#inklings of steddie

[dreamofbecoming]

more stobin nonsense from your resident trash goblin. feat. shitty harrington parents, lavender marriage, full party found family shenanigans, steddie flirting, steve&will bonding, and a severe lack of dialogue tags

rating: t wc: 5k ao3

“I knew it!”

Steve sighs. Listen, he knew the minute he opened his mouth that this was coming. There was always a zero percent chance Dustin was ever gonna let him get out the whole thing before bursting in with this exact interruption, but that doesn’t make it less annoying. If the little shithead would just let him finish--

"I knew you were perfect together, I can't believe you didn't tell us you were dating! How long have you been a thing? I have money to collect! Can I be your best man? Never mind, obviously I'm gonna be your best man. You so owe me for not telling me sooner! I cannot believe-"

"Henderson!"

"What?"

"We're not together like that."

In fairness, Dustin is not the only one to give them an incredulous look for that one.

"Steve. You literally just announced you and Robin are getting married. What is even the point of pretending you're not in love anymore? What are you still trying to prove? Just admit I was right the whole time!"

Steve pinches the bridge of his nose and forces himself to take a deep breath, instead of wringing Dustin's weird little boneless neck. It's not his fault, he reminds himself. They haven't gotten to the second part of the announcement, so his assumptions are natural.

Now, it is Henderson's fault that they haven't managed to say the rest of what they came here to say, so maybe he can keep blaming him after all.

"Do you remember when we sat down and we asked you guys to let us say everything we were gonna say without interrupting?"

"Uh, yeah dude, it was like ten minutes ago. We're not stupid."

"Has it occurred to you that maybe we weren't done saying everything we were gonna say, considering I was halfway through a sentence when you jumped in?"

"I mean, I guess, but like, it's pretty obvious where you're going with this, Steve. You're not a complicated guy, no offense. Now, where did we land on the best man issue?"

Nancy must see the offense very much taken on his face, because before he can open his mouth and say something probably horrifically rude that would feel amazing in the moment and which he would immediately regret, she jumps to his rescue.

"Dustin, you're being very rude. Steve and Robin came here to talk to us, and we promised to listen. Let them finish."

It's nice of her to back Steve up, considering how weird this conversation must be for her. Hopefully it gets less awkward soon.

Henderson grumbles mutinously, but years of dealing with first Mike and then the rest of the little dickheads have left Nancy's control ironclad, and he waves sarcastically for Steve to continue.

This kid is spending too much time with Eddie, the attitude is getting out of hand.

"Right. Thanks, Nance. As I was saying, Robin and I are getting married, yes. But not because we're in love. I mean, I love her, obviously, but as a friend. Only a friend. Or, well, I guess a friend and soon a...friend...wife? Frife? Wend? You guys get it."

"We very much don't." Alright, well, fine, add Max to the shitlist.

He looks over at Robin, hoping for help, but she's stiff as a board and trembling all over.

He doesn't want to be the one to say the words for her. They agreed together to tell everyone the truth, it was her idea even, but the last thing he wants to do is steal that moment from her.

Maybe he can just…talk around it, until she feels up to it. And if not, he’ll just tell them his part of it and call it good.

“We’re getting lavender married.”

Okay, so that’s probably not like. A normal way to say that or whatever. Robin just used that term like fifty times last night, alright? She was really excited about the article she just read about it, something about how it was a thing in, like, olden times or whatever, and now it’s coming back because Reagan is a fucking tool, Steve’s not sure, he was only kind of listening. Regardless, now it’s stuck in his head. Sue him or whatever, geez.

Anyway, he isn’t sure how many people in this room will actually understand what that means, but Nancy’s mouth drops open in a perfect little O the way it only does when she’s genuinely surprised by something, and there’s a tiny gasp from over by the table that he thinks might have come from Will, and Max mutters to herself “Oh shit, that explains so much,” so it’s not none of them, which helps. No pitchforks yet, at least.

Jonathan is eyeing him speculatively, and Argyle is offering him an enthusiastic thumbs up, which is nice.

Unfortunately, the other boys and El are giving him blank, expectant stares, and Erica is eyeing him with both confusion and annoyance, so it looks like he still has some explaining to do.

“What the hell does your color scheme have to do with this? I’m not helping plan the wedding, dude, I don’t care that much.”

Steve mumbles a “Language,” on reflex, but his heart isn’t in it. This is somehow more nerve-wracking than evil Russians.

“Mike, that’s not what it means. Now shut up and listen, or I’ll tell Mom how that red sock ended up in her load of white delicates.”

“Oh come on, she’ll kill me!” When all he gets in return is a single raised eyebrow, he groans and slumps further into his seat, glaring at Steve.

“Right. Okay. So basically, last night, my parents--”

“I’m a lesbian!”

There’s a beat of dead silence, which in this group is more unsettling than just about anything else.

Steve keeps his eyes on Robin, who looks just about as shocked at her own outburst as everyone else in the room. He takes her hand, squeezing gently until she unfreezes a little and looks back over at him. She looks terrified, and it breaks his heart a little.

“You okay, babe?” He keeps his voice low, murmuring just loud enough for her to hear. He knows this moment is the opposite of private, but she needs him to pretend for a second, so that’s what he’s gonna do.

She nods, a little jerkily, but she grips his hand back and intentionally evens out her breathing. She’s so fucking brave. He would burn the world down for Robin Buckley, and he doesn’t care who knows it.

He can’t believe she’s willing to do this for him, but he’s so grateful he feels like he’s choking on it.

“Henderdork will literally never shut up and let you live it down if we do this and he doesn’t know the truth. Not even for a single second for the rest of forever, and I, for one, am not putting up with that shit until death or legal marriage reforms do us part, Dingus.”

It was a solid point last night when they came up with the plan, curled on her bed while she stroked his hair and generously pretended he hadn’t soaked the shoulder of her shirt with his sobs, all his worldly possessions packed into a duffel on her bedroom floor, but he knows her insistence was more about knowing how much he hates lying to the kids than it was about protecting herself from irritating teenagers.

He doesn’t think there’s enough room on the whole planet to hold all the love he feels for her, even if you count the Upside Down and any other weirdo dimensions floating around out there waiting to ruin his day.

“I’m okay, bubba. Don’t let go?” Her hand is shaking in his, but he just squeezes harder.

“Never.” He turns back to the room, eyes hard as he scans the faces of their family for any hostility. He wouldn’t have agreed to this part of the plan if he thought any of them would be a problem, but he’s not taking anything for granted with Robbie’s safety. Not now, not ever. "Everyone's gonna be cool about that, right?"

"Of course we are, right, guys?" From the pained grunt that follows her words, Steve assumes Max has dug her elbow into Mike's ribs.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"I suppose this makes you slightly less lame, Buckley. It's definitely better than when I thought you liked this loser." Wow, okay, thank you Erica.

"Yeah totally! Thanks for trusting us, Robin." Lucas is a sweetheart, he really is. He's also glancing surreptitiously at Will while he nods enthusiastically, who is still staring open-mouthed at Robin with wide, shiny eyes.

"Yes, thank you for trusting us, Robin." Nancy is smiling kindly, but she's got that glint in her eye that Steve knows means she just came up with more questions and is waiting for the right moment to strike. Fair enough, at least she's letting Robs have her moment first.

He finally drags his eyes back to Dustin, who he doesn't really want to admit, even to himself, he's a little worried about. Not that he'll be shitty about it, necessarily, but there's nothing that brings out Henderson's bitchy side like being wrong, and he's been so fucking wrong this entire time. It's bound to upset him.

And maybe Steve will never say this out loud where the other kids might hear, but the truth is that Dustin's opinion matters to him more than just about everyone else's. Dustin was the first person in the whole world who saw Steve, the real Steve, and decided he was worth keeping around. If Henderson can't accept this part of Robin, it means he can't accept this part of Steve, and if that happens...if that happens Steve isn't sure he'll be able to come back from it.

So he's...not worried, okay? Worried is not the right word. Anxious, maybe. Concerned.

Okay fine fuck off he's worried.

Dustin...looks like he's about to cry. Shit.

"Did you think you couldn't trust me?" His voice is so small. Steve doesn't think he's ever heard it so small. It feels wrong. Henderson's voice should fill every room he's in, always. "You didn't have to lie. You could have told me the truth."

Aw, fuck.

"Buddy,--"

"It's not that simple, little man."

Steve whips back around to look at Robin. Are you sure you’re up for this? She purses her lips and narrows her eyes. Yeah, Dingus, this is my mess. Let me clean it up. Put the lance down, White Knight. Well, alright then. He waves for her to continue, ignoring the looks the others always shoot them when they do their silent conversation thing. Not his fault they can’t read each other as well, it’s not like it’s hard.

"Before today, Steve was the only person in the world who knew about me. And honestly, I don't know if I would have told him if we weren't both coming off torture and truth serum. I've worked hard to hide it my whole life, baby Dingus, that's not an easy thing to stop doing. It's scary."

"But we're your friends. We're your family! We saved the world together! You should trust your family, right?"

Aw, jeez. Steve forgets, sometimes, how young they are. They've been through horrific supernatural trauma, but they're still the kind of kids who think life is a story with a happy ending, like their little dragon game.

"Yeah, bud, you should, but it's not always that easy. There can be really serious consequences for telling the wrong person. Like, last night my parents found out I'm bisexual by accident and now I...well. Now I don't have parents anymore." Oof, okay, little blunter than he meant to be, but Robbie's getting anxious again so he has to take the focus back.

There's an eruption of sound, as every voice in the Party starts shouting all at once, turning the Wheeler's basement into Steve's own personal migraine generator.

"Did they kick you out?"

"You're bisexual?!"

"What's bisexual?"

"They can't just do that!"

"Does this mean we have to find somewhere else for Hellfire nights?"

That last one earns Erica several Looks, but she doesn't flinch. "What? I'm just being practical."

He wishes Eddie was here. The gremlins actually listen to him, unlike Steve, on account of as their Hellfire DM, he has leverage they care about to threaten them with. Well, most of them, but it's definitely a help when he's around.

Sadly he and Wayne are at some kind of Munson family reunion down in West Virginia this week, so Steve is gonna have to do this whole spiel over again when he gets back. He and Robin thought about waiting until he got back and the whole Party could be together, but the kids would definitely notice him not living in Loch Nora anymore pretty much immediately. And Steve hates the idea of telling him over the phone, so double coming out/engagement announcement it is.

"Alright, Jesus Christ, enough! One at a goddamn time, you animals."

He looks back at Dustin, who's definitely crying now. "Yeah, buddy, they kicked me out, but I'm okay. I'm staying with the Buckleys for now, and Rob and I have been saving up to move in together soon anyway, so all this did is move up our timeline. I'm safe and I'm fine, okay? I promise."

Dustin plasters himself to Steve's front, squeezing like he's worried Steve is going to shatter into pieces and he can hold him together by sheer force of will. It's very sweet, even if it's crushing his lungs a little.

"I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't tell me." The words are muffled in Steve's chest, he's not sure anyone else heard him.

"Aw, kid, it's okay. I trust you, alright? Always. You die, I die, remember? I was just...figuring my shit out, that's all."

"Your parents are mouthbreathers." Steve chuckles a little at the mutinous glare on El's face, not pausing his hand where he's stroking Dustin's hair.

"You're not wrong, Supergirl. But it's fine, honestly. They've always been dicks, I've been planning to move out for a long time. They just...gave me the final push, is all." He's definitely leaving out the part where he broke down sobbing in Robbie's bed last night, asking her over and over why he was so broken that his own parents couldn't love him, but the kids don't need to hear that part of the story.

"Does this have something to do with your whirlwind engagement?" There she is, ace reporter Nancy Wheeler. Observant as always.

"Yeah, pretty much. They disinherited me, but they're still legally my next of kin."

"And Dingus has had far too much head trauma for me to trust he's not gonna end up back in the hospital for something at some point, and the last thing we need is Mr. and Mrs. von Child Neglect getting that call. And I was just reading about gay men and women who are marrying each other so they can have someone allowed in to see in them in the hospital, because of the virus, you know? And I thought, hey that's not a half bad idea! We're gonna be living together anyway, and it's not like I'm marrying anyone else, and it'll be good for both of us to have someone who knows about, y'know, monsters and all that jazz, to do our power of attorney stuff, so, voila! Mr. and Mrs. Bucklington!"

"We are not changing our name to Bucklington."

"Well Harringley is worse, so suck it up, buttercup."

"I'm not interested in keeping the Harrington name, Bobs, I'd rather just be a Buckley."

"Aw, bubba, you're gonna make me cry!"

"You should both become Hendersons! Then we'd really be brothers!"

Steve erupts into laughter, the tension effectively broken by Dustin's wide, toothy grin. "What d'ya say, Bobbie? Steve and Robin Henderson?"

"Would we get access to Claudia's lasagna recipe? Because if so, I'm behind this plan one hundred percent.”

"By 'we' you do mean me, right? Because I love you more than life, Bobs, but I'm not letting you anywhere near a casserole dish. I've learned that lesson."

"It was one time!"

"It took me three days to get all the cheese off the ceiling! There's still a stain!"

"Well good! Ceiling grease stains can be the Harrington's problem now, anyway. They deserve it!"

Argyle is nodding sagely from on top of the incredibly deflated bean bag he's sharing with Jonathan. "I do like Bucklington, it makes you sound like a fancy butler. But family is important, brochachos, and so is lasagna. I vote Henderson."

This spurs impassioned arguments from all corners, which Steve is more than happy to relax into the couch cushions and let wash over him.

There's a light, bubbly feeling in his chest. For the first time since his dad walked in unannounced yesterday, interrupting his phone call with Robin at the worst possible moment, the knot of fear and grief in his stomach starts to loosen.

Robin smiles at him, and he grins helplessly back. Who needs parents when he's got a soulmate? They're together, they're safe, they're surrounded by their family. Steve holds Dustin tighter to his side and lets himself feel loved.

He takes advantage of a lull in the Last Name Wars to get out the last of the speech he'd planned. "Anyway, we decided to tell all of you the truth when we came up with this plan last night, because we do trust you and we didn't want to lie to you, and also because we knew you shitheads would never shut up about us being in love if we didn't and that sounded awful."

He laughs delightedly at the chorus of indignant outbursts this gets him before continuing.

"It's really important that you don't tell anyone outside the Party the truth, alright? We're gonna tell Eddie when he gets back, and we might tell Joyce and Hop eventually, but that needs to be our choice to do. You can't do it for us, and you absolutely can't tell anyone else. The whole point of this is to keep us safe by keeping people from finding out the truth, okay?"

El looks vaguely uncomfortable, but not upset. "Will you tell my Dad soon?"

Steve glances at Robbie, who's looking anxious again, and then over at Will. His shoulders are tense, hunched up around his ears, and he's staring intently at the table in front of him.

Steve isn't sure if anyone else knows what he thinks he knows about Will, but he's pretty sure he recognizes the specific flavor of isolation he can see Will struggling with sometimes, and he's definitely sure he recognizes the looks Will shoots at Mike whenever Wheeler isn't looking. Tommy used to look at him like that.

Either way, he knows the kind of fear the kid must be suffering, just like he knows how terrifying today was for Robin. For Steve, the worst case scenario has already happened, so he has a lot less left to lose. He can afford to smooth the way a little, to test the waters and make sure they're safe for everyone else.

It's not that different from his normal role in this group anyway, just a different kind of monster. He's always been good at taking hits so the others don't have to-- this is just another threat to step in front of.

"Tell you what, Ellie, I'll talk to Hop and Joyce this weekend, that way you won't have to keep secrets from him for too long. I'll just tell him about me, though, at first, okay? That way we'll know if it's safe for Robbie." Or anyone else, he doesn't say.

Jonathan hears it, at the very least, and shoots him a look that's equal parts surprised and grateful. Maybe Will has someone else in his corner after all, then.

El nods happily, satisfied with that.

Before anyone else can jump in, there's a clattering on the basement stairs. None of them have time to tense up too badly before the door bursts open and Eddie comes tumbling through it in a flurry of dark curls and frayed denim.

"Fear not, my wayward wastrels, for I have returned from far off lands, bearing tidings and the promise of libations!"

Steve only recognizes, like, four of those words, but seeing Eddie gives him the same happy, fizzy feeling in his gut that it always does these days, so he grins.

"You're back early, Eds, everything ok?"

Eddie blinks at him, then around the room, looking surprised to see it so packed.

"Yeah, my cousin Clarence accidentally broke my MeeMaw's pasture fencing and set all the goats loose in the hills, and if we stuck around we were gonna have to help round them back up, so Wayne and I snuck out early. I was coming to invite the gremlins out for pizza to tell you all about it, but this is more people than I was expecting. Y'all having a family meeting? Without little old moi?"

Steve valiantly suppresses the shiver that the twang in Eddie's voice triggers. Steve's not sure if Eddie notices the way his accent gets stronger when he's been talking to family, but he's had to work very hard to make sure he doesn't notice the way it affects Steve.

Steve has barely tested the flirting waters with Eddie since admitting his crush to Robin, he's definitely not jumping right in with 'It makes me tingly all over when you start talking with a drawl, wanna call me darlin' and see what happens?'

Luckily Bobbie notices his inner struggle and comes to his rescue.

"It was kind of a time sensitive issue- not a life or death one! Or like. Not a monster one, anyway. But shit went down last night and we needed to brief everyone before the geek squad figured out something was funky and came beating down the door. Steve wanted to tell you in person so we were gonna wait til you got back, but here you are!"

Eddie's looking at Robin with an amused smile on his face, one eyebrow raised and his lips quirked in a lopsided grin that is, frankly, unreasonably attractive. "Here I am indeed, my fair Lady of Feathers. So what's the scoop?"

He plops down next to Jonathan and Argyle on the beanbags, nearly sending them all toppling before Argyle hooks both of them around the waists and drags them practically into his lap.

Steve is not seething with jealousy. He's not.

A half a dozen voices chime out all at once.

"Robin's gay!"

"Steve's homeless."

"Robin and Steve are getting married!"

“Purple married.”

“It’s lavender, dummy.”

“Lavender’s a kind of purple!”

"They're gonna be Hendersons!"

"No they aren't, weirdo, they're gonna be Buckleys."

"Bucklington is clearly the superior choice, even if Argyle was right about the butler thing."

“Bucklington my ass, y’all dumb as hell if you think Mom and Dad aren’t gonna try and make him a Sinclair after this.”

"Mama and Papa Harrington didn't like that Stevie boy has double the love to give. Totally bogus. Bi bros for life, man."

"I still call Steve's best man!"

Eddie blinks a little when everyone quiets down, looking vaguely shellshocked. "That was. A lot of information to get in thirty seconds."

And, listen, Steve is like, 97% sure Eddie's cool. More than cool, even. He moves that bandana to the same pocket every time he changes his jeans, no matter what outfit he's wearing. There's no way that's an accident. But if Steve is being totally honest, which he's trying to do more these days, at least inside his own brain, this is maybe not the way he'd have chosen to come out to his crush. It's somehow way more nerve-wracking when he didn't even get to say it himself.

Oh well, it's out there now. It's fine, probably.

Still, there’s a definite feeling of relief when Eddie turns that megawatt grin on him again.

"Man, I wish I'd known there were other queers in Hawkins, I might have listened sooner when Henderson told me how cool you guys were!"

Steve laughs, only a little hysterically. "Dude, if you thought you were the only one, what the hell have you been wearing that hanky for? Who are you hoping will see it?"

It's a little gratifying to see Eddie go flaming tomato red in seconds. "I am not talking about that in mixed company, Steven. There are children here!"

"Ugh, we're literally teenagers."

"Tiny baby infants! If you're so curious, you can ask me again later."

"Promise?" Steve can't stop himself from grinning wolfishly.

Eddie tugs his hair in front of his face to hide, and the frantic little giggle and the quiet "Oh my god," he lets out both sound more than a little strangled. Steve's having the time of his life right now.

"Gross." Ugh, rude. He glares at Robin for ruining his fun. She sticks her tongue out at him.

Before they can devolve into the inevitable slapfight, Nancy cuts in again.

"Alright, unless anyone else has anything to share in private, I think we should take Eddie's suggestion and get something to eat." Good thinking, Nance. "To celebrate the happy couple, of course," she adds with a smirk. Yeah, that makes more sense.

"Onward then, my noble companions, to pizza and to paradise!" Eddie vaults off the beanbag, sending Jonathan and Argyle tumbling. Argyle laughs and accepts Eddie's hand up, while Jonathan just rolls his eyes good-naturedly.

Eddie slings an arm around Robin's shoulders as they head for the basement door. "So, Birdie, what's this I hear about a wedding? I need context."

As the kids go thundering up the stairs, arguing about who gets to drive in which car, Steve lingers. He noticed Will hanging back from the others, and now they're the last ones left, Will still slowly packing up the pens and notebooks he seems to carry around with him everywhere. Jonathan is hovering anxiously in the doorway, so Steve sends him a nod and waves him off. He's got this.

"You ready to go, kid?"

Will fidgets with the zipper on his bag for another few seconds before looking up at Steve through his, frankly tragic, fringe. "I'm sorry your parents suck."

"Yeah, man, me too." Steve shoots him a wry little smile. "It's alright though, sometimes we're better off without them. I've got plenty of family here that love me, I'll survive without Richard and Diane."

Will studies him for a minute. Steve's not sure what he's looking for, but he hopes he finds it.

"That's what Jonathan says about Lonnie." Steve nods, trying not to wince at the memory of the things he spat at Jonathan that day in '83 when everything changed. "I used to think it was my fault he left, but Jonathan says he was just a bastard, and it's better he's gone anyway."

"I didn't know Lonnie," he's careful not to say your dad, "but from what I've heard, Jonathan's probably right. And he's definitely right that it's not your fault."

"Like it's not your fault your parents kicked you out?"

"Yeah, exactly like that. If it was my fault, that would mean I did something wrong. The only thing I did was exist, and be different than they thought I would be. If they can't love the kid they had, then they shouldn't have had a kid at all. That's their problem, not mine. There's nothing wrong with me."

It doesn't matter if he heard all of these things from Robin first, if he's still trying to learn to believe them. Will needs to hear them like they're true, the same way Steve does.

"Are you sure?" Will's voice is trembling now. He's looking at the floor, but Steve can tell there are tears coming. "How can you be sure this is how you're supposed to be? Wouldn't you rather be normal?"

Oh, kid. "I mean, yeah, maybe it would be easier if I only liked girls, but I don't. I tried for a long time to pretend that I did, but it didn't make it true. And yeah, part of me wants to hate myself, because that's what they taught me to think, and I still kinda wish doing that would make them love me, but it won't. But honestly, you wanna know the biggest thing?" Will nods.

"I can't hate that part of myself without hating Robin, and there's no universe where I could hate Robin. Robin's perfect. She's the best person in the world, and she's gay, so being gay can't be bad. It's impossible. So whenever that voice in my head starts saying shitty things to me, I just think about how much I love Robin and tell it to shut up."

There's a beat where Will seems to be absorbing this.

"How did you know it would be safe? To tell us the truth?"

"I didn't."

Will stares at him in shock.

"Not a hundred percent, anyway. I was pretty sure, but it's never a guarantee with stuff like this, you know? But the other option was never telling anyone, and that...it gets tiring, you know? Always having to hide. Always having to check yourself. Lying when people ask the wrong questions. It wears you down. And I've fought monsters with you guys. I've been tortured by spies with you guys. If I can't trust this group to have my back, I can't trust anyone, can I? And I didn't want to live a life of not trusting anyone. I didn't want Bobbie to live a life like that. So, we took a chance. And it paid off, because all of you are the people we thought you were, and we were right to trust you. But it was a leap of faith, dude. It always is."

"What if I'm not ready?" Fucking shit, this kid. He's been through more than any of them, except maybe El, and he's still so goddamn brave. Steve would have crumpled like a tin can in his place.

"Then you're not ready. It's not a test, Will. There's no right or wrong answers. But I will say that every single person out there loves you, and they'll keep loving you no matter what you do. They're not like my parents, or Lonnie. Our friends aren't broken inside the way they are. Their love isn't conditional. You won't chase them away. You couldn't if you tried."

Will lets out a shaky breath, clearly fighting back tears. Steve leans against the table and keeps his head down, offering the kid the illusion of privacy while he pulls himself together. After a few minutes he speaks up again.

"You ready to go, you think?"

Will nods. He goes to walk past Steve to the stairs before hesitating and, to Steve's surprise, wrapping his gangly arms around him in an awkward hug.

"Thanks, Steve," he mumbles into Steve's shoulder.

Steve runs a hand down his back uncertainly. "Anytime, kid."

He keeps his arm around Will's shoulders tentative, but when the kid doesn't shrug him off or move away, he lets it settle more firmly, tugging him closer.

“Come on Baby Byers, let's go get some pizza. You think I can milk the disownment thing to get Eddie to pay for extra toppings?"

Will snorts. "I think Eddie would pay for as many toppings as you want as long as you do that little eyelash thing at him again."

Steve throws his head back and laughs, long and loud from his belly. Yeah, it's gonna be a good night.

my head hurts too much to keep writing this but please know that the pizza parlor engagement party involves plenty of arguing about roles in the wedding party, resulting in MOH erica/best man dustin (scoops troop babeyy), flower girl team lumax (max demanded the role bc her wheelchair means she can carry extra baskets of petals, and lucas will be pushing the chair so her hands are free. he's just excited to be there.) nancy/el bridesmaids and byler groomsmen (mike grumbles and groans but he's secretly thrilled). jonathan does the pictures and it turns out argyle got ordained back in cali as a joke so he officiates. eddie plays crimson and clover for robin’s wedding march. there’s a bit of a kerfuffle when claudia and the sinclairs both try to claim steve as their son, but after someone makes the argument that charles and sue have two kids to carry their name while claudia only has one, they end up hyphenating and becoming the buckley-hendersons. yes, claudia cries. yes, they get the lasagna recipe.

(at the pizza place, eddie asks what his role will be and steve says he doesn't know yet, but he'll save him a dance regardless. eddie has to hide in the bathroom to stop blushing.)

[strawberryspence]

sit with you in the trenches

Steddie Week / Day 4: Hurt/Comfort ( @steddie-week )

-

Eddie paces around the small living room. All the lights are open, every single one. It’s the only thing that gives him comfort.

The television is murmuring softly in the background. The man is still going on and on about the names of the victims of the fire.

Eddie wrangles his hands, waiting to hear the worst news of his life.

“Hanes. Hanewood. Hawork.”

Eddie pulls on his hair, a breath of relief caught on his lungs.

No Harrington. Steve’s fine. He’s just late. A day late. His “stickler for a schedule” boyfriend has been missing for a day and Eddie can’t even do anything. Can’t do anything because if he does anything it would raise questions.

There’s a crunch of gravel outside that makes Eddie jump, immediately opening the trailer door. There it is. The beamer.

Eddie freezes on his spot, a sound in between a sob and a cheer escaping his mouth. He watches as Steve comes out of the car, but the side door also opens, and— who?— Eddie squints. Robin Buckley comes out.

“Hey, Eds.” Steve greets him, his voice cracks, as soon as the lights hit him. Eddie gasps.

Steve’s face is swollen. Swollen is saying it lightly. His left eye is swollen shut, his lips busted. He’s still wearing the damn Scoops Ahoy uniform.

“Oh my god, swe— Steve.” Eddie pulls the door open, but his eyes stray to Robin who’s glued beside his boyfriend’s side.

Steve pulls her closer, “Eddie, you know Robin, right?”

“Yes.” Eddie trails slowly.

“We were in the fire together and she didn’t want to leave my side. But then, I wanted to go see you.” Steve says, “She’s safe.”

Robin nods earnestly, “I am a lesbian.”

“Oh.” Eddie whispers, blinking before saying, “Oh. Come in, come in.”

He opens the door wider for the two of them. They both stumble inside the trailer like conjoined twins, falling immediately on the couch.

“What happened, sweetheart?” Eddie asks, though he is afraid to hear the answer.

“There was a fire.” Steve answers, “I saved Robin and a few other people. Hence… my face.”

He moves to get an ice pack for his face and blanket for Robin. Eddie doesn’t fully believe it, but it doesn’t really matter right now.

He’ll ask tomorrow and Steve will tell him the same thing. Eddie will learn the truth by himself, in a few more months, a floating cheerleader in front of him.

“Here,” Eddie sits beside him, putting the ice on his boyfriend’s eye, “Robin, do you need anything?”

Robin stares at him with owlish eyes. So different from the girl he had band practices with. He always had his inkling that she might be one of them, but he never thought he'd find out this way.

She shakes her head slowly, accepting the blanket and wrapping it around her arms, “No. This is good enough. Thank you for letting me stay."

They all sit in silence for what could’ve been hours, and Eddie doesn’t really believe in God, but he thanks some kind of deity for letting his boyfriend come home safely.

“I am sorry.” Steve breaks the silence a few minutes later, taking the ice off his eye.

“For what?”

“For being late. For making you worry.” Steve says. Eddie turns to Robin to check on her, but she’s dead asleep on Steve’s lap.

“Does she know we’re dating?” Eddie asks.

Steve smiles shyly, “Yeah. It was a big bonding moment. She thought I was talking about her, leading to her coming out to me and then I told her about my wonderful, metalhead boyfriend.”

Eddie smiles, brushing his hand through Steve’s hair as he lays on his side with a sigh of relief.

“You did good, baby. You just adopted your first lesbian.” Eddie jokes, making Steve crack a smile.

“Does anything hurt? Why didn’t you go to the hospital?” Eddie asks.

“No.” Steve says immediately, like he hates the prospect of going to the hospital, “I just— I just wanted— wanted to see you. I know if I went then you won’t be able to come.”

Eddie smiles fondly, “Alright, Stevie. Go to sleep. I’ll be here when you guys wake up.”

Steve hums in response, but he’s already drifting into sleep, falling deeper into Eddie’s arms.

Eddie kisses the crown of his head, pulling him closer to him. The relief of having Steve here beside him, safe and alive, is something he will never take for granted again.

Tomorrow, Eddie will shower him (and Robin) with love and care. But right now, he tightens his embrace around him and let’s the relief sweep him off his feet.

[italiansteebie]

Anger issues Steve? It’s never towards the kids or in front of the kids but any negative emotion is usually only translated to anger because it’s the only way he knows how to cope with what he’s feeling?

Maybe newly established steddie? Like eddie gets to see Steve’s anger up close, like maybe he hits the wall or break something? Something that’s not rlly considered healthy way to deal with anger and eddie freaks out bcuz woah red flag??? But they make up cuz I’m a sucker for it

Feel free to ignore this if it’s too much!! Love ur work, definitely my favorite to read ❤️

omg thank u so much, im absolutely loving this prompt and the influx of asks im getting its great!

---

anger is not steve's friend.

it makes him violent in a way that reminds him of his father and he is anything but that.

but there are things that make him tick, and he just...

explodes.

he knows it's not healthy, and he knows he needs to work on it, and he is! but these things take time and unfortunately for him, that's taking longer than it is for eddie to experience steve when hes angry.

realistically, eddie knows that steve has some... violent tendencies when it comes to anger. hell, he chewed on a bat from hell and ripped it in half, and that was from fear.

there was an inkling in eddie's mind that these violent tendencies weren't just reserved for times of life or death.

so when steve got off of what sounded like a particularly bad phone call with his father, eddie was only partially expecting the action that came next.

"fuck!"

and the next thing they knew, the phone and it's receiver was in pieces on the tile floor of the kitchen. "oh... steve..." steve's head whipped around to face eddie's from where he was in the doorway.

steve looked at him for a moment longer before picking up the majority of the receiver and chucking at the wall, both of them watching in curious fascination as the plastic and wires shattered like glass.

"steve?"

"what?!"

"woah, dude." eddie said, hands up in a non threatening way. he tried his best to hide the fear, he knows steve would never hurt him, but seeing this reaction in real time did throw him for a loop for a second.

and steve caught the hesitant apprehension on his boyfriends face. "oh, no. oh. eddie. im- im so sorry," his voice became thick with tears. he told himself he wouldn't let his anger get the best of him, but here he was with a broken house phone and his boyfriend looking at him in a way he hoped would never be directed to him.

"steve, it's okay..." eddie said placatingly, taking a few steps towards him. "no. it's not. im not him, i- i swear." steve said, backing away as eddie came closer, "eds. i don't ever want to hurt you." the tears were streaming with no signs of stopping now, and eddie sighed.

"i know, steve. it was just a little... different to see you like that."

"i tried! i try to hold it in and the he calls and fucks it all up! im working on it! i am, i swear. please eddie. i- i would never hurt you."

eddie could see the panic attack from a mile away. "steve, sweetheart. take a deep breath for me, please."

steve was breathing heavy and quick. "no. no. no." he was muttering under his breath, "i'm so sorry," he whispered, looking up at eddie with tears in his eyes.

and eddie's heart broke.

"stevie... baby. it's okay. it's okay, we'll work on it together, okay?"

"but im- im scary," it came out hoarse and terrified.

"stevie, you're more scared than scary. i promise. we can work on it together. we'll figure out a better way, so you don't feel like you have to hold everything in. that's not good for you baby."

steve let out a shuddering sigh, breathing finally slowing down, "okay. im still sorry though." he breathed.

"and i forgive you."

and so yeah, maybe steve has some issues with anger... but they're going to work it out.

together.

[klausinamarink]

Pre-emptive happy birthday!

“Why are you here?” “I have nowhere else to go…”

with Steddie (in the rain) maybe?

I knew this would be angsty but oops, I made it worse!

cw: character death

—

Steve loved the rain. 

He loved hearing the pattering sounds on the windows and the ground. How the clouds darken and rumble with thunder before flashing with (very normal white) lightning. The rich petrichor smell before and after the rainfall. He’d even used to swim in the pool and stay in the water for as long as he could while he soaked under the torrent.

These days, he was more content in staying inside, preferably with a warm drink in hand while under a blanket. It turned out to be a good mental boost. A way to distract himself from the latest aftermath of the Upside Down and his healing injuries. 

Steve yawned, sinking further into the couch. He hadn’t slept well last night. The nightmares and pain made it impossible. Plus there had been a bunch of emergency vehicles wailing down the road, but he hadn’t bothered to check what the fuss was. 

He sipped on his tea, feeling his eyes droop. Steve almost wished he could put the radio on with Bruce Springsteen or Queen, but he liked this better. The silence and rhythmic rain hitting the glass. 

A knock on the front door interrupted his serenity.

Steve groaned. It better not be any of the more religious folks like the Carvers or Mrs. Greene. They’ve been invasive since the ‘earthquake’, asking him and many more people in Hawkins if they had opened their heart to Jesus yet and please come join the church this time. Steve had kept putting his foot down, but Christians really don’t take no for an answer.

The knocking continued. It grew louder, followed by the frantic ringing of the doorbell. 

Steve was immediately on his feet and rushing down the hall. A part of him prayed it was just one of the kids, that it wasn’t a Code Red and they just wanted to crash his living room to abuse his VCR player for movies. 

When Steve finally opened the door, all of those hopes dashed out into the rain.

It was Eddie.

Shaking and soaked, leaning on his crutch. He clenched a backpack to his chest like it was his most valuable thing in the world. All while sporting the nastiest split lip and black eye with thick bandages around his hands.

“Oh shit-” Steve instinctively reached forward, but stopped himself when Eddie flinched. Then he noticed the redness of Eddie’s eyes and his hitching chest.

“I-” Eddie started. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and dipped his head down. He was shaking more frantically like he was about to shed his own skin. 

This time, Steve hurried him inside. Eddie flinched again, but he pressed closer to where Steve’s hand held his arm. He took Eddie to the downstairs bathroom where he quickly dried him up with the fluffiest towels Steve could find.

Eddie sat on the closed toilet seat, still shivering. He never uttered a single sound. Not even when Steve accidentally brushed against his black eye. Eddie had a faraway look in his eyes, something that reminded Steve of their boathouse counter. Wide-eyed with panic that barely hid the void of despair and shock underneath as he stared out into the distance, possibly reliving the memory of whatever had happened to him.

When Steve was done with drying him up, he slowly crouched down partially to Eddie’s eye-level. Eddie didn’t even glanced up at him. His lips were barely moving, a string of unintelligible words flowing out of them. Occasionally, they twitched upwards, though it seemed to do more with his scarred than random attempts of smiling. 

A horrible sense of deja-vu washed over Steve. He swallowed down the first inklings of dread in his mouth and lifted a hand towards Eddie. Slowly and within view. Being this close to Eddie, he caught a whiff of smoke on him.

“Eddie…” Steve began but immediately flattered. What on earth could he even ask? Asking Eddie if he was okay was self-explanatory on its own. But with his injuries, Steve had to know if Eddie was in an accident or - worse - hurt by someone else.

But most of all, he wanted to know why Eddie was on his doorstep in the first place.

Yeah, that sounded like a better question to start with.

“Why are you here?” 

Eddie’s tremors stopped. He blinked rapidly, then looked up with teary doe-brown eyes. His mouth parted open but no words came out at first. Eddie kept gaping until he finally answered so quietly that Steve strained to hear him.

“I have nowhere else to go.”

As soon as the words left Eddie’s mouth, so did an awful keening noise. Steve barely had time to react before Eddie suddenly collapsed onto him, his arms now desperately wrapped around Steve’s torso. Eddie laid on his lap so Steve couldn’t even get up. The keening grew into an anguished wail and, fuck, did that just stabbed Steve’s soul. 

Steve instantly had his arms around Eddie. One hand grasped the back of the man’s head while the other laid against Eddie’s heaving side. His shirt quickly grew a wet spot from where Eddie was pressing his face, but Steve ignored it. 

Outside, the thunder intensified. The booming rumbles literally shook the walls. With each flash of lightning, Eddie curled further into himself and sobbed even louder. 

Steve started rocking them both slowly back and forth. His legs were growing numb but he didn’t care. He cared more about being here for Eddie.

“Wayne’s dead.”

Steve froze. Lightning cracked outside like it was on cue for a drama movie. 

He slowly looked down at Eddie, who no longer had his face against Steve’s stomach. Eddie laid limp on his lap, his splotchy eyes staring at something on the walls.

“What?” Steve asked, his voice sounding distant to his ears.  

Eddie sniffed. He was hugging himself now. When he spoke again, his voice was carefully still like glue on a broken vase. 

“Our trailer caught on fire last night. Wayne was still sleeping- after his day shift-” 

There were sirens last night. Steve’s mind whurred as he tried to recall which direction they had headed. But he was so much in agony then that he’d just ignored them.

“I was just leaving Jeff’s...” Eddie’s voice was already breaking, “I came and there was so much smoke and fire that I thought it was the whole park. Then I saw it was my trailer and- and I saw-”

Steve used to react faster when he heard sirens. The past few years taught him that, just in case it was one of his friends. Why hadn’t he left to follow them? 

Eddie made a terrible whine as he desperately panted for breath. One of his hands gripped onto Steve’s as he finally cried-

“I saw Wayne under the tarps!”

An unholy, wordless scream erupted out of Eddie’s throat. He convulsed. He scratched at his face and arms. He kept crying out tears and Wayne’s name. And Steve-

 Steve just regained his hold around Eddie again and pulled him closer to stop hurting himself any further as if grief couldn’t be a more vicious monster than any democreature. 

As Eddie wept in his arms, Steve slowly grew numb to the continuing downpour outside.

There was nothing to love about the rain anymore.

[scoops-stevie-archive]

✨ stranger things fic rec pt 3 ✨

the last installment! see you at the end of the year!

mostly steddie with some ronance/fruity four/platonic stobin sprinkled in. heed the ratings, there's a healthy amount of smut.

fics in this installment: 66 fics in total: 196

as per usual:

-all fics are in alphabetical order -please tell me if the links are broken/linked wrong

more fic recs my own works

and, as always, please leave kudos and comments, and reblog this post!

quels beaux minets ont adopté un chat - T, 1.5k, 1/1 orangebandit

In all my rage, I am still just a tiny black kitten in a cage. Or Eddie brings home a stray.

Right Locker, Wrong Time - E, 10/10 FeatherForARose (@steddiealltheway)

Way before Hawkins goes to Hell, Eddie gets a note from Steve Harrington to meet him in the bathroom. Of course, the note isn't meant for Eddie, but both boys are surprised when they wish it was. This leads to a series of secret hookups and the inkling of a secret relationship.

Safe Space - G, 2/2 wayfarers0

He doesn’t respond. A tape falls from the shelf, and he doesn’t try to pick it up. He feels the world spinning around him, patterns forming in his vision all of a sudden. He hadn’t eaten breakfast, and he wonders for a second if he’s just feeling woozy from hunger, but as he blinks over in Robin’s direction, it’s taking him more time than usual to form words. To be able to interpret the scene he sees before him. He closes his eyes and sees the characteristic blur of light making his field of vision resemble broken glass which signals that pain is on the horizon. ________________________ When Eddie is out of town over New Year's, Steve gets hit with the migraine from hell whilst at work and his options for a ride home are limited.

Shotgun My Love - G, , 2.1k, 1/1 mctav1sh

Jonathan's first time smoking pot, romance ensues.

Six Kids and a Winnebago - E, series Oddree13

The story of how Steve Harrington gets his six kids and Winnebago...in the way he least expects to.

smoke in my throat, your hands in my hair - T, 1k, 1/1 perseuswrites

Eddie tilts his head up, Steve can't seem to make his blush go away. Eddie lifts the joint to his mouth, breathing in the smoke. Eddie leans down, using his thumb to nudge Steve's mouth open. He blows the warm smoke into Steve's mouth, "Breathe in and hold it until I tell you otherwise but let it out if you feel like you can't do it okay?" Eddie's voice is dripping with love and gentle warmth and Steve is drowning in it.

Sonnet 47 - E, 1.9k, 1/1 ZachwyBuwnzie

Eddie reads Steve some poetry, too bad Steve has a voice kink.

soothe your soul, just take his hand - T, 6.3k, 1/1 releaseideas

“Where did you go, Steve? Backstage to blow him real quick?” Robin teased, elbowing Steve’s side. “No you freak, he was showing me the back room so if my migraine starts acting up I can lay down.” Steve kept blinking, but his vision wasn’t getting any better. “Steve, if you’re expecting a migraine are you sure you should be here?” Nancy asked with such sincerity. “I mean, probably not? But I really wanted to come and only after Eddie asked did it start acting up.” “Doesn’t mean you should be here. Dude, you gotta take care of yourself before coming to watch your hot boyfriend play guitar,” Argyle supplied, which he was absolutely right, even though he wants to listen to his boyfriend’s band and watch his curly hair bounce from the head banging, he shouldn’t be here. “Thanks, dude. You’re right, but we’re already here. I’ll just stay for the first hour and I will leave right after. You guys stay if you want, alright?” - aka: steve goes to a corroded coffin concert but doesn’t realize how much live music will trigger his migraines.

soothing like honey - G, 5.2k, 1/1 RejectsCanon

Eddie hates being sick. The one thing he hates more than being sick is being sick alone. He absolutely hates it. He does everything in his power to avoid getting sick. He avoids sick people like the plague (ha). If someone he sits by in class is sick, then he’s skipping that class for the week. If one of the Hellfire members is sick, Hellfire gets canceled that week and he eats lunch outside. If Wayne gets sick Eddie plies him with chicken noodle soup and vitamins and medicine until he’s better again. But then, after being in the Upside Down, after the world has almost ended, after it’s all over, Eddie gets sick.

Steddie Amnesia Verse - E, series purpleweekend (@blushweddinggowns)

“How are you feeling?” Steve asked, all wide-eyed and caring. Eddie gaped at him, fully aware that his entire face must be red. He was trying to form words, he really was, but Steve single handedly put the brakes on that. Why was Steve Harrington holding his hand? Why was Steve Harrington calling him baby ? Why did he kiss him, like it was the most natural thing in the world?

Steve Harrington Needs A Hug - T, series Babybuckleydiaz

“My old man was an asshole, and my whole life I thought I would be glad of the day he was finally gone.” Steve finally started, and this time Eddie does feel startled by the sudden confession being made, but of course that was no secret to either of the Munson men. John Harrington was in fact an asshole and Steve has been so much better off without the man in his life, both him and his wife who never lifted a single finger to keep her only son safe. - - - “You still loved him, Stevie. And that’s okay, you’re allowed to mourn the father that you could have had. You’re allowed to.” - - - “It doesn’t make you a bad person, Steve. For that part of you to be glad he’s gone because he can’t hurt you.” Steve snorts. “Doesn’t it? He was a father, Max.” - - - aka: Steve's father dies and he has no idea how to feel about it

Steve's House Becomes A Home - G, series cat1beth

Steve and Robin have a bunch of sleepovers after the events of season 3 (and eventually 4) to fight the nightmares and loneliness what happens when it starts affecting things his parents will actually notice, like the grocery list?

stuck between your tongue and teeth - E, 3k, 1/1 Adure (@toburnup)

Steve notices it from the very first time he and Eddie have sex. Eddie is - quiet.

subtext (something i can't quote put my fingers on) - T, 3.4k, 1/1 Adure (@toburnup)

"What's that?" Robin points directly. The mark is red and dark, sitting low on the back of Steve's neck. Steve slaps his hand over it and turns away, his magazine abandoned on his lap. Robin continues, "Is that a bug bite? It's tick season, Steve. Seriously. Ticks can you give you lyme disease, are you feverish? If you feel lethargic-" "No! Jesus, Robin." He's blushing now, tips of his ears bright red and averting his gaze. "It's nothing, leave it alone. It's fine." But he's keeping his hand covering it and she can't help but eye him suspiciously. "Is that a-" "Please stop." "- love bite?" (Five times Robin suspects something between Steve and Eddie, and one time she figures out she's right.)

talkin' sweet and lookin' fine (i get kinda hectic in side) - T, 4.5k, 1/1 coupe_de_foundre

Sinking back against his pillow, Eddie kisses back with fervour, fisting his hands in Steve’s hair and tugging until he draws an intoxicating whine out of Steve, swallowing the sound eagerly. They’re so lost in one another that they don’t hear the door to Eddie’s bedroom opening, don’t realise that they’re no longer alone until there’s a very much disgusted groan from the other side of the room. “My eyes!” Max squeals, throwing her hands over her face. But not before launching a random shirt their way. It lands on Steve’s bare back. “Gross! Guys, it’s seven-thirty!” “Exactly!” Steve cries back, dropping his head onto Eddie’s chest with a frustrated groan. “It’s seven-thirty, what the hell are you doing here?” * or, 5 times they can't get any privacy, and one time that they do (well, sort of)

temptations of trouble - G, 2.8k, 1/1 MacksDramaticShenanigans (@stevethehairington)

Eddie ignores the flip flopping in his stomach as he meets Steve’s gaze and fits his palms to either side of Steve’s jaw. Cradles his face like he’s something special now. (Because he is.) And then he leans in to kiss him. Right on those pretty pink lips of his. It’s short and sweet like it always is, but when Eddie pulls back and opens his eyes, he’s met with Steve’s, wide as fucking saucers, goggling unblinkingly back at him. He can feel Robin’s stare boring into the side of his face, can feel the tiny pinpricks of Nancy’s and Jonathan’s and Argyle’s on his back too. The whole room is quiet enough to hear a god damn pin drop. Eddie is about to open his mouth and ask what the hell that’s all about when it finally catches up with him. He just fucking kissed Steve fucking Harrington. On the mouth.

Ten Long Years - N/A, 3/3 Blink23

It’s addressed to Edward Munson, but the preprinted Hawkins High address makes Steve flip it over and break the seal with his finger, knowing Eddie won’t care. It’s probably some sort of fundraising thing; they need a new gym, last he heard from Joyce, and had been annoyingly trying to get money from everyone in the town. That's not what it is at all, and Steve has to read it twice to make sure he hasn't lost his mind. Hawkins High Class of ‘86 Reunion! Steve snorts. Please join your fellow Tigers for a day of fun and reminiscing after ten long years. It’s the last thing he wants.

Thanks for the Memories - M, 10/10 oceanwaves23

Robin Buckley thought nothing could be more confusing than waking up with a pounding headache, in a room she didn't recognize, next to Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. But that was before Steve informed her that it was 1986 - not 1984 as she previously believed - and that apparently they were best friends. Or: After a bike accident, Robin loses 2 years worth of memories and has a lot of questions about how her life turned out. Much to her surprise, Steve and Nancy are there to help.

the aftermath (as documented by eddie munson) - T, 20k, 1/1 ikawritesthings

A look into the effects of the Upside Down on Steve Harrington, through the eyes of his boyfriend, Eddie Munson. (And the one time it has effects on Eddie, too.) 5 + 1

the backseat lovers - T, 1.9k, 1/1 froggieyama

maple syrup and purple sweaters. or: steve harrington really loves eddie munson

The Best Thing - N/A, 1.1k, 1/1 Katie_Armstrong

Eddie and Steve spend one morning together before school, loving each other and longing for a better future, one where they don’t have to hide inside a small trailer.

The DMs - G, 1k, 1/1 Lullabyebye

Will talks with Eddie about Dungeons and Dragons, and homosexuality. Kind of.

The Hellfire Shirt Incident - T, 4.9k, 1/1 god_hates_tyler (@bisexual-cryptid)

Steve wears Eddie's Hellfire shirt to work after spending the night at his place. When the kids come in to ask him for a favor, they come to the logical conclusion that Steve must have joined Hellfire Club. Steve, at a loss for what to do, confirms their suspicions so he doesn't have to explain that he didn't actually join Hellfire, he and Eddie are just dating.

The Monster Mash - E, 4.3k, 1/1 kazookakaka

Steve and Eddie throw a Halloween party, but get distracted getting ready. Steve ends up helping Eddie make his costume look a little more authentic.

The Most Popular Make-Out Spot - M, 5.2k, 1/1 Sociopathic_Otter

After watching season 4, I had to make a fic for the love between Hawkins' mother and Hawkins' hero. It's inspired by Steve's little conversation to Dustin about Skull Rock. Steve and Eddie have been in my brain non stop - and as a fellow D&D metalhead/punk freak, Munson owns my heart. Right on the kin list, and right in the special interest box he goes.

The Parentification of Steve Harrington - E, 8.3k, 1/1 IAmTheUnsub

“I didn’t know you had a sister, Harrington”. Steve laughs, but it’s a shaky imitation of the laughter Eddie had heard plenty of in the year since they’d walked through hell together and come out the other side. “Neither did I, until last night. My mom just turned up and dropped her off. She hasn’t been home in like a year, man. I didn’t even know she was pregnant”. Dustin, as per usual, has no tact when he asks, “So she just left her here? She just gave you a baby? Are you a dad now?!” *** Steve and Eddie have been pining for a year and all it takes for them to get their shit together is Steve becoming a dad.

the songs on the radio are okay, but my taste in music is your face - G, 1.7k, 1/1 Lullabyebye

Steve likes roadtrips and Eddie agrees to go on one with him.

the steve situation - T, 2/5 shrack

Eddie and his friends go to Scoops Ahoy, but Eddie's not expecting Steve to be standing behind the counter.

Third Wheel - T, 1.1k, 1/1 ticklishraspberries

When Dustin finds out that Steve and Eddie are dating, it’s like nothing changed.

Three years in Three Days - M, 2.9k, 1/1 dragonfruiit

Steve needs a cry

thunder only happens when it's raining - T, 936, 1/1 fragilethings

In the spring of 1987, a year after the world ends but doesn’t, Steve buys a little two bed house on the outskirts of Hawkins.

Thunder Road - T, 2/2 stellarpoint

Steve’s right hand leaves his hip and curls around Eddie’s arm, pulling it closer to study the black bats swooping down his forearm. He traces the swarm, and then slides his hand up to Eddie’s bicep, running over the wyvern curled on the underside of his arm. His touch moves up to brush Eddie’s hair away from the spider tattooed just under his clavicle. He glances up and sees Eddie staring down at him, biting the inside of his cheek. “Can you try something for me?” Steve asks. “Yeah.” “Close your eyes,” Steve instructs. “Please. Just focus on how it feels. Don’t think about how it looks.” Or: Steve has nightmares; Eddie has scars. They work through that together.

Tiny Geniuses - T, 3.9k, 1/1 crow_of_crimes

Robin’s ears are tiny geniuses. She is five years old, and already they hear and repeat English, French, and Italian fluently. Her favorite songs are in Italian, her favorite books in French, her favorite jokes in English. Her parents adore their little genius and fill her up with as much as love and art as her tiny self can take. And she’s always, always looking for more. She’s going to be a genius one day, they think. A famous actress, a singer, a brilliant writer. Whatever she wants to be. Robin’s ears are tiny geniuses, and they hear love. - Steve’s ears are tiny geniuses. He is five years old, and he knows a language of growls, glares, and heavy footfalls. He’s going to grow up to run their business, they tell him when they’re sleepy enough not to be angry. And he can’t do that if he’s stupid or a pussy, you understand? He understands. Steve’s ears are tiny geniuses, and they hear anger.

to live my own way - E, 21k, 1/1 Macellarius

Under a much different circumstance, Eddie would have loved to have Steve’s eyes looking over him like that, would love to have that determination focused on him, but Eddie is very much dying, he knows it, so he smiles at Steve’s misplaced confidence instead, “High expectations, Stevie. Where’d you learn to swing like that anyway?” “I’ll tell you,” Steve’s voice is a bit shaky, his tone wavering, even as he puts on a brave face, “but you have to stay alive, Munson.” If he had more strength, he’d consider testing his luck one last time, tease Steve by asking if he swings for Eddie’s team, but- he’s tired. Dying young. What a fucking nightmare. Or, what if the Party defeats Vecna in time, and Eddie lives?

Turn To Hate - T ,3k, 1/1 dontshift2me

Setting aside the awkward nature of 'I used to date your sister and it's still kind of weird', aside, Steve Harrington is pretty sure he’d kill a guy to keep Mike Wheeler safe if he had to. Fighting off demonic monsters from the hell dimension resting below your hometown tended to craft a bond that not even the moody temperament of a teenage boy could break. Which is why Steve wasn’t exactly shocked to receive a phone call at 11am on a Tuesday to “Please come pick up Michael from school and sign his suspension slip.” AKA Mike Wheeler punches a guy at school, which makes Steve both proud and absolutely terrified.

Twistin' Like a Flame - G, 885, 1/1 BoudicaMuse

It's 2am, the night after they just moved into their new apartment. After a long and tiring day, Eddie should be passed out, but the heat's keeping Steve up. And if Steve can't sleep, then neither can Eddie.

Under Pressure - M, 28k, 1/1 ForgottenFrog

When he finally did present, Steve was pretty sure he was cursed. He believed this for two reasons; one was that his parents were home, something that happened a few times a month at the most these days. The second was that he was an omega. - Steve tries to hide away all the sharp-edged pieces of himself until he can't anymore.

Unsafe Bet - E, series LexiRoseWrites (@lexirosewrites)

This is the A/B/O teen drama movie you’ve always wanted to read. You know your favorite cheesy/angsty/emotional flick that you still put on regularly, knowing exactly how it will end? Yeah, it’s that. There’s hormones, hijinks, and Harrington. What more can I offer you?

vampire murder boyfriends <; 3 - E, series PettyMermaidsGf

And Eddie can’t fucking take it anymore, can’t hold back any longer, a growl tearing from his throat before he bites Steve all the harder, sinks his teeth and tongue into the wound and *drinks*. The hunger still burns at the back of his throat but the worst of it’s abated as he laps and sucks at the blood there. Steve lets out a deep, shuddering breath at the insistent press of his mouth, his sleek, sharp fangs, and murmurs, “Please…don’t stop, keep going” as Eddie mouths at his neck and gives a mindless, sharp thrust into the delicious heat of Steve’s body.

Wait By The Phone - M, 6.4k, 1/1 thefatedthoughtofyou

Steve's aunt comes to town while his parents are away. Steve may or may not tell her about Eddie. She obviously can't wait to meet him.

We Are Not Bullshit - G, 1k, 1/1 sakinneadua_x

Robin convinces Nancy, Steve, and Eddie to go to a party. Steve has to make sure Eddie knows that he loves him. ---- or Steve tells Eddie that he isn't bullshit.

We're Words Without a Rhyme - E, 4.5k, 1/1 emchant3d

Eddie's always restless, always fiddling, and Steve can't help how his eyes drop down to how he's twisting a ring around his pointer finger. The things should look gaudy, all bulky and bright silver, but somehow on Eddie they just look right. Like they belong on his hands, specially picked just for him. Steve's got a thing for Eddie's rings. They escalate from there.

What Your Best Friend Knows - T, 1.2k, 1/1 Fitzgi

“Why do you look so nervous all of a sudden?” Robin asked, almost sounding a little hurt. “Why are you sweating so much? Why do you look so tired? And why do-” Robin cut herself off and at first Steve was confused. He out if everybody knew just how long Robin could go once she got started. He looked at her, confused, until he noticed that she was staring directly over his shoulder. Steve whipped his head around and let out a sigh. Eddie was shuffling his way down the stairs. Completely shirtless but wearing what looked to be an old pair of Steve’s gym shorts. OR Robin shows up unexpectedly and learns more than she wanted to.

when it rains, it pours - G, 2.2k, 1/1 winterbxar

To Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson is home. OR Eddie reads The Hobbit to Steve while it's storming out, and they're so, so in love.

when no one's there (please take my hand) - G, 1.5k, 1/1 coupe_de_foundre

Steve chooses that very moment to speak up and Dustin jolts, worried for a second there that Steve had spotted him. But, he soon realises, Steve’s eyes still haven’t strayed from Eddie. “You should tie your hair up more often.” he says in a gravelly voice, lips quirking up into a half-smirk. Eddie swivels, spatula in hand that he points Steve’s way, and he lets out a light-hearted laugh that sounds foreign coming from him. “And why is that, Stevie?” Steve shrugs, taking a slow sip of his coffee. “You look good. Do I need a reason?”

where the flowers bloom - T, 1.5k, 1/1 hydrangea_bush

It's the opening night of Hawkins High's fall production, but the lead actor and the head of stage crew are nowhere to be found. Or // Eddie and Steve make out in a prop closet and it's cute

who are you? (the right one) - T, 3/? percylicious39

"Now, Wayne obviously knows about his nephew's preferences in partners, that one time a glaringly indisputable proof, but he couldn't quite frankly give a single damn about it, love is love and all that crap. Not that he'd understand anything about that crap. Anyway, he has seen Eddie shove enough boys out of his tiny bedroom window to know that they never get to spend the night, and they never get to prepare Eddie's favorite tea at four in the morning on a Wednesday without Eddie even being present in the room. So what the actual hell is this one doing here? And where is Eddie?" - Or five times Wayne meets Eddie's boyfriend and that time he finally learns his name.

wingman - T, 3.2k, 1/1 vampireboyluvrr

Gareth needs Eddie's help finding the perfect present for Jeff's birthday. Eddie ends up convincing Gareth to confess his feelings instead.

With a Capital P - G, 1.2k, 1/1 FallingUpTheStairz

Steve's love language is physical touch and Robin learns to work with that.

won't somebody help me chase the shadows away? - T, 1.7k, 1/1 vivahate

“I just got you.” Eddie rasps out, pressing their foreheads together. “I’m not losing you to this. You hear me?” And it’s a threat as much as it is a promise. I’ll live for you if you live for me. (or; desperate kisses are shared while uncertainty and danger loom ahead)

You and Me, Forevermore - N/A, 1.2k, 1/1 slayorswift23

Steve unpacks his sadness about Robin going away to college, and Eddie is there to support him.

You are the reason I stay alive - E, 3.5k, 1/1 makesometime

“How’s uh. Human rank on that scale?” Eddie smiles. “I don’t know, Steve. I haven’t exactly had a chance to try.” He thinks he’s gotten away with it when Eddie turns back to his mug and drains it, putting it down on the coffee table and picking up the remote. “Why? Are you offering?”

you got a lot on your mind (and your heart it looks just like mine) - E, 3.7k, 1/1 picklebaby

Steve was having a day. He hadn’t quite decided if it was a bad day, but it definitely wasn’t turning out to be a good one. or Steve wakes up with a migraine and Eddie knows just how to take care of him.

you have been bruised and broken - T, 2.3k, 1/1 likes_koolaid

Steve and Eddie are just watching a movie at Steve's house, nothing more. Then his parents come home.

You Make Me Live Now, Honey - E, 15k, 1/1 GrasshopperKatie

Eddie loves the little idiots, but he’s thankful that it’s just Robin, Steve and himself on this trip. Steve is stressed enough about a cross country road trip without adding that he would have to take care of seven children on top of that. Nancy has provided them the perfect opportunity for an escape. She’s been attending classes at Emerson for two months now and invited them out to spend Halloween weekend at her place. They all jumped on the idea of getting out of Hawkins for a few days.

You Rule, You Suck - G, 1.6k, 1/1 lodiononhaunantidoto

The last thing Robin expected was for her to enjoy working with Steve Harrington the whole summer, but life really never stopped surprising her

you told me to call (said you'd be there) - T, 1.4k, 1/1 Mighty_Huntress

They pull up outside Dustin’s front door. Steve is immediately proven right—he doesn’t even wait for the wheels to fully stop rolling before flinging the back doors open and full on tackling Steve. Which, hey, dangerous, and also hey, ow. Eddie looks over his shoulder at the sound of him wheezing after the direct hit to the solar plexus he just got, and raises an eyebrow. “Are we visiting rather than kidnapping you, then?” Dustin starts bawling.

you wanna kiss me soooo bad - G, 1.3k, 1/1 KaeyasManBoobies

Steve and Eddie have a recurring date night- but what's also recurring is their lack of ability not to be smitten idiots in love. Their refusal to focus on the task of cooking a goddamn meal leads to a kitchen make out session.

you're just like a dream - T, 3.4k, 1/1 joehardys

Eddie still finds it all hard to believe. If someone had told him at the beginning of the year that he’d be in a relationship with Steve Harrington come summertime, he would’ve laughed in their face. Like, yeah right. Or, Steve, from Eddie’s point of view.

You're Kind of Incredible - M, 10k, 1/1 god_hates_tyler (@bisexual-cryptid)

A re-write of the last two episodes of season 3 where Eddie finds Robin and Steve after they are drugged by Russian soldiers. Steve confesses he has feelings for Eddie in the bathroom scene, but they are interrupted by Dustin before Eddie can reply. Eddie is there for the shit show that is the battle of starcourt, he and Steve working out their feelings within the chaos.

You're Not Bullshit (The Steve & Eddie Love Story) - E, series Melody_Dimas

After the party where Nancy calls Steve, his love for her and their relationship bullshit. Where Nancy tells him how they pretended that they didn't get Barb killed and everything was just fine was bullshit, Steve storms out and finds someone unlikely to tell him that he's not bullshit.

your eyes look like coming home - E, 1.4k, 1/1 writerbri

Steve doesn’t wake gracefully these days. Hasn’t in years, since the first time he took a hold of a bat full of nails and swung it with purpose at an impossible thing. His morning routine nearly always begins with choked gasps and lingering flashes of what haunts his dreams. So it’s odd and confusing and entirely welcome when, for once, the shift from sleeping to wakefulness comes slowly and gently, with contentment woven deep into every inch of him. It’s warm and it’s quiet and it’s callused fingers from endless days of plucking at guitar strings tracing nonsense patterns along the length of his spine.

Your Hands Around My Throat - E, 1.9k, 1/1 asarcasticwitch

Eddie’s hands are criminal—the rings, the calluses from playing his guitar, and the way he always crooks them just right, hitting all those spots that make Steve’s body sing—and Steve has long since given up pretending they don't turn him on like crazy.

your love is a turning page (where only the sweetest words remain) - G, 924, 1/1 writerbri

“Your daddy thinks he’s sneaky, y’know,” Eddie murmurs quietly. Steve blinks, his own cheeks warming as he realizes that he’s caught. Eddie glances up from where he’s been gazing at Charlie, a soft smile lingering as he meets Steve’s eyes like he’s been aware of him this whole time. “You look really good like that,” Steve says, unable to keep quiet about it for a second longer now that he’s been called out. Eddie predictably blushes as Charlie stirs at the sound of his voice.

[inairbinad]

I Don't Think It's Contagious

5.3k words, also on ao3

Just some Pre-Season 2 Platonic (obviously) Stobin-centric fluff because they deserved to be friends sooner. With Steddie and Buckingham pining sprinkled in. All part of my magical fairy dust AU where Barb lives. Never Quite as it Seems helps to set this up, but it's not necessary to read first.

Life had gotten weird for Robin in the tail end of her sophomore year at Hawkins High. Weird because not only had she and Barb revived their friendship, but eventually Barb also confided in Robin that she was a lesbian, and dating Nancy Wheeler. It was the first inkling that Robin had ever gotten that she might not be terribly alone in this godforsaken town, which was nice, if not wildly surprising. Then, to top that particularly stunning revelation off and to really make Robin feel like maybe she’d lost her mind, she ended up friends with Steve Harrington, of all people. 

The revelation that Steve was capable of caring about people other than himself had come one dragging afternoon in the spring of '84. One minute things were normal; Robin was minding her own business and trying to get her shit from her locker and get out of there as quickly as possible. The mundanity got tossed like a salad, however, when Tommy H and Carol decided they wanted to cause a scene and harass Steve for deigning to talk to Barb. It seemed less about Barb, and more like she was just unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire of the ongoing chill between Steve and his former minions. No one really knew why the three of them were on the outs these days, beyond the fact that back in November, Steve had abruptly started hanging out more with Jonathan Byers than he ever did Tommy H. anymore.

Robin watched the whole exchange while half-hiding behind her locker door, flinching at Carol tossing the d-word around, and then nearly having a stroke as Steve stood up for Barb. Even though Carol had just loudly declared for everyone to hear that she thought Barb had stolen Steve’s girlfriend. Steve shrugged it off, and said he’d rather be friends with Barb than the pair of goons that had followed him around like puppies for as long as Robin could remember.

That night, Robin tried to call Barb for the first time in years just to check on her. Whether what Carol had said was true or not didn’t really matter, and at the time Robin had no idea either way. Regardless, she felt the keen sting of being called out like that in front of a huge crowd of people, feeling the blow hit a little too close to home. Barb hadn’t answered her call, but Robin couldn’t exactly blame her there, either. 

Then Steve and Barb had showed up the next morning, blasting We Are Family through the windows of Steve’s fancy car, and the former King had cemented his new reputation. No longer was he known as royalty, or The Hair. No, now he was Steve “Dyke Defender” Harrington, and he apparently wore that badge proudly. 

It was enough to make Robin wonder if maybe there was something more to Bagel Crumb Boy. 

Eventually, Barb got back to Robin, and they started talking again like no time had passed at all. Not only because eventually Barb admitted to Robin that the rumors about her hadn’t exactly been wrong, but also because Robin hadn’t realized how much she’d missed having Barb to talk to. Even though she hadn’t been brave enough to come out herself, yet, she knew Barb would be in her corner regardless, and that gave Robin a sense of peace she’d never really known before.

————

Now that it was the fall and she was starting her junior year, most mornings Robin woke up trying to make sense of how her life had changed so drastically. After a summer of hanging around each other thanks to the persuasive powers of Barb, somehow Robin had reached the point where she could consider herself Steve Harrington’s friend. That was surprising enough on its own, but she also liked him. He was funny, and they had startlingly similar senses of humor, and he really seemed to give a shit about Robin and her feelings, which was new. 

Somehow, by complete accident, she’d ended up in a group of friends that felt like kindred spirits.

Before Robin knew it, she was in a world where she sat next to Steve Harrington at lunch every day, laughing at his corny jokes and watching him try to flirt with whatever girls still liked him, post-dethroning. There were still a lot more of them than Robin thought were strictly warranted, but that might have been her old friend jealousy perking up to say hello. 

Today was different, though. 

Today Steve was hung up on a boy. Or several, rather.

“Did you and Jonathan have a fight, or something?” Barb asked, following Steve’s gaze to where Jonathan Byers stood in the lunch line. Robin assumed that, like most days, he was only briefly stopping by to grab his food before taking it somewhere he wouldn’t have to interact with people much. 

Sometimes Jonathan sat with them, too. But usually he used their lunch break to decompress and go take photos of something before he got thrust back under the fluorescent lights and rigidly dull boredom of a classroom.

It was one of the reasons Robin found Jonathan wildly relatable. 

Robin still wasn't sure how exactly the little foursome of Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, and Barb had ended up being the best of friends, seemingly overnight, but she was pretty sure she'd get the whole story eventually.

“What?” Steve asked, startling at the sound of Barb’s voice alone, even though she was nearly talking at a whisper.

“You’re staring,” Barb pointed out. “And looking kind of miserable about it.”

“Oh. Well,” Steve chewed his lip, then quickly glanced around to see if anyone was paying the four of them any attention. They weren’t, because they were largely irrelevant, as far as social circles went. “We didn’t have a fight. I’ve just been having some…thoughts.”

“Dangerous,” Robin quipped, and Steve shot her a half-hearted glare. She took a little bit of pride in watching how the corner of his mouth twitched into a tiny smile all the same. 

“What kind of thoughts?” Nancy asked, though she had that look on her face that she got when she already knew the answer.

“The kind that make me wonder if I’ve been hanging around you two too much,” Steve muttered. Robin snorted, knowing exactly where this was going. 

“I don’t think it’s contagious, dingus,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. Although, even though Robin wasn’t out to any of the others yet, she did wonder if maybe their collective queerness drew them together like a magnet.

“What is?” Barb asked, not yet up to speed.

That was another thing about Steve—he and Robin seemed to ride the same wavelength at all times. Whenever the two of them thought something was obvious, it usually took an extra explainer for the others. 

“I just think he’s cute, is all,” Steve sighed, and Barb’s eyes went wide. Not because they hadn’t talked about Steve’s realization that he was also attracted to boys already. They’d actually spent a good chunk of the summer on that revelation, particularly on rather scorching days spent lounging at the pool while Steve stared agog at most people who walked by. He’d ask Robin, ironically enough, if he was crazy when he found a particular guy attractive. She’d done her best to pretend to have taste in boys, in the name of being supportive while staying safely ensconced in her own closet. Nancy's way of showing support, by contrast, was doing enough research to convince Steve that being bisexual was, indeed, a thing.

Today, Barb merely seemed surprised to hear Jonathan’s name mentioned in the context of Steve's thoroughly examined sexuality crisis.

Nancy started easily nodding along, taking in Jonathan’s profile from afar. Eventually she said, “I can see that."

“You can?” Barb asked her girlfriend, her surprise growing bigger still. 

“Yeah,” Nancy shrugged. 

Barb stared between Steve, who was absently picking the crust off his sandwich and trying not to make eye contact with anyone, and Nancy, who was obviously trying not to laugh at Barb’s reaction. Finally, Barb landed back on Steve.

“You want to date Jonathan?” she whispered so low that Robin could barely even hear her, despite the fact that they all had their heads bowed together across the width of the lunch table. 

“I didn’t say that!” Steve countered quickly. “I just…am noticing more, now, who I think is cute around here. Or letting myself notice, I guess.”

“Who else are we talking?” Robin asked with her eyebrows raised. She was honestly still flabbergasted that this was even something Steve talked with her about at all, given that she wasn’t out to him yet, either. But apparently all of her gay friends seemed to trust Robin to keep their secrets. It was enough to make her wonder if they had some idea about her, anyway.

“I mean, that new guy is hot,” Steve admitted as he leaned back in his chair. “He seems kind of like an asshole, though.”

“Definitely is one,” Barb muttered. “He’s already got Tommy and those guys hanging off him.” 

“Right, see?” Steve huffed. “That's why I’m very much in a look but don’t touch mode right now.”

“Really? There’s no one at all you’d want to shove into a locker and make out with?” Barb asked. She had a glint in her eye that let Robin know Barb already had a candidate in mind, and she just wanted Steve to own up to it. The way Steve glared at her before determinedly starting at his sandwich again told Robin that he knew that, too.

“Okay, fine. Maybe this guy in my English class.” Steve mumbled it so thoroughly that it all came out as one syllable, though. Barb and Nancy immediately turned to Robin for her to translate.

“This guy in his English class,” Robin obliged, enunciating to the best of her ability. 

“Say it a little louder, Rob,” Steve grumbled at her. 

“Okay, dingus. THIS GUY—” she started at an absurd volume, but Steve clapped a hand over her mouth with a truly tortured sounding sigh. It perked Robin up innumerably. 

“You should talk to him,” Nancy suggested, cheerfully redirecting them with practiced skill. 

Steve was already shaking his head, though. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Barb asked. 

Because even if he did, he runs the risk of getting shoved into a locker himself, but in the bad way. And probably much worse, if he’s too obvious about it, Robin thought cynically. She kept her mouth shut, though.

“Because he probably hates me,” Steve said. 

Robin rather sourly admitted to herself that this was likely true, too. At least, it probably was if this guy hadn’t already been one of King Steve’s worshipers. And if he was one of those, that likely meant he didn’t deserve the actual Steve that Robin had come to know.

Weird, Robin told herself. She still couldn’t adjust to liking this guy enough to think he deserved the best a boyfriend or girlfriend could give him. But she did. 

“Why would he hate you?” Nancy asked.

“Because most smart people around here do,” Steve said glumly. “And he’s really smart.”

“Um,” Barb cleared her throat, then leveled Steve with a stern look. “You’re sitting with possibly three of the smartest people you’ll ever meet, Steve. None of us hate you.”

“But you all used to,” Steve pointed out flatly.

“And now we know you,” Barb argued. “And that changes things. Right, Robin?”

Barb kicked her under the table, and Robin jolted up out of her slouch.

“Right!” Robin agreed. Even though she wasn’t entirely aware of how to deal with this new version of Steve Harrington, she had begrudgingly admitted that she actually liked him a lot quite a while ago. “You’re much less of an asshole than I thought.”

“Thank you,” Steve deadpanned. 

“You’re welcome,” Robin said in as chipper a tone she could muster. “They’re right, though.”

“About?”

“The mystery man,” Robin clarified, even though she couldn’t believe she was doing it. This felt like playing with fire, but the funny thing about that was that it still warmed her heart. “If you talk to him, get to know him, he won’t hate you. Maybe he already doesn’t.”

————

After school, Robin was having particular trouble wrestling her bike lock open. She really needed a new one, but she also couldn’t afford it. She was about thirty seconds from giving up and walking when Steve crouched down beside her.

“Need some help?” He asked, flashing that annoyingly charming smile of his at her before he got to work unsticking the lock. He didn’t wait for Robin’s reply, she noticed. She didn’t argue, though, instead choosing to watch the way some of his stupid hair flopped over his forehead while he freed her bike from its prison. The lock finally popped open with a click. “There.” 

“Thanks,” Robin said, taking Steve’s offered hand as she dragged herself up off the ground. He held on to her for just a fraction too long, probably aware that Robin took at least an extra two-to-three seconds to get her bearings compared to everyone else. 

“No problem,” Steve smiled again, then leaned against the brick wall of the school. Robin tensed. She only ever saw Steve lean against things when he was flirting. “You want a ride? We can go get some ice cream, or something?”

“Um,” She stalled, now seeing his helping hand and the gentle grip on her waist in an entirely different light. Especially when he kept smiling at her like that. “What happened to the guy from English class?”

“What?” Steve asked, pinching his eyebrows together in confusion.

Robin didn’t quite feel like waiting for whatever telepathic thing they had going on to kick in, so she just said it outright.

“Just because I don’t think you’re a douchebag anymore doesn’t mean I think we should date, is all,” Robin managed to get out. 

“Um,” Steve scratched his neck and let out a small squeak of a laugh. He looked almost apologetic, and Robin realized she’d probably taken a wayward turn, somewhere. “I wasn’t asking you out. Just thought we could…hang out. Like friends do? Like we do?”

“Oh,” Robin said, feeling like an idiot all of a sudden. She’d gone and had a minor freak out just because Steve leaned against something. She thought maybe the only way to stop the mad awkwardness spreading like a virus through her mind was to tell him the truth, and soon. It was starting to make Robin paranoid, letting people think she was straight. Which was ironic, because it used to be the other way around. 

“Yeah,” Steve nodded with a small smile. “Oh.”

Robin shuffled her feet uncomfortably, feeling like maybe she owed him an apology now, but Steve saved her the trouble. 

“So. Ice cream?” he asked again, still wanting to hang around her for some reason.

“Sure! Right. But, um,” Robin chewed her bottom lip. “What about my bike?”

“It’ll fit in the trunk,” Steve shrugged, then nodded in the direction of his car, inviting Robin to follow.

“How come I’m the only one you let eat in here?” Robin asked around a mouthful of mint chip, twenty minutes later. They were sitting in Steve’s car in the parking lot of the local ice cream shop, since Steve insisted their cookie dough was better than anything Dairy Queen could come up with. “I’m the clumsiest person you know, waving the messiest thing you can eat around your leather interior.”

“Buffalo wings are the messiest thing you can eat,” Steve corrected her with a grin. “Or maybe crab legs. Not ice cream in a cup.”

“Okay, rich boy,” Robin groaned. “Answer the question.”

Steve rolled his eyes at her and shoved another spoonful of ice cream in his face before he bothered to reply.

“You might be the clumsiest person I know,” he admitted without fanfare, “but I also happen to like you the best.”

“What?” Robin asked, nearly choking. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Steve scoffed like that should have been obvious to Robin. It totally wasn’t, though, especially since he wasn’t trying to hit on her.

“Why?” she blurted.

“You’re cool,” Steve started, but had to pause in light of how loudly Robin snorted. He didn’t argue with her disbelief, though. He just kept going. “You’re funny, you’re crazy smart, you’re always honest, and you don’t fuck around with people’s feelings. I’m always laughing with you, even when no one else gets our jokes. You’re kind of my best friend, Robin.”

Robin really didn’t know what to make of that, except for the fact that she was surprised to find she felt the same way. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t give him some shit for it, though.

“Oh, am I?” She asked, tone teasing. 

“Yes,” Steve grumbled. “Am I not yours?”

“Pft,” Robin blew out a puff of air. “Not even close.”

“No?” Steve gasped, putting on a pout now.

“Nope,” Robin said simply.

“Not even top five?”

“Eeeeh,” Robin wobbled her hand midair, like maybe Steve could tip the scales if he tried harder. 

“You’re meaner than I thought,” he said flatly, but couldn’t hold a grin off his face for too long. Neither could Robin.

“You’re nicer than I thought,” she countered. Steve chuckled to start, a soft appreciative little laugh. But then they made eye-contact and lost control of themselves. They tumbled into silly, senseless laughter, just spurring each other deeper into whatever they both found so hilarious in that moment. Robin wasn’t even sure that she knew, beyond maybe being on a sugar high. She only knew Steve’s laughter was contagious.

It always made her feel lighter, to be around him like this. So by the time they both calmed down, she decided to be upfront with him.

“I haven’t really had a best friend,” Robin admitted. “Not for a long time, anyway. Maybe not since Barb, the first time around.”

“The last best friend I had was a dickhead, so,” Steve lifted one shoulder in a shrug, “maybe they're overrated.”

“They’re not,” Robin disagreed, hiding a smile by staring down at the spoon in her hand. Eventually she was brave enough to look back up at Steve, to find he looked both confused and hopeful all at once. It was pretty cute, in an overwhelmingly platonic sort of way. “You’re mine, too, dingus.”

Steve’s smile was all-encompassing, taking over his whole face in an instant. Robin still didn’t know how to handle the little bubble of warmth in her chest that it gave her, so she gave him an affectionate punch on the arm, and changed the subject.

“Speaking of which. Do you have notes from Click’s class?” Robin asked of the only class they shared together. For the second year in a row, the powers that be at Hawkins High decided that Steve and Robin were on the same skill level for learning history. Robin wasn’t sure what that said about either of them.

“Um, no?” Steve answered, surprised like it was the first time someone had ever asked him for notes. “No one’s ever asked for my notes, before.”

Robin bit down on a laugh, not wanting him to misconstrue it as her thinking he was stupid when it was really just his voicing her exact thoughts again. They’d only declared each other to be best friends all of a minute ago, but Robin knew Steve was sensitive about that. In fact, she was kind of surprised he didn’t have notes.

“How is that possible?” she asked. “You’re constantly writing in that class!” 

“Doodling, mostly,” Steve laughed. “Why don’t you have notes, smarty pants?”

“Oh, I haven’t been paying attention in there all semester,” Robin answered a little too quickly. Now she’d have to come up with a reason for that, because Steve was absolutely pursing his lips to ask.

“Why not?”

“No reason…” Robin hedged. Just because they were best friends didn’t mean she was quite sure how to admit that she liked girls, and that Tammy Thompson so thoroughly distracted Robin that she turned into a bumbling buffoon at every turn. For two semesters running.  

Steve could have pressed it, Robin even expected him to, but he took his time finishing his cookie dough before saying another word. Then he surprised her.

“Want to know a secret?” he asked, smiling at Robin conspiratorially.

“Obviously,” Robin said. 

“The guy from English? He’s in history with us, too,” Steve admitted, and Robin felt her eyebrows shoot off her forehead and into orbit. She barely had time to squeak before Steve continued with a worried look on his face. “Don’t tell Barb or Nance, though. Barb already suspects who it is and if she finds out for real she’s gonna make me talk to him. Like that would ever go anywhere.”

That was a lot to process, but Robin didn’t really feel the need to make it clear she understood the concept of a secret. Of course she wasn’t going to tell anyone else. Instead, she asked, “Why are you so hellbent on thinking this guy hates you?”

For some reason, Steve’s mouth pinched right after Robin said hellbent, and she thought there might be a clue to suss out there. She started sorting through her mental Rolodex of everyone else that was in that class with them. The problem was she rarely paid attention to anyone but Tammy in those hours, let alone any guys. Usually Robin’s lens of focus was limited to the chain of her staring at Tammy staring at Steve. Apparently she’d have to extend that to see who Steve was staring at, too.

Robin picked at the last dredges of her ice cream and wondered if maybe anyone would ever stare at her. 

“It’s not just that,” Steve sighed. “I mean. Even if he doesn’t hate me, and we end up friends? It’s not like I can actually shove him against a locker and make out with him.”

“Well, maybe not with anyone around,” Robin amended. 

“What are the odds of him being into dudes, too?” Steve let out a bitter laugh. “I mean, really. This is Hawkins.”

“I wouldn’t make too many assumptions there, Steve,” Robin all but whispered. Even knowing she was about to tell Steve the truth, all of it, and knowing she was safe to, Robin still felt her throat closing up around the words. 

“Why not?” Steve asked softly, not missing how her demeanor had changed for a second. 

Robin took a deep breath, then let it out in a rush.

“Because apparently there are more of us around than I realized,” Robin said, turning to give Steve a tight smile. She managed to keep her tears from spilling over, which she counted as a win. Robin sat there, holding her breath and waiting, as Steve paused to absorb what she was saying. At first Robin thought she hadn’t been clear enough, but Steve mouthed the word ‘us’ to himself, and his eyes widened as he put the pieces together.

“Oh,” he breathed, before breaking out in another little smile. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Robin nodded. She felt like her whole body was full of pins and needles.

“That’s cool,” Steve mirrored her nod, smiling at Robin like she really was his favorite person. It finally made her relax again. 

“Thanks,” Robin chuckled. "I know you're a staunch defender of us lesbians."

"That's me," Steve deadpanned, but offered Robin a wry smile. She reached across the center console to ruffle his hair, relishing the relief of having finally said it aloud to someone flooding through her. Steve made an affronted noise, quickly turning to fix his hair in the mirror, and Robin just laughed at him harder. 

“Is there anyone that you want to shove up against a locker?” Steve parried once he felt he had his pride and joy back under control. When Robin’s only response was a groan, his eyes lit up again. “Ooooh! Who!”

“Nope,” Robin rejected this idea on principle, shaking her head furiously as she did.

“Oh, come on,” Steve whined, really pouting now. “I’ll tell you mine!”

“I already know yours,” Robin scoffed, bluffing. To compensate, she rolled down her window and threw her empty ice cream cup into the trash can they were parked next to. Then she folded her arms across her chest and tried to give Steve a stern look. 

“Nah,” Steve shook his head after narrowing his eyes at her for a beat. “You don’t know.”

He was right, of course, but Robin was sure she could figure it out if only she gave it enough thought. So she stared Steve down, thinking about the kind of people she already knew he found attractive. Nancy, for one, but that wasn’t entirely helpful considering he tended to like any pretty girl. He did tend to skew towards brunettes, though. Then of course there was the Jonathan revelation, which was interesting. Robin would have assumed Steve liked more polished types, like him. But the new guy, Billy something or other, wasn’t exactly preppy, either. His whole vibe screamed badass, even if it wasn’t necessarily in a good way. There were better options for pretty but with leather in Hawkins, even Robin had to admit.

Then Robin remembered how Steve’s mouth pinched when she’d said hellbent. Almost like he thought she might say hellfire. She broke out in a victorious grin, already knowing she had Steve figured out.

“Eddie Munson?!” she half-shrieked. Even if Robin hadn’t already been sure, the way the tips of Steve’s ears turned pink would have convinced her.

“How did you…?” He didn’t even bother to finish the sentence, opting instead to stare at Robin, mouth agape. 

A whole litany of examples of proof came flooding into Robin’s mind at that point, like that bit of information clicking had opened a door to all the shit she must have subconsciously picked up on and filed away when she was wondering what Tammy Thompson’s lip gloss tasted like.

She was happy to list them for Steve’s benefit.

“You stare, for one,” Robin said, ticking off fingers. “You laugh at his obnoxious jokes, even when no one else does. I’ve seen him make you blush, more than once, come to think of it. And you kind of have a type.”

Steve just kept staring at her, without objection. Robin thought maybe she could stun him out of his silence, since that was how she’d put him in it in the first place.

“For what it’s worth? I think you have a shot,” she said. Robin didn’t know much about picking queer men out from a crowd, obviously, but Munson spent a whole lot of his time paying attention to Steve, too. 

That only seemed to stun Steve further, though. He grunted, sort of, though it sounded a little bit like a whimper. Then he turned the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. It didn’t seem like they were headed anywhere in particular, but Robin didn’t mind.

After a few more minutes of silence, Robin was starting to worry that she’d broken his brain when Steve finally spoke again.

“You don’t have to tell me who you like,” Steve said simply, rescinding his earlier demands. It seemed like he was actually starting to drive in the direction of her house, now. “But I am glad that you told me about you.”

“Me too, dingus,” Robin said. It was possible she’d never meant anything more sincerely. 

By the time Steve pulled up beside the curb outside her house, Robin threw caution to the wind. 

“Tammy Thompson,” she admitted aloud, for the first time ever. Somehow it was more nerve-wracking than telling Steve she was gay at all.

“What?” he half-yelled, twisting around in the driver’s seat to face her. “How? Why?”

“She’s pretty!” Robin defended her taste as much as Tammy. She kind of thought that would have been enough for Steve, but he was still eyeing her skeptically. So she added, “And she can sing.”

“She sounds like a muppet, but okay,” Steve drawled. 

“She does not!” Robin exclaimed. Despite her indignation, she couldn’t quite keep the laugh out of her voice. Steve caught it, and laughed with her.

“She totally does,” he chuckled, then tilted his head at her. “I totally thought you were gonna say someone like…I don’t know. Chrissy Cunningham.”

“Chrissy Cunningham doesn’t even know I exist,” Robin said scornfully. “Talk about playing above my league.”

Steve was wildly shaking his head back and forth, though.

“Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope,” he said. “No talk like that in my car. You’re very much worthy of a Chrissy Cunningham. Plus, even if she doesn’t know you now, I bet she’d want to. She likes everybody, as long as you’re not a complete asshole.”

“So does that mean she hates you, then?” Robin opted for the joke instead of continuing to debate the merits of her switching to crushing on everyone’s favorite cheerleader. 

“Asshole!” Steve volleyed back at her with a laugh.

“And me too, apparently,” Robin grinned.

————

Robin still didn’t have any notes for Mrs. Click’s class, so she was really trying to focus on anything but Tammy, and Steve, and now Eddie, so she could actually take in some of this crap she had to memorize long enough to repeat it back on a test. 

It wasn’t going great, because now she was invested in the Steve and Eddie story line. Particularly since they were passing notes back and forth at the moment. Every time Steve bit his lip or tinted slightly pink, Robin was dying to know what they were saying to each other. But every time she kicked the back of Steve’s chair to try and get his attention, he shooed her off and went back to scribbling out a reply to Eddie.

Eddie, for his part, seemed equally affected by Steve, as he frequently slouched even lower in his chair or hid a smile behind his ever-growing hair whenever he read one of Steve’s replies.

They were almost sickeningly cute. She was happy they were getting along, at the very least, but it seemed like flirting from where she was sitting.

“Oh, you’re asking for it, big boy,” Eddie said then, looking up from whatever Steve had written last with a little bit of astonishment in his eyes. 

Robin rolled hers. Definitely flirting. 

Even though she was happy for Steve, it still sent a pang of jealousy coursing through her. She wondered if Steve was just abnormally lucky, or if she wasn’t looking in the right places for a crush that might acknowledge her. When she realized she was drifting away from the point of this class again—history, not finding a girlfriend—she gripped her pencil so hard it snapped the tip off. 

Groaning aloud over it, Robin leaned over to try and find another one in her bag. Before she got it fully unzipped, though, someone tapped her on the shoulder. 

Robin looked up to find none other than Chrissy Cunningham smiling down at her over the edge of her desk. Robin stared up at her for half a beat too long, noticing how Chrissy's signature ponytail dangled over her shoulder and gave Robin a lungful of the citrusy smell of her shampoo.

“Here,” she said, offering Robin a spare pencil. Hesitantly—probably too hesitantly—Robin reached up and accepted it. She was pretty sure she was gaping at Chrissy’s having acknowledged her, though, because Chrissy laughed a little nervously.

“Sorry, I was staring a little,” she whispered. Then she paused, eyes widening, and course corrected. “At your bracelet, I mean! It’s really pretty, by the way. Um. So I noticed the—” Chrissy stopped to mime snapping a pencil in half, adding a little cracking noise along with it.

It was adorable enough to be a whole new kind of distracting.

“Right,” Robin managed a smile that she hoped was friendly and not completely creepy. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Chrissy smiled again. 

This time, Steve had to kick Robin’s desk to get her to even remember what world she was living in. 

[fandom]

Dragons and ravens and inklings, oh my!

Tag data doesn’t lie—folks sure are posting a lot about House of the Dragon. My Chemical Romance is touring, and all the outfits are on point. The countdown to Splatoon 3 is underway, while Genshin Impact’s Sumeru release has players frantically opening new waypoints to get primos and wish their hearts out. The season finale of Only Murders in the Building left fans clamoring for a third season. The Biden-Harris administration announced a student loan debt forgiveness plan. And Halloween trended because, sure, why not? This is Tumblr’s Week in Review.

House of the Dragon

My Chemical Romance

The Sandman

Stranger Things

What We Do In The Shadows

Eddie Munson | Stranger Things

HBO Max

Jensen Ackles

Genshin Impact

Steve Harrington | Stranger Things

Splatoon 3

Byler | Will Byers & Mike Wheeler, Stranger Things

Lord of the Rings

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

Steddie | Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson, Stranger Things

Dimension 20: A Court of Fey & Flowers

Artists on Tumblr

Halloween

Only Murders in the Building

Student loans

[riality-check]

Steddie Eros and Psyche AU part 2!! Part 1

On the day Steve is supposed to marry the monster, he ascends the cliff on the edge of the city. He goes alone, as he was instructed, and he hears the crowd below slowly fade to a hum, and then to silence.

The quiet is nice, even if he knows it will not last for long.

The sun is high in the sky when he reaches the peak. It is barren and rocky and completely absent of monsters. It has a beautiful view of the sky above and the sea below and the line where they meet, straight ahead.

Steve waits. He cannot hear the crowd, but he knows they must be growing impatient, watching him on the cliff. He does not look back to see them. He will not risk that, not when there is even the slightest possibility of looking back and seeing his sisters. He knows that if he catches sight of them, his resolve will crumble, and he does not know what the consequences of defying this prophecy will be.

He does know that they will not be good.

He waits longer. He can see for miles in every direction, but there is no sign of a monster.

Then, quietly, a voice whispers, so faintly Steve almost does not hear it.

What is the first step to loving someone?

Steve thinks. He knows the answer. He waits for an alternative but cannot find one.

He goes to the edge of the cliff and lets his toes hang over.

"Falling," he whispers, and then he leans.

He hears screams from the crowd. He hopes his sisters will forgive him.

Just before he meets the ocean, the wind snatches him and carries him away.

This was not supposed to happen.

Mortals are trivial little things. They are puny and pathetic and temporary. They are built for brief dalliances. They are built to be broken and laughed at.

And yet, Eddie is utterly captivated.

This was not supposed to happen, and yet it did.

He stopped in his tracks when he first saw him, beautiful and terribly sad. Eddie did not feel the spark of amusement he normally felt. He did not feel the inkling of possession reserved for his favorites.

He felt intrigue and sympathy, two emotions he thought he had long outgrown.

So, he watched. He watched as Steve was idolized by the entire city. He watched as Steve wanted none of the attention. He watched as Steve let himself be truly human with his sisters and only his sisters.

He listened to Steve’s laments for a love that would know him.

Eddie prepared a beautiful palace filled with the finest food and clothing. Steve would not want for anything.

But Eddie is a monster, or so he has been told. And while he has grown to love himself, in spite of or perhaps because of that fact, he cannot imagine that Steve will.

He sends the wind - it does not have eyes, so it cannot be afraid - with a message and a task.

The wind blows around him, whispering its joy in having followed orders.

Eddie will visit the house at nightfall. If Steve is afraid, if he does not want to stay, he can go.

But Eddie needs to try, at least, to make him happy.

[berenwrites]

Beyond the Battle - Epilogue - Stranger Things - Steddie - COMPLETE

Beyond the Battle­: Action & Consequence

Click here for All Posted Chapters

Summary: Steve hits things with a bat or gets hit depending on who you ask. He definitely does not have anything to do with the psychic stuff. That is El’s domain. However, as Vecna is defeated, the rules change.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Other Relationships: Steve & Robin, Steve & Dustin, Eddie & Dustin

Rating: Teen

A/N: Multi-chapter story, updated regularly. Honestly not sure how many chapters it will have yet because it's still a bit hand wavy in the middle, but definitely more than 12. Thank you to my beta for find my mistakes and to all those who read/like/reblog.💖 Follow #st:beyond-the-battle for updates.

Also on AO3

Chapter 46.    Epilogue

Summer was in full swing in Hawkins, Indiana, which meant only one thing, a pool party. Graduation had been late because of everything that had happened, but every senior who had returned had been given a passing grade no matter what. However, despite the fact he would have been passed anyway, Nancy and Robin had made sure Eddie did more than scrape through.

Steve had honestly been amazed how well Eddie did when he had two people tailoring his revision to the way he learned best. He was pretty sure Eddie had been more than a little surprised too.

The actual graduation had been weird because of how many memorials were included. Eddie hadn’t carried out his plan to flip off Higgins but had worn one of the commemorative pins for Chrissy on his gown. Some of the basketball team hadn’t seemed to like that, but Eddie had stared them down and dared them to say anything. It had been a moment to cherish.

Steve thought his boyfriend had looked so very handsome walking across the stage. He’d borrowed his dad’s video camera to record the momentous occasion, along with Robin, Nancy and all the others in their group who were graduating too.

All of them were here along with the kids, enjoying the sun and the pool. There was still that weird mark in the concrete at the bottom of the pool, but the water was clear and fresh now.

All the older adults had decided to skip the chaos of teenagers and a pool by taking up Hopper and Joyce on an invitation to a more sedate grill out at their place. Steve could sympathise since the kids were screaming and playing like the teenagers and one not-quite-a-teenager that they were. Not a care in the world for once. El was even using her powers to cheat at several of the games being played, much to Erica and Max’s delight and the boys’ chagrin. Her antics made Steve laugh out loud, even as he kept a silent eye on her to make sure she wasn’t damaging herself.

He was still exploring his own abilities, but since El seemed perfectly happy to open up to him, even sitting on a lounger just watching, he could keep a light connection, just in case. Not that she was pushing it. She gave him a bright smile every now and then.

Eddie was currently over by the grill talking to Jeff. Steve had had every intention of handling the grill himself, but when Jeff had arrived and seen it, the way Jeff’s eyes had lit up had said it all. Turned out Jeff was a dab hand with fire and meat and had been utterly overjoyed when Steve had let him take over. The smells coming from that direction were divine and Steve’s mouth was watering.

Gareth and Frank were heckling the kids from the sidelines of the pool. They had slotted into the group really well since the debacle in the spring and Steve was pretty sure Eddie had trained up Gareth to take his position of putting jocks in their place at the high school, since he was the only older one who hadn’t yet graduated. Not that he would be alone, given that Dustin, Will, Mike and Lucas made a formidable backup. Which didn’t even mention El and Max. Although Steve also had an inkling that El might turn out to be the sporty type given a little push.

Nancy and Jonathan were sitting on a couple of the loungers talking quietly. They’d had a bit of a rough patch after Jonathan had admitted he hadn’t applied for the school he said he had, but they seemed to be over that now. Steve had kept out of it since it wasn’t his business, but he thought they seemed happier for having been through a crisis that didn’t involve the Upside Down and come out the other side stronger.

Nancy didn’t seem quite so driven now. She was still focused, but there was a definite change in her that Steve was pretty sure was for the better. Whether it had been her near-death experience or just that the danger was finally gone, he didn’t know. He was just happy for her.

Argyle was one lounger away from the couple, chatting animatedly to Robin about something Steve wasn’t even trying to comprehend. Steve still didn’t really understand Argyle very well. The guy came from California, had stolen a pizza truck from there, but didn’t seem remotely worried about going back, or returning the truck. All Argyle had said when Steve had broached the subject was ‘Oh, it’s all cool, Brochacho, don’t you worry.” Argyle also seemed to have a never-ending supply of weed. He had become the go-to man these days around town, since Eddie had quit the business.

Owens had given Wayne and Eddie an actual house, and Wayne had a new job at the lab as one of Hopper’s security people, government benefits and all. So, it had been easy for Eddie to decide he didn’t need the extra cash his sideline brought in. It made Steve breathe easier at least. The idea of Eddie being in the line of fire because of an illegal side gig would have given him sleepless nights.

Since Steve had helped Eddie and Wayne move in, Eddie spent half his time at Steve’s and Steve spent half his time at Eddie’s. They were using the excuse of Eddie’s condition and Steve’s unique ability to fill that need, but he was pretty sure a few people suspected it was more than that.

The kids had become used to them being together a lot. Rather than Steve and Robin, it had become Steve, Robin, and Eddie.  Steve was still working on making that Steve, Robin, Eddie, and Vickie, but Robin had yet to make her move. Robin had been using the excuse of not having time what with catching up on schoolwork and preparing for graduation, but that was all over now, so that wasn’t going to fly anymore. If he could, he would have done the hard part for her, but all he could do was support her and hope she eventually got up the courage.

He was hoping the trip to San Fransisco, which would be happening at the beginning of August, would help give Robin some courage. Meeting some bona fide older queers should give his platonic soulmate some hope at least.

He and Robin were still working at Family Video, which had had a successful reopening, especially because people seemed to want to come in and see the local celebrities. Steve had only complained a few times about that. After everything, Robin had decided to take a year out before choosing what she wanted to do next. They each had a nice little nest egg thanks to government compensation, so she had wider options than she had had before, if that was the way she wanted to go.

Steve still had little idea if there was anything in particular he wanted to do. He still had the option of higher education since the colleges he had applied to for music were willing to hold a place for him. The whole hero thing hadn’t hurt with that at all. In fact, a couple of the places who had turned him down for business degrees had even been in touch. Those he definitely had no interest in.

So much had changed in just a short span and the only decision he had made was to take his time with any of the bigger ones. His mom had just told him to let her know if he needed her help with anything.

The only solid choice he and Eddie had made was that they wanted their friends to know the truth about their relationship. That was the one plan they had for the pool party. They were going to come out. They’d decided as soon as they realised all the older adults would be elsewhere. It wasn’t that they didn’t want some of them to know, like Joyce and Hopper and Claudia, but there were others who were definitely not on the need-to-know list.

“You’re looking thoughtful,” Eddie said as he wandered over, perching on the edge of Steve’s recliner.

“Just enjoying everyone being here,” he replied. “It feels … soothing.”

Eddie lifted an eyebrow and glanced at the chaos in the pool.

“You call that soothing?” Eddie asked.

Steve grinned.

“Yeah,” he said, “because it’s just fun. There’s nothing hiding in the background. It’s happiness.”

“Are you getting philosophical on me?” was Eddie’s immediate response, narrowed eyes and all, but he couldn’t keep it up, grinning back in moments.

“Don’t get used to it,” Steve responded.

“I would never,” Eddie said, hand on his heart.

“Did you put sunscreen on?” Steve asked, looking at how Eddie’s nose was already pink.

“Oops,” Eddie said, “I got distracted. Can you fix me?”

Steve rolled his eyes, but reached out and took Eddie’s hand, closing his eyes. It only took a second as he let his instincts rise. When he opened his eyes again, Eddie’s nose was back to its pale normal.

“If you forget again and turn into a lobster in the pool, I’m not doing it again,” he warned.

Eddie pouted. Steve knew he so would heal his boyfriend again, he couldn’t bear to see Eddie in even slight pain, but he bit his lip, so he didn’t say it out loud.

“You know I’d make it worth your while,” Eddie said, leaning in close and whispering in his ear.

“You’re the worst,” Steve replied as he felt a blush begin creeping up his face.

“But you still love me,” Eddie said quietly.

“You got me there,” he acknowledged.

That confession had come in the middle of finals when Eddie had been going slightly mad with it all. Steve had managed to blurt it out completely by accident, but since Eddie had been kissing him within an inch of his life and immediately returned the sentiment, it had all been for the good.

“So, shall we tell them?” Eddie asked, glancing around the yard. “Is it time?”

Steve followed his boyfriend’s gaze. Nerves fizzled in his stomach, but there was no outright fear. Some of the kids could be entitled twerps at times, but he didn’t think any of them would take it badly.

“I think it might be,” he replied. “How do you want to do this?”

They had talked about it, but there was always room to change their minds. He wanted to be sure they were both on the same page for this. When Eddie’s face suddenly broke into what Steve could only describe as a wicked grin, he began to worry a little more.

“What?” he asked.

“Well, I was just thinking,” Eddie said, “we could always tell them, but it’s going to take us at least ten minutes to get their attention.”

Steve nodded, that much was true.

“So maybe we could just show them,” Eddie suggested.

“How?” Steve said carefully.

“Well I couldn’t help noticing how delectable you looked sitting over here,” Eddie replied, “and it would take a stronger man than I to resist such charms. I could straddle your lap and we could make out for a while, see how long it takes them all to notice.”

“Just kissing,” Steve said.

“Totally PG,” Eddie promised, eyes alight with mischief.

Steve couldn’t help smiling too as he let the idea sink in.

“Show me what you’ve got, Munson,” he said, smile morphing into a grin to match Eddie’s.

Eddie needed no other permission, standing up and quickly returning to kneel over Steve. As Eddie leaned down, Steve leaned up and their lips met in a sweet little kiss. It didn’t stay sweet for long.

Steve heard someone choke on their drink as he and Eddie deepened the kiss, but he was too busy to figure out who. Keeping his hands in PG places took concentration, because he was usually allowed to touch wherever he felt like. Not that he was complaining too much because he loved Eddie any way he could get him, even if it had to be family friendly.

“Well that’s one way to do it, I guess,” he heard Robin say.

And slowly all sound from the yard ceased.

“What the fuck?”

That was definitely Mike.

“I told you, didn’t I tell you!”

And that was Dustin, because of course it was.

“Yet you still sound surprised,” and that was Erica. “How did you not know this?”

“Do you think they noticed?” Steve said in a loud stage whisper as he and Eddie finally broke apart.

His boyfriend just put his head back and roared with laughter.

There were going to have to be explanations, and actual talking, but it was all going about how they had expected so far.

“Oh my god, he’s going to be insufferable now.”

And that was from Gareth, which was the final prediction. Eddie found that even funnier.

All was good with the world.

The End

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

destiel!steddie brainrot pt. 2

Here's the second part to this destiel/spn themed au (first part here, which has updated and made a bit longer!!)~!

i'm brainstorming titles for this, may keep going with little snippets from this universe as they come to me and post them to ao3 too :)

tw/cw: mentions of suicide and suicidal ideations below; nothing described/graphic, but mentions of characters wanting to/who have died by completing suicide (has to do with this part's monster of the week and Real Steve's story from the first part!). and said monster of the week originally died by overdose; again, not said directly, just alluded to. please read with caution!

Do two different cases of vengeful spirits make him lucky? Or unlucky?

First it was the damn ‘witnesses’ that Steve told him were part of the demons’ (yes, those demons, but from what he gathered from Steve, were different on the whole from crossroads demons) plan to release Lucifer.

“Ah, Lucifer. Of course.”

“Why do you sound unbelieving?”

“Oh I believe you, I’m just surprised that I’m not surprised by it. Because of course, angels, demons, hell, Lucifer is a given. He’s like THE angel, right?”

“He was the first of my father’s children and the first to fall from heaven if that is what you mean.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m getting at.” Eddie goes to pull his hand through his hair, which gets stuck on his rings and on his hand in general because somehow he forgot that he’d put it up about five minutes earlier.

Now, after dealing with those motherfucking ghosts, helping Wayne put together a pyre for one of his good hunter friends who was killed by her own ‘witness’, they got word of a long string of suicides at a high school in a small Indiana town that had the kids’ parents convinced it was some sort of pact.

“Y’know, I grew up here.” Wayne says as they pass the ‘Now Entering Hawkins’ sign.

“Really?”

“Yep. Good ol’ Hawkins, Indiana. Surprised we haven’t been through here yet, there was always weird shit happening here when I was a kid.”

It’s late morning when Eddie’s van rumbles to a stop outside the motel.

“Boy, we really need to get you a new set of wheels if you’re gonna keep pretending to be a professional at anything.”

“What’s wrong with my baby??”

“Ed, you’re about to put on a suit and pretend to be a professional that works with children, and you’re gonna pull up in an late 70s panel van. What do you think is wrong with your baby?”

“...okay, you’ve got a point. You gotta new set of wheels for me at that junkyard of yours then, old man? I’m not exactly flush with cash.”

Wayne thinks for a moment. “I think I might, got it from a hunting buddy of mine after his brother died.”

Eddie just nods, “Whatever you say, Wayne, now c’mon lets get changed and get to the school.”

This time, they’re pretending to be mental health counselors sent to work with the families of the students who’ve passed. The two of them get through a few interviews each, but it’s one of the students’ little sister that has the first inkling of what they are really dealing with. ‘Best thing about young minds,’ Eddie will tell Wayne later, ‘they are sensitive to, and open to, way more than adults are.’

He and Wayne are in this one together, last one of the siblings at the school, and the snarky redhead calls out her mom’s practiced answer of ‘I never saw anything wrong’, calling her out for never being around and putting the pressure of being the parent to her.

Eddie looks at the young girl, then back to her mother. “Ms. Mayfield, may I have a word with Max here, alone?”

She looks unsure, so he continues “We’ll be right here, you can be on just the other side of the door and watch us the whole time, I promise.”

Ms. Mayfield nods her head shakily, and stands, Wayne accompanies her out, to give her some semblance of security.

“So, Max, Max right?” She just eyeballs him incredulously. “I’m going to just start talking, and you stop me if I’m way off base, ‘kay?” She looks away, but doesn’t say anything to the contrary. 

“I think you know the pattern already, that you know this isn’t just some stupid pact, huh? I think you know who may be a target next; that if this thing, this whatever it is, can wheedle its way under your brother’s skin, that it may get to your…” He looks her over “...friends next. Right? Obviously no one in particular, just your friends, huh?” Her head whips back to him and he leans back in the seat he was given, knowing he’s got her pegged. She’s worried about a crush or a boyfriend, or something. He can tell.

The look she has tells him she’s already putting seemingly impossible pieces together on what he and Wayne are doing here.

“Whatever it is, it’s a bully. It’s going after whoever it thinks it can sink its claws in. Like it’s finding those with the biggest insecurities and driving them to their deaths.”

“You’re very astute, you know that, don't you.”

“Duh.”

“What do you think it is then, Red?”

“My friends have been calling it Vecna.”

Eddie’s brain stalls. “H-how do you know that name?”

“Ah, so you’re a nerd too, huh?”

“Your friends play D&D.” Eddie breathes; Max just smirks at him, but her face falls just as quickly and that just won’t do. “Hey, don’t worry Red, my uncle and I got this covered. We’ll get this bastard taken care of.” And he means every word. Not one shred of this motherfucker is going to lay a finger on this girl’s friends as long as he has anything to do with it.

She looks down at her feet, “Please hurry,” she mumbles “I can’t lose them too.”

He opens his mouth to speak, but she’s up off the little couch lightning fast and heading to the door. He shoots up to follow, “Thank you Ms. Mayfield,” He says when he exits. “She will be just fine. She’s just worried about her friends too.”

“Thank you.” She says, still a bit out of it as her eyes follow Max down the hall.

“Just make sure she knows you’re there for her, and get some more permanent help for the two of you, real help, not just us temp guys.” Wayne smiles at her.

All she does is nod, then moves to follow her daughter.

“What’dja find out, Ed?”

“Super-powered, cartoonishly evil, bully of a ghost named after a D&D villain?”

—-

He and Wayne split up after that, Wayne goes back to the motel to whip up some extra salt rounds for them, and Eddie heads to the Hawkins Library to do some research on deaths in the area.

After some searching, he comes across Jason Carver. Seemingly the small town’s golden boy tragically killed by an overdose. He seems to match the fleeting glimpses that all the witnesses to the students’ deaths were able to give. Cropped blond hair, 6’2” or so, a flash of green that seemed like it could be a Hawkins High varsity jacket.

The dealer that gave him the drugs was found guilty of manslaughter and he got 10 years and a permanent shun from the town. He, Fred, still lived in Hawkins though, in the Forest Hills trailer park.

Eddie calls Wayne at the hotel, “Whatcha find out, Ed?”

“Looks like a good contender for a high school bully ghost, does the name Jason Carver mean anything to you?”

Wayne scoffs, “Sure does, that kid was horrible to me and my buddies back in the day.”

“Not a golden boy?”

“Didn’t say all that. I think I know who we can talk to.” Eddie can hear him shuffling around and the jingle of keys.

“Is it a man named Fred Jameson, lives out at F–”

“Forest Hills, yeah. Be there soon for ya.”

“How’d you– aand he’s gone.” he says into his receiver to only silence.

—

“Of course I knew where you were talking about Eddie, I grew up in this park, Fred was one of my best buds back in the day.”

Wayne pulls into Fred’s drive, behind a well-loved red pickup. The rattle of Eddie’s van must’ve alerted Fred to their arrival, because he met them outside before they could even get all the way out of their seats.

“I thought I recognized that rattle, still haven’t hocked that hunk of junk yet, eh Munson?” Fred folds Wayne into a hug, giving him a couple of pats on the back for good measure.

“Hey, that’s my baby you’re talking about.” Eddie grumbles.

“Damn, that you, Teddy?”

“Teddy? Who in the hell–”

“Yeah, he really looks like Margie, huh?” Wayne crinkles a smile at Eddie’s disgust at Fred's nickname.

“You knew my mom?”

“Of course boy, I knew you both back when you were just a little bean. There were a good few months there, after you were born, that Margie and you were living with Wayne.”

Eddie doesn’t really know what to say to that, but luckily Wayne gets right to it.

“Fred, I hate to do this to ya, but we’re here on business.”

The other man’s face falls sickly and pale in an instant.

“I shoulda known you’d be comin’ ‘round. What do you need to know?”

“It’s about Jason Carver.” Eddie winces at how much worse the man’s expression twists.

“C’mon D, you can’t’ve believed that suicide pact shit.”

“I never believed it. He’s been…” Fred pauses, seeming to look for the right words “He’s been haunting my dreams. Nightmares really, telling me all the things he did to those poor kids. Says it was my fault.”

Wayne and Eddie share a look. “D, it wasn’t yo-”

“Sure it was, Wayne. I should’a just stood up to him and said I ain't had shit.”

“You know what he would’a done to ya if you had.”

“Well now there’s six lives lost, not just one!” Fred snaps. “If I had just stuck with it, told him I couldn’t get it until Reefer Rick was back, I wouldn’t’ve gotten that bad shit, he would still be around, and so would those five other kids!”

“Fred–”

“I gotta get going, Wayne, y’all should too.” He cuts him off “Good t’see ya Teddy.” and with that, he turns and heads back inside his trailer.

The two Munsons are frozen in Fred’s driveway for a moment longer, before they turn back to their van. They drive in silence on their way back to the motel. It’s only when they’re parked in front of their room again that Eddie says something.

“Fred’s next.”

Wayne’s face sets itself further into its frown. “I think you’re right.”

—-

They go out to the graveyard as soon as night falls, finding Carver’s grave easy enough. They run a salt line around the site, and start digging together, but Wayne’s back has him dropping off only about two feet deep.

It’s just after Wayne settles himself onto the handle of his shovel to rest for a bit when they hear something crunching through the dark towards them.

Eddie hops up immediately, Wayne tossing him one of their shotguns. He skirts off between the taller granite and marble stones around him, getting closer to the intruder’s unskilled footsteps.

He peeks around the base of a way-too-large angel statue and whips up his gun. He’s face to face, shotgun to pistol, with a petite woman in a high ponytail.

This woman looks human enough, definitely not ghost-y, probably just wondering why she just caught a couple guys grave-robbing. Better safe than sorry, though, so Eddie tests her.

“Christo.” There’s no extreme reaction to the word, only confusion. “Who are you and what are you doing here?? It’s not safe!”

“I should ask you the same thing! Are you the one causing all these deaths?” her grip on her handgun does not waver.

“Jesus H. Christ, I don’t have time for this.” Eddie says under his breath, dropping his shotgun and walking back to the grave. “Hawkins High has a ghost in it. We’re trying to kill it before it can convince someone else to do it to themselves.” He hops back down into Jason’s grave and tosses his shotgun to the girl who’d followed behind him, gun still raised. Smart. Eddie thinks, then also notices she was able to cross their salt line easily. Human, then.

She catches it easily, blinks once, and says, “Fine, say I believe you. Now how in the hell do you kill a ghost, also how is a ghost causing these deaths?” she un-cocks her revolver and tucks it back in her waistband.

Eddie’s about to answer when the loose hairs around his face are blown into his mouth with an invisible flap of wings “Eddie, I need to speak with you.”

The girl goes pale at the sight of Steve.

“Steve?”

“Yes. Do I know you?” the angel cocks his head at the absolutely bewildered woman.

Eddie has to look between Steve’s confused face and the woman’s heartbroken one a couple times before it clicks.

“Are you kidding me!? You’ve just been using your vessel’s real name? That’s fucked up.” Eddie says around the last few hairs stuck in his mouth.

“It was as good a name as any.”

“Uhm hello? What is happening right now? You’ve been missing for months.”

“We don’t have time for this.” Eddie interrupts, “Eddie, Wayne, you apparently know Steve,” He gestures to the three of them. “Shoot anything that is not us, while I salt and burn this sucker.”

To Eddie's surprise, she steels herself with a roll of her tiny shoulders and cocks the shotgun in her hand, immediately turning her back to him and watching for that damn Jason.

“So, how does a shotgun protect against a ghost?”

“Our own creation, the buckshot is replaced with rocksalt.” Wayne explains, not turning from his vigil.

“Salt repels ghosts?”

“Amongst other things.” Eddie shovels up another pile of dirt. “Steve, my man, I know you needed to talk to me about something, but can you maybe help with this?” Eddie looks at the beautiful man through his bangs, sweaty despite the November chill.

“How would you like me to help, Eddie?” 

Eddie continues shoveling, “Well, there’s another shovel up there, otherwise do you maybe have some special grave-digging angel powers I don’t know about?”

“Angel powers, what are you–” the girl starts as Steve lifts his hand and snaps his fingers.

Eddie’s suddenly standing above a completely cleared out grave, un-sweaty, hair pulled back neatly again from the shambles his bun had been in when he’d started digging, shirt straightened, and his jacket back on. Both shovels are sticking out of the pile of soil nearby.

“Wow..” Eddie breathes.

“Damn, why didn’t you show up sooner? Could’ve saved myself the stress of watching Ed do all that work..” Wayne deadpans to the angel.

“Can it, old man, now help me lift the lid off this thing.” Eddie bites back at his uncle, and jumps back down into the grave. “Stevie, watch her back, make sure Jason doesn’t come barreling in.”

“Her back is fine, Eddie.”

“That’s not what I–you know what, thanks Steve, now watch the opposite side of the grave that she is and make sure Jason doesn’t sneak up on us. Stop him if he does.”

“Oh..” Steve’s voice is quiet at that; he’ll learn eventually.

Eddie helps Wayne climb down and they get to work prying up the coffin lid. 

It’s simple enough work after that, salt, fuel, torch, burn.

Except it never is when you want it to be.

As soon as the first grain of salt hits Jason’s crumbling body, there’s a wail from above them.

“Every time..” Wayne grumbles.

“Everything okay up there?” Eddie calls.

“Yes, we can see him, but he can’t cross the lin–oh shit.” the girl says.

Fuck, he should’ve known this’d happen. Jason has been torturing the poor sensitive souls at his old high school and has thrown things and people. He should’ve known he’d be strong enough to blow a crack through the salt ring.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Damn, why’d he think it’d be okay to leave a random girl that just happened to walk up and what is basically a baby in a yellow sweater to defend against something this strong??

Eddie scrabbles up the inside of the grave out of sheer will, and Wayne tosses one of their pry bars up to him.

“Keep shooting him to keep him back, we just need to stall him while Wayne makes sure he burns!”

Steve and the woman–damn, he really should’ve asked her name–nod at him, and Steve suddenly has some long silver stake looking thing in his hand. 

“Steve! Silver wont work on him, it has to be iron or salt!” Eddie tosses his crowbar to the angel, who catches it easily, turning back to take a swipe at Jason who’d come up from behind him. 

Eddie snatches up Wayne’s salt rifle and takes the third section of the circle, willing the fire to burn faster.

Their new party member seems to be holding her own. She’s found their spare cartridges and makes sure they’re in reach while she keeps aim at the poltergeist’s head.

He only comes at her once, and she fires. That keeps him away long enough for the body in the coffin below to burn enough, banishing him from the mortal plane for good.

Finally, Eddie can relax. They watch as Jason burns down to nothing. “Are you a hunter?” Eddie asks the woman.

“I’m assuming you’re not talking ‘hunter’ in the traditional sense?”

Eddie smirks at her, shakes his head, “You’d be correct.”

“Then no. I have been trying to figure out what’s been happening here for a little while now; I heard there were a couple guys running around asking weird questions so I followed you out here. And NOW I want to know what’s going on with not-Steve.” she directs to Eddie, then turns to said Steve. “Robin is going to be so pissed at you.”

Steve opens his mouth to respond but Eddie cuts in before he even thinks about it “His girlfriend?”

She scoffs, “As if; she’s his best friend.” She looks at Steve with sad eyes, “And Dustin too.”

“Dustin?” Steve cocks his head to the side again. This time it seems like there’s sadness behind his confused look.

“Okay, dinguses, sounds like thi’should be a conversation held over a good meal, not over a fried corpse.” Wayne cuts in. “Name’s Wayne Munson.” He holds out one dirty, time-gnarled hand to the girl.

She smiles and takes it readily, “Nancy Wheeler, sir.”

“None’a that now, Wayne is jus’ fine.”

“Stevie, would you be a dear and fill that back in for us?” Eddie sighs, feeling the adrenaline dropping out of his body, fast.

Steve nods once and snaps his fingers. The hole is refilled and the salt line is gone. The three of them are also cleaned up and straightened out.

“Thanks, Angel, now let's go get some burgers, gotta get our energy back.”

“I do not need to consume anything to replenish my energy.” Steve’s cocks his head.

“I know you don’t, big boy,” Eddie pats him on the shoulder, taking the spare shotgun from Nancy and heading back down to his van.

“I am not much bigger than you in this form, Eddie.” Steve deadpans, as usual, then actual curiosity colors his tone “Have you seen my true form?”

“Can’t say I have, are you much bigger than Steve?” Eddie can feel the double meanings closing in.

“My true form is approximately the size of your Chrysler Building.”

Eddie trips over a divot in the soil. Definitely not over his own feet at that implication.

“Oh, definitely a big boy.” He manages to say, turning to smolder at Steve (What? It’s not like the angel knows the nuance of human facial expressions..) but catches Wayne’s disgusted face and Nancy’s fully amused one (hand over mouth to keep from laughing), over Steve’s adorable confused expression.

“Yes, that is what I am inferring. Eddie, are you alright? Your face is flushing.”

Nancy, the jerk that she is, bursts out laughing. 

“Shut it, Jerk!” 

“Don’t you call me a jerk, Bitch!” she calls back easily.

He grins. Damn, having her around is going to be fun.

—--

“Okay, lemme get this straight.” Eddie says around a mouthful of fries. “You used to date Steve, this Robin chick is his best friend–”

“Platonic soulmate, correct.”

“Right, that, and Dustin is his brother.”

“That’s the best description, yes.”

“So what did you think happened to Steve?”

Eddie sees Steve’s mouth open and claps his hand, that’s not full of burger, over the angel’s mouth, who looks at him with as much anger as he’s learned to express in these couple months on earth. It’s not much.

Nancy gives them a weird look, but starts speaking. “Robin just told me that he drove off one night, one of his bad nights. I don’t know the full extent of what makes a good or bad night, but Robin insists he had been getting better….

“There’s not much more after that, Robin knew where to start looking when he goes off on his own like that, and she found his BMW out at the quarry. Of course, she thought the worst, but they searched every inch of the bottom and no Steve. It was like he disappeared into thin air.”

Eddie nods sadly to himself, thinking as comforting of thoughts he could muster upwards to where Steve had said Real Steve had been brought. Damn, this religious shit being real is really throwing him for a loop. “Nancy, I—EW WHAT THE FUCK??!”

He whips his hand back from Steve’s mouth, now slick with spit. He looks at him incredulously, wiping his palm on his thigh, but his face falters at the absolute dopey look on the angel’s face. Stone-cold blank still, as usual, but his tongue is hanging out between his lips.

Fuck, he’s cute. Damn it! No! Bad Eddie! He’s dead! The real him!

“Where in the hell’d you learn that?”

“The angels have watched humans for a long time, one would pick up a couple things.” He shrugs. Like actually shrugs. “I thought this might get you to remove your hand.”

Eddie doesn’t have a response for that.

“Nancy, Steve was–”

“Wait! Hold on, Stevie, you don’t know this is something she wants to hear.” Eddie murmurs.

“She does; She said as much back at the graveyard. Do you not remember?” Steve retorts in a normal volume.

“Steve. These things are difficult for humans. They’re called emotions. At least ask her first.”

He nods once, still seeming to be confused. “Nancy, you want to know what happened to Steve, correct?” Eddie elbows him, and he feels like concrete against his arm. Steve looks at him confused again, but seems to get what he’s trying to get at. “It may be difficult to hear..?”

Eddie nods, and Steve turns back to Nancy. 

She just looks between the two, confused as all hell. “Uhm, yes?”

“Your Steve did not wish to be of this world any longer.”

Eddie throws his hands up in exasperation. Well, there goes being sensitive about it.

Nancy’s eyes are wide. “...Ah.”

“He offered his body as a vessel, and I brought him to my father’s kingdom of heaven.”

“Oh…Steve..”

“He is being well looked after, I promise. If he would like to return when my mission is complete here, he has the option, I swear it.”

Eddie thinks Nancy is going to be more upset at that, but she just smiles sadly, and nods. “I should call Robin.”

Eddie splutters, “No! No, bad idea Nance!” She’s out of the booth and at the door before he can even say her name. “Damnit, remind me to not sit against the wall next time.”

“Okay, Eddie.” Steve nods.

“Dude! Move! I gotta stop her! Or do you want to explain to this person too why you aren’t her best friend.” Eddie shoves against the shoulder closest to him.

Steve blinks at him once and is suddenly outside the booth, leaving Eddie to fall onto the bench where the angel had just been.

He scrambles up (finally) and heads to the door, only to meet Nancy there, already coming back in from calling this Robin character.

“She’ll be here in about three minutes. Tops.” She grins.

“Jerk.” Eddie grumbles and follows her back to their booth.

“Bitch.” she retorts happily.

He slumps back down into his spot in the booth, wracking his brain about what to tell her.

“Eddie, would you like me to go?”

He snaps his head up to the angel “Hell no! She’s coming here to see you, you gotta be here for that!”

Steve blinks once, then his eyes dart to the door.

“Don’t you even think about i–”

“I will return momentarily.” And with another soft brush of wind and feathers, he was gone.

“That absolute mother fu–”

“So, tell me about this hunting thing.” Nancy says, and tosses a fry into her mouth.

Notes:

Edancy sibling vibes?? Jerk?? Bitch??

Jason having Vecna powers = vengeful spirit in spn land

Wayne calls his friend "D" 'cause, y'know, Fred > Freddy > D

In my head, this is modern AU too so maybe Wayne and his friends dealt with upside-down stuff back in the day and maybe possibly Nancy and current day party have seen some shit too (that's why Nancy's basically unbothered about there being a ghost problem in Hawkins now, too)?

Bobin and Dustin (maybe more?) in the next part!

lastly, i haven't watched spn in what must be a decade now, so continuing on may not follow the show, but just the spn vibes.

Part 3 here! | NOW ON AO3

[red-bat-arse]

got an inkling for a role reversal steddie fic but not sure which is better

could have it where it's eddie there from the beginning of season one, maybe as jonathan's, not asshole, but careless stoner boyfriend who has to have the demogorgon as a wakeup call to how he's been behaving and that's how he meets the kids to eventually run D&D -then Steve, who still ends up in minimum wage hell, connects with Lucas at the public basketball courts and this shifts to being the chauffeur/babysitter by season four, so maybe he offers Chrissy a ride one day when she's freaked out and later, near his abandoned car, the police find her body

or i'm toying with a version like -steve 'the freak' harrington who's just a little too into queen and prince and david bowie, who doesn't take shit from people who don't like that he flirts with guys and gals, whose hair and wardrobe and intense mother-hen tendencies invite 'sissy' ridicule at best -and 'king eddie' munson who throws the best ragers bc no one cards people from the trailer park and he's got an in with reefer rick, who's in a band and even hawkins got swept up in the 80s rock craze, whose charisma and devil-may-care attitude and leather jacket made him cool rather than off putting

definitely might write one of these myself but feel free to take them too -if it sparks something, just tell me about it!

[vegasol]

Since Ao3 is back up again and all, I just wanna put it out there that i've gone ahead and done The Thing, and published my first couple of proper Steddie fics!

They may not be much, but they're honest work and i'm really proud of how they turned out! I'd be absolutely thrilled if anyone here would give 'em a read or share with someone who you think might like them!

It's enough to make a young man - 2,7k. Pwp with Eddie and Transmasc!Steve

Eddie Munson's fool-proof strategy for free and easy sleeping arrangements - 9,1k. Pwp (with an inkling of plot) where Eddie saves money on airbnb by going on tinder. It's usually a bad time, but then he matches with Steve.

[andvys]

(I’m the anon from earlier!!)

I’m trying not to admit that you’re turning me into an Eddie Girl 🤣🤣🤣 I noticed that you unintentionally do that to some of your followers with your stories!!🤣 that’s actually kind of cool that you have the power to do that

I feel like I’m cheating on Steve but I don’t mind cause it’s Eddie. I have an inkling that by the end of this story you’re going to fully convert me into an Eddie girl 🥲

I get what you mean!

Now listen, I was a steve girl since 2016. I turned into an Eddie girl so fast, I felt so bad cause hello? Steve? But Eddie is like… I don’t know he’s just special, Steve is too but — you know what idk where i’m going with this. Just be a steddie girl, you can love both, they’d understand it 😂

They are both just perfect, it’s hard to not love them both

[hullosweetpea]

27

emma, i’d like to apologize in advance because i don’t even remember if you fuck with a/b/o

27.) Spicy 6/ steddie a/b/o spy

i know i’ve talked about this is the server, but that was back in february, but:

spicy 6 as like a spy/hacker/thieves ring because i think they deserve a bit of crime as a treat. i know i got the first inkling for this based on some art but i didn’t bookmarked it so rip me, i’m gonna have to find it 😭. (and then i was like, but a/b/o 👀)

and now that i’ve futzed around enough on discord i found my original write up for this idea:

Eddie’s new to the team, used to being the guy who gets in and out of the building with their target without anyone watching, maybe throws a punch or two when necessary (or not necessary, he’s not really picky). but steve needs an alpha so he can pick up information on his new mark, hence eddie. And eddie’s not comfortable in these rich people circles, but steve grew up in it, knows who they ignore, who they pay attention to. It’s arranged at a charity gala -Robin snagged them plates and changed the seating- so they can slip away with no one noticing. Nancy tells him Steve can take the lead, he has nothing to worry about. Except for the goddamn collar around Steve’s pretty neck. Eddie knows rich types run conservative but knowing that didn’t prepare him for Steve to walk in wearing a tux and a collar in the place of a bow tie, the golden circle at the hollow of his throat stamped “E.M.” Steve has to practically drag him to the care before Eddie’s brain comes back online, and even then his eye keeps wandering to Steve’s neck. Overall, the gala is fine. Mostly mindless platitudes and Steve steering Eddie across the hotel’s grand ballroom. He’s lifted several watches from pompous ass alphas who are rude to catering (and the surrounding omegas). He hasn’t seen their informant, but Eddie already heard from Jon that Chrissy is here somewhere. When the dinner starts, eddie sees the kneelers, and wow they really were traditional here. Eddie spends the whole dinner feeding Steve at his feet, memorizing which cars he needs to key, and horny as hell. Steve drags them off after dinner (turns out Chrissy’s an omega which nobody thought to mention) and Steve and Eddie end up fucking in the back of the car.

send me an number between 2-40 and i’ll tell you about a stranger things prompt from my list

[crayonboxcolors607]

okay so it really bothers me how tons of steddie fanfics headcanon wayne as being super biased towards steve when he and eddie become friends/start dating.

and they like make wayne compare steve to his dad and shit like that and it just really rubs me the wrong way.

like wayne legit raised eddie he of all people should understand not turning out like ur dad. and obv steve's dad is a jerk (that is a front the fandom is united upon).

but i feel like its more like wayne loves his little boy and eddie is basically his son so of course he wants the best for him. cus eddie definetly came home after school some days and complained about "stupid king steve and his stupid hair and his stupid girlfriends"(and wayne wrote it off as steve being a jerk and eddie was mad about that).

but in reality eddie had like the biggest crush on steve (think draco from harry potter) and didn't know how to deal with those feelings so he just assumed they were because he hated steve and didn't think anything of it.

and then all the shit with vecna happens and eddie wakes up to steve sitting by his bedside with massive dark circles and worry lines and the biggest smile when he sees eddie's eyes open.

and eddie realizes "oh SHIT!"

because that hatred in highschool was definitely not hatred and definitely something else and now steve is gonna hate him because now he's even more of a freak.

and poor wayne is just oblivious to the whole thing. (he obv had an inkling that his nephew was gay but didn't ever say anything because they don't talk about that shit)

so wayne and eddie are just chilling in the trailer and steve comes over to change eddie's bandages or smth and wayne is confused because this? this nervous young man with dark circles and fidgeting hands and a tote bag of bandages and meds this is king steve? the same king steve that eddie used to complain about every day because of his attitude and his face and his hotness....

and wayne munson realizes something about his nephew that day...

[panevanbuckley]

WIP Wednesday Thursday

tagged by the wonderful @panicatthediaz 💜 idk how long it's been i'm sorry i drafted the tag for when i would have another wip because writer's block has been a bitch 🤣

anyways this is from my next steddie fic that should be finished soon!

*

“That smells good.” Steve mumbles, voice deep like it always is when he’s just woken up. It’s ridiculously sexy.

“It’s literally just scrambled eggs.”

Arms snake around Eddie’s waist, a chin tucking into the crook between his shoulder and neck. “Nobody ever cooks for me.” Steve whispers in a small voice that breaks Eddie’s heart. Lips dance over the skin of his throat, the tease of a tongue, and Eddie shudders.

“Well-” Eddie starts to speak. Clears his throat and tries again, “Well, good thing you’ve got me now.”

“Mmm,” Steve hums, lips now pressed just under Eddie’s ear. “Guess so.” And then he’s spinning Eddie around, caging him in with his arms with a hungry look in his eyes. Eddie has an inkling that it might not be the food Steve’s after right now. That thought is proved correct when Steve dips in, kissing Eddie within an inch of his life.

no pressure tags: @on-maars @queerpanikkar @punkgeekcryptid and anyone else that wants to share their work, I'd love to read it! (sorry I always lose track of people who write) ✨️