#in the same respect that steve and robin are sisters

[steddilly]

Just saw a TikTok edit for Eddie/Nancy and it’s the first time I’ve ever gagged at the thought of two characters together. Full offence if you ship Eddie and Nancy, I will shame you for your poor taste.

[lexirosewrites]

I've been in a funk ADHD wise so I haven't had the same inspiration I usually do🥺 let's give this a try

Steve & Robin r platonic soulmates & they're both omegas & they're gross twins with little to zero boundaries

They share the same piece of gum till it runs out of flavor, they've helped eachother build up a storage of tasteful nudes on their respective phones, when Robin had constipation Steve not only got the laxatives he held her hand in the bathroom, when Steve got food poisoning Robin not only helped him out of bed she helped him aim for the toilet or trash can, their heats r synced up in a way tht allows them to take care of eachother in turns, yes Steve taught Robin how to kiss, yes Robin taught Steve to use a knotting dildo

When Steve eventually gets kicked out of his house bc his parents want to sell it he just goes to the Buckley's with a couple of suitcases & one box bc so much of his stuff was already at their place anyway, robins parents barely blink when stobin tells them tht Steve is moving in, they all cry when Steve says he'll b changing his last name to Buckley tho

Robin graduates high school & then they're setting off for the big city so she can study linguistics & Steve can study cosmetology

When they get their degrees they decide "why the hell not?" & go to live in California bc neither of them have seen the Pacific ocean before. They end up in LA even tho the plan was San Francisco, and they both find semi fulfilling jobs. Robin works as an interpreter with various state government offices, helping individuals whose first language isn't English, taking some of the pressure off of the children in the situation

Steve finds work at a small hole in the wall salon that's been in business longer than the many fancy salons all around LA. He's doted on by the regulars, surrounding shop owners, and his coworkers. There's a small hole in the wall barber shop a few shop fronts down the street tht the salon has a friendly relationship with. On the corner is a teeny tiny burger spot that's been around since the 1920s with no changes to the menu except for price & it has the best burgers Steve & Robin have EVER had.

It's a good life, the only thing they want tht they cant give eachother is a romantic connection, but they've tried every app & no one seems to actually want a relationship or they get weird abt how close they are

Well one day a chipper female alpha wanders into the salon looking for a last minute shampoo & trim to keep her strawberry blonde waves healthy. The only person available is Steve & he does so well tht the alpha introduces herself as Chrissy & books an appointment with him for a couple of months later when she knows she'll need another trim.

Except Steve & Robin don't rlly engage with social media, they rarely watch recent shows or movies, and their taste skews between horror or romance there's no in-between. So neither is aware tht the nice female alpha Chrissy is THE Chrissy Munson, an up & coming movie star, adopted sister to Eddie Munson the lead guitar of world famous metal/rock band Corroded Coffin, and someone very fussy abt her hair.

Chrissy comes back for her next appointment & at the end she point blank asks him if he'd like to be the only person doing her hair for the next 8 months, he asks her why & she realizes he genuinely has no idea who she is, so she explains & tht she has a production filming soon & she wants him to handle hair at the end of the day to wash out all of the gunk that gets into it for filming

Steve says yes only after the salon owner & regulars tell him to say yes & tht there will b a job waiting for him when he's done

Blah blah blah

Steddie meet & fall in love then buckingham meet & fall in love

scarily close stobin is my favorite flavor! and of course all steddie needs a side helping of buckingham🥰💕💕

[primroseparker]

I'm afraid of losing you okay? With Steve harrington please

I’m Afraid of Losing You || Steve Harrington x reader

Summary: After the events at Lover’s Lake, your best friend reveals something you never thought you would hear.

Word Count: 1.0k

Warnings: angst, best friends to lovers, mentions of the upside down and risky behavior, no pronouns are used so this could be gn!reader I believe (please correct me if I’m wrong!)

A/N: I thought it would be better if I wrote this as a blurb, so here’s 1.0k words on Steve being protective but bad at communicating his feelings. Also, I’m a sucker for the best friends to lovers trope so I added it to this blurb :D

The drive back from Lover’s Lake was silent. No one dared to speak after the traumatizing events that had just occurred. Eddie had volunteered to give the kids a ride to their respective homes, so now it was just you, Steve, Nancy and Robin. The faint music coming from the radio was the only sound in the car. You try to focus all of your attention on that one song, hoping to distract yourself from the gnawing pain in your stomach.

David Bickler’s voice catches your attention. Of course, it’s fitting that “Eye of the Tiger” would play at a moment like this. It seems like Steve has the same thought, because he scoffs at the all too familiar lyrics. You give him a sideways glance, hoping to soothe his anger.

He has one hand gripping the steering wheel, knuckles white from the force. When he notices your glance, he just shakes his head in anger and scoffs once more. You could feel the tension, and apparently Nancy and Robin could feel it too.

“I don’t want to be at home alone. My parents and sister are out of town for some event and won’t be back until tomorrow. Nancy already told me I could stay with her,” Robin explains.

“I don’t want to be at home alone. My parents and sister are out of town for some event and won’t be back until tomorrow. Nancy already told me I could stay with her,” Robin explains.

“I don’t want to be at home alone. My parents and sister are out of town for some event and won’t be back until tomorrow. Nancy already told me I could stay with her,” Robin explains.

“Fine, have it your way,” Steve snaps.

“Alright,” Robin mutters.

Not long after, Steve’s BMW pulls into Nancy’s driveway. The two girls don’t waste any time, opening the door as soon as the car comes to a stop.

“I’ll call you guys tomorrow,” Nancy rushes out. The girls slam the car door in a haste and head toward the house. Steve sighs and turns to look at them.

“Hey,” he calls out. Nancy and Robin stop on their tracks and turn their heads to face the burgundy car.

“Be safe, alright? Don’t go anywhere else tonight,” he says, a much more soft tone filling his voice.

“Sure,” they both agree, giving him a tight smile.

He waits until both of them have gone inside the house and the door closed behind them to put the car back in drive. The drive back to your house was just as bad as the drive to Nancy’s house. The silence was killing you.

“Can you just please talk to me?” your voice breaking the quiet atmosphere of the car.

“What do you want me to say, y/n?” Steve says, voice cold in anger.

“Look, I’m not sorry for what I did, okay? You would’ve been dead had I not jumped in that lake and gone through the gate.”

“Is that what it is? You wanted to be heroic, have all the glory?” he growled, his grip on the steering wheel getting tighter.

“Of course not! Why would you even say that?” you respond. Did he seriously think that you were that selfish?

He takes his eyes off the road to look at you, eyes fierce with anger. “You could’ve died!” he yells.

“You could’ve died too! How is that any different from what you did, huh? The only difference is that you don’t see me yelling at you for going through that stupid gate in the first place,” you fire back.

He returns his gaze to the road. “You aren’t supposed to do shit like that, got it? That’s on me and no one else,” he says, with an air of finality.

Your eyebrows pull together, eyes wide with exasperation. “Why do you care so much?” you demand, voice rising to a yell.

“Because I’m in love with you, you idiot!” he shouts.

“What?” you ask in surprise, voice losing all of its fierceness.

In lieu of an answer, he pulls the car over and turns it off. He sighs and faces you. There is no trace of that anger that was there a few seconds ago anywhere on his face.

“I’m in love with you, alright? Why do you think I’m so mad at you for putting your life at risk for me? The thought of never seeing you again is…” his voice barely above a whisper, “I’m afraid of losing you, okay?”

Your face is blank with shock. He takes your silence as a rejection, his cheeks flooding with a faint shade of pink.

Sure, you’ve been in love with your best friend for years now. It’s why you had decided to even jump in that lake in the first place. The thought of losing the person that you loved the most was unimaginable. Yet, you never thought you would hear those words come out of your best friend’s mouth. You expected anything but that.

You come out of your reverie and place your hand atop of his. You give his fingers a gentle squeeze, hoping to catch his gaze. His eyes meet yours and you smile at their gentleness.

“I’m in love with you too. That’s why I went after you, Steve. I don’t want to lose you either,” you whisper.

That seems to ease his worry, a tender smile forming on his face. He turns his palm to lace your fingers with his and gives them a gentle squeeze.

“How about we both agree to not do anything that stupid ever again?” he murmurs.

“Deal,” you respond.

An intimate look is shared between the two of you. After everything that you both had gone through in the last twenty four hours, a bit of peace was something that was much needed. If someone had asked you a week ago what you would expect to happen today, you never would’ve guessed that you would be confessing your feelings to your best friend. Then again, you never thought you would go to an alternate dimension with murderous creatures and electrical storm.

“Can I stay at your house? I don’t want to be alone tonight,” you continue after a brief pause. 

“Of course,” Steve answers. He brings your hand up to his lips and gives it a tender kiss. He lets it go, but leaves it on his lap. He turns on the car and makes a U-turn to head to his house. 

Although the future was uncertain, one thing that remained true was that you were unequivocally in love with your best friend and he felt the same way. No matter what happened now, you both had each other in a way that you didn’t before.

[ellewritesandrants]

What about a modern AU with roommates Steve, Eddie and Robin who have Billy move into the apartment next door with Max?

What if Steve and Eddie had been dating and Robin had confessed and subsequently been rejected by Vickie so they decided to fuck Hawkins and go to California after the Byers? Maybe, Eddie and his band had managed to get more success in California, having regular night gigs and doing well enough that Eddie could stop dealing on the side while Steve and Robin did what they did best and worked in retail together.

Maybe, a few months after the honeymoon stage has passed and they both started to get busy and to see other options available there, Steve and Eddie realized they weren’t working out so well and they decided to break up amicably, still remaining good friends and even wingmanning for the other when needed. It just didn’t work between them since they both had a tendency to dominate and even if they were willing to take turns, here in California there were a lot more people out and about that they could be with that could satisfy their needs too.

After a year or two of peaceful cohabilitation between the trio, they get a new neighbor and lo and behold, it’s a boy their age and his little sister. Imagine Steve and Eddie’s surprise when they see a blue Camaro park outside their building with a blond Adonis behind the wheel who ends up moving into the apartment next door. Imagine Robin’s surprise when she and the boys see a fiesty redhead trailing after the blond who introduces himself as Billy and his little sister, Max as the their new next-door neighbors.

Imagine Eddie instantly spotting the black handkerchief tucked into the boy’s back pocket, immediately telling Eddie that he had a chance and that they might actually work well together in bed if his handkerchief was any indication. Imagine Steve drooling over Billy doing laps in neaby community pool where he also swam, practically almost falling all over himself to introduce himself to the blond who flirts back and invites Steve to shoot some hoops sometimes.

Imagine both Eddie and Steve deciding they want to pursue Billy only to realize that the other is also planning to do the same. Imagine the absolute confusion they would have because it’s the first time their tastes have overlapped since they dated and neither of them are willing to back down so they just decide to let the best man win.

While Eddie and Steve were having a weeks-long mini war trying to figure things out, Robin had already befriended the siblings, happily inviting Max to her yoga classes and being surprised when both brother and sister joined her. Apparently, it had been one of their first bonding activities after Billy had gotten custody since a friend of theirs ran a studio and gave them free passes.

Robin was quickly made aware during lunch that Max was a budding baby lesbian like her while Billy was an out and proud gay man since they hadn’t wanted to deal with any more bigots after having escaped their own version of the house of horrors. Robin easily cut the tension by telling the siblings that she was a lesbian herself and her two roommates were pan and bi respectively. Billy had gotten curious over how they had gotten into that living situation so Robin detailed how they had left Hawkins after a few rejections and near disownments to have a fresh start.

Billy then shared how he and Max had ended up there after his dad had been jailed and Max’s mom succumbed to her alcoholism. It’s been Billy and Max against the world for more than three years and they’d learned how to care and love each other as siblings throughout that period. Billy had managed to finish his double major in Psychology and Social Services in UC Berkeley with a full ride thanks to his valedictorian status and a sports scholarship he got playing basketball. Max had finished up her high school and was now studying in the university nearby so Billy had decided it was time for them to move.

Billy had applied to be a social worker for the local office while he was working on his master’s in psychology so he could eventually be a psychologist to help abused children like he was which of course, made Eddie and Steve want to be with him more. For all of the fighting between Eddie and Steve behind the scenes, it was actually Robin who introduced those two dinguses to the supposed love of their lives.

Billy was charmed by both Eddie and Steve but he didn’t want to ruin their friendship so he initially stayed away until the two boys decided to corner Billy and tell him about their agreement in dating him. Billy found it so ridiculous that these two boys really made rules to protect their friendship while they pursued the same guy that he couldn’t help but give them a chance.

Billy starts going out on dates with them individually with him not realizing the boys were constantly trying to one-up each other on dates just so they could steal him away. A few months in, he ends up confiding to Robin about how great dating both Steve and Eddie is and how he finds it so hard to choose between them. Robin accidentally reveals they used to be together but that they eventually split because they weren’t all that sexually compatible but everything else worked out well between them.

It gives Billy the great idea to try and rekindle their romance so he doesn’t have to pick between them so he orchestrates more and more group dates between them. Movie nights become the three of them cuddled together on the couch with Billy in the middle. Eventually, they move movie nights into Steve’s room which used to be Steve and Eddie’s room and suprisingly, the three of them fit comfortably well in the California King with Billy in the middle.

The first time he kisses either of themon their first monthsary , the two boys play rock, paper, scissors to decide who goes first. The first time he makes out with either of them two weeks later, Billy ends up trapped between the two in Steve’s bed, trading partners every so often. Billy ends up telling them two boys 6 months later that he really wants his first time with them to be together and neither Steve nor Eddie can say no to him when he shows off the flexibility that yoga gave him.

It soon becomes a common enough thing for all three of them to fuck and then smoke weed in bed together and they shotgun kisses to get high because Billy becomes remarkably clingy when high and Steve does too a little bit. It’s after one of those fucks that Steve kisses Eddie for the first time in literal years and they end up making out in front of Billy. Eddie eventually realizes that they don’t know how Billy would react to them kissing since it wasn’t part of the deal but when they turn to look at him, their pretty little blond baby is wide-eyed and turned on and he’s not even trying to hide it.

After their first night as a throuple, the next morning brings actual conversations about relationship boundaries and they explain all sides of the story, including Billy’s machinations to get them back together again. Of course, the two boys have to punish their baby boy for tricking them but Billy enjoys their punishment. The three of them become an official throuple that morning and on their unofficial anniversary, they move into the boy’s apartment while Robin moves in with Max who had her girlfriend, El move in too.

Billy likes to say he’s the one who really won because he has two amazing boyfriends who love to spoil him and take care of him but Steve and Eddie know that it’s really them who won because Billy was the missing piece they needed in their puzzle and they’d be damned if they ever gave him a reason to want to go.

[willow-lark]

i bet you can’t guess who i am. anyhow, any stonathan x byler headcanon? (as in how the both couple interact and stuff)

heyhey!! >:) ohhhhh. oh this is a good one. literally for yeeears before i finally got a tumblr i was always like. i'm gonna share ALLL my headcanons. and now that i have one i literally have not done it enough. so, without further ado:

byler headcanons:

mike is really clingy to will before they get together, but once they do the switch flips and it's will who is literally always hanging off him

mike drives, will controls the aux

will draws/paints mike whenever he needs to get out of artblock

mike writes will these super long love letters

will is the flirt, mike is the one who gets flustered

mike confesses/kisses will first

as adults they create graphic novels together

will never stops with the "you made out with my sister" jokes. ever. even when they're married

when they first come out to the byers fam as dating, hop sits mike down, who thinks he's gonna get the shovel talk AGAIN but actually hop is like. call me first if you ever have problems at home

mike actually gets really into planning their wedding. he and karen have it totally handled

stonathan headcanons:

jonathan cooks, steve cleans the kitchen

they r both soooo aggressive parental figures to the party

steve was incredibly dramatic about realizing that he was into guys, it was a whole thing he wouldn't shut up about to robin, whereas jonathan figured it out and was like. yeah that checks out. and moved on with his life

they bond over steve making jonathan watch all of his favorite (bad, but funny) movies, and jonathan making steve listen to all his (pretentious, but good) music

steve calls jonathan "dude" romantically until finally jonathan's like. cut that out. and then he switches to the sappiest pet names imaginable

there's one time that steve n mike r both sneaking out of their respective byers brothers' rooms at the same time and it results in an extremely awkward car ride of steve dropping mike off at the wheeler house

steve is jonathan's muse. he's literally soooo photogenic, okay?

nancy and robin were the ones to set them up, with help from argyle

they would both just. be really good parents if they had any kids. i love them

ask me things on anon!!

[hopelesswrites]

Eddie x Harrington!Reader Part 2

very wattpad of me, but its not proofed sorry

Part 1

-

Family video that day became a safe haven for you. Curled up behind the counter between the two pairs of legs belonging to your brother and his best friend/shared braincell.

You had explained the situation, minus some details, not wanting to admit to your crush on Eddie Munson to Steve The King Harrington himself. He was one of those kids once, tormenting Eddie, he could easily find fuel enough to do it to you too.

You knew Steve had mutual friends with Eddie and a small association with him that created a layer of respect between the two, but that still didn’t change the way you know your brother disapproved of the boy.

“I just don’t understand why you would waste time defending Munson to begin with” Steve shrugged before aiming and tossing another screwed up ball of paper into the stationed bin behind the counter.

“Eddies always creating a scene, let him embarrass himself.” Robin chimed in. Although the girl was in the same year as you, you rarely saw her at school. She was often in the performing arts block away from the crowds, so generally missed out on Eddies own theatrics in the cafeteria.

“This time Jason was cruel; I was fed up” You answered.

“Eddies a big boy, he can look out for himself”.

You knew this, of course you knew this, Eddie was 2 years your senior, he was a grown man technically. That still didn’t change the way you felt, no one else understood the energy Eddie gave off to you, he was vulnerable, and you had grown a want to protect him.

“You sure there’s nothing else going on?” Robin asked, a hint of accusation behind her tone.

You only glared back, refusing to air out your secrets to the pair.

You tensed at the sound of the bell chiming above the door signally someone had entered, followed by Steves defeated voice. “No, out!”

The person made a noise to speak but Steve cut them off, “You still haven’t returned Gremlins from a month ago, you’re not getting anything”

“I’m not here for a movie jackass” Dustin Hendersons distinct voice responded. “I’m here for your sister”.

At that, Steve looked down at you. “Munson looking for her?”

“All over town”.

“If he’s going to laugh in my face for defending him, I don’t want to see him” You yelled out from behind the counter.

There was a beat of silence, “He’s shy”.

Steve scoffed, “Munson? Shy? That’s a joke”.

Dustin made another noise of annoyance, “He’s different around her dude, gets all red in the face and shuts down, its pathetic to watch, and completely ruined hellfire today, so they need to talk it out, kiss it out, whatever it takes to get Eddie back to normal”.

Heat had risen up to you face now as the air around you thickened, Steve wasn’t the type of brother to talk about this stuff with, he always got awkward and said the wrong things, even with his heart in the right place.

You dug your knuckles into the flesh of your eyelids, hoping the pressure would cause you to pass out, all it did was make you dizzy.

“Meet Eddie outside the auto repair shop please, he’s working with his uncle tonight” Dustin’s voice seemed louder, you realised he was peering over the counter at you.

You wouldn’t have been able to guess a month ago that this whole ‘rebelling’ move you made would lead you standing outside the towns mechanic anxiously deciding whether to go in or just turn around and forget the whole ordeal altogether, phone up Chrissy and tell her you had been feeling unwell recently and majorly wronged your judgement on the boy.

The decision was made for you when a tall older man walked out, a cigarette between his lips and a lighter at the ready before noticing your presence.

“Got a breakdown?” He gruffly spoke, lighting the cigarette and taking a drag, waiting for your answer.

“Is Eddie here?” You asked quietly, not trusting your own voice.

“He’s busy at the moment” the man dismissed you.

“Its about school, it won’t take a minute”.

The older man you can only guess is Eddies uncle nods his head and gestures inside the building. There you found that familiar head of hair leaning over an open hood, locks of hair swishing around as Eddie nodded along to a song on the radio. Before you could say anything Eddie was swinging around, wrench in hand only just missing your face.

“Woah, fuck I’m so sorry I didn’t see you there” Eddie stepped back, hitting the car with his hip.

“No sorry I was In the way” You replied flustered.

“No, never, you’re okay” Eddies tone softened, registering who had creeped up behind him.

“Dustin sent me, I just want to apologise for causing a scene today, the last thing you need is more attention, I should just mind my own business-“

“Hey” Eddies gentle voice snapped you out of you rambling, “No need to apologise, I should be thanking you, that was very brave of you to stand up to Jason like that, and that right swing was impressive” Eddies big brown eyes beamed down on you, his eye contact a stark difference from the shy glances he’s offered you these past weeks.

“I should also apologise for not defending you, I was just in shock is all”

You looked at Eddie confused, “in shock about what?”

“That you cared enough to stand up for me” Eddie shuffled on his feet, eye contact quickly over a he fiddled with the tool in his hand. “Guess I didn’t think a guy like me was worthy of your time”

Realisation struck. Of course he felt like that, you were a Harrington! It was in the name. This made you sad, and even more determined to continue hat you originally started, breaking free from the damn stereotype that came with your name.

“I thought you’d have gotten the hint by now” You answered sheepishly

Eddie perked up.

“Ive been trying to get your attention for weeks, asking for a pen? Eddie, I’m a straight A student, I would never go to class without a pen”

Eddie chuckled, “You could have forgotten”

There was a cough at the door, you both turning around to look at Eddies uncle. “I think the rest of the conversation can wait for tomorrow” He said sternly.

You nodded at the man, “Of course, ill head off”

You went to leave but were caught by Eddies grip on your elbow, “Do you wanna go out on Friday maybe?” It was rushed and awkward, Eddies uncle still watching over you and that same blush creeped back onto Eddies face.

“Like a date?”

Eddie nodded shyly, hair falling in his face conveniently to shield him.

“See you on Friday Munson.”

[rogueddie]

"Mate just attacked me for enjoying trans content because other people are being gross about it?? And implied that I'm homophobic bc I hc Eddie as gay?? What the f-"

i'm sorry if you felt like i attacked you and truthfully i don't remember a lot of the exact phrasing of my ask because i was really worked up. i sent the message to you specifically because i felt you had a larger audience if you did decide to address it other than the ask. i said it's sort of weird to hc eddie gay, then steve is a trans girl, so he's suddenly not gay or if someone actually says "she's his exception" or "i like men AND you" because it implies that he doesn't see her as a woman. not that YOU are homophobic, that it's homophobic to make a character gay just for the trope of he realises he's NOT gay, but that entire business is just straight up transmisogyny and that is 100% fact :/ one of your posts DID fit this formula and it was seeing it that upset me right after seeing the robin/steve thing, so i was upset and sent it to you. and i meant my concerns as a trans women are always dismissed by society and that means in fandoms... english is not my first language so maybe some of my phrasing was clunky but i knew this would happen so whatever. trans women will never be respected even to other people because we are not your sisters we are just tools for your arguments and bad headcanons.

I didn't feel attacked. You were attacking me. As you admitted right here, you were upset with me when you wrote that ask. Just because you didn't feel like you were attacking me, that doesn't change the fact that you were.

You did imply that it's homophobic to hc Eddie as gay. That's what you wrote. You finished making your point about how you see it as gross to use a trans woman as a gay mans exception, then added on at the end that you think "it's a little homophobic to hc Eddie as gay when his sexuality isn't confirmed in canon". It was a point you made separate to anything trans-related.

You tried to say in your original ask that shipping trans woman Steve and Robin is another way of saying that the only reason that canon Steve wouldn't date Robin is because she's "a lame lesbian". But that is something based on canon; in season 4 Steve said that he would date Robin, but she isn't interested in him.

That's not him dismissing her sexuality, it's him acknowledging that he does still find her attractive (it was weird and I, like you, prefer to pretend it never happened. But it did). If Steve was a woman, I do think it's likely that they could potentially date. That's not lesbianphobic, that's based on canon.

This is something I'm not willing to argue on because I've seen too many people arguing that Robin wouldn't be interested in trans woman Steve "because she's a lesbian". As if being a trans woman makes Steve less of a woman. Shipping Stobin if they were both woman isn't the problem here, the transphobia is.

The only person dismissing trans people here is you. The only person using trans women as a tool for an argument is you.

You fail to recognize that, as a trans man, I have faced just as much rejection, dismissal and fetishization. I have faced just as much transphobia, just as much misogyny.

You did make good points in the original ask. There is a lot of transphobia and fetishization in fandom. But, hey, maybe don't attack other trans people who have to suffer through those same issues in order to make your point.

[lesbianlotties]

Ronancetober Day 15: Pirates AU

psa: i don't know a thing about pirates and names and whatever. so this is either really good or extremely silly, hopefully both... enjoy!! <3

“He said no?”

“He said no,” Mike shrugged nonchalantly, unmoved by the Captain’s deadly glare.

“The Red Robin says he won’t negotiate,” Eleven stepped in, holding her head high, always eager to impress the Captain that already favored her over most of the crew, sometimes even over Mike, the Captain’s own younger brother. “But he says he wants to talk, Captain.”

The Captain scoffed. “Oh, the Red Robin can go fuck himself then.”

“Captain,” Jonathan said quietly beside her. The Captain’s right-hand man, aggressive when she least expected it and reasonable when she least wanted it, was actually great at keeping things balanced, so the Captain usually appreciated his opinion. “It’s not… advisable to start a fight with the Red Robin.”

“Byers, I have the best crew and worst reputation around here. I’m not afraid of the Red Robin,” the Captain replied, but she knew that the Red Robin’s reputation matched her own. She finally yielded under the respectful but insistent eyes of her old friend. Plus, she had to admit a spark of curiosity in her chest, and her instinct screaming at her something temporarily unintelligible that sent her in the Red Robin’s path. “But I’ll talk, I guess,” the Captain added, and started delivering instructions. “I’ll take El and Byers First with me. Mike and Byers Second, you keep my ship afloat while I’m done or you’re dead, understood?” 

Done with that conversation, Nancy retreated to her quarters, adjusting her hat and the neck of her coat. She walked with practiced confidence and authority at every step. After all, the rest of her crew except for the four closest to her still believed she was a man. She had a lie to keep, and she had to figure out how to make the infamous Red Robin believe that lie during their conversation.

--

“He agreed?!”

“That’s what I just said,” MadMax replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Don’t be a little shit,” the Red Robin said and slapped the brim of the hat on the young woman’s head, successfully annoying her. “How did you get the Wicked Wheeler to agree to talk to me?!”

“I’m just too charming!” King Steve shrugged, and immediately got his hat slapped right off his head.

Beside him, a different girl snorted and laughed at him, “You’re dead.”

“Hey, I’m the one talking,” the Red Robin interrupted her. “But Little Sinclair is right, I should kill you for this.”

It was, of course, an obvious lie. In the same way that the Red Robin had adopted MadMax and Little Sinclair as if they were her younger sisters, King Steve had earned the role of best friend and right-hand man. It helped that King Steve was friends with a brilliant young genius boy that hatched this plan but failed to guarantee it would succeed.

“I can’t meet the Wicked Wheeler! You were supposed to scare him off!” Robin hissed. As terrifying as this entire plan sounded, she was immensely curious about finding out the identity of the famous Wicked Wheeler. Something in her chest told her this was a risk she had to take. Still, she had to be careful. She took off her hat and further lowered the thin scarf that she usually wrapped over half of her face to conceal her identity. She waved at her face and exclaimed, ”If he finds out I’m a woman we’re all dead.”

“Don’t get caught then,” Little Sinclair said, matter-of-factly.

“You got this,” MadMax shrugged, even if Robin caught the smile that she was trying to hide.

“And thank me later,” King Steve winked at her. He had just fixed his hat on his head again, just for Robin to flip it off of him again while the two girls laughed and he groaned. 

Dammit, Robin thought. She really had to pull this off, she couldn’t let down her crew, and she really, really didn’t want to die. Especially not in the hands of the Wicked Wheeler.

--

Finally, the day arrived. The two ships side by side, Nancy and the most trusted members of her crew boarded the Red Robin’s ship. She left Eleven and Byers First with a man and two young women, and she made her way to the quarters of the Captain of the ship. She was comforted by the fact that the Red Robin allowed women in his crew, not everyone was like that, but she still kept her guard up. She arrived at the Red Robin’s quarters and slowly pushed open the door. The room was big and probably filled with the best of every treasure the Red Robin ever captured, but Nancy couldn’t see most of it. The room was kept in the dark save for a few candles far away from the great dest where the other pirate expected her. She would’ve complained about the darkness, but it was convenient for her. The least the Red Robin saw of her face, the least suspicions there would be.

“Well, well, well,” the Red Robin said, “I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, Wheels. But not even I’m that good of a liar. I did expect you to be taller in person, though. I guess people were lying when they said you were a great pirate, huh? Not that you ever were close to being one of the greatest but-”

“Oh fuck off,” Nancy interrupted him, “Do you ever shut up?” She’d had to say something, and she had to stand her ground. Most importantly, she had to hide the fact that the Red Robin’s raspy voice sent chills down her spine. Besides, her voice seemed to make the other Captain make a double take. The Red Robin stood up from his chair and walked around to lean back against the front of the heavy desk. Nancy was immediately drawn to that tall and slender body covered in as many layers as she was.

“You’re feisty, Wheels,” the Red Robin said, and stopped to take a hearty sip of the drink she’d had on the corner of her desk. Nancy would’ve been a fool to ignore the obvious fact that the Red Robin was regarding her as curiously and as thoroughly as she was studying him. The air between them was oddly electrifying, a turbulent sea, a rush of adrenaline. “Why did you agree to meet me?” the Red Robin finally asked her. “Your reputation says that you always send your little brother and some sad-looking guy to do your deals for you.”

“Isn’t that exactly what everyone says about you?” Nancy replied, taking one bold step closer to the other pirate.

“No,” the Red Robin smiled, such a bright and mischievous grin that it was noticeable even under the dim light of the room. “My crew is more impressive, and I always encourage them not to leave survivors.” The Red Robin didn’t imitate Nancy’s movements, but there was something about the way that she leaned into her desk that gave her the same effect. A dare. An invitation. A warning. All at once.

“Is that why I’m here?” Nancy asked, taking another step forward, and then another. “Are you stupid enough to think that you can kill me?”

All at once, Nancy felt extremely aware of the weight of her sword hanging by her hip. And her eyes were drawn to the Red Robin’s own sword right there inches away from the pirate’s fingertips.

“Why are you here?” the Red Robin asked, tilting her head and staring with amusement at Nancy. “I said I just wanted to talk. But what do you want, Wheels?”

“I want to know what you’re hiding behind all these shadows,” Nancy answered, taking one more step forward. She was close enough to see the clear blue color of the Red Robin’s eyes, more wild and beautiful than any sea either of them had ever conquered.

Surprisingly, the Red Robin swiftly pulled out her sword. Nancy reacted on instinct, pulling out hers as well, but the surprises only continued. The Red Robin was faster, but all he did was hold the very edge of his sword over the buttons of Nancy’s closed coat.

“I’ll show you,” the Red Robin whispered, no longer trying to make his voice deeper, but the hoarse result was even more attractive to Nancy’s ears. “If you’ll show me what you’re hiding under all these layers.”

“Why?” Nancy asked, holding her head high, gripping her sword tightly, and fearless taking a very small step forward so the tip of the Red Robin’s sword successfully cut through the first button on its path. “I’m sure you’re well acquainted with my secret, seeing as you’re hiding the same thing, Red Robin.”

The Red Robin laughed, and it was a warm and delicious sound. She lowered her sword and dropped it behind her on the desk. Then she took off her hat. She briefly shook her head to push back the wild strands of strawberry blond hair off her strikingly beautiful and freckled face, and then she made a playful bow with her hat pressed to her chest. “Just Robin is fine,” Robin said with a smile.

Nancy followed her example and took off her hat. She put back her sword, and then ran a hand over her hair, and gave Robin a matching smile of her own. “Nancy,” she said simply.

“What do you say, Nancy,” Robin said softly and held out her hand for Nancy to take, “Do you want to negotiate with me now?”

Nancy accepted Robin’s hand, knowing full well that neither of them was particularly thinking about their business at sea at the moment.

[shares-a-vest]

Fruity Four Advent Calendar, Day 8: Rituals

Prompt List

Today I have a bunch of headcanons about each of the Fruity Four's typical Christmas traditions/rituals. Feel free to yell with me in my inbox about these. I could literally write all day about people making and sharing food.

Steve Harrington

Steve's Christmas traditions are really only three years old. Sure, he has dinner with his parents, grandma and his great aunt Doris but that's a silent, formal dinner on Christmas Eve that his parents don't even like, it's mainly to placate the oldies.

His parents each host their respective work Christmas parties at the house. His mother's is more of a fancy dinner party. Whereas his father's company has an absolute rager that rivals all those King Steve parties.

He takes every shift available at Family Video to get away from his mum who, despite thinking she is like a Martha-Stewart-level hostess, is not.

He drives the kids around Christmas shopping. It's probably the most chaotic carpooling gets because no one is organised and getting the boys to actually pick out thoughtful gifts is like pulling teeth. He'll get all analytical giving his wisdom about how to buy gifts for girls.

He helps Max wrap her gifts and might conveniently bring a nice dinner over to the Mayfields.

Max and Dustin both call him on Christmas morning. Max asks (for like the billionth time) if he would like to spend Christmas at her house, while Dustin triple-checks he is coming over for lunch.

He insists on making dessert for the Henderson's Christmas lunch.

He buys Claudia flowers and perfume (gifts he used to give his mum before his parents gradually fazed out presents).

Steve bakes gingerbread for the kids and has Robin wrap them with nice tags for each kid.

He'll stay in the Christmas sweater Claudia gifts him for Christmas until it stops snowing.

Nancy Wheeler

Nancy's Christmas is largely dictated by the traditions of Wheeler family - their Christmases being basically the same, well-oiled machine every year.

She takes Holly shopping, wanting to include her in the grown-up stuff.

She gave up on taking Mike shopping a couple of years ago, he never had any decent ideas for their parent's gifts anyway. Plus he always wanted to sit down for snacks which Nance never budgeted for.

She spends a really long time picking out Christmas cards.

And uses a pretty, gold marker pen to write on her Christmas cards.

She always writes beautiful long messages, always personal and heartfelt.

The Wheeler's typically travel to see extended family before Christmas because Karen likes having just the family at home on Christmas morning.

Nancy and Mike spend a lot of time over Christmas playing video games together.

She makes sugar cookies for when The Party hold a holiday campaign in the basement. She makes them with Holly's help and it's the one time she allows Mike to take credit (only if he still includes Holly).

She typically ends up putting up the outside Christmas lights because Karen and Ted argue about how hapless his efforts are.

She drives when the family goes around looking at Christmas lights.

Nancy and Karen will spend hours together decorating the Christmas tree, just like they've been doing since she was a kid.

Robin Buckley

Robin's Christmas traditions are pretty much entirely focused around her busy crafting schedule and how much time her parents make her spend with extended family.

She makes every gift herself, including cards and tags and, if she has enough time, wrapping paper.

She accompanies Steve with his Christmas shopping, although she's a bit distracting, linking their arms and pulling him in every direction.

Robin and her brother Cameron have a movie marathon every year, sticking strictly to Christmas movies.

Cameron doesn't let Steve in on their traditions. It's not that he doesn't like Steve, he just wants to spend time with his sister.

The Buckley family goes to their grandparent's house on Christmas Day for dinner with the entire extended family.

Robin spends pretty much the whole time sitting in the corner with Cameron and her favourite cousin, Marcie, chatting away a million miles an hour about movies and TV.

She calls Steve multiple times on Christmas, in the morning and when he's at Dustin's to make sure he is happy.

Her aunts and uncles pester her about having a boyfriend and that's typically when she'll make an excuse to go and call Steve.

She'll set the table for dinner, making it look like something out of a catalogue but she is not allowed anywhere near the kitchen (which extends beyond Christmas, she's a hopeless cook).

Robin and her mum make Christmas ornaments, including painted baubles.

She has to suffer through her father's horribly unfunny comedy records over the Christmas break.

Eddie Munson

Eddie's Christmas traditions date back to his first Christmas with Wayne.

Wayne has always asked for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off at the plant. "I have a kid at home," he says.

Eddie is surprisingly relaxed over Christmas, probably because he knows his uncle is happy to have a few days off work.

He waits on Wayne over the holidays insisting, "Put your feet up, old man".

Up until Christmas 1984, he went with Wayne to visit his dad in prison. It was Wayne's idea to go and his decision to stop. He just felt this nagging obligation. The final straw was Eddie's father making fun of him for needing to repeat senior year.

Eddie takes flowers to his mother's grave on Christmas Eve. He'll sit and talk, and sing quietly. Wayne goes a couple of days before Christmas and tells her how Eddie's doing.

Eddie will stroll over to Max's mid-Christmas morning to see how her mum is doing and (instructed by Wayne) asks if they would like to join them for dinner.

They'll schedule the whole day around whatever time It's a Wonderful Life is airing. It's one of Wayne's favourite movies, being a huge fan of Jimmy Stewart (he likes his westerns best).

Wayne buys "the fancy, expensive" coco for the holidays. Yes, he also has festive coffee mugs.

Eddie cooks an elaborate breakfast, while Wayne makes a roast for dinner.

Eddie sits around playing Wayne's favourite blues music on his acoustic. Wayne sometimes plays a little too (he thinks he's no good compared to his nephew).

They smoke a bit of Eddie's good weed. Not too much because Wayne wants to savour their Christmas and not be totally baked.

Wayne buys Claudia Henderson a nice bottle of wine and flowers for Christmas for all the food she sends with Dustin when he's over visiting Eddie.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

oooh i have to disagree . If Eddie had to pick b/w Wayne and Steve, and steddie are endgame, he would 100% pick Steve, Wayne would want him to as well. That’s what being in love is. I love Stobin they’re adorable but putting Robin above Eddie is just being a terrible partner. But you know to each our own I guess

Then I am sorry but you wrong. Being in love doesn't mean choosing your partner over your family. You can be in love with your partner as much as you want, but family comes first, and if they have a problem with your family, you're going to choose your family. If your family isn't problematic and it's your partner that's the one with the problem then you're going to choose your family. If your partner can't be bothered to try and make it work with your family, then they don't love you enough to try. The same goes for family, too. If it's your family, that's the problem, and there is actually nothing harmful about your partner. Then, yeah, choose your partner. Wayne was the first one to take him in, to not toss him aside or try to turn him into someone he's not. Wayne gave up having a bedroom for the kid. He made room in his life for his nephew when he didn'thave to. If you don't think that Eddie would love Wayne more than anyone else, then you have a twisted view on what family means. Wayne was the first one his life after his mother to care for him (maybe, don't know anything about Eddie's mother). If your partner loves you enough, then they should know what and who's important to you, and then that family member will also become important to them too. If they can't, then they're too insecure to be in a relationship. This is the last time that I will comment on it. There is nothing wrong with valuing what is important. Partnership is about compromising what's important, and if they can't handle that, then they're not mature enough to be in a relationship. My sister always put her relationships above us even when we did more to show her that we loved her, than her partners ever did. We nearly became homeless ourselves to make sure she and her partner didn't because they couldn't understand the value of saving money. Even when they hit her, she still chose them over her. Now, was that love on her part? No. In the end, you have to decide who supports you in the end no matter what, who will be your foundation, and who has always shown up for you, who continues to do so. In the end, no matter what scenario, it's still all about choices and respecting someone when they make one even if you don't like it. But I guarantee you that Eddie would understand because I think he would have learned his lesson from the basketball game when Lucas chose basketball over D&D. He would have regretted not going when he realized what an asshole he had been. If he had to do it over again with the experiences that then he would have swallowed his prejudices and went to the game even if he doesn't like basketball.

[c0usingreg]

💖 Ace/Aro Dustin Headcannon 💖

In response to this ask on @nancysglock page. Just wanted to share some thoughts (decided to make my own post for etiquette once I realized how long it had gotten) on this because I love Dustin/Gaten. Also check out this very sincere response by @untitled-byler-blog (hoping I can help put to words why it exactly "feels right" at least in my pov)

I dont think Dustin being headcanoned as ace/aro has any thing to do with his disability or lack of "conventional attractiveness". He is just as charming, cute, and lovable as all the other characters!! But his relationships with others seem to be portrayed a lot differently than the rest of the characters. He actually seems to be the only main character who's story arch isn't dependent (or at least highly influenced by) their love interest/story.

And I find that especially interesting since he was quite vocal about wanting a girlfriend in S2. He went after Max, and when he couldn't get her, he tried to talk to multiple girls at the snowball dance. He wanted a girlfriend, but it didn't seem to matter who it was. He was more occupied with the idea of it than the reality and the actual feelings involved. Even Steve had to explain to him that it feels different. He takes that information and they make a note to show you he can see the spark between Lucas and Max, so he knows what it is and what it looks like. But it never feels like he, himself, gets that feeling for anyone in the show. This seems to be intentional writing.

Honestly, the most 'spark' I remember getting from him around any girl was Nancy when she danced with him. But she's more like someone he respects and looks up to. She's more of a big sister figure to him than she is to Mike. I think it falls under the assumption that he is just very respectful towards her in a way because he sees her as just another human being (albeit of the opposite gender) and is able to connect with her for who she really is and acknowledge all her good qualities. There's that same kind of respect when he interacts with Suzie (and Steve and Eddie tbh). He is constantly talking her up and saying she's smart and pretty but we don't see any build up or spark for his relationship with her. Like, everything is in the right place for a relationship to work, but it's not really shown. And even when they do talk "lovey dovey" in s3 it's very innocent and naive. As if they are going off of what they learned in a cheesy romantic movie (like The Muppet Movie or Gone with the Wind or something) rather than genuine romantic tension. Once again, more preoccupied with the idea of the relationship being romantic when it feels more like a close friendship with cutesy nicknames.

All of which is completely fine! Dustin gives the vibes of "I found an awesome girl who is pretty, smart, and funny. I enjoy talking to her and thats enough for me. That's all I want." And he goes on about the rest of the s3 and s4 plotlines without much worry about over it. He has his girlfriend, he's happy, and now he can focus on other things! His story and character arch are more revolvant around his friendships and interactions with the other characters around him.

It's interesting then, to see him paired with Steve, who is doing the same thing Dustin was doing in S2. However, the stark contrast here is that Steve in S1 is set up to be a bad boy/player type character, but he refuses to settle for just anyone so instead he evolves into more of a "clearly attracted to women but also desperately looking for the emmotional connection to go along with it". He's willing to go on multiple dates/sleep with multiple girls but can't seem to find one that he clicks with. He wants something deeper and he's running around like mad trying to find it.

A side note as well, Dustin pushing Steve towards Robin is very telling. He sees the connection between them but can't distinguish the difference between it being romantic and platonic. He almost just assumes if you get along really well with someone of the opposite gender, you should date them. Which clearly is not the case with Robin and Steve.

So I can definitely see why people identify with Dustin being aro/ace just because he interacts with people in a very unique way. (And that's good! That's why we love him so much! He literally cares so much for everyone and has so much respect for people just as they are!) But I think to discredit his character and reduce aro/ace to being just because 'you don't think he's attractive' or 'because he has a disability' is very tone deaf and offensive to people who really identify with him.

That being said, if there is actually anyone who headcanons him aro/ace because of that, you can gtfo!! Honestly, disability or not, Gaten is very attractive and his personality makes him even more so! Being ableist or just plain shallow is not welcome around here! But in my opinion most people who would hc him as such only do so because they can really see themselves in the way he views and interacts with the people around him.

Hopefully all that made sense 💖 Dustin is a big cinnamon roll and him being aro/ace is very plausible to me. I, for one, am not big on labels so I don't feel the need to fit him or anyone else into a specific box but still 100% see it. Especially when all the other characters have subplots involving tension between them and their s/o for any number of reasons where as Dustin does not. And that has nothing to do with the two things the anon mentioned.

(Also I dont want to shy away from the fact that Dustin can be disabled and/or "conventionally unattractive" and aro/ace that's very valid! 💖)

[lavenderstobins]

canon list of stranger things characters

Disclaimer: in regards to canon, i'm going off the show canon. the stranger things play is canon to the show, so any details from that will be added in. all information is pulled from the show, the play, and the writers themselves. the books are canon-adjacent and therefore are listed separately, though Flight of Icarus is considered canon as it is written by one of the show writers.

the full list will be under the cut because, fair warning, it is long as hell. it's ordered alphabetically, not by importance of characters.

Main Characters

Argyle — Introduced in s4. Jonathan’s friend from school in Lenora. He works at Surfer Boy Pizza. According to himself, he has no other friends

Dustin Henderson — Introduced in s1. One of the party members

Eddie Munson — Introduced in s4. He was due to graduate in 1986. He died in the upside down in March 1986

El Hopper / “Eleven” — Introduced in s1. Formerly one of the children at the lab. She escaped in 1983

Erica Sinclair — Introduced in s2. Lucas’ younger sister. She’s ten in July 1985 and eleven in March 1986

Jim Hopper — Introduced in s1. Chief of police for Hawkins Police. El’s adoptive father

Jonathan Byers — Introduced in s1. Due to graduate in 1986

Joyce Byers (neé Maldonado) — Introduced in s1. Jonathan and Will’s mother. Works at Melvald’s until 1985

Lucas Sinclair — Introduced in s1. One of the party members

Max Mayfield — Introduced in s2. Moved to Hawkins in 1984. She’s in the same year as the party and becomes one of the party members

Mike Wheeler — Introduced in s1. One of the party members

Murray Bauman — Introduced in s2. Formerly an investigative journalist who was hired by the Hollands

Nancy Wheeler — Introduced in s1. Due to graduate in 1986

Robin Buckley — Introduced in s3 as Steve’s coworker at Scoops Ahoy. Due to graduate in 1986 

Steve Harrington — Introduced in s1. Graduated 1985

Will Byers — Introduced in s1. One of the party members

Parents

Al Munson — Eddie’s father. He’s mentioned in s4 and it’s implied he’s in jail or dead. Eddie seems to have a negative view of him

Charles Sinclair — Lucas and Erica’s father

Claudia Henderson — Dustin’s mother 

Karen Wheeler (neé Childress) — Nancy, Mike and Holly’s mother

Lonnie Byers — Jonathan and Will’s abusive father 

Miss/Mrs/Ms. Buckley — Robin’s mother. She reminds Robin of her flaws ‘daily’ according to Robin in s4

Mrs. Harrington — Steve’s mother. According to Steve in s3, she is “super well-respected”. She is said not to trust Steve’s father

Mr. Harrington — Steve’s father. According to Steve in s1, he’s a “grade A asshole” 

Mr. Mayfield — Max’s father. He’s mentioned in s2 and still lives in California according to Max

Neil Hargrove — Max’s former stepfather and Billy’s father. He left Hawkins after Billy died

Sue Sinclair (neé Anderson) — Lucas and Erica’s mother

Susan Hargrove — Max’s mother

Ted Wheeler — Nancy, Mike and Holly’s father

Teresa Ives (“Terry”) — El’s biological mother 

Wayne Munson — Eddie’s paternal uncle. He lives in the trailer park. He is Eddie's guardian

Relatives

Becky Ives — El’s maternal aunt

Darlene — Joyce’s aunt

Diane — Hopper’s ex-wife. She lives in New York with her husband Bill and their unnamed baby

“Granny” — Max’s grandmother. She wrote a letter for her in s4. It is unclear whether she’s her maternal or paternal grandmother

Holly Wheeler — Nancy and Mike’s younger sister. She’s three in November 1983 and six in March 1986

Jack — Lucas and Erica’s uncle. It’s not stated whether he’s their mother’s or father’s brother

Jack — Max’s uncle. She wrote a letter for him in s4. It is unclear whether he’s her mother’s or father’s brother

Joanna — Nancy, Mike and Holly’s cousin

“Nana” — Nancy, Mike and Holly’s grandmother. Prior to 1985 she had a fall. It is unclear whether she’s their paternal or maternal grandmother

Otis Harrington — Steve’s paternal grandfather. He’s mentioned in Steve’s essay in s1. It’s unclear whether he’s alive or dead

Shirley — El’s maternal great-aunt. Becky mentions her in s2

Hawkins Lab

Staff

Agent Harmon — Worked for Sam Owens as a bodyguard in 1986. He was killed protecting Jonathan, Mike and Will

Agent Wallace — Worked for Sam Owens as a bodyguard in 1986

Alec — Worker at the lab, presumably a guard

Andrew Barnright — Worked at the lab. Kali has information on him shown in s2

Anne — A scientist at the lab in 1986

Blackmon — One of the lab’s guards

Connie Frazier — Government agent tasked with protecting the lab. She was Benny Hammond’s killer and was later killed by El in 1983

Ellis — A doctor/scientist at the lab

Martin Brenner — Leading scientist at the lab

Miller — Chief military guard at the lab

Ray Carroll — Formerly orderly at the lab. He was the one to perform Terry Ives’ electroshock therapy in 1974. He has two daughters

Sam Owens — One of the lab’s main scientists. He replaces Brenner in s2

Selee — One of the lab’s guards

Shepard — One of the workers at the lab. Was killed in the upside down in November 1983 

Teddy — One of the lab’s guards

Thatcher — One of the lab’s guards

Tracey — A scientist at the lab in 1986

Subjects

Henry Creel / “One” / “Vecna” — Formerly a resident of Hawkins. After he killed his mother and sister, Brenner took an interest in him and made him his first test subject

“Two” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Three” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Four” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Five” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Six” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Seven” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Nine” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Ten” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Twelve” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Thirteen” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Fourteen” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Fifteen” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

“Sixteen” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979. His twin is Seventeen

“Seventeen” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979. His twin is Sixteen

“Eighteen” — A child at the lab. Was killed by Henry Creel in 1979

Hawkins Middle

Staff

Doris — Secretary at Hawkins Middle

Mr. Kowalski — Teacher at Hawkins Middle (mentioned by Karen Wheeler in s2)

Mr. Salerno — Teacher at Hawkins Middle (mentioned by Will and Max in s2)

Phyllis — Lunch lady at Hawkins Middle

Scott Clarke — Science teacher at Hawkins Middle

Students

Georgie — Presumably a student at Hawkins Middle. He’s close to turning 13 in June 1985

Greg McCorkle — Student at Hawkins Middle. He laughed and pointed out that Troy peed himself when El made Troy wet himself

James Dante — Student at Hawkins Middle. Troy’s best friend. A bully

Jennifer Hayes — Student at Hawkins Middle. She cried at Will’s funeral in s1 

Mandy — Student at Hawkins Middle. She’s in Mr. Clarke’s class with the party

Mindy Novak — Student at Hawkins Middle. She’s in Mr. Clarke’s class with the party. She’s shown to blow bubblegum

Stacey Albright — Student at Hawkins Middle. She’s in the same year as the party. She’s shown to be a mean girl

Tracy Turner — Student at Hawkins Middle. She’s in Mr. Clarke’s class with the party

Troy Walsh — Student at Hawkins Middle. The main bully shown. He’s shown to bully the party constantly

Hawkins High

Class of 1984

Dan Shelter — Former student at Hawkins High. Graduated in 1984. He was Vickie’s boyfriend until March 1986

Eddie Munson 

Class of 1985

Anna Jacobi — Former student at Hawkins High. Graduated in 1985. Was seen talking to Mark Lewinsky in s3 and shot down Steve

Billy Hargrove — Student at Hawkins High. Moved to Hawkins in 1984. Graduated in 1985 and was killed by the mind flayer the same year

Carol Perkins — Student at Hawkins High. Graduated 1985. Formerly one of Steve’s best friends

Eddie Munson (repeating the year)

Mark Lewinsky — Student at Hawkins High. Presumably graduated 1985. Was on the basketball team with Steve. Steve refers to him as a “meathead” and says that he never came off the bench

Nicole — Student at Hawkins High. One of Carol’s friends. Presumably graduated 1985

Tammy Thompson — Student at Hawkins High. Graduated 1985. She’s mentioned in s3 by Robin and shown in s4

Tina — Student at Hawkins High. One of Carol’s friends

Tommy Barrows — Former student at Hawkins High. Graduated 1985. He’s listed as missing at nineteen years old after the ‘earthquake’. Presumably was known as Tommy B

Tommy Hagan — Student at Hawkins High. Graduated 1985. He was formerly one of Steve’s best friends. Known as Tommy H

Steve Harrington

Vicki Carmichael — Student at Hawkins High. One of Carol’s friends

Class of 1986

Barbara Holland — Student at Hawkins High. Nancy’s best friend. Was due to graduate 1986. Died November 1983

Chrissy Cunningham — Student at Hawkins High. A cheerleader. Was due to graduate in 1986. Died March 1986

Eddie Munson (repeating the year a second time)

Fred Benson — Student at Hawkins High. Runs the school newspaper in 1986. He died in March 1986

Jason Carver — Student at Hawkins High. One of the basketball players in 1986. Was due to graduate in 1986. Died March 1986

Jeff — Student at Hawkins High. Due to graduate in 1986. Part of Hellfire Club

Jonathan Byers

Nancy Wheeler

Patrick McKinney — Student at Hawkins High. One of the basketball players in 1986. Was due to graduate in 1986. Died March 1986

Robin Buckley

Vickie — Student at Hawkins High. In band with Robin. Due to graduate in 1986

Other Students

Ally —  Student at Hawkins High. She’s in one of Nancy’s classes. She’s mentioned in s1 and s2

Amber — Student at Hawkins High during 1986. It is unknown what year she is in

Amy — Student at Hawkins High. One of Steve’s ex-girlfriends

Andy — Student at Hawkins High. One of the basketball players in 1986. Presumably due to graduate in 1986

Becky — Student at Hawkins High. One of Steve’s ex-girlfriends

Beth Wildfire — Presumably a student at Hawkins High. A goalie for (potentially) Hawkins High’s soccer team. According to Robin, her leg split open and the bone was visible after after girl accidentally kicked her during a game

Candace — Student at Hawkins High. One of the journalists on the Weekly Streak

Chase — Student at Hawkins High. One of the basketball players in 1986. Presumably due to graduate in 1986

Gareth — Student at Hawkins High. Part of Hellfire Club. Presumably due to graduate in 1987 (Eddie references him having “a year and a half” left)

Heather Holloway — Student at Hawkins High. Presumably was due to graduate in 1986 or graduated in 1985. She was Flayed and died in July 1985. She worked as a lifeguard at Hawkins Pool

Jack — Student at Hawkins High. A student who was presumably Flayed and died July 1985. He is cited to have died “in the mall fire”. He’s mentioned by Jason in s4

Jacob — Student at Hawkins High during 1986. He is a member of the basketball team. It is unknown what year he is in

Jed — Student at Hawkins High. A member of the basketball team

Josh — Student at Hawkins High. A friend of Jason’s who is also on the basketball team

Keith — Student at Hawkins High. Either graduated 1985 or is due to graduate in 1986 (assuming the former since he has hiring power at Family Video in October 1985). He’s shown to be friendly with Robin and dislike Steve

Kyle — Student at Hawkins High during 1986. It is unknown what year he is in

Laurie — Student at Hawkins High. One of Steve’s ex-girlfriends

Melissa — Student at Hawkins High. A student who was presumably Flayed and died July 1985. She is cited to have died “in the mall fire”. She’s mentioned by Jason in s4

Reed — Student at Hawkins High. Unknown what year he’s in. He shouts at Nancy that he can’t wait to see her movie in s1 after the cinema sign was graffitied

Ryan — A student at Hawkins High, one of Jason’s friends

Samantha Stone — Student at Hawkins High. Attended Tina’s party Halloween 1984

Stacey — Student at Hawkins High. A friend of Nancy’s 

Unnamed Freak — Student at Hawkins High. Part of Hellfire Club

Staff

Mrs. Click — History teacher at Hawkins High (mentioned by Robin in s3)

Mr. Higgins — Principal at Hawkins High

Kaminsky — Chemistry teacher at Hawkins High (mentioned by Nancy in s1)

Ms. Kelley — Guidance Counsellor at Hawkins High

Mr. Mundy — Math teacher at Hawkins High (mentioned by Carol and Tommy in s1)

Mrs. O’Donnell — Teacher at Hawkins High (mentioned by Eddie in s4)

Hawkins Residents

Aaron Walker — Possibly one of Eddie’s friends. He’s on the whiteboard as someone who might know where Eddie is

Adam — Resident of Hawkins, a young adult. He becomes Flayed and dies July 1985

Barbara — Resident of Hawkins. Her husband Greg went missing after the ‘earthquake’

Benny Hammond — Owner of Benny’s Burgers. Was killed November 1983

Betsy Payne — Resident of Hawkins. Has a dog

Bev Mooney — Friend of two hunters

Beverley Moss — Television reporter in Hawkins

The Blackburns Family — The Wheelers’ neighbours. According to Lucas in 1983, they have a baby

Bob Newby — Worked at the Radio Shack in Hawkins. Died November 1984

Brenda — Resident of Hawkins. Possibly a graduate of Hawkins High. She went on a date with Steve in s4

Bruce Lowe — Former journalist for the Hawkins Post. Gets Flayed and dies in July 1985

Calvin Powell — Police officer for Hawkins Police

Candice — Mayor Kline’s secretary. He was having an affair with her in 1985

Carol — Resident of Hawkins. She visits Melvald’s in s3

Cath — A friend of Karen Wheeler. She talks on the phone with her in s2

Charles — Weatherman

The Crawleys Family — A family in Hawkins. They had supplies go missing in s3

Curtis — A boy at the pool in s3

The Christensens Family — Local farmers

Chuck Bailey — Reporter at the Hawkins Post

Dale — Frequented Benny’s Burgers. He is also a hunter. Henry is his hunting partner. Bev suspects them of going on “another binger” when they disappear. Died November 1983

David — Resident of Hawkins. He becomes Flayed and dies July 1985

Donald Melvald — Joyce’s former boss and owner of Melvald’s

Doris Driscoll (née Grant) — Resident of Hawkins. She died July 1985

Earl — Resident of Hawkins and a friend of Benny’s. He is also a friend of Henry and possibly Dale

Eleanor Gillespie — Resident of Hawkins. An owl once attacked her head mistaking her hair for a nest

Eric — Jonathan’s coworker in s1. It’s unclear where he works

Erica — Salvation worker who volunteers at the High School in March 1986

Eugene McCorkle — A local farmer. He’s Merrill’s neighbour. He’s married to Jenny and they have at least two sons or grandsons (one of them could possibly be Greg McCorkle?)

Florence — Secretary for Hawkins’ Police 

Gary — Does the autopsies for Roane County 

Gary — Helps Joyce Byers fix up her house (possibly the same Gary as above?)

Gary — Possibly one of Eddie’s friends. He’s on the whiteboard as someone who might know where Eddie is. Could possibly be one of the Garys above

George Burness — Claimed to have jumped into the quarry while drunk and survived, though Hopper claims this can’t be true

Glenn Daniels — Police officer for Hawkins police. He’s first shown in s4

Greg — Resident who went missing after the ‘earthquake’. His wife is Barbara

Hannah — A child who lives in Hawkins. She was shown in s2 playing in Merrill’s pumpkin patch. Her sister is Poppy

Henry — Frequenter of Benny’s Burgers. He is also a hunter. Dale is his hunting partner. Bev suspects them of going on “another binger” when they disappear. Died November 1983

Henry — A resident of Hawkins who joins in a mob against Starcourt

Jack O’Dell — Local farmer

Janet Holloway — Wife of Tom Holloway and mother of Heather Holloway. Became Flayed and died July 1984

Janet Howard — Resident of Hawkins. Went missing at 27 years old after the ‘earthquake’

James — Possibly one of Eddie’s friends. He’s on the whiteboard as someone who might know where Eddie is

Jeffrey — Works at Melvald’s. He’s Joyce’s coworker and covered her shift in s1

Jen Woo — Scott Clarke’s girlfriend

Jenny McCorkle — Eugene’s wife. They have at least two sons or two grandsons

Jill — One of Karen Wheeler’s friends

Joey Piper (?) — Possibly one of Eddie’s friends. Dustin calls him to ask if he’s seen him

Johnny — A young boy seen at Hawkins pool in s3

Kevin Brown (?) — Possibly one of Eddie’s friends. He’s on the whiteboard as someone who might know where Eddie is

Kim M. Chapman — A resident of Hawkins who went missing after the ‘earthquake’

Larry Kline — Mayor of Hawkins until 1985

Laura Cunningham — Chrissy Cunningham’s mother

Liz — One of Karen Wheeler’s friends

Lucy Labrock — A resident of Hawkins who participated in a beauty pageant

Marsha Holland — Barb’s mother

Marissa — Works at the library

Melissa — Salvation worker who volunteers at the High School in March 1986

Merrill Wright — A farmer who owned a pumpkin patch in s2

Mr. Holland — Barb’s father

Mrs. Walsh — Troy Walsh’s mother 

Pastor Charles — Did the service for Will’s funeral 

Parker — Salesman at Starcourt Mall

Patrick — Security guard for Hawkins Lab

Paul Cook — Possibly one of Eddie’s friends. He’s on the whiteboard as someone who might know where Eddie is

Paul L — Possibly one of Eddie’s friends. He’s on the whiteboard as someone who might know where Eddie is

Pete Freeling — Local farmer

Petey — Starcourt’s mall cop

Phil Callahan — Police officer for Hawkins Police

Phil Larson — Resident of Hawkins. He keeps calling the police to complain about kids stealing his garden gnomes

Phillip Cunningham — Chrissy Cunningham’s father

Poppy — A child who lives in Hawkins. She was shown in s2 playing in Merrill’s pumpkin patch. Her sister is Hannah

Richard Lipton (“Reefer Rick”) — Drug dealer in Hawkins

Rick Neary — Local farmer

Robert — Manager of Bradley's Big Buy

Sandra — One of Hopper’s one night stands

Steven Davis (?) — Possibly one of Eddie’s friends. He’s on the whiteboard as someone who might know where Eddie is

Susie — Resident in Hawkins. She’s a friend or relative of Tommy Barrows, who goes missing after the ‘earthquake’

Tina — A child who lives in Hawkins. She is one of Erica’s friends. She is mentioned in s3 and s4 

Toby — Photographer at Starcourt Mall

Tom Holloway — Worked at the Hawkins Post. Father of Heather Holloway. Became Flayed and died July 1984

Tommy Zahlten — Resident of Hawkins who went missing at age 29 after the ‘earthquake’

Unnamed Cunningham — Chrissy’s younger brother. His age and name are unknown

Victor Creel — Henry Creel’s father. He remains in Pennhurst after his wife and daughter were murdered and it was blamed on him

Winnie Kline — Wife of Mayor Kline

Zimmerman brothers — at least two, possibly more, kids who pick on Will (Joyce asks if it was them again when Bob tells her about Will being bullied in s2)

Indiana Residents

Ada Mathis — Relative who lost someone in the ‘earthquake’

Caitlin Schneiderhan — Reporter for the Indianapolis Gazette

David O’Bannon — Works for the Indiana state police. State trooper

Frank Sattler — Owner and operator of the Sattler Company

Helen Dubon — Listed as a missing person after the ‘earthquake’

J. Parker — A woman listed as a missing person after the ‘earthquake’

Julia Mathis — Listed as a missing person after the ‘earthquake’

Kirsten Maher — Reporter for the Indianapolis Gazette

Maria Rose — Listed as a missing person after the ‘earthquake’

Marcus Parker — Father of a person who went missing after the ‘earthquake’

Mike Davis — Listed as a missing person after the ‘earthquake’

Molly — Listed as a missing person after the ‘earthquake’

Patty — Receptionist for Roane County Coroner

Rick Alderman — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Conroy — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Joiner — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Kimbrough — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Maher — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Matteson — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Naranjo — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Pratt — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Sanchez — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Tobler — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Rick Zimmerman — Possibly a resident of Hawkins. He has an account with Family Video

Robert Davis — Listed as a missing person after the ‘earthquake’

Sandy Sloane — Grief counsellor from the church in Jonesboro

Vernon Hampton — Listed as a missing person after the ‘earthquake’

Lenora Residents

Aloma — Police officer in Lenora

Angela — Student at Lenora Hills High School. She is in El and Will’s year. She bullies El

Carol Ergenbright — Resident of Lenora

Chad — Student at Lenora Hills High School. He is friends with Angela

Franco — Police officer in Lenora

Jake — Student at Lenora Hills High School. He is dating Angela

Kate — Student at Lenora Hills High School

Mrs. Gracey — History teacher at Lenora Hills High School

Paul — Student at Lenora Hills High School

Stacy — Student at Lenora Hills High School. She is friends with Angela

Utah Residents

Cornelius Bingham — Suzie’s younger brother

Eden Bingham — Suzie’s older sister

Mr. Bingham — Suzie’s father

Sterling Bingham — Suzie’s younger sister

Suzie Bingham — Dustin’s girlfriend

Tabitha Bingham — Suzie’s younger sister

Tanner Bingham — Suzie’s younger brother

Tatum Bingham — Suzie’s younger sister

Peter Bingham — Suzie’s younger brother

Unnamed Bingham — Suzie’s younger sister

Russians

Alexei — Russian scientist. He is killed July 1985

Dmitri Antonov (“Enzo”) — Formerly a guard at the soviet prison camp in 1986

Grigori — Soldier and hitman. He is killed by Hopper in 1985

Ivan — Guard at the soviet prison camp. He is killed by the demogorgon in 1986

Katinka — Yuri’s former lover

Melnikov — Warden at the soviet prison camp. He was killed by either demodogs or a demogorgon in 1986

Mikhail Antonov — Dmitri’s son

Stepanov — Major General in 1985

Oleg — Prisoner at the soviet prison camp. He is killed by the demogorgon in 1986

Ozerov — Colonel in 1985. He interrogates Steve and Robin underneath Starcourt

Yuri Ismaylov — Smuggler

Zharkov — Doctor working underneath Starcourt. He administered the drugs to Steve and Robin in s3. He is killed by Dustin in 1985

Kali’s Gang

Axel — A member of Kali’s gang

Dottie — A member of Kali’s gang. She is the newest member

Funshine — A member of Kali’s gang. He’s described as a softie by Kali

Kali Prasad / “Eight” — Formerly one of the children at the lab. She escaped sometime between 1975 and 1979

Mick — A member of Kali’s gang

Other

Alexis McMurry — Head psychiatrist at Pennhurst Asylum in 1959

Alice Gilbert — A girl who stood up Hopper in the ninth grade

Andrea Knoll — Reporter for the Journal Tribune

Anthony Hatch — Warden at Pennhurst Asylum 

April Kline — Reporter

Bill — Hopper’s ex-wife’s second husband

Cathy — It’s mentioned in s1 that Nancy wore Karen’s heels to her birthday. Unclear if she’s a friend or relative; it’s possible she’s the “Cath” Karen talks to in s2

Cathy Owens — Sam Owens’ wife

Chaz — A friend of the Surfer Boy Pizza Employee in Nevada

Chrissy Carpenter — Went to Hawkins High with Hopper. She slept with Hopper once

Darrel — Cashier at Oscar’s Gas & Go, the store Kali and El rob for supplies

Denise — Waitress at the Nevada diner that El and Owens visit

Hicks — A member of the US Army

Jack Sullivan — Lieutenant Colonel for the US Army

Jeremiah — A sixteen year old boy in Murray’s karate class

Lawrence Brantley — Professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Nancy and Robin pretend to be two of his students to get into Pennhurst

Megan Hamilton — Reporter for the Journal Tribune

Mr. Cooper — A teacher at Hawkins High when Hopper and Joyce were in school

Mrs. Hargrove — Billy’s mother. She is shown in flashbacks during s3 but not named

Ms. Ratliff — Hopper’s science teacher while he was in school

Peter Owens — Sam Owens’ son

Ricky — Cashier at 7/11 in s3

Todd — Guy at the 7/11 in s3. He has a car with the license plate “TODFTHER”

Deceased (characters that are dead prior to November 1983)

Alice Creel — Henry Creel’s sister. He killed her in March 1959. It’s stated that she was 15 when she died, though her actress was 11

Jack Driscoll — Doris Driscoll’s husband. He died in 1975

Sara Hopper — Hopper’s daughter. She died at age 7 in 1978

Virginia Creel — Henry Creel’s mother. He killed her in March 1959. She was only 36 when she died

Pets

Chester — The Byers’ dog. It is unknown what happened to him

Mews — The Hendersons’ cat until she was eaten by Dart in 1984 (deceased)

Tews — The Hendersons’ second cat

Yurtle — Dustin’s turtle

Canon to the Books

Suspicious Minds (to be updated)

Andrew Rich — Eleven’s biological father

Bill Ives — Eleven’s maternal grandfather 

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Captain LaVorgna — Hopper’s boss in New York

Leroy Washington — A member of Saint John’s organisation who goes to the police to help. He is Martha’s brother

Lisa Sargeson — A parent of a classmate of Sara’s. She works as a magician and psychiatrist

Jacob Hoeler — A special agent who is murdered by a serial killer

Janice McGann — A parent of a classmate of Sara’s. 

Martha — Leroy’s sister. A member of Saint John’s organisation who is trying to get her brother out

Rosario Delgado — Hopper’s partner in the NYPD

Saint John — A Vietnam vet turned serial killer

Special Agent Gallup — A special agent investigating 

The Palmer Family — A rich couple with twins named Susan and Bill. Their children are in Sara’s class

Runaway Max (to be updated)

Ben — Max’s friend

Eddie — Max’s friend 

Nate Walker — Max’s first best friend

Sam Mayfield — Max’s father 

Silas — Billy’s friend

Wayne — Billy’s friend

Rebel Robin

Charles — Hauser’s boyfriend

Craig Whitestone — Member of Hawkins High’s marching band. He’s shown to be a bully. He’s a junior in September 1983

Dashiell James Montague, Jr (“Dash”) — Someone Robin goes to school with and fellow member of band. He’s dating Kate 

Ellie Bledsoe — Milton’s younger sister

Jennifer Vaughn — Member of Hawkins High’s marching band. She plays the clarinet

Jennifer — Student at Hawkins High. She’s friends with Tammy Thompson

Jessica — Student at Hawkins High. She’s friends with Tammy Thompson

Jimmy Blythe — Student at Hawkins High

Kate — Robin’s best friend in school and fellow member of band

Keri — Worker at Hawkins Theater

Matthew Manes — A boy who spends most of his time at the roller rink. Robin once said she had a crush on him when she panicked after someone asked her to name her crush

Melissa Buckley — Robin’s mother 

Milton Bledsoe — Robin’s friend in school and fellow member of band. He has an older brother and a younger sister.

Minerva — Robin’s grandmother. It’s not stated whether it’s her father’s or mother’s mother

Miss Garvey — Teacher at Hawkins High

Miss Genovese — Band teacher at Hawkins High

Ned Wright — Robin’s classmate. He’s in Click’s class with her

Ned — Manager at Scoops Ahoy

Nicole Morrison — Member of Hawkins High’s marching band. She plays the clarinet

Richard Buckley — Robin’s father 

Roy — Student at Hawkins High. He’s a junior. He hits on Robin on the school bus

Ryan Miller — Member of Hawkins High’s marching band. He plays percussion

Sheena Rollins — Member of Hawkins High’s marching band

Tom Hauser — English teacher at Hawkins High 

Wendy DeWan — Member of Hawkins High’s marching band. She’s in the year above Robin. She plays the clarinet

Lucas on the Line

Anita Demario — Jay’s younger sister

Cason Walker — Dustin’s peer mentor

Charlie — A member of the basketball team. He plays point guard

Gunner Lane — Mike’s peer mentor 

Jermaine Demario (“Jay”) — Lucas’ peer mentor. An older student at Hawkins High and a member of the basketball team until he moves schools 

Lee Garroway — A freshman and a racist member of the basketball team

Mark — A member of the basketball team. He is able to stuff 104 skittles into his mouth. He is shown to be a bully

Mr. Lansdale — Lucas’ homeroom teacher 

Mr. Theo — Assistant coach of the Hawkins Tigers junior varsity team

Noah — A member of the basketball team

Flight of Icarus (to be updated)

Al Munson — Eddie’s father

Paige — TBD

[gh0stbunnywriter]

Stranger things au where everything is the same except instead of Billy, Max had a cool lesbian older sister that smacked the shit outta their dad and became a cool chaotic parental figure for the group and slams Respecting Women juice with Steve on the daily (also gives robin a cool love intrest because vickie is mid)

[arickaandherfictionalothers]

Little merman AU: mysterious fathoms below-!

(Aricka x Billy)

(Little Mermaid au! Aricka is a princess, Billy is a merman. The story is the same but different.)

It was a beautiful day in the ocean near Westerly Kingdom. Seagulls swarmed overhead, dolphins jumped to and fro, and out of the fog, a glorious ship emerged- Liberty’s Reign, owned by the fair princess, Aricka Munson. She was as beautiful as the sunrise, gentle as a whisper; and as fierce as a hurricane. She longed for adventure in open waters, to explore what might lay beyond the boundaries of her kingdom.

But more than that: she longed for someone who would adventure with her. Oh, her brothers and friends were fine company, but she wanted love. True Love. Like her mother and father shared.

She looked on the deck below, and smiled as she heard the thrumming music of the sailors and her dearest companions, walking down to join them.

“I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue-!” She cries; and the sailors join in,

“An' it's hey to the starboard, heave ho!

Brave sailor, beware, 'cause a big 'uns a-brewin'

Mysterious fathoms below!

Heave ho!”

Aricka’s dearest friend, Steve, a merchant by trade and a sailor by heart, walks over and joins her,

“I'll sing you a song of the king of the sea-!” And two of their closest friends- Robin, a servant in Aricka’s court; and Dori, the royal musician- join them,

“An' it's hey to the starboard, heave ho!” Eddie swings in on a rope, landing gracefully by his sister, bowing low as he takes his solo,

“The ruler of all of the oceans is he-!”

And the friends move to their respective tasks, singing as they went,

“In mysterious fathoms below!

Fathoms below, below!

From whence wayward westerlies blow!

Where Triton is king

And his merpeople sing

In mysterious fathoms below!” Aricka’s younger brother, Mike, was not accustomed to the sea life; and was currently leaned over the side, in a most uncomfortable predicament- he was seasick.

“Isn’t this perfection Mikey? Out on the open sea, surrounded by nothing but water?” Aricka asks. Trying to cheer him up.

The boy- well; hardly a boy anymore, at eighteen years her brother was well on his way to being a man- gives her a dry look. “Oh, yes, it’s simply...delightful...” before leaning back over and expelling more of the contents of his stomach.

Aricka runs to the bow of the ship, climbing up the bow-spirit and clinging to a rope as she sings out,

“The salt on your skin

And the wind in your hair

And the waves as they ebb and they flow!

We’re miles from the shore

And guess what – I don’t care!” From the starboard part of the ship, Mike grumbles,

“As for me, I’m about to heave ho!”

“Back to work!” Robin orders, all the sailors heeding her command.

Dori, Steve and Robin lead the next part; Eddie grabbing his sister’s hands as they swing around the main deck,

“I’ll sing you a song of the king of the sea

An’ it’s hey to the starboard, heave ho!

The ruler of all of the oceans is he

In mysterious fathoms below!”

Mike scoffs, “King of the sea? Why, that’s nautical nonsense – nothing but a superstition!” Robin waggles a finger, cautioning,

“The king of the ocean gets angry

An’ when he gets angry, beware!

I’m tellin’ ya, lad, when King Triton is mad

How the waves’ll buck, rock to and fro!” Dori and Steve join her,

“Hold on, good luck, as down you go!” Aricka cuts them off as she hears something- a beautiful, haunting melody, seeming to be heard only by her,

“What is that? Do you hear something?” Mike rolls his eyes,

“Sister, please. Enough sea-faring! You’ve got to get back to court – to honor our mother’s wishes and take up her crown!” Aricka and Eddie share a Look and roll their eyes.

“That’s not the life for me, Mike—There it is again!” She clings to the starboard side, leaning over as far as she could. Steve and Dori exchange a worried look.

“We ought to head back to shore, your majesty.” Steve proposes.

“Indeed, we should!” Mike agreed. Aricka scoffs,

“Not while I’m captain. Now follow that voice! To the ends of the earth if we have to!” Robin and Eddie share a grin before the former replies,

“Aye-aye, Captain!” And the sailers resume their work as the finish their song,

“There’s mermaids out there in the bottomless blue

An’ it’s hey to the starboard, heave ho!

Watch out for ‘em, lad, or you’ll go to your ruin

Mysterious fathoms below!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@astralshipper @rosieshipper @hyperionshipping @yeehawselfshipping @letsgofoletsgo @tsundere-selfship @callsign-revenge

[damn-stark]

Ch.13 Let’s be heroes. Again

Chapter 13 of Strange

A/N- it’s gonna be a ride :) and definitely don’t listen to Mary by Big Thief

Warning- Angst, swearing, FLUFF!! Talks of murder and death, grief and guns, just sweet wholesome makeout scene.

Pairing- Steve Harrington x Hopper!fem-reader

Episode- 4x02, 4x03 (half)

(Let me know if you wanna be tagged)

————

The dream always starts off the same every night; you’re with Steve and Eleven, you see Joyce and Bauman walking out, but rather than having your father missing, he walks out talking to some old Military friend.

When you and your sister walk out of the ambulance to meet up with him, he spots you both and meets you halfway to take you in for a big group embrace, making sure neither of you feel left out. He kisses the top of your heads and whispers a nickname he’s adapted to the both of you now. “My little valentines.”

If someone were to ask to describe how he smells like, you’d be able to name every scent from the top of your head; sweat, blood, cigarettes, but under that lays his unique smell, cigarettes of course, cheap man cologne, pinecones and wood. It’s so comforting now when he’s gone.

When he pulls away he has his hands on your shoulders and takes a minute to check on the both of you. Eleven didn’t get any more physical injuries but he sees the bright red bruise around your throat and quickly worries. “What happened?”

“The guy you warned me about, the one from the diner,” you let him know. “You were right, he was bad news.” You scoff in amusement but neither of them find it so amusing.

“My fault,” Eleven interjects out of guilt. “I couldn't help her when she needed me. She helped me and she got hurt.” More tears stream down her cheeks, but you quickly turn to assure her without any complaint.

“No, it wasn’t your fault, it was just the monster. You tried, that's all that matters, I don’t blame you.”

Hopper would smile at the interaction, at his daughters comforting one another. He'd be proud.

“You,” Eleven then focused back on him. “Are you okay?” She’d grab his face to look at the blood better.

“Nothing some painkillers won’t help,” he’d tried to comfort the both of you. “And a good night's rest.” He’d cup your cheeks and smile a soft smile that made you cry and spill out the truth you had withheld for later but seemed right to say now.

“I forgive you, you know that dad,” you swallow thickly and muster a wobbly smile. “I was scared I’d never see either of you again today, I can’t go on not telling you. I’m sorry for being so mean, I’m sorry for being such a bad daughter.” You cry and he quickly hugs you tightly, he’d whisper something, but that’s where the dream always ended, you’d wake up in California, in the darkness of your room.

The tears stopped spilling after a while, but the disappointment that your dream isn’t real, that you now have to live without saying that you forgive him never leaves your heart. It’s why it’s easy getting angry at him for breaking his promise to you, for leaving again, because of guilt.

——

“Okay, wait, wait, where are you planning to stay for the week?” Steve finally asks you. “You,” he begins to suggest with a smirk and his eyebrows raised as he walks over to you by the desk inside the back room. “Want to stay with me? I mean my parents won’t care anymore.”

You grab onto the edge of the desk and tilt your head with a smile decorating your features. “Well, I don’t know, I agreed to stay with Robin already.”

“I mean,” Steve sighs, “yeah, sure out of respect for the Chief, may he Rest In Peace….”

Your smile falters and you blink.

“…but come on, you’re eighteen, almost nineteen, I think it’s more than alright, I give you permission.”

You snort and narrow your eyes. “Are you my daddy now or something?”

Steve rests his hands beside yours, letting his body hover over yours and letting his eyes hold yours while he offers you a sly grin. “I absolutely can be your daddy, it says so on the mug!”

You look into his eyes as you stay quiet for a few seconds before you burst out laughing. Steve of course rolls his eyes and instantly shoots you a remark. “Oh come on, really?! You know…” he scoffs and pushes himself back. “I’m done. I’m done. I can’t even flirt with you without having you laugh.”

“What?” You exclaim. “It’s funny, Steve! Come on! I think laughter is the greatest form of intimacy. I…love that you can make me laugh.” You push yourself off from the desk and walk over to him to grab him by the collar of his shirt and pull him back to where you were. “I’ll stay with you if it’s really okay. I wanted to since the beginning but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. I’ll let Robin know.”

Steve smiles at you and tilts his head to continue talking. “Good, I didn’t trust the two of you together.”

“Oh,” you breathe out, “why not? You scared she’s going to win me over with her funny jokes, or her boobies?” You laugh.

“Both….Yeah, both.”

“Don’t worry,” you tell him as you wrap your arms around his neck and he grabs you by the waist. “As funny as Robin is, you will always be funnier to me. Besides, I….” You pause and want to tell him what you feel, what’ve you held yourself back from saying, but everytime, every single time you want to utter the words to him or anyone else….a memory from a few years ago, one from eight months ago re-emerges, it haunts you and makes it impossible for you to utter those three simple yet meaningful words.

“….I think,” you chose to say instead, “your hair alone out beats her boobies everytime.” You shrug. “Just saying.”

Steve brushes his hair back and hums. “Yeah, I can see why, it’s a killer with the ladies.”

“Is it?” You press him. “Well they have not seen what’s underneath your shirt,” you smirk and bounce your eyebrows. “I love the hair on the chest too,” you whisper. “Or how incredibly sappy you—”

“Shut up and just kiss me already,” Steve cuts you off and leans in to kiss you, but right as he pressed his lips against yours the door slammed open.

“Hey!” He instantly snapped back as he swung his head in the door's direction. “Knock! Knock!”

“Steve, no, I don’t care! We need to—” the familiar voice you instantly recognized as Dustin’s pauses to quickly change the subject. “Hey, who the hell are you with?! You better not be—”

You poke your head past Steve’s arm and shoot Dustin a smile that cuts him off and makes him smile widely.

“Y/N!” He exclaims with glee. “You’re here!”

“I’m here!” You shout and push Steve’s arm away to walk over to Dustin and do your non-complicated handshake. “How are you doing?”

“Right now,” he scoffs and places his hands on his hips, “not good, definitely not good. It’s a good thing you’re here actually, we need the entire team for this.”

Your smile slowly falls but you manage to add a tightlipped smile and a nervous breathless chuckle. “For what?” You ask nervously, knowing what Hawkins liked to throw at you from time to time.

“Something that could be incredibly dangerous,” Dustin strains.

You scoff and really want this to be a joke, you really wish it would only be a fucking joke…

But of course it isn’t, or really that’s what Max and Dustin tried to convince you when they said that there's a possibility that someone didn’t kill the high school student from the news, someTHING else did. Something that made the lights flicker in Max’s house more than usual and got Dustin’s friend, Eddie so terrified that he just ran out of his own house.

“And just to make this perfectly clear,” you really try to make things clear. “You guys think that something sinister is behind this murder because the lights flickered and Eddie ran out?”

Dustin looks over from the computer and shoots you a pointed glare before he snaps back at you. “You don’t believe us? Why don’t you believe us?”

You shrug and lean back on the counter with your arms over your chest. “I don’t know maybe because sometimes, some events don’t have to have some sinister motive,” you imply. “Sometimes people can be shit for no reason. There doesn’t need to be some other reason behind it. Your friend Eddie could just be a killer. He was so scared of what he did that he ran out. Look at Ted Bundy, I mean he had friends, people would say he’s a nice guy, but look what happened.”

“She’s got a point,” Steve backs you up.

“No, I know that,” Max further tries to convince you and the others. “But if he was a killer then why run? Why not hide the body?”

“Between me and you four, Eddie is a…” you lean your head forward and whisper. “A drug dealer, he deals to people at school. He could’ve been high, got paranoid and ran. Easy.”

Dustin eyebrows furrow and he fully turns around on the chair to probe. “Yeah, and how do you know that?”

You smirk and shrug, choosing to leave that unanswered and continue. “All I’m saying is, Eddie is like, a super super senior, he’s weird, and well there's a real possibility this was just a simple tragic small town murder. Nothing we can do about it.”

Dustin scoffs and rebuttals sharply. “Well I’m telling you Eddie would never do this. You’re judging him before you can even know him. It’s not fair. It seems spending too much time in the sun fried your brain.”

You blink and part your lips, feeling your face fall from surprise at the angry and annoyed tone of Dustin’s voice.

“Hey!” Steve interjects in your defense.

“Let’s just talk to him,” Max directs at you in a much kinder voice. “See what he has to say. Could be just what you’re saying, or something else. We can’t know if we don’t talk to him, so….could you help us? I know you came for vacation but if it’s nothing it’s just one day wasted.”

You draw in a deep breath and share a quick look with Robin and Steve before you exhale and give her your answer without even trying to think about it, because the truth is, you really can’t say no to them. “Fine. Fine, but if I am right, I’ll gloat.”

With a bit of dread, you slowly pull yourself away from the counter and help them call Eddie’s friends for any possible clue about where he’d be. But, if you have to be honest you really didn’t help them that much, you tried! You really actually tried, but well there was a distraction that would drift your attention away from time to time.

“You come here often?” Steve messed around with you from in front of the counter since he had been attending the customers while Robin made calls.

You push your sunglasses up and offer him a sweet smile as you reply in a sweet voice. “Well I try to, you see, there's this cute guy that works here, he’s got a killer smile and very nice hair.” You begin to trace circles on the countertop with your finger and smirk. “I’m just too shy to take things further; and what if he’s a douche who’s just messing with me? I’ve had my fair share with assholes so, what do you think I should do? Should I go with it? Or should I run the other way?”

Steve leans in and answers you a bit cocky. “I say you should go with it, who knows this guy might, I don’t know, be the complete opposite of a douche and want to, I don’t know, take things further with you too.”

A grin slowly spreads on your lips and just before you could add something else Max cuts you off, causing Steve to grumble, “Godammit.”

“Hey, guys, I might have found a lead,” Max shares with the group, making you turn around to face her with your elbows propped on the counter and your hands hanging off the edge.

“Seriously?” Dustin says with excitement.

“Yeah,” Max confirms and continues. “Apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there.”

“That sounds promising.” Robin interjects, “where does Reefer Rick live?”

“See, that’s the thing. No one knows. He’s more of a…a legend than someone that people actually know.”

“What about a last name?” Dustin questions Max.

“I don’t know that either,” she admits.

“Bet the cops know the last name,” Steve adds as he’s putting things away.

You scoff, “what?”

“Cops. I mean, listen, if this Reefer Rick is actually a drug dealer, I guarantee you he’s been busted at some point. Means he’s in the system.” Steve explains while he returns to the spot he was before.

Dustin gets up from his seat and repeats in kind of a rude manner, “the cops? Really, Steve? That’s your suggestion?”

Steve shrugs and continues to further explain his suggestion. “I think they should be filled in with on what we know, what’s going on.”

You fix your stance and can’t help but nod along. That though, gets you a glare from Dustin.

“You think Eddie’s guilty, don’t you?” Dustin directs at Steve and pushes you aside to confront Steve closer.

“Whoa, whoa.” Steve protests. “I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitutional shit. I just, you know think y/n’s right, and” he claps his hands and begins to rub them together. “I just don’t think we can rule it out.”

“That’s precisely what we’re trying to do here, Steve,” Max rebuttals him.

“And maybe,” Dustin bounces off Max. “We’d have a little bit more luck if you spent less time giggling, flirting and gazing into your girlfriend’s eyes and more time trying to find Eddie.”

You scrunch your eyebrows together and quip, “hey!”

They ignore you and Steve tries to defend himself instead. “Well first, it’s my girlfriend's first day back, okay, I missed her. And second, I’m also working because someone has to attend to the customers.”

“Especially if they’re babes, right?” Robin teases and looks between Steve and you to shoot a wink.

“Hey, no, not true,” he points at you and then focuses back on the group. “I'm in a committed and loving relationship, I don’t even look at girls. I attend to all the customers equally, babes and non-babes alike. We got a very big selection in here, okay. It can be super overwhelming for people.”

Robin pushes herself away from the counter as she agrees with Steve almost breathlessly. “Yeah, it can be.” She turns and sits in front of the computer, getting an immediate interrogating question from Max.

“What are you doing?”

“She’s just joking, you know that right,” Steve tries to assure you in a whisper as he leans towards you. “I don’t even look at anyone in any way. I don’t—”

“Steve,” you interrupt him. “I know, I trust you.” You offer him a smile before you walk up behind Robin and Max to look at the computer screen with them.

“Maybe we don’t need a last name,” Robin begins to explain as she types quickly and ends it with one last loud tap that makes different accounts begin to pop up on the blue screen. “Twelve Ricks have accounts here.”

“That’s a lot of Ricks,” Max muses.

“So,” Robin continues and taps on more keys. “Let’s narrow it down. Rick Alderman’s latest rentals are Annie and Dumbo. What are the chances our drug dealer has a family?” She turns her head to direct her question at Max; who quickly turns her down.

“Not likely.”

Robin then continues to tap on more keys that brings on more information. “All right. Rick Conroy. Sixteen Candles, Teen Wolf, and Romancing the Stone.”

You all disagree at the same time so she continues.

“Okay. Rick Joiner. Mask, Footloose, and Grease.”

The other three disagree but you simply just express, “meh, maybe.”

They all look at you and you look at them and shrug. “What? I mean we can’t judge right? People have different tastes.”

Dustin shakes his head and just mutters, “I highly doubt a drug dealer watches Footloose.”

You shrug again and mumble, “don’t judge.”

“Just ignore her,” Steve interrupts your argument to let Robin continue.

“Rick Kimbrough. The Blue Lagoon and Splash.”

Steve and Dustin laugh and Max answers, “definitely not.”

“Okay,” Robin continues with another account. “Rick Lipton. Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie. Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams and Cheech & Chong’s up in Smoke.”

Dustin chuckles and finally comes to a conclusion. “Bingo.”

“Lipton?” You query and lean in closer towards the screen.

“Spelled like the tea.” Robin explains. “2121 Holland Road.”

“That’s out by Lovers Lake.” Dustin points out.

“Middle of nowhere,” Max adds on.

Robin grins and agrees with pride. “It’s a perfect place to hide.”

Without further deliberating, Robin and Steve wait for the customers inside to leave the store so you could all leave and drive out to the address given.

“Oh my gosh,” you grin as you bring up a suggestion. “Can I drive?!”

Steve opens the driver's door and stops to look over at you with his arm on the top. “No. You can not.”

“What?” You quickly quip. “Why not? Joyce has been teaching me! And need I say! She’s an excellent and patient teacher, and I like to think I’m pretty good now!” You drum your fingers on the car roof and shoot him a grin and bat your eyelashes. “Please!”

Steve pretends to think about it but gives you the same answer. “Nope, but here, you can pick the music.”

It’s not what you wanted but it’ll work, so you get in the passenger seat and it doesn't take long at all to pick the first song—“Are you ready, Steve?” You tell Steve as you insert the cassette with a very nonchalant expression on your face.

Steve puts his own sunglasses on, and when he’s about to reverse out of the parking spot he meets your own gaze, covered by sunglasses and nods with his own face expressing nonchalance. “Uh-huh. Put it.”

“Oh god,” Dustin groans in disgust. “Please stop.”

You press play and the song instantly starts, letting Steve turn it up once he’s out of the parking lot.

“They’re so annoying,” Dustin complains over the music loud enough that Steve and you catch him.

And that only ends up making Steve and you look at each other to share a grin before he turns up the music louder so you both could jam out together a lot more chaotically, just to annoy Dustin.

*LATER THAT DAY*

Yeah, sure this freaky house by this eerie lake isn’t creepy whatsoever. Definitely does not scream out danger in any single way….

Damn, why does it have to happen this week. This is all shit.

You turn your flashlight away from the tree line and flash the bright light on the front door instead since Dustin has no hesitance whatsoever alerting the potential murderer you’re here.

“Okay,” Steve says after Dustin repeatedly keeps hitting the doorbell since no one was reacting inside. “Well, that’s settled. I guess he’s not here.”

Dustin then continues to repeatedly knock on the window and shout out, “Eddie! It’s Dustin!”

You huff out in annoyance and mumble, “great.”

Dustin continues to try and lure his friend out very loudly so you just choose to leave that annoying scene to slowly wander off on your own, even if this place gave you the complete chills, especially the small shed near the house. That especially grew goosebumps on your arm; but yet, you still slowly treaded towards it with your light shining in your hand.

“Hey, guys!” You call out for the others' attention when you stop just a few feet away from the shed that had a single light shining over the door, all scary like.

“Won’t hurt to check, right?” You suggest to the group when you know they’re behind you. “I mean we’re already out here.”

Steve sighs and pushes past you to lead the group forward. You don’t falter behind him, but Dustin makes sure to break you guys away so he could walk on ahead. And once you reach the metal shed, you only grow more wary when your light shines through small holes that appear to be made out of bullets.

“Hmm,” you hum and stroke your hand over the hole. “Bullet holes.” You peer over your shoulder and see Steve slowly pass you by, catching the same thing—“Not at all strange,” you murmur to him.

Steve quietly hums in agreement and points his head forward so you’d follow them towards the door, however, rather than following behind him you break off from the group that slowly stepped inside so you can continue to search the outside of the shed. Sure, there was nothing but dirt, twigs, trees and more dirt but well your curiosity got the best of you, and well who knows, Eddie could be hiding outside.

Or in the water…

You flash the light over the water but see nothing besides the gleam of your own light; so you tread on ahead, hearing the mumbles of your friends inside and then catching a wooden panels on the ground that was partially covered by dry leaves.

“Hmm.”

First, you make sure that no one unknown is behind before you crouch down, next you push all the leaves away and see that it's a wooden hatch, and that it’s closed with a rusted lock. Now, it isn’t your business, but locked things are sometimes important, and well their is a potential murderer around so you do the only logical thing and break the lock with end of your flashlight; it creates some noise, but between your lights and Dustin’s screaming earlier, anyone around is already alerted of your presence, and well, you aren’t disappointed by the shotgun inside even considering the noise.

Which is why you pick up the dusty shotgun to check it out with a partial sly grin.

Yet, neverthefuckingless! The shotgun has no bullets inside or within the hatch that was actually some kind of additional storage unit, great!

“Just fucking—”

As you’re about to finish your complaint the sound of twigs snapping behind you steals your attention. You freeze out of fear and slowly position the gun in your hand to push yourself up and spin around to face the noise, yet nothing was there, at least not when you turned. You try to keep searching between the trees but nothing. It was nothing.

Fuck.

You draw in a deep breath and when you’re about to exhale, the sound of people shrieking and screaming in terror traps your breath in your lungs and steals your attention towards the shed. You want—hope it was just your friends getting scared by something stupid they found, but you then hear Dustin yell something that contradicts that.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Eddie! Eddie! Stop!”

You glance back at the shotgun, and even if you have no bullets you hang onto the gun and turn to rush towards the door. The only reason why you slow down and turn off your flashlight is to sneak inside as you keep hearing that they’re distracted trying to calm Eddie down from probably trying to kill someone—just based on how panicked Dustin sounds.

“Eddie! Eddie! It’s me! It’s Dustin! This is Steve. He’s not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?”

At the sound of that comment you put your flashlight away and properly hold the shotgun to sneak past the door with a bit more haste. And as soon as you’re able to catch what’s going on, you notice Eddie pinning Steve to a wall with something pointed at his throat.

“Steve, why don’t you drop the oar?” Dustin commands, and Steve listens, however when the oar hits the ground Eddie just presses the weapon closer to Steve’s throat, making him groan and making your annoyance with Dustin heighten. It’s just, why does he bother not listening to you, of course Eddie’s dangerous, it doesn’t matter how much Dustin knows him.

“He’s cool. He’s cool,” Dustin continues to try and calm Eddie down, but that’s when you have had enough and push past Robin with the gun raised.

“Hey, asshole,” you sneer at Eddie without showing the fear you currently felt as you saw how close the knife was to Steve’s throat.

The young long haired man instantly snapped his eyes towards you and seemed to fix his grip around the knife.

“Drop the weapon or I'll put a bullet through you.” You warn him and pump the shotgun even if it’s empty, and that only makes Eddie’s eyes pierce furiously on you and forces Dustin to calm you down now too.

“No, no, y/n! Put the shotgun down!” Dustin tries to lower the gun for you but you slap his hand away and take a step closer.

“Let. Go.” You warn Eddie through gritted teeth as you keep holding his glare.

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asks in what sounds to be a shaky voice, but that emotion is barely heard.

“We’re looking for you.” Dustin answers him and steps beside you.

“We’re here to help.” Robin tries to assure him before Dustin continues.

“Eddie…”

Said man finally slides his eyes away from you and your shotgun to look at Dustin.

“…these are my friends. You know Robin, from band.” Dustin points back to said girl who imitates a trumpet sound. “And you know Y/N, you know, Chief Hopper’s daughter, remember,” he giggles nervously and points at you too, “Chief’s princess.”

You huff out in response and keep the shotgun pointed at Eddie.

“This is my friend Max.” Dustin finally points at the red head behind him. “The one who never wants to play D&D. Eddie, we’re on your side. I swear on my mother. Right, guys? Y/N?!”

You slowly roll your head to the side and just narrow your glare on Eddie when he keeps glancing back at you.

“Yes. Yes,” Max backed Dustin up nervously. “We swear.”

“On Dustin’s mother,” Robin interjects.

“Yeah,” Steve stammers to say too, “Dustin’s…Dustin’s mother.”

“Tell her to put the shotgun down,” Eddie directed at Dustin whilst his eyes drifted back to Steve.

“You put that knife down first,” you remark sharply.

Eddie looks back at you and he challenges your glare for a few tense seconds that keep your heart pounding and start to make your hands shake.

“Please,” you add in the nicest pleading voice you could muster since he wouldn’t let your boyfriend go.

The corner of Eddie’s lip twitches seconds before he lets Steve go and backs away, causing you to quickly lower the gun and rush over to Steve as he walks towards Robin and you.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” You quickly ask as you hold his shoulder and lower your head to try and take a look at his throat while he stays crouched, and looks down as he gasps for air.

“No, no…” Steve breathes out, “not even a knick.”

“Just scared you,” Robin tried to ease the tension since she felt nervous and fearful for his well-being too.

Steve nods while he keeps his hand on his throat.

“Here,” you say as you help him sit down. “Are you sure, Steve?”

Said man lets his eyes finally meet yours and he nods as he grabs your hand that stays on his shoulder. “I’m fine. Thank you,” he assures you. “Where you get the gun though?” He points at the gun hanging from your shoulder.

You scoff lightheartedly, but you still can’t shake your fear. “Outside. It’s empty though. I just wanted to help you. You’re okay, really?” You keep asking.

“Yes, babe I’m fine.”

You draw in a deep breath and nod before you slowly release a bit of that anger and fear when your breath unfurls out of your nose. “Okay,” you whisper and put the gun down to step aside and focus back on Eddie and Dustin as they talked not so far from you.

“We just want to talk.” Dustin tells Eddie in a calmer voice.

You keep your hand on Steve, but slide your hand to the back of his neck to gently caress his skin with your thumb when he lets go of you to rub his face and brush his hair back before he sits up straight.

“Okay?” Dustin continues seconds after he notices that Eddie seems to be lost in his own mind.

You can admit as you look at him, that he looks actually shaken up, but that could also be because of what he did—could’ve done.

When Robin notices what everyone else could see she approaches the duo and crouches down beside them to try and talk to Eddie too. “We want to know what happened.”

Eddie’s sniffles and finally looks over at Dustin to answer to Robin. “You won’t believe me.”

“Try us,” Max encourages him.

Eddie looks down and stays quiet for a bit longer, letting Steve stand up from his seat once he feels better so he can join you, and the other three huddling in front of Eddie before he began to slowly explain the reason why the girl, Chrissy was at his house, and all the events that led up the moment it all went strange.

“….Her body, just like, lifted up into the air and, uh…” Eddie slowly continued to say. “And she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones…uh, she…” he pauses again and whimpers as it gets hard to say what he saw. “Her bones started to snap. Her eyes, man. It…it was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling. I…I didn’t know what to do, so I…I ran away. I left her there.” He looks up at the group and scoffs before turning his head away. “You all think I’m crazy, right?”

Uh….a little.

“No,” Dustin assures him, “we don’t think you’re crazy at all—”

“No, don’t bullshit me, man!” Eddie cuts him off sharply. “I know how this sounds.”

“We’re not bullshitting you.”

“We believe you,” Robin adds on after Max.

A little…

Eddie exhales from frustration and Dustin just continues. “Look, what I’m about to tell you might be a little…difficult to take.”

Eddie looks up at him and slowly utters, “okay.”

“You know how people say Hawkins is…cursed?” Dustin continues saying. “They’re not way off. There’s another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours.”

“Like ghosts and shit?” Eddie questions Dustin without seeming to find any of what he’s saying amusing. He seemed to be believing him.

Max shakes her head and answers for Dustin, “there are some things worse than ghosts.”

Dustin nods and keeps his eyes on Eddie before he adds on more to his explanation. “These monsters from this other world…we thought they were gone. But they’ve come back before. That’s why we needed to find you.”

You want to add to the conversation, but you’re still pissed Eddie threatened to hurt Steve, so you stay quiet and keep glaring at him instead.

“If they’re back again,” Max says instead, “we need to know.”

“That night,” Robin begins to probe, “did you see anything?”

“Dark particles, maybe?” Max adds onto Robin’s comment, causing Eddie to shake his head and let Dustin explain more explicitly.

“It would almost look like dust, swirling dust.”

“No, man,” Eddie denies him and shakes his head, “there was nothing you could see or, uh…or touch. You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn’t move. It was like she…she was in a trance or something.”

“Or under a spell,” Dustin suggests.

“A curse.”

You furrow your eyebrows and swallow thickly at Eddie’s comment, in that moment going unaware of Steve stealing a glance at you since you slowly looked down at the floor.

“Vecna’s curse,” Dustin comments right after Eddie.

“Who’s Vecna?” Steve breaks his silence to question Dustin.

“An undead creature of great power.” Dustin shares.

Eddie tilts his head and slowly says, “a spell caster.”

“A dark wizard,” Dustin corrects him, leaving the room in a long tense silence.

Amazing…just truly amazing. Just what you needed for spring break.

Damn. Just when things were going okay.

“Great,” you whisper after a deep exhale. “Welcome back to freaking Hawkins,” you murmur to yourself before you turn to head back to the car, knowing that the others would follow soon.

You just—it was all just too much, too difficult and frustrating. The gate is supposed to be closed, Eleven closed it once after you first got here, Joyce and…Hopper closed it the second time, this can't be happening again. It’s not supposed to be happening again. No matter how much you doubted Hawkins' peace….it's just, this spring break was just supposed to be Steve and you, Robin and Dustin too when they’d visit...

It’s just not supposed to be happening again.

“Fuck,” you sigh and rest your head on the cars glass window to proceed to shut your eyes and release another sigh again, ignoring the twigs snapping this time and just taking a moment in silence all to yourself.

Just to think really, to wish…he’d be here too.

*8 MONTHS BACK*

“Now if his daughter would like to step up and share a few words?” The new Chief of police Calvin Powell spoke, and looked over at you. “Y/N? We’d love to hear from you.”

You clench your jaw and swallow thickly as you hesitate, as you sit at the front row frozen, numb with no tears in your eyes.

You had to do this again, in a span of two years.

It was tragic at your mothers funeral, but now, it feels worse, you did, you can’t even describe how exactly you felt now though. You didn’t even want to go up, but as you glanced at Eleven, you knew you had to at least share a few words, for her sake.

“Okay,” you mutter quietly, and then take out the letter you had written for today to slowly stand up and slowly head up the stage.

However, when you saw all those people looking up at you from their seats, when you saw the big picture of Hopper at the other side of the stage, you froze again, you wanted to run off stage and run home, listen to your music and just hide under your blankets. But…you can’t, she was here, waiting to hear what you had to say about your…dad at his funeral, you can’t let her down.

So you grip onto the edges of the paper and clear your throat, sparing one last glance at the front row where Steve offers you a sweet and assuring smile, and sweet Dustin offers you an encouraging thumbs up.

“Chief Jim Hopper,” you say in a voice that contained none of the emotions that tugged at your heart, you just sounded serious, nonchalant, almost unbothered. “He was a hero, not just to my sisters, but everyone here, everyone he saved from that mall fire.” You lick your lips and glance at the silent crowd. “He loved his job, he loved being the hero. Sure sometimes, just like everyone else, he got tired of his job, he’d complain after long days, but he loved being a hero to everyone in this town, and to us…to me…” you pause and stare at the rest of the speech you had left.

You want to finish what you wrote, you really want to, you have so much to say….but you can’t, you can’t even look at the words.

“And I know he’d be grateful to see how many people are here to thank him for his service,” you say instead and crush the letter in your hand. “I’m also grateful that every single one of you came in support of my…father,” your voice quivers. “Thank you, everyone. And I’m sorry to those he couldn’t save, I truly am.” You finish with a sniffle and stay put for a few seconds before you turn and head down the stage, seeing Robin and Steve waiting for you the moment you stepped off.

“That—that was good,” Robin complimented you softly, “very good, better than anything I could’ve written, you—”

You cut off her rambling with a hug and offer Steve a smile.

“Thank you,” you whisper to Robin as she slowly hugs you back. “Thank you for coming.”

“Of course, we went to hell and back together, you’re my friend, I wouldn’t think of missing this.”

You don’t let yourself cry, even if your face shows that sadness, you refuse to cry. You just let your body be enveloped in embraces, let your mind take in words; some empty, some full of pity, guilt, or sorrow. It was easy since it wasn’t new.

The one thing that wasn’t easy, or new was seeing Eleven be so stricken by grief, so heartbroken, it left you confused on what to do. You did have a sister before, but you hardly spent time with her, you never dealt with grief together, you weren’t left with the responsibility to take care of her like with Eleven.

You did try to provide comfort in hopes it was enough, but overall, you just didn’t know what to do with her…you hardly knew what to do with yourself.

——

“Hey, Joyce,” you greet through the phone, “I know it’s getting a little late, but can you check if Eleven is awake?”

“Yeah, of course,” she doesn’t hesitate to give in to your command, leaving the other end of the line silent for a little while.

When you do hear shuffling from the phone, you expect to hear your sister, but it was Joyce again. “I’m sorry, sweetie but she says she doesn’t feel like talking, I’m sorry.”

You sigh and turn to sit on the corner of Steve’s bed. “Okay,” you sigh with concern. “Is she okay? Did something happen?”

“I’m not sure, she left dinner today, she hasn’t come out since and hasn’t talked to anyone.” Joyce tries her best to give an explanation to Eleven’s silence. “But don’t worry, okay, I’m sure it’s just some teenage drama, nothing to worry about.”

You bite the inside of your cheek and nod as if she could see before just asking for one more thing. “Well at least put her on the phone so I can say goodnight, she doesn’t have to talk.”

“Okay,” Joyce agrees without protest.

And a few minutes later she gives you the okay to talk.

“Hey, El, it’s me, I know I promised to call earlier, so if that’s why you’re upset I’m sorry,” you mutter to the phone. “I’ll try and call tomorrow, okay? There’s just well,” you release a breathless chuckle. “Some stupid shit going on here, so if you don’t hear from me I’m just dealing with that…” you pause and sigh as you slouch down, catching Steve walking out from his bathroom in just grey joggers.

“If it’s what’s going on at school then….I guess you know, to make you feel better you can share your presentation with me, I’d love to hear it. And then we can make an Eggo extravaganza, I can’t say I’m as good as Hopper, but I’ll try,” you chuckle and continue. “We can watch whatever you want, okay? We’ll have a girls night, just you and me. Okay? I….” You swallow thickly. “I miss you. Goodnight.”

There’s silence on the other end besides the rustling, you expect maybe just a simple and dry good night, but nothing, just silence. That is before Joyce speaks up right when you planned to hang up.

“Y/N! I need to tell you something.”

You lift the phone again and slowly knit your eyebrows together when you hear the urgency of her voice.

“Okay,” you whisper. “What is it?”

“Uh, I’m going to Alaska…”

What?

“For a work trip!” She exclaims to the phone, making you sit up straight and blink in confusion before you stand up and cross your arm over your chest to hold your arm that held the phone. “It’s just, the Britanicas are there, in Alaska, and they asked me to go.”

“Oh, was it just now? Or before?” You ask her. “Because if it was planned you could’ve told me, I could’ve canceled my trip and stayed home.”

“It’s new, they asked me after you left, so don’t worry. Besides, Jonathan is in charge.”

Oh, amazing, Jonathan and a side of Palm Tree Delight.

You muster a fake smile and share a look with Steve as he walks close to you at the sound of your conversation.

“Oh, well, good,” you tell Joyce sarcastically. “As long as we’re not moving to Alaska,” you say with a nervous laugh, earning one just the same from her.

“No, no, just a trip! And actually I’m…” she pauses and leaves your lips parted and leaves you waiting. “I’m…”

“What?” You try to press her to continue as she was leaving you in anticipation. “Is everything okay?”

There's a bit more silence before her voice suddenly cuts in. “I’m going to be out of touch for a few days, okay? So this will be my goodbye for now, I’ll try and call when I’m back home. I’ll hopefully, just hopefully have something for you then.”

You huff out in amusement and smile. “Really? Well consider me excited for your return then! Have a good trip, I’ll wish for a promotion. Goodnight Joyce.”

“Goodnight sweetie.” Joyce then hangs up the phone, letting you put the phone back in its place and finally letting you exhale deeply before you fall back on the bed to stare at the ceiling.

Part of the mattress behind you sinks and from the corner of your eyes you see Steve lay down behind you with his head beside yours. “Is everything okay?” He asks you.

“Well,” you sigh, “hmm, Joyce is going to a sudden trip to Alaska,”

“Alaska?” Steve quips with just the same amount of confusion as you.

You hum and rub your face to then continue. “And my sister didn’t want to talk to me, she’s having trouble at school with some pack of bitches and she says that she’s okay, but I know she isn’t, but I don’t know how to help her…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…she’s a teenager and I’m stuck.”

Steve sighs. “Well…that’s a lot to unpack.”

“Yeah,” you groan. “I just needed to let it all out though. I’ll be okay, I’ll figure it out.” You turn around to lay on your side and smile at him before you brush his hair away from his eyes when he turns on his side too.

“Hey, hey,” he repeated while he held your hand in his. “Sure it’s a lot, but I’m here to hear it all, so let it all out.”

You smile softly and shake your head. “That’s all, really, besides I don’t want to stress out anymore tonight. I don’t want to talk about what happened, or what’s going to happen with this Vecna creep, let’s just please forget it exists for tonight. Just one night before it all goes to shit.”

Steve scoffs and rests your hands on his chest, causing his chest hair to tickle your knuckles. He then seems to want to talk but you cut him off abruptly when a thought visits your mind again..

“Actually no! No, I was so busy stressing out on our way here after finding Eddie, that I never got to ask how you feel about all this shit,” you mention while you use your hand to stroke your fingers through his damp hair. “What do you think?”

Steve sighs and looks away from you to watch the ceiling. “What can I feel? I mean it’s stressing sure, is it fucking scary that some dark wizard is cursing people, yes, but well, we’re in this shit already so we have to be okay with helping.”

You hum and glance up too. “So you believe Eddie?”

“With all we’ve dealt with, with how scared he sounded, how can’t I. You?”

You shrug. “I don't know. I should, a part of me does believe him, every logical part of me, but I don’t want to believe him…it may sound selfish but I just want him to be some freak so we can move on with our life, so I can enjoy my spring break with you and just take it easy.”

“Yeah,” Steve whispers in agreement. “I feel you. On our way back, when the car was silent, I wished it was just a joke, some lie he made up so we didn't have to deal with any of it, so I could enjoy my time with you….”

“But it’s…real,” you finish for him in a whisper. “Yeah.”

On the way back from Reefer Rick's place there was nothing to do but think of what Eddie said. It was too silent in the car not to. All that was shared between that tension was that you’d return tomorrow to keep Eddie updated, to check on him and brainstorm. There was no debating whether you’d all help, it was a given, even if you wanted to spend spring break oblivious to all of it you didn’t try to back out either.

“Well!” You bring up suddenly. “Actually, we’ll see if it is, he could be lying, you know. I’ll keep trying to read him tomorrow when we go back to visit him. Which,” you begin to complain, “why are we going so early?” You groan and get up to switch sides so you could lay beside him and rest your head on his shoulder.

Steve scoffs. “Ask Dustin, he was real bossy about it.”

You groan but muster a smile and sweet words. “I guess that as long as I’m with you, it isn’t that bad.”

Steve flips to his side to caress your cheek. “You guess? Wow. How romantic.”

You giggle and sit up to look down at him with a sly smile. “It isn’t bad at all! Happy?”

“Way to sound happy about it,” he grumbles and sits up too, letting you lean forward to press your forehead against his and keep grinning.

“It isn’t,” you assure him. “Truly. I enjoy being your partner in this hero shit.” You smirk.

Steve cups your cheek and smiles. “Yeah I do too,” he agrees in a soft and calm voice.

You look up from his lips to meet his gaze with a smile. It’s then that you see that he wants to lean in to close the gap, but you pull away to tease him by getting off the bed when you hear the melody of ‘Nothing Can Change This Love’ by Sam Cooke playing from his boombox.

Steve complains with a groan and an eye roll, but you simply ignore him for now and run to turn up the volume so he’d hear too.

“This is our song,” you make up, “want to dance?” You offer him your hand and he just looks at you with his eyebrow quirked and a tightlipped frown—“Please?”

Steve sighs and shakes his head. “I can think of something else we could do instead.” He shoots you a smirk, and you scoff and step towards him to grab his wrist to pull him off the bed.

“Oh please get your mind out of the gutter, we can do that later, just for this once entertain me and dance with me.” You smile at him and bat your eyelashes so you could convince him.

Steve does pretend to think about it but he then walks over to rewind the song so it’d play from the beginning again. “Fine,” he breathes out, “fine.” He grabs your hand and your waist to press you against him.

“This is still so embarrassing by the way. And our song?” He scoffs and shakes his head as he meets your gaze. “No, our song is, ‘Can’t Take My Eyes off You’, duh. You should know this. I can’t believe you forgot.”

You beam at him and just when you part your lips to add something, he cuts you off.

“I forgive you because I love you, so it’s okay this time.”

Your smile falters at his choice of words, and luckily he spun you out so you didn’t have the chance to say anything in that regard.

“Wow, you got moves Harrington, who’s been teaching you?” You tease him as you spin back in his arms.

“Well, there was Tracy,” he says in a teasing manner. “And Emily, but Rose was the better dancer.”

“Ah, I’ll thank her then.”

Steve tilts his head and smiles as his eyes roam your face—“I missed you,” he admits after a while.

You exhale deeply and smile sweetly at him before you share too, “I missed you too, more than you know.” You then press yourself closer against him to lay your head on his shoulder while you continue to sway to the music.

“Tell me,” Steve slowly says after a while of silence and letting the music just move you. “Dream house, how does it look like?”

You sigh but can’t help your smile. “Well. I did want to live in a sandcastle when I was young.”

“Sandcastle?” He mocks you and pulls his head back.

“I was like three okay? Five maybe,” you giggle as you share the truth.

“No, no, sandcastle sure, the stability would be amazing…”

“To be fair,” you add as you pull your head off his shoulders to meet his gaze, “my sandcastles were just made from my little red bucket, so like a single circle, y’know?”

Steve nods and then his eyebrows furrow deeper. “All I’m worried about is all that sand on our clothes, in our shoes, in my hair! In our eyes! Or imagine, a strong wind just blows, we’ll get crushed and die,” he chooses to keep entertaining you. “What then?”

You suck in air between your teeth and shrug. “True. Well a house by the beach then. Or by a lake surrounded by those big pine trees, some place not so secluded, a big yard, a lot of rooms for all of our child friends. Two living rooms, one for our huge tv, and the other can be a music room so we can dance and just jam out when we want.”

Steve hums before he softly says, “is that all?”

“I want the roof to be blue like the one I had in Oregon. And big windows so we can overlook the forest, or the ocean? What about you?”

“It doesn’t matter as long as I’m with you,” he doesn’t hesitate to share, making you look at him with your lips parted in disbelief.

“Wow,” you whisper, “wow, okay, now I feel a bit bitchy.”

“No don’t, I’m just a romantic, cant beat me,” he says with a shrug.

You snicker and move your hands to his neck to surprise him with a deep kiss before you turn him around to push him on the bed.

“Okay, well we’ll see about that,” you murmur against his lips before you begin to kiss again, feeling his hands travel to your hips as he leaned in for a more intense and hungry kiss that kindled a heat all over your body, and made your heart do somersaults.

There had been too much time apart between winter break and spring break, and every kiss showed that longing for one another, especially the ones you’d share when you’d be alone when you knew you wouldn’t be disturbed. Steve, especially showed that desperation for you, he’d try to be tender at first but he’d grow too impatient and take over, he’d be quick to get things heated and wouldn't be afraid to be rough with each kiss.

Yet, you love it, he drives you crazy, he makes you feel incredible euphoric things that make you see stars. Especially when he’d make those throaty sounds, like now as you grinded against him and tugged his hair, he let out a deep throaty groan that made your warmth burn more fiercely.

Every fluttery touch on your skin was more fuel.

Steve flipped you over when he got too impatient and made sure to slip off your shorts and the shirt he’d let you wear before he continued to take you in, letting you slide your hands up his chest to then snake them to his cheeks so you can pull him closer as you wrapped your legs around his waist.

A smirk appears on Steve’s features when he pulls away to catch his breath.

“I missed you,” you repeat to him between breaths. “So much.”

Steve shoots you a half sly grin and whispers against your lips, “I know,” before he gently bites your bottom lip and takes you in again.

*THE NEXT DAY*

The music in the car was quiet, the tension and impatience to get the early morning started was high, and it was especially noted in Dustin since Robin was taking a long time to get out of her house; and well he was a little too eager to get to his cerebro and then return to Eddie.

Max was nonchalant about the whole thing, she seemed annoyed, but maybe that's how she usually looked. Steve was just annoyed that Robin was taking long after the second honk, and you, well you still wished this would all be some scheme Eddie made, so you just tried to be as nonchalant as possible; you just turned up the music a little bit and continued to put on some light makeup whilst you waited with no desire to get things started.

“Could you,” Dustin grumbles from the backseat before he leans forward and honks at Robin again, causing you to pull your lip gloss wand away from your lips to slowly twist your head to shoot him a pointed glare.

“Do you mind? We’ve honked, she’s coming.”

“Not fast enough,” he grumbles again before he presses the honk and keeps the heel of his hand against the wheel, making Steve swat his hand away and complain.

“Hey, hey, enough! I think she and the rest of Hawkins heard you.”

Dustin huffs and sits back to continue bouncing his leg and stare out the window to watch out for Robin.

“Don’t worry,” you tell Dustin with a bit of spite whilst you finish putting on lipgloss. “I’m sure your friend won’t go anywhere, it benefits him having us help him.”

Suddenly Dustin leans forward again and makes you notice his glare that pierced into you. “You know, if you don’t believe him you're welcome to stay. But just know your dad would believe him.”

You put your lipgloss away but keep looking at yourself in the mirror while you argue back without hesitance. “Would he? This “curse” happened once, Hopper was more logical than that, even if he’s seen a thing or two.” You close the mirror and shift to squint your eyes on him. “He’d probably wait for a pattern, so I’m waiting for a pattern. If what Eddie said is true it’ll happen again, you can count on that.”

Dustin parts his lips to argue but you left him baffled so he stood speechless, letting Steve and you share a fist pump right before you caught Robin walking out of her house in a hurry.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” you hear the muffle of her voice as she approaches the car. “Sorry!” She opens the car door and Dustin huffs out.

“Finally! Jeez, you’re worse than y/n!”

You roll your eyes and turn around to look at Robin over your seat. “Hey, goodmorning, sweetheart.”

Robin smiles at you after she buckled herself in and greets you back after she takes a peek at your outfit “Good morning sweetheart, you looking good.”

You glance down at your halter neck denim jumpsuit and smile at her.

Robin then smirks and shoots, “break the bed?”

You mirror the gesture and catch Steve looking back with the same smirk. He looked like he was going to reply, but Dustin cut in all dramatically. “Eww, gross, we don’t need to know that. Keep it to yourselves!”

Robin and you share a look after Dustin’s remark before she lifts one paper bag and says, “strawberry poptarts anyone? I made a bunch.”

You smile and nod. “Please.” You sit back down as Steve drives towards Dustin’s cerebro and stretch your hand back to receive the warm poptart in your hand. “Thank you.” You look over at Steve and break the poptart in half. “Want some?” You offer him.

“Thanks, I guess,” Dustin whispers to Robin out of shame for being just a bit mean.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees to your offer, sparing a glance at you and opening his mouth as he looks back at the road. “Just put it in.”

You snicker and push yourself towards him to carefully place the piece of food in his mouth, instantly earning some groans from Max, and Dustin mainly.

“What man?” Steve argues with his mouth full of food. “First you’re basically begging me to get with her, now you’re complaining because we’re together!”

“No,” Dustin protests and takes a bite of his food. “It’s not that. You guys are together, great! But please stop being so…so.”

“Gross,” Max finishes for him.

Robin scoffs. “I think it’s kind of cute, you know, our friends are like, happy and in love, it’s adorable.”

“Unless you’re jealous,” you throw at Dustin as you look back at him with a playful smirk. “I mean, your girl is miles away, all you can do is talk to her through the radio, you see Steve and me and you just wish you could be this cute. It’s okay.”

Dustin's eyes narrow on you and he shakes his head. “No,” he deadpans. “That’s not it at all.”

Steve scoffs, “sure.”

Robin coughs out, “jealous.”

The smile on your face turns wider and prouder. “See,” you tell Dustin. “Easy, but it’s okay. It’s okay, you’ll see her again, and when you’re all sweet with her just know I’ll be happy for you.”

Dustin stares at you with his lips parted but he doesn’t say anything, his eyes are just squinted, but he stays quiet, leaving the rest of the car ride to his radio in that silence.

After arriving is when thick tension mixed with the silence, hearing the chatter about the ongoing investigation put a stress on everyone, even on you, no matter how much you wanted to deny it all. They didn’t say more than you expected, but they said enough to put everyone on edge.

You can’t imagine how the number one suspect is going to feel hearing what you learned. No one suspected it’d be easy to hear, which is why Dustin decided to buy him a lot of junk food. He said it’d probably make him feel better as he heard the news.

“So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news.” Dustin began to tell Eddie as he scarfed down a bag of dry cereal. “How do you prefer it?”

“Bad news first, always,” Eddie responded before taking a drink of his yahoo.

“All right,” Dustin continued, “bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they’re definitely looking for you. Also, they’re, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy.”

Max nods along and also decides to strengthen that claim. “Like, a hundred percent kind of convinced.”

“Yeah,” you scoff with a bit of callous, “I wonder why.”

Eddie’s eyes slide over to you and then to Dustin. “She doesn’t believe me, does she?”

Dustin opens his mouth to assure his friend but you talk first. “She is just being logical. I mean Chrissy walks into your house and never walks out, so, yeah.” You feign a smile and nod stiffly. “It’s hard to really trust what you’re saying.”

Eddie looks over at you and his face twists, but he doesn’t get a chance to respond because Dustin interrupts him. “Just ignore her, her anger issues get the best of her sometimes, and well it’s the Hopper within her. She’s cool when she warms up to you, promise.”

You roll your eyes, and sigh before putting your sunglasses on and leaning back on the old wooden pillar with your arms crossed over your chest and your foot pressed against it.

You catch Eddie spare you one last glance before shifting in his seat and returning his attention back on Dustin.

“And the good news?” He finally is able to ask.

“Your name hasn’t gone public yet,” Robin answers him. “But if we found out about you, it’s a matter of time before others do too. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you.”

“Hunt the freak, right?” Eddie muttered.

Robin nodded. “Exactly.”

Eddie hisses, “shit.”

“So, before that happens,” Dustin tries to assure him. “We need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence.”

Yeah, you still don’t know how you’re all going to execute that. It’s a lot easier said than done, especially because in order to prove that Eddie is innocent you need proof, you can’t imagine it’d be easy convincing a town that some upside down dark wizard did it. Unless of course you use the same tactics Hopper’s Military friends use to hide truths to the town.

They’d be great right about now too

“That’s all, Dustin?” Eddie snapped. “That's all?”

“Yeah,” he nods, “no, that’s pretty much it.”

“Listen, Eddie,” Robin chimes in, “I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we’ve actually been through this before. I mean, they have a…a few times, and…and I have once. Mine was more human-fleshed-based and theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we got this.”

“Yeah, see,” Steve adds, making Eddie look over. “We usually rely on this girl; my girl's sister,” Steve points at you. “who has super powers. But, uh, those went bye-bye, so…”

“So,” Robin interrupts Steve. “We’re technically in more of the—”

“Kinda,”

“Brainstorming phase,” you interject to stop their rambling, making Steve snap his fingers at you and nod along to confirm your comment.

“Brainstorming!”

“There…” Dustin splutters, “there’s nothing to worry about.”

Steve scoffs along and puts on his best assuring smile that doesn’t seem to convince Eddie, at all.

And who would believe you, it all sounded so messy right now. You knew you wouldn’t be comforted by what your friends were just saying.

Eddie seemed like he wanted to express the same thing, but before he could, the sound of the sirens that began to sing in the distance stole everyone’s attention, forcing Eddie to hide under the tarp and causing you and the other four to run to the nearest window to watch as Police and ambulances drove right by, too many of them. It piqued everyone’s curiosity.

“Do you think?” Robin began to ask what you were all thinking.

“Yeah,” you agree without waiting to hear what she had to say. “There's a lot of them, could be.”

“Well, there’s your pattern,” Dustin mumbled to you as the last car drove by.

You scoff and pull away. “We’ll see.”

Not long after that you and the others, except for Eddie of course, rushed out of the shed to get in the car and drive towards the crime scene. Luckily enough it wasn’t far, however, when you all climbed out of the car you caught the barricades, all the police swarming around, and finally the cover over the body. That could mean one thing.

And funny enough Nancy was in the middle of it all.

——

“So you’re saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it’s from the Upside Down?” Nancy asked after you had all caught her up on the latest information you had learned in the past few hours.

“If the shoe fits,” Steve says.

“Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell, or a curse,” Dustin shares. “Now, whether or not he’s doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don’t know.”

You shift in your seat on the wooden bench that was close to Max’s trailer house and lean in to add, “all we know is this is something different. Something new.”

“So you believe it now?” Dustin pesters you, making you swallow thickly and shrug.

“There was a pattern, right? I needed more evidence. I got that today…” you pause and look over at him after you sigh to murmur, “Sorry.”

You can’t deny it now, it wasn’t Eddie. No matter how much you didn’t want any of this to be real again.

“Tell that to Eddie.” He snaps with a smirk on his face.

You shift your eyes away and just respond with a sigh that let Nancy continue.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

Dustin shakes his head and remarks. “It’s just a theory.”

“No, Fred and Chrissy don’t make sense. I mean,” Nancy continues and glances over at Steve and you. “Why them?”

“Maybe they were just in the wrong place,” Dustin suggests. “They were both at the game.”

“And near the trailer park,” Max adds.

“We’re at the trailer park,” Steve points out, making you draw in a deep breath as you grow uneasy—“uh, should we maybe not be here?” Steve says.

You exhale and look down at the wooden table to hear what Nancy had to continue saying, something that just made you feel worse. “There is something about this place. Fred started acting weird the second we got here.”

You look up at her and press her to finish her sentence. “Acting weird as in?”

“Scared,” she mentioned, “on edge, upset.”

“Max said Chrissy was upset too,” Dustin brings up.

“Yeah but not here,” said girl corrects him, “she was crying in the bathroom at school.”

Robin leans in and adds her comment right after, earning your attention. “Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right? So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman—”

“Vecna,” Dustin corrects her.

“Dunno about you guys,” Steve interjected as he scratched his cheek, “but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone.”

“Maybe they did,” Max says. “I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley’s office. If you saw a monster, you…you wouldn’t go to the police. They’d never believe you. But you might go to your—”

“Your shrink,” you finish for Max, making her nod in agreement—“the one question I have is…why them though? I mean a serial killer for example, in some cases have specific qualities they look for in their victim. Chrissy and Fred were completely different.”

“Maybe It's not physical qualities,” Nancy helps you out.

You meet her gaze and share a faint smile. “Maybe they’re mental,” you finish her sentence.

“Exactly.”

“We can go to the school shrink,” Max suggests. “I go with her sometimes, so she’ll let me in after I say I need to talk.”

“Okay,” you nod in agreement for everyone else, “it’s safe so okay, let’s go.”

Without hesitance everyone stands up to head towards the car, however right when you were reaching Steve’s car, Nancy drifts away from the group and Steve is the first to say something about it.

“Whoa, whoa, Nance. Nance!” He goes after her and it causes her to stop, along with you and the others. “Nance, where are you going?”

“Oh,” she says and turns to face him. “There’s just something I wanna check on first.”

“Something you wanna share with the rest of us?” Dustin quips.

“I don’t wanna waste your time,” Nancy assures the group. “It’s a real shot in the dark.”

“Yeah, okay. Are you out of your mind? Flying solo with this Vecna creep on the loose? No, it’s too dangerous. You need…you need someone to…” Steve tells her, causing you to blink repeatedly in a bit of confusion to how insistent he was being.

It could be nothing, it’s just your jealousy acting up over nothing, he’s just looking out for her.

Steve turns around after he pauses to throw Robin his keys.

“Here. I’ll stick with Nance all right? You guys take the car, check out the shrink.” Steve continues to say.

It was nothing…

But he didn’t even ask you to go or tell you anything about his sudden plan to volunteer himself to be Nancy’s partner, he didn’t even look over at you, he just threw himself at her without question.

But it’s…nothing, right?

You can’t be jealous over nothing, he’s with you now, he doesn’t have feelings for her anymore, he’s told you he’s loved you even if you haven’t told him.

It’s not because you don’t, it’s just…it’s…just you can’t…

Maybe that’s why he wanted to go with her…he feels like you don’t love him…and she once did…

But no! No, it’s…nothing….

“Don’t think you want me driving your car,” Robin protests.

“Why?” Steve queried.

“I don’t have a license.” Robin tells him.

“Why don’t you have a license?”

“I’m poor,” Robin simply says. “Y/N, you want to drive?”

You shake your head and share the same thing she did. “I don’t have my license either.”

“I can drive,” Max chimes in, causing Steve and you to deny her right away at the same time.

“No.”

“Never again. Please.” Steve continues to tell her. “Anybody but you. No.”

Dustin shares a look and a shrug that Steve understands and

chooses to turn him down. “No chance.”

“Come on,” Dustin pleaded.

“No.”

“All right, okay. This is stupid.” Robin interrupts their banter and walks to take Dustin’s walkie from his backpack and then walk over to Steve to hand him back his keys and finally look over at you.

“Us ladies will stick together. coming?”

You look over at Nancy, and no matter how much you’ve been trying to convince yourself that it’s all stupid jealousy, you can’t help but feel a bit of anger ignite in the pit of your stomach. That’s what makes you backup and give a dry answer.

“No, someone has to watch over them.”

“Okay, good then.” Robin answers and walks towards Nancy. “Unless you think we need you to protect us.” Robin directed at Steve.

However, Steve didn’t answer Robin and it made her laugh before she turned to walk off, causing Nancy to share one last look with Steve before she turned to walk off too—you didn’t know if it was lingering, longing, or what, but they shared a look before she turned to walk off, leaving him gawking at her retreating figure, and leaving you to just watch….

Just watch how he looked at her leave.

This couldn’t be nothing any more. At least it didn’t look that way to you.

And apparently your anger, the hurt was obvious because Dustin looked over and noticed the look on your face that you failed miserably to hide. He didn’t say anything about it though, and well you did look away and walked towards the car to wait inside before he could say anything to you. Instead he did snap Steve out of his stupor.

“Just gonna stand there and gawk?”

“Shut up,” Steve retorted. “I wasn't.”

“Why don’t we go? Okay?” Dustin continued to tease him with a bit of hostility behind his words.

“Shut up and get in the car.” Steve scolded Dustin as they made themselves to the car. “Wipe your feet.”

You hear Dustin do as he says but inside the car and it makes Steve instantly remark that.

“On the outside, not the inside.” When he closes the car door and begins turning it on he continues to complain. “Always the goddamn babysitter. Always the goddamn babysitter!”

When Steve drove outside of the trailer park and noticed that the car was still quiet, he glanced over at you and reached for your thigh as he asked you a question. “Want to put on some music?”

You quickly shift your thighs away and scoot closer to the door to be as far away from him as you could whilst you answer flatly. “No.”

You didn’t hide your anger—no, not anger, it was….no yes, you were angry, and you didn’t hide it well.

But how could you not be bothered? You saw the way he just looked at her, and you might not tell him how you really feel, but you do love him, he’s seen it, right?

You just can’t say it to him or anyone anymore, but you do, you do love him so much. You can’t afford to lose him like you lost…Hopper.

Steve knows that doesn’t he?

.

.

.

.

Tagged- @felicityofbakerstreet @lanatheawesome @deepdownangel @mserynlarsen @m-blasterrr @lookalivesunshine-x @slvtherinseeker​ @mochminnie @beepbeephargrove​ @peterwandaparker​ @train-wrecc​ @truthdaze​ @ioonatv @leahseclipse @preciousbabypeter @cevans-winchester @criminalyetminimal @ttae-yong @distinguishedmakerpandapatrol @geeksareunique @addisonnie @khaylin27 @seolaseoul @tomspidertingle @tye-dyemango @hehehehannahthings @gyros-cum-sock @the-local-toast

[every-dayiwakeup]

The One Where Eddie Doesn't Die

TW: unedited, THAT scene rewritten, mentions of abuse and N*il ofc is his own 🚩🚩

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Munson?" Billy Hargrove bellows over the thumping and screeching of the bats. "Are you a fucking moron?"

Eddie, with the look of a scolded child on his narrow, paled face, tries to fight out of Billy's killer grip, punching weakly at his stupidly broad chest. "Not... a... moron."

"You were gonna cut that sheet." Billy's voice is quieter now, albeit a bit hoarse from all the yelling. "You were gonna die-"

"What do you care? Dude, you don't even know me!" Eddie snaps, and Billy doesn't loosen his hold on him, but Eddie doesn't feel restrained. He's still pissed, though. Who wouldn't be?

Hargrove had done nothing but send him death stares and chew gum with his mouth open since Eddie had met him.

"Oh? I think I do. I was a coward, too. My whole life. I was never a hero. A hero saves people. I couldn't save my mom, I couldn't make her stay."

Eddie stops struggling, and Billy's grip weakens to match his shaky tone. "My dad, he was a... mean son of a bitch. Like, really mean."

Eddie nods, tight lipped. He was never good at conversation that wasn't about Ozzy or Metallica.

"He started hitting me when I was seven. When I broke his mother's clay pot. Knocked it over by accident, of course. I told him I didn't mean it." Billy subconsciously covers his left eye, and Eddie looks, truly looks at Billy Hargrove, for the first time.

And he sees everything, even the sharp yet beautiful edges, because ugliness and Billy Hargrove could not ever exist in the same sentence.

A scared little boy, so hated by a world that did nothing but watch as he suffered. A dutiful son. A brother who would kill to protect his sister. A child who hadn't felt a loving touch in so long, he'd forgotten the very existence of such. Love? Hope? Foreign to him. And how could someone who was treated so horribly ever know that there was any other way, if it had never been shown to him?

He gulps, willing himself not to cry.

These were not his tears to shed, and he wasn't a bitch, but he couldn't deny it; he felt sorry for Billy Hargrove. Still, he had a burning question, and his lips were not meant to be zipped this long.

"Your dad was a dick, and I'm sorry. But what does that have to do with me? You literally just met me, man."

"And I clearly have more of a respect for your life than you do," Billy says, a dangerous edge starting to return to his voice.

Ouch. He took it back, Hargrove was a huge dick. Was he right about his pointed assessment? Spot fucking on. Didn't mean it didn't sting. "Fuck you, man. Fuck you!"

"I'll pass. You're not my type."

Eddie growls, shoving at Hargrove, who apparently consumes a steady diet of concrete and human suffering, because he doesn't move an inch. Bastard. "Why did you bother, then?"

"That didn't sound like a thank you."

"Well, I didn't ask for you to!"

Billy rolls his eyes, and turns to Henderson, the fire in his eyes smoldering into something akin to concern. "Dusty, kid, are you alright?"

Henderson nods, wiping his eyes. "I think I just shit myself, but I'm alright."

"Kid's a trooper," Billy says fondly, ruffling Henderson's mop of curls. "I hope Robin, Nancy, and... Steve are alright."

Eddie narrows his eyes in suspicion and a tad bit of... jealousy? No, annoyance. Definitely annoyance. He has finally met his match, and not in rock n' roll hell."You call them by their first names."

"Yeah. I respect them."

"Wow. You're a fucking dick."

"So I've been told."

"Answer my question, Hargrove, or I swear to God, I'm gonna go out there and-"

"What? Sacrifice yourself for a town that doesn't give a shit about you?"

Again, right on the money. Hargrove wasn't as stupid as Mike said he was. "You don't understand. I left C...Ch...Chrissy there. I saw her and I-I ran."

"Seems like a normal, appropriate reaction."

"Too normal for me," Eddie grumbles.

Billy frowns, and lets him sink into the mattress. "That instinct kept you alive. You made it this far."

"But that-that thing killed her! You didn't know, you didn't see-"

"The same fucker that killed your girl, he made me his bitch. Gave me these." Hargrove pulls up his shirt, revealing gnarly purple scars littering his upper torso. "Ugly, I know. They're the only scars that can never go away." Billy shakes his head like a wet dog, the same thing Eddie does when he wants to ward off pesky thoughts. "I thought I was ready... to you know... kick the bucket. Bleeding out, and all I thought was how... disappointed my mother would be. If she was there, waiting. The doctors said my heart stopped twice. That I wouldn't have made it... if it weren't for Steve and his band of Rugrats."

"Are you two just gonna sit on your asses or are you gonna help me?" Dustin huffs as he closes the last possible entry.

"Your screeching is gonna aggravate them, Henderson." Billy snickers as he ducks a soda can, and Dustin flips him off. Yet there's a clear connection between them, almost parental. Albeit, an unconventional father who definitely needed someone to reel him in at times.

Not that Eddie would know much about that.

"I didn't think I was worth fighting for. I didn't think I had anything to live for. Truthfully, I'd felt dead inside since my mom left. But it does get better. Granted, it takes time-"

"You're talking in circles, buddy."

Billy rolls his eyes, muttering, "Jesus fuckin' Christ" as he ties his matted curls into a sloppy bun. "You don't have to be the hero right now. This? This is a battle. Losing your life won't avenge Chrissy." His blue pupils switch from Henderson to a yellow sweater on the floor, dilating slightly. Harrington's sweater. "Your death won't help anyone. This is a war. So..." Billy holds out Eddie's makeshift trash lid shield, staring at him intensely, "are you gonna fight?"

Eddie takes the shield with a surprisingly steady hand, gripping the metal. His jaw sets in newfound determination. " 'Till the final countdown," he replies, and Billy half laughs, half groans.

"Good. Then don't pull that sacrificial bullshit, this isn't your time."

He smirks; he's starting to figure out the land mine that is Billy Hargrove. He'd even go as far as to say he'd like h-

Like annoying him, that is.

He gives Billy a mock salute, winking, and underneath the muck, he swears he sees a hint of redness on the blonde's freckled cheeks.

Oh, he's going to stay alive for a little longer. There are so many more people left to annoy.