “Hi, beautiful.”

Nancy laughs loudly and pushes at Eddie’s chest as he laughs back at the ridiculousness of the situation. And then Steve feels it. In the pit of his stomach, the way his heart tightens, and in the stinging behind his eyes… there’s the jealousy.

Nancy glances over to him, but Steve can’t help but stare at Eddie. It’s as if… holy shit.

Steve turns to Nancy who makes eye contact with him. And they’ve been close for long enough to both know that the other knows exactly what’s happening. “Yes, I feel jealous,” Steve admits.

Nancy walks over to Steve and stands next to him as they look at Eddie and Robin. Who look conflicted with pride and a bit of hurt.

“That’s great guys,” Eddie says with a tight smile that screams this is not great.

“Yeah,” Robin says as her voice cracks a bit and she avoids eye contact with them.

“Hear me out,” Steve says, “Nance and I are going to run our own experiment. Starting with her and Robin interacting, and I’ll see how I feel.”

Nance shoots him a look of half panic and half gratitude. Robin nervously looks at Steve as Nancy approaches her. “Hi, Robin. You know, I’ve always kind of had this thing for you, but I don’t think I was ever jealous. I think I just… had feelings for you that I didn’t understand.”

Robin breath hitches, and Steve smiles widely. He’s over the moon at the moment. “Yep, I feel no jealousy. Strange, right?”

“Now, Eddie and Steve are going to interact, and I’m going to see how jealous I get,” Nancy says with a big smile.

Steve slowly approaches Eddie who is already starting to get a flush of pink over his cheeks. He reaches up to pull hair in front of his face, but Steve pushed the hair behind his ears to stare at him. “Have I ever told you that you have the most beautiful eyes?” Steve flirts easily, realizing what he’s saying is absolutely true and he has no idea how he didn’t know it before. “Eddie, I really want to ask you out and listen to your latest campaign ideas as always but over pizza or something maybe in your bed…”

“Oh, gross, Steve,” Robin says.

“Not jealous!” Nancy says with a huge smile.

Steve goes back to Nancy side and looks at Robin and Eddie who stare at them in slight shock. “It’s as if…” Steve trails off.

“Steve and I are more jealous of each other if you think about it,” Nancy finishes off.

Robin and Eddie look at them in confusion before they both seem to get it at the same time. The pair looks at each other with responses varying between “holy shit” and “oh my god.”

Eddie goes as far as picking Robin up and twirling her around. “We just accidentally set ourselves up!” Robin cheers as she spins in Eddie’s arms.

When he sets her down Robin continues, “If that’s good with you guys…”

Steve and Nancy look at each other and smile. “Absolutely,” they both say.

One double date later, Steve and Nancy truly solidify that there are absolutely no feelings for each other except for happiness.

[hairrington]

Best Thing I Never Had

Summary: When you dive into the terrifying depths of Lovers Lake, you expect to feel the usual when it comes to your recently dangerous adventures: worry, regret, and a big dose of fear. But when you notice the man you're falling for getting smitten with his ex, you realize even envy can be felt in the Upside Down.

In which female reader pines for Steve and gets very jealous when Nancy takes care of him! Some canon divergence! Gif credit: jackpearcsn

You have no right to feel jealous. You know that.

You've had months to tell Steve how you feel about him. Ever since you started working at Family Video, what you thought was harmless flirting snowballed into deep feelings, but you were always too scared to step into the realm of letting them be known.

It was risky. He could reject you and then what - you just keep showing up to your shifts pretending it never happened?

But who knew if you were ever even going to get up to the surface again? Now, the agony of yearning for a coworker felt ridiculous compared to your current situation.

But even with that, even with being in a terrifying demon-filled dimension deep beneath Hawkins, when Nancy is helping Steve with his wounds, touching his skin, envy creeps up your back like it has been every time you've seen the two of them together since you'd fallen for him.

Seeing and being touched by Nancy had sent Steve into a tailspin. Like always, he had felt a magnet pull towards her. Something about Nancy made his brain shut off and ignore any potential risks. Risks like being told he wasn't loved by her out of nowhere.

But every time he looked at you, he could ground himself a little. Meeting you felt like a reset. With you, Steve got nervous, but good nervous. With Nancy, it was like the type of fear he could only imagine one would feel teetering at the edge of a cliff. He couldn't quite explain why, but with you, it was like standing at the cliffside, but knowing he could never fall off.

But telling you this and crossing that line meant never going back. And the friendship between you, him, and Robin was just so great. If you felt the same, though, that'd be the best case scenario - but if not - well, that was the worst case because he'd lose you and mess up your dynamic forever.

Back when you started at the video store, you admitted to yourself that Steve was cute. It got even worse when you realized he's actually kind and sort of funny.

You found a friend in Robin and consequently Steve, and assumed it'd be a slow year of working shifts to earn money for college.

It didn't take long for you to realize nothing about your year was going to be normal.

When the kids you'd later learned were named Dustin, Max, and Lucas came in frantic and desperate for help, you listened from afar, trying to keep up with their hushed conversation.

"What's going on?" you finally said. All five of them stared at you with wide eyes.

"Uh, who's that?" the young redhead asked.

After a tense silence, Robin nervously scratched her head.

"You won't believe us if we tell you," Robin said to you.

"And trust me, it's better you don't know," Steve interjected.

His words stung. And partly out of spite, you pressed them for information.

Steve had been half-right about it being better that you didn't know. Because now were in a scorched wasteland drowning in red skies and spine-chilling screeching, wondering how the hell you were going to go back home.

But the other side of you knew you were a part of something important - you all could save Hawkins and stop Vecna from killing any more innocent people. And no matter how scared you were, you committed to this mission and knew you were doing the right thing.

But that didn't make watching Nancy tend to Steve any easier.

You sigh to yourself, sore from fighting off the horrific bats that had attacked you all when you swam through the gate, ready to journey to your next destination: Nancy Wheeler's house.

Or, rather, the Upside Down version of it.

You, Steve, Robin, Eddie, and Nancy trek through the murky woods. Your thoughts race and blend together - from trying to figure out how to get out of here, to how lucky you are that your parents aren't returning from their business trip until tomorrow evening so you don't have to worry about making curfew, to how bad the aching in your chest hurts over Steve being so obviously uninterested in you as anything but a friend.

The months of flirting were really just friendliness, weren't they?

A few minutes into the walk, with barely any words spoken, you feel an hand on your forearm.

You look up to see Steve's wide, kind eyes. He glances at the group walking in front of you two and his grip gets a tiny bit tighter to signal to you to stop.

Once they're out of earshot, Steve quietly speaks.

"Hey, I know this is a crap-ton to process." His voice is low. Sincere.

"Exactly that amount," you answer, pressure lifting off your chest like it always does when you talk to Steve. "A crap-ton."

He half-smiles, eyes sympathetic. You glance at the group and notice Robin's gaze is on you as they march forward, but she quickly nods in acknowledgement and turns back.

Steve begins to slowly pace and you mirror him, feeling your boots digging into soil. He lets go of your forearm and you wish he didn't.

"For what it's worth, you're adjusting way better than I did," Steve says. You smile gratefully.

"Really?"

"Oh, there was a lot of screaming."

You laugh.

"A crap-ton?" you ask.

"Maybe even two," Steve replies with a smirk. He continues to pace slowly, aiming his flashlight at your path. "But seriously, you look kinda... down. And I just wanted to say you're handling it like a champ. We'll get out of here, okay?" Hearing him say that sends your heart into flutters.

It's silly to think part of the reason you're noticeably moping is because your crush's ex-girlfriend is giving him a lot of attention and he seems to be loving every second. You slightly shake your head as if to dismiss the thought.

"You got out of here before, right?" you ask, already knowing the answer. You gaze up at him, his eyebrows furrowed.

Steve and Robin had already shared the bizarre history of Russians and monsters when they finally told you what was going on in Hawkins, but a piece of you was stuck in the reality you've always known. That piece of you still couldn't believe everything they told you, let alone that you were actually in a different dimension.

"Yeah," Steve confirms. "This is... a new neighborhood but yeah." When your smile doesn't match your eyes, his eyebrows furrow again.

"Sorry, that was supposed to be funny," he says. This earns a laugh from you and Steve's heart warms when he sees the smile on your face. "We'll get out. You can count on it."

The fact that he's taking the time to console you is exactly the reason you fell for him. His kindness. The long shifts at Family Video actually felt short when you worked with him - whether you were joking around, sharing tidbits about each other, or talking about your plans for the future. And within the conversations you'd shared those busy weekdays and dead weeknights, you felt you saw Steve for who he was. A man with a heart of gold.

It was always easy with him. Except when he was talking about his love life. One date story from Steve was one too many if you weren't the one he was on a date with. But still, you listened as he whined to you and Robin about his unluckiness, hoping one day, he'd wake up and realize what he wanted was right there. You were right there.

"Is it weird being around Nancy?" As soon as the question spills out of your mouth, it surprises you - maybe even more than it surprises Steve. Your jealousy has reared its ugly head and forced the impulse to ask before you could think to stop it.

"Kind of," Steve answers honestly, nudging his floppy hair off of his forehead. You stare up, wishing you could be the one to push his hair back. "Maybe that little jerk is right." Steve chuckles to himself, thinking back to Dustin telling him he was throwing himself at Nancy. "I'm... being a lost puppy, aren't I?"

You giggle, thinking back to a conversation you'd had with Steve only a few weeks ago. It was a slow Tuesday night, the store empty, and he was on rewind duty while you were organizing the "New Releases" section. He had broken the comfortable silence between you.

"You know what one of my high school buddies once said?" he asked.

"Something about sports?" you teased. "That's all boys talk about, right?" Steve laughed, the sweetest sound in the world to you. You had looked at him over the counter to see his chin resting in his hand as he gazed at the small television screen displaying the romantic comedy he was rewinding.

"He called me a lost puppy when I was with Nancy," Steve told you. The mention of her name made you tense up, but you hid it well. "And, I don't know, the dude in this movie staring at Michelle Pfeiffer just reminded me of that... I... It's stupid."

"It's not," you say, and even though the subject sends painful twinges of your heart, you love when Steve opens up like this. "Go on."

"I feel like I used to look at Nance just like that - like I would do anything in the world for her and it... it makes me feel dumb for not realizing she wasn't looking at me like that, too." Steve shakes his head, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "Dude, these romance movies are turning my brain to mush."

You laughed, continuing to stack the VHS tapes carefully so not to peel back any of the covers.

"Steve, there's nothing wrong with being a lost puppy. I'd love it if a guy was a lost puppy for me." You nervously chuckle. "I think... it's not stupid. And you'll find a girl who'll give you that exact look back. You deserve it."

Steve couldn't say it, but hearing those words come from you made butterflies not only fly around, but crash into each other into his stomach. If only he could ask if you'd love for that guy to be him.

"I do have that date with Lisa on Friday," he quickly deflected, already knowing he had no future with the girl who always zoned out when he spoke.

"There you go," you had answered, forcing an optimistic tone. As you stacked colorful rectangles, you swallowed the lump in your throat that always formed when you were reminded that Steve and you would only ever remain friends.

So when you're hiking through the damp forest in the Upside Down, unknown debris floating around, and Steve asks you if he's being a lost puppy, you only shrug. With how much it upsets you seeing them together, you don't know if you can answer that question without any bias.

"Oh God, that's a yes, isn't it?" Steve whines quietly.

You know it's just envy, but you had always thought Steve had been too nice to Nancy. From what you had heard, it seemed she had started her relationship with Jonathan before letting Steve know she didn't want to be with him anymore. Which shocked you, too. Who wouldn't want to be with him?

But you understood why he loved her. She was incredibly smart, confident, and beautiful. 

Steve hadn't spoken much about her other than that short conversation between you two a few weeks back, but he didn't need to for it to be obvious that she had broken his heart.

"Well," you begin, trying not to stare at his exposed chest under the denim vest Eddie had given him. Instead, you stare ahead at the group a yard in front of you, recognizing Nancy's hair and wondering what it was you lacked and she had that made Steve so lovesick for her. "I don't want to pry-"

"Oh God, please pry," Steve interrupts. You look at him again and share a knowing smile. You'd seen him desperate to understand girls only a thousand times before.

"Maybe it's unresolved feelings or... a lack of closure... I don't know," you say, rambling, trying to come up with something to say. You sigh and decide to be honest. Well, honest enough that you don't admit you're falling for him. "But if she... never made you feel like she loved you as much as you loved her, do you really want to go back to that?"

Steve's lips thin as he frowns, understandably nodding.

"I... don't know what lost puppy looks like on you," you continue, aiming to lighten the tension. "So, maybe you're not doing it again. But... I guess the question is: are you feeling anything when you're with her?" You brace yourself for the impact of his reply.

"I don't know," Steve mumbles, gazing down at the ground. "If I had to put in a word - maybe nostalgia? Like I'm remembering the good parts only?"

You could live with that. Ideally, he'd say he feels nothing with her like he feels when he's with you, but you've daydreamed about Steve enough and doing it right in front of him makes you cringe.

"As much as it kills me to say, though, it seems she's still into you," you muster up, knowing that it's not right to keep it to yourself.

"Why's it kill you to say it?"

Thankfully, you notice the group has stopped ahead, waiting for you before they make the next turn.

"Oh, they're waiting for us," you say, words rushed.

"Guess that's the end of my therapy session," Steve quietly mumbles. You laugh with him, nudging his shoulder and he nudges you back. You join the group, wishing you could speak to Steve just a little bit more. But you'll take what you can get.

When you make it to the Wheeler house and the five of you discover how to contact Dustin, you're left speechless. The communication between the two dimensions shakes you, and when you realize you'll have to go outside again to get to Eddie's trailer, you do your best to hide your fear. 

As your legs pump to ride the bike, hands gripping the handles, you hear the ominous thunder cracking in the sky above. You try to keep your breathing steady, following those in front of you, missing the comfort of the town on the other side of your journey.

Sure enough, Dustin was right - there's a gate on Eddie's trailer's roof. Somehow, defying all laws of physics, the five of you climb up the rope made of bed sheets and tumble down into the trailer.

The conversations that pour around you make your ears ring; the group discusses why the Upside Down is frozen in time, if there's any way to close the gates, how to stop Vecna... meanwhile you're just trying to catch your breath.

"Alright, alright," Steve says, raising his voice. He checks his watch. "It's... shit, it's way past 1 a.m. And how the hell are we all gonna get home?"

"Oh, he's laying down the law," Nancy cracks, making you smile.

"Really, Robin?" Steve mutters, but you can tell he's only half-annoyed.

"Wait a sec..." Eddie mumbles, pacing to the counter and digging for keys in a small box. He pulls out a key, clicks a button, and looks up to the sky. When we all hear a car horn, Eddie smirks. "I can't believe it's still here. Eddie's Taxi is open for business. As long as I can crash at someone's place because home sweet home is apparently a portal to hell now."

"You can crash at mine," Steve says. "Parents are out of town again."

"We can all cram into a Chevy, right?" Eddie asks.

"Challenge accepted," Robin says.

"We can just bike," Dustin mentions, motioning to himself and his three friends.

"Oh, no you can't," Steve interrupts. Seeing him protective like that makes it hard for you not to smile at him. You’re sure if you did, you’d look like a lost puppy.

Like sardines in a can, breaking several safety laws, you venture out in Eddie's car, head pounding over the overlapping conversations and the memories of all that you had witnesses.

The younger ones in the group get dropped off at the Wheeler home first, where sure enough, parents are angrily waiting. To your guilty relief, Nancy gets out then too.

"What's closer from here? Robin's or (Y/N)'s?" Eddie asks.

"I'm up on Chester," Robin says.

Now that you have some space to think, you gaze at the three faces turned towards you.

"Uh, actually, Steve, if you have room, could I crash there, too?" you finally say, stomach nervously turning. You don't want to say it out loud, but the thought of going into your empty home is terrifying.

"Of course," Steve quickly replies. You smile gratefully, staying silent for the rest of the drive to Robin's house, then Steve's.

The large home is decorated beautifully, but it seems cold. Like there is no sense of life here. No photos. Nothing truly lived in.

"Dude, you got a mega mansion," Eddie says with an impressed chuckle. "My trailer is smaller than your driveway alone. I should be depressed but I'm just amazed."

Steve only chuckles, shutting the door behind the three of you. The sound of the locks turning brings you some calmness, even though you know that couldn't stop the monsters you saw in the Upside Down.

"We have two couches and a guest room," Steve says, hands on his hips. In the light of his home, you can see the ash on his face, the cut of his muscles, the soaked blood on the cloth wrapped on his torso.

"The lady may have the guest room," Eddie says with a bow. You chuckle, unable to understand how he can be so chipper. Steve points him in the direction of the living room.

"I'll grab some clothes for you guys," Steve says. "Guest room's just down the hall there." You follow his pointing finger down the hallway wrapping past the staircase and nod, looking up at him with a grateful smile.

The guest room is just as untouched as the rest of the grandiose house. You sit on the edge of the white sheets on the queen bed in the center of the room, staring ahead at the hotel-esque painting on the wall.

Your heart pounds in your ears and you realize your legs are bouncing. You tighten your hands on your knees in an attempt to calm them.

You hear a gentle tap on the door.

"Come in," you say, voice cracking.

Steve steps inside, dirty vest and jeans traded in for a fitted dark t-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms.

"I clean up nice, huh?" he says. You realize you must have been looking down at his pj's a little too long. There's something about seeing him outside of his Family Video uniform and in comfortable clothes that makes your heart skip a beat.

"I don't think I've ever seen you not in uniform," you say.

Steve chuckles, handing you balled up clothes. You notice his hair is wet from a shower.

"I can't complain about that ugly vest too much... at Scoops, I was in shorts and a sailor's hat."

You laugh, really laugh, for the first time all night.

Steve can't help but notice how small and scared you look sitting at the end of the bed. He's used to all this by now - alternate dimensions and nightmarish monsters - but you aren't. And it makes his heart twinge in sympathy.

You hold the cotton pajamas he handed to you in your lap.

"Thanks for these," you say. "And for letting me crash."

"No problem," Steve says. "There's a shower through that door, too." He sits down at the edge of the bed next to you, sending a rush of his wonderful smelling shampoo your way. Bending to sit makes him wince, and he doesn't hide it well.

"Oh shit, are you okay?" you ask, impulsively grabbing his bicep and looking to his torso, even though it's covered by his shirt. You think back to Nancy helping Steve wrap the wound and swallow hard.

"It's not so bad. I cleaned it and put a new tourniquet on it," Steve tells you. "I'll show it to you if you want nightmares."

"Oh, I'm good," you say, leaning back, letting go of his arm. This makes Steve laugh, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly. "I got enough nightmare material, thank you."

Steve tilts his head, looking at you in that caring, big-eyed way he does sometimes.

"I know tonight was a lot," Steve says. "After we talked, you didn't really say another word and I got kind of..." He thinks back to how concerned he was when he noticed you in the trailer, eyes wide, looking petrified. "I know that shit is scary."

"I still kind of feel like I'm dreaming or watching a horror movie or something," you admit, glancing down at your lap. "I didn't want to be in an empty house tonight, so I appreciate this."

"You know how my parents are," Steve says. You nod, recalling how he had told you in the past that they were ever barely home. "You're welcome any time."

"You were... brave, Steve," you say, realizing his courage made you fall even deeper for him. "I hope I can be more helpful next time."

"What do you mean?" Steve asks.

"I kind of just followed around," you say guiltily.

"Hey, you were brave, too. You fought off those freaky bats," Steve says, placing a warm hand on your knee and giving you goosebumps. "And gave me a very honest reality check. Your help was unvaluable."

You giggle.

"You mean invaluable?" you ask.

"See? What would I do without you?" Steve asks. The warmth in his tone numbs your chest. "Seriously, if it weren't for you, we wouldn’t have made it out and on top of that, I would've just... I don't know, thrown myself at Nancy all night."

The mention of her name sends a rush of jealousy into the pit of your stomach.

"Maybe it could work out for you two this time," you say with a defeated shrug.

"I don't want it to," Steve says quietly. You finally look up at his warm eyes. This close to him, you realize he has freckles spread across his cheeks.

“How come?” you ask, surrounded in the heavy tension that has filled the room.

“I’m into someone else,” Steve says.

“Have I met her?” you ask. The way he’s looking at you, lips slightly parted, eyes travelling your face, is giving you hope that he’s talking about you. But it feels too good to be true.

“Well, you see her in the mirror every day,” Steve says.

You laugh and roll your eyes. He must be joking. 

“Shut up, be serious,” you say, lightly pushing his chest. Steve laughs, placing a big hand over yours, and it stays on his chest, the thin cotton warm over his firm body.

“I am being serious,” Steve says. “And I’m sorry if I’m making things weird. Tell me to get lost if you don’t feel the same. Seriously, we’ll just pretend this never happened.”

Steve’s forehead wrinkles, like he’s bracing for impact. The way you’re looking at him, shocked and adorable, is making him worried that he’s making a big mistake.

Finally, a smile grows on your face. He can’t see it, but he’s sure he’s doing his lost puppy look right now.

“Yeah,” you whisper.

“Yeah what?” Steve asks with a sweet boyish chuckle.

“I feel the same,” you say, heart pounding against your ribs. “But speaking of mirrors, I haven’t looked in one and... I bet I look awful right now so I feel like you’re probably just delusional.”

He laughs, squeezing your hand as it remains on his chest.

“You’re always beautiful.” The way he says it makes it sound like he’s saying the most obvious thing in the world.

You feel blood rush to your face and look down, smiling and slightly shaking your head.

“Can I kiss you?” His words come out stammered, nervous.

You look up and instead of nodding, you simply close the distance between you, feeling his soft, warm lips against yours.

Your bottom lip is snug between his lips as he kisses you tightly, and you feel his hand move from yours to the side of your head, where he holds you tenderly. You’d imagined kissing Steve before, but never could have imagined just how soft, how loving it would be.

You pull apart, and when you look at him, you notice a pink tone under his freckles and beauty spots.

“Am I making Steve Harrington blush?” you tease.

“So this is how it’s going to be, okay,” Steve laughs, moving his hand from your cheek to rub his chin.

“You act like you don’t know me or something,” you say, impulsively leaning over and resting your head on his shoulder. Steve chuckles. You feel a kiss on the top of your head.

“I’m glad I do,” Steve says sincerely, tone low. “And I also think you need to sleep.”

“Stay with me?” you ask, voice small. You bring your head up and look at his handsome face.

Flowers bloom in Steve’s chest once he realizes that you feel safe and protected with him. He beams as he nods at you.

After a shower and a change into Steve’s clothes, you make your way back to the guest room, where Steve is laying on top of the covers, staring up at the ceiling.

“You look deep in thought,” you say, eager to get under warm covers.

Steve sits up, eyes travelling with you as you sink into the bed. He realizes you’re planning to leave the lights on, and that’s completely fine with him.

“You can get under if you want,” you say, holding up the duvet. He smirks, happily obliging and lying down again, head on the pillow.

You lie across from him, looking at him, unable to fully wrap your head around the fact that you’re lying in a bed with Steve. The lush white covers are up to your shoulders.

“Thinking about what the hell we’re all going to do next,” Steve says, mentally reliving the horrors in the Upside Down. “And to be honest, worrying about you.”

You reach an arm forward, and he quickly takes your hand, resting your clasped hands between you.

“What’s there to worry about?” you ask with a playful shrug. “I totally wasn’t scared. Not one bit.”

Steve laughs, shaking his head and bringing your hand up with his to his lips. He kisses the back of your hand tenderly, looking at you with sweet eyes as he does it. It makes you melt.

“I really like you, but you’re a crap liar,” Steve says, his tone slower and tired. You two share a chuckle again.

“How’s your side?” you ask, eyebrows furrowed, fighting the heaviness of your eyelids.

“I’ll live,” he says. You finally close your eyes, sinking into the pillow.

“I was so jealous when Nancy was helping you,” you mumble, words nearly slurring from fatigue. “And I must be exhausted because I can’t believe I just admitted that.”

You hear Steve chuckle again.

“You’ll never have anything to be jealous of,” he whispers back.

He gives you another squeeze of your hand and you sigh, letting a dark, long sleep wash over you as you lie across from the man you love.

[steviesbicrisis]

I couldn’t stop thinking about this and Barbie Steve so:

Steve is a special edition Ken, with his polo shirt and sunglasses he’s supposed to be Cool Party Ken, always ready to party and nothing more.

Steve hates it. Not the polo, he actually loves his outfit, but the idea he will be nothing more than the Cool Party Ken. A Ken.

He watches Nancy, who is supposed to be “his Barbie”, being Journalist Barbie and Good student Barbie and he wishes he could do that too. Journalist Barbie comes with a flowery long skirt he can’t stop thinking about.

But he can’t wear it because he’s a Ken.

And he knows he should be okay with what he is because he’s very lucky to be a special edition Ken and all the other Ken are jealous of him, so he tries to endure it for a while.

Until he can’t anymore.

He starts off with something he always dreamed of: he takes a pair of scissors and hairspray and becomes an hairstylist. Everyone is shocked to see and Hairstylist Ken but they welcome the change anyways, not knowing that Steve actually refers to himself as Hairstylist Barbie.

Robin, a Student/Worker Barbie, is the first person he tells.

She comes to him asking for a short haircut which is considered a crazy thing to want, since almost all Barbies have long hair.

“I don’t care! I hate my long hair, if people get upset that’s their problem. I will be a Rebel Barbie if I have to.”

“But why me?” Steve can’t help but ask. Usually people get haircuts from Hairstylist Barbies, not him.

“Because no Hairstylist Barbie wants to cut my hair” she admits, looking down “they think it’s weird. But I thought you would… understand.”

And Steve does understand, so he cuts her hair with no more objections. At the end, Robin is admiring her new shorter hair in the mirror when Steve says “well, one Hairstylist Barbie did say yes to you, in the end.”

And Robin understands.

—

The first person to call him Barbie, however, is Eddie.

Eddie is a standard Ken and he’s okay with it, most of the time. He firmly believes that any special edition Ken is just a snuck out snob, so he lives his life trying to prove that average Ken like him are just as fine.

“If we were just like the Special Kens like Steve” Jonathan objects “we would have found a Barbie to be with, don’t you think?”

Eddie would love to go on a rant about how Steve the Cool Party Ken is nothing special, but his eyes are caught by two Sailor Barbies walking across the street.

Eddie has never seen a Sailor Barbie but they have the same outfit, similar short hair and matching hats, so he imagines it must be a new type.

Despite looking so similar, one of them catches his eye.

He gives Jonathan a knowing look of “watch as I get a Barbie for myself”, which Jonathan replies with a look of “can’t wait to see you make a fool of yourself”, and then he’s off crossing the street.

He watches as one of them enters a ice cream parlor, and the other, the one who has caught his interest, stays back, staring at the door as if they needed to take some courage.

Eddie takes it as a sign to shoot his shot “Hey Barbiegirl!”

Nameless Sailor Barbie goes rigid but doesn’t turn around, so Eddie catches up to them.

“You know that old saying, every Barbie needs a Ken so…”

Sailor Barbie finally turns around, and Eddie is shocked to be faced with Steve the Pool Party Ken. Or maybe not a Ken. He’s confused.

Steve is looking at him expectingly, red in the cheeks.

He wets his lips before talking, making them glossier “so…?”

He doesn’t correct Eddie, he doesn’t say “I’m not a Barbie, you idiot”, he doesn’t reject him. He wants him to finish with his cheesy and overused pick up line.

Eddie wonders if he has been a special edition Lucky Ken without realizing it before.

“So, would you be my Barbie?”

Steve giggles, kisses him in the cheek and says “take me to dinner first, then we’ll see” and then, without another word, he’s gone inside the parlor.

Eddie stands there, staring at the door, too shocked to turn around and give Jonathan a “I told you so”.

[iridescent-petrichor]

we’re just friends, right?

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader

Warnings: none, just a classic jealousy trope with a side of accidental confessions :D

Words: 2.4K

A/N: been gone for forever lol but i moved so!!! that was stressful!!!! but im back now so hopefully more fics coming soon !!

You’d been friends with Steve for a couple of years now, getting quite close to him after the demogorgon attack at the Byers' house with Jonathan and Nancy. The trauma bonded the two of you more than you had expected, especially when you kept having to band together to protect the kids every year since.

Today, though, was an ordinary afternoon. You stood at the counter of Family Video, watching Steve stumbling in, still throwing his vest on as he rushed into the building.

“Hey!” He smiled when he saw you, swerving around a customer not much older than either of you as they left, finding his usual spot next to you.

“You know you were supposed to start an hour ago, right?” You asked, biting back a smile.

“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t expect to run so late today.” He sighed, finally getting his outfit situated, looking at himself in the reflection of a television, patting his hair down.

You knew he went on a date the night before. He told you and Robin about it for hours before it actually happened, and you spent most of his rant ignoring Robin’s pitying looks.

“Was it something with…” You trailed off, honestly not even remembering the girl’s name. He’d gone on so many dates recently that you found it hard to keep track.

“Margaret! Or- Maggie.” He exclaimed, the smile on his face when he said her name making your stomach churn. “Yeah, I actually spent the night.”

You knew what he meant by that. It’s not like he was being subtle about it, waggling his eyebrows with a sly grin on his face. Turning away, you tried to busy yourself so he didn’t see the frown growing on your face.

Steve, oblivious, kept talking. He continued mindlessly about Maggie and their date and how wonderful she was and how well she listened and how he’s considering asking her out again.

“I was thinking dinner and a movie this Friday, what do you think?”

“She’d love that, I’m sure.” You muttered, already trying to tune him out. You turned your focus to the movies you were stocking, losing yourself in your thoughts while you easily set the new releases on the shelf on the display at the front of the store.

It didn’t take long before you noticed how quiet the store was. Looking up, you noticed Steve must’ve gone to a different part of the store, already distracted by something else he had to do. Brushing it off, you went back to work. Plus, it’s not like you were jealous of Maggie. Definitely not.

You couldn’t help the sigh escaping your lips, pushing your feelings down like you were so used to doing. You and Steve were such good friends now that there was no way you were gonna confess your annoying feelings for him just to ruin everything you two had built over the years.

The rest of your shift was… difficult… to say the least. You knew Steve could sense something was wrong, but you managed to sneak out of the conversation every time he was about to bring it up. That lasted for hours until you quickly clocked out and waved goodbye to him, taking a slight detour on the way home.

 Pulling up to an all too familiar house, you climbed out of your car and made your way up to knock at the front door. There was an audible shuffling throughout the house before the door swung open, revealing another dear coworker of yours.

“Hey!” Robin smiled, opening the door wider to let you in.

You followed her into her room, collapsing onto her bed once she shut the door.

“Jeez, what happened to you?” She asked, taking a seat next to you.

“Steve.” You groaned, sighing heavily.

“Oh god, is it that date he had with that girl?”

“Maggie.” The name tasted sour on your tongue, and Robin stifled a laugh, laying down next to you.

“You know he doesn’t actually like her, right?” She asked, laughing lightly when she saw the confusion on your face. “He doesn’t like any of these girls, that’s why he never takes them on a second date.”

“That’s the thing, Robin!” You shot up, suddenly upright in her bed. “He said he’s thinking of asking her out again! Dinner, movie, this Friday!”

Robin was quiet for a moment, clearly not anticipating that.

“Yeah.” You said, giving her a disappointed look.

“Listen, I haven’t been friends with Steve for as long as you have, but I do have eyes.” Slowly, she sat up as well. “Whenever you’re not looking at him, Steve stares at you like… like you’re the greatest thing in the universe. Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t caught him, he’s practically drooling over you every time you’re in the room.”

You shook your head, rolling your eyes at Robin. “I think you need glasses, Rob.”

“I think you do!” She laughed, shoving you gently.

“Whatever.” You muttered, glancing down at your hands that sat in your lap. “I should head home, anyway. Gotta prepare for my shift tomorrow.”

Robin nodded. “Same here. I’ll see you at work!”

You got up, Robin following you as you walked to your car. She hung back at the front door, calling out to you as she started to close it.

“Think about what I said!”

 And you did.

The whole drive home you couldn’t help getting your hopes up, thinking that maybe there is a chance that Steve Harrington actually liked you.

Your mind wandered to everything he said, always giving you his full attention like you were saying the most important thing in the world

But that’s just how he was. It’s not like that’s exclusive to you.

Still, though, there was a small but ever-growing spark of hope deep within you that Robin started, festering until you parked your car in your driveway and trudged into your house, making your way to your own bedroom.

Despite your frustrations, you kept replaying every memory you could hold onto of Steve. You began overthinking everything – every little touch, everything he’d said to you, the way he said it, the way he looked at you, when you would catch him staring…

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

You groaned, slapping a hand over your eyes.

You’re delusional if you think he’d ever actually like you.

The doubt within you was still stronger than your hopes, bringing you back to the reality of having a crush on someone who was only friends with you because you killed monsters together.

You finally decided to go to sleep, tired from a long shift and a day of overthinking, unrequited pining, and false hopes.

 The next morning came far too soon, and now the light shining through your window was keeping you from falling back asleep. You stumbled out of bed, getting ready as fast as you could before throwing a Family Video vest over your shirt and driving off to work.

When you arrive, you see Robin first. She perks up when she sees you, waving as you enter. You wave back, the grin on your face only faltering when you notice Steve standing towards the back of the store, chatting up some girl.

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” Robin gave you a tightlipped smile as you stood next to her, looking away to avoid the pitying look in her eyes.

“It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s not like I’m in love with him.” You can tell by the way she looks at you that she doesn’t believe a word you’re saying, and at this point, you’re not sure you do either.

Steve hears your voice, thankfully not actually hearing the words you were saying, easily slipping out of the conversation with the girl he’d been talking to so he could make his way behind the counter next to you.

“Hey, you’re on time!” He smiled, folding his arms as he approached you.

“Yeah, I can actually manage that.” You quipped, mimicking his pose.

“Okay, okay, like you’ve never made one mistake.” He rolled his eyes. Robin took a step back, slowly making her way out of the room while the two of you talked.

“Nope. Never made a single mistake. Not once.” Steve’s eyes widened, faux shock in his eyes.

“Oh, really? You sure about that?”

You didn’t have the chance to respond before a loud throat clearing made the two of you jump back, seeing the girl from moments ago standing in front of the register, frustration evident on her face. She was giving you the dirtiest look she could muster, but Steve waved it off, quickly ringing her up before he turned back to you.

“Anyways, did you hear the kids are planning a dnd campaign?”

The girl scoffed, grabbing her movie and leaving the store. Steve didn’t look back at her, and you had to bite your cheek to hold back the grin on your face.

“…Y/N?” Steve waved a hand in front of your face, getting your attention.

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” You forced yourself out of your thoughts, looking to Steve. “What’s up?”

“…You’ve been weird lately, you okay? Any demogorgons in your head?” Lightly, he knocked on your head, making you laugh.

“Yeah, no, yeah, I’m fine.” Just grappling with my feelings for you.

“You sure?” The concern in his voice made you weak, and you take a breath to hold everything back. Every confession on your tongue, everything you took the time to notice when no one else would. How he always checks the darkest corners of a room when he walks in, and how he never fully lets himself relax. How he still keeps that stupid bat in his car because he’s terrified that if he doesn’t have it and something happens he won't be able to protect anyone. How he hates driving at night because he’s worried something’s gonna leap out of the shadows. How he checks in on everyone else because no one ever thinks to check in on him.

“Y/N?” You look up, seeing Steve still standing there, giving you a concerned look.

“Yeah,” Then, more convincingly, “Yeah, I’m sure.” You give him a warm smile that he returns, trying to ignore the worry in his eyes.

The way Steve looked at you made your head spin, and for a moment you let yourself pretend that he could actually think of you that way. That he could care for you. That he could love you.

You turn away, trying to busy yourself despite how dead the store was. It was the middle of the day on a Thursday, so everyone and their mothers were spending their time anywhere but there. You felt like you were underwater, stuck in your own brain analyzing every little thing Steve did.

The way he stood so close to you, the affection he gave you, the way he looks at you like you’re the only person that matters, always making sure you’re okay…

Yeah, I’m fine. It’s not like I’m in love with you.

“What was that?” You froze, risking a glance at Steve. He stood there, looking just as surprised as you felt, and you knew you were in deep shit.

All those days hiding your feelings and biting your tongue finally came to a head.

“I-” You tried to speak, but you couldn’t do anything more than stand there like a deer in headlights.

“What did you say?” Steve took a tentative step closer, and you felt like the world was closing in on you.

“I mean, c’mon,” You scoffed, looking anywhere but him. “It’s not like you didn’t know. Everyone knew.”

“No, I think I would definitely remember knowing that you were, what was it, in love with me?” You couldn’t tell if he was mocking you or not, and you felt your mouth dry up, staring harshly at the ground.

“Steve.” You warned, voice weaker than you wanted it to be.

His eyes widened when he realized you were shutting down, frantic to make sure you wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

“Y/N, if you told me sooner you were in love with me then I wouldn’t have had to go on all those stupid dates!” He rushed, putting his hands on either side of your shoulders.

You made eye contact with him, brain short-circuiting as you tried to process what he was saying.

“Hey,” His voice gently brought you back into the present moment, giving you a small smile. “Do you remember a couple of years back, at Jonathan’s place, when we were all waiting for those demodogs to show up? And everyone was exhausted and terrified and trying to prepare for a war against these stupid… things from another dimension?”

“Yeah. I remember.” You said quietly.

“Well, I was trying to get ready, and I looked over at you, and you were talking to Max. She was trying to pretend she was okay but you said you saw that she was terrified out of her mind, so you sat with her for a minute calming her down. You made sure she knew that you wouldn’t let anything happen to her, that you would make absolutely sure that none of the kids were getting hurt.” You remembered it like it was yesterday. Max was shaking, but she was trying so hard to stand strong, so you pulled her aside and tried to reassure her. You didn’t even know Steve noticed when that happened.

“Then,” Steve continued. “When we were all waiting for the monsters to come to kill us all, you stood at the front of the group, more than ready to protect everyone with your life. It was… I mean, I was terrified for you. I thought that I was going to lose you, and I would never have the chance to tell you I was in love with you.”

You felt your heart swell. “…What?”

“You know,” Steve laughed, “I’m surprised you didn’t see right through me. Robin immediately did; she gave me hell every time I told her I had a new date. I figured you just didn’t like me back.”

“Are you kidding, how could I not?” The look on Steve’s face made you slap a hand over your mouth, not wanting to spill anything else you’d been holding back.

“So… What do you say we get dinner tonight? My treat.” He offered, grinning from ear to ear.

“I’d love that, Steve.”

[scoops-aboy86]

I imagine that if Eddie could do magic, he would (as a young teen and therefore a dumbass with a poor grasp of the possible repercussions) try to cast a love spell to make Steve fall in love with him. It's the start of his sophomore year; Steve is just an incoming freshman who no one's really noticed yet, but Eddie is instantly smitten with the impeccable hair, the soulful hazel eyes, and that cute dazed look on his face he gets whenever surprised.

Does he dare even try to talk to Steve? No. Eddie already has zero social standing as a weird nerd who lives in a trailer park and Cannot Sit Still to save his life—which on other people would make them funny class clown material, but for some reason on him makes teachers angry and classmates roll their eyes. Just talking to Steve, Eddie is sure, would be a disaster. And even if he could, chances are Steve is straight and at best Eddie would eventually get punched in the face for admitting his feelings for the other boy.

So. Witchcraft. Chant chant chant, a possession of Steve's dropped in a bubbling cauldron, a blown out candle, and boom.

Only Eddie muffed the spell. Instead of Steve falling in love with Eddie, everyone falls in love with Steve. The spell isn't even strong enough to cause obvious problems; all the girls want him, all the boys want to be him, but there aren't, like, mobs forming over the guy's affection (or lack thereof). Eddie resigns himself to (a) being shitty at magic and (b) never getting Steve.

From Steve's perspective, his whole life changed overnight. Suddenly he's on the map at Hawkins High in a big way. He makes varsity basketball as a freshman, and at the same time is allowed to join the swim team despite the conflicting schedules. Girls are falling over themselves to go out with him. And it's great!

For a while. In some ways.

It gets him his parents' approval right up until November of 1983, when he starts to realize that maybe he hasn't really learned how to build a real relationship with someone, because all he knows is dates falling into his lap and girls looking for the social status that comes with bagging King Steve. That prowess on the basketball court doesn't mean very much when monsters crawl out of the walls and all he has to hand is a baseball bat full of nails. That a girl died in his pool because of a party he threw and him and his friends doing stupid teen shit like shotgunning beers. That the friends he's had since he became King Steve are, actually, pretty much all assholes.

After that first brush with the Upside Down, Steve stops trying to be popular. He stops throwing house parties, drops swimming, stops funding the basketball team's beer and weed purchases, and really tries (with Nancy's help) to buckle down and study.

But the spell is still in effect, so even with all that, everyone still wants a piece of him. He still goes to parties, and whenever Nancy isn't free to tag along there are always girls trying to hang off him, no matter how many times he reminds them that he's already seeing someone. Eventually he gives up, and while he doesn't cheat (he might have dated around a lot, but never with overlap; he is not his dad) he stops putting in the effort to shoo them away.

(Eddie, meanwhile, watches all of this from the sidelines and kind of hates the person he thinks Steve is now. He's not entirely wrong, because the popularity did go to Steve's head for a long time, and there are plenty of ways in which Steve's really isn't a better person for it. But Eddie also isn't close enough to see who he's trying to become now, and he's also still a little bitter in nursing his own bruised heart.)

After breaking up with Nancy and falling in with the Party, Steve starts to get even more frustrated with his lingering popularity. The rest of his senior year is still all girls fawning over him and guys being jealous (sometimes with a nasty edge to it now, like Tommy and Billy). On top of the nightmares left over from encounters with demogorogons and demodogs, it really brings out Steve's bitchy side. He stops dating, stops going to parties, stops trying to achieve in his classes in favor of coasting (and hating that all his teachers let him do it, while picking on kids like Eddie who are actively trying and just not very good at it).

One day, Eddie finds King Steve at the picnic table in the woods, looking to buy weed. Steve doesn't bat an eye when super-senior Munson names his price (double what he usually charges, but it's not like Steve has ever bought directly from anyone before so it's not like he'd know), and says that if it helps him sleep he'll start buying regularly.

Suddenly, Steve is in a slightly better mood at school all the time. He still brushes pretty much everyone off and only hangs out with middle schoolers, but he's nicer about it.

And he starts going to parties again. But he doesn't dance, and he doesn't drink all that much. A lot of the time he doesn't even stick around very long. He'll turn up and people watch, bopping his head in time with the music if it's a song he likes, and park himself by whatever food the party has to offer. Chips, popcorn, the occasional pizza—nothing extensive, most of the kids who come to these parties are there for the booze and the makeout opportunities. Sometimes Steve buys from Eddie if he's there, offers to share joints with him that Eddie, still wary, turns down. When the food runs out, Steve leaves.

See, the weed definitely helps him sleep. It also gives him the munchies, and Steve has sort of gotten into the habit of just... eating. It's not like his parents are around to notice, and Dustin and the other kids don't care as long as he springs for extras so they can have some too. No one at school would dare say it to his face, and somehow it still doesn't manage to fully tank his slightly flagging reputation, but Steve is definitely starting to put on weight.

Then he graduates, and... nothing. King Steve drops off the map.

For everyone except Eddie, anyway, because Steve still buys. And Eddie has started to relax his no-smoking-with-Steve policy lately. Between the weed and the public eye no longer pinning him in a spotlight, Steve has become an incredibly chill dude. He doesn't even mind that he didn't get into any of the colleges he applied to (or any of the ones his parents insisted he applied to either, but that's a more clear-cut relief), something he confides in Eddie around the time they start hanging out outside of sales because his dad is demanding that he get a summer job. Pros include more money for weed (although Eddie has relaxed his prices as well), but cons include less free time. Steve says Eddie can visit him at work though, and he'll hook him up with freebies and discounts.

Visiting Steve at his Scoops Ahoy job is both a visual treat for Eddie and how he finds out that he's basically Steve's only friend his own age. Those shorts, man, and even with the extra weight Eddie still thinks Steve looks great. Everything that first attracted him to Steve (the eyes, the slightly comical dopiness, and the hair, regardless of the little sailor's hat) is still there, plus big hands, broad shoulders, an endearing grin, and just... Steve.

Maybe, Eddie realizes, if he'd never done that spell at all, he could have gotten to know Steve like this years ago. He never feels like Steve's last choice when they spend time together, and definitely doesn't mind that Steve seems to forget how much space he takes up these days and always sits a little too close, whether it's on the picnic table bench or on the couch at Eddie's trailer or in a Scoops booth. Steve is goofy and sweet and a little lame, but he brings his own snacks and lets Eddie talk straight through the Star War movies and the animated Lord of the Rings film, reeling off every bit of trivia and his own personal opinions he can. Every now and then, Steve even goes out of his way to ask questions about d&d and listens to the answers.

Forget smitten, Eddie Munson is in love.

(… Okay, I thought about it some more, here's part 1. Now tagged as #love spell no go au. And there's also a part 1.5, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11.)

[aloneinthehellfire]

Eight Months (Part 2)

Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

Summary: Y/n went missing at the end of spring. A note was left explaining that after her father, Bob Newby, died, she just couldn’t bear to stay in Hawkins. The others were shocked but after gaining no leads on where she could be, they had to accept that she was gone. But when summer rolls in and Hawkins starts getting scary, Steve and Dustin find themselves venturing into a Russian base and uncover more secrets than they bargained for.

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: swearing, torture, mentions of blood, knives, needles, mentions of a drug

[A/N: So I’ve written loadssss for this but it was super long and I’ve had to split it into separate parts so I promise it gets better. Will be posting Part 3 as soon as I have time outside of uni!]

Eight Months [Masterlist]

Eight Months: The Serum

[Part Two]

“What are they going to do to him?”

Robin’s voice was small and quiet, knees brought up to her chest as he sat across from you, cautiously eyeing the cuts and bruises across your body. She already knew, the fear had latched onto her mind even before Steve was dragged off by the Russians. But she had to hear it from you.

“Do you really wanna know?” You counter, lips tightening as her head nods slowly. “Um… it’s his first time, so they’ll just keep asking who he works for, how he got in… all that shit. And when he doesn’t give an answer they like… let’s just say we’re gonna have matching bruises.”

“Shit.” Robin mutters, squeezing her eyes shut and resting her head on the wall behind her.

You watch her intently, the worry and fear that she is radiating. She and Steve were obviously close, as friends or more, you weren’t certain of. You couldn’t deny the jealous pit of anxiety in your stomach just thinking of the possibility. You had been in love with Steve Harrington since middle school. You stuck with him even when he lost himself to Tommy and Carol, being his reminder that he was better than them, that he actually was a nice guy. You even supported his relationship with Nancy Wheeler despite how much you and her had despised eachother.

And now you find out that it’s been eight months since you disappeared. A lot can happen in eight months. If she made him happy, you were just gonna have to put up with it. And make sure that they both make it out of here alive.

“First time.” Robin mutters and you whip your head up to see she was looking at you, “You said it’s his first time.”

“Yeah.” You nod, avoiding her eyes as you look to the ground. “It took them more than a few punches to actually believe that I’m not some kind of spy.”

“I’m sorry.” Robin offers and you shrug, “Seriously. If anyone had known-”

“It’s fine.” You smile sadly.

“No.” She suddenly shuffles her way over to you, sitting cross legged in front of you with a worried frown. “Steve talked about you all the time. Like, all the time. It was kind of annoying actually. The urge to hit him with a scoop grew bigger every day.”

You chuckle at her words.

“But…” She continues, reaching out and tapping the tip of your shoe, “I know for a fact that Steve would have come here guns-a-blazing if he had known.”

You open your mouth to speak but the distant footsteps echoing in the corridor brought you to your feet immediately. It took Robin a few seconds longer to understand before she was right up with you. Instinctively grabbing her hand, you squeeze it for comfort as you both stare to the door, waiting.

It swings open, two guards stood there with ropes in their hands. You knew exactly how this went.

“Stay still and do what they say.” You whisper to the girl next to you. Her eyes widen before a guard suddenly drags her forward.

“Hands.” He orders with a thick accent. She looks to you while doing what she was told, wrists suddenly bonded together.

You hold out your own to the other guard, your hands quickly tied together before you and robin are escorted from the room. Walking down the corridor in complete silence is something you’ve grown accustomed to. In fact, you knew it took exactly 14 steps to reach the room they usually threw you in.

13. 14. And you were there, the door being opened before a guard stops the other, looking to you.

“The boss wants her.” He speaks in Russian and your eyes widen. They had no idea you understood what they were saying but they kept the conversation brief.

You suddenly were pulled away, Robin’s startled reaction causing her to try and move to you, yelling when she was thrown into the room and out of view.

Panic flowed through your body as you were taken down a hallway you hadn’t seen before.

***

“Get your hands off me!” Robin yells as she’s thrown onto the floor, the door locked behind her.

As she turns her head from the fall, back already hurting from the contact, her eyes widen. Steve was led next to her, barely moving. And blood covered his face.

“Steve? Steve?!” She patted his face as best she could with bonded hands, fear rushing in. You were right. They had tortured him just like they tortured you.

Another door opens into the room, and Robin turns to look. She could almost feel the blood drain from her body when she recognised him as the man that had taken Steve before.

“What did you do to him?” She begs, angry. “What did you do?!”

Her efforts get her nowhere when a sharp slap is sent across her cheek, knocking her back to the ground.

Russian words are spluttered out everywhere around her as she’s dragged towards a chair, back to back with Steve who still wasn’t responding. She had never felt more terrified and alone in her life. Steve could be dying, and she couldn’t help him. You could be dying and that terrified her. You could already be dead.

“Steve? Steve?” Robin begged for him to wake up, to let her know she wasn’t the only one left. “Steve, can you hear me? Don’t touch him! Steve!”

“I think your friend need a doctor.” The man spoke in broken English, a cruel smile on his face. “Good thing… we have the very best.”

Once they all break out into mocking laughter, Robin took her opportunity. She spat, directly into his face, refusing to show her fear. She had dealt with cruelty all her life, and she’d be dammed if she let another person break her down.

“You are going to regret that, suchka.” He threatens, holding her gaze until she felt her fear bubbling to the surface. She had seen your scars. And you didn’t seem like the person who had given up easy.

But, to her relief, they left the room.

“Somebody help!” She shouted out once they had left, praying Dustin and Erica had gone to the authorities. “Help! Help!”

“Hey, would you stop yelling?”

Steve’s grumbling voice almost made her cry in joy.

“Steve! Oh my god!” She breathed. He was alive. “Steve… are- are you okay?”

“My ears are ringing, and I can’t really breath.” He states, the pounding in his head only worsening from the harsh hues of artificial lights. “And my eye feels like it’s about to pop out of my skull, but, you know, apart from that, I’m doing pretty good.”

“Well,” Robin nods, trying to find a silver lining. “the good news is that they’re calling you a doctor.”

Steve finally raises his head as Robin chuckles nervously, focusing on the room before a frown appears on his beaten face. “Where… where’s Y/n?”

“I don’t know.” She admits, shaking her head. Steve’s heart rate quickens. “They- they took her into a different room. God, and she looked scared at whatever they said. I don’t understand Russian as well as that though, like the alphabet thing is all you’re getting from me.”

She pauses, tilting her head to the side as if she’d be able to see Steve. “Steve?”

“They’re gonna hurt her again.” He whispers out and Robin’s breath hitches.

“No-no.” She tries squirming against her restraints, “No, I’m sure she’s fine. Okay? She’ll be just fine.”

“It’s my fault.”

“No, Steve, it’s-”

“I told them.” He mumbles and Robin stills, silencing herself. “They kept asking and asking and asking and I… I got angry. I told them I knew Y/n.”

“Maybe they didn’t hear you?” Robin suggests with a high voice.

“It was the last thing I said before they knocked me out.” Steve groans, his face throbbing in pain. “She only just convinced them she wasn’t a spy and I ruined it.”

“She’s strong.” Robin nods, mostly to herself, “And from what I heard, she’s a badass, right? She already made it eight months in this hell hold, she’ll be okay. Us, however? I’m not so sure. If we make it out of here, we’ll find her. We just need an escape…”

Her voice trails off and Steve frowns, looking back as best he could.

“So, okay, do you see that table over there to your right?” Robin’s plan was already forming in her mind, and it all rested on their capability of shuffling over to a scalpel.

“You lied to us.”

His voice was low, head staring out of the lab window.

Being dragged from Robin had sent you spiralling, wondering what they were doing to do to you, but mostly her. You didn’t know the girl, barely met her half an hour ago, and yet you were afraid for her. She didn’t deserve any of this. Steve didn’t deserve any of it.

The room they had taken you to was new this time. You had barely enough time to take in the giant windows overlooking busy bodies in a computer lab before your eyes drifted to the giant laser in the building, pointing at a gate into the Upside Down.

You had known they were trying to open another gate, courtesy of your ability to pick up languages pretty quickly, but you hadn’t expected them to be getting this far. The rift was already being torn through with immense power. If they succeeded, Hawkins would have more than just the demo-dogs you faced last year to deal with.

Once the man in charge had returned to you, your instinct was to stay quiet. He was busy wiping away something from his face with a scowl, discarding the napkin in the palm of a Russian soldier’s hand before facing the windows and clearing the room.

So now, it was just him and you.

“Your friend told us.” He finally looks back at you as your heart dropped. “Tell me, are you working with these Americans?”

“I know him from middle school.” You say quietly, already expecting the worst. “What did you do to him?”

“Not as much as I’m going to do to you.” He sneered and your blood runs cold. “They won’t talk, that much is clear. But now I know their weakness. The boy seems to… care for you.”

Your mouth runs dry once you immediately understand. He was going to use you against them. And it was going to hurt.

“They aren’t a threat to you.” You insist, eyes drawing back to the gate. “If you let them go…”

His eyebrow perked up while you stay fixated on the red gaping hole inside the lab. You knew what they wanted from you, you’ve known it all along.

“I’ll tell you everything I know about that.” You point to the window and he smirks, glancing behind before walking straight towards you. Guards suddenly enter the room, grabbing your arms and keeping you still.

“Stupid American.” He tuts, grabbing your face and tilting to the side so he can see the scar on your eyebrow, the one he gave you with a knife months ago. “We don’t need your information. But we do need you for something else.”

Just as you went to question, a sharp blow to the side of your head blackened your vision and you fell into a deep sleep.

Robin’s plan had failed.

She had completely overestimated their abilities for spy work, her hope only landing them both on the floor, shoulders aching from the impact. Part of her was glad when the Russians came back and picked them off the floor. And then the dread set in. They were back for answers they didn’t like.

“Let us try this again.” The man says and Robin scowls at him.

He positions himself in front of Steve.

“Look, man. I already told you. I work at scoops, we were expecting a delivery-”

“Shush.” He orders and Steve closes his mouth. He really didn’t want another punch to the face. “We have different ways of finding the truth.”

“That is the truth, shithead.” Robin scoffs.

“Tell us or we kill her.”

Steve’s anxiety heightens when he walks to the girl behind him, on edge. “No, no. Me! Hurt me, not her!”

Robin waits for the pain but is surprised when the man circles back around, towards the door to their right. They both watch as it is swung open and someone is dragged in, a long streak of red running down the side of their face. You.

“Y/n!” They both yell and Steve immediately feels his heart drop.

“Now then,” The man smiles as they bring another chair in, situated where they both can see, and you are strapped down into it, head hung low. “Who do you work for?”

A choked sob leaves Robin’s lips as Steve sits frozen in fear. Eight months you had survived here. And it had all come crashing down because of a stupid mistake he had made.

“Please.” Robin begs, eyes staying on the wound to your head.

“She doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Steve tries and the man simply nods.

“Very well.” He snaps his fingers and another man enters the room, dressed in a white lab coat. ‘The Doctor’, they assumed.

The Doctor walks over to you and picks up the scalpel they had tried and failed to obtain earlier. In a swift motion, he brings it to your neck, causing them to scream out.

“No!”

“Stop!”

He holds it there while the man in charge laughs bitterly. “How sweet.”

“What the hell kind of doctor are you?” Robin pants. Her breath hitches once you begin to stir awake, a quiet groan leaving your lips as you blink away one hell of a burning headache.

“Ah, finally.” The man stands and walks to you. “For a moment, I thought we had hit you a little too hard.”

He takes the scalpel out of the doctors hand and takes his place, tugging hard at your hair to bring your face up.

“Leave her alone.” Steve spits out and you finally focus on the situation.

You had tried your best, you did, but you couldn’t help the whimper that left your lips when you felt the cool metal blade against your throat.

“Who do you work for?” He said again and your heart raced faster.

“Scoops Ahoy!” Robin yells, practically kicking and screaming, “It’s a shitty underpaid job that we had to get because of our shitty overpaid parents, okay? Just don’t hurt her!”

“I don’t like that answer.” He shrugs and slices at your throat enough to start tearing the skin, a trickle of blood slipping down as they yelled out. He stops pushing before he makes any real damage. “One last chance.”

Steve looks directly into your eyes and he feels sick. He’s stuck in a chair, the fight already leaving him from the torture, and you were one slice away from death. And he couldn’t do anything to help.

Death didn’t really scare you anymore. In fact, you’d been expecting it for a while. But knowing that your best friend would have to watch the life drain from your eyes? Not a single cell in your body could allow him to see that.

So, you did what you had to. You lied.

“They don’t know anything because they don’t know I’m a spy.” You choke out and Steve’s eyes widen. He knew you were lying, after all he had known you for years. He just couldn’t believe you were going to sacrifice yourself for them.

“Finally.” The man chuckles.

“She’s lying.” Steve blurts and you try and shake your head at him. What was he doing?

The man looks between you both with a scowl on his face. “I am not finding this humouring any more.”

“Just let them go and I’ll tell you everything.” You insist.

“No, he’s right, she’s lying.” Robin chimes in. She didn’t know you well but you had proven yourself to her long before this moment. There was no way she was letting either of her friends die down here.

You could almost cry at their words. They didn’t know you had given up. You needed an escape just like they did. But ‘escape’ meant very different things.

“Hm.” The man beside you slowly nods, bringing the knife down from your neck. “It seems no one wants to tell the truth.”

“Or you just won’t accept the truth.” You grumble and he laughs at you.

“I like you.” He continues to chuckle, The Doctor beside you hiding a snicker. “You are feisty.”

“You have no idea.” You spit, trying to think of a way out. You knew what was coming next. This wasn’t your first encounter with The Doctor.

The man nods his head briefly and The Doctor walks to his table, messing about with vials of blue liquid you’ve come into contact with one too many times. He stands in front of Steve with a scowl on his face.

“Try telling the truth this time, yes?” He strokes the hair out of Steve’s face. “It will make your visit with Dr. Zharkov less painful.”

“Wait a second, wait. Wait, wait, wait!” Steve tries to scurry away from the giant needle headed his way and you struggle against your restraints.

“No!” You yell, “Leave him alone you mudak!”

The Doctor abruptly stops, the needle barely a centimetre away from piercing Steve’s skin.

“What did you just say?” The man in uniform narrows his eyes and you smirk.

“I’m sorry,” You tilt your head, “did you want me to translate for you?”

“So… the little girl knows Russian, eh?” He steps closer to you and his hand flies to grab at your face, hard.

“Shit, leave her alone!” Steve panics as he watches the Doctor bring the needle towards you instead.

The needle is pointed at your neck and your breath hitches, your glare never leaving the man’s face.

“Change of plan.” He suddenly says and you frown. “We should not give this American what she wants.”

The Doctor smiles before turning and plunging the needle into Steve’s neck.

You and Robin scream, thrashing about so much it would give you whiplash. Then, the needle is injected into Robin’s skin and you feel the colour drain from your face. You knew what the serum did; calming your nerves just enough to send you a little loopy, perfecting the vulnerable state that would make you spill out information to anyone who asked.

But you knew that most people didn’t survive it unless they could reject it from their systems in the next hour. You just needed to remember how to get the drug out. You needed to remember.

You squeeze your eyes shut as The Doctor approaches you, finding no reason to fight. The last you felt was the sharp prick of cool metal against your skin.

To be continued…

-

taglist: @hereiamhereigo | @snackycake1975 | @zbeez-outlet | @sadbitchfangirl | @evansflowers | @sammy-is-not-smiley | @tattooedkiss13 | @steveslittlefreak

[gregre369]

The Lost Boys came out in 1987. And you can’t tell me that Eddie Munson would not have made that film his whole personality.

And you know damn well he would be mad jealous of how hot Steve found Jason Patric, Billy Wirth, Brooke McCarter, Keifer Sutherland, and Alex Winter. Like you know he’d have a poster up in his room that he stole was conveniently missing from family video.

Like genuinely, I see Steve waxing poetic and going on long drawn out tangents about Jason and Brooke’s hair from the movie, specifically. And Eddie just sitting there not so silently fuming. Mumbling under his breathe how SUPER nice and heavy metal his hair is.

Bonus points if it’s Kas Eddie. Phew boy! He’d be pointing out and correcting all the inaccuracies about vampires in the film and getting all stuffy whenever Steve shushes him. Everytime there’s a movie night Steve suggests they watch it. Like at this point he blatantly stole a copy from work. Obviously Eddie calls him on it one night when it’s just the two of them, after steve starts bemoaning his lack of hot vampire goth boyfriend. Eddie finally snaps and gets all in Steve’s face and asks(loudly), “what’s so great about them(their hair/general aesthetic) when you’ve got me?! Who’s an actual vampire…with great hair!!” And Steve just tilts his head and shrugs and says “you know what? You’re right.” Then proceeds to lay one(several) on Eddie.

Bonus bonus points if we have an alive reformed Billy who takes offense to Steve’s(and Eddie’s) attraction to Keifer and Billy Wirth.

Like oh my god! The possibilities are endless.

_____________________________________

Also as I was writing this I thought up of a The Lost Boys/Stranger Things crossover. (I’m pretty sure much more talented and creative people have not only mentioned this but also written it). But like the possibilities are endless.

Just hear me out:

-Vecna as Max

-Billy as David

-Eddie as Star

-Will as Laddie

-Joyce as Lucy

-Steve as Michael(obviously)

-Dustin as Sam

-Lucas and Mike as the frog brothers

-Tommy as Dwayne

-Johnathan as Marco

-Argyle as Paul

-El and Max as friends of Dustin’s who get brought into it.

-Robin as Steve’s new friend

-Nancy as the frogs older sister

-Erica is somewhere in this bc you know she’s sass the shit out of them

-Hopper as the security guard who gets killed(sorry Hop) maybe this is how El gets involved and since Maxine is her bestie so she does too.

-Chrissy, Heather and Jason possible victims. (Sorry Chrissy and Heather💔).

-Or maybe Heather and Carol are Billy’s and Tommy’s love interests before Steve shows up to rock the boat. Chrissy could either be Eddie’s friend or former flame. (Chrissy ends up with Robin)

Oooh or create new characters for Robin, Nancy, Chrissy, El, Max, Johnathan, Argyle, and Heather. Or maybe make the others some of the other vampires in the gang but like their in it against their will, so when Vecna inevitably dies Stobin bffs happens. Idk idk there’s just so much.

And depending if it’s Steddie or Metalsandwich Steve saves Eddie and/or Billy reforms.

Like idk but i love the film, it’s one of my favorites and just gives such great Steddie/metalsandwich vibes.

God just imagine how gay this could all be.

Like somebody else needs to write this. I can’t do it, idk if you’ve seen my liberal use of the word ‘like’ or not but a writer I am not.

[lokiswife13]

“Finish the sentence”.

Summary: Y/N is Steve’s best friend, like for YEARS, they known each other since kids and even in high school they were pretty close, close being in the same class, studying together and accept that Steve was very popular and sometimes a moron. This didn’t stop each other for developing feelings for one another.

Warnings: smut, not explicit but is there. The characters are 18. Again some quotes of songs of Taylor and Harry.

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

“You went out with him?” Steve looked at y/n. “It was just a date, Steve. Plus, he is not that bad”. She reply.

She dated Billy last night, they went to the cinema and it was pretty good, he was an idiot but treated her nice.

“Are you jealous?”. She said teasing Steve.

“Of course not, I just know he is not good news”. She smile.

“You look hot being jealous in that marine suit”. Steve was bright red.

“Oh my god, the king Steve blush at my comment”. Steve roll his eyes.

“Anyway, I’m leaving”. She smile at him.

“Don’t go out with him again, y/n. I’m looking out for you”. Now she rolled her eyes.

“I said the same thing about Wheeler and you got a pretty long relationship so just stop”.

She finally left, realized that the last words maybe sounded like she was jealous and she was, well used to be jealous. She had to stay with her arms cross while she saw Steve falling head over heels for someone that didn’t love him.

That shit hurt her, not only because it was her friend and every time they fought Steve went straight to her house to get some sort of reassurance about the way his relationship work out, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything about how broken that relationship was, she saw Nancy looking at Jonathan with that face you have when you are falling in love.

And maybe that was the same face she had when she saw Steve, but they were friends, so close, and she felt bad about falling for him, like her bones crashed into the ground, there’s no anticipation for this kind of things, it just happend, slowly and almost like everything around her was moving in slow motion.

Y/n could remember the time she saw him and knew that the jealousy and her heart racing where actually little symptoms of love, of her falling for him. It was at the party, the famous party where Nancy got way too drunk, he looked like out of a movie, the type on guy she always looked for.

[flaskback]

“Hey, gorgeous”. Steve said while hugging her.

“Hey, handsome”. She said softly.

“You look amazing, y/n”. She smile and she knew her face was red.

“Oh, it’s nothing, just make up and a skirt”. Steve looked stunned.

“Beautiful”. Were his last words before Nancy drag him to the dance floor.

The party was amazing, friends here and there, but y/n and her social battery had been turn off. Just drinking beer.

“Let’s dance”. He said.

“Oh, no. Your girlfriend already hates me and I don’t want her to feel bad”. Steve give her a half smile.

“She’s acting weird”.

Y/n felt her stomach drop, she would love to dance with him but she couldn’t hurt Nancy, no way.

“Go with her, she probably needs you”. Steve looked at her for a while, smile and walked closer to her.

“Don’t to this, Steve. Please. She doesn’t deserve this and I don’t deserve to be treated like crumbs, disposable”.

“You are not disposable to me, I just wanted to say that maybe…”. Nancy walk out of the bathroom.

“Maybe, is always a maybe. Steve we are too drunk to have this conversation”.

He nodded and walk away. She stood there watching Steve comfort Nancy and that was it, she left the party.

[end of flashback]

Minimal, she thought that, just that made her almost dizzy, thinking about him, every fucking day and that make her sick to her stomach, to depend so much of a person, she didn’t like that.

She was always independent, not in the bad way, but her dad was never home and her mom left when she was a kid, so she grow up with herself and nothing more.

She loved her dad and knew that being a dad and a mom was not easy, at least he tried to be present, but he was a pilot so he was gone pretty much all the time.

“You fight with your father again?”. Steve nodded.

“Can I stay here tonight, please? I can’t even think of going home to listen to him and listen to my mom saying things about me getting back with Nancy or finding a better job”.

Y/n smile, he looked tired and she knew that the Nancy talk made him sad and the work talk made him angry because he worked hard to get it in the first place. She move a bit to let him in.

“I was making dinner, you want some?”. Steve smile.

“Of course, let me help you”.

Steve walked into the kitchen and saw her making some sort of chicken with veggies.

“That smells soo good”. She smile agreeing with him.

“I know. I’m such a good chef”.

Steve help her make some pasta and that was it, they ate together and talked about their day. He was still angry about her going out with Billy after what happened but she said that was only a one time thing for him to leave Max alone.

“That bastard. He threatened you with Max?”. She nodded.

“It’s okay, Steve. It was just a date and he never treated me badly. I will do anything for those kids, you know that”. Steve looked really angry.

“I can’t believe this. Such a moron. You deserve someone so much better”. He assured.

“Yeah, well I don’t think that but it’s ok”. Steve looked at her with worry.

“What do mean?”.

“I mean, looked at my family. I’m messed up, Steve. Who will want me when I’m so broken inside? The reality is that I can’t picture anything about my life past twenty five”. Steve looked hurt.

A few minutes went by.

“You are not broken, y/n”. She half smiled. “We are so much more than our families and the decision they made, you’re definitely so much more than what you mother did. I know it leaves a mark, a scar you can’t never cover up totally. I’m your friend and I’m here to help you. I’m here for you, always”.

Y/n stopped eating and looked at him.

“Thank you, Steve. I’m here for you too. Always, no matter what. I know your relationship with your parents isn’t that good, but you can always be better. Don’t feel sorry for doing it on your own”.

Steve just smiled at her, his eyes bright, he looked at her eyes and saw the whole story of both, maybe it was time to tell her, to be brave enough to risk everything just for love.

They finished eating and washed the dishes, after that they went straight to the living room to watch something in the tv and finally decided to watch a horror movie. Evil dead was one of y/n favorite movies so they pick that one, both in the largest couch and watching.

“We never talked again about that night, at the party”. Steve almost whispered.

“I though there’s was nothing to talk about, it was like a secret, we were drunk so there’s that”.

“I wasn’t that drunk to be honest”. He responded.

Maybe they got lost in translation and the fear creeping inside of them, maybe it was a shoot in the dark, maybe the both will ended up hurt or maybe not.

“After that night we never mentioned anything again, I though you forgot and I wanted to forget too”. Steve stay silent while she talk.

“You reminded me of something I couldn’t reach, something way above me in the good way, and to be honest Nancy was the type of girl you always wanted”.

Steve didn’t waste a second, he grabbed her hand and pull her into his chest, for a moment it was just the two of them in a long hug, but when they looked at each other the spark fly and Steve finally broke the space between them and kissed her, deeply, needy.

He never needed someone so much like he needed her, putting himself under her so she could rest on his lap while the both were exploring for the first time each other’s body’s, each of her leg’s rested side to his tights, she never taste something so sweet and he had never tested something like her, sweet and sour at the same time.

“I…l”. She moaned in his lips witch made him moan in return, his hands on her hips.

“Finish the sentence, y/n”. He said smiling and kissing her neck.

“Just between us, I have feelings for you”.

Steve smile and looked at her, atonement and completely wonderstruck by her beauty, her brown eyes and her cheeks, her lips with a subtle red tone. His hand reach her cheek and passed his thumb on her bottom lip, admiring her, she smile softly at him.

It wasn’t a lie that they’re life was a bit of a struggle, for both, when they found each other they where too young to know about anything, specially about love when never saw it in their parents, but this was it, when you are young you just try to prove something to yourself or others, but this moment was about them, about the feeling that was hidden because of fear. When you are young you just run but you come back to what you need.

“Let’s try”. Steve said.

“Please, I know this can work. Is always been you, all along. I thought I wanted something else but I always wanted you, all the problems we have at home, we can let it go, we can throw a party full of everyone we know, we don’t have to be sorry for leaving and growing up, y/n. You always saw the best in me”.

This time he kissed her slowly, intimate, almost like her lips where glass, delicate. He didn’t want anyone else, just her. At the end is was only her and him.

“In this world is just us, Steve”.

Steve smile and hugged her for a while, impregnated her essence in his brain, the smell of cinnamon of her body wash and the coconut on her hair, he wondered how long he will love that essence, little did he know that probably he will love that smell for the rest of his life.

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Thank you so much for the support. I’m taking requests so if you want a short story with Steve you are free to dm me, it will be my pleasure, I just love writing. And also, if you had any comments and maybe some advice I will love to read them.

Love, Lokis Wife. 🌻

[johnnyutah]

i finally finished this old wip for @stonathanweek (and coincidentally also @stoncyweek2023!)

prompts: canon-verse (day 5), long distance relationship (day 7) summary: Steve comes up with an awesome plan to make Nancy jealous. It backfires in the best way. rating: explicit ships: stonathan, stoncy, established jonathan/nancy, past steve/nancy (and future? 😳) steve and robin being best bros word count: 5660 content info: drinking, phone sex, miscommunication, smut & feelings, pre-polyamory, set before season 4

Also on AO3!

The front door of Family Video slams shut on yet another failed attempt at flirting, and Steve’s head falls into his hands yet a-fuckin-gain. “This is it, Robin,” he declares, elbows digging into the cheap melamine counter and fingertips digging into his temples just above his furrowed brows. “This is it. We’ve got no prospects.”

“That isn’t true,” Robin, the light of his life, tells him, soft and kind-hearted as ever. She pats his shoulder and goes on to correct him, “You’ve got no prospects. I’m just in the wrong city for love; you’re on the wrong planet.”

“The wrong p— you’re a real asshole, you know that?” Steve glances up from between his fingers just to check that she knows that. Robin’s sweet smile doesn’t falter for a moment, confirming her own theory. He’s sure that if they did live in another place, or perhaps another time, Robin could have a girlfriend in no time at all. Steve, however, is doomed. “What am I supposed to do with that, huh? I can’t exactly set off to Mars.”

“You could try changing it up,” Robin suggests. It’s the third time this week she’s suggested that he change. He’s starting to feel like she might mean it. “Instead of ‘ahoy, ladies’…”

She scrunches up her nose, thinking. Steve rests his chin on his knuckles and watches her. “Ahoy… fellas?”

“Ha-ha.” Robin pushes his shoulder again, this time not to comfort but to chastise. “I meant maybe coming up with a different approach.”

“I don’t do the Scoops routine anymore.”

“Right, you’ve switched to local video store geek recommending all your favorite flicks.”

“Geek! I’m not a geek! What about this,” Steve gestures up and down his body with broad, sweeping motions that draw out a flurry of giggles from Robin, “says geek?!”

“Like, all of it,” she laughs. “Every part of it. The hair? Dork. The smile? Total nerd smile— see, look, you’re offended but you’re smiling!”

Through his not-smile, Steve hisses, “What am I supposed to do about my smile? I’m freaking screwed!”

“Calm down, you’ll be fine!” It’s hard to take Robin’s consolation seriously as she struggles not to laugh. Some consternation must show on his face as she finally relents, wiping an eye dry before leaning away, and repeating, “You’ll be fine. You’ve got plenty of time to work out the new Harrington act anyway, and in the meantime, you’ve got good friends who look out for you.”

“I thought you said Dustin and the gang were annoying little kids.”

“God, I meant me, you dick!” This time he’s ready for the blow to his shoulder and he dodges it effortlessly, ducking under the slap and then swatting it away. It’s a good thing Keith left right away after his morning shift, as he hates when they squabble like this in the front end of the store. Not that there are any customers. Steve has apparently frightened them all away with his utter and total lack of charisma. Fantastic.

After he loses— quite badly, really, Robin, where was this killer physique and athleticism when they were being held hostage by enemies of the state— and they resume their work, Steve doesn’t put up much of a pretense of actually working, far too distracted by his foreboding future. The loneliness gnaws at him deeply, scraping down to his marrow until he starts fidgeting, uncomfortable with his own turbulent emotion.

Robin hadn’t meant it, and god knows she’s got it worse than he does, but… it does suck, not having someone and not seeming able to find anyone. Even when things were bad with Nancy there had still been things. And before her, when Tommy and Carol had dragged him to each and every party like a prized stud ready for the auction, he had felt wanted. He can’t remember when he last felt wanted.

Before he can voice this pathetic thought to Robin, she sighs, taking obvious pity on him. “You have any plans tonight?”

“Take a wild guess,” Steve grumbles.

Unaffected, she continues, “Sooo… my parents went to this big Christmas party last weekend, and they brought home these two huge gift baskets they apparently won in some raffle. And one of the baskets had some bourbon, and, um, I don’t really know anything about drinking, so, I… uh, I brought it, and I thought maybe it’d be fun if we. Drank it.”

Steve twists to stare at her incredulously. No part of the story makes even a lick of sense— what kind of parents let their eighteen-year-old daughter drink liquor freely? What kind of parents bring gifts home without occasion or cause? Who throws a Christmas party in January? Baffled, he echoes, “You brought it?”

“I brought it,” Robin confirms.

“In… what, in your backpack?”

“Yeah, in my backpack.” Both of them glance at the staff area, and she says, “What, you don’t want to? If you don’t want to, it’s—”

“Hold on, they just let you have it?”

“They don’t drink.”

“Well… what kind of bourbon is it?”

“I have no clue, doofus. I don’t drink.”

“Never?”

“I’ve never had anyone to drink with.” This confession lingers in the air for a heavy moment— not necessarily a bad one, but it weighs them both down, together. Then Robin coughs, and changes tack, “What types of bourbon are there?”

Steve doesn’t actually know. He’s not sure that he’s actually ever tried bourbon. It sounds both quaintly Southern and exorbitant, but the likely high price tag only adds to the allure. “Alright, we’ll just have to make sure we don’t leave anything for Keith to catch onto us. Guy would flip his freaking lid. But… we could try a glass, or two.”

“Neat,” Robin grins, eyes practically sparkling. “Yeah, I probably won’t have more than a sip.”

--

Steve sits— well, crashes— down onto the counter beside Robin. His legs dangle over the edge, while she keeps hers crossed. “I think I lost my voice,” he tells her, and in response she passes— well, slams— the bottle into his hand. “No, Robin, I’m serious, I think I sang too hard.”

“They’re making another one of these.” She points, and Steve follows her gaze to the TV set up in the corner over Comedies and International, which is currently playing The Evil Dead, but set to the soundtrack of the album Steve has been blasting over the Family Video intercom. “With the same director and everything. I bet it’ll be terrible; sequels always are.”

“Not true,” croaks Steve. He drinks the bourbon. It tastes a little better with every sip, although it still mostly tastes like he’s hiding in a cleaning closet and drinking heavy acid instead of hanging out with his friend and drinking actual good liquor. If this is good liquor, he thinks he’ll stick to cheap beer. “Dawn of the Dead.”

“Remake, not a sequel.”

“No way, it’s a sequel.” Steve passes the bottle back, massaging his throat. “Zombies and shit.” AC/DC comes to the end of howling ‘Back in Black’, thank God, no more falsetto— and the tape switches to ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’. He starts tapping his heels against the counter to the rhythm. 

On screen, Ash’s buddy Scotty shoves one of the zombified girls away with an ax. Robin watches. Steve grimaces. Scotty swears his head off on mute. Brian Johnson wails, “She was the best damn woman that I ever seen!”

“I love women,” Robin sighs, deep and emotional.

“Me too,” agrees Steve fervently.

“And I don’t hate bourbon.”

“Me either.” He reaches for the bottle and she takes a sip before sharing; it burns when it hits his already scratchy throat. Scotty locks the zombie in the basement. Robin reaches back for the bottle. The confession squeezes out before Steve can think any better of it: “I miss Nancy.”

“Oh my god.”

“I mean it—”

“I know you do—”

“I love her, Robin.”

“Oh My God.”

“Listen,” Steve says, hopping off the counter with grace and precision. He completely misjudges the distance between them and the floor, and ends up crash-landing hard; but at least he doesn’t fall over. Robin laughs harder than she needs to as he steadies himself. “Listen. She was my best damn… the best girlfriend that I’ve ever had. And I was so stupid to her. And she left me.”

“I thought she left because she didn’t have feelings for you anymore.”

“Could you just—” Steve flails for a moment, trying not to throttle his best friend and also trying to sort through his drunk thoughts to find the words he needs. “Yes. Okay. That may be true. But feelings come and go!”

“Fine,” says Robin reluctantly. “But, and I hate to put a damper on your drunken dreams of winning her back, but! In this case, Nancy has already moved on to someone else… right?”

Steve snaps his fingers. Jonathan— of course! That’s why that stupid horror movie seemed so familiar; he remembers seeing the freaky poster hung up in Jonathan’s room from when he and Nancy and Jonathan had fought off the Demogorgon the first time around. Steve hasn’t thought about Jonathan in a while, which seems odd given that he used to waste so much time thinking about the guy. Even before their team-up— actually, especially before they had teamed up, he had a penchant for watching the weird Byers kid. “Right,” he exclaims. “Yeah, yes! She’s moved on!”

“So,” says Robin, with the patience of a schoolteacher. “Don’t you think it’s time that you move on too?”

“Totally,” he agrees, catching her off-guard. “Yes. I’m gonna make her so jealous.”

When he looks over, Robin is fully chugging the bourbon. Steve snatches the bottle away, laughing somewhat maniacally— except not at all, this is awesome, he has a totally awesome plan.

Step one is get on the work computer and misuse his employee privilege as a Family Video store clerk. When he fails to type in his password correctly a third time, Robin sighs, finally hopping down from the counter. “I want it on record that this is a bad idea,” she declares, typing in her password anyway before heading to the back room. Steve takes advantage of her absence to quickly scan through their alphabetized account list. Thankfully Byers, J. is close to the top. 

He scrawls the phone number down on the back of an empty receipt as Robin closes down the store— beginning with the music, then the lights. They are left alone with only the computer, which Steve quickly shuts off, and the television, which Robin misplaced the remote for. Neither of them can find it in the dark and so they leave Ash and friends to face their inevitable demise at the hands of the zombie demons. It won’t be the worst close they’ve ever done, and Steve refuses to believe that Keith’s opinion of him could sink any lower.

Robin grabs the nearly empty bottle, shoving it into her backpack. Steve grabs his jacket, pulling it on with a wince as they step out of the store into the January night air. “It’s too cold to drive, and I’m too drunk to walk,” says Robin, arms already tightly folded over her chest but teeth not quite chattering yet. “I mean… no, wait, maybe that is what I mean.”

“I got this,” Steve assures her. It’s then that Robin notices the receipt, and lunges for it. Maybe if Steve had full control of his faculties he would be able to hold it out of her reach. She snatches the paper and Steve moans, “Aw, c’mon, give it back! You’re messing up my whole plan!”

“Your plan to get back with your ex by making her jealous? Oh my god, you’re serious.” Robin laughs, shoving the receipt back at him. Her grin is too wide and goofy to cause any real hurt, especially when her eyes crinkle up in the corners and she teases, “Look at that, Harrington! You finally got a girl’s number.”

Steve, smiling back, doesn’t correct her.

--

The only cab in Hawkins surely isn’t the only cab in Hawkins, but it feels that way as they drive down the otherwise dormant city streets. Most people, Steve reckons, don’t stay up late drinking with their coworkers on a cold weeknight in January. Or if they do, they probably go to a bar close to their office downtown, or even a nightclub.

In the backseat of the only cab in Hawkins, Steve and Robin lean against each other like siblings on a road trip, slouched together thanks to the late hour and all the drinking. He’s sure they smell like shit but they feel amazing, smacking each other’s arms to point out passing landmarks or giggling about the music on the radio. The driver hasn’t commented, leaving them to their own devices as they joke about how they feel like New Yorkers, or like superstars. 

The taxi drops Robin off outside her home first, and she leans over to give Steve a bourbon-soaked hug. He relishes in it, trying to remember the last time he got a hug from anyone. Hell, it was probably Robin, and before that, he has no clue. Dustin has been busy with his new Dungeons and Dragons group, and Lucas and Mike were never big on hugs anyway. So he hugs back, still laughing at Robin’s terrible Bronx accent, and as he does she whispers, “You got this, dingus.”

“Thanks,” Steve whispers back, feeling tipsy and joyful and supported— until he realizes that she meant he’s the one on the hook for paying the taxi driver. He settles back into his own seat to sulk.

On the radio, REO Speedwagon choruses, “I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for; it’s time to bring this ship into the shore, and throw away the oars, forever…” and the driver hums along.

Steve’s hand finds its way into his jacket pocket, where his fist closes around Jonathan’s number.

--

“Hey,” Steve nearly sings, as soon as the call goes through. “Hi. Sorry, I— I know it’s late,” which is technically true, even if he has no idea what time it actually is. But based on the moonlight streaming through the window in the kitchen, he’s breaking several social rules. “I just… It’s, um, it’s Steve. Harrington, in case, uh, you know any other Steves…?”

A woman answers. The receiver slips right out of Steve’s hands and he curses modern, cordless technology, fumbling to grab it before he drops the phone, or worse, the call. “… afraid I don’t know any Steves at all. Can I help you, young man?”

“Oh, shit.” The woman inhales sharply, and Steve’s mind supplements an image of Byers, Joyce. Shit. Of course. “I’m sorry, uh, I’m calling for Jonathan? If he’s even home?”

Sounding much less friendly, the woman pauses. “I don’t know who you mean, but this is a new number. If you’re trying to reach the Byers family—”

“Yes, exactly, yeah, Jonathan Byers—”

“They don’t live here anymore.” Steve crumples up the paper and tosses it, furiously, into the sink. “I have their forwarding number, if it’s very important…?”

“It’s urgent,” Steve assures her, scrambling to find something to write on. He ends up grabbing his father’s fountain pen and writing Jonathan’s new number painfully across the back of his hand.

After apologizing and wishing the wrong number a good night, Steve stares at those messy, ink-blotted digits. Before he can give himself cold feet, he dials the number; he doesn’t breathe once the whole time it rings.

The line picks up again. This time Steve is more cognizant that it might be Joyce, or even worse, Will— the kid would definitely recognize his voice, and while Steve is sure that Jonathan’s impossibly kind younger brother would support him in this late-night endeavor, he’s also sure that Mike Wheeler would definitely hear about it. Which would ruin the entire scheme, of course.

The scheme, which seemed so infallible back at Family Video, swims and wavers in his head now. Steve tries to go through the plan point by point, but it all falls to pieces when a groggy, familiar voice says through the receiver, “Hello?”

“Hey,” Steve says. He leans against the kitchen island, exhaling all the air in his lungs. “Hi. It’s Steve. … Harrington.”

“I only know one Steve,” Jonathan says, dry as a desert. Steve smiles nervously. “Why are you calling? Is something wrong?”

“No, no, all quiet on the Western front.” This nets him a chuckle from Jonathan, so he soldiers on: “I was just wondering, you know, uh… if you wanted to come over?”

Puzzled, Jonathan asks bluntly, “What? Why?”

“I was thinking about you,” says Steve, leaning into it hard. He has charisma, or at least, he once did— he knows how to do this part. “Thinking maybe you could come over and we could fool around.”

Nobody has ever hung up so fast.

Steve stares at the dead phone in his hand. He wonders about the vicious gossip that he’d heard back in high school about Jonathan Byers, that he was more than just weird and a loner. Maybe those rumors really were nothing but rumors spread by small-minded townies. Steve’s parents aren’t home. It would be so easy for him to break into his father’s liquor cabinet. He could probably knock himself out within the hour, and sleep off this whole bad idea. He could laugh about it with Robin tomorrow night at work— I wanted to do what last night? I got some girl’s phone number out of the system? Man, no, I went straight home and went to bed. On an unrelated topic, I need to update the contact information on the Byers file.

Steve presses the redial button.

It rings for a little longer this time, and he can just picture Jonathan deciding whether or not to pick up, leaning over his own kitchen counter with a vein jumping out of his forehead behind his messy, home-cut bangs. Sure enough, when the call does get picked up, Jonathan sounds even more stressed than usual. He demands, “Is this a joke?”

If he’s wrong, and Jonathan’s not that type of person, and he tells Nancy… Steve shakes off the doomed train of thought. “No,” he says, firmly. “Not a joke.” 

Jonathan swears softly, so soft that Steve was sure he wasn’t meant to hear it, then: “Are you drunk?”

“Well, yeah,” he admits. Jonathan sighs loud enough to nearly blow the speaker. “What about you?”

“No.” A pause. “I think I should probably be a lot less sober for this.”

“That’s the spirit,” Steve cheers. “Where are you? Can you come over?”

Just as he’s starting to get butterflies, Jonathan cuts through the excitement with a deadpan, “California.”

“California?” He squints at the number on his hand. Is eight-one-eight the area code for California? “What the fuck? Is Nancy there with you?”

“Um.” A very pregnant pause. “No?”

“What… are you… Are you on vacation?”

Once more, Jonathan sighs. “What do you want, Steve?”

“I told you,” he replies, and even to his own ears he sounds bitchy. He adjusts, softening his tone a bit. “Just wanna make you feel good, Jonathan. I’ve been thinking about it.”

“You haven’t exactly kept in touch,” Jonathan retorts, although his voice sounds different now. Steve listens keenly but he can’t hear anything else on the line except the complaining. “I mean, you thought I still lived in Hawkins, and I’ve been gone this whole school year.”

“Well, we’re not exactly friends,” Steve parrots back. That shuts the other boy up alright. “Doesn’t mean I don’t think about you.”

“Steve—”

“Even tonight, hanging out with a friend, I was thinking about you. Should’ve been thinking about girls. I was thinking about you.” Steve frowns. “You and stupid Ashley Williams.”

“Listen,” tries Jonathan. “You’re just drunk—”

“Even back when we were in school together I would think about you,” he admits, low. “Why do you think I gave you such a hard time? I heard what everyone said about you. Couldn’t get it out of my head. It wasn’t the first time I heard that someone could be… like that, but it was the first time I saw a boy and thought that I might be like that.”

What had the scheme been again? Call Nancy Wheeler’s queer boyfriend, rile him up a little? Get him to tell Nancy about it and make her all jealous? What is his endgame here, because only boys who like boys talk to boys about the things he’s talking to Jonathan about right now— and Jonathan isn’t even really reciprocating.

The soft breath is the only sign of life from California. Steve closes his eyes, swaying against the kitchen counter. “And I was so, so fucking stupid back then. That’s how I lost Nance, and that’s how come I treated you like… just like garbage. I broke your stupid camera, and I pushed you around, and when people gave you a hard time I didn’t say shit. I basically made your life hell.”

“You bought me a new camera,” says Jonathan quietly.

“Aw, c’mon, Nance.” Steve grimaces. “That was supposed to be a secret.”

“And I wasn’t the best person back then either. I mean, I can’t think about how I acted in junior high without dying a little bit on the inside. But… um… doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it,” Jonathan tells him, in that same quiet voice. Steve wonders if he’s trying to stay quiet so he doesn’t wake up his family. Even when Jonathan had repulsed Steve, he’d always been secretly jealous of the closeness of the Byers clan. “And… uh, all that stuff you said, um… I used to think about it too. About… you and Nancy, mostly. It was wrong, I know, and—”

Steve interrupts, “Was it?” He sounds as wild as he feels. “Was it wrong?”

“Um…”

“You home alone, Jonathan?”

“I, uh.” Now there is a rustling on the other side of the line. “Will and El are at a sleepover camp thing for school, and my mom’s working nights this week at this temporary… um… Are we really— I mean, are you really…”

Steve hums. “I’m home alone. Didn’t even ask where my parents are, and they didn’t volunteer the information. But it means I’ve got this big place all to myself.”

Shallowly, Jonathan sucks in air. “Where are you?”

“The kitchen.”

That shocks a surprised laugh out of the other boy, which in turn makes Steve smile bashfully. “You can’t— you can’t have phone sex in the kitchen,” he scolds Steve. “People make food in there! Go to your bedroom, you fucking freak.”

“Look who’s suddenly an expert on phone sex,” Steve teases.

He goes anyway, heading slowly and normally towards the second floor until Jonathan casually drops, “Well, I have been in a long-distance relationship since September.”

Steve trips up the stairs, dropping the phone for the second time tonight. When he picks it up Jonathan is still there, breathing just as softly. Steve takes the rest of the stairs four at a time. He lunges for his bed and collapses there like a dead weight, still wearing his work clothes. Shit, he’s still wearing his shoes. He hears soft laughter coming down the line and, embarrassed about his heavy breathing, demands hotly, “You and Nancy have phone sex?”

“It would be pretty hard to have any other kind of sex two thousand miles apart.” That dry humor is doing terrible, insane things to his body right now. Steve chews his lip, closes his eyes, and fumbles with the button on his jeans. “So you get pretty good at discussing, and imagining. And waiting.”

“The first two sound alright.”

“Waiting can be fun too,” Jonathan tells him gently; his voice is so soft and low that Steve doesn’t realize he’s being seduced until his pulse has already risen. “But, yeah, talking is Nancy’s big thing. … I’m sure you remember that.”

Steve makes a face, giving up on his zipper. What he remembers about his sex life with Nancy is mostly too sad to dwell on, except during his most pathetic, embarrassing shower sessions and wet dreams. Things were good between them, of course— she’s the most beautiful woman on the planet— but after that pivotal time at the party, in this very bedroom, things were never the same. Sex with Steve had begun to remind Nancy of her dead friend, which would have been a mood-killer for Clark and Lois. Really, he shouldn’t have been surprised when she dumped his ass for Jonathan.

“What about this?” Steve imagines that Jonathan is right next to him on the bed instead of two thousand miles away. He turns his head to face the other pillow, but his eyes stay firmly closed. “Shouldn’t you… talk to Nancy about this?”

Once again, Jonathan effortlessly flips his world upside down with a sentence: “We did.” He sounds almost amused. “That’s why I hung up on you. I freaked out, and called her.”

Steve sits up so fast his head spins. “You called her? You— what did you tell her?”

“I told her you were drunk and trying to hook up with me,” says Jonathan, like it’s not a big deal at all. “And then her mother kicked her off the phone and chewed me out for calling the house so late.”

“But,” splutters Steve, “what did Nancy say?”

“She was really excited,” Jonathan admits. Steve, himself, is really excited— in fact, he thinks he might throw up for reasons entirely unrelated to the consumption of alcohol. “She asked for details, and I said I’d let her know if you called back. Then Mrs. Wheeler got on the line.”

He stares at the empty walls of his room, desperately trying to make sense of what Jonathan is telling him. “She wasn’t mad?”

“She was furious. Kept going on about time zones and all that shit.”

“Jonathan, I mean Nancy.”

“Steve, I know. I’m just teasing. You sound so tense.” Steve wonders how any man could feel relaxed while hearing this information. “Yeah, she was excited, and… a little nervous; she warned me it might have been a prank or something, but then I said ‘what if it’s not’, and she said ‘well, if it’s not, then obviously’… yeah.”

Steve gapes. “Obviously?”

“Yeah,” Jonathan echoes. “And asked for details.”

“Makes sense,” he says, weakly. “She’s a great reporter.”

“So, details.” Jonathan’s voice sinks down again, and Steve mirrors the change in tone, lying back down. He’s still reeling from the news that his plot to make Nancy jealous has been found dead in the water, and instead it seems that Jonathan and Nancy have machinations of their own. “Did you listen to what I said?”

“About Nancy?”

“About leaving the kitchen. Where are you now, Steve?”

“Oh. The— my bed.”

Jonathan exhales, “Good,” and Steve starts to melt. “And what are you doing right now in your bed?”

“Taking my shoes off,” he answers honestly, which startles another laugh out of Jonathan.

“That’s… a good place to start, I guess. How drunk are you, man?”

“I just feel… I don’t know. I feel good.” Keeping up the honesty is probably a good bet. “I like that you told Nancy. I like that she… likes the idea. She’s thinking about it, maybe.”

The line is silent, but live with Jonathan’s breathing. Steve’s chest rises and falls in sync. “Thinking about what, exactly?”

Right. Details. “This isn’t what I’d pictured,” Steve tells him. “I never imagined you out in California. In my head, you’re still the same scrawny, skinny kid forever stuck in Hawkins. Doesn’t make sense, you living so far away. Do you have a tan now?”

“Not really,” he admits, sounding sheepish. “I look pretty much the same. Taller, maybe.”

“I doubt it. Bet you’re still small enough for me to pick you up, toss you around.”

“You could try it,” Jonathan huffs.

“Bet you’re used to taking the lead with Nancy,” Steve continues, closing his eyes again. He kicks off his other shoe. “You ever been with someone bigger than you? I mean, someone who could really put you where they wanted?”

“You’re not so big,” says Jonathan. He sounds uncertain— it sends goosebumps down Steve’s arms. “Where would you want to put me?”

“I’d like to pin you down and watch your face as I get you off.” The reaction is immediate— the bitten-off gasp is a sound Steve will treasure forever. “I would want you in my bed, in my car… I don’t know. Everywhere. I’d want you to ride me.”

“Jesus.”

“I’d ride you too,” Steve hastens to add. “I’m not totally unfair.”

Jonathan makes a noise somewhere between a cough and a whimper.

“I used to think about making you suck me off, back when I was still kind of learning what blowjobs were and so they were pretty much all I could ever think about. You have a really pretty mouth,” he goes on even as Jonathan’s breath hitches, “and I think you would look good on your knees.”

“I do,” Jonathan says. “I mean, I would, I— Nancy tells me all the time.”

“What, you suck her off?” Steve laughs, except the noise kind of dies in his throat because Jonathan doesn’t laugh too. He puts the phone down, suddenly desperate to be free of his clothing. Throwing his work vest and shirt towards the dresser, followed by his jeans and briefs, he lies back down and repeats his question. “You go down on her?”

“Of course,” says Jonathan, kind and sweet and kind of dirty. Steve shuffles around until he’s comfortable under the blankets, and he can hold the phone in one hand and his dick in the other. He would usually grab lotion from his bedside table, maybe stop at a non-family video store on the way home from work to pick up a tape. Right now he doesn’t need any of that; he’s too close just from the sound of Jonathan’s voice. “I could do that for you too. I never thought it was something you’d want.”

“Well, you know what they say, Byers.” Steve palms himself, fucking in and out of his fist slowly. It’s too hot, too sensitive, too intimate. He clenches, his muscles tightening as he thinks about Jonathan doing the same. “If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

Sure enough, there’s a quiet noise other than Jonathan’s voice. The connection isn’t clear enough for him to hear everything, but he can connect the dots. Jonathan says, still sounding strangled, “Did you manage to get your shoes off?”

“Yeah, now I’m working on getting my rocks off.”

A groan, low and a second too long. “Ugh. Nancy could’ve warned me you liked to tell jokes in bed.”

“What, am I not cool enough for you, California? Should I, like, tone it down, brochacho?”

“You’re kidding, but I do actually have a friend out here who sounds exactly like that.” Steve speeds up, his hips thrusting forward in small, jerky movements as Jonathan talks. God, he’s in so much trouble if he’s just getting off to the sound of the guy’s voice. He twists his wrist for a better angle as Jonathan continues, “You’re plenty cool enough for me, Indiana.”

“Hey, you’re Indiana too,” Steve reminds him. “God, I’m so— can you do more of the phone sex stuff?”

“Who says this isn’t the phone sex stuff? Maybe two guys jerking off together, talking about the state they grew up in is high-quality phone sex,” Jonathan teases. Now who’s telling jokes in bed? “You want me to give you the serious script, Harrington?”

“I want you to stop fucking around and put me on loudspeaker,” Steve gasps.

For a beat, Jonathan is silent. Then he does; the audio quality is slightly different, and Steve can more clearly hear skin-on-skin. Jonathan picks up the pace and Steve matches his rhythm, groaning through grinding teeth. When Jonathan speaks, he sounds nervous now. “Better?”

“Almost,” Steve says. “I want you to touch yourself. Keep touching yourself, the way you do when you do this with your girlfriend.” Jonathan’s breath hitches, and the sounds pick up— they are filthy in the best way. Steve is beyond glad they’re both home alone. His legs shake as he keeps going. “Except it’s different, right? When Nancy gets off she seizes up, right, like her whole body goes tight. With us, it’s different, and I want to hear you, wanna hear every part of it. I want you to ruin those fucking sheets.”

“Fuck,” gasps Jonathan. Steve tightens his grip too. “I wish—” and then before he can deliver that wish, he’s grunting, loud and primal and unmistakably masculine, as he comes all over himself. Steve can just picture it, those nimble, pale fingers wrapped around his dick— except he doesn’t exactly know what Jonathan’s dick looks like, so he has to make do with thinking about his own. And right as he’s about to sail over the edge, Jonathan breathes, “I bet Nancy’s getting off right now too.”

Well. It’s embarrassing how instantaneous Steve’s orgasm is after he hears that.

After all the discussing and imagining, as Jonathan had called it, they both come down slowly and in shared, comfortable silence. Steve sinks back down to sober, cold Earth like a fluttering leaf, and even after the reality of what just happened hits him he still doesn’t feel ready to accept it. The hard, unflinching truth is that Steve feels better right now than he ever has after sex, and Jonathan isn’t even here. He thinks he almost feels better right now than he ever has in his entire life. Uh oh.

“So,” Steve finally breaks the quiet post-orgasm haze lingering between them. “Are you coming home for spring break?”

[samantha-rae-velcher]

Fight or flee Pt.3

Eddie Munson x Fem reader

Continuation...

Warnings: swearing, violence, Eddie being Eddie, fluff.

A/n: I've really enjoyed making this series so far! I hope everyone enjoys part 3

Tag: @goldenstarofthunderclan ❤️

___

Y/n woke up with Eddie's arm thrown around her, she could feel the warmth of his skin, making her snuggle closer. She slowly got up out of bed, leaning over and kissing his temple. Y/n went into the bathroom with a change of clothes and turned on the shower. She stepped in, letting the hot water run over her back.

After a while she got out and threw on her clothes, Y/n went out and took a peek into the bedroom. Eddie had rolled over onto his back, the blanket was pulled down to his waist, exposing his bare chest. Y/n walked into the kitchen and watched out the window, just waiting for someone to try some shit. She grabbed the walkie off the counter, and, clicked the button on the side.

"Hey, Dust Bunny. What luck did the morning bring you?"

"Hey, it's Steve."

Y/n smiled, her and Harrington had been close for a long time. There was a time that she was jealous of him and Nancy, but now she was just happy he was still alive after all the shit they've been through.

"I just woke up, Stevie. Gimme some good news."

"We actually have a problem."

Y/n lowered her brows.

"Oh?" She asked. "What's going on?"

"Jason Carver is after Dustin."

"Jason Carver? Who the fuck is Jason Carver!?"

"Chrissy's boyfriend."

"Ohhhh!" Y/n said. "Why is he after Dustin?"

"I don't know, but that's what Sinclair said."

"And since when are we trusting him!? Maybe he's just saying that so we let our guard down on Eddie so we can protect Dustin, all the while they sneak in and attack Him!."

"That's why you're with Eddie." Steve said. "So you can protect him, also....Dustin is scared for him and he wanted you to be there."

"That's why you just left? And who put him in charge!?"

"No one, he just said that you owe him for saving your life."

Y/n went silent, remembering the time they were getting attacked by a monster. It was just about to pop her in its mouth, when Dustin came out of nowhere and gave that son of a bitch a good slicing.

"Shit....." She said.

"It's true!?"

"Ill call you later." Y/n turned the Walkie off and looked over at the bedroom. Eddie wasn't in bed anymore, she suddenly heard the shower turn on. Y/n smiled, she went over to the fridge and grabbed out a soda. Y/n heard the water shut off in the bathroom, and a few minutes later, Eddie came out in black jeans, hellfire shirt, Leather jacket, and a Jean vest. His hair was wet, and he smelt so fresh as he walked by her.

"Why are you up at this time, Princess?" He asked. "It's 9pm."

"I just couldn't sleep."

Y/n smiled, walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist. She kissed his neck and started sucking, making him groan. But the moment was ruined by a car door closing outside, Y/n grabbed her crowbar that was laying on the counter, she ran over to the window and ducked beside it. A car was parked out front and three armed boys were walking up to the house.

"Out the back now!" She frantically whispered.

"There is no back door to go out of!"

"Then go out a fuckin window! These boys are armed! Get over to the shed, I'll be right behind you!"

"Famous last words." His snarky tone made her stand up and rush over to him, she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him into the bedroom. Y/n slowly shut the door behind them and opened the window, she pointed outside and waited for him to go though.

She fallowed and they quickly made their way over to the boat shed, Y/n pressed the button on the walkie as Eddie looked around for a place to hide.

"Steve! Are you there!?"

There was no answer, this was bullshit. They were just talking and now, what? He just decided to bang Nancy?

"Steve! This isn't a good time to not be answering! We're in a pickle here!"

"I've got an idea." Eddie's voice caught her attention.

"What?"

His gaze dropped to the boat, Y/n knew what he had in mind...but it was risky as fuck.

The two were able to get the boat into the water, just in time for Jason to spot them and throw it into dolphin mode. Him and one of his buddy's came plowing through the water after them, while they were rowing like crazy.

Jason's friend was suddenly dragged under water, then pulled into the air by some unknown force and Y/n watched in horror as his arms, legs, and jaw snapped just like how it happened to Chrissy.

Eddie stood up, accidentally tipping the boat sending himself flying into the water. Y/n grabbed his arm, while Jason was still occupied with his friends death. She pulled him back into the boat, Y/n threw him and oar and with all her might, she shoved hers into the water and swept it through, making the boat go forward.

"Kick it into high gear, baby!" She yelled.

Finally the boat hit shore across the lake, and Y/n fallowed by a drenched Eddie covered the boat with the tarp and marched up the bank. When they got deep enough into the woods, Y/n turned to him and grabbed the walkie out of his jacket pocket, and clicked the button.

"Dustin? Are you there?" She asked.

This time there was no static or anything, not even when she tried to change frequency's. The fuckin thing was busted, now they had no way of contacting the rest of the group.

Y/n clenched her jaw and wheeled the walkie down the hill and into the lake.

"FUCK!" She cried out. "WHY THE FUCK CANT THEY LEAVE US ALONE!? THOSE NOSEY SON'S 'A BITCHES, THINKING THEY GOT IT ALL FIGURED OUT! THEY DONT KNOW SHIT FROM SHINOLA!"

Y/n's hands balled into fists, Eddie could see the anger building in her. She was gonna go nuclear, and someone would hear it. Y/n cracked her neck and swung her fist, intentionally punching a tree. She kept at it until her knuckles were bloody, Eddie pulled her away and held her to him. He gently stroked his hands through her hair, as he rubbed her back.

"Calm down, Princess. It's gonna be okay, no one is taking me away from you." He whispered in her ear.

She snuggled her head into his chest and began to sob, the stress that she's gone through to be with him, to protect him, and now Jason's friend is dead and the police are gonna come after them.

Eddie shushed her and kissed her temple, looking around he could still hear Jason yelling by the lake, and sure as shit cop sirens were blaring in the distance.

"We gotta go." He said, taking her hand and running further into the woods.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"I know that there's some construction being done around here, our walkie is out and....gone. What do people communicate with when they're doing construction?"

"Raised voices and absurd hand motions."

"That too, but walkie talkies!"

Y/n smiled and began thundering through the trees, they came across the construction yard about 30mins later, Eddie had her stay in the woods while he grabbed the walkie from the belt some random worker left out in the open, so he could take a dash to the porta-shitter.

"What do we do now?" Y/n asked.

Eddie was breathing hard from running all the way back to her, He squinted and looked around in every direction.

"We go to skull rock....you know where that is?"

"Yeah Steve brought me there once....then he tried to kiss me."

Eddie lowered his brows at the thought of Steve Harrington, the guy who's known for being a total douche in the past, putting his hands on Y/n.

"Don't worry, I smacked him for it."

Eddie chuckled. "That's my girl."

They headed towards Skull rock as Y/n tried to tune the walkie to the right station.

"Hello! Dustin!" She said into the speaker, with no answer.

Some time passed and Y/n was still fumbling with it, she twisted and turned the knob and it was just static.

"For fuck sake!"

Y/n turned it one more time, and it sounded like it got connected.

"Helloooooo?" She sang.

"Who is this?" A man's voice from the other side asked.

Y/n turned the knob again. "That wasn't Dustin."

The two finally came up on Skull rock, they sat down and continued fucking with the radio.

"Hello? DUSTY BITCH YOU THERE!?" She yelled.

"Y/n?" Dustin's voice asked.

"Yes! Oh my god!"

"Hey where are you guys? We're at the house and you aren't here."

Y/n looked over at Eddie. "Yeah...well...uh...we had a run in with Jason 'ol boy and had to get the fuck from there. So now where hiding out at skull rock. Ask Steve, he knows where that is."

Y/n smirked when she heard Harrington sigh.

"Alright." Dustin said. "We're coming, just hold tight."

THE END ❤️

To be continued...

[witchthewriter]

What about a steve Harrington and his girlfriend who are a lot like goose and Carole from top gun! Like, you know that scene where its like

'Hey goose you big stud'

'That's me, honey'

'Take me to bed or lose me forever'

'Show me the way home, honey'

That. They're just sweet and playful and tons of fun I cant stop thinking about it coz steve has 1000 percent seen and loves top gun

Thank you for the request 🌼 Ummm this would absolutely be the epitome of the relationship between Steve and his girlfriend, so you've hit the nail on the head with this.

a/n: I’m so sorry this took so long! I hope you enjoy x

Okay so here's a few headcanons 🌹

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐆𝐮𝐧

ᴹᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡᶤˢᵗ

🌿 (see I’m using a plane as the dot points bcs top gun hehe) 

✈ Okay so I see Steve and you meeting through Dustin. You’re his first cousin (your mother is Dustin’s mum’s sister). Obviously, you’re quite a few years older than your lil cousin, but you grew up together because you lived so close by. 

⭑ You have a younger sister by 4 years and a baby brother. She’s in the same year as Erica and they hang out together. 

✈ One day you were over at your Aunt’s house, helping her clean and keeping an eye on Dustin when he randomly shouted he had to leave. His mother wouldn’t let him go unless you went with him

⭑ So, off you went, trying to keep up with Dustin on your bike; not knowing that your life would soon be thrown in disarray. 

✈ You ended up at Mike Wheeler’s house, where a bunch of Dustin’s friends were freaking out. You were confused, very very confused when a guy around your age (younger or older, you decide) walked through the door. You knew about Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington; his ex-relationship with Nancy and well, about everything else. Dustin thought of him as a god; he had nearly talked your ear off about the amazing Steve, calling him heroic, etc etc. 

⭑ It’s not as if you hated him, you just had ... high expectations 

 “And whose this?” Steve asked, looking at you. 

     “I’m Dustin’s cousin, y/n.” You kept eye contact with him, wondering why he seemed to be staring you down. 

✈ Dustin wanted you guys to get together as soon as he saw you two standing side by side. And it was like a lightbulb turned on. 

⭑ He, along with the gang, decided to get you two together. Making sure you guys were alone a lot. And that you’d have time together to talk. 

✈ You would tease each other a lot, especially before you got together

⭑ There would definitely be some mutual pining because neither of you thought the other even cared about you

✈ Steve would definitely make sure you always got home safe (also Dustin loved that you stayed at his place so he could see Steve more)

⭑ Everyone but the two of you seeing that you guys were in love

✈ It wasn’t until you guys actually watched Top Gun with the gang that they looked at the two of you with wide eyes. 

  “YOU’RE CAROL AND GOOSE!” Dustin shouted, a wide grin on his face. 

“What we are not-” Steve retorted from his seat, which was on the floor, sitting between your legs while you put little plaits in his hair. 

     “You so are,” Max said, with her eyebrows raised. 

You just shrugged, smirking because Dustin was right. 

   “I shouldn’t even be letting you guys watch this anyway-” Steve moved to get up but was met by a chorus of whines. “Okay okay fine. Just don’t tell your mothers.”

⭑ Robin absolutely adores you and thinks you’re such a great match for Steve. She was a little jealous at first because he was around you a lot, but you would always tell him to invite Robin.

“Hey, maybe Robin wants to come?” 

     “Y/N, I’m taking you on a date.” 

“Okay and?” 

✈ Steve would try to get on with your siblings, but your younger sister is in that stage where she judges everyone. And Steve gets self-conscious:

  “Hey kid, how was school?” Steve leaned against the kitchen bench, his arms crossed over his chest. 

     “What’s it to you?” Your little sister retorted. 

“God kids are so mean these days,” Steve muttered to you when you walked into the room. 

⭑ If you wanted to paint Steve’s nails then he’d be totally fine with it 

     “Y/N, I think pink is more my colour. I’m not a red kinda gal.” 

✈ Also you’re family loves him, and Dustin can’t wait for you guys to get married so he can officially call Steve his family. Oh, and he’s happy that you’ve found someone as well. 

⭑ You would be a trusted leader in the gang now

✈ And you would spend a lot more time at Dustin’s place, it’s closer than your house to Steve. Although he wouldn’t mind making a journey just to see you

⭑ Without thinking he calls you ‘good girl,’ and your stomach does flips 

✈ Flirting ALL. THE. TIME. 

     “Hey, don’t let my girlfriend hear you say that,” Steve smirked, moving a stray hair from your face. 

[grey-sides]

For @chrisbitchtree who may need a touch of fluff after your dentist appointment today!!

What started out as begrudging friendship from being in the same place at the same time has since evolved into actual, real friendship. Billy likes Steve and it's for more than just his good looks. He's funny without realizing it and smarter than he gives himself credit for.

And he cares. A lot more than Billy's used to.

Steve just tends to be very focused on the people he cares about. He likes to check up on people. He likes to stop by for random visits and takes people on car rides just because he can.

It's still a lot for Billy in many ways. He's not used to unexpected visitors or someone asking him to go out on a Thursday evening drive, just to see the town.

And he's definitely not used to being invited over where there won't be a ton of people. Sure, Billy's been invited to plenty of parties, but small gatherings of just a few friends? That's new.

It's...nice. Robin is really smart and she talks enough to fill a whole room, which is helpful when Billy just wants to take it all in. Nancy's less of a priss than Billy thought, though she could still stand to be less serious. Eddie's a fan of metal and he's shameless about his love for life, something Billy's almost jealous of. Jonathan has finally gained a personality since moving across the country and Billy can halfway stand him. Argyle's his favorite new person though, he reminds Billy of California and warm beaches.

And Steve is- he's Steve. He's thoughtful, he's rude, he's nasty when he wants to be. He's breathtaking and the stories about him from Tommy a million years ago feel more real than ever before.

He's warm when Billy leans into his space. He draws everyone's attention. He's charismatic. He's dramatic. He's a goof and a dork and he's Billy's best friend and Billy loves him dearly.

When their little shindig wraps up, after Jonathan has left with Nancy and Argyle, and Robin's mom has come from her. Eddie's long gone too, off to meet Chrissy or something and it's just the two of them, Steve walks Billy out to his car.

A new Stingray. Well, new to Billy and a pretty cherry red with white racing stripes. It's his new pride and joy. It terrifies him to sit behind the wheel.

"I parked like twenty feet from your front door," Billy teases Steve, turning to him and leaning up against his driver's door.

Steve shrugs, shoves his hands in his pockets. His profile shines in the lights off the garage. "Just wanna make sure you get to your car safe."

Billy's teeth catch on his lower lip for just a moment. He smirks, looks away from Steve. He chuckles a little and nods. "You're alright, Harrington."

Steve smiles back at him, takes a small step back. "Drive home safe, okay?"

Billy nods again, watches Steve for just a moment. He takes a step forward, darts a glance around Steve's quiet neighborhood and leans in.

He kisses Steve softly. Softer than either of them have probably ever been kissed. One of Steve's hands lands on his side and Billy can't believe how warm it is through the fabric of his denim jacket.

Steve chases him for a second kiss when he pulls back. He sighs softly, licks against Steve's lower lip and his eyelashes flutter.

"Goodnight, Steve."

Steve pulls back, watches Billy with a small smile. "Yeah, goodnight, Billy."

He waits in his driveway while Billy pulls out and waves goodbye to him. Billy doesn't think he would mind Steve walking him to his car every night, really.

[she-is-tim]

August 1987.

Eddie took a deep breath after finally being able to loosen the damn tie Harrington and all the kids insisted him on wearing. It’s not like this was some huge event with fancy people, just all their trauma bonded family and a couple friends. They even invited Wayne, who was now in deep conversation with the groom at the snack tables with a glass of champagne in his hand. He looked so out of place with his secondhand tuxedo and shy expression, but at the same time so fitting as well. Eddie felt a soft smile creep its way on his face.

He tapped his pockets and pulled out a box of cigarettes from inside his suit, hitting it a few times until one came out that he took between his lips. The wedding party was held in a barn somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Eddie thinks it belonged to Murray or his family, he isn’t sure. The kids did a great job decorating it with the lead of Nancy and Robin. He was sure no one will scold him for smoking, so he grabbed his lighter, taking a long drag when his cigarette was lit. His lungs welcoming nicotine like an old friend, making him feel instantly relaxed.

The girls had pulled his hair in such a tight bun it felt like his skin was all stretched out thanks to it. “You can’t go to a wedding with a birds nest of a hair on your head” Max said to him this morning before she and the others ganged up on him. It was pure torture, but at least Buckley agreed to help him put on eyeliner and Wheeler painted his nails black for him. He actually thought even with the scars peeking from under his collar he looked quite exquisite. Steve complimented him too when he came in with the tie, adorable blush spread on those pretty cheeks of his. Eddie felt just a little bit embarrassed as the other stepped up to him, the girls long gone, leaving them alone in the room.

Harrington wrapped the tie around his neck, eyes focusing on tying it properly since Eddie told him he had no idea how to do it. They were silent through it all, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Once Steve was done he let his hands rest on his chest, looking up at Eddie with those pretty eyes of his. Eddie wanted to kiss him so badly, but of course they were disturbed by Dustin bursting into the room. He loved the kid, he really did, but sometimes he could really smack him on the back of the head.

As he kept smoking his eyes found Steve in the crowd, hips slowly swaying to the light jazz playing from speakers installed on the side of the wall. He was talking to Jonathan Byers, clearly enjoying himself. Eddie knew he had no reason to feel jealous, but he couldn’t help himself. Harrington looked incredibly good tonight and he wished to have all his attention to himself. Still just watching him was enough for now.

He was close to finishing his cigarette when someone appeared next to him, laying against the wall. Eddie was ready to give an excuse for smoking inside when he turned and saw the bride herself smiling at him with her gentle, motherly expression. Damn Eddie loved this woman so much.

“Shouldn’t you be dancing with the guests?” Eddie asked in a teasing tone. Him and Joyce had become quite close after the events of last spring when she decided to welcome him in their found family, developing some sort of mother-son relationship while also being able to act like old friends.

“I danced so much I think my legs are about to fall off.” the woman scoffed at him, waving around the white heels in her left hand she was still wearing not long ago. “These things are awful.”

Eddie chuckled. “Well, I never wore one myself, but they do look terribly uncomfortable.” He said, crushing the cigarette on the side of a beer can he had next to him on a table and threw the butt inside of it. “How are you doing?” He asked, while he pulled out his box again, offering a cigarette to the bride, who thankfully accepted it. Eddie lit both of their cigarettes while waiting for her answer.

“Never been happier.” She said with an honest smile. “What about you, sweetheart?” She asked, tilting her head towards Eddie while exhaling a cloud of smoke.

“What about me?” Eddie deadpanned, playing dumb. Joyce rolled her eyes.

“You really gonna let this opportunity slide? You two are perfect for each other.” She said, pointing her right hand towards the way where Steve still stood in deep conversation with her eldest son.

“We talked about this, Joyce.” He sighed, taking another drag from his cigarette. “I can’t give him what he wants. We couldn’t even be able to have a public relationship.” He groaned and let his head hit the wall behind him with a small thud.

“Honey… Steve looks at you like you hung up the moon and the stars. All he wants is to be with you, I’m sure that’s something you can give him easily.” She said with a soft smile and Eddie felt tears trying to spill over his lashes. He took a deep breath and tried to blink them away.

“I really like him Joyce…” he mumbled, voice barely audible over the music, but seemingly she heard him just fine. “I am just so scared because I never felt like this for anyone.”

“Oh, darling…” she put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it softly. “I know it’s scary, believe me.” She was talking to him, but her eyes were now fixed on her husband and Eddie’s uncle at the other side of the barn. “Loving someone is a scary thing, but it’s also a beautiful and wonderful feeling. Don’t take this away from yourself.” She turned back to him with the sweetest, most motherly smile Eddie had ever seen. He gulped, throwing his half smoked cigarette in the beer can and wrapped his arms around the woman next to him. Joyce let out a soft laugh and hugged him back, rubbing her hands up and down the boy’s back.

“Thank you.” He whispered in her ear before letting her go. He took a deep breath and braced himself as he turned to where Steve was standing, surprised to realize the boy was already gazing at him. His eyes were sparkling, lips turned up in a soft smile when he noticed Eddie looking at him.

Eddie smiled back and started walking towards him, determined to confess his feelings for the other boy, because at the end of the day, he couldn’t imagine his future without him. He fucking loved Steve Harrington.

[twigficlibrary]

Picture this

drunk at a party, cooking up some plans for the evening (fluff)

gn!reader x steve harrington

(reader is implied to be shorter than steve)

775 words

reblogs appreciated 💕

baby blurb, i haven’t written anything for years but this dialogue invaded my brain and wouldn’t leave so here we are.

“psst. hey.” the ‘hushed whisper’ is actually closer to your usual speaking volume, probably a bit too loud despite the raging music and close proximity to steve’s ear.

he smiles anyway, all soft and sweet, and hinges down ever so slightly to look you in the eyes.

“hey yourself.”

the party is in full swing even several hours after you arrived. you’ve drank, danced with steve, drank again, and somehow got caught in a not-totally-awkward conversation with jonathan and nancy for awhile. the punch (?) with mysterious and dubious ingredients has sent you from a pleasant buzz to full blown drunk territory over the course of the evening. steve and his inability to not take care of the people around him has watched your cup carefully. despite the fog in your brain and the pleasant weightlessness of your limbs, you know you’ll be grateful tomorrow for the amount of water he’s gently pushed into your hand.

“on a scale of like, one to ten. hoooowww much fun are you having right now?” the vowels are dragging and the edges of your words are slurred but he’s looking at you so fondly you can’t find it in yourself to be embarrassed.

his smile widens to a lazy grin, relaxed and easy from his own indulgence (much less than your own so he can safely cart you both back home).

“it’s always a ten when i’m with you baby.” and he means it, the smooth bastard.

your face heats up (tomorrow you will try to blame it on the alcohol and neither of you will believe it) and you raise your hands up to cover the warm skin on your cheeks.

“aww, feeling shy tonight, pretty?” his arms come to rest on your hips, the heat pushing through the layer of your shirt. you’ve always secretly thought they fit so perfectly there, like they were made for you.

he pulls you flush against him, your nose nudging against the hollow of his throat and forehead pressed against the long curve of his neck. the blaring music fades away, in the little space you’ve carved out against your boyfriend. it’s safe here, with him. and warm.

“you ready to go home baby?” the vibrations of his throat against your face makes you scrunch up, just a little bit pleased that you’re allowed close enough to feel this. the sluggish drag of his hand against your back makes it much harder to focus on the point.

“not if you’re still having fun.” you murmur.

“told you already, i’m having fun with you. we can have fun at home,” he pulls you away just enough to look you in the eye when he says it.

“i just have this vision babe.”

“oh yeah? lay it on me,” he chuckles.

“okay picture this,” you bring your hands up into a terribly uncoordinated attempt at a frame around your eyes. steve can’t help but grasp your wrists, warm fingers circling your limbs before sliding down to intertwine your fingers.

“i’m picturing.”

“i'm thinking you. me. your couch. i’m laying on top of you, we’re watching the goonies.” his eyes are so pretty. unfairly pretty and you’re losing yourself in the brown depths, the crinkle of skin at the corners, the ridiculously nice lashes you are secretly completely jealous of.

he nods slowly, like he’s taking it all in. “alright, i’m liking the sound of this. this plan of yours involve popcorn?”

you pretend to consider. “popcorn could be involved.”

“honestly babe you had me at ‘you and me’” he darts forward, placing a playful kiss to the tip of your nose. the simple press of his lips sends a new wave of warmth through your whole body. you’re a little convinced he could melt you into a puddle and you wouldn’t mind a second of it.

“steve harrington you are too smooth for your own good,”

“only for you sweetheart.” and the short distance is too much, so you nuzzle back into the safety of his embrace. “anything else in this master plan of yours”

“mmmm” you think. “yes. you play with my hair and give me forehead kisses.”

“forehead kisses?” he whistles in amazement. “well shit baby, you should have started with that. we better get the hell back home.”

your smile makes your cheeks ache, a pale imitation of the feeling swirling in your chest. “i think we better.”

and even though you’re really looking forward to falling asleep in his arms, drunk from the lazy touches that feel easy as breathing? you stay tangled together in this random party, holding each other for just a few minutes longer.