#is that steve literally did get over nancy until the duffers decided that no he didn't

[kurokoros]

it’s so hard to be anti st.ancy AND a Steve fan because all of the anti st.ancy posts are constantly shitting on Steve 😞

[thestobingirlie]

Hello!! How are you?? So, I absolutely hate ronanc/e. Like you never ever date your friend's ex, especially if it ends badly. Which is what happened. There's going to be a ton a complicated feelings about Steve and ro/nance and even if Steve didn't express his displeasure about it, it would negatively affect Steve's relationship with Robin. Like ST4 completely screwed over Stobin for Stancy. And it drives me crazy that Steve, who canonically has issues with people committing infidelity, would go for someone already in a relationship. And Dustin, Robin and Eddie for convincing Steve to go after someone in a relationship!! And Nancy and Robin barely have a good relationship in canon! Nancy gets annoyed with Robin until she does something helpful to Nancy's cause. (Which is something that is now like ingrained in Nancy's character and I would like for the Duffer's to let her change from it, because it makes her so unlikable and the one of the most unrealistic parts of the show is that no one treats her like she only cares about people until they are useful to her.)

I honestly think people are harsh on Vickie (I adore her, she looks like a really good match for Robin and she's bi! If not canonically, then in my heart.) because Robin is the sole canonical wlw character in the party. So her love interest falls under way more scrutiny and when the Duffer's gave her a similar trait to Robin, people were disappointed, especially with how little screen time she has. And if the Duffers wanted, they could have really easily made Vickie a more prominent character. Have Chrissy take her for backup at Eddie's trailer and have them both go on the run or something. And most non party love interests get the same amount of development. (Take Suzie) However, on the fandom side of things, people will literally make up backstories for Gareth and ship him with Will???? You see this white boy who's a junior and got like 30 seconds of screen time and decides he's a good match for Will, but you see Vickie and deem she is too similar for Robin and won't bother creating backstories for her? People literally do it for Chrissy and ship her with Robin! Nothing against Buckingham, it's just that people will take any character and give them backstories and ship them but they won't do this for Vickie.

I think that the whole Robin and Nancy making fun of Steve things stems from Robin making fun of Steve in ST3 and Nancy just generally being demeaning to Steve in general. And ST4, with every single person demeaning Steve's intelligence did not help at all. And people say that you shouldn't bring a man's feelings into a wlw relationship, but Steve is entangled in this relationship. Nancy was his first love and Robin is his best friend. If the genders were swapped, people would be having a conniption. [Also, I honestly believe that if you swapped the genders of the characters, Steve would get a lot less hate and Nancy would get a lot more, but that's my opinion. Like people would never doubt that Nancy cheated on Steve and Steve breaking the camera wasn't all that unreasonable.]

Anyways, sorry for the long ask, I just have a lot of opinions on ro/nance and platonic Stobin and Vickie! (Also, from above, like Vickie and Chrissy could have been childhood friends but then grew apart but they know they can go to each other for everything, so Chrissy takes her to Eddie's trailer and then season 4 continues with lots of Rockie interactions. I would love to read a ST4 AU like that but unfortunately I haven't seen any of those on AO3 and I have negative writing skills, so I will be waiting for the day that it might come) ~@thestrangerthingsmeadow

hi!! i’m good, thank you.

i’m so glad other people dislike r//nance! the ship feels so difficult to escape within this fandom, which is insane, because it honestly makes no sense to me. i think a lot of people that ship it, ship it because they’re two hot women, and don’t really care beyond that. their personalities don’t mesh well, and their situations in life don’t either. like you said, steve is robin’s best friend and nancy’s ex. it’s just not the kind of thing that mix.

i didn’t love that a lot of stobin scenes became about stancy, and i feel like nancy replaced a lot of scenes that could’ve included robin. it is also weird to me that so many people were pushing for stancy when nancy and jonathan are still together. like you said, steve has major issues with infidelity, and while i can see dustin pushing for steve and nancy (because he loves to involve himself into steve’s love life) i don’t really understand eddie putting in his two cents.

and yeah! nancy really only likes people when they benefit her in some way, which is a really interesting character trait, but not if the character never develops out of it. nancy’s character development has been stagnated for 4 seasons, when they gave her a handgun and decided that was enough.

i love vickie so much and it kills me that the fandom doesn’t appreciate her. i’m pretty sure she’s canonically bi, but people toss her aside for no reason. and while i would’ve liked vickie to have more of a role, i also think it makes sense that she doesn’t. someone compared her to rosie from lotr. the calm in the storm, the peace at home, the hope you long for during horrible times. i know the st fandom loves trauma relationships, but i just love the idea of robin being able to have someone safe, outside of everything horrible that’s happened to her. and yeah, i don’t have anything against gareth, he’s a fun little character, but i have no idea why people love him and will so much, it’s honestly weird. people found the closest in age, good looking teenager they could, and said that’s good enough! wlw will always come under more scrutiny than mlm.

i’ve made a post about how much i hate steve becoming the butt of all stranger things jokes, but it’s even worse if it’s his ex and his ex’s new girlfriend that is also his best friend making fun of him. and i think it’s insane that people complain about a man being involved in a lesbian relationship, like… first of all, it isn’t even a real relationship (not in real life, or even the show) and second, a man is involved. he is quite literally at the centre. you can shove him off to the side, but in doing so essentially create entirely different characters. and i think i made a post about that!! if nancy was the man people would hate her, like she would probably be one of the least liked characters. people would consider it girl power that steve had slutshamed nancy, and smashed the camera. and if you’d had a drunk guy calling his girlfriend bullshit, and saying he’d never loved her. people would think they were the worst person alive.

you don’t have to apologise for long asks!! though it might take me a bit longer to respond!! and i do love that idea to involve vickie more!! honestly if i had written the season, i wouldn’t have given her a current boyfriend, but still, i’m just glad we got her at all. and if that fic existed, i’d totally read it!!

[scoopstrooptm]

dustin + the importance of his dynamics with steve & eddie

         this one has been a long time coming and rolling around in my brain for a while but I really want to talk about the importance of both Steve and Eddie in Dustin’s life and how, even though from a writing perspective they both function in a same way as older male role model / brother figures and the Duffers did kind of repeat a similar storyline and not really handle it in the best way, there are actually a lot of subtle differences in how Dustin views them / grows from their influence in his life. they are both equally important to his development ( and future development ) in different ways.

         the most important preface to discussing Steve and Eddie as brotherly figures ( because I do kinda hate the whole “co-parenting” “they’re both Dustin’s dads” trend within the fandom when it’s not for fun/the memes, they are only 5-6 years older than Dustin and as he gets older, that age gap will become much less noticeable ), is that Dustin is absent a father figure. unlike Will, however, who it is established early on has Jonathan, Dustin is deliberately set up in s2 to be living with only his mom, which then helps facilitate the fledgling brotherly relationship that goes on to develop between him and Steve. the writers often talk about them both being the spares within that season who are paired off with each other: Steve needed something to do after Nancy goes off with Jonathan to investigate the lab, and Dustin needed someone ( preferably older ) to help him with Dart and then lead the junkyard squad with Max and Lucas. they also very clearly don’t want to be around each other at the very beginning: Dustin only asks for Steve’s help because he’s the first person he can find to help him out with Dart, and it’s clear that Steve would rather be trying to fix things with Nancy, right up until he realises that Dart is actually an Upside Down monster and Dustin genuinely needs his help.

         the two of them are worlds apart in terms of personality and character. Steve is the most popular guy at school ( in spite of his star beginning to wane in favour of Billy ), plays sports, has ( up until this point ) been successful with the ladies, is not naturally book smart and has never had to try very hard in order to get what he wants. Dustin is a self-proclaimed nerd, is not naturally athletic, is extremely intelligent but lacks a lot of common sense, and doesn’t have really have any friends outside of the Party. the two also have very little in common, but they do get to bond over girls as they lure Dart to the junkyard — however the turning point in their relationship imo doesn’t happen until Dustin, Steve, Lucas and Max are attacked by the demodogs.

         this is, for me, the most pivotal moment in how Dustin’s attitude towards Steve shifts. he even says to Lucas before the dogs attack, “nobody is around. why else would I be with Steve Harrington?” but the moment that Steve decides to leave the bus and act as bait for the demodogs with his nailed bat, Dustin’s indifference to Steve’s completely changes, to the point where, as Max says “he’s insane” for going out there alone, Dustin’s only response is: “he’s awesome.”

          it’s no secret that Dustin uses D&D and fantasy tropes to contextualise the Upside Down — he does this both in a narrative sense in order to flag to the audience exactly what kind of monsters the group are facing ( he is the one who gave the Mind Flayer and Vecna their names ), but also I believe he does this as a coping strategy too considering the danger that he has been around for three years of his young life. in that moment, then, that Steve headed out of the bus and fought three demodogs with just his baseball bat with nails, he quite literally was the white knight who leapt out of the pages of one of his storybooks. he was the fighter / paladin class from D&D that their group of heroes needed, protecting the party at great personal risk to himself, and this is where Dustin’s hero worship of Steve began.

          it’s not clear to Steve that Dustin idolises him, but it’s very clear to everyone else lmao. I think, particularly at this point, Steve is the sort of person that Dustin aspires to be like, in the same way that he might look at a character like Han Solo or Aragorn and aspire to be like them. he fills the void of an older male role model that Dustin needed; he might be different to him in terms of enjoying sports and not understanding the nerdy references, but the fact that the gap between s2 and s3 establishes that the pair were close enough to learn a Star Wars-themed secret handshake shows that Steve was open-minded enough to at least try to engage with the nerdy stuff. it’s also heavily implied that Dustin was Steve’s only close friend during that time. 

          however, that also means that I don’t think Dustin ever looked at Steve as someone who was necessarily fallible: he knows that the dude is uncultured, book dumb sometimes, kinda bitchy and a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to shooting down dangerous ideas, but Steve is still the hero who will always pull through in the end. even when Steve is beaten up by Billy, Dustin is the most visibly concerned out of the kids ( and is the one who convinces the others to bring Steve along in Billy’s car and not leave him in his concussed state back at the Byers house ), but Steve is still able to recover enough to lead the group into the tunnels and assume that caretaker role. he has never failed to protect Dustin when he needs him, and he is always there: in s3 when Dustin is left with his Cerebro by the Party, it’s Steve that he goes to in order to vent and then share the contents of his secret Russian transmission. in s4, as soon as Max comes to him about Eddie, Dustin seeks out Steve at Family Video.

          the dynamic definitely does Dustin a lot of good: as Gaten himself says, Steve helps Dustin with his confidence, and he also helps Dustin to be brave. this isn’t to say that Dustin isn’t brave in s1 because he is, but in the first season a lot of his bravery comes from being around Mike and Lucas and El. on his own, I don’t think Dustin would ever consider himself a brave individual, but then Steve came along and threw himself repeatedly into danger with only minor complaining, the very picture of the errant hero, and that made Dustin want to be brave like that too. the contrast between s2, when Dustin let Steve head down into the storm shelter to deal with Dart on his own, and s3′s “if you die, i die” isn’t just a reflection of how much Dustin and Steve’s friendship has developed in that time. it is also an indication of how, through knowing Steve, Dustin has become more courageous and willing to dive headfirst into danger as a result. in s3, he takes the lead in his and Erica’s rescue attempt of Steve and Robin which, while kinda unrealistic if we’re being picky about it lmao, is an extremely big deal for Dustin. Erica is younger than him and he’s not with Mike, Will or Lucas ( or any of the other older teens or adults ), but he goes back for Steve and Robin anyway, without hesitation.

         but on the flip side, this dynamic does create an unrealistic ideal for Dustin to live up to ( which is no fault of Steve’s or his own ), and this is perfectly illustrated by the snow ball scene at the end of s2. in that scene, Dustin takes on not only Steve’s confidence, but also his appearance in the way that he also uses the Farrah Fawcett spray to style his hair. however, unlike Steve, who I’m sure has never had to try very hard with girls until it came to Nancy, Dustin comes up against immediate rejection from his female peers and ends up completely alone, crying on the sidelines at not having a dance partner of his own. it’s interesting that it’s Nancy who actually rescues him, considering Steve’s influence on Dustin’s self-expression is at its strongest in this scene, but I digress: this highlights the limitations of Dustin’s hero worship and wanting to be like Steve. Dustin is not Steve: their experiences, particularly of a social setting like school, are completely different, and the Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington King of Hawkins High rules for socialising are not rules that necessarily apply easily to Dustin, being a nerd and not athletic or interested in “popular” pursuits at school.

         I imagine this is a difference between them that would have reared its head again in those first few weeks after Dustin first started high school, between s3 and 4. we hear him talk to Max about the fact that nobody was nice to him or Mike ( except Eddie, who I will get to in a minute ), and I can picture a similar thing happening: Steve offering him plenty of well-meaning advice in the run up to semester starting, Dustin taking a lot of it on board, but none of it really working out that well when he actually gets there. Dustin is not destined to be a jock or the most popular guy at school like Steve was, and that is a good thing! being a jock and being popular wasn’t really that good for Steve either. Eddie’s advice and influence is actually good for both of them.

           the way that Dustin’s dynamic with Steve ( subtly ) shifts between s2 and s4 is also interesting. from s2 to s3, the pair become very obvious best friends who share secret handshakes and a single brain cell ( there is no season that they are closer than in s3 tbh ), but in s4 that close camaraderie becomes, in some respects, a little more mean-spirited jibing, especially from Dustin’s end. there is tension established early on between them as a result of Dustin’s new friendship with Eddie and Steve’s jealousy over having his position as his older male role model stolen away from him because Dustin and Eddie actually share a lot of common interests. but also, Dustin is growing up and has reached high school and his teenage years where he is starting to develop his own sense of self. Steve, also, finally has a friend his own age in Robin, so their need to be constantly in each other’s company has naturally lessened as a result. as the primary and at this point constant older male figure in Dustin’s life, there is an element of not quite rebellion in this instance, but push and pull to be expected. he’s growing! Steve has been in Dustin’s life for two years now and Dustin is finally reaching that tumultuous period of his adolescent development where he is deciding who he wants to be.

          but most important is the influence of Eddie’s friendship. it doesn’t pull Dustin away from Steve, as Steve might think, but again as Gaten says in the earlier video I linked, Eddie teaches Dustin to be comfortable and confident in his own skin. where Steve was in many ways unconsciously teaching Dustin to wear a different skin, Eddie’s entire being is telling Dustin that it’s okay to be the way he is. it’s okay to not fit in, it’s okay to break the mould and be different and to own those differences. Dustin can also more easily see himself in Eddie: they are both social outcasts, both enjoy nerdy pursuits like LOTR and D&D, and have both endured judgement and mean comments from their peers. they share a commonality that Dustin would never be able to share with Steve, no matter how close the two of them are.

          the other difference with Eddie is that he shows Dustin very early on that he is fallible. he doesn’t jump into the action as readily as Steve does, he struggles with his perceived cowardice and he is either horrifically injured or dies at the end of the narrative depending on your perspective. it is important for Dustin to see that and know that he doesn’t have to be perfect — because it is not that Steve is perfect by comparison, but only that Dustin is not witness to Steve’s struggles and doubts and regrets about his past behaviours in the same way. in s3, his slow realisation towards “it’s all just bullshit anyways” is all stuff that he only shares with Robin ( and then later in s4 with Nancy during his speech about being given a thump on the head and enabled to change ). Dustin might tease Steve mercilessly for his faults, but he’s never really witnessed Steve have a crisis of confidence in the same way that he watches Eddie struggle with his label of the freak and his belief that he’s not as brave as the others, or not brave for leaving Chrissy and running away. Eddie is therefore just a little more human in Dustin’s eyes.

        one thing that s5 is at least going to take on from s4 is the fact that, seeing the destruction and death and injury that the Upside Down has wrought first hand will change Dustin forever. even if it is horrible trauma for a 14 year old, it is still important that Dustin sees this alternative to the hero narrative that he has in his head regarding Steve  — and will also, i hope, or at least i will address it even if the Duffers don’t, allow for Dustin and Steve’s friendship to strengthen even further as a result. what happened to Eddie should be a wake up call for Dustin in more ways than one and that’s the frustrating thing about s4′s ending. with the sudden timeskip, Eddie’s [redacted] isn’t allowed to have a ripple effect on the other characters ( even though we know through word of god that it will have an impact on Dustin in s5 ), and if there is one dynamic that it should impact, it’s Dustin and Steve’s.

[manohmangreeneyes]

The Harrigtons™

summary: steve harrington x y/n byers and their six little nuggets' life

characters: dad!steve x byers!y/n, joyce x hopper, will, jonothan, el, dustin, lucas x max, mike

warnings: ST4 VOL. 2 SPOILERS!! fluff, minimal swearing, pregnancy, hinted smut, childbirth, that's probably it :)

legend: italics = not in the moment narration, ~~~ = scene change

a/n: ik literally nobody pays attention to these but if this sucks i'm sorry it's my first time writing :,) also i tried really hard to keep steve in-character, bc i read so many of these where he totally isn't.. takes place after season four, except there's no ominous ending (i'm coming for u duffers) also nancy is non-existent in this fic (i love her but she would be problematic due to ST4 ship moments; and there's no mileven or byler bc will and el are way to good for mike and the im convinced byler car scene was will finally letting himself let go of mike)

anyways enjoy

~~~

"STEVE!" I cried, sitting on the cold tile of our shared bedroom's bathroom.

He sprinted in from the kitchen- with the glass of water he went to get for me- breathless. "What's it say?"

I flipped the pregnancy test around, revealing two pink lines.

"YES!" he cried, high-fiving me ecstatically. "This is so great, y/n," he smiled, kneeling down to my spot on the floor.

"We're gonna be parents," I murmured, caressing my boyfriend's face gently.

"The start of our Brood of Harringtons™!" He cheered.

~~~

You're probably wondering, "What had you done to get in this situation?" Hopefully not literally, but that's not the point. Well, after all of the chaos in Hawkins, me and Steve finally decided what was most important to the both of us: each other.

Now, I know it was cheesy for us to realize that, but c'mon, where did you think all those clichés came from?

After Steve's sappy speech in the Winnebago, and the terrifying threats of the Upside Down, we worked towards making that dream a reality.

Steve enrolled in ILEA, or the Police Academy for Indiana. I went back to college, seeing as I had been accepted to the local community college. Me and Steve had planned to wait to get married and have our "six little nuggets", as he calls them, until after college. But things don't always go according to plan- especially after a few drinks and a local party (which I remember nothing, not even whose party it was). I missed my monthly twice, and finally told Steve. Of course, he was beyond happy, and ran out to buy a few pregnancy tests. And that's how we ended up talking about our baby-to-come on a Sunday afternoon, on the floor of our bathroom.

But that was back in '87, a whole year after the last.. incident. But I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to tell you about my family, The Harrington's.

~~~

Nine months after that, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy: Matthew James Harrington. Born October 7, 1987, at 6:22 in the morning, after 13 long hours of excruciating pain. Here's how it went..

"Hey, Steve..?" I said calmly.

"Yeah, babe?" Steve called from over his shoulder. He was on a ladder, fixing a dead lightbulb in the nursery.

"So, don't freak out," I said, still calm. Which, of course, made Steve turn around, and see me waddle in with my water broken all over my pants.

"Oh. Oh! OH, SSSSSSHIT!" He yelled, scrambling down the ladder. "Ooookay, okay. Stay calm, alright! You go take a bath, change into your hospital clothes, and we'll get in the car, and drive to the hospital!" He listed as he guided me into the bathroom, starting a bath and lying out my hospital clothes.

"Alright, I'll stay calm," I giggled, laughing at his panicked state.

After helping me into the bath, he darted between the bathroom and bedroom, continuously asking me how I felt. "Are you sure you don't need anything? Like, absolutely sure? Because I can get you anything you need," He rambled.

"I need you to stop asking me if I'm alright every five seconds. I'll let you know if I'm in any pain." I sighed.

"Okay, okay, sorry." He muttered, helping me out of the bath after a bit and handing me my clothes.

(Which I may or may not have had to ask for help to put on)

~~~

Steve had called my Mom (Joyce), Stepdad (Hop), Stepsister (El), and Brothers (Jon and Will) once we were at the hospital. They rushed over, only Mom and Steve following me into the delivery room.

"It's alright sweetheart, it's almost time," my mother cooed, pressing kisses to my sweaty forehead as she smoothed my hair. "You're almost there."

As expected, I was crying in pain. Scratch that, I was wailing. Childbirth is my least favorite thing, just to be clear.

"Good job, y/n.. good job, hon." Steve was repeating this like his life depends on it, his hand in mine as I squeezed it, nearly breaking his hand.

"I was prepared for pain, not whatever the hell this is!" I screeched, letting out a final push. And then I heard it. Sure, anyone else would have covered their ears at the sound of a screaming baby, but when it's yours, it is an entirely different experience.

Steve let go of my hand, walking over to the nurse holding our son. "Can I...?" He whispered. The nurse nodded, handing him our baby.

"Good job, sweetie.. you did so good." Mom sobbed as she kisses my head. She gave my hand a squeeze as Steve handed me our first baby.

"Hi, little man," I blubbered, "Hello, it's mama." Different flavors of that sentence passed between my giggles and sobs.

"We did good, huh?" Steve murmured, stroking my hair and holding our son's head.

"If you mean me by 'we', then, yes, I did do good." I teased, planting a kiss on his cheek.

Mom scooped the baby up softly, murmuring to him as me and Steve filled out our new baby's birth certificate. I looked back over once we finished, smiling at my mother and son.

"Yes, hello.... It's me, it's Grandma," she cooed.

I was really grateful for my mom and Hopper; they didn't waste one second in congratulating me and Steve. There were no lectures about how we were barely twenty, only loving support. Especially from the kids; they were all about being uncles and aunts. Steve's parents, however, were a different story.

Steve hasn't had the best relationship with his parents; his father really cared about what Steve did with his life. Which doesn't sound bad, except for the fact that that was all he cared about. Steve's mother was the same story, with a bit of 'I love you's sprinkled in between the lectures.

We had decided to keep Chris and babies-to-come out of his parents' lives. Steve wasn't comfortable with our kids being exposed to the same thing he was.

But my family's support and loved was very visible when they came in to meet baby Chris.

~~~

The boys walked in first, as the hospital only allowed two at a time (which meant Mom and Steve were kicked out). Will was carrying a bouquet of flowers for Steve and I, and Jonathan was holding his camera, jumping at the chance for pictures of his brand-new nephew.

"Hey, y/n/n," Will said. He walked over, sitting in the chair next to me. He peered at the tiny baby swaddled in puffy blankets. "And hello, baby...?"

"Christopher James Harrington." I stated proudly.

"Yeah, I'm not repeating all of that. Hi there, Chris." My younger brother cooed.

"Alright, move, my turn," Jonathan said after Will had got a chance to hold Chris. "Can I take a picture of you?" he asked.

You hadn't expected anything less from your twin brother. "One picture," you sighed. "Only one."

He smiled, snapping a picture of the two of you. "Now it's my turn to hold him... Hi there, Christopher.." he cooed, then looked back up to me. "He is the spitting image of Steve. The hair and everything."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna have my hands full."

After the boys left me, El and Hopper walked in. El, never having held or been exposed to a baby, was extremely nervous. She let Hop go first, and he gladly accepted the offer.

"Let me get my hands on this monster," he uttered softly. It seems a bit harsh for a newborn, but I didn't expect any mushy baby-talk from him. "Hey there, Chris, It's Grandpa. I.." Jim went on talking to Chris as I motion El to come stand on my other side.

"Don't be nervous, El. You're gonna be just fine," I spoke. "I'll be right here and Jim's gonna help you hold her."

She nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. "I won't.. hurt him?"

"You would never." I promised.

With that, she walked over and sat in the chair. Hop helped her hold Christopher, and soon she was giggling at his little cries and squeaks.

After that, Steve came in to help us to the car. However, I refused to drive home, afraid the carseat wasn't in properly. Hopper checked it three times, but every time I looked at it and shook my head.

So, yes. I did, in fact, walk home with my newborn and boyfriend, the rest of my family following in the two cars that were brought.

~~~

I jumped, hearing a clamor and lots of various "LET US IN!"s at my front door. It was just two days after me and Chris came home from the hospital, and Steve had told the Teens to wait a few days until unleashing their chaos on our new baby. I laughed, making a "be quiet" signal as I opened the door to the Teens.

"Oh, don't tell me he's asleep!" Dustin complained.

"No, but you can't shout around a newborn regardless." I laughed.

They filed in and sat around the living room as I headed upstairs. "Guess who's here," I cooed to my son.

"I don't have to guess, I can hear them from up here," Steve said, walking in to hug me from behind.

"Hate to break it to you, but I wasn't talking to you, love. But, you do get to change him!" I said, handing the baby to Steve.

Steve sighed, sniffing his son. "Wow- that smells horrible. He's only drinking milk?" he coughed, beginning to change your baby.

"I'll be waiting with them," I laughed.

~~~

After changing him, Steve brought Chris down, handing him to Dustin first.

"I swear to you, Henderson, if you drop my kid you'll never be seen again," he warned, gently placing Chris in Dustin's arms.

The Teens crowded around him, all cooing and laughing at his every movement and sound. El and Will sat back with you, and Steve was behind the couch.

"Are you really going to let Mike hold him?" Will asked doubtfully.

"Yes," I said, seeing Mike glare over at Will. Then leaning into my little brother's ear, "sit next to him when he does." Which earned a laugh from the pair.

After they all had gotten a chance to hold Christopher, Max had called dibs on holding her the rest of the time, save little breaks when El would hold her. Steve and Dustin cooked dinner under the supervision of Lucas. Not that he was any more equipped, but if Steve and Dustin got into an argument, he was there to make sure nothing was set on fire.

And that's how things were. I loved the Teens, and not just because they were free babysitters. I knew that I was never going to have to worry about my babies, they were going to be very well cared for.

~~~

A few years later, Steve is Chief of Police. Yes, he's graduated from ILEA. I got a job at Hawkins' Law Firm, even if I was only their receptionist, and graduated college. It was now 1990, and me and Steve have two kids with another on the way. Christopher was now three years old, and a carbon copy of his father. We have a one and a half year old girl, Jessica. She was, and is, also a carbon copy of Steve, much to my annoyance that none of our babies take after me. Our next baby is also a girl, and I was about seven months along. We're naming her Emily.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Me and Steve tied the knot. After I gave birth to Jessica, he proposed to me. Not right after obviously, but about a month.

"So, what's the occasion?" I giggled, me and Steve sitting under a tree at Lovers' Lake.

"The occasion," Steve mocked my words, "is that I love you and our little family."

"That was the occasion when Jessica spit up on your back at breakfast today," I smiled. "so what's the real occasion?"

Steve sighed, pulling out a ring from his jean pocket. "The occasion," he murmured, "is our engagement..?" he ended it as a question.

"Steve, are you for real?" My voice trembled, on the verge of tears. It's crazy how even when I'm not pregnant my emotions can change in a matter of minutes.

He nodded. "Uhm, duh," He kissed my neck. "So?" Steve was never patient.

"Yes! Of course!" I sobbed- or laughed- well, both. "Gimme," I sniffled, looking at the simple silver band, lined with tiny diamonds. "Steve, it's beautiful."

"Yeah, I knew you'd like it."

~~~

"Mama," a small voice whispered, crawling on top of me, tiny knees and elbows crashing into my face. "Mama, it's time to go now."

I sighed, opening my eyes to a pair of identical y/e/c ones. "You're right, baby."

Steve walked in, tackling our youngest. "C'mon, nugget, let's go eat breakfast while Mama gets dressed."

I stretched, smiling. "You made breakfast?"

"I did," He smiled. "Everyone's up, except you. So let's go, chop chop."

"Alright, alright. I'll be down soon."

Steve and I have two boys and four girls. Not quite what we had planned, but we have no complaints. As I said before, things don't always go according to plan.

So here's our not-so-little family tree: Christopher James Harrington, born 1987. Jessica Brittany Harrington, born 1989. Emily Joyce Harrington, born 1991. The twins, Eddie Brian and Tiffany Michelle Harrington, born 1993. And lastly, Rachel Alison Harrington, born 1996.

~~~

"Have I told you what a great husband you are?" I murmured, hugging Steve from behind.

"Mm, not yet, I don't think so," he teased, passing down pancakes with the help of Chris.

"Well, you are." I smiled, scattering kisses on my husband's neck (much to our kids' disgust).

"I figured."

I sat down with my family, finishing up breakfast. After that, we all piled into our Winnebago, off on our long talked about Harrington Summer Road Trip.

~~~

So there we are. A whole brood, army, cult, whatever you'd like to call it, of Harringtons. There were some bumps along the way, like the time Steve dropped Eddie when he was two months old. Or the time I forgot Christopher at the grocery store when he was eight. But let's talk about high points: I started taking weekends and Wednesdays off to take care of the kids, and Steve came home earlier and left later for work. We got a dog, a golden retriever named Scooter. Robin comes over to babysit, along with Dustin and El. Sometimes Will tags along on our family trips, dragging Jonathan along. Jess got accepted onto the cheer team, and Tiffany is the head of the mathletes. Ed is a track star, and Rachel is an off-balanced ballerina. Chris is a basketball star, just like his dad. And Emily joined the AV club, ironically enough.

I guess that's it. Our Brood of Harringtons™. And boy, are we happy.

~~~

a/n: i'm sorry that gave me Cheaper By The Dozen vibes :,/ anyways requests are open for any Marvel or Stranger Things requests :)

[lemonheadhatchet]

Stranger Things Season 4 Mileven Analysis and Season 5 Theory: Mike and El breakup and Byler Possibility.

Stranger Things spoilers ahead!! Also, grab some popcorn because this is a long one.

So, one of my friends said I should post my thoughts and opinions about Byler and since I absolutely LIVE for queer representation in media, especially for a mainstream show like Stranger Things, I decided I would. Being apart of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I also felt like I'd be insulting my community in a way. I will not be attacking Mike and Eleven shippers. Also, I'm not going to be discussing too much Byler evidence as I am Mike and Eleven breaking up evidence because explaining why I believe they will break up is vital to exploring what I believe might happen in season 5. Having to explain all of that and then also all of the Byler evidence would just be an extra 3 extra hours of writing that I don't have the energy for. So, if you want more, literally go to any Byler related hashtag.

As for my thoughts on Byler, I absolutely adore the ship. Anybody who knows me, knows I absolutely love Will Byers and his entire storyline and Mike Wheeler... well, he's Mike Wheeler. As for my thoughts on the stance of their possible relationship, believe it or not, I don't think we're in that bad of a place, possibility wise. Let me explain.

Let me start off with the big love confession scene between Mike and El. First of all, I will admit, there was definitely something wrong with that monolog, but not because it was bad writing or bad acting (as Finn Wolfhard has proven multiple times that he is an incredible actor), but because from the moment it started, I instantly thought: "Wait... that doesn't make sense." Mainly when Mike told El that he loved her the day he found her in the woods. First of all, I felt like the wording was a bit odd for a moment that was supposed to be emotional. Him saying "found her" kind of made it sound like he's talking to a dog (which is oddly an example the Duffer Brothers used to describe Mike and El's relationship). Second, it doesn't make sense storyline-wise. Let's remember, their whole relationship started because Mike was dead set on finding Will. That night, Mike didn't go into the woods to find El, but when he did find her, the first thing he plans to do is get rid of her. However, his mood changes when he realizes she could be of some help to find Will. I'm sorry, but you don't just plan to get rid of someone you "love"! That's literally not a thing that happens. Even after that, he continuously asks her "what's wrong with you" in a very harsh tone (When they "found Will's body" and when she uses the force and sends Lucas flying into a wall). Again, not necessarily something you say to someone you love.

Also, the way he only references her powers is a bit weird to me. There is so much more to El than just her powers. She's brave, she's kind, she's beautiful. He could've literally said that he likes that she's different from other people, which is something that she's canonically insecure about. But, he only talks about her powers, in fact, he lists powers she doesn't even have such as flying and moving mountains. But, do you know who does? SUPERMAN, someone he's compared her too before. Maybe these are just expressions, but I just find it odd that he talked about her powers, especially after her whole arch of volume 1 is learning that she's more than just her powers.

When we cut back to El in Vecna's mind lair, we can see that it isn't working for El. The vine around her neck are tightening and you can see it on her face that she didn't seem to believe him. However, we don't see her break free and find her strength to fight until she looks over and sees that Max, her best friend that taught her about other strong, powerful women like her and inspired her to become something and someone of her own, is dying in front of her eyes. That's when she gains her strength.

Then, once Steve, Nancy, and Robin go flambé on Vecna's ass, we see Lucas and El watch Max die a tragic, horrible death in front of their very eyes. That's when El brings her back to life and Max ends up in a coma. I believe this moment is supposed to tell us that El either can't or doesn't want to live a life without Max in it and absolutely refused to let her best friend die a terrible death too soon.

This leads me to two days later. Mike, Will, El, Jonathan, Nancy, and Argyle all end up back at Hopper's cabin, cleaning it up in order to to hide El. While Jonathan, Nancy, and Argyle are outside, we see Will, Mike, and El are all inside (the perfect set up for something to happen). Mike and Will are sweeping as El goes into her old room and only keeps the door open three inches. Once the two are alone, we get our last Byler heart-to-heart scene of the season.

Prompting this conversation to begin, Will asks Mike is she's talked to him at all and Mike reveals that she's a only spoken to him little bit. A little bit. It had been 2 days. Remember, this is a couple that were glued together in season 3 and wrote letters to each other frequently while they were apart. You'd think that after watching her best friend die and having to bring her back to life, El would be really leaning on Mike, especially after him telling her he love her (which was complete and utter bull but thats a post for another day). But she hasn't, and clearly still isn't.

I believe that this scene was meant to tell us that El is starting to realize that she doesn't need Mike as much as she thought. Remember, the Duffers wanted our heros to feel what it's like to lose in such a big way. After it happens, it makes you realize who you are and what you need. El realized that she didn't need her love for Mike to help her stay strong, she needed the love she has for her family: Hopper and Max, and maybe she didn't realize it in the moment, but most definitely afterwards.

Keep in mind, the loss of her dad and the loss of Max has all occurred within 8 months of each other, that's a lot for anyone,, especially El. We also see that El is still not over Hopper's death in the beginning of season 4, then mix all that with not being able to save Hawkins, this all feels like the biggest loss of her life (because it kind of is). She also realizes that she didn't need to lean on Mike to cope, she needed to do that by herself. I think she's finally starting to realize that she's more that just Mike's girlfriend, but she's also Max's best friend and Hopper's daughter.

Also, think about what's happening during her bedroom scene where she's clearly mourning Max. Mike and Will have a very emotional moment on Hopper's old couch which really parallels their 'crazy together' moment during season 2. The way they filmed this scene is absolutely beautiful and it ends with Mike gripping Will's shoulder tightly. Some people believe that this is visual representation of Mike fear of losing Will again, I don't know if that's what they were going for, but I think it's a fun idea to play with. These scenes are happening at the same time for a reason. They are showing big, emotional moments for the three characters.

And then, the last shot of the scene, we see Eleven stand in front of half of Hawkins torn apart by the man she couldn't defeat, giving her more strength to fight that ever before. Remember, despite her awful history in the town, she still considers it home. Its where her friends are, where her boyfriend is, where she met Hopper and was taken in by him. Behind her, we see Nancy and Jonathan standing together, Joyce and Hopper standing together, and... guess who else... WILL AND MIKE STANDING TOGETHER!! Many believe this shot is a visual representation or foreshadowing how season 5 will end. Eleven will be single, Joyce and Hopper will be together, Nancy and Jonathan will be together, Mike and Will will be together.

Now, here's my take on the set up of Byler:

I think Byler could be a genuine possibility, but only if it's done correctly. Not too rushed, but not pushed until the end because saving a queer relationship between two main characters until the end of a VERY LONG SERIES is honestly just annoying and we're tired of being forced to call it "representation". This shouldn't be a case of "you get what you get". So, I'm going to create a theory (if that's what you can even call this) using the information already given to us through the Duffer Brothers.

So, I think Mike should start to have his realization in episode one. Maybe a new problem could arise that may threaten Will's safety or even life (we already know he's going to have a huge significance to the storyline in season 5) and Mike realizes that the possibility of losing Will permanently scares the absolute shit out of him (obviously), but it's different than anything he's ever felt about losing Eleven. Then something could happen with Max's coma storyline (possibly a way to wake her up) so that makes El realize she needs to bring her best friend back more than anything. Then, in episode two, they have a clean, loving breakup, and everything will begin falling into place for Will's storyline, Mike's storyline, Byler's storyline, and El's storyline. Then, maybe in the middle of the episode/towards the end, we get an emotional moment between Byler, another emotional moment between El and Max, maybe even a moment between El and Lucas, before Joyce, Hopper, Jonathan, Will, and El all haul back off to California. The rest of the episode is everyone reflecting and realizing things about themselves they had never known before and this goodbye feels even sadder and more bittersweet than the first.

I can tell you right now with complete and utter confidence, if this is how they start season 5, they will set their time skip up for success in terms of story telling, writing, and time management for building up each and every storyline.

Anyways, what do you guys think? I just spend 4 hours on this and I have work in the morning so please be kind.